Authors: Andrea K Höst
Seeing how quickly and easily Fisher had managed somehow made
it worse for Madeleine. There was no way
she could swoop down like that. Jump off
a building and work out how to fly, all in an easy two-step process? Maintain a shaped shield while falling? No matter how strong she was, that was beyond
any reasonable learning curve. She'd end
up slamming into the support shaft of Sydney Tower, or zooming off toward the
Spire. Or dropping like a stone.
Her hands on the cold railing felt slick and damp, and she
shivered in the late autumn chill. Impossible. Beyond impossible.
Noi
. She
repeated the name out loud. Noi down
there, possessed by one of the Five. The
need to bring her back was a rock-hard certainty, a promise never quite spoken. Noi, and Emily, Min, Nash, Pan. Lee Rickard would certainly have something to
say about being able to fly beneath the stars.
She raised her shield, working quickly, having learned the
power of even a tiny wind. The
possibility of being dragged off her feet helped, because it meant she could
not keep standing there, clutching the railing uprights.
"
Straight on till morning
," she breathed,
and tilted forward.
There was no plunge. Madeleine glided with soap bubble ease, the sensation almost that of
sliding over ice, the shield beneath her far more responsive than she'd
anticipated. She shifted it a degree, as
easily as moving a mental arm, and the glide became a leisurely swoop toward
Central Station.
Glorious!
Unhurriedly, for she was still very high, Madeleine attempted
to follow Fisher's instructions, and made a minor adjustment to the shape, a
curling of one corner, taking care to keep her changes small. She curved to the left, circling over the
Anzac Memorial at the southern end of Hyde Park, and drifted back. The hotel was a good place to aim for, with
its distinctive terraces and long upper roof. Still too far below to hope to land, but if she went south again and
lined herself up as if for a runway, she would have plenty of opportunity to
correct her height, and face far less risk of overshooting.
The city spun below her, reduced to blockish shapes and
streaking lights. The Spire was a slim
shadow ahead to her right, Sydney Tower a shorter rival to the left.
Blobbish
lumps
below were all she could make out of Hyde Park's trees, which were far too low
to pose any danger of collision, and provided a simple line to use as a
guide. The hotel's long roof was not
entirely flat, had some kind of air-conditioning plant on top, but that was
long and flat as well, and she dropped to a mere leg-breaking distance as the
near edge of the long centre building approached. Passing above four large fans, she lifted a
little to barely clear a white circular projection, then swooped down the last
few feet to the surface of the roof, contracting her shield so that her landing
was a little fast, but obligingly bouncy.
Done. Face-down on
concrete, arms spread wide, safe. She
rolled onto her back and stared up at a foreshortened view of two towers. Had he known how that flight would make her
feel? Lined up this domino, knowing she
would desperately need to be uplifted? It had helped, so much. Théoden,
all that she felt, was still a roil of confusion and grief, but the barbed wire
had rusted through. It was gratitude
which blurred the stars.
The recollection that she was lying on the roof of a hotel
full of possessed Blues prodded her to movement. She scrambled to her feet and padded softly
to the north end of the section of roof. The curve of the pool room roof was a lighted jewel below, and Fisher
waited just before it, a so-familiar silhouette. Kneeling, she reversed, dangled and dropped
down off the plant level, noticing deep scrapes in the concrete as she let
go. The Core must land his dragon up
there.
Another drop and she was beside the pool, Fisher turning as
if to take her arm, then stopping short. But Madeleine had found the strength to keep herself focused on her
goals, and was not thrown by the near touch.
"Were there cameras monitoring me?" she
whispered. "Will the Moths know
what's happened?"
"There were cameras, just not enough. They can't see the place where Théoden is,
and will only know that you have gone up on the roof with what they will think
is him. They can tell a possessed Blue
from a non-possessed, but not through a camera image."
"So they'll know right away when they see you?"
