Ace took another sip of his drink. He seemed to be collecting his thoughts. Either that or stalling for time. Finally his eyes narrowed and he seemed to stare off into space.
    "I was on my way back from another mission," he said. "The target had been a man who could throw emotion into others. He'd been behind many of the recent nightclub shootings..."
***
Ace Journeyman
    I flew over the city thinking back to the man with the anger issues. He'd gone after the clubs because one had gotten his drink wrong, so he went after every other nightclub in town in order to get his revenge.
    I really enjoyed flying back then, but I wished I could feel the wind. Since I was in my Astral form, I couldn't feel anything of the physical world. Except for Anger Man...I felt it when he punched me because he was...different, like me.
Times were tough back then. Lots of fear. People were on guard—nervous of strangers. Scared of even someone they'd known for years. Always wondering when the next person would snap. Or when the next terror attack would be.
    Being lost in thought I hadn't heard the noise at first. But once the noise got louder, I noticed it. The sound of a vehicle...a loud one.
    I started searching for the noise and soon found myself teleported to a nearby street. If I begin looking for something, I am whisked away to it.
    I spotted the truck and was about to leave when I noticed a black and red aura to it. That usually means something bad. I focused in on the truck and was whisked to a seat in the back of the cab. Being physical beings, the driver and passenger were unaware of me.
    The driver spoke first. "It happens tonight?"
    "As soon as we get the text. They're checking the spot now. Greasing a few more hands too."
    "How many people do we have on the inside?"
    "Not as many as I like...but enough," said the passenger.
    "What are you talking about?" I asked, but of course they could not hear me.
    "The plane comes in at eight."
    "Cutting it close."
    "They wanted to keep the chatter to a minimum this time. You never know who's listening."
    I snickered a bit. "How true."
    "This one is important," said the driver.
    "Why?"
    "Our target is some mucky-muck. Plans to make a law that we can't let happen. It'll harm our cause greatly. The others on the plane are just a bonus."
    "Why would such a bigwig be on a public plane?"
    "He ain't a bigwig...yet," said the driver.
    "How does the boss know these things?"
    The driver shrugged. "He's got connections."
    I listened in more as they went into detail about the plan. The security people were either part of the group, paid off, or...replaced. Normally, something like this would be a lone wolf operation or more of a spur of the moment thing, but since their target was so important, they were working together.
    Once they got the message, these two would hit the fence and make their way as fast as possible to the designated plane. Once there, they would ram the wheel of the plane causing it to crash.
    Was something like that even possible? Could they really take out a plane like that? I could see it if the plane was at rest, I suppose. And I suppose it could work by how they described it; they were going to hit the wheel as it was still coming to a stop.
    My question was if they wanted to take some guy out, why all this? Why not bang and done. Or just have one of their people poison the guy while on the plane. There seems to be countless other ways to handle this. But one thing I've learned about bad guys over the short time I've been adventuring is that bad guys are weird.
    As we continued on to their position, they moved on to such topics as what they thought would happen after they completed their mission. The passenger talked about his idea of the afterlife. He said is sacrifice would secure his place in Paradise and bring glory to his family.
    The driver didn't care much about what happened to him, as long as his children were safe. Apparently they were...special like me. He worried constantly that they would be discovered, tested, persecuted, or otherwise harmed.
    "The time for the uprising is soon," said the driver. "And this guy will make a law restricting those like my son and daughter. I'm already worried that some hunters like E Ops will find them."
    I glanced at the E Ops badge on my jacket near my shoulder. I reached towards it slowly for a moment.

These were not the first people I'd encountered that told me E Ops were the villains. Was I a villain too for helping them?
    I was snapped out of my dark thoughts by the passenger's words. "People like your kids have been hidden well over the centuries, but the world is much smaller now. It's only a matter of time. Like with my brother. He never hurt anyone but E Ops hunted him down simply because he was different. They put a tracker on him and told him he couldn't leave Brooklyn. He accidently stepped over the line when chasing some papers for his psych paper that the wind blew." The passenger stopped for a moment. "They killed him for it. He probably would have graduated by now."
    I had to wipe at my eyes before I would lose it and start to cry.
    "All that matters," the driver said coldly, "is who is in control once it's all over."
    They then said some phrase that I didn't quite catch. Since I'm basically dreaming while I'm on the Astral Plane, things I don't understand come out as gibberish. For instance, if they spoke Latin, I wouldn't be able to understand what they said because I can't speak Latin.
    The two then got quiet for a while. Time seemed to stretch out as we waited. The soon-to-be terrorists seemed to be lost in thought. For the first few minutes I wondered what they were thinking. Did they have doubts? Were they praying? Or where they thinking about doughnuts? I was. I couldn't eat in this form nor did I get hungry, but it was late and old habits die hard. Or maybe it was simply because my body, which was resting somewhat comfortably at E Ops headquarters was hungry.
    At one point a bird perched on a branch near us. The two ignored it, but it seemed to take interest in us...particularly me. It seemed like it knew that I was there. I knew that some transbeings could see and hear me while others just sensed me, but could animals?
    It regarded the two and let out a sad song as if it wondered how these two, who'd been born innocent and only wanted their loved ones to have a chance at survival, could have become the thing they were about to become. I could sympathize with their motives. The driver wanted his kids to be safe. The passenger wanted revenge for what happened to his brother. I could understand his hatred for E Ops.
