Flashf0rward

Chapter 29: Search and Rescue

Ivy

Sitting in that room, I could tell that none of us wanted to speak. Or rather, none of us knew what to say. Katrina had calmed down after running into the village and telling us the news, and Wren had taken her along with Sparrow into the town hall so no one could know what had happened, at least not yet. The last thing we wanted was a mass panic on our hands.

"Why would Jude let them take him? I thought he would have been able to hold them back more than that." Sparrow said, a confused look on her face. Wren shook his head. "They weren't after him. They were after Katie. He didn't want them having a metahuman on their side, so he sacrificed himself."

I looked at Wren. "But isn't that just as bad? Like he said, Jude has a ton of information on us and Sanctuary that could be disastrous if it fell into Matthias's hands." Wren sighed. "I've known Jude for a while now. He's strong. He won't break, I know he will. But you're right, Ivy. He can't last forever, and judging by what you said Matthias's abilities are, we might have even less time than we think."

The room was quiet again. Then, Katrina broke the silence. "I should have pulled the trigger. I shouldn't have let them take him. Even if it cost me..." She didn't finish. Wren stared at her, then kneeled down next to her on the chair and looked into her eyes. "Jude sacrificed himself so you could live. You did the right thing, I promise."

Seeing the two of them together, I could sense the connection they had. I was glad Katrina had Wren to help her. "In any case, what's our next move? Obviously this is Matthias's way of inciting something with us. But why? He's always talking about not doing something unless it's provoked. So why just kidnap Jude for no reason?" I asked.

Wren thought to himself for a moment. "He wants war. Regardless of who starts it or not. He believes that we need to be weeded out. We either join him or die. He sees us as a threat, and he clearly thinks that he can use Jude as a bargaining chip so we can surrender with minimal bloodshed." I grit my teeth. "Like hell we are. We're getting him back."

Sparrow looked at me. "Ivy, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but it's too dangerous." Katrina suddenly stood up, wiping her eyes. "No. Ivy's right. We've sat around and done nothing for too long. If we just stand by and let Matthias push us around, we deserve to be taken over." I looked at Katrina, surprised by her sudden reaction. Clearly this whole event had taken a toll on her.

Now looking unsure, Sparrow turned to my brother. "Wren, you have the final say on this." Wren looked at the three of us, then placed his hands in his pockets, looking down. "Jude is...important. We need him in order to keep this village and these people safe. And if Matthias thinks we're going to roll over easily...he's dead wrong."

A smirk came across my face. "Good to have you back, big bro." Wren looked up at me, and gave a small smile in return. "Never left, Vee." Even Sparrow and Katrina's spirits seemed to be lifted. "So, what's the plan, exactly?" Sparrow asked. Katrina looked at Sparrow. "Well, what if you go in, speed through the camp, find Jude, and get him out without anyone noticing?"

Sparrow shook her head. "I'm fast, but I'm not that fast. And besides, if I don't know the layout of the camp, I could spend much longer than I should trying to find Jude. I could get myself shot." Wren nodded. "Sparrow's right. This shouldn't be a snatch and grab. These people are dangerous, and we're going to need those with extensive combat experience to go in."

A thought crossed my mind. "What about Connor?" Wren looked at me. "You're kidding, right?" I gave him a bit of a glare. "Hey, I spent almost a week with the guy. He saved my life more than once, and his powers are more than capable of going against these guys. He can handle himself, and anyone else."

Wren stared at me for a moment, then sighed. "Fine. But on one condition. Someone goes with him to make sure he doesn't cause trouble." I looked at Wren. "Well, you've already got someone with that qualification." Wren opened his mouth to say something, then Katrina interjected. "She did say she spent time with Connor. And Wren, she can handle herself. You know that she can."

Looking at Katrina, Wren appeared to ponder this for a moment, then looked back at me with serious eyes. "You go in, get Jude, and get out. That simple." I nodded. "That simple." Running his fingers through his black hair in a stressed manner, Wren looked at me. "You better be right about this."

Sparrow spoke up. "This is a good idea and all, but there's still one major problem. We have no idea where they're keeping Jude. The camp is large, about a quarter acre larger than Sanctuary. Dozens of tents and buildings, not to mention they're all crowded behind a large brick wall with several armed guards. Even if we did get in, finding Jude would be difficult due to the fact that we have no idea where he is."

She brought up a good point, and it brought my whole idea to a standstill. Before I could think of a Plan B, there was a knock at the door. Frowning, Wren walked up to it and opened it up, expecting one of the guards. Instead, however, there was Ms. Norman, the lady from the daycare, and a familiar Asian girl in a hoodie.

"Yuko?" I said as I stood up. Ms. Norman looked at Wren. "I'm sorry for interrupting, but she said she needed to see Ivy as soon as she could." Yuko walked up to me. "That military guy, the one that I met when I first came here...he's captured, right?" The four of us raised our eyebrows in surprise. "How'd you know that?" Sparrow asked.

Yuko walked inside the meeting room and pointed in the direction of Matthias's camp. "Ever since they came here, whenever I try to sleep, it was like I could hear voices in my head. At first I thought I was going crazy or something, but then I realized, I was hearing the technology from their camp. I was listening in on their radios."

Wren looked at me. "Remember when we went to talk to Matthias? Some of the guards had handheld radios that they used to communicate." I nodded, and Yuko continued. "There's only a few of them, but I could hear everything they were saying through it. It's like they were speaking right into a microphone inside of my head. And today, I heard what happened in the forest."

Katrina walked forwards. "So you know where they took Jude?" Yuko nodded. "Roughly...I can't get that good of a fix on it, but if I got closer, I could probably dial in on him more." I looked at Wren. "We can take her. Use her as kind of like a human GPS." Wren looked at Yuko. "Would you be willing to do something dangerous if it meant helping our friend?" Yuko looked at Wren, and a large toothy grin spread across her face.