Because I'm thoroughly enjoying writing this story, here's another chapter! Enjoy, lovelies :-)

Only Shadows Ahead

Chapter Four

"Are we there yet?"

Ma-Ti rolled his eyes and addressed the driver. "Ignore him. Wheeler hasn't had his morning caffeine hit."

"Damn straight," Wheeler muttered, slinging his arm across the back of the seat and sinking down against the vinyl. It was eleven AM but the sun remained low: the snow and cloud cover giving the appearance of it being much later.

The SUV bumped and rattled along the road at a cautious rate. The road was icy and visibility was limited. Plus the journey was an uncomfortable one for the passengers. Gi's small frame was lurching around violently in her seat and at one stage she clung to Wheeler's arm in an effort to steady herself.

Ma-Ti sat in the front passenger seat, tuning out the chatter from his two team mates behind him. He propped his elbow against the window pane, gazing out at the blurry white scenery. Movement caught his eye and he froze as it came into focus; the hair on the back of his neck standing on end.

"Stop here," Ma-Ti said harshly and the driver turned to him, frowning. A question formed on the trooper's lips but he slowed the vehicle down nonetheless. The Heart Planeteer rubbed his ring with the pad of his thumb, glancing back towards an embankment they'd just passed. "Stop. Wait here a moment, guys. I'll be right back."

"You sure that's a good idea?" Wheeler looked worried but Ma-Ti shook his head.

"It's all right, my friend. I'll be right back," he reassured the American as he unbuckled the seatbelt.

The SUV ground to a halt and Ma-Ti jumped out of the car, pulling his anorak tightly around his neck. A blast of icy air assaulted him and he gasped, shocked at the sensation of a thousand tiny needles pricking his skin at once.

Waving to the second vehicle that pulled up behind his own, he jogged over and gave a few brief words to Kwame and Linka who were peering out the windows. Ma-Ti turned and hurried up the embankment, hauling himself up and over. He disappeared from his team-mates view, treading through the thick snow towards a copse of trees just below him.

He stumbled several times but recovered himself, eyes scanning the area and finding nothing but skeletal tree limbs; twisted and reaching for sunlight that would never come.

"Heart."

Ma-Ti's breath caught as he spotted it again. A large shadow appeared, ducking behind a large mound some fifty feet from where he was standing. He continued on, his chest thumping as he waded through thigh-deep snow until his foot made contact with something large and bulky.

Dropping to his knees, Ma-Ti scooped up handfuls of snow and pushed them out of the way. Red fabric became visible and he doubled his efforts until the remains of a waterproof coat were revealed.

Pushing the coat aside, he was unprepared for the frozen face hiding beneath it. Eyes open, staring towards the heavens and a discoloured purple mouth open in an eternal silent scream.

"Argh!"

Ma-Ti jumped to his feet, stumbling away and crashing into another body he wasn't expecting. He gasped as Kwame's hand steadied itself on his back. Ma-Ti leaned forward, catching his breath as he recovered from the shock.

Wheeler was a few steps behind Kwame and approached cautiously. He dropped to his knees and inspected the mound, a look of grim determination on his face.

"Jesus," he muttered. He leaned forward and carefully repositioned several frozen limbs in order to ascertain more information.

"How many?" asked Kwame.

"Maybe five or six," Wheeler replied, digging around and finding a lanyard around one of the victim's necks. He gently removed it and sat back in the snow, reading the ID tag attached to it. "Rachel Manitoff. EPA."

"How did you know they were here, Ma-Ti?" Kwame asked softly, watching as his team mate straightened and stepped away, composing his thoughts.

"She was standing over there," he said, pointing to the highest point of the embankment. "Clear as day. She was waving to me."

Wheeler stared at Ma-Ti, his mouth hanging open in horror. His own power, much like the others was always constant. He pointed his ring and a shit-tonne of fire spat out. That was it.

But Ma-Ti's power had consistently grown and evolved over time. It seemed to have a mind of its own, developing and fostering abilities that even Ma-Ti would prefer not to experience.

Wheeler looked down at the mound of bodies again, swallowing nervously. He wiped away a layer of ice and found a puckered entry wound on the temple of a young man no older than himself.

"Bullet wound," he called out and Kwame's face hardened for a moment. "Bastards' shot 'em."

"She had three children," Ma-Ti gasped, his voice breaking and barely audible over the wind. "Two girls and a boy."

