Becoming a better writer

Derek felt the boot connect with his jaw.

Ah, he thought, it was going to be one of those nights. Derek hated it when the demons gave him Nam flashbacks, especially since he had never been to Nam.

Derek focused and felt himself lifting out of the illusion; it felt like rising up after being underwater.

“He’s here” he gasped, “looks like some old soldier’s”

“Awesome” said Laurie, grinning like an idiot, “I’ll get the scanner set up”

Derek pulled himself up against the car. He knew he could leave the preparations to Laurie, the kid knew what she was doing.

He looked up at the old school. The Demon would be inside, he knew, you never got them in empty space, it was probably the soldiers post traumatic memories from when he had been a student; the school looked old enough.

Derek wrapped his hands around the Iron Gate and looked up.

The school towered above him; floodlights lit up the walls but the top of the building was dark. The whole thing looked like some sort of monster looking to jump on him.

Derek shuddered and tightened his grip on the bars. He hated hunting Demons in old places like this; there was always the risk that some old care taker would shoot him before he got a chance to show his badge.

Derek felt the familiar fizzing feeling in the back of his brain, and then a second later he heard the hissing noise of the static scanner. He turned around to see Laurie’s grinning face. She always started grinning like that whenever they were about to head into danger, he wished she would stop.

“You ready to go?” asked Laurie, “Got your armour on?”

“I’ve always got my armour on” muttered Derek. Let’s get this over with, he thought.

With practiced ease the two of them vaulted the security fence and walked into the looming school.

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Laurie loved nights like this. The moon was full, and the skies were clear so the hallways were brightly lit as she walked through them.

She was glad it was going to be an old soldier’s Demon; the last one they had fought had gotten big enough that it had been able to throw things at them; it had been like playing dodge ball; there was something about combat vets that made their Demons really powerful, and that made it more interesting when you took them in.

They were walking into a darker part of the school when something happened. The Static scanner finally stopped fizzing and gave them a message.

“GET OUT!” The scanner gurgled. The two of them stopped in their tracks, Laurie could feel her heart beating faster and a grin spreading over her face.

“Now, Now,” said Derek, “we’re all friends here; there’s no need for all this violent talk.” He sounded like he was reading the words off a card, and he was loading his gun while he was talking.

Laurie hit him on the arm, and he gave her a look, but it was all ritual at this point; neither of them could remember a mission were it hadn’t come down to gunplay.

Laurie had spent several years training to be a psychologist before realizing that there was nothing in the world she wanted to be less, and she felt that she should really add something. “We’re not here to hurt you” she said, “We’re here to help you”. She stopped and listened expectantly; running her finger along the butt of her gun.

“Get OUT!!” insisted the scanner.

Laurie giggled and started loading her gun; it was always the same up to this point.

She felt Derek stiffen next to her and then a second later the scanner started to beep.

She followed the scanners lights.

The Demon was moving down the corridor at them.

Derek brought his gun level, and Laurie did the same.

The Demon started circling; they all started by circling.

Laurie kept her eyes on the scanner and kept her gun trained on target. It was hard doing both at once, but Laurie loved the challenge.

Everything was going normally, and that was a bit of a disappointment. If everything kept going by the routine then the Demon would keep circling, and looking for weaknesses until eventually it would lose track of itself and put itself too far forward, and then they would shoot it and lock it into the containment crystals, hand it over to Casper, and be done for the night. Case closed.

Laurie felt her smile fade a bit as she ran through her chain of thought. Same old, same old; she wished that something would happen this time to break the usual routine.

The scanner beeped and the Demon exploded.

Ah, thought Laurie as the darkness snuffed out the moon, that’ll do it.

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Derek tried to straighten out his panicking thoughts.

Damn it! He thought, and it had been going so well too.

There was something wrong; the Demon was winning; the fact that he was hallucinating was being pushed further and further away.

Hallucinating, who’s hallucinating? The darkness seemed to say. I’m not; I’m right here and I’m not going away.

There was fear now. Fear, and humiliation, and pain. Derek waved his gun, but there was nowhere to aim; just darkness beating like a heart. Stupid boy! The darkness called, idiot child! There’s no gun in your hand.

Derek looked at his hand, and it was empty, and there was no hand; and no arm to put it on, and his legs were gone too, and there was nothing but the fear, and the pain, and the darkness, and it was laughing at him.

Derek collapsed; a meaningless being in an uncaring universe.

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Laurie felt the darkness cover her. She didn’t mind; she liked the darkness.

Then she felt pain, and fear and humiliation. This was wrong; darkness didn’t hurt like this.

The darkness squeezed in on her, it hurts you like this, it seemed to say, it hurts you and only you because you are the one who deserves it.

Laurie gave some thought on that matter. Why? She asked, her voice sounded weird inside her head.

The darkness seemed to falter for a moment, but then it pressed deeper. Because you deserve it came the answer, because you’re worthless.

Laurie thought about this, and then she thought about the pain; it didn’t feel like it belonged to her.

She pushed outwards with her mind. The pain became sharper, more defined, and then there were images as well.

Oh, she thought. She could see it now; a small boy tortured by his schoolmates, asking why, wondering if he deserved it, no one there to help. Teenagers, they were the other common source of the powerful emotions needed for the creation of demons.

Demons…

Laurie pulled back into her own body. I remember now, she announced, you’re a demon.

The darkness flinched. No I’m not.

Somewhere far off Laurie felt her lips form into a smile. Yes you are.

No I’m not!

Yes, said Laurie, raising her gun as the darkness pulled back, you are”

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Derek hated talking to Casper. He didn’t like any aspect of his job a whole lot, but talking with Casper had to be the worst. Still it was definitely necessary; Casper was the only one who knew how to work with the containment crystals, and they would need to know where the kid behind the demon was if they were going to get him help and stop him from forming another one.

Derek had walked half way down the corridor to Casper’s lab when it occurred to him that he was doing it again; he was confusing the organization’s goals with his own.

Chief would care if they tracked the kid down; after all it was his job to make sure that the organization kept running normally.

Lenard might care if they tracked the kid down; after all it was his job to treat the kid when they found him.

Casper might care, maybe; after all he would want to know that his machine was still working.

Derek didn’t care; he was a field agent; it was his job to go and capture the Demons, not to deal with them afterwards.

He made an excuse and sent Laurie on ahead of him. Then he turned around, planning to see if Tony was back from his away mission and could have a chat before he clocked out when Laurie got back. He rounded a corner and ran into the only person he tried to avoid almost as much as Casper.

“Ha! Good morning neighbour!” exclaimed Lenard, and he really did exclaim; Lenard was a man who really justified the use of the exclamation mark.

“Good morning” Derek muttered, trying to ease around him in the hallway.

Lenard stopped him, “Now I won’t have you running off! How was the night shift?!”

“Terrible”

“Ha, ha! Fantastic!”

“Yeah, look; it’s been a long night and I would really like to get home so if you would just move?”

“I wouldn’t dream of stopping you!”

“Thanks” He stepped to one side and started walking down the hallway.

“No problem! Hey, you going to the annual company picnic on Saturday?!”

Derek stumbled as though someone had tied his shoelaces together. “What Picnic? We don’t have an annual picnic; we barely even have a company.”

“Well we do now! I talked to chief and got it all set up! Will I see you there?! I won’t hear no as an answer!”

“No”

“I won’t hear it! I already sent the information through to Christine! I’ll see you there” and with that he turned and walked away.

Derek walked away as well; fuming like a chimney. A Company picnic; what a stupid idea! How many staff did they have total, ten at most! He counted on his fingers; there were the three field teams; that’s six people, plus Chief, and Herbert, if he counts; that’s eight. Casper and the fuckwit Lenard makes ten.

Ten staff, thought Derek, what the hell is the point of doing a picnic with those numbers?

Still, he thought, if Lenard really had sent the information to his wife then Derek though he was probably going to be right about him being there; he was sure that Christine would think a picnic would be a great idea. Silly woman.

Derek rubbed his head. I spend all night fighting demons, he thought, and then I go home and do exactly the same thing.

Smiling a little at the thought of Lenard trying to convince Casper to leave his lab, Derek prepared to go home.

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Laurie liked to wake up with the evening chorus; she found the sound of birdsong soothing; it was a great way to start her night off right.

This evening she woke up to the sound of dissonant power cords, but the effect was the same. She grabbed her toothbrush off the top of the card pyramid her roommate had made and set about preparing for the nights work.

She was sure that there would be a new demon to track down tonight; Tony had told her that the start of the new school year was the busy season and that meant that there would probably be more demons like the one last night; clever, powerful, and fun.

She pulled on her jacket, and remembered that she had an extra reason to feel pleased with the world; she was sure that she had managed to see Casper last night. It had only been a wisp out of the corner of her eye, but for just one moment she was sure that she had been able to see him.

Humming to herself and thinking thoughts of self improvement, Laurie almost skipped to work.

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Derek almost had to drag himself up the steps when he got to work. He had had a very bad evening so far. His daughter had somehow managed to acquire a second nerf gun and when he dodged the traditional wakeup bullet he had found himself stepping right into the path of the second one. Then as he had been driving to work his car had suddenly decided to stop working for absolutely no reason. Finally, as he walked round the last corner, the building right next to him had exploded and ruined a perfectly good suit with hot ash.

All in all Derek was in a bad mood when he finally got to work, and his mood wasn’t improved by the news the chief wanted to see him. Derek had been working long enough to know that it was probably just that Chief had a job for him, but somewhere in his frequently persecuted soul a little version of Derek ran in little circles and screamed about punishments for crimes real and imaginary.

With no other option, Derek went to visit Chief.

Laurie was already chatting with Chief when Derek walked into the room.

“Ah, Derek!” said Chief warmly, rising from his chair and shaking his hand. “I’m glad to see you made it; I was worried that you had been caught in that explosion down the road.”

Derek nodded and sat down, Chief chuckled; Derek wasn’t sure what about.

“Well I suppose it doesn’t really matter. I have a job for the two of you; I think you’ll find this fun. Derek, if I’m right about we’re that ash on your suit came from then I bet you’ll find this interesting”

Derek had a bad feeling that he was going to regret hearing those words; five minutes later he knew he had been right.

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A retained Demon! Laurie almost clicked her heels together as she walked out of Chief’s office. A retained Demon was really rare, and powerful, and making one was a major crime so this was the big time; this job promised to be really fun.

Derek didn’t really see it that way of course; she could see that in the way he was walking; he looked like his personal gravity had doubled. She asked him what the matter was, and he turned to her.

“This is a terrible job,” he said, “I don’t know what we did to deserve it”

“Well we do have the best capture rates of any of the agents” Laurie said; it was a fact she was very proud of.

Derek rubbed his forehead and turned to her again, “You don’t get it do you? You really don’t get it; you think this is all a game, and the capture rates are a way of keeping score”

Laurie couldn’t think of a better way of keeping score, but she decided not to say that to Derek; he seemed to be on a roll and she thought it would be best if he got it all out.

“This isn’t a game.” said Derek, “This is silly buggers with firearms. We put our life on the line every time we go out after a demon, and now the stakes are that much higher; you can’t put a retained demon together with one man working out of a basement; you need a big organized Cartel, and when you are organized that well you are NOT going to miss the fact that people might come after you with guns because of it. This is a job for the army; we shouldn’t even be involved.”

Laurie was annoyed; she was beginning to reach the conclusion that her partner was being a coward for no reason. “So what? We can call for backup after we’ve tracked them down. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity we have here, I think we should go for it and try to have a little fun with it”

Derek looked at her with utter astonishment in his eyes, “Fun” he muttered as he walked away.

“I’ll take the classic detective’s route” She called after him, “And check out the building that got blown up; you go see what Casper has to say about the Spiritual readings when it happened.”

Laurie saw her partner shudder and remembered that that might not be the best idea, “Okay,” She said smiling a little bit, “I’ll go see Casper.”

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Derek was standing on the pavement staring at the burning ruin within five minutes. He rubbed his eyes and yawned; unlike Laurie he was not a night person.

He wasn’t the only person there, the explosion and following fire had drawn a huge crowd which was making it very difficult for the fire brigade to get through.

This is pointless, he thought, there’s no evidence here, there isn’t even a building anymore.

He sighed deeply. I better look anyway, he thought, If Laurie finds something I missed then I’ll look like an idiot.

He organized his thoughts and looked at the blaze in front of him, what is the important thing here?

They were targeted.

Yes, the buildings next to the destroyed one were all untouched; the Demon had been sent to destroy this one specifically.

The next question was why? Money probably, Derek rubbed his eyes; he hated living in a world where people would kill each other over money. No, stop, you’re jumping to conclusions, go back. Why? Something they were doing upset some dangerous people, what were they doing? That was when Derek realized that he didn’t even know the name of the former building he was standing in front of. I never signed up to be a detective, he thought.

He looked up at the building, but of course there were no signs left on it. He started looking up and down the chain fence around the blaze, but there was nothing on it. He was trying to think of some other way to get the information, while cursing himself for managing to drive past the building everyday and never notice the name, when someone said something that cut across his thoughts and made him feel a good lot better than he had for the last few days.

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If Derek was feeling uncharacteristically good, then Laurie was feeling the unaccustomed bite of depression. She had gotten Casper’s analysis of the explosion and that had given her a lot of useful information, but she hadn’t been able to see or hear him at all while he had done it.

It wasn’t that Laurie was jealous of the ability of the other field agents to see Demons, and it wasn’t like it really slowed her down either. For that matter she was quite fond of the cross wrist pose she had to take to use the scanner and her gun at the same time. But even Wellsford had apparently managed to master the ability, and Wellsford was… well… Laurie chose not to follow that line of reasoning. It just felt to her that the ability to see Demons was something that all Demon hunters should have, and not being able to do it made her feel like she had been locked out of an exclusive club.

Laurie shook her head and focused on the information that Casper had printed out for her. He had changed his graphing standards again without telling anyone, she saw, she focused on the collection of spirals and blobs of colour; willing it to make some sort of sense, and eventually she worked it out; it detailed the readings from the different energy feeds pouring into it, and basically didn’t give her any information that wasn’t printed in plain English on the first page.

She turned back to the first page and read it again. Twenty people feeding energy into it and it was based inside of the country; that made sense; chief wouldn’t have given them the job if it had been anywhere else, they even had rough location, about a hundred kilometres in diameter.

Laurie put the information down and watched as Lenard swaggered across the room, leading a small and scared looking boy in his wake. They wouldn’t be able to rely on active scans, she realized, anyone able to put together a retained Demon would probably know to watch out for that, they would need to do this the old fashioned way.

She glanced at the information again; twenty unique feeds probably meant that twenty people had been kidnapped and were being carefully tortured to get the necessary emotion. When they got down there the missing person cases would be the first thing she would check. She smiled a little bit; it was an old fashioned mystery, and it was looking like fun.

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Derek watched the printer spooling out and nodded; that had gone smoothly at least.

“Need anything else?” asked Tony

Derek leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes, “A miracle, or maybe just an armed squad”

Tony smiled, “I wish I could help you with the miracle, but I’m fresh out of them. What’s the matter?”

Derek looked back at him, “Laurie and I have been sent on a suicide mission”

“It can’t be that bad, Chief wouldn’t have sent you if the mission was impossible”

“We have to go after a retained Demon”

“Oh, is that what caused that explosion? I was wondering; it looked like someone was targeting them.”

Derek made an affirmative sound in the back of his throat and picked up the printout from the computer, “Gamble Developments”, he read aloud, “They work in property”

He put the printout down, “God I need some coffee”

“At your age” said Tony, looking out the window, “I doubt it”

“At my age” Derek pushed his chair out and started walking for the door, Tony caught up with him and walked beside him. “Well you know what, fine; I’ll give you that; I’m an old man now”

Tony looked surprised, “That’s an new angle for you; you never used to talk about getting older”

Derek made an indistinct noise and waved Tony off, “Are you going back to work tonight?” He asked.

“Yes, but not for long; I just need to file some paperwork from my away mission”

Derek wasn’t listening; he was already thinking about the mission ahead, he probably had all of the information he needed now; this was not going to be fun.

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Laurie liked driving the company 2CVs; they weren’t really very sporty cars, but they were cute and it was kind of fun to try and roll them at the corners.

They had been driving most of the night so far, and the sky was starting to take on the pale hue that meant that dawn was coming, but they were almost there.

As their little vehicle crested the last rise the sun finally peaked over the mountains and threw the little town below them into beautiful colour.

After Derek had come back the two of them had taken out a compass and draw Casper’s circle on it; the town of Symphony had been almost at the centre, as well as the only one big enough to warrant being on the map; if anyone could tell them about twenty missing people then they would find them in Symphony.

Laurie thought the little town looked beautiful, but as the sun got higher in the sky and the light got brighter it began to hurt her eyes. She poked Derek awake and gave him the job of finishing the drive, and then she sat down in the passenger’s seat and squinted against the rising sun.

“It looks beautiful doesn’t it?” She said

Derek grunted

“I mean if it wasn’t so far out of the way I bet this would make a great tourist town”

Derek didn’t answer this at all; he was probably watching the road.

“This should be an easy mission” said Laurie, “I bet the people down there haven’t even heard of Demons; so all we have to do is roll up to the police station and look for twenty missing people who fit the profile, and then send in the police with riot gear to finish the mission off”

Derek took one hand off the steering wheel to rub his forehead, “There’s no way it’s going to be that easy,” he said, ”They would have been looking for their own missing people already”

“Ah, but we have extra information to work from”

“Right, whatever,” said Derek, “Five bucks says that something attacks us before we even get into the town”

Laurie was half way through scoffing when something huge hit the car and threw it into the air.

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The instant the car stopped rolling Derek unclipped his seat belt and darted out of the car. He scrambled up the bank grabbing any vegetation he could find and pulling himself forward as though a hell hound was after him.

To his surprise he saw that Laurie was a good twenty feet ahead of him and pulling away fast. Damn it! He thought; when did the kid get so fast?

When did you get so slow? A traitorous in his head corrected him.

Derek was moving quite a lot slower when he reached the top of the bank. He was out of breath and his arms were shaking.

Laurie grabbed his arm and pulled him up the last few feet; her hands were covered in blood, and then Derek realized that his hands were as well; he vaguely remembered grabbing hold of a lot of cutting grass as he was climbing.

I’ll have to get blood work done when we get back, Derek decided, there’s no way that mixing blood with a university student can be good for my health.

The two of them exchanged the usual tests of each other’s consciousness and then stared down at the ravine. Derek could just make out the little blue 2CV crushed at the bottom.

What a humiliating way for the mission to end, Derek thought.

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What a great story! Laurie thought; she was imagining telling the story in the university pub. Yep, we were tracking down this madman who was torturing people, and we were just getting into the town that we had tracked him to when a giant demon came and threw our car off the mountain! She was just reaching the point in her fantasy were all the cute boys were buying drinks for her when Derek cut her off with his take on the matter.

“The missions not over!” She said indignantly, “we just need to get a lift into town and then we can go on as planned.”

“Right, and how are we meant to report back?” Asked Derek, “I’m not climbing back down there for the satellite phone”

Laurie took a quick glance at the steep cliff face and then dangled her cell phone in front of Derek’s face; it was silly of him to have forgotten that anyway.

“Right,” said Derek, “sure. You won’t get a lift anyway; no one’s going to stop for two strangers on the side of the road with blood on their hands”

“Sure people will stop,” said Laurie, “We’re injured and need help”

Four cars later Laurie wasn’t quite as sure about the generosity of the human spirit.

She had tried everything she could think of; thumbing a lift, looking injured, staring down the ravine, and if anything the cars had gotten faster each time. She was trying to remember the advice that her hitchhiking friend had given her; making a sign to show where you wanted to go was meant to help apparently; she wondered if she could find a sheet of cardboard and write on it with her own blood.

On second thoughts, that might not help a whole lot.

Through the entire thing Derek was just sitting on a rock watching the whole thing with an irritatingly knowing look on his face. Laurie thought; what was something she hadn’t tried?

She remembered a story that her hitchhiking friend had told her once, and a wicked grin started to form on her face.

She saw the headlights of a pickup truck around the next bend.

She turned back to Derek and told him to turn around.

“What? Why?” he said

“Just do it”

Derek shrugged and rolled his eyes, but he turned around on his rock and looked the other way.

Laurie turned back to the pickup. It was getting closer.

She took her sunglasses off; the early morning light stung her eyes, but everyone had always said that she had beautiful eyes.

She bent her legs and widened her stance, as though she intended to catch the pickup with her bare hands.

She waited until she could see the whites of the driver’s eyes, and then she whipped her shirt up.

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Derek heard the sound of screeching tires and then jumped backwards as a white pickup truck skidded up in front of him and almost went down the ravine too.

There was silence for a beat, except for the sound of rocks tumbling down the cliff, and then the driver poked his head out “Woah! Nice trick love!” he bellowed, “Need a lift?”

Derek saw Laurie running up, agreeing and offering thanks, and he decided to cut her off and take the passenger’s seat himself; he could smell whiskey on the man’s breath and he didn’t trust him with a young girl.

Laurie shot him a look and climbed into the back of the pickup truck, it probably wouldn’t be very comfortable back there, but it was only for a few minutes and it might be better than riding up front with a huge man who had been drinking.

Derek decided he had been right about that almost immediately; almost as soon as he had closed the door the pickup’s wheels started spinning and it lurched backwards onto the road. Derek slammed his seat belt on in wide-eyed terror, which the man saw and laughed great booming laughs at, “Don’t worry man! You’re with Sammy now!”

The wheels started spinning again and the truck hurtled down the road. Sammy thumbed the radio and something loud and insane filled the cockpit.

Derek gripped the edges of the seat; he was sure that they were already past the speed limit, and he noticed that the road ahead seemed to consist entirely of tight bends.

I’m going to die, he decided with ice cold clarity.

Sammy somehow took the truck around the bends; he brought the car round at the very edge of the road, but somehow all four wheels stayed grounded.

The truck barrelled down a steep incline. “Hey man!” Sammy bellowed, “What’s your name?”

Derek told him; there didn’t seem to be much point in keeping secrets now.

“Well Derek! This is my Favourite part!”

Derek forced himself to look at the rapidly shrinking road. Someone had removed the safety barrier on the next turn, and built an earth ramp there.

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Laurie felt like laughing; this was more fun than a rollercoaster.

She had pinned herself down in the back of the truck when the wheels had started spinning for the first time, and she was very glad she had.

She had felt the G forces on every turn and the strange feeling of weightlessness as they had started down the incline, but she couldn’t see ahead of the truck because of the cabin; so it came as a surprise when the truck suddenly flicked up and everything went quiet apart from the soothing rushing sound of air streaming past.

Laurie put her head up, and then the rest of her body up.

She was floating.

It was a beautiful day; the sky was clear, and with her sunglasses on she could really appreciate the blue sky.

She let herself drift higher. She could see over the cabin now; there was a huge rock formation rising up to meet them.

She pulled herself back to the deck as fast as she could.

There was an incredible noise and the truck lurched around as it bolted across the top of the rock tower.

They careened down the other side of the tower; on a better than vertical incline, and then they hit another ramp.

From where the 2CV had crashed they hadn’t been able to see Symphony; it had been hidden by the rest of the mountain, but now for the first time since they had crested the rise that led into Symphony’s valley, she could see the town again.

It looked terrible. It looked as though some giant monster had taken a few swipes at it since she had seen it last. There were giant gouges in the ground and everything within the gouges had been reduced to rubble.

Laurie had just had time to register that thought when she heard the driver cry out in dismay, “My Church!”

His church? Laurie wondered, noticing for the first time that the bag she was sharing the back with had a white collar wrapped around the strap.

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Derek tapped Laurie on the shoulder and sent her to bed; she had been driving all night and then had been helping the relief effort half the day; she was exhausted.

Besides everything was as in hand as was possible here; tents had been set up, and all the wounded had been tended to. Sammy the Rev would be tending to the dead as soon as he had finished helping all the bereaved drown their sorrows.

Derek sat down and rubbed his eyes. He was tired too; it is not easy to get any sleep in the passenger seat of a car and he hadn’t gotten as much as he had convinced Laurie he had while sending her back to the rooms that Sammy had gotten for them.

Derek stood up. He wasn’t happy letting Laurie sleep alone in a room that a large drunken maniac had access to, but they weren’t in a good position to turn down charity, and the Rev would probably be busy for the rest of the day.

Derek walked away from the tents. He wanted to sleep too, but there was something that he had to take care of first.

Derek jumped over the end of one of the gouges and walked into the police office.

He was surprised to find that they weren’t closed.

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Laurie didn’t respond well to not getting enough sleep; her mind always started feeling like it was swimming in molasses. In spite of that she wasn’t asleep in her room; just as she had been getting into bed an idea had occurred to her.

It wasn’t something that she could do on her own, not when she was this tired; it would take too long, and that was a shame, she had the feeling that it would be a fun thing to do. It would be a vital piece of information, maybe the vital piece of information.

She started thinking about who owed her a favour, and came up mostly blank. There was one person who she could get to do what she wanted though. Even if she didn’t really think much of his abilities, there was no doubting that he was honest.

Lying in a bed in an old wood cottage, Laurie took out her cell phone, accessed functions that Derek probably wouldn’t have understood, and put the internet to the function for which it had originally been intended.

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Derek could feel the sun getting lower in the sky, and his own footsteps getting heavier as it did so.

It had been stupid of him to think it would be as easy as walking into the police station, showing his badge and looking at the missing persons reports. The old lady at the front desk had been very sympathetic but hadn’t been able to give him any information; he needed the chief for that and the chief was out helping with the relief effort.

Since he had been bounced back and forth all over the town, (Oh yes, the chief was helping us, you might want to try the grave yard now. You want the chief? The chief just left) He was beginning to think that the townspeople were wasting his time on purpose.

The sun was getting low in the sky by the time he walked into the village pub. The pub was filled with traditional country people partying like only the survivors of a great tragedy could.

He took a long look around the pub; the secretary had described the chief as having long white hair, but there didn’t seem to be any men in the pub that fitted that description.

He worked his way across the room to the barkeeper. He was talking to a man in a terrible tie about the possible reasons that huge amounts of earth would be ripped out of the ground, taking everything with it; neither of them suggested Demons, Laurie had been right about them not knowing about them; go figure.

Derek cut into the conversation and asked after the chief; he let his hand stray near a pool cue, the barman had an eye patch and looked tough. The barman jerked his head at the corner of the room and turned back to his conversation.

Derek decided against intruding again and turned to walk to the corner; he had only gone a few steps when he realized that the only people there were a few old grandmas sipping tea and whiskey.

The townspeople had been wasting his time all day, he realized. He was dealing with a huge village wide conspiracy and everyone was against him! He raised his head and vented his frustrations at the roof; using the words that he made sure to never use around his daughter.

He found it very cathartic, and was a little put out with he was cut off mid rant by one of the little old ladies. “I don’t care to hear that sort of language in peace time” she said

“Peace?” said Derek, and he told her precisely what he thought about the peace in the town, and asked her if perhaps she could give him a straight and useful answer about where in the seven Hells He could find the chief of police.

“Once again young man, I don’t want to hear that language” said the little old lady

Derek switched smoothly into the beginning of a rant about his age, but the little old lady cut him off at the head with. “And I am police chief Bryson.”

Under the circumstances Derek thought that he rallied beautifully.

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Laurie woke up at the evening chorus and checked her phone immediately, but Wellsford hadn’t called her back. She wondered if she had set too hard a task for him; Wellsford wasn’t a remarkably good agent at the best of times and he must have been sleeping off the effects of his away mission with Tony when she had called him.

Laurie wondered if she should call Tony and ask him to help as well, but she decided against it; it had only been a few hours and Wellsford should really be given a chance.

She took a look around her. Derek was asleep in the bed next to her; he looked like he had just fallen on his bed and passed out, even his boots were still on. Laurie decided to leave him for a little longer, she would let him get a few hours sleep and then she would ask him about what the police had said.

Derek had passed out with his head facing the wall, so Laurie pulled herself out of bed and started to dress herself. I think I’ll have a look around the town, she decided; she wasn’t really expecting to find anything, but it would be good to have a look anyway.

She opened the door quietly and snuck out of the room, and then down the hallway and outside.

The sun had sunk below the horizon and the colour was leaching out of the sky. Laurie breathed in the first wash of the night’s cold air and smiled. The evening chorus was dying down and there wasn’t much sound apart from the chirp of insects.

The effect was all very peaceful and pleasant to listen to.

Then the church bell started tolling.

In the fading light the one surviving church bell was being enthusiastically rung by Reverend Sammy, and the people of the village were making their solemn way across the fields.

Laurie had excellent night vision and in the gloom of night she could make out the shape of three dozen coffins arranged on the grass. The people were all lining up in front of them and sitting on whatever they had managed to bring together.

Laurie could feel the air of sadness and loss, and felt like she was intruding on something important, particularly because she suspected that she might be a cause of it, she was glad when her cell phone buzzed and gave her an excuse to duck back inside the house.

When she read the message she was glad; Wellsford had come through after all. She walked back to the bed room; not bothering to keep quiet this time; this was too important to waste.

It was time to blow the case wide open

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Derek dragged himself through the darkened streets; he was still tired and he was having trouble keeping up with Laurie both physically and mentally.

After he had walked down the third street at an almost jog without understanding a word his partner was talking about, he decided to lunge forward and grab her arm so that she would slow down to a point that he could deal with.

“Start again,” he said, “You’re not making any sense”

Laurie turned to him and said, “I was just saying that Team Three was back from their mission”

Derek shuddered, “Well that’s terrible news, but I don’t see why that affects us. Unless,” he looked up hopefully, “They’re taking over this mission?”

Laurie shook her head and Derek went back to wishing that he was asleep, or at the very least, still in bed.

Laurie stopped walking backwards and gave him her full attention, “Let me start over” she said.

Derek was on the verge of telling her that she could stuff her explanations, but he was already out on the cold street and he though he may as well hear why she had dragged him out before he walked away.

“I thought that whatever it was that attacked us and the village might have spread out from a single source like some sort of Demonic explosion” said Laurie, demonstrating a keen creative mind and a complete failure to understand the perverse nature of the universe.

“If that was right and if I could get precise measurements of when the gashes appeared then we would be able to track down the centre of the blast” Laurie went on.

Derek rubbed his mouth, “I’m still not seeing where we come into this”. That was a lie of course, but he was still bitter about being dragged out of bed so early in the evening.

“I got Wellsford to find the centre for me” said Laurie, “That’s where we’re going now”

Derek barely heard the second sentence; the first was still trying to slot into his mind. “I’m out of bed because of something that Wellsford came up with?!” he said, “That’s it; I’m going back.”

The turned around and got through about half a step when Laurie grabbed him and spun him around. “No you’re not” she said, “We are going to follow up this lead and do our job”

“Yeh?” said Derek, “and where is this centre?”

“Oh it’s not far” said Laurie, not meeting his eyes, “30-40 kilometres out of town.”

“Aha, right, and how were you planning on getting there, considering that our car is at the bottom of a ravine?”

Laurie met his eyes. She was wearing a wicked smile. Derek had learned to hate that smile in the same was that a turkey hates Thanksgiving Day.

“What?” he said, not really wanting to know the answer.

By way of reply, Laurie vaulted the fence they had been standing next to. It led into a grassy field

“No” he said, “No way”, but it was too late; Laurie had got a hold on two horses and was leading them back with surprising skill.

“This is theft” he said desperately.

“No it isn’t” she countered, “Reverend Sammy said that I could use these horses if I needed them.”

“I don’t think he meant for this” said Derek as she led the horses onto the road, “Besides there’s no point in all this; I talked to the police chief and there hasn’t been a missing person case in over a decade.”

“Well, that’s great news then” said Laurie, who had already mounted her own horse, “We get to find something really new at the centre.”

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30-40 kilometres on, Laurie was really beginning to regret having the idea of using the horses; she hadn’t realized how long it had been since she had last ridden one and her legs were now only too happy to remind her.

At first it had seemed like being in the middle of an adventure novel; the waning moon lent the fields and farm yards a silvery glow, while the night’s breeze blew her hair out behind her, and the thumping movements of the horse below her lent a suitably epic feel to events.

After a while however the nights breeze had started to chill her and she had begun to understand why riding bareback was meant to be a punishment.

The ride was a long way from wasted however; she had learnt something new about her partner. Derek, to her great surprise knew how to ride a horse. After the way he had acted back in Symphony Laurie had felt sure that he was afraid of horses, but now he was riding perfectly; Laurie couldn’t understand what he had been so worried about.

When she saw the lights up ahead Laurie lost all thought about being cold. She smiled, and urged the horse a little faster.

Laurie and Derek rode into the Symphony mental hospital car park almost neck in neck.

The horses cantered to a stop and Laurie dismounted with more relief than she would have admitted to. The horses weren’t wearing reins, but she led them to a scraggly looking bush and then left them when they were up to their ears in vegetation. The she looked up at the building.

The Symphony mental hospital loomed over them like some sort of horrible giant bearing down on them. It somehow managed to look starved, and at least half its windows were broken; Laurie had to admit that it looked like the kind of place where a demon would be formed.

None of the lights were on either; and now that Laurie thought about it, the whole place looked like it was falling into disrepair. So it was abandoned then; that would make it a natural place to hide twenty people.

The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea, the hospital was a remote building a long way down a remote road, from a remote town; provided you were quiet about what you were doing there would be no way that anyone would know what you would be up to.

She fingered the butt of her gun and indulged an urge to smile; it was shaping up to be a good night.

She turned to Derek to tell him this, but then she realized that he wasn’t there. Then someone shone a torch on her.

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It was typical of Laurie, Derek thought, the girl needed some sort of self preservation installed in her.

When they had ridden into the car park the very first thing that Derek had noticed was the little building with lights streaming from very window.

From a distance it had looked like some sort of gift shop, and it would make sense if it had been; a gift shop might have kept its lights on all night to deter burglars. But as soon as they had ridden in Derek had seen that it wasn’t that simple; the building hadn’t had enough windows, and it was a little too cosy, and there were a few too many knickknacks stuck on the walls.

So he had jumped up a tree.

From his tree he had had an excellent view of the elderly caretaker walking out with torch in hand. Derek had moved further back into the branches, but had been surprised to see Laurie standing in the open without anything to protect herself.

Before he could whisper a warning though, he had seen the torchlight fall on Laurie and illuminate her where she had stood.

He watched as the caretaker had walked up and demanded to know what Laurie had been doing out at this time of night. The caretaker accused her, among other things, of being a burglar, an arsonist and a tramp, and he did it all only a few feet under where Derek was sitting in his tree.

Derek considered just letting himself fall and knocking the old man out, but he decided against it; he decided that he would like to avoid anyone getting injuring before the shooting inevitably started.

Laurie was trying to talk through the old man’s rant, and come up with some legitimate reason why she was in such an odd place after dark. Derek didn’t think she had a chance in hell. She was trying to pass herself off as a farmer’s daughter and was asking if there was any way she could have a tour of the hospital.

Derek noticed that she hadn’t mentioned him, and he was glad of that, although he wasn’t sure if the caretaker would be stupid enough to miss the fact that two horses implied two riders.

As it turned out the caretaker was. Laurie took the horses and led them away, while the caretaker stood underneath the tree and kept the light on her until she disappeared from sight down the road.

Derek sat in the darkness watching the caretaker walk back to his cottage. Stupid old man, thought Derek, and stupid Laurie for not taking cover fast enough.

Derek sat in his tree and watched as the caretaker took one last look around and shut his door, making the car park a bit darker than it had been before. ‘What do I do now’, he wondered.

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Half of a kilometre away Laurie was wondering the same thing.

She had walked until the old man had taken his torch off of her, and then she had kept walking; just for the look of the thing.

The road that she was walking on was bordered on both sides by stretches of farmland as far as she could see. It looked as though the farmland completely surrounded the mental hospital; although in the distance she thought she could see a small forest at the back of it, for the inmates’ maybe?

Laurie stopped walking and halted the horses. It seemed clear what she had to do, but first she had to join back up with Derek. Laurie tried to thing like Derek, where would Derek be?

Even if he hadn’t seen the forest, he would have snuck around the building looking for weaknesses, she decided. The smartest thing to do would be to go on the attack and trust that he would join her.

Laurie vaulted the fence along the road and tried to encourage the horses to do the same. The horses were quite clear on the fact that they weren’t going anywhere, so she left them where they were; after all, how far could tame horses run?

Laurie strode through the farmland; the crops had recently been harvested and the vegetation in the field didn’t even cover her shoes.

In the silvery moonlight Laurie could see for miles, and she walked with all the assurance of a woman who would see anything coming long before it got to her.

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Derek looked at the horses as though he had never seen one before.

He had thought about what he should do and had decided that he should meet back up with Laurie; after all they were partners. He had reasoned that she would be trying to do the same thing, and so his best bet was to go back along the road where she would surely be waiting. Now he was here, and Laurie was not.

Derek ran through the possibilities in his head. Laurie had been kidnapped, Laurie was secretly a ghost, Laurie was trying to drive him insane. In the end there was really only option though.

Derek had realized that the mission was over the second the old man had walked out of his hut; someone who lived that close had to be in on whatever was going on inside the mental hospital, and he would have relayed what had happened as soon as Laurie had left. Now that they had lost the element of surprise it would be suicidal to go ahead.

Derek looked out over the fields, maybe it was his imagination but he thought he could see a figure walking towards a forest at the very edge of his vision.

Derek sighed and vaulted the fence. The moon lit up an expanse of fields, completely flat and unbroken apart from occasional hay stacks that loomed like monsters.

Derek tried to think who must own this land, his mind provided him with the image of a drunken man with bad teeth who would of course be swinging a shotgun in front of him when he emerged from the farmhouse that Derek thought he could make out in the distance.

Derek rubbed his arms and, feeling very exposed, started putting one foot in front of the other.

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Laurie had almost left the cover of the forest when her underused sense of danger sent her a caution. This wouldn’t be like the other Demons; that was what Derek had warned her.

It took effort to put together a retained Demon; you had to get enough people together, and they had to be the right sort of people, and then you had to torture them as much as you could, but not so much that they actually gave in to the pain, and you had to show them images of the things you wanted destroyed, while making sure that they were never able to imagine you at all; in case they turned on you. All in all, putting together a retained Demon would require a huge and well organized group with no qualms about doing morally indefensible things, and if Wellsford’s work was right, then she was walking right into their nerve centre.

Laurie crouched in the shadow of a tall tree and looked around. She didn’t see any guards patrolling the parameter and there were no obvious cameras around, but she supposed that was the point of a secret operation.

The forest looked like it had once been a garden for the patients, and it had been left to get overgrown. Laurie felt something smooth on the tree she was leaning on; someone had placed a cheery rock sign at the base of the tree some years ago, and over the years the bark had grown around it and lifted it off the ground; it proclaimed You don’t have to be crazy to live here, but you do!

Laurie couldn’t say that she really understood the sign, but it cheered her up a bit. She looked around for some sign of Derek, but didn’t see anything. He must have already snuck inside, she decided, she thought this was very unprofessional of him, and decided to have a few words with him later.

Laurie decided she would sneak in as well, but first she knew that she would have to set something up in case someone decided to sneak up behind her; if it went bad inside the hospital then she wanted an escape route that she knew was safe.

Laurie carefully scanned the edge of the forest until she found a gardening shed. She smiled and started to sneak around to it. She had managed to convince Derek to let her meet his family once, and meeting his daughter had been very educational.

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It was with great relief that Derek reached the safety of the forest. He had walked the entire way across the fields checking over his shoulder and getting ready to run at the first shot.

His relief passed quickly though. Derek was only too aware of the insane situation that he was walking into and now that he was closer to it he thought that the hospital had a very sinister air about it.

If the hospital had an air of evil about it then the forest definitely did; as he crept forward he noted disused toys, mouldering blankets, and a rather unpleasant message that a tree seemed to be in the middle of eating.

Derek crouched down by the last tree at the edge of the forest and looked around. Laurie didn’t seem to be around; that added weight to his suspicions that she had already gone inside. He looked up; as soon as he left the shelter of the trees he could be taken out from any of the windows, but there was nothing for it. Derek stood, leaned forward and prepared to sprint for the entrance.

No! Stop!

Derek sat back down. What if he was mistaken? The figure he had seen had been very small; it could easily have been a figment of his imagination. Running in to back up your partner was one thing, but Derek would be dammed if he was going to be shot dead because of a trick of the light.

Derek let his eyes scan the edge of the forest. They rested on a rather squat and ugly gardening shed; it was a clear land mark, and if there was going to be a message left at all then it would be there.

Derek started to make his way towards the shed. He had only gotten about ten meters when he felt something tug on his foot. He dropped down and grabbed at a piece of cable.

He had just registered that the cable was some sort of gardening wire and that someone had strung it up between two trees when the hissing sound started.

Then there was lots of noise and light.

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Laurie moved automatically.

She hadn’t been an agent for very long, and Demon hunters weren’t normally trained for combat anyway, but she was a government agent; at least technically, and that meant that she had access to a number of firing ranges around the country. She moved quickly to the window while planning what to do.

Like all true combat plans Laurie’s went to pieces almost immediately, she had moved to the window too quickly and was blinded by the surge of light from the grounds.

She started firing anyway; spraying containment crystals into the centre of the light.

Laurie hadn’t bothered to bring any bullets for her gun; she had reasoned that being hit in the face by a piece of blue glass at the speed of a bullet would be sufficiently distracting.

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Derek was nowhere near the fireworks that were going off; with the instincts of a man who had grown old in a deadly profession Derek had put as much distance between what was clearly the kill zone and himself as possible.

Derek hid his body behind a thick tree and propped his gun hand up. With all the fireworks going off in the background it was hard to judge how many people were firing, but maybe that didn’t matter so much right now.

Derek thought about his options, it occurred to him that if he hid in tree and did nothing then the men inside might decide that an animal had accidently nudged the trip wire. Idiot! Think about it! They would search; if they were that trigger happy then they would definitely search the grounds to be sure; Derek doubted if there was a single woodland animal left alive anywhere near the hospital.

Derek thought that if he hid well enough then they wouldn’t find him even after they searched. They’ll find you if they have dogs, he reminded himself. Well maybe they wouldn’t have dogs, he thought, but then he kicked himself for his sloppy thinking; of course they would have dogs; the universe loved to save those kinds of surprises for him.

Seeing that he had no other choice, Derek pulled the trigger.

The battle for the hospital was under way.

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Laurie jumped back from the window like it had shocked her; whoever was on the ground must have picked her out against the window; and he wasn’t a bad shot either.

Laurie took a moment to think about her strategy, while the bullets ripped through the wooden ceiling above her. She was starting to run low on containment crystals; and that wasn’t really working anyway. She knew she couldn’t aim properly while the fireworks were still going off, and whoever was down there had probably moved somewhere with better cover.

It occurred to Laurie that it was odd that no one was joining her in the defence of the hospital; that probably meant that they knew it was their man down there and if so then he was marking out her location for everyone to see.

Laurie moved swiftly down the corridor; making sure to keep well back from windows. While she went she collected dusty metal objects from each room she passed. She still had a few things from the garden shed in her backpack, and what she had in mind would definitely rattle the people down below, no matter where they were hiding.

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Derek had stopped firing. The fireworks had started to die back and now he was watching and listening to see what would happen next.

There was silence and Derek didn’t trust it. He tried to think what he would be doing if he were in the defender’s position. I would probably send people out to flank whoever was below, he decided.

Derek heard the sound of running and brought his gun around to bear on the old caretaker as he ran round the edge of the building; holding a shot gun.

He was moving with a lot less stealth than Derek would have expected; perhaps he was only nominally attached to the group on the inside.

Derek narrowed his aim to the centre of the old man’s heart and was just wondering whether to fire when something arced out of one of the windows and hit the ground.

There was a loud explosion, the smell of burnt duct tape, and the sound of snapping wood.

Derek felt something ricochet off of the tree he was hiding behind and heard it hit the old man.

Derek poked his head around the tree just in time to see the old man drop like a sack of potatoes.

Derek decided that the old man and the group inside weren’t communicating in a tactical sense, and he wished he had known that when he could have exploited it.

He looked around to see what had happened to the forest.

There was a smell of burning in the air, and there were leaves and branches scattered everywhere; some of them were on fire. As Derek listened he heard a tree fall over somewhere in the distance.

Derek forced himself to stay detached and he looked for some sort of clue about what had gone off.

Derek looked at the old man; trying to find the thing that had ricocheted of the tree and hit him.

He saw it on the ground, not too far from where the old man had fallen. It was a slivery gleam in the moon light; reflective and bright. Derek squinted and tried to make out what it was.

He was studying so intently that he didn’t even notice the second thing being thrown from a rather closer window.

There was another explosion, it seemed louder this time.

Feeling windswept and dazed, Derek blinked and opened his eyes.

Oh, thought Derek, staring at the thing that had embedded itself in the tree; travelling through his gun and the stone ornament to do so. He blinked again, they were bedpans, he thought.

Then the terror hit him, and this time it was impossible to stay detached. His gun was destroyed; he was alone, unarmed, and surrounded by people with sick enough minds to think of using bedpans as weapons.

Instinct came back online.

Before he realized that he was standing up, he was already running. By the time he realized that he had stood up, he had aimed a discus throw at an open window. And by the time he realized that he had been running, he had already grabbed the old man’s shotgun, kicked the back door of the hospital open, took up position at the bottom of a stairwell, and started counting down under his breath.

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After the explosion had finished and the sound of falling timber had stopped, Laurie pushed out the table she had been sheltering behind.

“Well, well” she said, smiling at the tribute to destruction.

It looked as though the entire side of the building had been blown out. The room she was standing in looked like the inside of a fire place and now opened onto a three story first step.

Laurie felt around for her pack of containment crystals; but she couldn’t find them. She had a vague impression that she hadn’t picked the pack up before diving for cover. She checked her gun; there were three left.

Laurie smiled again; her estimate of the group she was facing had just gone up. Disc grenades were a top secret weapon; even the government agencies weren’t meant to use them; although she happened to know that Derek had a stolen one that he liked to carry around like a good luck charm; if this group had them then it meant that they were much better connected than she had supposed.

Laurie put her gun away; she would save the crystals until they were really needed.

No one had ever taught Laurie how to fight with a staff, but she knew how to play baseball. She wrenched a heavy steel rod out of a partially crumbled wall and swung it over her shoulder.

The nice thing about bludgeoning weapons was that they never ran out of ammo.

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Derek was worried.

He had checked the old man’s gun and had only found one shell in it; he had been hoping to pick up weapons from those who were killed in the blast, but he hadn’t found anyone.

He had also managed to advance quite far into the building and no one had shown up to stop him. Derek didn’t like it; it had all the markings of an ambush.

Derek tried to think unconventionally. He noticed that he had been following the most open passageways, and turned into a staircase that was crowded with rubble.

He followed the staircase up and found that it opened on a balcony that overlooked a large plaza.

He looked down at the plaza; in his state of mind he labelled it an obvious kill zone. He scanned the balcony; it led most of the way around the plaza and he saw someone picking their way through it.

Derek swung his gun up and advanced.

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When Laurie told the story later she had to admit that she had no idea why she had thrown her steel stick away; there was just some instinct that told her right then that she should throw that stick in front of her like it was on fire; and she had done so.

She knew exactly why she had attacked after her stick had deflected the shotgun blast though; Laurie had based her entire life around jumping towards loud noises.

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Derek caught Laurie’s fist and glared at her. The fact that he had fired his shot gun at her was completely forgotten in the midst of his rage at her for still being alive.

Laurie held his gaze for a moment with a completely dumbfounded look on her face, and then she squealed like a schoolgirl and lunged forward to hug him.

This annoyed Derek more; he had been hoping to have the opportunity to get some yelling done.

*

It was several hours later; there had been a lot of yelling.

Derek was still sulking, and Laurie had to admit that her opinion of Wellsford’s ability was even lower now than it had been before.

The two of them had searched the building from top to bottom; first cautiously, and then with increasing lack of subtlety until they were basically tramping around like they owned the place. Laurie was now willing to bet her life savings that the only person in the building apart from themselves was the old man; who was now tied to a chair and wondering where he had gone wrong in life.

When Laurie started to notice the sky changing to a lighter shade of black she went back to the plaza and found Derek there waiting for her. “Wellsford is an idiot” he said, “There’s nothing here and I’m going back.”

Laurie nodded; it hadn’t escaped her attention that he hadn’t insisted that she had to come with him; that probably meant that he was still angry. Anyway, Laurie was tired; ExpLaurieng a ruined building had been fun at first, but it had lost its appeal after the first few hours.

Laurie remembered that she still had the static scanner; she had had it turned off since they had crested the mountain leading into Symphony’s valley but she turned it back on now; it didn’t seem likely that there were any devices around with the ability to detect it.

She took the scanner around and waved it around in a half hearted manner.

Poor Wellsford, she thought, she knew that he had a soft spot for her, and it wouldn’t be fun for him to find out that he had sent her bad information that had almost resulted in Derek and herself killing each other.

She put the scanner back in her pocket and walked after Derek.

She considered the ways that she could break it to him gently, and realized that she would have to be very quick about it if she was going to get her message in before Derek opened up on him.

She was just checking on her cell phone reception when the scanner started beeping urgently.

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Derek couldn’t believe what he was seeing; it was like the universe was deliberately arranging itself it mess with him.

How did I end up on this mission? He thought; what did I do to deserve this?

He had spent the entire night in a fruitless search through a ruined building; wondering the whole time when the floor was going to cave in and trap him, and when he had finally called it quits and started to mentally rehearse what he was going to say to the idiot that had sent him there he had been cut off and shown that the idiot might have been right the whole time. Derek didn’t see why they couldn’t have found that out before they had wasted an entire night.

The two of them were digging through the rubble that the scanner was beeping insistently at. Derek didn’t know what they were looking for anymore; it didn’t seem likely that the rubble contained dozens of people in sensory deprivation chambers.

With such low expectations Derek wasn’t really surprised when Laurie lifted something he had never seen before out of the rubble.

It looked like someone had taken a cube of about a meter width and covered it with soft leather. These hypothetical people had also seen fit to dye the cube in swirls of grubby yellow and black. Derek reached the conclusion that the hypothetical people had poor taste and weird motives.

He was quite surprised when the cube uppercutted him.

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Laurie checked her gun; there were two crystals left now. She looked at the cube; it was sitting completely inertly; with blue shards sticking out the top.

Derek got back to his feet and looked at the cube like someone might look at a lazy dog that has suddenly started biting people.

“I think we should show Casper this” said Laurie, but Derek seemed to have other things on his mind.

“How did you know to shoot it?” he asked.

Laurie thought that that was a silly question, “Because it attacked you” she said.

Derek didn’t say anything; instead he backed away from the cube and came back with a curtain. He circled the cube a few times and then jumped on it like a prize fighter. The cube made no attempt to fight back.

Derek tied the cube up inside the curtain, and then went and got the other curtain. He threw the wrapped curtain inside the other curtain and threw the whole assembly over his shoulder.

“Let’s go” he said

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They found the horses about where he had last seen them, and Derek was too tired to even be surprised.

It wasn’t the first time that some variation of the theme of Demon had physically attacked him of course; but it was the first time that they had actually succeeded. If not for Laurie, Derek knew that he would probably be dead.

What did he have over his shoulder? Derek had taken a closer look at the rubble they had dug the cube out of, and it looked like the cube had been set inside a concrete pillar; someone had intended to hide the thing and never have it be found.

But it was active; there was no doubt about that. Laurie couldn’t see it but the crystal shards in the top of the cube were crackling with Demonic energy. Something had tried to come through the cube, and Laurie’s trigger finger had stopped it. Now there was something huge on the other side of the cube, and the crystals were disrupting it and holding it back.

Derek didn’t know enough about the crystals to be sure that they would hold.

Derek tightened his grip on his stolen curtain; he felt dirty just holding the damn thing. He decided to find a car as soon as they got back to symphony and get the thing to Casper and off his hands.

On the horse next to him, Laurie dozed behind her sunglasses; but Derek kept his eyes on the road. He knew that even a few years ago he would have dodged that first strike easily. Derek felt his aching body and forced himself to keep his eyes open; he wasn’t a discharged force yet.

He noted the three black helicopters that flew past him with interest, and he urged the horses a little faster.

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When Laurie woke up she found that Derek was having trouble driving in a straight line.

She looked around, “We’re in a… Gremlin?” she asked, before more pressing matters came to mind, “You better let me drive” she said.

Derek looked at her, “You haven’t had much sleep” he said.

“You haven’t had any, by the looks of it” Laurie replied, “Let me drive”

Derek conceded the point and pulled over. Laurie took the driver’s seat and drove off.

“Where did you get this car?” she asked, she was still wondering if there hadn’t been any better cars in a fifty kilometre radius.

“It belonged to Sammy the Rev’s mother” said Derek, “It was the only car I could get at short enough notice”

Laurie took a moment to feel how heavy her eyelids were. “What was the rush?” she asked, “Couldn’t we have stayed for another few hours?”

Derek shook his head, and turned around to look out of the back window. “I didn’t feel safe there” he said, “I think whoever owned that cube might be coming back for it”

“What makes you think that?” she asked

“I saw three helicopters”

“And..?”

“What do you mean…and? I saw three helicopters, isn’t that enough way out here?”

“Enough to worry you yes, but you’re dancing around like someone hyped you on amphetamines. So what else is it?”

Derek tried to push himself back into the seat as though he was burrowing into it “I don’t know” he said, “There was just something back there that didn’t seem right; I just didn’t like it”

Laurie thought about this; they did say that paranoia came for all old agents eventually. But this was a strange case and paranoia might be a survival trait here.

“Get some rest” she said, “I’m here now; you’re safe”

“Safe?” Derek started laughing; but then he stopped and looked at her, “Right” he said, “Safe”. He scrunched himself into the corner of the car. Eventually he seemed to relax; and then started snoring softly.

Laurie didn’t sleep. According to the clock on the dashboard she had only managed to get about two hours sleep, and even through her glasses the road looked streaky in the rising sun; but still she didn’t sleep.

Laurie kept her eyes on the road and kept driving. Maybe paranoia was contagious, she thought; the more she drove the more she wanted to put as much distance between herself and Symphony as she could.

She started checking the rear view mirror far more than was really necessary; and even started turning around completely in her seat every few minutes.

She stopped for gas after a few hours; and while the car was filling up she took a picture of the cube on her cell phone; which she sent to the office. The whole time she was out in the open she kept her eyes on the horizon; she didn’t know what she was expecting to see, but she was glad when she started driving again.

Laurie started keeping more weight on the gas pedal. She was now spending more time watching the rear view mirror than she was spending watching the road. Every time she turned back after swivelling to look behind her she had a feeling in the back of her neck; like something evil was watching her.

After several hours of doing this Laurie finally saw something.

At first it was just a black dot hovering over Mt Symphony, but it still held her gaze so strongly that she almost crashed into a truck while watching it.

She swerved back into her own lane, and the movement woke Derek up. “What is it? What’s wrong?” he asked

Laurie indicated behind the car; and together they watched as the dot became a helicopter, and slowly got larger.

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The thudding of the rotor blades got louder and louder until it seemed to fill Derek’s whole world. But then the sound started to get softer again; and eventually it disappeared entirely.

In the darkness Derek heard Laurie give out a heartfelt sigh, he let himself breathe out as well, and on the other side of him the farmer whose garage they had borrowed also sighed; perhaps because everyone else was doing it.

“They’ll be back” said Derek,” they knew we were on that road.” He expected Laurie to argue with him; but she didn’t say anything.

There was silence for a moment; then Laurie broke it. “They don’t have a tracking device on us” she said, “So that’s a bonus; if they had had some sort of tracking device installed in the cube then hiding in this garage wouldn’t of helped us.”

Derek thought about this, “They could be flying on deliberately to give us a false sense of security” he said; but even to him it didn’t sound likely; the helicopter definitely had enough weapons on it to take down a small garage.

“Okay,” said Derek, “They’ll kill us on the main road; we need to take some sort of back route.”

“We need a map,” said Laurie.

The farmer flicked the light on and dropped a pile of maps in front of Derek.

“Thank you,” said Derek, as he picked one of the maps and spread it over the hood of the Gremlin.

Laurie ran her finger down the map. “We should be about here” she said; she considered the map for a moment, “It’s not a very good position.”

“It’s a bloody awful position” said Derek, “We’d have to drive another hundred kilometres down the road before we found a side road that would take us anywhere other than round in circles!” He closed the map and leaned on the Gremlin’s hood. “Let’s assume we don’t drive,” he said, “What options does that leave us?”

“If we called the office then I bet they would send one of the other teams in a 2CV” said Laurie, “The retained Demon case must have a high priority. We could give them the cube to take back and then lead those helicopters away on a wild goose chase”

“There is no way in hell that I am going to act as a decoy for one of chief’s crazy missions”

“Okay, so forget the second part; we could all go back in the 2CV, and I bet we would be less noticeable”

“Right” said Derek, who thought that this was the best plan they had. “Call them up, and tell them to bring weapons when they come”

Laurie took out her cell phone; but then looked at it with disappointment. “Ah” she said; and she held up the phone to show Derek. Derek couldn’t be sure, but it looked very flat.

He took the phone and held it up to the farmer, “Do you have a charger?” he asked.

