To Save the Worlds

Chapter 4

Alexa kept the lights off in the kitchen and there was just enough light outside to see by. She sat Harmony down on a stool while she made a quick patrol of the house. Harmony watched as she moved around the house, her expression still, not sullen or vacant, just observing. Once she had satisfied herself that the house was still secure, Alexa returned to the kitchen.

Crouching before Harmony, she asked, “Hey! Are you going to be okay?”

Harmony focused on her and replied, “Yes, I’m fine. I’m just coming to terms with the fact that they’re gone. Even though I hadn’t known them for very long, I considered some of them my friends.”

Alexa nodded in sympathy. She put a hand on Harmony's knee in a sign of compassion.

"It's hard to lose people you care about. It never gets easy."

"I've seen people dead or dying before. It's hurt every time, but this is the first time it's ever hit so close to me. I just feel kind of hollow."

Alexa had had to counsel troops in the past when a fellow soldier had been wounded or killed in a battle. It was never an easy task. That had been as Michael though and he had sat with them talking before sending ones more affected by their loss to the chaplain or doctor.

As Alexa, she had never seen heavy combat. She tried to draw on what she could of her combined history to try to console Harmony. All she could say was, "I know that it hurts. It might never go away, but it will get better. All I know is that none of the people I have lost would want me to stop living because they have. The best thing that you can do for them is to remember them and what they lived for. Celebrate the fact that they lived."

Her words made Harmony look at her more closely.

"Thank you. I've never heard it put quite that way before." Her eyes brimmed with tears and she fell into Alexa's arms as her control broke. They held each other for several minutes, Alexa’s embrace as tight as Harmony's. Neither seemed to want to let go, but Alexa finally pushed herself back from Harmony.

"We can't stay here tonight. Too many people might know how to find us, so we need to move."

Harmony nodded in understanding as Alexa rose and moved into the living room to peek through the curtains. She came back saying, “I could see the security patrol through the kitchen window and I was checking to make sure that they were gone. We should be good for a couple of hours, so we should go now.”

“Where are we going?” Harmony asked as she tried to wipe the tears from her face.

“I have us set up in the barracks across the field. It’s close enough to this house that we can meet the captain when we need to, but far enough away to keep anyone who is looking for us from finding us easily.”

Moving to the door, Alexa satisfied herself that the light reflected from the clouds was enough to light their way across the field without being seen from a distance. She took Harmony’s hand and led her out. They stayed low and moved quickly over to the taller building. They were soon in the room Alexa had selected as their hideout. The place was actually more like a dormitory than a stereotypical barracks with shared bathrooms between pairs of rooms. The pause in action allowed Harmony to rest on a piece of furniture in a corner.

“I would imagine that you would like to freshen up some after the past couple of days you’ve had,” Alexa said.

Harmony answered her with a nod and a weak smile. Alexa returned her smile and held out a towel from the few Luk had packed for them.

She went on to explain, “We still have power and the hot water appears to be working. I’ll close up the curtains while you take a shower. We should still keep lights to a minimum though.”

Harmony nodded and headed into the bathroom. When Alexa finished closing the blackout curtains and turning on a small light, she saw that the other girl had forgotten the towel she had been given. Harmony was already in the shower when Alexa opened the door to put the towel inside. She could see the outline of her body through the shower curtain and Alexa left quickly, respecting her privacy. She might be physically a woman now but she was still holding onto Michael’s male mindset. It was painfully obvious to her that she was still into women.

She moved back to their sleeping area and found herself contemplating their situation. In the space of a week, she or rather he had been thrown out of the Army as some sort of monster, been turned into a girl, and was sitting around with a girl she thought was pretty damned attractive. Then there was the untold number of people who wanted to kill that girl. She just hoped that she was equal to the task of keeping harmony alive. She wondered what would happen to them both when this particular adventure was over. Would she be interested in Michael? She hoped so.

