Chapter 28

With Vista's power, the buildings bordering the street looked like funhouse mirrors as we crossed the compressed space, but she looked at each of them in turn, taking in the widespread destruction while I forcibly kept my attention on the street ahead of us. Her head kept whipping around with every new scream we heard, and the only thing I could do was walk faster and urge her to come along, to get her away from this as soon as possible.

We arrived to the PRT HQ at the same time Glory Girl landed with Weld in front of the entrance.

"Are you alright?" He asked us.

"With Apiary's warning, I had time to shield us," Vista answered.

"Good," he said, nodding. "We got the heads up from console, so we relayed it to the hospital staff and tried to get as many people as possible away from the windows and electronics. They'd already received the PRT's heads up about the Nine last night, but I don't think anyone expected it to happen so soon."

Neither of them was visibly injured, but Glory Girl looked upset, and it was easy enough to guess why. They'd been in the children's ward, and not everyone would have been mobile enough to hide in under a minute.

Weld headed to the entrance, and we followed him.

Gone were the glass doors leading to the lobby; only the metal frames remained, and we stepped on the broken shards as we walked in.

The elevators weren't working, so we took the stairs down to the Wards headquarters. They were pitch black, since light bulbs had exploded and that there were no windows. I called the two hundred and seventeen fireflies I had in my workshop, and used them to highlight the edge of each step so we wouldn't trip.

"Hello?" Weld called out after opening the emergency exit at the bottom of the stairs.

Nobody answered.

"Let's check the soundproof room," he said.

We walked slowly, following the fireflies that traced a path toward the soundproof room. As we reached it, Glory Girl turned the handle, and light filtered out as the door opened.

Armsmaster, Kid Win, Clockblocker and Flechette were huddled in the room, surrounded by crates of electronics and tinker projects.

"It's over, then?" Clockblocker asked.

"Yes," Weld said. "Did you have time to get the message out?"

It was Armsmaster who answered.

"Unfortunately, we didn't get enough of a heads up to turn on the sirens or have Dragon send out a mass alert through cellphones, but we were able to warn emergency services, shelters and hospitals. We'd already informed them yesterday of the Nine's presence in the city, and had radio and television stations run warnings to the population, though I'm not sure how many people actually got the message over the past twelve hours, with the current state of utilities."

I thought back to the people in that office building, the image of them seared in my mind's eye. Had they not known the danger that loomed over the city? They worked on computers, but that didn't mean that they'd checked the news. With the short time between the confirmation of the Nine's presence in town and Shatterbird's attack, I could imagine that most had been unaware, or thought they had more time before it happened. It was also possible that they or their employer hadn't taken the warnings seriously, or had expected that they would get a heads up from the authorities before Shatterbird sang.

Armsmaster gestured to the electronics around the room.

"We didn't have time to bring all sensitive equipment in here, but we have a few computers and phones, enough to manage until new ones arrive. The lights should be replaced tomorrow. In the meantime, you can take these."

He handed us flashlights. I put mine in my dress' pocket.

"I'll go check on everyone else," he said before exiting the room. Apparently, he didn't have trouble seeing in the dark with his helmet on. I supposed it was the same thing that had allowed him to see through Grue's darkness at the fundraiser.

"At least now we have an excuse not to do paperwork," said Clockblocker as the staircase's door closed behind Armsmaster.

The joke drew a few snorts and giggles, though I didn't join them.

All I could think about was the wide scale destruction inflicted upon our city, the hundred or thousands of dead and injured from this incident alone, and the promise that more would soon follow. How could he joke at a time like this?

"What do we do now?" I asked.

"I'll go see Director Renick to ask where he wants us, and whether we'll be coordinating with emergency services to manage the influx of injured people to hospitals," Weld answered.

"There's someone I'd like to check up on after Shatterbird's attack," said Flechette. "Mind if I go take a stroll? I'll be back in half an hour tops."

"Alright," Weld said, "It will probably take that long to decide our next move anyways. But take someone with you, and I want someone on console, in case you run into trouble. We'll have to man it from one of the laptops that survived in here and use spare phones and earpieces for communications."

"I can go," I offered.

Glory Girl and Vista already looked shell-shocked over the disaster, Weld would be busy meeting Renick, and Kid Win would probably help Armsmaster deal with the damage to the building's infrastructure like the elevators, security system and communications, leaving Clockblocker and I as possible escorts for Flechette.

I didn't particularly want to see more of Shatterbird's victims, but Flechette was the closest thing to a friend I had here, and I didn't want to let her down.

Not to mention that my other option was staying awkwardly cooped up in the dark with the others with nothing to do while waiting for the Director's orders.

Flechette smiled. "I just need to grab my arbalest and quiver from my room."

"I can handle console," Vista piped up, looking relieved that she wouldn't have to head out again right away.

Weld handed her a laptop, then gave Flechette and I a new earpiece and phone each, and we took the stairs to go one floor up. As I waited for Flechette to come out of her room, I entered my identification into the phone and set up the earpiece. Once she was ready, we went upstairs to the shattered lobby.

