Forbidden Magic: The Complete Collection

by Anya Merchant

  “I need help!” yelled Piper. “Somebody get security in here, and get me a bed.”

  “I’m… okay.” Victor forced himself up. The edges of his vision brimmed with stars. He felt like he’d woken up out of an extended coma. What he’d seen hadn’t been meant for his psyche, and he was reeling from the effects as though he’d plugged his mental device into the wrong voltage.

  “I’ll be the judge of that,” said Piper. “What the hell did you just do?”

  Doug was on the floor across the lobby, curled into the fetal position. He was dazed, but conscious, and he looked over at Victor and met his eye as more people rushed into the room.

  “Stay away from me,” he muttered. “Don’t let him come near me!”

  Victor closed his eyes for a moment and rested his palm against his forehead. He had no idea what Doug had seen, but it was hard to imagine anyone getting a taste of the mind of another and walking away unscathed.

  “He’s going to kill us all!” screamed Doug. “He’s a monster! He’s… He’s…”

  His shouts broke off into unintelligible noises and sobs. Victor frowned and took a few steps back on shaky legs.

  What the hell did he just see?

  CHAPTER 15

  “Have a seat on the table,” said Piper. “Let me check you out.”

  “Check me out? Aren’t you supposed to buy me dinner, first?”

  The joke was forced, and it sounded unsteady as Victor said it out loud. Piper smiled faintly at him and set a hand briefly on his knee.

  “You’ll have to take a raincheck for now.” She pulled some tissues out of a box on the counter and passed them to him. Victor wiped his face off, feeling a bit surprised by how much blood had come out of his nose.

  Piper pulled out a small tablet and began tapping on it. Her hair was a different shade of blue than the last time Victor had seen her, and she wore a white doctor’s coat over a gray blouse and tan slacks.

  She was an unconventionally attractive woman, and as far as Victor could tell, she was a walking bundle of contradictions. Piper was one of the most serious, career focused women that he knew outside of Lucy, and yet she held onto the dyed hair and tacky earrings that most women grow out of in their twenties.

  She had a husband, kids, and a very typical suburban life, and still insisted, occasionally, on stepping outside of the bounds. For a while after Victor arrived in Undercliff City, it had been part of her job. At Lucy’s behest, she’d collected sperm samples from Victor using a very direct, hands-on method, which had the added benefit of keeping his body centered and his nanites calibrated.

  “Take your shirt off,” said Piper. Victor opened his mouth to make another joke, when a stab of pain went through his skull. He took his shirt off without saying anything.

  He watched Piper’s gaze lock onto his chest scars and felt strangely self-conscious about them. She stepped in closer to them and leaned in to get a better look.

  “They look like they’re healing up well enough,” she said. “Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that the scars will ever fade completely.”

  “I can live with that,” said Victor.

  Piper’s eyes scanned over him. She noticed a bruise on the side of his abdomen and pushed a finger into it gently. It was where he’d cracked his rib, and Victor winced slightly. She moved on, examining his back, and then his head.

  “You’re pushing yourself too hard, Victor,” she said. “I don’t know what’s been going on with you lately, but you need to give yourself a break. Or at the very least, quit trying to kill yourself.”

  “What?”

  “You were in a fight, either yesterday or the day before,” she said. “If it was anyone else, I’d guess a week or two ago, but I’ve seen how your injuries heal.”

  “Piper, I don’t know what you’re-“

  “I’ve also seen your blood work,” she said, in a quiet voice. “I know that something is happening to you. Something abnormal, even for a nanite-enhanced aura binder.”

  Victor was silent for a couple of seconds. He finally looked up and met Piper’s serious eyes.

  “Father Auggie injected me with a syringe full of… I’m actually not sure what. Probably the same serum he used to make himself and his followers into biosplices.”

  Piper’s reaction was not what he’d been expecting. She flinched slightly, and then took a step back. For a moment, Victor saw fear flash across her eyes. He opened his mouth to reassure her, and then stopped himself.

