"Jumper! I'm back." Lightning spun around the corner, a group of military officers right behind her. Joey hadn't paid enough attention to know if they were the same ones he'd met before or totally different people. Maybe he should start trying to remember their faces and names.
"She hasn't moved," he said, offering Phantasma to one of the officers. "I haven't heard Achilles move either."
"How is he?" one officer asked. Lightning walked over to Achilles with him.
"Last I checked, he's alive and breathing. I don't know what kind of damage she's done, but I don't think his life is in danger. Of course, I'm no doctor." The officer nodded.
"West, O'Neil, take Achilles to the hospital. You brought a stretcher, right?"
"Yeah." Two of the officers stepped away from the group to tend to Achilles while the one with Phantasma put a pair of handcuffs on her.
"Jumper, do you mind sticking around for a bit? They'd like to hear your side of things," Lightning said. Joey nodded and the one officer took out a tablet and a pen. This one was probably the sergeant; he had an extra badge on the front of his uniform.
"Sergeant Barron, ANMF. I hear you found him first?"
"Yeah." Joey shrunk back a bit, but decided to answer as best he could. He told him how when he and Lightning were practicing earlier, a girl had warned him about Achilles and they ran to find him. How when Jumper had stumbled onto the scene, a woman had been holding Achilles by the chin, how he'd been unresponsive. How Jumper had leaped in without thinking too hard about it.
He talked about the illusion he'd been stuck in, how he'd fought to make sure Lightning got out of hers. At this part, she told the sergeant the kind of illusion she'd been in. Joey's stomach sank. It sounded pretty bad. Phantasma had a good imagination for coming up with ways to torture people.
When he was done talking, Lightning mentioned her part. The sergeant scribbled everything down as his officers cleaned up the scene, gathering evidence and taking pictures. One of the officers looked extremely unsettled.
"Right, Barron," Lightning said as they were preparing to pack up and leave. "I don't know for sure, but I suspect Phantasma requires eye contact to be able to activate her power. I haven't been able to test it obviously, but from what happened here..." The sergeant nodded.
"Got it. I'll pass it on to the wardens and ask them to treat her with extreme caution." Lightning nodded, then jerked her head, motioning for him to join her a bit away from everyone else.
They talked for a bit while Joey anxiously waited for the signal that he could go. He didn't think he should leave without Lightning, so he tried not to fidget. Instead, with an impending sense of dread, he started thinking about how he'd explain his absence to his parents.
Hopefully they'd buy a simple explanation, and the piling lies wouldn't bite him in the butt.
"I'd like to be kept in the loop on Phantasma in the future if you don't mind. For one, I'd like to know exactly who she is." Lightning kept her voice low. Only Barron knew that she was Larsen. If the other officers heard her talking about case details like this, they might put two and two together, and that would be more trouble than it was worth.
"Already got a fingerprint ID. Olivia Hahn," Barron replied in the same low tone.
"From the Xavier Orozco case?"
"You remember."
"Of course. It wasn't that long ago, and it kept nagging me. But I guess that her killing him would explain a lot. There wasn't enough alcohol in that room to kill him."
"I doubt we'll get the case revisited, but I agree with you."
"It would also explain how she broke out of prison. Didn't you say there was a lot of weird stuff going on?"
"Yeah." Barron rubbed his forehead and groaned. "Seems consistent with what you and Jumper have experienced."
"It's frickin' terrifying. I barely managed to hold it together. Make sure you keep her away from people as much as possible. I'm pretty sure about the eye contact thing since she had to get Jumper off her back before she could trap him, but..."
"We'll take every precaution. Maybe use those old solitary cells." Courtney grimaced.
"I thought we only used those for storage?"
"Ever since they made solitary illegal back in 43. But if we want to stop a repeat escape, we might have to stoop that low. I'll talk to Galvan about it."
Courtney nodded. The thought of putting someone in solitary made her sick, but in this case they might have no choice. Either way, it was out of her hands now. Nothing she could do.
