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Episode Eleven: Friend or Foe (Part 1)

Episode 11: Friend or Foe (Part 1)

I peeked out from behind a thick tree putting a pair of binoculars to my eyes. From my position I could see the base and the Arsenals patrolling it. We had made the long trip from the Jurassic World group to the Marvel group and were now on a scouting party. It was nearly nightfall, the shadows setting in around us, giving us cover. We were two-hundred yards from the base in a wooded area, on a hill, inside a park.

Skylor was right next to me behind the tree, an arrow fitted into her bow. Ty was lying on the ground looking through the scope of a sniper rifle. The others had stayed back at our roughly thrown together camp site.

"Looks like two Arsenals are at each entrance," Ty observed quietly, taking a second to scribble something on a piece of paper then returning to the rifle. "There's got to be more inside."

I lowered my binoculars and leaned against the tree. "We need a closer look," I whispered.

"We can't risk it," Ty said.

"I'll go," Skylor whispered, lowering her bow. "They won't see me."

Ty thought about it for a moment. "I don't know..."

"We need to know what's inside and she can do it," I agreed with Skylor.

He was quiet for a moment. "Fine," He said. He shifted his weight and leaned on his side to look at her and I. "You get in and get out. You got me? Don't try anything funny."

Skylor nodded as she pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I'll be careful." She stood up and propped her bow and quiver against the tree. "I'm going to leave my bow, I don't want it to slow me down." She took a step forward before I stopped her.

"Wait," I said, grabbing her arm. "You shouldn't go unarmed." I quickly reached for my dagger and placed it into her hand. She gave me a stiff nod and stuck it into her boot.

"See you in a bit," She said before her body vanished and she was off.

I slid down along the tree into a sitting position. "I'm still not used to her going invisible," I said.

"Yeah, it is pretty weird to see." He smiled.

"So, how long do you think she will take?" I asked.

"I'll give her twenty minutes." He looked through his scope, watching the Arsenals. "If she's not back by then something probably went wrong."

We waited twenty minutes and she still hadn't returned. The sun had sunk below the tall walls and only a faint light came from the west. I was beginning to worry, as was Ty. Not to mention we had both grown slightly impatient and our legs needed to stretch. I stood up not able to take it anymore, he followed suit shortly after and joined me near the tree for cover.

"Where is she?" I asked, my voice laced with worry. I looked up at Ty, he shrugged and was about to say something when he snapped to attention.

"Did you hear that?" He asked quietly. I started to shake my head, but he shouted before I could. "Get down!" He pushed me full force to the ground then crouched beside me as a bullet flew past us into the tree. He maneuvered his body so he was shielding me then drew and charged his pistol. "Stay down," he hissed quietly.

He pointed in the direction the shot had been fired from, so I knew where to keep my eyes on. But in the dim light it was hard to see anything at all. We crawled away from the tree we had been hiding behind to a cluster of large rocks. Once we were covered I took my katana from its sheath.

Someone shouted at us from a couple feet away. "Drop your weapons and no one has to get hurt!"

"Drop your bloody weapons, mate!" Ty called back. "You're the one who fired first. How about we all just come out, no weapons, hands where we all can see 'em." He threw his gun out into the open where they could see it. I gave him a confused look. What was he doing? We didn't even know how many of them there were. "Trust me," he whispered. "Just be ready."

He raised both his hands over his head and above the rocks then gestured for me to do the same. I slowly rose, hands up in the air. I saw the tip of a gun peeking out behind a tree in front of us, a face right behind it, just barely visible.

"Don't move," he called. He sounded like an older teenager, maybe seventeen. He came out from behind the tree, gun still pointed at us. He motioned with two of his fingers, calling the others into view. Three other teens appeared and one of them switched on a flashlight, pointing it at us. When the leader saw that we weren't trying anything funny he lowered his gun and brushed his dark red hair out of his blue eyes. "Who are you two and what are you doing here?"

"I'm Ty," Ty started. "And this is Sharky." He nodded at me.

"Sharky, is it?" He said. He wagged his gun at me. "Drop your sword."

"Katana," I hissed back. I hadn't dropped my katana earlier, only resheathed it. I carefully pulled it out and laid it on the floor. As I rose, Ty shot me a look. I knew what he meant. Just as I finished standing I planted my feet firmly and extended my hands, shooting ice at the leader's gun then at his feet. Ty lunged forward knocking one of the others to the ground, grabbing his gun then pulled the kid into a headlock and pointed the gun at one of the others. I shot a cold blast at the last one, unarming her.

Ty gave the red haired boy a cold stare. "Now it's your turn to talk. Who are you and what are ya doing here?"

The boy knew he was defeated. He hung his head and looked down at his frozen feet. "My name is James Rogers. These are my friends and fellow resistance fighters. We're here because this is our home and we're going to take it back." A flash of anger appeared in his eyes.

My mouth dropped open, as did Ty's, as we heard his name. "Not James Rogers as in Steve Rogers' son," I gawked like a stupid fangirl. "I am so sorry for freezing your feet." My cheeks burned bright red as I stared blankly at him. Ty frowned and rolled his eyes, but I barely noticed.

"Yeah, uh," James swallowed. "That's me. Would you mind, you know, letting me out of this. I'm sorry for almost killing you," he grinned sheepishly.

"Oh, of course," I muttered, stepping forward.

"So what are you guys doing here? You definitely aren't from around here," James said as I started removing the ice from his shoes.

"We're from Safe Haven," Ty answered bluntly, seeming rather annoyed with the boy.

"Well in that case I really, truly am sorry about that little incident." James rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "But I thought your block-head leader wasn't sending a team out here. If I had known--" He cut off as I stifled a laugh and Ty crossed his arm.

"You just so happen to be talking to that block-head leader," I said, finally breaking down and laughing so hard my sides hurt. I finished up unfreezing James and he looked at me with embarrassment written all over his face.

"I'm sorry," he gave Ty a small smile. "Are you here to help us take back this base?"

"Yeah," Ty replied, his face set in an extremely annoyed look.

James' expression changed from worried to completely relieved. "Thank you. You have no idea how much it means to me," He gestured to his three friends. "These are the only avatars I could get to join me. The arsenals scared everyone else. Are you the only two who came?"

"No," I said, and then told him that there were four others. As if on cue Skylor appeared a couple feet away from us, next to a tree. I could just make out her silhouette in the dark. She was carrying her bow and Ty's rifle, which we had completely forgotten about.

"Hey guys," She said. "What's going on?