The Break (The Aesir Saga Book 1) (4 page)

              Marcus flew into the warehouse, landing the Maiden gently in front of the bay doors. He had spent his test flight at twelve thousand feet. While the Maiden could easily support fifteen thousand, Marcus didn’t find much need for that amount of altitude. He didn’t want to risk being seen by anyone while in his flight. Whenever a COSMOS system was seen in an area, the local news would jump all over it, ruining any chance at the element of surprise

Walking inside, he stopped on the COSMOS maintenance platform, before opening the Maiden. One of the local COMOS mechanics was there to help him from the harness. He hated having to be helped from the Maiden, making him feel like a child in a car seat. The prosthetic was exactly where he left it, stepping down into it with the ease of a thousand repetitions. With all the preflight and flight checks complete, Marcus left the work of the post flight walkthrough to the wrench turners. He started the walk from the hanger section of the warehouse to the operations center to tell Williams he was mission capable.

Marcus’ limp was not as pronounced as it was when he had first gotten his prosthetic. He hated being outside of the suit, feeling like a weak, normal person. His disability didn’t help him feel great about being severed from the Maiden. When he was piloting he could do anything, stop anyone. Now here was, hobbling around like a victim, unable to even charge at a threat. 

              Marcus' outward views on the Aesir were not something anyone would call extreme. If he told everyone how he really felt, they would have never put him on Williams’ team. But that was the side he let them see. He felt that current plan of capturing and containing the Aesir wouldn’t work, and that was because they were left alive. If Marcus could just be allowed to deal with them in his own way, the problem would be solved in a matter of months. He knew he could eliminate the Aesir problem if they would just take away all the restrictions. The Spartans were criminals, either already committing crimes or heading down that path. During his training his instructors had taught him about how they think, what they wanted. He had come to the conclusion on his own that no matter how good the person was, power corrupts. He had seen what they were capable of. 

              Before the NGC, before the SI9, Marcus had witnessed the Aesir threat first hand. Growing up outside the old capital of Washington D.C. should have been the safest place. When it became the target of a group of Aesir terrorists, his entire world changed. The day they arrived Marcus was on his way home from school. The demeanor of the day had been ordinary, there was some big trial in the news that Marcus didn't really pay much attention to. 

              His walk home took him past parts of the National Mall, and he loved looking at the different memorials and the Capitol building. When Marcus reached the street adjacent to the Capitol, the sound of screams rose up from one of the office buildings. As he turned to look, people were running out of the building, fleeing for an unknown reason, before the domed roof of the Capitol building exploded. Marcus was far enough away to avoid being hit by falling debris, but still took cover behind a small garden wall. When he looked back over at the Capitol, four people emerged from the remains of the building. One seemed to be hovering off the ground, but from his distance, it was hard to get a clear look. Marcus didn’t get a chance to move closer before one of the four stepped forward from the group. He was wearing what looked like a superhero costume, blues and reds swirling in different patterns on a skin tight material. The man who stepped forward, raised his hands in the air, attempting to quiet the crowd who had run from the buildings.  

"People of America, you have done your best to try and stop my people. You gave us the task of protecting you, and hunting our own. But even now, you argue about how we can’t be trusted. You spend all day debating on how best to eliminate us. But that is over now; we shall relieve you of the burden of leadership." The costumed man raised his hand, opening his fist and pointed his palm toward the

Washington Monument. "This is the way America ends, not with a whimper, but with a...” As if on cue, the monument exploded, raining chucks of white marble on the terrified people, a large chunk landing on Marcus' leg, crushing it beyond repair.   

              The group of Aesir took possession of the town, acting as warlords. They destroyed buildings and made demands that if went unfulfilled, would result in the death of citizens. It took SI9 two weeks before they were able to come in and take down the offending Aesir. That was back before they had developed the COSMOS armor that are currently used to fight Aesirs today. SI9 came in and liberated the remains of the town, doing it the old fashioned way, with guns. Even with the Aesir group taken out, Washington D.C. was never going to be the same. The one thing they made sure to do was destroy everything that the country held sacred.

