Metamorphosis

 

By Sazzy

 

Written 2005

 

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Codes:

uber J/7

Rating :

NC-17

Setting:

various locations in the UK

Timeframe:

March - September 2005

Thanks:

To Jay, aunty_pasta, Raven_voy and MercyCroft for their beta reading efforts.

Also to GB Brooke for giving me all those colourful Swedish words!

Disclaimer:

This is fan fiction, but some of the characters bear a striking resemblance to those that are copyright of Paramount Pictures.  No infringement on their copyright is intended by the author in any way, shape or form - this is just a bit of fun. This story includes an all female relationship, so if you don’t like that then look away now.

 

n.b. This story takes place against a military backdrop.  Though I have tried to make those aspects of the story as accurate as possible, I am not an expert on the army and its workings, so please forgive any unintentional mistakes.

 

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CHAPTER 1

 

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Andrea groggily opened her icy blue eyes and immediately wished she hadn’t.  Her head pounded mercilessly and a wave of nausea swept over her, forcing her to screw her eyes shut again against the harsh lights of the room.  She took a few shuddering breaths as her stomach continued to churn.  She tried to bring her hand up to massage her temple and found that her arm was secured to the bed she was lying on, along with the rest of her limbs.  The attempt to move her arm also brought into painful focus the fact that her whole body seemed to ache from inside, within her muscles and bones.

 

Where the hell am I?  What the hell happened? She thought hazily.

 

The searing pain in her head made it hard for her to think straight and she lay still for a moment trying to let the sickness in the pit of her stomach subside.  Tentatively she opened one eye again, testing out whether it sent her head spinning once more.  Heartened that she managed this small task with no side affects this time, she opened the other one, her gaze trying to take in the room she was in.  From her prone position she couldn’t see much apart from the white ceiling and bright white strip lights that dangled from it.  As she tried to twist her body round so she could get a look at the rest of the room a fresh wave of pain shot through her leaving her gasping on her back her eyes tightly shut again.

 

What the fuck is wrong with me? Think! Think!

 

She attempted to blot out the pain and recall what had happened prior to waking up there.

 

We were at the warehouse, that's right.  And...yes…we had been surveilling it for a long time.  Months? Yes, surveillance for months, and then - things came to a head when D.I. MacKenzie received that tip off.  Cowley's men were getting ready to ship out and we had to hurry.  We had to up the schedule and get that warrant - quick smart.  Not even enough time for proper backup. And then...and then...we had to press gang uniform into helping us out.

 

Andrea swallowed back another bout of nausea, which came rolling up her throat.  She concentrated, as well as she could under the circumstances.  She remembered:

 

We were waiting…Constable Walker was looking at me...apprehensive, looking for reassurance.  No doubt he’d heard those rumours about me being the cool, unflappable one in the squad.  Of course they were true.  Mind you, I’d also heard the rumblings about me being too arrogant for a mere sergeant…

 

The threads of Andrea's memory were just beyond her reach.  She recalled giving Constable Walker her patented 'Trust Me I'm A Senior Officer' reassuring grin, despite feeling uncharacteristically nervous about the mission herself.  Considering her current situation, Andrea supposed that she had been damned right.  She'd seen Inspector MacKenzie give them the signal and then…She found it hard to recall the exact details now with the muddled state of her brain.  Brief flashes assailed her mind instead.

 

I was cuffing a prisoner…there was the gas…seeping in from the vents…the others were gagging and coughing…falling to the ground…the doors were locked…there was pain…intense pain in my body…like a fire erupting from within…I couldn’t move…I was on the floor…Walker’s lifeless face was staring at me…

 

Her eyes shot open trying to block out the horror of the last image.  But it wouldn’t go away.  The young man who only minutes before had been looking to her for reassurance had been lying on that cold stone floor, blood trickling from his nose, mouth, ears and eyes.  Eyes which remained open, staring…She felt fresh bile threatening to explode from her throat and swallowed several times to stop it.

 

Am I dead too? Is this…hell? she pondered.

 

She refused to believe that, the pain seemed too real for this to be some afterlife.  Though then again she guessed that was the point of hell. 

 

Perhaps she could try calling out to see if anyone came, though the fact that she was secured to the bed didn’t suggest whoever was around had kindly intentions.  Instead she gritted her teeth and tried moving one of her arms against the restraints again.  The pain started almost immediately, a tingling sensation at first building into an unbearable burning in her arm, but she continued pulling at the restraint.  Just when she thought she might pass out from the sheer agony of it her arm popped free.  She lay back, panting with the exertion as the pain dimmed.  Steeling herself she repeated the effort with her other arm.

 

After taking a few more deep breaths she pushed herself up into a sitting position.  Sweat was pouring down her face from the effort of breaking the restraints and she brushed her now matted blond hair from her face and looked around the room.  There wasn’t much to report.  It was sterile, almost like a hospital room, apart from the lack of equipment and windows.  There was a single door opposite her, breaking the monotony of the plain white walls.  As her eyes came back to the bed they widened in amazement.  She stared dumbfounded at the restraints she had managed to break.  They were solid steel - steel that was now twisted and broken.

 

How on earth did I manage that?  They aren’t real metal, surely?

 

She gingerly reached out and touched them.  They seemed real enough.

 

Suddenly a piercing pain stabbed though her brain and her hands shot to her temple as she leant forward and let out a small moan.

 

I have to get out…get out of this place…find some help…

 

Another sharp pain assaulted her mind and she could no longer think any coherent thoughts.  All she knew was the overwhelming desire to run, to get away.  Without even thinking, driven on by adrenaline that was blocking out any other pain she might be experiencing in her body, she wrenched her legs free of the table, the steel that held them buckling too.

 

The door…run at it…knock it down

 

Under normal circumstances she would have known that thought was utterly ridiculous but her body seemed to have taken over, since her mind was incapable of functioning properly at this moment.  She charged at the door with her shoulder and it crashed to the floor in front of her.

 

There are people…people in the corridor…they’re coming for me…

 

Instinctively Andrea lashed out at the nearest person.  He went flying back down the corridor a good ten feet through the air.  The others looked momentarily shocked before converging on her en masse and pouncing on her.  She let out an almost feral cry as she flung the potential captors from her one by one, smashing them against the walls.  She sprinted down the corridor and skidded round the corner.  Three more sets of eyes turned to converge on her.  She was about to rush at them when suddenly the pain returned.  Only this time it was so much worse, just like back in the warehouse -  intense, burning agony.  Her limbs seemed to seize up and she crashed to the floor.  Breathing heavily and lying immobile on her side, she could see three sets of feet heading her way.  She glanced up and saw a pair of blue-grey eyes framed by red hair before the darkness consumed her.

 

………………..

 

Andrea wasn’t sure how long it was before she came to again, but thankfully the agonising pain in her body seemed to have stopped when she did.  She was happy to find she wasn’t bound to a table this time, either.  Someone had deposited her in a chair, where she sat slumped, her head lolling forwards.  She rubbed the back of her neck and blinked a few times, noting that she was wearing a black jumpsuit.  She wondered what had happened to her clothes.  Focusing ahead of her, she discovered she wasn’t alone in the room.

 

The only furniture, apart from her own seat, was the table directly in front of her.  Behind it sat the red-haired woman she had seen briefly in the corridor before she had passed out.  She was studying a file before her on the desk, the hair from her neat bob flopping down slightly about her face as she did.  Now Andrea got more than just a brief glimpse, she realised the woman wore a military uniform, which she assumed was an army one.  On top the woman wore an olive green v-necked jumper, under which there was a collared shirt, starched to within an inch of its life.  Around her neck was a dark green tie, with a crest on it.  The jumper was topped off with a pair of epaulets on the shoulders, a single crown on each of them.  On her bottom half she wore trousers that matched her shirt; the ensemble finished off with a pair of stout, shiny black boots poking out under the table.  Andrea wasn’t sure what rank the crowns signified, but she was sure she was about to find out as the woman’s blue-grey eyes flicked up.

 

“Ah, you’re awake…Andrea is it?” she asked evenly, taking another glance down at her folder.

 

Andrea deduced that the file was about her, making her wonder why the military would possess such a thing.

 

“That’s right,” replied Andrea frostily, “My friends call me Andi, you can call me Miss Hallstrom.”

 

The blue eyes regarding her barely flickered at the open hostility, maintaining an even gaze the whole time.  Andrea refused to look away, returning the stare in kind.

 

“Well, Miss Hallstrom,” said the other woman after a few moments of this, “I’m Major Kate Jarvis.  My friends call me Kate, you can call me Major, or Ma’am at a push.”

 

“Decided to do away with the restraints this time did you, Major,” asked Andrea sarcastically, rubbing her arm where she had been bound before.  She took a moment to survey the rest of the room, noting the mirror that took up most of one wall to the side.  She wondered who was sitting behind it.

 

“I’m sorry about that, we weren’t entirely sure what condition you would wake up in,” said the Major.

 

“I would say I woke up in a pretty poor one,” stated Andrea coolly, “So would you mind telling me what the hell I’m doing here, wherever here is, and what the fuck happened to me?”

 

The Major sighed and folded the file in front of her closed.  Pushing back her chair she walked round to the front of the desk, perching herself on it to look down at Andrea.  Andrea thought the positioning was intended to be deliberately intimidating, placing the other woman higher than her.  She could now see that the other woman was a good few inches shorter than she was, perhaps somewhere in the region of five foot five, but still managed to exude a sense of power and authority in the way she carried herself.  The way her eyes bored into her also told Andrea that this woman wasn’t someone to be messed with.  Andrea considered that she could get up too, to continue to play the challenge game, since she would have the height advantage.  She decided to concede for the time being, at least until she found out what was going on.

 

“What exactly do you remember?” asked the Major, her voice still cool and in command.

 

Andrea was getting an increasingly uneasy feeling about the situation, wondering what the military had to do with police investigations, even ones that went bad.  She also thought that she should have been in a hospital, not undergoing a virtual interrogation.  She supposed she didn’t have much option but to answer at the moment, though something about the whole situation was raising her hackles. 

 

“Somehow I think you know these details already,” said Andrea, flicking her eyes at the file, “But anyway, it was a raid, we went in and then it all went pear-shaped.” She took a moment to close her eyes, to try and think, but the rest of her memories were still jumbled.  “It was a setup - once we got in there we couldn’t get out.  Then gas was flooding in…everyone was collapsing…that’s about it.”

 

The Major merely nodded, digesting what Andrea told her.

 

“Are the others here?” asked Andrea, when the Major didn’t offer up anything.

 

“The others?” enquired the Major, her brows knitting together in confusion.

 

“My colleagues, at least the ones who survived,” clarified Andrea, thinking of poor Constable Walker.

 

The Major pursed her lips for a moment before answering. “You were the only survivor.”

 

“What?” said Andrea in shock, “Inspector MacKenzie, Madison, Humphreys…all…”

 

“Dead, yes I’m afraid so,” finished the Major for her as Andrea trailed off.

 

Andrea just stared at her dumbfounded. 

 

“How?” she asked in a small voice, not quite able to comprehend that they were all gone.

 

“I can’t tell you that right now…”

 

“Look, will you cut all this secretive bullshit!” cried Andrea suddenly, leaping up from her chair, “I’ve just seen all my colleagues murdered in front of my eyes and quite frankly I’ve had enough of this crap!” she continued, jabbing her finger towards the Major who didn’t flinch in the slightest, “If you’re not going to answer my questions, I’m leaving.”

 

“I’m afraid I can’t allow that,” said the Major, reaching out to place a restraining hand on Andrea’s arm

 

“Oh yeah, and who’s going to stop me?” seethed Andrea, her eyes challenging the Major to be the one.

 

The Major didn’t have to answer as the door opened to allow two soldiers to enter, both shouldering weapons.

 

“Am I some sort of prisoner here?” demanded Andrea.

 

“Not exactly,” disclosed the Major, “But we can’t allow you to leave for now, it’s for your own safety too.”

 

“My own safety?” scoffed Andrea, “How did you work that one out?  This is bollocks!”

 

Andrea yanked her arm away from the Major’s grasp and made for the door, hoping that the guns were more for show than anything.  She couldn’t quite believe that the British Army were about to shoot her, no matter how much they wanted her to stay put.  One of the men stepped across to block her exit.

 

“I can’t let you do that, ma’am,” he said seriously, hand still firmly on his rifle.

 

“Just get out of my way,” said Andrea angrily, trying to barge past the shorter man.

 

He resolutely blocked her way and she felt her anger building. 

 

I’ve had enough of this! she thought angrily to herself, If they’re not going to help me, I’ll get out of here and get some answers myself – I am a bloody detective after all.  Who did they think they are, anyway, trying to incarcerate me against my will?

 

She made a grab for him, to try and haul him out the way, and she found herself locked in a tussle with him as he tried to hold her at bay.

 

“Will you please try and calm down,” came the Major’s voice from behind her.

 

Something about the tone gave Andrea pause – the other woman had actually sounded concerned, the first flicker of emotion she had detected in the steely voice.  She wasn’t about to give up now, though, and she finally managed to push the soldier to one side.  The other one now grasped her from behind, wrapping his arms around her to pin her arms to her sides.  They spiralled across the room and the Major actually had to dodge out of the way as they careened into the table, sending it skidding across the tiled floor.

 

Andrea twisted her body as they moved across the room so she could use their momentum to drive the man into the wall on the far side.  He let out an “oof” as she thumped him into the solid concrete, before pulling back and using her weight to bash him against it again.  On the third thump he let go of his grip, tumbling to the floor.  She turned her eyes to the rest of the room, the Major staring at her as Andrea stood breathing heavily from the fight with the soldier.  Andrea wondered if she was going to try and stop her too.

 

Before she could find out, the pain was back, burning inside her.  Andrea staggered, grabbing onto the table to try and support herself as it stabbed through her limbs.  She tipped back her head and let out a cry as another fiery burst rocked through her, clenching her fingers on the table edge.  Her eyes fell on her hand, and she could see that her fingers had driven straight into the table’s metal surface, leaving four indentations.  She glanced up in confusion, seeing the Major still watching her with…what? A look of concern? Sympathy? Then another wave hit, and Andrea crashed to the ground, happy to let the darkness in once more.

 

………..

 

Andrea opened her eyes, and thought that waking up in strange places seemed to be becoming a bit of a habit.

 

Of course it had happened to her before a few times, she considered, but in all the previous cases there had been drink involved.  Now she just felt like she had the hangover, without the pleasure that came before it.  At least the burning within her body had subsided again.

 

Looking around, she saw that she was on a bed in what appeared to be a medical bay.  There were various monitors and equipment round the room, along with other medical paraphernalia.  It all looked very sophisticated and sterile, not your typical NHS [1] hospital, she considered.  There were also a couple of other empty beds, besides the one she occupied.  As with all the other rooms she had been in since the accident, there were no windows.

 

A beeping at her bedside made her realise that she herself was hooked up to one of the monitors.  Her fingers felt out some sensor pads attached to her forehead, and she immediately peeled them off.  The monitor started going crazy, emitting a high-pitched whine.  The noise quickly attracted attention - a man in a white coat dashing over to her bedside.  The balding man let out a sigh as he realised the cause of the alarm.

 

“Are you trying to give me a heart-attack?” he asked, pushing his metal-rimmed glasses back on his nose and attempting to give her a stern look.  She could tell he wasn’t practised in the art.

 

“I just don’t like being hooked up to things I don’t know about,” she informed him.

 

“We were only checking you were ok,” he said, rolling his eyes, and reaching over to take the sensors from her hands, “I think we can assume you are, though.”

 

“So I can go then?” she asked, sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of the bed to rest on the floor.  Since it didn’t seem there were any army personnel about, it struck her as the perfect opportunity to make good her escape.

 

“Woah, hold on a minute!” he said, holding up a hand, “You’re ok, for now, but we need to find out what’s causing those seizures, unless you want to keep having them?”

 

“I guess not,” she reluctantly conceded, “So you’re a doctor are you?”

 

“Was it the white coat that gave it away?” he asked cheerily, “Or maybe my sparkling bedside manner?”

 

“The white coat, definitely,” she replied, “And the name badge.”

 

“Ah,” he said, looking down at the badge on his coat that displayed his picture and name, “Indeed.”

 

“So, Dr Whitman,” she said, having read the name, though noting that the badge didn’t give any indication as to the facility he was attached to, “Maybe you can give me some answers.”

 

“Answers?” he queried.

 

“Well, no one seems to be terribly forthcoming about what’s happened to me and what I’m doing here,” she explained.

 

“Well…er…I’d love to….” he began apologetically.

 

“But you can’t, right?” she finished for him.

 

“Sorry,” he said, with a shrug, “I think we’d better wait for Major Jarvis.”

 

As if on cue, the doors to the sickbay swished open and the Major strode confidently in.  Andrea got a brief glimpse of a couple of soldiers stationed outside the doors before they shut behind her again.

 

“Speak of the devil,” muttered Andrea under her breath as the Major walked over to them.  The doctor shot her a quick look, having caught the words, before he turned to face the Major who stood expectantly before him.

 

“Report!” she ordered briskly, standing to attention and fixing her gaze on him.

 

“She’s fine…for now,” he informed her.  Andrea thought there was more he wanted to say, but quite possibly not in her presence.

 

“I can have a word with her then?” asked the Major.

 

“Yes, but please try not to antagonise her again,” said the doctor with a slight tone of admonishment.  Andrea could tell the Major didn’t like it from the steely look in her eye, and the doctor quickly excused himself, no doubt wanting to get away from the imposing stare.

 

The stare now switched to Andrea.  “How are you feeling, Miss Hallstrom?”

 

The question surprised her - she had been expecting more cold evasion. She thought the Major almost carried off the attempt at concern, but the question was just a touch too forced in its politeness.

 

“Fine, thank you, Major,” replied Andrea evenly.

 

“Good,” nodded the Major, pausing as if deliberating whether to continue.

 

“You have something to tell me at last?” prompted Andrea.

 

“Yes,” confirmed the Major, “Though I need you to sign something before we go any further,” she added, handing Andrea a sheet of paper.

 

“The Official Secrets’ Act?” asked Andrea, glancing down at it.

 

“Yes,” confirmed the Major, offering Andrea a pen, “You need to sign it before I can tell you anything about where you are or what happened.  And anything I do tell you is top secret and not to be disclosed to anyone in the outside world, is that understood?”

 

“Perfectly,” said Andrea, taking the pen and scrawling her signature on the document.  She wondered what she had stumbled onto that revolved around secret army bases.

 

“Thank you,” said the Major, taking the signed document, and filing it away in a leather document holder.

 

Andrea was surprised again when the Major then proceeded to sit down on the bed next to her, though she did leave a couple of feet between them. 

 

“This is probably going to be quite hard for you to comprehend or believe,” began the Major, slowly, turning her eyes to Andrea, “But I need you to hear me out, ok?

 

“Ok,” agreed Andrea warily, “Though I can comprehend quite a lot.  You’d be surprised what sort of things a police officer encounters.”

 

“Nothing like this, I can assure you,” remarked the Major.

 

The Major pursed her lips for a moment, searching for a place to start.

 

“You are at the Intelligence Corp’s Superhuman Research Unit,” said the Major seriously, leaving no space for doubt that what she was saying was fact, “This base is intended as a place where army and civilian scientists can investigate the occurrence of genetic mutations in the general populace, and the potential for these to be harnessed for the benefit of the country.”

 

“Hold on a minute,” interjected Andrea, “Genetic Mutations?  Superhuman? You can’t mean…?”

 

The Major simply raised her eyebrows, waiting for Andrea to finish.  Andrea frowned in return, thinking she must have misunderstood.

 

Since Andrea didn’t seem to want to voice her suspicions the Major continued on instead, “Yes, I mean people with special abilities, what you might colloquially call ‘super powers’”

 

Andrea laughed. “You have to be kidding!”

 

The Major merely stared at her unwaveringly.

 

“You’re not kidding?” said Andrea dubiously, taking in the look on the other woman’s face, “You’re seriously telling me that the British Army has some top secret base where they’ve got a load of super powered mutants running around?”

 

“Not a load, we currently have three,” the Major informed her, “Four including you.”

 

Andrea’s eyes widened. “Me?”

 

“Yes, Miss Hallstrom, you.”

 

“This is crazy! I’m not some mutant freak,” cried Andrea, leaping to her feet.

 

The Major rose from the bed, slowly sucking in her breath as she did, as if to contain what her first reply had been.

 

“I wouldn’t let the others hear you calling them that,” she said eventually, pinning Andrea in place with her blue-grey eyes.

 

“Well, they won’t have to, if you just let me out of here,” retorted Andrea, heading for the doors, “I’m not hanging around to be experimented on for the ‘benefit of the country’ - I’m not some bloody guinea pig.”

 

“Do you really think the ability to rend metal with your bear hands is normal?” the Major called after her, stopping Andrea in her tracks.

 

She swivelled back round.  She had thought that perhaps it was all some delusion or dream, since her memories were rather fragmented, but it appeared that it had really happened.

 

“I don’t have bloody super powers!” she stated adamantly, refusing to accept it.  She thought that there had to be some other explanation, something to do with that gas maybe.  “This is ridiculous, I’ve never been able to do anything like that before.”

 

“No,” conceded the Major, dipping her head slightly, “We think you may be a special case.”

 

“Oh lucky me!” cried Andrea, throwing up her hands in exasperation, “You mean there’s something else as well as being a freak?”

 

“How many times do I have to say….”

 

“Look just save it!” snapped Andrea angrily, cutting her off, “Why don’t you give me some more of that whatever it is that stopped the seizures and let me get out of this nuthouse.  I do have a life to get back to, you know.”

 

“I would suggest you try and stay calm…”

 

“Oh, you would, would you?” replied Andrea sarcastically.

 

Calm? Calm?  She wants me to stay bloody calm?  All this bollocks she’s spinning about me being some kind of super-powered mutant weirdo and she wants me to stay calm?

 

“Maybe I don’t want to stay calm!” she exclaimed, stepping into the Major’s personal space and staring fiercely at her. 

 

She barely registered the movement off to her side, before she felt a sharp jab in her arm.  She just had time to give the doctor a surprised look before the sedative took hold.

 

…….

 

Major Kate Jarvis closed the file in front of her and leaned back against her leather chair, letting out a long sigh.  Closing her eyes, she ran her fingers through her auburn hair before bringing them down to pinch the bridge of her nose in an attempt to relieve some of the tension in her body.  Finding that decidedly ineffectual she loosened her collar, removing the tie from around her neck as she did, and placing it down on her solid wooden desk next to the report.  Her jumper quickly followed.

 

Swivelling her chair around, she got up and crossed her office, undoing her cuffs and rolling up her sleeves slightly as she went.  Reaching the cabinet along one wall, she drew out a tumbler and poured herself a good helping of whiskey.

 

She thought what a long day it had been as she shook her head.  She sniffed the glass once to savour the smell of the single malt before taking a good swig, enjoying that slight burning sensation that accompanied its travel down her throat.  Taking the glass with her, she made her way over to the window.  It was dark out, but she usually found it relaxing to stare off at the stars.  Unfortunately, the low clouds in the sky obscured them tonight.

 

Bloody Scottish weather; it was always either raining or foggy or both.

 

She took another sip from her glass before turning her mind back to what was bothering her – the difficult Miss Hallstrom.  From the moment she had met her, she could tell that the woman was going to be a handful.  She just seemed to carry herself with this arrogant attitude the whole time. 

 

And as for those cool, icy blue eyes…

 

Kate shook her head again; she knew she had a reputation for her deathly stares, but she thought the other woman could possibly outdo even her. 

 

Kate wondered if that was part of the problem - that she was seeing it as a kind of personal contest, and she supposed she ought to try and rein in her own urge to meet the challenge.  It was quite possible that Miss Hallstrom was doing it deliberately, just to get a rise out of her.  The woman certainly seemed to have a knack for rubbing people up the wrong way, if what Kate had read was anything to go by. 

 

She guessed there was always the possibility that the attitude was all part of some defence mechanism.  She had to try and remember that this would all be pretty unbelievable and unsettling for the younger woman, not to mention the trauma of what she had seen. 

 

Rubbing the back of her neck, she pondered over whether the headstrong woman would ever fit in at the unit; manage to cope with the strict regime.  Somehow she thought it was going to be one hell of a battle.  A knock at the door prevented her from deliberating it further.

 

“Come in,” she called, turning away from the window.

 

The door was opened by Dr Theodore Todd, the chief scientist on the base.  He was an incredibly intelligent, if somewhat serious man, and Kate knew he could always be relied upon for an objective assessment of any situation.

 

“Ah, Theo,” she said in greeting, moving back over to her desk to pick up the Hallstrom file, “I presume you’ve heard about our new recruit then?” she added, sliding it across to him as he took the seat on the other side.  She continued to stand, feeling the need to pace across the carpet.

 

“Doc did mention it yes,” he confirmed, picking up the folder, and starting to leaf through it, “Along with a mention of a slight…attitude problem.”

 

Kate laughed. “If you call a chip on her shoulder the size of Wales a slight problem, then yes.”

 

Theodore continued to read, raising an eyebrow every now and then at the contents of the file.

 

“I’m just not sure she’s going to fit in around here,” remarked Kate, continuing her travels around the room.

 

“You’ve faced challenges before,” he said, glancing up, “Just look at what you’ve managed with Tardelli.”

 

“Indeed,” she agreed, “But something tells me our Miss Hallstrom is going to be a whole different prospect.”

 

“You think she’s going to be trouble?”

 

“Not necessarily, though she certainly is antagonistic,” she admitted, “But it’s not just that.  I can’t quite put my finger on it, there’s a lot more going on under the surface I think, there’s just something else about her…”

 

“‘Her arrogant disregard for authority’ maybe?” suggested Theo, quoting from the report in his hands, “Or perhaps her ‘forthright, sometimes abrasive expression of opinion’”

 

Kate stopped her pacing and let out a rueful laugh, “It does make interesting reading doesn’t it,” she noted.

 

“Scary more like,” he commented, “I’m surprised she didn’t get sacked from the police force a long time ago.”

 

“You obviously haven’t got to the bits about how, despite all that, she was brilliant at her job, brilliant in general,” she ventured.

 

“Brilliant?  A police officer?  Are you sure?” he asked doubtfully.

 

“She got a first in Biochemistry from Oxford,” revealed Kate, “Was top of her class apparently.”

 

“She was?” he asked in amazement, quickly flicking through the pages to try and find proof, “What on earth is someone like that doing as a police officer?”

 

“Good question,” she noted, “Unfortunately the file doesn’t disclose that.”

 

“So it seems there is more to our new girl than meets the eye,” he ventured, closing the file in his lap for the time being and turning his full attention to her.

 

“Indeed it does,” she agreed, “Did Doc also tell you about the problems she’s having?”

 

“Yes, it’s an unfortunate side effect of her particular mutation I think.  We’ll need to analyse it further to be sure.”

 

“Let’s just hope she’s willing,” muttered Kate.

 

“You don’t think she’ll want to stay?”

 

“Oh, I know she doesn’t want to stay,” declared Kate, “Unfortunately letting her loose is not an option at this moment in time.”

 

“Have you fitted her with a tracker then, just in case she does get any ideas about leaving?” he asked.

 

“Yes, I got Doc to do it while she was unconscious,” she confirmed, “Anyway, it’s late, I think it’s time to try and get some sleep and then take a fresh look at our new ‘problem’ tomorrow.”

 

After Theo had left, Kate quickly drained the last of her whiskey.  She sincerely did want to help Miss Hallstrom, she just hoped that it wouldn’t prove as hard going as the first attempts.  As she went to turn off the light in her office she had brief thought, wondering why she was quite so determined to help her.  Flicking the switch and exiting the room, she dismissed it as being the same way she felt responsible for all the operatives under her command.

 

………

 

“It will be all right won’t it?” asked Constable Walker nervously.

 

“Of course, just stick close, you’ll be fine,” replied Andrea reassuringly.

 

The young man nodded and she turned her attention back to Inspector MacKenzie, watching and waiting for his signal.  She crouched down behind the car, and could feel the sweat starting to prickle on the back of her neck, running on down her back and dampening her shirt where it was pressed tightly to her by her Kevlar vest. 

 

Why was she so anxious?  She had been on plenty of raids before, what was telling her something was wrong in this case?

 

“All set, Sergeant?” asked her senior officer.

 

“Yes, sir, everyone’s in position,” she informed him, taking the quick chance to make sure her blonde hair was tightly secured in its ponytail.  She didn’t need her hair getting in the way when trying to arrest someone.

 

He picked up his radio and barked his order, “This is MacKenzie, go!”

 

Andrea leapt up from her position, flicking out her Asp baton and closely following the team with the door-rammer.  It only took them a couple of strikes to break down the warehouse entrance and they were in.  The men inside started running as soon as they spotted the police swarming into the building.  Andrea picked a target and gave chase, tackling the man to the floor and pulling out her handcuffs as he protested loudly.  She yanked his arms roughly behind his back and attached the cuffs, satisfied to see Walker doing the same to another suspect close by. 

 

A soft hissing noise drew her attention and she looked around for the source of the sound.  Her eyes fell upon a vent close to the floor, through which white gas was issuing.

