CHAPTER SEVEN: ATONE

Five days before the Jade Festival, Abigail O’Hare and Carlos Dumaresq are back in the outskirts of the city, resting among the trees at the edge of The Deep Woods. It’s a cloudy day, the sky spurting out the occasional threat of rain, but the two friends are sheltered by the thick canopy of the trees around them, so they pay it no mind. 

“How many clients do you take on, usually?” Carlos asks, sticking his fingers into the earth below him and rummaging around, creating tiny ripples across the surface of the dirt around them. 

Abigail shrugs. “Depends on the time of year. Things tend to get worse as it reaches extremes in temperature, so Winter and Summer are busy.” 

“The Monster of the Week doesn’t come out when it’s nice outside?” 

Abigail smiles, and places her hand on a tree trunk. “Think of the planet as one giant organism. A series of systems interconnected to keep each other in check and keep everything running smoothly. Back in the day, you could think of the Astral Plane as something of an immune system - takes out the edges of what’s broken, stores it within itself instead to protect the larger being.” 

“I really hate it when you answer a question with a metaphor.” 

“Shut up, I’m trying to explain. After Obscurus, the Astral Plane - our immune system - went haywire, and now it can’t just hold the edges of everything anymore. It releases them as it goes into action, and if we think of the planet as an organism, the immune system goes off when the organism is in stress. In this case…”

Carlos sighs. “Hot and cold. Gotcha. So how many clients?” 

Abigail rolls her eyes. “Few per week in the busy season, maybe a few per month when it’s slow. I try to take on bigger cases when it’s quiet, but obviously, the cases aren’t up to you.” 

Carlos pulls his hand from the earth, rolling a bit of dirt between his fingers into a sphere. “So you just take whatever you can find, basically?” 

Abigail shakes her head and watches Carlos roll dirt around. “Sometimes I get more calls than I can take on. Winter’s the worst for it.” 

“And how do you choose who to help? If you can’t help everyone?” 

Abigail looks away, thinking for a moment. 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back in the present, Abigail O’Hare has just watched as Arihiro’s body rebelled against him, expelling its contents all over him as he fell to the ground. Before he can fall much further, her body begins to sink, her legs tighten, her eyes lock forward. She remembers her answer to Carlos’ question. 

I help everyone I can. 

Her feet ignite, and in less than a second, she’s grabbing Arihiro and darting off into the sky, the fire from her heels barely able to keep the both of them in the air - but it’s enough to blast them both away a considerable distance before the Peacekeepers can react. 

Ian Crowley pulls his head back and gives a long, deep sigh. “Oh, Abigail…” He mutters, never letting his eyes lose track of the two runaways. “Get her.” 

Maya immediately snaps into action, her boots forming jet propulsors at the bottom and stabilizing boosters snapping into place around her gloves. She flicks her neck and her gray battle suit unfolds a helmet over her face, and she darts off into the sky in hot pursuit. Michael, on the other hand, is in a daze, staring into space for a second before four crystals appear above his head. 

ONE AND TWO: FLIGHT.

The crystals form into a paraglider with a jet engine, which he grabs and uses to rocket straight up in the sky. 

As Michael takes flight, Carlos breaks eye contact with Lea, his attention now on the Peacekeeper floating directly above him. He remembers back to his conversation with Abigail five days before…

“Everyone you can?”

“In the order they come in. Well, if it’s pressing, they can jump the line, but -” 

“Is that why you just vanish for weeks at a time?” 

“Pretty much. Some days you sleep wherever and whenever you can sneak it.” 

Carlos laughs. “Shit, I just quit working four jobs, I can get behind that. Whatever you can do for the grind, right?” 

Abigail looks back at her friend and smiles. “Sure, something like that.” 

“I’m sure I’ve asked you this before, but since we’re working together now, I guess I can ask again - why do you do all this, exactly?” 

Abigail’s smile widens. “It’s my Calling, I suppose.” 

“Got that hot burning passion to fight monsters and solve ghost crimes?” 

“If I have the potential to do something, something that maybe no one else can do,” Abigail says, balling her hand into a fist and out again, “Isn’t it my responsibility to do that thing?” 

“When do you have time for you?” Carlos asks, the ball of dirt in his hands melting past his fingertips. 

“Did you ever have time for you?” 

Carlos shrugs and cocks his head in acknowledgement. “Touche. I guess I stepped into the right line of work.” 

