Thanks to
@Technetium43,
@fabledFreeboota,
@PitaEnigma, and
@Assembler for betareading this chapter.
-x-x-x-
"Annatar, Vista," Carlos greeted as we entered Wards HQ. "Annatar, have you been authorized to use your sword yet?"
"Not yet. I watched the seminar this afternoon, but there's still an aptitude test." I knew I'd
pass the test; my powers gave me an intuition for the uses of my weapons, although I wasn't quite a master-at-arms yet.
"You're still good with the spear, though?"
"Yeah. What's going on, Aegis?"
"Some crazy bitch," Sophia said, coming into the room from the south elevator, "decided it'd be a
great idea to start bombing the docks. Protectorate's already on their way out."
I grimaced. "Are they a cape?"
"We think so," Carlos said. "A tinker who specializes in bombs. Calls herself Bakuda. First showed up when she held up Cornell College, a few months back. Disappeared after that. We think Lung recruited her."
"Then why's she acting up
now?" Missy asked.
Sophia rolled her eyes. "I'd
assume because Lung got taken in."
"But why would that make her—"
"Where's Oni Lee?" I asked.
All three of them looked at me.
"Is he with her?" I asked.
"Not as far as we know," Carlos said, glancing at Sophia. "You hear anything on console?"
"No," she replied, studying me. "What are you thinking, Annatar?"
"There's a couple of possibilities," I said. "Either she's gone loose cannon and just decided to go on a bombing spree for the hell of it, or this is part of a plan, right? Does she have ABB guys with her?"
"Yes," Sophia said slowly. "Yes, she does. Uber and Leet are apparently backing her up, too."
"No way she hired them without ABB resources," Carlos said.
"So
where's Oni Lee?" I looked at my team leader. "Can you think of anything Oni Lee would want to do right now besides break out Lung?"
"No," he said grimly. "No, I can't. Missy, go explain the situation to Chris and get him to explain to Piggot. We need clearance to head out. Annatar, Stalker, suit up. I'll go tell the others."
"Where are the others?" I asked.
"The dorms," Carlos said. "The Wards were supposed to stay at base until the bomb threat passed."
I nodded. "Permission to bring Narsil?"
He studied me. "Don't use it unless you've got no other choice, got it?"
"Promise."
"Then sure. Keep it sheathed."
I nodded, and he left.
Sophia was already on the couch, rummaging in her duffel for her mask. Her hood was down, but her costume was otherwise on. Her hair, I noticed, was done up in a bun, rather than her usual ponytail.
She must keep it that way under the hood to keep it from getting in the way. It made her head look smaller than I expected--almost childlike.
"Saw your press conference," she said dryly as she pulled out her mask.
I snorted. "Can you believe those people?"
"Yes," she said flatly. "They
never stop. When I got brought into the Wards, you know what they thought?"
"What?"
"They thought I'd joined up because I was fucking
Aegis."
I passed a hand over my eyes. "You're kidding."
"Nope. Get used to it."
"That's what Piggot said, too."
Sophia gave an amused grunt. "Hey, what do you know, Piggy gave good advice for once. Besides, it could be worse."
I raised an eyebrow at her. "Hm?"
She shrugged, glancing over at me. "Better you than one of the others. Least you've got balls."
She tried to look away, but suddenly I was holding her gaze like a vice, Narya flaring hot on my finger. I saw her tense slightly at whatever she saw in my face.
"Not," I said, coldly and clearly, "from my perspective." I turned away. "I'm going to grab Narsil. See you later, Stalker."
I left the room and ran straight into Dennis, who was fiddling with the straps of his plating. "Well, hello," he said, stepping back out of my personal space. "I hope I didn't pull you away from your personal time with—"
"Can it." Narya flared on my finger as I glared at him.
"Yes'm."
I rolled my eyes. "I'm going to grab Narsil," I said. "Be right back."
