Protector Ch 22
It was bright.
Zandra squeezed her eyes shut. It was extremely bright – too bright, and the light hurt her eyes even when she squeezed them shut. She grimaced and tried to bring her hands up over her eyes, but remembered that she was bound; bound with invisible ties that kept her sitting knees to her chin in a corner of the bright room. The walls were icy and hard, but gave her no solace from the blinding light. They too were white and shone like mirrors, amplifying the already painful illumination.
"Ms. Richards," started one of the agents, "Why so disturbed?"
"Light," she simply stated. She tried to squeeze her eyes together closer so that maybe it wouldn't be so white, but it didn't help. Her eyes watered from between her closed lids.
"Oh, but we think you need more," one said. Zandra wasn't sure what was going on… everything seemed to mesh together…
"We are still in the dark, Ms. Richards…"
"Bright," she whimpered, trying to move her hands up over her eyes. An invisible force kept her hands down at her feet. One of the agents sighed.
"Pitiful."
"Are we ready?"
"Almost," replied Kesia. Purgatory had been abuzz since the incident had started. Though Alias and Shade had been left wounded from their first encounter, Cover was getting ready to go in with Trim. He had called in the Mayflower from a nearby tunnel and asked them to come in as well, and thankfully they replied with a swift 'yes'. It looked like everything was ready to go, and time was of the essence. Zandra had been imprisoned for a day, almost two already; they were worried that she wouldn't be able to take any more. Kesia had found Zandra's whereabouts and they were planning on going in to take her back out. It was an obvious plan, but they were determined to get her back.
"Is the Mayflower ready?"
"They're waiting to jack-in."
"Good," Cover replied, "lets go then."
Shade sat in the med bay, next to Alias' unmoving body. She was still unconscious, still unaware of her injury. It pained him to see her lying so helpless when usually she was so able, so deadly. It had turned on her, and now she was on the brink, on the fence between the fields of life and death. He felt guilty of his own lack of injury – it was only his hand that was bandaged and bruised. He at the same time felt lucky and angry; lucky to be alive, but angry that others had not fared so well. One of them was dead. He wondered what it was like to jack out somebody whose mind had left their body. Shade's hand throbbed with intermittent pain that embarrassed him – as if it was a constant reminder that he was barely injured at all. So he continued to sit with Alias, still sleeping, until either Zandra came back, or Alias woke up.
"Why so timid now, Ms. Richards?" asked one of the agents. Zandra was frustrated at her confusion… why was everything so hard to comprehend?
One of the agents came closer to her, temporarily blocking some of the light from her eyes. Stay there, she willed.
"You seemed… feisty… once we got out of the car," the other said. The car… that incident seemed like ages ago. Though Zandra had tried to escape her captors, she had been unsuccessful.
Brown had opened the door slowly, and Zandra kicked it to him as hard as she could. The door flew open with a resounding swing, and Brown was sent flying backwards – she had succeeded! She scrambled out of the car, getting ready to run, but her shirt was caught on something… she tugged harder, attempting to free herself, but she wasn't getting anywhere. Rip, damnit! Zandra looked back and her heart fell instantly, knowing that her plan wasn't going to work. Jones had a hand on her shirt, gripping so hard that she couldn't move. Brown quickly got back up and had her in a headlock, making sure that she felt as much pain as possible on the way to her prison.
It had been a fruitless attempt, and now she was stuck in a building that was not really a structure, with agents that were not really people. The agent close to her was silent and stayed there. Zandra couldn't tell what he was doing though, he was only a silhouette against the bright background.
He's not speaking, he's analyzing me, she thought to herself. Close your mind!
The agent jerked back as if he had been startled, and Zandra was pleased. She was almost glad to have something that she actually had control of in her dangerous situation. Her mind seemed clearer now. The agent pressed his earpiece against his head, tilting it to one side. The room seemed a little less bright.
"We are not attaining our goal," he said. It sounded like Jones.
"Perhaps she needs some… coersion," Brown offered. Zandra didn't like the sound of it. Jones turned around and nodded at Brown, and they both retreated for a while. Zandra was alone in the white room, unable to move and unsure of what was about to happen.
It was still blindingly bright in the room, but Zandra willed her eyes to stay open as long as she could. Purgatory, she thought, you're still there. She wondered what they could be doing to her body now, if they were giving her food, injections, holding her down when she moved…
The room became less bright. That's right, it's not bright. You're in a dark room.
But the problem still stood that she was bound. Zandra was curled up in a corner of the empty room, sitting with her knees hugging her chest, her hands flat against the ground. It was as if an invisible force kept her from moving, because every time she was able to nudge her body one way, something pushed her back into her original position. She pushed as hard as she could against the ground, but the force thrust her back with just as much punch. It was just coding, why was it acting so real? If she could just alter it… find a way to affect the air around her, breathe a way that would change it, do something… but she could think of nothing. The agents were still gone, and Zandra grew worried.
