Summus Proelium

I found out where the other, previously unknown Scion was fairly shortly after the whole situation had calmed down a bit. Well, as calm as the situation could be considering everything that had happened, and everything was still going on, anyway. At the very least, there was a slight lull in the storm. The Scions (or wannabes) who had been here were taken into custody. And so was that other guy. He’d been taking hostages at some mall a couple miles away, with help from some Prev troops he’d taken with him.

Of all people, it had been Deicide and Skip working together who took care of that situation. I suppose it made sense with that being her territory and all. Plus, it was the Scions. Or at least someone trying to join them by killing a whole bunch of people. Of course those two had been willing to ally to stop him. Not that I had any idea why that guy in particular hadn’t been here to join in on this plan. It was weird, wasn’t it? All of the candidates except one and some minions were part of this, while he seemed to be keeping to the original voiced plan from Pencil. A plan we had been told was just a distraction. So why was he carrying it out? Just to make it look more convincing? Or had he been left out of the actual plan intentionally? Did these guys do all this on their own? No, they didn't make sense. Box had definitely spoken as though Pencil knew this plan of theirs. So it was all confusing.

Even more confusing was the question of where Jennica had disappeared to. Seriously, she'd had those control and pain gems on their prisoners. Then, according to those guys, she had left and the gems simply fell off eventually. Where did she go? Why wasn't she there when this whole thing went down? Did she come back and notice it was all falling apart? That didn't make sense, because they said that the gems had fallen off long before the fight even started. And we knew the gems didn't fall off just because she wasn't right there, because she’d used them from a distance and over a long time with her zombie-creating foster brother. She’d just disappeared and had her power turn off for no particular reason that we could find. It raised questions, though I wasn’t going to object to not having to deal with her today. Small blessings, or something.

Yeah, even I didn’t believe that. Some part of me was certain she would find a way to jump back in and cause even more problems before this was over. We checked over everyone for any gems just to make sure this wasn’t part of her plan. Even then I kind of still expected Jennica to suddenly and dramatically reveal that this was all some sort of trap. And I wasn’t the only one. Not knowing where she was or what had happened to her was making all of us pretty jumpy, including the cops who were standing guard around the building and clearing the rest of the lot. They were working in groups to make sure no one was ever left alone or went out of sight.

Caishen was the one who filled me in on everything else that was happening. She pulled me aside while the bad guys here were being loaded up and taken away. In a corner of the parking lot, the Ten Towers leader brought me up to speed while getting the full story from me about what happened here. It was a long conversation, and I was the only one who could give it to them at this point. Both Facs and Yeet had taken off once things calmed down, apparently really not wanting to be interrogated. As had Grandstand, unsurprisingly. The three of them went off together, which raised even more questions in my mind. Questions I was going to have to get answers to later.

And, of course, Eits and Broadway had been taken by Blackjack and the rest of La Casa. I would try to check in to make sure they were okay and that their people had actually done something with the formula I gave them once I got out of here. Some part of me still felt guilty about letting Blackjack take them instead of going to the actual hospital. But then, he had just as many resources as they would, and his own doctors. They could handle it. I was just worried about Eits, and even Broadway. And I was worried about Pack too. She was conscious and everything, yes, but she’d clearly been hurt like Amber. Yet she’d gone out there to try to chase the other girl and Whamline down. As far as I knew, no one knew where she was right now either.

Wobble and Carousel had gone out to look for their teammate too, but had been brought back by a couple of Caishen’s people shortly afterwards. They didn’t like it, to say the least, yet Caishen told them they were in no condition to get involved in any fight until the doctors cleared them, and promised she had Towers people scouring the surrounding area. They would find and help That-A-Way. I just hoped it would be soon enough before… before anything too bad happened.

So, with some argument, those two were taken to the hospital alongside Izzy and the Syndicates. They might not have been infected by whatever those two (five counting the duplicates) had been, but maybe they were and just hadn’t succumbed to it yet. And even if not, they still needed to be examined and patched up. They, like Amber, had been hurt pretty bad while they were locked up in there under the ‘care’ of the Scions wannabes. Meanwhile, the others had to be given that cure that Simon had handed over, once the doctors managed to make sure it wasn’t some sort of poison and put it together.

Worried as I was about what happened with Jennica and why she had just disappeared, it was a good thing she hadn’t been here to cause even more problems. Those guys had been through enough. And we still didn’t know exactly what was going on with Whamline and Way. The two of them had seemingly vanished into thin air. And the longer we went without getting an update, the more worried I was. Unfortunately, we had no way to easily track them. Neither of them had their phones, and whatever they were doing apparently wasn't happening in front of anyone who would call it in.

