by L. C. Mawson
Alex looked away at that. “The fact that I fell in love with an Angel doesn’t make me an inherently better person than any of the other Enhanced,” she said, repeating Gus’ words to her. “I only saw the truth because the older Enhanced hurt me personally. If that hadn’t happened... Well, could you honestly say that you would have turned against them if they hadn’t hurt you personally?”
Jan looked as if she was about to protest for a moment, but then she looked away.
“They may not have stepped up before, but they are stepping up now,” Alex continued. “We can’t ask any more of them than that. Plus, would you really wish what happened to us on anyone else? Even if it made them less ignorant? I mean, you were envious of that ignorance not so long ago.”
Jan sighed before giving her a weak smile. “You know, now that I’ve realised how annoying that ignorance is, I don’t think I want it anymore.”
Alex returned her smile. “I think if I was actually given the choice, it would be a difficult one to make,” she confessed. “But for now, we can’t tear into our allies simply because they haven’t lived through what we have.”
Alex found herself folding her arms, as she was forced to admit that she hadn’t been much better than Jan when it came to trusting the rest of the Enhanced.
Jan sighed once more before nodding. “I know, you’re right. Come on, let’s just get these records and get out of here...”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Gus
Gus and the others tore through the room that Effie and Jay had been staying in, but found nothing.
He sighed as he found the last wastebasket empty.
Even if they hadn’t cleared out everything, it was likely that maids had been through.
It had been a long-shot, but he still found himself disheartened, hoping that Alex had better luck.
And of course, with a lack of results, or anything else to do but wait, Ty and Mia got right back to snapping at each other.
Gus suppressed another sigh, wondering if they had always been so antagonistic, or if this was a new thing.
“I’m just saying that you don’t need to help,” Mia said, exasperated. “Don’t strain yourself.”
“Don’t strain myself by walking around the room?! Just say what you mean, Mia. You think I’m in the way.”
“I didn’t say that!”
“You didn’t have to...”
Gus decided to step in at that, realising that things would only escalate if he didn’t.
“Mia, lay off,” he said, a little sharply. “You’re his sister, not his nanny.”
Mia glared at him. “Stay out of this, Gus. This is between my brother and me.”
Ty shook his head. “And I’m saying that Gus is right. You need to stop breathing down my neck like I’m a toddler you think is going to poke their fingers in a wall socket.”
Mia folded her arms tight across her chest. “I’m not treating you like a toddler, I just...”
“You worry,” Ty said, his voice surprisingly soft. “I know. I understand. But I don’t need your worry, Mia.”
Mia sighed, shaking her head before saying, “I’m going to get a drink. I need caffeine. Does anyone want anything?”
“Something with caffeine sounds good,” Gus agreed. “Especially if it’s some kind of awful neon colour.”
“Yeah, for me too,” Ty agreed.
Mia’s expression softened a little at the lack of rebuke from her brother before she left the room.
As soon as the door closed behind her, Ty turned to Gus. “Thanks,” he said. “For sticking up for me. I was kind of afraid you would play peacekeeper like Alex and tell me I was being just as unreasonable.”
“Mia’s just worried,” Gus reminded him. “But it’s true that she shouldn’t use that worry as an excuse to treat you like a child. If I was in your shoes, I would hate it too.”
Ty gave him a wry smile. “Yeah, it’s not fun,” he admitted. “It’s just... It’s like she thinks I don’t know, you know? Like she thinks that I don’t understand that things have changed for me. That I’m not made painfully aware of that every single second I’m awake...
“She thinks I’m going to push myself too far because I don’t understand my new limitations. As if I could ever escape them.
“She thinks I’m just as broken as the Enhanced did, and her only solace to that is ‘but don’t worry, I’ll still take care of you.’ I didn’t ask or want that from her!”
Gus responded by putting a reassuring hand on Ty’s shoulder. “I don’t think you’re broken,” he said softly.
Ty gave him a wavering smile. “And you’re probably the only one. I just... How can I make the others see that I’m not a completely lost cause? That I can still do things, just maybe not everything I used to be able to, and maybe not the way I did them before?”
“I’m not sure. If I knew how to prevent people from looking at you differently after something changes... Well, if I ever figure it out, you’ll be the first to know.”
Ty cocked his head slightly before asking, “Is that why you haven’t told Alex about your magic? You worry she’ll see you differently? Maybe get overprotective like Mia?”
Gus sighed, folding his arms. “I don’t know. Maybe. I guess I haven’t told her for a bunch of different reasons. But yeah, I don’t want her to see me differently. I’m still her brother, even if I have these abilities. And part of that is that I don’t want her to worry, I guess. She’s got too much on her plate already. She saw firsthand what they did to Freya, I don’t want her to worry that the same might happen to me.”
“Still, she did spend a lot of time around an Angel. She might know more about it than you do.”
Gus nodded in agreement. “I know. I asked her about the pendant, you know?”
