The
stars at night shine bright above La Ciudád, for La Ciudád’s
nightlife is conducted underground or behind closed, curtained
windows. The people who stroll around in the starlight do not clasp
hands or make any gestures of affection. When the stars are so bright
as to faintly light the sleeping earth below, the people of the city
may gaze out of their windows, safely behind glass, and marvel at the
beauty of the sky – but the wiser of them do not gaze for long
before drawing their blackout curtains closed. No one with sense goes
out.
And yet, there were Maggie and Alejandra, out on Division Road,
hand in hand, and Mojito was riding on Alejandra’s shoulders. They
were all dressed in their police uniforms, so they had some manner of
protection – as well as a couple men from Los Hijos, moving
ahead of them, while Maria and a couple of her nuns took the lead.
Maggie had reluctantly exercised her abilities further, and
relented on the police officers, declaring that they would all be
cats until the morning -- at which point all the people of Los Hijos
would be safe at the shrine. Ideally. It was taking a fairly long
time to escort every civilian to the care of Madame Balam, when it
had to be two-by-two for the sake of discretion. Most of the things
Maggie would have been able to do to speed up the process – shift
everyone straight into the forest, heal the injuries of the infirm,
conjure a trolley, turn everyone into horses, turn everyone into
marbles and carry them – would have increased the heat from Los
Ojos and looked way too conspicuous, even if the cops were out of the
picture for the moment. Some other government agency would see.
Or, as it happened, some other technically non-governmental group
of ruffians, because in the faint light of the bright stars, Maggie
could see a large group of young men blocking the street, all holding
rifles. And before them stood a blond-bearded man in a white suit.
"I think we’ve been found out," said Alejandra.
"We can try to make a wedge to plow through them," said
Sister Pulque.
"And since when have you ever been on the offense?" said
Mojito. "Just let me at them. Those sons of –"
"You?" said Maggie. "We had to save you once from
being killed by those men. This is your new life, lad. Do not let it
go down the same path as what brought most of your people to a sorry
end. You have a chance to live better now."
"Well I want someone to kick their sorry asses," said
one of the men being escorted. "I lost my entire family to those
assholes, and then they stole what little cash I’d stored away, and
then they stole my flowerpots."
The other man expressed the same sentiment and the same
grievances. It was possible, even likely, that non-violence was not
the majority desire among the remaining people of Los Hijos. Maggie
was inclined to ignore that thought and look for a more discreet and
less bloodthirsty way of getting around the Sons of the Sea – but
all of her options would have required more conjuring, and at some
point she was going to meet the same fate as Rafael if she wasn’t
careful. She wracked her brains for anything that was a balance
between effective and discreet. "What can I get away with?"
Alejandra let go of her hand, transferring it to Maggie’s
shoulder. "Let someone else do the work for you, dear friend. I
have done much fighting of my own in defense of these people, but all
the skill I could learn and the strength I could build only permitted
me to defeat one person at a time. Give me the strength to overpower
these men, and let me do what I have always wished."
"You’re talking all fancy," said Maggie. "I guess
you’re serious. But if it gets you erased –"
"I am willing to take that risk."
"What if – " Maggie’s words caught in her throat.
She looked into Alejandra’s deep, dark eyes. "What if I’m
not willing to risk losing you that easily?"
"Then you will have no reward," said Alejandra.
"Tempting to just take you somewhere far away and let
everything fall apart," murmured Maggie. "Cruel, yet
tempting."
"Hmmm," said Alejandra. "But if you do that, I
wouldn’t give you access to these." She raised her arm and
flexed a bicep.
"Ah," said Maggie, her face growing hot. "Huh. Um.
Well. I guess we, uh, have to see this through then. Alright."
She glanced at the stars. "I will say that Alejandra de
Surdeville has ten times the strength she had just a moment ago."
The night sky became a little brighter.
"Do me!" said Mojito. "Do me!"
"Excuse me?" said Maggie. "Do we simply demand
things, young man?"
Mojito rolled his eyes. "Please."
