After a long trip, we eventually made it to Cambridge. We screeched to a halt, sending up a cloud of dust, and leapt off the bike, looking around. The base looked the same as it had the last time I'd been there, just as run down and depressing as before.
'So where are we looking?'
'Kings College chapel, I think the post said.....'
'Yeah, tell me about the stuff I've missed, all these posts...'
'Oh right, we got cut off rather, didn't we? Hell, Diffy should have told you by now. So, where did you last 'touch base', as it were?'
'Well, HG had just taken over, and so I-'
We heard a hum from over head, and far away, at the end of the street, figures in soldier uniform were appearing, on motorbikes of their own.
'Oh blast, they've found me! Quick, get inside, I'll hold them off! Try not to use your powers, or their sensors will pick you up.'
I ran, as Cleo unhooked a couple of huge guns from her bike, and fired at both ends of the street at once.
I heard yells and the screech and crash of bikes as I vanished through the remains of the chapel doorway. There was a small pile of rubble in the doorway to the towers, but a quick glance round told me there weren't any messages in the main area. Besides, Glutton had apparently hidden it where other people wouldn't find it easily. A quick bit of clambering, and I was on the stairs. A fallen away chunk of wall showed me that Cleo was having to back towards the entrance, but she seemed to be holding off HG's forces fairly well.
I reached the top of the stairs, and looked through an archway. On the far wall, I could see 'TEMPEST!' burnt into the wall in odd, blotchy straight lines.
'Is that...spit burn? Eew. Inventive, but, eew. Oh great.'
The rest of the wall was obscured by a huge chunk of ceiling that had collapsed, and was lying at an angle, touching the ceiling and a remnant of floor.
Yes, remnants. Bits of the floor were intact, but a lot of it was just jagged chunks, attached to still standing bits of wall from the floor below, or hanging of other bits at an angle. To my left, where the exterior wall should be, there was just a massive open space, through which I could see Cleo discarding one of her guns by throwing it at a soldier's head.
'Right, no powers. I'm going to die.'
I started slowly across the floor, testing each bit before standing on it and moving on. Ahead, somebody had clearly tried to repair the building, and the remains of the scaffolding was lying across various fragments of floor, making an almost complete path round the collapsed ceiling.
I edged along a thin bit of beam, jagged stone on one side, a huge drop on the other. Below, there were more yells, and Cleo had vanished. I felt the end of the beam quiver, and leapt from it as it broke, falling down towards the guards. They looked up and yelled, seeing me, and started running inside.
Everything shook suddenly, and I had to jump again as scaffolding poles rolled away from under me. More bits of floor fell away, and I heard footsteps on the stairs. I started jumping across a sort of stepping stone area of floor pieces, making my way towards a safer part of scaffolding path.
'Hey!'
I stumbled, and had to grab a bit of pillar to stop myself plummeting to the ground.
'Cleo!'
'Sorry! They saw you, and followed me up. You'll have to power us down, I blew up the stairs on my way.'
We heard bangs from below, and a bullet narrowly missed my ear.
'Oh hell, they couldn't get up here, so they're trying to shoot us down. Use your powers now, they already know you're here. I'll cover you.'
She ran up the collapsed roof onto a flattish ledge above, and I saw a grenade fall past the gap beside me.
I put up a forcefield to stop the bullets, and flew round the slope to finally read the rest of the message.
It was co-ordinates for where everyone was originally stored, and where HG was a lot of stuff taken to when he first took control. It must be where his main base is, and when I get back to my time, I know where to go. It's a good bet for where he is now, aswell.
I was brought out of my concentration by a huge explosion. My forcefield shattered, and I fell onto a quivering bit of floor. Scrambling desperately onto a more secure piece, I saw Cleo's head pop down from the hole in the ceiling. I sent a huge gust of wind to hold the forces back for a moment.
'Get the info you needed?'
'Yep.'
'Know where you're going next?'
'Yep.'
'See the remaining guards down there?'
'Yep...'
'See the helicopter heading right for us?'
'Yeeep.........'
'Forcefield shatter because of it's energy weapon?'
'Yep...'
'I've only got two close range weapons left. Now, when all this is over, and you go back to your own time, you make sure you rescue everyone. I mean everyone. While you're dealing with HG, my attempts to stop him expanding his control while finding Ali are going to cause more trouble than you'd think. But not if you stop HG. If I find I did all this for nothing, past me will be REALLY pissed. Trust me. Protect her.'
'What? Yeah, of course I will. But this sounds awfully final.....
'As I say, all I have left is close range....'
'......? Oh no. Don't, really, you mustn't-'
'Yes. I really must.'
I sighed. 'Cleo, you keep saving me. All of us, so many times. I promise, I will make this up to you. I won't let you down.'
She managed a grin. 'I don't know the score at your end, but me and future you were at 47 me saving you, to 43 you saving me, before you vanished. Trust me, saving each other is kind of a thing we do. Now, four words: WHEN I JUMP, FLEE.'
She vanished again.
'Wait Cleo!'
She popped her head back down. 'What?'
'Thank you.'
She pulled a face, and vanished once more. I heard something being unsheathed, and a buzzing.
I turned to the missing wall. The helicopter rose into view, and the barrel of an energy weapon glowed.
Cleo descended from above, with a long knife, and a strange looking rod, that crackled with power. She stabbed both into the windscreen, crashing through and attacking the pilots. The rod struck the console, and sparks flew. I put up a forcefield and took to the air inside it, as the whole machine exploded, and fell, flaming, towards the remaining soldiers on the floor. I shot away from the devastation, trying not to look back as the flames lit up the darkness.
Too many people have died. Friends, innocent civilians, even flip-brains and soldiers. I've had enough. This ends now.
Forest of Dean, here I come.
