Orb Weaver: Storm, Chapter 6

I looked at the wrecked shelter, and nodded. We can do this. Glancing over at Kid Win, I gestured at a big building across the street from the shelter, lower floors flooded and wrecked. “You’ve been using your sensors, can you scan for the main structural members?”

“Um, yeah, but shouldn’t I set up my alternator—“

He’d talked about that before, and I shook my head. “No. We are rescuing people. The last thing we want to do is to attract Leviathan’s attention.”

“Oh my Life, no,” an officer said.

Besides, I didn’t want to hurt Chris’ feelings, but compared to what was being unleashed out there, I doubt his cannon would do much.

If Leviathan attacks the building head on, we all die. So assume we’re dealing with secondary attacks, waves and such. He might not be able to use a big wave, but…

But even a fifteen foot high wave had thousands of tons of water behind it. If it…

I can do this.

“Aegis, if you…”

“Go ahead.”

“Right, Aegis, Gallent, Tenebrae Glory Girl, and the officers, get the people moving to the Bank-“ I gestured to the building. “Kanshi, Krewe, Clockblocker, Kid Win, with me.”

I started out, moving through the water, already up to my upper thighs. The cops, EOC people and the rest of the wards were heading for the ruined shelter. Every stroke of lighting had me suppressing a twitch. No insects could fly in this, and the surviving ones were blinded—I was blinded.

I snorted. All the time playing down the Investigator’s abilities, and here I was, more or less powerless. Orb Weaver wasn’t going to help me here.

Fine. I was Taylor Hebert and I’d damned well help myself.

The lower levels of the building were flooded, the big windows shattered, more and more mass packing up against it. But it was a newer building, you could tell from the heavier construction, the fruit of years of parahuman brawls.

“It’s got big pylons,” Kid Win said, looking down, one of his drones flying through it, the wind tipping the small form, almost sending into the surging water before it recovered. “They go down into the granite, and they’re still intact.”

“Good. Kanshi, how big can you make a paper wall?”

She blinked at me, her face unreadable behind her mask. “I can enhance the strength of my paper,” she said, “but not that much. The water will tear—“

“That’s why we have Clockblocker.”

Her mouth snapped shut, and she looked over at Clockblocker.

“What?”

I gestured with my hands. “Once they are in this building, Leviathan, even if he doesn’t directly attack, will send waves in our general area. Not as big as the one Vista stopped, but possibly enough to wreck the building, kill the people taking refuge in it—unless we have an immovable object in front of the wave.”

“I cannot create a shield big enough for the entire building…” Kanshi paused. “But it wouldn’t have to be, would it, just enough to break the waves up.”

Unless Leviathan sends too many waves, or he manages to undermine the pylons or— I shook my head again. No sense in wondering about what ifs, especially if we couldn’t do anything about them.

“We’ll have to put my drones at the top of the building,” Kid Win said. “I can call out incoming waves, give you time to get set up.”

“Right,” Clockblocker said. “But I can’t control the duration, and I bet if my power lapses, it’ll just be paper—so you’ll have to have another one up behind the active layer, Kanshi.”

“Understood—“

“Boss!” Krewe called over the comlink, “We gotta fucking big problem!”

****

People were swarming out of the ruined shelter, a mother carrying a screaming toddler, another woman, a teacher, Aisha guessed, leading a line of kids, holding onto each other for dear life as they struggled through the storm. One slipped, went down in the water and a Number was there, lifting her up. “Mommy!” the girl screamed.

“She’ll be right with you!” the Number said. “But you need to keep going!”

Cops moved in, adults from the shelter, picking the kids up and running them to the building, and suddenly…

Well shit, that is one broken power, Aisha thought as a paper staircase took form, people running up it to the third story, still intact—well except for windows.

“Oh shit,” Bro said. “Glory Girl, down here!”

Aisha threw out a number and then…

Oh. Fuck.

The staircases leading to the top entrance were totally collapsed. And if there were entrances on the lower levels, they were underwater. Glory Girl grabbed and pulled, but as she pulled one chunk of broken concrete, another came down, and there were people reaching through the gaps even as one of the lights died in a shower of sparks and what the fuck was she gonna—

“Boss! We gotta fucking big problem!”

“What is it?” and as usual Taylor sounded like she was doing one of those boring ass math problems…

“The stair’s, they’re collapsed.”

“Can you make some kind of access point—“

“I can’t pull the shit out,” Glory Girl said. “More comes down. When the wave hit, it must have compromised the entire structure. There’s three more floors under there…”

God, listen to them. Aisha shuddered at the sounds of cries from below. Bro and Aegis, along with some other guys, had a big hunk of rebar out and were trying to lever a hole big enough for someone to get through, even as the water poured down from the entrance—

There was gonna be muddy water flooding in under there, rising up over guys, girls, little kids, in the dark. Aisha’s throat constricted as she remembered what it had been like, to be drowning, begging for just one more breath, please God—only here there was no Orb—

She took a big breath.

Stop. Fucking stop being a little shit. You’re Krewe. You’re gonna work this out.

And suddenly, she looked at the problem. No way could any of them get a hole dug in time, none of the big brutes fighting Leviathan would break of—

Wait a minute. Not all the big brutes were fighting.

“Gonna get help,” she shouted, and Bro’s call was lost in the wind as she twisted. Three twists, over the air, and as she started to fall she oriented herself. She wasn’t as good as Taylor, but the Fourth Horseman had been an utter fucking ass about knowing where you were in an emergency so she’d kept track of the map.

God, she hoped he was okay.

But now she knew where she was going.

****

Madison sat under the tarp, a miserable little bundle. There were people fighting out there. She’d seen the tidal wave before Vista had ended it, but she was just here. Too cowardly, too untrusted—

“Hi!”

Madison shrieked and chitin and claws emerged from her form, shredding her clothing. She looked and there was… Krewe, looking like a waterlogged rat, with a big backpack and some cylinders in her hands. “Hold these,” she said. “They’re like… important items I requisitioned.”

Shouts came from behind her.

“Unofficially, like,” Krewe said.

“What are you doing?”

“Gonna save some kids. You wanna save some kids?”

“Yes, but I’m supposed to stay here.”

Krewe shrugged. “Yeah, thing is, if Alexandria was here, she’d tell you to go, but she isn’t, so I’m here.”

“She wants me…”

“Like I said, I’m here!” Then Krewe grabbed her from behind. “Ready? Don’t fuck up the O2, we may need it.”

“Wait wh—AIEEEE!!!” Madison screamed as the world twisted and suddenly she was in the air, twisted again and she was higher, over the waterlogged city, and then they were moving out.

People were running to where she’d been sitting, waving their arms.

Madison wondered if Krewe had really talked to Alexandria… but then it was too late, and they were flying into the storm.