Masked

by G S Michaelson

  Tobi pulled up a chair, “What do you have for us?”

  “Well, I’ve had some information to look at. Lionel’s team gave us some more data last night after they called. So far I’ve found nothing that could lead us to the mole in the Mayor’s staff. Even had a gamble to draw them out. Nothing.”

  Avery sighed. For a week he had kept up the appearance of busy work, hoping they would have something to justify the time spent at the end. It all seemed so meaningless now. They knew the primary targets, but they had no idea where they were, what they wanted, and how to stop them. They were no closer to stopping Masquerade.

  There was something they were missing. He looked over at Tobi, he had joined his subordinate, and they were looking at various leads Aiden had picked up.

  Tobi brought over another cup of coffee.

  “You need help with anything?”

  “Nope.” Another Aiden emerged from the other room. “I’ve been using my clones like this.”

  “Wait…I’ve got something.” Aiden’s clone offered. He had been conferring with another clone on one of their laptops.

  “That will never not be weird,” Tobi said as an aside. Avery nodded. Shadow Revolution was useful at speeding up work, but it still had a creepy factor to it that no one could deny.

  “Report?” Aiden raised an eyebrow. He always found this part weird, despite them being his clones, he couldn’t read their minds without merging with them again. Though his will reverberated through each of them as long as his industria was activated.

  “I think we’ve got something.” Aiden #2 said.

  “We’ve been looking…” #3 added

  “… and we’ve found the missing link,” #2 said

  “It’s been right under our noses the whole time.” They both said in stereo.

  “Can you not do that next time?” Aiden said. The display was amusing for the Centurions but unsettling for him. He wondered if he had a deep-seated desire to embarrass himself, but removed the thought as he needed to work.

  “So, we’ve been checking records of all the staff members here. When this guy had the idea to also check the records of Rocky and those linked to him. We had family records pulled up, the others wrote a small program that would compare and cross-link them.”

  “I did not know I could do that.” Aiden said under his breath, then louder he asked, “What did you find?”

  “Did you know that Rocky used to live with Tyrone’s friend, Juniper. Before being on the orphanage, he was suffering from a complication of being exposed to the Phoenix Industria. We call it Phoenix burn nowadays. He tried to get it treated, but he couldn’t….because he was a homeless orphan and didn’t have the money. Now he’s living with a woman who previously had the same illness but mysteriously recovered. Rocky only spent a year in the orphanage, he got adopted by her. They had had no prior contact, at all. Around that time Rocky and Beth — Junipers adopted sister dropped off the grid entirely.”

  “Hold on…what?” Avery said, “How does this have to do with anything?”

  “Like we said, once we drew the lines. It was easy to see the pattern. People with Phoenix burn who went missing. There were several of them. We narrowed it down for age, acting on a hunch.”

  “There’s a certain ageist vibe here. It’s full of fit young people,” Aiden #3 added. “Once we narrowed that down…we found another anomaly.”

  “A death certificate.” Aiden #2 said.

  “It was almost brilliant.” #3 interjected, “No one would have known. A small addition to Avel’s file that was overwritten years later, but makes sense in hindsight.” He thrust a sheet of paper in front of the others. “The smoking gun.”

  There’s nothing to see there!

  They all stared wordlessly, not sure what to make of the clone’s actions.

  “I can’t see anything,” Tobi was the first to speak. “There’s nothing on that sheet.”

  “Huh?” Aiden #2 said. “It’s right there.” He jabbed at the sheet, neither Aiden nor Tobi could see anything on the blank sheet of paper.

  “I really can’t see anything,” Aiden said. “I’m sorry, I’ll disable them. I must have done something wrong.”

  “Wait,” Avery said. “Don’t jump the gun. They may be on to something.”

  “So, you indeed see a death certificate,” Avery asked. The clones nodded their affirmation.

  Avery paused to think. As a Centurion, he often trusted his intuition. Years of experience in the field had sharpened his initial decisionmaking. Often, he found that he could refine his decisions, sharpen then, play with the logic to strengthen it. He rarely discarded them entirely. Here, he had done so far too many times. Something was wrong.

