To Be Like the Guardians

Part 2: The Protecting, Chapter 3: Not There

Whisper sat down against the thick trunk of a tree in a park, a plain grassy area with a couple of slides and a swingset. Her legs had walked so much that they felt numb, and it hadn't been very long since their last break, either. She still hadn't found Beatrice and Fracture. No one she had asked knew them.

Part of her was beginning to give up. Hadn't she survived without them for years? The part of her that had longed for her past had shrunk over time. Life just wasn't the same anymore.

But the yearning part was still great enough that she wanted to find Beatrice and Fracture. They were a part of her family, the only ones left alive. They would want to see her, too. If they knew she was here on Earth, at least Beatrice would search for her, if Beatrice still remembered Whisper.

Still, the Prophecy Person considered going back to the headquarters and checking up on Mallory. She felt like she almost had a duty to do so. However, he couldn't get into much trouble over this short of an amount of time. It took time for people to fall into sin, so she at least had a couple more days.

She got up off the ground and kept walking, hoping North had found the solution to his problem with his globe by now.

*}{/*}{/*}{/*

Beth sat in her car, waiting. Everything was dark aside from the lights in the parking garage. And all was quiet.

"Alright, Bennett and Garcia have left," Irene texted her. "It's time for you to get over here." Irene had been spying just outside the building. Now, she could leave and let Beth do what she wanted to.

Beth drove to the L.E.R. headquarters, the stars and moon overhead blocked out with growing storm clouds. Wind whistled around her car, moaning and shuddering.

She was sure to park the car in the grass around the side of the building, not in the parking lot, so she couldn't be seen. She then got out and jogged inside. The doors had been locked, but she was able to unlock it with her fingerprint. All L.E.R. agents had access to it at all times, just in case they needed shelter from a swarm of attacking Fearlings or something. Not like they ever came in swarms.

Inside the building, it was quiet. The thick walls of silence drowned out the wind outside. No one was here. Yet. Beth walked down the wide blue hallway and took a left turn, stopping in front of Garcia's lab. She turned the knob. Locked, fortunately. Or maybe not so fortunately. What if she could take the map before the others got there, and she could record the plot to kill Pitch some other time?

She placed her finger on the fingerprint scanner on the wall.

"Agent B. Howard. Access denied."

Beth frowned and tried to ram her body into the door. All it did, however, was ignite a burst of pain her arm. It was useless. She had snuck in through the door when it was open last time she was in the lab. But how was Bennett's team going to get in? How was Graham going to get in?

The front doors to the headquarters opened, and at the sound of voices, Beth froze, then quickly unlocked her phone and started a video before putting it back in her pocket, hidden.

"All we have to do is break through the door," Graham was saying. "Donnelly should be able to break it with one of her quakes."

"I'm not sure I can make one that strong," presumably Donnelly said.

"You can. It's gonna look so cool when you manage it," an unknown male voice said.

"If I manage it, Lyle."

"The door's just gonna go boom! And then..."

"Could you please calm down?" Another male voice.