Prisoner of the Mind

by Kal Spriggs

  She pulled the pistol from his limp fingers and then fished his spare out of his ankle holster. Whoever had shot him was behind her and she glanced over her shoulder just as a grenade went off in the warehouse offices. Glass and debris exploded across the warehouse and Moira took advantage of the distraction to make a dash for the van.

  Gunfire rattled back and forth across the warehouse and Moira saw Alex cowering next to the back tire of the van, his face white with panic. “Where's Cassie?” Moira snapped. He must have run as soon as the shooting started, she thought. God only knew how he had managed to reach cover.

  He pointed through the open side door at the driver's seat and Moira winced as she saw the bullet ridden corpse of Bernard’s wife. Even as she watched, another round struck the once-beautiful woman in the head and splattered blood and brains across the van’s windshield. Till death do us part, she thought to herself, I bet Bernard never thought it would mean that quite so accurately.

  “Stay down!” Moira snapped at Alex as she edged around the back of the van. Behind her in the office, she heard more gunfire, but none of it was aimed in her direction, yet. The main threat seemed to be on the other side of the warehouse.

  She reached the back of the van just as a man in tactical armor did the same.

  The world seemed to slow as he brought up his weapon to fire at her. Moira brought her pistol up. The commando started to shoot as he tripped over Alex's outstretched leg. His bullets struck the pavement in front of Alex even as Moira emptied her magazine into him. At least one of the teflon-coated bullets must have penetrated the thinner armor around his neck and helmet because he stumbled back, his hands going to his neck and Moira felt hot blood spatter her face.

  Not mine, she thought. That was all that mattered.

  The downed commando's legs kicked as he tried to stop the bleeding. Moira calmly reloaded and then fired into him a few more times until he lay still. She spun away and then dug into the van. She passed Alex her brother's pistol, “Watch my back!” She shouted. She pulled out her submachine gun and poked her head around the front of the van. Two more commandos sprinted towards her and she cut loose on them. Both dropped to the pavement, but she didn't know if they were diving for cover or wounded or dead.

  Crap, she thought, I'm going to die in this crappy warehouse, just like my brother.

  ***

  Only a fraction of a second after he fired, a man's voice came over the radio, “Two-two, check fire! Your weapon discharge was not authorized!”

  Shaden brought the weapon sight around towards where the psychic woman had stood, but one of her bodyguards had stepped in the way and rushed her to the panel truck and cover.

  Shaden heard a boot kick open the door behind him. He looked back just as a grenade tumbled through the door. Type Three Antipersonnel grenade, he thought, five to ten second fuse.

  Shaden dove through the window.

  The grenade detonated and the blast picked him up and slammed him into the pavement. The helmet muffled the sharp crack to an overwhelming thud.

  Shaden shook his head just as he heard a woman's voice come over the network, “Two-two and Two-one are compromised. Engage their positions.”

  He heard gunfire open up from across the warehouse matched a moment later by gunfire from whoever had thrown the grenade at him. As bullets whined overhead, Shaden fast-crawled into cover behind a bit of rusted machinery.

  A glance over showed that the one woman had moved into cover behind her van. Still, she would be exposed to whoever had attacked Shaden. Unless they're otherwise busy, he thought.

  “Didn't quite get me,” Shaden said over the net, “say ‘hello’ to my friends.”

  “This is Imperator Six, take out the intruders,” a man's voice said on the radio, “disregard all communications from Two-two, he's been compromised. Two-two and Two-one are down, engage all other personnel in that area, over.”

  “Two-six, roger,” another voice said. “Two elements, engage contacts at sector two. One elements, protect Fate Six, over. All elements, shift to channel three one seven.”

  The radio cut off with a squeal of static. Now this gets interesting, Shaden thought

  ***

  Moira fell back as bullets tore through the hood of the van in front of her. As she fell back, she heard more gunfire erupt. The bullets raked through the van cab above her and she let out a shout as one round smashed the submachine gun right out of her hands.

