spin_kick_snap | The West Gate, The Mount, Ex-Los Angeles, Monday Evening (Reply)

Kathy didn't know why she was here. It was a question she couldn't answer for herself, never mind anyone else who might ask. But no matter how many times she tried to end up somewhere else, her feet had brought her here, right in front of the West Gate. Something about the conversation with Todd yesterday and the hungry look in the eyes of all those people, clustered outside the office. She'd sworn up and down that she didn't have the ability to talk to exes, but was she actually sure?

Wait a minute. Of course she was. This was stupid.

Once more, Kathy turned away, heading back towards town proper. Except then she thought about Todd's genuine grief and, once more, she found herself spinning back around and heading towards the gate again.

Fuck, she hated this place. It was turning her inside out over bullshit. But - fine. She'd go, she'd try to talk to a fucking zombie, she'd prove to herself for the last time that she didn't have any non-bouncy powers, and then she'd go back to her place and try to catnap for a few hours.

West Gate was on Vine and directly across from it was the guard station. She knocked, ducking her head inside to make sure if wouldn't interfere with the people patrolling the Wall if she just kind of...hung out there for awhile. The guy in camo - probably another Unbreakable, judging from his sheer size - seemed pretty unfazed by the question. A lot of people came to the gates, she realized, probably looking for familiar faces; the After Death folks especially. He pointed to a bright line painted on the ground in front of the gate, telling her to stay at least a yard behind it. So long as she did that, none of the exes would be able to touch her.

Giving him an appreciative nod, Kathy went out to the designated location and just stared through the bars for a moment. These were spaced a lot wider than the bars that made up the East Wall, wide enough that she was able to get a full view of the street beyond it. She'd...pretty much been avoiding doing that very thing since she arrived and yet, here she was now, doing that exact thing.

Fuck, this was stupid.

Exes	Through the gate, she could see the exes. Dozens of them. Hundreds, she realized as she got closer. A lot of them were looking up at the people on top of the Big Wall. Some of them stretched arms through the bars to flail at the passing people who were far out of their reach. Any one of them would break through the gate if they could and messily devour anyone they could get their hands on.
Kathy	And here she was, coming to talk to them. For once, Kathy was glad no one from home was here with her. Because they'd all be dragging her away from the Gate by her hair, telling her she was being an idiot. And they'd be right. Well, if all went well, she wouldn't be here long anyway. "Umm, hello?" she called softly. "You can't understand me, right?"
Exes	No response. The exes at the gate kept their attention on the guards, shifting to the nearest target as the men and women walked back and forth. It made them sway slowly, like kelp underwater. A dozen or so at the far end of the gate stretched their hands towards the guardhouse. The windows were large enough for them to see the two men inside. Their crooked fingers clawed at the air, as if to pull the structure closer and get at the sweet meat inside. None of them were looking at her.
Kathy	That should be that, proof enough for anyone, but...if none of them were looking at her, it meant none of them had heard her, either. Which meant she hadn't proved anything yet. But she didn't want to get louder; didn't want word of what she was doing to spread around. Kathy took a few steps forward until she was about a foot behind the painted line. Now several of the exes had noticed her and they began clacking their teeth in anticipation. She took a deep breath and held it for a minute. "Hi there," she said. "None of you understand me, right?" This time, her quiet words were washed away under the torrent of clicking ivory. She tried again and it came out louder than she'd intended. One of the guards walking above her, a rail-thin woman, glanced down curiously before continuing south along the Wall.
Exes	The exes just kept clacking, reaching through the bars, a forest of hands and teeth.
Kathy	Yeah, okay, experiment over. Kathy had tried and nothing had happened, her conscience was clear. She turned away to leave, probably going to hit up the guys with a still just so she could sleep after this--
Exes	"Weeee understaaaand yooou." The exes were hushed, their voices reedy and thin. Several zombies in the crowd locked eyes with her as she whirled around.