“Not really the line of work for everyone, man.” Abigail says, placing a hand on his shoulder, “Just know that if you really want to do this, it means that sometimes you’ll need to tap into that part of you that’ll willingly push beyond your limits to do what needs to be done.” 

“Yeah? And what part of me is that?” 

Abigail grins. “The crazy part.”

Back in the present, Carlos stares at Michael River, a teal light flashing directly above him. For a moment, it feels like time stops as thoughts begin to flash through Carlos’ brain. 

I need to get out of here. My head feels like it’s splitting open. This is what Abigail does for a living? She’s crazy. She’s absolutely crazy. She’s crazy, why did she grab him? Why does she always do stuff like this? The Peacekeepers want him, did they just say he killed like two hundred people? Why would she save him?!

He’s right above me. 

Why did she do it? 

Maybe my brain is broken. 

What does she see inside of him? 

But right now, I’m thinking…

She helps everyone she can. If she’s risking everything right now for him…

If he’s right above me…

She must have a good reason. I placed my faith in Abigail O’Hare, and….

Then what if…

…she placed her faith in ME.

…the earth right here was a geyser? 

Carlos feels a crazed grin grow across his face as the earth beneath him bubbles up. His penultimate action before passing out would be looking back at Lea, who suddenly looked terrified. His final action before passing out would be to shoot himself straight up in the air, smashing into Michael right as he was about to take off in Abigail’s direction, careening both of them off course and slowly vanishing in a teal flash to another part of the city. 

Ian watches the two vanish, and rotates his head slowly, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. “One maniac at a time,” he mutters, his hand moving from his neck to his ear as an earpiece clicks into place from his own battle suit, a jet black with golden lining. “Maya, I’m enroute to your location. Michael, you handle O’Hare’s friend and meet up with us as soon as you can.” 

“Yes sir, I’ve almost caught up to O’Hare.” Maya responds through the headset. 

“Shit - get - alright Ian, be there - shit!” Michael shouts, his signal breaking up as he speaks. 

Ian nods, and looks over to Lea O’Hare. “You really ought to control your sister,” he says, lifting his right arm into the air. “Because now she’s going to die, too.” He snaps his fingers, and a bolt of lighting strikes them, creating a storm cloud above him. 

Lea keeps her tears inside as long as possible, instead relying on fury to keep a glare focused on Ian Crowley - but this breaks when she sees what comes out of the storm cloud. 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Across town, about three miles west of where the Jade Festival was occurring, stood a statue in the center of a park. This park, named Thelema Nature Preserve, was created fifteen years prior, by a far younger Ian Crowley and his family. It was made to contain and preserve the plantlife living within, and to act as a peaceful reminder of the power that nature held in this new world - industrialization could not stretch past this point, no construction will be done in a place so inhospitable. Still, the park needed to validate its existence, and was fitted with a number of nature trails all leading to a center point, the Scars of Obscurus statue. Simple and elegant, portraying a planet Earth surrounded by rotating rings, this monument represented the waves of energy that crossed the planet, transforming it into what it’s become today. A standing order to remember the folly of man, and the consequences that follow when you play with powers beyond your understanding. 

It was now the final stop of Abigail’s desperate escape attempt, as she spirals out of control and smashes straight into the metal globe with enough force to knock the entire thing off its platform. She lands on the ground, forcing her body to rotate in midair so she would hit the ground first, giving an unconscious Arihiro a safer place to land. She’d been squeezing him tightly with both arms for the entire duration of the flight, so once they hit solid ground, they immediately gave out, flopping haphazardly by her sides as she chokes for air. She gently rolls Arihiro off of her, making sure he slides to the grass as she starts to cough violently, puffs of black smoke escaping her throat. 

“You know, at first, I thought you were just brave. Stupid, maybe, but brave.” 

Abigail groans and forces herself to stand, watching as Maya Olvide lands about twenty feet in front of her. 

“Then, after you refused a generous offer to hop on board with us, I thought, ‘Wow. Maybe she just likes working alone. Whatever.’” Maya continues, pulling a spear from her back that roars to life as she grabs it, a barrel of a gun forming on one side of it. “But you got a sweet little idiot to join your little suicide mission, huh? So you know you’re out of your league, but instead of doing the right thing, doing things the right way, you just go and do whatever the hell you want, getting innocent people involved in your…charades, I’ll be nice, your charades.” 

“What, you don’t like party tricks?” 

“Shut up. These are people’s lives we’re talking about. That might not mean anything to you, but it means something to me. And he’s taken out enough lives. No more. He has to die, O’Hare.” 

