Official Report

County General Hospital

New Hebron, California

Amy glanced down at her phone and frowned before slipping it back into her coat pocket. It was late, and she hadn't gotten a single call despite her own repeated attempts to contact her lover.

Her partner must have been angrier than she'd expected, if Alex hadn't even bothered to phone back. Amelia had called and left several messages, but so far, she'd heard nothing. The other might have been quick to anger, but was often just as quick to cool off. Given that she hadn't heard back suggested that her lover, would not be so forgiving this time around.

Amelia's job was dangerous and demanding, things that strained a relationship and her romance with Alex had been no exception. Casting such thought aside, she glanced at the mirror, ensuring that her makeup remained unmarred and left the exam room where Matthew was waiting.

"Is there a problem, agent?"

"It's Alex again."

Matthews nodded, adjusted his necktie. Her superior wasn't one to meddle in the affairs of his subordinates, but if anyone understood the strains, the job put on relationships it was him. He'd gone through two divorces during his time with AEGIS and while he wasn't one to broadcast his troubles at work. Amelia had been around long enough to witness the strain, the second breakup, had put on him.

"Right, well Dr. Hassebroek tells me there doesn't seem to be any ill effects from your episode."

"Yes, sir, I was relieved to learn that myself. If your concern has been assuaged, I'd be happy to make an attempt at a second viewing."

Matthews pursed his lips and slipped his hands inside his pockets. "Come with me, agent."

Her superior turned away, moving at a brisk pace that she found difficult to keep up with in her skirt and heels, but she managed.

"This empathic bond you seem to have developed with Howard is... Going to raise some eyebrows if what you've told me about him is correct."

"What do you mean, sir?"

Matthews stopped dead in his tracks and turned to her. "The situation is not unprecedented. Agents have been compromised in similar ways. If Mr. Howard can influence you in any way that represents a very real problem for the agency. We can't have an agent whose judgement may be influenced by a civilian least of all someone with Mr. Howard's prejudices."

"With all due respect sir. I think I would know if I'd been compromised."

"Agent, even if you are correct. What you are experiencing now could be just the beginning. You could find yourself thinking his thoughts or acting on his angry impulses. The point is, we don't know what effect it will have on you."

"Which means my objectivity as an investigator could be compromised."

"Worse, we're not even sure the true extent of this empathic bond and if it will evolve into something more. The last time something like this happened, the agent in question went rogue killing almost twenty bystanders all because of a voice in her head that didn't belong there."

"Your talking about the incident in Denver, aren't you?" Amy met her superior's gaze her hands shaking just a little at the mirror thought something like that might happen to her.

Matthews nodded. "There is a lot about that incident that AEGIS still doesn't understand, but it was a public relations nightmare for the agency. I'm not sure our superiors will risk a repeat."

"So what does that mean for me? I've worked damn hard to get where I am, I'm not just going to bow out because some freak accent has got me saddled with this racist asshole."

"I really can't say agent. That sort of decision would be above my pay grade."

Matthews moved forward again, without giving his subordinate any warning. Accustomed to thinking on her feet, Amelia sprung forward stepping into line beside him. "Sir, what's going on?"

"You want to attempt a viewing, Van den Broeke, didn't you?"

"What if I'm compromised, sir? Won't that hurt the investigation?"

"Amelia, AEGIS has been chasing Chemosh's trail for decades, if we can turn up one lead, not only will it help us bring the bastard to justice, but it might convince the people upstairs you're still a valuable asset."

Amy nodded and let Matthews lead her down into the bowels of the hospital. This confused her at first, but when they approached the morgue, it made just a little more sense. AEGIS had their own facilities, but it too was part of the medical labs. Matthews must have had the bodies from the attacks brought to the hospital for examination.

When, Matthew swung the door open, she stepped inside and moved toward the body resting atop an exam table in the middle of the room. Amy recognized the man as a lab technician named Henry. She swallowed hard as she reached out to touch his lab coat. She didn't know what to expect this time around, but was just a little relieved when she felt that familiar tugging sensation and felt herself being pulled into a viewing. The surrounding room melted away and replaced by an all too familiar luminescence.

Images stuttered, blurred and quavered. The room seemed to shake as Amy felt a presence so brilliant, and so alien she almost lost her concentration. At the last moment she gritted her teeth and hang on. The vision solidified, and the amber-tinged hues and tones that resolved themselves before her entranced her.

