The Gate of Tears, Episode 32

Mae-Ying Allen ~ 4–24–2029, 11:07 PM EST

Forty-five minutes of relative quiet pass. At one point a helicopter flies by overhead. Mae-Ying tenses for several minutes afterward, but nothing comes of it immediately. Melina quietly taps through something on her watch.

Things in the van are quiet. Finally, Mae-Ying looks toward Ria. “Are you okay?”

“Huh?” Ria grunts. “Oh, yea, fine. Pissed off but fine.”

“They probably wanted you to be able to feel things when you touched them, Ria,” Jeb says. Ria glares at him in the rear view mirror.

Bryana is still massaging her forehead. Mae-Ying turns to her. “What about you, Bryana?”

“It’s just a migraine,” Bryana says. “I downloaded most of that shit into my long-term memory. Avatar would’ve had to link up to another drive which introduces more latency…”

“You want something?” Mae-Ying asks.

“No…” Bryana grimaces. “I can’t take anything that might affect my brain until five hours in.”

“Oh,” Mae-Ying says. “Well, that sucks.”

Bryana nods miserably.

Mae-Ying goes back to ruminating. Not having Niva and Raskoph with her for this part is deeply affecting her calm.

She’s in the middle of ruminating, half an hour later, when Benny pulls to a stop at a red light at an empty intersection. The light turns and Benny starts into the intersection.

There’s a squeal of tires on pavement and a black sedan peels down the cross street and slams into their side.

“Motherfucker!” Mae-Ying shouts as the van spins around.

A second sedan, coming from the opposite side, slams into the front bumper. The world jerks and spins and Mae-Ying can’t focus on anything. Her heart is pumping in her ears. Gunfire slaps into the side of the car — at any moment, Mae-Ying expects to feel the impact of bullets against her armor, but no holes appear in the sides of the van’s interior. Vaguely, beneath the surge of adrenaline, she remembers Benny saying he was getting the van from ‘a guy’.

Ria slams open the side door. She shouts, “GO!” at Benny.

“Melina!” Jeb shouts. “Grab Bryana! You and Mae-Ying get out now!”

“I’ve got her!” Mae-Ying shouts. Melina grabs Bryana’s other arm and Mae-Ying spins, Melina matching her speed immediately. They hit the shallow Wild and Mae-Ying just bursts through the rear door of the van, intuitively using her Logos to shove through its semi-insubstantial Wild form. Melina follows, tugging a wide-eyed Bryana behind her. They have to immediately dodge aside as Benny puts the van in reverse and nearly hits them; the Wild slows down its momentum enough that they have a bare second to get back.

Melina stares around. “Thank God you are good at this…”

One of the sedans — the one that hit them first — has disgorged three shooters in body armor. Mae-Ying watches as a slowed-down Ria goes charging at them. None of them have the bold, standing-out quality Mae-Ying associates with people who can Throw. The other sedan is driving after Benny.

“Can you hold Bryana up for a minute?” Mae-Ying asks Melina.

“Yes, but what — “ Melina begins, but Mae-Ying ignores her. She charges after the car chasing Benny, dropping just slightly deeper into the Wild in order to improve her own speed. The sedan becomes more shadowy and unsubstantial. She tries to push through the immaterial substance of the sedan’s trunk, but it resists her. Irritated, she tries the door, which is somehow easier to breach. She slides inside, into the back seat; there are two people in the car with her, blurry and hard to make out, but the man in the passenger seat definitely has a rifle and is aiming towards the van.

Mae-Ying emerges from the Wild, already driving her shock baton into the side of the gunner’s head. The man tries to scream but all that comes out is a choking, clicking sound. The driver turns towards her, confused, and Mae-Ying jams the baton into his cheek. His grunt of surprise turns into a high pitched shriek. His foot jams onto the gas pedal and Mae-Ying reevaluates the wisdom of this maneuver.

Instinctively, she Throws, but her spin takes her too deep, away from the shallowest layers where the sedan’s reflection might catch her; she has all of the momentum left over from its sudden acceleration, though. She flies forward, as though she had jumped through the sedan’s rear windshield, and hits the ground, scraping along it, barely managing to get her arms up around her face. She feels something pop in her shoulder and her left leg feels like she’s stuck it into a bonfire. She finally skids to a stop and just huddles for a moment, teeth clenched, forcing herself not to scream.

