Titans

by Niall Teasdale

  Part Three: The Coming Storm

  New York Authority, 9th May 2152.

  Zuri looked up and smiled as Mercy entered her shop once again. ‘Yes, finally, after you’ve visited every day since you made the order, your coat is ready. Try not to get this one blown up.’

  ‘Yes, ma’am,’ Mercy replied, grinning.

  ‘You should try it on. This one was cut specifically to fit you.’

  ‘Okay.’ Mercy began to pull off her old coat. ‘At least I’m not stripping to my underwear for this.’

  ‘Mm.’ The simple sound had a vague hint of disappointment in it which Mercy was not sure she had heard. Maybe it was just that Zuri was bending to retrieve the new coat from under the counter.

  ‘Can you, I don’t know, recycle this one somehow?’

  ‘I’ve factored part exchange into the price. You may or may not be surprised to discover that recycling used cloth is a pretty common practice around here.’

  ‘I’m not shocked.’ Mercy took her new coat from the seamstress and began pulling it on. The hair on the back of her neck chose that moment to rise, sending a shiver down her spine. Weird, but she ignored it, turning instead to look at her image in the full-length mirror Zuri had set up on one side of the shop. The coat was the same, but the extra time spent fitting it was paying off.

  ‘You don’t look happy,’ Zuri said.

  ‘It’s great. It’s a better fit. More comfortable.’

  ‘Then why don’t you look entirely happy?’

  ‘I– It’s not the coat. I feel like… All of a sudden it’s like… I suddenly feel nervous. Like someone’s watching me, or something bad’s about to happen, or maybe I left the gas on at home, or… I don’t really know why.’

  Zuri’s face went from concerned over her customer’s happiness to just straight concerned, possibly even scared. ‘You’re a Titan. Maybe you’re a storm sensitive.’

  ‘I’ve never felt…’ Mercy trailed off as the thought struck her that she had felt something like this before. When they had landed in Pallas, she had felt this sort of feeling and had dismissed it as nerves over being surrounded by armed men. But there had been a storm on the way then… ‘I’ll call the president.’

  ‘You can just call President Richard?’

  ‘Well…’ Mercy retrieved her radio from the pocket of her old coat and thumbed the transmit key. ‘Garner to Richard, please respond. Over.’

  There was a short pause and then Faith’s voice came from the radio’s speaker. ‘Richard here, Colonel. Is there a problem? Over.’

  ‘I’m in Greenwich Village and I’ve got this… feeling that something’s going to happen. The shopkeeper here suggests that I may be sensing a Wave Storm. Over.’

  ‘A weird prickling sensation around the scalp or neck? General feeling of nervousness? Over.’

  ‘That about covers it. I think I felt the same thing when we arrived, but this seems… I’m not sure, more threatening but not as urgent. Over.’

  ‘I see. If you’re getting more than just a sense of something coming, you may be able to get more. Concentrate on that feeling. Really look at how you feel about it. You may be able to get more details. Over.’

  Mercy frowned, trying to gauge precisely what sort of feeling she was feeling. ‘This is dumb,’ she muttered without hitting transmit.

  ‘It could save lives,’ Zuri replied. ‘Please try.’ She definitely sounded more worried and scared now.

  Clarity flooded in, or some form of clarity. Analysing the sensations gave more detail. She took another second to work out how to express those details and hit the key. ‘About thirty minutes. I get the feeling it’s about nine kilometres away, around five and a half miles. I can’t seem to get a direction, but it’s huge, Faith. This is going to be a big one. Over.’

  ‘You can only sense them while you’re inside the area that’s going to be affected,’ Faith replied. ‘If you think the centre is that far from you, this is going to be one of the biggest storms we’ve seen this year. I can’t feel it here, so the epicentre is probably north of you. I’ll get the alert sent out. You and your friend should go to a shelter. Richard out.’

  Mercy looked at Zuri. ‘Shelter?’

  ‘Well, we would probably be okay in my place. I sleep in the basement here and it’s deep enough to be safe. But… If you really think this one’s going to be that big, we should maybe go to the official shelter.’

