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NOAH VERSUS DEMON PIGEONS
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Hi! Sorry this chapter took so long, it's literally been prewritten for months but I broke my phone and couldn't publish it!!!!!
LONG AGO, before creation, there was only darkness. Night thick with shadows, the silence violent and visceral. And then ━━
Storms of violet tore the world apart. Eroding shores. Icy clouds in the seething heats. Salvation came when the world tried to piece itself back together, but sand slipped straight through her hands. Salt water evaporated. And thus the sea was born. It is where it all began, before the urgency and burn of anything painfully human.
Lyra feels lost at sea. As if she is swimming deeper, running out of time. Water is slipping through her fingers.
The ocean is different from anything she's ever seen before. It stretches on for miles all around her. She sits there on a shoddy little boat that chugs along at an agonizingly slow pace and she thinks to herself that she has never felt smaller. The waves are a brilliant sapphire and they lap gently at the hull, but Lyra knows better than to mistake them for peaceful. She has heard all too well of the horrific storms that seize the skies and thus the water, creating lethal black waves that would sooner drag her their depths and a watery death than be her friend. Even now the foam glitters almost silvery in the daylight, silvery like the flash of an executioner's axe.
The sea is in Luna's blood. Her eyes mirror the colors of the waves as they flicker across them.
"Nightblood?" Octavia's familiar voice calls through the radio, and Lyra can imagine the way her brows thread together. "You really think you can do it, LJ?"
" 'Course I can." Lyra's feet swing back and forth over the side of the ship, the salty spray of the waves sprinkling her legs. She tries for a smile. "Is that doubt I hear in your tone?"
"Is that worry I hear in yours?" Octavia retorts smoothly. She's only half-joking. "If anyone can make it, you can."
"So people keep telling me," says Lyra. "What about you? What's happening in Polis?"
Octavia releases a short breath. Her answer is vague. "Some bad shit."
"Not too bad, I hope," Lyra clutches the radio tighter and a bit of worry really does seep into her tone here. "Once we create the nightblood serum, we're going to have to distribute it very quickly, and we need peace for that."
"I'll make sure everything is ready for you," Octavia promises.
There's a brief pause. The radio cackles as someone smothers down the box on the other end, and Lyra can vaguely hear the sounds of arguing between Octavia and Kane. It sounds fairly heated.
"Via?" She presses anxiously.
"I have to go," says Octavia abruptly. "But don't worry — I have everything under control."
The radio goes silent. All Lyra can hear is the sound of the waves brushing against the hull of the boat as their team quietly sails across the ocean; Abby, Jackson, Murphy, Emori, Raven, Nate, Nyko, Noah, and a few of the guard that Lyra doesn't know by name. Rose-drenched sunlight seeps through cotton-candy clouds as Lyra leans back with a sigh, her eyelids drifting shut for a moment as she tries to lapse up the last bit of quiet. The sun is rising and the humming yawn of the ocean rises with it.
As they sail between an emerald strait thick with forests and rocky shorelines, Becca's island finally comes into view. Shorelines cut from weathered rocks are encased by shimmering cerulean waters, the trees stretching their ancient green branches to the heavens in worship of the golden sun. On all sides, the ocean churns with life, blue as sapphires with foam white as pearls. A crooked and worn dock snakes from the heavily pebbled shoreline of Becca's island and, amidst the thicket of woods, there is a great sprawling and shining building clawing its way into the cobalt sky from the very heart of it. Lyra is struck with awe by the beauty of it all as Emori docks the ship.
Murphy stands at the bow of the small boat, his dark hair blowing in the breeze. "Where are the boats?"
"Without Alie, there's no reason to be here," calls Emori as she knots the thick ropes.
Lyra briefly recalls what she'd learned about Emori's life in the City of Light. Her and her brother were scavengers after Emori was driven out of her own clan due to being a freikdreina ━━ her right arm has been murilated because of radiation. Emori turned to a scavenger at a young age and that was how she had discovered Alie. Alie's hologram had been kept to the mansion on the island, but she was able to communicate with the small number of Grounders that drifted by. Emori had found a job working for Alie and scavenging technology for the woman ━━ that had been how she'd met Murphy. She'd found his and Jaha'a group trekking in the desert and robbed them. Once Murphy had found the island, she'd met him again, and thus they'd stuck together.
