Cyber-Knife II: Lady Cyber-Knife

by Phil Wrede

  EPILOGUE

  EARTH 1 - THE WHITE ZONE 1138 DAYS AFTER THE EVENTS OF CYBER-KNIFE: APEX PREDATOR General Dinesh Barton Dinh Fong Torres awoke from his pharmaceutically-induced sleep to the electric buzz of the emergency communicator he'd had installed alongside his private tower's private elevator. Only seven people even knew about it, and maybe three of them would have the balls to try and access it. He didn't even count the one person he'd most hoped would come calling on him in the middle of the night - she was so far overdue reporting in from her last mission that Command had had no choice but to declare her missing in action. Dinesh didn't even bother to get dressed as he sat up in bed and palmed the little communications pyramid on the table next to him. He'd learned long ago that his naked body could shock most of the people foolish enough to overstep their bounds with him, and that shock quickly turned into submissiveness, which was exceptionally useful to him. Besides, he really loved the look of his young transplanted body, and knew he'd be lying if he said he didn't like to show it off every chance he got. A touch of his fingers snapped the holographic camera at the ground level to life, and Dinesh's eyes widened at the sight he beheld. Something he never thought he'd see, in more ways than one: Lady Cyber-Knife, panicked, exhausted, and desperate to hang onto consciousness. He'd never seen her dressed in just her basic black ops body stocking before, and he had to admit, it flattered her figure better than any of the dresses he'd ever bought her. Her sweaty blonde hair matted her forehead like an erotic angel's, and fear - or was it desire? - shone in her eyes. She kept looking over her shoulder, like she lived in mortal terror of whomever might be following her. She made such an arousing image that he barely noticed the missing flesh on her face. “General Dinesh!” she screamed loudly enough that the microphone pinged out, something its designers promised him it would never do. He made a mental note to bring the person responsible before a military tribunal. “Help me, please! I didn't know where else to go!” Dinesh straightened up on the mattress as he tried to find exactly the right words to say. No use in letting any moment go to waste, right? “Lady Cyber-Knife, where in the hell did you go? You had us all expecting the worst,” he finally said. “'Hell' is the right word, General,” she replied. He loved it when she called him that. “Cyber-Knife has escaped from the detention facility! He has gone over to the enemy! The ARNs have a new weapon! I only just now managed to slip him. Please, he expects me to go to a military installation, not your private residence!” “So that's all this is,” he asked, a little wounded pride in his voice, “a professional call?” “General” - there it was again - “I need you, please! Let me up!” Dinesh smiled at this, the first of many victories he expected to win this night. “I will send the car down for you right now. You can tell me everything when you arrive.” “Thank you, General,” Lady Cyber-Knife said as he disconnected the feed, and blocked MOM's access to his systems. Dinesh gracefully pushed himself to his feet and spared an overlong second to admire the sight he saw in the mirror next to his bed. He still wanted the rat fucker Cyber-Knife dead, preferably by his own hand and over a period of years, but he had to admit that the "ultimate fucking killing machine" had done one good thing: if Cyber-Knife hadn't left the general halfway through death's door after their last encounter, he never would've been moved to the top of the total body transplant list. In a weird way, he had Cyber-Knife to thank for his new and perfect body, and he made sure to ponder that every time he had Lady Cyber-Knife all to himself. It made the whole experience more visceral, and sure made him last longer. Dinesh drew a silk robe the same color as his dress uniform about his waist, but loosely, and stepped out of his bedroom just as the elevator door pinged to signal her arrival. He licked his lips; he was eager for the game to begin. When Lady Cyber-Knife stepped out of the car, Dinesh realized that the universe had provided him with a far greater gift than he'd ever expected. She wasn't just scared, but outright terrified. He didn't expect this was an emotion she'd ever felt before, and he glowered at the thought of helping her navigate her way through a completely new experience. He wouldn't even need Barney and his backdoors into her behavioral programming. Dinesh had always known it would only be a matter of time before what they shared was real. He made a subtle gesture recognizable only by his security systems, which began recording through all twenty-three cameras he'd had installed in his home. Dinesh knew he'd want to revisit this night again and again and again over the years. She walked briskly over to him, though he could tell she really wanted to run, and clasped his outstretched hand in both of hers. In her terror, her grip was inhumanly strong, and Dinesh couldn't help but wince at he felt the bones in his hand grind together. He hoped she didn't notice. The more he looked at her mechanical face, her circuits, her hinges, the more he liked it. It was like the Complex had created her specifically for him, this way, its avatar that he could dominate. “The enemy, their weapon,” she said, “it was inside my head. I could not fight it for