After Image
Chapter 20

The first thing that Viola became aware of was pain; intense throbbing pain in her leg and hand. The second thing she became aware of was the fact that she was still alive. She opened her eyes trying to decide if being alive was a relief to her or going to cause her to try and kill herself again. She didn’t know the answer. She shifted her right hand feeling the tug of an IV and then felt prickly hair. She turned to look at the source and saw someone lying on her bed asleep. She couldn’t register properly who it was until she registered that the olive coloured skin and shaved head implied it was Will sleeping beside her. This confused her and she pulled her hand away so as not to disturb him. The abruptness of her withdrawal, however, rattled Will back into consciousness and when he looked up and saw Viola staring at him in the half lit room, he gave her a sleepy smile and sat up.

“I thought I had lost you,” Will said in a scratchy voice. His eyes looked glassy with unshed tears. Viola tried to pull further away from him in response.

“How did you replace me in time? I should have only had minutes,” Viola replied bitterly.

“I got a strange message from someone named Quinn on my phone. Whoever they were, they knew you were in trouble. I got there as fast as I could. I thought you had lost too much blood. It was dodgy there for a long time, Viola. I was scared to leave you alone again.” Will seemed genuinely concerned about her welfare, more than just a captive that may have been lost. There was something else beyond that in his voice and eyes.

“Do you know what they did to me?” Viola asked, tears were falling silently down her face even as her voice remained steady and calm.

“I saw the footage of them taking you out of your room in the middle of the night just before the text came. I drilled Dr. Pfister about it as soon as I knew you were stable. What I want to know is how you found out? Is there someone else in this complex helping you out, this Quinn?” Will asked.

“Why should I tell you if there is?” Viola replied.

“Never mind, Viola. I’m just glad you are all right.”

“Why?” Viola asked bluntly stopping Will’s smile of relief and turning it to shame.

“I know you know nothing about me at all, and we are in such strange circumstances,” Will started, “but despite all that I have come to care for you deeply.” He grabbed Viola’s hand and she turned to stone at his touch. “I’m going to get you out of here, Viola. No matter what it takes I promise you will be free.”

“Please don’t touch me,” Viola replied pulling her hand away gently from his grasp. Will conceded, smiled sadly and stood to walk away. He spoke one last thing before he left. “Imaging things into this world isn’t all you can do, Viola. You have the ability to Image yourself into other worlds. You should know that, even if it means that I may never see you again.” With that startling revelation, he walked out of the treatment room leaving Viola to contemplate her future alone.

When morning came, Viola was awoken with a start as she heard popping sounds emanating from the hallway. It took a few minutes to realize what she was hearing were gunshots. It froze her blood. Staring wide eyed at the door she shakily took the IV out of her right hand and slipped onto the floor curling up in a tight little ball behind her bed. She heard the handle on the door turn and a small whimper escaped her lips. She stifled it with her hand trying not to make a sound as the intruder stepped into the room. Rational thought leaked into her mind a few seconds later as she realized that because they had put an IV on her right hand it was no longer encumbered by the glove that kept her a prisoner here. Trying to think quickly, she Imaged the first defensive thing that came to her mind. She saw the shadow looming past her bed and as soon as the person casting it stepped into view she shot the Taser into his leg. The person stiffened with the jolt of electricity and dropped to the ground. The gun he was carrying clattered to the floor and slid next to Viola. She dropped the Taser, appalled at her actions and looked with wide terrified eyes at the gun beside her. She tentatively picked it up, wanting to toss it across the room as far away from her as she could, but before she had time, she heard the person in front of her groan.

“Blast it, Viola, where did you get that?” Will asked as he sat up on the floor. Viola relaxed her posture and put her hands and gun into her lap.

“They forgot to put my glove back on,” Viola said sobbing in relief. “What is going on Will?”

“A change of plans. We have to get you out of here now. They just informed me that when you were well enough, which I am assuming they think is today, they intend to keep you in a medically induced coma from now on. They said their experiment with suppression of your conscious mind while Imaging was a perfect success. If they managed that, there would be no way that you could manage to escape on your own.” He held out his hand to Viola and smiled. “Let’s get you out of here.” Viola let the tears well up in her eyes and handed Will back his gun.

