Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 4

Inner Opposition

They staggered back to the hotel late the next morning, dirty and waterlogged from a steady downpour of rain. Ramirez for his part was glad to be out of second city, but his concern for maverick outweighed his relief. Soemthing had happened to her back there, and the entire trip back had been marked with sullen silence, and her unwillingness to look him in the eye. He had tentatively tried to take her hand on two occasions but backed away when she rejected the idea.

Maverick was already hot and cold on physical contact, but whatever had happened seemed to have made it worse for the time being. Some of his concerns abated, when they stepped of the railcar at their stop, and she allowed him to lean against her for support as they trudged their way up the street both exhausted, both lightly battered.

"I need to talk to Adam." She said as they entered the front lobby receiving a strange look from the front desk attendant as they limped into the elevator.

"Alright, they're on the top floor I think."

They made it to the fifth floor, surprised to find four heavily armed UNSC officers standing outside the door. Despite their armament, all four men looked unusually nervous. Maverick and Ramirez paused before the door as one of the guards stepped forward.

"What do you want?"

"To see Adam, is he in."

The guard looked them over again but nodded and let them pass. Ramirez and Maverick exchanged a look as they stepped forward to knock on the door. They only had to wait a few moments before the latch clicked and the door was pulled open. Adam stood in front of them, and the man looked like hell dark circles under bloodshot eyes. His face was pale, and Maverick couldn't help but notice the very visible tracking monitor strapped around his human foot and ankle.

"What the hell happened to you." Ramirez asked

Adam raised an eyebrow, "I could say the same thing." He stepped aside and opened the door wider to let them in. The room they had been given was a two-story suite with full kitchen and two bedrooms. Sunny was in the livingroom practicing her spear forms, and little kay was curled up on the couch asleep with a large stuffed frog as rain drummed against the window. She stopped as soon as they walked in. Not so long ago Ramirez and Maverick had been watching the little guy while his parents were at some sort of peace summit. Whatever it was ran longer than intended, so Dr. Katie had taken over while the two of them got their rest. As a result they hadn't seen Adam or Sunny since they left for the summit a day r so before.

"this can't be good." Sunny said looking them over

Together the two of them slumped down at the dining table, and Adam sat across from them. "You want to tell me what happened?"

You first, "Ramirez urged , "how was the summit."

Sunny paused and Adam grimaced, rubbing a hand over his good eye and down his face, "Um...."

"I read President Hunt's mind."

"Shit." Ramirez said, "Keep forgetting you can do that. Sorry for whatever you see, it is totally not my fault."

Adam gave a distant smile before it dropped again, "he was working with kazna, just like we suspected, but she recently betrayed him."

Maverick's voice was soft when she finally spoke, "That's about what we expected isn't it?"

Adam sighed, "yes, but..... impetus didn't like it all that much."

A strange expression crossed Maverick's face, but Ramirez was sure he was the only one who picked up on it...

"impetus, isn't that, you?"

Adam shrugged, "Sometimes, I feel like we are two very different people. He has memories that I just don't have, powers that I can only borrow, but the point is. Impetus learned what was going on and he.... Well...."