“You’re needed,” Damiana said.
“Nice to be needed,” Lavenza said, “but those days are over for me. Just leave me be. We lost a long time ago.”
She started to close the wooden door, but Jer lodged his foot in the opening. “We wouldn’t be here today if you hadn’t made monsters believe in themselves all those years ago,” he said. “They believe, thanks to you. Some of the humans believe the two sides can live in peace because of you leading the movement despite the odds. Sure, it didn’t work before, but we have a concrete scientific breakthrough that will change all that. We just need your help to have a chance. Actually, we need a lot of help, but first we need yours.”
“Pretty words, young man,” Lavenza said, “but I didn’t hear anything concrete in them. Lost a lot of loved ones the last time I made a stand. The last thing I want is for more to suffer because of my actions.”
“That’s what I’m offering,” Jer said. “The chance to stop the suffering.”
Lavenza winced at his words, which seemed to awaken something in her. “I recognize you,” she said. “Not you per se. But…” She shook her index finger. “It was your father. Your father was the one who isolated the Transhumana Monstrare genetic code. You’re the bastard child he left behind. Why aren’t you out there attacking monsters? Wasn’t he killed by one?”
“He wouldn’t have wanted that. I wanted to understand them, to help them. I believe it’s possible to change society to the point that attacks like what happened to him are rare rather the norm. He was trying to help monsters. So am I.”
Lavenza scoffed. “A lot of good his intent did.”
“Fair point,” Jer replied. “Doesn’t mean he was wrong. His discovery has led to another. Transhumana Monstrare is in everyone. There isn’t a human alive who doesn’t have it. It’s just suppressed. My friend cracked the formula. We just need enough time and support to get it out. We need you to organize the way no one else ever could.”
“No,” Lavenza said. “What you need is a fucking miracle.”
Jer laughed. Damiana smirked.
“True,” Jer said. “But we’ll take you just the same.”
A small smile began to creep up the at the corners of Lavenza’s mouth. She looked away for a moment, as if she were peering into the past. When she returned her gaze to Jer and Damiana, Lavenza’s countenance was different, transformed. Her eyes were full of energy and hope once again. “In everyone, did you say?”
Jer nodded furiously. “Everyone,” he confirmed. “We just need enough time to get word out. We need to spread the proof. And we need you to believe again.”
“What do you really need from me?”
Damiana stepped forward. “To rally humans who want to help. To get them to come out in droves on South Brother Island. It’s part of a larger plan. You still have your secret communications networks, right?”
“Of course I do,” Lavenza sniffed. “You think I’d let something so valuable go to waste?! Hell no!”
Jer perked up. “We might just pull this off,” he said.
“Don’t get your panties in a wad just yet, big guy,” Lavenza replied as she pulled the door shut and stepped outside. “It’s going to take more than one miracle for this to come together. Let’s hope you’ve got your father’s courage, ‘cause you’re gonna need it. Follow me.”
Lavenza led them down to the bottom of the hill. With Damiana and Jer’s help, she moved some boards and stones out of the way to reveal the entrance to a cave.
“Where does it lead?” Jer asked.
“To the other side,” Lavenza answered. “We’re goin’ over.”
“I’m staying,” Damiana said.
“Do what?” Jer asked.
“I need to rally monsters on this side,” she replied. “We’ll need everyone to show up at the bridge if we’re going to pull this off.”
“It’s too risky,” Jer said. “You should come with us.”
“No,” Damiana said. “This I have to do. Too many times monsters have been conquered through division. If I can get everyone out to the bridge, rather than just the fervent ones, we can make a real stand.”
“I don’t like it,” Jer said.
“You don’t have to. Just get your part of the plan done. I’ll take care of my end.”
They embraced and locked lips for several seconds before Lavenza coughed, breaking up the moment of intimacy.
Damiana shot Lavenza a knowing look and rushed back for her Softail.
Jer faced the cave and offered to go first. Lavenza put a hand across his chest and stepped in front of him.
