Mystique's Journey

by Daniel A. Jones

  ***

  Mystique spent the next day watching the streets from the roofs above. She only ventured down to street level twice for food and to use the restroom. She noted a slight decrease in the number of prostitutes on the streets. Otherwise, life on the street seemed to be going on as normal.

  Meanwhile Major Castleman read the police report on the murder and knew it was Mystique’s doing. It’d taken her longer than he expected for her to leave a body where the police could find it. He assumed the pimp was not her first victim. Now that one of her killings had made the news, he was going to have to start looking for her. Why hadn’t she stayed hidden? He knew she could’ve remained a ghost for months. He just prayed that she wasn’t going to unleash Shektee.

  Elsewhere, Lady Donavan opened the message and quickly read. It was from Captain Remington, Special Investigator, Psionics Division of the Federation Marshal Service. He wanted Lady Donavan to meet him at 2:00 p.m. in his hotel room in the Hyatt hotel. She closed the note and dropped it into the special incinerator slot of her desk. The note would be shredded and then flash incinerated to make it impossible for anyone to recover it. Lady Donavan smiled, thinking that finally someone was here who would be able to handle Mystique and that creature she’d summoned. Daemon and his sister had gotten away, but Mystique was still here.

  Lady Donavan got up from her desk and started to collect the files she planned on bringing to Captain Remington. Then she went to freshen up before leaving for lunch and her meeting. No one at the embassy thought twice about her leaving early, or wondered what she had in her handbag.

  ***

  Mystique watched the sun set from the roof of one of the nightclubs. The sun had a red glow to it that evening. It would be another few hours before people started arriving at the nightclubs. There were a few prostitutes working the street and Mystique thought a few of the men looked like watchmen.

  Mystique moved around the rooftops looking for a good ambush spot. She’d wait until it was fully dark so that the alley she’d chosen had light only from the main street. She made sure that there was a manhole entrance to the sewer. Once she found the location she was looking for, she sat back and waited.

  The crowd was dressed a bit darker tonight with more black outfits and makeup. Mystique thought it strange when a few of the party goers actually laid down in the outline of where the corpse had been. Mystique had spotted six men with concealed weapons watching the crowd. She was confident that they were not members of the police force because of the way they reacted to the police cruiser driving through the area. Her main concern was the police drone that she’d spotted watching from above. It was moving around the area and she wasn’t sure about its search pattern. Mystique was going to have to be fast in order to stay off the camera.

  Mystique waited until most of the crowd had entered the nightclubs. Those remaining outside showed little interest in going inside, so Mystique decided it was time to act. She dropped down into the alley and carefully moved to the entrance. Three of the six men had moved to a sedan parked on the side of the street. They seemed to be talking with the man in the back of the sedan. The man in the backseat was the one she really wanted to talk to, but she didn’t think he was going to leave the car.

  Mystique checked the location of the other three men. Two were talking to a group of prostitutes while the last was talking to a girl dressed in a black leather outfit and makeup. The girl didn’t look much older than Mystique.

  Mystique stepped a little out of the alley holding three spikes. As fast as she could, she threw each spike at a different target. First was the lone man next to the girl, then the two with the prostitutes. All three men dropped to the ground, dead, a throwing spike protruding from their skulls. Mystique waited a few seconds once the screaming had started before ducking back into the alleyway. She made sure at least one of the three remaining men noticed her.

  The men drew their pistols and headed for the alley. The man in the car decided it was time to leave. Mystique climbed one of the side walls to a ledge about ten feet up. She pulled an eight-inch hunting knife with a blackened blade and waited. The men stayed in a tight group as they entered the alley. Two advanced side by side while the third brought up the rear. Mystique waited as they moved under and past her location. As the last man was stepping underneath her, Mystique jumped down and struck him on the shoulders. The man stumbled forward into his friends, dazed by the sudden attack. Mystique fell into a crouch, swinging out with her knife to slice open the backs of the knees of the man on the right.

  The other man in front swung his pistol around and fired frantically behind him. Mystique stabbed forward into the man’s groin. Her target wasn’t his genitals but the artery in the leg next to them. The spray of blood exiting the wound when she pulled her knife out told her she’d hit her mark and that the man would be dead in seconds.

  The first man she had dropped onto was regaining his balance and was taking better aim than his friend. Mystique dove forward underneath his aim and past him as he started firing. It was a risky move but she needed him alive and able to talk, so she couldn’t kill him. Instead she kicked back, buckling his right leg toppling him over. Before she could hit him again, her right arm ignited in flames of pain as the man with the cut knees fired his pistol. Ignoring the pain as best she could, Mystique dodged the next bullet, causing it to just graze her right shoulder.

  Mystique swung around, kicking the man in the chin snapping his head up and breaking his jaw. He dropped unconscious and in need of medical help. Mystique had learned a painful lesson and moved again. The gunman with the cut artery was weakening due to blood loss, but he was still able to fire his pistol. His aim was just a little too slow or he would have put a hole in Mystique’s head; as it happened, he shot his companion, ending his need for medical assistance.

