P.O.V: Elizabeth Harmon.
I tried to ignore the scolding/freezing feeling as I jumped into the portal, but let’s just say it wasn’t easy. It was like trying to ignore ice picks raining down on you as you were thrown in fire. So- not easy. I struggled to stand for a moment, as the feeling of pins being stabbed all over my body slowly started to disappear. Donny didn’t seem to be having as bad a time as I was and was currently stuffing his earpiece into his left ear.
“Kaylee? Shari? Somebody!” Donny demanded angrily, obviously not getting to anybody on the other end. He turned to me. “Can you talk to anyone on yours? Mine just keeps making static noises.”
I actually hadn’t bothered with the earpiece until he mentioned it, now I stuffed it in, and realized he was right. All you could hear was static cutting in and out like a radio station. Wait, no, more like when you’re in between two radio stations, sometimes you can make out a few words, sometimes you can’t. Because I could hear bits and pieces of what someone was saying- of what Kaylee was saying.
“Guys- you- he- me” Donny must’ve heard it too, because he stopped and closed his eyes in concentration, trying to make out more words.
“Must- broken- continue- mission- careful.”
“Damn it,” Don muttered frowning at the ground, and turned to me. “Come on then, sooner we get this done sooner we’ll get to go home and get the stupid things fixed.”
“Do you remember the address?” I asked him, because I sure didn’t.
“Yup, it should be a few blocks. Not far.” He waved it off, his concentration obviously not into the conversation, his brows creased in worry. 405Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNSgZAOGlsi
Probably still worrying about Renae. I remembered the look on his face, one that said that no mater how many times it happened, he could never get used to it. The only one that looked as pained as he did was Mia. I still couldn’t quite figure out why she wouldn’t talk. I shook my head to clear it as I took in my surroundings. Thomas had portaled us into an off portion of what seemed to be a subway station. The stained white tile on the wall, echo of chattering voices, and faded rumble of a far off train gave proof to that. Donny extended a hand and helped me up, but it was still a little harder than I expected to make my feet stay firm on the ground and I started to tilt, but Donny grabbed me, smirking.
“Tommy’s portals aren’t my favorite way of getting through this city either, trust me.” He chuckled, letting go of me. “Come on.”
We seemed to be in one of those places that were only for ‘staff personnel’ and hurried out of it before we were seen. We both kept our heads down and never made any contact with anyone as we rushed out of the subway- not the one that Donny and I had gone through when I’d first met him, this one seemed to be in an entirely other city considering I didn’t recognize any part of it. I followed Don through several of the unfamiliar streets before I talked, because I couldn’t stand my mind not being occupied and coming up with the worst outcomes possible, as it’s been known to do. I decided to ask about Mia, considering my head was still a little scrambled from the portal to think of much else.
“So does Mia not like to speak to new people or something?” I ask as we turned the corner with some other teenagers not far in front of us, but probably too far to hear us.
“Are you really that stupid, Liz?” He stared at me, as if I had two heads or something. “Or does someone have to spell everything out for you?” his voice turned harsh and his eyes hardened.
“How the hell should I know Donny?” I snap back at him, glaring. “Would you just tell me, instead of insulting me? Just once?”
He sighed. “She didn’t speak to you, Elizabeth, because she can’t. Mia hasn’t been able to speak for years.” I was stunned into silence.
“That enough of an explanation for you?” The sentence was practically a snarl, and a bit of a slap in the face.
“Well, how was I supposed to know that?” I fire back, angry now that he seemed to think I should be able to read everyone’s mind and already know the answer to my questions. The thought of reading someone’s mind reminded me of Brannon and I almost wanted to cry, but refused to do so. But I could also hear the edge of pain in his voice, like he was talking about his own sister instead of Renae’s. And I understood why he didn’t want to talk about it with me.
“I really didn’t know, Don.” But my voice had lost it’s anger.
