Chapter XIV: Looking for Liberty

AN:

Hey there, Fan-fic-folks!

A certain part of this chapter is my attempt to mimic a certain scene of the Tartakovsky 2003 Clone Wars movie. See if you can spot it. :)

Thanks for reading and, as always, please review.

Everyone was still a little quiet as we filed back into the war room. Ebenezar waited patiently for us all to enter and circle the table before unfurling his plan. "Liberty is in New York."

"Actually, I think she's kind of outside it, y'know." Chloe quipped.

We all turned to look at her. A couple of them frowned. I just waited for the joke. "What?"

"Y'know. Like the statue?" She stood, lifting one hand above her and clasping another to her chest. Her expression went grandiose and austere. "Gimme your tired, your poor, your masses yearning to live free."

And there it was. Ah, Chloe. The room took a collective deep breath. Then we turned back to the plan. "Liberty is in New York." Ebenezar repeated, "Her safe-house is Blackwell Island."

Listens-to-Wind snorted. It sent a little gust of wind that flicked the ends of his hair upward. Little Brother chittered from his shoulder. "It's Roosevelt Island now, old man."

"Really?" Ebenezar blinked. Bushy brows twitched. "Well, Liberty's safehouse is there, regardless of what the place is called. We need to go check it out."

Luccio stepped up to the map, eying the circles and lines and notes scrawled on it. "Are we foreseeing any issues?"

Ellis chimed up. "Recent reports did show some kind of magic-using gang in the area. It was quite sizeable. We were preparing a proposal for a Warden raid in the next briefing, before... well. Before all of this happened."

The two Senior Council Members and the Commander of the Wardens all took on the look of people who'd been in far, far too many briefings throughout their long lives. Ebenezar nodded. "Well, we can assume Liberty's involved in fightin' them, then."

Everyone in the room - bar Caoimhe - nodded in agreement. Including me. I'd only met the woman a couple of times, but that tracked. I don't think there's an injustice she wouldn't get involved with. Despite her sternness, the woman was an empath like me, too. Well, to a point. The first time we met was the time she was getting ready to vote on executing me, so I wasn't too big a fan.

Weatherwax finally spoke up. I honestly jumped at the sound. I'd kind of forgotten she was in the room. It was like a piece of the furniture just suddenly got involved in the conversation. "Why was this location chosen for a safehouse?"

Listens-to-Wind and Ebenezar looked at each other. Ebenezar nodded, and let Listens-to-Wind speak. "The island was also known as Welfare Island. It's been home to hospitals for every downtrodden malady-ridden group at one point or another. Between the prison, the poorhouse, the smallpox, the asylum-"

Ah. Shit.

He shook his head. "There's been a lot of darkness there. It's a good place for a wizard to hide."

Weatherwax's eyes turned to me. "Will that be something you can manage with, Max? It seems this place may be... unfriendly, to one of your talents."

"Liberty is an empath like me and she's there." I wasn't sure if this would work, but Dresden would be disappointed in me if I didn't at least try. No stubbornness here, but I'd be an asset.

Weatherwax tilted her head in acknowledgement. "A fair point, though Councillor Liberty is likely considerably more advanced in the art than you."

"More advanced, sure. I'll give you that. But she hasn't gone through trial by Dresden."

"Dresden?" Ebenezar raised one bushy brow. There was just a tinge of amusement to his voice.

"The Council are a very... distant authority, Sir. You don't know half of what Dresden got into over the years."

Ebenezar very skeptically snorted. But he said nothing. Damn right. He and Weatherwax eyed each other for a few tense moments, before they shrugged. Which in retrospect was fair enough. Miserable hell-island or not, this was hardly the Cave. There weren't going to be any mind-melting, Lovecraftian monsters in New York, surely. "Very well. But if things start to get... tense, you let us know Max."

"Of course. Only an idiot hides their zombie bite."

Chloe chuckled. All the wizards in the room just looked blankly at me. Ugh. Now I know how Dresden felt. Pop culture is wasted on the Council. "Right, so... how are we getting there? I'm assuming there's a Way on the Island?"

