Chapter 80

[The following chapter contains strong language. Reader caution is advised.]

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Wednesday 21st June 2000

 

 

Remember back when Melody was just my former crush and an irritating form-mate? Yeah. Never thought I’d miss those days. It feels like a really weird twist on that comment your parents always say: “you’ll miss school once you leave”. It’s too soon to fondly reflect on lessons and classmates, but I’ve already started pining for when the worst Melody could do was make some barbed remark while carving at her desk. Hell, I started pining for that months ago. Certainly since she had us chasing after her when she first made her great big announcement to the world.

 

It was early afternoon on a Wednesday, mild weather gracing one of the final days of our stretch of exams. I’d spent the day up to that point at Dakota’s, the two of us and Zahid revising for our final papers, steadily joined by Bao and Kendal as they finished their last ones. And then, as she’d been doing fairly often for the past few weeks, Kendal drove up to the school to give Kitty a lift back, with me accompanying her this time just to get away from revision for a little bit.

 

3pm, or just about. En route to school, with the hourly news bulletin starting up on the radio.

 

“Reports are coming in that Melody Hill and her followers are staging an armed invasion of the House of Commons…” the news-reporter announced with an expected, yet disconcerting, degree of professional calm.

 

“Wait, what?” Kendal gasped uneasily, managing not to accelerate or brake in shock.

 

“Several masked individuals marched in holding firearms within the past few minutes. It’s understood that Hill, 18, has put the chamber on lockdown and is attempting to initiate talks with Tony Blair.”

 

“Holy shit…” I muttered, the whole thing taking a moment to sink into me, to feel real. This was beyond anything she’d yet done.

 

“We have to go there…” Kendal began. “Nobody can do anything to stop her except us… but…”

 

I teleported my sword into my grasp, being careful not to damage the inside of Kendal’s car.

“I’ll go and tell the others. Get Kitty, and Lucy if you can, and drive back.”

 

“You can’t wait around for us!” she pointed out, urgency dripping from her words. I noticed only then that she’d steadily accelerated, still keeping control but making sure to drive a little faster.

 

“We’ll leave you a note or something,” I assured her; then, I let the image of the living room at Dakota’s flood my mind’s eye and willed the Lokon sword to take me there. I emerged their almost instantaneously, and naturally, I took Dakota, Bao and Zahid by surprise. I also managed to surprise myself, as I was so focused that I forgot I was in a seated position in the car… and proceeded to fall flat on my arse.

 

“What the hell?!” Bao exclaimed, eyes bugging out. “I thought we stopped doing this ages ago?!”

 

“Melody’s invaded the House of Commons,” I told the three of them straight while righting myself, giving my behind a light rub rather indiscreetly.

 

“You’re kidding me…” Dakota gasped, while Zahid let out a string of agitated “fuck”s.

 

Bao grabbed the TV remote and turned the box on.

“They show Prime Minister’s Questions on BBC Two, maybe they’re still showing the feed…”

 

“If they are, we can use that to teleport in,” I proposed, “and if not then I have no idea how we’ll get there…”

 

“It’s Melody, she’ll bring her own cameras and hook them up to the BBC feed if she has to,” Zahid growled, barely able to keep still and only just managing to stay in one area of the room.

 

The screen finally flickered to life, and Bao immediately switched over to channel 2, still broadcasting live footage from the House of Commons. Men and women in formal clothing who would normally be seated along the rows of green benches were now displaced in panicked waves across the chamber; masked figures toted rather heavy-duty firearms; and, stood amidst it all, scythe in-hand and looming over our Prime Minister, was Melody, mid-speech.

 

“And, of course, this will be only one step in a broader plan,” she could be heard opining to him, “with the end-goal of a new world order. Britain will serve as part-spearhead, part-testing-ground.”

 

“You can’t intimidate me into handing over this country,” Tony Blair insisted – it boggles my mind that I’m writing that – while trying his best not to look scared for his life.

 

“Nobody said that was my plan,” my former-classmate purred back at the prime minister. “I’m flexible.”

 

Dakota teleported her spear into her hand, with Bao and Zahid summoning their weapons immediately after. The four of us promptly donned our Painter gear, eyes locked on the screen all the while.

 

“Top left corner,” our leader stated, directing our collective attentions to an empty spot a few feet behind some of Melody’s forces. “I’ll teleport in, and push them back with a bubble. Count to three and follow.”