Donny sighed and his eyes softened. “I’m sorry, Liz,” he apologized. “None of us like talking about Mia, especially not Renae.” He shivered, despite the heat.
“Why?” The question was out of my mouth before I could think.
“You ever heard the phrase ‘curiosity killed the cat’?” He rolled his eyes at me.
It’s true, curiosity is often my weak spot. “You ever heard the phrase ‘ignorance doomed the dog’” I replied, something my mother came up with years ago.
Donny gave me the look my brother and I used to give her when she said it. “Uh, no, because it’s not a phrase, Liz.”
He wrinkled his nose and raised an eyebrow that said I was the craziest thing he’d ever seen. I shrugged and waited to see if he was going to answer my question or not. He sighed, finally giving in.
“You have to understand, Elizabeth, Renae and Mia came from a completely different background than a lot of us,” he began, his voice quieting.
“Their mother and father were drunks. But they were also mutant haters. Hated them with a passion. When Renae was eleven, her eyes turned white and she had her first vision. She told Cayla about them, and they managed to keep it a secret from their parents for two years, wearing contacts that matched her regular eyes, wore sunglasses a lot.”
He shook his head. “But they did eventually find out. And when they did, Mia jumped in the middle of it, her powers went off...” he took a breath and continued. “Their father nearly beat her and her sisters to death. Cayla tried to protect them as best she could, but well, it didn’t work. They had to be sent to a hospital to heal from the worst of it. After that, Cayla’s friend brought them down here, had to sneak them all out of the house, and brought them to our base. Even after Shie got transferred to another base, they stayed. Mia used to talk, before, but after that, well, she hasn’t spoken a word since. Her and Renae use sign language to talk but it still hurts Renae sometimes to think about it. Fuck, if I ever meet their parents, I’ll-”
He cut himself off, his fingers digging into his palm, his mind obviously taken a dark turn, and for once I completely understood where his mind had go to. Anger pulsed through me like a thrumming heartbeat, thinking of someone, let alone their father, hurting Renae and tiny Mia... I could just picture the things I wanted to do. He shook his head, trying to clear the horrible thoughts. As if it were ever that easy.
He looked at me with a faint smile. “Well, that got real dark real quick, didn’t it?” He let a chuckle fall off his lips and continued to study the street signs.
I couldn’t quite understand how Donny could just laugh something off, as if it’s meaning was nothing, just a joke. I shook it off, telling myself to ask later. We continued going on whatever knowledge Donny had of where we were headed.
“How do you know where we’re going, exactly?” I asked, watching Donny study the street signs. I’ve lived here for three years and I don’t have any idea of where we are.
“I’ve lived in the base for eight years. Me and the others know this state like the back of our hands.” He chuckled.
I suppose that makes sense, if he’s been going on missions like this that long, he’d have to know a lot of ins and outs. Seeing as how I virtually never get to ask many questions- when we’re not training or on missions, which isn’t often, we’re goofing off and I never thought of asking questions- so I thought this might be a good time to do so.
“So how does Renae ‘see’ her visions anyway?” I ask the first question that came to mind.
“Well, first off, why aren’t you asking her instead of me? Second, you ask too many damn questions.” He shook his head in mock annoyance, or maybe it was real, but he still answered anyway.
“Renae sees things a bit different than a lot of physics. She sees the different choices that someone makes.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Thomas told me that she sees different versions of the future, not choices.” I told him, wondering why Tommy would lie to me about that. Donny seemed more likely to lie to me than Thomas, just to make a joke of it.
“Well, yeah, she does.” Donny admitted, in a voice that said he was trying to explain something harder and more complicated than quantum physics.
“Renae sees the aftermath of the choices people make, only ever the aftermath. She doesn’t see who makes the choice, or what exactly the decision even is. Yes, in a way, she does see different versions, because people make so many different decisions, even small ones, that she gets confused. And most of the time, she has to be looking for something to see it, but there are circumstances when she’ll get a vision she wasn’t expecting.”
