“Acceptable,” Marcus grunted. I guess the matter was closed.
I often wonder if Marcus had any idea of just how many people were going to get hurt or if he simply didn’t care. For all his claims of wanting to reintegrate into society Marcus was just as elitist as Victor about Mana. He didn’t care any more about the common man any more than Victor did. I had no idea what was going on in Levenson’s mind. Now that Marcus had ensured my allegiance he departed.
* * * * * *
He left a small team of soldiers had been left on side to cover my protection and any needs that I might have. I didn’t spend much time associating with the soldiers though, they mostly wanted to keep to themselves. The only exception was a soldier named Marcellus. I couldn’t tell if this was his first or his last name, but it was the only thing he would answer to.
Our conversations had been tense at first. I didn’t particularly like the interruption and he was obviously nervous about being near one of our kind. I think his curiosity must have gotten the best of him though. It was half way through the first day after Marcus had left that Marcellus tentatively approached me. I’d taken to walking across the grounds periodically. I needed to do something, anything to break up the tedium of the day. There wasn’t exactly that much to do on the army base. I was standing by the main gate when Marcellus walked over. I couldn’t tell if he was on active duty or not, but I assumed not.
“You smoke?” he offered, as he gestured a pack towards me.
“No,” I grunted, “Those things will kill you.”
Marcellus grinned in reply, “Yeah, but it takes the years at the end – don’t want those years anyway.”
I was forced to grin as I tried that logic on for size. I could tell from the way that he’d stated it that he’d been joking, but it had been funny none the less.
“You might have a point there,” I was grudgingly forced to concede.
“How old are you man?” Marcellus queried after a few seconds.
“I dunno, twenty two? Twenty three? I’ve lost track,” I replied dryly, “Why?”
“You’re just not what I expected,” Marcellus continued.
“Oh?”
“No, when they tell us about you guys – they make it seem like you’re not even human.”
“We’re not,” I replied.
“You seem nice enough,” He smirked.
I smiled and let my irises expand as I drew Mana forth. I didn’t plan on doing anything with it, I just wanted the effect. It wouldn’t be a good idea for this man to get the wrong impression about our kind. He seemed nice enough too. It would be a shame for him to make the mistake of trying to get friendly with the wrong Mage.
“Woah,” Marcellus exclaimed as he took a step back, “that’s freaky.”
My performance didn’t have the effect that I’d hoped. If anything he seemed more interested now. I didn’t particularly want to get hammered with a bunch of stupid questions about Mana, but on the other hand there wasn’t anything else productive around here to do. Marcus had been clear in his instructions - I was to stay on the grounds until he sent for me. He didn’t want to let anyone know that I was in Melbourne or that I had survived my encounter with Allie. Let the world think I was dead.
“How do they recruit you guys?” I queried. I’d often wondered about this. Was there a recruitment company for this kind of work? Both Marcus and Victor had worked with soldiers that knew about our kind. I’d never thought to actually ask them how they learned about us. They’d seen us use our powers directly in front of them without comment. I assumed that they had been private security companies, but I was beginning to rethink that assessment.
“Mostly through regular services,” Marcellus replied, “We get an offer for special training. During the training they assess us to see if we’re what they’re looking for.”
“What are they looking for?”
“I’ve got no idea,” Marcellus chuckled, “but obviously I have it.”
I grinned back, “When do they tell you about us?”
“They don’t do that until the end,” Marcellus smirked, “they don’t tell us anything. They take us in and show us videos. It’s mostly security footage of you guys doing your thing. I remember first time I saw it I thought it was something from a movie. That shit just don’t happen in real life.”
I nodded sombrely. I would have thought the same thing in his place.
“Eventually though, you come to accept it,” Marcellus continued, “Don’t even really think about it after a while.”
“So what do you guys think you’re doing?”
“I dunno,” Marcellus shrugged, “saving the world from you guys? Shit, I dunno.”
“You haven’t given it much thought?”
“Nope!” he grinned cheerily, “Not paid to think – I just shoot who they tell me to.”
“I can tell you now,” I murmured, “That gun of yours won’t do you any good should things go bad.”
“Heh? You guys can dodge bullets eh?” Marcellus joked.
“No,” I shook my head, “We don’t have to.”
This didn’t appear to be the answer that he was looking for and I could tell by the way that he waved me off that he didn’t believe me. I didn’t blame him, but on the other hand I didn’t want him to have any illusions about the usefulness of the weapon against our kind.
* * * * * *
The other soldiers still didn’t seem as inclined as Marcellus to talk to me, in fact I doubt that many of them knew who or what I actually was. Dinner was brought to me in a cursory manner by a closed mouthed soldier who simply placed a tray in front of me and grunted. If it weren’t for the fact that the room I was in was well furnished and I could unlock the door at any point I would have been forced to come to the conclusion that I was in a prison cell.
I was actually rather relieved when Marcellus turned up with a rifle over his shoulder.
“Got a minute,” he quipped as he poked his head in the doorway.
“Sure,” I replied as I got to my feet and walked over.
