Authors: Matt Stephens
Yasi tried to spit at him and missed.
Vandark sighed, bored with this part already. "I imagine putting a gun to your head would be a waste of time." He turned and made for the row of cots along the Steps. Yasi saw it and gasped, trying to stop him, barely able to crawl.
Vandark waited for her, standing at the head of Keeper's bed. The old woman slept, never looking more frail; while Vandark stood over her like the Grim Reaper.
Slowly, painfully, Yasi dragged herself over to the two of them, trying to cover Keeper with her own body, putting herself between her mother and Vandark's gun. Vandark leaned down and grasped Yasi's leg, dragging her back beside him.
"No!" Yasi put a hand out, punch-drunk and swaying back and forth on her knees. Vandark put a boot on her back and forced her down to the floor.
"It only takes one of you to give the surrender order. I only have to keep one of you alive, Yasi." Vandark said simply. "And the fact of it is... between you and Keeper? You're prettier to look at."
Yasi struggled to lift her head. "NO!"
It made no difference. Vandark's gun went off.
Everything. Stopped.
The sound of the gunshot echoed off the entire Twelfth Level, everyone reacting to it in the same way. Guns were forbidden in the Underside. The Shinobi, the Watchers, even the Wildmen never touched them. But Vandark had used one so casually...
Yasi fought to lift her head. The concrete ground next to Keeper's head had been torn into chunks by the heavy bullet.
Vandark looked down imperiously at Yasi. "Scary, isn't it?" He lifted the gun again. "The way to the Chapel is open. The Healers are there of course, treating my wounded. Shall I take your Shinobi up there for treatment? Should I keep them here? What about Keeper? Half an inch to the left and the question is academic. You tell me. What do I do?"
As if to punctuate the question, Owen tossed Yasi's sword down next to her. It clattered loudly, only a few feet away.
A thousand terrified eyes looked down on them from all over Twelfth Level, as their Champion lay beaten, literally under Vandark's boot.
Yasi's hand inched over to the hilt of her sword, grasping it slowly.
Vandark didn't move, didn't react at all.
With excruciating slowness, Yasi crawled out from under Vandark's foot, and lifted the blade painfully; to hold it out to him, handle first. Yasi mumbled.
Vandark didn't reach for the sword being offered. "I didn't hear that?"
Yasi swallowed thickly. "Treat them."
"Ask me
nicely
."
Yasi's eyes blazed for a microsecond, before going dull. "I surrender. The New York Underside surrenders. Please treat our wounded; save my mothers life. Please... my Lord Vandark."
The huge Warrior reached out and took the sword she offered him; and sent Owen a nod.
Owen walked to the River, following along the lowest of the Steps. He was the only one moving on the entire Twelfth Level, and every teary, terrified Lostkind watched as he made his way to the razor nets... winching them up out of the water, making the water clear to travel through below the surface.
Seconds later, the River boiled with movement; and as Vandark raised The Sword of the Shinobi Captain over his head, an army of Riverfolk marched up to the Steps, unchecked and unstoppable. Nobody moved. The Riverfolk were expecting a fight; weapons drawn and muscles tensed.
But they first thing they saw, was The Man himself; with Yasi laying beaten at his feet; and the sword of the Shinobi held over his head in triumph.
Vandark roared a victory cry; taken up by every voice in his triumphant invading army.
The Secret City belonged to Vandark.
~oo00oo~
Gill was clearly overloaded by the story and the plan. Connie called a halt to the evening; giving him the time he needed to process; taking Vincent to her apartment for Tecca. They had a small bet in the car as to whether or not Tecca would have given Benji the slip; even though the boy had nowhere to go.
"Here's the thing." Connie said carefully as they climbed the stairs. "If Tecca has bolted, we're going to have to tell Benji something. And if he hasn't, Benji's gonna wonder where Tecca came from."
Vincent nodded. "I know. It's not the first time you've babysat a kid who came into the clinic overnight. So what are the odds Benji could keep track of him?"
"Not terrible; unless something shiny came along..." Connie sighed. She checked to see if her apartment door was locked, and found it wasn't. Drew opened the apartment door to Connie and Vincent swiftly.
"Drew." The both chorused in surprise.
"Is that Connie?" Benji's voice called from in the apartment.
"It sounded like Vincent was with her." Tony's voice answered.
"Think they've made up?"
"Didn't they do that already?"
"Were we there for that?"
Drew still hadn't said a word. He just rolled his eyes at his sister. "They really need to take that act on the road."
"It's two am, and I asked
Benji
to sit in six hours ago." Connie retorted. "Don't the three of you
ever
go anywhere alone?"
"If we did that, they might have to get our own breakfast." Drew snorted as Connie pushed past him, into her apartment. Tecca was fast asleep on the couch.
Drew closed the door quietly. "So. Do I want to know where the hell you two slipped off to until two am? Or who this kid you wanted us to babysit is? Or... well, what the hell is happening? Because there's
something
going on; every time I see you two together for the last six months, you're either glaring at each other across the room or whispering quietly to each other."
Connie pushed her glasses up her nose, not looking at her big brother.
"Connie, there was a time when you'd have a fight with a friend, or a boyfriend, and you wouldn't be able to stop yourself. You'd come to the three of us and pour your guts out and we'd crowd around you and make you all better again. With Vincent, we get silence. That worries me. I don't know whether to strangle the man or shake his hand. Connie... what the hell is going on?"
Connie was silent for a long moment. If she told him everything, he could not blame her. He had come clean with Gill to ask for help. If she did the same with her brother...
Connie spoke at last. "Thanks for helping out tonight Drew." She gave her brother a kiss on the cheek. "Go home and sleep."
