EVOLVE 21 Chapter 21: Losses And Plans

So it turns out our little boys talk would last all night, topped off with an episode of an indie wrestling show, well maybe that was mostly me and thanks to that I fell asleep on the couch.

I woke up to that spidey sense feeling and the light the tv on but playing nothing.

I am groggy but alert, I rub my eyes with one hand and the other blindly patting for the tv remote and grasp it then switch it off and turn to walk to my room ignoring that feeling of something being there.

I stop in my tracks when I see a white silhouette in the light darkness of the room, it takes a second or two to process that standing there in the middle of the living room next to the piano is Euro Carmichael and less eaiser to spot next to him is Lecob.

On instinct I lauch myself forward switching to strength mid air but not fast enough because Lecob summons shadows from nothing that twist around my limbs, stomach and then I find myself pinned to the ground, all the while cus.h.i.+oning me so I don't make a cras.h.i.+ng sound, so I don't alert the others I guess.

The shadow thing around my neck also clasps around my mouth before I can even think of saying anything, in the dark i can make out Euroc give me the shhh gesture with a devilish smile.

"Well done," he whispers, "from captives trained and well fed and unabused and unexploited, which was a good deal I say. All we wanted was a single gene we sought to isolate within you and your friends."

"At this point you would scream something like 'so you control people' or some such rubbish. And I would say, no it would be only to s.h.i.+ft the balance of power and spend less, it's expensive to find scientists to create new monsters every time and monsters aren't always the easiest to control." He says

"Now you are becoming world famous rebels, spreading a message of change and freedom for all with abilities and promising to stop WECA."

As he speaks he keeps inching closer until he comes to squat right next to me. There's a lot I want to say to him but of course weird shadow thing over my mouth.

"You got yourself a team with a pair of clever girls that know their way around technology, the five you call yourselves. Spread a message that took a long time to be caught by any WECA agent or a.n.a.lyst because it was our own satellite that spread it! Ingenious!" He said with genuine appreciation in his voice.

"As much as I love to watch you grow so i can see how far you go before I get to put you down, but alaa yo u've caught the attention of my superiors and they don't like it. They were of course aren't willing to let you be a gnat like that other form of nameless resistance that's spread across the world but really doing nothing, but now you have the eyes of the world turning and their mouth asking questions and whispering things." Said Euroc.

"That being said I was thinking of solutions in solitude then this fusion," he says with a gesture towards Lecob as they float above the ground looking like a grim ripper of sorts, occasionally disappearing for a split second and coming back, the effect of Lerato's teleportation. I wonder if she's in there somewhere if they can be separated.

"That unity," he said continuing, "told me they found where you all are. Then it hit me, with that thing's help," (insert another gesture) "i can come here and kill you in your sleep."

I switch to energy projection but before I can fire anything off the shadow thing around my neck tightens nearly causing me to nearly pa.s.s out.

"Now, now at least let me finish." Said Euroc as he stood.

I'm lifting off the floor but still tied up but now hanging in the air.

"Your friends aren't dead. They're still fast asleep, safe and sound. I am fair man, I'm not a fiend which is why I offer you this. Quit while you're ahead, retire somewhere and let WECA control the world or keep moving forward and surely die, personally I want the second option because it fosters growth. To drive the death point across. Well you can take it from here." He says his gaze switching from me to Lecob

Who vanishes again and reappears with a limp person in his clasp, he let's the body drop. It's Winter and she's not moving.

"Oh before we leave, I do need to make more of an impression or else the higher ups won't believe that actually found you." Says Euroc.

He draws his breath. I already know what he's about to do before he does it and I can't really stop it. I fire a blast of energy with my body but its nullified by Lecob's shadows.

Euroc let's loose his sonic scream blowing a hole through the ground and a one of the beams holding up the house. Lecob teleports with Euroc leaving the house to fall down the hill.

For some reason I can't hear the destruction but I can see it all around me, and all the while my eyes are focused on Winter's body, I switch to flight coupled with strength and scoup her up making an escape out of the falling house getting hit hy debris on the way out once out in the night air do I hear the second of house cras.h.i.+ng its way down and feel something wet tricking down the back if my skull and down my neck.

I fly up to what's left of the house on the hill which isn't much but thankfully everyone else seems fine, they're gathered on the driveway on a piece of wall being floated by Tony. I land on it and check with Winter's pulse and she has none.

