The Serum
Part 5
Four officers were stood around one desk when she walked into the office that morning. Spotting Granger in amongst the others she moved over to join them.
"What's going on?" She asked as she merged into the crowd.
"There's a girl on a rampage, two officers down. We've pulled everyone out but James and Tanny are still in there. She's locked herself in there with them." Eliza gasped, Tanny was only a very young officer, but James could handle himself. Hopefully he could protect them both until they could get them out. "Come on Ella, we need you to pull a rabbit out of the hat for us. We have no clue what to do next." Eliza looked up into Granger's eyes, seeing the desperation there. He had high hopes for Tanny and she knew he would be so devastated if he lost her so early.
"Do you have a picture of the girl?" She asked, stalling for time she knew they didn't have. She was handed a computer print out from a security camera. It took her brain a few minutes to realise what she was seeing. "Shit, June." She murmured to herself.
"Ella? Talk to us."
"I know her. Goddamn but I know her." She scrubbed at her face for a moment. "You sent that team in because she was unarmed." She realised.
"Yes. We still don't know how she overwhelmed them."
"Believe me when I tell you that this woman doesn't need to be armed to be dangerous. She's deadly all by herself."
"Ella, come on, help us here. James and Tanny don't have time for your bull at the moment."
"I need to get down there. She knows me; maybe I can talk to her. Maybe..." She shook her head. "Maybe we can still fix this."
"Eliza? What is this?"
"A very dangerous woman has two officers and I'm going to help them." She said, taking note of the address and heading back out into the car park to her car. Before she could get in Granger and the rest of the team appeared in the doorway.
"Eliza, wait." Granger called. "You'll never get there in time in an unmarked." He told her. "And we're coming with you."
"There are some things I want you to know." She told them as they raced towards the small flat where the action was taking place, sirens screaming. "She's much much stronger than she looks, and much faster than you would ever expect. If she starts moving towards you, you shoot, you won't have time to do much else. Don't be aggressive with her, it will only make things harder. She has..." She struggled to find a way to explain what was wrong with her to people who didn't know about the existence of new mutants. "She's psychotic, simply enough. She will fight because she enjoys it, she will kill because she enjoys it."
"Are the others still alive?" Granger asked quietly. She observed him for a moment.
"I don't know." He nodded his acceptance. There was no time to say anything else because at that moment they pulled up in front of the apartment block.
Lieutenant Jaylynn kicked in the door, letting all of the others pile into the room before she followed, Eliza leading, Granger right behind. The first room they came to was clear, but there was blood on the floor and walls and marks on the walls from several gunshots fired. They found June in the second room they came to, a comfy looking sitting room with two sofas, one inhabited with Tanny's scarily still body the other with James' equally still body. Eliza pulled her gaze away from the two, praying that their stillness was only due to unconsciousness.
The red head feral had hardly changed since last time she had seen her. She still looked vaguely out of it, pausing every so often to shake her head vigorously as if shaking away the world around her.
"June." She called quietly. "Do you remember me? It's Shalimar, remember?" She was glad to see that the others had paid no attention to the two on the sofas for now and were quietly surrounding June, postures submissive. She thanked God that she'd thought to show them the position and that they'd known to use it. She was glad to see that Granger and Jaylynn stayed behind her, they were the best shooters in the team and she was going to need thier skills if something went wrong.
"You look different with shorter hair." The reply came. She resisted the urge to run her fingers through her short-cropped hair.
"You need to come with us, June. We're worried about you. About what you're doing here, alone."
"No." It was a whine. Small and quiet.
"Don't try to fight me, June. You know I'm stronger than you. We're danced this dance before." She was risking everything on the hope that she hadn't heard about her change and that she wouldn't call her bluff.
"You don't smell right anymore Shalimar. You're not one of us anymore." She cursed the feral's enhanced sense of smell even as the feral flashed her eyes and launched herself though the air at her. She was going to die.
