“I apologize for this,” Petra answered, but Ashlynn detected a smile on her lips.
“Well then, I will have your group retreat to the borders of this base and we will meet you there when we are good and ready,” Ashlynn demanded. “This time you better make good on your agreement.” She turned on her heel and made a gesture for Mors to watch the other group while she walked back to the group of SSAWPS agents. When she got there, she took a deep breath and waited, facing away from the group of “Elites”, until Mors made the signal that they had gone. Then she let out a breath and looked around at the group to make sure everyone was listening. “If we are going to remain in dominant command while this group is here, we must have a leader. They will not control us. Remember what happened with Galath and Jorgia. Chain of command is unwelcome here, and we make our own rules from now on. But in order to avoid chaos, we must elect a leader. Whoever is chosen by majority vote, everyone else must comply or choose to be on their own. Everyone agreed?” The group voiced their consent collectively. “Good. Now do we have any nominations?”
“I will,” Gayle said.
Ashlynn glanced at her. “It may very well be that you could be chosen by the group, but I think an honest assessment is in order here for every agent nominated. From what I’ve seen, you are a sharp shooter and brave fighter, but sometimes dangerously arrogant. You put yourself in dangerous situations just to prove you aren’t afraid of your enemy. Of course, if I am going to be completely honest, I did the same just now in front of these ‘Elites’ or whatever they may call themselves because I felt it was best for the good of the group.”
“What about me?” Mors asked in the form of a statement.
Ashlynn was a little bit uncomfortable calling out Mors, but the others looked at her expectantly, so she gave her opinion. “I’m going to be straight with you, Mors. You are easily angered and reactionary. This leads you to be rash in your decisions and temperamentally singular in your relations. Leaders need to work with the group, but you’re more of a lone ranger. However, this makes you unattached emotionally so you are extremely strong and base. Very good traits in a fighter such as yourself. You don’t take crap from anyone and you are admirably aware of everything around you.”
Mors hardly reacted, only her mouth twitched slightly with the hint of a smile.
“What about Cyan?” Lyssa suggested. I wondered if she had asked only because she was enjoying the judgments made of her peers, but I complied anyway.
“Cyan is remarkably witty and resourceful. She doesn’t think twice about killing others to complete a mission. But she moves to the beat of her own drum and lets her emotions carry her wherever the wind may lead. She may prevent others from making stupid decisions sometimes, but she doesn’t really think before she makes her own. However, if I had to choose anyone to fight by me through thick and I thin, I would know that Cyan wouldn’t desert me and she would have my back the whole way. She’s very thorough about protecting her friends,” Ashlynn concluded with a smile in Cyan’s direction. Cyan gave her a thumbs up.
“What about you?” came a voice. As the group voiced their concession, Ashlynn looked around for the source of the outburst. She realized it had been Jude.
“Well it’s not very fitting for me to make a judgment of myself, so I better let you guys do that,” Ashlynn responded ingloriously.
“But you did everyone else,” Lyssa complained.
“We hardly know you,” Mors agreed.
“I didn’t know you guys for very long,” Ashlynn argued, flustered.
“But you still made good judgments,” Ryder countered.
The general consensus was for Ashlynn to make a judgment for herself, so she finally agreed. Feeling a bit uncomfortable, she began. “First of all, I’m new.”
“But you’re smart,” came a voice.
“So is everyone else here,” Ashlynn countered. “All of you have more experience than me,” she continued. “And I wouldn’t discount your leadership abilities for one bit because, really, I don’t know you guys. I make judgments based off of what I see. But things are not always as they appear. Someone can be completely different than you perceive from the outside, and you would never know…”
In the pause, the other agents waited expectantly.
