Chapter 6

It looked like something out of Star Trek, it looked like a DS9 runabout, only about 4 times larger! And very high, there was at least 6m between the ground and the fuselage, and instead of warp nacelles it had engine nozzles sticking out from the back. As we walked up to the rear, the entry ramp came down and we made our way inside.

We walked up and through the cargo bay and into the passenger compartment, which contained 100 very plush seats, we then walked into the cockpit which had only 2 seats with a control wheel in front of one seat. We were startled by GEN's voice "Guys, our job just got harder. A squad of 10 mercenaries is headed for the hospital, they somehow found out where Ashley is. You've got about an hour before they arrive." As soon as he finished, we took our seats and took off. While en-route I made mental contact with Sam 'Sam, it's Matt, you've got trouble on the way. Is Ashley's mother there yet?' After a few seconds came Sam's reply.

'Man, this is going to take some getting used to, what sort of trouble?' So I told him what we had learned about the hit on the family, and the men on their way to the hospital. 'Do your best to inform the police there of the situation, we will be there in 2 mins.' Sam sent 'ok'. By the time I had finished we were hovering cloaked above the hospital, I told GEN to descend and hold at ramp length form the building.

I told Jerry to stay on board and wait, and I ran down the ramp and jumped, and floated down cloaked in my encounter suit to the entrance. Making sure no one could see me, I deactivated my suit, and it quickly shrunk back to the ring. I walked in and made it to the ICU, and was just about to enter the room the girls were in when a detective stopped him.

"No one's allowed in there except family and other authorised personnel." Just as I was about to respond, Sam poked his head out the door to see what the problem was and saw me. He said "It's alright, Bill, he's with me. I take it you're here with our transportation?" I told the detective "Yes, I have a helicopter waiting on the roof. We have to hurry; they could show up any minute, I'm assuming you informed them on the situation." He nodded "Ashley is awake and ready, her mother's here too, and I told her what you told me, but we have a problem with Cindy - she went to a birthday party at Mc D's".

We went in and the girls were in beds next to each other, Ashley was sitting up drinking some water. Sitting on the chair next to the bed was who I assumed was Mrs Graham, it was confirmed a few seconds later when Sam made the introductions.

"Jan, this is Matt Wilson, he's the one that rescued Ashley, and Amy the other girl." Looking at Jan Graham I could see where Ashley got her looks from, she was blonde with shoulder length hair and tanned skin, 36C breasts, and a slender but athletic build.

I stuck out my hand; she took it and shook it. "It was just the right place at the right time; I was there to punish them for what 3 of their members did to my sister." I then had to explain what had happened to Sarah, they were all pale by the time I finished. Ashley was the first to speak, although her voice was still weak. "So was it you that I saw all dressed in black?" she asked, pointing at me. 'Yes, it was me, and yes I am talking in your mind as well as your mother's and Sam's. I'm a psionic, and so are you and this girl, and Sam too. Maybe even your mother and your sister. Now we need to switch back to speech so the detective outside doesn't get curious. '

I looked around the room at the shocked faces of Ashley and her mother; they both started asking questions at once. I scanned both of them, Jan was afraid for her daughter and what threat I might represent, as for Ashley, my explanation had answered some things that had been bothering her lately; like the fact that she hear voices when no one was around, then there was that incident with the lamp hitting the wall.

These musings were interrupted by Amy's screams of terror, she was sit upright on the bed looking wildly around the room; from what I was able to grab from her jumbled thoughts and emotions, she was scared because the man who had sold her could talk to her mind also. And she also had a twin sister Rose, who could do it too, but before I could get anything else I sensed a build-up of psionic energy from within her; it seems her powers were choosing this moment to activate.

It couldn't have picked a worse time, because her mind was unfocused and confused, as a consequence, she was about to release a lot of energy aimed at defending herself. I had to think fast, I stepped in front of everyone, "Stay back, this could be dangerous." I told everyone. I was trying to think of a way to put a shield around Amy to contain the energy. She would be fine, her energy couldn't hurt her, I was running out of time and suddenly the idea just popped into my head.

Then just as I put the shield up the wave was released, it impacted the shield, causing a light that hurt my eyes, when I could see again I was just able to catch her before she hit the floor.

She stiffened, but then relaxed in my arms still crying, while I rubbed her back and held her, telling her she was safe and whispering soothing words to her. After a few minutes she finally spoke, still sobbing "WH ... what about Rose? Are you going to save her, too? "She asked, looking up at me with a pleading look in her eyes. "Of course, sweetheart, we will find Rose and bring her home to you, now can you walk, or does one of us need to carry you?".

I went to put her down, but she wrapped her hands around my neck and wouldn't let go, so I directed Sam to carry Ashley and follow me. We told the detective we would arrange a time and place for him to get the girls, and to be ready to intercept the hit squad coming here, he agreed and gave us his card and started requesting back up.

We made our way to the roof; Jerry saw us coming and walked down the loading ramp. Of course this made it look as though he was walking on air, and of course this made everyone but me stop in their tracks. But I just kept walking, Amy gave a little shriek when I stepped over the edge, the others gasped when we both disappeared.

Sensing they weren't moving, I backed up a bit so that my head was visible, and said "Come on, guys, we don't have all day. We still have to get Cindy. "That sobered them up real quick! They all were led up into the passenger area; they all had looks of awe on their faces when I looked up from sitting Amy into her seat. Sam had done the same with Ashley, and then the questions started.

I put my had up and motioned for silence, when they were quiet I said "I know you have a lot of questions, and I intend to answer all of them in time, but first we need to go get Cindy." Jan told me the address of the MC D's the party was at and I relayed them to GEN. Things got complicated, it seems there was a second team of merc's and they had gotten here before us!

The police had the place surrounded and the merc's were holed up inside. It seemed someone had reported hearing gunfire and the police had responded, the merc's had fired on the patrol car and they had called for backup. "Matt, we have a problem, several of the hostages have been wounded, and two are close to death and one is dead, a man. It seems he was covering the wounded children. Sir, one of the critical is Cindy," GEN's voice said over the intercom, but before I could answer, there came a scream of "Cindy, NOOOO!" from both Graham women and they both passed out.

I rushed forward just in time to catch Jan and set her down on a seat, next I asked GEN "do the encounter suits have phasing technology like the drones?" I asked. When he replied "No", my face fell. I was going to have to do this the hard way. "Jerry, prepare a couple of nanite injections. I'll teach these guys to go after children"

I walked down to the cargo area and brought the ramp down, I then activated my armour and also made a colour change, it was now white and gold; I then used the suit's sensors to scan the building. There were 6 gunmen, 2 standing out the front and 4 inside, Cindy and the other three wounded were in the main sitting area on the floor; the rest of the hostages were in the big walk-in freezer.

I landed in between the two door guards, still cloaked, I lashed out and grabbed each man's head and violently brought them together, knocking them both out; they would survive and be questioned by the police, the rest weren't so lucky.