Melina appears nearby her in a flash of Logos, tugging Bryana along behind her. The two women hurry over, as fast as one can hurry lugging a technomancer.

“Oh my god!” Melina exclaims.

“Ow. Ow…” Mae-Ying manages to say.

“Jesus Christ your leg!” Bryana screams. Mae-Ying forces her to look down. Her pant leg is basically gone, along with all of the skin from the front and side of her right leg.

“Oh my God.” Mae-Ying swallows. Her sight blurs and she forces herself to breathe and look away.

“Can you move?” Melina asks.

Mae-Ying tries to get up. Her strength falters and she forces Logos into her body. Bryana moves to help her up.

“Let’s go,” Mae-Ying says. She limps forward.

“Should we go alone?” Melina asks. “I think Ria is fighting still.”

“We should take cover,” Mae-Ying says. “Gotta get closer to the surface…”

Melina nods and they rise through the Wild’s layers, into the shallows once again. They’re near a row of shops and Mae-Ying begins hobbling towards them, with a bit of lackluster help from Bryana. Mae-Ying shoves through a shop door and then she and Melina emerge from the Wild, tugging Bryana along with them.

Sound returns to the world immediately; she can hear helicopters. Mae-Ying slumps to the floor. “Shit.”

Ria bursts through the shop’s physical doorway. “The attackers are down but we’re about to have company. Fowler?”

“Trying to lead them off,” Benny says. Mae-Ying can hear him through her glasses. “Can you get out of there on foot?”

“Yea but- Jesus Christ Allen!” Ria spots Mae-Ying’s leg.

“What?” Benny asks sharply. “What’s wrong with Allen?!”

“I can keep going for now,” Mae-Ying says.

Ria stares at her for a second. “Okay! Proceeding on foot! Rendezvous at Southway and Crescent in forty-five. Do not be a fucking hero, Fowler, we need our medic alive!”

“Glad you care!” Benny snaps. Ria grabs Mae-Ying’s arm and lifts her to her feet.

“Thank you ma’am,” Mae-Ying says.

“You need me to carry you?” Ria asks.

“We’ll see,” Mae-Ying says. Ria nods. They start out of the back of the shop. Walking is intensely painful. She can feel the blood trickling down her leg beginning to pool in her sock.

They head down a side street and through a dark strip mall. The sound of helicopters comes closer.

“Is it me or are they following us?” Mae-Ying asks, trying to keep her voice steady.

“Maybe they want to pick something up at Walmart,” Ria says.

They keep moving. They’re almost across the strip mall, heading towards a park, when the sound of one of the choppers settles almost directly overhead. A searchlight snaps on, illuminating them.

Ria shoves Mae-Ying and Bryana back under the awning of the mall. She looks at Melina. “If this goes bad, you take them and go, okay?”

Melina nods swiftly. Bryana, Mae-Ying notes, has a kind of glassy-eyed look, like she’s dazed or high. Mae-Ying attempts to keep herself from shivering. She knows she’s in shock, but there’s nothing to do about it now.

Ria walks out from under the awning. Immediately two guys appear in the swift swirling color-smoke of people Throwing out of the Wild. One is behind Ria, one is flanking her on the left. Ria’s handgun is out in an eyeblink. She fires twice into one guy’s chest. The other guy unloads a shotgun into her back. She stumbles, then turns and shoots him in the face. She returns to the first guy and slices his throat to ribbons with her finger razors as he tries to rise; he goes back down making a liquid choking noise. Ria raises the handgun, aims for a moment, and fires twice. There’s a sound of glass breaking and sizzling and the spotlight goes out. She fires again and the helicopter’s chop chop chop sound becomes decidedly more skewed.

Mae-Ying watches as the helicopter swivels and starts plummeting from the sky, over a golf course across from the strip mall. Ria’s turning back to them when a black form plummets from the descending helicopter. It seems to slow its own descent, right before impacting the ground, and touches down softly.

Ria turns and fires at the figure. Mae-Ying can just barely see a raised hand and bursts of sand-yellow Logos as the figure begins advancing.Ria’s bullets seem to have no effect. The figure breaks into a run, even as Ria continues to unload.

“Executioner,” Melina breathes.

