“We all are,” Felix says, stepping forward with a bulletproof vest already covering him.
I scowl at him for a second, but as his eyes flick over us, he shrugs. “I’m not going to risk anything happening to him, getting him home. The rest of our Transporters aren't as strong as he is, and anything could happen on the jump. It's just not worth it. Sage is already going to be using so much energy in fighting, and I'm not going to let her risk herself. I'm going.”
He sounds so strong and sure about it as he bends down to grab one of the Tac helmets at his feet. He always did run headfirst at things. Even being a Healer, he had never really been too concerned about what could happen to him out there. He'd been on the football team our entire way through middle school, high school, and then college. He’d always been just as physically active as the rest of us, even knowing that his path in life was going to lead to hospitals and not the field.
It's working in our favor, though.
No other Healer is so quick to sign up to travel like this.
“We're all going. We'll all be there to bring him back.” Wick steps up, his hand slowly sliding down Sage’s arm until his fingers thread through hers carefully, as though he's waiting for her to pull away.
She doesn’t.
She’s definitely taking strength from him right now, and I look around to find that even Riley looks determined.
I don't want to voice my concerns about him coming with us on the mission, considering the state he's been in. If North and Gryphon have made the call to let him go, then who am I to question that?
Instead, I step forward and look at the giant screen in front of us showing the map of the Transport zone. It was highly populated just a few hours ago, making it a safer jumping point. The Resistance historically haven't wanted to hit major cities unless they're sure that they can take the area.
It looks as though a bomb has flattened an entire suburb.
A whole block of apartments is now nothing but rubble, even more senseless destruction underneath their belts.
I glance up to meet North's eyes, and he nods at me as though we've come to an agreement, then Atlas as well. He’s slowly checking in with each of us before we head off on our mission.
“Our god-bond target did this. It has Resistance with it, but our main concern is that it's one of the god-bonds trying to lure us out.”
“It succeeded,” Oli snaps, and North only nods his head at her.
“We always knew that they’d come after our friends first. Unfortunately, they found a crack in our security and exploited it. We knew that there’s always the chance for something like this, but time is not on our side here. We need to go in, find him, and kill everyone we can.”
North chooses his words carefully.
Normally, he tries to sugarcoat things—‘take people out’, ‘deal with them’—and all the other words that the council have used to make the missions feel less like acts of war.
This time, there's no need for it.
This time everyone is clear on what we're doing.
They've taken one of our own, and we won't stop until we get him back.
* * *
I'm expectingOli's bond to kick up a fuss about whichever Transporter is chosen to move us. The moment that everybody starts heading off towards their Transporters of choice, Nox grabs her by the elbow, spinning her his way as his eyes and the skin of his arms and his neck slowly turn black.
I can see North hesitate, his worry palpable, but Nox cuts him such a savage look that his mouth snaps shut and he accepts that this isn't something he can fight his brother on.
Instead, he grabs the Transporter we've been assigned and snaps, “Hurry up, we need to beat them there.”
Atlas and I move swiftly to him as well, grabbing his arm. We move into space, everything melting around us before suddenly becoming clear again with that tell-talepopnoise.
We find the smoke beginning to form slowly, morphing up into the solid form of a person, but it’s as interesting to watch them shift through it here as it was having Nox appear in the bedroom. The two of them suddenly appear in the shadows as they arrive. One second, there’s nothing, and the next, my Bonded is here with us. The anxious energy that had begun to build up in me eases off the moment I can see her again.
Gryphon takes half a step towards Oli, then his eyebrows shoot up his forehead as she smiles at him with a slight shake of her head.
“I don't feel sick,” she says quietly in a pleased voice, the surprise and wonder evident in her tone.
There's a Shield in place, so the chance of a surprise attack right now is low, but North and Nox move into military mode the moment that Oli steps away from them and into Atlas’ orbit.
