Vol.4 Ch.59 – Meeting
Chapter 59: Meeting
“Who exactly are you?”
“US Army,” Elaine began to rattle off but the gorgeous creature in front of her was already shaking her head.
“I got that,” she said, tapping a finger against the logo on Elaine's bicep. Both the touch and the the woman's thick French accent drove Elaine damn near feral. “But I've never seen the army of any country working with angels. And I have never seen humans as strong as the two of you.” She said the last while nodding at both Elaine and Abigail. “If not for the angels with you I would assume you were both Atlanteans. Except, I have never seen an Atlantean do what you,” she nodded at Abigail, “did. Your power spiked to a level I'm not sure I could replicate.”
“It's a long story,” Elaine said. “How about we head inside and I swear I'll share all I'm allowed to.”
“On your power?” Esther asked.
“On my power,” Elaine said, not quite understanding the significance of that oath until she felt it snapping into place around her. She had the sudden feeling that very bad things would happen if she went against that oath. “What did you do to me?” she asked in a panic.
Esther's reaction was not one of malice, not even of smug satisfaction. She stared past Elaine, baffled anger in her face. “Did you tell them nothing?!”
Elaine looked back to see Omega looking away in annoyance and Kaja looking sheepish. What the hell?
Esther rubbed the bridge of her nose in annoyance and began to explain: “For beings as powerful as you and me, swearing upon our power means we cannot go against that oath without our power starting to rebel against us. If I had known that nobody ever told you that, I wouldn't have asked you to swear.” She sighed. “Fine. Since you didn't know the significance of the oath you were swearing I'll keep myself from prying too deep.”
“Thanks,” Elaine said, then turned around: “Any reason nobody told me about this?”
“Most of your project aren't even strong enough to swear such oaths,” Kaja said. “As for the two of you, it never came up because oaths of power are a dying tradition. Nobody is using them anymore.”
Elaine decided to let it rest. She was gonna be honest with Esther anyway. This would simply guarantee that she'd believe her.
Esther seemed to be thinking the same thing and said: “I'll bring you in. You can meet the rest of the crew and then we'll talk.”
And then she sent a pulse of magic into the door before opening it.
“Did you lock it with magic?” Elaine asked. “I didn't know you could do that.”
“Non,” Esther said. “Only enchanters can do that. This is an alarm system. If the door opens without a pulse of magic being registered, they evacuate.”
“But that would mean only mages can come and go,” Evelyn said. Did they have some kind of two tier society down there?
“Every scavenging team includes at least one mage,” Esther said. “It's too risky for the straights to leave without one.”
“I see,” Elaine said and followed Esther down a flight of stairs. This was clearly a residential building and yet instead of the apartments Esther was leading them into a basement. Were they hiding out in some kind of garage? Wasn't that insanely risky?
Finally, after going down at least two floors they reached a door. Or rather a Door, big enough to deserve capitalization. It looked like a vault door more than anything else, the kind old bank buildings had in movies.
“Prepper's place?” Elaine asked.
“Oui,” Esther said, apparently unaware of how wild it was driving Elaine when she said that. “He was out scavenging when he was attacked by a Thrall. Some of the rebels found him while he was bleeding out and chased away the Thrall chewing on his arm. He agreed to let the rebels have his place so long as they would take care of his family.”
“Did he make it?” Elaine asked carefully.
“Oui. They had to take his arm off to keep him from transforming into a Thrall but he made it.”
“Good,” Elaine said.
Esther opened the Door, an elaborate process that involved a key, a code and cranking the giant safe wheel. And when she did, Elaine understood how these rebels had survived for most of a year.
Rather than a concrete box like most bunkers, this one had been built to last a long damn time. From the bioreactor using organic waste to generate electricity to the hydroponics facility growing edible plants to the exercise room that had since been turned into living quarters for refugees, the place had clearly been meant to support a small family for years. Why that man had gone out scavenging to begin with, Elaine couldn't even begin to guess. Sure, for all the people now occupying the place it was too small but for a single family this place would have been more or less self-sustaining.
“These don't look like refugees to me,” a man with a thick Russian accent said. He didn't sound hostile, exactly, but...
“US Army,” Esther said. “They're here to liberate the city, apparently.”
The man's eyes widened. He was built almost like a parody of a Russian mobster. Tall, broad shoulders, shaved head, square jaw. But despite that he didn't look dangerous. He looked both wary and weary and Elaine really couldn't blame him. Even less so when he said: “Better late than never, I suppose.”
“We were in contact with one of you guys for months,” Alexis said. “A man named... Marco?”
“Somebody call for me?” a young man's voice sounded out and a moment later an office chair came rolling towards them. On it sat a Hispanic man with tousled hair, a little toy drone in his lap. And immediately Elaine noticed something odd about him. Well, two things, really.
The more obvious thing was that the office chair just kept rolling along without slowing. It wasn't as if he'd pushed it and then let momentum carry him over. It seemed more like the office chair was rolling automatically. But that couldn't be, could it?
