Originally posted by MadMel
Andrew's combat class had jsut ended when the teacher suddenly stiffened. "About f*cking time!" he snorted out loud, making Leon jump ten feet in the air with surprise. The teen landed hard on his backside.
"What the hell?" He exclaimed, getting up from the ground with as much dignity as he could.
"Lance is back. I just felt him." Andrew replied, frowning. Lance had been missing for far too long. Knowing he was back somehow made the day a whole lot darker. There was something wrong.
"What? You're serious?"
"Don't get your hopes up. Lance is... Different, somehow." Andrew was interrupted by a beep of his phone. "The lab computer has found something about the Hive." The two ran off towards the lab.
Andrew was flitting around his machines like a madman. It was as though he lost something in the cracks, and was searching desperately for it, but the truth was he was examining a complicated series of charts and numbers that the tracking machine had been producing.
"Why doesn't this thing draw a map for us?" Leon muttered, watching Andrew 'work'. "At least give us some longitude and latitude."
"That's what it's trying to do." Andrew said, still running around. "I'm trying to - got it!" The computers buzzed and a map appeared on one of the screens. "That's weird. It's as if the Hive knew it was being tracked." Andrew said. "It was trying to throw the machine off course."
"I'm more concerned with it's location." Leon replied, looking at the map. "I must be reading this wrong," he continued, looking puzzled. "If I'm right, the Hive's biggest hotspot is... New York City... "
Andrew sighed, sitting down on a stool. "That's it then," he muttered. "New York has been under lock-down for nearly a week. Total one hundred percent quarantine. I guess we know why now."
"The Hive has been active for this long and we had no idea?"
"Under total lock-down, not even communications are allowed in or out. In fact, the only way to legally observe the situation at all is by satellite imaging." Andrew said gravely. "It's basically the same system this school uses, on a much larger scale."
Leon frowned. "What good does that do us, if we can't get in?"
"You've given us the answer, Leon. Because of the attack in our area, we can investigate the Hive. We have the rights now to enter New York!"
Leon looked up. There was something close to sadness in his eyes. "... Liam... " he muttered, in a voice that he hoped was too quiet for Andrew to hear. But Andrew did hear. He knew How Leon felt. Leon's two best friends had gone. Liam had graduated and gone his own way, leaving Leon at school. And of course there was Lucian - Hell, who knew what was going on with that kid nowdays. Andrew knew that Leon compensated by working closely with his team-mates in strikeforce, but it wasn't the same for the boy. These losses, coupled with his responsibility as the team leader, had made Leon grow up much too fast. He was still friendly, and an effective leader, but now he was also cold,and ruthless. '
Exactly how Lance had been, back in the day. Hopefully Leon wont follow this new path that Lance has been taking in his absence.'
While Andrew was lost in thought, Leon had pulled out his phone.
"All available members of Strikeforce, make their way to the equipment room immediately!" He broadcasted, and the message carried all over the school. After this Leon sent a message to both Ben and Julien on their phones.
"New SF mission - equip room ASAP plz" Andrew smiled. An effective leader indeed. "I assume you want all of this data sent to the computer in the equipment room?"
Leon smiled, and nodded. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it." Andrew replied. "I'd love to come, but apparently I have classes to teach."
"Nothing's decided yet." Leon said thoughtfully, even as he was getting up to move to the door. "This mission will still need solid approval before anything happens."
"I'm sure you'll get approval. Just present you case well, and Julien will accept. Now get going." Leon nodded and ran form the lab towards the equipment room. He got there first, and began lighting up the computers and opening the sliding walls to reveal the hundreds of rows of gadgets and tools. The rest would be turning up soon.