  I know what you’re thinking! A voice that wasn’t quite his whispered in his head. No — not a voice. The voice that had been whispering over his shoulder the past few days. He hadn’t been able to put a finger on it then — now he could. Even if it was taking all his willpower to stay focused. Don’t do that!

  “Why not?” Avery answered.

  “You are not supposed to answer,” the voice sounded shocked, “Just listen and do as I say.”

  “You’ve been suppressing my will all this time, haven’t you?”

  “I don’t think you should be asking so many questions.”

  “Who are you?” Avery replied. “Really?”

  “Impossible.” The voice was panicked now.“How is your will resisting mine?”

  The Centurion felt a throbbing in his head. Control threatened to slip away from him again, but he had already grasped the thread.

  “Do not question me! Do not question! Just listen!”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “No. Don’t do it —” The voice sounded increasingly panicked this time, intensifying the flow of industria in his head. “—do not!”

  “Whoever you are-” Avery spoke out loud this time — startling the others. Green eyes flashing, he whirled around, making momentary eye contact with everyone. His final stop — a mirror. “—I’ll drive you out of our minds.”

  Cat’s Eye: Kaleidoscopic Illusion!

  For everyone who had glanced at Avery’s Cat’s Eye, the room had now shifted apart, spinning and twirling in impossible ways until it wasn’t. There was a shriek as a spectre of Caine appeared for a moment, before splintering into multiple pieces. The illusion had shattered — both of them. It was only to be expected. Two powerful, reality-bending illusions would not be able to co-exist in the same person, and so reality was restored for everyone.

  Avel Dukari’s birth certificate came into view.

  “The clones. Of course.” Aiden whispered, “I had just spawned them…so they weren’t affected by whatever illusion spell hit us.”

  For everyone in the room, it was like a mist had been lifted from their eyes. They could now see clearly all that they had been missing.

  Avel’s death certificate. 10 years ago. His name was unique, it matched all his records save a sudden stop - as death often did. Then a sudden uptick as he began his rise to mayor five years ago. ‘Disregard — inaccurate’, read a note on the certificate. Avel Dukari certainly appeared to be alive and well, that much was clear.

  “I’ve been wondering about it this I got here. There has been a powerful sense of industria that I hadn’t been able to break. And yet, I could never pin it down.” Avery continued.

  “It was like some sort of moving target. It’s like my brain’s been blindfolded this whole time.” Tobi was impressed with the level of spellcraft.

  “A powerful illusion. Likely the Art of Illusion: Obfuscation. Once a victim is placed under it, they are unable to willingly carry out any action the caster wills them to forget. A piece of them remains in the target’s brain, urging them to look away from this, that or the other,” Avery explained, “This explains everything. From the moment we entered here, we were all placed under an illusion. No matter how much we would look, and how much we would investigate, we could never add the
facts and figured together the right way. We would never have been able to suspect the Mayor’s office - Aiden if you will.”

  “Already on it…” Aiden consulted his notes, making links he hadn’t drawn up before.

  “I think it’s clear to all of us now that from all records, Mayor Avel is himself Caine.” Avery said

  “Could Avel be Caine?” Aiden asked. “He ‘dies’, he gets thirsty for revenge, and comes back as our worst nightmare.”

  “No. He’s too young. ” Avery said, “Besides, that, he’s mocking us.”

  When the rest of the room waited, Avery continued.

  “Caine. Avel. Cain. Abel. It’s a puzzle that we would never have solved, even though the clue was right there in front of our eyes. He’s such an arrogant ass. But within that arrogance lies the path to his defeat. We have defeated him on one front. We have overcome his illusion, we have two of his men in our sights, our forces are in his town, all we need do is move in on him.”

  “Excluding Caine, there are four more Masquerade members.” Tobi said, “It doesn’t matter who they are. Once we move against Caine, they will all come out of the woodworks to challenge us. Until Masquerade shows their hand, we cannot trust a single person in this town.”

