Chapter Seven – The Only Way Out is Through
"I think he found us," Garfield whispered into the shadows.
He was so close under her that she could feel his hot breath against her cheek. The scent of wet dog mixed with his sweat was oddly comforting – she could finally smell something other than her own uncertainty.
They pressed closer together as another shot ricocheted off a nearby rock – then again off the stone in front of them. Her mind flashed back to the original briefing. Modus operandi.
"He is trying to frighten us." Her words carried almost no sound. "Don't move."
"Sniper – he must be a distance away – can't smell him."
"Silencer, too. Can't hear the muzzle fire. Which direction?"
"Can't tell. But Vic is going to walk right into this, and we can't warn him."
If only I were not so weak. My incapacity caused this. I feel so useless . . .
Wait. I can still think. Richard has always tried to teach us his detective skills. He gets along just fine without actual powers. What would he say now?
Another volley, from another direction.
"I don't think he is alone," she mused to Beast Boy. "Unless he has speed like Kid Flash. There may be more than one. Spread out over the canyon rims."
"Which means one can still hit us even if the others don't have us in line of sight."
"Precisely."
"Can we backtrack into the canyon?"
"Doesn't solve the problem for our friends. Leads whoever this is straight to them with no way to warn."
"OK, Can we lead them off? Away from the others? Do you think we can make it to the other side of the bowl? Can we fly?"
She turned her face at the slightest possible angle to look down the long barrel of the canyon at what seemed to be light years away.
"No. If he hits us in mid-air, it would be worse than if we were on the ground. Can you run? As a cheetah?"
"I'm not leaving you. I'd have to be a horse. Yes, but we have no time for you to mount normally. And I'm not leaving you."
"The moon is moving. We're almost out of the shadow. Targets for certain. If we are going to go, we had better go now."
"I have an idea. We cannot separate. Period. Get on my back. Put your arms around my neck and hold on for dear life. I'll have to morph with you attached. Don't let go no matter . .. "
Another shot landed at the edge of the shrinking shadow that was their haven.
"No matter what. Stay low on me." He touched her wrist. "I know that is more contact than you like but – "
"I trust you." There was no time to argue about it. He rolled his back up to her while she slipped her arms around his neck. She pressed her face against his and squeezed his hips between her knees. His heart was thundering next to hers. "I'm ready."
He paused a moment. Her breathing was tied to his: short, hard puffs of air. She gazed up at the silver eye above them. A cloud was blocking its light.
The sky wheeled. The warm flesh that she surrounded with her own melted and reformed like mercury. Her legs pressed tight against withers instead of hips. Her face was buried in his mane, and her arms clung to his neck like ivy. She closed her eyes and felt the speed of an emerald mustang surge through her.
The blessed darkness of the cloud did not last. The great wind of the coming storm kept it racing in a sea of stars. The silver disk exposed them in the middle of the plain.
Dust and broken rock exploded to the right. The beast careened to the left, away from the safe harbor of the canyon ahead. More shrapnel to the left, close to his hooves.
"He's herding us!" he neighed. "Don't let go! Hold on! This is getting –"
Another shot bounced directly in front of him. He reared up as she pressed her legs into his ribs. They were as close as if they were one creature. Darkness loomed ahead. Waves of black rippled across the glowing moonlight of the plain. More clouds. Over his hoof beats, she caught the low growl of thunder.
Even the overpowering smell of horse could not keep her from clutching his mane. "You can make it! Go! GO!"
Her heart beat in time with his, their chests heaving deep breaths together. And he ran. And strained. And ran. She felt his sweat mingling with her own. And he ran. Blood raged through her skull with each strike of his hooves on the earth. And he ran.
He continued chasing through a maze across the massive canyon floor. She thought their hearts would burst from the speed. She tried to find something, anything in her head to distract her heart from pounding in his rhythm.
"The Great Spirit gives us all many gifts." Thunder Horse's words came back to her. "Sometimes we have to open our eyes to see them."
Her eyes watered from the wind rushing past their faces.
"Sometimes we must ask for the strength to use them."
She raised her eyes to the night. A steep wall was rushing to meet them. Bullets screamed over her head, punching out scree at its base. The world twisted and crumbled and . .
"LET GO!"
He threw her off of his back. The ground somersaulted over and under her, rock and sky and rock. The air claimed her breath as gravity reclaimed her body. She landed on her sore hip, driving it into the moonscape and jarring her spine. Sharp pebbles cut her face. She found wisps of green mane clutched in her hand. She hadn't even had time to scream.
"GAR!" she shrieked, no longer caring if the assassins could hear her. Rolling boulders formed a wall between them. She grasped at the massive stones. A hot bullet grazed her shoulder and sprayed sharp pebbles from the ground, slicing her shins.
He plays with me.
Deep inside of her, the dam called Compound 27 started to crack. The energies of her friend began to register on her – barely. Breath – ragged and labored – was there. But there was no consciousness.
She choked back a scream as metal pierced her shoulder blade.
He is killing me, one piece at a time.
She could not feel him yet, but she could still calculate.
He must be what I sensed before.
Sheer terror. It's like he's everywhere at once.
He wants me to run. I won't.
She braced her hand on the wall, trying to find a stronger wave of energy from her friend. It was fading. She knew her friends were coming, but she also knew that they would not locate them soon enough without the communicator.