“He just wrecked his body to stop that dragon, do you seriously think - “ 

“Do I seriously think?” Maya scoffs, “You’re wading into territory you know nothing about.” 

Abigail grins. “I know enough to know what I’m doing is right.” 

Maya nods, her mouth contorting into a deeper scowl. “I know enough, too. I used to think you were brave, O’Hare,” She says, pulling her spear back, “But now I know you’re just a brat.” 

Abigail’s smile widens, and her bloody hands burst into flame. 

Maya rolls her eyes and starts her charge. She dashes forward, flipping her spear to its barrelled end, firing a white burst of energy straight into Abigail, the recoil knocking her spear backwards. As Abigail defends with flames up her arms, Maya uses the energy of the recoil to backflip, snapping the spear at its midpoint to fire another blast from a new barrel formed inside the top half. 

Abigail blocks the second blast, trying to analyze Maya’s spear. I don’t think I’ve actually seen her fight with this…how can it change form so fast? She stomps her foot into the ground, creating a ring of fire around her, ready to automatically respond to whatever move comes next. And with Arihiro right here, I need to shift the battlefield. I need to go full aggression. Parry her next move, then push forward. 

Maya cracks her spear back into full position, and her helmet vanishes back into her suit. As she begins to move towards her next attack, she looks towards Abigail’s eyes. 

Parry her next move…Abigail’s eyes meet Maya’s. 

Abigail’s mind goes blank. Huh…? She reacts instinctually when she sees a spear heading towards her, blasting out with a massive wall of flames - but she feels a foot crash against her head, and her brain rattling in her skull as Maya kicks her with full force of jet propulsion from her boot. Abigail goes flying, smashing into the ground as she tumbles across the open clearing at the center of the park. What was that…? Did my brain just crash? Or… She slumps onto the ground once her momentum finally stops. 

Peacekeepers. Showing up at the worst possible moment. Every single time. What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t open the door. This was my fault. I’m over here, she’s over there, she’s going to kill him. I need to get up. I need to get up I - 

“Was that all it took, Abigail? I guess that dragon really roughed you up. I was hoping I could see whatever you did against Ryu’Djinn, but it looks like that was a fluke, huh?” Maya says, grabbing her spear from the ground, undamaged by Abigail’s flames. She twirls the spear in her hands, the bladed end sharpening and stretching to become a cleaver. “I’ll bring Arihiro’s head to Ian Crowley. And then…” 

She feels heat approaching her, and barely twists her spear in time to shift into a shield as Abigail smashes head-first into it, shattering the thinned material in a burst of flame. Shit! Maya thinks, pulling back her weapon and spinning it to form into whatever it had enough material to turn into - now an elongated katana. She didn’t destroy that much. But still, this was made after researching Michael’s Calling, so it's pretty dense material… 

She doesn’t get much time to think as Abigail responds with a flurry of blows, each one pushing Maya further back as she blocks each hit with her blade. Abigail’s limbs are being cut by the blade, but are under such scorching heat that they immediately cauterize. This minimizes her blood loss, but causes damage to pile up on itself - not that any of this matters to Abigail, who fights with reckless abandon. She’s always had a swift healing factor, so most injuries will heal themselves within a day or two, but her right arm was still suffering from the last time she’d gone overboard with her flames. 

Abigail lands on all fours after her flurry stops, but she wasn’t about to allow herself to be struck again. Her hands and feet ignite at different intensities, swirling her around as she launches into the air, knocking Maya off balance. She throws her hands together and prepares a blast of flames, meeting Maya’s gaze - 

Wait, wha -

Abigail takes a blast of energy straight to her suddenly dissipating fireball, exploding into her hands and face. What keeps happening? Everytime I make eye contact - Oh. Her eyes thin. So that’s what your Calling is. The damage from Maya’s spear isn’t much, allowing her to sweep her arm and make a flurry of fire rush forward, spreading into her connected galaxy of flame as it painlessly surrounds both combatants. 

Maya grits her teeth. Blocking my vision…? She’s figured it out. I’ve got counter measures for smokescreens, but -

The galaxy instantly collapses into a condensed flame in Abigail’s fist, pulled by her side and ready to be thrown in a punch. Maya has enough time to have her blade fully convert to a shield, and her battle suit, detecting danger, doubles up onto itself as enhanced armor at the expense of transformation. As the galaxy erupts, Maya puts up her full guard - so when the flames rush forward as painlessly as before, her confusion gets the better of her, and she doesn’t see a much darker streak of purple cut through the twinkling flames around her, followed by a massive explosion of purple. 

