Painted Moments

30 Trip the trap

Chapter 30
Trip the Trap

    My level of anxiety always hypes up before a conflict. Sitting up on the couch I pulled my hair up into a messy bun on the top of my head. I took a few moments to just breathe and think through the plan.
   I brought up the image of what the town house would look like right at this moment. The closed blacked out paintings floating listlessly through the rooms and corridors. Harrace, whose face I had never seen aside from blurry history records, as he wanders around the house as if he owns it.
   My best guess for my parent's location would be the dias in the council chambers. They would be fools to try and move them if they already had them chained down there. I can feel rage welling up inside me, churning in my gut. I've been keeping it caged for what feels like an eternity after hearing my parents had been taken. I want to tear Harrace and his followers apart.
     Mason had finally gotten in touch with the leader of the Renewal. He tried to deal with this diplomatically first. Anything to avoid the same outcome as the previous war, but we are at a standstill. They won't make any choices without word from their true leaders inside The Inner Office. They demand their freedom or they will use force against anyone who dares to approach.
   The only entrance to the Inner office that will be open tonight would be the painting over the living room fireplace. The black out would already be fading to grey mist across the painting right about now. Once inside, according to Aspen, my parents, myself and my brother are the only ones who can completely release the house. Once in we can't leave either until we, in a sense, open the lock.
    Breaking into the Metropolitan Museum at night to get to the sister painting that the painting is connected to will be relatively easy. The curator is on our side, and the museum itself is not being watched to closely according to Mason's intel. Apparently, they are not aware the back door is located there. Instead they are guarding graffiti walls and other public works of art. Honestly, the whole thing smells like an obvious trap. To me the museum is an obvious mark. So I'm expecting a battle of some kind at the very least.
    Getting past the rebel families would be the tricky part. So we have decided to arrive in New York by tunneling through space into the rose gardens in Central Park. They would feel our arrival, but the large area would throw them off. Hopefully, that will give us enough time to get to the museum without getting caught. If we can do that, we won't have to worry about getting into the Inner Office anymore, just getting out.
   " Hey Sissy."
    Mason plopped down next to me on the living room couch. I set the book I had been staring blankly at for a half hour closed with a thunk on the coffee table. Cuddling into my brother's side I let out a sigh. He never showed how nervous he was before a job, but this one I could tell had him shaken. There is no way the rescue of our parents could be just another job. Yes they are hard core and can take care of themselves. However, that didn't mean there wouldn't be hardships for them to get through. The whole thing still seemed so surreal. The idea that my parents could get caught and held hostage just didn't fit into my data banks.
   " We can't feel the worry yet Sissy. We can worry about them once we have them back and can do something to fix any possible problems. Just like mom says, "One move at a time.Triage the situation like World War II and keep going." We can do this."
    He didn't finish the rest of mom's speech. Mostly because he knows it won't help. Still it rings in the air between us.
  " We can't save everyone" she would say; "and those that try are always met with madness."
    I never had a problem putting those kinds of thoughts in a drawer before. I'm just a girl born with a legacy that comes with a hard job. I'm nothing to envy. None of the wealth or perks of our family actually belong to me. Though I have to say, draining the known traitor families bank accounts and blocking their access to community funds was a satisfying feeling. They most likely have other revenue sources, but it's still nice to know I'm not paying for the paint used to try and remove my head.
On the other hand I had to get the approval from what was left of the council through Aspen before I could even do that. I'm just a future figure head that got born lucky. I didn't earn any of this. So how do I prove I deserve it. My insecurities and responsibilities could go round and round in my head like this for days.
    However, today my parents are the job. I have to focus.
   "We are almost ready to head out to New York. Keep it together for just a few more hours, and I promise Sissy, we will get them back."
   Mason squeezed me to his chest and kissed the top of my head.
   "Go suit up. Aspen sent your preferred gear up to your room with Lucas."
   He pushed me out of his embrace to stand up then pulled me from my cocoon of fluff. I was only slightly disgruntled at the disturbance of my found comfy spot since I knew he was right. I was only procrastinating at this point. Which in all honesty made me angry at myself.
   My parents are probably still chained to that stupid dias that no one really liked anyway. They were probably sitting on the cold floor silent and ignoring their own discomforts. Yet here I am hiding my fear of failure behind fluff and procrastination. What a wonderful daughter I am.
    I trudged up the steps to my room not really seeing my surroundings. I'm so locked in my head I don't really know how I got to the end of our bed to stare down at the familiar tactical garb laid out across the duvet.
