Kinetics (17 page)

We all picked up our phones. 

"Why are you giving us
guns?" Ronnie picked up one of the pistols from the table.

"You don't have to take them,
but you have the option." Sam handed the pistol he held out to me. 

I took it. 

"I think I'll stick with my
electricity." He put the gun he’d picked up back down onto the table.

"The watch has a holographic
imager, it can overlay maps, and other things onto your surroundings." he
picked up a small box, "this has an antigravity generator.  It can only do
short bursts, but it will allow you to land gently when you jump out of the
plane."

"Jump out of a plane?"
Kenny protested taking a few steps back holding his hands up.

"The plan." we all followed
him over to a table with a black glass top, "I have to thank Rachel for
the Intel, and it has been verified."  He pressed a button on the table. 
A perfect image of the facility that we escaped from appeared hovering over the
table, rotating slowly.

"Has it already been
rebuilt?" I asked looking for my cell where I had spent so much time.

"It has and as far as the public
is concerned, they begin producing power tomorrow.  Here is the part that we
are interested in; their communication network goes back online tomorrow
morning with the power.  Which means they haven't backed up their computer
system since the incident."

Rachel nodded.

"Wasn't everything
destroyed?" Ronnie circled the table taking in every detail.

"The local computer core is far
underground." Sam zoomed into a room that was underground; the walls
vanished showing a computer the size of an SUV.

"Why is the information so important?"
I asked.

"There are hundreds of petabytes
of information, that could lead us God knows where.  We could help more like
us."

“We might be able to get some insight
on what they had planned for you.” Ryder commented.

“Exactly right.” Sam said.

"What does it matter if we do it
now or after the back up?"

"When they back up the computer,
any and all data that is not in use for particular projects will be removed,
and only available on the main database.  To this day we do not know the
location of the main database."

"So what's the plan then?"
I asked.

"We will fly over the complex in
the early morning before the sun is up.  The five of you will jump from the
plane, and land near the complex, and then you will get inside.  Once inside
you will make your way to the local central computer database." He held up
one of four thumb drives. "Once there, the system uses custom encoded
keys, these thumb drives are wirelessly tethered to your phone so that when
they are plugged in I can hack the system remotely to allow access."

"Then what?"

He opened a small metal case,
"Once we are allowed access we will do a back up onto this storage device. 
There are twenty petabytes worth of storage.  It may not be enough, but we'll
get what we can."

"What is the plan for
exit?"

"Break out using any means; you
should only find minimal resistance.  Head north, there is a small helicopter
tours business that went under years ago.  There will be an evac waiting for
you."

"When do we head out?"
Sandy finally spoke up from the back of the group.

"Two hours."

Sam walked over to another table.  He
picked up an armor vest and a shirt. 

"Here are some clothes that you
can wear for the mission.  Scratch that, you are required to wear them."

"Black?" Sandy held up a
pair of pants.

"Going in the dark." Ryder
said.

"These vests have been
modified." Sam said.

"Modified how?" I asked.

"The armor is denser and
lighter." Ryder threw one of the vests into the air and caught with one
finger.

"Silence take Grace out to the
practice field and get some combat training in with her abilities.  Be back
here in one and a half hours." Sam said.

~//~

A half an hour later we stood on the practice
field. 

"Give me your best shot." Ryder
stood with his feet planted ready for my attack.

"Are you sure that you don't
want to use the dummies?" I didn’t want to lose control and hurt him.

"Come on, you can't hit me
anyway." he egged me on.  I balled my fists and then opened them, flames
licked my palms.

I threw a fire ball like a baseball
at Ryder. 

He dodged it with ease.

A wooden target flew up; I threw a
ball of flame at it blowing it to pieces.  He appeared behind me, sweeping my
legs out from underneath me. 

I got up rubbing my lower back.

"You can do better than
that." He circled.

I tried to throw another ball of
flame at him, but he used a piece of the wooden target to send it back at me.  It
hit me in the shoulder sending me spiraling onto my back.  I hit my head on the
ground.

I got up rubbing the back of my
head.  I balled my fist and started to run in his direction.  I threw another
ball of fire at him, but this time when he dodged I used a boost of flame to
send myself flying at him. 

I tackled him to the ground, landing
on top of him.

My face was inches from his; I could
feel his breath on my cheek.  He grinned like a maniac, "Good job, think
outside of the box, but don't always rely on your abilities." he chuckled.

"Thank you." I held him to
the ground.

"Thank you for what?"

"For all your help, for
everything that you have done for me." before he could say anything I pressed
my lips to his.  He kissed back; sending shivers my spine. 

A feeling that I had never felt
before.

Quickly I came to my senses and
jumped up off of him.  I hardly knew him and I did not know how he felt for
me.  I cleared my throat and stood with my back to him.

"You're welcome." he stood
brushing himself off.

"How do you think that I am
doing?"

"You're doing great; I wasn't
pulling any punches either."  We walked to his car.

"I'm nervous about this
mission." I leaned against the hood of his car.

"Understandable, Sam wouldn't
usually send anyone on a mission so soon after arrival, but he doesn't have
another team available." He leaned next to me on the car.

"It's so soon."

"It is, but we need to get
going." I leaned over onto his shoulder and took a deep breath.

