The tea soothed my throat and the bread helped with the dizziness, but only a little. “Water, this is going to be a tough mission. The toughest we’ve had by far. I saw death. A lot of it, and everything was tinged in darkness. Not like, night sky darkness, but evil.
“Firestar….” Her voice wavered. “Did…did you see one of us dying? Wait, don’t answer that. Don’t tell anyone if you did, it would be better that way.”
“I didn't see who,” I said as Dark walked in.
“Good, you’re finished. What happened?” He looked between Water and I, already judging the atmosphere.
Waterstar and I looked at him and his expression darkened to match ours. “That bad, huh?”
I stood up and started pacing. It was a habit Dark and I had picked up from Waterstar. “It’s going to be dangerous.” I explained what I had already said to Water, then continued onto the outline of what was going to happen. “After we infiltrate their base, the NOPCW will become aware of our presence. Dark, you will be the one who calms them down, so you need to be there as ‘Jacob’ before we start.
“Water, you will lead the invasion. With your energy control, you need to be in the front. I’ll be right behind you the entire time; Ice is wiring an ear piece for me and he’ll connect it to Dark’s headphones so there will always be communication. An earpiece will also be made for you.” It was likely we would get separated, even though she and I should remain together and meet up with Darkstar at a rendezvous spot, as was a generic plan. Somehow, things never went that way for us. I wonder why, definitely not because we are extremists.
“Arctic’s planning a route for us,” I continued. “He’s coordinating where we can stop so I can use my ‘sight’. Also, Dark, stay as close to any of the officials as you can; use your power to keep them calm.” Darkstar’s power was making someone, anyone, believe whatever he said, but he had to be within a ten foot radius of them, and it only lasted a few hours. Keeping the higher ups calm, which were people like the commander and ambassador, was going to be difficult to manage, but he would have to handle it. I didn't envy him of his position, definitely not one I would enjoy. I had a very particular opinion about authority.
Darkstar looked down worried. I know that my explanation may not have seemed the most serious, but in situations like this, the smallest disturbance could mean the end of it. “Hopefully we won’t have to resort to anything… else.” Water looked up with narrowed eyes. We both caught the underlying meaning of what Darkstar was referring to. Water was the only one of us who had used her special before being approved to do so, and after the adrenaline rush, she had been unconscious for days. Dark and I had already had our approval for over a year, but it wasn't until recently that Water gained the green light, and that was after the mess.
A depressing silence fell over us and I thought back to that time a month ago. Dark’s plan had messed up and I tried fixing it, but in the process Water had to use her special. Dark was unconscious and I wasn’t able to stop the fire that I had had contained a few minutes previously. A tsunami of water had flooded out from her hands and soon after that she accompanied Darkstar in dreamland.
Because I hadn’t been able to contain the fire, as I should have been able to, Water had to use a type of magic that was commonly referred to as a special here. I still couldn't figure out what had made me lose control of the fire. For over a year, I could make it obey my every will, but suddenly it just lept out of control and was spreading too fast through the village we had been investigating. Everything had been destroyed, and it had been all I could manage to keep the fire from consuming my friends and me, until Water intervened. No one else had been in the village, it was abandoned, but the fire kept us from being able to find out what had caused the villagers to leave, and obscured any clue that would lead us to where they had gone. That had been a month ago, and I was still being punished. Well, that was until this mission came up.
The door opened and Arctic stepped in. “Well aren’t you a cheery bunch?” Arctic’s power was being able to sense people’s feelings, along with manipulating them. “I’ve finished the maps Firestar,” he turned to me, some unknown expression hidden behind his frosty blue eyes. “I have found six places you can stop. Are you sure you can handle that many sights?”
I nodded my head. “If I need to I can; I’ll just need provisions to keep me going.”
“Good, Waterstar, you’ll be in charge of taking care of him,” Water also nodded her head, her jaw set in a determined clench. Waterstar wasn’t always the most serious person, but she never did anything half heartedly. Except cleaning, especially when she makes the mess.