"Yes. Every Blue
we encounter, you will need to spirit punch immediately. Most of the Moths will die." The clipped tone wavered for a moment, then
resumed. "If there's multiple
Moths, I'll try to revive the fallen Blues while you fight, and it will be
easier as we progress because our numbers will grow. However, the strongest Moths, particularly
the Five, can survive separation from the host. That's why, before we go for Noi, we need Nash."
"To drain, like he did the Rover." Some of what needed to be done was
obvious. Dominos, falling into place.
"Nash won't be possessed – he's being held for much the
same reason you were. Any Greens will
need to be shield-paralysed and locked up. Ideally, we want to collect Nash and free Noi as quickly and quietly as
possible. If an alarm is raised – well,
that will involve running, and passing on the information we have before the
united strength of the En-Mott clans descends on us."
He led her to an access door and eased it open. Glancing down as they stepped inside,
Madeleine saw that folded paper had been wadded into the gap in the jamb. Another domino. How had Théoden felt, this last day, putting
in place all the things which needed to happen after she killed him?
Madeleine took deep, calming breaths, trying to prepare
herself. Going into battle, a thing
which she'd technically accepted back when the Musketeers had been practicing
combat, now meant facing the probability of killing another Moth like Théoden. There was no way of knowing.
But she would do it. The consequences of hesitating were too large.
ooOoo
The next domino had been a card key, tucked behind a picture
frame in the first hallway.
"The elevators are monitored," Fisher said as he
collected it. "The cameras are in
the far right corners. Put your hood up
and look down and to your left as we walk in, then turn and straighten. There should be no problem with anyone seeing
me on camera – perhaps a little heightened attention, but not the full alert
you would inspire. The security room is
on the same level as Nash, so we'll take it out first. It's usually manned by Greens, so in this
case I'll shield-stun first, and you spirit punch anyone who doesn't fall
down. Ready?"
Madeleine tugged her hood well forward. "Is it only Noi and Nash in this
building? Do you know where the others
are?"
"Min and Pan will be here. Emily is part of the sub-group led by another
of the Five, based in the hotel next to this one."
"Okay."
The clarity of Fisher's knowledge made it obvious he
remembered every detail of the time he was possessed, and she could not let
herself think about that too much, could not spend time going over all the
things she'd said and done. But it was
no easier to think of killing people. Glad of the shadow of her hood, she followed him to an elevator, and did
her best to move casually, bending her head as if she was glancing at Fisher's
shoes, turning unhurriedly.
They travelled more than a dozen floors down, and strode with
casual confidence to knock on and open a door, quite as if they belonged. The room beyond was lit by a grid of screens,
images of corridors, rooms, the hotel entrance. Heart thumping triple time, Madeleine barely saw the people sitting
before them, dark shapes turning, one getting to her feet. Fisher was quick, all three of the figures
jolting from a blow, but the one standing was still moving, the tiniest
fragment of Moth song lifting, and Madeleine punched, panicked by the idea of
dozens of possessed people running in response to an alarm. In the compact room, the sudden bloom of Moth
above Blue seemed blinding, the alien too close, giant.
Then it fell, becoming Madeleine's second kill that night,
and she recognised with sick certainty that she would keep a count, and
remember it always. But the Blue, a woman,
had dropped back on the chair, limp and wrong, and Madeleine had to make
certain that the count didn't jump immediately to three. Rushing forward, she pressed hands above
heart and pushed out a frightened little spurt of worry.
"Good." Fisher sounded as breathless as she felt, but he was already moving,
turning on the room's light and closing the door. "I'm going to grab gear to tie them
up," he said, bending over the two Greens and searching pockets, removing
mobile phones. "Paralyse them again
if they begin to revive before I'm back. Is she breathing?"
"Yes." The
woman had blinked, and tears were now welling in brown eyes. Behind her, the limp corpse of the Moth slid
off the room's wrap-around counter to take up too much space on the floor.
"I won't be long," Fisher said, dragging one of the
Greens into the corner furthest from any buttons. "Check the monitors for an indication of
how many Moths are active."
