(The Push Chronicles (Book 2): Indefatigable (14 page)

So I waited, hanging like a drowned rat from my sewer pipe.  There were so many questions running through my head.  How much time had passed since our sewer assault?  Was anybody hurt?  Was anybody dead?  What exactly did Mackenzie's last cryptic statement mean?  What was this theft he mentioned before he left me to die?

That was the only question I had an answer to.  Ian was going to steal my bio-feedback device from the Georgia Tech campus and my old laboratory.  If he was still planning on trying to reverse the Whiteout, he would need that and undoubtedly that was one of the reasons he had tried to get me to join up with him.  Of course, there was no telling if I would be able to do anything with that knowledge, trapped down here with no lines of communication.

It was the thrashes in the water that caught my attention.  There was a figure in the darkness as the waters continue to dwindle, human-shaped by what I could see.  Who it was I couldn't tell and frankly didn't care; what was important was that he or she had just gone into a dead man's float after a last splash.  So much for staying safe and dry.

I let go, angling my descent to put me in the water just a little ahead of the floating body.  Hopefully the current had weakened enough that I could actually get to whoever it was before they drowned.  I touched off the bottom of the water almost immediately and broke the surface once more.  The current had, indeed, dialed back from 'whitewater death' to 'swift mountain stream', so a few hard kicks was all it took to torpedo me beside the floating figure.  I grabbed the figure, a man it turned out, by his armpits and flopped him over on his back.  For now, faith would have to be the only thing guiding us safely as I had to focus all my efforts to keeping the two of us above water and trying to bring the man around.

At least the man was able to breathe on his own which he showed off by letting out a tremendous shuddering gasp before coughing up water.  After that first convulsion, I recognized the person.  The high-and-tight hair, the paramilitary garb; this was the one human assistant I saw during my talk with Mackenzie.  What the hell was he doing here?  It was with that question in mind that his body floated high on a wave, breaking the brackish sewer water.  The reason for his condition, at least, was now quite obvious: There was a large exit wound in his gut; the man had been shot in the back.

My mind raced, trying to figure out how to save the both of us.  He needed a trauma center on the double if he were to have any chance of living, but how could I get him there?  I could barely be sure I would be able to keep myself alive, let alone get us both to safety.  I scanned the environment, hoping to find an answer.  His loud groan of pain interrupted my thoughts.

"He shot me," the Hog moaned.  "Why?  I was a good solider."  He didn't seem to realize the full extent of his condition and I was forced to spend valuable energy keeping his thrashes from overturning the both of us.  "I just didn't want to die like my buddies."

"The vampires?" I found myself asking.  The urge to pump this poor bastard for information felt so wrong, but I couldn't help myself.  I had to know what was going on or there would be far more casualties than this one man.  It didn't make me feel any less slimy though.

"Yeah," he croaked, spitting up some more dank water, "he said they'd be martyrs and would go to heaven but that's crazy."  He clutched the collar of my scrubs and stared hauntingly into my eyes.  "God doesn't make monsters like that ... like you."  I felt a little less bad about my questions after that.

"What's he up to then?  Where are they?"  Out of the corner of my eye I saw an approaching wall.  Maybe I could brace us against it until the water finished draining?

"Pumps to the barracks, change 'em all at once," he choked out.  "One night, one big surge."

There was that wall.  I kicked hard to turn us around and got ready.  As the water swept us towards the stones, I managed to make contact with both feet, slowing us for a moment.  Even barefoot, I couldn't find purchase in the rough bricks and we would have been swept away once more if luck hadn't presented itself in a series of rungs.  I managed to snag onto one of them and held on, holding the dying man against the wall for support.

"The barracks, where are they?"  It was obvious from what Ian had said that the actual attack hadn't happened yet.  Maybe there was a chance to prevent this from even happening.

"Skyway."  That was the one word he gasped out before falling unconscious.  I felt numb; I never thought I would hear that name ever again.  Why there?  Had Eric left something behind that Ian was using?  The Hog suffered another spasm that brought me out of my thoughts.  Maybe he would die before I could save us both, but I'd be damned if I wasn't going to try.  I kicked against the current until I managed to snag one foot, then the other into the rungs.