  She’s probably right to be scared. I’m becoming something else, something less or possibly more than human.

  “Have there been any other symptoms?” asked Piper. “Other than the accelerated healing?”

  Victor shrugged.

  “Mood swings, occasionally,” he said. “Nothing too intense.”

  Piper didn’t say anything, which made Victor far more nervous than any words could have. He looked up at her and saw a battle taking place on her face.

  “So, what’s the prognosis?” he asked. Piper sighed.

  “I’m your friend, Victor,” she said. “I’m going to leave that up to you. Personally, I think you should tell Lucy, and get more tests done through the team. There could be side effects that you don’t know about.”

  Victor mulled it over. Telling Lucy would be the smart thing to do, but as well as he felt like he knew her over months of being friends and coworkers, he still didn’t know how she’d react.

  “How serious is it?” he asked.

  “I don’t know for sure.”

  “If you had to speculate wildly, then.”

  Piper leaned against the counter and looked down at the floor. When she spoke, it was with carefully chosen words.

  “There is a very good chance that your accelerated healing will affect your lifespan,” she said. “But there’s no way to tell in which direction, not without more tests. You could be dead from old age in a couple of years, or you could live into your hundreds.”

  “…Okay.”

  Piper nodded slowly.

  “Your emotions, as you’ve already mentioned, might feel stronger or more volatile. That would be from the effect the serum has on your neurochemistry.”

  “Alright, I can live with that.”

  Piper frowned at him.

  “Victor… you could lose your sanity.” Her voice was raspy and dead serious. “This is what scares me, and why I think you should get help, as soon as you can. The biospliced people you fought against were not of sound mind. Even their leader, from what you and Keira reported, was somewhat mad.”

  Victor took a deep breath.

  That’s what I’ve been afraid of for the past month.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “I have to think about this. I’m not opposed to having tests done, but…”

  “I know,” said Piper. “Nobody wants to be a lab rat.”

  Victor smiled faintly at her.

  “I… have to go,” he said. “Thanks, Piper.”

  “Keep all of this in mind, Victor,” she replied. “And regardless of what you do, please, be careful…”

  Victor met her eyes for a moment, and then turned and headed out the door.

  CHAPTER 16

  The walk back to Monteiro tower was a tortured one. Piper’s words echoed in his head, and Victor began to question himself.

  Am I dangerous? Am I going to get somebody else killed if I pretend nothing is happening?

  He thought a lot about Damien, whose reaction to the serum was exactly what Victor was dreading. He thought about Keiko, Night Angel, and how she’d been unable to use nanites responsibly, let alone adding another confusing element into the mix.

  And most of all, Victor thought about his father, and all the things he’d done, both to his son and other people. Maybe he’d been given a similar option, at some point. Maybe he’d been overconfident in his own morality, and maybe that’d been what kicked off the chain of events that led all the way to what Victor now faced.

  He wanted to sh
out as loud as he could, or maybe flail his arms against a punching bag. He wanted to unleash his scarlet aura on something and burn it to a crisp, and suddenly, the thought scared him.

  By the time Victor reached Monteiro Tower, all he wanted to do was lie down and go to sleep. He took the elevator up to the 13th floor and tried to look inconspicuous as he made his way through the office section.

  “Victor!” Kronenberg’s voice came from his office across the central area. “Yo, Vic!”

  He sighed and made his way over. Kronenberg was at his desk, and a frumpy looking woman sat in the chair across from it. Victor nodded to both of them without making eye contact, or in Kronenberg’s case, eye to camera contact.

  “Victor, this is Rachel,” said Kronenberg. “Rachel, Victor. So we’ve been looking into where this drone came from, and as it turns out… Hey, are you okay, man?”

  My least favorite question.

  “Fine,” muttered Victor. “Never been better. So where’d the drone come from?”

