Book 3: Chapter 30 - How to Survive a Suicide Mission

There are a number of theories about how hedron interact.
We know they hunt and kill each other.
But they also have a strange kind of hierarchy.

Once one hedron has attacked another, they will fight until one dies or escapes.

But before they are attacked? One hedron will always assume a subservient role to the other.
Whether predator or prey, hedron will work in concert until blood is drawn.

What's most interesting about this, however, is how these roles are assigned.
The stronger—or higher category—hedron is usually the master. 

But not always.

There have been reports of green hedron obeying orange hedron, among many other configurations.
We don't know why. But it makes one thing perfectly clear.
When it comes to hedron? Might does not make right. Not on its own.
—Virgil Clay, Lecture

“Is that a school? It looks like a school,” Kiera guessed.

Most of the group couldn’t immediately tell if she was right. The glaring yellow of the crystal made it difficult to focus on anything else, after all. To everyone but Violet, it was the color of death. Perhaps yellow wasn’t particularly impressive in the grand scheme of things. The spectrum class students lived in the green dorms. Many of the other students they shared a building with could easily clear the nest in front of them. This was a fact that hadn’t escaped Violet or her companions.

They were miles from safety and far from home. The world around them was in ruins, and the illusion of Prism City was out of reach. Looking at the ancient cars covered in yellow crystal made that clear. The collapsed buildings and cracked roads. Crystal and plant life strangling each other over the ruins of a telephone pole. They all remembered the world was dead, and they stood in front of a nest that wanted to devour them. Only Violet could survive the task presented to them, and only she knew that.

Both fireteams stood in a scattered cluster, sitting, standing, or leaning at their leisure. They’d finally made it to the nest, and no one was quite ready to take the next step.

“Oh, yep! Look, I think those are bleachers on the far side there! And that was probably a... field goal post? What are those called? I don’t watch a lot of football movies. I prefer soccer. Anyway, this is a high school for sure,” Violet announced.

Kiera crossed her arms and gave a smug nod. Guy rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. Everyone else looked at Violet and Kiera like they were smoking some substance society had forgotten. 

“Goal posts,” Lisa finally said, breaking the brief silence. “They are just called goal posts.”

“Yeah, those,” Violet confirmed with a nod.

Angelo sighed. “I don’t like this,” he whispered.

“Wish you’d said so before we got on the train; we coulda stayed home,” Guy joked.

“Don’t blame him,” Kiera said, “It’s awkward to say no when someone asks you for a favor.”

“That’s true,” Violet agreed. “It’s called a favor, but everyone hates you if you say no. It would have been super awkward to mention it before now. No one blames you, Angelo.”

“I kind of blame him,” Guy countered. “He’s our guardian angel. His job is to take us home and maybe also go to dinner with me, but he has done neither.”

“We haven’t encountered a single hedron on this entire trip. That is more than abnormal. It makes me worry the hedron in this nest are an unusually dangerous type of predator,” Angelo cut in, trying again to force Violet’s ridiculous team to focus.

Violet suppressed a smirk. Angelo wasn’t entirely wrong, of course. An apex predator was scaring the hedron away. But it wasn’t whatever lived in the dilapidated school in front of them. It was funny watching the man panic at how smoothly the trip was going. He wasn’t grateful at all for all of Violet’s hard work. But she could change that.

“I am fascinated to learn what sort of hedron live here. Look at the marks on the walls and the charring on the crystal,” Masaki added. He pointed at a few different parts of the nest to illustrate his point. Some crystals had clear scorch marks, while others were crushed. There were melted walls of stone, perfectly round holes surrounded by dust, and a dozen other types of damage to the area. Even the barren lawn leading up to the school had scars of a greater-than-expected variety. In this broken and shattered world, these signs were easy to miss. Everything had been destroyed over hundreds of years. There was no reason to take special note of how.  “I’ve noticed them for a few hours now, but it’s especially prominent here.”

“Is that uncommon?” Terry asked, speaking for nearly the first time since his misunderstanding had been revealed.

“Do you not pay attention in class?” Masaki asked. His voice wasn’t accusatory, but genuinely curious. Like he didn’t understand how anyone could forget such details.

