Subject Seventeen: Wraith Among Shadows
Chapter 23

Thirteen and Nine have made their move. Six should have Two by now. Thirteen has already told everyone else what to do. Five will take care of Eleven.

“Get your parachutes!” Eight screams. She tries to sprint to the back of the jet but the force of the wind drags her out of the jet. Eight waves her hand and pieces of the exterior wall of the jet fly off. They fly to just below her feet and she lands safely on the metal. Next she begins to try and repair the damage to the jet by attempting to seal the holes. I watch the wind bash her face and whip her hair around but she ignores it all as she attempts to use her magnetism to keep pace with the now falling jet. She brings her arms up on either side of her and slowly pushes them inwards, as if she is trying to crush something. The holes are slowly by slowly closing in on themselves. Thirteen warned me she might try this.

I let go of the seat I’m holding on to and let the wind pull me. I fly straight for Eight. When she sees me coming her eyes widen in shock but she doesn’t have enough time to react. I crash right into her and she’s sent flying. Both of us are now falling through the air. I spin around and begin to will myself to fly up. Six is nearby so I should be able to use her ability. Eventually I stop falling and begin to rise up.

I dismiss Eight as she falls and turn my attention back to the jet. Raising my hand I use Nine’s telekinesis to slow it down. It is no longer speeding through the air. My job is to safely land the jet on an island below us. I fly straight towards the underbelly of the jet. I take a deep breath as I rest the jet on my shoulders. With one burst of effort I manage to lift it. I slowly begin to turn it around as I descend, utilising Six’s super strength.

Right now Thirteen and Nine should be subduing Three. I don’t know how they plan to do that in such a little space, not to mention how unstable the jet is right now. They probably caused the initial explosion to the first engine.

Sky should be safe with Six. All I need to do now is get everyone safely to land where Four is waiting for us. Thirteen said I should head in the direction of the sun and set us down on the first island I see; it should be uninhabited.

The wind whips around me and I constantly have to shake my head to get my hair out of my eyes. I’m making slow but steady progress. Six’s super strength is incredibly useful. I count how long it takes to descend. I just reach two minutes when I begin to make out the shapes of what seems like a group of islands below. Before I can get a better look I sense something.

The energy around me is distorted. Looking down I see Eight rushing up to meet me. She seems to be flying up on a piece of metal that must have come off the jet when Six busted it up. She uses her power to break off a small fragment of the metal and forms it into a sharp blade. Next she aims and fires it at me. Someone’s angry.

I have no choice but to abandon the jet and let it fall to evade Eight’s attack. I fly around Eight who doesn’t look like she can manoeuvre herself too well in the air. Since she likes flying so much, why not ground her?

I raise my hands and swing it down as strong as I can. Both me and Eight suddenly drop at a frightening rate, speeding towards the ground. Increasing the force of gravity tenfold feels like being hit in the face with a hammer. I can just barely withstand the sudden increase in gravity. I force myself to fall head first and try to descend faster to catch up with Eight who is several feet below me. As I draw closer to her I let loose a few bursts of lightning from my hands. The first two shots miss but the third hits its mark. I can hear her scream even over the roar of the wind as she falls. I can smell burnt skin as I trail behind her.

I spin myself around as I return gravity to normal and fly straight for the jet. It’s falling at an incredible speed and parts of the jet is beginning to catch fire. I force myself to ignore the wind as it hits my face with an untenable might. I can already taste blood in my mouth from the speed I’m flying at.

I manage to catch the jet and slow it down as much as I can. I know I have a job to do right now and I can’t fail Thirteen. I don’t know how long it takes to descend. I’m no longer counting. The only thought in my mind is that I need to get to ground. The figures I can make out below grow clearer as I descend. The effort of carrying the jet is beginning to catch up to me and I can feel the fatigue building up in my muscles. I can only carry it for much longer.

I decide to go for an all or nothing gamble. Instead of carrying the jet to safety slowly I pick up my pace. I push myself to go as fast as I can as I rocket downwards to what I can make out to be the island Thirteen had told me to go to. I ignore the wind as it attacks my face. I need to get to land now. I can’t hold on much longer.

The ground rushes to meet me and I can eventually make out the shore of the island. I head straight for the beach, not bothering to evaluate the rest of the island. I don’t care where it is, I just need to land this jet.

I’m about two-hundred feet above the ground when I begin to slow down. I carefully shift the weight of the jet onto my right shoulder as I descend. I’ve nearly reached the ground. Six flies right past me with Sky in her arms. She heads straight for the beach and sets Sky down. Then she flies back up to meet me and helps me bring the jet down. I breathe a sigh of relief as my burden lightens.

