Chapter 4
Caiden Tate opened his eyes to see a beautiful woman with long black hair, chocolate brown eyes and a playful, sly smile who was standing looking straight over him.
"Hello Amya." He said.
She looked down at him and he tried to sit up. Caiden groaned as pain shot through his entire body.
"Don't try and get up." Amya insisted and hurried to his side.
"How did you find me?" he asked her. "Why am I here?"
Well I saw you collapsed on the side of the road, not far from here, as I was just doing my morning jog and I thought it probably best not to leave you there." She explained. "Do you know how you got there?"
"Wait, morning jog?" Caiden asked.
"Yep, it was around 8 o'clock."
"The last thing I remember was being beaten up by half of the Bloody Murderers."
"Ah, well that would explain the severe bruising, broken bones and continuous lack of consciousness."
"Continuous?" Caiden asked worried.
"Yep, you've been out for, let's see I found you Thursday and it's now, Saturday."
"You found me on a Tuesday. The last thing I remember was on a Monday."
"Ah, so you've been out for a long time."
"Yeah, quite a while." Caiden agreed. "Where's Emerson, is he ok?"
"I'm good bro, Amya here fixed me up really great." Answered a voice from behind Amya and Emerson stepped up and grinned at his brother. "Apparently I had worse injuries than you but I still managed to wake up first, way to go bro."
Caiden rolled his eyes.
"Anyway, Amya, we need to ask you a favour…" Caiden started.
"It's good; I've already briefed her on the mission." Emerson interrupted.
"Oh, ok. Well are you in?" Caiden asked Amya.
"Yeah, sure. I have a history with Sickening so this should be fun." She confirmed.
"Great, well brother dear, who's the last member of our brilliant gang?" Emerson asked sarcastically.
"I'll tell you in the… oh."
"Oh what?" Emerson asked.
"The van." Caiden answered.
"Oh." Emerson said. "It's been slightly exploded, we could try a taxi?" he suggested.
"Have you seen where we are?" Caiden pointed out.
Emerson looked out the window. He could see a long stretch of countryside, fields and hills, nothing else.
"Ah, good point." Emerson agreed.
"I guess we could try walking, it would take a while but it's our only option…."
"Don't be stupid, I'll drive you in my car. I'm not that far from civilisation, you could just hire a car." Amya suggested.
"Oh, that would be great, if you wouldn't mind. As long as you don't have anything to do before you leave…" Caiden said relieved.
"No, I'll be fine, I just need to feed my cat before we go. They have these brilliant electric feeders which can store food, and then when it's food time, the food comes out so the cat can eat from it." Amya said, genuinely amazed.
"Ummmmm, great." Emerson offered and Amya sighed.
"Men." She grumbled and trudged off into the kitchen to set the feeder.
Half an hour later, all three of them sat in Amya's car, slowly trudging down country lanes. Caiden and Amya sat in the front while Emerson was sitting in the back, sulking like a child about how Caiden always got to go in the front.
"So then Amya, how have you been?" Caiden asked awkwardly.
"I've been great." She said happily smiling… well… radiantly.
"Good, good." Caiden said nodding; only adding to the awkwardness.
"Wow, you really are terrible at small talk." Emerson marvelled and Amya laughed. "So Amya, what's it like living all the way out here, isolated from the world in the country."
"It's not actually as bad as you might think..."
The conversation continued from there as Emerson and Amya chatted away as if they were life-long friends and Caiden just sat there looking dejected, being completely ignored. Caiden was annoyed at how well his brother and Amya were getting along; he knew he shouldn't be, but he was.
They arrived at a Car for Hire place about an hour later and Caiden and Emerson got out and entered the shop.
"Was Amya radiant enough for you then?" Caiden said bitterly and Emerson laughed.
"Come on bro, it's not like I'm taking your girl."
"Yeah, I know but…" Caiden trailed off. "Anyway, our next member is all the way back down to England."
Emerson looked annoyed. "What!?" he demanded. "Why didn't we go to him first?"
"Well, he wasn't in England when we started." Caiden answered.
