Paradise of Lead Trilogy

by Mackenzie Morris

  The only downside of all of this is that it will hurt his big brother Blice who is undoubtedly the coolest guy around. Xavier looks up to him even though he has never met him. He wants to have that kind of power and charisma some day. But in the end, it is Blice's fault that he didn't control and register Isidore like he should have. What a pity. Together, they could have been unstoppable.

  Zach tugs on Xavier's sleeve with his sticky fingers. "Are we going to meet our brothers today?"

  "We're waiting on a call from Daddy."

  "Will he be old Daddy or young Daddy this time?"

  Xavier kicks an empty soda can down the street. "Who knows? Doesn't matter. He's our daddy whether he's Damien or Vlad. You know that."

  "I know. I like Damien better." Zach looks down at the pavement and sniffles. "I miss Clara."

  "You're not supposed to talk about her anymore. She's a traitor. Do you know what a traitor is, Zach?"

  "No. Is it bad?"

  Is it bad? What a classic childish question. How can he still have such innocence and be the twisted killer he is? "A traitor is an evil person who betrays the ones who trusted them. Clara Lifestone is a traitor and must die along with the android. There's another android, by the way."

  "The baby?" Zach asks.

  "Indeed. But we aren't going to kill the baby. We need to steal it."

  "And do what with it? Torture it?" Zach asks with demented glee glimmering in his bright green eyes.

  Xavier shrugs his shoulders. "Possibly. Once we run the experiments, I might let you torture it. You haven't had much fun lately."

  Zach jumps up and down in excitement. "Thank you, Brother!"

  "You have to remember not to kill it. Babies are delicate."

  "Of course. Will Isidore bleed?" Zach asks as he sucks the sticky syrup from his fingers.

  "Yes. He will bleed and it will be glorious."

  "Can I have some?"

  "Of his blood?" Xavier asks with a smile. "That's part of the deal. Then we can give it to our big brother Blice who cares too much for that android. That's what keeps him from draining all the blood from his body and taking it to control his dark matter."

  "Do you think Daddy got my butterfly?" Zach asks.

  "It was part of the peace agreement and Blice would be stupid to not accept. What are you going to do with it, anyway?"

  "I'm going to extract the power from it then dissect it."

  What an interesting kid. "You love to tear things apart, don't you?"

  "I will start with the antennae and then rip the wings from the body. I'm so excited, Xavier. I wonder if it will struggle."

  "Probably. It has an artificial intelligence program. It should be amusing to watch it squirm."

  "Oh, how many legs do butterflies have?" Zach asks as he pulls his red beanie back down over his blonde eyebrows. "I can get some tweezers and snap them one at a time as it tries to crawl away."

  Xavier just shakes his head and stops to wipe the blue sugar from Zach's mouth with the sleeve of his black trench coat. "So what are you going to do to Isidore?"

  "I don't know yet. I have been researching the most painful ways to torture a man and it's fascinating." Zach stops and pulls on Xavier's coat. "Brother, look."

  What is that? From across the courtyard, Xavier locks eyes with a familiar woman. "Well, well. Let's go say hi to Ms. Lifestone and her little baby."

  "Do I get to take the baby?"

  "Perhaps. Let's see how it goes."

  * * *

  Isidore backs up into the corner of the room to get as far away from Evans as physically possible. He never thought he would be face to face with the man who abused him and made Blice do those terrible things to him. For every ounce of hatred he feels, he feels a gallon of fear. Even if wanted to attack Vladimir Evans at this point, he is certain he would die before he landed the first punch. Of course he has his gun, but then again, didn't Evans already die? What kind of being is he? Technically Isidore has died as well. Then it dawns on him. No. That can't be right. If Evans really is what Isidore thinks he is, he would have been on the space station, not down here. Unless . . .

  His thoughts are interrupted by Vladimir's hissing revelations. "Every single thing involving Damien Montgomery has been an act."

  "What about Seth?" Isidore asks.

  "What about him?"

  "I don't understand. How . . . ?"

