-Rumi Jalalud-Din

In spite of the moment-to-moment tension, the thoughts constantly racing their paths through his mind, John's next two hours were spent in a quiet calmness. The only sound was that of the tires against the road, the occasional car they passed, and the rare query from Moira or John as to whether Layla still had the trail. She was quite insistent that she did, although Moira wasn't so sure.

"How are we sure that we are on the right path?" Moira asked, after their drive had crossed the one hour mark. "You're following the trail of a dead man, what if they went to a different location than the one that they launched the **** from?"

"They almost certainly did," Layla agreed, hands still on the wheel. "Which is why I'm not following his mana… I'm following the traces of mana left by the spell that killed him. That aura is fainter, but distinct - that's why I said it was fortunate that John's astounding abilities preserved the body."

"And what if they've split up, so that we only find one or two of them? If we capture them, we won't have a chance to interrogate them."

"You're right. They'll kill them, too," John agreed darkly. He was sitting in the back seat, eyes out the window, watching the roads roll by with a brooding expression.

"Then we follow that aura. Until none of these fuckers are left, if that's how they want to play this game."

After two hours, though, even John was starting to grow a little suspicious of how long they'd been on the road. His Shard continued fluctuating rapidly, and when he thought of how far ahead the Albidians likely were between their head-start and the time it took for John to meet up with Moira, then Layla… more than once, John saw that same man from before, always blurry, sometimes standing by the road, sometimes standing atop a car that they passed… always wearing a different outfit, even holding a different blade. Once he saw him in the seat right next to him, between himself and the saddened but still upbeat Vallya.

"Don’t worry, John. I'm a Guardian - your Guardian, but theirs too. Together, we're gonna go in there and rescue them!" Vallya encouraged. John offered an occasional nod or grunt, but couldn't summon much more energy. Too much of it was being wasted in the thoughts echoing through his mind.

"We're going to go in there and obliterate them," Moira corrected, nodding from the front passenger seat. "The Order has been searching for the Albidians for years. Once we locate them, I will call the rest of our men. Then we will crush them."

John bristled at the idea, but stayed silent. The idea of standing by for two, maybe three hours while the Order caught up to them… it filled him with an unspoken horror. Especially since it might take even longer. Surely Lord Brighton was talking with the Moon Clan as well, perhaps even allying with the Legion again. Moving three groups out on short notice would slow the process considerably, and even then…

Another thirty minutes passed, mostly in silence. Vallya reached over to John after a while and wrapped two of her fluffy tails around his hand, gently stroking his fingers and wrist with their plush goodness. John offered the best smile he could to her, but it seemed to only make her sad. He turned back toward the window, wrapping his fingers around the Kitsune's tails at the tips and gently toying with the ends.

But finally, after the two and a half hour drive, Layla pulled onto an off-ramp, and turned toward a small suburb nearby. John's head instinctively perked up as he began to take in buildings and locales around them. He knew of this place, though he couldn't remember the last time he'd ever been bothered to actually travel here himself. It was Lockheed, a small city of about ten thousand people, comparatively the middle of nowhere versus his home of Springfield. It was a place mostly thriving on providing jobs for about seven much smaller towns in the surrounding area with populations in the triple digits. Mostly service industry jobs at a few major chain stores scattered around the area.

John remained silent but alert as Layla drove deeper and deeper into the town, his nerves growing by the moment. He eyed every building they passed, wondering if it was the one that the Albidians had hidden themselves away in. The hospital? The police department? Maybe one of the convention center/hotel combos, like the Cabal?

"I'm going to pull in here," Layla said. "I wanted to make sure we were past it enough to at least be out of visual range… I can conceal us a bit from aura reading, but there's no sense taking unnecessary risks."

"Where were they? Which building?" John said, looking out the rearview as Layla turned into a parking garage.

