I could vaguely hear someone screaming as we raced to the ground, falling rapidly through the air and closing in on the tree line. I could sense a small clearing below us, where Iris and Vulture had already landed and shove us that way, leaving Diego to use his telekinesis to keep us and the ice platform intact.
Feeling my feet freezing over, I realized that Fred was rapidly freezing everyone's feet onto the ice platform and thickening it and I couldn't help but felt impressed. This would alleviate some of Diego's stress. I could then sense someone helping me slow the platform down – Diego was trying to help me as well.
And before I knew it, we were racing pass the tree line in a much more reasonable, but still neck breaking speed, and I started breaking out of the ice shoe hold. The rest caught on to what I was doing and as soon as we were all free, I tugged on the ice platform with all my mind, sending it crashing downwards while we actually leaped up.
Tightening the rope that surrounded us, Diego wrapped us together like a bundle of flowers and using the rope as a leverage point I lowered us down. I could hear several people yapping, and I gritted my teeth as the rope dug against my skin. Just as the pain was getting unbearable, we had managed to descend the last couple of meters and landed on the ground as a not-so-graceful bundle.
As soon as I caught my breath I released us from the ropes and rolled away from Casey, who was sandwiched between Viktor and I. There were various sizes of ice chucks scattered all around us and I could see Vulture and Iris emerging from the trees nearby, no doubt having to evacuate the small landing briefing to avoid getting showered by the debris.
"Well, that was the most dramatic thing I have ever seen." Vulture said, clapping his hands at us and I was glad to hear a hint of respect. Even Iris looked mildly impressed. "But you did almost kill us with that explosion of ice."
"Each to their own." Fred muttered, helping Natalie up and sending a furtive glance at Diego, who must have been held against the two during our descent. Fred could be such a jealous boyfriend sometimes. Ok more like all the time.
"Touche." Vulture said, scratching the tip of his nose. "Well, assuming that no one saw your spectacular landing, we should still head on over to make the best use of our time."
Trying not to roll my eyes at his attitude, I felt a pang of worry about the Apocalypse. Our landing had been quite a show; anyone without the immediate area with scouts would have seen us miles away. It's best that we keep ourselves on the move.
"Your little stunt didn't work quite well now, did it?" Casey hopped next to Vulture and said to him sweetly. I shuddered at the tone that she was using, someone was in trouble.
"Oh, I wouldn't say that, love." Vulture replied, I blinked and suddenly caught on that whoever Vulture was now, he came from a Northern English Isle Citybase. "After all, it was only there so that you can prove yourselves as worthy of the mission."
Behind me, I could hear some quiet muttering and sensed that Viktor and Diego were talking quietly, stealing glances at Vulture, Iris and Casey who were at the front. Checking my eh, personal device now and then for our progress, I kept my mind out for any sign of trouble too. I could see Iris and Vulture checking things here and there, but I was the only one who had a failsafe way of alerting everyone of danger when they close in.
So far, nothing seemed to be happening, and I almost wondered if Tristan had received some incorrect information, or if the Apocalypse had retreated.
"Hey, worry wart, we have surveillance camera all over the perimeter, don't overexert yourself before we get there." Vulture turned around from his conversation with Casey and hollered at me, startling me so much that I almost tripped over a branch.
"Easy there." Diego steadied me on my left, before dropping his voice lower. "I have a feeling that this is just the easy part. Whoever might be out there would wait to see if we can figure out the barrier before they try and do anything."
I nodded. I would have done the same if I was monitoring this area. Any newcomers in this area would be alerted, ready to fend off against enemy. Besides, the focus of everyone who would be here must be on the Academy.
Now that I had sufficiently reasoned my way out of worrying about our current situation (but ten times more worried about what would happen after we reach the barrier), I was able to focus more on where I was walking and not trip over again. Vulture seemed as at ease as ever, laughing and joking with Casey, but his body language told me that he was alert and poised for danger. Casey was of course another matter entirely – if I hadn't known better I would have thought she was trying to flirt with Vulture. But this was either a way to get Viktor to pay her more attention, or a way for her to work off her nerves.
As we got closer to the barrier, the air around us started to feel more and more charged, with a slight hum buzzing in the background. The area around us seemed to take on a certain blue hue and the hair on my neck rose. I felt like each step sent a flurry of sparks up and down my legs, sending small shocks into my body.
"Try not to drink any water." Iris instructed as we entered the line of trees that looked like they were charred black, "It might conduct the electricity."
"So if this barrier is made of electricity, wouldn't that mean that it is run by a machine and not a POE?" Viktor asked, and I could practically hear his brain churning over ideas. "I mean, no POE can sustain such a large amount of power without over exerting themselves."
"We suspect that." Vulture answered, finally breaking off the conversation with Casey fully. "But we can't know for certain. But the energy of this force field has been growing and not declining, so it would unlikely be powered by a human."
I heard the barrier before I could see it; the sizzling sound of electricity flying through the air. Strangely, the intensity of electricity we were feeling seemed to die down a little, as though they were repelled or tamed by something else. I couldn't help but inhale sharply when I saw the barrier up close. It's a truly monstrous, but beautiful thing that almost resembled ice crystals; except it's a far deeper azure blue.
"Why would anyone attempt to touch this thing?" Casey muttered next to me and I nodded in agreement. You would be nuts to think you won't get fried touching this. I offered a meek smile at Vulture and Iris, hoping they didn't take offense in this.
"You don't always get a choice, sweet heart." Vulture answered, but Casey ignored him. I stopped about three meters in front of the barrier, feeling my hair rising around my face and a tingling feeling spreading all over my body. It didn't feel unpleasant, but before I could ponder deeper about the meaning of this, a hand pulled me back.
