by S D Rogue
###
As Mason opened the doors and they made their way from the holding cells, Hana felt a hand touch her arm. “Don’t worry Hana.” She cringed at the sound of Victor’s voice. “I will protect you.”
She shoved it off and walked a step ahead of him.
“I came up with the rescue,” Mason said to Bashir. “I really hope you have some ideas for what to do next.”
Bashir looked to Hana. “Are you hearing anything?”
Hana sadly shooker her head no.
“It’s okay,” Victor said encouragingly, “it will come back.”
Hana rolled her eyes, but said nothing.
“So the plan is get to the boats and hope they don’t see us, I guess.” Bashir suggested.
“That’s the plan?” Kenna said doubtfully.
“Got a better idea?”
“It’s a great idea—if you really think York is going to let you just walk off the island. He’ll come for you—and he just added several Paladins to his assault.” Kenna explained. “The communication room that we were in—we need it taken out. Take that room and it’s going to make it more difficult to find us. We also have to destroy the lab, or York or the next guy will start it back up.”
“She’s right,” Riko said. She turned to Kenna. “How long before we get our powers back?”
Kenna shrugged. “Depends on the dose—maybe an hour, give or take.”
“And you got less than ten minutes before they come for you,” Mason pointed out.
Bashir was quiet for several seconds. He looked around the room, doing his best to come up with a plan. “Riko, Mason, Victor and Hana—you saw the comm room. Can you take it alone? Mason’s slow motion ability is all you have to work with.”
Hana nodded. “We’ll figure something out.”
“Frank, Kenna, and Roman,” Bashir said, “You go with Finn and Voss—get them to the boats. If you don’t think we are coming, then go.”
Finn and Voss protested simultaneously, “Put us in the fight!”
“You’ll have plenty of time to die once you’re over eighteen if that’s what you really want.” Bashir smiled. “For now, we need you to keep Kenna alive.”
“Roman,” Bashir continued, “There should be a radio on the boat. Call in to the EHA. Let Kaito know what’s going on. See what resources he has.”
“Can you trust him?” Hana asked.
“Kaito is as honorable as they come—if he’s part of this, then there’s no hope for humanity.” He looked to the remaining powerless Paladins. “Embry, Samuel, and Mira—you come with me. We’re going to do what we can to destroy the labs.”
“I want my brother,” Mira hissed. “Nobody else touches him.”
“This is one fight,” Riko pointed out, “that you might have to admit that he can overpower you in.”
She looked at her fiercely. “You of all people should know that you should never misjudge the fury of a woman who has been burned.”
“Focus on what needs to be done—you can beat up your bother later.”
Mira sighed but nodded.
Before Hana left with the others, Frank grabbed her arm and said, “Don’t do anything stupid—but I created a new suit. York has a copy. It was in the comm room.”
“If that’s not an invitation, I don’t know what is!”
“I still expect you to take me to that concert, so don’t die on me.”
“Not until I’m old enough to marry you and take your fortunes.” She hugged him then ran the opposite direction.
###
At the door of the communication room, Riko and Mason stood on one side of the door; Victor and Hana stood on the other. Hana tried not to cringe as Victor moved closer to her. “Nervous?” he asked, taking her hand. Hana pushed it away.
“Tell me how exactly your ability works?” Riko quietly asked Mason.
“Time slows down—just for me. Everything appears 100 times slower to me, but I am still at normal speed. It lasts for about 30 seconds, then doesn’t come back for at least 10 minutes.”
“I counted seven people in the room—not counting Dallas and York, but they’re probably gone now,” Riko noted. “Mason goes in first—we need weapons.”
“Get weapons,” Victor added confidently, “then take down their systems.”
Riko nodded. “The moment their systems go down, they’ll know something is up. If we take this room, then we can be the eyes of the island.” She looked at Mason. “Ready?”
He nodded.
“Three. Two.” Before she got to one, Mason had opened the door and was in the room.
Time may have slowed for him, but to anyone watching, he looked like he was working at lightning speed. There were two men at the monitors and two men with guns at the door. Mason took them out first. He made his way to the two men at the monitors, and took them out next, but not before one of the men flipped a switch that sounded alarms.
Riko sighed. “That’s not what we wanted.”
“Sorry,” Mason said, back in normal time and holding two guns. He handed one to Riko and kept the other.”
“What about me?” Victor protested.
“Your fists are your weapons for now,” Riko explained.
Hana immediately began to look around the room for Frank’s suit. She spotted it in the corner of the room folded neatly on top of a box. It was a thin black jumpsuit; on top of it was a helmet and visor, and a pair of thick gloves.
As Riko went to the monitors to try and size up where everyone was, Mason tied up the men he had taken out. Hana quickly put on the suit, helmet and gloves. She flipped a switch on the helmet, and the visor turned into a computerized screen. A bar went up and down and the word “Analyzing” appeared in the corner. Seconds later the word changed to “Fitting” and the suit and gloves tightened.
Hana lifted her gloves to her face and the visor image changed to a target lock with the words, “Weapons initialized. Voice command fire when ready.” She quickly put the gloves down. That’s cool, Hana thought, then quietly said, “What else can you do?”
