Stormblade 4 C25: The Inner Council (1)

25 - The Inner Council (1)

Two days went by quickly.

The Desert Wind Guild wasn’t done with Phoenix. Not even close. Jeff, Yasmin, and I acted as a half-team, with a rotating cast of pick-up delvers filling out our ranks, as the Governing Council and the other guilds slowly cleared every last monster out of Phoenix. There were plenty of those left, especially in Mesa. We didn’t get deployed to the mop-up, though. Instead, our ad-hoc team was on portal control duty.

That was fine. The pick-up delvers were never higher than B-Rank. Most of the time, they were lower than that. The portals they had us stomping were C-Rank, though, and I could solo those easily at this point. It was almost mind-numbing work, but it was work that had to be done, and we had to do it.

And as for Jessie? She was busy. Most of her time was spent at the Desert Wind building. She had the remnants of three teams to put together, family contacts to make for several fatalities—although Jeff and Yasmin helped with that—and an impatient Governing Council to delay. I didn’t catch up with her much, but then again, I didn’t catch up with Ellen much, either.

But eventually, the city was stable enough to lift curfews and, slowly, block by block, start letting civilians back into Mesa.

And that was why, at 9:13 in the morning, I was sitting in a hallway high up in the GC building, watching construction workers move rubble down the stairs as they cleaned up the building’s damage from the siege.

The damage had been highly precise. Only a single cell had been ripped out of the tower; the rest of the building was fully functional. Even the Council members whose offices were right above the damage were back at work after engineers examined the building to ensure it was safe. None of them were in their offices right now, though, because—

“Damn, that sucked!” Jessie said as a door opened. She had her cane out, and she was leaning heavily on it. It wasn’t a good day, but it wasn’t bad enough for the chair. She hobbled over to me and collapsed into the uncomfortable bench-chair, sighing and stretching her arms as far as she could.”

“That bad, huh?” I asked.

“Yeah, well, we knew it wouldn’t go well, but still! They’re trying to accuse me of being a traitor. They say I needed to consult with them before I contacted a portal monster, much less made deals with one. As if the city had time—or a policy—for that!”

“We did, actually. We had like a week,” I said quietly.

“Shut up, Kade.” Jessie punched my shoulder. I flinched playfully, and she continued, relaxing a tiny bit. “I mean, did I save the city? Absolutely, I did. Am I fine with not getting credit for it? Of course.” She stopped to glare at me as I raised an eyebrow. “I said I’m fine with not getting credit, not with you stealing it from me, Kade. But I mean, they think I handed the city over to a portal monster.”

“You didn’t?”

“Absolutely not!”

“Then what’s she doing in our sparring room?” I was talking about Mind Maiden Enolda. She’d arrived earlier this morning, and since she’d appeared, she hadn’t so much as moved. She was still a massive threat, though—an incredibly powerful construct in the service of an SS-Plus-Ranked Paragon. The fact that Jessie and I both knew why she was in our sparring room didn’t matter. She was there, and when the GC learned about her presence, we’d have some explaining to do.

“Look, she doesn’t count. I didn’t do anything like that! I made a deal, but it’s just a promise of a trade agreement, not the city’s eternal freedom or anything.” Jessie sighed. “Okay, yes, Phoenix is in a little bit of debt to the Crone. That’s not ideal. But the city’s also still standing. Mostly. And that part is more ideal.”

“I don’t disagree, but—“

“Kade Noelstra, A-Rank. The Inner Council will see you now,” the intercom said.

“Well, that’s all the time we have, Guildmaster Gerald,” I said, standing and bowing theatrically. “We’ll have to continue this conversation later.”

“Shut up, Kade,” Jessie said again.

I laughed quietly and disappeared into the same doorway Jessie had come out of five minutes earlier.

◄▼►

I’d been laughing, but I hadn’t been amused. Not with any of this. Not with Jessie’s plans, not with the Inner Council’s schemes, and not with the time I was wasting here.

The Inner Council—the S-Ranked leaders of the Big Five guilds, Councilwoman Myers, Councilman Anders, two GC officials I didn’t recognize, and a man in a dark grey suit—didn’t feel hostile. The room dripped with tension, but it wasn’t the tension of encountering a potential enemy. One look at them made that obvious. They saw me as a resource to stabilize the city. A savior. A hero.

That wasn’t a game I wanted to play.

