The Van
A couple of streets from the Pentagon
They noticed the change immediately. People started running, panicking like blind animals. Cars collided or was run off the street as their drivers suddenly got something else than driving on their mind and started staring at the sky.
A dark shadow was enveloping the entire street. Exchanging a look with each other, the 4 people hurriedly exited the van, staring in open-mouthed wonder at the sight, which greeted them.
It was truly magnificent.
Dark blue and purple tones with a greenish tan to it, the hull, made from a mixture of bioslurry and Virtual Glass barriers, glowed with a life of its own. It looked nothing like the description of the Repository, Liam had given Augur and Juliana after Lily had been kidnapped by the Jaridian, who had escaped from the Taelons.
It looked more like a much larger version of the Taelon Mothership, but with a difference. Were the Taelon mothership had been in perfect symmetry, not one angle or dent in the hull being there without a reason, this ship was unsymmetric, like something which was alive and had been allowed to develop on its own. But that only made it even more magnificent. The huge ship was descending, heading toward Capitol Hill before it finally settled into a hover over the White House.
"Justice" had arrived.
"I guess we better get closer to the Pentagon. Just in case Anr'el and Liam need our help getting out." Augur gave Sandoval a disbelieving look.
"Take a look at that thing! Do you actually believe, that they would need US to help one of their own out ?" Sandoval gave a small snort. "No, but it's were we are supposed to be." He had to force his brain to keep functioning. The sight of "Justice", just by it's sheer volume, was a mindblower. And his splitting headache wasn't making it easier. He hadn't felt a headache like this in a long time. But it was only the stress...
It had to be only stress. He wouldn't even consider the OTHER option. Not now. Not when he had finally found his son. The Gods wouldn't be that cruel. He shook the sinister thoughts from his mind, as the group hastily re-entered the van and drove towards the Pentagon, going against traffic all the way, as people in their panic was trying to get out of the city as fast as possible, leaving even their families behind, if they didn't happen to be in the cars with them.
"Hooray for movies like "Independence Day"" Sandoval mumbled sarcastically. Loyalty about getting ones families out first was ok in fiction, but in real life, when panic started to rule one's actions, most people only thought about one thing: THEM surviving.
On their way, they passed several public portals and watched in silent amazement as squad after squad of Kimeran troops exited ID space in an almost unending stream, their only weapons brightly glowing shaqarava, the greenglowing aliens was the most frightening sight anyone could imagine. Juliana felt a cold shiver go down her spine. The Kimera all had a look of intense, cold fury on their faces. And she couldn't help wondering, what they would do, if Liam died. She knew dead certain, that her own anger at that would be NOTHING against that of the Kimera.
The Complex
Beneath the Pentagon
They were carefully making their way towards the cells of Liam and Zeke. Somewhere along the way, they had managed to ambush a couple of guards, the abrupt fight going unnoticed in the now almost deserted hallways of the lower levels. But the longer, they could continue to go unnoticed, the higher the chance of success. So carefulness was the better advisor here. Bettis motioned the men behind him to grab their weapons, as 3 people in military outfits, two supporting the 3rd, slowly approached their position. The men raised their guns, watching as the tallest of the 3 adjusted how the middle man rested his arm on his shoulder.
Liam sighed, that was better. Zeke didn't feel quite as heavy now.
"Just a few more steps, and you can rest."
The Man's office
Beneath the Pentagon
He had tried to placate the hysterical Hubble Urich as much as he could. That, off cause, wasn't much. The sheer magnitude and amount of ships, not only in materialising in space, but also threatening every capital on the planet, was staggering. Urich had demanded the immediate release of the Subjects, not just the Aliens, but also the traitorous weaklings from the ODK. He sighed. Didn't that coward realise, that right now, the only card they had to negotiate with, was the prisoners ?
And then there was the empty threat about the Aliens knowing where they were keeping the half-breeds. What a scam. If they had known, they would not have wasted time in deploying troops in the city, they would have come straight here. It was what he would have done. Getting up from his chair, he called out a security troop and went down towards SL27.
Time to have another little chat with the Freaks.
And in the Oval Office, Hubble Urich watched with dread as an alien shuttlecraft landed right in front of his window.
