Mel’s head was pounding as she slowly came back to consciousness. Keeping her eyes shut she took in her surroundings. She could feel that she was lying prone on her back. Whatever she was on was cushioned, which was nice. Mel could remember taking a bullet to her side but currently felt no pain there and she didn’t seem to be hooked up to anything. She could faintly smell a hint of vanilla lingering in the air.
Mel cracked her eyes open a sliver and was relieved to see the mostly familiar interior of the Pathfinder. She was laying on some kind of medical slab that had materialized out of the inner wall. She could hear a shifting of clothes and out of the corner of her eye caught sight of a man seated in one of the ship’s bucket seats.
The man was trim, wearing a casual suit with a tie that had been loosened. He had golden hair in a perfect part, cut just right and styled fashionably. She could barely make out a tattoo on the back of his hand as he scratched his neck and stifled a yawn. Mel staunched the panic that began to rise in her stomach and silently felt for the knife at her belt. Whether this was a friend or an enemy, Mel was going to handle it the same way.
Leaping from the medical slab, Mel pressed her knife against the mystery man’s neck. Ignoring his look of shock, she pressed a knee to his chest and forced herself not to grimace at the sudden pain shooting from her side.
“You’re not Kevin or Grit so how the fuck did you get in here.” Mel growled.
“We ran into each other during the skirmish at Thorn’s, your friends went back to search the place and left me here!” The man kept his hands raised and calmly but firmly explained.
“First off, ‘friends’ seems like a little much.” Mel eased the knife back slightly but remained in position to strike. “Who the hell are you and why would they trust you?”
“My name is Derrick, I got you all out of a situation and when the ship allowed me in, your leader thought it best if I stayed with you.” He remained motionless, piercing blue eyes keeping direct contact with Mel’s as she scoffed.
“Leader? Well ok, fuck right off.” Mel eased back and tucked her knife back into her belt. “What’s your deal then, you some kind of criminal?”
Derrick slowly lowered his hands and his eyebrows raised in disdain. “I am a perfectly upstanding citizen who happens to know how to deal with a bullet wound while riding at high speed in a motor vehicle.” At this Mel cracked a smile and lifted her shirt to reveal that she’d ripped open the stitches in her side.
“Time for my follow up already it looks like then, doc.”
----------------------------------------
Derrick tossed the medical gloves down a trash compartment and rinsed his hands in the sink that had materialized in the Pathfinder when they’d arrived with the unconscious Mel the evening before. He sighed, wondering how he’d gotten caught up in this. So far, he much preferred Mel unconscious.
“Alright then, seems you’ve got some tricks up your sleeves, let’s see them.” Mel sat gingerly in one of the ship’s seats with a smug look on her face.
“I trained as a surgeon, yes. You’ve seen my tricks.”
“Tsk tsk, I’m a bit of a wanderer and in my travels I’ve seen some things. For example, that tattoo there.” Mel pointed at Derrick’s hand with a sly smile. “So why don’t you drop the act and show me your real face.”
“I… well…” Derrick stuttered and sighed. “This is my real face. The rest of your crew know, I guess you might as well too.”
“Oh goodie.” Mel clapped her hands together and laughed. “Now, you and I could get into some real trouble! Shall we catch up with the others?” She hopped to her feet and began checking around for supplies while Derrick looked on dejectedly.
Derrick was from Earth-103, an Earth that was very closely monitored by the IPF and considered a Stage 5 Multiversal Threat. Its citizens were kept in the dark about multiverse travel and Derrick believed he was one of very few who had left. A misunderstanding had led to his arrest but before he could be booked he escaped into the multiverse. He’d been laying low here for several years, working with Thorn occasionally to stay afloat. A human that could shift his appearance was pretty valuable to a guy like Thorn.
“Wait, you shouldn’t be up and moving. I just re-stitched your wound.” Derrick stood and shadowed Mel around the interior of the Pathfinder.
“You can stay if you want, but I’m getting back in the damn action.” Mel turned and flicked Derrick on the nose, causing his bright blue eyes to flicker grey for a second. She smiled mischievously. “I knew it. Must be hard keeping that appearance up all the time.”
“Please…” Derrick fought to maintain his composure as his protest was cut off by Mel stepping out of the ship. Alone again, he let out a soft sigh. “What an absolutely maddening woman.”
Derrick followed after Mel and watched the Pathfinder ripple with its stealth effect as he pressed the outer door shut. The ship was parked on the roof of an apartment building near the base of the Eiffel Tower. Derrick walked a half step behind Mel as they maneuvered fire escapes, windows, and stairwells before arriving in the park outside.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“What exactly is your plan at this point?” Derrick spoke quietly through his teeth as he surveyed the area. In his mind, he noted anything out of place, every possible anomaly, an unfortunate habit he’d picked up during his time in hiding. From an inside pocket he produced a pair of leather driving gloves and slipped them on.
“Loosen up, the others might need some help, so we’re going to go find them.” Mel spun in a circle, getting her bearings before walking briskly in the direction of Thorn’s home. After a beat, Derrick paced after her.
“They specifically said that we should stay with the ship, what if someone finds it?”
“Nobody who isn’t supposed to find it, will find it! I left it on top of a fucking mall and Cassia found it just fine, I think.”
“What?” Derrick scrunched his face up in confusion as he came level with Mel and matched her pace.
“I. Left. It. On. A. Mall. And. It. Was. Fine. Jesus, just my fucking luck that I get myself into a crime team with some kind of robot on a power trip, a doof who doesn’t know his head from his ass, some off grid conspiracy headcase, and a goody two shoes shapeshifter! Do you know how much money we could steal together?” Mel rounded on him even as Derrick raised his hands in an effort to control her volume.
