Chapter 3 – Letting Sleeping Dogs Lie

Franklin watched through the security camera on level two as the elevator doors opened and Sarah walked out into the corridor.

“The mass variance in the main elevator is no longer present.” Sarah announced.

‘Excellent’ Franklin thought. He knew that the girl had left the elevator with Sarah’s android body. ‘Proceed to med-lab one and ask the Warlord if he would like a meal.’

‘Yes sir.’ Sarah replied.

While Franklin communicated with the main computer system directly through a cybernetic link, the computers remote android body, referred to as “Sarah”, walked up the corridor and into med-lab one.

“Good afternoon, Mister Horton.” Sarah said as she entered the lab room. The room itself was actually small, about the size of a typical bedroom. Most of the medical equipment was kept in a common area in the center of the lab. Each room in the lab was a spoke attached to the central area. On one of the walls were several monitors with various readouts used to monitor a patient’s condition. Directly in the center of the room was an oversized bed holding the oversized patient: Gabriel. In the far corner of the room sat a thin man wearing an expensive business suit. This was Donald “Don” Horton. However, few people knew him by his personal name. He was more commonly referred to as simply The Warlord.

“Hello Sarah.” said Don as he looked up from his copy of The Wall Street Journal. “Is something wrong?”

“I just stopped by to ask if I could fix you something for lunch.” Sarah replied. Then, noticing that he was out of costume, added, “Also, Fire and Ice are in The Complex, and Illusion has asked that everyone please be in costume.”

Don paused a bit, looking down at the small chair he was in. If he changed into The Warlord, he would have to sit on the floor. “No thank you, Sarah,” replied Don, “I had something to eat before I started my shift. However, would you please inform me if anyone enters level two?”

“Yes Sir.” Sarah replied politely, “And if you need anything, I’ll be upstairs in the kitchen.” With that, Sarah turned and left.

“Bingo!” said Franklin aloud from his seat in the security room.

“Sir?” replied Sarah aloud. Since Sarah was not even aware that she was receiving cybernetic commands from Franklin, she was unsure what to make of the sudden interjection.

“Ignore that.” Franklin replied, his excitement making him fidget in his seat. ‘Okay kid,’ he thought to himself, ‘I got you in. Now it’s your turn. Sarah: Activate the psionic anomaly detector in med-lab one.’

‘Activated.’ Sarah replied.

Franklin’s view of the room darkened until it looked like the room was lit by a full moon. In the darkness he could see the glow of three people: Don, Gabriel, and “Guest Three”.

Tracy wished she hadn’t done this the moment she entered the room. However, it was when Sarah had excused herself and left that the first twinge of fear had hit her. Suddenly, she had lost all contact with her sister. And the general background noise of the thousands of minds in the area had suddenly vanished. She could mentally “see” everyone in The Complex, but something was preventing her from hearing any of them. The only people she could make contact with were Gabriel and “Mr. Horton” in the corner of the room. She had no idea who he was. She extended her mind and listened to them both.

What she received from Don was totally incomprehensible. Hundreds of stock symbols, their known history, past performance, investment opportunities... he seemed to know every one of them like he owned them. His mind was calculating which to buy and which to sell. He estimated he could clear ten million dollars by the end of the month... and that was only twelve days away.

Gabriel was an entirely different story. His mind was working on overdrive. Confusion, rage, conflict, fear, pain... he was switching between them so fast! She marveled at just how big he truly was. Knowing that Gabriel stood 8’2” and seeing it were two entirely different things. His hands were constantly twitching, as if constantly gripping at something.

Tracy needed time. Time to mentally contact Gabriel. However, to do that she would have to drop her invisibility, and she had no idea who this Horton man was. Wait a minute... Force said that only Valkyrie and The Warlord were allowed into the med-lab. Could this be The Warlord? She looked at the man reading the paper. He had a thin build, and was probably around 5’10” tall. He had short raven-black hair and was clean-shaven. His light green eyes scanned the various columns quickly, like he was looking for something he had already read. He wore a suit and tie; something she thought was odd in this situation.

‘Maybe he’s a doctor.’ she thought to herself. If that was the case, then she should have him nearby when she contacted Gabriel. She wound up her courage, and focused her thoughts on Mr. Horton.

<You will ignore the young woman in the room.> she commanded. This was her usual tactic. Tracy didn’t like to affect people’s perceptions or actions any more than she had to, and her “ignoring” command was simple an extension of her invisibility. Mr. Horton temporarily lost his focus on the newspaper, and then resumed his reading.

Tracy dropped her invisibility.

“Warning.” Sarah’s voice echoed through the security room, “Unidentified personnel in med-lab one.”

The video link in med-lab one displayed directly in front of Franklin.

‘Sarah: Cancel and erase last warning. Keep display of med-lab one visible.’

‘Yes Sir.’ Sarah replied through Franklin’s cybernetic connection.

Franklin watched Don on the monitor as the young girl moved towards Gabriel. He seemed to be oblivious to her presence. This surprised Franklin; he had calculated that she would either put him in a trance or compel him to leave the room.

“Is something wrong?” Power asked Fire, “You look upset.”

Fire had been trying to make contact with her sister with no success. Both she and Ice had worked out a system of subtle movements and hand signals to alert each other of any problems. She had alerted her partner to the loss of contact, and he too seemed concerned.

