Authors: Andrea K Höst
He too was thinking in terms of dominos. Of course he would, following the memory of
Théoden's plans, and that idea started to bring too much to the surface, so
Madeleine turned to help the newly freed Blue to his feet. He wobbled unsteadily, told her to call him
Kiwi Joe, then gathered her up in a huge hug. Since he was a big, solidly built man, this was more than a little
overwhelming, but then he, like Sarah, took himself in hand, producing the keys
to the makeshift prisons, asking Fisher questions about what next.
They shared out keys, unlocked the screens, and then
Madeleine jumped back with a stifled squeak as Nash cannoned out of the room
she'd opened, a broken chair leg swung like a sword, missing her head only
because he pulled up at the last moment.
"Not possessed!" she said hastily, but he'd already
worked that out, probably because Moths weren't given to squeaking.
"The others–?" he asked.
"Soon," Madeleine said, but suddenly Nash wasn't
looking at her, was staring past her down the hall, the tense determination
vanishing from his face, replaced by stunned disbelief.
"
Leina
?"
Madeleine had known, had seen him on the monitors, but still
that husky, once-familiar voice broke something in her, and she whirled and
flung herself into a startled Tyler's arms.
Tyler's soothing, barely audible hum took Madeleine back to
the summer when she was five, an inconstant moon in Tyler's orbit as he
strolled the back pastures of a neighbouring farm. She would dart off to follow a butterfly,
examine a flower, bring back a seed pod to offer him. At twelve he had seemed impossibly tall and
distant, holding his sun hat against the wind. But when there were nettles, scrapes, bruised knees, he would drop down
to her height, open his arms, and hum just as he did now as he gave her a tiny
squeeze.
"Are you rescuing me, or am I rescuing you?" he
asked, as completely self-possessed as Tyler always managed to be.
"Both?" Madeleine gave a shaky little laugh and made herself let him go. "I think it's supposed to be more we're
mustering forces to save the world."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Another of the leech Blues stepped forward, a
short, ivory-skinned woman with a bruised face partially hidden by streaming
red hair. "We don't have a hope of
fighting these things."
"Let's not discuss this in a corridor," Fisher
said, and herded them back to the security room, where they could talk while
keeping an eye on the monitors – and the Greens who had inched across the floor
and were trying to lever themselves in reach of a desk phone. The question of Greens bothered Madeleine
immensely, since there wasn't a Moth to remove to make them themselves again.
Ten people and a jellyfish corpse made for an extremely
crowded room. Madeleine and Tyler tucked
themselves onto a corner of the wrap-around desk, and since Sarah was partially
shielding her, Madeleine took the opportunity to let herself look at Fisher,
who was giving them all a survey in return, betraying a hint of impatience.
"In a little over four hours, the Core and two others of
the
Ul-naa
Five will return from the Buenos Aires
Challenge," he said. "And
discover that Blues have been freed and revived, which is the most forbidden
act among their people. Freed Blues
retain the information they experienced. Not a lifetime's memories, but everything including the Moth's thoughts
during the period of possession. This is
such a serious thing that the clans will unite with a single purpose: to kill
us."
The redhead looked doubtful. "What do you know that's so important?"
"Isn't knowing how to kill Moths, and free and revive
Blues enough?" Joe asked.
"After what happened because of Washington? Shit no." The last leech Blue, an Asian teen with an
impressive collection of piercings, moved restlessly, limited by the crowded
space. "Not that I'm sorry you
busted me out, but unless you found a way to stop them dusting any more cities,
you got to be ready to kill a lot of people to save a few Blues."
"Are you volunteering to be locked back up?" Fisher
leavened the question with a tired hint of smile. "I don't have enough information,
yet. What I need to do is free a Blue
possessed by one of the
Ul-naa
Five, gambling that
one of the Reborn – one of the Fives – will know of a way for us to bring down
the Spire. If there isn't..." He hesitated.
"I will not turn my back on the possibility of ridding
ourselves of the Moths," Nash said firmly. "And for the moment, we cannot do a great deal more harm by trying
to find out if there is a way. If there
is not, then we can discuss the risk of another dust attack, and whether we
allow that threat to keep us from fighting. Until then, there are friends I must find."
