The Ascendants: Genesis (2 page)

The agent declined to reply as he knew Agent Hardine's question was rhetorical.

Cooper watched as James approached him. “I have to say, out of all the things I saw happening today, running into you guys wasn't one of them.”

James grabbed Cooper and jerked him forward. “Yeah, well I wouldn't get too comfortable if I was you. You might find where you're headed to be less accommodating than anything they had in mind for you.”

Cooper did not give James the satisfaction of a reply. He looked around at everyone and smirked.

“Don't even bother trying to disintegrate my arm or anything, the suit will absorb it,” James said with a grin that matched Cooper's smirks.

Before Cooper could reply, James nailed him with a right hook that rendered him unconscious. Agent Hardine stood still, startled, and confused by James' actions.

Cayde held out his right arm and pressed a button in the center of a small band attached to his wrist. “We've got him.”

“Copy that,” a voice from the device replied.

James lifted the unconscious man over his shoulder and worked his way away from the agents and back over to Mia.

Sweat trickled down from Mia's face and James knew she would not be able to hold the weapons in place for much longer.

“Well ladies and gentlemen, it's been a real pleasure, but it's well passed time for us to take our leave,” Cayde said.

The churning sounds of a large ship caught the agent's attention. They all looked towards the sky as a massive vessel made its way towards them.

“They have a ship?” an agent said.

“It would appear so,” Agent Hardine replied. He shook his head and cursed as frustration and disbelief overtook him. He had no choice but to watch the three individuals leave with his prisoner.

“I'm glad no one had to shoot each other today, oh and remember, we aren't the bad guys!” Cayde said.

Once everyone was on the ship, Mia released her hold on the weapons and they fell to the ground simultaneously.

“Fire on that ship, bring it down!” Agent Hardine ordered once his men regained their weapons.

The agents retrieved their weapons and fired, but the vessel was too far away to do any damage.

“What in the world just happened?” one agent asked.

“We got outmaneuvered,” Agent Hardine said. He stood still and stared at the ship until it was out of sight.

“Sir, what do we do now?”

Agent Hardine did not respond.

“Sir?”

“We find out everything we can on these Ascendants. I want to know who they are, what they can do, and most importantly, where they are!”

The agent nodded in understanding.

“Do it now!” Agent Hardine said. His dark- skinned face turned a couple shades red.

“Right away sir.”

The cell phone in Agent Hardine's pocket rang. He reached inside, took it out, and sighed when he saw the name on the other end. Agent Hardine swallowed spit and reluctantly answered the phone.

“Sir?”

“You've got some explaining to do. Meet me at headquarters immediately.”

Agent Hardine could not get out another word before his superior ended the call. Agent Hardine placed his phone back into his pocket. He walked back to his SUV and waited for his driver to open the door. Agent Hardine got inside and sat in the passenger's seat. He cursed loudly as he prepared himself for what he knew to be a most unpleasant conversation.

Chapter 2

Remnants of the Past

“How's our guest?” Dr. Connors, leader of the Ascendants asked. He watched Cooper via a camera feed that linked to several big screens in the control center of the ship.

“Agitated,” Christine Mercer replied.

“Well, I think I'd be pretty agitated too if James knocked me out,” Cayde said.

Christine and Dr. Connors turned around to face Mia, James and Cayde. Christine did her best to hide her emotions, but she was quite pleased to see that the team returned safely. “You guys were reckless, that could've gone much smoother.”

Cayde held his hands up in a defensive manner and pretended to be offended. “Well excuse me, I'm sorry we can't all be as efficient in the field as you are. Anytime you want to stop playing pilot and take to the ground, I'd be happy to trade places with you.”

Christine laughed. “As if anyone would ever let you fly.”

“Hey, I've logged in my hours, I know how to fly this baby.”

Christine's eyebrow raised slightly. “Never said you didn't know how to fly, I said that no one in their right mind is going to let you fly it.”

Cayde gave Christine an annoyed look. He turned towards Dr. Connors to see if there was any truth to Christine's statement.

“So, anyway, tell me about our guest,” Dr. Connors said in a not-so-subtle attempt to change the topic.

“Cooper Barrett, age twenty-eight from Upstate New York. Cooper can disintegrate anything he touches. He uses his abilities in a destructive and deadly way,” Christine said.