"It was the school," Layla said, nodding. "There are Barriers all around us, but the aura trail leads right into that Barrier. Lockheed High School…"

"Three potential stories of fortified Albidian barrier space, in a middle of nowhere town a full hour from anywhere significant. I doubt this is a headquarters, but... this doesn't feel like an outpost for a single ****," Moira breathed, plastic cracking as she inadvertently squeezed the handgrip on the ceiling so tightly she broke it. "We have a chance here… we can strike the first significant blow we've ever made against these horrors of the Abyss. I'll call the Order. My father will have organized transportation by now, and will have begun coordinating with the others. They should be-"

"We can't wait. Who knows what they are doing to them… I don't even know why they kidnapped them in the first place," John half-lied, some intuitions and disgusting ideas filling the darkest reaches of his thoughts. "All we know is that they've been interested in me since they first heard of me… they could be torturing them for intel, they could be experimenting on them. They had the Cabal steal Inquisitor gear about suppressing emotions, and I know from firsthand experience rescuing Willow that they have access to **** collars and other ways to control or dominate people… prevent them from fighting back, prevent them from escaping, maybe more. They've already had my family for too long."

"Your family?" Layla asked, quirking an eyebrow. "I thought you said they were your friends?"

"They're… a lot of things," John said, sighing at his own misstep. "It's… complicated."

That made Layla knit her brows together, though she didn't respond meaningfully. Moira, on the other hand, looked an equal mixture of concerned and angry.

"John, what are you talking about? We already established that this was the plan. We wait for the Order, then crush them."

"I just… I can't, Moira," John growled, feeling his hands clench in an impotent rage as he stared out the window, back toward the school he only half-remembered passing. "I thought we would be scouting ahead while the Order prepared, not tracking them for over a hundred miles like this. It took us just shy of three hours to get here; how long will it take the Order to get here? How long will it take them to unify the Order, the Moon Clan, and the Legion, and to arrive here? How much damage will be done before then?"

"John, you cannot…" Moira sighed as she gazed into John's eyes, shaking her head futilely. "If you go in by yourself, they'll capture you."

"Moira. How long."

"…Four hours, by the time preparations have been made and the other clans have joined together with us," Moira offered, eyes averted from John. “That’s just an estimate, my father could be-”

"I'm going," John said simply, turning his head back toward the window. "I'm not asking any of you to come. If you feel safer out here, stay. If you want to have a tracker, ask Layla to stay with you and you can find me wherever I go. I'm not going to stand by while anyone suffers needlessly, much less my fucking family."

“You’re being reckless, John! That’s what got us into this in the first place!” John turned his head over his shoulder, ready to tear into Moira for suggesting it was his fault. Tears streamed down his face… and from Moira’s, in turn.

“John, I rushed off to save you because I thought you were in danger, because I put your safety ahead of my own and the sanctity of our Order… and because of that, I was captured. I would have lost the Rose, if it weren’t for this Lady-blessed armor of mine, all because I wasn’t thinking straight. If you go in there, there’s no telling what will happen to you. Don’t make my mistake. Please. If something happens to you… I’ll never forgive myself.”

“I…” John almost hesitated, but he couldn’t. Every time he imagined waiting there, with Moira… it was like he was feeling what the others must be feeling, imagining the worst scenarios they could be experiencing inside that hell. He couldn’t let that happen for another minute while he had the power to change it, much less for four hours, waiting on reinforcements to save his own life.

“I just don’t have it in me,” John breathed. “I understand. Stay here, stay safe. I’m going to do everything I can to save the others. I can’t just sit here for four hours, imagining them suffering, imagining their minds being turned against them, their bodies harmed, or their freedoms taken away by whatever sick magical devices they’ve found and gathered over the years. I’d rather take my own life than stand by while that kind of suffering goes on… so if I die, it’s on my shoulders, not yours. Please, Moira, Layla… be safe. Take care.”

With that, John was out of the vehicle and striding away. Before John made it three steps toward the exit to the parking ramp, two sets of hands had wrapped around his shoulders and forearms. John turned his head to find that Moira and Layla had each grabbed an arm, both looking just as surprised at each other' actions as they were at their own. Vallya stood behind both of them, looking worried but thoughtful.

"I'm not letting you go alone,” Layla said, eyes ****.

"Neither am I,” Moira said, voice confident but disapproving.

"Well then, we go together,” John whispered, smiling slightly.

“But is there truly nothing I can do to make you reconsider this foolishness? If we launch an ****, they'll use your family as hostages. They'll make you choose between their lives or yours, and we all know what you'll pick, John."

"What's the difference if we march in with the Order at our backs, then?" John said, throwing his arms out as widely and confrontationally as he could manage. "That unlike me, you'll refuse to stand down, and they'll kill them anyway?!"

