Chapter 25

"Falling Down"

Salzburg, Austria

January 18th, 1917

The moment Moira's foot connected with Alek's face, something in Deryn's mind snapped.

Self-preservation went out the window, along with whatever pain she had been feeling from the bullet in her foot. Something caught between a mad scream and a curse exited her throat. She unsheathed her rigging knife, slashing Tobias along the forearm and slipping out of his grasp as he recoiled in pain. The rebels were too stunned to react when she made a mad dash for Moira and struck the Irish girl across the face, then pulled back behind her and jammed the knife against her throat.

"Nobody moves, or she gets it!" she shouted at them, prodding Moira's neck for emphasis. "Put down your guns right now!"

Moira's free arm flailed about for her pockets. Deryn swiftly took ahold of it and jammed it back, causing her captive to cry out in pain.

"Fellas, listen to him!" Moira whimpered, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Just do what he's telling you!"

The rebels looked at each other, and one-by-one lowered their weapons. Moira had stopped thrashing about, though Deryn could still feel her heart racing. She was truly terrified, but then again, anyone would be if they were being held hostage by a masked man with a knife at their throat.

Deryn backed away slowly, carrying Moira with her. If they were going to double-cross her, she was going to need some distance between her and the rebels. "Now," her voice became a low, angered growl, "hand over Alek, and I'll give you back the girl."

Tobias, still clutching his bleeding arm, glared at the two of them. "Like hell! It's our job to bring Alek back alive. I don't care who you are or who you're using as a shield, because he's coming with us!"

"Tobias, don't provoke him!" Moira pleaded. "We have Salzburg! There'll always be second chances to get Alek back! Don't let me die out here!"

Deryn cursed under her breath. Now was not the time for them to be playing hardball with her. Sure, she would do almost anything to get Alek back, but would she really kill Moira to get the job done? She wasn't even fighting back at this point…

…Just like how Alek wasn't before she knocked him out. Deryn's anger flared once more, and she jabbed the dull edge of the knife against the front of Moira's throat again. Moira let out a startled cry.

"I'm not playing games here!" Deryn shouted, grateful to have the gas mask obscuring her identity from the men and women she knew. "If you don't hand over Alek in the next ten seconds, the girl dies!"

Two of the rebels eased forward to grab Alek, only for Tobias to stand in their way. "How about a counter-offer?" he asked, drawing a Nagant revolver and firing it at the two.

Deryn felt a sharp, biting sensation graze her side, just as the momentum from Moira being hit sent them crashing towards the ground. A commotion of yelling and fighting broke out among the rebels; out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of one of the rebels snatching the pistol from Tobias and pushing him back. Instead of hitting the hard concrete, though, the two fell further back, bumping down into one of the crudely dug-out tunnels that the rebels were using for espionage and moving supplies. Deryn winced every time she landed on her side.

The force from the gunshot caused the two to roll back into past its entrance, though the tunnel seemed to be unoccupied. When they stopped moving, Deryn grabbed Moira and limped further into it, aided by the light of the glowworms scattered throughout the place.

Once she found a dark enough corridor, she collapsed against the wall and sat Moira down beside her. Her adrenaline faded, the pain came back to her in nearly-overwhelming waves. She felt as if she were going to faint, but held on for Alek's sake.

A shiver ran down her back. Alek was still out there, no doubt being dragged to an airbeast by the bum-rags who had ambushed them. She tried to get up, but the sharp pain in her foot forced her back down.

"My barking foot…" she whispered. This would not be the end of her journey, she thought. Unlike before, she came prepared.

Deryn unhooked the satchel that the waste-of-hydrogen Clanker medic had carried on him during his escape with them. She had no idea what would happen to him, but she didn't have time to find out. Alek was her top priority today. That medic could wait, especially since Alek wouldn't lose his head during a fight. Inside the satchel was a treasure trove of useful supplies – two shots of morphine, an entire roll of bandages, disinfectant fluids, a small set of tweezers, and even a box of matches. She would be back on her feet in no time with all of this!

A faint sob to her right reminded her that she hadn't gone this entire way alone.

"I-I can't believe it…" Moira whispered to herself. "He shot me…he shot me and they didn't stop him. I trusted them! I trusted them all!"

Moira looked up at her, jumping back in terror the moment she saw the mask. "Stay back!" she yelled. "Stay back, you psychopathic eejit!"

