by TylerRose.
“All the better to say thanks then. You didn’t have to go but you did, not knowing what you were getting into. That means a lot. See you when I get there.”
Gable got into the shower. For the first time since Monica died, he cried his eyes out. Hard and fast, leaning against the cold tile wall, that stench in his nose and that tiny arm reaching for Tyler and saying Mama. An image he knew would never leave him. Emotions spent, he scrubbed the stench of death from his body and hair. Twice.
Hades picked up the phone to dial Odin.“She’s starting to have noticeable psionic events. We should take her now.”
“Before they fight Adamantine? That’s her whole reason for coming back.”
“So she thinks,” Hades countered. “You and I know the real reason and I don’t think we should risk her being captured or killed.”
“You’ll be there. If she gets into trouble, you take her to Olympus.”
“Why be there at all, Odin?”
“Because she has to do this. She will feel incomplete unless she can do this for once. She needs the accomplishment.”
“She can get over it,” Hades complained.
“You have my answer. Adhere to my decision.”
Odin hung up on him and Hades went in search of a very bad soul to torture until he’d worked his anger out.
Dressed in fresh sweats and a t-shirt, Gable went downstairs and found Jerome’s door locked. Roc was alone in the living room. He went to sit with her in silence. Roc didn’t ask what happened.
A news brief cut into the game show.
“Breaking news. A one year old baby has been found alone and nearly starving, her mother shot dead only a few feet away. Investigators say someone inside the house called 911 but police have found no signs of entry. We’ll bring you more details as they become available.”
“Okay, let’s watch a movie,” Gable said quickly, and put in Roc’s new favorite, Dances With Wolves.
Roc stole glances at him, seeing various phases of distress as the experience played over and over in his head.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she finally asked.
“No. I want to forget it,” he said in a tone not recognizable as the generally happy-go-lucky Gable.
She let it go, marveling at the wonderful day turned so somber so quickly.
Before the movie was over, the Torino’s engine rumbled alongside the building and into its space in the garage. Jerome stalked up the steps and down the corridor, finding the bedroom door locked. He used his key to get in. He kicked his shoes off first thing. Next off were the jeans so he could be comfortable in his boxer briefs. No sooner was he on the bed than Tyler was in his arms and crying.
“Thank you,” he whispered to Star.
She nodded and vacated the room to take a shower in Gable’s bathroom. After, she lay with Gable in silence, he emotionally spent and she physically.
Jerome held Tyleras tightly as she clutched him, let her cry her heart out onto his chest. She told what happened, in her own time and her own way.
“I couldn’t even give her a bottle,” she mourned. “I couldn’t move anything to get a bottle filled or I’d damage evidence. I had to leave her starving.”
“You did the right thing, baby. You know you did.”
“It just broke my heart to have to stand there and do literally nothing. I was telling her the men were coming and they would feed her as soon as they got her cleaned up. She was so hungry!”
A fresh round of tears.
“It’s okay, babe. You know she’s been fed now. She’s been cleaned up and given clean clothes and someone is rocking her to sleep.”
“I know. I shoulda conjured up a bottle of milk for her.”
“What? Is that regret I hear? An expression of guilt?” he tried to tease.
“Grief,” she said.
“Come on. Let’s go shower. I know you can still smell it. So long as you smell it, you’ll keep thinking about it.”
Suitably washed, hair shampooed, he combed it himself. Toweling more water out, combing again, and the curls began to form from the tips up as it dried.
“Does that all by itself, huh?”
“Mmmhm,” she yawned. “I got the Sistarian curly hair gene. No idea from whom.”
“Are you hungry? I smelled ‘Tucky Fried out there on my way through.”
“I am. I didn’t get to eat much. Landra interrupted my meal to ask me how I was and then Gable and I were going.
“I’ll go get it. You wait here.”