 

“Sir!” she called over to the Inspector.

 

“What is it, Sergeant?” he asked, coming to join her, before following her gaze to the vent, “What the hell is that?”

 

“I don’t know, sir, but I’m guessing it’s not good,” she offered.

 

“Agreed, let’s fall back,” he said, pulling out his radio to make the order to that effect.

 

She heard some frantic voices over the radio in response, and watched MacKenzie’s face take on a worried look.

 

“Some bastard has blocked the exits,” he said, looking around frantically, “There has to be some way out of this place!  You look over there,” he ordered, pointing for her to go over to the back of the building.

 

“Walker, you’re with me,” said Andrea, noting that the Constable was looking decidedly nervous.

 

They dashed over to the far side, searching all along the wall, looking for any means of escape, but it was hopeless - there was nothing.  The gas was now pouring in from a number of locations, and suddenly Walker started coughing at her side.

 

“Ahhh,” he screamed, “It hurts!”

 

She turned to look at him, horrified to see him clutching at his head in agony as blood poured from his nose.  He doubled over, letting out another gut-wrenching scream, before collapsing onto the stone floor.  Casting her eyes round she could see the rest of the team being similarly affected, staggering desperately around in pain or already felled by the gas.  Perhaps she could still help Walker, she thought, kneeling down at his side

 

Then it started.  Pain.  Pain like nothing else she had ever felt.  Pain that felt like it was erupting directly from within her.  It arced through her whole body and she screamed at the fire shooting through all her limbs.  She slumped onto the stone floor, crying at the agony.  She was still conscious, just lying there enduring the ongoing pain.  Walker’s eyes were fixed on her, cold…lifeless…

 

“Wakey, wakey!”

 

Andrea shot up, the sweat dripping down her face as she realised she was actually in the sickbay at the army base.

 

“Bad dream was it?”

 

She turned to face the speaker, taking a moment to compose herself, and fight away the nightmare’s images.  It also gave her the opportunity to study whoever it was who had rudely awakened her.  The man was another soldier, dressed in his fatigues.  She surmised that he was an officer, though, since he had two diamond shaped insignias on the rank slide on his shoulders.  He was slightly taller than her and possessed the build of a rugby player, she thought, with broad shoulders and a general sturdy look about him.  He had short, dark hair and dark eyes, while his skin had a slight olive shade to it, making her wonder if he was of some sort of Mediterranean heritage.

 

“You could say that,” she answered, running her hand through her damp hair, considering that she really needed to have a shower, and soon.

 

“Well, good job I woke you then,” he remarked, “I’m Lieutenant Chadwick, by the way, and you’re wanted by the boss.”

 

“Can I at least get a change of clothes first?” she asked, pulling at her sweaty jumpsuit, “God knows how long I’ve been lying around in this.”

 

“I suppose so,” he replied reluctantly, “Doc!”

 

Once the Lieutenant had informed him of her request, the doctor helpfully fished out some army issue clothes for her from a storage cupboard. 

 

“You’ve not got another sedative secreted away in these have you?” she asked, accepting them from the be-spectacled man.

 

He looked rather abashed, “Sorry about that,” he said, “It was for your own good though.”

 

“Really,” she remarked doubtfully, before looking expectantly at the two men, “What, you want me to strip off in front of you?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.

 

“It’s not like I haven’t seen it all before,” commented the doctor while the other man merely leered at her.

 

She shot the doctor a withering look, and he hooked the Lieutenant’s arm and forced him to swing round to give her a modicum of privacy.  She peeled off the jumpsuit and pulled on the khaki t-shirt she had been given.  It was obviously designed for a man, she realised, since it was rather tight across her ample chest.  She pulled up the camouflage combat trousers that went with the t-shirt.  It was hardly her choice of fashion, but she supposed that at least it was clean.

 

“I don’t suppose you have some shoes too?” she asked straightening up, noticing that the Lieutenant was already peering round at her. 

 

I wonder how long he was watching, bloody pervert! she thought, shooting him a filthy look.

 

“Size?” asked the doctor, rooting through the cupboard contents again.

 

“Seven,” she replied.

 

He tossed her a pair of standard black army boots that she yanked on and laced up.

 

“Right, lead on,” she instructed the Lieutenant.

 

They exited the sickbay into a non-descript corridor.  The walls of the corridor were white, it possessed a bare, stone floor and it was brightly lit.  The only other thing of note was that there were a number of cameras dotted at intervals along its length.  The lieutenant indicated the direction for her to go, and two other armed soldiers fell in behind them as they made their way along. 

 

“How long was I out?” she asked the officer at her side.

 

“Nearly a day,” he answered.

 

“A day?  Bloody hell! What day is it now then?”  she asked, realising she had no idea how long it had been in between her previous bouts of consciousness.

 

“It’s Thursday,” he replied.

 

Wow, this guy is a barrel of laughs! She thought to herself, I’ve met more responsive planks of wood. 

 

Given what he had told her, she realised it had only been two days since the raid, since that had been on Tuesday.  Assuming that the current Thursday was in the same week!

 

They entered a lift at the end of the corridor.  As the Lieutenant pressed one of the buttons, Andrea noticed that they went from two at the top, through one and ground to six minus numbers. She realised they must have been underground, explaining the lack of windows.  On the ride up she had a brief chance to assess her situation, recalling what the Major had been trying to tell her during their previous encounter. 

 

She contemplated that it must all be an elaborate deception to cover up the real truth.  Though she also considered they could have come up with something slightly more plausible than all the nonsense about super powers.  She surmised that the only way she was going to get out of here and find out what was really going on was to play ball and wait for an opportunity to present itself.  Obviously this was a high security facility, so they were hardly likely to let her stroll out the front door even if she could slip her present guard.

 

As the lift reached the second, and topmost floor, the doors swished open on quite a different vista.  Gone were the sterile corridors of the underground.  Instead they were in what looked like some kind of modern office building.  Along this corridor there was lush blue carpet, plants and pictures hanging on the walls.

 

She followed the lieutenant down the corridor to the end, where it opened out into a reception area.  There was a single man sitting behind a desk, looking for all intents and purposes like a secretary, apart from the fact that he wore an army uniform.  Behind him was a large window, giving Andrea a view of the countryside outside – definitely not London then.  Andrea thought it could have been anywhere, since she couldn’t see any prominent landmarks or other buildings, the trees and hills stretching out into the distance.  The sun was just lowering behind the hills, meaning it was some time around late afternoon.

 

The lieutenant guided her over to a dark wooden door that bore a shiny gold placard in the centre with “Major Kate Jarvis” engraved in it.  He knocked once and a call came letting him know it was fine to come in.  He held the door open for Andrea and she entered the office.

 

“Thank you, lieutenant,” said the Major, looking up from her desk on the far side of the room, “That will be all.”

 

He nodded and closed the door after him as he went, leaving Andrea to cross to the chair in front of the desk on her own.  She glanced round the imposingly large office as she went.  It was sumptuously decorated, plush deep red carpet, expensive-looking dark wooden furniture.  The walls were lined with a number of framed photos of groups of military people, some candid shots, others official regimental pictures with a list of names underneath.  There were also what looked like commendations, though Andrea couldn’t quite make out the writing on them.  And of course there was the obligatory picture of the Queen.

 

The desk sat just off to the left of centre, with a small window overlooking it.  There was a metal filing cabinet pushed up against the wall behind the desk, with a bookcase next to it, displaying an array of weighty tomes. 

 

The large window that occupied much of the right-hand wall lighted the whole room.  Underneath it was a comfortable looking couch, with a low coffee table in front of that.  Next to the couch was a small wooden cabinet, with a model of a sailboat on top of it.  Andrea thought it was slightly out of place in the office of an army officer.  Even more incongruous was the sight of a telescope on a stand in the corner, and some framed star charts on the wall by it.  The overall impression of the room was of order and neatness, no less imbued by the woman sitting behind the desk in her immaculate uniform.  Andrea did note that she looked slightly less formal that day, with the tie and jumper missing from the ensemble, the Major’s shirtsleeves rolled up to just above her elbows instead.

 

The blue-grey eyes regarded her evenly as she approached the desk, revealing little.  Andrea was impressed; she usually found it pretty easy to read people, but the Major had a good command mask in place.

 

“Take a seat, please, Miss Hallstrom,” instructed the Major, though her tone was tempered with softness.

 

Andrea complied, maintaining eye contact the whole time to see if she could get the Major to look away.  She didn’t.

 

“Would you like something to drink? Tea, coffee, water?” offered the other woman.

 

“Water would be fine, thank you,” replied Andrea.

 

The Major crossed over to the small cabinet by the window and Andrea realised it was for drinks as the woman delved in and produced a bottle of water, pouring it into a glass.

 

“Thank you,” said Andrea again as the Major proffered the glass, before sitting back into her high-backed chair.

 

Andrea sipped at the drink, her throat rather sore and dry.  She supposed she hadn’t actually consumed anything for two days; no doubt they had been maintaining her on a drip or something.  The Major herself drank from a stainless steel mug, Andrea catching the scent of strong coffee emanating from it.

 

“I think we got off on slightly the wrong foot yesterday,” disclosed the Major, placing her drink down on a metal coaster, “Despite what you might think, we really do want to help you.”

 

“By keeping me here against my will?” countered Andrea.

 

The Major regarded her, her eyes narrowing slightly.  Andrea could swear that if a pin dropped at that moment she would have heard it.

 

“Perhaps I should try and continue my explanation of what this place is and what happened to you, since you didn’t give me much chance yesterday,” suggested the Major after the pregnant pause.

 

“As long as you’re not going to start going on about mutations and super powers again,” replied Andrea scathingly.

 

The Major let out an audible sigh, leaning forward on her desk before speaking.  “I know you don’t want to believe it, but it’s the truth.”

 

Andrea rolled her eyes, leaning back and folding her arms to suggest that she certainly didn’t believe it, not for a second.  The Major tapped a few keys on the keyboard to her side and swivelled her flat computer monitor so Andrea could see it as well.  Grudgingly Andrea leant forward to look at the screen, which displayed a series of images of her dead colleagues.

 

“What the fuck are you showing me these for?” said Andrea angrily, glaring at the Major.

 

“To shock some sense into you perhaps?” offered the Major, “And to make the point that for all intents and purposes you should be dead too.”

 

Andrea didn’t think much of the Major’s way of making a point.

 

“Don’t you wonder how you survived?” asked the Major.

 

“Dumb luck?” suggested Andrea tetchily.

 

The Major flicked off the monitor, the last image of a dead Inspector MacKenzie disappearing into the ether.

 

“No, Miss Hallstrom, it was much more than ‘dumb luck’,” answered the Major, “You’re an intelligent woman, so I know you’re going to understand when I explain it to you.  You have a special gene in your genetic makeup.  In your case this gene was dormant and under normal circumstances you would have lived your life and been none the wiser as to its existence.  Unfortunately the gas incident changed all that.”

 

Andrea listened intently.  For some reason the look in the Major’s eyes was telling her that the other woman was speaking the truth.  She thought it could be something to do with how the Major had also dropped the timbre of her voice ever so slightly to soften it.

 

“In order to save your life the dormant gene activated,” continued the Major, “In turn activating the special abilities associated with it and preserving your life.”

 

“So you’re saying I’ve now got super powers?” posited Andrea doubtfully, “I don’t feel much different.  What exactly are these powers meant to be then?”

 

“We know about as much as you do at the moment, which is pretty much nothing,” the Major revealed candidly, “Apart from the shows of enhanced strength you’ve already displayed, we don’t know what you’re capable of without further investigation.”

 

“Helpful,” noted Andrea sarcastically, “And the seizures?”

 

“We’re not entirely sure about them either, but we think that since your powers were never meant to be active, your body isn’t adapted to them.  You appear to lack the ability to control or switch off your power. In effect whenever you use them they run out of control and cause the muscles of your body to seize up.”

 

“But I’m all right now then?”

 

“For the time being, yes.  The doctor has given you some strong inhibitor drugs to stop your abilities triggering.  That’s one of the reasons we need you to stay here, so we can continue to investigate and monitor your condition.”

 

“Keep me here like some little rat in a cage you mean?” bit back Andrea, “I am a person, you know, not some sort of commodity to be used for whatever use the government sees fit.”

 

“We do know that,” replied the Major earnestly, “We are very aware of just how individual all the people here are.  We only want to look after you - part of what we do is teach people how to explore their abilities, harness them, control them.  We have a team of experienced scientists and doctors all here for your benefit.  I can assure you, you won’t receive better care anywhere else.”

 

Andrea considered her words, reluctantly conceding that the Major was probably right.  She didn’t think she would get expert help at any normal hospital.

 

“So you’re in charge of this place then?” asked Andrea, changing tack.

 

“That’s right, I’m the senior officer on the base,” confirmed the Major, “In command of the company stationed here.”

 

“And what exactly did you do wrong to be lumbered with this job?” Andrea asked confrontationally. 

 

She detected the slight tightening around the Major’s eyes, the minor pursing of the lips.  It was barely detectable, but there was definitely a story there, thought Andrea.

 

“We do a lot of good work here,” replied the Major.  Andrea recognised the evasive answer, and the way the Major’s voice had once again taken on its hard edge.

 

“And does anyone ever get to leave?”

 

“Contrary to what you might think, this is not a prison, it’s a research facility,” stated the Major, “However, I think you’d agree that we can’t just have super powered people wandering around the country unchecked, it’s a threat to national security.  Any superhumans we discover are offered two choices – either they can stay here with us, or they can have a special chip implanted and leave.  The chip monitors their whereabouts at all times and checks they don’t use their powers in the outside world.”

 

“Great, give me one of these chips and I’ll get out of here then,” said Andrea.

 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea in your case.”

 

“So I am a prisoner?” noted Andrea bitterly.

 

“If you’d just stop and think for a second,” said the Major, her voice edged with annoyance at Andrea’s persistent obstinacy, “You could have a seizure at any time out there and we wouldn’t be around to help you.  You’ve been lucky so far, but the doctor thinks they do have the possibility to be fatal.”

 

Andrea was stunned. Fatal? Not only am I a genetic freak, but it could kill me?

 

“That’s why we want you to stay, so we can help you,” said the Major.

 

Andrea narrowed her eyes suspiciously.   “And what do you get out of it?”

 

“Obviously we’re doing research too,” replied the Major, “So we would want you to help us with that.”

 

“And that’s it?” Andrea asked sceptically, “The army is out here at this top secret base, just carrying out some harmless research for the good of humanity?”

 

The Major remained silent, her hands neatly folded on the table between them.

 

“Let me guess, you can’t say anything more?” said Andrea, suspecting that there was much more to this place than what she had been told so far.

 

The Major dipped her head slightly in acknowledgement.

 

“What about my real life, my job?” asked Andrea, “People are going to wonder where I am.”

 

“We can arrange extended sick leave for you.”

 

“Of course you can,” said Andrea, shaking her head.  It seemed she really had entered the world of secrets, where anything could be covered up or arranged, “And my flat, my mortgage, my bills?”

 

“We’re not on another planet, you know,” said the Major, and Andrea thought she could almost see a slight smile touching the corners of her lips. “You can still talk to people by phone, pay your bills.”

 

“Just be monitored and watched while I do it, right?” remarked Andrea, “Just to make sure I’m not compromising national security?”

 

“We do have to be careful,” replied the Major, indirectly answering the question.

 

“So are we ever actually allowed out, into the real world I mean?”

 

“It is possible, but let’s take one step at a time, shall we?” replied the Major, leaning across the table once more and fixing her eyes on Andrea again, as if she was about to make an important point, “We have to know we can trust you first.”

 

“You trust me?” laughed Andrea, “Well, I certainly don’t trust you, so I guess the feeling’s mutual.”

 

Neither of them spoke for a moment, simply maintaining the gaze across the table, Andrea surprising herself by being the first to look away.

 

“So, if I do agree to stay and learn how to control my powers,” she said, still finding the concept that she had them somewhat laughable, “So that I’m no longer a danger to anyone, including myself, can I then leave for good, with one of those chips?”

 

“I don’t think you’ll want to do that.”

 

“But if I do?”

 

“Then you will be free to go,” agreed the Major.

 

“Well,” said Andrea, leaning back now that she had got that concession, “I guess I don’t have much choice for the time being do I?  It looks like I’m staying…for now.”

 

“Good,” said the Major, also sitting back in her chair.

 

“So where do I actually live while I’m here?” asked Andrea, thinking of that shower she desperately wanted.

 

“Why don’t I show you?” offered the Major, getting up from her chair and gesturing to the door.

 

………

 

As they silently made their way along the corridors, Andrea wondered if all new recruits got this personal treatment from the Major.  Though, since there had only been three others so far, she supposed it was a distinct possibility.  They were still on the same floor as the Major’s office, as they came to an area set off from the rest of it by a security door.  The Major stepped up, allowing a device to scan the retina of her eye.  The computer made some positive sounding beeps and the door slid open.

 

The area beyond the door seemed much like the one they had just left, apart from the fact that Andrea could hear the strains of rock music wafting down the corridor.  She looked quizzically at the Major.

 

“That will be Mr Parsons,” said the other woman in answer, “Don’t worry, they’ll be plenty of time for introductions to your fellow members of the unit tomorrow.”

 

They finally came to a door that the Major pushed open.

 

“After you, Miss Hallstrom,” she offered, holding out her hand.

 

Andrea walked into what looked remarkably like any other studio flat that she might have come across back in London.  It all looked brand new and spotless – there was a large lounge/dining area with immaculate furnishings directly in front of her, a small kitchen behind a counter off to the side, plus a couple of doors leading off to what she could only assume were the bedroom and bathroom.  She noted that there was also a large window on the far side, outside of which she could see more countryside in the dusk light.  She guessed it probably didn’t open, just in case she tried to leg it.

 

“These are your quarters,” the Major informed her, “You should find everything you need, at least for tonight.  We can see about getting some of your own things brought here tomorrow.  If you do need anything else then you can call someone on this,” said the Major giving her what looked like a wristwatch.  “It’s a communicator,” explained the Major as Andrea turned it over in her hand, “We use them to communicate within the confines of the base.  Think of it a bit like a mobile phone, just dial the number you want.  If you need anything tonight, dial 01, and someone will come to see you.”

 

“Thanks,” said Andrea, trying to take it all in.

 

“Well, I’ll leave you to it, you’ll get a proper briefing tomorrow,” said the Major turning to go, “Goodnight, Miss Hallstrom.”

 

“Wait,” called Andrea suddenly, stopping the Major before she got to the door.  “If I am going to stay here, can we get one thing straight?” she continued as the Major swivelled back round.  “The only people who ever called me ‘Miss Hallstrom’ were my teachers when I’d done something naughty.  I know I told you to, but it’s driving me nuts!  Please, call me Andrea.”

 

The Major smiled, the first time Andrea had seen her do it. “Well, good night, Andrea.”

 

Andrea watched the door close behind the Major and then promptly smacked herself on the forehead.

 

“Call me Andrea?”…” Call me Andrea?”  That was smooth!  What the fuck was I thinking?  Am I trying to ingratiate herself with the ice queen Major or something?

 

Sighing, she plonked herself down on the large couch in the centre of the room, opposite which sat a massive television, hanging on the wall.  She considered that it was actually better than her flat, and a hell of a lot tidier.

 

She leaned back against the soft cushions, closing her eyes for a moment, trying to process all she’d been exposed to over the last couple of days. 

 

So this is to be my life from now on, is it, poked and prodded like some lab rat?  Mind you I could think of worse people to be prodded by than the Major.

 

She bolted upright wondering where the hell the last thought had come from. Thinking more about it, she supposed the other woman wasn’t unattractive - quite the opposite in fact, if she was being honest about it.

 

Especially those eyes…the way they seem to add a whole other level of communication beyond the verbal...

 

Andrea mentally shook herself.  She was sure the Major knew damn well the power she could command with her looks, in combination with that strong, yet also subtle voice.

 

The woman was army through and through, however, considered Andrea - she was screaming authority from every pore and Andrea had always had trouble with that particular concept.  She was sure Inspector MacKenzie had wanted to bang her head against the wall on more than one occasion.  Thinking of him reminded her of why she was there - images of her fallen colleagues swimming to the fore of her mind.  She vowed that she would get answers about what had happened at that warehouse.  Somewhere out there was the person responsible, and there was no way they were going to get away with it. 

 

She tried to think happier thoughts, bringing to mind an image of MacKenzie when he was alive, though he was giving her another dressing down in the memory she recalled.  She guessed people in command just couldn’t handle being told when they were wrong, and Andrea had no compunction about doing that.  She didn’t see the need to pontificate on things - say what you thought and meant, that was her credo.  Unfortunately, that didn’t always go down too well with others.  Somehow, she didn’t think it would go down too well with the Major either. 

 

The Major’s not my type at all anyway, she thought, before catching herself again -  Why does my mind keep wandering off like that? Tiredness, no doubt.

 

Andrea considered that the other woman was so stiff; you could lay her down and iron your clothes on her.  A sudden image of the Major, lying down, flashed to mind, and Andrea quickly shook it away.  

 

How long has it been since Meg?  Four months? Five?  How time flew when you weren’t having fun.

 

Andrea decided now was probably a good time for that shower, and she wandered off through one of the doors to the side of the main area.  She found herself in the bedroom, which was tastefully furnished, like the rest of the quarters, with a large bed dominating the room.  There were built in wardrobes along one wall and she pulled open one of the wooden doors.  An array of clothes hung, and were neatly folded, inside – all army issue. 

 

Looks like I’ll have to get used to greens, browns and khaki! she thought ruefully.

 

Moving through to the bathroom she noted the large corner bathtub and separate shower cubicle, making her realise that this place was definitely better than her flat.  Turning on the shower she started to peel off her t-shirt, before stopping herself.  She looked around the room, wondering if there were hidden cameras anywhere.  Shaking her head, she continued to disrobe – I’m getting far too paranoid, but then that’s what happens when you get involved in this secret squirrel shit!

 

Stepping into the shower, she let the steaming water drum down on her in an attempt to wash away the past two days.

 

 

--------------------------

 

CHAPTER 2

 

--------------------------

 

 

Andrea walked down the corridor, her steps echoing upon the stone floor and reverberating off the plain white walls that seemed to stretch on forever.  The only other sound was that of her breathing, ragged and harsh against the silence that pervaded the corridor.   She couldn’t even remember how long she had been walking, searching for a way out.

 

She came to a junction and cast her eyes down the right hand branch.  It was no different, only more whiteness disappearing into the distance.    Turning to the left hand branch Andrea was met by a pair of wildly staring eyes.

 

“Why did you leave me?” wailed the man in front of her, his voice loud in the otherwise empty corridor.

 

Andrea stumbled back against the wall in shock.

 

“Walker? I…I…thought you were dead?” she stammered.

 

“You left me, why did you leave me?” he moaned again.  Andrea could see now that he was deathly white.

 

 A thin trickle of blood started to drip from his nose.  It splashed garishly on the floor, a bloom of red against the white monotony.

 

“You should have stayed with me…”

 

Andrea turned and ran back the way she had come, the dead man’s continued pleas a haunting call after her as she fled down the corridor.  Turning a corner she suddenly found herself face to face with him again.  She pulled up quickly as he tried to latch onto her, to stop her from running again.

 

“Why didn’t you help me?” he beseeched her.

 

“I couldn’t, there wasn’t anything I could do!” she desperately tried to explain, still panting from her frantic run. 

 

“No!” he cried, becoming angry and grabbing onto her arm. “You should have stayed with me!”

 

“Let go!” Andrea shook him off and turned away.

 

Only there he was again, right in front of her before she could even take a step.  Andrea dodged under his flailing arm and ran, knowing only the overwhelming urge to get away from him.  Her heart was hammering wildly in her chest; the sweat was dripping down her face; she could barely breathe.  Yet Andrea knew she had to keep going.  Rounding another corner, Andrea didn’t notice the lack of floor until it was too late and she was plunging off the drop, landing heavily face-first on the hard stone floor.

 

It was then that she sensed someone standing in front of her, watching.  She started to raise her head…black boots…uniform trousers…

 

“Oi! Rise and shine!”

 

Andrea sat up abruptly in bed, trying to shake off the dream and recall where exactly she was.  Standing watching her with his dark eyes was a soldier.  He waited expectantly with his hands on his hips.  Ah, yes, the army base, she remembered. 

 

“What time is it, Lieutenant….” she asked, trying to recall his name while she composed herself.

 

“Chadwick,” he answered, “And it’s 8am.”

 

“8am?” she cried, a frown furrowing her brow. “Why the hell are you waking me so bloody early?”

 

He shrugged his shoulders unapologetically.  “8am is hardly early for the army.  We thought we’d let you have a lie in, actually.”

 

Andrea pushed her blond hair away from her face and rubbed her eyes.  “Lucky me,” she said sarcastically.  “I presume, since you’re waiting there, that I have somewhere to be?”

 

“I’m here to escort you to your briefing,” he informed her.

 

“Right, well, if you’d just give me a minute,” Andrea said, indicating the door.

 

She waited for the door to close behind him, before clambering out of bed.  Andrea stretched her long limbs to get some life back into them.  The Lieutenant seemed to have a nasty habit of waking her in the middle of dreams, she considered, as she opened the wardrobe looking for something to wear.  She didn’t know what it was about him, but she didn’t like the man.  There was just something creepy about him, beneath the stiff military exterior.  It appeared that the concept of privacy was somewhat foreign to him too, since he had just strolled straight into her bedroom in order to wake her.  Not to mention the way he had stared at her the day before when she had been dressing.

 

Peeling off the large t-shirt she had found to sleep in, she put on the army issue clothes she had dug out of the wardrobe.  Wearing the semi-uniform reminded her of her early days in the police force when she was a young officer on the beat, before she moved on to bigger and better things with CID [2].  That seemed like a whole other lifetime right now. 

 

Once she was dressed, Andrea followed the Lieutenant out of her quarters, noting that it was just the two of them today.  The lift deposited them on the fifth underground level, where the doors opened onto the plain surrounds of the subterranean portion of the base.  Walking along, she wondered exactly how far the base extended, while at the same time trying to ignore the unwelcome reminder of her earlier dream the featureless corridors elicited.

 

The Lieutenant finally came to a halt in front of a door marked SRU Briefing Room 1. “Here we are,” he said, “Time to meet your fellow freaks.”

 

Andrea shot him a look, surprised at his terminology, though she herself had used the description the day before.   He appeared totally unrepentant at having used the insulting term, and pressed the entry button, allowing the door to slide open.

 

Inside was something akin to a lecture room, with a series of desks and chairs, leading to a larger desk at the far end.  On it sat a projector, while a white board took up the wall behind the desk.  Three people sat at the tables in the main part of the room, and they all swivelled round to regard the new entrants.

 

One of the men leapt up from his seat to come and greet them. “Chad! Nice to see you!”  The man’s eyes flicked to Andrea, offering her a wink. “So who’s the new girl?”

 

Andrea noticed that the Lieutenant looked decidedly annoyed by the way the young man had addressed him, his jaw twitching as he clenched his teeth.

 

“This is Miss Hallstrom,” the Lieutenant replied frostily.

 

“Well, pleased to meet you, Miss Hallstrom,” said the other man, in what Andrea had now identified as a strong Manchester accent, “I’m Tom Parsons.”

 

She took the hand he had offered up. “Andrea.” 

 

As Tom shook her hand enthusiastically, Andrea took a quick moment to study his face.  He seemed to be about her age and had an open, friendly expression.  He possessed a pair of baby blue eyes and short fair hair.  She supposed he would have been considered quite handsome, if she was into that kind of thing.

 

“And I’m Harry,” said another man, pushing Tom out of the way so he could take her hand instead.  “Harry King,” he added with a smile.

 

He was slightly younger than Tom, perhaps somewhere in his early twenties.  His features were quite a contrast to those of the other man; his hair was black and his eyes equally dark.  Both men wore clothes similar to her own - variations of casual military wear - though neither displayed any sort of rank anywhere.  Andrea assumed they were civilians like her.

 

The Lieutenant pointed out the final occupant of the room. “And that is Miss Tardelli.”

 

Andrea looked over to the woman, who had remained seated.  She received back an icy stare from a pair of dark eyes.  The woman had a latin look about her and, judging by the name, Andrea guessed she was of Italian heritage.

 

“Don’t worry about Bel,” whispered Tom, leaning over to Andrea, “Believe it or not, that’s her friendly expression.”

 

Taking in the still challenging look she was receiving, Andrea wondered what the woman might look like when she wasn’t being ‘friendly’.

 

“So, Chad, what’s the scoop then?” continued Tom, nudging the burly Lieutenant in the arm.

 

“Would you please refrain from calling me that,” the Lieutenant muttered with obvious annoyance.

 

Tom wasn’t letting up, though. “Ah, come on, Chad, you know it’s just because we love you.”

 

“Yeah, Chaddy,” joined in Harry, leaning into the man on the opposite side to Tom, “You’re our pal aren’t you?”

 

The Lieutenant stepped away from them as if he was worried he was about to catch something.  “My name is Lieutenant Chadwick.”

