Chapter 92

Chapter 92: 92 "If you don’t let me go with the team, then I’ll just go myself," said Misha, his voice flat and devoid of any emotion. The elders and members of the SSD mission squad out numbered him in number, age, and seniority yet he was still their match in presence. The larger meeting was over and this meeting to plan next steps had started at its conclusion. "Misha," said Helen. "We know you care about Bran, but you need to leave this to us to deal with. We can’t risk you getting caught as well. Remember that The Unity could still be after you for all we know." "Zhan says that Bran solves their problem. They don’t need me anymore," shot back Misha. "We don’t know that for sure," said Brother Green in a calming voice. "But-" "If you try to stop him, he really will sneak out," rang out a voice from the mouth of the cave and everyone turned to find a disheveled Cheungyi hobbling in on a set of crutches, helped by Ah-Boon. "Even if you lock him up, he’ll still find a way out. He’s good like that. It wasn’t really praise, but Misha decided to take it as that. He turned back to the rest of the room. When he’d been invited to join the meeting he’d been more than awed and thought he’d just sit in the back and listen in, but as things had progressed, he found himself unable to just stand by and wait for the good news. He needed to be doing something. "The lad is bonded to the little raven," said another voice. The air above the table shimmered and Master Bou’s spectral form appeared. "That is all the more reason to keep him safe." These were the words of a beautiful and deadly huli-jing, a woman with fox ears and six fox tails. "What if we managed to rescue the little raven only to then lose Misha? That would be unacceptable." "Haayi," said Master Bou. "When your gentleman went missing, could anyone have barred you from pursuing?" "That’s hardly the same." "It is the same." Misha’s face was tomato red and he kept his eyes fixed on the floor. A gossipy whisper went round the table and Misha became redder. He wasn’t embarrassed of his relationship with Bran, but it was still embarrassing to tell an entire room full of mostly strangers about it. The huli-jing Haayi gave a little giggle with her hand over her mouth. "So you are bonded, I see. Well, in that case, I see no reason to bar Misha from helping." "But-" This time it was Helen’s turn to stand. "But..." She looked at Misha and felt the fight go out of her. She knew, probably better than anyone else here, not just how much Bran meant to Misha, but what Misha meant to Bran. It was anyone’s guess what kind of resistance they’d face, be it physical or psychological, so if there was anyone who was suited to rescuing Bran, it would be Misha. "Fine," Helen said with a sigh. "But you’re coming with my team." Which was how Misha found himself tugging at the itchy cord of a lanyard around his neck while sporting a pair of fake glasses as he carried heavy camera bags over both shoulders. They, being himself, Helen and Ah-Boon, were on the train, hurtling underground to their destination. Ah-Boon, who had the job of being the actual camera man, had his phone out and was scrolling like everyone else, and Helen was adjusting her makeup. She clearly didn’t often wear it, but one had to admit she was skilled. Misha also had a phone in his hands. It was Bran’s old one and there was nothing Misha needed to do with it, but he continued to hold onto it anyway instead of putting it away in his pocket. When he’d first turned it on, he’d thought (after getting over the shock of it actually working) that he might be able to get a glimpse into Bran’s life from before and, in some ways, he had. It just hadn’t been how Misha expected. Instead of being able to read through loads of texts and DMs or maybe even emails, Misha only found a few utilitarian messages about school assignments. Okay, he’d thought, maybe the culture back then had been to talk mostly in-person. But then he’d noticed that even after slotting in the new data-enabled SIM card the phone hadn’t received a single message. Why had no one cared to ask Bran if he was okay? No one in ten years? "Misha. It’s our stop." Misha looked up then nodded at Helen. He slid the phone safely into his pocket. Or maybe messages that take ten years to reach their destination never end up arriving - maybe they’d just gotten lost in the aether. Central Station, like the name suggested, was large like a rabbit warren and noisy with all the hard surfaces and gabbling tourists. There were large, bi-lingual signs everywhere one looked but Misha could understand why people would still end up lost and confused and wandering about while running into people. The place was just too big. "This way," called Helen and Misha, after darting through a whole bunch of tourists in red hats, hurried after her. Ah-Boon was still on his phone yet he had that uncanny ability to walk without running into anyone or anything without looking up at all so Misha ended up following closely behind him, using him like a battering ram. "How far is it?" asked Misha once they’d, finally, reached the turnstiles to get out of the paid area of the station. "Mm, a ten minute work or so?" replied Helen. "I honestly don’t come this way that often." "Pearl Island not have much to do with the jianghu?" "No, the opposite. It has too much to do with it. That’s why it has it’s own dedicated squad. For me, my team’s more multi-purpose." "Oh, I see." Misha thought a moment longer, then decided to ask the question he’d been wondering for a while. "...How many people are in your squad?" Helen bristled at the question. "What do you mean?" "I mean... it’s not just you, right?" The question hung in the air and Misha realised he’d found his answer. "Hey, guys," called Ah-Boon from up front. He stopped which naturally meant both Misha and Helen walked straight into him. "Oof!" "Sorry!" "It’s alright. Uh, I think we need to take a detour," Ah-Boon continued. "A detour? Why?" asked Helen. "Is it because of that?" asked Misha, pointing at something beyond them. "...Yeah." A head of them was a massive crowd, but unlike most crowds Misha had seen up till that point in Pearl City, this one wasn’t standing around and gawking - no, this one was walking rather quickly towards them. He glanced behind, but didn’t see anything of interest there. "To the sides," ordered Helen and the three of them quickly scuttled over to the side of the exit and stood against the wall. People streamed past them, the look of worry and fear on their faces evident. Misha was the tallest among the three and he went up on tiptoe to try to see over the crowd and what they were trying to get away from. "What’s going on?" asked Helen. "There are... people protesting something," Misha replied. Over the tops of the heads he could see a group of people holding signs and yelling. "Death To The Devil, that’s what they’re shouting," said Ah-Boon. "Devil?" asked Helen. "It’s the Hundun," said Misha with conviction. "People don’t want it here." "But normal people shouldn’t know about that," said Helen. "There’s a gap there. Let’s go." As she said, there was a brief gap between the surging crowd and the three of them squeezed through it and to the other side. By the time they got past everything, including all the onlookers, the police had come and were negotiating with the leaders to stop what they were doing until they got the proper permits and all the streets had been properly cordoned off. Things seemed pretty heated at first, but eventually it calmed down. "People might not know about the Hundun exactly, but I’m pretty sure it’s The Unity that they’re against," said Misha as everyone dispersed in every direction. "Why though?" asked Ah-Boon. He was off his phone and looking back at the receding figures. "Isn’t suddenly being able to use magic an exciting thing for the normal person?" "Sure," replied Misha. They were on one of the many walkways that crisscrossed the financial sector of the island and around them were throngs of professional looking people in suits of varying formality and the three of them stuck out like a sore thumb. "But not everyone is going to see it that way," Misha went on. "And not everyone is going to have the same experience of it." He’d initially thought the same as Ah-Boon, but after talking with Melody and Coral, especially Coral, he’d start to form other ideas. Anything new can bring new opportunities, but if you’re not in the target audience, if you can’t ride that wave, then, you’ll drown.