Rise in Revolution (Chapter Fifty-Four)

[tanadin]

 In which Shawn is oblivious, Tac gets new hands, and Tanadin has every right to have an anxiety attack in a warehouse.

Chapter list: https://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/650.html
World map: http://tanadin.deviantart.com/art/Kaldriel-RiR-map-594639189

Chapter Fifty-Four

Breakdown

Kyir’s temporary workshop, Sector TZI. April 10, 2272. Time instance 842N.

When Shawn opened the door to Kyir’s workshop, the first thing he heard was the monotone of Seven’s voice as he tried to convince Kyir of something while the inventor yelled back at him that no he didn’t have time and maybe it would work if they had Rath but he’s in Hell so that won’t really work, now, will it?

“Um.” Tac’s quiet voice cut through the argument and they both turned to look at the open door. “Is now a bad time?”

“No. Come on in.” Kyir motioned at the table in front of him and started clearing his previous project from the surface, grunting under the weight of the metal. “Could I get a hand here?”

Shawn raised an eyebrow and glanced at Tac, who had a mischievous grin on her face. She removed one of her makeshift hands and chucked it at Kyir, creating an impressive clattering and clanking noise as it hit the parts on the table.

Kyir looked up, unamused. “Wow. Hilarious. I haven’t thought of that one before.” Shawn, however, snorted in laughter, having to lean against the doorframe to keep his balance as he tried to regain his breath. Tac waited until he had recovered before stepping inside, pulling herself up onto the table once it was clear.

“You’re sure I can’t just...sit in a chair?”

“Nope. Mechanic’s orders. You sit on the table.”

“He has a thing for tables,” Seven agreed.

“Oh, definitely. He loves tables,” Jase added from her corner, glancing over her book. Her husband protested and Cataclysm howled with laughter while Seven just looked confused.

“I don’t understand. What’s so funny about him liking tables? They’re useful objects.”

Shawn patted his shoulder. “We’ll tell you-”

“Don’t.” Seven’s head whipped around and Shawn froze, caught in the mechanical eye’s baleful red light. “Don’t ‘tell me when I’m older.’ Tana won’t stop saying that. I’m older than you by a factor of two.” He turned back to Kyir and Shawn shivered, reflecting that he’d never get used to that.

It was fascinating to watch Kyir work, but Shawn had to admit that he had no idea what Kyir was doing half of the time. Tac looked uncomfortable when Kyir completely removed where her old makeshift hands attached and installed a new ‘wrist’ but she didn’t seem to mind as he got the rest of the hand working. Occasionally he’d ask her to move her fingers, and at first they didn’t comply, but after some fiddling with wires they moved on command.

They stayed there for half an hour, installing and calibrating Tac’s hands, Shawn and Seven sitting and watching silently the entire time. Eventually Kyir sat back and waved them out, only nodding at Tac’s thanks. He looked exhausted, like he hadn’t slept, but he was slowly returning to his old self. Something had spooked him during the last fight, and whatever it was seemed to be fading from his memory.

Shawn let Tac open the door on their way out, grinning at her sudden increase in mood. These would help, he thought. She could do things now.

Like hold hands, part of his brain suggested. He shoved that in a corner and crossed his arms. Shut up, brain.

“I need some paper and a pencil.”

“What?” Shawn blinked a few times, uncrossing his arms. “Why?”

“I haven’t been able to draw anything in months and I still owe Gali a bribe.”

“You still owe Mars money.”

“Shh. That’s irreleve- ow!” Tac suddenly flinched and took a step back. Shawn froze immediately, looking around for danger and, finding none, stepped closer.

“Tac? Tac, are you okay?”

“No, I...yeah, I just…” She shuddered. “I just….picked up on something really powerful and wasn’t expecting it. I don’t...I don’t know what it is, but it has way more magical energy than anything else around here.”

“Should we investigate?”

“Should we?”

“It might be dangerous. It might be on our side. We need to know, but…”

“...but it could kill us? It’s nearby, I doubt it’s anything too dangerous if it’s in the city that we control. The Mainframe doesn't have spellcasters anyway, right?”