"Yes." Luccio stepped forward, rolling one of Weatherwax's maps out onto the table. "We've got an entry a short distance from the Safehouse. It should be a quick in-and-out job."

Chloe groaned. "Oh, you did it now."

Luccio's sweet face turned cold. "And what did I do, Chloe?"

"Jinxed us!" Chloe's hands communicated enough of her frustrated amusement there. "It should be a quick in-and-out job? Shit, why don't you just say 'What could possibly go wrong' or 'This'll be the best Christmas Walford's ever had'."

"What?"

By the time Luccio finished her briefing, she definitely seemed ready to murder the both of us. Or at least go to bed with a terrible migraine. Either way, I didn't much blame her. "We'll be running a smaller group this time - Councillor Listens-to-Wind and Ellis will be staying behind to start work on finding Councillor Mai." Both of them nodded. She looked to Ebenezar, me, Caoimhe, and Anna. "It'll be the five of us going."

"You know she's arrogant, disrespectful, irreverent-" Luccio was listing very, very familiar adjectives.

Ebenezar chimed in, "And now she's alone under the Doom, she's a bigger risk of turning Warlock than Dresden ever was." At Luccio's shocked look, he rolled his eyes. It was an amusing taint of teenage angst on Ebenezar's weathered old face. I wished he'd do it more. "You know we say the same damn things every time? It's no big trick to predict that line of thinking, Commander."

I slid back into the dark spot I'd found and set to listen. So long as I blended into the background noise of this place, I should be okay. I needed to hear this.

"I'm surprised you're not talkin' to me about her friend, Chloe."

"That girl isn't one of us. She's a civilian. I expect better from the Council."

"Well, I appreciate you comin' to me about Max."

"Of course. Praise in public, punish in private. I remember some of the lessons I was taught about leadership, you know." I couldn't see her face, but I could picture Luccio's sweet young expression contorted in wry irritation. More teenage angst than Ebenezar's eyeroll, even. Heh. "But you need to talk to her."

And then another voice blew in to the conversation. I could barely hear it, but it was thoroughly recognisable - Weatherwax. "And what are we discussing, off in this hidden corner of our abode?" She was distinctly amused, but her voice was rigid. I smiled. It felt nice to have another person in my corner. "Matters of discipline for my apprentice should include me, should they not?"

"Your apprentice?" I could hear the surprise in Ebenezar's voice.

"I did save her life. I have been teaching her since. What else would you call that relationship?"

There was a considering pause. Luccio coughed. "Whoever has responsibility for her, we can't let what happened in that room with the Sidhe happen again."

"It worked." Weatherwax observed simply.

"And what if it hadn't? What if it doesn't next time? What if she makes a decision all on her own - decisions which we know haven't been perfect in the past - and gets us all in some manner of shit that we can't get out of. We have too much at stake for a teenager to be making unilateral decisions when we have the collected wisdom of the council behind us."

"That's a rather long-winded way of calling them old, isn't it?"

Ebenezar bit back a laugh at Weatherwax's dry comment. "Luccio, I understand your concerns. But the heavy-handed approach won't work here."

"I'm not asking for the heavy-handed approach, Councillor McCoy. I'm just asking you to talk to her. Or Ms Weatherwax, I'm not picky." There was a muffled exchange of movement and mumbles - I couldn't catch a thing of it. But the familiar heavy sound of Luccio's boots thudded across the floor as she left.

"Do you want to come out now, Max?"

Shit.

I put on my best innocent expression and stepped out to face the music.

We stepped out into the city. It was cold, a little rainy. As a group, the five of us quickly shuffled over behind one of the big semi-trailers standing around the overgrown parking lot. It was the same grey-white as the sky. "Are we in the right place?" I asked.

"Yep." Caoimhe pointed. The redbrick and grey-windowed building loomed imposingly above us. "Coler hospital, there. I recognise it from your briefing, Luccio. Pretty sure this is the right backside we're at."

All of us looked at her for that one. Interesting phrasing.

"Good." Ebenezar said. "Let's get moving."