In the bathroom, Harmony was doing some thinking of her own. She had been on the run for the past few days, staying ahead of the people who wanted her dead. Did she dare trust Alexa? True, her boss in her department had given her Alexa’s description and said that she could be trusted, but she wasn’t sure of anything right now. Alexa’s demonstration of martial arts at the airport could have been staged. But against those doubts was the feelings she got when she was close to Alexa or looking into her eyes. It was the same sensation she had felt when she had met that Army officer last year. So yes, she was willing to trust Alexa. It didn’t hurt that Alexa was beautiful and friendly. She would have to get to know her better.

The opening of the bathroom door signaled that Harmony had completed her cleanup. Turning to look, Alexa saw Harmony coming into the room in only panties and a bra. Her breath caught for a moment and she felt her heart hammering. She tore her eyes away before her arousal progressed any further. Harmony couldn’t know the affect she was having on her. But then Harmony only saw her as another woman.

"Feel better?" Alexa asked, just for something to say.

"A little," Harmony replied. "I don't have much in the way of clothes to change into, at least in terms of outer clothes. But it feels good to be in something clean."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Alexa said. "Our bosses back in New York must have known that you would need something, so a whole section of my luggage turns out to be clothing for you." When she thought about it, she could see that it was logical that Harmony would not have been able to carry much with her when she switched from her official transport over to the tour group.

While Harmony busied herself with finding clothes to change into, Alexa moved over to the cases of rations. Anything to keep her mind off the scantily clad woman behind her. Just the sight of her bending over and kneeling was enough to totally distract her. She took her time before grabbing a couple of packages and turning back around. Mercifully, Harmony was now dressed.

“Are you hungry?” She held out one of the MRE’s. "Stoddard left us cases of rations, so we have a good selection of food to eat. It’s not as good as mother makes, but we’ll have to deal with it until this is over. Then we can go to a sit-down restaurant for real food."

Harmony took the package from her and they settled down to eat. "I'll look forward to that. There are some places here in London that I would love to show you." Harmony looked at Alexa for a moment before blushing and looking away.

Alexa smiled back and said, "I'm hoping that everything will be resolved fairly quickly, but I'm not involved with that side of things. My job is to keep you safe and away from whoever is out to get you." Her heart skipped a beat at Harmony's comment.

"Most of the rooms on this floor have curtains that will block the light, but not all of them. I think that you noticed that the bathroom is an interior room, so we don't have to worry about anyone seeing us. We only need to be concerned about any noise that we cause."

Harmony nodded her understanding. "Other than playing our stereo really loud, the only noise we will be making is walking across the floor and sounds that the plumbing might make. We should be able to manage that."

"That's true," agreed Alexa. "We have to be prepared for the fact that we might still be tracked down. I don't believe that we need to be concerned tonight, but all bets are off after that. We should plan on moving in the morning."

Harmony yawned while she tried to yawn at the same time. "I'm sorry. I've been on the go for a full day and I'm afraid I've hit the wall. If we are okay for tonight, can we worry about next steps after a night's sleep?"

Alexa smiled. "You're right. We can think better tomorrow." She needed sleep herself.

She went to their luggage and extracted a pair of plain night shirts, holding one out to Harmony.

“I don’t know if you want this, but it’s better than sleeping in street clothes.”

“Thank you,” Harmony said as she took the night gown. “I’ve noticed that your luggage holds a lot of clothes. How is that possible?”

Alexa blinked at the question. She hadn’t given it much thought but Harmony’s observation made her realize that something was off.

"You’re right. These suitcases were given to me in New York and I was just taking things for granted.” It bothered her a bit that she had not noticed the unusual capacity of the luggage. “I don’t think that any of them are related to Mary Poppins though,” said trying to distract Harmony from pursuing the facts. She briefly considered that Mary Poppins could have been inspired by the denizens of L’s hotel.

Harmony shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter right now. I’m a little too tired to care about it right now.” She gestured to the sleeping bags and padded mats. “Which one is mine?”