As the smoke clears, Maya stumbles out, coughing and gripping her side. She’d survived the explosion, but her weapon was destroyed and her battle suit was wrecked. She looked back at the massive haze of smoke behind her, and glanced around nervously for Abigail’s silhouette - but shuddered as she just saw more smoke. Did she blow herself up…? She wonders as the light of the moon above her gets blocked out by something huge. She looks up and sees a different silhouette - a gigantic bird, wings long and thin, barely appearing able to keep it aloft. A storm cloud rumbles around it, and a bolt of lightning strikes down towards Arihiro, a flash of purple going off as it hits. 

“Good work wearing her down, Maya.” Ian says, landing beside her. “I think that gets us two birds with one stone?” 

Maya releases a breath of relief at Ian’s voice. “Ian, thank Christ. I really thought she’d be at the end of her rope after that dragon, but she still had a lot in the tank.” 

Ian chuckles. “It’s fine, you did great. If she managed to survive a direct shot from the Thunderbird, we have - “

Both of them freeze in place. The air around them starts to get colder, and the Thunderbird up above starts to stir in agitation as the wind picks up. More clouds start to form, and rain begins to fall as a sudden storm begins. 

“Ian…is that your bird doing this….?”

Ian feels a shake go through his wrist. “No.” He looks down at his shaking joint, and glares back up at the massive bird above him. “You stay here.” A rumble of thunder disapproves. 

Maya’s attention returns to where the lightning struck, and she shakes her head. “You have got to be kidding me.” 

Abigail, with a fresh hole through her shoulder, forces herself to stand. Her knees can barely hold her up, folding towards each other to enforce her balance. 

“Abigail O’Hare, the time has come for you to officially stand down. If you take another step, you will be sworn an enemy of the Peace and must be eliminated.” Ian booms over the strengthening storm, the wind blowing his curled hair in every direction. 

“Peacekeepers.” Abigail spits, blood dripping from her lips. “Always showing up at the worst possible moment.” 

Maya instinctively takes a step back. Every atom in her body was commanding her to move. 

“Where are you going, Maya?” Abigail asks. “What’s wrong?” She takes a step forward, looking Maya in the eyes. “I’m a sworn enemy now. It’s your duty to stop me, isn’t it?” Her voice is quiet. Almost a whimper. Dripping with contempt. 

Maya feels emotion start to flush through her, but she can’t summon anger. Only fear. 

“This is your last chance, O’Hare.” Ian says. 

“Oh.” Abigail replies, her attention shifting to the commanding Peacekeeper. “I thought that was already my last chance.” 

“It doesn’t have to end like this.” Ian states through gritted teeth. 

Abigail stares for a moment, then gently shakes her head in disgust. “Sure seemed like it did a minute ago, when you struck me with lightning. What’s this, then? Now I get another chance, and another chance after that?” She slowly blinks, her eyes looking down once they open back up. “Here I was, thinking I was just some brat. Or possibly stupid. Maybe I’m crazy? Yet, here we are.” 

Ian slowly sinks into a fighting position, his left wrist glowing. “Michael, I don’t know where the hell you are, but you need to get over here right now.” 

“Wow! And you want your sweet little idiot now too, huh? Am I worth all that?” Abigail sighs. 

“You don’t know what he’s done, O’Hare,” Ian says, in a last attempt to make her see reason. “How many good men and women I’ve lost because of him.” 

Abigail pulls her head back, almost drunkenly, in a scoff. “The same guy who just vomited blood and goo just to stop a massive dragon? A dragon from the cult of lunatics that you did nothing to stop?” 

“You got lucky, O’Hare. We had - “

“I just really don’t care what you had. I don’t care what you do, and I don’t care about what you think is right or wrong. I know what Peacekeepers are. I’ve seen it firsthand. You sweep. You don’t help, you don’t fix, you don’t solve, you sweep. It goes right under the rug. Piles up higher and higher, and when it comes time to pay your dues, you throw it all down the trash chute.” 

Maya finally finds her voice. “I don’t know what you’ve seen, but the Peace -”

“You’re right,” Abigail says, closing her eyes again. “You don’t know. You don’t know what’s happening right under your nose. The people you don’t help, the ones who need it most.” 

“We can’t be omnipresent O’Hare, don’t be naive. The Peacekeepers are stretched across the entirety of Astoria, some things fall through the cracks.” Maya shoots back. 