The farmer made a noise that might have been an English sentence; if it was spoken through a mouth full of avalanche. Derek noted the fact that all of the tools in the garage seemed to be used by hand. “I guess not” he said, “Bugger”.

He and Laurie spent another ten minutes discussing their plan; before they decided that they would have to drive for the back roads; quickly.

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The sun was rising to its highest point when they started driving again. Laurie let Derek take over the driving; even behind her glasses, bits of her vision kept blurring into harsh whiteness.

Laurie felt the hum of the gremlin’s engine and tried to sleep. It was no good though; it was just too hot and she couldn’t get comfortable.

Laurie kept her eyes closed and tried to sit still. She was getting more and more paranoid about the helicopters. It would take a drive of a full hour before they got to the back road; and the suspense was killing her.

The worst part was knowing that she wouldn’t be able to see the helicopters before they were right on top of her. She strained her ears for the sound of helicopter blades; while hoping the whole time that she wouldn’t hear them.

After what seemed like a few days, she shielded her eyes and looked at the clock on the dashboard. It told her that half an hour had passed since they had set out. “Where are we?” she asked Derek

“We’re in the desert” he said

Laurie nodded and tried to remember the desert from when they had driven down; it had been clear that night and in the pale moonlight she had been able to see to its very edges. She carefully opened her eyes a crack, and then shut them again; all she had seen had been painfully bright light on both sides while she travelled down a plain black line.

More time passed.

Laurie was sitting perfectly still. There were little beads of sweat all over her, and she wasn’t sure how much was from the heat and how much was from the knowledge that there was nowhere that they could hide the car if a helicopter passed over them.

More time passed.

Laurie could feel her neck getting sticky; she wanted to scratch it, but didn’t dare.

More time passed.

Laurie heard Derek take a sharp intake of breath. “I see a chopper” he said.

Despite everything Laurie opened her eyes; then slammed them shut again. “Where?”

“In the distance” he said, “It’s just a dot. Damn it; we were so close!”

“How close?” said Laurie

“Almost on to the turnoff”

“Keep driving”

“What?”

“Keep driving!”

“You’re insane! We’re not going towards that thing!”

Laurie knew that she had to get Derek to see sense fast. “We can’t outrun that thing,” she said, “If we turn around and try to run it’s only going to catch up with us. We have to get to the turnoff and hope that it doesn’t spot us before then.”

There was silence from Derek’s side of the car; then Laurie felt the revs climb a little higher.

“What do you think is the range is on one of those thing’s scanners?” Derek asked

Laurie didn’t answer; she didn’t know either.

More time passed; and with each breath that she took, Laurie expected to feel the first bullet biting into her.

Laurie counted the seconds of her life as they ticked away; and then, to her enormous relief, she felt the car take a turn without slowing down.

Laurie breathed out and felt a smile forming on her face. “Did we make it?” she asked; barely able to believe it.

Derek made a noise in the back of his throat, “We’re on the turnoff” he said.

Laurie felt like hugging him, “We made it,” she said, “We’re safe!”

Derek said his next sentence very slowly. “That helicopter should have been able to move a lot faster than it did.” He said.

“It was searching” said Laurie; who didn’t think that this fact was worth mentioning.

“It didn’t look like it was searching” said Derek, “It looked like it was herding.”

Suddenly Laurie’s world was all sound. There was the sound of rotor blades, and the sound of screeching tires, and then a sound like heavy rain on a tin roof, and then the sound of something going wrong with the engine, and then the sound of the Gremlin leaving the road, and then the sound of crunching metal.

Then there was only the sound of silence.

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Derek dragged Laurie out of the wreckage of the Gremlin; she was heavier than she looked.

He blinked and tried to see, but the helicopter was near the ground and was kicking up too much sand.

Derek felt a rock by his foot and threw it randomly; it disappeared into the solid, sand coloured air.

Through squinted eyes he saw a dark shape form in front of him, and then a knee slammed into his stomach and he fell to the ground.

Other shapes ran past him. He tried to get back to his feet; but he collected a boot to the head and went down again.

Derek tried to get back up; but somehow his hands didn’t seem to be able to find the ground again. He felt rage power through him; How Dare They!

Derek threw his whole body into a flying tackle; but his aim was off. The dark shape moved and Derek felt something heavy hit the back of his head and drive him to the ground.

Derek lay; pinned face first to the ground, and cried out in frustration at his own impotence. Sand filled his mouth and he choked it back, he couldn’t focus properly and there were white spots swimming in front of his eyes. Derek could see darkness pouring in from the edge of his vision, and he didn’t know how long he could hold it back.

Someone with a gruff voice yelled out behind him; “We have the object!” and someone with the voice of command answered, “Then kill them”

Derek felt the weight on the back of his head shift and he heard the sound of a gun being swung round and cocked.

He felt a sudden stab of fear, and realized that he would never get to see his wife or daughter again. He wished Jade was there; she probably would have been able to take down the soldiers.

Then there was the sound of gunfire and laughter.

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Laurie felt something heavy drop on her; but she didn’t shake it off.

She let her head clear and tried to focus. What’s the last thing I remember?

Laurie remembered that they had been shot at and the car had crashed. Now that she thought about it, she could still hear gun shots.

She noticed that the thing that had fallen on her was leaking; she pushed it off and sat up.

It was dark, she realized, and she opened her eyes wide.

There was so much sand in the air that it blocked out the sun; but Laurie’s sunglasses had been designed for her, and they wrapped around her face like goggles.

Laurie focused on the sand, willing her sensitive eyes to see through it. There were lots of people; and they were all fighting.

Most of the people were oddly shaped; like they were wearing body armour. Those people were dropping like flies.

There were two other people; one was tall and the other one short.

The short one was firing bullets around indiscriminately; pumping five or six bullets into each opponent before moving on to the next one. She was laughing the whole time she was doing it.

The tall one was taking her time; leisurely swinging around and taking out each target with a single bullet. With horrified fascination, Laurie realized that the tall one was moving slowly so there would be targets left for the short one.

At the edge of her vision, Laurie made out two new people running towards her; and then, with a rushing sound, she first felt, and then saw the helicopter lift up from the ground.

The tall one turned toward the helicopter and with a thoughtful pose fired her gun once.

The helicopter tipped to one side and smashed into the ground; the tall one went to deal with the pilot.

The short one swung so close to Laurie that Laurie could make out the wild look in her eyes. The short one pulled a grenade out of her vest and swung it up over her head, with her hand on the pin.

Tony caught her arms, “That’s enough, Emma” he said, “They’re all dead.”

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After the shooting had stopped Derek made damn sure that he lay perfectly still. Even after people started talking next to him, he didn’t move. It was only after he was sure that he had heard Tony’s voice that he tentatively raised his head.

What he saw almost made him put it back down again. He closed his eyes and opened them again, and found to his disappointment that they were still there.

Someone put their hands under his shoulders and lifted him up. He looked behind him, “Tony?”

“I’m here Derek; is there anything you need?”

“Yes; I need to know what part of ‘I never want to work with Team Three’ was unclear to Chief”

Tony smiled, “Aren’t you glad to see them? They did just save your life.”

Derek took another look around. Emma and Beatrice were stacking up the bodies of the men who had attacked them, and Wellsford was trying to talk to Laurie; who was already blinking with the fading sand; all in all the effect was peaceful.

“Are they taking over this case?” said Derek; he could still remember the sound of that rifle clicking, and he thought a little gratitude might not be too much to ask for.

“Well not exactly” said Tony, he looked like he was trying to dance around something “We’re all on the case together now; at least for this part.”

“All three teams?!” Exclaimed Derek; it was unheard of, but it did make a certain amount of sense. “Well then why didn’t we just do that from the start?! It would have been nice to have had that level of force before the super soldiers here tried to kill me!”

Tony put a hand on his arm, “Calm down,” he said, “the situation has changed; I’ll explain as we check on the bodies”

In the end though, Derek checked out the bodies alone while Tony checked out the helicopter. It was reasonable enough; Tony was the only one qualified to check the helicopter, and that meant that Derek was the only one left who could check the bodies; Wellsford was incompetent, Laurie was blind, and Team Three were only good at killing.

Tony finished his inspection quickly and Derek was waiting for him when he got out of the chopper. “What did you find?” he asked

Tony looked up, “The identification plate and the black box were removed” he said, “There were no markings and the communication presets were wiped when it crashed; someone really wanted to make sure that we couldn’t trace them back. You?”

“Same” said Derek, “Twelve men, young to middle aged, full combat gear, no dog tags or insignia, weapons and armour were milspec”

Tony nodded, “Can anyone think of anyone that meets that description?” he asked. Everybody shook their heads.

Tony glanced at the cube, “We can run a search on rouge military organizations when we get back to the office” he said, and he pushed himself off of the helicopter.

“Hold on,” said Derek, “You’re not walking away just yet! I still want answers; how is the situation different now?”

“Oh, sorry Derek” said Tony, settling back against the helicopter. He looked at the cube again; it was still sitting where it had been dropped; even Team Three didn’t want to touch it; everyone could see the energy that was still discharging itself from the shards in the top.

Tony looked thoughtful for a moment; then he said, “I better start at the beginning.”

“No I better, old timer” said Emma, “I was there” she was sitting on the hood of the 2CV she had driven in on and she swivelled around to face Derek. “It’s like this” she said, “Beatrice and I were just hanging round the office; waiting for our next mission to turn up, when your pxt turns up”

“My pxt?” said Derek

Wellsford chimed in to help, “It is a form of picture, sent by means of a mob…”

“Yes, thank you; I know what it is” snarled Derek, “But I never sent one”

“I did” said Laurie, “I thought it would make a good failsafe if we were caught, so I sent a pxt of the cube to the office”

“Right” said Derek, he settled back again. “What happened then?” he asked Emma

“Well Casper starts going nuts, right? Chief goes in to see him and next minute he’s in our faces telling us to move out and protect your sorry asses”

“Indeed” said Wellsford, “Five minutes later the chief realizes the mistake he made and pulls us off our own case to protect you from them” he indicated to Team Three.

Derek glared at Wellsford, “Is that what he said?” he said

Wellsford wilted, “Well as a matter of fact he said, ‘Try to get them to leave some alive for questioning’”

Derek cast a meaningful look at the corpses lined up; and then gave a meaningful look to Wellsford.

“Well I’m sorry that we didn’t get to you fast enough” he said, “It was just that…”

Tony raised his hand, “We managed to keep you and Laurie alive for questioning” he said, “And I think that was realistically a best case scenario from the start.”

Derek settled back again; listening to Tony.

“We followed Laurie’s phone to an old farmer down the road” he went on, “And once we had figured out how to translate what he was saying, we came straight here.” He pushed himself away from the helicopter and stretched, “That brings us up to the present” he said, “Is there anything else you need?”

Derek shook his head.

“Then let’s go” said Tony, “Our mission is to bring the cube back to the office safely”

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It was a long drive; the light was failing and Laurie could feel herself getting more alert as the sky darkened.

She was riding with Team Three; since the weight of an extra person made a real difference to the speed of the 2CVs and Derek refused point bank to ride with what he called, ‘Those maniac trigger happy lunatics’.

Laurie had never had much to do with Team Three before; the standing company policy was to send them on away missions that took them several days drive from the office, and then only against targets that were certain to fight back.

Having spent several hours in their company Laurie was beginning to understand where Derek had got his opinion from. Emma did seem like a good person to Laurie, and there was no doubt that she enjoyed life, but it just seemed to Laurie that Emma enjoyed her work a little too much.

Emma had spent the first hour of the drive giving Laurie a blow by blow account of the battle they had just taken part it; she seemed to be especially pleased with the fact that she had managed to shoot one man through both eyes, and she returned to the story in graphic detail too many times for Laurie to count.

Laurie could remember a man with fluid dripping out of both eye sockets; it was one of the last things she had seen before the sand cloud had died down. Laurie saw the image in her head again and felt disturbed.

She was riding in the back with the cube next to her; it was really starting to unnerve her now. She wondered what could have been so important about it that Chief would send out all three teams at once in order to bring it in.

There was something else about the cube as well; she had he weirdest sense that something was trying to force its way through, but kept being ripped apart; Laurie wondered what it must be like to be ripped into pieces, and she shuddered.

Emma was still talking about her latest gun, but Laurie tuned her out, it didn’t seem to matter if you listened or not, and she focused her attention on Beatrice.

Beatrice was the quiet one, Laurie decided; she was quite smartly dressed and didn’t seem to be listening to Emma either. Beatrice looked like a perfectly respectable business women; her clothes, hair and makeup were all perfect, despite being in battle only a short time before, she sat perfectly straight and upright; with poise and dignity, and she didn’t even smell, in spite of having spent the whole day driving through high heat.

All in all, Laurie decided, Beatrice would fit in perfectly in a CEO’s chair, only a small bulge under her left arm marred the picture. If Laurie had seen Team Three in isolation then she would have pegged Beatrice as the less lethal of the two. But that wasn’t right; the battle was still fresh in her mind and she didn’t think that she would ever forget the casual way that Beatrice had killed all those people.

Emma had been talking while Laurie had been lost in thought; and now she said something that jarred Laurie back to reality. “And the telescopic X-ray lens lets me…. Oh look; helicopters.”

Laurie jumped, “What?” she said

Emma pointed out the window, and indeed there were two helicopters bearing down on them.

Laurie started thinking about emergency plans, and dangerous escapes, but then she saw that the other two didn’t seem to care much.

“Don’t you see them?!” she said, “We have to do something.”

Emma nodded, “Yeah, don’t sweat it kid, we’ll deal with them”

Emma nodded to Beatrice; who opened the window with one hand; then, while keeping the other hand on the steering wheel took careful aim at the closest helicopter.

When she fired the gun made an utterly underwhelming sound. It made a small cracking noise and the helicopter fell out of the sky.

Except it didn’t really fall; it keeled over and started to spin. Then, just before it hit the ground, it started flicking around wildly as the pilot desperately tried anything that would make it go right again.

Laurie imagined the pilot. She imagined the horror he must of felt when he pulled on the stick and his craft didn’t respond the way it always had before. She imagined him pulling on the stick with all his strength as he went down; willing it Go up, Go up, and then looking up at the last minute to see that the ground was upon him.

“Wa-hoo” said Emma, “Look at those flames”

Laurie did look; and she felt a little sick.

The last helicopter dropped back to a safe distance and followed them all the way to the city. Laurie wasn’t worried about it; it was already clear where they were going from the road they were following, and if the pilot could follow them from that distance when they were surrounded by skyscrapers then he probably deserved the Intel he got.

Above all, Laurie just wanted to get rid of the cube. When she thought about it, it had been a bad day from start to finish; she had had barely any sleep, she had been put into a state of nervous exhaustion by the paranoia of her partner, she had been tailed by helicopters, and then shot at by same, she had witnessed death and destruction on a grand scale and she felt sure that she could blame it all on that damn cube.

Laurie looked at the passing skyscrapers and billboards without really seeing them, and she thought about her place in life. No, she decided, I got into this job to have a nice time at nights and hunt demons; killing people was not something I signed up for.

The car turned into and new street, and the office was there waiting for them.

It will be better tomorrow, she thought.

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Derek walked home in a relatively good mood; the end of the day was always his favourite part, because it meant that he had managed to survive whatever horrors the night had had for him.

Of course technically the night was just getting started and he was still on duty, but Derek had seen the way that Casper had attached limpet like onto the cube when they had brought it in; and he shared Tony’s opinion that there would be no progress on the case until Casper had spent hours checking it from every angle.

Derek reached the end of his street and squinted down it. He couldn’t see his car out front and that probably meant that it was still in the shop. Derek rubbed his eyes; I hate walking to work, he thought; but then a little part of him told him to stop; he was used to feeling bad on this last bit of the walk home, but tonight he shouldn’t let it.

Derek could still remember the moment when that rifle had been trained on him, and even though he still felt that general unhappiness about going home to see his family; he was determined that this would be the one night where he would tell them how much they meant to him.

Derek started putting one foot in front of the other and started walking down the street. He hadn’t called ahead, so they should have no way of knowing that he was coming; but as he walked he scanned all the rooftops and trees for snipers anyway.

As he reached the half way point along the road something whistled out of an area that he could have sworn he checked, and slammed into his forehead. Derek caught the thing as it bounced off and removed the letter that had been tied around it.

He opened the letter and looked at it; it had a picture of a smiley face waving at him and the message ‘Hi Daddy’. Derek scrunched the paper up and put it in his pocket; it had been Christine’s idea to get Jade that nerf sniper rifle. Christine thought that it gave her a wonderful outlet for expressing herself; Derek couldn’t see what giving his daughter practice shooting him in the head from long distance had to do with art. Every time he came home he expected to find that Christine had decided that a real sniper rifle would be better as a learning aid; or not find, as was more the issue.

Derek reached his house and started on the front steps; he tried to keep his footsteps light and avoid making any sound; and in that he thought he succeeded. When he reached the front door he turned the handle slowly and opened the door so carefully that someone looking directly at the door would have to stare to be sure that it was even moving.

With the door open, Derek moved in as quietly as a mouse. There was the smell of curry in the air and the sound of a pot bubbling on the stove. Christine was sitting in front of the TV in the lotus position; Derek didn’t think she had seen him.

Derek started his whisper quiet walk again. He moved slowly down the entrance hall while keeping his eyes on his wife’s back the whole time. He had almost made it when Christine spoke.

“Oh, dear Derek; you really must remember to take your shoes off; or you’ll misalign your chakras”

Derek, who had already had his hand on the doorknob for the hallway, sagged and sighed, “Right,” he said, “sure”. He trooped back to the door; trying to shake off as much of the city’s mud as possible while he was doing it.

Once he had his boots off he walked back the way he had came, “How did you know I was there?” he asked; he was sure he hadn’t made a sound.

“Oh, dear Derek” she said, “a wife must always know where her husband is”

Derek noticed for the first time that the floor window next to the TV gave anyone sitting there a perfect view of his walk up the drive; and he decided to keep his opinions to himself.

“I’m going to see Jade” he said, and walked door the corridor without waiting for an answer.

Jade’s room was at the end of the hall and down a set of hidden stairs, which Christine had had put in on the grounds that a girl had to have some where that she could take boys without her parents prying eyes. Derek didn’t see why an eight year old girl should have to worry about boys; but Christine had said that it didn’t hurt to be prepared.

At the bottom of the stairs, Jade was sitting on her bed and reading a book; she looked up shyly as Derek walked in, “Hi” she said.

“Hi” Derek said back; and he sat down on the bed.

His daughter was adorable, he decided; in spite of all the improvised weaponry that was hanging off the walls, she was adorable and his heart melted to see her.

“How have you been?” he asked, and Jade gave a vaguely affirmative answer in a small voice.

This was where Derek started running into trouble; he had pretty much exhausted his ‘Talking to children’ vocabulary with his first two sentences. He let sentences stumble around in his mouth; trying to put into words the way he had felt when he had thought he was going to die without seeing her again.

In the end he just didn’t know the words that he needed; and he settled for patting his daughter on the back, mumbling “Good”, and walking back out of the room.

As he walked up the stairs, Derek bereted himself for his own weakness; it was just stupid that the one time when he wanted to tell his daughter something nice he wouldn’t know how.

He reached the top of the stairs and folded the wall back into place. He could smell the curry again, and wondered if he would have any better luck talking to his wife over dinner, when the phone in the hall rang.

He picked it up and answered automatically. Then he listened intently for about five seconds and put the phone down. He took a moment to just stand in the hall and sigh, and then he marched back to the entrance hall.

“I’m going back to work,” he called, “Don’t wait for me.”

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Laurie had been dreaming that she was flying on the back of a seagull when a fog horn pieced through her slumber. “Well heya kid!” said Lenard.

Laure rolled over so that her face was pressed into the back of the sofa. “I’m not a kid,” she said, “I’m three months older than you, remember?”

“Ha, Ha, Fantastic!” said Lenard, “Say, I hear Chief wants to see you!”

Laurie rolled off the sofa and pulled herself to her feet, “I thought we were stood down” said Laurie, “I haven’t had any sleep for way too long”

“Well I feel fine!” said Lenard, “You just have to pace yourself!”

Laurie grumbled all the way down the corridor to Chief’s office; but when she opened the door she was surprised to find that Derek was already waiting for her.

“Ah Laurie” said Chief, rising from his chair to great her, “Are you feeling alright? I waited as long as I could before sending Lenard” Laurie nodded and sat down; she still wasn’t happy about being woken up and sent back to work, but she was touched that Chief had waited long enough for Derek to walk all the way back to work before calling her.

“What is this about?” said Derek, “There’s no way in hell that Casper’s done with that thing yet.”

“No” said Chief, “He isn’t; but a new lead has opened up; it should be more fun for you than the last one”

Laurie’s ears perked up; she still liked the idea of investigating the retained demon, and she really liked the idea of an avenue of investigation that didn’t involve that bloody cube.

“Do you remember that Demon you caught before going on this case?” he asked. Both Laurie and Derek nodded. Laurie remembered that case well; it had been a fun one.

“Well, the boy that the Demon was linked to has been talking to Lenard for the past few days” Chief smiled, “Poor kid” he said, and Laurie smiled too.

“Well anyway,” said Chief, “Lenard got him talking about something that he remembered one of his tormenters playing with.”

Chief held up a sketch of the cube.

Laurie briefly hoped that it was just a coincidence; after all a cube wasn’t an uncommon shape; but the sketch was in colour and the swirls were just the way she remembered them.

Derek spoke first. “What does this have to do with us?” he asked

Chief looked at him in a fatherly fashion, “Well it is your case” he said.

“That case is assigned to all of the teams” Derek replied

Chief chuckled, “True” he said, “But can you imagine Team Three taking a case like this?”

Derek wasn’t moved, “We could send Team Two” he said, “Interrogation is something that Tony is good at”

Chief nodded, “But Tony and Wellsford have already gone up north to continue the mission they were on before I interrupted them.” He smiled understandingly, “there is no need to be concerned for your safety” he said, “I have the highest confidence in your success.”

Derek looked like he had swallowed something unpleasant; he started to yell something; but Laurie caught his arm and he stopped.

Laurie looked at chief and thought carefully; she thought about the mission, and the cube, and what it would be like to break open a retained Demon case. When she thought this last thing, she felt a soaring feeling in the pit of the stomach, “We’ll do it” she said.

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Derek felt uncomfortable; like he should say something, but didn’t know what.

He was driving Team Three’s 2CV; which smelled unhealthy and vaguely herbal, and they were travelling north; into the built up industrial areas of the city.

When Derek had been young, the industrial sites had been the powerhouse of the city; now they were looking very run down.

As Derek looked around he saw lots of broken windows and many factories with doors boarded over. When he stopped at the lights a pair of hookers wearing what they must have imagined to be stylish clothing; they leered into the window until he drove away. He turned to Laurie to check what she had thought of the hookers, but was glad to see that she was still asleep.

The kid was sitting in the back; he hadn’t said anything since he had gotten in the car; Derek didn’t even know what he sounded like. “This is the right neighbourhood?” he asked. After a long time the kid nodded.

Derek didn’t like being with the kid. He generally didn’t like having to deal with any part of the Demon hunting process beyond the actual ‘hunting of Demons’ part; but he hated having to deal with the people who Demons came from most of all.

The kinds of people who spawned Demons were the ones who felt so scared and sad that their feelings were given physical form to wreck havoc upon the world. When Lenard showed up with his bright smile and sharp suit these people were just thrown at him; no one ever had room for someone who never spoke and spent all their time brooding alone; and that just made Derek angry at the world.

He took another look at the kid in the back, and wondered how long it had taken for his parents to decide to send him away. Five minutes? Ten?

Derek made another attempt at conversation and asked something at random, “So we’re looking for a little cube then?” he said, “About three centimetres wide?”

The was silence from the kid for so long that Derek had effectively given up; and then the kid gave the corner of the car a tiny nod.

Derek didn’t bother to make another attempt at conversation; he hated having to deal with the kinds of people who could spawn Demons.

He nudged Laurie on the shoulder; “We’re here” he said.

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Laurie took a look around as she got out of the car.

The building in front of her seemed to be the only one in the entire neighbourhood that wasn’t covered in graffiti; and it didn’t have the sharp cut-off look that you get when the graffiti is painted over daily; the graffiti just seemed to thin out on the other walls the closer it got to this building.

Laurie took a look at the building itself. It was an old wooden building which was painted in a faded cream. The roof was covered in faded red tiles and the windows where left open to let in the night air. Over the building a small sign was hung; it read Sister Silverdon’s school for industrial area children; it looked like there had once been a logo next to it, but now it was only visible as a stain on the wood work.

The building seemed to be closed, which happened to Laurie a lot; an occupational hazard of only working through the night; that didn’t matter though; breaking in was one of her favourite parts.

She was looking for the best way to get into the building when Derek grabbed her arm and indicated towards the side of the building. There was a shimmer of light from one of the windows; Laurie sighed; someone was home, but she was okay with that; she got the sense that it might be a mistake to break into this place.

She nudged the kid and walked towards the door; to her surprise, he hurried ahead of her and knocked on the door before she got there. Wondering about this reaction, Laurie joined him on the doorstep and Derek joined them both a moment later.

They both waited patiently for the door to open, but it didn’t. Laurie looked at the kid; who hadn’t changed his facial expression, and at Derek; who was scowling. She was about to suggest breaking in anyway, in spite of the light, when the door burst open.

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Derek jumped back in shock and felt his ankle roll underneath him. He hadn’t been looking when the door had been opened, but now he stared ahead, and up, and further up.

The person standing in the door was quite simply the tallest person that he had ever seen. Not only that but her eyes were flashing and she looked like she might attack him at any given moment. She was also wearing a nun’s habit; and that somehow made the whole thing all the more terrifying.

“Shit!” Derek said, and felt perfectly justified in doing so.

The nun’s eyes got even wilder, and her nostrils flared, “Young man!” she said, “I’ll not hear language like that!” and out of nowhere a meter ruler appeared and smacked him on the wrist so hard that Derek thought he might have broken it.

“Fuck” he said, recoiling in shook; he hadn’t even seen the nun’s hand move. The ruler flashed again and collected on his other wrist.

“Mother…Dearest” said Derek; trying to suck air back down his throat. The nun moved her head to the side and up and looked thoughtful for a moment; then the ruler appeared again and hit him on the first wrist even harder than before.

The nun then drew herself even further up her full height and glowered like a gathering thunderstorm. “Why have you come here?!” she demanded.

Derek took a step back; he was sure that the earth was trembling with every syllable she used. Laurie stumbled back to join him, and Derek saw her gun hand twitching. He really didn’t think that would be enough.

Then he saw something that seemed incredibly unlikely under the circumstances. The kid walked quite calmly up to the nun and hugged her knees; it was like watching someone sticking their head inside the mouth of a wild lion.

The nun looked down at the kid like the peak of a mountain avalanching over; then she did the same thing in reverse and looked directly at Derek, if anything she looked even scarier than she had before.

She raised a long, bony finger and pointed it at Derek’s heart; and then she spoke like blasts of air from the depths of hell, “Who. Are. You?!”

Derek thought that had the sound of a final warning and he fumbled in his coat for his badge. He managed to get it out and held it up in front of him like a shield. The nun subjected it to a long glare; as though it were a condemned man and she were judge, jury, and executioner.

Then, after a long, heart stopping moment, the nun straightened back up and seemed to shrink; returning to the simple burning rage that Derek took to be her default mood. Then, without saying a word, she turned on the spot and glided back into the building; Derek didn’t see her legs moving.

She had taken the kid with her, he realized, it was easy to miss things like that.

Derek and Laurie stood on the doorstep and looked down the corridor. It was cold, and uninviting, and completely empty. She had left the door open though; so surely she meant for them to come in?

Derek looked at Laurie, and Laurie gave him a weak little smile back. Then she took a tentative step forward, and, not to be outdone, Derek took a big pace forward and crossed the threshold.

Derek fully expected to be struck dead by a lightning bolt of human skulls the instant he crossed into the corridor. But nothing came; everything stayed dead still.

Derek started putting one foot in front of the other and walking down the corridor; testing each foot step to make sure that the ground would still hold his weight.

He glanced behind him and saw that Laurie was doing the same thing he was. They moved down the corridor together; searching every shadow as they went.

After they had made it a few meters from the entrance, the door slowly swung closed and shut with a final sounding click. Derek and Laurie both turned around at this and looked at the door. “It’s just the wind” said Derek; aware that he wasn’t even convincing himself.

They made it to the end of the corridor and turned ninety degrees; there was another corridor now; with rooms coming off either side. With nowhere else to go the two of them started making their way down this corridor as well.

The whole building had a strange smell like wet chips, and it didn’t seem like any school that Derek had ever seen before. There was a strange voice on the air which turned out to belong to a TV; playing on low to an empty room. Derek kept walking.

They reached the end of the corridor and made another ninety degree bend into a third corridor. Derek wondered where it all ended; the building hadn’t seemed that big from the outside.

Derek was feeling a little more confident now; he felt he knew what to expect; and even if what he was expecting was endlessly recurring corridors, it still made him feel more confident.

Derek strode down this corridor and came eye to eye with the nun.

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Laurie saw Derek jump back and bite his tongue; so she knew what to expect. She put her back against the wall and walked along it with her eyes on the door that Derek was staring at; and sure enough she found the sister; standing slightly closer to the door than was really necessary.

Laurie was glad they had found her.

The sister flashed her eyes and held up a thick folder. “You want the files on Ernest Mckingle” She said. Laurie noticed that she hadn’t bothered to ask them.

Derek didn’t seem to want to move; but Laurie knew that they might not have long before the sister simply put the files away. She reached out her hand towards the file; and realized that Derek was watching her hand as it moved; she wished he would stop; it was making her nervous.

Laurie took the file and lifted it out of the sister’s hand. She didn’t bother to check the contents; it might have just been Derek’s influence, but she suddenly wanted to be out of the building.

Laurie smiled at the nun; and realized that Derek had started backing away without her. She moved to keep up with him, and the sister glided noiselessly after them.

Of all the things that she had seen that night the most disturbing was yet to come.

As she passed another room she caught sight of a picture that stopped her in her tracks, “Reverend Sammy?” she wondered aloud.

The sister stood uncomfortably close behind her, “My son” she said. Laurie nodded; adding this knowledge to her personal files. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Derek stiffen up and start walking to the door like a tin soldier; and she remembered whose car they had destroyed in the desert.

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Derek forced himself to stay calm. It’s okay, he told himself, I only borrowed the car from Sammy this morning; she can’t know what happened yet.

He walked further down the corridor; fighting the urge to look back. As he passed the room with the TV the program changed over to the news. The sound was still low; but Derek could still hear the news headline, ‘The bodies of three men were found next to a downed helicopter and a wrecked car this evening’.

Derek didn’t wait to look behind; he bolted.

Derek skidded around the corner at breakneck speed, and dived headlong at the door. To his surprised the door opened, and he skidded to the car.

He got his door open just as Laurie dived across the hood; and then he jammed the key into the ignition, raked the gears into reverse, tried to put the accelerator through the floor of the car, and was off.

“Wait!” screamed Laurie; as the car hurtled backwards through two red lights, “We forgot the kid!”

“I don’t care!” Derek screamed back, “If Lenard wants him then he can go get him himself!”

Derek spun the car around and accelerated away forwards. He drove with one eye in the rear view mirror; fully expecting to see the nun flying after him like some sort of vengeful ghost.

Slowly Derek’s heart started to slow down again; and the road behind him took on a slightly less threatening hue.

Beside him Laurie scratched the back of her hand, “There was something weird about that” she said.

Derek thought that ‘something weird’ didn’t even begin to describe what had happened back there; and he communicated as much to Laurie in rather forceful terms.

“No, no.” said Laurie, “I meant the news report; what happened to the other nine bodies?”

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They had driven well outside the city limits before Derek would agree to stop driving.

He pulled into a scenic car park and turned the car off, but he kept both hands tightly on the steering wheel.

There was a long silence in which Laurie admired the view. It had been a good idea to build a car park here, she thought; the city lights were beautiful. After a while Derek said, “What does the file say?”

Laurie looked at the folder that was half crushed in her hand. She opened it and started to read. “Ernest Mckingle” she said, “Lives not too far from the school, one older brother, no other family are mentioned, there’s a list of test results” she pulled out sheets of paper and shook them loosely, “They’re bad.”

She put the file away. “What’s our next move?” she asked.

“Read me that file again” Derek said.

Laurie looked at the thick file, “You know,” she said,”If we turned the car light on then you would be able to read it as well.”

“I’m not ready to be that visible”

Laurie took a look around, there didn’t seem to be anyone else around, “Why do you want to hear it again?”

“It’s really normal; and it calms me down”

Laurie smiled, “All right,” she said, “I’ll read it to you while we drive to this kid’s house; I’ll even make the sound effects at the right parts”

Derek snorted; and put the car into reverse. They got back on the road and drove back towards the city. Laurie really did do the sound effects; it didn’t seem to calm Derek down much.

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Derek brought the car to a halt in front of a rundown house. The grass was higher than Derek’s knees; but not high enough to cover the rusted car parts on the lawn. The graffiti was so thick that the only transparent windows were the ones that had been broken out of the pane. One side of the house was drooping so badly that it looked like a loaf of bread that had had one end soaked in petrol.

Derek got out of the car; making sure to engage every anti theft device, and he joined Laurie in looking at the house from the outside.

“Look at this place” said Laurie, “There’s no way that anyone lives here.”

“Could be a squatter” said Derek

“No way,” said Laurie, “A squatter would never let their home get like this; someone might evict them.”

They watched the house in silence.

Derek was suddenly aware that he was standing out in the open in a high crime district; he had a sudden desire to be somewhere else and preferably sleeping. “Whatever,” he said, “A house wouldn’t get that bad on its own” and he started walking towards the front door.

Derek reached out for the door handle, but then realized how utterly unnecessary that was. He waited until Laurie joined him and said, “Give me a boost.”

Laurie got her hands under one of his feet and lifted him through a window. Derek saw that someone had picked away all the glass at the bottom of the pane; he clearly wasn’t the first one to enter through this route.

Derek helped Laurie up through the window as well and took one last look at the street; it was deserted apart from a hobo passed out under at street light; and he looked like he wouldn’t have the motor skills necessary to steal a car.

He turned and started to walk into the room; but Laurie caught his arm. “There’s something wrong” she said.

Derek didn’t think it was necessary to point that out; he was picking his way through several feet of detritus and the whole house smell of rotting food; in his younger days it would have turned his stomach.

Derek was about to start walking into the house again, but then something stopped him. Laurie was right; there was something wrong here; he didn’t feel like an intruder in the house, it felt like he was expected. It felt like the house was watching them.

“What is it?” he whispered to Laurie; cursing himself for not catching on fast enough.

“The rubbish on the ground” said Laurie, “There’s a path where it’s not as thick as it should be; it leads out of the room.”

Old instinct informed Derek, “What crosses the path?” he asked

Laurie was silent for a moment. “Some sort of line” she said, “It’s thin like wire. I can’t see where it leads”

Derek nodded, “Back out the window,” he said, “We’ll storm through the back.”

They climbed back out of the window and walked around the house, staring in windows as they went. When they had made a complete circuit of the house, Laurie turned to Derek and said, “I didn’t see anyone in there.”

Derek nodded, “Could you see properly through the bedroom window?” he asked.

Laurie shook her head.

“Right” said Derek; he wasn’t liking the way this mission was going and he wished he had been able to pick up a new gun at the office. “Let’s smash through that one. How much ammo do you have?”

Laurie took a look at her gun, “Two crystals” she said apologetically.

“Get some more when we get back to the office” said Derek; who was already walking to the back of the house. He hated when his job made him put himself in danger like this, and he was trying to get it over with.

Laurie joined him outside the window. “How are we going to get in?” she asked.

Derek fished around in the grass, and hefted up something that looked like it had once belonged to a transmission system.

Laurie saw the thing and smiled her idiot grin, “Let’s do it” she said.

Derek willed his arms to become loose and started swinging them backward and forwards under their own weight and the weight of the car part. The arc he was swinging in got bigger and bigger until it suddenly became a complete circle.

He looped his arms around his head three times; the first was to build up momentum, the second sent the car part through the window, and the third sent Laurie soaring, gun in hand, through the open gap.

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Laurie landed and spun. He gun located on a rotting bed sheet, but it was empty. She scanned the room and moved out.

She moved down the corridor, kicking in doors as she went and feeling the adrenalin pulse in her brain. She even searched the end of the house that looked like it was collapsing; there was a smell that suggested that something flammable had been spilt, but it seemed deserted.

She suddenly realized that she had searched the whole house and hadn’t found anything.

She stood perfectly still while she thought of what to do next.

There was the sound of rubbish being moved back from where she had come. She moved back up the corridor; not bothering to keep her wading quiet, and located her gun on Derek’s head.

“Dammit!” she said; dropping the gun to her side. “He’s not here!”

“Have you checked the rafters?” said Derek

Laurie hadn’t, and she stomped off to investigate, but found nothing in the ceiling space. “He’s not here either” she called; launching herself back to where Derek was standing.

“Well that’s that then” said Derek who was already turning around, “I’m going back”

“No” said Laurie; who had had time to think, “He might just be out for the night, so we’ll wait for him, or he might have moved out, so there might be some clues in this rubbish.” She put her eyes to the ground and started walking.

She was so focused on the litter that she didn’t even see the line until after she had pulled it and heard it go ‘click’.

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Derek reached out to grab Laurie, but it wasn’t necessary; she was already running backward on her own.

He joined her and dived out the window immediately after her. They both cleared the garden fence without slowing down and sheltered behind it just in time to hear an earth shattering kaboom that ripped apart the centre of the house.

“The car!” Derek yelled, already getting to his feet, “We have to move the car, before the neighbours see!”

He ran toward the road, only to find that Laurie wanted to get out of there even more than he did. He tossed her the keys as she overtook him; and together they clambered into the car and set off.

When they were safely around the bend, Laure stopped the car and look back. Derek would have preferred it if they had kept driving, but he looked back too.

The house was on fire, and it lit the street up with a cheery glow. As they watched, the rest of the structure collapsed on the burning pile, and a towering sheet of flame shot up into the sky as something flammable caught.

Derek looked around and saw people poking their heads out of their houses and looking surprised. Someone was trying to get a bucket brigade started, and someone else was trying to pickpocket people in pyjamas, and was meeting with a profound lack of success.

No one seemed to have noticed the little blue 2CV around the corner.

Derek touched Laurie’s arm, “Let’s go” he said.

Laurie nodded and drove the car away; leaving the lights off until she had driven half a block from the fire.

“Well” said Laurie, “I guess we won’t be able to wait for Ernest Mckingle after all”

“Ernest Mckingle?” said the hobo lying in the back, “Charming kid that.”

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Laurie didn’t bother to turn around; she recognized the voice. “Hello Herbert” she said.

“G’day Laurie” said Herbert; he was a little bit muffled because Derek had spun around and lifted him by the front of his shirt. Derek had probably recognized the voice as well, Laurie knew, but as someone who had also just had a bomb go off in her face she fully understood his need to punch someone.

That said it still wasn’t a good idea to beat up staff members. “Put him down” said Laurie; giving the mirror a stern look.

Derek put Herbert back down muttering something about not scaring him next time.

“Do you need something?” asked Laurie; falling into comfortable ritual.

“Yer got a smoke?” said Herbert. Herbert always asked for smokes; sometimes people gave him some, but Laurie had never seen him smoke one.

“I don’t smoke” said Laurie; it was the same thing she had said to him on her first day on the job, and every time after that.

“Good for you” said Herbert and fell about laughing; Laurie had never managed to get a straight answer on why he found this answer so funny.

Herbert straightened up; the ritual was over, and it was business time now. “You want to know where Ernest Mckingle is?” asked Herbert, “Well that will cost yer.”

Laurie was quite happy with the idea of spending money; they were given an expense account for their missions, and Herbert’s information had always been useful in the past. Derek wasn’t happy though.

“We can find this guy on our own.” He said.

“Well, I’d love to see that” said Herbert; it was the thing he always said when Derek refused his first offer.

Herbert sat in the back and twiddled his thumbs while Derek carefully studied the files they had got from the sister, and Laurie drove in random directions.

After half an hour Laurie realized that there was no point in driving if she wasn’t going anywhere, and pulled up next to a rugby field.

Fifteen minutes after that Derek turned around in his seat and said to Herbert, “I can just go to city hall in the morning you realize? I could get all the information I wanted that way.”

Herbert nodded, “Yer, you could; in the morning”

Derek went back to his notes; Laurie went back to imagining shapes in the night clouds.

Five minutes later Derek sighed and turned back to Herbert, “Are you still on your normal rates?” he asked.

Herbert smiled and said, “Damn straight.”

“What level secret is it?”

“Lowest level; only level ten”

Derek turned back to the front, “Fine” he said. Laurie looked over at him and started the engine. She was glad he finally agreed. Even if it did save them some money sometimes, she wished that he didn’t have to dispute Herbert’s help every time.

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Derek didn’t really like Herbert; the man was like an explanation for everything that Derek thought was wrong with the world.

In particular he resented that over the years Herbert had made enough money off the Teams to live in a mansion somewhere, but he still lived in a dumpster. Derek supposed that someone who made his living by digging through trash for information had to be comfortable around the stuff, but going the whole way was condescending.

There was always this feeling in the back of his mind that Herbert wasn’t telling him something. Obviously Herbert didn’t tell him a lot of something’s, but he had the feeling that this was something important, and it made him feel like he couldn’t trust Herbert.

Derek was getting the feeling that he couldn’t trust Herbert now; the man seemed to be leading them into the high class area of the city, and all of Derek’s instincts were telling him that this was the wrong place to look.

They rounded the last bend. “That’s the one” said Herbert; pointing to a handsome Georgian manor.

Derek looked; there was scaffolding everywhere and it looked like there were workmen putting up gold leaf on everything that was visible; by daylight the effect would be absolutely hideous, by night it was actually interesting.

Too slowly, Derek’s eyes were drawn down to the areas of cover around the house, where there were men standing around holding things that were a little too long and shiny to be brushes.

“Keep driving” he said to Laurie; only to realize that she hadn’t even started to slow down.

They drove out of sight of the Manor, and then a bit further just in case, before parking at the edge of the road.

“How did he get the money for that?” Laurie wondered aloud

“Ah” Herbert leaned forward, “That’s another level ten secret”

“No” said Derek; getting in before Laurie could answer, “It’s not important; we can find out who he robbed in the morning papers.” Derek rubbed his forehead, “Lets recap” he said, “from the beginning.”

“Okay” said Laurie, “We’re trying to find Ernest Mckingle, a bully of that last kid we brought in, he was seen playing with a mini version of that cube we found Symphony and we want it and him for questioning. We went to his house, but it was empty and rigged to explode, and now we’re here; Herbert says the target is inside”

“Yeh; and surrounded by enough armed guards to form a small army” said Derek.

“And renovators” agreed Laurie, “Probably some staff inside too; that’s a lot of pairs of eyes.”

“Right” said Derek. He looked at Herbert, “I suppose there is a way to enter safely?” he asked.

“Yep” said Herbert cheerfully, “It’s a level five secret.”

“Right” said Derek, rubbing his eyes, “We’ll get killed if we just try to walk in like this. We might need to think about this.”

It was so late that it was technically early before the two of them came up with a workable plan.

Throughout the whole thing Herbert sat in the back; smiling and nodding. Derek wished he could get away with punching him.

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At some point before she had joined the organization someone had seen fit to install a secret remote control in the local sport field’s blimp. Laurie had no idea why they had done it; the organization just attracted those sorts of people.

No one had ever managed to use it of course; putting aside everything else the remote didn’t have a button to open the hanger doors. So the remote had wound up in the mountain stockpile.

Everyone in the organization knew about the mountain stockpile; even people who had never been there like Laurie. It was where the organization hid away the things they found or made that were too weird to ever be used on a mission, but too weird to be thrown away.

Derek and Laurie climbed the mountain together; Herbert had melted into the shadows at some point; and they reached the old, door less cottage maintained as a historical artefact by a trust that the organization had a significant stake in.

Laurie’s eyes were better than Derek’s and while they were still a fair distance away she stopped him and pointed out some teenagers using the cottage for a purpose for which it hadn’t really been designed.

Laurie was in favour of just leaving them alone and letting them realize that a stone floor is an incredibly uncomfortable thing to lie on, but Derek marched up the rest of the way and shooed off the lucky pair accusing them of desecrating a historical relic. Laurie wasn’t sure what claim the cottage had on being a historical relic; as far as she knew the only interesting thing about it was that it was very old and sat on a nearly forgotten shallow cave.

Laurie joined Derek and watched as the teenagers drove away; hurling abuse and a solitary drink can.

When they were gone Derek got to his knees and started lifting stones. The floor of the cottage was made of stones and mortar and as such was very strong. However if you looked very closely you would see that some of the mortar had been carefully chipped away and replaced with rubber cement that had been cut in such a way that if you lifted it here, and here…

Derek stuck his head through the new hole in the floor and started lifting things out. He handed Laurie a bundle of plastic fabric and a teddy bear before taking a black box out for himself.

He stood up and looked her in the eye, “Are you sure you’re ready to do this?” he asked.

Laurie nodded; she was looking forward to the plan; it promised to be a lot of fun and not get anyone killed.

Derek nodded too, “then it’s time to split up”.

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Derek marched into the hanger as though there was nothing there to stop him. He had years of experience breaking into buildings and leaving no obvious sign behind him, and also, someone had left the roller door open.

There were men inside the hanger; but they were either the night shift about to go home, or the day shift with early morning eyes, and neither of them were prepared to stop a man who walked in looking like he knew where he was going.

Derek actually had no idea where he was going; but he knew the importance of looking like he knew.

There was an office with lights in the window and a stairs leading up to it. Derek walked up the stairs and into the office only to find that it was a break room. He grabbed a magazine to justify the side trip and read the cover article as he walked down the stairs.

He focused into the half darkness and saw some sort of console at the other end of the hangers. It was the best hope he had; but if he walked all that way and came back empty handed then it would look very strange, and the console was a long trip to the blimp as well; after he got it airborne he might not get on in time.

In reality there was no real choice; Derek walked the length of the hanger and came up to the console.

He saw to his relief that it was very simple looking; there were only a few buttons and it was unmistakably the control panel for the hanger doors. Derek looked over the panel and pressed the ‘open’ button experimentally; it didn’t work, but he hadn’t expected it to.

The only other thing on the panel apart from the buttons was a single keyhole. Derek had learnt the rudiments of lock picking, everyone in the organization did, but he didn’t know if he could really do it in time.

There was no other option; it would look too odd if he walked away from the panel and came back later. Derek pulled two pieces of wire out of his pocket and went to work.

He put the wider bit of wire into the keyhole and turned it to put pressure on the pegs. With the thinner, bent wire he felt where all the pegs were and raked it across them while turning the other wire quickly. He hadn’t done it quickly enough, and some of the pegs fell back into the lock before he finished turning it.

Ignoring the beating of his heart; Derek glanced over and saw one of the workmen on the blimp looking at him strangely.

He reinserted the thinner wire and tried again; but this time he put too much pressure on the wire and drove some of the bottom pegs too high. Derek glanced back and saw that the workman was now walking towards him.

Sweating a little; Derek put the thin wire back into the lock and raked it out again; while trying to remember all the unarmed fighting he had ever known; which wasn’t much.

To his huge surprise the keyhole made a clicking sound.

Not wasting any time; Derek punched the ‘door open’ button on the console, while thumbing the sequence he had memorized on the box in his pocket.

That done, he looked directly at the man walking towards him and nodded to an area behind him.

Even after the man had turned around Derek could still see the look of astonishment on his face.

The man ran back to the blimp as fast as he could with Derek right behind him.

Some of the workers were trying to use poles or ropes to bring the blimp back down, some of them had jumped from their scaffolding and were running for cover, some of the more experienced ones were running for the console; everyone was shouting and no one had any time to spare for the man running past them who seemed to know what he was doing.

The blimp had been too far from the console, and it had already risen quite high off the ground by the time Derek caught up with it. He ran up the scaffolding and leapt.

He caught the bottom of the cabin with one hand and tried to clamber up with the other; but there were no handholds. People were throwing lines to him and yelling for him to grab them; but he pretended he couldn’t hear them.

He glanced back at the console. There were workman there trying desperately to close the hanger doors again; but Derek had wrenched that button off before walking away. He hoped that the doors would open quickly enough.

There was a great lurch, and then a feeling of bouncing, and Derek knew he was through. He desperately tightened his grip on the underside of the cabin; the fall was getting longer and his arms were already getting tired.

There was another bar not too far from him. Derek worked up his nerve and started swinging; when his arc was big enough he reached out with his feet and hooked them round the bar. With his feet hooked he levered his body up and laid his back over the first bar.

Ignoring all the fresh air below him, Derek pretended to be comfortable and set in for a long flight. To take his mind off matters he reached for his magazine and started to read; it turned out to be about airplane crashes.

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Laurie saw the blimp coming long before anyone else around the manor did. She sat on a park bench and waited till it got a bit closer.

She kept one eye on the blimp and waited for the first cry from the grounds before she moved. She walked at a pace that could easily be written off as a very early morning stroll.

By the time she reached the fence the blimp was looming huge in the sky, and everyone within the grounds was watching it grow larger.

Laurie vaulted the fence like it was the most natural thing in the world; and started walking over the grounds.

She didn’t sneak or try to dart from tree to tree; those were amateur mistakes that would be certain to get her caught.

Laurie shivered with excitement and kept walking. She passed the first guard without drawing his eye, and she smiled to herself; she loved this part of the job.

Her objective was the old stone building at the base of the well maintained hill; but the building was a natural source of cover and she saw several guards camped around it.

Laurie didn’t break her stride; that would give her away.

The Guard’s were all watching the blimp as it closed in on them. None of them had seen her; but she knew that they would notice her if she did anything as obvious as trying to open the building up.

She also knew that this was her only chance; she couldn’t change the direction she was going in because that would make the guards aware that there was someone on their territory who was trying to hide something. If Derek didn’t come through on his distraction in time then she would have to try the door anyway and come up with some excuse when she was caught.

She was about ten seconds from reaching the door. She was confident that she would get through. Derek wouldn’t be able to see her from where he was, and they had no way of timing the operation; but Laurie sincerely believed that she was lucky.

She was five seconds from the door, and the guards were still watching the blimp. Now that she was closer she could see that they were getting restless. What was Derek doing?

Three seconds to the door. One of the guards hadn’t shaved properly this morning.

Two seconds to the door. Laurie’s foot brushed a stick and one of the guards twitched and started to turn.

There was the sound of blaring trumpets and a surge of bright light. Fireworks exploded across the sky and formed the shape of naked ladies dancing in suggestive ways. The land surged into life as lights came on in every house within eyeshot.

Laurie averted her eyes and walked through the spellbound guards. She opened the door to the stone house and closed it behind her with a firm click.

The sound of the halftime show was still blaring through the door and she knew that she probably had a few minutes before any of the guards realized that something might have happened while they were all staring at the blimp.

It wasn’t smart to risk it through, and Laurie took a look around. The equipment in the building looked like it hadn’t been used in many years. Laurie focused through all the cobwebs and found a door in one of the walls.

Laurie picked her was through the refuse on the floor and tried the door; it was locked; that would be a problem.

Laurie sucked her lip and looked back at the entrance of the building; the sounds of the show were starting to die down. She looked back at the door; it could only lead to the steam tunnels; and the steam tunnels were the only way in.

Laurie took a look at the lock; it was an old, poorly designed one, but she had left her lock picking tools with Derek. Laurie tried to think of the most interesting way to get through the door.

Thirty seconds later Laurie was running through the door with some sort of water heater held out in front of her. She didn’t bother to shut the door behind her; if the guard who came to check was vigilant enough to notice an open door at the back of the building which was covered in cobwebs; then he would definitely notice the damage that she had done to the door if she shut it.

Laurie ran half way up the tunnel before dropping the cooler; she hoped that there wasn’t another locked door at the end of the tunnel; if there was then she would have to go back for it.

There were cobwebs filling the tunnel like a thick mist, and Laurie soon collected a trail of confused spiders so big that it made her look like a comet. There were thick pipes along one side of the tunnel that looked about to fall apart; in fact the whole tunnel looked like it was in danger of caving in; Laurie though that it was all very exciting.

She reached the end of the tunnel and was relieved to find that the door at the end wasn’t locked. She skittered out into a basement under the house, and ran straight up the stairs she found there.

She stopped just before she opened the door at the top of the stairs and thought about the way she looked. I may as well get changed here, she thought, and walked back down the stairs peeling off as many of the cobwebs as she could.

She took of her own clothes and hid them in a dry spot under the stairs. Then she took out the rubbery package that Derek had gotten for her from under the mountain house. She unfolded it and slipped it on; it had picked up a few wrinkles, but it was way too late to deal with them now.

She picked up the teddy bear as well and hugged it to her. Then she started back up the stairs.

She stood out of the basement as proudly as she could manage. There was no one about and Laurie was glad; she was very excited by the idea of being so deep in enemy territory and being about to do something that was illegal in about half a dozen different ways; but she hoped that she would manage to finish the mission without too many people seeing her like this.

She walked down the hall and thought through her next move; she had to find Ernest Mckingle’s room was and get him alone. She was sure that’s she could manage the second part but she wasn’t sure about the first.

She walked down the hallway; it would look bad if she gave herself away now by looking unsure.

Where would he be? The top floor, she decided, and she started to look for a staircase.

She spotted one at the end of the hall and started towards it. As she was walking, the door of what was clearly the kitchen opened and spilled several household staff into the hall.

Heart hammering, Laurie smiled warmly at the middle aged ladies and was pleased to see that they all looked away; denying them a good look at her face. No one challenged her, she noticed, apparently Derek had been right about Mr. Mckingle’s probable tastes.

She climbed the stairs and moved automatically towards the room with light in it. She had kept her glasses with her of course, but everyone always told her that she had pretty eyes; and she knew that she would need all the help she could get if she was going to get close enough before he yelled out.

She reached the door and opened it by leaning on it seductively. She could see that there was someone in the room; staring out the window; but the bright room lights were playing tricks with her eyes and she couldn’t make any detail out. ‘Ah well’, she thought, ‘if it’s not Mckingle then some old butler is going to have one of the best nights of his life.’

She waited until the figure turned around and then walked across the room; making sure to sway her hips as she went. The figure was standing completely still and watching her; it was either transfixed or horrified by the sight of a woman in a fetish ‘Alice and wonderland costume’ walking toward it, but either way it wasn’t screaming for help.

Laurie smiled a bit more a walked the rest of the distance to the uncomplaining figure. As she closed the last bit of distance her shadow fell over the figures face and she could make it out clearly.

It was the face from the photo in the file; she was certain. It had a crusty ring of yellow stuff around the mouth and it was staring at her transfixed.

Laurie felt her stomach turn; but she kept her grin on her face and embraced Ernest Mckingle. She held him tightly to her and pressed the teddy bear tightly into his spine. She felt the odd clicking sensation as the bear injected the man with quite a potent knockout drug.

Laurie did the man the service of holding his confused gaze until he passed out.

So far so good, thought Laurie, as she slipped her sunglasses back on. She took a better look around the room, and spotted a woman cleaning the bandstand. Laurie took a closer look; her maids costume really didn’t look like a fantasy outfit.

The woman was clearly very old and was wearing glasses slightly thicker than the polar icecaps; the fact that Ernest hadn’t called out was probably the only thing that had saved Laurie.

Laurie wasn’t willing to risk herself on the chance that the woman’s glasses wouldn’t work. She opened the door to the balcony and let herself out with Ernest over her shoulder.

Laurie carried her Ernest to the edge of the balcony and looked down; it was a long way to the lawn, but she could clearly make out the guards all running towards the stone house; it looked like her little redecorating trick had been noticed.

Laurie knew that she was in trouble; there was no way that she could get off this balcony without help; and while Ernest turned out to be fairly light, it had still tired her even carrying him as far as she had.

She looked to her left; the blimp was still making its way around the building; Derek had no way of knowing where the bedroom was either.

The plan had been for the blimp to nudge its way around the building and for her to climb in as it went past; it had seemed ambitious when they had been discussing it in the 2CV; now Laurie looked at the drop over the balcony and decided that it seemed positively suicidal.

There was no other choice though, and Laurie thought about how she could get the blimp over faster; even if the guards didn’t realize where she was, they would send a small detachment up to warn and guard the master of the house.

She ducked back inside the room and looked around; the maid was still cleaning the bed and there were a lot of things on the floor that she hadn’t paid attention to before. Laurie ranged her eyes over all sorts of expensive toys before she noticed the one thing that would be impossible to ignore as a signal.

She grabbed the thing and headed out outside; it was much heavier than she had expected and it dragged along the ground as she moved.

She got to the edge of the balcony and tried to swing the thing on like a backpack; as a result she was almost thrown to the ground. Laurie picked herself up and squatted down in front of the thing; she slipped the cords over her shoulders and stood up as though she were doing a squat.

With the thing supported on her back she wobbled to the very edge and swung the barrel around to point at the underside of the blimp. Then she had a thought; the instant she used this thing she would be displaying her location to everybody on the grounds below; then she thought about the guards that were probably streaming up the stairs as she thought, and she decided it didn’t matter anymore.

