WnW 7.26

The shark swam at the edges of the room, forcing everyone to shift their positions to keep both it and their human opponents in sight. The shark thrashed against its bonds. It was bleeding from the initial hail of bullets and I saw that the gunfire had broken some of the vines. Now the shark was fighting Nell’s control.

“Seth’s working for Organ,” Nell’s voice spoke through my headset. “His group is attacking Nick.”

Mac responded, “Roger. Don’t kill them. It won’t turn out well for H.E.S.P. or you. Not without overwhelming proof.”

“Wasn’t gonna,” Nell and I said at the same time.

The man that had been savaged by the shark lay on the floor, bleeding from the bite wounds. The other gunman dragged him away from the shark before re-aiming his weapon.

Seth yanked his arm down, eyes wide. “Don’t!” he hissed. “You’ll kill us all if you hit it!”

The unassuming silver briefcase lay on the floor as the shadow of the shark passed over it. If I could just get to it…

But the two Casts stood in my way. The woman with the cracked hands that were leaking an off-white powder onto the floor. The man wielding the spine sword flourished it towards me. It undulated in the air like a snake before snapping straight with a clack. The edge gleamed even in the meagre light.

I extended a hand and projected antlers at him, hoping to inject him with fear. The swordsman deftly sliced away the reaching pointed limbs, spraying flecks of the hallucinogen I’d pumped into them.

Seth’s eyes darted between the case, the shark, and me. “Don’t let him touch you,” he warned. “He’ll absorb you.”

The man nodded and flicked his braided hair over his shoulder. In the same fluid motion, he lunged forward, disguising his stabbing attack. I narrowly reacted, stepping to the side, the sword sliding past me. The sword changed form as if seeing my dodge, coiling around my midsection. The man hauled back and the sword pulled away, catching on my armour with its segmented edges, ripping the bone to pieces on its way out. I winced as the blade sliced into my skin. I tried to grab it, but the blade moved like it was alive, tearing at my armoured hands. The man reeled the blade back into a straight edge and stepped forward to strike again.

I leapt back, grabbing hold of the door behind my back and pulling it open. The blade bit into the wood. A school of fish rushed through the newly created entrance.

As I suspected, we were close to the epicenter of this cloud and these fish were in a feeding frenzy. The swordsman pulled his sword away and retreated, cutting up the fish that got close. I simply turned my assimilation up to eleven, ignoring the pain of the bites. 

I made a break for the briefcase.

Snap.

The shark had broken free of the vines. In an ill-timed stroke of misfortune, it went for the closest moving target, me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the flicker of a small flame. Heat hit the side of my face like the door to a furnace had just been flung open. 

I threw myself to the ground as the shark snapped its jaws at me.

Whumpf. 

Something larger than the shark slammed into it. Embers rained down around my head as a fresh wave of heat washed over me. The whole room shook as whatever had just passed over my head carried and smashed the shark into the far wall.

I scrambled forward on all fours and then turned around. It looked like a massive serpent, a huge coiling column of mass that divided the room in two. It was the colour of yellowed bone and through the cracks in its surface there was a glow within like a live coal. The shark was burning alive, pinned to the wall by this creation. It writhed silently. The scent of its seared flesh was vile, something fishy mixed with something rotten.

The flames fueled by the shark’s incineration lit up the faces of my opponents. The swordsman had moved to Seth’s side to protect him from the onslaught of fish. The woman stood from where she had been crouching at the origin point of the pillar, flicking a lighter closed. Seth was closer to her. He could leave by squeezing between the pillar and the wall and reaching the door.

I placed a foot on top of the case and just that movement alone was enough to make Seth flinch. I was equal parts intrigued and horrified by what could possibly be inside. It felt like at any moment, the case would pop open and darkness would rush out like a plague of insects.

Seth raised his hands in a show of peace. “Let’s all be very careful now. Whatever you do, Nick, don’t open it.”

His allies waited, bodies tense, ready to spring to action.

“What’s in the case, Seth?” I called out, a bit hoarse from the smoke.

“I won’t answer that. Just know that you are risking a fate worse than death for not just yourself but for everyone.”

“Everyone in the city?”

Seth spoke with an absolute certainty that chilled me to the bone, “Everyone.”

“It’s a weapon, then.”

“Most things can be. You’re assertive, Nick. I like that. I’m not so vain that I wouldn’t acknowledge and appreciate when someone has the upper hand. Shall we bargain?”

“I don’t see how we could. Organ is my enemy.”

Seth lowered his hands slightly. His eyes looked like molten amber in the firelight. “Why? Is it the secrecy? They only do so out of necessity, not ill intent.”

“Is all the people’s lives that they’ve ruined not proof that’s bullshit?!” I spat.

Seth pressed a hand to his heart. “If there was any other way forward, trust me, I would have backed that instead. The suffering is great, yes, but it is in effort to stave off a greater tragedy. Organ’s resources are vast. They have recruited some of the most intelligent of humankind. If they have not found a cleaner path, then it does not exist. Do you claim to be more wise than them?”

I just shook my head in disgust. 

The swordsman lowered his weapon, breathing heavily. Hundreds of dead fish littered the ground around them and no more came. The flow had been stemmed for now.

“Burying your head in the sand won’t make the problem go away. That’s what the masses do and it is the reason they will never be told the truth.” Seth studied me closely. “What did the Beacon say to you?”

“I’ll tell you if you give yourself up to H.E.S.P.”

Seth scoffed. “You chose the side of incompetence, allying with them. I’m inclined to believe that you aren’t lying about speaking with the Beacon. Apollo hasn’t been fooled.” He gestured to the Brainbox sitting on his shoulder. “Yet you truly have no idea the significance of that communication.”