He lead the way over to the lot's big metal gate, stamping his staff against the ground a few steps away without pausing his stride. The gate vanished for long enough that we could get through, reappearing as we'd all left. Ebenezar gestured to the river. A little path and railing ran along the edge of the island. "Stay on the coast path. We'll draw less attention than walking on the roads."

We followed the path along, taking a right onto main street and up to the front of a big grey building. Luccio looked at the 888 over the door and nodded with satisfaction. "This is the place."

We headed in. The room was so... shiny. The floors gleamed, and little spotlights were speckled about the place to highlight the pictures hung up on the wall. And also some of the bare bits of bricked wall. And everything else. Dog, this place had so much light. The gleaming floors looked like an Abrams movie. The Concierge looked up at us from behind their desk as we walked in, smiling politely and giving a pleasant acknowledging nod. I looked back at Ebenezar and Luccio - she pointed over to the left exit, opposite the concierge desk. "Head to the mail room. There's an elevator there that we need to take."

We found it quickly, tucked away in a corner. All of us filed into the elevator, and Ebenezar quickly tapped a few keys. The elevator, despite not having any basement floors or even a 'down' on the panel, began to descend. "I didn't think the Council would do much with technology like this."

"Magic does cause some problems, but since there's no stairs to the underground sections anymore, this seemed the most subtle option."

"Fair enough." I responded. A pause for thought. "I'm still not going to cast anything while we're near the elevator though."

"That's probably for the best." Ebenezar drawled dryly. I raised an eyebrow at him. He grinned back.

The elevator slowed and stopped with a pleasant ding. We waited for the doors, then stepped out into the room. Huh. This is... not what I expected. The walls were a light sky blue, the carpet some inoffensive beige, a window - clearly fake - showed a picturesque tropical beach. Several surprisingly clean cups and glasses sat on a polished table holding a heating element and a kettle. There were a couple sets of drawers, a wardrobe, and some side tables dotted around as well. Two other doors lead into side rooms - presumably one was a bathroom.

It really was just a hotel room.

"Really? Somewhere like this is dark enough to hide a Senior Council Member?" I couldn't keep the scepticism out of my voice. "This place isn't exactly traumatised."

"Before it got 'fashionable', this place was an asylum so poor that Dickens hated it. There have been lingering tales of ghosts and monsters here for longer than you've been alive, Max. Gentrification isn't enough to remove the ghosts of a place like this."

"Ah." I paused. "Are there any here? Ghosts, I mean."

Ebenezar shrugged. "There's a reason we chose here."

"That's not an answer, Ebenezar!"

He ignored me and walked further into the room, heading over to one of the doors. He leaned on the wall and rapped politely on it, three rapid thuks, with the back of his knuckles. "Matty? You in there?"

For a moment, I almost hoped it really would be that simple. But whatever unfathomable entity controlled my life and universe couldn't make it that easy.

Ebenezar's shoulders drooped, ever so slightly. He reached out and pushed open the door. It creaked awkwardly loudly. He leaned in to the small bathroom beyond, and then turned back. He strode over to the other door and pulled it open. It clattered against the wall - empty.

A broom fell out of it.

After a moment, Ebenezar reached down and picked it up, then put it back into the open closet. He straightened up. "Right. Look around, see what you can find. We need to know where she's gone."

We did as instructed, spreading out into the space and poking through drawers and hidey-holes and anything we could find. As we did, one thing quickly became clear. "This place... it's never been used."

"Do you think Liberty got intercepted?" Anna asked, "Maybe she didn't make it out."

I picked up a book and scanned over the cover before putting it back down with a shrug. Something grabbed my attention, out the corner of my eye. I turned, scanning the area quickly. What was it..?

Ah, there! Under one of the glasses on the table.

I gently pushed the glass aside and picked up the paper. It was lightly stained - moisture from the glass. I quickly called everyone's attention. "For anyone reading this. Thanks for coming to get me. There's a group that's been causing trouble for the people here, so I've gone to see to the situation. Don't worry, I've taken some trinkets from this place to carry the protections with me. You're welcome to wait here for my return, or go find Andrew - he'll have a place for you to wait as well." I read off. "It's signed. Wowzer, her signature is the tidiest thing I've ever seen."

