“You’re awake?”
A woman came up behind me; I assumed she was an agent, but I still felt a little bad when I grabbed her.
“What’s going on? Tell me,” I demanded.
She paused. “We’re under attack,” she finally said. I could barely hear her voice over the sirens.
“From who? Who even knows you’re down here?” I yelled over the alarms.
“It’s an inside attack,” she called back. “All the sections are shutting down. Now let me go. I have to get to my post!”
I watched as she headed for an opening, one that led down a hallway. She keyed in a number on a lock and a door began to slowly close downward.
As soon as I realized what was happening, I knew I was trapped.
Dante’s going to die. I’ll kill him for this.
If I survive, I added silently to myself.
I swore under my breath and peeled myself off the floor. I needed to finish the job I came here to do.
“Why did I ever agree to this?” I muttered to myself, ducking around another corner as a number of guards ran past me in the opposite direction.
Fortunately, none of them seemed interested in stopping me. I took this as a good sign, and I took that as a sign I was crazy.
“You there!” a voice called out to me. “This way!”
Up ahead of me, I saw another troop of guards. From where I was, the guy didn’t realize I wasn’t one of them. He probably thought I was just another agent. “What is it?” I called back.
“Break in the med ward. Something’s going on in the freezer,” he called. “We need to get down level and stop them before they dismantle the entire morgue.”
Freezer? Like, where they keep the dead people’s bodies? I frowned. Was it possible someone else was here to steal Raiya’s body, too?
“Which way?” I called back to the guard.
He turned and made his way over to me. “You’re not one of us!”
“No, but you will be hearing from my lawyer,” I promised, giving him a swift roundhouse kick. He doubled over and I tried to get away.
He managed to grab my ankle, and I went flying fast into the floor.
I wriggled my foot free of his grasp and then kicked him hard, hoping that the blow to the face would be enough to knock him out. “Let me go,” I yelled.
My wish was granted as I heard his unconscious groan.
I felt his hands fall off me, and I managed to claw myself back up to a standing position.
“Deep breath,” I told myself.
I could honestly say I hadn’t had a workout like this in years—you know, one where I had to really, actually fear for my life.
It took me more than a few deep breaths before I was ready to go on.
Steady once more, I headed off.
Some of the guard’s companions turned to face me just as I reached them.
“Stop,” one of them said as he made a grab for me.
I twisted away and then wondered if I could bluff my way out of fighting them. They outnumbered me by more than my karate and kickboxing classes at the college had prepared me for, no question.
“I’m here to help,” I said, trying not to have a panic attack or giggle nervously or give myself away. “Stand down!”
“Are you an agent?” one of them asked.
“Uh, yeah,” I said. “I’m new. Just signed on. What’s happening?”
“This is the emergency protocol for a Code Security Alpha,” one of the other guards said. She pointed down another hall, where, if I could just clear out the sirens, I could hear a whisper of small explosions. “We’re here to wait, until we’re called to battle or we’re called to evacuate. The last group just went in moments ago.”
“Where’s the boss?” another guard asked.
“He, uh, got hit with something back there,” I said. “Totally knocked out. Where is the med ward?”
“It’s down that hall,” the lady guard said. “It’s been attacked.”
“Where’s the freezer?”
She frowned at me. “Why do you want to know?” she asked.
“So I can help.”
“Everyone here helps.”
“I want to help more,” I clarified, hoping she wouldn’t think she was stupid. “You know, see if I have any beginner’s luck.”
She looked at me quizzically and then shrugged. “The freezer’s down a level,” she said. “It’s only accessible from the ward.”
“Got it.”
A grumble came out of the hallway from behind us. “Hey!”
Uh-oh. Looks like the boss guy woke up!
I managed to grab one of the guards’ Taser guns and slip away, then I hurried off down the hallway. They were momentarily too confused to stop me and, fortunately for me, too well trained in following orders to follow me. They had to wait, and wait they would, it looked like.
As for me, I wasn’t thinking out any specific plan. I was just trying to survive, first of all, and then, second of all, do my job.
As I got closer to the med ward, it was clear I would have to focus on the first part more than the second.
There were bodies, bodies I didn’t know if they were dead or unconscious or just mangled, but they were lying all around. I didn’t stop to take a look, and I didn’t want to. I hurried forward and kept my eyes alert for any unexpected movement or attack.
The doors to the med ward, or what I assumed used to be the med ward, had been blown away so hard I could see indents in the walls across the hall. They were under burn marks and a layer of dusty debris.
I stepped inside the room, preparing for the worst. I was only comforted by the fact that at least the alarms were more muffled here, and I had enough space left in my mind to hear myself think.
“What happened in here?” I awed at the damage. “It looks like something exploded ... ”
Dante had mentioned that the leader of SWORD—who I guess was the one known as the Matriarch—had killed off her Star employees. Was it possible she’d missed one?
Out of all the room, only one bed stood still intact. I made my way over to it, still cautious.
