Chapter 13, the art of diception 2

(Callie)

She tapped into her reservoir, and positive energy infused her body. The Music of the bar came back in to sharp focus, her blurry vision clearing quickly.

"I'm at the bar, two blocks from the navy administrative building, meet you outside." Said Callie, allowing her Art to eat away at the poison in her body. That was the only reason she had allowed herself to drink so much. Her art could clear up the poison in moments if she used the vital power. Sure it wasted energy, but her reservoir was deep after a long night of sitting and relaxing.

" I need to go Ferra." Said Callie, standing on sure feet. Her eyes focused on Ferra as the navy lieutenant's face turned serious.

" Alright, talk to you later." Said Ferra, her face grimacing as positive energy dispersed the poison in her own body.

Ferra waved goodbye and Callie rushed for the door. There was a woman sitting at the bar nursing a drink. That must be the stand in to watch Callie as the other had retreated hours ago.

A familiar red shuttle bore down the street and stopped on the road. Callie rushed around the driver's side after noticing Dustin's borderline terrified expression.

" Move over!" Said Callie, pushing him none too gently into the passenger's seat. Callie slid inside and, ignoring the blaring honking of the vehicles behind her, pushed the pedal to the floor.

"Type in the address to the console. Then tell me what's going on." Said Callie straight to business. The shuttle hummed with displeasure and it slammed her back into her chair with the acceleration.

Her boss was out of sorts. Something had gotten to him badly. He was sweating profusely and looked like he had just gotten from bed with his messy hair. Or perhaps that was him running his fingers through his hair in frustration. Dustin's fingers fumbled as he typed in an address. His lack of calm reminded Callie of a rookie on his first mission, a far cry from the calm reassurance she was used to.

"Calm yourself, you are Devali." Said Callie as she honked her horn. Callie noting a button flicked it and the shuttle began blaring, lights filling the streets with flickering red and blue.

" Someone just kidnapped Nico Taniya." Said Dustin.

Callie followed the blue line on the console, leading her to an apartment across the city. The line stated the apartment was thirty minutes away. She blew through a red light, just missing a shuttle, and ran over several signs. Callie paid it no mind and continued on down the street.

" And why are you so out of sorts? Is this your girlfriend?" Asked Callie, catching the despair on his face.

Dustin seemed to choke up.

" She is my little sister. I think she is dead." Mumbled Dustin.

Callie scowled.

" Snap out of it. Get your head in the game. You don't know that. Until we see a corpse, you act like a Devali before I smack you upside the head." Said Callie.

Her words were harsh, and she maneuvered through traffic, sirens blaring and lights flashing. Now this was progress. At this rate, she would be there in ten minutes. Maybe less. Callie was going to set the world record for fastest time across Berdant.

Dustin shook his head, getting a hold of his frayed nerves. He clutched the roll handle with a white knuckled grip and fastened his seatbelt.

" Tell me what you heard, I need details." Said Callie, taking command.

" She called and said two men were in her apartment. I heard fighting, a lot of gunshots, then the sounds of something heavy dragging along the floor. And then there was screaming. They are torturing her. The last thing I heard was one male voice cursing in Etrian." Said Dustin, his face horrified.

Two men, was that Warren and Villus? Was this their recently concocted plan to capture a Devali? And what was that about torture? Warren wouldn't do that. Maybe villus, but she knew warren hated that kind of thing.

" What assignment was she on?" Asked Callie, her heart sinking.

" That's classified." Said Dustin.

" Just tell me so I can help you!" Said Callie, her tone brooking no argument.

" I tasked her with the surveillance and defence of the city's leaders. She keeps track of the leaders of the city and makes sure they have the protection they need." Said Dustin, his face letting Callie know the rest.

" Shit, if we don't get her back they will have the names and locations of all the leaders of the city." Said Callie, slamming on her horn. A man flipped her off but moved out of the way.

" It's my fault, I put her in that position." Said Dustin, his head slouching. Callie slammed on the brakes to avoid a thick polymer bench and swerved around a sharp corner.

"Stop your self pity and prepare yourself to fill out reports for a week. After all the laws I'm going to break today." said Callie. A garbage can exploded everywhere as she rounded a bend.