  "Damien Montgomery was nothing but a character I played." Evans says. "I immersed myself in that alternate life. Only a handful of my closest guards and inquisitors even knew. Every time Damien and I were in the same place or interacted, it was one of my body doubles with a voice altering program. It's quite simple, actually."

  Everything makes so much more sense now. "That's why Damien was so harsh with me. It was you."

  Evans glares at Isidore. "And you deserved everything you got. You have done nothing but make Blice weak. I had you made as a slave for him, but he wanted a friend. I tried to tell him that a computer could never be his friend. He wouldn't listen so I made him put you in your place. I see now that I should have beaten the hell out of you on a daily basis." Vladimir turns back to Blice who has dropped to the floor and is holding his head in his hands. "Stand up and be a man, Blice."

  "Shut up." Blice murmurs.

  "What's wrong, boy? Miss your daddy this much?"

  Isidore can't watch Blice suffering like this so he steps between them and draws his revolver. "Stand down, Evans. I will not let you harm Blice."

  "Quite the confrontational robot, aren't you?"

  "I will defend Blice with my life. He is my owner and I will serve him faithfully until he is no longer alive. My owner allows me to live and with that life, I will honor him with every breath I take. Now leave before I am forced to sacrifice myself. I am not afraid to fight you for Blice."

  Vladimir laughs and collects his papers from the desk. "Well, it seems I might have been wrong about your training. So you've trained your android to die for you. Clever."

  "No." Isidore pushes Vladimir away from Blice. "He didn't train me to do this. I wasn't programmed to sacrifice myself for him. I choose to. I love Blice. He is everything to me and I will protect him no matter what happens to me. My life is worthless without him. It is my choice to devote myself to him."

  "How sweet." Vladimir activates the program again and his appearance changes back into Damien before he pushes past Isidore and leaves the room.

  Isidore turns his attention to his owner. He kneels down and takes Blice in his arms. "It's okay. He's gone now."

  Blice cries on Isidore's shoulder. "Why?"

  "Why what?"

  "Why put yourself in danger for me?"

  "Apples."

  * * *

  Xavier skips up to Clara and bows. "Hello, lady."

  Clara smiles and shakes Xavier's hand. "Hello, Xavier. What are you two doing here?"

  "I don't know. Just wandering around while we wait on Daddy."

  Zach pats Clara's arm. "Clara, Xavier said you're a traitor. Is that true?"

  Xavier slaps Zach hard on the arm. "Shut up."

  "Stop." Clara sits down on the bench and places Katarina next to her. "Why would you think I'm a traitor, Xavier?"

  Xavier places his hands on his hips. "You've abandoned your mission."

  "Have I? I gave birth to an android baby."

  "Half android. That barely counts. Where are the others? Besides, that baby hasn't been made into a T.I.M.E. yet. You're supposed to be the T.I.M.E. matron."

  "I'm working on it, boys." Clara says. "Even with the decreased gestation period, I need time to recover between pregnancies."

  "Fine. But we are watching you, Clara."

  "Can I hold your baby?" Zach asks.

  "Sure." Clara hands Katarina to Zach.

  17

  Blice and Isidore are enjoying breakfast together in the Oval Office and watching the morning news as they have grown accustomed to doing together. After yesterday's emotional breakdown, Blice
needs this quiet time alone with his friend. He watches Isidore dropping sugar cubes into his coffee. When he doesn't stop at six, Blice raises an eyebrow. "Got enough sugar there, buddy?"

  "Oh." Isidore holds up his cup and frowns. "Oops."

  "What are you thinking about? You seem distracted."

  He takes a sip of his coffee and coughs a bit with the sugar. "I'm fine."

  "Really?"

  "Really."

  "Sorry about yesterday." Blice says. "That's one conversation I never wanted you to be present for. My father can be . . . harsh."

  "Blice, it's fine."

  Blice continues to watch Isidore. Every tiny thing he does is interesting to him, from the way he taps his foot on the desk to the way a slight smile always graces his lips even if he's miserable. It's there. He's seen it. What a kind soul. Then Blice's eyes land on the one thing about Isidore that he hates. The slave collar. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the tiny key. He shouldn't do this . . . but he needs to. Blice places the key on the desk in front of Isidore.