  Mystique was on her feet now and kicked the man’s wrist, sending his pistol skittering across the alley. A quick snap kick to his knee sent him to the ground screaming in pain, where he would bleed out. The final assailant was back on his feet and grabbed Mystique by the right arm and twisted. He had expected her to collapse in agony but instead she mule kicked him in the chest. The pain was there but the combination of shock and adrenaline numbed her to the majority of it. The man collapsed as the air in his lungs was unexpectedly forced out. Mystique staggered as he fell, pulling her with him.

  Mystique didn’t give the man time to recover before she started dragging him to the open manhole. As she reached the manhole, the man pulled hard, hoping to pull her off balance. What he hadn’t expected was that Mystique’s judo training allowed her to use his strength to propel her through her leap over him. She landed a little awkwardly, but with enough balance to plant her foot in his groin. He let out a howl as she grabbed his legs and lifted, toppling him into the hole.

  Mystique took a few seconds to retrieve her knife and sheath it. A quick scan of the area reveled that a police drone was flying toward her. Mystique ran for the hole and dropped in using her legs to slow her decent. The fall was only twenty feet and the man was lying unmoving at the bottom. Mystique landed on him, causing him to grunt in renewed pain. Good the fall hadn’t accidently killed him, Mystique thought to herself.

  Mystique moved the man into a sitting position and slapped his face lightly a few times to wake him up. She didn’t have time to wait for him to regain consciousness slowly. She could hear the drone hovering above the hole and she needed information.

  “Wake up! Where can I find your boss? What’s his address?” Mystique alternated between slapping the man and shouting questions at him.

  Finally, the man started to show signs of understanding, so Mystique added the promise to let him live if he told her. The man mumbled an address that Mystique repeated back to him to make sure she understood him correctly. Once he nodded that she had it right, Mystique drove two fingers into his Adam’s apple, crushing his windpipe. There were only two people Mystique wouldn’t lie to: Angelica and Shektee.
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  Mystique left the man lying there as she slogged off down the sewer pipe. She hadn’t gotten very far when she heard the sound of a drone entering the pipe. Within seconds, a sonic grenade detonated. The pipe acted like a sounding tube channeling the blast. Mystique staggered as the sound wave of the grenade washed over her. The grenade was designed to disorientate anyone within the blast radius, making it easy for the authorities to apprehend them.

  The remote pilot of the drone hadn’t anticipated the echo effect caused by the pipe. He’d hoped to cause the assailant to make some noise so that he could get an idea of which direction to go. The problem was that the echo was masking any sound made in the pipes. He was going to have to flip a coin and hope he got the right direction. Luckily for Mystique, the pilot’s coin toss sent the drone in the wrong direction.

  Mystique hurried down the pipe as quickly as she could. Her ears were ringing and her balance was off, but she could still move so she forced herself to. A hundred feet farther down the pipe Mystique found a ladder to another manhole cover. She wasn’t sure where she was but she wanted out of the sewer, so she started to climb. She listened at the cover for a few minutes, trying to figure out what was going on above her. Finally Mystique lifted the cover and slid it out of the way. A quick look revealed that Mystique was going to have to find another exit. A vehicle was parked right on top of the manhole and there wasn’t enough clearance for her to crawl out.

  Mystique was starting to get worried as she dropped back into the sewer pipe. It was taking her too long to get out of the sewer and the police knew she was inside it. They’d be focusing their resources on first keeping her contained within the sewer, then they’d come in after her. Her arm was bleeding and the adrenaline rush from the fight had worn off so now her arm hung limp at her side. She was going to have to find medical assistance for it soon, before any infection set in. First things first, she had to get moving.

  ***

  While Mystique made her way through the sewer above her, Captain Remington announced his presence and took over the pursuit. He’d brought with him a squad of specially trained commandos with some of the best high-tech equipment in the Federation. The Federation Marshal Service had jurisdiction and supreme authority on every Federation planet. They tended to work behind the scenes, keeping their participation in most matters as quiet as possible. In matters concerning extra-dimensional creatures and rogue psionics, they didn’t concern themselves with diplomacy or appearance. The danger was too great.

  Captain Remington had police blocking and or covering every sewer exit within a ten-block radius. He and his men were preparing to enter the sewer at the location of the fight. Once inside the sewer, they’d head in the opposite direction the drone had gone. The sewer pipes were long and straight and the captain intended to launch a great number of concussion grenades.

  The file on Mystique was a lot more detailed than Captain Remington had expected or hoped for. The file on her companion, however, had really surprised him. It contained its name, a few pictures of it, a list of a few of its abilities, and an amateur video of its true form. The creature appeared to be a shapeshifter with some mind-control abilities. The good news was that it appeared to be vulnerable to bullets. Each man in his squad had studied both files so that they knew what they were going up against. Four out of the six men in the squad were equipped with 20mm gauss cannons, which were capable of taking out all but the heaviest armored vehicles. The other two members had heavy plasma rifles, which he hoped they wouldn’t have to use. Each man was also equipped with a grenade launcher loaded with concussion grenades.

