22 – Untenable Situations Must Change

“We were aware of the unusually high concentration of birds in the area,” The Adjustment sighed, watching the police cordon off the roads. “Ongoing orders were to avoid agitating them until after the root cause of the problem had been resolved.”

Erika chewed on that for a long moment, glaring up at the apartment building. The Eclipse showed up on the scene, just as Erika sent The Stalker away, and started locking the place down. The Fool used his earthen golem to block off windows and doors, leaving massive boulders jammed in place, while The Tower slathered some kind of luminescent orange sludge around the boulders to cement them in place.

Erika stilled—with the orientation of The Tower’s eyes, it was hard to tell, but she was fairly certain he was staring back at her. She broke eye contact, distracting herself with an incoming text. The Doctor didn’t answer her, but The Prescient said not to worry. She hadn’t even sent him anything yet.

Looking up, she let out a small sigh of relief, watching as The Tower continued his work.

She didn’t mean to stare at The Tower. Back at the hotel, she caught a glimpse of him, but he had been hidden behind The Warrior’s magic. This was the first real look she got of the man and… she did not know what to think. He looked more like a dragon than The Emperor did, scaled and hulking, but his head was rounded and bulbous with long octopus-like tentacles dangling off on all sides. The orange goo he secreted came from the suckers on the undersides of the tentacles.

Members of The Castle—and Anna—lightly tingled at Erika’s sense of unease. There was just something slightly off about them that triggered the uncanny valley effect. Not enough to bother Erika, at least not once she was aware of it, but enough to be there.

The Tower’s presence filled Erika with a gnawing, visceral revulsion. Every little twitch of his tentacles, the yellow glow from the crown of horizontal slits around his dome of a head that served as his eyes, each glimpse of dripping sharp fangs hidden beneath tentacles hanging around the rest of his lizard-like body… all of it set Erika on an edge that she didn’t think she had felt even when dangling from the ziggurat’s feeding hole.

“He’s a Leviathan-class being,” The Adjustment said, noticing Erika’s stare. “Scary-looking, but honestly more of a pushover than The Art. Used to live—or hibernate—at the bottom of Lake Baikal in Russia, but got tired of being wet all the time.”

Erika shot The Adjustment a disbelieving look.

“Swear it’s true,” she said, holding up her hands. “Or, at least what he told everyone. Technically, he’s older than The Hermit, but only has memories of the past twenty-ish years—acts like a college student, so I believe it.”

“I’ll try to keep that in mind,” Erika said slowly; it was hard to imagine that he was the same mental-age as Daniel’s brother. From the looks some of the cops were giving him, she wasn’t the only one… which just made her more determined to break past her prejudice. Turning away, Erika fixed her glare on The Adjustment. “Does The Eclipse have any newsletter or bulletin boards?”

“Pardon?”

“Might be handy if you sent out lists of places you would rather not have people like me snooping around.”

The Adjustment scratched a spindly finger against the side of her head. “I think that might just encourage people.”

“Then don’t get mad at me when I’m walking around and stumble across a giant zombie nest.”

The Art’s string-like tones echoed from her porcelain mask, interjecting into the conversation for the first time since she arrived. “They aren’t that big,” she said with a long, slow sigh as she lounged back against the SUV’s closed doors. She wasn’t even looking at Erika, The Adjustment, or the apartment building; her doll-like face stared upwards at the heavy rain clouds.

Thankfully, it was no longer raining.

Erika raised an eyebrow, turning a questioning look on The Adjustment.

“I think she’s a bit mopey we got called in on our night off,” she whispered, shaking her head. “I’m more pissed than mopey. Like sure, whatever, zombies probably needed dealing with before they escaped. Did you have to go tonight of all nights?”

“Send me your work schedule and I’ll try to plan my dates around your nights off,” Erika said, only half sarcastic—she liked The Adjustment well enough to not want to annoy her completely.