“I was just thinking about Gabriel.” Fire answered, “Is it possible we could go see him?”

“I’d advise against it,” said Xerox, “He has occasional seizures, which are strong enough to break bones if you’re too close when it happens.”

“I wasn’t thinking of going alone.” said Fire, “I’m sure The Warlord or Valkyrie would be enough protection.”

“And I’m sure that could be arranged,” said Illusion as she entered the room.

Illusion was the enigma of the Guardians. Standing only 5’1”, she was by far the smallest member of the team. However, her knowledge of battle tactics, excellent leadership capabilities, and connections within the government had quickly vaulted her from the newest member to team leader in less than two years. Out of costume she was a petite woman with medium length blond hair that only held one style: straight down. Her light blue eyes contained enough seriousness for the entire group, as if she was always on guard. Her costume would have looked perfectly at home in a speed-skating competition: basically a white body stocking with a blue belt around the middle, and dark sunglasses.

If it wasn’t for the hair color, Terrain could have passed for Ice’s twin brother. Both were slightly over 6’ tall, with brown eyes and solid builds. But where Ice had bleached blond hair, Terrain’s was a dark brown. His costume was an earth-tone body armor, complete with (jokingly referred to as “bat”) utility belt.

Illusion exchanged hugs with Fire and Ice, but the somber look never left her face. “I guess the twins told you about Gabriel. I’ll warn you ahead of time that he’s in a coma, and we’ve had to restrain him pretty hard to keep from hurting himself when he has the seizures.”

“What happened?” asked Fire, wanting to hear it from Illusion herself.

Illusion sighed, “We had flown over to France to stop a group of meta’s who were helping the Russian Mafia break into the East European market. What we didn’t know was that they were expecting us. One of them was a telepath and tried to kill me with some kind of mental force attack.” She hesitated, and then said dryly, “Gabriel flew directly at him, knocking him out, but took the full force of the attack at point-blank range.”

“Has there been any changes since the fight?” asked Ice.

“Not really,” replied Xerox, “He doesn’t respond to any stimulus, and his brainwave activity would suggest that he is dreaming heavily, almost non-stop. We’ve had to isolate him under heavy sedation.”

Xerox turned and activated the small terminal in the kitchen. “Sarah.”

“Yes sir?” Sarah’s voice replied through the speakers.

“Who’s currently in the med-lab?”

Somewhere within the sub-levels of The Complex, Franklin sat bolt upright in his seat, ‘Oh Crap!’

“Currently there is The Warlord and-” Sarah started to say, and was abruptly cut off.

“Sarah?” asked Xerox into the terminal.

There was a slight pause; “Yes Sir?” came her standard reply.

“Repeat your last answer,” said Xerox.

“Currently there is The Warlord and Gabriel,” Sarah replied.

“Locate Valkyrie,” Xerox said, sending Illusion a puzzled glance over Sarah’s malfunction.

“Valkyrie is asleep in her quarters.”

“Sarah,” said Illusion, not waiting for a reply, “Patch me through to the Warlord.”

Again, there was another slight delay, “I’m sorry Illusion, but there seems to be a malfunction in the intercom system. I cannot make contact with him.”

Xerox punched in a series of digits on the numeric keypad. His code sequence directly commanded the viewscreen to display the remote camera from the med lab. There was a brief flicker of a picture, then static.

“I’m sorry Xerox,” said Sarah in a tone that didn’t sound totally sincere, “There is a system-wide malfunction in the communications system. I am having the maintenance droids dispatched-”

“Sarah,” said Illusion, cutting her off again, “Where is I.Q.?”

This time, there was a full two seconds of silence. “I’m sorry, but with the presence of current company, that information is restricted.”

“Warlord,” shouted Illusion into her PCD. Fire and Ice suddenly realized that the watches that all the Guardians wore were more than just timepieces. They also watched as Xerox and Terrain adjusted the settings of their watches as well.

After moving his around for a few seconds, Xerox pointed towards the floor. “I’ve got a bearing,” he said, “But I can’t get a good range. Too much interference from the shielding.”

Illusion turned towards the twins, “You two go get Valkyrie. The rest of you come with me. I don’t like the smell of this, and we’re going to need the entire team.”

“Are we on alert?” asked Force.

“We would be if the communications systems worked,” said Illusion holding up her watch, “I just tried to sound the general alarm, but it failed. Fire, Ice, you two are with me.” She headed into the pantry.

Power and Force flew out the main entrance of the kitchen and headed towards Valkyrie’s quarters. Xerox tried contacting Terrain by watch radio, and got neither a reply nor a bearing.

As Illusion, Fire, and Ice rounded the doorway of the pantry, Sarah’s android body was standing there.

“Miss Illusion, you’ll be happy to know that the communications systems have been restored.” She said.

Illusion pressed a few of the buttons on her watch, with no apparent result. “Sarah, sound general alert. Inform everyone to be on full guard against an unknown threat.”

“Yes ma’am,” replied Sarah as the alarm sounded throughout The Complex.

“Locate Terrain,” Illusion commanded.

There was a slight pause. “Terrain is standing directly behind you.”

