"It was bad, wasn't it?" Jane asked Kate, who sat in silence beside her.
Kate's face, as always, was decorated with fresh scratches and cuts, the perpetual pastiche of hand-to-hand combat. She offered no response and stared straight ahead.
Jane shrugged and turned away.
"I want to go home, Jane," Kate said softly.
Jane turned her eyes back to the Dancer, who still looked blankly forward. "Me too," she said.
"I can't shake the feeling this has all been a mistake," Kate said.
Jane opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Annie.
"Our time's running short," Annie said. "Our expedition to try to find a way to track Emily's future self—the source of a lot of our enemy's weaponry, was unsuccessful, but—"
"—She knows where I am, and so I know where she is. We can find her," Emily said. "That also of course means she can locate us, but I actually don't think that's a problem."
"Which is a chance we're not going to take," Annie said, raising one neon-pink eyebrow at Emily. "Emily can feel her other version pulling her somehow."
"It's so weird," Emily said. "Like when the ocean sucks your feet into the sand. Y'know what I mean? It's not exactly like that, there being no actual sand involved but—"
"Right. Long story short, Em has a pretty good idea where she is," Annie said. She tapped a button on a small remote control in her hand and a GPS map of the City was projected on the wall behind her.
"You gotta be kidding me," Billy said.
"That's what I said!" Emily jumped to her feet and tapped the spot on the map where she'd placed a red mark. "The pull is coming from where our old Tower base used to be."
"It'd make sense," Doc Silence said. "We didn't plant the Tower at that spot by accident. It's a place where the weird triangulates. Strange things happen there."
"So we're going to travel right to the source and see about putting that machine channeling the powers of Emily's future self out of commission," Solar said.
"They'll see us coming," Whispering said, leaning on his spear at the back of the room. "I'd suggest we mount an offensive as a distraction while a smaller team tries to get to this other machine, but my people don't have the numbers now to stand up to the enemy's defenses—especially if they send in some of their giant mechs again."
"We haven't seen them in a while," Solar said. "But Jane and I were scouting earlier and—"
"—We discovered two completed robots. Big ones," Jane chimed in. "They looked ready to go."
"We'll lure them away," Billy said.
"Who's this 'we,' partner," Emily said.
"Jessie and I. Team Straylight," Billy said. "We should be able to take on a couple of giant robots, right?"
Annie implored Solar for feedback.
"Jessie, you've fought with them previously alongside me. What's your take? It required both of us to put them out of commission before," Solar said.
"No, I've needed you to take them out," Jessie said. "You could've done it without me. But we don't want them destroyed right away, right? This is a decoy mission. We hope to lead them away. Billy and I can totally do that much."
"Okay," Solar said. "Retreat if you have to. Call for backup if you need to. Jane or I will come running."
"Flying," Emily said.
Everyone ignored her.
"Why not have one of us go with them? Why risk it?" Jane said.
Annie nodded.
"It's a good point, but you'll be with Emily and me," Annie said. "No matter what, our main priority is putting that machine out of commission. We only get one shot at this."
"If we can demolish it, those robots should both shut down soon after," Solar said. "I'd rather have one of us flying beside the Straylights, but Annie's right."
"And the rest of us?" Titus said.
"We have two jobs to do," Doc said. "Take out what's left of the White Shadow's soldiers—there's still enough remaining to be a problem, and they have the weapons to cause trouble if they learn we've commissioned people to disrupt their power source."
"And the other job?" Titus said.
"We're going to take out the White Shadow," Kate said.
The others in the room turned to her.
"We have to. The Shadow's the mastermind."
"What are we going to do, kill the White Shadow?" Titus said. "I think we're done with murder for this week. I'm not sure about the rest of you."
"That's why I'm coming with you," Doc said. "I've got a feeling I know who's really behind that mask. And, if it's who I think it is, I need to be there."
"Because magic?" Emily said.
"Because history. Let's leave it at that," Doc said.
"I'm coming with you," a voice no one had heard in days said.
A startled Jane almost jumped to her feet.
Beside her, Kate actually did, standing before Jane even realized she'd moved.
A makeshift cane in her hand and a black blindfold tied neatly around her eyes, future-Kate stood in the doorway. Dressed for combat, her uniform was darker and more heavily armored than that of her younger self.
"Are you sure?" Solar said.
"I'm done being helpless," the future-Kate said. "I'm coming. I wasn't asking."
Jane watched as Titus and Whispering traded soundless glances. She looked back towards her own Kate, arms folded across her chest, but otherwise expressing no emotion.
"In case anyone might be wondering, we also have explosives," Emily said. "Tons of them."
"Not wondering, but thanks, Em," Billy said.
"And may I just say—"
"Em, c'mon," Titus said.
"I just want to say one thing," Emily said.
Everyone stopped. Acquiescing, they waited.
"Well? We're letting you talk," Jane said. "What is it?"
"Today we are canceling the apocalypse!" Emily said in the worst fake British accent any of them had ever heard.
"I knew we shouldn't have let her speak," Billy said.
