“He’d probably just think that I’d been hanging around Ol’ Man Bear too much; finally driven me nuts.” He took a drink from a bottle of beer that he had been holding. By the way he moved, she could tell that he had been injured recently; but it was not those injuries that had caused her to falter. Something more had happened to him, and somehow, she had felt it, and that had taken her attention from her own battle, making it possible for Jade Emperor’s Whisper to strike her.
“You are hurt,” she said with concern.
He waved his hand dismissively. “I’ll heal up; been hurt a lot worse than this before.” He turned to face her, resting his elbows against the edge of the roof’s wall. “Somethin’ was buggin’ you the last time we spoke.” John gauged her for a moment. “It still is, isn’t it?”
“What happened, when you fought?” she asked. She didn’t ask who it was, that was irrelevant. She hesitated, then confessed, “Something happened. I think what happened to you was the cause.”
He looked puzzled. “I don’t understand. Me getting hurt? That affected you somehow?”
“It was more than your injuries. Something else happened.” Her eyes flared with light. “Please, what was it? I—we are connected, somehow, John. I do not know why…” but her voice trailed off, because she suspected, even if she did not know for certain.
John sighed, obviously reluctant. “I didn’t wanna worry you. Back on the last op, I ran into someone. Well, more like I bumbled my way into a trap. It was set up by Ubermensch, of the Kriegers’ heavy hitters. He apparently doesn’t like the cut of my jib, or something; he’s keen to see me turned into a smear on the ground.” He took another pull of beer before he continued. “Despite it being a decently laid out trap, I was able to get the better of ’im. I had the murderin’ bastard on the ground, and I was gonna finish him…but I couldn’t. It was like all the energy ran out of me in an instant.” He looked into her eyes, plainly concerned. “The fires died instantly; it was like I had run outta steam.”
“I felt that,” she said, slowly. “I do not know what it means. But I felt that. And People’s Blade saw me falter and cut me—”
She had not meant to say that aloud but it was too late to call it back.
John set down his beer. “Wait, hold up. Fei Li attacked you?”
She nodded. “I think…wait, let me sort.” She sifted through immediate future and past. “It seems,” she said bleakly, “That Fei Li has thrown in with Verdigris. And although he is head of ECHO…I do not understand why she would attack me.”
“Go on.” She could almost feel the cold anger emanating off of John. His friends, his comrades, and himself had been betrayed. But that was only a small part of it, she thought.
“Why…why are you so angry?” she asked.
His demeanor changed instantly, as if he had been snapped out of a trance. “I’m sorry. Fei Li’s gone back on every promise she’s made to the CCCP. Nat’s gonna be pissed—though I’m a little fuzzy on the details of how I’m gonna break this news to her.” He looked down at his feet for a moment. “If y’wanna know the truth of it, though, I’m furious that she hurt you. I didn’t even think that such a thing was possible, given how powerful y’are.” He let the implied question hang there.
“It is the sword,” she told him. “It was created by a celestial being. It would not matter if I did not take physical manifestation, but…such things can hurt me.” She felt vexed all over that she had allowed it. “But only if I am careless. I will not be again.”
John shook his head. “You won’t have to worry ’bout her anymore. I’ll make sure it gets handled; she’s one of ours. We’ll bring her in.” He was adamant in his conviction about this; Sera knew that he wouldn’t stop until People’s Blade was stopped. But did he realize how much of an adversary that she would prove to be?
“She is very powerful,” Sera began to warn him, with a little reluctance. How much to warn him about? Should she tell him that Fei Li was no longer the controlling entity, that Shen Xue had taken over completely?
“I’m no pushover, darlin’. If I can take the likes of that windbag Ubermensch, I think I’ll be alright with Fei Li.”
She was distracted by his phrasing. “The Red Djinni called me ‘darlin’’…and now you. Why is that? Does it have a meaning I do not know?” Her brows furrowed. “I hope it does not mean ‘do not worry your pretty little head’…I do not care for that.”