Hell, right now, we didn’t know where Pack was either. For all I knew, she was with Amber right now. Maybe they were holed up somewhere, staying out of sight and recovering. Or maybe they were in the middle of a fight with Whamline and no one had seen them yet. Or maybe--damn it stop thinking about them being hurt or dead!

Dead. The thought finally manifested fully in my head despite every effort I made to keep it out. We had no idea where Pack and Amber were, but as dangerous as Whamline was-- and how fucked up was that? He was supposed to be a hero. Not just a hero, Whamline was supposed to be Amber’s teammate, her friend. She was supposed to be able to trust him. But no, she couldn’t. Because he was a traitor. Worse, he was the one who killed Amber’s dad. I had no idea how that had happened or what--I had no idea. I couldn’t understand it at all. All I did know was that I was terrified for Amber. I didn’t know what was going on, if she was okay, if she’d won their fight or if--no, I wouldn’t think about that. She would be okay. She would bring him in as soon as they--as soon as she could. Pack had to have found her, right? Of course. They would handle Whamline together and then come back.

On top of all that, I was also terrified about Izzy. Part of me had wanted to insist on coming along with her and the others when they went to the hospital, but I had no idea how I would explain it. It wasn’t like I could tell them I already knew her identity because she was my adopted sister or anything. Well, I could, but it would’ve brought up even more problems. Even then, I might’ve been tempted if Simon hadn't handed me the information about that cure. I had to believe that he cared enough about her to make sure it would work. I had plenty of issues with the stuff he and our parents did, but I knew he would want to help her. That was basically the only thing that kept me from throwing myself in the back of the ambulance to go along with them.

Finally, I'd told Caishen everything I could, including that an anonymous source I trusted but couldn’t give away had given me the formula for the cure to whatever was affecting Raindrop and Syndicate. Not that she was all that happy about me not telling her exactly where that cure came from, obviously. But she kind of understood having to not reveal certain things, no matter how important they might be. After all, she wasn't just a Star-Touched and accustomed to keeping secrets on that level, but was also big into corporate security and all that. After just a little bit of pushing, she let it go for the moment. But she did promise we would be talking about it at another point. I had a feeling she didn't want to go too hard at me after everything that happened.

Glancing over towards the far corner of the parking lot where my team was waiting, I swallowed uncertainly before turning back to Caishen. “We're going to go look for Way too. Maybe your people missed something. I mean, she can teleport, and it's a big city.”

The woman opened her mouth, and I could tell she was about to tell me to stand down and take a break after everything that had happened. Not that I would've listened, but we were both gearing up for a full argument on that point when she was interrupted by one of her security people running up. He stepped aside with her and they spoke in low voices for a moment. Part of me wanted to take that chance to simply leave, but I heard the man say That-A-Way, so I stopped myself and stared at them anxiously.

Sure enough, after Caishen thanked the man and sent him on his way, she turned back to me. I couldn't read her body language. She didn't seem completely defeated or anything, but she also didn't seem relaxed and relieved. Focusing on me, the woman paused for a moment, clearly collecting herself. Before I could blurt any demands, she spoke. “They found him.”

“Him?” I echoed in confusion. There was something about the way she said that, combined with specifying him and not them. “You mean Whamline. What--”

“He’s dead,” she informed me bluntly, like tearing off a band-aid. “They were at a construction site and it looks like he was killed when part of the building collapsed on him. From what they said, Way was there with that Pack girl. But when the authorities showed up, they disappeared. She teleported away with the La Casa Fell and no one has any idea where they are now.”

Dead. Whamline was dead, clearly having been killed through a fight with Amber. She really--had she… yes. That was the only thing that made sense. And why shouldn’t she have? Part of me immediately demanded that. He’d killed her father, had gloated about it, had promised to kill Amber’s friend (me), after being a traitor to her and the rest of their teammates. He’d meant to kill all of them, just as a way to join the team of psychopaths whose entire thing was killing people and destroying lives!

Of course she had killed him when they fought. Not only would he have killed her given half a chance, but she had every reason to, and I didn't think anyone would officially hold it against her. Not with everything that was going on. There was a lockdown quarantine around the whole city, a huge portion of the people who could actually keep the peace were out of commission, and the Scions had been threatening to kill hundreds if not thousands of people until they got what they wanted. Knowing all of that, Whamline had still willingly signed up on that side. He betrayed everyone and tried to throw in with those monsters. I had no doubt that Amber would be cleared for killing him once everything came out.

But that was all just legally speaking. He had been her friend for over a year, had fought right beside her through who knew how many life and death battles? She had trusted him, trusted him. And the whole time, he had been the one who was responsible for killing her dad. She had gone through all that with him and the whole time he was that same piece of shit she had been trying so hard to find. And now he was dead. She’d killed the boy who had killed her dad, but he was also the boy who had been her friend. How messed up was she right now?