Dog, the thing looked like it'd been done with a fucking slide-rule. Physicists were wondering how someone had finally managed to measure to the Planck length. I bet she could draw a perfect circle unaided.

"So, she was here."

Oh, right yes. Forgot about that bit. Ooops.

"Well." Ebenezar clapped his hands together. "Let's go ask around for anyone fittin' her description. We can't track her with spells, maybe some good old fashioned detective work will turn something up."

I chuckled. "Dresden would be proud, Sir."

He smiled back.

"Yeah..." One of the two men said slowly, eyes going distant in recall. "I know the woman you mean. It's been a few days, but you don't forget someone like that." He and his friend exchanged lecherously appreciative looks. I suppressed my shudder and probed further. At my questioning, they both quickly pointed me over to a small courtyard cafe Liberty had frequented. Of course, it was closed.

I stared up at the empty, dark store with a scowl. It really can't ever be that easy, can it?

A rough voice, like gravel in a woodchipper, drew me out of my musing. "I hear you're looking for someone."

I turned around. A tall man had stepped out of the shadows. He was dressed in purplish almost-armour, secured over a thin black short-robe with a hood that hid most of his face. Was he a vampire? Or just really into his anonymity?

I saw the symbol on his chest - a silvered and twisting eye segmented by a curled scar-line. It was hard to look at. Abrupt rage filled me at the sight of it. My pulse thundered and my fists and jaw clenched without me. The Cave had given me something useful - I easily recognised the anger as not my own. Whoever he was, someone with the power to put their emotions in my head was furious with him. I could feel them burning through my mind.

He continued, not noting 'my'... emotional state. "I figured I might be able to help."

I took a moment to choke back the anger. Damn it, that's annoying. "What do you know?"

The figure lifted his head. From out of the hood, several long tendrils of hair grew down from a fractured head. His skin was ruptured, fractured, broken across every visible inch. Almost gemstone-esque, blistered growths protruded from the gaps all over his skin. "I know to stop your search now, before you disturb things best left alone."

He raised a blade, long-handled and with a multi-pointed, almost axe-like head, and charged. (AN1)

He was barely a few steps in front of me, so he didn't get much time to build up momentum. That was the only thing that saved me as he brought the blade down in a dizzyingly fast cross-body swipe. On instinct, I tossed a spell back at him - something that would burn. The symbol on his chest glowed, and then a hand reached out and caught it. Not his hand, but a shadowy, almost liquid thing that stretched out of his chest with fingers that wrapped almost sinuously around my spell.

As I looked at him in shock, that many-pointed sword-tip dipped as my attacker spread his hands and shrugged. "You didn't expect me to just stand here and take that, did you?"

I paused. "Fair point."

And then the fight was back on. He came at me, swinging furiously. Man, he wielded that thing like it weighed fucking nothing. I could hear the force of the air it pushed aside, even over the pounding blood drumming in my ears.

I tossed another spell at him and it was caught, just like the last. His face never twitched from a focus and concentration, but I imagined if he'd smiled... it'd just be another fracture.

Right then. I dodged back from another swing. He was controlling the distance here. I needed to get under his guard or out of his reach, now. Or I was going to get cut.

Well. Time to do something clever.

I'll... let you know when I come up with something.

Shit, dodge! Left! - right! - left! - right! - fuck, ow!

He'd managed to tag me, outside of my bicep. I could feel it start to bleed. Even now, the fucker's expression never changed. Dead-eyed focus all the way. He had the look of some of the more serious cultists Dresden had dealt - the ones that weren't all completely mad, but calm and calculated in their magical mania.

Fuck.

He pushed forward again, coming at me hard. My dodges were getting closer and closer to the blade. And then I finally got a hit. A blade of my own, compact air, slicing right through him. The flesh parted easily. There was no blood spurt, just... nothing. The head was there. Then it wasn't. My mind stuttered. I stared at it, lying there on the floor. There was noise around me, but it was distant. Mumbly.

A few seconds after the head hit the floor, it just melted into nothing.

