The White Feather- A story of infinite worlds

The Other Side

The sound of dripping water and nocturnal insects hit Tony’s ears as he carefully walked forward through the tunnel, followed by his team. He was trying his best to focus on the path and keep useless thoughts out of his mind, but after what he had witnessed a while ago, he just wanted to sleep in a warm bed and cry all night. He had been reminded that life is tender and can be snatched away at a moment’s notice.

His legs felt weak as he thought about Ashraf’s wife and his kid, who were probably waiting for him to return home and sleep beside them. But Tony knew that after the terrorists identify Ashraf, they would surely pay his family a visit and their story would have the same tragic end as Ashraf's.

He forced these depressing thoughts out of his mind and tried to grab the silver lining in the chaos. The other side was held by the government, so it would be less bad than the terrorist side, if not better.

“How do we make contact with our source after we reach the other side?” Tony asked with a confident voice. He couldn't afford to let his teammates feel that  he was soft

“I…we will use a disposable cell phone or a payphone to call her and set up a meeting somewhere safe. But we will get to the spot before setting up the meeting, just to make sure it is safe and free of traps.” Olivia said, putting her spy skills to good use.

“Good, we will choose a location with a bottleneck entry. Emma will set up her position on a high altitude, overlooking the bottleneck entrance. If she sees the informant run away or any suspicious movement that could suggest a trap, she is authorized to take them out.” Tony said.

“What if people take notice of the violence and inform the authorities?” Gabriel asked.

“This is a f*****g battlefield, Gabriel. And a battlefield is DEFINED by violence.” Emma said.

“Very well then, there’s the exit. We must expect to see snipers there too.” Gabriel said, pointing at the light peeping out from the hole in the ground above them.

“We can’t take any risks. Nexa, scan the surface above us for heat signatures.” Tony said, looking at his watch.

“Please specify the radius….” The female assistant in his watch replied.

“For f**k’s sake, fifty meters.” Anthony said in irritation.

“Seven heavily armed men, including two snipers and five gunmen. Nexa has also taken the liberty of scanning alarm systems for you. There are three manual alarm systems which cannot be disabled remotely. Anything else you would like me to do, Anthony?” Nexa said.

“No, that would be all for now. Well guys, it looks like we have two options. We can either go out there and take our chances of beating them without the alarms sounding, or we can use the time freeze to escape stealthily. It’s a fight or flight situation. So what are the votes?” Anthony asked, turning back and trying to look at his team in the darkness.

“Time freeze is only allowed to be used in impossible tactical situations. And here we have the technological and arms superiority. So I think we should go out and take them down. We could use flashbangs to blind them.” Gabriel said, voting fight.

“No! Even if we kill them and escape before they can sound the alarm, the government will find out about their deaths by tomorrow morning. And they will know that they were killed by people who came from the tunnel. After that, they will immediately look for suspicious people in the city. And what’s more suspicious than four American citizens who just seem to appear out of nowhere?” Olivia said smartly.

“So you're suggesting that we ask for a time freeze?” Tony asked Olivia.

“Yes, we should gather as less attention as possible.” Olivia said and closed her case.

“What about you, Emma?” Tony asked Emma in the end.

“I think we’ve had enough bloodshed for a day. Also, Olivia’s plan seems way more logical. As for the fact that time freeze is allotted for very special scenarios, it won’t hurt to try.” Emma said hesitantly. She clearly wasn’t very good at public speaking.

“Well said Emma, I couldn’t have said it better myself.” Tony said, trying to boost Emma’s confidence.

“Okay, so the majority says that we ask for time freeze. Nexa, get me in contact with my counselor.” Tony said.

A bright blue flash was observed after some time, making the agents look away. After that, they saw a portal open in the middle of the air. And Thomas stepped into their world.

“Oh my god, you're Thomas White. It’s an honor to finally meet you in person, sir.” Anthony said as the others were dumbstruck by the sight of Thomas.

“I know.” Thomas said and yawned.

“Oh, I’m very sorry to distur….” Tony was saying but Thomas wasn’t so patient.

“Look kid, I’ll do both of us a favor by cutting the bullshit and getting to the point. What the f**k do you want?” Thomas said, sighing in boredom.