  Rachel looked over her shoulder and smiled at him. She had a chubby face, not unattractive, but full and round.

  “It was Kronenberg’s discovery,” she said. “It’s the same company that used to provide replacement parts for his bodies, back before we started doing it in-house here in Monteiro.”

  “Oh please, Rachel, you’re selling yourself short again,” said Kronenberg. “You deserve the credit on this one, especially given that you used to do my repairs.”

  “Oh stop!” Rachel blushed. “Why do you always have to bring that up? You asked for me specifically.”

  “I asked for the cute mechanic, it’s not my fault that they sent you!”

  Victor cleared his throat. It came out sounding a bit more annoyed than he’d intended.

  “Can we get back on task?” he asked. “Where am I headed?”

  “Companion Robotics,” said Kronenberg. “It’s just down the road from here. Rachel and I were actually thinking of taking the walk.”

  Victor looked from Kronenberg to Rachel.

  “Why don’t the two of you grab a bite to eat instead?” He smiled at them. “I’ll take care of it.”

  Victor turned to leave the room and almost collided with Sabrina, who stood in the doorway, holding a large lunchbox.

  “Hey, Victor!” She smiled cheerily at him and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek.

  “Uh… what are you doing here?”

  He took a step back, feeling a strange mixture of embarrassment and dread.

  The scarlet aura is still affecting her. This… is not good.

  “I wanted to bring you lunch,” she said. “I can already tell that you have a bad habit of skipping meals!”

  Sabrina was wearing a low cut white blouse, a purple sweater, and jeans. She looked good, and he was hungry.

  “Be nice to Sabrina, Victor.” Kronenberg was hovering in the air next to Rachel, who had stood up from her chair. “You have a bad habit of taking the women in your life for granted. Give her a chance!”

  Victor opened his mouth to object and then stopped. He ran a hand through his hair and walked out of Kronenberg’s office. Sabrina fell in place beside him and looped an arm through his.

  “Yay!” Her smile was radiant and directed at him. “I didn’t know what kind of sandwich you like, so I just made you a BLT.”

  “That’s fine,” he replied.

  The two of them walked through the central area. Lucy raised an eyebrow at Victor and frowned as they went by where she sat at the main workstation, working at a computer. She didn’t say anything, but the look on her face was protective and possibly even slightly jealous.

  Great. Just great. Like I need more complications in my life.

  The two of them sat down at a table in the break room, and Sabrina began doling out the food. Victor didn’t say anything.

  “Why are you so quiet?” asked Sabrina.

  “You’ve known me for less than a day,” said Victor. “Maybe I’m always this quiet?”

  Sabrina stared at him, as though not fully comprehending his words.

  “Well, I like guys that fit the strong and silent archetype, too,” she said.

  “Oh really? I actually talk a lot, I’m a great conversationalist. Make lots of hilarious jokes.”

  Sabrina laughed.

  “That’s so funny! I love funny guys!”

  Victor picked up his sandwich and took a bite out of it.

  “Sometimes I like to hand out poisoned candy to school children while wearing a clown mask.”

  Sabrina blinked, and then laughed.

  “You are so funny, Victor!” She rested her chin in her hands and leaned onto the table. “We are so perfect for each other.”

  Victor sighed and then stood up.

  “I gotta go,” he said. “I’m in a rush to investigate something.”

  “What? But you aren’t done-“

  “I’ll take the sandwich with me!” He waved to her as he sped toward the elevator. “See you later!”

  Or hopefully not. Let’s hope the effect wears off soon!

  He tapped the elevator button for the lobby and then double tapped the close door button as Sabrina hurried over. The doors closed, and Victor leaned against the back wall as the car lowered him down.

  CHAPTER 17

  The main headquarters of Companion Robotics, as Kronenberg had said, was only a short walk away. From the outside, the building looked as though it could have been a high-end convention center or a college. The main entrance had two large sliding glass doors that opened for him as he walked up.