This time, it was Illusion who hesitated. “Okay,” she said, looking like she was lost in thought, “Then I want you to fix lunch for all personal in The Complex, including our guests. Please prepare a shrimp-salad.”

Sarah seemed to hesitate, “Yes ma’am,” she finally replied, and turned to leave.

Illusion pressed the elevator call button, but nothing happened. “Damn!” she said aloud, “Someone’s controlling the entire complex!”

“How do you know?” asked Fire, now looking nervously around.

“Illusion’s allergic to shrimp,” said Terrain, suddenly understanding why his wife had ordered lunch, “Sarah’s database knows that. She should have raised a warning.”

“How long before you two can get us into the elevator system?” asked Illusion.

“About a minute,” said Terrain as Xerox made physical contact with him. Xerox’s build slightly shifted; gaining a few pounds and becoming two inches taller. In a few moments, he was an exact duplicate of Terrain.

The two of them began digging through the concrete floor.

Tracy noticed that her hands were sweating, <Gabriel?> she thought to him. Gabriel’s entire body tensed in response.

<Who’s there?> Gabriel almost shouted back. Tracy was nearly overwhelmed with the force of his emotion: fear.

<Gabriel, my name is Tracy, and I’m here with Fire and Ice to help you.>

<Where are you? I can’t see- Yeaa!> Gabriel’s body flenched so hard the iron beam holding his arms to the table flexed.

<What’s happening?> asked Tracy, <What do you see?>

<They won’t stop!> he yelled, his voice filled with panic, <I’ve killed thousands of them, and they still keep coming!>

Tracy suddenly noticed one of the monitors was now drawing a yellow wavy line instead of a green one. It was his heartbeat.

<Hold on Gabriel,> said Tracy, nearly crying with fear, <I’m coming to help you.>

<No!> yelled Gabriel, his thoughts wild with panic, <I can hear more of them coming this way, don’t come in->

Tracy placed her hands on Gabriel’s forehead.

“-here.” said Gabriel, finishing his sentence.

He looked he had been through hell itself. His clothes were deep crimson and soaked in blood. He had long rows of small cuts on his chest and arms.

“What...happened?” asked Tracy, looking at him.

Gabriel looked down at the small girl who had appeared before him. He could feel the last of his strength leaving his legs, and he fell to his knees in front of her. “They-” he said, then took another gulp of air.

He pointed behind her.

She had a hard time turning around, the sand she was in was very soft, and her feet sank half way to her knees. The area they were standing in was a small square corridor about five feet wide by seventy feet long. At both ends the corridor took a ninety-degree turn to the right. The walls and ceiling was cinderblock that was painted dark gray, and were about six feet high. There were no features, no windows, no doors, no lights, nothing but dark gray wall. There were no sources of light, but the hallway was well lit.

Tracy jumped as a huge slithering mass erupted from the sand in front of her. They looked like the giant sand worms from the movie Dune , but they were only about fifteen feet in length. As the first one reared up in front of her, another two dozen or so began emerging from the sand behind it. Panicking, Tracy thought of the most powerful weapon she had ever used: her granddaddy’s 12-gauge shotgun. It appeared in her hands and she fired it directly into the worm’s gut.

Tracy had taught herself that the weapons you can imagine are only as powerful as how you imagine them to be. Since her only memory of her granddaddy’s shotgun was from when she was seven, she vividly remembered the huge explosion and the recoil knocking her to the ground. At the time, she thought it was the most powerful thing on earth, and her memory of that carried over as the gun unleashed an explosion that resembled the main deck guns of the Battleship Missouri. Not only did the worms disintegrate into pulp, several of the walls behind them exploded into flying rubble. The recoil of the gun, along with the shockwave of the blast, knocked the two of them on their backs.

There was a brief moment of silence as brick, mortar, sand, and chunks of flesh fell back to earth. Tracy sat up and looked at her shoulder. She knew, without looking, that a large bruise had formed under her shirt. Gabriel picked up the gun from beside her and opened the breech. A single red shotgun shell popped out of the left barrel and landed in the sand.

“How did you do that?” asked Gabriel in amazement as he closed the breech. Tracy noticed that the gun, which felt so big in her hands, looked more like a toy in his grip. Instantly, the metallic sheen on the gun was replaced by the dull reflection of plastic. The visual suddenly became reality; it was now a toy gun.

“Gabriel,” started Tracy as she rubbed her shoulder, “Let me explain. Do you remember having a fight with a telepath last week?”

“Last week?” asked Gabriel, “That was almost two months ago.”

“No Gabriel,” explained Tracy, “It wasn’t. He’s put you in a coma and forced you into a continuous nightmare. Everything here isn’t real. This is all in your head.”

Gabriel shook his head no, “If this is a dream, then why can’t I change it? I’ve had lucid dreams before, and the moment I know, I can change anything I want to.”

“I know,” answered Tracy, “I’ve had them too. But something’s different. I can feel another...”

“Another what?” asked Gabriel, after Tracy trailed off. Her stare was almost blank.

“Tracy Lynn!” yelled a voice from off in the distance, “Tracy Lynn, where the hell are you!?”

“Oh no,” Tracy barely whispered as tears welled up in her eyes, “no...please...”