 

“Whatever you say, Chad,” said Tom teasingly, and Andrea noticed that Harry was stifling a laugh behind him.  She guessed that winding up the Lieutenant was one of their common activities, though the man was so dour it didn’t seem to be particularly hard to get a rise out of him.

 

Suddenly the door slid open and Major Jarvis stepped into the room, immaculately turned out in her pressed uniform, complete with dark green jacket.

 

“Good morning, Major,” chorused Harry and Tom.

 

Andrea glanced over at them in surprise, noting how they had subconsciously stood to attention in her presence.  It seemed she commanded a lot more respect from them than the Lieutenant did.

 

“Tom, Harry,” acknowledged the Major with a nod, “Andrea,” she added turning her blue-grey eyes in Andrea’s direction.

 

“Major,” replied Andrea evenly.  She supposed she could be civil for now until she discovered what they had in store for her.

 

The Major made the last of her greetings by calling over to the woman in the chair, “Good morning, Bel.”

 

“Good morning, Major,” responded the dark woman, with a half-smile.

 

So she did speak! And smile too!  thought Andrea. Obviously only to selected people, though.

 

The Major turned back to Andrea. “I presume Lieutenant Chadwick has made the necessary introductions?”

 

“We got about as far as names, yes,” replied Andrea. 

 

However, one of the things Andrea really wanted to know was what exactly was superhuman about the people in the room.  None of them looked any different to a normal person, though she wasn’t quite sure what she had been expecting – someone with two heads perhaps?  She supposed she would find out sooner or later what special abilities they possessed, apart from a capability to annoy army lieutenants.

 

“Good,” remarked the Major.  “Right, the rest of you are with me,” she ordered, indicating the others.  “Dr Todd will be here in a moment to give you an introduction to the facility,” she informed Andrea, before exiting with the other three obediently in tow.

 

Andrea found herself faintly disappointed that the Major wasn’t going to be briefing her, but didn’t have much opportunity to contemplate that further as a tall man wearing a white coat strode briskly into the room.  He introduced himself as Dr Theodore Todd, and promptly dismissed Lieutenant Chadwick, who was only too happy to get out of there.  Dr Todd offered her a seat, before he proceeded to outline the background and function of the Superhuman Research Unit to her in what seemed to be a well-rehearsed speech. 

 

Dr Todd had no compunction about bombarding her with a great deal of information in one go.  He was like a lot of scientists and academics she had met – intelligent, precise, logical, but slightly lacking when it came to interpersonal skills.  She found his no-nonsense, factual approach quite refreshing.

 

She was surprised to discover that the base was actually on an island, just off the west coast of Scotland in the Firth of Clyde.  She supposed that was certainly one way to make sure no one left unexpectedly, unless they fancied swimming several miles to the mainland.

 

Apparently the unit had been in existence for approximately nine months.  There was a mixture of army and civilian personnel on the base, all of who had quarters within the main complex.  The base also hosted a number of recreational facilities, along with the various research labs and training facilities for both the “special operatives” and the regular troops stationed there.  

 

The unit had been set up in response to the discovery of genetic mutations that could lead to the development of special powers.  The government had decided that this wasn’t really something for public consumption, instead creating this secret facility where the whole subject could be researched. 

 

Andrea wondered if research was all they were really interested in.  For a start there was the way Dr Todd had used the term “special operative” when referring to the superhumans, suggesting an active role in something.  Plus there was the fact that the army were running the show.  And not just the army, but the Intelligence Corps, which hinted at something clandestine.  She would have thought that if research was all they were up to, then there would be no need for the army to be involved.  She decided not to voice her suspicions for now – she needed to get a better idea of the unit and whom she could and couldn’t trust first.

 

Dr Todd then moved onto her particular case, reiterating to her what the Major had told her the day before about the problems with her particular mutation.  From what he told her, it turned out that all the other operatives at the unit had possessed their mutation since birth, though not necessarily all the abilities associated with it.  Andrea’s enforced mutation meant that they would have to take things slow with her, especially due to the seizures she had been having.  The doctors would carry out a series of investigations to determine what exactly the nature of her mutation and powers were.

 

At that point, Dr Todd invited her to join him in one of the labs on the floor below where they could start assessing her condition properly.  Entering the lab, Andrea noted the vast array of technical equipment spread round the room.  There were a number of computers, microscopes, scanning devices and quite a few things she had no idea as to the function of - only that they looked highly advanced and expensive.  It appeared that a lot of money was coming into this project from somewhere.

 

“If you’d like to take a seat,” offered Dr Todd, going over to search something out on the far side of the room.

 

While Andrea was waiting the door to the lab swished open, and she spotted Dr Whitman joining them.

 

He smiled amiably as he headed her way. “Morning, Miss Hallstrom.”

 

“Morning,” she replied, “And Andrea is fine.”

 

“Well, you can call me Doc, since everyone else seems to insist on doing so,” he said, with a fake air of exasperation.

 

Andrea looked at him in bemusement. “Aren’t there several doctors here, though?”

 

“See, that’s what I keep telling them,” he said, obviously pleased to find someone who could see his point of view, “But Mr Parsons came up with it, and now it seems to have stuck.  I think half the people here don’t even realise I have a proper first name.”

 

Dr Todd came back over at that point, having retrieved whatever he had been looking for. “Ah, Doc,” he noted, “Now you’re here to monitor things we can get on.”

 

Doc leaned over to whisper to Andrea, “See, even he calls me it!”

 

Andrea smiled at his annoyance, especially as she thought he was feigning it on purpose to try and put her at ease. 

 

Doc wheeled over a monitor, from which he produced some wires and sensors. “OK, now I’m just going to place these on you so we can check out exactly what’s going on in your brain to begin with.  I hope you’re not going to be pulling them straight off again?”

 

“I think I can cope with them this time,” replied Andrea.

 

Doc smiled. “Good, because you’ll need to get used to it, what with the number of tests Theo here is likely to want to run on you!”

 

“Thank you, Doc,” interjected Dr Todd with a slight hint of exasperation.  “Though he is right,” he added, addressing Andrea, “We will need to run an extensive set of tests, looking at all aspects of your mutation.  It may seem like some of them are utterly pointless, but I just ask you to be patient and bear with us.  We need to be thorough so we don’t miss anything.”

 

Andrea nodded.  “As long as you don’t mind the odd question along the way, I kind of like to know what’s going on.”

 

“Fine,” he agreed, “I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have, as long as they don’t step into areas I’m not at liberty to discuss.”

 

……

 

Some hours later, Andrea wearily made her way back to her quarters.  It seemed she was finally allowed to walk about the base unescorted as she travelled up in the lift alone.  She contemplated getting off at the ground floor and seeing how far she might get before she was stopped.  She didn’t think it would be far, with the number of cameras and soldiers she had observed about the place.

 

She tiredly rubbed her neck, thinking that Doc hadn’t been wrong when he made a joke about the number of tests Dr Todd would want to run.  Most of the time it seemed like she was hardly doing anything, flexing particular muscles or thinking about particular things, but she had seen that Dr Todd looked rapt in the results he was getting on his computer screen.  It had all seemed like one long physical, rather than anything to do with super powers – she hadn’t been called upon to do anything out of the ordinary once in fact.  She still wasn’t even sure what it was she was capable of, though Doc had warned her about trying anything to investigate herself while on her own.  All she knew so far was that she had exhibited some sort of enhanced strength.

 

Part of her was itching to know more about it, though at the same time she had to admit that it was all a bit daunting and maybe even a little scary – the prospect that there was this whole other side to her that she herself knew nothing about.  She had always prided herself on her ability to meet any challenge, and had rarely found things in life that she couldn’t overcome or control.  So to now have to place herself in the hands of others to such an extent was somewhat anathema to her. 

 

Having finished for the day, Doc had offered to take her up to the messhall on the ground floor where the superhumans, scientists and regular soldiers could get something to eat. She had declined his offer though – she didn’t expect to be around this place long enough in order to have the need to make friends or socialise.  She’d already discovered that her quarters came equipped with a fully stocked fridge the night before, so it wasn’t like she had to go to the messhall.  These were hardly the sorts of people she would want to be friends with either – a load of squaddies and some juvenile superhumans.  The only people she had felt any sort of connection with so far were the two scientists she’d been introduced to, and that was mainly a kind of grudging respect for their intelligence.  She resolved that she would just do what she had to do until she could get out of there and back to her normal life.

 

Thinking of her real life, Andrea realised that she needed to arrange a few things back in London, not least of which was Gerry.  God knew what he must be thinking.  She realised she should really have asked one of the doctors about making a call to the outside world.  Since she was heading up to the second floor anyway, Andrea guessed she might as well drop in on Major Jarvis.  No doubt she would need her permission for any such request.

 

Striding along the corridor, she saw the eyes of the soldier at the desk outside the Major’s office nervously regarding her rapid approach.

 

“Is Major Jarvis in?” Andrea asked the young man brusquely.

 

“Er…yes,” he answered, somewhat taken aback by her brisk tone.

 

“Good,” she replied, not waiting for any other confirmation before strolling over to the door and knocking on it.

 

The young soldier bumbled up from his desk. “Wait, you can’t just…”

 

Andrea pushed open the door before he had the chance to reach her, and before she got any sort of answer to her knock.  The Major’s eyes flicked up from her desk, a quick flash of annoyance passing across her features before the cool impassive mask was back in place.  Andrea was disappointed she hadn’t managed to catch the Major out a little more, although she wasn’t entirely sure why.  Something in Andrea just felt the urge to try and rile the other woman, just to see what reaction she got – maybe because it seemed like such a challenge to get one at all.

 

The young soldier pushed past Andrea’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Major…”

 

“It’s all right, Anderson,” said the Major with a dismissive wave of her hand.  “Come in, Miss Hallstrom, have a seat,” she added, gesturing to the one in front of her desk.

 

So I’m back to being Miss Hallstrom am I? Perhaps I did manage to rile her just a little bit.

 

Andrea made her way to the indicated seat, the blue-grey eyes watching her intently the whole way across the room, and as she lowered herself into the comfy chair.

 

The Major leant forwards slightly so her hands rested together on the table. “Now, what can I do for you?”

 

“I need to make a phone call,” answered Andrea, getting straight to the point.

 

“May I ask whom you’re calling?”

 

“You may, but do I have to answer?” countered Andrea.

 

The Major regarded her for a moment, showing no visible sign of being perturbed by Andrea’s deliberately obtuse take on her question.  However, the pause before she spoke was evidence enough.  “I’m afraid you will need to, before I can agree to it.”

 

“I want to speak to one of my colleagues, Maria Fernandes,” said Andrea.

 

“About?”

 

“Jesus!” cried Andrea, “Shall I just tell you everything I want to say now?  It’s not like you won’t be listening in and recording it anyway, I’m sure.”

 

“This is a top secret facility,” remarked the Major, still not rising to the bait and maintaining an even tone, “We can’t allow unmonitored communication off the base.  This isn’t anything personal against you, it’s the same for everyone here.”

 

Andrea sighed. “All right, if you must know, I need to get her to look after Gerry for me.”

 

“Gerry?”

 

“My cat,” clarified Andrea.

 

“Your…cat,” repeated the Major slowly, and Andrea could swear she was straining to stop a smile creeping onto her face.

 

“Yes, my cat. Does it seem so unusual that I would have one?” challenged Andrea.

 

“No, not at all,” replied the Major, though her expression indicated otherwise.  “I think that should be fine,” she continued after a moments thought, “Though please keep off the subject of where exactly you are, or what you’re doing here, or we will be forced to cut you off.  I’m sure you can come up with some feasible excuse for your absence, visiting family perhaps?”

 

“She won’t believe that one!” scoffed Andrea before she could stop herself. 

 

The Major looked at her quizzically, one eyebrow raised, but Andrea refused to elaborate further on the subject.

 

“Yes, I’m sure I can make something up,” Andrea said instead, getting back to the point in hand.

 

“In that case, if you want to head back to your quarters, I’ll arrange for your phone to be activated,” the Major informed her.

 

“Thank you,” said Andrea grudgingly, getting up and heading for the door without waiting to be dismissed.

 

“Oh, and Andrea,” called the Major, waiting for her to turn back before she continued, “Please don’t barge unannounced into my office next time.”

 

 

………

 

 

Andrea forcefully closed the door to her quarters, trying to restrain herself from seeing if she could rip it off its hinges and fling it across the room.  She just felt so frustrated and trapped.   

 

In fact, why should I restrain myself? she considered, If I’m cursed with these new powers, then why shouldn’t I use them to let off a bit of steam? Why do I need someone to tell me when and where I can use them?

 

Doc’s warnings about trying to use her abilities un-monitored flashed through her mind, but Andrea dismissed them; Doc probably just didn’t want her to find out anything before him.  Andrea knew she desperately needed some outlet for her pent up aggression.  Talking to the Major certainly didn’t seem to help, since Andrea found herself losing her cool whenever she did.  That disturbed her too - she was famed for being the cool, calm one back at the station.  Her icy stare alone was renowned for eliciting confessions from criminals. 

 

Andrea felt her anger building again as she thought of the rigid army officer and the reactions she stirred.  Snatching up one of the kitchen stools, Andrea gripped the wooden seat in one hand and one of the metal legs in the other.  With a single yank the stool splintered in two.  Andrea looked at its remnants with satisfaction – see, there was nothing to it!

 

Casually discarding the seat part, she started to bend the metal leg. The effortlessness of it was amazing; anyone would think it was some twig that she was bending with such ease. The steel groaned in protest at the punishment, before finally giving way and snapping.  The broken sections clattered noisily on the tiled floor as they joined the rest of the shattered stool.

 

Just as Andrea was looking around for something else to mutilate, it hit her – intense, agonising pain.  She staggered clumsily against one of the kitchen units, sending the utensils on the work surface flying, before tumbling to the floor.  Huddled in a foetal position, Andrea simply prayed for the pain to stop as it shook through her body.   When the darkness finally overcame her, it was a merciful release.

 

……

 

The cool surface of the tiles as it pressed against her cheek was the first thing that pervaded Andrea’s senses when she finally regained consciousness.  Gingerly rising into a sitting position, she rubbed her elbow where it had been bashed on the unforgiving floor.  Glancing up at the clock on the wall, Andrea realised she’d been out for about thirty minutes.  She supposed it could have been worse, especially if someone else had discovered her.  Luckily she’d been spared the embarrassment of explaining why she’d chosen to ignore the repeated warnings about using her powers alone.

 

Clambering unsteadily to her feet, Andrea made her way over to the sofa.  Her hands were shaking disconcertingly as she rested them on her thighs, and she closed her eyes to take a few deep breaths.  In through the nose; out through the mouth. In.  Out. Relax.

 

She supposed it was just the present situation that was affecting her, making her lose her perspective and compromising her judgement.  Maybe the chance to call Maria, and connect with the real world, would help her with that - remind her that she still had friends and a life outside of the base.

 

Picking up the phone, Andrea listened for the dial tone, relieved to find the Major had kept her word and enabled the connection.  As she keyed in Maria’s home number, Andrea just hoped her fellow officer wasn’t on duty that day.

 

After a couple of rings the call was picked up. “Maria Fernandes,” came the answer from the other end.

 

“Maria, it’s me,” said Andrea, grateful to hear her good friend’s voice.  They had been at Hendon [3] together and had remained fast friends ever since.

 

“Andrea? Christ!” exclaimed Maria, “Are you all right? Where the hell are you? What’s going on?”

 

“Woah, slow down!” interjected Andrea, “One thing at a time.”

 

“Sorry,” replied Maria, “It’s just that after what happened at that warehouse, and then not knowing what had happened to you…I’ve been worried.”

 

“It’s all right,” Andrea reassured her, realising how anxious her friend had been from her frantic tone, “I’m ok.  Well, as ok as I can be given the circumstances.”

 

“But where on earth are you?”

 

“I…can’t say,” replied Andrea, fully aware of who might be listening.

 

“You can’t say?  I’ve been worried out of my mind and you can’t say?  What’s going on? Are you in some sort of trouble?”

 

“I’m sorry, Maria, I wish I could tell you more, but you’re just going to have to trust me on this one for now,” explained Andrea.  “How are you anyway?”

 

“Me?” said Maria, surprised at the question. “I’m fine, though busy since…” she trailed off for a moment.  “I just can’t believe all those guys are dead,” she finished quietly.

 

“Me either,” agreed Andrea sorrowfully, as their faces filled her mind once more.  “Anyway, I need to ask you a favour,” she continued, not wanting to linger on those thoughts any more than she had to.  She also thought she better get onto what she had to ask, before she said something she shouldn’t and they got cut off.

 

“Go on, you know I’ll do anything to help if I can,” replied Maria sincerely.

 

“Can you go and pick up Gerry from my flat, look after him for me?” Andrea found herself inexplicably starting to well up as she thought of her home, with Gerry waiting expectantly for her return.  She considered it must just be the fact that she was cut-off from reality that was getting to her.

 

“Of course,” answered Maria without hesitation, “Good job you made me take that spare set of keys, though you always were the organised one!  Do I need to know anything special - what food he likes?  Any little habits?”

 

Andrea tried to pull herself together, stop her mind wandering to thoughts of home and colleagues she would never see again. “No, he should eat pretty much anything, little pig that he is.  Especially since he’s been on his own there for 3 days, poor bugger.  Just give him a cuddle from me to say sorry, ok?”

 

“No problem,” said Maria, “Do you know when you’ll be back?”

 

“No, I’m not sure.  I’ll try and call you again when I know a bit more.  Just tell anyone else who asks not to worry, and that I’ve gone off to have a bit of time on my own after the recent…trauma.”

 

“Ok,” noted Maria, before pausing as if waiting for Andrea to say something else.  The only audible sound was the faint hiss of the phone line. “Aren’t you going to ask how Meg is?” said Maria eventually.

 

Andrea didn’t reply immediately.  She hadn’t really wanted to talk about Meg on this monitored line.  To be honest she hadn’t really wanted to think about her at all – it still dragged up a few too many painful memories.

 

Maria continued, since Andrea failed to say anything, “She misses you, Andi.  I still don’t know why you two broke up.”

 

“It was complicated,” said Andrea, supposing she had to say something in response, “I know she’s your friend so I don’t want to say too much.  Maybe you should speak to her.”

 

“I have!” said Maria, her voice carrying an edge of exasperation, “But she’s as evasive about it as you are!  I think you’re both just being stupid; you two were great together.”

 

“Look, Maria,” said Andrea, perhaps a touch more tetchily than she had intended, “Even if it wasn’t all over, there’s no chance for us to get back together now.”

 

“Because you’re off at this place you can’t talk about?”

 

“That’s right,” Andrea stated.

 

“Is this place anything to do with the accident?” asked Maria, seemingly unable to resist her natural instincts to investigate.  “Only there’s been a lot of weirdness around that, you know, the investigation was…”

 

The line went dead, cutting Maria off in mid-sentence.  Andrea stared at the phone in her hand for a moment, not quite believing what had happened.

 

What the fuck?   This is…unacceptable!

 

Leaping up, she stormed out of her room to get some answers.

 

…….

 

Kate sat on the couch in her office, drinking her coffee and listening attentively as Theo filled her in on the day’s tests.  Apparently there wasn’t a great deal to report as yet, though she hadn’t really expected there to be at this early stage.  They all knew how careful they had to be when dealing with superhumans and their powers to avoid any nasty accidents, especially at the beginning when no one really knew the extent of them.  As he finished up she decided to probe him for some other types of information.

 

“So, how did you find Andrea?” she asked nonchalantly.

 

“Well, considering what we spoke about two days ago, she was actually remarkably accommodating,” he replied.

 

“She was?” said Kate in surprise, “I wonder if it’s just me she doesn’t like then?”

 

“Or perhaps she doesn’t like what you represent?” offered Theo, earning him a questioning look from Kate.  “I mean authority, control,” he explained, “She strikes me as the sort who likes to maintain those for herself, judging by the number of questions she was asking about the tests.”

 

“Possibly,” Kate allowed, “Maybe I should check with Lieutenant Chadwick and some of the other officers, see how she is with them.”

 

“As I said, she was mostly fine with me.  She was a little reluctant and suspicious, but nothing that I would classify as openly hostile or antagonistic.  And she and Doc seemed to get on well, though she did turn down his offer of joining him in the messhall.  Perhaps you need to pull back on the full military side of yourself when dealing with her, if you’re having difficulty.”

 

Kate raised both eyebrows questioningly as she stared at him. “Are you suggesting I’m too rigid and overbearing?”

 

He laughed at her expression since it pretty much proved his point. “Not exactly, though you can be intimidating.”

 

Now it was Kate’s turn to laugh.  “I really don’t think I’m intimidating Andrea! I don’t think anyone is capable of that.  I mean you should have seen her in here earlier, making demands like she owned the place.  Though I’m still not sure whether that’s all a front,” she added, putting down her mug and shifting her position so she could stare off out the window for a moment. 

 

“Go on,” prompted Theo.

 

Kate tried to decide what it was that was making her doubtful.  “I don’t know, I just think that underneath all the outward arrogance and hostility, there is someone who does actually care what people think of her.” She turned back to face Theo. “There’s definitely something driving her to succeed in whatever she puts her mind to – just look at what she’s accomplished at university and in the police,” she noted, recalling what she had read in the young woman’s file, “Despite her rather individual approach to her job, she still managed to get into CID at a young age.  They must have seen potential in her.”

 

“Indeed,” noted Theo.  “Though the sort of people who strive for success so hard are also often the ones who don’t like failure,” he added with a hint of caution, “And have trouble admitting that they might be wrong or when they need help.”

 

Kate nodded. “Mmm, I wonder if that’s the case here?”

 

“Meaning?”

 

“Meaning is she trying to hide any insecurities she might be feeling by being overly aggressive in her attitude?” clarified Kate, “Or is she just like this all the time?  I don’t really know her well enough yet to know.”

 

“No, I guess only time will tell,” he conceded, “There’s also the possibility of post-traumatic stress affecting her behaviour.  Don’t forget she did see all her colleagues die in front of her eyes.”

 

“Yes,” agreed Kate, “It would be odd if that hadn’t had some impact on her.  So she could be covering that up too.  Maybe you could get Doc to have a surreptitious word with her.  Nothing too obvious, just mention the fact we have counsellors here that are for anyone’s use.  Something tells me she won’t be keen if we try to force the issue.”

 

“No, I believe you’re right. I’ll speak to him,” confirmed Theo.

 

Kate sighed and added a rueful smile. “Well, I sincerely hope she isn’t quite this annoying all the time.  I’m just not used to such blatant disregard for protocol!”

 

“Though you yourself have been known to bend the rules from time to time,” commented Theo, “Not to mention be a touch stubborn.”

 

Kate stared at him, furrowing her brows in a look of consternation.  The stern look didn’t quite reach her eyes, though, since she knew he was just teasing her.  “Whose character are we assessing here exactly?” 

 

Before he could reply the door to her office flew open, thumping into the wall, and Andrea strode in.

 

“Why the hell did you cut my phone call off?” she demanded, storming straight over to the coffee table, her pale blue eyes flashing with anger as she stared down at Kate.

 

Kate shot back a deathly look, but kept her mouth tightly shut for the time being.  She didn’t trust herself not to say anything she might regret later.  Taking a few deep breaths, she slowly rose from the couch and stepped purposefully round the coffee table.  She moved so that she was right up in Andrea’s personal space, intending to evoke a sense of menace with her proximity.  However, the younger woman didn’t flinch, despite her closeness. 

 

Kate narrowed her eyes into her most severe look of annoyance and fixed them on Andrea.  The tension in the room was palpable as the younger woman just stared resolutely right back at her, neither of their gazes wavering.

 

“Theo, could you leave us to it?” said Kate eventually, her lips barely moving and her eyes never shifting from their combative regard of Andrea.

 

“Er, sure,” he replied somewhat hesitantly, perhaps afraid they were about to come to blows.

 

Kate waited until he left the room before she spoke.

 

“Miss Hallstrom,” she began, her voice low, dangerous, “I realise you are not one of my soldiers, and therefore not directly under my command.  However, I would expect that even you could follow common courtesy.”

 

“Courtesy?! You want to talk about courtesy?”  snapped back Andrea furiously, her breath hot against Kate’s face, “How about you chopping off my phone conversation?”

 

“I believe I did warn you that might happen…”

 

“Yeah! If I said anything about this place!”

 

“So what were you talking about?” asked Kate, trying to keep calm in the face of Andrea’s continued fury, though she was finding it hard. 

 

“Like you weren’t listening in!” scoffed Andrea incredulously.

 

“Believe me, I have far better things to be doing than listening to your personal phone calls,” Kate informed her.  Kate considered that she should have been the one bawling out the young woman for barging into her office again, but she tried to remember what she and Theo had discussed – pull back on the military side.

 

Andrea crossed her arms across her chest in a defiant stance. “Really,” she said doubtfully.

 

Kate almost rolled her eyes – it was like dealing with a petulant child!

 

“Look, I don’t know the particulars of why your conversation was terminated,” said Kate, attempting to be reasonable, “I’ll find out why my men found it necessary to cut you off, ok?”

 

“Ha! They probably just thought it would be funny!  Abusing their little bit of power by getting one over on the new girl.  Maybe I wasn’t giving them anything juicy enough to listen to?  Nothing to give them their kicks?”

 

Kate found herself bridling again, and she clenched her fists at her side to resist the urge to slap the other woman.  It was one thing to listen to Andrea rant on, but when she started insulting her men that was something else.

 

“My officers are professionals,” stated Kate seriously, “They do not monitor conversation for some sort of cheap thrill.  I’m sure your personal life is infinitely fascinating, but they are just doing their job.”

 

“Well, you should know all about my personal life,” countered Andrea, “You do have that handy little file on me.”

 

Kate heaved a sigh.  “Contrary to popular belief the government doesn’t make a habit of spying on the people of this country.  The only information in that file is data of public record, such as where you were born, your family, your schooling.  Plus we have your work records and reports, that the Met [4] were kind enough to forward to us.”

 

Andrea threw up her arms and made a tutting noise. “Oh, I bet that made interesting reading!  I’m sure MacKenzie had a few choice things to say.  Let me guess – I was a complete pain in the arse who showed a distinct lack of regard for the command structure and protocol?”

 

“A quite accurate summary…of parts of it,” agreed Kate honestly.  However, she sensed an opportunity to diffuse the situation at the same time.  “Though he was actually quite glowing in his praise of your results.”

 

“He was?” replied Andrea, taken aback. 

 

“You sound surprised,” noted Kate.  She stepped away and sat back down on the sofa so she appeared less threatening. “Yes, amongst his remarks he did note that though you were…difficult…you actually showed an amazing dedication to the job and that he thought that it was just your desire to do what you thought was right that made you overstep the mark sometimes. He also mentions the times you went out of your way to help your colleagues when you didn’t have to.”

 

Andrea didn’t reply, and Kate thought she looked slightly confounded by her sudden change of tack.  Most probably she had come in here wanting and expecting a fight.  Kate wondered if she was finally making some sort of headway with the younger woman.  If she could get past all this outward hostility she thought that Andrea could be an asset to the unit.  Not only was she highly intelligent, but the number of commendations in her file suggested that she was someone you could rely on in a crisis and who would be loyal to you – once you had won her respect and trust.  Perhaps she should offer something up about herself to try and start the process of winning her trust.

 

“Andrea,” she began, switching back to using her first name to indicate the fact that she was trying to make peace, “I’m not going to judge you on your past record.  We’ve all made a few mistakes in our time; I know I have.  All I care about is what goes on here, now.”

 

Andrea continued to regard her evenly with her piercing blue eyes.  Kate wasn’t sure if she was thinking about her words or contemplating her next riposte.

 

Kate continued, supposing she might as well see how far she could get before Andrea leapt in again, “You know, you might find things a bit easier around here if you relaxed a bit.  I realise the regime can seem strict, but not everything is intended as personal affront to you.  Perhaps if you tried to make a few friends you would see that.  I hear Doc invited you to the messhall but you turned him down?”

 

Too late, Kate realised her mistake.

 

“Oh, more checking up on me, eh?” remarked Andrea scornfully, “And how long did it take for that little bit of information to wind its way to you?”

 

Kate sighed to herself, realising any hope of a rational conversation had gone for the evening.

 

“You think you know me do you?” said Andrea with an air of resentment.  Kate leaned back on her couch, letting the ongoing tirade wash over her.  “You want me to make friends and be happy like a good little camper when all that’s happened to me since I got here is that I’ve been restrained, injected with sedatives, poked, prodded, spied on and generally been made to feel like some lab rat?  I am a human being!  I have rights!”

 

Andrea shot her one last furious look before turning on her heel and storming back out the door again, which shook on its hinges as she slammed it behind her.

 

Well, that could have gone better, thought Kate to herself, tipping her head back on the soft cushions and closing her eyes.

 

 

 

--------------------------

 

CHAPTER 3

 

---------------------------

 

 

Andrea strained under the weight she was attempting to hold up.  A few beads of sweat broke out on her forehead and slipped down the smooth skin of her cheek, where she tried to brush them away with her arm.  She had been at this for three days straight now – test after test in the company of doctors Todd and Whitman.  The days seemed to merge into one another, and she could hardly believe it was nearly a week since she had first woken up at the Superhuman Research Unit after the warehouse accident.

