Treading Between Lines

Yumi began to walk towards the camp. She didn’t look like she planned to stop until she marched through the guard post.

Fumiko reached out a futile hand towards Yumi lacking the words. She didn't think Yumi of all of them, at least while she was in control, would go off recklessly to attack the Atlanteans. However, it didn’t surprise her to see Seiji eagerly joining her. They left her behind. She needed to do something, quickly. Fumiko rushed forward to catch them. “Wait! We can’t just go in without a plan!”

“Of course we can!” He turned his head over his shoulder to look back at her. “Who needs a plan? We’ll just plow the shit through them all!” His hand tightened into a fist as proof of his strength and confidence in his words.

More than a little unimpressed by Seiji, Fumiko’s face turned flat to cynicism. “Need I remind you that you were the only one that lost to them in the last fight? You can’t just plow through, they aren’t weak.”

A second paused for Seiji as though it actually seemed to have some impact on him, but he flipped quickly to excitement. “Then it’ll be a good time!”

She sighed listening to his endless enthusiasm for fighting. “I’d normally say I can’t believe you said that, but I’ve learned better to question your motives. The fact still remains we need a plan! Even if we are going in now!”

“And I said we don’t damn need one! The less thinking the better, it’ll just confuse me.”

“You actually realize that you’re stupid?”

“I’m not stupid!” He fully turned to face Fumiko, no longer content to let her words just slide by him. “I just forget about everything when I fight. I don’t need strategy, just my intuition!”

“Your intuition…”

“You don’t have to worry, Fumiko,” replied a voice behind the both of them. It startled them and made them jump away from the voice. Once they focused, they saw Yumi standing in front of them. Fumiko looked over at where she thought Yumi ran off to only to find it empty. She looked back still trying to figure out what happened with Yumi.

“Wh-ha-what? You?”

“Why did you stop?” asked Seiji.

Fumiko nearly fell over at Seiji’s question. “That’s what you ask?!” She quickly forced a recovery back to the more critical topic. Leaning over to Yumi, Fumiko looked around trying to see if something was wrong with her. Nothing immediately jumped out to her. “Is something wrong?”

Yumi shook her head lightly. “Not at all. I just wanted to stop your arguing and assure you that I have a plan.” Confidence in her words exuded from Yumi’s voice. The unsure version of Yumi completely went into hiding to no longer be found anywhere on Yumi. The strange change she made occurred again. Fumiko knew she shouldn’t argue with the difference, since they needed the way she acted now to see them through successfully. If she stayed as she was, Fumiko had no need to worry.

A plan from Yumi had Fumiko curious. The sudden walk away from them concerned her, but she was glad to know that she didn’t start taking lessons from Seiji. “What’s the plan?”

Chapter 141 – Treading Between Lines

“What’s the plan?” asked one of the members of Vangelis’ team. It came after their agreement, though it seemed an expected agreement rather than a mutual one. Even still, they discovered new interest and excitement in their job. Vangelis offered them something different and not ordinary. Anything different would have been welcomed for them, but this seemed more than they could hope for.

Relegating Iole to driving, Vangelis sat in the back of their specialized truck. It ran almost completely silent and unaffected by the terrain. Leaving no trail behind as well, the vehicle hovered over the grass blowing it gently aside as it sped away from the camp. The camp already was almost completely out of sight for them. Four chairs made a circle in the vehicle’s rear, making them all face the other.

Vangelis leaned a little forward to address the question, as he still left things out for them. “We’ll be searching along the route they took for signs of them returning to rescue their comrade. We’ll be standing between them and the camp.”

“Would they really take the same path for us to follow? They are MP users. They aren’t going to leave a trail to follow.”

He shook his finger at them in disagreement. “No, from the information the Captain gave me, these guys are a bunch of naïve stupid teenagers. They have been moving in a purposeful manner making it very easy to follow them.”

“We still have to find them. It can’t be that easy. Aren’t they also traveling by some transport?”

