Chương 37: Bk 1 Ch 34: Crisis

"What!?" I shout, my cool breaking completely for just a moment.

"I know, I can't believe it, after all the good he's done, they just fucking-""Wait, wait, hold on," I interrupt, my brain starting to work again.

"Where are you right now? Are you safe?"

"... Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. I'm, uh, I'm calling from a payphone by the university."

"Alright, okay. I'll meet you… I'll meet you at our usual meetup spot, okay? You know where I'm talking about?"

"Uh, you mean up on-""Don't say it, just yes or no."

"... Um, yeah, I think I know where you're talking about, then. I can get over there, sure."

"Good. I'll head over now. Be careful, okay?"

"Sure, yeah, thanks. I'll see you in a minute."

"Right." I hang up, then grab my backpack, glad I already packed it full of essentials just in case. I spend a few seconds carefully peering through my window, but I don't see anyone obviously staking my apartment out. Taking a deep breath to steady myself and hide any sign of nervousness, I step out, walking down to my car just slow enough to not look like I'm hurrying. No one jumps me, and I make it out of the complex without any issue.

There's no sign of anyone following, but I still take a few extra turns just in case before heading east. Elliot being arrested is a near worst-case scenario. The only possible explanation is that ABRA knows about our friendship, which means they're half a step away from my civilian identity at best. How did they find out? They can't have known for long, or they would've come straight for me. Do they know about our sparring sessions, about the park we always meet at before flying out of town?

If so, I might be heading into a trap, but I couldn't think of anywhere else nearby to direct Anja to. I'm incredibly tense as I drive up the hill to the park, but again, nothing seems out of place. Unlike when we meet up here late at night, the place is bustling with children playing and couples out for a walk. I find a parking spot that gives me a good view, then wait in the car, breathing a small sigh of relief when Anja hesitantly enters the park a few minutes later, looking around nervously.

I get out and wave her over, and she quickly spots me.

"Hey," she says as she approaches.

"I figured this was the place you meant, glad I got it right."

"Yeah, me too," I say, gesturing to the car and getting back in myself. I immediately head back out, still half-expecting to be suddenly attacked.

"Alright, what the hell is going on?" demands Anja.

"That's exactly what I'm trying to figure out. Someone's trying to frame me for killing Barracuda and Obsidian and breaking the truce, but I have no idea who, or how the fuck they knew about Elliot. What happened?"

"So it… It wasn't you, then?" she asks.

"Who killed them? No, it goddamn well wasn't me."

"... Alright, good. I figured it probably wasn't, but…" She shakes her head.

"Whatever. Anyway, I, um, I ended up staying over at Elliot's place last night." Despite the seriousness of the situation, I can't suppress a little chuckle.

"Hey, good for you!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," she says, blushing a little.

"So anyway, we were eating breakfast this morning when there's a real loud knock on the door. That's already weird, cause Elliot's house has that fancy electronic gate, you know? So we both go to see what's up, and it's fucking Chimera standing there. Asks if she can come in, he says sure, I still figured it was, like, something to do with his parents or something, you know? But then she says she's got some shitty news for him, and asks him not to fly off the handle until she's said her piece.

So he agrees, and that's when she tells him she was ordered to arrest him."

"I… Well, I almost flew off the handle anyway, I guess, but Elliot managed to talk me down, told her to go ahead. Apparently…. Apparently it was that fucking piece of shit Mr. Fletcher, he went in to ABRA first thing this morning and spilled the beans about the magic brownies. But it wasn't just that, though, Chimera said he had an actual video of the three of us, you know, training together?"

"What?" I demand, thoroughly sick of getting blindsided.

"How's that possible?"

"I don't know, and Chimera thought it was suspicious as hell too, she didn't even try to hide it. She said Mr. Fletcher was real fucking vague about how he got it, just that one of his people had gotten it for him, but she said it looked genuine as far as they could tell, she even flew out to the spot to check it out herself and make sure it matched. Apparently Mr.

Fletcher all but outright admitted he'd originally been planning on blackmailing Elliot, but said he got cold feet when he realized you were involved, and the thing last night supposedly scared him into going to ABRA."