Ashtar appeared, jumping out of from the glowing brilliant blue sphere and rounded on the duo of scientists screaming in a language was as strange as it was elegant. She cast her eyes back to the device and watched the massive blue orb, that had formed in the machine's center, shrink into nothingness behind her.

Amelia watched her as she approached them with quick steps, and studied them, speaking in that strange language again. Frank and Henry glanced at one another, and it left Amy wondering what must have gone through their minds. The agent had known one of those men, he was brilliant, but didn't have the training to deal with situations like the one she was witnessing. She was certain she could say the same for the second man.

"Henry." Frank let out a warning cry that echoed through Van den Broeke's mind like a whisper muttered in a dream.

Words were muffled within the visions, but names had a certain resonance that seemed to carry through. Perhaps it was the familiarity with which someone spoke them or perhaps it was something more. No one understood how Amelia's abilities worked, and the agent was no exception. She had a clear idea of how or when they might work, but the why was another matter.

The woman slammed a hand out into his face and palmed it and her unusually long, and delicate fingers bore through his skin as as if it were butter. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and all Henry's features softened as if all the pain, surprise and shock had faded away. Amelia sensed the woman opening herself up, something that sometimes happened around others with psychic powers, but what she read from her was difficult to decipher.

"Why?" Her words were angry, and they reverberated through the agent's skull with crystal clarity. "Why did you remove the gate? It was safer left alone. Now he is coming and if I cannot stop him your world will burn!"

The pair glanced at each other again before turning to the woman with eyes wide. Their words were a jumble, a twisted knot of syllables she could not decipher through the fog of the vision.

Her response was as difficult to interpret, but she spoke some words, like 'greed' and 'arrogance' forcefully enough for them to cut through the incomprehensible gibberish. One word,, sent cold shivers down Amelia's spine. Not just because of the word itself, but because of the wave grief, anger, and a sense of doom that came with it. When the name 'Chemosh' escaped the woman's lips the agent knew she must have missed some important detail. It was frustrating, but it was an aspect of her ability she had no control over.

Whatever was being said, all the talking ceased when the pounding began. The sound grew louder and louder and all heads turned to the source. A massive armored door, that wouldn't have looked out of place in an underground bunker, bulged inward. With each successive 'thump' the door caved in a little more until the frame shattered and it flew toward the woman and the two scientists. Henry and Frank chose that moment to flee, but the woman stood her ground and before the shattered door had hit, the floor she walked through it as if it was not there.

"Garos." She watched the massive hulk tear through the wall and didn't even bat an eyelash. The creature shuffled out from the widened opening revealing its charred black flesh and knotted mess of uneven muscles. It was so large it barely fit within the twelve foot tall room. It was the same creature she had witnessed, twice before, that great hulking many-eyed mass of muscles.

[Ashtar] A terrible disembodied voice howled inside the Agent's mind. The creature's mouth did not move as it spoke, but hung open from its head. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time and was so powerful that the images of the vision rippled and twisted about.

The woman spoke, but again the words were nothing more than gibberish to the Agent's ears. She approached the being with no sign of fear or trepidation and something about the way she moved suggested a certain familiarity as if she knew the other being.

[I owe you no answers. Step aside, Ashtar.]

She clenched her hands at her sides then held them out. The great hulking mass stopped as if struggling against some invisible wall. It hunched down on its haunches pressing itself against the empty air, struggling and heaving against the unseen barrier. All its efforts proved fruitless.

A rail thin and petite little middle-aged woman stepped into the lab in the wake of Garos path wearing a stark white lab coat, that read "Aegis Research" above the breast pocket. She stopped craning her neck around and looked right at the agent before she scowled at her.

"You again? This is getting to be tiresome."

Amelia gasped gripping the sides of her head as her regular senses took hold again after the vision had faded away.

"What can you tell me Agent Van den Broeck?"

She looked up at the Chief Special Agent, blinked the lingering haze from her eyes and shook her my head.

"I-I'm not sure. There was that creature. Had a lot of eyes. It bashed through the door a-and there was the woman. A technician. One of ours. She spoke sir." Sometimes it was difficult to form full sentences after a vision, but this was worse than usual.

"Agent?" Matthews cocked an eyebrow and traced his hand over the bottom button on his suit jacket.

"It happened again, sir. Someone in the vision addressed me."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm certain, sir."

"I'm not sure it was a good idea letting you have another crack at this agent. This is obviously having a detrimental effect on you."