Ashlynn sighed and went on. “Like Mors, I like to be my own lone wolf sometimes. I’ll ignore questions if I don’t know the answer or even if I don’t feel like answering. Group projects always seemed to bother me for some reason, partly because I hated others slacking off and partly because I hated for people to rely on me.” She looked around, waiting for someone to interject, but no one did. “I’m not that great of a SSAWPS agent. In fact, I haven’t killed anyone yet in my entire time being here. I try not to kill when I can, and I guess you would all see that as a weakness. I make friends easily, but I am naturally not very trusting of people, which is why this is hard for me, telling you all about myself. I’m also not very good at public speaking.”
They laughed at that.
“No, it’s true. I am scared out of my wits right now. Look at my hands shake.” They laughed again, but Ashlynn suddenly became serious. “But really, although I may not trust others with my secrets and it may seem like I distance myself from people, I need others. I need to feel like I am trustworthy, and sometimes even admired. Just sometimes. Because I actually care for people. Generally. I just care for…people. You all probably think that’s weird, but you know what? I am just a little odd. I’ll have you all know I talk to myself sometimes. Just putting that on the table right now.”
“Cyan does that. We’re used to it,” someone said.
Ashlynn smiled. “I guess that’s true.” The smile disappeared. “I’ve been told before that I can be pretty abrasive. And stubborn. And lots of different things that make me wonder who I really am. I’d like to think I could be a good leader. I just don’t know.” Ashlynn shrugged. “I’m done. Now who else wants to nominate someone?”
Venatora raised her hand. “I nominate you.”
Ashlynn was taken aback for a bit. “I thought that was just a joke.”
“I agree,” Cyan concurred, not paying attention to Ashlynn. “Anyone else want Ashlynn?”
“Wait guys,” Ashlynn interrupted, holding out a hand to stop them.
“I do,” Lyssa answered to Cyan.
“I just told you all a bunch of bad stuff about me!” Ashlynn shouted, suddenly abrasive to the idea of having to lead everyone, make all the decisions, and take all the responsibility.
“We know,” Cyan said with a giggle.
“You guys are all being really irrational right now,” Ashlynn fumed.
“What’s irrational about it?” Ryder challenged.
“I just told you all why I would make a bad leader and now you want to elect me,” Ashlynn huffed.
“That’s not what I heard,” Venatora said. There were voices of consent among the other agents. “I heard humility, honesty, intelligence…”
“Not to mention you took charge of the group in the first place,” Jude included.
“Yea, this whole thing was your idea,” Lyssa agreed.
“I think you’d be a better leader than me,” Gayle recognized.
“How many is that?” Cyan asked. “Mors?”
“Sure. Whatever,” Mors said with a shrug.
“Well that seems pretty unanimous to me,” Ryder concluded with a grin.
“All except me!” Ashlynn cried.
“Nuh uh,” Cyan said, grinning. “We all promised that we would comply with the majority vote. You weren’t exempt from that.”
Ashlynn realized she was stuck. She looked around the group in surprise. She knew didn’t have a choice in the matter. She had caught herself in her own trap, and now she had to work with the responsibilities that came because of it. This is what I wanted all along, right? she thought. But she hadn’t considered what had happened last time she had been leader. She had gotten into a pickle with Laura and the DANE group and had lost a lot of her agents. What if something like that happened again? Ashlynn groaned, realizing what she had just done to herself and knowing that there was no way out of it. She sighed.
“All right, guys. Those Elites are waiting for us. Let’s go show them who’s boss,” she said, sounding much more confident than she felt.
***************
Emilian knew his mission would be difficult, for he had seen their leader’s reaction to them coming in to meet them instead of waiting outside. But he interpreted this to mean that she hated when people didn’t keep their promises. He made a mental note to not make any promises to her until entirely necessary. It could be that, or it could be that she just likes things to go her way. He would have to test that when he got the chance. The door opened to the building and sure enough it was her who stepped out into the clearing. She had long black hair, dark eyes, and an appealing face, though not incredibly attractive. Emilian shrugged. At least she was good looking.
