Mystique's Journey

by Daniel A. Jones

  “Tracking, what’s the status of the ball?” Remington’s voice sounded in the tech’s earpiece. The technician ignored the inquiry and continued to check the calibration of her equipment. Once that was complete, she ran another diagnostic check to make sure no circuits were failing. Everything she checked came up with the same answer: the sensors were working perfectly.

  On the ground, Captain Remington was starting to get concerned. The sensor tech hadn’t acknowledged her readiness and now was not answering his queries. He switched to the command channel and contacted the ship’s captain directly. The captain wouldn’t know what was going on, but he’d be able to find out immediately. Remington informed him of the problem and was reassured that the captain would handle it.

  A call from the captain to Combat Intelligence Center brought everyone’s attention to the sensor tech. The XO was currently in charge of CIC and as such was responsible for the ships’ performance during the current operation. Both he and the chief engineer arrived at the sensor station at the same time. The sensor technician was sweating by this point. How could she have lost the ball?

  “What’s the problem, petty officer?” The XO demanded.

  “I don’t know, sir. I was tracking the ball when it just vanished. I’ve checked the sensor equipment and it all checks out fine,” the sensor tech replied, trying to sound as professional as possible.

  “Out of my way,” the chief engineer sneered as he pushed his way in front of the control panel. After a quick check of the reading, he adjusted the area scan, increasing it to cover the entire city plus surrounding areas. He wouldn’t be able to get the exact location but once he had the general location he could fine tune the array.

  “There, on the edge of the city.” The sensor tech pointed as a small red dot appeared on the screen.

  “I see it,” the engineer stated as he started to adjust the sensor array. Within minutes they were looking down on a small factory building just outside the city. A thermal scan revealed several people in the main section of the plant and another in the front section. The single person had a higher body temperature than the rest. The XO had one of the communications technicians patch the scans to Captain Remington as he informed his captain that the problem had been solved.

  ***

  Shektee walked into the office area to find Mystique performing a series of stretching exercises. She decided not to interrupt her; instead, she watched and took note of Mystique’s form. When Mystique finally finished, Shektee dropped her invisibility spell and moved to a nearby desk.

  “You have good form, but you do not push yourself enough. You are better than other humans, which means you need to push yourself harder than they do if you want to utilize your full potential.”

  “Anytime you want to show me how to do it better, I am up for the challenge.”

  “Did Montgomery have anything?” Mystique asked as she walked over to the desk Shektee was standing near.

  “Yes. He said this was all he could get,” Shektee replied as she dumped the contents of the envelope on the desk. Dozens of pages of reports and pictures spread across the desk. Mystique picked up one of the images that caught her attention. She knew the man in the picture. He was the patrol officer who’d kidnapped her. Looking on the back of the picture, she read his name.

  “This guy dies painfully; he was the one who kidnapped me in the first place,” Mystique stated as she held up the picture for Shektee to see.

  “I really like guarding you at times,” Shektee said with a grin.

  The two started to sort through the papers and pictures, scanning them quickly as they separated them into piles: one pile for pictures, another for known associates, and the last for locations. They both took the time to look at a photo of Lenard Johnson. Shektee made sure to at least glance at all of the photos of Lenard’s associates. She assumed they’d be eligible targets for her to feed on.

  Neither of them thought to wonder why Detective Montgomery had given them printed copies of all the information and not a flash drive.

  ***

  Captain Remington wasn’t taking any chances. He’d learned years before that when hunting demons there was no such thing as overkill. As soon as the shuttles reached the one-mile mark from the target, he ordered both to fire their missiles on the factory. He’d instructed them to try to target the smaller front section where Shektee was believed to be.

  Inside the troop compartment sat ten specially trained soldiers, each wearing the best armor the military had. Remington had summoned his full team from the destroyer along with a ten-man squad of marines. The marines were in the second transport, which Remington planned to hold in reserve. He and his men would go in and verify the kill.

  Remington barely noticed the launch of the two missiles as they reached strike range. The tactical display inside his helmet allowed him to see the missiles go in. Two struck the front section while the other two hit the forward section of the main building. The front section was completely destroyed and what little was left standing was on fire. The main building was heavily damaged but was too large to be completely destroyed.

  “Thirty seconds to drop,” announced the pilot.

  Shektee reacted with supernatural speed to the first explosion. She didn’t take time to think; instead, she dove across the desk, tackling Mystique to the floor. The second missile hit almost instantly after the first. The third and forth exploded on the roof of the office area they were in. By that time, Shektee had already started to transform into her armored combat form. The force of the explosions pressed Shektee down onto Mystique with enough force to break most of Mystique’s ribcage. Fragments of the roof pierced Shektee’s skin where the hardened bone armor had yet to form. Some of the wreckage found its way past Shektee to embed itself in Mystique.

  In seconds the explosions were over, leaving flaming wreckage everywhere. Shektee fought to control her temper as she struggled to remove the debris that’d fallen on top of her. Mystique was not moving and her life force was weak, but she was still alive. Shektee knew she had to get Mystique out of the burning rubble but first she focused on the healing magic she’d learned from Angelica. She wouldn’t be able to heal all of Mystique’s wounds but she hoped she could stabilize her. If Shektee was going to avoid a very painful death, Mystique had to live. She could already feel the displeasure of the ancient.

