by Ryan Lohner
Chapter Thirty-Four
Throughout her entire time in Krell, Jane had never been as terrified as she was at this moment. As bad as things had sometimes looked before now, she at least had her friends around. But now, it was just her and the man who had formed a disturbing interest in her when she first arrived. But as scared as she was, she was still determined not to let him know it. So she stood up as straight as she could. “So you got better, then?”
Reeves grinned. “Medicine where you live is so primitive. You actually did think you’d put me down for good, didn’t you? It only took a few days and I was good as new. Not even a scar. Though I was tempted to leave one anyway, so I could show it to you if we ever met again. But I figured, what were the chances of that? More fool me, I suppose.”
Jane didn’t know how she was still standing, but she was. She crossed her arms, which somehow made her feel steadier. “So what’s the plan? Because you’re not going to have long until my friends are done with yours.”
Reeves held up a finger and tapped the wall. “Ah, but will they be able to find us? I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw you guys walk in front of me. These invisibility suits Chapman’s squad gets can be pretty useful. So I rounded up some guys who owe me a favor, and here we are.” He pointed to a spot on the wall just to the side of where he was standing. “Just tap here twice to get out of here. Of course, I’m sort of standing in the way, aren’t I? I guess if you really want it, you’ll have to get past me.” And with that, he activated his armor.
Jane shook her head. “All that trouble just for me. There is something seriously wrong with you. You’re sick in the head.”
The grin got bigger. “Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time I’ve been told that. And yet I’m still here. So if there’s anything wrong with me, it certainly doesn’t seem to be anything my employers have a problem with. Not that that helps you at all, as far as I can see.”
He took a step forward and Jane stepped back. She regretted it as soon as it happened, displaying how worried she actually was. But then it happened again. It was a completely involuntary response and she couldn’t believe that after all she’d been through, she was reduced to this.
Reeves looked confused. “No fighting back? I’d think you’d want a rematch as much as me.” Then the smile came back. “Oh, I get it. You didn’t get the training, did you? I have to admit, I’m kind of disappointed. Well, I guess I’ll just have to settle for you as you are now, because really, when are we going to have this chance again?”
It was the return of the smile that did it. Suddenly, Jane wasn’t a frightened girl trapped with a scary man. Something had clicked in her head and she stood up straight again. She was not going to let this man win. And with that decision, she realized the way that she might actually be able to defeat him. It was probably a fool’s hope, but in her current situation she didn’t see any downside to trying. That old instinctive biting her lip came out again, and if Reeves had known what it meant, he would have been worried. She took a step forward, back to where she was standing before. She was now within arm’s reach of Reeves, but fought down her discomfort at the position.
His eyebrows raised. “So you do have some spirit left in you, huh?”
Jane chuckled, pitched low to be as unnerving as possible. “I guess we’ll find out. Because suddenly there’s something I’m very curious about. All that stuff you guys have put in your heads, showing you how to fight and how to defend against someone who knows the same thing? I’d just like to know, while you were going through all that, did it ever teach you how to deal with someone who fights dirty?”
She offered him no time to react. As soon as her statement finished, her arm came up and her nails raked across his face. He backed away, clutching his hand to his cheek as blood leaked between his fingers. Jane followed, running past him and grabbing his hair along the way. Once behind his back, she pulled forward as hard as she could, enough that half the strands came loose and left bloody patches on his scalp. The rest were still plenty to pull his head back hard, sending him down to the floor as she lowered to a knee. “I guess not,” she said, before going back to the attack.
In her head, she was thanking her brothers over and over. During her childhood attempts to join their playtime they had made her miserable with these kind of things, but it was all quite useful now. She next stood over him, grabbed his ears, and twisted. In the back of her head, she thought that she had pulled them far enough, but she ignored it. She now had a good look at what she’d done to his face as well. “Seems I missed both eyes. I’ll probably feel happy about that later, when I’m able to not throw up thinking back on this. Right now, though, what was that word you used? Oh yeah, disappointed.”
Reese bleated out, “Please, please, just stop!”
Jane laughed, throwing in a bit of ham, because why not? “Oh, there’s something that could make me stop. Turn off your armor.”
He managed to open his eyes at that. “No way!”
“You were going to do it anyway, if I guessed right.” She twisted still further and between his howls he managed to bring his hand to his belt and Jane felt the shirt deflate under her. She let go and stood up, and before Reese could do anything more than sit up, she stomped down on his groin. “I let go. You can’t say I didn’t keep my word.”
Reese was now rolling on the floor, unable to get any coherent words out. Jane almost caught herself feeling pity at the sight, but then she remembered how afraid she’d been just a couple of minutes ago, and that smug grin as he advanced on her, and the feeling evaporated. She kicked the side of his head, and said with no small amount of pride, “Like I said before, there’s something wrong with you. But whatever it is, you think about this. I beat you. A helpless little girl, no programs in my head, and look what I was able to do to you. You’re pathetic. You’re nothing.”
