Blood Sisters
Chapter 10

After a while, Mark Dallas hadcooled off, emotionally at least, and he came to the realization thathe had no idea where he was. He had intended to fly up to Shay'sMountain and convince Marshal Desnoyers to let him help track downMichaela. He had driven to Ft. Miles once a few years ago to visitMike. It turned out that navigating around on the interstate systemwith a map was easy; just flying on your own to where you want to gohalf-cocked was a lot harder. Mark had been flying for an hour or sonow. His best guess was that he was somewhere over Oklahoma.

Wildfire saw a gas station andflew down towards it. He was almost on the ground before heremembered that his body was on fire, and he was about to land at agas station. He opted to land across the street instead, which wasjust an empty gravel lot.

As he got near to the ground, thenimbus of fire around him collapsed into a narrow jet from his feetthat acted like a rocket engine to slow his decent. When Mark feltthe Earth beneath him his flames blew out and he was surrounded in apale smoke that trailed behind him as he began to walk towards thegas station. Then he suddenly stopped and looked down.

He was naked head to foot, tackleout. The fire that propelled him here had burned away all of hisclothes, his wallet, his phone, everything. “Well shit” he saidin his Texas drawl. A pickup truck drove by him, the driver glared indisgust and honked his horn. Mark just shrugged back.

***

Peregrine had been flying in hersearch pattern for hours now trying to pick up the trail of thefugitives. The radar and infrared systems of her customized MKflightarmor were set at maximum range, at the cost of resolution. TheHUD from the visor of her flight helmet dimly lit her face.

Major Hunter, her mentor, wasbetter known to the world as the hero Freedom Falcon. Through nofault of his own he ended up being credited with the development ofthe MK-X flightarmor for the Air Force. Captain Lisa Shaw, now knownas Peregrine, was on his design team, and was the one who actuallyengineered most of the core systems, especially the propulsion unit.Not that she minded all that much, Major Hunter was stuck back in theAir Force R&D lab most of the time, while she got to be out hereflying around as an Air Force reserve officer assigned to the USSpecial Marshals. A much more interesting line of work.

The armor was surprisingly lightand form-fitting. Peregrine's was painted a steel-blue. She had mostof the Air Force markings removed, and had it replaced with the USSMlogo and her badge, which was etched and painted onto thebreastplate.

The MK-X flew only by brute forcefrom its small magnetoplasma rocket engine, which was mounted on theback of the armor like a slender metal backpack with two nozzles. Itsfuel was super-condensed hydrogen gas that was ionized to createplasma, it was then further heated with EM energy, basically the sameas a microwave oven. The more the plasma was heated, the more energyit contained, the faster you could go. Lastly, the plasma wasconverted into thrust with another magnetic field, which alsoprevented the plasma from contacting the armor's surface. Were thatto happen the plasma would quickly burn through and among otherthings giving the wearer a very hot backside. The armor had noairfoils, so it maneuvered with the use of small attitude controljets, these same jets could also be used as a short range weaponsystem, which were given the somewhat inaccurate nickname of a'plasma beam'.

Additional power for the armor'ssystems also came from the static electricity that the metal suitcreated as it flew at high speed. This energy was captured and heldin special capacitors within the flightarmor; this system alsodirected electrical charges, such as a lightening strike, safely awayfrom the pilot and the more sensitive armor devices.

The armor itself was made oftitanium alloy and shock absorbent composite materials. It included avariety of sensors, communications and jamming equipment, a compositecarbon-nanotube myofiber system for enhanced strength; an integratedmedium range full-auto carbine, a long range sniper rifle, which wasstowed in two compartments, an integrated non-lethal neuromuscularincapacitor and a small supply of integrated miniaturized high powerRPG's. There were other weapon systems that could be swapped in forspecial missions, but these were the standard armaments.

Jack Steel, codename: Broadsword,was Peregrine's ground support. He was checking leads and keepingpace with Peregrine in their big black armored USSM Hummer nicknamed'The Bat Masterson'. Neither Jack, or Captain Shaw were happy aboutNorth Star and Titan being pulled off their team, but orders wereorders, and besides they were all fond of Jenny Goldstar.

