Elemental (9 page)

“You’re in good hands, Jenny.” Cassiel walked over to them. “Kara is an exceptional guardian. She saved us from Asmodeus. And Gabriel tells me that she has incredible powers. If anyone can bring Catherine back to us, it’ll be you, Kara.”

Guilt fluttered inside Kara. She felt a wave of panic. How could she tell him he was mistaken? She wasn’t a great guardian, and she didn’t know how to yield her powers.

“Well, I can’t wait to see her kick some new breed ass.”

Jenny pulled on a sleeveless black bomber jacket.

“Quickly—I’ll explain all the procedures when we get there, but first we need to fill you up with weapons.” She opened her jacket and revealed the pockets. “You should already have a few things inside your jacket pockets.”

“Yes,” answered Kara. She watched Cassiel march away back to the table. “I noticed when I put it on. What are these?” She held out her hand and showed Jenny the marbles.

Jenny took a marble and lifted it up. “These babies are hiloglobes. They connect you directly with CDD headquarters. You activate them like this—” Jenny held a hiloglobe between her thumb and index finger. Then she pressed down on it. The top of the marble opened and lifted like a hat, showing a metal device within. “Then you put it on the ground at your feet and step back a little. It gives a hologram of yourself and direct communication with CDD.”

Kara stared at the tiny ball. “Like what we saw with Catherine.”

“Exactly.” Jenny pressed on it again, and the top part of the marble fastened itself back. “Here—quickly, we have to go.” She handed the hiloglobe back to Kara. “Follow me.”

Jenny dashed towards the left side of the hall, her skinny legs kicking up behind her like a gazelle. Kara ran to catch up. Jenny pressed her palm on a screen, and a door in the metal wall in front of her lifted. Hundreds of different weapons rested on shelves.

“Can you use these?” Jenny reached inside and pulled out a silver bow and a quiver packed with silver arrows with light blue feather fletching at the ends.

Kara ignored Jenny and wrapped her hand around a gleaming silver sword, a Soul Blade. “I’m much better with a blade.” She twisted it with her wrist. It felt nice and cool in her hand. She would do some damage with this.

“Good, then. Take four!”

Kara took three other Soul Blades, while Jenny took two and pulled the quiver over her shoulders.

“Okay—there’s one more thing we need to do.” Jenny stepped to her right and picked up a glass jar. She held the jar out and shook it for Kara to see. Tiny transparent creatures moved inside.

Kara grew uneasy. “Um…what are those?” She had watched many science fiction movies in her mortal days, and wondered if these little creepy crawlers were more dangerous than they looked.

Jenny unscrewed the top of the jar easily. “These are tracker mites. You can easily track any CDD guardian with these—and we can communicate using them. Look—”

Kara watched Jenny grab a tracker mite by one of its legs and drop it near her ear. The bug crawled around and settled on the outside of her ear. It looked exactly like a beetle, except it was transparent, and its shell gave off a soft silver glow. It looked like a comfortable hearing aid.

“Here, take yours.” Jenny handed Kara another tracker mite.

With her face twisted in disgust, Kara grabbed the mite by one of its legs and brought it towards her ear. She shivered as she felt little pricks as it crawled inside her ear. She sensed the bug settle, and then she realized she hardly felt it anymore. A slight beep every once in a while was the only indication that it was still there.

“You ready?” asked Jenny with a reassuring grin.

“I’m ready.”

“Let’s go.” Jenny jogged to the far end of the round chamber, to a back area Kara hadn’t noticed yet. They passed more cubicles and holographic screens along the way. Each time Kara would meet the stares of the angels looking up from their desks. She heard murmurs as she passed by. Some actually pointed, as though she couldn’t see them. She felt like her first day at a new school, when the teacher plants you in front of the class and forces you to talk about yourself and your tongue gets pasty and sticks in your mouth. If all they did was stare, she could live with that.