As it did, the man's severed neck began to grow. Sundered flesh rebuilt itself in front of me as I watched in fascinated horror. Because... just... fuck that. This time, I threw more fire. Burned his body to ash. And then I watched it reform in front of me, cracks and scars and all. Like a broken pot that repairs itself. Fuck. Just. Fuck.

We couldn't imprison this guy. The only space we had was The Mill and there's no way in hell we wanted to bring him there. Not when he could do this. And I couldn't kill him. Not without getting more creative than we had time for, and the moment I made a mistake, that would be it.

Weatherwax's voice oozed into my head. "He," She started, almost spitting the word. "-cannot be killed. Continue to run, and lose him. Or he will continue attacking until he wins."

"Who is he?" I thought back. "You know him?"

"Denisek. He's tried to kill me before. I believe he has been hired by our enemy."

Well. Shit. "I'll try not to let him kill me then."

"That would be advisable." Her tone filled with dry amusement.

I fled the fuck out of there. I had to find the others.

I found them quickly, and somehow managed to convince them there was a danger and we had to leave quickly. I don't think they believed me that it was as... horrifying as it was, but they agreed the search wasn't working and that it was best to move on.

Ebenezar revealed he had a new connection for us to try - a minor talent mage he knew was apparently working in Queens, so we were heading over to see if he knew anything about this gang Liberty was going after.

Worth a shot, right?

"I still can't believe the subway was locked down! Who does maintenance work on a weekend?"

"We got across the bridge fine." Anna responded absently. Her hand dropped down to the bulge in her coat that I knew hid her sword. Her eyes were scanning every inch of the area around us. I approved. She certainly wasn't getting jumped.

"I still say we should've gone for the ferry. Couldn't exactly follow us." I grumbled, carefully ignoring Luccio's irritable expression.

"But could've quite easily beaten us there." Ebenezar countered, "The Bridge was the best option, Max."

"Fine. So, where are we now?"

"Queens."

"That doesn't help. The only sign I see says 'Costco'." I pointed up at the store we were walking past, just as a reminder. I really was a sarcastic little shit sometimes.

"The last sign I saw said Vernon Boulevard. So, I presume that's where we are."

"Right. So, how do we get to wherever it was your friends said to be?"

"It's somewhere around Mount Sinai. We'll follow the coast along 'til 30th Avenue and then head up from there." He pointed us the right direction and off we went again.

"There's the hospital. Where to-" Ebenezar didn't stop, heading straight into a Pizzeria across from the hospital. "Ah. Okay. I guess we follow him?"

We followed him. He walked up to the counter and had a hurried conversation with the server - a young Asian man with the most impressively feathered hair and chiseled chin I'd seen on anyone ever. The guy looked like he walked straight off a Stallone movie set. Or an 80s music video. I am honestly not sure what language the conversation was in. Whatever it was, it was a delight to hear it in Ebenezar's 'yeehaw' accent. After a few minutes, he shook the man's hand and strode back out of the pizzeria. Left, away from the hospital.

We all dashed after him. "What did you find out, sir?"

He waved a hand off ahead of him. "The gang we're looking for hangs out in a bar about two blocks that way. It's a bit of a dive-"

"So we should fit in nicely?"

He snorted. That meant I was right. I know it did.

"Cross in here. We should get off the main roads, break line of sight."

We headed into a small courtyard surrounded by three-floor apartment blocks. There was a gate on each side, and several picnic benches scattered through the area. Judging by the neon signs in the corner, there was also a small cafe-bar serving the residents. Ebenezar pointed to the gate to our right. "There."

We took barely two steps forward when it happened. The man - Denisek - suddenly appeared from nowhere, like the world had corrected a visual error. Shit. He'd been under a veil. He was free of his hood and coverings, wearing only that shimmering purple armour. It was hard to look at, making him seem somehow more present in the brown and green courtyard.

"Found you." He crooned. I had been right about his smile - it only added more cracks to him. Creepy, creepy cracks.

"Fuck." I sighed out.

"Indeed." He said, his glee fading to be replaced with a firm focus. His hands crackled and raised, then all the gates leading out of the courtyard slammed shut. They all had a light shimmer of magic, and I could smell something burning. Electrified. Damnit.

