by Russ Linton
"Found this hovering above the valley. It's carrying a wireless router. Must've been supplying a remote connection to OneNet. This, the solar panels, rampaging Augments; Eric and Charlotte and their idiot swarm are involved, I know it. It would be just like her to try and start a new freak show family."
"Wait." Despite her wariness, she'd been drawn to the fallen drone. "The Collective did it, didn't they?" Jackie suddenly asked. "The attack back home."
Hound prodded the drone with a stick. "Depends on who ya listen to."
"No, they did. It's their fault." Anger distorted the already garbled sound of the Beetle's pilot. "We failed to stop them once. And the worst of them got away. I won't let that happen again. Now, give me that damn phone."
The armored weapon towered over her. Jackie realized she'd drifted too close. Cowering behind rocks and trees wouldn't have saved her anyway. She struggled to think in the immense shadow. What would Ember have done? She could see her now, a confident smile as she melted the phone into hot, dripping glass and plastic in her palm.
Sure, the phone could probably give them a few leads. If she were still a journalist, she'd follow mutely along, reporting the resulting carnage. But she'd helped feed one body to a fire, helped to distract the Lady while Danger took her head clean off. Then there were rumors Ember had been active in China, as Hound said. They were too close to finding her. This Augment hunter, too close.
"Here. It's yours."
She raised the phone up and dashed it on the Beetle's armored foot.
CHAPTER 36
"WHAT THE FUCK?" SPUTTERED the Black Beetle.
Hound winced when the phone exploded. Jackie heard Danger release a low whistle. The Beetle bent to one knee with an internal hiss of pistons and rattling gears.
More of the sun had peaked above the horizon, and the ferocious armor appeared different. Battered and riddled with holes, the way he gingerly picked through the stones and fallen leaves for bits of the phone with those ungainly claws made Jackie feel a pang of sympathy. Like an aging giant trying to pluck a flower, it made for an odd scene, and one she couldn't reconcile with the events of last night.
"There," she said, resolutely. "Now nobody else dies."
She'd switched off her emotions for too long. The Lady had been right with her haunting final words. Her story had been told a thousand times, what was one more going to do? How would another photo, another front-page story change anything? People needed to act. She needed to act.
Hound scratched his head. He kept a wary eye on the Beetle and Jackie thought she saw him loosen the strap on his gun which he'd belted around his tunic. Danger took note and slid into position at a slight angle across from Hound. He did it coolly, as if he moved from reflex and not any warning sense, supernatural or otherwise.
"Ha!" The Beetle exclaimed. He raised up with something grasped daintily between the giant pincers. "Sim card!"
Okay, so she hadn't anticipated everything. Without a palm full of plasma level heat, she'd done the best she could. What were those ungainly hands going to do besides crush it anyway?
"Best if I deal with this," came the tinny voice. "I'll let you know what I find."
Jackie made a leap for the tiny card. Enough stuck out she thought she might snatch it. Doubtful she'd be able to wrestle it away, but her weight could snap it—
"Relax!" The arm reacted with a speed which belied the bulk. Jackie found herself flailing at the air. She made another jump, and the pincer moved higher. She looked like an idiot, she knew, but she couldn't just let this go. Finding Ember could be saved for another day. There was no guarantee she'd find her following these clowns anyway. Rumors were just that, rumors. "Hound, got one of your leashes for this one?"
The disapproving scowl Hound gave would've shut a grown man up, but increasingly Jackie felt she wasn't dealing with a grown man. Whoever was inside this armor was a smug, pretentious prick. But Hound moved to intercept her next jump.
"We can't let him have it!" she said, struggling. "He's a murderer! All he's done is hunt and kill Augments! That or drag them off! Why are you helping him?"
"That was Drake. Drake's dead...mostly," said the Black Beetle, his arm absurdly held above his head and safely out of reach.
Jackie continued to fight Hound's grip. He barely acknowledged her struggle, staring off into the distance. No octogenarian could be this strong.
