by Brett P. S.
Chapter 5
Someone Special
Copenhagen, Denmark
Sofie Rousseau, fiery avenger of mother earth, stepped down into a dank, dark meeting room. The scent reminded her of Felix’s basement, though the atmosphere appeared less than hospitable. Five fat cats stood at the other end. She was surprised he managed to gather each one for this meeting, but Savage Steel did carry some influence. Meeker men than them would risk their lives for a chance at a fresh paycheck from Mr. Adamson himself. She needed to act quickly, before they realized who she was.
“Mr. Arc?” one of them asked, stepping forward.
By the time he met her gaze, it was too late. She smiled and knocked him once in the stomach. The force brought him to his knees, and the EEA officials behind him clustered together. They knew as well as she did that only one way out existed, and it was past her.
“Sorry to say, but you cretins overdrew your account,” she said. “Let’s make this simple. You’ll make a phone call to the top brass of the EEA, and I’ll listen. After you’ve admitted the entirety of your wrongdoing, you may go.”
She glanced around the room and took in a snapshot of her surroundings. The chamber appeared to be a repurposed basement. No real furniture besides the large table in the far corner. Sofie took in the depth of her surroundings and safely assumed this arrangement was rushed and temporary. It made sense. The less people who moved in sofas and chairs lined with expensive upholstery, the better. The basement below the Grand Odense Hotel had years of investment behind it as a means of private business.
“How about you,” she said, pointing to one of them.
She watched as trembling fingers ruffled through pants pockets and pulled out a pocket mobile phone. The craze going around was smart phones, though only a handful of people owned those. Mostly Savage Steel employees. Experimental technology sounded awesome, but she didn’t buy into it and neither did these men. He held up a plain mobile phone and dialed the numbers.
“Wrong number,” she said. “Try again.”
She could tell which buttons he pressed. She shot him an angry glare, and he seemed to get the message. He started over from scratch and redialed, this time entering the number for the official EEA help desk. They recorded their calls for convenience purposes, so it didn’t matter with whom he spoke, so long as he spoke.
“Start talking,” she said.
She watched as the man held the phone next to his face and opened his mouth. A connection established, he started to say a word, but the air fell short of his lips. He snapped his phone shut and looked toward her with an expression of confidence she found disheartening. What was he thinking? Something seemed odd about his glare, though. It totally lacked the kind of fear she inspired moments ago.
Sofie turned around faster than her thoughts could keep up and threw a punch capable of shattering stone to thin air. She glanced over to her left to the sight of Arc running off the wall in an inhuman fashion. He fired two shots directly at her face, and her suit reacted instinctually to deflect them as rubber kept back lightning. Two missile objects slammed into the wall behind her and shattered from the concussive force. Arc stood his ground and dropped his gun, but not before reaching for another inside his vest.
“You’re something else, you know?” he said. “Why don’t you come work for Savage Steel? We could use someone of your talents.”
“As if I’d ever!” she said. “You people make me sick.”
“Right, your theme,” Arc said. He brushed back his hair and glanced over to the group huddled in the corner. “Rest assured Mr. Adamson cares deeply about the future of the EEA. It was why he sent me to handle this.”
“You have to handle me first!” she said, lunging forward.
Arc gave her a look that said to her, oh yeah I planned on it. She slammed a fist into his face, but he dodged in an odd fashion, somersaulting back in an act as effortless as jumping up and down. Not fast enough? Fine. She kicked up her heels and increased the speed. Sofie threw a left jab and a right hook, the second catching his jacket and it would have sent him flying, but he twisted out of her motion and fired once at her suit. Point blank. She never tested the extrusion that close before.
Instinctually, her suit warped to catch the projectile, though not fast enough to deflect it. Instead of diverting, the bullet tore a gaping hole through her suit and exited, scraping a piece of flesh on its way out. Sofie jumped back and clutched her side. The pain hadn’t hit her yet, but the blood seeped against the insides of her suit and she saw it, looking down. He must have seen it as well.
“Butt head!” she shouted. “You trying to kill me?”
“Interesting,” he said. “There are limits to the reaction time of your resonance. Let’s try this then.”
Arc reached inside of his vest on the left side and pulled out another sidearm. How many did this jerk have? Where was he storing them and why was it she couldn’t tell by looking at him? Arc held up both weapons not at her, but instead outstretched from his sides. He was crazy, not aiming at anything or anyone in particular. Arc fired one round from each simultaneously. The gunshots rang close enough to erupt as one continuous sound. Sofie’s suit reacted automatically to protect her from harm. However, the motions jerked from in front and behind and nearly tore her suit in the process. It was as if one cruised toward her front while the other circled around back to strike at once. Seconds later, she realized she was in shock. Sofie reached down and pressed her hand against a bullet wound torn through her side by twin shells. She fell to her knees and clutched the gaping hole, desperately clamping down on the mess.
“That won’t kill you,” Arc said. “It will immobilize you, however.”
He casually strode over to her. She got a good look at him, cold and calculating, the perfect servant of an organization such as Savage Steel. Arc held both guns a few centimeters from her forehead and, when she lurched back, the weapons retained their proximity.
“How did you do that?” she asked.
“I’m a resonance user, like you,” he said. “My powers are my business and the business of my employer. Are you interested in working for Savage Steel?”
“I’m not exactly up for an interview right now.”
“Suit yourself,” he said.
Arc squeezed down on the trigger. Sofie thought to close her eyes, but with the barrels pointed at her skull, it didn’t make much of a difference. Fire bellowed from his weapons, but to her surprise, she didn’t feel a thing. The fire scorched around her, as if guided by kinetic energy. Arc fired exactly five rounds, two from one and three from the other, none appeared to end her life. She was alive, wasn’t she? Once the smoke dissipated and she came to her senses, Sofie stared up at the murderous marauder, inquiring as to what exactly happened. She looked as deeply as she could into his cold expression, but found nothing.
“I should kill you,” he said, “But something tells me your path is important in the future. I should not squander something of value unnecessarily.”
Arc turned around and proceeded toward the steps. He shoved his guns underneath his vest after they stopped smoking, and they magically latched into place. It was like magic to her, at least.
“You’re just going to up and leave?” Sofie shouted.
Arc stopped.
“I already completed my task,” he said.
Sofie could only watch him leave as she struggled to keep the bleeding down. As long as she managed to walk down the street, she’d run into a ride or someone who might find a doctor. Even still, people might have heard the gunshots, so the police would locate her eventually. It struck her as odd though. He completed his task? What did he mean?
“Oh, Mon Dieu …”
Sofie met the icy blank stares of corpses. He shot every one of them between the eyes. Somehow, he made the bullets warp around her to the centimeter, turn on a ninety-degree angle, and plant themselves
into the skulls of each of the men. He was a resonance user, someone insanely powerful … someone special, like her.