A/N: Whoo, twenty-one chapters… this is getting stupidly long… (Ahem) I'm going to have to apologise for a late update again, aren't I…? Let's just call it unforeseen circumstances- aka, GCSEs being a lot of work, it being my sister's b'day on Friday and needing to get her something, and the unexpected development of going out once in a while. At any rate, from now on, I will not be saying I'll update on a Saturday, or on the weekend, or specify any day at all. Just expect it to be up on Monday, or Tuesday, Or Wednesday, Or Thursday, or Friday, or Saturday, or even Sunday:D In other words, I'll update at least once a week, when the chapter's written. I should manage once a week, though. Once again, I'm sorry.
On a completely unrelated note, it was the twenty-fifth yesterday! Meaning, if I remember correctly, it was Seto's birthday, no:D Just don't ask me how old he was. I mean, yeah, the general assumption is that in Series One, he was between the ages of 15 and 17, so it depends what series your in; or since Yu-Gi-Oh was created in, like, 1996, you could say he was about nine. But then, he was a teen when it began so… Or you could even look at it as the fact that he is a re-incarnation of Seth, meaning he's between 3000 and 5000, depending on which version you look at. Speaking of Seto, the other day I found out that only about 2 of the Japanese know how to play Chess. Suddenly, Kaiba Land's security seems so much better- even if I could still check-mate it. :D ANNNNNNyhoo, enough babbling on my part, shall we get on with it?
Review Responses:
Dragonlady222: (Falls off chair) Excellent! That's a GOOD word:D But I'm glad the flashback went down well. I was kinda worried about that... As for Ryou, well, he mayget a mention again next chapter...Kee kee kee...
Willowwind:(Laughs at you) That's why you don't read more then one chapter at once! And, Yes, You should STILL is bleah. And You area very poor blackmailer, compared to my siblings.
Disclaimer: Nothing has changed since February, when I began AfI.
And now, true madness! It's a chapter set entirely on Wherever! And it has mentions of Muse Politics! I'm fairly sure the Laws of Physics were bent on more then one occasion! What is the world coming to?
Twenty-One: Drastic Measures I: Flight
"I have to go."
She sighed. "I know. Valour and Honour, right?"
"Exactly." He smiled.
Opal snorted, trailing her fingers under the trickle of water from the fountain, sparkling in the star light. They were sitting on the stone edge of the fountain right in the centre of Wherever, where they had been so many times, and she had just heard something she'd really rather not. "You are… incredibly stupid, Jay."
"What, worried I'll die on you?" He smirked.
"Of course." She admitted. "You'll never make it down to check the pump. You know as well as I do that, even with the best protective gear, you'll be dissolved before you even get close. The Nothing is at a height and strength unlike any we've ever seen before." She sighed ruthlessly. "I'd ask you to see sense, but I know you won't."
"Hey…" He said, grabbing her hand. She still didn't look at him, so he tried to improve the mood. "It's times like this you wish I'd come to work for your mother rather then joining the council, right?"
"There's never a moment when I don't." Opal sniped, still looking down. Due to the need to float, all the cities were more or less doughnut shaped, the levels getting smaller as you got closer to the top. You couldn't really tell there was a hole in the middle though, due to all the bridges and platforms that had been placed across as they went along. This wasn't really a very good idea, as the whole principal of the thing was that the light would get to a level through the hole in the level above. The new government had reinstated this, spending a lot of money to convert everything across the centre into glass. But that was when this particular party had just been voted in, was new and remembered what they stood for… "I think you're the only one who isn't corrupt."
"Which is why they need me to lead these men." Jay said, gently.
"To their deaths!"
"Perhaps." He admitted. "Look, Opal… The reason I didn't become a Muse was… because I was scared."
Opal looked at him in surprise. She didn't think he would ever be afraid of anything.
"Heh." He sighed. "I have a great respect for you guys. I could never go down to Earth like you do. What if you get stranded, or lose your powers or…" He laughed. "But this is my one chance, Opal, to be brave. Be a hero. Don't you see?"
