Fox leaned back against the wall of the office he was still holed up in frantically running through scenarios trying to figure out the best course of action. Things must be going poorly outside for Jasmine to risk using “Event Horizon” and now with her having lost control, she was rapidly turning into a threat equal to or greater than the troops occupying the base.

  He had scrolled back to the notification that Star had engaged a Supernormal which explained why she wasn’t with the team and squared with the enemy reports of someone missing named “Hammerdown”. But that just added to his worries. She was so raw. He would never question Dani’s drive but a trained Supernormal operator would be incredibly dangerous.

  Realistically the odds of him being able to rescue the boy had dropped sharply if he didn’t have the support of his team and if Jasmine had lost control the boy was in even more danger. Coming to a decision Fox tuned back into his microphones. The boy was the mission and he needed to attempt to complete it.

  “Let the commander know that she needs to get up here.”

  Fox made his decision. There wasn’t going to be an easy way and fighting the Phantom Queen was going to be inevitable. It was time to thin the opposition.

  Fox activated “Silent Movement” and took aim at the two hostiles he could see from his position. The communications officer was the first to go down on the dias followed quickly by the Officer, but he was already moving after the second shot knowing that surprise would only take him so far.

  He moved into the room crouched low and started picking off targets near to far. The low light filters on his mask allowing him to quickly identify his targets. The two soldiers by the door were quickly dispatched as their attention was drawn to the officer as he collapsed. Fox followed up by picking off another two soldiers looking over a map of the base and its layout. “Silent Movement” making it so that Fox’s weapon made virtually no sound as he picked off his targets.

  It wasn’t to last though as the soldiers guarding the exit door on the other side of the room finally realized they were under attack and returned fire. Fortunately for Fox, their return fire was wild and shredded the wall and seats in front of him but the cold truth was he didn’t have any decent cover.

  He quickly snapped off two shots and possibly scored a hit on one of the two men but he didn’t have time to confirm it as he dove away from his current position as bullets shredded the area.

  “Go find the commander!” one of the men yelled while the other took off out of the room.

  Fox popped up out of his roll and shot out the lights behind the gunman casting the area in deeper shadows. He began to transition into “Shadow Step” when felt pain explode over his left side almost breaking his concentration. Stumbling out of his “Shadow Step” behind the hostile he put a few rounds into the back of the man dropping him. The pop of his weapon was suddenly loud in the space as he could no longer hold “Silent Movement”.

  He quickly checked his side to see that his suit had held but was now sporting two telltale black impact marks on his ribs. His side hurt like a son of a bitch and it made it hard to breathe but he started working on the mental exercises to compartmentalize the pain. He reactivated “Silent Movement” and turned on his infrared filter to see if he could locate any hidden enemies or the soldier who had run from the room. The path looked clear so he started down the hallway thankful for “Silent Movement” as he could hear how ragged his breath sounded in this helmet.

  Finally turning a corner he found himself at a door that led to another door just outside the building. It was definitely the bunker as the old Cold War-era steel door had been welded shut. The soldier Fox had been looking for was speaking into a modern communications console that had been mounted by the door.

  “Commander requesting assistance! The command station is under…”

  He never finished his statement as Fox put a round through the back of his head. The soldier collapsed his head smashing the communications console as he went down in a heap.

  Fox quickly looked over the door and realized it was indeed welded shut from the inside and the only way in would be to blow it open or maybe Dani could tear it open. Regardless, he wasn’t equipped to break in and would need assistance. Realizing that he wasn’t in a great tactical position Fox assessed his options and quickly decided that retreating and regrouping with Wolf Unit was probably the best play. As he turned to begin navigating around the building a voice spoke.

  “Well, that was just rude Master Segreant Takahashi. You could have let the poor man finish his sentence.”

  Fox was stunned and started looking around wildly. His visor didn’t show anyone near him.

  I peal of laughter rang out before the voice spoke again. “Adorable. You realize you’d be dead by now if I wanted to kill you right? You’re going to want to either shut off whatever electronics you’re looking through in that admittedly very cool-looking mask or take it off,” the voice said.

  Fox quickly reached into a recess of his mask for a hidden button and killed the electronics leaving him looking through a yellow-tinted visor.

  Standing in front of him was a woman with long white hair and ice-blue eyes. She stood loosely with her hip cocked and her hands lightly resting on the pistols holstered on each hip. She wore a short black jacket with white accents that was left open over what looked like some kind of white leotard. It had a high neck with a diamond cutout exposing impressive cleavage while being trimmed with red accents. The leotard was cut high enough that some of her hips were exposed over the waist of her pants which were skintight with a black and white pattern of black on the outside of her legs and white on the inside. It was a striking look with a bizarre mix of urban tactical and tech gear. The fact the woman in front of Fox was stunningly gorgeous lent evidence to the idea its desired effect was probably as a distraction.