 

Today’s particular investigation was the first time she had actually felt like she was exerting herself during the many tests they had performed.  She just prayed that didn’t mean she was about to experience another one of the extremely painful and paralysing seizures that had beset her attempts to access her abilities.  Since her attempt at a bit of interior design with the stools in her kitchen, she hadn’t risked trying anything on her own, realising that maybe the scientists did know what they were talking about.

 

At the moment Doctor Todd had her under a weight-lifting contraption, in one of the specialist gyms at the army base.  It could be made to simulate various weights electronically by increasing the down-force exerted on the bar she held aloft.  Her arms wobbled slightly and she wondered just how much weight was on it right now.

 

“Are you ok?” asked Doc, monitoring her vital signs the whole time as he did every day.

 

“Yes, fine,” she replied, locking her arms once again.

 

Dr Todd flicked his dark eyes up from his computer screen. “You think you can take some more weight then?”

 

“Yeah, sure,” said Andrea confidently, “I mean, what are we up to now?  A hundred kilos or so?”

 

The two doctors exchanged a glancing look, but didn’t reply straight away.

 

Andrea looked at them warily. “What?”

 

“Er…you’re holding up slightly more than a hundred kilos,” began Doc slowly.

 

“Go on…”

 

“Well, the down-force is currently 1500 kilograms,” he outlined, “That’s about equivalent to a small family car.”

 

“Helvete!” cried Andrea in surprise, the Swedish swear word slipping out.  She lost her hold on the bar and just had time to dodge out the way as it came crashing back down onto its supports.

 

She dashed over to look at Dr Todd’s monitor, the scientist moving aside to allow her access.  The figures shown were just as Doc had said.  But that couldn’t be right, she told herself dazedly - the weight of a car?  That was just…impossible!

 

……

 

 

Kate stood on the concealed side of the one-way glass, watching as Andrea dropped the bar and scurried across to look at Theo’s computer.  Obviously something had shocked her, judging from the bemused expression that had now settled on her face.  The pair of them hadn’t spoken directly over the weekend, since the argument in her office on Friday, and Kate considered that that was probably a good thing.  Hopefully, a bit of space would have given Andrea the chance to calm down and start to accept the situation she was in.  Judging by her current reaction, though, she was still having difficulty comprehending the fact that she now possessed superhuman powers.

 

From what Theo had discovered so far, it seemed her strength was phenomenal – they weren’t even sure what her limits were yet.  Kate found that thought slightly disturbing - someone as volatile and headstrong as Andrea with all that power.  She supposed it was down to her to ensure that Andrea accepted her abilities and learnt to control them, though she wasn’t sure how willing a pupil she was going to be.

 

Deliberating the prospect of trying to handle the wilful woman, Kate felt a pounding sensation building at the back of her brain.  She still wasn’t certain if Andrea just liked being argumentative for her benefit, or if that was how she was with everyone.  Kate had faced many challenges in her time in charge of the unit, both personal and professional, but the clash of personalities with Andrea was certainly up there with the toughest.

 

As promised, Kate had looked into why Andrea’s phone call had been cut off, hoping perhaps to try and show the younger woman that she was on her side.  Apparently the surveillance team had been instructed to prevent any discussion of the incident at the warehouse that had landed Andrea with them.  The strange thing was, Kate herself knew nothing of this order, meaning it had come from one of her superiors.  She wondered what it was they were concerned about and were trying to hide.

 

Now Kate thought back to Andrea’s arrival at the unit, when she had been so disorientated and shocked, Kate suddenly realised what it was that had been bugging her about it.  She realised there should have been no reason for Andrea to be brought to them at all.  Before the accident, Andrea had been a regular person, with no indication that she had the dormant gene that could grant her superhuman powers.  So how had they known she would wake up with superhuman abilities?

 

Kate may have only been transferred to the Intelligence Corps recently, but she had been in it long enough to know when something didn’t quite add up.  She resolved to speak to General Parsons next time he made one of his regular visits to check up on progress at the base.

 

Seeing that Andrea had now resumed her place under the bar, Kate decided she really needed to get back to her office and the mountain of paperwork that sat waiting for her there.  After all, Andrea may have been the most troublesome of her responsibilities right now, but she was by no means the only one.

 

…….

 

 

A couple of days later Andrea sat on a low bench in the gymnasium, wiping the sweat from her brow with a towel as the two doctors engaged in a heated debate.  From what she could garner, Doc was of the opinion that Dr Todd was pushing her too hard.  There had been a couple of times when Doc had been forced to step in when one of Andrea’s seizures had started during the experiments.  She could see his point since the seizures were extremely painful, leaving her gasping and in agony as her muscles seized up.  Luckily a quick injection from Doc was usually enough to counteract the effects, but she would rather not have to endure them at all.

 

“Ok,” said Dr Todd eventually, “How about we call it quits for today?”

 

“Fine by me,” agreed Andrea as they looked to her for confirmation, “Though I am curious to know when I’m going to find out the results of all these tests.  We’ve been at this for days now.”

 

“I’ll be making a proper report to Major Jarvis tomorrow,” Dr Todd informed her, “You’re more than welcome to attend.”

 

Andrea raised a single eyebrow to indicate her slight surprise.  “Really? Are you sure you don’t want to check with the Major first?  You might have some top secret things you want to discuss about me.”

 

“I’m not trying to hide anything from you,” said Dr Todd reasonably, “You know everything we do.”

 

“All right,” conceded Andrea, getting up from the bench and flicking the towel over her shoulder, “Yes, I would like to attend, thank you.”

 

“Now that’s settled,” interjected Doc, “How about some dinner?”

 

Andrea weighed up his offer for a moment.  Her instant thought was to refuse, and go back to her room on her own, as she had done every other night since she arrived.  However, even she had to admit that it was getting pretty boring spending so much time alone.  She was really starting to miss her home comforts and her friends.  She had been provided with all mod cons in her quarters – she even had a Playstation to go with the massive television – but that didn’t make up for the lack of personal touch.  What she wouldn’t give for some of her books right now, so she could bury herself in them. 

 

She remembered that the Major had mentioned that she could have some of her belongings brought to the island, but that meant she would have to see the Major to arrange it.  Since their last encounter, Andrea had been trying to avoid the other woman as much as possible.  Andrea didn’t like the capacity the Major seemed to have to unsettle her normally unflappable demeanour.  Something about her just made Andrea want to act up to see what happened, to see what reaction she got.  She realised it was rather childish, yet she couldn’t seem to help herself.  She supposed the report Dr Todd was going to deliver would give her the perfect opportunity to bring up the subject of her belongings without her needing to make a special trip to the Major’s office.

 

In the mean time, she guessed it couldn’t hurt to go along with Doc.  She wasn’t so stubborn that she couldn’t admit that maybe she did need to socialise with the people there, if only to try and maintain her sanity.  Anyway, she reasoned, Doc really wasn’t that bad and at least he wasn’t one of the military personnel.  Andrea had continued to receive a chilly reception from most of the soldiers she had encountered, especially the annoying Lieutenant Chadwick.  She sensed there was a more deeply routed antagonism between the majority of soldiers and the superhumans; one that had been there even before she had arrived.

 

“Ok, why not,” replied Andrea eventually, in response to Doc’s offer.

 

Doc was flabbergasted by her response. “R-really?” he stammered, “You’re going to come to the messhall?  With me?”

 

A smile twitched the corners of Andrea’s lips when she saw his obvious surprise. “That’s what I just said, wasn’t it?”

 

“Yes,” agreed Doc, a stunned look still on his face, “It’s just that I’ve asked you every night and each time you’ve turned me down.”

 

“I guess you must have finally worn me down,” said Andrea jokingly, “Now come on, before I change my mind.”

 

Doc shrugged at Dr Todd, and then quickly scurried after Andrea as she headed for the door.  As they made their way to the messhall, Andrea had to admit to herself that there was another reason she felt like company.  She hadn’t mentioned it to anyone else, but ever since she had arrived on the island she had be plagued by nightmares. 

 

Nearly every time she closed her eyes they were there – Walker, MacKenzie, Madison.  Sometimes it was all of them, sometimes just one, but it was always the same theme – them chasing after her, her unable to get away from their bloodied faces.  She shook her head to try and clear the images that were now impinging on her waking thoughts too.  She had been hoping that the nightmares might lessen with time, but if anything they were getting worse.  Doc had mentioned something in passing about counselling facilities, and she wondered whether she should speak to him about it.  She had her suspicions that he had been prompted to mention it to her, though, and was concerned exactly how confidential any such sessions would be.  The last thing she wanted was the Major and everyone else at the base knowing about her inner demons and insecurities.  Maybe if she could find out more about what had caused the accident and who was responsible, it would help her lay those ghosts to rest.  Though there wasn’t much chance of that while she was stuck on the island, she realised.

 

Stepping out of the lift on the ground floor, Doc led her to a set of double doors along the main corridor.  As they entered the large dining hall, Andrea could swear that the level of conversation dropped a couple of notches.  She could see several sets of eyes swivelling in her direction from the mixture of soldiers and civilian personnel that sat at the tables.

 

“Don’t worry,” Doc whispered too her, obviously having picked up on the reaction too, “They just don’t see many new people round here.”

 

“Really,” said Andrea doubtfully.  More likely they had heard all about her from the likes of Lt Chadwick.  She could see him now, at a table in the corner, laughing with a group of soldiers as his eyes flicked to her.

 

“Come on, let’s get something to eat,” offered Doc, heading over to the counter along one side of the room.

 

Andrea noted that the conversation seemed to resume as they made their way across the room and Doc handed her a tray for her food.

 

“Good evening, Doc,” greeted the man behind the counter, “And, who is this we have with you?” he asked, switching his attention to Andrea, a broad smile on his face.

 

He was another soldier, though he wore a short apron over the front of his camouflage trousers that rather detracted from the overall military impression.  He was a short, stocky man, with an unruly shock of red hair.

 

Doc made the introductions, “Andrea this is Corporal Lister, Lister, this is Andrea,”

 

“Nathan, please,” said the cook, wiping his hand on his apron and extending it towards Andrea.

 

“Nice to meet you, Nathan,” replied Andrea amiably, shaking his hand.

 

Nathan took back his hand and looked at them expectantly. “So what can I get you?”

 

“I don’t know, what have you got?” asked Andrea, scanning the dishes laid out on the hot-plate surface as she did.

 

“Well, on the menu we have either spaghetti bolognese, salmon or some vegetarian thing that you’ll have to ask my colleague Bill about,” he informed her, “But if there’s something special you’d like, I’m sure I could rustle it up.  We should treat our new guests well after all.”

 

“Spaghetti would be fine, thank you,” she noted with a smile.

 

“Good choice,” Doc whispered in her ear as Nathan dished some up, “You’re never quite sure what you might get when Nathan ‘rustles you up’ one of his specialities.”

 

“What was that?” asked Nathan, placing the steaming plate on Andrea’s tray.

 

“Nothing,” said Doc innocently, “Fish for me, please.”

 

“Hmm,” noted Nathan suspiciously, as he dolled out Doc’s request, “You don’t want to listen to this lot,” he added to Andrea, “I mean, are you really going to listen to the culinary recommendations of a bunch of squaddies and scientists?  Philistines the lot of them!”

 

Having picked up their cutlery and a couple of drinks, Doc led her across the room.  Through the troops she spotted the other superhumans at a table on their own, and realised that Doc was heading in their direction. 

 

“Can we join you?” he asked when they got there.

 

Tom turned round and shot them a smile.  “Sure, grab a seat,” he said, “Nice to see you here, Andrea.”

 

“Oh,” said Doc suddenly, just as Andrea was sitting down next to the young blond man, “You know what, I’ve just realised there was something I forgot to do back in the lab.  I’d better head back down there,” he continued, turning to go.

 

Andrea frowned up at him from her seat, knowing when she had been set up.  She supposed she might as well stay, now she was there, though she would be having words with Doc later.

 

“So, how are you doing?  Settling in ok?” Harry asked Andrea.

 

“Fine, thanks,” replied Andrea, between mouthfuls of food.  She noted that Tardelli was eyeing her suspiciously from beneath her eyebrows in the seat next to the dark-haired young man on the opposite side of the table.

 

“I’m surprised you haven’t gone nuts, locked down in those labs with just Doc and Theo for company,” said Tom.

 

“They do seem rather keen on their tests,” Andrea admitted, continuing to eat the Bolognese that actually wasn’t half bad.

 

Tom laughed out loud.  “Keen?  They’re bloody fanatics!  We’ve all been through it, you know, when we first came here.  I swear, there were times I was tempted to try and tickle Dr Todd, just to see if I could actually get a smile to crack that face!”

 

“Now that I would like to see,” remarked Harry, sipping his drink.  “So what powers have you got then?” he asked Andrea.

 

“They don’t know for sure yet, some sort of super strength at least.”

 

“Ooh, better watch out who you’re shooting those looks at then, Bel,” said Tom, flicking a glance at Tardelli.

 

Tardelli narrowed her eyes at him, but said nothing.

 

Harry had spied the annoyed look on her face too.  “She’s just jealous because she’s the human icicle,” he teased.

 

“Human icicle?” queried Andrea, picking up her own drink.  As it touched her lips she realised it was frozen solid.  “Helvete!” she exclaimed, setting the chilly glass down on the table.

 

“Very funny, Bel,” said Tom, rolling his eyes.  Tardelli merely smirked at him in return.

 

Tom tutted once more, before switching his attention back to Andrea and fixing her with an eager look.  “Anyway, enough shop talk, what we really want is the gossip!”

 

“Sorry?” asked Andrea, pushing her plate to one side having finally finished it.

 

“Oh come on,” he said in exasperation, “It’s not like we get many new people round here, at least not ones that aren’t bloody soldiers.”

 

“I see, and what exactly would you like to know?” Andrea asked warily.

 

He thought for a moment.  “How about letting us know if there’s anyone special?”

 

“Special?”

 

“You know, a boyfriend, a husband?”

 

“No,” answered Andrea simply.

 

Harry sat up taller in his seat all of a sudden. “Really?” he remarked, “Well, if you need someone to show you around the base, show you the facilities then I’m your man.” He smiled warmly at her before taking another swig from his mug.

 

“I’m a lesbian,” stated Andrea succinctly.

 

Harry’s face suddenly went red as his drink lodged itself firmly down his windpipe.  When he started making choking noises, Tardelli thumped him resoundingly on the back.

 

“You don’t have a problem with that, do you?” Andrea asked, half-jokingly.  It never failed to amuse her, the varied reactions revealing her sexual orientation provoked, especially from men.  The comments she got usually ranged from ‘but you’re too feminine’ to ‘can we watch’.

 

“Er…no…no…” stammered Harry, recovering from his coughing fit.

 

“You’ll have to forgive Harry, but we don’t get many beautiful women round here,” said Tom, desperately trying to stop himself from laughing.  “So, there’s no girlfriend then?” he asked, correcting his earlier assumption.

 

“Not at the moment,” replied Andrea.  She didn’t really want to disclose any more for now.

 

Tom shrugged in disappointment.  “Ah well, probably for the best.  What with you being stuck out here with us for the time being.  Maybe we could go cruising for some action on the mainland some time, we can check out the women together!” He flashed Andrea another of his grins. “What’s your type anyway?”

 

“I don’t really have a particular ‘type’,” Andrea replied, “It depends on the person.”

 

“Ah, good answer,” he noted, nodding sagely.

 

Just then, Andrea became aware of another presence hovering behind her and Tom.  She swivelled round to see that the Major was standing there.  She was out of her normal stiff uniform, instead sporting the same more casual camouflage outfit as the rest of the soldiers, the sleeves of her shirt neatly rolled up to just above the elbows.

 

“Good evening, everyone,” the Major said, casting her eyes round the table and offering them a smile.  The blue-grey eyes finally came to rest on Andrea. “I’m glad to see you here, Andrea.  Getting to know the others are you?”

 

“Yes, thank you,” replied Andrea, a hint of insolence in her tone to indicate that indeed she was and that she was doing it quite well on her own.

 

Perhaps sensing the frosty atmosphere, Tom stepped into the conversation.  “So…did you take The Flyer out at the weekend then?” he asked the Major.

 

The Major laughed, “You’re not still angling for me to take you on her are you?”

 

“Oh come on, I promise to be good,” he pleaded.

 

“Really,” noted the Major, a doubtful look on her face, “Why do I think it’s more likely that you’ll run the poor girl into the ground in an attempt to see just how fast you can make her go?”

 

He put his hand on his chest to show his mock hurt at the suggestion. “As if I would!”

 

“The Flyer is very picky about who’ll she’ll let handle her, you know” explained the Major, “She’s quite temperamental.  You need to know how to use just the right amount of toughness allied with a soft touch.”

 

Andrea had to mentally shake herself when she realised she was staring at the way the Major’s lips formed the words ‘soft touch’.

 

“I can be soft and subtle,” insisted Tom.

 

Harry burst out laughing opposite him.  “You’re about as subtle as a brick!”

 

“This from Mr Hit-On-The-Lesbian “ noted Tom, causing Harry’s face to redden at the reminder of his earlier faux pas.

 

Andrea spotted the brief quizzical look that passed across the Major’s face, as she tried to work out to what Tom was referring.

 

“So,” continued Tom, turning his attention back to the Major, “I presume that’s a no to me coming for a spin?”

 

The Major smiled down at him again, clapping her hand on his shoulder.  “I’m afraid so, but keep trying, Mr Parsons, you may wear me down eventually.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll see you all tomorrow.”  Andrea watched her striding confidently back across the messhall and out the doors, only realising she had been staring again when Tom prodded her in the ribs.

 

“Sorry, what did you say?” asked Andrea, turning back to him.

 

“I was just asking if the Major was your type,” he repeated.

 

“Definitely not!” she stated, perhaps a bit more forcefully than she had intended.

 

“Oh, shame,” he remarked, “Well, I certainly wouldn’t say no,” he added with a wink.

 

Andrea’s brows knitted together as she regarded him with a mixture of surprise and doubt.

 

“I think she’s rather attractive, don’t you?” he offered.  Andrea found she was starting to get rather uncomfortable with where the conversation was heading as he continued with his explanation, “She’s got that whole older woman, power thing going on.  And as for that voice…It almost makes you want to step out of line to get that husky dressing down.”

 

“Oh yeah, I know what you mean,” joined in Harry, nodding in agreement.

 

“Maybe,” conceded Andrea, “But she’s so…military!”

 

Tom laughed, “Well, yes, she is a Major!  But once you get to know her a bit, you’ll see there’s more to her than that.  She’s not like Chaddy and some of the other cretins round here.  Most of them think we’re a bunch of freaks, whereas she treats us like human beings.”

 

“If you say so,” said Andrea sceptically.

 

“Just give her a chance,” Tom suggested seriously, fixing his pale blue eyes on her.

 

“So what’s this ‘Flyer’ anyway?” asked Andrea, trying to steer the conversation off the present topic.

 

“It’s the Major’s boat, The Dorset Flyer,” explained Tom, “She’s got it moored over at Troon harbour and takes it out most weekends. You might have seen the model of it in her office?”

 

“The yacht on top of the drinks cabinet?”

 

Tom nodded, “That’s the one.  I’ve been trying to get her to take me out on it for bloody months, but she always goes out alone from what I can tell.”

 

“Or maybe she just doesn’t want you along?” commented Harry.

 

Tom ignored his comment and the conversation shifted focus.  Andrea was glad her personal life was no longer the main topic, as the others revealed more about themselves during the course of the discussion.  At least Tom and Harry happily revealed more about themselves, Tardelli remained silent most of the time, looking like she’d rather be pulling her teeth out with a pair of rusty pliers.

 

There was another choking incident when they got on to discussing previous jobs, and Andrea revealed her background in the police.  After composing himself, Tom had confessed that he had been in prison immediately before coming to the unit.  In fact, he had been given the offer of staying in prison or coming there, which had been a no-brainer as far as he was concerned.  Harry had also quite willingly joined the unit, wanting to discover more about his mutation.  So it seemed Andrea was the only reluctant member of the group.   Talking to the pair of them, she realised that perhaps she had been wrong to distance herself from them in the first place.  They were in the same boat as her, after all.

 

When the messhall started to empty, they decided to head up to their quarters for the night.  As they reached the corridor where all their rooms were located, Andrea pulled Tom back for a moment, to speak to him on his own.  Harry and Tardelli continued on without them, though Tardelli shot Andrea a filthy look over her shoulder as they went.  Andrea was rather bemused by the other woman’s behaviour, but she wasn’t going to lose sleep over it for now.

 

“What you said in the messhall, about going to the mainland…” she began, casting her eyes about nervously to check no one was in around.

 

“Yes?” prompted Tom.

 

“Were you just joking, or can you actually get off the base?”

 

He sucked in a breath for a moment, regarding her evenly, weighing up what he should say in response.  “Not here,” he finally said.

 

“Huh?” said Andrea, confused by his meaning.

 

He cast his eyes up at the ceiling and over the walls.  “You never knowing who’s watching or listening,” he explained quietly, “Let’s go outside…”

 

…….

 

 

The following afternoon Andrea sat in the Major’s office, listening attentively as Dr Todd outlined the results of his investigations.  She’d had an interesting discussion with Tom the evening before, once they’d found a suitably secluded spot to talk out in the chill night air.  It had certainly given her plenty to think about in terms of how she might get off the island.  For now, though, she was more interested in what Dr Todd had to say.

 

He had started off by explaining all the tests he’d been running.  Since she knew all about those anyway, Andrea had taken the opportunity to observe the Major as she sat behind her desk, nodding in response to Dr Todd’s points.  She seemed genuinely interested in what he had to say, her eyes fixed on the scientist who stood to the side of the desk so he could address all those present, which included Doc in the seat next to Andrea. 

 

“So, our investigation are only really just beginning,” continued Dr Todd, “But we do have some initial findings.    I think the best analogy for how we think your powers work is that you’re a bit like a rechargable battery.”

 

“A battery?” interjected Andrea doubtfully, not sure she liked being compared to a small cylindrical object.

 

“It is just an analogy,” he explained, “What I mean by it is that you take in energy, store it, output it in another form when needed and then replace the energy you’ve used once again.  In your case the energy you take in is in the form of light.  Even normal daylight or the artificial light in a room seems sufficient to recharge you, though again that would be something we’d need to investigate further.  Anyway, this light energy is stored in your body in the form of chemical energy which can then be used to give you superhuman strength.  As soon as you use any of this energy, such as by lifting a heavy object, it is immediately replaced automatically by your body, without you having to think about it.”

 

“Ok,” nodded Andrea, as he paused for a moment to check they were all still with him, “Though I’m sensing there’s a ‘but’ coming.”

 

“And you would be right,” he admitted.  “As we mentioned before, because your power-granting gene was never intended to be active, though it is present, you don’t seem to have the necessary control over your power.  Basically, what happens is you’re unable to control the absorption of the light energy by your body.  What this means is, even if the “battery” is fully charged, that is you’ve reached the limit to what you can store, your body still keeps trying to absorb more.”

 

Andrea furrowed her brow.  “That doesn’t sound good.”

 

“No,” Dr Todd agreed, “And it’s that which leads to the seizures you keep having.  Whenever you access your abilities, you use some of the energy stored in your body.  Then the re-charging process starts and doesn’t stop.  The energy overloads your muscles until you basically pass out from the pain, stopping the absorption process.”

 

“Great,” said Andrea ruefully, “So what you’re saying is I can’t use these powers without the prospect of becoming unconscious every time.”

 

“Not unmonitored or without some external intervention, no.  And not only that, unconsciousness is not the worst that could happen.”

 

“You still believe one of these attacks could kill me?” she offered through pursed lips.

 

“We don’t know for sure, but it is a possibility, and not something we would want to chance.”

 

“Me either,” she agreed, “Though, wait, I haven’t been passing out when we’ve been running these tests.”

 

“Indeed not,” he replied, “And I was just getting to that.  Though you can’t access your powers without risk naturally, we think we may be able to give you a helping hand.  Doc has been working on something all week.”

 

Andrea and the Major shifted in their seats to focus their attention on the balding man instead.

 

Doc started briefly, like he hadn’t been paying attention to the other doctor’s words, and had only just realised all eyes were on him.  “Right, yes,” he began uncertainly, “Well, as you know we’ve had to give you a few injections this week when you’ve had any problems, using an inhibitor drug that we’d previously developed.  So I’ve come up with a special device based on that.”

 

He reached over and picked up the box he’d earlier placed on the desk, opening it to produce what looked like some sort of armband with small electronic equipment attached to it.  “You wear it strapped around your arm so that it touches your skin,” he outlined, “What it does is monitors the energy levels within your body and if they start to go over your threshold then it delivers a very small dose of the drug to you.  The dose is small because obviously you don’t want your powers inhibited completely for any length of time.  Instead the dose should be just about enough to curtail the automatic energy absorption and that’s all.”

 

He handed the band to Andrea and she studied it, turning it over in her hands a couple of times.  Something that she had been bothering her all week was why exactly they had this inhibitor drug in the first place, though she supposed she should be grateful that they did now.

 

“You’ll need to wear it all the time, apart from when you’re sleeping,” continued Doc, “Since you never know when you might accidentally activate your powers.  There’s a refillable compartment on the side there for the drug,” he said, pointing to where he meant, “Though you shouldn’t need to top it up very often, since each indivdual dose is very small.”

 

Andrea flicked her eyes back up to him.  “Thank you,” she said, “Though I guess this means I won’t be leaving here any time in the forseeable future?”

 

“We wouldn’t recommend it for now, no,” agreed Doc regretfully, “We still have so much more to find out about your powers.  There could be other aspects of it that we haven’t even discovered yet.  We may also find some better way to help you control them.”

 

The room went quiet for a moment as they all considered what they had heard.  Andrea realised this made her dependant on them for now, a position she wasn’t keen on. 

 

“Thank you, gentlemen,” said the Major eventually, now it appeared the two scientists had finished, “If that’s all, I’d like a word with Andrea on her own.”

 

Both men nodded and left the room, leaving the two women alone.  Andrea wondered why the Major wanted to talk to her.  Of course she herself had intended staying behind to speak with the Major anyway, but the other woman had preempted her.  For some reason that galled Andrea.  The Major got up from behind the desk and came round to perch herself on the front of it, closer to Andrea.  Her eyes regarded Andrea evenly, giving no clue to the purpose of the upcoming conversation.

 

“We’ve not had much of a chance to speak the last week or so,” said the Major, after a moment’s perusal of Andrea, “I’ve just been wondering how you’ve been getting on?”

 

“Getting worried that I’ve been too quiet are you?”

 

The Major let out an audible sigh at Andrea’s response, rubbing her hand over the back of her neck as she did. “Why don’t we sit over on the couch?” she suggested, gesturing in its direction and moving off, before Andrea had any chance to disagree.

 

Andrea supposed the Major thought the comfortable setting might make her less antagonistic.  She hadn’t even intended to be difficult when she came in, the previous sharp retort just slipping out.  Getting up from her chair, she crossed to the expansive sofa beneath the window, taking a seat next to the Major.  Andrea sat up straight as the Major leaned back into the cushions, crossing her neatly pressed trousers and placing her hands on her raised knee.  Despite the outwardly relaxed demeanour, the Major’s eyes never left Andrea. 

 

“Look,” said the Major, “We can go on like this if you like, sizing each other up all the time, playing this game of one-upmanship, or we can start to try and get on with each other.  Since it seems like you’re going to be spending some more time with us for now, I think the latter is the more preferable option, don’t you?  However, if you want to carry on with the former, I’m quite happy to oblige, though, quite frankly, it is getting rather tiresome.”

 

As the Major finished Andrea contemplated her words for a moment.  She supposed it was all a bit stupid.  She had been disorientated, not to mention annoyed, when she had first arrrived at the base.  Everything had seemed so far out of her control and no one was giving her answers.  In that situation she didn’t see why everyone shouldn’t be as unnerved as she was.  Now she’d had the chance to settle in, she guessed there wasn’t much point carrying on with her confrontational attitude all the time.  Also, if she was more willing to go along with them, she would arouse less suspicion.  Hopefully that would give her more opportunity to put her plan to get off the base into action.  Though the revelation that she needed the inhibitor drug to control her seizures certainly made that prospect more difficult.

 

“Ok,” conceded Andrea eventually, “We can call a truce if you like, though that doesn’t mean I’m any happier about the situation.  If I had my way, I’d leave this island right now and never come back.  I’d like to just forget all about mutations and super powers and go back to my normal life.  However, I’m not stupid, and I know I need your help for the time being.  But don’t think that I’m just going to meekly play along from now on - I’ll still be asking awkward questions and wanting answers.”

 

“Of course, I would expect nothing less,” noted the Major with a hint of sarcasm.

 

“Hmm,” commented Andrea, catching the tone, “Far be it from me to contradict anyone’s expectations.”

 

The Major’s brow knitted together in confusion at Andrea’s remark. “I’m sorry?”

