Chapter Fifty-Six

Chapter Fifty-Six

Sarah walked down a busy hallway. She crossed a skybridge, making her way to a second building and down some steps. She stopped at a door and let herself in. The apartment was empty, save the large falcon sitting perched in an enclosure in the corner of the room. 

“Hey, Talon,” Sarah said as she moved to a desk serving as a workstation and logged into the computer. The bird trilled at her. One of the bedroom doors opened and a woman with long brown hair and puffy blue eyes stiffly walked out. Sarah glanced at her watch before turning to her roommate. “What happened to you? You’re normally up by now.” 

“Eve went missing.” Misty yawned and rubbed her eyes. “I was out searching all night.” She went to the enclosure and let Talon out. “Hup.” The creature hopped onto her arm.

“Ohhhh,” Sarah replied. “Oh, that’s not good.” 

“Tell me about it,” Misty answered as she brushed the falcon’s feathers. She turned back to Sarah with surprise, as though only now remembering she wasn’t supposed to be here. “What are you doing here?” Misty asked. “I thought you were on an undercover mission or something.” 

“I was,” Sarah confirmed. “Someone else crashed it.” She turned back to the computer to pull up the recording of the events on Everest, inviting Misty over to see it. “It got ugly quick.” 

Misty stepped closer to watch. “What in the world,” she said in disbelief. “Who? What?”

Sarah shrugged as she answered, “I have no idea. Maybe the Hero’s Guild? They have a habit of butting in. Either way, it wasn’t one of ours.” 

Misty continued watching the footage. “Have you reported this yet?”

“Of course,” Sarah replied. “That was my first stop. This is my second. The boss wants you on immediate clean up.” 

“This is crazy,” Misty muttered to herself. “I’ve seen Evil Others, but never as bad as this. This is… That’s…” Misty shook her head. “That’s like… Eve bad. This is serious.” 

“There’s a reason he was on undercover surveillance,” Sarah said, also shaking her head. “He’s one of the worst.” The footage ended abruptly in static. “The castle exploded and the survivors are trapped on Everest,” Sarah continued. “The boss is expecting an international response over this. We need to get there first.” 

Misty let out a breath and looked at Talon with a frown. “I just got back,” she said hesitantly. “If I don’t find Eve, something terrible might happen.”

Sarah swiveled in her seat. “Something terrible has already happened because of someone else’s Evil Other. Are you going to let yours stop you from helping them?” 

Misty rolled her eyes. “Of course not. I’ll go. Let me get ready first.” She placed Talon back into the enclosure. “Sorry, boy. Everest doesn’t suit you. I’ll be right back.”

*************************

- Destroyed castle; Mount Everest; Earth; May 12th, 2009-

Heart still racing and head pounding, Hanna stared down the intruder, grip on her sword taut. The stranger lifted her snow goggles and pulled down her scarf to reveal the face of a young woman with blue eyes. “I’m Misty.” She took a step forward in the powdered snow. “And you are?” 

Hanna stepped forward as well, placing herself between her friends and the stranger, blade still raised. “One defending those she loves,” she answered. In a louder voice, she called out, “What do you want?”

“I came to see if you’re okay,” Misty answered, taking another cautious step forward. “Are you?” 

Hanna’s nose flared and she gripped the sword in front of her with both hands. “We’re just fine!” she called out in anger. “As long as you don’t try anything.” Misty took another small step forward. Hanna reacted by taking an even more aggressive stance. 

Misty paused and raised both her arms. “I’m here to help you,” she insisted. “Look, I’m not armed. You can search me if you want.” She stretched out her arms and turned in a circle, though it was hard to tell if she was concealing anything under all the winter gear. “Can you put the weapon down? I only want to help.” 

Hanna’s breathing would not slow and the pain in her head did not go away.“Who do you work for?!” she bitterly demanded. 

Misty paused for a few long seconds. She was taken aback by the question, but did her best not to show it. “I don’t work for anyone,” she carefully answered. “I come up to climb this mountain every once in a while. Kinda a personal goal of mine to reach the peak, you know? I haven’t made it to the top yet, but I still try. I get a little farther every time.” Hanna lowered her sword a little. Misty continued speaking and resumed cautiously stepping closer. “I saw the smoke, so I came running as fast as I could. When I saw you, I thought I’d stop and see if you needed anything. There was an avalanche a little bit ago too. It barely missed my cabin. They can be pretty dangerous. Super easy to get pulled in. Extremely difficult to get out. I wanted to see if anyone needed my help.” By the time Misty was finished speaking, Hanna had fully lowered the weapon, but still held her suspicious glare. Misty was close enough now to see the figures in the snow behind the woman in black. Blue hair, she thought as she studied the unconscious one. Not my first choice, but hey, more power to ya I guess. “Your friend doesn’t look so good,” she commented, pointing at DJ. “We should probably get him to a doctor.”

