“The controls are modeled after a helicopter,” Tinker said.
“I’m your pilot then.” Esme noted Tinker’s surprise. “I’m the best fucking pilot you’re going to find. It’s the magic. On Elfhome, I can fly blindfolded.” Tinker remembered Stormsong’s ability with the hoverbike and realized that Esme probably had the same type of talent. “Taking over controls mid-air might be tricky — but should be a piece of cake compared to some of the NASA simulations.”
“You know,” Durrack called out of the gathering twilight announcing the NSA’s arrival. “We’re going to have to reclassify you to force of nature.”
“Oh good.” Tinker said. “We’re going to do an assault on the dreadnaught and we could use your help.”
Briggs scoffed as she joined Durrack. “And she’s not even trying to be scary.”
Tinker kept losing count of their numbers. They would need a tengu to get every non-tengu up to the dreadnaught while it was in flight. The problem was that she kept forgetting to count herself, or she added herself to both elves and humans. It was really starting to bug her.
“Eighteen,” She hissed to herself. “Nine tengu and nine people without wings.”
While the elves and the NSA agents arranged transportation and weapons, and the sekasha magical supplies, she and the ship tengu gathered high tech gear.
“I found the dreadnaught,” Durrack called as Jin winged her down to the bridge. Dusk was deepening into night. “The oni took it downriver to Shippensport and took over the nuclear power plant.”
“Without power, the humans will be crippled.” Pony pointed out the logic of the oni’s attack.
As if we didn’t have enough to worry about. “Did they damage the nuclear plant?”
“No, they haven’t. They just took it off the grid. EIA has dispatched a team to take it back, but they don’t have any way to fight Malice. They’re leaving him to us.”
“Did you find everything?” Getting a nod, she motioned toward the yellow delivery truck that the NSA had produced. “Let’s go.”
Malice cocked head, as if listening carefully.
Suddenly there was a massive boom, loud beyond description. A shock wave of air suddenly blasted through the streets, and a moment later, there was an echo under foot.
What was that?
Someone looped an arm under Wolf’s and pulled him to his feet.
“Shhhh,” A male hissed, and then added in English. “Don’t use magic.”
The male was an Asian human. He tucked in under Wolf’s arm, supporting him.
As Malice crashed loudly through the rubble, the man guided Wolf backwards, unhurried. Malice scanned the room, swinging his head back and forth, as if searching for them without seeing them. What magic was this that the man had?
A cold chill went down Wolf’s back as he realized that the male’s ears were furred and pointed like a cat’s. This was an oni like Lord Tomtom. Judging by Malice’s seemingly blind search, the oni was keeping the dragon from seeing them. But why was the oni helping Wolf?
Malice stilled and the oni froze in place. The dragon cocked its head as if listening closely. The oni male tightened his hold on Wolf as if worried that Wolf could act. Wolf, however, was under no illusions as to how useless his magic was at the moment.
The great beast grumbled, its voice like thunder, and it sniffed deeply. The massive head turned toward them and Malice stared long at where they stood. The oni stared back, gripping Wolf tightly.
Was the dragon truly fooled, or was Wolf the one being deceived? It was an uncomfortable thought — as was the awareness that the oni had hold of his good hand, making him totally helpless between the two.
Malice stalked forward, muttering deeply. The dragon stopped again, now only a dozen paces from them. Malice rumbled out, seemingly in disgust; its breath washed over them. The oni slipped a plastic jar out of his pocket, and carefully shook it, quietly sifting out a bright red powder. Malice sniffed deeply again, forming runnels in the dust at their feet. The dragon flung back its head, gave a series of deep coughing roars and shuffled back suddenly, away from them.
The oni jerked Wolf backwards and they hurried to a staircase at the corner of the room, and down the steps into darkness. Behind them, Malice smashed loudly, roaring, but Wolf couldn’t tell in which direction the dragon was heading — after them or away. In the complete darkness, they made a series of quick turns. Either the oni could see in the darkness or was running blind with one hand on the wall.
“What is that red powder?” Wolf asked.
“Cayenne pepper.”
They turned again, and the black gave way. A grate stood half-open to a dimly lit tunnel crowded by three pipes thick around as an elf. The oni pulled Wolf into the tunnel and shut the grate.
“This way,” the oni male said.
The floor was curved, making walking difficult. A hundred feet down, the tunnel joined another. Wolf knew that they couldn’t be inside the museum any more.
“What is this place?” Wolf asked.
“You ask a lot of questions.”
“I like knowing where I stand.”
“Yeah, nice when you can get it.” The oni kept walking. “These are the old steam tunnels that used to heat all of Oakland.”
“Who are you?”
“My name is my own to have.” The oni said.
“That makes it awkward to thank you.”
The oni paused to look at him. Finally, he said, “You can call me Tommy.”
“Tommy,” Wolf bowed. “Thank you.”
Tommy grunted as if surprised.
“You are Lord Tomtom’s son?” Wolf asked.
Tommy started down the tunnel without seeing if Wolf followed. “His bastard. Don’t think that you did a disfavor to me by killing him. Quite the opposite. I would have killed him myself if I thought I could have gotten away with it.”
“I see.”
“No you don’t. You have no idea. He raped my mother just to see if he could get a human pregnant. It took him months to get her knocked up, and kept her tied to the bedpost the entire time. Even after I was born, he’d come to our place and beat the snot out of both of us and rape her again, just because he could.”
“Is that why you helped me?”
Tommy glanced at Wolf, ears laid back. At the next intersection, he paused to ask quietly, “What am I?”
“You? You’re an oni.”
“The fuck I am. I’m a human.”
“Your father—”
“Was a sadist pig.” Tommy stalked off. “So my good, kind, beat-to-death mother doesn’t count, even though she contributed half my genes, gave birth to me, and raised me to be a man? A human man. I’m not one of them. Not that that means shit to you elves.”
Wolf had never considered that the half-oni would think of themselves as human. How could he refute the difference that mindset made in a person? Making Tinker an elf had not changed her basically human outlook. If the half-oni had the capacity of human compassion, then it had to be logical that they could be revolted by the oni’s lack of it.
“It means something to me,” Wolf told Tommy.
Tommy stared at him again, as if trying to see into the inner workings of his mind. Perhaps he could. “We know that the plan is to kill all of us mixed blood alongside of the oni, but we’re more willing to gamble on you elves being humane than the oni.”
How ironic, that both sides were looking for humanity in the other.
“We don’t want to be their slaves,” Tommy continued. “We’ve had thirty years of that shit.”
“Then why didn’t you leave? There’s a full planet for you ‘humans’ to go to.”
Tommy made a sound of disgust. “It’s all so black and white to you elves? I don’t get how you can live so long and not realize the world is full of gray. We didn’t leave because we couldn’t.”