Summus Proelium

About fifteen minutes later, I was back in my costume and sprinting across the Phoenix rooftops. It felt good to stretch my legs like this now that I didn't feel quite as helpless as I had. Oh, sure, things were still pretty bad. Paige, Sierra, Irelyn, and that Echo chick were being held hostage by a complete monster who could decide to kill them any second just because she decided it would be funnier to do that than to keep her word. Or because I happened to piss her off. Or hell, any number of reasons. Things were far from great. But hey, at least I actually had a plan.

Eh, something of a plan anyway, which was a hell of a lot more than I'd had earlier. I knew who Casura was targeting and I had an idea of how to deal with that. Compared to how things had been right before I went into that last match, things were actually-- okay, not really looking up. I wasn't going to go that far. Especially not before I actually managed to talk to Wren and find out for sure that the kid could really fake up something like that on such short notice.

I called and texted her again, but there was still no response. Nor was there anything from Fred or any of the others. Which would have made me even more anxious than I already was, but to be quite frank, I was basically already at the max as far as that went. I had been redlining my anxiety meter pretty hard for awhile now, so there wasn't really that much higher it could go. I knew there had to be something going on back there, and made it clear in my messages that I wanted an update on all that once things settled down enough for them to talk. But until that happened, there wasn't much else I could do. I was stuck here dealing with this. Whatever was happening in Detroit was just… completely out of my hands for now. Hard as it was to admit.

So where did that leave me? I couldn't do anything else on the Casura front until I heard back from Wren, except maybe figure out how to get the message to Safeguard when the time came? I had to make sure he got it without any chance of letting him realize who left the thing for him. And I had to do it in a way that convinced him not only that it was real, but that it was something he couldn't risk waiting on. It had to be a situation he needed to abandon the LEAT games for. But not only that, it had to keep him away for those few days trying to track down this totally fictional Tech-Touched. That was going to be the hard part-- well, the even harder part. None of this was easy in any sense of the word. But keeping him gone the entire time would be even harder.

Or maybe I didn't need to keep him away the entire time? Hang on, maybe I was just being dumb about this. What really mattered was making sure the guy didn't put on one of those rings, so what if I just kept him away from the ceremony itself? If Safeguard wasn't there on Saturday, Casura wouldn't get what she wanted. Especially if Nqobile's tech guy actually came through and created a cure for the Biolem tech she wanted to inject in people. I wasn't willing to risk letting her get one of those rings on the guy even with that potential protection, not when there was a chance she could still take advantage of injecting something in him even with the 'cure.' But if he was completely gone that day so he couldn't get a ring, and anyone else she managed to take control of could be fixed? That would stop her plan in its tracks. I could make that work, right?

Even as those thoughts kept bouncing around in my head, I was physically bouncing my actual self from rooftop to rooftop. There were crowds of people down on the streets waving to me, and I managed to remind myself to keep it together and wave back. I played things up for them, tried to pretend the only thing I had to worry about was how well I was doing in the games. When they started shouting questions about what match I was going to play in next, I told them to tune in and find out. I signed a few autographs and made some pictures for them, and just played it as cool as possible. Even as that voice in the back of my mind kept screaming at me about what could be happening to Paige and the rest of them while I was just standing around goofing off like this.

Eventually, I couldn't ignore the voice anymore. Not that I could actually do anything about it in any real sense, but at least I could move on. Waving once more to the crowd while promising to come back out again before the week was over, I red-painted myself back to the next roof and kept going. At that point, I wasn't paying attention to anyone or anything other than where my next footstep was coming down and where the next shot of paint was going. I lost myself in the rush of just going. That was all that mattered, getting myself from one building to the next as my brain went into autopilot. I had something approaching a plan now, and I couldn't work out any more details until I heard back from Wren. So for the moment, I could shut down and just run.

And maybe, just maybe, I could give myself just a few minutes where I wasn't literally scaring myself sick about Paige and the other three. I just needed a moment or two where my stomach wasn't rolling itself into knots. Every time I stopped and let myself think about what they were going through, what might be happening, what could still happen, I wanted to throw up. My hands felt clammy inside my gloves, and it was just… very bad. Not to mention incredibly unhelpful right now. So I turned my brain off completely and ran across the Phoenix rooftops.

