Out of the Blue

Chapter 15

Ellie started racing out of the spy museum, down the fire escape Tessa behind her. She couldn't believe one of her friends had gotten hurt. How...how could this have happened? She had to remember not to panic but it was hard. Alien creatures had come in and wrecked her home, then they decided to hurt her friends. She didn't even want to think how bad Mar and Wheels were. She hated to think of her best friend being in pain.
"Ellie, everything will be fine, I swear it" Tessa told her.
"How do you know that!" Ellie shouted.
"You are stronger than this; you brought down an alien invasion. The earth will keep turning and maybe not tomorrow but soon everything will be fine." Tessa explained, "but it wouldn't be a good idea to shout if I were you. Just because the portal is gone doesn't mean the Denbori are gone" Tessa added.
"Damn, sorta hoping everything would end like the Avengers." Ellie joked, while Tessa stared confused.
She hopped off the fire escape, and started running down the twisted pavement. St. Mark's wasn't too far away from here. She had passed it a few times walking downtown before. Now she was a little concerned about any remaining Denbori. She didn't want another friend to get hurt; even though she was sure Tessa could handle them by herself. She kept moving, because she was starting to worry about her friends regardless of what Tessa had said. She wanted to make sure they were okay.
Ellie almost tripped over what she thought was rock, but it turned out to be a melted and blackened toy car. She realized it could have been some kid's favorite, and that kid was dead by now. Whether it was a fire or one of the Denbori she didn't know. She tried to hide the vomit that crawled in her throat. She wanted someone to pay for all this terrible suffering, but she wasn't sure who. The Denbori were gone, and she couldn't blame Tessa. Sure she had been the time traveler who pretended to be her roommate, but she had never meant to cause all this.
Ten minutes later, she saw the view of the hospital from a block away. Even from here she could hear the sound of sirens and people crying out in pain and urgency. That only made her stomach twist. She had to get in there now. She ran inside, and saw the white hall crowded with nurses and doctors shouting as patients were coming in by the boatload. There were many of them on gurneys crying out in pain.
She got a text from Mar saying they were up in room 253, and Ellie started moving away from the panic, and found an elevator. She pressed a button and a few minutes later it opened and Ellie stepped in Tessa behind her. Part of the tension inside her was rising as the elevator climbed up. Tessa must have noticed the panic she was feeling and grabbed her hand, which made her feel a bit steadier. Then she heard a noise echoing from Tessa's wrist and she recognized Nasira's voice coming from some sort of radio,
"Tessa we need you, we're sweeping" she heard Nasira say.
"I'll be there soon, the portal is sealed. You can deal with some stragglers. Any sign of Iahn? " Tessa told her.
"No" Nasira answered.
The elevator opened, and Ellie walked into the crystal clean hallway. From there she could still hear the moans and pains of everyone around her even behind closed doors. A sickening feeling rose in her chest as part of her realized she was responsible for all this. She could keep denying it but even though she helped stop it she had also helped cause it maybe even by letting Tessa in her door.
She found room 253, and knocked on the door, a few seconds later Mar opened it. Her friend was shaking, the blue dress she was wearing stained in ashes and dirt. Her hair was a mess, and her eyes were red from crying. The first thing Ellie was hug her, and she could hear Mar crying on her shoulder. She could feel Tessa wrap her arms around her and Mar, too. She was so happy to know that at least Mar was safe. She felt worried about Wheels too. But for now she could take comfort in the fact that they were alive and safe.
Mar let go of her, and walked into the room, Ellie followed her inside. It looked the same as a normal hospital room, she had been inside one once before. Aaron had broken his arm when he was out with his friends when she was fifteen. This was different though, she had known then that Aaron would be okay. She found Wheels lying on a bed, with a bunch of IVs and tubes pumping in him. She could see on his charts he had broken his back. It was so weird seeing her friend like this, it was unsettling her, and she had always seen her friend full of life and energy. Plus she had never seen his full name right in front of her, Simon J. Cresson looked like a stranger with her friend's face as a mask.
"Can't you send Nasira to help him?" Ellie whispered, and Tessa shook her head.
"I can't. I already committed a crime telling you who I am; we can't use our technology for our own benefits only for the good of Agency."
"Then you should go, help out your friends and fix this mess" Ellie told her.
Tessa walked out and part of her was sad to watch her go. She knew her friend could take care of herself but that wasn't an excuse. She could still get hurt, or even worse. The door closed behind her, jarring Ellie thoughts. She sat down next to Mar, and held her hand as she started crying again.
"Mar things will be alright, we should head back you can stay at my place for a while. We can check on Wheels in the morning" Ellie told her.
"Alright" Mar agreed.