She pulled the trigger.

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Derek was still stuck underneath the blimp; but even he couldn’t miss the huge blast of flame that almost hit him.

Damn it! He thought; who’s shooting at me?!

He looked down at the grounds and saw everyone pointing and talking.

He thumbed the blimp to move towards the balcony; it could be a signal, he realized, Laurie was crazy enough to think of something like that.

He kept one eye on the balcony and was reassured when a second blast of flame went straight up into the air; it was definitely a signal; he even thought he could see Laurie at the bottom.

He wasn’t happy with the blimp not being the centre of attention anymore; the attention was all on the balcony; and Derek didn’t think he could make it in time.

The blimp hit some sort of gargoyle and bounced back into open air. Derek desperately tried to thumb the blimp back into the right direction; but he hadn’t even played with remote control aircraft when he had been young and the blimp tipped upwards until it was nearly vertical.

Derek tried to calm himself down and started thumbing for the blimp to tip forward. From the underside of the blimp he had a great view of the stone balcony rising up to meet him.

The underside of the blimp smashed into the balcony and finally shook him loose from the underside of the blimp; he hit the deck hard and his head started to spin.

He was dimly aware that Laurie had wrenched open the door of the blimp and stuffed some sort of life-sized ragdoll through it, he was also somewhat aware that Laurie had dragged him out from under the blimp and stuffed him inside it as well, he was even aware of the sensation that the blimp was tipping off the balcony and of the sight of a huge number of armed men running into sight and stopping before they reached the doors.

The first clear thought that Derek could remember was thinking about how strange the whole thing must look to the guards. Tonight they would go home and tell their families that a young woman wearing a rubber ‘Alice in wonderland’ outfit and wraparound sunglasses had smiled at them before melting some doors with her flame thrower and taking a running leap into her blimp as it fell of a balcony.

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Laurie was exhausted. She wasn’t thinking straight and she badly wanted to have a shower and change her clothes. Most of all she wanted to get some sleep. The sun was starting to rise over the horizon and her eyes were aching.

All Laurie had on her mind was dropping their prisoner off at the office and then getting some sleep somewhere where Lenard couldn’t find her to wake her up.

She was kind of disappointed when it turned out to not be that easy.

“Jets” she said; following Derek’s pointed finger, “Why did it have to be jets?”

She looked out the windows and followed the paths the jets were tracing around them. “They don’t look like our air force” she said, “Maybe they’re here to help us?”

She caught the look that Derek was giving her, “Well it’s a possibility” she said defensively.

“There is no way in hell we are going to be that lucky” said Derek, “It’s more than likely that we have a bunch of gun nuts with enough money to play soldier in a big way”

Laurie looked at the strange collection of jet fighters again and had to admit that Derek’s suggestion seemed more likely.

“They must be burning through gas like crazy” said Laurie, “and we still have a fair distance to go before we get to the office; maybe they’ll run out first”. She was dimly aware of the existence of radar; but was still leaning towards an interpretation of events that allowed her to fly the blimp directly into the office.

Derek snorted. “Or maybe they’ll get sick of just circling us and decide to shoot us down instead.” He said.

Laurie smiled at this; her knowledge of blimps was slightly better than her partner’s. “They can’t shoot us down” she said, “even if they shoot at us all day. The rate at which helium will leak into the atmosphere isn’t great, and there’s no way something as small as a bullet hole would be able to affect us in the space of a day. They would need missiles to bring us down; and they strip those off when they sell the jets. So they can do what they like but the fact is that they just don’t have anything big enough to-”

She was cut off by a jet flying directly through the envelope. “-Oh” she said.

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Derek jammed himself under a table and waited for the crash. He expected to die and was only slightly put out when he didn’t.

The blimp hit the roof tops with a sound like a corn chip being crushed. The cabin buckled and tore, and Derek rolled out of the hole.

He hurt his knees but got out unhurt, and he took the opportunity to look around. The blimp was clearly totalled; even someone like Laurie would have to admit that. The blimp was scatted all over the rooftop he was standing on; and a few other ones as well. He rubbed his face and watched the tattered remains of the envelope fall to the street below to impede motorists. What a mess, he thought, I wonder if ‘I was just borrowing it’ would stand up in court?

He was just working out the probable jail time he would serve if he were ever caught, when he heard a sound behind him.

He turned around and saw Laurie climbing out of the wreckage; she was still carrying Mckingle. That damn kid! Thought Derek; as he went to help, I can’t believe how much trouble he’s caused us.

Derek briefly imagined a world where the kid in therapy had never drawn the cube for Lenard, and he; Derek, had stayed at home, eaten dinner with his family, had a good heart to heart talk with his daughter, and then had gone to bed with his wife after not fighting with her even once.

Then he switched to imagining a world in which he got to play the bad cop in Mckingle’s interrogation. Of the two the second seemed more likely and somehow more satisfying.

Derek decided that he had had enough of carrying Mckingle and took his arm away.

Then he looked up at the sky and made the decision that it was going to be a bad day; or at least a worst day than usual.

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Laurie looked at the patterns that the jets were setting up in the sky. If they had been trailing coloured smoke then it would have been a very pretty effect; without the smoke it was a little disturbing. The jets were dipping lower and lower in the sky; daring each other to get as low as they could.

Laurie wasn’t worried; she didn’t think there was any chance of any of the pilots getting low enough to seriously have a chance of pulling off a strafing run on them; none of them would even be attempting it if the others weren’t there.

Laurie turned her back for a moment to check for ways off the roof top and she heard Derek breathe in through his teeth. She turned back and saw one of the jets hugging the ground and streaking towards them. Laurie had just enough time to admire the pilot’s skill and curse his stupidity when the jet suddenly changed course.

The jet whipped past them with a shock wave that almost lifted Laurie off her feet and ploughed into the building behind them. The building exploded under the force of impact and a huge wave of fire and rubble rolled outwards and crushed the buildings behind it.

It was over almost immediately.

Laurie thought of all the people who had just been getting up and preparing for the day; thinking about the things they were going to do and the people they were going to meet.

Then she realized that they were the lucky ones; the ones that would be really suffering would be the ones in the other buildings, or in their cars on the street; the ones who were even now suffocating under the rubble.

From the street she heard the sound of people crying; and she was sure that if she looked over the edge she would see people frantically digging; trying to clear enough rubble before it was too late. It took everything Laurie had to not join them; the mission had to come first.

She focused. Why had the jet changed direction? The jet had been dead straight and then it had suddenly started spinning.

She heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Team Three walking towards them. Emma was congratulating Beatrice on her great shot.

More than anything else it was the shear pointlessness of it that got to Laurie; the odds of the pilot actually hitting them were stupidly slim.

“Why was that necessary?” she asked; her voice was choked and her eyes were starting to blur around the edges

Emma looked at her with confusion in her eyes, “I don’t understand the question” she said.

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“She wants to know why you shot that plane!” shouted Derek; he could hear his own blood pulsing in his ears, “Look at what you idiots did! We were obvious enough as it was, but now you’ve gone and drawn every emergency unit it the city directly towards us! We can’t sneak out now!”

Emma shrugged, “So we don’t sneak. Don’t worry about it; just do what we-”

The rest of her sentence was cut off by Laurie tackling her.

Derek moved automatically; he grabbed Beatrice’s arm as it moved to her holster and he stared into her eyes.

Derek knew what he was doing was stupid; he had seen Beatrice in action and knew that she could’ve killed him without even pausing in drawing her gun. He knew he couldn’t fight her, so he did the only thing he could think off and mentally begged her to put a stop it all.

Laurie had been winning the fight, but now the tide was turning back to Emma; skill and experience winning out over rage and surprise. With one heart stopping movement Emma swept Laurie’s feet from under her and slammed her head into the ground with the barrel of her gun.

Derek leapt; instinct winning out over his desire to not be killed by Beatrice too. He stretched his hand towards the gun, and thought he saw the trigger being pulled in slow motion. He knew he wouldn’t make it in time.

Somehow Beatrice moved faster than him. She stood behind her partner and nudged her arm.

Derek saw the gun flash; but couldn’t see what had happened.

He landed next to Laurie and saw to his relief that she was alive; covered in blood and shivering, but alive.

He put his coat over her and looked back at Team Three.

Beatrice was still standing behind Emma; her hand was resting on her shoulder. Emma was still crouched; her gun still pointing slightly to the right of Laurie’s head, even her eyes and facial expression seemed to be locked into position.

Derek dragged Laurie a little further away from the two women. Emma stayed exactly where she was, her eyes and gun now pointing at totally empty space.

Then, very slowly, Emma stood up and looked Derek in the eye. Laurie had succeeded in giving her a bloody nose, and as Derek watched blood dripped off her face and stained her shirt. “We have a skimmer” she said, “If you want out then we’re your ride.”

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Laurie wasn’t sure what happened next; she could remember being bundled into some sort of vehicle, and going somewhere else at a speed that couldn’t possibly be considered safe. But the first time she could remember her mind working again was when she woke up at the evening chorus in a bed she didn’t recognize.

She sat up in bed; and then sat right back down again. Her body ached from head to toe and she wasn’t sure she could move properly under her own power. She looked down at herself; someone had cleaned all the blood off before they put her to bed; she didn’t seem to remember anyone doing that.

Laurie looked around the room. It was the kind of room that kids tend to develop; every available surface was covered with things; toys, sculptures, fluffy things. She took the room in and decided she liked it; the bed was comfortable and she felt safe in it.

That said, Laurie had plenty of instincts that told he what to do when she heard the evening chorus. She levered herself back into a sitting position; ignoring her body’s protests and looked around. Whoever had put her to bed had folded all her things and put them on the bedside cabinet.

Laurie took her glasses and gun, but decided to leave the ‘Alice in wonderland’ costume behind. She looked around the room and her eyes found some sort of brown cotton poncho on the floor under what looked like some sort of plush toy.

Yes, thought Laurie; that will do nicely. She reached for the poncho (disturbing an overfed cat in the process) and took stock of her situation.

She was in a comfortable room somewhere, and felt well rested and awake for the first time in a little while. She tried to stretch, but only got halfway through before her muscles caught and forced her back down. She had tried to fight Emma last morning; she could remember it now; and by the feel of her body she had lost badly.

Laurie stretched again; she thought she got a little bit further this time; and she wondered about Team Three. It was like they just didn’t care about the people they hurt while they were having fun. Laurie scratched her arm and her brow furrowed; she found that attitude unnerving, and it made her stomach turn just a little bit; but she didn’t think she would try actually attacking one of them again.

Laurie finished tying the poncho up and tried the handle for the door; it was unlocked. Laurie pushed open the door and walked into the room beyond; glancing around as she went.

Derek was there; he was sleeping on a couch; it looked like he had just passed out again; he was fully dressed right down to his boots. Laurie smiled at him; she couldn’t remember a lot of what had happened last morning, but she had a notion that Derek had been as angry about what Team Three had done as she had been.

Laurie let her eyes wander to the half clamshell kitchen at the other end of the room; Emma was there, chopping vegetables. She looked up and met Laurie’s eyes, then she snorted a looked back down at her work.

Laurie raised her hand in a half wave, “Uh, hi?” she said. Emma didn’t respond, and Laurie left her to it; if she was going to talk to her then she wanted it to be some time when she didn’t have a knife in her hand.

Laurie looked around for Beatrice and didn’t find her. She shrugged; of all of them Beatrice would be the one best able to look after herself. She was just looking for the remote so that she could watch the news when it occurred to her that she had forgotten someone very important.

“Where’s Ernest?” she asked. Then, realizing that Emma wouldn’t know who she was talking about, she clarified, “The kid I was carrying. You see he was an important part of the missi-”

“Derek already told us” said Emma, without looking up. She indicated with her knife towards a door on the other side of the kitchen.

“Thanks” said Laurie, and walked towards the door.

The door opened on a completely dark room; inside there was a single figure; tied to a chair with a bag over his head. He looked completely limp.

Laurie shut the door feeling like she had been walking over someone’s grave. “Has he woken up?” she asked.

Emma made a sound at the roof of her mouth, which Laurie took as being negative. She stepped away from the door and wondered exactly what had been in the teddy bear that she had dosed Ernest with; it must have been something powerful to have put him out of it for twelve straight hours.

Laurie tried to remember if she had ever seen a medical drama that had mentioned how long someone could stay under general anaesthesia; then she thought about the state Ernest had been it and wondered if the rules were different for a dissociative coma.

She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn’t even notice when Beatrice walked back into the room. Beatrice dropped a paper on the kitchen table with a slapping noise that made Laurie Jump. Then Laurie smiled; it would be good to catch back up with what was happening in the world.

She thanked Beatrice and moved to look at the paper. For her own reasons Emma was curious enough to move next to her and look as well. Their collective intake of breath when they both saw the front page was loud enough to shock Derek out of his sleep.

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Derek’s hand moved automatically to where his gun would normally be holstered. Then he remembered that he hadn’t had enough time to get a new one issued at the office. It didn’t matter anyway; it seemed to be a false alarm.

Derek propped himself up on the couch and looked over the back. Laurie and Emma were reading the morning paper with white faces while Beatrice was cleaning her gun in the plush armchair at the edge of the lounge.

Derek let himself fall back on the couch and closed his eyes. Something was wrong with the world apparently; he was glad they were all on the same page now. Then Derek’s eyes snapped open; there was nothing in his world bad enough to affect Emma like that. “What is it?” he asked, as he stood up.

Laurie made frantic beckoning motions with her hand and Derek went to read over her shoulder.

When he first saw the picture his first thought was that the press had been remarkably slow about getting onto the ‘Gamble Developments’ story; the building looked exactly the same as he remembered from investigating it earlier; all fire, smoke, and rubble.

Then his eye caught the word ‘Second’ in the headline, and the words, ‘Dancer Collective’ in the caption, and he remembered that, as a semi-secret, quasi-government organization, the office had always operated under a pseudonym. Oh crap, he thought, now I’ll never get my gun reissued.

The office was destroyed. Chief, Lenard and Casper would have been inside. They had lost their base of operations, and their best support staff.

Derek rubbed his mouth. Worst of all this meant that the people behind the retained Demon knew exactly which organization was hunting them. Derek scanned the article for the time when the explosion was meant to have happened. They had picked a time when Mckingle and most of the field agents would have been inside; these people weren’t messing around.

Thinking about field agents made him think of Team Two. Tony had gone out to do a normal mission; he could easily have completed his mission and been inside the office when the Demon had broken through. Derek squeezed his hand into a fist and thought about what he would do if Tony turned out to be inside.

Laurie turned the page and Derek; who had been thinking that the situation couldn’t possibly get any worst immediately revised his opinion.

The article continued on the second page; it was topped by giant pictures of Laurie and himself. Derek wondered what he had done to warrant a two page article in his honour and found that the paper had been thoughtful enough to provide a running tally at the side of the article.

Derek read and learnt that between them, he and Laurie were wanted for:

· Destroying an abandoned Sanatorium, and kidnapping an old man in the process (See page A12 for the man’s tearful interview)

· Their possible connection with the paramilitary group that invaded Symphony.

· Destroying a helicopter, and a gremlin, and killing three men in the desert

· Stealing a blimp and flying it around in a manner calculated to cause panic.

· Kidnapping a man from the rich area of the city

· Setting fire to a manor of great historical significance

· Assaulting the guards of the aforementioned manor of great historical significance

· Public indecency during the act of assaulting the guards of the aforementioned manor of great historical significance

· Their possible connection to the destruction of a house in the slums

· Their destruction of a valuable blimp belonging to the sports stadium.

· Noise pollution late at night by setting off a obscene light show over a densely populated area

· The destruction of several city blocks by methods yet to be determined

· Finally they were wanted for questioning in relation to the two building in the financial district. (This note was accompanied by a picture of Derek standing in front of Gamble developments as it burned, with a note at the bottom; ‘the criminal always returns to the scene of the crime’)

The rest of the article seemed to be given over to psychological evaluations of Laurie and Derek. Derek read long enough to learn that he was an ‘Anarchistic, media triggered, low yield sociopath’ before he took his eyes away from the paper.

He couldn’t see any way out of the situation he was in. He didn’t know anyone high enough up the political food chain to get him out of being prosecuted for the crimes he had genuinely committed at least.

Derek blamed the mission. He looked at the door, behind which Mckingle was hiding, and thought about getting an early start on the ‘bad cop’ routine; when Laurie started talking softly.

Laurie spoke with a tone of command that Derek was certain hadn’t been there before. She gave orders out to everyone, and Derek was already driving home in Team Three’s personal sedan before it occurred to him to question them.

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Laurie climbed to the top of the plaza hotel the hard way. She would have normally taken the lift; but the hotel was active late into the night; and Laurie didn’t think it was a good idea to show herself in public.

She got over the final part of the fire escape and dragged herself onto the roof. Then she stood up and stared into the darkness. It wasn’t even especially dark on the roof and she could see every nook and cranny. There was no one else on the roof.

She walked into the centre of the roof and stared around again. There was still no one there; the roof was total deserted and she was completely alone.

She smiled; she knew she would catch him one day. “Herbert?” she said.

“Hey Laurie” said Herbert, “Got a smoke?”

Laurie went through the ritual and then told him, “I need to know exactly what Gamble Developments was”.

“Oh yeh?” said Herbert; grinning hugely, “Now that is going to cost you.”

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Derek drove down his street in a preoccupied state of mind. He opened the door and hurried up the stairs; not even noticing the message that hit him in the head.

He reached the door and opened it carelessly. Christine wasn’t home.

Damn it! He thought; Christine had transcendental stick fighting classes today; it had completely slipped his mind.

He looked out the windows and dropped the blinds; then he jogged down the corridor and down the hidden staircase to Jade’s room.

She was sitting on her bed and assembling a gun out of what looked like some part of the kitchen mixer. She looked a little surprised to see him and Derek wasn’t surprised; he didn’t normally come to see her so soon after coming home.

“Jade” he said, “Sweetheart. We have to take a little trip.”

He took up the pose that he vaguely remembered as the one that you were meant to use when coxing an animal closer to you.

Jade looked at him in confusion.

He tried the hand gesture that Laurie had used on him. “Honey” he said, “There are some bad men who are hunting after daddy, and they may want to kidnap you to use you as bait so they can kill daddy; so that’s why we need to get you somewhere safe, ok?”

Jade seemed to understand this. She leapt of her bed and started arming herself with startling efficiency. And rifles; startling efficiency and rifles.

“Ah, honey” said Derek, “Daddy would really prefer it if you didn’t actively hunt down those bad men I was talking about.”

Jade wasn’t listening. She finished her arming sequence by ramming two pistols into twin leg holsters and fixing them into place with throwing knifes. Then she turned around wearing what looked like twice her body weight in weaponry and gave Daddy a shy smile.

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Up on the roof top Laurie was having trouble. “What do you mean, you won’t take the company credit? You always have before.”

“Yeh. But there’s always been a company before.”

“There’s one now; it didn’t suddenly disappear” said Laurie; she couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing; she had come to think of Herbert as being part of the company.

“Yeh? Well the papers say it was pretty quick.”

Laurie held her hair back and counted to three; she could feel the line of displaced tissue where Emma’s bullet had brushed her temple.

“What can I give you?” she asked, “What will you accept?”

Herbert looked down at Laurie’s hand. “That ring real platinum?”

Laurie withdrew her hand, “What else?” she asked

“Yer won’t give me the ring?”

“No” said Laurie, the ring had been her Grandmother’s and it was the only keepsake she had from the woman who had raised her.

“Cash then” said Herbert, “Lots an lots of cash; level four secrets aint cheap, and you still owe me for that tip last night.”

“What?!” exclaimed Laurie, “I paid you last night”

“Yeh, in company credit”

Laurie tried to think her way out of the situation she found herself in. Field agents were not that well paid; it was the price they paid for generous expense accounts and a poor oversight process; when they made deals that involved quite a bit of money they had the word of the organization to back them up. Everyone who was someone knew the name of the organization.

Laurie thought hard, but there didn’t seem to be any way out. It wasn’t a lot of fun being trapped by the horns of a dilemma.

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Derek pulled into the parking lot of the community centre with enforced calmness. The car park was full but there didn’t seem to be anyone about. “Stay here” he told his daughter.

Derek got out of the car and scanned around him. He found a spot in the trees that looked disturbed; as though a sniper had been sitting there. The spot was empty now through, and Derek started putting one foot in front of the other and walking the long walk down to the community centre entrance.

It wasn’t as though he was afraid exactly. It was just that the last time he had attended his wife’s transcendental stick fighting class he had been quite badly beaten up and told to come back when his chakras were properly aligned; so he was understandably averse to entering the community hall again.

He reached the door and entered anyway.

There were some fifty or so middle aged housewives pacing around solemnly while saying ‘Om’ a lot and periodically belting each other with sticks.

Derek picked his way around the edge of the hall; being careful to stay out of the range of the deepest thinkers, and he spotted Christine near the middle of the throng.

“Christine!” he called out. Several of the closest housewives gave him disapproving looks and brandished their sticks threateningly. “Christine” he whispered across the hall. It didn’t look like she had heard either one of them.

Derek rubbed his face; it was just typical of Christine to put him into a situation like this. He rocked back and forth on his heels at the edge of the hall; like a man debating whether to run out into traffic.

Maybe I don’t have to run out, he thought; maybe if I wait long enough she will come to me. But even as he thought it he could see that it wouldn’t be that simple. Damn! It was so like Christine to walk in little circles at exactly the wrong time.

Derek resumed teetering; the knowledge that he could expect men with guns to show up fighting with his desire to not get beaten up by a group of people who somehow managed to mix up yoga and cage fighting.

In the end it was the realization that he had left his daughter in the car total undefended that finally spurred Derek off the wall. He ran with his hands over his head and tried to imagine that he was made of iron.

Miraculously he managed to get to the centre of the hall without someone deciding that it would further the development of their spiritual self to hit him with a big stick. He grabbed his wife’s shoulders yelled to her, “Christine, we’ve got to go!”

“Oooommmmm” said Christine

“What?” said Derek; completely failing to see the stick as it whistled towards his head.

“Ow. Damn it!” said Derek, recovering nicely, “Christine stop this; we need to get out of here; theres-”

“Oooooommmm” -Duck-

“Theres a-”

“Ooooommmmm” -Weave-

“Christine-”

“Oooooommmm” -Dodge-

“Oh, to hell with this” Derek grabbed Christine’s stick off her and hurled it at the other end of the hall; were it contributed to another woman’s spiritual growth by collecting on her head.

Christine opened her eyes and looked at him. “Now really, dear Derek, I do wish you wouldn’t interrupt my spiritual growth; it’s bad for the chakras you know”

Derek bit back his retort; there was no time for an argument now. “We have to get out of here now” he said, “We are in real danger”

“Oh dear. Well whatever it is I’m sure it can wait another half an hour for my class to end.” She started walking away to get another stick.

Derek dodged under a random thinker and tried to run after her. “You don’t understand” he said, “These people want to kill us”

“Oh now really Derek, I do wish you wouldn’t bring your work home with you” for some reason no one was attacking her and she was already picking out another stick. “Anyway” she went on, “I’m quite sure we can handle ourselves”

“Yes” said Derek, hating that he had to play this card, “But they’re going to go after Jade as well”

His wife suddenly seemed to solidify in front of his eyes; compacting down into a tough, diamond edged woman. “Take me to her” she said.

Derek gratefully took her arm and started to lead her out of the hall when the doors burst open and three men walked in.

They were wearing the uniforms he had seen out in the desert; although they weren’t carrying their weapons and they hadn’t bothered with helmets. They also were looking directly at him, but Derek didn’t think they had seen him; they were transfixed by the sight of fifty middle aged housewives turning to them, raising their sticks and going ‘Om’

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It was much later when Laurie started to climb back down the fire escape. She took with her a pen drive with a sizable amount of data on it, a weird empty feeling on her right ring finger, and a determination to reinstate the organization so that she could make it reimburse her for everything she had done.

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Derek pulled off the main road and drove down an unpaved side street. While he was doing that he kept his eyes moving around; making sure that he wasn’t being followed.

There was a concrete building at the end of the road. It was low to the ground and incredibly ugly; but it looked strong too. Laurie had told him that a heavy machinery-driving mob had once come to tear it down; as he got closer Derek thought he could see the scratches on the outside.

There was a small forest planted all around it now; and the bunker wasn’t visible at all until you were right on top of it; it was a perfect place to hide.

Derek got out of the car and a walked towards it. He scanned the trees around it; but didn’t see anything. He looked back at his family and found Christine easing Jade out of the car with the kind of tones that one uses when trying to convince a patient that it wouldn’t hurt a bit.

Derek turned back to the door. The countryside was really peaceful after the constant hum of the city; and it was really starting to unnerve him. He tapped the code that Laurie had given him into the panel next to the door and stood back as the huge slab of concrete swung open.

There was darkness inside the building; darkness and a staircase that went down into it. Derek squinted into the darkness; but it was the ‘No lights at all’ kind of dark and Derek couldn’t see through it.

Derek hesitated at the top of the stairs; he was not used to going somewhere without having a good idea of what might be waiting for him there; and darkness could conceal a multitude of sins. In the end he waited too long; he was just wondering if Team Three’s sedan had a torch in the glove compartment when he realized with a shock that Christine had started floating down the stairs.

Jade looked up at him from behind his legs with a questioning look in her eyes. “I suppose we’re going in” Derek conceded, and the two of them started making their way down the stairs too.

They walked down. Then they walked further down, and further down still. Derek looked back; the entrance was now nothing more than a pin prick of light at the other end of the endless staircase. This was completely insane, Derek decided, they were already deep enough to withstand any atomic bomb.

They staircase went on; but then, just as Derek had started thinking about going back up and seeing if there had been any signs next to the bunker to the effect of ‘Bottomless pit’. They reached a door.

It was a solid looking door. It was a very solid looking door. It looked like it belonged to a small castle. It actually looked like in was designed to withstand someone hurling a battering ram down the bottomless pit and into the door.

Derek turned the handle and put his full body weight on the door; it didn’t budge. He propped his feet against the last steps and pushed on the door with all his strength. The door remained shut. He gave the door a good hard kick; it didn’t help but he hadn’t expected it to.

Vaguely aware that the door was making a fool of him in front of his family; Derek tried to think of what to do.

“Oh, dear Derek” said Christine, “I do wish you would start coming with me to my ocular massage classes; they might improve your vision”

“My vision’s fine” said Derek; who was lost in thought, “I work in darkness all night long and I can see just fine.”

Christine moved forward a couple steps and ran her hand over the panel set into the wall next to the door. She didn’t say anything and neither did Derek as he walked over to the panel and entered the code; glad that no one could see him blushing as he did it.

He got back in front of the door, turned the handle, and leaned on the door again. This time the door opened with barely a whisper and sent him sprawling to the ground.

He fell out into a handsome house decorated in the 1970’s style. It was sunset and golden tropical light streamed through the windows. He blinked; there didn’t seem to be anything through the windows other than light.

He got to his feet and looked around; two young women who he didn’t recognize came into the room to investigate the noise he had made on entering.

They looked at him with surprise; they were identical twins, he saw. Then the two of them looked down and saw Jade. Their eyes grew wide, “Awwwwww” they said together, “She’s so cute!”

They rushed towards her while jabbering in high pitched voices. Derek felt Jade take refuge behind his legs and tried to raise himself about the noise and movement. He saw Emma emerge from the door that the twins had come from, “Hey Derek,” she said, “I found Laurie’s mates. You want an aspirin?”

“No” said Derek, raising his voice a little to be heard over the two girls trying to coax Jade out from behind his legs.

Emma nodded, “Yeah well” she said as she walked away, “Give it time.”

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Laurie opened the door with a sweep of her hand; and stepped aside to let Beatrice in first. Her human shield safely in place, she looked around the room.

The twins were sitting on the floor and braiding each other’s hair. They squealed when they saw her and ran up to greet her. Laurie was glad that Emma had managed to find them, and she joined in their happiness fully. After they had fully greeted each other and made arrangements to meet up with each other later Laurie broke away.

The only other people in the room were Emma and Derek’s daughter. Emma was watching the girl thoughtfully as she took the microwave apart and turned it into; something- it looked a little like a ray gun.

Laurie said hello to Derek’s daughter, who smiled shyly back, and then dragged Emma away; as long as everyone was here they needed to hold a meeting.

It took fifteen minutes to get everyone together but eventually the little kitchen was full of people.

Laurie felt a little thrill as she looked around the table; everyone was watching her. She leaned forward a little and spread her arms. “Thank you all for being here” she said, “Now it’s time we decided what to do”

Around the table this news was taken it different ways. Derek looked sullen; but then that was the way he usually looked. Beatrice looked as passive as ever, Derek’s daughter and the twins weren’t listening. Derek’s wife was sitting and watching but Laurie wasn’t sure how much was going on behind the scenes. Emma looked angry; “Hang on kid” she said, “When did you get Chief’s job?”

Laurie felt a sinking feeling in her stomach and she leaned back slightly; she hadn’t really thought about the explosion yet. “No one is in charge at the moment” she said, “But if we spend our time squabbling then we are going to be caught flatfooted”

Laurie was hoping that this combative attitude would appeal to Emma’s logic, and she was relieved to see that Emma settled back into her chair, grumbling slightly. Laurie grabbed a piece of paper she had found earlier and laid it out on the table. “Let’s take stock of our current position” she said, “firstly, how did everyone’s missions go?”

Three of the people shifted in their chairs. Derek spread his arms out and Emma said, “Look around you would you?”

Laurie felt a small blush on her cheeks; in hindsight it had been a silly question. “Alright” she said, drawing the paper towards her and writing across it, “Derek got his family out in time, Emma found the twins and Beatrice found the 2CV, any complications?”

Derek shifted in his seat a little bit and opened his mouth, but then Emma cut across him. “Some twat in that dorm tried to hit on me!”

Laurie felt worried; she knew some people who lived in the twin’s dorm. “Is he all right?” she asked.

Emma grinned, “Well he won’t be getting in another ladies face again”. Then she started laughing, it didn’t seem to bother her that no one else was joining in.

Finally Derek cut across her, “Well it’s just great that you took that opportunity to disturb my daughter like that, but if you don’t mind something actually important happened while I was on my mission.” He turned to Laurie, “We got attacked by those guys from the desert”

Laurie felt like a jolt of electricity had gone through her, “Wait, what?” she said.

Derek explained, and when he was done everyone looked thoughtful.

Laurie felt a fizzing feeling in the front of her brain. She scratched the back of her hand as tried to make sense of what she had just heard. “So strictly speaking…” she said, “They didn’t attack you…”

Derek didn’t look even remotely sympathetic. “Hardly anyone comes out of that community centre in one piece”, he said, “They had to have known the risks”

Laurie made sure to keep her face blank. She wished she could have been there to see the looks on the men’s faces. Then the image formed in her mind, and suddenly it didn’t seem that funny anymore. “Now when you say they were the men from the desert…” she began

“They were the same men” Derek said,” I recognized their faces.”

Laurie thought she could feel a headache coming on. She sunk back into her chair and tried to wrap her head around this new piece of information. “They only found three bodies” she remembered, “I just thought that they had come back for the others.”

Everyone around the table was staring into space; trying to make sense of their own thoughts. Emma was the one who broke it, “So, what we dealing with?”

Nobody answered.

Laurie felt uneasy. She wrote ‘attacked by men from desert’ on the paper, then she wrote ‘only three corpses found’ underneath it; after some thought she drew a circle around the two.

The table was quiet and the room felt cold.

Laurie tried to put a grin on her face, “Right then” she said brightly, “My mission”

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Laurie told them what Gamble had been.

Derek didn’t like what he was hearing. He rubbed his face and asked, “Just how many secret government organizations are there anyway?”

Emma was tapping out a rhythm on her leg holster, but Laurie smiled, “Too many,” she replied, “It’s not like there’s a whole lot of oversight to hold it in check“

Derek was getting annoyed. He sunk back into his chair and scratched his head. “Why does there even have to be a secret government organization to make the trains run on time?”

Laurie looked like she was about to say something, but Emma cut across her, “Will you quit nattering, and just tells how to find the people responsible!”

Derek was shocked by the force of Emma’s reaction. He jumped backwards and almost fell off his chair. His hand moved naturally to the place where is gun really should have been.

Laurie looked shocked as well but she took it in her stride. “Of course”, she said, “Ernest Mckingle will be waking up soon, and we have to decide what to ask him; his information will be key to this case.”

Derek didn’t feel he trusted Mckingle; if he wasn’t still keeping one eye on Emma then he would have started rubbing his face again. “He’s hostile to us” he said, “Any information we get would be useless”

Laurie looked at Derek, “I don’t think so” she said, “He struck me as a rather immature person, I don’t think he will be able to stand up to interrogation”

Derek kept his feelings to himself; he knew that if there was any chance of them getting useful knowledge then something would have to happen to stop them.

Laurie had written ‘Nature of cube’ on the sheet of paper; reading out aloud and smiling while doing so.

De felt tired and old. He flopped back into his seat, “How he got the cube?” he suggested.

“Oh, good one” said Laurie as she wrote that one down as well.

Gradually the list got longer.

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Laurie felt a small surge of joy; she was going to lead the interrogation. She fought back the urge to clap her hands and took her seat in front of Mckingle with a blank expression.

Mckingle was still tied to a chair with a bag over his head, but now he looked more alert than he had before. Laurie’s chair squeaked on the floor as she sat down, and Mckingle’s head darted up at the sound.

Emma whipped the bag off his head and sat down next to Laurie. Mckingle tried to stare through the desk lamp that had been turned on him; Laurie thought he looked as though he was still under the influence of whatever she had injected him with, and she wondered again what the maximum time limit for leaving someone unconscious was.

Laurie felt the childish joy of someone playing a game, and reached deeper inside herself until she found the part that had emulated cop movies as a kid. She hardened her face and deepened her voice, “Do you know why you are here, Mr Mckingle?”

Mckingle shuddered; he looked like he was trying to piece together what had happened. Something surged into life behind his eyes, “Oh, fuck you motherfucker!” he said, “I aint telling you shit!”

Inwardly Laurie smiled, “That’s ok” she said; keeping her voice smooth, “We have all night”

Mckingle lurched; making his chair rock, “Like fuck we do!” he yelled. There was a crack of lightning and his hands came out from behind his back.

Something like a surge of electricity surged through Laurie. Her eyes flew open. She was on her feet. Her gun was swinging around to face Mckingle.

There was a huge blast of Neon orange wind. Laurie slammed into the back of the room. Someone started laughing, but then there were gunshots, followed by someone else laughing

Adrenalin powered Laurie. She jumped to her feet and looked for her gun.

Her gun was over on the opposite side of the room. Mckingle was flying among floating orange shapes. He was in the corner and covering his face while Emma was shooting him. Derek was shaking his head and trying to get back up.

Laurie wanted to join the fight. She leapt across the room and grabbed her gun. Then everything went black.

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The world was harsh contrasts. It was empty. Derek was alone.

Derek felt exposed. He dropped to his knees and tried to block out the voices in his head.

Time was passing. The sun and the moon turned into a harsh line that seemed to contract on him.

Derek felt fear.  He drew into himself and tried to cover his soft belly, but it wasn’t soft anymore; it was wrinkled and bony. He tried to cover his face, but there wasn’t enough strength in his old limbs.

Derek rotted away and the world got harsher and harsher.

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The world was back and white; like the inside of a film noir. It was empty, Laurie had space to think.

Laurie felt confused; there was something she had to do, something she had to remember.

Time was passing. History’s flow quickened, taking Laurie along with it.

Laurie felt energetic. She swung her arms back and forth; testing her new muscles as they grew stronger and harder. Her hand brushed her gun, Demon, she remembered.

Laurie looked outwards and the world got brighter and brighter.

Mckingle was there, he was hovering in mid air with his eyes closed; playing with something orange. Derek was there as well, and Emma; they were both shivering on the floor.

Laurie wanted to take Mckingle down. Her gun was already moving when she remembered that she only had two crystals left in the clip. She looked at Mckingle carefully.

The top of his right Forearm was glowing.

Laurie grinned; if there was anything she had learnt from video games it was that all bosses came with a big glowing weak point.

She pulled the trigger.

Everything stopped glowing, Derek and Emma jerked awake, and Mckingle belly flopped to the floor with a splat.

Laurie grinned wider and got back to her feet. “Well Mr Mckingle” she said, while checking her gun, “We have a few questions we would like you to answer.

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Derek felt very disturbed. He rubbed his arm a bit as he walked back into the kitchen. “Well that was pointless” he said

Laurie looked surprised, “What do you mean?”  She asked, “We got the cube”

Derek was beginning to hate all cubes. He tightened his jaw. “That’s not going to help” he said “We need Casper to make anything out of that and he isn’t here”

Laurie put the cube down of the table; it was still sticky with blood. “Alright” she said, “but we know where he got the cube from now”

Derek felt like sighing, so he did. “That doesn’t help either” he said. “He didn’t know which secret organization his brother worked for, and he had no way of getting in contact with him”

Emma walked into the room, twirling an unsterile scalpel between her fingers, “So we go get the bum to show is the way” she said.

“No” said Laurie; stopping Emma in her tracks.

Derek blinked twice and turned to face Laurie. “Why on earth not?”

Laurie looked like she wasn’t going to answer the question, but then she said, “Herbert no longer accepts company credit. We will have to find a different way”

Derek lowered his head and rubbed his face. “Well I suppose we could just randomly pull out phone books and a check out every Arron Mckingle to see if he meets the profile” he said

“That’s a stupid idea” said Emma, with Laurie nodding along.

They were all silent, and then Laurie said, “I think I have a plan”

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Laurie quite liked getting haircuts; there was a real feeling of progress with them. She liked getting new clothes as well; all together they made her feel like a new person. She didn’t think Derek liked either.

Derek was hunched up in his seat of the 2CV; he had his arms crossed and he was glowering. He had been like that while the twins had been changing their appearances as well; Laurie had chatted happily with the two twins about their latest fashions, or what their father thought about their careers and dozens of other silly things while Derek had stared at the wall as though he expected it to catch on fire.

“I think you look good with brown skin” she said, trying to cheer him up.

Derek snorted. “Where did Emma find a fishing rod anyway?” he asked

Laurie smiled; Derek being so silent had started to worry her. “I don’t know” she said, “The same place she got the scalpel I suppose”

Derek made a sound like a laundry bag being dropped to the floor and rubbed his arm. “How do you think Mckingle got that thing in his arm in the first place?”

Laurie had been a little disturbed by that, and she tightened her grip on the steering wheel. “I suppose he must have gotten another surgeon to do it. It doesn’t matter anyway, we’re here”

They were deep in the financial district, and the skyscrapers suddenly had a gap in them.

Laurie didn’t like the gap; it was like waking up in the morning to find some of your teeth missing. She took a deep breath and slowed down to pull in front of the wrecked area.

There were men on site. They were wearing workman’s clothes, but they didn’t look like workmen.

Laurie forced herself to stay calm. She breathed out through clenched teeth and finished pulling in. By the time the car stopped her face was completely blank. “Daniel” she said, “Put that fishing rod away, I feel like a cup of coffee.”

“Wha-” Derek began

Laurie kept her face blank and made a gesture under the level of the car windows.

Derek saw the gesture and froze, then a pleasant smile crossed his face; looking so convincing that a stranger would have thought it was real. “I’ll meet you there” he said.

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“You should have kept driving”, said Derek as he sat down.

Laurie was sitting in a booth in the corner of the coffee shop. She pushed a cup of coffee towards him, “I thought it would look too suspicious” she said, “If I slowed down and then sped away again. You saw them?”

Derek remembered and felt his stomach clench. “Yeh” he said, taking a sip of the scalding coffee, “Most obvious undercovers’ I’ve ever seen”

The sun was getting low in the sky and there was a weird golden glow through most of the café.

Derek didn’t like most of the ways this night could turn out. He held his cup tightly; willing himself to ignore the burning. “He’s there” he said, “I got a glimpse in a mirror as I was walking in and Casper is still circling around the ruin.”

Laurie looked like she was thinking; she had barely touched her coffee. “Did they see him?” she asked.

Derek groaned inwardly and took another swig of his coffee. “No” he said, “I don’t think they could see him, not that that helps” he added, “They can see us just fine and if we show up there with one of the cubes they’re looking for on the end of a fishing line then they are going to notice us”

Laurie took a sip of her coffee, and then put it down again, making a face. “Maybe there’s some other way to get his attention” she mused

God! Derek hated that crazy optimism. He drained the rest of his coffee and bit his tongue. “Right, maybe we could drive past while waving the cube out the window.”

Laurie smiled and ran her fingers along the rim of her glasses. “It would be too obvious if we did it that way” she said.

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The sun set and the city was dark.

It was a new moon; Laurie’s favourite time of the month. Laurie watched the last of the colour drain out of the sky and let herself drift off to sleep. At three am they would start work… humans were weakest…at three am.

Laurie dreamed in black and white. A starless sky spread out over her, but she could see clearly. She ran over roof tops like a feather with legs. There was something she had to find; something she had to remember; something she had been told once.

She let herself slip down an alley way, picking a path at random, until eventually she came face to face with a man sitting on a throne.

“Oh,” said Laurie, “I’m sorry to disturb you”.

The man inclined his head gravely.

Laurie smiled, this man was strange. “What’s your name?” she asked

The man opened his mouth and a thousand birds flew out, squawking, ‘Bernard, Bernard, Bernard’.

Laurie opened her eyes. “Derek?” she asked.

From somewhere across the roof space of the abandoned warehouse Derek grunted.

“Who’s Bernard?”

“I don’t know” moaned Derek, “go back to sleep.”

Laurie rolled over and closed her eyes again.

By 3am she had forgotten.

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Under a dark sky the two of them walked back down to the financial district. They took up positions overlooking the work and watched the site.

The undercover agents weren’t combing the site by night of course; that would have been too obvious, but Derek was sure that they were still hanging around somewhere. Casper was still there; circling around like a dog looking for a lost bone.

Derek watched the site carefully; making sure he didn’t look away. “Where are they?” he asked.

Laurie pointed to various patches of shadow around the site, “They’re looking in all the right places, but they look really tired; we should be able to sneak through.”

Derek hated it when people said things like that; it never worked out that way. He grumbled a bit to himself; but ultimately there was no other way for them to get Casper back. “Lead on” he said.

They slipped into the site with Laurie taking the lead, and then they hid behind a large piece of earth moving equipment. The night was totally silent. Laurie reached for the scanner.

Derek suddenly had a vision of what would happen if Laurie turned the scanner on in earshot of the guards. He reached out a hand, resisted an urge to yell out, and grabbed her arm. “He’s here” he muttered urgently, “Down by that dump truck”.

Laurie put the scanner back in her pocket and nodded. She jerked her head to the left and started walking with all the confidence of someone who can see where they are going.

After a couple seconds Laurie came to a sudden stop, causing Derek to almost stumble over her. “Tough part” she whispered in his ear, and she started to walk forward again; slower and more carefully than she had done before.

Derek felt like one of the guards would jump on him at any second and he shrunk into himself like a tiny ball. As he walked over the suddenly open ground he tried to imagine himself floating like a balloon; rather than plodding along like some idiot on a site he’s not meant to have access to.

There was a sudden noise and a blaze of bright light.

Derek’s heart skipped. He froze in place and tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Car, he realized, a car came round the corner.

The site was completely lit up with harsh light. He and Laurie were frozen and exposed in the centre of a wide clearing. The guards were all visible now; and one was within touching distance of Derek, looking the other way only to watch the car.

The car kept driving down the street, and was gone.

Derek was terrified. He stayed completely still; ignoring the tickling beads of sweat that were running off him. He watched Laurie’s back and wondered why she wasn’t leading the way again. Then he realized that that car must of blinded her as in went past, certainly Derek couldn’t see as much as he could have seen a minute ago.

After a while Laurie started to move again.

Derek was relived. He carefully breathed out and followed her; remembering the Guard that he knew was right next to him, even if he couldn’t see him.

They reached the shade of a digger and Laurie ducked inside the bucket.

Suddenly feeling very exposed, Derek followed her.

“Where is he now?” Laurie whispered.

Derek felt a little stupid; he had managed to forget the reason why they were there. He looked out of the digger at the dump truck. “He’s still there” he said, “He’s looping around but he’s still there”

Laurie nodded and led the way out of the digger.

They came to a makeshift road between the digger and the dump truck.

Derek didn’t like it; it was far too open and he didn’t trust it. Derek took a small step back and reached out to suggest to Laurie that she find another way round.

Derek’s hand closed on thin air; Laurie was already moving.

Derek didn’t want to be left behind in what was clearly enemy territory.  So he gritted his teeth and followed Laurie into the open.

The two of them carefully slipped down onto the road and started to walk across; Laurie’s eyes fixed on the other side, while Derek’s flicked in every direction.

They reached the other side and climbed the small bank into the shelter of the dump truck. “There” said Laurie, “That wasn’t so bad was it?”

There was a thunderous growling noise.

Derek had had his share of unpleasant surprises for the night. He gritted his teeth and turned his eyes to face the sound.

A huge dog bounded out of the shadows and began barking furiously at the two of them.

Derek wasn’t scared; Derek was angry.  He looked at the dog and tried to make ‘shushing’ motions. Then he realized his hands had closed into fists.

The dog kept barking; fangs and drool inches from Derek’s face. Someone in the yard yelled ‘Shut up Mutt!’ and threw a stone. The stone bounced off the ground and completely failed to ‘shut the mutt up’.

Derek was stressed and angry, and he had been more scared in the last few minutes than he would have been willing to admit. Blood pounded in his head and there was a stuffy feeling in his heart. His hand seemed to draw back of its own free will, and then it powered forward, of his own free will.

The punch connected squarely with the dog and lifted it off the ground. It seemed to rotate slowly in the air, and then it hit the ground again with a sound like something on a butchers block.

There was no more barking.

Derek felt relieved; like a huge weight had been lifted. He smiled suddenly and got to his feet. “Come on” he whispered, offering his hand to Laurie, “Let’s get Casper and get out of here”

Laurie took his hand and got up. Then someone far too close said, “You alright there Mutt?” and there was a surge of light as someone turned a spotlight on them.

Derek felt calm. He felt calm in the same way that a huge body of water behind a poorly constructed dam looks calm. He stood perfectly still in the pool of light and looked back at man holding it.

The man looked as surprised by this turn of events as anyone else. He stood perfectly still holding the spotlight and looked back at Derek and Laurie.

There was a rushing feeling in Derek’s ears and he realized that it was his own blood. Derek’s legs loosened all on their own. “Run!” he yelled.

And the spell was broken.

Derek moved fast. The ground disappeared underneath him. He had a clear bead on an alleyway outside the site. Then someone stepped in the way.

Derek channelled his fear and rage. He sped up and realized that he was screaming.

The man in his way looked a little put off, and he was off balance when Derek bowled into him.

Derek stumbled for a moment and then kept running. The buildings closed over his head and he was in the safety of the alleyway.

Derek felt terror draining away; leaving only exhaustion. His sprint turned into a run, and then a jog. He knew he was safe; those men wouldn’t be able to keep up with him on foot. He turned to talk to Laurie.

Laurie wasn’t there.

There were flashes of neon colour behind him.

Derek did the smart thing and started sprinting again.

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Derek had wedged himself up the walls of the alleyway. He could see the site, but they wouldn’t find him unless they happened to look up at the wrong time.

Derek was angry. He drummed his fingers against the brickwork; the beat just kept getting harder and faster until it turned into a punch, which caused Derek to rotate to an upside down position.

There were no more lights from the site; they didn’t know where he had gone and they seemed to think it was too risky to keep their powers on to search for him.

Derek was angry with himself. He rubbed his face and his mouth, and scraped his fingernails across his forehead. ‘I should have grabbed her’ he thought, as he rotated himself upright again, ‘I should have known that she would make a last minute dash for Casper and I should have stopped her’

I was completely black on the site; if Derek had brought a set of night vision goggles then he would have been able to see what was happening down there; as it stood he was blind.

Derek felt like crying out at the unfairness of it all. But he couldn’t because the men were still around, and they would be on him in an instant. “I never wanted to be part of this job” he hissed, “I said we should have sent the army; I knew we would get in over our heads”

It didn’t help of course; the site remained completely dark in the face of his arguments, and Laurie failed to suddenly materialize beside him.

Derek mentally slapped himself; he wasn’t going to get anything done if he just sat around whining. He worked his way further up the wall; trying to see better into the site.

It didn’t really help; a completely darkened site is still a completely darkened site, no matter what angle you view it from. There did seem to be a little movement though, the kind of movements that people make when they are trying to do something without drawing attention to themselves.

Derek felt his mind focus. ‘Go for help’ his instincts screamed, and Derek imagined the effect of letting team three loose on the men down there.

He was starting to work his way back down the wall when he suddenly stopped short.

With a belt of horror, Derek realized that there was no way the men were planning to stay where they were; it was way too open. Derek quickly worked his way back to the top of the wall. “There will be a truck”, he muttered, “and they will load Laurie into the back; if I’m lucky.”

There was complete silence.

Derek felt some of the familiar hopelessness. He brought his hand up and rested it on his forehead. They would have some method of moving a bound and gagged girl, he realized, and it will be one I can’t see from up here. “I can’t leave to get help” he muttered.

The movements seemed to stop on the site below.

Derek had a moment of panic, and leaned closer; had they already gone? It was too risky to go for help, he decided, not just risky, but stupid; they would be gone by the time he got back. Could he call for help?

Empty streets stretched away from Derek on all sides.

Derek felt a little sick in the pit of his stomach. He didn’t know where he could find a pay phone, and at three am there would be no one around to help him. Would it be worth running to find a pay phone anyway?

There was a low rumbling noise and a truck with no headlights appeared and started backing onto the site.

Dammit! Thought Derek; jumping slightly. That settled that. He began to slip down the wall; as fast as he could manage. What was the other option? Attack?

The truck was having some trouble backing up; it was moving at an angle to the site. One of the men there walked up to the back of the truck, started glowing neon blue, and lifted the truck onto a straighter course.

With a flash of fear, Derek pulled up short. No, he decided, attack was not an option.

Derek stood only a few feet from the end of the alleyway. Once he crossed into the open again he would be vulnerable. There was a lot of movement at the back of the truck.

Derek could feel his time running out. He pinned himself closer to the wall. ‘Think!’ he mentally yelled to himself, ‘what’s the best option?’. ‘No’ the little voice in his head corrected him, ‘What’s the least bad one?’

Derek burst from his hiding place and sprinted across the road. The movement at the back of the truck had stopped, and there was the gentle clicking sound of a truck loading door being carefully closed.

The driver walked back to the front of the truck and climbed into the cabin. He turned down the street and drove through the district. Eventually he ran out of city and drove out into the desert.

The desert was bitterly cold at 3 am. And it was worst for Derek. He lay on the top of the truck and held on for dear life, as little fingers of frost tried to pry his fingers away.

Derek’s teeth were chattering, and part of that was from the cold. He rolled his head to one side and looked out into the desert. ‘I sure hope there’s a payphone wherever they’re taking her’, he thought.

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Laurie was in a room somewhere. It was very dark and she was wearing a blindfold; which admittedly didn’t help the darkness. She was tied to a chair, this made it less comfortable.

Laurie smiled a grim little smile. It had been, she had to admit, kind of stupid of her to make a run for Casper. In hindsight it would have just made more sense to abandon the mission at that point.

The ropes around her wrists were tight; she couldn’t really move at all.

Laurie had a flash of inspiration and rolled her eyes at what she assumed would be the ceiling. It wasn’t going after Casper that had caused her to get caught; it was when she had taken the cube out of her pocket and started swinging it around on the end of the fishing line. She should have just left the cube in her pocket and ran where she thought Casper was. The guards wouldn’t have used their Mckingle powers and she would off outrun them on foot.

The room had a slight chill to it, and she couldn’t move to warm herself up.

Laurie felt really stupid and let her head drop. She sighed. Oh well, she thought, I’m blindfolded and tied to a chair in a strange room, it could be worse; some people pay good money for this kind of treatment.

They had taken her cell phone, as well as her scanner, and virtually everything else in her pockets.

Laurie’s mind started dancing, and she started smiling; it was like playing a computer game. ‘Now’, the thought, ‘What’s the way out of this?’ She started thinking about the ropes that were holding her.

There were ropes holding her arms to the chair, as well as another rope around her chest and a third set around her ankles. The rope was soft and smelled faintly of sawdust, but it felt very strong and the knots felt needfully complex.

Laurie thought back curiously and tried to pull her wrists apart with all her strength.

The ropes held beautifully. Laurie’s wrists didn’t manage to move at all.

Slightly disappointed, Laurie relaxed her arms again. The rope was too strong to break, she thought, could it be untied?

Laurie’s fingers bent up and began feeling the knot around her wrist. The rope was smooth and her fingers kept slipping.

Laurie slouched slightly; as much as the ropes would allow, and let her fingers relax. The knots couldn’t be untied, and she had no tool to cut them with. What did that leave? Talking her way out? She turned her head up, “Hello boys” she said, “You come here often?”

There was complete silence from around the room.

Laurie was curious. Maybe there was no one in the room? If she was alone then that would make things a lot easier for her; maybe she could try those knots again. “Hello?” she said, “Is there anybody out there?”

There was the sound of gun clicks from around the room.

Laurie was surprised and sat up straighter. Three guns, she decided, spread out around the room. Professionals, who didn’t talk to the prisoners. That made things more difficult.

The seat was starting to hurt her back and Laurie shifted a bit, trying to get comfortable.

Laurie was baffled. She couldn’t see any obvious way out. She thought about yelling, but how would that help? Even if anyone on her side could hear her they would just run into three hired guns. She knew there would have to be some way out, but she just couldn’t see it.

The room was starting to get lighter.

Laurie felt odd. She lifted her head up and tried to puzzle that one out. Why was the room getting lighter? The answer was obvious; the sun was rising. ‘But wait’, Laurie focused.

The sun was rising. There was sunlight; it was falling on Laurie’s back.

Laurie smiled inwardly, and she allowed herself a little smirk outwardly as well. It was a strange choice to put her with her back to a window. Now what to do with that knowledge? Laurie flexed her feet experimentally.

Her feet could touch the floor. They wouldn’t be good for running on, but they might be good for one solid push.

Laurie felt empowered. She relaxed in her chair and took up a bracing position. The only question was how high they were. If they were three stories or higher then she would hit the ground too hard and would get dragged back inside with serious injuries. If they were only one story high then she wouldn’t hit the ground hard enough, and she would still be tied to the chair, and utterly helpless.

The sun was starting to feel warm on Laurie’s back.

Laurie felt exhilarated. She put her toes firmly on the floor. I hope I find my sunglasses, she thought, they would make this look so much cooler.

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There was an ugly concrete structure way out in the desert, it was surrounded by flying men who glowed in neon colours, and Derek was too far down the road to do anything useful.

Derek was tired and disappointed. And dusty, he was also dusty. He looked back over his shoulder and saw the horizon starting to lighten. That, more than anything else, settled it; he would try to break in now, before he added ‘hot’ and ‘sweaty’ to his list.

The flying men weren’t guarding the building; they were just saving time on their various tasks, or spinning around and enjoying the shear sensation of flight. None of them noticed Derek as he ran up to the side of the building.

Derek felt a little put out. He glanced up and looked around strangely. If he had known that the flying men were so averse to looking down then he would have just stayed on the roof of the truck.

There were lots of windows along the ground floor of the building; some of them didn’t even have glass.

Derek still didn’t like being out in the open; he sped up and dived through the closest window.

He was in a bunk room of some kind. The walls were covered with pictures of naked ladies and the room had the odd smell of old socks.

Then something hit Derek, and he stopped. This was far too easy.

There was no one in the room. No obvious lines or tripwires; just empty beds and old socks.

Derek felt like someone was watching him. He took a step back. He stood for a long time; just watching and listening, but he didn’t see anything, and he didn’t hear anything.

Eventually he took a step forward, and then another step forward, and so forth until he walked out the door.

There was a long corridor outside the door. It was made of cold concrete and had no markings to show the way. To his left it stretched around a corner, and to his right it went up a small flight of stairs. There were rooms leading off in every direction, but there was no one else around.

Derek didn’t feel safe and his head withdrew back into the room. But there was nowhere to go but forward. So Derek stepped out into the hallway and picked a direction at random.

Five minutes later he was still picking directions at random.

Derek was sick of the insanity of it all. He stared up at the ceiling and made a ‘Why god, why?’ gesture. The corridors didn’t actually seem to lead anywhere; they just kept going round in circles.

As he was walking Derek had a sudden sense of déjà vu.

Feeling suspicious and narrowing his eyes, Derek opened the door closest to him.

It was the room he had started form.

Derek took a deep breath, and let it out again, and he gently shut the door.

The corridor ahead of him stretched away with doors on both sides

Derek’s mind felt very focused, and he ignored the emotion to either side of it. Keeping himself straight to attention he marched down the corridor, opening every door on his right as he did so.

Door number one was a broom closet.

There was an occupied shower room behind door number two (Derek closed this door carefully)

Door number three held a quilting machine

Behind door number four Derek found the garage.

Derek perked up; the garage was clearly important. He walked in and looked around.

