2.14.1

Vaulted

The man turned to the noise, and Astrid attacked.

She flew at him, uncertain if her feet even touched stone.

The S.O. loomed massive compared to his fellows. He dwarfed her in size and strength. Even hatred.

Her first bolt went wide in an effort to keep the energy away from the door and the room beyond. The man proved smart enough to not let her try again.

He charged, beat his broad forearm across her chest and crushed her body into the side wall.

Astrid’s armor took the brunt of the grinding stone at her back. She kicked ferociously, but her boots hit little more than plates and polymer.

“I know you, pup!” He spat against her face while she struggled. “You’re London’s pet!”

She sneered in return. With no room to draw a punch, and her head slightly rattled from her thrash against the wall, she reached for a more crude and proven approach. With a palm on the man’s face, and a push of her less precise cone, he flew back and into the opposite wall.

He screeched and clutched at his face where she touched him, but the weaker attack did not stop him for longer than a few moments.

Though, it granted Astrid a breath of freedom from his hold. She ducked under his next swing and struck in return. While engaged in hand to hand, she could at least lead him away to spaces in which she’d have more maneuverability. She let him chase her further from the door, and the Channelers behind it with their soldier protector.

Astrid danced under his moves. Her agility seemed to frustrate him, and his punches grew hungry and haphazard. It worked in her favor until, when she drew her pistol, in one of his chaotic hurls, he knocked the weapon away.

It clattered to the ground, and he kicked it behind him, and out of reach. He filled the hall between her and it, his own body a mountain of an obstacle.

The man himself drew something from his belt. Not a firearm, but a weapon, nonetheless.

Astrid flared up in a desperate attempt to fire off a bolt before he could employ it. But just as she gathered the energy in her palm, the pulsar stick buzzed to life and Astrid screamed.

Instantly, she couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe. What energy she gathered discharged, undirected, over herself and the space between them. The frequency reverberated much harsher, so much stronger than before. Had Astrid been able to stop screaming, she might have thrown up.

She flung herself from the noise that vibrated through her cranium and scraped her armor along the wall in her effort to get away.

“Astrid?!” Romo called her name through the comm at the sound of her cries, but she couldn’t hear it. Neither could she respond to the clamor of voices that arose in the line, alerted now something went wrong.

But she could take in nothing but the shrill, screeching torture.

When it finally stopped, Astrid found herself tucked to a corner, curled and retching air.

A fist around her ponytail hauled her back up and the man slammed her against the wall once more to resume his assault. Her body shook in its shell. And this time when her hands tried to strike back, they fell feeble in the aftermath of the pulsar.

Worse yet, Astrid couldn’t gather her abilities until she steadied the nerves in her brain.

And it gave her opponent time to stake a reckoning of his own.

He threw her to the ground.

With a grunt, she pulled up on her hands and knees, just to be kicked in the side and punted further.

She coughed and sputtered. Weak and disoriented.

The man, as though he sensed victory, split into a smirk. He drew his own gun then, ready to be done with his indulgent distraction.

She felt static at the end of the hall behind him. Known static. But she dared not call out to it.

Instead, she raised a single hand from her position on the ground. Half to protect her face, half to try for another energy burst. But the man knew better. They both did, while her brain still rattled in her skull. Light flickered weakly on her fingertips, but she just couldn’t pull it together.

“That’s not going to work, precious,” he mocked.

“I know.” She finally summoned the shaky will to speak. “I’m going to have to cheat.”

A gunshot fired from the doorway behind, and Astrid shielded her eyes from the mutilated face that came with a direct hit to the back of the head.

The man crumpled to the ground between her and Romo.

Where the agent stood, his pistol extended after the kill. And wrapped around Romo’s leg, looking out into the dim hall, clutched one of the children.

Romo replaced his gun at his side and moved to cover the child’s eyes. The boy turned his face back into the room.

Astrid panted. “Thanks…”

She coughed with relief, but again her stomach lurched. Both from the after-effects of the pulsar and the bloody vision that flashed in the corridor. She forced herself, with a stumble, onto her feet. Then stepped over the corpse to find her firearm.

Her body slickened with fresh sweat. She holstered her gun before she made her way to the end of the passage.

With it back at her hip, she rubbed at her temples and came to join the others.

“Are they okay?”

“Yeah, they’re fine,” Romo assured her, his face set. He opened the door wider for her to come inside.

