Chapter 72: Tea is Ready

Tongue sliding across her lips, Rachel grinned, ears leaning with the chopper as she addressed the officer.

"Relica is seventh on the FBI most wanted list. She’s not stupid. If she is in the open, then she has a guaranteed escape route. It could be Daran, but I doubt she would entrust her safety to anyone but herself.

"She’s dangerous, and she wants to test me. So, let me distract her and this invincible guy named Conner. I’m not suicidal. If I feel like I’m in danger, I’ll do a tactical retreat, and I highly doubt they have anyone that can match me in speed."

Barbara reached into a nearby backpack and tossed her a walkie-talkie, leaning over to show her how to use it. "Keep it on this channel and always on. I’ll have Command record it, and if there’s anything wrong, I’ll have a Black Hawk and sniper detail stationed to you. In case you need to retreat, they’ll lay cover fire. We’ll be listening."

It surprised Rachel a tad that the woman was taking a chance on her, but they were dealing with forces they didn’t understand, and Conner himself had proven to be more than just an annoyance after taking everything a SEAL team threw at him.

Then again, she reminded herself that she shouldn’t be surprised since Tom and Barbara definitely wanted to know the reason why the Scarlet Hand and Relica were so focused on her. Rachel wanted to know that answer herself. Sure, she had some odd senses that gave her quite a few advantages, but there had to be more to it than her simply being a disruptor.

Why had goddesses contacted her? Why did they want to meet her specifically in the giant tree in London? Why had she been so close to Scarlet when The Oscillation occurred? There were so many questions, and everyone wanted the answer, except for her parents, who just wanted her to be back home and safe.

Rachel’s shoulders sagged as her mother’s voice came from the earpiece Barbara had tinkered to attach to her ear; she was listening in on Astra’s network.

"Rachel...you promised me a shopping trip, right?"

"Trust me, Mom," she said, accepting an earpiece from the legend to speak to her. "Heh. Do you remember the third day you took me to the Muay Thai gym? You had the courage to let me be there by myself."

"Eh-heh... I didn’t, though," her mother mumbled. "I watched you from the window outside—I couldn’t let you be alone for months."

"Oh... Huh." Rachel forced a smile and scratched her left ear as a few of the listening soldiers chuckled. "Well, trust me now. You said you would. I’ll come back to you."

"In one piece!"

"Hehe. Yes, in one piece, Mom. I love you, but you can’t be jumping in on military calls. If all of this works out. Yes."

"Yes, what?" her mother pressed, sounding winded.

"Yes, you can have a part in whatever business comes from this—not field stuff, but something that will keep us close. I love you."

"Thank you, Sung," her mother cried in Korean. "I’ll pray for your safety."

"May the gods be with me," Rachel half-jokingly returned, knowing how serious her mother was about her shamanism practices. "See you in the morning."

Handing it back to Barbara, she saw the back of the helicopter open, and the soldiers brace themselves. A few were already beside Selvaria.

Scarlet and the leviathan waved at each other as the young teenage girl gave a thumbs up and did a ridiculous back roll off the helicopter.

"Bye...Woops..."

Two of the Green Berets panicked a little, trying to grab her, yet in the blink of an eye, she was free-falling into the night. "Wait—it’s still a bit shallow there..."

"Aww, shit," the girl mumbled in the air before likely body-flopping into the ocean, causing quite the splash and noise to return to Rachel’s ears.

Scarlet locked up, crimson eyes replacing her blue as she searched for the falling girl. "Rachel! Will she be—oof! Wait... She’s rising to the surface, and... Thumbs up, but it looked a little painful."

"Kill me..." Selvaria groaned, cursing her for some reason as the woman sank below the waves. "This is—blegh, seaweed—is on you, Puffy Tail! I’ve been cursed by your misfortune... Ugh. I’m going to throw up."

A little entertained by her antics, Rachel breathed out a long stream of air and smiled at Scarlet. It seemed to help her, and it didn’t take too much longer for their swift ride to reach 5th Street; near the end of the road would be one of the hotel clubs that Terrell was using to stage his operation.

Figuring that the terrorist would be alerted to her presence, she had the helicopter touch down a few streets back to land on a rooftop near the 5th and Meridian Avenue intersection. The pilot didn’t even touch down on the roof, allowing them to hop out of the back.

The soldiers swiftly went to the roof access door. Rachel told them only scared citizens were taking shelter inside the building. Gunshots could be heard across the zone from a few cowboy-like groups that were trying to enter the area to get their loved ones out.

Barbara gave her a grim smile as the helicopter took to the air again, rerouting to the Coast Guard ships east of Miami Beach. "Good luck, Rachel. I really hope we’re not overestimating your abilities."

"Me too, Captain," Rachel responded, holding the radio to her mouth before letting it fall.

The aircraft pulled away, their goal to drop Barbara off to identify the threat of the stealth submarine Astra had picked up chatter about. If it hadn’t been discovered, then there was something magical about it from The Oscillation, and its cargo and weapons were the most significant risk.

Black Hawks now patrolled the city from the air, providing air support as most of the Green Berets took the stairs to ground level, preparing to break off into units to follow Mission Command’s orders to secure hostages.

Turning in a slow circle with Mateo, his communications man, and Scarlet by her side, Rachel closed her eyes and listened. She created a grid of the area in her mind, mapping the inflections in people’s voices, their cadence, and those who spoke around them.

She quickly pointed out key areas that Scarlet quickly identified with her eyes to describe to Mateo’s communication expert. It didn’t take them more than a minute, with her wide-ranging hearing pointing them in the right direction of the hostiles. However, it only took that long for their position to be compromised.

"Rachel, look!" Scarlet hissed, tugging on her tank top.

Eyes opening, she smirked as a hovering eye stared at them from overhead. The fact that Scarlet could see it now showed that Veronica had put points into or obtained a Feat so she could see them. For the first time since she’d landed in this area, Relica’s voice spoke from the street, far to the east.

"Are you done playing, Rachel? Hurry up!" she sang. "I’ll get the tea ready and chocolate pastries ready. They’re a day or two old, but they should still be divine!"

Ignoring the terrorist for a moment, she held out her hand, still smiling at the disgusting organ overhead. "Mateo, can I have your gun for a minute? I want to test something out."

"Do you know how to shoot it?"

"Not really, but how hard can it be? Point and shoot."

He handed her a pistol, and she held it up, looking down through the iron sight. It was easier to spot the tiny point on the sight with her sharpened sight. Bracing herself for the recoil, as she’d seen on TV, Rachel pulled the trigger. She missed. Her ears shivered at the pop, making her wince.

Taking aim again, she launched a second round. The bullet ripped the bottom left half of the large eye apart, causing it to fall to the ground; their only advantage was stealth, which meant they could be brought down with any kind of damage.

"Nice!" Scarlet cheered, jogging to the edge to watch it hit the road below.

Rachel gave the gun back to Mateo and picked up her own radio off the roof. "If I hear anything important, I’ll let you know. I need to test boundaries anyway," she grinned, leaving the Green Berets to go about their task of rescuing the scattered hostages.

"Godspeed."

Scarlet hugged herself as Rachel approached. "So...do we need to sta—Rachel?!"