by Justin Sloan
When she demanded details, answers, she got zilch.
Another sip… pushing the memory away, and yet, embracing it. That was what gave her strength after all, strength enough to see this through. She would never believe her Marick was gone. How could one accept the loss of their one true love?
She demanded answers. The truth. And if he was indeed gone? Justice.
When she realized the others were still going on, not paying any attention to her, she was glad. She politely excused herself and made for the bathroom. She lingered there, hands on the sink counter, staring at herself. Would he recognize her if he saw her today? She’d made sure to change her hair—now short and brown, unlike the almost blonde it had been before. She added a line of fake freckles across her nose each day, put in contacts to make her eyes brown.
Was she paranoid? Maybe… but there were others up here who had served with Marick, others she didn’t know if she could trust. She couldn’t have them pointing her out and blowing her cover.
Sometimes she preferred the excitement of the teamwork, the thrill of the action. It took her away from moments like this.
Her finger reached up, touching the mirror as if he might be there, looking back at her. He had the brown hair and eyes, after all. The thin line of freckles, though he would deny it. She laughed, biting her lip and trying not to think about the feel of his cheek against hers, his lips, so firm when he’d press against her for a kiss, or the way he would run his hand up her lower back, pulling her in tight.
All of that would come, she told herself. When she found him.
“There you are,” Yerbuna said, and Alice spun to see the older woman holding the door open. “Something’s happening. You might want to hear this.”
“What?” She followed Yerbuna out into the main floor of the hideout, where a man not wearing the orange robes was talking excitedly to a circle around him. When she drew close, she was able to make out most of what he was saying.
“That’s right, the Heel!” he said, earning gasps. “I was sure of it, and I think I saw Nightshade among the attackers.”
“What happened?” someone called out, and Alice was glad they did.
“They’ve cornered the Heel,” the man explained. “It’s going down, and we have a prime viewing booth.”
Everyone looked at each other, then started shouting for him to lead the way.
“Okay, okay, keep your pants on.” He waved them on, and everyone started following.
“We’re going?” Alice asked.
Yerbuna laughed. “You can be damn sure that, however this plays out, it’ll have ramifications for all of us. Means yes.”
With that they followed the rest, eager to see part of the real action.
11
Stealth: Engineering
When they had emerged into Engineering and found the Heel cornered, the first thought through Stealth’s mind was that there couldn’t have been a worse place for this. One wrong shot could totally destroy the infrastructure here. His second thought was that there could be worse spots, such as at the observatory or any outer areas where explosions could lead to them all getting sucked out into space.
All of the people starting to gather on the upper levels weren’t helping the situation. Innocents could get shot, while enemies could be among them,
“Right then,” Nightshade said, her voice coming out with a slight echo through her helmet. “Ready for your initiation?”
Stealth glanced over, steeling his nerves, and nodded.
“Good. Team, we’re going silent on this one.” She slung her rifle over her back, where it stuck with a magnetic pull so that it wouldn’t shift during movement. “Get around them if possible. Avoid destroying the station. If you’re going to die, you can shoot. Otherwise…” She pulled out two extendable batons, twirling them and smiling.
The others did likewise, then headed out. Nightshade nodded for Stealth to stick with her, and the two started moving around the large metallic drums and machinery. People above began catcalling, booing, and Nightshade made a motion to one of the other soldiers. The soldier instantly turned back, then ran and used her boosters to reach the next ledge.
“Attacking civilians?” Stealth asked in shock.
“Shutting them up, keeping an eye on them.” Nightshade continued on, then saw movement and darted forward while shouting, “Do try and keep up.”
Stealth was with her a moment later, arriving as a man came at her from the side with a pistol. To her credit, her attacks weren’t focused on her safety, but on keeping the attacker’s shots away from anything that could blow, as well as the civilians above. For all the stories he had heard that made her seem like the devil incarnate, she was starting to give him another impression entirely.
He was so impressed, he nearly missed the second and third attackers that came from his right. A last-minute reaction gave him enough time to dive and pull Nightshade out of the way, a bullet hitting the pipes beyond and sending steam out. That couldn’t be good, he thought, already up and using his thrusters to charge the attacker before another shot could go off.
His batons hit the first one and sent a shock through the guy that left him crumpled on the floor. Nightshade had flung the other attacker at the third, so that the two went flying back and slammed into the wall.
She was with them a moment later, delivering two quick blows, and then turned for more action. As strong as the Heel and the other members of Os Dragoes were, they didn’t have the equipment, nor enhancements, of the Taipans. It wasn’t surprising, then, that he saw the Heel making a run for it.
“There,” he said, pointing with his baton, already taking off. A warning sign showed in his helmet, though, and he saw several red dots appear ahead on each side. He almost wanted to write them off as more hacker interference, as now he wasn’t sure how much to trust his tech. Then again, it made a lot of sense for this to be an ambush. Everything he’d heard about the Heel said she didn’t run. Or never had before, anyway. He doubted whether she had ever gone up against Nightshade before.
