By Vipergal140
This was absurd, very absurd. My call to Jake had not reached in time and I was running straight into my enemy's hands. Where was Nathaniel when you needed him?
"Stop her!" a guard yelled firing at me. Bullets scattered the walls, but none landed on me. I was panting by the time I was skidding to a halt.
"No!" I hissed. I had been cornered into a dead end.
"Gotcha!" the guard who had been chasing me said as he pointed his gun at me.
"Frisk her for weapons, boys," the guard said as two more guards appeared to help.
The men frisked me and found two blades in each boot, and tranquilizer darts for my desert eagle. They forcefully cuffed me behind my back and took me to a cell up one level of the building.
Damn! I thought. Where the hell are they?
"Make sure our little bird doesn't start flying anytime soon," taunted one of the guards at my cell door. I could have easily broke away and handled them, but I wanted to know why I was being held instead of killed. This was after all a very top-secret base in Nevada.
I grimaced as I heard laughter. Bracing for interrogation I sat and meditated.
Soon enough a couple of guards hauled me away. Their grip on me was hard and I had to winch each time they tightened it. The guards entered a bunch of numbers in a keypad on the door and they swung open.
Inside the room looked very businesslike and neat. The whole area was copper and brown in color with bits of gray and white furniture and statues. I stood out along with the guards in my all black cat suit and black gun holsters on my thighs a failed attempt to copy Lara Croft, my inspiration as a teenager.
"Well, well, what have we here," said a voice sitting in a copper chair facing away from the table and me. The guards gave me a little nudge and I moved closer to the table as the woman finally faced me.
"Tia Hunter," the woman said. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Hello to you too, Miss Angela," I said mocking her tone of voice. The guards holding me tightened their grip and I swore under my breath.
"It seems to me you were looking for adventure and 'accidentally' stumbled in my company. What were you doing here?"
"Definitely not to steal your dumb ideas," I hissed back trying to have these men off me. Angela gestured and the men let go but the cuffs remained and her eyes glowed into mine.
"Miss Hunter," she began.
"Look, lady, how many times do I have to tell you, I work for mister Hunter, that doesn't mean that that's my last name!"
Angela arched an eyebrow. "Very well, but then again Tia isn't your real name either."
I nodded. "Real is as real can be. You don't have to have papers to prove your real."
"A woman—err teenager out of my own heart," she said. "Yet your youth makes you both strong and naïve. Nonetheless I do have work for you. While you were in the cell, I talked with your boss and he agreed to let me use you."
I flinched, but controlled my emotions as I heard her.
"But," she began. "He was trying to track my call, so our deal was short to same money, but the fact that I can use you in any way I want."
I didn't like the any part at all. By the way she was sneering, I could tell I was into more deep stuff than I thought.
I was put back in my cell. I failed to escape and that led me to have my ankle shackled to the bed. It was uncomfortable lying with my holsters on and even more with the shackle and being cuffed behind my back. I had been in situations worse like this, but nothing was like what happened next.
I was taken out by a guard and was knocked out with an injection to the neck. As I passed out I felt myself being lifted and carried somewhere.
"Afternoon, Tia," a voice taunted as I woke. I found myself in a moderate seized tent, with the sunlight sweeping in form the outside.
I moaned slightly and tried to move. To no avail my wrists were securely cuffed above my head and my ankles were tied together with cords.
"Bare the comforts we've provided for now, girl," Angela commented.
I opened my eyes to find her in a velvet suit that showed she was a woman of high culture. I felt dizzy as she spoke about my assignment.
"Right, now we are at an ancient site located somewhere in Europe, that's all you have to know. Our hired men and women have found something interesting that has caught my attention," she paused to call a guard. "Please un cuff her and bring her along with me." Angela gracefully walked out of the tent. The guard was surprisingly rough in handling me. He took my arm and yanked me forward.
I stifled an impulse to kick him in between the legs since my ankles were free. The woman sure knew how to teach the kids here to treat a prisoner. I had been caught several times, but as they would say, "The brat is like a thunder! She'll always find a way out of any cell." I would always take the brat seriously thought. I was only eighteen and in perfect shape for this sort of thing.
"Have a look at this, Tia," Angela hissed as she took me down a passage through a tunnel. We were in the middle of a forest. Funny, I thought. They must have knocked me out for a long time or something.
