Page 95 of Gates of Tartarus

He startles sharply at the sound of my voice, looks at me through disbelieving eyes, and says my name, just once, like a prayer that has been answered.

“Kai.”

Reaching his hand up to my face, he softly brushes my cheek with his fingertips, as though I might break with his touch. He leans his forehead against mine, eyes closed, and takes a deep, shuddering breath. The world around us has been pushed away, and I exist alone with him in the orb of his beautiful, unexpected, blazing love. The moment stretches into infinity, lips a fraction of a breath apart, foreheads pressed together, eyes closed. Slowly, so slowly it almost isn’t a movement at all, Hideo leans into me, face shifting fractionally, lips feather light over mine, asking for permission in the barely restrained hover. Moving forward slightly, as much as I can, I press against him. Like a storm unleashed, Hideo crashes into me, kissing me with a wild and unrestrained desperation, the previous blaze of love flaring into blinding brilliance. Everything I have ever wanted, wished for, prayed for, every hope is answered in that kiss. The fervent promise of forever is repeated over and over as his soft lips meet mine, repairing and replacing my shields, covering me in something so much stronger and permanent than I have ever felt before.

Gemma’s voice crashes through the golden haze, frantic and unexpected.

“Kai!” she screams, running furiously across the open lot, her usual awkward gait replaced with the grace and speed of a cheetah on the hunt. “KAI!”

Hideo jerks, looking up towards Gemma, then back down on me, face distraught, eyes tight with fear again.

“Oh God, Kai, I’m so sorry…” he begins.

I gaze up at him, disoriented by the rapid change, confused as to Gemma’s presence. Looking back at her, I realize that she is almost to us, barely slowing when, at about twenty feet from me, her eyes glaze over slightly and she throws her hands out at me like she is casting a net. Almost instantly it feels like I have been doused in ice water, and everything from Hideo’s glowing sunshine to the thick, impenetrable fog of misery hanging over the factory disappears, as Gemma’s cooling presence falls over me.

???

I slump against the back of an ambulance, wrapped in one of those silver heat blankets, EMTs moving around me like worker bees, checking my blood pressure, trying to give me oxygen, checking my eyes, and doing a hundred little things to assess my health. Blood coats my face and makes my long, tangled hair wet and sticky;I’m bleeding from my nose and ears from, I’m guessing, the unrelenting pressure on my brain. I briefly catch a hazy reflection of myself in a small mirror hanging from just inside the open door before my vision blurs, images disintegrating. The whites of my eyes are almost solid red, multiple burst blood vessels in my eyes causing them to swell, and tears of blood track down my face, bright red streaks against my filthy skin. Staring blankly ahead, my eyes unfocused, I’m completely numb to the world around me.Gemma is hovering anxiously nearby, trying desperately to make eye contact, but remains silent, even as several members of the backup team that arrived after the EMTs greet her with startling familiarity, waving at her and smiling. Hideo is across the lot, speaking with a secondary group that arrived in response to the emergency call Smith had sent out, eyes bouncing back and forth between me, Gemma, and the EMTs he is addressing.

Smith and Walker break away from the small group of officers who arrived at the same time as the two ambulances and walk over to me. Smith speaks first.

“What the hell happened there, Reed? You were fine and then you dropped like you had been shot.” His voice is gentle, despite his words, and he waits patiently for an answer.

I try to speak through the numbness, but my lips are cracked and dry, and my throat is raw, with a metallic tang filling my mouth. Walker looks at me for a long moment, then roughly pushes past the rest of the team, returning a moment later with a tepid bottle of water. He crouches down in front of me, cracking the bottle open and holding it up to my mouth for me to drink. The first mouthful catches, and I choke, spitting out the water, which is heavily tinged with pink. Walker raises the edge of his shirt and gently wipes my face before bringing the bottle up again. This time I’m ready and drink slowly and painfully. I shake my head slightly when I’ve had enough, and Walker pulls the bottle away again, before standing uncertainly in front of me.

“Why… what... why is Gemma here? I don’t understand what’s happening,” I say weakly. “Why would Deo call her?... I don’t understand. How does she know everyone?” I repeat, confused. “Do you know about any of this?”

Smith takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “I do. That’s a long explanation, and though it is pertinent to what’s happening, it will have to wait. Let’s finish getting you checked out and we can head back to headquarters and I can fill you in.”

He starts to move away before I speak again, voice tremulous. In a low voice, staring at the ground, I can barely ask the question.

“Do you all know? Do you all know but me?”

Walker’s strong voice rings out, full of anger and disdain, startling me. Looking up, I notice for the first time how tense the body language is between Maddox and Walker. Usually moving together like twins, they stand at odds with each other, Walker’s face taut with fury. Maddox looks almost abashed, but determined.

“I sure as hell didn’t,” Walker spits out. “I don’t keep secrets from my team. Even dramatic charlatans,” he adds, his lips twisting in the echo of a smile.

He surprises a bark of laughter out of me, bitter and unexpected, but a welcome emotion after the chaos of the evening so far. Surprising me even further, he sits down at my side, reaches out, and grabs my hand. The warmth of his skin cuts through some of the numbness I’ve been feeling up to that point, and I jerk upright.

“Jesus! Walker, have you been into the factory yet?”

Eyes suddenly sharp, he focuses his attention on me.

“No, Reed. You dropped, your pulse and heartbeat disappeared, and we did all we could to keep you alive until the EMTs got here. What’s happening?”

“That place is full of women. They’re freezing and starving, and in horrible pain. It’s coming out of there so strongly I’m surprised you can’t see it.”

Walker shakes his head gently, an odd look for such a combative man.

“Negative, Ghost Rider,” he says. “They’ve been watching that place for two days and have run infrareds over the entire thing. There’s nothing in there, Reed. You’re stressing over nothing.”

“I’m telling you there are at least a hundred women in there. You were right about there being a trap, or a bomb. Only it wasn’t the type you trigger by stepping on. It was a specific one, designed for me. It was meant to rip away my sanity, Walker. I’m telling you. There is nothing but darkness and torture rolling off that building. It’s coming up through the floor. There are human beings in there that can’t get out, and they’re hungry and desperately thirsty, and wild with terror. You need to go clear the building again.”

Walker looks up at Maddox, anger temporarily forgotten, and nods.

“Okay, Reed. We’ll do a sweep.”

Grabbing Hideo and the other officers, they gear up quickly and return to clear the factory. Gemma opens her mouth to speak, and I hold up my hand, shaking my head slightly.

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