Ty raised an eyebrow. “And?”
“She said it was a focusing charm. Meant to help with Elemental abilities. Apparently, Freya used to use it when she was just a kid getting the hang of her powers. She said that it wouldn’t give you any abilities, just help to focus the ones you already have. I suppose that must mean that I have some kind of magical talent, just not enough to tap into on my own...”
He pushed away the sparks he was sure he had seen when he had been worried about Alex. They had probably just been a figment of his imagination, he told himself.
“Then you should tell her,” Ty said. “You should tell her and ask her to give you the charm. Imagine what you could do in a fight if you had access to magic?”
Gus shook his head. “No, I... I’m not sure I could control it. Better to not add an unstable element into a fight.”
Ty, to Gus’ surprise, responded by reaching out his hand, quickly finding Gus’ and giving it a reassuring squeeze. “Gus, it’s okay,” he said. “You’re not alone in this. You don’t have to be afraid.”
Gus’ throat stung as he smiled a little, squeezing Ty’s hand back. “I know. I just... I’m not ready. Not yet. Let’s just get through this fight, okay?”
Ty nodded. “Okay.”
A moment later, they heard the door open and dropped each other’s hands as Mia returned with the others in tow.
Gus gave them an apologetic look as they entered. “We didn’t find anything,” he told them. “Did you have any luck at the records office?”
Alex nodded. “Yeah, we did,” she said. “We should know where to go to find the base.”
Gus nodded with relief at the news. “Good. I was worried that we would lose more time to picking through files.”
“No need. And from the looks of the pictures taken outside the Enhanced base, it does indeed look like it was built to the same specifications as the British one.”
“So, does that mean you know how to get in?” Mia asked.
Alex nodded. “Yeah, I should be more than capable of getting us in. And with Gus’ help, I should be more than capable of getting into the system and locking them out. With any luck, we should be able to lock Effie and Jay behind sec
urity doors before they even realise that we are in the building.”
“Wait,” Mia said, “should all of us go with you? I mean, you told me you can get us all in, but if only you and Gus are needed to get through, would more of us not just risk being discovered earlier?”
“Why don’t you just say it, Mia?” Ty asked his sister with a sigh. “You’re asking if they will leave me behind.”
“No, I wasn’t,” his sister defended. “If I wanted to ask that, I would have. I am more concerned that this is a mission that would require speed and stealth, which larger numbers would not lend well too.”
Ty didn’t look happy, but he didn’t protest his sister’s assertion.
“I don’t want to leave anyone behind,” Alex figured. “Even if having more of us does mean that we’re more likely to be caught, Gus and I have already been caught once and so know that we cannot win a fight against Effie and Jay on our own. If they catch us, we will need all of us there to succeed.”
Mia nodded. “All right then. All of us.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Alex
By the time they approached the base, Alex had thoroughly briefed the others on the layout of the base, having sketched out everything her near-perfect memory could recall.
From that, they had all contributed to the plan to get them inside.
Even Ty had broken his sullen silence once Gus had verbally explained what everyone else was looking at to suggest that they could obscure themselves from the sensors without having to disable the sensors completely, making it less likely that Effie and Jay would realise something was wrong.
The base, just like the base in England, was hidden away from civilisation, in the depths of the woods.
When they had been at war, it had been essential to keep the location of the bases secret. If they were close to a populated area, it wouldn’t be long before the local people realised what it was, and there would be nothing stopping magical beings from hiding amongst those locals to get close.
Of course, a base out in the middle of nowhere would attract attention to anyone who had satellite surveillance technology. It would be an easily spotted eyesore.
But the magical beings didn’t have any kind of technology like that. As long as the bases were away from populated areas where word might spread, the only hope magical beings had of finding them were randomly stumbling across them, following home the Enhanced who had been specifically trained to prevent something like that, or interrogating the Enhanced who had also been specifically trained to die before they talked.
The base being in the woods meant that there were plenty of places to weave and hide in order to lose any magical tail.
But it also meant that Alex and her team had plenty of places to hide as they approached, able to dodge the cameras and sensors simply by knowing the places they would most logically be placed.
It occurred to Alex that the Enhanced used a lot of strategies which relied on their enemies knowing nothing of how they operated.
It was no wonder that they had considered her relationship with Freya so dangerous. If she had told the magical beings too much about how the Enhanced worked, it would ruin any ability they had to fight them.
Not that Alex had told Freya much about how the Enhanced operated. Before her monitor had betrayed her, she’d had no reason to tell Freya such things. And after... Well, after what Freya had been through, it wasn’t as if she particularly enjoyed hearing about the Enhanced. Even if what she was being told might help her fight them in the future, it was too soon, and they both had assumed that they would have more than enough time in the future to go over such things.
As much as Alex was glad to be finally taking the fight to the Enhanced, she couldn’t help but mourn the fact that she was doing it without Freya.
“So, what is that?” Jan asked quietly as they made their way through the woods.