I gaped as we entered a room with another level on top where nine pillars stood. They looked fresh and new and even yet I could sense these were older than the land, which it stood on. I could feel the grip on my arm lessen as I saw guards positioned nearly every empty gap between columns. No go, I thought. They'll kill me or worse yet catch me and knock me out again with that damned stuff.
I found the voice I needed to speak with, "Just what exactly do you have in mind, Miss Angela?" The woman turned to face me with a grin that clearly meant trouble.
"See these symbols," she said pointing at the pillars.
I nodded.
"Each pillar has a different symbol and each pillar differs in some way."
"That still does not answer my question. What—" the woman cut me off with a gesture.
"I'll get to that! But first there's something I want to look at!" she snapped.
We walked down a corridor past the lovely pillars and into a dark room lit with torches and two guards positioned near the door.
Inside the room were various scrolls and very unusual looking case on the table next to the scrolls.
"Why so much security?" I asked innocently. "Can't be because of me now can it?"
The woman chuckled. "Of course not! But yes, security is needed. You see that's why I brought you here without your boss knowing about it."
I nod as I walked past to look around. The scrolls had symbols on it that were on the pillars. "You got me here to translate?"
"Tia, be serious!" the woman smiled. "You're a strictly field worker. Not that you're not good at other things that is."
I nod. "So what do you want?"
"Have a look at this," she said motioning a guard to lift the lid of the case. Inside was a flame shaped word with a skull-designed hilt. It looked very impressive.
"What's with the gothic sword?" I asked.
"This 'gothic sword' as you say is your ticket to freedom. There is another one of it through the portal, which opens every midnight on a full moon. Be thankful tonight is a full moon."
I nodded. "Where will the portal take me?"
The woman grinned. "That's what you'll find out."
I was a tad afraid of the answer, but I did this sort of thing before so it was okay with me.
"May I take my weapons with me?" I asked.
"Of course, and better yet, we'll make sure you're fully equipped to handle the environment and all. We have gas masks, bullet proof-vests, and grenades for you."
I was surprised. This much equipment meant that they really didn't know what was out there and if that was the case then—
"Hold on," I said holding out my cuffs. "I'm not going through that unless you tell me what I'll find out there. I mean there could be some shit I haven't dealt with you know."
The woman grinned more. "Too bad, kid, you have no say in this. If you don't go through, we'll kill you and send your dead body through there and see if it's contaminated."
I hated being a guinea pig, but like the lady said I had no freaking say in this. I sighed and asked further questions about my 'mission'.
I woke up as I heard the tent flap open. The moon was indeed full and bright. Damn it! I thought bitterly. You didn't they just kill me!
"Fix the girl," a guard ordered the man near the flap. The men dragged me up. They took hurried measurements and found a sizable gas mask and vest.
They put it on for me and the others fitted in my spring-loaded knives. They then put on my holster and guns in place. Some of the men were actually having fun getting to 'accidentally' touch my body. Have your fun boys, I thought. I'll get you soon enough.
I was finally geared to leave. Given extra ammo was nice of them. And added bonuses of spare laser sights were good as well.
"Remember once you go through we wont see you till the next full moon. When you reach wherever you reach, mark that spot or something. I do hope it isn't a one way ticket."
"Have you tested it before?" I asked out of curiosity.
"Yes, but the dog hadn't come back," the woman said.
I flinched. "There could be possibly that it a complete waste land or worse maybe it'll end me up on the sun!"
The men laughed, but Angela quieted them. "Tia, does it matter? If you return without the sword, you're dead anyways."
"What about the—"
"Deal?" she inquired. "Hunter knows my methods and I believe he's making sure that your coffin is well built."
"And what if I come back with the sword?" I asked.
"Well, if you do then we'll it off your hands and pay you the sum we owe you," she said matter-of-fact-ly.
I sighed as the men moved close to watch as the moon's light hit a pink orb I forgot to notice earlier. There was a loud glassy noise and a portal formed at the center of the pillars. There was heavy wind around us.
"Here," Angela said handing me a machine gun. "AK 40's are good in situations like this."
I gladly took it and considered firing at her.
I was mesmerized by the portal's glow and I turned to find the guard un-cuffing my hands. I gave a two-fingered salute to the woman and walked through.