When she had decided that the area was safe, she beckoned for the rest of the group to come out. This girl had courage, but Emilian couldn’t tell if she cared about her group or just liked being in charge. That he would also have to test. The group of SSAWPS agents walked towards them, and Petra climbed aboard to start the engines to the plane. Emilian realized with surprise that the plane was quite a bit larger than before and was now equipped to house twenty or so bodies, twice as many as before. He noticed that Ren was talking to the leader of the group and decided to pay attention as the group rattled off their names in turn, starting with the Elites and ending with the SSAWPS leader herself. Emilian said his full name when his turn came, and didn’t meet the eye of the SSAWPS leader. After the SSAWPS had all introduced themselves but her, she stared into the gaze of Ren with a cold expression and said simply, “I’m Ashlynn.”
So Ashlynn was her name. Emilian would have to remember that. And he would be sure to get a seat near hers so that any questions she had to ask the Elites would be directed at him or that he would be available to answer. Then the Elites boarded the plane, and Vance stayed behind to make sure the SSAWPS agents got on safely. Emilian noted that Ashlynn refused any help and stepped aboard the plane first of all and on her own. He pretended to be busy with controls in the back until she and a few others sat down, then he climbed into a seat in the aisle across from hers. There were two aisles of paired rows, so Emilian invited Ashlee to sit at the window seat next to him and noticed that Ashlynn also gave her friend, Ryder was it? the window seat next to her. Once everyone was aboard, the plane lifted into the air and headed towards Greenland.
Emilian looked across the aisle at Ashlynn, but when she glanced over at him, he looked away quickly. He waited awhile, then glanced at her again, finding that she was still staring at him. This time he held her gaze. “How long have you been working for the SSAWPS?” he asked. He should have waited for her to speak first, but he got the feeling she wasn’t going to be the one to break the ice.
“A while,” Ashlynn replied.
Emilian nodded. “What happened to your arm?” he questioned, noticing the cast for the first time.
“It broke,” Ashlynn answered, her expression blank.
Emilian gave a strained look. “Are you always this abrasive?”
That struck a chord, he could tell. Her lips parted to speak, but then closed again. She looked away and out the window on her side, then her gaze came back to him. “What’s it like being part of the Elites?” she asked.
Emilian concealed a smile. He was in. Now he had to work to stay in, to dig a little deeper. “To be honest,” he began, then finished in a whisper, “it’s not really that great.”
She stared at him with a look of surprise. “Oh really? Why’s that?”
“Well,” Emilian explained, leaning over in the aisle so she could hear him better, “we all trained for this separately and came together recently, so I’m not really buddy-buddy with any of these people.” He leaned back and said without a whisper, “They’re pretty cool, though.”
“Huh,” Ashlynn responded. Emilian was disappointed. He had hoped she would say something about her relationship with her group. Instead she asked, “So what’s with the suits?”
Emilian wasn’t sure how to answer that one, since he had just put one on not too long ago and they were still confusing to him. He would say something about the GBAA, but he felt like that agency had nothing to do with the SAGUB and somehow Ashlynn would see through that. “They’re special suits for special agents,” he said with a grin.
Ashlynn smiled. “So they’re supposed to make you look tough?”
A sense of humor? That’s cool. “Yes. Is it working?” Emilian flexed and made a face that was supposed to look scary.
Ashlynn just laughed. “No,” she said flatly.
Emilian looked shocked. “Well, some people aren’t afraid to express their true feelings,” he responded, folding his arms and making a show of ignoring her. They rode like this for a while before Ashlee put a hand on his arm. He turned to look at her.
“Do you think the SSAWPS know who the DANE leader is?” she questioned.
“Yes,” Emilian answered. “I would hope so.”
“Then they know what they’re up against,” Ashlee said, glancing at the rows of SSAWPS agents sitting in the other aisle. She pulled out a disk and turned it into a touch screen, then found a file and pulled it up onto the screen. Emilian watched as the picture at the top of the page slowly cleared to reveal a recognizable face. He didn’t show any outward signs of surprise except that he tensed in his seat. “Here, pass this down the row and make sure Ashlynn sees it.” Ashlee handed him the screen. He turned to Ashlynn, who was watching him.
