16

The Examination

The team shared one silent moment together before stepping inside their respective Capsules.

The door hissed shut behind Jason and locked with a heavy shunt. He slid his arm through the wristband provided and the wall directly in front of him lit up, bearing the words:

Examination: Team Unum.

Welcome, Team Unum, said Lydia. You have reached the stage in your Training where you must now be tested on how well you can use your abilities in a real-life situation to achieve a pre-determined objective. Team Unum, this is your mission.

The screen before Jason showed the front of a large, busy shopping mall. The entire image moved as if a camera had been placed in a circling helicopter and Jason was watching through its lens.

This is the Broadlane Shopping Mall in Shawnee, Kansas, USA. On 23 July an incident took place here involving two unknown Prodigies who engaged local authorities at approximately 3.15 p.m. The outcome of this engagement is currently unknown. The objective of your examination is to obtain security footage of the incident. Your supervisor, Flamma, will accompany you. However, she is prohibited from aiding you in any way. You must locate the central security office and escort Flamma there. She will then proceed to access the security footage required. How you choose to do this is up to you as a team; although there are some rules by which you must abide.

You must not seriously harm any sentient you encounter. Inflicting harm in self-defence is tolerable, yet not desirable. You must leave as little trace of your presence as possible. For this examination, Magnus has been appointed as Team Leader. Retrieving the security footage is top priority; once you have obtained it and exited the mall you will be returned to Castle Infinity. You have until 0000 hours. When you awake the time will be 2300 hours. Good luck.

 

And then the screen flashed brilliant white.

*

When Jason opened his eyes, he was no longer standing in the confined space of the Stabilisation Capsule. For the first time in over two months, he was back in the real world. It was night-time; the sky was dark but scattered with stars, and the air was cool. He was standing under a great tree, which rose up from a small patch of grass. For a moment he was able to fully appreciate his temporary freedom.

The air was fresh and clean – like the air that could only be found in Eden at Castle Infinity. Even feeling the moisture on the soft breeze was refreshing and invigorating. He had almost forgotten what it was like to be truly outside.

He then realised that he was in the United States of America. He had never been outside New Zealand before, and felt strangely satisfied that, in a matter of hours, he had been transported through space to a country he had never been to before.

Turning, he saw the rest of his team standing nearby. And among them was Ardelle, dressed in a similar outfit to the ones they wore.

‘Ardelle!’ said Kate happily, as Ardelle smiled back at them all. ‘I’m glad you’re with us.’

‘Bet you weren’t expecting that,’ she replied, putting her hands on her hips. ‘But I have to make sure you understand your instructions: you have an objective, and it is entirely up to you how to achieve it – you won’t get any help from the Watchers. My only purpose here is to access the central security system to retrieve the footage we need.’

‘So, what Lydia said about two Prodigies being here was true?’ Kenny asked.

‘Absolutely. Remember that the examination is meant to test you in a real-life situation. And the reality is that the footage is something the Watchers actually need quite urgently. So, what’s our first move, Team Leader Magnus?’

Jason smiled uncertainly, struggling to come to grips with what he was facing. This was it, he realised – this was what Genesis was all about. And, he thought, the responsibility for their success had been placed firmly on his shoulders. Looking at his teammates, he hoped to gain some confidence from them, but, aside from Kenny, they seemed just as nervous as he was.

‘Okay, so I guess first things first,’ he said, looking past them to the shopping mall. ‘We need to get in there.’

‘How are we going to do that?’ asked Kate.

‘Everything’s sure to be alarmed, so we need to get in without using any of the doors or windows. Luckily, we’ve got Dale. But before we get in, we need a game plan. There are gonna be security guards in there, so we have to avoid them. We need to make sure we leave no trace of our presence, so we can’t let them even suspect that we’re here.’

‘I could scout ahead every so often?’ Dale suggested.

‘Good thinking,’ said Jason. ‘Dale can make sure we have a clear route.’

‘A clear route to where, exactly?’ Kala asked.

‘To wherever the control room is,’ Jason answered. ‘We’re going to need to find it ourselves. It could be anywhere, so we’re going to have to look everywhere and be quick about it.’

‘That’s right; you only have an hour, remember?’ Ardelle added.

‘Well, let’s get moving then,’ said Jason, heading towards the mall’s entrance. ‘Stay tight, stay quiet, and be alert.’