She shook her head and glanced back down at Frank's corpse. "We still don't know enough. If I can go back in, I might better understand their motives."

Matthews nodded. "Proceed Agent."

Amelia leaned over and gripped the edges of Frank's lab coat. The world shifted and contorted losing all of its resolution before new images filled her mind. Muddied and distorted, they soon stabilized becoming just as clear and brilliant as if Amelia had been there.

The agent craned her neck around looking for Ashtar, but she was nowhere in sight, until she turned around and found the other woman standing behind her.

"Welcome back, agent," Ashtar whispered in the Amelia's ear as she strode past.

Amelia gasped, the images twisting and turning as her stomach heaved. She collapsed to her knees, the edges of her vision blurred and she blinked fighting to keep hold of the viewing. It stabilized, and she looked up to see the strange woman staring down at her. "You're more resilient than I had thought."

Amelia messaged her temple and stood on her feet. She moved toward Chemosh, but stopped dead in her tracks when she heard a voice whispering her name.

"Amelia."

The agent turned her head just in time to watch Ashtar walk past. Her hand brushed Amelia's cheek, and she took a step back when she felt the other woman's smooth flesh contacted hers. It should have been impossible. Amy had no tangible form within the visions and there was no way she could have touched anyone or anything witnessed within. Somehow, that didn't seem to be a problem for this strange being.

"Watch and listen. I have opened your ears, Agent Van den Broeke, make use of the gift I have bestowed upon you."

The world spun, twisting and turning just before snapping back into place. The effect, though similar to the ones the agent had experienced before, had a very different outcome. Before, the vision had faded and threatened to disappear, this time, the world became sharper, and more resolute. In the past sound, was always so muddled, but this time she could hear everything from the buzz of a fly to the subtle variations in tone and resonances of speech.

"Olivia?" Frank stepped out from his hiding place behind the machine. "What's going on... A-are you a part of this?"

"Olivia, unfortunately--how should put it--isn't calling the shots anymore," the woman said a wicked grin stretching across her pale face. "You may call me Chemosh for the few remaining moments I allow you to live."

"Release the woman, Chemosh," Ashtar demanded.

"Release her? Now, now my dearest Ashtar, don't you remember? This is the only way I can interact with this plane since my banishment from the upper realms. I am loath to give up a perfectly good host when I go through so very many of them," Chemosh said rolling up her sleeves revealing a mass of boils and sores that peppered the skin of her arms. "Then again I've had control of this Olivia for over a month... there isn't anything left of her mind, poor thing."

For the first time, the bold and confident Ashtar looked uncertain. She bit her lip, gritted her teeth then bounded across the room toward Chemosh who leapt aside and thrust her hand inside her jacket and produced an icy blue flat disc which she held out in his open palm. Ashtar's eyes grew wide, and she lurched sideways as the object zoomed through the open air toward her. Despite her efforts it struck her in the arm and she dropped to the ground with a loud scream clutching at her wounded appendage.

Amelia lurched forward ready to intervene, but stopped mid-step realizing that there was nothing she could do. The events she was witnessing had already happened. Never had her viewing ever been so vivid, nor had she ever interacted with people within the vision. Was it any wonder she'd forgotten herself, if even for a few brief seconds?

Chemosh loomed over Ashtar then knelt down and clenched her chin in her hands. "You know what that was, don't you, wife dearest? It was a Stone of Cold Fire and it will consume your insides until there is nothing of you left but a big brick of ice. Yours will be an agonizingly painful and slow death, but it is the least you deserve. A pity I only had the one I would have liked to have used it on my dear, dear brother. Farewell now, Ashtar I would like to stay and watch you die, but alas I haven't the time."

She rose and stepped up to the massive machine which took up half the room by itself. Its circular base was less than twenty feet in diameter and around the perimeter were seven arched pylons which ended a few feet from the pair of crossed arches that rose twelve feet high at the dead center of the device. The material from which it was made, was like nothing found on earth, had a brilliant silvery bright hew and gleamed as if someone had cast it just days before.

Chemosh moved around the device, touching three random arms before stopping at a fourth where a small screen had appeared. He tapped his fingers against it a loud metallic groan pierced the air and the room quaked as the machine contorted. Portions of the device which didn't seem to be malleable, bent and folded in on themselves. The metal groaned again then the pieces snapped and contorted even more and were a fraction of their original size. It took several minutes for the process to complete and when it did, the gateway condensed itself into a perfect cube, about four feet on each side.