Callie," Warren run!" That was all she could do to warn her friend the Zrixians were on the way.

With one hand on the wheel, Callie reached across the car and took the man's hand for a moment. The stunt cost her the right mirror. It shattered against an electric pole clattering behind. She squeezed his hand reassuringly. Her unexpected touch brought the man back to reality, and he livened up slightly.

After twelve minutes of hectic driving, a derby racer would have been proud of the console spoke in a monotone voice.

"In five hundred meters, take a left, and then your destination is on the right."

" Go around the back. Her apartment is on the third floor." said Dustin.

Callie let the vehicle slow to just over forty miles an hour before taking the turn in what might have flipped a car with wheels. In the back parking lot a box like shuttle was parked, its engine was off as it wasn't hovering, and there were two people hefting a black bag into the back. They appeared in a hurry, giving themselves away. Warren shut both back doors before they walked towards the front. They were dressed in casual civilian garb, and Dustin noticed them first. The bag was unmistakably a body bag. Dustin drew his pistol and unrolled the window, his first shot to force them to cover. Dustin's gun was deafening, and the wind whipped wildly, filling the shuttle.

Noticing their breakneck pace, the older of the two stepped to the side and held up a hand. Callie swerved the shuttle, slamming on the brakes to decelerate the vehicle. A wall of a dark star like energy intersected by spiderlike webs formed in their path and the car came to a jarring halt. The front of the shuttle caved in before the barrier shattered. It smashed the hood in like an aluminium can stepped on by a steamroller. Callie winced, her shoulder and face aching at the sudden stop, but the air bags and seatbelt had saved her from impacting the steering wheel.

She pushed aside the discomfort and undid her seatbelt. She felt the shuttle power down, settling to the mostly empty parking lot. With a flood of positive art, she pushed the door and with the screech of metal; it opened. Rounds tore through the hood pinging off the bulletproof glass windshield.. She couldn't see her two assailants, but they were making sure both she and Dustin would keep their heads down. Shielding her body with energy, Callie pushed open her door, forcing it open wider, hoping Dustin had also lined the doors with armour plating. She took back all the mean things she said before. This car was like a fortress.

"Are you alright?" asked Callie

"I'm fine. Now let's get out there and stop them from taking my sister." said Dustin.

The driver's door pinged loudly as rounds found it cracking through the thick window but not breaking it. She glanced back. Dustin's body shimmered with his own positive energy. His face was scrunched up in focus as he pushed open his own door. Car alarms blared in the parking lot, filling the air with high-pitched noise.

" Ready?" asked Dustin, glancing at her expectantly.

" Lets go now!" said Callie, before leaping from the vehicle. She used the door for cover and fired.

Her gun found Villus, and his eyes widened. For this operation, they were wearing thin disguises that pegged them as utility workers. They lacked anything covering their faces. Warren was on the right and Villus on the left. Callie fired two shots, aiming for Villuse's face. He staggered and his shield cracked unexpectedly. The telling sign of an artist nearly tapped on power. Callie grinned, her gun barked noisily, kicking in her hands. Her heart raced as Villus retreated behind the van. Villus didn't have a gun. That was odd. Had the man lost it in their previous fight, after all?

From Callie and Dustin's vantage, they were looking at the side of the van. The two kidnappers would have to step into the line of fire to open either the front doors or the very back loading door where they had tossed the prisoner.

From the far side of the car through the open door, Dustin raised one hand as a blade, like a scythe of positive energy, cut the hood of the van in half.

Fluids leaked all over the parking lot. Warren peered his head from behind the van and fired two shots at Dustin. Dustin gasped, and through the smashed car, Callie could see him stagger, clutching his right shoulder, as it was bleeding profusely. The heavy rounds of warrens pistol had shattered Dustin's thin barrier and found flesh.

From behind them, Callie heard sirens approaching rapidly. The backup was coming. Villus tried to enter the front passenger seat and had to retreat because of the bullets Callie shot his way. Her shot tore tiny holes in the driver's door, shattering glass. Her own door pinged like a gong as Warren's return fire slammed into the window and thick armoured shuttle door.