When they both stood, she paused and looked at Will self-consciously. She was only wearing a hospital gown. “Do we have time for me to get changed?” Viola asked.

“Well seeing as everyone seems to be pretty gormless about the situation, sure, if you make it quick.”

“Dressing quickly is the name of my game,” Viola said and went to the closet across the room from her bed. She pulled it open to see one of her own outfits. It was the short cream dress and a brown leather overcoat that had leather buckles instead of buttons on the front. She slipped it on quickly, found the leather boots that were tucked in the corner and slipped them on as well. Will must have been watching her dress for as soon as she was done he grabbed her hand and pulled her somewhat roughly towards the door. She gave out a little cry as she realized that running was going to cause the cut in her thigh to burn like fire. In fact, she was not sure she had the muscle strength to keep herself upright with the gash that was in her leg.

“Will, we have a problem,” Viola said suddenly adding a little squeak of pain. She pointed to her leg where a bandage was visible peeking out from underneath the dress. “I am not sure I have much stability in my leg.”

“Well, let’s take it as fast as we can,” Will said and suddenly alarms were blaring and red lights were flashing indicating that their escape attempt had finally been noticed. Will opened the door and checked the hallway. He saw a white coated person slipping around the corner of the hallway, but as of yet no security personnel. He grabbed Viola’s right hand and yanked her out into the hallway. Viola nearly stumbled over the crumpled body that was outside the door and almost threw up as she realized that it was a dead body. Will killed him! She wrenched her hand from Will and stopped dead in her tracks.

“You killed him,” she cried. Her hands were shaking in mild shock as she tried to deny what she was seeing.

“It was an unfortunate necessity, Viola. I had to, to save you,” Will said gently. “We really have to go.”

Viola did not reply, instead she whipped around quickly and tried to grab the gun from Will’s hand. She was too slow and he held it away from her grasping hands.

“I’m not going with you until you get rid of that thing,” Viola replied. She Imaged a gun and shoved it into his chest.

“I already have a gun, Viola,” Will replied.

“This is a tranquilizer gun,” Viola replied. “I will not allow you to kill people who are just trying to do their job. They are doing what they feel is right for the country, however misguided. The don’t deserve to die just so you can save me. Take the tranquilizer gun or leave me here to my fate.”

Having no time to argue with Viola, he dropped his own gun and grabbed the one she proffered. Afterwards he grabbed her hand and pulled her down the hallway once again. He could hear her moaning in pain every once in a while, but he was too angry to care if their pace caused her pain. Here he was giving up his entire career and having to live as a fugitive - if they could even get out of this building alive - and she was wasting time making sure no one else got hurt. He huffed and slowed his pace slightly as he realized that her tenderness and care for humanity was what he loved so much about her in the first place. He couldn’t stifle that in her, no matter what was happening. They reached the stairwell after a few encounters with guards where Viola had ducked and covered while Will had put them to sleep with his gun. He swiped his card across the lock and got a red light in response. His access had already been revoked.

“Shite,” Will said and kicked the door. He had been expecting them to be slower about realizing that he was behind the escape attempt.

“Watch your language,” Viola replied sternly. Will gaped at her.

“Did you just tell me not to swear when our only way of getting out of this situation alive was me getting us through that door with this key card that no longer works?” Will asked.

“There is never a need to dumb down your vernacular just because a situation is not going your way. Vulgarity in speech reveals an idiot.” Viola replied and gazed off into space.

“What are you doing?” Will asked.

“Determining if it would be worthwhile to Image something or just get Quinn to open the doors for us. I’m not sure she has the access. I need to ask her.”

“Who is Quinn,” Will asked supressing the swears that he wanted so desperately to add to that sentence.

“The quantum computer that they hooked me up to via the computer chip in my brain,” Viola replied. “What about it Quinn? Can you give us a clear exit?” Viola asked out loud for the benefit of Will.

“Not a problem at all, Viola,” Quinn cheerily replied. “Even better I can lock all the others out of your path.” Viola went to reply but Quinn interrupted before she could. “I’m glad you lived, Viola.”

“I will decide whether to thank you or not for that if we get out of this situation,” Viola replied. The light on the keypad shifted to a solid green just as Will shot off a couple of more rounds. Viola pushed open the door and tapped Will on the side as she stepped through signaling that the way was clear. Once they were both inside the emergency exit stairwell, Viola pushed the door closed and heard it lock just as a few security personnel made it to the door and started pounding on it.