“That crook called you that, too, huh?” John seemed to bristle slightly. “I know you can take care of yourself; you’re too smart for me t’say ‘do not worry your pretty little head,’ nevermind the fact that it is pretty. I’m just sayin’ that you’ve got help.” He grinned lop-sidedly.
“It…seems strange…to have help that is not one of the Siblings,” she said, blinking. “I should beware of pride. It does go before a fall. I am not the Infinite,” she added, reminding herself. Then she smiled shyly. “Thank you.”
He shrugged casually. “Ain’t nothin’, Sera. You’d do it for me just the same, right?”
She nodded, seriously, adamantly. “I would. I have.” Again, something that just slipped out before she realized it. This speaking aloud was treacherous!
John cocked his head to the side, his grin turning mischievous. “I was just teasin’ a little. But, now that we’re talkin’ ’bout it—what did you mean by ‘I have’?”
“The night when you came to CCCP,” she replied, hesitantly, compelled to speech because she was, by her nature, compelled to the truth. “There was a sniper. He…was startled by what I said to him, and fell. There have been other times…” Perhaps best to leave it at that.
“Huh. So I really do have a guardian angel.” He smiled genuinely, not one of his guarded smiles—she had been learning the difference as of late. “Good to know.”
“Well…you must take more care,” she admonished. “So that I do not need to be. Less of permitting yourself to be lured into traps, please.” She was trying to make a joke, as she had with the Djinni.
John chuckled, then offered a mock salute. “A-ffirmative, Commissar.”
She laughed with delight, made him a little bow, and fanned her wings to take her upwards. She chose her favorite perch, the faux-Roman “temple” atop the high roof. She felt herself smiling. And wondering. All these emotions, these…feelings. She had not experienced them when she first became an Instrument. In fact, it had been some time before she had noticed them.
It seemed…she sorted through the past, dispassionately. “Yes,” she said aloud. The pattern was there. The more she connected to John Murdock, the more she felt, herself, in her own person.
This was good in a mortal; connections were important. But was it good for her? She made herself still, and listened, but the Infinite did not answer. Neither This is not permitted, nor This is permitted.
Finally, she shrugged. Best to take a leaf from John Murdock’s own book; “It is easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission.”
After all, forgiveness was always possible.
“Heart Like A Wheel”
Cody Martin and Mercedes Lackey
Life was getting to be one uncontrolled tumble after another. Oh, I could put a good face on it, we all could, but…
Let’s just say things had gotten so unpredictable that Mom called to tell me all of Department 39’s seers had gone offline.
I sure as hell couldn’t blame them.
After the throw-down in that abandoned farm, the CCCP HQ felt like a haven of peace and quiet. There was Bear yelling at the television, the familiar machinery noises out of the garage, even Unter marching through random rooms swearing under his breath seemed sane compared to the world outside. He had the feeling that even if the Kriegers descended again with five times the force they’d had before, Nat would just throw a commemorative ashtray at the door and mount up the troops as if it was nothing more than an annoyance. Things just seemed to be falling apart faster and faster, and sometimes it all made him wonder if,
after all, he was babbling in a corner of an asylum somewhere and all of this was an hallucination.
In the day since the debrief, he’d been doing a lot of thinking. About the trap, Ubermensch, the Kriegers and the war, and more and more about Sera. The one thing that was troubling him the most was the information about Fei Li; how was he going to tell the Commissar? She would never believe the intel if he told her where it had come from; Sera wasn’t exactly the sort of “person” that Natalya would consider reliable. The allegation that Fei Li had defected and thrown her lot in with Verdigris was chilling, to say the least; she knew everything there was to know about the CCCP’s operation in Atlanta. If she wanted to, she could make things interesting for everyone at HQ, and not in a good way. He’d been doing his best to avoid the Commissar while he puzzled it out, but that plan shattered when she had Thea sent down to summon John to her office. No avoidin’ it now, I suppose.
