Flashf0rward

Chapter 23: Where There's Smoke...

Ivy

I awoke to Julie gently shaking my shoulder. "Vee...wake up." Opening my eyes, I could feel how red and tired they were from crying last night. I'd barely gotten any sleep after that. Brushing some of my messy hair out of my face, I groaned. "What time is it?" Julie stared at me, sitting on the edge of my bed. "It's almost noon. You slept in."

Rubbing my eyes, I sighed. "Well, I'm not gonna be leaving the house anytime soon, so you might as well let me sleep." Julie shook her head. "No can do. Wren's called a meeting for everyone in Sanctuary. I'm assuming that includes you." My eyes widened. "He's gonna tell everyone about what happened."

As I dressed, I wasn't looking forward to this. Everyone would have questions for me, and Hightower and his band of thugs would probably turn to me for blame. God knows I deserved it. I hoped Yuko was getting as much attention as I was. The poor girl had been through enough already.

Tying my hair back into a tight ponytail, I dressed in a dark blue plaid shirt with ripped jeans, and sighed as I walked with Julie out the front door. Already, I could see other people milling towards the town hall. Looking up at the walls, I could see several more guards had been placed on watch, looking around the valley for any signs of trouble. Wren's orders had clearly struck a chord with them.

Making it to the town hall, I looked at Julie. "I gotta take my place up on stage. I'll meet you afterwards, ok?" Julie nodded, walking over to meet up with Max and sitting down in one of the many rows of chairs. I walked up to the main stage, taking my seat in a row of chairs that held Jude, Katrina, and Sparrow.

Everyone stopped murmuring and all conversation ceased once my brother stepped up to the main podium. Clearing his throat, he spoke. "Good morning. As many of you know, yesterday my sister Ivy came back from Seattle with a new survivor at her side. That is not the only new development that came of this."

As I looked into the audience, I couldn't seem to spot Connor anywhere. It appeared he was giving one last shred of defiance to me and my brother by not showing up. Wren continued to speak. "While heading back from Seattle, they encountered another group of survivors who did not act warmly to their meeting."

That sent a wave of whispers through the room as everyone reacted to the news. "These survivors seem to be lead by a man who calls himself Matthias. They know our exact location and number." Wren seemed to pause before giving out the next bit of information. "Matthias is also a metahuman."

Gasps arose from the audience as they took that in, then a familiar figure stood up. "Why does he want to know where we are? So he can wipe us all out?" I almost audibly groaned as Hightower shouted above everyone else. Wren shook his head. "We don't know, but we can assure all of you, there is no danger to anyone here."

Hightower spoke up again. "Bull! You can barely protect this town against those mutant things, what makes you think you can protect it against an entire army?" Several people began to shout in agreement with him. I didn't like this. He was turning the crowd against Wren, which he always seemed to do.

Wren, to his credit, stayed calm. "The situation is under control. I've spoken to Matthias myself, and he expresses no aggression or malice towards us." Another person stood up, a woman, someone new, who wasn't in Hightower's group. "You said he was a meta! What powers does he have?" Wren shook his head. "I'm not exactly sure."

The woman narrowed her eyes. "You won't know or you won't tell us?" Hightower nodded. "How do we know you two weren't conspiring together?" Wren sighed. "Yes, because I would conspire with a person who took my sister hostage. Do you realize how stupid you sound, Clarence?"

That sent a nervous laugh through the room that broke the tension somewhat, and Hightower flushed slightly with embarrassment. "Well...my point still stands! Metahumans are all the same! You think you're better than us!" I glared at Hightower. He was fear mongering, and he knew it. He wanted to get more people on his side so he could be in charge instead of Wren.

Wren looked Hightower straight in the eye. "I've said this a million times before, and I'll say it again. We don't think we're better. We're working with you, not against you. The difference between metahumans and humans is the fact that we can do some things you can't. It's like shunning a cripple because he can't walk and you can. Maybe he can't do certain things well, but that doesn't mean he's not human."

That sent everyone into an almost guilty silence. "I know what everyone here has been thinking. I've heard the rumours going around. That I'm not a good leader, or that I'm too young to be in charge of so many people. And the truth is, you're all right. I shouldn't be leader. But I am. You wanted me to do this because I brought you all together, and I gladly accepted that."

Wren leaned forwards on the podium. "But if you're going to conspire against me, at least do it in a way that's more discreet. I know not everyone in Sanctuary favours me, and to be honest, it's annoying. But that's not going to stop me from continuing to do what's right for everyone here. That's why I promise to each and every one of you that I will keep you safe from everything that's out there. Because that's what I promised myself years ago." Wren turned to me. "That's what I promised everyone."

I could see in his eyes a softness, that was a clear difference from yesterday, and a small sliver of apology that didn't require words. I nodded back at him slightly, the same look in my eyes. I knew Wren could be a jerk sometimes, but that didn't mean he didn't still love me. He just wanted to protect me, and that was all that mattered.

As soon as Wren finished his speech, someone in the audience started clapping. Then, another person joined in. Then another, and another. Soon, everyone was on their feet, cheering and applauding Wren's promise. Jude, Sparrow, and Katrina did the same, and I joined them as well. I had a large smile on my face as I stared at my brother.

Then, suddenly, the doors of the hall slammed open, and a guard rushed in. "Smoke! Smoke on the horizon!" That sent everyone silent, and it turned into gasps and excited chatter as to what that meant. Almost immediately, Sparrow zoomed out the door towards the wall, and Wren got off the stage to follow her. I did the same while Jude and Katrina tried to calm everyone down.

Running towards the main gates, I went up the stairs we'd carved so I could see over the main walls on the balcony. One of the guards was looking through his scope, but I didn't need anything to see the large column of smoke on the horizon. Sparrow, who was already there, passed Wren and I viewfinders. "Take a look."

Looking through, I could see the origin of the smoke, and saw something over the hill. It was a group of tents and horses, along with several men milling around and building something. The smoke was coming from the large fire pit they'd set up in the middle of the camp. Not only that, parked on the boundaries of their camp were two large Humvees.

My eyes widened. Seeing cars like that was a rare sight. They must have siphoned tons of gasoline to keep those things running. They had 50 caliber machine gun turrets on top of both of them, and were assisting the men with putting up some wooden spikes in an X-shape, almost like they were making a perimeter around the camp.

Looking into the middle, I could see several familiar-looking men moving around, including the one who had chased us up the Sea Needle, the one called Giles. "Wren..." I said, then I heard my brother speak. "I see him." Giles walked to one of the larger tents, and Matthias stepped out, the two of them talking. Lowering his viewfinder, Wren turned to me. "Looks like we've got new neighbours."