Lucifer's Angel

At the end of the fifth day, the train finally stationed at noon. Even though the sun was high in the sky, it was still freezing out side. It wasn’t windy, thank goodness, but the wind was brisk and breathing in too much at a time burned my lungs. Huge flakes of snow, all about the size of a nickel fell from a clear grey sky, covering everything. A blanket of snow, at least six, maybe seven inches thick covered the angled edges of the steps, rooftops and the tips of lamp posts. Icicles hung from anything they could, extending down like cold, glass teeth, casting dark shadows of the same fierceness. Mary kept close to me, trying to keep warm. Surely, she’d never experienced weather like this before. The black coat she had on would be fine for winter in North America, but it was not near warm enough for the cold of central command.

“Here,” I spoke, shrugging off my old uniform jacket that I’d kept from when I was first stationed here.

“Trade me,” I added.

“No, I’m fine Jean,” Mary replied, trying not to shiver.

“I’m sure you are, but this will keep you warmer. It’s a bit too small for me anyway, and plus, I’m used to the cold.”

“Are you sure,’’ she asked, looking up at me questioningly. I nodded, motioning for her to take the coat. Quickly, she shrugged hers off and grabbed mine. I let out a quiet laugh as she pulled it on before trying to shake off the cold. I pulled the black coat up, over my shoulders, zipping it up. Even though it wasn’t uniform regulation, it would pass for a little while.

“Whoa, this is way warmer,” Mary commented.

“They’re lined with a thermal layer and black bear fur, as is the hood,” I explained as Mary pulled her hood up, smiling.

“These coats are guaranteed to keep you warm for a while. The coats that soldiers stationed at Fort Vermillion get are even better.”

“I would certainly hope so, being in the mountains and all,” she replied. “So, why exactly is that area so heavily fortified? I mean, there’s the huge fortress in the mountain gap leading to the Arctic sea, then there’s the wall along the border there, and to finish it off, there’s a naval blockade from one edge of the continent to the next, extending out into the water for what, four hundred or five hundred miles?” I stayed silent for a moment, thinking as we waited for Colonel Michaels to come back with the car that would take us inland to the command center.

“If I remember correctly, the blockade goes six hundred miles out. It’s all guarding the docking area that’s there. There’s a gigantic marina built off the coast line there, just beyond the fort. It’s where our water front forces are trained, I guess. We have submarines, ships, and so on, all ready to use if ever needed. The airplane hangers are on the west coast of North America and the East coast of Asia. They go from one edge of the world to the other,” I explained, sliding my feet against the snow.

“That seems… a bit extravagant, doesn’t it, even more so now that the world is unified?” Mary asked. I nodded slightly, smiling.

“Just because the banner of the United Public flies in every part of the world it doesn’t mean that there are no problems. Our Navy still has to deal with rebels, people who didn’t want everything to be unified. They went to such great lengths to stay separate that they fled to the seas because they had nowhere else to go.”

“That’s a long time to hold a grudge,” Captain Monaco commented.

“Make someone mad enough and they will never forgive you. Those anti-union groups had a field day when the war was going on. They would sabotage our weapons, steal supplies and then some. That’s part of the reason that the marina and airfields are so heavily fortified. During that time though, those groups were the least of a soldier’s worries,” Monaco chimed in, elaborating on what his sister had said.

“The colonel would probably know more about all of this than us, but, you know…” Monaco trailed off, trying to hide a subtle smirk. “That would require you talking to him.” Mary let out a scoff. She was still furious about what had happened on the train four days before. Though she hid it well, she was still upset. Mary hadn’t talked much, but when she did, she would only ask questions. Her voice continuously held a very flat tone and she rarely changed the volume of her voice. She wouldn’t look directly at any of us, either. Mary was doing everything she could to make her demeanor betray how she really felt.

I tried to ignore it, but the more I tried, the more I felt my heart ache. I could sense her emotions, her pain, how miserable she was, but there was nothing much that I could do for her aside from just being there to talk to, to keep her distracted. It was a helpless feeling, a feeling that I should’ve gotten used to years ago. That was one of the many reasons I hated my ‘gift.’ It had taken almost an hour and a half for me to calm her down. Unfortunately for me, she’d thrown some punches, determined to get me to let her be, to leave her to her pain, but I wouldn’t leave her, not even after she’d nailed me in the jaw with a wicked left hook. She had just lost the two people she loved most in this world and she was doing all she could to not break down and cry like she had before. I commended her for trying to stay strong, but it really wasn’t necessary. She was hurting, we all knew that, but she’d never show it. The chief was the same way and I’d thought about telling her that several times, but I knew if I did that, I’d end up with both sides of my jaw being black and blue. That was something I didn’t need.

In truth though, Mary wasn’t all that angry at Colonel Michaels. She was angry that he’d replied as harshly as he had, and I agreed with her on that. The Colonel had had no right to act like that, but what was really making her angry was the fact that she’d not been able to protect Miles and Katherine. We’d been telling her that she had all these incredible powers, but she could not yet use them. Underlying that anger, though it was hard to see, was an intense motivation that only the severe kind of pain that Mary was feeling on the inside could bring out in people. I had no doubt that Mary couldn’t use what she felt for her own good. Something told me she wasn’t a stranger to the pain of losing someone dear to her.

“You never did answer that one question I asked a few days ago, Mary,” I spoke finally. A confused look crossed her features, highlighted by the shadows cast on her face because of the hood of my jacket.

“What questio-“ Mary went silent and I turned to see what she was looking. The Colonel made his way over to us, two pairs of keys in hand. Mary sent Colonel Michaels a vicious glare.

“Monaco.” Major Monaco and his sister turned, looking and replying as one with ‘sir.’

“Danny,” the chief clarified, tossing him a pair of keys. “You guys have one car, we’ve got the other. Stay as close to us on the highways as you can,” Colonel Michaels added.

“Yes, sir,” Major Monaco replied. The Colonel let out a sigh, a cloud of white swirling into the air as he did so.

“Lafayette, Mary,” Colonel Michaels paused for a moment and Mary intensified her glare, but he seemed to ignore her look of hatred. “You guys are with me.”

“Yes, sir,” I spoke quietly.

“Let’s get out of here.”