Iridescent: Chapter Twenty-Eight

Iridescent

Chapter Twenty-Eight

~Set~

After the Fall

It was just before dawn as Vicky ran through the resort. She carried a metallic box. She ran down some stairs to the main lobby of the resort. Vicky ran up to Fang with the box. She waited patiently as Fang finished talking with Jekyll. Fang took notice of her and motioned her over.

Vicky looked at the box, “You said that I should hand out two to every person that wants one. Puppetmaster didn’t want any and Miwa can’t use any. So supposedly there should be four vials in here but there are only three.”

Fang shrugged, “So someone snuck a third vial. It isn’t that big of a deal. Probably someone being a little over cautious or ambitious.”

“Oh,” Vicky looked down at the box, “I guess that makes sense.”

“There is movement on the eastern horizon!” someone reported.

Jekyll sighed, “They’re up bright an early.”

Fang started walking to the front of the building, “The sooner we can get this over with.”

Vicky looked down and the box and shrugged. She ran back upstairs and returned the box to its location. Fang was right. Someone could have just grabbed another one when she wasn’t looking. It wasn’t that big of a deal, right?

Outside Tempi stood at the edge of the desert. The rectangular box like shape she usually carried with her was stuck half way into the sand. She rested an elbow on the box. The sun rose hiding the enemy in its shining glow. Tempi reached into her pocket for a vial. She injected the Blue Gold into her arm and threw the empty vial in the sand. Tempi took off the brown covering on her package revealing the collapsed version of an enormous fan.

As the several different vehicles approached, Tempi took the fan and brought it back with an amazing strength. The fan opened it revealing a scorpion pattern on a white background. She yelled against the strain as swung the giant fan around. An enormous gust of wind picked up blowing sand up like a giant wave. Tempi brought the fan around again creating another wave.

Dante looked on through the windshield of the car. He held Ai in her seat with one arm, “Hold on!”

The first wave hit them. They could feel the impact of the strong gust of wind. Dante did his best to control the car they were in. The speed they had been going dropped drastically against the opposing wind. On top of that, the sand reduced visibility so it was unsure of how much farther they had to drive.

“Keep going straight,” Ai said. “Break, the second wave is coming.”

Sure enough the second wave hit them, pushing their progress back and blinding them some more. Dante hit the roof of his truck.

“Hey!” he yelled, “You care to help anytime soon, Sanya!?”

Sanya was outside in the back behind her sniper. She propped it up onto the cabin of the truck. As usual she had a smile on her face.

“Dead ahead,” Ai said.

“Aye!” she fired the sniper rifle.

Tempi brought the fan down into the sand, open end first, creating a wave in the sand itself. She used the fan as a shield as Sanya fired at her.

The wave of sand struck the three vehicles. Dante hit it like a speed bump. Sanya grabbed on to the side of the truck bed. She hit the metal bed hard when the truck landed again. She also cringed when she heard the truck being riddled with bullets.

Miwa stood a balcony firing a barrage of bullets at the coming threat. Yin covered her face as bullets struck the windshield of her car. As more and more struck the windshield she swore and opened the driver’s side door. The window broke as Yin baled. She rolled in the sand as the car swerved out of control without a driver. Yin covered her eyes in the brief sandstorm until she could see. The ground started to rumble below the sand. Yin jumped to her feet and looked around.

“You have got to be kidding me,” she whispered to herself.

Puppetmaster sat casually on top of a high ledge of the resort. He had his hand folded underneath his chin as he watched the scene below unfold. An amused smile crossed his face. He snapped his fingers casually then waited to see what would happen.

Shuppet broke through the sand in his monstrous form. Yin took a few uneasy steps before falling. She watched the monster sail over her and disappeared again into the sand.

Zathura looked in her rear view mirror, “What the—! Did you see that!?”

Ren smiled, “Cool. They’ve got themselves a sand kraken.”

Zathura glared at him, “And who’s side do you think you’re on!?”

