Angela looks at Drenar and Julia and knew that this was coming–they were going to witness unspeakable evil done by the Talons. She’s not surprised by their reaction when Drenar makes his declaration.
“We’re going to have to fight that fight another day, guys,” Angela redirects, and everyone looks at her and nods. “Levine, we’ve got our window. But Blondie ran off when the fireworks started, which means King is aware of what we are up to by now. And we just completely and utterly torched their invasion at Mercadian Promenade.” This gets everyone’s attention when she puts it in less than subtle terms, and she gestures to Nick.
“Priorities, folks. As soon as they know things went about as bad as they can go, Valosterla and King will launch the attack. This whole multi-pronged attack must have been to gain control of the teleportal network, and to divert SAF activities from what's about to go down! We need to move. NOW.”
Drenar and Julia instantly snap out of their fervor, as does everyone else. “Levine, you’re needed to help with the counter–”
“Angela, I know where I’m needed. Right here, right now,” Levine says solemnly. “We can’t let Val and Crosomer get their hands on these notes. If they prove successful in operating that device, there is no telling the damage they may do by breaking open Veil protocol, to say nothing of bringing all the missing dragons back. SAF is distracted with the cleanup, we’ll just have to get out of here as fast as we can.”
“He’s right. We don’t want to stick around, and we can’t fight a war,” Nick states stoically. “All the soldiers are busy with cleanup, we can get out of here without being spotted.”
“Uh, what about turncoat here?” Julia asks while pointing a clawed thumb at Jackie. She narrows her emerald eyes at Julia.
“I helped! I was shot at!”
“Yeah, what the hell, by the way?” Angela demands, having not even given the idea any thought until now. “She mauled up Evan!”
“Jonaleth’s idea, I still…kinda like Evan. It was a little messed up, Jonaleth got a little impatient, because he’s so used to everyone capitulating,” she states abashedly. Her scales, indeed, are a shade more scarlet than before. Angela points a finger at her accusingly.
“We are in this mess because Jonaleth threatened to kill Drenar and his family! Bitch, you better be solid under fire, because where we’re going, you need to be able to stand up and defend others!”
It’s telling who’s in charge when Jackie’s posture slumps, and she puts up her claws in resignation. “Dillenger, this wasn’t part of our deal! I called you to avoid being murdered by Talons looking to take out some hate on me for Jonaleth’s screw-up!”
“Let’s discuss it on the way, because we’re getting stares from passers-by,” Drenar states before slapping a bandage on a deep claw mark on his torso. He lets out a grunt of discomfort. “Let’s go, guys.”
Five minutes later, they’re back in the cars in the parking garage, and Angela grabs Nick’s dimensional armory and examines the inside. She lets out a light gasp of surprise. “Holy hell, are you armed for hunting or war?”
“Yes,” he states with a grim smile while he floors it out of there. Drenar is up front, while Jackie is next to her–Julia had elected to go with Levine, since there isn’t enough room for all six of them. She is notably quiet, all things considered. “We can’t walk into the library armed for war, though–that might make a bad impression, you know?”
“I’m sorry, nerd squad–what the hell is going on, exactly?” Jackie asks.
“Do you want the long version or the short version?” Drenar states with remarkable restraint. “You helped defend us, so you’ve earned an explanation.”
“Okay, short version, please.”
“Short version? We Awakened, and we got right in the face of Valosterla Roshanikov. You know, that murderous, singing lunatic whose boss at Magitech Industries is one wood-chipper industrial accident away from handing over control of the company to her.” Jackie's eyes widen.
“Holy shit, Rashalda, you’ve got a death wish! Jonaleth had a nagging feeling it was you guys at the cabin before his untimely beatdown, but he was so distant, that he couldn’t make you guys out. So, where’s Jonaleth?”
“Detained. He chose the hard way.” Drenar doesn’t elaborate further. Jackie lets out a grunt. “He made bad choices, Jackie. You didn’t.”
“You hurt him?!”
“He didn't give us a choice. But he’ll live, if that's what you're worried about. Though his problems are far from over,” he adds quietly. Jackie lets out a frustrated growl and grips her hands into the armrest.
“Yep, that tracks. I called him after he didn’t call back, and…I got Dillenger on the line. He told me to shut up and start paying attention, if I didn’t want to get killed by the Talons. He had me arrange that whole thing. To lure out the baddies. He told me that we couldn’t break composure till you were out of the open, or Blondie would have been spooked. That creep was using us, too! I had no idea they’d launch a full-out assault!” She groans and winces at several scrapes and cuts on her arms. Even her scales hadn’t fully protected her from the incoming fire, and it translated to abraded skin and small wounds.
“Levine, what’s the status on the ground at SAF HQ?” Nick relays into his radio.
“Same. It’s all hands on deck, they got caught with their trousers down. They hit six different teleportals at once. The one they needed we just shorted out. It’ll be days before they can repair it,” Levine affirms. “Nick, if we somehow survive this madness, we’re about to be prematurely retired or thrown in jail.”
“That’s fine, I had a calendar to fill, what with four thousand years of life,” Nick answers with a sardonic smile. Angela can’t help but smile faintly too. He does have a sense of humor, but it's taken so long to shine through. “McMurray alright?”
“Busy having the worst day of his life. We will too, unless we get this mess fixed, and stop the Talons from getting this journal. Jackie, short version, your Awakening was triggered by the Talons, and they are going to bring a whole lot of pain on the world if they figure out how to fully enable the device they used to make it happen,” Levine summarizes. “Stopping them is our plan.”
