5: CONFRONTATION

Their paths cross amidst bright flowers.

In the end, Mimic had to allow Genius to come with them, simply because Phoenix took her aside and made it clear that if he stayed on board, he would be strangled within two hours. Sphere also volunteered to stay, explaining that there were things that desperately needed repairing. The final party was Mimic, Spess, Aerial, Tiresias, Genius and Vriha.

A phone rang six times in the deserted apartment the crew had rigged for their normal entrance to the Matrix. Six images flashed into being. A tall commanding woman dressed in a black PVC trenchcoat and leathers; a handsome Jamaican in a dark shirt and pants wearing a bodywarmer; a petite girl in a pale t-shirt and pants, with a navy-blue trenchcoat; a willowy young man in a dull colourless shirt and pants with a lighter longer jacket; a more sturdy young man in a black t-shirt, pants and jacket; and lastly a slim Pakistani in dull green pants and shirt. All wore shades that hid their eyes.

Mimic strode to the door and opening it, holding it for her crew to exit the building. They trotted down the stairs and out onto the street. Tiresias stumbled once and caught hold of Aerial. A wave of his nervousness hit her, and she allowed him to link her, trying to make some of her bravery flow into her arm. The trouble was that she had very little bravery to spare. Her new skills were frightening her. It was as though she had been living underwater for her whole life and had only recently broken the surface. Each car exhaust was like a gunshot; each piece of litter spiralling around her feet drew her attention.

The crew dived into the intricate web of streets that was the city centre. Mimic led them confidently through the maze, making a beeline towards the straggly line of trees that signalled the park. Spess and Vriha dropped back, Vriha grabbing Genius before he could follow Mimic, Aerial and Tiresias through the cast iron gates. 'We wait here and stand watch,' he said softly. Genius scowled at him and sulked against the gatepost, watching the road despondently. Spess shook his head in disbelief; Vriha smiled.

Aerial followed Mimic through the park. They walked through an avenue of trees, leaves floating down all around them in the wind. Their boots scrunched on the gravel. Eventually the avenue opened out onto a broad field. The grass was cropped short for the first fifty metres, but then long grass swayed for a further one hundred metres or so. A small copse lay off to the right, and two young boys were kicking a football near a set of goalposts.

Mimic stopped abruptly and glanced around. Aerial saw her tense very slightly as she walked a few paces forwards and looked around again. The avenue behind them was dark from the shade of the tree canopies, and the light of the road seemed a long way off. Tiresias tightened his grip on Aerial's arm a little. Mimic located her phone and dialled Phoenix. She lowered her voice, but Aerial heard every word from both ends of the phone.

'Phoenix, she's not here.'

'I know, I know. I'm running a search now. There must be a reason for her not being there.'

'Shall I call Seraph?'

'Nah, she'll probably turn upoh shit!'

'What?'

'Look to your right and see for yourself!'

Mimic and Aerial turned...

Crouched in the undergrowth of the tiny scrubby woods, Falcon watched the park. He had been required to hide his wings, so the navy blue trenchcoat was lacking in the slits at the shoulder blades. He felt stifled and enclosed without the freedom of flight.

His legs were beginning to cramp up when he stiffened, narrowing his eyes. Three humans entered the park, emerging from the corridor of trees. The young man was holding the arm of the girl, barely a woman yet, and the older woman was in front, leading. She stopped suddenly and glanced around. Falcon ducked.

He peered through the ferns and squinted. Instinctively he knew that the young man was his target. It looked as though he was sightless as well. Falcon crushed the word pity that had arisen in his mind and replaced it with ease. It would make it easier. Yes.

He chose his moment, when the woman was on the phone, and broke cover, sprinting down the slight slope. She and the other girl looked up immediately, and their eyes locked. Falcon smiled to himself, throwing on another burst of speed. His left hand reached into his coat and drew the Colt from its holster.

The older woman said, 'Get Tiresias out of here, Aerial,' and drew a semi-auto. The girl looked directly at him, and Falcon felt a stab of recognition. He suddenly lost the urge to fill them with bullets and slowed down, right down to a walk. Even as the woman pointed the gun at his head, he smiled disarmingly, 'Good afternoon.'

'What do you want?' demanded the woman. The girl came back towards him, a strange expression on her face. Falcon suddenly realised they were exactly the same height. 'Kid, get the hell out of here. Phone Spess and get them in here. I'm gonna need backup.' The woman was clearly excellent in a position of command.

