by Jamie Hawke
“You’ll see him, and soon,” I promised. “We’re going to make that happen for you.”
She nodded, but didn’t seem sold. Her eyes rose to meet mine, and she looked away. “I see him in you, you know. Tell me something… Whatever. Maybe a story about you two?”
“A story?”
“If something comes to mind. I want to understand who you two are. Get to know you and him more. You know?”
“Is this the right place?”
“There might not be another chance.”
“Damn.” I leaned back, realizing she was right. “The two of us, we were never that close. Well, I guess that’s not entirely true… I mean, lately we weren’t. There was this time when we were—I don’t know—both still in our preteens, and I remember him coming to me after getting teased at school.”
“So, what, you kicked the other kids’ asses?”
I laughed. “No. Or at least, not right away. I started with being more subtle. Didn’t even tell him I was doing it, but spent my allowance that week on some old game he was obsessed with. So there he was, sitting at home playing his stupid game, while I collected spiders and millipedes and arranged to have them snuck into the kids’ lunches when they weren’t looking. Oh, man, the look on that blond punk’s face when he bit in and saw the half of a millipede struggling, the girl across from him screaming.”
“That’s disgusting. But if it works.”
“Didn’t ‘work’ exactly.” I leaned back, grinning at the memory and half lost at the idea of what a douchebag I’d been. “First it got a lot of focus on them, other kids teasing them and whatnot so I thought Chad was off the hook. Then one day I hear some kids are beating up another kid behind the gymnasium, so I run over and yeah, it’s them kicking the shit out of my brother.”
“So then you kicked their asses?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Not yet. Pulled the fire alarm, but then when the kids were all rushing out, teachers around and all, so my brother was safe, I singled those punks out, moving through the crowd and delivering nut shots and taking a couple down with hits to the throat. It wasn’t until I stopped at the sight of my brother, charging one of those punks and hitting him with a wild haymaker, that I got caught. I hadn’t moved away fast enough, and one of those kids pointed me out, calling to his buddies to come get me. Little did he know, I hadn’t told my friends because I didn’t want this to get serious and wanted to keep it in the family. Now that a group of six or so of those bullies were trying to move on me, my buddies came to my rescue. We weren’t the cool kids, not exactly. Some of us were jocks, but a lot of my closest friends were the boy scout types, the ones who knew they’d either join the military or move off to hunt in a cabin in the mountains when they grew up. The fight was over before the teachers could even get to us, and those bullies never tried anything again.”
“Tell me you didn’t kill them,” Charm said, staring at me with wide eyes.
“Kill?” I laughed. “No, we were just a bunch of punk kids. We just hurt them a little, but believe me, the bullies never messed with me or my brother again.”
“You went to a messed up school,” she said.
“Yeah?” I shrugged. “Where I’m from, that’s pretty tame. Earth… it went downhill once colonization became the cool next step.”
She nodded in understanding, then said in almost a whisper, “I had a sister once.”
“I… I’m sorry.”
“She went to the academy with me, but… I’m sorry, I’ve never talked about it since.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I’ll just say… I get it. That feeling of wanting to protect those close to you. Maybe someday when we’re all together at the Citadel, I’ll tell you about it… about what happened.”
I offered her my best attempt at a comforting smile. “I look forward to that.”
“Me too.” Her ears perked up and she leaned out to look down the hallway. “She was brave, though. Strong, too. If she’d been here, I have no doubts we’d have already kicked everyone’s asses.”
“We will,” I said. “And we’re lucky to have you with us.”
She turned to me with her wide, green eyes, and held my gaze for a moment. Nothing romantic or sexual in any way, just a look of mutual respect and friendship.
“Come on,” she said, waving me to follow her. “Let’s make my sister and your brother proud.”
We charged on. Next stop—the Fortress.
19
The fortress rose up like a tall, spired fortress similar to those from images of Earth long ago, with arches and domed tops in the rear. In a way it was interesting how similar architecture could be way out here, and yet it made sense—there were only so many ways of making proper structures, and it was possible these people had Earth’s influence from long ago.
From what we could see, there were patrols and guards, but either they hadn’t gotten the message that we’d be coming, or didn’t expect us to make a move on the fortress. One section in the middle-back resembled the image I was fairly certain Lamb had sent me. Whether she was there or not, it was the first step toward finding her.
“There!” Nyoka said, pointing.
“What am I seeing?” I asked, squinting in the darkness.
“Andromida. She…”
Mid-sentence, Metal from the walls burst out, a blue glow appearing, but it paused, Andromida appearing at its center for a moment. She seemed to look at us, then redirect, and disappeared back into the ground again.
“What the hell?” I said.
“She’s in pursuit,” Navani said. “I see movement below ground.”
“Let’s get down there then,” Nyoka said. “She left the tunnel open for us.”
“You want to jump into that?” Threed asked, giving her a skeptical look.
“I’m sure as hell not leaving her alone in this.”
“Wait,” Navani said, grabbing Nyoka’s arm as she moved to go. “Look.”
A line of dark figures appeared on the wall nearby, then dove to surround the tunnel, a few of them paused. Cloaks fluttering around them like in a great wind that wasn’t there, they dove into the tunnel. The rest waited a second longer, then followed. More appeared on the walls, other figures sounding alarms.