The Power core
Beneath the Pentagon
An unnoticed warning started to flash on the computer screen as the energy levels in the ID-core started to raise to dangerous levels. The marker went up another notch. The process could no longer be stopped. It would be lethal. Even the best minds could err. And somewhere along the line, Bettis had made a mistake.
The White House
Capitol Hill
Ca'el was taking his time getting out of the shuttle. So this was the so-called center of the free world. Clearly designed to be intimidating. Not working on him, though. But then again, he was also the one currently in command of the largest armada of warships this planet had ever seen. But then again, they had only seen a few warships, even when the Jaridians threatened to invade.
The massive Kimeran presence was, to use an earthly expression, severe overkill. He had to strain to keep a slightly wicked smile from slipping on to his "face". He actually felt amused by this. The humans were to busy panicking about the arrival of the ships to notice the small task force already there. Anr'el would have to be very, very uncarefull and very, very loud in order to get their attention. And you couldn't accuse the Commander of ever being anything but careful. She wouldn't have survived the war if she hadn't been. Ca'el carefully schooled his features as he approached the guarded door to the building.
So far, things had gone according to plan. And it was his duty to keep it that way. And that meant keeping up the charade of him being the Commander of the fleet up a little longer. If he remembered the layout plans of this place correctly, all he would have to do when he got in, was to take the door on the left.
Off cause, that meant getting past that guard first. Or rather those 12 heavily armed special ops trained guards. He made a gesture to his pilot. And right behind each guard at least one angry looking Kimera appeared, their glowing shaqarava raised right next to the ears of the person in front of them.
12 heavily armed special ops trained guards? Not a problem. Suddenly confronted with their own mortality, they quickly surrendered.
The Cell
Beneath the Pentagon
The Man let out a frustrated scream of anger as he saw the empty cells. The inhuman sound echoed eerily through the almost abandoned hallways. And even his guards looked at him with fear in their eyes. His trading cards were gone, the only witness of the escape the silent, scorched walls of the cells. But how had they done it ?
Ever since the transmission from the alien fleet earlier, every piece of surveillance equipment in this place had burnt out. Bettis. It had to have been Bettis. But he was just a computerfreak, all brains, no guts. And the scorch marks was all on the inside of where the Virtual Glass had been. But still, it had to have been him.
"Spread out. They can't have gotten far. And have someone check on the ODK scum." He ordered, seemingly the same old ice-cold bastard as usual, but inwardly starting to unravel. This couldn't be happening. All his carefully laid plans. Ashes.
As the squad dispensed, looking for the fugitives, he started to make his way up to the toplevels. The Freaks would pay for this. And there was only one way out.
The Complex
Beneath the Pentagon.
Liam froze to the spot as something, a picture, showed itself to him. He hadn't had one of those in a very, very long time. Not since Boone's funeral. A glimpse of the future. But what was it ? He concentrated on retrieving it, but failed.
"What is it ?" Anr'el had felt Liam stiffen and on a mental level, she had gotten a weird ripple of...something through the link, she still maintained with him.
"I'm not sure...I got this glimpse...Something is about to happen, but I can't seem to find out what..." Liam's voice faltered, not sure on how to explain it. Not sure he wanted it explained.
An Oracle ? Was Liam an Oracle? Anr'el felt a sudden wave of surprise. Only a few Kimera was gifted, or cursed depending on your viewpoint, with the ability to see the future. That he had been able to remain stable without any kind of training for this long was truly remarkable. But this was for later. As so much else.
"It's ok, try not to concentrate on it so much, then maybe it will come back to you. Here, let me help you." She closed her eyes, gently seeking entrance into his mind. She had the theoretical knowledge of this in her genes from one of her ancestors, maybe she could be able to help him somehow.
He felt the gentle mindprobe, forcing himself to relax. Anr'el wouldn't hurt him. Or betray him. She was NOT an enemy.
Anr'el on her hand, felt like she was fighting a hedgehog. All tags and claws. Liam's mind in sleep had some amazing defence mechanisms. Liam's mind awake was close to impossible. Then she felt the walls slowly going down. The fear he was feeling was horrifying. Whoever had caused all this distrust would better be dead, or she would make sure that whomever it was would soon be so. It wasn't just the recent events. It was something else as well.. An old wound. She caught a flash of a memory, a Taelon and a game of Lasha, then it was gone.