Ren shrugged, “I’m just saying.”

Shuppet appeared again, throwing the swerving empty car that Yin had been in earlier. A bladed leg landed just in front of Zathura’s car. She swerved, only the left side mirror was torn off the vehicle. The car that was thrown headed for the resort. Zara looked up at the balcony where Miwa was stationed.

“Miwa! Shoot it down!” Zara shouted.

Miwa’s attention turned to the flying car. All of his weaponry focused on to the car. Seconds seemed to go by slowly. After a stream of bullets aimed at the car, it exploded blowing several people to the ground. Zara’s ears rang as she lay on the ground.

Shuppet burrowed into the sand again. The ground shifted as he traveled under the sands. Zathura and Dante looked around their vehicles.

“Where is it!?” Zathura asked Ren.

Ren looked around as well, “I don’t know!”

“Ragh!” Zathura groaned, “Here! Take the wheel!” Zathura let go of the steering wheel and opened the driver side window.

“What!?” Ren dove for the wheel, “What are you doing!?”

Zathura didn’t answer. She pulled herself onto the cars roof through the driver’s side window. Ren moved over into the driver’s seat. Zathura untied her two handed axe from the roof of the car and slid down to the hood. The ground shook and the sand started shifting. Shuppet emerged from the ground underneath the car, throwing it into the air. Zathura jumped off the hood, axe in hand, and into the air. She landed on the concrete and slammed her axe onto the ground. Shadow creatures leaped up from the point of impact as the car burst into flames behind her. Flying metal parts flew by her. Shuppet dove into the sand again.

Dante swerved the truck. He looked down at Ai. She looked calm for all that was going on but he could see that she was nervous.

Shuppet shot out of the sand. Sanya turned with her gun and shot at him. Shuppet used one of its bladed legs to defend itself before knocking the truck onto its side. The truck barrel rolled, throwing Sanya off. The truck came to a stop against a low wall.

Zathura noticed something in the corner of her eye. She moved suddenly, dodging and arrow. Zathura picked up her axe and spun, creating momentum. The axe cut a black scar in the air sending shadow shards at her attacker. Naru jumped out of the way and hid behind a block of the concrete. A shadow shard truck the block knocking a chunk off.

Shadow ran past Naru’s hiding spot. He out three daggers and threw them at Zathura. She ducked and dodged as Shadow ran at her. Zathura avoided the daggers and as Shadow ran at her she bent backwards avoiding a knife in his hand. She gripped her axe and swung it around. Shadow disappeared into the ground as the axe sailed at him.

Naru darted out of hiding. Zathura saw him and used her axe in an overhead attack. Naru avoided the attack by stepping to one side. When the axe struck the ground Naru brushed the handle. Ice coated the ice fusing the head of the axe to the ground. Zathura let go of her weapon and stepped back. Shadow jumped out of the ground and slashed at her back. Zathura screamed at the pain but then she gripped her axe and swung it around, breaking the ice that held it before.

Yin ran out of the sea of sand. She watched briefly as Naru was struck with the hammer end of Zathura. Yin turned suddenly. Chou jumped in from a large statue. Yin stepped to one side, Chou’s bladed fans whizzed by her face. She spun around, her fans catching the sunlight as she did. Vines shot up from the ground behind her. They arced up and curved down at Yin.

Yin grabbed her glaive and cut at one of the vines. She jumped to one side and slashed at another one. Yin darted forward, zigzagging through the vines and slashing any that she could. She felt something cut her cheek and her wrist. Yin caught a glimpse of the nearly invisible string. The vines were more for setting up the web of strings than really attacking her. She looked around quickly for the string user.

Kumo hid behind a thick vine. Yin raised her glaive to attack with it but it got tangled in the strings above her. She abandoned her weapon and threw out her hand.  Kumo was lifted off the ground and with a push of Yin’s hand Kumo was pushed back in midair and crashed into a column. To come to her brother’s aid, Chou’s fans glistened as she spun raising more vines. Yin’s weapon was released from its bind. Yin caught it and slashed as a vine. She raised her hand raising Chou into the air and threw her out into the desert.