“Some people fall through the cracks. I thought the lives at stake were what mattered to you…? They fall, they scream, they hit the bottom and scrape their nails off trying to claw their way up, and when you look down at them, sacks of flesh bleeding out at the bottom, all you can say is ‘some things fall through the cracks’?” The blood leaking from Abigail’s shoulder starts to float up, igniting from the heat emanating from her body, then surrounding her in dark purple rings of flame. “Hypocrites. All of you. I fell. I fell forever. I didn’t know what the bottom could look like until I was flattened. You don’t want to help, you place band-aids on band-aids until they mix with the flesh. So you don’t get to tell me what’s right or wrong. You don’t get to tell me to stop.” Her eyes open, fierce and determined through bruised half-lids. “And you don’t get to tell me how to atone.” 

Maya’s eyebrows twitch at the word. 

Abigail’s eyes drift between the two Peacekeepers, and she sighs. “....I’m done talking…yeah, I think that’s all I got.” She slowly stands up straight, her arms still hanging loose by her sides. “I won’t let you kill him. And if you want to, you’ll have to turn me into a pile of bloody fucking rags first.” 

Ian presses down on his left wrist. “Mongolian Death Worm,” he says, “Aspect: Armor.” 

Maya trembles, and activates her headset. “Michael, where the hell are you?! Michael??”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Michael, where the hell are you?! Michae -” The call is cut short when Michael smashes his headset. 

“That’s enough,” he says, rubbing the side of his head. After being hit in mid-air by Carlos (who had rocketed up out of nowhere), the two flew off in a completely different direction, soaring closer to the suburban side of downtown Coastal Astoria and crash landing in the middle of a grocery store parking lot. Michael raises his hand, and shakes his head when no crystals come out. “Damn. You really made me use my last ones?” He asks, sitting down on the road beneath him. 

A few feet away, Carlos was laying atop a teal inflatable landing pad, which slowly deflated as it vanished to nonexistence, tenderly letting Carlos land on the road as well. His nose was bleeding heavily, but was otherwise uninjured if his head injury from the dragon wasn’t counted. “Your last…huh?” He manages to mutter, barely holding on to consciousness. “God, my head…”

“Nasty nosebleed there.” 

Carlos squints his eyes at Michael, starting to understand what was happening. Or, at least, a simplified version. “You’re the…Peacekeeper…?”

Michael nods. “Yup. Michael River. You’re Carlos? Abigail’s buddy?”

Carlos grunts as he tries to sit, but gives up with a reluctant release of breath. “One in the same. You gonna arrest me or whatever now?”

Michael raises an eyebrow. “For what, exactly? You were just trying to get away from the action, right? Can’t fault ya for that, even if you did smash right into me.” He says, maintaining purposeful eye contact the whole time. “I forgive you, by the way.”

Carlos stares back, making the split decision whether or not to trust this sudden grace. “....Right. Yeah. Sorry I uh, bumped into you.” 

Michael gives an exaggerated nod. “Water under the bridge, pal.” 

“So what do you want?”

Michael chuckles. “You do understand. First I gotta ask ya. What’s so special about her?”

Carlos laughs. “Abigail? What, tryna shoot your shot?” 

Michael shakes his head. “No, no. Nothing like that. I just need to know, from her friend.” 

“Abigail…she’s loyal to a fault. If she’s decided she wants you on her side, she’ll do anything for you, no matter how big or small. She just goes all out, you know? Gives it her all with everything she’s got.” 

“What fuels her, exactly? What’s lighting her fire, so to speak?” 

Carlos shrugs. “Never been able to figure that one out, really. She’s a little cagey about bein’ a kid. Something happened to her though. Gave her one hell of a sense of justice. And she’ll fight to the end in pursuit of that justice.” 

“Yeah, I think I’ve seen that.”

“No, you don’t understand. Abigail O’Hare is a lot of things. She loves animals. She can drink with the best of them. She’s stubborn as hell and is impossible to dissuade once she’s got her mind set on something. But the thing you should know most about Abigail O’Hare? She does. Not. Lose. Ever. If she has to fight, she will win.” 

Michael stares at Carlos for a second, and nods. “Good to know. Well, I sure hope you’re right about her win-streak, then.” 

“Why do you say that?”

Michael takes a reluctant pause. “Because right now, she’s fighting Ian Crowley. And if there’s one thing you should know about Ian Crowley, it’s this - he does not lose. Ever.” 

Carlos shivers. “I -”

“But,” Michael interrupts, “if she does somehow miraculously survive this encounter with Mr. Crowley? I could kinda use her help with something…”