Heavy doors are wrenched open with all the violence of a thunderstorm.

I charge into the labs, a crimson cloud blinding me to everything but a narrow pinpoint. My soldiers and the intruders they've captured swim before me, coming into focus as I stand and scowl with my hands balled into fists.

"How many did we lose?" I bark the question at my officers but keep my eyes on the traitors.

"Twenty Brutes have been compromised."

My hackles raise further while my nails dig into my palms. Somehow, these so-called humanitarians broke into my laboratories and ripped twenty Brutes free of their life support. I take my time in studying the six people forced to their knees before me, recognizing most of them as members of the ongoing protest outside the Tower. One bushy-haired boy near the end of the line is noticeably out-of-place, his white jacket identical to those of the Technicians shuffling nervously alongside my soldiers.

Dr. Henley, the smart-mouthed Tech who challenged me over the Vane.

When I speak, it's through clenched teeth. "Shall I take a guess as to what happened, or would someone care to explain it to me?"

Through stammered explanations and a fiery cloud I learn that the guards happened upon a disturbance in the labs during the early morning hours. They found the door unlocked and intruders systematically pulling loose the tubes feeding the black poison into the Brutes. Without the tubes or the gears that allow them to be detached for a period of time, the Brutes expired and are now worth absolutely nothing to me.

Flames creep over my skin as I turn my focus to Dr. Henley.

"I take it that you were the one who unlocked the door?" My voice is dangerously low.

What little colour remained in his face has vanished. Henley's eyes are glued to the floor, only a slight tremble across his shoulders betraying his nerves.

"Well?" I ask again, louder. "Have you got anything to say for yourself?"

"It had to be done." Henley's words are muffled. He raises his chin, speaking more clearly. "The Brutes were never going to have a chance at freedom under you. We did the only humane thing."

"Humane?" I draw my brows together, trying to make sense of his reasoning. "You just killed twenty people."

"They were dead already."

A chill hangs in the air. I quake and step closer while I consider adding Henley to the pile of Brutes being carted from the labs.

"You shouldn't have concerned yourself with what's down here." I tell him. "Why couldn't you have just left well enough alone?"

"Because what you're doing is wrong." Henley spits. "If it was possible to turn the Brutes back into people then you would have figured it out by now."

I blink, looking around at the officers and Techs standing behind the protestors. Each of them is carefully avoiding my eye.

I feel myself bristle as the old defiance roars forth. "Difficult doesn't mean impossible. People said that overthrowing a kingdom was impossible, and that rain would never fall again. Everything is impossible until someone decides to keep trying."

"You can't speak for all of us." Henley bites back. "Just because the Runner thinks that this...this disgusting business is the right thing to do, that doesn't make it so."

"Then leave!" I shout. "I'm not forcing anyone to be here. Go somewhere else if my city isn't good enough for you, don't stay just to try and destroy what I've rightfully earned."

"These are human beings, not your earnings!" A high blush stains the young doctor's throat. "And Babel was our home long before it was yours."

A deafening silence rocks the lab, the aftershock practically enough to wake the few remaining Brutes.

"You small-minded twit." I rasp. "You're screwing with things you don't understand."

"I understand the difference between right and wrong."

I stare at Henley, struggling to recall where I've heard those words before. It's not until one of my officers speaks up that I snap out my my stupor.

"What would you have us do with them, Mistress?" One of the soldiers asks, indicating the captured with a solid kick.

"Just get them out of my sight." I shake my head in disgust, turning away so that I can begin taking stock of the damage done to the labs.

Henley releases a grunt of pain as he and the other prisoners are yanked to their feet and dragged down the corridor.

"Some hero!" He shouts. "Your brainless followers might worship the earth you walk on but we know the truth!"

I whirl around, fury blinding me once more. Holding up a hand to stop the officers I walk calmly across the room, my footsteps cutting a brisk rhythm against the tiled floor. Halting when I am nose to nose with Henley I take a moment to consider how his shoulders heave up and down beneath his rumpled white coat.

