Strangers and Shadows (21 page)

Jack’s brow furrowed
.

“It’s an Electro Magnetic Field generator.  It will disrupt the shield, making it useless, and if the field is large enough, it can affect the abilities of a Shadow.”

“Affect as in
…
?”

“As in,
no abilities
,
” Wizard finished for him.  “It’s very crippling from what I’ve heard.  Almost like losing an arm or a leg.”

“Not
quite
that drastic, but similar, yes,” Desmond said, shifting gears. 
“Jack, keep an eye out.  Don’t let anything through that shield.  There’s nothing out there right now, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be.”

“Where the hell are you going?” Jack wanted to know.

“Away,” Desmond said, as his eyes glazed over and turned completely white.  He didn’t respond to anymore of Jack’s questions after that.

“What the fuck just happened to him?”  Jack turned to Wizard.  Asher just sat in the corner, arms tucked around his knees, rocking back and forth.

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you.”

“As in
don’t know
, or
can’t
?” 

“A bit of both, sadly,” Wizard said.
 
“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he held up the key and datapad
. 
“I’m a little busy here.”

Running down the street, just off the sidewalks, Celia wished there were a few more people around.  As it was, anyone she came across would likely be a Stranger, but the same visibility would work
against
her as well as
for
her.

She was about half a mile from the Overlap when she sensed the first wave coming.  There were five of them.  She couldn’t see them yet, but they had half of the EMF device with them and already assembled.  She gathered from their mental chatter that they were still waiting on the other pieces to come through.

Celia slowed to a walk and found a row of bushes to conceal herself as the agents came into view.  They had the EMF device on a hover sled and were at a full out run.  Celia sensed the urgency on each man’s mind.

She was about to make her move
. 
“
Wait!
” she heard in her mind.

“
Fuck, Dad!  Could you give me a mental knock next time, before you come barging in?  You scared the shit out of me!
” she sent back.  “
What am I waiting for?
”

“
Let them past, they can’t do anything with just half of the device, and we need to make sure that this is the only one.  Something doesn’t feel right, but I can’t say what it is.
”

“
Alright, I’ll get closer and see what’s going on
.”

“
Be careful
,
” Desmond sent.

“
You too.
”

Celia remained hidden, watching the group of agents run past.  When she was sure they were far enough away, she broke cover and sprinted for the Overlap.  

She was still thinking about how she was going to get inside without being noticed when she arrived.

There were nine agents that she could see, and more that she sensed, but couldn’t see.  The ones she could see were arranged in a circle, facing out, with assault weapons in hand.  In the middle of the circle was another device, nearly assembled.  She saw no sign of the other half of the first device.

She took cover behind a dumpster as she reached out to Desmond
. 
“
Dad, there’s more than one device!  You guys need to get out of there as soon as possible.
”

“
Show me what you’re seeing
.” 

Celia flashed him the images.

“
Alright, we need to take out that device first, then we’ll worry about the second one
,
” Desmond sent
. 
“
I’m going to help you, are you ready?
”

Celia took a deep breath before responding
. 
“
Ready
.”  She felt her father’s presence almost immediately as Desmond sent massive amounts of energy streaming into her.  On her own, Celia was no where near powerful enough telekinetically to do what needed to be done.

She reached out, mentally taking hold of the dumpster she was hiding behind, and feeling the power surging through her, she hurled it at the circle of agents guarding the device.

Most of the agents were fast enough to get out of the way.  All but one escaped the projectile as it slammed into the EMF device, crushing it and the unfortunate agent beneath it.

Suddenly aware of her lack of cover, Celia felt her father’s nudge to run.

The agents located her quickly now that she was out in the open.  She turned and ran as the energy weapons flared to life all around her.  While she had been focused on destroying the EMF device, the agents she hadn’t been able to see had circled around in front of where she was now headed.

Sensing it almost too late, Celia cut hard to the right, leading them off in the opposite direction from her father.  As she ran, she could feel her father’s concern for her.  

Using her abilities, she was twice as fast as any Stranger, which is why she was completely shocked when she felt the white hot pain of an energy weapon burn into her right shoulder.

She was thrown to the ground by the blast and was just rolling over when she saw the sniper on the roof behind her.

“
Stay there!
” a voice boomed out of the darkness.

The rest of the pursuing agents closed in as she made it to her feet.  She wouldn’t have time to create the portal to take her home before they shot her down.  And besides, she was still too close to the Overlap to jump.  “
Get out of here, Dad!
”
s
he sent as she raised her hands in the air.

“
I’ll find you, Celia,
” she heard her father say.  Then she felt him jump away.

Relieved that her father and the others had escaped safely, she turned her focus to the agents closing in on her
. 
“All you boys for little old me?”  She smiled as the stun blast slammed into her, bringing darkness with it.

Ava stepped through the exit of
The End
and out into the Third Verse.  It was a cool, summer night in this city.  The air smelled of a recent rain, though the ground was dry.  The slight breeze blowing felt good on her skin.