“He also mentioned something about the Chosen. Not sure if that's some sort of group or just his delusional thoughts of being special,” James said.

Tommy Boyd, the team's resident computer genius and weapons expert rolled his chair over to his laptop and crunched away on the keyboard. “The Chosen, there's been a lot of chatter from a website called
WeAretheChosen.com
.”

Tommy grabbed a small rectangular remote next to his desk and projected the website on his laptop to the big screen.

Dr. Connors studied the images. There had to have been thousands of articles all of which contained news regarding Post Human activity. “Tommy, what am I looking at exactly?”

“Umm, well if I had to guess, I'd say you're looking at Hitler reincarnated,” Cayde said.

Dr. Connors rolled his eyes and ignored Cayde's remark. He kept his attention locked on Tommy and waited for a reply.

“Yeah, what Cayde said is pretty accurate,” Tommy said.

“Thank you Tommy. Finally, there's someone willingly to acknowledge my brilliance!”

Tommy crunched away at the keyboard and opened a back door into the website's hidden files.

Dr. Connors huffed.

“Basically, WeAretheChosen is a website designed to recruit Post Humans to their cause. The owner of this site believes Post Humans are the rightful inheritors of Earth. He or she is determined to prepare as many Post Humans as possible,” Tommy said.

“Prepare them for what?” Christine asked.

“War,” James replied.

Tommy shook his head in agreement. “This website has gotten millions of views and over twenty thousand registered members. This group could be a real problem.”

Dr. Connors stared at the screen. He had heard rumblings of such an organization, but never did he imagine the reach the organization had. Dr. Connors placed his left hand over his face and rubbed it. He sighed as he contemplated how to proceed with the findings.

“How do you want to handle this?” James asked.

Dr. Connors did not respond immediately. He needed to be sure his next course of action was the right one. “What about our new friends within the government, what do we know about them?”

Dr. Connors looked at Christine for an answer. The tall blonde Amazonian built woman had plenty of experience with analysis and profiling. She worked with the CIA for seven years, but went underground after someone she trusted dearly, betrayed her trust. She was supposed to have been brought in for “questioning,” but Dr. Connors and James arrived just in time to rescue her.

“Not much at all sir. The guy in charge is named Kevin Hardine or Agent Hardine. He did two tours in Iraq before returning home to work for the FBI for five years. He's dedicated, highly trained, and a natural born leader. I think it's safe to say these guys are some sort of special opts unit.”

Dr. Connors soaked in Christine's words. “Makes sense. We figured it was only a matter of time before the government created some sort of agency to combat these threats. What we need to determine now is if this agency is here to lock up all Post Humans or only those that abuse their abilities.”

“You're thinking Holocaust right?” Cayde asked.

Dr. Connors and everyone else turned to face Cayde. Dr. Connors had an unsure look upon his face. “What?”

“Have you all been paying attention? There's real fear out there. People don't trust us. People don't like us. You know it's just a matter of time before some administration gives the order to round us all up. It may not be this administration, but it's coming.”

There was silence in the room. Cayde's words struck a chord with the group.

“You sound like the sort of idiots spreading their fear through this website,” Tommy said.

“Tommy's right. People like this Cooper Barrett and members of his organization pounce on fear. They take a person's apprehensiveness, their lack of understanding and they press on it. They use a person's fear to spread their agenda, to spread their hate. You can't think like that Cayde; you have to rise above it.”

Cayde stared at the website. He walked over to the screen and pointed at one of the videos. “Take a look at this. Where was this video shot? Somewhere off the coast of Costa Rica, right? There's a man that brought down a mountain just by slamming his hands together. Or how about this one, I see a man that just lifted a truck and threw it into a building? This is all real, and incredibly dangerous. I'm not saying I believe in what The Chosen are preaching, but I am saying there's many that will. We have to get on top of this situation before the entire world is against us.”

There was another long silence in the room.

“You're right,” Dr. Connors said.

“Now that's something you don't hear too often!” Christine said. She looked over to Cayde and stuck her tongue out at him.

“You can stick your tongue out at me any time you want love,” Cayde said. Cayde pressed his lips together and blew Christine a kiss.