Abby steps onto the docks, shoddy tablet in hand. "According to Thelonious's map, the lab is in the middle of the island, five miles straight ahead."
"Terrific." Noah slings his rifle over his shoulder, looking rather disgruntled as he crosses over the dock and towards the shore. "If any of us have a step goal, today's a good day."
Emori frowns. "Step goal — "
Noah holds up a hand. "Never mind. Raven, you good for the hike?"
Her face screws up in determination. "Try to keep up with me."
Lyra shrugs her own lavender backpack, the same one from Mount Weather, over her bomber jacket. There's a great number of textbooks as well as two different tablets inside and the contents jostle noisily as her back already begins to strain under the effort. Canary sunlight stripes the docks as she jumps onto them, the ancient wood groaning in apallment. She tilts her face towards the golden rays and shields her eyes. It's a nice day. Too much of a nice day when there's such a daunting task laying ahead of her.
Murphy stares ahead, something unreadable in his gaze. "Never thought I'd be here again."
"Ah, you shouldn't have come," remarks Raven as she strides straight past him. "You're not fooling anyone, Murphy. You're still a dick."
Noah and Abby take the head of the group, everyone marching onto the shore one after the other. Only Luna lingers near the boat, still on the dock, and Nyko stands near her. Sensing the warrior's hesitancy, Lyra backtracks towards her and tries offers a friendly smile.
"Yu's dula'm op radon, you."
You're doing the right thing.
Luna faces her with an indiscernible expression. "Yu nou don ron ai sodon op."
You didn't give me a choice.
Lyra's gut churns uneasily. They had never exactly asked Luna to come along with them ━━ it was more of them telling her that she was coming with them. But she's finding it hard to see Luna's issue. From what she's heard, Luna is a good person. If it's true and Luna is a good person, then wouldn't she want to use her blood to save the world?
"Dison laik stanop kru, Luna. Ai wich em in. En yu na wich ai in, you," Nyko tells her gruffly. "Lincoln wich em in Lyra. Ai yu wiched Lincoln, ait?"
These are good people, Luna. I trust them. And you can trust me. Besides, Lincoln trusted Lyra. And you trusted Lincoln, right?"
Luna doesn't respond. Her face remains impassive.
"Lyra, Luna, Nyko!" Nate calls from the shoreline. "Time to move!"
Luna ignores him and faces Lyra. "Yu vout in bilaik ai jus na kep emo klin yu."
You think my blood will save you.
"Kep oso klin," corrects Lyra, though her heart thumps uncomfortably.
Save us all.
"Chit yu vout in na kom au taim ai biyo 'mo nou na gada em in?" Luna challenges.
What do you think would happen if I said you couldn't have it?
Lyra faces her calmly, but it's hard to hide how troubled she is by where Luna's taken this conversation. "Tikh yu rem teik en dau?"
Would you really let everyone die?
"I said, let's go." Nate's tone is gritty wirh impatience as he marches back towards them, rounds them together and urges them forwards, across the dock.
Luna gazes at Lyra as if that is enough of an answer, then obediently moves forwards.
Unable to hide her uneasiness any longer, Lyra allows herself to fall behind everyone. Her boots sink into the pebbled shore as waves lap at the rubber soles. She doesn't even want to think of what would happen if Luna decides to deny them her blood. It doesn't take a genius to concoct the painfully obvious scenarios. . . and none of them make Skaikru look any better.
But if it's to save the world. . .
Suddenly Emori halts. They've barely made it a dozen feet across the shore. Trees huddle together as the woods stretch on just another dozen feet ahead. But there is a small line of white pillars guarding them and Lyra eyes them anxiously. There is something unnerving about them.
"What's wrong?" Abby asks Emori.
"Alie's rules — no frikdreina past this line." Emori stares at the pillars uncertainly. "I've never crossed it."
"Frikdreina?" Jackson questions.
"Mutants," she answers quietly.
"I've always thought of rules as more of suggestions, anyways," Lyra tells her breezily.
Murphy shrugs. "I've never met a line I wouldn't cross."
He crosses the line casually. When nothing happens ━━ he isn't struck by lightning, maimed, or brutally murdered ━━ the few guards march behind him. Abby, Jackson, Nate, and Raven all follow in suit. Noah seems more reluctant, as if believing Emori more than the others, and so when he crosses, he clutches Lyra's hand tightly in his own.
Emori still seems hesitant, until Murphy offers her his hand. She takes it and then she is over the line too.
