Toes In The Water
The very next day Evie had agreed to meet with Gabirela at a local cafe near midtown to get the rest of what the woman had gathered. While she waited for the nurse, something in the back of her mind kept saying there were eyes watching her. Lucky for her, Wong had been gracious enough to teach her how to master certain skills that had been lacking due to her limited knowledge in Asgardian magic and her own powers.
So Gabriela wasn’t there to meet Genevieve Stark. The brunette with pretty brown eyes. Nope the girl sipping on a hot coffee was Harper Anderson. A cute redhead with green eyes and freckles. And the best part of her improved skills, it was no longer something she had to keep focused on in the back of her mind. It was as natural as breathing now. Hell; even Frigga would've been proud of how well she was casting her enchantment so effortlessly.
When the doorbell chimed she looked up and flagged Gabriela down. When she took the seat in front of her she darted around the space nervously. “I thought I’d be seeing Ms. Stark… why the change?” She pushed over a second cup of coffee as she emitted the feeling of ease. “It’s me, don’t worry. Just taking precautionary measures, that's all.” When the nurse still didn’t seem convinced Evie sent a telepathic message assuring her it was indeed Genevieve Stark sitting across from her by replaying their private chat from the day before.
Finally Evie saw a tiny glimpse of a smile ghost her face. A bit relaxed now, Gabriela slid over a book. “This is everything I have with me, aside from the phone. Its photos I took of the kids before I fled, their names and basic information are written on the back. I stashed some files in my home back in Mexico. I was afraid to travel with them since I wasn’t sure if Transengen had sniffed me out yet.”
Evie took it, the title was The Count of Monte Cristo. She smiled down at it. Evie had read it to Morgan once, it had a great story. But the pages were carved out to harbor a small pile of pictures and a set of keys. “What does your job think you're doing now, if you haven’t shown up at work.”
The nurse took a small sip before answering, “I told them I had family here in the states. That I’m visiting a cousin.”
But just as they were about to settle in to further discuss Gabriela’s suspicions and the things she had hidden away at her home, the sound of an engine could be heard rapidly approaching. All her bells and whistles started to go off as everyone in the cafe perked up at the noise.
“Everyone get down!”
Just as the words left her mouth, the windows shattered and the sound of assault rifles unloading filled the air. People screamed and panicked as they ducted for cover. Evie all but threw herself over the woman before taking her down to the floor. Instantly she projected her invisible barrier, but she could already feel her clothes getting sticky as the bullets that had grazed her caused a steady flow of blood to spew. Most of the pain she was feeling was coming from her left shoulder and lower right side.
“Ugh, fuck…”
“Are you alright, Ms. Stark!?”
Evie just grunted as she got up, instructing all the patrons to run out the back exit and call the police. From the floor she could make out at least two cars and six gunmen. “Stay down, whatever you do, do not come out unless I tell you to!” The woman, visibly shaking, only nodded wordlessly as Evie flipped a table over to provide more cover. When the shooting stopped she heard men yelling to the others. Barking out orders in Spanish, and judging by the amount of tattoos and matching outfit, it was an organized crime group.
“They’re cartel members! They terrorize the entire city, I-I don’t know how they found me!” Gabriela started to hyperventilate. Evie, thinking quickly, grabbed her by the face looking at her stern yet determined.
“Hey! Look at me, you're gonna make it out of this. Them being here means we’re on the right path. Someone doesn't want people poking around, and this is all the proof I needed to make up my mind.”
Her eyes got watery as she stared back in disbelief and gratitude, “you’ll do it? You’re going to help me?”
“Yes! But first I gotta take out this trash.” Evie activated her new, all black Iron Armor and her bracelets transformed into vambraces all that thanks to the improved nanotech she and Tony had incorporated to her suit. She also used her navy blue scarf to cover her face, just like the good ol’ days. The sound of empty magazines hitting the pavement was her cue to move.
Ghosting her way through the shadows, Evie popped up from behind the gang members. The first one who caught sight of Void whipped around to fire, however what he wasn’t expecting was the gun to be yanked from his hands and used as a bat.
With his face connecting with the butt of the weapon, his body spun around before smacking into the SUV beside him. Two more tried to rush her but Evie threw a hand up and they were swatted away, landing sharply into the patio furniture of the restaurant next door. But Evie has counted six men. That was three down, and she had two ahead shooting at her. The bullets were bouncing off her force field and ricocheting back. Striking the two of them and the guy who tried to recover from getting whacked across the face with his own gun.
Evie suddenly felt a horrible presence in their midst. Something she hadn’t encountered in a long time. Pure unadulterated evil. The one man she lost track of had snuck his way inside the cafe and she could hear Gabriela’s panicked screams. Evie portaled inside and flicked her wrist using an espresso machine to throw the man off the woman. “Gabriela, run!”
But as she lunged at the attacker, her mind was telling her not to engage. Whatever he was, she hadn’t encountered before. Evie had taken plenty of hits before and could dish them out just as hard too. But this man with the red eyes that rivaled her black ones delivered a punch so hard she was sent crashing back into a booth. She paused for just a moment stunned by what she was seeing.
“What’s wrong, guapa?”
The words made her skin crawl as he flashed her a full set of gold teeth. Evie did a hard blink and his eyes were normal again, and as she blocked the next punch she was about to return the favor when she caught sight of Gabriela on the floor. The nurse who had come in search of salvation was holding her throat as she scurried into a corner.
Distracted by the gushing blood, the last guy standing connected a right hook that sent her sprawling to the floor. From his pockets he pulled out a grenade and pulled the pin with his teeth, chucking it at her. Evie sprung into action, throwing it over the counter and moved to cover the other woman. Seconds later the entire building shook as the bomb went off.
When the dust settled and the two women were pulled from the remains of the coffee shop by some good sameritans, only one was alive.
All traces of the assailants were nearly completely gone. All minus one guy.
With fury lit in her veins, Evie pummeled his face into the brick wall of the alley way she kept screaming at him, demanding answers. “Who sent you! I want names!” Yet no matter how hard she hit him, he was more afraid of his failures.
“No se! Solo sigo órdenes, nos dijeron que si hacíamos este trabajo nos iban a tener ocultos que el, para que n- no podría encontrarnos!” She got tired of beating the fleshy punching bag and instead wrapped her hands around his throat and drove deep into his mind.
He was a run of the mill street thug, a gun for hire and sure enough part of the local cartel in Mexico CIty. He was too far down the food chain to provide any actual knowledge but what he did know was that someone was taking them out systematically. One by one his little buddies were meeting gruesome endings. The majority were found in dumpsters or back alleyways with their eyes burned out and faces contorted into something ugly and twisted as they were very clearly burned alive from the inside out.
Evie released him as he wailed like a baby, begging her to kill him. She bounced his head off the wall one more time, knocking him out cold before dragging his limp body to the main street for police to find.
It didn’t take her much effort to revert back to Void. In fact none at all. However, Evie couldn’t deny two years of not doing much practice with her supernatural abilities were at fault for her delayed responses… Now all she had left to work with was the set of keys she recovered from the shop and trail that was quickly getting cold. With a singular mission in mind, Evie was dead set on finding these kids and saving them from any further harm.
And that included tearing down Transigen and all those who willingly complained with their grotesque experiments in the name of increasing the funds in their bank accounts. Because if there was something that Evie hated more than scumbags, it was scumbags that abused and took advantage of those unable to defend themselves. Especially children.
There was hell to pay and she was going to be judge, jury, and if need be; executioner. None of those six little faces would be left behind. She was going to free them.
No matter what it took…