“Enlighten me. What is it that I spoke with?”

“Something very old,” he said reverently. “It will decide our future and we can do nothing to turn away that coming tide. But with the proper tools, perhaps we can mitigate the destruction.”

The fire died out, the glow from the pillar fading, and the room was plunged into total darkness. Even with my enhanced senses, it would take a second to adjust.

“Miles, impete.”

I erupted into a mass of twisting branches, cutting off any potential attack.

Only to realize that there was the sound of something sliding across the floor towards me. I jumped, seeing the white of the spine sword at the last second. The sword snapped around, knocking the briefcase back towards where it had come from, then it coiled and sprung, wrapping around my legs. I came crashing back down to the ground.

Fire flickered to life. The woman, holding a lighter. She held it to the pile of gray powder at her feet. Smoke puffed and a new snake erupted from the pile like a magic trick. It glanced off the first pillar, which crumbled into large pieces. The featureless head of the ‘snake’ loomed large. I tried rolling but the blade caught on the flooring.

The weight slammed into my back, driving me down with burning weight. I tasted ash and felt as though the Goblin was alive once more, wrapping me in a blazing embrace. Can’t breathe. My antlers blackened and fell to pieces. The heat was becoming unbearable. I was blinded by the flames.

Then suddenly I felt the sword release me. I formed Locust Legs and quickly used them, just barely catching the edge of a tile and shunting myself out from beneath the suffocating pillar.

Through teary eyes I raised my head.

Nell was standing in the doorway.

Seth backed away, clutching the briefcase. He chuckled, even as sweat poured down his face. “Can you tell what’s in here?”

Nell stared at the case, frowning. “I don’t-”

The swordsman leapt at her, brandishing his weapon. The second Nell’s irritated gaze flicked over to him, he dropped his sword. The swordsman stared at his fingers in dread as they grew into barky shoots. Then his other hand fused to his side as he tried to bend and pick up the blade.

He kicked the sword instead, sending it spinning towards her. As it spun, it fell apart into segments, each piece morphing into ivory spheres that rolled harmlessly against her feet. Unbalanced, the man fell forward onto his face.

The woman cried out in alarm and shot several smaller projectiles of coiling ash through the air towards Nell. A small tree erupted from the man’s back, shattering the ash into glowing pieces.

Seth rushed Nell, thrusting the briefcase out in front. Alarm flashed across her face and stumbled backwards, allowing Seth to slip past her and out of the room.

I went to Nell’s side. “I’ll go after Seth. Back me up?”

Nell was focused on the woman creating the burning pillars. The woman slowly knelt down, flowers appearing at her neck, her face pale and frozen in fear. She slumped over, eyes shut.

“Always,” Nell said, pulsing assurance.

I eyed the unmoving man with the tree growing from his back.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t kill them. Go. I’ll try to get Seth to gently drop the case once you’re close. I don’t know what I saw in there, but it was alive. We shouldn’t disturb it.”

I pulsed assurance back and left the room. 

The adjoining space was large and filled with waist-high bookshelves.

Seth was nowhere in sight. There was a set of stairs with a glass railing heading downwards and at the other end of the room was a set of double doors.

Further in or down?

Closing my eyes, I inhaled slowly. I’d relied on the enhanced sight to see through this awful fog and the enhanced hearing had been invaluable, now it was time to try another sense. I’d gotten a whiff of it before, when I’d been closest to Seth. Turning my head, I found it again, the faint scent of a heady cologne. Lilacs, moss, and cedar wood.

Is it bad that I kind of like it?

I shook my head and started down the ramp. Why was Seth going this way? He would be heading towards Chase and the Aberrants, along with my allies who were fighting them.

Vaulting the railing, I fell to the floor below and caught a glimpse of Seth passing through a door before it swung shut. I pursued him, dashing across a space filled with computers and microfilm readers, fish swimming overhead.

Flinging open the door, I was face-to-face with Seth’s remaining bodyguard. He lunged at me, some Shape rippling beneath his clothes. I spun, breaking past him and slamming the door behind me. Seth was sprinting down the hall and had almost reached the other end. I saw the sign printed in large letters, “Lobby”.

I delayed the guard by dragging a cart filled with books and jamming it under the door handle. Tentacles suctioned onto the glass window in the door, cracking it.

“Nell! Fuck being gentle. Make him drop the case!” I shouted over comms.

There was a pause before Nell responded, “I can’t! His arm, it’s not… I can’t grasp it.”

Frustration brewing, I ran down the hall and down another flight of stairs.

I hadn’t realized how far down we were. The lobby was the last stop.

When I arrived at the bottom of the stairs, Seth had vaulted the front desk and had his hand on a panel on the wall behind it. He was breathing heavily, sweat dripping from his hair. I noted a few bloody bite marks on his shoulders and legs, but none on the arm carrying the case.

I stepped down into the ankle high water. The entrance to this building must have been on higher ground, because the waves were just barely lapping at the entrance. The light from outside cast rippling shadows across the walls. Water leaked in through the closed glass doors. H.E.S.P.’s boats rocked up and down, a fair distance away.

No Aberrants. No Daria or Neve.

Seth straightened up and stared at me with contempt. “I find it maddening that the Beacon spoke to you. Your Witch, Ortum-3, I heard reports of her prowess and potential. Yet it didn’t even speak to her? Why would it choose you?”

A voice laughed. “It is odd, isn’t it?”

Chase emerged from behind a pillar. His pant legs were soaked up to his knees. 

“It seems our friend in the sky has a lot to say to us nobodies.”