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Gift of Perfect Knowledge Chapter 22

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previous chapter

quick warning on this one for some blood

Mina’s projection doesn’t disappear until the elevator from downstairs pings, making everyone jump. Elena gets out first with Mia and Mina, Soaring behind them. I don’t think Soaring likes elevators; he’s a bit pale even as he towers over everyone in front of him. Ghost gets off last and their attention is instantly on the walls or whatever’s behind those panels. There’s a bit of concern on their face, but it evaporates into confusion as they inspect what I’ve done.

“The others?” I ask Mina when she walks up to me. If they haven’t already surrendered, seeing The Coat in person is making the remaining henchmen queasy.

Mina smiles slightly. “Waiting for you.”

Elena checks all the panels, marveling at the pieces of gun jammed into the joints, effectively nailing them shut. “Nice work.”

“I figured it was the smart thing to do,” I evade.

“It was,” she confirms. “Though I could have warned you about them sooner.”

“Point taken. Are all the floors like this upstairs?” I ask.

“Twenty and thirty are basically the same as this one; they’re meant to keep the blocks separate, slow down invading forces, that kind of thing. The elevator for the top ten floors is rigged to explode and the stairs there are more of this mess”—Elena taps the wall—“so that’s gonna be difficult. At least all the magic has been dealt with; there were a lot of spells designed with Ghost in mind.”

“Ha. I’m glad I inspire such caution,” Ghost flatly says. “And since we’ve met in person, I can only assume that those spells would have been quite troublesome, and I don’t get along with magic to start.”

Wow. I guess Appraisal learned his lesson from last time. I think this place has a lot more teeth than the Facility. And people live here? I mean, I guess they don’t have a choice. Just like I didn’t.

“You don’t like magic?” Elena asks.

“Well, with the Major here about to be casting up a literal storm, I have to be careful. Technology tends to short circuit in the presence of magic. The further away that technology is, the more I have to risk myself to control it which makes those sudden shutdowns dangerous. I’ve got control of everything I can get my hands on and everything that’s connected directly to that which provides our first challenge; almost none of the defenses are networked together this time. Last time, I grabbed their main server and locked everyone out from each other,” they explain “but I guess using his own building to divide and conquer a second time is asking too much.”

“Appraisal is nothing if not adaptable,” Elena growls.

“Why didn’t he just cut his losses after the first time?” Soaring asks.

“He’s intelligent, not smart,” Elena replies. “I think if Alpha Squad showed up and broke eleven of my bones, I’d retire as gracefully as I could.”

“Technically, that was just the Major—the previous one,” Ghost elaborates.

Elena pauses enough that I notice. Anyone else might miss it but there’s pain there. She hides it quickly enough from the others but not from me. It’s probably not my business anyway.

“Alright, all of you into the elevator,” I order, and the guards all move towards it with unexpected urgency. They give Mina a wide berth; she’s not even trying to be scary. I guess only I would know that.

Matt hangs back, raising a hand like we’re in school. “I’m still helping with Audrey, right?”

I check with Elena who nods. “Sure are, if you’re up for it,” I promise.

Matt nods. “I can do it.”

“Oh, now he grows a backbone,” the older man from before snipes.

Matt turns a little bit red before standing up straight and yelling “Go to hell, Eddie!”

Mia giggles. Elena doesn’t bother to hide her smile. Even some of the others are impressed. Eddie gets dragged onto the elevator by two of the four who surrendered immediately. Someone else claps Matt’s shoulder on the way into the elevator.

“Alright, Warpspeed, we’ll get Audrey,” Mina decides, pointing to Matt and Elena. “Can you get the ones downstairs out of this building?”

It’s not an order; she’s giving me the opportunity to calm down. She knows me so well.

“Yeah, I can…yeah,” I agree. I’ve got to get myself back under control.

Ghost calls the elevator that goes up from here and Soaring’s wings shudder slightly.

“Why don’t we just go to the top floor from the outside?” Soaring asks.