Kathy	Kathy's eyes were wide, her hand reaching up to cover her mouth. "What?!" she asked, voice sharp enough that several of the guards peered down. One called to make sure she was all right. Kathy waved an arm at him to let him know it was fine. Except this wasn't fine. Nothing about this was fine at all.
Exes	"Weeeeeee know who you arrrrrrrre," the exes continued, pushing their way to the front. "You belong heeeere, with usssss. You are one of ussss."
Kathy	"No," Kathy said, shaking her head and taking a step backwards. Then another. A third and she stepped on a loose rock and even her balance couldn't save her. She went toppling over backwards and landed on her ass.
Exes	And then the exes laughed, dropping the spooky whisper for a belly laugh full of nasty humor. "Ain't such a big hero are you now, puta?" Rodney's eyes gleamed with malice from the foremost ex. "Little girl get scared fall down?"
Kathy	All of Kathy's fear melted away into rage. That fucker. First he possessed her when she was an ex, turned her into a weapon against her friends, against Nick, then haunted her dreams for almost twenty months, and now this chucklefuck was laughing at her? She picked up the rock she'd tripped over, hefted it once in her hand as she bounced back up to her feet, and then threw it at the talking ex with all the accuracy of nearly a decade of rhythm gymnastics could give her. "Fuck! You!"
Legion	The rock slammed into the ex's forehead with a wet thunk and a depression formed under the skin where the skull had cracked like an eggshell. The ex went down and for a moment the rest of the exes just paused, all animation suspended. Then Legion's consciousness slid into another ex and it glared back at Kathy while the rest went back to chattering. "Just for that, maldita perra, I'm not going to let them eat you," he growled at her. "Just one nice bite and get you back on this side of the fence again."
Kathy	That was Kathy's ultimate nightmare. This son of a bitch was threatening her with her worst fear like it was just another bit of banter before the fighting began. She wasn't fucking having it. With a shriek of rage, Kathy flung herself forward, snagging one of the pikes, determined to ram it through the head of every fucking ex at that gate. The next time Legion wanted to bust in here, he'd have to move the pile of corpses before he could do a damn thing.
Guards	"Hey!" yelled the guard she'd spoken to, coming out of the gatehouse. "Get back behind the line! The fuck are you doing?! This isn't playtime out here!"
Exes	An ex a few feet away, two down from the one Kathy was trying to stab, shifted on its feet. It was a thin man in a long coat, wearing a helmet wrapped in camo cloth. It looked around and then focused on the guard that was yelling at Kathy. From under its coat it slid a pistol, bringing it up. The barrel pointed between the bars and the dead man's face pulled into a grin.
Kathy	Footsteps behind her and a hand on her shoulder, trying to pull her around. She glanced backwards, first at a coat with the name JEFFERSON patched over the heart, then up to his face, which was tight with fear and anger, looking down at her. He was looking at her, not at the exes. Not at the ex with the gun. Kathy acted without thinking. It was like gymnastics. The ball came at you and you leapt to grab it. You didn't think. She knew the ex was going to shoot Jefferson, shoot her, shoot the rest of the guards, too. You don't think when the ball comes at you. So Kathy didn't think. She twisted away from Jefferson and darted over to the gun, shoving it to the side just as the ex pulled the trigger.
Exes	The pistol jerked under her hand and the blast sparked against the pavement in front of the gatehouse. The ex fought against her and Kathy struggled to keep the weapon pointed at the ground, the barrel hot against her skin. "I'm gonna eat your liver like tripe," the ex hissed at her.
Kathy	"Gun!" bellowed Jefferson. He leaped back and swung his rifle around. At the same time, he grabbed Kathy by the arm with his free hand and yanked her away from the gate. He was strong. Really strong. Definitely one of Captain Freedom's super-soldiers. Strong enough that her feet left the ground and she went flying through the air. The pistol came with her, the zombie's grip no match for her and Jefferson, and went clattering to the ground. Kathy followed a second later, reflexively turning her landing into a tumble that ended with her back on her feet.
