⚡️THUNDERFANG S3 #27

My internal battery was completely wiped out. Unleashing that amount of power had left me bone dry. All of the heightened emotions that had been keeping me standing were also gone, meaning Ira had to drag me to the solar panels so I could recharge. That nagging inner voice of mine threatened to send me into another spiral, but with a bit of juice in my system, I was able to banish it and focus on a well deserved nap.

When I awoke several hours later, I stumbled into the common area where most of the crew were lounging. I yawned, rubbed the sleep from my eyes, and followed the smell of fresh coffee, hoping a few sips would give me a boost.

“Before you say anything—” John shot to his feet. “—we left New Bohemia.” I looked out a nearby viewport and sighed, seeing that he was telling the truth. John held up a silencing hand, stopping my retort. “Yes, I know, we have to find the Adlers. But things are rough there now—especially since you just demolished Jillian. It’s not safe for us.”

“We should’ve killed her when we had the chance. Yes, yes, I know, no killing. Just saying.” Jane rolled her eyes.

“I’d rather not go back, honestly,” Blackstone said. Something in her voice worried me. She always seemed so strong and unfazed by all that had been thrown at her, even before she joined the crew. This Blackstone felt…timid? “I need to call my sister.” She quickly stood from her seat on the couch and excused herself.

“This is the second planet I don’t think we can set foot on ever again,” Fletcher said, sharing a knowing glance to Kaisa who sat next to him. “I love you all but can we stop somehow painting even bigger targets on ourselves?”

And what was wrong with Tick? Maybe I was still sleepy, but it looked like his expression soured. He sat cross-legged on the floor, eyeing the sketch he’d been working on. It had color to it now. I stepped forward to take a better look, taking a sip of my coffee. It looked like a drawing of…of us? All eleven of us, with Watt and the Scarlet Adler, too.

I raised a brow just as Blackstone returned. She sighed heavily.

“I think I should leave.”

What?

“Look, I love you all, deeply. And…it’s been so fun to be part of this crew—well, and kind of dangerous, too.” She forced a laugh. “But…I have to think about my sister. She’s all I have left and this is getting too big, even for me. I’m used to doing the hunting, not being hunted. The Benevolent, the Moriartys, Malice…”

Kaisa looked Fletcher in the eyes and grabbed his hand. They gave each other a single nod.

Oh no.

“We…feel the same, actually,” he said, my heart dropping more than it already had. Fletcher steeled himself and looked at me. “We owe you—big time. You took us in even after we kidnapped Jane. You saved us from Jack, and for that we will be forever grateful. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t waiting for the other shoe to drop, for that one day where…” He trailed off, swallowing hard. “I have to think about Kaisa and…and I want to make sure we’re both alive when this is all over.”

“Yikes, well, this is incredibly inconvenient of me, but…”

My head swiveled to lock eyes with Lestrade. “Not you, too.” No amount of Shadow could hide the pleading in my voice.

“The Moriartys are planning a war, Holmes. Portent is my home. I can’t just let him or any other asshole run it into the ground. I know you’re doing all you can from here, and I’m so thankful that you are—and that you included me—but I need to do more. I can’t throw lightning or whip up a tornado or… anything. All I can do is motivate people—like you.”

John watched Lestrade talk with a mixture of admiration and sadness that further crushed me.

“Are you all really leaving right now? Shit just got real!” Jane cried.

Tick stood, holding the sketch in both hands before walking over to Kaisa and Fletcher. “Here. I made this, this for you.”

They raised a brow before taking the paper. Tears began to swell instantly in their eyes. “Thank you, Tick.”

“Did you know!?” Jane yelled. “Why didn’t you warn us?”

“I didn’t know.” His voice was quiet. “But I assumed. They…have to be careful,” he said before returning to his seat.

“You knew…” Kaisa spoke with clarity, as if coming to a realization. “Not about us leaving but…you knew.” A smile exploded onto her face as she rushed over to Tick and embraced him tightly. Tick nodded, giggles comes from the both of them.

“Knew what?” Yelena asked.

Kaisa stopped swinging Tick around, the laughter between them dying just a bit. They exchanged another knowing look.

And it clicked. My mouth parted in excitement before they could get the words out.

“We’re pregnant.”

We returned once again to the one place in all of the Salvi Pass that apparently didn’t do background checks on travelers or inhabitants. I put aside my desire to prove myself to Corra and simply enjoyed a nice meal and a good time with my crew.

Would we ever reunite after this? Would we drift apart? Or would we always be a crew, regardless of our distance?