Jenny stopped suddenly, and with Kara looking all around, bumped into her.

“Sorry. I didn’t see you—what the—?” Kara walked slowly away from Jenny with her mouth open.

At the back of the chamber four giant rectangular blocks of greenish water that looked like toxic waste sat on a great table. They looked like aquarium tanks without the glass walls.

“Vega tanks,” said Jenny, mater-of-factly.

Kara stepped to the side and watched as two other guardians, Peter and his ginormous and muscled partner stepped to either side of one of the vega tanks and turned to face everyone. Then they took another side step, and with a bright light—they vanished.

They’re like the pools—but different
, thought Kara.

The guardians, Amit, a tall Middle Eastern young man and his partner, a short middle aged and determined looking Asian woman were next. Without any hesitation, they both walked into the water tanks and their bodies disintegrated into the water.

It was Kara’s turn now. The first time Kara travelled by Vega was terrifying, but then she learned to love it. It was always sort of an adrenaline rush. To wake up back on Earth with a new body suit was weird but exciting at the same time.

“Will the toxic green color eat away at my soul?” she asked Jenny. “It looks kinda nasty. And it’s a bit thicker than the water in the pools from Operations.”

“That’s because it’s the M-5 series.”

Kara turned to face Jenny. “The M-5 series? Sounds like an expensive luxury car.”

“Mortal suit series five. The green is an extra coat of protection—don’t ask me what it is because I don’t know. What I do know is that these babies are the strongest suits in the entire Legion. They’re designed to keep you on Earth longer, and have a stronger resistance to the demons.”

Kara wondered if that were true. They didn’t seem to keep Catherine safe at all, or her team. From what she saw on the hologram, it didn’t seem to matter what suit you had on. The new breeds of demons were fierce, and Kara wasn’t sure how they would defeat them.

“Let’s go,” said Jenny. She grabbed Kara by the hand and pulled. “Don’t worry, it’s exactly like the pools you’ve used before—trust me.”

It wasn’t the tanks that made Kara skittish, she realized, but what waited on the other side. If Jenny thought that Kara was some sort of super hero, then the others probably thought that too. She wondered what would happen to her when they found out she was a fraud.

Jenny stepped in front of the tank. “I’ll see you on the other side, girl!” She stepped into the wall of water and in less than a second she had vanished.

Kara made fists with her hands and followed.

In a flash of white light, she disappeared, too.

Kara followed Jenny along 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York. Everything around her had a greenish tint to it. No doubt from the green water, she figured. She could sense the additional power in these new suits, like an extra adrenaline shot, pushing her body harder. She felt as though she could pick up a car and throw it, like some superhero from her comic books. She wasn’t entirely sure how much stronger these suits were, but she was anxious to find out.

Due to the green overlay in her vision, the sky appeared to be a mixture of deep orange and dark brown. Enormous stone and glass buildings surrounded them on either side. Massive billboards and televised screens the size of a bus illuminated the night sky. She smelled roasted peanuts and asphalt. Thousands of locals and tourists scrambled along the streets, laughing and enjoying the city life. Two magnificent brown steeds with legs as tall as a grown man, trotted alongside the cars. Their riders, two policemen surveyed the concrete jungle from above. The horses and their riders seemed so out of place to Kara.

They passed the theatre district, and went north on 8
^th
Street. Kara had never been to New York, and she smiled as she recognized the famous yellow cabs that honked on the streets.

Although Jenny was shorter than Kara, she was a lot faster. Kara had to jog to keep up with her. After about a five minute walk on 8
^th
Street, they turned west on West 48
^th
Street. They passed tall brown stone buildings and small shops before they finally turned into a dark alley way. The other guardians were already there. Kara immediately recognized Peter and his huge partner. They stood in front of a battered red brick wall. The smell of last week’s garbage rose into her nose. There was no sign of Amit and Aiko.

Peter turned and looked up as they approached.

“The doorway is closed.”