Ria drops her gun and raises her arms, even as the charging figure swings his own fist and a blazing arc of golden Logos hurtles from them like an incandescent boomerang. The sand-colored Logos blasts against Ria’s upraised forearms like a bomb going off, the sonic and physical impact of it making Mae-Ying reel even thirty feet away. Ria staggers backward, the asphalt of the parking lot cracking under her boots, but doesn’t fall over.

The figure is in front of her a second later, swinging with a fist that blurs with Logos. Ria sidesteps, moving at the last second so fast that she blurs. Her fist slams into the guy’s side, causing another burst of golden light. Ria then sweeps her hand around like a knife, aiming for his neck. He grabs her wrist and tries to throw her, but she drives her feet down so hard the asphalt cracks again. She grabs the back of his night vision goggles and rips the band apart. Now exposed, Mae-Ying can see blonde hair and almost boyish features cast orange in the streetlights.

Ria and the man continue sparring, and they look almost evenly matched, but when the guy lands a hit, Ria clearly feels it, whereas he keeps deflecting her attacks with that Logos shield. Melina has her shotgun up, as though she’s ready to fire, but never does. Mae-Ying’s not sure what she’s waiting for, but the pain and shock and confusion of the melee drive the question from her mind. Ria jabs at his face and lands a hard blow that staggers him. She moves in for the kill and suddenly Mae-Ying realizes the man’s stagger was a feint. Before she can shout, the guy delivers a brutal uppercut that sears the dark sky like a comet.

His back is to Mae-Ying as Ria tumbles to the ground. Desperation and fear fill her. She forces herself away from the awning and starts moving towards him at a shambling run. The guy spins to face her. His mouth curls into an arrogant smirk.

Green eyes — the eyes she saw in the sky above the alley the morning Garibaldi attacked them — open in the darkness behind him. Bands of Logos unite them, then seethe upward into the sky, and a roaring voice demands, Remember…

She is the Slavic woman, the redhead she saw in the Chamber of Kings, one of the people Mae-Ying used to be. She is dressed in simple garb — hides and fur lining. Snow is pouring from the sky all around her.

Her enemy comes charging out of the snowblind. His movements are sure and precise. His skin darker, but his golden Logos is the same; it sears the air in front of her, narrowly missing her face. She slaps his passing elbow as it goes by, her hand enhanced with her green Logos, a drilling thorn that penetrates his aura rather than his skin. She can see the golden light within his arm draining away, siphoned off by her crippling attack.

She snaps back to the present and can see his left fist pulling back, knuckles seething with contained Logos. She waits just a heartbeat and the punch is coming in, inhumanly fast. This time she can feel the heat of his power on the tip of her nose as she dodges back. She has to swivel painfully on her bad leg to get the right angle. Her Logos forms the drilling thorn; her palm slaps against his elbow, just as it did in the vision.

She feels his Logos surge into her, seeming to burst through her entire body, lending her another last flush of strength. He stares at her, apparently dumbfounded.

Mae-Ying drives her baton into his side. He flinches, the golden light seeming to try to form around her attack, but failing; there’s a snap of electrical power and he falls to the ground. She gives him a second and third jab for good measure.

Ria is pushing herself upright, groaning. At the same time, the world swims in Mae-Ying’s vision and she loses all sense of up and down. She topples, blacking out before she hits the ground.

#

The world returns, pulsing briefly, as though she’s blinking. She’s standing in front of a desk, regarding a seated black woman with severe features. Devona Tench. Mae-Ying knows she should feel terrified and confused, but she doesn’t. She’s supposed to be here. They have a meeting…

“I don’t care what you have to do! This has to be cleaned up! Tonight!” Tench snaps.

Mae-Ying speaks in a masculine baritone: “You can’t threaten me, Devona. If you try to deploy the virus on American soil — “

“If you can’t find those responsible for this breach and eliminate them, I don’t see that we have any choice.”

Mae-Ying pauses. Some part of her, distant and floating in the back of her mind, realizes she’s seeing the memory of the man she just fought.

“No. Not for this breach.” Mae-Ying snaps. Or the man snaps. Whatever. “We won’t cover for your mistakes with the lives of thousands. I won’t permit it.”

Tench stares at Mae-Ying, jaw tight. “My mistakes? I told you Allen had to be eliminated after China!”

“You should be careful, Devona. Your position isn’t as secure as you think.” Mae-Ying smiles, cold and angry. “Do you think Rollins will go down for his mistress? Are you really that deluded?”

Tench stares at her. She speaks through clenched teeth. “Get out, Prichard.”