"Hold on, buddy, this isn't going to be easy."  I snaked my arm as best as I could manage around his chest, trying to loop his arms, and then began to climb.  Painfully, we ascended.  As we rose into the darkness above, I could only hope that whatever was up there was better than what was below us.

Chapter 15 Reunion

I made a final heave and tossed my badly injured human cargo into drier air.  There was only the usual amount of sewer slime and muck instead of the raging torrent below us.  Unlike the faint luminescence below, this tunnel was pitch black, which still made it a million times better than the watery grave we had left behind.

The Hog made another wheezing gasp beside me.  Gently feeling in the dark, I found his hands clutched over his gut wound.  I couldn't help but feel sympathy for the man.  No matter the horrible things he did before, death is never the right solution to the problem.  Dead people can't make amends for the past, they can only rot.  Even so, I surprised myself when I clutched his trembling hands, trying to be soothing.

"We'll get you out of this, I promise."  I hated giving promises I couldn't keep, but this once, if it could maybe make his last moments easier, I would do it.  I was being realistic: No matter how hard I tried, the chances that this man would live through it was next to none.  I closed my eyes, trying to center myself and push on.

What became apparent as I closed my eyes was that we weren't alone.  I heard metallic scrapes and the crunch of debris under a boot sole from down the tunnel to my right.  Was it the sound of salvation or damnation?  I didn't know, but I took my usual stance, expect the worst but hope for the best, as I pulled the Hog to one side of the tunnel.  Luck was on our side, as we moved behind some vertical pipes just as bright white lights flashed down the tunnel in our direction.  I pressed my back against the pipes and kept my breathing low and under control.

The lights danced as their owners moved, first in an indecisive circle, then a slow advance towards our place of concealment.  I tried to peek through the small gaps in the pipes, but the lights were far too bright for my eyes, adjusted as they were to the bleak darkness of the sewers.  The boots sounded ever closer and I could make out at least two sets of steps.  I held my breath, trying to be utterly still.  I would need the element of surprise until I figured out if these were friend or foe.

As the figures moved past the pipes right next to me, I acted.  I reached out quickly, one hand gripping around the lapel of a jumpsuit that had to have snakeskin leather sleeves if the arm I caught in my other hand was representative of the whole.  My physical reflexes were firing faster than my brain as I yanked the female form into the little alcove and jammed her against the pipes.

"What the hell?" came the hissing shout.  Wait, was that Medusa?  It had to be, even though I was blinded by the headlamp on her head, as my fingers seeped through the unreal scaly skin to touch the flesh of her arm.  I didn't have time to formulate a reply as two armored hands grabbed me by the shoulders and yanked back with a mechanical whir.

"Stay away for her, knave, or else I will -"  The threat ended abruptly, interrupting itself with a question:  "Milady?  Is that you?"  I put a hand up to shield my eyes, but my ears told me everything I needed to know.  It was the Argent Archer and Medusa.  It was salvation, after all.

"Yes, it's me," I said.  "Why do you even need to ask that?"

"
Chica
, let'sss jussst sssay that ssscrubs and blood aren't you," Meds snorted, then threw her arms around me abruptly.  "We thought you were dead."  I couldn't help but reciprocate the gesture.  The joy at seeing even a few of my friends again was seeping in.

"Egads," Archer cried.  "What happened to this man?  Is he even still alive?"  I pulled away from Medusa with a touch of guilt.  I had someone to take care of and I had forgotten completely about him for that one moment.

"He's been shot and took a dip in the sewers," I explained quickly.  "I don't know if we can but we've got to try to save him."  Archer certainly had to have recognized the Hog's uniform, but there was no hesitance at all as he scooped the man up in his armored arms.

"Then it shall be!"  The knightly Crusader dipped his helmet to the two of us.  "I shall get him to aid more swiftly alone.  I shall meet you back at the Foundation."   His jet pack unfolded as he turned.  "Huzzah!" he shouted as he flew off down the tunnels.

"Lead the way, Meds," I nodded to the snake-woman.  "We can't dally either.  Mackenzie is about to move."  Medusa raised her brow as she started to backtrack.

