Issue #78 – Delved Too Deep (Une Mascarade Brisée Part 1)

The Descendants Vol 7: The New World

• Issue #73 – Give Thanks
• Issue #74 – Bit Part Bad Guys
• Issue #75 – Kaiju for Christmas
• Issue #76 – Silicon Soul, Adamantine Will
• Issue #77 – Date Night
• Issue #78 – Delved Too Deep (Une Mascarade Brisée Part 1)
• Issue #79 – Tome of Secrets (Une Mascarade Brisée Part 2)
• Descendants Special #7 – The Curtain Rises
• Issue #80 – Bitter Work
• Issue #81 – Kin, Speed and Ducks
• Issue #82 – What To Do With Your Downtime
• Issue #83 – Avalon Rises
• Issue #84 – Darkness Falling
• Descendants Annual #7 – First Frost

Delved Too Deep (Part 4)

The National Guard and Federal Emergency Management Agency were already in action by the time the team arrived, four heavy-lift infantry carriers set down in a field adjacent to a local shopping center. Troops directed traffic into and out of the parking lot, keeping the way clear for citizens being brought to the evacuation sight.

The appearance of the Karasu no Yūrei caused more than a few heads to turn. Not many people knew the Descendants’ jet on sight, but the high-tech craft alone was enough to catch peoples’ attention. Even as it settled, out of the way of the lot and the carriers, a small detachment of guard troops were already hustling toward them.

On the flight deck, Laurel was pouring over several screens of information at once; two identifying patterns in the cuneiform appearing online and trying to put them into the proper sequence, another three providing live feeds and sensor data from the drones the USS Gore sent to engage the dragon.

“Alexis, Ian, can you two handle coordinating with the feds and guard?” She was slowly shaking her head. “I’ve got an embarrassment of information and none of it is making sense just yet.”

“Anything we might help you with?” Ian asked.

She shook her head more forcefully. “I don’t think so. Even by Faerie standards, this is… defying physics in ways I didn’t think possible. The winds the drones are detecting are in excess of five-hundred twenty-nine miles an hour, faster than any recorded gust in history and these winds are sustained.” She called up a satellite image that showed that the area around the dragon’s location resembled a small hurricane.

“Only those winds are restricted to a twenty-three mile radius with almost no effect on the surrounding weather systems. There’s magic and then…”

“There’s demigod.” Ian said. “Even I can’t generate a wind that powerful that’s… that’s… Apocalyptic.”

Alexis pulled up her cowl and settled her scarf in place. “That explains why FEMA is here before the disaster. General Pratt must have passed that information along. This town’s going to be obliterated by this thing, there’s no reason to move people to shelters when they can be put in emergency housing right away.”

She patted Ian on the shoulder. “Ian, with me, please.”

Together, they went back to the cargo bay and lowered the rear doors.

Four guardsmen were already standing before the ramp when they came down the ramp. One stepped forward, offering a handshake. “Major Curtis Mayweather, 1160^th Transportation Division, Georgia National Guard.”

“You can call use Darkness and Chaos, Major.” Darkness replied, asking his hand. While Chaos did the same, she continued, “The Descendants are here to help in any way we can. I trust news of the level of threat we’re facing has reached you?”

Major Mayweather grunted. “We only know that it’s gonna be bad. As in this town won’t be here tomorrow bad and no shelters are going to save folks. But we’d appreciate you not bandying that information about: evacuations are difficult enough without panic.”

“I understand completely.” said Darkness. “Where do we fit into the game plan?”

The Major’s eyes widened slightly at the ready cooperation. “Alright, well I know a little bit about you folks, obviously, but not everything, so I’m gonna lay out our problems and you can tell me if you can solve ’em or not.” He gestured back at the field and parking lot where tour and school buses were being rolled in. “We’ve got a total of six airborne carriers and thirty-four buses for the evac, but there are twenty thousand people in the town and maybe two thousand more in the surrounding effected area. Anyone that can drive themselves out is being directed to, but we need the roads kept clear and rolling not just for them, but the buses.”

Darkness nodded. “We’ve directed traffic and pulled wrecks off the road back home. Chaos and I can handle that personally.”

The surprise was starting to wear off on Major Mayweather, replaced by a layer of professional contentment that didn’t quite hide the stress and worry over the actual situation. “That’s good. We can’t get wreckers out on the road and clog it up wreckers and we can’t spare ambulances. Meridian Beach has two hospitals and a senior living center that are monopolizing those.

