Magnetic Forces of Love and Conspiracy
Written by BansheeGirl
A/N: It cannot be! Another relatively fast update for BansheeGirl? WHAT is this world coming to? Well, you guys better appreciate it, 'cos I stayed up until all hours of the night finishing this chapter! So please don't forget to leave reviews when you've finished reading… they shall compensate for my lack of precious sleep!
Disclaimer: See chapter 1 or 2!
Magnetic Forces of Love and Conspiracy
Chapter 7: What Goes Up
Michael reached the top of a flight of cold stone stairs, and swung a large metal door wide open for the woman behind him to walk through. Jessie stepped out onto the roof of the skyscraper that devoted a great many of its floors to the Paramount Corps. of Saunders offices, and instantly shaded her eyes from the sun's noon glare. She peered across the cement roof to see a sleek helicopter stationed on the scraper's helipad, its rotor blades still spinning since landing only moments ago. The blonde executive assistant shut the door behind them and the pair walked swiftly over.
Jessie and Michael slowed as they closed the distance between them and a woman and man waiting beside the helicopter.
"Brendan, Bella… how are you?" Michael enquired in the deceptively friendly voice that Jessie had become so familiar with. Without waiting to hear the man and woman's answers, Michael turned to Jessie and began to introduce the pair. "Jessica, this is Brendan Middleton – an engineer from the tourism division."
Jessie extended her hand to the tall, well-built male. She smiled politely as he firmly shook her hand and offered a well-mannered greeting.
"And this," Michael continued, indicating the woman standing rigidly beside Brendan, "Is Bella Fanning. She's an architect also from the tourism division. They'll both be accompanying you on the surveying expedition today."
Jessie shook Bella's hand and was surprised to find the woman's grip to be as strong as her male associate's. "A pleasure to meet you both," she announced in a businesslike manner. She found it strange that neither of the pair looked familiar to her. Though Jessie never made a point of remembering the names of the more insignificant workers of Paramount Corps., it was not like her to forget a face – even if it was only one she saw fleetingly in the corridors of the offices.
"The pleasure is ours," both Brendan and Bella voiced in an uncanny unison.
Jessie eyed the attire of the couple before her. While she had arrived at the helicopter in her usual business shirt, suit-jacket and matching above-the-knee skirt, Brendan and Bella both donned thick, wool-lined jackets and waterproof ski pants. Jessie glanced at their sturdy-looking lace-up boots, and then warily down at the stilettos she wore.
"I was not told to come dressed in any such appropriate way," she exclaimed rather crossly, directing her accusation for the most part toward her executive assistant.
Michael's face faltered, before quickly opening his mouth to speak. He was interrupted, however, by Brendan, who extended his arm to turn Jessie to face the helicopter. "That is no problem at all, Miss Avalon. There will be adequate clothing available in Fieldsville to keep you warm during our surveillance of the area."
The burgundy-haired woman raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "I expect a much higher degree of organisation from Paramount Corps.' employees. Especially considering your request for me to accompany you today," she condemned, expressing her extreme annoyance through both her voice and eyes.
"Of course, please forgive us Miss Avalon," Brendan conceded without hesitation. Jessie noted that he did not display the anxiety that most people showed after being chastised by a powerful CEO such as herself. "But we must be going, if you don't mind. We'd appreciate completing the expedition before the afternoon is over," the engineer continued.
"You're right, Brendan," Michael supported, facing Jessie, "Surely you'd like to return before dusk, Jessica?"
Placed in an inarguable situation, Jessie sighed and nodded in agreement. "Let's just hurry up and get this over and done with," she declared. With that the helicopter pilot appeared and opened the door of the craft's rear cabin, signalling for the small group to board. The dark-skinned man stayed silent as he helped Jessie into the cabin, and she rested herself in the seating that faced forward. Brendan and Bella climbed into the cabin effortlessly after her, and both sat opposite Jessie.
"Goodbye, Jessica," came Michael's voice from outside the helicopter, before the pilot firmly shut the rear cabin door. Jessie looked to her executive assistant, but coldly turned her head away without responding to his farewell. She was still annoyed with him for allowing her to turn up looking ridiculous in her business outfit, while Brendan and Bella suitably sported clothing fit for activity in the chill of the mountains.
Jessie listened as the rotor blades began to spin around. With a slight lurch of the stomach the helicopter lifted, and before she knew it they were soaring over Saunders City, Michael standing a mere speck on the skyscraper roof below them. The CEO settled herself into her seat, and peered across at the engineer and architect. While Brendan gazed expressionless out of the window beside him, Jessie disturbingly found Bella staring right at her.
