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Chapter 43 - Failure

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Athira felt Shift tense against her as the word 'rescue' dropped from Talia's mouth.

"I swear," he said. "If you're lying, Talia, if I find out you had something to do with this, I will personally--"

"Are you stupid?" said Talia. She had the nerve to look offended. "Wardens don't even recruit elementals! To them, we're impure! And then I tell you I'm here to rescue you and you start threatening me--"

She cut off as Shift continued. 

"I'm not done," he said, voice strangely calm. "I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt, Talia, but this looks bad. And if I find out you take this chance to lie to me instead of coming clean, you'll find out exactly how I deal with people who've hurt those I consider family. Understand?" 

The air was silent as Athira shut her eyes. Mentions of Talia's name was enough to set her teeth on edge. Seeing the name's owner was infinitely worse. The shock of Shift's hands against her skin had been enough to give Talon a chance to hold her colour back, but it was a tentative grip. One more glimpse of Talia's attitude ridden face would be enough to break free. 

"I understand," said Talia. 

Athira felt Shift move, fingers coming loose from her arm for the briefest moment to do what she assumed was gesture at Talia to continue. 

"As I said, I was attempting a rescue," Talia began. 

Her voice grew louder as she came presumably closer. That, or she'd managed to find a microphone and accompanying stage to prance around on. Athira wouldn't have put it past her. 

"My communicator wasn't working so I came back early from patrol to find the base empty. Lights off, doors locked, keypads deactivated. I had to rune the doors open just to get inside."

Inside Athira's mind, Talon was pushing memories, Talia and that other voice aside, drawing Athira away from the Owl calling to her, demanding that hell be unleashed upon those deserving. 

I don't know what that voice is or why I couldn't hear it until now, but it's stirring Rathe, he was saying. Rathe, the thing we're dedicated to stopping, remember? The Wardens are trying to help that, even if they're doing it the wrong way.

"Inside, everything was trashed," said Talia. "The furniture was flipped, there was blood on the front entrance floor and once I reached the common room, two figures dressed in white attacked me. My blue didn't work on them, but whatever colour repellent crap they were pulling didn't stop my elemental powers."

Talon's voice rocked Athira's mindscape gently as the image of Shift being carried out by the whites resurfaced with all the attached anger. Talon shut it down quickly, fading it into black. 

Rathe doesn't control you, Thira. No one does. Not that voice, not Rathe, not anyone, but you have to take it back. You have to be the one to harness that control.

Rathe prowled around the edges of her thoughts. She tried to ignore him, focusing instead on Talon's words and let the repetitive, soothing tones ring through her and drown out everything else. 

You have to control yourself, Talon continued. Just like you always have, even before the amulet and its runes came along. Before me. You're strong enough to do it. Concrete or jellybeans, it doesn't matter. You can do it. 

 "And what, you just made them tell you what they were doing?" said Shift. "Because those guys were pretty non-talkative when they were busy kidnapping us."

"No," said Talia. "I knocked them out cold in a panic. I didn't think about it. I searched the security footage for hints but it'd all been wiped. I had to check Kione's console camera he has attached to the TV and never turns off to get any idea of what happened, which was when I saw them. I figured they were after Zoe, so I came here."

"I didn't realise those guys left a map behind for anyone wishing to follow," said Shift dryly. 

Talia took a deep, patient sounding breath. "They didn't. I'm an earth elemental, Shift. We're underground. It's not that hard to figure out."

"You... you knew this place was here?" 

The sound of Talia slapping herself almost freed a smile on Athira's face. 

"Every earth elemental knows about this place, assuming they're strong enough to sense this deep! How could we not? It's a huge ass void in the earth!" said Talia. "Why do you think they tile the whole thing off, ceiling, walls and floor? It's to stop us elementals reading the vibrations and learning their secrets, but they can't hide everything. We talk. We know it's a Warden facility. After I realised Wardens were behind your attack, I figured they'd take you here since the other one was destroyed."

"So what," said Shift. "You tunneled in and they caught you?"

Talia clucked her tongue. "I didn't realise the tiles were runed to alert them to breaches," she said. "Just thought they stopped colour. It was a stupid mistake."

"And you really planned on rescuing Athira too?" asked Shift. "I thought nothing would make you happier than having her in custody." 

