Chapter Five:
The Second Attack
Tammy reached the barracks door, knocking and gently nudging it open. “Is anyone in here?” she said. Aquila stood in the middle of the room, looking up at her, his bags open on the cot before him, a set of folded clothes in his hands.
Tammy’s eyes narrowed, focusing on the bags and stepping toward him. “Are you going somewhere?” she asked..
“Yeah,” Aquila said, setting the stack of clothes inside and avoiding her eyes. “I’ve been transferred. Just came through today. I’m heading out tonight.”
His voice was rushed, like he was anxious to head out as soon as possible.
Transferred? Tammy thought. “What do you mean, transferred?” she said. “When did this happen?”
Aquila put his head down and didn’t answer. He handed Tammy an official-looking document. “I’ve got the paperwork right here,” he said.
Tammy took it and looked it over several times. It was definitely genuine as far as she could tell, with EAGLE’s seal stamped on it and everything.
Tammy shook her head. “Tonight?” she asked.
Aquila nodded. “That’s right.”
Tammy’s heart picked up its pace. She gripped the files in her arm tighter. “But you can’t go,” she said, more passionately than she meant to.
Aquila paused in the middle of zipping up his back and looked up at her. He smiled sadly for just a second. Tammy turned red and looked down. “I mean,” she said. “Where? Why?”
She looked at the paper again. It didn’t seem to have any location listed on it.
“It doesn’t matter,” Aquila said, slinging the bag over his shoulder and walking past her. “I’m sorry, Miss Hayes.”
Tammy shook her head, following him. “If this is about what happened on the mountain, I don’t care,” she said.
“It’s not about whether you care or not,” Aquila said, still not meeting her gaze. “The Samurai Mask and several soldiers saw what happened, and I have to get out of here now, or else I don’t want to think about what’ll happen to this base because of it.”
“What do you—”
Before she could even finish her question, an explosion rocked the building, throwing both Tammy and Aquila off their feet. Alarms blared and red lights flashed over their heads. “What was that?” Tammy asked.
Aquila scowled, looking in the direction of the blast. “Exactly what I was afraid of.” Together, he and Tammy ran to the door of the barracks and looked out. A tower of flame rose from the direction of the building’s post office, where Tammy had been only minutes before. A bullet whizzed by Tammy’s ear, as familiar black-clad soldiers emerged from the flames. Both she and Aquila tucked back behind the door.
“Run?” he asked, looking at her.
“Run!” she said. They clasped hands and ran out into the hall, barreling down the opposite corridor. They had barely gone a few feet when another explosion blew them in different directions. Tammy hit the wall and slumped to the floor.
“That hurt,” she said, shaking the hit off. She got up and looked around. “Shumway?” she shouted over the flames and debris. The young soldier was nowhere to be seen. Tammy glanced back to see enemy soldiers getting closer. She quickly gathered up her package and started running again. “Shumway?” she shouted, looking around for him. She rounded the corner and ran straight into General Truman.
“General?” she said.
“Miss Hayes?” he shouted back, looking between her and the enemy troops running through the halls. He opened up the door behind him and ushered her inside. “In here, hurry!” he said.
Tammy quickly dove into the room. General Truman followed her in and they both took shelter behind the desk. Tammy took the opportunity to pull her sidearm from its holster and join him in watching both the door and the window.
“How did the Black Cross get in here?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” The general said. “I’m starting to think we definitely have a mole in the base.”
Before he could say anything more, another explosion rocked the building and his office door flew off its hinges. Tammy and the general ducked down to take cover.
“Well, well, well,” said a familiar voice. Tammy peeked up to see the Samurai Mask stepping into the room, flanked by two soldiers. His ruined breastplate seemed to have been repaired over the last two days, but only crudely, thick gray plaster filling in the cracks. “General Gaylyn Truman and Agent Tammy Hayes,” he said, drawing his katana. Unlike the breastplate, this had been restored to its perfect state. “My two favorite targets.”
Tammy and the general looked at each other. The general covertly gestured with his finger toward the back wall. Tammy nodded. She cocked her gun. Covering the general, she rose from behind the desk, firing off two pinpoint shots and dropping both of the Samurai Mask’s guards. Behind her, a secret door opened in the wall. “Through here,” the general shouted. “Hurry!”
