The Hallowed Cure, page 8
“Okay, stop,” I told everyone. “Diversion noted. Panacea’s from outer space. We’ll all freak out about that later, but now we need to go back to Caitlyn’s original point. You believe panacea doesn’t intend to eradicate us … why?”
“Because it didn’t,” Caitlyn said simply. “Panacea adapted. That adaption, during the Hallowed War, created unintended consequences, like Mutes. Yet it also created Hallowed, giving you all the powers you now enjoy. Panacea didn’t just create Mutes. It saved Dios from them.”
That was actually a really good point. When Caitlyn said it like that, I wanted to believe her.
Lincoln grimaced. “So … the Mutes I saw after the war were more human than the earlier ones?”
As Caitlyn glanced at him, I saw her gaze soften. “I believe so.
Yet no one knew it at the time, so if you think to blame yourself for continuing to eliminate them, don’t. We all did.”
“Too late,” Lincoln whispered.
Prescott gripped his shoulder. “I killed those things too, but we didn’t know. We just wanted to keep everyone safe. You wanted to keep everyone safe, and you stopped, remember? After that last nest, when you sensed something was off, you stopped. You retired.”
“She’s right,” I told Lincoln. “You didn’t know, and you stopped doing it.”
He sighed. “I think we should try and make peace first.”
“As do I,” Mia added, though that wasn’t a surprise. “We owe Skye a chance to explain herself. Also, any attempt to root Skye and her Mutes out from beneath Hatten Towers is going to result in a massive amount of casualties, military and civilian. If we can avoid that, we must try.”
Prescott grimaced. “I want to disagree, but I don’t see how I can.”
Hahna sighed. “Very well. We’ll follow your lead, Alexander. We’ll open negotiations.”
That shocked me more than anything she’d said yet. “Holy shit, really?”
Hahna nodded. “Holding negotiations will allow us to get close enough to the C0 to take it out once it reveals its true intentions.
Killing it that way will be far easier than fighting through its army and attempting to locate it in the maze of the understructure.”
Had Hahna explained it any other way, I’d never have believed her. “We’re not killing Skye.” Yet as I thought more about it, I amended my statement. “Unless we find out she really has no interest in making peace. Unless she wants revenge, and we can’t talk her out of it. If that’s so ... she has to die.”
Caitlyn frowned at me. “Grant—”
I raised my hand. “You’re right about our obligation to offer peace, but Hahna’s also right about the threat Skye poses to Dios. We have a Class One Mute down there with Skye, and a whole horde of Mutes who Cloud Nine may have tortured into insanity. They’re led by a woman who just watched the man she loved get pulped by an anti-aircraft missile. I don’t want to kill Skye … I owe her more than anyone … but if she’s planning revenge, we have to put Dios and its people first.”
“Well spoken,” Hahna agreed, and smiled. “You may make a good captain someday.”
I sighed. “Let’s make sure I don’t get us all killed before patting me on the back.” I looked around at my squadmates and friends.
The people I hadn’t let die yet. “So? All agreed?”
One after the other, they nodded. Even Caitlyn.
So that was something, I supposed.
[ 8 ]
IT’S ALWAYS SOMETHING WITH YOU, ISN’T IT?
Once our Hallowed armor arrived, Caitlyn spent a good thirty minutes looking it over before declaring it booby-trap free, as well as verifying she still understood how it all worked. Every moment we delayed chafed, but I got no urgent calls from Lindsay demanding we head to Hatten Towers. I had to assume Captain Walsh still had Hatten Towers surrounded, and no one else inside it had died.
Saul brought in a big commercial truck to transport our squad, plus Caitlyn and Mia. It wasn’t a Cloudhopper, but it was covert, and I didn’t trust any aircraft Lindsay offered anyway. I suited up carrying both Dismay and Baku, Kodai’s Hallowed rifle. Reese suited up with Pokey, Prescott with Godhammer, Lincoln with Wrecking Ball, and Hahna with Despair.
I handed Ruin off to Caitlyn. We’d already verified she could fire it, and having a Hallowed weapon to defend herself would be vital as she carried out her part of the plan. She might be confident Skye’s Mutes would leave her alone, but I sure as hell wasn’t.