Sanya dusted herself off. Chou crashed into the sand nearby. A shard of rock shot up from the ground, narrowly missing Sanya as she stepped back. She jumped to one side dodging a chain that was thrown in her direction. The sand exploded in a purplish glow. Deontay shot out his hand. A block of earth rose underneath Sanya’s feet. Caught off guard, Sanya swayed unsteadily. Hina threw a chain around Sanya. She pulled in the chain pulling the girl through the air and sending her crashing in to the sand.

Hina started to run up to her when suddenly the chains on her arms felt heavy. She fell to her knees. No matter what she did she couldn’t get up from her knees to stand. It felt like gravity itself was against her. She turned to see Deontay struggling too. Sanya rose from the sand, dusting off her gun. She aimed it at Hina, who was the closest. Hina strained against the downward pull, trying to move or do anything to save herself but there wasn’t anything she could do.

“See ya!” Sanya said just before she pulled the trigger.

Just before she did, a vine shot up from the ground behind her. It swung down at her, knocking her to one side. The gravitational force that held Hina and Deontay down was lifted. Hina looked around for who might have rescued them. Chou stood up from the sand. She smiled and waved at Hina before turning back to help her brother. Hina smiled back then looked at Deontay.

“We got this!” she said.

Deontay nodded, “If we don’t let her do that gravity bind thing again.”

The Turn: Chapter Twenty-Eight

The Turn

Chapter Twenty-Eight

~Someone’s Out There Watching~

Two Years Before The Turn

Chaud stood outside of the hotel where Fang and the others were staying. He smiled as the little smoke bomb that he sent up to one of the rooms, via room service, made its way safely. Chaud watched as the hotel was evacuated. He saw the one named Alister ranting about how it wasn’t his fault and that the food just exploded. The others didn’t seem to believe him. Chaud sighed with relief that he managed to send it to the right room. He had made an educated guess that Fang would have his own room from what he remembered reading about the man. He also did a little digging on the house that they lived in together. Apparently the boys were separated from the girls. After hacking into the hotel’s system he was able to find the three most recent rooms that were occupied. From there he made a reasonable guess.

He watched them carefully and how they interacted with each other. He noticed the youngest and the one with blue hair, Arisa and Lumin if his memory served him, talking to each other. Correction: the girl was doing most of the talking. Alister, he knew, was well known for blowing things up. Chaud looked carefully at the girl with the broken glasses. He would remember to tell Naru about Penelope. Raven and Shadow stood around Fang as he visibly tried to keep his emotions in check.

“Chaud,” Zara said through the earpiece in his ear.

“Yeah, what?” Chaud’s lips barely moved, “I’m a little busy.

“Oh sorry, Mr. I’ve-got-better-things-to-do-than-help-out,” Zara muttered, “I won’t bother you again.”

Zara walked from one thing to another. At one moment she looked over Naru’s shoulder trying to understand the computer code that scrolled across the screen. The next, she was instructing the others on their tasks.

Deontay was collecting any weapons and supplies they would need while Vicky pulled out any duffel bags she found to store them in. Hina sat beside her brother and tried to help out when she could.

Zara was in a hurry to get going. From what Chaud had told her, her team was being pursued by one of the best Black teams used by the Tower. Sirius wanted them back pretty badly and Zara was determined not to get caught before they had to be.

“I am helping out,” Chaud sighed, “I’m just doing some field research. I’ll be back soon. You want me to pick up groceries while I’m out?”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cellphone and started recording. His eyes dropped from the scene in front of him to the screen.

 “No, Mr. Smarty-pants,” Zara said, “Just don’t blow your cover!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Chaud answered.

“Naru, what do you have?” Zara asked.

“Something about a thing called the Metamor,” He said casually as he typed at the computer.

