Oversight

Chapter 19 We Need an Army

Will lay on the ground, staring at the dark sky above him. He heard the others getting up and looking for each other. A light broke through the darkness and Andrew came up to Will, looking down at him. "You ok?"

Will didn't meet his gaze. "We couldn't stop him, even at our full power."

Andrew thought about it for a second. "Well, um, we didn't exactly work as a team?"

Will looked up at him. "Was that a question? Of course we didn't. We sucked out there." Will stood up, looking over to the patch of light where Richie and Steven sat on the ground. As he stood they looked over to him. "We need to learn to work together. That's the only thing we have that he doesn't. We have each other. If we can work together, as a team, we can take him down. That's why he beat us, taking us down one by one like that." Will looked out into the destroyed city that caged them in. Their battleground to remind them of their defeat. "We don't return until Noah's taken care of." He looked back at them. "We may know how to use our powers alone, but we need to work together. So here is where we will train. We don't have much time though."

"What are we even going to do, Will?" Andrew argued. Will turned to him with a slight glare. "What do you expect us to do?"

"Grimm was supposed to destroy the city and all the people in it right? To destroy the evidence of us existing. Well, Grimm is dead. That leaves it to us to do what he could not. We will start in the morning." He looked over to the circle of light. Raising his arm out, vines broke through the pavement and retreated, a small sapling replacing them. "Richie!" The sapling lit fire. "Steven, calm down the light." Will walked over to the circle as the light dimmed. Roots grew out of the ground in four areas, covered in leaves. "Andrew, provide some scouts. Then, everyone, get some rest. We have a long day in the morning."

"You expect us to sleep on these?" Andrew demanded. "They're wood, its not like we're gonna be able to sleep on something so...uncomfortable." One set of roots sank back into the ground, leaving just the broken concrete in its place. 

"Any more complaints?" Nobody spoke up. "Good, sleep well, and be ready."

...

Noah lowered Mark onto the ground directly outside the city. Emma appeared next to him and looked down at Mark's unconscious body. Miles of road stretched out ahead of them. "So how are we getting where we're going?" Noah said, and then thought about it for a moment. "And also, where are we going?" 

"About sixty miles down the road is another city. There's people we can trust there." A stretch of light crawled into view in the distance. "I don't have much time, I'll meet you there. Be there today."

"Wait!" Noah grabbed hold of Emma to stop her from slipping into the shadows. "I have no idea where I'm going."

"Just go down the road!" She tried to pull her arm away but Noah was to strong. The light began to expand. "Let go!" 

"No! I...I need directions!" 

"What?! Are you serious? What the hell! Let me go!" The sun revealed itself just over the horizon and they were bathed with light. Emma stopped fighting. "Damn it!" Noah let go of her arm and prepared for her to punch him. But the punch never came. "Fine! We'll do it your way." She took a deep breath and glared at him. "What's your plan?"

"Umm..." Noah was thrown off guard. 

"Come on! Don't tell me you didn't have a plan." She groaned and looked around. She pushed past Noah and opened the door to a Chevy Cobalt and jumped in the passenger seat. Noah stood there for a moment and then realized that she wasn't just leaving him. He lifted Mark on an energy platform and brought him to the car, throwing him in the back seat. 

Noah jumped in the driver seat and closed the door, looking over towards Emma who was already staring out the window. He cleared his throat but no reaction followed. "Thanks" He said as a last, desperate, attempt at a reaction. Finally, Noah placed his hands on the wheel and felt the car surge to life. 

"Have you ever driven a car before?" Emma muttered.

"Well, not exactly." Those were the last words said in that car during the sixty miles of silence. 

...

The master stood in his room, his eyes closed as he thought hard about everything that had happened. He didn't see his survival through all this to be very likely. He needed to expand his own knowledge somehow. Learn how to save himself. But he knew first, what he needed was time. He had called for ten of his fastest recruiters and they entered the room as he finished his thought.

"Welcome. Close the door, this is private." The door slammed shut and the recruiters stood in a line, waiting for the master to speak. "You all know about the Noah situation. Now I'm here to solve our problem, or at least by us time. I need all of you to travel around the country, maybe even around the world. Gain ten new recruits each."

They all looked alarmed, breaking their professional appearance. "But master, " One of them spoke up. "We've never had more than eight at one time. Taking that many at once, it's to risky. Especially if you're making us EACH take ten. That's a hundred people missing from the real world. They'll panic. They'll declare them kidnapped. It can't be..."

"It can be done!" The master barked. "And it will. I can control what the mortals know, and you will bring me those with any great power. Any controllers of knowledge, energy...or time."

"But master, there's only ever been one..."

"I know! That is why you will go out and find me one. I need one. Centuries have passed since a controller of time. Remember what happened then? Kronos, controller of time, was killed by Zues, controller of energy. This is the same situation, but in reverse. We need a controller of time, and you will bring me one. Now go! Go before it's to late." 

The recruiters turned and ran out of the room, sprouting wings as the exited the mountain to complete their mission. The master turned and said to himself, "It may already be to late. If we plan to stop Noah, or at least slow him down, we need an army."

...

Noah, Emma, and a passed out Mark, pulled into a parking lot of a diner around early afternoon. "So," Noah said as he parked the car at a weird angle. "We're here, now what?" Emma had refused to talk the entire trip, but as she saw the scenery around her she began to lighten up, which Noah had never seen. "What's so special about this place? Why can we trust people here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Noah noticed she wasn't using her usual annoyed tone. "I grew up here. My friends are here. S...Sam's friends are here."

"Oh..." Noah got quiet. He heard Mark begin to stir in the backseat for the fourth time that trip. He reached back, placing his hand on Mark's chest to take a small amount of energy. "Well what should we do for now? Go find them?"

"No, not yet. Wait for darkness. I feel so...powerless in the daylight. I don't want to feel that way when we're getting people I used to know to fight for us."

"Why do we even need these people? You saw me take down all those guys back there."

"Yes, I did. I saw you almost get killed twice, barely escape, and sloppily leave four of them alive and nearly unharmed. You are not enough to get into the mountain. You would have died without me, and I won't be as helpful when we're in the mountain and there's nowhere to hide."

"Remind me again why we're going back into the mountain. I mean, is it really that hard for Sam to sneak out?"

Emma turned on him, glaring at him. "Of course she can't! It's to well guarded!" She turned and opened her door, stepping out of the car. Turned away from Noah, she muttered to herself. "If we're gonna save her, we need an army."