"Sso he really iss behind all of thisss?  Between looking for you and dealing with Hog bombingsss, we've been completely tied up for daysss."

"Days?"  I followed Medusa automatically, paying far more attention to the conversation than the scenery.  "How many?"

"Only two," she answered.  "I sssuppose the 'only' part issn't very comforting, iss it?"

"No, not at all."  From the sound of it, Ian had been very busy these past few days.  At least his big finale hadn't happened yet, had it?  It couldn't have been an hour since he chained me to that wall to die.  "There's still time, though."

"Mind filling me in?"  We had to be close to the surface now, climbing up another set of rungs.  Natural light seeped through cracks in the grate above us.

"All at once," I said as we came out onto the sun-baked streets.  From the sun's position, I guessed it was mid-afternoon.  "Damn, I just wish we had more time." 

Medusa looked into my eyes and smirked.  The past few days had not been kind to my friend.  The bandaged arm, the fresh scratches and gouges in her scales, the weary look in her snake-eyes, they were all marks of her condition, but still, somehow, Medusa could always crack a smirk.

"With you back, we have more than enough time."

"Indy!" The Human Tank was surprisingly contained in his speech, but not so contained with the monstrous bear hug around my ribs.

"Tank," I interrupted, trying to worm my arms down to get myself some breathing room.  "I'm fine, I'm good, nice to see you too."  Diligently, the teen cyborg set me back on my own feet.  I looked around the room, glancing from face to face to face. Tank, Meds, Hex, and Mind's Eye were here, in the Foundation meeting room where it had all started a few days ago.

"Shucks," Hexagon said, "I knew we'd find you somehow."  He rubbed the back of his head.  "I'm still awful happy to see it happen sooner as opposed to later though."

"I am never one for overindulgent displays of affection, Indomitable, but I am glad you have come back to us," Mind's Eye added, nodding blindly in my general direction.  Medusa let out a short chuckle  at that.

"Where is everybody else?" I asked.  I didn't want to repeat myself and we still didn't have a lot of time ... assuming Mackenzie hadn't already touched off his plan.  I felt stupid I hadn't even considered that before, probably as stupid as Ian did when he chained me in that pumping room.  Nine out of ten, Mackenzie had already started the final act of his play before I had even woken up for our 'chat'.

"I'm right here," Ex said as he walked through the door, shaking off an icy crust that was peppered with bomb fragments.  "Sorry, small bomb Downtown.  Rachel and Duane are handling an on-site investigation but I doubt we'll find anything new."  I could see that he was trying not to look me directly in the eyes.

"I'm glad to see you too," I said, looking away.  "Archer is probably still at the hospital dropping off that victim.  Can anyone with a working com open up a channel to the Dynamic Duo?"  I sighed.  "We're in trouble and I only want to run this down twice."  Tank started tapping at the computer mounted in his cybernetic arm as I crossed my arms.  Look at me, so tightly wound I couldn't even give my friends a smile with business afoot.  There was a cold hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, I'm sorry."  Ex frowned as I turned to look at him, but his eyes danced with relief.  "I just ... you know ... with everything ... I'm just glad to see you're okay."  I cracked a small smile and patted his hand.

"Thanks.  Glad to see everyone here is okay too."

"Well, I think we might have to thank you for that too," the frozen firefighter explained.  "When you disappeared, the Hogs vanished into the sewers.  We managed to track a few down, but considering the whole blood pumping thing, we figured we had won the important fight."

"It was not until after we regrouped did we realize that you were gone and that area's pumping equipment contained no blood," Mind's Eye added without prompt.  "In fact, the machinery was disconnected from the main line entirely."

"Now," Hex said, running two hands through his hair, "they've had us dancin' like a bunch of idjits chasin' bombers all around town, probably just to keep us so busy we ain't got a chance to track 'em down."

"I know you guys did everything you could.  I hate to say it, you're totally right, Hex, that exactly what they have been doing."