“We want to make sure you know what to look for,” he said, swallowing his shock and handing Ashlynn the screen. “This is the supposed current leader of the DANE agency.”
Ashlynn took the screen, gave it one glance, and passed it on to the agent beside her. She didn’t read the article, and she didn’t look surprised. “We’ve met before,” was all she said before standing up and moving to the back of the plane. When she came back, she was holding a pen. She sat down and carefully started drawing the pen along the side of her cast with her left hand. Emilian watched as she drew the line from her fingers down to her arm on one side, then started on the other side. Halfway down the second side, she flinched and pain entered her eyes as she finished the line down the cast. She set the pen down on her lap and slid the fingers of her left hand between her palm and the cast on her right hand. She yanked hard, and the cast separated. She used the pen to cut the parts that were still attached, and Emilian saw that there was a short laser blade at the writing end of the pen that Ashlynn was using to cut her cast off. When the cast finally came off, she inspected the posterior side of her wrist and he saw that there was a short line of burnt skin where the laser had gone too far through the cast. Then Ashlynn passed the pen to the girl behind her.
“Pass this to Cyan,” she said to the girl behind her. The pen continued to be passed down the line until it reached a blonde girl with a window seat. When Emilian looked back at Ashlynn, she had her wrist resting on her lap and was slowly moving her fingers, one by one. It was then that Emilian noticed the blue lapis lazuli ring on her middle finger of her right hand.
“Cool ring,” Emilian complimented. Ashlynn seemed surprised, and lifted both hands to look at them. When she saw the ring, realization dawned over her and she worked at moving her fingers again. “Where did you get it?” Emilian asked curiously, surprised by her reaction.
Ashlynn looked at him with an unreadable expression. “I saw it lying around somewhere so I took it.”
“Hm.” That wasn’t the kind of answer he was looking for, but it didn’t bother him that much. It just seemed odd that she would be wearing a ring like that at a time like this, especially since it had no significant value to her. He figured she was lying and that the ring meant more to her than she let on. He watched her move her thumb around in circles. “You never told me how you got that cast,” Emilian acknowledged, then waited for an answer.
Ashlynn clamped her hand open and shut, then turned to look at him. “When my group of SSAWPS agents was trapped in the sewers, we were searching for the group of DANE agents. It was a surprise when we found them, or rather, they found us.” She laughed. “Actually, we bumped into each other. Literally.” She looked down at her hand. “Their leader, Laura Pang, was quick to react. Before I even had time to stand, she had me pinned with a knife to my throat. The idiot agents under my command surrendered their weapons and left when she told them to. They really were very stupid.” She waved the thought away. “Anyway, that’s not the point. I was tied up and blindfolded and taken away with the group. They did interrogate me once, but that was when a good friend of mine came to the rescue. She set off a smoke bomb and silently we slipped away. However, the knots of the rope were hard to undo and impossible for me to undo myself. The metal wiring looped in with the rope made it difficult to cut through, and we didn’t have any laser pens at our disposal then. So in order to get me free, she had to put my thumb at an awkward angle. It wasn’t too big of a break, and it was easy to set. It actually healed pretty fast.” Ashlynn wiggled her thumb and stared at Emilian.
“So that’s how you know her,” Emilian realized, nodding.
“Don’t underestimate Laura Pang. She is quick, strong, and intelligent. Wherever we are going, expect there to be a fortified area with lots of traps,” Ashlynn said. “The areas she leads us to seem so remote and random, but there is always a stratagem in mind. If she flew all the way to Greenland instead of continuing in her original direction, then there must be something important there. It will be a lot more difficult than you think to capture this girl.”
Capture, Emilian thought, excitedly. So they weren’t planning on killing the DANE leader. This was going to make the mission of the SAVE a whole lot easier. So far, Ashlynn didn’t seem too bad. It might be easier than he thought to complete his personal mission.