  The last red light switched to green, signaling that every member of the squad was ready to go. Captain Remington sent them the go signal and one by one they lowered into the sewer. Once they’d formed up and were ready to move out, Captain Remington gave them a quick reminder of their orders. “All right, the girl was the only one sighted, but be ready for the creature to pop up at any moment. We’re to try and take the girl alive. The creature gets sent back to whatever hell it crawled out of.”

  “Move out. Weapons free of any contact. The girl is hard to detect, so any sign of contact, I want a concussion grenade popped.”

  The lead man activated his counter-grav harness and started to float down the tunnel, the rest of the squad falling in behind him, staggering their ranks as best they could. A little over a hundred feet down the tunnel, the lead man encountered his first contact and without hesitating launched a grenade at the location. The grenade detonated on impact, killing the rat that’d registered on the man’s scanner. The echo of the explosion traveled for quite a distance and lasted almost a minute before finally fading.

  The squad halted for just a few seconds to verify the source of the scanner blip before continuing down the tunnel. Captain Remington realized that the explosion had given away their presence and decided to see if he could scare Mystique into surrendering. He instructed the lead man to fire a volley of five concussion grenades down the pipe, spacing their detonations out one hundred feet apart.

  ***

  Mystique heard the first explosion and braced herself against the wall as she tried to figure out what’d triggered it. It was different from the shrieker grenade the drone had launched. After a few seconds, Mystique started to move again. She’d tried three more manholes but each had a vehicle parked on it. She was starting to get seriously concerned. Even if the police couldn’t see her, they’d still be able to catch her if they continued to use grenades.

  She hadn’t gotten far when the volley of concussion grenades started to detonate down the pipe and toward her. The last grenade detonated a mere thirty feet behind her. The force of the blast knocked her into the wall of the pipe, slamming her against her wounded arm and shoulder. Mystique staggered a few feet before falling to her knees unable to recover her balance.

  Mystique struggled to stand, leaning heavily on the wall. A few yards up the tunnel was a smaller side pipe. She tried to focus on making it to that pipe. Once she reached the mouth of the pipe she had to drop back to her knees and crawl in order to fit. She made it about ten feet before collapsing.

  Mystique had thought about summoning Shektee after she’d left but decided against it. Mystique was pretty sure that Shektee had been summoned by the ancient and she didn’t want to interfere in whatever it wanted her for. The situation had changed, though now she needed help so she took a few deep breaths to try and clear her head. Mystique focused on the phrase and prepared herself before starting the chant.

  ***

  Shektee was sitting at the desk working on the second copy of the book when she first felt the tug of the summoning. She quickly grabbed the copy she’d completed and focused on the ancient. Within seconds she was standing before him.

  “Mystique has started to summon me. I believe she is in danger. I have finished your copy of the book, master,” Shektee said as she handed him the copy.

  “Go and check Cathleen’s memories for more knowledge when you have a chance. You can complete your copy when you return.”

  Shektee stopped resisting the pull of the summoning and vanished.

  ***

  Dark clouds appeared over the city as Mystique chanted. Lightning crackled across the sky as the energy of the summoning built up. Within seconds, Mystique could feel the resistance to the chant. She had to focus and force herself to continue to repeat the strange words.

  Captain Remington and his men froze in place as the scanners in their armor started to pick up the buildup of energy. Their initial readings told them that the center of the buildup was just a few hundred yards down the pipe. Captain Remington had thought to advance, assuming it was the girl or the creature with her causing the strange energy readings, but the energy levels had quickly increased to well above safe limits.

  Lightning started to rain down on the city near where Mystique hid. Small arcs of electricity danced through the sewer pipes. Mystique saw the electric arcs flash over her and worried she�
�d be electrocuted, but none touched her. Quickly the tunnel she was in filled with constant flashes of bright blue-white light. Mystique tried to shield her eyes while she continued to repeat the chant.

  Finally a bolt struck mere feet from Mystique. It blasted the plastacrete walls of the pipe to dust as it released enough energy to power the entire city for months. Every living creature within a mile that was in contact with the sewer water was electrocuted. Captain Remington and his men were partially protected by the insulation in their armor, but even it had been overloaded. Each of them lay unconscious, locked inside their smoking tombs. Mystique had been protected by the magic of the chant and was unharmed except for the spots burned into her eyes from the bright flash.

  Shektee stood motionless in the center of the blast crater. By resisting the pull of the summoning, she’d caused Mystique to channel more energy this time. Shektee had absorbed some of the energy and was feeling more powerful then she’d ever felt before. Her hunger was completely satisfied for the first time in her existence. As the shock of the unexpected infusion of power started to wear off, Shektee looked around. The first thing she noticed was the smell of blood coming from Mystique.

  Mystique had crawled back into the main tunnel where Shektee had appeared. She hadn’t thought about where Shektee would appear when she’d started the chant. Shektee knelt down and helped Mystique stand, inspecting her for wounds as she did. Shektee noted the bullet hole in her arm and the wound on her shoulder. Shektee took a few moments to overcome her instinct before reaching out and healing Mystique. Expending her own life energy for the sake of another went against every instinct Shektee had but she did so knowing that she would be allowed to replace that energy with interest.