Saturday, February 26, 2011

Knocking on Heaven's Door

Brigitte is dead. We found her body yesterday, at the scene of a fire in Fresno. We need to get word to Baron Samedi. I'm sorry, Samedi. For what it's worth, these words on the paper, I'm sorry. We weren't fast enough.

There are at least ten other kids, still missing. They got Horace too, it sounded like.

They. Them. The other guys. They are the enemy, I'm certain. Whoever they actually are, they're running a "re-education" center. They take Scions. Apparently they kill, if they have to, to do it. We know where the place is. We know Father Joshua O'Brien is directly involved. We're going soon.

We just need a plan. A good plan. We were surprised tonight, and being surprised hurts.
Let me start over. Today we covered Fresno, looking for Carmen Saavedra. We started at the school, which when we got there was a literal hot mess. We passed a fire truck leaving as we were coming in. I didn't find much, with the whole "no good at any sort of investigation" type skills I have. I mean, I'm good at asking the questions but it's much better when I go in knowing what I want to ask. I tried talking to a sergeant? cop guy? I don't know who he was but he looked like he was in charge. I chatted him up a bit, and he seemed friendly enough but basically he told me to go be somewhere else.
The guys were much more productive, as it usually happens when we go into these types of situations. Gunnar walked me over to look at some bodies. One of them was Bridgitte.
Brendan spotted someone watching us as we combed the place over, and after doing some Interpol magic, or maybe it was Deputy Nate magic, we had a name - Sheila Rodriguez - and an address.
We convoyed over in two cars, and I sat it out for maybe ten minutes before the boredom started to set in. I left the bird with his hero, Nate (in my head, I wanted to phrase this such that I gave Nate the bird, especially after he arrested me, but I think we're trying to move past that now). Gunnar and I found a place nearby to just hang out and not be bored out of our gourds.
You know, as we were leaving, Nate made some smartass comment, and it occurs to me that it's only been a few days, and I haven't said a damn thing about the ride back from LAX and being Gunnar's girl.
It was probably the bird. There are times when I catch him, Nevermore, just sitting on the nightstand, or bed, or couch, or kitchen table with his beak in my journal. Not much is sacred to that feather head. On the bright side, I don't think he's tried to run Gunnar off.
Anyway, we had a while to talk, Gunnar and I. We stuck close to the other guys so they could call us back in a hurry and just hit a place down the road. I got a good chunk of Gunnar's life story. All he's missing is a cape, it seems. It feels like I've got my own superhero watching my back. You know, I guess he technically has that cape we made him out of snake skin back in Vegas. I hate to gush, but he's really quite incredible.
Ok, I'll gush a little. He shot a sniper across the freeway with his handgun, but I'll get to that.

The guys called us around 10 pm and we came back to the house Nate and the guys were staking out. I went in with Nate and Brendan to talk to Ms. Rodriguez. From her we found out what the "re-education center" looked like, and who was in charge of it. She made me tea.
While we three were inside and Gunnar was around back, watching for trouble, Jack and Nevermore were listening to the radio and sharing their feelings (I imagine). Jack heard something about some arrests being made for the arson. We collectively decided that we should go talk to the "suspects," and Nate suggested we go in pairs. Gunnar decided to play legal counsel and I went as his incredibly goodlooking assistant. Nate and Brendan pulled their badges. Jack and Nevermore paired up to talk about hitting things (probably).
Turns out the suspects are Scions. Good guys, trying to get the kids back. They almost had Carmen, but a big fight broke out. The other guys brought tactical gear and full-auto weaponry. The girl we talked to, Naomi, slipped something to Gunnar: a hotel room key. We searched the place when we got there. I found a gorgeous sword, then I found the couch and T.V. while Brendan gave the laptop a stern talking-to. That's how I picture it in my head, anyway. I'm not all that great with computers, either.