Hina looked over her shoulder at Zara, “Apparently, it’s on some island somewhere. It never says.”

“Try to find a general location,” Chaud commented, “We can figure it out when we get in the air.”

Zara looked back at Deontay, “How is the packing?”

“Getting only what we need and can carry,” Deontay answered.

“It’s kind of weird,” Vicky stated, “We’re fighting against the people who really stopped Zero.”

Deontay nodded, “Pretty crazy, right? How did Chaud find out?”

“Who knows how he knows things,” Hina shrugged, “Frankly I don’t really care all that much. As long as he’s on our side, I’m good.”

“You do know I’m still listening right?” Chaud said as the others were talking about him.

“So how do you do it, man?” Deontay asked, “Where do you get all this info?”

“You know the saying ‘Curiosity killed the cat?’” Chaud glanced up from the camera.

Deontay walked with a back over his shoulder, “Yeah. What about it?”

“Don’t be the cat. I’d hate to have to kill you,” Chaud said with an eerie seriousness.

“Let’s not go killing each other just yet,” Zara jumped in.

“I was just giving fair warning,” Chaud said.

Zara looked at the computer screen, “Just get back here without getting spotted.”

“Roger,” Chaud turned off his earpiece so he could concentrate.

He looked at the screen. The fire department was at the scene now and had entered the building. They instructed people to stand back. Fang guided his group to the other side of the road. Chaud pulled down his hat so it covered more of his white hair. He took a mental note to dye it sometime.

Though the Black team members were no longer the subject of the recording, Chaud continued to record just like any teenager would do with a cell phone. He looked at the group through the corner of his eye.

“Alister!” Penelope groaned, “My computer was in there! Now it’s probably wet and shorted out! I was so close to finding their inside source too!”

Chaud raised an eyebrow. It would be safer to deter communication with Miwa from then on.

“But I didn’t do it! I swear!” Alister insisted.

“I leave you alone for two minutes and you manage to blow the place up,” Shadow sighed. He looked at Fang, “Oh, and those papers you wanted me to read. I was so frightened and startled that in the commotion I dropped them. Too bad they might be soaking wet by now…”

“Not now, Shadow,” Fang sounded dangerously angry, “Did you see anything, Lumin?”

Lumin shook his head.

Arisa raised her hand, “Lumin was with me in the hallway at the soda machine. The thing wouldn’t give me my quarter back!”

“What are we going to do?” Raven asked, “All our things are in there.”

“I could get it!” Penelope raised her hand, “I can pop in and pop out in no time flat!”

“No,” Fang sighed, “We’ll stay out here for now.”

Fang had and itch that he couldn’t quite scratch. There was something he felt he was missing. He looked around and saw a boy not too far away looking at the goings on. Fang narrowed his eyes. For a moment, the scene in front of him disappeared and the kid was walking down another street. This time his hat was off revealing his white hair and blue eyes. Fang came back and looked at the boy with a new light.

“Shoot,” Chaud put away his cell phone and made his exit.

He walked down the street. Chaud turned the corner and was lost from Fang’s direct sight. Fang looked at Shadow.

“Follow me,” he said to Shadow.

Shadow followed. The others stayed and looked curiously as Fang and Shadow walked off.

Chaud walked down a street and crossed to the other side to an alleyway. He needed a place to lie low before he could go back to where he and the others were hiding out. Shadow suddenly appeared from the alley wall. He smiled slyly.

“So, your Chaud, I presume,” Shadow said.

Chaud stopped and said nothing.

Fang stood in the mouth of the alley way, “Nice to finally meet you, Chaud.”

Chaud took a glance behind him. He said nothing. Chaud took off his hat and tossed it on to the ground.

Fang narrowed his eyes. He couldn’t read Chaud’s future actions though he tried. Fang walked closer to Chaud.

“Your father would very much like you home,” Fang stated.