Hanna’s breathing was still erratic. If her hands were not currently clamped around the sword’s grip, they would have been shaking. Her stomach lurched, but Hanna stood firm as she glared at Misty. Stay awake. “Like I said, we’re just fine,” she managed to get out, tone anything but friendly. Perhaps it is a random encounter, but it’s too much of a coincidence. She might be working for EDJ. She might be here to finish me off. I can’t let anything happen to Lui and DJ. I can’t take that chance! How am I supposed to believe that she showed up here with impeccable timing and not be up to something?! The image of Misty standing in front of her doubled for a second. Hanna blinked and shook her head. Stay awake! 

“You don’t look so great either,” Misty said, watching Hanna with caution. 

“I’m okay,” Hanna answered, relaxing enough to step back. She finally sheathed her sword. A wave of nausea forced her to sit down in the snow. 

“I’m not sure what your standard for ‘okay’ is,” Misty started dubiously, “but you’re clearly not doing well. Are you injured?” She knelt in front of the momentarily deranged cryomancer to better assess what help she could offer. 

‘Yes’ would have been an acceptable answer. Between the multiple battles, death traps, castle explosion, and elemental energy overexertion, it was a miracle Hanna was still standing. Or sitting, as the case now was. Nothing was broken, that she was aware of, but she had a poor habit of choosing to ignore pain. Even a genetically enhanced superhero's body has its limits and Hanna surpassed hers. She grimaced, trying to keep the little contents of her stomach from ending up in the snow. “Why?” she weakly asked, allowing Misty to assist, but still suspicious of an ulterior motive. “Why are you so willing to help me?” 

Misty paused and gave Hanna a weird look. “Because I want to,” she answered simply. “Because I know what it’s like to need help. I don’t know what you’ve been through, but by the looks of things, it’s been a rough day. You’re in bad shape.” Misty reached a hand out only for Hanna to recoil. “Please let me help you. You have to trust me.” 

Hanna shook her head. “I can’t give my trust away when my friends' lives are on the line. I will not have anyone else hurt them or me.”

Misty frowned, starting to get tired of the nonsense. “Every second we waste debating is another second you’re all out here in the elements.” She gestured to Hanna then to both DJ and EDJ. “You’re freezing, that one’s passed out, and the other one is in a block of ice.” She glanced at the mirror and did a double take when she realized there was a face staring back at her. “Is… is there a person stuck in there?” 

Hanna nodded. Misty stood and went to check on each of the incapacitated individuals, acknowledging Hanna’s watchful stare as she did so. Watching the woman continue to treat her and her friends with care in spite of the hostile reception, regret crept up in Hanna. She let out a long breath, already feeling the need to apologize. “The truth is,” she started.” I wouldn’t be able to fight you right now, even if you had weapons.” Misty turned to her curiously. “I wouldn’t normally have told you that,” Hanna continued. “But I need to get my friends out of here. It’s too cold for them. I have to get them out of here…” 

“Yeah, I noticed,” Misty said with a smile. “But I stink at fighting so I prolly would have lost anyway.”

Hanna swallowed her pride as she addressed Misty. “I’m sorry. Will… um… Will you… can you help me?” 

Misty grinned. “Of course, I’ll help you!” Not like that’s what I’ve been trying to do this entire time. 

“Thank you,” Hanna exhaled in relief. “I’m Hanna, by the way.” She gestured to two of the three behind her in turn. “The one in the mirror is Lui and that’s DJ.” She completely ignored EDJ. 

Misty nodded. “Pleasure. Like I was saying earlier, I have a cabin not far from here. It’s too far to drag them though and it would take multiple trips…” She closed an eye in thought. Without warning, Hanna collapsed into the snow. Misty jumped up and rushed over. “Whoa! Hold on, don’t you go passing out too!” 

So tired. “I’m fine,” Hanna insisted, still conscious though now lying in the snow and showing no signs of getting up. 

Misty checked Hanna’s pulse. “Yeesh, you’re cold. And your heart rate is through the roof.” 

“I might have... taken a shot of adrenaline before you got here,” Hanna confessed with hesitancy. 

Misty blinked at her. “What, like… literally?” Hanna nodded. “Was it for an allergic reaction or something?” 

“No,” Hanna admitted. “I needed the boost to stop the avala-”

“Are you insane?!” Misty interrupted, completely flabbergasted. “That kills people! You could have had a stroke! Or a heart attack! You might be having one now!”

Hanna winced, not anticipating a lecture in the middle of an already awkward situation. “I said I’m fine,” she repeated. 

“Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first ten thousand times,” Misty answered, shaking her head. “That was an incredibly irresponsible decision.” 

“But the ava-”

“I don’t want to hear it,” Misty said as patiently as possible. “No matter the excuse, you shouldn’t have put your life at risk like that.” Hanna gawked at her, failing to comprehend why this complete stranger was acting like she cared so much. “Right now,” Misty continued, “We need to get you and your friends out of the cold and somewhere safe and warm. Do you have any method of transportation at all?” 

It took a moment for Hanna to answer, still dumbfounded by the turn of events. “There might be some snowmobiles.” She pointed off beyond the boulder. “By the castle.” 

Misty stood up, brushing off her ski pants. She unzipped her green parka, removing the layer and draping it over Hanna. She pulled up and cinched the hood of her secondary blue coat before adjusting her goggles and scarf  to cover her face again. “I’ll go find them. Stay here,” she instructed. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.” With that Misty, crunched off into the distance.