Jay Posey - Morningside Fall

As soon as those words were spoken, shadows sprang forth from the ruined city beyond, shadows with electric eyes, sweeping like a black tide towards them. A cascade of Weir poured forth, and their shrieks rent the air. Cass felt those nearby shrink back in the face of the onslaught, but she leapt forward with a shout.

Thunder exploded behind her, and the Weir at the front of the charge disintegrated in a shower of gore, and several behind it fell to the ground. Aron was already at work with his mighty weapon.

But those deaths did nothing to slow the surge, and seconds later, the lines crashed together. Cass met them head-on and was forced backwards by the impact. But Swoop was there. And then Kit, and then another of her Awakened brethren, and another. And together they fought, side by side, shoulder-to-shoulder.

And then others joined in with a cry, and all became chaos. Citizens who hadn’t made it to the gate fell before the storm, but Cass had no time to mourn them, or even process their deaths. All around her, the Weir writhed and strove against her, and she beat them back with fist and claw.

Aron’s rifle continued to thunder, though Cass couldn’t see its effects. And while always fear threatened to overwhelm her, she fought to focus on destroying the enemy closest at hand, and again and again succeeded in doing so. Swoop was never far from her side, his tomahawk smoking black in the melee.

But no matter how many they slew, it never seemed to stem or even to slow the assault. She grabbed one Weir by the side of the head and spun, slamming it to the ground, and as she rose, she realized how much closer they’d already been pushed towards the wall. They were practically at the gate, maybe twenty yards away.

She risked a glance up, and saw a number of guards were firing down from the wall, and that gave her hope, until she turned back and saw how many still remained. Claws stung her. But Cass refused to let them take her. She smashed her palm into the face of a Weir and drove it backwards into its advancing kin, fighting to gain space for the people trapped between the Weir and the gate.

Someone fell to her left, claimed by the Weir, but she didn’t have time to see who it was. Already her arms and legs grew heavy, her strikes inaccurate, and still so many remained.

But then on her right, the Weir peeled back and wheeled, and there a radiance fell among them. And above the roar of combat and the shrieks of the Weir, a voice arose. Singing. And Cass knew that somehow, beyond all hope or imagining, Lil had come, and her warriors with her.

Where those avenging angels went, the Weir fell before them, or scattered, and Cass heard now as well the sounds of gunfire. Gamble was there too, with her team. And together Lil and Gamble and all those with them drove back the Weir from the flank.

Still the bulk of the Weir fought on, pressing their way towards the gate, and Cass was helpless to prevent them. She strained against the Weir, but their numbers were still too great. She could only hope to survive long enough for Gamble to cut a path to her, but with each second that passed, it seemed a more and more distant hope.

And then.

The crush stopped. And the Weir before her turned their eyes from her to something behind her, and they halted their advance. Cass dared not turn, and she crushed her fist into the throat of the Weir before her. But as it fell, she became aware of a pressure growing, and a light, and there were screams of dismay from some of her own.

And when she turned she saw now, there, walking among them, a being of lightning and flame. And terror entered her heart.

But also hope. For she had seen this being before. It was Wren, revealing himself in power, and he was coming to save her.

The Weir fell back before him, and some collapsed to the ground. The warriors that had stood with Cass surged forward, many unable to perceive what had caused the change, but determined to press their temporary advantage. Cass fought with strength renewed, and the Weir melted away and fled back into the night.

The survivors all stood in shocked silence after the assault ended. No one could really believe it was over. The ground was strewn with corpses, many Weir, and many of Cass’s own people. The loss was too great to seem like a victory. But the number of slain Weir scattered around them was astonishing.

She glanced up at the wall and saw the guards arrayed along it. They had lent their aid after all.

A voice was crying out from the top, “Open the gates! Open the gates!” She recognized the deep baritone. It was North.

The gates clanked and groaned open, and as soon as they did the citizens pressed against it began flooding back inside the city wall. Cass looked down to find Wren standing before her, once again himself, knife in hand.

“We did it, Mama,” he said.

She picked him up and hugged him. “We did, baby. We did.”

“Maybe now they’ll listen.”

“I hope so.”

“Hey,” came a voice behind her. “Sorry we’re late.” Gamble. She looked grim and exhausted, but Cass thought she’d never been more beautiful. She set Wren down and embraced Gamble. The whole team was there, even Wick, pale and eyes heavily shadowed. Cass greeted them all, as did Wren.

Lil joined them, with nine of her warriors.

“I can’t believe you came,” Cass said.

Lil smiled. “Gamble can be very persuasive.”

“We should get inside,” Gamble said. “They might’ve run off, but there are still a lot of ’em left.”

Cass nodded and picked Wren up again. Together they all started towards the gate, but Finn, Mouse, Able, and Sky broke off from the group and started checking bodies. Whenever they found one that wasn’t a Weir, two would work together to lift the body and carry it back inside the city. Once others realized what they were doing, they too came to help reclaim the fallen, before the Weir could do so. Aron, and Kit, and even Mister Sun joined in.

There was one man just sitting on the ground, staring off in the direction that the Weir had gone. A ridiculous number of Weir lay sprawled around him, and he sat amongst them, paying no heed. Cass approached to see if he was all right, and realized it was Swoop. He was so covered in ichor, she hadn’t recognized him at first, and she went to his side.

“Swoop, you OK?”

He didn’t answer, but just stared ahead. Cass put her hand on his shoulder, and when she did, he slumped slightly towards her. “Oh, Swoop…” she said, and she cradled him and wept softly.

After a time, she called the rest of the team over, and they paid their respects, and took care of the body. Able let his tears fall freely, though he did it almost without other expression. Mouse, too, was clearly upset. But the others seemed to swallow their emotion for now. Finn said there’d be time to hurt later, but now wasn’t it.

There was still work to do, and it was heavy. Most of the people Cass helped carry, she didn’t know. She didn’t know which was worse. To carry the body of a fallen friend, or to have fought alongside someone and lost them without ever having known their name. But these were heroes, all. People who had willingly laid down their lives for their own. She would see to it that they were honored as such, no matter what their station in life had been.

North was there at the gate, assisting, giving directions, keeping order. He had a natural command that provided some comfort in times of crisis. Cass had just laid a body inside the wall. An Awakened whose name she just couldn’t place at that moment, and she felt terrible for the fact. She was just turning to go talk to North when a terrible sound came from the outskirts beyond the wall.

It was a cold, mocking laughter, echoing from the darkness. It was Painter’s voice, but Cass knew in her heart it was Asher who laughed. He was toying with them.