"I can't change your mind." She sniffed, pulling away. "So… good luck. Now, go!"
He stood, needing to head back and prepare for their leaving in the morning. "I'll be back, I promise."
"Just go, Jay. I'll see you soon."
As he turned and walked away, Opal felt her heart stretched with him. Somehow, she knew she would never see him again.
Because some promises just can't be kept, no matter how much you want them to be.
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Opal shoved past, running over to the small screen. Her sisters followed more sedately, the looks of worry and concern unfitting to their age. Millierie regarded them silently, before going over to her daughter stood in front of the monitor.
"I didn't want you three in here." She murmured. "Because I can't protect you from what you might see. But you're not little girls anymore, if you want to be here, I can't stop you."
"How long do they have left?" Opal asked, roughly, not taking her eyes off the screen, showing what the scouting party could see. The screen was filled with a white mist. They must be right down in the lower levels, trying to find the problem… They'd been out in it to long, they couldn't survive…
"We're not sure." Millierie admitted. "They refuse to pull out."
A slight pause. "Let me talk to him." Sighing, Millierie pushed a microphone towards her.
"It won't do any good, they've turned them off. At least, we think they have. If they can hear us, they're not responding."
"He'll answer." Opal insisted stonily, pressing down on the button. Hell, this was the one person outside her family she'd allowed herself to love, and she wasn't going to let him die like this, no matter how noble and valiant it would make him. No way. He'd promised her… "Jay-" She began, but she was interrupted as the screen in front of her went black and began buzzing in protest.
For a moment, no-one moved. Then, silently, Opal released the button and stepped aside, letting her mother back in.
Millierie checked the other cameras. For everyone, it was the same story, a black screen. It could be a malfunction due to Nothing levels. But the equipment would last as long as the people did. They were all gone, dissolved into the Nothing.
Millierie closed her eyes for an extended period of time before turning to face the other four occupants of the room. Three of her daughters, and her second in command looked back at her.
"That's it." Millierie decided. "Rebecca, get me a line to the President, and this time don't take 'no' for an answer. I've been warning of this for months, and now it's too late- but lives can be saved. And they will be saved."
Nodding, she headed out the room, followed by the triplets.
"Opal?" Millierie asked.
The girl in question gave a kind of bitter smile. "There isn't time now. Let us concern ourselves with the living first and the dead… later."
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"Ms. Kiyoko, there is nothing to be done." The President said, grimacing over the conference screen in Millierie's office that was just about big enough to house it. She didn't care for overly large rooms. It was just further to walk from the door. "Until the full extent of this problem has been assessed, there is no reason to cause a wide-spread panic."
"With respect, sir…" Millierie replied, trying to sound as though she meant the term. "My teams have 'fully assessed the problem'. So have yours. People have died. Wherever is already sinking. We have to get everyone out of here."
Annoyance flashed across his face. "I assure you, Millierie, I am doing everything I can-"
"How can you say that?" Millierie demanded. "You're conveniently over in Elsewhere, aren't you? What are you planning on doing, John? I think you're forgetting that you're supposed to serve the people first and yourself second!"
"And I think you're forgetting your place!" He thundered. "What I do is none of your concern! At the end of the day, you are the head of a corporation! I've let you get away with a lot over the years because of your position Millierie, but you need to bear in mind you are not the government and have no say in our actions!" His face softened. "I understand your concern, Millierie. But you have to leave the saving of lives to us."
"Wherever is sinking!" Millierie repeated. "The slums are already gone, and the Nothing is rising at an unprecedented rate! The Buoyancy and Support column are weakening! At this rate, we're going to fall from the sky and whatever shrapnel isn't dissolved on the way down is going to crash to Earth!"
"Ms. Kiyoko." He replied stonily, all traces of any earlier alliances gone from his voice. "What you are suggesting- this mass evacuation- is preposterous. I would never allow that to happen. Wherever is our largest city, and the other four would be hard-pressed to take you all. And besides, this is just your imagination running away with you. I have reliable evidence saying it's not as bad as you're making out, and certainly not enough to bother panicking the general public with. If it makes you feel better, you and your family have full permission to leave."