 

“You read that report on me before we even spoke for the first time, right?”

 

“Yes, some of it.”

 

“So you can’t tell me that it didn’t put a few preconceived notions in your head, about what I was like, how ‘difficult’ I might be,” ventured Andrea, “Well, I don’t like to disappoint,” she added raising her eyebrows and tilting her head to the side.

 

The Major let out an incredulous laugh.  “So you’re telling me that you’ve been acting up because I expected you to?”

 

“Partly,” agreed Andrea with a shrug.  She wasn’t going to admit that it was hardly as pre-meditated as she was making out.  It served her purpose better for the Major to think she was in control and had deliberately acted the way she had, rather than the truth that it was more a defensive by-product of how insecure she felt.

 

The Major ruefully shook her head.  “Ok, in the spirit of concession, I’m willing to admit that I may have made some assumptions about what you would be like.  I was wrong to assume the worst,” she confessed, causing Andrea to raise her eyebrows again.

 

“You looked surprised,” noted the Major as she watched Andrea’s reaction.

 

“I guess I wasn’t expecting you to so readily admit to any kind of misjudgement,” Andrea disclosed honestly, “I thought you army types were always right and stuck by your decisions.”

 

“So you had a few preconceived ideas of your own then?”

 

“Sorry?” said Andrea curiously.

 

“You saw my uniform and thought – rigid, inflexible, rule follower?”

 

Andrea had to smile at being caught out.  “Ok, you may be right,” she allowed.

 

“So we both got a few things about each other wrong then?”

 

Andrea dipped her head in agreement.  She wasn’t sure why the Major was being so accomodating all of a sudden, but she wasn’t complaining.  Or maybe the other woman had been trying to be accomodating all along, and Andrea had been too caught up in her quest to be as recalcitrant as possible to notice.

 

“How about we start again, without all our preconceptions and judgements?” ventured the Major, “Of course we do have rules here, and I would expect you to abide by them, just as I would expect anyone else to.  But that doesn’t mean we’re totally  inflexible.  I realise that you’re a civilian and can’t be expected to follow all the strictiness of a military regime, though I would presume you have some experience of following orders from your time in the police.”

 

“I’m sure you read that I wasn’t always the best in that regard.”

 

The Major made a small laugh at Andrea’s frankness.  “I did read that, yes, but since we’re starting off on the basis of making no assumptions, I shall reserve my judgement until I’ve got to know you and can draw my own conclusions – how does that sound?  In return, I hope you can reserve judgement on me?”

 

“That sounds fine by me.”

 

“Good,” commented the Major, offering Andrea a smile of acknowledgement. 

 

Andrea thought it noticeably softened her face, making her seem almost human.  She had to concede that maybe this was the better way to proceed after all.  Being obdurate was all well and good, and it had made them realise she couldn’t be easily bossed around or controlled.  However, now she felt less unsettled heself,  she supposed there wasn’t any harm in co-operating.  At least until they pissed her off in some other way.  Then they’d find that she could still be a bitch on wheels.

 

“Since we’re in the mood for concessions, you mentioned before about getting some of my belongings brought here,” said Andrea.

 

“That’s right, if you want to get someone to organise it for you, we can arrange for them to be picked up and brought here,” the Major informed her.

 

“In which case I’ll need to make another phone call,” said Andrea tentatively.

 

The Major’s eyes met hers for a moment, though neither of them spoke.  Andrea presumed the Major hadn’t forgotten the irate scene in her office the last time Andrea had tried to call one of her friends either.

 

When the Major spoke again, her tone had become notably more pinched, “That should be fine.”

 

“Just as long as I watch what I say, right?” remarked Andrea.  “Since we’re on the subject, I may as well ask if you found out why my last phone call was disconnected?”

 

“I did look into it,” began the Major slowly, weighing up how much to reveal, “It was because you started talking about the accident at the warehouse.”

 

Andrea regarded her curiously.  “Why would that be deemed a topic unfit for discussion?”

 

“To be completely honest with you, I don’t know,” admitted the Major, “The order to prohibit that subject came from above.”

 

“And you’re telling me you don’t know any more?” Andrea thought this was getting more and more suspicious, and making her even more anxious to find out the truth behind the accident.

 

“No, I don’t. This is the army and sometimes I’m not privy to why my superiors order certain things.   There is a command structure, so it’s not my place to question them either,” said the Major candidly.  Despite her words, which were trotting out the standard military response, Andrea couldn’t fail to notice the edge of frustration in her tone.

 

“So,” continued the Major, seemingly wanting to get off the subject, “How are things otherwise, any other problems?”

 

“Apart from the fact that I suddenly have super powers and have to take some strange drug to control them?”

 

The Major’s eyebrows edged up her face, though she stopped from completely rolling her eyes.  “Yes, apart from that.”

 

Andrea restrained herself from smiling at the expression on the other woman’s face.  “Yes, I think everything else is ok.”

 

“Nothing else bothering you at all?” asked the Major again.

 

Andrea wondered if there was something specific she was probing for.  If she didn’t know better she would think the Major somehow knew about her nightmares, but of course that was ridiculous.  “No, nothing else,” she confirmed.

 

“In that case, you can go and make your call if you want.”

 

“Thank you,” said Andrea, getting up from the sofa, the Major following suit.

 

“I’m glad we had this chance to talk civilly for a change,” said the older woman, “I hope it’s a sign of better things to come.”

 

Andrea made a small smile since the Major was regarding her with a rather soft look on her features.  “Me too,” she nodded, before turning and leaving the room.

 

--------------------------

 

CHAPTER 4

 

---------------------------

 

Andrea felt the bang on the back of her head and swivelled round to grab whoever was responsible, her hands clutching at thin air as she spun on her heels.  She cursed to herself – this was like trying to catch the wind!  Glancing round the room she tried to spot her opponent, bouncing on her toes in readiness for their next attack.  It did her no good though, as a swift punch to the stomach caused her to reflexively double over, though it hadn’t in fact hurt.

 

She stayed in her hunched position, deciding it was time to try a different tack.  She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the room, trying to feel the air as it shifted to indicate the movement of the other person.  There!  Her arm shot out and made purchase on something solid.

 

Andrea straightened up, holding her attacker up off the floor by the scruff of his neck, his legs flailing frantically as he tried to squirm free.  It still amazed her that she was capable of such a thing with no effort at all.

 

“Hey, no fair! You were faking!” cried Tom, holding onto her arm and futilely trying to release her unshakeable grip.

 

“I didn’t realise there were rules,” she replied nonchalantly, “I certainly didn’t see you playing by any.”

 

Another voice interrupted them, “Ok, ok, you can put him down now.”

 

Andrea turned to see the Major crossing the floor of the cavernous room towards them.  They were on the lowest underground level of the base, which housed the largest rooms in which the superhumans were trained how to use their powers.  Andrea released her grip on Tom, who stumbled slightly as he found his feet again.

 

“Thanks,” he noted ruefully, rearranging his shirt.

 

“Very clever,” the Major remarked as she reached them, “You deduced where his next attack was coming from the displacement of the air?”

 

“That’s right,” confirmed Andrea, “With Tom being so fast it’s no good trusting your eyes, you need to go with a certain amount of instinct.”

 

“I’ll have to remember that one for next time,” said Tom sceptically, “Instinct indeed.  I just think you got lucky!”

 

Andrea laughed.  “But I did get you!”

 

“So how’s the inhibitor working out,” asked the Major, interrupting their banter.

 

Andrea brought her left arm around to check on it.  “Fine, I’ve not had any problems with seizures since I started wearing it.”

 

“Good,” commented the Major, “Well, if you’re up for it, how about giving it a go with Tardelli?”

 

“Should be interesting,” Andrea noted with a wry smile.

 

Ever since she’d arrived at the base, Tardelli had been giving her a frosty reception.  Which was kind of apt, she supposed, since the other woman’s powers revolved around the cold.  Andrea still hadn’t worked out exactly what Tardelli’s problem was, particularly since she seemed reluctant to even speak in her presence. 

 

“Ok, let Tom and I go back to the observation room and we’ll send her in,” suggested the Major.

 

As they left, Andrea took a moment to re-affix her hair that had become dislodged from its ponytail during the session with Tom.  This was the second day she’d actually been engaged in utilising her powers properly, after Doc had produced the armband that allowed her to do that safely.   Despite her initial reservations about the whole super power thing, she had to admit there was a certain thrill about being able to do something no one else could. 

 

Waiting for Tardelli, she paced across the floor in her army issue boots.  She was kitted out in other army training gear too, though she had dispatched with the jacket, wearing only a vest on her top half.  She’d be happy when her own clothes finally turned up and she didn’t have to spend every waking hour in military clothing.  At least she’d managed to speak to Maria a couple of days ago and get her to sort out some stuff to be sent to the base.  They’d even managed to have a whole conversation without being cut off, though Andrea had to be careful to steer Maria away from any potential danger areas.  Anyway, if things went well, she would have the opportunity to have a more candid discussion with her soon.

 

The sound of the door swinging open on the far side of the room broke her out of her thoughts.  Tardelli skulked into the room, her usual surly look on her face, her dark eyes sizing Andrea up.  Andrea offered her a sarcastic smile in return.  Both of them circled round the room maintaining their distance until the beeps sounded, indicating the training session had been activated.

 

Suddenly the room sparked into life, with obstacles popping in and out of the floor and walls and projectiles flying round the room to try and distract them.  The object of the exercise was to catch your opponent and get them to submit.  Though any excessive violence was frowned upon, as Andrea had found out when she’d managed to lay out Harry the day before.  She hadn’t meant to punch him quite so hard but she was still getting used to her enhanced strength.  An icy blast past her face brought her back to the present and her current opponent.  From the look in the other woman’s eye, Andrea wasn’t convinced that Tardelli was going to adhere to the restrictions on excess force.

 

Rolling across the floor, Andrea snatched up one of the discarded projectiles and lobbed it in Tardelli’s direction.  With Andrea’s superhuman strength spurring it on, it whizzed across the room and smacked hard into Tardelli’s head, the dark-haired woman crashing to the floor.  With Tardelli down and dazed, Andrea sprinted across to her, determined to push home her advantage.  She leapt over a couple of obstacles that sprung out and managed to grab hold of Tardelli before she could orient herself again.  Picking her up she flung her easily across the room, where she impacted against the wall.

 

Andrea was beginning to enjoy herself, toying with the other woman.  Suddenly Tardelli surprised her though, by composing herself quickly and firing off another ice blast before Andrea could get to her.  Andrea found her feet encased in thick blocks of ice, securing her to the floor.  Tardelli grinned evilly as she staggered up off the floor. 

 

Andrea was reluctant to take her eyes off the woman as she approached menacingly, but she realised she needed to free herself quickly.  Bending down, she made a fist and drove it into the ice, satisfied when it split into tiny pieces with just one powerful punch.

 

However, just as she raised her eyes, she realised she hadn’t been quick enough – Tardelli was upon her.  A thick wedge of ice flew up and struck Andrea on the chin, sending her flying.  Andrea tried to scramble to her feet, only to find that she couldn’t get any purchase on the floor – she was lying on a thin sheet of ice.  Then Tardelli was on top of her, her arms gripping Andrea biceps.  For a moment Andrea thought Tardelli had made a mistake getting so close where Andrea had the strength advantage, until she suddenly felt a chill sweeping through her entire body from within.  

 

Pain lanced sharply through her, and Andrea gasped as she struggled to move her arms.  Her limbs were so numb she could barely feel them.  She realised with horror that Tardelli was freezing her from the inside out.  She stared incredulously up at the other woman wondering if she was actually going to stop.  Andrea couldn’t even open her mouth to speak as Tardelli merely sneered down at her, her breath an icy whisper from her mouth.  Andrea felt her eyes drooping as the effort to keep them open became too much.  As the darkness swept in to claim her, she thought she could hear a faint voice.

 

“I said stop!” came the voice more forcefully from right beside them now.

 

Suddenly Tardelli’s icy hands were whipped off her arms, and Andrea could sense the feeling slowly coming back into her body.  Opening her eyes, she saw that it was the Major who had intervened, her hand still gripping Tardelli’s arm where she’d had to haul her off Andrea.

 

“What the hell did you think you were doing?” demanded the Major, finally letting go and shoving her hands on her hips as she regarded Tardelli with a steely gaze.

 

Tardelli shrugged her shoulders.  “I didn’t realise how far it was going,” she replied nonchalantly.

 

“Bollocks!” cried Andrea, clambering unsteadily up off the floor, “You knew exactly what you were doing - you were trying to bloody kill me!”

 

“Vaffunculo!” spat back Tardelli, Andrea presuming the Italian word wasn’t a pleasant one, “Like you weren’t trying to do the same to me! I was just defending myself.”

 

“By freezing my blood solid? What the fuck is your problem?”

 

“I guess it must be you!” said Tardelli aggressively.

 

“Fulla helvete!” Andrea snapped, deciding to play Tardelli at her own game by using the Swedish swear words.

 

“Puttana!”

 

“Skitstövel!”

 

 “That’s enough! Both of you!” ordered the Major, stepping between them with her hands up to keep them apart, before the name calling degenerated to something worse.

 

Andrea and Tardelli stared at each other from either side of the Major, a baleful glance in evidence at both ends of the officer’s arms.

 

“Perhaps now is a good time for a break,” suggested the Major, glancing between them.  “Isn’t it?” she added strongly when neither woman seemed to notice her first comment.

 

“I suppose so,” agreed Andrea reluctantly, shooting Tardelli one last disparaging look before turning and heading for the door.

 

……

 

Andrea stepped out of the door to her quarters and started walking in the direction of the lift.  Accompanied only by the sound of her boots brushing across the carpet, she thought the corridors were unusually quiet.  Normally she bumped into someone on the way - a soldier, one of the other superhumans - but today there was no one.  Reaching the lift she pressed the button to summon it, pacing nervously back and forth as she waited for it to travel up to the second floor.  She wasn’t entirely sure why she was nervous, only that she had this anxious feeling in the pit of her stomach.  The ping to indicate the lift had arrived resounded loudly in the oppressive silence.  She stopped her pacing and positioned herself in front of the doors as they slid open.

 

She was surprised to see that there was already a single occupant of the lift, standing with their back to her, their head hunched over as they leaned against the back wall.  Even odder was that they didn’t exit the lift, or even turn to acknowledge her in any way, remaining resolutely where they were.  She found herself reluctant to join them in the enclosed space, but told herself she was being stupid and forced herself forwards.  Turning away from the silent person, she pressed the button for the second underground level, taking a nervous gulp of air as the doors slid shut once again.

 

As the lift shuddered into life, she could sense the presence of the person behind her, but refused to look round.  If they wanted to play silly buggers then that was fine by her.

 

Suddenly a hand clapped onto her shoulder, causing her to practically jump out of her skin.

 

“Helvete!” she exclaimed, lapsing into Swedish in her surprise, “What the fuck are you…”

 

Her words died on her lips as she spun round to regard the other occupant of the lift.

 

“I-Inpsector MacKenzie,” she stammered in shock, “What are you doing here?  I thought you were dead.”

 

“I am dead, Andrea,” he replied, his eyes cold as he stared at her, “You killed me.”

 

“No, no, it was an accident…” stuttered Andrea, backing up until she was pressed against the doors, “…the gas…”

 

Mackenzie lurched slowly forwards.  “You could have helped us.  You could have saved us.”

 

“There was nothing I could do,” stated Andrea as determinedly as she could, though she was anything but inside.  “I was paralysed!” Which was a bit like how she felt now, stuck in the lift with the menacing Inspector.

 

“You failed us, you let us down,” continued MacKenzie, seemingly ignoring her words as he loomed towards her.

 

“No, I couldn’t help you,” repeated Andrea, leaning as far back as she could in a futile attempt to get away from him.

 

Mackenzie grabbed hold of Andrea’s forearms, pinning her against the doors. “How did you survive when we didn’t?”

 

“I don’t know!” she cried, a chill sweeping through her body from where his bony fingers gripped her.

 

“I always knew you’d abandon us when the time came,” he noted with a sneer on his face, “I knew I couldn’t rely on you.”

 

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice small.

 

“Sorry isn’t good enough.” Mackenzie’s face was right up in front of her now.  As his eyes bored into her, it dawned on Andrea that she should be able to feel his breath on her face, only she couldn’t.  He wasn’t breathing at all.

 

Suddenly the doors of the lift flew open and Andrea fell backwards out onto the hard concrete floor.  Glancing up she saw that MacKenzie had disappeared; there was no sign of him in the lift. 

 

Suddenly another voice broke the silence. “He’s right you know, you are a failure.”

 

“Dad?” cried Andrea in amazement, swinging her head round.

 

“You never could stick at anything could you, no wonder you left them all to die.”

 

“You mean stick at what you wanted me to,” said Andrea angrily, clambering to her feet to face him.  This was more familiar territory to her – an argument with her father about how she had failed his expectations.

 

“All that time and money we spent on your education and for what, so you could waste your life?”

 

“My life is not a waste!”

 

“What a disappointment you are.”

 

“Leave me alone,” Andrea snarled, brushing past him to carry on down the corridor.

 

Only when she got to the end MacKenzie stepped out in front of her again “Running away again are you?”

 

“No!” she exclaimed, turning away from him.

 

“Face it, you failed us all!”

 

“No!”

 

Andrea shot up in bed, her t-shirt clinging to her body where the sweat had been pouring down her back.

 

It took her a moment to get her bearings and realise where she was.  It had just been another nightmare, though certainly a doozy of one.  She took a few deep breaths and brushed her disarrayed hair back from her face, before flicking on the bedside light.   Stumbling in the direction of the kitchen area, she grabbed a glass and filled it with ice-cold water.  Steadying herself by resting a hand on the worktop, Andrea gratefully gulped down the water.  

 

Attempting to go back across the darkened room, she banged her shin on the coffee table, letting out a curse as she did.  Flopping down on the sofa, she put her head in her hands.  When were the nightmares going to stop?  And now, not only were her colleagues after her, but her father had decided to join in too.  Who was going to be next?  Her mother?  Her brother?  Her university lecturers?  Her primary school teacher?

 

The repeated nightmares made her more determined than ever to get some answers to what had happened at the warehouse.  Someone was responsible and it wasn’t her.

 

…….

 

The following evening Andrea was in her quarters once again.  She delved into the large cardboard box, rummaging at the bottom until she found what she was looking for.  Withdrawing the book, she smiled to herself – good old Maria.  A knock at the door stopped her from further investigation.

 

“Come in,” she called, quickly placing the book under a pile of others on the coffee table.

 

She was surprised when the door opened to reveal the form of Major Jarvis.  Of all the people she might have expected to pay her a visit in her quarters at night, the Major was one of the more unlikely.

 

“Good evening,” said the Major, having stepped into the living area, “I just wanted to check you got all your things ok.”

 

“Yes, thank you.  As you can see I’m just doing a bit of unpacking,” Andrea explained, indicating the open boxes scattered around the room, with their contents spilt haphazardly onto the floor or table.

 

The Major’s eyebrows rose noticeably as she regarded the mess. “I see you’ve already found your clothes.” she remarked, her eyes coming back to Andrea who was dressed casually in jeans and a form-fitting t-shirt.

 

Andrea wondered at the remark for a moment, but then disregarded attributing any significance to it – she supposed it was only natural that the Major would notice her change of attire after so many days spent in army fatigues.  “Yes, they were one of the first things I unpacked,” answered Andrea, “No offence, but it’s nice to get out of that military stuff.”

 

The Major made a small laugh.  “I know what you mean,” she said, “Believe it or not I do occasionally get out of my uniform too, though it may not seem like it.”

 

Andrea had to pull her mind up sharply when she found it wandering alarmingly to thoughts of what exactly the Major had on under her uniform.  In her distraction she failed to notice that the Major was now glancing over the books on the table.  As she picked up the top one, Andrea’s heart leapt into her mouth.  She prayed the other woman didn’t look down further in the pile.

 

“Not exactly light reading,” remarked the Major, looking at the front cover that read ‘From Chance To Choice: Genetics and Justice’ [5].  She flipped over to the back to read what it was about.  “Quite a coincidence considering your current situation,” she added with a wry smile.

 

“I like to keep abreast of a wide variety of topics,” said Andrea, moving over quickly to take the book off her as nonchalantly as possible. “Would you like a drink?” she found herself saying as a diversionary tactic.

 

The Major looked almost as surprised as Andrea by the offer.  “Thanks,” she replied after a moment, “I’ll have a coffee.”

 

Andrea moved over to the kitchen, still perplexed by how the suggestion had snuck its way out of her mouth.  She had half-expected the other woman to politely refuse anyway, but it seemed the Major was on a mission to confound her expectations at the moment.  First they’d had a civil chat in her office a couple of days ago, and now here she was seemingly round for a friendly visit.  Or maybe there was some ulterior motive that the Major hadn’t got to yet.

 

Fishing out some mugs, Andrea glanced over her shoulder.  “How do you take it?”

 

“Black, please, no sugar.”

 

Andrea was pleased to note that the Major had followed her towards the kitchen and away from the books.  She was now sitting on one of the high stools at the counter.  Fortunately the Major didn’t notice or comment on the fact that one stool seemed to be missing.

 

Andrea fixed the requested drink, making herself a tea at the same time.  Crossing to where the Major sat, she set the drinks down and took up a position on the stool opposite the other woman.

 

“Thank you,” said the Major, picking up the mug and actually sniffing the contents for a moment.  Andrea raised her eyebrows at the rather candid gesture.  The Major glanced up, suddenly realising what she had been doing.  “Sorry, force of habit,” she laughed.

 

“You obviously like your coffee.”

 

“A little bit too much,” agreed the Major, “I keep telling myself I won’t have any past 6 o’clock at night, but it always seems to tempt me.  And then I wonder why I can’t sleep.”

 

Andrea picked up her own drink and took a sip.  It was rather hot, but she needed something to stop her conspiratorial mind drifting again, as it had as soon as the Major had mentioned her sleeping habits.  “Was there any other reason for your visit?” asked Andrea, not really sure what she was expecting or wanting the Major to answer.

 

The Major took a sip of her coffee before answering.  “No, just making sure everything is all right.  I like to make sure all our operatives are happy.”

 

It took a moment for Andrea to realise the Major was waiting for a response.  She had barely registered the words that had issued from the other woman’s lips, so focussed was she on the way they played across the rim of the mug instead.  The light from the lamps just highlighted the moisture dappled on them, generated by the warmth of the mug.  “Right,” noted Andrea, guessing that was a safe enough bet for something to say.

 

The Major peered up from her mug, showing no sign she had noticed Andrea’s distraction.  “So, how are you getting on with the others?”

 

Andrea’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.  “You mean how am I getting on with Tardelli?” she deduced.

 

A small smile curved the Major’s lips.  “Well, I don’t think anyone could have failed to notice the slight ‘antagonism’ between you two,” she said diplomatically.

 

“If you call ‘slight antagonism’, wanting to kill me,” agreed Andrea.  “I guess I just rub some people up the wrong way,” she noted, cocking her head to one side as a not-so-subtle indication of who those other ‘people’ were.

 

“Yes,” remarked the Major, picking up on the reference, “Though I hope that we’re getting on better now?”

 

“I suppose so,” replied Andrea noncommittally.  She wasn’t going to concede anything to the other woman just yet.  Especially not with the tricks her body was presently trying to play on her.  She wondered if it was just the relaxed atmosphere or late hour that was causing it to rebel so badly.  The small smiles the Major kept offering up certainly didn’t help, nor did the way her voice had gotten even huskier as she drunk the coffee.  Andrea didn’t think the Major even realised what she was doing.

 

“At least we seem to be able to have a conversation without any doors being in danger of destruction,” joked the Major.

 

“For the time being,” Andrea agreed, deciding it was probably safer just to keep her answers short.

 

“So, there’s nothing you know of that’s upset Tardelli?” asked the Major, returning to the main topic of discussion.

 

Andrea shook her head.  “No, she’s barely said two words to me since I got here.  Well, apart from some choice Italian swear words.”

 

The Major laughed again.  “You seem to know a few choice words too, Swedish I’m guessing?”

 

“That’s right.  I was born in England but then lived in Sweden until I was six, before coming back to this country,” explained Andrea, surprising herself again by offering up such personal details.  Something about the Major was making her feel like she could confide in her, though.  It did cross Andrea’s mind that it could all be a well-practised routine to elicit information – Andrea was no stranger to those herself.  “Perhaps you should try speaking to Tardelli herself,” suggested Andrea, trying to steer the conversation away from her background before she revealed too much.  “Maybe she can tell you what’s got up her nose, because I sure as hell don’t know.”

 

“Yes,” nodded the Major, “Though something tells me I won’t get far - Bel is almost as stubborn as you are.”

 

Andrea raised a single eyebrow.  “I just like to keep you on your toes.”

 

“My toes are well and truly worn out from all the time I’ve spent on them recently,” admitted the Major.  “Apart from Tardelli, is there anything else bothering you at all? Any other problems?”

 

Andrea regarded her for a moment, pondering whether she should mention the nightmares.  This was the second time the Major had asked her this, and she was beginning to wonder if it was just genuine concern or something else.  Andrea decided against bringing up the dreams – she still wasn’t comfortable with the idea of admitting any weakness to the Major or anyone else at the base. 

 

“I don’t think so,” said Andrea in answer.

 

“Ok,” said the Major, though something in her face suggested to Andrea that she didn’t quite believe her.  “Well, I suppose I should leave you to your packing,” added the Major, finishing the last of her drink and slipping off the stool.  “Thanks for the coffee.”

 

Andrea walked over to the door with her.  “You’re welcome.”

 

“Good night,” said the Major, flashing Andrea a quick smile as she departed.

 

Andrea closed the door and let out a long sigh.  She tried to tell herself that the tension she had been feeling was just from the prospect of the Major uncovering the book and nothing else.  Thinking of that, she headed back over to the table and fished it out from the bottom of the pile.  Opening it at the back, she peeled away the last sheet where it was attached to the cover.  A single small piece of paper fell out into her hand.  As Andrea read the brief text she smiled to herself – at last she might get some answers about the accident.

 

…….

 

 

Andrea clambered up the ladder and onto the quayside.  She quickly glanced around to check she hadn’t been spotted, but the stone jetty was deserted.  Her only company were a few seagulls perched on the tethering posts that lined the walkway, most of them dozing in the moonlight that reflected off the damp flagstones.  She reflexively pulled her collar up to ward off the chill wind that whipped in off the sea, and turned towards the town.

 

As soon as she had received the note from Maria the day before, Andrea had known it was time to put her plan into action.  Tom had already informed her about the supply boats that came to the island and exactly what times they docked.  With her newly enhanced strength it had been no problem hanging onto the side of the ship until they had departed from the island where the base was located, avoiding the final checks made by the soldiers.  Once they were on the way back Ayr, which was the closest town on the mainland being a few miles distant, Andrea had clambered on board and hidden herself until they reached the harbour. 

 

Tom had also been able to tell her about the various pubs around Ayr, one of which she was heading to now.  It made Andrea wonder exactly how many times he had been off the island, or whether he was all talk.  He could easily have come by the information from some other source, other than personal experience – some of the soldiers; the men from the supply boat.  It occurred to her that perhaps he wanted to see how she got on before trying anything himself.  Or more precisely, he wanted to see what happened to her when the Major found out. 

 

Andrea knew the Major would not be happy, to put it mildly.  Most likely the army officer would tear into her with venom when she caught up with her.  And Andrea had little doubt that they would track her down eventually.  She had made sure she left behind the communicator, which probably had a tracking device in it, but these were resourceful people, and Andrea suspected she wouldn’t have long at large.  That didn’t matter, though, as long as she had time enough to get what she wanted.  Andrea had deliberated about leaving behind the armband she had concealed under her shirt too, but had decided against it – the last thing she needed was to have a seizure in the middle of town.  Instead she had carried out a thorough inspection of the device, but hadn’t uncovered anything obviously suspicious.

 

Thinking of the reaction her impromptu trip off base might generate, Andrea’s mind drifted back to the Major.  It was a shame she was going to anger the other woman, just when they had been starting to get along.  She tried to picture the exact reaction she might get - most probably a mixture of anger and disappointment.  It was something she was used to generating in others, but for some reason she felt particularly disturbed that she was about to evoke it in the Major. 

 

From the way Tom and Harry’s had spoken in the messhall, she could well imagine that the Major could be very imposing when she was angry.   Andrea had caught a few brief flashes of the Major’s ire herself, but had to admit that the older woman had done well to maintain her composure in the face of Andrea’s belligerence.  However, Andrea thought that this latest escapade would be one thing too far in her challenging of the Major’s authority.

 

But in the end what could the Major do to her anyway by means of punishment?  Andrea was practically incarcerated on the island, as it was.  Perhaps she would lose some privileges or something, but it would be worth it if Maria could give her the answers she was looking for.  That was the main focus of her trip, and the Major and the army base couldn’t be her concern her right now.  It had been over two weeks since the accident, yet the images of her dead colleagues still haunted Andrea’s dreams every night.  She owed it to herself and them to find out what had happened that day.  They deserved justice and she deserved some peace.