~//~

Back at the hanger everyone was
waiting outside.  They looked like some kind of black ops strike team.  I
laughed at the image of us from the orphanage dressed up like swat and
preparing to raid some corporate facility.

I changed in a back room and joined
them. 

"Code names, does everyone have
one picked out?" Sam took out his phone and opened some kind of recording
app.

"I decided to go with Sear."
I said looking around the room at everyone.

"Call me Arch." Ronnie shot
a bolt of lightning between his open palms.

"What do you think about
Shift?" Sandy looked for everyone's approval.

"All I could think of was
Chrono." Kenny said.

"I'm going with Blackout."
Rachel said.

“I’m gonna go with Sear for those of
you that aren’t aware.” I said.

Sam handed me the storage device, “It
can take a beating, but it isn’t indestructible.  Just get it plugged in.”

"Easy enough."  I said.

"I hope so and I wish you
luck." Sam said.

"Where is the plane?" the
runway and the taxiway were both empty.  We stood outside of the hanger in the
dark.

"Wait for it." Silence turned
as the door began to open slowly.  A massive plane rolled out of the darkness
almost as quiet as a whisper.  I had never seen a plane that looked like it
before.

"What is that?"

"This is the BF-1007.  We call her
Big Bertha.  This aircraft is one of the remnants of AdvaGen Technologies.  She
is built for speed, stealth, and the ability to deliver large payloads without
ever being seen." Silence held out his hands, “Isn’t she a beaut?”

The huge wings unfolded as they were
free of the doorway.  It taxied forward and turned to line up with the small
runway.  We all climbed into the plane one at a time and Silence pulled the
door closed behind us.

Seats lined the sides of the interior. 
I strapped into a seat and said a prayer to myself.  The plane quickly picked
up speed as it sped down the small runway.  My stomach rose into my throat as
we lifted into the air.  I still didn't like flying, but was thankful it wasn't
one of the small planes we came into town on.

"Sam has asked me to return with
the plane." Silence leaned over and whispered in my ear, "A few
things that we need to go over before we get to the drop point.  Your headsets
are always connected, tap on the ear piece twice, say the code name of who you
want to speak with, and then talk.  Sam's code name is Acumen."

"Good to know." I nodded.

"Next when you jump out of the
plane hold the antigrav genny to your chest, and press the button.  Do not let
go and do not remove it from your chest.  You will fall.  You hit the button
when you have twelve hundred feet left to fall.”

"What's it like?" Shift asked.

"What?  Landing with antigrav? 
Like a feather landing on a goose down bed." he said.

The pilot came over the comm.-system,
"Get ready to jump."

Silence stood and we followed.  A door
in the floor of the plane opened and we all had to take hold of a hand bar
above our heads so we wouldn't get sucked out.  Lights from the cities below
rushed by in many blurred lines.

"GO!" Silence yelled. 

I let go of the hand bar.  My body was
sucked out of the bottom of the plane as if pulled by my chest.  The wind
slapped past my head, burning my ears.  I looked at my watch, the numbers
displayed counted how far the ground was away from me. 

They ran down unbelievably fast. 

"As soon as you hit twelve
hundred." Silence chirped in my ear.  I turned over to be falling on my
back.  Silence had jumped from the plane along with the rest of us.

I tapped on my ear piece and said,
"Silence.  I thought that you were supposed to go back with the
plane?" I had to yell over the whipping winds.

"You think that I'll let you go on
your own.  You have much to learn." he pressed his arms to his sides and
shot past me like a rocket.

My watch started to make a beeping
noise.  I was at thirteen hundred and fifty feet.  I held the antigrav
generator to my chest and kept my eyes on my watch.  As soon as it hit the
twelve hundred mark I pressed the button. 

I slowed to almost a stop like everyone
around me, "How is everyone doing?" I yelled.

"Doing good." Arch yelled,
everyone else agreed.

My hand started to get cold.  Colder
than anything that I had ever felt before.  It started to burn my skin.  I held
on with all of my might but I had to let go. 

I started to free fall, I reached out
for the generator, but it had flown out of my reach.

"GRACE!!" Silence yelled.

I had no idea what to do.  The ground
was rushing up so fast.  Silence was yelling something but I couldn't hear.  All
I could see were his lips moving.  I turned back over onto my stomach.  I threw
my hands and legs out in front of me.

I concentrated with all of my will
power.  Flames like a jet engines rocketed from my palms and the bottom of my
feet.  I slowed almost to a stop, and waited for the others to catch up. 

I angled my way towards Silence.

"Are you alright?" Silence looked
furious.    

"I'm fine."

We all slowly approached the ground,
touching down without a sound.  Silence immediately broke away from the group
and disappeared into the trees.  I lost track of him quickly in the shadows. 

"What is he doing?" Arch
asked.

"I don't know." I thought
about going after him.

I tapped on my ear piece,
"Silence.  What are you doing, the facility is in the other
direction."

Ronnie was holding up a holographic map
of the area.

He didn't answer me. 
"SILENCE." I whispered loudly into the headset.

A few of the longest moments ever passed
by and he returned from the trees.  He had something in his hands,
"Someone tampered with it."  He held up my antigrav generator.

"How, why?" I asked, "How
in the hell did you see where the thing landed?"