  She looked over just in time to see a figure crawl into cover not far away. A heartbeat later, the office area shattered as gunfire tore through. She saw tracers going back and forth across the warehouse. Glass and concrete shattered as the two groups opened fire on each other. Who the fuck are these people, she thought.

  She reached up to the open door and felt around blindly, even as more bullets ripped through the van and one of the back tires deflated in a loud whine. Gunfire trickled off from her side of the van.

  One side clearly had lost the upper hand. Since that seemed to be the side that wasn't shooting at her, she didn't think that was a good thing. Alex let out a shout and she saw him clutch at his arm, where blood spurted.

  Her hand found the strap she had sought and she pulled hard. It took all of her bodyweight to shift the two heavy tanks and their frame out of the van. For a second, it caught on the edge of the door and Moira silently swore as more bullets struck the van. She said a silent prayer that none of the rounds would strike either of the two tanks.

  She finally got the frame out and then rolled over as she pulled it onto her back. Moira felt a grin spread on her face as she pulled out the extended wand and her fingers found the trigger.

  That grin broadened as she hit the igniter and a small, steady blue flame clicked to life in front of her. “It's on you bastards,” she yelled, even as she stumbled to her feet under the weight of the flamethrower.

  Moira charged around the back of the van and grinned as she pulled the trigger.

  ***

  Staff Sergeant Alethea Shade bit back another curse as bullets ripped through the room overhead. “You stupid bastards, we're on your side!” She shouted over the common net.

  Whoever this Imperator Six was, he clearly hadn't told his people that she was inbound. Her squad was pinned down under heavy fire. A few meters away she saw two bodies, both shredded by the frag grenade that Dahmler had thrown into the room. Since they both wore body armor, she didn't figure they weren’t the target.

  Okay, she thought, maybe we got some of them first. Still, ESPSec's pet psychic had said he sensed the target here. They might have already been dead.

  Either way, Kruze had been hit already and from how frantically Doc worked on him, it didn't look good.

  “Fuck this,” Shade said. “Chin! Shift right and lay down some suppressive fire. If these assholes want to play, we'll play.” She had no idea where their target had gone, she needed some eyes on the situation. Shit, she thought, that means I need to get eyes out.

  She raised her rifle over the edge of the shattered window frame and a bullet smashed the camera off it.

  “Shit!” She rolled to the side and a moment later, several heavy rounds smashed right through the concrete. Twenty-five millimeter Hammer, she thought, that thing would punch through an engine block. She turned to David, “Hey,” she shouted at him and shook him, “who the hell are these people? Where's our target?!”

  David shook his head and then ripped off his helmet. She could see sweat beaded his face, “There's... someone else here, another psychic. She's more powerful, she's too powerful.”

  Just as he said that, Chin opened fire with his squad automatic rifle. As the weapon roared, the enemy fire trailed off for a moment, only to redouble, focused on his position.

  Chin rolled back, but not before bullets tore through the concrete. He was hit at least three times and he went limp before he even hit the floor. “Doc!” Shade shouted, “Get to Chin!”

  She crawled over to him and grabbed him by the
back of his harness and started to drag him away. Several more rounds punched through the wall, one of them struck her chest armor. The impact knocked her down. “Damn it, someone get me some cover fire!”

  Just as she said that, a fifteen meter column of flame spurted out from near the center of the warehouse. Alethea Shade's jaw dropped as she saw a woman, armed with a flamethower of all things, rake that column of hellfire back and forth across the far side of the warehouse.

  Liquid fire, burning hot enough that her visor darkened to protect her eyes, poured across the far wall and the cover from which the InSec agents had opened fire. It burned hot enough that wood and even metal ignited. It was like a foretaste of hell. Got to be phosphorus mixed in there, she thought in mixed appreciation and horror.

  At least three of the InSec commandos stumbled out of that inferno, their armor and flesh igniting, their arms flailing.