Elena turns the pages from Liam to the first one. I can sort of see a similar question but right underneath it, in bolded, underlined, italicized text is a ‘No’ ten sizes larger than the rest of the document.

“Point taken,” Soaring acquiesces, drooping a little.

I get on the elevator with the remaining guards as Ghost starts going over the next phase of the plan. None of them are happy about my being here but the silence doesn’t last because of course it doesn’t.

“Is the Association really going to be better than this?” Eddie taunts. I don’t respond to it; sure, it’s Appraisal’s strategy to provoke reactions but Eddie just isn’t good at it.

“Fuck it, I’ll go to actual prison with a smile on my face if it means I never have to see you again, Eddie,” one man with brown hair jabs. “Hell, no offense guys, but I don’t think I want to see any of you ever again.”

There’s silence before a woman in the back says, “That’s fair.”

Several of the other heroes have set up a temporary medical station in the first-floor lobby. The ambulance and several large police trucks are there too. Grouped together on one side are the Paladin’s fan club.

I want to hope that some of them are trying to honor the things Nathan said he stood for but that just means it’s going to hurt to find out otherwise. If I hadn’t seen it myself I’d be right there with them; part of me still wants Liam to be wrong somehow, for some actual licensed forensic scientist to call us back with a ‘nope, not the Paladin’s fault, you’re good!’ The problem with that wish is that we need those calls from more than a dozen different scientists.

That’s going to be one headache I don’t have to deal with, but that just means Mina does. I don’t want that for her, but she was the one who interrupted the journalists after she left that dome and corrected them calling her Sorciere. She had to have known what she was signing up for.

Most of the silver-trimmed heroes are gentle in taking this group into custody. I see the four escapees from earlier outside in shock blankets, chatting with the small army of EMTs outside. I don’t remember us asking for that many, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if some extras volunteered themselves through the perimeter to be here.

I get the nod from Marina and run up the stairs by one floor. Empty and still covered in ice.

The pair of women that are on the third floor are sitting next to each other on a desk that might be this floor’s reception. What sort of legitimate business could stand to be in this building? How many people in this sea of cubicles worked down the stairs from a supervillain’s lair and just didn’t care?

Maybe that’s not fair.

“Evening,” I call, and they look up. “Sorry I’m late.”

“At least you can walk,” one jokes.

“You can still crack jokes; you’re doing better than you think,” I encourage, walking over at normal speed and sitting down next to her.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

“We can go when you’re ready,” I offer.

“That’ll take all night,” she argues “Better to just take the plunge. Yeah.”

“Okay. Regular speed or super speed?” I ask.

“Does super speed hurt?”

“Not if I’m quick,” I tease.

She smiles. “Alright then.”

“Grab on,” I move to pick her up. She latches on, burying her face in my shoulder.

And then we’re on the street by the ambulances.

“There we go,” I soothe, gently setting her down with the other four from earlier. “I’ll be right back.”

The third floor is empty when I get back up there. I check each cubicle to make sure, then the offices. The cubicles are bare but some of the offices have mementos, family photos, and some other knickknacks. Hopefully, Ghost will have a field day with this. How much accountability is owed and from who?

“You’ve certainly learned a lot,” Appraisal mocks from the speaker system. “We’ve both kept up with your exploits these last few years; what a waste, always chasing after the weak who can’t even save themselves. Are you a nanny?”

I don’t answer; I don’t want to give him the satisfaction. If this floor is empty, I’ll try the next one. Everyone is getting out of here today. How can Appraisal even talk to me if the Tower floors are supposed to be isolated from each other?

“Still so stubborn,” he scolds. “Well, if you’ve finally learned to shut up and listen to your betters, here’s a wager for you: I promised freedom to the last surviving wretch in that group.”

No.