'Maybe we don't have to fight…' suggested the girl. Falcon's ears perked up at the sound of an accent not dissimilar to his own. He turned his head and looked directly at her, his gold eyes softening from their predatory scowl. The blind man was standing a few feet away, looking a little lost. Falcon smiled again, 'You give me him,' he indicated with his gun, 'and I'll leave you alone.'

'No,' said the girl instantly, scowling. 'Who are you anyway?'

'No one of importance.' Falcon attempted to step forwards but the teen was there, blocking his way.

The other woman sighed exasperatedly, 'Aerial, piss off! Get Tiresias out.'

Aerial retreated, flipping open a phone as she did so. 'Spess? Mimic needs help. Follow the tree avenue straight down, quickly.'

Falcon lost his patience, his demeanour slipping with it, 'I don't have time for this.' He flicked the safety catch.

Aerial grabbed the young man and took off sprinting, along the edge of the field. Falcon started after them, but the woman tackled him to the ground. He lashed out with the butt of his gun, missed, and staggered upright. The woman leapt up, clicked the safety catch off her pistol and fired, strafing to the left, blocking him from following the girl and the young man.

Falcon responded by cartwheeling, his coat spreading like wings, and kicking the gun from the woman's fist. He heard footsteps on gravel at the beginning of the avenue. Panic flashed through his mind, fear of failure, and he made a snap-decision.

He performed a front flip, soared over the human's head, and hit the ground running in pursuit after the two escapees. Bullets zipped past him, and he decided to use his new skills. He split himself and left a copy running straight whilst the real him zigzagged across the path. He clearly heard gasps of amazement and shock from the rebels.

Aerial heard the rest of the team draw breath suddenly, but she didn't dare look back. Tiresias had complete confidence in her and both ran as fast as they could. Aerial had no idea where she was going to go, but she hoped that if she got lost, her pursuer would get lost as well, hopefully faster than she did.

She saw an opening in the hedge with her acute eyesight, and whispered breathlessly, 'When I say go, we're going to take a sharp left, okay?'

'All right.'

'Go!' The two of them dived left, through the hedge, and came into a flower garden. Aerial sprinted to a wooded corner and asked Tiresias to crouch down in the bushes. 'Ring Vriha and get him to get you out. I'm going to distract that guy.'

Tiresias nodded, 'Be careful, Aerial...'

Aerial darted back out and ran across the little lawn. She leapt over a border of thick flowers, scattering bumblebees, and stopped in the centre of the next lawn. The man burst through the same opening as they had entered, and glanced around.

To Aerial's horror, he began striding across directly to where Tiresias was hiding. How could he have seen him in the shrubbery? She placed two fingers in her mouth and whistled, high and sharp. 'Hey!' As the man turned and faced her, she gave him a two-fingered salute with both hands. She saw a smirk crawl across his face, and he extended an arm and pointed the gun directly at her. Aerial tensed, rising onto the balls of her feet.

The man stared at her for a heartbeat, then holstered the gun in a fluid movement and sprinted towards Tiresias.

Falcon dived through the foliage and seized the young man by the arm. To his surprise he struggled violently, wriggling like an eel and calling clearly, 'Aerial!' Falcon grappled with him for a few seconds, then knocked him over the back of the head. He went limp, and Falcon hoisted him easily onto his shoulder. He chanced a glance behind him and just had enough time to duck as the girl came flying through, arms outstretched in a dive. She somersaulted on the soil and stood in a single movement, blocking his way out.

'What have you done to him?' she asked, gasping slightly from the exertion.

'Nothing permanent,' shrugged Falcon. He listened, and, hearing no sounds of immediate pursuit, chanced to ask her the question that had been bothering him. 'Are you a program?'

'No.'

Falcon shook his head slightly, trying to isolate the feeling that kept nagging at him. He had been told it was possible, but he'd never believed it. Up till now. He let the young man - Tiresias wasn't it? – off his shoulder and placed him on the ground behind him. He took a step closer to the young girl. 'Have you ever dreamed of flying?'

'No.' He saw it; a flicker across her features before she answered. She saw he'd seen, and sighed quietly. 'I dreamt once of falling...'

'Into a field?'

'Yes.' She frowned slightly, 'How did you know that?'

Falcon tilted his head as he heard the thud of running feet over grass. He noticed that she listened identically, and they lost the truce. The girl took a long stance as Falcon lifted Tiresias again. He smiled wryly, 'Don't threaten me.'

'Put him down,' intoned the girl. Her hands trembled through anger, and her gaze behind her shades burned with determination.

