Tasha looked up and Philip followed her gaze to find himself watching Beam on a large screen clamped to the wall.
"We've got accounts of disturbances downtown; the Lawson Bank's main building. A possible hostage situation so get up here." the screen went blank.
Tasha looked at Philip. "Typical, but you'll just have to work on instinct. If you suddenly feel you should get in the air then you get in the air. Understand?" Philip nodded. "Then go!" she gave him a small push back towards the elevator and then she turned and ran to the other end of the hall, towards a large control panel. Pixel grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards the elevator, running all the way.
When they got to the elevator, Philip noticed no scientists had joined them but they were all at the other end of the hall. "Pixel, why haven't the others joined us?"
"Huh? Oh, they'll go up to the Control Room, we're going up to the roof." she said as the lift shot upwards with alarming speed.
Morph was practically dancing. "First field mission!" he exclaimed and Shimmer gave him an icy glare.
"Shut up, Morph, this is serious! People could die!" she snapped.
Philip was starting to get concerned. "Why the roof?" he asked.
Pixel stared at him. "To get on the helicopter, of course."
Philip stared and then the elevator doors opened onto the roof. It was windy and high enough to see most of the business sector through to downtown which was on his left. Straight ahead were a few smaller skyscrapers, a few mansions which housed bankers and then the river with the ugly concrete flats of Hayfield on the other side. The sky above the city was mostly blue with a few lazy clouds trickling lazily through it. The sun was a pale disk just emerging from over the top of a building to his right. On the roof were Probe and Void with Beam in the front of what was behind them; a large, black helicopter with two rings on the top which both held two sets of spinning propellers. The noise it was creating was loud enough so that it felt like knives were being driven into your ears.
Probe was motioning for them to get in so they piled on while Probe joined Beam in the front.
"Strap yourselves in!" Void shouted and each of them gripped the race-car-style seatbelts. Inside the helicopter were two rows of seats, six seats with their back to the pilots and six who could see them through a small window.
When everyone was clipped their belts together, Void hit a button next to her seat at the end of the row with their backs to the pilots and the belts tightened across their chests.
"We should be there in about six minutes, given the air currents, Pixel?" Void asked.
Pixel's eyes clouded for a second. "Only moderate breezes mostly but with a fairly strong wind from the south so that should carry us most of the way." she reported.
Void knocked on the window and gave a thumbs up. A moment later the helicopter was rising into the air and off to the left.
All the way there, the cabin was filled with an air of anticipation with a small twinge of fear for what they would find.
Nobody spoke.
Too soon for Philip's liking, Probe's voice filled his head. "We're going to need a scout to go in while we we land to see what's going on. Do not engage, that's an order." he said.
"Are you mad?! He's a child! I'll go!" Void shouted.
"No, Void, they'll expect you. It has to be Falcon."
"But-"
"No but's, Void, Falcon is going." Beam said over the microphone.
Void grumbled but didn't say anything more about it. "Under your chair." she said and he reached under and pulled out a mask.
"No way." Morph breathed and reached under his own chair and pulled out a mask and everyone else did so too.
Morph and Focus's masks were simple and black, just covering the top of their eyes. They were still quite effective in disguising their faces, though.
Pixel's was black with the same green pattern as her suit. It was fuller than Morph's and Focus's so it covered her forehead and cheeks but when it reached her nose's bridge it split into an upside down V, leaving her nose and mouth open. Her eyes were covered by a translucent material that glowed faintly green and meant you couldn't tell where she was looking.
"Awesome." she mouthed.
Chameleon put on hers and its design also matched her suit. In shape, it looked like Morph's but with spikes of material underneath her eyes which stretched down her cheeks.
Shimmer's was white and the same style as Morph's but with two spikes of material coming out of each side.
Jess's was more like two yellow triangles put point together with a smaller triangle covering her nose.
Kyle's was the same kind of design but his nose wasn't covered and the triangles had one curved edge each on the outside and was a deep red.
Void put on hers and at a glance it looked like a mirror but when you looked at the images, it became just a shiny white. It was like Pixel's in the sense that it covered her forehead but, under her eyes, it was like Morph's.
Philip looked at hiss and found it the oddest shape out of all of them. It was like someone had got a rectangle, squished in the top and the bottom and rounded the sides outwards and it had triangular slits for the eyes. It was the same colour as his suit.
"Get it on and get going!" Void yelled, pulling open the door.
Philip strapped on his mask and, before he could change his mind, jumped.