His grip on Athira's arms resembled more of an embrace than restraint now, and she found a sense of calm in it. Between the turtle and the bird's efforts to bring her down, Athira opened her eyes, managing to look at Talia without acting on the urge to shove her back into the ground and leave her entombed. 

"I saw the way she fought when the Wardens attacked," muttered Talia. She'd risen to her feet a metre or so away, still clutching her side. "She really did try to save Raph and the rest of you before they gassed the place. What's wrong with her, anyway?" 

Breathe, Athira, said Talon. She's not worth it.

"Her colour," said Shift after a moment. "Best we can gather is that it's unstable and Rathe's using that to attempt escape. At this rate, her runes are going to break. We need to get her to Zoe before it gets any worse."

"Zoe?" asked Talia, sounding confused. "What would she do?" 

"She's Spectrum," said Shift. "We're hoping she'll be able to push Rathe back enough to give us more time." 

"Not that you'd particularly care," said Athira, targeting the confusion on Talia's face. "But if you care to recall, Rathe, or his avatar or whatever you'd like to call it has made himself at home in my mindscape. He seems to think he can get out, and we'd rather that not happen for the obvious reason of keeping Thols in one piece."

Athira met the elemental's eyes as she spoke. Talia seemed to get the message that if Shift weren't here, this wouldn't be over. 

Talia licked her lips and glanced back over her shoulder. "Well, since you solved my problem of getting away from the Wardens, I can help you get to Zoe. I know where they're keeping her in here."

She waved them forward, obviously intending them to follow but Shift remained still. 

"Tal," he said. "You're going to hate me for this, but there's too much at stake to risk anything." Shift twisted his head. "Reader, can you verify what she's said?" 

Reader stepped forward. "Certainly."

"You brought a villain along?" said Talia. The rocks around her shook. "What, Athira didn't feel enough at home?" 

"Tal, we have to be sure." 

Talia threw her hands up, wincing a second later as she remembered her side. "Trust the villain? Sure! But your team member? I don't know, better ask the freaking criminal to make sure she's not lying!" 

Reader approached her, holding out his hand for hers as Shift rubbed his temples. 

"Would you rather I shift the colour and read it?" he asked. "Knowing that I'd have to spend more time looking for the right things and be able to see just about anything in your mindscape?" 

Talia went red and placed her hand on Reader's, who took it like he'd asked her to dance. He closed his eyes, head tilting to the side. 

"I have nothing to hide," she said with confidence, attempting to tilt her chin up and still hide the pain. 

Shift squeezed Athira's arms and whispered in her ear while Reader and Talia were distracted. 

"Better now?" 

Athira nodded and Shift stepped away from her. It was then that she got her first glimpse of him since he'd pulled her off Talia. 

With the constant skin-to-skin contact, Shift's colour had copied hers to the point where his colour suit was infected with the stuff, much like her own. The dark shades had seeped into the green material, lengthened some of it and hardened in certain areas to form a plastic looking sheen. The overall design was similar to hers--high boots, forearm covers, bare shoulders and the long drapes of coloured material over his thighs. The only clear exception was the lack of cloak and cowl, where instead a birdlike mask covered the top of his face. 

"Couldn't really do much about it," said Shift, examining his new garments with a sheepish smile. "Was this or dig Talia out before she suffocated."

Athira shrugged, trying to ignore the sense of guilt. Her colour had, once again, marked Shift as its own. 

He won't feel the same consequences, Thira,  said Talon. His colour imitates, from what I gather. Not borrows directly. 

Still. I'd rather it if he didn't have to throw himself out to save me every time I screw up. 

"She's difficult to read, as all elementals are," said Reader. "But I believe she's telling the truth."

"I'm so glad you think so, Reader," said Talia. She snatched her hand back and folded it away. "Means the world, really. Now as much as I'd like to see Athira turn into a puddle, I rather like living. Shall I take you to Zoe or would you feel safer if I just sat here?" 

To say the words were dripping in sarcasm suggested there was something else underneath it. 

Shift glanced at Athira, leaving the decision to her.

"We'll follow you," said Athira. "As fast as we can manage, not much point in stealth at this point. If they don't know exactly where we are and what we're doing, they don't deserve to be called Wardens."

The now group of four took off at the fastest hobbling pace Talia could manage in her injured state, which was somewhere between a snail and a turtle escaping a nuclear explosion. 