'Get out of the way,' ordered Falcon, feeling his limited patience slip.

'Over my dead body,' retorted the girl.

Falcon hesitated. The predator in him, the part who actually enjoyed working for the Frenchman, screamed Kill her! She asked for it! His other half, the more watchful aspect of himself, murmured No, leave her. There's something of you in her; to kill her would be like shattering a mirror.

He bared his teeth in frustration and hissed, 'This isn't over.'

'Damn right.'

Falcon made his decision. His muscles had been coiled ever since he hade heard sounds of the others, and now he released the strain. With the ripping of fabric, his wings burst from his coat and extended fully, making the bushes shiver. The girl backed away, surprised. He flapped vigorously, knowing he couldn't manage to stay airborne for long with the weight of another person. He rose up, concentrating on his beating wings.

Aerial couldn't let this happen. She ran a few paces forwards and leapt up, focusing as hard as she could to disregard gravity. For the moment at least. She shot upwards, stretching out her arms, and managed to grab hold of the program's boots. She let her fierce concentration go, and gravity gripped all three again. The extra weight was too much for the program's delicate wings, and they began to drop.

Aerial grappled with the program as they fell. His wings flapped wildly, his feet kicking. She concentrated on dodging, and suddenly felt something sweep through her. An expression of shock passed over the program's refined features, and at that moment they broke through the tree branches of the border that ran all the way around the flower garden. Branches tore at her face, but she felt no pain at all. Since she had focused on dodging, the program must have lashed out, for she had lost her grip, but the more frightening thing was that she couldn't see her hands anymore.

She cried out in fear, and her attention slipped. The feeling happened again; something passed through her, and glancing down she could see herself again. The tangle of bodies landed hard on the soil. The angel-like program leapt upright and closed his wings, grabbing hold of the still Tiresias and heaving him onto his shoulders yet again. Aerial staggered upright as well, but before she could do anything, there were suddenly two sets of the program. However only one of the them had Tiresias over his shoulder, so Aerial sprang for that one.

She heard him swear briefly before her kick connected. The second image faded as the program doubled up, Tiresias slipping off his shoulders and rolling over once on the soil. Aerial launched herself over to him and shook him gently, 'Tiresias!' He shifted very slightly and groaned. Aerial shook him again, knowing she had seconds before the bird-program recovered. 'Tiresias, gettup!'

This time he blinked sluggishly, his dark eyes unfocused. But that was normal. He gave a little moan of pain and struggled to sit up, 'What the hell..?'

Aerial grabbed him under the arm and hauled him upright. She heard feet thudding across the lawn just outside the shrubbery and shouted, 'Here! Over here!' She also heard the program recover behind her, and pushed Tiresias into a stumbling run towards the grass.

She heard the program break into a run behind them, considered dodging, and suddenly felt the feeling flow into her again. There was a rush of air, and a sharp intake of breath. Impossibly, the program's mad lunge for them had missed; he was now rolling out of the dive in front of them. Simultaneously, Tiresias had slipped as though her arms weren't supporting him, and as her attention went back to him he recovered, as though her arms had suddenly reappeared.

A spray of bullets burst through the shrubbery, and Spess sprinted heavily across the grass, Genius in tow. The program looked around him, sensing he was outnumbered. He glared at Aerial, and she flinched from his sharp stare. 'We will meet again.' He took off sprinting, his trenchcoat flapping behind him. Spess emptied another clip at him, but he spilt himself again and the bullets missed.

Aerial stared after him, and watched as he took flight and soared towards the clouds. Vriha appeared at her side and asked breathlessly, 'Are you all right?'

'We got here as fast as we could,' supplemented Genius, his eyes flashing with concern.

'Yeah,' she replied absently, 'I'm fine.' She shook herself as Tiresias lifted his weight and swayed unsteadily on his feet. She grabbed his shoulder. 'I think we should jack out,' she said.

Vriha flipped open his phone and contacted Phoenix as Mimic emerged from the hedges. 'Are we getting out?'

'Yep. Phoenix is ready – phone box on the corner of Moss Road.'

Mimic shook her head, 'We still haven't found her.'

'Look – Aerial and Tiresias are shattered,' said Spess firmly. 'We should get out and recharge a little. She'll contact us again with a safer spot, where that bird thing can't get us so quickly. He looked a lot like you, Aerial,' he added, turning his dark eyes on her. 'Same height, build and everything.' Aerial avoided his eyes, and realised that the rest of them were looking at her too.

Thankfully Tiresias broke the uncomfortable silence. 'My head hurts…'