So, a bit like an idiot, I dropped my guard. I sat down with Nevermore and Jack and we started watching Scarface. I should have heard them coming. I should have expected the attack, but I didn't and it almost got Brendan killed. Kabul all over again.
I got shot at, a lot, and actually got hit a couple of times. Bullet holes, for the record, still fucking hurt.
Nine guys poured into the room, heralding their entry with a canister of tear gas. I held my breath, but that only helped so much. Jack was a whirlwind, as usual. Nate kept his head pretty well, too. Brendan and I valiantly caught most of the bullets, except Brendan forgot to catch them mostly with his vest. He was a mess. I had to weave between the attackers to get over to him while he took cover. I told him it'd be ok, I had his back, and then I got the feeling he'd be able to take a few more hits before bleeding out. I turned around and started shooting, which didn't do a whole lot of good. The unfriendlies had tactical gear; helmets and vests and such. So I took a cue from Jack, and held one down while Nevermore tore one's face off.
Nate kept knocking one over, which would have been hilarious if I weren't bleeding.
Gunnar was shooting through the window, across the freeway. Yeah, across the freeway. Apparently there was a sniper there whom he managed to spot, then hit, then kill. I'm a little awe-struck, to be honest.
The fight felt like it lasted an hour, but it was more like two or three minutes. I kept an eye on Brendan and the second the room was clear I started treating him. I needed him not to go into shock, I needed him not to bleed out because this team needs him. I'm not sure what I did. I was freaking out somewhere in the back of my head, but the part of me actually working on him was calm. I wanted him to be okay, and then I think I managed to turn some of the wounds into bruises. Bad bruises, but still. Then Brendan managed to muster ... something. I'm not sure how it works, but it's the same thing I can do. I don't want to be hurt anymore, and then I'm not.
I can feel myself getting stronger, better. I just really wanted to help Brendan, and then I could. This will be helpful in the future. I remember having to ask my father to help Gunnar just a few weeks ago, because I couldn't do it. I didn't have the skill, then. I've had his blood on my hands so much since then, it hardly bothers me anymore.

I'm certain now that this is where I'm supposed to be, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. Nate, Brendan, Jack and Gunnar are all such good guys. They need someone to patch their wounds, and eventually to tell their stories. Epics don't write themselves.

Friday, February 25, 2011

just so we're clear

had a talk with the viking kid today. short talk.
told him not to hurt our girl, or i'd break his legs. he didn't seem impressed. he definitely didn't seem intimidated, the way every other bonehead she's brought home has been. good.
i could stand for her to keep this one around.

also i think i let the cat out of the bag. nate took me drinking. some place called the viper room. i wasn't sure i wanted to go. not liking snakes anymore really. but he talked me into it. can't remember how it came up, drank my weight in... something. but i'm pretty sure nate was talking about laurel and her shooting spree.
then i think i said 'yeah, good luck to gunnar and that cuckoo bird.'
and nate was like, 'what'
and i was like, 'nevermore.'

he probably won't remember.
n.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Bring the Boys Back Home

February 21st, 2011
My half-sister is missing, along with half a dozen other Scions. Most of them are young, Gunnar made the point that they may be pre-visitation.
I know that's not the case with my sister, Dad said he'd gone to see her but she didn't want anything to do with him. Someone had already come to see her first. What if that happened to the other kids?
Worst case scenario, they're dead. Well... maybe that's not the worst. The absolute worst case is that they're still alive, being held hostage and tortured. That's the worst for them. Worst for us, they're alive and being recruited to fight for the titans.
We don't have a lot to go on. It looked like Susan - my sister - had barricaded herself in. Something had disturbed the shingles on the roof by her window. Something killed her parents downstairs. Several possible scenarios. One being a two-pronged attack, wherein assailants simultaneously abducted my sister and busted the front door in. This would explain her trying to barricade herself in. Then, whatever abducted her would have put everything back in place.
Or something broke in the front door, killed her parents and she barricaded herself in, using the dresser. Then the something comes for her through the window, takes her somewhere before returning to set the items used for the barricade back in their place. I don't know. I'm just a doctor, not a forensic specialist, dammit. I'm just a fucking doctor.
I'm trying to commit their names to memory. Amanda Rashidi. Susan Ray. Brendan Gair. Carmen Saavedra. Then the two Scions sent after them, Horus and Samedi's kids, Horace Farrow and Brigitte Delacroix. They're missing too.
I'm going to do everything in my power to bring them home. I'm not losing anymore kids.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Young Folks

"If I told you things I did before, told you how I used to be
Would you go along with someone like me?
If you knew my story word for word, had all of my history
Would you go along with someone like me?

