Chapter 42: Bureaucratic bullshit

James pulled himself smoothly up into the tunnel and strode into the darkness. This time he approached it without fear, extending his axe before him on the off chance that things were different this time.

They weren’t.

He hopped over the edge, out of the cloying darkness, and landed neatly on the flesh-paste floor.

An identical spire rose toward the distant demon symbol high above, and another bulbous cocoon was placed right beside it, lashed to its side by thick stands of hard flesh and venous tubes.

The queen Nemesis 2 screeched in indignation and began to wrench itself free of the bloated sack, waving its huge scythe-arms as it struggled along with the dozen smaller blades that emerged from its chest.

“Yeah, yeah,” James said, propping his axe over his shoulder. “Hurry on up. We ain’t got all day.”

The rest of Crimson Hydra landed beside him, with Serenity’s drop being particularly impressive; she simply landed and with the grace of an Olympic gymnast began moving out to the side, bullpup raised and aimed.

“Give the word,” said Becca, moving out in the opposite direction.

James stared balefully at the large demon, then up at to the spire’s peak where a black gem glittered. “Let’s see what our aura’s do. Call it science. Jason, you still got Aeviternum?”

“A whole point, sir,” said Jason, breathing deeply while his Iron aura emerged and receded across his body like the spines on a blowfish.

“Then let’s go say hello.” James strode over the hard pink floor toward the Nemesis 2, its amalgamated visage horrific, its body unnatural in a way that even the regular Nemesis 2’s didn’t quite manage to be.

With a final wrench the queen broke free, trailing thick sticky strands of goo behind it, and leaped at them.

Jason barked a shout and crossed his arms before his face, a spike of Iron bursting forth from where they crossed toward the queen, four yards’ worth of gleaming death which impaled her through the chest as she fell upon them.

The demon screeched, slid down the spike, her body ashing where it cut through her, and then she fell upon them both, huge scythe-arms swinging.

But just like the others she crumbled to back dust wherever she touched them. Jason unlocked his arms and turned his spike into a whip, flicking it through her waist so that she fell into two pieces, her arms ashing on James.

A moment later the queen lay at their feet, dead.

“Well that was anti-climactic,” said Serenity, lowering her Tavor.

“It makes sense,” said Bjørn. “The queen was a composite, correct? Made from some twelve or more regular Nemesis 2’s? Which means that while bigger she had the same weakness. I fully expected this outcome.”

“Well aren’t you special,” said Serenity.

James up nodded to the gem. “Let’s bring that down.”

“Here,” said Jason, stepping up to the spire’s base. He extended his palm to the sky, then manifested a spike of aura four yards tall which he then passed through the highest point of the spire.

Which turned to regular flesh, twisted, and tore under the weight of the remaining three or so yards.

The mass tumbled down to land with a thud on the hard floor.

“Gross,” said Joanna, frowning at the wet, torn fleshy base.

Jason then passed a strand of aura just below the gem, and with the toe of his boot pushed it free. “There you have it.”

Grimacing, Becca crouched and rolled the gem into her backpack. “Mission accomplished.”

James felt a savage satisfaction. He looked up at the sky, at where the symbol burned bright. There was nothing they could do to it. It seemed immune to his anger, removed and above them, malevolently superior and above their struggles.

Its slowly spinning presence infuriated him. “You see that?” he called, unable to restrain himself. “That’s two down. We’re going to clean the rest of this city and do the same with the Nemesis 3’s when they show up. You guys aren’t so bad after all.”

“Oh shit,” said Yadriel softly. “You seriously calling the Monitor out?”

“Yeah, let’s not get in a fight with a Monitor until we’re at least, like, Level 7,000,” said Serenity. “James?”

He glared up at the symbol, waiting, half hoping that a figure would descend, would witness their victory, give him satisfaction.

But none came.

Finally he scowled and looked away. “All right, yeah. Apologies. We ready to move out?”

“Ready,” said Sarah, rubbing at her upper arms. “Unless you still want to play with that death wish of yours?”

“Nah, that’s all done with for now.” He didn’t exactly feel sheepish, what with the fact that he was standing on literal human remains, but he did feel irresponsible for shouting that with his squad right there. “Let’s go.”

They made no attempt to peer into the buildings for survivors. There wasn’t anything they could do for them that didn’t extend beyond the symbolic. So they made their way out, Becca or Serenity gunning down an errant Nemesis 2 whenever one appeared, until at last they passed back through the perimeter wall and emerged onto the street.

“Richard, this is Kelly. We’ve acquired another black gem and are coming home.”

“Kelly, this is Star Boy. Good to hear from you, glad it went well. Any casualties?”

“None.”

“Awesome. Jessica’s been waiting to hear from you. Apparently our success with the first raid has pissed off the military. They didn’t appreciate having their fancy strike upstaged. You’re to be brought in for an interrogation - sorry, friendly meeting- as soon as possible.”