"Pray tell," I ask. "What truth is that?"

"That you're a monster," His voice shakes but holds strong. "A liar and a hypocrite. You used your own propaganda in order to steal Babel from the people who built it. Your soldiers were tricked into believing that they were following a freedom fighter and now they're left guarding a laboratory full of prisoners." He swallows. "The Madam might not have been a saint but at least she didn't pretend to be something she wasn't. You, on the other hand have become everything that the Runner was supposed to stand against."

His words rain down upon me, causing my scars to itch and my skin to crawl.

Drumming a finger against my chin, I draw from the red and pretend to mull him over. "Your issue isn't with my tactics, it's with my target." He blinks and I allow a sly grin to escape. "I may have used tricks in order to get where I am, but they were the same tricks you praised when I was using them against your oppressors."

Henley's eyes slide away, his jaw clenching.

"Heroes and monsters," I mock. "Good and evil, right and wrong. There was a time I believed the world was such a simple place, too." Memories of palace ballrooms and open rooftops nearly distract me. "But I was wrong. There are no heroes and there are no monsters; they're one in the same. All that separates them is time and the will to succeed." I tilt my head so that Henley is forced to look at me. "And at this moment, you and your friends are standing in the way of my success."

He flinches. The medicinal sting of the air hangs heavy with only the occasional drip of black poison to break the deathly silence.

"You understand that I need to make an example of you, don't you?" My question is low, meant only for Henley. "I have to. Otherwise this lot," I gesture over his shoulder at the officers holding him in place. "They'll start getting ideas."

A spark of fear shows in the doctor's eyes as I step back, raising my voice so that the others can hear.

"My condolences on the abysmal failure of your first rebellion." I stretch my arms wide as I continue walking backwards. "I'm sure that if things had gone differently, that you would have made an excellent hero and maybe one day not long after, an unforgettable villain."

I spin on my heel as Henley and the others are pulled toward the hatch doors. Cries of protest fade away and I join the remaining officers and Technicians by the gurneys. Twenty slabs lie empty, the tubes that feed the oil-like substance into the Brutes left hanging listless from the pipe overhead.

"How many do we have left?" I ask, bracing myself for the answer.

"Thirteen."

I wait until I hear the squeak of rusty spokes sealing us off from Henley and the others before whipping around, grabbing one of the empty gurneys and flinging it at the wall opposite. Shouts of fear and surprise collide with the deafening clang of metal on metal. I fume in the chaos, red pulsing through my veins.

"Thirteen?" I roar. "You're telling me that we whittled our way down to thirteen Brutes and we have nothing to show for it?"

"We're running out of options." One of the Techs nervously adjusts the white coat he has thrown on over his nightshirt. "We've tried everything: weaning the subjects off of their remedy slowly, adjusting it's formula, countless surgeries." He wipes the sweat gathering on his brow, "We've concocted antidote after antidote but nothing has worked."

They were dead already.

Henley's words echo and I fight the urge to block my ears. This can't be hopeless, it just can't be. This madness needs to have been for something or else...

Or else...

I shake my head but the voices only grow louder. Sensing that the remaining gurneys are in danger I shove my way out of the labs, uncaring for the whispers that will surely follow my slamming the hatch door shut. My feet move of their own accord and I'm running before I realize it, head pounding and softened muscles screaming as I tear up a service stairwell. Concrete walls are replaced with steel scaffolding while I press higher, out of the underground and into the maze of suspended walkways that crisscross Babel's sky.

The stars are just beginning to fade as I reach the sky. Climbing up toward the Vane I savour the feeling of fresh air constricting my lungs, not stopping to catch my breath until I reach the final level beneath the old hangar. Limbs buzzing with spent adrenaline and an old wildness, I manage to compose myself and take the final flight of stairs at a walk.

The old hangar is deserted, the Vane's technicians not due to for a few hours. I skip my eyes up the rainmaker's framework of iron bars and consider the lethal point of silver at it's peak; the silver tip is what conducts the sky's atmospheric charges and causes the rainclouds to gather. Passing beneath the still and silent tower I make for the small office that houses our transmission equipment and push open the door to the control booth.