He opened his palm, and a tiny red sphere hovered above it, like a floating marble. He moved his hand around an area on the brick wall.

“I’m not getting anything—and there’s no sign of Catherine anywhere. Amit and Aiko went inside this building.” Peter cocked his head towards an old metal door. It was covered in rust, like a cancer.

“Amit said he got a weak signal—so they went to check it out. But, something’s wrong. I can feel it.”

“You two haven’t been properly introduced.” Jenny jumped between Peter and Kara and lifted her arms. “Kara, this is Peter. Peter’s a total geek—”

“Hey!” protested Peter. He pushed up his glasses and then scratched the back of his neck.

“—but he’s the best geek in the Legion. He’s the one who designs and builds all this spy-gadget stuff—like that red ball he’s holding—and the tracker mites. That’s why he’s with the division and not operating the elevators.”

Kara smiled kindly at Peter. “Very impressive. It’s nice to meet you, Peter.”

With a tiny smile, Peter’s eyes widened. He stared at the ground.

Kara stepped towards the brick wall. “You said that something was wrong.”

She strained trying to see a shimmer or anything unusual against the brick, like she had seen on the holographic screen, but she couldn’t perceive anything.

“What’s wrong, Peter? I don’t see anything.”

Peter sighed loudly. “We lost two teams in one simple field operation—Catherine’s team and Mateo’s.” He popped the red sphere inside his bomber jacket. He met Kara’s gaze. “…without a trace. That doesn’t happen. It doesn’t make any sense!”

Peter looked back over his shoulder nervously, and Kara wondered if this was his first field operation.

“You said Amit got a weak signal?” Jenny tapped her tracker mite several times, and Kara realized she had forgotten to use hers. “I’m not getting anything.”

Kara pressed gently on tracker mite. She heard a small pop, then a click. Her ear drum was suddenly loud with static sounds. Then she heard Jenny’s voice burst out so loudly it made her jump. Embarrassed, she pressed the tracker mite one last time and remembered not to do that again.

“I told you—it stinks!” Peter threw his hands in the air. “Something’s not right here. Maybe we should go…and…and get reinforcements.”

Kara stared at Peter’s petrified face. She wondered why he was in the division. Clearly, he was frightened beyond his wits. Why would they have someone like him on the field? Shouldn’t he be back at the division working on some new invention?

Peter’s heavy-set partner stepped forward. Kara believed the ground shook a little. “I have to agree with Peter. I’m Fred by the way—” he stuck out a large hand before Kara.

Kara shook his hand. “Kara.” She smiled warmly. She felt as though she was shaking the hand of a gorilla.

“Smells like a trap, if you ask me,” said Fred. He trundled up and down the alley like a grizzly bear.

Kara wasn’t sure. “Maybe we should go in after them—just in case.” She remembered Catherine’s terrified face, and knew she couldn’t live with herself if they left them there.

She looked at Jenny then at Peter. “If it
stinks
, like you say—then we should get them out of there—”

A scream startled everyone.

Kara looked up. “What the—?”

“That’s Aiko! Quick!” Jenny bolted towards the old rusted metal door and pulled it open. She ran inside without saying a word to anyone. Fred went rocketing through the door behind her.

“Come on, Peter!” roared Kara as she bounded towards the doorway. Peter hesitated for half a second, and then he dashed after her.

Kara pulled out a Soul Blade. She grasped the handle firmly in her hand and ran down a narrow hallway. She came to a set of stairs.

Jenny was nowhere in sight.

She heard loud thumps from the floors above—then a terrifying scream and the clatter of weapons.

Kara gripped the black metal railing and ran up the stairs three at a time. She felt as agile as a cat, effortlessly running up the stairs, as though she were walking. She felt the strength in her new M-5 series suit rush through her. It was at least ten times stronger than her regular M suits, she figured. More powerful with more torque, the Cadillac of M suits. David would have loved it.