 

Walking down the street, which ran from the harbour along the bank of the River Ayr, she thrust her hands into her pockets and kept her head lowered.  There were quite a few other people out for a drink that Wednesday night.  The stiff breeze whipped a few odd strands of her blond hair into her face and she had to reach up to brush them away.  She was surprised quite how busy it was, what with it being mid-week, though it was probably a good thing – she was less likely to arouse suspicion in a crowd.   The sound of laughter filtered out onto the street from an inviting looking pub, but Andrea passed it by – she had a specific destination that night.  There certainly wasn’t a shortage of pubs along the street she noted; all seemingly having names centred round things nautical.  There was The Smugglers, The Boathouse and the one she was heading for - The Anchor.

 

Pushing open the door, Andrea was pleased to see it too was crowded.  She barely caused a flicker from the throng as she crossed to the bar.  Though the frontage of the pub made it look like a traditional Scottish hostelry, inside it was actually smartly decorated – obviously having fallen foul of the trend for pub modernisation and homogenisation.  If it wasn’t for the predominance of Scots accents floating around the room, Andrea could just have easily been in a pub back in London. 

 

Waiting for the barman, she cast a quick glance over the drinks on offer, including some rather suspicious looking local beers that she was going to steer well clear of.  She also took the opportunity to study the other occupants of the pub.  They were quite a wide variety of people all mingling together – office workers out for a post work drink; a few salty looking sailor types; groups of young townies.  Andrea’s police side had suspicions that a good number of the last group were underage.  Once she got served, she decided to stick with a reliable bottle of Budweiser.  She took a grateful swig of as she checked her watch again.

 

Luckily she didn’t have to wait long before her friend arrived.  Andrea spotted her as soon as the short, dark-haired woman stepped in the door.  As Maria’s eyes met hers, Andrea couldn’t help breaking out into a huge grin – it was so good to see a familiar face. 

 

Maria smiled in response and quickly joined her at the bar. “Andi, it’s good to see you!” she said, wrapping her arms around Andrea and pulling her into a warm embrace. 

 

Andrea held on to Maria for a touch longer than she would normally have done. “And you too.”

 

“How are you?” asked Maria, pulling back, her face displaying obvious concern, “And what the hell is going on?”

 

“I’m fine, and it’s a long story!” replied Andrea, “How about I get you a drink, and we can talk about it?”

 

Getting another Budweiser, they headed off to a table to the side of the bar.  Andrea couldn’t quite believe Maria was there; it made everything seem almost normal again.  However, then Andrea had to launch into her explanation of everything that had happened the past two weeks, and the illusion was shattered.  She could see Maria’s draw dropping in incredulity as Andrea’s tale progressed, and she realised how utterly ridiculous much of it sounded.  She had to impress on Maria that she was telling the truth and hadn’t just lost her mind.  It said something about their friendship that Maria was willing to accept what Andrea was telling her without any proof.

 

“My god,” was all a stunned Maria could manage, once Andrea had finished.

 

“I know, pretty unbelievable, huh?” Andrea knew she must have shocked Maria since the normally effusive woman was stuck for words. “It all started with that raid at the warehouse.  There’s something really suss about that whole thing, not just because they didn’t want us speaking about it.”

 

“Yeah, well even odder is the fact that we aren’t even investigating it any more,” revealed Maria.

 

“What?” cried Andrea a bit too loudly.  A couple of other drinkers swivelled round in their seats for a moment, staring at her, before turning back to their own conversations. Andrea continued on in a quieter voice, leaning forward to whisper her comments.  “But how can that be, twelve people died in that warehouse!”

 

“I know,” agreed Maria, “And don’t think there haven’t been questions asked, but the case has been sealed, and all our documents shipped out.”

 

Andrea shook her head.  “Something is seriously wrong here.  Who ordered the closure of the case?”

 

“It came right from the top apparently, the Chief Constable himself.  Even I haven’t been able to dig up anything on it, and I’ve certainly been trying.”

 

Andrea slowly sucked in a breath.  This wasn’t what she had been hoping to hear.  “And what about Cowley, is he still under investigation at least, since it was his warehouse?”

 

“No, everything about him has been shipped out too.  Not that you had that much on him anyway, the mystery man that he is.  No one even knows what he looks like, or even what his first name is.”

 

“Which is why he should still be under investigation!” Andrea declared with frustration.  “This is unbelievable we spent months tracking his network of deals and now it’s all been shut down?”

 

“All I can do is keep plugging at it, trying to find things out where I can” noted Maria ruefully, “But it’s pretty much like banging your head on a brick wall to tell you the truth.”

 

“Well be careful,” said Andrea, “Someone obviously doesn’t want this investigated, someone with influence.”

 

“You do seem to have a habit of finding trouble,” Maria remarked, “Though I think even you’ve outdone yourself this time.”

 

Suddenly Andrea let out a sigh. “Oh, great,” she muttered to herself.

 

“What is it?” asked Maria, confused by the outburst. 

 

Andrea indicated the far side of the bar with her eyes. “Looks like my keeper is here to fetch me.”

 

Maria turned her head to follow Andrea’s gaze.  Standing on the far side of the room, scanning the crowded bar, was Major Jarvis.  She was alone and looked rather out of place standing in the bar in her full uniform.  However, none of the bar’s other occupants seemed to be too bothered by her presence.  Andrea supposed that the soldiers stationed on the base were allowed shore leave, and that perhaps this was one of their regular haunts, being close to the harbour.  Andrea deduced she must have caught them off-guard enough for the Major to follow her without first changing into something less conspicuous.

 

“I don’t think I would be running away from that,” noted Maria, still looking over her shoulder at the Major.

 

“I beg your pardon?” asked Andrea, not sure what she was getting at.

 

Maria swivelled back round to face Andrea. “Oh, come on, you can’t tell me you haven’t noticed how gorgeous she is?”

 

“I suppose so,” admitted Andrea grudgingly, not willing to confess that indeed she had, but had found the concept too disturbing to ponder for long.

 

“Now I really know something is wrong! Ok, where’s my friend Andi, and what have you done with her?”

 

“Ha, ha,” replied Andrea, rolling her eyes as Maria poked her to check she was real.

 

“I know you never could resist a woman in uniform.”

 

“I resisted you didn’t I?” replied Andrea, trying to get off the current topic.

 

They didn’t have the chance to discuss it further as the Major had finally spotted her target, and was heading their way.  Andrea considered that she could make a break for it, but no doubt there were other soldiers outside.  Instead she remained seated as the Major approached, her eyes dark beneath her furrowed brow.

 

“Andrea, if you could please come with me,” requested the Major when she reached the table.  The words were polite, but her voice so low and deadly that Andrea could barely hear it over the general hubbub of the room.

 

Andrea simply stared mutely up at her for a moment, just to let her know that she was reluctant about agreeing, before rising from her seat.  Andrea glanced back at her seated friend.  “Sorry, Maria, I’ll talk to you later.”

 

“Sure, Andi,” replied Maria, obviously having caught the major’s stern demeanour and not wanting to intervene.

 

“My apologies, Miss Fernandes,” said the Major evenly, “But, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to have a chat with one of my officers, if you wouldn’t mind, to apprise you of the delicacy of this situation.  You can wait here, and he’ll be in momentarily.”

 

Maria flicked her eyes to Andrea to verify that it was all right to comply. “Er, of course, no problem,” she replied, having got a consenting nod.

 

Andrea followed the Major silently outside and into the back of a waiting black car. Neither of them spoke as the driver started it up and pulled off into the evening traffic.  They sat next to each other in the back, but the Major’s eyes were resolutely trained forward, her face a mask of cold disapproval.  Andrea wondered exactly where they were going, but didn’t ask – she wasn’t going to be the one to break the deathly silence.  If the Major wanted to give her the silent treatment that was fine, she could give as good as she got.  Andrea didn’t really feel like talking in her current mood anyway.  She had been hoping the talk with Maria would clarify things, but it had just left her with more questions.  Why had the case been closed?  Who had taken away the case papers?  It was all so bloody frustrating!

 

Glancing out the window and away from the thinly veiled annoyance that radiated off the other woman, Andrea watched the people of the town going about their normal business, enjoying their nights out.  Before she realised what she was doing, she found she had mangled the door’s armrest in her powerful grip.  Looking down at the twisted metal and plastic, she wondered if her life would ever be normal again.

 

After several more minutes with just the sound of the engine purring away to fill the silence, Andrea could stand it no longer.

 

“Well, aren’t you going to tell me off, tell me how irresponsible I’ve been?”

 

“So you do realise that you have been then?” The Major’s voice was bitingly cold as she stared out the front of the car.  When the streetlights periodically lit up the interior, Andrea could see that the Major hands were clenched tightly into fists as they rested on her thighs.  The barely suppressed rage, waiting to erupt in Andrea’s direction, was palpable.

 

“That’s not what I said,” retorted Andrea defiantly, “But I’m sure it’s what you want to say.”

 

“But will it do me any good?” remarked the Major pointedly. 

 

“Sorry?”

 

“It seems no matter what I tell you, you just ignore it anyway,” clarified the Major, “There hardly seems to be much point does there?”

 

“I suppose not,” Andrea agreed insolently, “So we’ll just sit in silence all the way to wherever we’re going shall we? Or maybe we could play a bit of I-spy, or sing a song to pass the time?”

 

The Major thumped her fist on the seat between them. “This isn’t some game, Andrea!” she exclaimed, whipping her eyes round to pin Andrea in place.  The fiery look in them practically roasted the young woman where she sat. 

 

“Do you still think we’re doing all this out of some private vendetta against you?  Do you really think we have the time to bother?” the Major demanded furiously, each question emphasised with a pointed hand gesture. “I know you find this concept hard to grasp, but we are trying to do something good out at the base.  All we’re interested in his helping you, yet you seem determined to throw it back in our face.”

 

“Right! Of course!” replied Andrea with disdain, “And there’s nothing in it for you lot, poking and prodding the weirdos to see what we’re all about.”

 

The Major threw up her hands in exasperation. “Oh, we’re back to that are we?  Yes, it helps us to gain knowledge about you and your powers, but you can’t say that we’ve used you.  We’ve kept you informed as to all we’ve been doing, explained everything you’ve wanted to know about.  We treat you fairly don’t we?”

 

Andrea stubbornly refused to reply, rather than concede the point.  She resolutely crossed her arms across her chest instead.

 

“Don’t we?” repeated the Major sharply, her eyes boring into Andrea, demanding an answer.

 

“I suppose,” mumbled Andrea in reply, looking down at her lap and wondering at how fast the Major had managed to make her feel about the size of a flea and as welcome as one too.

 

“And yet you still keep acting like a spoilt child,” continued the Major scornfully, “Running off and wasting mine and everyone else’s time chasing after you!”

 

Andrea’s eyes flicked up as something struck her. “And just how did you find me so bloody fast?”

 

The Major glanced away, momentarily stymied.

 

“There’s a tracking device somewhere on me isn’t there?” deduced Andrea from the Major’s reaction.  “Where is it?  In the armband?  I knew I should have left that damn thing behind.”

 

The Major still failed to meet her gaze. “It’s not in the armband.”

 

Her sudden change in mood was making Andrea nervous. “Where is it then? Somewhere in my clothes?  You bastards went through them before you delivered them to my room didn’t you?”

 

“No,” replied the Major, taking an audible breath and turning her eyes back to meet Andrea’s, “It’s implanted in your right arm.”

 

Andrea’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Implanted…in…my…arm,” she repeated dumbly.  “Implanted in my arm?” she said once again with more force as the full implication hit her.  “You claim to treat me fairly, respect my rights, but then you go and sneak a tracking device on me?  Under my skin, in my body?”

 

“Well, it looked like we needed one didn’t we?” replied the Major caustically.

 

“That’s hardly the fucking point is it? You violated me!”

 

“And I am sorry we did,” insisted the Major, “It was in the first days when you were with us, when you kept having those seizures…”

 

“So you thought you’d take advantage and carry out a little surgery while I was unconscious?”

 

“We didn’t know what you might do.  If you had left the island at that point you could have had a fatal seizure and we wouldn’t have been able to help you.”

 

“And I’m sure my health was foremost in your mind!” Andrea said with derision, “Nothing to do with you wanting to stop me running off and letting everyone know what’s really going on at your top secret base.”

 

“I would be lying if I said that wasn’t part of the reason, but we do want to help you…”

 

Andrea cut her off with a disdainful snort. “I can see you’ll always have some excuse to justify your actions.  It’s funny how people in power can always explain away their decisions with dubious logic.”

 

“So you want me to just cut you loose do you?” the Major fumed back, obviously not liking Andrea’s disparaging assessment of her character, “So you can tell the whole world about the base?”

 

“Yeah, that would be a start,” agreed Andrea aggressively, “Anyway, why didn’t you pick me up as soon as I left the island, if you’ve got this damn tracker beaming my every move back to you?”

 

The Major didn’t reply, resolutely holding Andrea’s gaze instead.  The space in the back of the car seemed even more oppressively enclosed than it really was with all the high emotions swirling around it.

 

“You wanted to see who I was meeting, right?” surmised Andrea after a moment, “Just another little bit of spying, eh?  You just can’t help yourselves, can you?  You want to control every little thing on that island and off it.  Forget about the fact that we are human beings with rights or the capacity for independent thought.  No, we all have to be good little drones, following the rules, toeing the line.  God forbid we might actually have an opinion or want to leave!”

 

“This is not all about you!” the Major interjected, her voice harsh and unforgiving, “We have to maintain tight security, there’s more at stake here then you realise.”

 

“Oh really?  Then why don’t you enlighten me?  Oh, I forgot, you can’t – national security and all that bollocks!”

 

The Major looked like she was about to shoot back another angry salvo, but she caught herself.  Her lips became a tight, thin line as she took a few deep breaths through her nose.  “And has it ever occurred to you, in your selfish desire to do what you want, what that might mean in the grand scheme of things?” she finally asked.

 

Andrea held her gaze, a quizzical look crossing her face.  What was the Major talking about now?  Andrea considered it could be some sort of disarming tactic to try and distract her from the previous discussion, since the Major was on a loser with that one.

 

“You may find that there are people out there who do not have quite such noble intentions towards superhumans as us,” purported the Major.

 

Andrea was confused.  “What do you mean?  I thought our existence was a secret?”

 

The Major didn’t answer immediately, and in the dim light Andrea could just make out the thoughtful expression on her face.  Andrea decided to wait and see what the Major was going to offer up, since her anger seemed to have subsided for a moment.

 

The Major eventually reached whatever internal decision she had been considering, her voice softer as she continued on. “Ok, I’m going to tell you something in the hope that you will understand one of the reasons we need to be so careful, even though I shouldn’t really be doing it.”

 

Her comments peeked Andrea’s interest – it appeared the Major was about to violate some sort of protocol regarding what she was allowed to tell her subordinates.  Andrea wasn’t sure why she was doing it, but she wasn’t about to stop the other woman.  She dipped her head slightly to acknowledge she understood. 

 

“Though the existence of superhumans isn’t publicly known,” outlined the Major, “We know of at least a couple of ‘groups’, shall we call them, that are more than interested in getting their hands on superhumans, or any data pertaining to them, such as we collect.  We’ve had a few close calls at the base, but so far we’ve managed to keep security pretty tight.”

 

Another streetlight flashed it’s glare through the back of the car just in time for Andrea to catch the tightening around the Major’s eyes when she said the words ‘close calls’.   Andrea wondered what exactly they had been?  Had someone tried to sell information? Had one of the other operatives escaped?  Whatever it was, it had certainly annoyed the Major.

 

Andrea decided to defer those questions for now.  She didn’t think the Major would be too receptive to discussing them anyway, if her expression had been anything to go by.  “And why would these ‘groups’ want a superhuman or this information?”

 

“Just think of the power that would give someone,” ventured the Major, “Having a superhuman on your side, or maybe even the ability to create your own superhumans.” 

 

“What?” exclaimed Andrea, her confusion increasing.

 

The Major nodded seriously.  “Yes, we think that’s definitely on the agenda for these groups.  Imagine that, a whole army of superhumans, for hire to the highest bidder.” 

 

“And is that possible, to create a superhuman?” asked Andrea doubtfully, “I thought you needed this special gene.”

 

“Normally, yes,” confirmed the Major, “But there may be other ways to enhance a regular person, using DNA from a superhuman.  In order to do that though, you need to have a source of that DNA.”

 

Andrea tried to process the other woman’s words as she spoke, “But surely, if you think about it, you’re one of these ‘groups’ too.  You’re doing all the things that you’re talking about them doing.  Hell, perhaps you want to create superhuman soldiers too!” 

 

“There is one big exception, we’re here to serve the country,” the Major stated emphatically.  “These people are only out to serve their own best interests.  And I doubt they would have many qualms about how they got their information.  You think our tests and experiments are tough?  Well, try and picture what such ruthless people might do if they got their hands on you.  And not just you, your actions put everyone at the base in danger – Tom, Harry, Bel.”

 

Andrea was silent for a moment, digesting what the Major had revealed.  If these groups really did exist, she could see how valuable an asset a superhuman would be.  She had a brief thought about seeking one of then out, though the Major’s warnings about their intentions rung in her ears.  However, Andrea didn’t know if she could trust the other woman or not.   It was in the Major’s interest to keep Andrea with her ‘group’, so why would she make any of these other ones sound appealing?  On the other hand the Major could be telling the truth, and Andrea certainly didn’t want to be the one responsible for landing any of the other superhumans in trouble.  She already had enough things weighing on her conscience as it was.

 

With Andrea still contemplating her options, the Major continued on, “Of course we do want to gain knowledge about you for our own interest, but we also want to help and protect you.  We can hardly do that if you start wandering off the island on your own.”

 

“Your own interest is about right,” Andrea said scathingly, “You make out you’re all concerned about us and our well-being, but more likely you’re just worried about your job!  It would look pretty bad for you, losing one of your people wouldn’t it?” 

 

Andrea could immediately see she had hit a raw nerve.  The Major’s eyes sparked angrily and a muscle in her cheek was visible as it twitched from where her jaw was clamped firmly shut.

 

Andrea pressed on, “Is that why you had to dash off after me in person, to keep it quiet?”

 

“No, for some stupid reason I felt responsible for you!”

 

“I don’t need anyone to look after me, I’m a big girl.”

 

“And what if you’d got into trouble, had a problem with your powers?”

 

“I’ve got your little device now, haven’t I?  I would have been fine,” insisted Andrea.  She wasn’t about to reveal that she’d had no intention of staying off the island for good anyway.  Even she could see that she needed help for now, but she didn’t mind letting the Major worry.

 

“You may have the armband, but there are still other things that could happen to you,” insisted the Major. “There may be other aspects of your power that we haven’t uncovered yet, that you wouldn’t have been able to cope with.”

 

“Again with the mock concern!”

 

“I am concerned!” cried the Major, “It seems someone has to be, since you have a blatant disregard for your own safety or that of anyone else.”

 

Andrea looked at her sceptically.  “Oh yes, I forgot, you’re trying to protect us all from these scary people who are just waiting to snatch us away?”

 

The Major tried to ignore Andrea’s sarcasm.  “Not just from those people, but also from the general public to some extent.  Think how you reacted when you learnt what you were.  I believe ‘freak’ was the term you used, and you’re a supposedly intelligent woman.  Do you think the average person is going to be too happy to discover he has ‘freaks’ living next door to him? Welcome them with open arms, invite them in for a cup of tea?  I don’t think so, do you?  More likely he’s going to want to put a brick through their window.  It’s not the way it should be, but there are a lot of narrow-minded individuals out there.”

 

“So instead we shut ourselves away and pretend we don’t exist?” challenged Andrea.

 

“For now, but in time, who knows?  We’ve known about this for such a short amount of time, these are just the first tentative steps.  We just have your best interests at heart, I wish you weren’t so blasted stubborn that you could see that.” 

 

“Yeah, well, I guess you’re going to have to keep trying.”

 

The Major sighed, realising she was making little headway. “Believe what you want. Just as long as you don’t continue to endanger yourself and others by your foolish actions, I don’t care.  Why are you so desperate to get off the island anyway?  What was it that you needed to discuss so urgently with your friend?  Or more to the point, what was so secret about it that you couldn’t discuss it over the phone?”

 

Andrea laughed bitterly.  “Like I’m going to tell you!  That’s exactly why I needed to see her off the island – so you bastards weren’t listening in!  Have you ever even heard of privacy?” 

 

“Yes,” the Major replied, “But as I said before, we have to know what’s going on at the base, and more importantly any communication off it.   Were you discussing the warehouse incident again?”

 

“We might have been.” Andrea wasn’t going to disclose any more voluntarily.

 

“I know it must have been hard for you, having lost all your colleagues like that…”

 

“Hard for me? You have no bloody idea!”

 

“You would be surprised,” said the Major so quietly that Andrea barely caught it.  Andrea wondered if the other woman had even meant to let it slip out, since the Major herself seemed to ignore it, adding instead, “I won’t have any idea unless you tell me.”

 

Andrea stopped for just a moment.  A tiny voice, way in the back of Andrea’s mind was prompting her to tell the Major, tell her about the nightmares.  Andrea squashed it down. “I’m not telling you anything.”

 

The Major sighed, rubbing her eyes in an overt display of her frustration.

 

Andrea pressed her advantage, “So does that mean you’re going to put me under the spotlights now?  Force it out of me?”

 

The Major’s eyes shot to Andrea in disbelief. “Who exactly do you think we are?”

 

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

 

The Major shook her head, obviously deciding she didn’t.  “No, we won’t be ‘forcing’ anything out of you.  I had hoped that you might volunteer the information, since I was good enough to explain the situation to you when I didn’t have to, but I guess not.  All this means is that we’ll need to keep an even tighter watch on you from now on, now you’ve shown you can’t be trusted.”

 

“I can’t be trusted? You are unbelievable!” cried Andrea, “Fine, do whatever you want.  Stick a million little trackers on me, cameras all over my quarters – I’ll still find a way to outsmart you lot.”

 

“Were you planning this little escape the whole time?” the Major asked with an air of disappointment, “Just playing along until you got your chance?  For some reason I thought we were actually starting to make some progress, but I guess that was all just an act on your part.  Your arrogance and selfishness knows no bounds does it? Do you ever consider anyone else but yourself?”

 

The Major’s words stung, and Andrea was tempted to correct the assumptions.  The Major was partly right, though, Andrea had been planning to get off the island, but not for purely selfish reasons.  And it hadn’t all been an act.  In fact, if Andrea was being brutally honest, she had to admit that she’d actually started to have a grudging respect for the Major, maybe even like her a bit.  Andrea was hardly about to tell the other woman that now, in the middle of receiving a bollocking.  And especially not after the character assassination she’d just received.  Her stubborn side was telling her she should just remain silent and let the Major think she had been fooled instead.

 

Since Andrea had steadfastly refused to respond, the Major shifted in her seat, leaning closer.  She got so close that, even in the low light, Andrea could make out the whites of her eyes.  Andrea felt like a small animal caught in headlights, unable to move under the intense stare.  When the Major started speaking again, her voice had dropped to its lowest register, whispering out across the short distance between them with deadly menace. 

 

“I really don’t care if you like me or not, or anyone else at the base for that matter.  All I care about is the well being of my people.  So let me make it perfectly clear that if you ever, ever do anything like this again, I shall make you will wish you had never been born.”

 

---------------------

 

CHAPTER 5

 

---------------------

 

Kate ducked her head inside the door of the pub, quickly pulling back her hood and shaking the rain from it.  She ran her hand though her auburn hair in an attempt to put some life back into the bob that had gotten rather damp in the quick dash between the boat and the quayside pub.  That was despite her heavy duty, all-weather jacket.  It seemed the Scottish rain could beat anything, even a coat touted to be able to withstand arctic conditions.  Given the horrendous weather, Kate was surprised to see the pub was still pretty busy that Saturday lunchtime.  She should have known that a bit of rain would hardly be enough to keep the Scots from their drink.  In fact she could hear the whiskey calling to her now.

 

Making her way over to the bar, she found a single malt already waiting for her on the dark wooden bar.  Taking it she offered the barman a quick smile before she put the glass to her lips and downed it in one gulp.

 

“Cheers, Angus, just what the doctor ordered on a foul day like today. I’ll have another, and whatever you’re having.”

 

“Thanks, Major,” replied the man in his thick Ayrshire accent.

 

Kate rolled her eyes and then fixed them on the barman as he put her glass to the optics.  “Angus, how many times have I told you - I come here to get away from people calling me that.  If I wanted to be the Major, I would have worn my uniform.  It’s Kate, please.”

 

He put her fresh drink back on the bar, bringing his finger up to tap on his nose.  “Sorry, Kate.  Incognito today are we?”

 

“Hardly,” laughed Kate, “I think everyone in this town knows exactly who I am.  It’s your favourite source of gossip isn’t – what goes on at the mysterious army base?”

 

“Someone has a high opinion of their own importance.”

 

“So you’re saying no-one ever mentions it?” queried Kate with the quirk of an eyebrow.

 

“You can hardly blame them,” he said with a shrug, “You turn up here less than a year ago with all you weird and wonderful equipment and your exclusion zones and your secrets.  Of course that’s going to be a goldmine for rumours in a quiet corner of Scotland like this.  And then you only go and encourage the gossip with nuggets like that little confrontation in here two weeks ago.”

 

Kate frowned for a moment and looked down at the light brown liquid in her glass.  She was unable to keep the dark look from her face as she recalled how she’d had to turn up in the bar and haul Andrea away with her after the young woman had gone against the Major’s wishes and left the island base.  Even worse was that Andrea had been meeting and talking to a colleague of hers.   Kate just couldn’t believe Andrea’s recklessness sometimes.  The friendly inquisitiveness of the locals was one thing, the attentions of a trained police officer was something else.  It was hard to imagine Andrea had ever been a successful police officer herself if that was the way she normally went about things - ignoring her superiors and risking the confidentiality of her cases. 

 

Angus noticed Kate’s momentary distraction and obviously realised his mistake in bringing the incident up.  “Though that didn’t keep them occupied long,” he added, trying to lighten the tone again, “Before you were relegated back to your usual place as second favourite topic of conversation.”

 

Kate glanced up at him again.  “And what do we come behind?”

 

“The state of the Scottish football team of course.”

 

Kate let out another laugh.  “Ah yes, I can see how we’d come second to such a rich vein of material as that!”

 

“Don’t you be starting now!” replied Angus jokingly, “You English, coming up here and rubbing it in, like you’ve done so well since ’66. [6]”

 

“Ok, point taken,” agreed Kate, sipping at her drink this time.

 

Angus picked up a glass, starting to wipe it dry with his tea towel.  “So, no sailing today then?” he asked, deciding a switch to a safer topic was in order.

 

“Sailing?” repeated Kate incredulously, “Have you seen the weather out there?”

 

“That?  Och, that’s a just a wee breeze, and you call yourself a sailor!”

 

It was true that Kate would normally like to spend at least part of her weekend sailing her boat out of Troon harbour, just up the coast from Ayr.  However, even she drew the line at taking the Flyer out in a force ten gale for pleasure.  The trip over from the island had been bad enough and she wouldn’t have bothered if she didn’t have a meeting to keep.

 

“Ah, looks like your friend is here,” noted Angus, causing her to swivel on her bar stool.

 

She quickly hopped off to accept the hug that was fast approaching, along with the kiss on the cheek that followed it.

 

“Sophie, good to see you,” said Kate with a smile, pulling back from her friend’s embrace.

 

“You too, Kat, though you could have arranged a bit of better weather for me.  I almost bloody drowned between the car park and here!”

 

Kate chuckled at Sophie’s disgruntled expression.  “I thought you would have been used to it, being a hardy Scot yourself.”

 

“It must be all those years away with the army that have made me weak.  Bosnia, Northern Ireland and Iraq have nothing on crappy Scottish weather!”

 

“You love it really,” commented Kate with a wink.  Ordering a drink for her friend, they went over to sit in one of the booths away from the bar. 

 

Kate had met Sophie McAllister at Sandhurst[7] fifteen years ago where they’d quickly cemented a firm friendship, having the common cause of being two women against the old boys network that still prevailed there.  They’d both been determined young women back then, intent of making the most of their army careers.  Not that it had all been serious – they’d also found plenty of time for fun and games, often at the male officers’ expense.  They made a slightly unusual pair, the petite, yet quietly confident and powerful Kate, and the more obviously larger than life Sophie, with her stout, muscular frame.  They’d gone their separate ways since then, into their respective postings and regiments, but they’d always kept in touch and met as often as possible.

 

Sophie scraped a hand through her short, dark hair as she took a swig from her pint of lager.  “So how are things going with you at the top secret base then?” she asked conversationally

 

“Not too bad,” replied Kate, “Though I’m having a bit of trouble with one of my new operatives.”

 

“Well, that’s what you get for babysitting civilians - no respect for the chain of command.  You know you never have told me what’s so special about these people that they need a whole squadron of the British Army’s finest to look after them.”

 

Kate regarded Sophie with friendly suspicion.  “And I’m not going to, no matter how much you try and wheedle it out of me or how many drinks you try and ply me with.”

