Stormblade 4 C27: Pack Bonding (9)
27 - Pack Bonding (9)
Ellen was excited and nervous about going out with Kade.
Excited, because the number of actual, normal dates she’d been on with him could fit on one hand with at least three fingers to spare. The only one she could remember off the top of her head was their meal at the Italian place with the secure booths, and that hadn’t exactly been a date. Other than that, it had always been at least partially business. Not that she minded; delving was Kade’s lifeblood, and it was hers, too.
But she was nervous for the exact same reason. It was going to be business—and there were only two bits of business that mattered to either of them.
First, the matter of her cracked core and the warning in her status.
And second, the certainty that Kade was going to go with the S-Rankers the moment the GC announced a counterattack. That he was going to leave her behind.
There was plenty of other stuff to worry about. Sophia was in recovery, and she might decide to retire. Jeff had to decide what to do with his core. Jessie was up to something, but no one knew what; that wasn’t unusual, but what was unusual was that she hadn’t told anyone about it at all. And then there was her father. Bob’s weapons hadn’t turned the tide, but evidence was emerging that they’d contributed to slowing the Wall breaches in the north and south. They weren’t an end-all/be-all superweapon, but they were viable. That was going to reshape Phoenix’s power balance between delvers and the unawakened eventually.
So, as she got herself together for their date—she’d picked the place, a Mediterranean place on the west side, far from the still-ongoing clean-up in eastern Mesa—Ellen couldn’t help but worry. Kade was going to be fine. He’d drag them all through it, just like he had in Carlsbad Fortress and during the Siege of Phoenix. But someday, he’d need help. Someday, he wouldn’t be able to do it on his own.
She finished braiding her hair into a long braid that curled around itself into a bun, put the backings on a pair of dangly silver earrings, nodded to herself in the mirror, and cleared her throat. “I’m ready.”
◄▼►
As we waited for our identical pita orders in a soundproofed and jammed booth, I cleared my throat. “This is nice.”
We’d made it all the way to the hole-in-the-wall Mediterranean place near the airport without talking shop—a minor miracle. We’d even gotten our orders in with a pimply-faced kid a couple of years older than Jessie, who looked at us like we were the most interesting customers he’d ever seen. And we’d made it five minutes of sitting here, hands clasped across the table.
It looked like a normal date between normal people, but Ellen was tense.
She looked at the table. “We have a lot to talk about, Kade. You’ve been avoiding it all day, but I need to know, and you need to tell me. What’s going on with my core?”
I sighed and leaned back. There were two glasses of wine on the table, both untouched. I reached out and took a sip; it was crisp and dry. “Okay. If you’re sure you want to hear this.”
“I’m not. I’d like to just spend the time with you. But I need to know. You talked to Eugene, didn’t you?” Ellen asked.
“I did.”
“And?”
“And…he’s willing to shatter your core and help you rebuild it, but there are a few problems. First, he needs a core that’s compatible with yours, from at least an A-Rank portal boss. It has to be rank-equivalent or higher, or his procedure won’t work.” I took a deep breath. “So, until we get an A-Rank shadow core, you’re stuck healing the core damage slowly. I can fix that problem with some time, though.”
“And the GC? They’ve got a whole collection of Paragon cores in a vault somewhere, right?” Ellen asked.
“Yes, and no,” I said. “Jessie says—and don’t ask her how she knows, because she’s not telling—that their inventory is a lot lower than they’ve been letting on. Also, a certain percentage of cores is going to the Crone to establish Phoenix and Earth as a member of the Ghostmarket. That’s taken a bite out of what they have. The short version is that the GC doesn’t have what we need.”
“Ah.” Ellen took a sip from her own glass, then another.
“Yeah. So, my current plan is to hunt down the core you need myself. With Jessie’s help, I can probably find an A-Rank portal with a shadow-cored boss before your core repairs itself.”
“Alright. I guess I’ll be patient.”
“Sorry. It’s the best I can do right now,” I said quietly. “But there’s a second problem. The process is painful. Very painful—at least the first part. You’ll have to be strong enough to survive it and be clear-headed enough for the second bit.”
Ellen nodded. Her hand tightened on mine, and she stared me in the eyes. “And I don’t do pain very well.”