“So much for catching them by surprise or going in quietly,” I said.
“Changes nothing,” Nyoka replied.
“Maybe it does,” Sacrada said. “We’re here to help her.”
“There’s a clue or something about Lamb’s whereabouts in there somewhere, I’m certain,” I said, ignoring Navani’s look of curiosity.
“Right,” Sacrada went on. “So we have Andromida and her vendetta, and also have a hunch there’s something here to do with Lamb. We don’t know what to expect here, but… Charm, can you get your pets in there and have them ask questions?”
“The questions part, not sure,” Charm answered. “Getting in there, yes.”
“And you can go cloaked,” she said.
“Meaning we have a pretty good spy system,” I said, catching on. “And if they lead the way, the rest can follow.”
“Or go help Andromida,” Nyoka said, sounding more annoyed now. She glared at Navani and then me. “Are you seriously going to abandon her here?”
“She escaped whatever trap that bastard had for her,” I said. “Do you really think she needs our help? Besides, we’re going to try to help her—if we get discovered, we’ll draw more attention our way, meaning off of her.”
“A larger group means more chance of getting caught,” Threed said.
“Agreed,” Sacrada and Sakurai said as one.
“It’s settled then.” Nyoka stood tall, looking tough. “Who’s coming with me for the fight, and who’s going with Drew?”
“Actually,” Navani said, “maybe it should just be me and Drew with Charm and her pets? You all are right—that’s a big enough group as it is.”
“That’s what we were thinking,” Sacrada said.
> “We?” Sakurai asked with annoyance, but then said, “Well, yeah, we were.”
“I’m in the mood for a good fight,” Threed said.
“Good, then you all go first.” Navani indicated the guards converging on the tunnel. “If it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get.”
“Maybe we can lead some of them away,” Threed said, and made replicas ofthe two sisters, then waved them off.
“You control them?” Nyoka asked.
“Think of them as almost part of me,” Threed replied with a grin. “And… watch this.”
The replicas charged down to the right, so that at least they’d be approaching from another angle, then opened fire. Their shots wouldn’t do anything—projectiles from replicas weren’t real—but it was enough to draw the Nihilist’s attention. As planned, a large portion of their force gave chase, leaving the hole relatively unguarded.
“Now!” Nyoka said, and she led the charge to the left to circle down to the other side of the tunnel. We waited a few seconds, and then my group charged down too, making for the tunnel that led out of the fortress.
Most of the nearby enemy was distracted, but a line of vampires moved our way, along with a couple of the robed Nihilists. We intercepted them while keeping a low profile, which meant Sacrada and Sakurai avoided their massive light shows, instead going in for the attack with blasters and blades. A spin of Sacrada’s wings sent two vampires back in pieces, a slash of Sakurai’s sword ended another.
I was delivered a couple shots and then stowed my blaster in favor of my fists. With my combo bonuses and stun attacks, the three vampires that tried to surround me didn’t stand a chance.
One of the Nihilists howled and I spun around to see him trying to fight off an invisible force. A moment later Charm appeared, rolling off as he fell. The other Nihilist was backing Navani and Nyoka away from us with purple blasts of light, but then our pets moved in for the attack. They didn’t land any blows, but it was enough to confuse the first Nihilist and let Sacrada do her damage.
A glance back showed that the other enemies hadn’t returned, so we sprinted toward our opening.
We made it inside, the pets catching up a moment later. Letting them go ahead, Charm cloaked and Navani and I stayed a few paces back, sticking to corners when we could. With her ability to see through walls and tell if enemies were coming, we figured this way should work out fine.
“You’re not worried about them?” I asked.
She glanced my way, hesitating before saying, “Of course I am. But I’ve seen them in action. I’d say on a scale of one to ten, my worry is a four.”
“I’ll take it. But… You don’t really think Lamb would be here, right? It’s too easy.”
“She’s definitely not. If she were, I’d have found a way of contacting her, or my scanning would have picked her up.”
I frowned. “But I know what I saw. Why’re you going along with it?”
“This is the farthest anyone on our side has come, and we find a large fortress in this place, heavily guarded? They’re up to something, or at least have some sort of information we can use. I don’t know what we’ll find, but we’ll find something.” She held up a hand, pointing to the passage to our left, and then held up six fingers. A glance around showed our pets ahead, so we hurried to be close to them. Navani guided me to the other side of the pets, and then we all stopped.
“Keep going,” Charm said. “There’s another hall to your right. Is it clear?”
Hearing her talk without seeing her was trippy, but it was good to know one of us could move around relatively freely.
“Clear,” Navani said, and we moved back toward it, the pets following. Half-way there, more of the enemy emerged from the far hallway and we were glad to see them going in the opposite direction, fast. They must’ve been responding to the alarms. We kept moving, almost to the hall.
A shout came from the rear guard, however.
“They’re looking our way,” Charm’s hushed voice said. “At least two are, anyway, the rest kept going.”
The shout was repeated.
“Just two,” Navani asked, and she moved behind the corner, pulling me with her.