"Mistress!" The Tech manning the booth struggles to pull off her headset and stand at the same time.

Ignoring her clumsy display I nod a cursory greeting. "Any new signals?"

"We've picked up some unusual activity to the South, but nothing definitive, yet." She responds readily. "It could just be some latent electrostatic discharge."

"Make sure you're keeping an ear on the other directions, as well." I remind her, "We can't be immune to diversion tactics."

"Of course. We're also making some improvements to our radio towers out in the Wastelands, so we should get a higher degree of accuracy."

My frustrations about the Brutes abate somewhat. At least some of these scientists are able to prove their worth. "Have any transmissions come in from the City?"

"Oh," The radio operator flips through the parchment on her desk. "No, I'm afraid not."

"That's fine." I dismiss her quickly. "Good work on the search. I'll see to it that the entire radio team is compensated for their efforts."

"You're too kind, Mistress."

I wave her off, stooping back through the door and squinting into the sunrise's gathering light. Crossing the deserted hangar I grip the railing and look out into the desert beyond, soaking up the fresh air and studying the recent changes in the landscape. The rough terrain is dotted with palm forests and the horizon's mirages blend with very real pools. As I stare at the distant hills a shadow appears from between them and streaks headlong toward Babel.

Luca.

My worries are forgotten as I vault the railing and clamber along the scaffolding. I alternate between running and leaping as I pick my way toward Babel's outer wall, the peaks of city buildings fading into farmland.

Despite the distance I manage to arrive at the wall a few moments before him. Swallowing the lump in my throat I wave a greeting to the figure below and step back to wait. Luca crests the mirrored perimeter a short while later, the platform beneath my feet barely shuddering when he lands.

I cock a tentative smile when his eyes meet mine. He returns my grin, dropping his pack onto the floor. "You have been waiting long?"

"Ages." I reply. "I'm still much faster than you."

Luca breathes out a laugh as he regards me sidelong. "What is it you are doing out here? I expected to find you down in the city."

"I needed some air."

"You should come on a hunt with me. There is nothing but air in the Wastelands."

"Someday." I shrug. Luca's dark eyes slide away, causing my instincts to prickle. "What is it?"

"I have to talk to you."

"All right." I cast a glance around the empty scaffolding. "Here?"

"I would rather it be out there," He gives the barest of nods toward the desert. "But I will take what I can get."

"What do you need to talk about?"

"I found her."

At first I think I must have misheard him. I stare at Luca, struggling to draw a breath while he awaits my reaction.

"You... you found the Madam?" I repeat in a choked voice. "Where? When?"

"South of here, nearly four days' run." The shadows beneath his eyes speak the truth. Sleep is the last thing from my mind as every impulse screams for me to run back to the Tower to begin preparations for flight.

"You saw her base?" I struggle to make sense of the information and ask the right questions. "How has she been hiding?"

"Underground, as you suspected."

Luca proceeds to tell me about how he happened upon the tracks of some Brute during his travels. He followed them but they ultimately vanished into the ever-shifting desert. He spent several nights scouring the area but didn't catch a trace of anyone. Then, just as he was breaking camp on the final night, the airship appeared.

Crouched in the dunes, Luca watched as the earth shuddered and sand spilled into the gargantuan hole forming in the ground below. A silver balloon inflated and rose up to the sky, carrying the Madam's missing airship into the blue. Luca followed it as far as he could before it drifted too far from sight, then doubled back to inspect the base.

"I would estimate she was housing a few hundred Brute inside." He tells me, "The camp was almost an exact replica of Babel, only at a smaller scale. There was a laboratory, a hangar and barracks to store her army. I even found controls for a transmission tower and a generator, which could explain how she was drawing our power."

My head throbs and my legs still burn with the desire to take up the chase but I force myself to keep still and take in Luca's every word.

"She was ready." I hear myself say. "She must have had that hideout built and the escape planned years ago." Something nags at me. "She's been in hiding for months. Why would she appear now?"

