For two heartbeats later, you could have heard a pin drop. Then snuffling sounds came from Lex. Siva glared at him, but that only made it worse. He burst into a full out, head-thrown-back fit of laughter, releasing the tension that had gripped them so tightly moments before.
"Did we miss the joke?" Jack and Ebony had re-entered the café, Ebony looking closer to her normal tone, but still a little green around the gills, while Jacked showed irritated puzzlement. "I didn't know everyone would find Ebony's discomfort so amusing." He glared at his friends.
"Trudy's eyes rounded in dismay, the mirth leaving her. "Oh no, Jack, never that. It's just, um May said…" She stopped, at a loss for words.
"Your secret is well and truly out, mate." Lex interjected, receiving a relieved glance from Trudy.
Jack flushed, unconsciously holding Ebony a little tighter. He looked down at her and she up at him, before they looked at their friends. Ebony straightened away from him slightly, putting on her customary mask of defiance. "So my pregnancy is amusing to you all, is that it? Ebony, former Loco Queen brought low by a plate of eggs?"
"No Ebony, not at all. It's just—" Whatever Siva was about to say was cut off by the arrival of tall dark-complexioned Techno, who sported a mask and an impressive afro.
"General Jay, Commander Mega! Sorry to interrupt sirs."
"Q, I've told you, I'm no longer your general, you don't have to address me as such. Jay spoke as if he had said this many times before. "What's so urgent?"
"Sirs, there has been an attack! At the edge of Sector 23." At the questioning looks from Jay and Mega, he continued. "It's an area frequented by outcasts, tribe-less citizens who have gathered there because they had nowhere else to go. The most populated building exploded; many casualties have been taken to the hospital and there is significant structural damage to several surrounding buildings."
Jay and Mega stood, as did Lex, Pride and Trudy. "Oh, god, we need to get there now. Pride, take the militia to Sector 23; we need to try to minimize the danger and panic and to keep back the crowd as we transport the injured. Lex, get to the market; we need for business to continue and you'll have to keep the merchants calm. Mega and I are going to the hotel and to Sector 23. I need to see personally to get an idea of what we're dealing with and hopefully figure what or possibly who is responsible for this." Jay's directives contradicted his earlier claim of no longer being a general. When the situation called, he drew authority onto himself like a thick cloak, and those around him responded to it.
Trudy spoke out. "I'll go help out at the hospital. That's if you don't mind watching Brady, Amb?" She looked over at her friend, her eyes hopeful that this would be one of her 'good' days. She released the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding when Amber nodded, her face shining with sincerity.
"I'd be happy to Trudy. I would go to the hospital myself, but Bray Jr. is cutting a tooth and has been really fussy."
"I'll go too." May rose.
"And me." Siva stood as well.
"Siva? But what about …"
"Lex, I'm pregnant not an invalid. They're going to need all the hands they can get, especially with Dee and Patch gone." Her expression said very clearly that she was not backing down.
"I know babe; it's just that if anything happened to either of you, I don't know what I would do."
Siva softened, going to Lex and embracing him. She knew his demons, the fears that rode him and called out to him in the darkest recesses of the night; the ones pertaining to her and the baby. But right now something bigger had to take precedence. "It'll be okay, Lex. I'm just going to clean some cuts, put on some bandages and hold a few hands. Nothing life-threatening, okay?" She pulled back to look him in the eyes and he nodded, reaching for a kiss, but she flinched, putting a hand to his mouth.
"Egg-breath, remember?" She pecked him on the cheek instead, before stepping back to move next to Trudy and May.
"Q, escort these ladies to the hospital and then back to the mall."
"Yes sir, Gene—Jay, sir." The tall Techno looked like he was going to snap, he stood at attention so sharply.
Soon the mall was a hive of activity as everyone prepared to leave for their individual tasks. Even Mouse and Sammy were pressed into duty to do housekeeping chores and to help in looking after Brady and Bray Jr. No one saw Ellie slip out of the mall, just as none of the others seemed to notice that Ebony and Jack alone remained in the café with no assignments to tend to.
Ebony bid Jack to eat his breakfast, while she made do with tea and toast. All the while Jack complained about Jay. First, about 'the nerve of him' for ordering the 'Rats around like they were his soldiers, then for Jay not having found some way that Jack could have helped out in this current crisis. Jack seemed either to not notice or to not care that his complaints were contradicting. As far as Jack was concerned, Jay was wrong and that was that.
"Jack, don't you think you're being childish? Jay appears to be a good guy, humble and genuinely concerned about the City." Ebony looked at him over her cup of tea.