“Are you fast enough—”

There’s no more time for listening to him grandstanding. If he gave that instruction right after I left, then that other woman has had a few minutes to try something while I was distracted. I go one floor up to find the offices trashed. One man has turned himself into a living marble statue and is shielding a second as best he can from the woman I left alone downstairs.

Stupid, stupid mistake.

I think she’s telekinetic based on how cubicle walls, desks, and chairs are swirling around the room. I dodge the cloud of debris and grab her, taking an office chair to my shoulder blade for my trouble. I hear the office crash to the floor once we’re in the stairwell. I barely get her to the heroes before the windows on the eighth floor shatter. A woman with silver trim I recognize as Edmonton’s captain, Fortress, puts up a silver dome of light to keep the glass from hitting us.

“Warpspeed, what’s happening?” Marina asks but by the time she finishes the question, I’ve already run all the way up to the eighth floor where one man is shrieking loud enough to break glass. There’s no time to be gentle. Hitting people at speed is risky but luckily I’ve had practice. A few quick taps and the shrieker is downstairs. That just leaves the other two, I can—

“What’s going on?” Marina demands, stepping right into my path. If I’d kept running, I could have killed her.

“Appraisal promised freedom to whoever kills the rest!” I hope I said that slowly enough for her and Mina to hear. I think Marina does because she waves several of the flying heroes take off.

“Let us help; where are we needed?” Marina asks but I’ve already left.

Pushing speed in tight spaces sucks. The faster I go, the harder it is to turn.

“Stop trying to do everything on your own,” Mina soothes as I disarm another man on the sixth floor before he can shoot his partner by grabbing him.

I have to stop before I run us both out the window, burning black marks onto the cheap grey carpet as I just barely manage to skid to a stop. Why is it always grey with these two?

“Two and three are clear. Four has two people. Eight has two unconscious people. I’m on six; there’s still one person here,” I report. Just talking means sacrificing valuable time but I’m not fast enough to do this by myself. I know that, but it’s instinct to try. I made them a promise.

A wave of lethargy hits me as I bring him down. I didn’t think I’d pushed myself that much then I realize everyone is looking a little sleepy once I’m on the ground floor.

“Major?” I ask.

“It’s not me,” she replies but she doesn’t sound worried. “Good job, Matt, but don’t knock anyone out; we’ve got people in the air.”

I don’t hear the reply, but I could kiss Matt. Or make him cookies. That might go over better. Either way, I head back upstairs. Two silver-trimmed heroes are cautiously approaching the pair on the fourth floor. They’re scared but everyone is also yawning and it’s obviously hard to concentrate. The one man has to drop his stone skin and he isn’t happy about it. They’re not letting the heroes near them.

“It’s okay,” I call, as I leave the stairwell. “They’re with me; they’ll keep you safe.”

“Safe?” the stone man demands. “But they’re—”

“I know what you’ve been told about the Association,” I interrupt, hoping they might understand. “And I get why you’re afraid, but I promise we’re all here to help. You can trust us.”

They both glower but the stone man slowly nods. “I guess we don’t have much choice.”

“Thank you,” I say, before heading back into the stair well.

The fifth floor is already empty when I check, probably from that trio who came down on their own. Several of the flying heroes have broken into and contained the sixth and seventh floors. The two I left on the eighth floor have people with them too. I don’t stop. There’s one floor unaccounted for now and they’ve been left alone the longest.

I slam into a wall on the ninth floor hard enough to break through it as what’s left of my shoe tread betrays me; I guess even these boots have limits with how many sudden stops I’ve been subjecting them too. One man is holding a woman’s wrists despite the fact that she put a knife through his shoulder and another in his abdomen. He’s not trying to kill her, but she absolutely is and she’s winning.

“Don’t hurt her!” he begs when he spots me pulling myself out of the drywall.

The distraction gives her the opening to pull the knife back out of his shoulder and slash at his face, but the knife is ripped out of her hand before I can get to her. It hits the floor, and I manage to move her well out of stabbing range as two heroes, one with silver trim on his suit, arrive from downstairs.

