Traps
"You know...' Galina said as she puffed, exhausted. "There are times I really, really hate Hayden."
"I agree." Lynn said, panting as well. She had only been fully mobile for a couple of days, so if anything, she was worse off. "This is insane."
"Well..." Galina sighed as she looked around the small park. Aside from the two of them, it was deserted. While Marine Corps Base Quantico had families in residence, at this time of day few were out and about. Add to that the high alert status of the base and the outdoor recreation areas became ghost towns. "I haven't picked up anything. The doc has gone. We saw the car he was in go out the gate on the recording. Are we sure the sample hasn't left the base?"
"No." Lynn admitted, heaving. "But what Hayden says does make sense. The best place to hide something..." She trailed off as Galina made an acknowledging motion.
"...is in plain sight." Galina agreed. "So he has had us walking every single street in this blasted base for the last four hours in the hopes that I can draw some attention or pick up on the acclimatized virus that was coating the bullet." She shook herself and took a swig of water from a bottle she had thoughtfully grabbed. Lynn was doing the same. You still there? She asked sourly in her mind.
Trying to find Hayden visually was a lost cause, the man was a born sneak. Elizabeth was also a sneaky sort. Galina had not been surprised to find out that Elizabeth had been trained as a scout/sniper. Not in the slightest.
Buck up, Galina. Hayden said with quiet authority. We need to find this thing. You and Lynn both need exercise.
Hayden. Elizabeth's mental voice was flat. They are not Marines. Remember that. We may all be stronger and faster than humans, but Galina and Lynn were civilians. They will remain as they were until we can them train out of it. You and I are trained, they are not. She admonished.
Right. Sorry. Hayden said quietly. I always enjoyed this part of the hunt when I was solo. Watching others do it? Not so much.
The stalk is the most important part. Especially against sentient prey. Galina said primly as she and Lynn finished drinking and without a word, started off again. She pulled a small map out of a pocket and perused it for a moment. "Next section is the industrial park." She sighed. "I prefer this park." The small municipal park they were in was well maintained and nice.
Lynn, Galina... Both women stiffened as Hayden's voice came again. This time it was clipped precise. We have unconfirmed reports of an unauthorized boat on the river. The Marines are investigating.
Should we take a look? Galina asked. We are not far from the river.
Not a lot of concealment in that area. Elizabeth said calmly. No line of sight on the river from my vantage. I... Eyes on. Wait one...The other three waited and then she snorted a laugh. Nope, not a threat. A group of teenagers. With alcohol from the looks of it. They are about to have a very bad day.
Do I want to know? Galina asked a bit cautiously.
Well, let's just say that the MPs have little patience for civilians joyriding through a Marine Corps facility. Or the waters near a Marine Corps facility. Elizabeth said with another sour laugh. And yep... A siren sounded near the water, making the two women jump. Busted. An engine suddenly revved out on the water and both women turned to look at where a civilian powerboat was now moving fast away from the base. Oh you idiots...Elizabeth said with a sigh. They called on you to stop! Do it! Don't try and... A distant muffled shot was heard and the both women froze as the boat's engine suddenly stopped. And let that be a lesson. Ignore the MPs at your peril during a high level alert, boys. Oh... They are really not going to enjoy their stay in the lockup tonight.
Did someone just shoot at them? Lynn demanded, clearly upset.
Their course was towards the high security slips. Elizabeth said with a sigh. The guards there have no sense of humor. Less when the base is on alert. A warning shot is allowed after a call to stop. If they had gotten within three hundred yards of the slips... Well... The guards there have machine guns and the orders to use them.
The guards would have killed them? Lynn gasped.
Probably not. Elizabeth admitted. I mean, these are just dumb kids. But terrorists have used such tactics to get close enough to sensitive facilities to strike in other places. Do something like that that in Israel and you are dead. Period. Lynn looked like she was going to protest again but subsided when Galina glanced at her.
Not our problem. Galina sighed as she and Lynn started towards their next destination, a set of businesses. Lets... She paused. Something... Elizabeth, Hayden... do you see anything? She asked slowly. "Lynn..." She said but Lynn was looking around.
What? Hayden asked, on alert.
"I hear a child crying." Galina said slowly. Lynn nodded. Do either of you see anything?
I don't. Elizabeth replied after a moment. Lots of concealment in that park though. Hayden?
Nothing from my angle. Hayden replied, uneasy. You want to investigate, don't you?
It will give us a break from walking. Galina said as she and Lynn turned, seeking the source of the crying. It shouldn't take that long.
It could be a trap. Hayden said dubiously. I will arc around, try to get on the other side of you. Stay out of the shadows so you do not leave Elizabeth's line of sight.
