He moves like lightning. Baldr’s powered suit thrusts him across the empty ground as he lays suppressive fire across the front lines of the Council’s forces. The suppressive fire raises smoke and debris; visibility of the fighting is zero. Siff grabs Lucas, “Now!” They sprint across the rubble strewn streets, Siff forcing herself to ignore the bodies laying in their way, the smell of burnt and rotting flesh filling her lungs as her exhausted legs drive on. They cross through several back-alleys and ruined houses before collapsing exhausted. The gunfire is still raging in the distance behind them; Baldr is keeping his word, “We can’t rest long, we have to get off this level and get hidden. This building should have med-beds inside and hopefully some food and water.” She can see Lucas is suffering. His breathing is strained and his hands are on his knees, head bowed. She takes his left arm over her shoulder, “Come on Lucas, we’re almost there.” He gives a short nod and they enter the abandoned home.

Though not as affluent as she is used to, Siff recognizes an administrators home when she sees one, “They must have fled when the fighting came through here. The med-room should be over here.” She takes Lucas through a door and is relieved to see an undamaged med-bed in the centre of the room, “Okay, lay down here. There you go.” Siff helps Lucas into place. Once on the bed he winces in pain before instantly passing out. Okay, I just really hope the system is still up.

Going to a control panel she opens the operating system and the machine begins to purr. Thank god. Okay. Initiate patient diagnosis and treatment. Done.

She watches as the bed whirrs to life and scanners begin to read Lucas’ vital signs and injuries. Burns, lacerations, fractures…it’s going to be a few minutes before he’s up and running again, it’s a good time to hunt the house for supplies.

She steps out of the med-room and heads to a closet where she finds a pair of backpacks and some clothes they can change into. She gets dressed and puts some clothes in a backpack for Lucas: Dressing like a Chosen One will get him spotted right away. Heading to the kitchen she opens the cupboards and goes through the fridge and freezer, pulling out anything they could use. She finds canisters for water before a sudden silence fills the air.

The fight is over.

Baldr.

Oh god, Dad! No, he’s alive. He has to be. They’d take him alive. They have to.

Siff hears movement outside the house. How did they get here so fast? She rushes back to the med-room, the bed in full work and Lucas looking a lot better. She checks the diagnostics: internal injuries mostly fixed, external injury healing in process. She hits the emergency cancellation button and the bed stops. Lucas opens his eyes, the burns still scarring his face and body, but the wounds mostly closed, “That’s it for now, I’m afraid. Put this pack on, we have to move.”

“You changed clothes.” His voice is still scarred from the burning.

“There’s clothes for you in the pack as well, but we don’t have time for you to change right now. How do you feel?”

"Much better, thank you Siff. The world of the gods is much different than I imagined.”

“You and I both. Lets go.”

“Siff. Your father. I am sorry.”

She nods and holds back tears before checking the street outside, “Shit. It’s not security. It’s the rebels.”

“Aren’t you one of them?”

“I don’t know. Maybe? I kinda left them to join you. They might not like me anymore, and I’d rather not find out for now.”

“Okay. Where do you want to go?”

“We need to find somewhere to hide out. Somewhere no-one will see us, but that we can survive until this war calms down or my dad is able to get us a voice on the Council.” He’s alive. He has to be.

Lucas nods, “Okay, follow me.” Siff looks at him quizzically. “I’ve spent years learning how to be invisible in the forest and avoiding giant monsters. Being unseen is what I do best.”

“But these guys have—“

“—anything your father didn’t have when I found you?”

“…”

“Listen, surviving in a hostile environment is what I do. If you have a specific place you want us to get to, let me know. Otherwise, I can make us disappear.”

“Okay. But even with your talent, they’ll find us eventually.”

“Then we’ll just have to hope your dad gets to the Council in time. Coming?”

She raises an eyebrow and lets out a small huff, “Fine. Show me how good you are, Mr. Show-off.”

He grins, “Front door. Bad idea. Back window leads to some cover in the street.”

They move through the house, Lucas checks the sight-lines then jumps out the open window. Siff follows, not about to be showed-up by Mr. Show-off. They squat behind some garbage then dart between piles of rubble. She has to admit it’s tough keeping up with Lucas, and she has a sneaking suspicion he is slowing down for her. Dammit. He wasn’t supposed to actually be this much better than me. Okay, focus.

