"Or three," Waverly said.
"How three?"
"One, you're half shapeshifter. I'm guessing that grants a certain amount of adaptability. Two, Avlan nobles are especially constrained—they 'live within walls', whatever that means. After meeting Atur, I could probably take a guess. He walks through this world like nothing here touches him. Not like he's disgusted it might. But like he's confident it won't because it physically can't."
Nifu made a thoughtful noise.
"Three, there is something about those nobles or the way they live that makes them immune to the touch of both Mimica and Creepers, attempting to change their state."
Nifu's eyes widened. "The paths are change made manifest and malleable, change for space as Mimica are for matter."
Waverly made a thoughtful noise. "Starting to wonder if it wasn't Mimica who made the paths in the first place."
"Oh," said Nifu. "Oh, that makes sense. I always—I could always feel at home there. I never knew why I was different."
"But it still doesn't answer the question of what makes the nobles so damn different from the rest of Avla."
"They live as we do, more or less," Nifu said, and then, with a tone of realization, she continued, "except that they are permitted to eat the fruit from the Avlan groves around which the city was founded whenever they please."
Waverly's attention focused on her. "When do you normally get to?"
"Only if we are near death from a noble and heroic act of sacrifice. In effect, it makes one an Avlan noble. Even Pathfinders are exempted from service after such an act."
"And none of those people have ever gone over to the Cewri either?"
"No," said Nifu confidently. "They are heroes."
"So you're told," David muttered.
"Or," said Waverly, "an apple a day keeps the Creepers away."
Nifu didn't seem to register the joke, frowning in consternation at the concept. Toto twisted his head/hand as if to say 'really?'
Waverly scoffed. No one appreciated his humor.
"You mean the fruits from the Avlan groves? Even I would have trouble getting a hold of one of those," Nifu told him.
"Is that a no go?" Waverly sighed. "No other tricks in your magic mirror?"
Nifu frowned at that, looking back at the window through which she'd come. "Wait. I do know of a way to block the Collective. Okka couldn't access the Collective in the Paths."
"So if you pull xem in…"
"I don't know what it will do, pulling xem out of the universe and cutting xem off from the rest of xir kind so abruptly. It might kill xem. That is so similar to how we've killed Mimica in the past. Or it might save xem. Xe can survive there. But I worry that there may be no good way to pull out the Empress's hooks."
"Well, we need to do something."
"Yes, we do. I will defend Avla and its Protectorates as well as I know how. This is the path I think best."
Waverly blew out a breath. "Well, it's still a lot more of a chance than we had before. What do you need?"
"A magic mirror."
Chapter Eleven
Waverly could no longer deny that Toto was ready.
Waverly was ready too—well, as much as he could be. Bulletproof vest, specialized weaponry, a determination to do whatever needed to be done.
He wasn't exactly happy about it, though.
"You two keep each other safe," David told them, "or I will be very angry. I'll be listening in in case there's anything I can do." He tapped his Bluetooth earpiece, which was connected in to Waverly's identical one, Atur's alien equivalent, and directly into Toto's audio processors.
Nifu stood ready to be called upon, listening via her own slightly creepier means. Toto, Waverly, and Atur set forth, like an RPG adventuring party on a raid, but the landscape was real-life New York.
It was almost funny, until he remembered that the boss was Okka.
Neither the media nor the police had discovered the place, but they were both sniffing around the general area. It wouldn't stay that way for long. A man on a flying metal horse and one with a huge sword whose blade had edges made of rifts in the universe were about to make the place a considerable amount more conspicuous.
The minions of the Imperium came out to meet them as they approached on the stories-high rim of the dry dock. More of them were in the insectoid shape that Atur had called "Scythe" than Waverly remembered from his information-gathering jaunt, which was one more point for their all being shapeshifters. Mimica.
Okka's people. For good or ill.