***************
Emilian Funar. He seemed like a nice guy, but he asked a lot of questions. As soon as the conversation ended, Ashlynn felt more relaxed and she realized how much it had felt like an interrogation. He had a good sense of humor, but for some reason Ashlynn felt like he was putting up a front just to get in better terms with the SSAWPS agents. It was an understandable and somewhat admirable gesture, considering they would have to be working together for some time and the rest of the agents in the two groups didn’t seem willing to even begin a conversation with each other. Who knows? Maybe Emilian would turn out to be something that she could use later on. She wasn’t really sure how, but she figured it wouldn’t hurt to receive his friendly gestures in a kind manner for the time being, even if he was lying to her.
“Ren, there’s a plane following us,” came a voice from the cockpit. Ren shifted from his place at the front of the plane and joined Petra at the controls.
“That’s a miniplane, our technology,” Ren stated. “See if you can’t get a life signature read on that thing.”
“Already done,” Petra answered. “Two bodies present in plane.”
“Two?” Ren rubbed his chin, thinking. “Do they wish to communicate?”
“Communications are connected, but their line is currently on static,” Petra responded. “If we transmit, they can hear us.”
“Ask them who they are and what they are doing here,” Ren commanded. “Do we have flight clearance in this area?”
“Yes. They are tailing us exactly, following our flight patterns.”
“Then they are using our clearance on a rogue flight plan.”
Ashlynn stood and walked forward until she was just outside the cockpit. “Those are our agents,” she disclosed. “The two who disappeared, Jorgia and Galath. That miniplane tailing us would be them.”
“I’m going to need a wingman,” Ren instructed to his group, stepping out of the cockpit.
“I will do it,” Ashlynn insisted, stepping forward.
Ren glanced at her, then looked back at the group. “The Elites will take care of this. Who wants a turn on escort?”
“I do,” Emilian said, standing.
“Excuse me?” Ashlynn said, stepping in front of Ren. “I don’t trust you to keep my team safe. If you’re going out there to escort those agents, I’m going to be out there with you.”
Ren glared at her. “Where you going to get the plane?” he snarled.
Ashlynn whisked out a cube and rolled it between her fingers until it flattened into a disk. “Consider this a test. If you shoot me midflight, my team will know not to trust you.” She pressed the disk to her chest and the metal began to expand across her body until she was wearing a full-body suit of armor. She walked through the door to the ejection room, slamming the door behind her. She took a deep breath and pressed the button for the door to open to the outside. The air pressure yanked her out of the plane and into the sky, and she commanded a transformation. As soon as she had done so, the suit started building around her until she was falling through the air, sitting in the cockpit of a thin, black jet. She grabbed the controls and started twisting them around as the vision spun around her from ground to sky, ground to sky. Finally she leveled out and pulled up, locating the two planes on her screen and starting after the smaller one.
As she tailed the miniplane in front of her, she watched as a miniplane emerged from the flat top of the larger plane ahead of them. It broke off and lifted above both planes, then punched the brakes and all three planes zoomed past. Ashlynn watched it on her monitoring screen as it sped up and joined her on her right side. She couldn’t tell who it was in the plane next to her and figured it was Ren until a voice came through her headset.
“Hey Ashlynn,” Emilian said. “You’re the wingman, remember?”
“Is Ren too proud to come out here himself?” Ashlynn huffed angrily.
“I volunteered, remember? Now move back,” Emilian commanded.
Ashlynn squeezed the control handles angrily. She was right that his friendliness had been a front. He was really arrogant and demanding. “Why don’t you move back?” she suggested tensely. Suddenly, Emilian’s plane swerved to the left, towards her, and she was forced to move out of the way or get hit. “Watch it!” she shouted fiercely. She hit the brakes furiously and fell into place behind him.
“Thanks,” Emilian said.
“Shut up,” Ashlynn responded through her teeth. She thought about shooting at him, just to teach him a lesson, but she had the safety of her team in her hands. She was going to get this guy when they landed. That was a promise.
************