It was not hard to find the hole that Gray had been talking about. The breach was massive. The wreckage of one of the airships, the Righteous Accord, was still freshly burning some distance off in the stagnant swamp water flooding the streets. From their vantage point, Tessa could see the boats that Gray had spoken of—three in all—tied up along the length of a steel suspension beam that had fallen.
The boats in question were small picket steamers, ferry boats for harbor duty with enough space to sit at least eight comfortably and twelve in a pinch. There frames were at a length of sixteen to eighteen feet. If Tessa had to guess from their vantage point, the wooden frames were heavily modified with mounted turrets at their stern and aft. The most blatant modification was to the steam engine; the standard modal being swapped out for a vertical high-pressure boiler coupled to a pair of miniature paddlewheels for locomotion slapped on to their sides, giving them an almost sea monster like appearance.
On the suspension beam where the boats were docked were three Boomers, their stances suggesting that they were off guard duty. Two of them had their weapons slung over their shoulders, and the third had his loosely clasped in his arms. Clearly, they felt they were in no imminent danger.
Crouching beside a large, dislodged pipe, Donny asked the two women, "So what do you think? Want to go at them from here or scale down and take them up close and personal?"
"We don't have the tools to take all three of them from up here without causing a scene."
Donny disagreed, "We have these." He held up his gun.
Tessa thought about how she had to kill the masked woman earlier. She did not want to spill any more blood if she did not have to. "I would think that shooting them would be our last resort."
"Besides," Lonny said, patting her brother on the shoulder, "you have never been the best shot."
"Then what should we do? It's not like we can waltz right up to them."
"No, but maybe we can get them to come to us," Tessa thought aloud, "Maybe a scene is exactly what we need, a bait and lure perhaps."
"Here? Now? I don't know." Donny looked uncertain. "They're not coppers. They won't be as predictable."
But Tessa shook her head. "I heard their orders. They're supposed to take any survivors alive if they don't resist."
"Are you volunteering to be the lure?" Lonny looked back at Tessa. "Because last time I did it, I got a shiner that lasted for a week."
"Oh, but, Lonny, you're so good at it," Donny said with a smile. "Plus, guys are always suckers for girls with big—"
Lonny elbowed her brother in the ribs cutting his sentence short.
Tessa choked down a snicker as she hissed, "Fine! I'll do it. But you better be ready when they come." Peering over the side of the hole, she worked out in her head how she would climb down. "Give me the grappling gun."
Using one of the spools of wire from the device, Tessa secured it to a sound anchor before utilizing her invention's internal pulley system to quietly lower herself until she dropped down to the same level as the Boomers. There she looked up to ensure the other two were ready before calling out, "Help! Help! Oh, please help!"
The three Boomers jumped at the sudden broken silence as they turned toward the source of the noise.
One of them called out, "Don't move!"
Another raised his gun to the ready, shouting, "Hands in the air!"
Tessa did as she was told, and she began to cry. "Please come quick! My sister, she is trapped in there! Oh, please, you must help her before she is crushed!"
Much to her annoyance, two of the Boomers rushed forward across the docking arm and up the rubble for her, but the third stayed back at a distance with his weapon trained on her.
"Come down here, now!" the first ordered as he reached the base of the tower proper.
Tessa insisted, "No! you must help her!" Come on skull-faced freaks, just a little closer, Tessa thought as she fell to her knees and began to sob, covertly slipping a little surprise into her right hand.
The first crawled up the side of the rubble to Tessa, the second right behind him. "I said get..." He stopped short. "Miss Copperfield?"
Tessa's eyes widened. It was Jeremy Bridger.
The young man hesitated.
"What's the matter?" the second Boomer asked. "Hurry up and gra—"
Donny dropped from above, a solid strike with his cane silencing the masked man.
Surprised, Jeremy stumbled back and instinctively pulled his gun around at Donny.
Tessa did not want to hurt Jeremy. The thought of him as a young boy prevented her from initially striking, but as he brought his weapon up to Donny's face, she had little choice. Unwilling to let Jeremy have a chance to attack one of the twins, Tessa grabbed him with the electroshock glove that she had invented a year prior.
Simultaneously, a loud crack rang out above as Lonny took her shot. Tessa just barely had enough time to look up and see the last Boomer on the makeshift dock fall into the water, clutching his chest.
Donny's target was laid out flat, sprawled at his feet with a nasty gash on his head.
Jeremy spasmed violently. Tessa quickly disengaged, feeling the pit of her stomach drop out as Jeremy cried out in pain. A sudden fear gripped her heart as he tried to raise his gun at her, but Donny struck him hard, rendering the boy unconscious.
Wiping the blood from the head of his cane, Donny said with a whistle, "That went better than I expected." He looked up at his sister, the rifle still smoking in her hand. "Are you all right up there?"
"Hardly," she spat in disgust. "This piece of junk pulled to the left. I nearly missed the shot."
Donny put his hands on his hips. "You just killed a man, and that's what you're upset about?"
Lonny only slung the rifle over her shoulder as she stated crossly, "He was about to shoot you. If I missed, that body floating down there would be yours."