long. It showed me everything. They intend destroy the White Zone and the entire world!” “Impossible,” Dinesh replied, pulling her in close to him. “We built this city with the resources of thousands of worlds; it is the apex of human achievement, and a horde of great unwashed rabble could only ever dream of bringing it down.” “You do not understand, General - this threat is unlike anything you have ever faced!” Fearfully, she looked down at him; Lady Cyber-Knife still stood more than a head taller than Dinesh. He felt her weight pressing against him and her legs about to buckle. When, he wondered, was the last time she had rested, recharged her systems? “Lady Cyber-Knife, whatever threat you faced before, I promise you, you've come to a safe place. Take a few hours, lay on my bed, and sleep. We can construct a plan of action when you can think more clearly.” Lady Cyber-Knife didn't reply, but she did nod, and Dinesh took this as approval enough to lead her through the main room and down the tall, arch-ceilinged hallway towards his bedroom. His bed was covered in sheets as black as the night sky, which he could clearly see through a window that made up one entire wall of the bedroom, and aside from a small bedside table, the room was otherwise empty. Dinesh allowed himself no distractions when he laid down to sleep; he could even turn the window opaque and block out everything. When Lady Cyber-Knife sat on the bed, it didn't creak or bend at all, and Dinesh smiled proudly at this. Like most everything else in his home, the mattress was constructed of experimental materials; in this case, a high-density foam designed as an absorber of kinetic energy in crashes. It could handle extraordinary amounts of weight without deforming. She curled up atop the covers like she'd been born to them, and Dinesh sat near her. Not too close, of course, but close enough that she'd certainly be aware of him. “You need to rest, Lady,” Dinesh said, as he pushed her hair back over her ear. He began to draw his hand away, but couldn't help himself. He stroked her hair, gently, his fingers lingering on her head a little longer with each repetition. Lady Cyber-Knife sighed a little and reached up to hold his hand with her own. Dinesh had never been one to walk away from a perfectly good opening, so he reached over with his free hand, burying his fingertips in her sticky blonde locks. “That feels so good,” she whispered, gripping his hand a little tighter. Dinesh grimaced at the pressure but forced it out of his mind to luxuriate in the moment. “Mmm, yes,” Lady Cyber-Knife moaned, and he started to slide his hand down her head, past her neck, and over the small of her back, but before he had a chance to get very far at all, he felt his hand snap and then crumble under the pressure from her grip. Even as she broke his hand, she didn't let up, and he could feel the shards of bones slicing into his nerves. He yelped and tried to pull his free hand away, but she opened her eyes and looked up at him. “Do not stop,” she begged. Dinesh took a deep breath, summoning the decades of training and experience he'd had as a military man to steel his nerves. Sure, until the still-classified throwdown with the original Cyber-Knife, he'd never actually fired a weapon in anger against another living thing before, and sure, with his family history, he'd been handled with such a light touch thr
ough his career that the greatest hardship he'd ever had to endure was a long run with a heavy pack on his back, and sure, he'd secretly harbored doubts about the biological toughness of enemy combatants who'd mentally broken under less than a day of standard interrogation, but he'd still led men into battle, dammit! He'd barked orders from heavily armored transport craft hovering above the tallest mountains, the most brutal deserts, the cruelest jungles. It was almost like he'd trained his entire life for the opportunity now before him, and he was even in better shape than he'd ever been. He'd fought for so long to make her his, and now that she was here, he would fucking well take her tonight! Gingerly, Dinesh's fingers found their way to the apex of the curve of her back, the tips of those fingers gliding across the little nubs of metal extending from her artificial spine. He shuddered in delight and desire, only to scream bloody murder a moment later when his other hand exploded in a cloud of red mist and bone. His perfect hand, gone, and his perfect body, now mutilated. The lumpen mass of meat of which Lady Cyber-Knife had ahold was no longer attached to General Dinesh's body - it could no longer really be called his hand. Dinesh shrunk away from her in terror, clutching the bloody stump underneath his other arm. Lady Cyber-Knife sat up on the bed, Dinesh's blood trickling down her face. “What is the problem, General?” she asked. “I thought you preferred it when I pled with you.” That curious, bird-like look that she usually had when speaking had slid away, replaced by an expression coldly predatorial - almost omniscient, actually. Dinesh's eyes grew wider than saucers as the totality of what she'd just said came crashing down on him. If she could say something like that to him, he thought, that must mean she knows. But, how could she? Barney promised he could clear any memories of their... activities from her mind during the trip from his apartment to the military's base! He'd seen scans of her databanks, and knew Barney had done as he'd promised. She couldn't know, and