Wednesday, April 19th
Location: Hostage in random room
Mission: Pray
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"Co on, get to it!" Tilli barked.
I glanced at Nikki; I couldn't tell if she'd glanced back. The air in the room tasted like static and fear. "Helt's off. In fact, take all your armor off," Tilli ordered. "Now."
"Okay… okay… okay… chill," Nikki pleaded. We moved slow and careful, peeling helts and armor like we were defusing sothing volatile. The clatter of gear hitting the floor felt impossibly loud. For a second, having the weight of the helts gone was the best thing that could have happened.
"These must be the YMPA agents they warned us about," Tilli said to Marcus, voice flat as steel.
"I don't know… you tell ," Marcus replied, hands folded as if he were still behind a lab bench instead of in a locked room with loaded guns aid at us. Tilli leveled the muzzle at and I felt my bladder betray a little. I was the least of her concern—right now—but the panic pooled in my stomach all the sa.
Then Tilli's eyes dropped to my waist. "Mhm. They are," she confird. "Take all those weapons off."
"Well, that's a lot to take off… you sure you don't wanna kill us with them on?" Nikki shot back.
I turned toward her, eyes wide, frustration burning through in a way I couldn't disguise. Tilli snorted, amusent mingling with contempt. "They sent amateur junior agents. I'm insulted."
"Excuse …" Nikki hissed. "We found you in seconds."
"You know what? Sit down," Tilli ordered.
"Where?" I asked. The floor looked less like sothing you sat on and more like a punishnt. Tilli gestured with the barrel and we obeyed, settling onto the cold, unforgiving concrete.
"Gotta love it," Nikki muttered. Tilli barked again. "Hush, would you?!"
Nikki shut up imdiately. Honestly, who wouldn't? When soone screams at you with a gun aid at your head, silence feels like a life-preserving maneuver.
"Why did they send you?" Tilli asked.
"Because that's our job," Nikki answered, steady and clipped.
"Why did the YMPA send you?" Tilli asked again, this ti sharper. Nikki glanced at ; I shrugged. She faced Tilli once more. "I'm sure I already told—"
"Why did the YMPA send you? What business do you guys have in C.A.R.G.O" Tilli pressed. Nikki's jaw tightened. "Let return the question: why in the world did the TSA spawn you guys here?"
"Like I would tell you," Nikki hissed back. "Do you see the leverage we have here?"
"Well, in all honesty, we did find your mole in a matter of seconds. Sheesh. You led us right to him," Nikki went on, tone sharp with a smile. "I assu you have no information to even give. That's just how bad you—"
"Why did the YMPA send you?" Tilli cut in, voice a dangerous calm. "Or I'll shoot you right in the head."
She looked at then, and my stomach dropped. "I'm sure you don't want her to die, do you?" she said.
My head snapped to Nikki. How had this suddenly beco my problem? Nikki shrugged, as if the solution to being threatened at gunpoint could be worked out by indifference. "Figure sothing out," she mouthed.
"What?" I hissed. "You figure sothing out!" Tilli cocked the gun. The tallic clack made my teeth ache.
I squealed when panic tightened my chest. Tilli's eyes flashed with sothing like exhilaration. She trained the muzzle on Nikki. I squealed again, higher this ti.
Then the door exploded inward.
Mari and Tisiah barreled in, wands out, moving like a pair who'd been rehearsing for this exact mont. They collided with Tilli. In the chaos, Nikki pushed up off the floor.
Tilli fired.
Nikki scread and folded, a sound that ripped through . The bullet found her shoulder; blood fountained, dark and sudden. My heart lurched into a cold, stunned stop. That shriek—God—was the kind of sound nightmares are built from.
"Nikki!" Tisiah roared, diving on top of her. He was all frantic motion—hands, breath, fury. Mari lunged for Tilli, pinning her with a strength that seed almost casual until I realized she wasn't casual at all.
"Run, Marcus!" Tilli shouted with whatever lungs she had left.
He ran.