"What, why? Does he travel a lot?" Emerson asked confused.
"Yeah, yes he does."
"Why, does he work in different countries or something?"
"Ah, well… he's a Jumper." Caiden said as if it explained everything.
"What, a woolly jumper that you wear over a shirt?" Emerson asked stupidly.
"What? No! Wow, you really are thick." Caiden chided.
"No." Emerson bit back. "I'm just… naïve, yes, I'm just a bit naïve." He decided.
"Yeah, sure." Caiden said unconvinced. "Anyway, a Jumper is basically a guy who can teleport, or 'jump' to places as long as he has already been there, or seen where he is going, it's a very rare magic. So basically all in all a pretty handy power."
"Yeah, sounds like he'll be helpful." Emerson agreed. "What's his name?"
"Ah yes, his name, well, I'm pretty sure there's an 'a' in it somewhere…"
"You don't even know his name?" Emerson asked.
"Well… no." Caiden admitted.
"Do you at least know where he's staying, how do you even know he's in England?"
"Well… no, but I know someone who might and I heard that he might have gone to England for a while..."
"Great, so you're basically saying that there's a possibility that he might be staying in England for the time being but you've got no idea where and so we're going to ask one of your friends who might know where he is." Emerson shouted.
"Well, kind of, but he isn't really one of my friends…"
"Great! How are you expecting to ask him then, 'Ummmmm hi dude, I know you're not my friend, I know you don't owe me anything but can you tell me where I can find someone who might or might not be in England? His name? Oh, I don't know that.' What do you think his answer is going to be when you ask him that?"
"He isn't a him…"
"Oh, another woman then."
"No, he's an it…."
"What do you mean?"
"It doesn't have a gender, the person we're going to see I mean."
"What is it then?"
"It's a terraform." Caiden answered and there was silence for a while.
"What's that?" Emerson prompted.
"Oh, it's cool; it can change its shape."
"Awesome!"
"I know right." Caiden agreed grinning.
"Shut up, we're getting off topic!" Emerson snapped. "Where is this terraform?"
"Oh, I know that, it owns a company in London."
"It owns a company?" Emerson asked confused.
"Uhuh, a company, or so I've heard."
Emerson didn't say anymore after that, until he asked.
"When you say it can shape shift, do you mean into anything?" Emerson asked his brother.
"Ah, well, basically a terraform can transform into any living being as long as it has seen it, it doesn't matter if it's only seen a photo of it, it can transform into whatever living thing it sees. With humans, it can transform to look like people that it has seen, clothes and all. Terraforms store their 'forms' in their brains and they can take out any memory of something and transform into it. So let's say that a terraform met an elephant seven years ago, that memory, or 'form' is being stored in its brain and it can use it any time it wants."
"Wow, does that mean it could turn into me, there could be more than one me?"
"Really, that's the question you ask me?" Caiden asked disbelievingly.
"Uhuh." Emerson confirmed.
Caiden sighed. "Yeah, if it wanted it could make itself look and sound like you, not that any terraform would ever want to commit such a crime."
Emerson's face suddenly turned serious. "If it turned into one of us, a magician I mean, could it use our magic?"
"No." Caiden confirmed. "It could do all the simple things like look like us, sound like us, but it wouldn't be able to use our magic."
"Phew. I was gonna say, that would make them the most powerful magicians that there ever were."
"However, Terraforms themselves do have their own type of magic, apart from shape-shifting, they can do other things."
"Like what?" Emerson said a little worried.
"Oh, well they are special creatures and I heard that some of them are resistant to fire. In their actual form, they can walk up walls I believe."
"What is their normal shape like?"
"They're spiderlike creatures, with four long spindly legs, if I'm correct they're normally quite tall."
"How about the one we're going to see? What's he like? What's his name?"
"Oh yeah, his name is Navaryous Rysk."
"Did I just hear you right?"
"Well, if you heard me say Navaryous Rysk then yes."
"Wow…" Emerson said. "I'm not really sure what to say to that… What can you say to that?"
Caiden thought for a moment and then said. "I don't actually know." He paused again. "Now I think of it, it is quite an odd name…"
"Yeah, that's what I thought." Emerson agreed.
