Infinity and Beyond
-Chapter 39-
Falling Ash, Part Two
I'm laying on my bed. I feel a hand touching my curly dark brown hair. "Honey?" Mommy's voice sounds softly as I feel her arms wrap around me in a hug. "It's time to wake up, sweetie..."
"Mommy..." I whine sleepily as I try to lean closer to her. "Warm..."
"Come on, sweetie." Mommy laughs a little as I feel her sitting up, gently pulling me up with her. "Let's go downstairs, okay?" Mommy stands up, picking me up with her.
"Mommy, hug-hug..." I murmur as I'm still half-asleep. I lay my head on mommy's shoulder as she hugs me close to her.
I hear mommy's footsteps as she carries me downstairs. It smells yummy... "Birkhoff has pizza ready." Mommy tells me as she sits down with me on her lap.
I open my almond-shaped dark brown eyes sleepily to see a tasty veggie pizza on the table mommy's sitting in front of.
I forgot about being hungry until now... My stomach growls like an unhappy puppy. "Oh, sweetie..." Mommy laughs a little as she grabs a slice of pizza and touches my red lips with it. "Open up."
I open my mouth and takes a bite of the slice of pizza in mommy's hand. "Is it yummy?" Mommy smiles at me as I'm chewing. I nod silently as I lay my head on mommy's chest.
Just then, a pretty lady with red hair comes down the stairs. I don't know her... "Infinity, this is Alisha." Mommy tells me. "She's someone mommy and Michael are helping."
Alisha walks over to me and mommy and crouches down in front of me. "Hello." She smiles at me nicely.
"Hello." I murmur back before taking another bite of the pizza in mommy's hand.
"Your name's Infinity?" Alisha asks with a smile. "How old are you?"
"Four." I hold up four fingers.
"Oh, you're four years old." Alisha nods. "That's wonderful." Then, she stands back up and looks around with a frown on her face. "Where are the other two guys?"
"Michael and Owen are out right now." Mommy tells her as Birkhoff walks into the room.
"Pizza?" Birkhoff asks her.
"Actually, yeah." Alisha smiles widely as she grabs a slice of pizza. "I'm starving. Thanks." Then, she sits down at the empty chair beside mommy and I.
I tilt my head at mommy. "When's Michael coming back?" I ask.
"Soon, honey." Mommy smiles as she touches my curly dark brown hair before I take another bite of the pizza in her hand.
Alisha's silently chewing on her pizza as she looks sad. I tilt my head as something in my tummy feels as if I just ate a sour lemon...
"Listen, Alisha, we're going to fix everything, okay?" Mommy tells her nicely. "Everything will work out, okay?"
Alisha looks as if she's not sure about something as she nods silently...
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Mommy, Alisha, Birkhoff, and I are watching The Cat in The Hat. Mommy's cellphone rings. Mommy pulls it out and looks at it before looking up at Alisha. "It's them." Mommy smiles at her. "Maybe they got something."
"Michael?" Mommy frowns as she answers her cellphone.
'Hey, can you get Birkhoff to hack into Vory?' Computer mama tells me what Michael's saying. 'Phones, security cameras, the works...'
"Here, you can talk to him." Mommy says before giving the cellphone to Birkhoff. "It's for you." Mommy tells him.
Birkhoff frowns as he takes the cellphone from mommy's hand. "Hello?" Birkhoff says into the cellphone.
'Birkhoff, I need you to hack into Vory.'
"Give me two minutes." Birkhoff says before hanging up.
"What's going on?" Alisha asks nervously. I don't like it when grown-ups are nervous, it makes me nervous too...
"Birkhoff's got to save their asses." Mommy says as she sounds a little worried.
"Mommy, is something bad going to happen?" I bite down on my red lips nervously as something in my tummy feels as if birds with broken wings are trying to fly in it...
"Don't worry." Birkhoff looks at me as he sounds as if he really believes what he's saying. He glances at me and mommy before continuing. "I won't let Infinity's family fall apart like that..."
Those words makes me feel as if little birds are singing. It makes me want to smile...
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Mommy's standing with me in her arms. She, Birkhoff, and Alisha are all looking at Birkhoff's computer screens. His screens are showing a place with lots of white walls. "That's the hallway to Dr. Francis's office." Alisha says.
I can see from Birkhoff's computer screens, Michael and Owen are moving around in the place with lots of white walls, but there are other grown-ups moving around too. Everyone's holding handguns.
"Michael." I point and smile.
"He's going to be back very soon, sweetie." Mommy smiles at me.
"Okay, you're going to want to stay on the right." Birkhoff is wearing a little black thing that he sticks in his ear and has a little stick poking out that has a round end close to his mouth. 'Microphone: He's using it to communicate with Michael and Owen.'
"On second thought, maybe not." Birkhoff sighs. "Three more, dead ahead."
Then, Michael and Owen and the other grown-ups start shooting at each other. "Eek..." I squeak and quickly squeeze my eyes shut. Something in my tummy feels as if little bugs are crawling around...
"Mommy, I don't want bad things to happen to Michael." I whimper as I wrap my arms around mommy in a hug. "I want Michael to come back..." I feel something salty in my throat. I might start crying soon...
"Shh..." Mommy rubs my head softly as she hugs me close to her. "Michael's going to be back soon, okay?"
"I want everything on the regimen." I hear Owen say from the computer screens. "Every formula, everything..."