The garage was in a poor state of repair. The concrete was cracked and several hardy weeds were trying to push their way through. There were a pile of drums against the wall, some of them had warning labels, and none of them were sealed. The floor was slick with oil and the air was so greasy that Derek could feel it congealing on his skin.

The Garage was mostly empty but the tuck was there, and its door was open.

Derek stood up straight and looked at the truck carefully. Finding it open was a bit luckier than the universe liked to let him get away with. In the end it was the fact that he didn’t want to keep standing in the open that made him get into the cab.

The floor of the cab was covered in pie wrappers and empty drinks cans. Derek waded across the cab and sat in the driver’s seat.

The keys were still in the ignition.

Derek had the same weird feeling that he got whenever he looked a piece of modern art. He slumped a little bit and stared at the keys in the ignition. All the components were sensical it was just that they had no business being together.

Derek turned in the seat and kicked at the detritus on the floor.

It completely failed to uncover a sleeping man.

Derek turned completely in the seat and looked behind it.

There was no dog there

Derek got out of the cab, walked to the back of the truck and checked the trailer.

No family of illegal immigrants looked up at him.

Derek closed the doors and thought carefully. Then he climbed so that he could see the top of the truck.

A startled pigeon flapped away and hit him on the nose, but there was nothing else up there.

Derek climbed back down with a lot on his mind. He took a couple steps back and looked at the truck.

The truck just stood there, looking inert and harmless.

Derek felt unsure; like he was standing on unstable ground, in the dark. He ran his fingers through his hair and made a fist. It just didn’t seem right for the truck to be there.

Derek ran through the plan in his head. All he had to do was find Laurie, drive the truck to her, get her in and drive back to the city. It was a risky plan, but it was better than their usual ones, and it definitely shouldn’t be this easy.

There was a crashing sound somewhere around the other side of the building, followed by the sound of furious voices.

Derek perked up again, and stood up straighter. This sounded more like his kind of thing.

There was more yelling and suddenly the flying people were streaming past the garage door. One of them; a man who was glowing neon yellow and yelling into a walky-talky, caught sight of Derek and looped back around to land in the garage.

“Who the fuck are you?” he asked

Derek felt enormously gratified. He beamed as he jumped into the cab. ‘Finally’ he thought, as he turned the key and revved the engine.

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Laurie hit the ground hard, and broke the chair into lots of little pieces.

She surged back into life and jumped back to her feet. She ran in the direction she came; trying to get under the cover of the window sill.

There were furious voices above her and the sound of a gunshot, but if they had wanted to shoot her then they wouldn’t have tied her up.

Laurie hit the wall and rubbed her face down. The blindfold didn’t come off but it shifted away from one eye. There was a broken piece of wood between the ties on her hands, and a piece of wood tied to both ankles.

Laurie felt like laughing, so she did. She wished she could have seen the looks on her guards face’s as she went through that window. Still laughing, she looked around for some way to get back inside the building; she needed a weapon if she was going to escape.

Men that were flying like Mckingle streaked around the building and towards her. Looking like a hyper aggressive neon rainbow.

Laurie was loving the thrill of the chase. She grinned, winked at the men, and dove through an open window.

Someone shrieked from behind a shower curtain.

Laurie ignored it and crossed the room with a few strides. She opened the door by kicking it; causing the former chair leg to bite into her heel

The corridor beyond was empty and cold.

Laurie smiled and stood up straighter. A corridor was just what she was looking for.

Someone had left a door open two doors down from her.

Happy with her good luck, Laurie grinned and ducked inside.

She shut the door and listened to the sound of the Mckingle men flying past; trying to find a door that had been kicked in.

Laurie stifled a giggle as the last one went past, and turned around.

It looked like it must have been the garage. But it was empty now, and from the look of it, it had been a few years since it had been fit to take a vehicle. There were some old oil drums against one of the walls and they had sharp edges.

Laurie was glad to have the opportunity to get rid of her ties. She skipped across the garage and started rubbing the ties behind her back against the edge of one of the barrels.

The ropes broke and the piece of wood clattered to the floor.

Laurie laughed and striped off the rest of her ropes. She held them up and wondered what she was going to do with them when she noticed that some of the barrels still had oil in them.

The door to the garage was still open when one of the men flew in and noticed Laurie holding up a piece of rope.

Laurie narrowed her eyes and looked at the rope. ‘Hmmm’, she thought ‘They confiscated my lighter, so how do I handle this?’

A neon blue blast of light shot past her; setting one end of the rope on fire.

Laurie was happy with that. “Thanks” she yelled to the man; who was calling for his friends. She dropped the unlit end into a barrel of oil and then ran for her life

She reached the door of the corridor, ducked under another blue bolt, and slipped inside.

There was an earth shattering kaboom from the other side of the door.

‘Well that was fun’ thought Laurie, as she ran down the corridor, ‘Now I wonder if I can find their armoury’

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Derek brought the truck to a halt; leaving lines of smoking rubber behind him.

Derek felt annoyed. He knew that he should be grateful, but nothing in the mission was going the way it was supposed to. For instance he was starting to wonder if the guards were idiots. He had stolen a truck, rammed one of their number up against at wall, and had spend the last minute doing a high speed lap of the complex, and none of the guards seemed inclined to stop him.

The flying guards collapsed together on the garage.

Derek felt a twist of worry. He pushed himself back into his seat and thought, ‘They’ve found what I did to the yellow guy’. He knew he should run, and his right foot suddenly seemed a lot heavier, but he didn’t know where Laurie was; and he knew he had to get her.

There was an earth shattering kaboom and the garage disappeared in a hail of concrete shrapnel.

Derek’s heart jumped. Then the rest of his body got in on the act and jumped as well. He skewed sideways in his seat and watched as the fragments clattered on the roof. He was almost certain that that wasn’t his fault.

The flying men were flying around in a state of considerable agitation. It was like being at the centre of a rainbow whirl pool.

Derek felt a little shrunken. It occurred to him that Laurie might already be escaping on her own. It was either that or the flying men had some truly awful ideas about the correct way to heat a building.

The flying men descended on the building and started to pour in through the windows; seemingly at random.

Derek watched them careful, with his face turned to the side. He didn’t like having all of them inside at the same time; it made the place feel too much like a bomb waiting to go off.

It occurred to Derek that even if everything was going well now, it would inevitably turn against him later. He took the yellow man’s radio off the floor.

There was a big crushed area along the side of the radio. Derek had missed it in the excitement while he was picking it up.

Derek felt his stomach being pushed higher in his chest and he ran his thumbs over the crushed area. He knew something like this was going to happen. There was nothing else to be done, so he thumbed the on switch.

He radio made a faltering squeaking noise; like a dying seal.

Derek felt his stomach drop back to its normal position. He sighed; at least the radio was alive.­

He keyed in the number to reach the bunker in the woods. The phone spat, crackled, and popped, but didn’t do anything useful.

Derek’s heart sank. He knew it had been going too well. He lifted the radio up and talked into it, but he didn’t have any expectation of it working. They were alone.

There was another explosion from inside the building, and then the crackling of small arms fire.

Derek sat bolt upright. That had to be it, he thought, and he gunned the engine into life.

There was another explosion and Derek pinpointed one section of the building.

The truck surged forward and built up speed.

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Laurie was having a lot of fun. Although she wished she had found earmuffs.

The Mckingle men made another push for the door but got pushed back again.

Laurie felt excitement burning inside her. She laughed as she hurled a grenade back down the hallway.

There was an explosion and a sheet of flame. There were a couple of men strewn around; they seemed to be getting back on their feet, but this didn’t bother Laurie.

There was a huge crunching noise and part of the wall folded up behind her.

Laurie had a sudden sense that her back wasn’t secure anymore. She jumped and spun around; training her guns on the thing that had just come through.

Derek yelled and covered his face with his hands.

Laurie felt relieved, and gave Derek a big grin. “Just heading through?” she asked.

Derek was watching the corridor with a horrified expression on his face, but he still had the presence of mind to mutter, “Sure, need a lift?”

Laurie was glad that Derek was developing a sense of humour. She chuckled and spread bullets behind her, catching a few men that were trying to sneak forward. Then she took a running leap and swung into the cabin of the truck.

Derek took the truck back, and then spun it round and aimed it at the desert road. “Do you think we have time to get the cube?” He asked.

Laurie’s heart twisted as she looked in the rear view mirror and saw the Mckingle men heading for the sky. “No time!” she said, “Go!”

Derek floored the accelerator and took off into the desert, wheels spinning.

Laurie felt lighter, and she suddenly felt tired. She glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw three glowing lights detach themselves from the rest of the group. Not over yet, she thought.

The three men caught up with the truck and began to ram it; they seemed to be much heavier than mere mass should have allowed.

Laurie could feel her mind making target acquisitions. She smiled and her hand twitched. She picked out the biggest gun she could find and leaned out the window.

One of the men was glowing neon green; he got hit on the nose with gunfire, and dropped out of sight.

Another one of the men was glowing neon black. Laurie had trouble with this one; he ducked and weaved, and stopped her from landing a shot. Finally he ducked too far and rolled under the wheels of the truck.

That just left the man that was glowing yellow. The man that was glowing yellow had seen what had happened to the others; he flew forward and landed on top of the trucks cabin.

“What the hell?” said Derek, “That guy should still be down! I hit him, in the face, with this truck”

Laurie wasn’t really listening; she was trying to solve a mental puzzle. She propped herself up in her seat and leaned out the window. “They don’t stay down” she said, as she sprayed bullets over the top of the cab. “I worked it out when they had me prisoner, that’s why there were only three bodies in the desert; the rest were in good enough condition to get back up and walk away”

“What?” said Derek, “So all those men back there are still alive?”

Laurie felt a tiny pinch of worry. She sat back in her seat and lowered her gun. “I hope so” she said, “I don’t think I hurt any of them badly enough to kill them.”

Derek looked at the accelerator as though hoping there was some way he could push it harder.

The truck lurched hugely, the wheels started spinning, and they started losing speed.

Derek looked in the mirror. “I think he’s pulling on the trailer!” He yelled

Laurie felt the jolt and forced her body back to life. She leaned out the window, but there was nothing to aim at. She let loose with the bullets anyway, and then her gun started clicking. She leaned back in the window and yelled. “We have to shake him off the trailer!”

“Hold on!” said Derek, as he pulled a thick and dangerous looking lever.  There was a huge thud, and they were suddenly minus a trailer.

Laurie was stunned. She turned around in her seat; nodding slightly. “That works too” she said.

There was a flash of yellow, and suddenly the man was on the road ahead.

Laurie hadn’t expected that. She jumped and reached for the next closest gun on the seat.

The man lifted his arm and brought it down like a guillotine. A spout of neon yellow fire blasted from his hand and fell on the road in a huge arc.

The arc hit the side of the truck with a heavy thud that sent the truck spinning out of control.

The truck left the ground, rotated in the air, and hit the ground with enough momentum to roll seven times before stopping on its roof.

With an attitude of dull acceptance, Laurie reached into the glove compartment and put on the cheap pair of sunglasses she found in there. ‘Well’, she thought, ‘at least it will be better than last time’.

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Derek had scrambled out of the truck as soon as it had come to a stop. So he was just in time to see the man blazing a ring of fire around the truck.

Derek felt like a cornered rabbit. He spun left and right; looking for a way out, but there wasn’t one. He also felt small, since his opponent was flying, and furry, since he hadn’t shaved that morning.

The flying man drifted inwards with his eyes locked on Derek. He was standing as though crucified, and the circle of fire was getting smaller.

Derek felt something break out of his fear. He ran towards the truck, already reaching his hand out to grab one on Laurie’s guns.

A sheet of flame detached from the ring and passed between Derek and the truck. “No, you don’t” said the man, “Not this time.” He lifted his voice and bellowed, “And you! Lady! Get out of the truck”

Laurie obediently walked out of the truck. The man let her pass through the flame, and then closed it behind her. Laurie looked oddly blank.

Derek couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He stared at Laurie as she joined him. “What do you think you’re doing?” he hissed, “Where’s your gun?”

Laurie didn’t reply; she didn’t even look at him. The man started talking again; he was using the kinds of tones that someone uses when they intend to force the world to make sense. “You two have caused me a lot of trouble” he paused, and breathed deeply through his nose, “and now here is what we are going to d-“

“Now Casper” said Laurie.

A whip of orange light lashed out from Laurie, and suddenly the man was falling in one direction, and his arm was falling in another.

The man’s arm hit the ground with a soft thud. The man’s everything else hit the ground with a loud thud. The flames vanished, and the desert was completely silent.

Derek simply couldn’t process what he had seen. He stood there gaping and watched Laurie. “You got the cube?” he asked at last.

Laurie took the cube out of her pocket; Casper was holding on to it, and if ghosts made sounds then Derek was sure he would be purring. “I found it while I was running through the building back there” she said, “I guess this means I did get to Casper back at the site”

Derek was jarred by this new piece of information. He swayed to the side like the earth was suddenly unstable, “You mean you didn’t know if he was attached to the cube? What if you had told him to attack and nothing had happened?”

Laurie took two guns out of the waistband of her jeans and threw one to Derek saying “I’m not stupid you know”.

She walked over to the man and said “Heal him, but make sure he stays unconscious”. Casper shot an orange beam out of the cube in her hand which surrounded the man and lifted the off the ground.

Derek took a step back and stared. “Why are you healing him?” he said.

“For interrogation” said Laurie, “He could have information that we need. Could you grab the arm and get the truck upright?”

Derek was disgusted. “Gaa” he said, pulling his head back, “I’m not touching that thing, and that truck is definitely not moving again” he looked back at the piece of modern art they had just installed, “Ever”.

Laurie turned around and whispered something to Casper, a second beam struck the arm, and suddenly there was a big piece of beef jerky and a glob of water draining into the desert a few meters away. “There” said Laurie, “It’s not unhygienic anymore”

Derek didn’t find the shrunken human paw any less creepy than the dismembered human arm, but he gingerly picked it up anyway, and turned to face the truck.

There was an oddly shaped lump near the top of the arm.

Derek looked away and closed his hand over the lump. He tried to imagine the truck rolling upright again. There was something there; he could feel something pushing sideways to his mind.

Derek focused harder. He thought about the truck spinning upright. He focused more, letting the energy build, and then suddenly he felt it break through.

The truck launched itself twenty meters into the air; spinning like a top.

The truck fell twenty meters out of the air, impacting like a brick.

Derek kept his mind blank and forced himself to stay calm. He picked himself up off the ground and brushed himself off. “Hey Laurie” he said, “It’s not going anywhere”

Laurie looked up. “That’s ok” she said, “I have a more fun way”

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It turned out that they were only about an hour’s flight from the forest bunker. Under Casper’s guidance they dropped lightly to the ground onto top of a hill with scenic views of the surrounding countryside.

Laurie found that she loved flying. It felt like being picked up by a winch and swung through the air. She loved having a ghost around as well. Casper had actually gotten better at controlling the cube as they had been flying. Laurie thought there was a very real chance that they might have broken the sound barrier in the final stage.

“That was the most fun I’ve had in years” she said, as she breathed the forest air. “We need to go flying more often, right Derek?”

Derek was standing slightly hunched and with both feet firmly on the ground. Laurie thought he looked a little ill.

Laurie was concerned. She reached out her hand and rubbed Derek’s back. “Are you all right?” she asked.

Derek gave her a slightly queasy look. He straightened his back and said, “I’m alive; that’s about the best I could hope for. Let’s get back home already; it’s cold out here” and he started striding down the hill with the yellow man over one shoulder.

Feeling baffled Laurie reached out and yelled, “You know, I could probably get Casper to warm you up.

Derek didn’t answer. He was rapidly becoming a dot in the distance.

Laurie didn’t want to be left behind, so she ran after him.

Derek was looking a little angry by the time that Laurie pulled alongside him. He was following the course of a river and didn’t seem to be in the mood to talk. So Laurie walked in silence.

The light was starting to burn around the outside of her glasses, and Laurie knew she would have to get better ones. The disguise she had gotten from the twins would protect her if she had to go back to her dorm to get her spares, but she had been thinking about what people might do if they recognized her, and she was wondering if there was some way she could get around going back in person.

Laurie was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn’t notice how far they had walked until she came to a sealed road that cut across her path and stopped her cold. That’s when she asked, “You’re lost aren’t you?”

In hindsight it wasn’t really a question.

Derek stared across the road, as though daring the other side to blink. Eventually he replied, “No- Yes- I am- I’m lost” he hung his head. The he looked angry again “Is that Casper’s idea of a joke, dropping us so far from the bunker?”

Laurie was a little surprised, she started chuckling along with what she assumed was Derek’s joke, and when he looked at her and didn’t return it she said “I don’t think he was making a joke Derek. We must have been very obvious when we were flying in. Casper probably didn’t want to mark out where we were staying.”

There was a weird pulsing feeling in Laurie’s hand and Derek hung his head again. “Let’s just get back,” he said, “Lead the way”

Laurie acknowledged his strange request with a nod of her head and took the lead. She didn’t know the land any better than Derek did, but she knew the vague direction she should be going in down the road.

The road was uphill and the day was growing hot. The asphalt was starting to absorb the heat of the sun, and the air was starting to shimmer. Laurie and Derek breathed heavily as they walked and there was soon sweat running off them.

Laurie didn’t mind the heat as much as the light that was getting brighter around her glasses. She shielded her eyes with one hand and looked up the road.

The road turned to a steeper incline up ahead.

Laurie straightened up; starting to regret walking on the road but determined to push on through.

Laurie and Derek reached the top of the hill, only to find that the road lead to a steeper hill.

Laurie was glad. She grinned and put a little bit of a swagger into her walk. She had just recognized where they were.

Laurie heard the sounds of puffing and panting behind her, “Laurie,” said Derek, “This is insane, let’s just fly”

Laurie didn’t want to fly when they were so close. She looked over her shoulder and called out, “Hang in there, only two more roads left to go.”

She heard an exasperated wheeze and then Derek said, “Laurie, I’m carrying a guy here”

Laurie’s reply stopped somewhere short of her mouth. She looked up the hill, and then turned around to face Derek.

He really did look tired. His chest was heaving and there was sweat running down his face and into his eyes.

Laurie felt ashamed. She hung her head and held up her cube. “Sorry” she said, “I didn’t really think about how much he must weigh.”

Laurie wasn’t really happy with the idea of using the cube so close to the bunker; she didn’t know enough about how the cube worked to be sure that it couldn’t be tracked, but there had to be times when security came second, and she could see that her partner couldn’t keep walking.

“Take us up to the flat part” she said to the air that she assumed Casper was inhabiting. “Keep us low”

An orange glow surrounded them all and lifted them off the ground.

Laurie enjoyed the feeling of being lifted up the hill. She smiled as the road slipped past a couple inches from her toes. She kept one eye on the road though; she wasn’t sure how a bystander would interpret three being lifted by invisible hooks attached to the backs of their jeans. “Hide us in the bushes if anyone comes” she whispered to her hand.

They made it up the hill and walked to the entrance of the road that would take them to the bunker.

Laurie felt glad to see it. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and turned to Derek. “There”, she said, “we made it in one piece.”

There was an earth shaking noise, a flower of fire somewhere almost out of sight, and a gust of warm air.

Laurie spun around and put her hands up. “What was that?!” she exclaimed.

Derek was beside; her leaning forward with his eyes wide. “My daughter’s there!” he said.

Laurie felt it like a punch in the gut; Derek’s family and team three laying on the ground, burned all over, their eyes wide and glassy. “Hold on” she said, “I’ll fly us up”

Laurie turned, but Derek wasn’t there anymore.

He was sprinting up the road as fast as his legs would carry him.

Laurie saw the problem with that. She threw her hands up and cried, “We can’t leave this guy here!”

Derek didn’t care; he just kept running.

Laurie slapped her hands on her forehead. “Fly both of us up” she said to the cube.

There was a bright glow that surrounded both Laurie and the man and punted them down the road. They closed the distance quickly, but then Laurie jerked sharply to the left and found herself in a bush.

An armoured truck barrelled back the way they’d come and out of sight. There were men hanging off the sides. They were all armed.

Laurie felt a jolt of justified fear. She knocked branches out of the way and struggled back to the road.

Some way ahead of her Derek did the same. He had seen the guns too. For a split second all he did was stare in the direction the truck had gone. Then he yelled and whipped out his shrunken arm. There was a blast of light and Derek was thrown into the air.

‘Damn!’ thought Laurie, imagining Derek hitting the ground. “Follow him” she said.

Laurie soared.

She could see the bunker now; all the trees around it were on fire. There were two figures standing on top of it; one was very tall and the other was very short, but with the sun getting higher in the sky Laurie couldn’t make anything else out.

Something hit Derek and stopped him short. He hit the ground and rolled.

Laurie stared. Derek was holding a foam bullet, and she had never seen someone so happy to be shot in the head.

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They were all in a clearing a little way away from the bunker. A small waterfall ran past their feet, and the air was filled with a bubbling sound. Derek and Laurie had just finished telling their side of the story, and both of the cubes were being passed around the circle.

Derek was uncomfortable with the amount of attention that Emma was giving the arm. He narrowed his eyes a bit as he watched her as she handled it; even if the arm still creped him out he had come to think of it as his.

Emma didn’t seem to notice the signals that Derek was giving off, but she did eventually pass the arm on. She looked down at the unconscious guy on the forest floor “If we have his arm” she said, “Then what’s with him still having two?”

Derek blinked twice and looked down at the man. Weirdly enough, the fact that the man still had his arm hadn’t struck him as weird while he was carrying him.

The man lay in the rough middle of the circle, taking periodic jolts from Casper to keep him out. He was wearing a suit of fine cut, which had been marred a little bit by desert wear, and had had an especially fine cut remove one of the sleeves.

Derek wrinkled his nose and pulled his head back; he found the effect of the sleeve missing by such a clean cut to be very jarring; the man looked like he belonged at a certain kind of convention.

Laurie indicated to the cube that Casper had claimed, “Casper healed him” she said, “He healed him and that included growing his arm back”

Everyone looked at the Casper in admiration. Or rather all the people who could see him looked at Casper in admiration; everyone else admired empty space.

“Well that’s it then” said Emma, “We go find the basted behind all this, rip him a new one, and all head home.”

Derek didn’t see how the two thoughts were linked. He jumped and said “Wha?”

“Well we got our super weapon right? So let’s go roll the bastards up. With a ghost on the cube there’s no way they could take us.”

“Yeh. Well that’s a great idea Emma” said Derek, “But I can spot two flaws in it. Number one; we don’t know who’s behind all of this and Number two, We Don’t Know Who’s Behind All This.”

Emma nudged the man with her toe. “I bet he knows”

Laurie stepped in, “Alright yes” she said, “We will obviously be interrogating him for that information, but there is a good chance that the other side will be using ghosts as well; if they invented these things then it seems very likely.”

“So we interrogate” said Emma, “It’s the same thing no matter what you do”

Derek was getting annoyed. “I’m not saying we shouldn’t interrogate” he said, “I’m saying that it would be suicide to attack without getting better information.”

Emma opened her mouth

“And yes” Derek went on, “we will be interrogating, but even after we’ve done that we will still have to decide on whether we want to handle this ourselves or bring in an outside party. Hell, do we even know if any corpses were pulled out of the ruins of the office? He glared around the circle.

Everyone either looked back at him blankly or hung their heads and shuffled their feet.

“Right” said Derek, glad that he was having an impact for once, “Then for all we know Tony and Chief could still be alive.”

“And Wellsford” Laurie pointed out

“Right. Whatever. The point is, if they are then we should definitely go and find them; they would be a huge help.”

Derek paused; he had run out of things to say but he didn’t really want to stop talking. “Also” he went on, “Lest we forget, Laurie and I are wanted criminals now; we should really do something about that before the mission’s over.”

One of the twins raised her hand; possibly to ask what they had done, or, in Derek’s opinion, to ask what a wanted criminal was.

Derek didn’t want to spend the time of explaining it to her “Never mind” he said, and the twin put her hand down again, “So we’ve agreed to interrogate” Derek said, “Now you need to tell us what happened here so that we know if the bunker is safe”

Emma smiled, “Hell yeh, it’s safe” she said, “did you see what that C4 did?”

Derek tried to think if he had seen a crater and drew a blank. “No,” he said, “What did the C4 do?”

“Sweet fuck all” said Emma grinning from ear to ear, “Oh and Derek,” she went on, “Your kid’s one of us now”

Derek thought about what would have to happen before he would let his daughter team up with the dangerous sociopaths. “Over my dead body” he decided.

Emma laughed it off. “Well we’re going to see a lot of combat by the time we’re done” she said, “It could happen”

Derek wished he had some way of knowing when Emma was kidding, and he shuddered, “How did they know where we were?” he asked, changing the subject, “The men in the truck.”

“Dunno” said Emma, “But this red flashing light went off right before they showed up so that’s probably linked somehow”

“On that panel on the kitchen pillar?” asked Laurie.

“That’s the one” said Emma, “You know it?”

Laurie nodded, “My father installed it when I was a kid, it means that someone sent a radio signal out; Mckingle must of called for help. I don’t see how though; we emptied his pockets.”

There was silence around the circle while everyone tried to puzzle this one out.

Derek felt something like a jolt of electricity moving up his spine and into his brain. He put his hand to his mouth. “We didn’t check the teeth” he said, “I’ll bet he had a radio transmitter tooth; he’s rich enough to afford one.” He tried to keep his mind clear and let the next stage of the thought rise to the surface.

Laurie beat him to it. “That would make those guys his security detail” she said, “Mercenaries he hired with standing orders to retrieve him if he was captured”

Derek felt the little jar of an inconsistency. “Then why did they set C4?” he asked, “That seems like a stupid way to go about it”

“Oh they didn’t set it” said Emma happily, “They hurled it out of a moving vehicle as they ran away from us.”

Derek could sympathize with the mercenaries. “Ok” he said, “So they underestimated you and had to retreat, but they still have a contract with Mckingle; they’ll be back”

“I don’t think so”, said Laurie, “They deal must have been that they would get paid after they retrieved Mckingle; they may have just decided that we were too tough and decided to go after easier bounties.”

Derek thought about the probabilities involved, and he snorted. “And maybe Chief will drop out of the sky and bring us all explosives so that we can take down the man who is attacking us. Let’s be realistic here; it’s a fifty/fifty chance at best, and that’s still too high to risk”

Laurie thought about this. “Alright,” she said, “Did Mckingle get a good look at us?”

Derek was taken aback. “No” he said, “I don’t think so; we had the light on him most of the time, and he’s been under a lot of drugs”

Laurie nodded; she seemed to be taking charge again. “We can lose Mckingle in a corn field on the way” she said, “I know a place we can go where no-one will notice an unconscious man tied to a chair”

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The dorm building towered over head. It must have once been a good looking building. It wasn’t good looking anymore.

The building wasn’t a wreck though. It was covered with graffiti, strange signs, and things the English language is not equipped to describe, but it wasn’t really a wreck.

If one was prepared to look close enough they would see that, for instance, that all the windows were intact, or that there seemed to be fresh repair work in the walls, or a thousand other things that seemed to suggest that the building was the way it was simply because the inhabitants liked it that way.

Laurie’s heart swelled as she looked up at the building. She blinked a little moisture out of her eye and sniffed. ‘Feels like home’ she thought.

“All right,” She said to the group, “This is where we will be staying”

Derek walked up beside her. “Your university dorm?” he said, incredulously.

Laurie thought that the tone of voice was unnecessary. She straightened up and looked Derek in the eye. “Yes,” she said, “In here it won’t matter what we do; we could practice with the cubes in the hallway and no one would look twice”

Derek took another step back, “Shouldn’t we be hiding somewhere? Going back to your room seems to be the opposite of hiding.”

Laurie was relieved that that was all Derek was worried about. She let herself fall back to a more natural position and looked back at the dorm. “We won’t be using my old room” she said, “It would be too small anyway. We’re going to get rooms on the bottom floor; they’re more spacious and there’s always some available”

Derek looked at the bottom floor and narrowed his eyes; there was a lot of scorch marks along the bottom floor. “If they’re so spacious” he said carefully, “Then why are they always available?”

Laurie had hoped that no one would pick up on that. She felt a little blush come to her cheeks as she said, “Well, that’s where the experimental chemists like to live, and sometimes they get things wrong”

Derek didn’t reply; he just subjected the ground floor to a long hard stare.

Laurie was glad that that was over. She smiled, clapped her hands together and said brightly, “Right, shall we go in then?” She started walking without waiting for a reply; she was keen to get everyone moving before Derek thought to ask how the rooms had ended up so spacious.

Laurie was almost at the door when she realized that the twins were walking beside her and carrying the unconscious man between them.

Laurie was surprised by this.  She stopped where she stood and tilted her head to one side. She was sure that Derek had been carrying the man when they had got out of the car. She turned around and looked behind her.

All the others had followed her. Emma and Beatrice had walked after her quite calmly; looking quite at home against the backdrop of the dorm, Derek’s wife had drifted after them with a dreamy expression on her face, and the twins were chatting excitedly as they marched into the dorm with the man between them.

Derek hadn’t followed her. Derek was still standing and watching the dorm as though he expected it to attack him as soon as he took his eyes off it. Jade was holding on to his leg and looking up with her soft eyes.

Laurie’s heart sank, and her face fell; it’s not nice having someone reject a part of your life. “Derek” she called to him, and indicated towards the dorm with a turn of her head.

Derek subjected her to a long look, but eventually he began walking forward; with Jade bobbing along at his heel.

Laurie felt at home as she walked into the reception. A smile flickered across her face. ‘This is a nice feeling’ she thought, ‘This is a safe feeling’.

The reception was overfilled, but clean. Derek’s wife was admiring a picture someone had stuck up of a can of sweet corn. Emma and Beatrice were looking at the stuffed winged buffalo that hung from the ceiling, and were discussing the best gun for hunting it with. The twins were standing at the faded and chipped reception desk and periodically ringing the bell, the man was propped up beside them in a pose of thoughtful contemplation.

Laurie remembered her first day in the dorms when she had done the same thing the twins were doing, and she smiled at the memory. She walked up to the desk and stood beside the twins. “That’s not going work” she said.

They looked at her as though she had just told them that their puppy had died and asked her ‘why not?’

Laurie smiled inwardly and decided to save them some trouble; on her first day she had been at the desk for hours before anyone had told her the trick. She inclined her head towards the desk and said, “The bell won’t work, you need to use the stick. “

The twins looked back at the desk, and there was indeed a stick there. It extended about three inches from the tabletop but its base disappeared through a hole and was hidden from view. There was a raised piece of wood around the bit of the table that surrounded the stick and written on it were the words ‘Lift up high and drop repeatedly for service’.

The twins looked at the stick.

Then they looked at Laurie.

Then back at the stick again.

They reached out and lifted the stick up.

Then further up.

There was a clunking noise and the stick would not rise any higher.

The twins looked at Laurie again.

Then they looked back at the stick.

They let go.

“Ow!” said something underneath the desk.

The twins jumped

Laurie laughed inwardly, but she managed to limit herself to a snicker outwardly. She remembered the first time she had used the stick; she had lifted it up hesitantly the first time too, with people standing around smiling and nodding, and she had done a lot worse than jump the first time she had heard Serv. It felt good, she decided, to pass on a tradition.

The twins turned towards each other and looked at each other with open mouths. Then they giggled shyly. Suddenly one of them reached out and flicked the stick to the very top of its travel.

The stick dropped.

“Gah, go away!”

The stick dropped.

“I’m sleeping!”

The stick dropped.

“I’m drunk!”

The stick dropped

“I’m not here!”

The stick dropped

“Fine; I’m up, I’m up!”

The stick dropped

“Ow! Damnit! I’m up!

The stick dropped- and bounced with a soft springing noise.

A hand slapped onto the counter. Then an arm slapped onto the counter. Finally a face dropped onto it. “Welcome to the Easycare Dorm” it said, from behind a mass of uncombed hair. “How may I be of assistance on this fine day?”

Laurie felt conflicted; she thought Serv looked even worse than the usually did, but she knew she couldn’t let on she’d seen him before; she was a wanted criminal at the moment and she had to hide behind middle aged woman that the twins had made for her face. She settled for patting Serv on the back and asking, “Rough night?”

Serv dragged his head around so that he could see out the window. “It’s morning already?” He asked, “Oh god, I missed the night again!”

It pained Laurie to see Serv this way. She stroked his hair, and then pulled her hand back again; covered with grease. “We need a room.” She said, “I was thinking something on the ground floor would be big enough to hold all of us”

“All of the rooms on the ground floor are booked” muttered Serv

Laurie was surprised. She pulled her head back and said, “What?”

“I was surprised too. There’s some sort of competition going on between the chemists and the biologists and a whole bunch of both have turned up from out of town. I think they’re competing to see who can make the healthiest snack food, or something. Anyway there’s no room.”

There was a loud explosion that caused the objects in the reception to vibrate a few inches away from where they had been before. The winged buffalo flapped up and down indignantly.

“And I think a room just opened up” Serv went on, “Take one of the spare keys for room 17 and leave the money on the counter. We thank you for using Easycare Dorms and we hope to see you again.” And with that, Serv closed his eyes and slipped off the counter and out of sight.

Laurie felt sorry to see him go; she rubbed her forehead and took one of the keys for room seventeen. ‘Poor guy must be overworked’ she thought as she left the money on the counter. She thought about the layout of the building and signalled to all the others. “Come on” she said, “Room Seventeen is this way”

Derek grabbed her arm. “Hold on” he said, “Why are even considering this death trap?”

Laurie felt exasperated by Derek’s over cautiousness and annoyed by him grabbing her. She shook his arm off and said “It’s not a death trap; I’ve lived here for years. Besides the chemists from room seventeen are fine; they’re probably dropping back to the ground now.”

Derek’s expression softened, he seemed to regret grabbing her and kept his hands by his side as he asked, “Laurie is this place going to kill us?”

Laurie wanted to roll her eyes, but she fought against the urge; even if he wouldn’t admit it, Laurie was sure he was worried about jade. “It’s safe Derek” she said, “After the building started wobbling the engineers came down from the top floor and reinforced all the walls with diamond nanotubes, you couldn’t get a bullet through them now. Anything that our neighbours do will be contained by their walls and blasted out their chimneys, and meanwhile we will have total privacy because people try to avoid walking in the corridors on the chemist’s floor. We’re fine”

Derek hung his head and looked away. “Let’s go unpack” he said.

There was a very substantial looking door between the reception area and the rest of the ground floor. It wasn’t made of metal, or even visibly reinforced, but it had a kind of solemn gravity about it that seemed to say, ‘This is where it ends’.

Everyone was making their way towards the door. In the end most of them didn’t make it.

“Oh My God, Hiiiiiiii!”

Laurie’s heart skipped and her body stiffened. She discreetly turned her head and stared at a blank space on the wall. She knew that voice and she didn’t like the tone of recognition it had.

In between reception and the door there was a gLaurieous staircase that led up to the other floors. In its heyday grand parties must have been held there with the staircase as the backdrop. Now it was faded and the carpet had worn away in several places. Lenard’s younger brother Geordie was running down it with his fingers splayed wide.

‘Hi Girllllls!’ he called

The twins squealed and ran to him. They all held hands and danced up and down. Talking in a high pitched rapid-fire chatter.

Laurie felt relieved. She breathed out and felt her heart returning to a normal rhythm. Her disguise had held up; Geordie hadn’t recognized her, she had completely forgotten that he knew the twins too. Laurie started walking again; she didn’t want to hang around someone who knew her quite well while she was pretending to be someone else.

Geordie grabbed Derek and said, “Oh my god, you have such a cool shrunken arm” he said, “You totally need to come to my party too”

Derek gapped and shot Laurie a questioning look.

Laurie thought the look on Derek’s face was hilarious. She stifled a chuckle and shrugged her shoulders at him. How could she hope to explain the weird tastes of the dorms inhabitants without a lecture hall and a few days to prepare?

Geordie chuffed Derek on the chin and said, “So how about it, champ? You know I won’t hear no as an answer”

“No” said Derek

“I won’t hear it. Come along now girlllls” and with that Geordie pushed Derek up the stairs and out of sight; with the twins close behind them.

Laurie decided to memorize what Derek’s face had looked like as he had disappeared round the corner; it would probably provide her with amusement for years to come. She chuckled and turned back to the door. It will do him some good, Laurie decided, she thought Derek was too tightly wound; having a day off would help him take his mind off things.

Laurie reached out to the door. Then she stopped dead.

Laurie realized she had forgotten something very important. She stared at the door; unable to look away. “Hold on” she said, “Did we just let the twins walk off with our prisoner?”

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The party was wild, like at fever dream. Svelte men wearing extravagant feathered headdresses were giving lap dances to powerful looking women in skin-tight leotards. Near the centre of the room, a huge group of people were dancing around, holding a chair up, whilst covered in whipped cream. There was a Jacuzzi there; it was filled with people, one of them was wearing a waterproof tuxedo and jugging/serving several different wine bottles. A conga line had started snaking around the room; picking up random people as it went; it had now joined up with its own tail, and no one seemed to care.

Derek was part of the group holding the chair up. He wasn’t entirely sure how he had ended up covered in whipped cream.

Derek had realized some minutes ago what the twins had done and now he felt like an idiot. He couldn’t hold his head in his hand while holding the chair so instead he rested his head on the chair leg. ‘I should have yelled out’ he thought, ‘I should have remembered’.

The man was propped up on a couch in the corner; Derek got a good look at him as his dancing group rotated again. Everyone seemed to be assuming that he had passed out drunk, in spite of it being only ten o’clock in the morning. And several helpful people; who were probably going the same way he had, were standing around him and pouring salt water over his head; swearing that it was a coma cure that their grandmother had heard from a friend of a friend.

Derek felt a dash of pity, but mostly he felt revulsion for the coma curers and a nagging undertone of fear that they would actually succeed in waking him up. Derek’s hands stiffened on the chair leg and as the chair kept rotating, he kept turning his head, trying to keep the man in view.

The party was still ramping up. Another group of people walked in the door, accompanied by what was either an ostrich or a man wearing far too many feathers; but was probably an ostrich.

Derek thought about how packed the party could get with horror. He bit his tongue and looked around. He knew he couldn’t risk losing sight of the man; if someone took him away and he woke up somewhere else then he would definitely escape, and that would mean losing the best hope they had of finding the person who was attacking them.

Someone bounded across the room; swinging on rubber pipes that attached themselves to the walls and ceilings whenever he threw them.

Derek felt a little disgusted; he pulled his head back and wrinkled his nose. He could see that the party was getting out of hand and he didn’t want to be around when the swinging man crashed into somebody. He looked around and thought about how he might escape. He looked at the door.

His host, the man who looked like Lenard, was still by the door; meeting and greeting people, with a joyful smile on his face.

Derek thought about trying to get through the door and shuddered. He wasn’t even sure he would be able to get through the door; it seemed likely that he would just get turned around. Derek decided against the door; even if he explained that his ‘drunken friend’ needed to get home to sleep it off he would probably just get sent to the bedrooms. Derek raised his head and looked at the bedrooms.

There were a couple doors that lead off the main area, presumably into the bedrooms. They were undecorated, not obvious, and not in any way open, but they were also not in any way barred.

Derek thought about the doors with curiosity as he hopped over the swinging man who had crashed in a splayed heap at his feet. The doors were clearly being downplayed; perhaps his host wouldn’t send him there so quickly after all. Derek decided that he wasn’t going to risk it, but maybe he could use the bedrooms? He could take the man into them and wait for the party to get so crowded that he could just sneak out the door. Derek looked over at his host.

His host was greeting a man in an alligator costume at the door, or possibly it was an alligator? No, it was probably a man in a suit. He was grinning away and didn’t show any signs of being interested in leaving his post.

Derek was crestfallen. He looked back at his host and thought about traps and mazes. He didn’t have enough time, he decided. He didn’t know how long he could rely on the man being unconscious for, and he didn’t know how long it would take before his host left the door. If the man came around while they were both in the bed room then the situation would be that much worse.

There weren’t many other ways out of the room. There was another door that presumably led to the bathroom; which was a useless escape route since Derek couldn’t think of a way of fitting himself down a toilet, and there might have been a window behind the huge blackout curtains at the end of the room.

Derek thought about his options; he really didn’t like any of them, and he rubbed his mouth with his shoulder while he talked, but when he thought about it he kept coming back to the window. He wasn’t sure of what floor he was on but he thought it was probably the third one. Three floors wouldn’t be fun but it might be doable.

Derek made up his mind.

Next ->

<- Previous

The EasyCare dorm is a very odd place. The last building inspector that voluntarily stepped into the building was mysteriously eaten on the biologists’ floor, and since then the inhabitants had more or less been left to their own devices.

It had never been planned for the floors to be segregated by major, but like attracts like, and all the floors had been left marked by their inhabitants; from the ridiculously automated world of the mechatechnicians’ floor, to the rather disturbing place that the quantum mechanics’ called home.

The strangest of all the floors was floor three. Floor three had been many things over the years, the music floor, the artist’s floor, and most recently the psychology floor. Floor three was no longer any of these things, although it carried on the traditions of all of them. Floor three was now the floor that people went to when they didn’t care about the majors they had spent huge sums of money to study, or if they had finished their majors and didn’t want to leave, or, most ominously, if they were just people who chose to live there over a thousand saner options.

Laurie’s room was on the third floor, and that’s where she was now. She was staring at her door, which was covered with safety tape, stickers and graffiti.

Laurie didn’t like the stickers; or anything for that matter, she hadn’t put any of them there and she didn’t like having them around, it felt like an invasion of her privacy. She smiled grimly as she read the stickers; she had been right about the reaction that the dorms inhabitants would have to her newfound notoriety.

‘Bomber!’ the stickers screamed. ‘Terrorist’, ‘Anarchist’, ‘Protestant whore’. There were pictures all over the door depicting Laurie lighting things on fire with a crazed look on her face; some of them were quite good; others seemed to have been drawn in crayon.

Laurie felt a little betrayed. She rested her head on the door and closed her eyes. She had guessed the reaction that her dorm mates might have to her, but it was a different thing to see it in person; it was like being bitten by a friendly dog.

There was a loud snapping noise and someone in an alligator costume bounded past the end of the corridor; singing a raunchy song involving barnyard animals.

Laurie realized with horror what it would look like if anyone saw her resting on the door like this. Her eyes snapped open and she jumped back to the other side of the corridor. ‘I shouldn’t even be here’, she thought, ‘I meant to find Derek.’

She didn’t move.

Laurie thought about just walking on, but somehow it just didn’t seem right. She thought about making another attempt at finding Geordie’s room and getting Derek, or at least their prisoner, out. She knew it was the right thing to do.

Laurie continued to not move.

Laurie hated those stickers; really hated them.  Her hands just curled naturally into fists whenever she looked at them. ’I could rip them off’ she thought, ‘I could just rip them right off, and maybe there would be more tomorrow, but for today I’d feel better.’

There were the sounds of partying in the distance.

Laurie really wanted to tear the stickers off. She wanted it so badly that she had to slap her own hands down to stop them reaching up. ‘It’s stupid’ she reminded herself, ‘It’s stupid, and unprofessional, and emotional, and you didn’t go to all this trouble just to give yourself away now. You should go get Derek’.

The stickers stayed where they were and so did Laurie.

Laurie knew it was time to leave; if anyone was watching her then she would have looked extremely strange. She twisted her body and her feet and prepared to walk away, but her head kept facing the door. ‘I need to get my glasses as well’, Laurie reminded herself, ‘it wouldn’t do any harm to just pop in there and pick up my spares. It would only take a moment; so that would be alright’

The door stayed where it was, but Laurie walked forwards.

*

Once Derek had decided what to do he moved quickly. He dropped his chair and marched away, leaving the circle to stagger behind him.

Derek liked having a plan, even if it was borderline suicidal, it gave him a sense of purpose and made him grin as he walked; it made him feel strong.

The guy was still propped up on the couch. And the drunken idiots were still around him. In between Derek and the guy the conga line stretched endlessly past.

Derek could feel the blood pulsing in his ears and it was getting harder to hear the sounds outside. He felt alive again; even more so than he had when he had been fighting for his life. Derek looked at the conga line, and then looked back at the dancing circle.

The circle had recovered and was carrying on without him.

Derek’s mind put two and two together, and he grinned. ‘I think I can see what Laurie sees in this’ he thought. He walked over to the conga line and pushed himself into it.

Strong hands grasped him from behind.

Derek grinned again. ‘So far, so good.’ He thought. He declined to grab the person in front of him and instead danced his way back to the chair dancing circle.

The circle seemed glad to see him again. One of the girls looked up and winked as he approached.

Derek felt a little confusion, but mostly he felt flattered. He winked back and grabbed onto the girl from behind. Derek was having fun again; like he hadn’t had since he was a kid. He couldn’t believe that he had let himself forget how.

The dancing circle continued to rotate, and the conga line continued to follow it.

Derek was looking around; taking stock of things and making sure that everything was working alright. He saw that the rest of the conga line was about to wrap around him, and he decided it was time to leave. Derek took his hands off the girl in front, and put the hand of the man behind him onto her. Then he turned and walked away.

As Derek walked the line kept streaming past and the ball at the centre kept getting bigger. Derek managed to get as far as the first couches before he slowed down.

Derek knew he should keep walking, but every fibre in him told him to turn back. Derek swallowed and took one step forward. Then he turned on his heal and looked back.

The circle at the centre of the room was now seven layers thick, and more people were spooling in. It really didn’t look as though they knew how to stop it. They could break up and go in their different directions of course, but a conga line is serious business and they had to absolutely follow the leader.

Derek thought it was hilarious, and he turned away stifling a giggle. He hoped the leader would try grabbing onto the man ahead of them in the spiral. Derek walked to the couches and dragged the guy onto his shoulders.

The drunks looked up in shock; they hadn’t realized anyone else was there. “Dude.” Said one, “You shouldn’t pick him up, you should put him on his side; it’s better for him.” The man paused, “Unless” he went on, “That’s the old Amish hangover cure, designed to purge the toxins out of him”

Derek was surprised by how coherent the man sounded. He hefted the guy into a more comfortable position on his shoulders, and replied, “of course; my grandma is an old Amish electrician; she taught me everything there is to know about alcohol”

“That’s cool man” said the drunk, “You should always listen to your grandma“

Derek couldn’t dispute this logic. He nodded slowly and walked away.

The swinging man had crashed three more times while Derek had been watching. But he seemed to be getting the swing of it now. He did a couple graceful arcs around Derek, showing no signs of slipping.

Derek was impressed, but he scowled anyway; his plan relied on the man crashing. Derek reached for the first thing that came to hand, which happened to be a set of feather studded underwear, and threw them in the face of his foe as he passed.

The man slammed into the ground with a splatting sound, conveniently right at Derek’s feet.

Derek loved the feeling of a plan coming together. He smiled and rummaged through the bag that the man was carrying to pick out the biggest piece of rubber hose he could find. With that in hand he walked to the end on the room and swept back the blackout curtain.

Everyone in the room shielded their eyes from the light and made exaggerated hissing noises.

Derek didn’t mind. He opened the window and hopped up on the window sill, feeling like a rebellious teenager again.

It did look to be about three floors to the cement.

Undaunted, Derek winked at everyone in the room, tied the rubber hose securely to the window, and leapt away.

The window drew away from him and the wind whistled in Derek’s hair.

All in all, Derek decided, it had been an absolutely smashing party; he hadn’t been to one that good in years. Derek was beginning to think he would enjoy living at the EasyCare dorm.

Derek hit the first floor window with a dull thud.

Derek felt like himself again. ‘Oh yeh’ he thought, as he slid back to ground proper, ‘Diamond nanotubes’

*

When Laurie had last seen her room it had been a weird mix of styles. Laurie was naturally messy, while her roommate was naturally neat, and the battle between order and chaos tended to leave pretty swirly patterns on the floor.

Now the room was totally neat from top to bottom

Laurie didn’t like it. She grimaced at the room as though it had wronged her personally. Laurie had often told her roommate that she wished she could keep a clean house like she could. But this hadn’t been Laurie’s choice, and she didn’t like not being the one in control.

A complex matrix of cards surrounded the door; Laurie’s roommate had been a math major and she liked to show off by building incredibly strong card towers. This one looked like it was meant to be a security system. Laurie didn’t see why getting a new lock on the door wouldn’t work just as well.

The card tower was a complex one and Laurie didn’t like it. She clucked her tongue, and rubbed her face. She was sure that if she just walked into the tower it would collapse onto her and something bad would happen. She didn’t feel like herself and she didn’t feel like she could solve this problem.

Laurie stared long and hard at the cards, and then she slapped herself.

The pain seemed to help, and even as Laurie reached up to rub her cheek ideas were occurring to her. ‘Next time I’m just going to bring the cube with me’ she thought, ‘I bet Casper could solve this in no time flat’

The wall of cards stretched all the way to the ceiling. They looked surprisingly sturdy. They looked like they were tensed for an attack.

Then in a flash Laurie saw the answer.

She felt kind of silly, and she shook her head and smiled at the mistake she had made. ‘I’m spending too much time around Derek,’ she thought.

What Laurie had forgotten was that the whole world wasn’t against her. Her roommate always left a simple way of disabling he traps; just in case Laurie came home late one night and needed to get in. Laurie was prepared to bet that the trick still worked.

Laurie was glad she finally had a reason to try the trick. She smiled to herself as she spread her arms. ‘I’m a beautiful ballerina’ she thought as she started to spin.

One card was knocked cleanly out of its spot, then another card was knocked away, and then a third. Suddenly a beautiful arc of cards fell away in front of Laurie.

Laurie liked the arc; she had always thought that her roommate should have taken an art minor. She stretched her arms out and stepped through into the room.

Something was wrong. Things of Laurie’s tended to end up on the floor, but what most people didn’t realize was that this was simply Laurie’s way of filing; everything she needed was always right at hand.

None of Laurie’s stuff was at hand at the moment; even the shelves were empty.

More than anything else this hammered home Laurie’s impression that this wasn’t really her room anymore. She pulled herself tighter and scratched the back of her hand. ‘What did she do with all my things?’ Laurie thought.

She suddenly started moving again and strode to her bedroom.

Her bed was made; for possibly the first time in its existence, but everything else was gone. Laurie’s room was neat, clean, sterile, and not really her room anymore.

Laurie felt a surge of anger. It spread out through her; starting with her feet and moving up until her eyes flashed. ‘When this is over’ she promised, ‘I’m going to demand a full apology from the people who are accusing me’

A little voice in her head answered. ‘That might be difficult; after all you did do most of the things they’re accusing you of’

Laurie felt totally wrong footed, as though she had been climbing a flight of stairs at night and had put her foot down where she had expected to find a step only to find that there was nothing there. She gapped a bit as she fished around for an answer.

‘But that was all for the government, there’s special rules about that right?’

There was no answer.

Laurie didn’t feel comfortable with being alone in a house that clearly wasn’t hers anymore. She rubbed her arm and thought, ‘Come on, time to leave; it was stupid to come in here; the prisoner is higher priority’. Laurie turned and started walking for the door.

Then her roommate walked in.

*

The chemists’ rooms were decorated to be sparse and functional. The reason for this was simply mechanical; all the furniture had to be made of diamond nanotubes and be bolted to the floor. There was also the face that the decorating had been done by simple mechanicals, and they tend not to think of those things.

Derek was sitting at a table in room seventeen. He was wearing a plaster on his nose and rubbing his mouth.

Derek didn’t like what he was hearing; he winced and looked up at Emma again. “When did you say she followed me?”

Emma had found a diamond nanotube knife and was twirling it in-between her fingers. “Right after you left, man. She said she knew where to go so we left her to it”.

Derek didn’t think it sounded any better the second time. He nodded slowly; resting his head in his hands, and then let his hand slip away so that his head hit the table. “Guess we have to go after her” he said.

“Why?” said Emma, “This is her home turf, she knows what she’s doing”

Derek felt frustrated; it was annoying having to constantly explain himself, and he kind of wished that he was talking to Laurie. “Right, this is her home turf.  Look, when she’s out there she’s surrounded, completely surrounded by people who know her and have a good chance of seeing through her disguise”

Emma was nodding, but her eyes were blank.

“Which would be bad” Derek clarified, “We can’t kill an entire building full of people just because we were careless. So I’ve got to go get her”

Emma looked thoughtful. “What happens if you go up looking for her and she comes down again and you’re not here? I reckon she’d probably just go back up again.”

Derek felt a little wrong footed. He scratched the side of his mouth and said, “She won’t come after me I’m not a high priority target.”

Emma threw the knife into a makeshift target, and said, “Well nah, but you know what Laurie is like; I bet she’ll go after you anyway”

Derek knew in his heart that Emma was right, and it annoyed him to have to think that. He flopped back in the chair and raised his hands up. “All right” he said, “What do you suggest?”

Emma was getting another knife out of the cutlery draw. She shrugged without bothering to turn around, “I dunno,” She said, “Wait for her?”

Derek could feel tiredness seeping through him. He sighed deeply and rested his head on the table, “That won’t work” he said, “that’s what we’re doing now and it still leaves Laurie in a bad position.”

Emma shrugged again and started playing with her second knife; spinning it behind her head and catching it with her other hand. “So you got two bad choices” she said, “Just go and pick one”.

Derek thought about it and realized with shock that a couple days ago he would have gone after Laurie in heartbeat. A couple days ago her had considered her enthusiastic but not very smart. Now though…

Derek rubbed his mouth and said. “Laurie is competent; we have to trust her abilities”

*

Laurie’s roommate walked calmly into the room. She nodded at Laurie and put her shopping down on the table before giving her a good look. “How did you get past the cards?” She asked

Terror blanked Laurie, she fought to keep her face calm, but it was losing battle. ‘Stupid!’ she thought ‘it was stupid and unprofessional to come in here for simple emotion!’

Laurie’s roommate stepped closer. “Who are you?” she asked, “You have such beautiful eyes”

Laurie felt like screaming and diving out the window. She tensed up and screamed inside her head, ‘She knows!’ Laurie tried to invent wildly, “I’m Laurie’s aunt” she said, “I’m here to pick up some of her stuff”

Her roommate raised her eyebrows, “I thought she was raised by her grandma?”

Laurie felt annoyed and cursed inside her head. It was just like her roommate to spot something like that. “Yes” she said, “But her grandmother’s dead now, and that makes me her only living relative” then she decided to go for broke, “Like it said I’m here to pick up her stuff, I did call ahead.”

Her roommate nodded slowly. “I suppose I can believe that you’re Laurie’s aunt” she said, “You look quite a lot like her”

Panic was bubbling in Laurie’s mind and threatening to boil over. She began scratching her leg compulsively. She couldn’t say anything; she just nodded back.

Her roommate took another step closer. “Especially around the eyes” she said, “You have beautiful eyes”

Laurie’s mind was beginning to pulse. She started to frantically search around for a weapon, but there wasn’t one. For a moment Laurie seriously considered using her guns, but then, to her surprise, her roommate turned and walked back to the kitchen bench.

“I’m afraid I don’t have Laurie’s things,” she said, “Yesterday the student council got together and burned an effigy of her with all of her stuff. They would probably still have her more valuable things, if you wanted to go and talk to them”

Laurie felt disappointed; in the situation and in herself. There was only one thing she had left in the room that she actually cared about. She forced a smile and said, “Right, I’d heard about the student council and their effigies. Well I suppose I better be going then” she started walking to the door.

“Sunglasses count as clothing”, said Laurie’s roommate.

Laurie felt baffled; so baffled that she stopped in her tracks. She didn’t get it, was she being mocked?

“I decided to hold onto the sunglasses though” her roommate went on, “I had a feeling that they would be handy if Laurie ever came back.”

Laurie couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing. She blinked, raised her hand and turned around.

Her roommate was holding up her sunglasses. “I don’t know what you could do with them” she said, “Given that you are Laurie’s aunt and not Laurie herself the glasses probably wouldn’t work too well for you. But perhaps you should take them anyway. If only for the purpose of looking cool”

*

The door closed behind Laurie with a firm click, and Laurie just stood there.

Laurie was feeling a little confused; she didn’t really understand what had just happened. ‘Well’ she thought, ‘That was a positive; I think’ she slipped her sun glasses on.

The world seemed less harsh all of a sudden; more sensical.

Laurie decided to go with feeling glad about this turn of events. She smiled and hummed a few notes of a song she half remembered. ‘I need to go find Derek’ she decided, ‘And then I can get the prisoner and we can get down to business.’ Laurie started walking.

It was like the dorm had been simplified. Laurie took a few turns and suddenly found herself in front of Geordies place.

Laurie felt a little conflicted; she had been to Geordies place many times before, but this time she felt like an intruder. She clucked her tongue; she was on a roll and she wasn’t going to stop now. She opened the door and walked in.

“Heeeey, sexy mama” said Geordie.

Laurie almost jumped and looked to see who Geordie was talking to; he had never addressed her like that before; it was almost as bad as being called ‘Ma’m’. Laurie kept a smile on her face and said, “I’m looking to find my husband.”

“Oh darrrrrlling” said Geordie, swatting her on the arm. “You came to the right place! A nice girl like you could have dozens of dozens of husbands by the end of the night.”

