I didn’t. I needed to know more first.
“Are you sure about this, Prof?” Exel asked. “Maybe Regalia really has decided to care for these people. She’s been shipping in liquor, distributing it freely. She doesn’t let any gangs prevent people from harvesting fruit. Maybe it’s an actual attempt to create a utopia. Maybe an Epic has decided to change and be kind for once.”
Something exploded on a nearby rooftop.
A blossom of fire lit the air, bringing with it screams of terror and pain. People splashed into the waters around us and another explosion followed.
Prof looked at Exel, then shook his head. I stood up, ignoring the exchange. I was so jarred by the explosions that I barely paid attention to how the boat rocked as I stood.
I listened to the distant moans of pain, and looked sharply at the team. “What is it?”
Exel, Val, Mizzy … all looked equally surprised. Whatever this was, it wasn’t normal for the city.
“We should go help,” I said.
“This isn’t Newcago,” Tia said. “Didn’t you listen to Jon? We need to remain hidden.”
Behind us, another explosion sounded, closer. I could feel the blast wave of this one, or I thought I could. I hardened my expression, then stepped to the side of the boat. I wasn’t going to just sit here while people died.
I stopped, though, taking in the water that separated me from the nearest building.
“Tia, David is right,” Prof finally said over our lines. “We can’t let this continue, whatever it is, without seeing if we can help. We’ll investigate, but carefully. Val, do people go about armed in the city?”
“It’s not unheard of,” Val replied.
“Then we can carry. But don’t do anything unless I say. Sit down, David. We need you on your oar.”
Reluctantly, I sat down and helped paddle us toward the nearest building. Above us people rushed across bridges, fleeing the explosions, crowding one another in their haste. The rooftop we reached was low enough—less than a single story showing above the water—and as soon as we arrived I was able to hop up, grab the edge, and tow myself over.
Here I could see the scene better. I was on the roof of a large apartment building that had a sister building on the other side. They were shaped the same with only a small gap of water between them. The other rooftop was where the explosions had happened; it was littered with half-burned tents. The living knelt beside charred loved ones. Others groaned in pain, covered in burns. I felt sick.
Prof heaved himself up beside me, then hissed in anger. “Three explosions,” he said softly. “What’s going on?”
“We have to help,” I said, anxious.
Prof knelt silently for a moment.
“Prof …”
“Tia, Exel,” he whispered into the line, “prepare to help the wounded. Take the boat over. Val, David, and I will cross this rooftop and give you cover support from here. Something about this doesn’t look right to me—too much burning, not enough debris. This wasn’t caused by a bomb.”
I nodded. Val climbed up too, then the three of us ran across the rooftop toward the burning one. Tia and the other two maneuvered the boat through the water alongside us.
Prof stopped Val and me beside the rope bridge leading to the next building. People pushed past us, faces ashen, clothing singed. Prof seized the arm of one who didn’t look too wounded. “What was it?” he asked softly.
The man shook his head and broke away. Prof pointed for me to provide fire support, and I knelt down beside a brick chimney, rifle out, covering Tia and Exel as they moved the boat up beside the burning building, then climbed out and onto it, carrying a pack that I assumed had a first-aid kit in it.
I sat, watching as Exel began to bandage the wounded. Tia took out something else, the small device we called the harmsway—the fake box with wires sticking out of it that we claimed healed people. Prof really did the work; he must have gifted some of his ability to Tia before joining me on the rooftop.
Tia would have to use it sparingly, only to bring the worst of the wounded from the brink of death. Miraculous healing would draw too much attention to us. Sparks. We might draw too much attention anyway. We were obviously organized, armed, and skilled. If we weren’t careful, this might very well undermine Exel’s and Val’s cover stories.
“What about me?” Mizzy asked over the line. The young woman still waited in the boat, which rocked in the dark water near the side of the burning building. “Prof, sir?”
“Watch the boat,” he said over the line.
“I …” Mizzy looked deflated. “Yes sir.”
I focused on my duty, watching for threats to Tia and Exel on the burning rooftop, but my heart wrenched for the girl. I knew what it was like to feel Prof’s skepticism. He could be a hard man. Harder lately. Poor kid.
You’re treating her that way too, I realized. She’s probably not even a year younger than you are. It wasn’t fair to think of her as a kid. She was a woman. A pretty one at that.
Focus.
“Ah, here you are, Jonathan. Very prompt of you.”
The voice, spoken in a businesslike tone, made me jump almost to the stars. I spun on the source of the sound, leveling my rifle.
An older black woman stood beside Prof. Wrinkled skin, white hair in a bun. Scarf at the neck, fashionable—yet somewhat grandmotherly—white jacket over a blouse and slacks.
Regalia, empress of Manhattan. Standing right there.
I planted a bullet in the side of her head.
11
MY shot didn’t do much. Well, it made Regalia’s head explode, so there was that—but it exploded into a burst of water. Immediately
after, more water bulged up out of the neck in a giant bubble and formed into her head again. Color flooded it, and soon she looked exactly as she had a moment before.
Regalia’s self-projections were apparently tied to her water manipulation powers. I hadn’t realized that, but it made sense.
In order to kill her, we’d have to find her real body, wherever it was. Fortunately, most Epics who created projections had to be in a trance of some sort to do it, which would mean that somewhere she was vulnerable.
Regalia’s avatar glanced at me, then turned back to Prof. This was one of the most powerful Epics who had ever lived. Sparks. Hands sweating, heart thumping, I kept my gun on her—for all the good it would do.
“Abigail,” Prof said to her, his voice soft.
“Jonathan,” Regalia replied.
“What have you done here?” Prof nodded toward the destruction and the injured.
“I needed to draw you out some way, dear man.” She spoke with elevated diction, like someone from the old movies. “I figured that a rogue Epic would focus your attention.”
“And if I hadn’t yet arrived in the city?” Prof demanded.
“Then knowledge of the destruction here would pull you faster,” Regalia said. “But I was fairly certain you’d be arriving tonight. It was obvious that you’d be coming for me, after my last little … calling card arrived in Chicago. I counted the days, and here you are. You are nothing if not predictable, Jonathan.”
Another blast of fire lit the night nearby, coming from a different rooftop. I spun, cursing, and pointed my weapon in that direction.
“Oh dear,” Regalia said in an emotionless voice. “I guess he is going further than my instructions advised.”
“He?” Prof said, voice tense.
“Obliteration.”
I nearly dropped my gun. “You brought Obliteration here? Calamity! What is wrong with you?”
Obliteration was a monster—more a force of nature than a man. He’d left Houston in rubble, murdering Epics and regular people alike. Albuquerque after that. Then San Diego.