"That we will have the advantage," Moira said, seeming actually offended at John's implication. "We can **** them to use the hostages to bargain for their lives instead of yours, John."

"I don't buy it for a second… they're ruthless. They'd kill them to spite me," John spat angrily.

"What's the difference if we march in without the Order at our back, then?" Moira asked, glaring.

"We don't have to go in like a fucking train. You said subtlety wasn't my strong suit, but… what about other ways in? We could look for a back way; it's a school, right? Even if they extended the Barrier outside, there might not be-"

"John, we're dealing with the Albidians. Their entire base will be fortified with magic, technology, and manpower we can't hope to predict. The chances of a successful infiltration are-"

"Better than them surviving a conflict."

"John I will not allow you to throw your life away. If I have to, I’ll stop you…"

"If you think that you can waltz in and save every hostage, it shouldn't matter if I get captured, right? Layla can track them anywhere."

"You're being insane, John."

"Let me put it this way then - you can either fucking let me go alone, you can follow me, or we can have a fucking all-out brawl right here and alert them anyway, because I am not about to sit here while picturing those sadistic motherfuckers torturing-"

"I think we can make it inside."

John and Moira both paused and turned at those words, nearly in unison. Vallya had been silent unlike the other two, but now the Star Guardian found her voice, and she looked as peppy as ever while grinning ear to ear at John.

"What makes you say that?" John asked with a raised brow.

“She’s an illusionist," Layla interjected, finger to her chin. “I felt magic wash over our vehicle when we entered the town, but I knew the aura belonged to her, and I didn’t notice anything different, so I didn’t interfere… was that a concealment spell?”

"Illusions are my specialty. I can fool men, women, cameras, runes… you name it. I've been concealing our vehicle since we got here, so that nobody could see who was inside of it. They only see a generic face, one that they're enchanted to forget as quickly as they notice it. They probably have some high-level stuff, don't get me wrong, but… Layla, you said you can hide our auras just now, didn't you?"

"I… did," Layla said, hesitating a bit and glancing nervously at John as she spoke.

"I'm not gonna sit here while anyone is in danger either. These Albidians aren't that tough; I took one of them down myself, and captured him until John got there. We go in as a team, there's no way we won't win! Star Guardians unite, Star Guardians do what’s right!"

"You heard her,” John grinned, turning to the other two. "Vallya’s in on the plan, Moira. Even if you can take us both, no way the Albidians won't find out from the fighting so close to their barrier. I'm going in."

"You're a fucking fool, John Newman! I shouldn’t risk the Rose, I can't-"

"Your father thought that you and I alone with my family could win this fight. I believe him… and that was before Vallya. She's the strongest person I've ever… fought alongside," John said, hesitating as he stumbled over avoiding using the word 'creation' in front of Layla. "We can do this. If something goes wrong and someone gets hurt as a hostage… that's on me. But I believe Vallya. We can make it in. And if we get caught… we will win. Or, you can stay here. Either way, I'm going in."

"…You're fortunate," Moira sighed, shaking her head. "You might be more valuable than the Rose… I can't let you go alone, you unbelievable idiot."

"Glad you saw it my way. Let's get ready."

Moira cursed her way across the lot, stepping over to an area far enough away that she couldn’t be heard as she took out her phone. John was right behind her - he made a quick apology to Layla before grabbing Vallya by the hand and gently pulling her toward the opposite end of the parking lot. The Kitsune turned her eyes to glance at him, but froze when she saw the intensity of John's eyes. John kept walking until they were far enough away, pulled her behind a van with no one in it, and locked eyes with the Kitsune as intensely as he could, looking not at Vallya, but beyond her.

"I know you're watching. You said you wanted entertainment… you said that this form was your favorite. No way you're letting this pass by. I want your help. I need your help to make sure this goes well. Join up again, help me out here. I'll do whatever you want. Or you can stay up there, laughing. And if something happens, if someone gets hurt… when we meet next? Underestimate me all you want. I'm going to make you pay."

It was a shot in the dark. A Hail Mary at some kind of assistance that could guarantee the mission's success, aid from the strange and intrusive woman who had appeared in his barrier and put his entire party into a powerful illusion. Someone like that could have walked into the Albidians’ hideout almost casually... but his plea worked about as well as John had honestly expected.

