Anomaly ━━ Matt vs Chris Sturniolo¹

𝖝𝖝𝖝𝖎𝖎𝖎. Don't Lie to a Liar

[ tw: violence ]

𝖝𝖝𝖝𝖎𝖎𝖎. Don't Lie to a Liar

THE AIR THICKENS with a cloak of ash, buying Maeve, her brother, and Weston a few seconds to stare down on their oncoming doom. The silhouettes of soldiers move down the streets from the north. Maeve can't see their guns yet, but a Silver army doesn't need guns to kill ━ their own abilities are much more deadly.

Other Guardsmen flee before the trio, sprinting down the avenue with abandon. For now, it looks like they might escape, but to where? There's only the river and the sea beyond. There's nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. The army marches slowly, at a strange shuffling pace. Maeve squints through the dust, straining to see them. And then she realizes what this is, what Chris has done. The shock of it sparks in her, through her, forcing Cassian and Weston to jump back.

"Maeve!" Cassian shouts, half-surprised, half-angry. Weston doesn't say anything, watching the girl apprehensively.

Her hand closes on her brother's arm, and he doesn't flinch. Her sparks are already gone ━ he knows she won't hurt him. "Look," she says, pointing.

They knew soldiers would come. Matt told them, warned them, that Chris would send in a legion after the airjets. But not even Matt could have predicted this cruelty. Only a heart so twisted as Chris' could dream up this nightmare.

The figures of the first line are not wearing the clouded grey of Matt's hard-trained Silver soldiers. They aren't even soldiers at all. They are servants in red coats, red shawls, red tunics, red pants, red shoes. So much red they could be bleeding. And around their feet, clinking against the ground, are iron chains. The sound scrapes against Maeve, drowning out the airjets and the missiles and even the harsh-barked orders of the Silver officers behind their Red wall. The chains are all she hears.

Weston bristles, nostrils flaring in rage. He steps forward, raising his rifle to shoot, but the gun shudders in his hands. The army is still across the avenue, too far for an expert shot even without a human shield. Now it's worse than impossible.

"We have to keep moving," Cassian mutters. Anger flashes in his eyes, but he knows what has to be done, what has to be ignored, to stay alive. "Weston, come with us now, or we'll leave you."

Maeve's brother's words sting, waking her up from her horrified daze. When Weston doesn't move, she takes his arm, whispering into his ear, hoping to drown out the sickening chains.

"Weston." It's the voice Maeve used on her mother when her brothers went to war, when her father had a breathing attack, when things fell apart. "Weston, there's nothing we can do for them."