I tilt my head at mommy. "Mommy, what's Owen saying?" I ask.
"It's better if you don't know, sweetie." Mommy smiles and kisses my cheek softly. I bite down on my red lips silently. I don't know why it's better not to know something, but mommy won't lie to me...
"Here you go." I hear a man I don't know say from the computer screens before there's a weird sound coming from the computer screens.
"Turn it off!" Owen yells loudly from the computer screens. "Hey, turn it off!"
I don't know what's happening, but there's something in Owen's voice that scares me. "Mommy, what's happening..." I whimper nervously as I hug mommy tightly.
"Shh..." Mommy whispers in my ear. But mommy's eyes widen when Alisha hits Birkhoff in the face with a round, pretty, glass ball-like thing that has a weird, but pretty thing at the bottom. 'It's referred to as a snowglobe.'
"Mommy..." I squeak tearfully as something in my tummy feels as if a spiky ball is rolling around. I don't know why, but Alisha's turning scary...
Mommy quickly puts me down before stepping closer to Alisha. Mommy hits her really hard, making her fall to the floor not moving...
Then, mommy comes and picks me up again as I'm crying a little. "Mommy..." I whimper as she hugs me close to her.
Mommy quickly walks over to the computer screens. I quickly squeeze my eyes shut and whine when I see Michael and Owen fighting a lot of other grown-ups.
"Michael, Alisha just freaked out and attacked Birkhoff before I knocked her out." Mommy says. "I'm pretty sure she's headed for the St. Joseph's Hospital where the senator is in case there's anyone else who has been brainwashed."
"Roger that." Michael says.
"Be careful, both of you." Mommy says before she walks over to Birkhoff. Mommy shakes him. "Birkhoff? Birkhoff, wake up..."
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"... Johannesburg, Tokyo, and Rio." Mommy and I walk downstairs just in time to see Birkhoff talking to Owen. Mommy's holding my hand. I don't know what Birkhoff's saying. 'Place names.' Computer mama tells me.
"Is that where you are going next?" Mommy asks Owen. "Land of the Limbada and crystal waters, white sands? Sounds nice..."
Michael walks over to mommy and me. "Hey, pumpkin." Michael smiles at me as he picks me up.
"First things first." Owen says as he holds up a little rectangular thing that the grown-ups call a USB stick. "This is everything on the regimen. I pulled it off Mars's computer. It includes a way to chemically detox. It's uh... The answers I've been looking for."
"You know, it could take a while for all that to get out of your system..." Mommy says softly. "Maybe you could stay here..."
"Absolutely not." Birkhoff interrupts with a sigh. I pout silently. Is Birkhoff still not letting us stay?
"Yeah..." Owen sighs. "It's probably better if I get clean on the road. The longer I wait, the colder those guardian trails get, you know..."
"Good luck." Michael says as mommy takes me from his arms before he walks over to Owen to shake his hand.
"Yeah." Owen smiles a little as he and Michael are shaking hands. After that, Michael walks away.
Owen walks over to mommy and I as mommy's smiling at him. "Owen..." Mommy sighs. "If you ever need anything..."
"I'll be around, okay?" Owen smiles at her.
"Okay." Mommy nods quietly.
Then, Owen looks at me with a smile before looking back to mommy. "Besides, that should be my line." Owen says to mommy. "If you and Infinity ever need anything, let me know, okay?"
"Yeah." Mommy smiles a little before Owen walks away...
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After Owen leaves, mommy's still holding me in her arms as she's looking at Birkhoff's computer screens. I count one... Two... Three... There are three of them.
Birkhoff's screens looks as if they're doing weird things as they are beeping. "What is this?" Mommy asks.
"That is Shadowbot." Birkhoff sighs as he and Michael are standing beside each other. "Runs a 24-hour newsfeed against every piece of data on the black box. Any story correlates with any old Division mission, that bad boy pieces it together for us."
"Us?" Michael raises an eyebrow at him. "Does that mean you're not kicking us out now?"
"Really?" My almond-shaped dark brown eyes widen at Birkhoff as I clap my hands happily. "Yay!"
"Oh, honey..." Mommy laughs a little before kissing me on the lips. "You're so cute."
"Yeah, no kidding..." Birkhoff murmurs as he rolls his eyes before crossing his arms and walking away.
Then, Michael walks over to me and mommy. "You were right." Mommy sighs to him. "About P9 being back. You saved all those people."
"I couldn't have done it without you." Michael smiles at mommy before he pulls both me and mommy into a hug. Then he and mommy makes kissy faces at each other.
"Mommy and Michael kiss-kiss..." I giggle happily before mommy and Michael break from each other's kissy faces and smiles at me widely.
"Oh, come here, you..." Michael says happily as he takes me from mommy's arms. Then, he bents down and picks up the thing that computer mama called a snowglobe. "Now that Birkhoff's letting us stay, you wanna put this snowglobe in your room?"
"Okay." I nod happily. "I like it, it's pretty!" Then, I look at mommy. "Just like mommy!" I say with a happy smile. Both mommy and Michael laughs lightly.
I don't know why, but mommy's face looks as if it's growing a little red as she leans in and kisses my cheek. "Oh, sweetie..."
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Author's note (PLEASE READ!): hey guys, here's the next chapter! Please remember to review! Many thanks in advance!