"All right, everyone. Let's go," calls Abby over her shoulder as she treks up the small but steep slope that leads them into the trees. "Let's go. We have a long walk ahead of us."
But before any of them can take another step, there's a sharp whistling noise overhead.
Nate's head snaps up. "What is that?"
"Drone?" Murphy offers nervously.
Something small and black lowers itself beneath the foliage, dancing high above them. It is a drone.
Emori's face falls. "We should run."
"Why?" Raven questions. "What's the penalty for crossing the line?"
The answer comes pretty quickly. A shot cracks through the air and then the guard closest to Lyra is collapsing to the ground, his eyes glazed over. Smoke drifts from a wound gushing crimson ━━ the drone had shot him in the head.
Noah seizes her by the arm. "RUN!"
Trees blur together as they sprint through the woods. There is no time to enjoy the beauty of their surroundings ━━ the thick battalion of evergreen trees with needles that dust the smattering of sand along the dirt, all glittering and shining gold in the sunlight, while mountains glower honey over them some distance away on the surrounding straits ━━ not when there is a murder bot trying to kill the rest of them. Sand flies up around as a bullet embeds itself a good foot away from Lyra and she shrieks loudly, changing her direction at once and narrowly swerving around the next bullet.
"I thought you said Alie was down!" Murphy shouts, though Lyra can't tell from which direction.
"She is!" Lyra insists over the gunfire and pounding of her heart. "This whole island is insanely advanced — it's probably automated!"
"I can't keep up!" Raven cries out from somewhere behind them.
Noah curses loudly and shoves Lyra ahead of him, clearly intending on turning back for Raven. But he doesn't need to. Murphy's already there, slinging her arm around his shoulder as he helps drag the limping mechanic forwards, faster and faster.
"I got you!" Murphy yells. "Someone cover Luna! Get down! Emori — are you OK?"
More gunfire breaks through the air as Nate tries to shoot at the drone and run at the same time. He misses each shot as the drone flies around them erratically.
"Lyra!" Noah bellows suddenly and then she feels his full weight crashing into him. The father-daughter duo topple to the ground and roll several feet before stopping just behind an enormous boulder. "Get down — now!"
Heaving for air, Lyra peeks her head up above the Boulder. Raven, Murphy, and Emori have managed to take some sort of shelter behind a fallen log. She can't make out Abby, Jackson, or Nate. But she can see Luna sprinting back towards the boat. The drone follows the obvious target and circles Luna, preparing to take the shot. A bullet scorches through the air and straight towards Luna's heart.
It never hits her.
Nyko charges the drone and shields Luna's body with his.
"Nyko!" Lyra screams. She bolts to her feet. "Nyko, no — !"
"Stop!" Noah wrestles her back down to the ground fiercely. "You can't help him now!"
An alarming amount of gunshots crack from the drone as it shoots into Nyko's body again and again. His lips turn the insipid color of wax as a sea of scarlet pours from between them. His entire body writhes. Knees beginning to buckle as he slumps overtop of Luna, his eyes go vacant and unseeing, as if already dead. This does nothing to stop the drone, however, because it continues to riddle him with bullets as if determined to mutilate his body as far as possible.
Nate finally has the good sense to begin shooting again. "Luna, take cover!"
The warrior doesn't listen. She is crying out as she clutches the body. "Nyko! No — no!"
One of Nate's shots finally hit the drone. It splutters briefly before floundering completely and then tumbling out of the sky, smoke pouring out from its insides as it crashes into the dirt.
Murphy is the first to leave the safety of the cover. "Well, that took you ten shots. Alie's got dozens of drones. Who do you think's gonna run out of bullets first, huh?"
"Could we talk about why they're still in the sky?" Nate demands breathlessly, turning to Lyra for answers.
"Becca was making two different artificial intelligences on this island!" Lyra retorts as she climbs out from behind the boulder. Her ears are still ringing. "It makes sense that this place would still be highly guarded — especially since she kept Alie imprisoned here!"
"Damn it," Abby's shoulders sag as she staggers out from the cover of the trees with Jackson. "Where the hell's Luna?"
"No," Lyra breaths out in horror as she scans the vacant beaches. Luna is gone. Surely she cannot be so selfish to doom all of humanity before even giving Lyra a chance ━━
The whir of a drone in the distance grows louder and louder.
"They're back!" Jackson exclaims, looking panicky.
