Meanwhile, back in New York
The ice blue doors of smooth brushed metal slid open with a clean swish for the twelve inch frame of Harrison who casually sauntered through the doorway holding a martini glass with both paws.
“Veronica?...I know you're in here.” The large suite looked nearly identical to the one Aquarius had been staying in, which was boring.
From around the corner, Veronica came from the bedroom, she was wearing an oversized Spinal Tap T shirt, and perhaps nothing else, she gestured over her head.
“I'm in here Harrison.” She slunked back into the room, Harrison sipped his glass slowly and walked in after her.
The room was a mess, magazines and empty pizza boxes were everywhere, the television was muted, but playing some violent horror movie. There was empty bottles piled up in every corner, the air was musky, and reeked of weed. Harrison observed his surroundings with no apparent pause.
“You don't seem surprised to see me.” Mentioned Harrison as he navigated the hills of garbage. Veronica was completely reclined on the bed, looking at Harrison lazily.
“Aquarius told me it would happen like this. You've taken her already, right?” Harrison fidgeted with the toothpick in his glass.
“Yes,...she's being taken downstairs right now.” Veronica simply shrugged at this, taking another hefty pull from a dingy bottle of rot gut whiskey. Harrison blinked, intrigued. “What else did Aquarius tell you?”
“She told me to go back to the island with you, and to let you take her dead body with me...So? Did you kill her?”
“Yes.”
“Well then there it is.” stated Veronica as though everything had been resolved. Harrison was rubbing his chin.
“I have a question Harrison: Why do you want to take us back to the island?”
Veronica shifted her legs and revealed herself, she was sprawled out on the white sheets in a dazed, erotic state. Harrison jumped up on the side of the bed and began to circle her.
“I want to apologize Veronica, about the last time we saw each other. Things got out of hand.”
“Out of hand? Well, maybe. Libra made me think I buried my own father, and Lepus stabbed me in the heart with some kind of spike.” Harrison nodded.
“You were trying to play hardball with me, I showed my hand. Veronica, I will get all the Natal beings back to Castle Motensquire. It's simply a matter of time, and I need Lepus.” Veronica rolled her purple eyes away from Harrison lazily.
“Aquarius said there was going to be a riot, and you were going to burn.” Mentioned Veronica before she took a liberal swig from the whiskey bottle. Harrison's glass bead eyes shifted towards the window for just a moment, the bleak city skyline was glowing a sickly purple, waiting for the nuclear sunrise.
“Aquarius is in a box, with a hole in her chest big enough for a cat to fit through. Downstairs in the lobby, where Lepus and Libra will be arriving shortly to pick her up, along with us....” Harrison trailed off, looking out the window, lost. Veronica sat up slightly.
“What is it?” Harrison lifted his paw to his face.
“Dear god, she's right. There's going to be a riot, here in the city...”
“I'm gonna throw up, again.” mumbled Veronica as she rolled over. “If that does happen, the riot, I can't fight, and even if I could, I wouldn't. Just put me in a body bag next to Aquarius. By the way: How can you predict a riot?”
“There's a presidential debate happening tonight, there's cops and protesters by the hundreds, Aquarius did something, she set something up knowing that I would kill her again. She did something during the time gap. That's why she chose this location...I shouldn't have overlooked this...Veronica you know something don't you?” Veronica hiccuped and threw up onto the sheets and peered at Harrison through a greasy veil of short black hair.
“I saw Aquarius talking to a Natal being I didn't recognize, and Canis too.” she grumbled, Harrison frowned.
“Well...this is a fine mess.” A dull roar shook the room slightly, followed by the familiar rattling pops of machine guns and assault rifles, echoing of the streets.
The door at the far end of the suite opened, and Gemini ran through, adjusting his glasses.
“Guys, a flaming bus just drove into the lobby of the building, and there's like, soldiers, down there, like, actual black ops people in body armor and stuff.”
A series of explosions went off in a torrent, shaking the room so violently that even the massive windows began to wobble creating a ghostly thunder.
“Lepus and Libra can handle it, Aquarius is down there too, so is Canis, Cetus is in the van...you and Veronica are with me.” Harrison was clearly talking out loud to himself, walking around in a small circle as Veronica seemed to be falling asleep. Gemini walked forward nervously.
“There hasn't been this many Natal beings in one place in a while, has there?” Asked Gemini curiously. Harrison was still walking in a small circle, he seemed to be panicking.
“Well, there hasn't been this many S rank Natals engaged in combat so close to each other, some with each other...Give me your phone.” Without hesitation Gemini threw his black rectangular phone to Harrison who caught it easily and began dialing away. Gemini stirred uncomfortably, wanting to ask a question that he knew Harrison wouldn't be able to respond to right away.
“...before, you listed Aquarius like she still counts, I thought she was shot?”
Harrison lifted the phone up to his head with both paws, glancing over at Gemini.
