Some Thing Called Myself (Complete)

XLII: Something Awaits

Ch. 42: Something Awaits

Alive, huh.

Mara hugged her knees closer as the loud bangs echoed inside the HQ, and the movement inside it increased. Mimi and Godo must've known a way to wake up the other Sents, for as the minutes passed, more of them ran around the corridors, across the patio, and through the closed doors.

She looked around, her eyes dry and unblinking. Kiki had been gone for a while, and Mara thought she needed to do something else, but...what, exactly?

"Keep barring those doors!" Godo shouted to the few Sents around him on the ground level. He was panting, his voice drenched with effort. "Bring anything you can find; chairs, tables, anything. If they're made of metal, all the better." He lifted yet another pool table and tossed it against the elevator doors as if it was made of styrofoam. It crashed against the pile of furniture with a loud noise, proving how heavy it really was. He exited the small anteroom and pushed the gates open for a duo of Sentinels to enter and toss yet another table inside.

From where Mara sat—the staircase between the sixth and seventh floor—she saw Godo crossing the patio. He stopped beside the large boulder that had fallen during one of the earthquakes and tried pushing it toward the elevator doors. It rocked forth, then back into its original place. Godo grunted and gave it a little punch.

"Did anyone find Elena or Jano?" he asked.

"Not yet, Godofredo," someone answered. "But I met Yuki and his squad near the infirmary; apparently, there's a bunch of non-fighters there—people from the emergency rooms. Where should I direct them?"

Godo hummed and accepted the bottle of water the woman offered him. "Three squads is not much, but it's something." Godo chugged half of the bottle and tossed it back. He dried his lips on a sleeve and supported his hands on his knees. "All right, I'll ask Mimi; gimme a sec." The hissing of a two-way radio echoed on the patio. "Mimi? You listening? Over."

Silence.

"Mimi? Can. You. Hear. Me? Over."

The PA system crackled in response. Mimi's voice blasted through, extra hard and confident as if she tried to hide the teary tremor of her words. "Yes, Godo, I can hear you. Testing, testing. Is this working? Been trying to turn this shit on for the past ten minutes."

"Yeah," Godo said against his radio's speaker, a sad smile in his voice. "Can hear you loud and clear. Over."

"Good." Mimi's voice came back through the two-way radio, much lower this time. "I'm listening, Godo. What do you need? Over."

"Our numbers are still too small, and we haven't found Elena or Jano, so none of us have any idea of how to wake up the other Sents. Tayná just met Yuki and his squad, though. Three units should be enough to keep the first group of mermaids at bay if we keep the gates closed. But we need to find a way to get all the Sents here. Can you think of any way to awaken the others? Over."

"We're lucky enough to have managed to wake up this many Sents, Godo—I have no idea of what to do now. Over."

"Right. And should I keep Yuki's squad here or what? Over."

"How the fuck should I know?" Her voice wavered. It came back after a moment, a lot stronger. "Over."

Godo sighed and waited a moment or two. Then, he cleared his throat. "You're better at this than us. You went through the emergency response training, Mimi—you know what to do. I trust you. Over."

She made sure to laugh through the two-way radio, the sound dry and full of irony. "A damned mermaid invasion wasn't on my list of potential emergencies."