Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-Nine: Tanisport Still Stands (Patreon)

When I stepped out of the Traveller’s circle in Tanisport, it was seven in the morning.

Paul and Anne were in a separate tent, opaque white curtains gave them a modicum of privacy. Anne had her helmet off and was spooning down a bowl of cornflakes. She looked up at me as I walked in.

“You need to eat something.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Don’t argue with me. You’ve been in armour for more than twenty hours now – you need food.”

Paul chimed in. “Andrew, when did you last eat?”

“I had a bite while I was treating the wounded.”

“A bite of?”

“Some biscuits. I don’t know. Is it important?”

The two of them exchanged glances.

Paul spoke first. “Andrew. You need to eat. Maintain a routine. You’ve been through hell over the last day.”

“I’m just not hungry, all right?”

“Please, Andrew.”

There was a pleading tone in his voice.

Fine. If it would make my family happy, I’d eat.

I mechanically poured a bowl of cornflakes and started shoveling them into my mouth.

“They taste better with milk,” Anne suggested.

“I’m eating.”

“Fine.”

A few moments of silence.

“Have you decided what you’re going to do with your newest attribute boost?”

“Haven’t thought about it. Strength or Vitality, most likely. Both are in the forties and the perk for hitting 50 should be useful.”

“Given a choice?”

“Probably strength since it boosts the damage from melee weapons.”

“So the Nanothorn Kukri goes up to … how much damage again?”

“Actually, I got a new skill unlocked. Edged Weapons. Gives me a boost to damage… the Nanothorn Kukri now does 6,292 damage per strike.”

“Bro. That’s one heck of an upgrade! How much of a boost is it?”

“One hundred and sixty per cent.”

“That’s… wow. Blunt Weapons is what, forty per cent? And you’ve been using it for years now…”

“Edged Weapons benefits from my past experience using blades. Plus I got a boost from fighting the Raptor Scions. Clanlords. Whatever. Anyway, the skill started out at Level 16.”

“That’s good. Any other skills you picked up?”

“… Why are we talking about skills?”

“Because, Andrew,” Paul said gently, “the two of you have had your school shot up, your city wrecked, your friends hurt or killed. And at the moment there’s nothing you can do about it. So talk about things that you can control.”

It wasn’t just me who had lost someone.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

Anne patted my hand. “That’s okay. Eat some more cornflakes. I recommend milk.”

The streets of Tanisport were a mess. To put it mildly.

“They’re still screening the buildings,” Anne told me. “Looking for missing people. Casualties are – bad.”

“I’ll get to healing.”

“Rhapsody Melody has been singing her heart out for the last day. It’s not the wounded that are the problem.”

“Is there something we can do?”

“Yes,” Paul said. “Go home. Get some sleep. Both of you are exhausted.”

“I checked with Frasier,” Anne added. “He also agrees that the best thing we can do is get out of the way for a bit. This wasn’t a normal defense.”

“You can say that again.”

“They’ve put the press briefing off till tomorrow,” Paul added. “In the meantime – Daisy Cullen’s at Tanisport General, getting treated for her injuries. I think it would do her good to see familiar faces – or masks, as it were.”

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Tanisport General hadn’t changed much since my last visit, more than a year ago.

More people in stretchers. Dozens blocked the foyer, and even more were scattered across the hallways.

Hundreds of wounded, despite the efforts of virtually every healing ultra on the planet.

Trudging through the hospital, I Healed and Cured as many people as I could. The doctors and nurses helped the ones who recovered to get home.

A number, unfortunately, were beyond my aid.

Missing limbs. Burnt-out eyes. Blindness. Crushed verterbrae, leaving people paralyzed from the waist down. Lacerated livers. Damaged lungs from inhaling too much smoke.

Brain damage.

Even at Level 20, Cure could only do so much. Fixing a perforated frontal lobe didn’t restore the memories.

More than one person had been left a vegetable.

We made our way through the hospital, stopping to help who we could. Doctors and nurses – themselves wearing expressions of utter exhaustion – pointed us towards the section reserved for combat injuries.

The Phoenixes had commandeered a private room. A woman in Nanofibre Weave stood guard, a laser rifle in hand.

“Hello, Ekaterina,” I greeted her. “How is Daisy?”

“Awake,” the girl responded. “She said to send you in if you came.”

Daisy Cullen was lying in the hospital bed, with the beep-beep-beep of machines the only sound. She looked up as we entered.

“Hello, Belessar.”

“Daisy. How are you? Any injuries I can treat?”

The leader of Phoenix Company smiled gently. “Always looking out for us, I see.”

“It’ll take me a few seconds.”

