Dedicated to NerdyNinja1 ~ The first of those throwing cookies at me to get me through NaNo. (She also has an amazing story called Turncoat, go check it ^.-)

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Chapter 11 - Suit Up

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Athira opened her eyes, finding her sight once more back in the room at Indigo’s base.

The room wasn’t as clean as it had been when her mind left it. The once spotless furniture was charred along the edges closest to her, as if fire had licked their forms. The carpet below her was scorched, something she didn’t take as a good sign.

That’s only happened once before. She bit her lip. And that was before I got the amulet.

She fingered Talon’s amulet on her chest, noting how warm the metal was as she stood up and went to leave the room. Her cloak was in the wall indent where clothes had been last time, sitting there neatly folded but she left it for the time being, too caught up with thought.

Maybe Reader did do something to it. Or the Elites. She looked down, staring at it as if it could solve her problem. Or... maybe it just isn’t enough anymore.

She shook her head, extending a hand towards the door and channelling her colour to the door via it, sliding it back into the wall. No. It was enough. Rathe just had a window to strike when she was without Talon before she got it back.

Athira left the room, closing the door behind her and started walking the way she’d come earlier, towards the common room. Whether she was going to head off with or without team Indigo, first she had to pull Shift from her mindscape.

She still couldn’t believe he’d risked everything to try and save her from Rathe’s grip in the mindscape. What were the chances that he’d found a memory still retaining some of her power? And then actually managed to stay alive to shift Rathe’s essence enough to drive him back? She contemplated asking Talon exactly what Shift and he had managed together while she was delirious but decided against it for now.

If he can shift Rathe’s power...

Athira found herself alone in the empty common room except for the silence. She looked around, sticking her head in the kitchen with increased worry. If she didn’t find Shift soon, she wasn’t sure how much of him she could pull out of the mindscape.

As she was about to start walking through walls until she found him, a blonde head poked around the corner, humming to herself and interested in a small device in her hands. Athira recognised her as the elemental from the training room.

Well, this’ll be awkward.

“Talia?” said Athira.

Talia glanced up, the relaxed expression on her face instantly turning hard.

“You’re still here?”

Athira ignored the question. “Where’s Shift? I need to see him immediately.”

Talia snorted. “Question is, does he want to see you?”

“If he ever wants to wake up again, he probably does.

“Going after us one by one then are you?”

“If that were the case, I’d start with you,” said Athira. “But sadly, he did it to himself. Now where is he?”

Talia flipped her hair and started walking away, pointing at the hall she’d come from. “In the med bay with Raph and Kione.” She stopped in the door frame as it slid back, giving Athira a glare. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing either Owl. I’m watching you.”

Athira rolled her eyes. Like you’d be a problem. Either way, she took Talia’s advice and headed down the hall.

Whispers of voices floating down the hall guided the rest of her directions. She stopped, listening and trying to figure out where the voices were coming from. After what felt like ten minutes and two wrong turns, she finally slid the door open to reveal people inside.

Kione was at the monitors, tapping the screen so fast his fingers were a blur while Raph worked over Shift’s body, adjusting wires and other things Athira didn’t have a name for.

“How about that?” asked Raph without looking up.

“Still nothing!” said Kione. “Raph, if we don’t do something soon we’re going to lose him, his vitals are dropping--“

She entered, boots taking her across the floor smoothly and to Shift’s side.

“You’re done then I guess Athira?” said Raph. She nodded, focusing her colour into Shift’s body. “Guess that means you have Reader’s location, but we have this emergency on our hands at the moment so unless--“

She waved him off. “Stand back, Raph. This won’t be easy.”

“What?” Raph grabbed her hand, breaking her focus and earning him an annoyed glance. “Athira, you can do a lot of things, but healing isn’t one of them.”

“He fell into my mindscape,” she said, holding his gaze, trying to get him to understand. “His vitals are failing because the body can’t remember how to function without the mind for long unless it’s trained. I need to get him back before the link between his body and mind disintegrates beyond rescue.”

“Kione?” asked Raph.

