“Actually,” Johnny pointed out in an effort to distract her. “Frog taught her the kick to the nuts. He has no shame—”
Stephanie vaulted upward and landed to see only three Hoods ranged against her. The one in the middle looked at his defeated comrades and shook his head. “This is bullshit.”
He reached for the gun shoved into the front of his pants. When he pulled it clear and looked up, a bright blue translucent shield protected the team and her parents.
She, on the other hand, was on one knee, her head low and her arms out to the side. When she raised her head, her eyes were dark. “I told you, no guns.”
The gang members scrabbled at one another in an effort to find safety in numbers. “Oh, shit, it’s that Morgana bitch.”
Two of them bolted, their legs moving as fast as their feet could make them. The third shook his head, aimed his pistol at her, and prepared to fire.
She raised her hand and magical energy blew wildly around it. As she moved to block his attack, a shot rang out and the ganger fell and clutched his arm. She turned. Johnny stood behind her, lowering his gun with a serious face.
Stephanie released the shield and stepped forward, her eyes still black and an angry wind started to swirl around her. Lars hurried forward and grabbed her hand to hold it tightly. “Don’t do it, Stephanie. The paperwork for killing him is a pain in the ass, trust me.”
For a moment, she stared at him, then looked back at the gang member who sat on the ground and moaned in shock. She stepped forward and came to a halt beside him. He stopped groaning and looked fearfully at her. Leaning over, she gave him a good look at her wild, black eyes. “It’s Stephanie from the Block to you, bitch.”
Having delivered that line, she swung her leg back and kicked him repeatedly until he fell unconscious. Sirens blared in the background and the team started to move. Lars grabbed her and smiled, nodding toward the not-so-distant sound. “Let’s get out of here.”
Chapter Twenty
“Remove your civilian clothes, put everything in the box labeled with your family’s address, and get dressed. Now is the time to do any last-minute checks, go say goodbye and kissy-kiss your mommies, and break up with your girlfriends.” The boot camp instructor walked around, his face angry, his arms bulging, and his uniform perfectly creased.
Todd sighed and removed everything from his pockets, then dropped his phone in the box. He saw a notification on the device and leaned over hastily to grab it before the instructor could close the lid. The man glared at him as he clicked on it, took one look, and laughed.
Stephanie and her team appeared on the screen, beating the living hell out of a group of gang members from his Gov-Sub home. A reporter came on and the video continued to play next to her.
“It’s only at the end,” she said, “that you can see her power. When they drew a gun, she didn’t hold back. But even then—even in the heat of the moment—they only shot him in the arm to incapacitate him.”
The video stopped and didn’t show Stephanie kicking the ganger into unconsciousness, which was probably a good thing. The camera zoomed in on the reporter. “It seems the witch Morgana isn’t as scary as some would have us believe.”
Todd snorted and leaned his head back. “You have no idea. You had better never truly piss her off.”
As rapidly as he could, he opened an email and typed his message. As he pressed send, the instructor blew a loud horn right beside his head. “Drop the tech in the box, momma’s boy. It’s time to get back to your roots. Now, get dressed double-time. Move it! Move it! Move it!”
Todd dropped the phone in the box but noted the sent symbol as it landed on top of his clothes. He grabbed the Navy issue sweatpants and shirt and dragged them on. As he pulled on his white socks and service-issue tennis shoes, he wrinkled his nose.
The instructor stopped next to him and the recruit straightened to stand tall. He glanced at the box, all sealed and ready, and down at the sweat suit. “What’s wrong, recruit? You don’t like your smurfs?”
“They are perfect, Petty Officer,” he yelled in response.
The officer sneered and flipped his hand through the young man’s hair. “You will be up front and number one when we visit the barber. Shears out, bitches. You are losing your lovely locks. Time to become a soldier in the Federation Navy! It’s time to be proud!”
Todd walked to the front of the line, breathing heavily. “I can do this. The Toddster will sport the short in every port…”
It was the one thing he had been desperately terrified of every time he’d thought about joining up. His hair was his baby, but he knew he would have to let it all go in order to become the man he wanted to be. It was time to be done with being a boy and time to embrace becoming a man.
The team said goodbye to Stephanie’s parents as if they were their own. Her mom hugged her tightly and kissed her on the cheek. “I am so proud of you. So proud of all of you. Okay, watching you kick gangster butt was a little hard to take. I won’t lie about that. But in the end, you’ll take on the world, and you’re so wonderful. I wish we could be on Meligorn to watch you receive your medal. We’ll watch the television, though, and cheer you on. If you listen hard enough, you might actually hear us.”
Stephanie smiled. “I am the way I am because of you and Dad. You taught me to protect what I love, and I love the good-hearted, strong-souled, and kind-minded. So, I think I have my work cut out for me.”
Her dad came over and fist-bumped her. “That was the most awesome fight I have ever seen. You were a little terrifying with those black eyes, but hey, everyone has a quirk. I think every one of those gang dudes pooped their pants.”
