Inciting Events

Chapter 18

Brynleigh Pasternack

Brynleigh looked around at all the rush that was happening. She had maybe done a bit of a dramatic showing for telling everyone about the attack. She had pulled the fire alarm, and then when everyone was waiting outside, she had pulled out a megaphone and announced it. Not everyone had believed her at first, but it very quickly turned into everyone super happy to go attack Tempest.

She felt the stress really build on her shoulders as everyone came up to her at random points to ask her questions about what was supposed to be happening both because she was the only real source of information of the plan and the fact that it was only really now that the truth dawned on her that she didn’t know all the specifics to what was supposed to actually happen or what people should do.

She called Cyrus to try and see if she could collect any information, but Magnus had picked up and reminded her that it was his phone, Cyrus just used it to call her and his sister. Still, she was able to get good knowledge out of him on how to direct everyone around and what to do herself.

The attack would be the next night, and they would need as many heroes as possible to be ready to just brute force their way in there. It would be bloody, so they needed to be ready with plenty of medical gear. They would have to strike at night, so they should get some sleep during the day. Finally, if they met her, someone named ‘Honey’ Badger, someone named ‘John’ Magnus, or someone named ‘Ciencia’ Cyrus, they were to listen to them no matter what happened.

There would also possibly be a reporter girl who was young and would tell them she was ‘Halloween’ Holiday, she was also to be followed and told any information that she wanted from them. The only exception being if they didn’t have the information, obviously. But other than that, no unknown people or people who would be inside or outside of the building were to be trusted.

The plan certainly wasn’t foolproof, and she knew that it could probably use some serious upgrades, but they were on very short notice and didn’t have time for that sort of thing. So they would have to make do with what they had and what they could do as of right then, which wasn’t much.

They just had to try and continue getting ready for the attack and making sure that the more vulnerable ones were left out of it as much as possible. The more vulnerable ones are mainly the younger ones. Brynleigh was very determined to be protected as much as possible. She remembered being that age and being terrified for missions and coming back haunted by what happened while out there.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone struggling to carry a box of gear and immediately went over to help them. They were maybe nineteen but still seemed to have a smaller frame.

After she was thanked for her help in moving the box to the where it was meant to go she was approached by some more heroes who had some questions on what was going to happen when they went to attack. Brynleigh tried to tell them all of the information that she had at the moment and hoped that that would be okay as they walked away after they were done asking her about it.

Continuing on with her night, she continued to constantly ask these very same questions over and over again so much that it started to remind her of being in an interrogation room. Nonetheless, she still answered every single one of them patiently, okay most of them patiently.

Correcting misinformation and trying to make sure that everyone was on the same page was no easy feat, and it really started to irritate and frustrate her. But she had to keep her calm and make sure that no one was left behind on what they knew. Even if she wanted to be petty, she couldn’t.

After such a long time of this same process on repeat like a broken record, she headed to the dinner hall, hoping that this would be a temporary escape that she was hoping for. Unfortunately, though, it wasn’t. The second she sat down with her food, spaghetti and meatballs with a tall glass of water, people were rushing to sit next to her. She continued to say the same things that she had been saying for so long while she still tried to shove any possible food into her mouth between words.

Even just random people that she had never met once in her life approached the table she was sitting at like they were best friends so that they could beat the line to get their inquiries answered.

Brynleigh finished up her plate after probably two hours because of how much she had been talking. She scraped the tray and put her silverware, glass, and her tray all neatly in the pile assigned to whoever was on cleanup duty that day. She always tried to leave it as clean as possible because she knew how much getting picked for cleanup duty could seriously suck sometimes.

Saying good night to everyone didn’t seem to set off the signal she had wanted it to set off. She was hoping everyone would get the jist that she didn’t want to answer anymore questions right then, but the opposite happened. Everyone seemed to talk faster and louder in hopes of getting their words to her ears before she was actually sound asleep in her bed, which annoyed her.

Be it as it may, she still talked to everyone she could while she was walking to her bedroom. At least thirty-five people were crowding her the entire way and basically shouting in her face and ears and all she wanted was to shout back that she just wanted to go to bed, but she couldn’t do that.

Once she finally reached her door, she once again loudly said goodnight, hoping that they would understand this time. Luckily, she was pretty sure they did. So, although they all looked incredibly disappointed, they all dispersed their separate ways in hopes that someone else had already gotten all their questions answered and they could hear from the other people she had talked to.

She was quite honestly surprised that when she finally closed her bedroom door that no one tried to come stamping into her room after her to continue to bombarde her, but she was glad no one did that.

Brynleigh sat down on her bed and sank into it until she was lying on it. She didn’t need to watch the news tonight as there was nothing that Holiday was going to report on that would help her. They were past the point in the plan that civilians knowing really mattered. Because even if civilians knew, although it would make it a bit more dangerous, they still had to go through with it.

Cyrus had told her on the phone last night that she didn’t need to stay up to watch Magnus’s light show either because he wasn’t going to do one. Apparently, he wanted to get a good night of rest before the attack. Magnus may have been quite the odd one, but he had self-preservation, mostly.

She wasn’t sure if Cyrus was still going to call her tonight. She had forgotten to ask. But that question was set to rest when the little sound she had specifically for Cyrus sounded out of her phone. It was really early for him to be calling her, but she supposed he also wanted them both to get an early night.

She excitedly reached for the phone and clicked the ‘accept call’ button. Immediately speaking happily into the phone and asking how he was. She heard him chuckle on the other end of the line, and that brought a smile to his face. They continued to exchange pleasantries before they actually began talking.

Time spent on the phone with Cyrus almost always meant losing track of time and her stomach hurting from how much she had been laughing. She loved getting to talk with him. She had spent so long having the responsibilities of being a hero weigh her down and stop her from really being a kid so much that now that she had someone who made her feel so much happiness, she never wanted it to end.

Cyrus asked her about her day and agreed with her when she told him all about the people annoying her with their insistence, and it felt nice to have someone acknowledge her struggle.

When she asked about his day, it was very exciting to hear about all the missions that he had had to do with sabotaging Tempest, including something he had done the other day with breaking into a weapons room. It all sounded very interesting, but she did understand his point of view when he admitted that he had been terrified the entire time that he was doing literally anything.

Nevertheless, they both relented into less serious discussion for the next two hours while they tried desperately to entertain each other and take their minds off of what was going to inevitably happen the next day.

(Have a great day! Bye!)