“Hello?”
“Papa! It’s Maggie!”
“Mags my baby girl! How is school? You really should try to get home more often.”
“Papa… We knew going into this I wasn’t going to be home much once I enrolled here. There are just so few breaks that we get. If I were a Traveler or something things would be different.”
“I know, but we worry so much about you in that place, and things just aren’t the same without you here. While it makes me happy to hear you are accomplishing such amazing things, nothing would make me happier than seeing my beautiful daughter’s face more often.”
“You guys were never like this before! I felt like I had to beg for your attention. Now that I’m gone, you act like I have done you do wrong! Wait… I did not call to argue.”
“I know we could have been more affectionate, but you are our only child, and we did not realize just how much we took for granted always having you around. Since you were homeschooled, we never got used to you being away much.”
“I suppose. How are the animals? I do really miss taking care of them.”
“The farm is good. The colt was just born, still really wobbly.”
“Oh my god I’m so sad I missed that! They won’t even know me… Well I actually called because I have something really important I need, but it is extremely expensive. Are you sitting down?”
“Mags… We are already spending a fortune sending you to that school, even with all your scholarships!”
“I know! It’s just that this is a combat school, and my powers rely on the tools I have available. Look, I’ll tell you what. I can promise to pay back the money once I can take on missions! Think of it as an investment into my future!”
“Magdalena, we have talked about this. We do not want you taking on these missions your school does. They may paint them as prestigious, but they are just glorified mercenary work! Things could get really dangerous. We won’t allow it.”
“Papa, we had this discussion when I was still 17. I’m 18 now. I don’t need your permission. They don’t let Freshmen do missions anyway so it wouldn’t be until next year that I could go on them. Anaar is already doing missions! He is extremely special, but still. I hope we can do missions together at some point. He is my best friend after all.”
“We raised you to be strong and independent, but I don’t like you defying us on this. You are my daughter though, so even if you didn’t get the money from me, you’d find some other way if it is that important. You truly do make us happy and proud, so I will give you the money. How much do you need?”
“$11,000.”
From across the phone she can hear her father choking as he hears the sum of money she so casually asks for. “What in the world do you need that kind of money for?! That is more than your meal plan for the year!”
“I need it for the weapon I am having specially made. Normally people don’t requisition weapons this early, they just borrow them from the school. What I want though doesn’t exist, so I must have it specially made.”
“Mija, you are going to be the death of me. Don’t you have a bow and a hammer? Why do you need another weapon?”
“I told you, my powers are dependent on the tools available to me. It’s not like I’m a Defender, or an Elemental. To this day most people still have no clue what my ability does. I barely know what it does! I need this. I promise I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”
Sighing deeply into the phone, “I swear you are trying to get me killed. When your mother finds out…”
“Thank you so much Papa! Can you put the money in my account right away pretty please? I want to get this as soon as possible so I can start practicing with it!”
“Fine. I will transfer it now. This is the only weapon I am buying. We know how much it means to attend that school, but we can’t keep spending this type of money.”
“I understand. I will buy my own weapons going forward. That is why I haven’t bought a new bow yet.”
“Tell me, what kind of weapon costs $11K?”
“Umm… A battle fan?”
“Battle fan?”
“Long story, don’t ask.”
“What are you going to do with a fan…”
“Thank you so much for sending the money Papa! Love you!”
She quickly ends the call, heaving a sigh of relief as she falls backwards on her bed from the strain of asking for that kind of money. She was sure he would say no, so when he agreed, she figured it was best to get out while she was ahead. Smiling happily, she confirmed the quote, sending back a single word response to the question she was asked.
Tachikaze.
25
Coming off an absolutely merciless training session with Ixnes, Anaar sprawls on the floor, ever thankful for the special suit he was gifted, worth more than most people in the world could even dream of having. If someone were to walk in on the two, there would be no indication he had been nearly cloven in twine multiple times by the smirking Headmistress. Due to the suit’s ability to utilize his own powers to regenerate itself, he simply looked like an exhausted man in a skintight bodysuit on the floor.
“Your movements and skills are ever improving, however you would still be dead multiple times over if you were actually able to perish.”
Sitting up from his stretched position, he simply looks at the woman in disbelief. “Most teachers don’t actively kill their students! Haven’t you heard of pulling your punches?!”
Her eyes blazing with intensity that was much different from the pursed, coy expression on her face, “Child, I was pulling my punches. You simply must get better. You will need it for this next mission you are going on.”
“Not that I am complaining about the money, even though I currently don’t have anything to use it on, but aren’t I going on a few too many of these at once? I am barely in class these days, and I never have time to see my friends.”
“I send the boy with you, is that not enough?”
