Between a group of terrified thieves, an inside-man warehouse manager trying to escape, and a duffle bag of missing merchandise, it took the better part of two hours to finally 'finish up' at the warehouse and get back to Indigo base.
When the rover finally pulled into the garage, Athira was beyond ready to collapse. She climbed the stairs with the sole intention of spending the next hour under the cold water of a shower to soothe her stinging runes when Shift met her halfway to the prep room on the second floor.
"What happened?" he said. "Zoe and I just got back from HQ, and Kione said—"
"There was a Surge," snapped Athira, bracing herself against the wall with an arm. Talon was somewhere in the Below, keeping an eye on Rathe and any hint of the next Surge. "It was bad. Pretty sure my Black deleted a duffle bag full of valuables, but hey — now we have proof Reader isn't causing them, because he's still locked up in some damned prison we mere Keepers aren't allowed to—"
Athira cut off, slamming a hand over her mouth as nausea crept up her throat.
Not again — not this soon. Even with Zoe nearby to laser Rathe's fury into submission, Athira wasn't sure her body could handle the Black in a second Surge right now.
"Thira?" said Zoe, appearing from the prep room door and running over. Her suit was pulled down to her waist, leaving her in a close-fit tank top. "Are you okay?"
The closer Zoe got, the stronger the nausea became, and it didn't take Athira long to realise it wasn't coming from an impending Surge.
"Where'd you get that armband from?" said Athira, her gaze locked on the slim, silver band around Zoe's bicep.
Zoe glanced at it. "The Elites gave it to me today, said it was some new experimental Tech that was supposed to boost my Yellow. They want me to wear it for a week, even under my suit. Why?"
"Take it off," hissed Athira, barely able to stop herself from ripping it straight off Zoe's arm. "It's infused with the same energy that Sleeper was made of."
That's what the Surge had been. Whoever was causing them had drawn on Sleeper energy to infuse the armband — and it was the proof that Athira needed to confirm Reader was right.
There were Wardens within the ranks of the Elites.
"What?" said Zoe, raising an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"
Raph made it up the stairs behind Athira, Talia close behind. He took one look at Athira and immediately slipped into Keeper mode. "What's going on? Is Rathe—"
"Elites gave me an armband," said Zoe. "Thira says it's got Sleeper energy in it, but—"
"If that armband has Sleeper energy in it, it means the Elites are the ones behind the Surges," said Athira, curling a fist against the wall. "It means Reader wasn't causing the Surges — that the Elites or the Wardens or whatever they call themselves are, and they've decided to shove that same energy in an armband and give it to Zoe without any kind of warning."
Raph held up a hand. "Isn't that jumping ahead a little? Why would they target Zoe?"
Athira forced herself to breathe before she answered. She wasn't angry at Raph. She wasn't angry at anyone in this room except herself and yelling at them wasn't going to achieve anything.
"Because they know she's Spectrum," said Athira. "And whatever this Sleeper energy is, they're hoping it'll help her fight Rathe." Her thoughts flashed back to the Sleeper — when it'd engulfed Zoe, and she'd resisted it. "They saw what happened at the station. Whatever this energy is, it's got side effects — like the comas — and they're thinking Zoe's regen negates it."
Indigo was quiet for a moment.
Talia placed a hand on her hip. "So... why would you want her to take it off?"
Athira glared at her, wary of a snide remark. "Did you miss what that Sleeper did to the civilians at the subway station?"
"No, I didn't miss the eighty-three people that are now in a coma," said Talia, narrowing her eyes. "But I also didn't miss the fact that Zoe woke up when no one else did. These Wardens are dedicated to stopping Rathe, right? Why would they give something to a Spectrum if they weren't sure?"
"Because they're getting desperate, they're idiots, and they don't know what they're dealing with," said Athira. "According to Grandma, the Wardens have a bunch of Silvers rounded up somewhere for their visions. Wardens start playing with Sleeper energy. Sleeper energy aggravates Rathe. Silvers get more visions of Rathe breaking through. Wardens start giving out coma armbands to Spectrum, not realising they caused the problem to begin with. It's a whole damned self-fulfilling prophecy."
"They're the Elites," said Talia, jaw clenched. "Their main purpose is to protect Sirah, to stop it from becoming another Nomstral! You think they'd be that careless and risk their only chance at stopping Rathe?"
Athira folded her arms. "If you don't, you're in denial."
