Frost And Flame

23

As the radio signal turns to static, I can't help feeling a twinge of guilt. Jake is probably dead already. But he did his job and now I have to do mine. He wasn't a friend or a coworker. I wouldn't even say he was on our side. But the longer this game of cat and mouse continues, the more people are caught in the crossfire. Some are more innocent and some like Jake. But the great equalizer does just that. It doesn't discriminate, and it comes for everyone eventually.

I type Peanut butter into the laptop he gave me, and the screen comes alive with data. Exact longitude and latitude coordinates to what I assume is Silvers location, along with several grainy surveillance feeds.

I pull out my phone and quickly make a call.

"Im sending you coordinates. Our informite was burned, we dont have much time. This could be our only chance."

The agent, on the other end doesn't say a word before hanging up the line. All the people who have been taken over the years. We're getting them out. The boy with the diamond hand, that man with platinum skin, the carbon elemental I lost last year, and Frank.

Of course, we all know why Frank is there. And if it comes down to it, between him and us,the choice is easy. I don't want to lose anyone else to this sick cycle. But if we lose one more to end it all, I could live with myself.

"Slate? You ok?" Jenny asks. I shake out of it and look down at her with a nod.

I hate not being in the strike team. It's not that I have something against being support. Tech is one of my specialties, even. But I hate knowing what is going on and feeling responsible for anything that goes wrong.

The only reason I'm here is because we have reason to believe that there's a synthetic girl who can devolve metal. Perhaps her abilities cause corrosion or rust. Either way, it's stupid to send me in.

I set Jakes laptop on my desk and watch all 8 monitors, each with live camera feeds and data running across the screen. We have 16 of our best agents going in on speedboats, with support having already been deployed by air. Meanwhile, in Silvers base, there are sirens sounding and flashing red lights in every corridor. I track thugs in suits as they move through the compound, transporting elemental prisoners. He may not be our top priority, but I can't find Frank. Nor Jake. Or Silver, for that matter.

"I've counted 32 hostiles throughout the compound. I have not located Silver." I inform the raid captain.

"I copy. Let us know when the target shows his ugly mug." He responds curtly over the radio.

"Will do." I reply in turn.

"Tyler. The second wave of reinforcement is heading out in 5. Im leaving." Jenny calls from the door.

"Don't do something stupid. Play it safe." I instruct her, briefly looking away from the screen to say goodbye. She smiles softly.

"Whatever you say." She chuckles with a shake of her head. I have no idea what THATS supposed to mean, but alrighty then. I turn back to the screen quickly. I haven't missed much, if anything. Everyone is still operating under manageable chaos. Except the idiot in a top hat who's running around with a bazooka launcher. He's not holding it properly by any means, so I wouldn't even consider him a threat. If everything else is in orderly chaos, then he is chaos itself.

I see a flash of that unnatural bright red, and my eyes flick to the far left monitor. I swear I saw him...

My eyes track other people through that camera to other areas before once again seeing just a glimpse of Frank.

I keep following those glimpses as he moves lower and lower in the bunker until I finally get a good look at him going into the deepest room in the base. A cement warehouse of sorts. And I finally see why he was moving so strangly too. So carefully. There, with a knife to Frank's back, is Silver. I've found the target.