"YOU THINK I WON'T? I KILLED ABOUT A DOZEN PEOPLE YESTERDAY, IN COLD, BRUTAL VIOLENCE! YOU THINK I WON'T DO THE SAME, HUH? YOU'RE A LACKEY, JUST LIKE THE REST OF THEM!"
"Please! Don't do it!" He wept.
"ONE. FINAL. CHANCE!" I raised the hammer. "ONE."
"No, please don't!"
"TWO!"
"I'm telling ya, I don't know!"
"THREE!"
"Fine, fine! I'll tell ya everything I know!"
"TOO FUCKING LATE!"
I slammed the hammer down.319Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡofhsqI88Mz
319Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlrgb5KzHnN
The concrete floor next to his head had a 3-inch dent in it, cracks extending out from it like tree roots. The tears and sweat from Guy filled that hole, overflowing it. He must've seen a light. He must've thought he was going to die. "I missed." I lied, spitting on his face, standing up, and throwing the hammer away. "Pick his sorry ass up." I instructed Felix. He did just that and held him against a wall.
"So then. Why don't you tell us everything?"
"I'll be able to tell if you're lying," I reminded him, "so tread lightly."
"Ok. I'll tell ya. Just don't hurt me!"
"If you tell us, we won't extend your prison sentence."
"Thank ya so much, sir." He bowed his head, then began to speak.
"I do not know his location. But I know someone who might. There is a hierarchy in Black Star. There are the basic soldiers, the specialist agents, the elite warriors, who are the best of the best. Then there's me, who manages those elites. Above me are two other people: one who is called Tara. She may know Roger's location, but if not, she'll likely tell you the location of her partner. I do not know his name. Above those two are Roger, the man your lookin' for. And then above him is the leader of the whole organisation. His name is not known. His face is not known. He is a complete mystery. Only two things are known about him: he is the big boss. The mafioso of Black Star. The second is that he is incredibly tough. Hard as steel. Built like a brick house, as the British would say."
"Fit as a butchers dog." I chimed in.
"Yeah, you understand. I don't recommenced goin' after him. Unless you're crazy." He began to laugh maniacally. I guess he's one of those crazies.
"So where is Tara?"
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This was the longest flight I had ever been. A 12-hour plane journey to Africa. We eventually landed in Benghazi, Libya, where we were told Tara would be. Our only information about her was that she was an expert with poison and toxic substances. She may try to use gas weapons on us, who knows? It was just the four of us on this mission: Charlie, Felix, Flo and I. We had brought cases full of food and water, and only 1 spare change of clothes, in case the first got torn during combat with our opponent. But it was strange. It was a strange, short walk through the airport. No one else was waiting for a flight. No attendants were anywhere to be seen. Every single plane was grounded, but with no announcer saying that they were. It was barren. Like a desert. Which was ironic, because everywhere around the city was desert. It would take 10 days to walk all the way to Cairo. 10 days! I've never done anything for 10 days at a time! Let's just hope that our information was correct. If it was, the Guys sentence would need to be increased, for withholding information from authorities.
As we strolled through the wasteland, there was still no sign of life anywhere. No lights were on, shops were shuttered shut, the floor was sparkling in the Sun. We were about to reach the exit when finally we saw cars pull up outside the front entrance. But cars don't usually park this close to the airport.
Do they?
The cars didn't stop! They kept driving towards us! "Get down!" Flo shouted, as she grabbed Felix and I and flung us away, whilst she was escorted by Charlie. But Charlie wasn't fast enough! A car was still hurtling towards her! She did the only thing she could. Growing her muscle size, she punched the front of the vehicle, immediately slowing it down. Incredible! Was all I could think. Her strength is immense! But it was far from over. From out of the car came five Black Star soldiers, and a sixth from the trunk. There were two other cars, however, each containing six of there own. Eighteen Black Star soldiers aimed their weapons at us, whilst slowly making their ways forward. We couldn't do anything about it. These guys must be the specialist soldiers Guy was talking about. Their body armour looked sleeker then any previous soldiers we had done battle with, and they seemed way more battle-ready compared to the suit-and-dress wearers at that gala. I had to put my hands up. The others followed suit.