“You handle it a lot better than you used to,” I said.
The food came. Neither of us talked for a while as we dug in. Ellen was a refined, ladylike woman, and the light blue dress she’d chosen was a few notches nicer than this restaurant called for, but she could put the food away. It was part of being a delver, I supposed.
Then, after a bit, she put down the remnants of her pita. “Bob’s guns made a difference. It’s going to be a problem soon.”
“Did they?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah. They delayed two additional wall breaches in the north and south. If the Wall had fallen there, the city probably would have fallen. It was pretty close, and everyone agrees that the Traynor-Overholtz Cannons weren’t tide-turning, but they passed their tests as prototypes.”
“That’s good for Phoenix,” I said.
Ellen nodded, but she didn’t look pleased. “It’s good for Bob. It might be good for Phoenix, but I’m not sure. And it’s probably bad for delvers as a whole. The Traynor Corporation is trying to convince the GC to fund additional research into miniaturization, portability, and weapon effectiveness. They’ll probably bite. Bob’s going to make a killing from this.”
I took another bite and chewed for a while. Then I raised an eyebrow and laughed into my pita.
“What?”
I swallowed both the food and my laughter. “Jessie should have been Bob’s daughter. She’d have been perfect for him.”
“Seriously?” Ellen asked.
“Yeah. She’s ambitious, sympathetic, manipulative, and willing to bend or break the rules to get what she wants. It’s a good thing they’re on opposite sides, or the Traynor Corporation would rule all of Phoenix and half of the West Coast right now. Not that I mind having an ambitious, manipulative rule-breaker of a sister. I’d rather she be helping us than opposing us. It’s just funny.”
“It is.” Ellen took a bite. “You know, I was trying to manipulate you early on.”
“Yeah. It was pretty obvious. We already talked about that, though, and I already forgave you for it.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
It went quiet. Not an awkward quiet, just the quiet of two people sharing a space and a meal. And it stayed that way, other than some small talk, for almost fifteen minutes. Then, as the mix of flavors faded from my mouth and the wine glass emptied, Ellen cleared her throat. “You’re going, aren’t you?”
◄▼►
The question hung in the air. I knew exactly what she was talking about; it was the whole reason I’d asked her to dinner in the first place. But I wasn’t ready to talk about it, because it’d be a betrayal—a breaking of my promise to her. And I wasn’t sure how to navigate that.
But ever since the siege ended, there’d been an all-too-familiar feeling in my gut. It hung there, a churning, simmering anger that threatened to erupt into a boiling fury. The playground bullies had made me feel the same way, but unlike their crap, I couldn’t solve this on my own, and I couldn’t do it right away. I’d need to be patient, and I’d need help.
That didn’t change the feeling in my stomach, though.
I raised an eyebrow. “Going where?”
“To Carlsbad. Jessie told me you told the GC to get in touch with you as soon as they had a plan to counterattack. And something took Deborah during the fight. They didn’t kill her; they took her. She’s got to be—“
I interrupted Ellen before she could finish. “She is. She’s working with the enemy. I don’t have any proof, but she has to be.”
“So, it’s only a matter of time before you go. Maybe a week. Maybe two. That’s not enough time to find me an A-Rank core, Kade. You’re going to go without me.”
Guilt hit me like a wave. I looked down at the empty plate in front of me. Then I slowly nodded, reached out, and put my hands on hers. “I have—“
“I know.” Ellen took a breath. “You have to. And you promised you’d be with me for the long haul, right?”
My eyes closed, and I nodded. She flipped her hands around mine, squeezing them and pushing them into the table slightly. “So, you made that promise, and now you feel like you’re going to break it if you do what you need to do. Stop it. I don’t feel bad about it. Your core’s stuck with mine. Your skills are stuck with mine, too. You’re not really going anywhere.”
“Except for the Carlsbad portal break,” I said quietly. “I’m going there.”
“Except that,” she agreed. “You’re doing something you have to do. I know you, Kade. You promised me the long haul. But you promised you’d keep your sister safe, and you can’t keep both promises at the same time. So, how about this? We work on my core problem until the GC announces its counterattack. Then, you go with them, don’t worry about me at all, and do your best to fulfill that promise to Jessie and calm the storm that’s raging inside of you. Then come back and finish helping me when you’re done.”