"Bullshit," I reply instantly.

"I know his type. Even if he decided blackmailing Elliot was too risky after all, he never would've implicated himself, he would've found a way to slip ABRA a tip anonymously. This is a setup."

"Yeah, Chimera said she tried to argue the same thing to her bosses, said the whole thing smells fishy. If you really killed Barracuda and Obsidian, why were you caught so flat-footed by the reaction? But apparently ABRA's already on the warpath, they've decided it's safer to take you down regardless of whether or not you actually did it, so they ordered her to bring Elliot in over her objections."

"Shit," I mutter. I'm guessing it's gonna take something real drastic to make them reconsider that, but there is at least a silver lining.

"Exactly how unhappy would you say Chimera was about all this?"

"Real unhappy. I'm… I'm almost positive she figured out who I am, I think a lot of the stuff she said was for my benefit. She looked right at me and told me her hands were tied. And… she warned us that ABRA's calling in a telepath."

"Fuck," I swear louder. The cops' backwards actions make a whole lot more sense if they know they're gonna have a mind-reader coming in to examine our arrested members. It's even worse than that now, though, cause Elliot actually knows who I am. Without his talisman, he'll be just as defenseless against a telepath as the rest of them.

"Did she say how long we have?"

"Could be as soon as tomorrow, definitely not more than a couple of days. They want to make an example out of you." I mutter another curse.

"... Anyway, after all that, she asked Elliot to hand over his talisman peacefully. Said that even in the worst-case scenario, he'll almost certainly get it back eventually, his magic is too valuable to waste. I… I still wanted to make a run for it, I don't think she would've tried that hard to catch us, but he… He told me it'd be okay, that he was sure we'd figure everything out." She sniffles and wipes her eyes.

"Stupid fucking idiot."

"We will figure it out," I say firmly. I won't accept anything else.

"And now, we actually have a place to start. Did Chimera say anything else about Mr. Fletcher? Literally anything you remember."

"She did, yeah. She wanted to keep him at the station, but he had a lawyer with him, he talked his way out of protective custody. Said he was aware of the risks and would take steps to protect himself."

"Then he's already left town," I say, scowling.

"He's the key to all of this, I'm sure of it. We have to find out what he knows."

"So how do we do that?" I briefly glance over at her.

"You sure you want to be part of this? We might-""I'm sure," she interrupts me.

"They are not fucking taking Elliot from me. Whatever it takes to get him back, I'll do it." I nod.

"Good. In that case, I need to make a call." The Sun Eaters have acquired a number of cars in the past few months. When we want to be overt, when we want people to know that shit's going down and they'd better make themselves scarce, we've got the classic black SUV. But we've also got some subtler options. I leave my own car parked inconspicuously on a little residential street, then me and Anja walk a couple of blocks to a little gravel alley.

After around ten minutes of waiting, an old beat-up white delivery van pulls into the alley and stops next to us. Cassie pokes her head out of the window.

"Hey kids, want some candy?"

"You're hilarious," I reply flatly. She grins unrepentantly. Me and Anja clamber into the back of the van, finding Tyler waiting for us.

"Wait, Anja?" he asks.

"What're you doing here?" Anja sighs.

"Ugh, guess I should just get the awkward part over with now." Then she transforms. Tyler stares at her for a moment.

"... Oh for fuck's sake, this shit again? Is anyone else I'm friends with secretly a magical that everyone but me already knew about? Cassie, I swear to god, if you end up actually being Sparkle Princess or something-""Nope, pretty sure that's everyone," says Cassie.

"That's everyone," I agree.

"... So you're Valkyrie, huh?" he asks after a moment.

"I kinda wondered what ended up happening to you after, you know…"

"... Yeah," says Anja, crossing her arms and looking away.

"I was… in a bad place for a while afterwards. Gabby helped me out of it. Still not sure if I deserve it. But maybe I can help make up for some of it now."

"So, what are we doing?" asks Cassie after a moment, breaking the awkward silence. I briefly fill them in on the situation.