   My movements are methodical as I strip down to change. Leaving the teenage girl behind on the floor is never easy. The soft delicate purple floral tights, lavender shirt and flip-flops wouldn't match well with the young woman in black fatigues.
   I was lacing up my boots when Luc entered from the bathroom wearing similar attire except for the hunter green shirt. He looked good dressed as one of my soldiers. The only differences being his short hair, which he has been growing out since he was told of the tradition, and the ID seeds inked on his arm.
  The day I showed him mine he had marveled at the idea. Dog tags can be lost. Identifiers on uniforms destroyed, but a tattoo on your bicep that will move when the flesh is damaged. That's a little tougher to get rid of.
   I usually keep my rank farther in on my body to hide it on a daily basis. Today I display it proudly on my arm. The five seeds are so golden no tattoo artist on earth could mix it without the metal itself.
  Other colors represent occupation. Green is combat.
Red is medical.
Blue is seals and research
Grey is infiltration and interrogations
   Grey seeds are under my brother's command. Green are my hunters. Blue belong to Aspen now, and Reds are run by a group of three top medical chiefs.
   Most volunteer for medic positions according to the jobs magnitude. Today we have three Red seeds assigned to us. Akila being one of them. She was studying to be a nurse before Aspen.
   I guess they believed we would need all the help we could get. They had pushed for five, but my brother insisted that was overkill and would tax our protection detail by spreading it too thin.
   "Hey Koi, you uh, you ready?"
   I finished yanking my shoe strings, tightly knotting them before I stood to make my way over to him. He gave me what I wanted instantly as I pulled him down into a deep kiss. Our gear didn't let me get as close to him as I would have liked, but I'm sure my thoughts were conveyed.
   I love you. I'll come back safe. I will see you when this is all over. Everything will be okay then. Everything I needed to say to him I poured into this moment. When we finally parted I took his hand and smiled up at him with a smile that I'm sure held all of my vicious savagery for the people who held my parents captive.
   "Let's go get my parents. It's high time we got their blessings for our union."
   With those words I took hold of the chain around his neck. Pulling the pendant from his shirt I flooded it with all the love I felt for him. He took my hand clutching the ring around my thumb, and did the same. I could feel his confidence in me overflowing, but in the deepest darkest corner of his heart he did his best to hide his fear and concern. I pushed a healthy dose of confidence and assurance at it. Doing my best to wash it from his mind.
   "I'll never be able to hide from you now, will I koi."
  Not since you have obtained my full attention. No, I don't think so. You did well to lay low for so many years though. Kinda frustrating if you think about it. I could have been kissing you sooner.
   He smiled at me then slipped the pendant from my grasp.
  " You need to focus, don't waste time letting me add to your worries."
    I could feel the bubble of bliss fizzle through me as he tried to distract me from his doubts. I smiled at him pulling my hand from his grasp to cup his chin.
   "You could never waste my time."
   " Have I mentioned you are very attractive as a General."
  "Yes yes my sister hung the moon, the stars and the sun grovels at her feet while she kicks butt and takes names like a warrior goddess, blah blah blah."
   I peeked around Luc's shoulder to smile at Mason as he pretended to gag.
  "My two favorite people in the world have become total mushy saps bent on making me want to gouge out my eyes and cut off my ears. Isn't my life wonderful?"
  "You could have just kept walking Mason."
  Luc turned around with a wide grin.
  "Says the guy who forgot I was here and my precious baby sister who didn't even acknowledge my existence."
  "Stop hiding your presence and maybe she will notice you."
  Stepping past Luc I hugged Mason.
  "Don't be too hard on him, Love, he can't help being a creeper, it just comes naturally to him."
  "Oh Ha Ha, that's the last time I gather relationship info on you two for each other."
  He walked away muttering loudly the questions we had asked him to answer for us over the last two weeks causing us both to blush as we realized how childish we must have come across.
   "Does she prefer silver or gold?
   Do you know if he even likes jewelry? Should I make something that represents me for her/him or should I just do something simple?"
   "Okay okay, we get it Macy we won't bug you anymore. Now will you quiet down before someone overhears you. We are trying to keep our bonding secret, remember?"
   I cringed at how desperate he was making me sound while Luc seemed to just laugh it off after the first two mubbled mutters.
  Finally, he let it go and we made it down stairs. Everyone was waiting in the kitchen chowing down on spaghetti and meatballs. Nephilim always eat before a battle. Stocking up on energy reserves is a basic instinct.
