***Ethan and Ehlana – Special Report –
Restricted Access***
As we were wrapping up our day here at
home, the warnings hit us; and we knew that Cassie was in danger again. Mom, Ehlana, and I got that internal news at
about the same time, but there was nothing we could do about it from here; and
it was tough to know that Cassie was in trouble without getting much more
information for hours beyond knowing that she was alive. We also eventually knew that she was under serious
physical stress from the attacks on her, but she was using shields; so we
couldn’t find out any details about what was happening to her.
We were sure that she was going to need
help eventually, but that was more of a foresight thing; not from anything we
could sense from her. Michael called us
when Cassie missed their bedtime video and telepathic chat time; and then came
over when he found out that she hadn’t just run out of steam and fallen asleep
early. Mom called Uncle Adam to come
over to help too, and while we waited to hear from Cassie; Ethan and I spent
some time working with Mom and Uncle Adam on ideas we’ve had for long-distance
Magi-powered help that we’ve based on what Cassie did when helping Mom and Dad
with their little airplane problem on the return trip from their honeymoon.
Cassie’s escape from Gwyneth’s goons was
something that we sensed, but she still had to get home again, and she was
still protecting herself with shields; so that part of the wait almost seemed
worse for us – even as we were relieved that she’d gotten away from her
attackers. When she was finally able to
contact us; our night got very interesting.
Cassie’s injuries were very serious, and we don’t want to make light of
that, but we’re also junior Magi Masters; and what we collectively did next was
also seriously awesome! Mom linked with
Cassie; she gave us a rundown of her injuries; and then we took power transfer
over long distances to a new level as we didn’t just send the power to Cassie –
we did the healing from here! The attack
story needed to wait, but we knew it had been bad based on Cassie’s
injuries. The burns all over her body
was one of the worst of her medical problems, but she had a lot of cuts; broken
bones; gunshot injuries; and more bruises and contusions than we’ll try to list
here – though if you’re interested; Mom or Uncle Adam will surely write up a
detailed report about that part of the incident.
Mom directed the healing, and between the
four of us with that talent; we were able to take care of all of Cassie’s
injuries. Dad and Michael offered Magi
power and empathic support to all of us; and we collectively, for lack of a
better term, re-powered Cassie too once we were finished with the healing. Doing all of that from hundreds of miles away
took a lot out of us, but it was worth it; and would have been a lot harder on
Cassie if we’d tried to get to her first.
While that amazing act of Magi power was amazing for us, once Cassie was
healed; it was time to take a break – for all of us; and Cassie took time to
get cleaned up and changed while we got snacks and drinks to help us to start
making up for the extreme power drain.
Now we’re up to story time for Cassie. We linked with her again – and had a vide
chat going too; there were some mental hugs and kisses; and then Cassie told us
all about what had happened to her soon after getting out of her night
class. The attack began in the college
parking garage, where one of the women that had been in on the Valentine’s Day
attack against Cassie and Michael kidnapped her while she was getting into her
car. Cassie had gotten the danger
warning by then too, but also knew that she wasn’t supposed to just stop the
woman – Andie; though she could have easily done that. The threat used to get her to go along with
the ‘abduction’ was a video that Andie showed her of an innocent couple that
Gwyneth’s goons had abducted too as leverage to get her to go along with their
plans.
While Cassie went along with that, she did
have to stop Andie from hitting her when she got mad; and then she also used
her Magi talents to find out everything she could about what Andie and her
friends had been doing and had planned for her.
Forgive us for finding a lot of what happened next as being amazing too,
but it was; and Cassie learned a lot tonight that will help us in the
future. First, Andie’s phone gave Cassie
a link to the mercenaries’ office and systems.
That allowed her to look at everything Andie already had for videos of
that innocent couple, and between that and the internet connection; Cassie soon
found out that the couple had already been killed and their bodies and car
found by the police – the apparent victims of a carjacking-gone-wrong. We’re upset about what happened to them, and
I’m sure that Mom and Cassie will take a look at the couple’s family to see
whether we can help them through their loss, but we’re not going to feel guilty
about their deaths – even though it’s tough not to blame ourselves because they
got caught up in our fight with the Dark Magi.
Cassie was mad about that too, but she
channeled that mad into action, and while Andie directed her to the outskirts
of the city and their eventual destination of an empty warehouse; Cassie
searched the mercenaries’ systems; and got as ready as she could for what was
coming next. When they arrived at the
warehouse, Andie ordered her inside; Cassie then had to keep two more goons
from ambushing her once she was inside; and then she stopped Andie too when the
woman tried to hit her in the head from behind with her gun. We’ll skip the banter details that followed,
though that was darkly-funny too. Cassie
walked willingly into the trap they had set for her in a smaller section of the
warehouse – into the center of a ring of concrete barriers that were set up
like some sort of arena. There was more
banter with Gwyneth and the mercenaries’ leader; Cassie got more information
through the electronic links; and then things went downhill quickly when she
advised them that she knew that they’d already killed the couple they’d
continued to threaten her with hurting if she didn’t cooperate.
Now the story gets ugly and dangerous. Gwyneth hadn’t just wanted to kill Cassie –
she wanted her to suffer. Phase one of
that was a half-dozen sword masters. The
attack they launched against her was dangerous, but Cassie is rather amazing,
so while she was injured during that first fight; the cuts and bruises weren’t
anything she couldn’t handle with her self-healing. There was a break in the action while the
goon squad pulled their injured buddies out of the make-shift arena; more dark
banter; and then the second wave of the fight came from ninjas – starting with
a volley of poisoned throwing knives.
