Don't forget that chapters are getting published two at a time lately. Chapter 9 is also a new addition to this story.
Chapter 10
Grace drew out a small cord like a bracelet with circular wooden tokens hanging from it as the ducks gathered closer.
"I keep this as a reminder. In answer in to your question, I've known of five others with levels of power not permitted by the Agency. Two of them I knew well, and I considered them friends. The other three, I just knew of them. I can't really vouch for their actions or motives."
She held out the bracelet, and they saw that there were five of the tokens on it, each marked with a name.
"I don't know if there are any more left besides me. I highly doubt it."
"And these five?" Wildwing asked as he sat down near her. "You said 'knew'. Are they…?"
"Dead? Yes, they were all executed in the lower levels of the Agency," she answered. "The two that were my friends. I could hear their pleas and last thoughts …even see what they saw …right up to the moment they were killed. That is how I know what my fate would be if I was revealed."
"You were able to see it?" Nosedive asked with surprise and sympathy.
Grace held the bracelet and tenderly fingered the tokens.
"They were calling out to me…warning me. I heard them, and our minds were connected in their last minutes. It was the worst thing I've ever experienced."
The ducks sat or stood in silence around her.
"I know you are thinking about the pictures the agent showed you. As I said, I cannot vouch for the other three humans with great power. I suspect that they grew resentful, fearful, and angry at not being accepted in your world. Or perhaps they just didn't learn how to control their powers. It's no excuse for any destruction they caused, but you have to understand that your world is not a kind place for those of us who are fugitives. And our own kind shun and betray us."
"How did you learn about their existence?" Mallory asked. "You said you weren't friends."
"I never really had the chance to meet them," Grace said. "I learned about them only after they had exposed themselves with some destructive display of power. They had already been seized by the Agency. I might catch names and descriptions from those who knew them before their arrest, but that was it."
"Did the ones who were your friends try to help those from our world as you have done?" Tanya asked.
"They wanted to," Grace said with a smile. "We made plans, Alex, Jane, and me. But we hadn't learned how to be careful yet. We split up and were looking for places that needed our help. Jane made the mistake of talking with registered humans. They betrayed her. And Alex tried to stand up to some others who were stealing power. Alex was involved in some collateral damage, as I found out later, but only because a defender tried to attack him. But Alex didn't kill anyone. We're not the monsters the Agency believes we are."
Wildwing held out his hand for the bracelet, and Grace handed it to him.
"We won't forget what you've done here," he assured her. "And we can see that those other humans are the ones that have to be stopped."
He handed the bracelet back to her, and Grace nodded.
"I don't want to die," she admitted. "But apart from my own fears about death, if I am the last, then without me, there's little protection from the greed of the other outsiders. I don't want them to be able to keep selling their lies."
"You may not want to talk about it, but I'm not sure I understand how they were able to kill your friends if they were so powerful," Tanya said.
"The Agency has weapons that can weaken us," Grace explained. "Alex and Jane must have been using all of their remaining power to contact me and warn me when our minds were connected. But I could feel how trapped they felt. Despite their power, they couldn't escape. I was just fortunate that the investigator did not use such a weapon today in the Pond. Of course, he would have had to know where I was to use it against me."
"Has your power increased over the years you have been here?" Wildwing asked.
"A little, I think," Grace admitted. "It's not always easy to tell since I try not to use my power unless I need to. But Alex and Jane couldn't do the things I can now."
She grew quiet and despondent again.
"I sometimes think that I should have tried to save them. I don't know how I would have done it, but I should have tried. But their last efforts were spent telling me to hide …urging me to run, and so I did."
"The Agency would have learned of your existence if you had tried to help your friends," Mallory said. "They would have never stopped hunting you."
"It might have been worth it if I could have saved even one of them. I often thought about that while I was hiding for several months. But I couldn't remain in such a lonely existence for long. When I came out, I decided to pass myself off a human without powers. But then when I saw how the others were still taking cruel advantages of your world, I had to do something. So I was careful. And despite how dangerous it seems, I found that I was actually safest living and working right under their noses at OtherEarth, Inc. As a janitor, everyone just ignored me."