He decided to play it safe and, at the last minute, dodged left around one of the tall cylinders. A click sounded and a hand-held flamethrower went off where he would have been, but he was fast and was already moving around to the other side, catching three attackers exactly where his HUD had said they would be.
Heart thudding, Stealth didn’t hesitate in his assault. The first man fell without a sound, the second stumbling into the third before an attack from Stealth took him out. The third turned, hand raised as he prepared another spout of flame, but Nightshade came through, slamming her batons with a double crack that split the man’s head open.
A woman behind Nightshade came at her. As Nightshade turned to block, the Heel came crashing down on her, knocking the batons aside and raising a hammershot-clad fist. The contraption was so named because it fit on the wrist and provided an extra thrust to one’s punch, giving them enough power to knock down a door or wall, like a battering ram.
One hit from that would likely break through Nightshade’s mask, possibly even cave in her armor. Stealth wasn’t sure if they had ever tested it, but didn’t want that day to be today. He thrust out with one of his own hand flamers, igniting half of the Heel’s face. At the same time, Nightshade pushed with her exoskeleton and thrusters, so that she spun up and landed on her feet while a burning Heel went flying past them, right for the steam.
No, not steam, Stealth realized as he watched the flames on the Heel explode, engulfing her in a massive fireball. Gas!
“Everyone down!” he shouted as the flames followed the gas back. Two more of the Taipan soldiers were there a split-second later, helping him and Nightshade to fling themselves out of the way. With a massive kaboom, Engineering was in flames.
They scattered, moving for cover into one of the halls outside the main room as more of the Os Dragoes screamed, covered in flames. The civilians above shrieked and ran for their lives.
“All hands, all hands!�
�� Nightshade was calling into her comms. “Response team needed in Engineering, on the double!”
A sticky grenade hit the wall nearby, and Nightshade stopped what she was doing to pull out her shield baton, a modified version that folded out into a small dome when she pressed a button on the side. She slammed it down onto the sticky grenade, so that the edge of the circle connected with the wall and secured itself.
Smoke filled the bubble and then faded out, the only sound a clang of metal, as the wall burst out the other side.
“Remind me to put in for a few of those,” Stealth said with awe.
“You were impressed by that?” Nightshade asked, turning to see where the attack had come from. “You’re going to have a blast with us, kid.” Two figures darted past, and she pointed after them as a burst of shots came through an opening between levels of the halls. “Go after those two. I’ll take care of the shooter.”
Stealth didn’t need to reply, he just took off running. Figuring it was fine to use the rifle in the halls, he held it at the ready as he turned the first corner. A shot rang out and pelted his shoulder armor, but didn’t faze him. He returned two shots, taking down the shooter, and then turned on the next man, who held his hands up, then smiled.
That threw him for a loop, confusing him enough to stall, and then—WOOMP! One of those damn wrist battering rams had hit him upside the head and, sure enough, the faceplate split off, clinking across the floor and breaking in two.
Ringing filled his ears and a sense of vertigo came over him. Through the red spots he was seeing, he was able to make out the second strike coming. He threw himself to the floor and into his attacker, taking him down and then rolling to slam an elbow into his crotch. Not his, apparently. Hers. Even through the armor, that much was clear.
Still, she groaned in pain. He grabbed her up by the throat, eyes darting between her and the man behind her, who seemed unsure what the next move should be.
“You,” the man said, taking a step closer. Something about him was familiar, though Stealth couldn’t place it. Asian, likely Korean, he thought.
“Don’t try head games with me,” Stealth shot back, squeezing tighter on the woman’s throat. She was strong, though petite, with dark eyes to match her dark hair.
“No, it’s not that. Holy… you seeing this? We knew this guy, right?”
The woman’s eyes went from worried to surprised with recognition, then worried again. She tried to speak, but Stealth’s hand on her throat wasn’t allowing it. Normally, Stealth would’ve just taken them in, ignored what they were saying, but his mind had already been working double-time on his whole lost memory issue. Now these two were playing right into that.
“What do you mean, knew?” Stealth released his grip on the woman, eyeing her for the answer.
She coughed, then rubbed her throat as she said, “I didn’t know your name, but I recognize you. Same platoon, though you were much more senior.”
“Hot damn, that’s it!” The man stepped forward.
“Stop right there,” Stealth warned.
“You’re that far gone, huh?” The man shook his head, looking more let down than anything else. “Listen, we get it. You’re looking for answers, so were we. That’s why we left.”
Stealth released the woman, taking a step back. “How… exactly did you say you knew me?”
“When you were in the Marines, I’m telling you,” the woman said. “I was a private in the platoon, but kinda had a crush on you. Oh, shut up,” she said to the guy when he looked at her, hurt. “You were my first Marine Corps bang, it’s just he was the Staff Sergeant, you know? The big, hot guy in charge. Or at least, in the chain. I wouldn’t forget that face.”
More shots went off behind them, then one single shot and silence.
“Maybe that’s why I remember him too,” the man said. “Not because I had a crush, not at all, but… jealousy.”