Still, he was a soldier at heart, and when he got an order, he obeyed it. Even though he really wanted to take a long stint at guarding a cot, or even go back to his squat for a piece, when Red Saviour called, he answered. He mustered to the Commissar’s office when ordered to, in a “new” pair of worker’s overalls. John knocked at the door, awaiting permission to enter.
“In.” Saviour was nothing if not direct. “In” when you were allowed in the office, and crockery to the door when you weren’t. Often it was an ashtray filled with cigarette butts; it was a good thing that the Russians were all metahuman, since about half of them smoked like chimneys and a normal human might very well be dead of cancer or emphysema by now if they had tried to keep up.
John walked in, stopped before reaching the desk, and came to attention. “Comrade Murdock, reporting as per instructions, Commissar.”
For a moment, when she looked up and John saw the look in her eyes, he wondered if the crockery was going to get thrown at his head after all. “Have you noted the absence of People’s Blade?” she asked darkly. This was not the direction he had anticipated the conversation going. His mind flashed for a moment to Sera.
“Fei Li? I have, Commissar. But it’s not unusual for several of the comrades to be gone on different operations at any given time, so I hadn’t given it much thought.” The hairs stood up on the back of John’s neck. Statements like that weren’t simply given out unless there was something unpleasant attached to them. What should he tell her? Spill everything now, about Fei Li, Sera, and Verdigris?
“Fei Li is defected.” The reply was so flat that only immense rage could be behind it. “To svinya Blacksnake.”
John was silent for a few moments. Well, that solves that problem. How to play this and toe the line? “I was…unaware, Commissar.” It wasn’t technically a lie; he only knew that Fei Li had gone over to Verdigris. Nevermind that that slick bastard controlled Blacksnake. He decided that now was a good time to shut up; it wasn’t his place to pry for more information, even though this meeting seemed to be somewhat more informal than he was used to with Natalya. She was disregarding some protocol, and her tone was…different. Something beyond the anger she was clearly feeling.
“To be exact,” Natalya said between clenched teeth, “General Shen Xue believes we are not doing enough to ferret out the location and weaknesses of the Thulians. He is of the opinion that all means necessary should be used to track the faschistas to their center of power and eliminate them. When I suggested that laying waste to entire cities of workers, or engaging in total war, might be counterproductive, Fei Li vanished, leaving only a letter saying that Verdigris understood the concept of acceptable losses. I believe she does not know that I know Verdigris and Blacksnake are one. I am relieved we did not include her in Overwatch. Small favors.”
John merely nodded. He had a feeling that this was going to get worse before it got better. Best to wait and see, and roll with the punches.
“I am assignink you to retrieve her. You are powerful enough to defeat, and if necessary, eliminate her.” A spasm of grief and pain flashed across Saviour’s features; John almost flinched, witnessing it. So, that’s what’s behind the iron mask. “I cannot think of anyone in CCCP, even Chug for all of his strength and resilience, who would be able to best her hand to hand. Not so long as she holds Jade Emperor’s Whisper. But you can keep her at a distance. You are also a skilled tactician, when you are actually thinkink, and not actink like nekulturny John Wayne. You are excellent at covert operations. With sorceress, you are more than excellent. And you are not so attached to the comrades as any of my countrymen or long-term CCCP members. You should be able to remain…detached, and not let past relations get in way of what needs to be done.”
John felt his stomach twisting tighter with each word that she spoke. He thought that he had been somewhat prepared for this, but it didn’t make the situation any more palatable. “What’re your conditions for conducting the operation? What’re the parameters, Commissar?”
“You will persuade her back if you can, and neutralize her if you cannot.” Saviour’s eyes were now nearly black with barely restrained emotion. This was probably the most unsettled that John had ever seen her. “Absolutely neutralize her. Blue girl is not being trust Verdigris so far as he can be thrown by infant. Neither do I. Maybe he wishes to end Krieger menace, but I am thinkink he is quite ready to throw us all under tractor to do so, as long as he is still drinkink champagne in bunker at the end. When Shen Xue was alive, he did not blink at ordering what would cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands. He will not hesitate now at actions that would kill billions.”