He pulled the second Green across to the first, gave her a
quick, sharp glance which she caught out of the corner of her eye, and then
left. Madeleine turned to watch him
stride into one of the elevators on screen and stand, hands in pockets, head
bowed. Tense, strained, and already
looking tired. They'd only just
started. How could they possibly prepare
for the Core's return in a scant few hours?
"Thank you. So
much."
The Blue she'd freed reached out deeply stained hands, only
occasional patches of brown visible. When Madeleine offered hers in automatic response, the woman gripped and
squeezed them painfully tight, then let go and began to explore her own face.
"I can't hardly believe..." She swept her hands slowly over softly
curling hair, squeezed shut her eyes, causing tears to break loose from
lashes. "Me again. At last."
"Welcome back..." Madeleine said uncertainly.
"Sarah," the woman said, making the name a release,
a triumph. "Sarah
Jeteneru
."
"I'm –"
The woman widened her eyes, a momentary laughing
expression. "You're Madeleine
Cost. Do you think there's any of us in
this city who doesn't know the Core's great prize? And, oh, he's reached too far, hasn't
he? You're here to bring him down."
"We're here to try," Madeleine said, startled and
impressed by the woman's rapid shift toward self-command. She surveyed the wall of monitors, wondering
how many Moths were in the hotel. A
central screen was flicking between images, and Madeleine caught her breath,
staring at a person sitting cross-legged on a bed.
The picture changed to Nash, standing at a window, but a
furtive sound demanded Madeleine's attention, and she turned to find one of the
stunned Greens trying to overcome post-paralysis pins and needles and get to
the door. By the time the Green had been
stunned and stashed back with his companion, Fisher had arrived, wearing a
backpack and hauling heavily loaded Eco-shopping bags.
"Eat," he recommended, putting down four bags
brimming with blocks of chocolate, boxes of muesli bars, bags of dried
fruit. He slid his backpack to the
ground, produced a mobile phone which he passed to her, then pulled out a large
roll
of duct tape, turning purposefully to the
Greens.
"This is Sarah," Madeleine said, opting to stock
her backpack first. She refused to
contemplate crumb trays ever again.
"Fisher," he said, with a preoccupied nod. "How many people are up and about in the
hotel?"
"Up, quite a number, watching the Buenos Aires
Challenge." Sarah glanced toward a
laptop, where images of an arena were being streamed, then pulled a keyboard
into reach and tapped out commands. "Most in their rooms, but there's a cluster in a guest lounge, and
another group in with the North."
"The North?" Madeleine asked.
"One of the Five. There's no English word – no Earth word – which fits what they call the
four who support the Core, so they use North, South, East and West. The four quarters. The South and the North are watching
together," she added to Fisher, who paused, frowning, then briskly resumed
his taping efforts.
"We'll need greater numbers before we go up, then,"
he said. "But first the leech
Blues. Any obstacles?"
"One guard, at the beginning of their corridor,"
Sarah said, and when the Greens were thoroughly wrapped led Madeleine and
Fisher directly to a row of rooms which had been roughly reinforced with the
kind of security screens usually seen on the front doors of houses. The first in the row, by contrast, had had
its door removed, making it difficult to get past unseen, so Madeleine simply
ran straight into the open room, the man inside not even facing her when she
spirit punched. Too easy, but already
she was feeling a pinch of strain.
"I'm not sure how many of these I can do in a row,"
she said, as she knelt over the fallen Blue. "I'll be okay for a handful more, but..."
"No, you need to rest for when we go for Noi. With this third freed Blue, we can safely
take all but the strongest without you, and punching duty can pass on to each
new Blue to limit exhaustion."
"Have you posted how to free people?" Sarah asked
from the door. "We need to get
something out there, tell the world how to do this."
"Is right..." The man lying on the floor beside Madeleine groaned, then tried to lever
himself too quickly upright. "Can't
delay–!"
"We'll prepare a time-delayed post after we have the
leech Blues," Fisher said shortly. "Failure insurance. But we
can't go public yet. Not everything's in
place."