Usually when things has gone this far
People tend to disappear
No one will surprise me unless you do..."
Peter Bjorn and John, Young Folks

I picked Gunnar up from LAX this afternoon. We had a ... chat? discussion? talk?
I don't know what to call it. We talked, and we clarified some things.
Complicated some others.

He started it, asking me if I would have really gone through with the wedding. I hadn't really thought about it until he asked - didn't really have the time. But as soon as he asked me I knew I would have said, "I do." And I would have stuck to it, taken it seriously.
Understandably, he thought it was a little weird that I would marry a guy I'd known less than a month. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I'd known him less than a month but almost just as long I'd been sharing a room with him, and just as long he'd kept his hands to himself. I've seen him fight, and damn he can fight. Keeps his head when things get heavy, and makes a living helping people. I could do a fuck of a lot worse marrying some guy I just met in a skeezy diner in Vegas.
And the flirting... well, he started that, too. He'd been hitting on me almost since he saw me. Some of it was tacky, some of it was annoying, but some of it was sweet. The way his eyes got wide when Canopus tried to coil around me, that was kind of a clue. He said he started off hitting on me just to tease, but that there was some truth in it. He said maybe it'd be fun to see what happens, but just getting married right off the bat wouldn't have felt right. That he probably would have gone through with it too, but that he also probably would have regretted skipping the steps in between.
So here we are, taking the steps in between.
I do feel like maybe we might have something good here, like he could really make me happy. I get all stupid and grinning when he's around. I thrive when I'm taking care of people and honestly, he needs plenty of taking care of. I think he's got a lot of big fights ahead of him, and I don't really like the idea of him going it alone.
He's probably right though, about it not really being a normal thing to start a relationship with a wedding. Things aren't really supposed to work that way these days.
Maybe I was so willing to rush into a wedding because I'm afraid that my dad's track history with Scions is going to catch up with me. Especially when I let my temper get the best of me and go killing other Scions. But he said something along the lines of whatever wanting to get to me is going to have to go through him.
Before the car ride got too intense, I had to make the disclaimer. I'm damaged goods, and Gunnar needs to know that. I told him I don't want this to not work because I wasn't honest or something with him. So I told him everything. My dead mom, my scars from Kabul (physical and mental) and consequential lack of anything resembling a social life (was a little too shy to mention the lack of a sex life, though), losing my friend Hal and how terrified I am that I'm going to get another group of comrades killed.
It was still hard to talk about, but this time it was more like poking at a scar then pulling at an open wound. This is his chance to run screaming for the hills. I told him that if he's going to hop on this crazy train, these are all things he needs to know.

Still, Laurel Angela Esparza... Might sound kinda nice, one day.

Miss Murder

So my stay in Vegas has gone a little like this: I almost got married. Then I almost got crushed by roller-snake. Almost got stripped of my birthrights, then I got arrested, almost lost my car to a gaping chasm, almost got charged with murder, and almost completely destroyed a friendship.
Almost.
I suppose the highlights aren't much good without the details, even if I'm just talking to myself.
I almost married Gunnar. We were doing recon and when the receptionist asked who was the lucky guy, both Nate and Gunnar volunteered. I picked Gunnar, and at first I wasn't completely sure why. It makes sense now, for a lot of reasons, half of them I don't know yet. The other half are reasons I'm not sure I want to explore in full right now. Though after last night, I'm dead certain Nate and I would never work. Ever. I still have a lot of respect for him, but something changed.
But, it seems weird to say this, almost getting married was only the smallest part of yesterday's excitement.