Alexa pointed to the left side saying, “I’ll take this one, it’s closer to the door.” If anything was going to happen, they would have to go through her first.

The two of them stretched out for sleep, leaving the small light glowing in the corner. Alexa lay on her back, unable to relax immediately. The weight of her breasts was barely a distraction now. She reviewed a list of the things that needed to be done. Finding a new hideout as at the top, but how to find one quickly escaped her. Seeking shelter at the American Embassy was problematic. They would be trapped in a location with a single way in or out. She also did not know if embassy security could be trusted. Transportation would be relatively easy as she could appropriate a vehicle from the motor pool on the base. She did not want to ask Stoddard for help as it would weaken their security. She had the cell phone she had found in her purse. Maybe she could reach out to Luk or L for their assistance. Once she had settled the issues in her mind, she was able to sleep.

* * * * *

She woke at some point in the morning. The room was still dark because of the curtains, but she felt completely rested so she knew she had gotten a full night's sleep. It had been another good night because she had not been visited by the nightmares.

She opened her eyes to see Harmony sitting cross-legged on her sleeping bag, looking down at her.

"Good morning," Alexa said.

"Good morning," Harmony replied. Then she asked, "Who are you?"

"What do you mean?" Harmony's impromptu interrogation was completely unexpected. "I told you I was your security."

"That's true. I was told to expect you when I called my superiors. That is why I went with you at the airport." She waved that statement away as if it were irrelevant. "I'm talking about the fact that we have met before, I'm sure of it."

Alexa lay quietly, just looking at her.

"You and I met for the first time yesterday, Ms. Moon," Alexa stated.

"That might be true, but it doesn’t feel right to me," Harmony said in frustration in her voice. "I met a Special Forces soldier some time ago. You obviously are not him but, if I close my eyes, it feels like he is right here. I've never had this kind of experience before and I want to know what is going on."

Alexa studied the other woman, her mind racing while she considered multiple options. There were only three real possibilities here. One, she could deny everything and claim that it was some kind of coincidence. Two, admit that Harmony was right and explain everything. Or three, she could try for some kind of middle road without revealing the truth.

The silence grew longer as she reviewed everything she had been told by L, War, and Peace. They had said that the knowledge that a person was an avatar could affect how they functioned as an avatar. But they had not forbidden her from revealing the truth. It just depended upon whether Harmony would actually believe it.

While she was obviously impatient, Harmony could see that Alexa was thinking and not refusing outright to answer her. Alexa broke the tableau by nodding.

"You're right. There are things going on that you might find hard to believe. Let me go take care of business and I will tell you everything while we eat."

Harmony acknowledged her offer with a nod and a sympathetic smile.

Once they had settled down with their breakfast, Alexa debated on how to start the conversation. She had actually thought about this exact conversation over the past couple of days and had come up with various approaches. She finally elected to just plunge in.

"You're right. It's true that we have met before."

Harmony's eyes narrowed at her admission. While she knew something was going on, the explanation better be good.

"I know that this is starting out sounding strange. I wouldn't believe it if I weren't living it. Are you familiar with the massacre that took place in Afghanistan a few months ago?" At Harmony's nod, she continued, "Up until a few days ago, I was the officer accused of authorizing that attack."

She stopped at that point to let her statement sink in and to wait for Harmony's reaction.

Harmony double blinked as the implications of what Alexa had just said registered.

"I remember the pictures of that officer and I just realized that he was the one I met in Geneva. I had the same feeling from him that I have been getting from you."

"Yes," Alexa replied with a nod. "That is where things start to sound really strange."

She proceeded to tell her about how she had found herself at Deity Arms and that she had awakened in the company of gods. How she had agreed to become associated with the god of war and was tasked with acting as Harmony's bodyguard. She carefully avoided revealing any connection between Harmony and Peace.

But Harmony was sharp enough to know that there was more to her story.

