Several seconds passed, and I had enough. “Is there anything else?”
She lowered her gaze. “That seems to be the entire message. I cannot produce more.”
“Forget it.”
“Tiffany, are you here?” A voice came from the hall.
I stepped out of the office, and none other than Mog appeared.
“Don’t worry.” I rolled my eyes. “Thanks, Mr. Guardian, we handled ourselves this time.”
“Guy sure has bad timing!” Arik glanced at me, sidelong. “Coulda used his help with the Garrettaur freak.”
“You sure took your time, jerk!”
“I apologize.” Mog lowered his head. “What are you doing here?”
Arik waved him away. “Dragoon was telling us about those family assholes, but this Dante guy possessed her or something.”
Mog looked at Arik but said nothing. For a moment I saw anger flash across his eyes. He hated Dante, and I didn’t blame him.
“Let us move deeper.” Mog continued along the hall.
As we followed, he didn’t stop and look in any of the adjacent rooms, determined to move further.
Something bothered me. “Why aren’t we searching? And where are you leading us?”
We walked into a large room, and as we did, the doors slid closed behind us.
“Hey! What gives?” Arik tried to pull open the doors, but there were no handles, and they didn’t open with movement.
A loud clapping came from across the large room filled with rows of computer monitors.
We turned back, and on the far end stood fake Jessie and fake Jeff, both of which were clapping their hands.
“Brother and Sister!” Fire filled my eyes.
“A five-star performance by far.” Brother grinned. “You have delivered the locket as agreed. Mog, you did a stupendous job.”
LEVEL 31:
THE PRICE
The unbelievable words hung in the air. Mog had set us up after everything that happened. He’d brought us straight into Brother and Sister’s grasp. Why betray us? How did Garrett escape? So many questions spun through my mind.
“M-Mog? Why?”
He glanced over his shoulder. “I’m sorry. It was the only way to protect the Silver Star.”
“What the hell do you mean?” I threw my hands to my sides. “You delivered us straight to our doom!”
“Now, now.” Brother took a few steps forward. “There’s no need for such hostilities. We made a deal, and we’re sticking to it.”
The blood drained from Arik’s face. “What deal?”
Sister’s giggle made my stomach turn. “Tell them, Mog.”
Mog looked into my eyes, and even though he often showed little emotion, there was regret beyond those green orbs.
“Tiffany, you and your daughter; you’re safe. Don’t you understand?”
“No. I don’t!”
“They’re too powerful with a reach too vast. Their influence covers the world. There’s nowhere you can hide, there’s nothing you can do to evade. They’ve planned for every possible contingency.”
“But we can stop them! Right now. The five of us!” Tears edged to my eyes. Such betrayal.
Mog reached for me. “Do you think they’re the only ones? No. They are an entire family. First, there was Grandson; Zach was lucky to defeat him. This is Brother and Sister. There’s also—”
“Enough!” Brother’s icy voiced chilled me to the bone.
Mog turned to face the siblings. “Will you uphold our deal?”
“We told you.” Brother held out his hand. “We’re planning to stick to it. As we promised, Tiffany will live, in exchange for her friends and the OVN vial.”
I clutched the locket hanging around my neck. “What do you want with my friends?”
Sister’s grin split her rounded face. “The world has an ebb and flow. Your friends will make amazing test subjects. Maybe even Creepers.”
“Don’t jest, Sister.” Brother touched her shoulder. “We will kill them.”
I glared, hate eating away at my heart. Not only did she prove to be an annoying bitch, but she’d stolen Jessie’s face, and I’d no longer stand for it.
“I’m not putting up with this!” I moved past Mog, but his arm shot out. The next thing I knew, I flipped and slammed onto my back with the air knocked from my lungs.
“You jerk!” I wheezed.
“I apologize.” He kneeled and yanked the locket from my neck. Popping it open, he pried out the secret compartment, removing the silver vial. The picture floated toward me. I saw Zach’s smile. We’d have babies? Ones of such importance that others’ lives were worthless? No, I refused to believe such BS.
