Frost And Flame

7

Frank made the choice to go. He understood the stakes. I can respect him for that. But it doesn't help me feel better in the slightest. We were able to rescue Søl Gunner. But barely. The event was canceled after a gunfight broke out. The would-be assassin, who looked like a little girl, was a synthetic.  I knew this, of course, since Jake warned me.

The most concerning part was that they weren't trying to take her alive. They wanted Søl Gunner dead. And the little girl got away. Not that I think she was really a little girl. After some other agents got the streamer to safety, I searched for Jenny and eventually found her. I wish we had time for her to meet her hero, but we don't. We need to leave because we've been burned. Silver has eyes everywhere and won't hesitate to kill anyone in the agency given the chance.

I hoist her over my shoulder as I call in a ride, ditching our own car at a 7-11 and hopping into the back of the jeep we have waiting. She stirs, which is a good sign.

"Didn't you pick up the magma guy?" Our driver asks as we peel out. I shake my head.

"Silver got him." I grit my teeth behind my helmet.

"Slade, Im not sure if we can keep up with him anymore." He confides. I sigh. I don't want to agree with him, but he might be right. He's been sending more people out and taking more in. At this rate, we won't be able to stop him.

"Maybe not. But there's no point in stopping. If we save one out of every dozen he goes after, then we saved one, and that's something." I push Jenny's Hair from her face. A bruise is beginning to form on her chin.

"Neptune...." The driver starts but doesn't finish. I nod.

"I know. The kid was protecting was caught. He's probably beating himself up over it." I pull out my phone to check the security cameras from the convention.

"No, slate. Hes... dead." The driver shakily informs me, and I sit up.

"What?? No! How?" I demand. The driver goes on to talk about an assailant who looks like a little girl in a black cloak who can desolve metal into a pile of rusty dust. This sounds terrifyingly familiar.

We really can't keep up with this. If silver was in the field still, we'd be obliterated. Jake still doesn't know what's wrong with him, but Silver doesn't leave his base for health reasons. He's sick. And I thank God he is because if he wasn't..... If silver was still fighting, then Neptune would be the lucky one.