Chapter 29: Should've Known Better
Lexa barely had time to process the fact that Jesse had shouted before he was standing in front of her, massed, and blocking a hail of good old-fashioned bullets.
"What the hell? How'd they know we were coming?"
Jesse didn't answer, just dragged her behind the wide trunk of the oak tree. "Stupid, stupid."
Lexa shook off Jesse's mutterings. Daring to peer out from behind the tree, she quickly pulled herself back as another round of bullets flew, sending a shower of wood chips flying.
"I can't believe I didn't figure it out sooner. It was right in front of my face."
She sent a quick questioning glance his way before turning her attention back to their attackers. "What the hell are you talking about?" She fired a bolt over her shoulder, aiming for the source of the bullets. She heard a grunt and for a second thought that she had managed to take down the threat, but a half second later, another hail of bullets rained down on them from a different direction. Grabbing the sleeve of his suede coat, she pulled Jesse around to the more protected side of the tree, despite the fact that he had already massed and was thus bulletproof.
"Shalimar, Brennan!"
"Jesse. What's wrong?"
Jesse blocked his eyes from the bright light of Lexa firing another laser bolt. "Somehow, I think we found the place we're looking for. Katie, are you there?"
"Yeah. What do you need?"
"Feed our location to Shal and Brennan. Then do a thermal satellite scan of the house at our location and see how many people we're dealing with."
"I'm on it." The clicking of the keyboard could already be heard as Katie signed off.
There was another sound transmitting over the comrings; soft thumps as Brennan and Shalimar's feet pounded the pavement.
"You guys might want to pick up the pace," Lexa said into her own comring. "There are at least three of them. They're armed with assault rifles, and," she paused to fire another couple rounds of white hot light, "they're wearing power suits."
Brennan swore over the comring. "We'll be there as soon as we can. Hang on, guys."
Lexa scoffed. "That phrase is always more comforting when you're on the other side of it. Come on. Grab hold. I can keep us out of the visible spectrum long enough to get us to the house and away from the guns."
"Lexa, I don't think –"
Jesse didn't have time to finish his sentence before Lexa had once again grabbed a hold of his jacket. This time, he felt the cool flow of molecules surround his body, and he knew that Lexa had used her powers to deflect the light away from them, making them invisible to the naked eye. Reluctantly, he followed her.
Less than two seconds later, he knew why this wasn't such a good idea. He managed to mass completely only a nanosecond before the bullets started flying again. There wasn't time to move Lexa behind him, so he quickly spread the mass effect to her body. He knew that being massed would be painful for her, despite the fact that she was a part molecular mix, but is was the only way he could save her life. Unfortunately, massing her body also had the effect of freezing her in place. Trying not to grunt as he forced his solidified joints to move, he lifted Lexa and swung her back around behind the tree, where he was finally able to take a breath and return them both to normal density.
"Shit. They must have thermal glasses on."
"I was going to say that going out there probably wasn't a good idea. I figured out what was bothering me when we came up to the house. Adam said that Holly may not be a scientific genius, but also that she was anything but dumb. When I was in her mind," he paused as Lexa peeked out to see if their assailants were still there, then ducked back when they fired on her, and then fired a return shot, "all Jessica talked about was that damned park. It was like she had been there."
"What's your point, Jesse?"
"Jessica's mental state basically means she's just like a little kid – a fucking dangerous kid – but a kid nonetheless. And what do you do with kids when you're perpetrating evil?"
"Perpetrating evil? You've been hanging around Adam too long. You're starting to sound like him."
Jesse glowered. "You send the kids away," he said pointedly. "Kids tend to talk when they know things, even if you tell them not to. The point is, Holly's prepared. She knew something like that might happen, so she prepared for it by sending Jessica to the park."
"And you're saying that's why these guys are wearing thermal glasses and power suits?"
"Exactly. She knows Mutant X – she was part of the Dominion – she knows what our powers are. Especially you. The thermal glasses neutralize your power of invisibility. The power suits make your and Brennan's powers virtually ineffective, especially in fast, close combat. While we're at it, we'd better tell Brennan to watch out for sprinklers and hoses on his way in."
"Well, damn. We're going to have to wait until Shalimar and Brennan get here before we make a move."
"At least. Hey, Katie? Have you got that satellite thermal scan done yet?"
"Not yet," she said through the comlink to her brother. "Seems that today's the day the Department of Defense decided to run a security scan of their satellite systems. I'm having trouble getting through the temporary firewalls they've established. It should only be a few more minutes though."
"Just great," Jesse mumbled.
Lexa shot him a look. "Relax," she told him. Then, to Katie, she said, "Katie, do us a favor and trigger a mechanical failure alarm at the nearest sanitation center." She could almost see the young woman pause at the computer keyboard back in Sanctuary. "Just do it," she added.
There was a slight pause before Katie responded. "Right." And from the tone in her voice, Lexa knew that Katie understood the reasoning.
Jesse still didn't, however. "What the hell was that all about?"
Lexa barely flinched when another round of fire chipped away at the tree they were hiding behind, then rapped her knuckles lightly against the side of Jesse's head. "Think about it. If there's an emergency at the sewage treatment plant, perhaps 'indications' of a possible leak of untreated sewage into the local creeks and rivers, what do they do?"
"Shut down the water flow in the area so that they don't get…ahh. Very nice. You do beautiful work," he said appreciatively, giving her a high five.
"Why thank you."
Less than two minutes after Jesse called them, Shalimar and Brennan reached the location.
"What the hell?" Shalimar wondered aloud as they slowed down for the last few yards. "You'd think with this gunfire we'd be hearing sirens by now.
