“I’ll show you what love is!”
And he had.
She should not have had these memories. True, absorbing parts of a person had given her insights before. With Mel, she had eaten more than she needed for glimpses of the soldier’s past, more than enough to escape detection. The few times she had performed a full integration with a victim, she had experienced a barrage of temporary memories that had thrown her into a confused, frenzied state that had required weeks of isolation to process fully. This time should have been different. She had known Red was kindred from the moment she had laid eyes on him. She had prepared for this, trained for it, ever since she had chosen her destiny. This time, she had chosen to preserve her prey, to share in the riches of their union together. Instead, he had forced her to kill him. What might have been a glorious period of transitioning, of letting their minds slowly meld together into one—a delicious process that could have taken years!—instead became a cold and sharp dissection of his identity. And yet, something had gone wrong. His newly magnificent body and powers were now hers, but his mind…
There was nothing left of his mind. Nothing at all.
She had hoped, at the very least, to have gleaned something of him to keep and cherish, to hold close and dear, forever. At most, she might have preserved the breadth of his entire life, his thoughts stored within the expanse of her mind, to be called upon and experienced, each in their own time. And while she found herself at times shuddering, writhing against the sharp flashes of pure memory, she wished more than anything else to be rid of them. Because they were not his memories.
They belonged to another.
She should not have had these memories. They were impossible, for one thing. Some never happened; others were from a distant future that could never come to pass. But they were real. They spoke of a multiverse of realities, and in each one, they showcased the same thing, over and over and over again. Victoria Victrix loved Red Djinni as much as any human could love another. And they kept coming, unwanted, tormenting her…
Her mind shied away from them, violently. And the more she tried to avoid them, the more she fixated on mourning for that Red bastard. And the more she mourned, the more confused she found herself, suffering that depression again, a depression that made her sluggish, made her lose track of hours, even parts of days.
I’m not up to this.
But the Masters, Gero himself, had spoken. She had to kidnap Victrix, take her alive, when that was the last thing she wanted to do. She wanted Victrix dead, dead and gone. Perhaps then, these memories would follow the bitch into the grave and she wouldn’t keep reliving them.
“I’ll show you what love is!”
She entered the building and took the stairs to Vickie’s floor, encountering no one along the way. As she reached the hallway, she realized that the door to the apartment in question was standing open, light flooding into the hall.
She entered, sensed no one inside, and went straight to the Overwatch room. Or rather, what had been the Overwatch room—and now was a room bare of anything, the single overhead light fixture blazing down on carpet showing indentations where the furniture and equipment had been.
She turned and glanced into what had been the witch’s workroom, to find the same there. And in the bedroom—well, there was the bed, and all the furniture, but drawers still pulled out showed conclusively that the apartment had been emptied of everything the witch wanted or needed. And, of course, of the witch herself.
Doppelgaenger stood there, clutching the ECHO Op’s weapon, and cursed silently. Vickie had been on duty, here, mere hours ago—she had to have been, because the Murdocks had turned up at the raid on New York City, and only she was able to call them up. So between then and now, suddenly the apartment had been emptied, and the prey had flown.
Presumably flown at nearly the exact moment when Doppelgaenger herself had departed to capture her.
Which could only mean one thing. The unthinkable had happened.
“We have a mole,” she muttered, clenching her teeth so hard her jaw ached. “We have a mole.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
* * *
Between the Lines
Dennis Lee and Mercedes Lackey
Until now, I rather doubt anyone had reckoned just what a clever monkey Jack was.
You’re all about to find out.
Jack awoke and found himself caught in an immediate staring contest with Barron. She appeared to be sizing him up. It was always so hard to tell what an alien was thinking, as facial expressions were relatively novel to them. He had really nothing to go on but body language. It had been his first lesson in dealing with the Masters. Body language was very important to them. They even had an intricate system of hand gestures and poses, with the slightest differences conveying emotions as disparate as gratitude and disdain, respect and loathing, and everything in between. So it had been worth his life to pick up the nuances of this sign language during their first meeting, and fast. Thankfully he had always had a knack for adopting new skills, especially ones that meant life or death.
He found himself staring back at Barron, letting her play her game, when he finally sighed. He didn’t have time for this. If this was the real Barron, he was as good as dead. His demise might have been prefaced with a gratuitous amount of violence, but she would have ended him fairly quickly. And while he was still picking up the sign language, he was fairly certain that heavy tilt of her head was how the Masters expressed attraction of a sexual nature. That hardly seemed likely, though the mere thought was disturbing at the least.
“Knock it off,” he growled. “We’re on a schedule here.”
“You can tell, just by looking at me, can’t you?” Harmony said in her own voice, stepping out of the way so he could clamber out of the stasis chamber. “I think you missed your calling, Jack. You would have made a good spy.”
“What do you call what we’re doing then?” Jack grunted and came to his feet. He looked around. They were in a small chamber, dimly lit by lights that didn’t shine so much as seep from the panels in the ceiling and floor. There was a severe absence of color in the futuristic decor, with mostly metallic black and silver panelling, and strictly utilitarian design. “Though if this place is all like this, it might make it more than a little difficult to sneak around. This kind of setup doesn’t really lend itself to crawling through the ductwork.”