"I don’t know," said Maggie. "You don’t seem
sincere."
"Pleeeeaaaaaaase."
"There you go," said Maggie. "I declare that Mojito
Lopez Noyr de Surdeville cannot be touched by any adult that has ill
intent." The night sky became brighter still. The stars were
blobs of light, now, instead of pinpricks.
"Yay!" said Mojito.
The bricks of the buildings around them began to vanish one by
one.
"Boo," said Mojito.
"We’re definitely spotted now," said Sister Pulque.
"Might as well go on the offense," said Alejandra,
"while we still have ground to stand on. Maggie, get everyone
else out of the way. I’ll be handling this." She stepped out
in front of the nuns and raised her fists.
"Truly I would rather be above all this," said Maggie.
"So I will say we’re standing on a rooftop."
So it was that Maggie, Maria, the thirteen nuns, and the two
people from Los Hijos were standing close to the edge of a roof,
before a set of air compressors, at the moment that the very earth
vibrated with the impact of Alejandra’s fists. Everyone stumbled as
the building shook, one of the men nearly falling off before Sister
Batida grabbed him.
Maggie was just able to see the pavement ripple in a shockwave
around Alejandra, swiftly knocking all of the young men off their
feet, save for Diego himself – yet when Alejandra charged towards
him, he was not fool enough to stand his ground. He stepped aside,
allowing the woman to charge straight into the mass of young men
getting to their feet. Some of them went flying; some of them dodged
out of the way. They closed in about her, and she was lost from view
– save for, in one second and the next, a pale arm striking upward,
knocking a fellow into the air.
"Not exactly the most tactical tactic," said Maria.
"We might be able to get in the way of those fellows,"
said Sister Batanga.
"Can I come?" said Mojito. "I can help too."
"Absolutely not," said Maggie.
Mojito pouted and gave Maggie his best puppy-dog eyes.
"Don’t give me that," said Maggie. "Things are
vanishing down there. Look." She pointed to the street, where
half of the buildings seemed to have half of their bricks missing,
with more disappearing all the time. "You could easily get
disappeared."
"But I could also get disappeared up here," said Mojito.
"And If I can help mama defeat all those guys down there, then
she can get back to you faster without having to get magicked up back
here. And then we can get everyone to the forest."
"Alright alright," said Maggie. "If you don’t
manage to get done in five minutes you’re coming right back to me,
understand?"
"Yes Mother." Mojito trotted over to Sister Batida, who
took him up into her arms and – leapt off the roof, the twelve
other nuns following. Maggie nearly forgot to conjure a trampoline
for them to land on, such was her shock.
And the stars got a bit brighter.
Now it was the thirteen nuns down in the scrum, getting in the way
of the progress of any of the young men who were trying to get back
in the fight, being pushed aside here and there only by all of
Diego’s might. Except that now Mojito was running around making
faces at everyone, causing a few of them to chase after him. So the
force of men that had been united against Alejandra was now fraying,
and she was beginning to gain the upper hand, second by second.
"It’s nice," said Maria, looking over the roof line.
"But it’s not a crusade."
"Crusade?" said Maggie. "You make yourself sound
like an actual woman of the church."
"You should hear her give a sermon," said one of the men
from Los Hijos. "If she’s not talking about endurance she’s
talking about crusades."
"Hang on," said Maggie. "I thought you left the
actual Church."
"Old habits die hard," said Maria.
"Was that a pun?" said Maggie. "Was that a nun
pun?"
Maria’s face, as usual, betrayed not a smidgen of emotion. Yet
one of her eyes closed for a brief moment. Then she continued as if
Maggie had said nothing. "You did confess your sin back at the
pub, even though it wasn’t a formal confession. I could arrange
some penance as well, if it would make you feel better."
"I may need to set up an actual confession after all."
Maggie looked down at the scene below – where Alejandra was now
within a ring of nuns with Diego, matching him blow for blow, while
Mojito continued to run around the outside kicking shins. The two of
them were so brave – and Alejandra so beautiful, in the heat of
battle. Maggie shook herself. "I fear I have sinned, in helping
all this happen. I might be too easy to manipulate."