The weapons that Waverly had given to Toto could hurt their current forms, slow them down, but not bring them down for good. The plan was to let Atur and Nifu handle that part. Waverly's job was to find Okka, get the mirror into place, and keep himself and Toto alive.
Waverly watched Atur face them all without hesitation. Expert strikes cut into the weak points of chitinous armor, making the first few fall back. They watched as the armor reformed, and then they knew for certain.
When Atur called on Nifu to aid his sword, he turned his hand to strike with the flat of his blade, and the results were even more deadly. Whole swathes of a being disappeared into the nowhere behind Nifu's glass, and the rest of the body fell, instantly dead. Even Mimica could not survive having so much of their body vanish into a place that was nowhere.
It was possible that one of these Mimica was Okka. But Waverly didn't think so. They would all soon be dead, and if the Imperium wanted Okka off this planet so badly, xe wouldn't be in the first wave. Xe would be down in the mess of construction, close to the half-finished rocket. Waverly and Toto flew down to the floor of the dry dock far below, eyes and cameras scanning for Okka, and finding xem.
Xe'd moved from the main construction area into one of the piles of scrap and had obviously only shown xemself as bait. There could be anything hidden in the wreckage. Waiting to ambush them.
Waverly didn't care. From then on, he had one purpose and one purpose only. To get to Okka. Atur appeared beside him soon enough, having let himself down the side of the dock with the aid of a thin rope. Waverly and Toto pushed forward and distracted, Atur defended. The numbers around them were dwindling, but with Mimica, would there be any way to tell if there were more tucked away somewhere?
Waverly picked a spot just between where Okka waited and the half-finished rocket. The Cewri may have wanted to spare the rocket battle damage, but if Okka and the other Mimica couldn't get to the vehicle, it wouldn't be of any use. Waverly brought Toto and the mirror to that spot, and beckoned to Atur to push Okka that way, if he could.
Their enemy must have realized something of what they were up to, because Waverly's position was suddenly the focus of a half-dozen fighters.
"Oh, that doesn't sound good," he heard David's voice in his ear.
"It's not," Waverly agreed shortly, focusing on staying alive.
Waverly and Toto were hard-pressed to protect themselves. Atur hurried over to aid the defense. "Hold on!" he called, unable to reach them through the mess of enemies.
Waverly scrambled to comply, trying to keep an eye on every enemy, but there were too many and while he was distracted on one side, he failed to block a devastating blow from the other.
Not to himself or Toto, but to the mirror.
Shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. None of which were any use if they wanted to get Okka through one of these holes in the universe alive.
Atur and Waverly stared down at it, aghast. Okka was racing towards the trap they had laid for xem, and the door to that trap was now firmly shut.
Waverly's mind raced. Atur, however, simply raised his weapon.
"My sword will have to serve," he said grimly.
He was right. There was no time for anything else. If they couldn't stop Okka by tearing xem free of the influence of the Collective, they would have to stop xem by killing xem.
There had to be another way. All Waverly had to do was think of it.
"Xe comes," Atur warned. "Nifu,
aid my sword!"
"No!" Waverly cried, and brought Toto down to stand in the way. Toto spread his great metal wings. "Nifu, here!" Waverly yelled. He flicked a segment of the Pegasus wings so that its shining metal surface rang.
God, Waverly hoped it was big enough. The segments didn't open far. But it was better than Atur's sword.
Waverly couldn't see the outside of the wing, so he wasn't sure what choice Nifu had made until he saw the flat of Atur's sword strike Okka.
It hit with force, blunt metal launching the small figure in Waverly's direction, where xe vanished in the shadow of a wing.
Waverly didn't dare to move, trusting in Nifu's rifts and Atur's aim to get Okka to safety.
He never saw the other Mimica coming, only felt the impact as the bulk of a pack animal tore into the gap that the outstretched wing had left in his defenses.
Distantly, he could hear Atur call, "Lady Nifu, my sword, now!"