Liam sensed her anger and mistook it's target. He had messed up again, hadn't he? It was all his fault again. His shoulder slumped. Liam Kincaid, the constant failure. Anr'el felt his misery.
"NO! It's not you !" She sent forcefully, knowing that if she only said it, he would not believe her. But you couldn't lie in the link.
"But.."
"No buts, Liam. It's not your fault, any of it. If anyone, blame Hag'el for leaving you alone without a mentor." She forced herself to calm down. She was letting her anger get to her, and it was harming Liam.
"Liam, I'm not an expert in these things, but I may be able to help you remember. Will you let me?" Still shaken by the intensity of Anr'els feelings, he slowly gave his consent. He felt Anr'el do a mental "twist" of sorts within his mind and suddenly the flash from before was standing clearly in his mind.
It was weapons. 3 dead people on the floor. Bettis bending over one of them. Then a scream. "NOOOO!". And the scene took place right here. Simultaneously Anr'el and Liam opened their eyes.
"oh-oh.".
At this time, Zeke had finally noticed, that something strange was going on with the two people supporting him.
"Was that a good "oh-oh" or a bad "Oh-oh" ?" he asked.
"Definitely bad. Someone is about to ambush us."
"But who? If it's Bettis, then we should try to show him, who we are, but it could also be the guards..."Liam's voice faltered. Anr'el made a quick decision.
"Stay here. Their weapons can't hurt me more than marginally." Then she slowly moved forward, hands wide away from her body, trying to be as nonthreatning as possible.
Bettis stared. Something weird was going on. First the 3 people suddenly stopped, and now one of them was moving forward alone. Did they know of the ambush?
"Hello? I know you are there. Please, we just want to get out of here. We are no threat to you." Well, he guessed that answered his question.
Now what?
The Energy core
Beneath the Pentagon.
An unheard, looped computer voice started a monotone warning signal. "Warning: Complete meltdown in t minus 5 minutes. Please evacuate the Complex immediately. This is not a drill." But thanks to the virus, which was still busy shutting down communications in the Complex, no one heard.
The Van
Outside the Pentagon
"Sandoval, I'm getting some weird energy readings from beneath the building." Augur was slowly getting scared. Something downthere was building up one mother of an overload. And it was getting close to critical. Sandoval took one look at the display, then turned to the hacker.
"Looks like an ID-core. Try to locate it. We need to know where it is so that we can get Liam, Anr'el and ourselves out of the way when that thing blows."
Great, what else could happen.
The White house
Ca'el had made his way to the oval office and was now staring at the most powerful man on Earth. Although he didn't LOOK like such a powerful man right now. He actually looked kind of frightened. REAL frightened.
"Ah...You must be the human known as Hubble Urich, the man, which my sources here on Earth have linked to the abduction and subsequent torture of one of our Children." Ca'el gave the human a cold smile.
"I don't know..." Hubble started. Ca'el raised a hand.
"Do not try to deny it. We have proof." With a wicked smile, Ca'el opened the portable datastream he was carrying and showed Hubble the conversation, which Bettis had recorded and send to the Kimeras human allies. Hubble blanched and staggered backwards, sagging into his office chair without knowing it as all of his plans dissolved like a Fata Morgana in the sun.
The Alien in front of the table sat down in the oppersite chair gracefully.
"Now, as I see it, you got two choices: You can either turn the Child, and his friends, over to us unharmed or we can take him back by force, turning this city into ashes in the process. The choice is yours. What will it be ?" Ca'el let the human simmer for a couple of minutes, letting Hubble think out all the possible disasters, which the Kimera could cause if their demands were not meet. Sometimes times your own imagination could be the biggest enemy you could ever have.
Hubble started to sweat. Not only did the Kimera hold evidence against him, which would kill him politically, they also had the power of having history remember him as the cause of the biggest massacre this world had ever seen. But if he played it correctly, then maybe...
Hubble was about to answer when a giant pillar of light could be seen emanating from where the Pentagon was located, followed closely by the thundering sound of an enormous energy explosion.
Ca'el lost control of his features for a second, as he felt the massive powersurge with every cell of his body. By the Universe!
What had happened ?
The Pentagon
1 minute earlier.