Talia huffed. "And what, you've got the solution, running around at night in a mask? What are you accomplishing there, exactly?" She sneered. "Or maybe it's just an excuse to meet up with your little Underground buddies and—"
"Not helping, Talia," said Raph, rubbing a hand over his forehead. "Shift's been with her the whole time, and if nothing else, I've got more inside info about these Underground Nests from him in the last three nights than I ever have from the Elites." He exhaled. "We need more information before we make any decisions. Kione, how's your work on that Project Spectrum database going?"
"I've almost finished analysing the replica key I built," came Kione's reply over comms. "Should be into the database itself in the next twelve, maybe fifteen hours."
"Sooner the better," said Raph. "If this armband has any kind of risks attached to it, I want to know." His gaze fell to Zoe, who was trying to twist the band around her arm with a frown. "It's your decision, Zo, but if you feel any kind of side effects, I'd recommend taking it off."
Athira knew when a discussion was over.
"Fine," she said, heading up the stairs. She didn't have the energy or the patience right now to argue it further. "Just don't come near me with that armband. It makes me nauseous."
Zoe reached for her locket and started after her. "Thira—"
Raph placed a hand on Zoe's shoulder. "Athira, are you going to be ready tomorrow?"
Athira stopped at the bend in the stairs. "Ready for what?"
"Your final Keeper assessment," said Raph. "We'll be heading into HQ tomorrow to meet with Discord and a few other Elites."
It'd been a month already? Athira started back up the stairs. "Face to face time with Discord? Wouldn't miss it. Can't think of a better way to spend my time."
"Make sure you get a decent sleep tonight," Raph called after her. "If only to make sure you don't fall asleep in the middle of it!"
Upon reaching the bedroom floor, Athira let the darkness of the hallway swallow her.
She couldn't blame them — not entirely. Their logic made sense, but they were all still thinking like they had time, like the walls weren't closing in around them, ready to shatter into a million, fiery pieces.
The door to her room slid shut behind her as she strode into the bathroom, not bothering to turn on the light. The last of the afternoon sun filtered in through the window as she reached the vanity and leaned on her hands, either side of the sink.
Athira stared back at herself in the mirror, scowling at the dark circles under her eyes and the frazzled strands of black hair that'd escaped her ponytail.
She understood all too well what might have pushed the Wardens to desperation. Against Rathe, everything felt desperate. Everything was a fight. There was no time to step back, to assess. It was do or die — and Athira doubted the Wardens were ready to roll over just yet.
With a huff, Athira stepped back and began pulling off her Keeper suit. The sleek forearm guards came off first, followed by the belt, both tossed on the floor. She pulled her arms out of the suit and wriggled it down to her hips, determined to get into the shower as quickly as possible when her attention snagged on her runes.
She'd known from the stinging that they'd burned her skin in her struggle with Rathe, but some, small part of her had been stupid enough to hope they'd at least resisted further decay. They hadn't, and their ragged outline was noticeably worse than it'd been this morning.
Yet more worryingly, their previously steady Blue glow had begun to flicker.
Athira wasn't quite sure how long she stood there, staring at her runes before a shadow at the bathroom window made her look up.
There was a piece of paper pressed against the outside of the glass. Unable to make it out in the dark, Athira flicked on the bathroom light and read the words scrawled across it in thick, purple crayon surrounded by jagged crimson lines.
Time's up.
The note was pulled away as if by an invisible hand, all but confirming it was from Reader and leaving Athira's thoughts spiralling out of control.
When Reader had been arrested, he'd said he'd said he'd delay them as long as he could, and there hadn't been a Surge since — not until today.
He'd tried to warn her.
It'd just reached her too late.
Athira grabbed her head, fighting the urge to slam her fist down on the vanity hard enough to break something — whether it or her hand, right now, she didn't care.
She'd been lucky to pull herself out of Rathe's grip today. She didn't know why, didn't know how — but the one thing she was sure of was that without Zoe, without Shift, she'd have squeezed every last speck of miserable existence out of those thieves and laughed at the consequences.
And if the Surges continued, if her runes broke — they'd both be in danger.
A decision settled in her stomach as Athira glanced out the window, judging the remaining daylight as she pulled her suit the rest of the way off and sat beneath the cold water of the shower.
Enough was enough.
Tomorrow, she'd annoy Raph about interview time with Reader for the hundredth time, and hopefully, Kione would have that Project database unlocked. If not, she'd find the Elite responsible for the armband and get the truth out of them, willingly or otherwise.
But tonight, the Owl was taking matters into her own hands.
*+*+*+*
A/N - idk about you guys but if an invisible someone pressed a crayon note to my bathroom window, my reaction would be a little different, but you do you Athira I ain't judging (i am)