At first, he was simply free falling but he clamped his hands to his sides, directed his head down and kept his feet together. The wind beat against his skin and the noise from the helicopter started to fade and, before he knew it, the people on the street weren't tiny dots any more.
Time to concentrate, he thought and focused on a happy memory and levelling himself out. To his surprise, the effect was almost immediate and he was now flying ten metres above the heads of people on the street.
Flying! He was flying!
He laughed despite himself and heard shouts as people saw him over their heads.
"What was that?" one shouted.
"Dragonfly?" another yelled hopefully.
"No, he wore blue and he hasn't been seen in years." someone snapped back.
Philip bared right and headed towards the grand building almost directly in front of him.
The ground floor through to the third floor were made of smooth, cream-ish sand stone which then gave way to an added ten floors of made of shining steel. The blend was odd but, for some reason, it worked. Above the overly-large, revolving door was a sign with 'Lawson Banks Ltd. - Sudbinam Branch' in large silver letters. A gun shot echoed from inside and the people who were gathered around, of which there were over a hundred, flinched back in shock.
Philip floated for a moment as more people started to crowd around the main door then propelled himself upwards and caught a ledge of an open window on the first floor. He climbed in and went in, crossed to the door and listened: there was nobody directly outside.
He opened the door and found the corridor completely trashed, Files, documents, pens and other desk debris littered the floor with obvious drag lines in it. Philip moved to his left, towards muffled shouts. After about six metres he reached the top of the marble staircase which curved down to stop just outside the main door to its left. The cashier cubicles were across the large floor. Above the centre of the room hung a giant, golden chandelier with an elaborate decorated circle in the marble beneath it. Directly across from the staircase were four large windows overlooking a road with the King's Gardens on the other side. Through the glass he could see people peering in with looks of shock and anger.
Philip counted four people despite the sixty plus staff and visitors. One had bright pink hair, a round face and wore a white leotard with a long cloak that was also white but with a black, swirling pattern and she also wore a thick, black belt but no shoes. Jinx.
Five of the hostages had been picked from the rest and lined up in front of the door; two men, two women and a small baby. Holding them at gun point was none other than Quake, wearing the same clothes as when Philip had first seen him.
Flee was also there wearing a black jumpsuit with a large, white collar that flicked up with matching boots. He was sitting lazily on a desk.
There was another person there who Philip didn't recognise. Her hair was black and fairly long with light, ghostly green eyes. She also wore a leotard but it was black with long black gloves and thick, knee high boots. There was a spiky, white P on her chest.
"Get back!" Quake yelled at the people outside. "Come any closer and I shoot." he roared, his gun pointed at the crying baby on the floor.
"No!" a woman screamed. "That's my child!" she sobbed.
"Shut up, I'm working." Jinx hissed, her attention on a man in front of her wearing a suit. "Just tell me the code to the vault and we can bypass the un-pleasantries." she continued.
"No." he spat.
"You should have just probed him from the start." Quake muttered.
"I wouldn't do that because, unlike you, I'm not a barbarian." Jinx shot back at him. "However, now he leaves me no choice." she said coolly and calmly then placed two fingers from each hand to her temples. A few tense moments dragged by and then the suited man clutched his head and screamed.
Philip reeled and was relieved to see the others jogging up.
Probe was wearing a mask but it was a black sash with eye holes and tied at the back in stead of what the others wore.
Beam was at the front of the group but he didn't wear a mask, but a black, gleaming helmet. It was a simple dome that stretched down the back of his head, leaving his ears open but with a slightly curled piece of metal in front of each. In the middle of the front of the helmet was a long, rectangular piece of metal about three centimetres wide stretching down to the bridge of his nose and also a slightly raised ridge along the edges.
Probe nodded to Philip and they waited, Beam signalling a countdown from five on his hand.
"Flee, I've got the code," Jinx said.
Four...
"It's two-zero-" she stopped suddenly.
Three...
"Wait a minute..." she breathed.
Two...
She looked at the stairs alarmingly fast. "There's another telepath here."
One...
I do have two other chapters to type up but I don't have time, I really need to get on with my homework. There is fighting in the next one and I'll type it up when I can. It had smashed the record held by One For You for longest story, too. One For You has 13 chapters and Crescent has 14 and 1/2 at the moment and it's barely got going. Some of the stuff might also make you a little shocked so if you've been startled by anything so far, you might want to sit on the floor for some chapters. I'm really having fun writing this now. I can't wait until you see the new woman's power!!!!
Lynxia x
