Chapter 8.3
JennyDracos
Eccentric Hugging Lady
- Location
- Chicago
Jess braced herself against the dormer roof, staring at the sky. Even after climbing up to Oblange's roof, she couldn't see where the base of the red dome met the ground. Her mind raced. She didn't know how he had done this. Technically she didn't know it was Deresfedt who'd done it; it could have been someone else. But if it was him, she did know why - no help would be coming unless Nowroski and Babs figured out some way to break the dome. No jets, no attack helicopters, no resupply for the missiles. Turning slowly, and carefully, she tried to figure out what else was under the dome. Washington Naval Yard, that would be inside.
Would JBAB? What about the Pentagon? Could she break it from the inside? Did she have time to? Was it anchored to something, and could she locate the anchor somehow? Thresholds - it had gone up despite the locational thresholds, but that left time - would sunset or dawn be enough to break it?
She had to assume they wouldn't. Noon was another matter, though. It was a bit of a threshold, between morning and afternoon, but more than that Deresfedt's latest prophecy was centered around noon, which meant either the dome would break at noon when the context of the prophecy changed, or he'd bring it down then to let his 'dread god' out once it was sufficiently godlike. That, happily, made her priority clear - stop Deresfedt. Everything else was secondary.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something green in motion. She turned enough to get a good look, and yeah, it was Bicks and his team, jogging up the street. From the left, she saw a black sedan moving at relatively high speed, but through the red reflection on the windshield, she saw Army camo in the driver's seat.
She stepped off the roof, twisting as she did so, and caught the edge of it on her way down. Then she planted a foot on the railing and slid to the porch. Charlie fluttered down after her, and she scooped him into her arms, then walked down to the street while she waited for the others to join her.
Deresfedt must have used his established context to make the dome. Could she take advantage of that? Bind him, track him? But her magic was too different from his. Maybe - but then maybe the difference between Washington and Deresfedt and Ahktot wasn't their spells. She'd seen them all casting and their spells had a simplicity to them that would never work for her or, for that matter, Oblange. It also didn't leave a lot of room for variation, which meant the difference had to be somewhere else, in whatever realm they were pulling dragons from, and that meant -
Well. She'd finally found the answer to blocking Deresfedt's mind control; it wasn't something she could do. That actually made her feel significantly better. No matter what Agent Brooks said, she'd spent too much time working Intel and that meant her role in this had to be support. She didn't think raw symbolism like that would make a difference, it would take - well, it would take intent and belief, and given that she thought the symbolism would help, and she wanted the symbolism to help, maybe that would be enough. She just needed to take some concrete actions to turn it into a spell.
Well. She wasn't going to apologize. She had nothing to apologize for, she'd just done her duty. But either way - she pulled out her cell phone.
No signal.
Right. Shaking her head at herself, she tucked it back away. But it hadn't turned off, which meant Deresfedt hadn't somehow taken out all the electronics. He'd just blocked the local network and cut off the electrical grid, probably physically, using the wall. Her stomach churned at the thought of what would have happened to anyone who happened to be standing in the way of the wall, but then she pushed that thought aside. She just had to focus on what could be done. Radio would work, as long as the radios were all in the dome. Backup generators would be fine, too, depending on how much fuel they had. She could probably - but no, there'd be too many barriers, it would slow things down too much.
And a tracking spell wasn't an option. He'd need to be carrying something she'd already tagged.
She grinned.
A voice cut in past her inner dialogue. It was Bicks. "What in God's name is that?"
Jess glanced up at the red sky, pulling her notebook out as she did so. "A barrier, I think. He's walled us in, and more importantly, walled our reinforcements out." Then she flipped through the book to the communications spell, scanned it, and went to the first blank page.
"I meant on your shoulder."
Jess blinked, looked at Bicks, looked at Charlie, looked at Bicks. "It's a little dragon, Sergeant. His name is Charlie, and the nice man who made him just got murdered."
Charlie chirped sadly.