  Isidore only looks at it then up at Blice. "What?"

  "Take it."

  He shakes his head. "No way. You're insane."

  "For real. You should be in control of that."

  Isidore pushes the key back to Blice. "Forget about it. It's not my place. I need it."

  "You're serious, aren't you?"

  Isidore's smile is gone. "Drop it, Blice."

  "I only wanted-"

  Isidore slams his cup on the desk and shouts. "Shut up. I told you no!"

  What the hell? Blice grabs Isidore's arm tightly and twists it. "Don't yell at me. Learn your place."

  "My place? You can't keep dangling freedom over my head like some prize I have to win. You're nothing but sadistic and cruel. If I say I can't do it, I can't do it. That should be enough for you. Or do you want to chain me up and beat me more? Should I be on my hands and knees begging for food? Is that my place? Is that what you want, owner?"

  Blice lets him go and the guilt returns. "Niko, I didn't mean that."

  "No, you did. You wouldn't have said it if you didn't mean it." Isidore rubs his arm where the red marks from Blice's fingernails show.

  Blice sighs and turns the television off. He spins the tiny silver key between his fingers. Why won't Isidore take his freedom? He might have to wear that collar in public, but here they're friends and nothing else. "What is wrong with you today? You're never like this. Talk to me. What happened? Did you have a fight with Clara?"

  "No. You'll find out soon enough. I'm surprised it's not on the news yet."

  "What are you talking about?" Blice notices the darkness in Isidore's normally cheerful eyes. Something is terribly wrong. He leans close and takes Isidore's face in his hands. "Look at me."

  Isidore obeys.

  Blice has seen this hollow pain before . . . fifty-eight times to be exact. "What did you do?"

  "You didn't stop him."

  "Who was it? Who hurt you? It was last night, wasn't it?"

  Isidore crosses his arms and looks at the floor. "This morning. A few hours ago. Where were you? I called for you, but you didn't come to me."

  "Niko . . . I've been up all night. I swear I didn't hear anything."

  Isidore's eyes glisten with tears. "I've done something very bad."

  Blice is trying to put the pieces together, but he needs more information. "Niko, if someone hurt you, you need to tell me. Why do you think you've done something bad? What is it?"

  "How many people live in Eden?"

  "About two million, I think. Why?"

  "Did you sign that peace treaty with Leblanc?"

  Where is he going with this? "Yes. I signed it that day he was here. Is he the one who hurt you?"

  Isidore pulls off his shirt to reveal deep black bruises.

  "You have to tell me who did this."

  "That's not all he did. I tried to stop him, but he found it."

  "Found what?" Blice asks.

  Isidore punches the wall and screams. He starts breathing rapidly as the tears streak down his cheeks. "The code."

  "Niko, calm down. Sit down and explain. I don't understand."

  "719352440218883."

  What is that supposed to mean? "That means nothing to me. I don't speak computer."

  Isidore holds out his arms to reveal the white glowing numbers.

  Oh, um, okay? "What about it?"

  "He stole them."

  "The numbers?" Blice asks as he grows only more confused.

  "The activation code."

  Blice rubs his eyes and pours another cup of coffee. This conversation is going nowhere. What the hell is he talking about? Blice hasn't had enough coffee to deal with this.

  "It's been me this entire time." Isidore says.

  "Let me put this as nicely as I can. You're not making any sense. Speak human. Form complete sentences with cohesive thoughts. Please. I know you're more intelligent than this and I programmed you better."

  "Never mind. I shouldn't have brought it up."

  Blice drinks his entire cup of coffee at once. "God, Niko. When I ask you questions, your answers shouldn't make me have to ask more questions."

  "You'll find out soon enough. Then you can beat me too. I couldn't take it anymore and I had to keep him from taking Katarina. So I let him hurt me."

  "Who?" Blice asks.

  "I can't tell you."

  "Where was Byron? I thought he was staying with us."

  "He has been sleeping in Clara's room." Isidore says. "My face was in a pillow so I couldn't call for help." Isidore screams into his hands and drops to his knees.