I had to remind myself that not only had Casura promised she wouldn't kill them as long as I stuck to her rules, but she wasn't actually dealing with completely helpless victims either. The four of them were all incredibly capable even on their own, let alone together. Not to mention the fact that Sierra had just Touched. She had her own powers now, on top of already being a Biolem. Sure, Casura was definitely beyond what they could handle directly, but she might underestimate what they could do to escape wherever they were. Anything could happen.

The point was, completely losing my mind and freaking out wasn't going to help anything, and I had more than enough reasons not to give up. I had something approaching a plan, there was plenty of time before Saturday, Paige and the others weren't utterly helpless by any stretch of the imagination, and I hadn't done anything so far that would really piss that evil woman off.

I made it back near our hotel before actually realizing where I was going. I hadn't even noticed where I was until the phone buzzed in my pocket, making me stumble to a stop near the edge of a roof to fumble with it. I looked around while clumsily getting the phone out, realizing I was on top of a restaurant about two blocks away from where we were staying. Maybe I knew it was getting late. Or maybe part of me was just flat out done with everything and wanted to crash.

Well that part of me wasn't going to get what it wanted any time soon. I was in such a hurry to get the phone out because I thought it might be Wren or Fred getting back to me. Or even one of the others. But no such luck. Which was probably good actually, because the phone that was going off was my own personal cell, and them calling me on that one would have created all sorts of issues. It was Simon actually. I stood there for a second, staring at the phone in my hand before taking a breath. After taking a quick second to make extra sure my voice changer was disabled, I hit the button to answer, speaking through the Bluetooth piece in my ear rather than take my helmet off. "I swear, if you managed to gamble away your entire inheritance, I'm not helping. You'll just have to get a job on your own. I think that hotel is hiring. Could you be a bellhop? Ooh, ooh, or a maid, I can see you dusting and vacuuming one of those fancy rooms."

Okay, so quite frankly, I deserved some sort of acting award for getting all that out without letting my voice crack at all. I was still freaking out inside, no matter how many of those pretty and encouraging words I said to myself. But I kept it together and managed to sound like I didn't have anything worse to worry about than how to get the best crack at my big brother.

For his part, Simon gave a single, dry, "Hah. I promise, if we both woke up broke tomorrow you'd be in much worse shape than me. Out of the two of us, I'd get back on my feet faster."

It was seriously difficult not to ask him if that would be because of all the crime he knew how to do. I had to bite my tongue to keep that remark in my mouth where it belonged. Sometimes it felt like wearing this costume made it almost too easy to just immediately say any crack that came to mind. I really had to work to stop myself in this case, considering how badly that would go over.

Instead, I simply retorted, "Oh, sure, yeah. I bet all your fancy frat friends would give you such a leg up in the world. You'd be vice president of personal beer distribution inside of a week."

Sure, it wasn't the best crack, but considering I had to mentally dismiss the first one that came to mind on top of everything I was already dealing with, Simon was pretty lucky the words that came out were all proper English and in something approaching a coherent order. Anything more than that would've been a miracle. I was this close to screaming at him to actually do something with all those Ministry resources, because people I cared about were in danger.

I could practically hear my brother roll his eyes as he replied, "Don't underestimate the power of a good frat buddy. But this isn't about that. I'm still sitting pretty as far as inheritance goes, believe me. Some of us know how to invest the right way. Now would you just listen? Mom wants us all to get some ice cream together at this place they found. It's about two blocks from the hotel, called Minnery's. Think you and the kid can manage to get there in twenty minutes?"

I didn't respond at first. Instead, I leaned forward and tilted my head around to look down at the sign on the front of the building I was currently standing on. Minnery's. "Uh, yeah, I think I can pull that off. You guys all finished with whatever hundred million dollar acquisition or merger Dad decided he just had to jump on in the middle of our vacation?" There, that ought to convince him I was as clueless about what was going on as I was supposed to be. Good old dumb Cassidy.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Once I got off the phone with him, I took a breath to calm myself a little before calling Izzy. She picked up immediately, probably because she thought something was happening on the whole 'Cassidy is clearly losing their mind and completely freaking out over something' front. But when I told her it was about meeting our parents for ice cream, she… well, to be honest, she actually sounded disappointed. Which, I supposed, was fair. She had probably been hoping that whatever I was dealing with was finally coming to a head in a way that she could help with.

