Vespertine

They managed to knock out the guards at the front door with relative ease, even if they had doubled after their last break-in. But they were scarcely down the corridor before another officer rounded a corner and saw them. A look of surprise was etched into his face, and then his eyes rolled into the back of his head as Scarlett rendered him unconscious with a swift punch.

Not for the first time, Caiden was silently glad Quinn had accidentally wiped her memories.

“What exactly are we looking for?” Scarlett asked as they continued down the hall, avoiding the corridor the officer had just come from.

Quinn hesitated. “Well, we know the weakest point is somewhere here, so…”

She looked at Arette. Arette shrugged. “We just need someplace Quinn can work in peace. Preferably an empty room with an entrance we can guard while she…does her thing.”

Quinn looked at Caiden, a question in her eyes. “We can go to my room,” Caiden offered. “Follow me.”

Scarlett frowned. “Your room? You have a room here?”

“Long story,” he responded, and then took the lead.

They went up a flight of stairs without resistance, but as Caiden turned to head in the direction of his room, Quinn stopped him. “Wait,” she said. “What’s that?”

She was pointing at a restricted corridor. “I’ve never seen that before.”

“There’s a lot of things you haven’t seen here,” Caiden replied anxiously, glancing nervously around. “Let’s hurry.”

But Quinn refused to move. “No,” she insisted. “Think about it. Have you ever been down this hall?”

“No,” Caiden replied. “What’s your point?”

She shrugged. “Well, what could be so restricted in headquarters? You’re already privy to the prisoners and interrogations and evidence rooms. What else could there be?”

Caiden caught her drift. “What, you think this has something to do with the reversal?”

“Maybe. It might be like some top-secret project to deal with the reversal. Isn’t it at least worth checking out?”

“Whatever you decide,” Arette interrupted. “Decide now. We can’t afford to just stand around and wait to get caught.”

“Fine,” Caiden said, and Scarlett frowned. He glanced at the keypad. “But I don’t have the code. If it’s restricted, my clearance doesn’t go that far.”

Then he looked at Scarlett. “But…”

“Don’t,” she replied tersely. “I already have no idea what the fuck is happening right now. How the hell would I know the code?”

“Just close your eyes,” Caiden urged. “You’ve entered this code a million times in your life. Your fingers remember it. I know the first three numbers are 1-4-2, but I’ve never caught the rest of your code. Just try.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Something isn’t right here.”

Caiden went cold.

“You guys haven’t been telling me everything,” she accused. “What the hell is happening? Why would Caiden and I have clearance codes? Are you saying we used to work for the police department? If so, why would the cops hate us?”

“Guys,” Arette hissed. “Get in the door. Argue later.”

Caiden saw the source of her urgency, stalking towards them. “Hey!” The officer shouted. “Stop right there!”

Fuming, Scarlett turned towards the keypad and closed her eyes, typing in 1-4-2 before naturally completing the rest of the code, the adrenaline aiding her. The door clicked as the keypad flashed green, and the four of them piled inside before shutting the door.

The officer evidently didn’t have the clearance for the corridor, either, because he stood outside angrily and pounded on the door.

“Let’s go,” Quinn said, in a low voice. “Scarlett, we’ll explain everything later, I promise.”

She didn’t look happy, but didn’t argue further.

This corridor was brightly lit, like most of them were, but unlike the rest, it continued unbroken. There were no rooms or other hallways—the corridor seemed to serve the singular purpose of leading to the room at the very end.

“I don’t like this,” Arette said. “It kind of feels like…a trap.”

“We can’t afford to be paranoid right now,” Quinn responded. “It can’t be a trap. Nobody knows what we’re doing.”

“But she’s right,” Caiden murmured. “I can’t help but feel like we’re getting played, somehow.”

“I’ll lead, then,” Quinn responded. She drew out her gun as they approached the white door at the end of the hallway. There was a red triangle indicating its restricted status, and under that, a symbol that meant danger.

Arette’s eyes widened. “Wait.”

“What?”

“Something is weird,” she said. “I can feel my magic again.”

Caiden frowned, and with a jolt he realized that his magic was once again at the surface, ready for him to use.

“Nothing is making sense,” Quinn said, frustrated.

“Then let’s get answers,” Scarlett replied abruptly, and pushed the door open.

A row of sorcerers pulled the triggers on their guns.

In the second that they did, Caiden recognized the guns as nonlethal, tranquilizer guns, but Quinn shoved Scarlett aside and splayed her hands, and a shockwave flew through the room, blowing back all the darts. A couple of them hit the sorcerers, and they slumped to the ground, asleep.

The rest of them staggered under the weight of the wave, but recovered soon and dropped their guns, apparently deciding that they would do more harm than good against Quinn.

“Remember, we need Vespertine and Caiden alive!”