yet she did, so how could she? Lady Cyber-Knife stretched out her fingers, and with that sick, efficient sound of metal snapping against metal, her talons flipped out from inside her fingertips. He turned and ran out of the bedroom, but she slashed out with her hands so fast that she caught his back, tearing away both silk and skin. Dinesh didn't break his stride, though, and made a mad dash for the living room, and the combat shotgun he kept on display there, the weapon his father had given him when he received his officer's commission. Even though he'd never seen action while carrying it, and never shot it outside of a firing range, he kept it loaded at all times, and tasked low-ranking members of his staff with cleaning it every week. He didn't have to run too far to get it, and once he wrapped his hands around its power, everything would be coming up rosy again. He didn't even make it down the hallway from his bedroom to the living room. No matter how primed the condition of his physical body was, Lady Cyber-Knife would always be better than the best the military could throw at her. Dinesh and his compatriots had spent enough money to ensure that. She launched herself off the bed and careened around the doorway, her feet not touching the ground once before she tackled Dinesh and threw him down. Lady Cyber-Knife swiped at General Dinesh's face again and again, guaranteeing that if he made it out of this encounter alive, he'd have a fresh checkerboard of scars atop the ones that were already there. His blood splashed against the floor, and he could be forgiven for not noticing that it sprayed the actual material of the floor, and not the hygienic force field it ordinarily might've. Lady Cyber-Knife punched Dinesh so hard that he slid across the floor and almost out of her reach. He struggled to roll onto his belly and screamed through half a mouthful of shattered teeth, “Someone, anyone, help me! I know you're listening, you're always listening; you can see this! Help me, please! I don't want to die!” He might have said more, but Lady Cyber-Knife wound up and put all her force into a kick right between his legs. The pain so overwhelmed his system that Dinesh couldn't actually scream. “You think you can call for help?” Lady Cyber-Knife asked mockingly. “You think we left a moment to chance on this night?” An explosion rocked the tower, cutting off the main power and bathing the room in a dim red glow as the emergency generator kicked on. Dinesh sputtered as he tried to speak, “W... W-we?” Lady Cyber-Knife's lips stretched across her teeth as she grinned. “Me, and the only things alive who've beaten you worse than I just did. One I knew only by its false name, the one you gave it: the Cyber-Sword. I have since come to know it by its true name: Excalibur.” Dinesh thought he'd been terrified before, but he was so wrong. “The other still happily goes by the names you gave him: the ultimate fucking killing machine,” she continued. “Cyber-Knife.” The window in Dinesh's living room - a big bay screen that looked out over nearly the entirety of the White Zone, constructed of such an advanced material that the contractors who installed it thought it to be practically impenetrable - exploded inward, covering his furniture and floor in a storm of glass shards. As the wind howled past, a figure swung in from above, and Dinesh got to gaze upon the one face he'd hoped to see again above all others. Only, he had hoped their positions would be reversed when they finally reunited. Cyber-Knife's hair blew over his shoulders; he wore black tactical pants tucked into boots that looked just a little too large for him. Across his chest, he'd strapped some kind of armored vest that left his arms free and uncovered - the plates caught the light and looked almost jewel-like as he moved. In his organic hand, he held Excalibur, with all its own jewels reset into its hilt. Lady Cyber-Knife picked Dinesh up off the ground and threw him into the back of one of his oversized armchairs, toppling it over and sending him crashing to the floor in front of Cyber-Knife. With a single easy motion, Cyber-Knife brought the tip of Excalibur's blade to rest against the bottom of the general's jaw. Dinesh knew that if he spoke, he'd just cut his face open even more, but he didn't care. He had one last chance, no matter how ludicrous it seemed to hope, and he wouldn't let it pass him by. “Cyber-Knife, please, make her stop,” he begged. “This is no way for a soldier to die. I at least afforded you the courtesy of offering you a soldier's death. Either make her stop or, or you kill me. Yes! Even with all your hatred of me, you'll make it quick, won't you? Quick and dignified. Don't let me meet my end like somebody's blood-stuffed toy. Please, show me mercy.” “Oh, no,” Cyber-Knife said as he withdrew Excalibur from the softest part of General Dinesh's neck. “We didn't come to join in. We just want to watch.” Lady Cyber-Knife strode towards Dinesh with inhuman speed, his blood still dripping fresh from her talons. He had nowhere to go, and couldn't have made it there even if he had. So, he screamed. The cameras in his apartment recorded every detail, and the forensic recovery team had to watch every minute of it. They were almost glad when Dinesh finally stopped screaming, and the two cyborgs painted a message on that perfectly bare wall in his dining room. It read: “EVER WONDERED HOW THE WORLD ENDS?” THE END CYBER-KNIFE, LADY CYBER-KNIFE, AND EXCALIBUR WILL RETURN.