“What is it?” asked Gabriel, his grip tightening on the shotgun. There was a crunch, and the gun fell into the sand in shards.

“Tracy!” shouted a man as he climbed over the rubble in front of them. Upon seeing her, the mans face contorted in range, “Tracy!! How many times have I told you never to touch your grandfathers guns!” The man reached for the front of his pants and pulled off his belt.

“Daddy, no!” said Tracy as she instinctively curled into the fetal position, “Please daddy, don't-”

“Hey!” yelled Gabriel as he stepped in front of Tracy, “Put that belt down now!”

Gabriel had intervened in countless domestic disputes in his career. Usually, the appearance of an eight foot tall archangel on someone’s front lawn was enough to quell even the most heated debates. In this case, it seemed to have the opposite effect. The man’s face, already contorted with rage, seemed to contort even further, taking on almost demonic features. He raised the belt and brought it across Gabriel’s left arm. Gabriel assumed that the belt would simply bounce off his skin... he was wrong.

The lash felt like molten lava was being poured on his arm. A huge rectangular welt instantly appeared on his forearm. Gabriel screamed in agony, and out of blind pain, struck the man in the face with his full strength. Sixteen tons of force slammed into the man’s skull, crushing it inward and sending his lifeless body completely across the corridor and into the wall.

Gabriel knelt beside Tracy, who was still whimpering, “It’s okay Tracy,” he managed to blurt between clenched teeth. A wisp of smoke caught his eye, and he looked down to see that the lash on his arm was smoldering, “Damn!” he yelped, “Damn that hurts!”

The now familiar sound of dune worms caught Gabriel’s attention. Instinctively looking back at the shotgun, he was surprised to find it intact. He stepped to pick it up only to hear Tracy scream in primal terror. Spinning around, he saw one of the aliens from the movie Alien standing over her. It’s outer jaws open and the inner fangs gleaming. Gabriel jumped forward and neatly rammed the barrel up the alien’s throat.

“I saw this movie too,” he growled as he picked the alien up off the ground, held it at arms length, and pulled the trigger.

This time there was no deck-gun explosion; simply the force of two 12-gauge rounds blasting a large hole in the back of an alien creature’s skull. The alien fell off the end of the barrels and landed in a heap on the ground. The smell of acid filled the air, and the end of the gun began to melt.

“Come on,” Gabriel said as he scooped up Tracy in his right arm, “They seem to get confused if you move around.”

“This isn’t real!” Tracy sobbed, as much to herself as to him, “This is only a nightmare.”

“Then why are you crying?” asked Gabriel, still dizzy from the pain in his arm.

“Because it’s my nightmare,” she cried, “Lost in some endless room...my daddy...the alien... and I can’t wake up!”

‘Her nightmares, my nightmares... how could they be in the same dream?’ thought Gabriel.

“Because we’re telepathically linked.” Tracy said aloud.

“How did you...?” asked Gabriel.

“This is a dream world, whenever you think something, it’s the same as saying it aloud.”

Gabriel promptly dumped her on the ground. The body of the alien, her father, the dune worms... they all vanished.

Tracy could feel something... something big welling up all around her. It was like an electric wind was coming in every direction. Gabriel had backed away from her several feet and was looking at her with nothing short of insane panic. She had felt this only once before; when she had entered the mind of a mentally deranged man who was robbing a convenience store. This was a primal fear; something so entrenched in Gabriel’s psyche what it defined part, if not most, of his personality.

“You! You’re in my head!” said Gabriel, his face contorting with the same rage she had seen on her father.

“Damn it!” yelled Franklin over the dozen medical alarms sounding throughout the security room, “Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!!”

Sarah, having heard Franklin swear many times before, remained silent.

‘Sarah,’ Franklin thought, ‘Unseal the elevator. And restore your remote to fully automatic control. And cancel Illusion’s lunch command.’

‘Yes Sir.’ Sarah replied, in a tone that hinted of relief.

Xerox and Terrain had only dug about a foot deep into the diamond-hard substructure of the floor when the elevator doors opened.

“Get in,” said Franklin’s voice over the intercom, “I don’t have much time to explain.”

Everyone hesitated.

“Fire, your sister is down here,” he added.

Fire gasped. She and Ice exchanged glances, and bolted into the elevator along with the rest of the Guardians.

“Your sister?” exclaimed Illusion giving Fire a not-too-friendly look, “What in blazes is your sister doing in The Complex?”

She exchanged looks at Ice again. “You’d better tell them,” he said.

Fire turned to Illusion and the rest of the Guardians, “We have a third member of our team. She usually stays in the jump jet when we go on missions, but when I saw what the androids were going to do to the plane, I let her come in with us.”

The elevator door opened. This was the bottom floor; the same floor they had come in on.

“This isn’t good,” said Xerox, “If she’s on this floor, the ADS would have been tripped by now.”

‘Tracy!’ thought Fire, ‘Tracy can you hear me?’

Silence.

“I don’t think she’s down here,” said Fire, “I can’t contact her.”

“I.Q.,” said Illusion into the elevator's communications terminal, “Where is she?”

“I can’t get an exact reading,” Franklin replied, “The security logs indicate that she was in the elevator at one time.”

“Let me think,” said Illusion, pausing in thought, “Sarah, when was the last time the security log indicated an unidentified person in the elevator?”