Sandoval, Street and Augur had abandoned the van, leaving Dr. Belman as the designated get-away-driver for now. They were slowly moving towards the nearest portal as soldiers wearing a strange, but absolutely American, uniform started to exit the portal, hitting the floor running and with panic written all over their faces, apparently running from some sort of danger.
"I guess they found out about the powercore. "Augur stated dryly. Sandoval smirked at the obvious statement.
"Guess so." He looked closely, desperately trying to see, if a certain 6feet something man with the most annoying attitude this side of, well everything, was amongst those, who exited the portal.
He wasn't.
Even as the crowd thinned, and one last man, laughing hysterical, was thrown out of the portal, Liam and Anr'el was still missing. And the Kimera hadn't notified them, that they had arrived through the portals on "Justice". But he had to be ok. He just had to.
"Be alert, they may use this one for an exit," He ordered, not willing to leave just yet. Street took a nervous glance at the global in her hand.
"Guys, we are cutting it kind of close, shouldn't we get out of here ?"
"NO !I'm NOT leaving Liam behind !" Sandoval's cool mask, and his frail hold on his emotions, slipped, allowing his desperation to shine through.
"Sandoval, they are probably aboard "Justice" by now! And Liam's gonna need you !" Augur grabbed Sandoval's arm, forcing him to look at him. "There's no sense in getting yourself killed."
And that's when the world exploded.
The Complex
Beneath the Pentagon
5 minutes earlier
Bettis took a deep breath and started to , so their little ambush was blown. And these guys seemed like they didn't want trouble.
"Keep an eye on them," He ordered in a whisper to the team behind him, as he slipped out from the shadow. Wasn't there something familiar about the 3, now that he was looking at them clearly. Without his glasses, things were kind of hazy. Then it hit him.
"Liam? Colonel?" He quickly moved forward, startling the woman.
"Easy, I got an itchy set of Shaqarava here !" Anr'el hissed, as a man moved out from a small sideentrance, supporting her statement by turning her palms towards the man and letting a slight shimmer appear. Then she recognised him.
"Bettis ?"
"That's my name. Don't wear it out." He had gotten close enough to recognise her. Although she had been kind of out of it the last time he had seen her.
"You're Liam's kid, right ?"
A slight smile crossed her lips as she deactivated her shaqarava.
"Yes and no. I'll explain later. I am Anr'el." She quickly turned to her companions, raising her voice, so that they would hear. "It's friends."
Liam let out a breath he didn't realise he had been holding. Good, finally something didn't go against them. Bettis waved to his men, signalling them that it was safe to stand down their guard.
"We were actually looking for you." The teen said in a much to adult voice "Liam wouldn't leave without you." Liam and Zeke slowly made their way towards the small groups.
"Colonel !" Bettis gasped as the two men approached them. Liam hadn't been the only one tortured. And although the kid had somehow miraculously recovered, Zeke hadn't.
"They didn't take the Kids word for granted, REALLY didn't like what he said and got a tad...upset..."Zeke forced a small smile. "Don't worry, it looks worse than it is. The most painful of it is healed, thanks to Liam Jr here..." He made a weak gesture towards Anr'el.
"Why do you guys keep thinking, that Anr'el's my daughter ?" Liam's extremely confused face made Anr'el give out a small laugh.
"Child, I'll explain later." Liam just nodded, sending her a "This better be good, 'cause I'm not letting you of the hook" look. Bettis noticed the small exchange between them.
Child ? There WAS a story in here somewhere. And it seemed to get better by the second. But right now..
"We need to get out," He stated, the men from the ODK moving over to take on the burden of their hurt commander from Liam's shoulder.
"This way..." Bettis led the way, the colonel and his support in the middle and Liam, Anr'el and the last ODK man covering the back. And soon after, they were on the top floor. They had meet surprisingly little resistance. And now they knew why.
The floor seemed to crawl with soldiers. The Bastard had seemingly figured their little gig out. Bettis grinned. Well, he still had one little surprise for them. He glanced at his global.
And blanched. Bloody hell. Their luck had just run out.
The Portals
Top floor of the Complex
1 minute ago.
The Man was satisfied with himself. Yes, this was going to be his salvation. There was only one way out. And every piece of military personnel in the Complex was guarding it. The Freak and his minions were not getting away anytime soon. A faint rumble was heard from somewhere beneath his feet and the floor seemed to shake slightly.