"I will not abandon these people." Millierie replied, her voice dripping ice.
"So be it." He answered, sighing. "But, know this- No Wherevarian will evacuate to Elsewhere, Anywhere, Nowhere or Somewhere until when and if I deem it necessary! I'll see you when I return." Harshly, he reached forward and closed the line.
Millierie leant forward on the desk in frustration, closing her eyes as she thought. She was a leader by her very nature, and, more to the point, was no quitter.
"Well, girls." She said, turning to face the others. "You heard the man. No-one will evacuate to Elsewhere, Anywhere, Nowhere or Somewhere."
"Millie…?" Rebecca began warningly.
"I am not letting these people die!" Millierie answered firmly. "So… Emerald! I want you to go and find in the references how many humans know about us. Ruby, go to everywhere you can think of, spread the word. People can take only what they can carry. Gather Muses, Ethrals- I mean NIPs, correctly- the old, the young, everyone! Ensure there is a Muse of at least a Level Two or higher in charge of each group. Opal, I want you to gather the techies and get as many chutes and portholes outta here as many and as fast as you can. Rebecca, get the lists of people, and pass them to all those manning the chutes. No-one is to be left behind!"
They all looked at her like she was crazy.
"Mom..." Emerald began hesitantly. "You can't possibly be trying to-"
"She is." Opal said flatly. "We're going to evacuate this place. To Earth. And, as she doesn't have the authority to do so, I'm fairly sure it's illegal."
"So you'll help?" Millierie smiled.
"There will be no more death today." Opal replied, tight-lipped, and headed out the room without another word. Millierie worried about her… Then Rebecca followed her, standing by her friend-cum-boss as always. Nodding, Emerald left to. Ruby folded her arms and looked at her mother.
"This is madness." She commented wryly, shaking her head as she went out to do her mother's bidding.
"No." Millierie replied evenly. "This is war."
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Opal was not an unusual visitor to the small, dark, cupboard-like Tech. room, and she knew them all by name, but today, none of them knew what to say to her. The Council Chambers were right on the top level of Wherever, that was restricted to the members only. Despite the fact that it supposedly out of bounds, however, Opal was a regular appearance as they did what ever menial tasks had been delegated to them that day. She was more then willing to help, and they were more then willing to let her help. Some of the older members remembered when she had first started sneaking up, through the service shafts, and how they'd taught her, the small girl delighting in everything they taught her, playing with every small component and demanding to know what it did.
Today, however, it was not a little girl wishing to learn that stepped out of the shaft, not a child at all, an adult with a purpose and the power to show them some things. Today, her face did not break into an innocent smile. The thing about innocence is that it fades with age, and, today, she looked older then she ever had before. And today, she was not asking to be taught. Today, she may just be asking too much…
"I'm sorry, Miss Opal, it's more then my job's worth." Mo was just a few years away from retirement. He wished he hadn't had to be the one to deal with this. He could have grown old quite happily without having to face the stony glare being directed at him now. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "From what you're saying, you're taking on the Government. I don't have nuffin against them, and besides, we're just technicians. The people love your mother, she'll be alright. But us, we're just Ethrals- we couldn't win…"
Opal looked down at the short, balding man. He'd helped her a lot over the years, never refused her anything. Except now, when she wanted them to help her get chutes and Perm'holes ready, and this could be the most important thing she'd ever asked for. "Your jobs don't matter now! Unless we do this, everyone is going to die!"
Mo hesitated. "Now, now…" He replied, moving around in the dark, cluttered room in the process of making a brew. "I'm sure it's not that bad. This is a good Government. They'll sort it out, so don't you worry about it."
