Summus Proelium

“Are you fucking insane?!”

The man shouting those words was hanging from my left hand, which was red-painted to his back as we sailed from one roof to the next while a couple hundred feet off the ground.

Paige and Sierra were taking a little time off. They deserved it. Well, to be fair, I was pretty sure we all deserved it. And if I was going to be completely honest, the entire city deserved it at this point. But those two had very complicated feelings about the death of Pittman, so they were getting an actual, legitimate break. I wasn't sure what exactly they were going to be doing with their time, but Sierra had said something about taking some very fancy china that had been locked away in the Banners’ kitchen cabinets and introducing it to the wrong end of an elephant gun.

Yeah, I felt confident in saying that those two had some emotional issues when it came to that guy. And they definitely weren't the only ones. I still hadn't decided how I felt about his death, even now, the day after it went down. I had gone home that night, since there was no reason for me to stay at the shop anymore. That and, even as distracted as he was, Simon would have had questions if I stayed out again. Besides, to be honest, I’d wanted to see Izzy. I’d needed to talk to her, and not just over the phone. I was able to tell her things I couldn't put into words for anyone else, like how I felt so helpless when I looked at Paige and saw how hurt she was. She hated Pittman, of course. She hated everything he was and everything he had done to her. She hated everything he made her do. But he was still her father, and she felt lost by the fact that he was dead. She had obviously known that who he was would never change. But something told me there was a difference between knowing her father would never become the person she needed him to be, and knowing that he could never become that person, because he was gone.

And why was he gone? Because Bobby killed him. Bobby had shot him without any warning, even though the man was helpless at the time. He hadn't even had a chance to see it coming. He was simply alive one second, and dead the next. Yes, he was a terrible person. Not to mention a dangerous one. But I had practically just given all my reasons to the others about why we couldn't simply kill a helpless prisoner, and then Bobby just did exactly that.

So why wasn't I angrier with him? I felt a lot of things. There was a bit of anger, especially about the fact that Wren had been there. Thank God he had waited until she wasn't looking. Or rather, thank Bobby. I was pretty sure that it wasn't an accident. At least, I wanted to hope that he wouldn't have been so quick to shoot a man in the head if she had been looking right at him at the time.

According to Fred, she was still freaked out about it, but was keeping herself busy by going over the contents of that trailer the Ministry had handed over. He’d had a long talk with her about it not being her fault that Pittman was in that situation to begin with, but she was probably going to need to keep hearing that for awhile. After all, she was the one who had teleported him off that island in the first place.

And she had done that because I asked her to.

The point was, even after unloading all that with Izzy and getting some quite effective hugs through the rest of the night, I still had my own feelings to work through. Which I was choosing to do in as productive and helpful a way as I could right then.

“Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh fuuuuuuuck! I don't like heights, I don't like heights, I really don't fucking like heights God dammit!” The guy stuck to my hand was still complaining as we flew through the air.

“Is that right?” I asked while releasing the red paint so he could drop onto that roof. It was only a fall of a couple feet, but he still squealed like a little baby before rolling once he hit. What a drama queen. “Well, I'm pretty sure that family back there didn’t particularly like you smacking them around and taking their stuff.” As I said that, I was dropping down to land smoothly in front of the man. He was already trying to scramble a bit awkwardly to his feet, but I hit his shoulder and the roof with two more shots of red, yanking him back down hard enough to draw a rough grunt from the man.

Taking a knee there, I poked his head while he was trying not to puke. “Then you tried to shoot at me, that was a bad idea. I mean, probably not as bad as hurting innocent people, but it sure didn't help your case. You didn't really think it through, huh?”

I had just been making my way through town, trying to clear my head as we waited to hear any update on the cure front, when I had seen this guy forcing that family into an old building. Apparently he had been planning to lock them in a room there while he took their car with everything in it. I had shown up just as he was punching the dad for arguing. The thing was, if he stopped to listen for two seconds, he would have realized the guy was just trying to tell him to give them their son’s medication from the back seat. He needed his meds. But of course, this genius either didn't care, or was too stupid to know how important that could be. Either way, I didn't feel at all bad for taking him on this little trip.

Shaking my head, I used a set of ordinary handcuffs on the man. Then, while he continued to protest, I made him get up and jumped him back down to the ground. He didn't like that any more than he'd liked getting up there in the first place. But once again I really didn't have that much sympathy for him.