I shook hands with the ten of them, then took the open seat. My feet didn’t go up onto the table, but I leaned back in the chair, then fiddled with it until it reclined as far as it’d go. I’d been here before—across the desk from Jessie’s counselor—and I knew how I wanted to handle this.

“Delver Noelstra, the Governing Council wants two things from you. First, we want a complete understanding of what happened from the moment you stepped into the Fallen Delvers portal until the point you destroyed the S-Rank Brass Titan. This is essential as we build the city’s case that we had things under control. And second—“

I cut off Councilwoman Myers before she could finish. “No.”

“What do you mean, no?” she asked.

“I mean, Councilwoman, that I don’t have any interest in giving you a weapon against my sister, and I don’t believe for a second that Phoenix was fine. The city lost, what? Ten thousand people? Several hundred delvers killed? Thousands injured? That doesn’t sound like ‘fine’ to me.”

“That doesn’t mean—“

“Shut up,” I said. I’d been more subtle with Jessie’s counselor during conferences, but I didn’t care. I was letting my anger out as slowly as I could. “Jessica Gerald’s decision to contact the Crone was her best—and only—move. It stopped things from getting worse, and it didn’t cost the city anything it couldn’t afford to lose.”

“That’s what—“

“What my sister said? That’s because it’s true.”

“Delver Noelstra,” Councilman Anders said quietly. His aura was restrained, but present, and I stopped to let him talk. “We are not looking to bring Jessica Gerald to trial or anything like that. We are here to figure out what happened on all fronts so we can understand what we need to do going forward. That means we need to know what happened during your fights, and what your sister was thinking. She wasn’t very helpful earlier.”

“I wouldn’t have expected anything less from her,” I said.

“Can Councilwoman Myers finish her original point?” he asked.

I nodded, and the hawk-like woman took a moment to breathe. She seemed off her usual composure, though. Something was up. “Very well. In addition to information about your activities two nights ago, we need your assistance in rallying Phoenix’s morale.”

I balled my fists as she kept talking.

“The reality is that Phoenix needs a hero. Angelo, Bernard, and the other S-Rankers could fill that role. They have in the past. It’s better to have new blood stepping into that role, though, and you are the current hero of the city whether you accept the role or not.” Councilwoman Myers smiled slightly. “The whole city already knows you struck the final blow of the siege, and that you cleared the Fallen Delvers portal. In the interest of the city, we want you to play the role of hero—publicly and openly.”

I closed my eyes. Then I shook my head. “I’m going back to the Desert Wind Guild and clearing portals. I’m not in this to be a big hero—that keeps getting pushed on me. I’m here to clear portals and get stronger.”

“Whether you want it or not, you’ve got it.” Nathan Anders said.

“I didn’t push through that portal, fight my own memories, kill my way across the entire city, and step out into a radioactive, glass wasteland—no offense, Angelo—for you, or for the city, or anything like that,” I said. I stood up, pushing the chair out behind me. “I did it for my friends and my sister. That’s what matters to me. Not your political games. Not the city’s morale. My family and my friends.”

“Kade Allen Noelstra—“

“Did you just middle name me?” I stared at Councilwoman Myers, eyebrow raised.

“—We are here to get to the bottom of this, regroup, and start coming up with next steps.”

“I don’t care. There’s only one next step that matters. Debate it all you want, but when you’re ready, get in touch with me. I’ll be ready to take the fight to the Carlsbad portal whenever you are.” I started walking toward the door.

“You weren’t dismissed, Mr. Noelstra,” Councilwoman Myers said.

“You said it yourself, Councilwoman. At this point, you need me way more than I need you.”

The door opened, and I stepped out into the hall. Behind me, someone snorted as they tried to hold back laughter. I ignored it—and ignored the red-hot feeling rising inside of me.

“So, how did it go?” Jessie asked. Her eyebrow was raised, and she sat with her arms crossed, leaning back on the bench-chair. As I stared at her, she waggled her eyebrow slightly, and I smiled just a tiny bit.

“It went as well as I thought it would. Let’s get back home. I’ll tell you on the way.”

◄▼►

Angelo Lawrence, the Light of Dawn and Depth of Midnight, had the grace to hold most of his laughter back until the door shut.

Granted, most of that restraint wasn’t actually grace so much as it was the residual healing magic fighting the lingering radiation inside his body, but even so, it counted. He’d been patient as the Inner Council grilled the fifteen-year-old girl over things that didn’t matter—like her knowledge of the GC’s Paragon core collection—because he’d known exactly how Kade was going to react to it. And the Unbroken Storm hadn’t disappointed.

