Derek and Akane got back to the staging ground faster by dodging through the 'scraper the vampires had come through, but it wasn't fast enough.
The place was a warzone. Both sides had already set up primitive fortifications, and were unloading cases of ammunition at each other. The hellions were mostly using assault rifles, while the Aesir were using large Gatling guns, and a few were scrounging up missile launchers. There didn't seem to be very many casualties. There weren't that many corpses, at least. Derek spotted the Aesir leader in the center no-man's-land, minus a head. Some ten yards away the retinue, along with Adam and Flynn, were protecting Laura.
Derek summoned a large shield and ran over, skidding to a stop next to the upended car they were hiding behind. No one shot him in the process, which he took as a good sign. It seemed like both sides retained the presence of mind not to just shoot everything in sight.
“What the hell happened?” he hissed, as Akane blurred in next to him. “I thought everything was going fine.”
“The hellion just pulled out a shotgun and blew the Aesir's head off,” Laura said, confusion in her eyes. “It was the strangest thing. It was like he wasn't even aware he was doing it.”
Huh. “The Composer can control screamers, right? Maybe he suppressed it for long enough to get into a good position, or something?”
George shuddered. “That's not a fun thought.”
“And not something we can deal with right now,” Adam said. “What's the plan?”
Before Derek could answer, his phone rang. Not MC's tone, just his default old-fashioned telephone ring. He picked it up, confused. “Hello?”
“Paladin?” Guland's panicked voice said. “Adonides went crazy! He started shooting everyone just as the screamers rushed us! We're falling back, but we do not have the zombies contained.”
Derek cursed. “Belay that. You'll just be fuel on the fire over here. Can you find a redoubt?”
“Negative. We had to dump most of our flamers, we're just running now. If we try and hold them, we'll be slaughtered.”
Derek lowered the phone to explain the situation to the others, when he noticed that Laura was already on hers. Apparently MC had hooked her into the conversation. He put the phone back to his ear just as she started talking. “Fall back to the staging area. We need all of them in one place.”
“Fair enough, Mrs. Paladin. Can you cover us as we come in?”
She glanced around. “Doubtful. Just get as close to us as you can. We'll be at the south end. Derek will shield you as you cross.” She hung up.
“Wait,” Kelly said with a frown, “why do you want us to cross to the other side? We're safe enough here, and the screamers might convince the hellions and Aesir to pull their heads out of their asses.”
“It won't,” Laura said firmly. “You can count on that. And we need them all in one place.”
What did that mean? Well, Derek doubted she'd tell him, so he just nodded as if he understood. She was better at strategy than him. “Is everyone ready? I can shield us, but you need to stay as close to me as possible.”
Akane blurred off ahead—one less person to worry about—and the rest nodded. Jarasax and George looked worried, but Kelly, Adam, and Laura seemed to have confidence in Derek's abilities. Well, he didn't think Kelly did, but she was ready for whatever came regardless.
“Let's go,” he said decisively, and they went.
They dove headfirst into the hail of gunfire, Laura and Derek in the middle of the press of people. He raised a full shield immediately, but he could feel my reservoir depleting far too quickly for his taste. It was about a fifty yard run. Their only hope was that both sides realized shooting them would bring the full might of Necessarius down on their heads.
Luck seemed with us, and the hail lessened until only a few misfires here and there plinked against Derek's barrier. He still urged his friends on faster. He didn't really want to find out what would happen if it failed.
Akane waved to them from behind the van, and they joined her just moments before the shield died.
“They're crazy,” she said. “Saw their eyes. Blank, dead. Don't know what they're doing.”
Laura frowned. “All of them?”
Akane shook her head. “No. But a few leaders.”
Laura sighed deeply. “Some sort of mind control. Wonderful. Not unexpected, but still.” MC called, and she picked up quickly. “Yes? Good, perfect. What about the Canians? Good, wait until they reach us.” She hung up and turned to Derek. “The pyromaniacs will be here soon. Get ready to shield them.”