‘Roger that, Team Leader,’ said Kenny with a grin, and the team followed Jason stealthily towards the entrance of the mall. As they took up a position outside, Jason peered through the glass doors, seeing the ground floor stretch away from him. The lights were on inside, albeit dimmed, and he thought he saw at least one security guard cross the floor.

‘Okay, looks like there’s a guard in the distance, but nobody close to us,’ said Jason, turning to Dale. ‘You ready?’

Dale nodded and said, ‘Everybody hold on.’

Each of them reached out and took hold of one of Dale’s arms, and in a second they were inside the mall.

‘Follow me,’ Jason whispered, ignoring the usual onset of nausea and making his way as quietly as possible to the large information desk directly opposite them. The group reached the desk, and Jason looked ahead to the rest of the floor. Various shops lined the walls of the mall, their entrances set along a straight pathway to the back of the level, where Jason could see a food court and a pair of escalators leading up to the next floor. The main problem that immediately presented itself was several security guards patrolling the floor.

‘Why are there so many?’ Kenny asked. He turned to Ardelle, but even she looked stymied by the presence of so many guards in one area.

‘I’m not sure, to be honest,’ she said, her eyebrows furro-wing. ‘They must have stepped up security since the incident.’

‘So how are we meant to search this floor?’ Kate asked. ‘We’ll be seen for sure.’

‘You didn’t tell us it’d be this hard, Ardelle!’ Kenny said.

‘It’s not supposed to be.’ Her cheerful tone was gone. ‘But I’m not getting any updates from Infinity – this is it, guys.’

‘Screw it!’ said Kala. ‘We came here to prove ourselves – let’s get on with it.’

‘Okay, we need a diversion then,’ Jason decided. ‘With any luck, Dale can Leap us to the next floor up, where there might be a few less security guards. Any ideas?’

‘Something that’s definitely going to grab their attention,’ said Kate, and at that moment, with a resounding click, they were plunged into darkness as all of the lights in the mall went off.

‘Something like that?’ Kenny asked.

Flashlights leapt into life ahead of them as the security guards tried to make sense of what had just happened. The only other source of light they had now was the moonlight that shone in through the mall’s great glass roof, and that only dimly illuminated the area directly below it, casting the rest into complete darkness.

‘The power’s out!’ said Kala, laughing. ‘Can you believe it?’

‘I can’t,’ said Ardelle from somewhere in their midst. ‘You guys just dodged one hell of a bullet.’

‘I don’t know,’ said Jason warily, squinting through the darkness at his teammates. ‘If anything, it’ll put the guards on edge.’

‘Look, we’re running out of time,’ said Kala. ‘We need to make the most of this darkness while we can. How ’bout we split up? We can cover more ground, and if Dale can Leap by memory, maybe he can Leap between us every so often to keep us in contact.’

‘Can you do that, Dale?’ Kate asked, and Dale nodded confidently.

‘Okay, let’s try it,’ said Jason. ‘Kenny, Kala, Kate – you can take this level and have a look around here, while me, Ardelle and Dale will search Level Two. Dale – I want you to Leap between us every few minutes to keep each group updated on the others’ progress, and if you find anything or get seen, I want you to Leap back to us as soon as possible, got it? All right, team, let’s do this.’

After a silent nod from each of them, Kala, Kenny and Kate vanished from his sight.

An instant later Jason had landed on solid ground again, shaking the nausea from his head to survey his surroundings. A great balcony divided the level from the ground floor below, where he could just make out the others sneaking into the shadows. Up ahead, more flashlights roved across the floor.

‘Okay, let’s stay away from them,’ he whispered, leading Ardelle and Dale away from the balcony’s edge to the shops that lined the walls. ‘And keep an eye out for anything you think might lead us to the control room.’

‘Should I check on the others?’ Dale asked as they pressed themselves against a shop wall.

‘Yeah, go for it, Dale.’

He vanished and reappeared a few seconds later, whispering, ‘They’re fine – just heading around the walls like us.’

‘Good. Let’s keep moving.’

So close they were almost touching, the trio set off across the floor, walking as slowly and as quietly as possible. Despite the darkness, Jason could see well enough in the filtered moonlight. As they came across a men’s shoe shop he spotted a guard headed their way.

‘Follow me!’ He broke away from the wall, slipping behind a small stone fence surrounding a decorative garden. The others crouched behind him to wait for the guard to pass. Jason peered around the corner, to make sure it was safe to move, and was surprised to see the guard holding a gun, poised over his other hand, which held his flashlight.

‘What the …?’ he murmured to himself. ‘He’s got a gun?’