“I am Sufjan,” an earpiece in her helmet said. The name made Hana smile. “I can shoot, fly, and stun. What would you like to do?”
“Fly?” Hana questioned softly.
“Boosters initialized,” the voice said. Hana felt a flow of warmth coming from the gloves, which was followed by a small burst that lifted her off the ground and made her hover several inches.
Riko looked at her. “Stop messing around.”
“I didn’t actually mean fly,” Hana said to the computer. “Down?” When it did nothing, Hana said, “Switch to stun.”
She slowly moved to the floor and the computer said, “Stun initialized.”
“We have movement,” Riko said, tapping on the screen.
Hana looked over and saw Bashir’s group nearing the lab on one monitor with several of York’s men closing in on them.
“We need to help them,” Hana said.
Riko nodded. “Victor, you stay here. Mason, go to the boat and make sure they’re secure. Hana, come with me.”
“Wait,” Victor protested, “I’m supposed to wait here alone?”
“Is that a problem?” Riko asked.
“I work better as part of a team,” he insisted. “Maybe Hana and that machine she has strapped on can stay with me.”
“You afraid to be alone?” Hana laughed.
“I just want to make sure you’re safe,” Victor said nervously.
“Not so macho without your abilities,” Mason laughed. “You’ll be safe, don’t worry.”
###
The lab was located in the building next to them. Hana’s heart raced as she stood at the entrance with Riko. “I don’t suppose that suit can see through walls?” Riko asked as they each took a place on opposite sides of the door.
“Frank is pretty talented,” she explained. “Sufjan, can you see inside the building?”
&n
bsp; The screen lit up seconds later and a monitor feed from the security camera inside the building appeared.. “There’s no x-ray vision,” Hana explained, “but it can show the security camera footage.”
“What’s going on?”
“They have the group. There are four guards. One has a walkie-talkie. He’s saying something.”
“Paladins?”
Hana looked carefully. “I don’t recognize any. I think they’re just guards.”
“Paint a picture for me as best you can.”
“There’s a guy on the other side of the door. He’s the one with the walkie-talkie,” Hana said softly. “Bashir and the others are to the right of him—about ten feet away. There are two guards in front of them. They both have guns. Only one has it raised. There’s a fourth guard on the left. His back is turned and his gun is at his side. He’s next to a microscope and is putting something into a syringe.”
“I can work with that.” Riko smiled. “You blast the door. I take the guy at the door, you get the two with the others—get them free and I’ll take care of the guy with the syringe.”
Hana nodded and stood back, aiming her glove at the door. “On three—one, two three!” A laser shot out of the glove and into the door handle. Riko moved forward and kicked it in. By the time Hana had entered the lab, Riko had taken out the first guard and Hana quickly took aim at the guards near the group. In two quick shots, both men were on the ground.
“Nice suit,” Bashir admired.
“Got any way to unlock handcuffs, Sufjan?” Hana asked, making her round behind the group. From on top of her index finger, a thin metal pick popped out. Frank thought of everything, she thought, smiling. One by one, Hana broke each of the four free. Riko had taken out the last guard and was tying them up by the time she was done.
“Did you find my brother?” Mira asked as Riko passed out guns.
Hana ignored her. “Sufjan, can you patch into Victor in the communication room?” A message appeared on the screen that said “Communications channel.” Hana asked, “Victor, are you okay?”
There was no answer.
“Victor? We need you to be our eyes—we need to know where York and the others are.”
There was still no answer. “Sufjan, can you bring up a feed of the communication room?” Seconds later Hana laughed then added, “Well this isn’t good.”
Riko looked at her. “They have him?”
She shook her head. “He’s on the floor against the wall. Fetal position.”
“Is there a screenshot feature?” Riko smiled, then added, “How about the other cameras? Can you bring up any?”
Hana nodded. “Bringing them up one by one isn’t ideal, but yeah.” She paused. “But I don’t think that’s necessary.”
Everyone looked at her curiously.
“I think my hearing just came back—and it sounds like York is leaving on the plane.”
Bashir ran for the door. “Hana destroy everything in this room—everyone else, stop York.”
Bashir was sitting in the sand when Hana got outside. The sun was now rising. In the distance, she could see the plane’s contrails.
"We're safe," Hana said, walking up behind him, "that's what matters."
"Safe for now," Bashir said.
“We’ll get them,” Riko said.
Bashir nodded. “He has a lot of islands—he knows how to hide.”
“But he also has a lot of money and knows how to spend it—that’s going to leave a trail.” Hana added hopefully, “We’ll get him.”
She was about to speak again, but Riko called, "Hey, Hana?" Hana turned and Riko had a grin on her face. "Think we should tell Victor he's safe?"
She shrugged and smiled. "Give him space to work through his emotions." She started to stay more, but paused. "There's a helicopter coming."
Bashir stood and started scanning the air. It quickly got closer and he noted with a smile, "Kaito."
