“You’re sure it’s nowhere?” Asked Argus

“Certain.” Orpheus whispered in reply, “Orpheus out.”

She stood up and pulled off her helmet, rubbing at her temple.

“We need to take a hostage.” I said, “get them to tell us.” She shook her head

“I can get in, I just need time.”

“We don’t have time, Argus.”

“It’s unreliable.” She pulled the tablet out and started tapping frantically.

“Katrine. I know you’re scared, but that’s why you have the armour. You can’t get hurt anymore.” I lowered the tablet down onto a shelf behind her. “You know that. This is your creation.”

“I’m not scared. But I’m not useful in combat either, I’d slow you down.” her tone never changed, as if she wasn’t talking about herself but someone under her command.

“You won’t. Just keep in front of me and let the armour take it, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

I picked the helmet off the ground and handed it to her. The reflection made me look gaunt, but harder too. “Stay on me.”

Sound travelled through the hallways from what could have been miles away, the inherent claustrophobia of being underground ensured that. We could hear the masses of soldiers on either side. I turned a dial on my bracer, switching the active battery from the teleportation circuit to something more familiar. Yet at the same time alien.

“Three, fast approaching,” I said into Argus’ ear, positioning her in the center of the corridor. “Just grab one, and then run. Lose them and rendezvous. Don’t engage anyone else.” She nodded, and I readied the bracer.

Three was, in fact, five; a realisation I only made after we had both committed to the maneuvre. I stayed behind Argus as bullets ricocheted off her, concentrated on the shooter nearest, and after bracing myself against the metal woman, sent him flying through the air at me. Katrine caught him by the scruff of his bulletproof vest and slammed him into the ground. Strength enhancers at the shoulders, hips, elbows and knees multiplied her movements in ways she hadn’t had time to grow accustomed to, and his head burst in his tactical helmet like overripe fruit. The rest set into cover around corners, one of them threw a grenade. I grappled it and dodged out of it’s new path, straight for my face. it exploded behind us in a flash of bright light and thankfully, no shrapnel. They were reluctant to use grenades here, in their own home. I set my sights on another one, hidden partially around the corner. When he went to shoot it grappled, and sent him flying at us, hitting his head and shoulder on the corner as he did. Argus left him to land at our feet this time and grabbed him. The soldiers were all at varying stages of readiness; some of them had full gear, this one was unprepared, having thrown vests and ammunition over workout clothes. Argus grabbed him and, at my instruction, ran. The cameras were on loops again, so they couldn’t track her, but neither could I hold them off for too long.

I changed my tactics to movement, to distraction. There was a radiator attached to the far end of the corridor, I jumped in the air, twisted to put my legs away from them, and pulled. Plaster cracked and steam hissed, but newton’s laws held true and I flew towards the railing, through the battalion of guards. I dropped and landed at the far end, unharmed through the element of surprise, and hurled my knives. I didn’t have the time or the resources to knock them out. One knife found its home in the throat of a woman in a purple under armour top, the other missed the mark and bounced off the wall, I grappled it and pulled it into someone’s back. I jumped for the last one, catching him before he could shout, and in the next moment he was bleeding out on the floor. I took a moment to look at them, memorising details and faces. The woman in purple had blue eyes and a mole on her cheek, the men both had regulation cut hair, blond and reddish respectively. I glanced in Argus’ direction, she was nowhere to be found, but footsteps were thundering in my direction from behind. Reinforcements. I still hadn’t charged enough for another teleport, and they were closing. I ducked backwards behind a filing cabinet and started shooting. I caught one in the shoulder and the rest fell behind the corner into cover. I kept firing, pressing them, trying to think of my next move. I didn’t notice the smoke filling the room till the guards were all obscured, and lasers penetrated the fog. I grappled the far wall, panicked, and pulled. Bullets zipped past my ears, but I alternated my target, lurching around the corridor, and they were behind the cover of smoke. I fired into it to keep them there, and landed right next to the door. I flushed magic into the other circuit and teleported through the door.

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Argus had taken her helm off again, and was stemming the flow of blood from a chest wound on the man she was holding. He was barely conscious, mouthing words. She looked up at me, fear in her eyes.

“He tried to-”

“Put him on his back” I instructed, pulling out of a pouch. She lowered him, keeping pressure on the wound. I started to work, bending the wire into shapes. It was a circuit similar to the one I’d made not long ago. Argus cut his shirt away to get better access.

“I just hit him I don’t know why but he tried to attack me and I flinched and then I’d stabbed him. We can’t let him bleed out Chlo. Christ, not another one. Thank you. Healing circle?” She held her hand out for the circuit I’d just made.

“Telepathy circuit.” I charged it, balancing it gingerly over the wound.

“Chloe, he’ll die!”

“He’’ll die either way. Listen to me- listen to me, Katrine. I’m going to be in his mind, that means you need to keep me safe out here. Barricade the door, keep them out. I’ll only be a minute.”

I activated the circuit and was in his head before the tears had a chance to well in her eyes.

I was in a kitchen, hacking at an onion, fruitlessly. Chunks came away at random sizes and the knife spun in my hands. A beard prickled the side of my neck, strong hands took mine, and together we made slow, gentle cuts, perfect squares.

I was in a field, leaning against a tree. I couldn’t look down, but I felt short curly hair run between my fingers. I was happy.

I was a child, looking out a window. A squirrel was jumping from branch to branch, carrying a twig like a spear up to a nest.

I was wearing a suit that stuck just a bit at the shoulder, anxiously trying not to play with the ring in my hands.

I was with friends, laughing, joking. Remembering.

That’s what he was doing, what they always were, at the end. Remembering. But I couldn’t be pulled along with him. I floated up, out of the memory and into the network of his mind. Here, thoughts passed through spaces, doors opened to new places like a growth. It was enormous, but tiny, like all of it would fill out only the tiniest fraction of the otherworld. The building was separated out into sections, all so disparate from each other, but the further up I went, the further up I went the more of him I knew, and eventually I found what I was looking for. Everting my vision to stop myself from seeing any more, I pulled myself out of his mind. I took a breath, my body hadn’t been breathing while i was under, and forced the vignette around me eyes back into my periphery. Ilooked down at the man, at Frank, and left him to join his husband. Argus, bracing the door against at least two people, looked down at me, and I picked myself up. I was woozy, but pulled one of the canisters off her belt, refilling the bracer and myself. Argus grabbed my arm. “Please”

I teleported behind the breachers and shot them both in the head.

After a moment, Argus opened the door, looking grimly at the bodies. “Next floor up. That’s where the records are.” She nodded and brushed past me, I followed, knowing that Frank was probably going to a better place than I’d left him.