 

The moment we gave her our affirmative responses, she disappeared, blinking out of existence to emerge at our destination just beyond the broadcast’s time delay.

 

“One…” Bao began.

 

“Two…” I continued.

 

“Count in your heads, come on…” Zahid sighed, and the three of us willed ourselves to the designated location.

 

There was already an inherent layer of weirdness, to go from watching something on television one second to finding yourself there the next, like something that would happen in a dream. But more than that, the slight broadcast delay had obscured the immediate effect of Dakota’s arrival: the tense stillness before had been disturbed like a peaceful lake sent into a rippled mess by a thrown pebble. Followers of Melody were strewn about, many of them aiming right in our direction; members of parliament startled, in even more distress than before more for the newly-born chaos than for our presence (or at least I like to hope so). Ahead of us, holding up a half-sphere of pure green with her Lokon spear, Dakota was bracing for whatever move the masked figures would make, and seemingly sizing up the room.

 

“Like clockwork…” Melody spoke, her voiced raised enough for us to hear her. It shouldn’t surprise you in the least to hear that she poised the blade of her scythe to the Prime Minister’s neck, but it seemed more like an idle threat than her holding him hostage.

“Welcome to the dawn of a new age, Painters. Mr Blair and I were just holding negotiations…”

 

“Negotiate this!” Bao yelled from behind our protective bubble. “I- I don’t have anything planned yet but I had to say that!”

 

“I shouldn’t have to point it out, but I have twenty armed monsters in here and more across the building,” Melody told us. “You can survive a hail of bullets, but it won’t do you any favours. And everybody else here is entirely vulnerable. I’d be very careful how you act-”

 

Zahid teleported away from beside me, appearing right behind Melody and knocking her away from Tony, catching her by surprise and very nearly winding her. At once, all of Melody’s followers aimed towards Zahid: clearly having expected as much, he grabbed hold of Tony and teleported back up behind Dakota’s defensive barrier with him.

 

“Sorry to man-handle you,” my friend grunted at the country’s political leader. “Figured it was better than leaving you in a hail of bullets.”

 

“No, that’s okay, thank you…” the Prime Minister blurted, reeling.

 

“Very clever…” Melody sneered while clutching her chest. “But you must have forgotten…”

 

She teleported herself up to us, within our protective sphere, behind Tony; Bao must have predicted her move, as he sent himself behind her immediately after, and she in turn span to face him. Tony hurried away, and I guided him towards me while Bao and Melody began duelling, blade-to-blade.

 

“Da- uhm, Green!” I called out to Dakota, only narrowly remembering to keep her identity concealed (though it wouldn’t surprise me if Harmony buzzed out our names like she blurred our faces). “What’s the plan?”

 

“I don’t have one,” she replied plainly, if tensely.

 

“Fair,” I nodded, right before Melody teleported next to me. “Sorry, gonna have to improvise!”

I took hold of Tony Blair’s arm – perhaps a little too roughly, but the situation was dire and I was under duress – and teleported us to the first place I could think of…

 

Which was my bedroom.

 

(No, please… don’t go there. The dirty jokes… just… please.)

 

“Oh god-”

I think it’s fair that I freaked out, considering I’d just brought the Prime Minister to my room without thinking.

 

“What… what…?” he was uttering, struggling to fully grasp what was happening.

 

“Sorry! I had to get you out of there and I didn’t- it works based on picturing where you want to go and- just give me a second, I’ll picture 10 Downing Street, I’ve seen it on the news and stuff…”

And I closed my eyes, focusing, still holding Tony Blair’s arm. Once again, finding new ways to top the absurdity of my life…

 

With the image locked into my mind, I willed my sword to take us there. The feeling of cool air striking my face, and the change in the light hitting my eyelids, was enough to confirm that we’d successfully moved.

 

“Incredible…” Tony spoke, awed. “How on Earth do you do it…?”

 

“Trade secret,” I remarked teasingly. “Stay here, I need to get back to the House of Commons. I promise we’ll sort this all out.”

 

“Thank you,” he smiled, earnestly if uneasily, at me.

 

Satisfied that he was safe, I pictured the spot in the House of Commons and willed myself back there.

 

I’d not even been gone for a minute, and things had changed a fair bit. The numerous politicians were in the process of pouring out of the chambers in a flurry, and Dakota was the only Painter left in the room, weaponising her barrier to try and hold Melody’s followers in place.