Donny took off his hat, straightening his hair. "Well, I certainly appreciate that you are a better marksman than me." His face lit up. "Hey, should we consider making that an act? Shooting an apple off my head or something?"
Tessa thought the smile that Lonny gave in reply was answer enough.
"Go get the long boats ready. I will gather the others." With that, Lonny disappeared back down the dark hallway.
"Come on," Donny said to Tessa. He stripped Jeremy of his effects: a repeating lever action rifle, a wicked-looking blade, and a couple of sticks of waterproof dynamite.
Tessa couldn't move. She only stared at Jeremy's limp body.
"Tess, you, all right?" Donny asked.
"Is...is he dead?" she asked, dreading the answer.
Donny checked his pulse. "He's still alive. Probably will have a nasty headache later though...why?"
"I knew this boy, young man. He was a friend when I worked here. I saw him earlier tonight, and he tried to warn me. I didn't realize this was what he meant...that he was involved in all of this."
Donny took the mask off Jeremy and looked the young man over, "Well, love, he made his bed, now let him lie in it."
Tessa was not so sure she could look at Jeremy's circumstances as black and white as Donny clearly did. How much of a choice did he have? Was he a willing volunteer, or was he coerced? Yet she could not rightly ignore that Jeremy did not tell her outright of what he and his fellow servants were planning, which at the very least made him complicit.
Putting the mask on, Donny asked, "How do I look?"
"Why are you wearing it?" Tessa asked before stashing Jeremy in the shadows and draping her coat over him.
"This is one of the only things that they have to identify themselves. We can at least confuse them a bit before they kill us." He tossed Tessa the second mask off the Boomer he took out, before starting his descent toward the boats.
Begrudgingly, Tessa slipped the skull mask on before following her friend along the debris to the boats. By the time they had them ready to go, Lonny and the others had emerged from the gaping hole in the side of the Grand Spire. Tessa thought that they might yet escape without a hitch. Not only had they managed to procure an escape route, but they had found one that was sufficient enough for all of the people who were with them.
By the time the last of the injured were safely down and off of the tower and to the waterline, Xo-Xing, Diana, and Wooster were busy helping the less sure-footed individuals across the support to the boats. Tessa had managed to get all three engines warmed up and ready to go. She had just finished helping another one of the women into the first boat when she heard a cry of alarm.
"Oy! What are you doin'?"
Tessa turned to see several Boomers standing above them in one of the exposed rooms.
"Get away from those boats!" one of them shouted, raising his gun. Everyone scrambled for cover. Several survivors were shot with the first volley. Gray and the Marlow Twins returned fire, as Mr. Wooster got on the mounted gun at the prow of Tessa's boat, aiming it at the shooters and turning the crank. It spat like a firecracker, showering the side of the building with suppressive fire.
Tessa rushed to the back of the boat and fought to get it moving.
"Get on!" she called over her shoulder, opening the release valve, the pistons to the engine roaring to life with a chug-chug-chug.
The survivors scrambled onto the boats as fast as they could. Gray got onto the second turret on Tessa's boat, as the twins slid in along with a few others that Tessa did not know. Representative Xo-Xing literally threw Diana on board before jumping on himself.
With no more room and the Boomers scaling down to stop them, Tessa slammed the throttle to full, the smoke billowing from the boiler as the steamer plowed through the water. The other survivors managed to get onto the second boat quickly following Tessa, but the Boomers caught the third.
Tessa looked back horrified as the Boomers took those left behind. She wanted to go back and help them, but a portion of their pursuers re-commandeered the third boat and gave chase to Tessa and the other survivors.
Tessa did her best to navigate the flooded city streets, filled with hazards and dead bodies. It proved to be complicated. The other boats followed like ducks on a pond as Tessa blazed the path through the main thoroughfares and up the flooded streets, but it was made all the more of a challenge as the Boomers in the third boat proceeded to whoop and holler shooting at the fleeing survivors. Tessa heard the repeated crack of gunfire from behind. She glanced back to see the Boomer boat opening fire with its forward repeating gun, punching several holes into the boiler of the rear ship. It erupted in a burst of steam as the high pressure exploded, tearing apart the poor souls on board. Those that were thrown from the explosion were left in the other steamer's wake, a few were shot by the Boomers as they sped by. There was no time to help them as the Boomers trained their guns on Tessa's boat.
Steam sprayed everywhere as a round ricocheted right next to Tessa's face, shrapnel ripping off her mask. She ducked behind the metal basin while steering the craft away. Wooster and the others tried to re-angle their weapons to retaliate.
"Cut across at the next street!" Diana cried as she pointed left.
Swinging the rudder hard, Tessa bounced the boat off a series of waterlogged awnings before propelling the craft down the designated path, just barely clearing a rain cover stretching across the whole street. Meanwhile, Wooster trained the Gatling gun on their pursuers.
"No! Aim it up there!" Diana shouted and focused Wooster and Gray to aim up at a suspended glass and metal roof. The gunners turned their turrets upward. Together they made short work of the supports, the shade cover crashing down on the Boomers pursuing them. A cheer went up among the survivors as they pulled away for the outskirts of downtown, but their celebration was short lived. A hissing, gurgling sound came from the engine, spewing forth its pressure and dying altogether with a rattling choke.