“Well.” Shawn made a helpless gesture with his hands. “Lead the way, I guess.”

Tac took off faster than he anticipated and he raced after her, feeling like something was different about her (other than the hands. He knew the hands were different, he wasn’t stupid) but he couldn’t place what.

She led them down streets and around corners until they almost ran straight into Geek. Tac skidded to a stop and pointed directly at the Nethernomicon. “That.”

Geek raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“That is radiating fifty times the magical energy of anything else in the area.”

“Well, yes. It is the Nethernomicon, the most powerful demonic grimoire in existence. I’d be a bit disappointed if it wasn’t the most powerful thing for miles. By the way, nice haircut. You look great.”

“Thanks. But wh-”

“Haircut?” Shawn blinked and looked more closely at Tac’s hair, jerking in surprise when he realized that it was above shoulder length and not down to her calves. “When did you- what did- I…”

“You didn’t notice?” Tac looked at him incredulously. “It’s been cut since the day after the last battle!”

“I don’t notice things, okay?”

Geek patted his shoulder. “It’s not the zombification. It’s just you.”

He stepped away. “I know that!”

“How is that going, by the way? Any desire to eat brains?”

“Should I have one?!” Shawn’s voice rose almost into a shriek. What ELSE will this do to me?

“No, no.” Geek grinned. “I’m just messing with you.”

“Don’t. It bothers him.” Tac’s voice was almost a growl and Geek looked startled for a moment before shrugging it off.

“Sorry. You’ll be okay, Shawn.”

“You call my limbs falling off and having no heartbeat ‘okay’?”

“Yeah! You’re still walking around and mostly in your right might, aren’t you?”

“Mostly?”

“Mostly,” Tac agreed. “You’re a little weird.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.” Shawn rolled his eyes.

“Anytime.”

“You’re not so normal yourself, you know.”

“What makes you say that?”

“You have metal hands and me for a friend.”

“If you guys stop dodging shit you’ll be more than friends,” Geek muttered. “Either kiss or get out of my face.” Her tone was teasing and she struggled to hide a grin.

Shawn wished he wasn’t wearing the bracelet just to avoid the red creeping onto his face. “It’s...it’s not like that!”

“Right. Of course not. In over five hundred years of life, I still can’t identify when two humans are clearly interested in one another. Silly me.” Geek shrugged and casually strolled off, passing through a wall into the nearest building.

“I hate it when she does that,” Shawn muttered.

“Tell us to get together or walk through walls?”

“Yes.”

They were silent for almost a minute after that, thinking Geek’s words over and very obviously not looking at each other. Shawn’s mind raced until he took a deep breath.

“Tac, I-”

“I need to find a pencil. Um, right now.” Avoiding the subject. Okay. “I’ll...I’ll see you around.”

“See you,” Shawn echoed as Tac took off down the street. He watched her go and, once she was gone, he leaned against a wall.

