Chapter 52: The Roles We Play

  Erik woke all alone in a silent helicopter. All he could see was white. He ripped the white paper note from his forehead with a jerk and turned it to read it.

  Getting affairs in order. MacLeod in H3.

  — x

  He smiled at the familiar handwriting and looked out the window, seeing nothing but darkness. What time was it?

  He put on his shirt, grabbed his bag and left the helicopter. ‘H3’ would mean Hangar 3, which should be the one they had a caged Hellbeast in the last time Erik was here. He took a few seconds to get his bearings, which was much easier when he had just relieved his memories of this place dozens of times.

  Unsure about their status regarding the media and the military search for them, Erik played it safe and kept to the unlit areas. Standing lamps and floodlights dotted the area amidst patrolling soldiers, but plenty of dark spots were available to hide his presence.

  Once Erik reached Hangar 3, he wasn’t sure whether he should just knock or find some other way to sneak in. The hangar gate was shut, and opening it seemed to require two authorised people, based on how they had opened it last time.

  Erik found a blue door on the side of the hangar with the words ‘Authorised personnel only’. It had two card readers to the side with number pads on them. Erik gave the door a few thumps. A minute later the door clicked, whirred, and finally, opened.

  “Please, come in, Mr Fried.”

  “MacLeod, you wound me. Call me Erik,” Erik said, shaking the man’s hand and entering the hangar. He heard the door close shut behind him before it whirred and clicked once again.

  “And yet you keep using my last name,” the man said in response, answering Erik’s handshake with force. “Anyway, I expected you hours ago. There is a bunk for you upstairs in the central room. Amir is already there, sleeping. The rest won’t be here till morning. They all had business to attend to,” MacLeod continued.

  “And you use Amir’s first name?” Erik joked. MacLeod laughed in response.

  “He’s an old friend. We went to school together.”

  “Oh! I see. Anyway, I’ve been meditating the entire day, so I’m not sleepy at all. I’ll go check it out and put my bag down. Nothing else to do around here?”

  “Going outside isn’t the best of ideas. You’re cleared to stay here, but getting caught snooping around might make things a bit harder until you all leave again. The helicopter will be prepped tomorrow morning, though everyone seemed to want to take a day for themselves from what I could see on their faces. Angela told me you plan to… invade the Empire?”

  “Yeah…” Erik sighed. He wanted some time off himself.

  “In that case…no one will blame you for taking a day. Have a good night, Erik.”

  “Night.”

  Erik went upstairs, sat down in his bunk and dropped his bag to the floor. He didn’t remember laying down, but once he noticed, he was already drifting off to sleep.

  He woke from a thump. Something heavy impacted him, stretching out on top of him. He opened his eyes to slits, seeing a dark shape above him. After rubbing his eyes vigorously, he checked again. Jessie was on top of him, straddling him. Her hair was brushed, each strand soft and delicate, and she wore a black tank top without any visible image or symbol.

  “What?” Erik’s sleepy voice nagged.

  “I want it,” she said, leaning down so her face all but melded with his. He felt her body on top of his from just below his waist and up.

  “You don’t swing that way.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “You ass. I mean what you did yesterday. It was such a rush just being close to you as I felt your power grow. I want it. Tell me what you did,” she said.

  “First, I want you to know that I’m having very natural responses to this. What’s happening right now is only about 60 per cent you, 40 per cent morning, okay?”

  “Only 60?”

  “That’s all I’m willing to admit to,” Erik chuckled.

  “Come on, I mean it,” Jessie nagged, using her sexy voice. He heard it for the first time since Afterlife. She used it whenever she made excuses for her and Hosu to sneak off. Erik wasn’t even sure Jessie herself knew about the voice—thinking she did it unconsciously.

  “I’m not averse to watching this, but I feel I should at least remind you that I’m here…” Erik pushed Jessie’s head away with his own and looked over at Amir.

  “Sorry, you know what they’re like when you got the stuff.”

  Erik and Jessie laughed, but Amir seemed unsure about the situation.

  “Get up from me, and I’ll guide you through it, okay?”

  “Yes!” Jessie exclaimed and bounced off Erik.

  The Titan guided the Witch through the process much like Cross had done with him. Like with everything, Jessie caught on fast and was an amazing student. He wondered why she never got a higher education.