“I wanted to show you something.”
He led me through the base to a secluded area where there was a large field of sandbags that had been lined up. It was obvious that he’d taken me to a shooting range.
“I’ve set up this range with only one target,” Marcellus grunted as we moved towards the firing lanes. I could see a human shaped object at the far end of the range. I couldn’t exactly tell what it was made out of.
He unslung the rifle from his shoulder and presented it to me. I did find it rather amusing to note that he paused for several seconds as if allowing me to take the weapon. I had no intention of reaching for the gun.
“That’s an M4 Carbine assault rifle,” he announced, “It has an effective range of 300 metres. It’s capable of a 700 to 950 RPM and has a standard ammunition capacity of 30 rounds.”
I drifted off as he got into the more detailed specifics of the weapon. It just sounded like a range of numbers and details that I couldn’t really understand. I nodded agreeably through most of the demonstration.
“It’s capable of stopping someone in their tracks from half a block away.” He finished softly.
“Understood,” I replied briefly, “Was there somewhere you were going with this?”
“Have you ever fired a gun before?” he queried.
“Not successfully, no,” I replied quickly.
I could tell that statement had confused him for a second but he recovered well.
“You’re saying that you don’t need to dodge a shot by one of these things?”
“Why is this so hard to believe? People use bullet proof vests all the time,” I retorted.
“You weren’t talking about a bullet proof vest.”
“What do you want?” I sighed, “Do you want me to walk out onto that field so you can take a few pot shots at me?”
I could see the urge to say ‘Yes’ rising within him. It must have taken everything he had within h
im to shake his head and grunt ‘of course not.’
“Then what do you want?”
“I just feel that you should have some idea of what a rifle like this is capable of and how hard it hits.”
“I know what it’s capable of,” I disagreed, “I’ve been shot at numerous times.”
I could tell he still didn’t believe me. He couldn’t believe me. He’d been trained to believe that these weapons were the ultimate expression of stopping power. To come across someone for whom the weapon meant less than nothing was a blow to everything he’d been raised to believe.
“Look,” I replied wearily as I gestured towards the other end of the range, “Take aim at your target.”
I held my hand out so that he could tell that I was doing something. I’d long learned that I didn’t need to actively target an object like this, but I think he needed to see something showy to know that power was being applied. I flexed my fingers and sent out a shield field around the target. The distance involved made the whole process that much harder, but I was eventually able to complete the field at the required distance.
“Ready?” I prompted as he moved into a firing position.
He nodded.
“You will see a small blue arc and a spark as the bullet impacts with the shield.”
The shot sounded abnormally loud, but then again I’d never been on this end of the rifle before. As predicted a small spark was clearly visible from the other end of the range. It was difficult to determine if the bullet had actually passed through the shield and hit the target at this range. The target looked intact though.
“Holy crap,” Marcellus whispered. That pretty much confirmed it - the shield had soaked the bullet.
“Now you know what you’re facing.” I replied darkly.
I didn’t have to tell him that this was the least of our powers, that most of our kind could put up a rudimentary shield easily enough. True there were many of our number for whom blocking a bullet with a shield would be out of their abilities, but I didn’t need him to know that. All he needed to know was that if he was trying to take down one of my kind – the rifle alone wouldn’t be enough.
“That’s not right,” Marcellus shook his head, “It’s not human.”
“No,” I agreed readily. A stilted silence ensured between us.
“You want a shot? I could teach you how to shoot,” Marcellus offered. I think he was mainly doing so to change the subject.
“No,” I replied quickly, “I’ve never really liked guns.”
Marcellus grunted and looked back at me, I could tell from his expression that he was looking at my irises as they slowly returned to normal. He expended several more shots and grimaced as the target sparked again as the bullets impacted against my shield. He scowled and began to check the rifle. I assumed he was looking for faults. I didn’t have to tell him that there was nothing wrong with the rifle.
CHAPTER TEN
The click of a magazine sliding into a rifle caught my attention. I was sitting in a small van with a small troop of soldiers. I was being taken somewhere. I didn’t know where. For someone who had supposedly recruited me into his service Marcus was being awfully close lipped about what he actually needed me to do. I wasn’t surprised by this though, that was typical of the man.
I still didn’t feel that comfortable in the presence of armed soldiers. This situation was a highly unusual occurrence for me as the soldiers weren’t there to keep me prisoner, I was there to protect them. This was a novel feeling.
The van rocked backwards and forwards so much I felt like the back of my skull was slowly being turned into spaghetti as it slammed against the wall behind me. The soldier across the van from me was loading and unloading his rifle. I couldn’t tell if this was a sign of nerves or if this was part of some unusual routine before battle. Either way it was starting to get to me.
My look of annoyance must have been noticed as the soldier scowled and leaned forward.
“I annoying you, boy?” he sneered. This didn’t do much to endear him to me.
“Yes,” I replied politely, “please stop that.”
His face darkened.
“What you gonna do about it?” he grunted angrily.