The five of us quickly spread out, pulling weapons. Denisek raised his own blade - that weird, multi-pointed falchion-chopper thing - and simply waited. Which was fair. We'd have to come to him now, after all. But then I noticed something.

The curtains in the windows were twitching. We'd have to do this quickly.

Almost instantly, Ebenezar cast some kind of thin line of green energy and swiped it right through Denisek. He didn't even have time to bisect, the gaps almost immediately stitching themselves back together. He cleared the distance between him and Ebenezar in a flash, taking a swing that Ebenezar only barely dodged.

Well. At least they might believe me now. "We have to go! Disable him and let's run!"

Luccio stepped forward, whipping out her silver sword. "No!" She barked. "This man is attacking Wardens of the White Council. We don't let that go unchallenged!"

Denisek continued attacking Ebenezar even as Luccio closed and Anna and Caoimhe spread out to contain him. His swings were somehow getting faster, like he was feeding on his own momentum for more speed. Hell, maybe he was.

Ebenezar slammed his staff down and in a flash it... changed. Where once was solid, study wood was inky, shifting blackness. It reminded me of the cave. He shifted this new staff with ease, meeting Denisek's blade with equal, unerring speed. Pieces of the shadow broke off - they darted around Denisek like angry piranha, nipping and slicing new cracks into that ruptured skin.

He never paused. It was barely a moment before the others threw themselves into the fray. Luccio, Caoimhe, and Anna taking their own swings at Denisek's back and sides. He- dog, even now it seems impossible - his form just flickered and it was like he had four arms and too many blades to count, whirling and dodging and still getting faster.

It wasn't long before he started hurting them.

Soon enough, all of them were backing off under the pressure. Anna was the first to resort to a spell, and Luccio quickly followed her lead, throwing bolts of multi-coloured energy at Denisek from range. A shadow-hand crawled its way out of his spine and caught them, tossing all of them at Caoimhe. Luccio quickly dashed over, using her sword to slice through the spells. They poofed into nothing.

Denisek danced back out of Ebenezar's reach and vanished.

"Detection!" Luccio immediately called out. The three White Council members began casting some kind of goop about the place, making it look like a Hare Krishna celebration coincided with a high-stakes game of Paintball Assassin.

I kept my eyes peeled. I wasn't trying to spot the shimmer, I was trying to spot the gap he'd exploit. Honestly, I was half tempted to move out just to try end the fucking suspense.

Shit! Anna was open to- Suddenly, Denisek was just there, sword raised, victorious glee all over his smug, dickbag face. Anna must've seen something in our expressions because she whirled and jabbed, sliding her sword into his stomach. It went through that purple armour like it was nothing at all.

Denisek paused. He looked down. He dropped his sword as his arms just flopped. She'd gotten something vital. Fucking excellent.

Ebenezar raised his staff and began to chant - I recognised it immediately. It was a spell to seal the target in a frictionless bubble. He'd just be spinning round and round, like a hamster in space.

Luccio and Caoimhe stepped forward, swords raised, trying to cover Anna's hold.

I heard Anna sigh in relief. Denisek just smiled. Then he seemed to loom and lean forward over her and began to push himself up the blade, hands out like grasping claws aiming to tear out her throat. Anna let out a noise of distress and tried to pull back, but Denisek had healed fully around the blade now and it was stuck firm. She took a couple steps back and he was right there.

It took a moment of hesitation, but she made to drop the sword just in time for Caoimhe and Luccio to strike. But it wasn't to be.

Denisek moved seamlessly, even faster than we'd seen him move before, sliding along the blade like a fucking bannister, hands reaching out to Anna. He wrapped his fingers around her throat and squeezed, then twisted. Her eyes went empty. That monster broke her fucking neck. Small consolation that she died instantly.

Luccio wafted a hand and barked a loud, Italian-sounding word that split into three silver spears, longer than the swords. With another word and wave, she hurled them at Denisek, ramming two of them into his shoulders, sending him flying. They slammed into one of the buildings, pinning him to the wall. The other went right through his gut.

Denisek coughed. I was expecting blood, but it was just... dusty. Fuck. I've never heard of any vampires like this. Or anything like this. What the hell is he?