“Why?” I tried to stand. “Why didn’t you take it? Why did Garrett leave this building? Why was he here?”
Sister put a hand on each hip, mocking me. “Oh dear. It seems the tramp has more questions.”
“She is not a tramp, just misguided. Let us see if we can answer.” Brother smiled, mutating Jeff’s handsome face into that of an evil tyrant.
“Why do you defend her?” Sister rolled her eyes. “She’s not your friend, you know.”
“Sorry. It’s nostalgia.” He shrugged. “Her friends are about to die, let her know the reason.”
“Fine.” Sister waved. “Get it over with, already.”
I climbed to one knee as Mog tossed the vial to Brother. He snatched it out of midair and put it in a satchel strapped across his chest.
“To begin, we wanted Garrett dead, but thought it would be more fun to let you kill each other. He was working with that interloper. But we couldn’t have that. Dante will not intervene in our plans any further. And why was Garrett here? Because his boss wanted to screw with us. He wanted to perceive our level of power. Who knows what Garrett discovered? He seemed satisfied when he left. We let him go for you to end his life.”
“Nice job!” Sister winked. “Kapow!”
I growled. We were nothing but pawns in a sick chess game between G.O.D. Mode and Dante.
“Do you need anything else?” Brother chuckled. “Or can we begin the next stage of our game?”
“Next stage?” I gritted my teeth. “Are zombies, zombeasts, and chimeras not enough?”
“You’ll see soon enough, but I’m afraid your pals won’t.”
Both siblings walked toward us. I wanted to charge, but Mog moved too fast. He blocked me. We watched as Sister pressed a hidden button on the wall. The doors opened, and they left.
“Dammit, Mog!” We have to go after them!”
He frowned. “I can’t allow you to do that.”
“Screw this guy!” Arik whipped out the cube.
My former guardian appeared before Arik, taking his wrist and squeezing. His bone snapped, and he shrieked. The box dropped, but Mog caught it, and hurled the weapon across the room.
Arik stumbled back holding his broken wrist. He fell, whimpering.
Dragoon looked at Arik, then back at Mog, her brows furrowing, while Dyonna let out a feral growl.
I charged but found myself wrecked again. Dyonna dashed up to him and swung a barrage of punches, but the Lonely moved each time. He grabbed her fists out of the air, one in each hand. She glared in fury. Mog swatted her arms out to the side and fired a palm into her chest. She hit the floor right beside Arik.
My eyes flew wide. “Dragoon, get them out of here!”
“Negative. I am not programmed to leave my friends.” She held her hands before her, kung fu style.
I watched as Dragoon charged Mog and threw a punch. Mog dodged the attack, and struck back, but she crossed her arms in front of her, blocking. The attack had her skidding back.
He rushed at her, nothing but a blur, he threw a heavy punch. Dragoon moved just as fast, ducking out of the way. She brought her fist up and came at him with an uppercut. It connected, and Mog crashed into a computer terminal.
I looked at my prone friends and Dyonna’s head swiveled on her shoulders. “Please, you both have
to leave!”
She shook her head. “I need to help you fight!”
“No! He wants to kill you and Arik. We can’t let that happen. He won’t kill me, and Dragoon can hold her own.”
“You sure, girlo?”
I nodded, and she stood, hitting the secret button and pulling Arik to his feet. “Good luck.”
I forced a smile. “We’ll need it.”
The doors were closing, and Mog tried to dash past, but Dragoon moved in front, matching his speed. “You will not win this battle, Creeper.”
Mog tilted his head. “You stand in my way just to die?”
During the moment of distraction, I leaped onto Mog’s back and wrapped my arms around this throat. Big mistake! He grabbed my shoulder and flung me. I smashed into a large computer, taking it to the floor. It shattered and sparks came from the broken terminal as I rolled, holding my injured shoulder.
I couldn’t see the fight from my vantage point, but I heard the punches being swung and blocked.
A glint of light in the corner; the lighting cube! Time to finish the bastard.