“Second thing is directing traffic here. We’re conducting needs-based triage to decide who flies and who rolls and people don’t like hearing they won’t be on the fastest thing out of here. More security or a show of power would go a long way to keep things from boiling over.”

Chaos looked back at the jet. “We can do you better: Hope can keep everyone calmed to a degree. If people start losing their minds with fear, she might not be able to keep them in check, but anything less than that and we should be fine.”

“What about the people who won’t go?” Darkness said. Having grown up in New Orleans, she’d seen her share of hurricane and flood evacuations and knew that some people just refused to leave, either not believing the threat, or fearing looters or worse in their absence.

The Major shook his head. “Our hands are tied there. We can’t force people to evac. I’m more worried about our guys going out to pick up those that are. Every evac, there’s one or two conspiracy theorists who tries to get violent.”

“We can provide escorts and rapid back-up.” Darkness said quickly, “And do your people keep records of what houses aren’t evacuating?”

“We… do.” he replied, wary.

“Can you send those to us?”

The Major straightened his back. “That I cannot do, ma’am. Regardless of what might happen to those people, we can’t abduct them and we won’t be sharing information to help you abduct them.” Without pause, he launched into another subject. “I have heard you people have connections though, so if you can call them in and get food and water mobilized for these people, it’s be much appreciated.”

Darkness took a moment to reply, finally saying, “Of course. Were is it going?”

“FEMA’s taken over the abandoned military housing at Carlton AFB. The families are being put up there until they know the extent of the damages and both if and when they can return.”

“Arrangements can definitely be made.” said Chaos. “Anything else we can help you with?”

Major Mayweather shook his head, but only slightly. “Conditions here on the ground are going to change minute to minute. I’ll keep a comm channel open to keep you up to date.”

“Thank you, Major.” said Darkness. “We’ll get on the task you’ve given us and we’ll be in touch.”

With a nod, the Major took his people and headed back to the staging area, leaving the two superheroes standing together alone on the cargo ramp.

Chaos put his hand on Darkness’s arm. “You know…”

“People die that way.” she interrupted. “They think the storm isn’t gong to be too bad, or they’re too proud to accept help, or… or they don’t think they’ll have any place to go and they die for it, Ian. Their kids die. Or maybe they just slip through the cracks and when it’s all said and done, they end up homeless and hungry.”

Shrugging off his hand, she turned to face up the ramp and switch on her comm. “Alloy, Renaissance, get the transponder out and operational ASAP. Everyone else: assignments. Facsimile, Zero, in a second we’re going to have a map of the outlying areas under the gun. You’re going to be bringing people back here for evacuation. Vamanos, you’re going to join them, but fist, I need to you hit the local grocery stores; grab all the bottled water and whatever canned food you can carry.”

Callie squeaked a bit in the comm. “Isn’t that stealing?”

“Technically, it’s looting.” Cyn said.

“It doesn’t matter,” Darkness interrupted. “It either goes to these poor people about to lose their homes, or they’ll become a cloud of debris when that dragon flies overhead. We’ll pay for it after the fact, but now is not the time to negotiate with store managers.”

“O…okay.” said Callie.

“Good, now after that, I have a special assignment for you. There are people refusing to evacuate.”

“What, are they stupid?” Cyn interjected again.

A small growl rumbled in Darkness’s throat. “No, they are not.” She snapped. “They don’t know what’s coming and some of them wouldn’t believe it if they were told—might choose not too just because it’s the government saying it. Even beyond it, they have their reasons even if they’re wrong and risking their lives on it.”

“Wait, but isn’t taking those people out of their homes against their will all kinds of illegal?” asked Warrick. His voice came both through her comm and from above as he and Tink came down into the cargo bay.

“So is going out and fighting crime in a costume with not legal authority in most places.” Darkness replied.

Warrick stopped on the stairs, looking down at her and Chaos through the opening in the ninja-style hood her wore as a disguise when not armored up. “That’s kind of different from kidnapping though.”

“It’s saving lives.” Darkness’s voice echoed through cargo bay. “That’s the point isn’t it? That’s why we do this: to save lives no matter what, right?”

For a long moment, he just stared at her. Thinking. Finally, he nodded his head and started down the stairs again.

“You shouldn’t have had to think about it.” Darkness said in the low voice. She started forward, only to find that Chaos holding her back.

