Hope falls silently in the dark ... - Part 6

Caitlyn had transported herself to an alleyway only a block or so from the towering Ald-Tech headquarters. There were few places anywhere near that building where she could appear out of nowhere and stay hidden long enough for the suit to return to wherever it was that it hid inside her body when she wasn't using it. Now, in regular clothing, though still with the suit Kyle had given her beneath everything, she ran the remainder of the way.

Another reason for her to eschew transporting closer to the building may have had something to do with the rather ... aggressive entrance she had made earlier, searching for Alden. If Blood Obsidian had appeared after that, she didn't doubt that an entire army of security goons would have appeared from nowhere just to become her punching bags. Reluctantly. She wouldn't have enjoyed ruining their days.

Reaching the steps leading up to the square in front of the tall, glass fronted building, she felt almost giddy at the chance to make certain that Aunt Mary had escaped unscathed from the dome facility. Rayna would have looked after her, Caitlyn felt certain. That thought, however, also drove a needle of guilt through her. Feeling giddy that Aunt Mary was safe while Alaina was still missing felt a little obscene, but she couldn't help the way she felt. She'd feel equally giddy were it the other way around.

She needn't have worried about security goons, however. As she approached the revolving doors of the building, she couldn't see any sign of them. Not a one. No-one sat at the desk, watching the monitors. No-one patrolling. Not one, single soul and, although it was late at night, she would have expected someone to be there. Cautious, she pushed the revolving door, surprised that it wasn't locked, passing through into the reception area.

The urge to allow the suit to wrap itself around her almost overwhelmed her, but it was too open here. Too many cameras meaning a lot of footage that would simply sit on Ald-Tech servers until Kyle could wipe it. She didn't need the suit. Sure, things felt off, wrong, but nothing had happened. As far as she knew, the security dude had gone to the bathroom and had forgotten to lock the building down, because, yeah, Raymond Alden employed forgetful people.

Like, those big shoes sticking out from behind the reception desk. Probably just fallen asleep on the job and totally not dead or anything. A quick, tip-toed look over the desk told her everything. Totally dead and totally not sleeping. Fiend had beaten her here. Fresh from the attempt to frame Raymond Alden, the super-villain had come here to finish the job themselves.

"Oh, Caitlyn? Caitlyn, darling? You are so terribly late and I shall have to send you to bed without supper." Aunt Mary's voice, though monotone, robotic. As though she read from a cue card, or something. "I can't stay mad at you, you rascal. Come on up and we'll have our dinner together."

Timed to perfection, one of the many elevators pinged, the doors opening, inviting Caitlyn to enter. She could ignore the elevator, put on the suit and swing up through the vast atrium to the higher floors, but she'd still have to find a way up through the business oriented floors above. Still, she took her time to examine the elevator before setting foot inside.

It wasn't booby-trapped, but there was a big, cut-out picture of a hand pointing toward the penthouse button. Fiend wouldn't want to kill Caitlyn by a bomb on an elevator. This was all far too personal for that. They wanted this to end face-to-face. Caitlyn pushed the button, ready to oblige if it kept Aunt Mary safe.

-+-

Somewhere downtown ...

Traffic caused more heart attacks than anything else in this city, at least that was what Chief Watson chose to believe. Even at this late hour, the tailbacks covered a huge chunk of the city centre, exhaust fumes penetrating the squad car, even though he had every window closed. The sounds of horns coming from all sides drowned out the sound of the sirens he'd had blaring from the moment he had raced out of the precinct garage.

He cursed the city ordnance that said the NHPD chopper could only land within city limits in the most dire emergencies, and only then with mayoral permission. Those idiots wouldn't know an emergency if it bit them in the ass. He added his own horn to the cacophony of sound. Pretty soon he would have to abandon the car altogether.

Something passed overhead. Something big that crunched stone, sending dust and pieces of building materials tumbling down to pitter-patter on the roof of the squad car. He wound down the window, but whatever it was that had caused that shadow had already moved out of sight. That was all the city needed. Another super appearing at this time, with their only decently powered hero already occupied.

"Hey! Can't you guys get a move on?" He leaned further out of the window, staring down the street. "Do these flashing lights and siren mean nothing to you?"

"Bite me!" One of the other drivers shouted, giving him the bird. Another voice shouted, joining in. "You think you're better than us, cop?"