"Right now, we essentially have two leads: Mr. Fletcher's house, and the Gottfried Clinic. We need to either find out where he went, find someone else who knows what he knows, or hope he wrote what we need down somewhere. His house is probably the best bet for that last option, but we'd need to search it thoroughly to have any hope of finding it, so that'll need to wait for dark. That leaves the Gottfried Clinic, and specifically the head of security. According to Elliot, he's essentially Mr.

Fletcher's problem solver, so if anyone knows anything, it'll be him."

"We're gonna grab him, then?"

"That's the idea. The first thing we need to do is find out whether he's actually at the Clinic. Anja, Elliot was supposed to work today, right?"

"Right."

"It's probably gonna be a total shitshow down there, then, with both Elliot and Mr. Fletcher missing. If we're lucky, Mr. Fletcher left our guy in charge to try and contain it. If we're unlucky, he brought him along and left the clinic to fend for itself. If that's the case, we'll have to try something else. So the first thing we need to do is find out if he's actually there or not. Then, assuming he is there, we'll have to find a way to grab him without raising the alarm, or else Mr.

Fletcher might find out we're onto him and move before we can reach him. Have you ever actually been in the clinic, Anja?" She shakes her head.

"Didn't want to get that close to his other identity. He's told me a fair amount about it, though, just bitching about work and stuff, you know."

"How big is the lobby, and how busy usually? Would we be noticed right away if we walked in, just to have a look around?"

"... I'm not sure," she says, frowning thoughtfully.

"Elliot usually sees a good few dozen people a day. He only needs to spend a few minutes on each of them, but there's other stuff involved, too, physical therapy to help people getting used to having limbs again, and a surgery wing for when he needs to regrow someone's liver or something. I'd guess it's probably pretty busy, yeah, especially if there's a bunch of people angry about their appointment suddenly getting cancelled."

She thinks for a moment longer, then nods slightly to herself and says, "You should let me be the one who goes in."

"You got an idea?" I ask curiously.

"Yeah. But first, you're gonna have to buy me some clothes and makeup."

"Uh, is this really the time for a shopping trip?" asks Tyler.

"No, I think I see where she's going with this," I say, chuckling slightly.

"You need to get in costume, right?"

"Exactly," says Anja, nodding. I consider her for a moment.

"You sure you can do this?" I ask.

"Grab him on your own without being noticed?"

"... Well, no. But I'm sure I can at least get in to have a look around without being noticed, find out what the situation is. And if I do see an opportunity… I won't hesitate." I look for a moment longer, then nod.

"Alright. Cassie, head for the mall. We should be able to find everything we need there, and it's pretty close to the clinic."

"Got it." I take off my backpack as she starts driving and pull a notebook out of it, one of the essential items I packed. I didn't bother writing it in code or anything; I figured if anyone was ever searching my place thoroughly enough to find it, I was probably already fucked anyway.

"Alright, here's the guy we need," I say, flipping through it and handing it to Anja.

"Clive Johnson, head of security for the Gottfried Clinic. This is all the info we've got about him, think you'll be able to recognize him from this photo?"

"I think so, yeah." We smooth out the edges of her plan as much as we can while we drive. The Gottfried Clinic offers all kinds of different internships, which will be her ticket in. When we get to the mall, I grab a few hundred bucks in tens and twenties out of my backpack and hand it to Anja.

"Oh, uh, I don't need that much," she objects, looking a little uncomfortable.

"Take it anyway," I say firmly.

"No budget. Anything you think will give you better odds of success, you get it."

"... Alright, fine. But only for Elliot," she agrees after a moment. We go in with her. I'm a little worried about how long it'll take, but it's not like previous times we've been shopping together, where we're just browsing for anything that catches our eye. Anja seems to have a pretty firm idea of what she wants, and she doesn't waste any time in grabbing it. Afterwards, we all stand around outside the van while she uses it to get changed, which actually ends up taking longer than the trip itself.

Just as Cassie's starting to crack jokes about if she's giving herself a full Brazilian in there, the door opens and a secretary steps out. She's wearing a white blouse and a dark gray pencil skirt with stockings and high heels. She's got her hair in an elegant bun, a style she almost never wears in either of her personas, and she's got fake glasses, too. The makeup is especially impressive; I can barely even tell she's got it on, and if I had to guess, I'd say she was in her early twenties rather than sixteen.