“I’m not being brave,” she said. “Just wanted to cop a feel of those pecs of yours. Not bad.”
Jer smirked and chuckled. “Glad to be of service,” he said and followed her into the cave.
29
The Heart of the Enemy
When Lavenza and Jer emerged out of a water drainage pipe on South Brother Island, Jer half-expected to encounter a Pharma police squad or GenAdvance S.W.A.T. Instead, they were greeted with the sound of birds chirping and wind blowing through the leaves as a storm built on the horizon.
“Guess the enemy is occupied at Purgatory Bridge,” Jer said, crossing his fingers.
“That’s not exactly a good thing,” Lavenza replied. “It is for us, but not for the folks facing their guns.”
“All the more reason not to fail them,” Jer said.
“I like you, kiddo. Thought maybe you were just another dude with a monster fetish at first, but it’s becoming evident from your over-the-top self-righteousness indignation and desire to help them that you’re not faking just to get laid.”
Jer scoffed, almost choking. “On that note,” he said, changing the subject, “how exactly can we get humans out into the streets to protest long enough for the plan to work?”
“I’ll take care of getting them out en masse. You’d be surprised how many humans want to help. What I need from you is a means of transportation and loud noises.”
“Um,” Jer said. “I don’t really have either. Anything else I can get you? A drink? A cup of tea?”
Lavenza threw her hands in the air. “What kind of revolutionary are you?”
“One without wheels,” Jer confessed.
“How about a can of spray paint and a Swiss Army knife?”
“That I can manage.”
Six holo-store popups later, and they had a Swiss Army knife and a can of red spray paint. They weren’t exactly the best weapons of war, but they would do for the moment.
“What next?” Jer asked.
“The ride, Jer. I already said what I needed.”
Jer led Lavenza to a hydra-cab loading area where she spray-painted the rooftop, sides, and back of one of the vehicles with shapes too large for Jer to make out. Lavenza then slipped inside the front passenger seat. After she fiddled around for a bit with the Swiss Army knife, the holo-driver short-circuited and phased out, leaving the driver’s seat empty.
“Perfect,” Lavenza said and beamed. “Good to know I’ve still got it.”
“Would love to hear stories about your younger days if we get the chance,” Jer said.
“Oh you wouldn’t believe me if I told you, young man.”
“Try me. I’ve seen a few things.”
Lavenza chuckled. “It all started when I realized I had a thing for corpses. You see, there was this cadaver that needed reviving, and—”
Jer puts his hands up. “I’m going to stop you there. We should finish the mission first and talk about the past later, if that’s cool.”
“Good idea, dear,” Lavenza said as she slid over into the driver’s seat. “We’ll throw back a few at a pub. I can introduce you to my soulmate.”
“Is he…never mind. It’s a date. Pub, you, me, the women I love, and celebration. Let’s make sure we have something to celebrate first.”
“Let’s,” she replied and revved the hydra-cab. “See you at the bridge, sonny!”
Lave
nza peeled out, honking the horn as she left tire marks behind. That’s when Jer could see the spelt-out letters that she’d spray-painted onto the car in full view. Repeated over and over all around the vehicle were the words, ‘MONSTER MASH,’ and the Monster Mash song by Bobby Pickett began blaring from the hydra-cab. It was so loud Jer couldn’t hear his own words when he tried to sing along. He continued singing along anyway. “’I was working in the lab late one night…when my eyes beheld an eerie sight…”
Before he knew it, he’d reached the cusp of the Pharma police station where Evangeline and Max were being held. It was his turn to make things happen, good or bad. In his honest opinion, his friends and loved ones deserved better, but he was going to give them all he had to offer and with all his might, every last ounce. Fuck it!