Right. Galina took a deep breath, checked her concealed pistol and then nodded to Lynn who had done the same. "Let's find that kid."
The pair of mismatched women walked along the path, staying in the middle of it. Only a truly paranoid observer might notice that their hands stayed close to small bulges in their jackets, or that their path, while seemingly oriented towards the direction the sounds were coming from, kept them out of the shadows. They moved as a pair, each sweeping a different direction with their eyes and other senses. Then they paused as the cries grew louder and clearer.
"Momma, get up..." The boy was saying. "Momma, you gotta get up!" He repeated.
"There." Lynn said softly, indicating a small form huddled beside a larger form on the ground ahead. Elizabeth? Looks like a child and an adult. The adult appears to be in distress.
It's a trap. Hayden said quickly. It's got to be. All Marine dependants are in secured locations.
You and I both know that doesn't always work as well as the brass would like. Elizabeth said sourly on their private channel. I have no line of sight. I'll call EMS.
I have to help. Lynn said slowly. I am a doctor. I have to.
Lynn! Hayden snapped. If it is a trap, then you and Galina are compromised. Step back, let the Marines handle it. The boy wailed louder and Hayden groaned as Lynn took a step forward. Lynn... He begged her.
"Keep me covered, Galina." Lynn said with a nod as she stepped forward. The boy, alerted by the motion, turned to her and screamed.
"Help! My mom is hurt!" He called to Lynn. Lynn sighed and ran towards him. "Help, please!" He begged her. Lynn reached his side and went to her knees beside the still form.
"What happened?" Lynn asked, her tone authoritative.
"I was running." The boy said, his tone abject. "She chased me. It was fun, but then she fell and hit her head! She is bleeding!"
"She is breathing." Lynn said, her tone encouraging. "We will help her. What is your name?"
"His name is Carter." The female form said softly. "We are sorry."
"For what?" Lynn asked.
It happened so fast that Galina didn't even have time to scream. The female form's hand came up to grab Lynn and the pair disappeared. Then the young boy just vanished. Galina was ducking for cover, aware of both Hayden and Elizabeth screaming Lynn's name and her own, but then the boy appeared beside her in a puff of smoke. Before she could do anything, he had hold of her arm and she was somewhere else.
The room was large and white. The feelings around it sent shivers through Galina as she recalled a similar room in the lab she had been an unwilling guest at. Lynn lay convulsing in a heap at the feet of a man in a hazmat suit. Just as Galina recognized that, something jabbed her in the back and electrical power flooded into her. It didn't stun her. It felt...good. She spun in place to see another form in a hazmat suit who had just hit her with a taser. She didn't bother to speak, she drew. She hadn't practiced much since she had left Lasria and Yargo but her body remembered the drills he had taught her. She had always been a good shot. The man barely had time to start a scream as her silenced pistol cleared the holster and then coughed twice. He fell, two holes in the faceplate of his suit. Hazmat suits were rarely armored. She spun back to the man who was standing over Lynn, a set of manacles now in his hand. She shot him twice and he fell, clutching at bloody holes in his suit. She strode to where he writhed and he stared up at her.
"No, please..." He begged her. Her face felt as cold as the metal on her chest as she shot him through the faceplate and he went still.
Hayden! Elizabeth! She screamed in her mind, but there was no reply. She was blocked somehow.
She glanced around, but no one else was in evidence. A two way mirror was prominent on one wall. A security camera was looking at her and she put a shot through it out of reflex.
"Lynn..." Galina said urgently. "Lynn, can you hear me?" She asked.
"G...Galina..." Lynn stammered. "Taser..."
"I know. Didn't work on me for some reason. It was a trap." Galina said softly. "One for both of us. We have to get out of here..." She trailed off as a door she hadn't seen opened and four men in body armor entered the room. None carried firearms, instead all carried shock prods.
"How many bullets do you have?" One of them asked. Galina shook her head and fired. Not at the man himself. He stared down at the hilt of his shock prod. She had blown the baton in half!
"Enough." Galina said softly, but it was a deadly sound. "You need us alive. I am under no such compunction. The only question is how many of you will die in taking me. Lets find out, shall we?" She said, turning herself to minimize her cross section as more armored forms crowded the door, these carrying tranquilizer weapons.
"You can't win." The man who had spoken sounded shaken now, but did not move from blocking the door.
"Do I care?" Galina asked as she dipped her left hand down to a pocket and came up with something that had everyone in the room freezing. "The Marine Corps armory had all kinds of neat things." She said as she hefted the hand grenade. "Body armor will stop the shrapnel from a regular hand grenade, but..." She shrugged. "Not this one." Indeed, white phosphorus was an awful weapon, especially in an enclosed -airtight- area.