The other thing was the drone. It looked like one of those small toy drones you could buy at Walmart, except it looked like he'd jury-rigged a GoPro and a pistol onto it.
“Well fuck me sideways,” he said as he looked them over. “You those guys I kept talking to?”
“We're the ones they sent,” Elaine corrected. “The ones you were talking to were our monitoring division.” No need to announce to everyone that they had mermaids at their base.
“What are their names?” he asked, a note of challenge in his voice. Good. They weren't too trusting.
“Clio, Themisto and Jane,” Elaine said.
“Yeah,” he said. “They're legit.”
“You're being rude.”
Elaine spun around, certain someone had just whispered in her ear. But from the reactions of the others, everyone had heard that whisper. A moment later a young woman stepped into view, clad in techwear similar to Esther's. She wore a baggy coat with a very high collar and a big hood, a tactical harness tied over it. Underneath the coat a short skirt peaked out and the girl wore knee protectors over thin leggings. She was adorable, her hair a tousled bob of blond hair that would have looked dyed if it were any lighter. She looked like a battle-hardened version of Alexis.
“I apologize for startling you,” the girl whispered, the sound carrying to Elaine's ears unnaturally well. “This is the only way for me to speak.”
“Don't justify it,” Esther said gently. “You're not doing anything wrong.”
The girl just nodded.
“Introductions?” Marco asked.
“Go ahead,” Esther said, stepping out of the way. “I'm the outsider here.”
Elaine looked back to see if Omega would take issue with that phrasing but evidently he did not.
“So,” Marco said. “The cute one is Julia, our sound mage.” He indicated the Russian guy next. “The bundle of sunshine is Vitali. Fire mage. Very unsubtle but very effective.” Vitali snorted and Marco nodded over to a tall, lithe woman with black hair who moved like a dancer. “Sylvia. Space mage. Our ace in the hole when the harvesters corner our gathering squads.” A blond guy approached, an all-American guy, the kind you'd see on army posters, though he didn't hold himself like military. “This is James, our earth mage. Mostly useless except for maintaining vegetable patches around the city.”
“Fuck you too, Marco,” James said with a chuckle.
“Over there is Bram,” Marco continued, nodding over to a middle-aged black man, bald and with a long gray beard. “Lightning mage. Great source of electricity and phenomenal at blowing up those fucking cyborgs. And Dick and Balls are out scavenging right now, which is totally not just an excuse for them to go on a date.”
“Dick and Balls?” Alexis asked dubiously.
“That's their nicknames,” Marco explained.
“Literally nobody calls them that except you,” Sylvia said. “Their names are Richard and Valerie. He's a water mage, she's a shadow mage. And they're more or less connected at the hip.”
“And this annoying brat,” Vitali said, nodding over at Marco, “is our technomancer.”
“Technomancer?” Elaine asked.
“I have the Todd Howard power,” he said, then held up his drone. “'It just works.'”
“So,” Esther said, “what about you all?”
Elaine looked back to see if anyone wanted to start but everyone either looked disinterested (Omega) or was looking back at her expectantly.
“Those two are Kaja and Omega. They're angels sent from Heaven.” Before the mutters broke out she rushed to add: “No, I am not kidding.” She waited for the muttering to quiet down before she continued: “As for the rest of us, we're with the US Army, Project Divinity, sent here to liberate this city. I'm Sergeant Elaine Caldwell, in charge of this squad, and these are my team members. Alexis, Ophelia, Evelyn, Abigail, Cassie, Aurora and Mariana.”
“The army is actually in control of the situation?” James asked.
“I won't lie to you,” Elaine said. “Buffalo is the first place we're liberating.”
“Why us, of all places?” Sylvia asked. “I mean, not that I'm not grateful but...”
“Our project originates from here,” Elaine said. “Our facility is near Lake Ontario. And we chose Buffalo because we knew there was a resistance group here.” She paused, then added: “And because the guys behind this mess have a base here.”
“The harvesters...” Vitali muttered.
“Harvesters?” Elaine asked.
“Caulder's cyborgs,” Esther clarified.
“Fucking hell, this is the best news we've had for months,” Marco said. “The military is gearing up to fix things, they have the angels on their side, we're the first to be saved and someone's gonna take the fight to those motherfuckers.” He glanced over at Kaja. “Pardon.”
“It's alright,” Kaja said, stepping forward until she was shoulder to shoulder with Elaine. And just like she had in the mess hall, she addressed the crowd as her wings fanned out behind her. “Children of man, your suffering and your perseverance were not in vain. You have held out valiantly, aiding each other, keeping each other safe. He has seen your plight and He will remember your sacrifices. The fight for the future of this world is yet long but there is an end in sight for you. Those of you who never wished to fight may lay down your burdens. But for those who wish to bring about tomorrow, this is your chance to join us on this crusade. If you walk with us, you will walk under His light and drive out the darkness that engulfed this world.” She paused and went down to her knees, eliciting a gasp from the more devout among the rebels. “But whether or not you wish to join us, for simply holding out thus far, I thank you. I see you. You are good enough and you have proven it.”