String - Interjection 13.3

Gaea.

The name rang relentlessly like a bell in my mind. Seer perceived a connection between her and the earthquakes, and he wasn’t even awake to elaborate on it. 

The car was left in stunned silence after the hysteria of getting him back inside had concluded. Copycat helped me drag him onto the backseat, where he lay sprawled across Prosperity’s lap, and all I could think about was the name he had uttered.

Gaea had been content enough to stand by on the sidelines while Grim tore through the city, only showing up when all was said and done to reap the benefits of all our hard work. Even now, I hadn’t any doubts she was doing the same thing, watching as Ajax and the ECU pressed down on Pandora like an uncompromising vice until the moment they popped. Would she swoop in to save the day like last time, or would she stick to the shadows? 

With all of her power, I wondered why she was so determined to remain as an observer. 

What connection did she have with these frequent earthquakes? Was it her unspoken relationship with The Mountain, or was there something else to it?

“I’m not the only one that heard that right? Someone tell me they heard that too,” Prosperity muttered under her breath, looking around for some reassurance. “Gaea? She’s behind the earthquakes?”

“I only heard the name, nothing specific,” Copycat murmured, looking more than confused. “She can’t be the one responsible. She’s powerful, but last I checked her powers couldn’t shake the ground beneath our feet. It’s happening all over the country and everyone knows she’s got a limit to how far her power goes.”

“Maybe that’s what she wants everyone to think. There’s no way to be sure,” I replied evenly. “All he said was a name, so let’s not go jumping to conclusions until he wakes up. We can question him later. Right now, we’ve got Pandora to worry about.”

“Yeah, true that,” Anomaly nodded in agreement. “How long is he gonna be out? I figured we’d need his help to cover our asses, making sure we don’t spring any traps.”

It was clear none of us had a clear-cut answer to that, and Alice was too busy driving to give any input. Even without Gold, she probably would have had a good estimation for something like this.

“Well, if he doesn’t wake up soon, we’ll have to wing it after we get those kids,” I reasoned. “We’re taking this one step at a time, so let’s just focus on that first. We’re almost back in the city, and the address Lucy gave me is right in the middle of the fighting. Roads are going to be closed, so slipping through undetected is going to be… challenging.”

“Challenging?” Vigil parroted with clear disbelief. “Try impossible. All the roads are going to be blocked off. We’re not going to be getting through without a fight. Can you shroud the car like you did before when we were trying to get out of the city? That’s the only way I see us getting through any sort of checkpoint.”

“That was the plan, but that only worked because we were on a highway leaving town. Any blockades are going to be packed with ECU. They might not see us coming, but blowing past them in an invisible vehicle is going to cause a disturbance,” I explained. “I suppose it depends on the kind of checkpoint. Some of them might be easier to get through.”

“No way to know which one unless this one decides to wake up from his power nap,” Copycat said, poking Seer’s shoulder. “We could park somewhere close and go on foot. Getting through that way has got to be a thousand times easier than trying to bulldoze our way through with this thing. As nice as it would be to cruise on through, find the kids, and throw them into the trunk, things aren’t going to be that easy.”

“One can only dream,” Vigil sighed wistfully. “That seems like our best bet if we can’t find a checkpoint to slip the car through.”

There was a simple solution staring me dead in the face, but for the life of me, I just couldn’t see it. Even as we sped down the highway back into the city, it was on the tip of my tongue. I had the technology to blind the ECU’s systems easily, but that didn’t solve the issue. There was traffic blocking us, and every street leading into Pandora territory would be set up with soldiers, gates, concrete, and various other preventative measures to stop idiots like me from barging through.

Copycat was right. 

We couldn’t just bulldoze through, even with the cloaking around the car and my technology blinding their systems. The soldiers still had eyes, and the disturbance we would cause just by trying would bring a spotlight to us.

Gotta get through somehow.

Once we got back into the city, Alice turned off and began trawling through the streets close to the action. War machines stalked the perimeters as ECU soldiers redirected traffic to other parts of the city. No matter how close we got, I could see no conceivable way to slip through the cracks. The size of the car wasn’t even a factor. Even going on foot was going to be a challenge. Ajax and the ECU had effectively quarantined a quarter of the city just to squash Pandora.

“So much anger…” Prosperity’s tone shook with emotion as she stared out the window. “All they’re trying to do is help.”