“I don’t think I’m quite ready to head back just yet,” Chaud’s eyes turned gold as he shot his arm out at Shadow.

A bolt of electricity shot from his hand. Shadow managed to barely dodge the attack. He threw three daggers in Chaud’s direction. Chaud crouched and avoided the attack. Two wings grew from Chaud’s back and he jumped into the sky. Shadow disappeared into the wall and appeared on to the building roof. He looked around but saw no sight of the boy.

“Do you see him?” Fang asked from the alley.

“No,” Shadow responded, “It’s like he just disappeared.”

“We need to find them,” Fang stated, “Now.”

Insanity Chapter Twenty-Eight

Insanity

Chapter Twenty-Eight

~Shadowcraft~

Day Twenty-Three

He was running down a hallway. A right turn, a left turn. He felt he was getting close to something. Fang kept running until he got to a hallway filled with slits as windows. Beyond the windows was hanger upon hanger of Shadowcrafts. He got to the end of the hallway. There was a door with a number key password. For some reason he knew the code and typed it in. The door opened and he ran in. In front of him was the Shadowcraft.

Fang came back. He was leaning against a wall.

“Fang?” Shadow asked, “Why did you stop running? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Fang said and ran down the hallway again.

His mind went over his latest vision. Why had they been starting recently? He hadn’t had much time to think it through since they started a few days ago. In his knowledge he hadn’t ever had any types of visions before.

Fang glanced behind him, making sure the others were still following him. Beyond them was a stream of Agents that were hot on their trail.

“Will someone please slow them down?” Fang asked.

Blue touched the wall with one hand while Arisa, who clung to his back, turned and snapped her fingers. There was a large explosion that was quickly blocked off by a thick wall of ice. That only temporarily took care of the problem.

The Agents that were dealt with were quickly replaced as Agents poured in from the hallways feeding into the one where they were running. Fang heard Shadow sigh and disappear into the wall. Raven untied her cloak and let it fall. Penelope reached into her pocket as Alister quickly assembled parts of a gun that he stored all over his person. Fang assessed the situation. They just needed enough time to get to the hallway that Fang saw in his vision.

“Penelope, Raven, Shadow, and Alister,” Fang said, “that’s the order, now go!”

Penelope dropped her object. It rolled a little as the team passed by it. A small blue light flashed quickly before bursting into a bright light. In their surprise, some of the Agents fired their weapons. Raven gripped onto one of her long swords. In a flash, she turned. With incredible speed she cut down all of the bullets that threatened to harm anyone in the team. Her green eyes were incredibly focused. The Agents stared firing deliberately at her. Shadow appeared, disarmed a few of their weapons and disappeared again. Confused a few Agents looked around only to be visited by the disappearing shadow. With the gun assembled Alister turned around and fired. The bullets were aimed exactly where they needed to be. A few passed by Raven’s head without harming her. Blue flicked his wrist and ice spikes shot up from the ground, blocking the Agent’s passage. Arisa closed her eyes and snapped. A blaze appeared behind the ice prison.

Fang looked around him all the while looking for that hallway. There was a sinking feeling in his gut that he had missed it. Shadow returned to his side from the wall.

Agents appeared in the hallway in front of them. Without thinking Fang ducked to his right into a different hallway. Blue was the last one to follow. He touched the corner, blocking anyone else from following. This was the hallway.

Fang ran into the hallway on his left. Alister fired at a few Agents who were ahead in the hallway they were once in. Fang followed where his vision had told him, somehow dodging all of the Agents attempts to block them off. Soon they were in the hallway where all the hangars were located.

The windows reflected their journey down the hallway. Fang got to the door first. He hoped his vision was right in the password. Fang typed in the series of numbers that he had seen. The key pad flashed red twice before giving a green go signal.

Agents started running down the stretch of hallway they were in. Fang held the door open as the others ran in. Quickly, Fang kicked the key pad and went in. He was in a large open space. The others were running to a Shadowcraft.