Opal sighed in exasperation. "They are a good government. The Humans haven't found us yet; No-one's denying that. But this time, they're wrong! They're blinded to it! They won't accept that the more the Nothing rises, the stronger it gets, and they still think they can stop it later! But there's no time, and we have to get everyone out of here! Not six months ago did we have to evacuate the lowest three levels, and now it's almost upon those that are habituated! No-one can get close enough to find the problem, let alone fix it. People have died trying!"
"Well, I'm sure-" Mo began.
"Jay died." Opal informed him, bitterly, knowing the old man had played cards with him from time to time. "You're always saying he was a good man. Well, he died trying to find the problem. He knew he would, I think, but he went anyway! He wanted to be a hero, he was hoping to find a way to save everyone. But he couldn't."
Mo frowned, surprised to say the least. Jay had been a good man. He was good company, and always appeared just when you needed the help. Over the years, he had been like a son to Mo. That he was dead… was unthinkable.
"Be that as it may," He continued harshly, swallowing. "No civilian- like your esteemed self, Miss Opal- may see the Blueprints, as defined by Government law."
Opal's eyes flashed angrily, but before she could say anything, he continued.
"However, if, say, while I was out of the room getting milk for this cup of tea here, you happened to find what you wanted in the bottom draw of the cabinet over there, and forced my assistant into explaining it, and upon my return made us accompany you to do your mother's bidding or you'd say, burn the blueprints, we would be forced to do all could to protect the property the Government had seen fit to hand to our care; as dictated in an obscure law that rarely comes up. Now," He moved towards the door. "I must go and find milk for this tea. Oh, and to find our wayward Chute specialist…" He left the room.
Opal shook her head. Now, that really was an obscure law. And, if a situation was real, it would be rather dangerous for them to follow it. It was really quite a sad state of affairs, when the government put possessions over people. But still. That was where their democracy had got them.
So, sometimes, people just had to bite the bullet and realise that Law and what was right were different things. To be heroes.
For Honour and Valour…
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Rebecca and Emerald were working in the same room, going through records like they never had before. The Records Room was the largest in the city; and on three floors, each about three times the size of a football pitch. This was what took up three-quarters of the level, and so, was oddly curved as it followed the shape. This 'room' held a forest of files, and although had a large staff, they weren't worried about being caught. The chance of finding someone other then on the front desk was roughly the same likelyhood of a grain sand being hit by lightning in a rainforest of metal trees. Including the chances of there being a rainforest of metal trees; and there being a single grain of sand within it. Which is why they were never venturing more then a cabinet or two apart.
Rebecca suddenly felt she had the easier job, just needing to find the census for each section of each layer, which was all done for her due to a very efficient filing system. All she had to do was focus on the task at hand, and not on the fact that, if they idea of evacuating to Earth wasn't illegal, this certainly was.
After all, the records were kept in the Government Chambers. And if you did not have permission from the government, technically, you weren't supposed to be there.
Technically.
Rebecca bit her lip, pushing the thoughts aside as she tried to remember on which level the Plagal District was. While she'd be thinking this, she'd managed to drop the binder. She had once heard that the Law was only a word for what had a right to happen. But she had followed Millierie for the best part of twenty years, not including the time Millie had spent on Earth. And in all that time, she had never said no to her. She wasn't about to start now. Besides, she'd seen the readings for herself. They had to do this. And she'd come so far that to go back would be as tedious as to go ahead. With renewed determination, she shuffled Plagal back into the right place, and continued to wonder how in the Floating Cities she was going to distribute this lot to the Muses Ruby was supposed to have ready, who should be waiting at the chutes and Perm'holes which Opal was supposed to get ready to the right places that Emerald dictated. The only problem was, none of them could really do anything until Emerald was done… And it looked as though Emerald was going to have to go through every cabinet in something the size of a three-layer football pitch to find the record she needed.
The first person for a job like this, Rebecca thought. Would have been Opal. She's the one who reads all the time…
But she was wrong. Opal was needed to sweet talk the techies. Due to the fact that she was always losing things, Emerald was very good at finding them. Within about 30 seconds, she could understand just about any filing system, and then work with it. As a result, it only took a further few painstaking minutes to find the surprisingly small file. Millierie knew her daughter's strengths and weaknesses as if they were her own. She had given them all the right job.