Sending a message over the Doeapp, I waited there until a squad car came to pick him up. The whole time, I just kept obsessing over everything else we needed to do, and over everything that had already happened. We couldn't do that break-in thing to check out Maki’s place until Paige and Sierra were up for it, and we didn't have anything else we could contribute to getting a Sleeptalk cure. There wasn't really anything we could do on that front at all, even if part of me really wanted to try just punching Amanda until she gave it up. I knew that wouldn't really help (and that it was completely wrong), but the impulse was still there. And not being able to do anything wasn't helping that.

This had to be one of the worst parts of the whole situation. There was nothing we could do but wait. I had no other way to contribute, or even check in on how it was going. If I tried to get answers out of the Ministry, I might get something. But so would those people. Specifically, they would know that I was anxious about that, which would tell them that I had someone I cared about affected by that stuff. Which would narrow down my possible identity far too much.

In all, I just felt completely helpless. I couldn't check in on how it was going, I couldn't do anything to speed things along, nothing. Right then, in that moment, I might as well have been a civilian.

The cops took that jackass away, leaving me standing there trying to decide what to do next. Some part of me said that I should go home and study for finals. But I had tried that earlier and it was impossible to focus. I had read the same section five times without even processing what it was.

In the end, I was just telling myself that taking another run would help clear my head some more, when my phone buzzed. I took a look and found a message from Eits. He was inviting me to go see something. Even as I finished reading that message, another one came through apologizing for seeming so mysterious and promising it wasn't anything bad. Then a third message came, clarifying that he had managed to find something I might like to see, something that could possibly make me feel better. Then a fourth message said it might make me more anxious and that he wasn't sure how I would react.

Before he could send a fifth message, I replied quickly, saying I would meet him and he could tell me what this thing was in person. Either way, I liked the idea of a distraction. Besides, Eits was great, and I still needed to thank him for the school thing.

Already grateful for having something else to think about, I took off once more. This time with a destination in mind, an old massage parlor that had been closed down since the quarantine started up.

It took me a bit longer to get there than it might have, since I had to make sure I wasn't being followed. That would've been bad enough in other cases, but I really didn't want to lead anyone to Eits. Especially if this was one of his safe spots. Which was a silly thing to think in the first place, since it was obviously just a one off, a building we could meet at. There was no reason to think he would invite me to a place that was actually important, or that he spent any regular time at.

Pushing those thoughts out of my head, I landed on the roof of the massage place. I was about to send the boy a message that I was there, when the nearby access hatch beeped and then opened. There was a brief pause before Eits’ head popped up and he waved at me. “Hi! It's me. I mean, obviously it's me. I just realized you might've thought there was something suspicious about getting nothing but texts from me, then you get here and the door mysteriously opens for you. I mean, you could've been walking into a trap. Not that you couldn't handle it, cuz you're like, awesome and all. But I didn't want to make you even more paranoid than you already are. Not that it's not justified. Is paranoia the right word when it's justified? I feel like there's another word that--”

Snickering a little despite myself, I hit him with a shot of black paint and moved to squat in front of the boy while he was only halfway up through the hatch, still standing on that ladder. We were face to face that way. Or at least helmet to mask.

“Dude,” I greeted him, “let's just go with hi.”

Once I canceled the paint, Ryder gave a soft, yet audible snicker of his own before nodding. “Hi.”

It was my turn to feel awkward then, my mouth opening and shutting a couple times as we stayed like that. Finally, I coughed and started to speak. Unfortunately, he did the same simultaneously. Then we both stopped and waited for the others to talk, and when nothing happened, both started to talk at the same time once more. Finally, we just laughed together. It felt good to do that right then.

Audibly taking a breath after we collected ourselves, Ryder nodded downward into the building below. “I really do have something to show you, if you still want to see it? I thought it might help with the, you know, having to wait around for a cure.” Even as he said that, the boy started to apologize for making assumptions.

“It's okay,” I quickly interrupted. “You're right, I do need a distraction, something to make me stop thinking about that whole situation for awhile.”

Rather than looking reassured, Eits made an uncertain noise. “Oh, well, it's not exactly going to take your mind off it. Kind of the opposite, but-- come on, I’ll just show you. And if you hate it, you can hit me for making things worse.” He started descending the ladder, beckoning for me to follow. “Just not too hard, okay? I bruise kind of easily.”