I took out another Scion last night. Shot her in the head. Screamed when I did it. Probably looked like a crazy woman. Maybe I always have.
In my head, in that moment, everything was clear. She was the enemy, and she had all but walked in with a big red bullseye on her forehead.

I'm getting ahead of myself again.

After I almost got married, and the fight with the roller-snake was over, we all met back up at Gunnar's room where I've been staying pretty much since I met him (it only sounds weird if you think about it. He offered and I accepted without really thinking about it). I patched the guys up, those who needed it, and we just kinda sat around for a bit. Nate came in, grumbling something about how we should have moved the roller-snake. Then Victor came in with uzis pointed at us, that greasy snake Sly, the asian guy I saw at the demolition and the voodoo woman who hurt Nate that same night followed.

I don't remember exactly how things happened from there. The asian guy was named Kane. Gunnar knew about him. Fucker started making demands, telling us to put our birthrights in a godsdamned pillowcase. He walks in and demands our surrender. I think I got a little angry; I started acting without really thinking. I remember Gunnar telling me to get off the bed. Then there was a gunshot. Kane had ordered a hostage shot, thinking that would stop us. We were going to fight anyway (even though Nate looked like he really didn't want to), and then the voodoo lady... did something. She moved something on a doll she carried, and then Nate was holding his gun to his head.

Bitch painted a bullseye on her face, is what she really did.

Gunnar gave the cape over to Kane. I don't really know what happened then. I got thrown back on the bed. Kane went crazy...er. He started growing taller, shrieking and ignoring the rest of us. I know the limits of my abilities. I am no good against guys like Kane, even when they're not trying to go all Kronos on their parents. I turned my sights on his peons.

And that's what they were to me. In a battle, which they decided this was when they asked for our surrender, you pick sides. Victor, Sly and the voodoo girl picked Kane's side. I wanted to scream at Sly when he tried telling me he didn't mean for it to go this far. How far did he mean for it to go? Just far enough so that he could betray Kane and wear the shroud himself? Even if he had the best of intentions, how else did he expect things to go? I made my way over to the voodoo girl, crouching over her until she came to. I might have taunted her a little bit into waking up. I pointed Sibyl at her forehead and kept my eyes open. I waited.
When her eyes opened and met mine, she stiffened a little. I waited until she was fully aware and pulled the trigger. I remember her skull disintegrating under Sibyl's blast. I remember Nate, furious with me. He didn't understand that she would have just done it again, and maybe next time pulled the trigger. He didn't understand that her entire attitude was an affront to the very tenet which I hold most dear: first do no harm.
With Jack having taken care of Victor and vikings beginning to take care of Kane (I don't know, I was busy), Nate decided to arrest me. The ground started caving in where... something had punched through. I'm guessing someone was taking care of the hostages, because Nate escorted me to his SUV. I said something about my car and Nate said he was willing to let it fall into the pit. It would have, if Gunnar hadn't managed to grab the keys before the whole building started coming down.
Since Kane and company walked through that door, it kept feeling like he was trying to take from me everything I cared about. My birthrights. My friends. And now my car. Hal's car. I owe Gunnar for saving it for me.
So I was handcuffed. I had a feeling that if I really wanted to, I could have slipped the cuffs whenever I pleased. I shouldn't have been cuffed in the first fucking place, especially not by the guy I was trying to protect, but ... I wanted to make it right with Nate. I saw the look on his face when he decided to cuff me. He didn't like it, but he had to. I respect that, honestly. It still pisses me off.
Eventually he uncuffed me, after we butted heads for a while about whether or not I should have been cuffed in the first place. Brendan was on my side, Gunnar too. Nevermore was curiously silent. I think I confused him. Nate wanted me to promise I wouldn't shoot any more "defenseless" people before he uncuffed me and gave me back my gun. I couldn't and I won't make a promise I don't think I can keep. Even if I could have, I wouldn't. I was only in the army a year but that shit gets drilled into your head. She was the enemy. She made it clear she was willing to fight dirty, so I did too. The difference was, I was better at it.

from the mouths of ravens

bitches be crazy
n.