It didn't take her long to reach her apartment. As they walked into Georgetown she could still hear the sirens and the smell of smoke was something she couldn't forget. She saw the house right next to Mar's was burnt to cinders and her friend's house was caved in and burnt. She couldn't believe her friends had survived such madness and suffering. Her own little house still covered in ash and dirt but other than that and few broken windows it was fine, that relieved her. Ellie grabbed the keys and walked inside. She realized the power was out, but Ellie still collapsed on the couch, she wanted to wait for Tessa but she was getting tired. She didn't know where Mar was but at least she was somewhere in the apartment. She was just happy to be home and safe for once today.
When Ellie woke up, she checked her IPad and saw that classes were cancelled. She was hoping so, but she wasn't sure when classes would start up again. She stood up, and went to the bathroom she got changed out of her dress, and saw all the bruises and scrapes that had formed in the night. She took a quick shower, and once she finished she got changed into a pink t-shirt and sweats. As she was brushing her hair, she saw a note on the island; Mar had already left to see Wheels. Tessa was still nowhere to be found.
She felt worried where her friend was, especially because she had no way of keeping track of Tessa. Ellie grabbed a bagel and toasted it, as she was eating she looked out the window. The street was still a mess and some of the buildings were ruined. She couldn't believe all this destruction had happened in a single night.
She had finished her bagel, so Ellie grabbed a broom from her closet and some sneakers and went outside. She started cleaning up the ash and debris from her street as well as the cracked chips of pavement. Still being early morning the sun wasn't beating down on her, which was a relief. Her foot crunched on broken glass, and she found plenty of that all around her. Still she kept sweeping around her, making a medium sized pile.
She heard footsteps, and looked up to see other kids from the campus. Some of them were carrying brooms and buckets, others dustpans. After a half hour, maybe an hour other people from the community had joined even Ms. Calvarez. With all the help she got, some of the street was clear, but it still looked like crap. It would take a lot of time before things started to get back to normal again.
At eleven, Ellie took a quick break and sat down on the edge of the cracked sidewalk. She recognized one of the baristas from Brew of Rights passing out Styrofoam cups of water. She heard the sound of someone walking towards her, and she looked up. She didn't recognize the guy, but his shirt told him he was from GU. He was a really tall African-American guy with short hair, and brown eyes. He handed her one of the cups of water.
"Thanks" Ellie told him, though she wasn't sure who he was.          
"You're Ellie right? The girl who brought in cake for that French Revolution presentation?" he asked.
"Yeah. I'm sorry it's been a tough couple days, who are you again?' Ellie asked.
"Chris, Chris Hawkins, I'm in your calc class" Chris remind her.
Ellie didn't remember him; he sorta gave off the impression of that kid who hung out in the back vibe. She could relate, she had been like that for a while before she got to know Mar and Lauren. But he must have been in her freshman history class if he remembered the cake she brought in for that presentation. That had given her a few extra points, which was always good thinking outside the box and all.
"Oh right" Ellie realized remembering him. "Well, what's up Chris?" Ellie asked.
"Not much, just had a crazy week" Chris told her, and Ellie laughed. "Hey, do you think GU will still have that spring trip if its dealing with all this?" Chris asked.
"What trip?" Ellie asked.
"You know, the trip to the British Museum, you have to write a paper to get in and stuff" Chris answered.
"Really? I'll have to check it out" Ellie said.
She didn't have time to think of getting out of DC though; there was still so much she had to do. She grabbed her broom again and started sweeping again. She was starting to get sweaty as she worked and it was getting closer to noon. She kept working though, because it felt good to do something to make a difference. She kept working for another half hour and her arms were starting to feel sore. At least she thought it was a half hour, she didn't have her phone on her though, and she didn't want it to get ruined if she dropped it.
She could hear more people echoing on the broken pavement, and she looked up to see Mar and Wheels. Her friend was trying her best to wheel her boyfriend but the screwed up pavement made it difficult to say the least. Ellie ran over to them broom in hand, and despite all the pain she was happy to see her friends alive.
"How's everything going?" Mar asked.
"Fine" Ellie answered.
"Hey Ellie, look who's got a brand new set of wheels" Simon joked from in his chair.
"Here, I'll help you guys get into my place" Ellie said.
"Where's Cookie?" Wheels asked.
"I don't know" Ellie answered, and she could see some apprehension on Mar's face.
She felt worried too, though she still clung to the fact that Tessa would come back in her own time. She hoped it would be soon though; she didn't want to think about her friend getting hurt even though the Denbori were gone. The three of them walked into her apartment, and Ellie grabbed some waters for them while Mar sat on the couch with Wheels next to her. When she came back with the cups, Mar smiled when she did.
"So what are we going to do now?" Mar asked.