“You all know the plan. Do it without fail.” Arctic finished his not-so pep talk and looked each of us in the eye. He left the stack of papers on the desk, leaving us to sort through them ourselves.
I walked over and passed out the papers. Darkstar’s stack was of the profiles on all of the important people. He probably knew most of the information in there, since he had collected it. In my opinion, it was pretty unnecessary to give out information that was already known, but Arctic was a meticulous kind of guy and didn't leave out anything. Water’s was on all the technology and equipment we would need. I saw a few diagrams of a shotgun she had invented a year or so ago out of boredom, along with some of the knives she used more often. Mine, well mine was just a bunch of maps. Most of them looked familiar, but the ones that led into the basements of the NOPCW were different than any I had seen before, meaning Darkstar, or well Jacob, had not collected them. I was supposed to be organizing it all, making sure nothing, and I mean nothing, went wrong.
Chapter 3: Cerberus 99
DARKSTAR
Water and Fire were currently bickering about how they should get into the base. Water was trying to say they should just pick the lock on a door, while Fire was trying to argue a more sneaky route. I rolled my eyes as Waterstar shouted something then stormed out of the room.
“Troubles in paradise?” I asked Fire with a knowing smile. Those two fought like siblings, and I should know how much siblings sucked. That’s a story for another time though. They also worked tremendously well together, though, despite being opposites.
“Shut up,” he grumbled while following Water out of the room. I grinned before lying down on my bed and looking up at the ceiling. My part of the mission was already planned out. I had it easy, go with Water and Fire until we were out of sight of the Rebellion, and then proceed to my car and report in with the commander who had called me in for an emergency meeting that the spies we had there would set. It wasn't flawless, but there wouldn't be any suspicion about why the meeting had suddenly been called. I was one of the few people who preferred to live outside of the NOPCW building, and I knew that created some speculation about me. If I hadn't got my hands on the information about the Mystic Animals, I would have been moving into the NOPCW quarters to lessen the suspicion a bit, which would have sucked more than you could imagine.
Luckily, I had gotten the information, so now all I had to do was keep the official guys busy until Water and Fire could finish their part, which was to find the path to the Underworld. They would then signal me through the radio in my headphones to finish up with the meeting, and then we would rendezvous outside the building until Arctic gave us permission to head down to the Underworld.
A knock on the door startled me. I sat up and opened it to see Icestar on the other side. He was the main technician and head of the engineering team. You couldn’t find someone better with cars, whether it be on Earth or Calsh. “Come on, there’s something I want to show you.” Ice had an odd smile on his face, and he normally doesn’t show emotion.
“Alright?” I followed him out the door and locked it behind me. With the mission information inside, I wasn’t going to risk anything. Just as we had spies in the NOPCW, it was best to assume they had spies at the Rebellion.
Ice led me down the corridors of HQ until we got to the garages, which was where Icestar spent the m
ajority of his time; I would’ve be surprised if he slept in here pretty often. He took me over to a door that opened to a part of the garage that I had never been to; a restricted sign marked the top of the framing.
Ice pulled out a set of keys and unlocked it. He looked back at me and there was a mischievous glint in his eyes. Whatever was on the other side, he was pretty excited about it.
I walked through the door and almost stopped dead in my tracks. There was a jeep-like vehicle in the middle of the floor with a scattering of tools on the ground around it. The jeep had a single row of seats, and there were only five of them. It was pretty narrow for a car and had spikes lining the six tires along with the bottom edging.
“So what all can this baby do?” I asked, knowing that a car this awesome would have quite a few secrets up its sleeve, especially since Icestar made it.
Ice’s face seemed to light up. “Well, the engine is packed with the best accelerators you can find, whether it be on Calsh or Earth. A cruising speed for her would probably be just over a hundred, and top speed will be close to three hundred macros. I’m hoping to maybe get her to beat light in a race.