 

“Now that sounds like a challenge!”  Sophie craned round in her chair.  “Angus, another whiskey for the good Major!”

 

“Sophie! It’s only one o’clock.”

 

“Since when did you care about a little daytime drinking?” scoffed Sophie, “I can remember you drinking a fair few of those pompous twats under the table at Sandhurst.  They never could quite get over the fact that a woman might be able to hold her drink better than them.”

 

“No,” chuckled Kate, remembering the sight of officers in their dress uniform tumbling to the floor in a drunken stupor, “Though it didn’t stop them coming back for more or trying their hand at other things.”

 

“Indeed, though as I recall you were a demon on that snooker table too.  I know I certainly made a packet from betting on you.”

 

“I’m glad I was able to provide such a good source of income.”

 

Sophie tipped her head nonchalantly to the side.  “Where do you think I got all those cigarettes and bottles of booze from?”

 

“I didn’t like to ask!”

 

Sophie smiled, raising her glass in Kate’s direction.  “Well, here’s to beating the twats!”

 

Kate clinked her smaller glass against it.  “To the twats!”  She finished off her whiskey, accepting the replacement that Angus had brought over.

 

“So, can you can tell me about this difficult guy then, the one that’s giving you problems,” asked Sophie, “Or is that secret too?”

 

“It’s a woman actually,” replied Kate.

 

“Ah, well that explains everything!” exclaimed Sophie, rolling her eyes, “You don’t have to tell me about women and what a pain in the arse they can be!”

 

“Oh, she’s that all right,” concurred Kate with a rueful shake of the head.

 

Sophie looked at her inquisitively having caught the tone.  “Sounds intriguing.”

 

“That’s one way of putting it.  You’re right about the civilian thing, though, it does make it tricky since they’re not directly answerable to me as such – it’s not like dealing with your average squaddie where they know exactly who’s boss.”

 

“So this woman is challenging your command then?” asked Sophie in obvious surprise, “Does she value her life?”

 

Kate laughed out loud, drawing a few stares from the other patrons.  “You don’t know Andrea,” she continued on more quietly, “She’s stubborn, wilful, headstrong and bloody clever too.  I think I may almost have met my match.”

 

Now Sophie’s dark eyes really did widen in shock.  “My god, I need to meet this woman!  Someone who can stand up to Kate Jarvis and live to tell the tale!”

 

“Well, she’s barely living,” allowed Kate wryly, “I had to really chew her out a couple of weeks ago for a blatant breach of protocol.”

 

“Ouch, I bet that hurt!”

 

“Indeed, though now she’s just avoiding me as much as possible which doesn’t make my job any easier.”  Kate took a moment to rub her hand across her temple and down her face as she was reminded of the frustration of trying to deal with Andrea since their talk in the back of the car.  She had hoped that Andrea might have seen sense after that, but if anything she was even more obstinate.

 

“Sounds like you have your work cut out then,” noted Sophie, “Though I have little doubt you’ll win her around.  You just need to turn on a bit of that Jarvis charm.”

 

Kate snorted a laugh.  “I hope so, I can’t really afford any more cocks ups, since I already have those two black marks against my name.”

 

“Two?  Iraq and…?”

 

“Adam.”

 

The single word was enough to cause Sophie to purse her lips thinly together.  “Ah, yes, I had tried to erase that whole mess from memory.”

 

“Me too.” agreed Kate.

 

“Well, it’s your own fault if you will insist on involving yourself with men,” remarked Sophie with a shrug of the shoulders.

 

“Uh oh, I sense the recruiting speech coming on,” sighed Kate, “Weren’t you telling me a minute ago how much of a pain in the arse women are?”

 

“That’s true,” conceded Sophie, “But they’re also wonderful, beautiful, intelligent…fantastic in bed.”

 

Kate choked on the latest sip of her whiskey, coughing a couple of times to try and ease its path down her throat.

 

“Certainly better than you’re going to get from any guy,” added Sophie.

 

“This from the self confessed lesbian – have you ever even slept with a man?”

 

Sophie made a face of disgust.  “No, and I don’t want to or need to, thank you very much.  Urgh, just the thought of penis,” Sophie shuddered.  “How can you even look at it without laughing?”

 

“Well, you never know until you try it,” offered Kate, “I did dabble on your side of the fence after all.”

 

“Now that’s flattering, I’m a bit of a dabble now am I?”

 

“No offence, but it really wasn’t my thing…” remarked Katherine.  She quickly spied Sophie’s slight frown, “Not that you were bad or anything…” she tried to explain rather tactlessly.

 

“Carry on, carry on,” said Sophie with a wave of the hand, “I’m just wondering how much deeper you can make this hole before you can’t get out.”

 

“Much, much deeper unless you take pity on me and pull me out?”  Kate attempted her most winning smile.

 

Sophie narrowed her eyes as she stared back at Kate.  Finally she gave in and sighed.  “Damn, you know I’m a sucker for that smile, always was,” she confessed.  “It’s just such a shame.”

 

“What is?”

 

“You being straight, it’s a major loss to the lesbian community, no pun intended.”

 

“Oh right, like I’d have them queuing up,” remarked Kate sceptically.

 

“Are you kidding?” cried Sophie, “You’d be fighting them off with a stick, especially if you let them see you in that uniform of yours.”

 

“Is that your normal ploy then?”

 

Sophie smiled wickedly.  “It never fails.”

 

Both women laughed heartily.  More drinks were ordered and the conversation drifted through a number of topics from more reminiscences of their time at Sandhurst, through their latest postings to the state of their respective love lives.  The last subject was fairly short from Kate’s point of view – she didn’t have a love life, at least not since the disaster that was Adam.  Sophie on the other hand seemed to suffer from the opposite problem – too many women and not enough time.  By the time Kate had moved onto the pints too, she found the discussion had come round to Iraq, where they had both served during the recent war, though with different units.  She wasn’t quite sure how they had got onto talking about it, and she was entirely comfortable with it either.  As Sophie made some comments, Kate remained quiet, studying her glass intently instead, sliding her fingers through the condensation on the outside.

 

As she stopped talking, Sophie noticed the other woman’s distraction.  “Sorry I didn’t mean to bring up painful memories,” she said gently.

 

“Forget about it,” said Kate quietly, not looking up.

 

“Should we though?”

 

“What?”  Kate glanced up.  Sophie was regarding her softly.

 

“Forget about it,” she clarified.  “I mean we’ve been best friends for how long now?  Fifteen years?  We’ve told each other everything over those years, shared the good and the bad, but you’ve never really talked about what happened in Iraq.”

 

Kate thought there was a good reason for that, it had been painful enough for her at the time and she really didn’t want to be dragging it up now, raking it all over again.  She’d been through it enough times over the past year as it was.

 

Sophie wasn’t being put off by Kate’s continued silence, though.  “I left it to begin with, I thought it was just the rawness of the pain that was keeping you quiet, but it’s been a year now and you’ve still not really said much about it.  I’m just worried for you - that you’re bottling it up.”

 

Kate exhaled slowly, deciding she owed her friend some sort of explanation.  “I appreciate the concern, and I’m not shutting you out on purpose.  The thing is there are aspects of what happened there that are classified and I find it hard to talk about any of it without mentioning those.”  That was only partly true, but it made a convenient excuse.

 

“Classified?  Even from me?” asked Sophie doubtfully.

 

“I’m afraid so,” insisted Kate, “I wish I could tell you.” 

 

“But have you talked to anyone about it?”

 

“Oh yes, I’ve had enough counselling to last me a lifetime,” she said, closing her eyes and shaking her head as she recalled the parade of psychiatrists and psychologists that she’d been forced before, “They would hardly have allowed me back to command if they didn’t think I was of sound mind would they.”

 

“Maybe,” admitted Sophie, still unsure, “Though it always struck me as a bit of a strange move.  One minute you’re in the infantry with the Devon and Dorset’s and the next minute you’re with the Intelligence Corps, hiding away on some secret island in Scotland.  Are you sure they trust your skills?”

 

“Thanks for the vote of confidence!”

 

“You know what I mean, the Intelligence Corps is hardly the front line is it?  A load of desk jockeys snooping on phone calls and emails.”

 

Kate didn’t directly answer that, since she herself thought that way sometimes.  “After Iraq I was lucky to keep my job at all,” she commented instead, “In fact I might not have if Lieutenant Colonel Parsons hadn’t stepped in on my behalf and arranged my transfer.”

 

Sophie raised her eyebrows.  “I didn’t realise he saved your butt.”

 

“Yes, well he’s always looked out for me where possible,” replied Kate, “So when there were a whole host of people clamouring for my head or worse, he discretely organised extended leave before getting me the position in charge of the base.”

 

“Lucky you have friends in high places.”

 

“Tell me about it,” agreed Kate, “Especially after my other total lapse in judgement six months ago.” 

 

Sophie made to open her mouth but Kate quickly shot a hand up to stall her.

 

“Don’t even say anything.  I know it was stupid, we’ve already mentioned his name once in this conversation, let’s not bring it up again.  Anyway, coming so close after Iraq, I was extremely lucky to survive that one and I certainly won’t be getting a third chance.  Any more cock ups and it will be court-martial here I come.”

 

…….

 

 

Andrea crouched down in the undergrowth trying to find shelter from the harsh April weather that consisted of rain driving over the island like a million icy needles, whipped in from the Atlantic by the howling wind.  The inclement weather only added to her sense that the training games they were engaged in were an annoying waste of time.  Her soaked fatigues clung to her body as she dreamt of a warm bath and a good book.  She didn’t know why they had to be outside on a day like today and had noted how the Major had buggered off to the mainland and left them under Chadwick’s supervision.  She considered that maybe that was why they were stuck out there – the lieutenant was hardly the biggest fan of the superhumans after all.  He was probably safely ensconced in a jeep somewhere, watching them run around like idiots in the wind and rain.

 

“Knock, knock!”

 

Andrea turned to her companion with a quizzical look.  The bright blue eyes of Tom Parsons regarding her expectantly from beneath the brim of his peaked cap.  Like her he was soaked to the bone, though it didn’t appear to have dampened his spirits.

 

“You looked like you were miles away,” he noted.

 

“Sorry, I was just thinking how pointless these stupid games are.”

 

“Pointless maybe,” he allowed, “But I still want to win!”

 

Andrea merely rolled her eyes at his enthusiasm.  A grin was never far away from Tom’s face, whatever the situation.

 

“Oh like you don’t want to?” he commented, noticing her expression, “Don’t try and pretend you’re not competitive - you were practically trampling Bel into the dirt to get there first on the last one.”

 

“Yes, but that was Tardelli.”

 

Tom laughed at the deadpan delivery of the remark.  “You two really don’t get along do you?”

 

“Not for want of trying,” said Andrea with a sigh, “You and Harry have been fine, you’ve helped me out a lot in settling in here.  But with Tardelli…I don’t know what it is!   Even though she practically tried to kill me, I’ve attempted being nice.  I’ve tried to entice her into games of pool in the rec room, chat with her over meals, but she just doesn’t seem to like me for some reason.”

 

“I can’t imagine why.”

 

Andrea fixed him with a stern look.  “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

 

“Well, you can come across as a bit…er…,” he searched for the right word, avoiding her penetrating gaze, “…overpowering sometimes.  Maybe even a little arrogant.”

 

“I am not arrogant,” insisted Andrea indignantly, “I’m just confident of my own abilities.”

 

Tom shrugged nonchalantly.  “Like I said, arrogant.”

 

“Do you want me to trample you into the dirt too?” asked Andrea, raising a single eyebrow as she pinned him in place with her eyes once more.

 

Tom laughed again holding up his hands in supplication.  “I think you just take a bit of getting used to that’s all – all that plain speaking can be a bit of a shock to the system if you’re not ready for it.  And you are a bit of an egghead too, so it can be a bit intimidating to us mere mortals.”

 

“Oh, yes, I can see you quaking in your boots,” said Andrea sarcastically, “And as for Tardelli…intimidated is not the word I would use to describe her attitude towards me.”

 

“Ok, not exactly, but I don’t think she likes to come second best to anyone, especially not the posh new kid on the block.”

 

Andrea let out an incredulous laugh.  “Posh? Me?”

 

“Well, compared to Tardelli at least,” suggested Tom.

 

“I wouldn’t let her hear you calling her common, unless you fancy some of the same treatment I’ve been getting, or maybe your testicles handed to you on a plate.”

 

Tom was quick to refute her words.  “Hey, I never used the word ‘common’, I would say…good, honest working class.”

 

Andrea shook her head as she made a small chuckle at his choice of expression.  “Very diplomatically put.  But I’m hardly some upper class twit am I - I did have a normal job before I came here.”

 

“True, but to someone like Tardelli - who grew up on a council estate in London - you’re from a whole different world.  And then you’ve got the fact that she’s somewhat determined and strong-willed, just like you are, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.  You just rub each other up the wrong way.  That’s probably your problem with the Major too.”

 

“No,” corrected Andrea quickly, “She just gets on my nerves, full stop.  All that army dogma, all those rules, regulations and secrets.  Not to mention the embarrassing way she turned up at that pub two weeks ago and then gave me a right bollocking like I was some small child.”

 

“Well, you did sneak off the base without permission.”

 

Andrea narrowed her eyes at him.  “Whose side are you on exactly?”

 

“No one’s – we’re all meant to be on the same side, remember,” he replied, “I keep telling you to give her a chance.  I know you seem to think she’s got some personal vendetta against you, that it’s all her doing, you being stuck here, but it’s not.  She’s just doing her job.  If you’d stop and think for a minute, you’d see that she actually wants to help and make your time here as easy as possible.  She’s very approachable you know.”

 

Andrea snorted with derision.  “Are we talking about the same person here, because I could have sworn we were discussing Major Jarvis the woman who tore me an extra orifice not two weeks ago.”

 

“You’re just lucky she waited so long to do it,” commented Tom cryptically.

 

“What do you mean by that?”  Andrea was blindsided for a moment, mystified by his remark.

 

“Well, you gotta admit you were a complete pain in the arse pretty much since the moment you got here…”

 

“With some justification…” interjected Andrea.

 

“Ok, maybe,” allowed Tom, “But if you let me finish, the point I’m trying to make is that, though I said the Major is approachable, she isn’t a soft touch either.  She wouldn’t normally have stood for the sort of crap you were giving her for that long.”

 

A faint dawning was occurring in Andrea’s brain.  “Hang on a minute, is this your roundabout way of saying she actually likes me?”

 

“I’m just going by what I see and hear, and I’m telling you, no one normally gets away with acting that way or speaking to her like that.  At the very least, I think she understands what you’re going through and wants to help you, be your friend.”

 

“You seriously think she likes me?” scoffed Andrea, thinking he must be mad, “Now I know you’re joking!”   A stubborn thought flashed through her mind, hoping that he wasn’t, but she ignored it.

 

“You know what I think,” said Tom, a slight air of exasperation in his tone, “I think you’re just being obstinate because you don’t want to admit you might have been wrong about her.”

 

“If you say so,” said Andrea dismissively before turning her attention away from him.  She’d had enough of discussing the Major for the time being.  Ever since the incident in Ayr she’d tried to keep their interaction to a minimum.  She was unwilling to even consider that Tom might have a point, though deep down she knew he did.  She realised she had been somewhat obnoxious since her arrival at the base and had pretty much deserved everything she got, but the way the Major had spoken to her had wounded her pride. 

 

Concentrating instead on what they were currently doing, she dug out the compass from one of the many pockets in her combat gear, shaking the drips from the peak of her cap so she could read it properly.  That was another stupid thing about this exercise – why did they have to use a map and compass when there were perfectly good things such as GPS to navigate with?  And to make matters worse they weren’t supposed to be using their powers either.  She was just starting to come to terms with her new abilities, and now they were telling her not to use them – it was all very confusing.  Not that they’d learnt much more over the past couple of weeks.  She still had to wear the special inhibitor armband all the time, to make sure she didn’t have any unwanted seizures from using her powers.  Or power, to be more precise since it seemed to consist only of enhanced strength.  It was hardly the most interesting of abilities, she considered.

 

Brushing the rain from the plastic cover of the map she gauged where they were on the island.  “So what is this meant to be teaching us exactly?” she asked Tom.

 

“I don’t know,” he confessed, “Army tactics or something?”

 

“And have you wondered why we would need to know such things?” she pondered out loud

 

“Er, I dunno,” he replied, making a thoughtful face, “I thought it was just something to get us out and about a bit, rather than being cooped up indoors all the time, helping the boffins with their research.”

 

“Right,” said Andrea sceptically, “I’m sure that’s all it is.”

 

“You know your problem, you’re just too suspicious of everyone and everything.  No one would ever guess you were a policewoman.”

 

“I think it’s healthy to be curious about the world around me,” noted Andrea defensively, “We shouldn’t just accept things without asking questions.”

 

“And boy do you love to ask those questions,” recalled Tom, grinning, “Christ you even manage to annoy Dr Todd sometimes and that is some feat.  I bet you were a sodding nightmare in interrogations.  If it were me under the spotlight, I think I would have been confessing to anything to get out of there.”

 

Andrea regarded him dubiously, sizing him up while he maintained his best innocent expression.  “Hmm, I doubt that - I bet you were a handful too, always one step ahead of the law, a right likely lad.  I guess it’s lucky our paths never crossed.”

 

“For both of us,” he agreed, “Anyway, I’m a reformed character now, an upstanding citizen.”

 

Andrea couldn’t keep the smile from her face.  “Sure you are, that’s why I’ve heard all about your stash of contraband.”

 

Tom looked surprised at her revelation.  “Who told you that?”

 

“Ah-ha,” she said, wagging her finger at him, “I never reveal my sources.”

 

“It was Nathan wasn’t it,” deduced Tom for himself, referring to the supplies officer and de facto chef, “That man has the biggest mouth this side of the Clyde.  You’re not going to tell anyone are you?”

 

“What, like the Major?  As if!”

 

“It’s not like alcohol is banned on the base, anyway,” said Tom by means of explanation, “I mean they serve it in the bar – the squaddies would be rioting if they couldn’t have a pint of an evening.”

 

“And you just like to cater to their needs out of bar hours?”

 

“Exactly, supply and demand - I’m just fulfilling the natural need of your average soldier for booze.”

 

“And making a tidy profit while you’re at it?”

 

Tom grinned once more, dipping his head slightly to acknowledge the truth of her remark.  “It doesn’t hurt.  At least you know where to come if you need anything.  What is your tipple of choice anyway?”

 

“I’m not really that big a drinker,” she admitted.  She liked the odd one or two with friends but that was about the limit of it.  She didn’t really see the point of solo drinking, not to mention the lack of control that alcohol brought on.

 

“Call yourself a proper policewoman?” he cried, “Ok, something else then?”

 

Andrea thought for a moment before replying.  “I’m not sure if there’s anything else I need that I can’t get just by asking for it to be brought in.  I have to admit that’s one thing they have been good about, and I made sure I asked for some particularly obscure scientific journals, just to see.”

 

“Journals?  Flipping hell?  How old are you exactly – sixty? Do you ever have any fun?”

 

“I’m twenty-seven years old for your information,” Andrea stated, “And I know how to have plenty of fun, but our opportunities are slightly restricted on this island after all.  I did get a bunch of cds and the latest playstation games too if that’s more to your taste.”

 

“Ah, now you’re talking!” said Tom, a smile spreading across his face, “Don’t let Harry know, though, or he’ll be round your room faster than you can say Tekken.  But there are other things I can get, things that you might not want to ask one of the stiffs for.”

 

Andrea’s brow creased together as she wondered at his meaning.

 

“You know…” he said, tipping his head to the side and raising his eyebrows, before finally adding some crude hand gestures.

 

“Ah,” she said in sudden realisation, “You mean pornography.”

 

“Yeah, that kinda thing,” he confirmed, “I’m sure I can get hold of some stuff suited to your particular tastes.”

 

“You mean lesbian porn.”

 

“Yeah, come to think of it I wouldn’t mind seeing some of that myself…”

 

Andrea slapped him playfully around the head as he got a faraway look in his eyes, pleasant daydreams no doubt filling his mind.

 

“Oi!” he cried indignantly.

 

“Come on, let’s get going,” suggested Andrea clambering to her feet, “Then we might finally be able to get back to civilisation, or at least what passes for it on this godforsaken island.”

 

Tom rose too, indicating ahead of him with his hand.  “Lead on.”

 

On the way to their target, Andrea’s mind started drifting back to civilisation anyway, and the life she had lead before coming to the island.  She’d only spoken with Maria a couple of times since their curtailed meeting at the pub, and both had been brief conversations, with Andrea being acutely aware of who might be listening in.  She just hoped that Maria was having some luck into her investigation of the warehouse incident, though officially she was meant to be on other cases since that particular one was closed.  If Andrea had trusted any of the army officers on the base, she might have brought the suspicious way it had been swept under the carpet to their attention, but for now she had to rely on Maria. 

 

Eventually they came out of the meagre cover offered by the small copse of trees and a fresh gust of wind buffeted Andrea in the face, almost whipping the hat from her head.  She put her hand on top of it for a minute as she glanced around for the checkpoint. 

 

“There!” called Tom over the sound of the storm, pointing to the top of a rocky outcrop.

 

They both started running for the red and white marker, Andrea more from a desire to get there and then get back in the warm.  Reaching the foot of the slope, she spotted two other forms joining them from the opposite direction and also heading for the top at speed.  Andrea pulled ahead of Tom, scrabbling nimbly over the slippery rocks as he floundered behind her.  Despite the fact that she could see Tardelli gaining out of the corner of her eye, Andrea stopped for a moment to check on her partner.

 

“Don’t worry about me,” he yelled as she hopped back down the slope to help him up.  She could see he had gashed his arm on the stones where he had stumbled.  “Go!” he instructed waving her away frantically, “Tardelli’s gonna get there first!”

 

The dark haired woman had clambered past them now, intent on the winning post.  Harry, meanwhile, was sliding about somewhere back down the slope, far behind them all.

 

“I don’t care about that, you’re hurt,” replied Andrea, bending down by Tom.

 

“I care! I’ll be fine, go on!”

 

Andrea eyed him for a moment, evaluating the seriousness of his injury, before turning and resuming her push for the top.  She had to admit that part of her also wanted to beat the abrasive woman.  Andrea’s long legs carried her over the uneven ground more quickly than the shorter Tardelli and she drew alongside as they reached the crest.  Tardelli suddenly realised Andrea had caught her up, turning to offer her a surly snarl through the rain as they made the final sprint.  Andrea ignored her, forging on against the wind that battered them directly in the face now, sweeping across the exposed outcrop.  The tag on the checkpoint flapped tantalisingly in the air and Andrea made one final lunge to reach for it.

 

An icy blast suddenly clattered into her side, spinning Andrea away from the marker.  Stunned, she crashed to the ground, tumbling haphazardly across the wet stone that lay over the top of the precipice.  She didn’t realise she was at the edge until it was far too late and she was plunging off over it into thin air.

 

The wind whistled past her face and she just had time to get her arms up in a futile attempt to protect her head before she hit the rocks at the bottom.

 

Only she didn’t hit them.

 

It took a couple of seconds for that fact to register in Andrea’s mind and for her to realise she was no longer moving downwards either.  Peeling her arms away from around her head, she tentatively glanced down.  Her eyes widened in shock as she realised she was hovering in mid air, a couple of feet above the ground.

 

“Andrea?”

 

Andrea glanced back up to the top of the cliff where Tom, Harry and Tardelli were all peering anxiously over the edge at her.  Suddenly Andrea’s downward movement resumed and she fell the remaining distance to the ground, jarring her right elbow on the hard rock.  She was still sitting on the stones rubbing it when the others had finally made their way down to join her.

 

“How in the hell did you do that?” asked Tom in amazement, nursing his own arm.

 

Andrea glanced up at him.  “I-I don’t know…” she replied, stunned.  She looked back up at the cliff as if that would give her some sort of answer.

 

“However you did it, it was amazing – you were flying!” chimed in Harry excitedly.

 

“Hardly flying,” noted Tardelli, always one to look on the down side, “More like hovering and then falling.”

 

“Whatever it was, it’s a bloody good job I did it,” said Andrea, regaining her senses and rising to her feet to stare balefully at Tardelli, “Since you nearly killed me…again!”

 

“Yeah, but I didn’t did I?” replied Tardelli crossing her arms defiantly.

 

Andrea was getting increasingly angry at the other woman’s petulance.  “Fulla Helvete! We weren’t even meant to be using our powers!”

 

Tardelli uncrossed her arms, pressing forwards into Andrea’s personal space.  “What did you just call me?”

 

“Uh oh, here we go again…” managed Tom from behind them.

 

“A loose translation is ‘fucking bitch’” Andrea informed Tardelli matter-of-factly.

 

Tom just about managed to grab Tardelli before she launched herself at Andrea, hauling her away to the side.

 

“Just leave it, Bel!” he cried as she flailed in his grasp.

 

“You heard what she called me!”

 

“Yes, and you did almost kill her so why don’t you just count yourselves even?” Tom reasoned.

 

The sound of a vehicle approaching drew all their attention, and Andrea spotted an army jeep bouncing over the long grass towards them, leaving great muddy gouges in the turf behind it.  It halted at the edge of the rocks and Lieutenant Chadwick climbed out from the passenger side, a pair of binoculars still in his hand.  No doubt he had been watching the whole thing, including Andrea’s “flying”.  She still wasn’t entirely sure that she had done it - maybe it had been a freak gust of wind?  A really freaky gust of wind.

 

“Is there some sort of problem here?” he asked, glancing between Andrea and the still struggling Tardelli.

 

“No, no problem,” replied Andrea succinctly.

 

“No, everything’s fine,” agreed Tardelli as Tom released her, putting on a united front for the army officer’s benefit.  Whatever their differences, they would still stick together against the military personnel.

 

Chadwick eyed the pair of them doubtfully, before turning his full attention to Andrea.  “And what was that?  What you were doing off the cliff?”

 

“I think it’s called flying,” interrupted Harry helpfully.

 

“I know it’s sodding flying, you moron,” snapped Chadwick at the young man, “But how was she doing it?” he added pointing an accusatory finger at Andrea.

 

As the two men spoke Andrea was still pondering over how she had done it.  She wondered whether she could repeat the feat if she consciously thought about it.  She closed her eyes for a moment to help her concentrate.  Perhaps if she imagined herself rising off the ground, ever so slightly, just wafting up on the breeze.

 

“Hey! Get back down here!”

 

Andrea’s eyes flicked open to see the open landscape stretching out before her, the white crests of the waves on the choppy sea just about visible in the distance.  Casting her eyes downwards, she saw Chadwick looking furiously up at her from his position several feet below her dangling boots.  This time she made sure she kept thinking about maintaining her position so she didn’t come crashing down to earth with a bump.

 

“And just how are you going to make me?” she asked cocking her head to the side and drifting slightly further away from him.  It really was the most wonderful yet unsettling feeling she had ever felt, just hanging there in the air with nothing to hold her up.  Another blast of wind rocked her as she tried to prolong the fantastic experience.

 

Chadwick’s hand moved to rest on his handgun in its holster.  “I could always shoot you,” he said seriously.

 

“Hey, man, that’s not funny!” Harry said angrily, coming round in front of the lieutenant in a challenging stance.

 

“Well, tell your freaky friend to get back down here then,” said Chadwick, pulling the gun out and waving it in Harry’s face.

 

“It’s all right, I’m coming down,” said Andrea, floating back down to the ground next to the two men, “You can put it away, Chadwick.”

 

His dark eyes turned to her, his lip curving into a nasty sneer.  “Let’s get back to base shall we, I’m sure the docs and the Major will have something to say about this.”

 

……..

 

 

Andrea wandered into her quarters, flicking on the light to illuminate the darkness and going over to the fridge to grab a pepsi.  As she popped the cap and took a swig, she supposed that ingesting sugar and caffeine probably wasn’t a good idea when she was already on such a high.  No matter how many times she told herself, she still couldn’t quite believe it, but it was true – she could fly.

 

For the first time she actually felt good about the idea of being different from everyone else, of being a mutant.  Flying, now that was a super power really worth having, she considered, smiling to herself.  Everyone else seemed to think so too, if their reactions were anything to go by.  As soon as they’d got back to the base, she’d been whisked off to see Drs Todd and Whitman so they could investigate this latest development in her abilities.  However, Tom and Harry had also tagged along, fascinated to see what she could do.

 

Of course Doc wanted to take things slow as usual, ever cautious for her well-being.  She, on the other hand, was itching to try it out and they could barely keep her on the ground in the underground training room.  It was just such an exhilarating rush, that feeling of freedom, of floating in the air.  She desperately wanted to go outside and just fly off into the sky, but Doc had looked aghast when she had even suggested it.

 

She supposed she could attempt it anyway, though it wouldn’t be long before they discovered what she was up to, since they had bugged her.  That was something that still rankled - that they would have the audacity to plant a tracking device in her arm.  She subconsciously rubbed her right bicep where she knew it sat under the skin.