“A date?” The Adjustment’s eyes lit up as she slung her arm over Erika’s shoulders. Grinning conspiratorially, chelicerae twitching, she leaned in, poking Erika affectionately in the cheek. “You didn’t mention anyone else. Someone I… oh no…”

Erika started to shrug The Adjustment off—she didn’t like her that much—but the shift in her tone made Erika suck in a breath. For the briefest of moments, Erika thought The Stalker might have shown up in a fit of jealousy. Following The Adjustment’s gaze, she found a long SUV rolling through the police blockade. The engine made no sound as it pulled up, leaving just the grinding crunch of asphalt against rubber.

The Adjustment disentangled herself from Erika in the blink of an eye, and even the disinterested Art snapped to attention. If the stretched SUV wasn’t enough of a clue as to who had just arrived, their reactions sealed the deal.

Erika tensed as the SUV’s rear pulled to a stop right in front of her, but nobody stepped out on her side. The door opposite, closer to the apartment building, opened and The Emperor stepped out in her full regal authority. Her charcoal suit jacket, draped over her shoulders instead of worn properly like a normal person, fluttered despite the lack of wind. She turned her head, slit-pupils narrowing as she glanced over her shoulder at Erika, The Adjustment, and The Art. The look lasted a bare moment before she donned a set of circular red sunglasses, turning back to the apartment in the process.

A weight settled into Erika’s chest, like she had just been measured and found wanting.

Erika blinked as the gleaming, mirrored mask of The Aeon leaned over to The Emperor like he was whispering to her. She hadn’t even noticed him stepping out of the car, so distracted by The Emperor’s presence.

The Fool and The Tower noticed her appearance as well, leaving the apartment building to meet up with her, though The Aeon intercepted them.

“You weren’t expecting her to show?” Erika whispered to The Adjustment as The Aeon quietly conferred with the others.

“Empy…” The Adjustment coughed—hard. “The Emperor has a lot of work to attend to and rarely leaves the tower outside planned public appearances. The fact that she is here—Oh… shit.”

The Fool recalled the earth elemental he had been using to block up the apartment, swapping it for the same water elemental that he had nearly used to splatter Erika across that hotel’s floor. Torrents of water rushed out from the undine’s extended arms, aimed not at the apartment, but at the neighboring buildings. The Aeon surged into the air, copying the undine’s gesture to soak the buildings behind the apartment. They didn’t simply drizzle the water like rain, but unleashed a torrential flood from their extended arms. A dam broke, concentrated on the buildings around the apartment.

The Tower started moving as well, breaking into a sprint which left a strange shadowy residue behind in the air that slowly wafted up into the sky. He ran a full circuit at speed, far faster than Erika would have expected from the large nonhuman, making a curtain of darkness around the building and the street, separating out the cops and their cars.

Erika turned to ask, but found The Adjustment on the ground, ducking with her hands over her head. A shock of fear hit her as The Emperor drew in a breath. The still air swept toward her. Erika felt the tug against her coat, watched loose gravel skip across the street, and heard someone shouting behind The Tower’s cordon.

When she breathed out, the world went white.

Erika’s eyes slammed shut on reflex, but the light was still there, a red burn through her eyelids bright enough that she could see the branching veins in her retinas. The sound hit like a pressure wave, piercing her chest hard enough to knock the wind out of her, sending her stumbling backwards.

The Emperor was the engine of a rocket. White hot diamonds of plasma coursed from her open maw, and Erika only knew because she forced her eyes open for one searing second before clamping them shut again.

The burn hit her face—or maybe it had always been there and she only felt it now; Erika raised her arms, barely blocking a fraction of the heat as her mind finally caught up to what was going on. She was going to cook, literally, if she didn’t figure out how to stop it.

Erika felt like she had been transported to a sauna on the surface of the sun. All the lingering moisture from the earlier rain turned to steam, rushing up and down the streets in massive white clouds as the water expanded, brightened to a blinding cloud of what from the shock diamonds of The Emperor’s flames.

A dozen ideas vanished before they could fully form before her mind locked onto a single thought: a firebreak—a barrier of emptiness through which fire could not progress. The kind of thing firefighters used to stop wildfires and even city fires from spreading too far.

The edges of her hands and the tips of her ears felt raw, sunburnt in an instant. Erika forced herself to take a measured step back, concentrating on her ability to break anything as she moved.