  ‘That sounds good. Where?’

  ‘Washington Square.’

  ‘The subway? That’s about five minutes at a walk. Okay.’ Sirens sounded outside the shop. Given that Mercy knew there was a storm coming, she figured out what the sirens meant even if no one had told her. ‘Let’s get moving. I think there might be a rush for the good spots.’

  ~~~

  Oddly, Mercy knew that the storm had begun not because of any outward signs but because the tension in her head and neck suddenly vanished. She had, she figured, been sensing the impending violence. Now that the violence was unleashed, the pressure was off.

  ‘It’s started,’ she said aloud. She checked her watch. ‘About the right time too.’

  ‘I wish I could sense storms,’ Zuri said from beside her. They were both sitting with their backs against the scruffy, tiled walls of the old subway station. Trains no longer ran; the tunnels had actually been blocked up with large, concrete barriers cemented in place. There were people all over the old platforms, waiting out the storm with their neighbours.

  ‘You see, you say that now when you can’t, but to be able to, you’d have to, well, stop being human.’

  ‘I don’t believe that.’

  ‘You’d have to be a Titan, so–’

  ‘I don’t believe Titans aren’t human. Sure, they have superhuman powers. Some of them anyway. That doesn’t make them inhuman. Now, some of them are inhuman, but that has nothing to do with their powers.’

  ‘Power corrupts. Superhuman power corrupts superly. Or something. That’s not a real word.’

  Zuri flashed a grin. ‘You’re a Titan. If you say it’s a word, it’s a word. Don’t dodge the subject. You’re human, just a human with special abilities.’

  Mercy looked around at the huddled masses. Actually, there was not much huddling going on; the residents of the NYA were used to Wave Storms and seemed to consider them something to be endured. Now that Zuri was underground, she seemed a lot less nervous.

  However, when Mercy had arrived at the station, her eyes had been glowing as she used her new sense to keep track of the impending storm. Now, there was a noticeable distance being maintained between her and everyone else, except for Zuri. ‘I don’t think your attitude is entirely universal,’ Mercy said.

  ‘Oh, that’s just… respect.’

  ‘It looks like they’re afraid to sit near me.’

  ‘Aren’t respect and fear two sides of the same coin? You have to be a little afraid of what someone’s capable of to respect them, right? If you were threatening them, they’d probably be scared, sure, but you’re just sitting here like everyone else. Your eyes aren’t even glowing now. You have your powers under control, you’re not being threatening, but they’re giving you a bit more room because they respect your power.’

  ‘Huh. I am not entirely sure I see the difference. Anyway, the other thing that’s bothering me is the rats.’

  ‘Rats?’

  Philosophically, Mercy knew that there were rats everywhere. That went double in most cities and the rats of New York City were almost celebrities. With her spatial sense, however, she had actually seen them scurrying around, out of sight but almost close enough to touch if she could have reached through a wall or floor. And there had been the other thing…

  ‘Yes, rats. They’re all over the place and they’re not acting like how I expect rats to act. I stopped looking, but they were… organised. It was–’

  ‘Hive rats,’ Zuri said.

  ‘What now?’

  ‘They’re a mutation. I heard they use hig
h-frequency sound to communicate. They can hear each other across huge distances and they kind of think as one. Some sort of hive mind. Smarter than your typical rat, and rats are supposed to be pretty smart to begin with.’

  ‘That makes some sense. Rats use ultrasound to judge distances and sense things in the dark. I suppose they could’ve evolved to use it to communicate. That is not a cheery thought.’

  ‘They’re safe enough, so long as you don’t disturb them. They won’t attack large groups of humans unless you threaten their nests. There, uh, have been a few people gone missing in the tunnels down here, which is why they were sealed up. They’ll attack lone humans. We don’t usually find much aside from a few bones.’

  ‘Oh. Well, I won’t be sleeping tonight.’

  Zuri giggled. ‘You’re a big, strong Titan, you don’t need to be afraid of a few rats.’

  ‘You didn’t see how many there were down there.’

