Plans for an Infiltration

The vehicle burrowed into the depths. Through the circular windows lining the lid, the dark water grew darker. Silence and stillness swallowed everyone like some underwater beastie. Neon blue lights kept the interior alive.

The Agents were half-dead. Their outfits were burned and they coughed up water. Yet they rose. Snapped broken and twisted limbs back into place. Pulled out shrapnel; wiped away blood and wounds. Noa arose herself, then stepped back to gain some distance from them.

The woman commanding the ship turned from the controls at the raised platform at the front of the room to them. She removed her helmet and shook her bushy hair free. She cast shimmering emeralds on Noa and Agents.

“You’re all safe now,” she said. “I’m Anikae; an ally of the Agency. And of the crown, Your Majesty,” she added with a curtsy to Noa. “Rail and Ex can vouch for me. Right? Guys?”

No one answered. The Agents continued trying to stir, still out of their wits, and Noa continued to await them.

“So...Niccoli sent backup,” Anikae continued. “Thought you’d be glad to know. It looks like they’re stalling your pursuers at the moment. And—who are we running from, again?”

Elf suddenly stared at Anikae. “Reinforcements?” she mumbled.

Anikae nodded eagerly at her. “They shouldn’t be long—”

“Tell them to retreat—!” Elf started to say.

Anikae clapped her hands to her mouth as Noa shut her up; she had burst in front of her, grabbed her by the throat, lifted and slammed her on the ground. The submarine dunked; everyone in it flew off the floor and crashed back down. By then Noa had thrown out her hands, dug into the air, and begun to rip. Elf’s eyes popped wide open and the blood drained from her face when she felt which wound Noa was tearing open.

Noa ducked. Ghost’s surprise leg whipped over her head; the man glared down at her with a face painted fury. She flipped onto her hands and crashed her own leg into the very arm she had broken before. “AAAGH!!” he screamed as he spun away from the force of the blow. He crashed and dented the nearby wall of the iron canopy, and was still.

The other Agents stirred sluggishly and tried to put up a defense. Noa wiped the floor with them. Anikae watched with her eyes wide in horror. In a few short moments, everyone but Ziare was nestled into the walls and ceiling, their groans muffled by steel.

Noa fell still. Then she approached the lone Agent at the control center—him and the awestruck Anikae behind him. She made sure her steps were slow and deliberate. The heels of her boots clicked on the floor with emphasis.

“What is with you Agents?” Noa asked. “Do you take me for the fool?”

She brought up an arm to shield the side of her face from Lair’s surprise wind arrow; the breeze wrapped around Noa’s invisible barrier, then Noa threw the energy back and it plastered Lair to the wall, blood bursting out underneath her. Noa resumed her stride without concern.

“It is my power which runs through your veins. My blood, smacked to your foreheads in crystallized form. What in Ende brings you to believe force can remedy my rejection of your escort?” She stopped in front of the elevated platform where the two stood, placing her hands on her hips. “When I walk one way, you lot follow. You do not guide me the other way. You do not try.”

“Y-yes, Your Majesty,” Ziare said. “Whatever you s-say, your Majesty.”

Anikae’s voice was stuck in her throat.

“Step forward,” Noa said to Ziare.

The Agent started to do as told, but Anikae held his arm. He pried her fingers away while staring into her terrified eyes, then stepped down and stood at attention before Noa.

Noa peered into his face for a moment. “Do you know why you are still standing, boy?”

“No, Your Majesty.”

“Guess.”

Ziare gulped. “I...am...the weakest.” His hands shook. “The lowest priority t-to dispatch in a f-f-fight.” Knees knocked together.

Noa grabbed a cup of air. Ziare held his breath.

“That’s what your leader told me,” Noa said, “when she gave away each of your secrets. Let this be a lesson learned.” And her fingers began to clench.

The Agent didn’t scream. He didn’t shed tears, and he didn’t look away from her. Not as the tie around his neck tightened up and choked him. Not as his eyes went red.

“Cruel,” said a voice behind Noa.

Noa spun around. Right into a fist. She recoiled into Ziare’s chest; he locked her up. Noa’s blurry vision only showed her the purple in her attacker’s hair before he dug a fist into her stomach, hunched her and Ziare over, and launched them both heavenward.