I turned to investigate what she was seeing. Sure enough, there were protests turning violent at a checkpoint we just passed. People were holding signs and chanting at the soldiers who worked to keep everyone away from the danger. I even spied a few signs that were in support of Pandora. It was madness, complete insanity.

Had the world gone crazy while I was busy working away in my workshop? Since when did Pandora have this much support?

“Shit… I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite like this,” Copycat said under his breath. “It doesn’t feel real until you see it up close.”

It was only a minute later before we drove past another checkpoint, and it was more of the same chaos. Protestors with signs, screaming, chanting, and throwing anything they could get their hands on at the ECU soldiers. Some of them even hurled objects at Ajax’s war machines.

“Everything seemed normal until Ajax showed up,” Anomaly pushed his head against the tinted window to try and get a better look at the violence. “I think I get it. All these people only see one side of things, right? They don’t know how bad it actually is—what Pandora is actually doing. They just see Ajax doing his thing and restricting everything. They just want things to go back to normal.”

“But we want that too!” Prosperity cried in disbelief. “How can they not see? It’s all over the news! It all started with The Cains and Pandora, and they keep perpetuating it. Things aren’t going to go back to normal until they’re all dealt with!”

“People will see and hear what they want to believe,” Alice said suddenly. I turned and looked at her, noticing that she had switched back from Orange. In all likelihood, she had probably switched a while ago since she wasn’t doing any intensive driving. “The mainstream media isn’t exactly a credible source of information nowadays. Honestly? I wouldn’t be surprised if there was more stuff online talking about what’s going on.”

Alice’s words jump-started my curiosity, and I opened a dozen or so tabs of social media on my visor just to check what was going on. I searched an abundance of key terms, some of them returning with avalanches of results.

Ajax, Chronos, Bayside, The Rookies, The Cains, Pandora, Liberation, Madhouse, Gaea.

Hundreds of results. The Bayside subsections in Supers and Metas Online had hundreds of threads that were popping off like fireworks. I watched in real-time as moderators played damage control, policing just about every single comment, and outright deleting inflammatory threads. I dug a bit deeper, using my software to breach various forums and social media databases to scrape and restore deleted content.

What I found caused my heart to drop into my stomach.

There were video recordings of Seraphim tearing through residential areas while being chased by Ajax’s war machines. Those were in abundance, but my eye caught a few rare ones that were taken and uploaded last night. They were nuked from public viewing within minutes of being uploaded, but I was able to access them easily. There were videos showing Seraphim’s fight with Alice. The footage wasn’t clear, but it was easy to make out Seraphim in the darkness.

Then there were pictures of Abby standing over Wildfire’s dead body, only a few meters away from my burning home. The angles of the various pictures suggested they had been taken by my neighbours, but I knew better. They were Cyberspace’s agents, all positioned to capture the moment—the chaos. I was conveniently absent from every single one I could find, and there was no evidence in any of this data that I, or Madhouse, had even been present when these photos were taken.

Cyberspace has been busy.

My hands balled into fists as a white hot rage burned beneath my skin, and the compulsion to smash the nearest thing into dust was agonizing. It seemed we were all too busy dealing with the real world that we had inadvertently neglected to keep tabs on social media. It had been Alice’s job, but that had been before she lost Gold. I suppose, looking back, everything went pear-shaped when that happened.

“Be real for a sec with me guys, do any of you think there’s any chance of normality after all of this?” Anomaly asked with real concern. “Cause lookin’ at all this… I can’t help but think it won’t. I can’t really see myself browsing any shops anytime soon, not with all this going on. Maybe once we do our good deed here, we should just… I dunno, leave? Find somewhere less intense or something—assuming we’re all still alive.”

He was met with an uncomfortable silence.

“Maybe,” Alice said, breaking the silence. “It wouldn't be such a bad idea, I think.”

I didn’t miss how tired she sounded, and judging from the atmosphere inside the car, I got the feeling even the two rookies shared similar feelings.

“You guys… seem alright,” Copycat offered with a tired sigh. “If you had come along sooner, I probably would’ve cozied up with you. I think that ship has sailed for me though. I don’t know. Maybe a miracle will happen. Upgrade, think you could cook something up that could help me with that?”

“Copycat!” Prosperity hissed in disbelief.