“Stop you if necessary,” I murmured lightly as I leaned forward. I let my irises expand as I drew upon the Mana. I had no intention of doing anything, but just wanted the effect. I assumed that the man in front of me would know what it meant. He did.
“Oh shit,” he whispered. “Sorry Sir, I didn’t know.”
He quickly finished loading his rifle and placed it by his side. Once I’d revealed my powers none of the soldiers seemed that interested in having much to do with me. Most wouldn’t even look at me. I didn’t much blame them.
Marcellus gave me a nod as he settled back down. I wondered how he had managed to look so calm. I wished that there were a window in this van, it would have been nice to see my home city one more time, but that wasn’t to be, the windows had been blacked out. I assumed that they were also bullet-proof glass.
The truck eventually pulled up and we were ushered into a small underground loading bay. I was quickly directed into a storeroom that had been converted into a command room of sorts. The commanding officer was a man in his late forties, at least. He had a well-groomed moustache and a strong American accent. He nodded in my direction, but was distracted as one of the other soldiers called for his attention. Levenson had obviously been waiting for us to arrive and got up as we entered the room. He looked nervous.
He gestured me towards a small table at the far end of the room. On the table were a small earpiece and a sidearm in holster. He picked up the side arm first and offered it to me.
I shook my head. “Don’t need that”
He didn’t argue the point, but I could tell that he was slightly annoyed by the exchange. I don’t really know what he had expected. He picked up the earpiece next and tried to fit it in my ear.
“Don’t need that either.”
“It’s not for you,” he cut me off, “it’s if we need to contact you.”
I relented with good grace and let him fit the earpiece. It was uncomfortable. I’d have to make sure that I lost it when the action started. He connected the earpiece to a unit that he slipped into my inside pocket.
“You know what you’re supposed to do?” Levenson questioned gruffly.
I nodded. I knew what they wanted of me. What I wasn’t sure of was what they expected me to do should things go wrong. It all sounded great on paper, but something about this all seemed wrong. I’d like to think in many ways that I’m a smart person, I can reason and use logical deduction to arrive at sensible conclusions. To this day I’m still wondering why the hell I just took what was being said at face value here. None of this made any sense. This was a university in a first world city. Why were armed soldiers being sent in? What could they possibly need this much firepower for?
This looked like something from one of those old World War II movies where they’re going in to the fight a battalion of Nazis behind enemy lines. Something was definitely off here and yet for some reason I didn’t see it. I could blame inexperience, I could blame nerves, I could even reason that maybe I had been affected by a compulsion to ignore common sense, but the truth was that deep in my heart I knew what I was doing and I didn’t care. I was in this for one thing and one thing only. Regardless of what happened, I was going to free my sister from the influence of Victor. If only I’d known the costs of this decision. I might have re-thought it, for what little difference that would have made.
A voice in my earpiece asked me to confirm that I could hear them. I think it was Marcus, but it was hard to tell. I grunted the affirmative and I heard several other voices chime in as well.
“You should take that sidearm son,” a crackly voice cut in from behind me.
“Master Wills, meet Colonel Stafford,” Levenson nodded as the commanding officer approached from behind.
“Don’t need it.” Why wa
s everyone determined to give me a gun? The one and only time I’d ever had to fire a gun I hadn’t been very good. I’d had the safety lock on and nothing had happened. It didn’t exactly fill me with confidence.
“Your choice,” the colonel grunted. “You ready?”
I nodded briefly.
“Stay in formation,” he said as he turned to survey the rest of his troops, “I’m not going to have this cock up because you took a wrong turn.”
He seemed charming I thought sarcastically. It wasn’t going to be overly pleasant working with him. Levenson gave me a curt nod and waved towards the corner.
“You understand what you’re required to do here?” he asked again.
“Yeah. Hopefully nothing.”
Levenson nodded in agreement, “That’s right. Hopefully your sister will come quietly.”
“When do we go in?”
“We’ve caught a break, Alisha either decided or was convinced to attend the event.” Levenson grinned.
“This is good news? Surely that just means she’s surrounded by more people.”
“Yes, but it means that she will be travelling back to the apartment on foot. We’re aiming to recover her during this time. Hopefully there’ll be a minimum of witnesses. You are to remain out of sight until you’re needed. We have people monitoring her, they’ll let us know when she’s on the move.”
“Got it.” I still didn’t think that this was going to go how they expected.
“Thank you for this,” Levenson murmured. I couldn’t tell if he was being earnest or not.
“Answer me one thing,” I turned to face him. “Why are you working for Marcus?”
“I’m not working for him. I’m working with him. And I do so because the directors of Division 7 believe that it’s the right thing to do.”
I scoffed softly. Although Levenson hadn’t said it, I was sure that they planned to turn on Marcus should he be successful in displacing Victor. I felt no remorse over this. In some ways perhaps it would be better. With both of those Mages gone I would finally be free of their influence. Those directors at Division 7 were obviously feeling quite confident in their plans. Should this fail, I don’t imagine that they would be able to escape Victor or Marcus’s wrath should either discover that they were plotting against them.
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