by Chad Kunego
What do I even say to him? I basically accused him of mind rape, yet I turned around and did it to him on purpose. He did it on accident while trying to save me. I do not have same excuse.
How had she let Kaitlyn convince her it was in their best interest to violate the trust of someone she considered a friend? Master Levi had taught her better than this. Breaking her moral code due to fear was unacceptable. Assuming she could convince Rick to return with her and they survived, the only moral course of action was leave the team, going back to the forensics department where she belonged. She obvious wasn’t cut out for fieldwork if she could be convinced to go against what she knew was right.
Lost in thought, she suddenly realized she had come to a stop, hovering a dozen yards off the ground.
“What. Do. You. Want?”
The voice seemed to fill the surrounding air with a low rumbling vibration. The chill in the voice made her freeze, making it difficult to think of a reply. Trying to turn her head, she realized she couldn’t move.
“I asked you a question. What do you want!”
She could feel the anger exuding from him in waves as he slowly drifted into view, the muscles in his jaw standing out in bold relief. In a panic, she blindly reached out with her mind, but was mentally slapped down.
“NO!”
The power of his voice caused the ground beneath them shatter, exploding like it was struck by a meteor and leaving a deep crater behind. The edge in his voice became more pronounced. The tone dropped even lower, making the air vibrate like thunder around them.
“No more mind games, or I’ll send you to the other side of the globe.”
Zarina became aware of the power radiating off Rick, almost like physical waves that caused her to sway with its rhythm. The air shimmered around him, like a heat mirage rising off the road during the summer.
“We need you,” she blurted out, “We cannot stop Juan without you.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’m going to figure out how to stop him, but without your help. If I was so important, ya’ll wouldn’t have attacked me.”
“I am so sorry! We were wrong… I was wrong. I never should have agreed to invade your mind! It was horrible, hasty plan, but we did not have time to come up with better one.”
Zarina noticed a slight questioning look cross his face before the mask of anger slipped back into place.
“Why did you feel the need to attack me in the first place? Huh? What did I do to deserve that from either of you? What changed while I was on my way back? Or were you planning this before I even went to fight Juan?”
A jumble of thoughts tumbled through her mind, making it difficult to figure out the right thing to say. In desperation, she shouted out the only thought she could focus on.
“We thought you might be possessed!”
“Possessed?” he asked, the look of confusion completely replacing the angry look he’d had moments ago, “What the hell made you think I was possessed?”
The confusion and hurt in his voice caused the words to started tumbling out of her like a flood.
“When you were unconscious, you were thrashing around, so I tried entering your mind to try calming you. Your mind was not there, but female presence appeared, forcibly shoving me out. I also saw something I still do not understand, but I believe it was your mind and another trying to enter your head. Or might have been two souls. Was something I never heard of before.”
Without warning, she started falling, but managed to catch herself. She looked back up at Rick, noticing an odd expression on his face. After a minute, he slowly drifted down to her level, looking at her with a serious expression.
“Show me. But I’ll warn you now, if you try anything, you won’t like the result.”
She nodded hesitantly.
“Da, but can we do this on ground. I do not think I can fly at same time.”
The air suddenly solidified beneath her feet, providing her a place to stand. Glancing down, she noticed an almost invisible plane of solid air beneath her feet. Slowly sitting down, she looked back up into his eyes.
“Let me know when.”
“Go.”
She timidly extended her mind toward his. She was shocked again at how easy it was linking with his mind. Shifting her vision, she saw his aura had shifted to indigo, matching hers. Nodding to herself, she replayed her memory of the event. His eyes went wide when he felt her get ejected from his mind by the female voice, almost like recognition. When she reached the part where the two white globes started racing toward his mind, she heard him whisper to himself.
“Inanna…”
Withdrawing her mind, she waited for him to respond again. Studying his face, she spotted several emotions flashing across his face before settling on one she recognized as concern.
“Okay, I’m still pissed, but I can almost see why you both did what you did. Almost.”
She noticed him get a far off look in his eyes before he continued speaking.
“For the most part, your assumptions are valid. It also confirms some suspicions I’ve had lately. But I’m telling you now, I’m not possessed, and if either of you try anything like that again, I’m gone. Is that understood?”
“Da, understood.”
“Fine,” he said, letting out a long sigh, “we need to get back and discuss some things. I also need to eat and get some rest. Let’s go.”
With that, she found herself rocketing across the sky faster than she ever thought possible. Several orders of magnitude faster than her trip to find him.
How did we ever think we could overpower him?
Chapter 25
“So this has been going on since the Reaper mission?”
Rick glanced over at Kaitlyn.
“Yeah. I originally thought it was just the result of nearly dying, kinda like a fever dream. Things that have happened on this mission has made me believe otherwise.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“Oh yeah, sure. After all the times you stated how I’m the most powerful being you’ve ever come across, do you really think I’m going to tell you I’m hearing voices in my head? Especially since I had no way to determine if they were real or not?”
