Chapter 206

206 Helping Hand

But the agent wasn’t done at all, in fact-he just got even more furious, as if he was some sort of gorilla or lion.

“You think you won?” the agent muttered, the spit spraying from his mouth. “I’m not done yet.”

He charged towards Malachi, holding nothing back a single bit, with his eyes full of hate.

“I’m gonna beat you like a dog!” he roared.

I just watched as Malachi stepped back. The agent was getting closer and closer to him, and I just hoped that he would survive this. The agent fired a gust of fire at him, but Malachi dodged the blast and grabbed his wand in the air, firing it at the man’s chest.

I felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest at that moment; I was so scared. Malachi shot another blast, but the agent easily evaded it with a kick, but Malachi kept going, throwing himself at the agent’s chest and tackling him on the ground, while he continued shooting out fire at his enemy. He kept firing, making the man scream out in pain and fall back, while he got up again and again. The agent’s whole body was on fire, but he kept fighting back, dodging all the attacks that Malachi gave to him.

Shock was the only thing on my face. I had never seen anything so terrifying and yet so heroic in my life. My heart was beating rapidly and I was feeling as if I was going to pass out. I thought that Malachi was going to get killed at any moment, but he kept on going with his assault. Then I heard the sound of a loud crack, followed by the agent’s scream and fall to the ground, motionless.

Malachi stood up and looked down at the agent lying motionless on the ground, with the same smile on his face.

“Is he dead?” I whispered, unable to move from my spot.

.....

Malachi nodded, before he turned to me with a look of relief and smiled. “We did it.”

I just shook my head and ran over to the agent. “Oh...oh,” I muttered, speechless from the agent’s lifeless body, which was covered in blood from his nose and mouth. “He’s dead...”

“We have to get out of here, fast!” Malachi whispered to me as he grabbed me by the wrist. But then, more footsteps decided to erupt behind us. I looked and saw BMO agents sprinting towards us like a charging army. “This isn’t good,” I said, looking at Malachi in fear. But right at that moment, the faint-but rising sound of a helicopter echoed.

I looked beside me, seeing the helicopter as it is in the sky. The door was open and wide, with Fulton and the rest of the team’s concerned face staring directly at us. “September!” I shouted, seeing her finish one more agent off. She saw the opportunity of escape. “We got to go, now!” I shouted at her, my hair swaying crazily from the wind.

She didn’t say anything, barely muttering confused words. But then she nodded.

“Jump!” Fulton shouted from the helicopter. I looked by the side, seeing the storming agents that were ready to take us down like pinballs. “Ready?” I asked, looking at Malachi. He sighed and then nodded confidently, and I did the same as well as a certain confirmation. Quickly, I moved back, preparing my stance for the jump that I was going to find myself flying through.

“Jump!” Fulton shouted, and I ran-my legs almost flying through the air itself.

But I grabbed hold of the ground, and I leaped with the wind pushing me and the air lifting me through the sky. I set my eyes directly on the sight of the team members’ fearful but hopeful faces. I felt like closing my eyes, but the fear alone kept them open. I dared not to look down, not to take my eyes off of anyone in that helicopter. Them only. Them only.

Closer and closer I came, but the wind was beating against me, making me feel as if my balance was already wavering and stumbling. But I kept my eyes-only my eyes focused on them. Closer I arrived, closer I came, closer I reached towards the helicopter. And soon enough, my first step in the helicopter was made final-and I soon enough crashed inside the fullness of the flying savior.

“Yes!” Nikki cheered as I slowly got up from the rushing momentum that pushed me inside, making me crash into the wall. But only relief was what was going through my mind. Relief was coursing through my body, as I looked up at the team and at Malachi. “Thank you, thank you!” Nikki said with a smile and a wave of her hand.

“We did it,” I said with a laugh and a sigh, knowing that we just escaped the storm of our own making.

“Oh, my goodness, are you okay?” Tisiah asked, as he approached with a worried face. I could only smile from the fact that we made it-but that meant Dr. Mord knew we were coming. How did he find out we were here. Was there some BMO base nearby. I had many questions that I wasn’t sure I wanted answered.

“Okay, let’s get out of here,” Malachi said, slamming the door shut with all the remaining strength that he had. He slumped back onto his seat, and I felt like doing the same exact thing. Not gonna lie to you, the exact same thing, as we had been working ourselves to death in order to reach this point. It was finally over, and we were now free.

“We still have one last job,” Nikki said with a grin from ear to ear. “Get to Washington D.C.”

“Oh gee, I didn’t know that,” Malachi responded sarcastically, but he smiled in the end before laying his head back, sleeping the sleep of the exhausted. I wasn’t sure what the next step was, but I knew we would have to figure it out. We were alive, but that didn’t mean we weren’t at a crossroads.

“Is everyone okay?” the pilot asked us with concern in his voice, but it was more for his own benefit than anything else. After all, he was just as tired as we were, and he wasn’t the only one who wanted to rest.

“Yes, we’re good,” Tisiah replied, though we were far from being okay. “Alright,” the pilot said as he continued flying the helicopter. We had probably an hour or two left until we reached Washington D.C, so hopefully it wouldn’t be too long, and I would be able to rest up for what I had to do after that.

Winds howled, the storm raging overhead and growing stronger by the minute. The rain fell from the heavens, beating down on us in the chopper like a thousand fists, shaking us around. The storm was like a living thing, and we were its prey. I looked out, seeing only clouds ahead of me, sifting through the air like butterflies through the shattering rain, dancing wildly.

It looked so beautiful, but it was a bit scary as well from the beating rain, banging against the side of the chopper, as if trying to break it down into splinters. And what did it say about me? Did I ever have a chance to even stop it?

The storm moved forward like a massive beast, closing in on us in the blink of an eye. But it passed overhead, as if it saw people-and it’s rage slowed and calmed once it set eyes on us, and passed over for our sakes. I could sense the anger that came from it, the sadness, the torment, and it made me want to reach out and take hold of it and shake it for what it had done to me, but then I saw that it was far away, too far away to reach and fight, and I couldn’t do anything but sit here and hope that my life would be spared.

I looked at Nikki, who was sleeping beside me, and I thought about what she’d told us, and realized that there was no going back.

No going back at all.

***

The sun rose higher in the sky, revealing that the storm had passed, and the chopper lifted off from its landing site in the desert and began its journey to Washington D.C. As we neared our destination, the city came into view, a metropolis of millions of people who live there. It was hard to imagine how many people were living there. It was also hard to imagine all the cars that were whizzing along the streets at high speeds, but they were probably driving around in circles because they knew there wasn’t any other place for them to go.

I looked up, seeing the giant Capitol that was standing high and great like a beast, a grand beast of America, towering high above all the other buildings, as if trying to steal their thunder and power. It looked like the sun had been caught by the building and it was hanging above us like a giant jewel in the sky, with a massive crown and a body made of shining metal.

“Whoa,” Nikki muttered in awe completely, looking at me with an excited face, almost as if she were trying to convey some secret message that she was too shy to tell me herself. “It’s beautiful.”

“It’s pretty awesome, huh?” I asked her.

“It’s incredible!” She shouted, and I could see the joy in her eyes. Malachi looked outside but nothing seemed to spurt out of his mouth in excitement. Fulton, too, stared at the Capitol building with his usual dead-serious face, though he did glance at me at times, but I could tell he was still worried about me, even though he pretended not to be.

“Wow,” September said in a certain sarcastic tone. “It’s not like I’ve been here twelve times exactly, just saying.”

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Tisiah said with an expression that said he was speaking from the heart. “It’s amazing.”

“It is,” I agreed. “It really is.”