Jon got the fence up and running again.
"It won't hold as well as before," he said, once he arrived in Hardy's office, rejoining Chloe, Jin, Lucas, and Aiden who was now awake thanks to a bit of blood from Jin. "But it ought to buy us enough time to get most of the others out of here." He looked to the Chancellor. "Where are we evacuating to?"
"District 6's at capacity," Hardy said, at his desk, examining figures on his computer screen. "And they're not at all willing to budge. I've placed calls out to 4 and 5, explained the situation and they're willing to help. I want every vehicle we have fueled up and ready to make the drive. Everything except the heavy lifters. Throw all the rules out the window, fit as many people as you can into a vehicle and have them head out." Hardy looked at Jin. "Is there any more information that could help us, anything else you're keeping us in the dark about?"
"Light," Jin said. "The specimens always displayed an extreme sensitivity to light. Almost disorienting for them."
"Good to know." Hardy nodded, unfolding a large roll of paper on his desk. He rose to his feet, grabbed a marker and got to work on a battle plan. "Lucas, Aiden, head on out and coordinate the evacuation," he said, while drawing out his plan.
Both Lucas and Aiden nodded, and made to leave. Before they did however, Jin spoke.
"Lucas, wait," she said.
Lucas halted but growled as he did, shooting a glare at Jin out of the corner of his eyes. "What?" he demanded.
"Here." Jin tossed to him a vial, a small one, containing a bit of her blood. Lucas caught it instinctively, examined the vial then looked at her. His eyes darkened further.
"I don't need your filth," he hissed, offering it back to her.
"Keep it," Jin said. "You will."
Lucas's gaze shifted from Jin back to the vial. He wrapped his palm around it, looking for a moment like he might shatter it. But he didn't, instead sliding the vial into his pocket then turning and making his way out of the room with Aiden.
A little while after they'd both left, Hardy straightened slightly at his desk but kept both his hands on it. "So, here's the plan," he began, "And any of you feel free to chip in with suggestions if it sounds stupid."
Jon and the others moved closer to the desk, nodding as they did.
"Evacuation comes first, obviously," Hardy began. "We get everyone who can't fight clear of the district, make sure we're the only ones left here, and the guards too. Then we disable the fences."
To that, they all stirred.
Jon frowned. "We're disabling the fences?"
"We'll need Cole and Glenn to stay back, they know how to work that stuff better than anyone else." Hardy wiped sweat off of his forehead, paused to take a breath and then continued. "We disable the fences, let them in easily, bait them to the center of the district. And when they're right where we want them, I want those fences back up and running. Trap them inside the district, a proper cage fight."
"Then what?" Chloe asked.
"District's empty at this point so I want all of the excess power diverted, everything to the lights. I want those goddamn fucking monsters blinded, disoriented, whatever. I want them in a world of hurt."
"The thing you did earlier," Jon began, looking to Jin. "With the sound. It hurt the angry god, the hounds too, killed them. Do you think you could do it again? Right now, we have the lights for whatever amount of angry gods turn up, but that only disorients them. We still have to do the hard bit of killing them ourselves. Even with your blood, I don't see how that'll be easy. But with whatever attack you used earlier—,"
"It hurt you too," Jin reminded. "It was a last-ditch effort to address the situation. If I used it again, it'd also take its toll on you. We'll have to do this the hard way."
Jon sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. "Fine, we do it the hard way then."
"I do have one question though," Jin said, stepping forward and focusing her gaze on Hardy. "Your plan involves baiting them into the center of the district. How do you plan to achieve that?"
"Well, they're here for something right?" Hardy asked, staring right at Jin, his eyes cold. "And seeing as your presence here is the reason why we're in this goddamn mess to begin with, I think it's fair that all we're asking of you is to serve as bait."
"You've asked a good deal more than that of me." Jin narrowed her gaze coldly. "I will not be a pawn of yours. I will not risk capture."
"We're risking death here, lady." Hardy straightened fully and beneath his shirt, his muscles rippled. "We need to seal them all inside the district, and that only works if they have a reason to be deep within it. Once it's sealed, it's going to be a lot harder for them to make off with you anyways."
"That's a huge gamble, Chancellor." Jin pursed her lips tightly. Chloe noticed her hands curl into fists, saw the veins that bulged on the back of them and for the first time, she detected a scent on Jin. Something almost primal, dangerous. It sent a shiver down Chloe's spine and caused the hairs on the back of her neck to rise.
Chloe tapped Jon's hand with her pinky and signaled with her eyes toward Jin. Jon simply nodded at her, and very slowly and subtly, he moved, going on to Jin's right side while Chloe remained on her left.
Jin turned slightly, having noticed the movement behind her.
"Really?" she asked, snorting a little. "You want to do this?"
"We don't want to do anything." Chloe clenched her fists hard, her knuckles cracking under the pressure. "But if you act aggressively or rashly, you'll leave us no choice. I know you're scared of your father and what he might—,"
"I'm afraid of no one," Jin hissed angrily and perhaps for the first time since she'd first seen the girl, Chloe saw a flash of emotion on her face, emotion that seemed genuine, filling her eyes too albeit just for a moment. It was akin to what she'd seen in Lucas.
Pure rage. Hatred.
"You saved my life," Chloe continued to speak but in a softer tone this time. "I do not trust you, and I blame you for all of this but it doesn't change the fact that I'm only still here right now because of your blood. And regardless of how I feel about you, it means I owe you one. Now, I will not promise to protect you or keep you alive but I can promise you that you will not be captured by your father or Ravan. On that, you have my word."
Jin softened slightly and Chloe saw her fist relax. A moment passed and Jin's shoulders dropped.
"Fine," the girl said, taking a step backward. "I will be your bait. I'll get them to the center."
Hardy nodded at her, and then went on to continue dictating his plan. "Assuming, of course, things go our way and that we somehow miraculously survive the attack and emerge with all of our limbs intact, we take the transmitters out of the angry gods and then load as many of their corpses as we can onto the heavy lifters. We take them with us to District 5. Again, that's only if we survive. If we do happen to fall here then none of it will matter anyways. But I do trust I do not need to reiterate to you guys why it's absolutely crucial that we do not bungle things here. It's not just the District at stake. We're fighting for more than just ourselves."
Jon looked at Chloe then. Their eyes met. He gave her a small smile. She smiled back at him and gave him a gentle nod.
"Okay, so that's it," Hardy said, rolling up the plan. "Any of you got any ideas, suggestions?"
They all exchanged looks before looking back to Hardy and shaking their heads simultaneously. "Nope," Jon said. "Sounds good to me."
"Alright then." Hardy rubbed the back of his neck sorely. "I suppose now's when we go save the bloody fucking world?"