She's also got a stylish black purse, presumably filled with all the hottest accessories for the fashionable kidnapper. She looks every inch the college student dressing up in her best for an important interview.

"Wow," I say after a moment.

"Not bad." This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Yeah, shit, I dunno if I'd even recognize you," agrees Cassie.

"Thank you," says Anja, giving her a shallow nod, already starting to get in-character.

"Shall we go, then?" We pile back into the van, Anja snipping at us to be careful of her outfit. The Clinic is barely five minutes away.

"This is your show," I tell her seriously before she gets out.

"Whatever call you make in there, we'll back you on it. Trust your instincts. If something feels off, pull out, but if you think you have an opportunity, don't hesitate."

"I will," she promises.

"I'm not going to screw this up." Once she leaves, Cassie parks the van a couple blocks away, in a parking lot bordered by bushes so we can open the back of the van and avoid boiling in the summer heat without drawing any notice.

"So now we wait?" she asks.

"Now we wait."

"Think she can actually do it?"

"... Yeah. I do." Anja's made plenty of mistakes in her life, but almost every time, it's been because she jumped straight in without any kind of actual plan. This time, she's as prepared as we can make her. She nods, and there's silence for a few seconds.

"Well, since we've got some time to kill, wanna have a threesome?" I snort. Tyler facepalms.

"You know, those jokes were a lot funnier before I found out Gabby's the boss."

"Jeez, you murder a couple dozen people and suddenly everyone starts taking you so seriously," I complain. Cassie laughs; Tyler just stares at me for a couple of seconds, and then shakes his head. After a couple of minutes, Cassie does dig a deck of playing cards out of the van's glove compartment. None of us are real focused on the game, but it does help to pass the time at least a little. I'm not sure exactly how long this will take, but no news is probably good news. Around 45 minutes in, my phone rings.

I answer immediately.

"Yes?"

"Bring the van around back. Expect company."

"Understood." I hang up, then say, "Let's go. Masks on."

"Right," says Cassie, once again professional. The two of them grab ski masks, while I transform. We pull into the parking lot of the clinic and head around the far side. It's immediately obvious where Anja's talking about; there's a covered drive-thru area with a rear entrance and exit, most likely the one Elliot himself uses to come and go discretely. Cassie parks, but we only have to wait for a couple of minutes before the door opens and Anja comes out, now in her other costume.

Behind her, one of her spirits is carrying a guy in a suit over its shoulder. Tyler quickly opens the rear doors, and they both jump in.

"Any problems?" I ask as the spirit sets our prisoner down, then vanishes. Anja shakes her head.

"No, got out clean."

"Good." I signal Cassie, and she pulls out, just heading away from the clinic for now. Then, I kneel down next to our prisoner. Anja did a good job; he's got a strip of ducktape over his mouth, and more tying his hands together behind him. I remove the tape from his mouth, not being too rough, although it's probably still unpleasant.

"Clive Johnson? We have some questions for you." He doesn't flinch, instead sighing.

"Yeah, figured it was gonna be something like that." He stares at me for a few seconds, then sighs again.

"Look, I know what you two are after. I'll tell you what I can, but I want your word on something first."

"And what would that be?"

"I won't pretend Charlie wasn't working on a plan to force Apollo to stay, but he ordered us to drop it the instant he realized a black mask might be involved, after the PI he hired vanished. No amount of money is worth drawing that kind of heat. I don't know exactly who he's gotten involved with, but whoever it is? I'm pretty damn sure they've got his family. It wasn't his choice to rat Apollo out to ABRA.

So before I tell you where he is, I want your word that you won't kill him, and you'll do your best to pull all of them out of the shit they're in." I share a glance with Anja. She huffs a sigh, then nods slightly; no matter how pissed she might be at Mr. Fletcher, her priority is Elliot.

"Done," I agree.

"Alright," says Mr. Johnson, nodding.

