“You tried to bite my ear off. You, you…”
“Go ahead, call me what you want. Whatever it is, it won’t be the first time.”
Heidi went into a low sliding leg sweep, trying to take Abigail down again. But her foe’s legs were not there as Abigail jumped straight up and twisted off to the side.
“Care to try that again?” asked Abigail.
“Bitch.” Heidi feinted, tried to kick Abigail in the shin. Once again, her foe was not there, but seemed to blur off to the right.
“Try again?”
Heidi let out a cry of frustration went in for a low tackle, and found her head trapped in a scissor between Abigail’s thighs as the blonde then rolled on her side. Abigail flexed her thigh muscles, knowing the effect this would have on her opponent’s skull.
“Give?” she asked. Then screamed as Heidi jammed stiffened fingers into her most sensitive areas between her thighs, as well as tried to bite through Abigail’s fatigues. Abigail tried to pull the hurting fingers back away from her as Heidi worked her sharp teeth into the inner thigh. The blonde released the scissors and lashed out with her feet, catching Heidi in her chest. Heidi let out a cry of pain and fell back.
Abigail got to her feet, rubbing her thighs.
“You are nasty.”
“Whatever it takes to win, Blondie. Now, time to go.” Heidi rushed into grapple and take Abigail to the floor once again, try for an arm bar.
Now it was Heidi’s turn to yelp in pain as stiffened fingers returned the favor in between her thighs. Abigail’s other hand grabbed Heidi’s nose and twisted. Off balance, Heidi succumbed to a foot sweep, then an attempt at a scarf hold as Abigail tried to hold her down.
“You are not getting by me…” Abigail howled again as Heidi ripped open her fatigue shirt, began to claw and twist at her chest before Abigail could control her foe’s hands. Heidi started to roll Abigail off her, trying to maul the breast some more as she did, the sports bra beginning to slide off.
“Sensitive time of the month?” Heidi said with a grin as she rolled on top of Abigail.
Heidi saw stars. It must have been just a matter of moments but as Heidi’s vision cleared, Abigail was sitting on her stomach, hands about to throttle her. She saw a feral look on Abigail’s face that seemed as if a demon had come to rest inside of Abigail. And Heidi was very afraid. As quick as the look was there, it was gone. Abigail was standing over her before she realized it.
“You are lucky Ichiro has been working with me, or your throat would be ripped out.” The way she said it sent chills up Heidi’s spine.
“Now, Sister Warrior. Truce, or must I maim you? Break bones, rip off body parts? You decide.”
Heidi slowly stood up, looked at Abigail. “It’s true. That story…up in Wyoming.”
“That was classified, damnit. And it was supposed to end there!”
“Some of the locals talked, it got back to Key West. Adam thought it was an attempt to scare us…”
“Scare you? Are you mad?” Abigail began to shake, tears ran down her cheeks. “I was made to be a killer. By Krakens, Squids, even some of my own people. And now you bring this out in me when all I was trying to do was help stop this Wizard piece of excrement?”
Heidi suddenly realized just how wrong she had been. That her own ego and anger prevented her from seeing the truth about what needed to be done.
“Aw fuck. I really screwed the pooch on this one. Come one. Please. Grab your gear. We need to help Adam…”
Half a dozen grays appeared from the same side corridor Heidi had been in, led by a front man humanoid. The front man had a pistol in his hand.
“Women, put your hands up,” it said in an oddly accented English voice. “You will both come…”
A thin throwing dagger buried itself into the creature’s right eye in a blur of motion. The pistol discharged, missed its target. As the front man fell backwards, Heidi dropped, rolled and came up with her machete. As the grays began to advance on Heidi with some improvised weapons, a wraith with a katana hit them…
When Adam Lloyd reached the mass driver bay, the scale was so immense that, like to some people when they first see the Grand Canyon, it looked almost unreal. He scanned the area, then saw a Squid moving about some one hundred yards away near a lift that seemed to service the huge breach of the right mass driver. Adam jogged toward the figure, which turned as he approached. It was the Wizard, Adam being one of the few humans capable of reliably telling one Tschaaa from another. The Wizard waved its social tentacles, then spoke through its translator.