Marcus spent the next few weeks recovering from the damage to his leg and learning to walk with a prosthetic. Once the news revealed who had taken the rebellious Aesir down, Marcus knew then that he would join SI9. He learned from that day the proper way to handle the Aesir was to kill them on sight, not try and capture them.

Marcus walked into the control room, Kyle and Williams were already there looking over data. He knew there was some importance to the piles of reports and paperwork that was being looked through, but none of it was Important to Marcus. For him, action was the only thing he needed to understand to accomplish his mission.

“This kid is more boring than you are Kyle,"

Marcus joked as he sat down in one of the chairs.

"He just sits in his room all day, and when he does come out it’s only for a little bit to get food or whatever. If he is an Aesir his ability is to bore you to death.” 

Kyle said nothing, continuing to type away at his computer. Williams shot a look over to Marcus.

"You weren't out trying to follow him in the Maiden were you?"

"Come on now boss," Marcus said defensively, "you know I’m smarter than that. I’ve been checking on him on foot. I stopped by and checked in on him this morning, and then I came back here and did my final checks on the Maiden."

"I have the utmost faith in you Marcus, but you know the rules, trust but verify. When you stop checking on things, your trust ends up leading to blind obedience." Williams returned to trying to read over Kyle's shoulder. “Have you been able to look through the house yet?”

“Not yet. When the kid is gone the mom is there, nobody has a life in that house. A whole week wasted, I got nothing on the kid." Marcus leaned back in his chair, pulling his hands up to rest behind his head. "Your search turn up anything?”

              Kyle finally stopped typing and looked up from his computer. “Well, so far” he began, leaning back in his chair to match Marcus. “He has no family that has been reported as Aesir. None of his friends or fellow students. If this kid does have an ability he is the first in his area.”

              Gabriel stared at the email. Who the fuck was Ma'at? How did he know my name?

Thoughts raced through his head as he hit the reply button. He typed into the text field “Who are you? How did you know my name?” Clicking the send button the email made its way to the other side. Where that was he had no idea, but he hoped a reply would come soon. Time slowed down, taking forever for a minute to pass. Gabriel clicked the refresh button on his email every twenty seconds, hoping something would pop up. After a few minutes, the chirp came, and he clicked the link quickly, eager to see the response.

“I am Ma'at. I am balance and truth. You contacted me Gabriel. Through me I will guide you to others like you. We need to meet, there is quite a bit of information you need to know. – Ma'at”

Against his better judgment Gabriel hit the reply button. “When and where?”

The response was quick this time, “Food court in the mall tomorrow at noon. Get a soda and a cinnamon roll. – Ma'at”

              Well, Gabriel thought, looks like I have a lunch date. He spent the rest of the night thinking about what this meeting would be like. How would he know it wasn’t a trap? This sent his mind spinning into all the things that would happen if it was a trap. Maybe he shouldn’t go, or get a friend to get the soda and cinnamon roll and watch from a distance. Having to explain what was going on to another person changed his mind on that idea. He finally decided that he would have to do it himself. If whoever Ma’at was could find out his email from a random website, they probably already know what I look like. There was no use trying to outsmart someone who was moves ahead of anything he was planning. Finally succumbing to sleep well past midnight, Gabriel’s imagination was still full of the possibilities of tomorrow.

              Marcus was following the black truck from a few cars back. That morning the kid had left the house and had headed onto the interstate. He was sure to keep his distance; he didn’t want the kid to notice a car that had been following him since his house. Marcus grabbed the secure radio sitting in the seat next to him. “Still trailing the kid, don’t know where he’s going exactly but this is not his usual pattern.” releasing the push to talk, Williams voice came through the speaker seconds later. “Just keep a tail on him; this might be what we have been waiting for.”

“Roger that.” Marcus said, dropping the radio back onto the seat, being sure to maintain his distance as they pulled off the interstate.