He laughed, low and amused. He met my eye and shook his head in pity. And then he started to wriggle along the spears, pulling himself off them, inch by inch.

Fucking hell.

Ebenezar groaned. Damn it, we really don't have the time for this. Apparently Ebenezar agreed. So we threw a couple more spears at him, pinning him even harder to the wall, and left in a hurry.

We didn't know what Denisek had heard, under that veil, so we had to find this gang. And fast. The mood in the group was... strained. Everyone had that faint, manic look in their eye when things weren't going how they expected. The Dresden First Timers. Hmph. They'd get through it. Now, I just expect things to go horribly wrong every time. It saves some mental acrobatics and energy later on. I'd grieve later, but for now - we had to stay on task. Or things would only get worse.

We quickly made our way out of there. A couple of streets later, Ebenezar pointed. "There." The bar we were looking for. The... Purple Seagull? It's no Mac's, that's for sure. The building was a lurid lilac colour, hadn't a single window, and was playing loud music inside. After a few moments, a large group left the building - a couple of them were carrying rods and staffs. Shit. Our gang?

They were walking in our direction, stumbling the walk of the truly inebriated.

"In here!" Ebenezar gestured to a nearby older, boarded up two-floor building. As he ran forward, he slammed his staff down into the ground again and the door burst open. We all crowded in, whirling quickly to slam the door shut behind us. The room was silent.

"Why did we just do that? We could've veiled."

"There's a drug called ThreeEye that allows them to see through veils." Luccio answered, "If they're taking from their own stock, we'd've lost the element of surprise immediately. We need to stay quiet, watch these people. If Councillor Liberty was worried about this gang, they're definitely trouble - we should be careful."

I leaned in to the window and tried to spot the gang through the cracks between the boards. "Are they still coming this way?"

The lot of us crowded around the windows, peering through them like short-sighted people who've all lost their glasses. If I hadn't been part of it, it'd probably have made me laugh.

And then someone coughed. "Quiet." Ebenezar barked, all business. I didn't blame him. Anna was... fuck. Just. Fuck.

"Um." Caoimhe said.

"What?"

"There's somethin' you should see."

We turned around to find a room full of people staring at us, half with tankards and other glassware raised. In a moment, all of them had weapons pointed at us. Some guns, some staves, some knives. Liberty's gang problem. Of course. If they were small enough to only need one bar, they wouldn't need a Senior Council Member to deal with.

They charged.

Two closed on me - a tall balding man with a gold tooth and a guy who looked straight out of an Abercrombie and Fitch catwalk. Both had knives. I was going to throw fire, but thought better of it - I was in this building, after all - and instead went for air. Both of them felt an intense downward pressure as several tonnes of air shoved them to the ground.

Caoimhe and Luccio were calmly and with great enthusiasm cutting their way through the magic mobsters. Despite none of them inflicting even a little damage on us, they kept coming. Ebenezar simply scoffed and raised his black staff. With a word, a dozen people died. Then again, then again.

I barely had to do a thing. Ooof. Within thirty seconds, the room was quiet and still. It was just us left.

Shit. The people outside. I dashed back to the door and listened, peered out, tried to see if they were... I sighed in relief. Nothing.

I turned back and gave Ebenezar a nod. We were clear. Immediately, Luccio began issuing orders. "Check this place out. See if there's anyone else in the other rooms. And check the bodies. There may be some information available here."

Luccio and Caoimhe searched the bodies as me and Ebenezar searched the building. I was glad for it. I don't think I could do that.

I pushed open the door behind the bar and stepped into the next room. It was some kind of storage space. Tables of supplies and folders and shelves of notes held more than a few answers. This really was Liberty's problem gang, and they were making potions. I picked up one of the papers at random and scanned through it. Wait. I recognise this. I quickly glanced at the ingredients racks - empty. "Secure the live ones, quick!"

They didn't hesitate, but they were too slow. Multiple gang-members vanished to the sound of shattering glass as their potions fell. "Fuck!"

"How did you know?" Luccio demanded, "What was that?"

"Escape Potions. They had recipes for them, and the holders I spotted for the ingredients to the potion were empty. Might've been something else, but..." I shrugged.

