September 6th, 2017
9.28 am, Naval Air Station Key West
Fire is running faster than he has ever run before. Faster, even, than 12 minutes ago when he sped away to the barn. Now he is sprinting back to the clinic ward with a metal briefcase.
'Must hurry.' Fire thinks to himself as his feet dash down the concrete stairwell, 1 more floor.
BOOM!
'NO!' Fire thinks as he hears the explosion.
Flames blaze on Fire as he blows past the door into the basement floor. He rounds the bend, and bursts through the ward's door. He is expecting the worse, but instead he is greeted with...
"Chief!" Quake shouts with a beaming smile.
There they are, his childhood friends who've grown into his lifelong family, all looking young again with different hair and eye colors. Except for Shade, who retains her looks but now has purple hair and eyes. Dr. Kabeer Wong stands there with a reassuring smile.
"You really are too hot to handle, Old Man." Wave says with a laugh.
"And here we were, worrying about you." Spectrum says.
"Mind dialling down the flames, Chief?" Aviator asks.
"Oh right!" Fire says as he extinguishes the flames on him, "Why is the room dark?"
"I turned off the lights so as to try and avoid giving away our location to the intruders." Dr. Wong says as he points to the corpses, "But my efforts were for naught, they knew exactly where the team was and how they were supposed to look like. Fortunately, the team had undergone age regression by the time those thugs came in."
"So Skull Reich has an insider." Fire says as he makes his way to the light switches.
Fire turns on the light and examines the ward. Calling the room a mess would be too simple of an understatement. The floor has sparse pools of water. Guns are floating in the air. Loose material is scattered about. The beds themselves are in varying states of disarray such as one bed is dripping wet, two beds have their beddings littered about, but three beds seem normal.
"Ya know, lights off was not so bad." Quake says as he sees the state of the room.
"You did most of the wrecking." Wave says.
"Better than being a homewrecker." Quake retorts with a shrug.
"I'm glad to see everyone is alright." Fire says then asks, "What's the sitrep?"
Fire has a lot of questions but right now was not the time for a debrief. 5 corpses are bleeding out on the floor although their blood is strangely contained in ice crystals around each body.
"Can you believe these twats hit the doc?" Spectrum says as he lifts the masked man he has been holding for the last 7 minutes.
"Are you alright, doc?" Fire asks, looking at Dr. Wong.
"Just because I am an old man does not mean I can not handle a hit or two." Dr. Wong says.
Fire nods then refocuses to the masked man in Spectrum's grip. The masked man in question is thoroughly spooked speechless even without the watery gag Wave had placed on him.
"I already captured one so if he doesn't cooperate." Fire says as he walks to the man, "Kill him."
"With pleasure." Spectrum says as he loosens his grip on the masked man, "Wave."
"On it." Wave says as she waves her hand, removing the water gag on the man.
"Who sent you?" Fire asks.
"Heil, Skull Reich!" The masked man spits out.
"What was your mission objective?" Fire asks.
"Heil, Skull Reich!" The masked man shouts.
"That's all the last idiots said as well." Wave says, indicating at the corpses.
"What do I do with this bloke, Chief?" Spectrum asks, "He already knows too much."
"Kill him." Fire says.
Spectrum forms a blade of light in his hand then swiftly stabs the masked man through the throat. Surprisingly, blood does not splatter. Instead, it seems held in place by a forcefield.
"That was both cool and cold." Quake says.
"He was getting boring to hold." Spectrum shrugs as he drops the corpse like a rag doll.
"Hold on. I sense movement." Quake says, "People are coming."
"I can see them." Spectrum says as his eyes focus, "It's Director Jones and some marines."
"You can see through the walls?" Quake asks.
"Apparently I can see the whole electromagnetic spectrum." Spectrum says in wonder as his eyes keep changing through the colors of the rainbow, "Most fascinating."
"Finally living up to your name." Quake says with a thumbs up, "Proud of ya."
"Jones and the marines are a minute away." Spectrum says as his eyes settle on brown.
"Any other movements?" Fire asks.
"Not as far as I can see." Spectrum says, "But I do see where the explosion happened."
"I'll go and intercept Jones." Fire says as he looks at the room, "We need to lockdown the area."
"Just blame the mess on these dead idiots." Quake says pointing around the dishevelled room, "Dead men tell no tales."
"Gents, investigate that explosion." Fire says as he heads out of the door.
"Roger that, Chief." Quake says after Fire.