Still firing at the samurai, specifically targeting his messy patch job, Tammy ducked into the tunnel and the general followed her, sealing the door up behind him and making sure the secret code was wiped.
“That should give us some time,” he said. “Let’s go.”
The secret door had opened into a small secret passageway used for quick getaways. Only a select few at the base knew of its existence. The general looked back. “They seem to be after us,” he said.
Tammy nodded. She chewed her lip for a second. “I think they might be after Shumway too.”
General Truman looked at her in confusion. “Why would they be after Shumway?” he asked.
“I don’t know, exactly,” Tammy said. She looked around for a moment, deciding whether or not to tell him anything. “When we were up on the mountain during the Black Cross attack two days ago, he may have displayed . . . superhuman abilities.”
“Superhuman abilities?” the general said, reaching the end of the passageway and punching in the secret code to get out. “What do you mean?”
The secret door slid open, revealing a squad of Black Cross soldiers waiting for them, guns drawn. Tammy’s eyes widened. She looked at the general, who swallowed. They both backed up quickly only to find the point of a katana waiting for them.
“I don’t think so,” the Samurai Mask said. He pushed them forward with his sword, edging them out of the building. Truman and Tammy quickly stepped sideways to keep their backs to the brick wall beside them, forcing the Samurai Mask to step out and join his troops. Tammy fingered her pistol. General Truman looked around, scanning their options.
He leaned down close to Tammy. “When I give the signal,” he said. “Run. Find Shumway and get out of here.”
He eyed the samurai, keeping his focus on his katana’s razor-sharp tip.
“What about you?” Tammy asked, keeping her gun pointed at the enemy soldiers surrounding the samurai.
“Don’t worry about it,” the general said. Then, without warning, he suddenly shoved Tammy out away from the building and away from the soldiers. “Run!” he shouted. He turned and charged the soldiers head on.
Tammy stared, openmouthed. Torn for a second, she shook her head and started running. The general fought valiantly through the soldiers, reaching through them and grabbing hold of the straps on the samurai’s armor and holding him fast. He tore open his coat and pulled out a grenade. The samurai’s eyes widened and he fought desperately to pull away. Seconds later, the grenade went off, taking the general and most of the soldiers with it.
Tammy stumbled and tripped when she heard the explosion. She turned to see the building in flames, bodies scattered everywhere. “General?” she shouted, starting to run back.
A part of the building crumbled, flames climbing up the wall. “General!” she shouted again. Tammy’s heart sank and her knees buckled. He was dead.
Something moved among the bodies scattered around the blast. “General?” she asked cautiously. A single figure picked itself up out of the pile of bodies. The Samurai Mask rose, his helmet smoking, his breastplate torn free, leaving only the black padding underneath, still very much alive.
General Truman’s final words ran through Tammy’s head. “Run!”
Tammy took off running. “You’re next, Miss Hayes,” the samurai shouted. She heard his armored feet start clashing against the pavement. She looked back to see him quickly closing the distance between them, surprisingly fast despite his heavy armor. She cocked her gun and fired several shots at him. The padding covering his chest must have been bulletproof, because he simply powered through them, slamming into Tammy at full force, throwing her through the air and across the ground. He stepped up over her just as he had done on the mountain two days earlier.
“Time to die, Miss Hayes.”
He raised his sword into the air. Tammy raised her arm to cover her face. Just like before, the blow never came. Tammy lowered her arm to see Aquila standing between them, gripping the samurai’s blade with his bare hand. His clothes were dirty and torn, but he looked none the worse for wear.
“So,” he said, flashing that slight grin Tammy loved as he looked back and forth between her and the samurai. “I see we’re all back here again.”
He clenched his fist, crumpling the metal blade once again. The samurai pulled hard on the sword, growling at him. “Let go!” he said.
Ignoring him, Aquila turned to face Tammy, offering her a hand up. “Nice to see you alive, Miss Hayes,” he said, tipping his hat. “I thought I lost you for a second there.”
Tammy got back to her feet, relief flooding through her. “I did too,” she said.
“As for you,” Aquila said, turning back to the samurai. He yanked the sword from his hands and threw it away. “I thought you had learned your lesson the first time.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” the Samurai Mask said, glaring at him. “I did. I brought a new friend along to play this time.”
