Strangers and Lies

by P. S. Power

  That part got everyone to look at the girl again.

  "Who is she?" Billy asked, finally speaking, the silver scars on his face standing out more now, the rest being flushed from struggling as hard as he had. They were perfect circles, burned into his skin over the years using intense mental training. Electrical though, Gwen thought. That was from back in their world and they just didn't have pain magic. If they had what he'd experienced would have probably been even more extreme.

  Doctor Cavendish had done it, to turn him into a super-soldier. It kind of made sense, being that Cavendish and Debussey were the same person, her work here had a different mechanism, but a similar tone to it.

  Erin gave him a blank look for some reason, clearly not recognizing him at all.

  "She's my daughter, of course. A personal sacrifice on my part. I tried to bring another version of her here, so that we could transfer that mind to another girl to use for it, but there wasn't enough similarity. If I'd kept my older girl that wouldn't have happened, but I gave her up for adoption decades ago. I wasn't able to locate her at all."

  Gwen blinked. It was a little thing, but she'd meant to do it, and it worked. She wasn't in control of the body yet, but it was a place to start. She had an idea that Katherine might just be being propped up by Debussey somehow. If she wasn't around, or if she was distracted enough, maybe she could get free? There were a lot of people in the room, but... Well, all she could do was fight and hope it was enough. There was an odd sense to the tentacle monsters too, almost as if they were wavering. Not really there somehow.

  She didn't have a clue how to get the woman to be all that distracted however. Billy, for his part just nodded a few times and then shrugged, or tried to, the creatures holding him prevented it for the most part, so it was a pretty subtle thing that probably seemed like an attempt to escape.

  "Ah. Too bad. I always wanted a little sister. We could play dress-up and have tea parties." The words were pretty bland, and just a little sarcastic, but were strange enough that Debussey turned her attention on the man. Away from Katherine.

  Taking a chance, Gwen made a fist of her right hand. She sort of managed it, the fingers flexing just a bit, but it wasn't nearly enough to actually fight. She needed the woman to really pay attention to something else. Inside she tried to spur Billy on, but there was no way to communicate that at all.

  "Sorry? I don't take your meaning? If you have one that is and aren't just trying to stall for time. That won't help you, I hope you understand that? We have this quite tied up. Just like the sacrifices." There was a laugh from the robed people then, as if it were funny.

  Then, if they were well balanced they probably wouldn't be trying to do this, would they?

  Billy made his mouth pull up at the corners. It probably wouldn't fool anyone at all into thinking it was real. No, anyone would see it as a threat, if they had eyes.

  "What? You mean you don't recognize me, mom? I'm hurt." There was a second of hesitation before he went on. "Of course, I'm not your real son, just a copy of him from another world. The same one Gwen is from. I came across physically about fifteen years ago. Darren was being trained to Teletransport without a sphere. He was an over achiever and ended up trading places with me physically. We don't have magic where I come from, so he was pretty much stuck at that point."

  Debussey looked at him for a bit and then turned to look at Bethany again. Her words seemed almost reasonable, even coming from a robed person.

  "That sounds unlikely, doesn't it? Still, given the forces we're putting forth here, I suppose it isn't that odd that things have echoed back through time, creating a few unlikely coincidences, is it? Too bad he wasn't my biological child. I'm so tied into this that it would add to the power structure greatly if he was. It might even work with him... Well, I suppose we should do you as well. Prepare another table please."

  The things were huge stone slabs, so that was going to take a minute and for all that Debussey seemed calm, Gwen actually managed to make a full fist, meaning the insane Doctor was distracted from whatever it was she was doing, which meant it required will on her part to keep Katherine at the front. How that worked she didn't understand, but it seemed to be the case. Gwen hoped it was the case, at least. If this was all a trick too, then she was out of options, at least in the short run.

  Billy looked at her and smiled himself, this time the whole thing seemed a lot more real, somehow.

  "That seems fair, after all, in my original world I killed you. I took a kitchen knife and slaughtered all of your minions, and then I found you, sleeping up in your room. I was normally kept locked in a cell in the basement, since you thought I was too dangerous to let out. You were right. I dug your eyes out, one by one, then started... trimming. I used tourniquets, so you lived for hours, feeling every piece of you being cut off, one at a time, screaming. You shouldn't have killed her mom. That was the mistake that caused you to lose everything." He took a step toward her, pulling the tentacle monsters with him, since they didn't seem ready for it at all. It got the woman to jump back, real fear on her face.

  It was enough for Gwen to get her left hand up to her temple, the old signal for Beth to read her mind. After about ten seconds her eyes went wide, but she nodded once.

  The thought was simple, since there was no time to explain anything really.

  Lie. Tell her that you're her daughter... Do it!

  There was no time to explain anything else, since the table was put in place then. The altar. By humans, not well behaved tentacle... things.

  Bethany sighed dramatically, playing it to the hilt, trusting that Gwen actually had a plan and that it might work, at least a little.

  "You might as well get another one ready then, since I'm you're other child." There was a moment of silence as Erin looked at her, baffled and unbelieving. "Darren Westmorland was my brother, we came in on the same day. Surely you remember that you had twins, didn't you... Mother?"