"That doesn't explain why I am so important to require a bodyguard to be assigned to me by a bunch of gods. I'm just a negotiator for the United Nations. There are plenty of others who can take my place."

Alexa had to finally give in and tell everything, regardless of any preference that Peace might have been expressed.

"I did tell you that the god of war asked me to be his avatar?" she began. "The reason you are so important is that you are the avatar of peace." She went on to explain why Harmony was so important.

"You mean that the existence of the entire universe depends upon whether I live or die?" Harmony's voice was decidedly shrill at this point.

"That is largely correct," Alexa confirmed. "If they manage to kill you in a certain way, Peace could be prevented from successfully bonding with a new avatar for a long time. Even if they were to shoot you or stab you, it would take some time before a new avatar could be found. They appear to have been going around killing potential avatars for quite some time.

"If Peace cannot operate in the world, War will have no counter balance and there is a very real chance that the world could destroy itself. They say that the influence of gods crosses over all worlds, so those worlds might all go the same way." She grinned a bit manically at Harmony as she said, "You and I are all that can prevent the end of the world."

"That doesn't make sense!" Harmony exclaimed. "I can't be an avatar as you call it."

"Ask yourself about how successful you have been in your career.”

Harmony looked deflated somewhat as she said, “So being an avatar as you call it is why I do what I do?”

Alexa leaned forward and took her hand.

“No,” she said earnestly. “Being an avatar just makes you better at what you already what to do.”

Harmony’s eyes narrowed as she looked closer at Alexa.

“Does that mean that you liked death and destruction in order to be the avatar of War? What does it mean that you are an avatar? Do you start wars or make them worse?”

Alexa grinned at her barbs instead of being offended by them.

She shook her head. “I’m pretty sure that I am a special case. I was a combat soldier before I was transformed. I know that I have some of the attributes that make me a good candidate to be an avatar of War, but the god of war is not necessarily about violence. For some reason, the people who are looking for you wanted to eliminate me rather than have me available as an avatar.

“Instead of being the unconscious avatar of War, I was asked to assume that role.”

Harmony continued to look at her with some suspicion.

“So, you have an affinity for war just like I have an affinity for peace?” She said affinity as if the word were bracketed with quotes. Sill communicating her skepticism.

Alexa shrugged. “I was a good leader and tactician. I was in line for higher training because of that. But being a soldier does not equal destruction. I believe that there are ways to get things done in combat that do not automatically require death and destruction.” She threw in her own air quotes at that.

“Then why were you selected to be an avatar and my bodyguard?”

Alexa looked uncomfortable at being directly confronted about why she was there. She had given those reasons some thought herself.

“I think that I was chosen because I had an affinity for war and because I had an affinity for you.” She blushed as she made that admission and met Harmony’s eyes for a moment before looking away.

For her part, Harmony’s face was as red as Alexa’s and there was no sign that she was outraged at the admission.

“So that is what that is,” she said with wonder in her voice. “I felt something when we met each other last year and it was the same when we met again at the airport. Do you know what I’m talking about?”

Alexa nodded. She still remembered how she felt when Michael and Harmony had come face to face. It had hit her the same when they met at the airport. She just knew that she liked it.

“So, War is guarding Peace,” Harmony stated with a grin. “It seems to me a bit like the fox guarding the henhouse.”

“I wouldn’t call it that, “Alexa replied. “My task is to protect you. If something were to happen to you, I really do not want to be the instrument that destroys the world. Losing you would hurt too much.”

Harmony’s humor faded in the face of Alexa’s dead seriousness.

“It’s really hard to believe what you are saying, but I can see that you do. I’ll admit that I’ve seen enough things that I cannot explain that I’m willing to follow your lead. If for no other reason than someone wants to kill us. What’s the plan for today?”

“As much as I would like to be able to hide out here, I don’t think that we can stay,” Alexa said. “Stoddard was driving a staff car from the base and I have no doubt that they have figured out that we did not come back to the base in that car. So they will either be searching for that car or they have already found it. Either way, I would like to be gone before they find us here.