What has the hell? He grabbed his global, accessing the local computer system. No earthquakes were expected. Something else caught his attention.
"EVACUATE !" He bellowed, for once with panic in his voice, as he saw the warning flash across the computer screen. As the room emptied, a sudden thought crossed his mind, and his old, cold smile came back.
When he, as the last, left the small portal station, he punched in one single command, laughing as he dissolved into nothingness.
A corridor
The Complex
Bettis and Anr'el exchanged a glance as they saw the sudden panic in the room. Bettis simply shrugged.
"Guess they found my little surprise." At Zeke's questioning glance, he continued: "I overloaded the power core. Was a little too good at it as well." He handed the Colonel his global. Zeke cursed, then handed it to Liam.
"We need to get out of here. Now."
"If we wait until the room clears, we can use the portals. But we'll be cutting it kind of close. There'll be no time to reconfigure them." She said, noticing how the crowd thinned quickly. They spend a while in nervous anticipation.
Then, as the last man, the Bastard himself, disappeared, they quickly ran towards the portal. And discovered, why he had been laughing. He had activated the portal self-destruct mechanism. And they had no time to stop it. A sudden quake, stronger than the last, could be felt in the hard concrete of the floor.
"It's all my fault. All my fault.." Liam almost inaudible voice caught Anr'el's attention. And a determination unlike anything else she had ever felt before crystallised within her. She would get them out. Somehow...
"It's not over yet, Liam." She searched the room frantically for an alternate escape route or some sort of cover, finding none. And she could literally feel the many megatons of energy getting ready to explode beneath their feet. Energy ? But off cause.
"Quickly, everyone into that corner, behind me !" She ordered, taking her stand in front of the small group with her back to them, no longer caring to keep up her human front. Another quake, much more powerful than the others were felt, and all Bettis could think off, as a wall of white- blue energy seemed to explode out of the doorway they had only moments before occupied, was:
"God, whatever she's up to better work."
She felt like she was being boiled alive. Agony more intense than anything else, she had ever felt before slammed through her body as the wildfire energy of the overloaded ID-core reached her. But she had to hang in there.
For the Colonel.
The ODK team.
But most of all for Liam.
The Child.
That one thought kept here going as wave after wave of raw energy send white-hot pain up her arms through her shaqarava. She had to get him out of here alive. There was no other acceptable option.
Then the world ceased to exist as her mind closed around that one thought: To keep the Child safe behind the makeshift shield of her hands and the concrete walls behind them.
And the rest was pain.
Liam was starring in awe at his newest friend. It was amazing. She was using herself as a shield to keep everyone safe. It seemed like an eternity, but was actually only seconds, before the energy storm abated, leaving the complex a smouldering ruin of superheated concrete, vaporised equipment and glowing iron.
The only light left was the sheer white glowing Anr'el, who sagged to the floor, desperately trying to control the overload of energy she had consumed. Bettis moved to help her but was stopped by Liam's hand on his arm.
"Don't. It would kill you if you touched her right now." Bettis shot a questioning glance at him, noticing the awed expression in his eyes. Liam shrugged, then slipped into his old mask, the mask of Liam Kincaid, Companion Protector and Resistance leader. He was still having a hard time just being himself when around others.
"She's storing almost all the energy of the ID-core in her body." He carefully moved closer to the Alien, feeling the spillover of her pain in his mind. So much pain. "Imagine a lightning rod, you." He shot Bettis a look to make sure he was getting the picture. "Then there's the lightning, Anr'el. And then there's the ground, the Complex. If you touch her, there's the chance that a large part of the energy would slip past her control, using you as a conductor before getting released on the floor. But unlike a lightning rod, you're not equipt for this kind of lightning."
"How do you know this ?" Zeke was curious. He had been conscious long enough to catch the end of the conversation. Liam thought about it. How DID he know? He shrugged again.
"I just do."
Bettis contemplated it for a couple of seconds, then pushed the questions this comment raised out of his mind for now. There would be time later. The sound of explosions and crumpling walls from somewhere below them brought him back to reality.
"We need a way out. Now."
Anr'el was vaguely aware of the voices behind her as she fought for control. Her system had been pushed to the limit this time. She needed an outlet for all this energy. Pain making it hard to think, she faintly caught part of a sentence.