  The Doctor was shocked, but it wasn't enough. Gwen could move, but it was slow and hard still. She'd failed, or so she thought. Just then, Heather laughed.

  "That's a lie, of course." It added to the confusion at least, which helped a tiny bit more. "Bethany isn't your daughter, Doctor Debussey, no... I am. Look at me, you can see it, around the eyes. Look at me."

  The woman stared then and after a few seconds went wide eyed. There really was a resemblance, now that they were face to face, Gwen realized. Also, she could move. It was just about a perfect moment that way.

  Raising her right fist she started to project force as hard as she could. It didn't do much at first, just knocking Debussey down, but that was enough. She was, at least for the moment, free.

  Then she started to fight for real.

  Chapter seventeen

  For nearly a whole two minutes Gwen thought she was winning. The white robed people fell when she hit them with her little blasts of energy, which, when not being applied to a target in the back yard, turned out not to be that tiny of a deal at all. She decapitated at least one man, and several others stopped moving in a way that meant they'd at least need to check them for vital signs when the whole thing was over.

  Heather had to wade in bodily, fighting unarmed until she liberated a ceremonial knife from a woman that should have known better than to engage directly with the Special Service. When that one fell she didn't move either, which seemed to be the plan for the moment. Bethany did something unexpected, since she wasn't exactly a fighter as far as Gwen knew. Not a wimp, but her training had been in weapons for the most part and while they'd practiced together a bit, the martial arts of the Western Kingdom seemed to mainly be a kind of bare knuckle boxing.

  That didn't stop her from making a beeline for Debussey though. Gwen couldn't really watch what was going on, but the older woman actually ran away, heading toward the other side of the room. All the fighting really seemed to be working pretty well for their side, she thought, especially when she noticed what Darrick was doing, which was backin
g up Billy against the left half of the room. Between the two of them they had a lot more bodies on the floor already than the rest of them combined. Then, her little brother had been trained to be a super soldier too, in a world with no magic, so it meant he had to be pretty good at things like this.

  It lasted for a while, right until Erin managed to raise both her hands, facing off with Beth.

  "You think you've won? You think I didn't plan for this as well? Kill them!" Her face was maniacal then, as if she'd truly lost it.

  That got a shrug from Gwen.

  "Or, you know, you could just die now." Then she held out her right hand and managed to get a single burst of energy off toward the woman, her mother after a strange fashion, hitting her arm on the left. She wasn't very accurate this way, not with the nearly two hundred feet between them in this huge space.

  The doors flooded in then and pink tentacle monsters rushed in. They were eerily silent when they did it, human feet, all bare, hitting the stone of the floor in a normal enough fashion, but if they made any sound it was covered by the moaning and screams of the people on the floor and those that were trying to run away.

  Almost as if it had been a real plan the whole time, everyone in the room except Doctor Debussey ran toward the would be sacrifices. She had to turn to fight with the insane seeming creatures coming for her and the others then, but they pushed past her, even as she tried to kill them, most barely staggering as they did it. Whatever they were the things were tough. A lot more so than a human being.

  "Crap." She realized that she was screaming the word, even as the whole place went silent. The people inside the circle had knives and were getting ready to kill the people that couldn't rise from the stone slabs they were on. There was no way they could get past the creatures in time either. They built a wall of alien flesh, locking their tentacles together, one on each side, with the others sticking straight up in the air, to prevent anyone from jumping over them easily. It made a living barrier that was about ten feet high and which could move if someone did start to get past them.

  That didn't stop the others from trying, moving in to fight, with Billy and Darrick in the lead. Working together they actually started to make a weak spot it seemed. It wasn't enough to get anyone past into the inner circle, but...

  Then they didn't need to, did they?

  Beth rushed Erin, even as the smell of moisture and brine came from the creatures in front of them. The bits of white robe that could be seen inside the slightly waving battlements started chanting. On the good side it sounded collectively scared, rather than hard or tough. It really wouldn't be fair for them to have to be the ones fighting these strange beings, and to have the people doing all this be psychopaths without fear at the same time. This at least left a bit of balance to the whole thing.

  Debussey cackled.

  It was an actual, honest to goodness crazy laugh that sounded perfect, given the situation. Gwen realized that there had to be one, maybe two, situations in life where that would actually have worked. This was clearly one of them though. The other was a road show about The Wicked Witch of the West.

  "Don't allow them to pass! Ready to open the gate on my command-" The rest of the sentence got cut short since the woman was hit rather forcefully in the head by Beth at that moment. It was a nice full punch too, one that didn't hold anything back at all.

  She sounded bitterly angry when she spoke, nearly as loudly as Erin had.

  "I don't think so. Bitch!" That last word got almost everyone to stop for a second, except Debussey who started clawing and pulling hair like it had been her plan all along.

  The moves were returned by the Westmorland Detective. What it lacked in art it made up for in raw brutality though. These women were fighting to the death, it was clear. Both tried to bite and tear the other's eyes out already for instance. Polite people didn't do that, did they?

  Debussey still managed to call out anyway, panting desperately while she did.