  As soon as she got the first step down, absorbing her experiences into herself, Erik let her be. It helped that she didn’t have to stay inside her mindplace to do this, as just a meditative state was enough. It made it possible for Erik to instruct her as she started.

  Erik left the room as Amir had done a short while earlier, heading down the stairs into the ground level of the hangar. Emma was there chatting with Amir and Colson, though everyone else was nowhere to be seen.

  “Morning, Erik,” Colson greeted, and Erik reciprocated. “There’s coffee over there should you need it.”

  Colson pointed towards the west wall where a cheap-looking table stood with a lone coffee machine and a stack of paper cups.

  “No thanks. What time is it?” Erik declined.

  “0630 hours. I heard you got in late. Sorry if we woke you.”

  “Not at all, I don’t need that much sleep anymore, I think. I guess that answers why only Emma’s here.”

  “Miss Callum is visiting her father. Both sisters slept there, but only Jessie returned early this morning, looking quite impatient, I might add. The younger Miss Callum has been instructed to call if she needs a lift back here. Col… Miss Ashleigh is attending a meeting with Brigadier General Bumley and a few other higher ups in the War Council. She’s there as a liaison for your party, if you would believe it.”

  “What is ‘my’ party doing meeting with the War Council?”

  “You weren’t briefed yesterday, so I understand your hesitance. Emma, would you please?” Colson asked and took a short step back.

  “I don’t need to remind you of the state we left things when we went to Africa, I presume? Our friends in the BRA have been trying to assist us ever since, though it’s been tough considering no one’s supposed to know about us. They made a few… compromises regarding that, which has helped the situation somewhat. Amongst a few other things, we are part of a privatised company well-versed in security, high-tech research and so on,” Emma started.

  “Like well-funded mercenaries?” Erik asked.

  “In essence, yes. They have admitted we were the ones who were caught on video killing a Hellbeast in a test run of a new device. With that small grain of truth dropped in the pot, we are awarded some leniency so long as we can follow up in due time, though I’m certain that after Angela’s meeting, we’ll be under constant surveillance.

  “It’s a short-term solution to getting us into the Empire with little hassle, though the jig is up about as soon as we take down the first Hellbeast once we’re there,” she said, a worried expression scarring her face as she said the last sentence.

  “Well, I suppose we don’t have a choice in the matter.”

  “Agreed. Angela is acting as our liaison, as you, the head researcher of our little unit, is a bit of an eccentric, supposedly. Jessie is your partner and fellow scientist in case anyone asks, and she’s not in the meeting because of her social ineptitude. She has an attitude problem,” Emma giggled.

  Erik laughed in response. “Why aren’t I chief of security or something? Neither me nor Jessie looks anything like researchers.”

  “Because that’s my job,” Emma grinned and winked. “Besides, everyone can be scientists. You don’t need thick spectacles and suspenders, you know.”

  “Have you been caught up?” Angela asked as she entered the hangar an hour later. She carried a cup of coffee as she entered, though she emptied it into a sink next to the coffee table with haste and refilled the cup with steaming black gold.

  “Yeah, I think so. How did it go?” Erik asked.

  “It went. I got them to back off on constant surveillance, blaming your… difficult personality under pressure—” Angela said with a grin. “—and got the green light for a few extra resources. To cut it short, they’ll be trying to spy on us in secret rather than being obvious about it, but we got a support team to set up base camp at Bridgefort. All we need to do is protect the camp until it’s all set up, and our invasion plan is live.”

  “Could have been worse, I suppose,” Emma interjected, receiving a nod from Angela.

  “They demanded specs, data, and analysis, a functioning prototype of whatever weapon we’ve created and to see Erik and Jessie as the head scientists of our little group. Of course, I denied everything they wanted, so I suppose we should count ourselves lucky we got some assistance from them. Either way, considering the slight change of plans, we won’t be able to leave until tomorrow. That means—”

  “Spa day?” Emma gleamed. Angela sighed.

  “Yes, I did promise you that, didn’t I…?”

  “Score!”

  “Anyway, that means free time. I’m sending Sophie a message in a moment, telling her she won’t need to come back until tomorrow, and Jessie might want to go back to see her father again as well. That leaves you to do whatever you feel like doing, Erik.”