“Also, you see all these spikes? Well, the ones on the tire can be extended and used as weapons against anything driving next to this baby, and they can slice through almost anything like butter. Then the ones on the bottom are used as a break on smooth surfaces like ice, but the main thing I made them for is to flip the car. I’ve managed the aerodynamics to allow her to be flipped in any direction and always land on her wheels. Don’t worry, all the seats have industrial belts that bullets can’t break.” Ice glanced over at me, as if looking for approval. Outside of Fire and Water, Ice was one of my greatest friends here, ever since training days.
“Damn dude, this is amazing, but why are all the seats reclined except for the drivers? And can she really drive over ice?”
“Of course she can! The frame is the lightest material I could find; all together she probably weighs a bit more than you, but only by a little. There’s no glass to weigh her down, which is why the seats are flat. The wind force from how fast she’d be going would probably suffocate a person if they were sitting upright. The driver’s seat is normal because you have to be able to see where you’re going. I have a special helmet that the driver would have to use, and it is custom made for me. No way in hell is someone else driving my girl.”
I snickered. Ice wasn’t one for people, but if it has a motor or wires, he was all over it. “So have you come up with a name for your little baby?”
“Mhmm, Cerberus 99.”
I gave him a smile. It was a pretty kickass name, and I felt like I had heard it before.
Chapter 4: Invasion
WATERSTAR
My watch finally sounded its alarm after what seemed like eternity. I turned it off and flipped over my bright blue covers. I saw both Fire and Dark do the same; none of us had been sleeping. This was a pretty intense event, who the hell would want to miss it by stupid mundane things such as sleep?
I grabbed my bag and the knives clinked together inside. Fire beat me to the door and I noticed that he had blatantly ignored the folder on his desk; all Dark needed was his personality. We left our public HQ as if we were scouting so that any unwanted eyes wouldn’t know that anything was up. Hopefully that would keep the Rebellion and NOPCW in the dark until it was too late. Why would we need to sneak out? Simple, there’s always spies everywhere. Darkstar is a prime example of this. We couldn’t have the NOPCW knowing of our invasion too soon.
We soon disappeared into the night to all but the most watchful eyes. Speaking of watchful eyes… I thought I had seen a pair of red ones looking out at us from the distance, but after a blink they had disappeared. I shrugged it off as nerves; it has been a while since we’ve had a major mission. Dark split off from the group and went to the direction of the NOPCW’s main doors, where ‘Jacob’ had been called in for an emergency report, just as planned. A few minutes later, Fire and I could hear the rev of an engine as Dark started up his car.
While Fire and I crept across the barren land, I realized it was much colder than usual. When I asked Firestar about this, he simply replied that a storm was probably coming. He didn’t need to say anything else though. If a storm was truly coming, then we wouldn’t be doing much for a few weeks. Storms down here are about five times worse than they are on Earth… or so I’ve been told, I’ve actually never gone to Earth. Often we would have major flooding, due to the dryness of the Barrens, so even if the storm didn’t last a few weeks, the after effects would. It was worse for those who lived in the villages and such; they didn’t have as sophisticated of buildings as the Rebellion did.
FIRESTAR
Water and I finally reached the back doors to the NOPCW building. I took a glance at Water and saw narrowed eyes. “I’ll be fine,” I murmured annoyed. Sadly, I doubt my annoyance was communicated due to the inability to speak louder in fear of being detected. She didn’t approve of me having to use my power due to how it affects me. The strange thing is, that I am the only one that actually receives any side effects from my normal power; everyone else uses theirs with ease. Arctic theorized it was because I grew up in the Barrens.
I once again closed my eyes and pushed away the unneeded images, leaving only the ones that would help us until the next checkpoint. From what I could see, nothing would happen immediately, though the future was never set in stone. It seemed more clouded than usual, though, but I pushed that to the side as just my imagination. I had noticed that when I had been awake for longer periods of time, my power wasn’t as stable and reliable. Not like I could just drop and take a nap right now, though.