James looked over to Serenity, his frown matching hers. “I got a choice on this matter?”

“I mean, technically you do? But it’s the kind of choice that would come with consequences, if you know what I mean. Jessica thinks you should come in and speak for the DRC.”

“Fine. We’ll be at the Marriott in an hour. I want to shower and shit. Then I’ll head over.”

“Yeah, no.” Richard sighed. “They’re sending a helicopter.”

Serenity let out a low whistle. “Fancy. So suddenly they want to hear from us that badly, hey?”

“Fine. They know where we are?”

“They will. I’m going to tell Jessica your location and she’ll pass it on. They should be there in minutes.”

“Fine. You think we should bring the gem in with us?”

“I think that’s a good idea.”

“OK. Thanks Richard.”

“Congrats again. Oh - what level you guys at?”

“Supplicant 7s and 6s.”

“Hot damn, now that’s what I’m talking about. All right, I’ll save my questions for later. Star Boy out.”

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James lowered his radio. “Well great.”

“What’s the problem?” asked Bjørn. “We’re working with the military. It makes sense to keep them updated.”

“No problem. Other than last time their telling me to shut up with my opinions and making it clear I was to be seen and not heard.”

“That,” said Serenity, “and we’ve wasted a lot of time in meetings so far. Plus life experience tells me that they’re not gonna be happy with our success. Big boys in uniform take their special missions very seriously.”

“I think you’re right on that front,” said Jason. “I was only in the army for a year or so before my accident, but if there’s one thing I learned fast was to never make my CO’s look bad in any way, shape, or form.”

Denzel was studying a tear in his letterman jacket’s sleeve. “But how does this make them look bad? We’re on the same team.”

Jason scratched at the faint golden stubble on his jaw. “They launched a special ops mission meant to show everybody they had things in check. I don’t know how it went, but they won’t want to hear about how a bunch of random civilians walked in and out without breaking a sweat.”

“Too bad,” said James as the sound of rotors began to grow louder. “Because that’s what we just went and did. Serenity and I will fly in. The rest of you make your way back to the hotel. We’ll meet you back there as soon as we can.”

Joanna rubbed the fuzz on the fade cut on the back of her head. “You think we’ll be heading out again tonight?”

James frowned in the direction of the symbol. “It’s entirely possible. Definitely once dawn hits. But get some dinner, a shower, relax. We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

“There’s the bird,” said Jason, stepping back and visoring his eyes. “Killer Egg. Only special ops use those.”

“Special ops and us,” said James, narrowing his eyes as the bubble copter landed neatly in the center of the street, dust and papers and crap flying in the wake. “Stay safe out there.”

Sarah flipped the collar of her denim jacket and began to head north without saying a word. Jason gave them both a thumb’s up, Yadriel a dark glance, and Joanna and Denzel a parting wave.

“I’ll keep things in check till you all get back,” said Bjørn.

“We both will,” said Becca, handing over her backpack. “You guys stay safe, too.”

James gave them a two-finger salute, then walked over to the copter with Serenity. There weren’t any exterior benches on this one; instead they climbed in the back, buckled in, and after the pilot looked back to double check they were secure, the copter lifted off the street with neat precision and veered away to the downtown core.

James gazed soberly over the hive as it sped away below them, then at the demonic symbol as it to slid out of view. Another four were visible on his side, spread out over Brooklyn’s receding bulk, with purple pinpricks further north over Queens.

It was dusk; lights glimmered here and there, skyscrapers gleaming, all of it seeming miraculous and improbable after the demonic onslaught. For how much longer would this sense of tenuous normalcy last? How many people had died? He’d largely given up on watching the news. When had he last checked in? A couple of days?

James frowned, pensive. How was the rest of the world faring? With almost 8 billion people scattered across the globe, which meant a maximum of - what - thirty thousand hives? Less, surely, because not everybody lived in thick concentrations like in NYC. What was the stat he’d once seen? Half the world’s inhabitants lived in cities? So say 1,600 hives around the globe. Most of them in India and China. What was going on over there? In Mumbai, in Beijing? Were people figuring out the synergies, rising up, getting wise, or was it a massacre, folks waiting for the armies to do all the hard work?

Serenity reached into her pack and drew out her fancy bottle of tequila. Grinned conspiratorially and opened it, then took two gulps and handed it over.

James didn’t know how to talk to her over the bulky headsets they’d pulled on, so he simply raised the bottle in a mock toast and took a gulp of his own. He’d never liked tequila, before, but after living on the streets he’d learned to like whatever he got, and this shit was smooth. He took a second gulp, enough to warm him all the way down, then handed the bottle back over to Serenity.

The Killer Egg descended into the downtown core on a couple of minutes later, dropping past high-rises and causing James’s stomach to rise in turn in his stomach, to alight on a large cement oval in the center of the park just south of the NYCEM.