There was a moment’s hesitation, “Seven minutes, forty-one seconds.”

Illusion hesitated for a moment...apparently lost in thought, “I’m open to suggestions, anyone.”

“I suggest splitting up into two groups,” suggested Franklin, “One with Fire as a member and another with Ice. That way, if either team finds her, she will be receptive to one of them.”

“Is your sister causing all these problems with our intercom and security system?” asked Terrain.

“I don’t see how,” replied Fire, “She’s never been able to do anything like this before.”

“Just exactly what can she do?” asked Xerox.

Fire hesitated. Suddenly, instead of being with the Guardians, she felt surrounded by them. All eyes were on her, and she didn’t feel any comradery at the moment. It was Ice who came to her rescue.

“She has some telepathic capabilities,” he said matter-of-factly, “She has a psychic rapport with Fire.”

Then, to punctuate the situation, Fire added, “She’s only fourteen years old.”

Illusion punched the button to the security floor. “We need to search every inch of the subfloors,” she announced, “We’ll divide up into teams.”

As the door to the elevator opened, she quietly said, “Xerox, Terrain, Eagle’s Nest.”

Xerox and Terrain bolted from the elevator and sprinted up the hallway.

Illusion pushed the button to the top floor (pantry). “We need to go back and get Valkyrie, Power, and Force.” However, a second after she got the words out of her mouth, she pressed the emergency stop on the elevator and opened the emergency door release panel.

“Illusion,” came I.Q.’s voice over the intercom, “What’s going on?”

“Frankin,” she said, using his civilian name, “You’re hereby relieved of duty. Xerox and Terrain are coming to replace you with orders to use any means necessary to get into the security room.”

“That won’t be necessary,” he said, “I’m not in the security room.”

“Sarah,” she said, getting irritated by Franklins apparent cockiness, “Locate I.Q.”

There was no response. She turned to her communications watch.

“Illusion to any Guardians member; respond please.”

Nothing.

“I’m sorry it had to happen this way,” said Franklin over the intercom with his usual calmness, “But I’m certain the ends justify the means.”

“What ends?” yelled Illusion.

“What have you done to my sister?” yelled Fire.

“I have done absolutely nothing to your sister,” replied Franklin.

“Where is she?” Ice demanded.

“In the med-lab.” Illusion said.

Both Fire and Ice turned to her, “How do you know that?” asked Fire.

“When we were on the lowest level, I directly accessed Sarah via the terminal and asked her to display the location of all guests. She said that Fire and Ice were in level 5, and a ‘Guest Three’ was in the med-lab. Since Sarah had given her a designation, I knew that she had been reported to the security room, hence Franklin.”

Illusion finished unscrewing the retaining bolts from the emergency door release and began cranking the handle. After two turns, the door began to open; and a white smoke poured into the elevator.

“Crap!” yelped Illusion and she frantically cranked the door closed. “He gassed the halls!”

“Tracy!” exclaimed Fire.

“She’ll be okay,” said Illusion, “It’s a sleep gas. Not a choking hazard. And if she’s in the med-labs, they’re hermetically sealed.”

“Can’t we just hold our breaths?” asked Ice.

“Won’t work,” she replied, “It’s absorbed through the skin. We wouldn’t make it thirty feet.”

“Terrain to Illusion,” came Terrain’s voice over her watch communicator.

“What’s the situation?” she asked.

“The nest was empty. No trace of the bird.”

“We’re still in the elevator on the med floor, but it’s been gassed. We need a cleanup.”

“Stand by,” said Terrain.

“Kill her!” shouted a voice from an unknown source, “She’s the one who’s doing this to you!”

“It’s not-” Tracy tried to object.

Gabriel’s attack was so fast she literally didn’t see him move. The next thing she knew she was pinned against a wall with his hand completely around her throat; the other cocked back in a fist the size of a cinderblock.

<Betsy!> Tracy screamed in her mind, <Help me! I’m in the medical rooms with Gabriel!>

Gabriel hesitated. The rage in his eyes was still there, but something... some doubt... was holding him back.

“KILL HER!” the unknown voice ranted, shaking the walls. The words echoed a dozen times before they completely faded. Then silence.

<Betsy!!>

“Just hold the brat still,” said a familiar voice, “I’ll kill her.”

Gabriel turned to see Tracy’s father standing next to him, closing the breech on the double-barreled shotgun and raising it to take aim.

Snatching the shotgun from his hands, Gabriel spun around and kicked the man in the groin: sending him into the low ceiling. The man landed in the sand with a sickening thud.

“Come on,” said Gabriel, scooping up Tracy with one arm, and holding the shotgun with the other, “I want some answers.” The tone of his voice was enough to tell Tracy that he still considered killing her an option.

“I can’t keep the nightmares away much longer,” said the unknown voice, sounding strained, “If you don’t kill her now, you’ll be stuck in here forever. You’ve got to believe me!”

Tracy had noticed that for the last several minutes, nothing had happened. Gabriel was walking on hard earth, not the sand she had seen when she had first entered Gabriel’s mind. Gabriel slowed his pace a bit, then stopped and put her down.