A blast of sudden heat flashed by Tammy’s cheek and struck Aquila square in the back. He stumbled forward, his eyes slowly growing wider and his muscles tensing. He fell to his knees as his back burst into noxious green flames.
“Shumway?” Tammy said.
Aquila didn’t answer, his fists clenching on the ground, his face rigid with pain. Tammy looked at his back, now covered in sticky green substance that boiled and hissed on his skin. Looking closer, she recognized it as an experimental incendiary substance developed years before by EAGLE, eventually scrapped because the pain it inflicted on an ordinary human was deemed too cruel.
A cold laugh broke through the night. Aquila and Tammy both turned to see a tall figure step out of the shadows toward them. He wore what looked like an African tribal mask shaped to look like the sun and held a large staff carved at the top to look like a flame. A bright red jewel glowed at the center.
“Well,” the figure said, sounding mildly amused by Aquila’s suffering. “And least we know you can still feel pain, eh, soldier boy?”
Aquila clenched his teeth, turning to face the newcomer and stumbling to his feet, leaning on Tammy for support. Tammy was careful to avoid touching the substance on his back. “Who are you?” he asked.
The figure laughed, tilting his head to look him over. “Glad you asked,” he said, bowing. “I am the Star of Africa, and one of the fuhrer’s most trusted confidants. I am the Sun Mask. It is a pleasure to meet you, Aquila Shumway, or should I say, Sean Cassidy.”
Aquila’s eyes went wide. Tammy looked up at him in confusion.
“You’ve given the fuhrer a lot of trouble, my friend,” the Sun Mask carried on. “He would really like you and the assets you possess back under his control.” He twirled his staff so that its gem glinted. “And I am here to oblige him.”
A large vein on Aquila’s forehead looked like it was about to burst from the pain. He glared at the Sun Mask, his eyes filled with determination. Tammy studied him, trying to piece together what was going on. For the moment though, he needed her held. She steeled herself and placed herself in front of him. “You’ll get him over my dead body,” she said, holding her gun at the ready.
The Sun Mask and the Samurai Mask both looked at each other. The Samurai Mask started laughed and shook his head. “Well, if you insist,” the Sun Mask said. He held up his staff and the gem flared brightly. Aquila moved at lightning speed, despite the pain, pushing Tammy out of the way and charging the Sun Mask before he could fire. An explosion of intense heat struck the ground just behind where Tammy had been standing. Aquila grabbed the staff, balling up his fist and punching the Sun Mask square in the gut with enough force to kill a lesser man. The Sun Mask however merely stumbled.
“Now that’s what I like to see,” the Sun Mask said, clutching his gut and charging at Aquila. The pair traded blows, Aquila hampered by the green fire etching its way across his back. The Sun Mask held his own, taking every blow Aquila dished out.
Tammy stepped back as they fought. Sudden movement drew her attention to the left. The Samurai Mask had snuck around their fight, making a beeline for his dropped sword.
Tammy took aim and shot the sword, sending it skittering away down the pavement. “I don’t think so,” she said.
The samurai looked up at her and scowled with his eyes. “I’ve had just about enough of you, Miss Hayes,” he said. He charged toward her. Tammy took aim, this time not aiming for his padded torso, instead striking true at one of the straps holding his helmet and mask in place. She let him slam into her, knocking her to the ground, gripping her hands instead around the edges of his helmet and tearing it away to get a look at the man underneath.
“Ban!”
David Ban looked up at her, his normally friendly face twisted into a cruel sneer as he held her down.
“Surprised, Miss Hayes?” he said.
Tammy stared at him, trying to process this sudden revelation while struggling to get out of her current predicament. He was surprisingly strong for his smaller frame. Nearby, Aquila still fought hard against the Sun Mask. No matter what he threw at him, the Sun Mask took it in stride even though any other opponent would have collapsed by now. All the while, the intense pain in his back wouldn’t let up and he didn’t know how much longer he could hold out. He glanced sideways to see Tammy being held down by David Ban wearing what was left of the samurai’s armor.
He looked one last time at the Sun Mask and back at Tammy and Ban. With one last ditch effort, he threw a kick at the Sun Mask’s stomach, at least throwing him back a little ways so he could break away and run to Tammy. He swiped one hand through the substance on his back, ran up, and smeared it all over Ban’s exposed face. Ban let out a wail of pain as the green substance started to steam and boil across his skin, letting Tammy go and falling backwards. Aquila extended his clean hand to Tammy and pulled her up.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” he said, sweat pouring down his forehead. Tammy nodded and both took off running as fast as they could.