The craft stood on three points, the nose and the wings. The three points bent down when the craft landed and straightened when it was in flight. The Shadowcraft wasn’t small like an American fighter jet, in fact it was rather large, but it was silent and virtually invisible to the rest of the world. No one could track a Shadowcraft and only the Tower had them.

Penelope knelt down as she plugged her laptop in to one of the bent wings that served as support. She pressed a few buttons and eventually the door underneath the aircraft descended. Raven ran up the slanted walkway into the aircraft. The others followed. Fang ran in with Penelope after she had unplugged her laptop.

The inside of the aircraft was well lit. The first thing they saw was a round room filled with different uniforms for the Agents for different purposes. There was a sliding door in front of the stairs across from the ramp. The ramp folded and rose again. Fang walked through the sliding door. There was a long hallway until another door.

Through the door was the control room. The floor slanted slightly as Raven got into the pilot seat. She flipped several switches and the engines came on. Shadow got into the copilot seat that was a little behind hers. Everyone else got into just about any seat they could.

“PLEASE ENTER AGENT CODE,” the computer demanded.

Penelope sat in a chair parallel to Shadows. It had a sort of light screen in front of it and a keyboard. Her fingers typed wildly over the key board and eventually—

“ACCESS GRANTED!”

Raven grabbed the steering wheel; it was a round back semicircle in front of her. Shadow had a similar one only it was about half the size of Raven’s. She placed her hands on top of it and closed her eyes.

“Nervous?” Shadow asked.

“Shut up!” Raven snapped, “There is a reason only Agents fly this thing!”

She looked to be concentrating really hard. Slowly the craft started to rise from the ground and hover. The three points started to straighten out. The lights of the screens lit up. Raven opened her eyes. She moved her hands forward and the craft started to move.

“YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED FOR TAKEOFF,” the computer said, “BAY DOORS CLOSING!”

“Closing?” Arisa asked.

“Looks like there was a flight ahead of us,” Alister noted.

Fang was in a seat right by the window. The window was like a wide scar from one side of the control room to the other. He glanced out and saw Agents streaming out of the hallway. One of them looked familiar. Fang sat up in his seat. It was Sage. Sage looked up at the air craft. The other Agents seemed to take care not to run into him as they tried to get into aircrafts of their own to catch up with them. There was an air of authority about him that intrigued Fang. Their eyes seemed to meet for a second before the craft shot forward.

“WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! BAY DOORS CLOSING! DANGER! WARNING!” the computer continued on an on.

There were a few bumps as the craft’s wing clipped things or other crafts still on the ground. Raven squinted in concentration as she tried to keep the craft steady. The sped sown a long corridor and soon they saw a ray of light that was quickly getting smaller. The bay doors. Arisa gripped on to Blue’s hand.

“WARNING! INCOMING MISSILES!”

“We aren’t going to make it,” she whispered.

“Yes, we are!” Raven said.

Raven gripped on to the circle harder and squinted so hard that she nearly closed her eyes. Suddenly, the craft tilted to one side. She dodged three missiles and saw them crash and burn on the bay doors. They were close now and everyone held their breath as they approached and the gap between the doors grew smaller.

With every ounce of her mind and body, she screamed. The craft shot forward and passed through the doors moments before it closed for good.

The Shadowcraft sped out of the side of a cliff known as Light Tower Cliff. In ascended past the clouds where it slowed its speed and cruised as fast speeds. Everyone cheered except for Raven who sat back in her seat in exhaustion.

“AUTO PIOT ENGAGED!”

Shadow looked around for Fang. He caught him in the middle of a sigh of relief. Shadow smiled. It was always so interesting what you caught Fang dong when he though no one was watching.

“So where to?” Raven asked when she caught her breath.

“Chicago,” Fang said.

The cheering stopped.

“You do realize that our commercial airplanes on the Island do fly there right?” Alister said.

Fang shrugged, “This way we don’t have to worry about weighing baggage.”