Callie glared at her friend through the cracked and pitted bullet proof window. But from where his bullets were grouped up to the side of her head on the window, the shots were only intended to keep her head down. From behind the door felt safe, but that was until Villus raised his hand in a recently familiar gesture. Callie lept to the left away from cover. The car door she was behind a moment ago crumpled like wet cardboard, tearing from the shuttle and bouncing down the parking lot with sparks and a horrible grinding of metal on stone. The force of Villuses negative energy had hit the door like the shell from a tank. Callie shuddered and pooled energy in her palm for an attack.

Both of the kidnappers fled towards the side of the building using the van and the other cars with their blaring alarms for cover. She couldn't get a clear shot and didn't want to kill any civilians in the building behind them. Callie let loose her net. It shot as though from a gun spreading wide to encircle both of the fleeing kidnappers. She knew Villus was low on energy after stopping the momentum of Dustin's shuttle so Warren would need to stop her net. Warren raised a hand as the net enclosed Himself, Villus and a shuttle. In Warren fashion, he met the net head on with a small ball of negative energy. It was utterly black. The net enfolded the tiny ball of energy in the air, the weighted ends pulling towards the ball of energy. Callie knew that art. It was called gravity well. With incredible force, the ball of energy would touch something and then drag that thing inwards. The needed power to create gravity well was proportional to the area affected.

Callie shook her head. What an idiot. He was really using such a power intensive technique? Even creating a gravity well the size of his fist like that might take most of his reservoir. The net closed around nothing but the technique. Callie scowled at Warren as the two retreated around the corner.

Callie glanced through the car, having no trouble spotting Dustin as the driver's side door was fifty yards away across the parking lot. She wanted to pursue, but Dustin was not in the condition for that. Charging in two versus one would be considered suicide.

" Can you heal yourself?" asked Callie.

" I will manage for now, go make sure Taniya is safe." said Dustin, stumbling, his face pale with shock. The wound was high on his chest, appearing to have torn through the meat of his shoulder. Callie advanced forwards powering her barrier with as much of her shimmering green energy as she could manage. The emergency vehicles tore into the parking lot and Dustin waved for them with a badge.

Callie slowly approached the van, noting the precise damage of Dustins ranged art. His attack had sliced the shuttle engine and the concrete like a knife to watermelon. She approached the rear of the van wearily, her boots crunching on glass. Holes filled the front door and the edges of the very back of the van. Callie noted they were head height. Dustin had been aiming to kill, and most likely to remove chances of hitting the captive.

Calle peered towards the building, but Villus and Warren were already out of sight around the corner. She opened the van door and peered inside. Boots scuffed on stone and the blare of sirens filled the air. A squad of soldiers rushed past Callie, combat rifles in hand. A man with a patch rushed up a large duffle strapped to his back. While a second paused by Dustin examining his bleeding shoulder wound. Callie had come out of the fight, mostly uninjured. Her face was going to sting later from greeting the air bag and her shoulder ached from where that seatbelt and pulled to keep her from flying through the window, but otherwise she felt fine.

" How can I help?" asked the man.

" Battlefield medic?" asked Callie.

" Yeah. I'm private keelan"

" Good to meet you. Help me check this body bag." said Callie, allowing the man in first with a wave of her empty hand. She holstered her gun, feeling extremely uncomfortable as she climbed in beside him.

Private Keelan unsipped the bag, revealing a woman Callie had never seen.. She was younger, perhaps seventeen, and at first didn't appear to be alive. The medic checked her pulse for several long seconds.

The young woman's blond hair was disheveled, and she was mostly naked, aside from a lacy pink bra and some white panties. The medic unsipped the body bag. Gently checking her entire body for wounds.

" Bruising to the back of the head, as well as a puncture to the neck. She is still breathing but her heart is beating too fast." said the medic.

The zipper came to the young woman's feet, and blood-soaked bandages covered her toes. The medic pulled them away and Callie swallowed, bile rising in her throat. All five nails on the woman's right foot were gone and blood flowed from each. Two on her left were gone as well. Callie felt a wrenching in her chest at the sight. That was cold, brutal torture. Had Villus done this? Callie knew this woman was Devali, but all she saw was a young woman who had been tortured, her body bruised from a serious beating.