 

“Blue!” she shouted across to me. “Melody teleported away, I think she was trying to follow you! Yellow and Red are dealing with the monsters in the rest of the building!”

 

Where would Melody have imagined I would take the Prime Minister? I can’t believe she would have predicted my bedroom, and in any case, she’d never been there so she couldn’t teleport there. She hadn’t been to Dakota’s, either. Could I hope that she would’ve thought of 10 Downing Street straight away, and gone there before I did? Where was she now…?

“Got it! Any sign of the others?”

 

“Not yet!”

 

“If anybody in ear-shot is broadcasting this, keep going!” I cried out: I have no idea if there are camera-people around or if there are static cameras running on their own, but I had to try and make sure Kendal and Kitty (and ideally Lucy) would be able to follow us here.

 

Melody appeared in front of me, mask off, scowling at me.

“Where is he?”

 

“You’re the last person on Earth I’d tell,” I grimaced back, raising my sword up.

 

“So unbearably stubborn,” she hissed. “I could have you shot to a bloody pulp, and stamp the answer out of you.”

 

“Not when all your people are either disarmed or not in the room,” Dakota chimed in, still concentrating on keeping the remaining followers secured.

 

A slight huff escaped Melody’s nostrils; then, she began staring at me, that sharp gaze almost stabbing into my eyes.

“Downing Street.”

 

I tried my hardest to keep a poker face, but I’m sure she could read a confirmation from me.

 

With a wave of her scythe, her masked entourage disappeared from their green bonds and from the room itself.

 

“What-?!” I yelped in shock. She didn’t even have to touch them…

 

“They’re equipped with devices that allow me to teleport them at will,” Melody explained, her scowl dissolving from the smug pride rapidly oozing out. “How do you think we all got here?”

 

“I’m on it!” Dakota informed me, vanishing from the chambers. I hesitated: that phrasing, as in-the-moment was it was, suggested that she wanted me to stay here. But what was there left to do? It was now only Melody and me, and she could teleport away at a moment’s notice if she wanted to so it wasn’t like I had to keep her at bay.

 

Still… this was a chance, surely? A chance to try and stop her… somehow.

 

“See, ‘Blue’? I know you inside and out,” our nemesis began, still smirking at me. “Taking the man back to his home… I could’ve walked there in ten minutes. You think like a child.”

 

“Come on then, where would you have taken him?” I asked, keeping my sword up in case she made a move to attack.

 

“The moon.”

Deadly serious.

“Probably the Sea of Tranquillity, I’ve seen enough photos of it to picture it well. But that’s if negotiations broke down… if I were in your shoes? Literally anywhere but the place where he lives.”

 

“In my defence-”

 

“Don’t flatter yourself,” she cut me off. “We both know you’ll be beating yourself up over this. You screwed up, and now my monsters are storming Downing Street and capturing him all over again. I appreciate it, of course.”

 

I felt my temper flare, but fought for control over myself.

“And you’re letting them do the dirty work?”

 

“Might as well,” she shrugged, before teleporting down to the lower levels, and sitting herself in the Speaker’s seat. “If we’re still live, then the country can see me. They can see me winning. They can see the change beginning.”

 

“And they must be terrified…”

I followed her down, standing before her, as she looked down on me in every sense.

 

“Change is scary. But it’s vital. It keeps the world improving. The future is ours,” she concluded, her line of sight rising above me to take in the empty House of Commons.

 

“There has to be another way…” I noted, knowing already that it didn’t matter if there was.

 

Melody let out some kind of amused grunt, her smirk perking up a little more.

“Perhaps. But-”

 

A doorbell-like chime interrupted her, followed by an ever-so-slightly-distorted voice:

“Melody, the police are here!”

 

Reaching down, Melody brought forth a small device, some kind of handheld radio.

“Keep going, for as long as you can,” she instructed.

 

“Understood…!” the woman on the other end replied, trying to muster her confidence. Melody used her thumb to move a slider on the device, and returned it to wherever it was stored.

 

“My monsters have an open communication network,” she told me. “Don’t worry, though: I’ve turned off my radio. It’s just you and me.”

 

“Yeah. Funny how often that happens,” I almost winced, looking up at her.

 

“Must be fate,” she claimed with a cynical twinkle. “Or I just like you that much.”

 

“You have a weird way of showing it.”

 

“I’m a monster, what do you expect of me?”

In an instant, she shifted from the Speaker’s seat to a foot in front of me.

“Now, isn’t it time we started duelling?”

