Black Mirror

Chapter 6 - Slippery People

***FIONNA***

"Do we even have a game plan for this?" Kensi asks as we pile into the elevator.

"If we did, Russell's got it in his head," I say.

Harris casually leans against one wall, lining one of his hands with dark power. "No plan for us, huh? I'm good with that. The last time I fought in something with a plan, shit went sideways." His lips tighten as bad memories from his Prime 'Verse life come to mind and spill out for the rest of us to see. Memories of an angry bald man lashing out and snapping his leg, breaking it. Also a little blonde girl dying on a hospital bed. We've all seen that memory before, the death of Rachel Aster. Harris has been trying to find her ever since he came here, but to no avail. The system's still on the blink-

Ding ding.

The door opens, and we all crouch in the corners, ready to spring out ASAP. But the corridor beyond us is suspiciously empty. "I'm not liking this, guys," I say. I hold my hands out, ready to launch jets of fire around corners and spook any lurking enemies. Then, just when I think this isn't going to be a long, challenging enough task, the lights go out, plunging us into near-total darkness. Instinctively, the rest of us all circle around Gabe, seeing as he's the only one unable to naturally illuminate his way. We all have our own individual weaknesses, and this just happens to be his.

But he's not letting his weakness stop him from forming a deadly ice spike and holding it up, ready to throw. And let me tell you, I like going to the gym just to see Gabe throw. He's got a fearsome arm these days.

"All right, alien hunters," I whisper, turning my head around as close to three hundred and sixty degrees as I can. My heart pounds, pumping maybe ten percent blood and ninety percent adrenaline. "The monsters are loose. Let's go."

"Which way?" Gabe asks.

"The sub-basement stairs," Harris says. He holds up his flaming hand to show a sign on the wall, with an arrow pointing to the right reading "Sub-Basement." "Very helpful."

Above our heads, the ceiling trembles. Dana must be trying to earthquake Russell into submission again.

"Hey!" Male voices call after us from down the hall, in the opposite direction from where we're looking to turn. Right away, Gabe semi-blindly throws his spike, forcing the guards - I see two of them, light scrivs both - to duck or else their guts will explode. One of them sends bolts at us, which Kensi blocks with a light-gauntleted arm. The other reaches for a walkie-talkie on his belt, and I stick my hand around Kensi so I can blast him. In the process, I take a few light flechettes in my hand, howling in pain even though the light leaves no marks on me.

"You okay?" Kensi asks.

"Ahh...yeah, I'm good." I flex my left arm, rotating my wrist until I hear some joint cracking. I better not be getting early-onset arthritis or something - I do that a lot.

"GANGWAY, LADIES!" Harris jumps between me and Kensi, with Gabe beckoning us to his side.

I follow Harris for a moment, unsure what he's got in mind. "What are you..." Then I fall silent when I see him coating the walls, floor, and ceiling with copious amounts of dark energy, sticking to the walls and shining venomously.

"Back, back, back!" he says to me, walking backwards himself and spraying the walls even more. Ahead of us, the two guards back away as well, widening the gap between us. "When I tell you to, light the wall to your left on fire!"

"What, like it's an oil slick?" I ask. "Hell, it looks like one."

"Something like that." We come back up to the intersection where the sign directs us to the sub-basement. "Go! Fire! Now!"