Chapter 46:
My life as a decoy
Billy and Jessie flew high and very visible above the crumbling skyline, still amazed at the destruction heaped upon the City. Whole neighborhoods had been leveled. Familiar spires in the City's profile had gone missing, knocked out like a mouth full of broken teeth.
I'll never take the City's skyline for granted again, Billy thought.
Yes you will, Dude said. No offense of course.
Sometimes you underestimate me, Billy thought. I love this city. I grew up here.
'Grew up' is a debatable term, Dude said.
Billy banked over the browning expanse of park that dominated a couple hundred acres of space in the heart of the City. He watched Jessie spin playfully in the air, the two of them moved with the grace of dolphins riding along the prow of a boat. Billy stared into the distance, looking at the empty space where the Tower once stood, both in this reality and in his own timeline. Like a missing picket in a fence, the address seemed too blank, too incomplete without its faux-skyscraper standing there.
"What does it usually take to draw out the robots?" Billy said into an earpiece the others had given him back at the hideout.
"Depends," Jessie said. "Sometimes they don't bother engaging, other times they can't resist."
"Why create giant robots?" Billy asked. "I mean, there had to be something easier they could have made. Tanks or airplanes or something. This feels silly."
"We never really figured that out," Jessie said. "You're right of course. They're not even the least bit practical. I mean the ones we've fought have been powerhouses, I'm not underestimating their strength, I just . . ."
Emily chirped in over the headset. Her disembodied voice caught him off-guard and startled Billy.
"The correct answer is, if you can build a giant robot, then you build a giant robot," Emily said. "If you can make a giant robot and you don't, you're basically spitting in the face of everything good in this world."
"Em
ily," Jane's voice chimed in as well. "We need radio—"
"Goo goo?" Emily said.
"Stop it," Jane said.
"Gaga?" Emily said.
"Are you singing Queen right now?" Billy asked.
"Can we please maintain radio silence? We're trying to save the world here," Jane said.
"Look, I'm just trying to lighten the mood. Would you rather I sing the Highlander theme?" Emily said.
"When this is all over, you've got to have Em perform her Freddy Mercury impression," Billy said. "It's pretty epic."
"If we get through this in one piece, I'll remember to ask," Jessie said. "Meanwhile, check out what's up ahead."
Billy followed Jessie's outstretched hand to catch sight of two robots, easily six stories tall, walking slowly toward them. They cut a strange, alien silhouette against the backdrop of the morning sun, broad, angular metal shoulders jutting out as arms, just slightly too long for the bodies they were connected to, swayed with rhythmic patience.
"Y'know, I've wanted to be a lot of things, but the star of my own Robotech movie has never been on that list," Billy said.
One of the robots turned a massive head toward them. The other followed suit. Soon they both plodded their deliberate way.
"Ever fought a giant robot before?" Jessie said.
"Battled robots before. Giant not so much," Billy said. "Fought a giant cyborg mole one time. That was kind of weird."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah," Billy said. "Didn't go so well."
"Where do you find a giant cyborg mole?" Jessie said.
"Pretty much in this same neighborhood. Just hanging out. Eating buildings."
"No kidding."
"Nope," Billy said.
The robots gained speed, their massive metal limbs pistoning into a run. Thunderous, clanging footstep sounds filled and then echoed throughout the vacant city streets around them.
"You nervous?" Jessie asked.
"Are you kidding?" Billy said. "I grew up watching Power Rangers and bad anime."
"You get weirder and weirder the longer I know you," Jessie said.
"Hang on," Billy said, tapping his earpiece. "Emily?"
"Seriously guys. What part of the term 'radio silence' is lost on the two of you," Jane said.
"Whaddup?" Emily said.
"I'm about to fight a giant robot. Are you jealous?" Billy said.
"Are they cool?" Emily said.
"So cool."
"Voltron cool?"
"Cooler than Voltron."
"I hate you so much Billy Case. I hate you most of all."
"Love you too, Em. Be safe," Billy said.
Chapter 47:
The blind woman's gambit
Kate didn't like this setup one bit. Too many variables. They'd scouted the area and determined there was only one defensible, livable building in the immediate vicinity of where Emily had identified the lab. Upon arriving there through one of Doc's teleportation spells, they discovered the guesswork seemed right—the place was boarded up and patrolled by some of the White Shadow's remaining loyalists, armed with the gravity guns that had become the signature weapon of this group. Others carried more traditional firearms as well, and Whispering, in full-on werewolf form, warned them of still more surprises to come.
"The hunters must have left some of their men behind," the older werewolf said. "I can smell the silver."
Their strike team was not a large one, with Whispering determining that his people needed to be kept in reserve in case things went wrong. Titus shared with Kate privately that the pack had suffered too many casualties to offer the kind of threat they needed. Better to hit small than risk losing more friends and allies if it wasn't necessary.
Still, they would come if called. Wolves always could be counted upon.
But that left the break-in of Shadow's hideout to Whispering, Titus, Kate and Doc . . . and Kate's future self—blind and apparently out of her mind, Kate thought. She struggled to look at her future self, disgusted not so much by the injury to her sight but by the strange desperation that seemed to have enveloped her. I've been broken a long time, Kate thought, but I've never been weak. She feels weak to me.
