Radicle (Terminal trilogy #2, can stand alone)

33: After that

 Stacy sent me to Pride alone and without much fanfare. I was still wearing just a long coat, now with pants, and I was obviously recognizable to absolutely everyone in Hell.

But, to be fair, I had technically been warning them about the angels, not ushering them in. So people were apprehensive, and I'm sure The Few were pissed off, but I was otherwise given a fair berth.

I did not go much farther than walk around the outer perimeter of the city, however, resting at the gate to the underground. And the rubble that lay there.

No one had touched anything, and I felt the worry was that this collapse would risk further damage if disturbed. Either that, or the authorities were aware of just how hopeless it was to excavate. I had seen for myself how damage had been done. There were few survivors worth fighting for anymore- at most, perhaps the workers on the nearest level of Lust. But it was highly useless to hope excavation teams could reach Greed or Gluttony before survivors died of thirst.

It was grim- that was the easy way to put it. The simplest way to sum up what damage had been done: grim. And of course, I should not be dismissing so easily that this damage had not been done.

It had been caused. Michael Castellano was an enigma that eluded me, but I had learned another thing about him today.

I decided I ought to sit in front of the rubble if I was going to wait. I didn't quite know what I was expecting to happen- Michael to burst through solid rock and kill me?- but I figured I might as well be siting when it occurred.

The elevator in Pride was safe from harm, and a while ago a small squad had been sent down in it to see if they could access any of the levels. They returned shortly after I had arrived, bringing with them an injured woman.

"Wrath's the only place we could even step out, and it's only partially collapsed." Some senior squadman was explaining to the police. "A bomb was placed inside the level, but the passage down to the pit was spared. Ought to be able to get people out through the rift- they can rope down from the Gemini office."

Plans were being made, and I was listening in half interested. Some hellhound had stepped up and almost broken her back protecting one of the tunnels- that was the injured woman they were escorting- and I had to wonder if, well...

...The area in front of the elevator had been spared. And the people in front of the elevator had been the only ones I particularly cared about the fates of. Which left a nice little gap of knowledge in my mind: was Lil alive?

When had I even thought her dead though? There was a moment in the dark room when I had realized Stacy was going to kill everyone, and Lil had been on the screen then. But I had never had a crises about her death. I was almost thinking- 'Well, everyone is going to die. And look! Lil is there too.'

I was a terrible boyfriend. She wouldn't actually call me that though, so I guess I was just a terrible occasional sex partner.

It's not like I could sneak onto the elevator and look for her corpse right now, so I settled to wait some more.

My wait ended when the police grew tired of my constant sitting in their way, and made me stand up. Lane had arrived on the scene just a minute previous, and looked honestly very disappointed to have to escort me away.

"It's hard for you to keep away, isn't it?" She sighed, occasionally glancing back at the scene of rubble with great sadness. She locked me in handcuffs and took the blade off my finger. "The rest of us are going to want to speak with you."

"I hope they kick me out of Hell again." I said with a small laugh, and regretted it moments later because this was honestly a very inappropriate time to be joking.