Guards	The guards above looked confused. Some of the shot down into the exes outside the Big Wall. One or two maneuvered their rifles to cover Kathy. Jefferson fired through the Gate and the ex that had been holding the pistol slumped down with a bullet hole through the middle of its forehead.
Exes	A dozen sleepwalking exes woke up, including the one that Kathy had been trying to brain with a pike. Their posture shifted, their eyes became alert under their helmets. Pistols and rifles appeared from under shirts and coats. Some of them aimed at the guard shack. A few leaned back to aim at the guards on top of the Wall. At least three aimed at Jefferson, enough to make him hesitate for a moment. Shots echoed across the street and one of the guards above howled and grabbed his arm.
Kathy	None of the exes aimed at Kathy, all of Legion's split attention on the obvious targets. Kathy lunged, snatching up the discarded pistol off the ground. She slid into the stance Dante had taught her, bringing the gun up like she had so often in practice. This wasn't her warehouse, the targets were so much more than paper over wood, and the stakes higher than a few kisses, but the motions were the same. She checked the safety, even though she knew it was off. Her elbows were perfect right angles, one perpendicular to the ground, the other parallel. She looked down the sight, inhaled deeply, and squeezed the trigger on the exhale.
Exes	The bullet went low, slamming into the cheekbone of one of the exes with a gun aimed at Jefferson. Its whole face collapsed and so did it, though Kathy couldn't swear that it was the bullet that killed it or shards of bone from the rest of its skull. Honestly, she didn't care. The other exes roared, and one of the pointed a rifle at her. "You think I won't shoot you?" it screamed in a rusty version of Legion's voice. "Puta, I will shoot you so fuckin' fast--"
Guards	Gunfire exploded around her. Kathy flinched, only to realize that the sound was coming from behind her. She barely had time to register that before Jefferson was dragging her clear again. He held his rifle in his other hand, snapping off shots like it was an oversized pistol. A handful of exes dropped across the width of the gate. They yelled and fell and the ones behind them picked up that yell. The guards up on the Wall fired into the mob, avoiding the few instances of return fire with ease.
Kathy	Kathy took a few more potshots of her own, though she didn't think she took any others down. The sortie lasted maybe a few minutes before it was over, the exes at the gate tripping over their fallen brethren as Legion's presence left them. Another guard moved to the gate and started sliding the weapons inside with her foot. Kathy breathed a sigh of relief as Jefferson turned to her - only to freeze as he leveled his rifle on her. "No firearms for civilians inside the Wall," he said quietly. "Let me just engage the safety," she said, raising her free hand. "And I'll set it dow--"
Guards	"She's not a civilian!" one of the guards called down from the Wall. He wasn't huge, wasn't wearing camo, so probably a regular citizen of the Mount. "She's a hero! Just like the rest of 'em!" "That's right!" yelled another. "That's Banzai! Banzai the Returned!" "She died and rose!" the first guy continued. "And kept her soul to rise again." Jefferson looking at her confused. "What's this now?"
Kathy	"I have no idea," Kathy said, uneasy. This was the first time she was hearing the appellation and she was pretty sure she didn't like it. "And some of that stuff is just propaganda." "Which part?" Jefferson asked. Kathy thought about it and was forced to admit, "Okay, so, it's not, umm, so much what he said, but, like, how he said it."
Guards	"Yo, can confirm." Another guard stepped forward, a green tattoo on his arm, the bottom inch or so of it peeking past his sleeve. Kathy would bet anything it was a '17.' "Peasy had her down in the basement for a coupla months. Sometimes he'd bring her up an' have her do tricks an' shit." He looked down at her. "Don't know nothin' about souls or whatever though. She was pretty much just like the rest of 'em." Jefferson didn't move, but there was a new tension in the hand holding the rifle. "So you were an ex."
Kathy	"I was," Kathy said. "But I'm not anymore. My friends came to get me and they...fixed it. But all that other stuff about souls and being the 'Returned' or whatever, I don't know about any of that. I'm just...me. Kathy Li. Nothing special. Not even a hero anymore." She held out the gun, grip first. Originally, she'd wanted to keep it for herself, but now she didn't want anything that would draw additional notice. "Just a civilian, same as any other."