“Almost out of ammo,” Will replied. Viola Imaged a few more clips and handed them over. She watched as Will expertly reloaded the gun and slipped the remaining clips into the back of his pants.

“Up or down?” Viola asked?

“Up, we are in the basement complex, unfortunately.”

“Well, Quinn assures me that she has locked everyone else out of the stairwell for the time being. How far up are we going?”

“Approximately twenty floors,” Will replied and shoved the gun into its holster after he had made sure that there was no immediate danger.

“Oh,” Viola replied trying not to grimace at the thought of trudging up all those stairs with a damaged leg. It dawned on her that she didn’t have to. “Wait a sec, I’m going to fix my leg up a bit,” she replied and Imaged a hypo-syringe with a mysterious blue fluid in it. She grimaced at the color. Please tell me I am not about to inject myself with antifreeze. She stuck the hypo-syringe against her leg and watched as the liquid disappeared from the syringe and into her leg. It made her feel warm and tingly where it entered. She dropped the syringe unceremoniously onto the floor and pulled the gauze off her leg. She watched as the livid scar started to vanish.

“What was that?” Will asked.

“I just imagined in my mind something that would heal my wound,” Viola replied. “Not sure what it actually consisted of though. Never mind that, let’s get out of here before they figure out a way to get at us.” Viola rubbed the spot where her laceration had been and watched as the skin bubbled up and ‘spit’ out the stiches imbedded in her skin. Giving a tentative step on her leg, reassured that she was better than okay, she followed Will up the stairs.

When they reached the landing for subbasement ten Viola stopped, doubled over, trying to catch her breath. She felt like she was inhaling, but air did not feel like it was entering her lungs. Come on lungs, over a month of morning exercise and you still won’t let me breathe with a little exertion? Will made it half way up the next flight of stairs before he noticed that Viola was no longer following. He wandered back to the landing and glanced out the small window in the door into the hallway to see if there were any pursuing parties. The hallway was empty.

“You’re computer friend has done quite a brilliant job of clearing the way for us,” Will said coming up to where Viola was standing leaning over the rail trying to catch her breath. She felt like air was actually being useful to her now. “Are you going to make it?” Will asked suddenly.

Still unable to inhale enough air to respond she just nodded.

“Have any magic drugs for this sort of thing?” Will asked.

Viola glared at him sharply more in a “I should have thought of that” way, than a “back off” way. Trying to keep breathing, she tried to focus on what she would need on this occasion. No doctor has ever figured out what is wrong exactly. I don’t have time to figure it out at the moment, what I really need is a panacea, she thought. What does a panacea look like, Viola? Her mind drew a blank. A panacea was a myth, it was nothing that was real, could she really Image a myth? Even so, what would the myth look like? She focused instead on what she wanted this so called panacea to do for her and touched the small vile that appeared in the air Imaging it into her hand. It felt slightly warm to the touch and was a blood red. She looked up at Will and grimaced.

“Something wrong?” Will asked.

Viola, finally able to form words in between large gasping breaths, spoke. “I really hope not,” she said. She unstopped the vile and tipped the contents into her mouth. It drained from the vile like molasses and touched her tongue with a sickening warmth and a ghastly taste. Blanching, she waited as the contents finally emptied completely from the vile and swallowed. The red liquid coated her mouth and throat leaving the taste to linger. “Mmmm, tastes like feet,” she finally said as she tried to clear the thick contents from her mouth. She Imaged a bottle of water and washed her mouth as thoroughly as she could. The taste decided to linger still and so she Imaged a mint and popped it into her mouth. She spat it out a moment later, the combined taste of feet and mint making it so much worse.

“Aside from the obvious bad taste in your mouth, how are you feeling; up to another ten flights of stairs?” Will asked, anxious now not to stay put in the same place too long in case someone finally figured out to bypass whatever Quinn was doing.

Viola assessed her condition. The burning in her legs was fading and her breathing was finally becoming functional again. She didn’t feel picture perfect, but ascending some more stairs now seemed a possibility. She just shrugged and started up the stairs, Will close behind her.

