Debut

Chapter 11 Escapee Encounter

"Ow! My retinas!" I shouted as we appeared out of the teleporter's flash.

"I would have to agree with you in that one," Skyler said, rubbing his eyes. "That was brighter than I expected."

I let my eyes adjust to the new lighting, then checked my extremities. Fingers? Ten. Toes? Ten. Elbows? Check. Kneecaps? Yep. Nose? Yes. Ears? All present.

"Prototype test 2: success," I said as I stepped forward-

and fell flat on my face.

As I rolled onto my back, groaning, I glanced at my ammo pouch. Or rather what was left of it. Attached to by belt was a twisted lump of cloth and metal that stretched past the bottom of my foot. I had tripped on it when I started walking.

"Are you kidding me?" I shouted.

"Correction: prototype test 2: mostly successful," Skyler said laughing.

"Shut up," I growled, cutting the ammo rod off my belt with my sword. I took in my surroundings.

You can see quite a lot from the top of the tallest building in the city. I could see all the way to the highway that encircled the city's outer limits. The cars looked like gnats and the people were invisible from this height.

I took a step back from the edge. "I feel a little dizzy. Maybe I should sit this one out."

"You'll be fine," Skyler said. "It's just a 600 foot drop."

"Only 600 feet," I laughed nervously.

"Just do a leap of faith into the dumpsters. You'll live."

"Ok, tell me where the dumpster is."

"Would you rather take the stairs?"

"Or the elevator. Either is fine."

"Great. We'll take the stairs after the meeting."

"After the meeting?"

"We're meeting up here."

As if on cue, the door to the inside of the building opened. The first person to step out made me want to hide in the dumpster.

He was well over six feet tall and had camo pants and a green shirt on. His black hair was spiked up and there were black streaks under his eyes. He had a machine gun slung over his back and extra magazines clipped to his belt. I have never seen a more determined or scary face in my entire life.

"Philip!" Skyler said, walking up to him. "How are you doing?"

"Skyler!" The man said, breaking into a smile. "I didn't expect to see you here!"

"Hold on a sec," I interrupted. "Philip. Skyler. Philip Schuyler."

"No correlation. Philip, you brought Megan too?!"

I look towards the door as a girl about my age stepped through. She had white hair, brown eyes, and an oval face. She wore jeans, a purple sweatshirt, and an Eevee shirt. Nunchucks were clipped to her waist. She popped her bubble gum, and as she recommenced chewing I noticed she had braces.

She walked over to me. "Hey."

"Hi," I replied. "I'm Joe."

"Megan. Do you know why we're here?"

"Not really. Kind of hard to trust the person who takes you somewhere against your will."

Megan nodded. "I tried to get my father to tell me what was going on, but he wouldn't tell me. Probably still won't, now that they're bickering again."

I looked at Skyler and Philip, who are in the middle of an argument.

"She's too young," Skyler pressed.

"Nonsense," Philip retorted. "She's as old as this kid you brought with you!"

"He's 18!"

"Actually, I'm not," I interjected. "I'm 16."

Skyler stared at me. "But the file said you were 18."

"Well I guess the file was wrong."

Skyler scratched the back of his head. "Weel, you're already suited up, so I guess you have to help. But Megan is still too young. I'm sorry, but you have to go home," he said to her.

"Now wait a minute," Philip interrupted, "the more people we have, the easier this will be."

"How about we let her decide," a new voice said. "If she wants to stay, she can stay. If not, she can leave." A figure stepped out of the shadows, a hoodie obscuring his face.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"The name's Gerano," he said, placing his hand on the hilt of the blue sword strapped to the belt on his jeans. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. I agree. We should let her decide. So," I turned to Megan, "do you want to stay or go?"

"I begged my father to take me along, so I'm obviously going to stay here," she shrugged. "Plus, we took a taxi, so I wouldn't be able to get home quickly anyway."

"It's settled then. The girl stays. The more the merrier, right?" Gerano said.

"Too many cooks spoil the broth," Skyler retorted.

"So how do you know Skyler?" I asked Megan.

"He's my uncle. My overprotective uncle."

"Just because I'm concerned for your safety doesn't mean I'm overprotective!"

"Can you continue this argument later? We have a problem we need to solve, and fast," Gerano interrupted.

"Yes," a new voice said. "How are you going to solve the escaped scientist problem if you can't tell when he's right behind you?"