He sighed, a look of misery on his face and I knew he was remembering Renae’s pale face, her twitching body...
“Sometimes when she sees something too bad, her mind will try to protect her from it, so she blacks out, but she still remembers what she saw. But it’s a little late to stop sometimes.” He clenched his teeth together and I could tell he no longer felt like answering questions.
We walked down a few more streets before Donny stopped me and pointed to something ahead of us. It was a large house- I think my mother would’ve called it a town house- looking almost identical to those around it, and for a reason I couldn’t quite place, that annoyed me deeply.
How’re we supposed to sneak in there?
“You sure that’s the place?” I asked, hoping it wasn’t. How are we supposed to get in and out without someone seeing us?
“Yup.” He said, but his voice didn’t hold the same disappointment that mine did, more like anticipation. He seemed to see my expression and rolled his eyes at me.
“There’s something called a backyard, Liz. You know, opposite of the street, nobody sees you, ever heard of it?”
I didn’t bother to come up with a comeback to that one, my head was already buzzing and I felt sick to my stomach with dread. Something about this mission just wasn’t right, like we were missing something crucial, a piece of a puzzle we didn’t know needed solving. We hurried out of sight of the cars and other people walking until we got to the back of the large house facing the backdoor, being as quiet as possible. I felt the medal in my head and concentrated on it, my fingers grazing the knob on the door. Just as my eyes started to turn, I felt Donny’s hand push mine off.
“No, let’s go through the window. Something about this just isn’t sitting right with me.” He muttered shaking his head, and looked up at an average silver window several feet above us. We probably could fit in it, and I’ll admit that I’m not quite comfortable with going through the door either, but how are we supposed to get up there?
“And how exactly are we going to do that, Don? last time I checked, neither of us can fly.” I wasn’t quite sure why I was keeping my voice down, but I did. As if someone’s going to hear us and start a free- for- all- shootout. And for a moment, my mind entertained the thought and created the images in my mind. Get a grip, I order myself glancing at Donny.
“Don’t need to,” He smirked at me and I saw his eyes turn to their blood red and I barely stopped myself from jumping away from him.
It’s not that I really thought Donny would hurt me, but that instinct to get away almost overpowered any other thought. I was raised to run from Benders, taught to fear the things they can do. But now here I was, friends- at least that’s the closest thing I can call him- with one. Part of me wondered what my mother would say right about now, about all of this, but another didn’t- really, really didn’t. Ice barely the size of a large slab started to form beneath my feet as Donny summoned water from the air around us. I probable could’ve done the same thing with the ground I had been standing on, but I hadn’t been thinking of it, and it probably would’ve made too much noise anyway. The slab of ice was so small I had to force my feet to stand as still and rigid as possible. It rose me up silently and swiftly, so swiftly I almost went over the side of it but Donny reached his hand out and I felt my body go rigid and right itself without my command. I would’ve yelled at him if my mouth was capable of moving. Just because I was alright with his powers didn’t mean I was alright with him using it on me. I tried to shake off my anger, unsuccessfully, as the ice brought me right to the window and his hold on my body evaporated, leaving me back in control of myself again. I didn’t like the feeling of not being in control, like I was a puppet being played with. I pressed my fingers to the glass and it swung open immediately. My feet had just hit the wooden floor when I felt the weight shift. I turned around and glared at Donny, but he either didn’t care or didn’t notice as he quietly shut the window back. I balled my hands into fists and, with as hard as I could, shoved him, sending his surprised body against the wall.
“What the hell was that for?” He asked, bewildered.
"Never do that again! I don’t care if I’m about to fall into a snake pit, don’t you ever try to control m-” My voice had risen louder than I’d meant and probably louder than wise, because Donny slapped a hand over my mouth, quickly stuffing out my voice.
He studied me for a moment, taking in my anger. “Fine.” He snapped simply and looked around, not meeting my gaze.
