The resistance splintered. Abramov and Landis refused to cooperate with Lionel and Jesse, since the escalating violence of the terror attacks on the towers was reprehensible to them. Landis was still working on his own plan, according to what Jesse had heard. All power to him, he thought.
It didn't matter to Lionel that he was no longer backed by the resistance leader. Half the people following Abramov immediately latched onto "Phaeton" and cut ties with the others. There was talk of a successful revolution with Phaeton as leader, people speaking optimistically of the outcome of the attacks, and some disturbing enthusiasm for the atrocities that Lionel had committed.
The ghoul himself was becoming testy; the more people who joined up with them, the less stealthily he could move, and he would often disappear for a day or two. When he returned, he would call his "cabinet" together and discuss the next action.
Jesse hadn't even realized the Bloomfield tower was attacked until Sue told him; it upset him, that he wasn't being included in all the plans, anymore. Lionel owed him for saving his life, and shouldn't be treating him like a stupid kid.
"Don't forget why we're here," he'd told Lionel.
Lionel had looked up at him from a map he'd been studying for half the day. He hadn't looked angry, or mad, or even sad. He'd looked intense, and he'd tapped his forehead with a finger, then resumed studying the map.
Jesse took that to mean he still had Celia on his mind, and he was somewhat grateful for that. As violent as Lionel had been... Maybe thinking about the girl would keep him sane. Jesse was terrified that the ghoul would go feral, as often as he'd been exposing himself to radiation.
The rebels were camping in the sewer system underneath Arbor. Jesse didn't understand how Lionel had come up with this grand plan to take down the tower in the large city. He knew why the ghoul had made such a bold statement. He was banking on the presence of more soldiers to freak the fuck out with his Phaeton persona. But Arbor was easily three times as large as Pontiac, and they couldn't expect to sneak in and out, or even blow up the station, like Bloomfield.
The group was positioned in the sewers directly under Arbor's town hall, laughably close to capture. Jesse felt a slow grin come across his face. It was a big "fuck you" in the face of Paramount. Lionel had scouted, alone, into the recesses of the sewer system and reported it free of anything other than radiation and rats.
"Here," Lionel said, and pointed at a spot on the map in front of him.
Five people, including Jesse, leaned forward to see what he was motioning at. A hand-drawn sewer map was in front of them, and he was pointing at an outlet on the far eastern side of Arbor. "Escape route," he said.
"But where are we coming up from, to attack?" Sandoval asked, eyeing the map.
Jeremiah sighed. "Be patient," he told the dark-eyed man.
"I see what you're saying," Sue said. "See? If we're already up top, and need to escape, this outlet is inside the metro. There are tons of corridors to lose pursuers in."
Lionel nodded at her. "You," he pointed at the last member of the group, "follow this." His rough finger traced along a tunnel and landed on a sewer grate north of the tower. "Clear the path, come up."
Kelley Todd sighed. "Alone? Man, that'll be rough."
"Jeremiah," Lionel pointed to another map, to the side. "Follow the road, play beggar. Sue will follow and make a distraction."
Sue laughed. "Oh, fun. You're gonna get it, Jeremiah."
The older man sighed. "Don't get me shot again," he said.
"No promises," she replied, a twinkle in her eyes.
Lionel looked at Sandoval. "Here, you come up and draw as many soldiers as you can toward the town hall." He jerked a thumb up at the ceiling. "Take whoever you want."
"Rather have Sue," he said. Everyone knew she was a crack shot with a pistol.
"No. Take Jesse."
Jesse put his hands out in defense. "Whoa, I wanna do the main assault."
Lionel fixed him with a look, and shook his head.
"C'mon, man, you can't go in there alone!"
"Yes," the ghoul said, "I can. If you can keep the majority of the soldiers away from the tower." He rolled the street map up into a loose tube.
"How are you even gonna get in the building?" Jesse asked.
Sue poked him. "Quit arguing. When has Phaeton not gotten in?"
"Jesse has a point, though," Kelley said. "I'm coming north, Sandoval is west, and the escape route is to the east. Are you coming up south of the tower?"
Lionel made a noise that grated in Jesse's ears, and unrolled the street map. He searched for a moment, then pointed at the tower's location, pointed at a small outlet on the sewer map, then tapped the tower again.
"Oh, my God," Sue laughed.
"But that drain is blocked by debris inside the tower," Jeremiah said, frowning. He'd scouted it out just the day before, pretending to be a beggar. "You can't possibly get through all that shit."
Lionel stared at Jeremiah, blankly. Jesse cleared his throat. "That aside," he said, "there's probably a ton of people inside the tower, waiting for you."
"The tower building is barely big enough for seven people," Jeremiah said. "Even shoulder to shoulder they couldn't have more than four in there, and that power armor is as wide as two people. Maybe two operators, two soldiers." Jeremiah had only seen the operators in the tower building, when he reconnoitered. All five people in the room were aware of it. "But not much room for hand-to-hand combat," he added.
"Maybe we'll get lucky," Sandoval said. "Maybe they'll be dumb and have no soldiers inside the building.
Lionel reached into a sack and pulled out a frag grenade, placing it on the table. Sue shuddered. "Please tell me that's the back-up plan."
"Get through, throw it, get out," Lionel croaked.
"No message this time?" Kelley asked.
"The point has been made, repeatedly. They know we're coming. We don't need to warn them about the next stop." Jeremiah looked to Lionel sharply. "Though, none of us know why you have such a bone to pick with Bradley, whoever he is."
The topic had been wildfire on the ears of the group. Everyone wanted to know why. Lionel had not said a single word about it. Jesse had no idea, either.
"Are we clear on the plan?" Lionel asked.
Everyone replied in the affirmative. Sue and Jesse went to the "cafe" for some food and drink, leaving Lionel to his lone self.
"Is he ex-military?" Sue asked.
"Fuck if I know," Jesse said.
"How come he's taking on Paramount, then?"
"He's real mad," Jesse answered.
"Is it because of the other ghouls who are taken to Detroit?" She hit the door and it opened creakily.
"You need to stop assuming I'm in his pocket," Jesse snapped. "I've only know him for like, four months, and he's beaten the tar out of me at least three times since!"
"But you came here with him," she pointed out. She uncapped a bottle of water. "Abramov said―"
"Shit, Sue!" Jesse threw a cup onto the table in frustration. "I met him up in St. James, which is incredibly far from here. And I don't know who he is, even."
"Well!" Sue sputtered. "Maybe some of us want to make sure he's really on our side!"
"He's not!" Jesse replied. "He's on his own side."
"So... why?" she asked, and looked at Jesse with baby blues.
He softened a little, inside. He'd not promised to not tell, though he had a suspicion that Lionel would kill him if he let the story about Celia get around. The ghoul hadn't said a single word about the girl since they met up with Landis. "I'd rather not be strangled to death," he muttered.
"Could you at least tell me about Bradley?" she asked, watching him.
"That one, I honestly don't know. I know there was a Paramount soldier what followed him up to Gladstone," Jesse told her. "He was a member of Sigma."
"One of the special forces?" She sighed. "I wonder what Phaeton did to them."
"Look, this last time I found him, he was trapped under a metal roof, chewed up by ants, shot four times―one of which collapsed a lung―and had a crowbar stuck into his stomach. If Bradley did that to him, I don't doubt his motives." Jesse respected that the old grump was tough. He didn't want Sue to think less of their leader, to have a finger in a crack and work it open.
"Fair enough," she said. "I'll let it be."
Jesse excused himself then, and went back to speak to Lionel. It was time he asked about this Bradley man, and time he got proper answers. Lionel owed him for it.