Laurie had forgotten what an experience talking to Geordie was. She laughed; it wasn’t faked. “Thank you” she said.

“Oh darling, it’s my pleasure. Come on dear; there’s someone I want you to meet” Geordie bustled her across the room and into the waiting arms of a rather androgynous man wearing nothing but a feather studded leather Speedo.

Laurie felt surprised, but she was having fun. She smiled at the man and together they danced.

The room was filled with people. Laurie saw the twins in the corner chatting away with a group of guys who looked too drunk to move. The man in the alligator costume that she had seen earlier was riding laps around the room on what was either a man in an ostrich costume or an actual ostrich; probably the latter. In the centre of the room a conga line slowly rotated in a tightly packed spiral; the people on the inside were yelling instructions to the people on the outside; telling them to conga to the right. As the man swung her  around the dance floor the two of them had to duck to avoid a man who swung above them on a piece of rubber hosing; before letting go, doing a graceful back flip, and grabbing another piece of hose to start again. There was no sign of Derek or the man though.

She looked up at the man she was dancing with. “I’m looking for a man” she said.

The man pressed her closer. “I’m happy to help” he said; he had a surprisingly deep and sensual voice.

Laurie was flattered, but she fought to keep her mind clear. She put on her ‘earnest face’ and said, “No, I mean I’m looking for a specific man, he’s…” Laurie paused; trying to remember Derek’s disguise, “He’s a little taller than you, he has brown skin and he scowls all the time”

The man laughed. His laugh boomed and made the lights shake in their sockets. “Oh him, everyone’s looking for him.’ He threw a wink at Laurie and went on ‘You’re not the only lady who would like to get him alone”

Laurie was surprised. Her mouth dropped open and she said to the man, “Why?”

The man told her.

“He jumped out the window on a bungee swing to get his drunken friend home safely?” Laurie repeated; half suspecting she had misheard somewhere along the line. She gave it a moment’s thought and added extra lines to her description.

“Still him” said the man, “Last time anyone saw him he was walking into reception. A bunch of us went to meet him on the stairs, but he had already vanished” the man sighed, “I wouldn’t mind getting him alone actually.”

Laurie only half heard; she was translating the man’s story and working out what it meant to her. Derek was back in room seventeen, she decided, and he had the prisoner with him. Laurie was having fun, but it was time to leave.

Laurie took control of the dance, spun the man around and caught him as he fell. She kissed the man and said, “Thanks for the dance.”Then she walked away.

She hadn’t gotten very far before someone called out, “Laurie, is that you?”

*

Back in room seventeen Derek was cooking lunch alone. Christine had gone to bed on an old futon she had brought with her; claiming it was a more natural way to sleep. Emma had said some unkind things about Christine’s sleeping arrangement and had gone to sleep in one of the many bedrooms; Beatrice was sleeping with her. Casper was sulking in the corner; he hadn’t been happy to find that there was nothing in the room he could disassemble and make into tools. Finally there was Jade; who was sitting at the table; playing with a knife and sulking about there being nothing in the room she could break apart and turn into a weapon.

Derek didn’t like her playing with that knife; he thought team three was having all together too much influence on her. He sighed and scraped the last of his charcoal and grease from the flying pan and onto his plate. He started walking towards the table, but then stopped and took a good look at what he was intending on eating.

His meal squatted on his plate. If it had eyes then it would have been regarding him balefully.

Derek felt a little sickened and decided that he wasn’t that hungry yet. He wrinkled his nose and started scraping the sludge into the trash bit. Then he just lost interest and threw the entire meal in; plate and all. He walked over other dining room table anyway; he wanted to have another go at connecting with his daughter.

Jade barely glanced up as he sat down. She was balancing the knife on the tip of her finger and watching it as though daring it to fall.

Derek still didn’t like the knife, but decided to press on anyway. He searched until he found a happy memory, and let the smile spread across his face. “Jade, Honey.” He said.

Jade glanced up at him and then looked back down again. She really did look dour.

Derek didn’t like seeing his daughter this way. He sighed and took out the gun that Laurie had given him. “Here” he said.

Jade suddenly beamed. She slapped the gun down on the table and started to reduce it to lots of little pieces with incredible skill and the knife; the knife’s importance could not be overstated. Then she stopped halfway through a looked shyly up at Derek; keeping her head tilted as far forward as she could manage. “Thank you daddy” she murmured.

Derek’s heart swelled to see his daughter smile. He smiled an easy smile. “Jade there’s something… I’m glad you…” but there it was again; the words just didn’t come.

Jade didn’t seem to have noticed too much; even while she had been looking at Derek her hands had crept over and continued working and now she snapped back around and continued making a gun look like a jigsaw puzzle.

Derek still wanted to convey the way he felt about his daughter. He braced himself as though he were about to storm a castle and opened his mouth. It was no good; the words weren’t there.

If you didn’t count Casper, and, as Casper had zero interest in anything not demon related, Derek didn’t, Derek and Jade were totally alone. There probably would never be a better opportunity for a heart to heart.

Derek opened his mouth, and was cut off by a knock on the door.

Derek felt enormously frustrated; who dared to interrupt? He gritted his teeth, marched to the door, and wrenched it open. “You are interu-” he began.

*

Laurie recognized the voice that was calling to her; it belonged to a man named Zendo Cal. Zendo was one of the long stayers at the university; every year he failed, and every year he re-enrolled. The general feeling around campus was that if you cloned Cal ten times over and combined all the clones into one super being then you would almost have a half wit.

What people often didn’t realize until far too late was that Cal was very clever in some very specialized ways.

“I knew it was you” said Cal as he ran up, “Since you’re still wearing your sun glasses.”

Laurie fought against the stream of curses that she wanted to shout. She forced a smile and looked around; trying not to look at Cal’s face. ‘Buggerbuggerbuggerbugger’ she thought

People tended to only half hear Cal, but those standing closest to him were looking around to see what had got him so excited, and they were noticing the similarities as well; same height, same stance, and then there were those sun glasses.

Laurie felt like an animal trapped in a corner. She took a step back and flashed her smile at everyone, “I’m Laurie’s aunt” she explained.

Everyone looked away; her explanation made sense; she looked like Laurie but was clearly older, it made sense that she was her aunt.

“Wha? No you’re not” said Cal, looking hurt, “Why would you have the exact same eye condition as Laurie if you were only her aunt?” he raised his voice. “Hey twins, is this Laurie”

The twins looked up from their couches. “Yep” they said brightly, “That’s her.”

Laurie was shocked by this betrayal, and then she was shocked by her own idiocy in assuming that the twins would know what she was doing.

More people were taking notice now; the twins weren’t regarded as being much smarter than Cal, but they were regarded as being far more attractive, and people tended to listen when they talked.

The crowd was moving now; whispering amongst itself and drawing away from her. Even the entrapped Conga line was eying her suspiciously and managing to edge back.

Laurie felt like she had had a rug pulled out from under her. She felt tears well up in her eyes, and though she tried her best to hold them back they fell anyway. Laurie had never felt what it was like to be hated before.

It was too late to protest; the whispering had ended and the mob had reached its verdict. Someone darted forward and pull Cal back. The man in the feathered Speedo was pulling back to the back of the room. Someone switched the music off and Geordie was standing on a table and trying to find the source of the unnatural hush that had fallen over his party.

Laurie hated the silence and the staring. She made one last valiant attempt at smiling, but her smile was broken, and any effect was ruined by the tears that were running down her cheeks.

The partygoers had become a solid mass. They kept as far back as they could and front line regarded her with hate in their eyes.

Laurie felt so bad it was like she was sick. It wasn’t just that she might have just compromised the mission; what really hurt was that when she looked around she saw people she had known most of her life, and she saw in their eyes that she was nothing more than a common criminal to them now.

Geordie was still standing on the table, and that meant he stood above the crowd. He locked eyes with her and said, “I think you should go now”

Laurie felt ill. She hung her head and slowly walked to the door; feeling all their eyes burning into her back.

At the door she stopped and looked back.

No one had moved; they were all just staring at her; making sure she really left them alone.

Laurie turned back to the door, and as she turned a single tear dropped off the side of her face and landed on the carpet.

Then she was outside. She let the door swing slowly shut, and it gently swung into place, until the last moment when it slammed as though someone had hit it from the other side.

Then she was in the corridor, and she was all alone.

Laurie’s pain turned to anger; then to rage. She gritted her teeth and opened her eyes, it been for the government! She had done it all for them! The empty space on her finger where her grandmother’s ring should have been seemed to burn her. She had helped them, now they owed her; ‘When this is over’ Laurie decided, ‘I’m going to make them set everything right again!’

She marched down the corridor and leapt through the hole to the biologist’s floor. Some sort of man eating plant attacked her, but she didn’t even notice as she slammed it’s bulb into the wall.

She marched down the staircase; with such forcefulness that even Serv looked up. The door to the chemists’ area was as strong as ever, but Laurie bashed it aside. She was so angry now that her blood pulsed in her ears and her rage powered her movements.

She reached room seventeen and pounded on the door. After a moment Derek opened the door and said in a testy voice, “You are interu-”

“Get the prisoner out here” ordered Laurie; her rage overpowering his, “I’m going to clear my name.”

*

In practice it took some time to get an area set up for interrogation. While the chemists’ room was nicely bleak and barren, it had the problem that the chairs were totally unsuitable for the task. The chairs had been made of diamond nanotubes and with no thought to design, so it was uncomfortable enough for the task, but out of necessity all the furniture in the chemists’ rooms was bolted to the floor.

In the end Derek solved the problem by dragging two chairs and a desk from the reception area; while Laurie paced circles around the room. This took some time; not so much because it was difficult work, but because Derek was hoping Laurie would calm down before they started the interrogation. He had rarely seen her this angry before, and he couldn’t help but remember the time on the rooftop when she had sounded like she was doing now, right before she’d attacked Emma.

Eventually everything was set up. There was a weird room in room seventeen that had nothing but a single chair facing the door. Derek set up the desk to the right of the chair and wheeled the office chair behind it. Then he set up his own chair facing the prisoner’s one. After some thought Derek even overcame his objection to ghosts and got Casper to make sure that the chair alternated between being too hot and too cold; once he had got over the unpleasant feeling he got whenever he talked to ghosts, Derek was quite proud of himself for thinking of this touch.

Things got underway.

Derek looked in at his setup with a certain amount of pride. He patted the door frame and turned back to Laurie, “Were ready” he said, “Bring him in”

“Right!” said Laurie and she stomped towards the prisoner with clenched fists.

Derek had a shock of precognition. He jumped forward with his hands waving back and forth. “No no, I’ll get him” he said, and he quickly darted around Laurie before she had a chance to argue.

The prisoner was locked in a cupboard at the edge of the room.

Derek heaved him out and put him over his shoulder, feeling glad that they would soon be rid of him.

He suddenly had a twinge of worry; what he used to think of as the sensible voice was advising him to drop the prisoner and start running. Derek stopped, but then he shrugged the prisoner to a more comfortable position and kept walking; he was still alive, so the mission was going a lot better than the voice had said it would.

Laurie was already sitting in her chair when Derek had walked in, and alarmingly Emma was there as well. Emma wasted no time in getting to the point. “I want in on this” she said

Derek was afraid of that. He twisted his mouth and started tying the prisoner to the chair; wondering about the best way to phrase his next sentence. “Emma” he said, “You’re not good at anything other than killing and torture, we need this man alive, and able to give us useful information.” Derek paused and decided to go for broke, “There is no way that this investigation wouldn’t suffer if you were involved”

Emma stood up with her eyes flashing, and she advanced on Derek.

Derek was afraid that he had gone too far. He jumped back, put his hand to his hip and a said in a warning voice, “Emma!”

Emma stopped. “I’ll be an observer” she said

Derek wasn’t really happy even with Emma just being an observer, but he didn’t think he could make her compromise any further. He glanced to the side and nodded.

Emma stood back against the wall, and leaned on it with her arms crossed. Laurie was still just sitting her chair; she looked eager for the interrogation to start.

Derek had never before appreciated how disturbing these two women could be. He glanced from left to right as he finished tying the man down, and then he sat down himself. “Casper” he called, “Wake him up”

A beam of orange light shone through the door and stuck the prisoner in the chest, after a few seconds the prisoners eyes started fluttering.

Derek could feel himself hardening; getting ready for action. “That’ll do” he said.

Casper seemed to hear him, and suddenly the beam was gone. The man’s eyes flicked all the way open.

Derek felt cold; he was thinking of the best way to start. He smiled, but even to him it didn’t feel warm. “Good morning” he said.

The man’s eyes hardened as well. They flicked to the right and saw Laurie staring at him over a desk. Then they turned back to Derek; filled with hate.

Derek was interested. He held eye contact with the man and thought about what this meant. It meant that the man was experienced enough to keep quiet under interrogation, but not experienced enough to just switch off and leave his body behind; that meant he might still break, if Derek could get him talking. “So I had a chat with your pal Mckingle a few days ago” he said.

The prisoner said nothing.

Derek smiled inwardly; he had seen the man’s eyes widen; just for a moment. Derek nodded and went on. “A very rude man, I thought; spent a lot of time swearing at me.”

The man kept looking at Derek.

Derek saw the brief look of confusion as it flitted across the man’s face, and he was filled with wicked glee. ‘Got him’ he thought. “He designed that remarkable cube in your arm right?”

The man continued to stare, but this time there was an obvious flash of fear.

Derek mentally added the fact that Dr. Arron Mckingle designed the cubes to the short list of information they had. He gave the man a smile and went on. “He had quite a lot to say them obviously; a man proud of his work. Of course most of it went over my head; I find this kind of technology quite baffling, don’t you?”

The man looked up and said, “Fuck y-”

“Now really, there’s no need for that; there are ladies present” said Derek. He was congratulating himself on the fact that he was making good time; now that he had him talking it was just a matter of getting him to say something useful. “As I was saying, we have enough experts lying around to make up for my failings. You can stop trying to use the cube now; we’ve neutralized it.”

The mouth tightened. “I’m not telling you anything you fucking pigdog” he said.

Derek was happy; the man was using complete sentences now; it was going to be a productive day.

Soft and dangerous; Emma’s voice drifted from the corner of the room, “What did you want with the timetablers?”

Derek was annoyed, he blinked and scowled. One of the defining traits of an observer was that they observed and didn’t put their two cents in.

The man stiffened slightly at the unexpected noise, but then he relaxed again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about” he said.

Emma emerged from the shadows. “The people who worked at Gamble Developments” she said. “Why don’t you tell me why they had die?”

The man looked up at Emma and sneered. “Fuck you” he said

Derek felt exasperated; they had been doing so well and now they were taking steps backwards. He decided it was time to step in and opened his mouth.

“TELL HER EVERYTHING, YOU BASTARD!” screamed Laurie; slamming her hand on the table.

The man slammed his hand down; mocking her. “FUCK YOU!” he screamed back.

Emma’s hand blurred.

The man tried to jerk his hand back, but now there was a knife through it.

“Aughhhhhh” screamed the man.

“Aughhhhh” screamed Derek.

“Yaaaaaaaa” screamed Laurie as she launched herself at the man and started beating him around his head.

Derek was horrified. He leapt forward and pulled Laurie off the man; getting several elbows to the head in the process.

Emma jumped in and started punching the man instead. She punched a lot harder than Laurie and Derek swore he could see the man’s teeth rattling.

“Beatrice!” he yelled, “Beatrice, get in here!”

*

It was later; they were sitting around a table. Derek had sent Christine out with Jade to get supplies, Beatrice was taking Emma on a walk, and Casper was still in his corner; occasional fiddling with Laurie’s cube, but mostly just sulking about the lack of equipment. That just left Laurie and Derek.

Laurie felt ashamed. She hadn’t felt ashamed before; putting the fist to someone who seemed to have a direct hand in her troubles had been one of the most satisfying feelings of her life, but she felt ashamed now; she hadn’t behaved very professionally.

Derek was talking; he looked more tired than she could remember him looking before. “I want to know” he said, “exactly what happened in there.”

Laurie didn’t really know what had happened; attacking then had just seemed like the right thing to do. It had felt like her rage had just picked her up and borne her across the room. She stared at the ground and said, “I don’t know”.

Derek sighed and straightened his back. He watched a corner of the room; he didn’t look any more comfortable with the situation than she did. “I didn’t expect this from you” he said.

Laurie felt confused by that statement. She looked up and said, “You always think the worse of everyone”

“Yes”, said Derek, “Because they always deliver. I didn’t want Emma in on that interrogation because I knew she was a loose cannon, you, I thought I could rely on”

Laurie hung her head again; it was just too painful.

Derek sighed. “I don’t want you anywhere near that prisoner again” he said, “I have a new mission I want you to take and I want you to take Emma with you”

Laurie was shocked, she looked up and stared at him; breaking up partners was not something that was done lightly. “Why?” she asked.

Derek met her gaze steadily. “Both you and Emma have proven that you can’t handle interrogating this particular prisoner.” He said, “Given the shear violence of your reactions I would feel a lot more comfortable if you two weren’t even if the same building as him.”

Laurie felt that might be a bit extreme, then she imagined what she must have looked like from the outside and she hung her head again

“This mission should be fairly low risk,” Derek went on, “it will take you two away for several days; giving Beatrice and myself time to finish interrogating the prisoner and giving you time to find out why the timetablers were so important to Emma”

Laurie looked up again, feeling left out of something. She fought the urge to ask ‘Sir?’ and instead satisfied herself with just asking “What?” and wondering why she hadn’t been consulted when Derek had taken over Chief’s job.

Derek had a faraway look in his eyes. “When Emma picked something to be angry about” he said, “She didn’t pick Chief, or Tony, or even Lenard. Instead she picked a group of people who, as far as I know, she had never met. I want to know why.”

Now that Laurie thought about it, it seemed strange to her as well; if Emma had been that close to the timetablers, then why had no one in the office noticed? Laurie thought about the mission; the double nature appealed to her. “Okay,” she said, “I’ll do it”

Derek nodded, “Great” he said, “Now I just need to convince Beatrice, so she can convince Emma”

Laurie realized she had forgotten something very important. “Hold on” she said, “You never told me what the mission was.”

Derek smiled. “Ah” he said, “I got my hands on a paper as I was getting back in here. I found something that we overlooked back at team three’s apartment.”

Derek showed Laurie the paper. The front page depicted a military convoy in front of something she vaguely recognized as Symphony.

*

The sun was setting by the time that Laurie and Emma drove away in team three’s old 2CV, and all around them the dorm was coming to life.

Derek watched them go from one of room seventeen’s windows, and took a moment to soak up the dissonant power cords that were filling the air. Derek breathed in and smiled; everything was in place and it was time to go to work.

The room was virtually deserted; Beatrice had wandered off to do, whatever it was that she did with her free time, and Derek had used some old theatre tickets to get his wife and child out of his hair for the night. That only left Casper.

Derek really didn’t like talking to ghosts; there was something about the whole experience that made him rather uncomfortable. Nevertheless, he took a deep breath, turned to face the ghost sulking in the corner and said, “Casper?”

Derek saw the ghost in the corner turn and a heavy buzzing feeling settled on his head.

Derek resented the buzzing feeling; ghosts were better when they were ignoring you. He shuddered and went on. “I’m going to find some equipment so you can get to work on the cubes”.

The buzzing changed; it was scraping on the front of his brain, rather than punching at the back. Casper liked the idea of working on the cubes.

Derek was starting to feel the same sick feeling he got when he was close to a demon. He forced a smile onto his face, and then dropped it again; Casper couldn’t see and assuredly didn’t care if Derek was enjoying himself. “I need you to come with me” said Derek, “So you can show me what you need.”

Casper lost coherency, and then regained it; it was the ghost equivalent of nodding.

Derek was glad that was over. He had insisted to Laurie that Casper had to stay at the dorm; his interview with the man they had locked in the cupboard had led him to think it might be a good idea to know how the cubes worked. He turned away for Casper, breathed out, and started walking.

Casper shot past him and went straight through the ceiling.

Derek was somewhat surprised. He jumped a good foot in the air and thought, ‘Shit!’ with all his might, and then he started running.

The corridor was completely deserted; even more so than was normal for the chemist’s area of the building.

Derek felt like an idiot. He stopped running and ground his shoe into the ground. He had thought he had been doing so well; he had got the teams running again and given them actual missions, and then he had been made to look stupid because of some ghost. Derek flapped his hand at empty air as he turned back into the room; he wasn’t going to chase all around the city after a ghost who couldn’t play the game.

There was a huge bout of pressure. It felt like a gross of hippos were squatting on his head. An image snapped into focus; it depicted a huge bank of flashing lights… and probably some other things to but Derek could only report what he had seen.

The image shifted and shifted fast. It drew back sharply until it showed a closed door. Then it dashed through several corridors, flights of stairs, holes, and vines; going downwards all the time until suddenly Derek was looking at himself.

The image vanished.

Derek was angry. He gritted his teeth and shook his fist at the ceiling. “I didn’t give you permission!” he yelled, “I didn’t say you could just mess with my head like that!”

Then Derek thought about how Casper had done that, and he started to get worried. Ghosts didn’t have the same range of emotions that a human had; the idea of a ghost with access to something as clearly powerful as one of the cubes was worrying to Derek.

Something else landed in Derek’s head; more subtle this time. It was a little feeling that he should walk to the reception area.

Derek didn’t like Casper messing with him, and he gave serious thought as to whether he should just walk back into the room, wait for Beatrice to come back, and just go right ahead with his other mission.

But in the end Derek wanted to live, and part of that was having good information, and part of that was getting Casper to tell him how his enemies best weapons worked. Derek took a deep breath and started walking.

He walked up the staircase at reception, climbed the vine at the biologists’ floor, dodged some female partygoers on the third floor, and many other things that would take too long to narrate.

As he moved higher in the building he began to wonder just what he was going to do when he reached the top. Casper might have found useful equipment, but there was still the closed door which definitely gave the impression that the equipment already had an owner. Derek didn’t have much money, and the company credit he could extend was worse than useless because it belonged to a wanted criminal.

Derek considered the possible ways that this shopping trip could turn out, and decided he didn’t like any of them. He grimaced and tried to remember anything he had ever learnt about making a beating hurt less.

At last he exited the quantum mechanics’ floor by way of something he didn’t really have any words to describe, and emerged blinking, and twitching, and convulsing on a floor he recognized.

The door from his vision was within touching distance.

Derek realized he had no idea where he was, and that made him feel a little exposed. He tugged at his hair and looked around.

The corridor was easily the strangest one in the entire building; it was clean, for one thing, and not the spotless, sterile clean of the premed floor; it was just pleasantly clean. The carpet under Derek’s feet was a bright new blue, and as he looked down the corridor he saw only professional neatness; broken up by the occasional pot plant or tasteful piece of wall art.

Derek felt his bile rising in his throat, and he started sweating; after fifty odd floors of variations on the theme of lunacy, this professional setting disturbed him more than anything else. Derek swallowed. ‘I didn’t come all this way just to quit’ he thought. Of course he had no idea what he was actually there to do, but he chose to ignore that fact for the time being. He walked to the door and put his hand against it.

The door was smooth and warm, and there was a disproportional amount of noise on the other side. Whatever that thing in there was, it definitely wasn’t alone.

Derek had just climbed most of a building and he could feel the sweat sticking under his clothes; it made him feel really out of place. Something about this floor was tripping every survival instinct that Derek had, and he wanted nothing more than to be somewhere else. He reached for the door handle.

There was a loud explosion on the other side of the door, followed by uproarious laugher.

Derek didn’t like it; he took his hand away. Whose floor was this anyway? Just who exactly liked to combine neatly trimmed pot plants and loud explosions?

The door offered no clues.

Derek pictured himself in his mind’s eye and didn’t like what he saw. He scowled, put his hand on the door knob, and tightened his grip. ‘Stop being an indecisive pansy’ he growled inside his own head, ‘Stop hovering at the door; either go in or go home’.

Derek swallowed and opened the door.

He got hit by something colourful, flying, and huge.

Then everything faded out.

*

The lights of the city had faded behind them before Laurie thought it was a good idea to broach a question about the timetablers.

Laurie realized with a little surprise that she still knew nothing about the organization itself. She smiled and decided to start with that; hopefully it would get Emma talking. “I couldn’t help wondering” she said, “Why is there a secret government agency to keep the trains running on them?”

Emma was slouched back in her seat with her eyes closed. “Someone’s got to do it” she said,

Laurie was glad the Emma was talking; she was half expecting to be given the silent treatment. She looked back at the road and said, “Right, but it’s overkill isn’t it? Dedicating an entire organization to making the trains run on time.”

Emma made a noncommittal grunting noise.

Something not to dissimilar to the thrill of the hunt was filling Laurie; Emma was presenting her with a logic puzzle; since she clearly wasn’t willing to talk about the timetablers, Laurie would have to apply creativity to find another angle, and she would have to do so against a strict time limit. Laurie injected concern into her voice and asked, “How are you doing without Beatrice? You two seem close”

Emma snorted, but this time there was far more emotion in it.

Laurie knew she had hit a nerve and as was glad. She looked at Emma; making sure she still looked suitably concerned and said, “I mean it isn’t that much fun for me to be separated from my partner, and Derek and I aren’t even that close”

“Fucking Derek” said Emma, “What’s up with him? Why’s he chief now? I don’t remember voting for him”

Laurie was thankful that she had finally found something that could get Emma talking; through she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear such venom against her partner. She compromised by nodding and saying, “He did take command fairly quickly after the interrogation”

“Yeah, damn right, he did” Emma settled back in her seat.

Laurie couldn’t stop herself from completing the thought; the uncompleted logic burned behind her eyes and made her squirm. She gave a small sigh and went on, “But I took the lead for a short while back at your apartment remember; it just seemed natural, and it wasn’t permanent”

Emma snorted and looked away. “Whatever” she said

Laurie felt like she had screwed up somehow. She drew little patterns on the steering wheel with her thumbs and a thought, ‘Oh dear, I’ve lost her’. Laurie didn’t really know what to say, so she said nothing.

The silence stretched between them like the unbroken desert outside.

Finally Laurie was sick of the uncomfortable silence. She looked at Emma and asked, “What do you think of the mission?”

Emma was lying back with her hands behind her head and her eyes closed, but she was clearly still awake. “It’s fine” she said.

Laurie was annoyed with Emma and her unhelpful answers, and decided she wouldn’t let her get away with this one. She narrowed her eyes just a little bit and said, “What, just fine?”

Emma opened one eye and fixed it on Laurie. “You want me to write a poem about it kid? We go and find soldiers with guns, and then we work out where they’re from, it’s boring; I’ll rather have wine, but in the end it’s just fine, it might be better if we had a bomb.”

Laurie couldn’t help feeling condescended to, and that annoyed her. She turned back to the road and tightened her grip on the steering wheel. “You better be glad we don’t have a bomb” she said, “Without Casper to manage the cubes or Beatrice to back us up, we couldn’t handle any solders who might want to pick a fight with us.”

Emma was still watching her, “You said your piece?” she asked.

Laurie felt like she was on a roll though; she wasn’t going to stop now and she had just remembered her reason for starting the conversation in the first place. She fixed Emma with her glare and said. “No I haven’t ‘said my piece’” she said, “I want to know why you cared so much about the timetablers that you would think of them before your own dead team mates”

Emma kept her face blank, but she rolled in her seat so that she was facing Laurie more directly and her eyes narrowed. “Fuck you” she said softly, “That’s a part of my past; I don’t go and ask you about your grandmother”

Laurie wasn’t having any of that; she was saying some important things and she wanted to keep saying them. She flashed her eyes and said, “You want to know about my grandmother? Fine. My parents were explorers, anthropologists, and big game hunters. One day, when I was five, they were in the Amazon and a coalition of tigers managed to hunt them down; it’s one of the risks of being an anthropologist. I was already living with my grandma whenever they went away on one of their trips so my grandma just adopted me officially. She raised me until she died, two years ago. There, that’s my story, now what’s yours?”

“Fuck you” said Emma; turning back in her seat and closing her eyes.

“You can’t-”

“Fuck. You”

They drove on in silence

*

When the world faded back in, it was considerably worse than unconsciousness.

There were two blobs of colour above him; a white one and a blue one.

Derek blinked.

There were two people above him; one had blond hair and looked was wearing white, while the other looked like megaman.

Derek blinked.

There were a man and a woman above him. The woman had long blond hair and was wearing a sequined gown; the man was wearing an odd costume involving half a motor cycle helmet and a cape.

Derek blinked.

There were a man and a woman looking down on him with concerned looks on their faces, or at least the woman looked concerned; the man looked a little guilty. The woman was attractive, but she seemed to be covered by a network of fine scars. The man was bearded, and his costume announced him with red stars and the name of ‘The amazing human cannonball’.

“He’s waking up” said the woman, “Bert, he’s waking up.”

She leaned down and raised Derek to a sitting position, Bert settled on the other side of Derek. “How many fingers am I holding up?” he asked

Derek’s head was spinning; he looked at the hand and groggily replied, “I don’t know; why are you wearing a baseball mitt?”

Bert looked down at his hand, “Oh” he said, “Oh, that was part of the stunt and I guess I forgot to take it off. Sorry” He took the glove off, “Now how many fingers am I holding up?”

But Derek wasn’t listening; it was beginning to dawn on him why his instincts had been sending him warnings. He looked around.

Behind the two people helping him there was a man on fire. The man was running around in circles and screaming, but no one was helping him. Most of the people who weren’t doing anything were watching a man who was making threatening gestures at a mirror. As Derek watched the man punched the mirror and shattered it, then fell to the floor weeping over the blood pouring out of his fist. Casper was there too; he was sitting on top of the bank of lights he had seen in his vision, but suddenly that didn’t seem as important.

Suddenly Derek was terrified. He drew his limbs in as though he were trying to curl up into a ball. Then he kicked out, and sprang to his feet. “Ah” he said, feeling the wall at his back, “I see it now; this is the stuntman’s floor.”

The two people got to their feet; they looked worried. “That’s right” said the woman, “Calm down; no one’s going to hurt you”

A man hurtled past; pursued by train. Bert and the woman stepped nimbly out of the well; without bothering to look. Neither of showed any signs that this was odd.

“It’s perfectly safe here” the woman went on; in the kinds of tones that one might use to calm a baby who is worried about going swimming for their first time.

Derek couldn’t feel the door at his back, and that made him feel a little sick; since he would very much like to leave this madhouse now. Derek pressed his back against the wall; as though expecting it to give way, but then he stopped; he still had a job to do. Derek took a deep breath and a step forward. “Thank you”, he said, “For reviving me.”

The two of them smiled at this; they seemed to think it was a positive sign. “You’re welcome” said the woman, “It seemed like the right thing to do since we’re the ones who,” here she paused and looked away, “you know- hit you”

Derek filed this piece of information away and suppressed the emotion it caused. He smiled and said, “I appreciate it. Where exactly am I?”

The woman smiled. Now that she didn’t think Derek was in any danger she seemed to be lapsing into a tour guide mode. “You’re in the study room” she said, indicating towards a man who seemed to be strangling the man next to him with his own intestines. “I’m Andrea” she went on, offering her hand, “and this is Bert”

Derek would rather he moved quietly through his mission, and the idea of knowing these people well disturbed him, but there wasn’t going to be a nice easy mission here. Derek smiled and took her hand; which had a hard line of muscle under the skin, “Daniel” he said.

Bert offered his hand and Derek shook it as well. Bert; for all his flamboyant costume seemed to be the quieter of the pair, and Derek was just wondering whether he could use that somehow when Andrea said something that cut across his thought.

“So why are you here Daniel?”

Derek mentally jumped; was he being kicked out already? “What?” he said

Andrea put her hand out and explained. “Well,” she said, “You were clearly planning on doing something before Bert did an across-room headbutt on you, is it anything we could help with?”

Derek relaxed a little bit; of course that’s what they meant. “Ah, maybe you can” he said, desperately trying to find something to say that didn’t sound like ‘I followed a ghost up here to steal the glowey thing you have in the corner’, “I was sent by the computing floor” he decided, “They were getting some weird readings from this room and they wanted me to find out what it was, could you tell me what that thing in the corner is?” Derek was quite proud of this story.

“Well that’s a Tal-234k”, she looked at him strangely, “I would have thought you would have recognized it, being from the computer floor”

Derek mentally kicked himself. “I’m not from the computing floor” he said, trying to think his way out, “My little sister lives there; I was just visiting and I kind of got roped in” he rubbed the back of his neck and tried to look embarrassed; it wasn’t very hard.

“But why would they send someone inexperienced to investigate something that none of them had seen before?”  Andrea asked.

Derek cursed mentally. In spite of his original impression it was becoming clear that Andrea was an uncomfortably sharp woman. The words ‘I taught my little sister everything she knows’ were on the tip of his tongue before he bit them back; he knew from experience that setting up that kind of expectation would only lead to trouble later on. “I wondered that too” he said, stalling for time, “but everyone up there was stuck in some kind of huge project, none of them could tell me what it was; you know what they’re like over there.” Even to him it sounded weak.

To his shock Andrea smiled. “Yes,” she said, “I know what they’re like.” She turned and gestured over her shoulder, “If you want to know more about the Tal” she said, “Then follow me.”

Derek felt a little disorientated by this turn of events. He put his hand to his head and engaged in some rapid thought, but Andrea’s If-Then statement had been perfectly clear, and Derek needed to know why the computer was important to Casper. He followed Andrea.

Bert fell into step beside him; looking uncomfortable.

Derek thought there was something odd about Bert; something about him just made him feel nervous. He raised his hand in a half wave, “What’s up, Bert?” he asked

“What? No, fine.” Blurted Bert; looking like the anthropomorphic personification of suspicious behaviour.

Derek was surprised by the force of Bert’s response. He wondered just what it was that Bert had to hide. He opened his mouth to form a question.

“You’d better get us some coffee Bert” said Andrea, “You know how Crush can run on when someone gets him talking about his little toy.”

Bert disappeared; looking very relived.

Derek felt worried; there was something very important going on under the surface and he had no idea what it was. He bit his lip and caught back up with Andrea. “What’s up with him?” he asked.

“Oh don’t worry about him” said Andrea. She didn’t sound airy; she sounded totally convincing. “Being fired from a cannon always puts his nerves on edge. It’s sad but the only thing you can do when he gets sweaty like that is send him off to do something.”

Derek felt confused and conflicted; Andrea had sounded convincing enough, but Derek’s internal bullshit meter was running red and whistling. Derek nodded and fell back a step; looking around and noting all the quick exits.

They had been walking closer to the big flashing monolith, and now they stopped directly underneath.  “Hey Crush” Andrea called, “we have a man here who wants to know how the Tal works”

“Frankly my dear” said the man who stepped out, “I doubt that”

The man was a large rotund gentleman wearing a tweed jacket and a huge bushy moustache. He was smoking a pipe and looked annoyed.

Derek was floored. The name ‘Crush’ seemed to fit on this man about as well as a bikini would. He picked his jaw up and said, “You’re Crush?”

The man looked even more annoyed and a puff of smoke rose out of his pipe. “No, my boy I am not” he said, “I am Professor Julian Stephan Fawkes the third, however these quivering cock joints find it amusing to mispronounce my Lordly Name and instead have saddled me with that horrific title”

Derek’s head was spinning; the world didn’t make sense. He opened his mouth and tried to find words, but eventually he settled for nodding.

“Close your mouth, you audacious cunt” said Professor Crush, “Close it or I shall fly at you like a sack of cocks”

Derek closed it.

“Right” said the Professor, “Now kindly explain why you have intruded on my time, or remove yourself.”

Derek had a flash of fear; he knew he would only get one chance to explain himself and he had no time to think. “The computer” He blurted out, “I wanted to know about the computer”

The Professor snorted, but it didn’t sound like he was laughing. “A computer? You puss dripping cock latch; the Tal-234k is not a mere computer. Be gone with you, or lose your middle testicle to my rapier.” With that he turned on his heel and walked back the way he had come.

Derek was horrified; he was losing his expert. He stepped forward; waving his hands around. “Wait wait wait wait.” He said, “The comput- The Tal, it’s causing a disruption on the computing floor”

The Professor stopped mid-pace. “What was that you said?” he asked; without bothering to turn around.

Derek was relived; he had at least gotten the Professor to stop walking. He took another step forward and went on, “The computing floor; their computers are being interfered with by an anomalous signal from this room; it’s got to be the Tal” he stopped; hopeful that this would be enough.

The Professor took a long time to answer; several clouds of smoke billowed towards the ceiling. Finally he turned around. “A likely story, you syphilitic rectum enthusiast” he said, “I happen to know that the Tal is totally shielded; it emits no signals.”

Derek knew what his next move had to be; it made him worried that it was such a long shot, but practically everything he had done so far was a long shot. He stood up straight, and looked the Professor in the eye, and said, “That may be so Professor, but I don’t know that. I don’t know anything about the Tal, and that means I can’t report back on it.”

The Professor stared at Derek for a long moment. Then he said, “Fine, you knob chewing cock bite, if you really believe you’re so smart then I shall show you just how little you know.”

Derek was incredibly relived. He bowed his head and said, “Thank you Professor”. He couldn’t believe he had actually won; in a few minutes he would know exactly what Casper thought was so important about the Tal.

Derek was so relieved that he didn’t notice the Professor jumping to one side with a nimbleness that would have done credit to a much younger and thinner man.

Something heavy hit Derek with a sound like a train whistle. He was smashed through a large window at high speed.

About fifty floors below him, the ground started to accelerate upwards.

*

It was very late; the desert shone in the moonlight. Emma was leaning against the hood of the car while Laurie filled up, she wasn’t smoking a cigarette, but Laurie didn’t think it would be too far out of character for her.

Emma hadn’t spoken since her small fight with Laurie at the start of the drive, and it was starting to wear on Laurie’s nerves. Laurie sighed and said, “I’m sorry I yelled at you earlier; I’m just a little stressed about the mission and what it is costing us.”

Emma didn’t reply; she didn’t give any outward sign that she had heard.

Laurie was getting tired of the silent treatment. She beat down her irritation and kept talking, “We’ll be in Symphony by morning” she said, “I really think we should discuss what we are going to do when we get there.”

“Sleep” said Emma

Laurie was glad Emma was talking again; she wondered whether she could extend that into Emma talking about the timetablers, but she decided not to push her luck, for now. She hung the fuel nozzle back up. “We should probably do that before we get there” Laurie thought out aloud, “I bet we would be a lot safer if we were sleeping without all these military guys around. I was thinking of what our first move should be when we get the mission going”

Emma shrugged. “Why don’t we just find the general?” she asked, “find the guy in charge, flash badges, demand all the files he has on the guys he’s booted out”

Laurie thought about this; there was certain simplicity to it that she admired. She spotted a flaw though. “We’re assuming he’ll recognize our badges” she said, as she hopped back into the 2CV’s driving seat.

One major problem with being a semi secret quasi government agency was that the agents were issued badges, but there was no guarantee that the person they were showing them to would A; recognize it and B; not shoot them.

They drove away; Mt Symphony bulked hugely on the horizon.

Laurie had been running the plan over in her head and she decided she liked it. “Okay” she said, “So the plan is to find the general that kicked out the paramilitary group, and get together any files he has made up on them”

There was something like an explosion without sound, and suddenly Mt Symphony was backlit with an iridescent glow.

Laurie was shocked. She stared at the burning sky with wide open eyes. “We’re going to need another plan” she said.

*

There is an old piece of common wisdom about there being no atheists in foxholes, and like most pieces of common wisdom this is totally wrong. No matter which country you are in a quick search around the local veterans association will turn up people who were atheists in foxholes, knew people who died as atheists in foxholes, and wish to put you through a realistic re-enactment of the battle of Lechaeum for suggesting that they would be cowardly enough to change a major life choice just because they were in a little danger.

However humans are social creatures, and when we are stressed we tend to seek help from those that we know are nearby. For the vast majority of people this means friends, or family, or, if they happen to be in a foxhole at the time, the equally scared, but totally armed people beside them. The equation’s different though if the man in the foxhole happens to know that there really is a god nearby.

The wind rushed past Derek’s ears, and his heart fell. Far more importantly, Derek fell as well. Derek irrationally clawed at the air as it slipped past; hopping that it had suddenly gained enough density to stop him. “Casper help me!” he yelled.

A cloud of yellow light started to coalesce under Derek, and Derek started to slow down. The cloud was warm.

The cloud came to a complete stop, about two and a half stories from the ground. There were people staring at him from out of the windows.

Derek was in the grip of that manic humour that people get when then they have just been terrified beyond all belief. He grinned and waved to the people watching him, knowing that they would turn him into even more of a hero tomorrow, and he lay back on the cloud; which was surprisingly soft.

He was already thinking about what his next move was; he decided that after Casper lowered him to the ground he would just call around manufacturers and find out what the Tal-234k was and why it was important.

Then the cloud exploded, and suddenly wind was whistling past Derek’s face again.

With utter terror felt himself being shot upwards a good forty stories. Derek felt his stomach rise and didn’t dare to scream.

As he climbed he started losing speed, and at the very top of his arc he found himself hovering for a split second in front of a completely shattered window. Then he started to fall again.

Animal survival instinct and shear bloody terror combined in Derek. His hands flashed out and punched through any safety glass that had stayed in the pane. A human would have known not to do that, he thought, goddamn ghosts.

He was hanging onto a window frame over a fifty something story drop. Glass tinkled away underneath him, and presumably hit the ground eventually, he didn’t know; it was too far down.

Derek wondered just what kind of life his preincarnations must have lived in order for his lot in life to be justified. He thought with irritation and a weird kind of pride that it couldn’t possibly be a single person’s karmic debt he was paying off. Derek heaved himself up; straining his arms, and shoving his head through a big sheet of shattered glass. ‘This is turning into one hell of a night’ he thought.

There was a smattering of polite applause as he finally pulled himself in. “Yes indeed, good good,” said the Professor, “but it’s rude to start practicing when someone is speaking to you, you terminal cockbag, now follow me and lets have no more of this tommyrot”

Derek felt like he had missed a memo somewhere and was now horribly misinformed. He looked around to see what the crowd was doing.

Andrea had melted away at some point and no one else seemed to care about Derek. The crowds were all going about their normal business; practicing their various stunts.

Derek found it all very strange. He held his head and tried to push away the headache he could feel forming. These people had just seen a man get knocked out of a fifty story window, then bounce all the way back up to the top and crawl back into the room, and they didn’t think it was unusual enough to warrant anything other than the mildest attention. Derek was beginning to think that Laurie had lied to him when she had told him that the dorm was safe; he didn’t think there was a sane man to be found in the entire building. Derek thought all of this, and then he got up and followed the professor; after all he still had something he needed to do.

The professor led him into a small room at the back of the Tal. The walls of the room were totally black; a solid matt black that stated that light wasn’t even a possibility.

Derek was confused. He looked around and asked, “What are we doing here professor?”

The Professor turned around, puffed his pipe and touched one of the walls. The walls immediately betrayed their no-light promise and glowed in an unearthly rainbow. The walls were full of the room outside.

Derek was amazed. He looked around holding his head. He was holding his head anyway because the walls showed the room outside from every possible perspective; it was like looking through an extreme version of a fisheye lens, and it was hurting Derek’s brain. But he was also holding his head because he was amazed. “What is this?” he asked.

The professor let off another puff of smoke and touched the wall again. Now there were symbols along the images. A man was hit by a car, and the computer drew the lines and angles of his tumble, another man fell off the top of the car and rolled, the computer timed him and made calculations about the best way for him to improve, Andrea was standing in a corner and talking to some sort of metal eater, and the computer was even drawing lines against her, and making recommendations about the best way to improve her stance.

Derek realized what Casper wanted, and realized with a sense of all the unfairness in the world that he had no way of getting it. He bit his lip and said, “I see, so this- Tal, is like your floor’s coach. Out of interest, how much did this cost?”

The professor told him a number, and called him a simpering trouser ferret. Once the world had stopped rocking around him, Derek said, “That seems a bit high. How much would it cost if I had my own experts and refineries and just bought the raw material?” The professor told him another number, and the world started rocking again. “How can it be more?” asked Derek. Then he regretted asking.

The professor was clearly in his element. he started talking; using extremely long and convoluted words that looped back on themselves and involved quantum far too many times for good taste.

Derek felt glazed and basted, but at least he wasn’t being roasted anymore. He scratched his face and tried to watch the professor through his swimming eyes.

The professor didn’t seem to care if anyone was listening to him or not; he was just talking.

Derek felt words flow past him; ununderstood and ununderstandable. He nodded along and tried to think. There was no way that the stuntmen would ever give up the Tal, and he didn’t like the idea of taking it from them by force. He wondered what he had to trade, and the only thing he could think of was the cube that Casper was using, but that would be important and he didn’t want to give that up. His eyes wandered to the walls.

Andrea was talking to a different group of people. But there was something wrong; everyone was still practicing, but they were doing it with a faraway look in their eyes as though they were thinking about something else.

Derek suddenly felt panicked. His instincts gave him an ultimatum; get out of there now, or don’t get out at all. Derek knew all he wanted to know about the Tal, it wasn’t a hard choice, Derek ran.

As Derek burst out of the small room and into the main practice hall he found himself face to face with a Bert loaded cannon.

Derek beat down his surprise and quickly re-evaluated. He looked around to find out what had happened.

He was surrounded; no one was practicing anymore; they were all making a half circle and boxing him in. There was no way out. The cannon wasn’t accidental this time, Andrea was behind it, and smiling while holding the string.

Derek hadn’t expected to see everyone set up, and he felt a little confused and disorientated. He pointed at the corner where he had seen Andrea a few seconds ago and said, “But you were…”. Then he pointed at Andrea, “How are you…?”

“I took the liberty of telling the cameras to run at a ten second delay, you hideous cock drop.” Said the professor as he exited the room behind Derek, “I quite like the effect it had”

Derek didn’t like his position; he felt small and vulnerable. He slowly put his hands up and said, “What are you doing? What’s this about?”

Andrea smiled at him. “Given that you’re the one in considerable danger” she said, “Maybe you should be the one answering questions. Let’s start with who you really are and what you’re really doing here”

Derek felt a little sick. He clenched his throat and drew back, and then he drew forward again; since the professor was behind him holding a rapier. ‘Where did I go wrong’ he thought. Out loud he said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I was sent by the computing floor to investigate an anomaly.”

The crowd seemed to shift uncomfortably. Andrea said, “Yes, that’s the story you told me too, but there are two glaring problems with it; number one: you clearly haven’t been around computers before, and number two: we don’t have a computing floor.”

Derek straitened up, he didn’t really feel stupid; mostly he felt baffled. “You don’t have a computing floor?” he repeated in disbelief, “But you have everything else; you have stuntmen and quantum mechanics’ within one floor of each other”

“Yes” agreed Andrea, “but not computing; not since the thinking machines disaster of two months ago”. Everyone in crowd the hung their heads at this; although they kept their assorted weapons trained on Derek.

Now Derek felt stupid. He clucked his tongue and looked away; it would have been so easy to pick one of the other floors; he could of picked the quantum mechanics’; it’s not like anyone would have been about to find flaws in his knowledge.

“But that’s enough of that” said Andrea, and all the other heads in the crowd snapped up. “Tell us who you are or we shoot.”

Derek found that remark especially worrying as Andrea was still pointing the Bert loaded cannon at him. He looked around him for some corner he could hide in, but there wasn’t one. He cast his mind around for some other story he could use, but he didn’t like the idea of getting the story wrong a second time. In the end he decided to go with the truth. He flicked open his badge and said, “I work for the government”, ‘Please, please, please recognize the badge’ he thought.

There was silence while everyone studied the badge. “Hey, I know that” a voice from the back drifted in, “that’s a demon hunter’s badge.”

The crowd stirred and murmured; they were clearly impressed.

Derek was glad there was someone who knew who he worked for; the badges were usually good for stopping people from shooting them, but it was always a bit hit or miss whether they would actually recognize them. He breathed out slowly and whipped the badge away quickly; he didn’t anyone to add that they knew the name on the badge.

“Hey” said another voice, “I know that name; aren’t you the guy the papers are looking for? The guy who-”

Derek felt his rage catch in his throat; “Right, blow this for a game of soldiers” he said, “Casper, a little help here?”

*

The little 2CV streaked down the desert road like a bullet from a gun that fired cars.

Emma had insisted on taking over the driving when the sky had lit up, and Laurie was beginning to suspects she had made some modifications to the car since it had been issued to her.

As the car started to wind its way up the face of Mt Symphony there was the bass clattering of rotor blades and the 2CV was joined by a very large and dangerous looking helicopter.

Laurie didn’t like the helicopter, she didn’t like it at all; she couldn’t help but remember that the last time she had been anywhere near one like it she had almost been shot dead. She reached for her gun and then realized that the only one she had only had one containment crystal in the clip; even if her aim was perfect she doubted that she could find anywhere on the helicopter where a crystal would do any damage. “What are we going to do about that?” she asked.

Emma didn’t take her eyes off the road, probably a good idea given how fast they were going. “Nothing” she said, “We haven’t run by any stop gates; so all it can do is spy.”

Laurie felt surprised to see such evidence of competency from Emma, but she still didn’t like the helicopter. Laurie tightened her mouth and felt in her pocket; she had found the cube in there and was wondering if she could use it with enough control to swat the chopper out of the sky without rolling the 2CV in the process.

In the end through, Emma turned out to be right about the chopper; it showed only the slightest interest in the 2CV and kept climbing up the mountain. It wasn’t alone; now that Laurie looked there were a lot of choppers in the sky and they were all climbing the mountain as fast as their rotors would carry them.

Laurie wondered what was going on over the mountain; it looked violent and scared her just a little. She took her gun out and looked in the clip; the one remaining crystal there looked back at her a little pathetically. “You wouldn’t happen to be carrying spare bullets would you?” Laurie asked.

Emma didn’t give any sign that she had heard her; she kept her eyes fixed on the road. Now that they were closer they could see that the sky was flickering like a bad TV set. It wasn’t one colour either, but instead it was hundreds. The light grew more and more intense as they closed on the top of the mountain saddle.

Laurie could feel herself ramping up for action; he heart beat faster and she could feel herself starting to sweat. She slammed her clip back into her gun, but didn’t put it away. ‘This is it’ she thought.

They came around one of the last bends and onto a long straight piece of road. Symphony was still over the horizon, but the road was levelling off; and they would be able to see it in a matter of seconds. There was something else on the road though; near the top of the ridge and blocking both their path and their sight was a military checkpoint. It was clearly a military checkpoint; the sheer number of guns gave it away; that and the army trucks.

Laurie was wondering when they were going to meet resistance, but she still felt annoyed that they had met it here. She narrowed her eyes at the checkpoint and asked, “Do you think they’ll let us through if we show them our badges?”

In answer Emma put any weight she hadn’t already used on the accelerator. The men had been looking at the lightshow with dumfounded looks on their faces, but they noticed the 2CV as it accelerated on them; not that they looked any less dumfounded. One young soldier blundered out onto the road waving his arms back and forth.

Laurie screamed inside her head; no matter what Emma had done to the engine there was no way that the 2CV’s ancient frame would stand up to an impact with an army truck. She covered her face with her arms.

The 2CV was only a scant few meters from the young soldier, when realization finally hit for him. He dived out of the way of the speeding car and got clipped for his trouble; sending him spinning away in a graceful pirouette. The 2CV hit one of the barricades and somehow got airborne, it spun over the amazed men at about 200 kilometres an hour, and hit the ground on the other side with a sound like an over tensioned windup toy.

Laurie was amazed, relived, impressed and a bunch of other emotions, but she was mostly very, very bruised. She sucked up a deep breath of air and blew it out again, feeling a huge smile etched on her face. “Wow,” she panted, “I didn’t know you could drive like that”. It would have been just as accurate to have said that she didn’t know that anyone could drive like that.

Emma didn’t take her eyes off the road, “really,” she said, “Well that’s interesting aint it? We’re almost over”

The 2CV shot over the ridge, becoming airborne for much longer than a small car should be capable of, and started hurtling down the other side; improbably, it managed to pick up even more speed.

The town was a mess. The gouges in the earth that had been inflicted when they were last there still hadn’t been fixed, but they were now all the more obvious because they were filled with sparkling lights. There was a huge glow emanating from the ruined church that hurt Laurie’s eyes a little; even through the glasses. As they watched, two arcs of light appeared; the first was a huge one that reached high into the sky and led from the church to one of the gouges, the second was a small one that reached from the gouge and ended on top of a tank at the end of the street. It was over like lightning, and the tank was destroyed.

Laurie was shocked. She fingered the cube in her pocket and said, “Demontech; they’re using demontech, we have to be careful”

There was the snap, rattle and pop of gunfire from behind them, and suddenly there were holes in the car.

Laurie felt her mind focusing; automatically blocking out the emotion that could kill her now. She gritted her teeth, held up her gun, and looked in the rear view mirror.

There were two trucks with large guns on their backs, and they were backed up by one of the helicopters.

Laurie didn’t like those odds, and she could feel the natural panic bubbling up under her enforced calmness. Keeping her eyes on the road behind her she said, “Those trucks are gaining fast.”

Emma didn’t say anything back. They were coming up to a sharp bend in the road, beyond which there was nothing but air. The guns started rattling again, they were much closer this time and they were far more accurate.

Laurie could feel herself losing her grip; the panic was threatening to consume her. A bullet punched through the edge of her leg, and made her bite her lip to stop herself from screaming.

Then the bullets stopped, and they were round the bend.

Laurie felt panicked relief. She started giggling hysterically as she watched the rear view mirror.

The trucks barrelled around the corner and started firing again, but there was no point, the trucks had just lost too much distance, and the bullets sprayed harmlessly around them.

The helicopter seemed to realize that it couldn’t keep hugging the mountain and pulled itself outwards; waiting for an opportunity.

The trucks were following a tenaciously as they could, but they couldn’t take corners as well as the 2CV could and they were losing everything they picked up on the straights.

Despite herself Laurie started to feel relieved; for a moment there she had really thought that she was going to die, but now it looked like everything was going to be all right. The panic started to subside; not all the way of course; they were still being followed by angry men looking to kill them, but it wasn’t threatening to take control of her anymore. Laurie smiled to Emma, “All in good fun right?” she said.

Emma didn’t respond. She was taking the car as fast as it would go through the corners and she wasn’t willing to speak.

Laurie was starting to feel better; she grinned and looked at the road ahead.

Around the curve of the mountain Laurie could see a long straight piece of road, and the helicopter that was moving to intercept.

Laurie realized with sudden shock that being on that stretch of road would mean their deaths. She yelled and pointed, “We have to get off the road!”

Emma was finally willing to look up for this. “oh no”, she said’, “oh sweat fuck, No!” They kept driving because stopping would kill them as well, and Laurie suddenly saw something that she recognized.

It was the ravine that the first 2CV had rolled into.

Laurie was shocked, but glad to the point of religious ecstasy. She clapped once and pointed. “Emma”, she yelled, “You have to drive off the cliff.”

“What!?”

“There will be a dirt ramp in the next few bends, you need to hit it!”

Laurie felt a little uneasy. She bit her lip and added for her own benefit, ‘unless someone’s removed it since then.

They streaked around the last corner and started accelerating down a hill. The barrier seemed to be removed at the bottom, but the light was playing hell with Laurie’s eyes and she couldn’t see if the ramp was still there.

The guns started rattling down on them from the top of the hill. They were inaccurate, but they were firing a lot of bullets. The car plunged into the darkness.

Laurie put her arms in front of her face again, and didn’t manage to stop the scream.

There was no sound from the car’s tires.

Laurie felt strangely hopeful. She opened her eyes and looked around.

The car was airborne, the rock tower was rising to meet them; the ramp had been there.

Laurie felt laughter bubbling inside her, and she let it out. They had made it! They were safe! Or at least as safe as could be reasonably expected given their profession.

The helicopter executed a graceful back flip and turned to meet them.

Afterwards Laurie remembered what happened in slow motion. The helicopter always started the memory off; with it’s ooh so dangerous looking gun pointed through the window far too close to miss.

Then there was a flash of light, and a suggestion of arcs reaching into the sky, and the helicopter was a disintegrating fireball. Than Laurie would remember that she almost felt happy, but then she noticed that the blast had sent the car spinning. And that they were already too wide to make their landing.

For some reason the last thought that Laurie had as they arced gently  past the rock tower they should have landed on was, ‘I sure hope Derek’s doing better than me’.

*

Derek dug himself deeper into the dumpster and thought, ‘I sure hope Laurie’s doing better than me’.

There was a sound likes someone bouncing off the lid of the dumpster, followed by the sound of running feet.

Derek cursed himself as an idiot, and would have slapped himself in the head if he had been able to move his arm around the McDonalds bag that was holding it in place. The stuntmen had turned out to be a lot tougher than he had given them credit for.

There was the sound of more yelling from outside, and the dumpster moved slightly as though someone was leaning on it.

Derek didn’t feel comfortable; and it wasn’t just because of the assorted things that people had thrown out. He dragged what turned out to be a box of banana skins over himself and thought about what he should have done. He could still see it clearly in his mind’s eye; Casper sweeping the entire crowd away as though they had been mice, everyone rolling and tumbling realistically in the direction they were pushed, and then him giving the orders that Casper should do whatever he needed to do to the Tal, followed by one heart stopping moment when everyone had leapt back to their feet as one.