We were in what could only be the attic. Dusty tarps covered old furniture sitting on dark, almost black wood was a clue. The only light was the sunlight shining from the window, breaking through the dust motes around the room. I moved to turn the light on, the switch barely visible through the dim light, but Donny knocked my hand out of the way and made the ‘Shh’ motion, pointing to the floor. At first, I thought he’d done it just to annoy me, but then I heard it: the low hum of voices. Donny didn’t meet my eyes as he opened the door big brown door, giving a slight flinch at the creak it made. The door led to a short hallway painted in a soft silver. The only thing the hallway led to was a large staircase. It’s beautiful white railing surrounded the sleek wooden stairs that if my heart wasn’t pounding, I would have found beautiful. But now all I was thinking about was what kind of dangers those stairs were going to lead to. I didn’t have to look at Donny, who was intentionally avoiding my eye, to know that neither of us wanted to go down there. There was a feeling I didn’t like, a feeling that was becoming all too familiar to me. Like that scene in a horror movie right before the girl gets killed by the crazed murderer. And the darkness that engulfed us seemed to heighten fears I haven’t had since I was little. Right now, I felt like that girl, and right now, thinking about horror scenes was probably not the best thing for my mind to be busy with. I obviously wasn’t paying very close attention to anything around me, still replaying murder scenes from all the movies I’ve seen in my head, when Donny froze on the step in front of me. Donny pressed himself flat against the wall and grabbed my wrist to keep me from going any farther. I ripped my hand out of his grasp, still angry with him. I pushed him out of the way, determined to see what it was, when something caught the back of my shirt and yanked it, sending me tumbling back. Donny slammed me against the wall, throwing out his hand to keep me there as I fumed.
“Did you just-” I whispered glaring at him but his hand came over my mouth and I had half the mind to bite it.
He nodded at the bottom of the stairs and with his free hand motioned to his ear. Listen. So I did, staining my ears to listen to the voices we’d heard in the attic.
“I still don’t get it, keeping them is a lot more challenging than just killing ’em off and waiting.” One of the voices whined, though his voice wasn’t very whiny, more gruff and impatient.
I strained my eyes to see through the dim light, and made out two figures guarding a large door that I was assuming was locked, they had their backs to the door but were facing the backdoor in an aggressive way, like they were ready for a fight at a moment’s notice. One of them was middle aged, shorter than the other with almost no hair and a permanent scowl on his face. The other was tall, younger, only a few years older than us really, with light curly brown hair with laugh lines. He was handsome, but there was something in his eyes, something that drew me back. They each had a gun strapped to their side, but it wasn’t like any gun I’ve ever seen, though that wasn’t saying much. The only guns I’m familiar with is the ones at the base. But these guns were odd, all silver with a see-through chamber. The slick round bullets inside were pure black, and gave me a feeling that chilled me to the bone. I was overreacting, it was a gun, I’d seen guns before, trained with them- hell, I had one back at the base that I use for training on a daily basis! But the way Donny’s eyes were locked on the guns made me think that he didn’t recognize them either. And his scowl made me think that he didn’t like them any more than I did.
“Those are new,” Donny muttered, his voice low beside me. So he doesn’t recognize them.
“You know exactly why, dumbass,” The younger one answered with an eye roll.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Donny stiffen, a look of fear on his face. I shook his arm to try to get him to look at me, but his eyes stayed locked on the boy, his mouth hanging open in a wide O. There was a look in his eyes I didn’t like, a look of drawing hate. Donny knew this kid, there was no way he couldn’t. He balled his hands into fists so tight they were causing his palms to bleed.
