The Sound of Wind

by Raegan Millhollin

  Chapter Thirty - Resolve

  The next day, over coffee, Hugo realized there was a way to make the stronger version of the inhibitor more effective, but it would need a different delivery system. He took Crysta into the office with him to explain the idea, and she helped him with the designs. He was worried that he hadn’t heard back from CJ or Clem yet, but they’d been gone for longer periods of time before, and the new design was keeping his attention. Once he started on the construction he felt a little bad because Crysta didn’t have anything to do anymore.

  “Well, since you don’t need me anymore, I think I’ll head over to Gideon Enterprises to help out Dr. Arliss,” Crysta pushed away from her chair, scooping up her jacket and replacing it with the lab coat. Hugo nodded absentmindedly, hunched over the tiny circuit board on the workbench.  Crysta sighed, shaking her head and turned to leave. She made it two steps before he grabbed her wrist and she was pulled backwards into a kiss, “Need a lift?”

  Crysta giggled, shaking her head, “No no, I think I’ll be fine. The walk will be good, it’s rather nice out.”

  “It is?” Hugo blinked, glancing at the closed blinds of the lab.

  Crysta shook her head, slipped out of his grasp and headed towards the door, “Yes. Yes it is. You should try going outside sometime.”

  “Hmmm, sounds interesting. I think you’ll have to show me how to do that later.”

  Crysta laughed, “It’ll be my pleasure.” She waved and was out the door.

  It took three minutes for Hugo to realize he’d had that conversation before. He sat up completely straight, opening a portal to Boris’ place. It wasn’t a smoldering ruin. He ran out of the lab, “Crysta!” She wasn’t in the hallway, so he ran all the way to the entrance. She wasn’t there. She couldn’t have gone much farther and Mr. Gideon was still sick. He had his phone in his hand and was quickly dialing Maggie’s number before the conscious decision to do so, “Maggie! I need to find Crysta!”

  “One second,” rustling, “There she-wait…she’s gone. I can’t see her anymore.”

  “What did you see?”

  “I-she was in a chair in a small, sparsely furnished room, unconscious. Her sleeve was moving like someone was pushing it up, but I couldn’t see who, and then I lost her.”

  His heart hurt it was beating so fast, cold leeching everything out of his body. His voice sounded calm when he spoke again, but he didn’t feel calm, “What did the room look like?”

  “It was square. Concrete. One door. The door had a window that looked out into a white hallway. But there was no one out there, so…”

  “Ok. Thank you Maggie.” He hung up and portaled to the security room. There was a guard, slumped unconscious in the chair. He was alive. Hugo replayed the footage in the hallway, watched Crysta walking down it, start to slow down, leaned against the wall, and then finally crumpled. Scott, the man who had tried to capture CJ, pulled himself out of the floor, and then became solid, scooping Crysta into his arms, then tapped his ear with one finger, “I got her.” And then Mary appeared and they all disappeared.

  He was going to find them and kill them and whoever they were working for. It was obvious Scott wasn’t with the Agency anymore since he was able to use his abilities. Maybe they would know who Scott defected to, but he had a good idea of who anyway. Hugo dialed CJ’s number and it went to voicemail, “Call me as soon as you get this. Please.” He also tried Clem, with similar results. Then he called Charles.

  “Hugo?” The Agency member's tone was skeptical.

  “Where is Scott?”

  There was a long pause as the man adjusted to the abrupt conversation. “What do you mean?” He finally settled on a wary tone.

  Hugo’s voice dipped lower, “If you’re protecting Scott, this is going to get a lot worse.”

  Charles actually sounded confused, “No, we’re not. He left, joined the Lazarus group.”

  Hugo’s grip on the phone tightened, his teeth clenched. If they’d hurt her, “Do you know where he is?”

  “Why do you-”

  Hugo snapped right over Charles’ words, “Where is he?”

  Charles’ tone was cautious, “We can track him, but why do you want to know? What are you planning?”

