8

Dear Riley,

It's happening. Hope you didn't get too impatient with me. They're coming to Rome. Hey, I told you that I would get it to happen. Is your two birds with one stone finally coming along? Just don't forget our part of the deal. I'm out. I'm done. I just want to retire, and live my own life, without anyone trying to kill me anymore.

I'll send you the hotel room soon, but at the moment I just need to get out of the country. Once I've dug my way to Australia, I'll send you their location. At least, if you don't find them first. They shouldn't be too hard to locate. Plus, I have friends in high places. They can find her. You can do the honours. Win-win.

However, a little bird told me that somebody was beaten by a homo electrica. That same homo electrica is now housing with the girls. Forget two birds, you could take down an entire flock, today! Well, maybe not today, but... anyway, just make sure everybody leaves me alone.

Sincerely,

(well, maybe giving my name isn't the safest thing)

Signed 13/05/2018

"They will probably be expecting us, or at least someone to try and get the pieces. So, let's sneak in a way that none of them will be expecting."

"Which is...?"

"Quietly. Our previous missions have largely been about firepower and all guns blazing and everything. But we only have 2.5 people with fighting abilities in this group. No offense, midget."

"No, that was definitely offensive."

"But sneaking in is something that we can do. All of us can hold our own in a fight, even without magical powers, so if we can get far enough without overplaying that hand, that would be fantastic."

"Can Anna fight?"

"Andrew, you are in for a shock. Now I want to see this." Shannon dragged Anna to her feet, beckoning for Andrew to do the same.

"Wait, fight him? How good is he?"

"Your mother is better." Andrew felt some apprehension in seeing Anna relax with those words, but got himself into a fighting stance anyway, preparing to go a little easier on the girl opposite him.

Three seconds later, Anna was looking down into the stunned face of Andrew, who was lying on the floor after Anna made her move.

"That was funny!" Shannon cackled at Andrew's embarrassment, and even Melissa struggled to hide her laughter.

"Fair enough. You can indeed. And that could be more useful than any of us realise." He grinned at Anna, who smiled back. "They won't know what hit them. And, just as a side note, try lifting my arm."

Anna almost made a step towards Andrew, before realising what he actually meant. She squinted towards Andrew's left arm, straining to move Andrew's arm just a little bit. But it stayed stationary. Anna let out a massive gasping breath, panting for air. She hung her head.

"Hey, it's all good. I could definitely feel it."

"But your arm didn--"

"No, it didn't, but now try lifting this pencil."

Anna smiled. This was a task she knew she could get right. The pencil rose from Andrew's palm, wavering slightly in its ascent.

"Now, send it straight towards that wall. Put as much force into it as you can." All of a sudden, the pencil zoomed into a wall, mere inches from Shannon's chest. Anna smiled sweetly.

"That, right there," continued Andrew, "is a weapon."

* * * *

Anna waltzed on up to the two guards outside the main door. Chewing her gum, she looked at the men snobbishly. "Are you guys, like, the Buckingham Palace guards? Like, are you not allowed to move, or what?"

"No, we can move. So can you. Skedaddle."

She walked casually in front of one of them. "I don't really want to. I think I like this place. Can I go in?"

The men looked at her incredulously. "No!"

Anna made a buzzer noise. "Wrong answer." Before the men could move a muscle, Anna quickly dispatched of the man standing in front of her. The other guard made a move towards her, before being stabbed by the knife Anna was telekinetically holding behind her back. She kicked away the radios and guns from their belt and extracted the now bloody knife from the ribcage of the second guard.

"You know, I think you are having too much of an influence on her," Melissa scolded Shannon.

"Nah. Not at all." The three adults ran over to Anna, who beamed and gave a high-five to Andrew. "Are they going to be okay?"

"Nah. I fatally wounded both of them."

"WHAT?"

"Kidding! They'll be fine, neither of them were significantly hurt."

The four quickly walked inside the building, before running back, spotting the four guards. "Now what?"

Andrew grinned. "Now you can see my range of attacking power." He stepped around the corner, and gave a three second burst, effectively using his electric powers as a taser. The four guards were incapacitated.

They were much more careful walking around after that, making sure that they weren't inadvertently waltzing right into a trap. Room after room after room yielded nothing, and Shannon eventually suggested what they were all thinking: they needed a new approach.

So, Anna put her acting abilities to the test again. Seeing a guard, she wandered around, looking lost, until the guard asked, "Are you looking for someone?"

"Well, yes. My dad, he told me to meet him where the fragments are, but this place is ridiculously huge. I swear I've looked in about fifteen different rooms and I don't think I'm getting any closer."

"Well, your dad shouldn't be allowing you in here. Only workers are meant to be here."

"You tell him that when you find him, okay? I can leave now if you want. I remember how to get out."

"You go do that." Anna grinned at him, before running around the corner.

"Honestly, how do these idiots get anything done around here?"

"They aren't all idiots. Just the guards are. The guards have to be part of the family, because no one else can be trusted with the secrets, so the other ones tend to be assigned the grunt work."