“They work us practically to death in field training. Some of us catch up on rest during classwork,” Lisa answered on Terry’s behalf.

“And some of us transferred in after many things had been discussed,” Aubrey added.

“Right, sorry,” Masaki apologized. “Although several of you did explore a mixed nest a few months ago, but I digress. In a homogeneous nest, there should only be a few talents in use. For a yellow nest, six at most. Two for each category, excepting unique callings. And the talents are usually related in some way. All from one calling, basically. You know, since hedron almost always share a calling across their species. Or if there is a queen, and it’s a different type than the worker hedron, there might be twelve. But only one hedron would use six of them.”

“We all love you, Masaki,” Kiera interrupted. “But this is just a horrible time for a long lecture. I will give you ten minutes to examine my tails if you get to the point.”

“There are either dozens of different kinds of hedron here, or a few types with a wide range of callings,” Masaki immediately explained. 

“Because there are signs of too many talents?” Violet asked. “We usually don’t see signs of any at all.”

“Exactly,” Masaki replied, snapping his fingers and pointing at Violet.

“Is this good or bad?” Angelo asked. 

Masaki bit his lip. “I... both, probably.”

“Helpful,” Aubrey intoned.

“I mean... I don’t think this nest is organized. Hedron eat other hedron, especially when a nest is so far from a human settlement. A lot of them form packs even without a queen, but occasionally, a nest doesn’t have that. Hedron are drawn to the heart, but they are of all different types. So they fight and hunt each other, all while living in the same nest,” he explained.

“So a lot of unpredictable talents from the apocalypse monsters, but at least they’ll fight each other, too,” Kiera guessed.

“Precisely,” Masaki confirmed.

“Then why aren’t they fighting now?” Angelo asked.

Masaki paused, rubbing his chin with one hand. The entire group glanced around, looking at the empty mist surrounding them. Even with the nest right in front of them, there wasn’t a hedron in sight. “I’m... not sure. Maybe you’re right, and one particularly strong hedron drove the rest away. Or... united them all,” he suggested.

“So another queen? I thought those were rare! How do we keep running into them?” Aubrey complained.

Masaki shook his head. “No... No queens command other hedron in their nest. I think this is probably a territory thing. So just one strong hedron and nothing else, probably?”

“You don’t sound all that confident,” Angelo complained.

“I went to the same class as the rest of you; I just care a little more about the details,” Masaki countered.

“Sorry, most of us are just dumb as fuck,” Kiera apologized. 

“Or have other areas of interest,” Lisa corrected.

“I’m in the dumb camp for sure,” Guy said. Kiera winked at him in response, holding her hands up in the shape of a heart. Guy returned both gestures, and Violet rolled her eyes. She also allowed herself a subdued smile at her friend’s antics. If nothing else, they were both ready to confess to their stupidity together. At the drop of a pin, really.

“Well, I guess I’ll go in first, I suppose,” Violet announced.

“Are you insane?” Guy asked, his jocund demeanor evaporating the instant she spoke.

“On my own,” Violet clarified. “I think Guy and Kiera together can help protect the group, right? With Kiera’s illusions and Guy’s new ‘Strawman’ talent. Plus Aubrey can contact me with ‘Wail.’” Her team members’ newest talents genuinely would’ve helped in this situation, if it had been necessary. With Guy’s Taunt and Strawman combined, he could’ve attracted hedron to a decoy of himself. All while Kiera kept the main team concealed. Meanwhile, Aubrey could’ve sent Morse code messages to Violet and warned her if anything happened. Wail allowed the banshee to pick and choose who could hear her, largely solving the area of effect issue behind Scream. 

None of this would matter, since none of the hedron inside were going to attack without Violet’s permission. If there were any hedron who responded poorly to Violet’s control, they’d have done so by now. It did, however, offer Violet the chance to explore the nest on her own. She wanted to see if she could set a few things up before everyone else entered. 

“That’s too dangerous. If we run into any yellow hedron, it’s going to take at least two or three of us to fight one off. And if it’s as dangerous as Masaki thinks, it might take all of us. There is no way you are going in alone,” Angelo denied.

