(old) Anomaly 207 (shelved for now)

==Chapter 13==

I made a beeline for my workshop as soon as we got home. There, I plugged in the Holon I found. Just then I got a call from Lee. "James?" He asked as I picked up. "Yeah?" "Where the heck are you?!"
"Uhm. At home. I went to see my dad today. You sound angry." I noticed. "What's wrong?" Lee grunted, "Angry? Boy, you have no idea. I'm fuming. Clarissa and her goons ambushed Skyler last period. She just took off after that." "What did you do?" I asked. "Nothing. Right now, I'm searching for Skyler. She ran off, and not in the direction of where she normally goes." "Have you tried calling her?" I asked. Lee sighed. "Of course. Just voice mail. She's not responding to texts either."
Weird. I thought. That's nothing like Skyler. "I'll see what I can do. I'll call you back."

First I tried calling her. "Hello, Skyler here. You've reached my voicemail. Please leave a message."
I sighed. "Skyler, if you get this, please call back. We're worried about you. If Clarissa said or did something rude, you can tell us." I hung up and sat there for a couple of seconds.
Then an idea popped into my head. "Delta, can you triangulate her position based on that voicemail?" "I can try—just a second, sir."
Delta went silent for a full minute. "I got a hit, sir. As you know, triangulation is not completely  accurate." "Yeah, I know. Just give me a route. I'm taking the scooter. Try to crack this Holon in the meantime."
"Of course Sir. Drive safe."

I headed up to the garage and put on my helmet. I placed the spare helmet under the saddle and opened the garage door. As I was driving, Delta put the route on my heads-up display. 
"Sir, you have an incoming call from Lee Mason." "Put him through," I replied.
"James? Have you gotten hold of Skyler yet?" Lee asked. "No. I have a rough position, though. I had Delta triangulate her position. I'll have him send it. See you there." "See you there."
Sometime later I arrived in the city block where Delta had last pinpointed her position. It was near the old parts of New York. I knew I was just one or two blocks away from the East River. There were very few people around. I looked around, trying to figure out where she could have gone. There was nothing special there. Just some old buildings and a closed mall.
Mall. There was something with a mall. I thought.
I stopped near the mall entrance and got off my scooter. I took off my helmet and took out my Holon. Where are you? I texted Lee. On my way. He replied. I'm at an old mall. I think she went inside.

I tried to look through the glass doors, but it was very dark inside. The only light inside came in through the glass dome on the roof. After a few seconds of looking around, I saw an open window that was relatively easy to reach if you could climb a little. I sent a picture of it to Lee and climbed inside.
It was very eerie inside. All the stores were empty and the air was filled with dust. I turned on the flashlight on my Holon. "Skyler? Are you there?" I called. No reaction. I closed my eyes and listened. I heard a very faint sobbing. I followed the sound to the second floor, where I found her sitting with her hood up in front of a collapsed café. "Skyler?" I asked.  When I saw her face, she looked up at me, and my blood started boiling with anger. Her left eye was swollen and she had some dried blood beneath her nose. She turned away again and I knelt next to her. I put my arm around her shoulder and she sank into my embrace, with her face against my chest and she started crying again.
I rubbed my hand over her back, trying to comfort her. "Ssh. It's okay. Clarissa won't get away with this." We just sat there for a minute or two. When she finally calmed down, I said, "Come. I have a First Aid kit in my scooter." She nodded, and I helped her up.
Just as we climbed outside, Lee arrived in his car. He jumped out and anger burned in his eyes.
It had been quite a while since I saw him that angry. Last time it was because someone was bullying Maria. 
"What the fuck did Clarissa do?" He yelled.
I gestured for him to calm down, seeing that the yelling wasn't helping.
"What happened?" I asked as I opened the first aid kit and gave her a cooling pack for her eye.
"Clarissa ambushed me after class. She called me a slut and had her two goons beat me up. Then she told me to stay as far away from you as possible, and if I didn't, well... you get the gist of it."
For a couple of seconds, I just sat there in silence. Then the ground started to rumble as whisps of blue light danced around my fingers.
"I'm gonna end her. This is the last time she messed with me or my friends." I growled.
Skyler looked at the blue light with concern in her eyes and gave a subtle nod toward Lee while clearing her throat.
Realizing what she meant, I quickly reigned in my telekinesis. Luckily, Lee didn't seem to have noticed.
I looked at the time, five minutes before the end of the second-to-last class of the day.
"Skyler? I think you should go home today. I'll clear things up with the university. Lee, can you drive her home?"
Lee nodded.

With this, we parted ways, and I headed for the university.
As I arrived on campus, I saw a familiar face.
I got off my scooter and approached them.
Before she could react, I punched her in the face with my left hand and grabbed the collar of her polo with my right.
Clarissa looked at me confused, her nose bleeding from my punch.
"What the hell James?!" she yelled.
"Listen very carefully!" I growled, "If you as much as look at any of my friends the wrong way, I will punch you with the other hand, understood?"
Before she could reply, a teacher came running up to us.
"What is going on here?" he asked.
I let go of Clarissa. "Nothing sir,  she fell on her face a little while ago, and we just had a little argument about something petty." I lied as I glared at Clarissa, daring her to say something. She, however, just glared back.
The teacher looked between the two of us and sighed.
"Well, Don't let it happen again."
Clarissa and I both nodded.
"Of course not, sir. We'll settle it like civilized people." I replied, giving Clarissa another death glare.
As the teacher left, I looked Clarissa dead in the eyes. "This isn't over. You of all people should know not to mess with a Mercury."
She just huffed and walked away.
I looked at her for a second, shook my head, and got back on my scooter, heading home.