“Peregrine, I might have alead” Jack said over the comm system. “Go ahead Broadsword”Lisa replied, stifling a yawn. “Might be a wild goose chase, but asI was double checking the reports from the Marshal's field team I gota hit”. Peregrine waited in silence for several seconds beforegetting annoyed and saying “Well, tell me you big iron lummox!”.Jack chuckled quietly to himself as she took the bait, like always.He thought she was such a cutie, especially when she got like that.“Right, well it turns out that one of the motels they checked outand cleared a few hours ago reported an assault and a robbery thismorning”. “Huh, that is too much of a coincidence to ignore Iguess” Peregrine said wearily. There was a silent pause then shespoke into the comm “alright, give me the location and we'll headthere, I am just about done with this search pattern anyway”. “Yougot it Little Bird” Jack replied with a grin. “Don't call me thatJack-off, Peregrine out”. Ah he loved that, such an easy goat toget, and such an adorable one.

***

Davos Muerte paced the dark motelroom. Michaela had been gone several hours. He was getting impatient.“I never should have trusted her to take care of this, its not likeI need her to replace us a fortress in a swamp, just a house somewherewould do!” he muttered to himself in frustration.

“Youdo that a lot” The Silhouette said. “What?” Victor looked overat her. “Pace like that, you do it a lot. Like you can't sitstill”. Victor just clenched his hands and let that stew a moment.“I've been dead a lot, makes you want to keep moving when yournot”. Silhouette smirked in amusement. “Besides, I've been lockedin a cage for six years, why do you just want to sit their and watchlousy television?!”. She shrugged “I was locked in a cage full ofred Christmas lights for three years, without a television”.Silhouette tossed the remote at him. “I don't care what you watch,go ahead”. Victor picked it up, and turned the set off. Silhouettegave him a scathing look “culero”. Davos walked over toher, his temper starting to rise “Look bright-eyes...”.Silhouette ignored him, rolled out of bed, grabbed onto The DeadMan's shoulder and pointed out the window. “What the...” Davosturned around. His eyes widened when he saw what was coming “Dammit”.

***

Peregrinegot to the motel first “I am here Broadsword. Looks quiet, I amgoing to take a quick listen into the rooms”. A few miles away inthe Bat Masterson Jack smiled “Hope you replace somethingentertaining”. Peregrine shook her head and ignored him. Sheactivated her laser mike system and started to scan each room,hearing what you might expect... televisions, radios, talking,coughing, moaning, showers running, toilets flushing, then... “Stepon it Sword, I think I have something”. Peregrine ran a voice printanalysis against her prisoner database. She smiled “Oh yeah, we gotSilhouette, one sec, switching to thermal”. Jack gave a cheer andgunned the Hummer. “I see only two heat signatures in the room...dammit, the other one is Davos, Michaela is not there”. Jackcursed, killing the lights on the Masterson and driving slowly intothe motel parking lot. He saw Peregrine hovering in stealth mode, theplasma exhaust at minimum power, emitting a dull red glow.

Jackgot out of the Hummer quietly, and shaped some of his absorbed metalinto a fine flexible mesh over most of his body. Then he made thickersharp angled armor plates to reinforce vital areas.

Heglanced up at his partner, who pointed out which room. He walkedthrough the dark lot, surprisingly quiet despite his weight andarmor. Keeping to the shadows he moved till he could get a glimpseinto the partially open drapes of the room. “So, do you want tojust keep an eye on them until the Vamp gets back or... oh shit”.Alarmed, Peregrine shot back “What?!” Broadsword had startedrunning towards the door “I forgot that Silhouette can see in thedark! They made us Little Bird, we gotta move before she just...”Lisa cut in as she hit the jets and crashed through the window “Theymade -you- buddy, not us!”

***

Davos grabbed the all-purposekitchen knife he had obtained at the pharmacy, and palmed thescrewdriver he took from the front desk. He cursed at himself “Nogear, no weapons, no plan”.

The Midnight Mistress grabbed ontoshadow reaching for Muerte “Lets just...” she was interrupted byPeregrine busting through the window, the sudden flare of her plasmajets blinding her momentarily.

“USSPECIAL MARSHALS!” Peregrine yelled into her PA system. Cuttingpower to her rockets before she lit the room on fire Lisa's momentumcarried her into a flying tackle of The Silhouette. The two womentumbled into the back wall together, Silhouette winced and called outin pain as she slammed through the plaster wall and hit her back onthe wooden studs. She yelled viciously at Victor “Hijo deputa! You said D-Day's team weren't gonna SEARCH here!”. Victorsquared off with Broadsword, glancing down at his kitchen knife, thenlooking back at the metal man. “I know!” he yelled back at her.

