Pathline (3 page)

They realized that they'd both received that same urgent directive, to return immediately to headquarters. 
No further information was provided, no details on a specific threat or need,
just the order to return. 
They didn't think that command would call them back with an urgent directive over the public
exposure
of their relationship, so technically Rune could wander back immediately, but they decided that since it was almost certain the issue would be
brought up upon their return
that
they should arrive together. 
Rune rep
acked her bag
quickly and they set off. 

Private corporations
had their own super
branches
,
but the government and m
ilitary shared one:
the National Special
Defense
Agency or NSDA.
 
The agency had numerous divisions specializing in different types of operations or issues, with some working primarily with either government or military
. 
This kept things pretty streamlined so that supers could
often
specialize and avoid being over or inefficiently used.  This also meant that the best supers tended to cross paths often enough that they came to know each other and often socialized outside of work. 
Which was precisely how
Rune and Malik came about their own relationship; but although Malik had many colleagues he considered friends, Rune tended to keep to herself and usually avoided out of work socializing. 
So though there had been numerous other relationships in the agency, the fact was that no one had
possessed
any previous knowledge of theirs. 
Rune was a very private person, and preferred to focus on the job at hand when on the clock.  Most of her work fell under government orders while most of Malik's work was military, so they didn't cross paths very often, no one would have suspected there was anything between them. 

The drive back took most of the day, with them returning to the base headquarters of the NSDA in the early evening.  They didn't speak
for
much
of
the drive, both mostly lost in their own thoughts.  Rune focused on restoring her usual aloof and professional demeanor for the job, something she always lost when she was alone with Marcus. 
She'd learned early on that any show of weakness or vulnerability around others was more of a liability for
W
anderers than any other class
;
the ability required more focus and concentration than the others, and emotional turmoil put added risk on their movements.  An emotional
W
anderer was considered too ris
ky to use in the field, emotional displays
could easily
cost a
W
anderer a job. 
As they pulled into the parking lot Rune felt herself comfortably back in
control of
her usual laconic nature
. 
Both
she
and Malik were still in their civilian clothes, it had felt pointless to stop and change without knowing the reason behind the directive. 

As they cleared security at the main entrance they were instructed to
head to the classified briefing room. 
W
hen
the
y
neared the room they realized that most of the top level supers had been called, a highly rare occurrence. 
Of those on the check-in list there only appeared to be two others still absent. 
Rune forced herself to ignore the turned
heads and silence that followed
their
entrance, and focused instead on getting a read on the situation based on the types of supers assembled here.  There was only one other
W
anderer beside herself, known as Blyth
e,
whom she'd had occasion to work wi
th in the past and found
agreeable.  Other than him, she noted three
D
efenders in addition to Malik, two
R
unners, and two
S
ky
W
alkers. 

Not unusually Blythe had sat himself towards the back of the room, a small distance between him and the others
.
Rune broke
stride
with Malik
and headed
to join him. 
Blythe wasn't as self
-
kept as she was, often
found
joking around with others, but
he
did
maintain some detachment typical of
W
anderers on the job. 
As necessary as they might be to the agency, most supers didn't like being partnered up with
W
anderers for
jobs
and the rift was easily felt in gatherings. 

Blythe smiled and pushed out a chair as she approached. 
As she sat next to him he leaned over and whispered
,
"You know, if you two hadn't just walked in here together I never would have believe
d
it". 
She g
ave him an exasperated sigh in
response. 
He chuckled slightly.
"No business of mine, I know, but it's become quite the news scandal of the season, I'd keep my head down if I were you... not that you need my advice" he added with a wink. 

Rune closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath at his words. 
"What's going on here?  Why the convention?" she asked,
nodding towards the rest of the group. 

"No idea.  They've only told us that the matter is of the highest importance, and we will be briefe
d only once everyone is
here" h
e responded
,
in a slight
ly
impatient tone. 

"How long have you been here?" Rune asked. 

"Since this morning
when the directive was sent out,
I didn't realize it was a multiple asset c
all.
I wandered straight here, if I'd have know I would have taken my time." 