‘What?’ Ardelle asked, leaning past him to look for herself. ‘Something’s not right. I’m calling this off.’

She pressed a finger to her ear and raised her wristband to her face, but just then a lone gunshot pierced the silence, followed by a blood-chilling shriek.

‘The others!’ Jason gasped, and a voice rang out through the mall.

‘Freeze! Stay where you are!’

Dale grabbed Jason’s and Ardelle’s arms and Leaped them to the edge of the balcony, where they could see Kala and Kate standing with their arms up, bathed in the torchlight of the approaching guards, and Kenny lying motionlessly beside them.

‘K-Kenny?’ Jason stammered, but Ardelle took hold of him, whispering sharply, ‘Don’t move, don’t make a sound.’

His heart hammering, he watched in horror as the guards advanced on Kala and Kate, their guns poised to fire.

‘What do we do?’ Dale asked desperately, and Ardelle shushed him, her eyes locked on the scene below.

‘On your knees!’ ordered one of the guards. ‘Do what we say, or we will shoot you.’

Jason fought to break free of Ardelle’s grip but she held
him still.

‘Now!’ the guard yelled, and Jason saw Kala lower his hands.

‘Screw this!’ He crystallised and charged at the guards.

‘What the – stay back!’

The torchlight focused on Kala’s hulking form, and as he went for the guards, the air ignited with gunshots. But the bullets simply bounced off Kala’s impenetrable shell as he ran, adding an echoing ping-ping-ping to the rapid fire that cut through the air. With a roar Kala swung one arm into the first guard’s stomach, throwing him across the floor.

‘Zone – get us down there now!’ Ardelle ordered.

In a second the three of them appeared on the ground floor just in time to see Kala knock the last security guard unconscious.

Flames ignited in Ardelle’s hands instantly and she called to Kala, ‘Is that the last of them?’

He nodded back at her and she hurried over to Kenny, Jason and Dale close behind. Kate was already kneeling beside him, her shoulders shaking.

‘They shot him!’ she sobbed as Ardelle attempted to move her away from the body. ‘They shot him, they shot him …’

Jason’s heart stopped as he looked down at Kenny, his arms and legs splayed out, his eyes closed. He couldn’t believe it, this couldn’t be happening …

‘There’s no blood,’ Dale said quietly.

Puzzled, Jason knelt beside Kenny. Dale was right; there wasn’t a wound on him. He pressed a hand to Kenny’s chest, stunned to feel it rise under his palm.

‘Kenny?’ he asked in shock, and with a groan Kenny sat up, clutching at his stomach. There was a tinkle of metal and Jason saw a bullet lying on the floor, unstained.

Kenny wheezed. ‘That was … an experience.’

‘Kenny!’ Kate said, lunging at him and wrapping her arms around him tightly. ‘But I saw you get shot! How …?’

‘Your body fragments must have sealed the wound and ejected the bullet from your body,’ said Ardelle, just as surprised as they all were. ‘I’m glad you’re all right, Syrtis, but that was too close a call. Something’s off about the situation here, and we have to mobilise, now.’

‘You mean we’re leaving?’ Kala asked, still crystallised. ‘What about the footage?’

‘It can wait,’ said Ardelle, helping Kenny to his feet. ‘Right now, we need to get you all out of here.’

But at that moment more yelling rang out from above, followed by gunshots, and as Jason looked to the upper floor, an explosion rocked the entire mall. Security guards came flying down the escalators at the end of the food court.

‘Move!’ Ardelle commanded, but before they could react a blast of orange light tore from the shadows. Ardelle intercepted it with a fireball of her own. A concussive wave of heat almost knocked them all to the floor, and through
the simmering haze Jason spotted a woman dressed all in black walking towards them, her hands aglow with that same orange light. Another Prodigy, he realised in panic.

‘Get behind me!’ Ardelle yelled, throwing herself in front of the team as the woman fired another blast of orange light at them. Ardelle intercepted it again and then leapt into the
air, fire pouring from her hands to propel her towards
the Prodigy. She came down in a roaring plume of fire, and when it cleared Jason could see that the two were locked in combat, sending blasts of orange light and yellow fire every which way.

As Jason struggled to take in what was happening, Kate pulled him towards the others.

‘Dale! Get us to safety!’ she yelled over the battle, taking his arm. Dale nodded and they were thrust into the wormhole, and spat back out on Level Two where they were safe from the waves of heat erupting from Ardelle’s fight.

