This time, Nox takes a step towards the little boy.
Gryphon starts shoving the books into his bulletproof vest, which is a smart way to get his hands free and protect the ancient tomes of knowledge that is otherwise lost to time. “We need to figure out if there's any damage to the Hail Mary before we go out and neutralize it—“
“I’m not leaving the kid,” Nox says, cutting Gryphon off, and Joseph’s eyes flick over to him.
I have to admit, it looks as though the kid has been put through the wringer, and the softness that Nox is treating him with is a little bit of a surprise. I didn’t know he was capable of it. Even North gets treated with a wary sort of disdain by his brother.
Gryphon sends through again, North, do you have eyes on who is out there and what is going on?
North finally replies, harried sounding, We do. It's Silas Davies himself, along with at least eight Shields and a whole group of the Resistance’s Top Tier Gifted. I recognize most of them, but I was unaware that they had a Trigger.
“Fuck,” Gryphon says out loud, and I can't contain myself any longer.
“What the hell is a Trigger? And who the fuck is Unser?”
Gryphon stalks towards the opening of the library, still shoving the last of the books into his clothing as he looks down the hallway. I’m not sure if he really thinks he's going to see a giant hole hole in the thick concrete walls, but there’s been no change in the air pressure, so I’m not worried about it yet.
Surprisingly, Nox answers me with none of the usual sarcasm or vitriol in his voice. “A Trigger is a living bomb. It's a Gifted whose power is literally an explosive. Usually, it's a one time thing. In teenage years, something will ‘trigger’ them and when their gift kicks in, the use of it kills them, as well as anyone close by.”
My gut sinks, and I’m sure my face is horrified, but Nox just keeps laying out the facts. “Unser was the first Gifted to have two abilities, the Trigger itself, and the Regeneration. He's a living bomb that can go off more than once, though his recovery period is a few weeks, so he has to be used in a very strategic way.”
I glance over at Gryphon and then back to Nox. I can’t help but state the obvious, terrifying truth. “There were just two explosions.”
North is quiet again in my head, which raises the panic in my chest a little more, but I try to focus on what Nox is saying because it's important.
He meets my eyes, and that same worried sort of calm is in him as he nods at me. “Which means that the Resistance has a Trigger who has a Regeneration period that’s only a few minutes.”
Fuck.
I swallow the bile creeping up my throat. “Do you think I'll be strong enough to take him out?”
Gryphon looks back over his shoulder, glancing at Alistair for a moment before deciding that whatever he’s about to say, it’s worth saying in front of him so that both Nox and I hear it. “My bet is that if the Bond Group was complete, and you were Bonded to everyone, then yes. Right now? I'm not so sure.”
I suddenly want to look anywhere but at Nox. It feels like more of a call out for him than it is for me. I’ve proven myself to be willing to figure things out between the two of us, whereas he has not been shy about how much he loathes to be around me. What a freaking mess.
There's another explosion and my palms begin to sweat.
Outside of these walls is my worst nightmare and a bunch of his friends, who I doubt will be easy for us to deal with. I was hoping to somehow make it through all of this conflict without ever having to see that man again. Naive, I know, but I’d kind of gotten attached to the very secret hope that North or Nox’s shadow creatures could somehow devour him for me.
Stupid girl.
They're trying to turn the Hail Mary into a Wasteland. That's why they brought the Shields, they want to take it away from us by having it turn into a battleground.
Gryphon’s eyes flick over to Nox, and I know he’s sending that information from North through to him as well.
I glance over to Alistair where he’s clutching at the wall and looking as though he might vomit. The moment our eyes meet, he blurts out, “You can't take my Joseph with you. They're not going to get through the walls. He's the safest here.”
Nox’s head whips towards Alistair and he snaps, “He’s not staying here.”
Jesus Christ, I think we're about to kidnap a kid.
Am I okay with that? Shit. I think I am. The Sanctuary has to be a better option for him, right? Fuck. My morals certainly have shifted lately.
I send through to North and Gryphon, We’re stealing this kid, right? If the guy won’t give him to us, then we’re taking him. There's no chance that we are going to get out of here without all of our powers. If Nox refuses to move without the kid, then we're stealing a kid.