Christine rolled her eyes and contorted her face. Although she never wanted any harm to come to him, there were times that she just wanted to sock him in the face.

“All right, we've got two missions to handle. First thing we need to do is interrogate our new guest.”

Dr. Connors looked around the room. “Speaking of interrogating, what's the status on Susan?”

Tori Hathaway closed her eyes and concentrated. While she possessed no offensive abilities, her presence on the team was extremely valuable. She was perhaps the most valuable member of the team. One of her primary abilities, and the one the team used the most was her ability to track down any Post Human just by thinking of them. “She's in China sir.”

“China?” Dr. Connors echoed.

“Should've known she'd take this assignment as an excuse to visit her family,” Cayde teased.

“Do you want me to bring her in?” Tori asked.

“No, no need. If she's in China, I'm sure she's got a good reason, but that means you're going to have to do the interrogating.”

Tori had an unsure look on her face. Being able to locate dangerous Post Humans was one thing, but Tori didn't like to be in the field. She didn't like to be anywhere near the dangerous ones.

Dr. Connors looked over towards James. “You'll go with her. I want you two to find out any and everything you can on this Chosen organization.”

“Understood.” James looked in Tori's direction and smiled. He walked over to her and placed his arm around her shoulder. “Come on kid, we've got this.”

Tori rolled her eyes. “I'm seventeen James, I'm not a kid!”

“Yeah, yeah, just keep moving!”

Dr. Connors watched Tori and James walk out of the control room, and then he turned his attention back on the rest of the group.

“As for the second mission. We need to find this agency and make it clear that we aren't a threat to them or national security.”

“Well that sounds like fun, how do you suppose we accomplish that?” Cayde asked.

Dr. Connors looked over towards Christine.

“What? Why are you looking at me?” she asked.

Dr. Connors smiled. “Because this is your area, analysis and profiling are some of your strongest attributes. I'm confident you'll figure something out.”

Christine sighed. “I'll see what I can do.”

Dr. Connors nodded his approval. “Excellent, let's get to work.”

Chapter 3

Two Missions One Goal

“So how do you want to play this?” Tori asked. Unlike Susan, Tori wasn't familiar with leading interrogations. In fact, just about everything she was involved in was new to her. Just a year ago, she was living at home with her parents, going to school, dating boys, and attending cheerleading practice. Never did she imagine that she would interrogate some of the world's biggest criminals just one year later.

“There really isn't a play so to speak. Just go in there and find out as much about this guy as you can,” James said.

Tori sighed. “It's not that easy you know.”

“What isn't?”

Tori stopped walking. “Using my abilities. There's nothing easy about it. Every time I activate it, my head gets dizzy.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling. It wasn't easy for me either when I first started using mine.”

“Did it hurt?”

“Not at first because of the adrenaline, but after time sets in, my bones felt like they had been run over by a truck.”

Tori always enjoyed talking to James. Even though he was a hothead at times, he was still the easiest in the group to talk to. James never judged any of them and he always found a way to relate.

“What if this was the plan?”

James raised his eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“I'm saying, what if we were meant to have these abilities? That it wasn't random. What if these abilities were given specifically to us?”

James pondered Tori's question.  He had thought of it before, but never really took time to consider the answer. “If we were meant to have these abilities, why then are there so many that abuse them?”

Tori chortled slightly. “That's easy silly. Balance and free will. I think that every Post Human has their ability for a specific reason. I wish I understood it better.”

“Yeah, well, let's just hope that whatever that specific reason was has nothing to do with the complete annihilation of Earth.”

Tori looked at James with an uneasy expression. “Yeah, I hope so too.”

James walked passed Tori and blocked her entrance into the containment room. “You ready for this? I can take the lead if you're uncomfortable.”

Tori took a deep breath. “No, I've got it, I have to make a contribution to this team somehow.”

James was surprised by Tori's self-doubt of her worth to the group. “You're kidding right? All of us are here because of you. If it wasn't for you Christine would've been locked up in some facility. If it wasn't for you, Cayde would've been in the morgue.”

Tori looked around uncomfortably. When it came to being credited for her efforts, she had a hard time accepting the praise.

