Season 1, Episode 6 - The Tree Plot XXXIX - "The Russet Plaza"

Lynn slowly awoke to the sound of free-flowing jazz. With each strong toot of the trumpets and energetic blast of the saxophones, she felt herself come alive again. Her vision was still blurry; she guessed she was inside some sort of room, except that this room seemed to move, even occasionally hitting bumps. She felt something cold against her back; with a groan, she sat herself upright, realizing she had been laying on a bench.

With weary hands, she wiped her eyes and blinked herself back into full consciousness.

I’m inside a moving van?

And not just any van - it was the van belonging to the Rddhi Detection Network. Sitting in the cargo hold alongside her was Mackenzie, who stared at the ground silently, and Audrey, who was busy playing chopsticks with one of the RDN girls.

She was the first to notice Lynn was back amongst the land of the living. “We did it, Lynn! Los hacimos!”

Lynn shook off the mind fog. Visions of Rodolfo's bittersweet expression as he died and Hikari slamming her sword into the ice swam across her mind. “You mean…we actually beat the Sect? And nobody here got hurt or died?”

“I was temporarily paralyzed!” Audrey exclaimed, a wide smile on her face. “But then I got better!”

The van hit a bump on the road, nearly jolting the girls out of their seats on the bench. The RDN girls seemed used to it; while the main three sat, Bonnie and Diana looked over an array of typewriters, telegrams, and other electronic equipment. Much of it was old, obsolete, and earmarked to have been thrown out by the Academy - much of it made their way to the RDN instead. Who would’ve guessed they’d be used for something like this?

“I remember an explosion,” Lynn recalled, rubbing her temple. She gasped. “The Trowel? Is it ok?”

Silent up to this point, Mackenzie reached into her suit jacket. Golden light danced across Lynn’s eyes when Mackenzie revealed the item they had been so desperately searching for her. “When we got you out of there,” Mackenzie explained, her voice distant. “We found you cradling this to protect it.”

A telegram machine went clack-clack-clack as Bonnie typed on it; Lynn sighed in relief. “Thank goodness. Oh, but what about the explosion? How did I…or really, any of us, make it out of there?”

Audrey wiped tears from her eyes and then blew her nose into Bonnie’s sleeve, matching the sound of the trumpet on the radio coming from the van’s front. “Oh, you’ll never believe it! It was the Eight-Steps Killer Sam!”

“It was mostly us,” Bonnie corrected, retrieving her sleeve back from Audrey’s saddened clutches. “Once Abel and Charlie got back to the van, Diana and I went up to check on you guys. We found Mackenzie no worse for the wear, and then we found Audrey sitting and telling stories.”

“My legs didn’t work!” she confirmed. “But then, right as Bonnie lifted me across those broad, oxen-like shoulders of hers, explosions ripped through the entire dojo. Mackenzie and Diana rescued you from the top floor, battling the inferno and smoke alike, while Bonnie and I made a hole in the side of the dojo to lower people down with my vines!”

Lynn glanced over at Mackenzie, who still looked away.

Audrey hummed/half-sang a few mournful notes. “Oh, maybe it was the stories I shared with him, but when I freed Eight-Steps Killer Sam and told him he was free to escape, he instead used his technique on incoming debris to save us! He karate chopped them all away as I lowered everybody out of the building. And then…and then…when it was just me and him left in there, I told him I’d lower him down, and then-”

She blew her nose on Diana’s sleeve this time. “Debris almost crushed me, but he saved me! With all his strength, he held up miscellaneous parts of the dojo until I lowered myself down. We made eye contact one last time, and then he smiled at me and said ‘Take Care of Yourself’. Well, I think he did - I was still deaf at the time. But he saved me because he recognized the connection between all humans! A classic story of redemption!”

“Isn’t that swell,” Lynn supposed, not entirely sure if she believed it or not. “I take it he didn’t make it out?”

Audrey just shook her head.

“And Hikari?”

This question was asked with more vigor and edge.

“We didn’t find her,” Mackenzie admitted, her voice distant. “Most of the dojo’s top floor was covered in ice after the explosions went off.”

The dark eyes of the Sect leader seemed to peer at Lynn from beyond the grave. And speaking of beyond the grave (and eyes), Lynn noticed the rings beneath Mackenzie’s eyes. “Hey…you alright?”

Another bump in the road. Mackenzie leaned back in her seat and gazed toward the roof of the van. “We got the Trowel back. And that’s what matters.” She placed a hand on Lynn’s shoulder; it felt surprisingly weak and loose.

“Let’s just go to the ceremony now.”

Downtown Russet consisted of tree-lined avenues - most of their leaves gone, swept away by the onset of late autumn - that eventually reached a giant plaza, the white marble of Russet Town Hall behind it. When the van arrived at the plaza, Charlie, sitting in the driver’s seat, flashed an Academy pass and Russet MPs directed the trio toward a designated parking spot.

The trio of cagayake girls waved goodbye to the quartet of RDN members, who would be off providing security for the Academy officials. Night had already fallen; Lynn could see her breath trail from her mouth in sifting streams of white. The atmosphere of the ceremony reminded her of a football game, all the pageantry and noise, both pleasant and grating. Conversation from the plaza drifted like a miasma over the center of Russet, even reaching Lynn’s ears here in the parking lot.

Mackenzie placed firm hands on both Lynn and Audrey’s shoulders. “We were watching television at my place the whole time, right?”

‘Right’ had just a bit of emphasis on it, just enough for Lynn and Audrey to give eager nods lined with unease. But when Lynn saw Mackenzie’s eyes this time, she noticed a hint of relief in them. Even though they were only just reaching their original goal - of planting a tree in the avenue - perhaps today’s journey had already come to an end. Everything after was just the epilogue.

