The Center: Tester - Part 12

By Blackout

Editor: Zip

As all ways a big thanks is to be awarded to Zip. Sorry its been a while. I finally got this out though. This is a chapter with both Rachael's and Claire's point of view. Chapter 13 is already written and should be coming out soon. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Ryan thought he had all the happiness in the world. He had his beautiful girlfriend Mattie but life is a roller coaster as Ryan would find. Here is his story as he goes through what can only be considered the biggest change of his life.
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Chapter 12 A

Claire’s Point of View:

I was to report to the briefing room for my first mission. I was still pretty upset about Rachael’s kidnaping but I was also kind of excited and scared because this was my first mission with the Center. Walking into the briefing room I found a few familiar faces. Of course Ms. Fine was present, but Kris was also there. Included in the group were Ray and Liz. What was most shocking was that a few of my close friend were also here. There sitting with them was Leon and Tony, even more shocking though was that Jasmine of all people was here!

“Why is she here, especially after what she has done to Rachael?!” I pointed at Jasmine. My anger was rising this was the last thing I needed.

“Relax Claire I am here because I wanted to be here. I am truly sorry for what I did. I am also very thankful for Rachael and how she told it to me true. She has guts, I respect that. When I heard what had happened I insisted on going on this mission. You will be attacking an enemy base, you guys need me.”

“Yes that is quite right. We will be taking a helicopter to try to catch up with the vehicle holding Rachael. Right now we are tracking the targets via satellite. I have made sure to contact law enforcement and have got a many blocks set up to try to slow them down. We are to rescue Rachael and then head straight to the mini base. The reason we head to the enemy’s mini base right after is because they have probably got wind of us knowing we have located them since their inside agent Mr. Trait has not contacted them. I want to get as much info on this new organization as possible so we are attacking ASAP!” Kris said.

So is this the reason you brought destructive power emergent, because we are launching an attack. But wait! Leon and Tony’s powers are fairly destructive but why are we bringing them on this mission? There’re plenty of other powerful emergents here.”

Since we are doing an attack on a base, there is more risk for casualties. We are bringing some troops but we do need some emergents. Since there is risk for casualties we can only bring people if they volunteer. We have not forced any student here to participate in this. They are all here because they wanted to be here” Kris responded.

“Ok! Sounds good! Makes sense.”

“Now we need to move quickly, so I want everyone headed to the helicopter. Ms. Fine will be relaying info to us from back here at the Center. I am the leader for this rescue mission and expect you all to follow my orders. Now let’s move it!” Kris ordered.

We all went as quickly as possible out of the briefing room and headed to one of the Jeeps that then drove us to the helicopter pad. Many other troops were moving around here and there. It seems that they were deploying as many as possible into Jeeps to escort them to the discovered enemy’s mini base. Kris and the rest of us quickly boarded the helicopter. The blades spun around and around. We were lifted into the air and before you knew it we were off.

The copter was flying high above the ground and we were covering some major ground. The roads and cars below looked like the hot wheels play set that I used to play with when I was a boy.

“Hey Claire, how are you holding up?” Leon asked.

“I am doing fine. But I will feel a whole lot better after this is over and we have rescued Rachael.”

“That’s the right attitude. We need to stay positive, Rachael will be rescued.”

I smiled at Leon, and then was taken by an impulse. I leaned in and pecked him on the cheek. I was glowing bright red when I pulled away from him. “Thanks Leon.”

“Hey everyone we have spotted the target. They have moved off road it seems. They are driving into an empty field now. Keep your eyes on the vehicle; somehow they have jammed our satellite. Luckily we have them in view already. Get ready! We are moving in!” Kris informed us.

The helicopter began its dissent into the field the vehicle we were in pursuit of was driving through.

“Ray” Kris yelled. “Take out their wheels!”

“Hear you loud and clear Kris. I had a good fight with Rachael today, and they will not taking away my next match with her.” Ray lifted his gun took aim and fired a few rounds. He looked like a true expert marksman. In addition, the fact that we were in a moving vehicle made his shots even more spectacular.

‘Bang!’ ‘Bang!’

His aim was incredible. Ray hit the tires precisely. His skill indeed made him a perfect marksman. The vehicle skidded to a stop. They were still trying to move but it seemed they were unable to do so now, the wheels just dug deeper into the earth throwing dirt every which way. The helicopter landed nearby and we all jumped out of it and ran toward the target.

Some men suddenly got out of the car and were holding guns. They were firing many shots at us. ‘Bang’ Bang’ Bang’!

The bullets came flying at us.
“Ahhhhh!”