The chorus of voices rose in protest, attacking him, attacking each other, getting out of cars and flapping hands at each other. Watson flopped back into the seat, rubbing the bridge of his nose and cursing the moment he listened to anyone about quitting smoking.

Number one cause of heart attacks. New Hastings city traffic. Number one.

-+-

The inappropriately cheery elevator music had started to irritate Caitlyn, and she had considered, several times, ripping out the speakers with her bare hands. Or, at least, the hands covered by the suit. What with the windows in Alden's office, she thought she had probably caused enough damage to this building of late.

The elevator pinged and the doors opened, revealing the expansive, expensive looking penthouse apartment of Raymond Alden. Music was playing here, too. A waltz, for some reason, the music sweeping and turning from hidden speakers all around the wide, open space. There were no lights, leaving the place lit only by the light of the moon cascading through the wall of windows that framed the city beyond.

"Caity-come-lately! Good of you to arrive, but can't Blood Obsidian come out to play? Do you like what I've done with the place, by the way? A little soft lighting." As soon as the eerie, chilling voice spoke, lights began to blink over the entire room. "I'm thinking a little flash redecorating may be in order."

Caitlyn only had a bare second to allow the suit to slough over her, creating the shield that looked so much like Trooper Jane's before the series of grenades began to explode. Even the suit, as powerful as it was, couldn't withstand all the explosions, tearing through the shield to pepper into her body. It felt painful, but Kyle's bullet resistant suit did its job. Only her face suffered scratches from the shrapnel slowed down by her Blood Obsidian outfit.

"Enough! I've had enough of you!" She could feel the suit struggling to repair itself, as though it cried out in pain, though not giving in, fighting to remain whole. For her. "What have you done with Au ... with Mrs Carter? With Alaina and Rayna? Let them all go and you can have me."

"Have you? Oh, I could have had you at any time, sweet thing." That cackling laughter drifted on the smoke-filled air as Caitlyn spun around, trying to gauge the direction from where it came. "As for Auntie Mary-Mary and your absowute best fwiend ever ..."

Movement caught Caitlyn's eyes and she snapped her head around to look through the wall of windows, now shattered and broken, like everything else in the penthouse. From beyond the wide balcony, beyond the high parapet that allowed people to look out across the city, something appeared, hovering, flying upward. Fiend, and, in the villain's hands, held out to the sides as though they weighed nothing, two very familiar figures.

"Aunt Mary! Alaina!" The words caught in her throat. They weren't struggling, hands and legs tied tight, gags over their mouths, but their eyes widened as they saw Blood Obsidian. "Let them go!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Caity baby. Poor choice of words. On the one hand, I have a pretty perfect pair of hostages." As Fiend said that, an almost casual flick sent Aunt Mary tumbling through the air, far to Fiend's left. Another flick and Alaina followed suit, flying in the other direction. "On the other hand, I ... oh. Oops. Clumsy, clumsy. I seem to have the dropsies."

Caitlyn began to move without thinking, leaping forward, across the penthouse, through the skeletons of the twisted frames of the windows and, aided by her floating ability, out across the balcony toward the parapet. Only for Fiend to catch her trailing leg, tugging her back and throwing Caitlyn toward the floor of the balcony.

Expensive tiles shattered around her as the throw almost embedded her into the concrete beneath and, before she could even begin to recover from that, she felt herself lifted, once again by that same leg, and smashed against the parapet, causing it to crumble beneath the impact, bricks and stones and concrete cascading downward to the streets below. Caitlyn kicked out, trying to release her leg, but Fiend had already let her go.

"I can't ... I have to ..." Pain lanced through her and she wondered how many ribs she had broken this time and whether the suit would have enough strength to heal her. She could feel it, struggling, trying to maintain itself for the fight ahead. "Aunt Mary ... Alaina ..."

"Ooh, by now I think they'll just be about to splatter against the streets." Fiend crouched upon their flying platform, cackling and laughing, leering at her, those thin, white fangs grinning at her. "It's probably time you upgraded. I hear the latest Aunt Marys two-point-oh are far, far more durable."

Tears poured from Caitlyn as she pushed aside the pain, trying to move and look over the edge to the ground below. She couldn't fight Fiend when she had something to fight for. Now that Fiend had torn everything from her, she simply didn't have the strength to fight anymore. She may as well let Fiend get it over with.