But then Dale was hit by a solid object that seemed to come out of nowhere, knocking him to the floor amidst a burst of shiny fragments.

‘Dale!’ Jason rushed to his side. ‘Are you okay?’

He nodded, despite gasping for air, and Jason helped him up, glancing at the shattered pieces on the floor. He reached out and touched a piece gingerly, realising it was ice. As he wondered where it could have come from, Dale pointed wordlessly into the darkness. Jason followed his gaze to see another chunk of it flying at them. He ducked just in time, but a glistening trail of ice was forming out of thin air at the other end of the floor – with what appeared to be a man surfing it.

‘Guys!’ Jason yelled to the others as two giant icicles fired from the man’s hands, slamming down in their midst and exploding in a spray of icy pieces. Jason dived aside with Dale, lowering his arms from his face just in time to see the man flying towards him. In a second Jason was tackled to the ground, one hand clutched around his throat, the other coated in what appeared to be another giant icicle, poised to strike. Terrified, he looked up into the face of his attacker, seeing only two pale blue eyes staring back at him from behind a black balaclava. As their eyes locked, the man’s softened, and Jason heard him say, ‘Just a kid?’ before Kala smashed into his attacker, throwing him off with an angry snarl.

Jason rolled and leapt to his feet just in time to see the man, fully dressed in black, execute a similar move and take a defensive stance. Team Unum surrounded him, and although Jason knew how frightened they all were, they, like him, were prepared to fight.

The man’s eyes scanned them slowly and deliberately before he willed another icicle to form around his other arm, shaped dangerously like a blade, and lunged at them.

Kala roared and met him head-on, but the man was too fast; he ducked under Kala’s haymaker and kicked up at his face, bringing with his foot a stream of ice that latched onto Kala’s crystalline helmet. As Kala stumbled blindly, Kate sent a gale of wind towards the man but he whirled about, sending back a flurry of icy pieces through the blast that knocked her to the floor.

Jason, Kenny, and Dale charged at the man together, but he made short work of them, taking out Dale with a few hard hits and then Kenny with a solid blast of ice to his chest. Without relenting he turned on Jason, stunning him with the speed and ferocity of his attacks. Jason did his best to defend himself from the barrage of punches and kicks but was sent flying backwards by a vicious elbow to the jaw.

Stars exploded into view as his head met the floor, and while his vision swam he could just make out the rest of his team coming back to take on their opponent. But the man was on a different level completely. He fended off every attack that came his way with ease – even the most brutal from Kala.

‘Ardelle.’ Jason groaned, pushing himself to his feet. ‘Ardelle … wh-where are you?’

He could still see spouts of fire and orange light illuminating the floor below. Mustering the rest of his strength, Jason charged at the man once more, bringing the force of gravity with him. The man, who had just thrown Kate from him, her arm covered in ice from the elbow down, spun to meet Jason as though he had been expecting his attack. He formed a wall of ice in front of him and pushed it towards Jason, who caused the gravity around it to change and fall back towards him. But the man leapt clear over it, firing two missiles of ice that Jason only just managed to pull away from him before finding himself face-to-face with the man once more.

Again he felt immediately outmatched, unable to even attempt a strike of his own, but Kenny’s fist suddenly materialised between them, smashing solidly into the man’s covered face and taking him by surprise. Making the most of the opening, Jason sent a hard jab of his own, enforced with the power of gravity, that connected with the man’s cheek. With the tables suddenly turned, Jason advanced, alternating attacks with Kenny’s fists and feet, which seemed to disappear and reform right in front of him. But just when Jason thought they were gaining the upper hand the man slashed through Kenny’s fist with a swiftly formed blade of ice and kicked Jason powerfully in the chest, knocking all of the air out of his lungs as he fell back to the floor. Whirling, the man pointed a stream of ice at Kenny’s body, which had just reformed, and it met his outstretched leg, encasing it in a block of ice.

Kenny screamed in pain and dropped to the floor as Jason tried to stay conscious, struggling desperately to suck air into his lungs. He watched as the figure in black, still poised to attack, slowly lowered his arms, looking about himself at the team he had single-handedly defeated. His head turned towards Jason, who saw only the cold, unforgiving eyes behind his balaclava.

Suddenly, Ardelle came crashing to the floor in an explosion of fire, putting herself between the man and the fallen Team Unum. But, as she squared off against him, Jason heard him say, ‘Delle?’

Ardelle blinked. ‘Cole?’

For a few moments the two of them stood there, staring at each other in silence. Then flames burst into Ardelle’s hands once again as she returned to her offensive stance, while the man in black did the same.