“My problem is that I don’t have another place for us to go. I’m going to reach out to New York to see if they can offer us some help. I don’t want to bother Stoddard again so that we don’t have to worry about being tracked through him.”

Harmony nodded as she listened.

“What time is it?” Alexa asked.

“It’s still early. The sun is just coming up.”

Alexa went to the camp light in the corner and turned it off. In the darkness, she peeked through an edge before she opened the curtains all the way.

“The road is clear for now,” she said. “We need to have these blackouts open before anyone notices that there is one apartment that has the curtains drawn and none of the others do.”

“That makes sense. We just have to stay away from the windows then. Is it too early for your call to New York now?”

Alexa was looking out the window

We may be in trouble sooner than I thought,” she said, her voice tense. “

“Why? What’s wrong?” Harmony started to go to the window, but Alexa held her hand up to warn her back.

“I think that our security has been broken,” Alexa replied, her eyes still on the safe house. “I was afraid that someone would start looking for us here and I was right. A couple of security people just pulled up at the house. I can guess how it happened so fast though.

“All they had to do was find out who was driving a staff car last night and start checking on them. Then it would be easy to look into their activities. At least that is what I would do. I just did not expect them to have infiltrated the base so soon.”

Harmony edged up next to Alexa to see what was going on. The soldiers Alexa was talking about were looking around the houses across the field and checking locked doors.

“I can’t believe that so many soldiers would be willing to do this kind of thing,” she said.

“I doubt that the line people are involved,” Alexa said. “Nyx and Erebus are known to corrupt people by appealing to their pride and greed. It’s easier to go after people in charge in order to reach their goals. The leaders will then direct their lower ranking people.”

“What do we do now?” Harmony asked.

Alexa shrugged. “They won’t find anything with the house Stoddard set up for us. Someone might think about those supplies though. I don’t think there will be any searches as yet, but I would expect that they would increase patrols. That will make it harder to get out of here. I’ll call Stoddard first instead. He might be able to pick us up and get us out of here before someone sees us.”

She took out her phone and hit Stoddard’s speed dial entry. The number rang a few times before the voicemail system picked upon. She disconnected before the welcome message finished playing.

“That’s not good,” she said, frowning. “I expected that he would have answered. Considering how important things are.” She was sure that he would have answered the phone and never let it go to voicemail. “He might call us, but I think that we need to plan on getting out of here on our own.”

Harmony nodded. She had experienced some tight situations in her career and it was always better to play it safe.

“I already have a bug-out bag.” She pointed to pieces of luggage she had arrived with. “I might swap out some of the clothes I came with for some of what you had for me.”

Alexa moved to the bags she had brought with her and took out a smaller bag. “It looks like I was prepared too. I discovered this when I got here yesterday.” She hefted the bag with a grin. “We can try to walk away from here and make our way to the base motor pool. We’ll help ourselves to a car and head into London.”

Considering that they had not dressed yet, Alexa decided that wearing her dress uniform would be a good idea, she would change out of it as soon as she could. She looked Harmony over and said, “We’re fairly close to the same size, so I think that you could wear my fatigues. Just make sure to have a change of clothes handy so that we can become civilians quickly.”

They were dressed quickly, wearing running shoes instead of the dress shoes or boots their uniforms called for. Alexa gave a regretful look at the clothing and supplies they were leaving behind. She hadn’t had a chance to wear most of her clothes, but it couldn’t be helped. She shrugged it off. They needed to travel light and none of it was vital to their survival. They grabbed their bags and left.

As they came to the end stairwell, Alexa looked out the windows before they were fully onto the landing. Her arm shot out to keep Harmony from going further as she swore.

“We need to go back!” she hissed.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

Alexa gestured to the windows where they both saw barricades across streets and security teams moving about.

“They either know or think that we’re in the area. If we try to leave now, we would be stopped before we got ten feet from the building.”