“I’m no doctor Raph, and the Elite’s ones are all tied up at the moment with citizens falling into comas. I say give the girl a go if she thinks she can do it.”

Raph released her hand and she dropped her eyes to Shift’s face, focusing her colour once more to circulate his body, stimulating the senses in the absence of his mind.

That’ll give me time. Now...

Athira took Shift’s arm, fingers curling around his wrist while the other she placed open-palmed on his chest.

She searched for the place her mindscape lay, and once finding it, the place where Shift’s mind was trapped. She frowned, frustrated at her inability to find it before rethinking her tactics. Talon had agreed to stay with him to give her a better location point to pull Shift from, so she searched for that instead.

Talon’s essence called to her, drawing her conscious mind to his with ease. From there, she located the foreign presence and tugged at it.

Ah! Talon, Talon there’s something pulling at me!

It’s Athira. She’s trying to put you back into your body.

But we’re not done--

If I have to listen to another pun about turtles I’m dropping you into a pool of fire myself.

Athira couldn’t help the smile creeping over her face listening to them as she tugged Shift again. This time, he seemed more willing to let go of his attachment to the mindscape, although his colour was making it more than a little difficult. Every time she caught him with enough of her own colour to pull him, his would begin to shift and absorb hers.

“Come on, Shift,” she muttered to herself. “Gotta come out now.”

It wasn’t working. She glanced up, frustrated, and caught sight of Raph watching her intently.

Inspiration struck her. “Raph, make something with your colour.”

“What do you need?” he asked.

“Anything -- preferably something big. Just do it quickly.”

Raph morphed some of his colour into a large red shield that was surprisingly light weight for its size. Athira swallowed it with her colour and pulled it back into her body, making a grab for Shift’s consciousness at the same time. When his colour tried to absorb hers, she threw Raph’s at it instead. In the moment it was distracted, she forced Shift’s colour into the shape of a turtle.

What the--

With a final pull of her mind, Athira dragged Shift’s back into his body. The instant they were connected, Shift’s body jerked as his limbs spasmed out of control. Athira pinned down his legs and arms each with a slim band of colour while his systems became acquainted once again.

Shift’s eyes blinked open, the dazed look on his face slowly turning to awareness. He took note of Athira and narrowed his eyes at her.

“I could have sworn I was a turtle for minute there,” he said suspiciously.

She raised an eyebrow. “But you seemed so excited earlier, I thought you’d enjoy the experience.”

Athira released Shift’s body from the bands of colour and he sat up, rubbing his head. “Well that was an experience and a half alright.”

Raph looked between them. “I’m glad you’re okay, but does anyone want to explain what happened?”

Shift stretched his jaw. “I think I shifted some of her colour earlier, and when she went to meditate and find Reader it dragged me in too. Reader’s at the docks, by the way. Or at least the next disturbance is.”

Athira didn’t miss how Shift had kept his word, even from Raph although now she no longer had a choice in whether Indigo came with her. Internally, she shrugged. “He’s right. If Reader stays with his pattern of showing up, we’ll be able to catch him.”

“Good work then, both of you,” said Raph. He glanced at his wristlet. “We’ll take fifteen minutes to prepare and then we’re heading to the docks. Kione, alert the Elites in ten about our plans to give us a head start.”

Shift pushed himself to the floor, off the white elevated bed Raph had put him on. He glanced at Athira, giving her a knowing look. “So, you coming with us in the ‘Rainbow’?”

She folded her arms, her eyebrow climbing even higher. “The... Rainbow?”

Raph scratched his head. “What Zoe named Indigo’s private travel vehicle. Because...” He shrugged, the pain evident on his face. “Well, we’re like a rainbow when we’re together... or something like that.”

“Sounds like Zoe,” said Athira. She glanced at Shift. “Does that mean I have to put up with you the entire way?”

“We can sit next to each other and everything,” he replied.

Raph brought his wristlet to his mouth and pressed something, causing a little orange light to appear on the side. “Zoe, Talia, do you copy?”

“Yup!”

“Uh huh.”

“Suit up,” said Raph. “We’re going after Reader, leaving in fifteen with the Rainbow.”

“We’re still calling it that?” came Talia’s bored sounding voice.