"John? Who are you, uh… you're not talking to me, are you?" Vallya asked, looking confused but surprisingly not concerned.

"No, Vallya, not quite… just a last-ditch effort. You don't, uh… do you remember anything before your creation? What do you actually think happened?"

Vallya just smiled, putting a hand on John's shoulder in a far friendlier and more open way than he was gripping hers.

"I think I was sent to protect you, John Newman. You and all your friends, your entire world, and everyone you care about. Let's go save them."

"Yeah… yeah, let's do that."

The two of them walked back over to where Layla was standing. She had a note of concern on her face but managed to hide most of it, though John noticed her eyeing Vallya for some reason. John did his best to smile warmly despite the dark feelings still creeping around his thoughts.

"Thank you again for coming, Layla. If you want to stay here and wait for the Order, or if you just don't feel comfortable coming inside, I understand. We only met a couple weeks ago, I know we haven't really spent a lot of time together… I won't ask you to take a risk like this. If you want to stand guard, we'll see you in a little while."

"I'm not letting you go in there alone," Layla half-whispered, glancing up at John. "If you're going, I am too. I just… really want to help."

The last part sounded about half as sincere as the rest, but John still appreciated it. He smiled warmly at Layla and reached out to clasp Layla's hand with his own. She jumped at the contact, meeting his gaze, all sadness gone… though her anxiety seemed oddly amplified.

"Thank you. Really. If I can ever pay you back for this, just ask. I'll help you in any way I can. I’ll do anything to return this favor."

"Thank you, John…" Layla said, unspoken words hanging on her lips. She turned toward Vallya and pointed toward the ledge of the parking ramp. “Let’s go over there and scout as best we can. We need to find a secondary entrance point. Forcibly entering barriers isn't really my strongest skillset, but with your help, perhaps we can find a way to do it unnoticed."

“Right, it’s a school, so there’s probably quite a few ways in. Especially windows, pretty loud though…” Vallya noted, as casually as if she were discussing the weather.

"Let's make it fast," John said, sighing as he turned toward Moira. Moira was on the phone several yards away in a closed-off area of the parking garage, obviously phoning home to the Order and probably ordering them to get there as quickly as possible. That or stalling so that John would wait even a few more seconds before going into the Albidian's stronghold.

“We’re going to save them, John,” Vallya assured him, putting a hand on his hair and gently tousling it. “That’s what heroes do!”

---

Layla and Vallya spent far longer than John would have wished discussing the exact method of their infiltration. Most of the words he did not fully understand - hextech security systems, Barrier relocation enchantments, aura-based detection algorithms, not to mention all the mundane gadgets like motion sensors, thermal cameras, and basic surveillance.

John sat idly by, wondering about his odds of making it in there unnoticed. Wondering what was happening to his friends. Wondering why he had become so used to war and pain over the last few weeks that he wasn't even slightly worried about how many people he had to kill. Wondering if Seras was wearing the ring, or if they'd taken it from her. Wondering if Lerianna was berating them as she always seemed to do to John, or if they'd already silenced her. Wondering if Mithra was nuzzling into the others, or if she was sitting in a corner, as quiet as ever but more scared than she could express…

John's hallucinations were getting worse the longer they waited. That man kept appearing at the corners of his vision, only to disappear when he turned to actually look at him. At least he had stabilized somewhat, no longer appearing in different outfits. Now his appearance was the same, and though John never quite got a good look at him, the man seemed noticeably older. Touches of gray in his hair, wearing a dark gray outfit of cloth covered with an orange coat and a white, loosely wrapped scarf… always looking serious, but never hostile, despite the blade hanging by his left hip.

After fifteen minutes of playing a visual game of tag and getting tired of imagining the horrors going on within the walls, John strode over to where Layla and Vallya were conversing. The two turned to him immediately on his approach, both with a smile.

"How is the planning going?"