“If we killed them then their physic would see it and boom, there’d be no reason for us to be here.” He spoke in such an off-hand way, like murdering innocent people wasn’t anything to pay mind to and I felt bile rise I my throat. Their physic. I hadn’t missed it, and neither had Donny. His eyebrows rose and he gave me a pointed look as if to say, you heard that too, right? I nodded, still keeping my eyes on the two men. How did they know about Renae? They must know that if they choose to kill them then she would’ve seen it and told us not to go. Then I had the worst thought: what if that’s exactly what she’d seen? Or something just as bad? Donny said when she sees something too bad she’ll pass out. She had seen something bad, and I was sure that it had something to do with this. The other one had suggested that they kill them and wait, but for what? For the weather to change? For pigs to fly? Donny’s eyebrows were scrunched together in confusion. He leaned closer to me, his voice so low I almost didn’t catch the words.
“I’ll distract them, you get that door open and get whoever’s in there out. Got it?” Before I could answer him, he let go of me and held his hand toward the windows beside the front door. His eyes turned red and Ice formed and shattered against the windows, breaking them instantly. The two soldiers yelped and dove to the ground as icicles soared just over their head.
“Damn it!” I heard one of them yell.
Donny’s eyes tightened as he formed the razer-sharp pieces of ice into a tornado-like structure around the two men, ensnaring them inside them.
He nodded toward the door. “Go, I’ll distract them long enough for you to get them out,” he pushed me toward the door. I hesitated. He was already sweating from the effort and concentration of keeping up the ice, how much longer could he last before they get to him? I had to remind myself that Donny was in no way helpless, that he was a big boy and could take care of himself, as I hurried down the stairs, no longer caring about the noise. If they didn’t know we were here, they knew now. All I had to do was wave my hand and the sound of the locks clicking hit my ears and I forced the door open. The room was obviously a dining room. A large table had been thrown against one of the walls, wooden shards scattering the floor around it, the chairs not far from it. Shades had been drawn tightly over the large glass windows, allowing no light except the dim rays from the door. Something shifted in the shadows and I tensed, preparing for a fight. When I was not meet with one, I began to move closer. In one of the corners two figures were crouched beside each other, one reasonably taller than the other. As I moved closer, the taller figure’s head snapped up, greeting me me with hazel eyes. My eyes had adjusted enough to see what the figures looked like. It was a boy, about my age, maybe a year or two older, with light blonde hair that fell to his ears. The smaller figure was a boy, no older than six, with the same light blonde hair and hazel eyes, leasing me to believe they were brothers. Zip-ties bound both wrists behind their backs, and a cloth stuffed in their mouths cut off any words. I crouched down beside the older one and quickly slipped off the cloth. His eyes married suspiciously at me. I wanted my hands at the zip-ties binding his wrists and they broke away with a snap. Just as I moved on to help the younger one, the boy’s hand wipped out and grabbed my left wrist, the one with my band on it. I tried to rip it away, but his grip was tight. He turned my wrist over so quickly that I thought he was trying to break my wrist, but he wasn’t. He was looking at my wristband.
“Adono.” The boy’s deep voice commanded. At first I thought it might’ve been Italian or Spanish, neither languages I was good at, considering the boy had an odd accent that I couldn’t place. But then the weirdest thing happened, something on my band began to glow, a black symbol appearing on the face of my yellow band. Three triangles without bottoms on top of one-another, their tips connecting at the ends. The boy let go of my wrist and gave a visible sigh as he took off his brother’s gag and moved onto his wrists. He tugged on the ties before I waved my hand and they came undone.
“What the hell was that? What you said?” I asked, helping him up.
“You’re new, aren’t you?” The boy asked, his voice honestly serious, not playful or judging.
“Uh, yeah, kinda.” I admitted. He knew I was a Keeper? He didn’t look like one, in figure or in the way he acts. And I didn’t see a band on him either.
“That symbol, it’s the Gate Keeper’s symbol. I had to check, make sure you weren’t Order or anything, not that you look like it.” He smiled.
“I’m Deacon.”
“Liz.” I breathed out.
A loud clinking sounded from outside the door, like glass shattering. Or ice.
“You little fu-” the younger soldier started to yell, but was cut-off by a cracking noise that I seriously hoped was his head against the wall.
“We should go, like now.” I ordered, heading for the door.