She watches him sprint from their position and jump off a wall, swinging onto a rooftop. Really? How am I supposed to...she sees him point to a different path up to where he crouches. Ah, okay then. Running across the short open stretch she jumps onto some debris, climbs an adjoining wall and jumps to grab a hold of his outstretched arm. She lands on the roof and follows his signal for quiet. They crawl to the opposite edge and look out on their surroundings.

There are not many buildings left standing, and of those even fewer without some walls or roofs missing. Smoke fills the atmosphere from fires still burning. The ambient lighting does not provide much illumination, it must have been sabotaged. Siff doesn’t know which side would have done that. She wonders if there are any civilians still out there, hiding, surviving in the ruins. A suffering she can’t help but feel responsible for. Siff follows Lucas’ pointing fingers to see rebel patrols moving through the debris-covered streets. They don’t seem to be moving to intercept the security forces by the elevator, which means they are probably looking for whoever got away. Shit.

“It’s not safe here,” His voice is still rough with the scars in his throat, “we need to move to a different location. Any ideas?”

“If we can get inside one of the side-walls, we could probably move to a different level.”

“Okay. I’ve moved through monster-infested territory, I can get us through without being seen but you’ve got to do exactly as I say. Got it?”

“Okay.”

They shuffle down the side of the building and work their way slowly across the street. The lighting is flickering between dark night and holographic sunshine above, making it difficult to be hidden from searching eyes. The alley they move through smells of burnt and rotting meat; Siff refuses to let her eyes focus on the mounds huddled on the floor. It’s just beef. It’s just beef. Don’t look. It’s just beef.

Behind them gunfire starts to erupt; it seems the security forces have met some of the rebels. There are shouts nearby as more rebels rush to support the front line. Lucas gives an urgent nod to Siff and they rush into an abandoned workshop just as a rebel team begins moving down the alley. Staying low, the two of them make their way through several rooms with scattered tools and half-finished projects. The gunfire is getting more intense outside.

There is a soft whooshing noise overhead as a missile salvo strikes a nearby building. The ground shakes and dust fills the air as the building collapses.

“Lucas, it’s not safe here. We have to move.”

“The fighting is getting closer, but they will be less interested in finding us. There are two groups outside, but I can get us behind them. That door in the corner. Keep low.”

They make their way across the room as panicked shouts start breaking out from outside. Another soft whooshing noise fills the air.

Oh, no.

The missiles hit the side of the workshop, the impact throwing them against the wall as it crumbles around them. Debris falling, Siff notices Lucas is unconscious. She manages to drag him to the corner under a workbench as everything falls down. Brick and steel rattle the bench, but most of the debris falls away from them. The deafening sound of collapsing girders and mortar continues for a few seconds before an eerie silence and calm. The debris has not buried the bench they are hidden under and troops will be moving through here soon. Siff nudges and then shakes Lucas. He is alive and awake, but too groggy to move. There is no way she can carry him without the both of them being caught, “Come on Lucas, wake up.” His slow blinking and groaning let her know it will be a few minutes before he’s capable of anything, “Damn it.”

Siff climbs from under the table and takes a look over the debris. It looks like the rebels are retreating, but they are searching the buildings as they go. There’s a team heading this way. Shit! I can get to that alley over there, but there’s no way I can get Lucas out of here before they arrive. Shit! I can’t let him get captured, he’s too important. I have to…dammit! Shit! Shit! Shit! I hate this! This is going to suck.

“Lucas. Lucas, look at me.” His slow blinking eyes focus on her face, “I’m going to draw them away from here. I don’t think they know you came back with us, so they won’t look for you. You need to find somewhere to hide until the war is over. Understand?”

She waits until the rebels are about to enter the debris of the workshop, then breaks from her hiding spot and makes a run for it. Her actions have the desired affect and she is chased by the squad, leaving Lucas in safety for now. Siff sprints down ruined streets and through broken buildings, the number of those chasing her increasing all the time. There are no gunshots though. That’s nice. Maybe they don’t want to kill me after all.

She reaches the end of an alley and turns a corner to the barrel of a gun pointing at her face. “Gotcha, bitch.” It’s Addy, and she is furious. Siff’s pursuers catch up from behind and take her arms, Addy swivels and lands a left hook in her ribs. Siff collapses and is held upright by the tight grips of two men, “Okay, we got her. Let’s get out of here.” Siff is dragged away as she fights to regain her breath. Well, shit.