No one speaks or maybe they do and I can't hear again.

Either way someone's died because of me. It was bound to happen of course but no one said anything about how heavy it would feel.

Tony lands the piece of wall on what remains of the driveway and everyone sort of moves off a few steps from where I'm knelt next to Winter's body which in the moon light I can see the blood trickling down staining the piece of wall with a small pool of blood.

A hand touches my shoulder and I turn to catch Carla halfway through saying something

"... it Marlea?" She says, it's a question but no it wasn't Marlea so I shake my head.

"Carmichael." I croak

"How?" Asks Toni

"We can talk semantics when we're safe says Marc."

"Someone's dead." Says Nicole, "I think right now is the best d.a.m.n time for semantics."

"No....." I say slowly, a little out of it like I'm using someone else is using my mouth to speak "we need to go. Split into teams of two each and we meet when the sun rises, I'll call to give everyone a location. Carla and Toni, Nicole and Marc, Janice with me."

I see protest in their eyes. And hear sirens in the distance.

"What about Winter?" Asks Toni

"We leave her here, cops and emergency services are gonna be crawling all over this place in a matter of minutes." I say, still disjointed.

"Terry...." begins Carla

"We can't take her with us. We'll give her a burial when we can right now we need to go." I say grabbing Janice before she can protest and lifting off flying away fast.

Janice doesn't protest, maybe out of fear that I'll drop her or maybe something else either way she stays quiet in my arms.

My feels are getting to me. They feel like some messed up concoction made from a drop of fear, a spoonful of apprehensiveness, a few scoops of anger, some confusion and a bucketload of sadness and every last bit of it makes me feel like about to explode. I land in the darkness of a cemetery. And put Janice down.

How fortuitous is that? Death tonight and landing on a cemetery.

I walk aimlessly on the darkened walk way, I can hear Janice shuffling behind me....

Something wet is going down my cheeks, more blood?

No it's tears, my hands find pasture on my face to try and stem the flow of them pouring down uncontrollably. Then I'm on my knees beating the ground, the first punch breaks through the pavement, the second sinks my fist in the dirt when i pull it out dirt follows up.

"Terry...." begins Janice, I hear her feet shuffle toward me but I cut her off with a hard hand gesture.

Before I can think about it I scream something primal and hoa.r.s.e crawls it's way up my throat, it's a scream that quickly turns to a cry.

She's dead because of me.

"Terry... it's.." she says stopping.

It takes a moment for me to compose myself enough to actually say something.

"Not my fault?" I say fins.h.i.+ng off the sentence. She must have read my thoughts.

"I did read them, but just to make sure you weren't thinking of doing something stupid."

"No one amongst us was supposed to die.... Which is f.u.c.ked up to say because in a fight against WECA where all the people the recruited go all out some people would be bound to die but I'd be okay with it if it wasn't from the core members of our group." I say.

I can't tell if Janice wants to say something or not. And in the darkness of the cemetery I can't make out her face.

"I guess maybe it's because you wouldn't know them on a personal level." She says finally but I still feel like she wants to say more, it's heavy in the air.

"We shouldn't have left her there like that." She adds

"We had to."

"We could have done a funeral pyre someplace quiet or buried her or something."

"Then her parents wouldn't have seen her or whoever means... meant something to her, heck I'm just realising we don't know even know which is which. They need her more than we do." I say

Three beeps sound from Janice's pocket and she pulls out her phone. As soon as she opens it it begins playing something that sounds like a news report.

'This is what remains of what was once an upmarket hill side home, the destruction being the result of unchecked and ruthless use of powers by the individuals calling themselves The Five. A life was lost as a result of thid barbaric use of power, the body of one young computer expert Winter was found below in the rubble an------' Janice cuts off the report.

Of course that's how Carmichael will play it to control the media, it's smart and easy enough.

Discredit us and we get no support, no support means no resistance and without that we're far lower on the totempole of threats to WECA.

This is probably a bad decision but to h.e.l.l with it, might as well draw from the emotions while they're still fresh right?

I turn to face Janice, "What do you need to broadcast me live?" I ask. My head clear, I stand wiping away tears.

"As in tonight?" She asks

"Yeah, and how long would you need."

"I need my equipment and an hour." She replies

Her equipment would be headed to police lock up by now if not already there.