The black sedan screeched to a halt, parking in the middle of the street, and Brooks jumped out. "Agent Dunbar?"
"Agent Brooks." Jess kept writing.
"I really, really hope you have some idea of what's going on," he said.
"We're cut off," she said absently. "I assume the barrier goes to the ground, but someone should check the subway tunnels. Colonel Nowroski is still outside, so he may be able to come up with a way to break it. So's B- Barbara Thompson, she's one of the people I've been working on my own magic with."
"Can't you do something?"
She raised her eyes from the book and shrugged the shoulder that didn't have a dragon on it. "Probably, but there's no time. Deresfedt summons his god tomorrow at noon and we need to be ready." She looked down and started writing again. Four hasty stanzas later - though she'd have to recheck the tenses on the second one - she looked up at Brooks.
He hadn't moved. He and Bicks were both staring at her, matching expressions of dread on their faces.
She frowned at them. Even if she didn't technically know Brooks' rank, she knew he'd been to the Academy, which made him an officer, and he did know she was a sergeant. He was supposed to be the one making decisions, which she'd be following through on.
So much for that, but she supposed that under the circumstances she had to do more than just provide expert testimony. She flipped her notebook closed and gave both men a flat look, then glanced at Brooks' car. "There's no way we can fit everyone in that, is there?"
Brooks blinked, startled out of a near-fugue, then turned to look at his sedan. They'd be lucky to fit five people and their gear, and they had seven to move.
Bicks blinked. "Oh. Right. Right! We already called for backup, so a squad is on their way with transpo. They should be here in five."
Jess nodded. "Alright. Can you sit tight until they get here if Agent Brooks and I head out?"
Bicks looked up and down the street. "Twenty minutes ago I'd have said we'd be good, but I'm feeling a little exposed out here."
Jess closed her eyes for a moment. There was a place they could take cover, and she'd helped make it secure against everything except the one person it had needed to stop. Her gut tightened, but what was done was done. She opened her eyes and nodded to the house. "Head inside and close the door," she said. "I helped set up the wards on the house. As long as the deadbolt is turned, that place is a fortress. Even with it open, the walls are pretty magic resistance, but the door won't be, so try not to count on that. Agent Brooks, I believe we need to talk to whoever is in charge on the ground right now. Shall we?"
Would JBAB? What about the Pentagon? Could she break it from the inside? Did she have time to? Was it anchored to something, and could she locate the anchor somehow? Thresholds - it had gone up despite the locational thresholds, but that left time - would sunset or dawn be enough to break it?
She had to assume they wouldn't. Noon was another matter, though. It was a bit of a threshold, between morning and afternoon, but more than that Deresfedt's latest prophecy was centered around noon, which meant either the dome would break at noon when the context of the prophecy changed, or he'd bring it down then to let his 'dread god' out once it was sufficiently godlike. That, happily, made her priority clear - stop Deresfedt. Everything else was secondary.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something green in motion. She turned enough to get a good look, and yeah, it was Bicks and his team, jogging up the street. From the left, she saw a black sedan moving at relatively high speed, but through the red reflection on the windshield, she saw Army camo in the driver's seat.
She stepped off the roof, twisting as she did so, and caught the edge of it on her way down. Then she planted a foot on the railing and slid to the porch. Charlie fluttered down after her, and she scooped him into her arms, then walked down to the street while she waited for the others to join her.
Deresfedt must have used his established context to make the dome. Could she take advantage of that? Bind him, track him? But her magic was too different from his. Maybe - but then maybe the difference between Washington and Deresfedt and Ahktot wasn't their spells. She'd seen them all casting and their spells had a simplicity to them that would never work for her or, for that matter, Oblange. It also didn't leave a lot of room for variation, which meant the difference had to be somewhere else, in whatever realm they were pulling dragons from, and that meant -
Well. She'd finally found the answer to blocking Deresfedt's mind control; it wasn't something she could do. That actually made her feel significantly better. No matter what Agent Brooks said, she'd spent too much time working Intel and that meant her role in this had to be support. She didn't think raw symbolism like that would make a difference, it would take - well, it would take intent and belief, and given that she thought the symbolism would help, and she wanted the symbolism to help, maybe that would be enough. She just needed to take some concrete actions to turn it into a spell.