“Uh…we are faced with a situation. There are seven men above us, including two snipers and five rifles. If we kill them, the government will look for us and the mission could be jeopardized.” Tony said.

“Mmm hmm…” Thomas said and lit a cigarette, looking at Tony as he came to the point.

“So we are in need for a time freeze of one minute length, to get into the city safely.” Tony said.

“You’re gonna have to f**k off, kid. Look here, time freeze is not a joke. I used the time freeze when there were at least twenty snipers aiming right at my head, and that was only for fifteen f*****g seconds. You do know that If we used it for every small situation, we would end up disrupting the space-time continuum? And we didn’t give you intense training for months just so you could do your missions ‘safely’.” Thomas said and walked back into the portal, dropping the cigarette butt on the ground.

“But, sir….” Anthony was saying but it was too late. Thomas was long gone, the portal had already closed and the tunnel was dark again.

“So we’re going in with guns blazing. Choose the weapon of your liking and follow my lead.” Tony said, confused whether to feel glad to have talked to Thomas White or feel angry by the disrespect that was thrown his way.

“Flashing now, be ready to move out.” Gabriel said, standing right below the tunnel exit.

He threw the flash high in the air and looked down, waiting for it to explode. The little grenade popped in mid air and confused cries followed. The snipers were cursing and shouting in Arabic as Tony jumped out right behind Gabriel, pointing his explosive M4A1s rifle at the watchtower. The sniper in the tower was rubbing his eyes to reduce the pain, and his pain was permanently reduced when Anthony placed three bullets in his body, two in the chest and one in the head.

The gunners had recovered their eye sight by the time the second sniper died. They were behind a broken wall, well-covered from the assassins’ bullets. Two of them made the mistake of fighting up front with the agents, and ended up with multiple holes in their bodies. The three remaining ones yelled something in Arabic to try and scare off Tony, who was advancing fearlessly towards them, covered by his teammates. In the end, Tony took out a grenade and threw it behind the wall.

The explosion blew away the wall and the three men with it. Two of them were dead right away while the third one was relieved of his legs. He was lying on the ground, covered in his own blood and flesh. He threatened Tony as he walked up to him. But Tony didn’t pay any attention and checked for other survivors.

“Okay, let’s move out before other ground units respond to the gunfight.” Tony said and started walking towards the street.

“What about this soldier? We can’t leave him alive or he’ll tell his superior officers everything.” Gabriel said.

“As Olivia already said, they would know it anyway that people had come out of the tunnel.” Tony said.

“No, this is not quite the same. He knows our exact numbers and our faces. It will make it a lot easier for them to catch us. We HAVE to get rid of him.” Olivia contradicted Tony’s statement.

“Well, who will do it? Because I won’t have….” Tony hadn’t even finished his sentence before Gabriel shot the soldier in between his eyes, ending his pleading and threatening.

 Tony was dumbfounded by this sheer act of brutality. He watched Gabriel as he went tight past him, without any look of regret for taking the life he had just ended. Was it really this easy to get used to killing? And if it was, why wasn’t Tony getting used to it? Why did the face of every single person he killed still circled around in his eyes?

Tony was drifting away in all these thoughts but the trail broke when Emma shook his shoulders.

“Are you even listening? I was saying that we should look for a safe spot to hide, the troops will be on their way here as we speak.” She said.

“Ye….yes absolutely. Look for dark alleys and abandoned buildings.” Tony said, coming out of his Mesmer.

“Every alley is dark around here. Come on, I see a building which might be empty.” Gabriel said, peeking the corners to spot any soldiers gaining on them.

The building looked like it was bombed multiple times. Most of the upper floors were demolished, and the lower two floors were barely intact. It wasn’t the ideal space to hide, as even the smallest of shock would lead to the ruins consuming the team, and ending the mission before it could properly start. But it was better than getting caught and so they decided to take their chances

As soon as the agents got inside the front entrance (or what was left of it), Gabriel turned around and set up bombs so that no one could cross the perimeter. Soon, the agents had taken up tactically smart positions and were ready to sit out the two hours before the sun came up.