Pathline (26 page)

Her breath was becoming difficult to draw, her eyes stinging with the strain of maintaining sight, everything around her beginning to fade.

She felt the warmth and emotion that had enveloped her the first time Marcus had kissed her.  The deep pull inside herself that told her that it was different from all the kisses that had preceded it. 

There was a cold enveloping her from
the
inside out, she couldn't hear anything anymore, not even her own heartbeat.  The pain was all encompassing now, screaming out of every sinew in her body. 
Her strength failing.

She pictured the alley where she had almost lost herself that night. 
The fear, the blinding panic, the complete and utter feeling of helplessness.  Shuddering in her terror, watching as he approached towering over her. 

She called on all the strength she had left, pulled everything she could muster from herself, anything
that remained
.  She felt the edges of the power on her
hands;
she looked out into the field, into the wide expanse of shield in front of her.  She felt as if everything inside of her was shattering to pieces.  She pushed forward. 
The shield before her tottered, then as
if
in slow motion it began to roll over on itself
,
becoming a massive wave of glistening energy.  The wave rolled out forward from where she was, heading full speed in the direction of the hostiles. 
Her arms dropped to her s
ides and she let out a breath... t
hen the darkness engulfed her. 

Rook was moving fast, under cover, trying to get close enough to be able to circumvent the Shielder
'
s protection and get in a charge hit on Mana.  He'd love to be able to take out the Shielder as well, but he was well hidden, although Rook could guess as to the general area the Shielder
must be operating in, based on the appearances of the shields. 
Nave was down, so they'd lost their eyes in the sky and had to work off of their ground views.  It was a smart move, and it put them at a disadvantage.  The hostiles had the elevated position, and Rook couldn't help thinking that they must have a Sky Walker hidden away somewhere, their movements and attacks were too precise for their own points of view alone. 
Someone else was calling the shots, someone smart, he could tell that by their progress.  He felt a small amount of admiration for their efficiency. 

The Charger sent out another targeted shot, and Rook was certain it had been directed at Ash whom Serk had just sent to aid Nave. 
Rook took a moment to appraise the situation.  It looked like Mana managed to hit Ash, but didn't get a direct enough hit to take him out, Ash was hur
t but apparently still mobile; he evaded a second attempt.  Rook turned back his attention to Mana.  The hostile Charger seemed to be thinking, or was he listening?  After a moment Rook saw Mana building a charge. 
Shit
.  He was building a large and concentrated stream.  Rook looked back at the field to his right an
d
realized who the target must be.  Mana had failed to incapacitate Ash, so now he was going to try to take out Serk. 
They were trying to take out the leadership. 
A hit like that will kill him
. 
He pulled out his com and turned towards Serk to try to warn him...
and that's when he saw her. 

She was mid way up the hills on the right side of the
field;
she must have been attempting the same thing he had.  Their eyes met for a second, but it was enough for him to realize what she was planning. 
No
.  He didn't hesitate, he turned and started running full speed towards Serk
'
s location.  He saw her wander in front of Serk a moment later. 
Don't!
  He watched as she looked up at the hostile Charger, as the stream came full speed towards her, as she lifted her hands out in front of her.  He felt his knees almost give out as he realized the scope of the shield that appeared in front of her, protecting them from the hit. 

Don't hold it!  Let go now!
  He wanted to scream
at her, wanted to pull her away.
H
e focused on running, on getting to her as quickly as possible.  She held on after the charge hit, he could see the color leaving her skin, the way her body began to tremble with the effort of holding on. 
Let go
.  It was a pleading, desperate thought.  She didn't.  Some how, some way, he watched as she rallied her strength and pushed out with her outstretched hands.  The sight momentarily stopped him in amazement.  The shield in front of her seemed to roll over itself and moved out away from her like a runaway wave.  He felt his heart drop to his
stomach;
he turned back to her and watched as her body crumpled to the ground. 

He didn't even realize he'd started running again, all his thoughts were on her. 
What have you done?
  Serk got to her first, he was bent over her with his hand on the side
of her neck feeling for a pulse;
he leaned his ear over her face.  Rook got to them at last.

Serk looked up at his arrival.
"
S
he's not breathing, and I can't find a pulse
.
"

Rook pushed him aside and dropped to his knees beside her. 
I just got you
back;
you can't do this to me again.
 
He placed his hand over her heart... nothing.  "No" the word slipped out so quietly that he didn't even realize he'd spoken.  He rubbed his hands together building a charge between them. 
Focus
.  He placed his hands over her chest and concentrated.  He sent out a charge directly into her heart, her body
twitched
slightly as it hit. 
He heard movement near him, someone running in their direction, he ignored the sound.  Her heart was still silent.  He concentrated as much as he could on the charge he was creating in his hands. 
Stronger
, but he didn't want to ca
use any damage.  He tried again,
placing his hands over her chest and sending the charge
into her.  Her body
jerked
and he thought he felt a couple of heartbeats before
her heart
stopped again. 
NO!
  His heart was racing, he couldn't breathe, the rest of the world faded from his eyes, all he saw was her. 
Again
.  He rubbed his hands together, build up the strongest charge he could muster that wouldn't kill and placed his hand over her chest one more time. 
Please
, he pleaded; to her, to the world, to his powers...
please
.  He sent the charge.  Her body jumped.  He kept his hands over her chest and held his breath.  There, a heartbeat, then another.  The beats where faint and irregular, but they were there.  He leaned in over her face, she was breathing again. 

