Noble Revelations

by Adeleke Kayode

  Stealth wasn’t our only option but it made getting to our target area a lot easier. If there was resistance we were properly equip to deal with it. I was using an AK-U13 which is a specially modified AK-12 the differences being that there was a small button near the trigger on the side which when pressed caused the barrel to extend or collapse inward making it either larger or smaller. It also had special bullets that could modify which caliber was used depending on the length of the barrel. I didn’t know all the details, just that some form of micro-machine like nanotech was most likely involved. Each of us carried a CQBR-Close Quarters Battle Receiver on our backs. Carter was currently holding a Barrett REC7 rifle. Alastor had a CZ-800 Bren, each of us had four handguns, two in our waist holsters and one holstered on each leg.

  I also happened to have a long dark green jacket on, which was given to me courtesy of Mr. Bright. It felt good to be wearing it.

  “We should get going. We want to reach our destination by the time the sun comes up which is in a few hours so let’s go.” Alastor started walking once he was finished speaking I glanced at Carter then started heading forward, moving across the sand reminded me of the desert but only a little since I was a lot less wet back then. I was also definitely not water heavy hopefully our clothes would dry soon though. The three of us walked silently, the only sound was the crash of the ocean behind us and an out of place CLICK which came out of nowhere.

  “Umm guys.”

  “What is it? Carter?” I turned around to look at him and just stared for a moment. “Alastor wait up. We’ve got a problem.”

  Alastor turned about to make some sort of comment when he realized that Carter was standing perfectly still even though his right leg was outstretched in front of him. Alastor shook his head just once before saying. “You didn’t?”

  “Yup, looks like I did. So how do we handle this?” Carter asked while looking at his right foot he couldn’t quite see it but he knew a landmine was beneath him.

  Carter took each breath slowly and exhaled as calmly as possible.

  “Well Alex we’ve got to leave him.”

  I turned to Alastor slightly annoyed. “You can’t be serious. Can’t you use telekinesis to put pressure on it so he can get off?”

  Alastor rolled his eyes at my comment. “You think it’s that easy. Don’t you think it’s strange that we stepped in nearly the exact same path Carter stepped through yet no landmine? Those things are unique if they were just sensitive I would have been blown up already. If I put pressure on it using my telekinesis who knows what could happen.”

  Carter stared at Alastor for a moment. “Well I don’t know about you but I’ll take my chances.”

  Zeeet…what was Carter doing. Zeet zet zeeeeet electric jumped off Carter’s foot while stray electricity rushed up his body. He hid the look of pain on his face well but seemed more concerned about the landmine than anything. After a few more jolts of electric coursed through the landmine and through Carter’s body, he pressed his left foot against the ground. I moved to the side giving Carter some space, he pushed off jumping toward me. I half expected Carter to be caught in an explosion but one never came. Even after he landed, the landmine didn’t go off. I assume Carter managed to deactivate it at the cost of a few painful shocks.

  “What the hell was that?” Alastor asked.

  “I did what I had to. I don’t think that amount of electricity is gonna alert anyone…I hope.”

  “Eeehhh, whatever. Why’d you look like you were in pain? Don’t tell me a little water and your power backfires on you. So to beat you all I’d have to do is throw a glass of water on you.”

  Carter stared at Alastor for a moment before walking in front of him. “We fought remember without our powers and I kicked your ass.”

  “You must have a head injury or something that was a tie at best.”

  A smirk went across my face as I walked into the depths of the island. “I know I beat you though.”

  Alastor grunted, then went silent, the crashing of the waves was still pretty close by as we continued moving forward. The crashing grew quieter and quieter until I could barely hear it anymore. There were a lot of strong aromas some much more pleasant than others they weren’t very overpowering on their own but together they were bothersome. I could smell bark, moss, some sort of fragrance that I knew didn’t come from a flower but possibly from an animal. There were a lot of other things like mud and the water from our clothes. As for sounds the ocean was a good distance away by now, so there was really only our footsteps, the crunch of an occasional twig or dried leaf. It was going to take us a while before we reached the center of the island and we could only go so fast through the jungle with the amount of light we had. There was always a branch or vine in the way no matter how you walked or maneuvered around them.

  “They probably kept the island like this on purpose.” I mumbled to myself.

  I could almost feel Alastor rolling his eyes behind my back. “You know silence is kinda key here so you could shut up.”

  “Yeah, Alastor no one has ever told him to shut up before. That’s exactly why he continues to do that to this day.” Carter commented.

  “We might not make it to Prometheus Headquarters after all. Because if you two don’t stop being so infuriating I’ll blow us all to kingdom come.” Alastor tapped the satchel he was carrying which happened to be filled with very dangerous bombs. Not that there were really any none dangerous bombs, just these ones in question were especially deadly.

  “Why is he carrying those again?” Carter asked while pointing at Alastor’s satchel.

  “For some reason or another Mr. Bright wanted him to carry them. I figured Mr. Bright rather he explode than us.”

  “Funny.” Alastor remarked.