"Hear
hear
," Tyler said,
his voice soft, but carrying effortlessly. Nash immediately lost his poise, his glance at the cramped corner
uncertain.
"But
how
do we
fight?" the redhead asked. "They feed us just enough to stay upright. It's all I can do to stand here so close to
you lot, not draining you dry."
Madeleine couldn't see the woman's expression as Nash
explained the Rover fight, but her stance shifted enough to be a response in
itself.
"All right," the woman said. "I can't say I want to do this. And I can't say that I'll go willingly back
to that room, threats of more dust or not. But I'll help to a point."
"Until we know more," the Asian boy conceded.
Fisher simply nodded, already focusing on the next step. "We have just over four hours."
ooOoo
"Your remodelling job on my bathroom was
impressive."
The words were only teasing, but Madeleine still shifted in
embarrassment and glanced across at the redhead, Claire, who was watching the
monitors for progress of the 'collection team' Fisher had led off to free
reinforcements.
"I didn't realise you reached the apartment."
"Oh, yes. I'd
just found your Mysterious Note when, well, aliens, and my two friends became
very curt types who bundled me up and delivered me here. It sounds like you've been having a far more
adventurous time."
"I guess. I–"
A great roil of emotion swelled, blocking Madeleine's throat,
filling her eyes. Tyler glanced at her,
then tucked her against his side.
"The edges become less raw," he said,
conversationally. "Big hurts never
really go away, but you can contain them, build up scar tissue to stop them
cutting so deep. The question for you
here, given that it's apparently so important you rest for this fight, is
whether it will help you to cry about it now, or put it off till later."
Madeleine leaned her head against Tyler's shoulder and let
his warmth seep into her, borrowing the strength to push back breaking down a
little longer. She was far from the only
person who had lost someone, and the thing to do was focus on freeing Noi, not
so much to save the world, but because it was Noi.
"Did you see the painting?"
"It was there?"
"On the wall in your bedroom."
"I didn't get that far. Will I like it?"
"No. But I
do."
"And that's what matters?" The door opened as Tyler laughed, that rich,
throaty burble, and Pan, leading the way in, stopped dead, a delighted grin
consuming his face.
"
Maddie
, you seriously held
out on us," he said, stepping aside as Fisher, Nash, and the fourth leech
Blue,
Quan
, bunched up behind him. "I'd tweak your nose for it, but I'm so
damn glad you figured out a way to free us I'll let you off this once."
It was a brave show, and Pan almost succeeded in behaving
just as usual, though his eyes gave lie to his smile. Full of sympathy, and awareness of the length
of Fisher's possession. Mercifully, he
transferred his attention to Tyler, crossing to hold out his hand. "I'm Lee, and I give you fair warning
that I am going to
fangasm
over you at some point
when we're not saving the planet."
"I'll look forward to that," Tyler said with
perfect gravity, shaking the proffered hand.
"I didn't figure out how to free you," Madeleine
began, then caught Fisher's expression. A clear 'later', which she understood and accepted while hating the idea
of receiving thanks which belonged to Théoden. "Do we have enough to go get Noi?" she asked instead, glancing
at the crowd outside the door and feeling a little better to see Min among
them.
Fisher gave her a brief, grateful smile, surely not intended
to pierce her heart so thoroughly, and said: "Yes. A quick parcelling out of targets and we'll
go up."
A woman called
Jannika
was left
behind as monitor room guard, and the now dozen freed Blues and four leech
Blues crammed into the nearest emptied hotel room, to assign each leech Blue a
protector, and divide everyone else into attacker or reviver with the
recommendation to "adapt as necessary". This piece of advice became the whole of the
plan after they split into two groups, and the elevator Madeleine rode up in
arrived at its destination floor and opened its doors on two surprised Blues.
Min punched and one of the Blues fell beside a limp
possessor, but Moth song rose piercing and urgent from the other. The freed Blues spilled out into the lift
foyer, Fisher punching, Pan dropping to his knees to revive the first Blue. The second Moth bloomed, but did not
fall. It was the worst moment possible
for a Moth to survive separation, filling the air with song, and Madeleine
thrust herself forward, raising a shield. Instead of attacking the Moth flitted sideways, and off down the
corridor.
