by Jay Posey
And then.
The crush stopped. And the Weir before her turned their eyes from her to something behind her, and they halted their advance. Cass dared not turn, and she crushed her fist into the throat of the Weir before her. But as it fell, she became aware of a pressure growing, and a light, and there were screams of dismay from some of her own.
And when she turned she saw now, there, walking among them, a being of lightning and flame. And terror entered her heart.
But also hope. For she had seen this being before. It was Wren, revealing himself in power, and he was coming to save her.
The Weir fell back before him, and some collapsed to the ground. The warriors that had stood with Cass surged forward, many unable to perceive what had caused the change, but determined to press their temporary advantage. Cass fought with strength renewed, and the Weir melted away and fled back into the night.
The survivors all stood in shocked silence after the assault ended. No one could really believe it was over. The ground was strewn with corpses, many Weir, and many of Cass’s own people. The loss was too great to seem like a victory. But the number of slain Weir scattered around them was astonishing.
She glanced up at the wall and saw the guards arrayed along it. They had lent their aid after all.
A voice was crying out from the top, “Open the gates! Open the gates!” She recognized the deep baritone. It was North.
The gates clanked and groaned open, and as soon as they did the citizens pressed against it began flooding back inside the city wall. Cass looked down to find Wren standing before her, once again himself, knife in hand.
“We did it, Mama,” he said.
She picked him up and hugged him. “We did, baby. We did.”
“Maybe now they’ll listen.”
“I hope so.”
“Hey,” came a voice behind her. “Sorry we’re late.” Gamble. She looked grim and exhausted, but Cass thought she’d never been more beautiful. She set Wren down and embraced Gamble. The whole team was there, even Wick, pale and eyes heavily shadowed. Cass greeted them all, as did Wren.
Lil joined them, with nine of her warriors.
“I can’t believe you came,” Cass said.
Lil smiled. “Gamble can be very persuasive.”
“We should get inside,” Gamble said. “They might’ve run off, but there are still a lot of ’em left.”
Cass nodded and picked Wren up again. Together they all started towards the gate, but Finn, Mouse, Able, and Sky broke off from the group and started checking bodies. Whenever they found one that wasn’t a Weir, two would work together to lift the body and carry it back inside the city. Once others realized what they were doing, they too came to help reclaim the fallen, before the Weir could do so. Aron, and Kit, and even Mister Sun joined in.
There was one man just sitting on the ground, staring off in the direction that the Weir had gone. A ridiculous number of Weir lay sprawled around him, and he sat amongst them, paying no heed. Cass approached to see if he was all right, and realized it was Swoop. He was so covered in ichor, she hadn’t recognized him at first, and she went to his side.
“Swoop, you OK?”
He didn’t answer, but just stared ahead. Cass put her hand on his shoulder, and when she did, he slumped slightly towards her. “Oh, Swoop…” she said, and she cradled him and wept softly.
After a time, she called the rest of the team over, and they paid their respects, and took care of the body. Able let his tears fall freely, though he did it almost without other expression. Mouse, too, was clearly upset. But the others seemed to swallow their emotion for now. Finn said there’d be time to hurt later, but now wasn’t it.
There was still work to do, and it was heavy. Most of the people Cass helped carry, she didn’t know. She didn’t know which was worse. To carry the body of a fallen friend, or to have fought alongside someone and lost them without ever having known their name. But these were heroes, all. People who had willingly laid down their lives for their own. She would see to it that they were honored as such, no matter what their station in life had been.
North was there at the gate, assisting, giving directions, keeping order. He had a natural command that provided some comfort in times of crisis. Cass had just laid a body inside the wall. An Awakened whose name she just couldn’t place at that moment, and she felt terrible for the fact. She was just turning to go talk to North when a terrible sound came from the outskirts beyond the wall.
It was a cold, mocking laughter, echoing from the darkness. It was Painter’s voice, but Cass knew in her heart it was Asher who laughed. He was toying with them.
“Get them back inside,” she called. “Get everyone back inside!”
Most of the people were already gathered back within the city, but three or four remained outside, still searching the bodies. Aron among them. When the laughter started, they stood, stunned at the sound. But then from out of the night, a horrible sound rose and swallowed the laughing. At first it sounded like rushing water, or some swarm of insects, but as the noise grew, it sharpened and became electric. And out there beyond the gate, the streets filled with Weir. Hundreds. Thousands. A number beyond comprehension.
“Close the gates!” North roared. “Seal the gates!”
The massive gates began to roll closed, and two of the people broke and ran towards them.
“Aron!” Cass called. “Aron, run!”
But he was the farthest out. He turned back when he heard his name called, but when they made eye contact, they both knew it was too far. Aron gave a nod and hoisted his rifle. It thundered as the gates closed. And then it was silent.
Moments later the gates rang with the impact, and people scattered. North dashed up the stairs to the top of the wall, and the guards at the top fired wildly down into the throngs below.
Wren caught Cass’s hand. “Mama, I’ve got to get to the machine!”
It was hard to process with everything happening around her, but she nodded and called for Gamble.
