Tarek's portal opened in the first place that came to mind. "Help me!" The warbled plea escaped his mouth, sloppy and incoherent. "Somebody! Please."
Creation Lab drones at comp systems stared at him, genuine shock widening their eyes. He couldn't focus on anyone, his hysteria amplifying the sound of every ticking machine, every sterile smell.
"Help me!" he repeated over and over, his words desperate poison on his tongue.
Help me.
Help me.
Lena's blood oozed from her gashes, hot and soaking through his suit. He held her as if she were an infant, afraid to hurt her lifeless body. Still, people stared, some with horror whitening their cheeks while others talked into their handheld devices.
His knees couldn't hold them both up anymore. He couldn't stand. He couldn't...
"Somebody!" Tears burned his eyes, his voice weak and scratchy. Why won't you help? Gravity pushed him to the ground, Lena falling across his lap, right there in the middle of desks and people and no color. "Somebody, somebody..." He wailed and rocked and rocked and rocked, nuzzling Lena's neck, her skin cold. So, so cold. Everything about her was now frigid, stiff, except for her blood drenching his face.
"Protector," a gentle voice whispered near him, warm breath contrasting with Lena's cooling body. "Please, listen to me. I beg you."
Tarek lifted his gaze from Lena's bite-ridden flesh to find Avery, her sad face determined and strong. "She's dead." Dead. Lena. All her color, gone.
Avery touched his cheek, her fingertips on his skin jolting him. So warm. Alive. He wanted to be cold–cold with Lena. "I can help if you will let me." She waved her hand, and three people in white robes rushed to their spot. She then stood, regal and commanding despite the misery she always wore. "Take this Guide into the closest rebirthing chamber. Now."
Hands reached for Lena, and Tarek released a sob, his gun out and aiming at those scared individuals attempting to touch her. "Back away!"
Nicolette, Avery's Protector, moved in from the shadows, her weapon drawn and pointed at his chest. Good. Kill me. Just kill me.
Avery shook her head in Nicolette's direction and again kneeled at his side, pressing on his arm. "They will help her, Protector. Let her go."
Let her go...
Never.
"Tarek!" Avery's voice hardened when he refused to lower his weapon, but her use of his name surprised him enough to focus on her. "I cannot mend her if you don't allow these gentlemen to take her away."
His gun wavered as tears flowed unchecked. "Can you save her?"
Her eyes shuttered. "I... Yes. I will fix her broken shell, but I need her energy to make her whole."
He lowered his gun as the hole in his heart screamed, expanding with every breath. He felt the emptiness when Roderick had died, when death interrupted their Pairing, but this...
His death would be the only cure. "He has it. It's..." Gone. He couldn't say it. Make it true.
"Who? Who has it, Protector?" Her gaze bore into him, demanding the answer he didn't want to give.
"Ajax." He held Lena closer, burying his hand in her matted, blood-soaked hair.
Her small gasp gave weight to his desolation. After a moment, she touched his cheek again. "This is not over; you can still save her."
"How?"
Avery clamped her mouth shut as she straightened. Not a single word to him escaped her lips, driving him deeper into insanity. She gestured to Lena's body, confronting the nervous trio in front of her. "Come, get her cleaned and readied. I will be with you shortly."
They hesitated, glancing at him with trepidation before again attempting to steal Lena from his arms. This time, he allowed them after he kissed her temple and whispered in her ear, "I'll make this right." Whether that meant leaving this world to die in Andor or obtaining her energy, it didn't matter. He'd be with her in this life or the next.
Once they lifted her body, their touch respectful as they carried her into a rebirthing chamber, Tarek forced himself to his feet, his body lighter without her, empty. "Tell me."
Avery shot a quick glance to Nicolette. "Not here." She turned and flitted from the main hub of the lab to her private office with her Protector beside her.
Tarek had no choice but to follow–with Lena's blood on his hands, his face, his soul.
Once he entered Avery's domain, the door slid shut, and she turned to him, guilt on her pallid face. "I know what Lena found out...about Cassondra's brother."
None of this concerned him. Exemplar could rule the universe with threats and oppression. Lena only mattered. "I don't care. You said you cou–"
"Yes, I did, and that is how you will save her." She went to her screens and punched in coordinates until Andor's capital city glared on each of the six screens. Ajax strolled in the middle of a street, smiling as all the mayhem brewed around him. Avery pointed at the man's face. "He's Exemplian, as well, Protector."
Tarek froze, his anguish giving way to surprise.
Avery bowed her head, her shoulders hanging under whatever invisible weight she carried. "I must confess something."