He went quick as he could, finding the chicken and biscuits on the counter. A container of coleslaw and another of beans were in the fridge. Butter and honey went onto the cart next with plates and cutlery. He grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels and a bucket of ice as well. Everything onto the rolling cart he was finding just too handy, he wheeled it up the hallway. Landra Ahr was waiting in the Command Center door.
“Next time let her finish eating. I have a hard enough time getting her to eat enough as it is,” Jerome scowled at the machine, and passed through to his room.
“Is it quieter now?” he asked her with a smile.
“Yes, thank you,” she replied, disquieted but not so troubled as she had been.
“Good. You’ll sleep here with me tonight just in case.”
She didn’t argue.
About 3am, she left the bed in a bit of a rush for the bathroom. Twenty minutes before she came back a bit weak and shaky.
“What’s wrong?”
“Tummy issues. Happens a couple times a week. Don’t hold me right now. It still hurts,” she said, easing onto her side facing away from him and with a good foot of space between them.
That was all. She was asleep in a minute. Come the morning, she started using the bottle Julian had brought. Sistarian fiber. The original put away, a replication on her coffee cart, she used one spoonful in her first cup of coffee. With luck, a twice daily regimen would calm her digestive tract and decrease episodes of distress.
Chapter Nineteen
Tony came to dinner. Plenty of pasta with chicken and sausage parmesan, but no wine was served tonight. As soon as the main meal was over and the table cleared, Landra Ahr projected a three dimensional model of downtown Toledo onto the table.
“First thing. Roc, how far can you easily and accurately teleport?” Tyler asked.
“About half a mile. I have to know where I’m going.”
“Star, how far can you launch yourself?”
“I can levitate up to sixty feet off the ground. Mobility is the hard part. With a running jump, I can go about forty feet and not break my ankles on the landing.”
“Okay. Roc, you and I will be here atop the Blade building. Jerome, you’re across the street. The two buildings are about the same height so we’ll be in visual range. Gable and Tony, you’ll be ground level. One near the Federal Building and the other by the Fiberglass Tower. The Iron Knaves will be parked in various lots around the area in vans and trucks. The Droghers are going to be staged inside the parking garage across from the Federal building. Certain members of both groups will be placed as snipers all around. There is a crisis readiness drill going on that day. Five hundred first responders are confirmed and will be drilling for major catastrophe in Monroe, Michigan. So we know medical assistance will be close. The injured will be directed to St. Vincent’s hospital. Thankfully, it’s close, and it makes sense to use as a regrouping site if needed.
“The Convention Center,” she pointed. “There’s going to be a breakfast opening for the second day of the Bikefest. Free food, and more bikers will be there. They will be armed and most of their vehicles will carry heavier portable artillery. Grenade launchers, most notably. Rifles and machine guns. We are now looking at about five thousand for our grassroots force, by Thomas’ current count.
“So…back to our individual roles. Roc, you have to take on Dominion to start. Hit him fast and hit him hard with everything you’ve been taught. Disable his technology and the Rhutvak will f
all. He’ll be one of the first down, along with Neutron. Star, you kill him and you kill him fast. We cannot any of us have prolonged fights or we weaken ourselves more than we weaken them. Only Jerome can draw his out.”
“Gotcha,” Star nodded.
“Gable, first off you’ll be attacking Rhutvak with your gauntlets. Keep them busy. Aim for hip joints. They cannot walk with only one functional leg. And if you hit ‘em hard enough, you can short them out entirely. Flaw in the design Dominion has never been able to fix.”
“Good to know.”
“Tony, you get Foot Soldiers along with the grassroots force. They need a guiding leader. One shot, one kill wherever possible in order to minimize civilian casualties. You cannot hit them square on in the chest. Aim for the lower belly just below the circle plate. They’re used to energy weapons, which bounce off the uniform. They’re used to going back up to their ship and having a machine fix them up. We’ll have exploding bullets, which will go through the gut like going through butter. Can’t fix up what isn’t there anymore. They’ll die whether it’s on the street or up on the ship. Their transports will not land, so it’s unlikely any of us will hit them. That’s what grenade launchers and rockets are for, if they get a good shot.
