Battlefield (19 page)

“‘My superiors have told me they need warriors to act and move for them down here on Earth. The device they've been using to unlock the hidden abilities of us humans is complicated, and can only help those individuals whose power is close to maturing on its own. My research on this phenomenon has raised some interesting findings—most particularly—that there is a way to artificially induce this maturity by administering the right combination of chemicals, a drug of sorts. By causing this reaction, I can force someone to essentially exhibit supernatural abilities. I'm excited to test this theory out. This is why I am The Doctor.'”

She stopped and went back to reading on her own. Orlando didn't mind the quiet. It helped him collect his thoughts. A drug that gave the taker superpowers? That killed? Were all of these sleeping teenagers experimented on? Was the teen who died as well? November 5 was only last Saturday. This was disgusting. It didn't take long for him to realize the party was thrown for the sole purpose of getting more volunteers for this incredibly messed-up science project.

JD swallowed. “She took it, didn't she?”

“Hmm?” Cadence raised her head up from the computer, only half listening. Orlando decided to answer.

“Yes, she did.”

Angela was one of the test subjects. Best case scenario, she would wake up and nothing would be different; the most complicated scenario would be for her to gain powers.

In the worst case she would die.

 

It took a lot to surprise Alan, and he definitely was when Cadence told him JD found something useful. He needed to have better faith in his charges.

Cadence and he had been told to get to the party as soon as possible. Rather than travel by car, Alan decided to use his teleportation to take them both to the address of this party. The program they had used to locate the specific coordinates, however, was inaccurate. Maybe now Cadence would believe him when he told her to use something with a more reliable name than “Google”. It sounded like a child's toy.

“Popping” into the middle of a forest, the two could observe the party location from the outside. They found the trap door to the tunnels by random chance. Alan's bracelet started to glow. Everything fell into place in one moment. Cadence wanted to find JD. Alan wanted to find Alona. They agreed to split up, but not before he gave her the mate to Alona's bracelet. Where Alona was, Alan would also be, he hoped.

The hard part would now be to find Alona on his own, but he was fast becoming more accustomed to the tunnels running underneath the cities. To pass the time while he explored Earth, Alan had started creating a map for his own personal use. He began in Orlando's place of education and continued from there. Every so often, he would overhear others in these tunnels. When this happened, he turned around and took another direction. This was the only way he could feel useful while he waited for instructions from his superiors—which never came.

The river they had observed only a week prior had a tunnel entrance. There were connections inside buildings and homes. While Cadence walked the path to the party, he took the path towards the river. This was the base of operations, or so it seemed. Alan took a lot of notes just in case his superiors weren't aware of this. Taking Sir Tuliy's advice, he'd been lying as low as possible and using this to make himself invisible to his comrades. It surprised him just how much he could eavesdrop on.

“How many?” Alona asked. Her voice was distant, but it carried nicely through the concrete tunnel. These were nice and new. The ones from the school were rough and much narrower.

“I have twelve. I was hoping for twenty, but your followers didn't think the pickings were good tonight. Many would be interested, but they lack the intelligence needed for an operation of this scale. Not that I'm surprised. Jocks, cheerleaders, and partyers all make wonderful warriors.” The reply came from the same man Alona had been speaking to the last time Alan had found her.

“Your sarcasm is not appreciated. Two of my best follows are jocks and cheerleaders. Do not underestimate these youths, and do not label them as worthless simply because of a stereotype,” she said.

“Struck a nerve. My apologies. You need to deliver me eight more. That is your job, and that is my quota. I have twenty different versions that need to be tested. Tonight. Do you understand? Figure something out.”

Footsteps came towards him and then began to fade once more. They sounded too heavy to be Alona's, and the feet dragged slightly. Even in her saddest of moods, she would never walk in such a pathetic manner. She had far too much pride for something like that.

Alan walked through the tunnels in the direction her voice carried from. He started hearing other sounds the closer he got to her, like breathing, frustrated sighs, and mumbling as she paced the room.

“What are you doing here? Leading your fellow comrades to arrest me? Put me to justice for my crimes?”

He didn't know what he was doing there, actually. He shrugged, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. This time he wouldn't let her take advantage of him. He suppressed his emotions even if all he wanted was to reach out and hold her close.

“I'm on a recon mission. Though now that you mention it, I could easily inform my superiors of your presence and keep you here for them to collect,” he said. This wasn't far from the truth anyway.