  Well Alastor was being his very cocky and oh so loveable self, wonder why that was. Not that I actually cared. I guess Carter and I could dial it back a little, we needed to at least get along until we finished our mission. This would have been a lot easier with William, Tessa and AJ. But they were all currently out of commission for very obvious reasons. William had to catch up on his sleep, he’d already contributed so much already, Tessa wasn’t going to help us so much as get herself hurt or more likely killed since she couldn’t run with her foot still sprained. And AJ had it the worst. I don’t think he was coming out of a hospital bed for a while. It’s honestly surprising, his arm was as damaged as it was and he just shrugged it off like it was nothing. Or he could just be really good at hiding pain and I’d have to guess not just physical pain.

  Still Alastor was behaving strange at least based on how I viewed him. I guess when I think about it, it turns out I don’t know as much as I thought about him. Considering he was trying to kill me, I’ll let it slide that I didn’t pick up on his strange way of dealing with things. For one why was he helping us? I know he said that he didn’t care for unfair fights. Plus he definitely cares about AJ even if he didn’t always show it, then there was his history with Mr. Bright. Now that I think about it, didn’t AJ mention knowing Alastor when they were younger maybe they use to be friends before parting ways?

  “I should really ask about that next time I get the chance.”

  “Quiet.”

  “I know that my…”

  “Quiet.” Alastor hissed.

  Normally I would have responded but since I could hear something moving nearby and voices I figured it was a good bet to stay quiet. The three of us slowly crouched down hiding in the bushes and tall grass.

  “Man I hate morning patrols. Don’t you?” One of the patrolling guards stated.

  “There not that bad at least I get to see the sun rise.” The other guard responded.

  “Wouldn’t you get tired of seeing it? I mean it’s only amazing like the first fifty times you see it. But the fifty first time you see it you’re gonna be like Aaaaarrrgh what am I doing with my life patrols suck.”

  “….Sure…well pretty sure I’m way passed my fifty first maybe it just got
old for you.”

  The guards continued to talk as they walked eventually moving passed us. With two fingers raised I signal that we should move forward. The three of us stayed crouched as we made our way further through the jungle. The fact that we were crouched meant we would be moving at a slower rate but it was worth it to remain undetected. However crouching through the jungle wasn’t the most fun thing to do considering you were that much closer to all the jungle life and mud. Which for me meant not just an up close look of things but a more upfront smell as well which was let’s just say not pleasant. There was also the tall grass rubbing against you which was always annoying now more so than ever.

  “Hey! What’s that moving in the grass over there?”

  Instinctively the three of us dropped to the ground completely laying down on our bellies in the mud. Only a few seconds after we had dropped to our bellies a flashlight was shone our way. It craned around like a searchlight in the dark. And a few seconds after the flashlight’s light moved it settle nearby the area we were laying down. I could hear the sound of twigs snapping and grass being trampled underfoot. Someone was approaching us.

  “It’s probably just an animal. It’s not like it’s the first time that’s happen on our patrol.”

  “Yeah, it might just be an animal but if I don’t check every once in a while there would be no point in us doing patrols.”

  Why, oh why did we have to get a reasonable guard patrolling? Why couldn’t he be oblivious or too lazy to check out whatever was making the grass shake and flutter? No he had to actually do his job. Meaning a fight was going to go down a lot sooner than I had expected. By now the footsteps were much closer any moment now he would be right by us if he looked hard enough or flashed his light our way he would spot us in an instant.

  “Wait…what’s that.”

  The flashlight turned away from us, I turned my head to see what was going on but I didn’t quite have any luck seeing through the grass. I just know whatever it was had caught the guard’s attention and now he was heading in a different direction. My eyes wondered for a moment and I caught a glimpse of what looked like Alastor with his arm carefully outstretched, it didn’t take a genius to fill in the blanks. The three of us waited for what felt like hours but was actually more like seconds, for the guards to leave once they did we started moving forward. In an attempt to be cautious considering we had narrowly avoided being caught. We crawled our way forward, forearms moving forward sort of gripping the ground and then one knee in front and then the other. Forearm in front then the other.

  Crawling in the mud wasn’t anything new just something I had hoped not to make a habit of doing but it was worth it if it meant destroying Prometheus’s headquarters. Especially when destroying the base along with the man in charge meant finally getting the man who was responsible for a lot of misery. Intentional or not Prometheus had put me and Carter through a lot, not just us but Shield, William, AJ, Tessa, even Mr. Bright. All those innocent people so many lives taken including Rachel’s. I never wanted to be a hero and I honestly don’t think I’m cut out to be one but I know one thing that I can do coldly and have grown quite proficient at. Killing. That was one of the big reasons I didn’t see myself as a hero. But I didn’t need to be a hero I just needed to make Prometheus and all who worked for them pay. I could be an avenger and wreck vengeance upon them all. There were two people in particular that came to mind. Adam and the man in charge himself.

