Absolute Power (Book 1): Origins (20 page)

“Took your time I see,” the girl said.

Danni disregarded her and sat on a tree stump which only made the girl more irritated.

“Good morning, Master Sergeant Lewis,” Sara said cheerfully.

The man nodded to her and checked his watch.  “All right people,” he shouted.  The two boys who were wrestling stopped in the middle of a mutual choke hold.  “Looks like we’ll have to start without Koji.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” came a small voice from the forest.  “I'm here.”  A boy smashed through the trees waving his arms and almost tripping in the process.  He came to an abrupt halt in front of Master Sergeant Lewis.

“Are you sure?”  The Master Sergeant asked annoyed.

Koji tried to catch his breath, “Got caught on level twelve... Couldn't get... Save point.”  He looked up at the Master Sergeant, who didn't seem to understand.  “Dragon Siege,” he explained.  “A video game.”

“You'd rather be playing games than join us out here?”  The Master Sergeant questioned, and the kids snickered.  “Don't answer that,” he said and addressed the group.  “I'm sure you've noticed the new girl.  She'll be replacing Frank.  Team one is still, Danni, Rachael, Joe and Koji.”

The two wrestling boys separated and for the first time Eve realized that they were identical. “You're going down ya baby,” Joe said as he pulled himself free.  He stood next to Danni fidgeting the entire time.  Rachel, the angry blonde girl, begrudgingly joined them, along with Koji.

“Team two, this is Eve,” Master Sergeant Lewis said.  “It's your job to tell her what she needs to know and how to play the game.  Here are your radios.”  He hefted two bags up in each hand; Scott grabbed one and Rachael the other.  Then the Master Sergeant tucked his clipboard under his arm and pressed the button for the tower elevator.  “Today is capture the flag.”

The kids in team two grumbled.

“Team one pick your side. Losers run back to the Residence.”  The elevator arrived, and Master Sergeant Lewis stepped inside.

“We all know who that’s gonna be,” Joe taunted team two.

“Do you think you guys can keep from cheating this time?” Scott said.  His soft British accent that caught Eve’s attention.

“Don't be a crybaby.  It's only a game,” Danni replied.

“At least we don't have to cheat to win,” Sara chimed in then covered her mouth, not meaning to say it so loud.

But Danni heard her and yelled back, “Hey, Sara, tell me, why with your powers would you choose a face like that?”

The kids in team one all laughed as they stomped off into the woods.  Eve turned to examine her team.  At this point she had gathered almost everyone's name, except for the other twin.

Scott saw Eve watching them and assumed she was confused.  “We have to wait five minutes so they can set up because they won last time,” he told her.

“They won the last twenty times,” the twin added.

Scott shrugged, “I'm working on a plan.”

“Well, now that we have the new girl we're screwed,” the twin said. “No offense, but you're gonna slow us down.”

“Have you played capture the flag before?” Scott asked.

Eve shook her head, and the twin moaned.

“It's simple,” Scott explained.  “There are two teams and we each have a flag.  We have to get the other team’s flag and bring it back to our base.  And we have to keep our flag from getting taken.  We can't hit anyone or anything like that, but we can use our powers.”

“I understand,” Eve said.

“I'm Scott; I can turn invisible,” he pointed to himself then to the twin, “That's Michael he can make bright light and laser type stuff.  And that's Sara; she can shapeshift.”

“Just to look like other people,” Sara corrected him, “I can't be a bear or anything useful like that.”

Then the kids all looked at Eve, and she remembered what Jess told her to say.  “My name is Eve and I can walk from shadow to shadow.”

“If only it was from light to light,” Michael said and held out his hand.  A ball of light grew and floated there.  “Then we’d kick butt.”

Rachael led her team toward the northern base.  No one had asked her to take charge, but no one had argued either.  She was the only one willing to take on the responsibility and the work.  The others kept quiet because her powers were instrumental in getting them the win every time.

Part of Rachael’s ritual for setting up was to pass through what would be team two’s base.  She did it to see if anything had changed; Master Sergeant Lewis liked to keep them expecting the unexpected.  Team two's base consisted of a flag on top of a low hill in the middle of a field.  Being able to see the approach from three hundred sixty degrees was the only advantage.  The waist high grass, however, took most of that edge away.  Rachael spent a moment to examine the area.  The tree line started fifty yards out, and she often used it to obscure her team till the last second.  When she was sure there were no new challenges, they headed to their flag.

Team one's flag was set amongst a scattering of tall rocks that Rachael used as barricades and choke points.  It made it hard to spot anyone sneaking in, but Danni’s shadow creatures could easily cover the area.

“Danni, you have the flag,” Rachael said.

Danni didn’t respond but took her regular seat on a rock.

Rachael turned to the boys; they were caught up in Koji’s handheld videogame.  “Can you two get the flag?”

Joe managed to signal that he heard her and started walking with Koji.

“Are you forgetting something?” Rachael snapped.  She was holding their radios.  Joe ran back and grabbed them.  Then she turned to Danni and tossed her the last one.  “What do you know about the new girl?”  Rachael asked.

“Eh,” Danni grunted.  “She said something about trans-dimensional shadows or something.”

Rachael tried to remember everything she knew about trans-dimensional physics and theory.  She had a class once with a kid that could open a portal and pull duplicates of himself from other dimensions.  There was also a girl who could feel weak spots in the dimensional barrier, but none of that helped.  Rachael began to suspect that this was the twist Master Sergeant Lewis had thrown into the game.