              Gabriel pulled into the parking lot of the mall. Getting out of the car quickly, he made his way across the packed lot to the entrance. Walking into the food court, Gabriel took a look around before finding a table. Once he was seated, he did a bit of people watching, trying to spot this Ma'at person before buying the signal items. Nothing seemed out of place for a Saturday in the summer. Kids were walking around with their parents, groups of teens loitering, using the mall as just a place to hang out. Finally giving up on trying to find his contact, Gabriel decided now was the time. He walked over and got a cinnamon roll and a soda, holding the tray they sat on close to his body. Sliding into the chair of an open table, Gabriel set the tray in the middle of the table, not touching either of the two items.  

Nothing suspicious about this, just sitting here with some food that I just bought but not actually eating, he joked to himself. Gabriel would have eaten it, but he didn’t know when Ma’at was supposed to show up. He hoped it was soon, it would look really weird to sit here all day without eating the cinnamon roll.

After a few minutes, Gabriel made eye contact with a girl a few tables away. She looked down at his tray, then stood up and began walking toward him. She was wearing a blue and green beanie, but two strands of her curly brown hair were sticking out, framing her face. Her eyes were a light green, and were jumping from face to face as she made her way toward him. The gloss on her lips made them look pinker than they should have been. Her nose, with its petite size and slight upturn at the end like a ski jump. She was wearing a light blue t-shirt with the name of a store he wasn’t familiar with across her chest. She also had on blue jeans and a pair of running shoes. Overall this girl was way out of his league. She had the looks of a model, but seemed to go to every effort to hide it. 

She stood next his table and gave him a questioning look. “Gabriel?”

He looked back up at her, giving her a more puzzled look. “Ma'at?”

“Shhhhh, don’t say that name.” She slid into the chair across from him. ”And no, you can call me Madison, I was told to come talk to you.”

“Who told you to come talk to me?” Gabriel said, beginning to look around for another person. 

“That’s not important right now; I have some things I need to talk to you about before we start talking about that. What do you know about your kind?” Madison said softly, folding her hands in front of her on the table.  

“My
kind
? I’m a human being, just like anybody else." Gabriel lied, not knowing how to answer her question. 

"Gabriel its ok, I'm just like you. I know this is confusing, but you have to trust me. I’m not here to do anything but talk."

              Gabriel looked down at the food on his tray for a minute before letting out a sigh, giving up his failed charade. "I didn’t ask for this ability. Since I’ve gotten this power I’ve had nothing but problems. I mean there are parts that are really cool, like being able to light my hand on fire. And then there is the whole not getting burned anymore. But now there is this Agent Williams guy, and I think he knows about me, or he is trying to find out about me, and it scares me.”

              Madison bit her lower lip listening to Gabriel unload his secret. When he was finished she took a minute to process everything he had said. “So the Agents came to talk to you already? When was the last time you saw them?"

Gabriel shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, like a week ago maybe."

              Madison's eyes began looking from face to face, turning to look at the people seated behind them. "Were you followed?” Gabriel could hear the anxiety in her voice.  

“No, I don’t think so.” Madison was standing, pulling him up with her.

“We need to get out of the open. Come on, we can hide in the crowds.” She grabbed his hand, pulling him up and into the flow of people walking around. “Just act like we’re a couple, no one will pay attention to us.” She said as she pulled him close to her and held his hand. It was soft and felt tiny in his hand. 

“If they already talked to you, you can guarantee they’re following you. I’ll make this quick. There are people like you, who can do special things. We look out for each other. When you have no options left, we can help. I've been where you are now, I had a lone wolf mentality. Even though I was doing everything on my own, I wanted people to talk to, to relate to. One day online I found the same thing you did, and I answered the question.  Then a few days later I get an email from Ma'at, it tells me where to go, like it did to you. A guy is there and invites me to join them. I have nothing else so I do, and they take me to the place where they live, and everyone there is like me. They tell me about the Agency and how they are collecting us, Gabriel, did you know that? We don’t know where they take those they capture, but they disappear, and no one ever hears about them ever again."