He frowned at her. “What are you planning?”
“Just get ready to shield them.”
This did not bode well, but he had little choice. The Canians were rounding the corner, and the crazed demons and giants were already opening fire on them. At least they were clustered together, which made it easier to fit a barrier around them. But there were still almost a dozen—including an unconscious one Guland was carrying, which Derek assumed was Adonides—and unlike before the gunfire wasn't slowing down. He didn't know if he could hold it.
“George, Adam. Lay down some suppression fire,” Laura ordered tersely.
They obeyed, their guns distracting their erstwhile allies long enough to let the Canians survive the run. A few rounds hit the van, but they mostly left them alone. Shooting them had made them angry, but they still weren't stupid enough to really put in the effort to attack Necessarius and the Paladins.
It turned out to be mostly unnecessary anyway, since the screamers followed close behind. The hellions and Aesir ignored the pyros in favor of the more dangerous and easier to hit target in front of them. The zombies didn't seem to be taking much damage, but they were slowed.
Derek's barrier fell almost thirty seconds before the Canians reached them, but luckily no one noticed fast enough to take advantage. “Paladin!” Guland cried, throwing the Romanian vampire to the ground roughly. A few of his men were injured, but none serious. “Burning blood, what is going on here? Why are they still shooting each other?”
“We'll explain later,” Laura cut in before Derek could respond. She turned to him. “How's your reservoir?”
“Filling quickly,” he said. “Why?”
“Let me know the second it's full,” she said, not answering his question. She pulled out her phone. “MC, what's the timing? Good. We just need a few minutes.” She huddled closer to Derek. “Everyone crowd in close. We all need to be covered by the shield.”
Well, he had figured out that she needed his power, but he still didn't know precisely for what. Judging from Laura's side of the conversation with MC, reinforcements were coming, and they were the distraction. Fair enough, but he'd have liked a better explanation from her.
“I'm not sure about this,” George said. He was on his hands and knees, and still taking up the most space. But they'd be fine. The eight Canians that were left didn't seem to have a problem literally piling on top of each other, so everyone was mostly within Derek's area of effect. It would be a big shield though, and he wasn't sure how long he could hold it. Hopefully they wouldn't shoot at them too much.
“Isn't there a better way to do this?” Derek said. Adonides, still unconscious, drooled on his foot a little.
“Yes,” Laura said tiredly. “But there's no time, and the van's not reliable. Start the shield the second you hear whistling.”
He frowned. “Wait, whistling? What are you—”
But she was already on her phone again. “MC, go for it.”
He heard a shrill whistling, coming from almost directly above them. He put up his barrier as fast as he could, covering the retinue, the Canians, and of course all four of the Paladins.
Then the sky fell.
Bombs rained down, exploding shortly before they hit the ground, creating massive clouds of dust and fire. Nearly a dozen in all, on the entire square. Derek could hear the bombers overhead, and they clearly didn't have time to sort out friend from foe. They did seem to be c
oncentrating away from the shield, but even though nothing hit within a dozen yards, the collateral damage could have easily killed them.
After a minute or two, it stopped, and Derek lowered his shield with a sigh. “All right, first we need to see if any demons or giants survived—”
He heard the whistle again, and he only barely got his shield up in time.
More bombs fell. How many, he had no idea. A hundred, a thousand, it all blurred together as his brain got played like a drum. Dust and ash flew everywhere, until the outside of his barrier was completely black.
His shield failed, but the barrage continued. Nothing landed on them, but the chunks of flying concrete dislodged by the assault were dangerous enough. He couldn't see anything. He could feel dust scraping at his eyelids and didn't dare open them. He already had a few injuries—cuts on his left side, and a bruise where something large had hit him in the shoulder.
After what felt like an eternity, the world stopped shaking. He opened his eyes with difficulty, the caked dust and shattered asphalt trying to hold them closed.