‘Get out of here, Cole,’ she said in a dark tone, ‘while you still can. You know you’re disadvantaged. I’ve defeated you before and I’ll do it again.’

The man didn’t answer straightaway, but instead gave a cold insensitive laugh that sent shivers down Jason’s spine. Then he replied, in what sounded like a Scottish accent, ‘I wouldn’t be too sure this time around, Delle. Tempest has taught me things Chaos never could.’

Ardelle did not seem fazed. She kept her eye on him until he made the first move, sending a curving stream of ice at her. She returned the attack with a plume of fire that melted the stream into nothingness before it could reach her. But he had already begun his next attack, sending several sharp projectiles of ice at her. She was ready, and incinerated these with another blast of fire. Then, fire roaring from her palms, she leapt high into the air. Her body seemed to glow bright yellow, and she came down with a fiery blast that Cole, covered in a shell of ice, barely saved himself from.

‘Chaos – get them out of here now!’ Ardelle shouted to the air, and Jason could only watch in amazement as the two engaged, fire and ice meeting in explosive displays of red and blue, hot and cold. Ardelle had been impressive when fighting the other Prodigy, but against this man named Cole, she seemed like a woman possessed. But although she melted just about anything he could throw at her, the speed and strength he exhibited through his combat and ability-use was even more incredible. She began to struggle against the sheer ferocity of his attacks as he drove her backwards, giving her no chance for an attack of her own.

Having recuperated enough to rise to his feet, Jason looked across at the scattered members of his team. Dale and Kala had taken shelter behind a garden wall and had Kate with them, whose arm was still covered in ice. Kenny had crawled away to a bench, his leg also still frozen. Ducking low, Jason rushed across to Kenny’s aid as the battle raged on near him.

‘I can’t feel it,’ Kenny said feverishly as Jason crouched beside him. ‘I can’t feel my leg, dude!’

‘Calm down, bro, calm down.’ But Jason didn’t know what to do. The others suddenly appeared beside him with Dale, and he looked across to Ardelle in despair. She was clearly struggling, and he could see both Kenny and Kate were fading fast.

‘Stay with us, guys,’ he said, grabbing both of their hands. ‘Please – stay with us!’

A wave of hot moisture suddenly whipped past them, and Jason saw the man spin away from the flow of flames that spouted from Ardelle’s hands and blast her stomach with a point-blank stream of ice. Ardelle gave a cry of pain as she was sent flying through the air.

Jason screamed, ‘Ardelle!’ But his voice was lost as his wristband beeped and a bright light enveloped him, blinding in its strength. He threw up his hands in confused defence, but his mind seemed to be shutting down, fading into the glare that consumed him, and his body was floating away, upwards into thin air. There was nothing he could do …

*

Intense disorientation assaulted Jason as he came to; his body was unusually weak, and sweat covered his face like a heavy coat of paint. As his feet met solid ground he sagged against a wall, a small part of his conscious mind recognising that he was back in the Capsule. Suddenly, the door slid open and he could just make out the shape of a person standing outside. He felt hands grab him carefully but forcefully, guiding him out.

‘Magnus? Magnus – can you hear me?’ the voice of the person holding him asked, but it was frighteningly distorted. He tried to talk but couldn’t find the focus to do so. ‘Aleron – go and get some help! They need to be properly Stabilised immediately!’

‘A-Ardelle,’ he finally managed to choke the words out. ‘She …’

‘Ardelle’s going to be fine,’ his comforter said to him as they laid him gently on the floor.

‘What’s … happening?’ he mumbled, holding back the urge to be sick as the world hovered in and out of focus.

‘You’re experiencing destabilisation,’ the voice said, and he was sure that it was Sylvia’s. ‘You’ve been transported all the way from the States without being properly stabilised and your body is going into shock. You need to stay with me, okay?’

Jason looked over to his left, seeing the decrystallising body of Kala on the floor a few metres away.

‘Did they get it?’

Jason recognised the voice immediately.

‘They need to be stabilised right away,’ Sylvia replied, and Jason made out the tall figure of Chaos standing over him.

‘But did they get it?’

‘Well, no, from what we understand they were attacked before they could locate it. But Chaos – they need to be stabilised.’

‘Oh, yes, of course. You two – help get them onto the stretchers. We need to move quickly.’

Jason was losing consciousness. He felt his body being lifted onto a stretcher, lights passing overhead as he moved. Slowly he drifted away again.