I need to be better than that.
Two ragtag soldiers strolled by, gravity guns slung lazily at their sides.
Again, Whispering's senses remained the strongest. He heard them talking. "Our Straylights have been spotted," the big werewolf said.
"Time to move," Titus said.
The soldiers turned the corner in front of the building, their backs to the little alcove where Kate and the others hid.
"I've got this," she said, not waiting for anyone to protest.
She ran up behind the two men, her feet silent as she flittered across pavement. Before either heard her, she landed a jumping punch to one, knocking him head-first into the brick wall of the building. The other tried to raise his gun but Kate kicked his hands, knowing just the spot to make his fingers turn numb. He coughed in pain and Kate kicked again, slamming the top of the gun into the man's face. The first man began to stir, she pirouetted into a spin kick, and knocked him out.
Kate looked back to see Titus transforming into a big silver werewolf, a younger, less scarred version of the creature beside him. Both scrambled up the side of the building like apes, and Kate watched them quietly but ferociously dispatch a pair of sentries. Titus nodded to Kate, his big, shaggy wolf's head looking ridiculous when performing such a small, delicate movement.
Doc walked up to the front door of the building, blind Kate following close behind him. He put his fingers on the reinforced metal of the door and traced along the creases for a breaking point or weak spot. "Never mind," he said, sighing. "Why go for subtle when you can . . ."
He took a step back, waved his hands, and the double doors simply became butterflies, an entire flock, colored wings drifting away in stark contrast to the pale gray melancholy of the cityscape.
Future-Kate held out her hands, feeling the butterflies and their silky wings fly through her fingers.
"Every time you do something like that," Younger-Kate said.
"I know. It never gets old," Doc said. He offered her a rare smile. "And I'm the one who casts these spells."
Together, both Kates and Doc walked inside.
The interior had, strangely, been left nearly intact, with old black and white tile floors, and a coiling staircase leading up to apartments on the second landing. This was the type of building that survived after the influx of money to the City, Kate realized, the sort of place that refused to change as the world around it was swallowed up by the future. The wood on the railing and staircase was stained dark, deeply chipped, but loved and cared for. History lived here, she thought.
A gravity gun interrupted her reverie and sent a blast of light at her. Kate bounced back in time to watch the bolt splash off the ground, breaking black and white tiles that had been tread upon for generations. Before she could react, her future self charged up the stairs, following the sound of the gun, moving so aggressively the shooter froze, unable to get off another round. The blind Dancer kicked the rifle out of the man's hands, and then, without hesitation, knocked him off the balcony onto the floor below. The shooter landed with a sickening thud.
Another soldier stepped out, an ordinary gun clasped in his hand. He raised it and fired.
Future-Kate reacted, not quickly enough, yet still in time to turn a sure-fired deadly shot into a slight graze along one shoulder. She charged again, forcing the man to fire wildly, missing her entirely. A kick square in the chest, sent him crashing through the railing to the ground below, to join his compatriot on the floor, now both moaning and broken.
"What are you doing?" Kate asked her future self.
"What I have to," she answered. She touched her shoulder where the bullet grazed her, checking to see her armor held. Kate saw her future self's fingers come away bloody.
"You're going to get yourself killed," Kate said.
"I
should have done that a long time ago," her doppelganger said. "I'm going ahead. Tell him not to follow me."
Kate knew exactly whom she meant.
"Don't be stupid," Kate said.
"I always was an intolerant, judgmental brat," her future self said. "I'll race you to the Shadow, then, little me."
Future-Kate turned and left.
Doc put his hand on younger-Kate's shoulder. "We'll get to the Shadow first," he said. "Don't worry. She's just . . ."
"Being me," Kate said. "I need to be better than that."
"Then be better," Doc said.
Chapter 48:
Strange places in time
All my life," Emily said, loudly enough to make Jane uncomfortable. "All my life all I've ever wanted is to fight giant robots. Do you realize how important this is to me?"
"Saving the world isn't important enough for you?" Annie asked.
Jane caught the time-traveler smirking behind those red-lensed glasses. She more than anyone had begun warming to Emily's questionable charms.
"I've saved the world. Couple of times at least," Emily said. "But giant robots? This is a once in a lifetime moment I'm missing out on."
"You have not saved the world multiple times," Jane said.
"Don't argue semantics, hot stuff," Emily said. "I think defeating a sentient hurricane is saving the world."
"Delusional and prone to flights of fancy," Jane said to Solar, while mimicking a doctor jotting down notes and nodding in Emily's direction.
They ought to make the best of it, given where they were, Jane thought. Working their way beneath the City, through stagnant sewers, the four women were looking for a way in to an underground space Annie and Doc had called the Vault. When Jane had questioned him about it, he said it hadn't been used in years. An empty space located below the Tower that his old team, and their predecessors, always had but never really used for long. Sometimes a prison, sometimes a lab, but more often than not, simply a forgotten basement where weird things ended up.
The Indestructibles (Book 3): The Entropy of Everything Page 21