general Makepeace was unusually stoic, as every file and information of their activities was handed to Lucas. The files on everyone was quite extensive... Lucas would probably be a while reading them. It was surprising how little they actually knew of the angel herself though...
The general was quite a seasoned veteran of what was fast becoming the 'old world'. He had seen some remarkable things happen as the very nature of what it meant... to be human, had been applied to every single individual. Directly, or indirectly... he was a practical man though, as practical as the military drilled him to be.
In some ways, Makepeace regretted that he was one of the few selected to be in the Shelter in the early days of that strange six month period, protected from the transformation sunlight when it was around. He and a few others were tasked with finding out what caused the sun to change, and more importantly... to establish their own stake in the new power struggle, that had come from all kinds of multi-national politics, as allies were put to the test. He didn't regret that he was human of course, he was of a species that was amongst the greatest and most adaptable in a battlefield. This was shown again and again, in all war games scenarios played out with the various new species resulting from the sunlight.
...still Makepeace felt that part of it could be propaganda, and the other part simple inexperience on the part of the new species in the world. It was hard to fight like a harpy, if you knew how to fight as a human. Hands were more durable then claws when using a gun for starters. He drank a cup of coffee, looking at the portal and the control room panels that a private manned.
"It's not fair general," said private Devinter. "That angel is a bloody hippy." He felt insulted to say the least. The woman insulted the only family he ever knew...
"I know son," sighed the general. "She's also got a rather powerful card over us though. We'll have to bend on this one"
"We're so close to a breakthrough. The new powered-armors, the giant mechs... even an actual AI system! What about the warp-drive? All these things will benefit our planet in years to come... and its been put on hold, because some angel walks in and doesn't like how we came about it?"
"She's threatened my daughter over it," explained the general with a voice barely above a whisper. "There isn't a lot we can do right now but play nice. She seems to have a strange... mental power. She knows what we value most." He lowered his voice a touch, as he leaned into the private's ear. "There will always be a record of the things we did here... I stand by all what my men have done. If there is to be any divine punishment, I would ask it to fall to me and no other."
"Even the attempts to get the stone?"
"Even that. It was my watch."
Private Devinter sighed. He respected Makepeace a lot. But he didn't think he should be held responsible for anything. Certainly not the actions of rogue agents. "General? You honestly think a god- or goddess could... do that?"
"We live in interesting times, Private." explained the general with a wry smile. "I've upset the big-brass, and I don't mind upsetting a divine entity. I believe we have noble ambitions though and what we did was simply... human. We have the right... and the duty to explore the M-dimension, ascertain the threats to this world... and even establish relations if there are any other societies there. Whoever moved the earth has to be extremely advanced. We have to determine their intentions... and if we can get ourselves back to the sol system."
"...Is that really... wise though? If they could be a threat... we could be drawing attention to ourselves."
" we've already got their attention. We have to see what brought us here... and what their intentions are. Once the time issues are fixed, we'll continue our mission as best we can under the circumstances."
Lucas looked over the files casually. She was quite determined to see the extent of spying the military had done on her friends.
The files on the magic girls were the most extensive, in particular magic girl Two's psychological report had a lot of red flags on it. Being the product of two individual minds, there was a grave concern that it could result in an instability in years to come. Lucas groaned. As if they even understood the nature of magic!
Magic Girl Three was a fairly normal one... that of Becca. She is the assigned guardian to Jen, and has protected the stone as she grew up with her new family. She was classed as 'mentally stable', extremely powerful and combat with her to be avoided at all costs. It looked like a lot of focus was put on her in their attempts to get the stone from Jen, before they realised that any attempt seemed to be cursed to fail...
Magic Girl Four was a curious one. There was a huge interest in attempting to find out, who she originally was. The official record is that she was an orphan who slipped the cracks, but the military had found a lot of holes in the argument. Her true identity remained a mystery. Lucas... inwardly sighed. Some things were just... tricky.