Everyone stayed relatively quiet as they stood around eating, or conversing over different possibilities that could arise from tonight's mission. I did my best to tune them out. I considered only the task ahead. Whatever trial awaited us after is tomorrow's problem. So the meal went by in a blur.
Now I'm standing in the foyer regretting the three plates of spaghetti I had wolfed down. Following your instincts is one thing, but nervous eating till you puke is another.
Our chosen entry point was actually as far from the museum as possible. It takes a lot of time to build up a connection to a place that doesn't have a painting to exit out of. Which is why the two people opening the garden painting won't be going with us. It's going to take everything they have to punch through.
Once we are on the other side the opening will close, and we will be cut off from the safe house completely. We either succeed or we run on foot to get to another source of escape. There are many locations in the museum, and even some hidden within the graffiti and wall murals of the city. We only have intel on two that have not been destroyed though. There is no way to know for sure if they were just not found or if they are a trap. All in all our best bet is the museum with all its many artworks. Even if it is the most obvious trap of all it has a higher percentage for retreat once a base is established.
"Alright everyone. Form up. We have a total of ten minutes to make it through the garden scene before Cole and Shaun will have to close it off. Let's not put any more strain on them than we have to."
Mason paced back and forth in front of our three groups with an air of confidence I just didn't feel, but knew I couldn't show my lack. He briefed the new arrivals on the plan as if he were running a daily drill. No fear. No weakness. I envied him.
"Cordeliah, Lucas, Trevor, and I will be going in first. Everyone else will follow in groups of four until all twelve of you make it to the other side. Aspen, I want your group after mine. Make sure each unit has at least one member from each Corp. Understood?"
A chorus of "yes sirs" was the group's only response. Many of these people had worked together before. After Aspen grabbed Chris, Akila, and a grey seed from the group; the others fell in line with their group. Fred took charge of the third group while Grace from Mason's corps took charge of the fourth. In total there were nineteen people I was responsible for bringing home safely tonight. Once we get my parents out, it is up to us to reset the lock.
Our success hinges on the fact that we all get out before tripping the last fail safe my grandfather had implanted within the design of the building. The plan after that is literally a siege. A sealed house with no food provisions and no way out. It will be just another cage for Harace. His weak lackeys who didn't have the chops to side with him when he went down, but hid in the shadows waiting for him to rise again will start turning on each other faster than Judas turned on the Beloved Light of the Creator.
He probably wouldn't last a month before their begging for freedom drove him back into his painting willingly.
As Cole and Shaun started feeding the painting the golden glow swept through it leaving behind a swirling portal. The real rose garden finally becoming visible in the very center of the frame. Using this method to punch through space on the same plain of existence is already showing visible strain on the guys. We would probably need triple the man power to break into another plain of existence. So I guess we can be great full on this front at least.
"Let's get moving!"
Everyone, including myself fell in behind Mason as my group enters what can only be described as a pearlescent tunnel that literally forces us to the other end within seconds of stepping inside. We are practically pushed into the rose garden on the other side with the power equivalent to hurricane winds.
We mostly landed on our feet at the other side. Luc unfortunately being the exception. I couldn't hold it against him though. He did well enough not to get blown into the bushes. The first time I did this with my dad; Mason ended up in a tree and I ended up soaking wet splashing around in a lake. Even if we were just uncoordinated ten year olds then. Luc was down right graceful in comparison.
Aspen's team made it through without any qualms. On the other hand though we need to hurry. The torrent wind coming from the opening isn't exactly quiet. It could draw the wrong attention at any moment.
My gaze focused out into the surrounding gardens looking for any sign that someone was smart enough to watch this area. We don't need opposing scouts pinging us before we even make a move. We would never make it to the museum.
Just as the third group started to emerge the portal started to fluctuate.
Crap! It was too much for them.
Mason reached into the portal and pulled the last member of the third group through by forcing a burst of his life force into the opening. Once the young healer was free the portal shuttered once more before closing completely.
" Great, four members less, and a useless baggage taking the place of a would be competent. I feel so confident in this now."
Everyone glared at Trevor and his demoralizing attitude.
"What! Everybody is thinking about it."
"That doesn't mean we shake everyone's resolve by voicing it. That's squad learnership 101. Not to mention, it's rude to call people dead weight!"
The little healer that Mason dragged through looked panicked as she chastised Trevor. Her head swiveled back and forth from Mason to Trevor. Her face begging for Mason to refute Trevor's tactless comments.
" He is a Rogue hunter, Claire. He usually works alone, and has zero manners. He is good at his job though so don't worry. My sister and I have this. We planned for every possibility. We got more groups through then we thought."