24 Feb 2055
“You just happened to fly by?” Alaina asked once they’d settled into their flight path.
”Well, no. A couple of your friends suggested we come out and hunt for you.”
She stared at him suspiciously. “Who?”
”A man named Mark Hammond,for one. He’s one of our undercover deputies. He told us about how you saved his life. “However, a couple of weeks ago, a new mutant swam up to the sea gate at FORCE’s Ronald Reagan base with a pod of dolphins.”
”Ed?”
”That’s right. Ed Wray. The dolphins told him about us, so he came to check us out. Told us you were out here and needed a home. We’ve got five deputies wandering around out here, actually. I happened to be flying over town earlier in the day and saw what I thought was suspicious activity, so I hung around, keeping out of sight. When the crowd started building near sunset, I knew something big was going down. Looks like I hit the jackpot and not only shut down a muntant-hunting gang but also rescued our primary target. For that matter, I suppose I should call in and let them know I won first prize.”
She fell asleep as the big aircar sped silently through the night. Several hours later, just after dawn, the Deputy woke her. “Friend of yours to see you,” he said, gesturing out of the window.
She looked. The aircar had landed and a familiar figure was waiting off to the side. “Ed!” She opened the door and sprang from the sill into the air, gliding down to land in front of him. “Ed. How are you?”
”Just fine, Angel. Are you all right?”
”I am, now. Oh, Ed! I’m so glad to see you!” She leapt into his arms, kissing him. He held her, returning her kisses.
He went with her to see the Commandant of the base, Colonel Phillips, already waiting in his office despite the early hour. “Well, Ms. Hazelton. I am sure you have a lot of questions for us. Who are we? What do we plan to do with you? Where do you fit into those plans, and so on?” She nodded, wings trembling with nervousness.
He sat back, steepling his fingers. “FORCE is a national law enforcement agency, created late last year to combat some of the chaos in the U.S. Our purpose is to break up the mutant hunting gangs and other vigilante groups and arrest their leaders, if we can. We hunt down the criminal or insane mutants and deal with them. And we rescue, train, and protect the law abiding mutants, offering them a place to live and to work in relative safety. Will you join us?”
She shook her head. “I don’t see how I can, sir. You have to kill people sometimes, and I can’t. I can’t kill anyone. Not won’t, can’t. Thank you for rescuing me. As you probably already know, the man that was going to burn me alive was killed. I know, rationally, that the country is better off with him dead, but I could never have killed him, not even to save myself. If I hadn’t been tied to that stake, I would have tried to save him when your deputy shot him, despite what he was about to do to me!”
He nodded. “I thought as much. You can’t kill, but you know that it has to be done. Our people die, too. More often than we’d like. Would you be willing to join us as a healer? Help us live long enough to rescue other mutants?”
She sat silently for a moment, considering. This was her purpose, to help rescue her world from the damage done by the Aliens. The radiation couldn’t be undone, but she could use her new abilities to combat what they had done to her world. To find friends, too! People who accepted her for what she was — a mutant. People who could support and protect her, and who would look to her for the same support and protection. She looked up at him. “Yes, I will join you under those terms. Thank you.”
The next few days were a whirlwind of activity. FORCE was a gangly, adolescent boy thrust into a man’s world, all arms and legs and not quite sure of its coordination, balance, or purpose, but determined to succeed or die. There wasn’t much they could tell her about her mutations, although they were able to help her control the Call, to focus it somewhat. Bystanders and FORCEmen would take precedence, but with an act of will on her part she could choose who to help first, rather than simply helping the nearest person or the most severely injured, if she could determine the extent of their injuries beforehand. They outfitted her with a two way radio and homing beacon, but she soon realized that she couldn’t wear any of their defensive gear, since the weight of even a force field generator made sustained flight difficult. By the end of two weeks, she finished most of the training program, her former paralegal training putting her several steps ahead of other recruits.
She stood at attention before the Commander of FORCE as she took the oath in the base auditorium. Ed sat proudly in the first row, cheering her. On his upper arm he wore a band proclaiming his status as an official FORCE deputy.
