He thought of the young mother dragging her terrified child down the alley.
And the body in the street, butchered.
He thought of Reed huddled under a bed.
And Alden crying out in his sleep.
So many lives had already been ravaged by Agatha’s chem, by the horrors she could create with his blood, with Juniper’s, with her own. With the blood of nameless GEMs he’d never know.
He had to fix this.
It was his calling.
I’m sorry, Pixel.
He raised the heavy iron as high as he could, his shoulder screaming, blood pounding. He drove it down, shattering the glass and scattering the miniscule gears. They pinged against the metal still, cascaded across the floor, rolled into the drains. The still hulked above him, shiny and powerful. Useless now—gutted without the Diffuser at its heart.
Nate laughed until his throat ached, kept laughing when Brick caught him around the waist and dragged him away from the machine.
Nate fought Brick’s tight hold. “Wait!”
Brick ignored him.
Reed marched behind them, eyes dark as a stormy sky. “We can talk outside,” he said.
Nate tried to elbow Brick, but his arm wouldn’t work. And his good arm still held the heavy iron poker. It dangled from his grip, the tip making an awful screech as it dragged against the concrete.
“Brick!” Nate dropped the heavy poker so he could wave his hand at where Juniper was lying, smoke thickening in the air around her body. “Reed! You can’t leave her.”
They both stopped in the doorway, turning to survey the hazy room where toppled bunks and crumpled bodies littered the floor. The dangling tube swung faintly, as if pushed by a gentle breeze.
“The girl who tried to kill Pixel?” Reed asked.
“She’s horrid, but Agatha was pretty bad to her. And Gathos City was worse. We can’t leave her down here to get burned up,” Nate said. He wasn’t sure if he really wanted to save her or ever see her again. In fact, he was certain he never wanted to hear her shattered voice again. But he couldn’t walk away knowing she’d burn alive either. “She’s still breathing, Reed. What if she wakes up and she can’t get out?”
“Okay.” Reed sighed sharply. “No more talking about burning up.” He jogged back to Juniper and hauled her up with a wince.
Reed’s belly wasn’t healed all the way. Nate avoided his gaze, guilt like grime on his skin.
The body by the furnace burned. With nothing but metal and concrete around it, the fire stayed contained. The smell of cooking meat chased them through the open door.
In the front room, every light but one was broken. Glass covered the floor, and the table Nate had rested on was turned over, one leg broken. The plants were gone. Two more bodies were in the corner, one stabbed and the other with her neck broken. They wore A-Vol patches on their sleeves.
Brick followed his gaze. “She was buying them off. Hiring them as her muscle.”
Grunting under Juniper’s weight, Reed started sifting through the cabinets, tearing one after another open and feeling around inside.
“What are you doing?” Nate asked.
“That stuff. The stuff she had to keep you alive.” Reed’s chest heaved with harsh panting. “The fiends didn’t need it. Why would they take it?”
The realization tightened Nate’s chest. “They didn’t take it.”
Broken jars littered the shadowed floor.
Remedy.
It pooled at their feet, swirling around shards and grime. “Brick, put me down.”