“We’ve got to get to the compound!” she said. “We’ve got to get Wren inside!”
Gamble nodded and called to her team. Cass picked Wren up, and together they all raced to the governor’s compound. People in the streets were panicking, even those who hadn’t been in any danger of relocation. The sounds of the battle spilled over the walls and carried through the streets, and the echoing cry of the Weir drove people to madness.
But Gamble’s team spread out in a protective ring around Cass and Wren, and cleared a way through. When they reached the compound, Cass was aghast. Not surprised, but aghast. The gates were sealed, and the number of guards tripled. All of them were needed on the wall, and yet here they remained, guarding the compound against nothing.
“You’ve got to let us in,” Cass called as they approached. “We’ve got to get inside!”
The captain at the gate waved her off. “Gate’s sealed by the Council’s orders,” he said. “No one’s getting in or out tonight.”
“The city’s under attack!” Gamble yelled. “Your men should be on the wall!”
“We have our orders, ma’am.”
Gamble actually reached through the bars and caught the man’s uniform. She jerked him forward and smashed his face against the bars.
“Open this gate, or we’ll blow it open.”
Powerful floodlights switched on and bore down upon Cass and her crew. No one could see beyond them, but the sound of coilguns and other weapons spinning up was unmistakable.
Gamble released the captain.
“I recommend you folks move off,” the captain said. “If I see you approach the compound again, I’ll have no choice but to open fire.”
“The whole city’s in trouble,” Cass said. “There’s a very real chance we’re going to lose the gate. Let the people come here.”
“I’ll give you ten seconds.”
“Please,” Wren said. But the captain wouldn’t be moved.
“Seven.”
&n
bsp; Gamble seemed like she was considering taking the shot anyway, but Cass called her off, and they all withdrew across the street.
“So, what’s with the machine?” Gamble asked.
“Wren thinks he might be able to stop Asher through it,” Cass said.
“But you have to be near it, or what?”
Wren nodded. “I’ve tried to connect to it, but I just can’t. It’s too… slippery. I can’t keep it.”
“But you can connect?” Finn asked.
“Yeah, kind of.”
Finn waved him over. “Can you help me find it?”
“I think so.”
“If you can help me find the connection, I’ll feed you the signal,” Finn said. “I don’t know what you’ll be able to do with it, but I’ll keep the connection stable, if that helps.”
Wren nodded. “We can try.”
Wren did something internal, found the connection, shared it with Finn just before he lost it. It took a few attempts, but after a couple of minutes, Finn seemed to understand what they were looking for.
“OK, got it,” he said. “I’m going to try and boost it. You just ride along, do what you have to.”
Wren nodded and sat down on the ground, next to the wall of a building. Finn knelt next to him, and together they went into a realm none of the others could see.
The first thing Wren noticed was how dense it all was. Like a mass of wires crushed together. Connections to connections to connections, and none with any meaning to him. Processes flashed like lightning, gone in a blink, with only an after-image remaining. It wasn’t long before Wren was completely overwhelmed.
But as hopeless as it felt, at least he knew the machine’s purpose. And he knew Asher was in it. And he knew Asher. So that was where he started, looking for the things that reminded him of his brother.
Wren realized he didn’t even have words for what he was doing. He couldn’t reduce the thoughts or the impressions to anything he could describe. But it was something like how a scent could trigger a vivid memory, or a particular color could summon a flavor on the tongue. A fleeting impression was enough to trigger a stream of interactions, and Wren found himself falling deeper into the void of the machine.
He floated, lost for a time, flailing, grasping. And then Wren realized how hard he was searching, and he took a breath, and he stopped trying. Moments later, or maybe minutes, it was impossible to tell, as he let his mind rove where it would, something caught his attention. Something that seemed out of place. And he stretched out and touched it through the ether.
And he was answered.
Asher. There was something of him still within the machine. And he sensed Wren. And he laughed. A cold, mocking laugh.
And a voice came into Wren’s mind.
“You’re too late, Spinner. So, so very late,” Asher said.
“You don’t have to do this, Asher,” Wren said. “You can stop. Call off the Weir.”
“Why would I? I’m enjoying it.”
“Stop it, or I will.”
“Oh, Spinner. I wanted to love you, you know. I really did. But you’re impossible to love. You think you’re special, but you’re not.”
“I’ve fought you before, Asher. I’ve defeated you before.”
“Not this time.”
Wren knew better than to waste much time talking to Asher. And now that he knew Asher was here, Wren bent his whole will towards forcing his brother out of the machine. Out of the Weir’s minds. Back to wherever he’d come from. Anger grew, and Wren invited it. Fed it. All that Asher had done, and all that he’d caused, Wren remembered it, focused on it, and used it to drive him.
And then he unleashed himself within the machine.
And Asher laughed again.
“Even now you don’t understand, do you? Underdown’s toy was a beginning. The first baby step, ten thousand miles ago. I know it seems impressive to you, but it’s nothing to me now. And you shouldn’t be here.”