"Do we have everyone?" asked Cover to the small crowd around him. Directly in front of him stood Colombus, the captain of the Mayflower. Next to her stood her shipmates, Pike and Blithe. Pike, closest to Colombus, was an older man of tall stature, his short gray hair masked by his youthful face. Blithe was a young, almost chubby woman with medium length hair. She looked overly ready for what was coming. On Colombus' other side stood Echo, another young woman, (the one Zandra had met), and Muse, a young black man with braids. Cover was not surprised that Tevy had not come; he was not ready, and it would not be a good idea. Tevy and Zandra shared a connection that would best go unnoticed. He was proud of the company he was in.
Everyone nodded around him. Cover turned to leave the room they had come in through and almost bumped into Trim, still watching him for orders. He had almost forgotten he was there. It was easy to; Trim was always so quiet and had such little presence in a room filled with such imposing people. But Cover needed as much help as he could get, and he did notice a slight excitement in his voice when he was asked to go in…
He flipped open his cellphone and asked Kesia for directions. She told him it was just ahead, indicating that she had taken him as close as she could to the right place. He was glad to have such a good operator on hand. They all walked out quickly and purposefully, knowing that if they weren't careful, they could all be dead in minutes. Never before had anyone tried to fight an agent, except for Zandra. Never before had anyone tried to save an agent's prisoner. But, of course, never before had anyone been imprisoned by an agent. Everything was new, and Cover was making it up as he went. He wasn't sure, but knew that no matter what he would try as hard as he could to save her. She was their best shot at the war.
Zandra struggled against the invisible barrier. She was beginning to notice that the harder she pushed, the longer it took for the force to hit back. But when it did, it was hard. She was beginning to formulate a plan. If she could just pool her strength together, and move quickly, maybe she could evade the barrier. But where did it stop? Either it stopped only inches away or else the agents programmed a barrier to stop her and not them. She wasn't sure what they would have chosen, but for the moment picked the second one. She couldn't take any chances.
The agents were still gone. It was seriously worrying her – and what did they mean by coersion? In her frustration she attempted to pull strength from the air around her. She took a deep breath. Now! In an instant she thrust herself off of the ground and on her feet, moving quickly to get moving. She was able to get one foot off the ground, a step…
The force slammed her back into the wall, knocking the wind out of her. Shit, she swore, surely the agents would hear that if they were anywhere near the room. The force had thrown her into the corner again, but this time Zandra sat in a heap, with her legs under her. With all of her weight now resting on her legs, they began to hurt.
She tried again, breathing deeply and closing her eyes to clear her mind. Move quickly, move forcefully.
The agent began to walk back to the room.
"How many agents have her?" asked Colombus, striding in step with Cover.
"Two is what Kesia said,"
Colombus shook her head and breathed deeply. "I don't know, Cover…"
"She'll survive."
"I don't doubt that, it's just-"
"I know," he said, "But I believe we can do it."
They continued to walk down the empty sidewalk and soon reached the building they were looking for. They calmly strode in and proceeded to the floor they were supposed to go to. But they didn't see what they expected. In the room that Kesia had told them to go to, Zandra was not.
"Kesia, where is she?"
"She should be a few feet in front of you," replied Kesia with fervor. Her coding was there, wasn't it? It looked like her, didn't it? Kesia grew alarmed as Cover's voice grew more skeptical.
"Kesia, are you sure?"
"Yes, I was!" she almost shouted into the phone, "I don't know where she is!"
Cover snapped his phone shut. Everyone was looking at him expectantly, wanting to know where she was if she wasn't in the room with them. It was empty, except for a chair in the center of the dark room. And there were no agents.
Zandra was up again, moving faster and harder than before. Two steps, three steps, she was almost to the door… she could feel the force beginning to push her, but she resisted with almost all of her strength. You can always push more! Her movement slowed as she resisted the transparent wall pushing her to the ground. She was still moving, the door was only a few feet away… she began to reach for the handle…
And it opened for her.
But behind it stood someone she hoped not to see at that moment. He put his hand up, and the force stopped. He smiled, but Zandra didn't return the gesture.
"Ms. Richards, lovely to see you up again." She stood motionless, waiting for the coming onslaught, the coming force that would certainly knock her back into her corner. It didn't come. He was still smiling.
"I see your friends have come to join us."
"No," she spoke softly, her face contorted in confusion and fury. Had they come to get her already? Certainly she had hoped that they would try and help her, but so early? Her heart fell – she would be the cause of their downfall now. For a second time.
"Yes," he said, cocking his head to one side, "Brown should be welcoming them any moment." He let his hand down again, and the force immediately knocked Zandra back to her corner. She almost screamed in pain, but kept it inside, her eyes welling with feeling. "No," she said to herself aloud, they need you now.