"Will you be alright?" Aviator asks, as he turns to Shade.
Then it happens. Shade morphs right in front of everyone's very eyes. Her purple hair grows pink. Her 49-year-old face regresses to that of a 24-year-old. She opens her eyelids, revealing a dark eye on her left and white eye on her right.
"Now this is a freaky wednesday." Quake says while shaking his head.
September 6th, 2017
9.32 am, Naval Air Station Key West
CIA Director Nick Jones might have caught up with Fire but the Humvee had to follow the winding road while Fire ran the shortest path, straight across. Now, the elevators aren't working.
"Stairs." Colonel Miranda Sheppard says.
The group of 3 US Marines and Director Jones make their way to the concrete stairwell for a trip 5 floors underground. They go down with Col. Sheppard in the lead, followed by Director Jones. Somewhere in between the car and the stairs, Director Jones had requested a side arm from one of the marines so now he wields a Beretta M9 handgun and has it trained in front of him.
"Radio check, over." A voice says over a radio, interrupting the stoic descent.
"Radios are back." The female US Marine says as she pulls out the radio on her belt.
"That might be a good sign." Director Jones says, "We should be close behind my asset."
"Confirm our location." Col. Sheppard says.
"I hear footsteps coming up." The male US Marine says.
"Hold." Col. Sheppard says then listens for a moment.
"Unknown contact incoming." Col. Sheppard says, "Safeties off. Look alive, Marines."
"It's just me, Jones." A voice from below says a moment later, "Don't shoot."
"Come up slowly." Director Jones shouts back.
A man ascends the stairs to Director Jones location. He turns the corner, coming into full view of everyone. The man is 6'4 with short black hair wearing black scrubs and holding a briefcase.
"What about the basement?" Director Jones asks.
"Secured." Fire says as he hands over the metal briefcase to Director Jones.
Director Jones lowers his gun and walks in front of the group to receive the briefcase.
"At ease everyone." Director Jones says, "Let's head down then."
"Let the Marines lockdown the stairs." Fire says.
"National Security?" Director Jones asks as he reads Fire's hints.
Fire gives a simple nod in response.
"Alright." Director Jones says, "Colonel, you folks hang back and secure this entrance."
"General Beggingson's orders were to support you, Sir." Col. Sheppard says with rightful suspicion. The barefoot young man with soot all over him looks nothing like a trained agent.
Fire's eyebrows raise at Beggingson's name. Fire leans in and whispers to Director Jones.
Director Jones nods then says, "It would be unfair of me to just dismiss you after dragging y'all around. How about you station the Marines out here while you call in General Beggingson? Tell him it's a National Security issue and to show up around 10."
"What about your safety, Sir?" Col. Sheppard asks.
"With this young man around?" Director Jones asks with a chuckle, "I'll be perfectly safe."
Col. Sheppard looks in between Director Jones and Fire. Seeing no obvious signs of coercion, she could only relent, "Sir."
Director Jones and Fire make their way down the last flight of stairs, exiting the stairwell.
"So Beggingson is here?" Fire asks as he and Director Jones keep walking down the hallway.
"Yes, your mentee is around." Director Jones says, "Thanks to his help, I could bring back up."
"Good thing I asked you to call him over then." Fire says.
"So why did you have me hold back the Marines?" Director Jones asks.
"I'm not the only anomaly." Fire says.
Director Jones raises an eyebrow in confusion. The duo have just rounded the bend when they meet Quake, Spectrum, and Aviator who are standing in the hallway to the ward.
"Chief, you won't believe what we found." Quake says, "Oh hey, Director Jones."
"Who are they?" Director Jones asks as he looks at Quake and the others.
"Who else could they be." Fire answers nonchalantly.
"Well, Jones, you know we black men don't crack." Quake jokes.
"Wait, Andy?" Director Jones asks.
"Lucky guess." Quake says with a laugh.
"Well I'll be damned." Director Jones says, "Then that means you must be Simon and Shawn."
Spectrum and Aviator nod in confirmation.
"Did your entire team age backward?" Director Jones asks.
"Not everyone it seems." Fire says, "Now, before you see the room, prepare yourself."
"And remember, it wasn't our fault." Quake says, "But we are rich."
Director Jones looks at Fire, then at the rest of the men who are obscuring his view of the observation glass into the room. Quake has a shit-eating grin while the others just shrug. They move away, revealing the room through the observation glass. Director Jones' jaw drops open.
"What in the blazes?!" Director Jones shouts with wide eyes.
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