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Printed from https://writing.com/main/interactive-story/item_id/1942914-The-Wandering-Stars/cid/1713706-Loose-Ends
Image Protector
by Seuzz Author IconMail Icon
Rated: 18+ · Interactive · Fantasy · #1942914
A secret society of magicians fights evil--and sometimes each other.
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Chapter #31

Loose Ends

    by: imaj Author IconMail Icon
“You think that’s the missing nurse,” says Frank, spotting the movement himself.

“Or they know where she is,” you reply.

Frank sets off ahead of you. You feel him flex invisible muscles as you trail behind him. It seems sensible to be careful, there are too many things off about the whole situation. You keep close to him yourself – You have a little affinity for fighting thanks to the memories you’ve accumulated over the years, but you’re still significantly weaker than a powerhouse like Frank.

A nurse in pink uniform scrubs emerges from one of the side rooms, pushing a little metal trolley loaded with drugs. A glance at her nametag confirms she is the one missing from the station, Marian Stokowski. She’s a slightly plump middle aged woman, with greying hair and a sharp nose. She betrays a little surprise as she spots you, for just a fraction of a second. You barely notice it, and Frank would have missed it entirely.

“What’s the matter doctor,” asks the nurse. “I wasn’t expecting you to be here yet.”

No, the nurse shouldn’t be expecting you. From Doctor Vasquez’s memories you know that you – Maria Vasquez anyway – shouldn’t be in this part of the building at all. Yet the nurse is there, smiling as if she recognises you like an old friend. It sets the hairs on the back of your neck on end.

You nudge Frank in the side with your elbow and send a little stream of Eldibrian power at the nurse to try and open her up. “What are you doing,” you ask haughtily.

“I was just administering the patient medication,” she replies smoothly before suddenly stopping. She stares at you and Frank and her jaw drops. With lightning speed, her hand darts to the metal trolley and lifts a syringe filled with a dark blue liquid.

Frank moves faster though. He grabs the nurse by the wrist and squeezes hard till she releases the syringe. It shatter against the floor as he pushes her up against the wall, holding her in place as she vainly tries to squirm free.

“Some kind of poison,” he asks, but the nurse just scowls at him.

You look at the nurse. Everything seems to be as it should be about her except for the fact she just tried to kill you and Frank. You reach towards her, recalling your previous encounters with Fane’s disguise magicians. A simple touch, a little motion here and the stolen imago slides from the nurse, leaving a hard faced man in her place. Swirling tattoos cover the exposed parts of his arms. He sneers at you and redoubles his struggle to escape Frank. The tattoed man might have had a chance now, were it not for Frank’s access to Malacandra and Lurga. He piles on the pressure and the tattooed man wilts.

“They still can’t copy memories,” you explain to Frank. “He gave himself away when he pretended to know me.”

“But you can take his memories,” grins Frank.

“Exactly.” You press your hand against the tattooed man’s forehead. His struggling finally ceases completely as you knock him out and absorb his imago. “His handler in Denver sent him here as soon as we left Protean,” you explain after reviewing the man’s memories. “He’s a cleaner, tidying up the loose ends.”

“By killing them,” states Frank.

“Yeah,” you concur. “And he’s got more or less all of them already as well. Only two left on his list.”

“And this guy makes three,” Frank tells you. “We’d better get to it.”

The two surviving Protean employees turn out to be Kate from the HR department and Dr Jillian Harding. Frank is able to carry both at the same time, one over each shoulder. He takes them through the portal as you stand guard before returning for the tattooed man. Nobody interrupts you, an oddity explained by another dip into the tattooed man’s memories. He had been given something like a distraction sigil that would keep people away from the area.

With the three stowed away safely, Frank undoes the portal and you both return to the ambulance. You don’t stop to return Doctor Vasquez her clothes. Frank insists that you hurry. You don’t look back as he drives you off into the night.

*****


Charles is the only one left in the little flat the Stellae having been using as a base when you awake the following morning. He gives you a steaming cup of coffee and bids you sit down on a threadbare sofa.

“Your brother came round with Verity while you were out at the hospital last night son,” he says. You changed back to your Will Prescott self when you returned to the flat last night, though you’ll be switching to Siobhan to head home soon. “Verity isn’t going to be joining the Stellae,” he explains. “Not yet, she wants to graduate from college first.”

“She’ll join us then,” you ask.

“Maybe,” answers Charles with a shrug. “All she said was that she might want to learn more about her powers someday. I gave her a card so she could contact me. She’ll be alright. Your brother has a good head on his shoulders.”

You smile wryly. “When did that happen, he used to be a little brat.”

Charles laughs. “I should tell you some stories about Frank and Joe when they were boys,” he says with a twinkle in his eyes.

You join in for a moment, and the laughter is finally a chance to relax after the hectic action of the last few days. “Where is Frank,” you ask him.

“He and Hal left for Olympia a few hours ago,” explains Charles. “They’re taking what we retrieved up there so Nash can put it in the archives.”

“I’m sorry we messed up at the hospital last night sir,” you tell him.

“Don’t be,” Charles tells you. “I’m as much to blame as you are. We went in too hard and too fast here. I made you go in too hard and too fast. I couldn’t see beyond what Fane did to Fyodor.” For a moment Charles suddenly seem frail, vulnerable even. “Now I don’t think we’ll ever find out what they were going to put in the cell in lab fifteen.”

“Did Hal find anything on the computers he took?”

“Nothing,” answers Charles. “They covered their track well there, so unless you got anything in those memories you picked up son, we’re back at square one.”

You close your eyes and meditate, sifting through the memories of all the Project Ishtar scientist and researchers you picked up during the raid yesterday. It takes a few minutes before you are able to reply. “Only that they had some high value asset due to arrive and study. I could tell you what the researchers were specialists in…”

“Hal got that,” interrupts Charles. “Doesn’t tell us much.”

“No,” you concur. “At least we still have the lead we got from the tattooed man in the hospital though,” you say brightly.

Charles smiles sadly. “I phoned Joe back in Olympia as soon as you got in last night, he took Nash down to Denver with him, tracked the handler down based on what you told me.”

“Gone already,” you interrupt.

“At least we’d have the chance to pick him back up if that was the case,” says Charles. “No, he pulled that same suicide trick that Curt Straussler used. Joe and Nash got nothing out of him.”

“What about Jon Straussler, or Marie Guerin I guess,” you ask.

“Gone to ground,” sighs Charles. “I’m going to get Rick out here and see if he can pick up some clues, but I’m not holding out much hope.”

“Was it all a waste of time,” you ask anxiously.

“Not at all,” says Charles, smiling again. “We found another Stellae, found out about Fane’s Dark Stars project – shut one branch of it down hard and we accounted for the artefacts Fane got at Cuthbert. The only downside is Hal is going to be insufferable for weeks,” he laughs. “The other good news is you can clear out the imago of Florence Shabbleman I asked you to keep. We’ve destroyed the organ, taken all Fane’s notes and the hymnal for operating it is going into the archives. I don’t need what’s there anymore and I know it’s been troubling you.”

“Thank you sir,” you smile. “I’ll do it on the plane home. I have a lot of imagos to purge.”

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