Chapter 57:
Comparing notes
The dog was more than a little freaked out when everyone arrived back in the Tower. The little bundle of fur was nestled in the landing bay with the Alley Hawk, who sat leaning against the back wall by the doorway. His entire midsection was wrapped in bandages; a blossom of blood leaked through on one side.
Watson bolted to Billy just as Kate tried to run, her wounded leg stiff and peg-like, to the aging vigilante. Titus chased after her, not fairing much better. The dog glanced up at the werewolf with what seemed like a very human smile on his face and then jumped into Billy's arms.
That's the Alley Hawk? Billy thought, letting Watson lick his face. Emily stared at the process with mild disgust.
It is,
Dude said.
He stepped out of public life a long time ago.
He looks like he's in really bad shape, Billy thought.
So do you all, in case you had not noticed,
Dude said.
Kate's voice was as emotional as Billy had ever heard it, still laced with her usual growl, but with a hint of gentleness.
"What happened to you?" Kate said.
"Fight with an old friend," the aging vigilante said. "Believe me, kid, I've been in worse shape."
"Do you need help?"
"Nah," Alley Hawk said. "Neal helped patch me up. I'm just resting. Right, you weird computer?"
"Designation: Alley Hawk received severe lacerations to his torso, but the wounds should be non-fatal should he not do something irresponsible such as attempt to fight crime before allowing himself to heal."
The Alley Hawk laughed, a spasm of pain running across his face as he did.
"Still the same Neal," he said. "Always nagging. You bring the entire United Nations with you, Dancer?"
Billy looked around at the ragtag mass of people who had accompanied them back to the Tower. Emily and Bedlam — I really need to get her number, Billy thought — but also Sam, looking like death warmed over, complete with his wheelchair, Henry Winter in his insanely cool armored suit, and Agent Rourke. Jane finished off the cadre, standing on the edge of the landing bay's platform, holding her palm up to allow the gray light filtering through the Valkyrie-created storm to warm her palm.
We have to get her up in the air, Dude. She's dying.
She is just weak. But yes. She needs the sun.
We're out of there, now. Can't Val, like, let up with the storm?
Jane and Kate believe the cover she is giving the Tower adds to the impact of your escape,
Dude said
. I agree.
You agree? Did you pick up some of Kate's personality while you were . . . inside . . . her brain? Billy thought.
Do not even joke about that,
Dude said.
I never want to go back there again.
What's wrong with her?
She is not a very good host.
Because?
We can talk about this later.
Billy shook his head and found Emily staring at him.
"It will never, ever stop being creepy watching you talk to yourself like that," Emily said. "Give me the dog."
"What?"
"Give me the dog. I missed him."
Billy handed Watson over to Emily and then walked past Sam, Rourke, and Winter toward Jane. Sam nodded at him as he passed.
"How you holding up, boss?" Billy said.
Jane laughed. It was the sort of laugh you hear from someone at the end of her rope.
"I'm so tired, Billy," she said. "I've never been this tired."
"What can I do?" he said. "To help. I want to help."
Jane shook her head. She sniffed, smiled weakly, put a hand lightly on his arm.
"We've got Rourke. We've got Winter. We've got Sam. They're all going to spill on what they know about this kid in Kirkland before he kills an entire town, and then we're going to compare notes and we're going to put a stop to this," she said. "Nobody else dies. I'm tired of people dying, Billy."
"Me too."
Jane nodded. She looked back at Bedlam.
"Valkyrie, Bedlam . . . the Children made a few heroes by accident with their little experiment last year, didn't they?"
"Apparently," Billy said.
"Okay," Jane said. "Can you go get Val and invite her inside? She shouldn't be out there alone if she doesn't want to be. I'd do it myself but I don't think I have it in me to fly again yet."
"You got it," Billy said.
Dude, she's falling apart, Billy thought.
No,
Dude said.
She is about to realize she can do so much more than she ever knew she could.
"Okay," Jane said. "We're going to have a powwow. Everybody into the command center. We're laying all the cards on the table right now. No more secrets. Let's save the day."
Jane took Watson from Emily and walked out of the landing bay and into the Tower, leaving everyone to follow behind her.
* * *
"We have all of the previous victims centrally located on an inactive military base here," Rourke said, pointing to a site on a map less than a hundred miles away. The entire cast and crew were gathered around the command center's main table. Rourke stood by the screen, and Titus and Bedlam were taking turns pacing and stalking impatiently around the table, but everyone else seemed content to flop into one of the chairs and never move ever again.
Emily, meanwhile, was still feeling a little scattered from the knock to the head she'd suffered in the medical lab. Voices sounded a little too loud, and definitely a little too annoying. And her sidekick was outside fetching a storm cloud and so Emily felt distinctly without a partner in crime to play off of. Apparently, she reflected, I now need a straight man for my act these days.
"What do you know so far about the illness," Kate said.
"We know everyone is getting worse," Rourke said. "And we know it's all interconnected somehow — they get sicker in waves, they experience attacks of fevers and dizzy spells all at the same time. The virus seems to act in unison, as if it's a school of fish."
"Or under the control of one person," Kate suggested.