  Not once in the years Blice has had him has Isidore had a breakdown like this. "Please talk to me."

  "I've done a bad thing, Blice. I've done a really bad thing that can't be undone. It's my fault. It's all my fault. The first ones were my fault and I didn't even know it. That's why I had that nightmare. When I was in the hospital, I had a nightmare and no matter how much I screamed, I couldn't wake up. I thought it was the pills I took, but now I know. They all died because of me."

  Blice goes to Isidore and reaches out to hold him, but he is pushed away.

  Isidore's eyes fill with rage as he sends a ball of dark matter at Blice, but misses as he breaks down sobbing. "Don't touch me. I've started a war, Blice. Without my consent, I have started the fourth world war. We're all going to die."

  Blice grabs Isidore's shoulders and pushes him down so he can sit on his chest and keep him here until he finds out what is going on. "What did you do?"

  "Get off of me, please. I'm bleeding."

  "Where?"

  "It's private."

  "Dear God." Blice gets off of Isidore and tries to collect himself. He takes a calming breath before taking Isidore's hand. "Can I have a hint at what happened? I'm not the smartest guy around, but I can see that you've been violated somehow and something was taken from you. Something is missing. What is it?"

  Isidore sits up and pulls his knees to his chest. "I discovered my defect."

  "Defect? What defect?"

  Isidore continues to cry. "Kazimir couldn't help me even if he had been here. He warned me to watch out, but I didn't listen. It's a miracle it never happened years ago with you. Now the world is going to end because of me and my defect."

  "How long has it been since you've taken your medication?" Blice asks.

  "Two months."

  "Two months? Damn it. You don't get to choose when you take that stuff. No wonder you've been screwed up in the head. Wait. What about your clear pills?"

  Isidore looks up at Blice with that same haunting emptiness. "Blice, I haven't had those since the last time you gave them to me. You told me not to ask you for them anymore."

  "Those were first created by Kazimir to control your defect. What is your defect? You have to tell me."

  He bows before Blice. "Please kill me."

  "No."

  "Kill me, Blice. Kill me before it happens again. I'm not
a murderer."

  "I know that." Blice says. "Believe me, I know that. Why would you say something like that?"

  "I will pay for my sins with my life. I will let you choose how I die. Do what you will."

  "You're not dying. No one's dying." Blice stands and pulls Isidore to his feet.

  "I wish that was true. Maria died. If I wasn't so confused by human emotions, I would have noticed and I could have saved her."

  Someone knocks on the door. "Mr. President, I need to speak with you."

  "Come in, Agent Monroe."

  Isidore takes off running out of the room as Monroe enters.

  Blice has to find a way to get Isidore to open up to him. Right now, he has to deal with this. "What is it, Monroe?"

  "Mr. President, there's a new code black."

  Blice turns to the window. "Who is it this time?"

  "Two million Eden citizens." Monroe says. "Eden is no more, sir."

  "Tell me what happened."

  "Common Ground, sir. Short range missiles out of Ontario. They were carrying hyper infectious nanobots that infested the people there and killed them all. Eden's missile silo is offline as well as their network. Preliminary reports show that there were no survivors."

  "Nanobots? Like Maria Thompson's death." Blice places his hand on the window pane and watches the goldfinches flittering above the gardens. "Two million . . . unbelievable. I guess peace treaties mean nothing to Leblanc."

  "Sir, you should know that Leblanc sent a message twelve hours before the bombs fell on Eden." Agent Monroe holds out Blice's watch. "You left this downstairs last night. I don't know if you reading the message could have changed anything, though."

  Blice takes the watch and sets it down. "I'm not in the mood for politics."

  "Do you want me to tell you his demands?" Monroe asks.

  "Go ahead. I'm listening."

  "He wants Isidore. More specifically, he wants the alpha code."

  "Why am I not surprised? That's just like him."

  "Will you agree to that?"

  Blice's hands tighten into fists. "Not on my life."

  "Sir, you have to do something. The country is demanding answers."

  "They're demanding answers I can't give. What sort of monster uses biological weapons on a peaceful city?"