It wasn’t quick—for a moment, Erika worried it wasn’t going to work. The heat cut off slowly, like she dragged an overlarge door between herself and The Emperor, but it did die off enough for Erika to breathe.

A giddy laugh escaped her lips, one born from a combination of nervousness and excitement. Firebreak. It worked.

The attack continued, but it felt muted now. The sound, the heat, the light all felt like it was happening at a distance, rather than thirty feet away. The clouds of steam didn’t help, being thick enough to conceal everything except the shock diamonds in the air.

Erika let out a breath in relief, shuddering as the steam condensed into thick droplets on her skin. It had only been a moment since The Emperor started her attack, though it felt like minutes had passed. Her ears rang, and the edges of her hands ached, but she wasn’t going to die unless The Emperor turned around; the thought made her wonder if firebreak could take a direct hit, but she was absolutely not willing to test it. She could finally hear herself think—and had more thoughts than instinct and visceral panic.

The Warrior had used dragonfire rounds back at the ziggurat, and she had given Anna some for her use as well. At the time, Erika had thought they were fairly impressive, able to clear away large swaths of the maggots with a single trigger pull.

Now, she wondered if The Warrior had ever seen a real dragon’s fire. Those enchanted shells were pale comparisons.

The steam cleared away after a minute as the water finished evaporating, but by then, The Emperor’s attack wound down. The wide beam of plasma petered off, shock diamonds fading as the flames turned more natural—white and blue at first, before reverting to the more usual red and orange.

The Emperor clamped her jaw shut.

For a long moment, Erika didn’t move. Her arms were still raised in front of her face—she hadn’t noticed she was still holding them there. She slowly lowered them, flexing her raw fingers and gingerly touching her ear. Everything felt hot, but not crispy.

The apartment didn’t exist anymore. Not even a burned out skeletal husk remained. Everything had been obliterated completely. Erika couldn’t find even a single stray bit of rebar poking up from the glassy mound that stood a few feet higher than street level. Parts still glowed red, sagging lower than the rest. A chalky-ozone scent clung to the dry air, tinged with a burned organic scent that Erika didn’t want to think about too much.

The Emperor stood, examining the aftermath as if it were nothing more than a mild inconvenience. A light, absent-minded flick of her lapel shook off a stray bit of dust. The circular red sunglasses caught a glint from the glowing mound.

The people outside The Tower’s hazy barrier didn’t look too harmed. Most of the cops nearby dove for cover, hiding behind their vehicles, but as the excitement wound down, they slowly got up. It took a moment to realize that not all of the ringing in Erika’s ears came from her tinnitus—car alarms and the sirens of emergency vehicles slowly gained prominence over the fading internal ring.

Through the water curtains provided by The Fool and The Aeon, the neighboring buildings still stood, though the building directly behind the apartment complex—the one in The Emperor’s direct line of fire—it looked like some massive being had come and kicked in the wall. Erika doubted it would survive an inspector.

“Fucking fuck,” The Adjustment groaned, drawing Erika’s gaze downward to where she was curled up in a tight ball. Steam wafted from her carapace.

It made Erika realize that her own coat was smoking, smoldering on her arms where she had protected herself. She threw it off, tossing it to the ground, glad once again that she only took cheap garbage to events like tonight.

The Art hadn’t moved. Her porcelain doll-like body lounged against the SUV like she hadn’t been bothered by the flames. Her joints gave her away—all the worm-like tendrils that were The Art had vanished, pulled back to the safety of the torso. Erika could see them worming their way outward, testing the body as they made their way back through it, and recoiling when they touched exposed spots that were too hot.

“I tire of this,” The Emperor said, ripping Erika’s attention back to the most dominant presence on the street. “Agent.”

Erika snapped to attention at hearing her title. She swallowed despite herself as The Emperor’s head turned, slit-pupil eyes burning over the rim of her glasses.

“You have been granted more than enough time. If you are still not ready, we will take care of this Corpse Eater ourselves.”