  “You got that right.” Tyrone entered the room. “You guys were holding a secret conference meeting without us. How do you think we feel.”

  “Blame yourselves for being late,” Tobi replied.

  “Still. It sounds like you’ve made quite the breakthrough,” Eva said. “Why don’t you fill us in?”

  Avery obliged them, repeating the Cat’s Eye illusion on them. Aiden provided the explanation.

  “I see.” Eva said, “I think we can add one more thing. Tyrone?”

  Now that Aiden had lifted the illusion cast on them, there was something else that was bothering him. Sheila Peach. She had adopted Juniper. She already had a child and had been injured by the Phoenix in the past.

  “It can’t be…” Tyrone whispered.

  “I think it’s true.” Eva said, “It matches. Juniper is the lynchpin in all this. Caine selected him, and now we have him as a victim. He’s tied to Rocky. The favour Caine required for Rocky and Beth was Juniper. He tied them together, and linked you in.”

  “They all knew you were a Sabre, Beth would have known too,” Lionel folded his arms as he contemplated. “Juniper and Sheila did well to be wary of Rocky, but the real wolf was in their house the whole time.”

  “Everyone’s stabbing you in the back here,” Eva said, “This place is just a maze of lies and obfuscation.”

  Tyrone walked to the window, sucking in the night air.

  “That’s why Masquerade comes down tonight,” Avery said. “We won’t give them a moment to prepare.”

  * * *

  “Dear Avel,

  Please find attached the details of our investigation, including the various links we’ve delved into, and the results we’ve received.

  In brief, here are the most pertinent points:

  1) You’ll be no doubt pleased to learn that we have cleared you, and the members of your staff as candidates for a mole — if one exists — we have yet to find evidence as we detail below.

  2) While there has been evidence of Masquerade operation here, we have been unable to glean any evidence of a similar plot to the Four Cities Massacre.

  3) With no actionable evidence and more pressing matters, we will be leaving come morning. Please instruct your men to prepare the Shunt Port for our departure.

  Kind regards,

  Avery Carrington.”

  “That’s good news,” Matthew Corran said, reading the message to Mayor Avel. They were not in the Town Hall office, rather, they had taken up residence in the Warehouse district again. The headquarters of Masquerade.

  “No, it’s false. Every single word in there is designed to mislead,” Avel — Caine — said. “I felt it slip away, the spell I had planted on them shattered. They know everything.”

  He dashed his laptop against the wall in a fit of rage. Aslog would no doubt move on them. How soon? Could he pull off his plan?

  Matthew felt his blood run cold. Could he have given it away? No, it was unlikely that Aiden would have figured out everything from what would have looked to all the world like a drunken stumble.

  “We’re in the endgame now,” Caine said, “Bring the others. We need to set the board up just right.”

  In a manner of minutes, all the members of Masquerade had assembled. Louise Ellis, Paul Shaw, Beth Peach, Matthew Corran, Allen Rocky, Keith Jack, and Caine himself.

  There were no masks needed, this was to be Masquerade’s final mission on Draekeor. Little care was given to who would see them now.

  “West Scarlet is likely planning to move against us.” Caine opened the meeting. “I don’t know when exactly — but it can be as soon as tonight.”

  “We’ll need to move the masks out of here.” Jack said, “Your esoterica can work for that.”

  “No. Not this time, ” Caine replied, “Too much industria interferes with my portals. The amount of charge in the masks means that it’ll take a lot of time and industria to bridge the distance, even with my portals.”

  “What about the Draekeor massacre plan?” Beth said. “Because I would need to move my mom-”

  “No, forget that.” Caine said, “Either way, we wanted to humiliate Aslog. A crushing victory here would seal the deal.”

  “We would need two groups. One to defend the warehouse from one group of Sabres, and one to take down the second group.”

  “How do you know they’ll be split up?” Rocky asked.