“Ah, the Lord of America’s pet human. I guess you have seen the light, and can see your former Master is a weak fool. Good, you can assist me until other helpers arrive.” The Wizard pointed toward two small sofa-sized bundles of space junk that the Wizard had swept from near space. The items in the bundles were stuck together with some type of sticky spray on material.
“Load those onto the lift there. The control panel should basic enough for even a monkey human to understand. Raise them up to the Mass Driver breach, there, see where I point? The spray on heat shield material should insure at least some of the payload hits the Earth. Then I have a several rather huge bundles to launch…well, don’t just stand there, get to work.” The Wizard turned its back to Adam, used to having humans jump to and follow his orders.
The Wizard let out a warbling screech as Adam leapt on its back and plunged his cheap but sharp “Made in Pakistan” knife into the Squid’s torso. Once, twice, thrice he plunged in the rather rubbery skin. Then he was grabbed by powerful arms and tentacles, thrown through the air away from the Tschaaa Lord. He hit the control console hard on his back, then fell to the ground. As the alien Lord screamed in pain and anger, Adam tried to move his legs and found he could not. Sticking out of his spine was the broken off shaft from a long control handle that had protruded from the control console. He knew he was mortally wounded, and the numbness began to spread.
The Wizard had managed to pull the knife from its body and was waving it around, vocalizing in loud cries with which the translator was having trouble in coping. Then the translator caught up with the Tschaaa rantings.
“You stupid monkey! You think you can kill me? Stop me?” The Wizard tossed the knife at the console, watching it bounce off. “I will now watch you die, meat scum.”
“What have we here?” Andrew’s voice cut through the din.
“You. Cyborg. Clean up this excrement. Then assist me with the mass driver. First, fetch me some bandages. Don’t just stand there. Move.”
“Of course Lord. I will move.”
Andrew strode over to the Tschaaa Lord as it was trying to examine its wounds. The Squid looked up at Andrew, started to sign confusion with its social tentacles. Andrew ripped the right tentacle off at its connecting joint. In a blur the cyborg did the same with the left. The shrieking, warbling and screaming reverberated both through the translator and the air. The Lord known as Wizard tried to beat at Andrew with its thick arms, and the robocop began to rip off the limbs like a nasty little kid would do to a daddy long legs spider. Within moments, the Squid was a multiple amputee.
Andrew plunged his right arm into the body of the Tschaaa Lord as it let out final shrieks of pain and fear. “Have a nice trip to hell, Lord.” Andrew ripped out the large cephalopod’s heart. The Wizard, shook, then was dead.
Andrew dropped the organ, and went to where Adam lay. “I die, friend.”
“No, you don’t. I grab you, rush you to my Falcon. I have the means to keep you alive.”
“No, my friend Andrew. I am finished. It must be so.”
“No, Director, it does not…”
Adam managed to grab Andrew’s arm.
“I must die. Then the blame for all of this, dies with me. I helped do this. The Protocol of Selective Survival…a failure.” Adam coughed up blood, sprayed it on Andrew. He managed to smile.
“Sorry, my dear friend. I messed up on you.”
Andrew picked
Adam up, cradled him. “We go…”
“No. Please. Andrew. My last request. I…beg.”
Andrew looked down at him in his arms. For the first time in memory, tears ran down from beneath his visor. He slid it up from his hazel eyes.
“I cannot…”
“Yes, you can. You and the Breeders, Madam President, the rest, you…can make this …right. Make it work. Please. You see, don’t you?”
Andrew looked at his friend. “Yes. I am cursed to see it.”
Adam smiled. “Say…I love…Mary, Kat, the kids, the Chief…Heidi…”
The Director tensed, then still smiling, looked into the now uncovered eyes of Andrew.
“Old friend…” Adam Lloyd’s eyes glazed over, and he was no more.
“Rest, Adam,” said Andrew. “You deserve it.”
