Sorry for the delay, hope you like it.
"Guys, we have a serious problem…" the disguised alien declared, looking around like crazy, earning a couple of weird looks from the two agents.
"Billy, calm down! You are about to blow a gasket!" Archer called, stuffing his mouth with sugar cotton right after finishing the sentence.
"Yeah, and you are not making much sense either" Diana completed, poking at the ball of cotton with her fingers and taking away a decent-sized chunk.
"The Center's sensors have picked up traces of alien tissue all around the globe. Most of them appear to be in places of normal interest, government buildings and the like. We've sent teams to investigate them, but the others… we found them on Center safe houses and stations, and those places are now out of contact with us"
"For how long have you tried to contact them?" Archer was now very interested in what Billy was saying realizing that whatever it was that had the alien worried it surely was something important.
"A few hours now, some of them have been out of contact since yesterday"
"M. O. M. needs us to investigate?" Diana was now interested too, but trying not to show too much eagerness.
"No. One of the traces leads right here, and it appeared right after you two arrived in here. We have reasons to believe that you were being followed."
"But why? Why would they follow us? Do they now about our work?" as Diana finished this sentence, she was tackled to the ground by someone, whom she later recognized as Archer, as a searing bolt of heated, ionized plasma flew right past were she had been standing, accompanied by a guttural roar that iced the blood on her veins and made people run in the direction opposite of its origin. She looked up only to find John standing between her and any incoming fire that came in her direction.
"Arch!" Billy exclaimed, lobbing an object in the agent's direction, who caught it when it came closer to him. He pawed the object, which resolved into the familiar shape of a handgun-sized blaster, and then he took aim, sending his own plasma towards the creature. Their attacker, an alien with sickly-pale green skin, tall, humanoid-like muscular appearance, and sporting what looked like a black fitted-suit with a few armor plates added on top.
"Billy! Get Diana out of here!" Archer shouted, blind-firing from above the turned-over stand that he was using as cover. More plasma singed the edge of his cover, heating up the air near his head and melting away the material slowly.
"What about you?" Diana shouted over the noise of the firefight.
"I'll be fine; I need to know you are safe. I'll be right behind you guys.
"You promise?" escaped from her lips before she could stop to think about it. Both shared a slightly-confused-yet-sincere look at each other before he made his promise. He resumed his role on the firefight by sighting down towards the threat and letting off a few shots of his own, while Billy and Diana scurried away, jumping into one of the portals that led to The Center.
"Good. Show yourself, sun-bleached lizard!" Archer shouted above his head. The firing had subsided, and a burnt smell permeated the air. Archer left his cover, bringing the blaster's sights to his eye and scanning the area directly in front of him. He wanted to leave so badly, but he had a job to do. He had an ugly alien to capture. Or kill.
The blaster suddenly flew away from his hands, and he felt a kick to his chest. He fell to the floor, and instantly rolled before being scorched down by more plasma fire. The alien creature materialized into thin air, but before his active camouflage faded away completely Archer was already in motion, sending a kick towards the alien's mid-section, connecting with where the left-side ribs of a human would be. The creature flinched with pain, and a split-second later the Center agent slammed the base of his palm on the alien's face, following with quick kicks to the 'gut'. The alien blocked some of the last kicks, swiping at him and connecting with one of Archer's cheeks. The agent tumbled back, feeling the alien trying to get him on a headlock, to which he quickly reacted by elbowing the bastard, breaking the headlock before it was even completed around his neck, then he spun instantly and head-butted his enemy on the mouth. The alien ran out of patience, simply sending the human flying a few meters backwards with one simple swing to the chest. He was about to finish the job, send the agent with his maker, when he was struck in the head by a bolt of plasma, blowing it clean off the shoulders.
"What the actual fu…" Archer muttered to himself, scanning for the source of the shots. His heart sunk in hi chest when he found it.
Diana was trembling, holding a blaster similar to the one Archer had just lost. The smoking barrel was a give-away, and the shocked state she was on was hard to ignore.
"Diana… it's ok… just… give me the blaster, ok?" Archer got closer to her, moving by her side so she wouldn't fry him where he stood. The teen girl could not stop trembling, her breath coming in short bursts.
"I… I didn't… I wanted…" she was unable to finish even a simple sentence, the shock of having taken a life (a disgusting and hostile one, but a life anyways) not fading away over time.
"I know, it's ok, Diana. You did the right thing." He didn't know what to do, how to help her overcome her current state. He was so out of touch with the outside world he didn't even know how to console a person that needed to be comforted out of a bad situation. What the hell is wrong with me? Diana slumped against him, stopping him from kicking his own ass some more. He reflexively wrapped his arms around her, dubious at first, while Diana dug her face into his chest and let a couple of sobs roll out of her lips, "It's ok. We should go. Someone else should take care of this."
A portal to the Center was opened, and they both slowly crossed through it, leaving behind the scene and entering the luxurious office of their boss. The second they were back into The Center's Headquarters they were being ushered into a couch, where Archer made Diana sit while M. O. M. brought over a glass of water for the shell-shocked teenaged agent.
"There's a reason why we haven't slated your team to be part of the Special Teams, agent Lombard. I'm glad you are safe, but don't run unnecessary risks in the future. Is that clear?" Diana broke out of the haze long enough to wonder how could the woman have such a motherly, yet all-business, face at the same time.