I know that if they ever needed me, I would rush to their aid, no doubt about it. If Lestrade needed help taking down a drug ring, if Blackstone needed help tracking down a rogue bounty, or…hell, if Kaisa and Fletcher needed a baby sitter.

“We’re going to hold you to that, Locke,” Fletcher said, raising a glass of beer. We toasted and continued our revelry.

The night passed, and what was left of my Spirits were heightened. It would never be the same without them. I had gone so long alone. I didn’t need anyone letting me down, and I didn’t want to let anyone else down. It was best that I did things by myself. The thought of having a crew had felt so odd in the beginning. But then John, then Ira, then the avalanche of everyone else. And, suddenly, my new normal was being surrounded by ten other people, all with different opinions and personalities, yet aligned together in our goals.

And now?

I did my best to not make things awkward over the next few days. Instead, I tried to make sure it was filled with laughter and love. 

But, eventually, that laughter faded as we stood outside of the Scarlet Adler. Kaisa and Fletcher were wrapped in each other’s arms with a few suitcases we’d purchased, and Blackstone and Lestrade stood side-by-side with bags slung over their shoulders—they travelled extremely light.

“So, what’s the plan?” Jane said, unusually timid. Watt hovered beside her with animated tears.

“We’re going to stay here a while. Wait until the baby is born and see where things take us,” Kaisa said.

“Blackstone said she’d help out in Portent for a while, so we’re going to head there,” Lestrade said.

Fletcher flashed a grin. “Come on, stop looking so sad,” he said, stepping up to us. “We’re not dying. And now you’ve got eyes and ears spread throughout the Salvi Pass. Just because we aren’t together, doesn’t mean we’re not still a crew.”

A silent moment passed, Fletcher’s grin fading.

Then Jane rushed into his arms. Her sobs filled our little pocket of Obon—and tugged at my heart. Kaisa joined in their embrace, followed by Yelena.

“Promise me,” Jane said as she pulled back, wiping the tears from her face. “We’ll still talk. We’re still family. I don’t care how often we do it, but we…I’m going to miss you all so much.”

Blackstone walked over to her and gave her another strong hug. “My sister and I, we talk so irregular that most people probably don’t even know she has a sibling. But that’s still my sister, and even if it takes a year between us talking, I know that she loves me—and I hope she knows I feel the same. It’ll be no different for us. I promise.”

“The Irregulars.” John’s face lit up. “We’ve never had a name before—why not that? The Irregulars.” Watt displayed a question mark on his display.

Jane gave him a side-eye. “That’s a weird name.”

“Think about it. We can call ourselves that as a reminder that we’re always there, no matter how irregular the communication. We’re a crew—a family. We’ve gone through so much and…I can’t imagine my life without you guys.”

“I mean, the name could be worse,” Lestrade joked, and the laughter returned, if only for a moment.

I took a seat in one of the neatly-aligned folding chairs, one of the final remnants of Lestrade. The others—John, Ira, Jane, Irēn, Yelena, and Tick—joined me, though no one spoke.

My heart hurt. So much. And in the relative safety, I finally allowed myself to cry. Ira slid next to me and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into his warmth.

“Tick…can you go back? Convince them to stay, please?” I didn’t mean it. I remembered the agony of feeling like I had my agency stripped away. But I needed to know if he even could.

Sue me. I had a right to be selfish.

“He can’t, Locke,” Yelena said, choking back tears.

Tick sat on the floor with his back against the wall, eyes downcast. “I mean…I can—I have a save point. But, but I told you all when we met. Glitches are really, really bad. If I go back and try, try to convince them to stay, I could make it, it worse. They could stay and, and…they could die. This is a painful outcome—it fucking sucks—but…it’s not death.” He pulled his legs close to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. “I’m going to miss them a lot, a lot.”

The silence lingered for a long while. My tears eventually stopped; I gave Ira a quick kiss as he released me.

“So, what do we do now?” Jane exhaled. She was angry, but taking it better than I could have hoped. “We’re down four people who I honestly thought would outlast me here, and we have this weird ass cube broken up into three pieces that may or may not help us stop Malice. And—honestly?—we’re no closer to stopping him or Jack.”

“We need to see what it can do.” I got up and took one of the pieces, turning it over in my hand. “You’re still confident in this, right?” Yelena nodded.

“When it was whole, it weighed us down. Might do the same thing. Oh, and the Risen, too. Maybe it’s our weapon to fight the army?” A bit of hope returned to John’s voice. Maybe this was the distraction we all needed.

“You’re getting distracted again.”