“Why are you laughing, Angelo?” The Falcon’s Eye asked.

“Because, Hugo, the boy did exactly what he needed to do, and exactly what I expected from him. He walked into a room of perceived enemies and went on the offensive. The Governing Council is not Kade Noelstra’s friend, and he made that very clear. He has done the same to my guild, and to the Portal Tyrants.” Angelo smiled. He choked down another surge of laughter. “But he is not stupid. He left the door open for cooperation and forced us down a path of his own choice.”

“An assault on the Carlsbad Caverns? It’s been tried before,” Councilman Anders said. “It didn’t go well during my time. Why would it be different now?”

“It wouldn’t.” Bernard the Wall coughed in the corner. He’d also taken a beyond-lethal dose of radiation, and Sarah Cullman’s magic had saved his life, too. “It’d be even worse. That portal has the backing of something big.”

“It does,” Angelo agreed.

“But you still want to attack it?” Councilman Anders said.

Councilwoman Myers cleared her throat from her seat. She glanced at Angelo, who nodded back to her. And just like that, the trap was sprung. “We do. An all-out assault won’t work. That was the problem the last two times. When Anders blitzed it with help from the Texas cities, the portal had plenty of time to know a counterattack was coming, and they met us between the fortress and the caverns. We can’t beat them on the battlefield,” she said. “A siege won’t work, either. We’ve tried that.”

“But we can beat the Carlsbad portal through maneuver—and through taking advantage of portal monsters’ biggest weaknesses,” Angelo finished.

“You two were in on this the whole time,” Anders said.

“Correct,” Myers said. “I propose the following plan of action. First, we meet with this ‘Crone’ in the next three days, with the intent of establishing a relationship that isn’t dependent on a fifteen-year-old high school student. Second, we reach out to the West Coast and Texas cities for assistance—but not with the portal directly. Instead, we ask for help retaking Carlsbad Fortress, and work from there.”

“Oh?”

“Nathan, I just said we can’t beat that portal on the battlefield. We’re not going to try. But before we can develop a good plan, we have to know what we’re working with,” Myers said.

Angelo didn’t say anything. The guild leaders were murmuring to each other, and while that behavior felt more like middle schoolers talking over their teacher than he liked, he couldn’t help but understand. Every single one of them—but especially the Coyotes and Iron Falcons—wanted the Carlsbad portal break neutralized. Not a single one of them had been able to make it happen. But now, it was more than just pride. Their city had been attacked—no, it had almost been lost—and on top of that, their pride had just been kicked in the teeth.

If this upstart, A-Rank kid was willing to go for it, they had to be, too.

Angelo couldn’t have asked for a better set-up if he’d drawn it up himself.

◄▼►

“Think they bought it?” Jessie asked over the pounding drum and bass music that filled Deimos, shaking her bones until they hurt.

“I have no idea. We’ll have to wait and see—and no hacking this time!” Kade said.

“Aww man, Kade. You’re no fun.” She sat back in her chair and closed her eyes. It wasn’t a good day, pain-wise, but it had been a great one in most other ways so far—and it wasn’t even eleven o’clock yet. “I think they definitely bought it.”

“We don’t know that.”

“True,” Jessie said. Arguing with Kade was pointless. He just didn’t get it.

They’d been hashing this plan out every spare moment the two of them had. Granted, that wasn’t much time at all, but it had been enough.

Jessie still didn’t love the plan. Throwing Kade at a portal had worked out every time they’d done it so far, but that didn’t mean it’d keep working against S-Rank ones. And there was no guarantee that the GC would accept their stockpile of Paragon cores being used to fuel the Ghostmarket, even if that decision helped their attempt to strike back at the Carlsbad portal. Even if that did work, there was still the God of Thunder to contend with. Kade didn’t believe for a second that Eugene would—or could—interfere, but Jessie wasn’t so sure.

But the biggest thing was that, if everything worked out, Kade would be going into battle with people Jessie didn’t know or trust. She wasn’t sure how she felt about sending him off with the S-Rankers, especially when the only one she had personal experience with was Sarah.

She didn’t have a choice, though. Kade was pissed. His ‘role’ in her plan, during his meeting with the GC, hadn’t been acting. He was ready to go to war, and his team wasn’t.

The only solution she could think of was a new team—one that was strong enough to run with him. And that meant the guild leaders. Or at least, as many of them as they could trick into being on board.