“This is nuts. And you guys think you have a chance against an entire Fates-damned army?!” Jackie says with her tone increasingly shrill.
“Well, if they only come at us a few at a time…yeah?” Angela proposes. Jackie grimaces at this.
“Till they break out the rocket launchers and grenades, sure.”
“Uh…what is the standard counter to a dragon?” Drenar asks. Nick grunts.
“Other dragons. With Angela’s spell barriers capable of being held at a distance, we can wear down infantry without issue. A rocket may breach a barrier, and do some damage, but our scales can take the hit. Or some heavy-duty magitech weapons using concentrated fire plasma. But those are rare, and I doubt even the Talons have them.”
“I don’t feel like taking a rocket to the head to test this one, thanks,” Drenar states sourly. Nick is pushing the speed on the vehicle, and the town gives way to the more wooded and sparsely populated side of town, between a couple of low hills. The weather is still overcast and threatening rain, but towards the west, the lowering sun is is starting to peek out.
“Nick, we’ve got two vehicles. Dark sedans closing at high speed. They’re not marked, and I don’t think they’re SAF,” Levine relays over the radio. Angela feels her scales itch onto her skin in anticipation. “Think it’s blondie? Maybe he managed to scrounge up remnants and was given the order to follow us?”
“In that chaos? I doubt it,” Nick counters. Eventually, the sedans drive past them, much to their relief–but Angela also notices Nick clicking open the safety holster of his bolt pistol out of caution. The vehicles didn’t match, but that ominous feeling that something bad was happening wouldn’t leave her. Samarina, your assessment?
Foul men moving. Something has gone wrong. They know plan failed.
Samarina…how do you know these things? She brushes a stray hair away from her face while eying the armor vests in the dimensional pack. One for everyone, and they’re heavier grade than the ones they’d worn a few days ago.
Know much. Thoughts…muddled. See small pieces. Echoes. Memories of another life. History is a wave. Peak and trough. Know when it breaks. When it falls back.
What history do you know?
Know yours. See life ended. Life began. Something lost. Something gained. This surprises Angela, who is otherwise tapping the truck frame anxiously. Yet another foray into a battle, and they’d come out relatively unscathed. Some people hadn’t. That man next to her had almost died from a bolt through his torso. She’d managed to scrub the blood off of her hands earlier, but the memory is still gnawing at her.
And here they are, about to dive into another battle if things go badly. But she’s not scared. Not this time. Joey and Kyle are counting on us. We can do this.
A kindred spirit, she is? Samarina’s response surprises her again. Stands against those who threaten her home. First to the fight.
She is kinda awesome. I never met an alchemist, but Nick speaks highly of her. I still suspect they had something together for maybe five minutes, but that’s just me, Angela thinks with a smirk. The library is coming into sight, and they slow down, with Nick stowing away his weapon.
“What’s our plan, Levine? Got any drones on your spotter?” Nick asks again.
“Negative. We’re clear for now. That said, I don’t doubt the Talons will be scrambling to a Plan B if they aim to secure the teleportal hub. I just don’t get it. They can’t get in that way, they would need hundreds of override passes for an effective incursion, you can’t just spoof that system.”
“Either way, we get in there and we grab the journals,” Drenar states calmly and to the point. “We gear up once we’re inside the entrance. We need to stagger our approach, so no one inside thinks we all came at once. Angela, you and Jackie come in with me. Nick, you come in later. Levine and Julia come in last.”
“So, you nerds are trying to save the world. Well, screw it, not like I planned on living four thousand years, anyway,” Jackie sighs. “If I help you with this, are we even?”
“Yeah. We’re even. But let me be clear–we all pull our weight, and we protect each other, and those who the Talons try to hurt. We are not heroes, we’re just a bunch of misfits in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Angela would disagree with him, but Jackie just snorts.
“Spoken like someone who has a heroism complex.”
“Yeah, not really. It would have been fun to have my Awakening before people started shooting at me,” he retorts.
“You are such a waste of a dragon, Drenar,” Jackie sighs. “You could have just spent your life sitting back and let the Talons pick apart the Conclave, because they do deserve a lot of bad things happening to them.”
“Oh, this again? How bad could they possibly be?” he demands.
“They make Kelly’s mom take drugs. It makes her weak. So she isn’t a threat. Or, that’s what I heard. And that isn’t the worst thing I’ve heard,” Jackie says, and tries to shrink into her jacket. She doesn’t sound like she’s lying, either.
“Alright, you know what, let’s have this debate after I go crash course another suicide mission. I would love to hear more about this dystopian mage society that everyone lied to me about even existing. Including my mother.” He slams the door when he gets out, and Angela sighs.
“Angela…is he going to be…” Nick trails off.
“He’s fine. You realize we just watched some armored bastard crush someone's neck on live television,” Angela reminds him. “That was…awful to watch.”
“If we ever run into that armored fiend, run. I’m not even kidding, Angie,” Nick says stoically as she hops out of the vehicle, and grabs the pack with the armory kit. “There are true monsters in this world, and Davos is one of them. SAF has spent years trying to take that man out, and I won’t mention aloud what I heard he’s done before.”
“Sounds like Matilda needs to get a workout.” Nick nods at the suggestion.
“You know what? The name has grown on me. I guess Julia does have quite a few nice ideas.”