"It allowed you to help us," Wildwing said.
"Yes, but now that they can't draw energy from Anaheim any more, they will focus more on stealing from other places."
"Other cities will become as bad as Anaheim was," Duke said.
"Do you know where these other places are?" Tanya asked.
"No, not at the moment. I might be able to try to find out."
"Don't try it yet," Wildwing said as he stood up. "That investigator may still be in town for a day or so. We need to make sure he leaves and the Agency drops this matter before you use your power again."
"We sent you to Anaheim with credible information, and you didn't find anyone?" Chase Farrow said coldly as he stood before Mulligan.
Mulligan sat back in his chair in his small office at the Off-World Agency base in New Haven.
"You sent me there with hints, conjectures… I had no proof."
"The proof was yours to gather," Chase insisted. "How could you fail to find this threat?"
"I'm not sure there is a threat to find. My monitoring device did not read any positive signs of such power. And the ducks, who strive to protect Anaheim, seemed utterly unaware of any danger."
"They were hostile to us while we were there. I'm telling you that they are hiding someone."
"Perhaps they just don't like you," he said, staring up at Chase's face.
Chase glared back at him, but Mulligan appeared unfazed.
"I went to Anaheim as a favor to you as our president seems to honor your work, but I've done my job, and now I have other paperwork to get back to."
"What about those lizards …the villains that attacked us?" Chase asked. "Is nothing going to be done to them? Are they not going to be investigated?"
Mulligan shuffled some papers on his desk.
"You're not from this world, so you don't understand the delicate nature of the co-existence between heroes, civilians, and villains in our world. There is a certain balance that has to be preserved. Villains steal things and attack others all of the time. It's up to the heroes to establish justice. It is not the job of this agency to deal with them unless we know for a fact that they possess an unregistered outsider."
"Very likely they do if you didn't find this rebel with the ducks."
"Then the ducks would have shared their concerns with me," Mulligan said confidently. "Why would they want the Saurians to possess someone with so much destructive power? For that matter, why would the Saurians want someone who could easily destroy their ship and possibly be a threat to their lives? I don't understand why you are insisting that this dangerous individual is being hidden and protected. Of what possible benefit or use could such a threat serve?"
Chase closed his lips. His mouth formed a tight line, and his face was slightly red with anger. That dome was still functioning over Anaheim. Whoever was fighting on the other end of this battle for the city was winning.
He needed proof to stir the Agency to action again, but he couldn't tell them about the dome without revealing its purpose. He couldn't let these fools at the Agency learn the truth about how he got his power.
"I can see that we will have to rely on our own resources to flush out this threat," Chase said as he turned to leave. "And when we find the dangerous outsider, I will be certain to let your boss know that we had to do your job for you."
Mulligan only looked away with a frown as Chase walked out of the office.
Chase left the Agency and drove back across town to OtherEarth, Inc. When he reached the conference room on the fifth floor, he was met by the sight of several of his colleagues waiting for news. Vivian and Golott, the defender, approached him first.
"Well?" Vivan asked.
"That fool didn't look hard enough," Chase announced, shaking his head.
"But if he scanned the area, he should have…"
"Yes, but somehow the scan failed. Their agent doesn't believe there is anyone with unregistered power in Anaheim."
"How could the scan not detect all that is happening there?" Vivian said angrily.
Chase shrugged his shoulders with a frustrated expression.
"But that dome's still stopping us from drawing energy from Anaheim," Golott protested. "What are we supposed to do?"
"We'll have to rely upon our other locations until we are able to learn more about our rival," Chase said.
"What if they start to notice a difference?" Vivian asked.
"Yeah, the good thing about Anaheim was we thought no one cared," Golott said.
"Well, as long as they can't prove anything, we can still get away with whatever we want," Chase said confidently. "And we'll heal anyone who can pay."
"And for those who can't, they'll pay a different kind of price," Vivian said with a smug expression.
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When I post new chapters, I'll be addressing one of these other locations, so the ducks will still be an important part of the story, but don't be surprised if things change a bit. Upcoming crossover chapters!