"Why, thank you for makin' this so dang easy." A deep Texan accent spoke, with a dash of a feminine nature. A muscular red-headed woman lowered herself from the ceiling, dropping to the floor. Placing her hands one her sides, intimidating us, she made her way closer. This was Tara. The person we were looking for. "You must know who I am, you took Guy away an' 'nterrogated 'im." She took out a .50 caliber pistol from a holster behind her, pointing it straight at my head. "I hear you can sense the bullets, dodgin' an' weavin' aroun' like a scared liddle kitty-cat."
"I'm not scared I just have common sense. Bullets kill, and I don't wanna die." She knocked off my sunglasses with the barrel of her gun.
"Aw, you blind bitch." She called me. Suddenly she started convulsing rapidly, falling to the floor. I turned and saw Felix had used his electricity to send it through the ground at her. His power is incredible! And so is he! The soldiers all turned their attention to him, ready to pull their triggers. "Wait!" Tara cried. "I'm fine!" Somehow she was still standing. And then it hit. Her outfit is made of rubber! Felix's powers won't have an affect on her! And then something appeared from behind her, but it was so fast that we couldn't see. Something suddenly pricked my arm. I gasped from the shock, and so did Flo, Felix and Charlie. "You may be surprised, but I'm just like you four. 20, 21, 22 and 23." She recited our Agent numbers back to us. The thing behind her slowly showed itself. It was a giant scorpion tail! "I am Agent 15. Well, I used to be."
"I was a part of the generation to have animal genes fused inside of them. The first 19, we were. I had scorpion DNA combined with mine, with most of it going to my tailbone." She flexed the stinger, "It can also produce varying poisons. Some stronger than others." Tara began to move back towards a car. "The one I just injected into ya should last about two weeks, give or take. Most likely take." She cackled. "I'll see ya in Cairo in two weeks." All of the soldiers retreated, driving away.
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"How the hell are we supposed to get to Cairo in two weeks?"
"Well, we have water, don't we?"
"We'll be walking through a desert! I don't think it'll last us that long!"
"Guys, guys, guys!" I calmed them down from their argument. Walking over to Felix, I took my glasses from him, which he had already picked up. "Thanks. Now we have two weeks to get to Cairo. That gives us four days than it would normally take to walk. Roads won't be an option."
"Why not?"
"There might be soldiers blockading the road, or waiting to remote-detonate an explosive. Who knows! If we steal a car and drive it through the desert, then we'll get their quicker than just walking. Even if it does break down, we will have shaved days off of our journey." The others glanced at each other, unsure of any alternatives. "Y'guys alright with that?" They nodded in unison. "Great. Then let's go steal a car."
We made our way out of the front entrance and started sprinting down the road, scanning the sidewalk for a good-quality desert car. Two would be ideal, because then they wouldn't be weighed down too much. We had each split off into two groups: Felix and I, and Charlie and Flo. After a few minutes, we reached a car dealership. Like the rest of the town, it seemed to be completely empty. Charlie and Flo went inside to find keys and Felix and I searched for cars. The best option seemed to be two buggy's: optimal space and we wouldn't be weighed down by four people. Flo and Charlie came back with keys, threw them to us and we started up the cars. Driving down the road, we quickly stopped outside a gas station, raiding their fuel, oil and petrol supplies. We also took as much food and water as possible, finding bags to keep it in so it wouldn't be loose in the back. After a cautious effort driving out of the city, we took the road onto the desert. The change in the drive was instant. The smooth tarmac highway was calming for the strenuous odyssey ahead, but the sand immediately slowed us down. It was ever so slightly, but it set the tone for what lay before us. The sandy horizon intimidated us, but the knowledge that we are slowly dying helped us to push on.