  “They took her,” Hugo answered, voice serene.

  “Her?”

  “They took Crysta! They took her!”

  There was a pause and then finally, in a more urgent tone, “Wait a second.”

  Charles came back with coordinates. Hugo didn’t even bother hanging up before creating the portal and vacuuming the entire area. It was a restaurant. They would survive. He dragged Scott’s limp form through the portal, redirected it to his office, and propped the man up in a chair. He opened another portal to one of the labs and injected Scott with a dose of the inhibitor. After that he grabbed the pair of handcuffs from the security guard and anchored Scott to the chair.

  He pulled his arm back, smacking Scott in the face as hard as he could. The man jolted awake, stared at Hugo wide-eyed and then made a face like he was concentrating on something, and when it didn’t work the expression turned to panic. “You’re not going anywhere,” Hugo informed him, tone flat, “Tell me where she is.”

  The panic faded and Scott smirked, “Who are you talking about?” He asked amiably.

  Hugo hit him again, “Don’t fuck with me, where is she?”

  Scott just smiled back, “Don’t know. Sorry.”

  He didn’t need to look as he reached towards his desk, pulling the scissors from the cup of pencils and pens. He plunged them into Scott’s leg. The man screamed, which was a satisfying sound, but then the room brightened.

  Hugo looked around to find CJ, eyes wide and panicked, “Clem read Mitchell! They’re going to take Dr. McFadden for her healy bits!” And then Clem was in the room too, and she finally realized they had a guest.

  Clem turned slightly to CJ, but most of his attention was focused on Hugo, “Looks like we’re late.”

  “Shit!” CJ exclaimed, flailing her arms.

  Hugo pointed to Scott, who was singularly focused on the pair of scissors in his leg, “He was the one who took her.”

  Clem sighed, “He doesn’t know where Mary took Dr. McFadden after they put the armband on her,” then he leaned towards Scott, putting a hand under his chin so that he was looking him in the eye, “But you’re going to tell us the places she frequents, aren’t you?” Scott complied with an almost mechanical delivery.

  Hugo’s hand balled into a fist at his side, “Do you have everything you need, Clem?”

  The man nodded, “I do.”

  Hugo smiled coldly at Scott, and the man’s eyes widened. “Then I don’t need you anymore,” the room got very warm, and then Scott fell into a volcano. Hugo barely waited for the portal to close to open another, but it was immediately clear that Mary wasn’t among the paltry number of patrons at the bar.

  Just as Hugo closed the portal to open another, Clem held up his hand, “Let me try something. Go back, and give me some time.” Hugo did as he requested, and Clem stepped through the portal, walking over to the bartender. “Hi. I’m looking for Mary. You know what she looks like, remember?” After a brief moment the man nodded. “Ah, good. Give me a call at this number when she returns. Thank you,” Clem wrote his cell phone number on a coaster and slipped it to the bartender. The man took it with a nod, and then Clem walked back through the portal.

  They had to repeat the process six more times, as there was no sign of Mary at any of them. When Clem returned through the seventh portal, he gave Hugo a frustrated sigh, “Go sit down, you look tired.”

  “I’m fine,” Hugo snapped, but he wasn’t fine. He was dizzy and he felt like he was going to vomit any second.

  “Go sit down.” Clem used a tone that Hugo couldn’t resist, so he dropped onto the couch in his office, CJ joining him while Clem claimed the remaining office chair. CJ started talking, but he couldn’t focus. It was his fault. They were going to do terri
ble things to her and he hadn’t been there to protect her.

  “How did they know she could heal?” He heard himself asking, his voice unsteady.

  “A combination of things,” Clem offered, “but mostly because of when she healed Mary.”

  So it was his fault. It was all his fault. She was going to get hurt, and maybe if she didn’t cooperate they would kill her. And he couldn’t do anything about it. He had no idea how to find her beyond sending CJ out to search the world, and there would never be enough time. His hands were shaking, he was shaking. His mind looped in a circle and people talked around him, but the only thing that caught his interest sometime later was the ring of Clem’s phone.

