Rebecca found herself in a dark room. She waited for her eyes to get used to the darkness, but they never did.
"Hello?" Rebecca called out.
"Rebecca? Is that you?" another voice called out. It was Connor's voice.
"Are you all right?" Rebecca asked.
"Well enough. They've been taking Imraan out of this room for questioning, but not me. I don't know why they took me if they didn't need me."
"Do you think they know that Imraan is Armaan's twin?"
Connor remained silent, then told her his opinion.
****************
"I think that you know why I've called you here." Adm. Taylor said to Laura. Laura nodded.
"You want me to go on a rescue mission after Connor and Imraan."
"Yes. You'll have to take your trainee with you."
"Kalyia." Laura agreed.
"That leaves you one more agent to take with you. Agent Merkley, Agent S. West, Agent Ray, Agent Hill, and Agent Stapley are not available."
"Is Agent C. West well enough to come with me?"
"No. She's suffered from some wounds from that battle, along with Agent J. West. "
Laura thought for a moment, then made her decision.
“I guess I have no choice,” Laura said. She knew who would be the best for this kind of thing. “I’ll take Agent Rylee Porter.”
****************
Rebecca woke up. She was in the hospital bed, but the restraints were gone. She had a fleeting jitter of delight until she realized her wound was still there, and it still hurt. Despite the pain, she slid off the bed and walked to the door carefully. There was no one in the room with her, not even a nurse. She thought it odd, but she still decided that she would have to find Conner, whether she was fully healed or not. She opened the door and walked out into the hall.
It was kind of odd walking barefoot through the HIA, but she finally made it to her room. She put on some regular clothes, grabbed some stuff, and headed back upstairs. Some agents were astonished to see her up and walking, but she walked past them nonchalantly. The desk lady didn’t even question her as she walked through the lobby. She stepped out of the school and headed towards the second parking lot, which was used as a landing deck.
****************
Rylee thought it odd that a younger agent had asked him on one of their missions. He knew she was a friend of Rebecca’s, but he didn’t really know her all that much. Honestly, he didn’t really care at the moment. They would be able to get to know each other during the mission. Besides, he was bored. What else was he to do?
****************
Once the plane formed, Rebecca hopped in and turned it on. That’s when she saw Armaan walking towards her. “Can I come?” he asked. His voice sounded strange.
“No,” Rebecca said, giving him one of her best glares. “You know why you have to stay here.”
“He’s my twin brother,” Armaan tried to reason.
“I gave you my answer. You’re not coming with me.” Armaan backed away sadly, and Rebecca started up the engines. She didn’t really want to do this alone, but taking Armaan would be like bringing a lamb to the slaughter.
****************
Kalyia was surprised. She hadn’t expected to be going on such an important mission so early in her training. She was glad and frightened at the same time, but mostly proud of herself for making it this far. Why had she never felt this way in the SIASS?
****************
Rebecca used the track records from the GCA to find the location of the nearest FNTTMS facility they had in the system. It was hard, and it took her a long time to get to it. She knew Armaan would have been able to find it in a split second, but that was a byproduct of her choice to do this alone. Finally she found the spot in an area clear of civilization. She landed on the dirt and stepped out from the plane, turning it back into a disk. She looked around, wondering if she could be wrong. Then she saw something. It was the car from the school. She didn’t know where to hide, and her stomach hurt. She had to think quickly.
****************
Armaan was mad that everyone seemed so acceptable to pushing him back and not letting him do anything to help. Even though Imraan did get annoying at times, he was his brother and his twin. He couldn’t just sit back and wait for them to figure something out. He had to do something.
****************
As soon as she pushed the button, tiny Techni-Shards started growing and spreading out from her hand to the rest of her body. The disk reformed into a full, armored body suit. Rebecca watched the car swerve and the tires screech to a stop upon watching a robot grow from thin air. She caught a glimpse of Conner in the car, then advanced towards it.
****************
Bryan sat in a chair in Earl’s office. All he could feel was guilt for what he had done, the pains he had caused for so many people. “I thought you had known,” he said, and realizing he was just making excuses for himself, he added, “I should have done better, done more.”
“You can’t blame yourself for what happened that day,” Adm. Taylor answered.
“But I can blame myself for what happened afterwards. I was stupid, idiotic, angry…”
“Astonished, depressed,” Earl finished. “I get the feeling. It happens every time one of my agents is taken. It’s been happening a lot lately. I can understand the stress.”
Bryan looked away. “We were such good friends…”
“We are good friends. Nothing is going to change that.”
“I changed that,” Bryan said, looking up at Earl but avoiding his eyes. “Everything is wrong because of me. I don’t even know what to do about Conner.”
“You did what was best.”
“No, I was selfish.”
“You did what was best for yourself, and in doing so, you did what was best for your son,” the Administrator answered. “It wouldn’t have worked out any other way.” Earl added. He stood and walked over to Bryan.
“You think things have worked out?” Bryan questioned. “Conner and the kid are both taken, Rebecca is in the infirmary, my trust with the HIA has died, and I may not even have the loyalty of the GCA after they find out what really happened.”
Earl looked down at Bryan skeptically. “At least we know Conner has a chance of being alive. A group is being sent to get him and Imraan right now. Rebecca will be fine in the matter of a few days, up and at ‘em like the agent she is. You may be surprised how quick the HIA is to forgive. We don’t hold grudges.” Bryan looked away. “And I have a feeling that the GCA wouldn’t give up on a leader like you. Things have worked out here, so I’m sure they’ll work out there.”
“So you don’t hate me?” Bryan asked. “We’re still partners?”
Earl smiled and patted his back. “Do you even have to ask?”
****************
The agents were down. The car was busted to pieces, but she had been able to get the agents out without hurting them. She finally shrunk the suit back down to a disk and walked over to the agents, freeing them from their ropes.
“I knew you’d come, Rebecca,” Conner said as the ropes broke. He turned around.
“Doubt not, o ye that was captured,” Rebecca answered with a smile. She opened her arms up for a hug and his arms wrapped around her…
Rebecca’s eyes opened. She felt the pressure on her wrist and lifted her head to look down. They were stuck in restraints. “No…” she whispered, unbelieving. “No!” she cried out. It had seemed so vivid, so real. It couldn’t have been a dream. Her head plopped back down and she couldn’t control the wave of emotion that came next. She was trapped, with no way to discern reality from a dream, and she couldn’t help anyone. It was the worst kind of torture ever: not being able to help those she cared about, not being able to think straight, and waking up from life and realizing it was just a dream.
She turned her head to look at the wall and began to sob.
****************