Star Crossed: Finding the other - 14. First Mission Picture

Norian

The entire squad and I are sitting at a large round table.

A giant monitor on the wall shows a map of the base that Mekaias will be infiltrating.

We just learned that the computer at the tallest tower of the base is run by humans, not androids.

Mekaias didn’t really give a reaction to that. I thought he would have frowned or something since he had asked if he would need to kill anyone.

Well we could arrest them, if they gave us the chance.

Sadly, they tend to have a rather...suicidal attitude if they are caught out. They try and do all they can to kill you. I am sure they will do the same here.

I am not sure if I should tell Mekaias about that small piece of information.

The squad and I will be on the ground floor causing mayhem. A few other squads will also be hitting other sections of the base.

We are all pretty much counting on Mekaias to get the information on our hard drive.

He won’t be entirely alone. He will be given a helmet that allows us all to communicate.

There is also the fact that the Director will have access to the cameras. He will guide Mekaias throughout the base and everything should run smoothly.

As soon as the information is retrieved, everyone is told to drop what they are doing and use the shuttles to get back to the ship safely.

After the meeting, we all went to get changed into our suits and decided to kill time before we are given the go ahead.

Mekaias’ suit is very...interesting.

The outside of his thighs are not entirely covered. They have a thin veil of fabric that makes it darker yet they aren’t covered like the rest of the suit.

Well, the inside of his biceps are the same way.

After questioning it, Remelia says it’s to help give off the pheromones that he releases.

I don’t see why anyone else should be smelling those pheromones but if it helps him in combat then it’s fine. I guess.

It's a lot tighter than our suits. I guess since he is doing more stealthy things “behind the scenes”, that will help him keep quieter.

His helmet has cat ears for his actual ears to slip in. I think its cute!

It's all black with purple accents around the legs and arms. He looks pretty good in the suit.

I would personally like to take it off of him but that thought will come for another day.

“Come on, guys! Just one picture. I promise!” Remy calls out with his phone in his hand. “We should take a picture for Mekaias’ first mission with us!”

He turns to Mekaias and nudges his shoulder. “You’re one of us now.”

He smiles up at Remy and nods in agreement for the picture.

Remelia and I groan and roll our eyes.

Remy holds the phone above him and pulls Mekaias next to him. Remelia brings up a peace sign and I pull a wide smile.

George is in the far back with his hand raised.

Not even going to smile I guess.

“What does that mean?” Mekaias turns to Remelia and copies the peace sign with both of his hands.

“It means peace. Now look into the camera,” Remy says with his teeth closed together and not even taking his eyes off the camera.

Mekaias turns to the camera and pulls up two peace signs on other side of his face, pulling the brightest smile ever.

My own smile doesn’t feel so fake after seeing that.

“Wow you’re better at taking pictures than these two! Remind me to take more pictures with you. I’m sure we’ll get loads of reactions for that.” Remy winks and falls into a chair posting the picture.

“Save yourself while you can,” Remelia sighs as if this would lead into a tragedy.

She then walks off to prep her weapons.

Mekaias wanders off to look at my battleaxe.

I do love that weapon. It can be a regular large ax or a nice big gun when I point the tip and pull the trigger. Why would I need anything else?

He runs his claws against the blade.

He has claws now apparently. I don’t know how I didn’t notice when I met him, but I sure felt them a few nights ago.

He must have moved while he was sleeping and snipped my stomach.

“Squads one through six, prepare to move out.” The Director’s voice calls through the speakers.

Here we go! I am sure it will all be fine.

~~

Well, I didn’t realize I would feel so stressed during something as simple as this.

Mekaias doesn’t really seem to like replying to our questions through the comms in our helmets. The Director does say he is alright however.

A little frustrating but I trust him.

Mekaias can handle himself. I'll have to keep repeating that in my head every three seconds.

“Behind you!” Remelia shouts and shoots at two androids that seemed to have popped out of nowhere.

“Concentrate, Norian!” She glares and turns her back to me.

Right.

I need to concentrate.

No need to freak out about your soulmate who is alone in a Firelight base filled with androids.

Who’s idea was this? Who thought Mekaias should go alone?

I need to stop.

The androids are out here now.

He is fine. He is safe. He can handle himself.

“An android has spotted our shuttle," George says. "I’ll find somewhere clear and send my coordinates to your helmets.”

Okay so we don’t have a way out now!

Hopefully Mekaias doesn’t get the information quickly.

Around twenty androids begin marching out of a door that opens beside us.

I cross my arm over in front of me, a shield materializes and completely covers the front of us.

Remelia and Remy immediately point their guns and start shooting through our shield. The androids fire at us and their bullets get absorbed.

With a press of a button, the shield shines green before shooting all their bullets back at the androids.

One by one they begin to fall over until there are none to come for us.

All of a sudden, a gigantic purple explosion goes off above us.

The top of the base has glass falling down and smoke beginning to fly out.

“Mekaias!" I shout. "Are you there?”

I keep the shield up and let the siblings gun down any others that try and come our way.

I feel my heart beating so hard in my chest right now that it feels like it’s going to burst.

“I’m fine." Mekaias' voice says softly. I barely even heard him.