"Heading toward our target!" Fisher said, and they
raced after it even as answering song rose from surrounding rooms.
The Moth's path lay through the foyer of the second elevator,
and it was that which saved the moment. The other group stepped out, and Sarah reacted to a Moth flying directly
at her by shield-punching it into the ceiling. Claire, confused but willing – or hungry – reached up and pressed her
hands to the single trailing tip in her reach, and the song abruptly died.
"Clear the rooms we've passed?" Pan asked urgently,
and at a nod from Fisher reversed direction and headed toward a door just as it
opened.
Madeleine scrambled with the rest, using the security master
key taken from the monitor room, and ran through the next door only to be
blasted by a force punch which knocked her on her behind. The Blues on the far side of the room were
the youngest she'd seen, but clearly strong and too far away for her to
comfortably spirit punch. Hating the
idea of injuring children, she snapped a light force punch in their direction
to keep them occupied – blowing out wooden shutters and glass from the windows
behind them – and staggered into a run at them.
The taller one – a skinny boy with a blue stripe down his
chin – punched her again, but she was expecting it this time and set her feet
so she wasn't bounced when her shield absorbed, then spirit punched, both at
the same time. A wave of dizziness swept
through her, and she fell against the foot of the bed as twin Moths projected
back through the gaping windows.
"
Leina
?" Tyler, following her about according to
instructions, lifted her more or less upright.
"Help me over," she said urgently, and fed two
still little figures energy despite the dizziness. She stayed kneeling by them because there was
no way she could leave without being sure she hadn't just killed two children,
even if she could stand up.
She could hear the progress of the fight in neighbouring
rooms, flurries of sound, brief outbursts of Moth song. It seemed to spread and spread, and then when
Madeleine thought she had to go help no matter how dizzy, it all died
away. By then one of the children, a
girl around ten, had her eyes open, all her attention on the boy, who was
slower to revive. They both looked to be
of African descent, might even be brother and sister, and a knot gripped
Madeleine's stomach then relaxed as his eyelashes fluttered.
"Always sleeping in," the girl said, and promptly
put her head down on his chest and began to cry.
"Where did–?" Pan came through the door at a trot. "
Maddie
, we're going for Noi straight
away – there's too much chance they heard something. You good?"
The dizziness had faded enough that she could stand, so she
nodded and followed along, grateful when Tyler slipped a supportive arm through
hers. The group of freed Blues had grown
in size yet again, and there was a milling confusion of people gathering in the
nearer lift foyer.
Sarah, low-voiced, was making brief explanations, but an
urgent trill of Moth song interrupted her and it started all over again, but
this time the figure they were chasing down was Emily, who wasn't even supposed
to be there, and no convenient third group emerged to intercept her as she ran
straight for their target suite, song spiralling.
"Go! Go!" Madeleine didn't even
recognise the person who shouted, but sprinted, hand-in-hand with Tyler. Someone ahead punched straight through the
door closing in their face, and they streamed inside, a frantic mass, but
Madeleine checked at a glimpse of a fallen tangle with blonde hair.
Min, panting but bright-eyed, was there before her. "I'll look after her. Get Noi."
No choice, the crowd surging, flooding into a spacious lounge
area, so many that Madeleine couldn't be sure which were the possessed
Blues. Then Fisher yelled
"Balcony!" and she turned to see a familiar figure heading over the
railing.
Far too far to spirit punch, but Madeleine did it anyway, a
desperate move which sent her ploughing into carpet, feeling like she'd
shield-stunned herself except with an absence of sensation which was more
frightening. But the punch worked, blue
and white blazing out, Noi left hanging like abandoned laundry. The Moth rose, and only Nash was even close,
his full speed run turning into a hop, a leap off the top of the railing to
grab a trailing edge of white before it could escape. He landed like a gymnast, balanced on the
crossbeam, dragging his captive down. Tyler and
Quan
, following, raced to stretch
and press hands to light.