She followed Emery around the corner of the bar.  He was a senior agent, and the Stranger in charge of her training.  Ava had received more than her share of dirty looks in the past day from agents of all ranks.  Most recruits had to go through weeks of basic training before being allowed in the field, but Ava had been assigned to a Stranger immediately—a fact that earned her few friends among the ranks.  She had even been injected with the military grade nanites that were usually reserved for agents who had completed years of specialized training.

The nanites gave her abilities that she could only have dreamed of in New Britain.  Increased strength, endurance, rapid healing of wounds, instant communications, no more need for the band.  They were even able to act as body armor, hardening over the surface of her skin, giving it the appearance of liquid metal. 

Ava viewed the scene outside the Overlap.  A green dumpster sat on top of one of their EMF devices with an agent crushed in between the two.  There were several agents standing around the scene, as if waiting for orders.

Emery gave those orders.  “Get this thing off him and ready the body for transport home.”  Turning to the nearest agent, he said, “What the hell happened here?  Report.”

“There was a woman, a
telly
, she showed up and destroyed the device before we had a chance to take her down.  We captured her and took her into custody.”

“What about the others?” Emery asked. 
“You were supposed to take all of them.”

The agent swallowed.  “Yes, sir, we were unable to complete our mission before they escaped
,
sir.”

“Well if they
escaped
, of course you didn’t capture them, you dim-witted idiot!  Get the hell out of my way!”  Emery whirled around to meet the group of agents who were returning.

Ava followed, keeping a few feet’s distance.  She hadn’t been around Emery long enough to know if he was angry or not, but she thought it best to play it safe.  No good reason to kick a hornet’s nest, after all.

“Is this her?” Emery asked, in reference to the woman one of the agents was carrying over his shoulder.

“Yes, sir,” the agent in the lead said.
 
“We stunned her after she was shot in the shoulder trying to escape.”

“Did you sedate her as well?” Emery asked.

“Yes, sir, everything was done according to protocol.”

“Very well, place her over by the door.”  Emery opened a channel to Lady White
.
 
“The Shadows escaped with the informant and the key, no telling where to.  We managed to capture one of the Shadows.  A woman who destroyed the EMF device.  Do you want me to kill her now, or bring her back for questioning?”

“Bring her back with you,” Lady White replied.
 
“I want to speak with her.”

Emery turned to his new trainee
. 
“Take the woman back to the Prime Minister.  I’ll clean up here and meet you back at the Embassy.”

Ava nodded, keeping her expression neutral, but inwardly she loathed taking orders from a man.  She wouldn’t be taking orders for long, however, not if
she
had anything to do about it.

She walked over to the unconscious woman, and picked her up effortlessly, putting her over her shoulder. 
These nanites are incredible
, she thought
. 
How did I ever get by without them?

Ava made her way outside the dead zone around the Overlap and cued the nanites to run the jump program that would activate a gateway.  When all was ready, the portal opened up.  It was bright on the other side, but her vision adjusted quickly thanks to the nanites.  She stepped through to the Seventh, prisoner in tow.

Back In The Seventh

Celia didn’t remember how she got in the bed she woke up in.  She didn’t remember how she got into the restraints on that bed either.  She felt groggy, her mind was fuzzy, like after a night of hard drinking.  They must have drugged her, she decided.  She could have been out for days.  She could be anywhere in the MultiVerse by now.

Restraints held down her feet and hands.  She could feel them around her ankles and wrists.  Other restraints were holding her body down as well.  Two around her legs, one around her waist, and another around her chest.  Her head had been left unrestrained and she could lift it just high enough to see her toes.

She was in a sterile room of some sort, in a hospital or laboratory.  There were medical monitors around her, displaying her vitals and other biological details.

Celia reached out with her mind, grasping for other lifeforms, but she found nothing.  She tried to break the restraints holding her, a feat which should have been accomplished easily, but nothing happened.  Either she was dreaming, or there was an EM field nearby.

Celia heard the door open, but didn’t raise her head to look.  Instead she feigned sleep.  Perhaps she could take whoever it was unawares.  She heard the footsteps of several people walk into the room.  The loud sounds of hard heeled dress shoes accompanied by the softer soles of boots.

“Raise her up,” a woman’s voice said with a strange accent.  The bed Celia was on began tilting, moving her from a horizontal to a vertical position.  The same voice went on, “We know you’re awake, Celia, you can stop pretending.”

Celia opened her eyes as the bed came to a halt in the vertical position.  There was a platform beneath her feet that allowed her to stand and bear her own weight.  Her body barely shifted in the transition, still quite restrained.

The woman Celia saw in front of her was young and beautiful.  She had shoulder length light brown hair, straight as a wisp, and twice as long on the left side.  Another woman stood off to the side at a control screen.  A medical assistant, she assumed.

“You cut your hair,” Celia said with a smile.

The young woman was visibly shaken, but recovered quickly.  “Yes, I thought it fitting, considering the circumstances.”