"Do you have what you need?" Emerald whispered, even that slight noise echoing in the cavernous space. Rebecca nodded. They really wanted as little noise as possible. But she had to tell her, it was unavoidable.
"Yes. But it's an entire cabinet. They don't need all that information, but that's all I can get- if I can get it. How are we supposed to get it all out of here? That's hard enough, but we'll have to walk through the entire level to get it back down! We'd get caught for sure!"
What they needed was a plan, or a diversion.
Fortunately, or perhaps, unfortunately, Millierie had already thought of that. And she was all over it.
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Any doubts that Ruby had had about this 'mission' were erased when she got to the level which she always thought of as the central layer, and found it full of people who had fled as the Nothing had eroded their own Levels. She knew that the bottom two or three had gone, but refugees from Level Five? This was absurd! The Nothing had risen an entire level overnight! Discontent and panic was surely spreading up the levels of Wherever as she stood, watching everyone go past. She felt anger coil up inside her as she realised that, until now, no-one was going to do anything about it!
Well, she was going to do something about it. Ruby Kiyoko was ready for action. And so, she plunged into the uncertain, uncomfortable bustle of what was essentially a level dedicated to shopping and business in order to track down as many Level Two or higher Muses she could find. They were all due to rendezvous here later. Until Emerald arrived with the lists of where they could hide, and Opal had the chutes ready, she'd just have to do what she could to ally the fears of those who had noticed her and were now begging to know what was being done to help them.
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"There are about five hundred chutes out of Wherever, that we know of." Baird told her, showing the original Blueprints of the city. He was younger then Opal, and she didn't think much of him. In fact, he had been in Azreal's year. And class. And, from what she'd said, he was one of the most annoying people to ever reside in Wherever. But, there was no denying he was very good at what he did. "A lot of those, however, were on the lower two service layers- in the Nothing now, of course, and that's about two hundred gone right there."
"What about the others?" Opal asked, frowning. A mass evacuation was looking rather impossible right now…
"Oh, they're all up and running and ready to go!" He said cheerily. "That is, about fifty of them are…"
"Fifty!" Opal yelped, temporarily losing her cool. "How do you get Muses up and down all the time!"
"Phfft." He snorted. "We normally know in advance, and we set up a porthole. I mean, honestly, how often have you actually used the chutes? They're only used in, like, emergencies."
"In case you hadn't noticed, this is an emergency." Opal snapped back. "Okay, Baird. This city has a population of roughly 7074265. How are we going to get them all out in less then a day with only fifty chutes?"
"We don't." A harsh, female voice said. Rubrica, the chutes specialist. "You'd never do it. You can forget it. They can't even carry more then five or six people at once."
"Then what do we do?" Opal demanded. "We have to get everyone out of here, and the only way is the Chutes! Unless you think you've got enough Perm'holes for everyone."
"Tsk." Rubrica hissed at her. "Some can use the chutes. Some can use the Perm'holes. And the others…"
"The others?" Opal asked.
Rubrica did not answer, her red hair shining in the almost non-existent light as she moved across the room, her dark top riding up a little as she bent down to a low drawer. "There is one other way…" She said, smirking. "A desperate measure. Easier to set up then portholes, quicker then the chutes, and certainly more convenient then the Perm'holes. Permanent they may be, but they don't half come out in some strange places. This way… It's fast, easy, and there's room for everyone."
Opal hesitated. "And what is it?"
Rubrica grinned. "Jumping."
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"So, let's recap." Emerald said, shifting on the cold floor. They were sitting in front of the filing cabinet that held the information they needed, next to a panel of glass floor as the Records Department spilled over the hole, causing an odd angle of light to slant over their faces. They no longer bothered to keep their voices down. "We need to somehow move a very large filing cabinet down through a few floors, preferably to level six where we should be meeting the others."
"Yup."
"But the cabinet's so heavy, it's hard to open the drawers."