Whilst on the sand, we could see a few black SUV's driving on the highway next to us. I gave Felix a nudge, warning him to be cautious. He slowed down behind Charlie and Flo as protection. When I looked behind, I saw the cars drift onto the sand, their accelerators to the floor, as they charged at us. "Flo! Charlie! Behind us!" Flo looked behind, then pushed Charlie to drive faster. Neither of us had any guns! They wouldn't have gotten past customs at the airport! But we had our Agent abilities, specifically Felix's electricity and Flo's rubber arms "Felix, what's the range of your electric blasts?"
"Why do you ask?"
"What is the range?" I shouted.
"I don't know! About 10 feet if there isn't anything conducting it!"
"That's good enough!" I looked in the vehicle. A metal pole was rolling around in the small trunk, so I picked it up and stuck it in the sand. Feeling the vibrations I could sense four, no, five cars in pursuit of us. Putting the pole back in the storage, I swapped seats with Felix so he could fire off blasts without worry of crashing. Eventually, we caught up with the other two, just in time to hear bullets being fired at us. Charlie slowed down to drive behind us, with Flo holding on to the back of the car. 'What is she doing?' I thought, but I quickly realised. She had become a bullet sponge for us! Her rubber skin absorbed all of the bullets so we could drive further ahead! It was genius! Despite the fact that our opponents are faster than us.
The sand had now begun to morph into dunes. It would slow us down significantly, in our moving piles of rust. Felix was about to shoot his first blast, but the descent into the sea of sand made him miss. "Watch where you're driving, you maniac!"
"I've never driven whilst blind before!" I was driving like I was cracked off my mind. I could just feel the vibrations of the ground through the vehicle. It was just enough for me to be able to drive mildly steady. My only thought was to drive. Drive as far and as fast as I could. My faith was in Felix. In my team. As I was praying for success, I heard a sudden explosion! Felix had landed a hit! Four cars were left!
Charlie nudged us, and shouted our way: "What now?"
"Keep driving! Felix will hit them eventually!" We drove apart again. A bullet barely ricocheted off of the creaking chassis. I frantically swerved to avoid more of them, more vibrations being picked up as I did. We were about to start climbing up a dune! The highway must be miles behind us by now. Definitely no turning back. Driving up, the pursuers drew ever nearer. The climb was arduous, making the SUV's better targets. Blast after blast was fired, but none could seem to connect. "Their guns don't run out! It's too much!" He fired off one more before having to duck back again. "Do you have a plan?!"
"I do, actually! Pass that rod!" He passed me the metal rod so I could sense vibrations again. We were about to crest the peak of the dune. "Felix, you're gonna need to get rid of one more!"
"I know you can't see, but there are more than one still there!"
"I know that! Just get rid of one!" His blasts couldn't reach. That was probably the problem. I had focused too much on getting away that I didn't think about fighting. So I held Felix securely, and slammed on the brakes. We jerked backwards, and the buggy halted. "Now!" I shouted. Felix finally landed another hit! The heat from the blast warmed my hairless head, prompting to drive faster. "Rhys what are you doing? I could've gotten the other two!"
"This rod will conduct electricity, right?"
"Yes!"
"Overload it."
"What?"
"I said overload it! It'll make an electric explosion!"
"I'm not sure that's how it..."
"Just trust me!" I took the rod and threw it behind me, in the direction of the noise of engines. Felix fired off yet another blast at the rod. The electricity overflowed in the rod, and it had to disperse. The metal of Black Star buddies guns was the next best thing for the electricity to live in. It all conducted beautifully: a web of lightning disabled the final three cars, and we were finally home free.
———————————————————————————
"Felix! That was beautiful!" Flo shouted across from the other car.
"It was Rhys' idea!" He said as I slowed to pull closer to them. "But it was amazing!"
"I'm sure it was." I said to myself, in solemn pride. But that didn't matter. What did matter was that we escaped Black Star! And Tara didn't have as big of an army to defend herself with! I felt an arm go to hold me. I recoiled slightly, but felt safe knowing that it was Felix. "Do you want me to drive? I can if you're tired." I returned an awkward side hug.