When they reached the end of the ascent, Viola barely felt winded at all. Will tried to peer through the window in the door and saw nothing but an empty lobby through the small square.

“I can’t see anything out there, but I am sure there are quite a few agents around going to stop us from going out the front door,” Will said. “If we go out there without knowing what we are dealing with we are going to get ourselves killed.”

Viola smiled at Will and patted him on his shoulder. “I suppose it is a good thing you have the one person in the whole entire world that can conjure whatever your heart desires.” She Imaged what looked like a very thin clear piece of plastic. Will looked from the clear page back up to Viola. She ignored his puzzled look and tapped on the plastic, waking up the electronic device it obviously was. She handed it to Will.

“Just tap the items that you want to see through,” She said. She demonstrated what to do by tapping the wall that was displayed on the screen. It was immediately replaced by the seemingly empty lobby on the other side. Will’s eyes widened in response and he began to turn, scanning the room with the x-ray tablet for potential threats. Conveniently objects the agents were hiding behind were erased with the touch of his finger to them on the screen. He assessed there to be nearly twenty agents waiting for their arrival and probably more that he couldn’t see from his vantage point in the hallway. Will put the x-ray tablet down with a sigh and looked at Viola.

“Exactly what was your plan when you came and got me from the recovery room?” Viola huffed when she saw the defeated look on Will’s face.

“I was playing it by ear, really,” Will replied.

Viola scrunched her nose and frowned. “You mean you were expecting me to magically conjure a way out of anything we came up against. And you call yourself an MI:6 agent.”

“If you must know,” Will began in defense, “I was never a field agent before this job.”

Viola widened her eyes at this statement. “Why did they pull you into the field? Did you just pass your field examination and they thought this was the best assignment for you?”

“Truthfully, they kind of just did field testing on the fly. Mrs. Ironside requested me specifically.”

“Specifically, why?” Viola asked.

“She said I was tailor made for gaining your trust,” Will finally blurted out.

Viola leaned against the wall, shocked. It was true that she had an unusual trust in Will despite the fact that he had played her false since they met. How would this Mrs. Ironside know that would happen?

“Who is this Mrs. Ironside?” Viola prompted, shoving her finger into Will’s chest threateningly.

“If we manage to get out of this mess I will be glad to introduce you,” Will replied.

“Why would I want to meet the head of this operation? So that I escape just to get caught again?” The whole situation was making less and less sense as their conversation expanded.

“Mrs. Ironside was sacked from the program. She had a disagreement about the way it should go, so they relieved her,” Will replied.

“Well never mind that right now,” Viola said and stared at the doorway they needed to get through. She had a plan in mind suddenly, but wasn’t sure that Will would like it, or even, for that matter if she liked it.

“I have an idea, but it might be risky,” Viola ventured. Will looked at her and said nothing, waiting for her to continue. “We could try going to another universe where this building is less secure and they aren’t looking for us. Maybe even doing tours and such. The thing is, I’m not sure that I could get us back to this universe. I would go without you, but I am worried about your safety. They might kill you over this, Will, and I have no idea how I would feel about that.”

Will grabbed Viola’s hands and a look of concern passed over his face. He looked into her eyes, daring her to break the stare. “What about you? You will be leaving your family behind.”

Viola let a few tears escape from her eyes and finally looked away from Will, pulling her hands out from his and dropping them uselessly to her side. “They have Eli now. And who is to say there won’t be a family waiting for me on the other side.”

“I’m sure it won’t be the same at all. Besides, I told you, you were capable of traversing universes, but you haven’t tried it. Can you even bring me with you?”

Viola shrugged her shoulders and sighed. “We won’t know if we don’t try.” She grabbed Will’s hand and started concentrating on what she wanted to do. She could feel the energy building up inside her as she thought about a safer world they could run to, somewhere they could go and get out of this mess. She felt a strange tingle flood through her whole body and Will flinched as the flow extended to him and there was a sudden popping sensation in her ears. She refused to let go of Will for fear that he wouldn’t stay with her in this new universe without contact with her. It was irrational, but she was so terrified of what she had just done.

“Quinn are you still with me?” She asked out loud.

“Of course Viola, no matter where you cross to I can follow, we have the same function after all,” Quinn replied in her head.

