Orville Reitman didn't enjoy the ride in the elevator with Kendra, Shay, and Dunn. His meter kept telling him that he was about to die. He didn't like that at all.
The secondary trace kept moving around as they rode up. It seemed to be trying to use the bigger shadow from the Doom Bird to hide its body. The rest of the time it moved through the inner workings of the tower to get where it had to go.
There was no telling which direction it would come at them to stop them from getting rid of the giant harbinger of doom. They didn't want a battle on two fronts.
“We're going to put you off on the top floor and then go down to where the lady fell through the window,” said Dunn. “The way the thing moves, it knows we're here to fix whatever problem the Tower has.”
“We'll have an easier time if it comes after us while you two are doing something about the bird,” said Shay. “Hopefully Roy is keeping the guards out of the way while we go about our business.”
“I don't think Kendra and I can push the bird out of here on our own,” said Reitman. “It's bigger than anything I have ever seen according to the photography I have been able to get.”
“If you can give it a little nudge, reality might do the rest of the job for you,” said Shay. “I wouldn't bet on something that chancy myself.”
“Punching the thing might be just enough to get it to fly to some better building to use as a roost,” said Kendra. “The real problem is going to be that ghost trying to kill us. I can feel it in my bones.”
“Tam and I will handle him,” said Dunn. “He's killed his last person and made it look like an accident.”
“The top floor is almost here,” said Reitman. “Let's get ready to go.”
The other three got behind Reitman. He pointed the magnetic gun at the door. There was a chance it wouldn't open by itself. His cannon or Kendra could take care of that problem easily.
If Security was outside the cab, the magnetic wave from the cannon would put them out of the fight with no problem. Then finding the roof access would be the next step.
Dunn and Shay should be able to take care of the wandering ghost. He didn't know how much help they would be against the giant on the roof, but he expected some kind of new trick from them.
The wild card was Gillis. Luck always worked with him, but it would take a lot of lottery winning luck to get the Bird off the Persona and not attack the city as it fled.
No one was that lucky.
The door opened and no one was there to confront the group of adventurers. Reitman stepped off the elevator and swung his cannon side to side to cover anyone trying to come down the corridors to the doors to escort them out.
“We're clear out here,” said Reitman.
“All right,” said Kendra. She stepped out of the cab. “I wanted to show someone the back of my hand, but I can do that when we try to leave.”
“If you two can't drive off the Doom Bird, wait for us,” said Dunn. “We'll think of something before this is over.”
“If I can't handle things, I will be glad to let you have a shot at it,” said Kendra.
“I'll see what I can do,” said Dunn. He pressed the button for Shay and him to be taken downstairs to the scene of the supposed suicide/accident.
“Let's find the roof access so we can take a look at what we're dealing with and if we can handle it,” said Reitman.
“I think it will be next to the stairs, or maybe at the top of the stairs,” said Kendra. “If we can't find a way up, I will punch a hole in the ceiling and give you a lift to the roof.”
“Let's try the stairs,” said Reitman. “I have an eye out for the second spirit in case it tries to stop us.”
“What do you think its deal is?,” asked Kendra. She pushed ahead so she could pull the door open for her friend to shoot into the shaft.
Nothing waited for them with glowing eyes.
“I don't know,” said Reitman. He checked up and down before climbing toward the top of the staircase and an emergency exit. He shot the door with the magnetic gun, pushing it away from him. The metal barrier pulled off its hinges and fell on the roof.
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“I could have done that,” said Kendra. She pushed past him to get out on the roof first.
Reitman stepped out of the stairwell. Pressure pushed down on him. He turned the cannon in all directions, but he didn't see the Doom Bird.
“Where is it?,” Kendra asked. She looked around. “You guys made this thing sound like a real monster.”
“It's not all the way here,” said Reitman. “That means we have time to stop whatever is calling it here to the Persona. We can end this before it wrecks downtown, and starts dumping a blizzard on the East Coast.”
“I don't know any magic,” said Kendra. “How can I help you?”
“Look for anything that resembles writing,” said Reitman. “We might be looking for a summoning circle.”
“What are you thinking?,” asked Kendra. She started on the other side of the roof and worked her way up and down, scanning the roof.
“If the circle wasn't exact enough, they might have called the other spirit first, and the Bird might be resisting the call,” said Reitman. He started searching his side of the roof. “It might give us a chance to fix this before it turns into something of a disaster.”
“And we can tear the circle up so it can't be used,” said Kendra. “I like it.”
“There is a chance it isn't on the roof,” said Reitman. “We might have to search the building from top to bottom. All the design needs is enough room to hold the summoned monster. That could be any space the same size as this roof.”
“The only thing like that is the lobby,” said Kendra. “Everything else would be partitioned into offices and other rooms. And that would make them smaller than this roof.”
“The lobby?,” said Reitman. He groaned. Of course the circle would be in the one place where they could be mobbed by any force who thought they could take on Kendra.