I give a sigh of relief.

I’m so damn happy to hear his voice!

“It’s not here,” He says more clearly.

Shit.

All of this was for nothing?

I had high hopes for this one.

“That’s okay, Mekaias," I say. "It happens. We need to get out now. Do you need help coming down?”

I turn to look at Remy and Remelia and they nod. We're ready to go up to help.

“No, I can come down on my own.” He says

The Director’s voice suddenly can be heard.

“All squads clear out and head to homeship, now.”

He doesn’t sound too happy.

“Tell me when Mekaias is out," George calls out, “I’ll try and pick you up over there.”

~~

“And did he give you permission to check the footage?” The Director crosses his arms and doesn’t move from his seat.

“No, but I doubt he would even care," I look down at him and frown. "I always check the video footage after every mission anyways. Why are you hiding this one?”

This isn’t normal.

What could have possibly happened in there that I shouldn’t see?

“I don’t know how you are going to handle this one. It was...pretty big,” He sighs and then begins typing on his monitor.

Eventually a video pulls up and he waves me over to watch.

"Would you like me to start from the beginning or get straight to the point?"

~~
~~

Mekaias

I gently push a vent open and slip down onto the ground in a hallway.

Inside seems like the outside.

Cold metal everywhere with blinking blue lights in several places.

“Okay Mekaias, are you ready?” Kane’s voice comes in through my helmet.

“I'm ready,” my voice shakes.

I look up and see a small camera sitting in the corner of the hallway.

“They can’t see you right now. We have full control of the cameras," says. “Now, turn to the left, there is an android there but his back is to you.”

I follow his directions and I am greeted with the smooth grey back of an android.

These are aren’t very human looking.

They look like they are skeletons instead.

I sneak up behind it and summon a blade to cut into its neck.

Blue fluids slide out as the wires and tubing are ripped apart. Its body collapses and the lights of its eyes fade into grey.

Good to see they are just as easily destroyed as the ones from home.

“Right then!"

I jump a little at Kane’s voice in my head.

“Sorry," He quickly says. "You’ll want to make another left up here.”

I wander around the base.

There aren’t very many androids as of now. They are all outside with the squad.

I hope they are safe.

Almost instantly I hear Norian’s voice.

“You alright, Mekaias?” I mentally sigh a bit and keep going.

I can’t exactly speak right now.

I look towards a camera and Kane seems to get the message.

“He is fine,” Kane simply says.

I would have hoped for a nicer reply but I guess that's fine.

An android pops out from a corner and instantly makes a grab for my neck.

I duck down and punch out at it knees.

The power behind the punches cuts through the metal and wires.

It falls down to the ground and I punch into its head.

It stops moving instantly.

“Well, you sure have changed,” Kane huffs into my ear. “Use the elevator at the end of the hall.”

I push the button to call it down.

Instantly I hear metal clicking behind me.

I turn to the side and see the wall has little panels on the sides that should be easy enough to hide next to.

I press myself tight against the wall and wait for the android to come out.

The clicking stops close by.

“It’s checking the downed robot. It’s heading your direction now.”

The clicking starts up again.

I wait for it to be in front of me and then lash out.

I summon a long staff and swing at its chest.

It grabs the staff against its chest and throws it, along with me, onto the floor at its feet.

I grunt at the impact and it moves one of its hands to my face.

It’s palm opens up and what looks like the end of a gun is pointed at my nose.

With a wave of my hand, violet energy pushes the android into the wall.

I jump up and summon a knife and cut into it’s back, opening it up and pulling out wires.

When it stops moving, the elevator dings and opens.

I give a small sigh and walk in.

“Anything I should be expecting when I get to the top?” I ask.

“As soon as the door opens, you will be in a room set for their security. Lasers will be involved. They move back and forth so you need to be very careful. On the other side of the security room, there are three humans. All loaded with guns by the way. I believe one is talking to a hologram but they aren’t picked up on cameras unfortunately.”

I give a nod and stretch my arms over my head.

The elevator opens and bright blue lines of light begin move back and forth in this gigantic hallway.

It is an incredibly tall hallway.

Why would they need such a tall room?

I take a deep breath and walk into the room.

Every Now and then a laser would come in my direction and I just have to jump over or roll under it.

This is fairly easy to do. I am already halfway to the door!

All of a sudden the floor beneath me starts sliding up.

The floor in front of me is slower to rise up and it begins to make me slide down, the lasers coming at me faster now.

I use my gloves to push onto the ground to slow me down but it's no use!

I start breathing a little faster and I practically throw myself into the air as a laser swipes down at my feet.

I plant myself as low as I can be to the floor as another laser is too high for me to jump.

I turn my face to the side and grit my teeth as it grazes the top of the helmet.

Thankfully I don’t feel anything touch my ear.

The lasers stop coming and the floor falls back down to the ground.

I am at their door now.

That’s a stupid design for security! It brought me right to their door!

I stand and bring my hand to the door but then the sides of the walls open up little holes.

A sound of a machine starting up goes off and I duck down as fast as I can.

Over my head, blue lasers run side to side in a perfect line.