He frowned at her. "Appears is the right word. With these Technos, nothing is ever what it seems. For all we know they could have set off this blast themselves."
"Okay, now you're being unreasonable. What reason would they have to do that? It doesn't help anyone when the City is in disarray."
"Who said they needed a reason? Power and Chaos, isn't that the old chestnut? Where you find one there's bound to be the other."
Pain flashed across her face, as his words hit their target. Then it was gone, and in its place was flashing green fire. And you knew for this moment, Ebony, Queen of the Locos was back. "That's right, Jack. Power and Chaos. But you wouldn't know anything about that would you? You were always more the peon below the throne, right?"
"Ebs, I didn't mean—I'm sorry. Wait, don't…go." He was talking to air. She had run from the café, tears beginning to stream down her face. He didn't follow her. Right now, anything he said would just make it worse. Instead, he stood, head hanging low. "Great going, Jack. You're a real genius."
(((((O)))))
Ellie stealthily picked her way through debris and rubble, hugging her body to the buildings along the way, cautiously poking her head out before round corners. She had put on a navy pullover to conceal her bright shining length of hair as she observed the destruction in front of her.
At least five buildings stood in various states of collapse, the Oakland Park office building completely gone and now nothing but a pile of concrete, steel and glass. The buildings surrounding it were still standing, albeit precariously. Ellie pulled her notepad, jotting down her observations the buildings, the injured and deceased being transported in Techno vehicles, and the efforts by the Techno soldiers to keep back those screaming for missing friends and loved ones, or just their life's possessions.
Then there was a creaking, groaning sound, an ominous sound, followed by a dust cloud of building parts dropping from the sky. Shouts of "It's coming down!" preceding a sea of bodies running away from the building, their bodies like a moving wave, flowing away from danger. Unmindful of her personal safety, Ellie pulled out her camera, snapping of fleeing citizens and Technos, before she was grabbed around the waist and carried bodily along the fleeing crowd.
She snapped a final picture over the shoulder of her captor, a symbol gone previously unnoticed by her, a symbol in red and black on the side of one of the buildings, a stick figure with an upside down smiley face. She allowed her camera to drop on the strap around her neck. Then she turned her attention to the person whose arms were wrapped around her torso. "Jay, put me down this instant!"
If—you—can't—protect yourself—I'll just –have to—do—it for you." The Techno general panted as he ran with her. When he felt he was at a sufficiently safe distance, he dropped her to the ground, bending, hands on knees, to catch his breath. "You're welcome, by the way, for you know, saving your life?" He stood up, still breathing heavily.
"Saving my life?" Ellie was outraged by Jay's presumption. "I was not in danger, you just wanted a chance to cop a…" Her words faded as the building finally came down completely, shooting dust and debris in all directions, including glass and softball-sized bits of concrete that sailed through the spot where Ellie had been standing previously. Her eyes widened and she looked at Jay, visibly shaken. "Um, thanks, Jay, for saving my life." She wrapped her arms around herself, as head-to-toe, her body began to quiver.
Jay tilted up her head observing her eyes." God, you're going into shock; we need to get you to the hospital now." Her legs were quaking too much to function, so he swept her into his arms, taking her over to the waiting transport truck.
(((((O)))))
"Commander Mega, here's the footage from the cameras in sector 23, sir." A masked Techno gave Mega a tape cartridge, which he put into the drive below his console. He pressed a few buttons and soon his screens filled with images of the normal activities of the sector. Transient-looking kids shuffled in and out of the abandoned buildings, some standing around a bin fire at the entrance to the Oakland Park building. Impatiently, the bespectacled boy fast-forwarded the tape until the date showed this very morning.
The footage was pretty much a repeat of what he's seen before, transients coming and going, some stopping to share a moment of warmth 'round the bin fire, and the occasional drunk, lurching about, even at that early hour. Then a flash, and the image shook as a blast rocked the Oakland Park building, bright sparks and flame shooting from the top. Then there was snow, dead air as the camera and the building it hung from sustained damage of its own, caught in the blast radius.
Mega stopped the tape, sighing. Now he knew what happened, but now how or why. He removed his glasses, rubbing his eye and pinching the bridge of his nose, but he shoved them back on when an image filled each of the monitors inform of him. It was a message, like on the old public television stations. The preceding was brought to you by the letter M and the letter A, and the by the unstoppable force of the Maravaj. You would do well to bow down now. The message blinked off, to be replaced by a stick figure with an upside down smiley face. Then this too disappeared and the screens went back to displaying the various cameras Mega was monitoring.
His hand went to his earpiece. "Jay, I need you back at the hotel, stat. We have a very serious problem."