“I have a bit of a burn from yesterday. The doctors put some cream on it and said I’d have to wait for Rhapsody to start treating the less critical cases.”

“We can cut that short.” I quickly cast an Observe.

DAISY CULLEN

HP 54 / 110

CLASS: MERCENARY

FACTION: PHOENIX COMPANY (FACTION LEADER)

STATUS EFFECTS:

THIRD DEGREE BURNS (VIT -1)

TISSUE DAMAGE – LEFT LEG

TISSUE DAMAGE – RIGHT LEG

DAMAGED KNEE (MAX HP REDUCED BY 10, DEX -3)

BROKEN ANKLE (DEX -4)

PAINKILLER (DURATION REMAINING: 02:08:15)

“Minor burns,” I muttered. “Were you going to mention the broken bones as well?”

“It doesn’t hurt.”

“That’s because they’ve got you on pain meds.” I invoked first Heal, then Cure, and watched as the Status Effects vanished from her description.

Daisy breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Belessar.”

“You should be good to check out of the hospital now.”

“I’ll have to wait for some paperwork, I’m afraid. Hospitals get a bit irritable if you just walk out without telling the doctor.”

I snorted in amusement.

“Belessar. How are you holding up?”

“Why do people keep asking me that?”

“Because we’re worried about you.”

I digested that for a moment. “I just lost someone I care about to the aliens. And not for the first time.”

“We both did. Agni was my friend, too.”

“Mine as well,” Anne added. “Though she refused to buy me beer.”

Daisy laughed. “You asked her?”

“Well, I wanted to try some. She sat me down and gave me a lecture about why drinking is bad for your liver. With visuals and everything.”

“Visuals?” I asked.

“This is your liver. This is your liver with cirrhosis. A full flaming presentation, and I mean literally flaming.”

“Should’ve asked me.”

“Can you please not corrupt my sister,” I groaned. “Paul already gives me flak about where she learnt certain things…” I trailed off.

Daisy nodded, unsurprised. “Yeah. I suspected he might.”

“You know his name.”

“And yours. Andrew.” Daisy smiled gently. “Anne decided to come clean with us some time ago.”

I swallowed. “I hadn’t known that.”

“It was sort of our secret,” Anne confessed. “After Maria – I thought, at least Daisy should know. And she asked me to look out for Elsbet, Junie and Malaika. One thing led to another, and I talked it over with Agni.”

“She was okay with you sharing your identity?”

“She said that the girls wouldn’t give us up. Not even under torture.” Anne gulped. “She was – very expressive about it.”

“I insisted that nobody else be told,” Daisy said. “And, well – Anne let slip your name once. Just once. We’ve been careful not to let things leak.”

“Who else knows?”

“Donna knows your first name and Anne’s. Not surnames. The rest of them have no idea, and never will.” Daisy pursed her lips. “Although far too many of us know what you look like.”

“Wait – how do you know that?”

“Belessar. You do far too many combat wardrobe changes.”

“… right.” I groaned internally. “That’s not entirely in my control.”

“If I understand correctly, you don’t get to choose your powers. No-one blames you. Though a few of the girls used to ask if you were taken.” Daisy chuckled. “Of course, that was before London.”

“Huh.” I hadn’t considered that. “I’m sort of flattered.”

“If you don’t mind my asking – was Agni your first girlfriend?”

I sighed. “Yes.”

“Figures.” Daisy pondered for a moment. “There’s a few things you should know.”

“That sounds ominous.”

“Not really. Agni and I had an understanding – if anything happened to one of us, the other would pass on certain messages.”

“… I didn’t know that.”

“It was what we felt to be a sensible precaution. Battle is uncertain, after all.” Breathing deeply, Daisy looked me in the eye. “She left a recording with me. For you. Said that if the worst came to pass, you should view it privately.”

“… She couldn’t have left it with me?”

“It’s password-protected. She said Nanocloud would know the password.”

Anne sucked in a breath. “I think I do.”

“There’s a USB drive in my bag. It’s the file titled ‘Legal Overview of Corporatization’. Go through it when you’re alone.”

I reached into Daisy’s bag. Sure enough, a thumb drive lay there.

“And Belessar.”

I looked back at Daisy. “Yes?”

“Remember what I told you at London?”

I thought back. “Everyone has the right to make their own choices.”

“Agni could have chosen to walk away anytime,” Daisy said. “After London, no-one would have denied her the right to. She chose to stay and fight. Honour her choices.”

I nodded. Then, gently, I reached into Inventory.

The Boar Class Helmet fit neatly into a slot, leaving my face exposed.

Not that I cared.

“Hello, Daisy,” I said. “I’m Andrew Drake.”

Daisy smiled. “Hello, Andrew. Nice to meet you.”