Alex was pulled from her thoughts as she realised that her hand had gone to the pendant Freya had given her.
“It looks like a rune of some kind,” Jan figured. “Definitely some kind of magic. Is it a protection charm of some kind?”
Alex shook her head. “Not really. It’s more of a focusing charm.”
Jan frowned. “Like for focusing magic? Why would you need a focusing charm if you don’t have magic?”
“I don’t need it,” Alex clarified. “It was Freya’s. When she was younger, it helped her to better use her magic.”
“So, it’s a toy for kids?”
Alex shrugged. “I guess. I think they’re still useful for most adults with magic, it’s just that when Freya came into her full power, it was more than the charm could handle. She kept wearing it because it had been the only thing she had of her mother.”
“And then she gave it to you?”
Alex sighed, looking away. “She said that it was a promise. That we would see each other again at some point... Someday...” She shook her head. “It’s a pretty fantasy, but not one I ever think will come to pass. For me to be reunited with her, for it to be safe, we would have to already have dealt with the rest of the Enhanced. Even if we get this base, this safe haven from them, I doubt we will be able to get rid of them completely anytime soon.”
“I’m sorry,” Jan said softly.
Alex shook her head. “It doesn’t matter,” she said, a little too quickly. “I’m furious that they took her from me, but it could have been much worse.”
Jan shrugged. “It could have been, but for the rest of us, this safe haven is the end of our personal fight. Sure, we want vengeance and to free any of the other younger Enhanced who might want to join us, but most of us are just looking for a place where we can be safe. You’re not looking for that. You’re looking to end them. I think I would rather that my journey ended here...”
Alex looked away, her throat stinging. She hadn’t really thought about the fact that she would be the only one with a reason to continue on.
After all, as long as the rest of the Enhanced couldn’t get to them, why would the others want to fight?
She was pulled from her thoughts by Jan’s reassuring hand on her arm.
“Even if I would be safer from them cowering behind the walls of this base, I would rather be fighting at your side,” Jan told her, her voice firm with conviction.
Alex felt tears welling in her eyes, and she blinked rapidly to dispense of them, not wanting to show any sign of weakness.
“Don’t put yourself in danger for my fight,” Alex said as soon as she trusted her voice not to waver.
Jan smiled, shaking her head. “It may be more your fight than mine, but it is still mine all the same. Not to mention, I’m not above a bit of petty vengeance.”
Alex smiled back, though it was muted by the awareness of where they were. “Let’s discuss petty vengeance once we actually have a safe haven to operate from,” Alex told her.
Jan’s smile faded as she nodded resolutely, refocusing on the task at hand as the base came into view.
The others found positions to hide as Gus sneaked towards the main entrance of the base.
The bases were all equipped with biometric sensors, designed to keep both magical beings and non-Enhanced humans from entering. It also meant that the base could keep records of who came and went.
If Effie and Jay had even the slightest of inklings that Gus and Alex might have escaped, they probably would have made sure that the base wouldn’t accept them as valid entrants.
And even if they hadn’t, by trying to get in, Gus and Alex would create a record in the base’s system, telling them that they were there.
Thankfully, since Freya had magic, Alex had spent more than a little time with the recognition systems. At first, it had been easy enough for Alex to manually tell the base to allow Freya entrance every time she arrived, but that had gotten old fast.
As no system override allowed Alex to tell it to accept her every time, Alex had had to adjust the systems herself.
Including the sen
sors at the front door.
Knowing that Gus would be quicker, even without her first-hand familiarity, Alex had run him through everything he would need to know to get the sensor to let them in without creating a log of someone entering.
After a few moments, the door opened, and they all quickly and silently filed into the base.
Thankfully, the sterile metal corridor that they entered was empty, and Alex found it more than recognisable.
It seemed as if the Enhanced truly had kept the same layout for every base they built.
Even though Alex knew that the British base lay in ruins, she could have sworn that she was back there now.
Freya would be sitting waiting for her in the common area, lounging in her hoodie and pyjama bottoms as she played old computer games on her laptop.
The memory sent a pang of nostalgic grief through Alex’s stomach, and her hand instinctively went to the pendant around her neck.
She pushed those thoughts away, however, as she instead refocused on getting to the base’s main systems.
“The controls for the security system are this way,” Alex told the others in a hushed whisper, pointing to the end of the corridor.
They all nodded as she led them to another, identical metal corridor.
The base was a labyrinth of these corridors, with only familiarity with the layout guiding anyone. All the rooms were behind solid metal doors, all of which had their own biometric sensors to make sure that the scientists could keep track of the comings and goings of all of the Enhanced.
And to make sure that no one got into any restricted areas without permission. Like the labs.
Alex had had to circumvent those restrictions to evaluate the British base in its entirety.
The sight of the labs when she had finally pried the doors open still haunted her. The twenty-year-old skeletons had spoken of a massacre that she’d struggled to comprehend.