Tracy looked up at the angel. What she saw barely resembled the hero she had always wanted to meet. His white hair was nearly black with caked blood and mud. His clothes were in tatters; some hanging down in long ribbons, while his shirt was stuck to his chest and arms with sweat and blood. She could see the welt on his arm where her father’s belt had struck him. And he constantly had to hunch over to make it through the corridors. If she hadn’t seen him lying on the table in the medical lab, she might not have recognized him at all.

Gabriel held up the shotgun and pointed it just off to the right of where Tracy was sitting. With no time to react, she just covered her ears and yelled, “Nooo!!”

FABOOM!... FABOOM!

The echo’s of the two rounds reverberated up and down the endless hallways, but before the echo’s had completely faded, he pointed the gun to the left of her.

FABOOM!... FABOOM!

Nobody moved. Tracy sat on the ground and trembled while Gabriel stood there and looked down at her.

“You idiot!” yelled the voice, now crazed with anger, “Why the hell didn’t you kill her?!?”

“Because she’s not the one doing this,” replied Gabriel, his voice tainted with anger, “You are.”

Tracy looked at him in bewilderment, “How do you know?”

“The dune worms, the demons, the zombies... they’re all things I was terrified of when I was a kid. You’re the only thing out of place.”

“But I could feel your fear when you found out I was a telepath.”

“Telepaths?” said the unknown voice, “Well now, this changes everything.”

Suddenly, the walls shimmered, becoming smooth as glass. Invisible projectors began broadcasting images of every misdeed, every embarrassing moment, every event in Gabriel’s past he had ever regretted. Every innermost secret of his past was playing out with vivid color and sound. Even things that had never happened, just thoughts that he had buried deep in the back of his mind came flooding to the surface of the walls surrounding them.

All of it was droned out by Gabriel’s hysterical screaming.

Tracy frantically looked around for something... anything she could use as a weapon. She suddenly realized that one of the images was significantly larger than the rest. It was a man, standing still with his fingers to his temples, leering at Gabriel and laughing. She lurched forward, grabbed the shotgun, and fired both barrels at the image. This time, the force of the blast knocked her into the opposite wall.

“All levels cleared,” said Terrain over the general intercom, “I’ve got the PPVS set pretty high, so expect most doors to be pretty tight. I’m still not getting a visual from the lab, but Gabriel’s readings are practically off the scale.”

“Copy that. We’re on our way.” said Illusion, putting the elevator on automatic control and selecting the med-lab floor. The elevator descended the last several inches and the door slid open. Lying on the floor, about twenty feet from the elevator shaft, was a man in a business suit.

Illusion sprinted over to them man’s side and flipped him over. Checking for a pulse, she was relived to find he was both alive and breathing. “He’ll be okay,” she said to the other two, “Ice, can you carry him to the med-lab? I’ll be able to revive him there.”

“Gabriel just flat-lined!” yelled Terrain into the intercom, “No! Wait! I’m not getting any readings at all. He’s been taken off the scanners.”

As they hurried towards the labs, Illusion punched two buttons on her com-watch. “Power, Force, and Xerox. I want an APB on Franklin. Terrain, do a full system check on Sarah, and make sure he didn’t leave us any parting gifts. Valkyrie, I need you in the med-lab stat. Don was gassed, and we don’t know the situation in the med-lab.” As an afterthought, she added, “And Terrain, find that exo-armor of Franklins. I don’t want him to be able to-”

As if on queue, Franklin’s exo-armor, or what was left of it, exploded through the med-lab doors.

“Tracy!” yelled Fire, and she instinctively ‘lit up’.

“Warning,” announced Sarah calmly, “Structural breech in the medical facility.”

“Turn off your fire!” shouted Illusion, as the rush of air from the med-lab filled the hall.

For a split-second, Fire looked blankly back at Illusion, not realizing that she had blanketed herself in flames. As the wall of oxygen-rich air hit them, Fire flared like a welders torch. Illusion instinctively covered her face, hoping that what little protection her suit had would shield her.

“I’ve got it covered,” said Fire, pulling the flames tightly around her.

To everyone’s amazement, Franklin’s exo-armor began to move.

“Gavriell,” it said through it’s damaged voice transmitter. The suit tried to get to its feet, but one of the legs was severely damaged, and wouldn’t support any weight, “Izz okay, we’re here to hel... no!”

An eight-foot long I-beam flew out of the med-lab, impaling the exo-suit through the chest and pinning it to the far wall. A shower of sparks scorched the wall, then the suit fell limp.

“Ice! Get Don to the elevator, now!” shouted Illusion as she charged past him and into the med-lab.

“SARAH!!” roared Gabriel, his voice a mixture of fear and rage.

“Yes S-” Sarah replied before she was cut off.

“Initiate maximum fire suppression on level 3. Oxygen inhibitors and air evacuation. Do it now! No arguments!”

“Sarah, countermand last order,” shouted Illusion as she rushed into the med-lab. She only had a split second to analyze the situation. Gabriel was standing at the far end of the room. The expression on his face was that of a cornered animal. Blood was running from his nose and ears. On the floor, at the end of the table he had been lying on, was a small girl lying nearly unconscious.

“Get out!” yelled Gabriel, grabbing the chair that Don had once been sitting in. The force he threw it with was so great, the chair splintered before leaving his hand. Only the backrest made it across the room, and passed harmlessly through Illusion.