"Now dear, Ashtar," Chemosh said slamming a slender fist into Frank's chest. Her arm ripped straight through his body and back out again leaving a gaping hole where his heart had once been. He collapsed to the ground, dead, and she held his heart up in front of her face. Chemosh had a hungry look in her eyes, and for a moment, the agent was convinced she would take a bite, but instead she tossed it over her shoulder. "It's time for me to leave, but not before I take another host. You've helped convince me it's time for Olivia and I to part ways. The poor thing has been getting quite lethargic and this body of hers had seen far too much milage even before I had taken control. I suppose I could keep her for a while yet, but what's the point when it's so easy to take a new body?"

"Henry is it?" She asked pouncing on he remaining scientist before he could flee. She grabbed him by the wrist and forced him down so he was kneeling in front of her. "This won't hurt. Now, who am I kidding? It'll be excruciating."

"Stop!" Ashtar screamed struggling to her feet and staggering toward the Chemosh and her prisoner, but she was too late.

A dark mist coalesced around the Chemosh's body, then like ink dropped into water it crept through the air toward Henry. He tried to break free, but his captor maintained her grip. Then the mist was upon him and darkness overwhelmed him. The woman collapsed and Henry rose, scowling at the woman's crumpled form just before his twisted at an unnatural angle and smiled at Ashtar.

"So very wasteful. Goodbye, Ashtar. I wish I could say it has been a pleasure, but we'd both know I would be lying. Come Garos." He glanced over his shoulder at his gargantuan companion. "We have places to go and people to kill."

The giant lumbered across the chamber and scooped up the massive block nestling it in its arms as if it were an infant then smashed a hole through the exterior wall leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. Chemosh, glanced back at Ashtar who was struggling with no success to get back onto her feet. He laughed, then leapt out the hole his associate had made and departed into the darkness of the night.

"NO!" Ashtar screamed, lurching back onto her feet. She was dying, but, if her defiant scream was any sign she wasn't prepared to go down without a fight. Amelia watched her zoom out the opening before the vision shattered and she slipped back into the present world.

Official Report

427 Evergreen Terrace

New Hebron, California

"Hey Alex, are you there, brown-eyes?" Amelia called flicking the living room lights on and setting her keys down on their usual place under the switch. She spoke in hushed tones, fearing she might awaken her lover.

Greeted only by silence, the agent frowned and shut the door behind her. Though it was late, she'd been expecting a confrontation.

Alex never drove, preferring to take a bike or the bus when possible and didn't even own a car. So often, the only way Amy knew the other was home was if the lights were on, but Alex, never one to stay up late, would have long retired to bed. If that were true, the bedroom door would have been closed. Either, her lover was not yet home or did not hear Amelia call for her.

She stepped into the kitchen and was about to call Alex's name again when she spotted something affixed to the steel door of the refrigerator with a magnet. She moved across the room, slipped the envelope free noting her name written in her lover's messy scrawl and pursed her lips as she unfolded the letter.

Amy,

I'll keep it short. I'm tired of playing second fiddle to your job. Even when you are here, you're distant. I need to be in a relationship where I don't spend the days worrying if my girlfriend will come back at all. I'll come by some time in the next few days to pick up my things.

Alex

"God dammit," Amelia dropped the letter, letting it flutter to the ground and slammed a fist down into the countertop. Unlike some exemplars Amelia lacked any enhanced physical capabilities, so when her hand impacted the stone surface, it hurt like hell. She bit her lip, pulled her hand close and fought back tears.

She couldn't say she hadn't seen it coming, she was always working and when they went out Amelia was usually called in to consult. It might have helped if she could discuss it, but when your girlfriend disappears for long stretches of time and outright refuses to talk about it, it put more than a little strain on the relationship. Amelia didn't like keeping secrets, but the job required discretion.

She shook her head and flexed her still-sore hand before she slipped out of the kitchen and into the bedroom collapsing onto her back atop the mattress without bothering to undress. She closed her eyes and let out a long sigh, hoping that sleep would soon take her way, but as was so often the case, insomnia reared its ugly head.

Somewhere in the back of the head she sensed Everett, distant and numb, perhaps sleeping. Gone was all the anger and hatred that had been emanating him before.

Laying there so alone and her feelings so raw, Amelia felt as if all the walls were coming down around her. She'd put her career before her love life and it had come right back to hit her square in the ass.