“If it wasn't- your gift is the reason we're all here and every Post Human we saved is because you led us to them.” James paused and took the former cheerleader by the hand. “Hey, kid, don't ever think for one second that you aren't important.”

Tori blushed. “Thanks James. And James-”

“Yeah?”

“Stop calling me kid!”

James laughed. He nodded and agreed not to call her that again. He swiped his hand over a motion sensor panel configured only to activate on an Ascendant's swipe. The door opened slowly and the two Ascendants walked in.

Cooper stared at the two individuals and a slick smile formed in the crease of his lips.

“Hello Cooper my name is Tori.”

James' face revealed nothing, but he wasn't pleased with the fact that Tori had given her name. That made for the second time that day a member of his team had given their name away. He made a mental note to discuss his displeasure on the topic at a later time.

Cooper stared at Tori. Even though she was only seventeen, he couldn't help but noticed her attractiveness. Five feet, four inches, long blonde hair, slender frame, that was outlined by fine curves and a face that met the typical standards for what was attractive in the world.

“I'm a member of the Ascendants and I'm here to ask you a few questions.”

Cooper laughed and looked towards James. “You can't be serious. Don't tell me she's your group's interrogator!”

James kept his massive arms folded across his chest but said nothing in reply to the man.

“I certainly hope she's not, because if she is, your group is way out of your league when dealing with me.”

Tori looked towards James. Part of her agreed with Cooper's remarks.

“Get on with it,” James said while he kept his stone cold face locked on Cooper.

“You two would be better off switching roles. You know, let the big guy play the bad cop and the little girl play the hot cop.”

Tori gritted her teeth. “Let's get started!”

Cooper kept his eyes on Tori and smiled. He loved to get under people's skin, especially those he could control and manipulate with ease. “Okay, what do you want to know?”

Tori looked towards James who nodded back to her. “Okay, who are the Chosen?”

Cooper yawned. He walked back over to the bed and laid in it. “I'm sure by now you already know. I'm thinking now you've had enough time to Google the phrase on the internet. Did you like what you saw?”

“I'll be asking the questions here.” In the corner of Tori's eye she could see James give a slight nod, a subtle admittance of his approval.

“Okay little lady, if that makes you feel important, by all means, ask away.”

“How many members are in your organization?”

Cooper shrugged his shoulders. “Too many to count. All you need to know is that we are everywhere. You cannot fathom the extent of our reach.”

“What's your goal?”

“To make this world a better place.”

Tori seemed surprised by Cooper's answer, but she realized their versions of a better place was vastly different.

“Did I surprise you? We both want the same thing. To live in a world where we aren't feared. To live in a world where we don't have to be afraid of our gifts.”

“How do you plan to make this world a better place?” Tori asked.

Cooper smiled with approval. “Now that's a better question. It's simple, the human race will have to get on board. Either they submit to our command or we will make them submit.”

“How will you make them submit?”

“I'm sure you can use your imagination to figure that one out.”

“How?” Tori repeated with a raised voice.

Cooper ignored Tori and looked at James. Cooper had a wide grin on his face, one that was too wide to be sincere. “Do you see what I mean? Little girls are too emotional; they aren't cut out for this kind of work.”

“Careful, she's just getting warmed up.” James remained stoic in form.

“Tell me what I want to know or I will make you tell me!”

Unable to hide his amusement, Cooper laughed hysterically. There was nothing about Tori that intimidated him. To Cooper, Tori was nothing more than a teenage girl trying to act like a grownup.

“Don't say I didn't warn you.”

“Oh so you're tough huh? Well I'll tell you what, open this containment field you got me locked in and let's go a few rounds. I mean I don't really like to hit women, but if you're so tough, let's see what you got.”

Tori smiled and shook her head. “Okay, you really want to see what I got?”

Cooper nodded. Tori looked over to James who also nodded.

“Very well.”

Tori closed her eyes and concentrated. Suddenly, Cooper screamed out in excruciating pain. He dropped to the ground and grabbed his head.

“What are you doing to me woman?”

“Oh, so now I'm a woman huh? Not such a little girl anymore am I?”

A smile sneaked passed James and showed on his face. He took great pleasure in Cooper's discomfort.

“My head, it feels like it's going to explode!” Cooper shouted.

