Chapter 57: Convergence Part – 8
The line came back.
"Leon." Emilia's voice had something in it that hadn't been there before. "I informed Lady Iris of your request."
A pause.
"But she refused."
Leon's mind went blank.
"Sorry — I didn't hear that clearly." His voice came out strange. "Can you say that again."
Emilia was quiet for a moment. When she spoke again it was careful, like someone placing each word down gently.
"She asked me to inform you that..." A brief hesitation. "Whether you or any of your friends lives or dies does not concern her."
The color left Leon's face.
"I'm truly sorry," Emilia said. "I cannot act without Lady Iris's permission. I—"
The line cut.
Leon stood there with the phone against his ear and the dead silence of a ended call.
He called back.
It rang and rang. Nobody picked up.
He called again. Same thing.
Again.
Nothing.
He lowered the phone slowly.
Why. Why. What happened. I don't understand. Why did she say that.
Iris was cold — he'd always known that, had accepted it as one of the fixed facts of how she operated. But never like this. Never this. It wasn't supposed to go like this.
The floor shifted under him.
He didn't fall. Leah had him by one arm and Nick had the other before his knees finished giving, and they held him up between them.
"Leon." Leah's voice was close and urgent. "Leon, what happened in there. Who were you calling. What's going on."
Leon looked at the floor.
"They're going to kill him," he said.
Nick's grip tightened. "Kill? Kill who?"
"Noah." Leon looked up. "They're going to kill Noah."
Leah and Nick both went very still.
"Leon," Nick said. "That can't — there must be some misunderstanding—"
"There's no misunderstanding." Leon shook his head. "The hologram. The guy on it — he gave the order directly. And then that other one, the one they were calling Akira — he had me thrown out. He's in there right now and Noah is in there and—"
The blood had left both their faces at the name.
Leah and Nick looked at each other.
Akira came here himself. The thought moved between them without being said. The Council has taken complete control of this. If the Council is involved to this extent we have nothing. We are completely powerless.
What are they doing. Why are they doing this.
Leon didn't see any of it. He was already pulling himself upright, steadying himself, and moving back toward the door.
He was about to reach the council guards when something moved past him.
Not a person. Not wind exactly. A warm gust, sudden and localized, passing through the space between him and the door like something with direction and intention. There and then gone.
Leon stood still for a half second.
Then he let it go and stepped forward.
"Please." He looked at the guard directly. "Please just let me in. He's my friend. Whatever is happening in there just let me—"
"No entry."
"I'm not going to cause any trouble I just need to—"
"No entry. Step back."
Leon looked at the door. The solid, closed, unmoving door.
"Please." His voice had lost most of its structure. "Please. I'm begging you. Let me in."
The guard said nothing.
Leon moved.
He went for the gap between the two guards, shoulder dropped, trying to get enough momentum to push through before they could respond. The guard on the left caught him almost immediately, both arms, spinning him sideways and driving him back against the wall.
Leah stepped forward. Nick moved with her. The second guard shifted to block them.
Leon dug his feet in and pushed. The guard was twice his size and trained for exactly this and it should have gone nowhere. Leon pushed anyway, felt something rise in him from somewhere below the panic, something with a different quality, and leaned into it — put everything left in him into a single push.
The guard stumbled.
Genuinely stumbled. His footing broke and he went back half a step and Leon was already moving toward the door.
The second guard came from the side.
A sharp impact at the back of his neck, precise, practiced, and everything cut out.
He was aware of falling and then not aware of anything.
Leah said his name. That was the first thing — her voice, tight, the particular alarm in it of someone watching a person drop.
"He's fine." The guard who'd hit Leon was already supporting his weight, keeping him from going down hard. "I've only knocked him out. He'll be conscious in a few hours." He looked at Leah and Nick with something that was almost courteous. "Take him out of the building before any further action has to be taken for obstructing Council security. That's the last warning I'll give."
Leah looked at the door. At the guards. At the Council insignia on the wall panel.
Nothing to be done.
She and Nick got Leon's arms over their shoulders and walked him out.
A few hours passed.
Leon's eyes opened to a white ceiling.
He lay there for a moment not moving. The light was different — softer, interior, afternoon probably. A white room. A bed under him.
He tried to sit up.
The headache hit him immediately, sharp, centered at the back of his neck where the guard had hit him, and he put a hand up to it and sat still until it settled to something manageable.