HELP ME!
The steel talons around James' heart gripped a fraction tighter as he ran toward the common area while using his Tk to the maximum. If the changeling leopards would have seen him, they would have thought he had semi-shifted.
Slamming open the door, he ran to the back, toward the kitchen area.
He'd just returned from the training mission with the teenagers, and after a short debrief with Aaron he'd had felt a developing headache. While walking to his private quarters, he'd realized it was a knowing pushing against the inside of his head and he knew Hailey needed his help. He was already heading for the common area before her scream ripped through his mind.
James always found his F-abilities extremely useful in combat situations, even though he was a low-Gradient F, foresight being a secondary ability. Today, he found himself grateful but frustrated because he wasn't sure if he would make it to Hailey in time. She was danger, but he didn't know what he was going to find when he crashed through the doors of the kitchen.
Eyes scanning the space, he saw broken plates scattered throughout the room. The light fixtures in the plascrete ceiling had exploded and left the kitchen in shadows, a faint yellow sheen cast through the windows from the lights outside. Then he noticed two silhouettes in the dark. He could make out Hailey's form, lying face down in the back of the area, her hair fanned around her body… and someone was standing over her while staring intently at her.
Black rage flooded his system. James could feel his Tk unleashing, but he reined in the urge to kill as much as possible before focusing on his target. The attacker was smacked against a row of cupboards before he could so much as blink. Shards stabbed in James' frontal lobe, a sign of the dissonance warning him to restrain his emotions as he redirected his focus and encased Hailey in a protective shield.
James didn't care about the warning stabs in his mind. He shoved his Tk forward, applying extreme pressure on the attacker's body. As James walked toward the immobilized man, he recognized Edyson–a high-Gradient telepath.
"What did you do to her?" His voice was pure ice as he looked at the man pinned against the cupboards. This was his brother in arms, a man who was supposed to cover him in every fight. Betrayal and disgust surged through his being. The darkness inside roared at James to kill him, to kill the person that had dared to touch Hailey. He was only able to partly block those persistent shadows by using every lesson of his training.
"Look at what she's doing to you." Edyson's flat voice sounded thin as he tried to breathe past the pressure James was applying.
"Why does that matter to you?" James' voice was close to a growl as he pushed more. When Edyson made a small grunting sound, James released him a little. He wanted to know what Edyson had to say, wanted to understand what drove him to hurt Hailey.
"Your control is weak now, James. She makes you unstable and vulnerable. How can you proceed with your work for the Squad if others can't depend on you to control yourself?"
James had known Edyson for a long time, had trained with him in Bagdad, but he never thought Edyson would be capable of something like this. Capable of injuring an innocent civilian. Because regardless of Hailey's violent abilities, that was what she was. Innocent.
James lifted a shard of broken porcelain off the floor and stabbed it into Edyson's hand. "I think your assessment is wrong. I am neither weak," he pushed the shard in a little more in demonstration, leashing the shadows inside his mind that were urging him to destroy, "nor out of control." A sharp stab shot through James' mind, the difference noticeable from the extreme throbbing of the dissonance–Edyson's desperate attempt to incapacitate him.
"No, Edyson," James said as snapped the other man's wrist with his telekinesis. "You cannot win this fight."
Edyson let out another small grunt. "Finish this. I have no interest in becoming an undisciplined sword like yourself." Edyson's dark eyes met his. "She's made you this way. She's making the others change as well." His eyes skidded to Hailey. "She should have stayed where she came from. Maybe now she can return before causing more harm."
A cold shiver slithered over James' skin at that insinuation.
Smacking Edyson against the cupboards again to eliminate the threat of his telepathy, James rushed towards Hailey as Edyson's unconscious form fell to the white tiles. James dropped the Tk shield protecting her and turned Hailey over onto her back. He brushed damp tendrils of deep brown hair out of her face. Fury uncoiled in his body again at seeing her up close.
Even in the faint light, the bruise marking her right cheek and the blood smudging both sides of her face were obvious. When he touched her left ear, dark scarlet wetted his fingers. It covered the side of her jaw, and he could see the trail that had formed from her ear canal–a result of her brain fighting the invasion of telepathy.
"Hailey, wake up," he ordered.
When Hailey didn't respond, James acted quickly. He lifted her from the ground and cradled her against his chest. Just when he turned to run to the infirmary, Aden and Vasic appeared in the center of the kitchen.
Both men quickly took in the scene in front of them.
"Put her on the counter," Aden said.
Besides being a trained field medic, Aden had M-abilities. Perhaps he will be able to assess the damage.
James lifted Hailey onto the countertop as Vasic walked to Edyson. Aden put his hands on both sides of Hailey's temples. James looked at his commander as Aden worked on Hailey and felt his anger turn into something different, the darkness stirring inside of him.
Thunder boomed overhead as flashes of lightning filled the kitchen.
Aden's head lifted, his keen eyes observing James. The veins in your eyes have burst in response to the dissonance, Aden said. I know you've gotten some of the tripwires removed, but it isn't enough. "We need to talk soon," Aden vocally added, his voice giving nothing away.
James said nothing in response to Aden's observations and focused his attention to Hailey. "How is she?"
Aden frowned a little. "I'm unsure. I can't telepathically reach her without using force."
James wondered how Hailey had been able to send a telepathic message to him for the third time. The fact that they'd connected the first time should have been impossible, since Hailey's telepathy was weak enough for it to be practically nonexistent. James had his suspicions about Hailey's abilities but hadn't worked out that part of it yet.
I'm taking Edyson to the cells, Vasic telepathed to James. Do you want to question him?
James looked over his shoulder to the Arrows' second in command. "No. He has nothing useful to say."
Vasic nodded and teleported, taking the unconscious man with him.
James returned his attention to Aden. "Is there any damage?" He looked at the dark blood that had dripped out of Hailey's ears.
Aden took a handheld medical scanner out of his coat pocket and ran it over Hailey. "Her vitals seem to be steady. Heart rate is a little elevated and her blood pressure has risen but considering the circumstances that's hardly surprising." He looked at the scanner for some time before putting it away. James tried to breathe in a calm, regulated rhythm, but a heavy feeling filling his chest prevented him from falling back on his training.
Flashes lit the kitchen once more.
"I won't be able to assess if she's suffered any brain damage until she receives a full scan or until she wakes up," Aden said as he placed his hand on Hailey's forehead. He met James' gaze. "I will question Edyson about his motives."
James beat down his Tk as the shards of dissonance pressed harder in his head.
At some point, he had taken Hailey's small hand in his. He could feel the warmth of her skin, could hear her breathe. But being alive and being conscious were two different things entirely. He couldn't imagine her not being here, not talking to her, not seeing life in her jade and gold-flecked eyes.
"He wanted to eliminate her. He saw her as a threat to Silence, to the Squad," James gritted out.
Aden's gaze was hard. "I can't force the others to embrace emotions." He looked down at Hailey. "But what happened tonight can never happen again. I'll make sure the others know."
For the first time in his life, James didn't care about his brethren. The barbed wire around his heart tightened when he took in Hailey's face again. There was nothing he could do but wait until she woke.
Wake up, Hailey. We're not done yet.