Another small missile scorched her hand. She clenched her teeth against the mind-shattering pain.
If I don't run, they may just kill me outright.
The shooting paused.
Reload. Can't move the rocks. Can't hide. Can't . .
Helpless. The word echoed across her brain. Heaven help me, I'm not strong enough
to . . .
Her thoughts froze. Heaven help me.
She closed her eyes and leaned into the granite. It was growing warm against her skin. If the team saw her like this, they would indeed be warned.
Hear me, please hear me .. .
No prayer of hers had ever been answered. But it was all she had left.
O Great Spirit that my grandfather served. Grant me grace to save my friend. Give me the strength to release my soul to bring them to us.
A scarlet flower of blood bloomed across her back. Drops of rain stirred the dust around her.
Even if I can't find my way back. Even if I die. Save him. Even if I die. Set my soul afire so they can see me – instead of my darkness in the night, grant me light, Harder rain now. Sheets of liquid poured from the lightening-ridden sky. The white noise of wind and water flooded her ears.
I cannot do this alone!The roaring of the storm drowned out the noise of the bullets, the raging of her pulse, even her very prayer. Water smothered her face. It washed flowing blood off her wounds. Her hair clung to her face.
Don't let me lose one of my gifts!Lightning ripped the sky open, so big and bright and long that cinders glowed in the air after the strike died away. The thunder of it drowned out even the song of the rain. She raised her arms above her head, reaching up for the glowing embers. The air crackled with light. The familiar loosening of the bonds between body and soul-self telegraphed through her small frame.
Release!The soul-self mounted on wings, brushing over the mound of rocks before her. A ray of white from spring above infused it with brightness. Hot metal sang in the sky but passed through its light. Her soul's beacon was blindingly alive. Her body below trembled with the joy and the power of her highest part taking flight once again.
Please don't let his light go out . . . please . . .
But the light was more than a summoner. It reached into the darkest shadows of her soul and bathed them in pure, unrestrained love. The love that others, The Other, had held for her. Love that had waited for her to allow it to flower. It had been there all along.
Her heart swelled in her chest as the fist let go, fell away, and crumbled to bits. Her flesh knit itself back together as the bullet in her shoulder pushed out of her skin. And the rain washed the blood away from the disappearing scars. The dam in her own heart broke loose.
Hot bright vibrant pools of energy bounded towards her. Darker ones slithered away into the night, fear and hatred erupting from their cores.
The veil between her and the rest of existence was torn away.
They are here.
Fear and excitement flowed into her riverbed once more. But the water was clean. Clear. Her own emotions merged with the flow, no longer stones but great branching trees feeding on that water. And on that light.
Her soul filled the sky.
The desert awakened around her. Eagle, cactus, fox, scorpion, sage all bloomed in her heart.
The blinding white began to fade. Such intensity could not be sustained. She felt her feet pressing into the earth once more. She heard her voice cry out. "Move the stones!" But she did not feel her lips move. Strength pulsed through her flesh with every heart beat as she called her soul back home. She had thought that such an outpouring would destroy her. But she had never felt so strong.
And she had deduced something, even though her empathic powers had been out of reach.
"Empath," she said aloud to nobody. "He feeds on fear. They do have power. Their leader is an empath."
A hand rested on her shoulder as the night returned. The falling water was easing off. Rocks were tumbling away from them in the hands of Cyborg and Conner. A voice followed the hand. A voice filled with wonder.
"They are finding him. I have never . . never seen anything like that. The drug . . ."
"Has worn off. I am myself again." She looked down at her hands. "My wounds are healed. I must see to him . . . he lives."
His light was still there. The landslide had not extinguished it. She ran to him as the blood-stained rocks were cleared away. It was not too late.
He looked so small, like a broken doll. An insect that had been crushed under a stony boot. The ghostly pains in her frame echoed his injuries – multiple compound fractures, bleeding in the lungs. Massive head trauma. His ribs were powder.
She dropped to her knees and pressed her face to his once more. "It's me. Gar, it's me." She rested her hand on his shattered ribs. Pain coursed through her limbs as the healing began. "I won't let you go. You said you wouldn't leave me. Breathe with me. Breathe."
"It's working, Raven, it's working!" Cyborg's voice was full of joy. That joy eased the newborn aches in her. But the pain, oh, so worth it, to see him whole again.
"You did good, kid. You did good. Shooter's gone now. I think you scared the bejeezus out of him."
She gathered him into her arms. She whispered into his ear. "Hear my voice. Hear me. Come back. Come back to me."
His labored breathing became easier. His scars were hers now. Her entire being shook with an internal earthquake as the agony receded into the background noise of her mind.
Thunder Heart checked his pulse. "He'll be fine." He touched Raven's hand. "I named you wrong. With that light I saw … and the healing . . . you are medicine woman. . . you are Dawn Child."
Her soul's river overflowed into her eyes. She embraced the still form all the tighter, not caring who might see. "Thank you . . . thank you . . . " Her wet eyes rolled up to the emerging moon. "Thank you for letting me see . . . "
Green muscles stirred in her arms. His eyes opened. Widened. The wonder the . . . the feeling . .. enveloped her as he returned her embrace.
She felt other arms around her. All of them. And the touch, the connection, was good. Cassie rested her face against the back of Raven's head. The forlorn blue cloak, bloated with raindrops, was clutched tightly in Wonder Girl's hand.
"Let's go home."