"Hey, look at the neighborhood. Everyone's probably at work and school. Do you see anyone?"
Shalimar's eyes flashed. There are two people there," she pointed "on each side of the house. But I can smell about 6 or 7 people. I can't tell how many are there now."
"Is it a bad idea to jump the fence?" Brennan nodded toward the surprisingly low tech wooden fence, slated, standing about seven feet tall.
She shook her head. "There's no one on the other side." She took two long steps forward and leaped over the fence in a single fluid movement.
Brennan shook his head. Every time he saw her do things like that he couldn't help but think how cool it was. Reaching up, he grasped the top of the fence and vaulted himself up and over.
And promptly fell back when the fence shocked him.
"Damn!" He swore.
Shalimar's low voice came to him from between the slats of wood. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," he grumbled, brushing off her concern. "But this damn fence has enough electricity running through it to drop an elephant. It's a good thing you didn't touch it when you went over."
"Are you going to be able to get over?"
"Yeah, yeah." With a quick hand, he touched the fence again, this time trying to get a gauge of exactly how much power was running through it. If he could match the current, it would run through him like a neutral point – just like a bird sitting on a telephone wire. Taking a breath, he focused himself, formed the tesla coils, and leapt over. And landed safely without a scratch.
Shalimar teasingly punched his shoulder as he stood up from his crouch. "Took you long enough."
He ignored her. Staying low, they moved together along the inside edge of the property, trying to stay out of sight. As they got closer to the house, Shalimar pointed out two guards; both looked tense, but were maintaining their stations. Shalimar pointed to Brennan and then to the lone guard on the ground floor, who was anxiously looking around. Then she pointed to herself and to the guard creeping across the roof on his knees, who, as they watched, paused to send a burst of fire at ground target on the other side of the house. She gave a signal and they split apart, each heading for their intended objectives.
Given Lexa's warning that they guards may be wearing power suits, Brennan held back the all too easy to use lightening. Moving as stealthily as he could with a 6 foot 3 inch frame, Brennan wove his way around the guard's line of sight. When he was finally close enough, he lashed out with one foot, aiming to drop the guard with a single blow.
Providence didn't seem to be favoring him at the moment, however. The nameless, faceless guard managed to sense the approaching blow with a second to spare, giving him enough time to move away, reducing Brennan's attack to a glancing blow. Swiveling, the guard raised his weapon. Brennan wrenched it away with a hard swipe of his hands. The man swung his arms back, aiming for Brennan's head. Brennan blocked, and the man took the opportunity to kick out, striking Brennan hard in the solar plexus. Only slightly winded, mad because this hadn't gone as quickly as he planned and knowing he had to keep it quiet, Brennan stepped it up a notch. He grabbed the man's exposed neck, and pulled down, also bringing his knee up into the man's stomach. Simultaneously, he applied a charge to the back of his neck. The man dropped like the proverbial stone, unconscious. Grabbing the arms, Brennan quickly dragged the body behind and under one of the hedges in the side yard that gave the building the illusion of normalcy. Wiping his hands on his pants, he spared a glance to the roof to see how Shalimar was faring.
Shalimar crept along the roof, her movements timed to those of the man on the roof. She had gained access to the perch by leaping from the ground to a tree in the yard and then onto the roof. When she was finally close enough, she pounced on him, unable to contain the instinctive growl that came with the thrill of the hunt. From behind, she latched on to his neck, cutting off the man's air supply. He struggled, dropping his gun, which clattered half way down the roof before sliding to a stop. His hands flew up, reaching for her arm, trying to get a strong enough grip to tear her away. Shalimar's arm remained tight, and he was unable to find purchase. His thermal scanning glasses were wrenched off. Desperate, the man twisted in her grip. He outweighed her by a good 70 pounds, and the extra weight, combined with the uneven and a lack of traction with the roof disrupted her superior balance enough that she was forced to let go. He took advantage, swinging away and gasping for breath in the half second she had to let go. Having regained her balance, and with a new challenge, she felt her feral instincts rise at the idea of a decent fight. But a glance down at Brennan, standing below with arms crossed, told her she needed to tamp down on those instincts and end the confrontation quickly. She lashed out with a solid right hook, catching the man in the temple before he even had a chance to catch his breath. His body thumped as it fell, sliding down the slanted roof until the friction between his jacket and the shingles brought him to a stop right beside his fallen firearm.
Shalimar leapt down from the roof, landing nimbly beside Brennan. "Took you long enough," he said, mimicking her words from earlier.
She rolled her eyes in response, but froze when she heard a sound.
He noticed her expression. "What is it?"
"Ticking."
"As in boom boom bomb ticking?"
She shook her head. "No, it sounds more like… those automatic sprinklers?"
Brennan's eyes widened a bit. "Water. Shit." He made a move closer toward the house, away from the back lawn.
She stopped him with a hand on his arm, and pointed to a nearby sprinkler head. "Someone already took care of that for us. Look." As she spoke, the sprinkler head sputtered, but did not release a spray of water.
Brennan's relief was obvious. "At least something's going our way. Come on."
Together they turned, slithering over to the sliding glass door that lead from the yard to the house. Brennan cautiously peeked though. From his vantage, the house was absolutely empty. He opened the door, slipping through and indicating for Shal to follow him. Glancing one way, he saw that the coast was clear. Glancing the other way….
"Aw fuck."
AN: Getting close to the end. Amber Cloud: I should really get you a good sized lengh for rope for those cliffhangers. But hey, if you think this story needs rope, just wait until my next one! ;-)
