For my First Wave Fic folks who actually found Raine to be an interesting character and who didn't stone me to death even when the story took a turn that even I didn't expect.
I don't usually break stories into parts, but this one ended up so long that for loading purposes I did.
*******
The Space Between
The gunfire erupted all around them and Cade swore. Bullets whizzed through the trees even though no other people or aliens could be readily seen. Trees surrounded the small clearing. Rock was on one side jutting up from the rough ground. When he had hiked into the area to wipe out a few Gua, he hadn't planned on getting caught in the crossfire of some strange Gua against Gua shootout.
But he was.
Worse was that Jordan was also in the middle of it. They were currently huddled against a small rock outcropping amid the rubble on the larger rock formation. Dirt flew into the air just off to their left and the red head let out a colorful curse of her own.
"We're never gonna get out of here Cade," she ground out as the bullets continued to buzz past their heads. Some flew past close enough that they could feel the breeze the rushing metal created.
"Tell me about it," he muttered in reply as he stuck his head up over the rocks they were hiding behind, hoping to find a route out.
Only a few yards away, the Gua stood and raised his gun. Cade expected the agony of a bullet to hit him at any moment, but instead the alien began to scream. In less than a minute the body flashed red and the enemy was gone. Neither of them had fired.
"What the?" he heard Jordan ask behind him.
"Look, ma, no hands."
The familiar female voice didn't belong to Jordan. Cade spun around, his gun at the ready. She stood there, hands held up in front of her, a slight smirk on her face.
"Raine?" Cade blinked and slowly lowered his gun. It had been almost a year since he'd seen her. The last time she had nearly died, her blood staining his hands. He still had nightmares.
"Last time I checked anyway," Raine smarted. Waving a hand around the area casually she asked, "You ready to get out of here, cause I'm really not in the mood to get shot again."
Jordan looked at the female through narrowed eyes. "Who the hell are you?" she demanded of the other woman.
The smirk on Raine's face grew slightly and she looked at Cade. "I thought she'd be more impressive." Jordan began to sputter but Raine ignored her. "Part of a big prophecy and all that."
Wisely Cade ignored the barb and turned to Jordan. "She's a friend. And she came in, so obviously she can get out."
"Indeed," Raine agreed with a brief nod. Turning on a heel she headed for the tree line behind them. "Come on if you're coming. We don't have all day."
Tossing a quick look around the area, Cade followed. Apparently the Gua Raine had killed was the only one close enough to worry about at the moment. He didn't want more to worry about. He wanted out of here. A lot. With a jerk of his head, he motioned Jordan to follow.
When she hit the tree line, Raine looked at them. "Stay close," she instructed. "It's not far, but I don't want you lagging behind. I'm not sure how far the illusion extends. These things are still a little hard to control."
"Illusion?" Jordan asked in a baffled voice. She looked to Cade for clarification.
"We'll explain later," Cade assured her, not taking his eyes off Raine.
The air around them shimmered slightly. Directly above them came the first solid change. A small area that looked like a puddle of liquid formed over their heads. It was as if the color had been sucked out of that small patch. Quickly the patch seemed to melt down, flowing until it touched the ground within a handful of seconds. The internal side of the ball seemed to glow slightly, shifting in a strange play of lavender light. As they looked out, they found that all colors were muted, leaving the world many shades of gray with just a hint of their true color.
With faintly glowing violet eyes, Raine looked at them. "They shouldn't be able to see us coming, but the" she paused a moment, struggling for the right word, "force field will keep any stray shots out. Like I said, it's not far."
With that she began to move, taking the ball of muted color with her. They followed.
*******
"You've been practicing," Cade noted as Raine navigated the SUV over the rough terrain.
"Yeah," she admitted. "After the last time I decided it was something that would probably behoove me to do."
"Nice," Cade told her with a smile. The smile faded and he jerked a few Kleenex out of a box in the center console. "I see you haven't gotten rid of that little problem yet."
Raine said nothing as she took the tissues from him with one hand and wiped the blood from her upper lip. "It's better actually," she said softly, her concentration still on driving. "Doesn't bleed as much. Still bleeds but usually only on the big stuff." Raine glanced in the rearview mirror at Jordan. "There's more ammo in the duffle bag in the back. I don't know if you guys need to reload or not."
Jordan frowned slightly, then nodded. Slipping from her seat belt, she turned and leaned over the seat, rummaging through the promised bag. She let out a grunt as the Blazer hit more rough terrain and she was bounced around.
"I thought about you the other day," Cade confessed. A slight smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. Not all of his thoughts made him see the blood on his hands.
"I know." Raine couldn't stop the grin. "Your thoughts carry. If I didn't already need the help, I might have tracked you down for the fun of it."
A frown pulled his mouth back down, but before he could ask, the seat belt in the back seat clicked closed and a clip of ammunition was held between the seats.
"Help?" Jordan asked for him.
"Yeah," Raine affirmed, her teeth clacking together as they hit the trail out. "Got something I wanted to get an opinion on. It's. different than anything I've dealt with so far."
Cade snorted. "If it's so different it's left you hunting us down, then we're all in trouble."
"Probably," she agreed.
Without another word, they hit the highway and headed towards Eddie.
*******
"You know, I was thinking I needed a good rainy day not too long ago," Eddie let loose a smile that was even brighter than his shirt. He wrapped his arms around he girl and hugged her closely.
Raine laughed as she slid into his arms and hugged him back.
"You probably just wanted food," she teased as she pulled away.
"Well, I could do with more of your cooking, true, but I was also thinking that maybe you could take Cade shopping. The black and gray color scheme is getting old. I mean he does toss in the bright white t-shirt and blue jeans occasionally, but still." The Hacker smirked slightly.