  “The Phantom Queen I presume?” Fox addressed the woman unsure of what she wanted.

  The woman rolled her eyes and waved a hand dismissively. “Even I’m not that pretentious. You can call me Morrigan. The Phantom Queen stuff is something my organization decided to spread around.”

  “Okay, Morrigan. What do you want if you’re not going to kill me?” Fox asked.

  “I’m sure this is not very professional of me from my organization's standpoint but I simply wanted to meet you. You’ve been very disruptive to many of my operations you know.”

  Fox was absolutely reeling. He had been completely caught dead to rights and Morrigan instead of putting a bullet into him wanted to talk. He had no idea what to do but the danger radiating off this woman was almost palpable. Feeling like he didn’t have any choice he decided to keep talking.

  “I could say the same thing. You’re responsible for destroying my last unit,” Fox replied with some heat.

  Morrigan cocked her head and her eyes lost focus for a moment as she recalled what Fox was referring to. As soon as she looked distracted Fox began subtly moving his pistol when Morrigan’s eyes seemed to flicker red for a second.

  “Now, now, Master Sergeant let's keep this civil for now, shall we? I’m not stupid enough to expect you to holster your weapon but please be a dear and stop trying to line up a shot,” she said picking up instantly on Fox’s movements.

  “Fine,” Fox responded by dropping his pistol into a ready position but no longer directly pointed at Morrigan.

  “Thank you. It’s nice we can be civil. Also, I remember your unit now. Hound and Major Hanson if I recall correctly. I’m not sure exactly what caught his attention on that mission in Kuwait but it seemed he figured out that the oil field wasn’t strategic enough to draw the deployment of a US Special Forces unit. He was right and it was a shame he started digging around after Kuwait and got on my organization’s radar. The whole thing was a misdirection to allow my organization to take possession of a high-level Supernormal with a unique ability.

  “Wolf Leader,” Fox said almost in a whisper.

  “You got it in one. Yes, we know all about Captain Williams,” said Morrigan. “You’ve got some leaks in that chain of command and had I known I would have another chance at her I would have prepared better. It’s a shame we’ve missed her twice now, although, I do wish she wasn’t trying to destroy Mount Horace Greeley presently, but I do have to give you credit, this new Supernormal you’ve brought with you looks even more promising.”

  “So all this was a ploy to lure us here?”

  Morrigan laughed at Fox. “Oh God no. We just wanted to get Markus out of the country. We expected a response but we didn’t expect the President to send the Supernormal Tactics and Response Team before you’d even been sanctioned, and we didn’t expect you to be deployed so quickly. I surely didn’t expect the hand of God to ruin my plans with this damnable snowstorm.”

  “Why are you being so honest?” Fox asked, his mind racing to figure this woman out.

  “Why not? It’s not going to change anything, and frankly, I like getting to know my opponents. Today’s opponent could be tomorrow's ally after all.”

  Suddenly a large piece of metal from the roof groaned and peeled back before shearing away to be sucked toward Captain Willams on the other side of the building.

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  “Well, it looks like we’re running out of time. Any more questions or do you want to jump to the shooting?” Morrigan asked Fox while pointing a finger gun at him.

  “Actually yes. Something has been bothering me since you appeared. Why couldn’t I see you through my helmet today but I could see you just fine at the mall?” Fox asked the white-haired woman.

  “Oh, that’s easy. I have a passive ability that makes me invisible to optical technology. I’m guessing your super fancy helmet has all sorts of little sensors that feed into that visor. That means you’re looking at a data feed and not with your actual eyeballs. At the mall, I was actively suppressing this ability so that I would be visible. And before you ask why, I did it so your Secretary of Supernormal Affairs would know it was their nanny, and to let the President know my organization could get to anyone in his cabinet. Dirty pool, but that’s the job,” she explained with a shrug.

  Fox was rarely flustered but this woman had him completely unsure. She was nothing like what he had expected and even though they were clearly enemies he found himself believing that she genuinely wanted to talk to him. If it was a psychological tactic it was a damn good one.

  Suddenly, one of Morrigan's soldiers came around the corner. The man’s eyes widened and he yelled, “Commander look out!” before raising his SMG and firing at Fox.

  Fox was caught flat-footed but tried his best to twist away from the trajectory of the barrel and minimize his profile his ribs screaming at him the whole time. All he could do at that point was hope that his suit would hold but the impact never came. Just the sound of rounds hitting something.