“Tal, you said you liked it!” said Zoe, sounding hurt.

“Before I had to explain to other elementals.”

“Enough,” said Raph. “Clock’s ticking, girls.” He released the button and looked up. “That goes for you too, Shift and Kione. Athira, you’re coming with me.”

Raph led her to a room that seemed to be an oversized, teched up wardrobe.

See-through glass containers that stretched from floor to ceiling lined the small room. Some contained the same suits Colour teams like Indigo wore in every ‘official’ colour while others were empty.

“The spare suit room,” said Raph walking forward towards the furthest end where the purple suits lay. “Since we told the Elites you were a purple, I figure that’s our best bet here.”

She looked at the purple suit Raph was pulling from its container with disdain. “I don’t need a suit Raph. If you want to give me something, give me back my cloak.”

“It’ll help protect you from anything Reader throws at you as well as physical damage. Just put the thing on, if not for me then for Zoe.”

He threw it at her and Athira reflexively caught it. She held it up in front of her, examining its design.

The suit, like the rest of them was a full body deal that stretched from her wrists down to her ankles. The chest and arms were a deep purple colour, while the legs were a dark grey, almost black. The two colours were separated by flexible, silver bands around her waist, the same kind that would circle her wrists, shins upper arms and neck once it was on.

She tried one more time to get out of it. “It won’t fit.”

Raph eyed her, pointing to a small sectioned off area in the corner. “It’ll adjust to you. I’ll wait outside, but hurry.”

Athira stared at the thing, considering putting in the floor with her colour and claiming she lost it. Eventually, she sighed and moved to the corner, slowly pulling the silly thing on.

She looked down at herself. Like Raph had said, it’d moulded to her body, accentuating her thin frame as the metal bands finished adjusting to her shape. There was nowhere for Talon’s amulet to sit comfortably with the bands around her neck.

She bit her lip. It’d look better with a cape.

Athira closed her eyes, reaching out with her colour in the direction she knew her room lay. She placed her right hand flat against the wall while the other went through it, sending out a tendril of colour to find her cloak laying in the wall indent. When she located it, she pulled it back towards her, through the walls and whatever else lay in its path.

She closed her fist around the material and pulled it into the room, sitting it on her shoulders and re-attaching the amulet to the folds before leaving the room.

Raph pushed himself off the wall he’d been leaning on when he saw her and did a double take.

“Uh, how’d you get that?” he asked, pointing to the cloak.

“Secret.”

“You know the Elites don’t like capes and things, right? They get caught in things, there were too many incidents--“

Athira put her hands on her hips. “At what point did I come under the command of the Elites?”

Raph shrugged. “You’re right. Let’s go.”

Their next destination was the Rainbow’s hangar near the roof of Indigo base. Athira took in the craft as they approached it, noting how it seemed equipped to deal with land, water or sky.

Kione and Zoe were already there when they arrived. Raph waved a greeting at them, Kione responding with a similar gesture back while Zoe bounced on the spot.

“Did you bring the stuff I asked for?” asked Raph when they got closer.

“Staff, belt grabble, binders for everyone, extra communicator and... I think that’s it,” said Kione, handing over several objects that Raph promptly clicked to various places around his suit. They seemed to attach to the metal bands with ease, morphing to meet their colour. “Miss anything boss?”

“That’s everything.” Raph passed a set of what looked like metal cuffs intended for the entire hand and wrists to Zoe, who took them and clipped them to her waist band also.

Athira was starting to notice the subtle customisations of their suits, picking up on the differences between each individual’s one. Zoe’s had tiny yellowy orange crystals embedded in the wrists of her suit as well as a few larger ones around her waist. Raph’s had more than one hidden blade or grapple that she figured his colour enhanced rather than completely formed when activated and Kione seemed to have technologically augmented the metal bands, more metallic orange than silver for a billion different purposes.

Zoe turned to Athira. “Raph gave you a suit! And your cloak, the cloak makes it yours! What’s the amulet for?”

“Power binder, stop me from going haywire unintentionally as I’m sure Talia’s told you about,” said Athira absentmindedly. What was the difference in Shift’s then?