The boy at his thigh, with deep black hair, left the anchor of his leg to return to this friend, a curly-haired brunette.

“It’s okay,” the child told his energy-kin. “Sammy, it’s okay.”

Astrid’s heart once again reacted to the show of affection between the children. She wanted to soothe them further, but she couldn’t promise safety. Not yet.

She looked about the small room to find a collection of toys and books. Building blocks, a couch, and a bookshelf. A playroom, she figured. But too small to hold many. Perhaps for isolation time when the kids needed a quiet place to center. It would explain the door, which seemed an uncommon addition to the cavern structure.

“There’s more,” she spoke quickly. “Nearby. I can feel them.”

“Report!” Anders shouted through the comm so sharply the pair winced.

Romo grimaced and reached for the device in his ear. “We’re fine, Lieutenant-Commander. Specialist recovered, Sir.”

But it was Tenya that replied next.

“We’re engaged, but there’s too many caverns. Some might get past us. Can you guys head them off?”

Romo and Astrid looked to one another, then to the boys.

“We can’t separate.” Romo immediately headed off the expression on Astrid’s face before she even opened her mouth.

“We can’t leave them,” she argued back with a gesture to the kids.

A presence arrived that made Astrid spin on her heels. A young woman, no more than seventeen, ran at them headlong.

But no white-noise static confused her purpose. Her intent read quite clear.

“Team Two?”

“Yes, Sir. Heard.” Romo reported to Anders.

Astrid put herself between the charging teen and Romo. She displayed her palms.

“Whoa, whoa, hold up! We’re friendlies!”

The girl skidded to a stop under a bob of red-ginger hair. Her brown eyes gleamed with distrust and the young woman threw her hand up in a show of force.

Astrid would have smirked would it not seem condescending. This student couldn’t be any stronger in her abilities than the specialist before she left Endra. Pitifully limited. But that didn’t stop the student from faking it, regardless.

“Those children belong to the Sanctuary! I won’t let you take them!” Her words barreled over the soldiers.

“We’re with the Earthen Military Service!” Romo tried. Beyond him the boys still huddled. He instinctually shielded them with his body still, even if needless.

“I’m from Sanctuary Endra,” Astrid attempted instead. “I’m like you.”

“Prove it!” the girl demanded.

Astrid smiled at that. “Okay. I’m going to reach under my armor, alright? Nice and slow. Watch my hand.”

The girl twitched at the motion. But she waited while Astrid carefully dug under plates and underarmor for the chain of her necklace.

It came only with a bit of work, nestled so tight beneath her gear. But finally, the specialist dug the quartz into her skin enough to slip it out from underneath the edge of her armor.

It caught the light, along with her tags.

The girl’s eyes widened to see the crystal. But after a beat, her face hardened once more. “You could have taken it!”

Astrid resisted the urge to sigh.

Her power, still slightly unstable from her recent exposure to the pulsar stick, warbled to establish a connection with the crystal. The lantern light of the room wavered, an unintentional side effect of residual instability.

But after a few seconds, she managed to pull it together for a gentle glow. The redhead lowered her hand.

“You are one of us,” she decided. “Who are you?”

“Astrid Hale,” the specialist answered quickly. “What’s your name?”

“Riley Ann.”

Thank the stars, Astrid thought to herself. She looked to Romo, then the boys. Then into the hall, to a Sanctuary still under siege.

“Riley, can you keep the boys safe? We need to stop them from taking any more.”

“Yeah. I mean ‘yes’.” The girl hurried to answer. She angled herself around the armored fighters, eager to close the distance to the younglings. Once within reach, both children instantly wrapped themselves to her—the one familiar person in the room.

Astrid nodded, then looked to Romo. “Then we need to go.”

The agent moved for one of the couches and hauled it closer to the door on their way out.

“You put this behind us, okay?” He instructed. “You close this door and barricade it, and don’t answer it for anyone you don’t know.”

“I will,” Riley insisted.

Astrid helped her partner draw furniture as close to position as they could and still slip out, then she and Romo moved on. Already she felt more nearby, Statics and Channelers alike. Children.

As asked, the moment the soldiers returned to the corridor, the door shut behind them with a heavy thud, and the grinding sound of wood against stone signaled the teen carried out their advice.

“Lieutenant-Commander.” Astrid took to the comms while her senses returned to her. “We’ve got two more targets nearby. We’re going to handle them then work our way back.”

“Make it quick, Specialist.”