They laughed and she hugged him tightly before she turned and scrambled into the SUV with the team. They rolled their windows down and all hung out to wave and cheer until they faded from view. She laughed, shaking her head at them. They really were her family, and it was so wild to have them.
The next two days felt like a complete and total hurricane. Stephanie and the team returned to Washington so they could get everything they needed packed for the trip. While they were there, they received new armor and the stuff BURT had shipped in because of their new training routine. By the time they were done with trying it on and testing it, they were out of time and had to get the hell out of Dodge and head to Meligorn.
The embassy sent a special bus to take them to the shuttle. Stephanie was placed in the middle and the guys blocked her from being seen through the windows. When the vehicle stopped on the tarmac in front of the shuttle, she used her magic to create a dark-shadowed veil over her face. Her team helped her carry her bags, and they all boarded and settled into their seats in the first-class seating the royals of Meligorn had reserved for them.
Stephanie rolled her shoulders, slipped her arms back into the safety straps, and pushed the locks together over her chest and stomach. She could hear people whispering, some guessing who she was and others knowing only that she was important. Most wondered who the actress was with the entourage of guards.
One woman was so obsessed, she couldn’t keep her voice down. “Those security dudes are for real. I can’t even think of an actress in this day and age who is that famous. Even amongst the richies.”
Her friend whispered a response that made Stephanie stifle a snort. “Maybe she’s some royal alien woman and she’s here to take our husbands.”
The two ladies giggled and the first slapped her friend’s hand. “Don’t you wish. I’ll wrap Ernie up with a bow and send him right along.”
The shuttle roared to life around them and the stewardess activated the comms. “Welcome to the 756 Fortune Shuttle headed to Meligorn. Please do not take any items from the lockers until the gravity is activated. Keep your belts fastened at all times. For those that have never been out of the Earth’s gravity, you may be tempted to unbuckle and float. Please resist the urge as this can cause you and others injury when the artificial gravity activates. If you wish to experience the weightle
ssness of space, please speak to one of our attendants, and we’ll be happy to take you to the weightless lounge on top of the shuttle. This space is surrounded by glass so you can feel like you are truly floating through the great beyond. In the meantime, please sit back and enjoy your trip.”
Stephanie wasn’t as nervous as she would have been before she’d been put through several Virtual Reality simulations of the takeoff and time in space. Still, she was curious as to exactly how realistic the Virtual World had been. The shuttle shook lightly, but not like the early missions where you could barely sit in your chair. The commercial flights were smooth and calm.
The pilot did a countdown and then launched. Stephanie could feel the power of the boosters beneath her as the shuttle inched upward, slowly at first before it increased speed. She held onto the loops on the front of her belt and stared out the window as the world grew smaller and smaller and the sky turned dark.
“Wow,” she mused. “Virtual Reality made it seriously lifelike. They did a good job.”
Lars looked at her and grinned. “No difference?”
“A little.” She shrugged. “Mostly the flipping of the stomach and the butterflies. Everything else seems about the same.”
She drew a deep breath and turned to the window to watch as they passed through the upper atmosphere. Then, exactly as she had imagined from the time she’d realized it was real, the gMU began to wind around her, filled her chest when she breathed, and touched every nerve-ending in her body. Her breath fluttered and she grasped the arms of her chair, the feeling amazing and almost overwhelming. The gMU filled the reservoir inside her in a rush instead of a trickle.
Lars tapped her hand. “Uh, Steph?”
“Hmm? she replied and turned to him.
He licked his lips a little nervously. “Is your face supposed to glow under your veil…oh, it’s your eyes again. That’s a nice silver color, but you might want to turn it off before someone notices.”
Stephanie nodded and her gaze slid across the aisle and one row forward. A young child hung over the back of his seat and stared at her, his mouth open in amazement. With a small smile, she waved her hand over one side of her magical veil and canceled it to reveal her face to the child. She winked once before she pulled the magic in and adjusted her eyes to their normal hue.
As the glow died, the child smiled and so did she as she settled in to enjoy the ride. She was headed to Meligorn, a place she’d longed to visit her entire life. It was a dream that had finally come true.
Chapter Twenty-One
The flight to the space station, Elpis One, was way more exciting than Stephanie had thought it would be. For one thing, it was deep space. Then, she’d experienced a huge surge of energy that had surprised her because she hadn’t expected it. Although there was a downside. She had to listen to Frog barfing for half the trip because something about the flight had set him off. Still, overall, it was definitely exciting.
She had never even been on a plane, much less a spaceship. While there were some passengers who found it much like any other flight, for her, it was like being inside one of the science fiction novels Todd liked to read.
Those things were hard to find after the Federation takeover and the wars on Earth, but his father dug one up here and there and passed them on to him. That was one of the few nice things he’d ever done for his kid.
Of course, her friend passed them to her in turn and she had found each one she’d read thought-provoking and almost spiritual in essence. Seeing the real thing was so much better. The weightlessness inside the shuttle only lasted a few moments before they switched over to artificial gravity. In spite of Frog’s immediate vomit-spree, she found being free of Earth’s confines invigorating.
It was as if, for those few moments, all the stress and expectations lifted from her shoulders and their absence was what made her truly weightless.