“But…”
“No buts, Kade. You said you were with me for the long haul. This isn’t what I want, but it’s also not the long haul. It’s a temporary thing—a week or two, maybe three. Then you’re back here, and we’re back to being with each other. Besides, it’s not like I won’t catch up to you the second my core’s reforged.” She grinned cheekily. “In fact, I bet I outpace you.”
I smiled back. “In your dreams, Ellen.” I paused. Her hands were warm on top of mine, but I didn’t try to move them away.
“If you get the opportunity—if the GC gets in touch with you, take it.”
“Of course. But I don’t want to leave you behind to do it,” I said.
“You can.” Ellen’s eyes narrowed slightly, and I let her breathe without interrupting. “Just come back to me when you’re done, okay?”
“Can do.”
◄▼►
User: Kade Noelstra
Reforged Core, A-Rank
Stamina: 490/490, Mana: 600/610
Skills:
1. Stormsteel Core (A-03 to A-05, Unique, Merged, God-Touched)
2. Thunderbolt Forms (A-02 to A-06, Altered, Merged)
3. Mistwalk Forms (A-03 to A-04, Altered, Merged)
4. Cyclone Forms (A-03 to A-05, Altered, Merged)
5. Stormlight Bond (B-08 to B-10, Altered, Merged)
6. Shadowstorm Battery (C-05 to C-10, Altered, Merged, Dual)
7. Stormbreak (C-06 to C-09, Unique)
Path: Stormsteel Path
Aura: Negative Space
Laws: First Law of the Stormcore, Law of the Shadowed Storm, First Law of Darkened Lightning, Law of the Unyielding Maelstrom, Third Law of the Sirocco, Second Law of the Stormlight
As Deimos drove us home, I pondered.
Not just my build. It was already a very respectable A-Rank build after the fight with Deborah, the Fallen Delvers portal, and the endless fighting during the Siege. With a full four A-Rank skills, plus a now-maxed-out Stormlight Bond and a Shadowstorm Battery that required Ellen's help in order to grow it more, there was limited room for more growth—Stormbreak, and then the A to S-Rank push for my main skills.
My build was the easiest thing to think about, but it wasn’t the main thing on my mind.
The God of Thunder. The Crone. Fateweaver Cruix. And now this fourth high-powered Paragon—the one who’d granted Deborah power and then freed her from the GC’s prison. There were getting to be a lot of SS-Plus-Ranked monsters with stakes in Earth. I didn’t like it one bit. Eugene was one thing; he was up front about his motivations. And even the Crone was—if Jessie’s report could be trusted—reasonably predictable. She wanted to stay, and the God of Thunder wanted to go.
But the other two? Those Paragons had the same goals as Eugene. But their methods were different. I didn’t know them, and I couldn’t trust them. Granted, Fateweaver Cruix had ‘helped’ Ellen, Jeff, and me, but that help had come with a cost, and I didn’t know who’d gained more from it.
No, the SS-Plus-Ranked Paragons were a threat—all of them. Even Eugene.
And especially the unknown one. If the God of Thunder was speaking the truth, it was behind Deborah, the siege, and everything else. And that meant that, as important as winning the war against the Carlsbad Portal was, Phoenix wouldn’t be safe—my sister wouldn’t be safe—until that SS-Plus Paragon was dead or gone.
“You’re thinking about it again,” Ellen said as we pulled into the Desert Wind’s parking structure.
I nodded. “I can’t help it. It’s something I have to do, but I don’t think I can do it without feeling guilty.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” Ellen said quietly. She leaned over, kissed me, and opened the driver’s side door. “Tonight, let’s not worry about any of that, though. All of these problems will be here for you to solve tomorrow, and you’ll be in a better place to handle them then.”
“You think so?” I climbed out of the car.
“No, I know it.” She winked and headed for the sky bridge between the parking garage and the guild building, and I followed. “I had a lot of fun tonight, Kade, even if it was a little business-heavy. How about we don’t think about any of that for the rest of the night?”
I nodded. But as she pulled me toward the elevator by my hand, I couldn’t help but feel the anger boiling just a little hotter inside of me.