"You do seem easily convinced by a pretty girl," said
Maria.
Maggie’s face grew hot once more. "Does it show – am I
that obvious?"
"I have seen how you look at her."
"But –"
"As for battle," said Maria, "I would like to point
that I do frequently speak of crusades –"
"Surely revenge is a sin?"
"Crusades are far beyond personal revenge," said Maria.
"They have a holy cause, even if their methods are prone to sin. Our crusade, yours and mine, shall be against Los Ojos -- and I will expect a high standard of behavior from you. I will charge you with the responsibility of seeing it through to the end. I believe, after what I have seen of you, that it is possible for my convent to work with you closely towards our shared goals. If you desire a formal confession, now, and you are truly penitent of what you have done, I think you have the ability to show it. You were more than remorseful back in the pub."
"I’ll tell you how I atone," said Maggie. "I try
to cut to the chase, here and now. I try to cut through the story and
get us to where we want to go, instead of wasting time. I declare
that you, me, Alejandra, Mojito, Benigno, Madame Balam, and all our
people from Los Hijos, are in the City of Lights."
In a blink, all the world about them changed. The buildings about
them got taller, blaring light from many windows. Neon advertising
signs stretched from street level to high above their heads. The
lights of automobiles rushing down the asphalt made the avenues a
river of moving illumination. Alejandra and Mojito, still in the
middle of the street faced a truck barreling towards them.
In the next moment, all the light vanished, and all was as before
– bright stars above, shadows below, silence all around, save for
the curses of young men surrounding two people who had just
re-appeared in their midst.
"What the hell was that?" said Maria.
"That was a failed effort," said Maggie. "Let me
try again. We’re in the city of lights."
The confusion of light washed over them once more. Maggie looked
down at the street. The young men had been taken along this time. A
car was about to strike one of them. Maggie opened her mouth to utter
a quick save –
But once again, the scene blinked back to what it had been, the
sleeping expanse of La Ciudad – only with porches missing, roof
cornices missing, rooftop satellite dishes vanishing one by one –
and the stars even brighter than before.
"Dammit," said Maggie. "I should have known it was
too easy. Is it Rafael or Los Ojos blocking me?"
"Look," said Maria, "your lady and your child have
been granted the revenge they have both craved. Bring them up here
and we can think of our next moves."
"Would an incomplete victory give them true satisfaction?"
said Maggie.
"Are you now in approval of violence?"
There was a creaking sound around them. Maggie retreated from the
roofline and looked all over her surroundings, hoping to catch the
source of the sound. But there was nothing but the air-compressor
units. "What was that?"
Something tapped her on the shoulder. She whirled around. An
air-compressor unit had sprouted metal legs with wicked claws, and
its grille had become a mouth of sharp fangs. It clattered towards
her. "Holy son of a –" Maggie backed away, straight into
Maria.
"Retreat," said one of the men of Los Hijos, only to
back right off the roof, falling down to the trampoline below. He
bounced up to near the roofline, and his companion tried to haul him
back up – only to be dragged down with him.
"That settles those two," said Maggie.
"But unless we want to be down near the Sons of the Sea,"
said Maria, "then we’re stuck." She wrapped a stone-solid
arm around Maggie and led her backwards to the center of the roof. "I
wouldn’t be half surprised if this was the doing of Los Ojos. I
assume you want to resolve this without any violence. Got any ideas,
my daughter?"
"Hang on," said Maggie, "I’m as old as you!"
"You came into existence this morning."
"After existing previously and being erased twice!"
"Which is it, then?"
The air-compressor units gnashed their metal teeth, a harsh
ringing sound. All around Maggie and Maria, they crept closer.
"It’s a plot hole," said Maggie. "And so is the
existence of these air-compressor units, because they’re supposedly
created by Los Ojos, who can’t create anything. Therefore, the
air-compressor units will fall through a bunch of plot holes."
