Order of Magnitude

LXI. The War Part 3

     Hagen saw Jacques leaving the fray with Edison. He personally knew that his leader wasn't fleeing in fear, but rather to complete the mission. Unfortunately, nobody else could see that, not with that shrill woman shouting out lies. He would later realize that he lost his temper, but at the time he felt like he was in the right. She had to be silenced.

      In the blink of an eye, he stood behind her and hit her in the head with his pin. He didn't do it to kill her, no Jacques probably would have been even more displeased with him if he did, but just to shut her up. The battle wasn't over yet, he could still find a way to lead the group to victory. But not if she was continuously shouting out lies.

      His plan was to rally the SubTerrans, and boy did it work. Only not in the way that he had hoped. Instead of turning against their enemies, the ones who were literally slaughtering them, Hagen noticed that they had turned on him. The fools, he thought. Are they completely blind? One of the angry parvs saw what had happened to Meghan, and grabbed him by the throat. Hagen pushed him away. Then a fist came in and connected with his cheek. His response was with the pointy end of the pin.

      Within seconds, he was surrounded. His pin was forcefully stripped from him, and dozens of hands were punching and clawing at his face. They swarmed on him like parasites. But Hagen refused to go down without a fight. He kicked and shouted at whatever he could. One poor sap got his neck too close to him, and he ripped the soft flesh out with his teeth.

      "Hands up!" a voice commanded to the group. "Everybody up!"

      Little by little, Hagen felt the load lighten until he could finally see daylight and breath in fresh air. He stood up, covered in blood, and came face-to-face with Turner.

      "Oh great," he mumbled.

      "Well look what we have here," Turner said, not even bothering to hide his grin. "My old friend. Won't Chandra be pleased."

      "Bring her around, then," Hagen said, and spat out a chunk of someone's throat. "I'll just have to kill her too."

      "That ain't happening. Your team just surrendered to Carlisle. You are without a weapon, and you just got your ass handed to you by your own side. It's over for you, Hagen."

      "Let's have it out, then. Me and you!"

      "Where's Jacques?" Carlisle trotted up on his mount.

      "You'll never find him," Hagen laughed.

      "He fled," Meghan stood up, clutching her bleeding head. "Towards the hospital."

      "With Edison?"

      "Yeah."

      "Jacques will fulfill our destiny!" Hagen shouted to his enemies. "This day shall not end with his defeat!"

      Turner punched him in the gut, bringing him to the ground. "Shut up!"

      "Turner, you go stop Jacques," Carlisle said. "I'll clean up here."

      For a moment, Turner hesitated. Then he nodded and ran off through the battlefield and toward the hospital.

      "Good luck," Carlisle whispered, watching his friend leave to save an entire species. With the brief distraction, Hagen took the opportunity to make his move. He picked up a stray grappling hook on the ground and stabbed it into Carlisle's spider. Then he ran off in the complete opposite direction.

      Carlisle fell to the ground, his mount dying beneath him. Hagen, meanwhile, ran for his life, knocking down anybody that got in his way, and running out of the battlefield, far away from the hospital, and Jacques, and SubTerra, and the Lost, and the entire conflict that he was once so instrumental in.

      Hagen ran away from everybody.