Future's End, Part 3
Katye paid the taxi fare as Raven, Tuvok, and Tom got out of the yellow car. The taxi dropped them off at the front of the Griffith Observatory, which was an open, well-manicured field with sidewalks that lead to the Astronomer's monument and the front doors of the observatory. Raven looked around with a light smile on her face as did Tom.
"How do you plan for us to leave if we need to do so quickly?" Tuvok asked as the taxi drove away.
"We get somewhere secluded and have Fae beam us up," Katye replied.
Tuvok gave a small nod and the four made their way into the observatory. There were a number exhibits for the different planets, Pluto included, and a number of other celestial objects like Halley's Comet and the Asteroid Belt, but none of them paid the exhibits anything more than a passing glance. Instead, what they were looking for was the back side of the observatory where only employees would be able to access.
"Over there," Raven said, pointing at a hallway which had a door marked with an 'Employees Only' sign.
"Hmm…" Katye mused as her eyes were dyed black as she peered into the Yin Realm. "There is someone inside… wait, they are moving towards the door."
The door that the four of them were watching opened, and a woman with long black hair and a petite frame came out. She had been played by Sarah Silverman in the episode, and she looked the same, but her name should be Rain Robinson. They waited until she left the hallway and headed for the front, before they quickly slipped into the room.
"Raven, check the computer," Katye said as soon as they entered the room, "I'll keep an eye out for her."
"On it," Raven replied, pulling out her tricorder.
Katye walked back out of the room as Raven sat down at the computer and pressed a few buttons on her tricorder. Tom and Tuvok looked around the room with mild interest before joining Raven at the computer desk. Tom picked up a small snow globe and shook it with a smile, then noticed what it was holding down.
"These are radio wave readouts," Tom said, flipping through the pages without care.
"Lieutenant, you are being careless. We must leave things exactly as they were," Tuvok chided.
"They found us, alright. The orbital schematic matches Voyager's position. It looks like they are tracking the warp emissions from our engines," Raven said.
"Nobody in this century even knows what warp emissions are," Tom said.
"Whoever has the time ship would. They've configured the telescope to scan for them, so that's my best guess," she replied.
{Heads up.} Katye sent telepathically.
{Stall her for another two minutes.} Raven sent back then said aloud, "Katye just warned me that she's on her way back. I've already got my tricorder copying her database; is there anything else you need me to do?"
"Can you disrupt the computer and make it look like a simple malfunction?" Tuvok asked.
"No problem," she agreed.
"It's a shame; she was about to make the biggest discovery in human history. It could have changed her career," Tom commented.
"And ended ours," Tuvok retorted.
Raven typed away at the computer and set up a virus that wiped out all of the data that had been recorded for the past few days, then crashed the computer. Her tricorder chimed and she activated the virus, before she picked up the tricorder and shut it.
"Let's go," Raven said, standing up.
She passed the tricorder to Tuvok and led them out of the room. Unfortunately, as talkative as Katye could be, Rain still noticed the three of them walking out of the room.
"Excuse me, did you not see the sign, 'Do Not Enter, Employees Only'?" Rain said, moving past Katye.
"Sorry, we got turned around at Saturn and thought someone might be able to point us in the right direction back to the lobby," Raven said quickly.
"Go back down the hall, take a left at Mars, right at Halley's Comet, and then just keep going straight ahead past the soda machine, okay?" Rain said, annoyed.
"Yeah, thanks," Raven replied.
Rain walked past them with a large pizza in her hands, and then slammed the door shut. Katye shrugged, and the four of them made their way out, but before they had left the building, she froze. An incredibly strong source of mana entered her perception, but the only saving grace was that she could tell that it was some sort of magical item. It took a moment, but then, Raven felt it too.
"Holy shit, what is that?!?" Raven exclaimed.
"His goon," Katye nearly growled. "Clearly, the Vazukuru-Federation alliance has grown in the five hundred years between our time and Braxton's."
"And I thought Becca was overreacting," Raven sighed, tapping her ring. Two bracelets appeared in her hands, and she held them towards Tuvok and Tom, saying, "Put them on, and if you are in danger, press the crystal and a shield will cover you for thirty seconds, but it's a one-time use."
"Would it not be more prudent to leave?" Tuvok asked.
"Becca's vision has his goon coming after Rain, but you two were able to keep her safe. If we want the timeline to remain intact, we need to protect her as well," Katye said.
