⚡️THUNDERFANG S3 #30

Under better circumstances, I would have taken in the glorious sight of Saffron’s lightning-filled skies with admiration. I would have inhaled the sandy air and exhaled with relief that I was back within familiar territory. I would have embraced the warmth of the planet’s sun as the last rays of daylight spilled over the horizon.

But we were not here under better circumstances.

The lightning above felt ominous, the air heavy with the anticipation of what was to come. A chill seeped through Baker’s Shipyard despite the typical warmth I was accustomed to. It never got cold like this at this time of day, even if the sun was almost completely hidden by the time we’d arrived.

I missed my old home, the place that practically called to me after hell. But now it felt…tainted, all thanks to Jack Moriarty and Malice pulling his strings. What other plans did they have in store for us? Were there Risen hidden amongst the populace, waiting for their moment to devour us all?

Lucky for me, Lestrade’s smile greeting us as we stepped down the ramp of the Scarlet Adler was familiar and warm. Combined with a Heartfelt hug from Blackstone, it felt as if we’d stayed true to our name. It was a spark of hope—resisting and persevering, untainted—reminding me that we could win. Despite wanting to cast this entire mission—my destiny, apparently—aside not too long ago, I wanted to protect my home more than anything. If we failed and succumbed to the machinations of Malice, then we’d die trying. Together. We would not go quietly.

“Sorry to cut straight to business,” Lestrade said. “I looked into what you asked me to, Morstan, and yeah, you’re right. A few morgues were either shut down or destroyed by vandals, leaving only a select few open. And a ton of bodies have gone missing since.”

“Nice to see you, too, Lestrade,” Jane quipped.

Lestrade smiled, rustling Jane’s freshly dyed hair. It was almost neon now, and seemed like it glowed. She had said if things went wrong—as things were want to do around us—she wanted to say she treated herself nicely beforehand.

“Blackstone and I also took the liberty of trying to find out where Jack is right now. Needed John’s help a bit, but we managed to figure out that he’s definitely on planet. Though, once again, he’s ‘missing’,” she said with air quotes. “Probably in that underground lair again.”

“When I contacted Hudson,“ John began, “he said he’d keep an eye out. Seems like Jack has been missing a lot lately. But there’s been no signs of Risen anywhere. Not even the creepy ones from Shiningstar.”

The last bit of natural lighting disappeared. Striking Jack now didn’t seem smart, especially since we’d only just arrived. “Let’s hit first thing in the morning. Maybe catch them off guard.”

Everyone nodded except Lestrade. “I’m going to have to sit this one out, Locke. We just got here and I have no idea what else Jack has planned. I need to make sure that when you strike, something bad doesn’t happen to my people up here.”

Jane groaned, but I couldn’t help but agree with Lestrade. I wanted her and Blackstone with us, and Kaisa and the others, but I couldn’t deny the benefits of us being split up. 

“You’re right. You and Blackstone on the surface keeping things safe here is probably our best course of action. We have Irēn and Yelena with the Adlers, heading to New Bohemia, and Kaisa and Fletcher are ready to pitch in. This is all I could ask for.”

“Then let’s get you all stocked up and rested. I’ve already secured your stay for the night.” Lestrade motioned for us to follow her.

Lestrade had made arrangements for the Scarlet Adler to be hidden, safe and out of harms way, and also commandeered us lodging for the night with old comrades she trusted. They fed us and helped tend to anything we needed.

Then, before bed, something told me to gather my crew—each and every last one of the Irregulars.

Yelena, Irēn, Christa, Arayna, and Dalon were projected together on one screen. They’d all finally met on the Adlers’s ship outside of New Bohemia. Kaisa and Fletcher were projected onto another screen, still within the safety of Obon.

Something about the moment, the mission felt…final, like everything we’d done had led us right here. Honestly, it scared me. But I refused to let my fear stop me. I’d been through too much to back down now.

“This is unlike anything we’ve faced before,” I began, doing my best to let my Heart guide my words. My Iron and Shadow had no place in this. “Once we get in there, there will be no stopping this. No more Sojourns, no more moments of rest. This is it.

“I want—no, I need you all to know that I love you with all of my Heart. You all have made every twist and turn, every conspiracy, that much more bearable, just by being there with me. And even if you’re not here physically with me now, I know for a fact that I can count on each and everyone one of you.

“I hope that, one day, when this is all over and behind us, that we can Sojourn together again.”

