Thanks to my little sister, Nikoru, for helping me edit this chapter. She wants me to say that she typed three words in this chapter. Enjoy! :)
Solstice's POV
I didn't mean to kick the lady in the head. I just have this phobia about needles, that's understandable, of course. I've been stuck with more needles than I care to count. Each syringe was filled with some new unspeakable horror for me to face. At least at the Astronomy labs, I knew when they would stop. This lady just came running at me with a needle and she expected me to do nothing. Please, I'm insulted.
The people at the Astronomy labs had brought in a few people for me to practice my hand-to-hand combat skills with and I'd killed every single one. I don't know my own strength, I suppose. And every mission I was sent on was completely successful. I was trained by the best of the best and wasn't afraid to prove it.
I dragged her into one of the abandoned warehouses and tied her to a chair with wire. To me, she was an armed and dangerous opponent. The katanas strapped to her back were interesting. They had geometric force fields which allowed them to cut through anything I could find in the warehouse. I swung the katanas through the air a few times, testing the weight. If this didn't pan out, these would be cool new weapons.
A car drove by and I ducked behind some crates. No way was I going to let myself be captured by the Astronomy guards. Not when things were just getting exciting. The car passed without a problem and I stood up to look outside. All I could see was a man looking confused and talking into some black box.
"Sir, all I'm saying is, she should have been back by now," he said, wiping a sweaty palm on his pant leg.
After a bit of frenzied chatter on the other end, the man replied with a sigh, "Yes, sir."
He walked up a ramp and seemed to disappear. I felt my eyebrows jump. How did he do that? I was about to go out and investigate when a similar black box on the lady started ringing. I snatched it up and pressed accept on the call.
"Maybe this will have some answers," I muttered, pressing accept on the call.
Nero was beginning to worry about Raven. He just had received a call from the Shroud pilot who informed Nero that Raven was supposed to be back about an hour ago. It usually took Raven a mere thirty minutes to pick up a student.
He began pacing in his office, something that he only indulged on when he was scarred for Raven's safety.
"Pull yourself together, Max," Nero mumbled to himself. "Natalya is the world's most feared assassin; she can handle one little girl."
Finally, Dr. Nero sat down at his desk and picked up his Blackbox.
"H.I.V. , can you tell me the location of Natalya's Blackbox?" Nero asked.
"Operative Raven's Blackbox has been stationary for two hours, six minutes and counting," H.I.V. replied efficiently. "Her Blackbox is seven miles from the new student pickup point."
Nero felt the blood drain from his face as the image of Raven bleeding out at the hands of an enemy flickered through his head.
"Call Natalya," Nero said urgently. He chewed on his fingernails as he waited for his Blackbox to connect with Raven's. The call was accepted and Nero breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hello, Natalya?" Nero said.
Solstice's face popped up on screen. "Who are you?" she said loud enough to make Nero jump.
"Miss Solstice," Nero said, "Give the Blackbox back to Raven."
"Answer my question!" Solstice demanded.
"I am Dr. Nero, the headmaster of H.I.V.E. and you will not talk to me with such disrespect, young lady. Now hand the Blackbox to Raven."
"So you're a schoolteacher, huh, weird. There was a schoolteach' at the Astronomy labs for a while, but she disappeared."
"Give the Blackbox to Raven," Nero barked, his patience wearing thin.
"No," Solstice said. She ended the call and threw the Blackbox at the ground. It shattered into a million sparking pieces. "I'm not even sure who that is anyway."
That's when Raven began to stir. She looked at her surroundings before fixing Solstice with a glare cold enough to freeze blood.
"About time you woke up," Solstice said, pulling a chair over to face Raven. "Look, Miss Raven, is it? I want some answers. You and this Nero guy wouldn't be looking for me unless you needed me for something. So you'd better start talking."