“That does not sound good,” Arette managed to say, before a bright burst of energy shot towards her. She dove out of the way.

“Arette!” Quinn shouted, and Arette nodded, placing her hands against the ground. The sorcerer who had fired the energy at her raised his hand again, and then frowned. Arette was diverting the flux field around the sorcerers.

“I can’t hold this for long,” she warned, and Quinn nodded.

Then she plunged into battle.

Caiden followed suit, barreling into a tall woman he had seen before, but never spoken to. She grunted, but didn’t fall. She brought her elbow down, but Caiden rolled out of the way and came up in a defensive stance, his baton out and ready.

“Sorry,” she said, and then struck at him with her staff, a thin one made of metal that Caiden hadn’t noticed until just now. He saw the ranking on her badge—a junior level officer, probably not as well trained as he was. Besides, he still had his magic, and she didn’t. Arette had done a good job of locking the flux field.

He blocked the blow easily and stepped in close, incapacitating her with a grip on her wrist. She wailed in pain and jabbed him in the side with her staff before she dropped it and sank into unconsciousness.

“Damn,” Caiden cursed, wincing and holding his side. “I always forget to protect when I’m doing that.”

Across the room, Quinn was locked in battle, with a large sorcerer whose name was Fergo. Caiden barely knew him, but even he knew that Fergo was renowned for his strength.

He watched as Fergo slammed an elbow towards Quinn, which she dodged. The elbow slammed into the wall behind her, creating a crater in the concrete. Fergo didn’t look bothered by this, simply drawing his arm back, and Quinn narrowed her eyes as she realized that his magic operated a little differently than usual sorcerers. Arette would have a harder time separating him from the field.

She pushed with her hands and a shockwave blasted forwards, taking Fergo off his feet. She followed up, running over to him and catching him in the chin with an uppercut as soon as he landed. He crumpled, and Caiden counted the sorcerers left.

Three of them, and all three were headed for Arette.

“Scarlett!” He shouted. “Protect her!”

Scarlett still had that fiercely concentrated look of confusion on her face, and Caiden had a bad feeling that she was beginning to doubt everything they had told her, or perhaps had even started to remember some things. He had read somewhere that amnesia could sometimes be cured by exposure to familiar things. This compound was most definitely a familiar thing.

But as a sorcerer went to kick Arette in the face, her knife flashed and she stood in front of Arette, battling the sorcerer back. He was wearing a look of surprise. “What are you doing?” He demanded as they sparred. “Did Astor give us new orders?”

She responded with an unimpressed “What?” before she knocked him out with the hilt of her knife.

Quinn had leaped onto the back of the second sorcerer, and Caiden realized belatedly that he was probably responsible for the third. The third sorcerer was backing away from Scarlett, a look of suspicion on her face, and Caiden stepped up behind her and laid a hand on her neck. She went rigid and barely got a scream out before she fell.

Caiden shook his hand, feeling a little disgusted. He hated using his power to do that. He tried to push the sound of her scream out of his mind as he turned towards Quinn, just in time to see her deliver a finishing blow.

She was sweating, he realized. He thought it was from the fighting, but realized he wasn’t perspiring himself.

Arette collapsed, breathing heavily, diverting his attention from Quinn.

“You okay?” Quinn asked, panting.

Arette nodded. “Sorry. That just takes a lot out of me. But I guess we won. What’s through that door?” She jerked her chin to the door on the far end of the room.

Before Quinn could respond, Caiden interrupted with a question of his own. “What about you? Are you alright?”

She nodded, though she clearly looked strained.

“You’re sweating,” Scarlett observed. “More than you should be.” Caiden reached out a hand to touch her arm, and found that it was much hotter than his own.

“It’s the armor, I think,” Quinn admitted. “I don’t know why the field isn’t completely gone here, but the armor is amplifying it and it’s way more intense than it was outside. It kind of feels like I’m overheating.”

“You should deactivate it,” Arette suggested, and Quinn retraced the symbols, backwards this time. A look of relief crossed her face.

And then the door was thrown open, and Staed stepped in, more officers behind him.

“God,” Arette complained. “Why?”

She was obviously in no shape to divert the field this time. Caiden looked at Quinn.

“You have to blow them back! Incapacitate them all at once!”

She looked reluctant. “A strong blast than before might get you guys, too.”

“We don’t have a choice!”

Quinn bit her lip, but concentrated and pushed her power outwards. But just before her wave hit the sorcerers, one strode forward and extended his hand, and a blue shield of energy was thrown up around the group.

“That’s inconvenient,” Arette said wryly, and sat up. Then, as the shield retracted after dispersing Quinn’s wave, Arette took her gun from the holster and shot him in the arm.