 

Instinctively, I took a step back, raising my sword again; she must have anticipated that, as she swung her scythe to meet my blade immediately after. For a few seconds, we were in deadlock, as I held her back and she attempted to drive forward.

 

“Nothing ever changes with you,” I glowered past our weapons. “We’ve been doing this for months.”

 

“I think-”

She withdrew her scythe, and thrusted it forwards; I dodged, but my efforts to avoid the blow sent me stumbling back all the same.

“- you underestimate the progress I’ve made.”

 

I barely managed to regain my balance as she dashed towards me.

“But you’re still obsessed with me-”

Our weapons clashed again, and I unleashed a maelstrom of blue as soon as they met. Melody stumbled back, and teleported away; the sound of her stunted wails hit me from the higher levels a moment later. Turning to the source of the noise, I spotted her doubled over, trying to recover herself.

 

“Because we have fun together…” she spoke through gritted teeth.

 

“This isn’t fun!” I snapped. “None of this is fun!”

 

As Melody wrangled control over her pain, she began chuckling.

“Hold on… cameras off, first…”

She slammed the bottom of her spear to the ground, releasing a white shockwave which I can only imagine cut dead any broadcasts still running from the chambers. Then, for the second time, she manifested directly in front of me, this time grinning brightly.

“It’s more fun than you could possibly, possibly imagine, Alex.”

 

“It isn’t. I don’t care what your world-view is, I don’t care what you think you’re striving for. You’re messing with so many lives, you’re terrorising innocent people… for what? All you’re doing is making them fear us more!”

I realised my voice was rising in volume with every sentence.

“People don’t think what you’re doing is bold or brave, they’re scared! How many times do you need to pull this shit before you realise that?! But you don’t care, do you?!”

 

She simply laughed in my face.

“Want to know a secret?”

 

“What now?” I asked, almost pained to be entertaining her, to be letting her lead the conversation.

 

“This isn’t my world-view.”

 

… I was so thrown by that statement that all I could do was give her a baffled expression and a gesture to match.

 

“Alex… you’re right. I don’t care. About any of this,” she declared with relish. “You know me. When have I ever cared about anything like this? When have I ever been this passionate?”

 

She had to be lying. This was a trick. Another mind-game. Another measure to try and win me over or to screw with me.

“That… doesn’t mean…”

 

“It’s all been a game. From the beginning. And all of you have been absolutely magnificent.”

Still, there was no hint – not a whiff – of her lying. Even though she was hard for me to read, I couldn’t see anything that made it seem like she wasn’t being sincere.

“God, the look on your face! I just broke you, didn’t I?”

 

“I don’t understand…” was all that I could formulate, because she was almost right: after all these months, I couldn’t possibly recalibrate my mind to comprehend what she was telling me.

 

“Okay. From the top: I don’t care at all about a monster revolution. It’s an act.”

 

“Why…?”

 

“Because I was bored,” she admitted, almost idly. “I helped Harmony bring you together, and what did I get for it? It’s her game. I needed one of my own. Nothing in my life excited me. And now look!”

She stretched her arms out, triumphant.

“We’re standing in the Houses of Parliament!”

 

“So what?!” I snarled at her, gripping my sword tightly as my entire body began tensing up in fury. “What’s the fucking point of any of this?!”

 

“Like I said, it’s something to do. It’s fun.”

 

I can’t tell you if I was angry on behalf of everybody Melody had used and everybody she’d harmed, or if it was purely my own rage at having been played by her. I’m honestly not sure. But I swung at her with all the force I could muster, and she blocked defiantly, pulses of blue and white ejected all around as the blades met. I withdrew, striking again, and again, she countered, one enraged blow after another blocked each time as she laughed callously in my face.

 

“Come on, you’re a better fighter than this!” she cackled at me, and I took that cue to teleport behind her, grabbing her and holding my sword inches from her throat.

 

“You’re insane,” I spat, lowly, close to her ear.

 

“We both are, my wondrous dragon,” came her reply. She swung the shaft of her scythe around, knocking my legs and making me stumble: I was too incensed to think of teleporting, hitting the ground instead as I lost my balance. Before I could recover, she kicked my left shoulder, rolling me onto my back and then pinning me down with her foot.

“All that fury… I wasn’t lying about that. I’ve always been honest about you.”

 

I teleported out from beneath her, finding myself on my feet across the room. She turned to me, still grinning wildly.

