Phantasia

This was war. Her friends had been kidnapped, her teachers were refusing to act, and her town sat on the brink of takeover from a cult of zealots – Phoenie Rogan was the only person left who could save the day. With her friends assembled in their make-shift office, she tapped her bamboo cane against the bird’s eye image tacked to the whiteboard.

“This is our destination,” she announced, “A mansion – no, fortress – on the northern outskirts of town. Thanks to satellite imagery and information provided from inside the fortress by Amanda, we should be able to penetrate Godhand’s defences and rescue our comrades!”

Theseus was fiddling with the solitary leather glove that he wore when he wanted to break someone’s face in. “You sure it’s okay to keep Amanda in there?” he asked.

It was sweet that Theseus was worried about his sometimes-girlfriend, but letting his emotional attachments get in the way of the mission was unacceptable! There was no room for relationship issues in tactical infiltration!

“Amanda will be fine,” Phoenie reassured him, (she couldn’t admit that, sometimes even she worried about her meek friend infiltrating the belly-of-the-beast – it’d been her idea after all). “She’s kept her cover this long, she can hold out for just a few more hours,”

Just a few more hours… The thought that the malignant growth that was Godhand could be expelled from the town in just a few hours – and that they would be responsible for it – made Phoenie shiver a little inside. She didn’t want to be this excited – she shouldn’t be this excited! One of her best friends was in mortal danger! Emotional attachments are unacceptable!

Phoenie tapped her cane to return attention to her plan before she lost track of the situation – time was everything, after all. She was about to elaborate on the security surrounding the manor when she felt a gentle vibration on her wrist. Theseus was the first to read the cell message and breathed a sigh of relief. The other three looked at their cell-phones in unison.

‘Girls safe. No interrogations yet. Wotan wants them unharmed. A. xxx’

“Well everyone, that’s some good news, at least!” said Phoenie.

Theseus slumped back in his chair but his gloved fingers tapped on the table to an irregular, nervous beat. “I’d have thought they would’ve dragged them into an interrogation room right off the bat,” he mused.

“I think they’re being cautious,” said Andromeda. Phoenie idolised her friend’s calm in a situation like this. Her dark, wavy hair hung down the sides of her face as she squinted at her palm computer, no doubt analysing the intricacies off social politics and cult mindsets. She added, “There’s something bigger going on. It’s almost like this is a public display of their power,”

Phoenie chewed on her lip and tapped her cane against the board again, trying to draw attention to the plans. The last thing they needed was a debate about hypothetical motives! How could the three of them be so calm? Time was running out and they needed to act fast! Didn’t they care about their team mate?! The cane smacked against the board and snapped.

“Phoe, calm down,”

“But, Kat…”

Chapter 16
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