Mae-Ying gives her an ironic salute and strides out of the room. She walks through a secretary’s office and into a hallway. The floaty, objective part of her suddenly realizes she’s in the Pentagon.

Mae-Ying touches her watch and begins making a call. Someone picks up, but says nothing immediately. Mae-Ying says, “Contact our source. There’s been a major breach. I want to know if they were involved. I want to know where they are.”

A voice, female, on the other end asks. “She’s already made contact. They’re en route out of the district. We have a location.”

Someone touches Mae-Ying’s cheek.

#

The dream ends abruptly.

“No!” Mae-Ying shouts.

“Mae-Ying, it is ok!” Niva’s voice. Niva’s fingers on her cheek. Niva’s face, filling her vision. She’s lying on something soft — a couch? Behind Niva is a white ceiling.

“N-Niva…” Mae-Ying blinks and tries to get her bearings. “Where am I?”

“We are in Baltimore,” Niva says, “You are safe.”

“I was dreaming about the guy I shocked…” Mae-Ying runs a hand over her face. Christ, her arm hurts. Not as much as her leg, though. “And Devona Tench.”

Niva frowns. “What guy?”

“She took down the Executioner I was fighting,” Ria’s voice comes from somewhere nearby, off to the right. “I told you that.”

Niva frowns. “But how did you see…?”

Mae-Ying rubs her face. “My arm is broken.”

Niva nods, her face tight with upset. “I’m so sorry! I was not there to help!”

“Niva… give it a rest,” Ria says.

“It’s okay,” Mae-Ying says. “Where are we?”

“A hotel. How’s the leg, slugger?” Ria walks over. Mae-Ying can see her, now. Her jaw has a discoloration on it, like a deep bruise, except it’s dark brown and orange. It covers most of the lower half of the left side of her face.

“It hurts… You look awful,” Mae-Ying says.

“Not as bad as you do, all things considered,” Ria says, “Slick work back there. I’ve never seen that technique before.”

Neither had I, Mae-Ying thinks to herself. Aloud, she says, “Is everyone else okay?”

“Fowler checked in,” Ria says. “He and Jeb are lying low. Too risky to throw right now. Melina’s getting some shit so I can try and play doctor.”

“Where’s Bryana?” Mae-Ying asks.

Ria’s mouth thins. She gestures behind her. “She’s over on the bed. She’s… I don’t know. When we were fighting, Melina says she went into some kind of trance. She hasn’t said a word since. She’s breathing fine, good pulse… it beats me..”

Mae-Ying’s jaw tightens. “Okay. I hope it wasn’t something she downloaded…”

“This is why that Datamind shit scares the crap out of me,” Ria says.”Everything’s fun and games until you put a virus in your brain…”

“If that’s what’s happening, is there anything we can do?” Mae-Ying asks.

Ria sighs and runs a hand over her face. “I don’t know. I don’t even know if it’s something that really happens. You hear urban legends, but…”

“Mr. Curry would be able to tell,” Niva says, “Maybe.”

“All right,” Mae-Ying says.

The door opens and Mae-Ying hears Melina say, “It’s me!”

“Hi,” Mae-Ying groans.

“I am glad you are alive and they haven’t found us,” Melina says, “I think that means you killed their Investigator, Ria.”

Ria grunts. “Or they Threw away.”

“No. Two investigators stupid enough to Throw from moving vehicles in one night?” Melina laughs. “Not possible.”

“The thing is, C.J. even told me…” Mae-Ying says.

“Yes!” Melina dumps a couple of bags of crap near the couch and waves Niva back. Niva gives ground grudgingly. Melina smiles down at Mae-Ying. “At least your face is alright!”

“Yay.” Mae-Ying forces herself not to glare at Melina.

Melina picks up a bag. “Here. Niva has told me you prefer the whiskey most.”

“Thank yooouuu.” Mae-Ying manages a grin she doesn’t feel.

Melina goes to open it, but Niva snatches the bottle from her hand. “I will help her drink. You help Ria.”

Mae-Ying smiles at Niva and swallows some whiskey as Niva twists off the cap and touches the bottle to her lips.

Ria, meanwhile, is tearing open bandages. “Gonna sting. FYI.”