They moved back into their impromptu hideout.

“Some avatar of War I turned out to be,” Alexa said. “I’ve let us get trapped with no way out.”

“Don’t say that!” Harmony said as she grabbed Alexa’s arms and looked her in the eyes. “You saved me from those thugs at the airport and took them out without even breathing hard. You figured out how to get us back here safely. You knew that the house would not be a safe place to be and you were right. I wouldn’t have thought they would track us down so fast.

“They haven’t found us yet, so we still have a chance. I have faith in you.”

She shook Alexa’s arms as she declared her trust.

Alexa found herself captivated by Harmony’s gaze again and managed to get control again.

“One of things that I did when I got here was to make sure all of the exterior doors were locked,” Alexa said. “That will keep them from knowing we are here. They will have to get the keys for the buildings they are going to search and that will slow them down a bit.

“This apartment is obviously our base and there is no way we can hide the fact that we’ve been here. I think that hiding in one of the other apartments will be a way of confusing them and maybe get them thinking that we left before they put up their roadblocks. Does that make sense to you?

“Yes, but where can we hide in the rooms?” Harmony looked around. Most rooms had very little furniture left behind, meaning there was nothing to hide under or behind.

Alexa smiled and pointed upward. “These rooms all have suspended ceilings, so we can climb into the supports and put the ceiling tiles back. As long as we stay quiet, they won’t know we’re here.”

“When do we need to get up there?”

“Let’s finish eating and we’ll check the ceilings. We’ll put our bug-out bags up there with us.”

Once they were done, they changed into clothing that would allow them to move easily. Without knowing how much time they had to work with, Alexa determined that they needed to go into hiding immediately.

They chose the apartment across from their current hideout so that they could hear what was going on. They opened the ceiling up a bit so that they could work and used straps Alexa found in the equipment Stoddard had left them to make harnesses to lie in. They agreed that they would be somewhat comfortable as they waited for their opponents to leave.

Their bug-out bags were secured close to hand and then Alexa helped Harmony to climb up into her harness. Before Alexa pulled back to put most of ceiling tiles into place, Harmony took the opportunity to give her a quick kiss. At Alexa’s look of pleasant surprise, Harmony said with a grin, “For luck.”

Alexa returned the grin and said, “Thank you. I loved that movie when I was a kid.” She climbed down and moved the ladder out of the room. When she returned, she was able to jump straight up into the ceiling supports. Her new agility allowed her to lever herself into her own harness. Then she carefully laid the remaining ceiling tiles into place and plunged them into darkness.

* * * * *

L’s office door stood open as Luk escorted the deities of Peace and War. The elder god sat behind his desk and acknowledged their entrance with a brief nod. Luk took up his station to one side of L while the other two seated themselves before the desk.

The room was still as stark as ever with only the desk and chairs. The whiteness of everything contributed to the cold feeling that would have been alleviated with the addition of a potted plant or some office furniture with color. Only Luk would have appreciated that kind of change as he had more contact with the mortals that happened to find their way into their sanctuary. That gave him an outlook on things that was unique among the gods.

“Do you have news?” Peace asked.

L nodded and replied, “Yes. Major Davis met Harmony as planned and they returned to the military base. She changed their hiding place as soon as she arrived, which kept them from being found. Unfortunately, they are currently trapped where they are.”

“And there is nothing we can do to help them?” War asked. It was a pointless question that they all knew the answer to, but it had to be asked.

L was expressionless as he said, “We can take no action that will remove them from their current situation. My representative there has also been compromised for the moment.”

“Then we are lost,” Peace stated. Her voice conveyed no sense of fear or resignation. It was more a statement of fact.

L smiled at them. “As our mortals say, It’s not over until it’s over. Your avatars have not been captured as yet. All we can do is wait and have trust that Major Davis will love up to the task we have given her.”

His calmness did nothing to reassure the other two. All they could do was settle back and wait as he advised.