“They don't know you're here,” she said and sighed. It amazed him how good she still was at reading between the lines and seeing through him.

He shrugged again, trying to “play it cool”, as JD would say. “No, but I can fix that easily.”

She walked toward him and reached for his hands. This time he didn't let her touch him. Instead, she settled on holding the hem of his shirt.

“You don't seem so confident tonight. Perhaps you're having a change of heart,” he said.

“No, I know that after tonight you will be rewarded for your findings. We will officially be enemies.”

“I thought you stopped having hope for us a while ago. That was the impression I got from our last meeting.”

“Then I suppose you shouldn't let me go,” she said. Putting her wrists out in front, she was offering herself to be taken in. He knew he should have pulled out his restraints and brought her back to his ship then and there. It would have been so easy, but he couldn't bring himself to actually do it.

“I hate this,” he said.

“Let's not get sentimental again.”

“You're right. Tell me what you're doing here,” Alan said and moved away from her.

“Recruiting,” she said and shrugged.

“So then you aren't responsible for the death of the youths from this region?”

“No, I am.”

He closed his eyes and shook his head. “Why kill them?”

“It's how the process works. Are you sure you don't want to arrest me still?”

He stepped forward and grabbed her by her shirt. He was having a hard time wrapping his mind around what she had just told him. This couldn't be his Alona. She would never hurt an innocent, let alone kill one. She certainly wouldn't act as if she didn't care. Her hands reached out to touch him, but he evaded them. He couldn't be stripped of his abilities again.

“How what works? Give me a straight answer. I have little patience with you trying to be cute. If you won't cooperate, I'm sure I can find ways to make you do so.” He lit his free hand on fire and waved it in front of her.

“You'd hurt me?” she asked.

He proved it by lighting a piece of her clothing on fire.

“What's gotten into you?” She tried to grab him again, but he was once more able to dodge it. This time as she swiped at him, he pulled out his handcuffs made of metal and light, and placed them on her wrists tightly.

He pulled her by her clothing to a chair and forced her to sit. “Tell me what you're doing.”

“I'm recruiting, and those who are not compatible with the process by which we are extracting abilities, well, I believe they have a theory here called natural selection. The survival of the fittest.”

“And you ask what has gotten into me? What you've just said is disgusting.”

She shrugged, and her eyes darted past Alan and towards something behind him. He turned and saw a man in a mask.

“Friend of yours?” the man asked.

“My charming ex,” Alona said.

“Your charming dead ex,” the man said and pulled out a gun. He pointed it directly at Alan.

Alona smirked. “This is The Doctor.” Then to this doctor she said, “You don't need to kill him. We could have a little fun with him though, and show his people your true genius.”

There was a loud pop, and for a moment Alan thought he had been shot by the gun. He'd been shot by something, but it wasn't a bullet. His shoulder stung, and when he looked at it, he saw a small dart hooked into his skin. At first he was confused, and then he felt a wave of dizziness pass over him. Grabbing his head, he tried to fight it, but he stumbled into Alona. Her hands were free now, and she used them to steady him. Though she still only touched his clothing.

“I won't let him hurt you for too long. You should have arrested me when you had the chance,” she told him.

He was nudged sharply in the back, and forced to walk from the room. Though Alan didn't feel as if he were walking, but floating. He wouldn't have even been aware of the fact he was moving if the scenery around him wasn't changing. The room became narrow hallways, and those became forks and then doors, until he was now in another room. Or maybe it was the same one as before? He couldn't tell. The Doctor grabbed Alan by his shirt and shoved him to the floor. He glared down at him and just as he was going to strike Alan across the face, he gasped and completely froze.

“Who are you? What are you doing to my lab?”

There was a crash of glass. Alan raised his eyes and saw Orlando, JD, and Cadence.

Orlando dropped something to the ground and smiled devilishly as it shattered. “Destroying it, duh.”

 

“Come on, Angela, wake up,” JD pleaded as he shook his sister. He'd tried being gentle, and it was getting him nowhere. How he'd get her out while she was unconscious, he didn't know, but he couldn't leave her there to be experimented on either.

“What's her number?” Orlando asked. He was still over at the table with the beakers of chemicals.

He stared at him. “What?”

“She should have a number on for her experiment. What is it?”

“Uh…” JD searched her body, lifting her head slightly. He found an elastic string around her wrist with a tag on it. “Twelve.”

