3.17

“These records, transactions, suggestions of communication consistent across factions. Evidence that has taken considerable effort to acquire, not to mention my relative anonymity. If it were anyone else…

This information points to only one reasonable conclusion. There is someone else here. Someone I do not know.

Concerning.”

— Vincent Hall, Encoded Notebook; Section 17, page 51

“Heal!” Livvy barks, hauling me bodily out of the line of fire as the other three members of the Junior Division burst onto the scene. Jets of flame flare out behind her, uncomfortably hot burning right next to me.

“Pushy,” I mutter, dipping into my power and sealing the gut wound. I also take the time to restore some of its structural integrity. It’s likely I’ll be moving around a lot, soon.

Livvy touches down, boots skidding against pavement, and lowers me to the ground with surprising gentleness.

It’s not necessary, of course. I twist myself out of her grasp and leap back, coming to rest in an anticipatory crouch. Livvy blinks. “H — hey!”

My eyes scan the surroundings. There’s an alley nearby, which could work, especially if I can manage to find another one of those tunnels. My fr — the Junior Division isn’t just going to let me go after what… happened here.

“R — Red? What —“

A heavy thud, the ground shakes. I whip my head towards the sound, and watch Suckup burst out of an enormous cloud of smoke, canister clutched tightly in his hand and a lengthening pillar of stone propelling him over the rooftops. He quickly drops down into an alley, but I catch a glimpse of several stone protrusions wrapping around him before he hits the ground.

“Jet!” I hear Rory call out. “Change of plans! Apprehend the suspect!”

She turns back to face me, and we make eye contact. I don’t know what she sees, but between all the blood, and the bone sword sticking out of my arm, I have no doubt I look like shit.

She takes a step back, hands smoking. I try to ignore how much that hurts.

Livvy’s expression hardens, and I think she’s about to attack, but…

“Red. C’mon. We — we can talk this out.”

That’s new.

I falter, the tension in my frame starting to bleed out, even as much as I try to hang onto it. I know intellectually, that I can’t. It’s just —

Been a long day.

I open my mouth —

Impact, against my skull, the world blurring, a second impact, face against concrete — I strain my neck, peeking through gloved fingers — Eva. Her gloved hand holds me down, and she starts to raise a boot.

“Stay down, Red,” she growls, and if I’m not mistaken, her voice cracks, a little.

I jerk out of the way, and her boot hits concrete. I lever myself into position, pulling back my left arm, and fire my second-to-last pressure booster, sweeping her off her feet. She hits the ground with a thud, and I break into a sprint.

The pounding in my ears, the shock as my boots hit the pavement — things are starting to blur together.

A glint of light, an armored figure — they rear back, tossing a puck at my legs that quickly unfurls into a glowing wheel. Vaguely, I remember that Rory’s constructs don’t have mass, but those spokes —

I jump, using a nearby piece of rubble to supplement my leap, not paying attention as the projectile skates by. I risk a glance back, and —

A small device, flying towards me. I step back, and activate my last pressure booster, steam spurting from the blade set into my arm. It whips out, immediately cleaving the object in two, both halves sparking as they hit the concrete behind me.

In front of me, all four Junior Division members stand in sequence, arrayed across bits of rubble and shattered stone spikes.

I… wasn’t expecting them. The pounding in my head somehow begins to get louder. Rory takes a step forward, and he seems like he’s about to say something.

I turn, and run down the alleyway, ignoring the shouts of alarm from behind me, and darting through any nearby crevice I can find. To the left, I stumble across another hastily-covered tunnel entrance, and I kick it aside, scrambling through the darkened corridor on the other side.

I pay close attention to the sounds of the buildings, keeping track of the subtle creaking, the scuffing of my footsteps, as well as the not-so-subtle panic of the Junior Division members outside.

Soon enough, I dart through a room, and see the civilians, huddled against a wall down a hallway to my right. I slide to a stop in front of them.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

“Suckup fled, but we’ve got the Junior Division on-scene, now. We need to —“

“Claire.”

Chloe cuts me off, and I blink, suddenly registering the scene before me.

Chloe and Ava lean on the crumbled brick wall, breathing heavily and wearing downcast expressions. On the other side of the room, two kids sit next to a body, shuddering.

A trail of blood traces its way through a doorway on the far side of the room.

I’m not sure what kind of face I must be making. I shamble closer, ignoring the way the kids flinch, laser-focused on the patient in front of me.

If it were under ideal circumstances, I’d form another bone needle. These are not ideal circumstances.

I rear back and jam my blade into the patient’s shoulder, ignore the cries of alarm from around the room, and immediately activate my power.

Fatigue, muscle strain, multiple lacerations. Lower down, puncture wound in the gut. Internal bleeding, fatal blood loss. I burn the remains of my own calorie stores, restoring the basic structure of their torso, and their flesh ripples, warping into place.

They don’t move. I check higher — minor fractures along their jawline, poorly healed cartilage around their nose — I push past the mild distaste I feel at peering into their mind and assess their brain function.