“You move…very fast,” the silver one pants. The knife flies from the floor to his hand. The other hero goes to help the stab victim as he slumps to the ground. The woman I’m holding breaks down completely and I guide her to the floor.

“It’s okay,” the man calls to her despite the steady stream of blood pouring out of him. “N-not your fault.”

“Focus on me for a moment,” the hero trying to help him pleads. “Warpspeed, I need a bigger first aid kit.”

“I got her,” the silver one offers, reaching out for us. “Hi, I’m Fer—"

The woman recoils, gripping my arm with a bloody hand. “Not him,” she begs, gripping my arm tighter.

“Help them,” I order, and Fer—I assume there’s more to the name—goes to try and help stop the bleeding.

“Why are they wearing that?” she whispers to me. “Don’t they know about—”

“They don’t know yet,” I whisper back before tapping my earpiece. “Marina?”

“What do you need?”

“Several EMTs and a gurney on the ninth floor, there’s been a stabbing—multiple wounds, heavy bleeding.”

“We’ve got people on the way,” Marina promises. “Is the elevator safe to use?”

“I still have control of it,” Ghost confirms.

“Is it safe for us to come down with Audrey?” Mina asks.

“All the floors are clear,” Marina reports.

The elevator dings a second later. “Elena—” Mina calls but Elena is already running out towards us.

“Elena, you can’t heal him,” Mina argues from the door.

“I have to try.”

“No, you don’t!”

“Don’t tie up the elevator!” I call.

The doors close and I hear the car moving down.

“We need more gauze,” Elena calls to me.

“Just fix him then!” the woman demands. I have to hold her back as she thrashes. “Why aren’t you just fixing him?”

“She can’t,” I reply. “That’s why I need to go.”

“You can’t leave her up here,” Fer demands nodding his head to the crying woman because his hands are busy pressing a lot of gauze that is already soaking.

“We’ve got people inbound to the eighth-floor window,” Marina informs me.

“I thought flying was dangerous,” Soaring remarks.

“Only to the penthouse, keep focused,” Mina orders.

Three slightly windblown EMTs with much, much larger medical kits come up from the stairs and immediately surround the wounded man. They’re immediately followed by several heroes, one of which is the very pink captain of the Victoria team, Petal. I only remember because she met us at Nathan’s funeral. Maybe I should have paid attention to some more names.

“Stretcher’s on the way up the elevator,” Petal promises. She’s not wearing anything silver so the woman in my arms doesn’t recoil from her when she kneels next to us.

“Warpspeed, can’t you run him downstairs?” Elena asks.

“That’ll kill him,” I warn. It’s easier than explaining I’ve shredded my shoes and can’t brake effectively for my own safety let alone his.

It’s probably a bad sign that Elena tries to take his hand the way she took Mina’s. Nothing happens to the man’s wounds, and I see the barely contained frustration and unrestrained guilt on Elena’s face.

“What’s your name?” Petal asks the woman.

“Maggie,” she whimpers, reaching up to try and wipe her tears. Petal gently stops her on account of the blood on her hands and pulls out an actual handkerchief from her coat made of metal rose petals. Maggie takes it with her shaking hands.

“Hi, Maggie, I’m Petal. Can I sit with you?”

Maggie nods and Petal shifts closer but keeps herself between Maggie and the view of the medics.

“I’m sorry,” Maggie sobs before hiccupping. “I just…”

“It’ll be okay,” I reassure Maggie when she hesitates.

“What if,” she pauses. I don’t think she can say the words. “What if it isn’t okay?” What if he dies?

“There was a time when I would have obeyed that order too,” I tell her. “I understand and I’ll make sure everyone else understands.”

She nods a couple times, trying to steady her own breathing. It feels wrong to just be sitting here but I won’t be the guy who pries Maggie’s fingers off my arm either. The stretcher arrives from the elevator and the man is whisked away with one of the paramedics hanging on to maintain the pressure. Elena stands up to go with them and pitches to the side.