    I sighed and turned back to the window.
    I jumped backwards when I saw the bird. It was on a branch right next to the window, staring at me. It had to be staring at me; for when I moved, its head followed. It then gave me a look as if to ask me what I planned to do once the call came. At that moment, I wasn't sure if I could stop them. They were trying to stop someone from causing harm and fear to their loved ones. If someone threatened my family or friends...would I do the same? Actually...I knew the answer. I would. I did. I joined E Ops because my friends were threatened. They threatened to shut down and humiliate Dr. Richter for his studies at Neo-Geo. They'd also threatened to arrest me for being a transformed human.
    The bird continued to stare at me.
    But what about all those innocent people on the plane? There had to be another way. Couldn't we talk to this man, let him know what was happening? Just because we disagree with someone doesn't give us the right to take their life away.
    Which brought me to the other reason I joined E Ops. E Ops might be a little...gung-ho but someone had to protect people from the dangerous transbeings. They just needed to learn that not all transbeings are evil.
    And I kept going back to why ram the plane? Why not just quietly take him out?
    The bird ruffled its feathers and then chirped a couple times.
    They wanted to make a splash. There were other ways to get rid of this mystery man. This was not just an assassination, but a message. The two were right; sooner or later word would get out. This group was already telling people they were in charge. They could do as they wanted and no one could stop them. They were not afraid of E Ops or anyone else.
    But in order for people to know that they were the alphas...people would have to know about transbeings...They were going to cause this crash and then when they confessed...they'd tell everything.
    The bird chirped and hopped around a bit before taking off. I watched it depart. And then the phone buzzed.
    The passenger looked up from his phone. "We're on."
    Suddenly things went from quiet to high-octane as the vehicle roared to life. The tires squealed and then SMASH! The vehicle went through the fence.
    No one knew what was happening as the truck barreled towards the landing plane.
    What could I do? In my Astral form, I'm basically a ghost. I couldn't interact with the truck. I could only to my best.
I flew out of the truck and landed in front of it. I held out my hands and summoned the wind. The wind blew against the truck getting stronger and stronger until finally the truck slowed and stopped. The two perplexed men got out.
    "What just happened?" asked the passenger.
    The driver scanned the area with his eyes narrowed. "I think we have a journey-man."
    "A what?"
    The driver sighed and rubbed his forehead. "You never read the memos, do you?"
    "We get memos?"
    The driver pointed with an exhausted-frustrated point. "Just get the case from behind the seat."
    I scratched my head as the passenger did as instructed. He soon returned with the case. The driver opened it and started messing with something. When he turned around, he had high-tech goggles and gloves on. The driver started scanning the area again. He stopped when he came to me.
    "There you are"
    He suddenly charged at me. I didn't' move out shock and overconfidence. What could he do to me?
    I got my answer in the form of a right cross to the face.
    I whirled through the air and crashed onto the ground. I rolled and bounced a couple times.
    That hurt, I thought.
    Don't ask me why I could bounce off the ground like that. It's the same reason why I can walk on the ground. Something about subconsciously knowing that I needed to hit the ground because if I went through it, I would have kept falling forever.
    "Not so much fun when we can see you, huh?" The driver approached me and soon stood over me. He pointed his glove at my chest. An energy ball began to form in the palm of the glove.
    He blasted, but I rolled clear. I managed to get to my feet and summon an earth shield before he fired again. The blast hit the rock shield. The shield cracked, but I was fine.
    The man began to power up again. I held my hand out by my side. The earth assembled into a spear and jumped into my hand. The gloves were still powering up, so I chucked the spear at him. The spear broke on contact and the man went flying. He skidded across the tarmac for a moment. Once he finally came to a complete stop, he groaned then blacked out.
    The passenger, confused by all this, managed to get the equipment off the driver. He succeeded in getting the goggles on, but I wasn't about to fall for the same trick twice. I used the water vapor in the air to create a whip made of water. I snapped the gloves right out of this hands. As he approached them, I summoned another gust to blow them further away. He once again tried for them only have them tumble away.
    While we continued our game of "keep-away," military-like vehicles began pulling up. Each had the E Ops symbol on it. John Watermark and David Windmaker stepped out of one vehicle. John motioned to the soldiers and they moved in to apprehend the driver and passenger.
    "Excellent work, Ace," said John. Somehow, I'm not sure how, E Ops officers could see and hear me. It made sense, I guess, their job is to police transbeings. They had to have all sorts of toys that specialized in dealing with our kind.
    A soldier approached John and saluted. "Sir, Mr. McClang and the others have landed safely."
    John nodded as I asked him how he knew I was here. Since I was a ghost, it made using a comlink difficult.
John smirked. "We have our ways."
***
    "After that," Ace finished, "I returned to my body and woke up. And since John was back at the airport, he had someone else point a gun in my face." Ace shook his head slowly. "He always wanted me to know who was in charge." Ace sighed as if he was lost in his memories. He then looked up. "Is that enough, Joe?"
    "It's a start," I said.
    "Why did you need to know about Senator McClang anyway?"
    "He's the one that came up with the law that requires all transbeings to be registered."

Image created on the ProCreate app
For more adventures with Ace, check out The Life of Ace Journeyman book(s) at Barnes & Noble
http://goo.gl/uBgLmB