St. George	"So, I heard over the radio about shots being fired?" St. George said, alighting from the sky and looking at the tableau curiously. "Is everything okay here? Banzai, how'd you get a gun?"
Kathy	Kathy could have screamed. Ten days of insisting on being called by her real name and St. George chose now to forget, reinforcing that identity with the rest of the guards. "It's Kathy," she snapped. "And I took it from an ex when it dropped it. Legion's playing games again. But now I'm giving it to Jefferson here because civilians aren't supposed to have firearms." "If you would rather ke--" "Civilians don't have firearms!" she shrilled and practically shoved the gun into Jefferson's free hand.
St. George	"Okay, okay," St. George said, holding up his hands. "So what happened here? There were gunshots reported?"
Legion	Jefferson's explanation was forestalled by another gunshot, loud and immediate. The bullet slammed into St. George's chest and bounced off, a circle of flattened lead. Everyone spun around to the Gate where a lone ex stood, wearing a helment and a series of silver loops running along each lip. "Game's changing again," Legion said. "I got guns. I got armor. I got into the armory out in Van Nuys. For all you know, I got a dozen exes out here, watching the walls through telescopic sights." He laughed for a moment and when he stopped, he met the eyes of every person on the ground with his cloudy gray ones. "Next time we do this, it's gonna be big."
St. George	St. George walked up to the gate. "Try it," he said. "One of these days--"
Legion	"What, dragon-man?" The ex grinned at him. Half its teeth were cracked from banging against each other for months. "You can't stop me. Can't do anything. Go ahead and beat up a hundred stiffs. Two hundred if it makes you feel all macho. Can't touch me and you know it." Legion tossed the gun between the bars of the gate. "Keep this one. I got plenty more."
St. George	Smoke curled out of St. George's nose as he glared at the dead man through the fence. He could feel things twisting at the back of his throat and swallowed the flames down. His fingers curled into fists and he had to fight the urge to drive one of them through the ex's face. "You keep telling us your plans, man," he said, striving to sound chill. "That's pretty stupid, you know."
Legion	The ex started sauntering away from the gate. "You go ahead and keep thinking I'm stupid," it tossed over its shoulder. "How many people that cost you so far? How's your buddy with the beard doing? Jarvis? Hear he took a nasty bite a few weeks ago. He one of mine yet? He can join that puta over there -" It gestured to Kathy "- when I come to collect."
St. George	St. George's fists shook. So much for playing it cool. He breathed out hard and licks of flame slipped out between his lips. He took in a breath to yell after the ex, or maybe send a ball of fire, and froze.
Uh-Oh	Directly in front of the gate was another of the sigils Zzzap had burned into the pavement, a pair of overlapping triangles inside several circles, with Latin scribbled around the edges. Two of the exes standing nearby had turned to face Legion, their faces twisted into twin expressions of pure rage. Their eyes swelled and burst, spilling blue fire across their faces. The skin around their skulls began to shift and twist, as if whatever was trapped inside was trying to push its way out.
Kathy	Uncertain muttering broke out across the Big Wall. "Rodney," Kathy called out. "Stop moving!" Sure, she hated him, but she'd had enough of demonic violence already this year.
Legion	The dead man sneered at her, its foot just over the line of blackened tar that marked the symbol's outer circle. "It's Legion!" said the ex. "I'm so much more than Rodney ever was!"
St. George	"Seriously," yelled St. George. "Look out!"
Exes?	The exes at the seal bent and twisted and swelled. A third one opened a mouth to reveal a nightmare maw of long teeth. A fourth held up hands with dagger-like fingernails.
Legion	Legion took one more step, both feet beyond the sigil's markings. "You're pathetic, dragon-man, and any day now I'm gonna--"
Exes	The distorted exes pounced. It was like watching cats fight, a ball of teeth and muscle and claws that spun and twisted too fast to see more than glimpses. More exes piled into the fight, some of them with burning eyes and some shouting in Spanish.
