–
Chapter 19
–
Renner watched the tower fall in a heap of smoke and rubble, the thundering of the impact sending out small shockwaves through the air. The Chronicler lowered the clipper ship to where it gracefully floated above the rooftops of the grey, dirty buildings beneath it. The cacophony of music that had been playing died into silence at the sight of the tower falling.
“People aren’t gonna be happy that Volume is dead.” Jethryn murmured, holding his chin while he looked out over the sea of neon. “Ghid got rid of the only proof that he and Volume were the same man.”
“His body.” Renner sighed, nodding his head. “Without that, we have no way to prove to people he was the monster we claim. I don’t like it, Jethryn, but with so many people here who could get hurt, we may have to leave the city for a little while until things cool down or until we find some kind of proof to aid our cause.”
Jethryn nodded in reply. Renner pointed towards the cliffside, and the Chronicler dutifully turned the ship into a slow ascent. With its trajectory set, Renner turned to address the group.
“I know that most of you must be under a significant amount of stress due to what’s happened.” He began, noting Racie in particular was huddled in the darkest corner of the boat with her hands over her ears. “Ghid’s masquerading as Tott was… Impressive, honestly. He completely fooled me for the longest time. But I’m not one to mince words. Ghid’s identity of Volume was beloved by most of the people here in this city. Their resources are not quite significant enough to pose a serious threat to us at the moment, but if we stay we will most certainly be attacked to avenge their fallen leader. Diero,” He turned towards his trusty Dreamer. “I wonder if you might know where Volume’s body may have gone.”
Diero, who was thumbing through the book from Ghid’s library, looked up in confusion. “Uh, yeah, uh, so. Bit of context first, I think. You remember all those Ghid Dreamers that attacked us in the cider factory?”
“No?” Jethryn commented.
“Well you weren’t there at the time.” Diero continued. “Anyway, they’re on the moon.”
“What. WHAT.” Renner clenched his fists. “What do you MEAN they’re on the moon?! Have they been there this ENTIRE TIME?!?”
“Well, yeah, I mean, look,” Diero took his hat off and scratched at his smooth, skeletal scalp. “It was a rough moment, and I was feeling adventurous, so y’know… Look, sending everything to the sun gets boring. Is it so bad if I want a little variety now and then?”
“No?” Diero shrugged as Renner’s scowl got more animated. “Look, you hadn’t ever asked me to send anything to the sun before until that Dreamer that killed Jethryn, so don’t blame me for not adopting it as protocol immediately.”
“Ghid is ALIVE.” Renner hissed. “Diero, I need to reestablish your Dreams again and then I’m going to have you send so many wild cards-”
“That’s the second thing.” Diero continued, shielding his eyes from Sonus, who heard the Sun get mentioned and found himself curious. “Before Ghid saw Ghid- No, after he saw him, okay Tott saw Volume and then gave me orders to throw a wild card to the moon and collect all of them.”
“THEY’RE COMING HERE?!?!”
Diero’s neck retracted as far down between his shoulders as it physically could, his knees bending to get away from Renner’s reddened face. “Man I do not like it when you stand on your toes to try and get taller than me.”
“GET BACK TO THE TOWER!!!” Renner roared, the ship turning about sharply and making speed towards the ruinous wreck just in time to enter a hail of gunfire from below. Everyone on deck moved astern aside from Renner and the Chronicler, both being armored too heavily to allow any gunfire to injure them.
“Looks like the welcome party came a little soon,” Renner quipped as a bullet knocked the wolf mask out of his hand, which he quickly snatched back up and placed atop his brow. “Can someone find out if there’s any opening down there?”
“Well tomorrow, I don’t think there’s any sort of is that a car?” The Chronicler glanced quizzically at the rectangle flying through the air towards the ship. Diero quickly jumped in front of Renner, but with no written command the car easily picked both him and his boss off the ship and down into the city below.
Landing and catching Renner in one motion, Dier set his boss down to collect his stomach while he looked about the alley they had landed in. “No sign of the police. You alright?”
Renner shook his head, staggering back slightly. “I’m alright, about twenty five pounds lighter I think. That car knocked the wind out of me. Well, getting back up there will be a challenge, I suppos-”
Diero smashed a finger over Renner’s mouth. Down one of the alleys, which ran up to a large, grey wall with a service entrance, stood a very short individual with a large, round head, which reflected the limited light in the alleyway. He tapped his foot in irritation, eventually kicking the door and groaning loudly. “Hasn’t anybody decided to follow procedure?!”
Diero had approached during his remonstrance, and the figure spun about suddenly. A simple, cartoonish face was almost drawn across his smooth, mostly-spherical skull, which perked up immediately upon seeing him. “Oh, finally! I get invited here all on my lonesome, told to go find this Volume guy, but when I get here this big cloud of smoke blasts me into the alley and I had to spend at least twenty seconds figuring out where the stupid building was. What’s your story?”
“Uh,” Diero awkwardly stalled, hoping his boss would take over. “I guess we’re in the same boat? Or were, eh?” Diero nudged Renner’s ribs with his elbow. “Regardless, let’s not wait around here.”
“Good point,” The short figure smiled, turning back to the door and slamming his tiny foot into it, denting the steel but doing little else. “Wish these stupid things had a knob.” He grimaced, clutching his kicking foot and hopping away from the barrier. Diero politely opened the door by ripping it off its hinges. “After you.”
“Thank you very much, mister-?” The little figure asked as he squeezed in front of him.
“Diero, much obliged.” Diero’s ever-absent cowboy accent came crawling back even as the light of the hall they entered made Renner rub his eyes to adjust.
“Thank you very much, Mister Diero.” The little figure smirked, walking backwards, the light which passed over his white head revealing the extra pair of dot-like eyes on the right side of his noggin. “My name’s Ghid. Shall we?”
–