Jerking a thumb in Jordan's direction, Raine snorted. "Isn't that her job?"
Eddie smartly swallowed any reply as Cade coughed. "You going to tell us what's going on?" he asked as he moved to her side.
With a quirked brow, Eddie looked at Raine again. "Not a pleasure trip?"
Letting out a soft sigh, Raine closed her eyes, stretching her arms about her head, fingers interlocked. As she dropped her arms she looked at her friend again.
"Afraid not. Doesn't mean I wasn't considering a visit anyway," she replied. "Just haven't had much time."
"Any cool new tricks?" the dark haired man asked as he led the way to the small house.
Raine laughed. To anyone else it might have sounded normal. To Cade and Eddie it sounded tense and fragile. "A few. Some I'm still working on."
"Can't wait to see them." With a small flourish of hands, Eddie opened the door for her.
*******
Raine sat on the couch, curled up in a ball, her head resting against Eddie's shoulder. Jordan and Cade sat across from them, each in their own chair.
Cade had explained to Jordan, as best he could, about Raine. He skimmed over some things, but the gist of it was there. She saved him from Cain. They had fought. She had been shot. Cade had gotten her to a hospital.
He had left out the part where he had poured himself into her. The part where his own life had sustained hers. The part where he saw the world through her eyes. Felt his heart beat with hers. Connected with her in a way that was more intimate than any physical contact could ever be. They had a melding of souls.
Raine hadn't tried to raise the issue, and Cade thought she felt the same way he did. What had happened wasn't something either wished to share. Cade hadn't even been able to tell the whole story to Eddie. Not exactly.
He was now trying to fill Raine in on everything that had happened with them while she had been away.
"After we stopped the invasion, we kinda took a vacation I guess."
"I hear the Bahamas are nice" Raine's voice was soft. The illusion earlier had obviously worn her down.
"Well, we didn't go quite that far," Cade told her. "But we did go away for a while. Did some meditating I guess."
Eddie smiled as he wrapped an arm around Raine and held her close. Protecting her. "I did what you said"
Violet eyes looked at him, slight expression of surprise was on her face. "And?" she demanded.
"We took some time to get to know each other again." A smile crossed his features. "We keep in touch."
Raine smiled at him and snuggled close. "Good to hear."
Jordan leaned back in her seat, eyeing the other woman carefully. Had Cade and Eddie not spoken so highly of her, Jordan might have been tempted to just shoot her and be done with it. The way Cade looked at her was different than he looked at any other woman. Eddie obviously thought of the girl as a sister, as family. But Jordan couldn't be sure how Cade thought of her. A twinge of jealousy ran through her. She started to speak, but Cade continued then.
"When we decided to gather again, it took us a few weeks to decide what to do next. Kind of hard to find a new mission after fighting the same one for three years I guess." He looked away. "Then we got a message from Joshua. Mabus was dead, but the Gua who followed him weren't. Not all of them anyway. Some of them were trying to resurrect the vision Mabus had. We started taking them out. " His eyes flicked back to the couch. "There were others like Joshua others who just wanted to live here in peace. They weren't any happier about the resurrection idea than we were. They've been hard to find since they all seem to have been splintered into factions. Occasionally Gua will fight each other."
"Like today," Raine said. "Wondered what the hell was going on."
"Today," Cade agreed, "I don't think either group knew we were there to be honest. We were just unlucky enough to get caught in the crossfire I guess." Raine nodded slightly. "We started establishing a few safe houses." He waved a hand, indicating the room. "Figured it would be a good idea to have a place to go." A faint wistfulness entered his voice. "A home that wasn't on wheels."
"Understandable."
"We have a dozen or so across the country. Used some of the funds you set up for us. I'm still wanted" His voice trailed off this time. There was really no way for Cade to ever become unwanted. Maybe even if he really did expose the aliens it would make a difference, but somehow she didn't think so.
Raine chose to say nothing. There was nothing to say. No words that could repair the damage or give back what had been taken. She would have to do a little research on the whole wanted thing though.
When Cade didn't continue, Eddie picked up. "We used the identities you set up. Technically we work for one of Jordan's companies now." A shrug with the arm not wrapped around her. "On paper anyway. Gives more credence to the identities. Jobs, paying taxes, all that. We travel doing security work. Supposedly. Jordan goes back enough to keep people from asking too many questions. In the meantime we try to hunt down the Gua who want Mabus' vision to come alive again."
"No quatrains this time," Raine said softly.
"No, but it's mostly the same. News reports. Internet. Email. There's always something to look in to."
Another bitter laugh from Raine. "Always something. Too true."
Jordan frowned. The other woman seemed more than a little unstable. It made her question if Cade and Eddie's fondness for her were skewing their opinions. If she was as powerful as they claimed, then she had the potential to be extremely dangerous. Jordan didn't like that thought.
"You said you needed help," Jordan stated, "What kind of help?"
Raine sat up, letting Eddie's arm slip away from her. She scrubbed her face with her hands a moment, then looked violet eyes straight at Jordan.
"Kids. Disappearing."
"Like before? In Washington?" Eddie asked, leaning forward.
Shaking her head, Raine replied, "No. No bodies. They're all just gone. Fourteen of them so far." A sigh. Cade could see the tension in her shoulders. "They're all missing out of one community. Police are focusing in on the day care there since most of the families are using it. They think one of the teachers there has something to do with it. She went missing too a week ago."
"And you don't think she does?" Jordan asked, arching a brow.
"She can't have anything to do with it," Raine replied, "She's dead."