  ~~~

  One of the buildings near Zuri’s shop had caught fire after being struck by lightning. It looked like the fire had not been able to get a strong hold thanks to the wind, but there was damage. The winds had been violent, as strong as anyone had seen any time recently if not quite at hurricane levels. Some of the buildings had taken minor structural damage but overall, the city had survived pretty well in that area.

  Faith had called through on the radio about forty minutes after the downpour had ended to ask Mercy to go north and check out things toward the epicentre. So, Mercy had said her goodbyes to Zuri and prepared herself to jump north.

  Zuri had looked at her and said, ‘If you can teleport, why didn’t you just leave the area?’

  Mercy had blushed and made up an excuse. ‘Didn’t think of it. I’m not used to this yet.’ It was partially true: she was not used to being able to jump from place to place in an instant. The real reason, however, was that she had wanted to spend more time with Zuri. Not that she was going to admit to that. Nope.

  The relative lack of damage continued going north. Since Mercy was not too sure of what her teleport power could do, she was taking it in fifty-metre jumps along the roads. She could easily see that far, so she could work out where she was going. She got a few funny looks along the way, but she ignored them since she barely saw them before making the next jump. And the hopping motion gave her a chance to spot anything wrong along the way. It took her only a few minutes to reach the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine, which was apparently the spot the storm had been centred over.

  Back in the day, the cathedral had been Anglican, the seat of a bishop of the Episcopal Church, no less. It was a huge structure, a mix of architectural styles, but generally pretty much an archetypal cathedral with lots of spires and columns and buttresses. It was, however, no longer an episcopalian church. The thick stone walls were about as storm-proof as a subway and the place had been taken over by a different religious group even before the NYA had been established. Now, it was the home of the Church of the Lost.

  They were ascetics. Simple men and women in brown robes and sandals who spent their time in contemplation and prayer. Or that was the theory. They were all wearing brown robes and sandals, but if there was prayer going on, it was under their breath as they worked to clear up the mess left by the storm. The wind had thrown debris about and it was everywhere. There was a lot of sweeping going on. It looked like one of the spires had taken a couple of good lightning strikes; down on the ground, men were staring at big chunks of stone and apparently wondering how to move them.

  ‘That looks bad,’ Mercy said as she wandered over to join the work crew. ‘The lightning rod must’ve failed.’

  One of the men turned to look at her. ‘God sends these trials to test our faith. We will persevere until redemption.’ He was not a big man, but he had an air of authority about him. He was probably four inches shorter than Mercy, but a distinctly different shape. He was not exactly fat, but there was something of a solidness about his middle, somewhat hidden by the simple robe. He was probably somewhere in his mid-forties from the look of him; forty with the addition of a number of long years of living in the post-Wave world. There were wrinkles on his brow, at the sides of his eyes, and running down from a thick, hawkish nose to the corners of his mouth. He wore a beard, trimmed fairly neatly. Both that and his hair were black with streaks of grey. He had rather weary eyes coloured mid-brown or hazel. They had a distinct hint of intelligence in them despite the weariness.

  ‘Maybe I can help. Where do you need them?’ Mercy walked over to the nearest chunk of rock.

  ‘I believe we’ll need to build a framework to lift them. They’re too big for– Ah, you’re a Titan.’

  Mercy looked around to see the monk’s eyes glowing a rather pleasing gold. ‘And so are you. Where did you want this?’ Why his eyes were glowing right now was an open question.

  ‘We have a pile of fallen materials. I’ll take you there.’

  ‘Thanks. This may look easy, but it’s actually pretty heavy.’

  ‘Would you be the Colonel Garner I’ve heard mention of?’ he asked as he led the way around the side of one of the huge, stone buildings. The entire cathedral had been converted for their use. Much of the grounds was taken up with vegetable gardens which had not enjoyed the recent windstorm.

  ‘That’s me.’

  ‘Ah. My name is Rafferty Lamb, the Archbishop of the Church of the Lost.’

  ‘Oh,’ Mercy said. ‘I’m pleased to meet you.’