Broadswordgrinned at Davos “Are you really gonna fight me with that? justgive it up chief, we'll have you back in your cell in no time”.Victor snarled, and with a swift move caught Broadsword off guard,sweeping him. The metal man cursed and fell on his back. Victor wason him as Jack hit the floor, driving his hidden screwdriver betweenBroadsword's armored plates. It was slowed by the mesh underneath,but still bit into Jack's flesh. Jack winced and cursed, moving tobackhand Davos off him. But Victor had already rolled out of the wayand had gained his feet, grabbing a metal table lamp in both hands.Peregrine spoke through her comm system into Jacks earpiece “let meguess, you ALSO forgot that Victor Davos has been studying martialarts for like, 100 years?!” Jack retorted “I know!”.

TheSilhouette pulled tendrils from out of Peregrine's shadow and quicklywrapped her up against the wall, then she fell into her own Shadowand stepped out of Victor's on the far side of the room. She snipedat him “YOU said that we would be long gone from here before theychecked again!”

Victorshouted back “I KNOW!”. He swung the lamp like a two handed clubtowards Jack's unarmored face. It struck, but Broadsword had turnedhis head so the lamp just rung and dented against the armored plateover his skull.

Peregrinehit all of her maneuvering jets which burned away the tendrils aroundher like wax. From the floor where she was still sprawled, Lisatargeted The Silhouette with her Taser, but The Dark Lady saw itcoming, pulling a veil of shadow from the floor just in time. Thewires disappeared into darkness. “Don't let her touch Davos,Broadsword!” Lisa said into her comm as she got to her feet. “IKNOW!” he shouted into his mike carelessly. “OW!” Peregrinewinced as his shout punched her in the ear. “Dammit” he mutteredto himself, “I am gonna pay for that one”.

Jackmanaged to get to one knee, barely blocking another swing of the lampby Victor towards his head. The Silhouette's attention was stillturned towards Lisa from deflecting her Taser, but she was too faraway from him. Broadsword grew a blunt metal lance from his rightfist as he swung it towards her, hitting Silhouette hard in the ribswith the side of it. The Dark Lady collapsed into the wall, knockingover the TV which smashed onto the floor with a shower of sparks andglass. She grabbed her side and cried out, fighting the pain, headspinning.

Victortook his sudden opportunity, Broadsword was off balance from his wideswing, on one knee before The Dead Man. He stabbed with hisscrewdriver between the armor plates on the left side of Jack's neck,producing a squirt of blood. Jack yelled and rolled away onto thefloor, the screwdriver tangled in his armor and stuck in his flesh.“ah dammit, DAMMIT!” Broadsword yelled, he was bleeding now, andthe pain shot down his left arm which suddenly felt numb and weak.

Lisasaw Jack go down and yelled into her PA “That's enough! Silhouette,Davos, stand down or I will use LETHAL FORCE!”. Victor turnedtowards Peregrine, taking a few steps towards where The Silhouettewas, still trying to get up from the floor. “I would expect nothingless my dear” he said coolly. “Fine” Lisa muttered to herself.She raised her arm and let loose with her carbine, sending a spray ofbullets at Victor. He ducked under most of them, but a round caughthim in the shoulder and deeply grazed the side of his chest, knockinghim off balance, but he was able to control his fall enough to landwithin reach of Silhouette. The Midnight Mistress had brought up acloak of shadow reflexively as the gunshots came close to her. Shewas still on her knees, struggling to get up from Broadsword's blow.She reached out for Victors hand “Lets go!”. The Dead Manclutched his wounded shoulder and nodded, taking a deep breath.

Lisajumped across the room to get around Silhouette's darkness field,taking another shot at Davos. One hit home, knocking the wind out ofhim. But the pair fell together into Shadow, and her other bulletsjust punched holes in the floor where they had been just a momentbefore. “Dammit” Peregrine said.

Broadswordsat up, pulling the screwdriver from his neck and temporarilypatching his skin with metal to put pressure on the wound and stopthe bleeding. “Glad I'm not the one that has to tell the boss aboutthis” Jack muttered as he looked around at the chaos that had beena motel room. He flexed, testing out his left arm as he talkedquietly to Peregrine's back. “You know, there's no reason not touse lethal force on The Dead Man”. Lisa scowled back at him, smokestill rising from her carbine as it slid back into its forearmcompartment accompanied by a slight whine of servos. She sighed “Iknow”.