  “Watkins!” Shade said, “You're up, use the twenty-five!”

  Watkins had the Igorov Twenty-Five millimeter grenade launcher. “Roger, Staff Sergeant!” He responded, and then rose to his feet and fired.

  The Igorov had a magazine with twenty grenades, each designed to be set for proximity, impact, or delayed impact detonation. Watkins had set it for impact so the grenades detonated in a chain across the far wall, shattering concrete and sending shockwaves through the InSec commandos. The far wall crumbled and the roof over it sagged and partially collapsed. Thankfully the entire building didn't come down, but she didn't know how much more the structure could take.

  Enemy fire dropped to nothing and Shade shouted and kicked at her people to put them in position to engage anyone who cared to fire at them. She saw the woman with the flamethrower grab another figure and shove him into the van's door. Thanks, she thought, whoever you are.

  Staff Sergeant Shade heard shout of panic at her feet and as she looked she saw David clutch at his forehead, “God, she's too powerful!”

  Shade looked up, searching for a target. She froze as she saw the panel truck rise into the air. It hung there, ominously, and then it flew as if a giant had flung it... straight at Shade's squad.

  “Aw shit,” she said.

  ***

  As the flame geyser enveloped the people shooting at him, Shaden glanced over his shoulder and shook his head. The red-haired woman whipped the fire back and forth across the enemy position and he could swear he heard her laughing as she did it.

  What the hell did I get myself into?

  A moment later, a chain of explosions walked across the far wall, blasting concrete, body parts, and debris in all directions. Shaden saw the woman with the flamethrower drop to the ground and then start to shove someone else into the van. Since the gunfire had dropped off, Shaden ran in a crouch to take shelter behind a pile of rotted crates, only a couple meters away from the bullet-riddled van.

  It seemed that most of the attackers were down, other than whoever had come into the office behind him. A glance across at the office showed movement there. Whoever they were, though, they had stopped shooting at him. Live and let live, he thought.

  He saw no sign of the female psychic. Part of him wanted to seek her out, but all the same, he felt a shiver of fear from the impression he had of her mind.

  As he looked around at the flaming debris, he figured he probably didn't need to worry about her very much. He didn't see how she could have survived the combination of explosions and fire. Hell, he thought, one of those grenades actually hit the truck she was behind. He could see how the explosion had shredded the cab and shifted the entire truck sideways.

  Shaden’s eyes went wide as the entire truck rise a meter or more into the air and for the first time in his life, he could feel the energy of another psychic. The psychokinetic energy release made the hairs on his arms rise and he could literally feel the power in his head, like the roar of a passing train.

  Behind the truck, standing untouched amidst the wreckage and flames, was the tall, redheaded woman. She raised her hand and the truck flew away from her... directly at the office.

  Shaden winced at the impact as several tons of steel and composites smashed through the remaining walls of the office and rolled over the wreckage.

  The woman's attention went to the van and it too began to rise into the air. From inside, Shaden heard the panicked shouts from the two people he had tried to save.

  “No,” Shaden growled and rose to his feet. He stepped forward to stand in front of the van and he caught it with his mind, even as he felt a surge of energy from the woman.

  From thirty meters distance, he saw her green eyes go wide as she put every ounce of effort she could muster into flinging the van and turning its occupants into red ruin... and he held it in place against her.

  “Impressive,” the woman called out, “but stupid. You can't fight us, not all together.” Shaden felt a wave of force slam into his mind. He could only let out an anguished cry as he dropped to his knees. In the distance he heard the woman's mocking laughter, “You can't fight SIGIL... no one can.”

  ***

  Moira shoved Cassie's corpse out of the driver's seat, climbed into the driver's seat, and slammed the door. Before she could even turn the keys in the ignition, though, the van began to rise into the air. After seeing what had happened to the truck, her first thought was to dive out the driver's door, yet some force held it shut, no matter how hard she kicked at it.