Moira's jacket had a slowly-growing red stain along its right side. Her hands clutched at the wound, as if that would stop the bleeding by itself. Deryn noticed that the back of it had a similar stain around that same area.

She tried to approach Moira, but the girl jerked back further. "You're bleeding," she showed her the medical kit, "and I can stop it from getting worse."

"Why should I trust you?" she cried. "You said you would kill me! You stuck a knife near my neck!"

Deryn grumbled at her protests, both frustrated with Moira and pitying her at the same time. "I was never going to kill you. I just needed Alek back. Could you get a little closer so I can help?"

Moira shook her head vigorously. "No, no, no! Get away from me!"

She could just patch up herself and go charging out for Alek…but, her rage towards Moira had simmered out. She had more than enough supplies on-hand to treat them both. She had dragged her into the fight. At the very least, she could have her come out as good as before.

"Time to pull an Alek." With that, she ripped off the gas mask, revealing herself to an even-more-startled-than-before Moira. "Like I said," she told Moira, "you can trust me."

It took the poor lass a beat to realize whom she was looking at. "D…Dylan?" She stuck out her hand, stroking Deryn's face as if she were some sort of ghostly image. "No…no, Dylan left us to go scouting out the area. We assumed he lost his way."

"Actually, I deserted you lot to save my Clanker friend back there. I hoped you would stay safe until I got him out of the city."

Moira kept quiet. A moment later, she whispered, "I don't understand."

"You don't have to. What you do have to do is lift up that jacket of yours. I need to clean up that wound of yours before it gets any worse."

Moira slowly nodded, exposing her injured midsection for treatment. Deryn took a closer look. The shot seemed to have entered through the right edge of her stomach and exited out her back, grazing Deryn's own side on the way out. The hole wasn't very big, owing to the light caliber of Tobias' gun. She was thankful that she had picked a corner deep enough into the tunnels that would allow them to hide from search parties.

She doused a wad of bandages in the disinfectant, and gently rubbed it against the front side of the wound, switching to her back once it seemed clean enough.

"You're…" she winced from the stinging, "you were never on our side, were you, Dylan?"

Moira's question made her pause. "Aye, but not entirely." She unrolled enough of the bandage to wrap it around Moira's torso several times, tying it down once it seemed tight enough. "I'm not much of a doctor, so you should get that stitched up once you get the chance."

Moira muttered a "thanks" as she lowered her jacket back down. "What do you mean, 'not entirely?' If you're not with us, aren't you with the Clankers?"

"It's complicated. I'm working for an outsider for this fight. I don't want Gottschalk to win, but I don't want the Clankers to get too strong, either."

Moira quizzically gazed at her. "I think I get it."

A set of footsteps echoed off in the distance. Moira's hand clamped over her mouth, and she move them to the opposite side of the wall. No glowworms illuminated the place, hiding them under the cover of darkness.

An older-looking rebel peered around the tunnel, looking at their hiding place for a moment. He blinked, sighed, and turned around, commenting to himself, "Dammit, Tobias, you just had to go and shoot them…they're probably long gone by now…"

Once he got far enough away, the two moved back to more-comfortable positions by a pair of glowworms.

Deryn popped off her boot and pulled off her sock. The injury was around the middle, but unlike Moira's gunshot, the bullet was still lodged in her foot. She swore again, removing the tweezers to pry it loose. Thankfully, it wasn't too deep.

"Need your leg held steady for this?" Moira asked her.

"Aye, I'd appreciate it."

Moira gripped her leg as Deryn got the tweezers latched onto the bullet. With a grunt, she pulled it out, cringing with the new shocks of discomfort that ravaged her foot and most of her leg. Moira quickly got on the wound with the supplies, wadding the area with the disinfectant then wrapping it up with a bandage.

"I'll be honest," Deryn admitted, "I thought you'd be angrier with me right now."

"Oh, I am furious." Moira sounded sad, almost melancholic. "But, who can I go back to? The 'friends' that just shot me? At least you're helping me out and giving me someone to talk to."

"You know, if things got bad back there, I wasn't going to kill you. I'd have found another way to get Alek back."

She stopped rifling through the satchel to look into Deryn's eyes. After a pause, she said, "You're telling the truth, I can tell. If it makes you feel better, I didn't mean to hurt Aleksandar that badly. We needed him out cold, and I got a wee bit excited." Out came one of the morphine syringes and some of the bandages. "Now, lift up that coat of yours. I think you took a hit back there, too."