  Seconds later, Shektee lifted Mystique’s limp and broken body. She used her wings to shield Mystique as best she could as she made her way through the burning wreckage of the office. As she reached fresh cool air, Mystique started breathing a little easier. Shektee could hear the sound of something approaching but ignored it. She set Mystique down on the pavement of the driveway and brushed the hair away from her face. She could see that Mystique was struggling to remain conscious.

  “Rest. I’ll protect you,” Shektee said in her most soothing voice. Mystique wanted to listen to the voice and relax, but there was something she needed to tell Shektee.

  ***

  Captain Remington and his men dropped through the open floor hatch like old-style bombs. A quick scan showed that most of the building was on fire. There was no way they were going to be able to take thermal readings now.

  “Hostile at eleven o’clock,” one of the men shouted into his microphone as he fired his heavy machinegun at Shektee’s back. This was the man’s first encounter with a demon. He was a veteran of numerous firefights so instead of freezing up he attacked. At least three of the rounds slammed squarely into the back of the creature but other than rocking forward a little, it didn’t seem to notice. Another soldier took a second to aim before firing his gauss cannon at Shektee. This time the impact was enough to send her tumbling a good ten feet.

  Shektee had never been hit by anything that powerful before. The projectile had penetrated her armor. She was hurt but not seriously this time, but a few more hits or a well-aimed shot to the head could incapacitate her and send her back across the dimensional barrier. Shektee had
been in many fights over the centuries and had the skills and reflexes to prove it. The first thing she did was become invisible. The second was move. The soldiers fired on her last location using a variety of heavy weapons, but without sensors or visual targeting they had no chance of hitting her.

  She didn’t like leaving Mystique. She could already feel the anger of the ancient but so far it was not focused on her. If Mystique died or was subjected to more harm, the ancient could easily decide it was Shektee’s fault and punish her. Mystique had assured her that Captain Remington wouldn’t harm her anymore but Shektee was not convinced. She hadn’t had time to argue before they started shooting at her. It was pure luck that none of the bullets hit Mystique. If she stayed to fight she might win, but more than likely Mystique would be hurt by accident or on purpose, so she had no real choice but to run.

  Shektee launched herself into the air, intent on flying away from the fight as fast as she could. The soldiers had formed a circle with their backs to one another. She wondered how long they’d stay like that, waiting and worrying where she was. The flying machine that’d brought them here was hovering a hundred yards away. Shektee couldn’t resist scaring the pilot of the shuttle, so she landed on the nose cone and clawed at the armored glass that separated her from the pilot. The spike of terror from the pilot as deep gashes appeared in the window in front of him tasted sweet, but Shektee couldn’t stay to enjoy it. Before the pilot could react and the men on the ground knew what’d happened, Shektee flew off toward the spaceport.

  ***

  Once Shektee was gone, Mystique allowed herself to drift into unconsciousness. Whatever was going to happen next was out of her control. Captain Remington had recognized Mystique’s prone form when Shektee had been knocked away. He wanted to go over to her and see if she was still alive, but not knowing where Shektee was had stopped him. The panicked message from the shuttle pilot proved that she was still in the area. He hoped that they’d get a good shot at her if she came back.

  Slowly, as the minutes wore on, Captain Remington decided to have his squad start to move toward Mystique. She still hadn’t moved and he wasn’t sure if she was alive or dead. If she was alive, she needed medical attention. As they arrived at her location, he had the soldiers step over her, bringing her inside their circle. One of the men broke rank and knelt down to check her. The soldiers quickly shifted to fill the gap.

  “She’s alive but not for long if we don’t get her to a trauma ward.”

  Captain Remington thought for a second before calling down the second shuttle. He had it land as close to them as possible. The damage to his shuttle was minor, but he wasn’t going to risk taking it into orbit unless he had to. He had the marines dismount and take up guard positions around the shuttle while a few of his men moved Mystique onto the shuttle. He’d bring two of his men with him on the shuttle and leave the rest to search the area. He didn’t think Shektee was still here, or she would’ve attacked once they took Mystique into custody.

  The medical bay on the destroyer was one of the best-equipped in the fleet. It was also the most secure location Captain Remington could think of. Mystique would be able to command Shektee to surrender, which would allow them to study and learn more about their enemy than they ever had. But first he had to get her to the medics.

  ***

  Shektee wasted no more time. She flew directly to the building Lenard Johnson’s office was in. Once she was there, she landed on the roof next to a luxury air car. The driver was relaxing in the car listening to music when Shektee punched through the armored glass and dragged him out. She was feeling more hungry than usual after healing herself and Mystique, so the man’s live energy tasted refreshing.

  The guard at the roof entrance had panicked at the sight of Shektee’s combat form and started running down the stairs. Shektee was not sure if or when she would have such freedom to feed again, so she wasn’t going to let anyone escape. Only two people had to die slowly; all the rest would be quick feeds. She caught up to the guard pounding on the elevator doors on the top floor of the building. He collapsed in terror as she stepped through the doorway to the roof. His terror added flavor as she fed on him.