James and Serenity shucked their headsets and climbed out, grabbed their packs, and made their way north to the cube-like building. As always it was busy, the energy somewhat more frenetic than last time, and James called Jessica as they drew close to the main entrance.

“Be right there,” she said and hung up.

Nonplussed, James shoved the phone into his back pocket and together they waited by the glass doors, not speaking, wary, watching the sparse crowd

Five minutes later Jessica strode out the doors looking harried, having changed blazers at some point and done up her blonde hair in an effortlessly elegant French twist. She gestured for them to follow and led them around the building’s corner and into the deepening shadows.

“What’s going on?” asked James, his wariness increasing.

“Bureaucratic bullshit,” said Jessica, removing her glasses and passing her wrist over her eyes. “It’s gotten intense. Everybody’s acting surprised the DRC has actually become a thing, and I can tell high level people are applying pressure on the mayor and Commissioner Morgan.”

“Pressure to do what?” asked Serenity. “Shut us down?”

“Not necessarily. They can’t do that after how successful your videos have become. But to - I don’t know - apply the brakes, install more active oversight, question how and why we’re doing things, and basically stonewall and bullshit us into quiescence.”

“Why?” demanded James. “Because we actually got shit done?”

“In short? Yes. Colonel Hopkins is livid that we posted that video of your standing in the center of the hive when the military was forced to bomb it after being driven back following their successful extraction of a dozen victims -”

“They bombed the flesh fortress?” asked James, eyes widening. “What about the black gem?”

“Probably buried under chunks of hardened flesh, I’d guess,” said Jessica. “I’d hoped the bomb would break it open and tell us at least if the energies within would awaken the victims, but either it did and simply dissipated or it failed to break open.”

“Shit,” said James. “How did their mission go overall?”

“They’re spinning it as a success,” said Jessica wearily. “But I think it was a shitshow. They killed hundreds of demons with their helicopters, then entered with their extraction convoy, and while they did manage to get people out, I think something went wrong and they were forced to escalate beyond what they’d intended. I’ve heard that they flew a bunch of Switchblade drones into the enemy ranks, lost several vehicles, and had to carpet bomb three blocks to get away.”

“Shit,” said James again, running a hand slowly through his hair. Then he recalled the damage a couple of Nemesis 2’s had done to Mancini’s hummer when they’d been driving away and tried to extrapolate that to hundreds of demons attacking army vehicles. “They get any of that ka-tet leveling synergy?”

“Doesn’t seem like it. They’re demanding to know about that most of all and keep insinuating that we’re making it up. It’s not good in there, but we can’t run away. Either we face them down, or they’ll flip out.”

“Great.” James grimaced. “And the mayor?”

“Only reachable now by Zoom from his suite in midtown, when he can be reached at all. Word is he’s going to be removed shortly, but his lack of support means most of local government is frozen, and with the governor up in Albany that means there’s not a lot of pushback right now on the federal government and the military.”

“We don’t need this,” said Serenity fiercely. “Honestly, fuck ‘em. Let them have the DRC. We can tell everyone where to go and when and just keep on trucking without them.”

“We could,” allowed Jessica, “if they didn’t decide we were getting in their way or spreading lies or otherwise proving a liability to the image of strength they want to project. Which would mean their taking us all in for extended interrogations and safe keeping until they decided what to do with us.”

“You’re kidding me,” said Serenity. “We’re helping. They’ve managed to deal with one hive, we took out two!”

“Which is precisely the nature of the problem. Look. For better or worse we have to deal with angry people who can wield the law as they deem fit. Running away would just trigger them to go after us. I say we go in there, lean on Major Hackworth’s support, try to get the mayor on the line, and just tell them the facts. Everyone wants to win this war. We just need to convince the big dogs that we can help each other, and that we’re not a liability nor interested in upstaging them.”

“Fine,” said James. “Wouldn’t be the first time I have to talk down an officer from busting my ass for no reason.”

“But we also need to show a little strength,” continued Jessica. “We’re an official NYC department, even if nobody ever intended us to do what we’re currently doing. We can’t let them neuter our plans or take over our organization. So we’ll walk a fine line. A solid and respectful ally, but also the representatives of over a thousand efficient demon killers who respond to our commands, not anybody else’s.”

“Tall order,” said Serenity. “I think we’re screwed. It is so like the government to pull this shit instead of just keeping their eyes on the ball.”

“If we want to keep working in NYC, if we want to keep receiving shipments of ammo, access to funding, and to be hosted by hotels and given access to the ASOCC system that’s being implemented, we need to go through with this.” Jessica bit her lower lip, made eye contact with them both, one a time, and then gave a slow nod. “I’ll be there to walk us through this. Just keep your cool. No matter what, don’t let them get under your skin.”

“Ok, so we’ve lost already then,” said Serenity.

“No, I trust Jessica.” James returned her nod. “If you think we can and should do this, we will.”

“Good.” She gave them both a tight smile. “We’re going to be fine.”

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