  “We’ll take care of that,” Louise said. “They’ve been too clever, splitting up to that we couldn’t pin them down. Divide and conquer won’t work for now. I know exactly where Bart and Deidre are.”

  “Clever use of your mask, babe.” Paul said.

  “I know.” Louise closed her eyes.

  “The best laid plans of mice and men, often go awry. They expect us to lie in wait here and defend our position.” Caine said, “I think not. Matthew, take Paul and Louise. Kill that team of Sabres. I’ll take the Centurions. Jack, Rocky and Beth, defend the warehouses until we can remove the masks..”

  “That’s right,” Jack said, “Let them come. Masquerade is invincible, unbreakable.”

  As the others cheered, Caine furrowed his brow under his mask. He just hoped that — in the worst case scenario — they would be able to buy him time.

  Chapter 28 - Fangs

  The night rolled around. Quiet. Calm. Just before the storm that would descend. All the actors had moved to their place on the stage, some discarding their roles, some preferring to hold onto their masks just that little bit longer. The Mayor made his grand entrance into the Town Hall. Flanked by Matthew Corran, Louise Ellis and Paul Shaw, the quartet made sure to be as visible as possible, greeting people, socialising aggressively and striking up chats with other staffers. The Mayor was in the Town Hall, if anyone was looking for him. That was the unspoken message that was passed on, fluttering about like words in a perfectly enunciated game of chinese whispers until they reached their targets.

  The Centurions strode through the hall Avel had entered just a few minutes ago, bidding everyone goodnight. It was an emergency, they said. A meeting that had to be one on one. But what about this project or that? Asked the late night crew. They had stayed behind to finish work, and they’d be damned if an exception couldn’t be carved out for them. Avery dispelled their doubts, his eyes calming them and encouraging them to leave the Town Hall. It was unsafe, now, and in the near future.

  The walk to the Mayor’s office felt similarly dreary. They had encountered Caine before, but then they hadn’t been prepared for him. Still, there was a possibility Mayor Avel was a pawn, or a puppet, so they couldn’t go in full force. Yet, there was something to be said for being prepared.

  Two sets of heavy, oak doors and they stood in front of Draekeor’s Mayor. He moti
oned for them to sit, they declined.

  “I thought you guys were leaving as per your email, ” He said, “Decided against it?”

  “Nah.” Tobi said, “We just decided to pay you a visit.”

  “What’s all this about?” Avel asked, his voice quivering. The intent behind Tobi’s words was clear. He reached for his intercom, Avery knocked it just out of reach with a spell.

  “There’s no one else here, don’t worry.” He said, “It’s just us three here — Caine.”

  “Caine? Are you accusing me of being—?” He stood up, “That’s plainly absurd, and if you’re going to come here and make such false accusations.”

  “Is it really?” Tobi folded his arms. “I’ve been wondering what that scent was ever since I first saw you. Avel Dukari died years ago, no matter how you try to disguise it…his corpse still has that distinctive death smell that conflicts with your natural one.”

  “The way you keep avoiding making eye contact with me seals the deal.” Avery said, steam rising off his skin as he prepared to ignite his attack, “There’s a chance we’ve gotten this wrong. We can heal you after in that ca—”

  The sudden palm thrust into his chest took the Centurion off guard, he was airborne, the wall stopping his momentum. Tobi only had moments to react, but he blocked the strike aimed at him. Their assailant grinned, then flipped backwards, placing the desk between them.

  “You’ve caught me.” Avel — no Caine — reached into his chin, and then disintegrated his skin. His body cracking and snapping as it transformed.

  “The Art of Illusion: Body Cloth. A grotesque technique. When you steal the corpse of someone and then you wear it as your own — adopting their mannerisms and appearance. It is perfect for an infiltration. I have no idea why he had the body of Avel handy, but it did fit my purposes quite well.”

  “He?” Tobi asked.

  Caine’s own face remained obscured as the beast mask flowed over it, his former skin slipping off him like a discarded gown.

  “It doesn’t matter that you know who I am. We’ve already won.”