Then there was Lilly... the non-magical magic girl. (a tongue in cheek post-it note had written) the file on her was extensive, to say the least. There were few at this point in time who had studied magical phenomenon with the tenaciousness she displayed. There was also a picture of the bright light she once displayed when fighting the Enemy. She was watched almost all the time, and her computer was bugged to download all its contents into their mainframe. her psychological profile was also insightful... indicating she seemed to have some kind of secret, but no matter what the military did they could not find anything to what it could be.
There were files on many others too. Jen herself, her family... the teachers, the students... not all of them updated, but there was a vast amount of information.
Lucas kept on browsing the files, until she came across 'Agent Black and White.' It looked like these were the two knuckle heads that were going to take the stone by any means. She looked at the written order, signed by Agent White. It said to use any force 'beside lethal'. At least they were not going to kill her... but still... the way this report looked, it seemed as if they wouldn't have minded Jen being killed.
Lucas continued to read it, and took in that these two seemed to be working alone as a kind of special ops team and in the end went rogue, with other people covering them up as they attempted the mission. Agent black got within one mile of Jen's house with a sleeping sniper dart...
... and was transformed. The mission itself, aborted pending a major investigation.
The angel turned the page- and saw a picture of their current state. "Well... that's adorable," she said with a mirthful giggle." They probably got off way too easy there... they seemed to be in the med-bay on indefinite leave.
The angel walked down the metallic corridors, following the signs to the medical bay... until she came across two skunk children in some kind of... isolation ward. There was a glass perspex that was holding them inside a quarantined area.
"It's your fault," said one skunk, her voice emanating from the speaker.
"Nuh uh, You signed the order its yours!" said the other skunk-girl.
Lucas watched the exchange. They seemed to be wearing a medical gown, covering their bodies. They looked identical, with a white stripe running to the tip of their tails and even their hair. If Lucas were to guess, they looked to be about elven or twelve years of age.
A doctor was there. She looked... to be an artificial life form. She had some kind of strange tattoo on her arm, and a metalic rat-like tail that looked to have a digital port attatched to the end. It looked like a universal interphase of some kind. "Angel Lucas, I presume?" she said, with a glow in her eyes indicating a computer memory in her body.
Lucas nodded. "I try not to get annoyed at doctors... but I suppose one had to be here too." She said annoyed still. "So, these are the two agents that tried to go after Jen... what's your name?"
"Dr Kimiko," she said with a smile. "I used to be an assistant to Dr Heider."
"A doctor I am rather pissed off with," said Lucas. "He was involved in this?"
"He was amongst the first through the portal... and encountered the rainbow guardian... we thought him killed in action. He then came back but refused to explain what happened. Then he left the service and... well... he seems to be the best doctor there is. Even if he is a bastard. Eventually we put him in jail for failing to tell us what happened to him... but we got him out to treat Hiro." Explained Dr Kimiko. "I took over the operations here."
Lucas nodded and watched the two skunk girls. "can they see us?"
"Not yet. I try to let them have their sleep. But it doesn't look like they want to sleep much."
Kimiko turned up the speaker to hear the arguments going between them, but it looked to have died down some. Now they were just sulking. One of the skunk girls looked to the other with what looked like quiet horror, as she had her long tail warped on her lap in a sitting position.
"Uh.. don't want to ask this but... how many... you know... I got..." she asked fearfully gesturing to her torso.
The other skunk girl turned around to her identical sister, holding up two paw like hands.
"...You.. too?"
"We're the same. I don't want to think about it." The skunkgirl climbed into her bed throwing the covers over her turning away.
The second skunk-girl looked to her new 'sister' with further trepidation. "Why did we get the same transformation? We were miles apart.."
"Maybe some god thought it was funny. We were agents black and white after all."
"We still are."
"Not with these bodies 'sister'."
Kimiko shook her head, and turned the speaker down. She recorded a few notes onto a report, and entered some details into a computer.
Lucas gave a slightly half smile. "So, why are they in isolation?"
"They... haven't learned how to keep calm under stress... and well, that tends to make 'accidents' happen, given what they are now, we use the quarantine lab to.. deal with it."