She gave him
a sympathetic smile and asked
,
"D
o we know who's still missing?" 

He shrugged
.
"
O
nly that it's another
R
unner and
S
ky
W
alker, I could wager a guess based on who's already here, doesn't look like any second stringers were invited to the party
."
 

Rune chuckled
.
"
N
o, it doesn't
."
 

She glanced up at the group already assembled, Malik stood near the center of the room speaking with two of the other
D
efenders and a
R
unner.  There were only two women here besides her, one a
R
unner she knew called
Suri and
the other was one of the
D
efenders speaking with Mali
k whom she knew by sight but had never had occasion to work with. 
Rune was pretty sure she was called
Catha
and that she'd worked with Malik on several previous occasions. 
Maybe it was her imagination, but when Malik caught her eye she could have sworn that Catha shifted her position to block his
view
of Rune. 
The last thing I need now is a
D
efender with a personal grudge against me
, Rune thought;
better to put it out of her mind. 
The door to the room opened
and the
R
unner known as
Helo
walk
ed in and took a seat near Suri
.
One to go
.
 
That left the final
S
ky
W
alker. 

Blythe was
right;
there definitely weren't any 'second stringers' in this crowd.  This room contained the best of the best supers of each class.  And based on the lag time between the call and
arrivals
, some of them had to have been on other assignments when the directive went out. 
What could be so important that they'd pull assets off of current jobs to be here?
Rune wondered. 
She didn't have much time to ponder the question before
the door opened again and the D
irector of the NSDA himself walked into the room, closely followed by the Heads of the Government and Military Defense
Divisions
and a woman that Rune knew well but had been unaware had joined the agency. 
Any personal misgivings she may have had when she'd walked into the room were gone in an instant, replaced by a numb chill in the pit of her stomach. 
If she's here
, Rune thought,
this
bodes very badly
.
 

At their entrance, those still standing took seats and the room quieted down. 

The
D
irector was the first to speak, addressing the group
.
"Thank you all for coming, I realize we're taking some of you aw
ay from other jobs or free time
, but when you hear the reason I'm sure you will understand.  Unfortunately we find ourselves one team member short, but I've been made aware that our missing
S
ky
W
alker is injured and will not be able to
recover in time for our needs so we'll have to make due. 
You all know me
and the
H
ead
s
of th
e
M
ilitary and
G
overnment
D
ivisions
already
,
so I'll skip those introductions.  The lovely women to my left is
Special Agent Jessica Donovan,
the head of the API
division
,
and will be conducting most of the briefing as this case fa
lls into her area of expertise
.
" 

Agent Donovan nodded curtly at those assembled. 

AP
I
division
?  Rune felt herself tense. 

The
D
irector continued, "T
he point boils down to this: there's been a super attack of the highest priority.  The reason each of you is here is because you're the best of your classes, and you all have top level security clearance.  Needless to say, this assignment is top level classified. 
We've been able to control the situation so far, and stopped the attack from being made known to the press.  If the public were to
discover
what you'll be
learning here tonight
we believe it would cause o
utright panic and
chaos. 
I have full trust that you will all treat this assignment and information with the degree of
seriousness
it entails. 
For the attack detai
ls I'll pass the floor to your H
ead of Military
.
" 

There was a noticeable alertness to the room as the Head of Military stepped forward to speak. 
"The attack basics themselves are nothing too out of the ordinary.  A high-level super targeted a military power plant in an outlying territory. 
The super is unidentifie
d in our system, although we were able to pull some surveillance from the plant to be able to provide you with a visual of the
perpetrator."  He turned and switched on the screen behind him before continuing, "
T
hese are images from the plant, as you can see he managed to inflict large scale damage before escaping".  The images showed a power plant in ruins, fire erupting from reactors and whole buildings in debris. 

The
D
efender known
as Serk lifted a hand and asked, "
A
single
super did all this?"  Many of the others gathered wore equal expressions of disbelief. 

The Head of M
i
litary nodded his head solemnly.
"I'm afraid so.  Unfortunately the issue here isn't that he was able to inflict so much damage single-handedly, the issue
we're here to address
is
how
he was able to inflict such damage
.
"