Erika licked her lips, finding them unnaturally dry—not just because of the heat. “No, we’re mostly ready. Tonight?” she asked. Erika didn’t know if The Hunters would actually be ready tonight, given the late hour, but she wasn’t sure what else to say. They were on their way here, but not to fight a god.

The Emperor broke eye contact with Erika, examining her surroundings. She paid special attention to The Adjustment, then The Tower. The Aeon drifted down, mirrored suit wrapped in a layer of water, and whispered something in The Emperor’s ear. The Emperor’s expression didn’t change, but she did nod her head.

“Tomorrow night,” The Emperor said. “We will meet at eighteen hundred. You will open the gate and we will end this threat.”

“That works for me,” Erika said, relieved to have one more day to hammer out all the details. She breathed, feeling a little more relaxed. “Did your… minions—” Erika waved her hand mostly toward The Adjustment. “—tell you about the other portal?”

“Yes,” The Emperor answered, short and curt. “We are not going to be caught unawares again. The Tower will join The Fixer in ascertaining the nature of any threats.”

Erika shot a glance to the side, looking over the hulking Godzilla-like Leviathan. Despite not having been drenched in water, he looked hale and hearty, even cocky as he stood in the back. Judging that he would be able to keep up with The Fixer, even when The Fixer switched forms, she nodded her head. “Sounds good to me.”

“Your approval is inconsequential.” With a slight motion of her hand, The Emperor called The Fool, The Aeon, and The Tower to her side. She spoke quietly to each, too quiet for Erika’s ringing ears to hear even if she strained, then turned back to her elongated SUV, leaving all three behind.

The Aeon and The Fool split off, bringing out the water once again, this time aimed at the glassy mound, while The Tower approached Erika, The Adjustment, and The Art.

Erika tensed despite knowing that The Eclipse were allies, at least for now. It was just something about The Tower that put her nerves on edge, even more now after that showing from The Emperor. She shot a wary glance at The Adjustment, who got back to her feet during the short talk with The Emperor, but she offered no support.

“Yo.” The Tower lifted one clawed arm in greeting. “I’m supposed to meet up with The Fixer and find out how we work together,” he said, tone casual despite the creeping way the words slipped out from under the tentacle-covered dome of his head. “Something wrong?”

Erika, realizing she was staring, quickly shook her head. “No, no. Just… in shock, I guess.”

“Ah, yeah.” He didn’t turn, but the luminous orange-yellow eyes that circled his head shifted, watching The Emperor’s SUV pull away. “First time?”

“Seeing a dragon breathe fire? Yes. Yes it was…” Erika couldn’t help her laugh. She had meant it as an excuse, but maybe she really was in shock.

“Sorry about that,” The Tower said, entirely too casually for his appearance. It was throwing Erika off. “The Emperor specifically directed me to leave you on the inside.”

“Could have warned us,” The Adjustment growled. The Art, worms back in control of the doll, bobbed her head in agreement.

“Wouldn’t be a test if I handed out warnings.”

“She was obviously not testing us,” The Adjustment snapped back before lightly rubbing at her chest. “My poor carapace. I’m weeks away from another molt…”

Erika scowled. “What if I failed the test?”

“I was watching you,” The Tower said with a small laugh. “The Emperor doesn’t get impressed easily—or if she does, she doesn’t show it. I was pretty impressed. You just stood there and took the brunt of it, barely even flinched.”

Erika just shook her head in exasperation. She felt like she did a whole lot more than flinch, but she wasn’t one to turn down a compliment. More importantly, she had a pressing question. “How the hell do you people cover that kind of thing up?”

The Adjustment laughed, though it sounded a bit pained.

“Gas leaks,” The Art said, violin-like tone almost teasing.

Erika stared in utter disbelief. “Have you guys got any other excuses? Just one?”

“Don’t change what isn’t broken,” The Art answered.

Her response, its phrasing especially, made Erika frown. “I guess you can at least call this an explosion… kind of. As long as nobody got it on video.” Sighing, she turned back to The Tower. “The Hunters are on their way—I don’t know if The Fixer is with them, but I’ll be sure to get you a phone number if nothing else… They were gearing up to fight zombies,” she said, frowning at the glassy mound. “They’re going to be so disappointed.”