"I could not say. The airship was headed West, the last I saw of it."

"Then that's where we'll start. Come on," I grab Luca's wrist, "You can rest on the ship."

But Luca remains firmly planted. I release him, my brows drawing together in confusion.

"What's wrong?" I ask. "We have to go."

"I am not going with you."

His words land like a blow to the chest. My mouth opens, closes, the protests failing to form. Luca runs a hand through his hair, looking up at me through his loosened curls before soldiering on in that careful, deliberate way of his.

"I will tell you everything I can about how to find the camp the Madam abandoned and the direction she was headed, but after that I cannot help you any more." He looks at me and then looks away. "I hope you will understand."

"I..." I swallow. "I understand but Luca, we're almost there. We're almost done."

"Stop it." He snaps so fiercely that I recoil, stumbling against the railing of the platform. Luca looks shocked at his own reaction and reaches out a hand to steady me.

We remain entangled for several heartbeats, him holding me while staring at the blue markings on my arm.

"I am sorry." He says, "I only mean...it is done. For me, anyway. I tried to be here for you, Kay. I truly wanted nothing more than to see this fight through to the end but I have to realize that is impossible."

"You don't think there is going to be an ending." I finish his thought softly. Looking up at him, "Why did you stay for so long?"

"You know why." His voice is rough. "I have told you in every way that I know."

"But you've never said the words."

Luca's hand moves from my arm to my face. The dawn turns his eyes a deep blue as he tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.

"I love you, Kay." He says, "More than I thought was possible. Before you there was only death and bloodshed but after..." The ghost of a smile tugs at his lips, "You brought me out of the darkness and into the light."

A drum beats against my rib cage. "Then stay." I whisper.

Luca's shoulders slump. "I have stayed. I have stayed and I have stayed. I stayed well past all common sense and now, I cannot stay any longer." He draws a shaky breath. "I know that I told you before to let me hurt, but I was wrong."

The bridge beneath us seems to sway. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be." He wipes my cheek with his thumb, "You warned me that this would happen. It is my fault for not listening. For thinking that your fight would eventually come to an end."

"It will, after this." Even to my own ears my argument sounds weak.

"It won't." The sadness crossing his face tears my heart anew. "You forget that I know all that you are: there is always something else to fight for. It is one of the many reasons I fell for you."

A rogue gust of wind whips past us, ruffling our hair and worsening the ache. The pain I felt at being left by my friends and family was a shallow wound compared to this.

Luca's voice catches as he presses on, "I cannot fight any more. I have waged my war already, killed more than any person should. I know the cost of that darkness and I cannot remain just to watch it happen to you. So I need to ask you this, one last time."

I squeeze my eyes shut, already knowing what he's going to say.

"Come with me." His hold on me tightens. "We don't owe anything to anyone. We can leave everything that hurts us behind and try to find some measure of peace, together. I don't belong here, Kay." I open my eyes to find myself caught in his earnest gaze. "And neither do you."

"I know, I just..." My reasons for staying hide behind a shroud of red.

The hopeful expression on Luca's face is nearly enough for me to cast away all caution, to silence the voices for good and leap into the unknown. He presses his forehead to mine and I breathe him in, filling my heart and lungs with the scent of wind and solid earth and sun-baked rocks. Tears scratch my throat as I curse myself for being too weak to allow what we have to be enough.

"I can't." I whisper.

We draw apart slowly, the hurt in his eyes mirroring my own.

"I'm not ready to give up." I stammer. "I can't explain why, I just have to keep going."

"I know." Acceptance stings worse than shock. "I just needed to ask."

Our first kiss tasted of the rain, our last of the breeze. I hold Luca for as long as I can bear, wrapping my arms around myself as he shoulders his pack and makes to climb back down. We share one last look over the lip of the dome before he disappears, jumping back to earth.

The sunrise paints the desert a golden hue, the rows of long shadows appearing as rungs of a ladder for Luca to climb into the horizon. I take two steps back and bid a final, silent goodbye before wiping my face and turning to run.