"Shit." She scowled, reached up to massage her temple. "They'll have a back-up spot to report to, and possible reinforcements for a counter-attack. There's enough infrastructure here they'd have to be interested in re-taking it. Especially now they know we aren't strong enough for actual law enforcement. No reason to move." Luccio paused. "And they'll probably alert the other bar, too. We aren't getting in there tonight."

We quickly checked out the rest of the building. Everything just confirmed what we already knew - gang bar, potions lab, storage and recipes. There was no trace or mention of Liberty anywhere.

We were heading back to the Safehouse with nothing. That just felt... wrong. Not a clue, not a lead, not even a potential one. And Anna was gone. The mood of our little party felt failed.

"Man, you people move really fast. I don't think I've had to work this hard to find anyone in years!" We all whirled, spells at the ready. The man reared back, held up his hands. "Woahwoahwoah! Not a threat! Not a threat!"

He did look very kindly. I'll give him that. His hair was a vibrant red that stood up like unkempt grass. He dressed like a hipster professor - and that's coming from me. "I'm Andy. Andrew, I mean. Andrew Byrne." His hands were still up. He peered at us all, eyes flickering across the various magical accoutrement and weaponry still pointed at him. "Matty sent me?"

Ebenezar and Luccio relaxed quickly. Caoimhe and I were still... hesitant. "Sent you for what?"

"Well, she didn't send me, exactly. She just warned me that I should be on the lookout for some heavy magic hitters. If they were you, I was supposed to come find you and invite you to a safe place. If they were anyone else, I-" He rummaged in his bag and held out two pieces of a broken twig. "-was supposed to break this. It signals her. Somehow."

"How did you know we were here?"

"The local gang is completely riled up over you. I overheard some chatter in another bar that you were in the area. A little detective work later and well, here we are." He paused, gave a bright smile. "So, do you want to come with me? My place is safe, I assure you. Matty helped with the defences herself."

Matty's place was a vast underground space, filled with people. Various barrel fires heated the room, and a veritable shanty-town's worth of metal girders and fabrics separated it out into smaller, more private areas. "Welcome. Welcome! Hopefully Angie is in - she makes a killer stew. You'll probably be hungry by now, I wager."

"Are you sure? What if Denisek turns up here? We don't want to get these people in his crosshairs."

"We'll be fine. This place is very hard to find, and it is ridiculously full of exits. We can be halfway across the city before he gets more than five steps in here."

With that said, the group spread out and started to settle in for the night. The others settled with the evident practice of people used to roughing it in the field. I lived in a city and had never been camping, so I had significantly more trouble until Caoimhe took me under her wing and showed me how to set up a bedroll. It's actually slightly more complicated than the name implies.

Ahem.

We ate together with Andrew, chatting lightly and sharing some - but not all - of our mission and circumstance. Lucky for us, Andrea was in. Her hobo stew really was incredible. After eating, we all split off a little to get some rest. Still in earshot though, in case of Denisek. I closed my eyes. "Weatherwax?"

"Yes, Max?"

"Can you pass on a message to Chloe for me? We're staying on site for the night and I don't want her to get worried."

She paused. "Very well. What would you like me to say?"

"Just tell her I'm safe, alive, and I'll see her tomorrow. Also, I had an incredible hobo stew that reminded me of that thing her mom used to make. I may be fixating a little, but I remember sitting around the table with her and William and-" I stopped, shook my head. "Um. Don't tell her that bit. Just the safe and alive stuff. And that I'll see her tomorrow."

Weatherwax didn't speak for a few moments. When she acknowledged my message and told me to get some sleep, there was some... distance in her voice. Lost in some memory of her own, I think. I wondered what her life was actually like, before all this. Still wondering, I drifted off to sleep.

I saw Anna's face in my nightmares, slack and empty. Fuck.

AN1 - For anyone wondering and interested in googling, this is called a Maciejowski Chopper. It's a type of Falchion someone recreated from a piece of art in the Maciejowski Bible. Thought it was an interesting looking thing and it fit the character I was going for with Mr Mystery Murdering McGee there.