“No, it isn’t enough! I would like to have a life too. Granted it isn’t like the schoolwork is an issue, but I can’t exactly say the same for Phavian. His grades are starting to suffer from all these missions. Also, aren’t missions supposed to be voluntary? It seems I have no choice in these matters.”
“You are well compensated, and as you so clearly pointed out, even the curriculum here bears you no challenge. I will take your concerns under advisement. I will make sure to be more considerate to the boy.”
She is totally missing the point… “In any case, what is so important about this mission? You don’t usually take the time to give me a pep talk before sending me.”
“There has been another request from the US military, but interestingly enough, they actually saw fit to request me personally.”
“I didn’t think you did missions. What could be so serious they thought it was important enough to hire you, or that they could afford you for that matter?”
Tossing her hair with a smile, “Oh you do know how to flatter a girl now don’t you? Your questions are valid however. It is unprecedented for them to request I assist them with something, but it seems the situation has become quite dire and only someone of our talents may be capable of handling it. I would tell you the figure they offered me, but it has too many zeros. I have instead assured them I have a pair of students that could suitably fit their needs. Though they are skeptical, as is indicated by the drastically reduced sum they are offering now, I assure you this will be many times more lucrative than all your other missions combined.”
“I still don’t understand how the government does not have capable people already within their ranks to handle these types of situations. Is it normal they pawn off so much work on the school?”
“There has been quite an increase in their requests, that much is certain. The shifting global landscape likely has something to do with it. Remember we embody some of the best and brightest this country has to offer. It is only natural they turn to us for assistance, even la
cking the years of training their agents have.”
“There aren’t any wars going on that we are involved in, at least that I know of, and to request you specifically it has to be requiring someone of exceptional affinity for water. What exactly is this mission?”
“Terrorists my dear. Or in this case, more specifically a terrorist, no doubt working with a larger syndicate. A number of high value vessels have found themselves at the bottom of the ocean in the past months. The good news is that it has not only affected America. The bad news is that given the pattern, they are almost positive one of our largest aircraft carriers will be the next target.”
“When you say the bottom of the ocean, you sound as if you are being literal. How is it that one person is sinking such massive ships undetected, and better yet surviving themselves?”
“Intelligence suggests that this person wields control over the buoyancy of water, if not all fluids. By the time the vessel realizes they are sinking, it is already too late.”
Pondering intently for a moment, rubbing his chin, “So there were no other indications of Hydrokinetic activity?”
“None that has ever been reported.”
“Then I suppose it would make sense the person’s manifestation is Buoyancy. Quite rare, and honestly useless to most in a practical sense. This person, whoever they might be seems to be quite powerful, and very smart to find a way to capitalize on such an obscure ability. Considering Hydrokinetics can affect water in all manner of ways, it would take a much more powerful Hydrokinetic to combat the effects of a weaker person who specializes in buoyancy. Hence why they asked you.”
“You brain never ceases to impress. Though I have not explained anything about your abilities or how exactly you plan to combat this threat, I have assured them that the two of you can handle this issue. You are probably the only other Hydrokinetic on par with me, and your specialty is constructs, which are directly adverse to someone who manipulates buoyancy. Quite honestly, I would say that you far outclass me in that aspect of your ability. You are a much better fit for the job.”
“I can’t profess to know much about the range of their ability, but I could only imagine the person responsible would need to be on board the ship to make such a large area unstable. Are there any leads on who the culprit may be?”
“Everyone agrees that this is an issue, but no one wants to play nice enough to share all their intelligence. From what I gather, opening up such transparency would belie more nefarious deeds that are afoot. If there are leads on the culprit, I have not been made aware.”
“I guess I will prepare to deploy tomorrow?”
“That is correct. Just in case the culprit is cautious and connected, you and Phavian will be going undercover as high school students who have been tapped to be the next great resources to our country in engineering of such crafts. This will throw off any suspicion of you, and also sweeten the deal for the attack. If I were to go, it would become known quite quickly and possibly deter the actions of this person.”
“I suppose. Does Phavian already know?”
“Yes. I imagine he is finishing up a session with Xiaowei now, as I made sure he was up to the task.”
“Great… If Master Shin treated him like you did me, looks like I’ll get some Medic practice in tonight.”
“Quite the cherry on top wouldn’t you say?!”
“Right…”
“James will assist with your transport. Pack light, the attack is suspected in the next 48 hours. You will be briefed on the carrier of your mission.”