There were papers, all scattered and burning. Two IV bags of medicine were there, torn open and leaking. I picked them up and smoothed out the plastic.
“Versed?” I read aloud from the one package. I looked at the other one. “Propofol?”
Sometimes I wished I had some of Mark’s medical training.
Before I could lament my situation further, I heard another loud banging, followed by a frustrated scream, coming from below me.
Catching sight of the doorway, I sped toward it, the borrowed weapon, which I had no real clue how to use, held in front of me as a last-resort type of defense.
Another round of banging made me flinch as I approached the door.
“Morgue.” The word was swinging loose, now half-hanging above the door, where it had probably been anchored securely only a few moments before. This was the freezer that my earlier escorts had mentioned.
Another scream came from the room, and I saw a flash of brilliant light bomb out.
“Well,” I muttered, “that answers one question.” I was, in fact, dealing with a Star.
There were more sounds now, ones I could make out despite the continuing muffled sirens—metal crashing, glass shattering ... and a woman, weeping.
The banging stopped, the crashing halted, and the smashing ceased. But the crying continued.
Maybe she’s out of power. And any other weapons, I thought.
Either way, I didn’t have a lot of time before the rest of the black site caught on and found us.
I eased into the room.
It was a mess. Two desks were toppled over. A myriad of morgue doors were smashed in; several had been opened, and their contents remained. I could still see shadows inside others, and instinctively I cringed.
My heart ached. How was I ever going to find Raiya’s body now?
The weeping continued. And then I heard th
e broken whisper all the way across the room.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”
My heart jolted, reeling from shock. I had trouble breathing as a new sense of numbness took over me. Music, music that I hadn’t heard in years, came sailing back, sweeping me away from the rest of the world.
I felt my stolen weapon slip out of my hand; I barely heard it clatter to the ground.
I watched, transfixed, as a shadow detached itself from the corner of the room when it stood up and faced me. When her eyes—the same violet eyes that had haunted my memory for the last several years—turned to rest on me, all or any doubt I had left in my mind fled from me. I felt my eyes tear up, as though I’d been slapped in the face.
At that moment, mountains crumbled, thunder broke through the heavens, and a wave of warmth tore through the walls of ice inside my heart, breaking the spell of loneliness cast on me all those long years.
That was when I knew she was real.
“Raiya.”
☼8☼
Blindsided
I could’ve stared at her forever. There was a part of me that didn’t want to believe this was real. There was another part of me that couldn’t deny it was. And then there was yet another part of me that wanted to know how this could’ve happened in the first place. All the possibilities paralyzed me.
Trust, but verify.
I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to be wrong. It would just kill me if I was wrong.
Ultimately, it was a good thing that my curiosity still demanded a short leash. I stepped forward.
“Raiya.” Her name escaped me once more, more at my soul’s compulsion than either my mind or my body’s.
I saw her eyes narrowed, both in frustration and rage. “Who are you?” she asked.
Her voice was slightly different. It sounded deeper than the voice I remembered, even though it still carried the same music.
“Is it really you?” I asked, tentatively taking another step forward.
“Stay back,” she ordered. A small bubble of power appeared in the palm of her hand, glowing with fury.
Despite my shock, I almost smiled. It was really and truly her. She was my Raiya.
It was then that I noticed she was holding something. Several somethings. There were several medical packs in her hands, all no larger than a sandwich bag.
Was she looking for food? I wondered.
Taking another look at her, I couldn’t have blamed her if she was. She was wearing a hospital gown, but it did little to hide how emaciated her form had become since ... I didn’t really want to think about the last time I’d seen her.
Her hair was long, longer than it had been when we were together last time. Her feet were bare, and there was blood running down her one calf.
It was her face that finally caught and held my gaze.
It was the same face, the same beauty that I’d known all those years ago. But it was much more stark, much more clear, and much more sad. The angles of her face were sharper, gaunt with dark memories and a lack of sunlight. She hadn’t aged with the passage of time, I realized, so much as with the experience of pain.
I was still in pain, too, as I was puzzled, really, as to why she didn’t seem to recognize me the way I’d recognized her.
“Tell me who you are,” she commanded, this time more forcefully.
“It’s me,” I said quietly. “Don’t you remember me?”
When she only narrowed her eyes more, I sighed. I had to get her out of here. I could worry about this another time.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I tried to assure her. “How could I?”
“Very easily,” she shot back.
“No,” I breathed. “No, I couldn’t. Are you sure you don’t recognize me?” I took another small step forward.
“No.” Her answer was quick, and it cut me to the quick. Some part of me felt like crying.
I gave her a shaky smile. “It’s me,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. “Remember? I’m Ham Dinger.”
I waited for her to respond to me, the way she had all those years ago. Goodness knows I never thought I’d be so happy to be called “Humdinger” again.
But she said nothing. She just glared at me, with fear and distrust in her eyes.