“Right.” Mae-Ying braces herself. She reminds herself that pain is unavoidable. It is the state of her body. It is what is happen —

Blinding, stinging pain sears through her leg as Ria dabs it with something. Mae-Ying feels her back arch. She clenches her teeth and stares up at the ceiling, dazed. At some point in the future, the pain fades enough for her to realize Ria’s bandaging her, now. She swallows more whiskey as Niva tilts the bottle towards her.

As Ria is finishing, Melina says, “We have to decide what to do.”

“We have to wait for Fowler and Jeb,” Ria says.

“How long has it been since we’ve heard from them?” Mae-Ying asks.

“Two hours,” Ria says.

“So this is complicated.” Mae-Ying sighs. “Bryana can’t fly in her current state, not unless we got a private jet. I’m concerned about how high profile that would be. So some of us could support her through the Wild to get back to Manchester, but we can’t really take Ria back that way at the same time. Spirits, or whatever. And I’m worried the longer Ria stays the more difficult it’ll be for her to leave.”

“Lookouts will be a serious problem,” Niva says with a grimace.

“I could try and make it across the northern border,” Ria says.

“Canada is only an extension of the United States nowadays,” Melina says.

“It still takes time to shift security assets around and make sure people up there have the same information,” Ria says, “It’s not porous as you think.”

“Could we not call for help?” Niva asks. “To Marshal Reed or the Grand Marshal?”

“I’m concerned about the security of that line,” Mae-Ying says. “It’s like a party line. I don’t like it.”

Niva frowns.

“I don’t like the idea of cutting and running while Jeb and Fowler are still out there,” Ria says.

“I don’t either, but I also don’t like the idea of you getting trapped here,” Mae-Ying says. “At least Jeb and Benny can Cloak. And Throw.”

Ria folds her arms and grimaces. “We could wait for them and go as a group. Three Lawyers should be enough to support my fat ass through the Wild. If we let Bryana go with Melina and Niva, that’d at least separate the amount of shit that a spirit would notice.”

“A spirit is probably not going to notice Bryana very much, alone, anyway,” Niva says. “Unless she channels, but she is unconscious so probably she will not. Since we do not have a mortal with us this time, I think it might work. If we see any Lawyer lookouts, we will have to kill them, though.”

Mae-Ying rubs her forehead. “Okay. That plan’s possible. I’m really worried about what’s happening in Bryana’s head.”

Melina, for the first time in memory, looks actively nervous. She bites her lower lip and glances toward the bed, where Bryana is lying.

“You said Darryl might be able to help her…” Mae-Ying says to Niva.

Niva nods. “He will at least have some idea of what is going on. But I do not want to just leave you here…”

“I could take Bryana myself? She’s not that heavy,” Melina suggests.

Mae-Ying pauses. “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea, Melina. There might be Lawyers out there. How can you defend yourself and her if you’re carrying her?”

Melina grimaces a little and Mae-Ying feels a spike of suspicion. The vision or dream or whatever, of Tench and the Executioner, drifts back to her: She’s already made contact. They’re en route out of the district. We have a location.

Niva focuses on Mae-Ying’s face and her forehead pinches. She nods a little. “Yes, that is a good point. Melina and I should take Bryana now.”

“I’ll let Raskoph know to expect you,” Mae-Ying says.

Melina walks over to the bed. She shines with forest green Logos as she scoops up Bryana.

Mae-Ying sits up and gives Niva a kiss. Niva returns it, but it’s obvious she’s very anxious and upset. Not that Mae-Ying blames her. Mae-Ying focuses on Niva’s eyes and thinks, hard, Be careful.

Niva stares back at her for a moment, then nods, once, just a little.

Ria cuffs Niva on the shoulder as Niva breaks away. “I won’t let her die, kid.”

“Yes,” Niva says brusquely. Gone is the happy-go-lucky, twee demeanor. This is Niva the operative. The Niva Mae-Ying first met.

Niva begins to Throw; Melina catches her spin and they’re gone. Ria stares at the spot where they were.

As Mae-Ying is composing a message to Raskoph, Ria says, “You think Melina’s the traitor, don’t you?”

Mae-Ying waits a beat. “Anyone could be. I know better than to think I know.”

Ria glances over at her. “But you trust Niva and Martin.”

Mae-Ying looks at her. “I’m not a robot.”

Ria spins a chair around and sits down on it, her chest against the back. “I am. Or as close as someone can get. What’d you see that set you off so bad?”

“What do you mean?”