"Although it does kind of suit him." Caiden suggested.
"That's what I'm worried about." Emerson muttered.
They arrived in London four hours later in a small VW Golf that they had hired and that's when they realised how big the city was. After a while of driving down what looked like the same three streets, Emerson asked. "You said it lives in London, do you know where exactly?"
"Well, I'm sure it's on one of these streets…"
"In other words you have no idea." Emerson guessed.
"Well… not really, no. But I'm pretty sure I know around where it lives."
After another 40 minutes of pointless driving Emerson got fed up. "You really don't know where to go do you?"
"I do, we're just not there yet." Caiden exclaimed.
"Of course." Emerson said sarcastically.
"No, honestly, it's just round this corner." Caiden said jokingly as they reached the end of a street and turned left. Straight in front of them was a huge glass building with large blue letters which spelt, Rysk Industries.
"Well what do ya know?" Emerson muttered and Caiden laughed.
They got out of the car and headed towards the building. At the front of the building there were rotating doors which the brothers walked through and they appeared to be in a huge lobby. There were what looked like reception desks straight in front of them and on either side were two large staircases.
Caiden led the way straight towards a desk where a young woman of about possibly 35 or so was sitting. She had an obviously fake grin on her face and greeted them saying.
"Hello and welcome to Rysk Industries, how can I help?"
"We're here to see Mr Rysk." Caiden said confidently.
"Is he expecting you?" The receptionist asked.
"Probably not, but good old Rysky loves surprises."
"I'm sorry, but if you don't have an appointment then I cannot allow you entry."
"Ok, thanks for your help." Caiden said cheerfully and walked off towards the right hand staircase. "I assume his office is upstairs somewhere?" Caiden guessed.
"Excuse me, you aren't allowed up there, I am not authorised to show you where Mr Rysk's office is and you are not allowed to go anywhere without authorisation." The receptionist snapped.
"It's ok, I'm sure I can find it by myself." Caiden assured her completely ignoring her last comment and he continued up the stairs with Emerson right behind.
"Security!" The receptionist shouted.
"Oh, great." Caiden muttered as five large, muscular men wearing black suits came running towards them.
"We could easily take them." Emerson said.
"Yeah, but we don't wanna cause any trouble, just continue walking, if they apprehend us, they'll most likely bring us to Rysk anyway."
Emerson nodded and they both continued climbing the stairs. The guards had just started up the stairs after them but Caiden and Emerson just continued as if nothing was happening.
"Stop!" One of the security guards shouted and Caiden turned around with a surprised look on his face.
"Me?" he asked. "What have I done sir?"
"You aren't allowed up here so I am going to ask you both to come with us. If you fail to do this then we will be made to use force." The guard answered as he pulled out a Taser.
"Ok, thanks for the heads up." Caiden replied happily and he continued up the stairs.
"Sir, stop." The guards shouted and aimed his Taser, Caiden acted as if he hadn't heard, Emerson doing the same. The Taser fired and it lodged itself in Emerson's thigh. He just kept walking as if nothing was happening. Another guard fired at Caiden and he too acted as if nothing had happened. The guards looked at each other, baffled and so one pulled out a stun gun and climbed the stairs quickly to catch up with the brothers.
The guard turned the stun gun on and pressed it forward, towards Caiden, zapping him. His body jerked and his hand shot out and grabbed the stun gun. The guard expected violence and so backed away but Caiden just held out the stun gun and gave it back to him. Both he and his brother yanked out the barbs from the Taser and Caiden looked at the guards and said. "You could have just asked nicely."
Caiden and Emerson both sat in a private interrogation room that was on the top floor of the building and that no-one would have stumbled across unless they would have been looking for it.
"When's Rysk gonna come then?" Emerson asked his brother.
"Well, we've been here for about two hours now so… it probably would've only taken 15 minutes or so to report back to Rysk about us. He would have spent a further half an hour wondering why we were here and then he would've probably waited another hour or so, just to show to us that he is in charge."