“Right, could you open the door in front of us?” Viola asked.

“Which one?” Quinn responded.

“The only door that there is. The door to the main lobby,” Viola replied. She noticed Will glancing at her with an odd look and reddened as she realized it must sound like she was talking to herself. She leaned over and whispered to him, “Just think of it as cell phone call.” He nodded and smiled.

“I understand you mean the lobby door, Viola, but in which universe would you like me to open it?” Quinn said patiently. She still managed to sound slightly irritated.

“The universe that I am currently in. You should have the coordinates available,” Viola replied.

“That’s just it, Vye, you are kind of in two universes at the same time at the moment. You only Imaged yourself and Will part of the way,” Quinn responded.

Viola froze for a moment and, still holding onto Will, she pulled him forward so she could glance out the window of the door. She saw ghostly images of people as they passed by the window, people obviously from the universe she had been trying to Image to. She looked back at the door and touched it. It felt solid enough. How could it be solid if she wasn’t Imaged in one universe, but two?

“How am I able to touch the door, or the floor I am standing on for that matter, if we are caught between two different universes?” Viola asked frantically. She was hoping that thinking of falling through the floor wouldn’t suddenly make it a reality. She tensed in anticipation of weightlessness and was relieved when nothing happened. Will remained objectively silent listening to Viola’s side of the conversation. He tightened his grip on her hand, not wanting to lose his anchor and somehow get trapped in this ghostly existence between two worlds forever.

“I am going to say, as an educated guess, having never experienced this particular problem in the past, that the objects that are identical in both worlds have a solid state in the existence you have created between the worlds and that those that are specific to just one universe or the other are in a state of flux and therefore will be ghost Images to you.”

“Sounds like a good enough hypothesis. Let’s test it out,” Viola said. “Open both doors.” She turned to Will and added, “Quinn says we are between two universes and that solid objects are in both universes and the half Imaged ghosts are in one. If we stay like this we should be able to get past the guards without them being able to do anything to us. Although I assume we will be just as ethereal to them as they are to us.”

Viola hesitated for a moment and grabbed the hand of the door and pulled it wide open. Ghostly Images stopped to stare as they wandered by in the one universe. There was a cacophony of noise as the sound waves from both universes were heard in the in-between space and Viola heard screaming from the terrified spectators of Viola and Will as ghosts. She giggled a little at the reaction and stopped short when she saw agents and guards heading to their location from obviously both universes. Tensing as she heard a gunshot, she clutched at Will who also aimed his own tranquilizer gun and fired almost simultaneously. The bullet passed through Will without impact and hit the wall with a solid thunk, sinking into the plaster; the tranquilizer dart did the same thing on the other side of the room. She watched as the portions of the wall that used to be solid turned opaque around the minor difference now associated between the primary universe and the other universe. It was a fascinating thing to see. Viola looked behind her and let out a breath.

“Let’s not wait around here long enough for either you to become finally exhausted holding us here or someone else figures out where we are and replaces a way in,” Will said, and pulled Viola deeper into the lobby towards the exit.

“I think the latter is highly unlikely,” Viola said, letting Will pull her along. She was glancing around the lobby, fascinated by all the gossamer plants, chairs, paintings, people and other various objects that were slightly out of sync with the opposite world. She looked at one plant that was superimposed on another, in the same place but of a completely different nature, and couldn’t stop staring. Being half Imaged was amazing. When she had more time, and if she could actually get her and Will out of this state, she was definitely going to be exploring this in more thorough detail. Viola heard Will slap the gun he was holding against the glass door and push it open. Viola finally returned her gaze from the room, ghostly bullets whizzed past through their forms and impacted the bullet proof glass, making spider web cracks in it and causing them to shimmer.

Giddy from excitement and extreme terror, she burst into mad laughter letting go of Will’s hand, and started spinning in circles once they were out of the building. Will froze in place, unsure what would happen without contact with Viola. Viola realized her sudden lapse in judgement and looked back at Will. He had ghosted from half Imaged back into one of the universes. She saw his sudden look of shock and he ran through the parking lot away from the agents that were streaming out of the building. From the ghosts that seemed to be following him, he had been thrown back into their point of origin. Viola scrunched her face in regret and ran as fast as she could after Will’s now intangible form.