I raised a glass of whatever Blackstone had poured in my cup. The others did the same. 

They were afraid, too. And they had every right to be worried about what would happen. 

Lestrade’s stolid facade had cracked. I could tell she was concerned for what would happen to Portent, and all of her people within it.

Blackstone walked away shortly after my speech, jumping onto a call with her sister. Her voice was low, but I heard the fake happiness as she asked her sister about her day.

Arayna and Dalon gripped Irēn’s shoulders, as if never wanting to let her go, eyes longing for their remaining child to join them.

Kaisa and Fletcher sat, hands clasped together.

I could sense the impending doom, like a whisper in the back of my mind. They had to be feeling it, too.

But behind, or perhaps even in front of, that fear stood courage, powerful and strong. We were terrified, yes, but that would not stop us. We would not waver. My heart swelled with pride when I saw the resolve in John’s face, the fury behind Jane’s eyes, the willingness in Ira’s voice. Tick was the most worried, but even he seemed confident that what we had to do would not be the end of him.

I smiled.

Ready or not, we would face Jack head on. Together.

Sleep did not come easy for me that night, not with the weight of the universe on my shoulders. But within Ira’s arms, I did find peace and the courage to continue forth.

Before the first drop of sunlight spilled over Portent, we donned our protective suits and set a course for the location we planned to use as our entry point into Jack’s underground facility. There was no telling what kinds of defenses they’d added since the last time, so we didn’t dare try to enter from the same point. But we still planned to enter the same way: Jane.

She raved about how the fight with Lillian had given her some ideas on how to handle threats, and she was pumped to try them out on deserving targets. I couldn’t blame her for being eager to get back inside. Luckily, the bloodlust she’d had the first time we trekked the desert seemed to be gone, so I shifted my worries elsewhere. 

John’s playfulness had been set aside in favor of the cold methodicalness of Ripley Slater—though this time he seemed to take inspiration from Lestrade. He had even straightened the folding chairs like she had before prepping us that morning. He’d made sure each of us were equipped with at least one rifle and a backup weapon, and discussed the signals he would give us using his Branding.

Ira, ever prepared, had given each of us, including Watt, a few small packets of seeds—innocuous to most but a dangerous weapon in the vicinity of the Forge’s most powerful Thornbranded. (Were there more like him out there somewhere?)

As we neared our destination, I pulled Ira aside. He looked so handsome in his environment suit.

“I will set this entire Forge ablaze if something happens to you.” I was only about ninety-percent serious. The other ten percent formed the smirk on my face.

Ira rolled his eyes and gave me a kiss before returning to his preparations.

By the time we landed, the sun had begun to make its presence known, heating up the desert. Our suits did their best to keep us cool as we traversed the dirt and sand.

I didn’t dare tell him, but I wished that Ira would have stayed behind with Lestrade and Blackstone. I knew it would have been futile, though—he missed out on seeing his parents! He’d already made his own personal Vow to stick with me through all of this. If this was truly the “final battle” as I had been saying, then I knew he would want to be with me through it all. While I was more than happy to have him right there by my side, I had no idea what I would actually do if he got hurt—or worse. The hell I had unleashed on Jillian wouldn’t compare to what I’d do if I actually lost him.

John stayed focused, as did Jane, the two of them leading us. Watt picked up the rear, his sensors on high alert. He was ready to alert the Irregulars if something happened within milliseconds.

Again, Tick was the only one of us that gave me concern. I tried my best to not overthink it, but he kept looking over his shoulder as we approached our entry point. It wasn’t the normal Hivebranded look of peering into the beyond—thank goodness. But, even worse, it was as if he was actually expecting something to happen.

Knowing what Tick could do, was he expecting something?

As we approached, I pulled him aside, making sure the others couldn’t hear us over the comms. “Is everything alright? You seem on edge.”

He rubbed his hands together absentmindedly and took a quick peek behind him before meeting my gaze. “I…I’m worried.”

“I know it’s scary,” I said, doing my best to fill my words with Heart, “but we can do this. It’s apparently my destiny—Ira’s, too, if he’s supposed to be stuck loving me. John looks like he could shoot an entire army of Risen without breaking a sweat, and Jane’s been ready to make some heads roll for a long time now. Plus, the other Irregulars—and Legacy—are waiting to provide us any backup we need. We’re going to be fine. Besides, you can always loop back in case something goes wrong.”