St. George	Instinct pushed St. George into the are. "Banzai!" he shouted, "get ready to go out there. We need to--" And then he dropped out of the sky and hit the pavement hard enough to make Kathy jump back to avoid the impact zone. The pavement cracked and spider-webbed around his body.
Max	Don't do it, George." Max stood in the street behind them. The sleeves of his charcoal suit were pushed up to reveal the tattoos on his forearms. He had his hands pressed palm to palm against each other so his fingertips touched his wrists. "Sorry, man. But I can't let you go out there."
St. George	St. George pushed himself to his feet, no worse for wear. Of the two, the pavement had definitely come out second best in that encounter. He glanced out the gate. The screaming was becoming more ragged. Between the exes he could see bursts of blue flame and dark gore. "It's killing him. We can't just -"
Max	"No great loss," said Max. "But either way, you're the last person who should step past the seals." "I can take care of myself!" Max rolled his eyes. "Not against that."
Kathy	St. George strained himself, clearly trying to get airborn and each time his body refused to obey him. Kathy agreed that he shouldn't go beyond the sigil - or the Wall, even - but it still made her skin crawl to see Max control him. It reminded her of being puppeted around by Rodney, truth be told. "Let him go, Max."
St. George	St. George tried to throw himself into the air again, but he couldn't even jump. "Even Rodney doesn't deserve this," he said.
Max	"Not the point. You're not a normal human, George. You're tough. You're strong. Your body could take possession as is. He could use you." "Boss," shouted one of the women from the top of the Wall. "It's stopped." St. George glared at Max. The sorcerer looked at the silent street through the gate and nodded. "Don't go out there," he said. "Seriously." Then he pulled his hands apart and St. George lifted into the air, up to the top of the Wall.
Exes	At least a dozen unmoving exes littered the street past the symbol and enough parts and gray meat to make up another dozen. The remaining undead stumbled around like the shell-shocked survivors of a bomb blast. While they watched, another ex stopped and turned to look at them. A heavyset woman in a blood-stained football jersey. It roared and flames poured out of its nostrils. Its eyes boiled away. A hand came up and pointed a long, spidery finger at the figures on the wall, incongruously tipped with sparkling orange polish that hadn't entirely chipped away.
Guards	"What the fuck is that?" muttered the guy with the 17 tattoo. "A couple of exes did that the other day." "And why's it pointing at me?" asked another one of the guards. "Nah man," one of the women said. "It looks like it's aimed right at me."
St. George	"It's pointing at me," St. George said, staring out at the dead woman. "Calm down. It wants me." "So what is it?" Jefferson asked, peering through the Gate next to Kathy and Max.
Max	"It's death," said Max. "It's the most nightmarish death you can imagine."
Cairax Murrain	The ex stretched and twisted. Tusks and fangs burst from its mouth even as its spine arched like a snake. A forest of spikes sprouted across its back and arms, shredding the football jersey. A prehistoric roar echoed from its mouth and shook the Big Wall. Blue flames swallowed its head, burning it down to a bare skull. Its flesh tore at the joins and the dead thing burst like a water balloon. Dark blood and gore splattered across the street.
Max	Max raised his voice. "Cairax Murrain is going to kill every living thing it can, anyone it can reach. Make sure everyone knows. Man, woman, child...superhuman." He glanced over to Kathy, then let his gaze drift up to St. George. "Right now, the only safe place in this city is inside the walls."
Kathy	"That's not exactly news," Kathy pointed out, but it was too late. The muttering that had echoed along the Big Wall turned into nervous discussion. Some of the guards crossed themselves. Others gripped their weapons a little harder. They all stared out at the symbol burned into the pavement, just a few yards out from the Gate. And a few of them were on their radios, spreading the word. "Great," she said, turning to glare at him. "You just scared a bunch of people."
Max	"Good," Max said. "Right now, none of you are anywhere near as scared as you should be. And that's what's going to get us all killed."