  “Welcome to Companion Robotics!” A woman stood behind the front desk and spoke to him casually as he walked in. It wasn’t until Victor walked closer to her that he noticed what was off.

  The woman’s eyes were glassy and set into a singular expression of focus. Her mouth moved with sharp, deliberate movements, and her hair was too shiny to be explainable through shampoo and conditioning.

  “Uh, hello,” he said. “I came here to talk the manager, I guess? It’s about a recent order.”

  Victor felt awkward, and a little unnerved. He’d heard of the concept of uncanny valley, the idea that the closer computer graphics got to looking photo-realistic, the more surreal they would seem to someone who noticed what remained of the gap in between. Apparently it also applied to humanoid robots.

  “Certainly, sir,” said the woman. “I will page Ms. Rion for you with your message. One moment, please.”

  Victor waited on his heels, shifting slightly from side to side as he looked around the place. After a few minutes, an orange haired woman wearing a white dress and thick, round glasses walked through the door in the back of the lobby.

  “Yes?” She scanned over him with her eyes. “Do you need something?”

  “Uh… yes,” said Victor.

  He started to say something else, and then stopped. Victor realized that he’d been planning on using his scarlet aura on her, even though he’d never openly admitted it to himself.

  After what it did to Sabrina the other night, can I risk it? For her sake, and for mine, I don’t think so.

  “Right.” Ms. Rion looked amused. “Could you tell me what that is?”

  “Sorry.” Victor flashed her his best, ‘I’m not actually mentally handicapped’ smile. “I’d like a tour of the facility, if that’s possible.”

  Ms. Rion nodded slowly.

  “You know, I don’t typically take the time for this with your average random walk-in, but why not?” She smiled. “It feels nice showing off, every now and then.”

  Victor raised an eyebrow at her. She looked good, and filled out the dress she was wearing pretty nicely. Part of him wished that he had used his scarlet aura, but he cut off that line of thinking almost immediately.

  “Right this way. What’s your name?”

  “Victor,” he said. “And you’re… Ms. Rion?”

  “Just Rion,” she said. “The bots call everyone mister or miss as a formality.” />
  Rion opened the door for him. Victor stepped through it and tried to keep his jaw from dropping to the floor.

  “This is our marketing and display area,” she said. “Given that this facility is geared more toward production, it isn’t exactly as large or exaggerated as some of the other ones we have across the country, but it’s still a good example of what we make, and what it’s good for.”

  The room was about the size of a basketball court and cordoned off into several sections. Each one was modeled after an everyday environment and filled with humanoid robots performing various tasks.

  Two identical anatomically female robots passed dishes around and set the table in a mockup of a kitchen. Another four gruff looking, anatomically male robots slowly lifted up a car in an auto shop, while another one slid underneath and went through the motions of performing lightning fast repairs.

  There was an office setup with more bots interfacing with computers in the same way a human might, which Victor figured was more for show than actual practicality. In a nursing home, several robots in hospital scrubs helped a robotic elder stand-in out of bed, and into a bathroom. Victor felt anxious, and he wasn’t sure why.

  “This is… unbelievable,” he said.

  “I know,” said Rion. “We designed these demonstrations with the hope that they’d be enough to induce a bit of future shock in anyone seeing them for the first time.”

  She grinned at him, and Victor realized how much she’d been enjoying his reaction. It took him a second to remember why he was there, and what he needed to do.

  “I’m impressed,” he said. “Really. I am. Do you design robots to serve other functionalities, beyond what’s available here?”

  Rion raised an eyebrow at him.

  “You don’t have to be coy about it, if that’s what you’re looking for,” she said. “Follow me.”

  She led him over to the side of the room and through a door that led to a long hallway. Victor followed her down to the end of it, where she pulled a key ring out of her pocket. She glanced over her shoulder at him as she began unlocking another door.