The metal monsters paused, and then bowed, as if looking down.
Only then did they fall through the holes in the roof that had opened
up beneath them – vanishing without a sound, and the holes closed
behind them.
"Heck yeah," said Maggie, pumping a fist. "Non-violent
conflict resolution."
"Which might only work on things that are related to plot
holes," said Maria. "Such as yourself, potentially."
"Well that’s –" Something tapped Maggie on the
shoulder again. She shrugged off Maria’s arm and turned around, to
discover the entire gaggle of metal monsters standing there, gnashing
their teeth. "Hey! I got rid of you guys! You were supposed to
go away!"
"You sent them through a plot hole," said Maria, as she
got in front of Maggie. "Past that point, nothing needs to make
too much sense, it just has to be interesting in some way. In this
case, amusing."
The metal monsters began to creep closer. "This is amusing?"
said Maggie. "Why, I’ll show you amusing." She took Maria
by the hand and backed up a few meters. "There’s a big puddle
of lava in your way, you metal monsters!"
Maggie found herself nearly scorched by the sudden heat, and
backed up a few more meters, dragging Maria with her. Maria’s robe had already begun to smoke at the hem. "Ah,"
said Maggie. "Whoops."
"You’re going to burn this entire apartment complex down in
a hot second if you don’t get rid of that stuff," said Maria.
"Alright alright, uh – there’s a big old bathtub of water
that just tipped over the lava!"
The stars grew even brighter, and lo and behold, a porcelain
bathtub appeared in the air. It fell onto the lava and cracked in
half, releasing its payload – which mostly flashed to steam,
creating a roar of noise and a hot driving wind that drove Maggie
still further back. A great cloud of water vapor obscured the metal
monsters, but their claws could still be heard, clicking over the hot
stone.
"I said get rid of that stuff." Maria drew a pistol from
the folds of her vestments. "Not douse it. Do I have to shoot
these things to take care of them?"
"You’re officially the weirdest priestess I’ve ever
seen," said Maggie. "Alright, so the lava is in the ocean."
The heat disappeared, swept away by a sudden wind that brushed the
water vapor to the side. There were revealed the metal monsters, on
the other side of a great gaping hole in the roof. From within Maggie
could hear the fire alarm ringing, and people were pouring out of the
building. "It’s alright," said Maggie, "the metal
monsters here can’t get over the hole." The metal monsters
slowly extended their legs, until they could grasp the other side of
the hole. "Oh come on!"
"Hey," said Maria, "for all you know, this is just
a big misunderstanding and they want to be your friends."
A harsh ringing went up as the Metal Monsters gnashed their teeth.
"They have a hell of a way of showing it," said Maggie.
"Alright, that does it. Alejandra has a walkie-talkie on the
same frequency as mine." A walkie-talkie appeared in her hand.
She pushed the button. "Alejandra, I need you and Mojito up
here, pronto. Over."
Ksshhhht. "What? Come on, the Sons of the Sea are starting to
retreat! We’re winning here!"
"And things are perilous up on the roof," said Maggie.
"Be a proper valiant knight and get up here and save your
beautiful damsel."
Maggie watched the street below as a dozen young men were knocked
aside by Alejandra’s charge. The woman reached the apartment
building and leapt, clearing the power lines and the roofline in a
single bound, and not even giving Mojito a jolt as she landed on the
roof with him in her arms. She set the child down. "So what’s
this about, then?"
Maggie pointed at the approaching air-compressor units. "Please
keep those – those metal monsters away from me."
"Yeah," said Mojito, hopping out of Alejandra’s arms.
"I always wanted to fight a Metal Monster!" he punched the
air a few times for emphasis. "Come at us, monsters! We just
beat a bunch of gangsters and we’re not done!"
"But they’re so cute," said Alejandra.
"Excuse me," said Maggie, "what? I thought you
thought I was cute! Do I look like a robot to you? Wait, maybe I am
one and I had no idea. Oh dear."
Alejandra giggled. "Different kind of cute. But if you want
me to fight them…" She cracked her knuckles. Then she paused.
