Chapter 28 - Letting Sleeping Dogs Lie - Take 2

'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 small 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 said, “Got him! He’s back in med-lab one.”

“Xerox!” Illusion yelled into her communicator, “I need a brick down here stat!”

“Already on my way,” he replied.

“Sarah, can you quarantine med-lab one?” she asked.

“I can only shut the privacy doors,” the computer replied, “The security doors are not responding.”

“Ice, get Tracy out of here. Fire, stay back and keep me covered. I’m going after Valkyrie.”

“Sarah,” came Gabriel’s weak voice from somewhere in the med-lab.

“Yes sir?” she automatically replied.

“Tell everyone I’m back in the med-lab, and inform Xerox I’m going to need another decontamination.”

“Yes sir,” she said.

“And Sarah?” he added.

“Yes sir?”

“Could you bring me a few aspirin? I’ve got a whopper of a headache.”

“Right away sir.”

Having overheard the conversation, Illusion turned herself invisible and crept up to the doorway of the med-lab. She found Gabriel sprawled across the floor on his back, covering his eyes with one arm and breathing heavily.

“Would you mind not walking so loud?” he said without looking in her direction.

“Orient me,” she said warily.

“Name: Gabriel. Place: Med-lab One. Date and time-” he felt for his watch and found it was missing, “Unknown.”

Illusion stepped into the room.

“Don’t come in here,” he warned, “I need to be quarantined until I can get another decon.”

‘Another decon?’ she asked herself. “Gabriel, why do you think you need a decon?”

“I’m covered in alien biological residue,” he said.

Xerox came bolting into the room in diamond form.

“Get him into med-lab two,” she said, “Give him a full scan. I want to know everything there is to know about his condition.”

“Got it. Come on amigo,” he said, picking up Gabriel, “its back to bed for you.”

“Sarah,” Gabriel said groggily, “Prep the decon chamber... “

Gabriel passed out. Illusion gave Xerox a questioning look, and he showed her the syringe he had palmed in his hand.

“What do you mean, nothing?” Gabriel asked Xerox.

It had been nearly twenty four hours since Gabriel had reawakened, and Sarah had completed her analysis on Gabriel’s high-resolution scans.

“I mean, Sarah can’t find a single substantial anomaly between these scans and the last high-resolution scan you had three months ago. Here, see for yourself.”

Xerox slid to one side and Gabriel leaned over the monitors. There were some slight variations, but they weren’t enough to raise any alarms. Reflexively, he looked down at his hands. The same scars from years of combat were etched across his knuckles. He even checked the white patch of skin on his leg and found that it too was still there.

“So from the time I teleported out of the ice until the time Terrain found me in the med-lab was...” he asked.

“About two seconds,” Xerox replied.

Gabriel looked at the readings on the monitors a few more seconds before hanging his head. “I swear Jon, it seemed so real. The colors, the smells, the people... everything.”

“Any scantily-clad babes?” Xerox teased.

“As a matter of fact, yes,” Gabriel said smiling with a far off look across his face.

“Oh?” Jon said, noting his friends reaction, “I might have to have that kid hit me with a shot.”

“I wouldn’t recommend it,” Gabriel replied, standing up and stretching, “It gives you the freakiest dreams.”