I dial Carla's burner number, she answers almost immediately

"Hey. I was wondering how long it would take." She says

"Hey.... I need a favour, and you're the only one fast enough to get it done. I need you to bring me Janice's equipment. Should be at a police lock up by now. You gotta check the closest police stations to where the place was." I say

She says nothing, all I hear is her breathing on the other end.

"I find it then what Terry?" She asks

"Then we hit them as hard as we can while we still can. Meeting place is Ghandi Square in an hour." I reply locking eyes with Janice.

"Okay Optimus." She says ending the call

"Ghandi Square? Isn't that a little too public, it's a bus station after all."

"It's a bus station at night, well a.s.suming Carla finds your stuff fast enough. And I'm kinda hoping they find us if they decide to come." I say this as i dial for Marc

"Yo." He says

"Gandi Square within an hour." I say

"You sound serious.... good."

I end the call

"Call O.R tell him it's time, tell him to meet us at Ghandi."

"Sure but what about the others, they are in different countries after all?" Asks Janice.

She gets the answer before I speak it. From my mind.

"Oh of course that's what the broadcast is for." She says.

_____________________

Janice and I get to Gandhi Square first, it's different in the dead of night, buildings loom in the darkness and street lights chase shadows. We stand in the middle of the square where it's brightest and wait for the others to come.

In the hour that pa.s.ses Toni arrives floating telekinetically on a large couch, Nicole lands in dragon form with Marc riding on her back and Carla is the last to arrive she dashes in with a backpack covered in badges which she hands to Janice.

I look each of them in the eyes individually and find a determinationn in them. I don't know what for sure what we're gonna do, I have an idea of course and the looks in their eyes reaffirms the need to do what needs to be done, whatever that may be.

"It's good to go," says Janice, "we can go live whenever you want but the moment we do our location will vulnerable and I can't say how long we'd have."

She stands next to her laptop and holds the camera aloft ready to record.

"It doesn't matter, if they can come we don't run. We punch through and keep going. Everybody ready?" I say looking at each person individually.

"What are you gonna say?" Asks Nicole.

I take a breath.

"Whatever sounds right." I reply

"Okay the logo is flas.h.i.+ng on every screen on a network, we're live in 5, 4...." Janice gestures 3, 2, 1 and gives the thumbs up.

I find my mouth moving and forming words before I even think about it.

"You have heard a lot about us in the last few hours, they call us murderers and barbarians with power, amongst other things. I am to tell you they are wrong, tonight WECA took one of us, a friend...." I pause, tears threaten to flow, I stem them by continuing to talk

"They wanted a reaction, they wanted us to quit but knew that wouldn't be enough and thus want to turn everyone else against us, to vilify us so we have no where to run. So that they can continue to hide and name themselves an organisation of good... When they seek only control and would kill for it, they seek ultimate power, unchecked and without consequence... Well I have bad news for them, only we have that. Only the five standing before you now have unchecked power without a single drawback and we're coming for the heads of the hydra that is WECA." I say

As if on cue Toni floats of the ground, Marc begins to visibly crackle with electricity, Nicole changes to Dragon form.

"To our newly found alies watching this anywhere in the world, we need you now more than ever if you'll have us. Show them power, set the world alight and maybe a rebelliom will turn to an evolution." I say. I nod to Janice to stop.

We all stand in silence until of course Marc breaks it.

"It's all good to promise heads and all but where do we find them?"

"We start with Carmichael he should have some kind of intel. We go to the base we were held there has to be some intel there on where he is if he isn't already there."

"I doubt he'd just tell us things." Says Nicole

"If we get to his computer I can get us what we need." Replies Janice

"And I'm itching to beat something out of him." I add

"Okay when do we go?' Says Marc

'Right now, it'll be you, me and Nicole." I reply.

"Carla, you go with Toni and Janice. Meet O.R tell him we'll need whatever power he has here to go after Carmichael when we find where he is, he'll probably have Lecob, the black forms and maybe the Shudder sisters not to mention he's more dangerous than me looks. Everyone good?" I say

"More or less." Says Carla "but I'm also thinking you guys might need a hand if all the ones you mentioned will be there."

"Isn't this a little sudden?" Asks Toni, it's still weird to see how big he is, come to think of it he's the only one amongst us who has an ability with a drawback now.

"It is but sudden isn't always a bad thing Toni," I say, "sometimes it's necessary. Everyone just watch each other out there and we should be fine. We'll lose people that much true but let's try and not."