“When Avraham woke you up your pulse spiked. You were about to panic. You should’ve been in a shock. I was keeping an eye on your vitals.”

“Like I said, I had a dream, about Tench, and the Executioner who attacked us. He indicated he had someone inside our team and referred to them as a woman. But it’s a dream. Who knows. For all I know it could be Bryana. Maybe this episode is a ruse.”

Ria frowns. “Normally I’d say it’s just a dream, it’s bullshit. But you’re Avraham’s girlfriend, and that makes things weird.”

Mae-Ying stares at the ceiling for a moment. “Ria, did you recognize the Executioner?”

Ria shakes her head. “Only thing I could tell was he has a gold aura, which is rare. Kinda like mismatched eyes.”

Mae-Ying nods. “Just wondering if you knew his name.”

“No. The high-end Keeper operatives don’t tend to leave a ton of people to talk about them. We got lucky.”

“Yeah, we did.”

Ria rubs her jaw. The bruise is getting smaller by the minute. “Finally, systems got around to my face…”

“I am so jealous right now…”

Ria grins. “Listen, if we see that guy again, I’m not gonna hold back. I thought I could take him down without the big guns, but… if it comes to that, you just run, okay?”

“What are the big guns?”

“My ace in the hole. Nano-deconstructors. Disintegration cloud. I’ve never used ’em outside the lab. I don’t entirely know if I can control them.”

Mae-Ying nods. “I’m going to pretend I know what you’re talking about.”

She holds up her hand and taps her wrist, just below the heel of her palm. “Imagine you could spray something from here, right? Like Spiderman, except…say it’s mace.”

Mae-Ying nods.

“My mace is a vapor of tiny robots. Nanoscale, smaller than a human cell. These particular robots just take things apart. They’re built to sever molecular bonds, as rapidly as possible.”

Mae-Ying’s eyebrows go up. “So literally a disintegration cloud.”

“Yup.”

“Kay. I have no problem running from that.”

“Good girl.” Ria lapses into silent contemplation of the door.

About twenty minutes pass. Finally Mae-Ying hears Jeb’s voice in her ear. “Anybody copy?”

“Copy,” Mae-Ying responds.

“Oh, you’re alive! That’s great!” Jeb’s excitement at her response almost makes her smile.

“How about you two?” Mae-Ying asks.

“Benny got hit. Stomach. We made it out of the Wild, though,” Jeb says.

“Can he travel?” Mae-Ying asks.

“Uh, well, I’m not sure — “ Jeb begins.

“Yes, I can travel, don’t listen to this asshole,” Benny interjects. He sounds gravelly but his voice is strong.

“I’m not doing so well either and the three of us are going to need to carry Ria back.”

“It’s no problem,” Benny says.

“What’s your ETA?” Mae-Ying asks.

“We’re coming in now,” Jeb says.

Ria gets off the chair and walks to the door. She stands near it, staring at it hard.

“If this isn’t them I’m not sure I can run,” Mae-Ying says.

Ria grunts. “If it isn’t them, we’ll either walk out of this or Avraham won’t be able to kill me because I’ll be dead anyway.”

“Okay,” Mae-Ying says.

After a long, tense minute, Ria opens the door. Jeb and Benny are just coming abreast of it. The former is supporting the latter with this shoulder. Benny’s holding a large white bandage to his stomach.

Mae-Ying gets herself up off the couch. “Shit.”

Benny looks at her. “Jesus, Allen.”

“Did you…did a woodchipper attack you?” Jeb asks.

“I Threw out of a moving vehicle,” Mae-Ying says.

Benny stares at her then starts a guttural chuckle that breaks off into painful-sounding coughing.

“That’s what you get for laughing at me.” Mae-Ying points at him.

“I’m going to get tired of telling you that you should be dead…” Jeb says.

“Well this vehicle was chasing the van!” Mae-Ying says.

“Oh.” Jeb pauses. “Well, I mean, I’m glad you’re not dead.”

“I am glad that so far we are all biologically alive.” Mae-Ying rolls her eyes. “Let’s go.”

“Okay.” Jeb nods. “So Ria, really, try not to move a whole lot?”

“Since you asked nice,” Ria smirks.

Jeb inhales. “Alright, my spin. I’m going to try to go pretty deep..”

Mae-Ying summons her Logos into a swirling vortex around her and they dive into the Wild.

Continue in Episode 33!