"If Rebecca saw this coming, why didn't she see whatever it is heading for us?" Tom asked.
"We can't see the effects of other Vazukuru, or our technology it seems," Katye replied.
"Hey, you four!" Rain shouted.
"We need to get out into the open. Tuvok, Tom, make sure you cover her," Katye instructed and led them outside.
A black car screeched to a halt where they had been dropped off ten minutes ago. The door to the back seat opened, and someone wearing a silver exo-suit stepped out. The person was looking straight at the four of them, and Katye and Raven could both sense something scanning them.
"Hey, just wait a minute! What did you guys do to my computer?!?" Rain shouted as she busted through the front door.
"Watch out!" Tom yelled.
Katye and Raven had already noticed before his shout and threw up their own defenses. With a thrust of her hands, Katye erected a wall of violet and white-blue, which meant that it was not a pure Arcane Shield, while Raven shifted to the front of the group and cast her own maroon shield. The person in the exo-suit had pointed an arm towards them and released some kind of energy blast. Katye's shield held for a moment before it broke and, while she was hit with a minor backlash, Raven's held strong, protecting everyone from the last bits of his attack.
"What the hell is that?!?" Rain explained.
"Long story. Tom, Tuvok, get her away from here! We'll handle this guy," Katye said, pointing at the walkway that led down and towards the woods, and sent silently to Tuvok, {Don't forget your badge if she gives you trouble!}
Tuvok nodded and gently grabbed Rain by the arm while Tom took her other as they escorted her to the side. The armored man lifted his other arm, but instead of aiming at Raven and Katye, he pointed at the three that were retreating. Raven tapped her ring and pulled out a small silver disk, which she channeled her mana into before blocking the thick energy beam.
While Raven shielded them, Katye raced forward, enhancing her speed and hoping to catch him by surprise. He managed to block her palm thrust, but it was sloppy, which made her believe that the computer within the suit had assisted him, so speeding up could help. She infused her Soul Power into her body, further increasing her speed so that she was just a blur of movement, dancing around the man in the exo-suit. All he could do was hunker down and protect the mana crystals powering his suit while relying on his armor to absorb her blows.
It seemed to be working at first, but Katye's goal had never been to out-muscle an exo-suit, rather, each of her touches placed an arcane rune on it. When all of them had been placed, the spell activated, and he was locked in place by bands of arcane mana. The Arcane Shackles were strong enough to hold Rebecca in place while she was in her Dragon form, so she knew that they could hold this advanced exo-suit, but the spell had a glaring weakness which was that it required her full focus to hold in place. Her plan had been to hold him while Raven took off the pieces of the enchanted armor, but she had forgotten something, or rather, someone.
The person who drove the car was still inside, so when Katye stopped moving, he drew his gun and fired at her backside. With her focus and mana tied up, holding the person in the exo-suit, she had practically no time to react, so the bullet ripped through her stomach, barely missing her spine. He fired again, but Katye had already given up on holding the first man and reactivated her Superspeed which allowed her to dodge the following bullets.
Although it was a mirror image of the wound that killed Lexi, the character that she replaced in 'The 100', she was not nearly in as much trouble as her counterpart. Her time spent in Sick Bay was yet another way to train, as she had wanted to learn healing spells with Rebecca's tendency to get hurt. Although her skill could not compare to Rebecca's Grand Yang Healing Star spell, which had been a power gifted to her directly from Tori, and could heal any injury with enough mana and experience, she could treat the damage in many ways at once due to her understanding.
Unfortunately, the person in the exo-suit was not going to let her recover now that he was free of her hold. He threw a hand towards her and released another energy blast. Katye's hands glowed with violet mana as she hastily deflected his attack while she twisted out of the way. The blast hit the ground and exploded as Raven neared with a silver rifle in her hands. With the pull of a trigger, it released a condensed bolt of pure mana which blasted the man in the exo-suit across the hood of the car.
People were being drawn out of the observatory with all of the commotion. The man in the exo-suit noticed as well, but instead of continuing the fight, he leapt into the air and flew away in his best imitation of Iron Man. The black car also took his cue to leave and drove off quickly. Raven caught Katye before she stumbled and watched the car drive away with mild annoyance.
"You, okay?" Raven asked, sending her rifle back into her ring.
"I'll be fine, but we need to get out of here," Katye said.
"Let's go," she replied and pulled Katye's arm over her shoulders, so that Katye could focus on healing herself.