Well. She wasn't going to apologize. She had nothing to apologize for, she'd just done her duty. But either way - she pulled out her cell phone.
No signal.
Right. Shaking her head at herself, she tucked it back away. But it hadn't turned off, which meant Deresfedt hadn't somehow taken out all the electronics. He'd just blocked the local network and cut off the electrical grid, probably physically, using the wall. Her stomach churned at the thought of what would have happened to anyone who happened to be standing in the way of the wall, but then she pushed that thought aside. She just had to focus on what could be done. Radio would work, as long as the radios were all in the dome. Backup generators would be fine, too, depending on how much fuel they had. She could probably - but no, there'd be too many barriers, it would slow things down too much.
And a tracking spell wasn't an option. He'd need to be carrying something she'd already tagged.
She grinned.
A voice cut in past her inner dialogue. It was Bicks. "What in God's name is that?"
Jess glanced up at the red sky, pulling her notebook out as she did so. "A barrier, I think. He's walled us in, and more importantly, walled our reinforcements out." Then she flipped through the book to the communications spell, scanned it, and went to the first blank page.
"I meant on your shoulder."
Jess blinked, looked at Bicks, looked at Charlie, looked at Bicks. "It's a little dragon, Sergeant. His name is Charlie, and the nice man who made him just got murdered."
Charlie chirped sadly.
The black sedan screeched to a halt, parking in the middle of the street, and Brooks jumped out. "Agent Dunbar?"
"Agent Brooks." Jess kept writing.
"I really, really hope you have some idea of what's going on," he said.
"We're cut off," she said absently. "I assume the barrier goes to the ground, but someone should check the subway tunnels. Colonel Nowroski is still outside, so he may be able to come up with a way to break it. So's B- Barbara Thompson, she's one of the people I've been working on my own magic with."
"Can't you do something?"
She raised her eyes from the book and shrugged the shoulder that didn't have a dragon on it. "Probably, but there's no time. Deresfedt summons his god tomorrow at noon and we need to be ready." She looked down and started writing again. Four hasty stanzas later - though she'd have to recheck the tenses on the second one - she looked up at Brooks.
He hadn't moved. He and Bicks were both staring at her, matching expressions of dread on their faces.
She frowned at them. Even if she didn't technically know Brooks' rank, she knew he'd been to the Academy, which made him an officer, and he did know she was a sergeant. He was supposed to be the one making decisions, which she'd be following through on.
So much for that, but she supposed that under the circumstances she had to do more than just provide expert testimony. She flipped her notebook closed and gave both men a flat look, then glanced at Brooks' car. "There's no way we can fit everyone in that, is there?"
Brooks blinked, startled out of a near-fugue, then turned to look at his sedan. They'd be lucky to fit five people and their gear, and they had seven to move.
Bicks blinked. "Oh. Right. Right! We already called for backup, so a squad is on their way with transpo. They should be here in five."
Jess nodded. "Alright. Can you sit tight until they get here if Agent Brooks and I head out?"
Bicks looked up and down the street. "Twenty minutes ago I'd have said we'd be good, but I'm feeling a little exposed out here."
Jess closed her eyes for a moment. There was a place they could take cover, and she'd helped make it secure against everything except the one person it had needed to stop. Her gut tightened, but what was done was done. She opened her eyes and nodded to the house. "Head inside and close the door," she said. "I helped set up the wards on the house. As long as the deadbolt is turned, that place is a fortress. Even with it open, the walls are pretty magic resistance, but the door won't be, so try not to count on that. Agent Brooks, I believe we need to talk to whoever is in charge on the ground right now. Shall we?"
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