It’s… I — I don’t —

I don’t know how to replicate electrical signals, and even if I did, I have no idea what they looked like when the kid was —

I step back, withdrawing my blade and carefully sealing the wound. The kid slumps. The other two are crying now, and as I look back to Chloe and Ava…

Ava shakes her head. Chloe shrugs. I take another step back.

“You have two minutes,” I hear myself say, and I’m having trouble convincing myself that that’s me. I keep my eyes peeled for any signs of movement from behind the boarded-up windows, muscles tense and adrenaline refusing to fade.

I keep careful count of the time, and in combination with watching the exits, I manage to keep myself going for just a little longer.

Just as my count reaches completion, I hear a commotion from somewhere next door. It’s as good a que as any. I lean forward and scoop up the body in my left arm, carefully slinging it over my shoulder. “We’re leaving. Ava, take them with us,” I remind her, gesturing towards the other two. I take a moment to scan the exits, judge the distance between us and our potential pursers, and dart deeper into the building.

Chloe catches up quickly, muttering directions to me, and soon enough, we emerge out onto the street.

We aren’t followed.

—

Chloe doesn’t bother taking us on a scenic route this time, not with this much dead weight. I follow along dutifully, even as the aches in my arms and legs grow almost unbearable, and my mind descends into a thick fog.

She herds me into one of Mikey’s guest rooms, has me set down the body, and Ava starts making some calls. I find myself staring at the wall in the hallway for a time before Chloe finds me.

She takes my hand, and leads me out onto the porch. There’s a bench. We sit.

I stare.

“…Claire…?” I’ve never heard Chloe be… hesitant, before. The strangeness of the situation is almost enough to knock me out of my fog.

I turn to look at her. She sits next to me, on the bench, expression pinched into one of… melancholic concern, I guess. She’s still holding my hand.

I decide not to pull away. “…Three people are dead because of me.”

Her face crumples, slightly. “It — wasn’t your fault.”

I pause. “Maybe… not morally. But — I had a task to perform, and I failed to perform it successfully.” My hand tightens around hers, involuntarily. “I wasn’t smart enough — I wasn’t strong enough.”

Chloe doesn’t seem to have anything to say about that.

“…What are you gonna do now?” She asks.

I look away, casting my gaze out at the empty street. The dark here is crushing. The weight on my shoulders is suddenly impossible to bear. I hunch forward, ducking my head and placing my face in my palm.

“I don’t know,” I whisper, and before I know it, tears are leaking through the gaps in my fingers. “Chloe — what am I doing? I’m running things like I have any idea about any of this, but — but I don’t. I’m stumbling around in the dark banging into things and people are getting hurt. Why am I doing that? Why did I think I could do any of this? Why —“ I choke down an undignified sound. “Why are you people still with me? It’s obvious I’m out of my depth. Why can’t someone else —“

I hear Chloe move on the bench next to me, and an arm wraps tentatively around my shoulders, cutting off my train of thought. She pulls me closer, and in spite of the tension still wracking my frame, I allow myself to lean into her touch.

“When we first broke out of the USMC building, I thought you were an idiot,” Chloe admits. A wet laugh forces its way out of my throat.

“Thought?” I ask.

“Yeah. I still think you’re crazy, but…” She hesitates.

“Claire, this — all of this is different. I — things feel possible, when you’re around.” She takes my hand. “I know today… sucked. I’m not asking you to get over it, or anything. Just —“

Another pause. “Just remember that we’re with you, okay? I’ve got your back. Ava’s got your back. Even Mikey looks like he’s mellowed out a bit, since you broke into his house.”

“We,” I correct.

I feel Chloe shift beside me, and I can tell without looking that she’s rolling her eyes. “You’re the scary one, you get all the credit for any crimes we do.”

I chuckle, and this time my voice only wavers a little.

We sit quietly in the dark. The cool air is biting, but somehow… grounding. I feel the chill settle in my bones, I feel Chloe’s warmth beside me, the subtle sound of her breath, and slow movement of her chest. I feel the hard wooden bench digging into my back.

I take a breath. In, out.

“…Thanks.”

Chloe snorts. “Any time. Wanna head back inside?”

I nod, standing from the bench and stretching out my limbs. “Yeah. Can you go round up everyone else?”

She tilts her head. “Might be a little before Ava’s free, but sure. Why, though?”

I turn around, and force a smile. “I’ve been thinking. I’m not strong enough to protect everyone the way I am now, I know that. But if I play this right… maybe I don’t need to be.”

“What are you thinking?”

“Just that — the way Suckup looked at me, at first…” My smile falters. “Maybe I could’ve ended that fight before it started. I fucked it up, back there, but if I can do it right, this time…”

“I don’t need to be strong enough, as long as I’m scary enough. Right?”

Chloe snorts. “Yep. Still crazy.”

“But…?” I widen my smile.

“It’s different,” she admits.

Well. Good enough.