Zoe continued to ask her questions, ones about where she’d been, what she’d been doing and not all of which she felt comfortable in answering so she evaded it, but Zoe seemed happy just to have Athira around. The stream of questions only came to a stop when Shift entered the hangar with a less-than-impressed Talia.

Athira didn’t miss the death stare Talia was giving her as they approached. Raph went to say something until Shift shook his head at him, at which point his mouth closed again.

Indigo and Athira piled into the vehicle. Athira was directed into one of the back seats to sit beside Shift. Kione and Zoe were up front with Raph and Talia in the middle. She glanced around the deceptively roomy interior, noting how each person was given their own space with a small map and various other equipment in front of them that she had no idea what to do with. Instead she sat with her hands in her lap, listening to the chatter around her.

Once more, she questioned exactly why she was going with Indigo when she could take care of the problem easier herself without getting the Elites involved.

*+*+*+*

The Rainbow flew over Sirah, the buildings flashing by as Kione steered it expertly through the cityscape.

Raph watched Athira from the corner of his eye, arms folded and silently staring out the window. He rotated his seat to face Talia and give him a better view of the entire craft and subsequently, Athira.

Overall, she was the same as he remembered her, but there was something different that he couldn’t place his finger on. She’d always been quiet, always kept to herself but there was a change... something in her attitude that continuously evaded him. In the grey eyes that saw more than most.

It’s like she’s lost hope. He chewed on his lip. She’s alive on the outside, but inside... something broke.

Although for a moment in her reunion with Zoe, he was sure that something had mended, bringing back the Athira he knew roaming the streets with Zoe for a few brief minutes.

As he watched her, trying to figure it out, Shift poked Athira in the side. Raph half expected her to slap his hand away but instead, she merely turned her head and narrowed her eyes at him.

“Going to apologise yet?” Shift said softly, almost so Raph couldn’t hear it.

He wasn’t so sure of Athira’s reply, though it sounded like “I wasn’t aware I was required to apologise to a turtle.”

As the two continued to exchange banter, Raph noted how Athira’s face changed. There it is again, like with Zoe. Something happened during her meditation, something they weren’t letting on about. Despite how much he wracked his brains, Raph came up with nothing.

Maybe I don’t know her well enough anymore. Then he considered their words and frowned. The hell is up with this turtle thing?

Raph drew his gaze back to the screens in front of him, studying the map and notes Kione had put together before Shift collapsed on him. A flashing orange light on his wrist communicator drew his attention.

He accepted the call and to his displeasure, Discord’s face appeared in the air.

“Indigo.” The word was sharp. “I hear you found Reader.”

“We have a track on his next likely location,” said Raph. “We’re heading there, to the docks now.”

“I would hope so,” said Discord. “An Elite squad is being dispatched as we speak for the docks. Now--“ Discord’s disembodied head rotated, catching sight of Athira in the corner. “And what is the citizen doing with your team, Raphael?”

Raph licked his lips, letting out the first thing that came to mind. “We believe that Reader has an interest in her and she was useful in tracking him down. We decided as a team that it was in our best interest to bring her along. She’s able to defend herself well enough that she won’t be a burden on the mission.”

At the ‘decided as a team’ comment, Talia snorted and rolled her eyes. Raph didn’t miss the gesture, and neither did Discord.

“I see. We’ll talk about this later. Either way, you are to detain Reader in any way possible until the Elites arrive. We preferably want him conscious but if all else fails, knock him out.”

“Understood, sir.”

Discord’s face vanished as fast as it had appeared when Raph shut it down. He leaned back against the chair, thinking over the excuse he’d given Discord.

Reader has an interest in her. Great, now they’ll be all over Athira as well as Zoe. Good job Raph, you moron.

He leant forward again, looking at the map. “How long Kione?”

“Touching down on the water now, Raph.”

Sure enough, Kione landed the Rainbow in under two minutes. The craft bobbed on the water easily, the doors sliding back to give Indigo access to the docks. The older, huge buildings that housed some of Sirah’s biggest watercrafts were empty at this time of twilight, their contents still and looming within them. However there was a more pressing problem.

