Red Sun Rising

Chapter 11: Orange You Glad We're On the Same Side Now?

Steven:

Ira stepped back from the doorway to escort Crystal out. As he did, a red glow briefly came from his helmet, and he looked around the room. Could he tell that Malachi had been attacked a few minutes ago? I thought about what Paenitudo had told us earlier in the Surveillance Room, about how they could sense the emotion of their interest. Was it my anger again? One of the Travelers'? Or... could he sense the lingering anger of Lee?

Ira shortly asked Crystal something in Latin. She replied in the same language, not breaking her stride as she walked out the door.

I wasn't ready to let her out of my sight yet. What if something happened down in the brig? "Crystal, I'm going with you."

"No, you're not."

"Crystal."

My sister heaved a sigh and turned around. "Go watch in the Surveillance Room if you must, but you can't come to the brig. The purification spell deals with volatile energy and your presence might disrupt the process." Without another word, she and Ira disappeared down the corridor.

I suppressed a sigh. Same old Crystal. Guess I should be glad the cryogenic sleep didn't take a huge toll on her.

The rest of us made our way back to the Surveillance Room. Malachi insisted on coming along, unable to bear another moment in the infirmary. I called for our doctor-in-charge, Kix, so he could take care of the Jellybean Trio.

My blood boiled when I thought of how Lee was responsible for Raj's condition. Could he have also been responsible for the other two? He'd been the one to 'save' them, after all. And what had he said when we thanked him for saving them?

'No, I didn't.'

What I thought had been guilt at not arriving sooner could've actually been an entirely different guilt altogether.

But then why did he bring the Trio back to HQ after the attack? To save face in front of Crystal? Raj had been the only one to awaken from his injuries, and he hadn't remembered anything about Lee starting the attack. Could Lee still be trying to fight the chaos influence on him?

All these thoughts were running through my mind as I pulled up the monitor for the HQ brig. Crystal was already there in her Black Hood getup, standing in front of the chained Orange Hood. The two Knights stood on either side of Orange Hood's chair, holding their weapons in front of them with both hands as if in prayer. Glowing bronze and red lights came from the gap in their helmet visors.

"You shouldn't be up yet," Orange Hood said.

"Is that disappointment I hear, Jared?" Crystal asked as she summoned her scythe. "Let's not prolong the inevitable. Just close your eyes and try not to squirm so much."

She slammed the butt of her scythe down on the ground, a dark energy bursting outward. The video feed briefly went fuzzy. Even here in the Surveillance Room, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck go up from the released energy. Crystal began chanting in Latin.

"Whoa, did you guys feel that?"

I turned away from the monitor at the sound of Johnny's voice. He was back from Gotham.

"Orange Hood's not trying to break out, is he?" His eyes widened when he looked at the monitor. "Is that—?"

I nodded with a grin. "Woke up some time this morning and came over with Shayera at Kento's call for help."

"What happened?"

I glanced back at the monitor. Crystal was still chanting, both hands on the scythe in front of her. I brought Johnny up to speed on everything that happened since his visit to Gotham, including Malachi's meltdown and recent assassination attempt where Raj got caught in the fray.