The sorcerer screamed and Staed growled and headed for them, another two sorcerers dragged the wounded officer out, and then chaos ensued.

Caiden barely had time to react before the sorcerers were upon him with stunners and staffs, and he was forced to leave his moral contemplations behind as he focused on not being taken down.

For the first time, the reality of how powerful he was hit him. When he didn’t hold back, grabbing and fighting mindlessly, he was capable of taking out five sorcerers in a minute. The thought didn’t make him happy.

Quinn was holding her own, using her power to repel sorcerers and knocking them out with her weapons when they got close. She was standing protectively over Arette, and with a jolt Caiden realized Scarlett was nowhere to be seen.

He didn’t have time to worry about it, though, as someone slammed into his back and he cried out as he went sprawling, his baton slipping out of his hand to land somewhere out of reach.

The person flipped him over and put his weight on Caiden’s chest, and he only had a moment to gape at Staed before he hit Caiden across the face with a hard blow that made his head snap to the side.

Before he could get another blow in, Caiden grabbed his arm and poured in his magic, and then choked as another punch snapped his head to the other side.

He had never figured out Staed’s power, but it would be just his luck if it happened to be the ability to resist other powers. He grasped Staed’s fist as it came back for the final blow, his head pounding, and spiked his magic with pain, and Staed snarled and jerked away from Caiden.

Not imperviousness, then. His clothes must be enhanced to absorb magical attacks. That was somewhat of a problem, seeing as Staed was covered from head to toe, everywhere but his face and hands. And now that he knew Caiden’s game, he would be sure to keep those areas away from him.

Staed snapped his own baton out and Caiden paled. He’d never fought Staed like this before, but he had heard the stories of how skilled he was when his weapon was in hand. And he was Astor’s right hand, a fact he never let Caiden forget. Years and years of intimidation suddenly washed over him.

“Caiden!” Quinn shouted, and he and Staed both looked over in time to see her sliding a gun his way. He dove for it just as Staed moved to kick it away. Caiden’s fingers snagged on the handle and he rolled away, aiming the gun at Staed, scrambling backwards a bit before getting to his feet. Staed watched him impassively, unmoving now that there was the danger of being shot.

“Put down the baton,” Caiden managed to say. “Get on your knees.”

Staed shook his head. “Why, Caiden?” His eyes flickered to Quinn, who was holding off another sorcerer. There was something knowing in his eyes that Caiden hated.

“Put down the baton,” he repeated.

Staed didn’t move. His lips twitched, halfway to a smile. “You won’t do it,” he said.

“Try me,” Caiden replied tersely.

Staed strode forward and Caiden flicked the safety off. He stopped walking.

“You could never. What happened to all that talk about using your power for good?” Staed asked, mockingly. “I mean, you whined about that for years.”

“That’s my power. This is a gun.”

“You won’t, because you can’t. You’ve never had that in you. It’s why you’re so perfect for this.” He smiled at Caiden then, a bright, vicious smile, and Caiden hated it because he knew it was right. His finger rested heavily on the trigger, even as he knew he wasn’t going to kill Staed. But it didn’t mean that he couldn’t injure him.

He shifted his aim, but his hesitation allowed Staed to flick his baton out, smacking the gun out of Caiden’s hand, his foot punting it out of the way before Caiden could retrieve it.

Caiden backed up, glaring. Stead kept that smug, uncaring look.

He felt a wall behind him, his heel bumping into it. No, that wasn’t quite right. The wall was not so indented; he moved a hand behind his back and grasped a metal handle. To his surprise, it wasn’t locked. He debated the pros and cons as Staed advanced, baton swinging menacingly. On one hand, he had no idea what was behind the door. On the other hand, he was all out of space, and Staed had almost reached him.

He pushed the handle down and tumbled backwards and Staed lunged for him as Caiden attempted to close the door, but with a shove, Staed was in. But he was disoriented, and Caiden grabbed his hand and concentrated, and Staed roared and dropped his baton and Caiden scrambled for it and it went sliding out of the room as Staed planted a foot on his back, and then he was being rolled over, and for a moment, he was overwhelmed by the amount of light in the room.

There was a massive cylinder in the middle of the room, hooked up to wires and tubes of all shapes and sizes, covered in mesh netting and emitting an unearthly glow. Scarlett’s voice flashed through his mind, on that mission they had been on so long ago. A considerable amount of metal alloy and micro-elastic netting. Ring a bell?

It was obvious that this cylinder was the reason the field was still intact here, at this moment. There was magic in that thing, a huge amount of magic, churning and whirling and bubbling, barely kept from spilling over.

Caiden could almost feel everything unraveling. All the plans and the goals were crumbling before his very eyes. And then Staed hit him, and he could only focus on staying conscious.