"Yup."
"And, not only do we have to move it, we have to move it without anyone noticing we've got it, because we're not only stealing it, but we're stealing it from somewhere we're not supposed to be."
"Yup."
"Even more annoyingly, half that information we don't need. If only we could just take the names…"
"Yup."
Emerald laughed a little. "Woah, this hero thing sure is hard, ne? I can't believe we were defeated by a filing cabinet…"
"Oh, we're not defeated yet…" Rebecca said slowly, climbing to her feet. "Tell me, how old is this glass?"
"Uh, I don't know… Old, if it has that many 'Do not exceed…' stickers on it." Emerald replied, casting a disdainful eye over the rarely cleaned glass. "Why?"
"So…" Rebecca continued. "Do you think it would break if, say, someone moved a very large filing cabinet on top of it…?"
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Opal tried very hard to reign in the temper that wanted to yell at them all to take this seriously. The fact was, she'd known Rubrica long enough to realise she probably was serious, but just wanted to goad her. So, she took a deep breath, and made the plunge.
"And you when you say 'jump', you actually mean…" She prompted.
Rubrica laughed. "Ah, you're too used to me. You're no fun."
"Can we get back to the task in hand, please!"
"Fine." She laid the papers that she had pulled out of the draws down on the table so Opal could see.
"But… these are just plans for those maintenance suits…" Opal was bewildered. The pod like things had room for a few people, and ran on caterpillar tracks, with robotic arms at the front. The idea was that they could move technicians to where they needed to be, fast, and also let them safely clean up dangerous spills or leaks. Sure, they had a dangerous amount of Nothing around, but these really wouldn't help…
"Think again." Rubrica said, delighting in her ignorance. "Have you ever seen one of these babies in the shafts down to a lower level? Or on the stairs?"
"No…"
"It's the arms." Rubrica explained. "If manned correctly, they can be used to quite literally jump to the right levels. One of these can carry between four and six people at a stretch, and every cleaner, janitor and caretaker can operate them. We have a force of about five hundred, cleaning the entire city. But if they can just jump down the chutes… About a minute down, about five up. So that's six people down in a minute, for every one of the two fifty chutes or so that are disused, and the chutes that are in service."
Opal swallowed. "So… you're suggesting that we allow about three quarters of the population to plummet thousands of feet to Earth. In a road sweeper!"
"Hey, these are more then road sweepers! They can handle the free fall, even if you can't." Rubrica began to roll up the diagram of the Jumpers. "Still, it's your exodus, yo. Your call."
"…Fine." Opal said. "Gather your staff and get the Jumpers down to the Central Layer as fast as you can. We'll send the Old, the Young, the pregnant and the faint of heart in the chutes. The rest of us… jump."
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The Upper Layers were older, as the original Wherever had only been the first six levels. As the population grew, another six had been built below, making it twelve storeys. Sometimes they wondered why the humans, shielded or not, did not crash into their floating cities. But, then again, the planes did not go high enough, and, simply put, the 'Sky' was rather large.
At any rate, the glass in the lower levels had a far higher weight restriction. In the central plaza, more people were likely to walk over it, and before the very lowest layers had been consumed by the Nothing, there had been wharves, loading and unloading of goods from other cities and from Earth. The glass needed to be stronger. Up here, it did not.
"Are you seriously suggesting…" Emerald asked indcredously. "That we push the cabinet onto this glass in the hopes it will smash through it, and through the other layers, to land in the middle of the six floor but not breaking through the glass there- without killing anyone?"
"Pretty much, yes." Rebecca replied, stepping out warily onto the glass panel. Apart from a slight click as her shoes touched it, the glass did not complain. But then, this thing had to be at least three times her weight.
Emerald hesitated. "…But that'll make a lot of noise. There's a lot of government workers who wouldn't follow my mother."
"And a lot who would." Rebecca replied, easily. "But I see what you mean. We need a distraction."
As if by magic, bangs and crashes and howls issued from outside, echoing off all the metal walls and floors and deafening them all.