Someone lifted up a lid, and threw a cigarette in which landed on Derek’s nose.

Derek was angry; how dare they throw lit cigarettes into a dumpster; especially if he was inside at the time. He felt his muscles tense as he prepared to leap out, but then, thankfully good sense prevailed, and Derek remained totally still; even leaving the cigarette that burned on his face.

The lid was closed.

In the darkness below Derek was relived. He was a little bit relived, but mostly he had an urge to kick his own arse for letting the situation develop in the first place. He swept the cigarette off his face and subbed it out on a hand cardboard box. ‘I was stupid’, he thought, ‘I should have waited for Beatrice; and then I’d have back up.’

Whoever was outside departed singing an obscene barnyard song.

Derek’s anger flared up. He clenched his fist and crushed the avocado he was holding. ‘Hold on’, he thought, ‘I just wanted to go look at equipment, and maybe think about buying some; it was Casper that forced me into this ridiculous situation. Goddamn ghosts.’

With his self pity turned into good wholesome rage, Derek was ready to try to find a way out of his situation. He considered the possibility of fighting back against the stuntman chasing him and caught himself grinning like a loon, but there was the fact that he couldn’t do that without help; he either had to find Casper or Beatrice again; preferably the former, and that would take time either way.

Derek felt disappointed and would have hung his head if it hadn’t been pinned back by a huge amount of potato peelings. Fighting back just wasn’t an option if it meant trailing through stuntmen haunted streets totally unprotected. So what if he called Beatrice?

There was the sound of more laughter from outside.

Derek cursed and clucked his tongue. He had no way of knowing if there was a phone around anywhere nearby, and he didn’t have a cell phone; in hindsight it seemed like a huge oversight; he was surprised that cell phones weren’t standard issue for all agents. What if he just stayed where he was?

Derek heard someone land heavily on the roof of the dumpster. They didn’t get off, and they seemed to be shifting their weight and looking around.

Derek thought about what would happen if they were to look inside and he was scared. He held his breath; which he was doing anyway because of the smell, but this time he had other excellent reasons.

There was a muffled voice from a fair distance away, and then the person on top of the dumpster replied, “We haven’t found him yet, but the whole area is pinched off; he can’t get far.” The first voice said something else, and the weight shifted off the roof of the dumpster. There was the sound of agile footsteps, and then there was only the background noise of the city.

Derek felt himself relax. He breathed out and his heart returned to a normal rhythm. No, staying put was not an option; if he stayed put long enough then someone would eventually think of searching the dumpster.

There was the sound of a helicopter clattering overhead; with a general ‘you are being watched’ vibe that marked it out as a police chopper.

Derek was under stress, but his mind was whirling. He glanced to the side of the dumpster as though taking an inventory of its contents. Could he steal some sort of car, he wondered, would that work? If that would work then he only had to go as far as the nearest car, and that would have to be much closer than the closest stuntman, he could get back to the dorm and get help.

Now that Derek was thinking about it, the air was full of the sounds of cars. It was resonant with the sound of motors and horns, and that strange whooshing sound that tended to belong to tires.

The more Derek thought about it, the more he liked the idea. He smiled in the darkness and started thinking about the particulars. He knew that hot wiring a car was probably beyond him; could he start the ignition the same way he would pick a lock? It seemed like a bad time to try. So that really just left carjacking.  He was near the heart of the city and there were traffic lights everywhere; it would be a simple matter to hop into one of them just as the light turned green.

In the darkness Derek’s smile became a wicked grin. That would be his next move; some poor citizen was about to be carjacked.

*

A beam of orange demonic energy spurted from the window of the little 2CV. For a moment the car seemed to sit upon the pillar of light, but then the car slipped to one side and started spinning like a Catherine wheel.

Laurie was horrified; she waved the cube around and said, “Aughhhhhh!”

“Aughhhhh!” Emma agreed.

The car hit the ground spinning like a dynamo. It shot away across a, thankfully, open field before coming to a rest in a stream.

Laurie came to life. She ripped off her seat belt, sprang from the car, scrambled up the bank, and only then did she collapse from the pain in her leg.

Laurie felt the pain shoot through her and tensed her own body in response. She hissed and thought, ‘Dammit’; the bullet had only punched through the edge of her leg, but the pain was still extreme.  “Emma!” she called.

There was no answer.

Suddenly Laurie felt very alone. He hugged her arms to herself, “Emma?” she said, in a small voice.

The 2CV was lodged in the creak and now resembled a badly made cigar; there was clearly no one inside. Apart from the demonic battle that raged on in the distance there was no sound other than the sound of the trickling stream. Laurie was alone; there was no-one else in sight.

Laurie was alone and lost, and scared. She looked around, desperate for some sign, but there was none. Laurie tried to clear her head and think.  There was clearly some sort of battle going on, and Laurie wasn’t even sure of the sides. She was out of the way of the bulk of the fighting for now, but this nice flat field would be a natural roadway for tanks when the army counter attacked.

Laurie knew with cold certainty what a group of what a group of speeding tanks would do if they crossed paths with her in the dark. She shuddered and knew she had to get to ground.

Laurie pushed off of the ground and stood up.

A bolt of pain struck her. Making her grit her teeth against the yell and sending her back to the ground, ‘Right’ she thought, “Right, the bullet wound.”

The open field around her was completely devoid of trees, and she had no way of cutting a crutch anyway. The car was ruined metal, but didn’t have anything she could lean on. The field was totally remote, and even if Laurie had been inclined to call for help, there was no one around to hear her.

Laurie was tired and lost and hungry, but she was a long way from finished. She narrowed her eyes, ignored the throbbing in her leg and started to crawl; keeping as much weight as she could on her good leg and wincing every time her bad one touched the ground.

Laurie was crawling back the way she had come.

She stopped, and cursed herself; had she been planning to crawl up a mountain?

There was the sound of gunfire from around her; she was sure it was closer now. There were a couple of whooshing sounds; followed by the sound of explosions.

Laurie realized her untenable position and smiled manically; she was caught between a rock and an explosive place. Laurie tried to think; the sun was coming up, and the countryside would be warm enough for now, but there wouldn’t be the medical care she would need.

The demontech arcs flickered behind her, and there was the sound of screams.

Laurie felt a jolt of fear and started crawling again; even if her leg got infected, it could hold until the fighting died down and she could steal some medical supplies.

Laurie was crawling as fast as she could when she stumbled across something unexpected.

Laurie caught the joy in her throat and held it down; recent events had taught her not to be too optimistic.  She raised herself up as high as she could and said, “Emma?”

The figure lying under the bank didn’t stir. Now that Laurie thought about it there seemed to be too much red around the figures head.

Laurie didn’t want to think about what it would mean if a teammate died while she could still protect her.  She gritted her teeth against the pain and crawled as fast as she could towards the figure.

It was Emma. But she was lying still, her eyes were open, and there was a lot of red around; staining her clothes and her face.

Laurie had never really seen death close up before; it was far more horrible than she had ever imagined. She blinked to hold back the tears; she was determined not to cry; she didn’t think Emma would have liked that. Instead she sat over Emma and bowed her head.

Emma’s blood was still wet and as Laurie watched a fresh drop dripped off of her face and onto the earth.

Laurie didn’t want to be there anymore. She didn’t want to be there, in that field, looking at Emma’s body. She didn’t want to be in Symphony listening to the rattling of guns and the distant screams of the dying. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to hunt Demon’s anymore, not after it had gotten so far out of hand. She didn’t want to be back at the dorm, with its judging glares, or in the city, with its endless parade of nothingness, or out in the country, where nothing ever started. In fact Laurie had no idea where she wanted to be; except that it was somewhere where her old life didn’t exist anymore.

Emma stared up at the glowing sky with her empty eyes.

Laurie tried to hold her emotions under control. Her throat felt choked, but still she would not cry. She leaned a little further over and closed Emma’s eyes.

Emma’s eyelids were warm.

Laurie paused; sudden thought killing emotion in its tracks. Her eyes slowly widened; it was too much to hope for, and it would be stupid to hope, but still. Laurie leaned over again and slowly put her fingers along Emma’s neck.

There was a pulse! It was faint but it was there!

Hope surged into Laurie. She parted her mouth in a crazy half grin and started to laugh.

There was another series of whooshing noises and explosions; both seemed to be a lot closer than they had been before.

Practicality snuffed Laurie’s joy; Emma might be alive now, but there was no way of guarantying she would last. Emma’s pulse was weak, and that meant that Laurie had to act now. Laurie put her arms on Emma’s shoulders and braced herself to try lifting the larger woman.

No! Screamed a voice in Laurie’s head, her neck could be broken!

Laurie paused. Fear was starting to take hold again. She could imagine what lifting Emma would mean if her neck really was broken, and it made her shudder. ‘I don’t know how to check for a broken neck’ she thought. She tentatively ran her fingers down the back of Emma’s neck.

It just felt like the back of someone’s neck. Laurie couldn’t feel any break, but how could she know?

Laurie’s breath was in the top of her chest, and her blood was in her ears; she had no idea what she should do if Emma had a broken neck, or even what she should do about the head injury; medical training had not been something that the office had routinely given its agents, and Laurie’s expertise was basically limited to ‘Dial 111’.

The blood on Emma’s head didn’t seem to be moving any more.

Laurie bit her tongue. She knew she was out of time. If she couldn’t move Emma, or treat her where she was then she really had only one option, and it was a truly awful one. Laurie tilted her head up to the sky and bellowed “Help! Please help!”

There was the sound of gunfire from somewhere very close, and then another flash of the demontech arcs, and the gunfire came to an abrupt end.

Laurie felt cold, she breathed deeply through her nose and kept yelling; all the while thinking about what a fitting end to the night it would be if she got taken out in some big explosion before anyone heard her.

There was the distant sound of human voices.

Laurie felt huge relief. It didn’t even matter if the voices belonged to friend or foe, they were still people, and they would be able do something; anything would be better than having Emma pass on while Laurie was powerless to help her. She took another deep breath a yelled in the direction of the voices, “Help! Please help us!”

The voices changed in recognition, and suddenly there were people running towards them. One man was faster than the others and got to them first, he was holding what looked like a sparkling hand mirror. He saw the two of them with a surprised look on his face. “We’ve got two women here”, he yelled back at the group following them.

“Ours?” came a replying voice from the approaching group.

The first man looked at the two of them, “I don’t think so” he yelled

“Kill them” yelled the other voice.

Laurie was shocked; she had been intellectually prepared for the possibility that they might meet the enemy, but it felt different to have them suddenly appear. She reached for her gun automatically; knowing that one containment crystal would never hold off an angry mob.

The first man turned his back on the two girls and faced the oncoming mob. “Now hold on” he said, “We can’t go round killing civilians.”

The rest of the mob had caught up with the first man and were surrounding him and the girls; they all held mirrors, and they all sparkled with different colours.

Laurie felt that she was at the centre of a very tense situation. She looked left and right and slowly took her hand away from her gun; while keeping it close enough that she could grab it quickly. She decided that it would be a bad idea to pull her gun out before the matter in front of her was settled.

The voice that had recommended killing them turned out to belong to a squat, angry looking man. He walked up to the first man and said, “Civilians?  Look around you boy, we’re the civilians here; everyone else therefore is the enemy.”

There was a burst of high pitched laughter from the edge of the crowd and a small rat faced man said “Civilians? What do you call this then?” he was waving around one of the mirrors.

The squat man’s expression didn’t change. “We are extraordinarily well armed civilians who happen to be in the middle of a combat zone and shut up Gerick”

The tall man; the one who had gotten to them first said, “Look at them, they aren’t wearing uniforms or carrying rifles; they are clearly on our side, or at least they aren’t on the enemy’s side”

“That proves nothing” insisted the squat man, Laurie was beginning to hate him. “They could easily by spies sent to infiltrate us”

The tall man pointed an exasperated hand at them, “Look at them” he said, “They’re hurt”

“That just means that they’ve already tried to sneak in once and got caught.” said the man, “We’re in the middle of a war; my military instincts tell me that we shouldn’t let potential spies live”

“What military instincts? You’ve been a greengrocer your whole life”

Many small arguments broke out in the crowd, but a nontrivial amount were still focused on Emma and Laurie. A voice drifted in from some point in the mob, “Hey” it said, “I know the redhead; she helped us clear up after the big explosion”

There was muttering from the mob, but it was the good kind of muttering; the kind of muttering where people suggest that maybe it would be in poor taste to kill someone after they had helped you.

Laurie was pleased. She gave a hopeful kind of smile, and was glad that the good karma she earned by helping out after the demonic explosion had returned to her with the precision of a laser guided missile.

“Wait a minute,” said another voice, “I know the blond; I saw here a few years ago when she and he partner destroyed the hospital and forced the sanatorium to be closed.”

There was some mutinous muttering from the crowd; this is the bad kind of muttering, the kind of muttering that suggests that it’s probably totally fine to kill someone who has destroyed a valuable public utility, and anyway she would be almost certain to do it again to some other humble town and that makes it a public service, maybe even an act of heroism.

The tall man was still standing between them and the mob, but it was clear that the mob was reaching a consensus. The consensus they seemed to be reaching was that they should probably kill Emma and let Laurie live.

Laurie was horrified by this situation. A big part of her; the part that was concerned primarily with her own survival was advising her to keep quiet; her own life would be assured and what she was planning was far too risky. But there was a more powerful part of her; a part that was concerned with her essential Laurieness that wouldn’t let her just leave Emma to die if there was the slightest chance that she could be saved. She swallowed and said, “We’re partners and we protect each other; either we both live or we both die.”

This cause renewed arguments in the crowd. And for a moment it looked as though it could go either way.

Then fear crossed the faces of the crowd. They stopped talking and parted, or to be more accurate, they drew away and cowered like dogs.

A familiar figure walked through them, and for the first time in the entire night, Laurie knew what fear really was.

*

Now that Derek had a plan he was beginning to hate the smell of the dumpster. He wrinkled up his nose and pushed up the lid with his head.

Through the tiny gap he could just make out a line of cars on the road outside the alleyway.

Derek was glad to see the cars, but he didn’t grin; he had no way of knowing when those cars were going to start moving; and that was going to be important knowledge if he was going to carjack a car without attracting the attention of the stuntmen. Derek knew that he couldn’t risk waiting for more information; he kicked off the roof of the dumpster and jumped out into the alleyway.

There was no one in the alley, and as Derek scanned there was no one watching him from the rooftops.

Derek was very glad, and he let himself smile this time. But one lucky break is not the same as actually getting away, and Derek knew he had to keep moving. He took a deep breath and started striding out of the alleyway.

The people in their cars looked at him strangely as he walked out of the mouth of the alleyway, but then it was probably justified; Derek looked angry and there was still a few potato peelings stuck to him. A small gang of street kids looked for a moment like they were going to try roughing him up, but then they saw the determined look on his face and decided to wait for easier targets.

Derek’s mind throbbed, and he paid no attention to any of this. He just gritted his teeth and kept walking. He only had eyes for the traffic lights at the end of the road; when they turned green all the cars behind them would start moving and that would be the ideal time to hop into one.

Derek kept walking, but the lights didn’t seem to be inclined to turn green.

Derek started to get worried; what would it look like if he reached the end of the road and stopped; it would definitely be suspicious enough to make the drivers at the front of the queue lock their doors, and if Derek couldn’t get into the first cars then by the time the end of the queue rolled round they would be going far too fast. Derek flicked his eyes up and scanned the skyline as he walked.

Maybe it was his imagination, but he though she saw a figure there; watching him.

Suddenly the lights turned green.

The effect on Derek was electrifying. He immediately straightened up and jumped to the side, his hand caught a door handle and he pulled.

Nothing happened; the door was locked.

Terror shot into Derek, but there was no time to give into it.  He jumped backwards and caught the second car as it went past.

This one opened; albeit almost ripping Derek’s arm off in the process.

The driver slammed on the breaks. Causing more screeching breaks behind him and slamming the passenger side door closed again.

Derek wasn’t willing to let the situation go that easily. He yelled and wrenched the door back open as the driver tried to lock it, that done he dropped into the passenger’s seat, pointed at the windshield and said, “Drive, Drive Drive!”

The Driver looked at him, and then he ripped his keys out of the ignition and threw them out the window.

Derek couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He threw his hands up and cursed himself for not thinking this part through, “You stupid …!” he began, but then something caught his eye.

It wasn’t his imagination this time; there were people coming at him from further up the road; dodging nimbly in-between traffic.

Derek was starting to feel trapped; it made him feel claustrophobic. He waved his badge in the drivers face and pointed at the approaching people, “If you don’t get your keys and start driving” he growled, “Then we are both going to die.”

The driver didn’t wait around. The combination of the hastily waved badge, the people advancing on him, and the threat of imminent death led to him leaping out of his car.

Derek watched as the people got closer and felt very worried. He reached for his gun, but of course it wasn’t there since his daughter had modified it back at the dorm. “What’s taking so long!” he bellowed at the driver.

“I can’t find them!” the driver yelled back.

Derek felt like he was trapped between two closing walls. Behind him he heard the honks of the enraged motorists, and in front of him he saw the stuntmen closing on him without any regard for the traffic they were skipping around. Derek slumped slightly in his seat; he knew that he had no chance of out-running the stunt men on foot, and he wondered what death was like.

There was a sudden movement of air, and the sound of an engine turning over. “Found them” said the driver.

The car screeched forward and sent the stuntmen tumbling over its roof.

“Jesus!” exclaimed the driver, “Should we go back and check on them?”

Derek thought that would be a terrible idea. He waved his hands in front of him and said, “No, hell no!”

The driver was shivering a little bit, but he also seemed to be weirdly smiling. Where are we going?” he asked.

Derek thought about that. He knew that he needed to get into contact with either Beatrice or Casper, but he didn’t really know how to achieve that. He scratched his leg and said, “Take me to the Easycare dorm.”

The driver shivered. “That’s a horrible place” he said, “Why do you want to go there?”

Derek was glad that someone shared his opinion of the dorm. “There are some things I need to pick up there” he said, “Don’t worry about slowing down as you go past”

The driver laughed. “Oh I’ll keep my speed up” he said, “I’d like to keep my wheels on my car”

*

Laurie travelled back towards Symphony; partly because she didn’t have the slightest idea where else she could get medical care, and partly because the people carrying her weren’t giving her a lot of choice.

Laurie didn’t like the fact that they were getting closer to the explosions. She twisted a little bit so that she could see one of the people carrying her and said, “You don’t really have to take me in there you know;  it’s just my friend who needs help; I could probably rest until the fighting was over.

The man looked and her like she was crazy, “You heard the sister” he said, “We have to take you to see the boss-man.”

Laurie felt she was missing something. She made a confused face and said, “But half an hour ago you were debating whether to kill us or not, why are you suddenly following orders to the letter?”

The man looked at her strangely again, “Because it’s the sister’s orders.” He said, and the entire group shivered.

Laurie felt sure she was missing something. “But Sister Silverdon doesn’t have military experience right? Who’s to say her orders are the right ones?”

One of the men carrying Emma laughed nervously. “They say she was the result of a top secret weapons project” he said, “They say she spends her time wandering deserts and toppling governments. I don’t know what I believe, but I won’t be the one who crosses her.”

The men all shivered, and Laurie felt herself being shifted slightly as they all crossed themselves.

Laurie found it all very odd; an hour ago she was wondering if she would be able to kill these men before they could use their mirrors on her, and now they were taking her to get help and discussing their greatest fears with her, it was very odd, but Laurie shrugged; it didn’t seem to matter much; if the men were marching on Symphony then they must be reasonably confident that they weren’t going to get shot up.

There was the whistling sound of an artillery shell and the ground down the road from them disappeared in a cloud of debris and shrapnel.

Laurie was shocked, both by the suddenness of the explosion, and by the fact that the men were already getting back up. She sat up as fast as she could and said, “Hold on, is this area secure?”

The men looked at her with the slightly deadened eyes that people wear when they are trying not to speculate on the possibility of their own demise. “We don’t know” one of them said, and with that Laurie and Emma were both picked up, and the procession kept making its way across town.

Laurie was feeling on the edge of dementia. She rubbed her mouth and looked around.

The sun was starting to rise, and the demonic arcs were looking less impressive as a result. So, for that matter, were the conventional explosions, which were no longer lighting up the buildings with their sudden lightning flashes. However as the sun rose the full extent of the damage done to the town was becoming clear; it was clear that whatever happened here after all this was over, wouldn’t bring the town back to the pretty tourist town that Laurie had seen potential in at the start of the week. For a start, barely any of the buildings seemed to be still standing.

Laurie felt a weird sense of loss. The town had looked so peaceful when she had seen it for the first time, and now it was ruined; Laurie wasn’t sure why, but she couldn’t help feeling that it was her fault somehow. She tried to look up, but that is a hard manoeuvre to pull off when you are being carried by two other people and so she said, “Where are we going exactly?”

For a long time no-one answered her; they all seemed to be wrapped up in their own thoughts. But finally someone said, “Our headquarters are set up in the church, you can met the boss and see the medics there”

Laurie was glad that was settled; the silent men with the dead eyes were starting to creep her out. She settled back and listened to the sound of battle; it sounded reassuringly far off.

The sound of footsteps ceased, and suddenly they were walking on a paddock.

Laurie looked up with confusion.

The church loomed on the horizon with surprising potency for a one storey damaged building. It was surrounded by people; people laying on the ground, and waiting for medical care, people walking around, and dispensing medical care, and people standing on top of the church’s ruined walls, who were holding mirrors and watching them suspiciously as they approached.

Laurie looked around with interest. Even pulling on own legs in order to get a better look.

The church all together looked much the same as when they had left it; despite the sprouting of highly armed men.

The men carried Laurie through the large double doors of the church, and Emma disappeared off to one side.

Laurie didn’t like that they were being separated, she twisted to follow her and asked, “Where is she going?”

“To get fixed up” said one of the men carrying her, “You’ll see a medic too, but first you need to see the boss”, with that they put her down.

Laurie caught a glimpse of the back of a huge man backlit by the light of a huge glowing machine, before the pain in her leg forced her onto one knee.

Laurie felt humiliated; she wasn’t about to bow in front of a man who she had just met. She forced her head up so that she could look the man in his eyes as he approached.

Reverend Sammy laughed. “I’m glad you’re pleased to see me, girly” he said, “But maybe someone should bring you a chair.”

*

The driver made good on his promise not to slow down.

Derek leaped out with a thrill in his heart. He covered his head with his hands and the distance to the door by the simple expedient of rolling and praying.

The reception area was totally empty.

Derek was very relived; he had been expecting people to be waiting for him there. He spun away from the door and sprinted for the chemist’s corridors.

The door was slightly agar; as though someone had come through it, but hadn’t been sure that it wouldn’t self lock.

Derek’s breath caught in his throat, and he started running faster; there were only a few people who he could think of that wouldn’t know how that door worked; and he didn’t want any of them in his room.

The door to room seventeen was open; Derek knew he had closed it before he had followed Casper out.

Derek felt could fear pierce into him; was it early enough that Jade and Christine couldn’t be home? With wide eyes Derek rushed in.

The twins were there; chatting away at the kitchen table. “Hii Derrek!” they said in unison.

Derek felt so relieved that he was willing to overlook how much he disliked people talking in unison like that. He walked forward with a relieved grin spreading across his face, “Hello girls” he said.

Andrea was chatting to them at the kitchen table; she was also pointing a gun at him from underneath the table. “Hello Derek” she said, with a gentle smile, “It’s nice to meet you. What do you think girls? Should Derek join us?” At this she twitched the gun; in a way that wasn’t exactly pulling the trigger, but certainly carried suggestions of it.

The twins were enthusiastic, “Oh definitely” they said, and one of them got up and seated him next to Andrea.

Derek felt the barrel of the gun push into his stomach.

Thoughts blazed in Derek’s head, and his heart rate soared as he tried to think of a way out of this situation. Andrea was pushing the gun at him a good deal harder than she needed to, and Derek had seen enough of her to suspect that she got a thrill out of the power high; that meant she could get to emotional and make mistakes, if he could just slip to the side and pull the gun up… but no; Andrea was a stuntman; her reflexes had to be excellent, and Derek knew he wasn’t fast enough.

There was only one real option, and Derek just wished he had thought of it before he had sat down; when there had a least been a slim chance of Andrea missing if she chose to shoot. “Casper, help me!” he yelled at the ceiling.

At first there was no response, but suddenly there was still no response. All four people slowly lowered their heads from the ceiling.

Andrea and the twins were staring at Derek.

Derek was fighting against panic. He could feel his breath getting shallower and a single drip of sweat running down his spine. He put his hands on the table and focused on some old breathing exercises that he half remembered; trying to ignore the eyes on him.

Suddenly one of the twins’ faces flashed with a look of recognition; “Casper?” she said, “Isn’t that the ghost that Laurie keeps talking about?”

“Oh yes,” said Andrea, “Your partner in crime.” She jabbed her gun at Derek again, “But I don’t remember anything about a ghost.” She asked the twins.

Derek was starting to feel distinctly uncomfortable. He clamped his jaw shut and tried to mentally broadcast the words ‘Shutup shutup shutup’ to the twins.

“Laurie told us” said the twins, “she said that her office had a ghost to manage all the technical aspects of demon hunting”

“Is that so?” said Andrea; nodding along to encourage them. While Derek wondered just what part of ‘semi-secret’ Laurie had found unclear.

“Yep,” said the other twin, “He’s a really smart ghost that makes them all magic bullets.”

Andrea nodded at this, looking a little confused anyway. While Derek wondered just what kind of conversation Laurie had had with the twins that had resulted in her describing the containment crystals as ‘Magic bullets’

“And then Laurie takes the magic bullets and goes out to fight all the evil demons in the world” said the first twin, revealing an insightful political mind and a keen understanding of the civil service. “Daddy always says that they make his life more difficult because he has to process the messes they dig up; but he says things like that about everyone”

Derek realized that Andrea was starting to look confused, and he carefully concealed a smile. Now that he thought about it, Derek was glad the twins were here, anything they could say to add to confusion of the woman who was holding a gun to him was definitely appreciated.

“I see” said Andrea, but she didn’t look like she did; she looked very lost and somewhat deflated.

She jabbed her gun at Derek again, “Tell me what you want with the Tal!” she demanded

Derek was glad to see that Andrea wasn’t enjoying herself anymore, but he was still worried about where her limits were; he wasn’t sure how far he could push her without getting shot. He leaned further into the gun to guard against her powerthrill coming back and said, “I don’t know.”

Anger shot across Andrea’s face. She jabbed the gun at him again, “Don’t you dare think you can get away that easy.” She said. “You attacked us over the Tal; it’s clearly important.”

Derek found the assumption a little insulting. He looked Andrea in the eyes and said indigently, “I attacked you because you were about to attack me.”

Andrea snorted, “You can’t know we were about to attack you” she said.

Derek was annoyed to see her trying to wheedle out of her intentions; he rolled his eyes and asked “Well were you?”

Andrea put her full weight behind the gun, and half rose from her seat so that she was eye level with Derek, “So what if we were? You’re a serial bomber; it would have been a public service.”

Derek felt old anger being drawn up from his bones, “I’ve never blown up anything in my life” he growled. Then he stopped and thought, “I’ve never deliberately blown up anything in my life” he amended. Then he stopped again, and paused for a very long time “I’ve never deliberately blown up someone else’s building while they were inside it” he concluded.

“As if I’m going to believe the words of a serial bomber” snarled Andrea

“Are you two dating?” asked one of the twins; who had been having trouble following the conversation.

“Shut up!” said Derek and Andrea together; without taking their eyes off each other.

The twins shrugged and shut up.

Andrea opened her mouth again.

“I’ll tell you everything” sobbed a voice.

Derek felt disorientated by this non-sequitur. He drew back in his seat and looked in the direction of the voice.

Beatrice walked into the room; leaving the door to the interrogation room open. Sounds of sobbing drifted out to fill the kitchen.

Andrea looked shocked; she clearly had had no idea how good the sound proofing was in the chemists’ floor. Her gun spun around in a wide arc and locked on Beatrice’s head, “Alright hold still, lady” she said.

Beatrice dropped the clip out of Andrea’s gun and threw both halves into separate trash cans. Then she jerked her head and walked back into the room.

Derek tried to keep from laughing at the look on Andrea’s face, and went after Beatrice; if she had got the guy talking then all he had to do was find Casper and everything would be back on track.

Derek closed the door to the interrogation room behind him. Leaving the twins discussing whether latex could be incorporated in makeup, and leaving Andrea fumbling vaguely at mid air with her mouth open.

*

It all would have come out of nowhere.

The town would have started out peaceful. Not totally peaceful, it would have still have had all the problems that one tends to find in small towns, but it would have been peaceful enough that the firemen spent most of their time sitting around and playing cards.

Then one morning; before most people were awake, the explosion would have come. No one would have been quite sure what to make of the explosion, and Laurie was surprised they had even called it that, but it had happened and the townspeople had reacted.

Deep gouges had been torn into the very ground they lived on, leaving only destruction behind them. And though the townspeople sob and wailed, their practical side won through, and they set about clearing up and burying the dead.

No one knew what the explosion had been, many people speculated of all manner of natural phenomena; from earthquakes to sinkholes, but generally as people gathered together in the now ruined church in order to remember the dead the feeling, was that if it was going to happen again then it would have happened by now.

The next morning there were more people up; not everyone had done all of their mourning last night, and so a great many more people saw when the helicopters clattered their way into town. Some people welcomed the helicopters; thinking they were long overdue aid, others were wiser; and after seeing the helicopters immediately ran for the edge of town. In the end it didn’t matter what the people did; the helicopters, and the men inside, pinched off the town and herded everyone to the centre.

The townspeople fought back of course; the invaders had better weapons and armour, and were actually communicating in a tactical sense, but the townspeople had shear weight of numbers; senseless mob or not the townspeople should have ripped the invaders to shreds.

The invaders turned out to be very resistant to being ripped to shreds, or rather they could be ripped to shreds; the problem was that they never stayed ripped to shreds. The revelation that they weren’t fighting humans was demoralizing to the townspeople, and the allowed themselves to be herded like sheep.

The invaders lined them all up with their hands on their heads and started asking questions. They asked about the explosion, and the old sanatorium, and whether anyone had left town since the explosion.

As a matter of fact there had been two people who had left town since the explosions; they hadn’t been townspeople, but they had showed up after the explosion and started helping, so some people tried to protect them, but these people were a minority, and soon the invaders had all the information they wanted.

More of invaders showed up in their own helicopters, and three of them were dispatched on the long road to the city. The townspeople decided that within the hour the visitors would either be dead or be dragged back, some people sympathized with them, and some people felt that they were somehow responsible for what had happened, but both these groups were minorities, and most people just put the visitors out of their minds; they had their own worries.

For the entire day they just kneeled in the centre of town. The invaders were odd; they seemed to be waiting for orders that never came. Eventually the invaders ordered everyone up and sent them home.

For the next few day things followed a weird routine; everybody tried to carry out their days the way they always had, and just tried to ignore the cut phone line out of the town, the men standing guard at every exit, and the occasional circle of a helicopter overhead.

For most people the days passed with low terror and uncertainty, but there were some people who were more proactive.

Reverend Sammy had always been the emotional centre of the town, and so he was now; he believed that it was possible to kill the invaders; it just took a lot of effort.

The Reverend had a secret radio that he had been using to listen to news reports. He told the people he had gathered that the army was preparing to move in against the invaders and also about the downed helicopter in the desert with three dead bodies next to it. He told them that the time for action was now. He told them to fetch their guns.

And so on that night the town rang with gunfire. Some people pulled their covers over their heads, and intended to plead total ignorance tomorrow. Some people went to their windows to yell encouragement, or went to get their own guns. But most people sat in bed and wondered who had thought it was a good idea to set off fireworks with trigger happy soldiers around.

The battle went on throughout the night; the reverend and his men were communicating now. They fought in shadows and disorientated the invaders, passing information to each other. The invaders could be killed! They whispered. A shotgun blast to the back of the head at point blank range; that would do it, or if you didn’t have a shotgun; just shoot them through the right forearm. The right forearm? Yes; if you shoot them there then they go down just like normal people the next time someone shoots them in the head.

By the time dawn broke almost half the invaders were dead. It wasn’t enough though, the others were hanging around the edge of town; unwilling to venture deeper to where the buildings provided approaches for anyone who wanted to attack them.

Some people declared victory, and attempts were made to get a street party started, but most people were wiser and wondered what would happen when the invaders decided to fly in with their helicopters.

In the end those people never found out; since that was when the army appeared over the hills.

The invaders only put up a taker resistance; understandable given that they were down to three helicopters and barely enough crew to fly them. They flew at the army convoys and buzzed their lines, but retreated as soon as the army counter attacked, and flew away much faster than the army’s own choppers.

The townspeople welcomed the army. Even though many of them asked each other just how much work the army did. The general was a charming man who assured the townspeople that they would catch the invaders, and that for the mean time the army would be setting up base; in case the invaders came back.

In gratitude the townspeople held that party they had been planning, and all though the day and the following night, they danced, and sang, and played the trombone, and none were so merry as the general.

Over the next few days though it became clear that the army’s intentions were not innocent. Somehow the phone lines were always in the process of being reconnected, and when people tried to leave so that they could tell relatives that they were fine they were advised not to, since the roads were still a disputed territory.

Discontent began to spread through the townspeople, but none dared to strike out; the army was equipped far better than the invaders had been. And so the townspeople suffered in silence, and not even Reverend Sammy was willing to propose action.

Then his mother appeared. It was not clear where she had come from or how she had got past the army checkpoints, but one day she just glided into town.

None of the townspeople had known anything about the Reverend’s mother. All they had known was that the Reverend had a mother, and changed the subject as soon as anyone tried to talk about her. The reverends mother was terrifying; a symphony in black. She glided into town and the townspeople followed her mutely; they could all sense that whether for good or for bad, she meant the end.

The sister glided to the church and met the reverend there; who shook so hard that many thought that his legs would break. The Reverend fell to his knees and laid his head on the ground to avoid her stare, and those who knew about the Reverend’s hard drinking habits didn’t blame him. Many of the watchers wanted to leave, but somehow that just wasn’t an option.

The sister indicated and a small boy walked forward. He had dead eyes, and wouldn’t look up, and many of the townspeople stared at him because it meant that they didn’t have to look at the Sister.

Then the sister spoke; in a voice that wasn’t loud but still echoed around the entire area and shook the listeners to their souls. The sister told them that the time had come for them to fight, and while every man feared the army, there were none who dared to speak up. Then the sister told them that she had a weapon that would let them win, and all glanced up with more interest. Then she summoned all the engineers forward.

For that night the sounds of welding drifted from the church. While the towns mortician found a party of hundreds who wanted to collect the dead  invaders.

When the device was complete the townspeople stared at it in wonderment. It wasn’t much to look at certainly; just a tall bronze pole with at cage at the bottom for the dead invaders, but if the sister was telling the truth; and there wasn’t a man there who even wanted to think that she wasn’t, then it was the weapon that would let them turn back the full force of the army.

The device was turned on and the sky became aglow. The little hand mirrors the engineers had whipped up began to sparkle with their own lights, and the townspeople held them up and roared; they didn’t quite know what was happening, but they knew what they’d be doing for the next few hours.

*

It seemed like a simple job. All they had to do was go and act as enforcers for some other manic with a grudge. Then the manic had issued his first order; ‘Come in and be augmented’, and that had given Captain Swift pause; there were far more mad scientists around than most people realized, and when they said a word like ‘augmented’ it was probably best to start running.

Captain Swift had spoken with his officers, and they had come to the decision that there was no way they were going to comply with the order. He communicated his views to Mckingle; the man who connected them to the manic, who communicated to him that he could expect another zero on his payment if he completed this task.

The Captain insisted on half down, and once he got it, the entire company moved out.

To be more specific they moved out of their temporary lodgings and started heading west; one of the commanders had heard a tip about riot control that was needed there.

They drove all day and then set up camp some way off the road. They made sure that they didn’t leave trails, and rested for the night.

When they woke up they found that their camp had at least tripled in size, and that the new additions liked to sleep with their guns facing inwards.

The leader of the other forces; a cheerful red faced man by the name of Captain Rollin, congratulated Captain Swift on his clever dog leg; saying that it would be certain to prevent anyone from guessing where their mutual employer was. Captain Swift agreed, and together they drove up the road and turned south.

Though he only saw him for a moment, Captain Swift knew he had been right about his employer; the man was tall, thin, and grey haired, and he looked, if not a few grapes short of a fruit basket, then at least a couple grenades in excess of it. He addressed his new troops from an indoor balcony; using all the usual statements about how they were going to change the world for the better; but Captain Swift hadn’t been listening; he had been watching the quiet man next to him who was making notes on a clipboard.

The man looked nothing like his employer; he was short, squat, and dressed in a way that suggested he had mugged random people of all shapes and sizes in order to get each item of clothing. Somehow though, Captain Swift hadn’t managed to keep his eyes off him; there was just something about him that triggered Captain Swift’s ‘Run away!’ sensors.

But running away wasn’t an option, and after the manic had finished his speech and exited, the smaller man had come down and introduced himself as Mckingle, and told Captain Swift to lead his troops into the surgery. Captain Swift had taken a good long look at Captain Rollin’s troops outside before, feeling like a slaughter house goat, he had done so.

At this point Andrea entered the room, causing Captain Swift to stop, and Derek to look up from his notes before nodding to the Captain to keep going.

The ‘Augmentation’ hadn’t been as bad as the Captain had assumed it would be. Mckingle had given them all local anaesthesia and had put some kind of cube in their forearms. Mckingle had told them that it would make them harder to kill, but he had been evasive when it had come to the specifics of how they worked.

After everyone had had the surgery they had been lined back up; some of them a little unsteadily and they had been told that they were now quick response troops, that they should split into three units, and that they could  see their new helicopters and pilots outside. They had all absorbed this, numbly and had then saluted; a few people slapping themselves in the face in the process, and had marched away to their separate postings.

After that nothing had happened for several weeks, and Captain Swift had begun to think he had gotten lucky. The augmentation had turned out to be a good one for himself and his troops; suddenly they could walk off five story drops, and punch through thin concrete walls; it was one of the most successful mad scientist experiments that the Captain had ever seen; even if it did mean that their new barracks fell down after one week and had to be rebuilt as a one story building. The best thing though, was that their pay checks were coming through regularly and they weren’t even working for it.

Then they got their next orders.

‘Deploy within the hour’, they were told, ‘you have a new mission’. Someone had stolen something that the secret conspiracy thought was very important, and they had to go and steal it back; preferably leaving enough of the thief behind to answer questions. It was a standard sort of mission, and Captain pleased with it.

It took rather longer than an hour to get everyone together and get them airborne, but eventually they were on their way. Another one of the three units had been ordered out as well, and by the time that Captain Swift’s unit rendezvoused with them they had already done a full inspection of the place where the theft took place and quarantined the only nearby town. Commander Perkins had been made the acting Captain for the second unit, and he had told him that the only thing that till needed to be done was to chase down some people who had already left the town.

Captain Swift had felt that the day was getting better and better; a nice easy mission, and then back to do a little enforcement; it would interest his men and not be stressful for anyone. So he had taken his men and three helicopters, as well as some sort of scanner that Mckingle had sent them, and he had set off.

He staggered his helicopters along the main road back to the city and sent them off, Captain Swift was in the middle chopper and was watching the scanner, but he didn’t think it would be needed; Commander Perkins had told him that the two people had been driving in a gremlin, and he figured with a car that ugly they should be visible from miles away. Here Captain Swift started laughing, and Andrea chuckled along, but Derek glared and Beatrice was as impassive as ever. Gradually the Captains laughter turned into a brave attempt at laughter, and then into a semi-voluntary throat spasm, and finally into silence.

Anyway, they flew back towards the city with the Captain keeping one eye on the road, one eye on the scanner and one ear to the radio. The helicopters ahead and behind kept reporting that they hadn’t seen anything, and Captain Swift agreed with them, when suddenly the scanner started rippling. Now according to the instructions that the Captain had received the scanner probably wouldn’t be able to give him an exact location, but it could tell them when the cube was roughly nearby.

The Captain was really happy about that; it meant that not only had they found the people, but they had the stolen object as well, which meant after a short application of violence they could all go home. The Captain stared at the road and didn’t let it out of sight.

The road kept slipping by, but there wasn’t much traffic, and there were definitely no gremlins.

After a while the scanner stopper rippling; that annoyed the Captain, because it meant that someone was hiding from him.

He thought about the problem and came up with a good solution. They had passed a group of rough buildings that probably counted as a village and that was probably where they were hiding, now he could send men it to kick down every door in that village; he had enough, and after Mckingle’s augmentation there was no way some dirt farmer swinging a shot gun around would be able to stop them, but the Captain was a smart man, and he had an easier idea. He pulled out a map and found the only turn off from the main road; if they were hiding from the helicopters then they would be certain to take it, so he told the chopper behind him to slowly move up the road, and the chopper in front to go up the road, turn around and slowly turn back. Then he took his own chopper and landed it near the turn off.

Sure enough the runners fell for it; the other chopper herded them right up the road, and the captain shot their bonnet full of holes.

The Captain paused at this point, and Derek who hadn’t liked the tone of the Captain’s story so far urged him to go on.

They probably landed a little too close, the captain admitted, and a lot of sand was kicked up, but they managed to capture the people and the object, and since the people weren’t important they were just going to kill them to save seats in the chopper, here the captain paused again.

Derek urged him again to go on.

Then there had been gunfire, and laughter, and everything went black.

When the Captain had come around again he was lying in a line with his men. Some of them were stirring like he was, and some of them were still lying still. The captain was happy that he had stumbled onto Mckingle if it meant he could get back up after being shot in the head. The men all gradually healed and they got ready to get a ride back, but there were three who didn’t seem to manage it.

The captain paused again before he went on. The men hadn’t been happy about the people who hadn’t gotten up; not so much about the death itself; men who turn war into their profession have to be prepared to see friends die, but about the fact that they could be hurt badly enough to not get back up; they hadn’t realized that there had been a limit before.

There were more unpleasant surprises to come. The radio in the helicopter wasn’t working and they were out of the loop, but when the trailing helicopter came back it told them that the leading helicopter had lost control when it went to intercept the targets and had crashed; killing everyone. Also they had no idea where the targets were; they had flown back to the city and gotten lost among the skyscrapers.

Feeling like idiots they had all flown back to commander Perkin’s little town, and there the news had gotten worse. Without the object recovered they couldn’t liquidate the small town, and that was fine for a couple days, but the townspeople were getting restless. Just after they got orders that Captain Rollin would be taking over the operation so that it looked like the army protecting the town rather than dangerous mercenaries invading it, the townspeople had turned Viet Cong on their asses.

Captain Swift had lost far too many men, and he didn’t want to risk losing anymore so he had pulled back and handed over to Captain Rollin as soon as he could. The smug bastard could deal with it himself and more power to him.

Captain Swift had flown back with his men, but they never got to their barracks. They got orders to return to the marshalling point where he and his men had been augmented, and there he met Mckingle for the second time.

The captain had been bracing himself for a dressing down, and he was surprised when he had just been asked about how the augmentation had been going. He had answered all the questions and then had been told to march his men back into the surgery, and there they had all had new cubes put into them.

And then they could fly. It was the most incredible feeling; three months ago they had been mere soldiers, and now they were gods. They could fly, and shoot laser beams, and basically do anything they could set their mind to.

Perkin’s unit had been merged with his and they had all gone back to the barracks; where they had gotten no work done since they were only interested in flying laps around the barracks.

There were a few people who didn’t seem as happy as the others, and the Captain decided to send them off on a few errands that had to be done, but mostly everyone was living in paradise.

“Then things got a little weird” said the Captain, “And you hit me, in the face, with a truck. I think you know the story from there” He grinned widely and slumped face first on the desk.

*

Laurie’s head spun as she walked out of the church.  She leaned back against the wall and looked over the town.

The town was in ruins; there was really no other way to put it.  The fighting seemed to have stopped for now, but there were sparkling lights all around the perimeter.

Laurie felt like she was to blame for everything that had happened.  She collapsed down the wall of the church and sat hunched on the ground.  Laurie tried to imagine a world in which she hadn’t taken the cube; would it have been any better?  She looked back at the Reverend.

Reverend Sammy was still pouring over his maps; he looked a lot older and more tired than Laurie remembered him.  As she watched him, he turned to her and gave her an exhausted smile.

Laurie felt very awkward, she blushed and turned away.  When Laurie had told her story to the Reverend she had glossed over the fact that she was probably responsible for everything that happened to Symphony.

There was the sound of heavy footsteps behind her. “You can’t stay out here forever”, said the Reverend, “if nothing else, The HQ won’t be here for too much longer”

Laurie was confused by this.  She looked around, and then looked up at the Reverend and asked, “Why?”

The Reverend smiled at her and ruffled her hair, “Ha!” he laughed, “I give us maybe half an hour at most before the army comes in here with cruise missiles and blows this church to hell and back”

Laurie was shocked.  She pulled away from his hair ruffling hand and said, “Would they really do that?”

The Reverend seemed totally unfazed.  He chuckled and said, “They have to have realized by now they can’t take us at close range; I wouldn’t be surprised if the cruise missiles were already in the air.  I have men moving the weapon already.”

Laurie looked behind her and smiled at the men already unbolting the giant bronze machine.  Then she looked up at the sky warily, “Shouldn’t we be moving as well then?”

The Reverend smiled at her, “Why do you think I’m here?” he asked, and he offered her his hand.

Laurie still felt a little guilty, but she took his hand; it’s a natural reaction when someone offers.  “Where are we going?” she asked.

The Reverend was leading her off the meadow.  “There’s a large abandoned warehouse at the edge of town” he said, “Emma will be meeting us there; she is recovering nicely.  What I’m far more interested in is what the two of you will be doing now that you’ve broken the blockade.

Laurie was surprised at herself; she honestly hadn’t thought that far ahead.  She raised her finger and opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

Laurie hadn’t really had any time to think; when she had been driving through the desert with Emma, she had been thinking that it would be an easy mission, and when the sky had lit up, she had only been concerned with getting into action as fast she could, finally, after everything had unravelled, Laurie had only been concerned with her own survival.  Laurie had almost forgotten the reason why she had come to Symphony in the first place, and she certainly had no idea what she was going to do now.

Laurie tried to muster her thoughts and scratched her head.  “I don’t really know” she said “I came here to get information from a leader figure”

The Reverend smiled at her, “I’ll be happy to tell you anything you need” he said

For some reason Laurie found that funny.  She chuckled and said “I was kind of hoping to get some information from the other side”

The Reverend gazed off into the middle distance, “Ah” he said, “now that I can’t help you with; what are you going to do instead?”

But Laurie’s mind was whirling again; her old sense of fun was returning.  Laurie idly scratched at the back of her hand, and thought ‘why not?’  If you took a step back and from all the horror of warfare, what were you left with?  It was just giant game, and you were free to set your own conditions.  “I’m going to go kidnap the general” murmured Laurie absentmindedly.

The Reverend looked at her with raised eyebrows “That may be difficult” he said.

But Laurie wasn’t listening.  “I’m going to kidnap General” she said to herself again as she drifted off.

*

Derek was having a lot less fun than Laurie. He collapsed into a chair at the table and wished he was the kind of person who kept whiskey around.  “I sent Laurie into a war zone!” He moaned

There was no whiskey to be had of course; highly explosive fluids were something the chemists felt strongly about.  Beatrice drifted back into the room, followed by a very confused looking Andrea, and sat down at the table next to him.

Derek’s survival instincts were shooting him warnings again.  He glanced up at Beatrice with suspicious eyes; he had sent Emma to a war zone as well and he was a little worried that Beatrice might want to seek revenge for that.

Beatrice was sitting silently and polishing a gun, but it was that probably wasn’t a threat.

Derek felt exhausted by how stressful his life had become.  He sighed and put the matter of Beatrice out of his mind; if she decided to kill him then he wouldn’t have any say in it.  “We have to decide what to do” he said

Andrea was hovering somewhere in the background, the twins were still discussing make up, and Beatrice was cleaning her gun and not paying him any attention.

Derek hadn’t really expected anything else.  He sighed again and said “We have to get its in contact with Laurie; the sun’s probably not even up yet in Symphony, we might be able to warn her before she gets over the hills”

“What’s going on?” said Andrea

Derek was somewhat annoyed by Andrea breaking his train of thought.  He ignored her and pressed on “Do either Emma or Laurie have cell phones?”  He asked

Beatrice looked up at him and shook her head.  The twins looked up at him and said “Laurie has one, we have her number”

Derek was glad that something had gone right.  He gave a weary smile and dialled the number the twins had given him.

There was a crackle of static and a sound like a truck backing up.

Derek was frustrated; both at the phone for not working, and at himself, for expecting it to work.  He sighed deeply and rubbed his forehand “It’s not working” he said

“Oh yes” said the twins cheerfully “Laurie’s phone is missing, she told us”

Derek wasn’t even surprised.  He glared at the twins and said “You could have told me that earlier”

The twins looked hurt “You didn’t ask us to” they said

Derek wondered what he had ever done to the universe, and he held his head in his hands.

“You could always go to after them yourself” Andrea piped up helpfully

Derek thought this was a terrible idea.  He fought against a gagging feeling and said “that would just put us in the middle of a war zone as well”

Andrea didn’t seem willing to let the issue go, “you wouldn’t be trapped there” she said, “you could take a helicopter and that would make you fast enough to get away.

Derek could see a real problem with this, and it annoying him that Andrea couldn’t see as well.  He turned around in his seat to glare at her and said “right up to a point where they send their own helicopters”

“Just use a helicopter that’s designed for speed” said Andrea; as though it was easy “then you could outrun anything they sent against you.

Derek didn’t know enough about helicopters to be able to say whether this was a good idea, but he had enough presence of mind to see one huge problem, “that’s a wonderful idea” he said, “but there is a serious problem with it; we don’t have a fast helicopter”

“You don’t” said Andrea, “but I do”

There was total silence around the table; Derek was staring at Andrea as though unable to process what she had just said, Beatrice stopped polishing her gun and looked at Andrea for the first time, even the twins; sensing something important had just happened, turned around to look in random directions.

Derek wasn’t sure that he had understood, and if he had then he was thinking about changing his views on the plan; flying close the ground in a helicopter that he never flown before towards an active military installation seemed like a terrible idea to him.  “What did you just say?” he said

Andrea laughed wickedly “Oh don’t think you can get out of it that easy” she said, “You need a way to rescue your friend?  Well now you have a way; you have to go and do it”

Derek couldn’t help but feel a bit insulted.  He shook his head sadly and wondered just what he had done to give her such a low opinion of him.  “Why do you even have a helicopter?”  He asked; it seemed like a very important detail.

Andrea gave him a contemptuous look “I don’t have a helicopter, you idiot; who has that kind of money?”

Derek thought that he had got the wrong end of the conversation somewhere.  He raised one finger, and was about speak.

“The stuntman department has a helicopter” and Andrea went on, “it’s necessary for the job; it’s class materials: but I’ll bet they’ll let you borrow it”

Derek didn’t think they would.  He shook his head and said “why would the stuntman department let me borrow a multimillion dollar piece of equipment to go and attack an active military force?”

“To get rid of you?”  Said Andrea, “I think they’d gladly give you the entire floor”

Derek felt a little confused again; he was sure he hadn’t behaved badly enough to inspire that much hatred from the stuntman department, but if they were prepared to give him the equipment he needed then he wasn’t going to complain, “all right” he said, “we will go and extract Laurie.  Where’s the helicopter?”

Andrea looked happy that they had reached this agreement “it’s on the roof” she said.

Derek could feel himself starting to ramp for action again; it was a weird feeling he got in his head when he knew that his life would be in danger soon.  He pushed himself up from his chair and started walking without backwards glance.  Then he glanced back “hold on” he said, “We can’t go without Casper”

Andrea sighed, “Fine, whatever,” she said, “where did you last see him?”

*

Something had changed in Laurie and she felt different.  She drifted through the night as though she were indestructible, and she smiled as she looked up on the cliff face.

Someone had lit a bonfire.  It wasn’t necessary, and it was probably pretty stupid; after all a modern military doesn’t really need a bonfire, but there are some things that simply have too much tradition behind them to be stopped.

Laurie was glad to see the bonfire; it wouldn’t be anywhere near the enemy camp of course: but it gave a rough direction to go in.  She tightened her coat against the cold, and started to trek up the cliff.

The fighting had more or less come to a stop at the cliff face; tanks tend not to work very well on near vertical surfaces, and any troops trying to fight their way up would’ve had enemy troops several hundred feet above them dropping rocks.  So the fighting had stalled, and the boundary lines had been drawn.

Laurie felt the thrill of adventure as she climbed.  She knew that she was leaving friendly territory; it made her shiver and every rock seemed to be sharp.  She started to hum to herself; only gently, but probably louder than is wise when you’re attempting to sneak up on an enemy encampment.  It was a song about its battles, and thieves, and kidnappings, and she smiled as she hummed.

Laurie met no opposition as she climbed and eventually the barren rock gave way to slightly less barren tundra.

Laurie was suddenly unsure of where to go; she knew the enemy had to be nearby, but she couldn’t see any sign.  She paused and looked around uncertainly, and then she picked a random direction started walking again as sound drifted to her on the breeze; it was a harsh sound, sudden and sharp.

Laurie was glad to hear it; because it meant she was going the right way.  Soldiers shouldn’t bring their dogs with them to war either, but like with the bonfire there are just certain things you can’t stop a man from doing.

The sound just got louder and louder as Laurie walked, until it seemed to fill the air as it bounced off the rocks around her.

Laurie wasn’t worried about the dogs; she knew that in a war zone any sane soldier would make sure that his dog was securely leashed where he couldn’t run in the path of explosives, so she shot a thankful smile and in the direction of noise and kept walking.

Two large dogs bounded out of the darkness towards her.

Not for the first time Laurie was shocked.  A certain amount of the feeling left her, and she was suddenly aware that she was deep in enemy territory without hope of backup and completely undefended and unarmed.  “Good doggies” she said

The dogs bounded around her barking loudly but not jumping in for the kill; they were unsure whether she was really friend or foe.

Laurie wasn’t worried about the dogs attacking her.  She put in her hands up to cover her throat, but otherwise she tried to tune them out.  She wasn’t worried about what the dogs might do to her; what she was really worried about was what might be attracted by the noise.

“You two found a rabbit?”  Came a voice from the darkness, there was the sound of crunching stones.

Now Laurie was scared.  She took a few steps backwards, but resisted the urge to run.  She knew that her actions in the next few seconds would determine whether she lived or died, and running would be the wrong decision.

The dogs were still barking, and a silhouette was starting to appear in the gloom.

Laurie felt trapped, and she knew she only had one option.  Her hands were already moving before she had even finished forming the thought.  She ripped her jacket off, shivering in the sudden cold, whipped off her glasses, and took on a sultry pose.

The silhouette turned into a young man; he looked relaxed and at ease for someone who had been in battle only a few hours before.  He was still wearing full battle armour and was carrying his rifle.  He paused in shock when he saw Laurie and said “You found a very pretty bunny, boys”

Laurie was glad; the lusts of a young man aren’t nearly as predictable as women’s magazines would have you think, especially when the focus of the lusts is disguised as a middle aged woman.  Laurie smiled, and it was only half fake, “thank you” she said “I was wondering if you boys wanted some company”.

The soldier looked like he was thinking about something; it was clear he wasn’t very happy about the plural in that last word.  He looked around and said “where did you come from?”

Laurie wasn’t happy about how quickly the soldier had gotten back to the important business.  She held back the facial expression she wanted to make and made sure she kept a smile on her face.  “I’m on a road trip with my sisters” she said “and they dropped me off here for the night and because they knew I was a big fan of the armed services”

The statement seemed to be having a good effect; the man seemed to like the fact that she was ‘here for the night’ as well as the suggestion that there would be ‘sisters ‘ coming to pick her up in the morning.  “And you’re sure you’re not some kind of spy from the enemy?” he asked, and he was smiling, but it was only half a joke.

Laurie’s smile came naturally to her; even if parts of the soldier were still clinging to good military sense, far more important parts were urging him to abandon it.  “Well I wasn’t last time I checked” said Laurie; it was technically true; what she had been planning wasn’t strictly spying.

The man looked very conflicted for a moment as though half his body wanted to move back and the other half wanted to move forward.  The dogs settled down and sat on either side of him like big, fuzzy gargoyles; they looked conflicted as well; they were still waiting to see how this will turn out

Laurie felt a sudden sense of urgency.  She knew she had to seize the moment, and she stepped towards soldier.  She knew that if she spent the night with him then she wouldn’t get close enough to the general to do what she needed to do, so she said “it took me a while to trek here; do you think the mess tent is still open?”

That had been a good choice; the man might being conflicted about spending the night with a girl he just meant, but certainly making sure a hungry gal got fed couldn’t be breaking any laws; it was practically chivalrous.  The man offered Laurie his arm.

Laurie was surprised by this; she hadn’t quite figured the man as the gallant type.  But she smiled and took it anyway, and together they walked into a darker part of the mountain.

The rocks loomed dense around them.  They actually seemed to be getting closer too, and certainly the dogs’ barking was reverberating more; it was like being assaulted by sound.