“You got a friend with you?” Deacon asked, scooping up his little brother in his arms.
“Yes, a short-tempered friend, so let’s go.”
“Wait,” he grabbed my wrist. “You’re a Teleken, aren’t you?” He asked, his tone serious.
“Yes, why?” I thought the fact that when I snapped the ties without touching them was a pretty obvious clue that I had Telekinesis.
“I overheard the soldiers talking, they were waiting on a Teleken or a Connector- something like that. Said they were told to take ’em out.”
My heart thumped in my chest. “You heard them say that?” my voice was a whisper. How could I already be on the Order’s radar? And how the hell could they know I was a Connecter?
“Yeah, but I don’t think they were expecting you to have friends though.”
I didn’t know what to say, and was saved from having to say anything when a body crashed through the door and smacked into the wall not far from where we stood. I raised my hand, thinking it was one of the soldiers, when Donny’s blue eyes looked up at me.
“You wanna hurry up Liz, ’cause I’m getting my ass beat!” He snapped at me as I helped him up.
“Let’s go then.” I agreed.
We got to the door before we saw the soldiers waiting for us, cutting off our exit and I didn’t pause to send one of the doors flying at them. The younger one moved out of the way in time, the other wasn’t so luckey as the door crushed him, his body still. He lunged at me, his eyes narrowed, but Donny pushed me out of the way, his knife in hand. I hit the ground, my head slamming into the wood so hard I might’ve blacked out. No, I did black out. Because when I managed to peel myself off the floor, Deacon was helping Donny fend off the soldier, both trying to keep a few feet difference between them. Deacon had long, deep burns on his face and arms, but I had no idea how he got them. Donny, well, Donny looked pissed. The soldier had his hands outstretched toward them, as if beckoning them to come at him. I looked around for Deacon’s brother, and didn’t have to look very far. Because there he was, curled up beside me, his feet pulled up to his chest, shaking like a leaf and sobbing. I moved to grab him, maybe I could get us out of here, when I heard Deacon and Donny yelp in surprise and the next thing I knew, I was staring at wrong end of a gun. The soldier held his silver pistol pointed strait at me, his chest heaving, eyes cruel and unwavering. He had a knee digging into my stomach, preventing me from moving.
“Bye, Teleken.” He growled simply.
I let my mind grab the gun with it’s invisible fingers, imagined it flying out of his hand, or turning it on him and pulling the trigger. Only none of that happened. Instead, when my mind reached out for the gun, it was like a rubber band that someone had pulled too tight and snapped. I gasped out as the feeling hit me, my mind weighed down and drowsy. There was a distinctive click and I braced myself for the upcoming bullet. Suddenly there was a scuffle and the weight disappeared, leaving me room to breath. Donny had tackled the soldier, and was trying to wrestle gun out of his hand as welts and burns began to grow on his hands. Anywhere Donny touched him, his skin would seem to char, as it the soldier’s very skin was aflame. Just as I moved to help Donny, the gun went off, sounding like thunder as the noise swept through the walls. There was a loud, piercing cry and I couldn’t tell who it had come from. Donny managed to kick the gun out of the soldier’s hand and it came skidding across the floor, a foot from my hand. I grabbed it, wrapping my finger around the trigger as I aimed it. Donny must’ve seen me pick it up, because he gave a strong, final kick and lunged away from the soldier, breathing heavily.
He got up and started to go for Donny, when he noticed me and froze. “You’re not going to shoot me. I don’t think you can.” He taunted, cocking his head at me.
“Try me, bitch.” I snarled, my fingers tense on the trigger.
He seemed to consider. Considered his chances of getting to one of us before I fired, his chances of getting the gun away from me, and maybe even the chance that he could get away. He decided to test his luck. His feet began to move toward me, running at me, and I could hear Donny yelling something, could see Deacon trying to lunge for him. But all I could focus on was me, the soldier, and the gun. Everything else was a blur
I pulled the trigger.