Guess I’d better get a good night’s sleep…
Following their briefing the next day, the boys are given free range of the carrier and all relevant documents they could need. Though they had not expected to be tasked with apprehending the culprit, they were told that was the primary mission. Much to their surprise, they were told if the choice came between capturing the perpetrator, and finding a way to save the carrier, the carrier was to be sacrificed. Very little personnel had been made aware of the imminent threat, however they had been practicing in the event of an attack given the other string of incidences.
To help with the navigation of the carrier so they would not need a constant escort, Ixnes had arranged for the complete schematics of the carrier to be uploaded to Hobb. Through this, they were able to navigate fairly easily. Phavian was left perplexed how Anaar managed to always seem to know where they were going, as he still had not been made privy to the special connection between Hobb and Anaar. Nevertheless, he had no problem allowing Anaar to take the lead on this mission, as he was no doubt better equipped.
Lacking in luxury and scenery, it was clear the spartan accommodations of the carrier were not only an effort to save weight, but to get the most utility out of the craft. As they navigated to the mess hall, they found themselves realizing just how spoiled they were in their lifestyle, not only at Sophangence, but even during other missions they had been on. Part of graduating from Sophangence promised they would be in amazing positions to do great things, meaning they would likely be capable of skipping through such ranks as the numerous men and women they encountered aboard the vessel.
Following their meal, they headed back to their room to discuss what their plan of attack would be in various scenarios.
“So far, so good. This definitely isn’t a luxury mission, but at least we only have two days max that we have to be here. Do you know what happens if nothing occurs in these two days?”
“From what I understand, this mission has a sliding scale based on completion. If we get through the two days without incident, they still have to pay us for the time we put in, but it is drastically reduced. Similarly, if we fail, it is even worse than that. All in all, I think it is fair. This is the military we are talking about. We are getting paid probably ten times what most of the people on this ship make just to be here, even if we fail. It’s only sensible that they wouldn’t pay us the maximum amount if they lost billions in resources and they didn’t even catch the person responsible. What motivation would we have to do a good job?”
“When you put it that way, I can understand it not being like our normal missions. Did they really want the Headmistress to take this on?”
“According to her, yes, but there is still something bugging me. We have gone through these dossiers, referencing the other targeted crafts, and the timeframe it took for them to go down. The extent of this person’s ability is able to affect a vast area, but it isn’t extremely potent I don’t feel, because it took much smaller vessels hours to completely submerge. If they didn’t care about saving the carrier, why would they request Ixnes?”
“Because she is a badass?”
Giving Phavian a dry, deadpan look, “Thanks for the illuminating response… Seriously though, I could think of other people that would be better equipped to simply seek out and apprehend someone. Something doesn’t add up. I think that they were hoping Ixnes could save this carrier, and as additional bonus, that would give them the time to find who was responsible.”
“So are you saying that you plan to save the carrier?”
“Of course I’m going to try to save the carrier! What kind of question is that?”
“That isn’t our mission though.”
“Our mission is literally the embodiment of trying to find a needle in a haystack. There are thousands of people on this ship, covering acres of space. It doesn’t strike you as odd that they thought one person could handle it?”
“You think this was a setup?”
“I’m not sure, but if I’m going to hazard a guess, the mission may be to capture the terrorist, but I think saving the carrier should be our top priority. Well, it will be mine. That will free you up to look for this phantom.”
“Do you think they will even be on the ship?”
“I’m positive they will be on the ship. Affecting this much water is a task even when surrounded by it. We are in the middle of the ocean. There is no way they are doing this remotely.”
/> “Speaking of which, why is it that Water Affinities are always the terrorists? They make us out to be the evil, violent ones, but all the terrorists I have come in contact with have ties to Water Affinities.”
“How is that even close to being related to anything we have been talking about?! And don’t look at me! Ok yeah, I suppose technically I did destroy a large portion of Cuba, but I promise I didn’t mean to!”
“Yeah… your people are fucked up man.”
“Whatever. Back to important things, like I don’t know, the mission. I was going to see if you could flash freeze the water, but that might do nothing at best, and cause more problems at worst.”
“How so?”
“Well it would be fine if the ice had something to anchor onto, but it won’t. As strong as you are, I don’t think you are capable of freezing down to the ocean floor, and especially on this scale. That means if we were able to save the craft, it would be hindered by ice they would need to get rid of before moving on, or it would just continue to go down except now it would be an ice cube.”
“Basically, you are saying I’m useless.”
“I’m saying you are on patrol to find the perp. You are a Disruptor, so if you needed to, you might be able to take out a large number of people, our perp included. We are flying completely blind here. I could only suspect they would be near some escape crafts. They wouldn’t just jump overboard, unless…”
“What are you thinking?”
“Shit. There is something we have been missing. As rare as they are, what if this person is working with a vortex user?”
Divulgence (Song of Sophangence Book 2) Page 30