Waverly faded out before he could know anything more.
*~*~*
The moment Okka went through the portal, xe returned to xemself. Xe immediately reached for xir daughter's hand, clasping it hard. There was a lump of distress at the core of xem from what xe had been made to do, what xe had allowed xemself to become, but xe pushed aside xir own reactions. Okka was safe. Waverly was still in grave danger.
Nifu and Okka both watched, horrified, as within some of the many shards of reality around them, they could see Pegasus go down.
One of the shards was Atur's sword, and through it flew a slice of that Mimica which had been used to crush Waverly and Toto. Breathing hard, Atur told them, "The enemy is down, but so is Waverly. He's badly injured."
Okka did not want to see how bad it was, but xe could not tear xir gaze away. Waverly was unconscious, Okka saw with distress, and Toto seemed to have lost his ability to move, as well as parts of his limbs. They lay in a wreck, oozing blood and oil.
Okka grit xir teeth, frustrated that xe couldn't see a way to help Waverly. "I need to get to him," xe demanded. "Or we need to get him into the Paths so he doesn't die while we figure this out. Nifu, what can you do?"
Nifu pulled shards of reality towards her, searching them for information, for possibilities. "Pegasus's left wing is crushed," she said. "I don't have a big enough window to pull Waverly through. Not without doing more damage, damage I don't think he'll survive."
"How big is your biggest window?" Okka asked.
Nifu pulled a largish shard towards her, maybe three feet long but substantially narrower. "This one," she said, "on the right wing. Atur, can you straighten the joint any farther? I don't think Toto has control anymore."
Atur took the metal of the wing in his hands, bending it back as far as it would go. Okka watched with horror as the motion jostled the twisted metal digging into Waverly's torn flesh. But xe had no better ideas, not now.
"Not good enough," Nifu said when the gap stood perhaps fifteen inches at the widest. "I'd kill him before I could get him through."
Okka felt panic rising in xem. "I need to get out there," xe said, voice strangled. Xe took a breath and looked down at xemself. Half shifted from xir chosen body, xe was more Scythe than humanoid, slimmer and lighter than xe had been. "I can make it through."
"Won't you fall prey to the Cewri's control again?" Atur said, gaze hard through the window of the slim segment of wing.
There was nowhere that Waverly could go that Okka would not follow him, if xe was needed. Waverly needed xem now. His life hung on a precarious edge. Okka needed him, in turn. Loved him.
It was a heavy emotion, enough to break xem if xe let it. Okka would break down anything in xir path before xe let that happen. Okka would do whatever it took to get back through that portal.
"If I do," Okka replied, "you have my permission to strike me down. But if I didn't try to save Waverly, I couldn't live with myself."
Atur considered, gaze falling to the broken body of the man who had fought by his side. He turned back to Okka. "I want to believe that this is as simple a prospect as it sounds," he said, "but I am not accustomed to trusting the words of Mimica."
There was a shouted protest from the communications device at Atur's waist, and Atur took it out to better listen. It was David.
"If Waverly dies because you couldn't trust the only being capable of saving his life," David told Atur, "I swear to you I have the clout and resources to make sure you are never allowed to set foot on this planet ever again. Now prove yourself. Are you here to protect humans, or not?"
Atur sighed deeply. "You'd call me a coward for this," he said, "and you'd be right to. This is a risk worth taking." He held out a hand to Okka. "Come through."
It occurred to Okka that xir mission had succeeded after all.
Okka took Atur's hand, pulling xemself through the portal and regaining xir power to shift and merge.
It was the first time xe had touched Atur since xe had remembered what xe was. Xe wasn't reaching out, but xe could immediately tell that xe would not be able to reach Atur's mind. Something was shielding it.
There was a rigidity to it, and then past that, another layer of protection, almost like encryption.
But this was not the time to study that. The rigidity, though, was simple enough to reproduce, and would stop Okka from being able to reach for the Collective. Xe took that quality and made it xir own.