"We can see that, Jackson," Noah retorts. He drags a hand across his face. "Here's the deal. If we don't find Luna, everyone we know is going to die a horrifically painful death as they're roasted alive like human marshmallows. Which I think we can all agree is not great. . . right?"
He's met with faces staring back at him in varying degrees of horror.
"Right!" Lyra says enthusiastically.
He claps his hands together. "Thank you, right is the answer I was looking for, folks! So here's the plan — we split up. Murphy, Emori, Abby, Wilson, and Taggart, you go west. Jackson, Nate, take North. Lyra and I are going East. Raven. . . "
Raven seems to realize what he's getting at. "I like the beach."
"Stay under the trees. You're safe here. The rest of you do the same," Noah looks at each of them in turn. "We check in every ten."
The drone Nate had shot down blinks red and Lyra's eyes widen. "It's still active!"
"Unless it's shooting, I don't care," announces Noah. "Let's move out."
Nate's dark eyes meet Lyra's. He hurries forwards, clasping her arm in his as he pulls her into the briefest of hugs.
She pulls away. "Don't die."
"Right back at you."
"Remember!" Noah calls out to all the groups. "No stupid heroics, I'm not trying to do Kane's bullshit paperwork if one of you is either dead or violently maimed, so let's keep all of our limbs!"
Nate snorts. "Maybe you should be telling that to Lyra. She isn't exactly the poster child for making good decisions."
Noah eyes him. "And you've deduced this because. . . ?"
"The fact that she has a thing for guys whose names start with Bell and end in amy says it all, Sergeant."
Noah's voice is overly-controlled. "Miller?"
Nate pales slightly, as if realizing he crossed a line. He gulps. "Yes, sir?"
"You have two seconds to get the hell out of my sight before I start shooting."
"Yes, sir!"
͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙
"ARE YOU GIVING me the silent treatment?"
Shoving a tree branch out of her way, Lyra doesn't answer. The father-daughter duo have trekked deeper into the woods. Noah is somewhere behind her, and she hears a pained grunt and the sound of the tree branch smacking him in the face.
"For the record, I don't deserve the silent treatment!" Noah hollers after her. "You do!"
"For what? Hanging out with a boy?" Lyra demands. "Or is it for murdering my friend or handing the other one over to the grounders? Ooh, maybe it's for time I became brainwashed to stop you from killing yourself and shot people! Wait, no! I did commit a genocide, so — "
"Are you trying to sound cooler than me?" Noah huffs in irritation as he catches up to her. "Because I've — I've done a lot of badass stuff too!"
She whips around to stare at him incredulously. "Are you seriously making this about you right now?"
"What else am I supposed to do?" Noah cries out. "If we make this about you, then I have to think about how you and Bellamy have been playing footsies right under my nose for god knows how long!"
"I'm seventeen!"
"Legally you're still a child."
"Legally?" Lyra echoes sharply. "Did you not listen to the very long list of crimes I've committed? I don't think the list of people I've slept with should be an issue at this point in my life!"
"There you go again," Noah retorts. "Acting like a child."
"Yeah? Well you're acting awful!" Lyra snaps hotly. "Don't you trust me?"
But before he can say a word, a series of gunshots ring out in the distance.
Noah's eyes widen. "Raven! Report — are you OK?"
"All good here," comes Raven's snappy and out of breath retort. "Worry about your damn self."
"Good advice," Lyra calls over her shoulder.
"Lyra, stop being over dramatic," Raven snaps into the walkie. "You and your dad are alone in drone infested woods. It might be a little helpful if you two were on talking terms."
Noah nods earnestly.
Lyra makes a face. "Screw you, Reyes."
"Been there, done that."
Noah's eyes widen.
Lyra's face falls. "Oh, fuck — "
"YOU SLEPT WITH RAVEN?"
"Yeah, like, ages ago!" Lyra exclaims defensively. Her cheeks are turning red. "It wasn't a big deal or anything."
Noah considers this. Then he holds out his hand.
"What's that?" Lyra asks, unnerved. She eyes his flattened palm. "Some kind of symbolism? Are you going to kill me now?"
He rolls his eyes. "I'm trying to high five you."
"You're. . . what?" Lyra almost can't believe what she's hearing. "So I can sleep around with Raven, but I can't with Bellamy — "
"I like Raven."
