Author Games Compilation [Cycle 2]

Task 4 • Independence [NB]

AUTHOR GAMES: THE ABSENT EMPRESS - TASK FOUR

Leave. Leave. Leave.  

The wall was cold and biting to the sharp spine curled roughly against it, and as the body rocked, soreness rolled up and down the bone. Nora focused on this, she focused on this entirely. Palms sweaty and pressed to her temples. Breathing. Deep and slow. Release. No leaving, not yet.

She knew there were eyes on her, piteous glances from people who knew it was impolite to stare but nevertheless got their fill. "You doing okay over there?" a voice asked. Merle.

"I said no longer than ten minutes," Nora said, "You went fourteen. Expect fourteen as recovery and don't waste your breath beforehand."

Someone released an exasperated sigh. Palila stood idly by in the Empress' room.

Once she'd suitably recovered, she opted to take the hands away from her forehead and look up, exhaustion on the lip. "I didn't find much. Traces of eccrine on the windowsill. The print matched the Empress'. Some rayon fibers were caught on the metal but there's nothing to match it with so that's useless." These words were foreign to her, but she regurgitated them from memory anyhow (her power'd been used for some wonky forensics deal, eyes picking up anything of particular significance and tossing words she didn't know through her head like medullary index and methylation and bifurcation - and done with "half the time and price!" of a regular investigation).

"So all we found is what we already knew?" Palila said. "That the Empress went out that window and we don't know where?"

Nora shrugged.

"So much for finding a trail," Merle muttered, and for once, Nora agreed.

She meant to ask if she was done now, if she could return to her room, but the disappointed silence was silence enough and Nora considered falling asleep right there, right on the floor. If the Empress came back, well, shit, they'd have themselves a disco slumber party! She bet the boss wouldn't be opposed, considering how eager the woman seemed to neglect her duties.

As a result, when each phone in the room dinged and vibrated, it fell upon the shoulders of everyone else in the building to take care of what should've been her problem.

Palila and Merle fumbled to whip out their cellular devices, and Nora, assuming they'd all gotten the same message, leaned the back of her head against the wall and stared in expectation at the two women, both weak in pallor at whatever they'd received.

"We've received a threat profile," Palila said, squinting at the screen. "Declan Hart, an escaped convict, urgent action required. Class Delta."

"Delta doesn't sound good, whatever it is," Nora pitched in. "Then again, he's an escaped convict. Even if you don't know what the other shit means you know it's not a good situation."

Palila chewed on her lip, scraping away the outer layer in contemplation. "Well," she began, "there's nothing we do to find the Empress if we've got no evidence. We'll get back on this later but right now we need the team in Vancouver."

"Vancouver?" Nora asked incredulously. "In Canada?"

"Yes. That is where Vancouver is located."

She opened her mouth to speak out against the venture, to argue that she had no business going all that way, but something clicked between her various lobes and skull that made her slowly press chapped lips together and stay silent. It'd be better for everyone if cooperation was key. And she had agreed to cooperate. It'll be okay once this is all over.