57: Supposedly

DRAKE POV

“Mina. Any chance the Turbo Frog can go any faster?” I ask. My knuckles are turning white as my grip tightens on my tablet, where Rika’s messages taunt me. My seatbelt is suffocating, and having to sit still might drive me mad before we get there. I have to do something. There has to be something—

“Not without compromising the stealth cloaking. We’ll be there soon,” Mina replies, focused on all the instruments and equipment in front of her.

“What news?” Xander demands.

“The WASP top brass are planning to wipe out humankind,” I mutter. Even in my darkest nightmares I didn’t imagine they’d have something so sinister in the works. “Maybe leave some survivors to feed vampires, but—”

“You’ve gotta be fuckin’ kiddin’ me,” Callum snaps. “For what—”

“Because they’re destroying the planet. Supposedly.”

“What, you mean climate change and shit?” Xander questions.

“Yeah. Supposedly.” I’ve never put much stock in any of that. At least where our pack lives, we haven’t seen much evidence that climate change is real.

“Damn,” Mina breathes. She flips a couple switches, presses some buttons, and it feels like maybe the Turbo Frog accelerates, though as fast as we’ve been going, I certainly can’t tell, with my lack of training.

“No justice in that. Sasha won’t go for it,” Callum says. I think he’s trying to reassure me, but—

“If she doesn’t at least pretend to go along with them, they’ll probably kill her. And if she’s actually on board with it….”

WASP can’t wipe out an entire species of sentient creatures. That would be the line, where I’d reject her, if she was actually willing….

“Did your tech wizard tell you what she’s doing? Can you tell anything from your video feed?” Mina prompts.

“Video feed’s been inconclusive for a while. All I know from that is they’re not fighting. Rika says she’s stalling them, at least for now.”

“Best we can hope for. Send a message to all the troops with the new intel,” Mina directs. “Any of our pack who wasn’t out for blood before will be now.”

***~O~***

SASHA POV

I wish I’d spent more time in a traditional classroom, during my training. I think they’re trying to bore me into submission. The experts Berach has summoned have some of the driest, most boring presentation skills I’ve ever encountered.

But I guess at least this way there’s no basis for accusations of theatrics or attempts to use scare tactics or anything like that. I asked them to present me with the facts, and that’s exactly what they seem to be doing, albeit in the least interesting way possible.

Maybe I deserve it, for trying to emulate fae tactics to survive this meeting. Berach’s been playing these games for a lot longer than any of the rest of us. I should’ve known better, tried something else, though I don’t think any other techniques would have gotten me this far.

Painful and boring as this is, though, a picture is starting to emerge. Human scientists have known for decades that their activities are detrimental to the planet, that they’ve had a narrowing window of time to make meaningful changes and thus far they’ve squandered it. Without supernatural intervention of some kind, it might well be too late, even if we destroy them tomorrow, to make the necessary changes.

And we’ve already been intervening. Naiads and dryads, elves and fae—everyone WASP could spare who had skills suited to the tasks at hand—have been trying to slow or reverse the tide of humans’ destructive, polluting activities.

It hasn’t been enough. A crisis is approaching. If we do nothing, the vast majority of supernatural beings will perish alongside the humans, as the consequences for their foolish hubris.

So much information. And no way of knowing whether they’ve doctored it, trumped up the numbers, forged data. I have to just take it all in and make a decision.

Will this give the Underground enough time?

I should prepare some intelligent questions, just in case. Drag this out as long as I can, much as I’m loathing this.

If I make it out of here alive, I’m going to add long academic lectures to the list of approved torture tactics for use by Special Ops. The veracity of their claims makes no difference to the efficacy of such techniques in causing mental pain.

But if they do speak true…even if the Underground wins this Revolution, this is a problem we’ll have to deal with. And I’m not seeing a better solution than culling the human herd, in some way, shape, or form.

***~O~***

RIKA POV

“Stars above, could this get any more awful?!” Zoe wonders in a whisper. Her attention is on Sasha as she endures a lecture on climate change from WASP’s most dull scientific experts, while I’m busy with the security systems and surveillance cameras, and working out the most direct, safe path from the low docks to the Inner Sanctum.

“She’s strong. She can handle it,” I mutter. She has to. I have other fish to fry at the moment. Special ops are also on their way here from all over the globe, all according to plan. Sasha’s call to action video has generated quite a response in our favor, just as we’d hoped. Most of the operatives have checked in with me, and I’m assigning each unit a different point of entry. That way all the HQ security personnel should be occupied when Drake’s shock troop rescue team lands. We want them fresh and spoiling for a fight when they hit the Inner Sanctum.

“I dunno, Rika…. What these experts are saying is making a lot of sense. I see how the top brass ended up settling on this plan.”

Zoe. We can’t entertain these ideas now. My fingers fly across my touch screen keyboards, trying desperately to get everything in order in time. “Glad we didn’t send you in there, then.”

“Rika. If I’m seeing it, surely Sasha is, too?”

Fucking dammit. “Probably. But we can’t worry about that now.”

“It’s gonna make all the difference, whose side she’s on when the shock troops burst in there.”

“We’ve known that. What are you getting at?”

“I want to be in a position to help. I can take Berach down with one attack, if he’s not expecting it. Give me a way to be their failsafe.”

Not a bad plan. We should’ve set something up for that to begin with, probably.

“We’re already close to the Inner Sanctum here. Contact Ariadne and see what she can work out for you as far as access goes.”