Kaitlyn opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. After a few seconds, she responded.
“Okay, you’ve got a point. Having a person with your level of power suspected of being mentally unbalanced would have been a nightmare scenario, regardless of whether it was an accurate assessment or not.”
“Yeah, our dust up here kinda proves my concerns were valid.”
“They were…”
“So we cool now?”
Kaitlyn stared at him for nearly a minute before responding.
“As of right now, regardless of how I feel, we need to focus on coming up with a plan to take down Juan, or whatever his name is. Beyond that, we’ll see. I can’t give you an answer without a lot of further discussion.”
“Fair enough. At least you’re being honest. I can’t fault you for that, but this conversation isn’t over, not by a long shot.”
“Understood, but let’s deal with the issue at hand first. What was your assessment of our opponent?”
“Tactically, he’s not a skilled combatant, but he learns fast and improvises quickly. I think part of it has to do with this other personality he’s harboring. Whoever or whatever he is, he seems to know me, or know of me. Because of that, I suspect he knows my weaknesses, or at least how to counteract my powers. He’s already hit me with stuff I didn’t know I was vulnerable to. In my opinion, I’m suspecting Juan’s tapping into the other personality every time he fights me.”
“So what’d he use on you this last time? It sounded like you were easily holding your own until that Iškur personality cut in. After that, you were on the ropes again.”
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it, but I wanted to get a question answered first.”
He looked over at Zarina.
“Where in the atmosphere wou
ld super-cooled air come from? I mean air that’s well below freezing?”
Her eyes flashed purple before replying in a mechanical voice.
“The coldest part of the atmosphere is called the mesopause. It averages around ninety degrees below zero, Celsius.”
“Uh, I’ve never been good with metric. What’s that in Fahrenheit?”
She paused again before responding.
“Around one hundred thirty degrees below zero.”
He noticed her voice went back to normal, coinciding with the light in her eyes vanishing.
“That is average, but can get much colder.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right,” he said, turning back toward Kaitlyn.
“He blasted me with a really frigid downburst. It kinda did the opposite of what I normally do. When I suck all the ambient energy out of the air, it freezes. The frigid air he hit me had almost no ambient energy to start with, compared to what I normally have access to. Now that I know about it, I have to come up with a way to counter it. Otherwise, I’m dead in the water, literally.”
“Okay, that’s good to know, but doesn’t really help. We still need a plan of attack.”
Rick stood up to stretch before pacing back and forth. A sudden realization caused him to slap himself in the forehead.
“I’m being an idiot.”
Before either woman could respond, he shifted his aura to indigo. Information washed over him again, allowing bits and pieces of random ideas to start snapping into place. Running faster and faster, his racing thoughts made the room waver around him. Stumbling over to a chair, he collapsed onto it, allowing his mind to continue working out possible solutions.
“Rick, what’s going on? Are you alright?”
Distantly, he heard the concern in Kaitlyn’s voice. Nodding slightly, the stream of information continued flooding his mind with different scenarios, searching for a solution. He held up a hand, indicating she needed to give him a minute. With a mental click, the last piece of the puzzle snapped into place, allowing him to switch his aura back to normal.
“Hopefully I can get used to that,” he said, getting back to his feet tentatively.
“What just happened? Zarina said something about you switching auras.”
He caught her casting a concerned glance toward Zarina before looking back at him.
“I wasn’t getting possessed, if that’s what you’re asking. It’s what I was talking about back at the hotel the other day. When I shift my aura to violet, my mind acts like a supercomputer or somethin’. It’s exhausting but extremely useful. I just haven’t figured out how to control it very well yet.”
“Okay, so?”
“So I think I know how to deal with Juan. At least differently than last time. I don’t think the same tactics would work on him again.”
Kaitlyn crossed her arms impatiently.
“Go on…”
He looked back toward Zarina.
“If I hadn’t raised my guard earlier, how likely would you have been able to overcome me mentally? Honestly?”
She gave him a serious look, pondering the question.
“If I had enough time, and given fact that you are not trained telepath, almost guaranteed. Why?”
“That’s what I was hoping you’d say. I think I have a plan, but we’re only going to get one shot at it. And Zarina,” he said, staring at her, “you’re the key.”
§§§§§§§§§§§§
“Well, it’s not the worst plan I’ve ever heard. It actually sound feasible. Or at least more feasible than your last one.”
“It’s the only one I can think of that doesn’t involve killing him.”
“Yeah, but if it comes down to it, do you think you can take him out?”
“I honestly don’t know. He keeps turning intangible every time we fight, so I’m not sure how I’d be able to hurt him physically.”
“Then it’s something you need to run through that thinking thing you do. We either need to subdue or eliminate him this time. We can’t risk any more lives. All I need to know is, if the shot if it presents itself, can you take it?”