And everyone thought they could take on Kendra before she started operating.
“All right,” he said. “We'll take the elevator back down and make sure. Hopefully Gillis is still leading security on his wild goose chase.”
“They won't catch him,” said Kendra. “We both know that. The only real problem is the other spirit. If it gets past Tam and Tyler, that might be enough interference to cause problems for us.”
“We have to chance it,” said Reitman. “This building could go up at any moment while we are looking for a cure to the problem. Let's see what the lobby can tell us.”
The pair walked back down to the elevator and rode it down to the lobby. They waved off anyone trying to get on with them, citing toxic chemicals as an excuse. They didn't want to arrive at the lobby and have to fight their way through security with civilians hanging around.
Someone might get hurt in the melee.
While nominally harmless to normal people, Reitman had learned the magnetic cannon he carried could do things to pacemakers, and the bone pins used to put people back together. The last thing he wanted was to recripple someone by accident.
Kendra's fists were enough of a hazard to a normal bone.
The doors opened with a ding. Reitman held the door open with his foot while he swept the cannon across the room. He nodded when he didn't see any of the guards. All they had to do was find the circle and shut it down. Then the next thing on their list was clearing out the other spirit.
“I don't see anyone,” whispered Kendra. “Are they all upstairs?”
“I don't know,” said Reitman. He stepped out of the elevator, turning in a circle as he looked for an ambush. “I have to agree that this is good for us, which seems strange somehow.”
“Freeze, you two!,” shouted someone at the stairwell behind the elevator. “You are trespassing.”
“I have a permit,” said Reitman. He leveled the cannon at the guards coming out of the stairwell. “I would advise you to clear out.”
“Put that down,” said the head guard. “You are not allowed to bring any electronics in here without permission.”
“I would be more concerned with what happens if I pull the trigger on this,” said Reitman. “Some of you will have to go to the Emergency Room at the very least.”
“You don't have the guts to do anything like that,” said a big man in a suit. His skin had been subjected to a chemical spray to catch the light. All of his hair had escaped, leaving a bald crown. “And if you did, you would be arrested and you know it.”
He made sure to stand at the back of the security crowd in case Reitman did pull the trigger of his cannon.
“If something isn't done, this building will collapse,” said Reitman. “I don't understand why that is so hard to comprehend.”
“Orville,” said Kendra. She looked up at a looming shadow emerging from the floor. “I think we're too late.”
Orville looked up. He looked at the screen attached to his screen. He turned and fired at the expanding darkness, trying to stop it before it emerged into his reality. The magnetic beam cut the overhead lights off but did nothing to stop the ghost from forming from the air.
“I think we should run,” said Reitman. “I think we should run now.”
“You heard him, you stupid apes,” said Kendra. She waved her arm to indicate direction of movement. “Hit the bricks if you don't want to die.”
She ran for the elevator.
“No,” said Reitman. Kendra paused. “It's going to go up to the roof and bring the building down. We won't be able to stop it now. We have to do something about the floor down here so more don't show up.”
She turned and raced back to where they had been standing. She punched the floor with her fist. Pieces blasted up from the impact. She repeated the motion until the decorated floor was nothing but a field of craters.
“What have you done done to my beautiful floor?,” asked the bald chief. He waved his hands in dismay.
“We're trying to save your life, idiot,” said Kendra. “Get out of the way before I put my foot somewhere it's not supposed to go.”
“Stairs,” said Reitman. “We can't trust the elevators.”
“What about the others?,” said Kendra.
“Either they stop the other spirit in time to help us, or we go down with the Persona when the Doom Bird finishes coming here,” said the professor. “Let's do what we can while we can.”
Kendra charged the group of security and their boss. Some of them tried to stop her. She plowed into them, throwing them in random directions as she ran to the door for the stairs.
Reitman followed at a slower pace. The cannon slowed him down with its weight. He needed to work on miniaturizing the process to make the equipment easier to carry in the field.
Maybe he should give the cannon to Kendra. She was stronger than he was, and faster. She could get to the roof to try to slow the Bird down while he climbed the stairs. He didn't want to separate from her, but that might be the best plan to save the tower, and the city.
He didn't have enough hubris in his body to try to compete with someone he knew was superhuman.
“Kendra,” he choked out. “Take the cannon and see if you can hold the Bird to the roof. If we can slow down its expansion, we might have a chance. I'll try to get up there as fast as possible.”
“Are you sure you're up for this,” asked the amazon.
“If that thing gets loose from here,” said Reitman. He started undoing the harness for the cannon as he climbed the stairs. “I don't have to tell you the havoc it will wreck just with a blizzard. People will die before they can get to shelter.”
Kendra took the cannon in her hand.
“I'm going to have to go fast, Orville,” she said. “Catch up when you can.”
She jumped up two floors, touched a railing on the stairs. She pushed up from there. In minutes, she was out of sight.
“Need to go faster, Orville,” Reitman told himself. He started climbing up toward the roof.