It takes a minute or so to reach the ground. Me and Six set down the jet slowly on the sand. I step back and drop down to the floor. I’m covered in sweat and my head is beginning to ring. Blood is already beginning to flow out of my ears and I grimace in pain when I move my arm. I look down and see why. A piece of shrapnel has lodged itself in my forearm.

I get to my feet and trek over to Sky. Her face has two small scratches covering her left cheek and blood is trickling down from them. She’s covering her left shoulder with her right hand in pain as she kneels down on the sand. I glance back to look at the jet. The rest should still be inside, so why hasn’t anyone come out yet?

I turn my attention back to Sky as I crouch down beside her.

“You okay?” I ask.

“Piss off,” she says. “You could have at least given me a heads up.”

“But I did give you one.”

“Way too late.”

“What happened to your shoulder?”

“Dislocated,” Sky says through clenched teeth. I can see the pain in her expression.

“Hold your hand out,” I say. She looks into my eyes for a second before raising her arm. She cries out in pain as she lifts it but doesn’t drop it once. I gently place my hands on her arm as I prepare to force it back in place.

“You ready?” I ask.

“Just do it already you dimwit!”

I take a deep breath as I push all my weight on her shoulder and force it back in place. Sky screams out in agony and doubles over clutching her shoulder as she rolls back and forth. She begins cursing repeatedly as her eyes water. Eventually she starts biting her lips as if that will help the pain subside.

I simply watch her as she rolls around in the sand. I’m not sure whether to leave her or stay. I decide to watch over her until she finally stops rolling about and begins to sit up. I’m unable to withstand the urge I have to pull her close and try to comfort her while she’s in pain. She doesn’t resist me.

“Want me to heal it?” I ask.

“Why don’t you deal with yourself first?” Sky spits back at me. She gestures to the piece of shrapnel lodged in my forearm. I shake my head and reach out to touch her shoulder. She winces at the contact but doesn’t push me away. I feel around for Eleven’s energy. It doesn’t take me long to replace it. I let it course through me as I imagine healing Sky.

I feel the warmth slowly leave my body and cold takes its place. I shiver as my body temperature drops. So this is what it’s like when Eleven heals people. I quickly break contact with Sky and wrap my arms around myself. This only serves to make the pain in my arm worse but I disregard it.

I hear footsteps behind me trudging through the sand and I turn to see who it is. Nine is exiting the jet while holding his head. Blood flows down from a gaping wound above his eye nonstop and what seems like a fresh sword wound decorates his chest. He stumbles around for a few seconds before falling face first into the sand. He doesn’t get up again.

Turning my attention back to the jet I see the rest of the team slowly begin to exit, all of them disorientated. Five is dragging along two unknown men I haven’t seen before. They must be the pilots. Then Thirteen emerges.

Thirteen seems perfectly unfazed. He walks out from the wreck and I instantly recognize who he’s dragging behind him. Three appears to be unconscious. I don’t know how Thirteen did it but he’s managed to subdue Three. Her long black hair trails behind him as he walks towards us.

“How did you-?” Sky says before Thirteen cuts her off.

“Suction grenade,” he replies. “Setting it off in such a small area left her with nowhere to go. Although it did cause the jet to tilt before Six tore it apart…”

“What the hell are you playing at?” One says. “Wasn’t the plan supposed to happen after the mission?”

“If we did it after the mission then Nine would already be dead,” Thirteen replies. He points to Three. “She was about to kill him on the jet. What would you have me do?”

“Nothing else yet,” a voice says.

I turn around so see a tall boy with silver hair walking towards us. He’s dressed in the same long black coat and trainers I saw him in last time. Four.

“Good to see you again, Four,” Thirteen says.

I wonder how Four recovered so fast after Three’s sword impaled him. Is it because of his metabolism?

“Shouldn’t you guys be healing four-eyes?”

We all turn our attention to where Nine lay still. I look around for Eleven and see she’s laying on the sand dazed next to Sixteen who is casually yawning. Eleven is in no state to heal him. I pick myself up and head over to where Nine is laying down.

“I’ll deal with it,” I say.

“Well, boy wonder is doing all your work today, isn’t he?” Four says laughing. His laugh is surprisingly warm and calming even. I ignore his comment as I lay my hands on Nine and close my eyes. I remember what Thirteen told me before. Now Eleven is drifting in and out of consciousness, I can’t just use her ability by feeling for her energy. I think back to when I healed Sky. I remember the feeling of warmth leaving my body and being taken over by the cold. I try to recreate the feeling. I feel my energy move wildly around my body before eventually I gradually feel the warmth leave my body through my fingertips. It slowly passes through from me into Nine and the same cold I felt earlier envelopes my body. I begin to shake from the cold as I fill Nine’s body with my energy.