But she tempered her reaction easily enough and agreed to start heading this way. She and Dani had apparently been keeping themselves busy, though she didn't get into what they were doing, and I certainly wasn't about to be enough of a hypocrite to ask. That would just open a whole can of very poisonous worms. And yes, my stomach was able to twist itself up into even more knots than it had already been in when I thought about all that, thank you.

In any case, we agreed to meet out in the lot behind this place once she got here. But since I had somehow managed to completely randomly stop on top of the very building Mom wanted to go to (seriously, how did I manage that?), I had a few minutes to sit there and wait after changing back to my normal clothes and hopping down. Which was so perfect because it meant I could spin around in circles humming to myself while obsessing over what could possibly be happening to Paige, Sierra, and the other two while I was fucking around getting ice cream with my parents seriously what the living fuck was wrong with me did I give a shit about them or not because it sure seemed like I was just fine and dandy with letting them suffer as long as this--

"Cass?" It was Izzy, of course. She was standing there, staring at me a bit apprehensively. I had the feeling she had been watching me spin around in circles muttering anxiously and maybe a little bit angrily to myself for the past few seconds. Which probably wasn't exactly doing much to make her feel any better about what was going on with me. So just go ahead and chuck freaking out my little sister on top of the pile of ways I had been screwing up recently.

Shaking that off, I gave her a quick, admittedly weak smile. "It's… right, I won't lie, it's not okay. But it's not worse. It's even a little better in some ways. I still can't get into it. But what about you? What about what's going on back in Detroit?"

Izzy looked a bit startled, eyes widening slightly as she echoed, "Back in Detroit?" Obviously, she didn't expect me to know anything about that, which just showed how distracted she thought I was. Seriously, how out of it would I have to be to not have seen any of the news? She must have realized how bad whatever I was dealing with was, even if she didn't have the details. But just the fact that I was apparently that obvious about how stressed I was said a lot. I really had to get myself under control before I walked in there and came face to face with our parents.

Putting my hands over my eyes and then running them down my face with a heavy exhale, I replied, "Yeah, I might be distracted right now, but I have seen the news. Please tell me you've heard more about what's going on over there. Are Amber and the others alright? There's so much online that's just-- uh, yeah, unhelpful. You've talked to her? Tell me you talked to her."

"Oh--oh, Amber and the--no." With a flinch, Izzy's head shook back and forth a little. She glanced over her shoulder and looked around a bit as though reflexively making sure we were alone out here before continuing. "I don't know exactly what happened, but I know the fight's over. They put the whole team in some sorta quarantine or something, that's why Amber hasn't been responding to any of your messages. I umm… I think they're okay, but I'm not sure." As she finished with that, her shoulders drooped noticeably. "They won't tell us anything else yet. I, um, I think they're afraid there's leaks in the system because those guys knew about the vault with all that confiscated Touched-Tech stashed inside. I mean, a leak besides the Ministry one."

"Yeah, I kinda doubt our parents would help those people," I agreed, my voice straining just a bit, since the moment I said that, I could see the dark SUV I knew they were using to get around this place pull into the lot. Yes, the fact that they arrived just when we were talking about the Ministry didn't actually mean a damn thing, especially considering we knew they were coming here. The entire point of this was that we were supposed to meet them here. But that still didn't stop my poor stomach from performing a quick little river dance when I saw the car come into view in that exact moment.

Shoving those feelings away, I walked over there with Izzy to greet our parents and Simon as Jefferson stepped out and opened the back door for them. Mom gave both of us a quick hug, as I did my level best not to cling on for dear life. God, how easy would it be to just collapse into her and spill my guts out? Even if I couldn't tell her about Casura, there was so much I could say, so much I could unload. But if I did that, I'd never come back from it. I had to push that instinct down where it belonged and just give my mother a normal hug, letting go after a moment to ask, "Did you guys hear about what's going on back home?" Yes, part of me thought it was a risk to bring that up when I was like ninety-nine percent positive that's the very thing they had just come back from dealing with. But obviously, even totally civilian clueless Cassidy would have heard about that situation and been curious about it. Especially since I knew about Izzy being Raindrop. I wasn't being suspicious at all by asking what they'd heard. It was fine, calm down, Cassidy.