It was my Leon. I took a second to glance back. A bullet had hit him in his right leg. He was on the ground bleeding. He looked like he was in so much pain that it hurt me.

“That’s enough of this” shouted Tony.

A giant vibration was let loose from Tony Upon coming in contact with our attackers their guns were blasted back. The men who were attacking us were now groveling on the ground covering their ears. The rest of us quickly covered the ground and captured our attackers. As we were instructed we let the soldiers that accompanied us handle the inspection of the captive terrorists. They were patted down and all weapons were removed.

Let me tell you that these men had a whole bunch of weapons on them.

I ran to the vehicle. Looking inside I sighed in relief to see a terrified Rachael tied and gaged in the back.

I opened the door of the vehicle and went right to Rachael.

“It’s going to be ok Rachael. We are here for you. You’re safe now.”

She still looked really worried and frightened though. She was crying and was trying to say something but could not with the gag on. So I removed her gag.

“Mattie! They have Mattie!” She cried.

Chapter 12 B

Rachael’s Point of View:

I found myself still inside the vehicle surrounded by those men who had kidnapped me. Opening my eyes I looked around. There had to be some way to escape from them.

“Hey Worm! She looks uneasy.”

“Yeah we should warn her, like we were told. You can have the honor.”

“Little girl, you better behave and not even think of escaping. We’re to inform you that we’ve captured your friend Mattie. If you don’t cooperate it will not end well for her or you. So just sit tight and enjoy the ride.”

I could not say anything, bound and gagged like I was. But the very fact that they had captured Mattie was making my blood boil. But it also made me very scared. They had captured her to use against me. These people were just cruel. How could they kidnap someone who this whole situation did not even concern? I was crying now a whole lot. How could they do this? I truly felt like a little girl now. Here I was tied and helpless and unable to do anything. I had quickly become the maiden in peril. It seemed as though I really could do nothing to save Mattie, now that I had become a maiden. What could I do? I was no longer a big strong guy. Now I was the beautiful girl of dreams. I was more likely to be protected then do the protecting. This whole situation hurt and I could do nothing so I just cried and cried. At least as a girl I could have no shame in crying in this sort of situation. In fact crying helped make me feel a little better, but I was still terrified.

We continued on the road. I could barely see out of the window though, but I could tell we were on a road. The whole time as we drove all I could think of was Mattie and how she was doing. We kept driving but eventual took a turn into a more empty secluded area, and eventually it seemed we drove off the road all together. We were in a green field now and the car suddenly sped up.

‘Bang!’ ‘Bang!’

I heard some shots being fired. They sounded like they hit us. I suddenly heard some pop sounds. All of a sudden the car swerved to a stop, out of control. I was thrown around in the back.

“Dang, we’ve been hit!”

“Try to get moving. We don’t have much farther to go! Maybe we can get the rest of the way.”

I felt it as they hit the accelerator. But we went nowhere. It jolted a lot and then they stopped.

“It’s no use! We will just have to call for help and try to hold them off until support can get here. Don’t worry about killing them just fire.”

“Yep, let’s do it!”

I heard a radio start up. “Yep, yeah we were stopped. Send support!” The radio frequency went dead. Then the men loaded some weapons and headed outside. A few seconds later I heard a bunch of gun shots going every which way followed by a load scream of pain that I recognized as Leon’s voice. They had come to save me; I started to cry hysterically again. I was just so happy. I had such great friends. I then heard a large vibration hit. My ears were stinging from the vibration, it was probably Tony. It looked like he had come to save me as well.

A few minutes later I saw one of the greatest sights in the world. Looking in the window was Claire. She spotted me and smiled. I was still crying a lot though, and I was also still very worried about Mattie. Claire got inside the vehicle and came to me. She started to tell me everything was going to be all right and comfort me. Dang, I though, just remove this gag already. I need to save my Mattie. After what seemed like an eternity, but was actually less than a minute, Claire removed the gag.

The first words I uttered to her were “Mattie! They have Mattie!” All the while I was crying hysterically. Why had I become such a girl?

“Wait did you say they had Mattie? The girl you were dating when you were still a guy” Claire asked.

“Yeah, they kidnaped her to use against me, so I would be cooperative.”

“These guys are so cruel. How could anyone do this? Here let me get you untied.” Claire told me.

Claire then finally untied me. It took her a while and eventually we resorted to having one of the soldiers carrying a knife cutting me loose. I then rubbed my sore wrists; the ropes had really dug into my hands. Probably because I kept struggling more and more trying to escape after I heard they caught Mattie. It was then that Kris approached me.