"Fireworks?" Emerald frowned.
"Millierie." Rebecca smiled, getting behind the cabinet and pushing without hesitation, and Emerald joined her a second later.
Grunting at the weight, and wincing at the sounds it made as it scraped heavily across the floor, they slowly moved the cabinet, taking a good few minutes to move the few centimetres to the edge of the glass. This was the dangerous parts- they needed the cabinet to fall right through the middle, really, but they would have to push it out to the middle fast, before the glass broke. As they inched forward, the glass groaned and protested. As a large crack splintered across the middle, Rebecca grabbed Emerald, yelling "That's good enough! Move!" as they leaped for the edge.
The glass finally shattered, and fragments fell, along with the cabinet. There were no worries about it being able to travel down, with the momentum it would gain, but if it didn't stop on the sixth floor…
Emerald watched as the cabinet began it's journey through six floors, hoping it wouldn't kill everyone. This sure was a lot of work when all they wanted was a list of who lived in the city…
"I sure hope the drawers don't come open…" She said as an afterthought.
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Millierie had not forgotten to give herself a task. She had three goals:
1. There were a whole lot of government officials up there who needed to be down here if they were going to be rescued.
2. The President would be expecting her to pull something, although perhaps not on this scale. And he'd have everyone looking until they at least thought they'd found what she was up to.
3. Most of her family was breaking and entering into where they should not be, and she'd really rather they weren't caught.
And what better way to protect those who were breaking the law then to break it herself? She was sure to lose her job was this little stunt anyway, so why not?
She headed into the Loft of the Headquarters, found what she needed, and headed out, wishing someone was there to help her carry it all, and hoping that a CEO wandering the halls with several boxes of industrial fireworks didn't look too suspicious.
There were strict rules about fireworks, and not setting them off on lower levels due to the fire hazard it presented. So that's where Millierie headed, ready to do what she did best- cause some chaos.
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Mo assembled every single person with the basic training to run a Jumper, and told them all what they had to do. Some of them were unsure, but then, most came from the lower Levels, which were now blanketed in the lethal fog. They soon convinced the rest. They outnumbered the Jumpers, as there were about twice as many of them as there were machines, but everyone paired up and jumped into the robots without hesitation. Then, slowly, one by one, the metallic monsters began to laboriously jump from the edge of the layer, near the tech room, falling for a few terrifying seconds before landing on the edge below. The people on the layers began to follow them down, torn between following the giant robots and the fireworks someone seemed to be setting off lower down. In the end, however, they followed- something was defiantly up.
Feeling a little ill as they headed down another layer, Opal looked out the side of the pod as opposed to down. And, she could have sworn, away in the distance, a filing cabinet was falling through the levels. She informed Rubrica, and they hurried over, the 'road sweeper' being surprisingly fast. It was then that her sister and Rebecca appeared, hurrying down the stairs. Opal stuck her head out.
"Did you drop a filing cabinet?" She asked.
"Uh… Sorta…"
"Why?"
"Hey, we're not the ones in the clean mobile!" Emerald shot back. "But, seeing as you're here, can you give us a ride…?"
Rubrica certainly did that, going faster then ever before, as though in some futile hope that she could beat the cabinet down.
Opal decided that, when the time came, she'd take one of the working chutes. For their safety, of course. You know.
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Ruby had gathered all the Muses that had been on duty in head quarters, and seen to it that any arriving on the floor- The Palisades was where everyone was instructed to go if worried about an emergency- and had even begun to sort the people into groups of the floors they lived on, hoping that communities would gradually gather themselves together and make it easier to check that no-one was missing. They were frustratingly worried though, demanding to know what was going on and if they should put a paper bag over their heads. To make matters worse, quite a large group of people had suddenly decided to go back up, talking into radios. She hoped they weren't the Police…
Of course, the seeds of discontent were beginning to grow into an all out panic as, through the glass hole in the middle of the level, they could see the Nothing growing ever thicker, and creating strange shapes, surely with only an hour or two till it reached them…
Ruby was not ready for this kind of leadership. She had been trained to run a company, not the city! But… these people were depending on her. If she couldn't do it, no-one else could. So, she had to try. She was about to give the order to evacuate to higher ground when something large and heavy crashed through the floor above. Shrieking, people ran for cover, and a few seconds later, the thing smashed into the glass in the floor, accelerating at such a speed that it made a large dent.