As the helicopter descended near the beach, sand whipped into the air. When the debris settled, Kaito and several armed men exited the aircraft. He jogged to Bashir. "York?"
"Gone."
He nodded then explained, "I'll have my men spread out and capture anyone who remains."
There were two boats on the shore and from them, Roman came out followed by Mason, Kenna and Frank.
Moments later Finn and Voss also appeared; Finn said, "Can we, like, keep this boat? It's like, fully loaded!"
Mason walked to Bashir. "York's gone?"
Bashir nodded.
"I'm sorry for everything."
"This wasn't your fault—you got mixed up in York's lies. You’re young—no one is going to fault you for that."
"But I'm not dumb." He paused. "So what happens now?"
Bashir sighed. "Take some time off—you'll be debriefed."
"I think I'll be kicked out of the agency."
"I'll put in a good word—you made a mistake, but you did the right thing when it mattered.
"Oh, no," Hana laughed.
Riko and Bashir looked at her, worried.
"Mira found Leith." She smiled. "Come on!"
They followed a path not far from York's main house. Leith had been tackled to the ground and Mira was taking rapid swings at his face.
"I think she got her abilities back." Riko said.
Hana nodded. "Should we break it up?"
Riko shrugged. "I think they need to bond a little." She laughed, then added, "Let's go get Victor."
Bashir went back to talk to Kaito, and Riko and Hana walked alone. “So you and Victor were really a thing?” There was a grin on Riko’s face as she spoke.
“A thing?”
“Like you guys went out?”
Hana rolled her eyes. “One date that wasn’t even a date. It was a thank you dinner so we could get to know each other and see if maybe there was something there. There wasn’t.” She paused. “Well Victor definitely thought there was, but the only thing I saw in that relationship was the exit.”
“Good choice.”
“So,” Hana said, “what’s next for you?”
“Keep catching the bad guys. Maybe do some freelance stuff until the agency gets back together. York is right—there’s nothing wrong with making some money. He’s just wrong about how to make it.” Pausing, she asked, “How about you? Back to being a nurse?”
“I haven’t collected any of my vacation hours since I started with the agency. I think it’s time. There’s a beach back home with my name on it.”
###
Riko and Hana returned to the beach after saving Victor from the empty communication room. He actually screamed when they opened the door, then claimed that was his diversion when he saw who it was.
Hana saw Bashir standing alone on the beach. He caught her stare and started walking toward her.
“Enjoy your vacation—and good luck with everything,” Riko said. She turned to Bashir who was now in earshot. “Be good to her. She deserves better.”
Hana looked at Bashir and smiled. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
“Riko told me what happened between you two. That must of hurt pretty bad.”
“She took me a while to get over—but good things can come out of bad. As it turns out, there’s someone I think I like a lot more.”
“Really?” Hana teased. “Do I know her?”
Bashir smiled. “I was thinking now that all of this is over, we could go on a proper date?”
Hana sighed and looked at Bashir sadly. “Does that mean no kiss?”
Bashir grabbed her and pulled her in tightly. “We always have been a little unconventional.”
Epilogue
H
ana was wearing the Rag & Bone dress that Bashir had gotten her from Nordstrom and was sitting alone at a table overlooking the ocean at 333 Pacific Steak and Seafood.
Hana watched the waves and reflected. It had been a week since she was in Japan. A week
since her life was completely turned upside down.
She hadn’t seen Bashir since that day. He made sure she was safe and sent her home with Frank, promising to be home soon. She had spent the last week resting and trying to get over what had happened. Aside from a concert and coffee with Frank, she had barely left the house.
The only thing she had heard from Bashir was a single text that morning telling her to meet him at the restaurant. She knew he was safe.
But he was also late.
Ten minutes later Bashir appeared. “I’m sorry!” Bashir said, holding out flowers. “I didn’t want to show up empty handed.”
“For a guy whose superpower is speed, you sure have a hard time getting places on time.”
“I have no excuse,” he said, sitting down.
“Are you ok?”
He nodded. “Fully restored actually. I spent the past week at a lab—that’s why I couldn’t get a hold of you. I haven’t lost my powers since I left.”
“So you’re full Paladin again.”
“Full Paladin.” He paused. “How about you? Are you okay?”
Hana shrugged. ”Battle prepared me for worse.” She explained, then asked. “Any news from York?”
Bashir shook his head. “He’ll surface. He’s plotting his big return on some island in the South Pacific, I’m sure.”
“And you’re not worried? He’s going to look for you—for all of us.”
“The element of surprise is gone. We know who he is now. This is no longer an attack from the inside.” He paused. “But, yeah—I’m nervous. I’m not losing any sleep over it, but there’s a madman out there with the ability to make an army of Paladins.”
“Lousy Paladins whose powers don’t actually last,” Hana corrected.
Bashir nodded. “An army nonetheless—a lot of bad people will pay good money for that.” It was silent for a second, then he added with more charm, “But enough with the rosy greeting.”
Hana smiled and turned toward the beach. “How about that sunset?”
Bashir smiled and admired it.
“So what do we do now?” Hana said breaking the silence.