The force of the gun launched me back into the wall as the soldier gave a gasp of pain, his hands holding his stomach, trying to staunch the blood trickling from his new wound. I gaped in shock. I just shot someone. I just shot a human being. Deacon rushed over to me, his mouth was moving but I didn’t hear the words. I was going to be sick, could feel the bile rise in the back of my throat and covered my mouth. How could I do that? I didn’t realize Donny had moved until he was shaking me.
“Liz, breathe. You need to calm down or you’re going to have a panic attack!” His wide eyes were anxious and worried. “He’s going to live, unfortunately. You didn’t kill him Elizabeth, I promise. Please calm down Liz!” He begged and he didn’t take his eyes off me until I stopped shaking.
“I’m fine, I’m okay.” I whispered, almost believing the words myself. Almost.
“We have to go, right now.” Donny commanded, and I could hear the distant wail of sirens and knew that we had to leave before they found us here.
We took off our of the house, trying to blend in with the people walking on the street, and maybe it was just me, but I felt we stood out like a sore thumb. I knew we were headed for the Tunnels as soon as Donny turned into an ally. I knew this wasn’t the entrance to the base, everything around it was completely different, so when Donny flashed his wristband at a large piece of glass by the wall and we watched as there wall broke apart and separated for us to walk through. The small boy gave a yelp when the wall slammed close and grabbed for Deacon’s hand. The tunnel was so tight a foot that no to people could stand side-by-side.
“So why were they there?” Donny asked from in front of us.
“Sorry?” Deacon asked, his mind had obviously been elsewhere.
“Why did they come to your place? You got something to do with a Keeper or somethin’?” Donny called back and I noticed he flinched when his right shoulder grazed the wall.
“My father’s a Commander at a base, not too sure how they found it we were his kids though.” Deacon explained, glancing down at his little brother.
“Who’s your father? Must’ve been on their radar if they came after you two.” Donny figured.
“His goes by Vemos, you know him?”
Donny turned around so fast I almost ran into him. “Your father is Commander Vemos?” Donny repeated suspiciously, his eyebrows rose.
“Yes, he is.” Deacon hissed, his fingers balled into fists.
Donny turned around and continued walking, contemplating what Deacon told him. It seemed to take more than a half hour getting to the base, and by that time Donny was lagging, his face tired and slightly pained. By the time the wall broke apart, I couldn’t be more thankful to see those three buildings. I raced out of that tunnel as soon as Donny had moved it out of the way and collapsed onto grass, grateful to feel the base’s safety surround me like amor. Donny leaned against the wall for support, breathing heavily. Deacon and his little brother were gazing art everything around them, trying to gather the strength to move, like the rest of us. Suddenly, the Thomas, Renae, Logan, Jacob, and Kaylee ran out of the House, their eyes wide. Renae ran to Donny first, throwing her arms around him and gave a visible sigh of relief. Donny flinched as he raised his hands to hug her back, his face surprised.
“Damn, you got separation anxiety or somethin’ Renae?” Donny gave chuckle and pulled away, studying her face. She was still slightly pale, but looked much better than she did before we left.
“Are you okay?” He asked her quietly. I looked away, feeling like I invaded a private moment, and felt someone put a hand on my shoulder.
“Good to see you guys were alright.” Thomas sighed, smiling. “we were getting ready to come after y’all, but then you decide to pop in at the last second.” He laughed.
“How long were we gone?” I asked, confused as to why they would be coming after us.
“It’s not that, Renae woke up and told us- oh we have company.” Thomas suddenly changed the subject, seeing the two boys.
“Yeah, that’s Vemos’s kids.” Donny said with a pointed look at Jacob and Kaylee. Their eyes widened at the new information.
“Oh my God, you’re bleeding!” Renae said suddenly, staying at Donny’s shoulder.
“I’m fine, they’ll patch me right up.” Donny shrugged her off.
“Come on, we need to talk.” He glanced at Donny. “In the hospital.”