There was an outcropping of rocks a few minutes away.  It was a twelve foot tall vantage point, out of the action and a good command post.  This was where Rachael always took position.  She would have loved to grab team two's flag herself, but she wanted to set the record for the fastest win, and she knew it would require a perfect strategy.  That, however, left Joe and Koji to take the offensive, a tactic that only worked some of the time.

Standing there on top of the rocks, with the birds and clouds she couldn't think of anything else but winning.  As she scanned the trees, she spotted team two heading toward their flag.

The kids came out of the forest and slowly made their way across the field to the flag.

“So what's the plan, oh fearless leader?” Michael asked.

“Try not to get our butts kicked,” Scott replied.

“I like that plan,” Michael said.

They reached the flag, and Sara sat on the ground shading her eyes to look at Scott.

As Scott handed out the radios he said to Eve, “Since your new why don't you stay here with Sara.  Michael and I will head out and try to get the flag.”  He turned to Michael and said, “I figure they're going to do what they always do.”

“You mean my brother and Koji charge up here,” Michael said, “meanwhile, Danni and her monsters guard the flag.”

“And Rachael watches us all from the rocks,” Scott added, then turned to Eve to explain, “Rachael has super eyes.  She can see in light, dark, x-ray, zoom and she can even see me when I'm invisible.”

“She's probably watching us right now,” Michael said bitterly.

“Perhaps you should eliminate her from the exercise?”  Eve suggested.

Michael laughed, “Yeah, like shove her off the rocks.”  He clapped his hands together, “Splat.”

“Maybe we could chase her off the rocks,” Scott thought out loud.  “But then we'd have to split our forces.”

“Repeating the same actions only guarantees the same results,” Eve said.

“It's worth a shot,” Scott said.

The radio squawked and Master Sergeant Lewis’ voice came on, “Try to leave the forest intact.  Game starts in five, four, three...”

“...two, one.”  Master Sergeant Lewis clicked a button on his watch starting a timer.  He turned his attention to the closed circuit monitors that showed the kids.

“You teamed her up with Michael Epper?”  Colonel Porter tried to keep the frustration out of his voice, but failed.

Porter was standing behind Lewis, who was busy switching camera angles.

Lewis overlooked the tone and answered, “If I put her with Joe they could pop the entire team in and out before anyone knew what happened.” He was much better at keeping the emotion out of his voice.  The Master Sergeant was good at his job, and he didn’t like his decisions questioned.

“What about the social dynamic with Danni Rodriguez?” Porter asked.

“I have other students to worry about too,” Lewis answered, then glanced at the Colonel to see if he’d overstepped his rank.  As a civility he added, “Until they can figure out how to counter your girl, she's going to trounce them.”

“Then this should be quick,” Porter said.

“Maybe,” Lewis responded.  Porter thought he saw a smile on the man's face.  “I still have to make it a challenge,” Lewis added.

“What does that mean?”  Porter asked.

“I didn't explain the game to Eve, or tell her team what she can do,” Lewis answered.

Porter laughed.  “She's about to make a few admirers and rivals today.”

“So you're not human?”  Sara asked surprised.

“No,” Eve replied.

“You look human,” Sara told her.  She was still sitting on the ground.  At her feet, she had gathered some leaves and was arranging them in patterns.

“There are some biological differences,” Eve said.

A total of three minutes had passed since the game started, and nothing had happened.  Eve checked her radio again to make sure it was on.

“Do you have TV where you're from?”  Sara asked.

“No,” Eve answered.

“What do you do for fun?”  Sara didn't seem to notice she was interrogating her.

“It's difficult to explain,” Eve replied. “In my dimension there is no light, so television couldn't exist.  There are many things here that would be pointless in my world.”

“Like what?”  Sara kept playing with the leaves.

“Reading, writing, painting, make-up,” Eve told her.

“I don't wear make-up either.” Sara looked up as she told Eve, “My mom won't...  Didn't let me.  I couldn't do much when I was a kid.  Mostly because my parents didn’t want me to come here.  My mom and dad hate this place.  But you know, I think they’re wrong.  Since I've been here, I've seen a lot of kids who could hurt someone if they didn't know what they were doing with their powers.  Maybe no one likes to be told what to do, but someone has to be responsible.”

The radio squealed then cut out.  Eve held it up to her ear and waited.

Rachael was using a blend of zoom and x-ray to monitor everyone’s position.  So far Eve and Sara hadn’t moved.  Scott and Michael, however, were trying something new.

“They’ve split up,” she said into the radio.  “Michael is west of your position.”

“I’ve got him,” Joe shouted into the radio.

From where she was standing, Rachael could see Joe split off from Koji.  “Stop.  Hold your position,” she ordered.

Joe ignored her.  “How far?”  He asked huffing.

Judging from the distance he covered, Rachael guessed that Joe was at a full sprint.  “Ten yards,” she told him.

“Uh, what should I do?”  Koji asked over the radio.

“Wait where you are,” Rachael told him.  “I want to see what Scott is up to.”

“Okay,” Koji replied.  “I got Joe’s powers before he took off.”

“Fine,” Rachael said harshly; she was busy watching the Epper brothers.

“I’m taking fire,” Michael yelled crazily into the radio.

Joe used the noise to pinpoint his brother and fired again.  A black bolt of energy slammed into a tree nearly hitting Michael’s head. It left a layer of frost clinging to the bark.  Michael rolled out from behind the tree and returned fire.  A blast of white light left his fingers.  The heat singed the leaves and set a dry patch of grass on fire.  Joe quickly extinguished the blaze with his foot.

“I’m telling the Master Sergeant,” Joe said.

“Go ahead,” Michael retorted, then began firing.