“We’re friends,” I told her, finally. Something must’ve gone wrong, I thought. Maybe they’d drugged her or something, and she wasn’t able to recall anything.
Fear seized my heart all over again. What if she never remembered anything? What if she never remembered anything ever again, about who we were and who we could be?
I finally reached her. She seemed taller than I remembered, but she was still the perfect size for me; just from looking at her, I could tell her chin would still fit perfectly into the crook of my neck. I held out my hand. “Please, trust me.”
“I don’t trust anyone,” she retorted.
If there was anyone who could convince her she was wrong, it was me. Not for nothing was I Pittsburgh’s best associate lawyer.
“What about Adonaias?” I asked. “What about the Prince of Stars?”
She faltered at that.
“Don’t you trust him, Raiya?” I asked.
She hesitated. “I do, but you don’t,” she finally said.
I frowned. “How would you know that?”
“It’s not hard to see.”
Good, this is good. She’s talking. I had to tell myself all these lies, all these good things to refrain from screaming.
Thankfully, I was interrupted. I could hear footsteps hurrying down the stairs behind us, and they were rampant with relentless anger.
I knew I had to hurry. “Come on. I’m here to get you out of here.” My throat clogged up as I added, “You told me that you would be waiting for me. Here I am.”
Raiya’s eyes seemed to dull, clouded by confusion. “Why didn’t you come sooner?” She clutched the bags she held against her as a fresh batch of tears escaped her.
Before I could do anything else, a new round of guards appeared at the door.
It was time to go. If we could; it seemed I’d only blinked, and we were suddenly surrounded.
I stepped in front of Raiya, shielding her from their view. “Stay close to me,” I instructed her.
“Do you even know what you’re doing?” she asked.
Her tone reminded me of how she used to chastise me after the early battles with the Sinisters and their minions. Before I could argue with her, a guard stepped forward. “That’s him!” The leader of the guard I’d managed to knock out was leading the pack. “Get him!”
“No!” Raiya cried out behind me. I felt her power hit me, hard. I fell over, hitting my face on the floor, and I felt the power of her partial supernova crush into me.
This is too familiar, I thought as I inched my way toward her. Even without remembering me, she still thinks it’s her duty to protect me.
As her power pummeled into me, and all around me, I scraped myself off the floor.
I had to push back a smile. I hated myself for it, but I was thrilled to be back again, back in the middle of her power, where time had no say in how we felt or what we did.
I tried to grab a hold of her shoulders, moving closer to her as her power grew around us. As I reached out, my hands took hold of her arms, and I felt her grasp on the different bags in her hands weaken.
I wondered if I would get a chance to kiss her again, just like the last time we were stuck in one of her supernova power bubbles.
Before I could pull her close to me, she froze. “No,” she said, the terror as clear in her voice the first time we wound up together. Instantly, her power ceased.
Thankfully, it had been enough to render the guards useless and blow a nice-sized hole into the ceiling. I could even make out the sky from where we stood, thanks to the gaping hole her power had left behind.
“Good job,” I said.
“Get back.” She stepped away from me. “These are mine,” she said, indicating the bags. “You c
an’t have them.”
“It’s okay,” I said, holding my hands up in defeat. “But I need to get you out of here. Will you come with me?”
She scowled, and I wondered if she had always been this much of a skeptic.
Finally, she softened. Just a little. “Alright.”
She agreed, just in time. Above us, several floors of broken beams snapped free, sending a wave of building scraps fluttering down all around us. I glanced up and saw the sides of the different floors waver dangerously.
We don’t have much time. This place is going to cave in on itself.
Raiya looked at me. “It’s going to collapse,” she said, her eyes wide with shock.
“Yep.” I said nothing else as I led her through the site, trying to retrace my steps as we moved through the building. We managed to outrun several other evacuation teams, and hide when we couldn’t outrun them.
It wasn’t long before Raiya slumped against a wall, breathing hard. I could see she was shaking, and I didn’t blame her. Water from the lake was leaking through the various nooks of the building, and we were beginning to get wet.
I didn’t think it would help much, but I took off my jacket and placed it around her shoulders. “Here,” I said. “This might help.”
She gave me a small smile, and I just about melted. “Thank you ... what did you say your name was again?”
“Oh, uh, Hamilton.” It took me longer than I wanted it to for me to give her my name. I turned away from her, pretending to wipe the sweat and water off my face to hide my disappointment. “Are you almost ready to go again? We don’t have much time.”
“I haven’t moved like this in a long time,” she said, almost as if she was answering the question I’d been meaning to ask.
“Do you remember who you are?” I asked. “How you got here?”
“Yes and no,” Raiya said. “I remember who I am, what I am. But I don’t remember much about coming here.”
“Do you know how long you’ve been here?”
She shook her head.
“Do you know anything about a black hole?” I asked, deciding there was no point in getting myself disappointed anymore. It would have to be business, from here on out, until I had her safely outside this prison.
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