Deryn exposed just enough to give Moira lee-way while hiding her bound chest. There weren't any risks to being exposed as a lass, but she preferred to be safe than sorry. Mimicking her motions, Moira bandaged up the minor injury along Deryn's side. "That should do it. I guess this is where we go our separate ways?"

Deryn nodded. "Aye. I have to get Alek back, no matter what."

Moira fished around in her pockets. "Then take this." A small blunt object was pressed into her hands. "If I'm gonna let you go, I'd like to rest easy knowing you didn't kill everyone on the way to your friend. Oh, and don't touch the sparky side."

It was a beastie with a shape like a brass knuckle. Like a disruptor, it had insect-like features, with a hard shell that glowed with a strange energy. Its legs were curled up in the shape of a loop, with just enough room to fit her fingers through. She had to say, these Darwinist rebels really loved electric weapons.

"I've been working on that in my spare time. Its shell is hard enough to survive impacts with most materials, and it generates elektrical energy as well. It packs enough volts to knock out someone in a single punch, even through thick clothing. I showed it off to Ms. Gottschalk, but she told me that it was too impractical compared to a knife. A shame, seeing as how some of our guys are getting squeamish about killing and fighting the Clankers."

Deryn slipped her fingers through the holes, gripping the machine tightly. "Squeamish? What, are the Darwinists getting cold feet?"

"Some of them are. They say the war's dragged on too long, and that there won't be much left of Austria if it keeps going. Not only that…" she peered around, as if there were others nearby to look out for, then leaned closer to Deryn. "…Not everyone's a fan of Gottschalk these days. I've heard some of the lads privately chew her out for some of the things she's ordered us to do. Mainly with those prison camps, and the way she wants us to treat Clanker civvies. These people have brothers, sisters, and even parents that are still loyal to the Clankers. They can't bring themselves to fight their own families anymore."

Gottschalk was falling out of favor with the Austrian Darwinists? Finally, some good news. What if they overthrew her and put someone in charge who's not as scrambled in the attic? It could save everyone a mess of trouble. "I owe you for everything you've done, Moira," she told her.

Moira waved away the offer. "You already helped me out down here. I'll just tell them I fought you off and didn't get a good look at where you ran off to. Keep in mind that I'll have to act like this little meeting never happened if you get caught."

She got on her feet, but the pain in her foot lashed back hard. Reluctantly, she took out one of the morphine syringes. That should get her moving, even if she hated what the stuff did to her head. Pocketing the elektrical knuckle, she jammed the syringe into the vein in her arm, pressing down on the plunger until every last drop surged through her.

Pain became an abstract feeling to her. Without another word to Moira, she charged out the maze-like structure of the tunnel, exiting out the mouth that had consumed them now long before. Her right hand gripped the electric-knuckle-beastie tightly, as if it were her last hope to get to Alek. In a way, it was her last hope, given how much time she had spent either limping away from the gunfight or patching Moira and herself up.

When she reached the surface, she found that the outpost had been deserted entirely. Traces of the firefight remained, including the residue of the corroded rebels, but Alek and the others were missing. She wished that she had thought to swipe that worm beastie off of that medic in addition to his satchel. If she did, she might have been able to overhear where Alek was being taken.

She had no doubts that Tobias and the others were going to evacuate Alek out of the city the moment they could. They would probably leave Moira for another patrol to find, and board one of those airbeasts with him in tow. In fact, she noticed, there were far fewer of them in the air than before. Everything had gone eerily quiet; the battle had presumably been won by the Darwinists.

On one hand, that meant she would no longer have anyone to back her up. On the other hand, she could hide in plain sight much better now. A good thing, too, since that gas mask was back with Moira in the tunnel. What she had to do was find one of those Black Hand bum-rags and ask where they were taking Alek.

Deryn lightly ran down the ruined, ash-coated streets of Salzburg, giddy as could be. She wasn't sure if it was the morphine making her feel cheerful, or if it was the surreality of the situation. She was alone, striding along the roads and pathways lined with the bodies of walkers, beasties, and fighters from both sides, yet she felt on top of the world. She felt invincible.