Yet despite having a five-person squad, again, I was in command this time. I was commanding Captain Sato. That would never stop feeling weird; I still couldn’t trust Hahna to lead us, and everyone else apparently trusted me.
Yet I also had no intention of leaving Hahna behind. I’d said as much when I told everyone we’d need to kill Skye if she decided to eat the city. If it did come to a fight with Skye and her army beneath
Hatten Towers, we wouldn’t survive without Hahna and Despair fighting at our side.
We all piled in the back of the commercial truck with no windows, but I trusted Saul to get us to our destination, even with only one eye. Saul drove as Mia and Caitlyn sat up front with him. As he drove us to Lindsay’s rally point, I looked over the force manifest Lindsay had sent in her report.
Cloud Nine currently had two and a half squads of active Hallowed or Hallowed reserve—twelve in total—only a few of whom I knew. Sergeant Caley was still in, of course, because she’d never stop hitting things with her sword, and I vaguely knew Sergeant Duncan as the swordsman I’d fought beside back at the Eiffel Tower.
I also recognized Bowman and Nguyen as Mia’s old unarmed combat students, though both were corporals now. We’d ranked up a lot faster during the war, but people died a lot less these days. Which I’m sure was absolutely fine with everyone involved.
The rest of the names on Lindsay’s lists were strangers to me. So including Captain Walsh, that made five Hallowed I could probably trust and seven who might be directly on Lindsay Griffyn’s payroll.
They might be as merciless as Mercy or Chill or Gantz. Or Malcolm Knox, asshole extraordinaire.
With Walsh’s squad, we’d be ten to seven when we showed up, but Lindsay Griffyn would have Barghests, Cloudhoppers, and Archer artillery under her command, which put us on the losing end of any big fight. I just had to hope Lindsay’s betrayal would come later rather than sooner. And, of course, it wasn’t like I didn’t already have a plan to betray her.
I wondered if the Mutes ever suffered infighting like us. If I could say nothing else for them, back in the war, I’d never seen them stab each other in the back. The only panacea mutants who’d ever fought against their own kind were the ones closest to being human: the Hallowed.
It took another hour by truck to reach Hatten Towers. Yet even an hour of time to think in the back of a truck left me no closer to a decision as to what to do with Skye’s Mute army, should they agree to … surrender? Make peace? Lindsay would never accept peace.
All I could consider were the facts. Skye had stopped me from firing a Voltage at Lindsay’s God Armor on the roof of Cloud Nine, but only to save Tony. She’d also placed herself between us and that God Armor to keep us alive. Finally, even after Captain Sato tried to kill her for the second time, and Skye disarmed Hahna and stood over her with a clear shot at ripping her head off … Skye hadn’t.
Skye could have killed Hahna easily on that roof, yet she’d let Hahna live. She’d let us all live, despite seeing Tony die in front of her, and then retreated with her Mute army instead of tearing Hatten apart. So far as recent news reports showed, Skye’s army hadn’t eaten anyone on the way. And while her army did threaten the people in Hatten Towers, they hadn’t killed anyone there either.
I remembered the strange behavior of the Mutes Amber and I encountered in Rocham, making signs and protecting each other as they retreated from a human mob. I remembered thirteen Mutes not ripping me apart once I chased after them. And finally, I remembered Skye and Tony embracing in the brief moment they had together before Lindsay dropped AP gas and Captain Hahna Sato.
They’d hugged each other like people would. People who could love.
Taken alone, none of those moments would be enough to trust Caitlyn’s decree that we could negotiate with Skye, but together, they made a strong case. Yet even if Skye did accept peace, I still had to find a way to get both Hahna Sato and Lindsay Griffyn to go along with our treaty. And while I’d happily end Lindsay’s life, taking out Hahna was a route I wasn’t willing to tread just yet.
This was why I hated being in command. This was why I always wanted to let someone else handle it. Yet the only person willing to take over for me wasn’t someone I could trust, so I was stuck doing this until I saved Dios from Skye’s Mute army or got everyone I cared about killed.
The truck eventually slowed. “We’re outside their perimeter,” Mia said over comms. “Visible forces look to match Lindsay’s report, along with a large number of uniformed Dios PD officers and vehicles. No Mutes visible, and no sign of armed conflict. It seems our standoff remains unbroken.”