As soon as the gravity was activated, though, everything settled back onto her shoulders, where it weighed heavier than the feet thumping to the floor inside the cabin.
While she was okay with what she had on her plate, Stephanie didn’t find anything wrong with letting go from time to time. Being free of her responsibilities meant she could pretend, if only for a moment, that her worries were simply those of a normal human life.
Taxes, jobs, money, and relationships…those were the things most people worried about. Not death, Dreth, and duty.
In the midst of her daydream of sleep-filled nights, day-time office cubicles, and modern relationships, she was a little disappointed when Lars nudged her with his elbow. “Hey, we’re slowing down. The spaceport should be up ahead. It’s the first stop on this leg to Meligorn. Home sweet home for a couple of days.”
Stephanie turned to him, nodded, and forced an understanding smile before she remembered he couldn’t see it through her veil. “Right. Got it. At least we can stop listening to Ralphing Robot back there.”
Frog groaned and clutched his stomach. “Please, someone land this bitch. Seriously.”
A passing crew member stifled a smile, and Marcus gripped the man’s shoulder. “What’s wrong, bro? Space travel not really your cup of tea?”
“It’s not my cup of anything,” he replied. “At least not on this shuttle. I’ve flown space before, in and out of the Virtual, and I don’t know why this one’s got ahold of my stomach and rolled it.”
Johnny leaned over from across the aisle. “It wouldn’t have anything to do with the waffle-sausage breakfast we all told you not to eat, would it?”
Frog waved frantically for his teammate to stop and his face clearly said he was trying not to think about it.
Marcus groaned, having had to sit next to him for the entire trip. He looked vaguely green about the gills himself.
Stephanie simply stared out the window and laughed at the guys’ banter. Outside, she could see the spaceport coming up. It was a lot bigger than she’d thought it would be.
Deck upon deck circled through space, the different sectors connected by translucent tunnels. Round, speeding elevators moved like ants along them, ascending and descending between levels.
“It’s impressive, right?” Lars smiled and peered over her shoulder. “Like a little city in its own right.”
“It is,” she replied. “When the hot-cyclone anomalies were happening ten years ago, there were some nights when I could see its lights flashing in miniature. I lived for those moments.”
“You’re talking about the anomaly that created those crazy strong winds in the upper atmosphere, right?” he asked.
Stephanie nodded. “Yeah. When it dipped below what is left of the ozone layer and into the troposphere, you could watch the clouds and smog being blown away. On those nights, the sky was relatively clear. I was lucky I lived in a place that gave us a view of the space station. They were still doing construction on the East wing at that point.”
He smiled. “Funny what makes an impression on us as kids.”
She straightened and pulled the straps tighter on her harness. “It is. It makes us realize how small we really are.”
Lars leaned back and mirrored her actions with the harness. “We are, but for some reason, when we are in the thick of it, we seem so big.”
The spacecraft began its approach to the docking station and the flight attendants strapped themselves into their seats at the front of the cockpit. One of them pressed her finger to her ear to listen to the comms.
The woman’s forehead crinkled into a frown and her gaze found Lars. When her expression changed, Stephanie had a bad feeling and suspected that she knew what was about to go down.
She took a deep breath and focused on remaining calm. With the amount of energy flowing through her, she couldn’t lose control.
The shuttle shook slightly as it touched down on the landing pad, its rails captured by docking clamps as soon as it settled. The pilot relinquished control to the station and the craft was pulled into the hanger bay.
Inside the cabin, the abr
upt shift from the darkness of space to the brightly lit interior of the space station was almost blinding. Up front, the flight attendant unbuckled her belt and shuffled through the first-class cabin until she reached Lars.
Leaning over, she whispered into his ear.
Stephanie tried not to intrude, but she noted when his expression changed from excitement to work mode in seconds.
He nodded to the attendant and twisted so he could see the guys. “Stay seated until the cabin has cleared. I’ll explain shortly.”
The shuttle came to a complete stop and the attendants prepared the cabin for disembarkation. There was no carry-on luggage like on an aircraft, so the VIP area emptied relatively quickly.
When they were the last ones remaining, Lars unbuckled his harness and stood to face the team. “It seems the paparazzi are waiting for Stephanie. Somehow, they connected her with this flight. We have to make it look as if it’s nothing more than a normal visit to the spaceport.”
He paused and his eyes scanned each of their faces. “We cannot let them know she is going to Meligorn. Her name is not on the public record for security reasons and neither are ours.”
Marcus looked out the window and assessed the crowd of people looking out of the large bay viewing port. “They’re right where we need to walk through. Even with a distraction, we’d be noticed.”
Lars nodded. “Right, but the attendant tells me there’s a separate entrance up and to the right as we enter the foyer, and there’s an escort waiting there to take us to our rooms.”
He waited as they absorbed the information, their eyes straying to the entrance and the viewing port. Before any of them could interrupt, he continued. “Basically, we need to get from here to that door unnoticed. To do that, we have to distract the press while we leave the shuttle.”
Witch Of The Federation (Federal Histories Book 2) Page 21