Dragoon slammed into the wall beside me. Before recovering, Mog grabbed the android by her tank top and slammed her through tables, shattering them.
As the pair fought in mortal combat, I crawled for the corner. “Dragoon! Keep fighting.”
Mog stopped to regard me. “A robot cannot defeat a Lonely One!”
“I am an android!” Dragoon tackled and landed on him, straddling his chest, and launching a series of punches into his face.
I ducked and ran to the corner, snatching up the death dealing weapon. In a crouch, I peeked to see where they’d gone. Mog stood again and had Dragoon on the defensive. Each time she dodged, his strike shattered a computer or a table.
I held the cube’s button, but nothing happened.
“Oh, come on you piece of shit!” I shook the damn thing and something jangled. It sounded broken.
As I messed with the box, Dragoon had gone back on offense. She launched a swarm of quick kicks at Mog as she’d done when I freed her from her crate.
He put up his arms to block each attack, but she forced him to the wall. When his back touched, he ducked under her next kick, then grabbed her and bull rushed across, into the opposite wall.
She needed to hold on longer. I searched every corner of the box. How to get it open? In frustration, I slammed it, and it popped in half.
I dropped to my knees and snatched up both parts. Inside I found an empty indentation. My eyes landed on a pink crystal on the floor.
“Is that the battery?”
I slipped the crystal into the slot and snapped the two halves shut. Upon trying the button again, the device gave a low hum.
I lifted my eyes. “Dragoon! Hold him still!”
“What?” Mog turned and Dragoon grabbed him under his arms, pinning the bastard. He struggled, fighting back, but he wasn’t able to escape. “No! I can explain everything!”
I stood, aiming the box at the Lonely. He shook his head, pleading with his eyes. “Mog...”
Dragoon struggled, despite being a mighty android. “I can’t hold him much longer!”
“I can’t believe this...”
His eyes showed terror. “Please, I must live!”
“I’m sorry...” I glared with daggers. “Betrayal can never be forgiven.”
With that last word, I released the button, and a retina-burning blast of lightning burst forth. Mog closed his eyes as the bolt hit. The stream of electricity went into them both, and Dragoon clenched her jaw. I feared the power might be too much to handle.
Mog screamed as it tore away at him and the smell of burning flesh filled the room. He roared, and the last burst of power struck home. Both Dragoon and Mog collapsed.
“Dragoon!” I rushed to her side.
My android companion lay on her back, holding her chest.
“Dragoon are you okay?”
She cleared her throat, and a puff of smoke came out. “Less accumulated power next time, please?”
I smiled wide. “I could kiss you, bitch. But been there, done that.”
Dragoon gave a screeching laugh.
From beside us, Mog moaned. I turned to see him twitching, his entire body blackened and burned.
“I… am… sorry.” Mog coughed and turned his head to look at me. The light in his green eyes was fading.
I regarded him, trying to not accept guilt. “You got what you deserved.”
“I know. I don’t blame you at all.” He gave a weak laugh. “I never believed the bit about the Star. Even with the Guide. I don’t believe everything’s set in stone. Virgil was a fool... but I guess I am too.”
“They promised you the world, didn’t they?”
“They told me of a cure. With the OVN, they’d cure me of this curse. I’d be human again and could live... and I could love. I’d have emotions.”
“But you already have emotions.”
“It’s not the way as when you’re a human. Every emotion comes across dulled and memories fade quicker. You know, one memory I held onto is, my child. She lived with her daredevil mother. I came for her every weekend until I received a job offer from G.O.D. Mode Games. Then I no longer had time. She hated me. I was so absorbed with my work, I took a bonus assignment and volunteered for the Creeper experiment!”
Deep-rooted guilt filled me. “I’m sorry.”
He may have been an undead, but at heart, he was still a human being.
“If you ever meet my daughter... Please, tell her Mog... No, tell her, her daddy Moggie Shepard said he loved her until after his final breath.”
I kneeled beside the Lonely One, tears threatening to break forth. “What’s her name? Your daughter?”