 

“And when you lose everything, you’ll still have a place by my side,” my enemy promised me with poisonous sincerity.

 

“Screw that.”

 

“Your darned face. All scrunched up and indignant.”

Still smiling as she said it, almost mockingly.

 

“Are you really surprised?” I somehow managed to ask rather than going for her again.

 

“No, but it’s still funny…”

 

I almost roared out, but again I managed to curb it before it could escape my throat. With how much anger was coursing through me, I’m remarkably surprised that I was maintaining any degree of control over myself.

“Why now? Huh? Why tell me now?!”

 

“Because I’m so proud of how much I’ve already accomplished,” she confessed. “And because you knowing doesn’t make a lick of difference. Nothing can stop me now.”

 

“Maybe.”

Another voice. Somebody else, amongst the benches.

“Maybe…”

Up into view rose a man with a blood-red demonic mask, and a long overcoat.

“Or…”

 

“Dirk…” Melody huffed breathlessly. Her expression remained unchanged, but I was sure I could see a flicker of fear. “You should have been teleported away with the others…”

 

“I took off the button,” he revealed, holding his lapel with gun-toting hand to underline his point.

 

“How many times have I told you, listen to me, not the voices…” she spoke, as though she were addressing a child, completely avoiding the fact that he’d clearly heard everything she’d told me.

 

Dirk shook his head.

“They were right. Look at what I’ve found out now. They told me to stay here and now look. You lied. You used us.”

The betrayal – the anger – palpable in his voice, even as he remained perfectly still.

 

“I did. But Dirk… nobody will believe you if you told them. They trust me. Nobody trusts you.”

 

The masked man said nothing. Words weren’t necessary. He brought his left hand up, holding his radio out for Melody to see.

 

I could almost feel Melody’s blood run cold from halfway across the chambers.

 

“You didn’t…” she murmured to Dirk, her eyes locked on him so tightly that it could’ve held him in place.

 

“I did. So if I were you…”

He pointed the machine gun at her.

“I’d run.”

 

I’m sure Melody could have struck him down right there and then – though, perhaps, the Lokonessence taint in her stab wound would prevent her from healing up any bullets fired upon her – but the real threat wasn’t the gun Dirk was holding and she knew it.

 

I heard a shaky breath escape Melody’s lungs – frustration, I believe, more than anything – before she teleported herself away.

 

Dirk looked to me, still holding the gun forward.

“You better go to Downing Street,” he recommended, without any sign of actual concern.

 

“Yeah…” I replied, suddenly remembering the broader circumstances we were part of. Dirk could wait: it was likely that the police would apprehend him, anyway. I pictured the street, hoped that Lokonessence would account for anybody standing where I was envisioning, and willed myself there.

 

“Alex!” I heard Kendal call out as I adjusted to my new surroundings. The big black door of Number 10 was wide open, and Melody’s unmasked followers were restrained by numerous generated bonds – green, pink, purple.

“We heard what Melody said!” my friend told me, sounding rightfully shocked. “What happened?”

 

“Are you okay…?” Dakota followed up, looking to me briefly while otherwise keeping an eye on the criminals, along with Kitty.

 

“I’m fine… one of Melody’s people was still there, he was the one who… radioed…”

My mind was in such a state that I couldn’t find the right words.

“He chased her off. She’s gone. I think this is… is…”

 

“I hope so…” I heard Kitty say.

 

“When did the two of you get here…?” I asked.

 

“A couple of minutes ago,” the younger girl replied. “Kendal didn’t want to wait for Lucy-”

 

“It was an emergency and we couldn’t see her!” Kendal whined.

 

“When we got back, they were showing here on TV instead, so…”

 

“We haven’t heard from Bao or Zahid,” Dakota mentioned, “so they must still be fighting in the Houses of Parliament.”

 

“The police showed up,” I told her, noting with the absence of any officers here that the call Melody had taken came from somebody else at parliament. “They should be okay.”

 

It only took a few minutes before police cars showed up at Downing Street too. Once the six of us finally got to meet up again, it seemed that almost every one of Melody’s followers – perhaps former-followers, now – had been apprehended. With that and Melody fleeing, it seemed like the closest thing we’d ever had to a conclusive victory… yet for the rest of the day, we couldn’t help but feel deflated. All of this time, Melody had been manipulating us… she’d been lying to the world and we’d all fallen for it. And she was still out there, somewhere… it was hard to say this was truly over.

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