Elites Chapter III: New Empire Rising

II

Turner's Apartment, Downtown Chicago

Walking down the street, Amber was causing quite the scene. She had been injured, and was walking back home. Many people asked if she was ok, and she just insisted she was fine and kept walking. A few blocks away from the apartment, Sam came along and saw Nat slowly making her way back. "Oh my God! What happened to you? Where's Wade?" She grabbed Natalie and helped her back up to the apartment. When they got back, Nat quickly made her way to the computer and plugged her mask in to it. Sam quickly grabbed her first aid kit and walked to Nat. "What happened out there? And where is Wade?" Nat slowly responded. "It was a setup. They got him. They knew we were here, and exactly what they were doing. We walked right into their trap. I'm trying to run a vocal scan to see if I can identify the people who caught him." Sam paused, trying to take in everything that happened. "We have to find him! I don't know what I'll do without Wade. He's all I have." Nat quickly replied "We will find him, but first we have to find out who took him." Natalie had just hacked into a leaked IATO file containing all of Endgame's active and former members. While searching, she saw each member of the Elites on the list; each of their statuses had been marked Missing in Action, while Sapphire's status read Terminated in blue writing. When Nat replayed her audio from when she saw the man, she finally got a match in the vocal patterns. The computer then opened a page that read: Col. Jordan Barnes-Endgame/IATO field soldier. Status: Unknown. When Nat clicked on the audio link and recognized the voice immediately. "Oh no." Natalie said. "He's an Endgame soldier, presumed dead when Project Endgame failed. But they never found a body. And the worst part is, we can't pursue him legally. Cleaning up this mess falls under the jurisdiction of the CIA and the Elites, they've been tracking down active Endgame members ever since they were exposed. Our last major victory was from when Director Liam Pirce was assassinated, as well as when the Society of Rogues, a sub-group of Endgame collapsed." Sam replied "So? Maybe we should call them for help. Or go to them." Nat replied "No. I can't do that. For the past 5 months, I've had to work extremely hard to step out of their shadow. Last thing I need is to have them hovering over my shoulder, nitpicking. Especially after my last misadventure." Nat rolled around in her chair and said "I just can't go back. Not now." Samantha decided to sit right next to her and said "So what if you've messed up in the past? You've changed. You're not who you were when you left. If you explain yourself, I'm sure they'll understand. You need them, and they need you." Sam then got up, and pulled a white suit with a rainbow stripe out of the floorboard. "If you won't go, I'll do it myself." She then walked towards the door and said "This is me, walking out the door, on my own. I'm really leaving." Nat stared at Sam and said "Are you trying to guilt trip me? You don't even know where you're going. But since you're so convinced, I'll do it. We'll find Guardian and then we're on the first flight home." "I knew you would come around" Samantha replied. The two then got their gear and left the apartment. They boarded the first flight to Miami. They were headed home.