“Landra Ahr will deal with flying Rhutvak and probably will end up at Davis Besse to prevent it being destroyed and causing a major nuclear catastrophe,” she concluded.
“Through all this, I have to wait around for Adamantine to show up?” Jerome asked. “Watch all this happening, and not do anything?”
Her eyes met his over the table. “Yes. You cannot engage in any other combat or you will not defeat him. It’s as simple as that. You will be waiting maybe five or ten minutes. He never comes down in the first wave. Not until the Rhutvak are fully mobilized. He’s not changed anything about his plan. I’ve been remote viewing now and then to eavesdrop. He is extremely confident this planet will not be any different from any other he’s taken in the last three hundred years.”
“Does he know I’ve absorbed the Staff Power?”
“Not yet. Except for over Christmas, you’ve not moved far enough for them to detect any movement. Far as they know, it’s sitting somewhere. They’ll know it’s mobile only a few days before they get here. Experience will tell him it’s still in crystal form because only one he’s sought before had been absorbed. He’s going to go with the odds that the person who has it knows nothing about the power source.”
She paused for a drink of water. “I must stress the importance of everyone being in their starting positions and everyone sticking to their own jobs. Deviating from the plan will cause mass destruction in five more states. Millions will die. So…no pressure.”
“Can you be more specific on how to bring Neutron down faster?” Star asked.
“No. J, you have your plan for Adamantine?”
“Endurance,” he said. “He ain’t used to a long fight and I am. Hell, he ain’t used to a real fight at all. He don’t know Kung Fu. I won’t use Staff Power to hit him. He’d expect that. So I’m not going to fight by his expectations or rules at all. I’m going to fight street dirty and foot to face, and make him taste his own blood for the first time in his life.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Tyler nodded. “I know I’m still being vague. The more we plan details, the more can be fucked up. Simply being there, prepared to fight and in place waiting for it to come to us is a significant improvement. Lives will be saved just because we are staged and ready for it.”
“What will you be doing?” Tony said. “You have all of us putting our lives on the line. What about you? Doing your nails?”
All eyes scowled at him. Except hers. Hers were deceptively unreadable, an expression Jerome was learning to be wary of.
“I will be covering your asses at critical moments. I will be getting people away and stopping buildings from crushing you. I’ll be teleporting magnetic grenades onto Rhutvak all over the place and strangling or crushing foot soldiers as opportunity presents itself. If Jerome fails, I’m taking on Adamantine. Do you want that job instead? Your ass is still virginal. It would do for him, I’m sure.”
“Enough,” Landra Ahr cut them off. “Our date is February 18th. It is a Wednesday.”
“Isn’t that your birthday?” Tony asked Gable.
“Sure as shit is. Great.”
“Happy fuckin’ birthday, man,” Jerome said with the dread they all felt.
“If we’re done, I’m going to go see my Mom,” Gable said.
“Me too,” Tony put in, and left with him.
Tyler walked out to the deck for a breath of cold air, watched the two men go to their respective vehicles and pull out from under the protective shed. Standing on the walkway to the stairs, she felt Jerome approaching. His arms slipped around her waist.
“How much of that was bullshit?” he asked after a kiss to the back of her head.
“Not one bit. Everything was truth. For now. Roc doesn’t need to know I’m gonna send her back here at the first sign of Rhutvak. No one needs to know we’re gonna lose Landra at Davis Besse.”
“Does he know?”
“He has been preparing for it.”
“Okay. You goin’ to Chen’s to train tomorrow?” he asked.
“Noon.”
“I’ll go with you.”
Turned out to be more than training. She and Chen talked about the battle and he gave his suggestions for where he could be. His best job would be to ferry people to Safe Haven or into other hiding places.