A sudden pressure came into Wren’s head then, and a searing pain that felt like it was right in the middle of his brain. But he grappled with his brother and pushed him back. Asher was too big – too strong now. He’d changed since Wren had last dealt with him. Wren didn’t know how he was controlling the Weir now, but Wren knew the machine still connected to them somehow. He changed tactics.
He tried to Awaken the Weir through the machine. It was a terrible strain, but he visualized how he had helped Mama, and Painter, and Kit. Wren focused on Kit. She’d been the easiest, because she’d been fighting it on her own. Like Chapel. Wren searched the machine for that same sensation, that feeling of struggle. And when he found one, he touched it, and it sprang free. Quickly he searched for another, and then another.
“Oh, clever. But see how slowly you think, little brother. Already I perceive your mind.”
Wren had no way of knowing what effect it was having, but it had disrupted Asher, and so he kept trying it. And he noticed that once those connections were severed, Asher didn’t seem to have any way to repair them.
“Fine,” Asher said. “I was done with it anyway.”
A blinding white light entered Wren’s mind. Not one seen with his eyes, but no less powerful and painful to his senses. Something was happening. The machine was collapsing. And Wren felt himself thrown violently backwards. He cried out, and all was dark.
“What happened?” Cass screamed. “What happened to him?”
She was cradling Wren in her arms. Finn was holding his head like he was in severe pain.
“I don’t know,” he answered. “It was like… I don’t know, like feedback or something. The connection broke itself. And it hurt.”
Cass put her ear to Wren’s chest. He was still breathing; his heartbeat was still strong. Whatever had happened to him, it wasn’t something she could fix right now. It might be something she could never fix, and that thought terrified her. She held him close.
The sounds of the battle were intensifying, and it was clear that many others had thought to retreat to the governor’s compound. A crowd was gathering, and it wasn’t just frightened citizens. Some guards were there as well. One of the guards on the wall fired a warning shot, but that only made the crowd more frightened and angry, and some started pulling on the gates.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Sky said.
“Where else is there to go?” Finn asked.
“They can’t have surrounded the whole city,” Wick said.
“The train,” Cass said.
“What?” Gamble said.
“There’s a train. To Greenstone. It runs under the Strand.”
“Do you know where it is?”
Cass shook her head. “They wouldn’t let us use it.”
“It’s underground?” Wick said. “Where? Where does it come out?”
“I don’t know.”
“In the city? Close to it? Far away?” he asked.
“Close, I think. I’m not really sure.”
Wick’s eyes went unfocused, but his face was intense. Searching. “How big a train?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Big, small?”
“Small. Just a few passengers. Like an old shuttle.”
He was silent for a few more moments.
“People of Morningside,” the Voice boomed. Cass couldn’t comprehend how it was possible that she could hear him from so far away. And then she realized that his voice was coming from every system in the city. The compound’s public address system, the exterior alarm of the building next to them, everything with an output was broadcasting his voice. “The very heart of your city is corrupt. And so shall you fall from within.”
The echoing voice had stunned the heaving crowd across the street into silence. And then they started screaming, and fleeing away from the gate. The guards reacted, and some turned to face inwards, and Cass felt a shock of realization.
Painter. Painter had used the tunnel that ran from the compound out under the wall. And he had revealed it to the Weir.
She didn’t have to see what was going on inside the compound to know the truth. The Weir were inside its walls. The city had fallen.
“Got it,” Wick said. “It’s a run, but we can make it.”
“Lil? Gamble,” Gamble said. “City’s compromised, we’ve got Weir inside the governor’s compound. We gotta evac… Yeah, we’ll ping you a route now.”
The team got to their feet and started moving out, with Wick in the lead. They kept a steady, aggressive pace, and Cass had to struggle to keep up, with her unconscious son in her arms. Mouse offered to carry him for her, but she refused. Wick led them to a smaller gate, more of a reinforced door, really, on the north-western side.
As they approached it, Lil and her warriors were coming from the opposite direction, along with several Awakened, and a few of the people who had fought with them at the gate. Kit was with them, and when they met, she and Wick embraced without hesitation.
Chapel too appeared, sword in hand, shoulders and face spattered with the red-black dew of war.
“What’s the plan?” Lil said.
“There’s a tunnel,” Cass said. “We’re going to try to make it.”
“Abandon the city?” Kit asked.
Cass nodded. “It’s already lost. There’s nothing more we can do here.”
“Lead on,” Lil said.
Mouse popped the door, and Wick, Able, and Finn swung out to make sure it was clear. Once they were certain, they motioned everyone else to follow. Able hung back as a rear guard until everyone was through, and then closed the door behind him. Wick set a hard pace, and the terrible sounds of the Weir and their attack pursued them as they went. They’d made it about a third of a mile before the first of the Weir spotted them.
It was quickly dispatched, but after that, it became clear that their plan was blown. Two Weir showed up soon after, followed by a group of three. And though they never faced a major attack, it was only a matter of time.
Gamble told Wick to find them a place to button up, and he did so in a low one-story building, about a half mile from the tunnel. It was solid, mostly concrete, with only two entrances and a window. Gamble’s team shared ammo out as much as they could, but they were all low. Everyone packed in. This would be their last stand.