Jer pressed an index finger to his temple and marched forward with confidence as a semi-transparent overlay of Damiana, Mira, Ambrose, and Evangeline’s camera feeds projected in front of him. Damiana was leading a mass of monster-civilians toward Purgatory Bridge, which would trap the Pharma cops between them and the armed-monsters at the North Brother Island entrance to the bridge. Mira was leading a pack of furies in flight over the water and straight into the heart of the GenAdvance Headquarters building where they could access satellite communications. Ambrose was punching calculations into the holo-projector alongside Matthias’s splooge body, which made Jer cringe. Evangeline was staring directly at Max’s back, which was odd, and shuffling forward. An electric shock caused her line of sight to jolt. She settled back into a shuffle and continued forward, but Jer couldn’t quite make out what was happening on her end. It wasn’t until he saw himself that he realized what was up.
“Oh fuck,” Jer said as his face came into view through Evangeline’s camera feed.
“No need to rescue them, old boy,” Jakoff said with a grin. “I’ve brought them to you, saving the trouble. How about a ‘thank you?’”
“Fuck you!” Jer spat. “I’m going to end you.”
“Verbal assault, threat of physical harm, and conspiracy to commit murder,” Jakoff replied. “On record at that. It would seem you’re piling up the charges today, sweetcheeks.”
“I get that your little war on monsters has to do with some rejection you suffered at the hands of the first monster-girl who didn’t take a liking to your creepiness when you were prepubescent, and I’m sorry that happened to you, but it doesn’t mean you get to take out your angst on innocent people.”
“You think you know so much, doc,” Jakoff sneers. “You don’t know shit.”
“Don’t I,” Jer sniffs. “Seems to me you’re itching for a fight, which means one of two things. You either had Jasper killed to prevent loss of power or because you were jealous of him being attractive to monster-girls and couldn’t figure out why you couldn’t get any. Especially considering that there’s a shortage of human men who aren’t afraid of contracting Transhumana Monstrare, which isn’t even viral, by the way. That’s a lie. There should be plenty of monster-girls who would at least choose you as a second option, and yet…none do. Why is that?”
“Don’t psychoanalyze me. I’m a corporate man. That’s all. And nothing more. Don’t read between the lines. There’s nothing for you to figure out, asshole. If I want a monster-girl, I’ll just pay her. No need to win over her heart and mind or soul.”
Jer laughed as GenAdvance soldiers swarmed around him. “Sure, Jackoff…”
“IT’S JAKOFF!”
“Right. Anyway, you’ve convinced me. This isn’t all some personal insecurity issue you have about not getting laid. This is about stock options and the greater good and keeping the order. You believe monsters are less than humans. Only you know better. You know what was in Jasper’s formula, don’t you? You saw it, didn’t you? You know that monster aren’t less than humans.”
Jer’s eyes narrowed. He was bluffing. He didn’t know whether Jakoff had actually seen the final result of the formula or reverse-engineered it and figured out that Transhumana Monstrare was in everyone or not. He was pressing to test out whether Jakoff was acting accordingly. He needed to know if that was the primary motivation. If it was, he could take a shot at exposing Jakoff and making him the fall-guy. Not taking down GenAdvance, not taking down the likes of the warmongering asshat Dick Perle, that would suck. Yet, taking down Jakoff and possibly stalling the violence would serve as a decent-enough victory in Jer’s eyes – maybe. He wasn’t going to get that option, though. Jakoff had rigged the game.
From behind Jakoff, out marched Dicky Perle in the flesh, no hologram, no projection. It was the one and only CEO the world had left. Worst of all, to his left were Evangeline and Max, shackled and being pulled forward by Dakota.
“You’re right, Hieronymus,” Perle said. “We knew all along. Your clever little trick to take Matthias back from us was impressive, and the way you snuck out by using your friends as bait, well, that’s the kind of thing I would have expected from Jakoff, not you. Are you sure you don’t want to come work for us? You’ve got the knack for deceit and trickery.”
“Maybe I do,” Jer said, “but it was only to help others. Your goal is the opposite.”
“On the contrary,” Perle said in his squirmy voice. “I’m all about helping people. I just don’t believe that people know what’s best for them. They need to be told what they can and can’t do. Imagine a world in which the full manifestation of Transhumana Monstrare is rampant and widespread.”
