Falling Cities

V-e-r-i-s

The first thing I see when we surface is the fiery body of the helicopter crash into the water with and enormous splash.
"Emmet!" Lucinda has her hands under my arms and is towing me to shore.
"Where's Foster!" I sputter. But it goes unheard.
"Emmet!" He surfaces a few feet away, gasping, before diving back down agian.
"Emmet!" Lucinda circles in one place.
Emmet comes up agian beside us, breathless and panicked.
"I lost him, he's gone."
"What?"
"So much for saving the world!" I yell.
Emmet paddles over and grabs hold of me.
"Take her, I'm going down."
"It's no use Lucinda-"
But she's already below the waves.
"You lost him?" I demand.
Maybe I shouldn't have been mouthing off to the person saving me from drowning.
"I'm sorry."
He clearly was. He was panicked and shaky. He'd also just lost his helicopter, so I cut him a little slack.
I hear a gasp beside me. At first when I crane my neck I expect to see Lucinda, but it isn't her.
It's Foster.
He's struggling.
"Foster!" Emmet instructs.
"Fan your arms and kick your legs!"
"I'm trying! I'm not very good at-" he slips under.
"No!" I call.
When Lucinda surfaces she's got her arms around him.
"You made it.. this far.." they're both panting so intensely I worry they'll both drown.
"Swim. Now." We paddle to the shore of the lake. Soon the water gets shallow and we stagger to the sand, dragging each other along and finally we collapse at the shore, water still reaches my cheek and the corner of my eye, I slide into my back to avoid it.
There's silence then, besides the panting.
"Lucinda?" Emmet asks.
"Yes?"
"My helicopter? That'll be taken out of your share of the national funding."
She nods slightly.
"Fair enough."
I turn around, beside me is Foster.
"You alright?" He asks.
"No."
He almost laughs, the chokes up water and spits into the sand.
"Ne meither."
It's intentional, but it still makes me feel better. Lying out here in the warm Colorado sun. My white coat is stained with so much grime it's embarrassing.
Foster lets his blue eyes slide shut.
Watching it happen makes me dilerious. I forgot how tired I was, although it isn't safe here.
What I wouldn't give just too rest..
But then I hear gunshots.
No. Not a gunshot, a flare.
"Hassler's men!" Lucinda beams.
"They've found us!"
"Is that a bad thing?" Foster moans. "I'm not in the mood to deal with any bad things right now.."
"No it's alright children! It's perfect!"
Emmet sits up.
Ten men in military fatigues stalk toward us. Ominous. Most carry large assault rifles, but two are holding a small cheat between them.
Lucinda darts over.
The raise their weapons.
She laughs and shows them a picture of her, with writing below I cannot make out from such a distance.
Her ID.
They lower their guns and the two who carried the chest walked forward. They dropped it in front of Lucinda, she dropped to her knees and slowly opened it.
I stood up shakily and walked over, Foster followed and then Emmet.
Inside where two dark uniforms. Not uniforms really, but more like armor.
Sleek and stylish, extra iron plates over the breast and shoulders, on the thighs and shins.
They where incredible.
"Mr. Hassler's plan.. the stupid one." She lifts a heavy-looking outfit to show us.
"These are yours." She sets them in the grass. Below them are two pistols, shiny and dark, sleek and angular.
Fully loaded.
Lucinda sets them near the armor.
Then, at the bottom, a small case.
She lifts it open.
A key.
"The MicroLOC."
It was particularly nondescriptipt, but considering the magnitude of the object I'd say it was gorgeous.
Slender, pattered and silver.
"This is the key that shuts down TIB, turns it all off, frees the people, opens the city gates.." she looks up to me and Foster.
"And once we get you two inside, they'll be no stopping us."
A man stepped forward, his forehead was sweaty, his hair was matted under a helmet.
"Ma'am? Mr. Hassler commanded us too take you directly to TIB's automation center. Is that correct?"
Lucinda squealed with excitement. "Yes! Yes!"
"We've got two trucks out there." He flicks his gaze to the forest behind.
"We'll give you some privacy." He tells us.
"Why?" Foster asks.
"Because you need to change, then I'll give you a quick gun lesson." He smiles. "Although you probably won't use them much."
"You want us to change now?" I ask.
"Yes, we are ready to go, just waiting on you two."
I nodded and they moved to leave, soon it was just me and Foster by the lake.
"Your bracelet? Helps with good sense."