 

Andrea wondered how they would then stop her, even if they knew she had left. Chase after her in a helicopter?  Shoot her down?  It wasn’t as if any of the others could fly so they wouldn’t be able to catch her.  She might even be able to go faster than a helicopter, or even a jet – she just didn’t know at this stage.

 

Sitting down on the sofa, she guessed she would have to abide by doctor’s orders for the time being, and allow them to observe and closely monitor her first attempts.  It wasn’t like it had all been plain sailing earlier on, and she had been grateful for the padded floor of the room on several occasions.  Andrea didn’t really relish the thought that she might lose concentration while several hundred feet in the air over the island.  No amount of padding would protect her from a fall from that height.

 

When she’d pressed Dr Todd for an explanation of exactly how come she suddenly had this added ability, he had been rather evasive.  He’d made some noises about energy conversion and needing to investigate further, but Andrea suspected that he was about as surprised as she was.  Given that her ability to fly had only come to light nearly a month after the original accident, she wondered if there were any other dormant powers just waiting to burst forth.  That thought was a little scary and she considered that the scientists probably thought much the same thing.  And as for the Major…Andrea had little doubt that she wouldn’t be too impressed by this latest development when she heard about it.  This new power would make it even harder for them to contain and control her.   Chadwick would probably be running to her as soon as she got back from the mainland to fill her in, and then it wouldn’t be long before Andrea got a visit, she was sure of that.  A small flutter of anticipation skittered through her at that thought.

 

Needing something to distract her from that last troublesome sensation and her restless to desire to go and explore her powers right away, Andrea leant forwards to grab the large, padded headphones that sat atop her stereo.  She thumbed through her cds, selecting a suitable loud funky house compilation.  As the thumping beat started in the headphones, she leant back against the cushions and closed her eyes.

 

…….

 

Kate strode along the corridor, trying to get her head around the new information she’d been presented with before she got to her destination.  Chadwick had been waiting to see her as soon as she’d stepped off the boat from Ayr.  Luckily the bracing sea air on the return crossing had gone some way to sobering her up and his news had been an added dash of cold water.

 

After her initial surprise she realised that the fact that Andrea could fly was fantastic in one way.  It was certainly an interesting new mutation for them to get to grips with and could prove very useful.  Not to mention how thrilling it would be for Andrea.  Unfortunately that was where the problem lay.  Chadwick had already told her how Andrea had wanted to fly off when they were outside, how he’d practically had to drag her back against her will.  Once they’d got back to the base, she’d been eager to pursue things.  Kate was pleased to some extent – at least Andrea was finally showing some enthusiasm about her abilities – but on the other hand she was wary about the level of power she was exhibiting.  She considered that she only had Chadwick’s word for what had occurred at the moment, and she wasn’t entirely convinced she could trust her second-in-command’s opinion, especially when it came to Andrea.  The pair of them hadn’t hit it off at all.  Kate could understand that – she had her doubts about the man too.  If nothing else at least someone had a worse relationship with the Andrea than she did.

 

Given Chadwick’s unreliability as a source of information in this particular case, she had resolved to come and speak with Andrea herself.  Kate had gone via her quarters first and changed back into her uniform to try and add that final touch of sobriety, hoping that the last traces of alcohol weren’t detectable on her breath.  She was wearing her regular barrack dress of olive green shirt and matching trousers, but had foregone the tie and jumper, hoping that she would come across as authoritative yet at the same time relaxed.

 

Reaching Andrea’s door, she pressed on the entry chime.  When there was no response she tried again.  There was still no answer.  Kate made a quick call to the security centre to check Andrea’s location, but they informed her that she was indeed in her quarters.  Kate tried the chime once more, getting increasingly worried – maybe Andrea had had one of her seizures and was lying unconscious in her room.  Kate quickly used her command authorisation to override the lock on the door.

 

Stepping into the dimly lit room she spotted the bobbing blond head immediately, surprised by the degree of relief she felt at seeing Andrea was all right.  Kate crossed the room, seeing that Andrea’s eyes were closed as she listened to her music, the beat of which could just be heard drifting up from the sofa despite the headphones.  Kate found herself suddenly unsure how to proceed, an unusual occurrence for her.  Should she alert Andrea to her presence, thereby revealing she had let herself in the room and risk her ire, or should she just leave the young woman to it?  While she considered her options she couldn’t help studying Andrea’s face - the perfect bone structure, the smooth skin, the full lips. 

 

Kate shook her head – what was she, some sort of voyeur?  Watching while the other woman was unaware she had an audience?

 

Having decided she should take the latter of her options, Kate turned for the door only to be alarmed when a sound issued from Andrea’s mouth.  Kate froze in place, feeling like the kid that had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.  She swivelled back to Andrea, trying to ready her excuses, only to see that the other woman’s eyes were still closed.  Another murmur slipped past Andrea’s lips and Kate suddenly realised that she was actually asleep.  Kate almost laughed out loud – how on earth could she sleep with that racket banging in her ears?

 

Relieved that she hadn’t be caught out after all, Kate was about to leave when she saw Andrea’s brow crease together in a frown, her eyes still firmly shut.

 

“No…leave me alone…”

 

The faltering, pleading words surprised Kate - they didn’t sound like the normally confident Andrea at all.

 

“…I couldn’t help you…”

 

It was obvious Andrea was having some sort of nightmare, and Kate was faced with the same decision as before – should she intervene or not?

 

“…no, no…”

 

Andrea was getting increasingly agitated now, her head flopping from side to side.  Kate couldn’t stand by and watch any longer.

 

She sat down next to the young woman and pulled off the headphones, the music suddenly louder in the room as they clattered to the floor.  “Andrea!” called Kate firmly.

 

“…no…please…”

 

Kate grabbed the other woman’s arms to shake her.  “Andrea!”

 

Andrea’s eyes flew open, flicking wildly around the room as she tried to get her bearings.  They finally settled on Kate, a searching uncertainty in them for the briefest of moments before recognition dawned.

 

“What are you doing in here?” demanded Andrea, sitting up straight.

 

It was only then that Kate realised she still had her hands on Andrea’s arms.  She quickly dropped them, folding her hands in her lap instead.  “I came to talk to you, but there was no answer to the chime.”

 

“So you just let yourself in?” challenged Andrea. 

 

Kate noted how she ran her hand roughly through her long hair as she spoke and thought the young woman was still rather unsettled by the dream she’d been having.

 

“I thought perhaps something had happened to you, such as one of your seizures.”

 

Andrea was momentarily stymied by the show of concern.  “Well, as you can see, I’m fine, so I’d be grateful if you didn’t barge in here unannounced in future.”

 

Kate thought Andrea’s annoyance stemmed more from the fact that she’d been caught in a moment of weakness, rather than Kate’s presence per se.  Considering that, she thought it best not to press Andrea on what she had been having a nightmare about for now.  Andrea would most likely deny having had one at all in order to save face and then just get more aggressive to cover it up.

 

“An interesting choice of music,” noted Kate instead, tipping her head to the headphones on the floor.

 

Andrea bent down to pick them up, putting them on top of the stereo and turning it off.  “I like a bit of loud dance music to help me unwind.”

 

“It was certainly that,” agreed Kate amiably, casting a look at the other cds arranged on the small table by the stereo.  “You got all the ones you wanted did you?” she asked indicating the pile with her eyes.  She was hoping to steer the discussion onto more lightweight topics while Andrea recovered her composure and calmed down a bit.

 

“Yes, thanks,” replied Andrea curtly.

 

“Quite an eclectic mix there,” commented Kate, reading a few of the titles before peering round the rest of the room.  She noted how the books that had been all over the place when she had last visited Andrea’s quarters were now neatly arranged in a bookshelf against the near wall.  It wasn’t large enough to hold them all, though, with a couple of cardboard boxes at the side containing the overflow.  “A bit like your choice of reading.”

 

“As I said last time,” Andrea said her tone starting to soften, “I like to keep abreast of a variety of subjects, as well as just reading for fun.  You can never have enough knowledge.”

 

Kate turned back to her with a smile.  “Ah, is that why you like to ask all those questions of our scientists?”

 

“I just like to check they know what they’re doing,” said Andrea, shrugging, “It’s not a problem is it?”

 

“Of course not, it’s good that you’re interested.  God knows none of the others have ever shown much of an interest in that side of things.  I’m sure Theo and the other doctors are only too happy to share their knowledge with you.”

 

“You might want to check with them before you make such claims,” suggested Andrea, the beginnings of a smile touching at her lips.

 

Kate made a small laugh.  Theo had moaned to her that Andrea was constantly pestering him with questions, though she thought he secretly enjoyed it.  It appeared that Andrea was only too aware of what she was doing too.  “I suppose it’s only to be expected with your scientific background,” commented Kate, “And the field of work of your family.”

 

Kate immediately noticed the thinning of Andrea’s lips at the mention of her family, deducing she had made a mistake bringing them up.  She had thought perhaps talk of home and family might be safe, but obviously not.

 

“What was it you wanted exactly?” asked Andrea, her tone now icy and her body language stiff, “Since I presume you didn’t come here to discuss my taste in music or literature.”

 

Kate supposed there wasn’t much chance to resume the friendly conversation. “I wanted to talk about what happened earlier, on the training exercise.”

 

“I thought you might.”

 

……

 

Andrea rose from the sofa, putting a bit of distance between her and the Major as she crossed to gaze out at the night sky.  She guessed this was going to be the part where she got the lecture on using her powers responsibly and so on, plus a telling off for giving Chadwick trouble, though he had been the one with the problem.  She took a few deep breaths trying to calm her thoughts.  She still hadn’t quite gotten over how the Major had disturbed her latest nightmare.

 

“So…?” came the Major’s voice from behind her.

 

Andrea turned back round.  “Hasn’t your little lapdog filled you in already?”

 

“If by that you mean Lieutenant Chadwick, then yes, he has given me a version of events, but I’d like to hear what you have to say too.”

 

“I’m sure he gave you full and detailed report, though perhaps omitting the part where he threatened to shoot me.”

 

The Major looked shocked.  “I beg you pardon?”

 

“You can ask Harry or Tom if you don’t believe me.”

 

The Major’s expression had now been replaced with one of concern and thoughtfulness.  “I didn’t say I didn’t believe you,” she said, fixing her eyes on Andrea, keenly studying her.  “And you did nothing to prompt this?”

 

This conversation wasn’t going the way Andrea had expected, it seemed the Major really did want to listen to her opinion.  Andrea had thought the Major would have flown in to defend her officer’s honour as soon as his actions were called into question.

 

“I was just floating off the ground a bit, but I wasn’t trying to go anywhere,” explained Andrea, “I was interested to see if I could repeat what had happened when I fell from the cliff.  And then Chadwick got his knickers in a twist and started waving his gun around.”

 

The Major shook her head, her auburn bob bouncing slightly from side to side as she did.  “I think I shall be having words with the Lieutenant.”

 

Andrea had been so busy watching the way the light caught the red in the hair that she wasn’t sure she had heard right.  “What you actually believe me?  You’re not going to check with the others?”

 

“Do I need to?”

 

“Well, no…”

 

“Good,” said the Major simply, actually offering Andrea a smile.  “So, how do you feel about it?”

 

Andrea was completely confused now.  “Feel about it?”

 

“About being able to fly of course, it must be quite an amazing feeling.”

 

“Er…yes…yes...it’s…”

 

Andrea was at a loss for words to describe the sense of joyful wonder she felt when floating off the ground.  The only comparisons she could think of off-hand were sexual and she didn’t think they were entirely appropriate for the Major’s ears. 

 

Wondering why her mouth was suddenly dry, she decided she needed another draft of her pepsi.  It was then that she realised her mistake – she had left it on the coffee table by the sofa, where the Major was still sitting looking up at her with her soft blue eyes, waiting for an answer.  Andrea could hardly go to the kitchen and get another one when it was obvious she already had a drink.  Now she was thinking about the drink, her conspiratorial mouth felt the need to poke her tongue out and lick her lips.

 

Andrea quickly walked back over to the sofa and sat down, picking the can up off the low wooden table and bringing it gratefully to her lips.

 

“Hard to describe is it?”  asked the Major, honest interest in her tone.

 

“What?” said Andrea looking to her side.  She had forgotten the topic of conversation for a moment in her desire to just get the drink.  “Oh, the flying, yes, it’s difficult to put into words.  It’s…wonderful, so…liberating…”

 

Andrea could mentally kick herself, it still sounded like she was talking about sex or something.  Why wasn’t the Major interupting?  Why was she letting Andrea burble on like this?  And why was her stiff khaki shirt open at the neck like that, revealing the slope of her chest?

 

“It sounds fascinating,” commented the Major, finally taking pity on Andrea.

 

Forcing herself to look the Major in the eye, Andrea decided they needed a change of subject.  She supposed she may as well go for something that had been nagging her since the Major seemed to be in a receptive mood.  “Can I ask you a question?”

 

The Major looked taken aback by the request, and Andrea stared at her quizically.

 

“Sorry, it’s just that you don’t normally ask for permission,” noted the Major in explanation of her reaction, “But, yes, fire away.”

 

“It’s about the accident, at the warehouse…”

 

“Go on…”

 

The Major’s tone had been slightly wary, but she hadn’t cut Andrea off so she pressed on.  “Maria told me that the case had been closed to the police, that all the paperwork had been sent elsewhere.  I was just wondering if you knew anything about it?”

 

The Major didn’t reply immediately, considering her response before she spoke.  “I’m going to be honest with you, ok?”

 

“Ok.” 

 

Now this was interesting, thought Andrea, the Major was actually going to be candid? Would wonders never cease?

 

“I’ve had my own suspicions about that incident.  Something about it just doesn’t add up, and I don’t just mean the fact that twelve people were killed.  I mean the whole thing with you and your powers too.”

 

“You make it sound like some conspiracy.”

 

“Not necessarily, but someone somewhere is keen to keep the details a secret.  Remember how I told you about the order to prohibit discussion of it, after your phone call was cut off.  I was telling you the truth, I really don’t know why that order was made, but I intend to find out as soon as I get the chance to speak to my commanding officer in person.”

 

“All well and good,” said Andrea, “But are you then going to tell me if you do find out something?”

 

“Yes, of course,” replied the Major straight away, “I’m not deliberately keeping secrets from you.”

 

Andrea narrowed her eyes for a moment, studying the Major’s face to assess her honesty.   “All right, I’ll trust you for now.”  Though she had said the words, they still surprised her.

 

The Major looked quite surprised too, though also pleased.  “Good.  Well, this does seem like a night for progress,” she remarked.

 

Andrea hadn’t intended it to be, especially not when the Major had caught her off-guard to begin with.  However, somehow the other woman had managed to steer the discussion successfully, without even appearing to try.  Andrea merely dipped her head in acknowledgement of the Major’s comment.

 

“Since I answered your question, I was wondering if I could talk to you about something else?” continued the Major.

 

Andrea supposed it would be churlish to refuse and nodded her consent.

 

“All right.  Before I go on, let me just say that I’m just concerned for your well-being, which is why I’m bringing this up.”

 

Andrea nodded again.  She was slightly wary of where the Major was heading, though also a little amused that the normally commanding woman seemed so nervous about Andrea’s reaction that she had to prefix it so.

 

“You’ve not really spoken about the accident with anyone have you?”

 

“No.”

 

“I just think you might want to.”

 

The Major wasn’t really pushing, the tone of her voice was gentle, but Andrea was still uncertain.  Though the Major had mentioned this before, no doubt being witness to Andrea’s earlier nightmare had coaslesced thoughts of it in her mind once again.  Andrea suspected that the Major knew full well that the accident had been the source of her nightmare. 

 

“Counselling can actually be helpful,” continued the Major, “And it would be entirely confidential,” she added, sensing Andrea’s trepidation.

 

Andrea glanced to the Major who regarded her evenly, her blue eyes now shading to gray in the low light.  Andrea knew she probably did need to talk to someone – her nightmares had continued unabated since she’d arrived at the base – and yet she was still reluctant to confide in a stranger.

 

“Well, just think about it,” said the Major eventually, “And if you do want to proceed come and see me..anytime.”

 

 

 

 

-------------------------

 

CHAPTER 6

 

------------------------

 

Andrea opened the door to the recreation room and almost got bowled over as a young soldier came barrelling out past her in a hurry.

 

“Sorry!” he called over his shoulder as he dashed off down the corridor.

 

She watched him disappearing round the corner before she turned back to the door, shaking her head in bemusement.  Andrea entered the room where superhuman, soldier and scientist alike went to relax on their off hours.  Making a quick scan of her surroundings, she spotted Harry and Tardelli engaged in a game of pool on one of the two tables.  The other one was empty, as was the full-size snooker table next to it.  In fact there was no one else in the room at all, apart from them and Tom, sitting watching the big screen television. 

 

Andrea crossed to join him on the couch.  “Is it always like this when the bigwigs are visiting?” she asked him, referring to the emptiness of the room.

 

“Pretty much,” he confirmed turning from the tv to face her, “Everyone has to be on their best behaviour.  All the squaddies run around like headless chickens, desperate to make a good impression.”

 

“Is that why we got the day off then – they don’t want us embarrassing them in front of the top brass?”

 

“I never thought of it like that, but you could be right,” he agreed, “The Major probably didn’t want you asking the Lieutenant Colonel any tricky questions!”

 

“Would I do something like that?” she enquired innocently.

 

“Yes!” replied Tom as if the answer was obvious. 

 

He picked up the remote control and began flicking through the channels.  They all had televisions in their rooms, but it was more sociable to come and watch the one in the common room and Tom was nothing if not sociable.  “A-ha!” he cried having found something to his taste, “Excellent, ‘Soccer AM’ [8] is still on.”

 

He relaxed back into the cushions, before suddenly realising something. “Oh, is it all right if we have this on?  If there’s something you’d rather watch…”

 

Andrea smiled, “No, it’s fine.  Especially since Helen Chamberlain is quite fit.”

 

Tom chuckled.  “Yes, she is,” he agreed glancing at the presenter on the screen.

 

As they watched it for a moment, Harry and Tardelli came to join them, sitting in a couple of the other comfy chairs arranged around the television.  Andrea thought it a little odd, since there was no way they could have finished their game so quickly.  She glanced over her shoulder at the pool table, noting that half the balls were indeed still on the green baize, including the black.  As her eyes came back round to the screen, she spied Tardelli giving her one of her usual filthy looks. 

 

“So I’m guessing you’ve seen this before,” said Tom conversationally to Andrea as she was returning Tardelli’s look in kind, “You a footy fan are you?”

 

“Yes,” confirmed Andrea, “A die-hard Liverpool supporter”

 

Tom slapped his hand against his forehead.  “Oh no! Say it isn’t so!”

 

“Uh oh, don’t tell me…” began Andrea slowly, “You support Man United?”

 

“You got it!” he beamed, “The mighty Red Devils!  But at least I am from Manchester, what’s your excuse?”

 

“Believe it or not I was actually born in Liverpool,” revealed Andrea.

 

Tom stared at her disbelievingly and Andrea saw Tardelli and Harry had swivelled round too on hearing the information.

 

“You’re a scouser? [9] ” asked Harry incredulously.

 

“Technically speaking I suppose,” agreed Andrea, “But I only spent the first six months of my life there, so it’s not like I remember it.”

 

“Ah,” remarked Tom beginning to understand, “So where did you move to?”

 

“My parents moved back to Sweden with work, to the city of Uppsala,” she answered.

 

“So they were Swedish then,” deduced Tom, “Now I know why you keep coming out with all those incomprehensible swear words,” he added, shooting a grin at Tardelli, the target of most of those words.  As he turned back to Andrea his brow creased again in confusion.  “But you don’t really sound very Swedish either, in fact you sound like you come from somewhere in the Home Counties.” [10]

 

“Are we all meant to sound like the Swedish chef or something?”

 

“Er…no…”

 

She just raised her eyebrows at him, knowing that was exactly what he thought, despite his denial.  “We didn’t actually stay in Sweden very long either, to tell you the truth.  We moved back to the UK just after my sixth birthday.”

 

“Blimey, sounds like you were all over the place.  So where did you end up that time?”

 

“Birmingham.  Though we stayed put there then, at least all the time I was at school.”

 

“Birmingham?” said Tom with slight distaste, “Lucky you didn’t pick up that accent.”

 

“I bet she went to some posh-nob private school,” muttered Tardelli, “Rather than mixing with the riff-raff at the local comprehensive.”

 

Andrea fixed her with a dark look, though she couldn’t deny the remark - she had been sent to a selective girls school by her parents, but it had hardly been her choice.  All the strictness of it had been hard to stomach and she would have been just as happy at a state school, though she had to admit she probably wouldn’t have been taught half as well there.

 

Sensing the slight atmosphere Tardelli’s comments had generated, Tom switched the topic back to football, having a long discussion with Andrea over the merits of their respective teams.  Every now and then Andrea’s eyes would flick to Tardelli who appeared to be quietly fuming the whole time.  As an advert break came on the television, Tom excused himself for a moment, Harry following him out the door on the pretext of getting something to eat.  That left Andrea alone with the glaring Tardelli.

 

Andrea stared back for a moment, the heat in the room palpable.  “Look, what is your problem, Belinda?” asked Andrea eventually, using Tardelli’s full first name in the knowledge that the other woman hated being called it.  True to form, she could see Tadelli’s jaw twitching in anger.

 

The dark haired woman got up from her seat, stalking slowly towards Andrea who rose to meet her.  Tardelli came to a stop directly in front of Andrea, only a foot or so between them.  She had to crane her head up to meet Andrea’s eye though, since she was a few inches shorter.

 

“Maybe I don’t like you moving in on things you shouldn’t,” she said with menace.

 

“Oh for Christ’s sake,” said Andrea rolling her eyes, “It’s not like I have any choice about being here.  We’re all in the same boat, can’t we at least try and get along?”

 

“That’s not what I meant.”  Tardelli’s voice was still deathly low.

 

Andrea looked at her in puzzlement.  “Sorry, you’re really not making any sense.”

 

“I wasn’t talking about you being at the base,” explained Tardelli, her lips barely moving as she spoke, her eyes never moving from Andrea’s face. 

 

“Well, what then?” demanded an exasperated Andrea.

 

Tardelli made a scoffing snort.  “Like you don’t know.”

 

“Believe me, I don’t!”

 

Tardelli looked like she could barely contain her anger, blurting out her furious words.  “I’m talking about you fawning all over Tom, shamelessly flirting with him!”

 

Andrea stared at her in incomprehension for a couple of seconds before bursting out laughing.  When she noticed that Tardelli didn’t look like she found it in the slightest bit amusing, she tried to reign in her mirth.  “Tardelli, in case you’d forgotten, I’m a lesbian,” she spelt out.

 

Tardelli’s ire was unabated though.  “So you say, but maybe you just fancied something different.”

 

Andrea couldn’t help it – she started laughing again, bringing up her hand to try and cover her merriment.  “I can assure you I am one hundred percent lesbian,” she said finally, “As lovely as Tom is, he does nothing for me in that department, we’re just friends.”

 

Tardelli maintained her intense regard of Andrea, though didn’t say anything.  Andrea hoped that meant she was beginning to realise her mistake.

 

“Why are you so interested anyway?” asked Andrea, before realisation dawned in a flash, “Oh! You’re jealous!

 

“I am not,” stated Tardelli, glancing away for the first time.

 

“You are!” crowed Andrea, “You like him!  Why don’t you say something to him?”

 

Tardelli flicked her eyes back to Andrea, uncertainty in them.  “Do you think I should?”

 

“Yes, why not?” urged Andrea, “What have you got to lose?”

 

“I could look like a total twat when he turns me down,” offered Tardelli, “And then we’d still have to work together.”

 

“Hmm, I guess that is a possibility,” pondered Andrea, “But I think he likes you too.”

 

“You do?” said Tardelli, unable to contain her excitement on hearing the words.  “You’re not just saying that?” she added more cautiously.

 

“No, no, he definitely checks you out when you’re not looking,” Andrea revealed, “And I know when someone’s checking out a woman.”

 

Tardelli laughed at that, and Andrea was glad that they seemed to have finally been able to break the tension between them.  Tardelli’s body language was suddenly much more relaxed and she took a couple of steps back to put a more appropriate distance between them.  “So have you never done it with a guy?” asked Tardelli.

 

“No, and never had the desire to either,” stated Andrea emphatically, “And don’t you dare even say something along the lines of ‘but how do you know you’re a lesbian if you’ve never slept with a man’.  Take it from me, I know.”

 

Tardelli put up her hands.  “I wasn’t going to say anything of the sort,” she insisted, “I was just curious.”

 

“So is that why you’ve been giving me the evils all this time?  You thought I was hitting on Tom?”  Andrea shook her head, laughing again.  She spotted that Tardelli had put her hands on her hips in a stance of annoyance, but could tell it was more for show than because she was really angry anymore.  “Sorry, sorry.  It’s not funny, of course not,” noted Andrea, still smiling.  “But hang on, though, you were mean to me as soon as I got here, long before I got friendly with Tom.”

 

“Yeah, well, I thought you were just some posh twit,” allowed Tardelli.

 

“And now?”

 

“I still think you’re posh, but maybe not quite such a twit!”

 

Andrea chuckled at the honest response.  “I suppose it’s a start.”

 

A sound from behind them indicated that one of the men had re-entered the room.  Seeing that it was Tom, Andrea leant closer to Tardelli.

 

“Here you go,” she said in a whisper, “Here’s your chance.”

 

Andrea made to get up, but Tardelli clutched her sleeve.  “Wait, where are you going?”

 

“Leaving you two alone!” replied Andrea with a sly wink, making it off the sofa and out the door past a slightly bemused Tom.

 

………….

 

 

Andrea sipped at her tea in the messhall, watching the first of the young soldiers arriving for their dinner.  It appeared the official part of their duties were over for the day as they smiled and joked while waiting to be served by Nathan and his fellow logistics personnel.  She sat alone, but none of the men or women came to sit with her once they had collected their food.  Andrea considered it strange how there seemed to be a divide between the sets of people stationed at the base, in particular the rank and file squaddies and the superhumans.  They did mix on occasion, such as in the rec. room, but where possible they seemed to like to stick to their “own kind”.   Scanning along the queue, she saw Lieutenant Chadwick who caught her eye in return, giving her a dirty look.  She wondered what the Major had said to him after the training incident.  She hoped he had gotten a good bollocking.

 

Continuing her sweep of the room, she took in the sight of Tom and Bel arriving together, smiling as they exchanged words.  Seeing Andrea they crossed to join her, bypassing the queue for food for the time being.

 

“If it isn’t Duransay’s very own cupid,” noted Tom jokingly as he sat down on the plastic chair opposite Andrea.

 

“I take it your little discussion this morning went well then,” said Andrea, casting a quick look at Bel.

 

“Indeed,” was all Tardelli said in return, though Andrea couldn’t fail to notice the smile on her face.  At least someone was happy and in love.

 

“Yeah, though I can’t believe Bel thought we were an item!” said Tom wagging his finger between himself and Andrea.

 

Tardelli gave him a playful punch in the arm, obviously not too pleased to be reminded of her mistake.

 

“Hey it’s not that far-fetched,” remarked Andrea with a laugh, “I am stunningly gorgeous after all.  What man could resist?”

 

“Shame you don’t want a man though,” Tom reminded her, “Though it’s true you could have your pick if you ever decided you wanted to give it a try.  Only yesterday I had to tell poor old Doc of your proclivities, when he started asking if I knew if you were single.”

 

Andrea laughed; she had suspected that Doc had a bit of a soft spot for her and Tom’s information just confirmed that.

 

“Maybe we can return the compliment,” suggested Tom, looking round the room a few times, “Find you a nice young army woman?”

 

“That’s all right,” insisted Andrea, “I think I can manage my own love life.”

 

As he got up to go and get him and Tardelli a drink, Andrea glanced round the room too, taking a bit more interest in the other women this time.  Her eyes had almost made a full circuit when they came to the door in time to see Major Jarvis and someone else officious that she didn’t recognise entering.  The Major was in a more formal uniform than usual and Andrea couldn’t help her eyes drifting downwards to where a pair of shapely calves extended from the skirt that formed part of it.  As if sensing the gaze upon her, the Major eyes flicked briefly to Andrea, the other woman smiling before turning back to her companion. 

 

“See anyone you like?” asked Tardelli.

 

Andrea almost jumped in her seat, not having realised the dark haired woman had been watching her.  “P-pardon?” she stammered.

 

“You were casing the room, I wondered if anyone had taken your fancy?” clarified Bel.

 

“Oh…er…no, not really,” replied Andrea with some relief.  Tardelli obviously hadn’t seen where her study had ended up, since she had her back to the door.  It had just been an offhand comment referring to all the women in the room in general and not a certain redhead by the door.

 

 “Who’s that, with the Major?” Andrea asked, regaining her composure.

 

Tardelli craned round in her seat.  “Oh, that’s Lieutenant Colonel Parsons,” she informed Andrea, “He’s the Major’s commanding officer.  He’s actually the one directly responsible for the base, though the Major basically runs it.  He only ever comes for flying visits every month or so.”

 

Andrea watched the older man for a moment as he chatted with Major Jarvis.