"For goodness sake, can't you just wait until we come up with a plan?" Fred frowned at me and Natalie gave me a worried look. Judging from the look everyone was giving me, I had given them quite a fright.
"Sorry." I apologized, standing back near the group. All eyes turned to Vulture and Iris, who had been here before.
"I am not sure there is anything more we can tell you that you don't already know." Vulture answered with a sly smile on his face. I could tell he was purposefully not telling us something, but they were told of my telepathy skills so I couldn't get anything from him.
"Maybe you can start by showing us what happens if you touch the barrier." Fred started, earning a light slap on the arm from Natalie. I held back a chuckle, but didn't miss the dark look that flashed across Vulture's face. I reprimanded myself for lowering my guard around the two UGE agent, however friendly they might appear, I must not forget that we had never been on the same team and they are trained operatives.
"We are only here as a show of cooperation from the UGE." Vulture said, all traces of playfulness gone and replaced by a stone cold façade that matched his name. "We are not obliged to do anything but bring you here. The rest is up to you."
"Easy there man." Viktor said, holding his hands up in peace. "We are all just a bit nervous here."
Throwing another glare at Fred, Vulture actually backed down with a shrug. I caught Iris' eyes for a moment and saw a flicker of something in her eyes, but it was gone too quick and the two of them moved aside further, resting against a tree.
"I hope they get electrocuted." Fred muttered, low enough that only Natalie and I could hear. I shook my head, now wasn't the time to get into petty arguments with people who were supposed to be on our team.
"What should we do?" Natalie asked, eyeing the barrier uneasily just as a shot of electricity shot out causing a loud pop of air. There really wasn't any safe way to do this, but I shuddered at the thought of any one of us trying to touch the barrier.
"Let's see how powerful it is." Fred said, then with a flick of his right wrist started forming a long ice spear out of thin air. It took him longer than usual due to the charged air around us, but as soon as a spear of moderate size formed, he launched it at the barrier.
All eyes were locked on the projectile as it soared through the air, reaching the barrier at lightning speed. A crisp breaking sound echoed across the area and my eyes widened as the force field literally shred the ice spear into a million pieces on contact, and then all the pieces were vapourised by the electric current.
I felt like a lump had formed in my throat. If that happened to an icicle, then I doubt human flesh would fare any better. All of us stood there in silence for a while, no doubt still getting over the shock of what we had just seen.
"The barrier looks even stronger than last time." Vulture said, stepping forward to join our grouping. Iris slowly followed, her jaws tightened and I could see it was a sign of disappointment.
"You know, we were really hoping that you lovely POEs would be an exception." Vulture sighed, "But I guess we are wrong."
His sarcastic tone was getting on my nerve, and I bit my lips so I wouldn't say something snarky. Whacking my brain for some ideas, in fact, any ideas as to what was the best thing to do in this situation.
"Please give us a minute." I gave Vulture and Iris a forced smile and turned my back against them, wrapping a mind wall around us in an attempt to stop them from hearing. My mind wall sizzled a little in contact with the air making me wince. But to my surprise – it didn't diminish my mind wall; in fact, after the initial pain I could feel my mind becoming more consolidated.
Blinking, I pushed the strange occurrence aside for the while and focused on the matter at hand. We came here to figure out what was wrong with the Academy, and we couldn't return without even trying to get through the first obstacle.
"Any bright ideas?" Casey asked, looking at each of us in turns. Natalie glanced around at everyone, hopefully but no one volunteered themselves. Fred and Diego were wearing an eerily identical look of doubt on their face. But Viktor... he was looking pensive.
Seeing all eyes on him, Viktor snapped out of his bubble and a hesitant look crossed his face. "I kind of have an idea." He started, then stopped again, looking at us with the same hesitation. Casey huffed and glared at him in an even more impatient look.
"Just tell us." Fred snapped and Viktor sighed.
"Okay, but I am going to need some tools and parts." Viktor relented, taking off his backpack and started digging up stuff. Intrigued, I slid my backpack off as well and watched as he set aside his torch, some wires and bits and bobs. I was surprised that he had brought along so many extra things that were not included in the original kit and also at how he hadn't got zapped by lightning carrying this much metal.
"Viktor!" Diego exclaimed as the SMS student pulled out yet another length of metal wire. "You are going to get electrocuted!"
Out of nowhere, Vulture stepped forward and swung something around, enveloping Diego, Viktor and him. It was an emergency shelter, one that was made of non-conductive material. That should help.
"Gail, can you come in and help please!" Viktor's muffled voice called out and I edged forward, sinking down to my knees so I could crawl my way in. It was a cramped shelter and I used my telekinesis to hold the edges in place.
Diego was kneeling right next to Viktor, both boys looked engrossed in whatever Viktor was doing. Even Vulture was looking impress as Viktor twist and bend bits of wire together.
"Can I have your torch as well?" Viktor asked and I fished it out of my bag and handed it to him. He dismantled the piece expertly, pulling out relevant parts and sticking them to various bits of the big wire loop he was creating. I couldn't pretend to understand any of it at all, but it seemed to make sense to the three boys.
"What are you making?" I asked, and for a few seconds no one said anything as Viktor continued to work.
"He's making a doorway." Diego finally answered, his eyes still trained on Viktor. "It might be a way to temporarily open up a hole in the barrier for us to pass through."
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Surprise update!
Since there is only 5 days to Christmas, I figure you all deserve a little something extra. Not to mention the influx of outcries I receive on how the last chapter has ended!
And also, who isn't a fan of cute British accent. I have a thing for it especially since watching the Vampire Diaries and the Originals. Klaus's accent is divine.
On a sidenote - what is everyone's plan for Christmas?
Don't forget to comment and vote ;)