"You liked Bellamy until you found out!" Lyra argues. "This is ridiculous. You need to trust me — "
There's a sharp whizzing noise overhead.
"A drone." Noah's face falls. He lunges for Lyra. "Get down — now!"
With a sharp oof, Lyra feels his full weight barrel straight into her. They collapse into the foliage. Rocks and sharp twigs dig into her skin as they tumble several feet, down a steep yet short slope, going straight through a thicker. They finally land in a ditch with a log half-collapsed just above it. The log is covered in dry rot. Covered in thorns and bleeding just a bit, Lyra cautiously peaks her head over the log and looks up.
There, just a few dozen feet away, hovers the drone. It seems to be scanning the wooded area for them.
She forces her breathing to slow. Her back is pressed up against Noah's chest, and she can feel his heart racing.
Several more gunshots ring out.
"Taking fire in the north woods!" Nate shouts through the walkie. "Jackson's hit. I'm low on ammo."
"What do you mean, Jackson's hit?" Abby demands shrilly. "Is he OK?"
"I think so. He took one in the arm, and we're pinned down!"
"We're on our way," Abby says.
"Luna's the priority!" Nate argues. "Nothing's more important than her!"
"I've got eyes on Luna," Raven announces. "But someone needs to do something about these damn drones or I'm going to lose her!"
"Oh my god," mumbles Lyra, in some shock. "I think this is tied for the scariest day of my life."
"Drones only tie?" Noah asks incredulously. "What the hell is it tied with?"
"Every other day of my fucking life!" Lyra squeezes her eyes shut and forces herself to inhale sharply. "OK. Here's what we're going to do. I have, like. . . eighty-seven percent of a plan."
"Can we maybe get to a hundred first? That would make me feel better."
"Yeah, I'm sure it'll make Jackson feel great, too," she mutters. "Considering the fact that he'll probably bleed out before I get to that."
"OK, OK, fine!" Noah holds his hands up in surrender. "What is it?"
"One of us needs to run out and draw the fire," Lyra explains shortly. "The other needs to take cover and keep shooting at the drone. Hopefully we'll hit the drone before the drone hits us."
"Hopefully," mutters Noah.
Lyra starts to stand. "I'll draw the fire — "
"Woah, woah, woah. Not so fast, young lady." Noah grabs her by her jacket sleeve and wrestles her back to the ground. "I feel like drawing drone fire would be good to add to my list of badass things that I've done. Clearly I've got some tough competition."
"You want to add stuff to your list of badass things you've done?" Lyra whisper-shrieks. "Dad!"
"Also, you aren't a half-bad shot." He thrusts his handgun into her palms as she stares up at him. "Besides — contrary to popular belief, I do trust you."
"Dad!" Lyra shrieks as he starts to stand up. "Don't!"
"Me versus some demon pigeons." Noah shrugs her off and climbs out of the ditch. "What could go wrong?"
He crashes through the trees and starts waving his hands like a madman.
"HEY! STUPID, UGLY ROBOT THAT'S TERRORIZING MY DAUGHTER! OVER HERE YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"
The drone whirs around manically. As soon as it sets eyes on Noah, it whirs to life with an almost deafening humming sound. It charges into the thick of the trees with guns blazing, the sounds of bullets ringing through the air. Quick as a rabbit, Noah takes off at a run, bolting north, kicking up the underbrush as he runs. The drone surges behind him like a bolt of lightning.
Lyra grabs frantically for the compact black Glock her dad had given her. Her stomach falls through her core as Nate shouts something she can't quite hear through the walkie.
She takes three shots. But her hands are shaking and she misses all three of them.
"Any day now, sweetheart!" Noah screams as the demon pigeons hunts him down. "I didn't get a chance to stretch and I think I might've pulled a muscle!"
He hurdles over a stump and rolls through the foliage. The drone takes a second shot and there's a yelp of pain and surprise as it grazes along Noah's left arm. He drops to the ground and disappears beneath the underbrush.
Lyra feels her heart stop beating for an instant.
"Dad!" She screams frantically.
" 'M fine!" Noah definitely sounds anything but fine, and there's a muffled bout of cursing. "What do you need, an invitation or something? Shoot the motherfucking drone!"
Her knees almost give out. Stumbling into the open, she gasps for air as her sweaty fingers tremble over the sleek trigger. The drone dances through the air as it tries to decide what target to focus on. Pained shouts and gunfire echo in the walkie-talkie.