She passed by several bands of rebel fighters, none of whom matched the appearance of the Black Hand commandos Gottschalk had sent out. Her search continued on, unaware of time or her own physical state, until she caught a glimpse of several hooded figures moving a group of Clanker civilians into a larger, official-looking legal court.

She gave them a once over, taking note of their uniform patterns. Black clothing…priest-like hoods…Austrian Darwinist Alliance armbands…yes, they matched up perfectly.

She would have to choose her words perfectly. These people tended to play hardball, both in and out of combat.

"Hey, hold up a second!" she shouted at them, briefly startling both the Darwinists and the unfortunate Clankers being dragged off. "I need to ask you lot something!"

The Black Hand commandos exchanged glances. A shorter, light-haired woman with a heavy Russian rifle stepped forward. "Make it quick," she growled at Deryn.

Deryn caught up with the group. The Darwinists in back looked confused, probably unsure if they should still move the Clankers with her watching.

Play it safe, she told herself. Tell the truth, or as much as she could. "I need to know about Aleksandar. I hear he's been captured, but I don't know where he is now. See, I lost my ear-worm beastie during the battle, and I'm supposed to be escorting him back to Ms. Gottschalk. Do you know where he'd be by now?"

Again, another exchange of glances. The lady nervously cleared her throat. "That information is confidential, Agent Sharp. I'm afraid that I can't answer that."

Deryn was mildly surprised that she recognized her. Then again, her exploits during the war were well-known among this group, so it wasn't much of a shock. "Alek was my friend during the Great War, ma'am. I should be the one to bring him to Ms. Gottschalk. I stand the best chance of convincing him to join our side."

"Again, Sharp, that's not your call to make," the woman insisted. "You should get back with your team and round up dissenters like we are."

Deryn peered over at the "dissenters," who looked more like frightened women and children than genuine threats. "I don't think you understand, I've known him for a while now. I know what it takes to win him over, and I don't think you all have what it takes. Now, if you all would just tell me where-"

"-Sharp, I gave you my answer!" yelled the frustrated rebel. "I am not in the position to tell you where Aleksandar is! If you have nothing else to ask me about, then would you kindly leave us be?"

The easy way was now out-of-reach for her. Time for the way she had been itching for since these clartheads had hurt Alek. "Alright then," she responded, "how about I put you in a better position, then?"

Deryn removed the elektrical knuckle from her pocket and struck the lady rebel in the chest, shooting volts of energy through her that knocked her to the ground in an instant.

"Heads-up, heads-up! Sharp's gone rog-" one of the Black Hand commandos started, before Deryn weaved around her last victim and uppercutted him with the knuckle.

One cocked his Mondragon and pulled the trigger, only for Deryn to dodge around his aim and throw the rifle towards his partner, who was blasted with a burst of rifle fire. She struck the surviving rebel repeatedly with the knuckle, strapping his rifle and ammunition across her back for safekeeping. She popped his ear-worm and deposited it in her pocket.

The civilians cowered nearby, not certain what to make of their violent savior.

"Get out of here, you ninnies!" she yelled at them. "They're going to think you did this!"

"Drop the rifle, Sharp!" a voice nearby called out.

Deryn turned to face a group of five rebels, all lightly armed. "We saw everything," their leader continued. "A chickenhawk is already relaying the information to the others."

Deryn swore under her breath. This couldn't get any worse, could it? Now, the entire barking rebellion was going to be hounding her! Carefully, she thumbed the pin on the stun grenade in her coat.

"I don't what's caused this behavior, Agent Sharp," the man sternly told her, "but you should be ashamed of yourself. The Black Hand outrank us, and we have no right to question their decisions, much less attack them. Now, lower your weapons and come with us!"

She threw the grenade in their direction, turning and covering her ears as its distinct detonation sounded off. The Darwinist rebels scattered around, moaning in disorientation and pain. She charged each one, the memory of Alek being attacked fueling her rage. She struck them down one by one with the knuckle, until every last one of them was out cold.

She spat on the unconscious body of their leader. "You lot," she hissed, "are too barking predictable." With the coast clear, she pressed the worm close to her ear, listening carefully to the transmissions being sent around and shaking it to get new results every so often.