Illusion had ‘offset’ the image of herself by only two feet, and heard the whistle of the backrest pass by her and shatter against the far wall. She extended her invisibility around the young girl and started pulling her out of the med-lab.

“I know you’re in here somewhere, bitch!” yelled Gabriel. Illusion wasn’t sure if that remark was meant for her or the girl. Unfortunately, it didn’t matter. Gabriel grabbed one of the two large green oxygen tanks and hurled it out of the med-lab at full strength.

Illusion only had time to hold her breath and duck. She knew it would be the explosion, and not the cold that killed her, but some instinct told her to hold her breath. However, there was no explosion; just a loud ‘THUNK’, then the sound of the tank landing hard on the floor. She looked up to see Valkyrie, her hand still holding one end of the tank, standing in the hallway.

“Knock it off, Gabriel.” Valkyrie said in her usual low tone. Illusion had never met Autumn Austin before she had become the Valkyrie. Autumn’s sisters; Power and Force, said that she was always moody and pessimistic, but they too didn’t know what had happened to her when she had been imbued with powers. She was one only member of the Guardians who had started her career with NorthGuard, the Canadian group founded by former Guardian member Vengeance. Evidently, Valkyrie and Vengeance became an item, but something went bad and she joined the Guardians with her sisters.

In most circumstances, Gabriel would have thought better of going hand-to-hand with Valkyrie. While he stood 8’2” and could bench press sixteen tons, Valkyrie stood 6’1” and could bench press seventy-eight tons.

“You two get out of here,” Valkyrie said to Fire and Illusion, “I’ll hold him off.”

Gabriel, not knowing that it was Fire Valkyrie was speaking too, assumed it was the telepath. The rage came back in full force. He grabbed anything he could find and threw it at her with such force, most of them shattered before leaving his hands. Only the reinforced table he had been lying on made it into the hallway, and Valkyrie simply backhanded that away.

Suddenly, Gabriel spied a large war-hammer where the wooden chair he had thrown at Illusion had been.

'The Warlord’s hammer!' thought Valkyrie, 'How did he leave it-' She stopped thinking and rushed Gabriel.

Gabriel bent down and grabbed the hammer as Valkyrie leapt towards him. She was expecting him to take a swing at her, and held out her left arm to catch the hammer while she cocked back her right fist to go for a knockout. What she didn’t expect was Gabriel to simply side step out of reach, and then bolt for the entrance of the med-lab.

'Damn!' Valkyrie though to herself as she slammed into the wall of medical monitoring equipment. As she spun around, Gabriel was already in the hallway and out of view.

“Gabriel!” she yelled as she sprinted behind him. She spun around the corner just in time to get hit in the face with a war-hammer. The force of the blow hurtled her nearly forty feet up the hallway.

<Betsy,> thought Tracy. Someone was dragging her by her arms down a hallway, but she couldn’t see who. In fact, she couldn’t even see her own arms. The shock of being invisible startled her with a jolt, and she thrashed her arms from whoever was pulling her.

“Tracy!” said Fire, looking down at the place where she though her sister was.

Illusion dropped her illusions, and Fire was surprised to find both her and Tracy were next to the opposite wall she thought they were at.

“What happened?” said Fire, hovering as close to her sister as she could without roasting her.

The sound of scraping metal cut off any reply Tracy was about to offer. A large green dented oxygen bottle slid up the hallway; coming to a stop about ten feet from the three women.

Ice, who had been holding the elevator door, bolted towards them as he saw Gabriel coming up the hallway, a large war-hammer in his clenched fist.

'Knock him out!' thought Fire to her sister.

<I... can’t...too...dizzy.>

'Bliss attack!' though Fire, the feeling of urgency in every word.

“I can’t focus!” cried Tracy aloud.

Illusion was running out of options. Even if she made everyone invisible Gabriel was bound to hit at least one of them. She pulled the police-issue .38 out of the hidden compartment in the small of her back and trained it on Gabriel.

“Don’t make me do this Gabe,” she said, more to herself than to the archangel heading towards her, “Please don’t make me do this.”

Gabriel kept coming up the hallway like Illusion was invisible. His focus was entirely on the girl.

Ice charged up the hallway straight at Gabriel.

“Get out of the way!” yelled Illusion.

“He’ll kill you!” screamed Fire.

The temperature of the hallway instantly dropped to sub-artic levels. The sting of the cold shocked everyone, knocking Illusion, Fire, and Gabriel to their knees. Illusions gloved hands stuck to the floor where frost had instantly formed. Fire intensified her flames, bringing some relief to the sting, but her hands and knees would need medical attention.

Ice stood just out of arms reach of Gabriel forming a thick layer of ice around Gabriel’s arms and legs. For a moment it looked like Gabriel was actually stunned. Then with one fluid motion he caught Ice on the side of his head with the leading edge of his left wing. Ice tumbled across the floor and didn’t move.

“Tracy! You’ve got to do something or we’re going to have to hurt him!” pleaded Fire.

Illusion brought up the .38 and aimed for Gabriel’s shoulder. She pulled the trigger.

Nothing.

The trigger wouldn’t budge. She tried pulling back the hammer but it was frozen in place. The gun was so cold it was now frozen to her glove.