Lyra sucks in a breath and then takes the shot. The bullet flashes through the air before hitting the drone. It collapses to the ground. A horrible sound fills her ears, like ocean water rushing through her skull, saltwater eroding her brain. Lyra couldn't give a shit about the fact that she'd just struck the drone and instead scrambles through the underbrush in search of Noah, collapsing onto her knees at his side when she does find him.
He's crumpled on the ground, shivering like mad. She rolls him over so that she can get a look at his side. Blood dribbles down from his left arm.
"I'm sorry," Lyra whispers. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry — "
"S'OK. Just a scratch," he mutters. "I can barely feel it."
"You shouldn't have trusted me — "
"You're my kid. I'll always trust you," he cuts in thickly. His eyes are watering. He manages a thin, pained smile. "Now go. Finish the job. Do your whole brainiac thing."
"Right." Lyra nods numbly. She scrambles uphill for the fallen drone.
"What is the plan, anyways?"
"I'm going to hack the core programming!" Lyra tells him as she drops the Glock and grasps the drone, pulling it into her lap. "The drones are protecting Alie's facilities like guard dogs. It almost reminds me of the Reapers for Mount Weather — Project Cerberus."
Noah nods encouragingly. "Well, you took down the mountain, right? Drones are a piece of cake."
"I had cake once," she mumbles distractedly. "Mount Weather had a pretty killer chef."
"Did you just make a joke?" Noah's broad grin looks like more of a grimace as he shifts his fingers over his wound. "Aren't you funny — "
Gunshots cut through their conversation, from the other side of the island. Lyra's eyes widen with panic and she finally looks up from the drone. The sun has risen high above their heads, the sun a blinding beam of light that makes it hard to see anything. In the sweltering daylight, Noah looks unnaturally white, as if choking back nausea. It makes it hard to care about the others as Lyra tries not to gape at him. He is deathly pale.
"Hurry, would you?" He grunts as he notices her stare. "What use is having a super genius daughter if she can't hack a drone before I bleed out?"
Lyra's fingers fly across the aged keyboard. "You're not bleeding out."
The small screen flickers while the broken blades spin. Lyra watches with relative unease. There is a multitude of small blinking lights sprinkled across a map and she's willing to bet it's the locations of all the other drones. She swallows back worry ━━ there are over two dozen active drones in the air at the moment. Active drones that could kill her, Noah, or her friends in a matter of seconds.
Better not mess this up, Jupiter, she tells herself.
There's thermographic technology, the kind that picks up both heat and electromagnetic waves. Lyra briefly debates overheating the drones and frying their insides, but then she hesitates. If she does that, they'll lose that technology forever. And couldn't it be useful someday?
"What's the hold up?" Noah asks weakly, and Lyra gulps. He's starting to look worse.
"Nothing," she says quickly.
Not wanting to risk losing the technology, Lyra decides to run through the databank of the drones to turn them off. A program greets her with a question about shutting down the entire security system drones Lyra punches in the final command to the keyboard. Y-E-S.
There is a tense beat.
And then, just like that, the island goes silent.
Noah's head drops against the trunk of a tree as he leans against it. "I love having a super genius for a kid."
"The drones just fell out of the sky," Abby's voice ━━ ragged, out of breath, and slightly nervous, as if expecting that something worse has happened ━━ cackles through the staticky radio. "What happened?"
"The Jupiter's happened," Noah manages the smallest of smiles. "We're pretty kickass."
"Glad to see you two worked out your differences," comes Raven's dry voice. "While you two were doing that, I saved all of our asses by persuading Luna to stay. Which means you might want to rendezvous at the boat with us."
"OK, but it'll take us a second," warns Lyra with an anxious look at her dad.
"Yeah," agrees Noah sagely. "And that's mainly because — spoiler alert, everyone! — I was shot!"
͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙
NOAH GOES HOME ━━ all the way back to Arkadia.
Lyra did not take it well.
In fact, she basically threw a tantrum. It would have only taken her three more seconds to fall face first onto the dirt, kicking and screaming as she did it. It's not fair. Why, you may ask? Because the two best damn doctors on the ground are here ━━ Abby and Jackson. And they're all about to come upon the best medical facilities the ground has to offer. So why in fresh hell would Noah go all the way back to Arkadia?
Some radio call from Kane, apparently. Noah had listened, gone pale, and then said he was on his way.