Was that enough? Probably, but she decided to go a bit farther. Not physically, since even in her current mental state she didn’t want to go as far as killing him, but he didn’t know that. She put a foot on his throat, with the slightest bit of pressure. “And the only reason you’re going to survive this is because I don’t consider you worth it. So the next time you see a pretty girl, and you think she’ll be an easy target, remember this day. Remember what we can do.”
As Reeves continued squirming, his pulser fell onto the floor. Jane picked it up. “I’ll be taking this, too.” She turned to the wall and said, “Here, was it?” before tapping the wall twice where he had indicated. She had a brief moment of panic, worrying that he might have lied about how to get out, but it seemed his ego had been sufficiently strong to feel safe telling her the truth, as the wall opened. She walked out and turned to see her friends finishing up with their fight. She stepped to the side of the door and sagged against the wall; now that it was over, the enormity of what she’d just done, and how far she’d gone, was crashing in on her.
Matt noticed her first and shouted, “Jane!” They ran over, and the next thing Jane knew, she was hugging him tightly.
The others looked inside the room, and Jim whistled. “So you didn’t need my help this time, huh? Remind me not to make you angry.”
Matt disentangled himself from her and also took a look. He turned to her. “I’m sorry.”
“Oh, don’t be an idiot. You’ve been apologizing since we got here, and believe me, this is one you can safely let go. I learned something about myself just now. And that was definitely worth how hard it was getting there.”
He shrugged. “I’m not quite sure what you mean by that, but okay.” His tone turned lighter. “Wait a minute. Why exactly is it okay for you to beat someone up that badly, but not me?”
“If you’re ever faced with someone that bad, you’ll know.”
Tom nodded. “Certainly. This way, was it?” He led them in the direction they’d been going before the fight. They reached the cell and opened it, but no one was inside. Tom sighed, and activated his communicator. He’d exp
lained during the planning that he and his wife had never had them removed, as it would raise too many questions, and they still worked like new.
Jane was still amazed by the technology of this place and regretted that she had never been able to properly appreciate it, thanks to her circumstances since she arrived.
“Team Two.” After the pause as it connected, he said, “This is Team One. Nothing here.” That news would then get passed through the rest of the groups in order. He squeezed his ear again to disconnect. “Well, there’s still four other chances. Don’t give up yet.”
“That’s good advice. Unfortunately, you probably won’t be around to see it pay off.”
Jane recognized the voice, and wished she hadn’t. She turned, along with the others, to see Dave aiming a pulser at them all.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Just like the last time they’d met, it took Matt a couple of seconds to fully comprehend the image before him, if for a rather different reason.
Jim was faster. “I’d say this is a surprise, but no. Not really.”
By then Matt had got it together enough to say, “Dave, what are you doing?”
“I’m sorry about this. I did mean everything I said to you before – you should know that, at least. None of this is your fault. It’s just a bad situation, and you happened to get caught in it. So I really am sorry.”
Matt took a step forward, despite the weapon pointed at him. “You didn’t answer my question.” He felt a tear sliding down his face and vaguely wondered why this was making him so emotional. First things first, though. “What are you doing?”
Dave’s gaze never wavered as he replied. “I imagine you already know that two months have gone by here since you left, however long it was for you. Well, within that time I talked to quite a few big names in our military. Even our government. I was a unique case, and they didn’t quite know what to make of it. A clone soldier, bred solely for this job, turning on his bosses. I mean, it just sounds crazy, right? But as we kept talking, they reminded me about what I was made for. This government may seem cruel to you, but in this world, it’s the only way to maintain law and order. And if people like the ones you’re working with would stop forcing us to waste time and resources fighting them, things would be a lot better. Even in your world, you can’t say we were hurting anyone. All we’re doing is laying some groundwork, and investigating a possible peaceful contact.”
Jim snorted. “Yeah, you’re looking real peaceful right about now.”
“I never wanted it to come to this. But you’ve proven yourselves too big an obstacle to what we’re trying to do here. So you have to be removed. It’s the kind of thing people like me were born to do, literally. I just want you to understand that before I do what has to be done.”
Matt’s head was spinning through Dave’s entire speech. He couldn’t conceive that the person who had become his only friend could be capable of something like this. But then a new thought occurred to him and suddenly he had to put his hand on the wall to keep himself from falling. If he was right, maybe this all could make sense. “How did we first meet?”
Dave briefly glanced away, but quickly replied, “You’re seriously making that the last thing you say to me?”
Matt crossed his arms. “Well, the thing is, I don’t think you are Dave. He was just one clone out of a bunch. Or maybe you are, after all. I’d just like to be sure.”