"So, it started a bit more than a week ago. He came into work one day looking real obviously stressed, which isn't like him. Asked him what the problem was, he said he had a big fight with Diana, she left and took the kids. At that point, I didn't suspect anything. Just told him I was sorry, and to let me know if there was anything I could do. But then he started acting cagey about some new people he was meeting with, wouldn't tell me who they were or what they wanted.

There were a couple suits, some more guys who were definitely some kinda muscle. And then there was the girl."

"The girl?" I prompt when he falls silent for a couple seconds.

"Yeah. Again, first thing I figured was maybe she was his mistress, and maybe that's what the fight was about. Looked a little young, but I don't get paid to judge. Didn't take long for me to decide that definitely wasn't what was going on, though. I was in the Corps for eight years. You learn to trust your gut. I dunno who that girl is, but she's fucking dangerous. I've never seen Charlie actually frightened of someone before, even if he tried to hide it." Finally, we're actually getting somewhere.

"Describe her." He shrugs.

"Didn't really look like much, honestly. Nineteen or twenty, if I had to guess. Dark brown hair, always in pigtails. Smiled a lot, in a way that gave me the creeps. Best way I can describe it… She looks at you like a cat looks at a cornered mouse, while it's deciding if it wants to pretend to let it go again, or just kill it now." That description… could fit Barracuda, but it'd be a stretch, and it doesn't feel right. No, I think we're dealing with an unknown.

"Did you suggest that Mr. Fletcher go to ABRA for help?"

"Yeah, after I caught him on the phone with Diana. Didn't hear much, but he sounded scared, not angry. Asked him flat-out if someone was extorting him. He told me to drop it, said the cops couldn't help. Asked him if there were black masks involved, he wouldn't answer, just told me everything'd be fine after they had what they wanted. Said he could even come out ahead if he played his cards right, then told me to drop it again." Someone powerful, then.

Again, the Syndicate seems like the most likely culprit, but if it is them, why bring down another magical rather than just having Huntsman handle it? Maybe Lilith? I don't really know much about her, aside from the fact that she's second in command after Surtr.

"You said you could tell me where he is," I say after a moment. He nods.

"Truth is, I didn't drop it. Charlie hired me for security, so I'm gonna do my damn job whether he wants me to or not. They were waiting for him at his house this morning, after we got back from ABRA. He wasn't surprised, said it was part of the plan. That fucking girl actually patted me on my damn head, said they'd take good care of him. Guessed they were gonna take him to wherever they're holding his family now that he's played his part, or at least that's what they told him.

But their muscle didn't strike me as the sharpest, just a bunch of jumped-up thugs. Managed to plant a tracker on their car without any of 'em noticing a thing. In my suit pocket, left side." I kneel down again, patting his suit a couple times until a I feel something vaguely rectangular. I pull out some kind of electronic device, a few buttons and a screen with some numbers on it.

"They stopped about twenty minutes ago, somewhere on the southern coast, bout two hours away. Hadn't made up my mind what to do yet, if going to ABRA would make things better or worse. Guess it's kinda out of my hands now. Charlie seemed fairly confident that they weren't gonna just kill him once they were done with him, but…" He shrugs.

"I don't like any of it. Rather do something, even if it might be the wrong thing, then just sit and do nothing."

"That's an attitude I can respect," I say, offering him a nod back.

"It's a combination tracker. The top numbers are the GPS coordinates of the tracker, then your current coordinates below that. That'll get you within a mile or so. Once you're close enough to receive a direct signal, it'll start showing your distance from the tracker. No direction, so you'll have to move around a little to triangulate it."

"Understood," I say, taking it.

"Do you have these coordinates written down already?"

"Yeah."

"Alright." I consider for a moment, then kneel down for a third time, shifting him around so I can tear through the ducktape keeping his hands bound.

"We're going to drop you near the police station. I want you to tell Chimera everything you just told us. Insist on telling it to her directly, not some flunky, understood? Feel free to namedrop me if they try to give you the runaround. And tell her that we're already on our way there, that should get her moving right away." He grunts, peeling the remaining tape off and rubbing his wrists.

"Yeah, cut through the red tape, I get it." He's quiet for a moment.