“Kidding,” he held up his hands to placate her. “I’m not about to leave you or this sad sack hanging,” he flicked Seer’s shoulder again. “Still wanna help out Seraphim if I can. I don’t know what kind of help I can be, but she deserves it. Comet to. Tricky though? Little bastard can kick rocks.”

“He’s younger than all of us. Maybe he was just scared,” Prosperity reasoned. “Don’t be so hard on him.”

Copycat just shook his head sadly. “You’re way too soft, Foxy.”

A building caught my eye as an idea sprang to mind.

“Alice, there. You see that? Pull in there.”

She shot me a concerned stare before flicking the indicator and pulling off the road. We slowed to a halt at the entrance of a multi-level parking garage that was very clearly closed. The metallic gate blocked the entrance, which left us idling just outside.

I briefly scanned the structure to make sure there were no nasty surprises lurking inside before I remoted into the electrical system. In no time at all, I had the gate opening for us.

“Take us below ground.” I instructed.

“Are we going the rest of the way on foot?” Alice asked, curiously eyeing the GPS on the dashboard. “We’re still a dozen blocks away. I could take us closer—”

“No,” I cut her off. “Here is fine. We won’t be walking. I got an idea.”

“Is it dangerous?” Vigil asked skeptically.

I pursed my lips for a moment as I considered how dangerous this spontaneous idea was.

“Potentially.”

Alice drove us to the lowest level and parked. We all hopped out, with the exception of Seer, who was dragged out and placed upright against one of the support pillars. Prosperity stood next to him protectively with her arms crossed over her chest while everyone else stood around, staring at me expectantly.

“So, what’s this potentially dangerous plan of yours?” Copycat asked as he sauntered up next to me. I leaned away from him as he attempted to lean on my shoulder. When he realized what he was doing, he held up his hands apologetically. “My bad. Wasn’t trying to swipe your powers.”

“Keep your distance and maybe I’ll believe you,” I said evenly. “My plan is relatively straight forward with the potential to not work at all. I’m just going to make some alterations to ensure we don’t all die trying.”

“That sounds lovely,” Alice quipped. “Mind filling us in?”

I placed a hand against the side of the car and searched my power for the specific upgrades. I needed to be careful here, as I didn’t have many charges left to spare. 

Luckily, they weren’t all that costly. One charge each for the few changes I needed. Alterations to designs were always cheap and didn’t cost much. It was improving on those designs that drained my power.

The first charge I spent sealed the inside of the car completely. The second added a pressurization feature. The third installed a moderate oxygen supply, which I sunk an additional charge into in order to improve its overall capacity. The fifth implemented a clean oxygen recycler to further improve airflow for the passengers, which also happened to include a compatible ventilation system that worked with the new pressurization feature.

[Charges: 3/30]

That should do it.

The vehicle collapsed again into a sphere of liquid before unfolding into another mechanical wonder. The Humvee model had changed slightly, losing more of its normalcy and appearing more like a Mechakinetic creation. That meant driving it through the city was not going to be realistic should things go back to normal. However, that wasn’t an issue right now—at least, not for what I had in mind.

“That looks… safe,” Anomaly offered, rubbing the back of his neck. “What’s the point in this?”

“It’s to protect us from dying.” I said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “We’re so caught up in how we’re going to get by the checkpoints in the car that we’re ignoring the obvious. We don’t need to get through. Only you do.”

“Me?” Anomaly looked confused.

Vigil straightened up like she had been struck by lightning. “Oh! That’s clever. I didn’t think of that.”

“What? What’s clever?” Alice scowled, clearly annoyed by the fact that Vigil had beaten her to the answer. “What are we—” she stopped when her eyes landed on Anomaly. I saw the gears turning in her head in real time. “Ah… that’s dangerous. Could work, but, erm,” she stammered, looking uncertain. “I’m not entirely sure that’s going to be enough.”

Anomaly groaned. “I’m confused.”

“Me too,” Prosperity scowled. “Stop being vague and explain it to us.”

“You wouldn’t really get it,” I admitted, before turning back to the car. There was no way to open it from the outside anymore. I had to open it by connecting to the systems inside with my suit. When I did, the passenger doors hissed and opened. “Anomaly can store things inside his body when he transforms. It’s how we beat Grim with all that water. Whatever he takes in, comes out as it was. None of us are sure how it works, other than theorizing that it’s some sort of… separate space.”