Not only had Alex left her, but her career was at risk. Matthews would help if he was able, but he was only one head above her on the totem pole. If their superiors decided this bond she'd developed with Mr. Howard presented a security risk or it might influence her in some negative way, she might find herself out of a job or worse.

Never in her life had she felt so vulnerable and that was saying something. She'd been ostracized by her family her because of what they considered poor 'life-style choices', demonized by strangers for the same reason and called a freak or worse because of her abilities. The agent'd taken all those things in stride, picked up all the pieces each time her life fell apart and moved on. When she'd joined AEGIS she'd found a new purpose, something she'd been missing in her youth, but these new developments threatened everything.

She pondered Chemosh, shivering as she recalled that look of pure malevolence in his eyes. Whoever, or whatever this being was, he needed to be stopped at all costs. She understood so little about him or her, but from what she saw he would not hesitate to kill anyone who got in his way. She shuddered anew, thinking of the way he possessed that man and discarded his previous host without any sign of remorse. Ashtar said he would make the world burn, and Amy didn't believe she'd been exaggerating.

Amelia stood and craned her neck around frowning as she noted Alex's things scattered through the room. She sighed and turned away.

She blinked, a thought occurring to her. The name Chemosh sounded familiar from first time Matthew mentioned it and she might have known why. She made her way through the house, into the living room and found the bookshelf in the corner retrieving one book in particular. It was the bible her grandmother had given her the day she'd been baptized.

It had been a long time since she even flipped the cover open let alone turn the pages. She wasn't even sure why she'd kept it. The Bible didn't portray people like her in the best light.

Amelia was not a religious person, but she still remembered bible studies with her family as a child. Her parents had spent countless hour grilling scripture after scripture in her head. Though she had not picked up a bible in years, she could still recite many of them from memory. She thumbed through the pages and stopped at Numbers 21:29.

"Woe to thee, Moab! Thou art undone, O people of Chemosh: he hath given his sons that escaped, and his daughters, into captivity unto Sihon king of the Amorites."

She paused, furrowed her eyebrows and let the verse sink in. People of Chemosh? What did it mean?

She thumbed through the pages hoping to find some other reference and had almost given up hope when she stopped at 1 Kings 11:33.

"Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites..."

She stopped, without even bothering to finish the verse. She sank into her favorite arm chair, her mind racing as she bounced the name around over and over in her head. What possible significance could this have? This being she'd seen in her viewings wasn't some ancient Moabite god, was he? It seemed far more likely that he must have taken the name. She thought there might be a clue, but try as she might she couldn't reason it out.

She glanced at the verse one final time and realized she'd overlooked something. The name Ashtoreth, seemed similar too similar to Ashtar to ignore. There must be significance! Determined to find an answer the Agent moved across the room, bible in hand and made her way to the corner of the room, flipping open her laptop and set the holy book down beside it.

Amelia didn't know what she was looking for, but she knew the answers must be out there somewhere.

Official Report

427 Evergreen Terrace

New Hebron, California

Amelia groaned, her eyes fluttering open. Light filtered in through the blinds casting the room in the brilliant hues of early dawn. She sat up, rubbing her jaw and paused grimacing as her fingers traced across the imprints left by the keyboard. She'd fallen asleep at her desk again.

"God, I need coffee," she mumbled under her breath and shook her head to clear the morning fog from her mind.

She lurched out of her seat and stumbled toward the kitchen, clearing the hair out of her eyes with a casual flick of her wrists. She stopped mid-stride craning her neck around to glance at the door, positive the bell must soon ring and sure enough it did.

That was strange. She shook her head, staring at the door for a moment, pinching herself to ensure she was still awake and made her way across the room swinging it wide open. A gust of wind blew into through the opening, and the agent folded her arms across her chest shivering against the cold.

"Van den Broeke," Matthews greeted her unperturbed by the frigid temperature and strong winds. "May I come in?"

Amelia bit her lip and nodded, closing the door once her superior had stepped inside and dropped her hands. Matthews gripped his attaché case against his chest and looked around, his eyes taking everything in before he met his subordinate's gaze.

His keen investigative eyes must have picked up on her disheveled appearance, that she was wearing the same dress from the previous night, and the fading keyboard marks on her face, but he didn't say a word. A fact, for which, she was grateful.

"Nice place you have here." He said, his eyes never once breaking gazes with Amelia.