A few seconds later I collapse to the ground panting. Healing takes a lot of energy. How can Eleven do this so many times with ease?

“Good,” Thirteen says. “Everyone’s here.”

“Someone’s missing,” Nine says as he groggily picks himself up. He spits sand out of his mouth and wipes his glasses. He looks at me and nods in gratitude.

“And who would that be?” Ten yells as he flies down to meet us. “Because if you’re talking about Eight then you should know I’ve already dealt with her like Thirteen asked.”

“Well that’s that then,” Nine says.

“Hey!” Sky says. “Nine! You explained why those two were attacking us earlier but I have a right mind to pay Six back. She tried to freaking drop me from god knows how many feet up during the last mission!”

“Ah,” Nine says. “Sorry about that. But she did save your life this time... so let bygones be bygones?.”

“So that makes it alright?”

“All is fair in love and war,” Nine says with a smirk. He also takes the moment to glance at me. I see Sky’s face flash red for a bit when Nine does this and she turns away.

“What did they even show up for,” Sky says, her face turned away. “It can’t just have been for appearances.”

“Stuff. At the research center I just asked Four to get a sample of that black stuff you guys saw and at the military base I just needed Four to get something to me without arousing suspicion. It’s something I’ve been working on for a while but I couldn’t risk putting it together in the facility. You’ll replace out about it later.”

“Whatever… You have too many secrets and ulterior motives for me to be bothered any longer.”

“Thirteen, what now?” Nine says. “Our ride is ruined.”

Thirteen turns his back to us. He walks over to where Three lays unconscious and reaches into her pocket. It seems as if he’s searching for something. A few seconds later he turns back to us and holds up a small vial. VERTIGO SIX.

“We’re going to use this to get back.”

“You’re forgetting something,” Sky says. “The bloody transmitters are still embedded in our skin, idiot.”

“Nine and Five will deal with that,” Thirteen replies.

“Or you can let me work my magic,” Fifteen says strolling into the middle of the gathering. “Nice to see you again, Thirteen.”

“And you, Fifteen.”

I carefully study Fifteen. She’s curvier than I thought she was. Although her blonde hair is dirty her smile reveals her brilliantly white teeth. I can honestly say that her only imperfection is her scarred eye. Her lips are slightly plump and pink, her cheeks lush and rosy. It takes me a while to tear my eyes away from her even with Sky nudging me for some reason.

“All I need is Five to tell me where they are,” Fifteen says. She flicks her hair out of her good eye and as she strolls over to take a look at Eleven who is still unconscious.

“Even better,” Thirteen says. “We need to hurry up and disable those transmitters before they come looking for us.”

“That’s no problem.”

Nine looks at me and then his eyes travels to my arm. He notices the shrapnel lodged in my forearm and sighs.

“Can’t you do something about that?” he asks me.

I shake my head. I don’t think I have enough energy left to heal. Nor do I know whether I’ll be able to heal myself. It’s a long shot.

“Oh for god’s sake,” Fifteen says marching towards me. “Man up will you boy wonder?”

After she reaches me she pulls my arm towards her. I watch her as she takes a look at the injury. I assume that she will remove the shrapnel carefully but I’m mistaken. She grabs the shrapnel with her right hand and yanks it out of my arm. Pain shoots down my arm and I clench my teeth as I fall to me knees.

“At least you didn’t scream,” she says. “That one would have.” She points over to Four with a smirk on her face.

“Hey!” he exclaims. “You know just as well as I do that’s a lie!”

I don’t know why but I burst into laughter. I can’t help myself as I convulse in a fit. Everyone begins staring at me as if I’m going mad.

“Is he laughing?” Sky says. “How is he able to laugh with the borrachero in his veins?”

“It’s wearing off,” Nine says. “He’s beginning to feel pain and his emotions are slowly returning. Shame the same can’t be said for his memories.”

“Alright people,” Thirteen shouts while clapping his hands. Everyone falls silent while I tear off some fabric from my cargo pants and wrap up my forearm to stop the bleeding. “As soon as Fifteen removes our transmitters Sanders will be suspicious. We’ll remove Three’s for good measure as well. They won’t be expecting us to attack. We’re going to take advantage of that. I’ll have Seventeen use the VERTIGO SIX to teleport us back to the facility. Whatever you do, don’t kill Sanders or Three. As unfortunate as it sounds, we need them alive.”

“In that case,” Five says. “Let’s get started.”