There was an edge to her voice that made Emily want to bubble of float her way right the heck out of the room.
"That's my working theory," Winter said. "The samples the Department collected at the hospital seemed to respond to specific commands — in fact, that's why the virus hadn't spread to anyone at the base, or any of the rescue personnel sent into the hospital. It seems like the illness is an actual deliberate attack rather than a simple virus."
"The kid in Kirkland," Titus said. "You think he's . . ."
"Patient Zero," Emily chimed in.
"So what you're saying is, stop the source, stop the virus," Kate said.
"This is where I come in," Sam said, his voice hoarse and tired.
"You don't have to do this, Sam," Winter said.
"I volunteered for it. I don't care if it was at gunpoint by your boss," Sam said, pointing at Rourke. "I volunteered, I'm stepping up."
"Stepping up for what," Titus said.
"The Department's biological advancements division has been trying to create a . . . healer for decades," Sam said. "And under Prevention's leadership they . . ."
"They started skipping safety protocols," Winter said. "It cost a lot of people their lives."
"But you can totes heal people," Emily said. "I've seen you do it. You put Billy back together again all Humpty-Dumpty style. I mean I know nobody put Humpty-Dumpty back together again but you know what I mean."
"Except they didn't get the results they wanted," Winter said. "Sam can put broken bones back together, but we don't have any proof he can fight off a virulent, sentient infection."
"So send me to that military base and let's find out," Sam said.
"Fixing Billy's ribs turned you into the Mummy," Emily said.
"That's an image, kiddo," Sam said.
The room grew noticeably cooler, damper. Billy walked in looking sheepish.
"I, uh . . ." he said.
Behind him, the ghostly form of Valkyrie, the sentient hurricane, floated in. Her skin was grayish white from head to toe, her form not quite corporeal. Her eyes were pupil-less, the color of a clear sky. Her hair drifted around as if floating on an invisible breeze, the color of a clear summer sky.
"I can't stay long," Valkyrie said. "I have trouble containing myself into my human shape. I just wanted to say . . . thank you for giving me the chance to help."
No one spoke for a few seconds, each person in the room fighting back some expression of awe or discomfort. Jane stood up, handing Watson to Billy, and took Valkyrie's gray hand in hers.
"It's good to see you again, Val," Jane said.
"It's good to see you too, Solar," the storm said.
She was clearly struggling, her controlled, human mind fighting to contain the feral thing that was the storm she shared her form with.
"I haven't come to see you enough," Jane said. "I'm sorry if you've been alone."
The storm smiled.
"You're always welcome in my sky, Solar."
"I can tell this is a struggle for you," Jane said. "If you'll stay a moment longer, I'll walk you back to your sky."
Valkyrie nodded, a strangely human gesture for such an inhuman face.
Jane turned back to the assembly."What do you want to do, Sam?" she said.
"I want to try to fix these people," Sam said. "I have to."
"Okay. Winter, can you go with him to assess if his efforts are having any impact?"
"I'm no biologist, but I can feed the information back to all of you," Winter said.
"And what are our options if this doesn't work?" Jane said
Rourke and Winter exchanged glances.
"Say it," Kate said.
"Kill the source, kill the virus," Rourke said, finally.
"No," Jane said.
Neal, in his uncanny, incorporeal way, chimed in.
"Designation: Solar," Neal said. "I have been analyzing the data provided by both Designation: Rourke and Designation: Coldwall. Their theory is sound."
"Dammit," Kate said.
"Are you sure," Jane said.
"I calculate a likelihood of ninety-seven percent," Neal said.
The room was silent.
"I'll do it," Kate said.
Everyone turned to her in unison. Before anyone could speak, Kate cut them off.
"This is my mistake. I could have killed Plague last year on the rig. I could have prevented this. This is my mistake, and I'm the one who has to rectify it," Kate said.
"You let a teenager live," Titus said. "That's not a mistake. That was the humane thing to do."
"Look at cloud-girl and I," Bedlam said. "Would you have killed us too?"
"You weren't designated with a the same name as something that almost wiped out humanity in the past," Kate said. "I saw the name. I inferred what he could do. My mistake. My responsibility."
"Designation: Dancer," Neal said. "According to our information, the Plague carrier could have you incapacitated with illness within seconds of seeing you."
"Then I'll be quick," Kate said.
"Not on that leg you won't," Titus said. "Neal, what about my healing abilities? Will they be able to fight off the virus long enough for me to get close to him?"
"Designation: Whispering. Improbable. Even with your increased healing ability there is only a twenty percent chance you could remain healthy enough to be combat-ready once arriving within breathing distance."
"I'll risk it," Titus said.
"Then send me," Billy said. He looked at Jane. Emily watched that long look, remembering Billy telling her about his attempt to stop the girl made out of fire, about how close he came to putting her down, about how angry Jane was at him for even considering using lethal force. But Emily knew Billy, and she knew he would rather risk Jane's anger than put her in a position to have to kill someone. They all knew. Jane had never been the same after watching Hyde die right in front of her last year.
"Why are you all lining up to murder this poor kid?" Jane yelled.