“We might be able to move about in plain sight,” Harmony said. “I got you a uniform—not an easy thing to do, considering your odd size.”
From her outstretched pincer she dangled one of the uniforms worn by the few human collaborators aboard the ship—descendants, no doubt, of those original Nazi “minders” who had attended to the needs of the original Ubermensch, and of Eisenfaust, Valkyria, and Doppelgaenger. Jack snatched it away, pulled it on, then reached into the bottom of the tube and brought out his kit bag. One advantage to being short, there had been plenty of room in there for him and his kit.
“You don’t look altogether bad in that,” Harm observed, as he tugged the tunic straight, her head again to one side. “The fascist style suits you.”
“Nazis always had the best uniforms. Hugo Boss,” he observed, as he made sure that everything that had been in his kit was still in his kit. “Any glitches getting us aboard?”
“Surprisingly, no.” Harmony shrugged. “The guards believed I was her, wouldn’t even look me in the eye as I snarled at them and breezed past. She must have quite the reputation on this boat. I only got a brief scan of her at her base, but what I gleaned seemed convincing enough.” She paused, looking thoughtful. “That was with the lowly peons, though. If I run into anyone who actually knows her well, it might not be enough.”
“What you gleaned?” Jack asked, pausing as he slipped his hands into a pair of heavy leather gloves. “You can do that?”
“You mean you didn’t know? You don’t fool me, Jack. You know I can’t read you. That’s a nice hefty shield you’ve somehow erected aro
und yourself. You’ve been dabbling in magic, haven’t you?”
“Fine, I had an idea of what you can do. Yeah, I’m being schooled in the use of magic. It’s handy, and I’ll use whatever tools are at hand to get the job done. I didn’t know you could get that much from Barron though. Why did you let me coach you so much on her mannerisms then?” he asked, a tinge of annoyance in his voice. “Time is precious, girl. We can’t squander it on things that don’t matter.”
“Girl…” Harmony chuckled. “You really are in the dark, aren’t you? You still think I’m just some bored, overpowered meta who’s got little else to do with her time than help you save the world? Just remember what we discussed, Jack. I named my price. Unlike Verdigris, I think you’ll stay true to your word, and get me what’s mine.”
“You’ll have it,” Jack said. “Just keep me alive and let me see this through. Victrix needs that information, and we’re about all she’s got on this boat. After that, we can both settle our common score, and then we can settle our account.”
“Promise?” Harmony asked, her voice kittenish. Jack almost recoiled. He knew it was Harmony, but the sight of Barron playing the role of a flirtatious schoolgirl was enough to make his hair stand on end.
“Promise,” he nodded. He didn’t see any reason to lie. He had unearthed her lost and precious talisman, and he had every intention of returning the repulsive artifact to her.
“Does Victrix know?”
“Know what?”
“That I’m on the team?” Harmony smirked. “It seems like a funny thing to me.”
“Doubt it,” Jack said. “You were recruited on the fly. Opportunity presented itself, and I’d have been a fool not to take advantage of it. I wouldn’t underestimate Victrix though. Girl’s got more than a few surprises tucked away here and there. Why do you ask? You got a beef with her?”
“Oh no, of course not,” Harmony replied. “The witch and I get along famously.”
“Sure you do,” Jack said. “Everyone just loves you, don’t they? You’re just oozing with good intentions and all.”
“There’s no need to be so antagonistic, Jack,” Harmony said, pouting. “We’re on the same side again, just like old times.”
“You might not want to bring up the old times,” Jack said. “If you recall, that didn’t end so well for me. You’re sure we’re good here? You followed the protocol?”
“Yes, yes,” Harmony sighed. “No unnecessary risks, clean sweeps, zero contact, first safe room. We’re good. You act like there was any doubt I could get us in.”
Jack didn’t answer and continued to rummage through his kit bag.
“You did!” Harmony said and cackled. “Goodness, this wasn’t as foolproof as you had us all believe.”
“Yeah, I took a gamble on you,” Jack admitted. “I gambled you wanted your little trinket enough to pull it off. Not my usual play, but sometimes there isn’t much choice.” Everything was in the bag in its proper place. He grunted in satisfaction and began to look about the room.
“You risked both of us on this? May I say I’m surprised, even a little shocked?” She didn’t sound either, but…it was Harmony.
Jack paused from his search and gave her a speculative look. “Us? Do you think you’re in any danger at all?” he asked. “Let’s say the worst happens, and we’re discovered. Given what’s in here, all around us, I’m pretty much screwed. You though…you defy everything that’s ever been thrown at you. You think I don’t know that?”
She just shrugged. Or did an approximation of that movement, hampered by the fact she was wearing a body with a lot of shoulder joints. “I get by. You think I don’t have weaknesses, that I can’t be killed, well…I don’t see why I would contest any of that. There’s really no benefit in admitting one might have an Achilles heel, is there? Nice thing about having a past shrouded in mystery—no one can see what you’re really bringing to the party. I rather like that. Always having the upper hand means I can do as I see fit. Sometimes, I can even be the good guy.”