“Oooh, I get it!” Anomaly lit up, but as quickly as his excitement came, a frown arrived to take its place. “How do we know it’s safe? I don’t wanna accidentally kill you guys. I don’t even know what it’s like inside me,” he paused the moment the words came out of his mouth. “Wait—no, that came out wrong. I meant—”

“We know what you meant,” I stopped him before he made it worse. “Don’t worry, if I wasn’t confident about this, I wouldn’t suggest it. We should be safe as long as we have a consistent oxygen supply. The changes I made are just for insurance.”

“We should test this first,” Alice said, looking around with a keen eye. “Any volunteers?”

“I will,” Vigil said without any hesitation. She strolled toward me with purpose—something I wasn’t used to seeing her with. “I’ll make a statue and leave it in the car. I’ll be able to tell if it's safe or not.”

I shrugged, seeing no harm in that.

“Hop in.”

Vigil hopped inside and positioned herself in the backseat. She sat there for a moment before shifting back toward the entrance, a silvery statue bleeding out of her and forming in an instant. It was so quick that if I had blinked, I might’ve missed the process.

“That was… weird,” Copycat mused. “I figured you just waved your hand and poof, they appear,” he scratched the side of his face with clear uncertainty. “Well, that’s what your file speculates. I didn’t realize you actually had to… y’know, be where you make them.”

“I still don’t understand it myself,” Vigil hopped out of the car and gazed over her shoulder at the motionless silver copy. “It’s like getting out of a swimming pool. You drip water everywhere, leaving a trail. I can sort of…” she waved her hand aimlessly, trying to come up with the words to explain the sensation. “…leave me behind, as long as the trail is still there. Does that make sense?”

I saw the confusion in Copycat’s body language.

“No, not really,” he said honestly. “But I sort of understand what you’re trying to get it. It’s just a feeling you get. I’m similar. I’m sure we all are, to some degree.”

“I kinda get it,” Prosperity spoke up. “It’s like shedding your skin. You leave a shell behind, but you can do it multiple times.”

Vigil blinked owlishly.

“I’m not a reptile!”

“Anomaly,” I called out, drawing his attention. I didn’t want us to get too distracted, so I was eager to move things along. “Do your thing. Ten or fifteen seconds should be enough time for Vigil to get a good read.”

Anomaly shrugged and transformed. We watched as he lumbered forward, expanding so he could envelope the vehicle. He washed over it like a tide, and slowly his form receded until he was back to normal. He switched back, turning around to stare at Vigil. We all followed his lead, watching closely for any sort of reaction.

Vigil stood in contemplative silence, looking unfazed.

“Are we good?” Alice asked.

“It’s all dark and fuzzy. I think we’ll be okay. I don’t feel anything, and the inside of the car seems fine.”

I gave Anomaly a small wave, and he quickly deposited the car back onto solid ground.

“Alright, everyone inside,” I said, opening the passenger doors. They hissed as they opened. Vigil made sure to move her statue when she climbed back inside. “This’ll be a quick trip if everything goes right.”

“It's better,” Prosperity mumbled as she dragged Seer’s unconscious body back into the vehicle. “I can’t believe I’m going along with this. This has been completely nuts from the get go.”

“But fun, right?” Copycat snickered as he climbed in behind her. “Beats the training exercises we’ve been doing ad nauseam. Feels good to actually be a part of the action instead of sitting on the sidelines.”

“I guess,” Prosperity shrugged absently. “I’m not looking forward to all the yelling we’re going to get from everyone back at the Citadel.”

Copycat shrugged. “It’ll be alright.”

Alice nudged me as she skipped past. “Look at you with these bright ideas. It would’ve taken me a while to come up with something like this without Gold. If this works out, getting around the city undetected is going to become a whole lot easier. I wish we would have thought of this sooner.”

“That would mean trusting Anomaly not to get us caught all the time.” I chuckled.

“Dude, I’m right here,” Anomaly muttered indignantly. “Just give me the right directions and I’ll get us there no problem.”

“I trust him,” Alice said, giving Anomaly a smile. “His powers give him all the tools he needs to get us to safety,” she stepped toward him and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “I hand the metaphorical keys over to you, my young apprentice.”