“Sounds wonderful,” Jer replied.
Perle and Jakoff scoffed.
“You’d think so,” Perle said. “But how would you keep order? How would you regulate? With individuals capable of ripping through walls with their bare hands, able to shrink down to the size of a tiny listening device and spy on anyone, and mutations that allow for disguises, who’s going to be in charge of policing that world? You? I don’t think so. You’re barely able to manage your own emotions, doc.”
On those words, Dakota emerged from the Pharma building. She avoided eye contact with Jer and made her way close to Perle and Jakoff.
Perle chortled. “You’ve done some impressive things, doc, but you’ve missed the obvious. I don’t see monsters as less than human. Quite the opposite. The division and fear serves my purpose well, though. All I want is to keep the order, maintain a booming economy, and—”
“Rule with an iron fist,” Jer said, interrupting and finishing his sentiment.
“Well put,” Perle admitted. “No more mincing words. You’re right. I want to keep power, and I want more. This isn’t a classroom, young man. This is real life, and in the grittiness that real has to offer, the only thing that matters is who holds the levers of power.”
“I beg to differ,” Jer said. “You’re projecting your own ideology and insecurities onto others. Not everyone is zero sum like you. I’d venture that most aren’t actually. You just think they are, because so many people in your life betrayed you, making you think you have to control them to force them to provide for your needs, emotionally, physically, mentally, otherwise. The truth is, people are there for each other when they’re not required to be, because they care. Forced servitude is hollow. You’ll never be fully satisfied.”
“I’m not going to disagree with you,” Perle said. “You are the head-shrink after all. I believe, in many ways, that you’re right. But we both know I’m too entrenched at the top and too used to the fruits of others’ labor to give up my perch. Besides, I’m not negotiating. I’m partaking in a personal delight of mine—witnessing and causing the suffering of others. I believe they call it Schadenfreude in German. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to watch others be destroyed. Psychoanalyze that, doc.”
Jer hung his head. There wasn’t much he could do. No way was he going to talk Perle or Jakoff down from their machinations. Their course was set. All he could do was control his own decisions and support the ones he loved, that was until GenAdvance took control over everything, including the truth if Jer’s allies
weren’t able to get the formula broadcast out in time.
“Give it up, doc,” Jakoff said. “Tell us where you’ve hidden the last remaining copy of the formula. You have no way to get it out, so save yourself the pain and humiliation of utter defeat. Tell us where your plucky little allies are, and we’ll call it even. You can even continue your therapy clinic from the inside of a Pharma cell.”
Jer mocked zipping his lips and throwing away a key as he continued using his iris embed to secretly watch Mira and her furies sneaking into the GenAdvance Headquarters building, Damiana coalescing the remaining monsters toward the bridge, and Ambrose working with Matthias on translating the formula into an accessible form.
“What he needs is some good old-fashioned incentive,” Perle said. “Come on. Let’s show him the price he and his friends will pay if he doesn’t give it up.”
30
Second Chances
After Jer was forced into the back of a light-armored transport vehicle along with Evangeline and Max, Dakota hopped up into the open-air rear of the armored ride, taking a seat across from the three of them, who were all in shackles now. Jer ignored her and turned to Evangeline.
“You okay? They didn’t hurt you, did they?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” Evangeline answered. “Just didn’t expect to see you in shackles too. Did the plan not work?”
“It did,” Jer said, in a hushed voice. “But things have taken on a new light.”
“I can see that. What are our odds?”
“One percent chance of victory. Maybe two percent if lady luck rears her head.”
Evangeline allows herself a small smile. “Even now, you’re trying to make me smile.”
Jer shrugged. “There’s always something bad and always something good happening in everyone’s life. Happiness is a choice.”
“Ugh, cheesy, but true.”
“I’m fine too,” Max said, interrupting. “Good of you to check.”
Monster M.D.: A Monster Girl Harem Mystery Thriller (Monster M.D. ) Page 24