-x-x-x-
"We've got permission to go to the Rig," Aegis said as we assembled before him, the last parts of our costumes being affixed as we listened. "We're not to engage if Lung's already escaped. The most important thing is that none of us get hurt if we can avoid it. Oni Lee's dangerous, and he's not afraid to kill."
"I'm transport?" Vista asked.
"You are," Aegis confirmed. "I want us to head in over the force bridge, but the bridge is down. Vista, will you be able to…?"
"I can shorten the distance," Vista said firmly. "Easy."
"Good. Let's get moving, people."
We trooped after him as he led us into the elevator and out the back door of PRT headquarters.
Traveling across the city with Vista was not much like patrolling with her. For one thing, it took much less time. She gave us a short step up to a roof first, and then launched us halfway across the city in a single step.
We came a halt across the open water from the Rig. Directly before us, the lights of PHQ shone gold and glimmered over the water. The force field bridge was inactive--which didn't really present a problem to us, given we had Vista.
Boom. Bombs had been sounding from the north throughout our travel, but now I could see the flash as I looked up the coast. The explosion lit up the smoky clouds above the city.
"Any word from inside?" I asked.
"Nothing yet," Aegis said. "We've still got access to surveillance, so—"
Our radios chimed as one. "
Oni Lee has appeared in Lung's cell," came the voice of the PRT operative we'd left on the console. "
The containment foam sprayers have been disabled. Lung is being disconnected from tranquilizer drips now."
"Fuck," said Sophia.
"Vista, get us in there," Aegis ordered.
Vista shifted her hands through the air and suddenly the space between us and the Rig was only a small gap, easily crossed by a single step.
Aegis led us across that gap at a jog. The Rig's garage doors opened for us as we approached and we entered the dark vehicle hangar.
Armsmaster's bike and quite a few of the PRT vans that were usually here were missing, having been taken out for the Protectorate's deployment against Bakuda. A group of PRT troopers in full gear were waiting for us by the door. A brown-haired, middle-aged man I recognized as Deputy Director Renick, his face visible behind a transparent visor, was their leader.
"Aegis," he said shortly. "We've lost control of Lung's cell block."
"How many casualties?"
"All but one, and he's injured. We have to get into Lung's cell and restart the tranquilizer drip before his healing factor wakes him up."
"Any idea how long we've got?"
"Minutes. Maybe twenty, probably more like five or ten."
Aegis nodded. "Annatar, Shadow Stalker, you two go on ahead," he ordered quickly. "Don't take any risks; just scout and report back."
"I'm in Fire," I said quickly. "Not Water."
"Then
switch," he said tersely. "Quickly."
I glanced around at all the prying eyes and finally settled my gaze on Sophia.
"I'll swap on the way," I said. "Let's go."
I led Sophia away from the group and into the Rig. We moved past a couple of barricades in the lobby. The troopers manning them gave us nods and even salutes as we passed.
When we started down the stairwell, I reached behind myself and unclipped the Jewelry Box from the clasp I'd made for it across the small of my back. I passed Aeglos to Sophia. "Hold this for a moment."
She took it, watching me closely as I took the Box into my hands. "That has your modules?" she asked.
I nodded, then met her eyes. "Tell no one what you see here," I ordered.
"I swear I won't." She agreed readily.
"I don't trust your oath. Let me make this clear. If you tell anyone how my powers work, I will
know. I will find you, and I will make you wish you'd never heard the name of Annatar. I will wreak such vengeance on you that what you did to me in January will look tame by comparison. Am I understood?"
Sophia's eyes didn't flicker away from me, but I thought I saw a faint shudder run through her frame. "Clear as crystal," she said lowly.
I looked down at the Jewelry Box. "
Edro a adlenc!"
The box opened, and the dark stairwell was filled with white and blue light.
I shifted my grip so that the box sat under my right arm and then used that hand to pull Narya off of my left finger. I dropped the golden band into the lockbox and drew out Nenya, slipping it on where Narya had lately resided.
