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Chapter 28
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“More over here!” Gofers yelled.
The concrete groaned as he held it aloft. “Don’t worry,” He casually said to the frightened woman holding her infant son in her bruised arms. “I’m- okay well maybe do worry, I mean don’t worry about me, I’m fine, I’m kind of-”
The concrete broke in the middle. Bracing for the worst, her eyes slowly reopened to see Gofers holding the first half with one hand, having darted forwards at lightning speed to catch the second segment. “-kind of made for this.”
“I said to stop making small talk with the survivors.” Winger walked up, holding something metallic and blue under his arm. “Ma’am, if you can move under your own power, I suggest you walk to the orange perimeter so we can provide medical assistance.”
“…Dude, you’re a giant skeleton in a sombrero, you really have to stop pretending you can make casual conversation with anyone you feel like.” Winger grumbled at Gofers after the survivor had walked towards the circle AI had projected. “Now is there anyone else we can find around here before they end up in mortal peril and you go zipping off again?”
“Like I said, I’m not the best at spotting things like that.” He replied. “Maybe you should write another thingy if you want that; it’s not like any of this debris is going to threaten anyone else at this poi-”
Gofers suddenly shot away, a trail of dust kicked up in the moment all that remained of him. Winger felt the outside of his helmet as if it would somehow alleviate his headache, the sun climbing high into the sky making it difficult to work in all-black attire. Did everything really occur all within one night? All that hurt, and death, and pain? It was evening at the dark wall, and then-
Stop. Winger’s fist clenched as hard as it could. Now’s not the time for that.
“Winger!” Gofers suddenly called out, from quite a ways off. “I’ve got a family of five here! Most of them are crying and I don’t know why, they keep saying ‘esqueleto malvado’ and throwing rocks at me, I don’t think I can hold their roof up too well with them them-” There was a rumbling sound. “Okay they quit throwing the rocks! I think it might be because the roof caved in and now I’m squatting down holding it up… Is this okay? Am I doing the whole written thing right?”
Groaning, Winger quickly adjusted a couple dials on his mysterious tech and began running over. “¡Venida! ¡Cállate!”
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“Well, I’ve got Winger on recovering any survivors, and Diero will help him after our business here is finished.” Renner adjusted his collar. “Although I do have to ask why you had us reconstruct the Ghid tower before any of the collateral damage was addressed. Buildings could come down any minute now.”
“We have people for that.” Krelikan replied, outfitted with a brand-new head and body, looking out from the top of the newly-erected Volume tower. “Society here has never bore witness to Volume, only very few had any idea the individual at the top was even Ghid at all… To many, Volume is a national hero, and although an unquestionable monarch, it seems Ghid did a great amount to make his presence as charitable in this ‘music city’ as possible - customizable music tracks in the prisons. Can you believe it? The city’s electricity costs are immense.”
“The people of this city need a Volume to look up to, to aspire towards. I do not intend to hold them in the dark forever, but for now,” His mechanical eyes squinted at the cityscape he now loomed over. “It would be remiss of me to take away their only symbol of hope.”
“Well, they have much less threats to that hope now.” Renner replied. “All the remaining Dreamers running amuck have been dealt with. I’m glad you followed through on your end and destroyed the Dreamer-making reactor of your missing AI.”
“Winger tells me the AI named Zippy is… Well beyond missing.” Kreliken mused. “I understand he went mad with power and was eliminated by Racie. Good change of pace for her, I’m thinking. She was quite useless before.”
“…And the other terms…?” Renner coughed as politely as he could.
“Volume has officially released a charta pardonationis utlagariae.” Krelikan replied, turning to look Renner directly in the eye. “You and your Dreamer are free to go. However, show up again and we may have to rescind the order on suspicion of further activity.”
“Waaait. Now I remember you.” Pakari said, wagging a finger at Renner as he approached. “You’re that bounty hunter, the one from out east, aren’t you?”
“Uh,” Renner backed away slightly. “I don’t know what you-”
“You were the one turning in people who had committed mail theft.” Pakari continued, much to the interest of Krelikan and the amusement of Diero, who had silently and dutifully stood next to Renner during the discussion. “You had some name like Justice Spark or something and your arm could shock people and generate lightning, and one time you lead the police on a chase because you stole a woman’s purse thinking she was a thief, and you were constantly calling the station asking if there were any murders, and-”
“Hey, I remember that one.” Diero broke in on the conversation with a massive grin. “I recall you screaming so loud that if he ever called back asking about murders they’d have to report his.”
“Next time I have you rebuild a building in two seconds,” Renner hissed at his bodyguard, who looked away with the same massive grin plastered across his smug face. “I’ll also make sure you bring it right back down on top of yourself. Well, uh, it was fun and all reminiscing, but I had better leave to help Winger before you remember anything else I’ve just been pardoned of.” He smiled, backpedaling directly into the elevator and repeatedly nudged Diero to press the down button.
“You really think this is going to work out, sir?” Pakari asked. “I mean, they’re all immensely dangerous, and sending them further west to spread the word of what happened-”
“They can be someone else’s problem.” Krelikan looked across the city, most of it still standing, slowly regaining electricity lost during the conflict. “I’ve eliminated all the threats to this city in one night. The Dreamers are no more, Zippy is no more, and regrettably Ghid is also no more. Without him here we’ll have to carry on as best we can.”
He reached into Ghid’s closet before pausing, “Tell the, ahem, Ambassadors from Elsewhere that I am ready to see them now.”
As Pakari saluted and turned to the elevator, he looked back. “By the way… Congratulations on the promotion. There’s nobody better to fulfill the position of head of the city than you.”
“And to you the same,” Krelikan replied, affixing one of the long, flowing red capes with fur collars to his neck. “Chief operating officer of the city of music.”
Pakari paused, stunned, but eventually relented into a salute, and descended eager to share his new status with officer Bird. Krelikan turned to slowly look out over the vast, densely-populated city. This richly musical city. This torn, struggling city, depending on all those with such fantastical powers as Renner and the Dreamers to always use them for good.
His city.
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“Well, I hope this will be sufficient for you.”
The green mist provided the only semblance of life in the nearly pitch-black room. The hole above had been patched by boards, the light shining in was so minimal it was almost entirely absent. The sounds of water dripping deep in the twisting maze of ancient sewers was the only indicator of movement in the blackness.
“You had no other opportunity. No change at redemption. Well, now you’ve received it.” The green cloud continued to hover, as if trying its best not to fade away before the exchange was through. “You would not receive mercy at their hands, so you received mercy at mine. But you did not receive it because you deserve it; no, you receive such an opportunity because you do not.”
“And with that paradox I leave you. I hope that, in your reflective moments here, before you inevitably find the means to move from here onward, that you are as guilted about your second chance at redemption as I was about mine.”
The cloud dissipated, leaving behind the old television, on which the color display glowed a singular blue dot.
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