It had now been almost eight hours since Skye rescued her Mute friends from beneath Cloud Nine and tore off to take refuge beneath Hatten Towers. Yet the Mutes hadn’t attacked. Skye’s awareness of AP gas could be the reason, yet if the Mutes did know to hold their breath now, ten minutes would be more than enough time for them to rip their way through our forces.
They hadn’t. I wondered if Skye was waiting for us. Could she really want to make peace as well?
We all walked off the truck in single file. My eyes met Mia’s through my helmet bubble as she, Caitlyn, and Saul drove off to execute the next part of our plan, and I saw the worry there. Yet Mia’s job would be more dangerous than mine. Either way, I’d see her soon enough.
I then led my squad on foot through the lines of Dios PD, which all parted for us in obvious respect. We walked toward a suit of Hallowed armor standing by the big barricades blocking off the entry to the parking garages beneath Hatten Towers. A distorted AR arrow appeared and solidified as our armor automatically synchronized with Cloud Nine’s network.
Walsh’s calm voice crackled across comms. “Hey, everyone. It’s been awhile.”
It was good to hear Walsh’s voice again, despite the circumstances. We hadn’t spoken for over two years. Our last conversation was at the Lynbrook café where he agreed to give me Jack Griffyn’s whereabouts, and I hadn’t dared contact him after that.
I couldn’t bear to have him implicated.
“It has been,” I agreed. “I’ve brought Corporal Alexander, Sergeant Lincoln, Sergeant Prescott, and Captain Sato with me. Any Mute activity since you set up the barricades?”
“Nothing,” Walsh said calmly. “But I already have our plan in place. We’ll start by clearing the upper floors of the garage with Hallowed squads, then have Dios PD cart in AP gas bombs to flood the garage. Once we fill the garage with gas, we’ll move in and eliminate the Mutes one by one.”
“That’s a great plan,” I said, and raised one armored hand. “But we should talk first.”
Walsh paused a moment. “About?”
I fumbled at my belt for the wire Caitlyn had rigged up. “I need to know Lindsay won’t kill us all after we clean up the Mutes. Plug this in so we can chat privately.”
Walsh frowned inside his helmet. “Miss Griffyn might not approve.”
“Miss Griffyn can get fucked,” I said calmly.
The wire Caitlyn had set up should allow us to established a wired communications connection that theoretically couldn’t be intercepted by Lindsay or her agents. Anything that went over Cloud Nine’s network would be eavesdropped on, but not this. Caitlyn assured me of that.
I expected to have to explain to Walsh where to plug in the cable, but he popped open the small port on his arm and plugged the cable right in. I remembered then Walsh helped test and troubleshoot armor and weapons. He’d taught me how to kill Dismay’s link to Cloud Nine back during the war.
“Taking privately where Lindsay can’t hear will make her unbelievably paranoid,” Walsh said. “But you knew that, didn’t you?”
I did. “No way around it, given what we have planned instead.”
“Instead?” Walsh asked.
“We’re going to negotiate.”
Even as the words came out of my mouth, I felt like an idiot for suggesting it. The way Walsh looked at me, and the silence over the line, didn’t help. It was tough to keep a calm face.
“Negotiate?” Walsh asked finally.
“With Skye Taylor,” I said. “The Class Zero in command of the Mutes. We’re going to see if we can convince her to surrender peacefully.”
Walsh’s next words were audibly dubious. “And you think that might actually work?”
“It might.”
I then laid out everything Lindsay probably hadn’t told Walsh—
how Skye acted during our earlier assault on Cloud Nine, Skye’s apparent sentience, Caitlyn Alexander’s mysterious white Mute
communication cel, and most importantly, Lindsay’s plan to kill us all soon.
When I finished, Walsh sighed. “It’s always something with you, isn’t it?”
He wasn’t wrong. “One day, I need to call you up so we can just have a beer.”
“One day,” Walsh agreed ruefully. “So how do you want to play this? And more importantly, given Lindsay knows we’ve talked out of earshot, how do we play her? ”
Once again, Walsh had offered to back my play instead of questioning it. I really would need to buy him a beer after this was all over. “Lindsay will never go for the peace treaty idea. I just need you to fight for my squad to plant the gas and secure the garage. We’ll pretend to follow your plan.”
