Shadows (Ultrahumans Book 2)

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘Like how mind control works,’ Andrea said. ‘So Silvian maybe had a false memory planted.’

  ‘More likely some form of conviction formed or strengthened. He believes you are responsible and has been presented with a “fact” to reinforce that, but it conflicts with reality.’

  ‘Is there any way we could check?’

  ‘Not unless this man would be willing to have a psychic examine him.’

  ‘That’s a no then.’

  ‘I didn’t know we were expecting guests.’ Everyone looked around as June breezed in. Her concession to business-wear was that her short dress was black.

  ‘Viviane, meet June Summerfield,’ Penny said. ‘Viviane popped over from England.’

  June smiled. ‘Viviane the sorceress? Well, I suppose “popping” across the Atlantic is something you can do.’

  Viviane smiled back. ‘Penny said that you were used to Ultras.’

  ‘Oh, pretty much had to relax around them when I got one as a flatmate.’ She fell onto the sofa beside Penny. ‘I’m going to Miami this Saturday. Swimwear shoot at short notice. Someone dropped out and they want me.’

  ‘Well, if you get a chance, say hi to Ever,’ Penny suggested.

  ‘Oh, I plan to make time. I like Ever.’

  The sorceress raised an eyebrow. ‘Clearly very much at home with Ultras.’

  16th May.

  There were two redheads in the office at the back of the Huntress’ Den. Red, of course, was sitting behind her desk, but Skadi was there, clad in a simple, short dress in pale purple, her hair pulled up into a bun. Hers was a true copper compared to Red’s strawberry-blonde and, with the cowl gone, she looked like an attractive, young girl.

  ‘No sign of the Judge since Skadi put a couple of arrows in him,’ Andrea said. ‘Maybe you hurt him more than you thought.’

  ‘I should have tried to wrap him,’ Skadi replied, shaking her head. ‘I… I guess I panicked a little.’

  ‘Staying calm in those circumstances is something which comes with time,’ Red replied. ‘It isn’t really something you can teach someone, except through experience.’

  Cygnus nodded. ‘Facing off against someone like that, unprepared, is not easy. And at least he seems to be laying low for the moment.’

  ‘Have you been keeping an eye on Tonaldo?’ Red asked.

  ‘Just the usual,’ Andrea replied. ‘I’ve heard nothing much about new shipments and the apartments have been quiet for a while.’

  ‘I’ve been hearing some rumours. There have been some odd shifts in the chain of command. Various old names have gone missing suddenly. It seems like the family is tightening control in some areas they were losing.’

  ‘Well, he was bound to get his act together sooner or later. I think Lena threw him for a loop, but it was just a matter of time.’

  ‘Perhaps. I’m a little worried that someone else has taken control. Recent events could have been seen as a sign of weakness.’

  ‘We can ask a few dealers,’ Cygnus suggested. ‘Politely, of course.’

  ‘I’ll keep an eye on the apartments,’ Andrea added. ‘If there are new faces about, I’ll know.’

  Red nodded. ‘June’s trying to get an early night?’

  ‘Early flight tomorrow,’ Cygnus replied, nodding. ‘I think they start shooting in the afternoon. Very last minute.’

  ‘These things happen,’ Red replied, ‘and you have to grab opportunities when they present themselves.’

  ‘That’s a fact,’ Skadi said, smiling.

  17th May.

  ‘Anything?’ Cygnus asked as she slipped into hiding beside Twilight.

  ‘A whole lot of not much. We are seeing new faces, but more old ones. There are always a few new people around.’

  ‘Yeah… Well, the drug dealers are mostly hiding from the Judge. I saw a few of the really low-level ones.’

  ‘Unlikely they’d know anything.’

  ‘So I put a few out of action if I saw them actually dealing and left the rest. Still, you know it seems like an overreaction considering no one’s seen the Judge since Skadi shot him.’

  Twilight frowned. ‘Like they’ve pulled in their horns, and not from fear.’

  ‘Somehow that doesn’t sound like a good thing.’

  ‘No. Andrea thinks the shadows are gathering.’

  ‘I’d have thought that would be just up your alley.’