Ruby wondered if the Nothing was beginning to affect her sanity. There, in a ten metre-deep crater in the fifteen-metre thick glass, was what appeared to be a rather large filing cabinet.
Then, hundreds of cleaning robots pounced down on the edges of the layer, shaking it as they rumbled closer.
Her mother arrived a moment later, dumping an empty fireworks box into a dust bin, as, all around, the robots opened and those who she had believed to be the Police, Opal, Emerald, and Rebecca all stepped out.
Her family had arrived.
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Millierie refused to leave until every last Muse (Mostly Level Twos and Threes) that her daughter had put in charge of evacuating the people from Wherever reported back to tell her everyone on their list had gone. Finally, it was just them and Rebecca, along with Baird.
"Is everyone out?" She asked.
"Yes, except us!" Rebecca replied, sounding haggard. One of her duties was to protect Millierie in everyday work when her body guards were not around, and she had pulled some pretty dumb stunts in her time, but this was just taking the biscuit. They were now standing on Level Three. The evacuation had taken most of the day and night- and most of the city, sinking into the Nothing.
"Come on!" Baird yelled from inside the Jumper he was piloting. "If you don't hurry, I'll go without you!"
So they went. Opal was not happy.
When they landed, in the middle of a wood somewhere outside Kyoto, Baird immediately went over to the group that was being told nearby places where they could seek sanctuary, and Rebecca went with him.
Millierie and her family, however, hung back for a moment, closing off the final porthole to Wherever, in order to stop the Nothing passing down to Earth. There was a shudder as it was cut off, suddenly making them realise just how homeless they were. For a moment, they stood, looking at each other.
Ruby giggled slightly. "We've done some crazy things before, but…"
"Mmm." Millierie agreed. "But I don't think we've made history before, have we?"
"You're going to lose your job." Opal pointed out flatly.
"I know."
"Probably face a court case to, if we ever get back to Wherever. The Muses are scattered across the globe. The census was desecrated- we threw half of it out. It's not just the city that's going to be absorbed into the Nothing- it's the entire social system. Even if we rebuild the city, it won't be the same…" Opal sighed. "Now we're refugees in a place that doesn't know we exist."
"But we're alive." Millierie pointed out. "And that's good enough for me."
"Yes, for the most part, we're alive." Opal said sadly. "I mean, we're heroes now, right?" She laughed bitterly. "And that, of course, makes all the difference. Come on, then." She began to walk off in a random direction.
"Opal!" Emerald yelled. "Where are you going?"
"I've worked here before, there's a train station over there." Opal informed them. "I figured we'd better go and stow away on a train to Domino. Azreal will have felt that and it's almost a certainty that she's going to do something stupid."
No-one bothered to point out that they had just snuck into Government facilities, dropped filing cabinets through six floors, let off fireworks under a cover, or taken the entire population of a city down to another planet in a troop of what were, effectively, road sweepers.
Because, you know, that wasn't stupid.
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A/N: There. All done, at last… Next chapter, we get back to Az! Horray! Hope you didn't mind the fact that she didn't appear this time… Join me for Desperate Measures II: Fight at some point in the next week!
Note: The Population figure Opal gave for Wherever was in fact, London's from 1996, because I couldn't be bothered to think of one. And don't ask why I have the population of London figures for 1996, because I don't know either. But it was on the same sheet of paper as a diagram I scribbled for my sister and the words 'Fuji Film Finepix s5500'. Yeah. Welcome to my desk. And if you didn't quite get the structure of Wherever, don't worry, because Az is going to explain all. But think Pinecone. :D