“No, considering the time that’s passed so far, they are still on foot.”

“You really certain that these guys will be a challenge?”

The longer Vangelis spoke, the more uncertain the group became. Everything he said made them out to be inexperienced and foolish. He noted the same things they were in front of him when speaking with the Captain. However, the results changed his mind. He was less inclined to believe the rumors of their defeat. The actual details on the fights spoke more than anyone could on words alone. “They’ll be of more challenge than you think. They have already defeated four MPs.”

One of them nodded, having also heard the rumors of the return team. “I heard they even defeated Eusebios, he was the first one.”

“What the little spoiled bastard that the General trained? I guess it just proves he isn’t the genius everyone thinks he is to be defeated by a bunch of rebels.”

Vangelis watched the exchange fuel their interest. He saw a little fear and excitement growing amongst the ranks. Some taste of fear he felt was a good thing to have. Fear would be good fuel to grow stronger and bring out the best. He wanted them sharper. All of their missions before dulled their senses and made them too complacent. It was the reason for their failures in the past. He wouldn’t see that happen again.

“This is not public yet, but Eusebios was defeated by one boy and soundly in less than a minute.” His words brought a stop to all of the talking. It had their attention. He removed a file from his bag at his feet. The papers inside turned a little in the loose grip. Placing the stack in the center on a knee-high pedestal, a light filled the chamber. Following the light, water like particles shot up and cascaded down around in a cylindrical wall. “This is all of the information gathered on this boy.” Along the wall displayed the file data in four copies perfectly fit to the flow.

It only took them all a few seconds to turn to surprise. They all leaned in pointing at the data point that turned all of their stomachs. “This can’t be right!”

“This is all observed data, some room for error is possible, but this is what is known.”

“How can a rebel have a Field radius of greater than hundred meters with this data?”

“If he was in the military they’d have him in the Omega Division with rankings like this.”

“Is he the leader of the rebellion?”

“According to history, the last rebellion’s leader was a teenage girl considered a prodigy. It would make sense someone with great power would motivate others.”

“You’re being pretty casual about this.”

Vangelis dropped his foot down on the pedestal disrupting the particle flow. “You don’t have to worry about this one, he’s mine. I’m only showing you this data so that you understand how much distance to keep.”

They all looked at him a little surprised. They could see the confidence in his face that easily appeared as arrogance, but difficult to know. The data was imposing without even seeing the boy in person. It created images in their minds of the potential he could have. Such an image grew their fear stronger than they thought possible from mere text.

He retrieved several more files from the bag and removed his foot from the device. Vangelis slapped the files down. On top of the last stack of papers, more personal files of their targets appeared in the recovering stream. “You should be more concerned about those who you’ll be fighting.”

“But how are you going to fight someone like this?”

Their persistent fear and worrying started to get to him. Even the amount of fear had limits. He leaned back in his chair relaxing with a smirk on his face. “I never said I played fair.”

Floating above the camp, Yumi gazed down at the movement below her. Everything still ran quietly in the night, unsuspecting of what would happen soon. She tried to locate her brother from the vantage, but failed to get anything more specific. No doubt existed in her that he was inside, but she could see no further. The path she followed became weaker and muddied the closer she got. Almost like someone purposely blocked her. She didn’t give it much further thought. It only meant that they had to do things the hard way.

She hoped that she could find him and just pull him out without having to fight through everyone. Unlike before, hundreds of normal humans filled the area. They were all soldiers and she understood intellectually that they were different from civilians, but she didn’t like the idea anymore. Her brother was inside and she would do anything, even distasteful actions if necessary. ‘It’s about time…’

Yumi scanned the camp a final time for any hint of her brother. Her feelings gave her nothing, once more. She began dropping in altitude. The final scan also gave her the location that she would begin. ‘Time to do something reckless…’ Her chosen spot had three soldiers parked around a fire chatting. None of the words meant anything to her.

Her hands extend out aimed down at the ground. Behind the men, a few objects floated up out of their sight. She flicked her fingers triggering them into action.