I snapped my gaze onto my brother’s form. He’d appeared next to Tick, who happened to look up as Michael spoke. For a second, I thought he’d heard him, but instead he stood and made himself a cup of coffee.

“What do you mean? We don’t have much else to go on,” I said, drawing the attention of everyone else. I let them know what he’d said.

Jane rolled her eyes with a huff. “For someone who can communicate across whatever distance and stars knows what else, your brother is extremely unhelpful.”

“Time is running out.” Michael looked at one of the walls, as if looking past it, beyond. “I think the plan is already in motion.”

I relayed what he said. “So then what do we need to do, Michael? You’re not helping—you’re just stressing us out. We’ve been through enough today.”

He stepped close to one of the pieces of the cube Yelena built and shook his head. “You never needed this, Locke. You already learned the lesson—at least, I think you did.”

“What lesson?” There was no hiding my confusion—or my frustration. “All I learned was that there is a force out there that can subdue Branded and Risen.”

“That’s not the—Ugh.” He made a sound that reminded me of someone trying to convince an idiot of a simple fact—it kind of pissed me off, honestly. “Find the Adlers.”

And he vanished.

“You know, if he wasn’t already a ghost or something, I’d strangle him,” I said. Jane did her best to stifle a laughter. The sight of Ira also trying to hold back a smile soothed me. “He repeated that finding your parents is what we’re supposed to do next.”

“We don’t really have any more leads, and New Bohemia is still dangerous.” Irēn paced around the common area, head tilted back in thought. “Maybe there’s something else here we could find?”

“Worth a shot. Don’t wanna get yelled at by my brother again.” I rolled my eyes and went on a small tirade about how annoyed he sounded. Because stars-forbid we don’t understand his cryptic clues on how to save the entire Forge.

For once, would someone just be direct with us?

We were in no rush to leave Obon, so we spent the next few days searching for any clue that would lead us to Dalon and Arayna Adler. As an added bonus, I got to see Kaisa and Fletcher a bit more as well. They were thinking of the Ironlands once everything settled down. 

They’d seen what kind of people the Ironlands could create—even indirectly.

I smiled as I left the room they’d rented from Sticks and Stones. Watt had stayed behind with Yelena in the lab, leaving me alone for the journey.

I may not have found anything out about the Adlers but I felt…good. Kaisa and Fletcher weren’t going to be staying on the Scarlet Adler anymore, but they were still my crew, my family—my Irregulars.

I entered the stairwell and headed back down to the floor where the Scarlet Adler was sitting, hands in my pocket, eyes enjoying the sights of Obon. If it wasn’t for the lack of natural touches, I would consider staying here permanently. It was busy and hectic, and filled with its own secrets and stories. We’d heard countless rumors since our initial arrival—this time we’d learned that apparently Tracy and Ria of Dent and Blemish were on the verge of a divorce?

Wait, or was it bankruptcy?

It added to the growing list of details that helped color this place. Speaking of, I stopped briefly in front of The Eye—a clothing store that carried fashion from all over the Forge. Once again, the reoccurring pattern of collecting something from all over emerged—first the Cracked Cauldron, then the Hoard, and now the Eye. This place sure did love a collection.

Thoughts of finding a nice pair of Ironlandic suits flooded my mind, and how Ira and I would look good in them. Perhaps even something from New Bohemia, showing how the two of us were intertwined.

I think what really sold it for me about Obon was how safe it was here, despite what was going on with all of us. Thinking about it further, though, that probably wasn’t a good thing—who knew what criminals and scoundrels were hiding out here. But at least people weren’t being pushed to their death from skyscrapers, sparking conspiracies that stretched to practically every planet in the Salvi Pass—and beyond.

I shook my head as I kept walking. In another life, this could have been home. But for now, I—

I froze, slowly lifting my hands into the air. The gun pressed into the back of my skull forced me to tilt my head at an uncomfortable angle. My heart raced.

So much for safe.

“So, you lied to me?”

The voice sounded familiar—feminine, soft. When was the last time I’d heard it?

“I knew something was up when you insisted on giving that murderer Amari Wade an honorable sendoff. You probably work for whoever hired him, too.”

I knew that voice. For some reason, it kept making me think of Blackstone, but it wasn’t her sister. Where did I—

I knew where I knew the voice from. I knew why she was mentioning Amari Wade.

“…Christa?”

Christa Duval stepped in front of me, gun now aimed at my face, her green eyes boring into me.

And she was furious.

“Hello, Detective.”

Next week on ⚡️THUNDERFANG:

Christa questions Locke's involvement in Shiningstar, leading the Irregulars to more than one shocking discovery.