Shadow Slave

A few days ago, the Devouring Cloud had been eliminated. The Terror of L049 had been slain on the same day, as well. More people had been evacuated. More people were being evacuated, still.

The siege capital still stood, firmly in human hands and mostly unbroken.

Sunny was in a familiar office in the underground government complex — the same one where he had met the rest of the Irregular officers before the siege started. The office was much the same, with only the image projected on the false window changed.

It was still showing the view of the city, only now, there were fewer people on the streets. The blizzard was picking up again, too, so the visibility wasn\'t great.

There was also one more vacant chair.

There were currently only three people inside — Sunny, Jet, and Winter. The three of them were not enough for the large room, so it felt painfully empty.

Winter\'s eyes were hidden behind her sunglasses. This was the first time Sunny saw her after the day of the battle with the Devouring Cloud... he hesitated for a while, then forced himself to say:

"Dale, he was... a good man."

She turned her head slightly and stared at him for a while. Probably. Sunny could not really see where she was looking.

Eventually, Winter sighed and briefly touched her forearm, where an edge of a tattoo could be seen peeking out from beneath the rolled sleeve of her bodysuit.

"It\'s alright. I knew that the fool was going to get himself killed, eventually. There were six of us at the start, you know?"

She grew quiet for a bit, then shook her head.

"Back at the Academy. Then, there were only two of us left after the Second Nightmare, and now there\'s just me. I\'ll probably be dead soon, too. No regrets, though, as long as it\'s for a good cause."

Her voice sounded as laid-back as usual, but Sunny could sense a bit of strain in it.

"I\'m sorry."

Winter smiled.

"If you\'re really sorry, Little Devil, make sure to stay alive. You\'re too young and cute to die. Reaper, you too... I mean, you too try to stay alive. Not that you\'re young and cute..." Master Jet laughed.

"Well, if you insist, I\'ll have to give it a try. Might be a bit problematic, though."

They remained silent for a few moments, enjoying the relaxed atmosphere. All three had been fighting with very little rest in between combat shifts for the past few days, so this meeting was a bit of a reprieve, if nothing else.

Soul Reaper sighed and glanced at her datapad.

"I\'ll update you on the current state of things. Most of the information has been sent to your communicators, so take a look at it later. The important stuff is... the wall is still holding, but just barely. Three breaches have turned into five, as you must know. Army Command expects that we won\'t lose control of the defensive barrier unless something catastrophic happens, though."

Winter raised a hand, interrupting her.

"What\'s the point of talking about it? Let\'s just get to the actual business. The priority targets... hey, two out of five are dealt with. Sunny killed the Terror, while the Brood Mommy and Brood Daddy of the Devouring Cloud were done in by you, Sunny, and Mongrel. That\'s great news. What about the other three, though?"

Master Jet lingered for a bit.

"Actually, that\'s why I called you in today. The Heart of Darkness seems to have disappeared, so we don\'t have to worry about it yet. Maybe that... thing... won\'t reach Falcon Scott before we retreat. Goliath, on the other hand, was supposed to show up yesterday. He has been moving very slowly recently, however, for whatever reason, so the time window changed. We should expect the big bastard to arrive tomorrow, or the day after that."

An uncomfortable silence settled in the underground office.

Winter broke it by whistling.

"Speaking of something catastrophic happening, huh? Are you sure we can handle a titan?"

Soul Reaper lingered for a while.

"...Don\'t fret. Sunny and I will handle him. Saint Bloodwave agreed to come out of the water to assist, too, if we need him. He\'s not as powerful on land, but a Transcendent is a Transcendent. Overall... it seems like the situation is not entirely hopeless. The First Army has suffered heavy casualties in the past two weeks, true, but no more than Army Command expected. The evacuation is also only a little bit behind schedule. I\'d say that as long as Tyris continues to keep the Winter Beast at bay, we have a real chance of pulling this off."

Sunny shifted in his seat.

"How is she doing, anyway?"

Master Jet gave him a long look and thought before answering. Her voice was a bit wistful:

"Well... Sky Tide is doing fine. White Feather lost a lot of people during the battle with the Devouring Cloud, but her husband and immediate family survived... Roan will be out of commission for a couple more weeks, sadly. Coincidentally, the House of Night lost many Awakened on the same day, as well. The forces of the great clans here are diminished, but they still pack a bite. Their heavy hitters are all alive."

Sunny let out a sigh of relief. He had been somewhat worried about Saint Tyris and Master Roan... it was good to hear that both of them were fine.

Soul Reaper yawned, then put her datapad on the table and gave him a poignant look.

"Back to Goliath, though. How is that project of yours coming along?"

He stared at her for a moment or two.

"That depends. Have you gotten those Memories I requested?"

Jet winced.

"...No. There are a lot of Sleepers that need to be armed, and a lot of Memories being lost every shift with people carrying them dying before having a chance to transfer anything. I\'ll be able to receive a few in a couple of days, but... we probably don\'t have that long."

Sunny sighed, then gave her a bitter smile.

"That\'s fine. The project is all but finished. I have a few spare Memories as an emergency replacement, it\'s just that I would have preferred not to waste them."

Winter gave them both a curious look.

"Are you two talking in code? What project? What Memories? You guys are not trying to buy a boat on the black market and sail into the sunset together, are you?"

Soul Reaper grinned.

"Just a little something Sunny has cooked up in that devious head of his, to solve our titan problem. I\'ll tell you if we have some free time today."

She glanced at the clock, the smile disappearing from her face.

"That said... you should go get to it, Sunny. Don\'t linger. Army Command has been known to make wrong estimations before."

He nodded, then stood up and spared the two women one last glance. They were probably not going to see each other again until Goliath showed up... and maybe never again, after.

He remained silent for a moment, then smiled.

"We don\'t need to buy a boat on the black market, by the way. My Rhino is a fully amphibious vehicle, so it can take us over the strait no problem. As long as nothing swallows it on the way, of course. Anyway, if something happens... you are both invited, so..."

With that, he winked and hurriedly left the office.

Once Sunny was outside, however, his smile disappeared, and was replaced by an expression of focused concentration.

\'This is it, then... no more time to waste.\'