  “Oh, thank you,” Clem hung up. “She’s at the first bar. Are you ready?”

  “The inhibitor…”

  Clem grinned, “I can handle this.”

  Hugo opened the portal. Clem said loudly so the entire bar could hear him, “Mary, come here.” The woman turned abruptly, her black hair swishing with the movement. She left the bar to walk over to them, a panicked look on her face. “Sit down Mary, and have a chat with us,” Clem motioned to a table and he sat down, Mary followed suit, “So Mary, why don’t you tell me where you took Dr. McFadden?”

  Mary recited an address, but amended her directions, “I don’t know which room they put her in, they just gave me the building to take her to.”

  “Thank you Mary,” Clem said with a gentle smile, “I understand you’re very upset about your brother’s disappearance two years ago. I know you’ve lost hope. Perhaps it really is best if you just give up, go home and kill yourself. You have a good evening, Mary.” Clem stood as Mary started crying, “Shall we?”

  There was a moment when Hugo’s stomach plummeted as they stood, walking away from Mary, but then he remembered what was at stake and the feeling dissipated, just leaving the feel of the cool wind from the portal he opened that took them across the street from a completely dark office building; even the street lights along the block were dead.

  “I’ll find her and let you know exactly where to go. I’ll be back real soon!” CJ turned into lightning and jumped in the ground. She came back several seconds later with a location. “It’s all dark in there. People are running around like everything is on fire.” Hugo opened another portal.

  Clem put a hand on his arm, “We’ll locate the members in the building. You be careful.”

  Hugo continued on through. It was a small room and it was so dark he had to keep the portal open for light. Crysta was in the center, tied to a chair, her head tilted forward. In the dim light she looked pale and there was sweat beading on her forehead. She had a dried smear of blood coming from her nose. Hugo reached into his kitchen and grabbed a knife, cutting through the ropes, catching her before she fell off the chair. She was breathing and her heartbeat was strong at least.

  “Crysta?” He said softly, cupping her face with his free hand. Her eyes fluttered open and she immediately started crying, “Shhh shhhh, it’s ok. I’m here. Everything will be fine. I promise.”

  “You’re dead,” she responded weakly through her sobs, “I saw you die and this is a dream, oh god I want you to be real,” She wrapped her arms around him, burying her face against his shoulder.

  She’d seen him die? What had they done to her? Wait. The Lazarus group had a person who could put people to sleep and alter dreams. They were going to die. “Shhh, it’s ok. This isn’t a dream. I’m right here. I’m going to take you home, ok? Everything will be fine."

  She looked up at him, her expression completely lost, “Please…”

  “I’m real. I promise.” He kissed her lightly on the forehead, “I need you to get up now. Can you do that for me?” She nodded tentatively and he helped her stand. She was swaying on her feet, but she could make it the few steps to the portal that opened to her bedroom. He set her gently on the bed, “Ok, lie down. I’ll be right back.”

  “No!” She grabbed his hand, “If you go away you’ll be dead again, and you’ll never come back. I don’t…I can’t…” The tears returned, louder.

  He wrapped his arms around her, “Please, I’ll be right back. Just wait for me. I’m going to make the people who did this to you, pay.” She didn’t care, she was crying.

  His phone was ringing, it was CJ, “Where are you dude? It’s time!”

  “I’ll be right there.” He touched Crysta’s cheek, “I’ll be right back, you won’t even know I was gone. Don’t be afraid.” She opened her mouth to protest, but he vacuumed the room and she passed out. He hated himself for it. But then he opened a portal, grabbed Fragnarach, then opened another one and stepped through.

  CJ was waiting for him in the room they’d found Crysta in; she had Clem’s cell phone in her hand. “They’re out back. I think they’re waiting for us. I already took out the dreaming guy and the machine dude.”