“I’m a scout, babe. It’s literally my entire purpose. When we graduate, going into nests and mapping them out is likely going to be my entire job. Trust me. I got this,” Violet insisted.

“I can’t do that,” Angelo denied again. “You don’t even have talents for concealing yourself yet. I am not going to let any of you die on this mission. Not if there is something I could have done to make it that much safer.”

Violet frowned, then scanned both fireteams. She met Kiera’s eyes first, then Aubrey's. The kitsune offered a sympathetic wince, while the banshee gave a barely perceptible nod. Violet sighed and crossed her arms, then met Angelo’s eyes.

“Honestly? I probably get where you’re coming from more than anyone,” she said. Angelo looked confused for a moment, then winced as something seemed to occur to him. Everyone had heard their story. About Violet’s trip to Prism, and the friends they’d lost along the way. It hadn’t been more than a rumor to most before. But here, standing in front of the most dangerous nest they’d ever seen? Violet could see the reality of it settle on his face. She watched it travel down his throat and disappear as he swallowed hard enough to nearly choke. There was a slight quiver in his voice when he finally spoke. “I just want to keep everyone safe,” he repeated.

“I know,” Violet answered in the gentlest voice she could. “And I know the toll of failure. It’s not something you will ever recover from, believe me. When you promise to save someone and you fail? It feels like you killed them yourself.”

“So you understand,” Angelo tried, but Violet shook her head. 

“I already have that blood on my hands. And I already made the mistake you’re making now. That’s why I want to do this. Because a group of people going into a nest blind is guaranteed to end in death. There are too many unknowns. Too many dark corners and hungry monsters. And our teams are going to be on edge. If you don’t let me find the fastest way to the heart before we bring eight people into that nest, well. Eight people aren’t walking back out. But me? You’ve heard the stories. The lengths I will go to. Exactly how hard I will fight to stop anyone from getting hurt. And I am good at it. Better if I don’t have to protect anyone else while I’m in there. You want to keep all of your friends alive? This is how,” Violet lectured.

Angelo was quiet for a long moment. Until Kiera broke the silence.

“She is kind of a badass, dude,” Kiera pointed out.

“She’s right,” Aubrey agreed. “Violet, I mean. I’ve seen how much this matters to her, and I trust her. She’ll survive in there, because that’s what she does. And honestly? The one time we trusted her about this shit was the only time we didn’t lose someone on the way here. And the reason Kassie’s team didn’t die in that nest. You should let her go.”

“I’ll make a deal with her. Give her as many of my attributes as I can. It’ll push her to yellow levels,” Terry added.

“And I’ll send two of my homunculi. They won’t be like a full lancer, but I’ll be okay if they’re destroyed. And she won’t be entirely alone,” Lisa suggested.

“If there is a powerful hedron in there, it would be smart to make as little noise as possible when exploring,” Masaki agreed.

Angelo still looked conflicted, but wavering eyes met steel in Violet’s expression, and he set his jaw. “Alright. Alright, I agree. But... shit. Don’t fucking die, okay? We’re all counting on you,” he finally acquiesced. 

Violet glanced at every expression in the group. Kiera actually believed in Violet. Aubrey did, too. Guy was impossible to read, if only because of how many emotions he wore on his sleeve. Shame, and fear, and regret. But also relief and gratitude. He was a coward, and he knew it. But Angelo’s team? They had the same fear without the shame. They were all just as relieved as Guy, and nowhere near as honest. And people thought the Cruel Ivy Killer was evil. But everyone would be happy to let someone die for their own sake. This team was just proving what Violet already knew.

The only thing that made her different from anyone else? She had the spine to take real risks, and she didn’t pretend it wasn’t her choice when someone had to die for her sake.

“Now now,” she corrected with a wag of one finger. “Profanity is the resource of a small mind, remember? Try and clean up your act while I’m in there, ‘kay?” She winked at him, and the deal was set in stone. 

Violet was going to enter the nest first. And she’d be ready to do her work when everyone else joined her.