End of the Line

Posted on Wed Jun 22nd, 2022 @ 9:15am by Patrick Manco & Shinobi Shaw

1,469 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 2: Northern X-Posure
Location: ???
Timeline: August 1990

"Hey..."

The voice penetrated Jace's unconscious state with an imperative tone that seemed accustomed to being obeyed.

"Wake up!"

Despite the sense of urgency, the voice was still faintly above a whisper.

"I can see you rousing. Snap out of it and wake up."

Jace had been enjoying a rather nice dream about a beach and some bikini-clad girls when he heard another voice telling him to wake up. The scene faded as he slowly opened his eyes and blinked. Once again, he was back in the nightmare. He slowly shook his head, hair flopping back forth over his face. "Alright, alright, I'm up," he whispered to his left. He looked around the room and saw a lot of other people in his condition, shackled. "Kinda wish I wasn't, though."

"Shut up!" the other young man hissed in a whisper. "We've stopped moving. If they come in to remove us, I mean to be ready. And, since we're all attached together, we need to be ready. Now, what can you do and how well can you do it?"

"I like freedom better than shackles," said Jace. "I can manipulate my own density. Increasing it for heightened durability or decreasing it for intangibility. Better at increasing my density, but been practicing decreasing it more often." Realizing then that he was with other mutants, "What about you guys? What are you two bringing to the table?"

Holding up his arm opposite from Jace, the young man gave a little wave. "I told them I could breathe underwater. In reality, I control things... mechanical things, like manacles. I unlocked this one before they doped me."

The manacle connecting Jace to the other fell open.

"And that is why they call me Maestro. We only get one shot at this. When I give the word, we make our move."

Jace nodded, "Booyah," and raised the arm that Maestro had just freed. "They call me Flux." He then 'ghosted' himself, as he called it, just enough to walk free of the manacles attached to his ankles. Bringing his density back to normal, "Let's do this," he said.

The container doors pulled back with a loud rattle that echoed throughout the container. A woman in a white labcoat and high heels stood idly by while a man with greasy, grey upswept and a greasier smile stepped forward, though he removed a handkerchief to cover his nose. "Ew. Do they all smell this horrid?"

No one answered, so he waved two fingers forward. "Come along."

Armed men in red and black bodysuits which covered them from head to toe marched inside, a pair of them taking position against each row of manacled mutants.

"Go on," said the posh man to the doctor. "Epsilon will cover you."

She reluctantly stepped forward and checked the first subdued mutant in each row. "Preliminary subjects appear to be stable," she reported.

"Good," said the man in a gravelly voice. "Get your team to assess the others so Epsilon can offload them."

As she stepped away, a dozen other medical technicians stepped forward to take her place. They all filed out toward the rows of mutants, assessing them, verifying their vitals, and then releasing them into the custody of the armed men in red and black.

"Get ready," whispered Maestro. His eyes narrowed in concentration while his gaze darted about the area as if connecting various dots.

When the nurse came up their row, she paused before noticing that several mutants were unshackled before her. "Help!" she squealed before turning to run.

All twelve of the armed men trained their weapons on the entire row, not knowing which one was the threat.

"Get down on the ground!" the lead one shouted through his red faceplate.

The mutant on the far side of Maestro instinctively flinched as if to comply, which foolishly gave away his unshackled condition.

"Oh shit!" he exclaimed, realizing his mistake too late. As he made to run, the nearest guardsman fired on him. Rather than a standard firearm, the rifle emitted some sort of sonic resonance that sounded like shattered glass. When it struck the fleeing mutant, he was sent airborne like a leaf in the wind.

And that was what Maestro needed to see. It was unlikely they had conventional weapons. What Maestro understood, he could manipulate. "Now!"

As soon as he spoke, all weapons turned onto him. He brought his hands together and then waved them outward as if conducting an orchestra. All the sonic weapons failed to fire, forcing the guards to clear the blockage.

The nearest guard removed a stun button and charged. Maestro waggled a finger at him in mock disapproval. Just the guard closed the distance in just three steps, his stun button overloaded and electrocuted him on the spot. He fell prostrate before Maestro's feet, prompting a bowing flourish from the arrogant young man.

By then, the other guards had regained functionality of their sonic rifles and had them raised yet again.

Years on the street had taught Jace many things. One of which was that when you were attacked by gangs, you needed to survive. And so you didn't go after the gunmen. You went after who the gunmen were protecting. The man had said that Epsilon would cover the people who were checking them out. So, head doctor it was.

In the intervening aiming from the gunmen, Jace ran to the one protecting who he supposed to be the lead doctor. He reduced the density of his arm and plunged it into the chest of the gunman, squeezing his heart and bringing instant death. He removed his arm, bloody as it was, and brought it back to normal density, letting the man fall. He immediately grabbed the doctor around the neck with his left arm and placed his bloodied right hand over her heart. He paused and looked at the gunmen who'd raised their sonic weapons.

If his plan failed, he could at least increase his density as far as he could physically hold it and see if their sonic weapons could move him. Thus providing a distraction. Survival mode. If someone tries to kill you, you try and kill 'em right back.

"James!" screamed the blonde woman.

In a moment, Jace and the doctor began to float off the ground as if entirely weightless.

"Do not fear, Heather," said a man in a glowing, armored power suit hovering high overhead. "All is in hand."

Well this was a turn of events that Jace that never imagined. He was floating off the ground and rather helpless at the moment. Instinct had him wrap both arms legs around the doctor. He didn't want to fall and get knocked out. Again. He looked up at the glowing suit of armor. "Yo, Maestro!," he yelled down. "Got another sonata up your sleeve?"

A man of clear First Nations descent marched forward with a sleeping Maestro dragged behind him in a tangle of vines.

"Maestro? Of the Evil Mutant Brotherhood?" The armored flying man chuckled behind his helmet. "Well, that's good luck if there ever was any. Good work, Shaman."

The First Nations man nodded stoically as Epsilon guards hauled Maestro away. Then, while Jace continued to hover helplessly, the female doctor he had grasped floated away from him as if her inertia became guided. The armored man took her with an outstretched hand and set her behind him.

"By now you should realize how outsmarted, outmanned, and outgunned you are," he said to Jace. "Any more Brotherhood out there?"

"The hell?!" exclaimed Jace. "Brotherhood of Mutants? I'm not involved with them! Some brute punks took me off the streets of Seattle. I was doing just fine. I have no freaking idea what you're talking about...Brotherhood." Jace tried to paddle the air and turn toward the flying armory.

The grey-haired bureaucrat from before shook his head. "Anything he says cannot be trusted. Lock down the entire premises! Prepare for an imminent attack!"

Epsilon guards with more black than red ushered the bureaucrat away to a secure location within the skycraper that crowned the secure facility in which Jace found himself.

"Just my luck," he mumbled to himself. "Just my freakin' luck."

"Lock'em up with the Brotherhood lackey until we get the Arena staged," the armored man said to the guards. "They might be exactly what the Director is looking for."

Jace perked up at the word 'arena' and not in a good way. That didn't sound at all like it was going to be in their best interest. Unless they could figure out a way to escape, he and Maestro could be in for a world of hurt.

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