“Just relax, it'll be over soon,” James said.

For over three minutes Cooper felt the most agonizing pain he ever experienced. He wasn't the only one to wither in pain. Tori too experienced a similar level of discomfort as she read Cooper's mind. James moved over and placed himself behind Tori. He grabbed her shoulders and held her in place.

Finally, Tori's eyes opened, and she released her mental hold over Cooper. She fell backwards and landed safely into James' arms.

“Telepath,” Cooper said once the interrogation was over. He squinted his eyes and slowly made his way to the bed.

“You guys are monsters!” Tori said. James gently released her and she stood upright on her own.

“I got all that I could from him. He's nothing more than a foot soldier,” Tori said.

Tori didn't say another word to Cooper. She walked right out of the room and leaned up against the nearest wall.

“Not so little after all,” James said to Cooper. He didn't bother to wait for a reply. He followed Tori out of the room and allowed her to lean on him until she could regain her composure.

“It's worse than any of us thought.”

James sighed. “Let's head back to the control room. You can fill us all in at once.”

James and Tori made their way back towards the rest of the group. Dr. Connors watched the entire altercation through one of the camera feeds and had already recalled the rest of the group to join him.

Tori and James entered the room, and Tori immediately took a seat. “I need a minute.”

“How is she?” Dr. Connors asked.

“Shaken up, but she'll be okay. Locating Cooper and reading his mind certainly took a toll on her, but she's tough. She'll be just fine.”

Mia walked over and handed Tori a bottle of water while Tommy took up a seat next to her.

“Are you okay?” Tommy asked.

“Yeah, I'm fine,” Tori said.

She waited for Christine and Cayde to stop arguing over whatever pointless subject they were disputing. It must’ve been the millionth argument between the two.

“The Chosen is a group of Post Humans employed by a much larger entity,” Tori said.

Dr. Connors looked around at James and Christine. With Susan being off on assignment, those were the individuals he confided in the most. “What sort of entity?”

“The kind that can destroy entire countries using technology, cybering, economics, and Post Humans,” Tori replied.

Dr. Connors looked worried.

“Okay, why don't you start from the beginning,” James said.

Tori nodded. “The Chosen is an off shot of a much larger organization called the Syndicate. The Syndicate has thousands of people in their employment. They have departments in pretty much every area needed to run a special opts organization. Think CIA, FBI, CTU, all of them rolled into one.”

There was complete silence in the room.

“The Syndicate is determined to take over the world. They represent no one country and they have eyes and ears everywhere. The presence of Post Humans has done nothing but strengthen their position. The Chosen locate Post Humans and either bring them into their organization or kill them.”

“How do they decide who lives and dies?” Christine asked.

“Anyone that offers any resistance and whose value isn't extremely high is killed immediately. They have Post Humans broken into three categories. Alpha Level, Beta Level and Low Level. All low level Post Humans they capture are killed, the rest are given a chance to prove their worth and their fate is determined by their evaluation.”

“Who runs this organization?” Dr. Connors asked.

Tori had no decisive answer for Dr. Connors.

“Oh he knows, he just isn't telling you,” Cayde said.

Again Tori shook her head left and right. “He didn't tell me anything, because he doesn't know. Trust me, I read his mind, there was no name.”

Christine moved forward towards the computer monitor and press away at the keyboard. “Compartmentalization.”

“Compart a mental what? That was quite a mouthful!” Cayde said.

Christine rolled her eyes at Cayde. “Compartmentalization, it's a strategy big companies use. Especially the military and shadow groups. No one person sees the entire picture that way no one person can give everything away.”

“No one person but the leader of this organization. We need to find out more about this group. Tori, is there anything else you can tell us?”

Tori searched her thoughts. She wished she could've provided more, but she had extracted all the information she was going to get from Cooper.

“No sir, I don't have any other answers at this time.”

“You don't, but perhaps I do!” Christine said. She pressed the remote near her monitor and pulled up her screen on the control room's big screen.

“What is it?” James asked.

“Using Tommy's tracking program I did a scan for any captured images of Cooper. The program captured his image thirty-two times within the last month on camera, of those thirty-two times, seven were with this man.”

Christine pointed to the image of a lean, but well defined image of a man on the screen.