I opened my eyes to find Waterstar right in front of me. She raised her eyebrows and gave me the first round of bread and tea. I couldn’t keep the bread in my stomach, and I felt Waterstar patting me on the back as I vomited. I abandoned the bread and instead finished the tea in two gulps. I gave a weak smile at Water as she placed the cup and thermos back in the bag. “That sucked,” I muttered.
“It’s alright, you can’t help it.” Water replied, touching my shoulder before giving me a hand up.
I stood to the side and watched her pull out a small black box, getting right back to business. She had won our earlier argument about how to obtain access to the building. Inside the box were metal picks in every size and shape you could imagine. Waterstar picked out a straight one that gleamed in the slight light from the stars. “Go ahead.” She handed me the rod. The metal became warm in my hand as I channeled some of my energy into it, but to anyone else it would’ve started melting skin. Being a fire-user had its perks.
When I had been holding it for a few minutes and the metal started to move, I quickly stuck the rod into the keyhole on the door. It molded like clay to the exact shape of the lock. Water bent down and started blowing on the rod. Her breath was cooling the metal like actual water would. It's like we're magical, isn't it?
She nodded her head and stood up. I turned the rod and we heard a faint click as the door unlocked. NOPCW made it too easy to break in; if this had been the first time I’d broken in, I would’ve been worried. Apparently, I’ve gotten arrogant because as the door opened I felt someone kick me in the chest. The last thing I saw was figures in black with guns trained on us, and then I slipped into oblivion as one of them slammed the butt of their gun on my head. Should've paid attention to that cloudy feeling in the vision I guess. Water hadn’t even been prepared for this, since I hadn’t given the code for danger.
DARKSTAR
After splitting up with Fire and Waterstar, I headed in a wide circle to where my black car was parked. I got in as silently as I could though the roar of the engine would clue in anyone to where I was. Most people wouldn’t leave a car parked on the side of the road at night, but Star Rebellion weren’t most people. While driving I took the corners faster than usual and I had to force myself to calm down. This was it, this was the big lead up to what might be the greatest mom
ent in Rebellion history.
I soon reached the garage; Water would’ve been proud, I had been going thirty miles above the speed limit. I nimbly swerved into my spot and got out. After a last minute inspection of my clothes, which included me swiping off a tiny piece of lint that would get me in a load of trouble, I confidently walked into the building. Now was the time for calm, collected Jacob, field reporter for NOPCW.
I had barely closed the door behind me when I felt someone grab my arm. It took all my effort to not incapacitate the person. I settled for a surprised look, and it wasn’t faked. Maegan was the one who had grabbed me, and was dragging me down the hall as she spoke.
“Good, Jacob, you’re here!” Relief flooded Maegan’s face. “They were saying that you have been helping Star Rebellion, but I kept telling them they were wrong. Come on, we need to hurry.”
I continued to get even more surprised as she spoke. Why would she stick up for me, we had hardly ever talked, except for when I’d run into her. Funny how every time we’ve met, I end up almost trying to kill her. This was going to be one interesting night.
It didn’t take long for Maegan to drag me to the conference room. When she burst through the door, everyone looked up in surprise. Maegan started babbling about how it was impossible for me to be with the Rebellion. She was only silenced when her twin sister came over, trying to shush her. Maegan wouldn’t listen, so the other finally just put her hand over Maegan’s mouth. I just stood back and watched, not sure of what my current position was here. It didn’t sound good though.
“Maegan, shush, no matter what you say, the others won’t believe anything until Jacob gives them proof.” Her eyes flickered over to me.
“But Chelsea, he’s here right now, that’s all the proof someone would need!” Maegan said in a desperate voice. Apparently I was in a worse situation than I had thought. If they were truly suspecting me… I allowed myself a brief moment to wonder how Water and Fire were fairing. I also wanted to know who had backstabbed the Rebellion. Though I suppose it was possible these idiots had managed to figure it out all on their own.
Star Rebellion Page 3