Ignoring the glare she sent him, Chaos spoke through the comms. “Alright, Hope, we need you to go meet with the guardsmen at the carriers. They need you to keep the peace and make sure no one goes off the deep end. We’re going on road patrol right now. Ephemeral, Codex is about to get some info sent to her from the National Guard, delegate as you will.”

“What are you–” Darkness started, but Chaos reached over and switch off her comm before leaning in.

“Something’s wrong.” He said quietly. “I know he’s not really a kid anymore, but I’ve never seen you yell at Warrick like that, especially not when he’s got a point. Try to save someone ho doesn’t want it and they might end up hurting themselves or other people.”

She didn’t answer, only stared at him.

“This isn’t you.” He continued. “Come on: let’s get out of here and into some fresh air. The other don’t have to hear, but something’s got you bugged and we’re not going to be of much use to anyone while it’s eating at you.”

The tension in Darkness’s arm lessened a bit. She didn’t resist as Chaos led her back down the ramp. “Alright. Fine. But we can’t just abandon those people.”

“I never said we would.” said Chaos, summoning a wind to lift him into the air. He then extended a hand down to invite her up after him. Black heat rolled out in a cloud around her and she rose, taking the proffered hand. Beneath his visor, he smiled at her before setting off toward the nearest highway.

They flew in silence a few minutes before he finally spoke up. “Mind telling me what’s got you so on edge? We’ve done disaster scenes before, so…”

“Never a hurricane…” Darkness replied.

“This isn’t either… though I get your point. I seem to remember you mentioning your family got evaced during Hurricane Leigh. Is that what this is about?”

Darkness dipped her shoulder, which had the effect of moving her closer to him. “Ian…” she used his real name, secure in the fact that her comm was off and they were fifty feet above the ground. “I was eight when that happened. Second grade, you know? My best friend was Samantha Rider. We were in the scouts together—her mom was out den mother—this awesome survivalist lady… honestly reminded me of Emily Chamberlain.”

She sniffed and due to the obscuring haze of black heat, it was the only indication Chaos had that she was crying. “Then Leigh hit. My family… I mean we were fine. We left as soon as possible and spent a week at Grandma and Grandpa Maximoff’s house.” An ironic, bitter laugh escaped her throat. “I remember having a lot of fun because they had this huge, wooded back yard that we played in.

“Only then we got back home and… there was a branch through Victoria’s room—it tore open her mattress. I didn’t even like her back then, but I remember thinking that I could have lost my sister, you know?”

He did. While Issac had been a boisterous show-off most of their younger lives, he’d also been in a few car accidents and Chaos knew that fear. Being an only child was a fun daydream right up until it became a possibility.

Darkness continued. “Another week went by and school started up again and… and Sam wasn’t there. Her mother thought they were more than prepared to weather Leigh and just took the whole family down to the storm cellar.”

She went quiet, breathing deeply. Chaos took her hand again and gave it a squeeze. “They… didn’t make it, did they?”

“Her parents did their best. Sandbagged the place really well, laid in more than a week of food and water… but a tree took down a power pole, the sparks caught the roof on fire…”

“Oh god.”

Darkness gripped his hand tighter. “Yeah. Oh god. Now do you get it? I… Sam didn’t have a choice in the matter. Her mom made a call to stay in harm’s way and even though she did everything right, my best friend—my first best friend died. There are kids in this town right now who parents are going to try and keep them safe at home, only they don’t know that nowhere in this town is going to be safe unless they happen to live in a cave or something where the wind can’t completely destroy them.”

“Huh.” Chaos stopped in air, their clasped hands jerking Darkness back.

“What?”

“I think maybe I found our third option.” He switched his comm back on. “Hey Occult? I need you to check the Books for something…”

***

Part of Laurel’s prodigious brain was mulling over how to help Alexis. She knew about Sam from one night at the Academy where she’d come back to the dorms after a party drunk and melancholy after being dumped. Alexis had awakened her in a frenzy to make sure she was alive because she ‘didn’t want to lose another best friend’ and had to be forcibly restrained from going to check on Ian.

Seeing as Ian had taken her off presumably to get to the bottom of things, Laurel instead concentrated on the cuneiform ‘glitches’.

Her webcrawlers had found seven hundred screen shots and counting from around the web and a program was trying to establish a pattern and from that, a translation. All she had so far were possible translations and fragments.

Seed. Who. To be. Bother. Mine.

It made no sense in any sequence, but Laurel knew that translation was an imprecise science, especially with dead languages. She needed to find out what the right words were, then put them in order.

One thing was clear though: the dragon was speaking. She just needed to find out what was being said.