Why am I so stupid?

~~~

Seven scanned through the warehouse as he walked, looking for a specific box and scanning the contents of everything he passed instead of looking at the labels. It was faster, he was sure, and this way he didn’t have to stop walking. His calculations said that this was the most efficient way to find what he was looking for, and human laziness absolutely did not have a factor in it.

He detected another being within the warehouse- something magical, probably an elemental in their human form- and decided to ignore it, figuring that it wasn’t important. They weren’t banned from being in here, and they might have a good reason to be huddled in the corner shaking as if they were having a panic attack.

Seven paused. Okay, maybe that was worth investigating. He moved his previous task to a lower priority and changed course to check on the elemental.

He found Tanadin sitting behind several boxes, hugging her knees to her chest and shaking. Her fingernails were digging into her forearms and her breathing was shaky. Her face was red from long-depleted tears and her heatrate was up in a near-panic state.

Well, great. He weighed his options as Tanadin slowly became aware of him, glancing up and then looking away.

“S-sorry.” Her voice was quiet.

“What for?” Seven tilted his head.

“I don’t know.” Her syllables shook their way out, near-silent and unstable, fearful that they weren't supposed to be there at all. “Being here, I guess. N-not helping with anything.”

Seven sat down beside her. “Is something bothering you?

“I’m having an anxiety attack, Seven, what do you think?”

He nodded, confirming it to himself and filing the information away. He had figured, but his assumptions were often wrong when it came to the emotions and actions of the rest of the team. “I was just making sure. What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? Seven, I’m leading the revolution. That’s what’s wrong!”

“You’re a good leader.”

“Not really! I just sit around and twiddle my thumbs while you and Nine do all the calculations, make all the decisions, do all the-”

“They believe in you. They don’t believe in me. The Steelwings and some of the others believe in Nine and, while it isn’t a logical concept, belief is what drives many people onwards- if they believe that they can win, they will do better, but if they go in believing that they are following a fool into a slaughter, then they will die. The cyborgs don’t need this belief- they have their calculations to convince them that we can win- but the non-cyborgs do. That is why you are needed. Morale was the deciding factor in most pre-Mainframe human battles and tactics.”

Tanadin laughed and Seven frowned slightly, trying to analyze it. It was a single bark, almost, and it sounded potentially sarcastic. Deciding that it wasn’t worth questioning, he plowed on. “You sell yourself short in every respect. Why would this be different?”

“I don’t sell myself short, you all assume I’m better than I am!”

“No. I wouldn’t have a reason to lie to you and make you believe that you are better than you are. You sell yourself short because most races do.”

Tanadin raised an eyebrow at him, slowly unfolding her limbs. “Why is your cold logic making me feel slightly better?”

“Because I’m right?” Seven suggested, a light note finding its way into his voice. Tanadin elbowed him.

“No, you’re not.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Fight me.”

“You and I both know the outcome of that, and you don’t have prediction software.”

“Fight me anyways.”

“I’m beginning to feel like this means something that I don’t understand.”

“No, not really, just…” Tanadin shrugged and a shiver ran through her, her mind drifting back to where it had been previously. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

“You’ve done it so far. What’s going to stop you now?”

“The Mainframe, Seven! The control centers are one thing and the Mainframe is another entirely! It’s not just like a big control center, it’s ridiculously well-defended and if we go in there we’re going to be slaughtered, and that’s if we even survive the desert! You, Nine, and I are going to be leading them into the jaws of the beast and waving toothpicks as we’re devoured! We’re-”

“That kind of thinking isn’t going to get you anywhere but failure.” Seven crossed his arms. “If you think you are going to fail, you will. You need to try to succeed before you mark yourself as a failure. We will take the Mainframe and we won’t die.”

Tanadin let out a shaky sigh, trying to calm herself. “How are you so sure?”

“I’ve done the calculations.” Seven hesitated. “And I believe in this revolution.”

Tanadin leaned slightly against his metal left side, her weight hardly noticeable. “I wish I had your confidence.”

“It would make things easier, and you would be happier,” Seven said by way of agreement. “Your anxiety is rarely helpful.”

“Yeah, no kidding. Not like I can help it, though.”

“You can combat it.”

“I’ve tried, Seven! For over a hundred years, I’ve tried! And I just...can’t beat it.”

“You don’t beat it. You beat it back. You control it.”

“I can’t.”

“You can.” Tanadin looked surprised at the amount of conviction in Seven’s voice and she looked at him, confusion mixed with other, alien emotions on her face before she shook it off. “If you tell yourself you can’t, you will never win.”

“If I tell myself I can, I might still not ever win.”

“It’s a place to start, Tana. You just have to do it.”

“I’ve tried.”

“Keep trying. You can do it.”

“Why are you so sure?”

“You’ve done all of this, haven’t you?” Seven motioned around. “You can do this.”

Tanadin sighed, shutting her eyes momentarily. When she reopened them, she hugged him, briefly. He wasn’t sure how to feel about the physical contact or and instead noted that she was warmer than he had assumed she would be- likely due to her being a kirinax- before she pulled away.

“Thanks, Seven.”

“You’re welcome.”

When he eventually did leave, getting up to search the boxes, absolutely no thoughts about the encounter lingered.

None at all.