"...yeesh." Lucas bit her lip.
"They've only been this way a few weeks... it's going to be an adjustment. We'll do our best for them, of course."
Agent Black looked to her sister once more. Her keen ears sensed that they had to be alone... for real now. "Wake up White," she said.
Black blinked and woke up. "Now?"
"Best chance we will ever get... unless you want to be stuck like this forever."
General Makepeace was taking an elevator... down to the depths of the base. He punched in his keycard to access the secret level, and was not too surprised to see Devinter there when the door opened. "Private..." he saluted.
"General..."
The two shared a look to each other.
Eventually Makepeace spoke. "I want you to do one last mission Private. Go through the portal... and complete our mission. Work in the interests of all the people of Earth... and seek out those that have gone missing in the other world. Find... a way back to report."
"...You're about to initiate Protocol 0, arn't you" said the private cautiously.
The general looked coldly. "The criteria stands. The base has compromised by an alien force and our advances are at risk of falling into enemy hands. We are unable to change our situation, to prevent a major catastrophe."
Devinter stared at him. He knew the general was completely right... but... "With time itself going crazy, is now really the time to worry about military secrets?"
The general shook his head. "It's the most important time to worry. With causality broken anything is possible. What if Hitler got our plans for the atomic bomb? Even if this angel-changed fixes causality, she still intends to give out our technology and knowledge to anyone else 'she' desires... we have to self destruct, to maintain the status quo." The general placed his palm onto a panel, with the computer inside- though a little glitchy, it seemed to recognise him as it turned a cold green. "Thirty Minutes Devinter. I want that portal open in double time."
"General... with the base in lockdown and the chrono-field in place, we can't leave."
"Except by the portal... use it. Take everyone you can and just go."
Devinter felt his face flush with sweat. Thirty minutes was barely enough time to get everyone out via the portal... but only just. There was no way to know just what would happen to them either. "This explosion will not kill Lucas if that's what you are hoping. Not even a nuke will do it from what I hear."
General Makepeace's look said it all. "Hopefully she wont access this floor... but if she does, I'll be here. I'll stop her." He gave his gun to Devinter. "Take it... it might be more useful to you, where you are going."
"...come with us." Said Devinter quickly.
The general shook his head once more. "Go son. This was my watch... my decision."
Agent Black could smell the fear, and the red hue of the lights that indicated the self distruct mechanism had been activated. "Best distraction we could have asked... how do we get to the portal?" she said crouching down on the floor. Escaping from the isoaltion ward was remarkably easy. Feining sickness and tricking the artificial doctor, then a quick tug of her strange tail into a power socket and she was put 'ofline'.
Her sister, Agent White, was grinning. "Just follow my tail. If we get in trouble, 'use what you got'.
"Well make sure I'm clear of your tail." Agent Black said with a faint grimace on her face.
Devinter was now the last in the control room. Everyone had gone through. There was about five minutes left to destruction of the base. Why did it come down to this?
Suddenly he was struck by a powerful odour. It was so strong it was like acid burning in his noise. He felt himself fall into the ground, half blinded and dizzy. It was like the wind was knocked out of him in an instant. He looked up to see one of the faces of the skunk-girl. "B-Black?"
"White actually. If you don't want another hit, I suggest you to activate the hack program. We want to access the M-dimension and bypass the guardian. There is no way in hell we are going through him."
"But- it- its untested. We don't know what would happen!" Devinter groaned but the smell was overpowering. He couldn't even move.
"Activate it! Demanded Black.
With little choice, Devinter quickly turned on the hack. The portal started to shimmer, turning a bright red. "D-Done..."
The two skunk girls quickly ran through the portal.
Devinter looked at the clock. Two minutes left... He had to decide if to go through the guardian, or through the hack... but if he used the hack, he would have ended up with Black and white for certain. If he used the Guardian, he would be amongst those scattered in the other dimension, and possibly changed....
Devinter made his choice, and ran through the portal.