Ziare’s back hit a black emblazon. A pillar beamed down around them, and he and Noa crashed to the ground inside it.

“Van!” Anikae exclaimed. “Oh Gineden, sweet Gineden!”

“Close it,” Van said.

He stood on the other side of the black pillar that caged Noa and Ziare. He was covered in bruises and bullet wounds, swayed slightly, but was alive. He held a spare Agent’s shirt and jacket in one hand and something else in the closed other. He turned his attentions on the unconscious Agents lying around the submarine.

He flicked a finger in several directions. More black seals appeared from the wall, floor, ceiling. As did more shadow pillars. More cages.

The Agents found the strength to glare at him through their opaque prisons. He circled in place, eying each of them with burning hatred. The dread silence of the ocean depths consumed his bare footsteps.

Anikae rushed down from the platform—paused to flinch at the sight of Noa and Ziare palming the inside of their cages—and made for Van. “What are you doing?” she asked, her voice hysterical. “Why is everyone being so brutal?”

“Ah, I forgot,” Van muttered.

Anikae froze in her tracks. She didn’t move as he summoned another black emblazon over her head, threw down another wall around her, then turned away and ran a hand through his hair. She only stared.

Van strode slowly down the blood-stained deck of the vehicle. He fanned out his garb, then slid an arm through one set of sleeves, and another. He began buttoning up. His other fist remained closed.

He spoke in a low voice at first. As he continued, however, the darkness crept in. “Here we are. Just how you wanted, the whole racket. Right Anikae? Well...not just how you wanted. I’m not caged enough.”

“Why would I want you—?” Anikae started.

The gaze Van tossed over his shoulder shut her up. “I will end you the next time you open that pretty little mouth.” He snarled. He faced forward again. “Let’s go home. Headquarters. Noa in hand. I’ll bring a clone, we’ll pretend it’s dead, so we can push the bounty. Clean job.” He rounded on everyone while buttoning his wrist. “And we’ll meet with Niccoli personally. Sound like a plan?”

“You’re...trying to infiltrate...” Elf started, but couldn’t finish.

“Headquarters,” Van finished for her. “Agency headquarters. And it’s not much of an infiltration with these.”

He held his fist to the neon light and rolled out his fingers. The Agents pulled up to look over the rim of his palm. Lair grinned. Ex chuckled. Everyone else was too wounded.

“Between you and Noa, I’m not sure who I hate more right now,” Ex rasped.

Van weighed the crimson jewels in his palm; they plopped up and down and made rich clicking sounds.

“I’ll give you one guess where I got these. I’ve already signed them with explosives, and believe me when I say they’re instant. It’s your choice whether—”

“You’ve gone too far,” Delta interrupted.

Van looked at the old man. The Agents looked at him. He was the only one of the defeated who couldn’t bring himself to his feet. The way he shook, it was obvious he wasn’t going to. Noa—if only for an instant—dropped her eyes.

“Rail Platoon didn’t do anything to you. It was us—the seven of us in this room. And dammit, Noa, we’re decent people. Both of you. You went too far.”

Van tilted his head slowly to the side. “Not far enough, old man. Rail Platoon’s still alive. The rebels will have them by the time the Agency goes looking.”

Now every gaze fell on Van, confusion evident. He gave the owners no further opportunity to speak.

He threw out the jewels as if tossing water. He wrung his hand in the same motion; the jewels vanished into thin air and reappeared in the hands of newly-created clones inside the ethereal cells. The clones pounced on their weakened victims, buried the jewels in their foreheads, then disappeared. The prisons lifted, and everyone—including Noa and Anikae—emerged a bejeweled Agent.

One more gem remained, resting in Van’s palm. He brought it to his forehead, paused, then shut his eyes and smacked it on. The blue left his hair, turning it red. He opened light brown baubles.

He teleported to the controls. Everyone turned around and stared at his back. No one said another word; his message was sent.

“Van...what are you doing?” Anikae said.

Van glanced at her over his shoulder. “Ah, thanks. I forgot to mention that.” He went back to the controls, pocketed a hand, thumbed his chin. “It’s not ‘Van’ anymore. I’m the previous owner of this jewel... Agent Shadow.”