Serk kneeled on her other side, feeling her pulse.  "Holy shit.  Helo, get a med evac team here ASAP!  Nave and Ash are down too, have command send in Tac-I to finish this.  I'm going to check on Ash and Nave's conditions, see if we can't move them closer to the evac point." 

Serk looked down at Rune
'
s unconscious body again, then took off to the hills where Nave and Ash had been.  Rook remained where he was next to
Rune;
he looked up at the hills that the hostiles had been attacking from.  All was quiet. 
We're weakened and distracted, why aren't they attacking?
  Then he realized the answer.  The shield wave that Rune had sent off before collapsing, it had gone in that exact direction. 
It must have hit them
.  Maybe they were momentarily incapacitated.  He
thought about taking advantage of the temporary confusion.  He could go find Mana before Tac-I arrived, he could get answers about who was behind all this.  But he couldn't leave Rune. 

Behind him he could hear Helo making the call to command.  "Tac-II calling in multiple assets down, requesting med evac.  Repeat, we have multiple assets down and need immediate medical evac, we are passing torch to Tac-I
.
" 

The com went silent for a moment, then they heard the response broadcast.  "Medical evac en route, Tac-II reporting multiple assets down.  Tac-I is cleared to go hot, repeat, Tactical-I is cleared to go hot
.
" 

Helo came up to Rook.
"
A
nything
I can do?"

Rook looked at
him.
"
G
o help Serk with Ash and Nave, there's nothing more you can do here
.
"

Helo nodded before turning to run in the same direction Serk had headed.  Rook could hear the approaching medical vehicles.  He looked down into Rune's face. 

"That was too much, you pushed too far" he whispered, caressing her face then listening to her heart again. 

Behind the desperation and desolation he felt a deep
rage
building inside of him. 
H
e stood as the medical team arrived. 
You barely managed to make it back the last time, how are you going to make it back from this!
  He stepped back as the agency EMT's began working on Rune.  He looked
around;
the others were making their way back.  Helo was helping Ash along and Serk had Nave draped over his shoulders.  The EMT's that weren't working on Rune went to meet them. 

As Rook watched them place Rune onto a stretcher he felt the anger in him break through.  He turned his back on the field and headed up the hill in the direction of Mana's last location.  He ran at full speed, hoping to beat Tac-I to the
scene
.  They were coming from further off so he had a chance. 
Malik won't send Suri and Delph in blind, and Blythe won't know where to look at first, that buys me some time
. 
As he approached the area he heard shots ring out and ducked behind a nearby boulder.  There were voices arguing to his right, he couldn't make out the words, they were too far away.  Further movement from up ahead then everything went quiet.

He moved forward as fast as he could.  He came to a sm
all clearing
and there
,
in the center of it
,
lay Mana.  He approached the figure cautiously, but quickly realized that the hostile Charger was dead.  He looked around, trying to figure out what had happened.  Mana had taken a bullet to the head, there was a gun
lying
nearby.  Rook clenched his hands into tight fists, the fury now surging through his whole
being
. 
He walked up to Mana's body and looked down at what remained of his face. 

"You idiot" he mumbled under his breath. 

He heard someone approaching from behind him and turned to see Serk walking into the clearing,
surveying
him and the body at his feet.

Their eyes met for a moment, then Serk moved forward to examine the body. 

"Medical is transporting her to the nearest agency hospital... I told them she was hit by a full strength charge." 

Rook looked at him
.  Their eyes met again and they both remained silent reading the other. 

"He got off easy" Rook said, breaking eye contact and nodding down at Mana's
corpse
.  The rage was still surging through him, his body tense. 

Serk looked down at the body again
.
"
N
o doubt.  I would have loved a chance at him after what he just tried." 

They heard movement approaching. 

"That'll be Tac-I, we should head back to command base, they'll want a report about what happened.  Malik's team can handle the clean up." 

Rook looked around in the direction of the approaching movement, then turned and headed back the way he'd come towards the field and evac point.  
Malik
, the name drew some of his anger.  It was unfair, he knew, but it didn't matter.  None of it mattered.  He replayed the Chargers last attack in his mind as he walked briskly back to the field.  He saw her again, in his mind, wandering in front of Serk to protect him.  Then he pictured the shield she'd sent up.  He couldn't imagine how she
might
make it back from that.  He thought back to that day years ago, to the fear and panic it had caused, that memory that neither of them had ever spoken of. 

They had been living together for a couple of years, still young and naive teenagers barely getting by.  He was
sixteen
, and now legally able to work, so he had a day job along with the miscellaneous side jobs he could find.  He tried to cover as much of their expenses as he could so she wouldn't have to work any heavy jobs.  She helped out at the laundry mat during the day for tips, and ran errands for some of the neighborhood people.  She made sure she was back home every night before dark.  So when one of the women at the laundry mat offered her a job babysitting in the evenings Rook wasn't happy. 
The woman lived in a bad part of town and Rune would have to walk home after dark.  Her powers were still developing, she was only
fourteen
, and weren't something she could regularly rely on yet.  He couldn't manage to talk her out of taking the job, though he tried.  She wanted to help out more with the bills, and frankly they could really use the money.