My smile nor my words changed his mood. 

He cast his gaze downward. “That’s what scares, scares me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I made a save point before bed last night. I made a save point when I woke up. I made a save point before we left. I made a save point when we landed. Locke…I haven’t come back to warn us of anything.”

That was…troubling now that he said it. I ignored the fact that he was so scared, he hadn’t repeated anything—that worry was tucked away in my mind’s attic.

“Did we succeed? Did we fail? Did I…die? Is that why I haven’t looped back?”

I stopped and placed my hands on his shoulders, forcing his wandering eyes to look at me behind his visor. 

“Maybe you’re the first Tick to make it to this point. Maybe we succeed. Maybe Jack isn’t even here. Whatever is waiting for us, though, we cannot let our fear or doubt take control. You are strong—honestly, probably stronger than the rest of us. You have helped shape our past. You are part of the reason I’m standing here right now—still a little peeved by that, mind you, but now is not the time.”

Aha. That made him smile.

“We’re working with the hand we were dealt, and—come on, look at us. Look at this hand.” I gestured to the others, who noticed Tick and I were lagging behind and began to slow down. 

Tick looked at each of them and he squeezed his eyes shut. “Everything will be okay, everything will be okay, everything will be okay.” He chanted quietly under his breath for a few moments before he simply stopped, opened his eyes to look at me, and nodded with conviction.

“You two okay?” John’s voice over the comms drew us out of our moment. I signaled to him and patted Tick on the back as we began walking side by side to rejoin the others.

“There is nothing that we can’t face. Got it?” I held out my fist for him.

He bumped it with his own, his normal Tick smile returned. He nodded and set his eyes forward.

We sank into the ground, hand in hand. A gust of wind slowed our descent. With practiced precision, we gently landed on the ground in a tunnel of the underground facility.

 “That is a very uncomfortable feeling,” Ira said. Tick shook his whole body like he’d swallowed something gross and fake wretched off to the side.

“Oh, it’s not that bad,” Jane remarked.

Even though we had specifically chosen this entry point because it wasn’t the same as last time,  it seemed as if all the tunnels were similar, despite a few minor differences such as some of the signs on the stone walls. Light flooded all around from overhead; hiding in the shadows would be off the table.

John took point in front of us, gun aimed low as he scouted ahead. Jane, Ira, and Tick followed behind him, while Watt and I watched our backs.

Confirming my suspicions about the layout of these tunnels, we found ourselves once again near the cells containing the Branded we’d come across last time. I counted twenty, ten on either side of the hallway. White doors flush with white walls, a small silvery slot towards the bottom for inserting food or pills. 

Jane stopped, both hands balled into fists. “We cannot leave them this time.” I felt all the Iron behind Jane’s words. She was not asking, she was letting me know what she was about to do next. I wouldn’t be able to stop her even if I wanted to.

Cell by cell, we released the captive Branded. Jane began by methodically using her Branding to open each of the doors with minimal destruction of their inner workings, though it turned into her ripping out the locking mechanism after a few attempts. She tossed the wires and metal bits onto the floor as she kept her anger and rage in check.

“This is going to end badly,” John said reluctantly, though he did not impede on Jane’s rescue attempt. “There’s so many of them. How are we supposed to protect them all?”

There was easily three or four dozen captives, all in various states of health. Some were malnourished, others were old and feeble. Most of them were too weak to even help us should we require their aid.

It was a horrible sight. Jane’s anger was more than justified.

And then…suddenly…I didn’t know what to feel. My breath caught in my chest.

I tapped Ira furiously to get his attention, pointing to three captives who seemed to be in somewhat better shape than the rest. 

Was this some sort of a sign?

Ira and I approached the trio cautiously, the conversation between him and I unspoken but very clear.

What do we say?

Do you think they’ll fight us?

We just saved them! They…better not…?

I would rather not fight them.

Me neither. But maybe they can help.

Are you sure they’ll even want help from us?

I cleared my throat, drawing the attention of the three to us. They looked just as surprised as we had.

“Well fuck!” The older white male’s grin stretched across his face, and he opened his arms wide to take both Ira and I into a deep hug. Both arms had a few burns I didn’t recognize, though they were mostly healed.

“Tremor, Hush! Look who the fuck just saved us! Thunderfang and Perennial,” Siege said. “Long time no see.”

Next week on ⚡️THUNDERFANG:

Say it louder for the people in the back.