Drew gave her a long look and nodded, not happy. Benji and Tony were within earshot enough to pick up the tense family moment, if not all the words, but they went with him. As they left the apartment, Connie sat down on the end of the couch without waking Tecca. "I hate keeping secrets from my brother. If you had any idea how often he's saved me from having bad days..."
"I know." Vincent sighed.
"He knows I'm hiding things Vincent. In our family, that's as bad as lying to him. This is why I never wanted a part of that world. I wanted to be honest with the people I loved, and now I'm lying to him."
"I know." Vincent said kindly. "I'm sorry."
"I
could
tell him." Connie tested, just wanting to see how he'd react.
Vincent nodded. "You could have told him at any point over the last six months. I only told Gill now because he had to know. But I still told him. What's been stopping you?"
Connie didn't answer, but she didn't have to. She'd wanted to protect the Lostkind too; and she wanted to keep her brother out of the whole dangerous mess.
"We can't send Tecca back." Connie said softly. "There's nowhere for him to go any more. He comes over a few times a week, tells me all about being a Watcher. The things this kids knows about people Vincent... He's still a baby and he can practically walk through walls... He sees me reading the paper sometimes, fills me in on what the news stories don't say. About the constant gang wars, the secret clubs that the mayor's staff belong to... Yasi sent him up here for a reason; and it wasn't to protect him. It was to protect all those things he knows."
"No." Vincent said quietly. "There was another reason too."
"Well, whatever she did it for, this is probably a stroke of luck." Connie said, thinking logically. "He could probably help you. Finding a way into the Labyrinth is one thing... after that, it becomes a whole other game, and not one you know much about." There was no disparagement in her voice, she was just stating the facts.
"I agree." Vincent said honestly. "But I need you to keep Tecca here with you while I prepare." She looked confused, and he pressed the point. "I mean it, the
entire
time."
"Why?"
Vincent bit his lip. "There are two options here. One: I can tell you what I think. I doubt you'll believe it. Option Two: You keep him here as long as you can because a war's being won or lost downstairs and we want him far away from it."
Connie nodded. "That works for me. But Tecca won't fall for this if he thinks we're protecting him."
"Protect him, distract him, tie him to a chair and gag him if you have to. Just give me some time." Vincent said as his cell phone rang. He answered it. "Yeah?" He listened for a moment and squeezed his eyes shut. "Hell. You're sure? Thanks Gill."
"Bad news?" Connie said quietly, mindful of Tecca sleeping; even after the phone had gone off.
"He can't find the parts." Vincent sighed. "He's been through all the databases, taking apart every storeroom we can get to. He can't find the equipment we need."
"What about the info? Frequencies? Blueprints?"
"That stuff is all over the Internet." Vincent waved it off. "But we can't use modern cameras. We need the original stuff."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure of exactly nothing with this plan, which is why I'd rather not take any chances."
Connie grinned. "Heh. How about that? It's all on me now."
Vincent blinked. "Sorry?"
Connie gestured around grandly. "Look around McCall. All these bits and pieces from across land and sea; and I got it all without leaving the apartment. You think there's anything
at all
that I can't find and buy somewhere? I've raised the knack for finding obscure talking points to an art form."
Vincent laughed triumphantly, because he knew it was true.
"Get my laptop, would you?" Connie said primly. "And
when
you manage to pull this off, tell Yasi that her Kingdom is safe, and it's all thanks to me. And if you can get a photo of her face when she hears that, I will consider us even."
Vincent chuckled and fetched her laptop. What he appreciated most was not her willingness to help, or even her long refined skills suddenly being so helpful. What he appreciated most was that she hadn't said out loud the far more likely scenario.
Even if Vincent could rescue the Secret City; Yasi was almost certainly dead by now.
SIXTEEN: Three Rules, Always
Yasi looked up as the hatch on the Oubliette opened. Owen looked down at her. She smirked at the irony, despite herself. Their positions had reversed; she the prisoner now, and him the smug jailer. "Well. Here we are again." She said blandly.
Owen nodded, amused by a similar thought. "Apparently. Can you climb?" He threw down a rope.
Yasi watched it like it was a dangerous snake. Owen said nothing, content to wait, until Yasi uncoiled herself and started to climb the rope painfully. He didn't offer to help her; and she was glad for it. Asking Vandark for help had been crushing; asking Owen too would be more than she could bear.
On their way out of the Dungeons, she found that Vandark had been busy. "How long was I down there?"
"Two days." Owen reported.
Yasi was stunned. "Two days?" In an oubliette, a cell dark enough that you were unable to see the nose in front of your face, virtually soundproof... it was impossible to measure the passage of time.
The last two days and nights had been kinder to the Underside than Yasi would have expected. Riverfolk roamed freely, apparently having the run of the place. It was still as crowded and as busy as ever.
But there was a difference now. The Lostkind that she could see had lost something. Lost their… joy. There was no music playing, no dancing on the steps. The Lostkind were shuffling past each other in the narrow streets, going to and from without looking up. It was almost like being back on the surface during Rush Hour.
Their eyes were on her again. She supposed she was imagining the accusations, but she still felt their blame wash over her.
It's your fault Yasi.
She sighed silently in her mind.
You could have stopped this eight different ways; but you were so sure you could handle it all by yourself.
Owen led her through the Secret City; and Yasi took the opportunity to look around tactically. The debris and damage of the battle had been cleared away; but the hangings and destroyed doors had not been replaced. Scorch marks were still visible all over the walls and floors; but the walkways and the Stairs had all been cleared. The Market was operating again.