"Yeah. Thanks." He took the wheel as we carefully swapped seats. I felt my face get warmer. I didn't know. All I knew is that Felix was feeling the same. I could sense his warmth.
——————————————————————————
We had hiked for a few miles at this point, and I could feel myself getting tired from not even moving. I mentally shook myself awake and tried to look ahead. I couldn't see more than a couple of metres, and what I could see looked like a rough pencil sketch. All I could wish for right now was to see even the slightest of colour. The golden dunes, the blue of the sky, or the orange. I had no clue what time it was. I don't think any of us did. We were too focused on getting to Cairo in time. We'd definitely get there in two weeks though. And we'd be free from this poisonous prison. "Rhys?"
"Yeah?" I responded wearily.
"Can you hear that?" I could. The sloshing of liquid coming from behind us. Felix picked up one of the petrol containers. He shook it. Empty. He shook another. Empty. All of them were empty! Stray bullets had hit them, piercing hold and emptying the fuel! "Rhys, we're out of gas." Felix took our bags of food and water. Luckily they were still intact. But now our greatest fear had arisen. We would have to traverse the desert by foot.
We kept driving until our tanks ran out, which was an hour after we noticed we had no spare gas. Good job we filled up before leaving. We left our metal monsters behind, setting off for Cairo. Before we left, Felix had the bright idea of using the fuel that had half-flooded the trunk and use it to get rid of the evidence. He made sparks in his palms, setting alight the fuel. We walked on, watching as the flames climbed ever higher. This wasn't so bad. We're Agents! Our basic training was much worse than a desert trek!
———————————————————————————
"This desert trek is so much worse than our training!" Flo began to collapse out of frustration from having to walk. Her rubber legs bounced her back to a slow walking rhythm. She was right. It was. The sand sucked us down, worse than a drenched forest floor. We tried to keep to the tops of the dunes as much as possible, as climbing them was pure agony. "How long has it been?"
"The moon isn't fully in the sky yet," answered Charlie insightfully, "so I'd say about 2300 hours." Flo groaned.
"So it's been two hours? It feels like we've done the two weeks already!" Despite the boosts from our Agent powers, we were exhausted. As Agents, our natural bodily functions are given a fairly significant boost. Our muscles, bones, organs and cells worked at least three times as more as a regular persons. Our stamina should be superhuman, as well as our leg strength, but that wasn't necessarily the issue. After any agonising stretches, our legs would recover in a couple of minutes, but the Agent powers only improve our physical capabilities, not our mental or emotional abilities. If morale was low, and perseverance was running dry, we would have no chance of making it to Cairo before the poison kicks in and brings us a slow, dangerously painful death. I looked back at the glazed-over looks of my comrades, the solemn groans of their joints echoing throughout the sandy wasteland. The sun had almost fully set. We should probably rest.
Putting our gear down, we began to realise that we had no way of keeping ourselves warm in the night. No protection. No nothing. Our fear of contracting hypothermia kept us awake. We had our luggage from the flight over, but there were only coats for the each of us. Even that wouldn't do us much good. We put them on and sat up, staring into the sand we sat on. Felix broke the silence: "So how was life whilst we were apart?"
Flo slowly looked up, teeth chattering, "Huh?"
"Since you guys've been gone," Felix repeated, "what have you been doing? School wise?"
"School was pretty good. I was in the choir." Flo said.
"And I was in theatre." Charlie added, "People didn't understand how we were friends, because we were in 'different cliques'" she air-quoted.
"They didn't seem to mind that much. Was kinda annoying how they thought it was a bit 'odd'" Flo also air-quoted. "What about you guys?"
"People bullied us because they thought we were gay." I responded, a bit too fast, behind slightly gritted teeth. Both of them were shocked. Felix looked down, remembering the bad times. It was years ago, but saying that took me back to when it was yesterday. "Times were tough then. And they still are now. I mean we've literally got to walk across a fucking desert." I gestures to the dunes.