There wasn't much left. The square was completely destroyed, the entire street pulverized. Most of the surrounding 'scrapers were on fire or crumbling to the ground, and at least one was already flattened.
Derek turned and saw that Laura was trying to talk to him. His ears were still ringing, so he couldn't hear her, but she seemed to be trying to justify her actions. He turned away. He wasn't interested in her excuses.
There was some movement in the demon and giant camps, but not much. A few of them had apparently had the presence of mind to hide under sandbags or other cover. It didn't seem to have done them much good.
Derek saw someone standing up, and felt a shred of hope—until he saw that the person was between the two camps, where the screamers had been.
The zombie stumbled a little, clearly injured, but tried to drag himself forward anyway. More rose, trying to do the same. It was unclear how many had survived, but far more than hellions or Aesir. Had this all been for nothing? This entire exercise, a complete waste?
Derek groaned as something else occurred to him.
They still didn't know where Ling was.
Chapter 16: DESTITUTIO
LING
Ling could hear the screams, far to the north. MC had called her three times, but she had ignored her every one.
This was a mistake.
But she had no choice. Turgay needed her.
“Thanks for patching me up,” the crow said. “I still don't know how I got hurt.”
“Shut up, Pig,” Turgay said tiredly. “Ling, we can only lay low for so long. Sooner or later, people will come looking for you.”
That was an understatement if there ever was one. Turgay had enlisted her help Sunday night, and it was now Tuesday morning. She had managed to delay questions simply going to class yesterday, but they had almost been caught twice in the process. There was no way she had the time for a screamer fight. But that meant the second it was over, everyone would be looking for her.
“We have maybe six hours,” she said. Probably a little more, actually, but it was best to be safe. “We need to have you back with Soaring Eagle before then.”
He licked his beak. “We're no closer to finding her than we were Sunday. She was nomadic even before she got on the 'sarians most wanted list. Nobody at G'Hanir has seen her in at least a few weeks.”
Ling pushed down her frustration as best she could. “You have to have some idea where she would be.”
He shook his head. “The only one I ever dealt with was Delia, one of her lieutenants. But she's dead or in custody now, so she's no help.”
Ling closed her eyes. “There has to be someone.”
The crow spoke up. “There's Delia's boy, that... Sharptalon guy.”
“Kevin,” Turgay said in the same tired tone as before. “Useless. He's one of her warhawks.”
Pigeon frowned. “What does that have to do with—”
“All her warhawks were with her.”
“But—”
“Shut up, Pig.”
The crow finally shut his beak.
Ling rubbed her forehead. This was what happened when you got involved in dinky little revolutions where no one had thought anything through. Everything started going to hell in a hand basket the second a single thing went wrong.
None of her friends would be of any use. Even if they didn't turn the aves in—which was a pretty big if all on its own—Necessarius would find them very quickly. Aves stood out, and lugging the toy box around would only make it worse.
Couldn't go to Matron, or anyone else at the orphanage. Even ignoring the fact that she was an avid supporter of Butler, she didn't have any power. At least Derek and Laura would be able to negotiate. The Big Boss had nothing he wanted from a bunch of orphans.
Ling started paging through her address book. In all honesty, she should have probably thrown her phone away, but the screamers should distract everyone from bothering to check her location for a while. She might as well use it.
Not that it mattered. There were over a hundred names, and none of them would be of any help. Helena, Mitchel, Abigail, Harry, Thuron, Lily, Negi, Hayate, Adam, Akane, Derek, Laura, Lizzy—
Lizzy. She might work. Laura said she had contacts, right? She was a voice actress or something. She made a decent living, which meant she had a support network. Maybe a small one, but hopefully one that had no connection to Necessarius.
But would it work? She generally solved her problems by calling Laura. Was it worth the risk?
Yes.
There was nothing else to do. Ling pressed the call button and put the phone to her ear. It rang three times, an eternity between each, before someone picked up.