"Is he really dead?" asked Hound, thoughtful.
"I buried him in the desert. So yeah, I'd say he's gone."
"Our reporter here, she's right to ask." Jackie felt the weight of Hound's words, and she stopped fighting. "A lot’s been going on back home from what I hear."
The Beetle's arm dropped as if drawn toward the earth, internal muscles going slack in surprise. "I saved your ass. A thank you might be nice."
"What about Jupiter? Tomahawk? You go to save them too?" Hound's grip tightened on Jackie's arms, and she bit back the pain. "Why are you really here, son?"
"Don't call me that." The Beetle bent, menacingly close. "You know why I'm here. Vulkan, he's mixed up in this, and that motherfucker is as good as dead. Tell me what you know, and we can both go about this our own way."
Hound didn't waver as the Beetle loomed over them. "Vulkan? I ain't on his trail. The card you got should lead us to wherever the Lady got juiced up."
"Yeah, and like I said, the Collective, they're likely involved as well. Chroma trying to make her little family, Eric trying to take over the world, and Shortwave's muscle working for them."
"Where'd ya get that intel?"
There was a pause. Jackie watched Hound staring down the beast of a machine in the hundreds of lens segments. She saw the fear on her own face and tried to set her jaw.
"Chroma showed me."
Hound let loose a derisive huff. "Say yer right. Say she ain't lyin', what then? You kill Vulkan, who's next? Eric? Me? Good 'ol Danger there?" He gestured, and Jackie realized the slippery Augment had disappeared. She felt her heart leap into her throat. "You aimin' to finish us all off?"
The Black Beetle raised up and considered them. Jackie felt she'd traded places with the insect-like robot. She was the bug in his path. A swift stomp of a foot and she'd be ground into the stones.
"Stay the fuck out of my way, and you'll be fine."
"Whatever's comin' up, you can't do this alone. That get up has seen better days. Inside there, yer as soft as any of us. If Crimson Mask taught you anything, it should be charging in hard ain't always the way."
No movement made in the bulky suit could imply subtlety. No expression could penetrate the shard-like lenses and the molded jaw. But Jackie didn't need to see those things to sense his change in demeanor. She felt the atmosphere change. Like the valley closing in or the sky pressing down, she sensed an oppressive weight fall heavily on the Augment and the Augment hunter. Hound must have felt it as well for while he didn't falter, he loosened his grip and slid protectively in front of her. She didn't argue.
The two had history, that much was clear. War could be one explanation. The older Augment had seen plenty of it. She'd seen it bring people together and tear them apart as soon as the bombs and the gunfire stopped.
This weight wasn't just the chill of death. She herself bore those scars. This was different. This was what she'd felt all her life. Guilt. Guilt for a father who couldn't control himself. It made no sense, to carry that kind of blame, but until you released yourself from the cycle, you always felt responsible for those you loved.
She clenched Hound's shoulder, urging him to back off.
When she thought the killing machine ready to pounce, a charged gesture only the one who could see coming violence had had the sense enough to avoid, she let go of Hound and backed away. She didn't want to run. There'd be no escape then. Creating distance one small step at a time, she could maybe just disappear like Danger had.
But the Black Beetle stood straight up, and the boot rockets ignited, carrying him into the sky.
Dir
t and rocks pelted Hound, but the soldier only tented a palm over his eyes and watched the Beetle fly off. Without a word, he scooped up his pack and walked off on the same course he'd led them on earlier.
Jackie fell in and kept her thoughts to herself. So much she didn't know, she wasn't used to letting that become the status quo. So many questions and so few answers, her job was to seek and find. The Collective, new Augments being created, the Black Beetle and a group of Augments at ground zero in Detroit—it all meant something. A few days ago, she'd have been ecstatic to have stumbled on the story of the century. Today, she was happy to be alive.