She led me at a brisk pace toward the North end of the Leviathan-made lake downtown, and I could guess who she wanted to check up on before we arrived at the two blocks stretch that was still standing near the college. Parian. The cape with the giant stuffed animals.

As we went, I tagged everyone I could find with bugs, taking note of the dead and injured. There wasn't much we could do for them, as emergency services certainly had their hands full already, and their communication systems were down anyways.

There were some people in the street, hurrying to check up on their neighbors, friends or loved ones. A few accosted us, seeking reassurance about what was going on. Flechette was much better than me at answering them, even managing to sound comforting and in control. I supposed that was a perk of having been here for only a few days rather than seeing her hopes of things getting better slowly eroded over time since the Endbringer came.

"Don't cross the yellow line," she warned me as we arrived to our destination.

She leaned forward, making a strange motion with her hand, which I only understood when I took a step closer to her and saw the light hit a taunt string. She had plucked it twice.

A few seconds later, Parian arrived in a hurry, a ten feet tall panda following behind her. She wore a white porcelain mask framed with golden curls, and a white, Victorian-style frock with a few stains.

"Hi Apiary," she greeted me, sounding out of breath. "Hi Flechette."

"Hey," Flechette smiled. "I—We just wanted to check up on you after the attack."

"That's nice of you," Parian said, batting her eyelashes behind her mask. "I'm mostly okay. Some of my friends and their families got injured by the glass or their phones, but nothing too bad, thanks to the heads up you gave me. I stitched them up as well as I could, since hospitals are overloaded."

"That's good to hear. Are you managing okay?" Flechette asked.

"Yes, for now, though I'm worried that it's only a matter of time before someone tries to attack us, with the state of the city" Parian answered.

"You have my number, if there's anything."

"I do, but phones don't work anymore."

"Right. Sorry, I didn't think of that." Flechette bit her lip.

"It's not your fault, and not your responsibility either," Parian insisted.

"But it is my responsibility to protect people, you included."

"You can't save everyone," Parian said, sounding coy.

"Still, I'll see what I can do."

I tuned them out, frowning.

At the very edge of my range, I could feel people running in a panic. I sent bugs to investigate, but they couldn't tag the person whom people were running from. The bugs slid right off of them. They had long hair, from what I could tell, and my bugs couldn't find any clothes to latch onto.

"Flechette," I interrupted the duo. "Trouble."

Immediately, Flechette straightened up, all business.

"What kind of trouble?" She asked.

"The kind with a capital S," I answered.

Her mouth fell open.

"Which one? Where?" She asked.

"The Siberian. About eight hundred feet away from here."

Parian's hand went to her mouth. "The Siberian? Here?"

"I'm calling it in," I told Flechette before pressing my earpiece. "Console, this is Apiary. The Siberian is a few hundred feet East of our location."

"Fuck!" Vista exclaimed. "I'm warning Weld and the Protectorate heroes. Can you take a detour to come back to base?"

"We'll take the long way around the lake," I answered, then let go of my earpiece and turned to Flechette. "We gotta go."

She looked reluctant, stealing glances at an increasingly agitated Parian.

"Hide," Flechette told her. "She's probably looking for easy targets out on the street."

Parian hesitated, then threw her arms around Flechette, crossing the yellow line to give her a quick hug before letting go and turning around, giant panda following behind.

Flechette stayed frozen in place as Parian left. I had to tug on her arm to get her moving.

We went South, taking a detour around the lake at a brisk pace until the Siberian fell out of my range.

The uneven, shattered streets with standing water didn't make for ideal walking ground, far from it. I had to keep most of my attention on the ground in front of me, to avoid tripping on debris or pieces of asphalt, but I was simultaneously focusing bugs at the edge of my range, toward the Siberian's last known location, in case she crossed into my range again.

We turned East on Tilbrook Ridge, and all of a sudden, the Siberian jumped down from a rooftop, landing right in front of us.

Blood pounded in my ears as I backed away, Flechette doing the same by my side.

How had she gotten there so fast? How had I not felt her coming? I didn't have time to ponder.

The Siberian cocked her head, eyes on me, and took one step forward.

We took another step back, and her, another step forward.

"She's backing us against a wall," whispered Flechette. I knew. I could feel it through my bugs. But going forward wasn't exactly an option.

The Siberian's glowing eyes didn't leave me. She raised one hand, curling a finger to motion for me to come.

"Me?" I asked.

She nodded once.

What did she want with me? Why me specifically? Did she want to nominate me as a candidate? Why? What had I done that was so bad one of the Slaughterhouse Nine would notice me?

I remembered what Renick had said about her. Invulnerable, implacable, unstoppable. This wasn't someone we could get away from easily.

She hadn't acknowledged Flechette, I noticed. Only me. Could I exploit this? Buy time for Flechette to get away?

I took a step forward, and a shiver ran down my spine as a smile graced the Siberian's lips.