As his head lowered and his eyes looked off into true death, he spoke her name, “Marilyn Shepard, but just like her mom, she liked to go by, Kiki...”
LEVEL 32:
CITYSCAPE
With that, my Lonely One guardian expired. My jaw remained open as his last words hung in the air.
Maybe G.O.D. Mode had told the truth; that a true cure existed for the Omega Virus? More likely they’d sold him nothing but lies. Thus, he betrayed us, and we had to defeat him. I didn’t know if I’d ever forgive Mog; though I felt sorry for him. He wanted forgiveness from his daughter Marilyn, or as we knew her, Kiki.
It was better I didn’t tell him the truth of the little girl. He needed no further pain. So many lives taken, so many families destroyed. The evil game company needed stopped; even though it might be futile. The world bore billions of corpses. If only we could go back in time.
After a few minutes of silence, Dragoon placed her hand on my shoulder. “Shall we go?”
Still kneeling, I took one last look at Mog and closed his eyes. A third friend dead. With that done, I stood. “It’s time we catch Brother and Sister and make them pay.”
“They labeled with the chaotic evil alignment.”
I wanted to chuckle at the D&D reference, but I refrained. Back in the hall, I marched with more determination than I’d ever before; Dragoon by my side. We hurried past the offices, and the halls with the corpse-filled rooms. Back at the lift, we found Arik and Dyonna. I sucked in my breath, with Arik in such an awful condition, how could we ever catch up to the enemy? We waited for the slow elevator.
“You guys are alive?” Arik looked weak and tired. “I didn’t think we’d be seeing you again. I almost had to repopulate the world with Dyonna.”
Dyonna scowled. “Hell no, boyo. The human race is doomed, then.”
“We made it.” I smirked. “So, don’t worry.”
“Mog?”
“His status is one hundred percent deceased.” Dragoon nodded.
“Whoa.” Arik’s eye widened. “I thought the guy was invincible.”
“Not to Pandora’s Box.” I held up the lightning cube.
Arik raised his eyebrows. “I like that name better.”
“It saved our asses. I be
lieve it has hope inside of it.”
Arik chuckled as the elevator reached us. “I always liked the name Pandora. I used Chyld of Pandora as an online tag.”
“Sweet name.”
With everyone on the platform, Dragoon pressed the raise button.
I groaned as we lifted. “We’ll never catch them at this rate!”
“You mean, you’ll never catch them with me here.” Arik looked at his feet. “I can’t walk on my own, and I’m useless in a fight.”
“What’re you saying?”
“You’re gonna leave behind the disabled guy.”
“No way! We can’t leave you alone.”
“Boyo, won’t be alone.” Dyonna caught me off guard.
I opened my mouth to argue, but they both shook their heads. She shrugged. “This is the end of the line for our hunt, girlo. We’ll just hide out in the apartments across the road. You’ll come back for us.”
“But...” Tears threatened my eyes.
“No arguing!”
Arik shrugged. “Listen to her. All I can ask is you get the rest of Charles’ revenge. I know it won’t heal the pain, but it still needs done.”
Dragoon turned. “Given Arik’s injuries, our survival rate would be at three percent. Without him, it raises to twenty-two.”
I rolled my eyes. “That makes it so much better.”
“The G.O.D. siblings are heading south.”
“How you so sure?” Dyonna tilted her head. “They could go anywhere.”
“After the battle with Mog, I found a hair belonging to Sister. Although it matches two known individuals with the same DNA, Sister is the one within range.”
Arik shook his head. “I still don’t understand about DNA copies, but look, you two are badass enough to handle this.”
My shoulders slumped. “I don’t feel right about leaving either of you. But I’ll do as you ask, and hunt down those asshole siblings.”
“Again, good luck.” Dyonna hugged me tight as we reached ground level. “Get your ass going. I ain’t one for all this emotional stuff.”
I gave Arik a quick hug, and we split ways. My android companion and I walked toward the road. I hoped beyond hope, we’d see them again. “Which way is south?”
Omega Virus (Book 2): Gamma Hour Page 21