He stepped forward, his fists clenched as the surprise dissolved. If her information was useful for saving Lena, then he wanted to hear that. Only that. "Save your sins for another time; I just want her back."
Nicolette interrupted, coming in between him and Avery when he took another step. She pulled out her weapon. "You'll listen to her, or this will end. Take one more step, and–"
"You'll kill me?" He grabbed her wrist and pointed her aim to his chin. "You do that, Nicolette. Do it."
The Protector's light eyes narrowed, and she pressed on the trigger, not afraid. The woman was a rock, the reason she had the job of protecting one of the most important overseers in the Synod.
"Enough!" Avery's barking demand instantly pulled Nicolette away, though her gun remained centered on Tarek's chest. Avery then pointed to Tarek. "I want to save Lena as much as you, perhaps even more! She's... I've been helping her, ensuring she has access to the archives rooms."
Now that stunned him enough to shut up and listen. All these years, Lena refused to tell him who helped her, no matter how much he threatened. He never once thought Avery would be her accomplice.
"She came to me years ago with questions I was too afraid to answer, but..." Avery's gaze drifted to the screens. "I knew she was special. She changed me with her passion, her desire for justice."
Silence swept into the room as Avery brushed tears from her cheeks.
Nothing came to mind. He wanted to scream, accuse the woman of creating this mess, but that wasn't true. Lena would have found a way without the overseer.
Avery continued, refusing to look him in the eye. "She came to me just days ago, asking about Casimir." She paused, her voice breaking on the Warden's name. "And I lied to her, told her she was mistaken."
Fury made the room spin. Now he wanted to kill her. Gut her and her Protector where they stood. "If you would've told the truth–"
"It wouldn't have made a difference! You must know her as well as I do. Better. I tried to warn her, make her stop this...this campaign, but she wouldn't listen." Avery braved coming into his personal space, looking up at him. "She never listens."
No, no, she never did, and now her drive and his weakness killed her. He opened his mouth, but then Avery's words clicked. Everything clicked. "Ajax knew who Cassondra was. She orchestrated this. Somehow, she spoke to him, and she sent us there to get Lena killed."
"Oh, I've no doubt you are right, Protector, but there is no way to prove it." She held up a hand as Tarek opened his mouth, ready to scream at her for a problem he couldn't change. "But I will no longer be afraid. Lena is exactly what humanity needs, and I will do everything to ensure her survival." She raised her chin. "After this, I will go to the elders myself. This type of travesty will never happen again."
"How?" He held her shoulders and shifted her to the screens, where Andorians lay bloodied on old streets. "How will you convince the elders after so many have fai
led?"
Her back stiffened. "I will do what I have to." She moved from his hold to stand by Nicolette. "Cassondra is not the only one capable of manipulation."
So Lena's death would end the wrong she so desperately wanted to rectify. Everything would return as it was. Cassondra's brother wouldn't have the chance to evolve his world with innocent souls, and neither would Ajax. Poetic. Perfect–as long as he could save her.
He wiped sweat from his brow, smearing more blood across his knuckles. "What can I do? Tell me, and I'll do it."
"Would you die for her?"
"Yes." Without hesitation.
She pointed at Ajax's cocky smile as his people revered him, caressing his gloved hands as he walked past. "Would you become Warden for her, as well?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you must prepare yourself to kill Ajax."
He stumbled backward as if she slapped him. "You're insane. How do you propose I kill a man who is damn near immortal?"
"Have you not listened to me? He isn't immortal, Protector. Far, far from it." Fire leaped into Avery's gaze. "By killing Andor's Warden, Ajax inherited her power, giving him the world, just as Casimir killed Arcus's Warden so many centuries ago."
"How do I not know this? How does the entire population not know this?"
Nicolette answered, her anger pouring out with every syllable. "Because every Heterodox Protector, as well as disgruntled Synod Protectors, would seek out Wardens. Kill them to rule a world of their own. It would be more chaos than we already have."
He watched Ajax puff up under all the admiration his desperate, starving people gave him as Nicolette's words sank in. Would he willingly become Warden of these people? Yes, for Lena, he'd do anything. "How do I go about it?"
Avery came to his side. "You are brave, Protector. So very brave."
No, he was weak, allowing Ajax to touch him. But he'd make this right. Or die trying. He turned to Avery. "Just tell me how to get her back."
"You will need a strong Guide, and a resolve to kill Ajax. That simple. Make sure the Warden understands you know his truth. And make sure you are certain. Show him you are not afraid to take his place."
Tarek was already on his way out the door. "Done. Now where do I find a willing Guide?"