It was Dad who replied, "We know things have been taken care of for now, don't worry. Izzy, your teammates will be able to talk to you later when they come out of quarantine. I'm not sure about the exact details, but it sounds like one of those Touched-Tech devices those strangers were stealing might have had some sort of potential lasting effect. The authorities don't think any of your friends were exposed, but they're still keeping them for observation just out of an overabundance of caution. Between that and the potential leaks they're dealing with lately, it seems they really don't want any real information getting out until they clear the team completely."

Swallowing, Izzy gave a little nod. "But um, you'll tell me once they do start explaining everything and letting them talk to people, right?"

Mom cleared her throat. "Absolutely, Cavalière, the moment we know anything more, you will hear of it. Now, let us go inside and enjoy our evening together." Her hand touched Izzy's hair, brushing her fingers through it a bit as she gave a stunningly beautiful smile. "I know you're worried about your friends, but the authorities know what they're doing. Let's give them time to work."

Cavalière, an old Italian knight. Mom was calling Izzy a knight like she called me her princess. I… yeah, that definitely worked. And from the way Izzy blushed, she knew what it meant too. We both exchanged brief glances, a world of thoughts and worries passing between us in that second before pushing them away. With that, we walked with the rest of our family into the restaurant to have some ice cream. And yeah, it really was delicious. The best ice cream I'd ever tasted, actually. Which really just meant that the best ice cream I'd ever tasted would forever be associated with me being terrified about what was happening to Paige and the others, what sort of condition Amber and the rest of the Minority were in, how I was going to pull off stopping Casura, why Wren hadn't gotten back to me yet…

Actually, on that last front, there was progress. I finally got a text back from her, not that I could look at it until we left the restaurant. Then Izzy and I said something about checking out some of the light displays they were supposed to have up along the main strip, heading off together. Once we were out of sight and certain we weren't being watched, we once again agreed to meet up later before splitting up.

And then I was on my own again. Yanking the phone out of my pocket with shaking hands, I checked the message from Wren. It was a quick note that she was safe and available for whatever I needed, and a promise to explain what happened later. I scanned through it before hurriedly hitting the button to call her.

She answered before the first ring had even finished. "Paintball? Is your-- I mean, uh, what's going on?"

"Hey, dude," I managed to keep my voice from cracking too much. "I umm… I need to ask for a favor. It's a big one, such a huge-- I know I don't really have the right to ask you to do even more work after everything you--"

"Paintball," Wren interrupted, sounding far more mature than the nine-year-old girl she was, "you know my parents died."

Well, that stopped me in my tracks. "Err, not the umm… details, but I… yeah, I remember Fred mentioning. I just… I assumed you didn't want to talk about--"

"I don't," the kid assured me. "I just wanted to say… I Touched before that. I didn't Touch because my, um, parents died. I Touched because I was trying to run away from them. When they were alive, the only thing I wanted to do was run away. Not because they were… um, bad or anything, I just… I wanted to go on an adventure. I wanted to travel and see everything. I was supposed to be in first grade, but they put me in fourth cuz I was um, smart. Too smart. I didn't-- I couldn't relate to the other students. They were like aliens. The ones who were my age didn't know anything, and the ones in my actual class were too old, they didn't want me around. So, I just wanted to leave. I wanted to run away.

"When I Touched, when I figured out I could build things to take me anywhere, it uhh… I thought it was the best thing ever. That was when I was seven. Mom and Dad wanted to take me to see the Minority people, but I said I didn't want to umm… to do anything that would make me be with kids who were older than me again. They said I should at least talk to them, and I told them to go without me. So they did. And… and they were driving there when there was an accident. They were hurt really bad." There was an audible quiver in her voice. "They were in a coma, and then… and then they never woke up. So, umm… I didn't leave. I mean I didn't go anywhere. I stayed at Dad's store, the one he named after me. I stayed in my workshop and I didn't… every time I thought about going somewhere, I just remembered what happened to Mom and Dad. I… I stayed in the workshop, I never left, not for a year and a half. Not until you came. You came and I left the shop. You came and I made… um, friends. Real friends. You're my friend, Paintball. Friends help each other.

"So tell me what you need, and I'll make it."