"You throw a phosphorus grenade in here..." The man said, calming. "You will be affected as well."
"True." Galina said with a smirk as the door behind them clanged shut. From the sound, it locked. "But tell me something..." She smiled evilly. "Do you have independent air supplies? White phosphorus will burn up all the oxygen in here very quickly. I can hold my breath for a long time, and Lynn can as well. The rest of you?" She shrugged. "Bad way to die, asphyxiation. But better than a cage."
"I agree." Lynn said, fumbling a bit as she pulled something out of a pocket. Everything stopped again as people realized it was a detonator! She slid out of her backpack and then skidded it across the floor at the frozen men. They skittered away from it. "Oh, don't bother." Lynn said with an evil grin. "Two kilos of incendiary explosives and two Claymore mines. You won't get far enough to get out of the blast. You scum are dead." She said with a sigh. "Pity your boss is a coward. I have things I would like to say to him."
She went still as the little boy from before appeared in a puff of smoke, grabbed the backpack and disappeared. She clicked the detonator anyway and a rumble was heard. "I hope I got some of you." She said calmly as she rose and drew her pistol. "So... a kid who can teleport. Figured it was something like that that got the sample from the vault. How long has he been your slave and guinea pig hmmm?"
"We don't want to hurt you." The man who had been speaking said quietly. "Please. Don't make us hurt you." He paused as Galina made a clucking nose. "Don't..."
"You lie about as well as the men in the lab I was in before." Galina said with a sigh. "Same group I bet. No, you don't want us hurt. What good are hurt slaves? Damaged goods? Injured guinea pigs?" One of the men with a tranquilizer gun took aim and Galina shot him through the goggles. He fell without a sound. That had been mostly luck, she had just been aiming at his face, but it did make all of them very cautious. "I wonder... why hasn't the kid shown up to grab the pistols or the grenade?"
"You are holding them." The boy said, appearing by one wall, his hands still and in plain sight. She nearly shot him anyway. "I don't want to hurt you." His hands were...wrong. Metal. Each had three fingers ending in vicious claws. "Mom says hurting people is wrong."
"It is." Galina said quietly, focusing on the boy. "Sometimes you don't have a choice. So... if I throw this..." She hefted the grenade again and several of the man flinched. "You will catch it and teleport out with it, yes?" The boy nodded and Galina sighed. "But if I pull the pin and hold it until it goes off, you can't, can you?"
"That will kill you." The boy said, ashen faced.
"So?" Galina demanded, seeing him flinch. "Have they started injecting you with things that burn? Things that freeze? Shooting you? Cutting bits off to see how fast they grow back?" She snapped , her voice rising. "Death is preferable! Lynn!" She held out the grenade to Lynn who pulled the pin with her free hand before stepping close to shield Galina's off side. All of the men took a step back, for all the good it would do.
"Don't do this!" The boy begged. "Don't make us hurt you!"
"What is your name?" Galina asked, her tone gentling.
"Conner." The boy said softly, staring at her. "My name is Conner."
"Well, my name is Galina Tenno. How old are you, Conner?" Galina asked sadly. "Five? Six?"
"Six." Conner said slowly, staring at the explosive device in Galina's hand. "Ma'am, you are like me and my mom. Please... don't..."
"I spent about two years in a cage, Conner." Galina said in a kindly tone. "I promised myself that I would never be caged again. Do you understand about promises?"
"I do." The boy said, tears starting to fall. "They can stop you, but it hurts... Please... don't..."
"Conner, if you can get out of here, do it." Galina said, releasing the arming spoon of the grenade.
Several things happened simultaneously. A burst of energy hit her hand. As if in slow motion, she saw her fingers fall open and the grenade fall out of it. Conner vanished, reappeared to catch the grenade and vanished again. Galina screamed in her mind as she opened fire, seeing Lynn do the same. Two of the men fell as the others rushed the pair of Tenno.
We are not your slaves!
She kept firing until a blow forma chock prod slammed her hand open and then she was struggling for all she was worth. She saw Lynn connect to one man who stumbled away before collapsing to his knees, blood streaming from his ruined eyes. Galina spun, grabbing a man's neck in passing and snapping it with a quick yank. But then a gentle, but irresistible force slammed into her mind, freezing every muscle.
Be still child. The voice was neither male nor female. It was... Now is not the time.
Get out of my head! Galina screamed silently as one of the shock prods flew towards her face. She had a bare moment to turn away before everything went black.