  “Ok. I think we’ve crawled far enough. We need to start walking or else we’ll never make it by daylight.” Carter whispered everyone word so it sort of sounded like hissing which for some reason or other was echoing in my ears. It wasn’t until I felt something tickling my ear that I realized that it wasn’t an echo. My eyes opened wide while I held my breath, I could see its tail slithering around in front of me. I could see the body but not the head I couldn’t tell if it was poisonous, even if it was there was a chance the poison wouldn’t have much of any effect on me. Still that didn’t mean I felt like finding out whether as a Prime I had a naturally tolerance to all poisons.

  HIIIISssssss I watched from the corner of my gaze waiting to see if the snake would just slither passed me. Sadly it seemed like it had taken a strange liking to my ear, its tongue lashing at the inside of my ear which made it hard not to laugh. Any sudden movement and it could strike.

  “Alex what are you doing still on the ground. We have to go no time to be playing around ok. Alex…Alex.”

  “What.” It came out in a sort of loud whisper, at the same time I had turned my head and gaze toward Carter. It only took me a second for me to realize that the snake’s hissing had changed for a moment. Tinnnk.

  “HA!” I blurted out.

  I got up feeling a little too proud of myself considering I didn’t think of doing that sooner. It was still a snake after all so it didn’t really have a chance at doing any harm once I coated my ear with hygrometal. Both Alastor and Carter gave me a look that said really.

  “What. That thing tried to bite my ear.”

  Both of them just shook their heads and continued forward at a brisk pace. It wasn’t just because they were attempting to leave me behind. It also had to deal with the time we lost by crawling our way here. It wasn’t much but light was starting to make its way through the trees overhead.

  “We need to hurry up.”

  We walked as briskly as we could while still moving as stealthily as possible. At this point we couldn’t quite justify running but as more and more light began to shine down on us it was becoming a better option.

  “How much longer until we reach our destination?”

  “I don’t know Alexander. I’ve never been here before.”

  I took a deep soothing breath then exhale once I did I put a fake smile on my face and nodded. “Don’t kill him…don’t kill him.” I muttered the words to myself.

  Carter was about to say something when a light from a flashlight craned toward us suddenly. We crouched immediately waiting for it to pass only it didn’t, I could hear footsteps approaching fast. And I had a feeling that Alastor couldn’t just convince them that something else was in the bushes. The footsteps grew louder and louder until the guards stopped right by us. They searched for a while then the sound of their guns being cocked caused me to tense up if only for a moment.

  “Screw it.” Alastor announced while getting up.

  In one quick motion he waved his right hand inward then there was a sudden crunch sound and one of the guards fell to the ground. The other attempted to pull the trigger of his gun but was stopped. The click sound of a safety being turn off came from Alastor’s side. I threw my right hand out quickly fwwwhooo a green blast of energy zoomed into the guard’s face dropping him in an instant. The last guard was about to yell when Carter tripped him and slammed his head to the ground silencing him forever. There was a look on Carter’s face that I didn’t recognize it was dark and grim.

  “We need to get going, like now but first we need to hide the bodies.” Carter spoke quickly like we were running out of time and we kind of were.

  Each of us grabbed a body and hid them in a more dense area nearby. Once we did Carter started running which surprised me. I glanced at Alastor who looked back at me, then we both booked it. At first we were just running then after a while we ran while crouched which was unpleasant. But it wasn’t that bad because after approximately ten minutes of sprinting nonstop we were one tired and also at our destination. We made it to the center. Carter pulled out a small box like object that had a red switch which he moved it into an upright position with his thumb. Once he did that the button in the center was uncovered he pressed it turning a small red light in front of the box green.

  Just in time too, in the small clearing at the center of the island light shined down through the trees. It was coming in full force, it was finally daytime. Phase one of the plan complete. Time for phase two.

  Chapter 35

  Juliette’s airship was making its way toward
Prometheus’ island. Juliette herself was currently sitting in the bridge with one leg crossed over the other. She casually glanced at a small black box every now and again. The small box was a simple signal she had given to Carter to use. It’s only function was to turn the light on the back green when one of the other boxes were pressed. It was crude technology sure but that was what made it so effective in this situation. Until the signal was given Juliette’s airship had to stay a good distance away from the island. It wasn’t just because she didn’t want to be discovered but because there was a way she had planned to approach this which required their distance. Juliette put one of her legs down then crossed the other on top of it sighed while barely glancing at the box. Which was currently green. Green. Time for the plan to begin.

  “You know what I think we should head over there.” Juliette pointed in the direction of the island.

  No one said anything while they changed course heading to the Northwest section of the island. It had taken Carter longer than Juliette had expected to send the signal which wasn’t the worst thing that could happen. It actual decreased the time they would have to wait for the forth team. After all Juliette had relayed the location of Prometheus HQ to her superior Jane Katherine the moment she had acquired it. From what she knew that meant the information was discreetly handed over to Mr. Burke one of the American UF Senator. Whatever he did with that information was his business. Even if it would coincidently coincide with Carter’s assault on Prometheus’ base. That was just luck, nothing more. The airship began to rumble suddenly and it begins.