Charlie stood and came over to me. She flung her arms around me. "But now we're together again. We don't have to suffer alone or apart. We can do this. We're strong." I could hear Felix shuffle in the sand and then embrace the both of us. Flo then sniffles and jumped on top of us. We all collapsed and fell into a pile of laughter and mild teariness. Charlie was right. Tara doesn't stand a damn chance!
———————————————————————————
After we woke from a light slumber, we gathered our supplies and headed East towards Cairo. Our sudden flood of determination made sure that we covered a lot of ground today. Morale had skyrocketed. We were singing songs, telling jokes, throwing anecdotes back and forth amongst each other. Despite the fact that we were all slowly dying, it was a great time had by all. At one point I did get very tired, and my Sense abilities began to decline. The sand began to make my vision fuzzy, like radio or TV static. I could no longer feel vibrations. As soon as this began to happen, Flo took my hand to guide me forward. She didn't even need to be prompted. From her I could see more clearly. And then, also unprompted, Charlie took my other hand, enhancing my vision even further. We were a vision chain, and the fuzziness lessened. They both sang to us and somehow that helped my tiredness.
"Hey, let's see how long we can run for!" Felix suggested. He broke into a sprint and got ahead of us. Charlie and Flo didn't break away from me. Instead they started sprinting and dragging me with them. Almost falling over, I regain some balance and break free, trying to run ahead to get to Felix. Our stamina was proven to be helpful. We managed to run for about 45 minutes without needing to slow down. Eventually I caught up with him, tackling him to the floor. He squealed cutely, before realising that we were at the edge of a dune. Screaming, we rolled for what seemed like minutes, eventually stopping and breaking down into relentless laughter. We high-fives each other, accidentally locking hands. We both stopped, blushed, then began to burst out laughing again. Time with my partners, time with my friends, was always so wonderful. I only wish I could've had this time more often.
———————————————————————————
Finally. Fucking finally. It was arduous. Numbing. Draining. Treacherous. Torturous. Mortifying. The journey almost destroyed us. But finally, after an entire week and a half of hiking through perilous desert, we had finally arrived at our goal. Cairo. The Big Triangle. Well, there are more than one big triangles, but still. Crossing the border into the city, we expelled victorious screams and shouts of relieved ecstasy. The fear of death was no longer looming over us! Taking our packs off of our near-broken shoulders, we heard the sound of tyres screeching. Cars began driving toward us. They stopped, and out came fully armed Black Star soldiers. They didn't point their guns at us, however. It was obvious that we couldn't fight back. Instead they threateningly beckoned us over to them. "Come." One said, "We will make you fit to fight her." We looked about each other, then at our gear. The food that we had was not enough to sustain us on our journey. Starving and thirsty, we reluctantly went with them. They grabbed us, cuffed us, then shoved us in the back of a black van. Two soldiers joined us, likely to keep us in line. They wouldn't want four kids to destroy a whole convoy, now, would they?
The silence was filled with the sound of the engine and the tarmac. The soldiers didn't make any bother to interact with us. They just sat there. Cold. Inhuman. Nothing behind those helmets or visors. Probably just trauma and bloodlust. When we finally came to a halt, they immediately moved to throw us out of the van, their movements robotic. They pushed us into a large warehouse, where we were greeted by an unwanted, familiar sight: Tara. She sat on a foldable garden chair drinking a glass of wine at 11am. "Well howdy, folks. How'd ya trip go, eh?"
"You know exactly how it went, you scheming bitch." Charlie spat. She was smacked in the arm by the hilt of a soldiers' rifle and pushed forwards by another. Tara finished her glass with little to no effort, her heels echoing as she made her way to Charlie. She moved her foreboding scorpion tail and tilted Charlie's head upwards, menacingly.
"My, my, my. Haven't you got some pep to yer step?" She hit her in the stomach as she turned around. "I will remove the poison from ya." Our eyes all lit up with excitement. "You just have to fight me to earn it." Our escort came over and freed us from our cuffs, then handed us each a pistol with a single extra magazine. 32 bullets each. That's generous. 128 bullets to compensate for one of us who can't hurt her. I can sense Felix mentally struggling to find a way for his electricity to kill her. He can't find one.