Laurie thought the environment was exciting; she could see the harsh shapes looming up out of the gloom, and it made her shiver.  “I love this landscape” she said.

“Really?”  Said the man, “I don’t”

And then they were suddenly at the camp. It really was suddenly; one minute it was just looming rocks, and the next; looming rocks with lots of soldiers underneath them.

Laurie was excited.  She looked around and thought that maybe she should have come to do a little bit of spying; if it was this easy to get in it, she might just be a natural.  “This is great” she said, “but where do you keep your tanks?  There can’t be that much room with all these rocks around”

The man smiled at her; it was clear he had appreciated the complement, “rocks?”  He asked innocently.

Laurie was confused for a moment, and she looked around.  Then slowly the whole picture started to form in her head.  Here a rock with a texture that wasn’t quite right, there a rock just the same height as a missile launcher, then another rock just the same height as a tank, and a thousand others like it stretching as far as the eye could see.  The sheer magnitude off the task she had set herself suddenly occurred to Laurie.’It’s going to be a very long night’ she thought.

*

The stuntman floor was a horrible mess; Derek hadn’t appreciated how much stuff he had wrecked during his dramatic flight.

Derek was a little embarrassed. He rubbed the back of his neck and said “Ah, I guess that’s why you can’t wait to see the back of me”

Andrea glared at him and said, “I actually hadn’t had a good look at it up till now, let’s just get your friend and get out of here”

Derek fervently agreed.  He was finding that he really wanted to leave this place where so many people seemed to hate him. He walked deeper into the room and looked around.

The room definitely hadn’t been this bad when he had left it; the Tal looked like it had been completely gutted.

Derek was horrified; why would someone choose to do that?  He ran towards the tower and looked inside.

He had been right; the Tal was completely hollow inside.  Wires dangled into the shell in random places, but they didn’t seem to be attached to anything.

Derek wasn’t happy.  He turned around and looked at Andrea, “what happened here?”  He said “how did this happen?”

Andrea looked suitably horrified as well,” I don’t know” she said “it wasn’t like this when I left”

Derek felt like he was just running into brick walls.  He rested his head against the cool metal of the case and wondered what was going to do next.

No ideas came and nobody offered any of their own.

An idea occurred to Derek.  He looked up slowly and turned to the others.  “Casper was sitting on top of this last time I saw him” he said “he could manipulate things because he had the cube; he must’ve realized that he could cut out the middleman; which is why he didn’t help me when I called for him”

Andrea was looking a little confused again; that was understandable since no one had bothered to tell her about everything that’s going on, but she was a quick study and she was listening “wait a minute” she said, “are you saying your friend did this?”

Derek was very tired, and he couldn’t see any point in concealing it.  He waved his hand vaguely in the air and said “yes, yes, it was him; it’s the only thing that makes sense”

Andrea hit him.

It wasn’t a gentle hit.  It wasn’t playful in any way; it sent him staggering backwards until he regained his balance.

Derek felt shocked; he hadn’t expected her to do that.  He opened his eyes and stared at her, “Did you really just punch me?”  He said.

Andrea was barring her teeth at him “I should have aimed higher when I fired Bert at that target” she said, and she stormed away.

Derek’s head spun, and he wondered if he was missing something; Andrea’s reaction seemed well out of proportion with what had been done to her.  Derek rubbed his jaw and dismissed it from his mind; there were more important things to deal with.  He turned to Beatrice and the Twins and said, “Casper would have probably gone back down to the first floor; we probably just missed him”

Derek felt a little annoyed as he said the last bit.  He rubbed his jaw and walked for the door. ‘If I had known that all I had to do was wait’ he thought, ‘then I could have avoided having to trek through those people on the third floor’

The procession started to make its way down again; Derek in the lead, muttering as he went, followed by the Twins, nattering about irrelevant things, Beatrice drifting along, and glancing into random doorways as she went past, and finally with Andrea at the rear; looking sullen.

Derek couldn’t believe the chain of events that had brought him to this point.  It suddenly occurred to him how strange the whole thing was, and he looked back on his assembled troops with astonishment. If he had been given a choice then the only one of them he would’ve freely selected would have been Beatrice; and even that was a maybe.  Derek turned back around and shook his head; he had a feeling that his life was going to get even weirder before this was over.

They met no opposition until they reached the third floor; which was approximately when the entire affair went to shit like a pig farm homing missile.  As Derek walked off the third floor stairway he found himself eye to eye in with the entire contents of the stuntman department; they were at the end of the corridor, but it was still eye to eye.

Adrenaline surged through Derek’s veins.  His legs were moving back up the stairs before his body had even finished turning around.  “Run!” he yelled, “Run!”

Everyone ran; there was just something in Derek’s voice that didn’t allow them to do anything else.  There was the sound of thumping boots behind them.

Derek didn’t know where he was running to, only that he had to run.  He looked around and took stock of his surroundings for the first time.  “What are we doing on the Baker’s floor?”  He demanded.

No one answered him; partly because no one had a good answer, and partly because running for your life is not something that makes people very chatty.

Derek thought he could hear the sounds of people coming up the stairs behind him; and he ran like hounds of hell were on his heels.  He knew he had to find a way back down, but the only stairwell was now blocked with angry people running up it.

The Baker’s floor was spacious and airy.  It was mostly clean but there was flour everywhere; it coated the floor like snowdrifts.  There were rolling pins everywhere, and more than a few knives, but nothing like the kind of force multiplier that Derek really needed.

Derek knew he had to get back down, and more to the point he badly wanted to get back down; he didn’t like the idea of running up through about a hundred floors to get to a helicopter that he didn’t really know how to fly.  He turned to the only person he knew who might be destructive enough to do what he needed.  “Beatrice!”  He yelled, “I need you to blow a hole in the floor” he didn’t have any idea how Beatrice could do this, but anyone could do it then she could.

Andrea caught up with him; panting and out of breath.  “Wait a minute” she said, “Who are we running from?”

Derek was so surprised by this new thought that he paused on the spot, and almost had Andrea run into him for his trouble.  He suddenly felt very awkward, he rubbed the back of his neck and said “Ah, well the stuntman.”

Andrea looked as annoyed as he had her expected to.  She put her hands on her hips and said “do you mean to tell me that we have been running from my own people?”  She glared at him.

Derek felt even more awkward.  He looked away and murmured “yes, I suppose we have”

The stuntman had appeared at the top of the stairwell.  Andrea turned around so that she was facing them.  She raised her arms and opened her mouth, and that was when the whole thing went to hell.

In keeping with the hell theme there was a huge blossoming of flame as barrels of flour exploded; Beatrice had found something to blow up.

Derek hit the ground hard, but he was back on his feet quickly; it was just part of the job.  He looked around and took stock of his surroundings.

Beatrice was standing very calmly in the middle of the hallway; she looked when she just wandered in and hadn’t noticed the huge hole in the ceiling.  The Twins were lying on their backs and gibbering, but this was perfectly normal for them, so Derek wasn’t worried.  Andrea was lying on the ground too, she still had her hands up, though her mouth was now closed, and she looked rather stunned by what just happened.  The giant hole in the ceiling was still fire around the edges; it was as good as a giant memo reading ‘don’t ever come back to the Bakers floor’

Derek knew he was running out of time, he started running towards Andrea and yelled, “Get the Twins up, Beatrice; we’re running out of time” he reached Andrea and wrenched her back to her feet.

Andrea didn’t object; she still looked rather stunned.  Some other people did comment though; at the end of the corridor a group of people appeared; presumably attracted by the noise.  “It’s him!”  Squealed one girl; who was wearing far too much makeup, and she ran towards him with her arms splayed wide.

Derek felt like he was trapped in the jaws of a vice.  He turned in a tight circle but there was nowhere to run to “Damn” he muttered.

The group was in a box and there were only two ways out.  The first way was down the corridor, and that way was blocked by the huge group of people that joined the first girl in running towards Derek.  The second way, a far more difficult way, was back up the hole they just blown in the ceiling, and that way was blocked by the stuntman who were ringing the hole and looking down.  In short, they were trapped.

Derek was terrified, but he kept a cool head.  He grabbed Andrea and held her up like a shield, “say something” he said.

Andrea moaned.  “They’ve got Andrea!”  Came an outraged voice from above.

Derek didn’t think his luck should be this consistently bad.  Cursing his life he hurled himself into his oncoming fans, flinching against the sound of their voices.

His fans grabbed them and carried both Andrea at himself on their shoulders.  The Twins ran to join in with the crowd and danced around with them.  Beatrice walked carefully into the crowd; as though trying to make sure she didn’t step on anybody.

Derek was surprised; being carried away wasn’t nearly as bad as he’d thought it would be.  He was worried about the stuntman though, and he turned around to look back.

The stuntmen were pouring through the hole; like termites pouring out of a broken nest.  They were angry and they were charging at him, but they couldn’t make enough headway against the crowd.

Derek was happy.  He smiled, and then he laughed; it was about time he had some good luck.  But Derek was a practical man and he knew he had to get away from his fans while he still had the opportunity.

But there didn’t seem to be an opportunity; the crowd carrying him had formed a tight procession, and they were growing.

Derek didn’t like the idea of being carried off to a party.  Quite apart from anything that might be done to him there, it would only be a matter of time before the stuntman kicked the door down and got him.  “Ah, do you think you could put me down here?” he said

The crowd was chanting and singing as well as dancing, and it didn’t seem like anyone had heard him.

With a sudden flash of insight Derek realized he had asked the wrong question; these people thought he was a hero, and if he asked to be put down they would assume he was just being modest.  He slapped his forehead and asked “hey, do you think you could put me down by the window?  I want to do an encore”

This got on instant reaction from the crowd.  The people underneath started jumping up and down and cheering.  And the people at the edges of the crowd started cheering as well; they had no idea what they were cheering about, but it was clearly something important since everyone else was cheering.  Derek was passed through several dozen hands and he was put down with his back to a wall length window.

This left Derek feeling rather stupid; no matter what he told his hoards of screaming fans he had absolutely no intention jumping out of a third story window; especially if he had to actually break the window first.  He raised his hand, opened his mouth, and prayed for words to come, but before he could say anything he saw something that took his mind away.

Andrea had returned to the world of consciousness; she was standing some distance into the crowd and jumping up and down; she looked like she was trying to push her way through the crowd, but she couldn’t make any headway.

Derek felt conflicted.  On one hand there was a crazy hope that Andrea found some sort of solution to the crowd problem; which would mean that he wouldn’t have to jump out over a third story window and to appease a crowd that was braying “jump, jump, jump!  On the other hand was the hard certainty that she only wanted to push her way towards him so that she could mock him, as well in as the comfortable little knowledge that it didn’t actually matter what she wanted to do because she couldn’t make any headway through the crowd.

A playing card whipped into the crowd.  With perfect mathematical precision it ricocheted off at least a dozen people and forcibly cleared a path for Andrea.

Derek was confused; who wanted to help them?  For that matter who used playing cards as a crowd control device?  He looked left and right to try and find the card’s origin.

Which was when Andrea tackled him through the window.

Once again Derek felt the sensation of falling; he was really beginning to hate it.  He flailed around wildly; trying to catch hold something, and he gave serious consideration to screaming.

Andrea caught a hold of him and held him tightly, and then suddenly the two of them were swinging through the night.

Derek was rather surprised at this turn of events.  He opened his eyes and looked around “what’s going on?” he said

Andrea snorted at him derisively.  “Every stuntman likes to make sure there’s a rope outside every window” she said “It just saves a lot of time in the long run”

Derrick thought this was one of the most ridiculous things he had ever heard.  He brushed himself off and said “hold on, how did I get through that window without being cut to ribbons?”

Andrea rolled her eyes at him; not an easy thing to do when you’ll swinging by one hand from a tall building while holding a much larger man with the other.  “Every floor leaves his mark on the dorm” she said “one night all the stuntman sneaked out and switched out every window pane with Candy glass, it saves time in the long run”

Derek decided to amend his statements about the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard.  A lot of reasonable questions floated to the top of his mind, prominently amongst them was why no one in the building had noticed that flies were sticking to their windows.  But he was tired, and his eyes were aching, and he decided to just accept it.

They came to a running stop on the ground floor just outside reception.  Andrea let go of Derek with insulting speed and brushed herself off.  “Let’s go get your friend so that we can get rid of you” she said as she stalked off into reception.

The reception was completely lit up by a weird glow.  It seems to come from the door to the chemists floor, and it was so noticeable that even Serv was awake and watching it.

Derek was actually relieved.  He imagined what it would have been like if he had come all that way that way and found that Casper wasn’t there; he might have done something that would completely justify Andrea’s view of him.  As it was he smiled, and started walking.

There was a lot of noise drifting down the stairs as they walked passed them; it was the sound of partying, and the sound of battle; there isn’t nearly as much difference as you might think.  Derek looked up a bit nervously as they walked, but no one came down, and they made it to the door of room 17 without incident.  When they reached the door Derek suddenly stopped.

Something just didn’t feel right there; it was like the room was warning him away; it’s a disturbing feeling to be mildly threatened by an empty space.  He raised his hand up and put in front of the door handle, but he didn’t try to move any closer.

Andrea rolled her eyes at him and wrenched open the door.

The room was filled with yellow.

Derek’s brain fizzed; there really aren’t any emotions designed to handle being face to face with the wonders of the universe.  He stood there slack-jawed and waved his hands around, but there wasn’t even an attempt at making sounds; the human brain knows when it’s been beaten.

The room was filled with yellow, and suggestions of shapes within the yellow, and many, many parts of things that may, or may not have been parts of the Tal. There was a general sense that a great and private study was being carried out.

Derek felt a gentle but very firm pressure on his stomach, and he and Andrea were pushed backwards out of the room.  The door closed in their faces with a gentle click.

Derek just stood there slack-jawed.  Then he slowly turned to Andrea and said “you know what?  Maybe we can leave without Casper”

*

Laurie was having an ethical problem; she was having a good time.

The men of the 14th tank company seemed to have adopted her as a sort of mascot.  They had made sure she was well fed, and she was sitting in the mess tent watching them do a very creditable performance of the hornpipe.

Laurie felt a very odd mix of emotions.  She knew that these men were the enemy, and she had to move against them. She also knew that she was in the wrong place to carry out the mission, and that she should be looking for the general.  She was also very impressed by the force of the performance, and she was clapping in a way that wasn’t faked.

The entire mess tent was clapping along with a performance as well, and someone had produced some kind of instrument that wailed as it was blown into, and generally there was the air of everyone having a good time.

That made Laurie feel a little uneasy; all these men had been in battle the day before, and they’d been defeated horribly by a weapon they’d never seen before.  These men should be staring up at the roofs of their tents, not partying and having fun.  Laurie quietly clucked her tongue, and tried to put that out of the mind for now; she still had a mission to carry out.  “Would it be alright if I went for a quick walk?”  She asked the man sitting next to her.

The man stopped clapping and turned to Laurie, he looked a little concerned, “we don’t like to encourage people wandering around” he said, “This is an active war zone after all”.

Laurie had been afraid of that.  She put on her best embarrassed face and said “well it’s sort of a feminine need, you understand”

The man looked away from her, blushing bright red.  “Right: yes, of course” he murmured.

Laurie was glad.  As she slipped out of the mess tent she smiled and offered a quick prayer for her grandmother who had taught her this all-purpose excuse.  She slipped out of tent flap and looked around.

The cold hit her like a punch in the gut.  The night had worn on while she had been warm inside the tent.  The sky over the mountains was now crystal clear, and the stars blazed at her like she was inside a glittered marble

Laurie spirits were slightly dampened by the cold.  She pulled her coat more tightly around herself; no matter what kind of benefits she gained by keeping it open, it couldn’t possibly be worth the risk of hypothermia.  She hugged her arms to herself and took another look around.

The crowd of oddly shaped rocks stretched away into the distance.  They didn’t look any different to last time she’d seen them, and there was no way of identifying one rock from the other.

Suddenly Laurie felt a little bit out of place.  She stretched herself up so she could see further, but this made absolutely no difference.  She had no idea where the general’s tent was, or even if he had a tent; she had no idea where to go.

There was no one about; the night was too cold and everyone was making sure that they stayed undercover.

Laurie felt kind of stupid for not thinking this part of the plan through.  She shivered and started walking; hoping that an idea would come to her as she walked.

It seemed like she wasn’t the only one about at night.  As she walked sounds drifted out to her from underneath the cloths.  They weren’t loud sounds or even particularly noticeable; they were the rustles and squeaks of humans as they go about their lives.

Laurie was glad to hear them; whenever Laurie found herself in trouble too big to deal with on her own, she liked to recruit other people into the problem.  She turned and crawled underneath the closest cloth.

It was dark inside, even by Laurie standards.  The air was heavy and damp and smelled of oil.  The giant cloth rested heavily what appeared to be an artillery piece, and a man sat underneath it, eyeing her suspiciously.

Laurie wasn’t as glad to see the man as she thought she would be; something about the man just disturbed her, it just seemed strange to her that a man could love his weapon so much that he would choose to sleep with it.  However he was the man whom she had heard underneath the tent, and if she had her way then he was the man who is going to help her.  She waved and said “hi”.

The man jumped as though he’d been stung.  He spun around in his seat and struck a large switch.  A blindingly powerful light came on, and lit up the entire tent.

Laurie felt stupid, and she was in pain, she wasn’t sure which one was actually worse.  She shielded her eyes and tried to look away, but the light was bright even through her closed eyelids.  She cursed herself; of course the man had been surprised, he had had no idea that she’d been there.  “Do you think you can turn that off?”  She asked, “I have very sensitive eyes, and it’s hurting me”

There was the sound of a clicking gun “first” said the man, “identify yourself”

Laurie was suddenly worried; it felt like ice water was flowing in her veins.  She knew that she was only going to get one opportunity, and she made an effort to face towards the man.  “I’m from the 14th tank company” she said “they wanted me to send a message to the general”

“If that’s true” said the man, in a very careful voice, “then why are you here instead of with the general?”

The man was starting to annoy Laurie; she didn’t think it should be this hard to convince someone of your innocence when you were the one who called them in the first place.  “They didn’t give me directions to get to the general’s tent” she said; which was obviously the truth, “but was I didn’t want to disturb them again, so I decided to ask the next person I came across.”

The man’s voice was still slow and careful, “I see,” he said, “you didn’t want to disturb them, so you thought you’d come and disturb me”

Laurie realized she badly wanted to get away from this man, and she seized upon the opportunity he he’d given her.  “Yes, you’re right, I’m very sorry, I’ll be going now”.  She felt the edge off the tent fabric and started to lift it up.

There was a gentle but unmistakable sound of a gun being aimed.  “You are going to stay where I can see you” said the man “until I’m satisfied that you can safely walk away”

Laurie felt very unhappy with the way things were going.  She considered raising her hands, but she didn’t want to leave her eyes exposed.  She considered using the same trick she had used on the man on the ridge, but she didn’t want to try it with blinding lights in her eyes.  In the end she settled for freezing still, staying there, and waiting for the next development.

There was a very long pause; the man seemed to be thinking, “who is the leader of the 14th tank company?” he said

Laurie felt a weird sense of significance; and for the umpteenth time in the recent days she realized she was in a situation in which she had a few seconds to determine whether she was going to live or die.  She searched her memory furiously; trying to find the man who had led the 14th tank.  She must’ve been introduced to him, she realized, a fuzzy face swam into half focus, “Sergeant Mendes?”  She said tentatively.

The man was silent.

Laurie felt uncomfortable.  But the man hadn’t started shooting.  “Yes” she said more forcefully, sticking to her guns, “I think his name was Sergeant Mendes”

The man shifted, “what’s the message?”  He said

Laurie was incredibly relieved.  She fought the urge to laugh, and said “the men wanted to register a complaint about the lack of condoms being issued to them”

The man switched the lights off, and darkness descended upon the tent.  “I can carry that message to him” he said, “You don’t need to go any further”.

Laurie wasn’t worried; she knew exactly what to say to that.  She smiled and tried to blink away the afterimages that the light left, “I think it has to be me who delivers the message” she said, “that’s the way the men of the 14th tank company wanted it, and I think they felt it would be an important part of the message”

Behind the haze of blue and red afterimages the man watched her.  “Idiots” he muttered to himself.  Then more loudly he said “We don’t have a general”

Laurie felt a little wrong footed by that, but she was on a roll.  She gave the man a bright smile and said, “Really?  That seems a little odd.  Anyway, the men just called him the boss, and I just kind of assumed that meant general.”

The man carefully studied her face as though he were looking for something.  Whatever he was looking for he didn’t find it, and he walked to the edge of the tent and beckoned to Laurie.

Laurie felt great; it was the feeling of having played an extremely difficult game and having won decisively.  She skipped a bit and hummed a few bars as she followed the man out of the tent.

It was still cold outside, and Laurie’s breath hung in the air.

Laurie didn’t mind the cold this time; everything was going right again, and somehow that made the whole world seem brighter.  “Where is the gener- the leader?”  She asked

The man looked back at her; he wasn’t smiling and he didn’t look very happy about having her around.  “Just you follow me” he said.

Laurie did the mental equivalent of shrugging; she still kind of wished she could’ve won the man over, but in the end you can’t win them all.  She followed him through the camp; in the end it wasn’t like she had much choice.

The leader’s tent was underwhelming.  It looked exactly like the cloth covering over all the tanks around it, and actually looked slightly smaller.

Laurie felt a little disappointed.  She knew an intellectual level that it is a stupid idea for the leader of an army to identify himself to any enemy bombers, but the thespian inside her soul was outraged that the leader of such a large army would be living in such a small and undistinguished tent.  “Is that it?”  She asked, a little bit ungratefully

The man paused at the entrance to the tent and glowered at her.  Then, without saying a word, he turned and walked into the tent.

Laurie felt a little bit confused.  She really didn’t know what she was meant to do next.  It was like being a kid and standing outside the principal’s office; did she go in, or did she wait to be invited?  In the end Laurie’s curiosity trumped her sense of decorum, and she walked into the tent as well.

The tent was fairly sparse; it contained only a glowing table with a contour map off the surrounding mountains on it.  Around the table were about a dozen men in various states of arguing.  The man that had led Laurie there was talking to a short, jolly looking man.  As she watched they turned to her.

Laurie felt like spotlight to just been shone on her, and it suddenly occurred to her that she had absolutely no idea how she was going to capture the general; who clearly was quite well protected.  Nevertheless she smiled a warm smile and walked deeper into the tent.  “Good evening, commander” she said, “I was hoping I could have a word with you”

The man that had led Laurie took a step back, but kept his eye on both of them.  The jolly looking man chuckled, and said “strictly speaking, I’m a Captain”

Laurie could’ve kicked herself; she knew that military guys tended to take their titles seriously, and she was suddenly worried she ruined the mission by offending the man she had to capture.  She hung her head slightly and said, “I’m terribly sorry Captain.  Can I call you Captain? ”

The man bobbed forward with his eyes twinkling.  “Oh don’t worry about that my dear, you can call me anytime”

Laurie was very relieved; although she was somewhat confused as to why older men in positions of power had suddenly started finding her attractive.  She decided to press her advantage for everything it was worth, “I have a message for you Captain” she said, “I think it might be best if you that it is in private; shall we take a walk?”  She turned slightly to the side and pouted a little as she said this; it was quite suggestive, without being clear on what was suggesting.

The captain waggled his eyebrows at her, “Well far be it from me to refuse such a reasonable request such a lovely young lady” he said

Laurie was glad everything was going according to plan; insomuch as she actually had a plan.  She smiled and offered a hand to the captain.

The man who had taken to see the captain stepped in between them.  “Captain” he asked, “are you sure it’s a good idea to leave your post when you should be planning a battle?”  He said it in a way that implied it wasn’t really a question.

Laurie was starting to get annoyed with the man; she really felt that he was butting in where he wasn’t welcome.  She rolled her eyes, clucked her tongue, and looked at the captain.

The captain looked like he was seriously considering what the man was saying.

Laurie was horrified; the nebulous plan she had relied upon her getting the captain alone.  If she couldn’t convince him to leave the tent then there was no way she could carry out a successful kidnapping with all these other people around.  She stood up straighter so that she could look the Captain in the eye, “Captain” she said, “I’ll only take up a moment of your time”

“There you go, Gaston” said the captain while slapping the man on his shoulder, “She just wants a quick chat; I’ll be back before you know it”.  He walked past the man and he took Laurie’s hand.

Laurie actually felt slightly nervous; the window of opportunity had opened, but she had no idea what she was meant to do with it.  She made sure to keep smiling at the captain, and she led him out of the tent.

There was a bitter sting on the air, and that was a good thing because it meant that no one was around.  “Now” said the captain, “what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

Laurie didn’t want to talk here; not when she was certain that Gaston was still watching them through the flap in the tent.  She smiled and said “can we walk a bit further?  There’s just something about this part of the camp that disturbs me”.  She knew she was pushing her luck; but she also knew she had to do whatever she was going to do where people couldn’t see her.

The captain smiled tolerantly.  “Of course” he said.

They walked further through the camp.  It didn’t look any different, but it was further away from Gaston.

Laurie was in the grip of a low yield panic; she knew that the time has come to act, but she had no idea what she was meant to do.  She found herself idly playing with the cube in her pocket; she hadn’t tried controlling the cube on her own yet, and this didn’t seem like the best time to try, but if there really were no other options, would it work?

“I think we’ve come far enough” said a Captain.  He was still smiling, but there was something different in his tone; a weird sense off immovable force.  “What did you want to talk to me about?”

Laurie knew this was the moment that she had to do something; anything, and somehow this knowledge felt freeing to her.  “Hold on” she said, “I need to tie my shoes back up”.  She bent down, and straightened back up holding a rock, which she bounced off the side of the captain’s head.

The lights went off behind the captain eyes, and he slumped to the ground.

Excitement flowed through Laurie; the time had come to act and she had acted.  She heaved the captain back onto his feet and leaned him against her.  Now that just left the question of what she had to do now.

The camp stretched away from her in every direction.

Laurie felt a little silly; she really had no idea what she was going to do with the unconscious captain.  She shook her head and muttered to herself “Next time I’ll think this plan through”.  She thought about how she must look to anyone who happened to be watching her, and realized that her and captain leaning against each other really needed no explanation.  Hell, if Gaston had followed him from the tent, he probably would just jump to conclusions and look away in disgust.  Could she just stay like this then?

A chill wind whistled through the mountains tops, and bit down to her bones.

Suddenly Laurie didn’t feel very safe, she shivered.  She also felt very cold, so she shivered again.  She couldn’t just leave the captain leaning against her, she decided; it might look great while they were just standing there, but deception would be seen as soon as she started moving.  The cold started Laurie thinking about the material that the tents were made out of; if she could steal a length of that then she could use as a sack to carry the captain; it will still be obvious, but not as bad as dragging unconscious body.  Laurie started looking underneath the tent’s closest to her.

The first tent contained a tank.  It was a very nice tank, but it wasn’t what she was looking for.

The second hand seemed to contain cooking supplies.  That was closer, but still wasn’t what Laurie needed.

The third tent had what she needed.

Laurie smiled to herself; she recognized finding the material she needed as a stroke of good luck.  She rubbed her hands together and grabbed a likely looking piece; it was a giant sheet that would completely envelop the captain and maybe go some way to keeping her warm as well.  She took the sheet back to the captain and bundled him in it.  Then she tried to lift him.

Laurie arms felt like they had been wrenched out of their sockets.  They captain may have been a small man but he wasn’t a light one.

Laurie felt a little bit embarrassed as she stood back up, and brushed herself off in a self-conscious way.  She tried to think of about ways of suddenly becoming twice as strong as she already was, and she found herself playing with the cube in her pocket again.  It has been the wrong time to use the cube earlier; when time has been of the essence, but perhaps now was the time for a bit of careful experimentation.

Five minutes later Laurie was walking out of the camp with a ridiculously large bag on the back

Laurie felt pleased with herself; the night hadn’t gone exactly as she planned, and there had been a few sticky moments as she went along, but so far everything has worked out all right: and she knew that the information the captain could give the Reverend would likely be key to winning the coming battle.  She smiled to herself and hummed as she walked.

There was a sound of barking and two large dogs bounded out of the darkness, they were closely followed by the man who led her into the camp, “oh, there you are” he said, “what happened to you?  Everyone just said you went out to get some feminine supplies.”  He eyed up the giant bag she was carrying, and kept his thoughts to himself.

Laurie felt like rolling her eyes, but apparently the night’s work wasn’t over just yet, and the man had been nice when she had last talked to him.  She smiled and opened her mouth to speak.

The man was in a state of considerable agitation, and he cut her off.  “Look it doesn’t matter” he said, “you have to come quickly; we just got new orders, and the entire camp is evacuating.”

Laurie was surprised by this; she couldn’t see any reason why an entrenched army would suddenly choose to evacuate.  She raised her eyebrows and asked “why?”

The man grabbed Laurie’s hand and started pulling her.  “High command ran out of patience” he said, “The entire town is going to be bombed off the face of the earth”

Laurie was horrified; she had no idea what else was going to happen, but she knew she couldn’t just run away and leave Symphony unwarned.

Laurie’s hands were shaking.  Since Laurie was also using the cube; the ground shook with her.  The man looked around in confusion, “That’s weird” he said “They shouldn’t have started yet”.

Laurie just couldn’t take it; she pulled her hand away, blurted out “Sorry!”, and started sprinting down the mountain.

*

Derek and Andrea stood out in the hall and stared at the door.

“Well” said Andrea, “If you’re not going to be taking Casper, then we should just get going now.”  She turned and started walking back towards reception.

Derek suddenly realized he’d forgotten something; he seemed to be doing that a lot nowadays.  We startled and said “Wait, we can’t leave just yet”

Andrea turned back to him with an annoyed sigh, “What is it this time?” she asked, “Have you forgotten some key piece of luggage, or maybe there’s a snack you’d like to bring with you: you know I’m really beginning to think that you really don’t want to rescue your friend.”

The rebuke stung Derek a little bit, but he brushed it off.  He waved his hand at Andrea, and said “We’ve just been kicked out of our room.  I think.  Anyway we have to get the message to my wife and daughter, or they’ll just come back home and find the entire place abandoned”

Andrea looked exasperated, “Your wife?  You mean some poor woman actually ended up marrying you?”

Derek decided to ignore the implied insult, “Yes” he said, “but if I’m not going to leave them in a state of panic then I have to let them know what’s going on”

Andrea threw her hands up and started walking away, “Where do we have to go?”  She called back over her shoulder.

Derek was startled by her sudden speed, and jogged to keep up with her, “I got rid of them for the night by giving them a ticket for Cats.”  He said

Andrea shuddered, “ugh” said the woman wearing a sequined gown, “I hate the theatre”

They walked along the main road heading towards the theatre. The roads were completely clear of people jumping off rooftops; all the stuntmen seem to already given up and were presently engaged on the third-floor.

Derek was annoyed, he bore it as long as he possibly could, but then he just couldn’t take anymore.  He turned to Andrea and said “Would you stop that?” he said this in a way that implied that it was not just a request.

Andrea looked annoyed as well, “Stop doing what?”  She asked, but the way she said it implied that she knew exactly what he was talking about, “I’m trying to stay inconspicuous, you shouldn’t be walking around in the open like that, and it’s not my fault you don’t think to take these precautions”

Derek was really missing Laurie; she was experienced enough not to make these stupid mistakes.  He threw his hands up and said “You’re drawing attention to yourself, and everyone is staring at us; would you please stop acting so inconspicuous.”

Derek was right; everyone was in fact staring at them.  To be more accurate, they were staring at Andrea; and one man even doubled back and walked by twice so that he could see the woman in a sequined gown trying to sneak through shadows.

Andrea took a long look around her, and straightened up, looking a little embarrassed.

Derek was glad he got his point across, “Thank you” he muttered.  He kept walking, and could see the theatre at the end of the street.

The theatre was a fairly recent building, built in the style of a very old building; presumably it had once looked very expensive, but now it looked very cheap; there are buildings like this in every city.

Derek looked up at the building with distaste, but he was somewhat glad it was still there; with his luck he had expected it to be blown up by the time he arrived.

Andrea stood beside him, “They’re in there?”  She said, “Well hurry up then; go in”

Derek didn’t like the way Andrea was rushing him; he had just been watching the rooftops; it was a habit he’d gotten into during his years spent on missions.  “Right, right” he muttered.  And he walked up to the ticket office

There was a man there.  It was a very tired looking man; he wore the kind of face that men wear when they work triple shifts at five jobs for 480 days year.  “Hello” he said: a little indistinctly, “can I take your order please?”

Derek thought about what it would be like to talk to this man on any kind of long-term basis, and he decided he just couldn’t take that “Has Cats finished yet?”, he asked, making sure to speak slowly and enunciate every word clearly.

The man looked at him with very glazed eyes.  “Cats?”  He asked, “We don’t serve cats here; you want the museum down the road.”

Derek decided that he was sick of the man already; it didn’t look like the man was in a position to stop him so he just walked straight into the building.

“Thank you for flying up with us” said the man; who was apparently talking to air.

The building was completely deserted; it looked as though all the theatrical activities had been finished for the night.

Derek felt kind of disappointed.  He tapped his feet, and thought about what this could mean.  It probably meant that his wife and his daughter had been on their way home, he decided, and that he must have missed them walking up.

Andrea appeared beside him, “what’s taking so long?”  She asked, “Have you lost your wife?  I don’t blame her; I’d be running too”

Derek wondered if there was any way he could get the helicopter keys off Andrea so that he wouldn’t have to talk to her for next hour or so.  But even as he rubbed his mouth he had to admit that kidnapping was an option he hadn’t considered.  His wife and daughter being kidnapped would be entirely in keeping with his kind of luck, he decided.  Derek sighed deeply; nothing could ever be easy.  “We have to go back to the dorm” he said, “I think we must’ve missed them”

Andrea sighed and shook her head at him, “I wish you could’ve worked that out before we walked to the 20 blocks just to get here” she said

The two of them walked out of the theatre, and they heard a voice out of the darkness, “Had a nice night folks?  That’s nice, I’ll be relieving you of any opera-going jewellery you may have”

Derek felt boundlessly annoyed; he was having a hell of a night so far, and he was more worried about his wife, his daughter, and Laurie that he would ever have admitted.  He resisted the urge to spin around and punch, and instead he slowly turned around, “Who in the hell are you meant to be?”

The man had been hiding in the shadows outside the theatre, he was very lanky, and greasy looking.  He was aiming a bulge under his shirt at Derek; it might be a gun, but it was far more likely that it was hand.  The man chuckled; it was like watching a corpse trying to cough, “Well that’s all very nice,” he said, “I’m just a friendly taxman, and I think you owe me some money.  Nothing personal you understand; that’s just the way it works”

Andrea looked the man over and snorted.

Derek couldn’t blame her; the man looked rather sad.  He thought about making some kind of contemptuous reply, but in the end he just turned and walked away.

The man caught his arm with the hand that he wasn’t using to hold, whenever he was holding, under his shirt.  “Now you hold on there,” he said, “Where do you think you’re going?”

Derek was annoyed.  He didn’t like the man grabbing him like that, and he decided that the insults he had intended to use the earlier were entirely in keeping with this man.  He shook his hand off and turned to face him.  “Now you look here,” he said, “I have had a very bad night so far, and I would love to take it out on you.  So this is your only opportunity to leave”

The man chuckled dryly; he seemed to have a lot more confidence than a man who looked like him should look.  He spread his arms wide and said “take it out on me?  Do you really think you can take me?”

Derek couldn’t believe the arrogance of the man.  He pointed to himself and said “I could take you”.  He pointed to Andrea and said “she could take you”.  He paused and thought for a moment and then said “my wife and daughter could take you; separately”

The man scoffed, “I would like it better if I had the two of them together, if you catch my drift, and anyway there’s no way you could possibly take me, since-”

Derek punched the man; it felt immensely satisfying.

The man went down like a sack of potatoes.

Derek felt a lot better about the world and his place in it.  He brushed his hands off, and said “Well that’s taken care of, let’s head on back”

Andrea looked troubled, “What do you think he was trying to say when you cut him off?”

Derek honestly couldn’t care less; he was just glad that the man wasn’t talking anymore.  “I honestly couldn’t care less” he said, “I’m just glad he isn’t talking anymore” he turned to start walking.

A new voice sounded out of the shadows, “I think he was trying to tell you about us” the voice said, “and now you owe us an opera tax; plus, a ‘being a violent idiot’ tax ”

Derek felt more frustrated than worried.  He glanced up towards the sky and raised his hands, “Why?”  He muttered.  Only then did he turn to face the source of the voice.

Another man had appeared out of the alleyways around the theatre; he didn’t look that much different from the first man.

Derek considered just walking away; reasoning that no one would be stupid enough to want to follow them.  But the world is full of stupid people; it was a fact that Derek had to deal with on a daily basis, so he shook his head and was about to give the man a stern telling off when he noticed something that stopped dead.

Other men were stepping out of the shadows behind him.  A lot of other men.  Many other men.  The word ‘army’ would not be an inadequate description.

Now Derek felt worried; he looked at the assembling men, and tried to calculate odds.  Then he took a step back.

Andrea was walking backwards as well; she backed up against Derek and whispered to him under her breath, “How many of these guys do you think you can take?”

Derek took a very close look at the crowd that was appearing.  He chewed the inside of his cheek and said “two, maybe three; if they all attacked at once.  You?”

Andrea studied the crowd as well, “probably about the same” she said, “two or three.  How many do you think there are?”

Derek was feeling more and more uncomfortable, “upwards of 30” he said.

The crowd formed a ring around them.  On one side were the men with their hungry stares, and greasy hair.  And all the other side was a busy street filled with fast moving traffic.

One of the men stepped forward, “let’s take this nice and easy” he said “why don’t we start with that ring on your hand?”

Derek looked down at his wedding ring, but he wasn’t thinking about it.  He found something very odd in that statement; Derek was more used people screaming and attacking him when they saw him, but this crowd was hanging back and asking almost politely; they were cowards; the only time they could do anything once when they were working together in a huge mob, and that gave Derek a sense of hope.  He decided to keep them talking, to see whether he could think of a way out of the situation.  “So” he said, “who do I have the luxury of addressing?”

The man started laughing.  He gestured to the other members of the mob, and they started laughing too.  “Why don’t you just give us the ring?”  He said.

Derek took another step backwards; so that his feet were resting at the very edge of the pavement.  The man who was talking was the end leader, he decided, if he could find some way of taking him out, then the rest of the mob might scatter.  Derek wished he hadn’t given his gun to his daughter to modify, and then wondered whether he could’ve ever used it against common criminals anyway.  In the end it didn’t matter; without any kind of weapon he had no hope of fighting off 30 men.  “We should run across the road” he muttered to Andrea, “we might get hit, but I’ll take my chances with the traffic before I take my chances with these people”

Andrea noted, and her body posture started flowing.

There was the screeching of breaks, and the sound of a car door being kicked open.  “Jump in, jump in, jump in!”  Said someone.

Derek was surprised, but he jumped in; when the alternative involves fighting a huge mob unarmed and single-handedly, obeying the man who gives you an exit is just a natural reaction.

There was a sound of spinning tires and the mob started to charge.  The door Derek had dived through slammed into a parked car and slammed shut.  Then they were in the traffic stream, “by didn’t expect to see you again so soon” said the driver, “I see you’ve met a pretty lady while I’ve been away”

Derek had been surprised when the first man had spoken outside the theatre, but that was nothing compared to how surprised he was now.  He jumped and turned in his seat.  “You!?  He said

The driver he had carjacked not two hours before smiled at him, “Yes” he said, “Me.  I saw you were in a little trouble I thought you might need a little help.  I hope I’m not presuming”

Derek felt like his understanding of the world was being challenged.  He shook his head and muttered “no-no-no-no” with the unspoken follow-up ‘the world doesn’t work this’

“Oh good” said the driver; who had apparently misinterpreted Derek’s comments.  “I’m glad I could help you out.  Where are we heading to?” he looked like he was enjoying himself far too much.

Derek didn’t seem able to give an answer, so Andrea leaned over the seat, “we need to get to the Easycare dorm” she said, “do you know where that is?”

The driver laughed to himself; he seemed to find this very funny.  “Oh, I know where it is” he said, “and I’ll be happy to take you there, but how do you feel about jumping out of moving vehicles?”

Andrea chuckled at this, “I have a lot of experience with that” she said.

“Is that so?”  Said the driver; looking at her with interest.

They reached the dorm in barely any time at all.  Derek and Andrea leapt out as the car rushed past.  Derek hit the ground running: then he hit the ground rolling, and finally hit the ground jumbled heap.  He looked every bit as realistic as Andrea, except that Andrea sprung right back onto her feet after she’d stopped moving.  “Well come on” said Andrea, “you don’t have to look that realistic when a film crew isn’t watching you”

More than anything Derek just wanted to get into a warm bed and forget this night had ever happened.  But getting into a nice warm bed just wasn’t on the cards.  And instead he got, grumbling, to his feet.

Andrea was already walking into reception.  Derek followed her, and found that it was completely deserted; in fact it was exactly the same way that they’d left it.

Derek suddenly remembered the idea he had had that his wife and daughter might’ve been kidnapped, and he felt very uneasy; the reception area was filled with comfortable couches, and if his wife and daughter hadn’t been able to get into their rooms, then that should’ve been the first place where they should have gone.  He rubbed his mouth again, “let’s go” he said, “they must be outside room 17”

They weren’t there either; the corridor was as deserted as it always was

Now the unease was gnawing at Derek’s stomach.  He rubbed his mouth again; this time using so much pressure that his whole face seemed to move a little bit.  On the plus side though, there was no ransom note.

“Do you want to go in and check?”  He asked Andrea

Andrea looked at him as though he were crazy, “No way” she said.

Derek didn’t want to either.  He tried to think of the next place he should go, but his mind was irritatingly blank.

“Look, could you hurry up” said Andrea

Derek’s frustration and worry turned smoothly into anger. This heart seemed to beat faster, and he spun to face Andrea.  “Look, will you just shut up!  I have put up with your nagging all night long, and it’s driving me nuts.  Now I’m trying to find my wife and daughter; who may, or may not have been kidnapped, so I would appreciate it if you could just keep quiet.  Okay?”

Andrew looked uncomfortable, but she didn’t show any of the usual signs of backing down.  “You sent your partner into a war zone, right?”  She said, “That means that every second you waste here, is one second in which someone could kill her.  So what are your priorities, Derek?”

Derek felt horribly torn.  He knew he had to go help Laurie, but he couldn’t shake off the suspicion that something terrible had happened to his wife and daughter.  He pulled at his hand and, as though trying to drag the answer out “I can’t just leave them” he said

Andrea was unimpressed, “just who is covered by ‘them ‘?” she said, “and anyway if you’re so worried about yourwife and daughter, why don’t you just pin a note to the door?”

Derek felt disjointed.  He opened his eyes and looked at Andrea, “what did you say?”  He said

“Just pin a note on the door” said Andrea, “that way you can leave, and they’ll still know what you are”

“And if they have been kidnapped?”  Said Derek

“Then you’ll have to deal with that when the ransom note comes in” said Andrea, matter-of-factly.

Derek felt like he was at his wits end.  He wanted to stay behind, but in the end he had a rescue mission that he had to mount, and he reluctantly agreed.

Five minutes later Derek felt very silly.  “I left a note pinned to the door to let you know where we were going.”  He said, “You can probably just get rid of it”

“Oh dear Derek” said Christine, “You didn’t get all worried about us, did you?”

Derek felt like an idiot.  He shook his head and decided to ignore the question, “Are you still sure about staying here?”  He said, “I have it from a reliable source of this is a horrible place”

“Oh Derek” said Christine, “that’s all the more reason for me to say; I’ll have this place running like a dream by the time you get back from your little trip”

Derek felt exasperated, and he shook his head.  “It’s a rescue mission; not a little trip and I’m still not happy about Jade coming along.

“Oh Derek; you know she wouldn’t have it any other way” said Christine, “Jade adores you, you know that.”

Derek didn’t, but he smiled and nodded anyway.

“Would you hurry up?”  Said Andrea from across the roof, “We do want to leave soon.”

Derek felt annoyed.  He turned around and said “we are having a moment here”

“Yeah, and while you’re having your moment people are dying” said Andrea, “and by the way, that tall woman should be leading this expedition; if she managed to get everyone together and get them up here while you were still scratching your arse, then she’s clearly a better leader than you”

Derrick ignored the suspicion that this was true, he walked across the roof and climbed through the door of the helicopter.

The helicopter blades started chopping at the air, and Derek looked back at the two women he was leaving behind.

“Goodbye dear” said Christine

“And good riddance” finished Andrea.

*

The attack on symphony came in three waves.

The first wave was the cruise missiles at the Reverend had been afraid of.  The cruise missiles flew fast and close to the ground, and when they hit they made a lot of noise but they didn’t do much damage.  That was okay though; the point of the cruise missiles hadn’t been to do damage; it had just been to make everyone put their heads down.

Because everyone had gone inside so they wouldn’t be hit by the smattering of cruise missiles, they didn’t see the wave of bombers that drifted over the horizon.  The bombers were fat and heavy, and if any of the townspeople had still been outside they would’ve had no trouble shooting a lot of them down.  But the townspeople weren’t outside; they were hiding, and the high explosives were dropped uncontested.

The high explosives blew holes in the roads, knocked out electricity, water and gas, and blew holes in virtually every building within the town.  But after the bombs had finished falling, there really wasn’t that much damage; certainly it would be difficult to repair, but the town of symphony still stood; it wouldn’t fall that easily.

The high explosive bombers hadn’t been the point of the raid.  Even damaging the roads; so that the emergency services couldn’t get where they needed to be wasn’t the point of the raid.  The reason the second wave of bombers had flown through was to leave holes all the buildings.  Now that all buildings had holes in them; they had a nice airflow through them.

Once a second wave had departed, and the entire town had an easy indoor-outdoor flow, it was time for the third wave to fly in.  It was time for the firebombers.

*

Laurie ran down the mountain as fast as her legs would carry her.

Laurie was still using the cube.  She was carrying the captain on her back; and every couple of steps she launched high into the air with her legs whirling, and landed heavily.

Laurie felt terrified; worse than she’d ever felt when it was her life in danger.  Her breath rasped in her throat, and she willed herself to run faster.

There was a whistling noise, and bright lights on the horizon.

Laurie’s heart seemed to stop for a moment, and time seemed to stand still.  Had she run out of time?  Was already too late?

Something fast, loud and high-pitched streaked over the landscape and smashed into the town.  It exploded with a sound like a rifle range.

Laura’s blood seemed to run cold, but she kept running; even if she was too late; she had to make sure that Emma got out.

The town was still standing

Laurie felt like laughing.  She felt a little lightheaded; she honestly expected the town to be destroyed after the dust had cleared from that strike, had the soldier overstated the bombers effectiveness?

More missiles streaked from the horizon and exploded on the town; they were loud and very threatening, and they seemed to be doing some damage; just not enough.

Laurie felt more confident; if this was all that was going to be thrown at the town; then she would have plenty of time.  The frantic sprinting turned into the even strides in a marathon runner, and her control of the cube seemed to improve as well; she wasn’t launching herself into the air with every step.

Something drifted over the horizon.

Laurie was surprised.  She jumped a little and turned her head to watch for new arrival; ignoring the steep rocky slope she was running on.

It was clearly an airplane but it wasn’t any type of airplane that Laurie had ever seen before; it didn’t so much fly as wallow through the air.  The plane was flying close to the ground, but nowhere near as close as missiles had been; it flew with its belly facing downwards, and it gave the weird impression of being about to give birth

Laurie had a sudden instinctive fear, and she started to pick up the pace.  More than anything she wanted to beat those fat, slow-moving airplanes to Symphony.

But in aircraft terms ‘slow’ is very, very relative.  The planes bobbed their lazy way forward, and easily outpaced Laurie.

Laurie knew in the depths of her heart that the planes meant trouble.  She tried to start sprinting again; but she was getting tired, and the cube kept interrupting her feet as they went towards the ground, so that she was permanently stumbling.

The planes drifted on to Symphony in perfect formation, and they started to drop their bombs.  There was a horrible noise.  The noise was like the cruise missiles had been, but it was much, much louder.

Half way up the mountain Laurie stumbled.  She hit the ground and rolled several times before hitting a rock and stopping in a painful heap.  She covered her head and tried to block out the horrible noise.

The sound went on and on, and the ground shook to its rhythm.  Then, suddenly, it stopped.

Laurie had about half a second to be glad that noise had stopped before she remembered that she had something she had to do.  She clawed her way back to her feet; ignoring the pain in the back, and started running again.  She was hoping that there was still something left of the town to save.

This time it took longer for dust to clear, but when it finally did the town was a mess.  There wasn’t a single building that didn’t look like a ruin, and even from her position up on the mountain Laurie could hear the moaning of the injured.

Laurie was running out of breath, and white fuzzy patches were swimming in front of her eyes.  She couldn’t help blaming herself as she ran; ‘if I had just been a little bit quicker’, ‘if I had just run faster’.  But Laurie kept running; if people were moaning that it meant that people were still alive.  Even though her breath caught in her throat Laurie offered a quick prayer, ‘I’ll settle for getting Emma out’ she prayed.

Another set of bombers wallowed their way over the horizon.

Laurie couldn’t believe it; the town was already destroyed; what more could they possibly want?  Stress started to get to Laurie; she went to jump off a small ledge and ended up soaring 10 feet into the air.

Laurie managed to land on her feet, but then she stumbled and fell again; rolling another hundred meters down the loose shale, before coming to a stop with cuts all over her arms.  The bag containing the captain came to a stop several meters away from her.

Laurie realized how pointless it was to keep carrying him around; any information he could give now simply wouldn’t be worth the way he was slowing her down.  For that matter Laurie didn’t even know if the captain was still alive inside the bag; given the way she’d been falling, he would be very bruised as least.  Laurie got back up and started running again

While she had been falling, the bombers had almost made it to Symphony, but now that she wasn’t trying to carry the captain, and thus wasn’t having to use the cube, Laurie was able to run a lot faster.  She covered the remaining distance between her and the town quite quickly, and she was entering the outskirts when the first bombs fell.

Laurie felt a weird sense of lightheaded joy; she had made it to the town, even if it turned out she was too late.  She watched the bombs fall from a second set of bombers with fear and disgust, but she didn’t bother taking cover, even as one of them flew overhead.

The bombs fell, and they weren’t the same ones the other planes had been using.  Laurie was knocked on her back by the sudden blast of heat.

Laurie was suddenly unsure and scared.  Seeing the bombs explode into flames was like being bitten by a friendly dog.  The first bombs hadn’t been pleasant, but they had given Laurie a sense that she knew what was coming, and having something completely different happen was an unpleasant experience.  She got back to her feet and looked at the warehouse.

There was no way the enemy could’ve identified the warehouse as the new HQ for symphony; the weapon hadn’t been fired yet, and the Reverend had been very careful about ordering people not to hang around.  In spite of this one of the bombs had struck the warehouse, and the roof was totally ablaze.

Laurie felt a horrible sense of loss; after everything they had all worked for, it was going to end like this.  Tears stung her eyes, but she started to run again; all the injured people were inside; and that meant that Emma was inside.

The roof of the warehouse must’ve had a hole in it, because as the planes drifted away one last bomb dropped directly into the building.  There was a huge flash and fire billowed out of all the broken windows.

There was a horrible feeling in Laurie.  The heat from the explosion seemed to burn her face, and she stopped for a moment.  The part of Laurie that stayed rational even in the face of disaster advised that no one in the main part of the warehouse could possibly be alive; it didn’t give great odds for anyone in the medical area of the warehouse to be alive either, especially since those people would have been weak to start with.  But Laurie was not a person who could’ve just walked away then; if there was even the slightest possibility that Emma could still be alive then Laurie had to try.  She started running.

The warehouse was really being engulfed, and Laurie could barely make any progress, it was just too hot, too painful.  “Don’t you dare quit” Laurie snarled to herself.  She lifted her shirt up so that it covered her nose and mouth and marched into the inferno.

It blazed like a furnace inside, but the fire was just getting started, and the air wasn’t full of smoke yet.  The strategy table in the middle of the room had been blown all over the floor, and for a horrible moment Laurie thought the Reverend had been as well, but then she saw it was someone else, and through her nausea she felt a level of relief she felt very guilty about.

Laurie knew she didn’t have much time, she reckoned on a minute or so and before the fire drew all of the oxygen out of the air and replaced it with poisonous chemicals.  She gritted her teeth and marched towards the medical area, ignoring the heat as it singed at her.

There was a small child near the entrance off the medical area; he looked like he’d been blasted there from across the room, he was curled in the foetal position, and totally still.

Despite her attempt to stay cold, Laurie felt tears welling up in her eyes; somehow it was always harder with children.  There was no time to stop and mourn.  Laurie knew that if she did that she would be joining him.  She kept on walking, but couldn’t resist turning and looking as she went passed.

It wasn’t a child, it was the Reverend; the heat had shrivelled him to a fraction of his former size.

Laurie felt sick.  She wanted to turn and, well she didn’t know what she wanted to do, say goodbye maybe?  But she also wanted to be nowhere near the horrible shrivelled thing with the staring eyes.  In the end her practicality won out; she had to keep moving.

The medical wing looked damaged, but it wasn’t on fire, and it looked much better than any other part of the warehouse had.

Laurie felt relieved; maybe even in the face of everything that had gone wrong today, something could still go right.  She looked around for Emma’s bed.

Emma’s bed was where Laurie at had seen it last.  It was towards the end of the room and Emma was lying in it completely still.

Laurie felt uneasy; she had visited Emma before leaving, and she’d been sitting up in bed. ‘It’s possible she’s just unconscious’ thought Laurie,’ this must’ve been stressful for everybody’.  She ran across the room as though her life depended on it, which to be totally fair it probably did.

Emma’s eyes were closed this time, and this time Laurie made sure she took a pulse.

There wasn’t a pulse; not even a faint one

Laurie just couldn’t take it; after everything she’d been through, that both of them had been through, it was all over now.  Laurie felt tears rolling down her cheeks, and she started to sob.

Then she stopped sobbing, because she couldn’t draw breath for it anymore.

The world started to swim in front of her eyes. ‘You idiot!’ She screamed at herself as everything went black, ‘you took too long!’

*

‘No!’  Laurie bellowed at herself inside the mind, ‘get up, get moving; you don’t want to burn!’

Laurie tried to push herself up, but as she got higher it got harder to breathe, and she dropped back to her feet

‘No!’  Came the voice again,’ you can’t breathe the air; you have to stay low’

Laurie felt nothing but the driving urge to survive.  She clawed at the ground and pulled herself forward.

The entire warehouse was ablaze; Laurie crawled towards the door of the medical wing, but the fire had taken hold there, and she couldn’t make any progress.

Laurie felt trapped; they hadn’t been another way house of the medical area.  She felt despair welling up inside her, but she forced it down; if she was going to die then it wouldn’t be because she just given up.  She started crawling back the way she came; away from the fire.

At the end of the wing there was nothing but a brick wall.

Fear drove Laurie; she was trapped like a rat, but she wasn’t going to die like one.  She started kicking the wall frantically; as best as she could when she couldn’t stand up.

The wall shuddered, and shook, but it didn’t fall, and the fire started to spread into the medical wing.

Laurie could feel the heat of the flames licking at her back, and adrenaline surged into her; forcing her tired muscles to give one last bolt of strength.  Laurie kicked the wall as hard as she could.

The wall shook like a cloth and the entire thing caved in.

With a sudden access to free air the fire began to accelerate towards Laurie

Laurie was terrified, but she had hope, and that was enough.  She dragged herself through the hole she’d just made, and pulled herself onto the grass outside.

The entire town was ablaze.  There were the sounds of screaming people, but not nearly as many as there had been before.  Powerful winds gusted all over the place and spread the flames wider.

Laurie knew she had to leave; the warehouse had been on the outskirts, so she still had the option, she took a shuddering breath of the mostly clean air and tried to pull herself back to her feet, ‘I don’t want to burn’ she thought.

Despite her shaking muscles, Laurie managed to get upright, but then she fell; one of her legs had been under the wall when it collapsed, and now it was bent at an odd angle.

Laurie didn’t even feel the pain, she didn’t feel the sense of loss, or the sense of fear, all she knew was that she had to move.  She clawed at the ground in front her and pushed herself forward with her one good leg.

There was an old man on the road outside the warehouse, or at least the remains of an old man; it looked like one of the cruise missiles had hit him, and that would make him one of the lucky ones.  He was scattered quite a long way around the road.  His stick wasn’t too far from Laurie.

Laurie wished she’d been quick enough to grab some medical supplies from the medical area.  But it was far too late for that now, and the no matter how much Laurie wanted to splint her broken leg, there was no way she was going back to the warehouse.  She grabbed the man’s stick and used it to lift herself up.

Laurie’s arms shook as she tried to hold her own body weight, and her broken leg flapped uselessly around, but Laurie’s arms held, and the leg would heal eventually.

Laurie suddenly realized she’d been a fool; the cube would easily have broken her out of that warehouse.  If she had thought to use the cube then she wouldn’t have a broken leg now.  Laurie eyed up the distance she had to travel before she reached the edge of town.