“There's a chance she could recover much faster than before......Lepus?....Lepus.....Hey!......Can you?...Okay.....yes!...the sixty first floor...it's just a normal door...I didn't know they were going to be there...I know...I was busy!..really busy...more, like distracted. It's personal business...yes..YES. Okay, look, stop, shut up! This is it? This is how we're going to talk now? Stop, I'm listening, Yes! …...Lepus,....wait, where is she? What!? Lepus!...Kill him!....wha-YES NOW!.......I'm going, bring him up, and her. Make Libra carry them both....Yes!.....No, I don't want to talk to her....do it.......No, don't let her talk....enough?...we'll talk about that later....Hurry.” Harrison pounded the screen of the phone and threw it back at Gemini as forcefully as he could, Gemini clambered to grasp at it as it bounced off his chest and head. Veronica's head lolled around.
“You guys are like a married couple.” She mumbled. Harrison turned his head to her, rubbing his glass bead eyes slowly, as if polishing them.
“Veronica,...are you even capable of using your power right now? You could create a bridge connecting this room to the building over there, that would be easy for you, even now, right?”
“Why the hell would I help you? And don't you dare even say the name Nick Novelty, or Chris Cambridge, because you destroyed those poor boys, and that bargaining chip is long gone.”
“Hey! I told Libra to SAVE Nick Novelty! Because I knew this day would come! But she tried to back stab me, and now look, she takes orders from me, see? It's all fair game! The incident back at the graveyard, that's just how we play! I know it gets weird-”
“PLAY!?” Shrieked Veronica, sitting up slightly, “I was really fucking scared Harrison!” She screamed in a shrill beam, throwing a pillow at Harrison and nearly knocking him off the bed.
“I'm sorry! It was the only way I could get Lepus!”
“Libra.” whispered Veronica, her dark eyes shrinking into slits. Harrison was watching her intently, though the chaotic sound of muffled gunfire and dull pounding explosions. Gemini walked to the bed to hear Veronica better, who continued to grumble in a low tone.
“...Harrison...I don't know what Aquarius is plotting, but, if I get you out of the city,...and to the castle,....will you..?” Veronica stroked the side of her face thoughtfully as she thought about the question. “...Help me ...retain dominance over Libra, in every way?”
“Yes, sure, it'll be easy.” Insisted Harrison.
“This is interesting,..” admitted Gemini. “..But shouldn't we be leaving now?”
“Lepus is coming to meet us, we'll never make it through the front door, Veronica? The bridge?” Harrison motioned towards the window. Veronica glared at him with a smug frown, pushing herself off the bed in a short stumble which put her directly into the night stand covered in bottles that she toppled over and rolled onto the floor with, swearing and brushing broken pieces of the lamp off her.
A big black coat and tactical gear appeared all over Veronica's body as she stood up, complete with boots, guns and gloves. She looked at the window and reached out with her hand, which Harrison had never seen her do before while using her power.
Out of the solid glass, in a silent ballet of lights formed a long bending series of bars and tubes that connected, and seemed to organically form a long elevated walkway between two skyscrapers nearly two hundred feet apart. Though once fully formed it was clear that this bridge was not perfect, parts of it seemed slightly bent, or wobbling in the wind. Gemini squinted his eyes at it.
“I think I see sparks coming out of it.”
“Sorry, I've been drinking all day,...and I'm only doing this for....myself.” Veronica half closed eyes darted back and forth from Gemini to Harrison, waiting for one of them to respond. Harrison cleared his throat.
“...Well, I only weigh four ounces, Lepus and Libra both have the ability to be weightless, Libra's carrying Aquarius, so she will be weightless as well...Gemini weighs one hundred and sixty lbs, and Veronica you're about one thirty, So I think we're okay.”
While Harrison was talking, the sliding doors were forced open, and with a cloud of white smoke emerged Lepus, followed closely by Libra who had a big black body bag slung over her shoulder. Libra automatically stepped in front of Lepus, directing a pained look at Harrison.
“How come I'm the one who has to carry her?” pleaded Libra, Harrison waved Lepus over to him as he jumped off the bed.
“Because you're literally the only person who can do it, Aquarius's body weighs well over three hundred lbs. But while you're touching her, you can make her as weightless as you.” Libra looked shocked.
“What? I didn't realize I was even doing it! THREE HUNDRED? Really? Half of that must be in her tits, am I right?”
Gemeni shook his head at Libra in disapproval, Lepus's deep voice cut the moment off.
“What the fuck is THAT supposed to be?” He demanded, indicating towards the long, wobbling bridge that Veronica had formed. Harrison jumped up onto Lepus's shoulder, as he has often been depicted.
“That's the bridge Veronica made for us, we need to take everyone across it. We need a new bus Lepus.” with that, Harrison took a cell phone from Lepus and began making calls.
Lepus looked at Veronica as she was cocking her gun.
“Are you fucking drunk?” Veronica raised her eyebrows.
“You think I wont shoot you right now? Test me mother fucker, just fucking test me.”
“Bitch I got shot in the head two minutes ago!” announced Lepus as he tapped Libra on the shoulder and began jogging down the rickety, bouncing metal hallway that swayed in the wind sixty stories up from the streets black with riot police firing canisters into the air at random. The others followed closely behind.