“Go, I got her,” I call as I rush to catch her, only sliding a little bit. “I thought you couldn’t heal anymore.”

Elena fights to stand up straight, but I can’t tell if she’s trying to push me away or hold my shoulder for balance. “I can’t…but I could keep his heart going. It’s all I could do.”

Maggie wilts as the doors close and she lets Petal hold her while Petal still keeps her from seeing anything.

“Isn’t that dangerous? I saw what happened to you with Mi—with the Major,” I argue.

“I can’t not help them either!”

“It’s not all on you!” I snap.

She scoffs, letting go of my shoulder and poking a finger right in my chest. “And what would you call this?” she challenges, gesturing to all of me. “The stairs smell like burnt rubber from how much you’ve been running; I can smell it from here. Just look at the state of your feet o-or that wall!”

“You’re both overdoing it,” Ghost interrupts in our ears “And you’re both losing sight of the main goal. You should both eat something before joining us upstairs.”

“Well, coincidentally, we’re heading to the cafeteria,” Elena snaps.

“If you can’t calm down, we’ll proceed without you,” Ghost warns, unmoved.

“I can get us all down,” Petal offers, still holding onto Maggie.

“What if Appraisal orders the Collection to attack each other like this?” Elena demands.

“He can’t. Once he gave the order to these floors, I found the backup communication system he used and seized it. Since it’s technically part of the top floors’ systems, I missed it the first time,” Ghost assures us. “There are all sorts of redundancies and traps inside the computers here; I can see them, and they aren’t enough to hurt me, but I can’t make too big a change to the system without risking something exploding.”

“He would,” Elena sighs. “I’m sorry I yelled at you; I know you’re here to help.”

“Apology accepted. I have protein bars for Warpspeed, but I’m sure he’d part with one.”

“Then we’ll head up. Petal, can you take Maggie?” Elena asks.

“Of course I can,” Petal agrees. “Give them hell.”

He’s going to wish for hell. This was my idea and someone almost died because of my mistake. I can’t let that happen again.

Elena and I go up while Petal and Maggie go down. This was all way too close. Elena’s obvious exhaustion gives me the excuse to slow down and help her up the stairs at a normal pace.

“What’s his name?” I ask. “The one who was stabbed.” I should have asked Maggie for her name too; I’m sure I would have if I wasn’t so fucking distracted. Ghost was right.

“Connor. He and Maggie are involved. It’s supposed to be a secret but they’re terrible at keeping it,” Elena replies while she climbs up the stairs in front of me.

“Damn.” What else do I say?

“Yeah. Gives you an idea of how desperate we all are for freedom, doesn’t it?”

I think about it for a few seconds longer than I really need to. “Things are different here than they were when I was a kid. Everyone involved wanted to be there; most of them are still imprisoned today.”

“If that’s true, then why risk the kidnapping charge with you?” Elena asks.

“I’ve been asking that for ten years.”

“You could try to ask Liam,” she suggests.

I could, but there’s unexpected comfort in not knowing the answer. What would he ask in return? Dad always says magicians are very particular about balancing their debts. Would it be worth the cost to know?

“He seems to be a bit busy at the moment,” I say instead.

“True.”

Soaring and Mia are on the tenth floor, Mina and Ghost get off the elevator a moment later with Fer, Petal, and several other heroes I don’t recognize at all. I should really fix that.

“The ambulances are away,” Mina informs us. “The paramedics are hopeful about Audrey but worried about the other one.”

“Connor,” I correct.

Mina nods, giving us a small smile and holding up a bag of snacks and a fresh pair of boots for me. “We have a few minutes to prepare; I get the feeling this next part won’t be solved so easily.”

‘Easily,’ she says like a man wasn’t almost stabbed to death. Appraisal knew just what to do to get me to burn through a lot of energy I’d need for this next part. It chafes that he still understands me this much after all this time.

It’s not going to save him, however.

#stories

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