Orlando nodded and grabbed a vial from off a rack on the table. He put it into a pocket. “I grabbed her sample of whatever this doctor put into her. I might be able to kype a few more, but I can't take them all.”

“You shouldn't need them all. Grab a low number and then a high one and that should be an adequate sample,” Cadence said while she typed furiously on the computer. “Each test tube contains a different version of the formula he's injecting people with. They're all slightly varied. The most noticeable changes will be between the high numbers and the low ones.”

“Got it,” Orlando said and grabbed two more of the vials. He tucked them away in his pockets. “What should we do with the rest of this stuff?”

“Get rid of it. We have to set him back, or he'll keep going with these tests. I'm working on copying what I can to the memory card on my phone, and then I'm going to see if I can demolish his hard drive. Maybe if he has to start from scratch, he'll give up.”

“Wishful thinking,” JD said quietly. He stared down at his sister and sighed. “Come on Angela. Please. Wake up.”

“If anything, it'll send a message, right?”

Orlando tipped over the rack of test tubes and stepped away from the table as their contents spilled all over in a mess of black liquid. “A message sounds like a great idea. This is actually kind of fun.” He used his psychic abilities to pick up the empty tubes and break them on the hard concrete floor.

JD winced at the noise, but soon he was all smiles when he noticed the sound had roused his sister. Slowly her eyes opened. She rubbed at them and made eye contact with him. He didn't say anything, and silently thanked God that she was awake.

Meanwhile, Orlando decided to send a beaker of clear liquid sailing across the room. It shattered on the wall opposite from where he stood.

“Who are you? What are you doing to my lab?”

The three teens turned and saw a man in a mask. He wore business casual clothes, and from what they could make out of his physical appearance, he was older than them. It was hard to say by how much. Mid-to-late twenties perhaps? Alan was at his feet looking more than a little dazed.

Orlando picked up another beaker and dropped it to the ground. “Destroying it. Duh.”

“Stop!”

Instead, Orlando caused the papers on the table to float through the air, whipping around their heads. Then the pages began to rip in half. Jealousy filled JD as he watched the show. If only he could do something so cool, then maybe he would be more useful. The only thing he could do then was stay by his sister's side.

“Stop or I'll kill him,” the man said and aimed a gun at Alan's head. This got Orlando's attention, so much so that everything dropped where it was held in the air. The papers floated down slowly, and the gentle swishing sound was the only thing to be heard.

“That's better. Now I want your friend to get away from my computer.”

Cadence did as she was told, moving closer to JD. He liked that she chose him to comfort and protect her instead of Orlando. Angela stared between her brother and friend. She opened her mouth to speak, but JD put his fingers to his lips.

The man stepped past Alan and toward Orlando. “You've been—”

“A naughty boy, I know. You're The Doctor, I'm assuming?” he said.

“That would be correct.” The Doctor bowed slightly in mock respect. “Are you the almighty Chihuahua Man who has caused such an uproar?”

“Faithful sidekick.”

“What to do with you, faithful sidekick.” The Doctor pulled out a cell phone, clicked a button on the side, and used it like a walkie-talkie. “Sprout, I need you.” He waited for a reply, but none came. “Sprout!”

Orlando smirked. “Need teenage lackeys to fight your battles for you? Too bad, we already dealt with them. She might be in a little bit of pain at the moment, and we all know Bean is kind of worthless.”

The Doctor scowled and put his phone back. “He's a lot more capable than you think. I don't need them to deal with you.” He pointed his gun at Orlando's forehead, taking a step towards him. “Granted, I don't necessarily want to kill you if I don't have to. Perhaps my comrade would like to assist me in making an example out of you, just like we were going to with your friend.”

If Orlando was scared, he was doing a good job of not showing it. He stood tall with his chin up and didn't budge. His eyes looked past The Doctor briefly and at Alan, a glance that went unnoticed by the other man. JD saw it though, and what he saw was Alan slowly returning to his senses. His eyes were no longer glossy, and strength seemed to return to his posture instead of looking like a crumpled mess on the floor.

While all of this happened, the other sleeping teenagers began to stir where they lay. Things were going to get complicated quickly. JD's first concern was getting his sister and the other teens to safety. After that, he just wanted to get out alive.

Orlando stood firm, staring at the gun in front of him. “That doesn't look like an everyday sort of weapon.”

“Smart. It's not, but I can still kill you if I want to,” The Doctor said.

“Noted.”