“Yes… but only if he doesn’t give us a choice. Hopefully it won’t come to that though.”
“Hopefully…”
“You clear on your part?”
“Da, will need to meditate to prepare myself though.”
Kaitlyn clapped her hands together before standing up.
“I think we all need a break, maybe even get some sleep if possible. If we’re going to survive this, we’ll all need to be at the top of our game. So unless there’s anything else…?”
Rick shook his head, turning away and heading over to their dwindling pile of supplies. Making a plate of food, he headed back to his pallet, running through possible scenarios.
“Rick?”
Rick barely heard Zarina’s soft, questioning tone. Turning to face her, he recognized the look on the young Russian’s face, having witnessed it many times before when leading green troops, ones that hadn’t seen actual fighting before. It was a look of uncertainty, of wondering if one’s own abilities were going to be enough to let them survive.
During the last confrontation, she probably assumed we’d be able to just take the mutant into custody, especially with me there. Having it devolve into a losing battle, let alone a fight, wasn’t expected, not really. Just a case of us trying to scare the new girl, just blowing it out of proportion in order to keep her on her toes.
This time though, she knew the truth. There wouldn’t be any misconceptions. She understood actual combat was a strong probability this time. It was never easy for someone to face the realization they might not make it back, that they might be seriously injured or killed. In her previous job, it just wasn’t something she’d ever had to face before. Moving his meal to the side, he patted a spot next to him on the pallet.
“What’s up?”
She hesitated a moment before sitting down.
“How do you…” she started before trailing off.
Rick remained quiet, allowing the young woman to contemplate the situation without interruption. After a few minutes, she started talking again, a slight tremor in her voice.
“How do you remain so,” she asked, waving her hand around in frustration, trying to find the word she wanted, “so unperturbed, so calm? This mutant nearly killed you several times. Does nothing scare you?”
Rick paused, trying to arrange his thoughts. It was a variation of the question he’d expected, but it was different enough to require more than a pat answer. He’d usually give this speech to the troops before the fighting started, usually before they even left base. Plus, they were trained for combat. After the fight was over, they intrinsically knew the answer. Being shot at usually had that effect.
This was different though. With everything happening so fast, she hadn’t had time to be scared, to worry about making it through the fight unscathed. All she knew was, he’d nearly died during the previous skirmishes. Now here he was again, getting ready to charge into their final battle, one where either they either won, or they died. Whatever the outcome, it ended here.
“You assume,” he began, gently smiling at her, “that I’m not scared. Only an idiot wouldn’t be scared going up against someone like Juan. The difference being, I have many, many years of experience with this type of situation. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve almost died. Experience breeds a certain level of relaxed expectation.”
He paused, making sure she understood what he was trying to say.
“What you’re feeling is a fear of the unknown, of facing your own mortality. It’s something you’ve probably never had to face before. For me, it’s a familiar situation, so I know how to channel that fear into something productive.”
“Do not lie to me. How could you become used to possibility of dying? You are just sayi—”
Before she could react, he dropped his guard, shifting his aura to match hers. Reaching out, he gently touched her face, all
owing his emotions and memories to wash over her. Her eyes went wide, trying to processed both his memories and feelings along with what he’d said. Slowly, the look of uncertainty faded, becoming replaced by a look of resolve.
“Da, I understand now.”
She grew quiet again, a pensive look on her face. Giving her time to deal with everything, he took another bite of food, chewing it slowly while continuing to mapping out different scenarios for the upcoming battle. Taking another bite, her next question caught him off guard.
“Do you really think we can win without killing him? I know you promised me you would try, but do you honestly think there is real possibility?”
Rick chewed his food thoughtfully before swallowing.
“There’s always a possibility of having the best-case scenario happen, but Murphy’s law usually means something’s going to go sideways. And I hate laying so much on your plate, but a lot of this is going to depend on what you can do while I keep him distracted. You stopping him is our only chance for the best outcome. If you can’t, then it’s gonna get real messy.”
She nodded again, lost in thought. After another minute, she looked up at him, a look of determination settling on her face.
“I will not let you down,” she said, “I will not let team down.”
Chapter 26
“Okay, last time. Everyone clear on the plan? Have everything we need? Once we head out, there’s no coming back.”
Kaitlyn gave him a pissy look before intentionally looking at Zarina.
Wonder what that was about? Probably because she assumes I’m all set. Plenty of experience going into battle I guess.
“Da, am good.”
“Good,” she said, turning back to Rick, “You sure you’re up for this after everything you’ve been through in the past few days?”
“It’s not like we have much of a choice, but getting a good nap in helped a lot. Kinda wish there’d been more food, though. I’m still hungry.
“Do we need to stop for more food? We need you at your best.”
“Nah, I’ll live. Probably shouldn’t go into battle with a full stomach anyway. I don’t think barfing on them will slow them down much. How about you? You good?”