“You couldn’t have got any closer?” muttered Raph, looking down at the water below. “There’s a good five metres of water between us and dry land, Kione.”

“I got it,” said Talia.

The elemental stood up, one foot inside the craft and the other resting on a bar underneath the floor. She extended both hands towards the dock. The metal started groaning, and soon enough a thick metal sheet pulled away from the top and flew towards Talia. It came to a stop at her feet and she stepped up before speeding herself to the docks where she jumped off and sent it back.

“Next!”

Zoe was halfway across the water, crouched on the wobbling metal plate when Raph heard Athira’s voice.

“This is taking too long,” she said. She turned to Shift and gave him an expectant look, pointing at the open door. “Shift, jump.”

Raph was more than a little amazed when Shift simply shrugged and did exactly as she asked. That amazement only grew as Athira raised a colour coated hand and Shift reappeared, colour surrounding his own hands that seemed to be suspending him in the air. With a quick flick of her wrist, she sent him flying in a perfect arc towards the docks.

“Raph, your turn.”

He eyed her nervously, wondering if he could simply wait for Talia’s plate to come back. Zoe was only just climbing off with Shift’s help to steady her. Raph reconsidered which of the two girls he trusted to know their own capabilities enough and hung out the edge of the craft as Shift had done.

Black colour soon covered his hands, and he found her was able to grip it as if it were a solid bar. Once he had hold of it, Athira twisted her hand and he moved towards the docks in a similar manner to Shift just moments before. The movement was perfectly calculated, he was able to land on his feet without a problem.

Talia noticed Raph had joined Shift and gave an audible sigh. “What, you too? Why doesn’t she just bring the entire thing while we’re at it?”

“C’mon Tal, she’s just trying to help,” said Raph. “It does make it quicker.”

Kione and Athira joined them a moment later, one by colour and the other by levitation although where one dropped, the other remained just above the ground. Athira, though wearing her cloak, still had it pushed back over her shoulders and the cowl dropped. Even that seemed to relax her posture, unlocking her arms to her sides and drawing her out.

Maybe I can convince Discord the cloak is necessary?  “Where to now?” asked Raph.

Shift glanced around, counting the buildings with his finger and studying the ground. “It looked like we were standing over there more, to the left. Thoughts?” he asked, looking to Athira, who nodded in agreement.

They walked together in the indicated direction, slightly distanced from each other but never more than a few seconds apart.

Raph noticed how Talia had placed herself furthest from Athira in the line, when usually she was next to himself or Shift. He sighed, wondering how he was going to get the two to cooperate if Athira decided to stay for any length of time.

A definite possibility with Zoe.

Instead, he dismissed the thought, focusing his attention instead on the mission.

“Gear check -- communicators, colour, whatever else you need.”

Kione activated his scanners, orange light falling over the surfaces as they moved attempting to detect any potential traps. Zoe had a ball of yellow light in her hand that Raph knew she could quickly turn into a laser while Talia rummaged through her rune pouch, selecting a few that she clipped on to her belt for easy reach.

Shift glanced at Athira. “Feel like weaponising the turtle again?” he asked, holding out a hand.

She flicked his forehead. “You’re pushing it, Shift.”

Did he just ask to shift her colour? Raph wondered. Is that what this is about? He scratched his head. I’m so confused.

A few minutes later, Shift held up a hand to signal a halt in front of a building that was, compared to the others, relatively empty. “This is it.”

Raph pooled some of his colour at his hand, ready to morph it if needed. “Spread out, find Reader. Kione -- keep an eye on your scanners, tell us if anything tries to leave. Athira, you take the rafters and Zoe, light it u--“

He stopped dead as a faint ticking sound became increasingly rapid over the space of two seconds.

Raph went to call for a retreat, but two seconds wasn’t enough as a huge blast from the centre of the warehouse rocked the ground they stood on and sent a deadly spray of fire and debris flying towards them faster than they could hope to avoid.

*+*+*+*

A/N  - Wordcount: 38,345 [11.6k words left, TEN WORDS AHEAD #CATCHUP]