"Okay, ladies and gents, you too, Miss Eye, I've got it all set up and Rachel and Duane and Archer are all listening and they're like totally happy to find out you're okay and are wondering what happened and if you -"  Tank had sprouted fold-out speakers from his chassis and would have undoubtedly continued for another minute of exposition if Mind's Eye hadn't favored him with a brief smile.  "Oh, uh, yeah, so we're live!"

"Rachel, Duane, Archer?" I called out.  Fortunately, I was now used to talking to thin air, so at least I didn't feel stupid, at least outside of the thin sewer-and-blood-soaked scrubs.

"Damn, Doc, next time you let the bad guys snatch you, at least drop a note," Brooks said, crackling over the speakers, "so we know not to worry too much."

"What he means is that it's nice to hear you, Indy," Choi added.

"Right, folks," I said, sitting down in one of the meeting room chairs, "here's what's going on ..."

It took a surprisingly brief amount of time to recount what had happened to me under Ian Mackenzie's care.  I had to brush over some of the specifics but I deviated as little as possible.  In particular, I glossed over some details about the Whiteout itself Ian and I had discussed; it was too close to the things I swore never to tell my Pushed friends.  For the most part, outside of a few questions to clarify my story, the team listened quietly, absorbing the details.  The first person to offer up something after my story's conclusion was Medusa.

"Ssssee?" she said.  "You ssshould lissten to uss when we ssay you need to get your resst."  It was half-joke and half-rebuke, but I couldn't argue with it.

"And for that, I sincerely apologize, but how about we focus on the big picture?"  I felt strangely clear-headed even after this day's ordeal.  Was it simply the forced rest or something else?  I flexed my aching hand and a distant echo in my head wondered if I wouldn't be that much more clear-headed if I took something for the lingering pain.

"Skyway," Ex muttered, rubbing his chin.  "The only place that has a name like that I know of is an old government housing project.  It's still up and running as far as I know."  I realized that I had never mentioned all the specifics when I told him about the Whiteout's origin; I had been too busy making digs about unreality or something stupid.

"Whatever it be, it is of utmost importance," Archer added over the line, "for 't was the poor lad's last words before the doctors put him into a coma."

"You're both correct," Rachel added.  "Indy, perhaps you should elaborate on this.  You were there, after all."  All eyes in the room shifted to me.  There was a flash of recognition in Ex's eyes as he put the pieces together.

"Skyway is where the Whiteout actually started."  I closed my eyes.  "It's the place that the Pulse originated from.  A Pulse that was created by Eric Flynn, the man you know as Epic, and yes, I was there that night."

"You know what caused us to be this way and have known all of this time," Mind's Eyes intoned, not as a question but as an accusation.  "Yet you have hidden this from us."

"Gotta admit, Indy, it does sound kinda fishy," Hexagon added, shrugging his shoulder helplessly.

"There musst be a good reassson," Medusa insisted.  "We have fought, worked, lived together for monthssss now.  When hass ssshe not done the right thing by any of usss?"

"Medusa is right," Extinguisher added.  "Anyway, it doesn't matter one bit in regards to Mackenzie or his vampire Hogs.  I think we can safely assume that he's already pulled off this theft you mentioned, so all we can do now is get our act together and get over to Skyway."

"What about what she did to you?" the Indian seer arched an eyebrow at Extinguisher.

"Hey!" I shouted, slamming my palms down on the table.  "Anything between Ex and me that happened in private is just that, private.  Keep your third eye out of this."  Who didn't know about our relationship at this point?  Why did we even try to keep it hidden?  Regardless, I was more than willing to accept a fair measure of guilt.  Even with what happened with Ex, I still should have tried to tell all of them the truth sooner.  However, I wasn't going to let what little private life I had be drug out as a cause to suspect me of anything.

"Please, friends, still thy tempers," Archer said.  "Can any group of close friends be forever in good humors?  I say thee 'nay'.  Do not let this bout of ill feeling drive a wedge amongst you and do not let it stray us from our most vital purpose."

"Robin Hood is right," Ex said.  "We'll talk about this again.  Later."  He shot both me and Eye hard looks.  "Lives are at stake."  The Human Tank nodded emphatically.  The teen was obviously a bit upset at seeing his friends arguing and was more than eager to see it end.