“The good guy,” Jack grunted. “Was that what you were doing when you tried to spring Red from his cage?”
“He was the last,” Harmony nodded. “I had a few scores to settle at ECHO. I do have some sense of karma, you know, and there are a few people who I care about. I couldn’t stay there forever, but before I left I needed to set them on their path. For Red, I thought getting him out of his cell would do nicely. Never dreamed what lay ahead of him, that it was Doppelgaenger who was posing as…”
“Wait, you knew that was Doppelgaenger?” Jack demanded and glared at her. “You knew and you let him go with her? If you were trying to help him, how do you justify just letting him waltz off with that…thing?”
“It wasn’t just him,” Harmony said. “It was them. Their paths were entwined, anyone could see that. Whatever the fates had in store for them, it certainly didn’t fall upon me to interfere. My role is never to judge, Jack, only facilitate. I am an agent of chaos, after all. What happens, happens. I can only stir the pot.”
“You knew what would happen to him, didn’t you?” Jack asked, his voice now very quiet. “You knew she was going to kill him.”
“She was close to—something,” Harmony said. “Close enough that the anticipation was coming off her in waves. I had an idea what might happen, yes. It would be bloody and terrible, but it didn’t taste like death. Quite the opposite. I’m not accustomed to justifying my actions, Jack, but I’ll have you know I thought I was doing the Djinni a favor. In the long run, I thought he would be the better for it. I cared for him too, as much as I do anyone. If he died, he chose it. That’s as much as anyone can hope for.”
Jack continued to stare at her. He felt his fingers twitching, eager to go for her throat, to taste her blood, but with a grunt he pulled away and continued his scan of their surroundings. His eyes went everywhere, and stopped on an access panel by the entrance. He moved to it quickly, knelt down to open his bag, selected a couple of tools and proceeded to carefully remove the face of the access panel to reveal the alien technology within.
Harmony strolled up beside him, peering with curiosity at the strange collection of solid opaque blocks and humming tubes of gray. There were none of the expected wires or otherwise fragile components one would normally find encased in human technology. Everything here seemed quite hardy and immaculate with a sense of permanence.
“Do you know how any of this works?” she asked.
“ECHO pieced a few things together from what tech they’ve salvaged since the Invasion,” Jack grunted. “Enough to suss out a few basics, like the communication feed ports. Stuff like the power supplies, advanced cybernetics, adaptive hardware…that stuff will take decades to understand fully.”
He retrieved another device from his kit bag, a small tablet decorated with runes, taped together with peripheral gadgets including what appeared to be a camera, a small transmitter and, surprisingly, a large quartz crystal with a folded bit of paper bound to it with hair-thin silver wire. Jack held it close to the opened panel and muttered a few words. With a click, the tablet attached itself to one of the larger exposed blocks.
“Just learning magic, hmmm?” Harmony said. “I take it you’re in the gifted program?”
“Hardly,” Jack said. “This is all Victrix. My only contribution was supplying the duct tape.”
They watched as the tablet hummed to life, and from the display, a loading bar began counting up. “Download’s started,” Jack nodded, his mouth set in a grimace of satisfaction. “We got the back door secured?”
Harmony nodded. “We’re close, won’t take much to take out surveillance and minor personnel in the area. We’ll be able to get Khanjar and Scope on, and keep ready for the boarding party.”
“I’d say we’re in business then.” Jack exhaled. “And once we’ve got this ship’s layout, we can beam it to Victrix and she can…”
“Hold that thought,” Harmony said, and pointed at the tablet. “Shouldn’t that b
e moving in the other direction?”
Jack stared at the loading bar, which had paused at twenty percent. And now it was moving back down, to eighteen…fifteen…
Magic. It was really the Masters’ only blind spot. Victrix had supplied him with this all-in-one gadget that would subvert every single Thulian security system she’d laid eyes, hands, and magic on. It was to be their eyes and their ears on this boat, ready to quickly glean as much information about this ship as they could get and give them on-the-fly access to all on-board communications. To do that, it had to be invisible to the ship’s sensors. That’s where Victrix’s magic had come into play. The device needed to be shielded, a fly on the wall. But the primary protocol had been detected and the program was reversing itself and shutting down. Jack had not counted on that. How could he? How could the Masters have defenses for something they didn’t know about? Unless they did, unless…
Jack swore. There was someone aboard who did know about magic, who could have prepared for it. It wasn’t enough that she had killed his best friend, she had prepped the ship for the only vulnerability they had been able to exploit.
“Talk to me, Jack,” Harmony said. “Where we at?”
“Remember what I said earlier? About the worst-case scenario?”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“I’d say we’re minutes away,” Jack said. “Unless we come up with something fast, we’re going to be hearing Klaxons soon.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
* * *
Kingdom
Mercedes Lackey and Cody Martin
Something John said to me…that when things are darkest, sometimes all you need is a hand to reach for you out of that dark.
The damndest thing about the entire rotten mess with the Djinni was that John thought he could have prevented it. No, actually he was sure he could have prevented it.
Avalanche: Book Five in the Secret World Chronicle Page 51