  When he focused back on the Morrigan a metal-looking shield was floating in front of the soldier blocking the shots. Morrigan’s eyes were a bright red color and she had a look of intense irritation on her beautiful face.

  “That’s enough soldier. I was trying to have a conversation with Mr. Fox over there and you are making it very difficult,” she snapped at the confused-looking soldier.

  “But…they’re the enemy,” the soldier replied bewilderedly.

  “I’m very aware of who they are soldier,” Morrigan replied with a glare so sharp it could split an atom. “You're here to tell me the situation is out of control. That the attacking Supernormal with the gravity ability is causing chaos and that our losses have mounted to a critical level. Let me save you some time. Disengage and pull all units that are still capable back to point Bravo. Our friend here will communicate that our troops have retreated while we all try not to get sucked into the event horizon forming out there. Hammerdown and I will handle any further engagements. In the event, he’s not dead or incapacitated of course.

  “Ma’am?”

  “Go!” Morrigan snapped at the soldier who turned and tore ass away from his commander to relay her orders.

  Morrigan closed her eyes and blew out a breath and when she reopened them they back to their ice-blue color. “I apologize for that. I’m well aware that ultimately we are going to try and cause each other grievous bodily harm but I don’t see any point in letting our teams continue to take unnecessary losses. This situation has advanced past the rank-and-file anyway with Captain Williams out there.”

  “That’s very reasonable of you,” Fox replied while quickly typing out a message to Overwatch explaining that the enemy troops were pulling back. “There, I’ve let our command chain know that your troops are pulling back. We don’t have a solution for Wolf Leader but you must know that I can’t let you leave with Markus.”

  Morrigan grimaced at that statement before replying, “You might find this odd considering the circumstances, but I find this whole kidnapping of a child distasteful. I grew rather fond of Markus during my time with him and find no real joy in what I’ve done to him or his family. My organization, however, finds this sort of thing to be effective, and as I know you are well aware, orders often don’t align with a moral compass.”

  “And who is your organization?” Fox asked as another tremor caused the building to groan.

  “We are known as SUN and that is all I will tell you, but you have intersected with us more times than you realize. My organization strongly opposes your government and the power it exerts on the globe, but when how we announce ourselves is not in my pay grade,” Morrigan explained while six metal shields slowly formed behind her spread out like wings.

  “I have to say I find you fascinating and I can’t help but wish that maybe we could have met under different circumstances,” Fox said to the white-haired woman while moving back into a ready position. His XM17 now tracking back to be just off center mass of the enemy commander.

  “The feeling is mutual Master Sergeant Takahashi, but our time for pleasantries is unfortunately

  over. I need to move Markus and as enjoyable as it’s been to chat I am well aware of our diverging goals,” Morrigan said as her eyes changed to red indicating the activation of an ability.

  “Okay I don’t have any great ideas so I’m going to go try and talk to her and see if I can get any traction. If that doesn’t work I’ll probably just shoot her,” I explained, belatedly realizing that was exactly what Brunner had done.

  “Isn’t that what Wolf Two did and you slapped him into the dirt for it?” Andre quipped.

  “Yes, but the difference is that you all know that’s the plan so you hopefully won’t be angry when I shoot our good captain. Listen, I do have a super vague idea but quantum mechanics wasn’t exactly something I excelled at,” I shot back.

  “How close do you think you can get to her?” Laurel asked.

  “I have no idea. My strength and durability are well above normal but I’ve never been measured against something like that gravity disk. What are you thinking?”

  “We don’t want to hurt her if we don’t have to, so I was thinking that if you could get in the sweet spot behind her maybe you’d be strong enough to resist the gravity effects long enough to inject her with a sedative,” Laurel explained.

  “Do we have a sedative? Wolf Three is on the RAID,” I asked looking at the remnants of Wolf Unit.

  “I do. I have an expanded medical kit as part of my communications pack,” Heidi answered. She turned with a grimace reminding me that she was injured and should probably be back at the RAID herself. Laurel quickly opened a compartment on her backpack and pulled out a medical jet injector. After she closed up Heidi’s pack she handed me the device.

  “This jet injector is preloaded with a sedative that should be enough to knock her out. The problem of course, is that you will need to be close enough to apply it to a bare patch of skin,” explained Laurel.

  I frowned looking back over at Wolf Leader floating off the ground as debris continued to swirl around her before being sucked into the gravity disk. “Um, you do realize she’s floating right? Will this work through her tactical suit?”

  “No. If it was regular clothes that had an open weave it would work but our tactical suits aren’t built like that,” Andre interjected.