  The brunette gave a shrug, her face in darkness. ‘There are shadows, and then there are shadows.’

  18th May.

  ‘Is he dead?’ Rex asked as Diamond walked into what had been Tonaldo’s office.

  ‘No, he’s still alive. I don’t want him dead yet. There’s more he needs to tell me.’

  ‘He’s lasting well.’

  ‘I’m working to keep him in pain. Sewing him up without anaesthetic helps. How are things coming along?’

  ‘We’ve got things, uh, sewn up pretty well. All Tonaldo’s people are either at the table, or they’ve cashed their chips. The contact information you got out of him has put us in touch with his Miami and Brazilian people, and they either saw how the cards were falling or didn’t care who they’re playing with as long as the pot was big enough.’

  ‘Very good. Whatever happened to old Slapstick?’

  ‘The Fortress. Word is Twilight left him scared of the dark. Jane’s still working on that detective. We’ve been keeping tabs and he’s just about frothing at the mouth. Some new player, calls herself Skadi, put a couple of arrows in the Judge on Tuesday. No one’s seen him since.’

  ‘Hmm… Twilight’s a problem. She’s shown a lot of interest in Tonaldo, and she needs to pay for hurting poor ol’ Slapstick.’

  ‘Cygnus will be right behind her.’

  ‘I think we’re about ready to fold on both of them. The trick’s gonna be figuring out how.’

  ‘Perhaps I can be of assistance.’ The voice came from the shadows in the corner of the room and Rex was pointing a pistol in that direction even before the black-clad figure stepped into the light.

  ‘Honey, you’d better have a real good explanation for surprising me like that,’ Diamond said, frowning, ‘or Rex here’ll paint the wall with your brains.’

  ‘My name is Durant, and I have a proposition for you. A proposition which will rid you of both Cygnus and Twilight.’

  Diamond’s hand moved and Rex holstered his revolver. ‘Well, I’m not so fond of your choice of colour, but I’ll listen. How, exactly, are we going to get rid of them?’

  ‘The key,’ Durant said, ‘is information, and I have a lot of it. They are powerful and smart, but they have friends. I can give you names and locations. All you have to do is eliminate them and your enemies will be too busy worrying about that to look out for themselves.’

  ‘That’s right neighbourly of you, Mister Durant, but no one hands out chips without a payback. What’s in this for you?’

  ‘That’s simple, and to your benefit.’ Durant smiled and for some reason a shiver ran down Diamond’s spine. ‘All I want in return is Twilight.’

  Part Five: Friends and Family

  Everglades, FL, 20th May 2014.

  June walked out to the edge of the short jetty and stopped, waiting. The view was not exactly spectacular, but it was certainly natural. The heroine who presided over the great swamp tended to dissuade people from doing anything which disturbed the natural order there, and she was one of the most powerful Ultras in the world, even if her power extended only to the boundaries of her wetland territory.

  This was the first chance June had had to take a break since arriving and the fresh air was feeling particularly good as she pulled in a deep breath and watched the sunlight glinting off the light ripple in the surface of the water. Contacting Ever was not a particularly easy thing to do, but June figured if she stood there and waited, the goddess of the Everglades would turn up if she had an inclination to do so.

  There was an odd sound, like water rushing up a plug hole, and then a soft, beau
tiful voice said, ‘It is a pleasure to see you again, June.’

  June turned and smiled at the woman who had appeared on the dock just behind her. ‘I told Cygnus I’d try to say hello if I got any chance to.’

  Ever smiled back. For her, the term ‘exotically beautiful’ had almost been invented. Slim and stunningly attractive, Ever was possessed of the kind of figure women would pay huge sums of money to plastic surgeons to achieve, but her skin and waist-length hair were green. The colour just seemed to add to her looks. The fact that she almost never wore clothing did not detract from them either.

  ‘You are here on another photo shoot?’

  ‘Swimwear. It was really last minute or I’d have tried to send word I was coming. Still, I figured you’d see me if I walked out here and waited a while.’

  ‘Indeed. It was a pleasant surprise. You are well?’

  ‘Oh yes. Work’s really picked up. Doing that calendar helped a lot. You know those shots of the three of us in the little pool get a lot of fan mail.’