  She looked back at Alex and saw him struggle with the sliding door, but the same force held it closed. She looked forward through the starred windscreen and saw the tall woman raise her hand, a cruel smile on her face.

  Then a stocky young man limped over to stand in front of the van. He didn't look impressive. He wore a battered leather coat and a commando's helmet with the visor up, and he carried a rifle. She saw him stand in front of the van, though, and whatever he did, the woman's eyes went wide in surprise and fear.

  The metal frame of the van shuddered and all of Moira's hair stood on end. She could hear the metal frame groan in strain... but they weren't flung into the walls like a child's discarded toy. Instead, the van simply hung there, suspended between whatever forces strained against it.

  Then the woman said something and their savior dropped to his knees with a sharp scream of pain. She's attacking him somehow, Moira realized, and he can't defend himself because he's trying to protect me. The thought shocked her. In her experience, no one stuck their lives out for someone else, especially not a stranger.

  Moira fumbled for her pistol, but then she remembered the magazine was empty. She'd used up her flamethrower and discarded the pack. Alex has my brother's gun, she thought. She turned and shouted, “Give me your gun!”

  Alex just stared at her blankly.

  “Damn it!” Moira screamed, “Give me a weapon!”

  Just then, the temperature in the warehouse plummeted. Moira's breath fogged in the air in front of her and her arms and legs stood up with goosebumps. Ice actually frosted over the windscreen so she could barely make out the two figures.

  What she did see was the man who had stepped in front of her van had staggered to his feet... and the woman who had attacked them stumbled back. Moira leaned out the shattered driver side window, “Yeah!” she shouted, “Get the bitch!”

  Moira could see that the fires had been snuffed out by whatever it was the man had done. A raw, bone-numbing chill seemed to suck every bit of warmth out of the warehouse.

  The tall woman, her face once so arrogant and superior, wore an expression of panic. Her wide green eyes showed uncertainty and fear and she backed slowly away, as if she didn't dare turn to run.

  Moira wished she had a gun to finish the bitch off, but whatever unseen levels of the confrontation she missed, the man stood steady as the woman finally reached the far doors and then ran off into the night.

  With that, the man seemed to slump on himself. He stumbled over to the side of the van. Up close, Moira could see he was young, possibly younger than her. “Hey there,” M
oira said as he sagged against the passenger door, “need a ride?”

  ***

  Shaden sagged against the van's passenger door and took deep, gulping breaths. He faintly heard the woman, the one who had used a flamethrower, say something to him, but his exhaustion-fogged brain barely registered her words. It had taken everything he had to draw in the energy of the warehouse and then use that against the woman and her unseen allies.

  “Unknown psychic, this is Imperator Six,” a man's voice said over the helmet radio. “I must say, you are impressive. Can I ask your name?”

  Shaden took a gulping breath and then spoke, careful not to show his exhaustion. “Shaden, Shaden Mira.”

  “Well,” Imperator Six said. “You are quite impressive. It's a shame it has to be this way, you know, but you've obviously picked the wrong side.”

  Shaden flipped his visor down and brought up a tactical overlay. While the commando team had switched communications channels, he still had access to their tactical overlay and he brought that up on the visor as he felt a worm of fear in his stomach.

  “What,” he asked as casually as he could manage, “are the other four of you planning to come help your friend finish me in person?” He had felt five minds, tied together at a level that he barely understood and focused through the woman he had confronted... yet he had also sensed that the closest of the other four --probably Imperator Six-- was still several miles distant. The other minds had felt even further away, perhaps even scattered around the world. None of my training suggested that using powers at those distances is even possible, he thought while he searched through the helmet's data.

  All thoughts about the other psychics vanished as he found what he'd been looking for. A moment later, he heard Imperator Six's voice and despite the signal distortion, Shaden could clearly make out the other man's gloating tone. “No,” he said, “I think we'll just do things the expedient way. Goodbye, Shaden Mira.”