  “Great,” I grumbled but quickly shoved that attitude away. This was Captain Williams and the whole reason she was in trouble was because she was trying to save her team. She was one of my mentors and while I never connected with her like I did Fox, I never felt like she never gave me anything but her best when teaching. I needed to help her.

  “Never mind, let's do this. You all stay out of trouble while I’m gone okay?” I said to Wolf Unit with my best glare, which I’m sure was undermined by the fact that I was dirty and disheveled from my fight with Hammerdown.

  “Chère, you offend us. The trouble always seems to come looking for you and we just happen to be standing next to you. Once you leave we’ll be safe as can be,” was Andre’s retort.

  “Enough,” Laurel said cutting through the banter. “Let's get back on mission. Whenever you’re ready Star. We’ll stay here but if things look like they are going south we’ll reassess whether to retreat to the RAID.”

  “Roger that,” I said acknowledging Wolf Five as the functional commander of the unit. “Alright, I’m off. Stay safe and see you soon.”

  With that, I launched myself toward Captain Williams making sure I had stashed the sedative in a hidden pocket on my suit. Flying was getting more and more difficult not only because of the constant debris but because the air itself was getting more and more turbulent. It wasn’t a long flight but I was pelted the whole way.

  I landed about twenty yards behind Captain Williams and could already feel a constant pull of gravity toward her. My cape was plastered to my back as the pull caused it to billow out around me, and my hair which was already messy, was straining to escape the ponytail I’d placed it into after my fight with Hammerdown.

  “CAPTAIN WILLIAMS…WOLF LEADER!” I yelled at the woman floating in front of me to no response. Due to my position behind her, I didn’t have the best look at her but she looked like she was completely enthralled by her ability.

  I remembered back to one of my lectures with Doctor Rokker where he explained that some Supernormal abilities can have a euphoric effect on the user. Where once activated the user can go into an autonomous state where the ability runs on autopilot until the user either exerts their will or runs out of energy.

  I was fortunate that my abilities didn’t have that type of effect on me. I felt a pleasant tingle when I used my energy discharge ability and it was stronger when I was near the limit of what I could store but nothing that came even close to overriding my senses. I felt for Captain Williams in this regard. For someone who prided themselves on personal discipline, it had to be immensely frustrating to have this ability and not be able to control it.

  Not getting any response I decided to try and move closer and see if the sedative plan could work. I slowly closed the distance feeling the pull of gravity steadily increasing with each step. After only a few feet I was gritting my teeth as both the pull of the disk and the increased gravity were making it difficult to move and hold my position.

  At about the halfway point I was starting to be pulled off my feet as the pull toward the gravity disk was threatening to overpower my ability to stay grounded. I was already using my flight ability to push against gravity to help keep my feet planted, but at this point, I realized I wouldn’t be able to get to Wolf Leader. I might be able to survive the increased gravity but I wouldn’t be able to keep my feet and would get sucked toward the disk. I didn’t like my chances of surviving that from seeing firsthand the way things were being atomized.

  I fought my way back to a spot where I could hold my position without being in imminent danger of being sucked off my feet and decided to try talking to Wolf Leader one more time in the hope that somehow I could get through to her.

  “CAPTAIN WILLIAMS! You’ve got to listen. Your team is in danger. Fox is in danger. We need you to get control,” I yelled again at Wolf Leader.

  There was no visible reaction so I grit my teeth and tried again. “JASMINE! YOU…ARE…STRONGER…THAN..THIS…PLEASE! There are so many reasons I look up to you, but it’s your unbreakable will that I admire most. I know that no matter what you will always look after your team. I know you don’t love being stuck with me but I hope so much to make you proud of me one day. PLEASE…Captain get control or I’m going to have to shoot you. I don’t want to do that but you’re becoming a danger to the civilians! To us!”

  I thought maybe I saw her eye twitch, but in the end, my plea didn’t seem to have any effect. I felt my shoulders slump as I realized that I was down to my final option. In that moment I felt every bump and bruise I had accumulated over the course of the day. I had hoped that it wouldn’t come to this and suddenly an image of Hammerdown with two holes burned through his chest came rushing to my mind. I didn’t even know if anyone had checked on him or if he was still lying there in the snow.

  My lizard brain recognized that Hammerdown was trying to kill me, but I still felt like I should have been able to do something different to avoid the outcome. One thing I was sure of, was that I’d have plenty to work through when and if I had time to finally unpack it all.

  Most of all, I just didn’t want to have to risk repeating that outcome with my commander. This was not the same as Hammerdown. Jasmine wasn’t trying to do all of this. She just needed help.

  “Argh,” I let out a scream of frustration.