"Good for us, I guess." They followed the guard to the room with the fragments, and knocked him unconscious just before he got to the room. Peeking inside, they were met with a shock. Around twenty people stood around the pieces, including Riley and Sana. Riley was twitching.

"We aren't going to survive this."

"We don't have a choice." Andrew made to enter the room, but Shannon stopped him.

"Yes, we do. Retreat, and live to fight another day." Andrew sighed and nodded. He peeked around the doorway.

The room exploded.

Everybody was thrown backwards. People closest to the blast were vaporised. Except for Riley. He stumbled a few feet backwards, and looked back at the four, who were struggling to get to their feet. Shannon saw Riley, and prepared for the worst.

It didn't come. Riley stared at them for a moment, before staggering down the hallway and around a corner. Alarms blared around them, and footsteps could be heard. Fast ones, heading straight for them.

A singular guard suddenly popped out, and raised his gun, shooting Andrew three times in the chest.

He was dead before he hit the ground.

The girls watched in horror, before Anna had the sense to force the gun out of the man's hands. Shannon sobbed once, allowing herself that moment of emotional levity, before standing and ushering the girls out of the vicinity.

They navigated their way out, running out all the way to the next block of land, before collapsing onto the ground. Their world had been turned upside down, and they didn't know what to do about it. Anna curled her legs up and leaned against Melissa. Tears didn't come. She just felt... hollow. Plenty of tears flowed from the women. Shannon stood up, still crying, and fixed up the bangs and bruises all over their bodies.

"Let's go." Those two words were the only ones spoken for the rest of the day. They didn't feel like talking, staying by themselves in order to process the death of their ally. Their friend.

They slept through the night, and into the morning.

"Are you okay?" Melissa asked her daughter. She felt a bit guilty that she hadn't asked the day before, but she had been hit with the loss much harder than she expected.

"Yeah. I'm gonna go shower."

"That sounds like a good idea." As Anna wandered off, Melissa walked over to Shannon, who still hadn't awakened.

"It's time to wake up, Shannon."

"Why?"

"We still have a plane to catch."

"We can't leave now. Riley's still here. I want that motherfucker DEAD!"

Melissa recoiled slightly, before trying a different approach. "Shannon, there's no way that Riley's going to stay in the country. There isn't any reason to. We can follow him back to England, or wherever he's going."

Shannon took a breath and nodded subtly. "Thank you."

Melissa didn't need to ask. "You're welcome."

She picked up the clothes that they had left all over the floor, and packed them roughly into the suitcase, before calling out, "Anna! We leave in ten minutes!"

"Just wait two seconds, Mum." Anna pulled on her shirt and jeans, and walked out, with her hair still wet.

Melissa and Shannon both stared at her. "Well, that's a development."

"What?"

"Anna, your hair. It's... pink."

* * * *

Riley sat down on the wall of the building behind him. He'd killed them. And he actually cared. Sana was his friend. He smiled bitterly as his mind emphasised the words was and friend in his head.

"Oi. You look far too pretty to be walking down here. I can fix that for--"

Riley tossed the man back ten feet with a flick of his head. At least he still had his powers. So how had the rock affected him otherwise? He looked down at his body. Nothing of note, which was odd. Even the four hiding behind the doorway were all bleeding. And that brought him to his next question.

Why the hell were they there? More importantly, why hadn't he killed them? He thought back to the moment but couldn't think of a reason that he had let them go. He could have exploded their body from the inside out, but he ran away, instead. None of this would have bloody happened if his contact had given him the details that he needed. Anger flooded his body again, which was a relief. A familiar feeling.

No, Mr. Pierce was to blame for the death of his friend. He smiled bitterly. Pierce was a scientist, and one of the most brilliantly regarded scientists in the world. And his knowledge of the rock was unparalleled. He knew that was going to happen. And he made sure he was on the other side of the world when it happened. It was a double bluff. Riley had been outwitted, for the second time.

"What's happening to me?" he asked aloud. Nobody was there to hear him. The man he'd thrown away had run quickly, after that. What was his next move? He just wanted to get rid of Pierce. That was the primary objective. And Pierce had been stupid enough to say where he was going to.

He walked across the street and entered the internet café. Deciphering the Italian in front of him, he logged into the Alitalia website, and purchased a flight to Sydney, Australia.

Deciding he needed a little fun, Riley inserted a virus onto the computer. The next person was going to get a bit of a shock.

Feeling relaxed and rejuvenated, Riley wandered back home.

"Hello, Riley."

"Holy shit, you gave me a heart attack."

"I didn't mean to. Sorry about that. But I am asking the question. What the hell happened?"

"Everyone's dead. Except for me." And just like that, the emotion came back to him. A few people he knew well died in there, and it was the first time anything had happened to anyone he cared about.

"And now you're going to Australia."

Riley knew better than to ask whether he was being followed. "Yes. The guy, he... double-crossed us. Time for a little revenge."

"If you're going to do so, may I suggest one thing?"

"Sure."

"No mercy."

"Have you ever known me to show mercy?"

The other man smiled humourlessly, leaving Riley to wonder just how much he saw of what happened in there.

"I have to go. Got a flight to catch. Lock up for me, will you?" Riley left him alone, and walked out of his house.