"I think we've worked out a way to work my spells and Layla's talents together! Invisibility is a pretty basic spell to get us around mundane effects; with Layla working on aura suppression and making us 'magically invisible', we just have to make sure we spot every trap that could still spot us. Basic motion detectors that rely on lasers should be warped around us like light, but pressure sensitivity and thermal devices will still give us a lot of issues if they work through other methods - anything using ultrasonic waves or other non-laser type detection is a no-go too. I know of spells to work around them, but they take a lot of mana and concentration. Can't really sneak around very well maintaining every single one of those on top of making us invisible to cameras and people, plus muffling all our sounds like breathing while still letting us talk to each other."

"She's being optimistic… this is a very delicate procedure, John," Layla said, her smile faltering a little. "Please, John, I don't want to see you get hurt. You should stay out here and wait for the Order. What would I have to do to convince you?"

John sighed, shaking his head slowly.

"There's nothing you can do. The Order isn't going to be here for hours. I'm not going to sit by while the people I love are tortured or have their minds, freedom, or bodies messed with. If I didn't think they'd use the hostages like Moira said, I'd walk in through the front door alone, suicide mission or not."

Layla's mouth twisted in a conflicted way, but she eventually nodded slowly, her eyes never leaving John's face. John heard a half-shout from Moira, the words too rushed to hear properly, and then the Warden was striding toward them.

"I informed my father about your intent on engaging in this reckless rescue mission, and my intent to make sure that you don't get yourself killed or enslaved. He is extraordinarily furious… with both of us. I suspect there will be no coordination or gathering period once they arrive if we do not make contact. He will drive an Order van directly into this place when he gets here. Furthermore, he will have no way to track us if we are captured and taken elsewhere, John. If we are to engage with this insane plan, I want you to swear to me, to Gaia, and to the Lady, that if things go badly, we will retreat. We must not allow ourselves to be captured."

“Moira, I don’t want anyone to get hurt… I wouldn’t **** any of you along with me,” John said, frowning a little. “I won’t stop you from backing out or retreating at any point.”

“I want you to promise me that you will come with us, if you think you might be captured,” Moira said, holding John’s forearm. John glanced down at the gauntleted hand before tearing his arm away.

“I promise you I will not let myself be captured, Moira. That I swear.”

Moira looked like she wanted to say more, but remained silent as Vallya began to chant some spells. John didn't notice any effects from them for a while, but when he turned his attention away from Vallya for a moment and then glanced back at her, the Star Guardian had disappeared entirely!

"Okay, when you said invisibility, I was kind of thinking we'd still be able to see each other," John grumbled. "How the hell do we coordinate like this?"

"Outside, by talking," Vallya said, following it up with a cute giggle. "Inside… well, we could all hold hands?"

"This is going to be as much of a disadvantage as an advantage for us…" Moira sighed, and John could imagine her brow creasing even if he couldn't see it.

"Vallya's right, we should hold hands until we're spotted or need to do something with our hands," John said eventually. "Layla, Moira, you two probably know the most about Barrier entrances. Where do we go in?"

"Without blueprints it's hard to know what the layout of the school is like. The front door is out, any back doors are likely barricaded… our first stop should be the roof. We can see if the Barrier covers all three stories of the building. That will narrow down our search area. Then we have to figure out where to enter the Barrier, assuming they don't have enchantments in place to pull anyone who enters to a specific place. If they have those, our mission is over before it even began."

"We'll figure something out," John swore, nodding. "Can you ask Tricia for blueprints so we know where to start looking?"

"She's busy at the moment. With the preparations," Moira said, glancing back toward the vehicle they'd taken to get here. Something in her voice was odd as she added the last part, but John chalked it up to his own paranoia. John sighed, but nodded.

"Then let's get to work.”

“We can enter the school from the top through one of the rooftop entrances, either vents, doorways, or a third-floor window,” Layla outlined, eyes locked on the building. “If we stay outside of their Barrier, that limits the ways they can detect us to magical devices, mundane devices with attached hextech transmitters, or local Albidian operators keeping an eye on mundane devices. It’s not much of an advantage, but I will be able to detect all of those, so it’s a start. Once we see the layout of the rooms, we can make an educated guess on where cells or prisoner holding areas are most likely to be within the actual Barrier. We have no idea how long they’ve been here, though… it’s possible the Barrier contains no remnant of the area it was originally based on.”

“We work with what we have,” John said, nodding before Moira or Layla could voice further concerns. “Worst case, we can back out if we get in too deeply, and follow them wherever they try to flee. I have full faith in us.

“Let’s go.”