Antoinette woke as the hovervan slowed. The sun shone high overhead, revealing that the trip had only taken a short time. Behind them, the road wound away downhill, disappearing through the wooded mountainside. Ahead, a tall chain link fence surrounded a wide expanse of lawn dominated by a large antebellum plantation house two stories high, while on the opposite side of the drive lay a lake that looked to be almost a mile across. They drove up to an iron-barred gate and stopped at the call box. Captain Jones rolled down the window and keyed a complex series of numbers into the visible keypad. There was a brief flash as a laser camera photographed his retinal pattern and compared it to the one on file. “Seven and seven make three,” he said to the speaker grill. A moment later the gate’s lock released with a loud clack and broke open at the center, swinging away on silent bearings. As the hovervan whispered along the driveway it took a sudden dip and started down a ramp leading into an underground garage occupied by several different cars, including a pair of limousines and a huge motorhome. A large door in the back wall slid down into the floor, revealing an equally wide alcove that proved to be an elevator big enough to carry every vehicle in the garage at once.
When the elevator reached its destination, another door opened into a garage far larger than the one above, filled with vehicles from standard FORCE cruisers to exotic sporters and even military fliers. It looked more like a hangar than a garage with the variety of aircraft visible.
Antoinette gazed around, wide-eyed and silent. Scattered around the garage she could see men working on various vehicles, giving the impression of a busy operation. The van dropped them at a smaller, armored door and the group escorted her to another elevator. This one carried them down another level. The five of them entered a long corridor lined with doors, one of them giving access to a conference room as large as a small movie theatre.
Magnum sat at the middle of a long, oval conference table. A tall, middle-aged man wearing a well-cut business suit over an athletic body, he gave the impression of a corporate leader with a military background. Scott took the seat opposite Magnum. Tracker flanked Scott on the left with Antoinette beside him and Red and Jay flanked him on the other side. “Congratulations on a successful mission, gentlemen,” he exclaimed as they took their seats. “And welcome, Mademoiselle Duval. I’m glad to see you. I hope you’ll see fit to spend some time with us,” he added, shaking her hand across the table.
“I want you to know that this mission didn’t start out with the intent of rescuing you. Rather, the local police asked our aid in locating a reported tiger that was a threat to the community. The fact that you are the tiger only exemplifies FORCE’s purpose of protecting both the Normal person and Enhanced Persons. By rescuing you from Snake and bringing you here, we protected an EP from abuse, prosecution and perhaps even death at the hands of a mob. By finding you and bringing you here to a safe haven, we have protected the general population from an inexperienced and potentially criminal EP. Where you go from here will be your own choice.
“We can help you gain control of your abilities. We can help you discover yourself. We can help you find find a place for yourself. If nothing else, we can help you gain a sense of peace for a time. Anything you need, you have merely to ask. You are free to leave any time you wish; our resources available to take you wherever you desire. I only ask that you give us the opportunity to give you that aid.”
He sat down, taking up his notepad and leaning back in the chair. “Scott, you were in command of this mission. Beyond the official report I’ll be receiving later, have you anything to add?”
“Yes, sir,” Scott replied. “First I want to add that I was quite surprised when I spotted Vengeance overflying the search area. However, I was more surprised when after he had dropped knockout gas into the courtyard and picked up the tiger, Tracker launched into an attack, without orders, to protect her. Vengeance may have ended our initial mission by carrying her away, but Tracker not only prevented that result but then insisted that the search was more important than pursuit of the criminals. I wish to commend him for his dedication to our principles.”
Antoinette glanced over to the fox sitting beside her in time to see his ears fall at the comment. Magnum, too, gave Tracker a hard stare, before nodding as he remembered Tracker’s first mission with the Defenders. As Tracker leaned forward to argue, Magnum raised his hand, interrupting him before he could begin.
“Red?” he asked, turning to the big warrior, “is this true? Did you see anything unusual?”
“Yeah, Magnum. He not only insisted on trying to find and rescue the tiger, but he said that even if we pursued Snake, he would stay behind to find her if he could.”
“Even to the point of letting her hold his tail on the way back,” Jay quipped. “He never lets anyone touch him.”
Tracker slumped in his seat, ears down and tail curled under the seat of the chair.
“Tracker?” Magnum asked, turning to the vulpine Defender. “What have you to say to these statements?”
“I…,” he glanced around at the others, cringing as though trying to hide within his fur, “It was our mission. Our encounter with Snake was not expected. Any opportunity to disrupt Snake’s activities needed to be taken. Any opportunity to keep them from growing stronger must be taken. I couldn’t let Vengeance take another EP away unwillingly.”
“And what of your activities subsequent to their defeat,” Magnum queried.
“The mission stood, sir,” he replied. “Now that I knew we were searching for an EP, we needed to rescue her for her own sake as well as the good of the city. She was being hunted by both the police and a criminal organization, not counting Snake themselves. She needed to be found and brought to safety.” His ears rose as he spoke, though his tail remained tucked beneath him.
“I see.” Magnum thumbed a notation onto his pad and studied it for a moment, then set it down, looking at the others. “Very well. Turn in your reports to Colonel Carfield. Show Ms Duval down to the infirmary for a checkup and make sure she’s satisfied with her accommodations. After that you’re on your own unless something else comes up.” He rose and moved around the table, escorting them to the door and seeing them down the corridor before closing it behind them.
Scott carried her duffle bag while Tracker carried her guitar case and led her to the Med Center on the next level down. There, a doctor gave her a quick visual examination and checked her blood pressure, prescribing some nutrient supplements and rest, noting her gaunt features and apparent exhaustion. He assigned her a private room down a short corridor, where her escorts placed her belongings with promises to check up on her later. Through it all she held her fears in check as everything seemed so similar to what she’d experienced with Snake, yet seemed so different. Once everyone had left the room and closed the door, she slipped close to it and listened intently, trying to hear if anyone stood guard beyond as Snake had done. Hearing nothing, she tried the door, surprised that it opened easily to her touch. Glancing left towards the door leading in to where she now stood, she found it closed, though a glass pane made it clear that anyone could look down and see anyone in the hallway. Turning the other way, she eased silently down to the end of the corridor and tried the doors on either side. Each opened into a room identical to her own, the door showing no form of lock other than a glass panel at about chest height just to the side of the frame. After checking a couple more doors at random to find the same accommodations, she returned to the one they’d given her and slipped in as silently as she’d left it. Resigned for the moment at her apparent captivity, she undressed, climbed into the bed and fell asleep.