The fire was spreading all throughout the town, and even if Laurie hadn’t had a broken leg it still would have been a long way to go.

Laurie was beginning to feel she only had one option.  She gritted her teeth and took the cube out of her pocket, she still wasn’t sure she could control it, but she didn’t think that she could get out of the town before the fire engulfed her, and the cube seemed to be her only hope.  Laurie remembered the feeling she’d had when she’d used the cube to increase her own strength. She let the energy flow into the body and then tried to force it out behind her.

Nothing happened.

Laurie was angry.  She could feel the energy welling up inside her, but she couldn’t seem to direct it out; it was like there was a dam blocking it.  Laurie focused, putting more and more pressure behind the cube’s energy.

There was a huge explosion, and Laurie was propelled into the air.

Now Laurie felt pain.  As she travelled into the cooler air above Symphony her leg flapped around and grinded.  But Laurie welcomed the pain; she had survived; at least for now, and the pain was a reminder of that.

The ground started to accelerate towards Laurie

Laurie felt sudden fear; after all she been through, it would be just awful if she were to die in such a silly way.  She focused energy behind the cube; pushing past the dam.

She rocketed into the air again.

Laurie felt a crazy joy; everyone was dead, the mission had failed, and everything had gone horribly wrong, but she was flying, she was leaving.

There was a helicopter flying towards Symphony.

Laurie felt angry; after all they’d done they had the arrogance to return? Laurie smiled grimly to herself; she finally had the means to strike back.  She focused her energy in a different direction so that she was rocketing towards the helicopter.

Energy sharpened in front of Laurie’s head; she turned into a giant orange javelin.

Laurie didn’t know how the cubes worked; she didn’t even know if she could survive what she was planning.  But whether or not she survived, the helicopter would be sure to be destroyed, and right now that was plenty for her.

Through the orange wall in front of her eyes, Laurie saw someone hang out of the helicopter and wave frantically to her.

It was Derek.

*

A slowly rotating tornado of fire stretched up into the sky.  At its base, presumably, was Symphony.  Was Symphony.

Derek watched the tornado, as it lit up the night sky.  He felt awful,’ Jesus’ he thought,’ I sent Laurie into that’

Laurie’s leg was being splinted by Beatrice, and the Twins were somehow managing to keep the helicopter stable by themselves.  Laurie was sobbing.

Derek felt responsible, and it made him feel terrible, but he had a question he needed to know the answer to, “What happened to Emma?”  He asked.

Laurie shook her head and looked away; it was the clearest answer he could’ve gotten.

Beatrice looked up.

Derek was afraid that Beatrice was going to take her long deserved revenge, but then Beatrice just looked down again and kept working on the splint.  Derek breathed a sigh of relief, and turned back to Laurie; “Beatrice got the man to talk” he said “we have a location of a marshalling ground the flying men used; we will be checking that out, but I think the important thing right now is that we get back home to recuperate.

Laurie nodded tearfully; the poor kid looked broken.

Beatrice finished her splint and stood up.  She walked to the door of the helicopter, and before anyone could stop her she had jumped out

Derek was shocked.  He ran to the door with his hand out, but he was far too slow; Beatrice was already gone.  Derek couldn’t see where she had landed, but he was certain she had.  He yelled after her; “How we meant to get back without a helicopter pilot?”

“Oh we’re helicopter pilots” said the Twins, “daddy taught us”

Derek Looked at the fire tornado again, and wondered if he deserved what he had got.

*

Laurie stared out the window as helicopters travelled back towards the city.  She was staring out of the window partly because her splint didn’t allow her to take any other position, and partly because she didn’t want to meet anyone’s eyes.

Laurie felt lost and guiltier than she had ever felt in her life; she didn’t dare to look away from the landscape in case she started sobbing again.  Laurie blamed herself for what had happened to Emma.

The twins were the managing the controls of the helicopter between them, and chatting like they always did.  Derek was sitting in his seat, and he looked like he was brooding; Jade was sitting next to him, and imitating his pose.

Laurie’s guilt ran its course and segued nicely into anger.  She rubbed her eyes and he decided that Derek had been right at the start; this was a job that their office shouldn’t have got involved in; the stakes were too high.

The command structure overseeing a semi-secret quasi-government organization tends to be unclear and mired in red tape.  Laurie had no way of knowing how the order to investigate the retained demon had come to her, but she was forming the opinion that it should have gone to someone else; preferably someone heavily armed and dangerous.

Laurie reached into her pocket to find her gun, but of course it wasn’t there.  She pulled out the cube and held it tightly between her fingers; the cube had given her a lot of power there for a moment, and she knew she could use it again.  She twisted her seat so that she could see that the way she had come.

They had already gone too far, and the fire that used to be Symphony was long out of sight.  But the sky still flickered, and there was a patch on the mountains that just seemed a bit too light.

Laurie’s anger ran its course and segued nicely into cold determination.  She rolled the cube back in her hands so that she was holding it in a closed fist.  Laurie was determined that she would find some way of making good on everything that was owed to her

The sky suddenly seemed to grow bumpy, and Laurie registered for the first time the weird shapes that her mind had dismissed.  There were helicopters surrounding them.

A crazy kind of joy overcame Laurie.  She still didn’t know how the cubes worked, and she still wasn’t 100% sure that she could control them, but she prayed for one of the helicopters get closer; a desire had sprung up in Laurie’s heart to see her enemies burn.

The helicopters behind them were travelling far too slowly; they were dropping behind and becoming little dots in the rear-view mirror.  But the ones in front of the helicopter were approaching them at high speed.

Laurie watched the approaching helicopters and tried to imagine what it would look like if they were all slammed together like dominoes.  Laurie grinned; it would be beautiful.

*

Derek wasn’t happy to see the helicopters; it had been going so well; they had managed to extract Laurie, and no one had started shooting at them.  He shook his head, hissed, and walked towards the front of the helicopter.

The twins were there; playing around with the helicopters controls and making the process of flying one of look insultingly easy.

Derek made a mental note to meet the twins’ father at some point in the future; and any man who could make people like the twins hold still long enough to learn a valuable skill would probably be worth meeting, but right now Derek had more important things on his mind.  He eyed up the approaching helicopters and said, “Can we go round them?”

The twins seemed completely oblivious to the danger they might be in; they smiled at Derek and one of them replied, “That’s what we’re going to have to do; we don’t have any missiles, we think you should really get that fixed next time get this serviced”

Derek felt that if weird stuffy mind feeling he got when he talked to the twins for too long.  He rubbed his temples and decided to ignore what they had just said, “Are they going to shoot us down?”  He asked; it seemed important to stick to the relevant questions.

The twins shrugged “I dunno” they each said, “it depends how good their radar targeting systems are; if they’re decent they’ll be able to swat us outs of the air before we get anywhere near them”.

Derek felt frustrated and annoyed; he couldn’t believe the twins were taking it this calmly. He gritted his teeth to stop himself from yelling at them, “What can we do to avoid being turned into a fireball?”  He asked; it took immense self control to stop himself from adding ‘you morons’ to the end of that sentence

The twins deliberated with each other, and then eventually they said, “They can probably dive better than we can, but if we hugged the ground then they might have some trouble with targeting.”

Derek wondered why they hadn’t just said that earlier.  He lost his patience, threw his hands up, and yelled “Do that then!”

“Okey-dokey” said the twins cheerfully and the twin on the left pushed down with all her strength on something that looked like a giant handbrake.

Derek instantly regretted his order; he wedged himself into the ceiling where he’d been thrown and muttered a mix of prayers and obscenities.  “Isn’t this going to make us crash?”  He said

One of the twins looked concerned, “oh, I hope not; America’s next top model is on tonight.”

The other twin looked up in disgust, “Ugh” she said, “I can’t leave you like that show.”  And with that she yanked up on the giant hand brake again.

Jade drifted by Derek doing graceful somersaults, and he was able to grab her just-in-time.  The gravity returned and everything slammed back to the floor.

Derek was fuming, but he was fuming silently; he had just noticed that he could see trees outside his window, and as much as he wanted to he didn’t think he could get away with yelling at his pilots right now.

The helicopter weaved left and right dodging between tree trunks and startled animals.  Everything was going rather well; right up to the point when a huge explosion to the side of the helicopter sent the thing shaking and almost slammed it into the ground; they were only saved by the fact that the helicopter had been flying next to a cliff.

Now Derek was worried.  He stuck his head back up and yelled “Are we confusing their targeting systems?”

One of the twins looked back and said, “No; they’re missing by too far for that; they’re trying to disturb the air and force us to land”

Derek had a number of things to say to that, but his thoughts were diverted by something that suddenly seemed far more important, “Where are we?” they’re really shouldn’t have been any trees this side of the city.

The twins didn’t seem willing to look away from the windscreen now.  One of them yelled back over their shoulder, “It’s the city’s nature preserve” she said

Derek nodded his head in numb wonderment, “City that has everything” he muttered; resolving to pick up a guidebook if he survived this.

Then there was a huge explosion and the helicopter tumbled and started to shatter on the road.

It came to a stop against a lamppost; forcing a motorist to swerve in order to avoid it.

Derek climbed out of the helicopter and looked around.  His ears were ringing, and he was in pain, but he was alive, and he was glad.

“Wow” said the driver as he got out of his car, “looks like you have a much more fun job than I do, so I’ve only got two questions for you; what is it you do, and are you recruiting?  On second thought, forget the first question”

*

Laurie felt like something bigger than herself was driving her movements.  She jumped out of the ruined helicopter and crouched on top of it; sniffing the air like an animal.

The helicopters were closing on the city; they were picking their way between the skyscrapers and homing in on the wreck.

Laurie didn’t wait.  There was nothing in the whole world that could’ve stopped her then.  She took the cube out of her pockets and poured her energy behind it.  Laurie was blasted high into the air.

Buildings streamed past her at high speed.  Laurie didn’t care.  She saw the rooftop of the plaza hotel, and went to land on it.

The rooftop was completely deserted.

Laurie didn’t trust it, and she took a suspicious look around.  She considered calling Herbert to see whether she could finish this whole ridiculous thing off once and for all, but she didn’t know what question she could ask, and anyway the cold spot on her ring finger still burned at her.  Laurie turned and took a careful look at the helicopters.

The helicopters were still sneaking their way around; one passed directly in front of the Plaza Hotel.  Laurie could look almost straight ahead and see the pilot sitting there.

Laurie’s heart soared.  She felt a grin spread across her face as she fingered the cube in her pocket; it had been so easy to fly just then; it would be hardly difficult to do the same thing again.  She aimed her thoughts at the helicopter and poured her energy behind herself.

A wave of orange energy blasted away from Laurie; it rolled away from her into the sky and struck the helicopter with a dull ringing noise.

The helicopter was launched sideways.  For a moment it looked as though it was shuddering in the air; like a mosquito caught in a spider’s web, but whatever the pilot was trying to do, it wasn’t enough.  The helicopter slammed into the skyscraper next to it with a wave of metal and a billowing fireball.

Laurie watched the fireball with dry eyes; she didn’t know whether or not they had been anyone in the building; it was, after all, late, but she found that she didn’t really care either way.

With all the inevitability of a rock slide Laurie turned and aimed her thoughts at another helicopter.

The helicopters were scattering; trying to get away from the thing that had downed their friend, but they just weren’t fast enough.

*

Derek realized he was starting to grow fond of the driver; he was always there when he was needed.  He grabbed the twins as they climbed out and said to the driver, “take these two girls to the Easycare dorm.  I think the city is about to be attacked, and we’re going to need all the help we can get.”  Then he said to the twins,”We’re going to need Casper’s help, hammer on the door until he sees sense”

The twins looked a little bit dazed, but they nodded at him, and walked to the driver’s car.

Derek was glad; he didn’t know how many forces were going to be thrown against them, but he suspected that the helicopters that were already here alone would be plenty to take them on.  Derek poked his head inside the wreckage of the helicopter and said “come on Jade, Laurie, we have to get moving”

Jade climbed out of the wreckage and shrugged her shoulders

Derek suddenly felt worried; Laurie couldn’t possibly move that fast with a broken leg, even if it had been splinted.  He swallowed and looked back inside the helicopter.

The helicopter was empty; Laurie was nowhere to be found.

That made Derek even more uneasy; he had seen the state that Laurie had been in, and he didn’t trust her not to go nuts.  Derek attempted a nervous smile, ‘at least she doesn’t have a weapon’ he thought.

A huge mass of orange light rolled away from the roof of the Plaza Hotel and slammed into a helicopter like a blunt instrument.

Derek felt like the gods in charge of his fate were pointing their fingers at him and laughing.  He scratched his ear and thought, ‘Oh right, the cube’.

Derek thought; Laurie was potentially the most dangerous person in the city today, but she still was nominally on the same side as Derek, and would probably limit her attacks to the helicopters, and anything that might follow them.  Derek decided not to make any attempt at stopping her.

As he dragged Jade into an alleyway he was guiltily aware that the fact he was still blaming himself for giving Laurie the mission had influenced his decision, that and the fact that he couldn’t see any possible way of interrupting her bloodlust.

They sheltered behind a dumpster and listened to the sound of rotor blades.

Derek could feel his heart beating faster, and he knew it was time for action.  There was something he had to do first though, “Jade” he said, “I need to go do something now, and I may be gone for a while, I need you to promise me that you will stay safe”

Jade nodded at him, “I promise” she said in a small voice.

Derek was glad; even if he couldn’t lead a team properly he could at least keep his daughter safe.

“Daddy?” said Jade, “is it time to start fighting the bad people?”

Derek couldn’t deny it, and he was too busy counting the helicopters to wonder if he should deny it.  “Yes” he said.

“Good” said Jade.  She pulled out of what was unmistakably the gun that Derek had given her to modify.

She pointed the gun up, and before Derek could stop her she had pulled the trigger.

There was a crackling sound in the air, and the roots of the hairs on the back of Derek’s neck felt greasy.

A helicopter that had been roughly overhead juddered and crashed into the financial district.

Derek was shocked.  He turned and faced his daughter; unable to form words.

“Daddy?”  Asked Jade.

“Yes?” murmured Derek.

His daughter clicked the gun, and threw a spare one to Derek.  “Let’s kick some ass” she said.

*

Bullets were flying and the city was being systematically destroyed.

Emergency sirens sounded in every corner.  And there wasn’t a single house light in the city that wasn’t on.

Blurry eyed and privately terrified the police were helping everyone in the central city to evacuate; there wasn’t anything else that could be done.

It was a small mercy that the attack had come at night, for it meant that the skyscrapers being destroyed had mostly been emptied for the day. There were still many people inside the central city though, and not all of them would be getting out tonight.

There were some strange patterns going on.  Something was firing bolts of neon orange light at the helicopters.  Most of the shots were going wild, but occasionally one of them would connect and the helicopter would tumble out of the air; sometimes they recovered, and sometimes they didn’t.  The helicopters were making fast circles around the remaining skyscrapers, and that seemed to be making them very difficult to hit; occasionally one of them shot a missile, a skyscraper would blow up, a bolt of orange light would fly to a new skyscraper, and the whole process would repeat.

The neon orange lights scared people more than the helicopters did; helicopters were understandable even if they weren’t entirely pleasant; the orange light was new and horrible.  Some hysterical people yelled out about monsters and devils.  The more rational people yelled out about demons, but this didn’t make people feel any better; only one man in 200 within that crowd could have told them the first thing about demons; putting a name to something immediately makes it less scary, but in this case simply having a name wasn’t enough.

Everyone was so hung up about the orange light that barely anyone noticed that the helicopters were concentrating on fire on a small alleyway in a part of the city where there was virtually nothing important.  Since no one noticed the helicopters, they also failed to notice that the helicopters there were dropping out of the sky so quickly that it looked like heavy, expensive rain.

Another skyscraper blew up, and people were screaming, at first glance it looked like the helicopters were winning, and certainly they seemed to be doing the most damage to the city, but they were dropping like giant mechanical flies, and somehow the helicopters actually looked relieved when lights started to glimmer on the horizon.

*

Laurie felt like laughing, and she did so; long, and loud, and maniacally, she wheeled her hands around and threw another bolt of the neon orange light at one of the helicopters,

This bolt connected.  The helicopter spun madly as it travelled towards the ground, but at the last possible moment it managed to level itself off again.

Laurie clucked her tongue, but she wasn’t annoyed; she actually felt joyful. ‘Pity’ she thought.

There were lights glimmering on the horizon; they reminded Laurie of what the mirrors had looked like back in Symphony.

Laurie was glad to see them.  She swivelled and faced the incoming lights with her hands spread; as though she intended to catch them.  She was almost certain that these were the Mckingle men again, and she was looking forward to taking revenge on them as well.  Laurie had never before appreciated how good it felt to even the score cosmically, and she thought of Emma as she launched herself into the air and went to challenge the much larger host.

*

Derek saw the lights coming for them, and he was afraid; Derek was not a fool, tactically, and he knew the likely effect that the hyper mobile, hyper powerful flying men would have on the situation here.  He turned in the rough direction of the Easycare dorm, but there was no reassuring yellow light.  Derek turned to Jade and said, “We have to get to better cover; we’re too exposed here”

Jason nodded and pointed in the direction of a nearby office building, “There, daddy” she said, “we can shoot at them from the helipad”

Derek looked at the building, and noticed the curious way the helipad was assembled, and he was impressed by his daughter’s tactical sense.  “That’s good” he said, “We have to move”

They kept close to the wall and moved fast; many of the helicopters had been shot down, but the air was a long way from empty.

Derek’s heart was pounding in his temples, but he was excited; like he’d been when he first joined the office.  He kept firing his new gun into the air as he ran; it hardly seemed to matter if he aimed it, and it felt cathartic to see the helicopters go down so easily.  Derek wondered if the new gun design could be made standard issue for the office; he didn’t think they were likely to run into any more helicopters on any missions in the future, but just holding the gun seemed to make him feel better; hell, he was even thinking about the possibility of there being future missions.

*

Flys have a supremely fast reaction time; if you have ever tried to grab one with your bare hands then you know this.  It is quite an education to watch two flies fighting; they fly tight spirals around each other like demented Catherine wheels; each of them trying to use their reaction time to get behind their opponent.

The fight between the bright orange light and the new lights worked on a much slower timescale than a fly battle.  In some ways though the battle of the lights was more impressive; for one thing flies don’t normally have the ability to fire energy beams.

*

Laurie fell back to Earth.

Laurie was tired and broken, but she didn’t mind; she had managed to take down a few of the Mckingle men.  Laurie smiled at the sky as the cool wind gently brushed past her face; she had said her piece, and she felt like she had evened the score for Emma, and if it ended now; Laurie felt so peaceful that it didn’t seem to matter.

“Catch her” said a rapidly approaching voice.

Someone swung at her on a line of rubber hose, and Laurie found herself being lowered gently to the ground.

“Oh dear, Laurie” said Christine, “I do wish you wouldn’t get yourself in trouble like that”

Laurie smiled at Christine; her voice sounded like it was coming from a long way off.

The other lights in the sky were closing on them.

Laurie didn’t mind; somehow the whole issue seemed to belong to someone else.

Christine stroked Laurie’s face and said, “You just rest dear; we’ll take care of these guys.”

Christine stood up and looked at the sky.  There were a lot of people standing behind her; some wore wigs and flamboyant outfits, others dressed like showmen, and hung off ledges.

Everyone watched the lights as they got closer; and some looked a little bit scared, and some looked a little bit excited, but they all looked incredibly determined.

*

There are many perfectly valid reasons not to evacuate once the alarm has sounded; curiosity, stupidity, a desire to sell footage to the news stations.  Regardless of the reasons there were people who stayed behind in the central city while everyone else was evacuated; some people didn’t do it voluntarily, some people just got left behind, but whatever the reason there were some people who saw the stuntmen and the third floor partygoers launching themselves at the flying men.

Those people who were watching saw things that they swore they would never repeat, and things they had no way of describing, but what struck them most was the bravery that the two groups showed while working together, and the fact that they were losing anyway.

*

Derek was pinned down, and he was losing; badly.

The guns Jade had designed were working, but the flying men were too fast.  They were still scoring hits, and the men were still dropping out of the sky, but there were far too many men, and not nearly enough hits.

Derek felt trapped, and he felt truly frightened; because the tactical part of his mind was telling him that there was no way he was going to stay alive.

His daughter was standing next to him; had she been about a meter taller they would’ve been fighting back to back.

Derek was suddenly glad; he had just realized the words he wanted to tell his daughter. “Jade” he said, his voice shaking a little, “It was a pleasure to fight alongside you, and I’m very proud of you”

There was silence, and then Jane said, “Thank you, daddy”

There was a blast of neon purple light, and the wall that had been sheltering them shattered into stone chip.  The flying men converged on them from every side.

Derek knew it was over, but the crazy determined part of him kept him pulling the trigger until the last second, and the crazy hopeful part of him; the part that often seemed to speak with Laurie’s voice, made him yell out at the last possible moment “Casper, help me!”

*

Casper did.

*

Derek watched with dull amazement as the flying men dropped out of the sky.  There were already police officer officers running towards some of them, and the frightened men weren’t putting up any resistance.

Derek looked over the city as the night sky faded from neon yellow to its normal black.  It was harder to see now that the light had faded, but it was clear to him that a lot of the city lay in ruins.  Derek hugged Jade to him, sighed, and thought,’ maybe with all these people they’re arresting, it might not be my name in the papers tomorrow’.

*

Laurie returned to consciousness slowly.

Laurie felt peaceful, and calmer than she had a very long time.  She lay in bed with her eyes closed and listened to the sound of birdsong outside.

The room she was in was silent; somewhere in the distance was the soft murmur of voices, but otherwise Laurie was completely alone.

Laurie liked the solitude; it gave the time to just lay still and think about how lucky she was to be alive.  But nothing was ever achieved by people who stayed in bed all day, and Laurie lifted herself out.

Whoever had put her to bed had left Laurie’s sunglasses of the bedside cabinet, Laurie put them one, opened her eyes, and looked around the room.

The room was not one Laurie recognized; although it did seem somewhat familiar.  It had soft furnishings, and a window that let soft light fill the room, even through the curtains.

Laurie liked this room; it was soft and comforting; it was like a womb.  Laurie stretched and stood up straighter

Someone had washed and folded Laurie’s clothes; they were sitting on a chair next to the bed.

Laurie felt like the clothes he had belonged to another person.  She picked up a shirt and looked at it critically.

The shirt had once been very stylish; high fashion in the right streets, but it had been through hell in the last week, and no longer even looked like something fit for humans to wear.  The shirt was a mass of tears, holes, and other assorted problems.

Laurie felt a weird sense of pride; she had been through everything that the shirt had been through; and more actually; and she was not only still alive, but she felt better than she had in a long time.

There were no mirrors in the room, so Laurie just smiled at the wall as she pulled on her clothes.  Laurie didn’t mind the damage; the battle-scarred look is fashionable in the right streets as well; it’s just a matter of carefully selecting the right streets.

The soft murmur of voices was continuing in the next room, Laurie thought she heard her name once or twice.

Laurie felt a little bit left out; if people were going to be talking about her behind her back, then she wanted to be in on it.  She walked towards the door.

The door was a perfectly normal door; it was made of wood, had a handle, and it didn’t really have any other distinguishing features.  Nevertheless, Laurie paused in front of it with her hand hovering in front of the knob.

It wasn’t that Laurie was scared exactly, or even uneasy, but she still remembered what it had been like to find the bodies of the Reverend and Emma; even if the memory seemed to lack urgency now.  For one very tempting moment Laurie stepped back, and thought about just staying in the room forever; where the world was peaceful and quiet and nothing could hurt her.

A big part of growing up is accepting that if you strive to live completely risk-free life then eventually your life will stop moving.  Laurie made her decision, and accepted the responsibilities.  She opened the door and left the womb.

*

Derek had been eating breakfast, and fielding questions from the Twins when Laurie walked into the small kitchen.

Derek looked up; he was glad to see that Laurie was alright, but he was still a little worried about her.  He smiled at her and said, “Sleep well?”

Laurie smiled back at him; she looked as cheerful as she’d been on the first day he had met her, but she also looked older, and maybe a little bit wiser.  “Better than I have had in a long time” she said, “Where are we?”

Darren was glad to see that Laurie was getting straight down to business; it seemed to bode well for her.  “Christine brought you back,” he said, “She’s basically taken over the running of the dorm now.”

Laurie nodded along politely, “That’s nice,” she said, “but she didn’t really answer my question; where are we?”

Derek felt awkward; he had been kind of hoping that Laurie would be satisfied with the short answer he had given.  He doodled little circles on the tabletop with his finger, and said “we’re in a spare room on the third floor.  Christine brought you here to recuperate”

Just as Derek had predicted Laurie looked very uncertain; as though she were standing on a log that was floating in a crocodile infested river, and she had only just realized that the log she was standing on was actually a crocodile, and she was hoping that it wouldn’t notice; Derek had heard that the third floor had evicted her, he wanted to reassure her, but he really didn’t know whether anyone’s views towards her had changed; they may have just rescued because Christine had insisted.

Laurie opened her mouth, but she was fortunately saved from having to find something to say by the fact that the door opened at that moment.

Christine drifted into the room.

Derek felt a weird mix of emotions.  On one hand the fact that his wife had managed to organize the inhabitants of the dorm into a coherent fighting force earned her more respect from Derek then he had had for her since, well, ever.  On the other hand there was the fact that she was really drifting around, and floating around, and all those other things people do when they seem to radiate an air off general foolishness.  Derek wasn’t really sure how he should react, so he smiled at her and nodded.

“Come along, dears” said Christine, “you really must hurry up or you’ll be late.  Oh dear, Laurie; is that what you wearing?  Oh well, I suppose you’ll still young enough to be able to pull off the ‘battle scarred’ look.”

Derek felt like he had missed something somewhere.  He gapped a few times and then said, “Hold on, hold on, what are we going to be late to?”

Christine gave him a look.  There was tolerance it that look, and a certain amount of pity.  “Oh dear, Derek, it’s Saturday, remember?  The picnic?”

Derek couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing; the idea of a company picnic had been a little ridiculous when they had had 10 employees, at a stretch, and to go ahead with it now seemed patently idiotic to him.  Derek counted on his fingers, muttering silently as he went along. “Chief, Leonard, Tony, Wellsford, Emma- dead; they won’t be attending.  Beatrice – AWOL; it’s not likely she’ll show up.  Casper and Herbert probably didn’t count to begin with.”

Derrick raised his voice to announce his findings, “of the entire company, Laurie and I are the only agents still hanging around; any company picnic is going to be a very small one”

This didn’t seem to make much impact on Christine.  She shook her head and pointed around her, “oh Derek” she said, “it will hardly be like that; I’ll be coming along, and Jade, and would you girls like to come too?”  She asked the Twins.

The Twins seemed quite excited; it seemed they quite liked the idea of a picnic.

Derek opened his mouth again; he had every intention of continuing arguing.

“I think it sounds like a good idea” said Laurie.

Derek’s train of thought derailed and hit the replacement train.  His jaw snapped shut again, and he tried to fit this new piece of information into his view of what was going on.  “Why?”  He asked

“If anyone from the office is still alive, the picnic would be a natural place for them to go they want to make contact with us.”

Derek didn’t think this was a real possibility, and he opened his mouth to say so.

“Yes, yes” said Laurie, “but what if they are still alive? It could be that Tony and Wellsford weren’t back from their mission when the building was destroyed, or maybe Lenard and Chief were out running errands at the time, if they had no way to contact anyone else, the picnic Leonard set up would make a great rendezvous point.”

Derek didn’t like it, but he had to admit he could see the logic.  He could also appreciate the fact that what Laurie was asking him to do was cut into his recuperation time to go and sit in a field somewhere and compete with adventurous birds for his food scraps.  “I’m still not totally convinced” he said; which was understating the matter a bit

“Come on, Derek” said Laurie, I think this is exactly what we all need; we’ve spent the last week in a state of constant warfare; it would be nice to have a little fun for once.

Derek really didn’t think that a picnic counted as fun, “I’m not going” he insisted

“Well that’s all right,” said Laurie, “but we’re all going”

Derek was glad they were coming to an agreement.  He smiled and said, “Agreed; you can go and I’ll say here”

In the end they all went, with Derek carrying the drinks.

*

Derek had dealt with his disappointment about being overruled about the picnic by suggesting that it should be held in the rugged wilderness they had flown through while trying to avoid being blown to pieces by the helicopters.  When it had been pointed out to him that the location of the picnic had been set by Leonard almost a week ago he sulked and didn’t say anything for the entire ride over.

The location Leonard had chosen was a pleasant park in the middle of the city.  It had a rolling green hills, a peaceful waterfall, and, most importantly, no one with guns trying to shoot them.

Laurie loved the scenery, as she said as much to Derek.

Derek looked around and grunted.  Then he found the shade of a tree and lay down to go to sleep.

“Poor guy” she muttered; mostly in sarcasm, and entirely to herself. “He’s had a stressful day”

“Ha!  You want stressful?!  You should see what my week’s been like!”  Said someone standing far too closely.

Everyone was shocked, but has no one was quite as shocked as Laurie was.

Derek sprang out of the shade of the tree, and reached for his gun.

Laurie gaped at the figure, “Leonard?”  She said.

It was unmistakably Leonard; his hair was a mess, his suit was torn in odd places, and has arms seemed to have a hard line of muscle that hadn’t been there before, but it was unmistakably him; there’s just no way to disguise that kind of boundless arrogance.  “Hey who brought the chicken?!”  Said Leonard, “I’m starving!”

Laurie felt like something truly odd was going on, and she wasn’t part of it.  She took a step back; reaching for the cube; the parts of her mind concerned with tactics and strategy screaming that it had to be a trick.  “What are you doing here?  We thought you were dead.”

Leonard laughed, “Ha!  Yeah me too!  Hey you have chips!”  They did indeed have chips, and Leonard sat down next to the bag the Twins had opened.

Laurie felt like yelling; she wanted answers, and none were forthcoming.  She carefully unclenched her fists and asked, “How did you survive?”

“Well as we discovered, he’s a lot tougher than he looks” said another familiar voice.

Laurie felt joy; mixed with confusion.  She spun around, “Wellsford?”  She said

“Wellsford?” said Derek disbelievingly.

It was Wellsford.  He wore the type of Kevlar breastplate that SWAT teams wear, and he somehow seemed a lot taller and older than he’d been when they had last seen him, but it was unmistakably him.  “You know I almost didn’t believe you fellows would come” said Wellsford, “well done Laurie; I suspect it was you that managed to convince Derek.”

Laurie’s shock was wearing off, and underneath it there was an undercurrent of relief and happiness, but there was something gnawing at her mind that she had to know the answer to.

Derek seemed to be thinking along similar lines to her.  “Where is Tony?”  He asked.

“I’m sorry I’m late” said Tony, “I thought you might be down at the waterfall”

Laurie spun around, but not nearly as fast as Derek did.

Tony walked uphill towards them smiling like a tired grandfather.  He wore the same riot gear as Wellsford, though in his case he didn’t look appreciably older while wearing at.  “I’m glad to see that you’re still alive” he said, “given all the fuss in the papers I was afraid someone had gotten to you. Those are some excellent disguises by the way, but you still stand the same.”

Laurie felt incredible joy; it was like waking up in the morning to find a present under the tree that was shaped suspiciously like a pony.  She ran at Tony, and then pulled short; wondering whether it was appropriate to hug a work colleague.

Derek apparently didn’t think so.  He pushed his way past Laurie and punched Tony on the shoulder hard enough to send him staggering backwards; the macho male equivalent of flying tackle hug.  “I thought you were dead” he said, “What happened?”

Tony opened his mouth to replied, but Wellsford cut him off.  “My partner is too polite to say so” he said, “but we were gang pressed into helping a collection of old people move back into their homes, and we only just made it here in time; once you consider that we were already tired after everything that’s happened this week, I trust you wouldn’t be offended if I suggested that we discussed this while eating.”  He was already pouring drinks.

Laurie felt a tiny touch of disappointment; but she completely understood Wellford’s views; by the looks of it all three of them had been through things far worse than moving sofas.  “Lunch and a story;” she said, “Sounds a good combination”

*

In fact it was Laurie and Derek who told their stories first; the other three were clearly very hungry and immediately began eating after they sat down.  For a long time there was nothing but the sounds of Laurie and Derek’s voices, counterpointed by the sound of munching.

“Oh” said Tony, eventually “I wondered if someone had charged the barricade; we had a camera setup to keep a general watch, but it had some problems and we couldn’t see things very clearly, well done for getting through that, Laurie” he sat up, and wiped his mouth, “I don’t mean to interrupt,” he said, “but it seems to me that team three plays a substantial role in both of your stories, where are they now?”

Derek felt awkward; it had a lot of respect for Tony, and he really didn’t want to admit how huge a stuff up he had made of his time as de facto leader.  He glanced at Laurie and said, “Beatrice went AWOL after we picked Laurie up; you haven’t gotten to that part of the story yet.”

Tony nodded, “I’ve never known Beatrice to go AWOL before,” he said, “but she always has a good reason for everything she does; I’m sure she’ll be back eventually, but where is Emma?  The way you describe it sounds like she and Laurie should have been fighting back to back against Captain Rollin’s troops.”

Derek still felt very awkward; he knew he’d have to tell the truth eventually, but he just didn’t want it to be now.  He scratched the corner of his mouth and said, “I don’t remember telling you about Captain Rollin”

Tony raised his eyebrows, “I’m impressed you know his name.  We tried to set up an operation in order to kidnap him, but we didn’t manage to pull it off; there was always this one soldier who kept getting in the way; but I’ll tell you about that in a moment; for now, where’s Emma?”

Derek knew he had reached a point where he couldn’t keep the truth any longer.  He turned to suggest that Laurie should finish her part of the story, but then he saw that she was staring fixedly at the ground; in a direction that prevented any of them from seeing her eyes.

Tony noticed it as well, “Oh” he said, “I am sorry.  Didn’t she survive the crash?”

Laura shook her head, and then she jerked her head up to qualify, “No, I mean she survived, yes, but…”  And Laurie went on with the story.

When she reached the bit about finding Emma; dead in her bed, Derek looked away; she never should’ve been there; it had just been a mildly important mission that would get Laurie and Emma away from Captain Swift; Emma should’ve turned around at the first sign of resistance.  Derek  bit his tongue as the story went on; she wouldn’t have been there at all if he hadn’t wanted to get rid of them for a few days.

There was silence after Laurie had finished her story.

Derek hated the way the silence dragged on; it seemed like a judgment of his ability.  He dug his fingers into the earth and hoped that someone would break the silence soon.

“I remember when they first brought her in” said Tony, softly, “the office was basically her whole life.”  He paused for a moment and then went on, “we should recover her body; if it isn’t already cremated; she was one of us, and she deserves a proper funeral.”  He paused for thought again, “I bet that’s why Beatrice went AWOL”

There was another long silence.

Suddenly Tony stood energetically to his feet, “suddenly I really want to get back to the mission;” he said “would it be alright if you heard our story on the way?”

Derek was surprised by Tony’s abruptness.  He got to his feet as well and said, “On our way to where? We found the location of a marshalling ground that the flying men used, is that where you want to go?”

Wellsford got up as well.  “I’m afraid we’ve already been there” he said, “and it was completely gutted.  Just this morning we had a very lucky break through and we discovered the location off the power source for the cubes; we were about to head out, but then Lenard started talking about the picnic, and we realized that it would be a good idea to contact you, if you remained alive, and get your help”

Derek was annoyed that Wellsford had answered this question.  An easy retort formed on his tongue, but he bit it back; there was something different about Wellsford now, and Derek didn’t think it was a good idea to insult him.  He suddenly realized that he’d never noticed it before, but Wellsford was at least as tall as Tony was when they both stood up.  “How are we going to get there?” he asked, “we’ve wrecked all vehicles”

Tony smiled and, and said, “We stole something interesting from a top secret workshop; I think you will enjoy it.”  And with that he indicated over his shoulder and started walking.

Wellsford fell into step behind him, and Laurie readily joined the procession.  Leonard jogged quickly after Tony and Wellsford, and, still chatting with him, the twins followed.  Christine joined the general flow of people, and took Jade along with her.

That just left Derek.

Derek stayed where he was; he wasn’t sure he liked this new abrupt Tony, and anyway he had kind of hoped that he would be able to use this day to recuperate; after all the dust had barely settled from the city destroying battle they had been involved in yesterday.  “Stuff that for a lark” muttered Derek.  Then he started walking as well; it’s not like there was anything else on his to-do list today.

*

The ground effect device flew across the desert like a bird; a very large bird; that’s made of metal; and flies by way of two giant propellers.

Laurie found she really liked the ground effect device.  She wedged itself up against one off the supporting walls and stuck her head out the top.

The wind blew her hair back: and stung her eyes; in a good way.

Laurie climbed back down; bubbling with joy.  She suddenly felt something odd and talked to Tony, “you never told us how you got out off the office” she said

Derek had been sitting at a plastic table and rubbing his temples.  He looked up when Laurie said this with interest as well

Tony looked at her kindly, “Well Wellsford and I got out off and because we weren’t inside when the building exploded” he said, “we had just gotten back from our mission when the explosion happened; we were literally just turning into the street.  I called a few old friends in the police department, and we went searching through the ruins as soon as the fire had been put out; we were trying to dig the cube back up, but we found Lenard instead; in the end it was a good trade, I think”

Laurie could see an omission here, and suddenly she felt unsure, “you didn’t find Chief then?  So does that mean that Chief is-?”

Tony looked upset, “I’m very sorry I gave you that impression, Laurie” he said, “we didn’t find Chief, but we didn’t find his body either; I was kind of hoping that he would show up at that picnic, but it was already late when you guys showed up.”  He waved his hands around as though trying to hold on to an elusive thought, “you’re probably best off to think of him in the same way you think off Beatrice, and just expect him to show up at some point in the future.”

Laurie didn’t feel any better; she was absolutely certain that Chief wouldn’t have been outside the building when it exploded; he never seemed to leave the building.  “What if you just didn’t find his body?”  She asked, “You can’t have had time to search the entire rubble”

Tony chuckled, and his eyes twinkled,” It was a bit before your time, Laurie,” he said, “but Chief used to be my partner before he got promoted, and I assure you, he survived that explosion”.  He glanced back at the screen he was standing over, and said, “This is close enough Wellsford; put us down here.”

The rhythmic thudding off the propellers slowed down and faded away, and the ground effect device slowly drifted to a stop.

Laurie hopped out of the device and looked around with curiosity.

Boundless and bare, the barren sand stretched away from her.

Laurie felt disappointed; she had been expecting a much more impressive reveal.  She pulled a face and asked, “Where is it? Underground?”

“It’s some way in that direction” said Tony; jumping out after her and pointing in the vague direction off the horizon; I wanted to stop the ground effect device somewhere away from it; we’ll try sneaking in first.”  He looked back over his shoulder and then said, “Listen Laurie, I was hoping I could sound you out about your friends in there.  I’m sure they’re very loyal, but we don’t know the first thing about the guy we’re about to go and attack, and we’re likely to expose ourselves to a lot of danger, so what I really need to know from you, is can those two girls in there handle themselves in a fight .

Laurie found herself in an odd position.  She looked away for a moment and thought.  Her loyalty as a friend was telling her to back the Twins up, and swear blind that they were 100% competent in any kind of combat situation.  The more rational side of Laurie was warning her that if she gave bad information to Tony and the Twins were injured because of it then it would be her fault.  In the end it was the threat of guilt that selected Laurie’s answer for her.  “They are the best makeup artists I have ever met,” said Laurie, “but I wouldn’t trust him to handle a kitchen knife”

Tony nodded solemnly, “that’s the impression I got” he said, “Before we head off you should tell them to wait in the ground effect device”

Laurie agreed, and she stepped back into the ground effect device, and only then did it occur to her that simply telling the Twins to stay put was a terrible idea for keeping them still.  Laurie was suddenly nervous, it had just occurred to her that they were about to walk into a probable fire fight, and if the Twins were injured because of her, she didn’t think she’d be able to forgive herself; she should have just let them at the park, but it was too late for that now.

Derek was in the ground effect device as well, he was talking to his wife and daughter; trying to convince them to stay out of harm’s way.  He was having no trouble convincing his wife, but his daughter seemed to be refusing, and it looked like Derek was on the verge of relenting.

Laurie was surprised; in the time that she’d known him, Derek had never struck her as the kind of person that would willingly see his daughter on a battlefield.  An idea occurred to Laurie; if Christine had really managed to unite the dorm through sheer force of will, then she probably had some extremely valuable skills to pass on.  Then you had the twins; they were clearly intelligent; they had managed to learn how to fly a helicopter, and that certainly isn’t a minor skill.  Laurie smiled to herself; she had thought of a way to kill two birds with one stone.

*

The source off the demon energy that the cubes used turned out to be a small and unremarkable bunker half buried in the desert.  Laurie’s stared at it and looked disappointed.

Derek was worried; whoever the bunker belonged to had seen fit to paint the bunker in desert camouflage; that meant that they had known that people might want to come after them, and they had taken precautions.  Derek crouched down a little; so that most off his body was hidden behind the sand dune, and watched the bunker as though he expected it to explode; which he didn’t think was an unreasonable possibility.

It suddenly occurred to Derek that even if their mission went perfectly; they caught the man behind all this; subdued him nonlethally, and completed every other aspect of their mission without breaking anything; then they would still have to deal with 20 people who no doubt had been tortured nonstop for the last several weeks.  It suddenly occurred to Derek that he was unlikely to like this mission.

“Let’s go” said Tony.

They spread out; trying to keep each other in their line of sight, while also keeping their guns covering any possible angle that an attack could come from.  The problem with this was that Jade was the only one of them that was carrying more than one gun; everyone else had to deal with the fact that in an open desert an attack can come from any point of a 360° circle.

They reached the door.

Somehow Laurie and Derek had ended up in front of the group.

Derek didn’t like the door.  He didn’t like the door one bit, and that was mostly because he wasn’t on the other side off it.  He rested his hand on the door and got some sense of its thickness and strength, and he shook his head.  “You’re going to have to use the cube” he said.

Laurie was distracted.  “What?” she said as she opened the door.

Derek could’ve kicked himself; or rather he couldn’t have since he was getting on in years and his legs didn’t work quite as well as they used to, but he definitely wanted to kick himself.  Derek’s general views of humanity were completely justified; what kind of man would buy property way out in the desert, go out of his way to make it incredibly defensible, and then ruin the whole effect by forgetting to lock his door? An idiot; Derek decided, only an idiot.  He pushed past Laurie and marched down the stairs that the door opened on to; he knew it wasn’t very smart to leave the rest of the group behind, but he felt in some way that he had a personal score to settle with the man inside for doing something as stupid as leaving the door open for the people who wanted to attack him.

What if it was a trap?

Derek was suddenly unsure.  He stopped on the steps and thought.  There was certain elegance to the idea; if you’re laying a trap for someone then it’s a good idea for your opponent to think that you are too much off a moron to set a trap.  The open door could have easily been a mechanism to grant Derek entry, and lower his guard.  Derek stood totally still and raised his hands into the guard position.

The rest of the group started to pile up behind him.  “What’s going on, Derek?” asked Laurie.

Derek still felt uneasy, but at the moment was passing.  He shook his head and said, “No, nothing, just felt a bit weird there for a moment” he started walking again.

There were pods in the room below.  They looked like sensory deprivation chambers, and they were made out of the same material the cubes had been made out of.  The room was cluttered; it was the kind off clutter that you get to when you ask an expert to build an extremely complicated piece of equipment in an extremely confined space, and then ask him to modify it so that people can walk around inside it.

Wires ran along every single surface and dangled from every part of the ceiling that didn’t have a cube attached to it.  At the centre of the room there was a raised ceiling, and filling the space under the raised ceiling was the largest cube that Derek had seen so far; it was mounted on top of a thick brass pole and it seemed to be attached to every single pod and cube by so many wires that it looked like it had been attacked by some sort of hyperactive spider with copper spinets.

Derek looked around in awe; the cluttered mess was one of the most impressive things he had ever seen.  Then he realized that the pods probably contained the people who were being tortured for the retained demon, and suddenly he didn’t feel so comfortable anymore.  He signalled to the people behind him and kept walking.

Pressed hard up against the clutter there was a bank of computer screens.  Silhouetted against the screens was the figure of a man.

Derek suddenly felt his heart beating faster, and he crouched down; this had to be the man; the one behind everything that had happened.  He signalled again to the people behind him, and moved into a better position to shoot.  He was trying to shake off the weird sense of déjà vu that he felt when he saw the figure.

The others spread out noiselessly behind him.  Tony took up at an expert position that made him seem to blend into the wires around him, and surprisingly Wellsford did the same.  Laurie hung back and took up position that allowed her to cover the entire room with one sweep of her gun.  Jade stood beside Derek; since crouching would be a bit redundant, and all manner of strange and exotic weaponry started to appear in her hands.

The man stood up, and turned to face the room; maybe he had heard something, and maybe that didn’t matter.

Derek was stunned; he had seen the man before.  He fought to keep himself still, and he wasn’t sure he was successful.  He raked his brain; trying to work out where he had seen the man before.

The man took a long hard look around the room.  “Hello?”  He said, “Arron is that you?”

Derek felt himself stiffen; was there another man in the room?  He tried to move his eyes slowly enough that the movement wouldn’t be noticeable to anyone who was watching.

The rest of the room was deserted; and no one answered the man’s question.

The man kept his eyes slowly moving around the room, and reached across to his opposite hip.

“Now!”  Screamed Tony.

Derek’s body seemed to explode.  He took a huge gasp of air as he leapt to his feet and whipped his gun around.  In the last moment before pulling the trigger, it occurred to Derek that leaping to his feet had probably been a stupid idea, but then he hadn’t really been trained for fire fights, so if anyone started asking questions then at least they could put the word ‘inexperience’ on his tombstone.

*

Laurie hadn’t jumped up when Tony had called out.  Partly because she could see the benefits of staying hidden and partly because she wasn’t sure she could use the cube with enough accuracy to avoid hitting any one of the four people in front of her.  Because she had stayed put she was in the best possible position to watch what happened next.

Derek leapt to his feet, and Jade dived forward, Laurie thought they both looked very heroic.  They both fired something that made the air ripple around them. Wellsford kept low to the ground as he fired, and Tony didn’t seem to move at all.  They fired something made of metal that was attached to their guns by long pieces of wire.  Laurie thought that they looked disturbingly competent.

The man looked shocked.  Without changing his facial expression even a little bit, he whipped his hand away from his hip and summoned a wall of neon gold light.

The metal things fired by Tony and Wellsford clipped harmlessly off the wall.  The moving heat hazes fired by Derek and Jade slammed into the wall with dull thudding noises.  The wall wobbled like a sheet of tin, but it held.

There was silence.

The man behind the wall glanced around him and stood up, smiling.  “Ah” he said, “Tony, I see you now, I was wondering whether I could expect a visit from you.”  He took another calm look around the room and went on, “and I do believe that’s Derek over there, I almost didn’t recognize you; you really have aged terribly.”  He smiled genteelly, but he didn’t lower his wall, “to what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?”

Laurie was very surprised, but she made sure to stay still, and think about what this new development meant.  Laurie took her mind off the question of just who the man was for the time being, and instead just focused on the fact that he apparently hadn’t noticed her.  The wall wasn’t a sphere; if she could just find a way to get behind him…

Tony slowly stood up out off his hiding place.  He looked like he was trying to keep his rage in check; Laurie had never thought of Tony as having rage.  He locked eyes with the man and said, “Emma’s dead, Bernard”

Bernard gave an unconcerned shrug.

Tony narrowed his eyes.  “Doesn’t that concern you?” he asked.

Bernard shrugged again and replied, “She was living on borrowed time anyway; frankly I’m surprised she survived as long as she did.”

Laurie was angry; how dare he talk about Emma like that?  For one crazy moment she seriously considered bursting out of her hiding place to yell at the man, but then she saw the look on Tony’s face and she decided it would be smarter to stay put.

Tony talked in low and dangerous tones.  “Emma idolized you” he said, “she thought of you as her father”

Bernard waved his hand around airily, but if his body language was loose and unfocused, his eyes were anything but, “perfectly understandable,” said Bernard, “after all I did save her from dying in the snow, but in the end I was always just her boss; wherever her real father was-”

“THAT DOESN’T MATTER!”  Screamed Tony; finally losing his cool.

Laurie was shocked again; she had never even heard Tony raise his voice before.  She knew she had to move, and she took advantage of Bernard’s momentary distraction to slip behind a different pillar of cubes.

“You let her think that you were dead!”  Tony went on, “why did you attack the Timetablers?  And why us; why the office?  You were one of us once; you led us once!”

Bernard smiled, “Ah, now there’s that famous temper; I didn’t think you would have grown out of it.  You know I’m not surprised it was Chief that got the position after I left.”

Tony gritted his teeth at the rebuke and growled, “Why.  Did. You.  Do.  It?”

Bernard smiled wider, and his eyes flashed; it was clear he liked the idea of being able to explain his thought processes to someone else.  He spread his arms dramatically, and for a split second he closed his eyes.

Laurie was glad for the help that Tony was giving her; she took advantage of the short pause to dart further around the room.  She could see a clear path now to Bernard’s back, now she just needed a way to get a little bit closer.

“I must have been the worst leader the Timetablers had ever had” said Bernard, “and that’s understandable; I was a demon hunter; not a Timetabler, and I didn’t have the slightest idea what I was doing.  My staff eventually learned to work around me, and that gave me a lot of time for thinking.  This whole world is run by secret government agencies, but it’s idiotic, there’s no oversight, none of them really know each other, no one knows the procedures, or even if there are procedures, and in general the whole mess is so chaotic and confused that they put a demon hunter in charge of making the trains run on time.”  His voice reached a fever pitch, and it was clear that he had reached the point of his rant, “now can you look me in the eye, Tony, and tell me that the world wouldn’t be better if we got rid of them all?”

Laurie felt a sudden thrill of the hunt, and she launched herself at Bernard; she wasn’t sure that she had managed to get close enough, but she was sure that this was the right time to attack.

Bernard spun around in shock.  His wall wavered, and suddenly everyone was moving.

Bernard clapped his hands.

Laurie landed on the grass and rolled away giggling; she had almost caught the rabbit this time; she would catch up with it someday.

She rolled into a sitting position, and looked up at the University.  The university was a beautiful thing; filled with people streaming in to learn all the mysteries of the universe; when they left they would be responsible for their own lives, and Laurie thought it was wonderful that they were given the chance to prepare.

Laurie rolled back again and lay down to feel the heat of the sun.  Humans were strong, and life was good.

Laurie listened to the sounds of crickets, and drifted off to sleep.

*

Derek looked up at the University.  It was a beautiful place; filled with people learning how the world worked so that they could take responsibility for their own lives.

Derek smiled, but then he stopped; there was something wrong with that statement.

Derek looked around him.  All of the people were walking around; making important decisions with each other and determining how best to guide their lives for the greatest prosperity to all.

Except it wouldn’t work that way.

There were lots of jobs that people didn’t want to be involved in; jobs that were unpleasant, boring, or actually dangerous.  There was for instance the job of keeping Cthulhu from rising from the sea; that wasn’t a job that people would want to do; that wasn’t even a job that people would want to know about.  Wasn’t there the department of Lovecraftian affairs to deal with that?

Derek looked around. Shouldn’t there be a lot more semi-secret quasi-government agencies around?

Suddenly Derek had a headache, he closed his eyes and held his head, and that’s when the pictures started.

People running in the street.

Trucks driving with soldiers hanging out the windows.

Fires.

Explosions

Demons

Derek opened his eyes, and then he opened them again.

Bernard was there, and Derek was glad.  He smiled and pulled out the gun that Jade had designed for him.

The heat haze slammed into Bernard, and crackled off him without doing any damage.

Derek was surprised; he had really expected that to work.  He looked around and tried to think of a way of getting past Bernard’s powers.

The answer hit Derek like a ton of bricks, and he looked at the giant brass spire in the middle of the room.

*

Laurie opened her eyes.  She felt muzzy, and she seemed to be having some trouble keeping upright.

Bernard was still standing when she had last seen him; apparently she hadn’t managed to get to him.

Laurie was a little bit disappointed that she hadn’t managed to get to him on her first try, but it was alright; because now she had a second chance.  She pulled the cube out and focused her thoughts at Bernard.

Nothing happened; nothing at all.

Laurie looked down at the cube in horror; she couldn’t understand what had gone wrong; it had always worked before.

She looked around and saw something surprising; Derek was in the centre of the room and was fighting with a thick cable that looked like it had once ran to the cube in the centre of the room.  The cable whipped in around like a high pressure hose pipe that someone had cut; huge sprays of prismatic energy filled the air and writhed like snakes.

Laurie understood; Derek had cut the wires away from the cube, and that meant that Bernard was now just a rather skinny old man.

Bernard seemed to be having some trouble recovering from whatever had happened to him, and everyone else seemed to be having some difficulty as well; Laurie was the only person who was active in the room.

Laurie smiled; it was like playing on a minigolf course where you were allowed to put your ball down within an inch of the hole.  She pointed her gun at Bernard and aimed for the glowing spot on his arm; Bernard’s cube must have been different to the other cubes since it still seemed to be fizzing with neon gold light even when Laurie’s cube was completely inert.  “Bernard” said Laurie “I’ve got one bullet in my clip just for you” and with that she pulled the trigger.

Bernard threw himself to one side, and in the containment crystal shattered harmlessly on the wall.

Laurie was horrified; she had been carrying around the gun for so long that it had just seemed like that last crystal had been made for Bernard.  She stared at Bernard with her mouth gaping and her gun held loosely in her hand.

Bernard saw the look on her face and started to laugh, “Oh dear,” he said, “How long have you been carrying that around for? Did I ruin your little story?”

Laurie numbly pulled the trigger again; as though trying to squeeze the lost drop out of a bottle that it is, in fact, empty.

The gun blazed, and Bernard fell to the floor; shards of blue glass sticking into the gold patch on his arm and drawing the neon gold light into itself.

“Oh” said Laurie, feeling very peculiar, “one in the clip, and one in the barrel”

*

It was later; things had happened.

Derek had finally gotten a chance to meet the Twins father; their meeting had been somewhat soured by the revelation that the Twins father worked for the Secret Department of public information, and had been directly responsible for both Derek and Laurie being tried by media.  The story of how Derek got him to reverse the tack they had been following and portray the two of them as heroes is a story in itself, but is far too long to do justice here.

Re-integrating twenty mentally scarred people into society was not a trivial task either, but this didn’t matter to Derek much; it was a job for Leonard and his friends, and Derek was quite glad to see him at least slightly overworked.

There had been the usual public uproar against semi-secret quasi-government organizations when the full extent of the damage to the central city became apparent, but the Department of Lovecraftian affairs had revealed a few choice pieces of information, and that brought the general public tone back to thankfulness for their blissful ignorance.  Derek didn’t care about this either; he was a demon hunter, not a city planner.

Derek wasn’t even concerned with the changes to the office.  The huge government grant to repair the destroyed buildings had included the office in the financial district, and the office was already up and running again; the driver had in fact joined them after they had gotten back; his name was John, and he and Beatrice were apparently off somewhere chasing down an old soldier’s demon.  In the mean time Chief had flown back in with a prefab building dangling underneath a helicopter with four rotors; Casper had been set up inside it apparently, but Derek hadn’t had any inclination to go and see.

Derek only had eyes for the fireworks display he was watching, and for the wife and daughter he was watching it with, and for the first time in a very long time Derek felt truly happy.

*

Laurie felt different somehow; she felt; it wasn’t exactly toughness, but she felt stronger somehow; more well rounded.

She walked up the mountain in the failing light; enjoying the burn in her legs as she did so.

It took her a little time to get the floor opened in the mountain hut, but after she had done so she took a moment to look almost reverently as its contents.

Laurie felt a sense of connection to the objects that hadn’t been there before; she was a demon hunter; part of a long tradition.  The objects in the hole were a catalogue of the organization’s history, and now she was in a position to add to it.

Laurie carefully put into the hole an oddly coloured cube and a shrunken human arm.  She smiled as she put them in; she really didn’t know what the future generations were going to make of them.

The cube and the arm sat in the hole completely inert. Laurie grinned to herself; after they had tied Bernard up she had spent almost half an hour watching the prismatic spray from the cable, and she now knew that she would have been able to see if the cubes were active.

Laurie turned on her heel and looked at the setting sun; running her thumb over her grandmother’s ring and ignoring the pain in the eyes.  She took a deep breath through her nose and started to hum to herself.

It was a song about Laurie; the demon hunter.

I’m afraid that’s all of my second book that I’ve uploaded right now, but don’t worry; I’m uploading the scenes Serially so there will  be more here tomorrow.

If you really can’t wait then you have a few options; you can get a hold of the completed dead tree version here, or you could download the PDF for any price you think is fair by clicking the download button below.

(Note: because of the way Paypal is set up it wont accept $0 as a valid donation amount; if that’s all you’re willing to pay then you can download the PDF here)

If you would like to discuss Demonic Symphony then I would like to show you it’s pages on TvTropes and the Web Fiction Guide

Finally have you checked out my other book?

Anyway, I’m glad you visted my blog, and I hope to see you again.