"Get our life back together I guess" Ellie answered, she tried to make it sound like it was easy but she was sure it was going to be hard.
"Once classes start up again, I'm sure things will get back to normal" Mar added.
"Well, now we have plenty of time to work on stuff last minute," Wheels teased.
"You guys can stay here by the way, I can pull out the air mattress we can make it work" Ellie added.
"Thank you so much" Mar told her.
That reminded her that despite an alien invasion, Ellie still had a paper to do. She cursed, because she was still so tired and sore. So she decided to push it off for another day while she got the rest of her stuff back in order. Besides the library wouldn't be open and god know's how bad of a hit the rest of the city had taken. She wasn't sure if the library of congress or any place would be open. She was definitely out of a job that was sure, so she'd have to go back to job hunting and hit the books at the same time.

Tessa raced down a side street with one of the Denbori right behind her. The second spare blaster she had died a half hour ago. Plus no had ever told her it was a bad idea to fight of a horde of them on a narrow bridge above the Potomac. She felt stupid for losing her saber, but she reminded herself that she was still learning. She might still be learning secrets to the job when she was an old lady, if she even lived that long. She knocked down one of the metal trash cans in her path, hoping it would slow down the creature. Then she thought of a idea.
She grabbed the lid, and tossed it like a Frisbee, smacking the creature to the ground. It wasn't the most original idea but at least it did the job. Tessa walked over to the creature and decapitated it. Once she did, she felt a crash coming on her, she had been on a sweep since midnight she felt exhausted. She needed to sleep for a few hours, or days maybe. She looked down, and saw her temptor flashed with blue light, a sign that it was alive. Regardless of what she felt at least she could say she got the job done.
"So how's it been?" She heard someone ask.
Tessa turned around and saw that it was Teo Korzha, she recognized him. He had been her brother's friend since the first day Iahn had joined the Academy. She had been ten years old, but she remembered him, he had become almost like a second brother to her. She walked over to the end of the alley till she faced him. Her brother was still missing in action, and as his basic second in command, Teo had taken up leadership of their small group. There were still some other Agents besides her brother's team. Everyone was busy maintaining order and secrecy there was little question to Teo's command.
"It's going great," Tessa answered, trying to hide her exhaustion. "Have you gotten any more reports about my brother?" she asked.
"No, he's gone" Teo answered.
Tessa sheathed her saber back at her side, and looked around. There was nothing to be found, none of the creatures in sight. Part of her felt pleased, but she knew despite the drop in numbers there were still Denbori scattered across the DC area. God knows what would happen if one of them dropped their guard, and it escaped into 21st century America. She had to keep working till she dropped; she was the one who caused this she had to finish it.
"But the Denbori are gone, we should start thinking about going home. You've got your temptor working again, and even if you didn't the Beagle took take everyone home" Teo told her.
The thought of going home made something sink in her stomach only to rise up again in a constant somersault. Ever since she had been sent back into the Vortex all she had wanted was to go home. But that had been before she had met Ellie and started to have a life outside of the complexity of the Agency. The back of her mind had known the risks of doing this. She had abandoned all thought of regulation, maybe because she wanted a chance at normalcy. It was a chance to live her life without her brother breathing down her neck.
"I can give you a half hour to decide, we'll be using the Reflection Pool as a launchpad" Teo said.
"Thanks" Tessa responded.
It took a half hour walk to get back to Georgetown, between the cracked streets and traffic and tons of other chaos. Cops were trying their best to regulate traffic, and there were still sporadic fires. She couldn't even imagine how many people had died these last few days. The thought made her feel sick. Georgetown had taken a major hit. A huge hoard of the Denbori had attacked there, searching for her not even caring how many lives they took in the process. The streets torn up, buildings collapsed and countless people hurt.
She walked by and saw that the Brew of Life ruined, the windows cracked and broken. Part of her hoped that was the only thing wrong with the building because she knew how much Ellie and her friends loved it. Plus they had good coffee. She would miss all the cobblestone streets, it was almost like a second home to her. As she walked on Ellie's street she saw how much damage had affected it. The street was ruined, and half the buildings toppled or burnt, she recognized one of the burnt houses as Mar's. Thank god Ellie's was okay. She saw countless people working to clean up the area with brooms and buckets. If she could she would help them, but she was too tired and she needed to find Ellie.
She knocked on the door, and then found it unlocked. She opened it, and went inside she could see some boxes scattered around and she wasn't sure what they were for. When she stepped into the living room she found Ellie at her computer and Wheels was by the couch on his phone. If he was around she was sure Mar was here somewhere. After a moment, Wheels looked up and saw her.
"Hey Tessa... jeez you look like shit" Wheels told her.