At least Pack was with her. I… still had no idea what was going on between the three of them (those two and Dani), and definitely didn’t want to get in the middle of it. That was their business. The only thing that really mattered right now was that Amber had someone she could talk to. I just hoped she would talk to the rest of us at some point.

All of that ran through my mind as I simply promised Caishen that I would let them know if I saw Way. She told me to come by Ten Towers at some point for a more thorough debriefing, but to get some sleep for now. I thanked her for not pushing too hard, then was about to go join the others when Caishen put her hand gently on my shoulder. And yet, even gently made me flinch, a gasp escaping me.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” she announced. “You're not just exhausted, though you are that. You're also hurt. I'm not going to have you try to run out of here and then fall off a building because your arm doesn't work right.” Before I could protest, she gave a loud whistle before pointing as a dark red van with the Ten Towers logo on the sides came around the corner and stopped nearby. “You and your people take that van and go straight to the Seraphs so you can get checked out. I’m sure one of your older teammates can legally drive.” She paused before focusing on me. “You have my word there are no listening or recording devices on the vehicle, though you’ll probably have your Tech double-check anyway. Either way, take the van, go and get patched up, then just leave it for my people to pick up. If you need to drop it off anywhere other than the Seraphs’ lot, give us a call to let us know where it is. And Paintball,” Her voice softened, “thank you for everything you did today. And thank your team too. You all helped avert an unspeakable tragedy.”

“Pencil’s still holed up in that place,” I pointed out. “And he’s gonna be pretty pissed off right now.”

“He will, and we’ll deal with it.” I could hear the tiredness in her voice before she shook it off. “But that’s for later. Now go, or I’ll have you all detained just long enough to force you into medical evaluation.”

Wincing at the threat, I waved the others over and explained what was going on. The driver stepped out, and Paige took the wheel with Sierra beside her while the rest of us piled into the back. It was actually a pretty nice van, full-sized with three rows of passenger seats. Which was good, since everyone except Fred was here. Sierra and Paige in the front, Wren and Peyton in the row right behind them, me in the middle row laying down while I had the chance, and Rubi, Murphy, and Roald in the back row behind me. Qwerty hopped over the seats and landed on mine, curling up close as I shifted to make room for him with a small smile. When the others started to ask what was going on, I shook my head from my slumped position and insisted we get out of there and talk about it somewhere else. I didn’t want to be there right then.

As soon as we had driven far enough away from that storage place, Paige informed us that there were no signals or recording devices anywhere on the van, just as Caishen had promised. Even then, however, I didn’t plan to talk about anything involving the Ministry or the like.

What I could do was talk about what they were all wondering. What was going on with That-A-Way. The problem was, I didn't know exactly what I should say. Was it really my place to tell them what had happened with Way and Whamline? They would look at her differently after that. Some more than others. And yet, what else was I supposed to say? I couldn't lie to them. My parents had been lying to me for my own good and to avoid tough conversations my entire life. I didn't want to turn into them. But I also didn't want to go talking about something that big behind Amber's back.

In the end, I said the only thing I could. “Whamline died. If Way wants to talk about it, that's up to her.”

Obviously, that raised a lot of questions, but Rubi made everyone stop. Well, Rubi and Sierra actually. They both made everyone quiet down from both ends of the vehicle, until Qwerty gave me a hesitant little touch of his paw against my helmet. “Uh, you’re okay though, right? I’d really hate to make a first friend and then have that first friend get really hurt right after.”

There was a lot I wanted to say to that. But I just held my hand out for the little guy to crawl into before tugging the damaged helmet and mask off so I could look at him face to face. “I could be a hell of a lot worse, buddy. Just sore, maybe a few cracks. I gave worse than I got. And we made it out alive. I’ll be fine.”

“Let’s hold off on letting the person whose tendency to throw themself off buildings and into certain calamity only slightly increased when they got super powers make that assessment,” Paige noted from the driver’s seat as the van pulled through the gates of the Seraph headquarters. They were standing open and the guard had just waved us on, probably because Caishen had called ahead. “We’re here. Time for you to go in and get an actual doctor’s diagnosis.”

So, I pulled the mask and helmet back on before carefully sliding out. Peyton and Sierra helped, since I was really feeling the pain by that point. Everything hurt. My adrenaline was gone, so I needed to lean on both of them a bit as we moved toward the waiting doorway.

And yet, it could be so much worse. I was sore, yes. But I was alive. I was safe. What about Amber? Where was she? She didn’t have her phone, she didn’t have… anything except Pack. And she had just killed Whamline, the guy who killed her father. She was… she had to be going through a lot.

I just hoped she would be okay. And that wherever she was, she’d know we’d be here when she was ready.