We left Deacon and his brother with Kaylee as we headed for the basement. The doctor brought us into a room identical to the one they had me in. He peeled off Donny’s jacket and shirt, which I now saw were covered in dark blood. When he managed to wash the blood from around the wound, I finally saw what was causing the bleeding. It was a bullet wound, no bigger than a soda cap in his right shoulder and I gasped.
“He shot you? Why didn’t you tell me?” I demanded, and my gut attempted to heave itself at the sight.
Donny rolled his eyes at me. “And what were you gonna to, Liz? Kiss it and make it feel better?”
The doctor stitched him up and left us in the room, telling Donny to be careful to not accidently re-open the wound. When is Donny ever careful though?
“Alright, we need to talk.” Jacob huffed, his arms crossed over his chest.
They told us about Renee’s vision, and I told them about what Deacon said he’d heard. We both told them about how the ear pieces had gotten messed up somehow. Donny told them about the guns, which none of them had ever seen or heard of before. Apparently the bullets had been Black Metal because Donny said he could hardly use his powers at all, barely managing to form a small icicle when Jacob asked him to try. Jacob took the head about the other issue.
“We think there’s a spy in the base that’s been leaking information about missions to the Order, maybe even designing some of them.” Jacob told us and Donny snorted.
“Think? Please, if there isn’t a spy I’ll eat my own damn foot!”
“Missions have been messing up for a while now, but we can’t seem to find the damn person.” Jacob continued, ignoring Donny’s comment. But as he said this, he glanced at Don, who intentionally looked away. “But it seems the spy, whoever it may be, wants you dead Liz.” Jacob sighed, his face slightly .
“But why?” I practically yelled. Why would someone want me dead? What have I ever done to anyone?
“We don’t know, Liz. But we’re not going to let you die, you may be annoying but we’re not that shitty.” I thought of how Donny had tackled the soldier off me, how he got himself shot trying to keep the gun from him. Don may be an ass, but he was a loyal ass.
Donny paused, as if thinking over his words. “Well, I don’t know. We might, we can be real assholes.” Donny grinned and Renae have him a glare and slapped his arm.
“Don, you’re the biggest asshole we have.” She rolled her eyes at him.
“I’m aware.”
Jacob ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. “Shut up, Don I mostly mean you.” Donny shrugged. Must not be the first time someone told him this. Jacob turned back to me, his kind eyes holding promise if protection, that I could trust what he says.
“We won’t let anything happen to you Liz.” He vowed.
“It might be because she’s a Connecter, you know.” Thomas shrugged and looked at me.
“But how many people know that though?” Renae pondered.
It took us a few minutes to narrow it down.
“Us, Kaylee, Logan, Rick, I guess the people in the room when Liz and Richard were training...” Renae sighed. That didn’t narrow it down to much.
“No, nobody I’m the training room could’ve, because they only one at that moment, and then the mission came up right after.” Jacob groaned, putting his face in his hands.
“Damn it.” Donny muttered, realization reaching his and Jacob’s eyes at the same time.
“What?” Thomas asked. “Do you think you know-”
“No, Tommy, it’s not that.” Donny interrupted impatiently.
Jacob looked up from his hands, a frustrated look in his face. “Kaylee told the Council that you were a Connecter, Liz. The Council likes to know if we find rare mutants, I just didn’t think she’d do it so soon. I completely forgot about it.” He confessed.
“So what you’re saying is, it could be anyone on the Council.” It was a fact, not a question. Great.
“Go get some sleep guys, it’s been a long day.” Jacob ordered.
As we all filed out, I remembered Deacon. “What’s going to happen to the two boys that we got out?”
“Kaylee’s going to see if they know anything else then take them to Vemos.” Jacob told me.
I nodded and followed Renae back to our room. The other girls were fast asleep, Mia included. I felt bad, knowing that I’d gotten mad at Mia before, but resolved to apologize tomorrow. My head hit the pillow and I was out like a light.
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