Estranged [Completed]

Diligence

Once outside, Kalei dialed Marley. The two had been back on good terms since she returned to SWORDE. When she passed on Terin's frat-boy description of Xamic, Marley got all excited about building a profile and pressed her to ask Terin for more information. Terin wouldn't talk any more on the subject, but then Kalei had passed the phone over to Erit and the two had a nice long chat while Kalei left to meditate.

Otherwise, he had been a valuable asset to their investigation. Since SWORDE didn't have the manpower to track down all the leads in the city, Marley usually tracked the information down for them and sent out BOLOs whenever SWORDE needed it. Kalei always tried to return the favor. More than a couple cases had been cleared off his desk, thanks to an anonymous video file.

"Hey, Marley. It's me. I've got word Xamic is collecting his people into some sort of barracks. Any chance you can keep an ear out and let me know if you get a location?"

"Sure thing. Any word on Lecia?"

"No. I'm guessing that means no luck on your end either?"

"Nope." Marley sighed. "Damn. Y'know, this could've been a hell of a lot easier if Lecia had been a normal girl with a normal job. But nope, not our Lecia. I have reports of her spending time in every corner of the city, with no rhyme or reason. Even her contacts at the University had no idea where she could be. I'm telling you, Kalei, this case is a nightmare. I've tracked down every lead I can think of, and I still don't even know when she disappeared."

"Yeah, I know. But we can't give up on her."

Marley sighed. "I haven't given up yet. I just wonder if it's already too late, y'know?"

Kalei rubbed her head. "Yeah... Anyway, anything new on Xamic?"

She heard Marley's chair squeak as he shifted positions. "Not really. We haven't had any new Xamic-related attacks since last Friday. I've been giving myself a headache trying to figure out what the hell he's been up to, but now that you've mentioned this barracks thing, maybe he's had his hands full with that?"

"Let's hope so."

There was a brief silence. Kalei found herself thinking about the Untouched who had been hauled off to the new Tusic barracks. "Well, I wouldn't say you have had no 'Xamic' attacks. Apparently, he's been kidnapping Untouched and bringing them back to the barracks for his men... make sure you watch yourself, Marley."

Marley was silent for a moment. He quietly replied, "I always do." Kalei heard him take a deep breath before he continued, "So, any ideas on how to take him down when he exposes his hide again?"

"Other than tying his ankle to a rocket and launching his ass into space? Not a clue."

Marley laughed. "Okay, well, if you come up with anything better than that, be sure to give me a call."

"Of course. I'll talk to you later, Marley."

"Later."

Kalei returned to the computer room and sat down at her usual terminal in the corner. Walker now sat on the opposite side of Erit, working on his security re-writes for Terin.

While Kalei waited for the computer to cue up the latest surveillance feeds, the image of Xamic getting shot at E-night buzzed through her head, gnawing at her like an unfinished puzzle. Turning to Erit, she said, "You know what? Maybe you can tell me, Erit: how does Xamic do that thing where he takes a bullet to the head and laughs it off?"

Erit chuckled. "I've never heard it put that way before. It's nothing too incredible, really. Quite simply, he has a lot of darkness."

"That's not much of an explanation. C'mon, Mister Professor, give me the full write-up."

Erit made one more click on whatever he was working on and turned to face Kalei. "Truly? You're giving me full leave to lecture? Well, I suppose I'd better start talking before you reconsider. To begin, you know that the darkness is the energy behind healing your wounds, correct?"

"Yeah." Kalei was mildly offended he had to ask.

"Well, the greater the amount of darkness you have within you, the faster those wounds heal. Of course, if you don't have a lot of darkness, you can still take advantage of this concept by concentrating your darkness around the wound. It's quite handy, really."

Kalei was mildly surprised. "Why the hell was Estranged First Aid 101 not included in basic training?"

Erit returned to his computer and typed a few commands as he replied, "Yes, well, we still consider it to be 'advanced' training, as there are some other applications for the technique that could be quite disastrous in the wrong hands."

Kalei raised an eyebrow. "Such as?"

Erit fell silent for a moment as he finished his typing, then he turned back to Kalei again. Using his hands to animate, he said, "One particularly useful application is to use the darkness to enhance performance. By concentrating the darkness around certain muscle groups, strength and agility will see drastic improvement. Run faster, jump higher; anything you can think of. I saw the reports from your run with Xamic through the train yard, and I can assure you, Xamic's ability to vault a railcar does not come naturally."

Kalei mulled over the idea. It sounded like something out of a superhero movie, but she had to admit, she was intrigued.

Erit returned to his work as he said, "I can see you are considering trying it out for yourself. Feel free. It really is an invigorating experience, and one I am sure you will find quite useful."

Kalei was eager to take Erit up on the offer, but she knew Terin wouldn't be pleased to find out she was shirking her duties to go play. Hell, she wouldn't be pleased. People needed her right now. So, she turned back to her computer and moved the mouse to banish the screen saver. She would have time to try it out the next time she went to the roof to meditate.

But when her computer woke up, she found several of the windows blank. She gave her monitor a smack to the frame. "Some of my cams aren't coming up."

"Don't do that!" Walker scowled at her. "Some cams will be going off and on while I rewrite the systems."

Kalei dropped her hand away from the screen and replied, "But I thought the security systems weren't on the network. How can it interfere with the cameras?"

Walker growled at his computer. "It's a mess. Don't ask."