Chapter 11 #2
He strode in last, boots loud on the polished floor, jaw set. His presence hit the room like a dropped anvil. Everyone straightened, even the witches on the screens.
Katie took one look at him and decided that if she had been brave or crazy enough to enlist, he could protect her by catching bullets with his teeth. But it was enough that he had captured her on her run to nowhere and brought her here.
“Everyone’s here,” Joell said briskly. “Katie’s met the Gray. She’s been made. We have a narrow window to get ahead of this before it finds her, uses her, clones her, or worse, figures out how to bypass our protections entirely.”
Katie raised a tentative hand. “Question. What happens if it takes over my body and I don’t, like, notice?”
Major Payne answered without hesitation, voice low and grim: "Then you die."
Katie stared. “Cool. Really loving the team-building atmosphere here.”
Crystal smirked. Rayna gave Katie an encouraging thumbs-up. Brianna mouthed ‘you’re fine’ with absolutely zero convincing energy.
Joell flipped a remote and brought up an image on the screen: a blurred, shifting gray figure barely outlined against a crumbling city background.
“The Gray isn’t just a spirit, or a demon, or a fae anomaly,” Joell said. “We’re leaning toward it being some kind of parasitic shapeshifter. Maybe interdimensional, maybe extraterrestrial.”
“That tracks with what we’ve been digging up,” Rayna added. “It’s behaving like a scout. Testing boundaries, looking for weaknesses.”
“We?” Katie asked.
“Major Payne and I. What? You didn’t think we were just canoodling all this time, did you?”
“Well…” Katie decided to shut up while she still could.
Major Payne crossed his arms. The muscles in his forearms flexed like steel cables.
“Army Intelligence’s ET Division has encountered anomalies similar to this.
We called them Shadows. Adaptive, amorphous, predatory.
In some cases, their behavior suggested there could be a hive structure, or at minimum, a shared intelligence network. ”
Katie’s stomach dropped. “You mean there’s more than one?”
“Possibly,” Major Payne said. “Or it’s one entity, splintered across multiple fronts.”
Victoria piped up. “Or we’re only dealing with one fragment here, and it could still be calling for backup.”
Lioness tapped her tablet. “And if the backup shows up before Katie’s ready to shield herself…”
“Bye-bye, squishy human,” Victoria said from her monitor.
Katie threw her hands up. “Wow. Amazing. Peak optimism, everyone.”
Joell placed a finger under Katie’s chin and lifted her face. “You’re not squishy anymore. You broke the Roomba.”
Crystal leaned forward. “The key here is that the Gray chose you. Either because you’re vulnerable, or because you’re useful.”
Katie blinked. “Define useful in this terrifying context.”
Brianna smiled gently. “You might be the key it needs to open a bigger door.”
Katie immediately wanted to launch herself into the sun.
Major Payne strolled to the opposite end of the long table, facing Joell, commanding everyone’s attention. “Bottom line: we have to harden Katie’s defenses, find the Gray’s weaknesses, and determine if this is a solo operation, or if we’re looking at a coordinated invasion.”
A heavy silence settled.
Lioness finally broke it. “So basically, train the civilian. Fortify the fortress. Hunt the Gray. In that order.”
Katie leaned her forehead onto the cool surface of the table. “I miss when my biggest problem was customers not tipping.”
Joell gave her a sympathetic pat. “Welcome to the big leagues, kid.”
Katie’s head was still resting on the table, hoping for the sweet release of a dreamless sleep, when Joell snapped her fingers, sharp as a whip crack.
“Assignments. We need to move fast.”
She pointed at Lioness and Crystal. “You’re on Katie’s crash course. Defense, offense, survival. Think Hogwarts meets boot camp.”
Lioness cracked her knuckles. Crystal grinned and nodded, disturbingly eager.
Joell swung her attention to Rayna and Brianna. “You’re researching everything we have on parasitic entities and shapeshifters. Wards, spells, charms… If it’s ever worked against a mimic, I want it copied, laminated, and duct-taped to Katie’s ass.”
Rayna saluted with her coffee mug. “I love a research project.”
Brianna just smiled serenely like she hadn’t just heard the words laminated to Katie’s ass, remembering when she was in her shoes.
Joell turned to the screens. “Victoria, Magda, Sahara, dig through your networks. We need early warnings if any other Grays pop up, anywhere. If they start moving in packs, I want to know before we’re hosting a live-action Alien reboot.”
Victoria already had her fingers flying over a keyboard. “On it.”
“G’day and good luck, everyone,” Magda said, then popped a grape into her mouth.
Sahara just gave a dust-covered thumbs-up.
Finally, Joell looked at Major Payne. “You’re lead on external threats. If any military sites report anomalies, strange power outages, or unexplained disappearances, I want you to bring us in on it.”
Major Payne gave a grim nod. “Roger that.”
Katie lifted her head just enough to ask, “And what’s my assignment? Besides not dying?”
Joell leaned down, resting both hands flat on the table like she was about to deliver either an encouraging speech or a death sentence.
“Learn fast. And don’t screw up.”
Katie sighed. “Inspirational.”
Crystal slapped her lightly on the back. “Don’t worry, luv. By the time we’re done with you, you’ll be kicking villains in their metaphorical bollocks.”
“And if they don't fall down?” Katie asked.
“Then we’ll get creative,” Lioness said, already opening a duffel bag full of what looked like magical assault gear.
“So, Hogwarts boot camp. Nut-kicking. Creative solutions… And I’m totally not gonna die?”
Brianna beamed at her. “That’s the spirit.”