“Fine, ok, we’ll check on them. Just please keep your voice down!” Derrick moved to take the lead and began walking a roundabout route to the penthouse. “Act natural, like you belong on this planet please. Follow me, we’ll approach from the south instead of sprinting right at it.”
“Booooring.” Mel over exaggerated a yawn but followed nonetheless. The walk took nearly an hour with Derrick constantly forcing the pair to stop to act natural and check for tails but eventually they arrived a block over from Thorn’s residence.
“Something’s off.” Derrick nodded slightly in the direction of a pair of French officers knocking on doors. “They’ll stop us, we need to go back to the ship.”
“Yeah fucking right. We duck them, get a look at the front of the place first. If it’s swarming, you take on the face of a superior officer and we’re in. Ea-fuckin-sy.” Mel tapped Derrick towards an alleyway.
“That plan is deeply flawed. First of all, I can manipulate my form, not my clothes. Second, you don’t think they’ll find it curious when there are two of the same person in front of the same house?” Derrick’s nostrils flared in frustration and he took two deep steadying breaths before continuing. “Mel, the streets aren’t blocked off, they clearly aren’t in some kind of standoff. We need to clear the scene and meet back up at the Pathfinder.”
“Yeah, fuck that.” Mel turned and took off in a crouched run through the alleyway.
“Unbelievable.” Derrick muttered before walking carefully after her. “Mel!” He whispered after her form but she paid no attention and began pulling herself up a drain pipe. Derrick watched her go higher and higher. He looked down at his suit and angrily began looking for another way up.
Derrick let out a sigh as he settled on Mel’s plan. He walked carefully out the other end of the alley and surveyed the scene. A handful of officers were walking in and out of the building. Really, just a uniform was all he needed. He watched a thin officer carry a box of evidence to the back of a larger response vehicle and after a beat approached him.
The officer looked up at Derrick but saw brown hair cut short and bright green eyes. Derrick had softened his face as well, his jaw was more rounded, his cheeks looser.
“Could I bother you for a minute? Just a couple of questions for the paper?” Derrick spoke in exquisite French, his accent honed over the last 22 months.
“No comment.” The officer grunted and turned to head back into Thorn’s home. Derrick was faster, grabbing him by a pressure point in his hand he prodded a small needle into the man’s neck and pulled him behind the vehicle. Derrick frowned in disgust, he hated physical violence almost as much as the thought of wearing another person’s clothing but he swiftly got into the uniform and adjusted his face to match the unconscious man. Doing his best to stuff the man under the car, Derrick shrugged. All his hard work undone by this hurricane of a woman. There were other Earths to hide on but he’d grown to like the meager existence he had carved out here.
Before he could mourn too much, an explosion shook the street and all hell broke loose as officers rushed into the dust cloud emerging from Thorn’s former front door. Derrick shook his head and ran in with them moving quickly to the study where he knew the secret office was contained. The door had already been discovered and it seemed Mel had blown up something else as a diversion. Officers streamed past the door and up to a bedroom on the second level.
Derrick stepped into the office and made to shut the door.
“Easy there cowboy.” Mel crooned from the desk in the center of the room. Derrick turned around very slowly, his face returning to his golden locks and blue eyes as he did. “Oh, you stuck around? Perfect, make yourself useful and open this computer up.”
“This is what I was here for yesterday, your group and your injury derailed my plans a bit. That explosion won’t keep them distracted long, watch the hall.” Derrick began to adjust his appearance to Thorn’s as Mel moved to the door.
“That’s what these are for.” Mel held up a belt loop of various grenades and a stun baton. She winked as she headed to the entry.
Derrick shook his head and placed his changed hand on the tabletop.
“Welcome Thorn-53.” The desk lit up like a laptop screen and Derrick rummaged until he found a portable drive to store files on. Grabbing anything interesting, he watched the progress bar tick by. While he waited, Derrick opened up a messaging application and began scanning through for anything interesting.
“You’re looking for the Singularity, right?” Derrick looked up at the exact moment Mel tossed a flash grenade through the door. Mel laughed and leapt around the doorway, leaving Derrick alone at the desk. He could see half of the room outside, strewn with debris and hear the sound of Mel bashing her way through the local police. An officer flew into sight suddenly, fear in his eyes before the stun baton caught him in the neck. Mel kicked him to the floor, convulsing and she returned to the door.
“Yes, Singularity. Chop chop, please.” Mel shook a second flash grenade and turned back to the hall.
“At least she’s saying please now.” Derrick murmured as the progress bar hit 85%. Another explosion echoed through the building and Derrick could hear the thud and hum of Mel’s stun baton. The door rattled as an officer pushed into the room, a gun trained on him.
“Don’t mo…!” He began to shout in French. Blood burst from the officer’s shoulder and Mel leapt onto his back, wrestling him to the ground. Mel kicked his gun towards Derrick and glanced over the desk as the bar hit 100%.
“Perfect, take the drive and move.” Mel began shoving the desk towards the outer wall of the building.
“What are you doing, we need to get out of here!” Derrick looked out the door at the bloodied officers in various states of consciousness.
“The doors are not an option, so I’m making a new one.” Mel produced a frag grenade and waved it in his face before gingerly pressing it into the gap between the wall and the desk.
“Wait, no that’s a very bad idea.” Derrick took a step forward as Mel pulled the pin and tackled him to the floor.