Consuming Fire

Chapter 77

Joshua gripped the armrests of the jet as they took off into the bright sun. His thoughts were momentarily distracted by the rocky takeoff, but once they were clear of a few thousand feet, the Captain unclipped his seatbelt and walked over to Marcus, who was stationed at the control desk near the cockpit.

As Joshua looked around, he felt his stomach sink. Their numbers were still limited, even with the soldiers. Could they fight a bunch of Chinese assassins, Agents and mutants without losing anyone again?

After a long moment, the Captain stepped back and stood before the hanger.

"Marcus has just unlocked the schematics of the underground army base." Marcus lowered a screen in front of the cockpit that was larger than Joshua's TV back home. The screen showed a 3D model of the army base. "We'll land in this area, a mile away from the base, and enter in through the hanger."

"Um question?" asked Zac.

"Only if it's relevant," growled the Captain.

"Won't the army or Secret Service or whoever is guarding the president just ... mistake us for the enemy and try to kill us?"

A few others mumbled their agreement and voiced their concerns. The Captain crossed his arms.

"I agree with you Zac – it'll be difficult to even land in a secure property without raising questions, even if this jet has invisible capabilities. Which is why I made a few calls with the Unites States Armed Forces and an old friend of mine. They know we're coming."

"How did you convince them?"

"I didn't," said the Captain. "He did."

With that, he gave Marcus a nod and up on the screen, a video message played.

"Hello everyone," said Chevie. He sat in a dark, heavily guarded room filled with military equipment. The feed was fuzzy and his voice cut out a couple of times, but he at least looked well. "I'm here with Secretary Sage and the army ready to take down our attackers. They made their move unexpectedly, and we have already lost a lot of men. We're waiting for you so we can attack. The President is in their custody, but we have it on good authority that they will not kill him unless directly threatened. I guess we're going to have to threaten them anyway if we want to save this country. I'm sorry for being such a jackass, and for leaving so suddenly. But I'm back, and I'm here to help. We both are."

Chevie's father Alistair came into the frame and gave a hesitant wave.

"The Secret Service and the army are your back up. You'd better get here in a hurry – they won't wait for long."

The feed cut with a snap and the jet was shocked by Chevie's sudden turnaround and the news that they may not be as screwed as they all thought.

"So," said the Captain. "It's going to be a messy fight, but we have the nation's best to back us up. We can win this, I believe we can."

It was a two hour flight in the jet to Louisiana. Joshua distracted himself with general wonderments, such as how Chevie managed to build a jet that could reach up to two-thousand kilometers per hour all on his own.

The Captain encouraged them to rest, but they were all too nervous. Zac, Chantal and Marcus were trying to lighten the mood by talking about something Joshua only just caught the beginning of.

"Do you guys think Alfie will be there?" asked Chantal. "We don't even know if he's still alive."

"That'd be a shit storm," said Marcus.

"Oh man," said Zac, "I hope he's there. I mean he can't be dead, he's a freaking dinosaur."

"And all the other dinosaurs, what happened to them?" Marcus said sarcastically.

Most other people were paired together, trying to fuse a battle plan in their minds, all of them not really sure as to how it all would work out. A heated argument had started at the back of the plane on his side. Illya and Ace were talking loudly to each other.

"What's going on?" asked Joshua.

"Its' nothing," said Ace in his hoarse tone.

"Are you sure? Because you sound like you really don't want to be here."

"You Americans think you're capable of anything, don't you? You never look at the consequences, never consider the wars you may cause. Why do you think it's always America being targeted for destruction?"

"Because we have the greatest range of nuclear weaponry in the world and a fuck-ton of people who support us," said Marcus.

"And our President is black!" shouted Zac.

Everyone looked at him in astonishment.

"Sorry," he said.

"Illya is right," said Zokani, and his sister nodded in agreement. "Are we really prepared for what we're facing here?"

"We're protecting our country," said Joshua. "We're showing the world that we can be heroes and that we'll die trying. We can't be fully prepared for this, but at least we're doing something."

"No," said Ace, "you're fighting fire with fire."

"Actually, Hunter is fighting with fire for us," said Marcus. "I don't see either of you taking a jet on your own to take down a guy who can blow apart your mind without blinking. She's the bravest of us all, and the two of you sit there thinking you're better than her!"

"Not better," said Illya, "Smarter."

"Well you're either with us or – as the Captain suggested – you can jump off this plane. Maybe you'll land on your feet," Chantal snarled at Illya.

She and Ace locked gazes. After a moment in which they hardly moved, Illya nodded.

"We'll fight," she sighed. "But we're staying out of all your patriotic crap."

"That's fine," said Joshua. "But if this were Australia being attacked, I wouldn't be going in with my tail between my legs."

Illya raised her eyebrows, a sly smile crossing her long, red lips. "I'll be holding you to that, Iceman."

With the argument settled, everyone went back to their whispering and plan-making. But none of it stopped Joshua from worrying about Hunter. He couldn't take the pressure. He needed some way to relieve it all.

He reached into the small zip pocket of his superhero suit and took out the tiny snow globe Hunter had given him. He couldn't even see what was inside it with the dim light of the cabin, but when he shook it, the snow glimmered and reminded him of when Hunter was a young child and Joshua took her to Toys R Us around Christmas time. He expected her to beg him for a Barbie Beach House, but instead, she found a snow globe. And she would not let it go. Her golden eyes watched as the snow swirled around in the globe with child-like amazement. He gladly bought it for her, and another one the year after. Eventually she grew tired of them, but Joshua didn't stop collecting. They reminded him of the young, innocent Hunter that he had raised alone. She never knew the truth about the snow globes, but he was happy to keep that secret. Just like he was content to let her go, knowing she may not survive this fight, because they had made their peace.

He watched the snow swirl in the tiny glass ball and waited for it to begin.