Charm’s face appeared beside us, her head seemingly floating there. “That’s right.”
“We can take two…” Navani pointed the way we’d been going. “Send the puppets.”
Charm grinned, then cloaked again. A moment later, the three Nihilist pets walked past, and soon after two other Nihilists came after them.
With only the three of us, I thought that the best bet was for Charm to use her cloaking and for me to find a disguise. We moved up on them and they turned to see me. They took up defensive positions the moment I darted in for the attack, but it wasn’t enough. My uppercut smashed in my opponent’s jaw and a follow-on stomp ended him, Charm had also dispatched her opponent.
They were gone, but their cloaks weren’t. That gave me an idea.
“We have the pets, she’s invisible,” I said, picking up the cloaks. “And now we have disguises.”
“I don’t know,” Navani said, taking an involuntary step back. “Those things… there’s something unnatural about them.”
“Charm?”
She appeared again. “Yes?”
“Can you tell her to wear this so we can walk around without having to worry?”
The strange woman looked at me, her tail twitching, and she sniffed the robes. “I’m with Navani on this one. Something’s not right about them.”
“Oh, for Heaven’s sake,” I said, and wrapped one of the cloaks around my shoulders. The effect was instant—the inside of this place didn’t look the same anymore, but I couldn’t quite explain it. Like I was seeing it all through a filter. Energy flowed like a barely perceptible, light mist. It flowed strongest back toward where the other Nihilists had disappeared to, but also in other directions.
“Are you okay?” Charm asked, and Navani was looking at me with concern.
“Of course,” I replied. “Just… get out of sight. Navani, stay behind me.”
I pulled up the hood and the effect was even stronger. Maybe I should have thrown the thing off of me right there, but I was convinced this had something to do with Lamb. More so when the mist in one direction began pulsating with a glowing blue.
“This way,” I told them, and followed the path.
Other Nihilists passed by in corridors running parallel to ours, more alarms sounded, and even an explosion sent vibrations through the fortress.
“How do you know?” Navani asked after our second turn.
“A gut feeling,” I replied, pausing to watch the pulsating mist before me.
“He’s hiding something,” Charm said.
“Yeah, no shit.” Navani pulled me around, face inches from mine. “What the fuck aren’t you telling us?”
“I…” My voice caught at the realization of what I was saying, processing it and understanding how surreal this all was. “I had a vision, I guess.”
“A vision?” She looked more worried than skeptical.
“Back there, in the fight, when that strange Nihilist and I made contact—I saw her. Lamb.” The recollection sent a shiver up my spine and I had to pause, remembering the look of desperation in her eyes. “She wants us to go here, and is leading me.”
“Or—”
“A trap, yes,” I waved off the comment. “Either way, we have to try. What else do we have to go on?”
I glanced down at Navani’s belly, then looked away. Was all of this worth the risk? If the prophesy was true, we could be charging in to meet Death, while we should be off in paradise focused on making babies.
She saw the worry in my eyes, and shook her head. “As much as our mission matters, I won’t leave anyone behind. Not so long as there’s a chance.”
“But—”
“No, I’m with you on this.” Navani tucked her silvery purple hair behind her ears, seeming to struggle with this thought. “No buts. What sort of
world would we be saving if that’s the type of heroes we are? Heroes don’t abandon their friends, they don’t surrender.”
“Fucking A,” Charm said, appearing and wrapping an arm around Navani in a way that I found humorous, although it was clear that Navani was totally caught off guard by it. Even more so when the fox lady’s hand went to Navani’s belly. “Now, how many of the others know about this?”
“Shit,” Navani said, removing Charm’s arm from around her and stepping back. “You can’t tell them.”
“So it’s true?” Charm’s eyes went wide. “Holy ball-licking goodness, it’s actually possible still?”
“A lot of people doubt it,” Navani admitted. “They think we’re destined to die out, eventually, with the low rates of birth, the near-impossibility of it all. But Drew and his brother… they’re something special.”
“And maybe this isn’t the best place to be discussing it,” I pointed out.
Charm had a mischievous look in her eyes, then laughed, quietly. “Damn. I mean, damn… Damn!”
“Charm… keep it down,” Navani said.
“I’m just—sorry, I—I’m trying to comprehend this. Like, would I actually want to get pregnant? You’re telling me all this fucking with Chad—”
“Don’t need the details,” I interrupted.
“Fine, whatever. But he actually has a chance of impregnating me?”
Navani shrugged. “We’re not sure. On our side, the half-sisters, and combined with their parentage, chances are much better than otherwise. For you, maybe? But I’m not sure.”
Charm pursed her lips in thought, then said, “Good. I’m not mom material, not yet anyway.”
“Ladies,” I said, noticing an increase in the glow of the mist nearby.
“Right, focus,” Charm said with a grin, and then disappeared behind her cloak again.
In spite of Navani’s apprehension, we followed the glowing mist. We passed a room with more Nihilists, seemingly in some sort of lesson or discussion and not involved in the fight, for some reason—maybe students, while the others were guards? It definitely piqued my interest and made me want to learn more about this group we were fighting, but for now we carried on in our disguises, Navani staying out of sight thanks to our pets.