Cleo kept her focus on the various fights happening up above. Future and present mixed in her mind, a strange collection of scenes that she could barely keep straight. Was Manifest fighting the military yet, or was he about to?
The chaos required all of her brain power. She was concentrating on the fights between major Miracle holders, but there were a variety of smaller skirmishes between the military, civilians, and those who wanted to take advantage of the situation for their own enrichment. There was also a group of medical staff moving through the city as quickly as they could, treating everyone as best they could.
Joey had heard about what was going on, and Green's, like most businesses, had closed for the day to protect anyone who was in the building at the time. She'd gotten him out and he was heading towards where a group of convicts were putting too much pressure on the military. The officers were almost cornered and no reinforcements were able to come, but Jumper would resolve the situation fairly quickly.
Things would be mostly under control in a few minutes. Lightning and Jumbo, along with Rose, were subduing Cold Snap. Achilles and Shell would simply keep each other occupied until the military came along to arrest them both. Knight had defeatted Twinblade with the help of the invisible woman. Light Master and Whiplash had vanished from her sight for a bit, so she'd have Joey check on them when he was done with his current task. She sent a quick text before she forgot. Manifest, Prime and Sergeant Griffin would take down a few other criminals. Finally, Barrier Maiden would keep catching various escaped convicts with the military until they were all back behind bars.
Joey and Cleo would run support for whatever fight needed them. The future said their victory was more or less assured, so Cleo wasn't overly concerned. She'd just have to keep everything on track.
And then everything went off the rails.
"Cleo!" Ned burst into her room, panting with blood dripping off his hands.
"Ned?" Cleo asked, groggily drawing her consciousness back into the Underwing.
Why in the big blue sky were his hands covered in blood?
"Darius - Ida - Arx - help!"
Cleo frowned and used her clairvoyance. As per usual, she couldn't see Ida or Darius. They were safe in the Underwing, though, so what was Ned going on about?
"Ned, I don't know what you're talking about. They're fine."
"No! It's - "
He fell to his knees, coughing and shaking, his breath coming in haggard gasps.
"Calm down, Ned." Cleo knelt down in front of him and slowly took his hand, ignoring her revulsion at the blood.
Ned took a few breaths while Cleo tried to look into Ida and Darius. Again, there was nothing. Why was her sight blocked for those two?
"Cleo..." Ned looked at her, tears brimming in his eyes. "Darius is going to..."
A drop of water rolled down his cheek.
And then it hit her. Arx Nubibus would fall into the sea, just like she'd seen before. Today was the day.
"No..." Cleo felt the blood drain from her head and swayed dizzily. Ned caught her, then apologized for getting blood on her shirt.
"There's a reactor down here," he started saying, this time slowly and deliberately. "I think the escaped convicts, the attack up top, it was all a diversion. Team Chaos really wanted to access the reactor and use it to hold us all hostage. There was someone else with them too, someone I don't think was on the same team. When Ida, Darius and I were watching the coverage, she figured it out and took off. Darius and I followed and found them.
"Corrosion was about to do something to damage it, something I don't think could have been undone. So...Ida..."
Ned gulped, taking a deep breath to steady himself, even as his hands started shaking uncontrollably again.
"Ida killed him. Darius tried to keep her from killing anyone else, and...Ida was killed. This is her blood. And Darius lost it. He was talking about sending us all to the bottom of the ocean. That we wouldn't be able to survive down there. That the...the pressure would kill all of us, him included. I tried to stop him, but..."
A sob escaped him, but he pressed on for one final sentence.
"He said he can't forgive any of us for her death."
"Arx is done for," Cleo muttered. "Why couldn't I see this?"
"We can still do something, can't we?" Ned asked, begging her for a way out.
"I..." Cleo closed her eyes. The craziness up top was almost over. She sent Joey to check on Whiplash and Light Master with a portal, then opened up her text messages.
"MAYDAY MAYDAY Return to Underwing ASAP."
She sent it to Joey, Courtney, and Sawyer. She'd also keep an eye on them and portal them down here when they were done. Until then, all she could do was wait.
"Do you think you can lead us to Darius?" she asked, glancing at Ned. He nodded, then stood to leave. He was going to wash the blood off his hands, then he'd be back.
With a deep breath, Cleo returned to the common area and waited for everyone else. She couldn't even portal directly to Darius since the entire Underwing was hidden from her clairvoyance.
No, not all of it. Just the part where he was.
But for now, she could do little except wait for the others.
The ship slowly tilted to the side. Darius kept coming up against safeguards meant to keep anyone from doing what he was doing, but with full access to the central systems, he could easily brush them aside.
Arx Nubibus was so big. A marvel of human ingenuity and engineering. They'd spent years developing it, starting as soon as the war started spiraling out of control. It took twelve years to build. Twelve years of searching for hope even as the world fell to pieces. The team that had made it was lost to history.
Only Ida remained.
And now she was gone.
If humans refused to respect the ones who came before them, if humans were going to remain so shortsighted, perhaps, like Ida said, it would be better if they all died.
It would take time to bank the ship into such a sharp turn that it would spiral into the sea, but Darius couldn't be stopped. Even if they destroyed his body, his heart would disappear into the network that was Arx's very lifeblood.
All for Ida.
Surely she'd applaud him for finally pulling the plug.