  "Now! Do it! Summon the Old Ones. We can't let them stop us now, we've come too far."

  The shifting wall of flesh still blocked them, the scent of the sea growing stronger as the chanting got louder. Gwen tried to shoot energy past Billy, but it wasn't stopping the creatures, a few of whom had to be dead already, but were still hanging to one another, keeping them out, tentacles held above them, ridged, but still a barrier. It was too high for any of them to jump over, which was the point.

  It was nearly funny when she realized what was needed. It was such a new thing she hadn't really thought of it before, but she could fly. There was plenty of space over her head too. Eighty feet or more, with a rock cavern over the top of them. At least it looked like one.

  It took a few seconds for her to focus enough and Katherine started to try and struggle, making her sluggish and slow as she rose into the air. Debussey was busy, so this time it wasn't done with external assistance. This was just the evil little brat doing the work herself. It was a pain in the ass, but it didn't stop Gwen as she focused harder.

  "No." The voice coming from her mouth was Katherine's, but Gwen clenched her jaw, speaking as she got about twenty feet into the air.

  "Yep. This isn't happening you piece of trash. You don't get to destroy a world and kill people like this. What the hell were you thinking anyway?"

  It was a good question, since Gwen could really almost see what Debussey was doing. She wanted unlimited power and riches, and to show the world that she was the best. It was how she thought of herself after all, so now everyone else would see it as well. Katherine however... There was no real percentage in it for her. What did she get?

  She was born into vast riches for this place, and her high social position made it so that she was already well regarded. She could have done anything, and people would have loved her for it. After all, when people had thought she was Katherine the press had covered her working in a soup kitchen for over a week as if it were a big deal. Like she'd cured cancer or something practically. So it wasn't for fame or money. Love? The girl was good looking, knew all the correct social rules and had no shortage of admirers... Maybe that didn't translate into true love, but if not, Gwen really doubted that alien ancient gods would manage it for her either.

  For a bit there was no answer at all, but then, softly, clearly not able to fight much longer, Katherine spoke.

  "I'll show them for thinking I wasn't good enough. I'll show them..."

  The strange thing there was that Gwen knew who the girl meant. It wasn't the press or anything interesting like that either. She was doing all of this to... show her parents she was a valid and real person.

  "Of all the stupid, bullshit reasons. You moronic little twit!"

  She floated over the reach of the pink grasping flesh, even as it strained for her, and the things tried to jump to grab her. When they broke ranks Billy and Darrick pummeled the wall of bodies, making a small hole. Heather seized the moment to rush in, as Gwen dropped, right on top of a knife wielding freak that was about to try and stab Ferdinand.

  It stopped the man, who was old looking and sturdy of build. What he did manage to do was stab her in the leg as she hit him. The silver metal piercing her right calf. At first she thought it was an accident, since he seemed to be flailing as she came down, but he managed to hit her again a half second later even as she crushed him to the floor. She hadn't come down full speed, since a twenty foot drop would have certainly hurt her, but it turned out to be a bit of a mistake. Blood poured out of her even as she screamed and punched the man several times in the head.

  Everyone else around them was pretty shocked it seemed, so thankfully they paused long enough for her to grab the blade and stab at some legs from the ground, driving them back. It cleared a small space around the King, but the other tables had groups that were at least as motivated and who were equally willing to stab some people. They didn't need all the life energy after all, that was clear.

  The woman two slabs over was taken out first, her heart pierced by
a long blade, as people started screaming in triumph. The next group to give it a try was on the far side, away from the commotion that Heather was causing. It was the altar with the little girl on it.

  Her sister? That didn't really matter. Gwen rallied, even through the pain, and managed to fire off a shot using her mind again. It seemed surreal in the moment, but, Gwen decided, super-powers rocked. The woman that had been about to kill the child died, her head left hanging on by a few scraps of flesh, which took that team by surprise. Enough so that they stopped doing anything but trying to run at least.

  Then she was stabbed again, in the back, by her shoulder, on the right hand side. That took out her ability to fight for the most part, at least using magic. It meant there were something like thirty people left, all of them desperately trying to either scramble away or kill the people in front of them. Her job was to save the King, of course, but doing that and allowing the gate to be opened wouldn't do much for him, she didn't think.

  She sank to the floor, blood loss making her woozy enough she couldn't hold her body up at all. Someone took the chance to stab her again, which just hit her arm. The points on the blades were good, but they were definitely stabbing weapons, with no edge on them in particular. That helped her a lot, since a few stab wounds hurt, but none of the damage was going to be instantly fatal. She still had a knife too and one thing that life, her old life, had taught her, was that bullies didn't like to be hurt any more than the next person. Even if you were losing, sometimes you could fight hard enough to make it not worth it to them to continue. It had saved her life at least once or twice before.

  Now she had to see if it would work to save someone else.

  It wasn't exactly some kind of brilliant blade battle, since those almost never happened from your knees as you crawled around stabbing people in the legs and groin, but it really did get their attention. She felt sick and like she couldn't keep her eyes open, but she didn't let that stop her. She had time to do something now. Whole minutes before she died even.