The brunette-haired woman realised that she had been caught eying Jessie, and gave an odd smile before quickly shifting her gaze to look out Brendan's window. Jessie frowned, puzzled by the pair. She had to admit that she was impressed by their professional demeanours, though there was something else in the air about them that Jessie simply couldn't place. She brushed the feeling away, and turned to gaze out of the window closest to her.
Time passed, and Jessie noticed that the chopper had begun to pass over snow-covered terrain. Patches of evergreen trees and frozen lakes passed underneath, and Jessie began to wonder what she was even doing heading out to Fieldsville on this early afternoon. She found the tourism division's request to have her on the surveillance expedition quite strange – she had already seen quite a portion of the area in photographs and sketches. It wasn't as if actually being in the area was going to change her decision to demolish Fieldsville – and that was all she was concerned about at the moment.
The helicopter flew over more of the wintry scene below, and Jessie looked up to see both Brendan and Bella suddenly stand.
"What are you doing?" She asked authoritatively.
Brendan stopped and peered down at her, while Bella disappeared through a tiny entrance into the cockpit without a word. "We're just going to have a talk with the pilot. You stay here," Brendan said, his last words conveyed as a serious command. Jessie's mouth dropped slightly open at the sheer nerve he had to talk to her in such a way, but the man disappeared into the cockpit quickly before she could protest.
The blue-eyed woman was left in the rear cabin alone, and she glanced around furiously. She waited several moments, tapping her foot impatiently on the floor. When neither Brendan nor Bella returned from the cockpit, Jessie realised the utter lack of sense that the sudden situation produced. She pushed herself up from her seat to pay her own visit to the cockpit, though was thrown across the cabin when the helicopter suddenly jolted violently forward.
Jessie was flung against the seat that Brendan and Bella had been sitting in, and cracked her head against a protruding metal shaft that ran along the top of the seat. Cursing loudly, she immediately went to clutch her head in pain – though was stopped short when the helicopter jerked sideways, sending her tumbling to the floor to be crushed up against the thankfully securely-closed rear cabin door. Jessie's body very suddenly seized up in panic as the sound of the rotor blades above changed from their comforting whir to an irregular thud, thud, thud.
An alarming clunking noise began to reverberate from the front of the helicopter, while the aircraft increasingly continued to spasm in violent jerks, sending Jessie hurling from side to side of the helicopter like a rag doll.
The helicopter was falling.
Jessie cried in pain as she was thrown across the floor into the opposite wall of the cabin, crushing her right arm beneath her. She attempted to stand up, yet the vigorous spinning movements of the helicopter prevented her from getting any further than a kneeling position. She yelped in anguish as she failed to reach out and grasp the corner of the backward-facing seat so that she may hoist herself toward the cockpit entrance, instead losing her bearings and falling back face-first into the cabin door. As indescribable pain shot through her nose and forehead, another surge of panic surged through Jessie's body as she realised that she hadn't even been told where the helicopter's parachutes were located.
In desperation, she screamed. "Help! Somebody, help me! Brendan! Bella! Where the hell are you!" She cried, the fear in her voice hair-raising.
Jessie braced herself in the corner of the cabin, pushing one arm and one leg out against the metal wall, and the other arm and leg against the hard frame of the seat she had been sitting on. Then suddenly, she felt the helicopter scrape against some outside surface and Jessie was momentarily airborne before thumping back down upon the cabin floor. Again, the aircraft hit something. The impact flung Jessie once more across the inside of the cabin, and this time she felt pain course through her entire body. All around her she could hear the awful sound of metal scraping against metal, and could feel the helicopter hurtling out of control down some unknown surface. She looked up to see nothing out of the window opposite her but the glare of white, before the glass crunched outward before her very eyes.
Then abruptly something came straight down upon Jessie's head, and everything instantly went black.
OoooH! Cliffhanger! Haha… well, I told you there'd be a lot more action once I get more into this fic, and here's your first dosing of it! Hope you like!
As always, PLEASE review this chapter. I get quite distressed when I see that I have so many more hits for this story than I do reviews… why don't people just leave at least a little review for my troubles? It's really easy, honest!
On that note, thankyou to Tear, Eevee, DynaGurl, craZy18gurl, Stacey, Nikki-Vixen and Wolfkeeper989, all whom have so wonderfully reviewed this fic so far! Oh, and DynaGurl - I am guessing that you're from the USA? Anyway, wherever you live, 'sceptically' may be spelled with a 'k' there… but here in Australia we spell it with a 'c'! Trust me, my spelling-checker tells me so, and I even looked it up in the dictionary to make sure!
Well, till next time!
BansheeGirl.