              Her hurried walk brings them to the end of the mall forcing them to turn around. As they circle around, Madison stops to look at something in a store window, selling the idea of a couple out cruising the mall before grabbing his hand again and continuing walking.               

Gabriel took the few seconds between the girls speech to ask a question of his own. “You said you look out for each other, but I don’t even know what that means. I’ve been fine on my own.”

“You’re fine for right now, but once these guys that talked to you get everything they need, poof, you’re gone. You’re going to need help, and we can do that.”

Gabriel shook his head. “That doesn’t make any sense. You want me to join you, leaving everything I have here, to come help other people like me? And that’s another thing, you keep saying help me, but I don’t know what that means.”

Madison looked over her shoulder at the family behind them before moving her head close to his and whispering “We take care of each other, and sometimes that means doing things like looking for information on friends and family we have lost. Sometimes that means raiding government buildings; destroying information about us and hindering their search for our kind.”

“And now I'm going to give you the same option they gave me. Come with me, I'll take you somewhere safe. By now they know everything about you and are just waiting for you slip up so they can prove it. It’s only a matter of time before you do, because you will have nowhere to learn how to control it, and whatever it is will come out, and then you’re gone.”

Gabriel stopped and looked at her. People walked around them as he thought about it. Something kept coming up that he couldn't shake. "You said whatever it is will come out. You don’t know what I can do, do you?"

Madison looked back at his suspecting gaze. "No Gabriel I don't. And honestly it doesn’t matter what you can do, because it won’t be able to save you when they find out what you are."

              Breaking eye contact Gabriel continued their walk amongst the people. “What happens if I say yes?”

“We leave and I take you to a safe place. “

“What about my life here? I’m finally done with school. I can do what I want now.” Gabriel said, feeling like he was on the precipice of his life, and didn’t want to make a wrong move. 

“You don’t get it do you?" Madison asked. "If you stay here, you
will
be captured. It’s only a matter of time. You have to leave everything behind. And if you waste your time writing down the pros and cons, it’s too late. As of a week ago the clock started ticking.” her attitude changing from helpful to cold and unforgiving.

“Well maybe I don’t need your help. They haven’t found out about what I can do by now, who says they will. I can keep it a secret. My parents don’t even know about it.” He argued.

“You just being in that house puts them at risk." Madison grabbed his hand and pulled him into a nearby alcove. "Listen Gabriel, I’m 19, I’ve known about my powers for four year. I was only able to hide it for two years before my parents found out. When they did, they kicked me out of the house, told me never to come back.”

              Gabriel couldn’t find an answer; he didn’t want to leave his family behind forever. “Can I have some time to think about it?”

              Madison looked over her shoulder, pulling out a pen as she grabbed Gabriel’s hand and started writing on it. “There” she said when she was finished “give me a call when you’ve decided, good or bad.” She shook her head as she put the pen back in her pocket, "Just do me a favor and don't be an idiot." With that she turned and started walking toward the other end of the mall, leaving him alone. He watched as she left, and just before she disappeared out of sight she turned and looked at him, then held her hand up to her face like a phone and mouthed the words “Call me".

              With that done, Gabriel walked out of the mall and back to his truck. As he climbed in and pulled out of the mall parking lot he thought about Amber. Shit, he hadn’t talked to her in a couple days. This would be another of her pity party fights, but he decided it was better to get it over with now then wait and make it worse.

******

              Marcus made it back to his car as Gabriel's truck was pulling away.

Pulling the radio from his jacket pocket he keyed the push to talk, “Boss, Marcus”

“Go ahead Marcus.” Kyle answered from the other side.

“Hey the kids leaving the mall. It looked like he was meeting a girl. Not the known girlfriend. I lost them in the crowd and couldn't keep up, but she told him to call her. Might be something to look into.”

“Affirmative, come on home Marcus. It’s almost dark anyway; the kid won’t be out much longer.”

“On my way.” Marcus responded before tossing the radio onto the passenger seat. He started the car and left the mall, heading back to the safe house. He hoped this would get exciting soon, because right now he was bored to tears with just following this kid around like some small time private eye.