Marcus didn't hesitate; his wand flashed and a gust slamd against the window, shattering glass into a sudden glittering rain. Adrenaline ripped through —no ti to think. I had to move.
He climbed out on the ledge. I didn't even know that ledge existed until he was balanced on it, and then the world pitched. My scream left before my feet did. He scooted along the narrow strip, and I followed, limbs trembling, crouched low, each inch a negotiation with gravity. We were at least thirty feet up. "Stop!" I shouted. "There's nowhere to go!"
He looked at —eyes wide with a terror that had nothing to do with my threats. "Killing is not the problem!" he shouted back.
He struck his wand and a concentrated blast of air slamd into —wind with a punch that felt like being hit by a truck. It was like the air had been juiced, turned into a physical force intended to break . I went over the edge.
For a terrifying instant the world narrowed to falling, the ground rushing up at a speed that should have pulverized every bone. I activated reflexively—so small, bright activation of my Perk—and managed to avoid total catastrophe. I smashed into a parked car thirty feet below with the kind of pain that rearranged my ribs and sense of self. The sound of tal and my own breath filled my ears.
Guards started shouting. I had to move, because staying ant getting scooped up by the wrong people. I pushed myself into a scramble and looked up in ti to see Marcus leap—wind swirling beneath his feet like a broomstick—land on top of a semi and slide down to the ground, tailwind pushing him like a shadow.
He ran for the delivery docks—the backside of the facility where crates and forklifts cast long, useful shadows. He climbed a stack of boxes with the agility of soone who'd practiced this escape a thousand tis. I couldn't match every move; copying would have been a marathon. I jumped, using my speed to get extra height. He turned, startled to see —surprised that I'd followed—but his expression registered more annoyance than fear.
I landed and slamd a shockwave into him. Even his wind couldn't fully block that. The force knocked him backward in a way that felt good and terrible all at once—terrible because I hoped to subdue him, good because the plan was, for once, working.
"Okay—listen—if you just stop right now, we can help you. Trust ." My breath sounded like a foghorn in my ears; adrenaline was draining like a leaky bucket.
He conjured another whirlwind and used it like a bat; I flew into a radio pole with a sickening crack. My ears rang, and stars blood across my vision. I flailed and hit the ground. Sowhere a car skidded and slamd into sothing in the distance.
When my sight recalibrated from newborn blur to sothing like 480p resolution, Mari hovered over , disappointnt radiating off her in waves. "Nice job," she hissed.
"What do you an?" I managed.
She grabbed my collar and hauled upright like I weighed nothing. The world rebalanced as I forced myself to stand. Marcus lay propped against a crate—alive, unconscious, probably full of wind and regret.
"Did you hit him with a car?" I blurted.
"Yeah. It worked, didn't it?" Mari said, almost pleased.
I pressed myself against the hood of a van and exhaled a ragged, horrified laugh. "Lord, have rcy," I whispered.
Mari scoffed. "You couldn't even handle a kid whose Perk is wind."
"Hey, first of all—wind is very useful!" I protested.
She turned to with that look—the one that says you are simultaneously the subject of a story and the punchline. "Yeah. That's why basically no one has it."
I pushed the ache in my knees down and tried to be serious. "What about Tisiah and Nikki? Nikki's hurt. We need to get her to dical—now."
Mari hefted Marcus easily under an arm. "Call the YMPA ambulance," she said. "Don't they teach you this in Predicant class?"
"Predicant class?" I repeated, stunned.
"Haven't got there yet?" she scoffed, as if the answer should have been obvious. "That's why they put you with . You guys are amateur agents."
Amateur. The word landed like another hit. I had just tangled with a man beforehand who could steal Perks—what did that make ? I opened my mouth to argue, to defend the five minutes of chaos I'd survived, but my legs trembled and the words died.
Mari kept walking, then stopped and looked back at . "You know how Tisiah and I knew to co?" she asked.
"You just found us," I said, expecting so heroic reveal.
"I wish." She rolled her eyes and smirked. "Nikki left her radio on. Convenient timing."
And just like that, my self-esteem had just disintegrated.
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