"What a nice welcome" she remarked.
Then Ellie looked up and rose to her feet as Tessa peeled off her stained and ripped jacket. She looked around and saw some more boxes scattered around, and then she saw Mar working in the kitchen sorting stuff. She understood what was going on. Of course Ellie would offer what little accommodations she had to her friends. She also knew that there was no way this place meant to hold four people. It was almost as a clear as a target that despite whatever Ellie said her time was up.
"Hey, are you okay?" Ellie asked.
"I'm fine" Tessa answered.
"Look I know things are gonna be tight..."
"I said I'm fine. I need to take a shower, and then I need to meet up with everyone at the Reflection Pool" she told Ellie.
"I can take you..." Ellie started to say.
"I can manage" Tessa interrupted.
Tessa went to the bathroom and stripped out of her tattered uniform. When she got in the shower she could see all the cuts and bruises that had formed in the last few days. She wasn't sure if some of them were from last night or today. The hot water made her drowsy when she thought it would have the opposite effect. She wanted to be able to sleep, but she would have to wait till she got back to her quarters at the Agency.
Ten minutes later she finished in the shower. After she wrapped a towel around herself she saw that her uniform was neatly folded and washed. She hadn't even seen Ellie come she had been so lost in her thoughts. Plus there was the steam that covered her like a fog. She got changed and towel dried her hair, because there was still no power in the house. She looked around for a moment and pressed a button on her temptor. A hidden compartment opened, revealing a small device only about the size of her fingernail. It was an electrosonic concealing device. No one could say she wasn't prepared for goodbyes.
She knew that if she turned it on she would be breaking regulation, but she didn't care. She had already screwed up so many times; why not add it to the pyre. If she could do one thing right, she wanted to keep Ellie safe, even it meant acting selfishly. She turned it on wave of blue light encircled the room. She knew it would affect the entire house, though it would be near invisible to someone like Ellie and her friends. If she was leaving, Ellie would need all the help she could get.
When Tessa walked out of the bathroom, she saw nothing had changed. Ellie was standing by the door though eating half a sandwich. Mar was at the kitchen making some more. Wheels was by her side though, eating one of them. She was starting to feel hunger couple with her tiredness, but she knew she had to get going. She didn't want to be late meeting up with everyone at the Reflection Pool. Her temptor had just started up again with little power; she would need the help of the others to get things going.
"Hey, you want anything Tessa?" Mar asked.
"No, thanks though" Tessa told her.
"So ready to get going?" Ellie asked.
"I'm heading out on my own, I told you I know where I'm going" Tessa explained.
"But see, you don't have to" Ellie told her.
Before she could stop, Ellie looped her arm around her own and smiled. Her purse was in her other hand. How that thing survived Tessa would never know. She didn't want to admit that the smiling was contagious. She and Ellie walked back outside, the scenery around hadn't changed much since she saw it. It would take a while for things to get back to normal around here. Soon they were out of the small town; she could see the landscape molding into the city, albeit a broken one. She wanted to tell Ellie that things would be fine, and that everything would be the same, but she didn't want to lie to her. She knew what was coming next and it made any words she was going to say die in her throat.
Sooner than she realized she was standing near the Reflection Pool. Even from this distance she could Teo's team lined up next to the pool. The Lincoln Memorial was facing them and the Washington Monument was at their backs. Seeing the obelisk brought back a flood of memories to her, as she remembered better times. The quiet peace before the Denbori attacked, before Ellie had known the truth about her.
"I'm going to go with them" Tessa said.
"I figured, and you're sure I can't say anything to change your mind" Ellie asked.
"I don't belong in this time Ellie; I need to go back home no matter how much I may not want to" Tessa told her.
"Well what if there's another alien attack huh? You're the only one I know who can make kicking ass look easy" Ellie argued.
"Trust me there won't be any more attacks because I brought them here, don't you understand that. If I leave then everyone can be safe and humanity can go back on track" Tessa countered.
"Fine. Doesn't mean I like it. I'm gonna miss you, you know. I'll never look at blenders the same way again" Ellie teased, and Tessa smiled.
The next thing she knew, she was hugging her and Ellie was doing the same. She knew had to let go but at the same time she didn't want to. She quickly sneaked, the concealer into Ellie's purse where she wouldn't find it. The moment ended and Tessa let go of her friend. Ellie waved, and she did the same. Then she turned around and started walking to the others. Each of them was clad in the familiar grey and blue uniforms of Agents that looked so out of place in this battered capital. Teo was in the center of the line that morphed into a circle. She found herself between Kaneo and Nasira, who were outstretching their hands towards her.
"Ready to go home?" Nasira asked.
"Yeah, it's time" Tessa answered.