“You got nothing to be jealous of,” the woman said, stepping back and taking the man’s hand. She turned back to Stealth. “We—we didn’t know it was you, you know, until that faceplate came off. You want answers, you want to know why your memory is partially missing and leave this behind, then come find us.”
Stealth found himself lowering his rifle as he licked his lips, shifting back and forth. He gave them a nod, and simply stood there as they dashed off.
Well, that was the weirdest thing Stealth could ever remember happening. But that was just it, wasn’t it? He’d probably been through all manner of weird situations, but he couldn’t remember any of them. Footsteps sounded behind him, and he knew it was Nightshade or someone else from his team. But he stood there, debating. Would he try to pursue those two, get some answers? Even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t know where to begin.
Maybe that wasn’t entirely true. They were with Os Dragoes. That meant all he had to do was find their hideout and make it known why he was there. Since that would be to basically betray the Taipans, thereby signing his own death warrant, he didn’t see that happening anytime soon.
“Nice work,” Nightshade said, placing a hand on his shoulder as she came up behind him.
“Huh?” He glanced back, then to the corpse of the man he had shot. “Oh yes. Here to do my part.”
She nodded, then gestured over her shoulder and he turned to follow. They both froze.
A form stood at the end of the hall. The Heel looked more terrifying than ever with her skin smoking and blistered, but she grunted in pain as a fresh group of her followers wrapped her in a blanket and then pulled her out of there. More appeared, firing down the hall and then joining in the retreat, two of them slamming down poles that created a force field behind them.
It wasn’t to stop the shots, but to stop them from being followed.
Stealth unslung his rifle and opened up on the posts to take it down, but Nightshade held out a hand and commanded, “Cease fire!”
“We’re not going after them?” Stealth asked.
“They’ll be gone before we make it past. Probably already are. We have to get this situation under control.” She glanced back to where two of her soldiers were escorting a man with scraggly white hair. He had a busted lip and brow, blood dripping down his face, but his eyes were filled with strength and hatred. “Besides, we’ve just captured Veles.”
“Veles! You mean…?”
“The leader of Os Dragoes himself,” she said with a grin. “Meaning the Heel will come to us, if she survives this day.”
Stealth eyed this man he’d heard so much about. The leader of Os Dragoes, at least that’s what the stories said. If that were true, the Taipans had just captured one of the biggest criminal minds on this station, and just made themselves plenty of enemies.
It looked like his initiation with the Taipans was going to have to be fast-tracked. Some exciting days were bound to follow, and he gulped at the thought. It’s what he signed up for, sure, but then why did he have such a nauseating feeling in his gut?
He stayed alert the whole way back to the Taipan quarters, ready for an ambush, but none came. Apparently, they’d caused enough damage for one day. Good. He was looking forward to a moment’s rest, and getting to know the team. Maybe then he could figure out how he was going to get the damn answers he was starting to realize he needed if he was going to continue down this path.
12
Alice: The Ribs
As soon as the explosion had gone off, Alice and her companions were out of there. Their target was New Origins itself, not the PD soldiers. Especially not now that she had questions about some of them, specifically about the man who had stopped at the sight of her. He knew her husband, she was sure of it.
He probably had answers, or at least knew where to start asking questions. It was even possible that she would find a sympathizer on the inside.
The others had made their way back to the Titanian hideout, but not Alice. She had decided it was past time to check in on Norwal and Swinger.
Most of the lower level miners lived
on the outer rib of the space station, so she headed there. Swinger had come here as a miner, and kept up the ruse when he wasn’t joining her on hacker drills, or joining others for his own kind of drilling… not the mining kind, either. Now that he was with Norwal so often, Alice imagined that had been toned down. But with Swinger, one could never really know.
It took her a good fifteen minutes of walking briskly from Engineering, but before long she had found her way in and was passing the fake gardens that always made her smile. The miners had wanted something to perk up their lives, so New Origins had done their best to make the entrance to their quarters look like parks from Earth. The only problem was, the majority of the fake trees they were able to get their hands on via trading were old Christmas trees. Some were even red or silver. The whole effect was one of a metallic North Pole. Of course, the kids loved that, and so the miners had taken to playing it up, even decorating the trees with odds and ends, so that now it was Christmas all year round in that one spot of the space station.
How the other religious groups put up with it, Alice wasn’t sure. The best she figured was that so few people truly associated Christmas with Christianity anymore, the trees didn’t bother them. And they weren’t about to interfere in someone else’s fun.
Where the pine smell came from, though, Alice would never understand.
Soon she was moving through the hallway that led to Swinger’s room. Here the rib’s rotation was jittery, but at least it kept the gravity steady. The worst was when they had malfunctions and everyone had to strap themselves down to keep from floating away while they slept. Nothing like that had happened lately, though. Not since New Origins had purchased Project Destiny and expanded it to become the powerhouse that it was today.
The door to Swinger’s room was ajar. Never a good sign. Alice knocked, feeling hopeful, but when no response came, she nudged the door open to have a look.