Shoulders slumped and looking sick, the Heart Planeteer turned and trudged back towards the vehicles.

Kwame watched him go, pushing his hands deep within his pockets. He felt Wheeler's presence beside him and glanced down, seeing Rachel Manitoff's lanyard still wrapped around the American's fingers.

"So they're freakin' shooting people now?"

"Apparently so." Kwame motioned towards the cars and together they made their way back towards the vehicles. "It was only a matter of time."

"God-damn animals."

Together they reached the ridge and slid down the embankment. Wheeler could see Linka peering out the window with a worried expression on her face. "What is it?" she asked as Kwame opened the car door and sat down heavily beside her.

Wheeler looked away, hopping quickly back into the warmth of his own SUV with a heavy sigh. Gi straightened in her seat and peered at the plastic ID card currently clutched within his fingers.

"What did you find?" she asked. Wheeler leaned forward and handed the lanyard to Trooper Cronin.

"The missin' investigation team," he muttered, settling back in his seat while the Trooper got straight on the radio, notifying headquarters of the discovery. "Might wanna' call for back-up. Whoever's behind this... they're armed."

"Doctor Blight?"

The Doctor groaned, rolling over violently and wrapping a plush pillow over her head. A pink satin eye-mask sat crooked across the bridge of her nose and she resettled herself on her back, readjusting the satin across her eyelids again.

"Excuse me, Doctor Blight."

"Whadisit?"

"Doctor, I… I have discovered… an anomaly."

Blight sat up, rubbing her face and tossing the eye mask aside. She glared at the monitor, or more specifically, the face peering down at her. "Define anomaly."

"Some interesting data… on the camera feed. You really need to come and take a look."

"Can't you just tell me?"

"I think we made contact… with the other side."

Blight's jaw dropped open. She pushed her hair out of her face and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, sober and awake now. "What do you mean, contact? The bridge didn't hold."

She strode out of her bedroom and hurried through the compound. It took 40 seconds to reach the lab and she pushed open the doors. They slammed against the wall but Blight barely noticed. Perching herself on a cushioned lab stool, she took manual control of the system and accessed the feed.

"Where is it?" she said, breathless with anticipation. "What did you find?"

The feed flashed several frames per second, and Blight watched the beam of light flash downwards, illuminating the reflective surface below. The images slowed and MAL dragged three frames to the front of the screen.

Doctor Blight squinted, confused by what she was seeing. "What is that?"

"Three frames, Doctor. Small, but enough to know that there was something on the other side."

The frames were cropped and the pixels digitally enhanced. Blight sat back, stunned as she watched the image take shape before her eyes.

"What is that?" she asked, reaching across and touching the glass in wonder. "Looks like a room."

"My thoughts too. And look…" MAL enhanced the top right corner of the frame. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Big, ugly-ass mirror." Blight opened her mouth and closed it again. She was quite honestly gobsmacked and peered closer until her nose was practically touching the image. "Is that writing?"

"Yes." MAL exclaimed gleefully. "If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say it's pink lipstick! I think your future self is trying to comm…"

"No shit, Sherlock," she muttered, clicking further to enhance the message scrawled on the mirror. Blight scanned the writing, chewing on the end of her thumb. "It's in reverse. Can you…"

"Already deciphering."

Blight sat quietly, considering the implications of this new information. The frames disappeared, and her attention turned to a command screen that blinked to life, spitting out random numbers, symbols and words.

Eyes wide with wonder, Blight massaged her temples as she scanned the command screen.

"Okay. We have two more equations to add to your programming, MAL."

"Your future self is ever so helpful, Doctor."

"Hmph." Leaning forward, she recorded the equations into her notebook. "That's longitude and latitude coordinates. A date too," she remarked, pointing at the centre of the command screen.

"The last request will be rather problematic," MAL casually mentioned, noticing Blight's raised eyebrows as she reached the final sentence. "Any ideas?"

"Might need to bring in some help with that one," she mused, lost in thought. Swivelling on her chair, Blight stepped away from her stool and wandered back to her room, intent on making a few phone calls.

She was definitely going to need some muscle.

MAL busily saved and backed-up the files, storing them in folders before shutting down the monitors. The command system stayed on, however… it's decoded message glowing as brightly as it had when the Doctor had first reviewed it. The final sentence was visible for several more moments…

Bring the blonde AND her ring.

Then it too faded into darkness.