"..need a way out..." A sudden thought had her raising her hands over her head, shaqarava against the ceiling. A blinding light penetrated the deep darkness of the room as a pillar of light burned it's way through concrete, dirt and steel, creating a small, steep tunnel towards the world above. Then, spend and more tired than ever before, she collapsed completely to the floor, her head hitting it with a soft thud. Liam rushed to her side, propping her up against his shoulder, anxiety clearly written all over his features.
"Anr'el ? You ok ?" His voice converged so much fear, that Zeke and Bettis just looked at each other. They were getting more and more interested in the story behind this by the second. She forced a small smile.
"Didn't anyone mention needing a way out ?" Despite the situation, Liam couldn't help himself. He laughed.
The Pentagon
Now
Sandoval was one lucky SOB, Augur mused. One more inch in the wrong direction and he would have been vaporised instead of just loosing a couple of inches of hair and having his suit ruined. And being deeply unconscious. But except that and some minor scrapes from falling debris, he was, as far as Augur could tell, OK. Street broke his thoughts.
"Shouldn't we be getting out of here ?" Her face carried the shell-shocked expression, Augur had seen on the face of resistance fighters when a cell had been run over. But at least, she was getting over it on her own.
"Yeah..." Something about the blast made him hesitate. First of all, it had been late. According to the readings on the global in his hand, almost a minute later than the actual explosion of the ID-core or whatever had exploded down there. And it had been much to focused, almost like a laser beam.
If the explosion itself had been the cause, this entire building, and a couple of hundred blocks surrounding it, would have been ashes. If even that.
"I wonder..." He moved over to the hole in the ground, punching in a couple of commands in his Global. He was right. He spun around.
"Street, get Dr. Belman and a rope. A LONG one. There're lifesigns down there!" His voice carried a tone of command, which Street had never heard before. She didn't hesitate. Augur went back to anxiously watching the pitch-black hole, silently hoping against hope, that his "baby" brother and his friends had survived the living hell down there.
The White House
Capitol Hill
Ca'el closed his eyes, unaware of the tender smile, which for a split second slipped past his "Commander of the Kimeran Warfleet" mask. Thank the Universe! The Commander was OK. And so was the Child. But, as Anr'el had put it, they were in need of a little assistance. He quickly issued a series of commands through the Commonality, rerouting a couple of close by squads to the building called The Pentagon.
No need in taking any chances, even though Anr'el felt, that the soldiers in the area would pose no threat, being in panic and without a leader as they were. And, protocol be damned, he was going to be there as well.
Urich had watched the Alien, Ca'el, intently. And he saw that tender smile, mistaking it for a sign of weakness. Maybe these freaks wasn't as bada** as they posed. He had been up against that kind of people before. Yes...He was certain, that all of this was just a ruse. He carefully schooled his features to not let the elevation, which he felt, show. A plan took shape. If he gave these Aliens what they wanted, they would leave. He could then use them as an excuse to come across like the big hero, the saviour of the planet, making the public conviniently "forget" that he caused the entire thing by having that Freak Kincaid tortured.
After all, in 100 days, everything is forgotten.
Ca'el's first words, as he returned to the real world, however, destroyed Hubble's hopes completely.
"It looks as if I no longer have any need for you." Ca'el allowed a satisfied smirk to show. "My Commander, the real Commander of the Fleet, just informed me, that she, the Child Liam and his friends are safe after successfully escaping the complex, in which you had them imprisoned." He pulled out the portable data stream again, punching in a couple of commands. "And the public really deserve to know about your little games. So I guess it's only fair, that I just transmitted the recording of you and your henchman over the global news net." Even the Kimera could be cruel.
Urich went grey in the face, never noticing the Kimera leaving for his shuttle. No. This couldn't be happening. All his plans, his dreams. Ashes. Gone like a fata morgana in the sun. The public would not be merciful. He had gambled high, convinced that the stakes were low.
Liam was alone, defenceless, alien. Easy prey. Easily forgotten. Or so he had thought.
He had done the cardinal sin. He had been caught.
Urich slowly opened a drawer, pulling out a fully loaded Desert Eagle from it's hiding place.
And as Ca'el's shuttle entered ID-space, a single shot echoed through the once proud halls of the White house. Hubble Urich was no more.
No one touches the Children of the Kimera unpunished