They followed the noise of the crowd to the plaza, where the flashing of Academy IDs got them through the Russet MP guards at the front. The trio looked around, not entirely sure where to go, until a weak greeting and waving finally got through to them.

“Esther!” Audrey exclaimed, leading the trio through roaming attendees deeper into the plaza until they reached her sister. Esther looked downright warm in her large overcoat; Lynn shivered beneath her suit.

But goddang, Lynn reminded herself, do I look cool, even if I feel cold.

Miraculously, any damage to the suits caused by several rounds of kung-fu fighting had been either minimal or covered up with Bonnie and Audrey’s sewing skills.

“I’m glad all three of you made it,” Esther said in relief, smiling at each of them. “Um…I was afraid you’d somehow break the Trowel and go on a w-wacky misadventure to fix it in time…but I see that you have it. I’m sorry for doubting.”

Mackenzie had revealed the Trowel, tucked safely away inside her suit jacket.

“Have no fear, Esther!” Audrey said. “We were just watching television in Mackenzie’s apartment the whole time.”

“That’s good, it sounds relaxing. What did you watch?”

Three answers at once.

“Educational television.”

“Rom-coms.”

“Bowling!”

Esther looked between the three of them. Both Audrey and Lynn looked at Mackenzie.

She sighed. “It was a long marathon.”

“R-right. Well, thanks for coming. If you follow me, I can take you to your seats…”

The plaza consisted of two tall bleachers on either side, with rows of benches running in-between them facing towards a wooden stage. Some of the benches near the stage actually went onto the asphalt of a wide avenue; here, Lynn found an empty, small plot of dirt where they would plant the tree right in front of the stage. To think, they had fought several times today just to plant a tree!

But it’s for peace, Lynn reminded herself. The trio sat with other Academy officials, like Mr. Shokahu and Ms. Mogami, on a bottom bleacher row. The stands were filling in now; press correspondents, journalists, and newsreel cameramen, from both domestic and abroad, settled into the first rows of the benches alongside foreign dignitaries and military attaches. One man wore a military uniform adorned with a French flag; he spoke with another man adorned with the flag of Iberia.

Lynn turned to Mackenzie to ask why so many foreign officials were here, but she paused herself.

Let’s try using my own brain for once. If there’s anything to take away from today, it’s that. Captain Kepler of the Russet Military Police wants to end the factional fighting between the Academy and State Police since it’s bad for New England. Mr. Stockham wants peace since conflict would be bad for New England and the Academy, too. What do the State Police want? Do they want peace? If they agreed to meet, then maybe.

We know what Russet and the Academy wants, but the State Police is an unknown. If the State Police chooses violence, then maybe all these foreign officials are here as witnesses. Witnesses that we tried for peace, but the State Police chose violence.

I wish President Pulaski would come. I’ve always wanted to meet him. And maybe he could keep the peace, too But they say he’s busy negotiating with the Triple Kingdoms over the Iceland issue.

A slight murmur of cheers ran through the growing crowd; Captain Kepler stepped onto the stage, waving to a few people in the rows of benches. He was only up there to make sure the chairs and podium on the stage were arranged correctly, but it somehow soothed Lynn to know that people out there wanted peace, too. That, after seeing what she saw today, there were still people out there that wanted to talk rather than fight. Lynn herself had to fight today; she supposed that was bad. But she couldn’t quite tell. The peace conference was a good reminder.

“Well, well, well,” a man with a thin black mustache said as he approached the trio. “Fancy seeing you two again.” Chills went down Lynn’s spine and alarm bells went off in her head as she immediately recognized the iconic black suit-fedora combination - this man was a Statie. Burly officers, their hands hidden in their jackets, flanked the man on either side.

As much as Lynn’s skin scrawled, both Esther and Audrey looked breathless, their fingers now intertwined on the bleacher between them.

The man seemed to enjoy the atmosphere of terror. He then took off his fedora, revealing a mop of black hair. “Allow me to introduce myself for those of you who haven’t met me. My name is Colonel Ryman Symanski of the State Police. I met these two sisters during our pursuit of justice last month.”

“You mean the raid?” Mackenzie asked, her voice carrying an edge to it.

Symanski chuckled. “Amazing how two people can look at the same event and come away with two completely different interpretations.”

And it’s amazing how differently people can react. Mackenzie looked defiant; the Adzinokis trembled in their seats. But that made sense - they ran into this man before during the raid. But as for Lynn? She had run-ins with the State Police at age 11 when they took her cousin and last month as well when they attacked the Revere Gang at the warehouse. So why...

So why am I so afraid? I thought I got stronger today. But looking at this man, all I can feel is fear.

Lynn swallowed and darted her eyes away when Symanski glanced in her direction.

“If you have business with the Academy, speak with me,” Shokahu interrupted, his arms crossed. Ms. Mogami gave the man a similarly stern look.

The tension seemed to deflate for a moment, now that someone with equal power spoke to the officer. Symanski just shrugged. “Shokahu, right? We fought together in the trenches of the First American War. It’s a shame we’re on opposing sides now.”

He checked his watch. “I better get going, anyway. Chief Amien couldn’t make it tonight - I’m the one he sent to handle these negotiations. I hope your Chairman gives it to me straight rather than adopt his salesman’s cap - I got a train north I need to catch later tonight.”

The Academy members watched Symanski and his entourage walk off. Mogami placed her arms on the shoulders of the Adzinokis and shook them lightly with a smile on her face; despite believing she was stronger, despite knowing she was stronger, Lynn wished someone would do that for her.