A quiet groan came from Alan. “Leave them out of this. You only need to use me as your example.”

“They know an awful lot. I can't ignore that,” The Doctor said.

“Then I suppose I will just have to be drastic.” Alan sighed and closed his eyes for a moment.

Whatever he was about to do, it worried Alona because she stepped away from him. She hesitated then reached out to touch him, but she was too late. With a loud bang and a cloud of smoke, he completely disappeared.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Orlando threw The Doctor away from him. No doubt he was trying to send the man into the wall much like he tried to do with Sprout, but whatever Alan did was creating a lot of distractions. JD remembered he didn't function well with those. He turned to Cadence, practically shoving his sister into her hands.

“Get them out of here, now.”

“Wait, what about—”

“I'll be right behind you. If we're separated, go to The Apartment.” JD gave her a firm nod and started to urge the rest of the teens to get up. “Come on guys, time to go home. This is nothing but a dream.” He glanced at Orlando, who was busy trying to throw everything he could at The Doctor to keep him down. Alona retreated from the room. This encouraged him. If she thought it better to leave, that had to mean something right?

“I think you've got him good,” he said, and jumped when there was another loud bang and more smoke. What was Alan doing? The young man reappeared between both JD and Orlando, reached out to grab them and then burst into thin air. This time, he took the two teens with him.

The sensation of teleporting and evaporating was not something he wanted to experience again. It didn't hurt; in fact, he didn't feel much of anything, nor was he even aware of what happened until he suddenly found himself in the forest outside of the house. The fact that he didn't know what was happening, nor could he control it, was the part that bothered him. What if something had gone wrong? Still, he couldn't complain because they were out and in one piece.

“What did you do?” Orlando said.

“I saved your life. You're welcome,” Alan said and tumbled to his knees. He held his head in a hand and winced with pain.

“What did you do?”

“I teleported. I thought you would have been able to figure that out. I am feeling weak, what you would call ‘out of it', so it is in a bit of a raw form at the moment.”

Orlando checked himself, running his hands over his body slowly. “I'm not missing any fingers, am I?”

“You're fine. Chill, man,” JD said with a shake of his head. What a baby. For such a tough guy, Orlando freaked out a lot over little things. “What about Cadence?”

“She'll be okay. She knows what she's doing. I will take us back soon. I just need to rest a few more minutes,” Alan said breathlessly.

“My car. It's parked out front. We can drive back if you think you can walk.” Orlando said. He searched around them before pulling off his mask. JD was about to object, but then he understood. They'd blend in better if they appeared to be normal when they left the yard. Nobody would have to know if they could get Alan to blend in.

With some coaxing, they were able to walk out of the forest and through the yard. There were still kids partying inside, but it sounded more like only the rowdy bunch were left. None of them knew what to do about the group who had been experimented on. Did they get out okay? If not, what would happen? If yes, then what? These kids could display abilities and without someone to help them, they could get hurt. Or the formula could fail and kill them completely. Only time would tell.

Cadence was waiting with Angela at JD's car. He had completely forgotten he drove to get there. He nodded at Cadence to put his sister in the back, before starting up the car. She then got into the passenger seat. Alan rode with Orlando, which was fine because JD didn't know if he could handle either one at the moment. Besides, the two would need to talk about a lot of things.

“Wow,” Cadence whispered. She glanced back at Angela, who was falling back asleep. It gave them some more time to figure out what to do with her.

“Wow indeed. Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, you?”

He nodded. “She hit you.”

“Still hung up on that?”

JD shrugged. “I just wanted to be sure you were okay.”

“I am.”

“That's all that matters to me.”

She grabbed his hand on the steering wheel. “I'm proud of you. You did good back there. You held it together. Held us together.”

He flashed her a quick smile. As he drove, he started to feel the jitters filling him begin to fade away. The further they got from the house, the more he realized they did in fact make it out safe. They were all okay for the most part.

“I only did what I had to do. Don't give me all the credit. We'd be toast without Alan and Orly. And without you we'd never put together all the pieces.”

“And we still have a lot to do. We need to work on the code names thing. Just in case of stuff. Where are we going now?” She tilted her head back towards Angela.

“The Apartment. We should probably put the masks back on again. Otherwise I don't know how we're going to explain this to her.”

Cadence nodded and closed her eyes. “JD?”

“Hmm?”

“Thanks.”

“For?”

“I told you. Don't stop being you.”