  An alarm started to sound as Shektee ripped open the elevator doors. Lenard’s office was five stories down and the elevator shaft was too small for her to fly, so she started climbing down. She had only made it down three floors when the elevator came racing up at her. Shektee could feel the guards inside so she dropped down onto its roof, causing a slight shutter.

  The men inside gave off a spike of panic as something impacted on the roof. The panic turned to terror as claws started to rip open the top of the elevator like it was made of tinfoil. Only two of the six guards were able to think clearly enough to start firing wildly up through the opening. The few bullets that did hit Shektee bounced harmlessly off her bone armor.

  Shektee dropped down into the elevator and grabbed the first guard she saw by the breast bone. Her claws easily sunk into his flesh. She used his body as a club to beat the others unconscious before bringing him in for a kiss.

  As she fed on the others, she came to one guard who tasted of regret. Her curiosity made her stop and probe the man’s memory to find out what could overcome the fear she was projecting. She found that he had a family and that he was regretting not being there for them. She also found out that he was not one of Lenard’s men; instead, he was a spy for the police, which annoyed her. If she hadn’t looked, she would’ve been able to feed off him safely, but now she knew he didn’t meet Daemon’s requirements. So she took just a portion of his life energy before leaving.

  She had the elevator stop on Lenard’s floor but the doors didn’t open as usual. It was easy enough for her to rip the doors open and step into the hallway. The four men Lenard had left to guard the elevator were stone-cold killers, but even they felt a sudden panic wash over them as a demon emerged from the elevator.

  Shektee’s overconfidence was almost her undoing. She’d expected the men in the hall to be armed with more of the same light-assault rifles or machineguns. The only thing that saved her was that the man manning the trigger of the heavy gauss cannon started firing too soon. If he had waited another second or two, instead of the armor-piercing rounds knocking her back into the elevator, they’d have knocked her down the hall where he could’ve continued to tear her apart. As it was, Shektee was knocked back into the doorjamb by the initial spray of bullets and was able to roll herself back into the relative safety of the armor elevator.

  The man firing the tripod mounted gauss cannon continued to fire sending bullets through the wall and into the armored side of the elevator. Shektee recovered from the initial shock of the attack and quickly clawed her way through the floor of the elevator as the bullets began penetrating the armor.

  Shektee climbed to the opposite side of the shaft. She cursed her stupidity as she found a place to sit and focus on regenerating from her wounds. As she did, she thought about how close she’d come to failing. The injuries caused by the machine-gun were not life-threatening, but if it’d been able to knock her unconscious, she would’ve lost her grip on this dimension and have been sent back to her home dimension. She couldn’t let that happen.

  Even before she was fully healed, Shektee started climbing to the floor above Lenny’s office. She knew where they were set up now and from what little she’d seen of the gun that shot her, it was not something that could be easily moved. The men had stopped firing but she could sense that none had moved from where they were.

  She ripped the elevator doors open and ran to the spot right above the men. She could taste their fear and wanted their lives. Kneeling, she focused on altering her body to make her arms larger and stronger, moving mass from her legs to give them strength and size. Shektee leaned back and then swung forward. She slammed her oversized forearms into the floor with enough force to shatter the floor, raining chunks of concrete down on the men below. A few more quick hits and Shektee had a hole large enough fo
r her to get through. Shektee dove through the hole, shifting back to her normal combat form as she did.

  Three of the four men were firing their assault rifles up into the hole as Shektee forced her way through. The bullets stung and did minor damage to her, but nothing serious. They died quickly as she had backed them into a corner with no way to escape. The fourth she pulled out from behind the big gun and yelled at him, “Where is Lenard Johnson?”

  The man tried to resist but the question had caused him to think of the answer, so when Shektee kissed him and probed his mind the information was easy to find. Lenard had gone to his car when the alarm sounded. She also learned that someone was watching her on the security cameras. She needed to get to that car before he could get away.

  A quick look around revealed a window at the end of the hall behind her overlooking the space port. She threw the man at it, expecting his weight to shatter it, but instead he bounced off it. Annoyed, she walked up to the window. She realized as she got to the window that the man was barely alive so she drained him before driving her claws through the armored glass. The hardening process made the glass nearly unbreakable but it also made it brittle, which caused it to shatter once it was broken.

  Leaping through the window, Shektee unfurled her wings and glided down, circling the building as she went. A large garage door was opening on the fourth floor of the building. Shektee swung around and flew at the door. Bringing her wings in at the last minute allowed her to maintain a high rate of speed as she tumbled through the opening. Before anyone could react, she was kneeling on the hood of the waiting air car and staring at the terrified driver.

  The parking attendant stood at a desk to the right. Two other men stood next to him holding assault rifles. They’d been aiming at the elevators but the attendant’s terrified screams had them looking for the cause. The air car driver slammed the controls into reverse and punched the throttle. His only thoughts were to flee the horror staring at him. Shektee smiled as she reached up and carved an X in the windshield.