Amelia glanced around, fingered her tangled locks and bit her lip. "Sir, I'm sorry if I'd known you were coming over I would have–"

He held a hand up stopped her before she finished. "Think nothing of it Van den Broeke, I should have called first."

"Sir, is there something I can get you? I was about to make coffee if you'd like some."

"Thank you, Agent. I take it black." Matthew hung back, hovering near the doorway as Amelia moved back toward the kitchen.

"Uh, go ahead and make yourself at home," she called back over her shoulder.

When she returned a moment later, Matthew had done just as she'd suggested and taken a seat on the loveseat that sat opposite and just to the right of the door. He looked up at her as she reentered and frowned.

"The coffee should be ready in a few minutes." She threw a thumb over her shoulder and took a seat opposite him. "So, sir what brings you out to my neck of the woods?"

Amy was no idiot. Matthews had never once visited her home in the years she had known him. He wasn't the sort to make social calls, which meant he'd come to confirm his warnings from the previous night. Sure enough, when he spoke Amelia's heart sank.

Matthews grimaced and leaned back in his seat. "Amelia, you should know assistant deputy director Steenburg has ordered that you be relieved from field duty."

Amelia bit her lip and nodded, silent for the first few seconds because she didn't trust herself to speak. She took a deep breath to calm herself and cleared her throat. "Because of Mr. Howard?"

Matthews nodded, leaned forward and clasped his hands together. "The situation is worse than we thought. Steenburg fears that Mr. Howard may have the makings of an aberrant."

"Oh, god," Amelia cupped her face with both hands and shook her head. "The background check turned something up, didn't it?"

Matthews nodded, set his case down on the coffee table and slipped one of the side pockets open, producing a stack of documents. "See for yourself."

The topmost report was over twenty years old and looked as if it resulted from at least half a dozen different photocopies. She skimmed through, but stopped as her hands trembled and shook. Something was wrong.

Amelia attempted to call out to Matthews, but her mouth froze shut and eyes wide. The reports fell from her stiff hands, fluttering to the ground in a messy heap.

Her vision flashed, and the world shifted and turned supplanted by images out of the past as bright and as vibrant as the ones she'd seen viewing the assault on the AEGIS facility.

Amelia, was not herself. Again, as she witnessed events through the eyes of Everett Howard, she was unavailable of individual thought or action. She was along for the ride.

It was devoid at first, but as the as the vision took centerfold the images sharpened in clarity. A pair of wrinkled hands rested on a steering wheel at two and ten o'clock. Headlights illuminated the landscape just enough to identify the streets and surrounding buildings.

"This town is going to hell," A voice spoke, it belonged to Everett. It sounded, a little less worn, a little less weathered, but still belonged to a man well past his prime.

The hands turned the steering wheel toward the curb and parked behind a sporty little Honda that had seen better days. Everett grunted as he climbed out of his Buick unsupported by the cane he would come to rely on in latter years and started toward the second vehicle.

He stopped beside the driver-side door and tapped on the window. The young woman inside had her seat reclined, and her eyelids closed, asleep. She jumped and stared at the window with wide eyes. She blinked and shook her head as her hand reached for the door.

"Clara," Everett gripped his hand on the edge of the door and pulled it open before she emitted a loud sigh. "I told you to buy American."

"Dad." Clara beamed up at him and shook her head. "Thank God, you're here."

Everett grimaced and reached inside the car before his daughter climbed out. He released the hood and moved around to the front and popped it open. He watched her step out and move around the car, stop beside him and leaned over the engine.

"You couldn't have picked a worse neighborhood to breakdown," he leaned down beside her and produced a flashlight. "And what the hell were you thinking falling asleep like that?"

"Dad, I needed the rest it's been a long day. Being a single mother is a full-time job, okay."

Everett shook his head and centered the beam of his light over the engine. "It doesn't have to be. If you lived a little closer, I–"

He stopped, hearing footsteps, and craned his neck around, in time to see a tall stranger approach. A hood and the darkness of the street shadowed the man's face, but as Everett looked back at him, he could see dark purpose gleaming in his eyes. Perhaps, sensing that Everett had gleaning his intent the man picked up his pace and produced a small handgun from out of his jacket.

"Nobody moves and you won't get hurt," the man said, his voice and hand shaking, as he jerked forward.

Clara spun around and stared at him her eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

"I said, nobody move!" He repeated moving closer. "Give me your wallet old man."