“It’s good to see you are safe. You are to head back by the helicopter to the Center. The enemy seems to be after you so we want to get you back to safety as quickly as possible. You will go with Leon, he got injured and Liz is right no healing him but we don’t want to risk anyone dyeing.”

“I am sorry Kris but that is a no can do. My friend Mattie was kidnaped by these people in order to use against me. I am coming along to save her. Don’t stop me!”

“I hope you know the punishment for going against orders.”

“Kris, I understand your point, but Mattie is like a part of my family I can’t abandon her. Just let me come. You only have one helicopter anyway… how do you expect to get back then?”

“We have many troops coming this way as we speak. I will complete this job and can get a ride back.”

“Kris just let her stay.” I turned around and saw it was Ray speaking. “I have taught her and she can handle herself pretty well on the battlefield. Also, just think if it was someone you were close to, you would not let it go easily. Also, I promise I will make sure to keep her safe. Ok?.

‘Sigh!“ Ray, if you say you will protect her, then alright. But Rachael better stay with you, at the slightest inconvenience I promise you severe punishment when we get back. Do you understand, Rachael?”

“Yes Kris! I hear you loud and clear.” I smiled at Kris. She smiled also but just kept walking and went over to check on Leon. He was in a whole lot of pain, but Liz was healing him and he began to look better.

“Thanks for that, Ray!”

“No problem, I understand how you feel.”

Just then many vans pulled up to where we were, and a bunch of Center troops got out. They seemed to handle everything rather quickly. The prisoners were loaded into one of the vans and that van pulled out and headed back. Leon was then put on the helicopter. I thanked him for coming to save me, but he just smiled saying it was his duty as my friend.

I was very surprise to see that Jasmine was also among us. Apparently she had come to support me. I guess there is really good in everyone. Once everything was taken care of, we were to continue on our way. I got into one of the vans with Kris and Ray. Everyone else got into the other vans.

It was very nerve racking as we drove. I was informed that we were attacking an enemy base. This whole situation would make anyone tense. We continued driving and then all of a sudden the whole ground began to shake.

‘RUMBLE!’

The very ground distorted as fault formed and the ground fell in. It was an earthquake. It was quite fortunate though, that all the vans stayed up. Everything was fine it was just very scary.

“Why is an earthquake happening?” I asked.

“Who knows just be grateful there was no damage and everyone is fine. Let’s continue on the mission.” Kris said.

A few minutes later I noticed a weird one story building in the distance. It appeared to just be an average warehouse.

“Is that the base?”

“Yep That’s the base. We are at the right location. I am just unsure of what we will find here. The place was surrounded by trees. As we came closer, all hell broke loose. Out of the trees jumped men in black suits like the ones who kidnaped me. They were shooting at our vans. There appeared to be about two hundred enemy soldiers firing at us. They were taking out the vans by aiming for the wheels. The Center soldiers got out of their vans and immediately returned fire. The whole situation turned awful in a matter of minutes.

“Everyone get in your positions! Emergents follow me. We will begin our assault!”

The rest of the emergents and I organized outside to begin our attack. It was then that out of the side of my eyes I noticed a fire ball headed straight toward us. If it was not for Jasmine we would all have died. She used her fire to block and slow the other fire. We all got out of the way quickly. It appeared that there were emergents in the trees attacking us. Few seconds later I felt air actually pierce me. Whoever our enemies are, they were stealthy and lethal.

“Hey Claire, can you stop these attacks?” Kris asked.

“I am trying to, but I can’t do it if I am unable to located where the attacks are coming from!”

“Damn this isn’t good. Everyone pull back and use our vans for cover. We can’t attack an opponent we can’t see.

The whole battlefield had literally become a hell on earth. Soldiers were shooting at the opposition and the fight had quickly become a stand still. Both sides were holding their ground. We held the area with the vans and a few rocks. But they held the advantage with the trees and base. We were literally trapped.

‘RUMBLE!’

The quake happened again and this times just where we were located. Many soldiers fell down as the ground gave way. The ground did not give away and shake too much but the effect was still the same. Who was causing these quakes? They were not very natural at all. Who ever heard of an earthquake hitting the exact same location? I looked around for any source. That’s when I saw the most amazing sight I had ever seen in my life. There at the door of the base was Mattie! My Mattie was there… but she looked to be in serious pain and was coughing blood. What had they done to her?

“Mattie” I shouted her name a few times. I would save her and nobody was going to stop me. Kris and Ray were occupied, luckily, so it was easier for me to escape their sight. I ran forward, out from where I was hiding. I was still her knight in shining armor and this was my duty, and I was going to save her even if it killed me!