The Sun Mask remained where he stood, watching them run off with calm indifference. His work here was done for the moment. He tenderly felt the spots where Aquila had struck him. It took everything he had in him to not cry out from the pain. Amazing, he thought. What he could do with that kind of power.
“What are you doing?” Ban demanded, crawling over to him. His face was already heavily disfigured, the skin melting off and one eye sealed shut. He clenched his teeth and struggled to his feet. “They’re getting away. We’ve got to go after them.”
The Sun Mask ignored him, feeling another couple of spots.
Ban gritted his teeth, scowling at being ignored. “Hey!” he shouted, grabbing the Sun Mask’s shoulder. “Didn’t you hear me? They’re getting away!”
The Sun Mask looked over at him, as if just barely registering he was there. “So sorry,” he said genially. “I wasn’t paying attention. Who were you again?”
Ban’s one good eye looked around wildly. “What?” he said. He held up his gauntleted hand. “You know who I am. I am the Samurai Mask.”
The Sun Mask tilted his head. “You used to be the Samurai Mask? Really?”
Ban breathed in and out, trying his best to keep it together. “I am still the Samurai Mask,” he said.
The Sun Mask leaned toward him, close enough to smell the incendiary fumes coming off his face. “No, you’re not,” he said.
Ban shook his head, slight fear creeping into his expression. “What?” he asked.
The Sun Mask raised his staff. “You gave up the identity of the Samurai Mask the moment you let that woman remove your mask. Now, you are nothing to us. You are less than even the dust of the Earth.”
His staff’s gem glimmered brightly. “You are relieved of your command, Samurai Mask.”
David Ban turned and ran as fast as he could. A blaze of fiery heat ripped from the head of the Sun Mask’s staff, consuming the former samurai in 2000-degree flames. He let out one final scream before crumbling to ash and glowing-hot pieces of cast iron.
Meanwhile, Tammy and Aquila ran hand in hand across the base. More soldiers ran around them, heading for the live helicopters waiting for them at the far end. The battle was long since over. The base had fallen and EAGLE was now in full retreat.
“They let us go?” Tammy said, looking back.
Aquila looked back, his jaw tight, his other hand clenched tightly as steam poured from it. His back was red and raw, but the incendiary seemed to have burned itself out for the most part. He didn’t seem to be in quite as much pain as before. “That means they probably have something else up their sleeve,” he said. He shook his head. “I should have gotten out of here two days ago,” he muttered to himself. He looked around at all the damage. “And now this base is destroyed and General Truman’s dead.”
“It’s not your fault,” Tammy said.
Aquila scowled and looked away. “Yes it is.” He looked toward the nearest helicopter. “Come on,” he said.
They hurried over to it, and Aquila helped Tammy climb on board. When Tammy turned around to help him up, he stepped back, looking up at her with sad blue eyes.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I have to go, Miss Hayes,” he said. “They’re after me. You’ll all have a better chance of getting away safely if I’m not with you.”
“We can protect you,” Tammy said. “The people I work for. Whatever all this is, we can take care of it.”
Aquila closed his eyes and shook his head, reaching out and grasping her hand for a moment. “Goodbye, Tammy,” he said, calling her by her first name for the first time. He let go and started to move away.
“Wait!” she said. Aquila stopped for a second. Tammy reached into her back pocket and pulled out a small card. “Take this. When all this is over, and you’ve gotten away, come find me in Silver City. This card will tell you what to do.”
Aquila shook his head. “Tammy, I can’t—”
“Just take it,” Tammy said, forcing it into his hand. “You can use it or not, but at least you’ll have the option.”
Aquila held the card for a second before nodding and tucking it into his pocket. “Good luck, Tammy,” he said.
“Good luck, Aquila.”
Another explosion rocked the building and the nearby door blew open, Black Cross soldiers spilling out. “Time to go,” Aquila said. He turned to the enemy soldiers, waving his hat around to make sure he was seen before taking off into the dark. Bullets dinged off the side of the chopper as it started to lift into the air. Tammy tucked herself inside and found a seat as the flaming base fell away below her.
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