  ‘I did not, but I am not surprised. I am told I have received a few appreciative letters as well. I have not paid great attention to them. However, the money from the calendar has been put to good use.’ She paused, pursing her lips. ‘There is a charity event at the new visitor centre this Friday evening. Would you be able to attend?’

  ‘I guess so. We’re supposed to wrap by then, though they’re keeping us here until Sunday in case of reshoots. The evenings are pretty free anyway and they wouldn’t stop me doing something for charity.’

  ‘Excellent. I shall see to it that an invitation is sent to you. Now, tell me what’s been happening in New Millennium City. I have heard that Cygnus dropped a submarine on some smugglers.’

  June laughed. ‘Yes, well, that’s Cygnus for you.’

  New Millennium City, MD.

  Skadi dropped silently into an alleyway in Deale, eyes scanning for the source of the sound she had heard. It had sounded like a fight, or someone being mugged, but now that she was here there was nothing. No one was looking guilty, and no one was lying in a pool of blood, though the shadows made it hard to spot anything much even to her eyes. She lifted her bow, knocking an arrow, and took a step further into the darkness.

  A flare of golden light revealed her mistake even as it leapt out of the black and struck her in the chest. There was no pain, no sensation of impact, but as she tried to turn to aim her bow, she realised what had been done to her. She was paralysed, unable to move or make a sound, as the golden sword she had been dreading appeared in the night and began moving slowly closer.

  ‘The charges are vigilantism and obstruction of justice,’ the Judge intoned. ‘These are the most heinous of crimes and must be dealt with in the most serious way possible.’ Like he ever did anything else. Skadi tried to force her muscles to move as the sword rose, but whatever the effect was he had used on her, it was powerful. ‘The verdict is guilty.’ The sword slashed down and Skadi could not even close her eyes.

  There was a ringing clash, like metal on metal, as something interposed itself between Skadi’s skull and the golden sword. ‘Word of advice,’ Twilight said from the shadows, ‘never bring a bow to a sword fight.’ She twisted out of the darkness, her boot slamming into the Judge’s chest. The golden armour flared to block the strike, but he staggered back from her, anger in his eyes. ‘And you, you need to stop yapping if you’re going to kill someone.’

  ‘Justice will be served!’ The statement was punctuated by the flashing of the golden sword. Twilight blocked it with her own weapon and something like black flames flickered around the gold at the point they joined. Twilight twisted, swinging her blade around in an arc. Black fire burst against golden energy and burned through, cutting into the man’s chest and slashing open his black suit and the white shirt beneath. Half his tie fluttered to the ground.

  ‘Justice better give up or it’ll be breathing through a ventilator.’ Twilight’s sword was rising again and this time she slashed upward. The force field took a lot of the sting from the blow, but the strike still opened up a long gash on the man’s arm and his swing struck nothing but the ground. Twilight thrust her sword out, the shield flaring as the black flames and steel edge pierced it. The golden sword swung around and she stepped away from it, seeing the glazing of his eyes and the loss of balance as the pain cut through his anger. The Judge crashed to the ground to lie in the dirt at her feet.