"Wait. Why do you want me to fight them?"
"She thinks they want to eat her," said Maria. "Or
something."
Maggie pointed to the Metal Monsters, who were slowly reaching the
near side of the hole, gnashing their teeth with a great ringing
sound all the way. "You can’t possibly tell me that that is
supposed to be friendly."
Mojito stood between Maggie and the Metal Monsters. "Don’t
worry, Mother, I shall stand stalwart in your defense! Hi-yah!"
He jumped in the air and did a flip for emphasis. "No mortal man
is a match for my kong-fu!"
"I think the flip has to include a kick," said
Alejandra. "Maggie, are you sure we have no other options?
You’re the creative one here, come on."
Maggie crossed her arms. "And you’re the violent one, so
excuse me for thinking you would actually be willing to stand in my
defense, like Mojito here."
Alejandra crossed her arms in turn. "Answer the question,
please. Are we truly out of options?"
The Metal Monsters were slowly creeping towards Maggie and
company. Maggie looked up at the stars, which were to bright that
they might as well have been miniature moons, casting their light to
the world below. Then she looked down at La Ciudad, where entire
buildings were vanishing every second. "We’re certainly
running out of space and time!" She glanced at the forest, which
didn’t have a single tree out of place. "But I think there is
one place of safety. So let us say, first, that every resident of Los
Hijos is now at the great shrine at the center of the Forest of the
Faithful –" Once more the stars grew brighter. "– and
that all the light from these stars is gathered into a big ol’
bridge, extending from this rooftop to the Forest of the Faithful.
And we can get up it and the Metal Monsters can’t so we’ll be
fine. Behold!"
A great arc of white light appeared, casting a glow over all the
city, at the same time that the stars disappeared. "Alright
everybody, let’s move." She scooped Mojito into her arms and
stepped up onto the arc, looking back and nodding her head towards
the bridge to beckon Alejandra and Maria to follow.
And so our intrepid heroes made their way up the arc, up and up
and up, to the very top –
Where the sky was no longer obscured by the light of stars, and as
Maggie peered into the darkness of the horizon, she thought she could
just see an eye, half above the horizon line, looking vaster than
anything she had ever seen. Indeed, there were five of them.
Something tapped her on the shoulder.
She whirled around and there were the Metal Monsters...all of
them. ‘Oh for crying out loud! I specifically said the Metal
Monsters couldn’t get up here! What gives!"
"Um," said Maria. "If they’re not actually
monsters, would your wording apply to them?"
Maggie opened her mouth to object, but then she paused. She turned
to one of the Metal Monsters and squinted at it. If it didn’t have
eyes, she couldn’t tell much if had a friendly face. But twice now
these things could have got the drop on her, and they chose instead
to reveal themselves. Either they thought the whole thing was funny,
or..."Let’s say I can actually understand what these things
are saying."
A harsh ringing sound as the Metal Creature gnashed its metal
teeth. Frenz?
"You...want to be a friend."
More gnashing. All frenz.
"You’re all a bunch of Metal Friends," said Maggie.
She clapped her hands over her ears as the Metal Friends gnashed
their teeth. Frenz, frenz.
"Aw darn," said Mojito. "Can I fight them anyway?"
Gnash, gnash. Sparring match against squishy child. Conflicted.
"They’ll think about it," said Maggie. "But, ah,
maybe we ought to get going." For the end of the Starlight
Bridge was crumbling away into sparkles, that rose up to the heavens
and became stars once more. And the disintegration was getting
closer. She scooped Mojito into her arms and ran towards the other
end. But that end was fast disappearing as well. "Come on,
everyone."
They raced towards the end of the bridge, or wherever the end
would meet them – just above the edge of the forest, as it
happened. "No worries," said Maggie, "I can jump far
enough to reach the center of this place, and bring you all with me."
She transferred Mojito to one arm and scooped up Alejandra with the
other. Maria threw her arms around Maggie’s neck. Then Maggie
crouched, and leapt, sailing high and far over the trees.