Cauldron Book II Part 3

"No! No No No!" I couldn't take it any more.

The creature rumbled - the same way I heard when I fought a creature like that today. It was snarling.

But then its face changed back into Holly! "Summer! It's really me! I'm really like this!"

"Cut the crap, creature! Holly wouldn't snarl at me!"

It charged at me - looking more like Holly, naked and wet. Holly's bigger than I am. I was bowled over.

The creature was changing into Holly-form from the neck down, and fumbling at the door! If I needed any other sign that this wasn't really Holly, I knew that if Holly wanted to dash down the hallway naked, she'd at least open the door right.

So I dashed for my helmet and dashed the "Distress" button. But I didn't have time to put the helmet on before the creature got the door open.

I tackled it as it got out. We tumbled into the hallway.

A bunch of senior citizens gaped at us. Oops, if Opryland was still holding conventions and I could go to Opryland from here, they could too.

Most of this creature had changed to human form by then. It yelled, "Help! She's assaulting me!"

Then Margaret Jean showed up down the hallway, near the stairwell. She was without helmet, like I was, but she'd brought one gauntlet. But she was still putting it on, so I wasn't sure whether it was the one with the flare or the rappel.

I yelled, "Autumn! This is the enemy!"

Without breaking stride, she jumped on us both!

I was on top, so I had to say Oof. But the Holly-creature squirmed out from underneath. When it got free, from the waist down it looked like a seal with feet! So it was turning back to animal. It had given up on fooling us; it was just here to fight.

Margaret Jean had her gauntlet on by then. She shot, and then twisted and pulled. Her rappel line went around the creature's neck!

Its body changed more. Its neck disappeared, and the rope slid off. It squirmed free. It ran toward the senior citizens. They cringed against a wall as it went past.

But then Liz came down the other stairwell, in full USIB combat uniform! She tackled the creature. But it was slipping free!

Even as I ran there, I yelled, "No!" What more could we hit this thing with?

One of the elderly people I ran past had a metal cane. I grabbed it as I went past, and whacked the creature's head.

It whacked me against a wall with its fin.

The next thing I recall, one of the senior citizens was saying, "Are you okay?"

"Where is it?"

"Well, the policeman came. Or the police woman, I suppose..."

I was still where I thought I was. I turned my head and saw, Liz and Margaret Jean had subdued the creature. The med tech had finally showed up; he was sedating it.

Emergency conference time. We got Yon, Norma, and the rest of USIB off their sofas. The team looked tired, but not one complaint.

Brett the electronics tech said we could track Holly with her Brain2Web implant, but only if she was conscious. Apparently she'd been drugged.

Keith the med tech said, we'd captured a real live Subhuman. Basically, a mermaid with feet. They're the mostly-secret underwater race that led to all those mermaid legends. Maybe some Nazi came up with that name... There'd been rumors that militias had Subhuman members. Now we damn near knew it.

The creature had dressed up as Holly, complete with Holly's equipment and ID. That meant she'd killed or captured Holly! Or at least she'd been with people who had. USIB was getting an interrogator here to find out more.

I said, "Just let me talk to it."

Yon responded, "Cannot do that, Agent Morgan. The interrogator has his job and you have yours. Your job will be to find how that bomb got past East Nashville security."

"Simple. Let me ask the mermaid. I bet it knows where Holly is."

"Agent Morgan, you are a professional at what you do. But you do not interrogate. You would be an amateur at that. Amateurs do the worst jobs."

"Professionals do whatever job needs doing. That job is rescuing Holly. That is the job I will be doing, any way I can."

"Agent Morgan, professionals will be doing that job too."

"Tell me when and how."

"Cannot do that."

"Then I'm out of here."

"No. You are not. Agent Eastman, Agent Hall, place Agent Morgan in custody."

Agent Eastman was Margaret Jean. She said, "No, sir. I'm out of here too."

Agent Hall was Liz. She said, "Me too."

"Agent McMillan, you have a rebellion in your force. What's your plan for dealing with it?"

Our leader Norma spoke up. "Simple. We're all out of here."

A cheer went up over the phone line.

Then a new voice came over the line. "Director Yon Schmidt, this is Vice-President Corrigan. You are relieved of command for the next ten minutes."

"No, sir, that is not how it works."

"Cut the crap and do what I tell you."

"... Yes, sir."

"Okay. Summer. Norma. All of you. We need you. We need Holly too. We're gonna get her back."

Norma responded. "Thank you, Mr. Corrigan. How are you planning to do this?"

"Well, we still gotta hash out the details."

"What forces can you command to help you?"

"Gotta hash that out too."

"You don't have people to rescue Holly with, do you? We've had a lack of force for the mission all along. The President was giving us the prayers of a grateful nation just this morning, but that's all the backup we ever get. There's no way it'll end at this rate."

"You know the President's got policies we gotta follow."

"I know. But we're tired. We want to go home. We never signed on for long-term duty. You told us you needed some quick help. We helped. Now we're done."

"You know the Army signs on for the duration, right?"

"Right. But the Army usually supports its soldiers. We don't have Army support. At fight time, we don't get any support. So we resigned. Resign means resign. We'll get Holly back. And we'll get home before Christmas." We cheered.

"I like the idea. But how you gonna do that without the resources of the U.S. Gov?"

"Oh, please. You are not our resource. We were always yours." We cheered again.

"Still gonna be hard for you without all that nice equipment and tech support USIB has."

"We'll match our support network against yours any time. Especially now that we see how the Government treats its support." We cheered once more.

"You still got that contract you signed with us."

"It's employment at will. The Gov insisted on that. You can fire us at any time. We can also resign at any time."

"Fine. But you still gotta give your equipment back. We got a job still needs doing, we got people to do it, and they need your suits."

"That's okay. Our team was never about the suits anyway. We're all about the team." (Citation)

After we hung up, Brett the electronics tech said, "We got Brain2Web from Holly. It says she's dreaming, but the signal came from Knoxville headed northeast at ground highway speed."

Holly wasn't dead! I hugged Brett.

"... Uh, thanks, Brett. They can't take Brain2Web from us, right?"

"Well, it's surgically implanted. They could maybe take it from you, but they'd have to capture you and send surgeons. So you're probably good. And you can post to any network, not just government."

"Good enough." Then I got an idea. "Brett, want to come work for Body Up?"

"Uh, yes, I could do that. But I can't bring my USIB equipment."

"That's okay. We've got equipment too. And thanks. Tell Norma I sent you."

"Uh, yes, I will. And you should probably know, Imperilus broke out of the county jail today." Imperilus captured me once. (Citation) Now maybe he'd captured Holly.

"Thanks, Brett. We'll be all over him."

I went to talk to Keith the med tech, who was guarding the mermaid. He just said, "Ms. Morgan, you are no longer any part of this project."

"Oh, fine. We'll work without you. But don't quit your day job."

So the mermaid wasn't going to help rescue Holly after all. But we'd still rescue Holly.