He bit his tongue so hard that he could taste blood; it didn’t show on his face aside from his jaw tightening almost imperceptibly. “Understood, Commissar. And what about Blacksnake personnel on-site, if there are any?”
“Your best judgement.” She shrugged. “Lackeys are of no concern. It is Fei Li and Shen Xue that are dangerous.”
“To review, my orders are to retrieve or…neutralize Comrade Fei Li, contain any Blacksnake personnel on-site, and procure any intelligence on-site once the primary objective is completed. Correct, Commissar?”
“Da.” The word was bitten off.
John was very uncomfortable with this entire damned mess. Fei Li was dangerous; to the CCCP, his comrades, and the war effort against the Thulians. With her on their side, she was a tremendous asset. With her gone over to Verdigris…she could very well sabotage everything they’ve worked towards while trying to accomplish her own goals. He’d wondered at the time why Saviour hadn’t included her in the merry gang of conspirators; now he was just glad it hadn’t happened. If Fei Li had known about them—about Overwatch—
He didn’t relish the idea of having to fight one of their own, though, no matter how misguided she might have become; being able to rely on your team was something he had learned early when he was a soldier, and it had been reinforced through the years. Being ordered to reign in—and potentially kill—a one-time ally…it all tasted of the Program in a way that he absolutely hated.
Some of his doubts vanished when he began to think about Sera, and the danger that Fei Li posed to her. He had promised that he would keep Fei Li from hurting Sera again; this was official sanction to do so. It didn’t mean he had to like it, however.
John must have allowed some of what he was thinking slip out onto his face. “Murdock. Fei Li was my mentor. My sestra. There…” He could hear her teeth grind. “There is no one dearer to me. But Shen Xue…go to your Wikimedia. Look him up. He was—is—brilliant, a genius, and a monster. If he has decided that CCCP is of no more use to him and may be an obstacle to him, he will not hesitate, not even for a moment, at eliminating us. And Fei Li is party to all of our weaknesses and strengths. She is only not knowing of Overwatch, and of the—device.”
And the CCCP, and the people associated with it, are important to the cause, from what Sera has hinted. “I understand, Commissar. Permission to speak freely?”
“It is not just CCCP, Murdock. He has decided that the Thu
lians must be destroyed, and he will allow nothing to interfere with that. If someone, or something, holds what he believes to be a key, he will have that key, by whatever means it requires.” She smoldered a moment, then waved at him. “Permission.”
“I don’t like this. Y’know my background, and this is an aspect that I’m uncomfortable with. But I realize the necessity, the dire urgency…and I’ll carry out your orders.” He believed what he was saying, fully; it all made sense. But that didn’t stop his words from tasting like ash in his mouth.
“I would do it myself. I had rather do it myself.” Her shoulders sagged. “I have not a chance of a butterfly against an eagle against Shen Xue and that sword. You are not only the best hope, you are the only unhandicapped hope. Shen Xue has not seen you fight as much, or worked beside you for years. You are unknown to him.” She shook her head. “Further questions?”
“Only one, Commissar. When do I ship out?”
Her lips thinned into a hard line. “Now. Verdigris is here. So probably is Fei Li. Be going to sorceress. Likely she can find both.”
* * *
Victoria Victrix lived in a five story brick apartment building in a blue collar area of Atlanta. There wasn’t much of anything here that was newer than the 50s. The elevator was so old it had a brass grille you pulled back after the door closed, and it creaked and wheezed its way up to the top floor. The hall carpet was so worn you could see the warp threads, the lighting had to be twenty watt bulbs at best, and at intervals along the wall were things John guessed had to be old gaslight fixtures. But it was clean, and in fairly good repair.
He knocked on her door, checking the hallway again as he did so.
There was a long pause. Then the sound of one lock after another being unlatched. Finally, after the fifth one, the door opened.
“Afternoon, Harvey. How’s kicks?” John hooked his thumbs in his belt, trying to look casual. Truth be told, he was still on edge from his meeting with the Commissar.
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