After about ten seconds they disappear and the holes in the wall are covered.

I let out a small breath of air and stand up.

“Nothing to say about that?” I ask with a smirk.

I am only met with silence.

“Kane?” I frown and look at the door.

I can only go one way now, I guess.

I already forgot how I came up here.

I ready a shield with one hand and a dagger in the other.

I push the door open.

Instantly I am being showered with bullets.

The shield stops them all easily and the bullets fall down at my feet.

I throw my knife at one of the shooters and they fall backwards, their arms flailing which causes them to shoot another.

I hide behind a column and put away the shield.

Using that too much makes me head hurt.

The other shooter shouts for someone else to hurry.

I don’t know where the third human is.

I peek over and see the shooter is facing the other human.

I lunge in forward and teleport on top of him.

I land on his shoulders and cross my thighs on either side of his head.

I throw my body to the side twisting his neck before landing on my feet.

I look around for the other person and find them looking at me in horror with another person in front of them.

I instantly feel my blood run cold.

The man with the scarred face is looking at me in shock.

It soon turns into an evil grin.

It’s the man who killed my mother.

Tanner.

“Well, well," He chuckles. "You’ll be happy to hear that the information you’ve been looking for has been deleted. It was old news anyway.” He gives a small shrug then a smirk. “I’ll be seeing you soon, pet.”

He starts laughing and shaking his head.

I growl and raise both my hands in front of me.

All around me energy begins flowing into a ball that grows larger and larger.

The human in front of Tanner starts screaming and trying to back themselves against the glass windows.

I throw the ball of energy at Tanner and it just goes through him.

He disappears into static.

I am confused only for a moment as the ball instead hits the human cowering in fear.

A bright explosion goes off and glass shatters everywhere.

Smoke from machines near the glass windows are now on fire, causing smoke to trail outside.

I fall to my knees and slam my fist into the ground, energy comes out in the hit and smashes the floor.

It was just a stupid projection!

He wasn’t here, yet he was so close!

“Mekaias! Are you ok?” I hear Norian cry out into my head. It sound like some distant echo in my mind.

I blink and whisper a reply. I am not even sure what I said. I just hear ringing in my ears.

I sigh and stand. “It’s not here.”

Kane’s voice finally reaches me as I leave the room. “Mekaias? Are you alright? I believe I can reach you now. They must have put a block in the room that stopped us from communicating. I saw everything however. Are you alright?”

I nod but remember he doesn’t see me now.

“Okay well...I want you to keep this between us for now," He says. "I don’t want everyone to get riled up about this.”

Oh wait he can see me.

I look over at a camera in the middle of the laser room.

I nod again and walk to the elevator.

No lasers or floors turning into gigantic slides this time.

“Mekaias?” There is a slight pause. “Do you want to talk about it?”

I sigh and look straight at the camera in the elevator.

“Please leave me alone right now, Kane. Just tell me how to get out.” I lean over to rest my head on the wall and keep silent.

I stay silent till I get to Norian.

I’m glad he pulls into the tightest hug without asking.

Once George picks us up, I throw my helmet off and bury my face into Norian's neck. Anything to get as much of his scent in my nose as possible.

It smells like what I imagine Alentia would smell like. Wood and maybe magic if it had a smell.

I keep myself together on the ride back.

I need to get to the shower.

I need time alone.

Time to bring myself together.

I don’t want to think about what just happened.

It...it hurts.

As soon as I am back in the room, I strip from the suit on the way to the restroom and blast the shower on.

I need it to burn me.

I sink down onto the ground and summon a blade. I even add a little energy to really make it hot.

I need as much pain as I can get right now. I don’t want to think about my mother. I don’t want to think about Tanner. I just don’t want to feel it right now. All I have is the sirens in my head screaming at me.

They have not stopped since I have left that firelight base.

It’s hurting me!

Before I can even bring the blade to my arm, the shower is cut off and a shadow is over me.

I look up and see Norian’s face filled with worry.

I glare at him with hot tears streaming down my face.

I throw the knife onto the floor but it disappears into nothing before it hits the ground.

Norian picks me up and places me on his lap. He covers me in a towel and rocks us back and forth. He rubs my back and kisses the top of my head.

I cover my face with my hands to stop the shaking my body is doing.

I do not want to cry. I do not want to feel. I press my hands hard into my eyes.

I don’t want this fucking power! I don’t want any of this!

A faint voice calls over the piercing sirens in my head. I try and listen for it but the noises keeps going.

Norian lowers his head on top of mine and the vibrations of his voice help soothe me.

I keep trying to concentrate on him and the screeching slowly die down.

Soon it's enough that I realize Norian is singing.

It’s not a language I know, yet it sounds so calm and peaceful.

I-I think that’s what I want.

Calm and peaceful.

Norian keeps singing until I stop shaking.

He keeps himself wrapped around me like a shield.

“Should we move to the bed, Starshine?” He asks softly.

I give a small nod.

He lifts me up and carries me to our bed. He doesn’t even put clothes on me. He wraps himself around me again and starts humming the song again.

I turn to look out the window at all the stars.

I don’t need to count this time. Norian’s soft humming slowly draws me to sleep.