  ‘Likewise. Please feel free to attend one of our services on Sunday. While we are an ascetic order, we work to redeem those left behind. All are welcome on the Lord’s day.’

  ‘Thanks, but I’m not religious.’ Mercy spotted the ‘pile of fallen materials’ fairly easily. It looked like this was not the first time the building had suffered under a storm. Maybe God was unhappy with the Church of the Lost. Or maybe it was a tall building with inadequate lightning protection. Mercy dumped the rock and turned to head back for another.

  ‘Your service is more appreciated for your lack of faith,’ Lamb said.

  Mercy shrugged. ‘I didn’t want these abilities, but if I have to have them, I might as well use them to make things better.’

  Lamb smiled. ‘God moves in mysterious ways, Colonel, and we all have our purpose in his plan.’

  ‘Yeah. Well, my plan is to move the rest of your debris and then I’ll report in. President Richard asked me to check on things up here. No injuries, I hope?’

  ‘None. While the Devil’s storms do their best to rob us of our home, it still keeps us safe from harm.’

  Maybe it was the cynic in her, but Mercy could not help but think the man was just spouting rhetoric with a complete lack of sincerity. ‘And may it keep doing so for a long time,’ she said, because she could not think of anything else to say.

  ~~~

  ‘The Wave had some… interesting effects on religion,’ Faith said. ‘More specifically, on the religious.’

  Mercy had gone down to the Battery to report on the northern part of the city, and she had asked about the Church of the Lost. This was the start of the explanation, but it seemed a bit broad. ‘I’d imagine. Has to either shake your faith or affirm it.’

  ‘It destroyed mine. I refuse to believe a loving god could do this to us. However, this isn’t a personal thing. You are essentially right, but few felt unequivocal affirmation. Since evangelical religion was very strong in the United States, a number of people looked upon the Wave and saw the end of the world.’

  ‘They weren’t exactly wrong…’

  ‘Well, no, but in this specific case, they saw the rapture and the coming of the Great Tribulation.’

  ‘I’ve, um, heard the terms mentioned. That’s about it.’

  ‘There’s argument over the exact timing, but the general idea is that the Second Coming would be presaged by the faithful being drawn up into heaven, the rapture, to protect them from a time of great suffering, the Great Tribulation. At the end of that time, Jesus wou
ld come down and bring about the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth and everyone would live in peace and love and fluffy kittens.’

  ‘You’re not bitter about this at all, are you?’

  ‘Not at all.’ Faith grinned and went on. ‘So, if you look at what happened, a lot of people suddenly vanished and then the world turned to shit. If that isn’t the rapture and the Great Tribulation, what is?’

  ‘The people were disintegrated, not taken up to heaven.’

  ‘Putting on my debating hat: how would you, an unbeliever, tell the difference?’

  Mercy frowned and then shrugged. ‘Point taken. What about all the people left behind to suffer?’

  ‘That is where things get interesting. “The faithful” have been taken up, but all these other “faithful” have been left to rot. That seems wrong. From what I’ve heard, what’s left of the Mormon faith entirely rejects the idea that the rapture happened since they weren’t taken up as a group. Most of the evangelical religions have shifted toward an idea that the rapture is an ongoing process. If they work to redeem their failings before the Second Coming, they can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven despite not being called in the first wave. They generally view Titans as demons to be driven out before things can get better. The more mainstream groups have given no official position on whether the world is about to end, and they all have different views of Titans. The Baptists and Methodists are fairly positive, but the Church of God in Christ believes Titans are modern Nephilim.’

  ‘What about the Catholics?’

  ‘Pope Peter the Second started broadcasting from the Vatican about four years ago. Up until then, they had no real leadership. One of his first decrees was to proclaim Titans as anathema. The term was actually brought back into use specifically to excommunicate Titans for heretically wielding power only God should possess. However, local congregations have their own policies thanks to the lack of leadership. If they’d already accepted Titans, it was hard to turn around and say, “Sorry, the Pope says you’re excommunicated.”’

  ‘I can understand that. It’s not like it’s their fault they became a Titan.’