"What are you doing?" Flechette whispered harshly.

It took everything in me not to flinch as I took another step forward, then another, until I was face to face with the Siberian.

In one swift motion, she grabbed my arm and swung me over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She then turned around and walked away, one arm over my waist.

I mouthed at Flechette to get away, but she ignored me, instead retrieving one of the three feet long metal spikes from her quiver and loading it up in her arbalest. She took aim as I shook my head no, begging her to run instead, and she fired at the Siberian's back.

All of a sudden, I collapsed in the water.

Flechette ran over to help me to my feet, looking just as bewildered as I felt.

"Did she teleport just before you hit her?" I asked.

"No," Flechette answered, picking up the spike of metal from the ground. "If she had, it would have kept going. It's like it bounced off of her, and if she were able to teleport, surely someone would have noticed it at some point in the past ten years."

If she hadn't teleported, then what happened? Had she just vanished after Flechette's loaded ammunition hit her?

It reminded me of yesterday's fights against the Travelers, of Genesis disappearing after Flechette fired at her.

My phone rang, and I grabbed it from my pocket to answer.

"Hel—"

"Apiary," came a high-pitched voice. "It's Déjà Vu. You're right. She's a projection."

"How do you—"

"I got Vista's warning that the Siberian was nearby, so I was focusing my attention on you and Flechette, to make sure that you would get back okay. I saw the report you would give about what happened, and your theory that the Siberian is like Genesis from the Travelers. So, I tried to think of the best way to verify that theory, and if I trace a grid over a map of the city with squares that fit into your range, then use a random generator to pick a square and send you there to attack everyone you can find, most of it is a bust, but there's one result where the Siberian shows up to protect someone."

"So you found her? The person behind the projection?" I asked.

"Not yet," she answered. "I see every possibility at once, so it's like watching several movies superimposed over each other. Cacophonous and blurry. All I know for now is that you're right about the projection, and that Flechette's power is the first thing to affect her in over ten years of activity. Our window of opportunity to take down the Siberian for good is right now, before the cape realizes that we know their weakness, but for that, I need to narrow down the cape's location, and the quickest way to do it is with your help."

"Sure, but what if the Siberian comes after us again in the meantime?" I asked.

"I've checked, and she won't."

"Alright. What do you need me to do?"

"I'm going to send you a location, and you're going to go there and feel out with your bugs to find every person in your range, then you will attack them indiscriminately. The harder, the better. No holding back."

"Attack them? But—"

"Miss Militia okay'd it. Will okay it if I ask. It doesn't matter. I need you to solidly make up your mind that you will attack every person within the zone I'll send you. It's important."

Attack them? It went against everything Glenn had told me about image, not to mention that I didn't want to attack people.

"But—"

"Consider it an order."

I hesitated.

She huffed in annoyance, then explained. "I'm creating parameters for my simulations. You're not doing it for real, but you need to be ready to do it, hypothetically, if I ask you. It's really important. I would allow me to shorten the path and reduce the number of divergences to allow me to get a clearer picture, instead of having to include convincing you as part of my visions every single time.

"Okay, then."

"I've narrowed their location down to the South-East quadrant of the city so far, and I'm trying to narrow it down further. Give me a moment." She went silent.

"What is going on?" Flechette mouthed at me.

"Déjà Vu thinks that the Siberian is a projection like Genesis from the Travelers, and she's trying to find the cape behind it," I told her.

Her mouth fell open.

"Seriously?"

I nodded.

"Does she know why my bolt didn't go though?" She asked. "It's the first time that's ever happened, since I got my powers. It can usually punch through anything."

I shrugged. "She didn't say. She's focused on narrowing down the location of the cape to try and take them down before they realize that we know about them."

Her stunned silence accompanied us for a few minutes as we continued walking, then Déjà Vu spoke again.

"Found 'em!" She exclaimed. "A truck parked in an alley near Lord Street and Pinel. You describe it as a burgundy truck with plastic sheeting over the windshield and windows. The cape is a middle-aged man."

A middle-aged man?

"You sure?"

"I can't run a simulation where Revoke touches him to gain insight into his power, since her power blocks me from seeing her at all, but if you attack the man, the Siberian will appear to protect him."

"Why can't you use your power like that to find Coil's base?" I asked.

"I've tried," she answered. "So far, you can't find it with your bugs. Either his base is inconspicuous enough that you can't identify it as such, or he's got tinkertech countermeasures in place to avoid easy detection, some kind of notice-me-not effect. With the kind of money and resources he has, I wouldn't be surprised."

Which meant that all my work scouring the city's underground over the past few weeks to fill in my map was now worthless, sending me back to square one. How could we find his base?

I set the thought aside to focus on the matter at hand.

"What do we do about the Siberian?" I asked. "We're told not to engage."

"Don't worry," she said. "I've got a plan."

Author's note

Heya! Just a quick word to say that since this is the busiest time of year at work, I have a lot less free time to write/edit. To give myself some breathing room, I will be lowering the frequency of updates to twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays.