Minimize the damage. It’s becoming a running theme.
He found his target not by spotting him, but by seeing the reaction from the crowd. People were hurrying to get out of his way, running away.
The guy was naked, covered in gnarly, tumorous growths, and was moving at a limping run, attacking anyone he could get his hands on. One of his arms was larger than the other, and a fluid-filled blister covered his entire stomach, sloshing with the contents. His jaw didn’t fit right, and had dislocated on one side, giving him a lopsided yawn.
A man shoved him and ran, sweeping his two children up in his arms as he fled.
Three seconds later, the man snapped back into the same position, in front of the creature. Perdition… Cody. Except not quite. The man carried through the shoving motion, but Perdition wasn’t there any more. Shoving empty space, the man stumbled and was clubbed over the neck and shoulders with a massive, misshapen fist. He hit the ground with enough force that Trickster doubted he’d rise again.
The two children had fallen to the sidewalk when the man disappeared. Perdition advanced on them.
Trickster crossed the street, swapping himself for one of the people who was fleeing the scene. The children were running, but Perdition wasn’t one to let his targets slip out of his grasp. The six year old didn’t get more than three steps before getting reset to his original position.
“Hey!” Trickster called out. ”I’m the one you want!”
Perdition spun around, and Trickster was already swapping himself for someone else, not allowing his opponent more than a glance.
Hide in the crowd. Can’t allow him a chance to get me.
“Kroushe!” Perdition screamed. He couldn’t completely close his mouth, and slurred the words.
Inconvenient.
“Keell you! Mehk it shlow, mehk you beg an’ crah and sheht yershelf lekk a baby!”
The little kid was getting away. Trickster allowed himself a sigh of relief.
“Shheh wush mine! An’ you ruinn herr!” Perdition screamed at a volume that distorted his voice even further, left it ragged.
Trickster winced.
“Muh cahreer, muh frenndsh, my guhll! You ‘ook hem! Yer a ‘hief!“
Some of the time, the powers would be different. Most of the time, going by precedent, they were stronger. Trickster was left to wonder how Perdition’s powers had changed. Duration? Range? The amount of time reversed?
Then his surroundings flickered, half the crowd disappearing.
Trickster didn’t waste a second in swapping himself elsewhere, moving across the street.
Perdition was only just turning in the direction of where Trickster had been.
He doesn’t need to see me now?
Trickster saw everything shift again.
He’s got a lock on me. Not as strong when he does it this way, but he can track me, force little jumps backward.
Perdition charged, and the crowd scattered.
He reached for his belt, saw another shift, and Perdition was suddenly twenty feet closer, a few steps away. With no time to follow through, Trickster swapped himself out of the way.
-And only belatedly recalled that he was putting another person in Perdition’s path. Perdition knocked a young woman to the ground, grabbed her, and then slammed her into a wall.
She wouldn’t have survived the impact.
“Kroushe!” Perdition roared.
Another shift hit. They’re about ten seconds apart, and he’s hitting me for anywhere from one to five seconds each time.
Perdition was halfway across the street. With the way the crowd was scattering and the number of available people to swap with was dwindling, he was running out of options. He could run or he could stay and fight, virtually powerless.
He stayed, reached to his side, and unbuckled the largest pouch on his belt.
Perdition was getting closer. He seemed to have only a general sense of where Trickster was, wide, mad, bulging eyes roving over the crowd.
Trickster swapped himself for someone else, waited until Perdition started to turn, then did another swap.
Perdition paced from one side of the street to the sidewalk, between the last two of Trickster’s chosen destinations.
Only one or two seconds were left before the next automatic time skip.
Trickster swapped himself for the body of the girl who Perdition had thrown into the wall, drew his gun and fired it, all in one smooth motion. Screams of alarm erupted in the wake of the gunshot.
He stepped closer, then emptied the remainder of the clip into Perdition’s head and chest.
He swapped himself for someone in the lingering crowd, grabbed the closest person. ”I hope you own a car. Because you’re going to lend it to me. Fast.”
■
Krouse pulled the car into the driveway. Oliver was outside, and hurried to Krouse’s side.
Oliver was taller than him, now. The baby fat was gone, and he was fit. Krouse had wondered at times why Chris had been so attractive to the ladies. He didn’t wonder with Oliver. Oliver was attractive in a way that meant he could model, he was naturally athletic, he was even smart. It was scary how fast he was picking up new skills.
But he was still Oliver. Whatever gradual transition his power was offering, it hadn’t changed the person at the core of it; an insecure, socially stunted teenage boy. In a way, it had made it worse. Oliver’s face and body changed according to his basic perception of attractiveness, and that changed a little every time he saw a new face. In little ways, his face changed day by day, to the point that it wasn’t always easy to recognize him.
Fuck you, Simurgh, Krouse thought. They’d all been forced to deal with their individual tragedies. Noelle’s went without saying. Jess hadn’t gotten to walk, Luke hadn’t gotten to fly, Oliver got a physical and mental overhaul without any fixes for the real problems, and Marissa had been thrust into the situation she’d fought so hard to escape, where she was forced to pursue a life she didn’t want.
Krouse’s tragedy was waiting for him inside.
As for Cody’s…
Oliver helped Krouse move the body out of the passenger seat.
They grunted as they carried it through the front door. Krouse double checked nobody was observing. He’d parked briefly to remove his costume, then swapped himself and the body for people in another car before continuing en route to their current hideout. It was the middle of the day, and virtually everyone in this neighborhood would be at work or at school, but he feared some college student or elderly person would just happen to be outdoors or walking a dog. It would make things complicated.
Accord wasn’t so wrong on that subject. Things were better when they were simple.
Krouse and Oliver dragged the body to the middle of the living room. It joined two others. Each was different in the mutations, in the distortions and impurities. Each of the three bodies was Perdition. Was Cody.
He looked at Ballistic, Jess and Oliver. ”Three? You’re sure?”
“Sure enough,” Ballistic said.
“How’s she?”
“Upset. You’re going to have to talk to her, calm her down.”
Krouse winced, nodded.
They all stared at the bodies. This would be the third incident. Or incidents three through five, if he wanted to count it that way.
“How much damage done?” Krouse asked. ”Anyone hurt?”
“A bunch hurt but nobody got killed by the one I went after,” Jess said.
“Yeah, a few hurt,” Ballistic said. He paused. ”One dead.”
“Fuck,” Krouse said. ”At least two dead at the hands of the one I stopped. Not as bad as last fall.”
Ballistic shook his head.
“We… we can’t let this happen again,” Jess said.
“That’s what we said last time,” Krouse noted.
“She’s getting stronger,” Jess said. ”And more volatile.”
“We’ll fix her,” Krouse said, his voice a touch hollow. ”We�
�ll fix her, and we’ll get home.”
Just words. How can they believe me when I don’t even buy it?
“Where is he?” he asked, breaking the lingering silence.
Ballistic pointed in the direction of one of the ground floor bedrooms.
“What happened?” Krouse asked.
“We don’t know. Neither Cody or Noelle are saying.”
“Fuck. Okay. I need a smoke, then we’ll resolve this.”
“Krouse-” Luke said. But Krouse was already out of the living room, pushing his way through the front door.
He stepped outside, sat on the front steps, took his time in getting his cigarette and lighting it. He finished the first, started on the second, and gave serious consideration to having a third after that.
He shut his eyes. Just need a moment of calm, a few minutes to organize my thoughts.
“Krouse.”
He resisted the urge to sigh. Marissa was there, coming down the path from the driveway. ”Mars. Glad you did okay with Accord. Sorry to leave you like that.”
“It’s okay. It was better that you went to deal with the situation. I couldn’t have. I don’t have it in me, even knowing they aren’t real.”
Krouse nodded, closed his eyes.
“He said I wasn’t perfect.”
Krouse froze, turned to see her leaning against the railing just beside him. She’d changed into civilian clothes. ”You burned his place down, then?”
“No,” she said. ”He said I wasn’t perfect, but that he saw what you meant. He said I was trying, despite myself. I… I don’t know if that was a compliment or not.”
“Ah.”
“Um. He wants you to see him tonight. Nine sharp. And, um. He said that if I’m not the problem, he fully expects you to bring the real culprit. Did he mean Noelle?”
“Cody,” Krouse said. ”Shit. Not the way I wanted this to go.”
“What!? Krouse, he’s going to kill him.”
“Probably.”
“We can’t!”
“We may have to. If we don’t give him a scapegoat, he’ll send assassins and homicidal underlings after us. We need someone to blame, not just for intruding on the meeting, but for the three very violent scenes that erupted in his territory earlier today. Not to mention that we can’t afford to pack up shop and move right now, not while Noelle’s as upset as she is. Between the two of us, I think we’ve charmed Accord enough that I’d bet we can get away with giving him Cody and paying him a fair sum. We do that, we can stay for ten days. We’ll gather some funds and give Noelle time to quiet down.”
“You’re talking about killing a teammate.”
“He was never a teammate. He was one of us, yes, but he never cooperated, never worked with the rest of us.”
“We made a pact, a promise. To stick together, no matter what. To do what it took to fix Noelle and get home.”
Krouse shut his eyes. ”I know. Not an hour goes by that I don’t think about it.”
“You’re breaking that promise if you give Cody up.”
Krouse sighed, took a drag of his cigarette and blew smoke out through his nostrils.
“Krouse-”
“Mars. There’s no reason he’d enter her room and intentionally touch her three times. You know that, I know that.”
He turned around to glance at her, saw her frowning.
“What do you mean, Krouse?”
“I mean he waited until the rest of us were busy, then he entered her room and he enraged her. Because for there to be three points of contact, three uses of her power, she’d have to be the one making the contact. She’d be using her power on purpose, and she wouldn’t do that if she wasn’t berserk. I’m guessing he was badly hurt?”
“Broken arm, broken leg.”
Krouse nodded. He took another drag of his cigarette.
“Why? How?”
“He had a goal in mind, only he didn’t anticipate how fast she moves, how strong she is. He was trying to do one of two things. Either he did something general, said something, with the aim of making her go berserk… or he tried to kill her. One way or another, Cody wanted to end this. End our mission. Free himself. He doesn’t give a fuck about the promise, so I don’t see why the promise should protect him.”
“I don’t- I can’t believe that.”
“You can’t believe that Cody is that self-centered? Did you just come from an alternate universe with a different Cody?”
“No. I… I can almost believe it. But you’re talking about killing. Or giving him to someone else so they’ll kill him.”
Krouse finished the cigarette and tossed it to the base of the steps, crushed it under his toe.
“Tell you what,” he said. ”Let me talk to the others. Maybe Cody too, just to confirm suspicions. We’ll see if the others come to the same conclusion.”
“Krouse, you’re talking about sentencing Cody to death.”
“He knew what he was getting into. And whatever else happened, three innocent people are dead because he fucked up. So we’ll talk to the others. We’ll come to a consensus.”
“This is ugly. God, Krouse, it’s still Cody.”
“Yeah. It’s not pretty. So why don’t you take a break, clear your mind? Maybe go do a food run for Noelle.”
Marissa frowned. ”Hate these runs.”
“We have to, and your turn’s up.”
“I know, I know. But people look at me funny when I bring a cart of meat and only meat.”
“Tell them you’re buying for a restaurant and the wholesaler dropped the ball today.”
“It still looks weird.”
“Maybe find a butcher? We’ve got a backyard here, if you want to get maybe two whole pigs, you can tell him you’re throwing a party.”
“Fuck it,” she muttered. ”Keys?”
Krouse fished the keys and the carton of cigarettes from his pocket. He tossed her the keys and tapped another cigarette out of the box.
“And stop smoking. You’re killing yourself, Krouse.”
“I know,” he said.
She was all the way at the car when she turned around and hurried back to the front steps.
“What?” Krouse asked.
“I almost forgot. Accord. He wanted me to pass this on.”
She handed him a piece of paper. There was a number printed on it. Different area code.
“What is it?”
“He said someone was trying to get in contact with you.”
“Who?”
Marissa shrugged.
“For the record, Marissa, with guys like Accord, you can’t almost forget to pass on messages, and you don’t waltz in on a business meeting. Things could have turned out a lot different today. They still might.”
“I… I don’t want to interact with guys like him.”
“We have to. Only way to go about it.”
“I know. I just… next time we run into someone like that, I’ll stay hands off. Keep my distance.”
“Alright. Go, shop. Take your time. Give yourself a break, buy an ice cream or something. You have my permission and my orders to go distract yourself.”
Marissa retreated to the car.
Krouse puffed for a minute on his second cigarette, pulled out his phone, and dialed the number.
“Hello?“
“Accord gave me this number.”
“Then this would be Trickster, I presume.“
“Yeah.”
“I have a business proposition for the Travelers.“
“Well, things have gone a little south with Accord, here, so I’m not quite sure where we stand, but I need to do this job for him before I take on anything else.”
“This is more of a long-term job.“
“We don’t really do long-term. We don’t stay in one place for long.”
“I’m well aware of your circumstances.“
Trickster took a long haul on his cigarette. ”That so?”
“I know Accord through a mutual acquaintance. Through t
his acquaintance and my own resources, I’ve gathered a fairly robust set of data on you Travelers.“
“That sounds vaguely threatening.”
“I suppose it might, to individuals trying to avoid scrutiny. Rest assured, it is just the opposite. I know what issues you face, Trickster, and I am offering you a solution.“
“A solution?”
“I’m offering three things, to be precise. Work for me. Help me achieve my goals and I will allow you to achieve yours.”
Krouse leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees. he held the cigarette in one hand and the phone in the other. ”What do you know of our issues?”
“I know what the PRT knows. I know you appeared out of nowhere, that a Luke Casseus and a Noelle Meinhardt were admitted for care to St. Mary’s hospital, yet there are no such students on any high school rosters.“
“We’re not from there,” Krouse said.
“Then why did Luke Casseus put down Madison, Wisconsin as a place of residence?“
Krouse suppressed a groan.
“Rest assured, Trickster, there is no need for any alarm. The fact that I know these things is an asset to you. A contact of mine in the PRT has taken over your case file and requisitioned all details on your encounter with Myrddin. That case will not be pursued further.“
“And why are you doing this for us?”
“Because I have goals of my own, and I believe one can’t be too careful. When hiring expert help, I prefer that help to be loyal. I will get that loyalty by giving you what you desire. Everyone has their price, and my research into you Travelers has been done with the goal of discovering what that price is.“
“Yeah? Let’s hear it. What’s our price?”
“All the money you require, for one. So long as you’re in my employment, I will pay for whatever you require. Even if it is nearly one thousand, five hundred dollars in groceries per week.“
“How generous.”
“Number two? I will send you home.“
Krouse stopped, the cigarette dangling from his lips.
“A man in power like myself has contacts. Through one of these contacts, I have access to a man who can create doorways between worlds. The caveat is that I won’t have the power, funds or leverage to request assistance from this individual until my own goals are met.“
Worm Page 269