NIGHT FELL BY THE TIME they reached the next village. She wasn't sure of the name and didn't care. Their cross-country trek had been stopped by a narrow gorge. She didn't know where they were going or why, only that Hound continued north and east. At some point, they'd reach the Pakistan border where hopefully, Danger had some sort of ride arranged. They would need to travel right alongside a mountainous road from here on, and it suddenly became clear why Danger had stolen the clothing in Landigal.
Hound called a halt as his radio squawked. He wandered away from Jackie and Danger while he answered. Jackie thought she heard the unscrambled voice of the Beetle. She tried to listen but couldn't quite make out what was being said. Danger was watching the conversation as well.
"How'd you know?" she asked, tugging on the firaq.
"Always prepared, I guess," he replied.
"Like a Boy Scout or something?" she asked, trying to strike up a conversation.
"Or something."
"I was a Girl Scout," she said. "Sold a bunch of cookies one year. Would've won a trip to Worlds of Adventure."
"You say 'would' like you got robbed."
"Had to take a parent." She didn't want to explain. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to, but she'd learned in any interview you had to give a little to get a little. Luckily, he caught her intent and didn't ask.
"My neighborhood, you go knocking on stranger’s doors in a uniform, you best be strapped with more than cookies. Ain't nobody gonna buy them anyway." He said each word toward where Hound clutched the radio near his ear.
"What's the story with him and the Beetle?"
A smile split his lips. "Best you ask one of them."
She'd pushed too early, Jackie knew, but she was growing impatient. Not being able to hear Hound combined with the steady drop of temperature as night settled in was testing her nerves. She rubbed her hands together and blew.
"Come on, help a girl out. I just want answers. Like you walked away earlier. Did you think they were going to fight? Worried the Beetle was going to kill us?"
He sent a low glance her way, just shy of actual eye contact. "Don't you worry about Beetle. Worrying's my job."
She'd long figured Danger for the evasive type. The kind of guy you talk to for an hour and never really get any information. Perpetually wary, he'd be careful about what he said, but at the same time, he'd been more than happy to offer a bit about his neighborhood.
"At least tell me if you've worked with Ember. I get the feeling Hound has. What about you?"
Danger studied her. "She don't ask near as many questions. All about the action, that one."
Barely two sentences, Jackie found herself basking in their revelation. News reports and video were all she'd seen, so it was good to hear confirmation from someone who'd maybe met her. Some of the Augments in quieter times had been true glory hounds. Not Ember. She was driven, purposeful. Ember never stopped to talk or lecture, no monologuing in the face of victory, and no interviews with the press.
"Point her at a target, and she's happy to incinerate. That fire keeps her going," Danger continued. "Same for all of us, really. Whether we want it or not, that burning hunger inside, that's what takes over, keeps us living, long past God's own expiration date."
"But she always had purpose too, you know?" Jackie interjected, as though she'd known the blazing Augment from something more than the paper images tacked to her ceilings and walls. "People didn't always know, but she was on a mission, right?" Danger gave her a quizzical look and thought twice about answering. "Right?" she insisted.
"Later, sure. With Crimson. As messed up as the world was, he tried to provide a direction." The smile returned, rueful and empty. "Lot of good that did. But she was one of the ones who stuck around. Hard for people like us to stick around."
Danger trailed off. He'd focused on the night again where Hound had gone. Jackie heard the soft crunch of footsteps as the old soldier returned.
"Spen—err Beetle's got the information. There's a medical lab in goddamn Kashmir. She'd been in regular contact with 'em. Gotta be it."
Hound's words didn't reach her at first. Jackie waited for her mind to stop swirling. The Augment who'd found it hard to stick around a broken home had made one with a group of Augments. Danger, Hound, and from what she could tell, even the Crimson Mask. She felt a pang of longing. Why couldn't she have been there with them?
"Where did you say this lab was, Hound?"
"Kashmir."