Callie pressed forwards and leaned down. The wounds were fresh and still bled. It repulsed her. Killing could be accepted, but this? Callie placed her fingers on the woman's leg as the medic pulled more bandages from his pack and began re wrapping them.

" I can help stop the bleeding." said Callie, feeling the woman's hot skin.

She flooded the woman's feet with her Art and watched the blood as it clotted. She couldn't regrow lost toenails, but she could help this much. Flesh was easy and even knitting bone together could be done. But she couldn't regrow lost nails or lost limbs. She didn't have the skill or knowledge for that kind of work.

Quickly yet gently, the medic wrapped Taniyas' feet in clean white cloth, before pushing her on her side to check over her back.

" Can you do something about these bruises?" asked the medic, holding a scanner over the base of the woman's skull.

" Are you not an artist?" asked Callie, scrunching up her face.

" Yes, but I lack the skill in healing with the Art. But do not fret, I'm skilled in the mundane." said the Medic gesturing Callie towards a large bump forming on the back of the woman's head. The woman's hair was in a clump, pooling around the sight of the trauma. Callie looked at the screen. It showed the image of bruising and a small crack in the skull.

Callie did as asked. She flooded the base of the woman's skull with her art, infusing the damaged skin and bone with her energy. Visioning the skull through the xray, she could hone in on what she wanted to heal and felt her power doing a lot more than it usually would.

" Good, now gently coax some of your reservoir deeper. Do not press. Simply allow it to suffuse the swelling in the brain." said the medic.

Callie, now certain the medic was lying about his skill, did as asked. She focused intently, sweat forming on her forehead.

" Good, now guide you energy deeper, start from the inside and work your way out." said the Medic.

Through the screen of the medic's xray, she watched the dark bruise like swelling on the brain as the colour slowly changed, returning to a mat grey like the rest.

" That's good, you can stop." said the Medic nodding approvingly. Callie collapsed back against the van, gasping for breath. She felt as though she ran two marathons. Callie glanced behind herself panting. Dustin stood there, his face hard, yet worried. He was staring at Taniya, his eyes lingering on the bandage wrapped feet and the bruising covering her stomach, ribs, and face.

" Why is she still unconscious? Should we try to wake her?" asked Callie.

" You just healed her concussion. The sedative flowing through her body will wear off in time. .We can let her rest now that her heart beat is slowing to a more manageable level. We could wake her, but I want to get her somewhere more comfortable before we do that. She needs time to rest, and I want to make sure they put nothing malicious into her body. Just because you healed that injury doesn't mean she will be alright." said the Medic, eying the needle mark on her neck.

A second medic carried a stretcher over. That must have been the one who helped Dustin. Callie felt like such a fraud at that moment. As she watched them load the unconscious young woman onto the stretcher, Callie couldn't help but think what Villus was doing was wrong. This wasn't getting revenge. That young woman was younger than Callie. She would have had nothing to do with the fall of Etria. She knew Villus was capable of this kind of thing.

Callie remembered that kind of beating, aside from the toenails. It wasn't common, but it happened with some failures. It was meant as a punishment for those that defied the instructor's orders. Well, there was one caveat, at least all trainees were allowed to defend themselves. That rule was there, but it didn't help. Most trainees would be beaten, and only once they were strong enough the student would graduate. She climbed from the back of the van, unable to look Dustin in the eyes.

She flinched away as he reached out a tentative hand and placed it on her shoulder.

" It's not your fault, Callie." said Dustin, his voice soft.

" Lets go check the apartment. Then we can wait at the hospital for her to wake up?" suggested Callie, moving away from Dustin's touch despite enjoying the brief contact on her shoulder. Dustin nodded and walked towards the thirty story building. Callie turned back towards the emergency vehicles and the enforcers, moving around like bees when their hive has been kicked.

She watched the two medics carry the stretcher and Dustin's unconscious sister to the ambulance. Dustin was wrong, of course. This was her fault. This was a mistake by Villus. If he was more thorough and put in the work, he could have learned this information in other ways. Her job was a nasty business, but she vowed to never take the path of torture. There was always another way.