Hacking

I had a projector disc with me.  I brought it up, tapping on the side.  A group of small holographic figures appeared above the disc, tinted yellow from head to toe.  An arrow at the disc’s edge indicated the direction to them, with a number showing distance.  They were gathered in vehicles, but the vehicles weren’t drawn as thoroughly as the people who sat in them, much like the mercenaries that accompanied them.  Three heartbroken, Chicken Little, Sveta, and Capricorn, with Tattletale along to gather some intel and make sure the kids were alright.  They were tracking down Cradle.

They were mostly silhouettes, but I could make out details like how one of the Heartbroken was resting a head on Chicken Little’s shoulder, apparently asleep.  Chicken Little was moving his hands like there was something in them.  A bird, I assumed.

I ran my finger along the disc’s edge.  The image shifted, and the group of people were tinted red.  Many of them were small.  Imp, ‘Florence’, two heartbroken, Lookout, and Swansong.  They’d watch March, gather surveillance and maybe have Imp take action but they wouldn’t take any direct moves until Hellhound caught up with them.

“They okay?” Parian asked.

“Looks like it,” I said.  The images were stable.  Different groups were talking.  “Calm, no fighting.”

- Blinding 11.5

________

“You need to call off March,” I said.  “This thing she’s doing, it’s bad for all of us.”

Love Lost shook her head.

“It’s going to get kids killed.  Thinkers we talked to seem to think it’s something along those lines.”

She went still.

I could see agitation in her hands, in her claws.

I saw it start to fade.

“Kids, Love Lost.  Like your fucking daughter!” I shouted at her.

At that, I saw a flare of anger, enough I worried she’d do something reckless.  Then-

Then doubt?

She stared down at the ground for a long moment, and nobody broke that spell.

Then her hand went up.  A claw, four fingers and a thumb extended.  A hand pointed in one direction.

Five of ours for some of yours.

“Who are you keeping, out of our groups?  Tattletale?”

There was no response.  Instead, fingers typed.

I expected another audio message.

Instead… wailing.  Panicked sounds.

A hollow sound, magnified times ten by the fact it seemed to resonate out from everything from wires to engine block.

A young girl’s voice, caught up in sobs that made the words impossible to make out.

For an instant, I forgot how to breathe.  My heart forgot how to beat.  I wouldn’t have been sure I knew how to stand if I couldn’t fly to keep myself upright.

Candy reacted, I saw, hands at her mouth.  Chastity visibly flinched.

Rain… he looked angry and harrowed at the same time.

“Take your people.  Tell us where ours are,” I said.

Nobody on our team disagreed with me.  Nobody looked like they doubted the call.  Not while the sounds continued.

Love Lost tapped her wrist and she pointed at me.

I looked at my own wrist.  The disc was still mounted there, slightly ajar after the fighting.

I tapped it, activating it.  It brought up the red team, Kenzie and Ashley with hands bound, back to back.  The other Heartbroken kid a distance away, looking like she was digging.

A tap brought up the yellow team.

Noise, no directional indicator.

Love Lost gestured, and that was apparently the key for some tech to kick in.

The noise remained, but there was an indicator.

In an instant, the others were hopping up onto the dogs for a ride, Rachel giving a hand to the more battered members of our team.  Love Lost stepped to the side.

*

I let Colt go, and stepped closer.  Love Lost moved her claws, and the image at my disc broke up, the location data fading.

When I backed away a step, she returned it.  That information was her insurance.

- Blinding 11.11