"Schwarzschild. I'm trusting you cause it's the only way I see Charlie getting out of this alive. I'm not naive, I know even if whoever's got him does let him go, you'd probably kill him in retaliation anyway. But he's a pragmatic guy. You get him and his family out safely, and I promise he'll tell ABRA whatever they need to hear to get them off your ass. So don't make me regret this." I pause for a moment as well before respond.

"I can't make absolute promises. You know as well as I do that he could already be dead. But if there is a way, I'll find it."

"... Good enough." I direct Cassie downtown, and we drop him off a couple of minutes later. After that, we head west.

"Very nicely done," I say to Anja.

"How'd you pull it off?" She shrugs, although I can tell she's pleased by the praise.

"Wasn't really that hard, honestly. Like you thought, it was a total shitshow in there. They'd already sent the medical staff home for the day, and all the administrative staff was overwhelmed trying to deal with angry patients. Most of the building was empty. No one could spare the time to figure out whether I actually had an interview or not, so they just stuck me in a waiting room and then forgot about me. Waited until he needed to use the bathroom, grabbed him on the way out."

"You're a natural," I say, smiling slightly.

"Great. Always dreamed of growing up to be a kidnapper," she grumbles. She's quiet for a minute, then asks, "... Are you really gonna let Mr. Fletcher live, after all this?"

"Most likely, assuming Johnson's understanding of the situation is correct," I reply.

"Killing him wouldn't serve any purpose, the damage is already done. He's more useful alive now." She lets out a breath, not quite a laugh, and shakes her head.

"Killing people really isn't an emotional thing for you at all, is it? In either direction. It's just, like… a chore."

"Would you prefer if I did kill him, just purely for revenge?" I ask curiously.

"No, of course not, even if he's still a complete asshole," says Anja.

"Just… Somehow, that's even scarier than if you were just a psycho. I mean, we wouldn't be friends if you were, if you murdered people just for pissing you off. That'd be worse, but it'd also be… more relatable, I guess. Like, I know you're not completely emotionless, far from it. You're friendly, you're cheerful, you care about your friends, I can't think of anyone you really actually hate. The fact that all that's true, and you can still just decide to kill someone…" She shrugs.

"I dunno. I just can't really imagine it." I shrug back.

"Hating people always seems like too much effort to me. You can only care about so many people. Why waste it on someone who makes you angry? I get the appeal of revenge, I've even enjoyed it myself a few times, but the only question that really matters is whether someone is a threat. If they are, I deal with it. If they're not, I don't care. That's really all there is to it." She hmms, but lets the matter drop. We drive for a while longer, and eventually come to a stop.

"Think this should be an alright spot," says Cassie. I peer out through the front window and see trees.

"Yeah, this should be fine." Then I turn back to Anja.

"I have a favor to ask. Will you power up Cassie and Tyler? Just in case." She hesitates for a moment, then nods.

"Yeah, of course."

"Power us up?" asks Tyler. Anja nods.

"Yeah. I can, uh, give people a little bit of my magic. It's- Here, lemme just show you with Gabby." She summons a spirit, then attaches it to me. A faint blue glow surrounds me, wings extend from my back, and I summon translucent copies of her weapons.

"Wait, holy shit, you can, like, fucking turn people into magicals?" demands Cassie.

"Sort of, but not exactly," says Anja.

"You shouldn't ever try to fight a real magical, not even a weak one. One hit from an actual magical weapon will destroy the spirit. But yeah, you'll be a lot stronger, faster, and tougher then normal, and you'll be able to fly."" Fuck yes, sign me the fuck up!" says Cassie. Tyler isn't quite as enthusiastic, but he still readily agrees. We spend a few minutes making sure that they can both hide the spirits and summon them on demand, and that they have a good understanding of their abilities.

"Remember, the rest of the gang still doesn't know Valkyrie's on our side now, so this should be an absolute last resort," I say.

"Got it. Don't worry, we won't start showing off," says Cassie.

"Good. Then hopefully we'll be back soon, with answers." Anja and I get out of the van. She doesn't bother summoning her own wings; I'll be carrying us both.

"Ready?" I ask as the two of them drive away. She nods firmly.

"Yeah." That's all that needs to be said.