  “Fine.” Hugo opened another portal to the back of the building. The world was dark with rain, it poured from the sky, and he was almost instantly soaked to the skin. The wind was howling, bending several trees to the ground and carrying anything that wasn’t nailed down further west. If Hugo hadn’t had his air shield he would have been moving along with it. He could barely make out shadows in the darkness, until CJ sparked, illuminating the yard in a bright white flash of light.

  Great, they have oxygen tanks, Clem said, his voice dry. Wait, look out!

  Hugo dropped through a portal to another side of the yard in time to see a giant hand of earth rise from the ground where he’d been standing. Then the earth manipulator, Avery, was illuminated by a bright flash of light as he was tackled by a lightning monster. The light glinted off a large block of ice further in the distance with a dark shape standing on top of it. Further up a figure was flying above it all. Mitchell. The ground rumbled.

  Go left!

  Hugo jumped to the left and vines burst out of the ground, one whipped him in the arm with its razor sharp thorns, but the rest missed the opportunity to wrap around him and shred him to pieces. And then the bright light illuminated Trent until he was enveloped in lightning.

  Right!

  Hugo lurched to the right and a lightning bolt struck the ground where he’d been standing, charring the ground. This was getting ridiculous. As CJ leapt from Trent’s body, all the rain near her seemed to divert towards her, sealing her in a watery globe. The lightning girl fizzled and fell out of the water bubble, hitting the ground hard.

  Holy Christ that hurt. Shit! Back!

  Hugo lurched backwards to face another spike of lightning, and then focused all his attention on the sword. The rain was starting to gather above CJ as she slowly climbed to her feet. The howling wind sped up, twirling around the dim shape of the water manipulator, Latoya. It launched her into the air, flinging her around in a spiral that climbed higher.

  Clem said something, but Hugo didn’t notice because he was concentrating on the spiraling tower of wind above him. The entire thing collapsed in on itself, and as he pushed the roaring funnel of air down on top of the woman, the world brightened to the point that he closed his eyes for a second. And then the lightning bolt struck, but not him, the lightning monster arching above him to catch it. She landed on the other side of him, and maybe he imagined it, but she looked larger than before. The spark shot up into the air, striking Mitchell in the chest. The man started to drop and Hugo slammed him into the ground with a blast of air. He opened a portal to him, just as the weather manipulator was weakly trying to get to his knees.

  “You should have minded your own business.” Hugo drove the sword into Mitchell’s chest. It slid in easily, cutting through skin and bone. The man gurgled, blood pouring out of his mouth as he jerked on the ground, and then he lay completely still. The storm should have ended then, but the sky remained dark, the rain pounding the ground.

  Hugo walked to each of the fallen members of The Lazarus Group and slit their throats. “The other two?” He looked at the girl who was staring up at him,
her hair dripping water into her eyes.

  “Dead,” CJ said firmly, “Clem and I discussed it. It seemed like the right thing to do.”

  Hugo nodded. He looked around the yard at the bodies doting the soggy landscape, and then the area warmed up as one by one they fell into the volcano. It was done. The rains lessened and the sky started to clear. “I’m going to check on Crysta.”

  Ok. CJ and I will go take a nap, and then we have work to do. Vitaly will probably make a move as soon as he finds out what happened here.

  Hugo nodded and then opened the portal to Crysta’s bedroom. She was still asleep. Suddenly exhaustion washed over him, soaking him like the rain. Shivering, he laid the sword down, then sluggishly opened a portal to his apartment, changed into something dry and got his first aid kit. He clumsily wrapped up the large cuts on his arm, and then, barely able to keep his eyes open, stumbled over to Crysta’s bed, falling on it. He pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her. She was safe now. He wouldn’t let anyone touch her ever again. He squeezed his eyes shut. It was his fault she’d had to endure whatever had happened to her in the first place though. His doubts drifted into dreams.