Everett hesitated, and the man jerked forward grabbing Clara by the wrist and pulled her close. He jabbed her in the ribs with his gun and gripped his other hand around the strings of her purse before turning back to the old man with gritted teeth. For the first time, Everett got a good look at his face, revealing his ebony skin. Although the kid stood more than a head taller than the old man, he didn't seem old enough to shave more than once a week and perhaps not even old enough to have graduated high school.

Everett recognized the threat he represented. This child, had the look of desperation in his eyes. He was new at this sort of thing, but that didn't mean he couldn't be dangerous.

Everett, put both his palms forward to show the kid they were empty then reached into his back pocket, produced his wallet and held it out to the mugger. The boy licked his lips, and reached out, but before he was able snatch it away, there was a loud 'thump' in the distance. The sound, wasn't something neither the mugger nor his two victim's could name. In the grant scheme of things, it was probably something innocuous and unrelated to their current predicament, but what it set off was far from innocuous.

This boy, jerked his head around startled and tightened his grip on the gun. It went off with a loud bang and their attacker released his hold on Clara, her purse still clutched in his hands.

"Shhhit," the boy cursed looked down at his victim.

He rounded on the old man attempting to force the wallet out of his hands. The mugger lifted the gun, and as Everett grappled with him, he attempted to force it back down. The gun fired a second time and the bullet slammed into Everett's hip.

Pain shot through Everett's hip, and he cried out clutching at the wound. The wallet slipped out of Everett's hands as he fell, and he heard the boy's feet pound against the pavement as he fled the scene.

Everett landed face forward and saw his daughter quivering and clutching at her chest. He crawled over to her and felt his heart sink when he saw the wound. Weakened from his own injuries and unable to do anything but offer comfort, Everett did the only thing he could think of, he called for help.

By the time it came, Clara was already gone.

---

When Amelia's eyes fluttered back open she gasped, clutched a hand at her side before the remembered pains from the viewing faded away. She blinked and her vision returned, a field of white spread out before her eyes. As her sight sharpened and her mind cleared, she knew she hadn't been transported to some pearly bright mystical domain as her barely conscious mind had concluded. Instead, Amelia was staring at something far more mundane, the ceiling of her living room.

She groaned, attempted to sit up, but felt a pair of hands on her shoulders. "Easy Van den Broeke, you took a bit of a tumble."

Matthews leaned over, a frown creasing his unexpressive face as he stared down at the Agent. She let out a second groan and sighed shaking her head. "How long was I out?"

"Not long, I even have time to call emergency services."

"Oh god," she grunted. "How did I get on my back?"

"You hit the coffee table and rolled." He pursed his lips and met her gaze. "Was it another viewing?"

Amelia nodded and swallowed. "I saw his daughter killed."

"This will send the boys in research into a flurry."

Amelia nodded, understanding what Matthews meant. Amelia couldn't even say whether it was the reports that had set off the viewing or if it was discussing them. Either way, it was the second time she'd witnessed a vision in which it had broken all the rules that governed her abilities. Was this a new aspect to her powers, a side-effect from her bond with the once old man or some combination of the two?

She didn't know, but as the two waited for emergency responders she had plenty time to think over it. She never made a conclusion, but she was certain somehow it was important to the investigation.

Official Report

AEGIS Field Office

New Hebron, California

Amy gritted her teeth and shook her head, fighting through the headache that seemed to grow worse by the second. She wasn't certain she'd ever know for sure, but she suspected it must have been sensory feedback from her bond with Mr. Howard. Anytime she sensed his temper flare, her head pounded. Given the raging storm that was emanating through the bond, was it any wonder she felt as if the same tempest had beset her head?

"Agent, please come inside," Deputy Assistant Director Andrew Steenburg of the Exemplar Crimes Division stood within the door frame and motioned inside the spacious office with an upraised arm and open palm. "I'm short on time, let's make this quick."

Amelia stepped inside, slipping past Steenburg and patting at her hair as she made eye contact with him. The Deputy Assistant Director seldom took time out of his schedule to meet with a field agent like Van den Broeke, but if there was anything she was certain of the situation with Everett Howard and Chemosh was anything but ordinary.

"Take a seat, agent." Steenburg stepped behind the desk and held his hand out.