The cyborg heard footsteps approaching. He turned to face the figures running toward him, still cradling Adam.
“Andrew,” Torbin called out. “What…?”
“He died so others may live. Simple.”
Torbin and Ichiro stopped short, looking at the body Andrew cradled like a child in his arms.
“Ah shit…I…he saved me, Andrew.”
“Yes he did, friend Torbin. And down deep, he wished he could have left with you, those long months ago. But, well, he could not leave his loved ones behind.”
Ichiro looked over at the remains of the Squid.
“The Lord Wizard?”
“Yes. In pieces. Something I should have done many months ago.”
Andrew looked at Torbin. “Sir, please do me one favor.”
“Anything.”
“Place that Squid heart on the console.”
“Sure.” Torbin went over, picked up the bloody trophy and placed it on the control console.
“Aren’t you going to ask me why, Torbin? Why I asked you to do this?”
“Friends don’t always have to ask. You do something because you are friends, brothers.”
“Brothers. A nice sound… It is a sign, Torbin. A warning of what is to come should another Tschaaa Lord resist the future of things.”
Just then, Abigail and Heidi came running into the immense bay, saw the group. Then dashed to them.
“Adam. Boss!” Heidi cried out as she saw Andrew cradling Adam.
“He is no more, Heidi. I am sorry.”
“Fix him! Goddamnit. You have the power…”
“Adam said no, Heidi. It was his last wish. Said it…was his time to go.”
“No. Fuck no! Fix him!” Heidi began to scream, cry. She swung and broke her machete on Andrew’s armored body, then began to kick and beat on him with her bare hands.
“You worthless hunk of metal and meat,” Heidi screamed again, collapsed to her knees, sobbing soul wrenching cries.
“I love him. I love him so.”
Abigail dropped to her knees next to her former foe, wrapped her arms around her, tears in her eyes. “He is where he wants to be, sister. With…his past family.”
Heidi wrapped her arms around Abigail.
“He had family here. We loved him. He saved us.”
Torbin tried not to let the tears come, but they did anyways. Then he noticed Ichiro had tears in his eyes also.
“He died… a warrior. A good man. For he died for us all.” Ichiro then dropped to his knees and bowed low.
“I will honor his memory…always.”
They all grieved for a few more moments, as time seemed to pause for all as they honored the passing of a former enemy, now hero. Finally, Andrew spoke. “I must take Adam to my Falcon, secure him. Then, my friend Torbin. I must share a deception with you. If you could all wait here, ensure no more miscreants show up.”
“Of course, Andrew,” answered Torbin.
Andrew turned, and dashed away as only a cyborg could, toward the landing bay where his Falcon was still parked.
Ichiro put his hand on his wife. “My love, you have bluish blood on you.”
“Yes, my love. Heidi and I had to deal with some grays. After Fuzz, it felt good in an evil way to cut them down.”
Heidi hiccupped, and stopped crying. “Fuzz. That was your dog buddy, right?”
“Yes. A couple of grays killed him while he killed them, protecting me. Now, the debt is paid. Six of them for Fuzz. A fair trade. Although my heart still aches for him.”
Heidi looked into Abigail’s eyes. “We’ve lost way too many friends, family, loved ones, parts of our souls. Thanks to these Squids coming.”
“And to some monsters called Krakens who pass as fellow humans,” added Ichiro.
The Coastie tried to smile at him. “You know, I still owe you a shot to the chops. You were the first person to ever knock me unconscious.”
Ichiro bowed to her. “I ask forgiveness in my wife’s name, Heidi Faust.”
Heidi managed to chuckle. “Well, Abigail here just rang my chimes again. I guess it runs in the family.”
Heidi stood up, a bit shaky, and faced the others.
“I’m asking for your forgiveness. I should have been on your side…”
“Oh, belay that, Petty Officer,” interjected Torbin. “There but the Grace of God went almost all of us. Fate and circumstances often determines sides, not choices. We are all humans. Especially today, with a bunch of Squids standing down, realizing that they are not in the number one slot by themselves anymore. They have some ‘monkeys’ standing next to them.”
