Thirty Two

Nerissa’s phone buzzed again. This was the third time in as many minutes, someone really wanted to get a hold of her. Lisbeth too, her phone had been flashing for the better part of an hour, but it was quiet so she could be content while ignoring it. She could also ignore the thirteen emails she had gotten, as indicated by an icon in the upper left corner of the beast’s screen. Lisbeth felt Nerissa shift subtly, an indication she was going to get up and answer her phone. Don’t move, I’m comfortable. She really was comfortable, thanks to the pocket, making the ambient temperature always comfortable. Or in this case, slightly cooler than comfortable, making their current arrangement; buried under covers and in each others arms, very comfortable. Nerissa decided to ignore her mental pleas, instead opting to search for her phone,  it wasn’t within arm’s reach of the bed. It was eventually located under Lisbeth’s shirt from the night before, on the other side of the pocket.

As Nerissa was doing her scramble for her phone Lisbeth checked hers, it had been on her desk. The missed calls from Crimson, and a whole shitload from Sinclair. Lisbeth put up her shields, this morning was going to be all business. The latest message from Sinclair said he was coming to get her. Lisbeth checked her emails while Nerissa gained a look of horror on her face, clearly what the person on the other end of the line had something upsetting to say. Lisbeth suspected she already knew what it was, as she clicked through her emails. Four sets of casualty reports, two reports on advancements of orbital weapons platforms, messages from Sinclair, Crimson, Atreus and the college. The last three emails were entirely unexpected, well not entirely, but their timing was not a known factor. They would lead to a busy night, early afternoon actually, global meet ups only happened at night for some.

“Lisbeth, I think something happened?” Nerissa’s tone of voice made it more of a question than a statement. She didn’t quite want to believe.

“Yes, something did. The elf world lost two major cities, the dwarves were attacked as well. Their great priests managed to save the city, but it is going to be condemned due to damage. There were three angels on the elf world and only one on the dwarf world. Casualties were less than they could have been. Also classes are canceled tomorrow.”

As she spoke Lisbeth put her beast to sleep and started riffling through her clothes, she had a meeting to prepare for. Having a lot of formal outfits was actually worse than having only a couple, she had to deal with choosing. She did have a couple suits, but she didn’t like wearing those. With her body, it felt too much like dress up as opposed to formal attire, no matter how tailored they were. Nerissa was still looking a little bewildered, probably her fault. Once again Lisbeth realized she should probably not be so clinical with things like this, like last night, she then promptly forgot.

“You already knew?”

“I got hints last night, but I didn’t want to wake you. I also just got a bunch of emails that told me.  Blue or black?”

“What?”

Lisbeth held of two suits of similar styles, but different colors. “Blue or black?”

“Is that really important now?”

“It is, actually, Sinclair is coming to get me. All sorts of crazy is going down for him, and some of that is going to spill over on me.”

“Fine, black.”

—

It hadn’t been easy to leave after that, but Sinclair pounding on her door certainly sped up the process. He had done his best to be polite while whisking her out the door and into his car. It was nice enough that Lisbeth suspected it was on loan from the immortal agency, they had been the ones responsible for following her for the last week. They had wisely not tried to be discreet, but had tried to be as nonintrusive as possible. It took forty-five minutes but eventually they arrived at Sinclair’s chosen destination. It was the local military base.

As bases went it wasn’t massive, but it wasn’t small either. Just by watching the troops Lisbeth felt on edge, none of them seemed relaxed in the slightest. People weren’t running drills, they were preparing. Helicopters and jets were ready to go at a moments notice, still they were simply waved past the gate without even a simple id check. Sinclair didn’t introduce her to anyone, simply escorted her to a room. The room had bare concrete walls, in the center was a computer with three screens, and a webcam. Also sitting in the corner of the room was a soldier, he looked youngish. What was important was his armband, green with five lines. It marked him as a level five Lie. Lisbeth decided to take it as a compliment. All mental powers could be blocked by mental shields, even Lies. However, with a class four or five Lie they would circumvent that partially. With a level five she wouldn’t be able to tell a lie in his presence, but she wouldn’t be compelled to tell the truth.

When she sat in front of the monitors they came to life. The monitor on the left had the image of a general, as indicated by his uniform. The one in the middle had a harsh looking woman, and the one on the right. Well the one on the right had the image of an immortal. He was in the form of a young child, it was one of his favorite forms, hence why Lisbeth could recognize it. He went by Bill, he chose that name himself and didn’t explain his reasons for it. Bill was the main reason the immortal agency was able to negotiate with the immortals in general, because he would back them up.

“I assume I’m here to be asked questions concerning the four attacks last night, correct?”

“Yes, you are, but how did you find out about the fourth attack?” Bill had decided to take the lead, or acted like he did. By the expressions on the general and the harsh looking woman, they didn’t know what they were talking about.”

“Same way I found out about the other three.”

“Let’s table that topic for now. We are under the impression you have made some kind of deal with one of my kin, and therefore know more about these attacks than your average joe.”

“Essentially, although they would take offense to being called your kin. Nothing against you, but they don’t consider their status as a reason to call someone kin.”

“Fair enough.”

“What fourth attack.” It was a question, but the way the woman stated it didn’t make it sound like one.

“Ask Bill, I can’t really talk about it.”

“We can make you talk.” It was the general, or course it was, Lisbeth lost respect for him.

“No you really can’t, it is well beyond your capabilities to get accurate information out of me if I am unwilling. Now shut up, the adults are talking.”

“Who do you think you’re tal-“ His screen went back, Bill explained.

“Sorry about that Lisbeth, but you know these military types, they do so like direct action. What are you willing to tell us.”

“That this is just the beginning, it won’t stop. The humans don’t have enough firepower to fight back, but they can get it. The immortals will be busy fighting their own battles to help. The one who was once known as Typhon is not the strongest or those responsible.”

“Damn, sounds like a pain in the ass to deal with. This won’t end cleanly will it?”

“Not at all, end of the world and all that. You know how these things go.”

“And you expect to survive it.”

“Not really.”

“Anything else to say?”

“Not right now.”

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