“Liga bak... hello? Who is this?”
“Lizzy? It's Ling.”
“Ling?” There was a brief pause. “Oh! Ling! Tīng dào nǐ zhème hǎo! Nǐ shénme bù kāixīn?”
Right. That was the other reason she had been leery about this. “I don't speak Chinese, Lizzy.”
“Mmm... forgot. Yes, right, no Chinese. You're an otaku. Nani ga mondaina nodeshou ka?”
“I don't speak Japanese either,” Ling said with a sigh. “Look... nevermind, it's not important.”
Lizzy stopped her before she could hang up. “No, you woke me up, you have to explain why. Not like I can get back to sleep, with those screamers.”
Right. She also had a power. Didn't know what it was, but she had one. “I'm in a bit of a bind. I need to find someone and deliver something to them.”
“O-kay... why not just call MC?”
“The thing I need delivered is not something she would like to know I have.”
There was a brief pause. “Wait one second. You stole something?”
“I didn't, a friend of mine did.”
“A... friend.”
Ling scowled. “Yes, dammit, a friend. And he came to me for help. I need to get to Soaring Eagle, the ave Animal King, with two aves and a package about the size and shape of a coffin. Can you help?”
She shouldn't have said that, but she was annoyed. She knew the whole “my friend has this problem” was an old cliché, but that didn't mean it couldn't be true sometimes.
Turgay looked at her a little sideways. “Ling, are you sure—”
She shushed him and turned back to her phone. “Lizzy. Can you help?”
There was a long pause. “I'm still not quite sure what you expect me to do,” she said slowly. “I don't exactly have very much experience with grand theft.”
Ling took a deep breath and counted to ten before speaking. “I just need you to find Soaring Eagle and arrange a meeting. You have contacts and everything, right?”
“Well... some. I mean, she's a prominent member of the community, so I guess I could arrange something...”
“Okay, you just need to tell her we have the Pigeon.” From what Turgay had told her, the Animal King would remember the names of the men who had the to
y box. Probably. “That should be enough.”
Ling could practically hear her nodding. “I can do that. Where are you now?”
She frowned. “Why is that important? You can just call once the meeting is set up.”
“That's not quite how this works. You have to do most of it in person. It's polite, and this crowd is big on that.”
She rubbed her forehead again. Whatever. Lizzy knew it all better than she did. “Fine. We're in the basement of the dorms. In the farthest laundry room.”
“Really?” She seemed very surprised. Why should she be? There weren't many other places they could hide. “Why aren't—not important. I'll be there in... half and hour.”
Wait, what? It was only six in the morning, and Lizzy's first class wasn't until noon. “Where are you?”
“About half an hour outside of campus,” she said tersely. “I'll see you soon. Sit tight.”
True to her word, she found them within thirty minutes. They were huddled in the corner, covering the aves and the toy box under as many towels as possible, while Ling pretended to be a maid. It was a laughable disguise, and any idiot could tell they were hiding something.
“It took me a little while to find you,” Lizzy said. “It's a good disguise. This your friend?”
Well, that was hardly getting things off to a good start, but it was a little too late to back out. “You have a meeting ready?” Ling gestured to the towel-covered box. “And somewhere to stash this?”
Lizzy bit her lip in an almost ridiculously cute way. “Oh, right, you can't just drag that along behind us, can you?” She looked around, as though hoping a closet would materialize out of thin air. “I guess... we need a truck?”
“That would be helpful,” Ling said with as much calm as she could. “And we probably need a doctor for the crow. He got hit by some shrapnel.”
Lizzy leaned over, looking at him. “It doesn't look so bad.”
Odd reaction. It wasn't life threatening or anything, but it looked bad. Blood was already oozing into the white bandages, even though Ling changed them an hour ago. It was beyond her expertise, anyway. “Can you call someone? You have doctors and drivers, right?”
The Composer of Screams Page 11