Striking the back of the neck, the three men collapsed unconscious in their seats. Yumi dropped down to the ground, billowing a light breeze away from her. She immediately flipped her head around checking on all the surroundings. Above, she saw no one in the area, but checked again for certainty. Once secure, Yumi darted off to the nearby tent. ‘…brother…’

The tent was smaller than some she found, though she didn’t know the significance of the size for any. She hoped that the smaller ones had more of a chance in finding her brother. If necessary, she would search every tent. Nothing would stop her from finding him. She channeled that fuel into her to wipe away any hesitation that remained in her body. ‘…it begins…’

Yumi slowly bent the flap until she got a view of the insides. ‘…nothing immediately…’ The search was still incomplete. She looked around from her vantage point trying to find anyone, but saw nothing. Cautiously, Yumi threw open the tent flaps and stepped in. The corner of her eye caught someone startled awake by her noise. She cast out her hand at the soldier summoning a barrier around them.

The Atlantean looked a little scared and confused. He shouted demanding an answer, but his voice did not make it out of the barrier. She never heard him. After he went ignored for a few seconds, he pulled out his sword from next to his cot and attacked the barrier. Only a small flicker of light bounced through the green layer like a ripple. He quickly realized his futility after a few more attempts. However, the search finished already.

Walking back to the exit, Yumi threw up her hand casually blasting an invisible force at the man through the barrier. The force slung him up against the inside of the dome and a moment later back to the cot. His unconscious body dropped the sword soon followed by the barrier. “Not here. One down…”

Striding out of the tent with driven purpose, Yumi searched out for her next through narrowed eyes. Her area still remained vacant of new arrivals. She had more free time to search.

The next couple of tents ended in the same manner. One had an occupant, the other not. She continued her systematic search out only to meet face to face with a soldier. A female soldier this time, she leaned back a little surprised to find someone that she didn’t know exiting the tent. Once she went through the mental process to understand she found an intruder, the woman tried to back away to draw her weapon. However, a force dragged on the woman and threw her through the flaps of the tent. She collapsed roughly to the ground.

Standing above the woman, Yumi looked down for a moment before knocking her out. “That was close.” Yumi wiped away a little nervous sweat from her forehead. She wasn’t certain how much longer she would keep up the stealth. The eventual expected end would come.

Yumi stepped through the tent in search of a new place. While above, she tried to map out as much as she could. It was difficult to keep track of it all, but at least her sense of direction stayed long after her memory faded. ‘Where now…’

A new sound of footsteps alerted her to an incoming soldier. Another patrol she assumed. She shifted out of the light and moved around the tent keeping it between them. Watching over the fabric for the soldier to pass, Yumi waited in silence. A sigh of relief came out of her mouth once it seemed that she was safe again.

However, when she turned around to resume a number of shadowed figures stared at her. She slid a step back suddenly surrounded. “Oh, hey everyone!” she cheerfully replied, raising her hand to wave at them.

They all greeted her politely, confusing the moment further. The moment didn’t last as they all reverted to being serious. Swords drew against her.

Yumi casually sliced her hand through the air. An arc flew from her blasting all of the soldiers away from her. She began to march away, not watching where they fell into tents and crates. However, the noise was enough to alert the immediate area of the camp. None knew what happened, but they all came to find out the trouble.

A disappointed sigh came from Yumi. “I guess this is as far as I go. It begins now!” Multi-layered and segmented barriers erupted from Yumi to surround her. Wind whipped up around her body gathering up loose dirt from the earth. Spinning around her, the debris grew larger as the force gained strength. Waiting no further, she sent it all away from her in a circle dispelling soldiers from all directions. Following the attack, the wind built up again around her glowing green over so slightly.

It drew into the sky like a pillar of torn wind. It sucked in everything near and cast away anything not. In the center, Yumi stared out with narrowed features carved in determination. She directed her hand out at the next incoming group of confused soldiers. “Come before me! All that would keep a sister apart from her brother!”