She did as was instructed, attempting to look composed as she looked across the desk at her superior. Steenburg seemed to gaze right through her as if he couldn't be interested in dealing with someone so low within the agency's hierarchy, but Amelia didn't let it bother her. She'd dealt with worse, from him and others.

"Speak agent," Steenburg said thrumming his hands across the desk.

"Sir, I wondered if you might reconsider your decision to remove me from active duty," she replied wincing as a strong surge of anger flowed out through the bond and with it an excruciating stab of pain in her temple.

"Absolutely not," he replied before the last syllable had left her lips. He looked angry at first, but then his features softened and he shook his head. "I respect your dedication, Agent, but until we're certain your not being influenced by this bond, I can't risk it might affect your judge–"

The door creaked open and both agent and deputy assistant director craned their necks to see who had intruded upon their meeting. Both leapt to their feet upon recognizing the lean and immaculately attired man who stood within the doorway. He looked around the room, eying the decor with a face devoid of expression before his eyes settled on the pair.

"Director Malcolm, this is a surprise," Steenburg stated, a slight tremor to his voice, that most people would have never even picked up on, but to someone like Amelia, who'd received training to watch for such things, it was all too clear.

Malcolm nodded and his face creasing into a smile. "Deputy Assistant Director, why don't you step outside for a moment?"

Steenburg's eyebrows shot so high up his forehead, Amelia thought they'd become to his hairline, but they remained visible, if only just so. He nodded, brought a hand up to the collar of his shirt, and adjusted a tie that needed no adjustment and departed the room with quick, but furtive steps.

"Close the door on your way out," Malcolm added without looking back and nodded once Steenburg had complied.

Amelia regarded the man as he approached, expecting him to address her, but instead he walked past stopping just in front of the exterior window and extended his thumb and index-finger pulling a section of blinds open to get a better look outside. When he said something, it was so quiet that Amelia didn't, at first, register he had spoken.

"Agent Van den Broeke, I presume?"

"Yes, sir." She said after a few seconds delay.

Director Brian Malcolm nodded and turned back to face her both hands behind his back. "You may sit, Agent."

Amelia flushed, did as suggested and returned to her seat. It wasn't every day a field agent found herself face to face with the director of AEGIS. Let alone, so far from the capitol. Malcolm was said to be a recluse, for him to travel clear across the country with no warning wasn't just unusual it was unprecedented.

"Tell me, agent, why did you join AEGIS?" He asked, pacing back and forth in front of the desk.

"Sir?" Amelia blinked, confused by the question. What possible reason did he have to ask that question?

"Answer the question agent, I don't like to repeat myself."

Amelia swallowed hard, nodded and met his gaze. "Sir, I suppose I'd say I joined because I wanted to help people."

"Help exemplars, you mean," the director stopped pacing and leaned across the desk, both palms resting atop its surface.

"Not exclusively, sir. When my powers first surfaced, I was only thirteen. When I saw things, events for which I was not present. I knew things about people's past by all right I should have no way of knowing, people met me with a lot of suspicion. When I came out as trans it got even worse. My parents kicked me out of the house and my whole life spiraled out of control. It wasn't until social services and AEGIS intervened and I went to live with my aunt that my life turned around. If it wasn't for that I have no doubt I would have wound up dead in a ditch somewhere," Amelia stared up at the Director her mouth hanging open, unable to believe what she had just revealed to him.

The director didn't speak and once again Amelia shocked herself as she continued to speak. "In AEGIS, I was an opportunity to help others. Plenty of people have been hurt by the acts of aberrants. In AEGIS I saw a chance to prove that not all Exemplars are criminals."

"Good enough." Malcolm nodded, emitted a loud sigh and seated himself behind the desk opposite Amy. "I understand that the deputy assistant direct has removed you from active duty."

"Yes, sir."

"That would seem to be the correct call. This bond you've developed with the old man might influence your judgment."

Amelia blinked, just a little surprised that the director was already so well versed on the matter. He seemed to be taking an unusual interest in the whole thing. Which begged the question why was he even there to begin with?

"That being said, this Everett Howard may be the key to unraveling the mystery behind Chemosh. This bond may prove to be a beneficial investigative tool, but I can't risk having you out in the field."

The Agent felt her heart beating in her chest and she swallowed hard looking back at him. "Sir, what are you saying?"

Malcolm smirked and leaned forward. "Perhaps, you need not be out in the field."

Amelia wasn't sure what he meant, but the Director was quick to fill her in on the details, the prospect filled her with dread.