“Shut up,” Anomaly groaned, smacking her hand away. Alice just giggled as she turned and hopped into the car. He turned back to me, looking somewhat bashful. “Wanna give me those directions now so I don’t get lost? Can’t disappoint my master.”

Despite the situation, it was nice to see them getting along.

“Once you have us, you want to go in that direction,” I said, pointing to a nondescript concrete wall at the far end of the garage. “Find some high ground and you should see a cruise ship parked in the harbour. Go towards it but not all the way. About halfway between here and that cruise ship is where we want to be. Murchison street should be there, so look at the street signs.”

“Alright, halfway between here and that cruise ship. Got it,” Anomaly nodded. “Anything else?”

“See if you can find somewhere subtle to let us out. It’s not a dire requirement, just a preference. The less attention we draw, the better.”

“Subtle, right. Yeah I think I can do that.”

“22-B Murchison,” I said again. “The closer you can get us to the house the better. Don’t stress if you can’t find it.”

“Hey, give me some credit. I’m not nav-challenged, okay? I know my way around. I think I can find the house,” Anomaly gave me a pointed look. “Though, if the area is hot, I find somewhere subtle to let you guys out—assuming you’re not dead or something.”

I snorted. “We’ll be fine. Just focus on getting there.”

“Aye-aye, boss.”

“I’ll let you know when we’re ready.”

I climbed into the car and sealed the doors.

Prosperity groaned.

“Is this a bad time to mention that I’m claustrophobic?” The doors hissed and locked as the inside of the car began to pressurize. “Ah… crap. Oh, this sucks so bad. I hate this. Hate this so much.”

“You’ll be fine,” Alice drawled as she watched me fiddle with the dashboard. “Deep breaths, girlie. I’m not a big fan of enclosed spaces either.” She shot me a playful grin. “You don’t even wanna know the fuss Pink is making right now.”

“I’m sure she’ll survive,” I replied amicably. “Look’s like we’re good to go. We’re completely sealed off, and we got two hours of oxygen between the five of us.”

“Two hours!?” Prosperity exclaimed. “We’re going to be in here for two hours!?”

“If everything works out, we’ll be here no more than ten minutes. Two hours is just a precaution,” I rolled my eyes as I radioed Anomaly, who patiently stood outside. “You hear that? Two hours. Just keep that in mind if things take longer than expected.”

“Got it.” Anomaly replied.

“Ready when you are.” I said, sitting back in my seat. “Good luck.”

“Thanks, I think.”

I watched through the tinted windows as he transformed and descended upon us. In seconds, we were shrouded in darkness.

It was a strange sensation, like a chill flowing through my body. Something felt distinctly off, but it wasn’t that we were in any sort of danger. In fact, everything went as smoothly as I hoped it would. The oxygen supply kicked in as expected, and everyone relaxed into their seats.

“Well, this is weird,” Copycat said casually. “Does anyone else feel that?”

Prosperity just let out a pitiful whine as she pulled her legs closer to her chest.

“Yup, I definitely got the chills,” Alice replied. “Pretty bad as well. I can feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. Something about this place…” she trailed off, tracing a finger across the window. “It feels so wrong.”

There was nothing beyond the windows of our car. Total darkness. Even flicking through all my different vision settings on my visor showed me nothing. It was like staring out into a void. I was certain there would be other stuff in here, or maybe some leftover water from his dip in the ocean.

It was strange. Despite the vast emptiness, I almost felt like there was something out there. 

“Upgrade?” I blinked as I felt Alice shaking my shoulder. “You alright?”

“Me?” I said, confused. “I’m fine, why?”

“You… sounded like you were in pain,” Alice said cautiously. “You were holding your head.”

I blinked again, becoming acutely aware that I did have a slight headache.

That’s weird.

“I’m fine. Just spaced out I guess. Tired,” I exhaled slowly. “I suppose it’s been a while since I had a proper night’s sleep, what with all the stress.”

“You should have taken it easy after the surgery,” Alice said in her know-it-all tone. However, she was quick to change her tune. “But I guess the wicked like us don’t get the rest they need. Too much work to do.”

I could only hum in agreement. “I suppose we don’t.”

“Well, since we’ve got nothing else better to do, how about a game?” He asked, reaching into a pocket in his armor. To my surprise, the rookie pulled out a pack of cards. “How about a few rounds of Blackjack?”

Well… we weren’t exactly going anywhere.