"…There's minimal resistance around the city," said one of the later broadcasts. "The Clankers have lost this one. Airbeast Bel, you are good to go for bringing Aleksandar to Lady Gottschalk. All transport airbeasts must return to Innsbruck for processing and reassignment. All combat-ready airbeasts…"

Alek was already on an airbeast? Deryn swore again: there was no way to safely stop him from getting to Innsbruck now. She couldn't just blow the airbeast out of the sky, or else she would fry the poor boy from the hydrogen igniting.

She could tail them, though.

She had seen one of the airbeasts land after leaving the tunnel. If she reached that in time, she might be able to take it over, and fly the barking thing to Innsbruck herself.

The thought made her giggle. Hijack a barking airbeast all by her lonesome? Sure, why not! She knew those beasties in and out; in fact, she probably wouldn't have problems flying it. The Manual of Aeronautics described how to fly them in one of its illustrated guides, and she had studied it religiously before enlisting in the Air Service. She still remembered the basics, and that was all that mattered to her.

If she judged the distance, the airbeast was most likely close by. Deryn slinked around street corners and back alleys, careful to avoid any other confrontations until she had found her prize, which was docked in a large, open road. Half a dozen rebels guarded the beastie, with who-knows how many more inside.

Did they know about her scuffle with the Black Hand? If not, they would find out sooner or later. She grinned; it was finally time to cut loose. No more hiding or lying about why she was really here. Maybe it was the morphine that was making it seem possible, but she felt the urge to walk up to those men and punch them in the face.

So, she casually strolled up to the guards. "Know the time?" She gestured to her empty pockets and her watch-less wrist.

As the front Darwinist was about to answer, Deryn socked him hard in the gut with her uncovered hand, then forced the elektrical knuckle against his neck. His whole body shook, and he collapsed before them.

Before the others could draw their weapons, she bolted within arms-reach of them.

She sidestepped a swing of a rifle butt, then another blow, before shocking two of the rebels and knocking down a third bare-handed. A pistol was drawn, then immediately knocked out of the hands that held it as its owner was subjected to tens of thousands of volts of electricity. The one on the ground got a kick to the head, sending him sprawling onto his back. She drove the knuckle against his chest, holding it as he cried out from the shock and fell into unconsciousness.

A blunt object struck her shoulder. Deryn wheeled around, narrowly dodging a shotgun blast from the last rebel guard standing. She feinted a punch from her uncovered hand, and as the rebel reached to catch it, she threw one with the knuckle, electrocuting him fist-first. He fell to the ground like the others before him.

"That takes care of the men on the outside," she muttered. Cautiously, she climbed up into the loading bay of the airbeast. It was much smaller than the Leviathan, only around one-fifth of its size. This was definitely meant for transportation, judging by the lack of weapons on-board.

Still, it looked a lot like the Leviathan on the inside. She missed her old home, and the simplicity it brought with it. Back then, Clankers were evil and Darwinists were good. Now, the Darwinists were bad, and Clankers were a mix of bad and good, leaning somewhere in between.

She climbed through the airbeast, looking for the controls. If she could get this beastie up in the air, the ninnies inside would be cut off from any back-up, allowing her to take them down bit-by-bit instead of all at once.

One of the crewmen stumbled into her. "Speaking of which…" she said to herself, hitting the confused Darwinist with electric-charged punches until he was flat on the ground.

A few rooms later, she entered a room that looked eerily similar to the one where the Leviathan was guided from. This had to be it. She rested her hands on the controls, taking in the sight of the switches, gauges, dials, and levers around her. Her free hand slowly lifted the lever marked "ASCEND."

The airbeast responded in kind, gradually rising into the air. She flipped a switch to close the loading bay, leaving the remaining crew isolated, out-of-the-loop, and ill-suited to fighting off someone like her.

Deryn removed the keys to the room, and locked it on her way out. A vengeful sort of grin crossed her face. It was time to give these rebels a taste of what real Darwinism meant.

A/N: I was a little surprised at how quickly this chapter was drafted up and refined. The unusual amount of spare time on my hands this week probably contributed to the early release. So, don't expect this kind of speed for the next updates, as this was a rare occurance.

The eagle-eyed eisceire beta-read this chapter and helped spot some minor mistakes and rough spots to fix. From this point onward, it's safe to assume that he beta'd any following chapters, and that I'm thankful for his feedback.

Fun fact - the airbeast carrying Alek didn't break the naming tradition established in the main series. "Bel" is the name of a mythological being/deity that appears in the Old Testament in the extended version of the Book of Daniel.