This elicited some laughter from the group at the mental picture of a monkey standing next to the Squid Lords, shrieking and throwing its shit as some primates are prone to do.
Andrew reappeared, moved quickly up to them.
“Come. Torbin. You have a brother to see.”
“Brother? Who are you talking about?”
“William. He lives. I have been overseeing his…rebirth.”
Torbin stopped dead, his mouth flew open. “Fucking impossible. He died ramming that Falcon. There is a film…”
“Which is incomplete. I have been supervising the growth of a new body. He has most of his memories. But his body….it was sixty percent gone. The Tschaaa saved him for testing. Once I found him, I began to truly rebuild him.”
“And you knew this when you took me to Deseret?”
“Yes. I now ask for your humble forgiveness for not telling you sooner, but…
Torbin slammed his fist into Andrew’s body, then howled with pain.
“Goddamn you and your Squid armored body. All these months, years, thinking he was dead, gone, maybe eaten. Come to find out he was being used to test some Squid theories on meat raised in vats. And now he’s alive.” Torbin started to unsling the Bolt Gun he had taken from the Soldier, cursing, his face flushed with extreme anger. Ichiro and Abigail were then holding on to him, hugging him as he raged.
“Let me go! This fucking bag of bolts….”
“Torbin. He is alive.” Abigail yelled in his ear. “He was not killed, eaten, nor tortured. He is alive! Your family lives.”
Torbin’s speech became incoherent as he raged, against all those years of thinking his little brother was dead and gone. Then the tears came. Abigail held him tight, kissed his cheek. “Torbin, your brother lives. Thanks to Andrew, he will live as your brother once more. And you said Kat Monroe was his fiancée. She lives also. Think what that will mean to him, when you tell him that.”
Torbin tried not to sob. Marines don’t sob. But, the emotions of anger and joy, so intertwined, conflicting. his knees began to buckle. Ichiro held him up.
“My blood brother. We are here for you. We will never leave. And we are here for your brother William. I would like to talk with this fellow pilot, the stuff of legends.”
Finally, Torbin gained more control of his emotions. He glared at the cyborg. “Do you understand how pissed off, hurt I am, Andrew? Why couldn’t you have told me?”
“If I had, it would have changed the decisions of several important people, yourself included. I had to see the beginning of thi
s…Great Compromise through first. I am not without emotion. I know the hurt you felt over the loss of your family.”
And with that, a large tear rolled down Andrew’s face. For he was this day more man than machine. Heidi stepped up, grabbed his huge hand. “You know, you have a way of getting us to love you and want to kill you all at the same time. I know why you did what you did, why you always do what you do. You are trying to be all things to all people. You try to solve everything. Please, Andrew. I love you. Give it a rest. Let someone else shoulder the load.”
Andrew stood still and quiet. He stood so still that Heidi began to wonder if something inside of him had broken, short circuited.
“Hey, buddy…”
“I am still here, Heidi.” And then he smiled, which turned into a grin.
“Funny how I was always trying to compute the outcome, fix everything myself. All to save the children, the future. Then this Petty Officer here reminds me of something I keep forgetting. I have friends. Maybe, family.”
“Hell yes, Andrew,” Heidi said. “Come here. I need some lovin’.”
Andrew bent over and picked Heidi up, cradled her as she hugged him, kissed his still human cheek.
Torbin then stepped up, grabbed a hold of his arm. “Okay, I apologize for losing it. Now, can I see my brother?”
“Of course. Ichiro, Abigail, could you find your way back to my Falcon, take Heidi with you? You will encounter no more resistance. The defensive systems on the asteroid have been reprogrammed to my orders.”
“Yes, Andrew. I think so,” replied Abigail. She stepped up to the cyborg, put her hand on his shoulder.
“Know from someone who was raised to hate all those connected with the Tschaaa. I see now that from even what we consider as evil can come good. We humans will always owe you, Andrew. For you are the one who truly tried to save everyone.”
“If you keep praising me, Abigail, my head will expand past the confines of my armored
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