We need to speed this up, thought Athira. Tal, can you release some colour back to me?

His approval flitted through her mind. Just be careful and think before you use it. No Rathe influenced moves, kay?

Athira felt the colour return. Surprisingly, it didn't increase the pain settled in her veins, the fire she'd come to associate with its presence. Reader's revelation of Rathe and her colour being separate gained a little credibility. 

She extended a black coated hand out towards Talia's back, alarming Shift. Though he didn't grab her, he leant forward, arms slightly raised as if preparing himself to jump on her at the slightest provocation. 

Athira gave him a look she hoped translated into 'I'm not trying to kill her yet' and wrapped the colour around Talia's waist. The elemental shrieked, stopped, and frantically tried to push the colour off only to find her hands slip through its mass. 

Wild eyes latched on to Athira's. "What? I didn't do anything, I--"

"I'm holding the weight off your side," said Athira, keeping her grip on the colour soft through the annoyance. "Unless staggering around like a lame horse is a favourite past time of yours, I'm attempting to help."

Talia didn't seem to believe her, but she didn't really have a choice. She took a few experimental steps, hands still hovering by her sides as she advanced slowly forward. 

It still wasn't fast enough for Athira. "I could pick you up entirely if it'd increase the speed."

The rate of Talia's steps nearly tripled. 

They made it through the maze of buildings  to the base of the closest tower, and it was there Talia halted, chewing on her bottom lip. 

She dropped her voice to a whisper. "I saw her take them in here, but they grabbed me before I could follow them any further."

"Can Talon scout it?" asked Shift, looking to Athira. 

She shook her head. "If he leaves me again, I can't promise anything."

"Who's Talon?" asked Talia, frowning. 

"A rather snarky feathered character, if you ask me," said Reader with a delicate sniff. 

The faint sound of a mechanical hum registered in Athira's consciousness. It was familiar in a way that sent a chill down her spine. 

She jerked her head up, looking down the corridors, searching the tiles for any sign of her suspicions. Finding nothing, the panic was still building. If the hum was what her mind was connecting it with, and if Zoe was in here, then--

Athira didn't have time to run down the corridor and follow the physical paths. She covered herself in colour and jumped through the wall, once more scanning her surroundings with a growing fervor. She kicked off the ground and launched herself to the right, down the corridor, towards the growing sound of a machine. 

The corner was hiding an inner room. Unlike the rest of the tiles, these ones were activated, glowing with an aquatic brilliance. Athira tapped them, sensing their increased resistance to colour and edged the room's outer five metre long walls, looking for the way in that didn't require bringing the entire structure down around them. 

She got her answer. The third wall, with the upper half replaced in thick, frosted looking glass and a door dead in the centre with two startled Wardens guarding it. 

"Who are--"

"Owl!" 

"Surrender now or we'll be forced to--"

Athira didn't have time for their crap. She grabbed them with colour and threw them through the outer walls straight to the outside of the tower's base before running to the door.

She glimpsed through the glass on her way. The view was obscure, but she knew what, or more accurately, who, was in there with one glimpse of her platinum hair. Zoe was collapsed on the floor inside at the foot of the wall, and if the scorch marks on the inside of the glass were anything to go by, she'd been forced in there. 

There was a second figure in the room sitting cross legged against the opposite wall, head back against it like he was sleeping but Athira didn't give him a second glance. Her mind was running with one three lettered word, over and over and over to match the irregular rhythm of her panicked heartbeats.

Zoe Zoe Zoe Zoe Zoe Zoe--Athira slammed her open palms against the door--No no no no nonono!

The colour wrapped the door. She clenched her muscles to rip it clean off when the nausea, clinging to the back of her head since the Warden's kidnapping, came back in full force and shattered her control over the colour. Its tension dissolved and leaked from the door as she staggered back, crashing into the wall behind her. 

Athira couldn't do anything but stare at the door, trying to ignore the fear it'd spawned. She'd destroyed that machine. It was supposed to be gone. She'd risked Shift and control over Rathe for it, to make sure this didn't happen. To keep Zoe safe. 

Footsteps rounded the corner and her ears were met with demands to put her hands where they could be seen, to get on the ground but Athira was frozen. 

Zoe. Unconscious. The machine. Wardens. All that. She'd still failed. 