“You can call to me and I can port people you gather if they’re too far to make it through a danger zone,” Tyler told him.
“How many at a time?” Jerome asked. “Meechi know that part?”
“He will after we go talk to him,” she said. “That was my next stop. He knows I’m coming.”
“Will you wait a moment while I speak with Jerome privately?” Chen asked.
She only nodded.
Chen took Jerome to the back office. “She told me of her involvement in finding the baby alone with her murdered mother. What are your perceptions of the event?”
“It’s changed her some. And Gable. I’m not looking forward to the next one.”
“So you recognize this will happen again?” Chen asked.
“Of course I do. It’s unlikely I’ll ever go with her. She can’t port me. Or Star. Gable’s already told me not again. It was too horrible. I can’t say I blame him. Roc’s out of the question. So I’m going to ask Meechi if he can be on call for her. It’s the best I can do for now.”
“Very good. I concur. She has told me how you handled her immediate need for quiet. I am proud of you for keeping a cool head and solving the problem for her.”
“Well, I have to take care of her, don’t I? It’s my job. See you in a couple days.”
Jerome left holding her hand, Chen watching with approval for this developing relationship. They finally had a chance to make a good start, and were making the most of it.
They drove to Safe Haven, taking the rear entrance stairs up to Meechi’s office and apartment.
“I get both of ya’s today. Must be something big,” Meechi said. “Thanks for sending flowers to the wake. Mama appreciated it.”
“Anytime, man,” Jerome said.
“Who died?” Tyler asked.
“You know the woman was shot a couple weeks back? And the baby was found two days later?” Meechi started. “She was my cousin.”
“Oh hell. I didn’t know that was her, man,” Jerome said, eyes sliding over to see Tyler frozen. “I didn’t put it together.”
“They still don’t know who called the police,” Meechi said, watching her suddenly walk away to the windows.
“She did,” Jerome said quietly, with a jerk of his head.
“Tyler? How she get in?”
“She teleported. She took Gable with her to find a person who was scared and alone and they stayed until the cops were at the door.”
Meechi went
straight to her to give a hard hug. “Thank you, Rose,” he nearly cried in a whisper.
“Where’s the baby?” was all she could say.
“Mama has her. You wanna go see her?”
“Please!” she smiled, so relieved Jerome felt the change in her energy from across the room.
Meechi led the way to the apartment at the opposite corner of the building, in the front. He knocked first.
“Mama, it’s me.”
“Door’s open.”
In they went and as soon as the baby saw Tyler, she started bouncing on her little feet and reaching from the playpen.
“Hey, babygirl,” Tyler smiled, and picked her up in a sweeping flight. “I told you they would clean you up and get you fed, didn’t I?”
Anita stared in shock. “That baby doesn’t let any strangers near.”
“Tyler’s no stranger, Mama. She’s the one found Nisha dead and called 911.”
“Well, Gable called,” Tyler corrected. “I was talking to the babygirl and telling her everything would be okay.”
“But we heard the call. Only thing you hear is Kashandra crying. And she said Mama.”
Tyler made numnum eating the cheek game, making Kashandra laugh and squeal.
“Tyler is a very special woman, Mama. She’s telepathic. She can—“
“I know what it means,” Anita interrupted. “But you gotta be more than that to get into a locked house—and out again—without the po-po on you. So what’s the real deal?”
“Wanna go for a ride?” Tyler asked a chubby baby cheek.
She ported across the room. The baby laughed a shriek as they ported back to the same spot. Anita only stared, then her eyes landed on Jerome in a hard slap of accusation that hadn’t changed since they were ten years old and broke a window playing ball. All humor dropped from her voice.
“What’s goin’ on, Romey? Why’s my son setting up a hotel in the basement and trying to keep me from knowing about it?”
“Can’t get nothin’ past you, can we, Anita,” Jerome grinned, ignoring the use of the nickname he didn’t care for much. She was one of the few who could get away with it.