"Ok, I have a condition for you." Felix spoke.
"You have ma 'ttention."
"Because I can't use my powers, you aren't allowed to use yours. No poisoning us again."
"Y'know what? That seems fair. Ah'm a gracious person, I'll allow it. No poison." She said with a smirk. Then she ran at us.
Flo countered this rush by stretching out her leg and sweeping the width of the warehouse. Tara leapt over and shot at us. Flo went limp and absorbed the bullets, just like she had done when we were being chased through the desert. Felix appeared from behind her and moved to hand-to-hand. He blocked the first punch from Tara. He hit her in the with his elbow with a prominent crunch. Without hesitation, Tara slammed her shin into his ribs. He doubled over, small shocks leaking from his body periodically.
Flo attacked again, throwing a fist at our enemy. That was dodged, but followed by a successful second fist. Tara grabbed it after recoiling and stamped on it with her heel. Flo didn't feel anything. She made it go limp so no pain was dealt. After a confused look from Tara, Flo tightened her arm, making Tara fall over suddenly. Charlie and I ran to the front lines.
Charlie increased her muscle size, growing another foot tall. Sensing Tara's movement, I leapt and followed through with an axe kick. It was redirected and sent into the concrete, cracks made in the floor. Charlie came down low and planted a fist right on Tara's nose. She flew back, recovering fairly fast. She sprinted again, and this time our fists collided. She retaliated with many jabs in quick succession, but I knew when the were coming. I don't know how, but just before the punches connected anywhere, I knew when to block. I assumed my abilities had improved slightly, which they had. I used this to my advantage. Blocking almost every hit, I grabbed her last two punches and we were locked in a stalemate.
We both screamed and groaned and spat as we struggled against each other's strength. I was struggling, considering the fact that my body had not been given the boost of an animal's DNA. It was only augmented human strength. Yet I did not slip. I didn't let my weakness show. Tara shouted at me: "You can't win! Darkness will prevail!"
"Shut up about darkness! Right now it's you! And me!" I disregarded her comment.
"Ha! Ya really think Roger is gonna go easy? He'll fuck you up like Vesuvius fucked up Pompeii!"
"You know your history, don't ya!" I struck her in the stomach with my knee. Her blood spat into my face. Moving behind her, I kicked her knee so she shrank to the floor. "You're gonna be history pretty soon." I directed her attention to my partners. I could sense them preparing something behind me, but I did not know.
I found this out later, but Charlie had stretched Flo out between two tall metal structures holding up the warehouse. Felix then stood in the middle of Flo's giant rubber body, and Charlie began to pull back. She had turned Flo into a giant slingshot! And Felix was the projectile! He surged electricity throughout his body, not affecting Flo for obvious reasons. And he was fired. A human bullet of lightning. I heard a powerful "twang" and the whistle of a large projectile coming towards me. Letting go of Tara, I stepped aside. Felix crashed into with the force of a real bolt of lightning, with the electrical power to back it up. His charge was sent directly into Tara. He grabbed on to any exposed part of her body and disabled her entirely. She was totally out of commission.
Our enemies had been defeated. Whilst Felix and I carried Tara over to the girls, they had both rounded up the soldiers and crushed them. Felix knelt down and analysed: they were robots. That's why they were so cold and indifferent to us. It was a strange sight to see. Electricity sparking out, in place of what could have been blood. Their was nothing behind their helmets, both metaphorically and physically. It was all wires and computers. Fear was instilled. Our enemies had as advanced technology as we had. The F.B.I can augment DNA and physically empower people, and Black Star is able to ignore the human side and make war robots. These must've been First Version's. They were easily destroyed by Charlie's giant muscles and inhuman brutality. There must be more waiting for us wherever Roger or another Black Star Head is.
"I dunno where Roger is." Tara answered, as expected. Flo slammed her up against a wall.
"Then who the hell knows!" Charlie spat.
"Justin. He works above me. He'll know."
"Then where is this 'Justin' guy?" I asked.
"Greece."
ns 18.68.41.146da2