The footsteps came closer, beside her, grabbing her arm, pulling her up, commanding her to surrender. Athira grabbed the idiot's arm and pinched the back of his neck, collapsing him  in front of her. As he went to stand, she swept his feet out from under him, ignoring the fact that his hands now resembled scaled claws and sent him sprawling into the wall. 

His head hit it with a resounding thud and he slipped down the wall like he was constructed of limp noodles. 

More footsteps. Athira turned to face them to find Shift, Talia and Reader staring at her. 

"Is she in there?" asked Shift, running to the windowed wall and cupping his eyes against it. 

"Yep," said Athira, returning to lean against the wall. 

Shift looked at the door, confused. "Going to open it?" 

Athira clenched her jaw so hard it hurt, a term she didn't apply lightly. "Shift, there's sleeper gas in there. I can't touch it." 

His fingers, working at the edge of the door, stopped immediately. Paralysed horror grasped his face. 

"Sleeper gas?" he said slowly. "Didn't we destroy that?" 

"I thought so," said Athira. "They must have had spares, or that was only one facility." 

"I think you two have a lot more to explain than I originally thought," said Talia. "Sleeper gas? Talon? Facility? What the hell did you two do?" 

Her question remained unanswered while Reader moved closer, bending down to rest his hand on the forehead of the Warden sprawled across the floor. His eyes took on a purple glow as the last few words left Talia's mouth. 

"Lucky for you, he's still semi-conscious or I wouldn't be able to see his mindscape," said Reader, standing up and dusting off his hands. "The yellow Spectrum hasn't been in there long, but it seems like they've increased the dosage in the air to speed up the process. The sudden appearance of the Owl and her apprentice has them rather flustered, it would seem."

"And your escape hasn't?" said Talia, looking like she was about to take him back herself. Without Athira's colour helping her stand, Talia's back was hunched over with pain tightened lips. 

Reader shrugged. "It suits me, to be honest. Getting out is much easier this way."

"We have to get this door open," said Shift. "Now. Athira, get outside. We can't let you anywhere near it. Talia--"

"This corridor acts as a ventilation chamber," said Reader. "I've been here once before. Discord took great pride in telling me about it and anything else I asked about, given enough flattery. They open the door and activate the runes around it and the gas should go straight back into the system they've designed to hold it." 

"I'll open it then," said Talia. She glanced at Athira and nodded. "Get out of here. We've got this. Just make sure no one interrupts us."

Talia turned to face the door and Athira slipped through the walls, back outside the tower. Her thoughts were in complete disarray but rallied behind a united front: keeping anyone and anything from getting inside. 

Athira glanced around, spotting a flattened surface of roof supporting the narrow tower column that reached for the roof of the cavern. She kicked off the ground and, landing softly, resisted the urge to crouch. She stood tall, a lone guardian challenging anyone that dared encroach on those she protected. 

You just have to delay them, said Talon. Don't go too hard on them. Keep them distracted. The longer they're busy with you, the longer Shift has to get Zoe out. 

From her vantage point, she didn't have to wait long to draw attention. A large multicoloured group of Elites, headed by five blue Wardens marched towards her. Their leader, the same older male Warden who'd come in during her talk with Karma, separated himself from the group with a stride. 

"I am Warden Pyha," he said, extending a glowing blue hand. "And you, Owl, will release the Colour you have taken hostage and turn yourself and your apprentice in. If our demands are not met, we will be forced to take appropriate action." 

"You'd think by now," said Athira, folding her arms. "You idiots would have learned that I don't like submitting, even when asked nicely or promised cookies afterwards."

"We still hold hope that sense will find you," said the Warden. "But I can see it will not be so."

"I will not sit idly by and watch the Wardens destroy everything I've striven for," said Athira. "You threaten my work. You threaten the Spectrum, and through them, you threaten the fate of this world and I will have it no longer. You will desist, or I will be forced to take appropriate action." 

"Who are you to make such demands of Wardens?" shouted a purple Elite at the back. "You're outnumbered at least thirty to one!" 

Athira spread her cloak wide, the dripping black folds taking on a life of their own as the colour actively infused it. 

"I'm your worst nightmare."

*+*+*+* 

A/N - You guys and your pokemon. You're all awesome. I'm curious, did Talia's explanation sway you, or still aboard the hate train? 

Please vote/comment! Indigo's ranked 8 & 9 at the moment, can it go higher? *starts writing next chapter frantically*