"But why?" Lyra had whined as she dragged her feet across the docks.
"Because the only other authority in Arkadia is Thelonious," said Noah. His wound was bandaged and cleaned now, so his eyes were brighter, but he still didn't look great. "Tell me, does that sound like a good idea to you?"
"Clarke and Bellamy can handle whatever it is," retorted Lyra swiftly.
There was a flicker of something like uneasiness in Noah's eyes. "Maybe. But something tells me that Bellamy could use all the help he can get on this one."
Lyra eyed him suspiciously. "Will you at least tell me what's going on?"
At that, he'd grinned. "No spoilers."
After waving him goodbye from the docks as the boat sailed off ━━ with the two guards escorting Noah having promised to return once Noah was safe in Arkadia ━━ the trek to Becca's labs began all over again.
The journey is even more gruelling the second time. Though Lyra holds the battered drone still splattered with Luna's blood, she is hyper aware of the fact that it is more than likely that there are more traps scattered throughout the island. Not to mention her anxiety at the thought that maybe she hadn't disabled the drones properly. Murphy does his best to persuade her to calm down with his usual awful little jokes and crude snide comments ━━ in typical Murphy fashion ━━ but it doesn't do much to help, especially knowing that her dad is so far away and still very injured.
They walk on and on through the woods until the legs of their pants are splattered with dew and soaked through with mud. Lyra is sure her feet are losing feeling despite the insulated boots. It's nearly impossible to enjoy herself, even with the beauty of their surroundings ━━ the thick battalion of trees dusted with leaves of red and gold that glitter and shine in the sunlight, mountains flowering some distance away. Grasses are sprinkled with wildflowers of every colour and even the ocean can be heard lapping the shoreline some distance away.
Pretty, yes. But Lyra hasn't forgotten the drones. There is death hidden in the beauty.
"We getting close, Dr. Griffin?" Nate grunts from the back of the scraggly pack.
Abby marches at the head, peering at the map. "It's just through there."
"Let's hurry," says Nate. As Abby obediently picks up the pace, he flashes a tired smile at Lyra. "Won't be long until we're calling you Doctor."
"We'll be different types of doctors," Lyra points out; obviously she's no healer.
But she's pleased, nonetheless. She's always wanted to do something good. And reinventing nightblood to save the human race from the apocalypse seems like a pretty good place to start.
And it's not a bad way to redeem herself after everything she's done.
A little ways ahead of her, Murphy has moved on to making fun of Raven. "Careful, Reyes. Emori's already got dibs on me."
They emerge from the brush and into a scraggly field. The sun beats down upon them. Lyra holds her hands over her eyes as she realises that they've drawn upon a large, somewhat deteriorated structure poking out of the ground. It looks entirely abandoned. And, judging by the architecture of it, it looks as if it is burrowed deep underground. It looks like a bunker.
Murphy is the first to speak. "Uh. . . small question. Alie had a security system to protect this thing, right? Any idea what she was protecting it from?"
"Let's hope we don't find out," says Abby as nonchalantly as she can manage. "Just in case — Lyra, get the drones back into the sky."
Lyra's fingers dart across the keyboard. "Already on it."
Lyra's lungs sear by the time they've made it across the field. Nate and Murphy are the ones who pry open the massive doors of rusted over steel. A band of sunlight marred by Lyra's shadows illuminates the entrance as she goes to enter first.
"Lyra, wait!" Nate goes to grab her jacket sleeve, but she pulls away from him. "There could be traps!"
Ignoring him, Lyra let's the blackness envelop her like a closed fist.
The darkness is unnerving as she takes another step through the compound. She makes her way through the web of shadows hesitantly, but as far as she can tell, no one guards the compound; there are no robotic German Shepard's, tanks, or rabid AI's named Alie. As far as Lyra can tell, it's nothing more than a web of dark corridors. It's an unsettling feeling. Knowing she is the first person to step foot here in over one hundred years makes that unsettling feeling turn into something much more daunting.
Everything is deathly silent. And then ━━
"Auxiliary power initiated."
The lights flicker on and Lyra feels her heart stop beating for an instant.
"Holy shit."
͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ .·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ✩ *̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙
this chapter is long and sucks!
also ━━ and im not lying ━━ it literally took me two fucking months to write. 😃😃
Noah screaming at Lyra to shoot the drones:
^^^ Lyra when Noah leaves
5.8k words