Outside the door, Quinn gave a mighty, if tired, kick and knocked the last of the sorcerers out. She whirled towards the door as Arette struggled to get up, still looking drained. The door swung slightly, mostly closed, but even through the slight crack that remained Quinn could see the light spilling out.

She spotted the shield on the ground—Caiden must have dropped it as he was grappling with Staed. She briskly walked over and picked it up, and then headed back towards the door to help Caiden, when she realized Scarlett was standing in front of it.

“Where were you?” Quinn demanded. “You just disappeared.”

“Exploring,” Scarlett answered evenly.

“Seriously?”

Then, she said, in a low, clear voice, “I remember.”

Quinn froze. She did a mental check of her weapons, and then debated if she should try to take Scarlett down now, or wait for her to make a move.

But then Scarlett stepped aside slightly. “I remember everything,” she said, in a voice that suggested she almost wished she didn’t. “But this…I don’t think this is what I signed up for. I don’t…” she trailed off, and Quinn could hear the unfinished statement hanging in the air. I don’t know anymore.

“I won’t stop you,” she said. “But really, you should go.”

“Go? Why?”

“Haven’t you figured it out yet?”

Quinn opened her mouth to respond, and then closed it as Scarlett simply walked past her, back to the door they had come through. Before she opened it to leave, she turned and said, “I really am sorry, Quinn.”

She looked like she wanted to say more, but at that moment the door behind her swung open and an electric current ran through Scarlett.

Her expression didn’t look shocked, or frightened, or hurt. In fact, she didn’t look much like anything, except maybe soon-to-be unconscious or dead. Bizarrely, a man stepped out from behind her. Quinn gaped as Scarlett fell forward, and then her eyes flickered back towards her assailant, who wore an annoyed face as he looked down at Scarlett.

Her mind searched for a name to put to the face, and she found it just as he spoke. “Bit ungrateful, isn’t she?” Astor remarked, and then set his gaze on Quinn. Quinn felt profoundly uncomfortable looking at him looking at her, and she didn’t know if it was the way his eyes seemed rather dead or the very long sword he held.

Behind her, a terrific crashing noise accompanied the arrival of Staed and Caiden, rolling back into the room. Arette had managed to push herself up and was now attacking Staed from the other side, and the three of them very nearly barreled into Quinn.

Quinn sidestepped, and all of a sudden felt overwhelmed. For some reason, it felt like too many things were happening all at once, even though there was decidedly less chaos in the room now that most of the sorcerers were unconscious.

Haven’t you figured it out yet?

I can’t help but feel like we’re getting played, somehow.

A trap. A trap.

The key to everything.

Echoes were reverberating around in her head in a maddening fashion, as if she had all the pieces to the puzzle and only had to turn them a certain way to put it together, but the direction just fell out of the reach of her mind. It was there, it was there, but it wasn’t.

Astor took a step towards her. She took a step back. He grinned wickedly.

“Give me the shield,” he said.

Quinn said nothing.

“Oh, please,” he said, angling the sword at Scarlett’s neck. “Shield.”

She knew instinctively that he would not hesitate to behead Scarlett, even though she worked for him, even though she had been loyal up until she lost her memory. Reluctantly, she set the shield down and pushed it over to him with her foot.

“Good girl,” he said approvingly, but didn’t move the sword.

Next to them, there was a sound that was somewhere between a gasp and a choke, and Quinn looked over to see three bodies lying on the ground.

Arette’s eyes were closed, and her leg was bent at an odd angle. Staed was facedown, but he wasn’t moving. And Caiden was lying on his side, struggling to sit up, his feet dragging uselessly. He reached down and they righted themselves as his hand glowed briefly, and, exhausted but unharmed, he stood.

He reached a hand out towards Arette, but a sharp cluck from Astor made him hesitate. “Don’t,” he said, head cocking towards the sword at Scarlett’s neck.

Caiden looked torn, but slowly retreated.

“Back up,” Astor said, pleasantly, his calm manner completely contradicting the situation. “Into the room behind you.”

“And if we don’t?” Quinn challenged.

Astor shrugged. Swung the sword up a bit.

Quinn scowled and backed up, and after a pause, Caiden did the same, until they were both standing in the room with the cylinder.

Astor smiled. “Excellent.”

He strode over to them, and Quinn considered bolting at him, but his stance told her that if she did, she would get impaled.

He reached the door, and stepped inside. Quinn and Caiden took more steps back, until they were a safe distance away from him.

Astor turned, tucking the sword under his arm, and closed the door, locking it. His back seemed to be taunting them, daring them to attack him while he was distracted, all the while knowing they wouldn’t. There was a dreaded sort of fear on Caiden’s face that Quinn was certain she had never seen on him.

“Well,” Astor said, turning back to them, crossing his arms. “I guess we’re the only ones left.”