<Gabriel,> thought Tracy.

Hearing Tracy’s voice inside his mind sent what little rational though Gabriel may have recovered completely out of the picture. He lurched against the ice like a wild animal, screaming and thrashing as huge chunks of ice flew in every direction.

Tracy took a deep breath and concentrated. A wave of force flew from the girl; like heat ripples off a hot road, and enveloped Gabriel.

<Gabriel,> came a voice that wasn’t from anyone in the hallway, <Welcome.>

He was standing on the shore of a lake, on a small beach that looked more like the sand trap of a golf course. There was a woman standing in the lake; and she was the most beautiful woman he could ever imagine. He stood there motionless as her flawless beauty literally stunned him. Her shy smile and deep brown eyes filled him with a warmth he had never felt before. He instantly knew he loved her, and she loved him. They would make each other happy for all eternity.

The sand at the edge of the lake erupted upwards as a dune worm broke the surface. It’s four triangle shaped lips curling back to reveal the circular rows of razor sharp teeth. The woman shrieked in terror and tried to back deeper into the lake.

“Get out of my head!” screamed Gabriel, both on the shore of the lake as well as the hallway, “Get out of my head!”

“Something’s wrong,” said Fire, “Why isn’t it working?”

Gabriel was screaming hysterically - like a man being burned alive.

“He’s panicking!” said Tracy uncertainly, “I’m trying-”

“Stop it!” shouted Illusion, grabbing the young girl by the arm and shaking her, “You’re hurting him!”

Where Gabriel was locked in the ice, there was a brilliant flash of light; accompanied by a noise that sounded vaguely like a match being lit. A nanosecond later Gabriel was gone.

“Crap!” exclaimed Illusion as her Irish temper flared to a new level, “Terrain!”

“Already looking,” replied her husband over the intercom. A moment later, he solemnly said, “Scans are clean. He’s gone.”

“Damn it!” she yelled, stomping her foot. The slickness of the ice-cold floor made her lose her footing, and she promptly fell on her back.

Nobody said a word.

“You okay?” asked Terrain over the intercom.

“No.” Illusion replied in a low monotone she used only for her worst tantrums, “No I’m not.”

Rolling to her knees and slowly getting up, Shela Leigh McGreggor-Delboso, known to the rest of the world as “Illusion”, walked carefully towards the elevator doors. “Sarah,” she said in a voice that suddenly sounded very tired.

“Yes ma’am?” Sarah replied.

“Get the maintenance bots down here to clean up this mess.”

“Yes ma’am.” Sarah replied.

“Terrain.”

“Right here.”

“I want you, Power, Force, and Xerox down here stat. I need some damage control.”

‘Damage control.’ was the Guardian’s code-phrase for detaining meta’s.

“On our way,” he said.

“Sarah, let me know the moment Gabriel is spotted. Maximum scanning.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Where is he?” said Fire from up the hallway, “What happened to him?”

Illusion didn’t answer. She simply stepped into the elevator and selected the security floor.

Don was still lying on the floor of the elevator, completely oblivious to the events of the day. As the door opened, Terrain was there to meet her. They stood there for a moment, neither one knowing what to say. Finally, Scott Delboso took his wife into his arms and held her, surprised at how cold she felt. Shela realized that she couldn’t stop shaking.

“He’ll be alright,” Scott said to his wife, trying to break the awkward silence, “He’s tough.”

“I-” Shela began, her throat clenching around the words. She took a deep breath, and forced them out. “I was so scared he was going to teleport. He looked like a wild animal! I thought he would send me to some god forsaken dimension and I’d never see you again.”

With the words finally out, she simply leaned against her husband and shivered.

Fire, Ice, and Tracy looked at each other in utter bewilderment. Ice was still ‘coming down’ off the euphoria of Tracy’s bliss-attack; having been close enough to the line of fire to feel its fringe effects. Valkyrie was lying on the floor a few yards past the chunk of solid ice where, less than a minute ago, Gabriel had been pinned. Ice moved to her side to see if she was injured. Considering he had witnessed this women take an artillery shell to the chest at point-blank range, he seriously doubted she was. Instead, he found her lying on her back with a soft smile on her face... and she was giggling.

The elevator door opened. Power, Force, and Xerox came out with expressions that Fire and Ice knew meant business.

Power and Force flew up the hallway simultaneously, landing between Fire and Ice with forcefields crackling.

“April?” said Ice to Power, calling her by her real name, “What’s going on?”

The look he received sent chills down his spine. He had always assumed that the twins were little more than Valkyrie’s younger sisters; only here because they were family and had superpowers. Now he decided that discretion was more prudent than relying on a past affair.

“That’s what were going to find out.” said Xerox, turning crystal clear. Both Fire and Ice knew that Xerox could mimic practically any substance, and right now they were sure he was mimicking diamond. He walked up to Tracy.

“If I so much as even think you’re mucking around in my head,” he said with a sternness that froze Tracy in her tracks, “You’re gunna be one dead little telepath.”

Of all the abilities Tracy had ever developed with her mental powers, being able to tell if someone was lying was by far the best-honed skill she had.

He wasn’t lying.

Xerox pointed to the elevator door. “All of you, move.”