Then I closed the box, shutting away the light of Fire and Air, and slung it back over my back. "Those," I told Sophia coldly, "were the Three Rings of Power."
"Your modules are rings?" Her eyes were resting on the Jewelry Box. I took my spear from her sharply.
"Yes," I said. "And if I have my way, you'll never see them again. Let's go."
I reached out and covered the both of us with Nenya's concealment as we proceeded.
As we entered the underground cell block, I was faced with my first corpse of the night. The man at the front desk, still seated behind the grating facing into the lobby, was slumped backward in his chair, brown eyes glazed and staring. Blood still slowly leaked from the jagged gash across his throat.
As we entered the enclosed depths through the door and passed his seat, I reached out and carefully closed his eyes before we went on.
"Why?" Sophia asked me as we continued.
"Why what?"
"Why bother? He's dead. Not like it does anything for him."
"It does something for me."
He was not the last corpse I saw in that cell block. PRT troopers, armored and armed, lay slumped periodically against the walls of the hallway. I glanced at each face, knowing I wouldn't remember them in the morning, knowing I couldn't take the time.
A middle-aged woman with Asian features lay splayed against a cell door. A young man, barely into his twenties, was wedged half into an empty cell, his blood spread like paint across the small room's floor. An older man with blond hair lay spread-eagled in the center of the hallway, his blood pooling from wall to wall.
I closed each pair of eyes before moving on.
"Do you know how many people were stationed here?" I asked Sophia lowly as we proceeded.
She gave a dry sigh through clenched teeth and glanced at me through narrowed eyes. "No. Does it really matter?"
"No." I shook my head.
She blinked and frowned at me. "No?"
"No," I confirmed as I lowered to close an older black woman's eyes, all without slowing my pace. "I was just curious."
My ears pricked. A sound—leather on metal. Footsteps. They were punctuated by a low murmur, a man's voice, speaking just too quietly for me to easily hear.
I raised my hand in a signal to stop. "Oni Lee," I breathed. "Careful."
We crept further down the hallway. The footsteps grew more distinct as we approached and as I sharpened Nenya's power. The voice slowly became clear.
"Bakuda is distracting the Protectorate." The voice was smooth and blank, like polished silver; lacking both in imperfection and inflection. It emerged from behind a cell door, several yards down the hall from where Sophia and I crouched.
"Distracting?" Lung's voice. It was harsh with pain and fatigue—probably a side-effect of having been woken from the tranquilizer-induced coma. "How so?"
I glanced at Sophia. "Lung's awake," I said.
"Fuck," she said. "We need to get out of here. Get back to the others. No way we can take Lung alone."
"He's weak right now," I said. "He won't be for long."
"He's got Oni Lee with him, right? We've got no chance. We need to get out of here before they find us."
I sighed. I remembered Circus, and how she'd taken me out of the fight with nothing more than a sledgehammer. I remembered the trail of corpses I'd found on the way here—people killed by the
less dangerous of the two parahumans in the room ahead of me.
I'm not ready.
I brought my radio to my lips and pushed the button to broadcast.
"This is Annatar," I whispered. "Lung has been revived. Shadow Stalker and I will attempt to withdraw."
"Have you been detected?" Aegis responded at a whisper.
"No. We'll pull back now and keep it that way."
"Good. Be careful."
We'd only managed to withdraw as far as the end of the corridor, however, when I heard the sound of a door opening behind us. I turned without thinking.
My eyes met Lung's. His mask was off, and in his hand at his side, half raised. He was actually quite handsome. A surprisingly small number of scars marred his face--likely thanks to his healing factor. A tattoo of red and green flame enshrouding a snakelike dragon crept up from his bare chest and neck around the back of his ears, before ending somewhere in his thick black hair.
"You," he growled.
I dove around the corner, Sophia at my heels, and behind us, we heard the
whooshing sound of rushing flame.
"I think Lung's up," I said weakly.
"No shit, Sherlock. Run!"
-x-x-x-