"Y-yes…"
"It was my fault, M. O. M. We shouldn't have been in there, and we wouldn't have if it weren't for me." Archer tried to shift the blame into him for a simple reason: he felt really guilty for having put Diana on that particular situation, insisting on seeing what was outside. He felt foolish for it, like a little fucking kid who needed to go out to the park so badly, except for the fact that he wasn't a damned kid anymore. He had to get his priorities straight.
"Wherever you go and whoever you are with on your spare time is a non-issue, agent Archer. This incident could have happened to anybody else, or at any other time and place, so don't dwell on that. Rather, we need to act on what we know. Your attacker was only one of many, all of them attacking either centers of political and ideological power, or some of our main response posts and safe houses. So far, you are the only ones to come back alive from one of these attacks, but we have teams now bringing the few survivors that remain."
Martin chose that exact moment to arrive into the office, in company of Java and Billy. He instantly turned his attention to Diana and her dazed state and something inside him quickly snapped.
"What the hell is going on in here? What happened to you, Di?" just then he noticed Archer kneeling near her, "You! What did you do to my sister?!" before Archer could even articulate the word he was thinking about (What?, obviously), a sucker punch landed across his face, sending him down to the floor. He was able to block the second blow and send his attacker backwards with a simple shove. Before Martin tried to re-engage, Java bear-hugged him from behind to stop him, while M. O. M. got between both of her agents to discourage any further conflict.
"That's enough, agent Mystery! Stand down or I'll make sure you regret the very moment you entered this office." There was ice in her voice, and not of the good kind. The commotion helped Diana to finally break out of the shock, only to find her date (Date? Yes, date. What do you think it was, you dumb girl?) on the ground wiping blood away from his wounded lip. It was her turn to yell, and she could give Martin a run for his money any day of the week.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?! YOU DAMNED BRUTISH, DUMBASSIC IDIOT!" she was mad at her step-brother, enough to not care about what she had just said, instead worrying about the man her brother had just assaulted "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine" John answered, tasting the copper-ish tang of blood in his mouth.
"Diana, please take agent Archer to the medical wing to get that scratch patched up. I'll deal with this." The Center's manager dryly ordered to the girl, who obeyed and helped Archer off the ground, later locking her arm with his and leaving the premises, not before shooting a murderous stare at her step-brother.
"I… I'm sorry, M. O. M., I though he… had…" Martin started to apologize, but the manager simply cut him short by raising her hand and giving him a stern look.
"We'll talk about this later, agent Mystery. For now I need your attention in our most recent problem. The sensors have gone off-scale ever since the attempt at agents Archer and Lombard's lives. This is no longer an investigation; we are going on the offensive. All the teams that are not certified for weapon handling will receive a combat crash-course, so I suggest you tag along agent Archer and his team, maybe you'll find the right moment to apologize for your actions. Take Java and Billy with you, they could use the extra training too."
"I'm on it, M. O. M." the blond instantly answered, before realizing one small detail, "Uhm… Java, would you mind putting me down, please?"
"Huh? Oh, Java sorry"
"It's ok, big guy. Come on, let's get busy"
"I'm sorry about that. My brother can be a bit… impulsive, at times" the auburn-haired teenager said, using an alcohol-soaked cotton ball to clean Archer's bruised lip. The Center's orderlies would normally take care of that, but the medical wing was crammed with people in white coats running around, tending to the wounded that had begun to arrive right after them. At least there were survivors.
There were casualties too. She didn't want to look at those. She had had enough death for a while.
"Yeah, well, I think I can understand where he's coming from. I… was pretty worried about you back there, you know?"
"R-really? I mean… I thought you were this fearless, brave guy who never worried about… anything" she sheepishly declared, a slight blush tinging her cheeks with a light shade of pink.
"I'm not that way. I worry a lot. Sometimes about small things, and sometimes about important things. I'm just a human after all, not a machine" he mused momentarily, then jumping off the place he had been sitting into a standing position, right in front of her.
"I… just wonder, which of those I am…" her brain wasn't doing her any favors by spewing words before she could process what she was about to say. It was helping her come up with a good apology that could get her out of tight spot she was on when the guy in front of her said something that sent a pleasant chill down her spine:
"You are important to me"
Her breath caught in her throat when he finished that sentence. No one had ever told her those words, and she had to admit… they were beautiful to hear, and she felt so much happier after hearing them. They unconsciously got lost in each other's gaze, the chemistry between them both working its magic. It was obvious to anyone with two working neurons that they were a match, despite the fact that they had known each other for not so long. In the end, reality caught up to them a bit too soon for their liking.
"I'll… look around. The orderlies might need some help. Think we could hook up later?" Archer said, already looking forward to it already.
"Yes, sure, I'll go find M. O. M."
They both tended to their duties of the day, waiting for the moment they could be in each other's company again.
"Ma'am! The subject is ready for interrogation!" Max stood still at attention, completely conscious of the power figure inside the room with him.
"Why don't you take a break? I'm sure your team could use the time off, Max" the manager stated, more like a veiled order rather than a suggestion. The team leader took his queue to leave, and soon it was only her and her other-worldly guest.
"It's been long, Olivia. How many years, exactly? Ten? Fourteen? We can be forgetful at tim…"
"Eighteen years. And you know that's not my name. Not anymore."
"No matter how many times you change it, we know you are still Olivia Mendel. Disguises can't fool us, remember?" the alien answered, highly amused with the different behavior of the human female.
"Good. Then let's cut the chase, you know what I want. Where are they?"
At this question the alien simply grinned, "Close. And he is looking for him."
The manager stiffened, memories coming back to her.
Not possible. Not now, and not my kid.
Cliffhangers. I love them sometimes.
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