"But it doesn't show that he's in charge, it just shows that he's late." Emerson protested.
Caiden smiled. "Yeah, it does, doesn't it?"
They sat in silence for a few minutes until they heard footsteps and the door was opened to reveal two security guards, both holding compact assault rifles. Behind them was Navaryous Rysk. It walked, or rather skittered in after them. It was just like Caiden had described, very tall with four long spindly legs, spiderlike was the perfect word for it.
"Caiden Tate." It said its voice was low and raspy.
"Navaryous Rysk." Caiden replied.
"Why are you here?" Rysk asked bluntly.
"Straight to the point I see, that's what I like about you Navaryous, no nonsense. You haven't changed a bit since I last saw you."
Navaryous didn't even acknowledge his comment he just repeated his question. "Why are you here?"
This time Caiden answered his question. "I just came to ask you a simple favour, that's all."
"You're asking me for a favour? After last time?" Rysk asked his raspy voice straining.
Caiden grimaced, apparently last time wasn't a fond memory. "Last time wasn't really my fault." Caiden tried.
"Am I missing something? I feel like I'm missing something." Emerson said, he had been silent for so long that Caiden had almost forgotten that he was there. This seemed to be the first time Navaryous had actually noticed Emerson.
"I assume this is your infamous little brother."
"Um, yeah. Navaryous, this is Emerson."
"Hi there." Emerson said cheerfully and he turned to his brother. "What exactly are you talking about, what happened last time?"
"Oh yes, last time." Caiden started awkwardly. "Well, you know I said me and Navaryous aren't really friends, well we used to be, well not really friends, but comrades, or partners. Anyway, we used to do missions together, mercenary work, that kind of thing. Well, there was this one thing, we were being paid to do something that was kind of… against the law. You see our job was to steal something for someone, not a hard job just getting in, stealing the heavily guarded object and leaving. Back then, we'd done quite a few jobs like that, we were kind of notorious and so the authorities were always on high alert for us. It became apparent that this time, the authorities had been tipped off about our 'job' so we made it in, but when we were 'leaving', there seemed to be a large number of people waiting for us."
"What happened next?" Emerson asked as Navaryous' face got more and more annoyed.
"Well, I'd love to say there was a huge battle and we won, but, well…"
"Well?" Emerson prompted.
"I kind of ran away and left Navaryous there to get arrested. It was put in prison for multiple crimes and it only got out, what was it, about a year ago. You wouldn't be surprised that that was when I stopped doing illegal mercenary work."
"Ah, so I guess there isn't a chance at all that you're going to agree to help us is there?" Emerson said in despair, directing it at Navaryous. "Way to go bro."
"It depends on what you want." Navaryous answered much to their surprise.
"What?" Caiden asked amazed. "Seriously, you might help us?"
"Don't get your hopes up, but it is a possibility."
"Wow, I really did not expect the conversation to go like this at all." Emerson said disbelievingly.
"Not helping." Caiden muttered.
"Yeah but it's true."
Caiden was going to reply but he was interrupted by Navaryous' raspy voice. "If you'll stop arguing, I'll tell you why I might give you the information you want."
"Ok." Caiden agreed. "Wait how do you know that its information we want?"
"I have my sources." It answered mysteriously.
"You mean you heard us when we were talking earlier?" Caiden guessed.
"Yes." It answered bluntly.
"Oh, so I assume you know what information."
"I do." Navaryous replied and Caiden waited for it to say more, but it stayed silent.
"Do you know where the jumper is staying?" Caiden prompted.
"I do."
"Are you gonna tell us where?" Emerson asked.
Navaryous thought for a while and there was silence.
"I have a preposition." It said finally.
"You do?" Caiden asked suddenly hopeful.
"I need you to do something for me…"
A/N: So there was Amya, where'd she go? Also, there's Rysk, interesting character he is. What does he want our daring heroes to do though? You'll meet yet another person in the next chapter, he's awesome, not someone who you'd expect though. Please (and I mean please) review, whatever opinion you have, write it down, and in fact, if you want, read more. More chapters up, more coming, thanks… well done for getting this far.
Mangobean.
