Hydra Heart

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter 35: Leviathan

The sun rose over the camp, giving much desired warmth. The Lavenders were already awake, and gathered in the main tent. Vesta asked Violet, "Where did you find those? You know, you missed sixteen birthdays. You owe me."

Violet, with unconvincing nonchalance, replied, "Oh, these?" She was tilting her gloves around. Up close, Vesta could see the coils and rods. The mighty gauntlets appealed to her in a dark way. "Yeah, Tenra got them for me."

"Shay mentioned something about him dabbling in engineering, but I wouldn't think him able to make something so sophisticated."

"You would be right, he stole them and I played my rank card to, in turn, steal them from him." Violet smiled at the memory "Good thing about having such powerful enemies is you get to steal some very nice stuff. Really, though, they would be better in the hands of Ozzy or someone, but I think the troops like seeing me standing in front of them, not getting killed immediately. Let's not undersell morale."

"Hm," responded Vesta.

Molly barged in, tripping over her own feet and saying, "Oh man, that's uh, that's a light flap there. Wow. That thing can swing, right? Anyway, you guys ready for war?"

"Yes, we were just arming ourselves. Literally, in my mom's case."

"Cool, cool, so, um." Violet noticed Molly's mouth was hanging open just a little bit. It always did that when she had something serious to say, but was finding the right words. "Can you guys be safe up there?"

Violet sighed. "Molly, there's no way that no one is going to get hurt, but... yes. I will not do anything stupid."

--

The Plan

Grounders: Non-combat Kit users. Objective-- evacuate citizens of Redwood. Get them to the shore, or, ideally, on a boat.

Skyscrapers: Combat Kit users. Objective-- take the plane above the Platform. Parachute on. Stall until Grounders are ready to destroy the Celestial Pole keeping the Platform afloat.

Attached is the layout.

From the desk of Violet Lavender

--

They hovered over the island. Molly saw the many ships approaching below; the evacuation fleet was the product of years of stockpiling, specifically stolen boats and those lent by Maro. Molly would be joining them soon, but first...

She looked to her left and her right. Almost all of the most powerful Kit from Cremsillian were there. A thick aura of SOLE permeated the cabin. Despite all the faces new and old, Molly was focused mostly on the two she loved, Vesta and Violet. She would not be up to protect them. She feared her anxiety would be distracting, or worse, justified.

Still, she had a responsibility to uphold. The pilot gave her the thumbs-up and she returned it. The gates opened.

The warriors, sporting a wide spread of equipment, stood up straight, readying themselves for the push that would begin the largest conflict in the organization's history. Molly reached out with her arms, as if opening double doors no one else could see, letting the wind behind them spill forth. Slowly at first, agents began jumping out, letting the current move them. Though something felt wrong to Molly. I need to be in front.

The next gust of wind dragged the remaining agents out of the craft and into Molly's wake, where everyone now was able to hear the roaring of Molly cascading downwards. As if she had created an air vacuum in her wake, the others were pulled in behind her, debris in her coursing river, made into a formation like a comet's tail. Before long, the Platform approached, and parachutes were deployed all behind her.