"Careful, Barron. I hope this all goes off without any hitches." Barron nodded as Courtney walked back to Jumper.
He looked at her nervously, like an anxious teenager. Well, he was an anxious teenager, wasn't he? Courtney held back the urge to laugh. This whole military thing was probably still intimidating for him.
"Jumper. They're done with us, so we should split. Want me to get you a coffee on the way back?" He shook his head.
"I'm good, thanks."
"If you need someone to talk to, I'm here. The first few scenes can be pretty stressful." She threw an arm around his shoulder.
"Thanks. Maybe next week. I have to get home soon I think." Courtney nodded and followed him out of the alley, where they soon parted ways.
She really hoped the kid was gonna be okay.
The last thing Olivia remembered before she woke up in a cell was trying to strangle Jumper. He'd been on the verge of collapse, when there was suddenly a pain in the back of her head and everything went dark.
It had to have been Lightning. She should have done more to ensure the woman couldn't do anything. Maybe an illusion of having her neck snapped?
Ugh. Thinking on the spot was difficult, and Jumper and Lightning had come out of nowhere. She'd worked so hard to make sure Achilles was alone and that no one would interfere. Had he mentioned the meeting to one of them? Did they have a way to contact each other?
The two of them could have easily figured out her weakness by now. They'd ask why she hadn't messed with both of them at once. She'd tried so hard to hide her limitations, but they were all too obvious when anyone thought about it.
Was Achilles at least dead? She doubted it. He'd been alive when she'd released her grip on him, and his two lackeys had probably given him medical attention.
Olivia had failed again.
She looked around her cell. It was different from the last one she'd been in. Solid walls, with only a small window in the door. And a blind covered said window. Cold industrial light shone down on her. In one corner was a toilet and sink, alone with a lonely shower head. A drain under the shower head would prevent her from flooding it.
In the opposite corner of the makeshift bathroom was a simple bed. That was where she'd been when she woke up. The mattress was low and lumpy, with no pillow and a single blanket. Her last quarters had been more pleasant, though she hadn't had a private bathroom. She'd had to share with all the other women at specified times. So at least this was a luxury.
They'd have to bring her meals sometime. When that happened, she'd just bust out again like she'd done before. Olivia stretched on her bed and started plotting again.
She would kill Achilles. It didn't matter how long it took. She would succeed.
Paris stared dumbfounded at the tablet Manifest had handed him. A news reporter was talking about a breaking story. One that had happened earlier that day, in fact.
Phantasma was in prison. Caught after trying to kill Achilles again. He put the tablet aside and heaved a sigh, head falling into his hands.
"You wanted her on our side, right?" Manifest asked. "Want us to bust her out?"
Paris looked up in surprise, but Manifest just shrugged.
"Any help we can get in dealing with these guys, the better. And she's almost gotten Achilles twice."
"It's a good idea," Paris muttered. "Only issue is timing. The Legion meets this Saturday and we're prepping for that. I don't know that we have time to form a plan and break her out before that. We're all still developing our powers and teamwork too."
"Okay, but what about after Saturday? Whether we win or retreat."
"Definitely. If we spend a week preparing..." Paris furrowed his eyebrows, running possibilities and dates through his head. "July 2nd. We'll break her out then. Tentative schedule, that is. On a Sunday I think the guards will be less alert, and more will be looking for time off. In the week between the Legion meeting and then, we can figure out exactly where she is and plan on how to extract her."
"And if she doesn't join us?"
"Fine by me. She's earned enough of my respect that I don't mind her running around as a rival of ours. It would be best if she'd join us, but she seems like more of a lone wolf." Manifest nodded.
"She'll hold on for a couple weeks. Trials take forever and no harm ever comes to prisoners anyway. Sentences are just long for those with major crimes."
Paris nodded.
Wait for me, Phantasma, he thought. I'll be there as soon as I can to save you.