Dave, or rather the clone, didn’t answer for a few seconds, simply keeping a blank stare on his face. Then he chuckled. “I really didn’t think you’d figure it out. Although frankly, the only reason I put on the whole act was to give you some sense of closure. You’d die thinking your friend was happy, at least. Because I’m that nice a guy. And now you just blew it, so instead you’ll have to die knowing he’s been having a very hard time indeed these past two months, and it’ll continue until either he agrees to work with us again, or he dies. I’m hoping for the second one, actually. I’d certainly never be able to trust him again after what he pulled. But back to you. Because we’re all still in the exact same position we were in when I got here. Three feet between us, and this pulser is aimed right at you. So the second you make a move—”
He was cut off when he suddenly flew backwards and crumpled to the floor. Not really understanding what had happened but also knowing an opportunity when he saw it, Matt wasted no time going on the attack.
Jane watched the front-most peg on Reeves’ pulser inch its way back up. Her hope had been accurate, and he’d put it on the lowest setting, not wanting to kill her if she’d forced him to use it. Or rather, she recalled with pleasure, if she’d let him. She’d let it dangle as soon as she’d turned to see the clone, not wanting to draw attention to it even by putting it behind her back. And it had worked perfectly. She allowed herself a little smile. Training or no training, she was acquitting herself quite well today, if she said so herself.
* * *
It only took a second for Matt to close the distance between himself and the clone he now refused to think of in any way other than that. The clone had somehow already recovered from the shot and jumped back up, ready to meet him. Matt threw out everything he had, but none of it connected. The clone seemed to move at inhuman speed as he managed to block or dodge every blow. And it wasn’t long before things got worse. Matt barely had time to notice a glint in his eye before the clone went on the offensive. Not every strike got through, but they didn’t need to. Every hit Matt took weakened him a little more and made him more likely to make a mistake when dealing with the next attack.
Then Jim’s voice penetrated the haze all those connected blows had put him in. “What, do you think we’re all just referees? Try this on!” And then Jim was beside him, fighting just as hard. But the clone barely seemed to notice the extra opponent. The most you could say was that not many of his blows got through anymore now that he had to divide his attention between two people, but none of theirs got past his defense either. It was enough to make Matt wonder if it really was possible to defend every part of your body at once.
But then the clone made a big mistake as he caught both their arms and tugged down so hard that they were pulled behind him. Which also meant their positions were now reversed, and Tom and Mary could come straight at the clone from behind once he turned to face them. He still held out a little longer once they arrived, but with four of them at once, two on each side, it was only a matter of time before he was worn down. Soon he noticeably slowed down, and Matt moved in to finish him off. Matt was able to wrap his leg behind the clone’s while also grabbing his arms, by which he pulled them both to the ground in a hold that immobilized his opponent almost completely. But the clone was still fighting him and it took every bit of concentration to keep the hold. So it was a complete surprise when his opponent suddenly went limp. Matt looked up to see Tom holding Jane’s pulser, leveled at the body. The rearmost peg, denoting the highest setting, was the one now rising into place.
Matt shoved the body away as hard as he could and shakily got to his feet. “Are you crazy?” he shouted. “You could have just killed me!”
Tom’s eyes were as hard as he’d ever seen them. “It was the best chance we were ever going to have. I couldn’t pass it up. We’re not on our own here, remember. There are four other groups we need to work with, and we couldn’t afford to waste the time it would have taken to bring that thing down the old-fashioned way.”
That got to Matt even more. “Well, my friend is one of those things too. I hope you’ll keep that in mind if we run into him.”
Jim stepped between them. “Okay, Matt, I’m sure my dad didn’t mean it like that. I mean, I had my problems with Dave before, but after seeing this guy, yeah, there’s a real difference there. So I guess I agree with you, he did just want to help.”
Tom nodded. “Thank you, Jim.” Turning to Matt, he said, “I apologize for how I sounded. It’s quite an adjustment coming back here again, and I haven’t quite been myself. And to prove I really mean
it,” he turned to Jane, “you should take this back.” He handed her the pulser.
Matt nodded back. “All right. So, what next?”
Tom smiled again. “Now we check in.” He went through the same routine to talk to group two, and his expression made clear they had no news. But then he checked with group three and the smile returned. “They found Bram.”
* * *
Matt actually felt himself smiling as he stepped out of the teleporter on the floor where their old rescuer had been found. As he turned, he saw that the rest of the group was, too. For the first time, it felt like winning this fight was truly within their grasp. Even now, there seemed to be no obstacles at all between them and meeting up with the irascible guy who had turned out to still be alive after all. “What is this floor, exactly?” he asked Tom and Mary.
Mary said, “Actually, this is where I was working. Some major equipment is in the center of the building, and these hallways let us check on all the areas that needed checking. And boy, there are a lot. Very feisty machines.”
Jane said, “So why would prisoners be kept here? If they ever got out, they could do some real damage, couldn’t they?”
Tom chuckled. “That mindset of your birth world is hard to shake, isn’t it? Remember, there is absolutely no getting out of these cells. There are no locks to pick and no power source to take out. The only thing that opens the door is a tap at a certain point, on the outside.”
Jim laughed softly. “Except they didn’t count on us being good enough to get this far. Go us!”