They weren’t ‘real’ ninjas, but those fighters were martial arts and
weapons experts; so Cassie needed all of her talents – including carefully-used
Magi power – to defeat them.
Cassie’s injuries were starting to add up
by then, but there was another pause for the bad guys to deal with their
injured; more ugly conversation with Gwyneth and Devon – the mercenary leader;
and then they tried to slow her down with tranquilizer darts. She was hit by a few of them, but some of the
mercenaries got hit in the crossfire too; so she couldn’t really explain to
them how she was unaffected by the darts while the mercenaries were knocked out
by the darts. Gwyneth’s plans likely got
messed up next as Andie got mad after taking a shot at Cassie that only missed
one of her co-workers because Cassie re-directed the bullet while dodging
it. Andie lost her mind after Cassie
insulted her; attacked on her own; and then was knocked out when Cassie
defended herself and then Andie was knocked out by the impact of hitting her
head on the concrete floor.
Gwyneth and her goons weren’t out of
options yet – though we’re not giving them any credit for being overly-prepared
with contingencies. The next part of
their plan was truly horrific, since their idea of ‘making things hotter’ for
Cassie meant pouring gasoline into the ‘arena’ and then setting it on fire with
Cassie stuck in the middle of the ring of expanding flames. Andie hadn’t been evacuated first, but Cassie
suspects that she was left in there too so that Cassie would try to help her instead
of attempting to escape. She did help Andie,
so if that was the adapted plan; it worked – though Andie suffered more
injuries as Cassie threw her through the fire and over the barriers.
Escaping the fire was Cassie’s next
priority, but as she ran for the same door she’d entered through, Devon ordered
snipers to shoot her. She avoided one
bullet entirely and one of the goons that had tried to ambush her when she’d
first arrived was hit instead. Another
bullet scored her back; and the third she took the hit for – after calculating
the least-dangerous option of the coordinated attack. After that little dance with the bullets;
Cassie resumed her run for the exit; used a personal shield like the one Mom
used while pregnant with us; and had to run about twenty feet through the
flames before jumping over the concrete barriers. The shield only partially protected her, so
by the time she landed on the other side and out of the flames; her clothes,
shoes, and hair were all on fire. That’s
why she continued to run at the only goon still standing between her and the
door; he was too-shocked to even raise his gun and shoot; and then she wrapped
her arms around him and knocked them both to the ground so that she could use him
to help put out the fire.
That’s a new take on stop, drop, and roll,
but ending up with the big man on top of her allowed Cassie to use her Magi
talents to put out the rest of the fire without anyone else seeing that she was
doing it. Once that was done, she
thanked the goon – and then knocked him out.
Since he had gotten burned too while ‘helping’ her, that was likely for
the best, but then Cassie needed him out of the way so that she could continue
her escape. She was able to do that
because the other mercenaries still standing couldn’t see what was happening
past the flames engulfing the arena, but she did offer a parting jab or two at
Devon before leaving.
All of her injuries were slowing her down
by then, but while she couldn’t run anymore because of the burns, she was able
to use a time-phase and make the walk back out of the larger part of the
warehouse in a couple of seconds – which was why she was back in her car
already and on her way before the mercenaries realized she was gone. The drive home sucked for Cassie, but she
knew that the fight was over; since none of us sensed any additional
danger. We’ve covered the healing that
we took care of once she was home, so the only part of the story to add here is
that after Cassie got cleaned up; she went outside because she sensed and saw
the SUV and the goons in it that were watching her townhouse. She didn’t want them waiting to see if she
returned – or come in to look for her; so making the appearance gave them the
information they’d come for without any additional trouble – though the goon in
the front passenger seat had to be ordered to stand down when he apparently
wanted to do more than just watch Cassie.
That’s it for Cassie’s story. Our video chat and link wrapped up after only
a bit more chat time – in part because Cassie still needs to get all of her
assignments finished by morning. We’re
not going to get much sleep tonight, since it’s past-two now, but we’re also a
bit fired up from the power and adrenaline rush; so that’s off-setting the
exhaustion that’s setting in and will likely hit soon. We don’t have anything else to add to this
special report, though, so we’ll wrap it up; and add more tomorrow if there’s
anything new to write about – though that isn’t very likely unless Gwyneth’s
goons try anything new after this latest failure. We don’t expect that to happen, but at least
Cassie is back to full-power if needed.
Let’s hope they’ll just go away and leave
us alone – at least until next time.
***End of Restricted Access Report***
Ethan:
Day four of exams and tests was uneventful;
we studied after school; and then we had a fun break for dinner and then game
night at the Inn. We’ve had a long day
and late night, but can’t cover the details here, and I’m ready to crash into
nap mode now; so I’ll just do that and call it a night.
Ethan – out!
***
Ehlana:
The news of the day that we can’t cover in
this update has made the rest of our adventures at school, home, and the Inn
seem unimportant, but we still had a good day; and we have reason to appreciate
that – and our family and friends.
We have one more day of testing and exams
to go, but then we’re basically done school; and next week will be all fun and
games as we get ready for the summer break and our teachers mark those exams
and write up our report cards. Taking
the weekend off is sounding good right now too – though we have the first
baseball games of the season starting tomorrow night too; so we’ll have at
least two games to play in or watch – Mom and Dad’s game tomorrow night; and
Ethan’s on Saturday morning. We’ll have
to see how much play time we get to have around the baseball and other work we’ll
need to get done this weekend.
That’s all I have for tonight, though, and
I’m just as ready as Ethan is to crash and nap; so I will.
This is Ehlana Proctor; coming to you live
from what is now my past!