  Twilight pulled a strip of plastic from her boot and began cuffing her victim with it. ‘Any idea how long you’re going to be stuck like that? I don’t want to embarrass you by having the cops turn up with you still stuck, but I’m a little worried he might bleed out. Not that that would be an entirely bad thing…’ She got no answer from the petrified archer. ‘I forgot; you can’t talk either. Well… I doubt their response time will be that good anyway.’ She took her miniature phone from her boot and set it into her ear. ‘Call police.’

  ~~~

  It took ten minutes for the police cars and an ambulance to arrive, and nine for the paralysis to wear off. Skadi was still a little dazed when the Judge was being wheeled away from the alley, but at least she was alive and mobile.

  ‘You make sure you get Neurotronic cuffs on that guy before he comes to,’ Twilight told the cops getting into the ambulance with him. ‘He can teleport. He’ll be out again before they can treat him.’

  ‘We’ve got it covered, ma’am,’ one of the officers said.

  Twilight nodded and then walked back to where Skadi was waiting. ‘I’m “ma’am” now. Makes me feel old.’

  ‘I think they say that to civilians,’ Skadi replied. ‘It’s like calling a guy “sir.”’

  ‘Maybe. You okay?’

  ‘My pride is in ER, but the rest of me is fine.’

  ‘Ask her,’ Andrea said in the back of Twilight’s mind.

  ‘Got time to talk?’ Twilight asked aloud.

  ‘I figured I’d go… go home and take a shower. Work on resurrecting my self-esteem, so… I guess.’

  ‘Cool.’ Twilight looked upward. ‘Meet me on the roof.’ She stepped toward the alley and the shadows seemed to thicken, wrapping around her as she approached.

  ‘That is kind of a cool trick,’ Skadi muttered as she located a drainpipe she could use to reach the nearest fire escape. By the time she reached the rooftop, Twilight was leaning against a ventilator hood, her mask in her hand. Shrugging, and not realising what that meant, Skadi pushed back her hood. Carefully pinned copper hair shone in the moonlight.

  ‘So,’ Andrea said, ‘you’re sleeping with Red Huntress.’

  Skadi’s eyes widened. ‘What? I–’

  ‘All that shit about grasping opportunities. June’s out of town and the two of you grasped something. I’m thinking it was each other’s butts. I saw the way you danced with her too. So did Cygnus. She may be refusing to see it, or staying silent about it, but she’ll have noticed. She’s observant. And if you were trying to hide it, you were doing a really bad job of it.’

  ‘Well… Is this any of your business?’

  ‘I live in the same house as June, kid. She’s my friend. So if Red’s two-timing her, I consider it my business. You’re going there now, right? That little pause before you said “home.” I think I’d like playing poker with you. Tell Red that if she keeps this a secret from June, I’ll be the one explaining and that would not be a good thing.’ Reaching up, Twilight pressed her mask back into place.

  ‘I’ll tell–’ Skadi began, but the shadows had already swallowed the woman she was speaking to.

  21st May.

  Penny stood at the window of a jewellery shop, staring at a display of bracelets. She was considering buying one for June, but the reason she was considering it was also the reason she was not considering it. She had seen it, and she was sure Andrea had seen it. Neither of them had said anything, but they both knew that Red had found herself a new girl to bed while June was out of town. The bracelet would be a consolation prize, thoug
h there was June’s birthday coming up…

  It was not exactly hard to understand. Red was a hot-blooded sort of woman. She had pushed June to the threshold of her comfort zone a few times, especially with Svetilo. They were not exactly a perfect match, but June had been happy. More or less happy. There was always that little something, the little something which had happened before Cygnus had left to confront Ultranova. It sat there in the background, never mentioned, but always there. Another reason not to buy the bracelet…

  And Skadi was another archer. She was practically a mini-Red. Red had said she would train the girl, though apparently some of the training was in bedroom technique. Skadi seemed to be fairly fearless, probably open to some of Red’s more extreme tendencies. It was a good match and June could find someone more suited to her… Except that the person she was going to want was Cygnus. That was not going to be a problem for Cygnus, but for Penny…

  The noise in her head came on in a rush. She had barely noticed the whispers starting as she stared at the jewellery and considered the future, but now the voices burst in on her. Shouted sounds, words, screams, the cries of battle and death and mayhem. Wincing, Penny clutched her head in her hands and sank to one knee, and that was when the window in front of her exploded.

  The screams were outside her head now. Had that been a shot? She pushed herself away from the window, feeling broken glass cut into her thigh. If someone was shooting at her… But the noise in her head was making it difficult to think and…

  Hands grabbed her, pulling her across the concrete of the little arcade. There was another shot and she was sure she could feel the bullet passing her hips. Then there was shadow and she saw a planter, and then the man who had saved her. Fairly young, quite good-looking, dressed in an NMCPD T-shirt from the academy and jeans.

  ‘You okay?’ he asked. ‘Are you hurt?’

  The voices subsided enough for her to focus on what he was saying. ‘Cut my leg on the glass. I’ll be fine. You’re a cop?’

  ‘Not yet. Any idea why a sniper would be shooting at you?’