Of course, that just made me think about that time when he had been beaten so severely he'd ended up needing to be taken to the emergency doctor. And why had he been hurt? Because he was trying to help me. He had been doing something for me, and ended up getting hurt for it. Really badly hurt.

Yeah, this was definitely not the way I wanted to distract myself from the Sleeptalk situation.

Forcing myself not to dwell on it, and to focus instead on the fact that Ryder was safe and healed now, I descended that ladder into what turned out to be some sort of manager’s office in the back of the shop. As soon as we were down, the hatch closed at what was clearly a silent command from the boy himself. Then he quickly pulled out a chair behind the desk and invited me to sit down. On the nearby computer screen, I could see what looked like ongoing security camera footage of some people walking around a fancy lab in hazmat suits.

Blinking uncertainly, I sat down before asking, “What is… wait, is that… are those people actually doing what I think they're doing?” Even as I asked that, I was reaching up to take my helmet and mask off. Ryder already knew who I was, and I trusted him to know if anyone else was approaching.

He was already nodding. “I managed to find the place where they're working on the cure, and snuck a few mites inside. I know you can't really contribute, but I thought it might help if you could watch what they're doing and find out when they actually get a working sample. From what I heard already, they've been getting information out of Cup all day. It's coming in trickles, since she's making demands every time she gives him something new. But they are getting somewhere, and it sounds like they might be close. I umm, I guess I could have contacted you sooner, but I wanted to wait until there was something solid going on. That and I wasn't sure if you'd have something else to do. I mean, you tend to keep yourself pretty busy.”

Rising a bit from the seat I had started to perch on, I turned to hug the boy. He made a noise of surprise before returning it. For a moment, the two of us stayed there like that, embracing. I immediately felt awkward, but I didn't move. Instead, I hugged him a little tighter. Then I spoke quietly. “Thanks, Ryder. Not just for this. I mean, for the school thing too. Like I said, that whole situation would have been so much worse without you. We only got through that without… without a hell of a lot more trouble because of you. So… so thanks.”

Finally, the two of us separated, and the boy tugged his own mask off. He was visibly blushing while pulling another chair over to sit down. “It's no big deal, really. I was just in the right place at the right time. There's no way I could've dealt with that by myself. You guys were the ones who came in and took care of it.”

“With your help,” I pointed out with a small smile. “So again, thanks. You're kind of awesome.”

We sat there together, watching the screen as Ryder turned the sound back on. Not only had he tapped into their security system, but he had a second computer set up nearby that automatically translated their sciency words in terms we could understand better. It wasn’t completely perfect, and some of what those people were saying continued to go over my head. But it was enough to get the gist of things. And right now, the gist was that they were absolutely making progress. Real progress. Apparently there were a few animals that had been in or near the building (actual animals, not TONIs) when the Sleeptalk… bombs went off, who ended up being affected. So they were testing the reaction those animals had to this stuff as they were putting it together. From what I could understand, the cure actually had to be administered in multiple stages. It wasn’t simply a matter of having the right dosage in a single syringe and injecting it. The victims had to be brought out one step at a time.

The point was, they were getting somewhere, finally. Amanda had given in, so far, and was telling them what they needed to know to put the cure together. I had no idea what she was getting in exchange for it, but in that moment all I cared about was that my parents might finally be able to wake up. The thought made me smile dumbly as I stared at that monitor and listened to the doctors talking back and forth at each other. My hand had found Ryder’s and squeezed it a bit. This was working. My parents were going to be okay.

That, of course, was the moment something beeped. Ryder switched the screen over to show what was apparently the exterior of that nondescript building where those doctors were working. Immediately, I saw several vans in a parking lot that was otherwise almost empty. Guys in masks with heavy weapons were already piling out of those vans and exchanging fire with a few security guards and cops near the entrance.

Eyes widening, I bolted to my feet. “They’re trying to take the cure, where is that place?!”

Eits gave me the address and directions, already opening the access door in the ceiling. “You’re gonna call your team, right?”

“Yes,” I confirmed, painting blue-green under my feet. Just before launching myself upward, I added, “And we’re gonna show those people just what a mistake they just made.”