Then, xe turned to saving Waverly.
It was bad. Tattered skin and gushing blood and worse. Okka could feel the pain of it like an echo in xir soul. Xe braced xemself to feel it in xir body.
Atur looked grim. "I am afraid he is beyond saving."
Part of Okka's mind reminded xem that if Atur was right—if xe attempted the healing and failed, if Waverly was already as good as gone or if he rejected the full merge as some sapient creatures did—then Okka would be signing xir own death warrant, too, merely by beginning the attempt. But Okka was hardly listening. Xe had work to do.
Okka drew xemself up, made xemself entirely a thing of membranes and struts, like a gigantic pelican with bat wings. Xe scooped Waverly up as quickly and as gently as xe could, spread xir great wings, and launched.
As much as Okka had missed changing shapes, and shapes that could fly, xe took no pleasure in the necessity of this shape, this flight.
All xir focus was on Waverly. On keeping him alive.
*~*~*
Mostly there was pain.
Waverly could take pain. He knew he could. He'd fallen from horses, gotten waxed for photoshoots. He'd burned himself enough times, both in the lab and in the kitchen, to have a pretty intimate relationship with pain.
This… this was something else again. Pain to the nth power. Pain on steroids. Some real… collector's edition… pain.
It was possible Waverly wasn't thinking very clearly right now.
Things were fading in and out now, and he didn't think it was just because of the injury. Something was off a little bit about… well, reality.
He was a little foggy on the details, but he was pretty sure Okka had turned into a gigantic bird. Xe'd snatched up Waverly's broken body (ouch), and then…
Well, mostly there was pain. Not just because the pain was intense, but because… something was between him and the outside world, keeping him from sensing anything that was happening outside his body.
With a sudden flash of clarity, Waverly realized that that something was a someone, and that that someone was Okka.
Xe was all around him, blanketing every inch of him, was melting into his skin, the same way they had done in that one soaring moment, before Pegasus, before this war they were fighting. The first time they'd really touched.
Except there wasn't anything of sex about it, this time, not really.
That presence, that surety of Okka's attention on him, that connection, was stronger than ever, but the urgency of it was of a completely different flavor.
The first touch, for example, had been rich and sweet like vanilla, deep like molasses
, but this was tart and sharp, like lemon. Just like Okka to change xemself so thoroughly to suit the situation.
Waverly, himself, probably tasted like the mental equivalent of coffee twenty-four-seven, and to hell with whether it was the appropriate time for coffee. In the lab, it was always the appropriate time for coffee. Sleep, schmeep. …Sheep?
Yeah, Waverly really wasn't thinking very clearly right now.
And Okka's lemon-sharp presence was knocking, steadily, insistently, at the door of his mind.
The door? Was Okka really just at the door? Was there more than this? Was there a deeper level on which to connect?
Just the concept frightened Waverly as nothing else in his life ever had. He would have whimpered if he'd had the breath for anything, if he wasn't already too far gone to scream from all this pain.
Oh, yes. The pain.
Hello again, pain. Let's not get better acquainted.
Okka's knuckles rapped again on the door of his mind, but softly, pleadingly, like they were stroking down his cheek. Xir thoughts spoke into his mind.
It's one pain or the other, my sweet.
You can take this away?
Yes, Okka told him, all that fierce tart lemon shining in his thoughts. But you have to let me in.
Waverly considered that.
Yep, still terrifying. But then, what option here wasn't?
Every bit of his bones ached. His ribs were like fire. His legs… he wasn't completely sure he had legs, anymore. He was a mess, inside and out.
Damn it.
If Okka wanted this mess, who was he to deny xem?
Waverly Kemp knew he was dying.
He'd trusted Okka with his mind before, but that had been a dance, a conversation. This was something more profound. And Waverly had spent a series of tortured hours learning to regret trusting Okka the first time.
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