A divine pair takes two
She knew Tyrone and Tandy were only looking out for her. After all, the only reason she was alive was because they rescued her a few weeks back. But as Camilla looked over at her computer screen, she couldn’t help but feel useless.
“Boss, would you like to re-run the simulation?”
“No, IRIS, let’s call it a night” Camilla said, letting out a frustrated sigh and heading to the bathroom.
She had undertaken a new project about 9 days ago, and once again it was taking a toll on her. It was impossible to explain, this paradox of hers. When Camilla felt stressed she started a new project which simply created new frustrations.
After receiving a harsh no the first few times she had asked to tag along, Camilla felt like she wasnt’t pulling her weight on the team. Tandy slaved away at a job she didn’t need or want and Tyrone put his life at risk on patrol every morning, just to keep Camilla safe. All she was doing was going to school and staying locked up in her room.
Then, on a sleepless night, it came to her. If she had built an intelligence system, why stop there? Why not go for the entire Stark deal? And so she began making sketches, solving equations, and running simulations.
Camilla had gone down the hall to brush her teeth and came back, feeling a little calmer.
“IRIS?”
“Yes, boss?”
“Run the simulation again but this time use the arc reactor with a 3 cm radius and a depth of 5 cm. Don’t worry if it doesn’t work, I’ll just, we’ll just try again tomorrow.” Camilla said, the last part more for herself than IRIS.
“Simulation completed. Simulation successful. Efficiency 100%. Congratulations, boss.”
“SHIT!!!” Camilla shouted.
“IT WORKED IT WORKED IT WORKED” she kept shouting whilst jumping up and down.
“Shall I connect my systems to the suit?” IRIS asked.
“Yes. I’ll get started on adjusting the arc reactor and attaching it to the suit”
Camilla had finished building the suit a couple days ago, making it out of a special metal alloy. All that was missing was the arc reactor and now she had everything to make a full functioning Iron man suit.
“Initiating system upload. Completion time: Approximately five hours.”
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It was 3 hours later when Camilla finally placed the arc reactor into the suit’s chest plate. The gold and red metal shone in the moonlight and she smiled, a single tear rolling down her cheek. She was about to call it a night when her phone rang. Who could it be at this hour? She checked and immediately answered. It was Tyrone.
“Camilla” he said out of breath
“Bring, bring your glasses. They have Tandy. We need to establish a trade, something. Please, hurry!”
“I’m coming” Camilla said grabbing her glasses and shoes.
“Boss, I recommend taking the gps bracelet. Only one hour until the system upload is complete” IRIS suggested.
And perhaps it was a gut feeling or pure luck, but Camilla reached over her drawer and put on her bracelet prototypes.
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Camilla entered the warehouse and saw Tyrone standing in the back, tied to a pole. He was looking down only glancing at her; his breaths were shallow, on the verge of losing it. She was about to go over to him when she felt something on her head. It took her a second to realize it was a gun. Camilla gulped and could feel tears start to form. She tried her best to keep them from falling. Nevertheless they threatened to stream down her cheeks.
“Give up the glasses” the man said in her ear, his breath smelling like cigarettes and beer.
Camilla reached into her jacket with a trembling hand. She took the glasses case out and handed it to the man holding the gun. He took them and tossed them to another man who put it in his jacket. The man used his gun to push Camilla towards Tyrone, who she now could see was standing next to some stairs that led to a small office room.
“You got your glasses man, now let Tandy go” Tyrone told the man.
“Sorry, there’s been a change of plans” the man told him nonchalantly.
“NO! You said we had a deal!” Tyrone shouted as the man pushed Camilla up the stairs.
“Careful, one wrong slip up and your friend gets a bullet to the head” the man threatened.
Camilla stiffened in fear and the man let out a chuckle.
“Don’t worry, I don’t mean you. There’s someone who he cares about much more that’s in danger.” he said pointing his gun at something on the top of the stairs. Camilla wondered why Tyrone didn’t just use his powers to transport himself and rescue Tandy, and that’s when Camilla saw her. She was strapped to a chair, face down, with an automatic weapon behind her.
“Beautiful isn’t it—the weapon is connected to a motion sensor. That boy moves one inch over his designated radius and his beloved friend dies” the man explained.
“We’re watching you, remember that.” He said before going down the stairs and closing the door.
Camillla moved toward Tandy, carefully. Her face was covered in blood, a large bruise covering her right eye.
“I-I tried to fight them.They had more guys and I couldn’t-I couldn’t fight them all” she said crying. Her tears mixed with the blood on her cheeks and fell, staining her white shorts. Tandy wasn’t one to show her pain, at least not in front of the enemy or people she didn’t know. Of course Tyrone had seen her broken but to Camilla, this was all new. Every tear was a bullet in Camilla’s chest, reminding her that she put them in danger, they were trying to protect her. Quietly, Camilla took Tandy’s hand.