“Lindsay will never let you go in there by yourself, especially not now,” Walsh said grimly. “She’ll want a squad loyal to her to join you, likely Squad Two. That’s Captain Hex’s squad.”
I clearly remembered the purple-haired Mortician I’d first seen in Jack Griffyn’s bedroom, after Hahna tossed him off a building, and later, the man who shot a dart into Caitlyn and carted her off in a Cloudhopper. It figured Lindsay would send him along. I really didn’t like that guy.
“That’s all part of my very bad plan,” I agreed. “But how is Hex a captain, exactly?”
“He took the job after I cashed out,” Walsh said. “He’s been Lindsay Griffyn’s personal bodyguard for years, but he also suited up for Hallowed missions often enough to maintain his place in the Corps. Needless to say, Captain Hex is her soldier until the end.
There’s no way we turn him.”
I had to assume the rest of Captain Hex’s Squad Two was equally loyal, which meant everything I’d soon do was justified … I hoped. It was possible some in Hex’s squad only knew Lindsay as the daughter of the man who saved the city during the Hallowed War. I’d just hope they survived.
“Who’s with you?” I asked Walsh.
“Everyone in the reserve,” Walsh said. “Caley, Bowman, Nguyen, and Duncan. They’ll follow me over Lindsay, but only Caley will be happy about it.”
“And the other two?” Two Hallowed soldiers we hadn’t discussed remained, though I couldn’t even recall their names at the moment.
“Clark and Santos,” Walsh said. “Neither has seen any combat.
They were in line to become Morticians until recently, when we lost Mercy and Dice the night Jack Griffyn jumped off a roof.”
In other words, Captain Hahna Sato had made some job openings in more ways than one. I had to assume that if Clark and Santos were in line to be Morticians, they’d undergone whatever brain surgery turned them into loyal psychopaths. Like I’d anticipated, Lindsay’s alliance was also a trap.
“You five be ready to make a run for it in case something goes wrong,” I said. “Either from the Mutes or Cloud Nine.”
“I can cover my squad,” Walsh said. “What about yours? Captain Hex isn’t a pushover.”
“You let me worry about Hex,” I said. “Just keep Lindsay from coming in after us.”
“Worry about them how, exactly?” Walsh asked. “Captain Hex might be an ass, but I’m not comfortable signing him and his squad up to be murdered.”
I liked that Walsh cared about Captain Hex and his squad despite their misguided loyalties. “That’s not the plan. Caitlyn Alexander knows a thing or two about Hallowed armor. She has a way to disable them without hurting them. We won’t kill anyone unless they try to kill us first.”
“And once you take them down, how do we keep Lindsay from launching a rescue mission?” Walsh asked. “She’ll order us to go in guns blazing at that point.”
“Caitlyn is confident she can disable their comms as well. So all you need to do is question Lindsay’s orders long enough to give us time to talk to Skye. We won’t be coming back up the way we went in regardless. So if all goes well, everyone will be gone by the time you move in to rescue us.”
“And if it doesn’t go well?” Walsh asked. “You’ll all be dead.”
I nodded. “Pretty much.”
Walsh sighed. “I knew I should have stayed retired.”
I thumped his armored arm. “I’m real glad you didn’t.”
[ 9 ]
NEXT TIME, DON’T IDNAP MY FRIENDS
Further negotiations played out and concluded exactly the way I’d hoped, thanks to Captain Walsh’s talent for telling Lindsay what she needed to hear. Lindsay knew we planned to betray her, and insisted Hex’s squad join mine in planting the gas. Lindsay also knew she planned to betray us, so at least we understood each other. Our mutual betrayal plans were downright cordial.
And if we all got killed while taking Skye down, that’d solve both Lindsay’s problems.
Captain Hex insisted in taking point as we entered the parking garage beneath Hatten Towers. Two of his Hallowed flanked him while two walked behind us. He also had my squadmates carry the big AP gas canisters, which put Reese and Lincoln at a disadvantage. They’d had to drop the big gas canisters to draw their weapons, and that’d take far too long in a fight.