“Tandy listen to me, we’re going to get out. You, me and Tyrone, we’re all going to be okay. I owe you my life and I’ll be damned if I don’t get you out of here. We weren’t brought together just to fail.” she said looking into Tandy’s glossy eyes. The blonde couldn’t bear to talk and only nodded, her mind already thinking of a plan.
“I can use my daggers to cut myself loose but there are still twelve men down there ready to strike.” Tandy explained.
“Hm, can you throw multiple daggers at once?” Camilla asked.
“I’ve tried two at a time but never more. I can try, if I can concentrate on where they are; I could probably hit them all at once. Wha-what’s that on your wrists?” Tandy said, eying the the silver hoops around Camilla’s wrists.
“Uh- they’re like the glasses” Camilla whispered. She wasn’t exactly lying to Tandy, they were part of IRIS’ nextwork. What she didn’t tell Tandy was that they were part of the suit she had built.
“Could you make a loop so they can’t see what we’re doing?” Tandy asked, looking to the right corner where Camilla could clearly see a security camera.
“IRIS? Could you loop the video?” Camilla quietly said, holding her wrist to her mouth.
“Yes, boss, give me 10 seconds; the video has been looped” IRIS replied.
Camilla looked at Tandy as a white light emerged from her hand and from it a small dagger. Tandy used it to cut through the rope with a single stroke and then she got to work. First she slit the rifle behind her chair in half. She then closed her eyes, trying to sense everyone in the warehouse, including Tyrone. He was giving off the most energy, which gave her a boost of confidence.
“I got this” she said to herself.
Tandy took a deep breath and stepped out on the other side of the office, onto a small balcony, which was missing most of its railing. She closed her eyes, put her hands out, and released her daggers in various directions. From the bottom, Tyrone saw trails of light illuminating the dim room, like shooting stars on a dark night. He smiled upwards, knowing Tandy was well and kicking ass. Next came the sounds of flesh being pierced through, of men choking on their own blood, and then falling to the ground.
Camilla stood there, looking at the light show below and then at her friend from inside the office. Tandy stumbled backwards onto the wall, panting.
“Hey, hey, you did it” Camilla assured her, helping her up.
“I-I only shot eleven daggers. There were only eleven people down there besides Tyrone, something isn’t right.” Tandy said between breaths, turning around to face Camilla.
After the daggers stopped, Tyrone thought it was over until he saw a guy out the window with a rifle, pointing straight towards the office upstairs. His relief turned to fear and he had the urge to teleport to the office. But what if the weapon was still active upstairs, what if he moved and killed Tandy or Camilla on his way to warn them? His fear manifested into a cloud of black smoke that quickly consumed the entire room. It must’ve all happened so quick because he saw the man take aim and re-position his hand, then Tyrone’s own darkness swallowing the warehouse and—
“Tandy, look out!” He yelled as loud as he could.
The glass window shattered, and Camilla turned back to see Tandy’s hand reaching out, her eyes realizing Camilla wouldn’t reach her in time.
“Ty!” Tandy yelled in pain as she fell down from the balcony and plummeted into the darkness.
Camilla’s chest ached, her breaths quickened and she couldn’t move, trapped in shock. Once reality came back to her it was all so blurry and surreal, she dashed down the stairs as best she could. At the bottom was Tyrone, punching the pole he was attached to, looking at Camilla with red eyes, drenched in sorrow.
“You can move now, she destroyed the gun, it won’t fire” Camilla said in between heavy gasps.
Looking around, she noticed for the first time that the entire place was filled with black smoke.
“I should’ve yelled faster, I should’ve seen it coming, I should’ve known she would disable the weapon” he said punching the wall again and again, bruising his knuckles until they bled.
“You didn’t know, you—where is he?” Camilla said panicked as she looked around for the shooter.
“I don’t know, I don’t know, I, I feel so lost without her, she, she called my name” Tyrone sobbed out.
“She, she called for me, I have to—“ he paused realizing what he was about to say.
“You have to go” Camilla said, making it sound more like an order.
“I’m sorry, Camilla, I just can’t do this without her. She’s come out of a place like that before, we both have. But, she wasn’t injured, if I wait any longer it’ll be too late” he said.
“I know, I’ll be okay. I’ll lay low, not go out unless absolutely necessary. I promise, just save her.” she could feel the tears coming back.
“I will.”
And with that the smoke in the room came towards Tyrone, causing a small breeze against Camilla’s skin. She gave him a small nod; the smoke vanished, and with it, Tyrone.