Kashmir. As far as rogue Augment programs went, this didn't narrow down their choices. A disputed region at the intersection of several countries, the Beetle's insistence the Collective was involved might make sense. Then again, India, Pakistan, and China had all been developing programs of their own.
She recalled Hound's claims about Ember having been spotted in China. Rumors, but more than she'd had in months. She was so close.
"Let's go," she said.
Jackie took up the lead before Danger, and Hound even moved. Whatever risks were out there, she felt more than equipped to deal with them. She'd crossed plenty of war zones and plenty of borders in her job, this would be no different. Let them execute their missions and keep their closely held secrets, all she had, all she wanted, was the truth.
CHAPTER 37
THEY STUMBLED OVER the boulder-strewn riverbed past another village. Without the higher elevations beginning to trap moisture in ice and snow, there was barely a vein of water. Jackie's feet were sore, and her ankles swollen.
After an initial exchange, Hound and Danger seemed content to let Jackie take point. Jackie figured they would've tried to overtake her if they didn't approve. But the soldiers hung back, speaking in low voices, and using the darkness to conceal but not hide.
From a distance, they could be mistaken for a couple of locals out for a casual stroll. But in these village hubs for the surrounding communities, it was rare to not recognize every face. She also knew being a female out after dark would immediately raise suspicion. So she continued to fight the uneven footing of the dry river bed as opposed to the slightly better surface of the road.
There were more lights in the village than she expected. A narrow strip, houses lined the road and riverbank like eyelets on a boot. On the far side was a flattened landscape of open fields which rose sharply into rocky peaks.
All quiet in the village, she wondered if the final call to prayer had been made. She'd fallen out of the habit of carrying a watch, relying on her phone and camera to provide the time. Neither were charged or accessible. The hectic last few days had left her unprepared.
Ahead she saw signs of life. Warmth glowed in the windows of one larger than average home. The mud brick sides remained cool, bone-colored slabs but the windows were cheerful rectangles promising a fire and steaming tea always brewed for guests. Shadows like happy spirits danced joyfully behind thin curtains. Music thrummed and pulsed with percussive twangs, voices adding to the steady beat.
She'd been on the hill how long after the Korengal was abandoned? Weeks? Months? Her and the rest of the squad had been isolated and forgotten, while outside, the people rejoiced. They went about their lives until the next wave of foreign soldiers would come.
Jackie didn't feel spiteful. A break, a respite, she couldn't help but feel these people needed it. Especially after having been at their mercy. Against foreign powers armed with tanks and planes and laser-guided
bombs, they'd fought with grim resignation, just like the soldiers she'd shared an outpost with.
Maybe she'd just seen enough war already to tell the sides apart.
They took nearly an hour to completely clear the small settlement. The flat pastures on the opposite bank returned to steep inclines. Buildings became less distinguishable from the mountain faces. She'd hoped to be relieved they'd avoided discovery but losing the cluster of buildings only made her worry more as she strained to see further into darkness. Finally, she plopped down on a boulder, exhausted.
"God, I hate Augments," she said.
"How so," asked Hound as he and Danger joined her.
"Never tired, never surprised, never...unprepared. I wish that could be me right about now."
Danger kept walking. Hound planted a boot beside her and leaned heavily on his knee. "Oh, I get plenty tired. Always hopin' the next mission is my last."
"Is this? Your last?"
Hound took in a breath as if testing the purity of the air. He nodded his head before he answered. "Hope so."
"What do we have to go on here? Kashmir is a big place." Jackie wrestled with the laces of her boots. "And really fucking far away."
She wanted to tear off her boot. As cold as it would be, the trickling stream was looking pretty good for a soak. Hound stopped her.
Engrossed in the direction Danger had disappeared, his nose twitched, and she could swear his ears wiggled. Every little motion mimicked his namesake. In the dark, she envisioned him a scruffy terrier, head high and alert. Satisfied he moved his hand and she finished unlacing.
"Beetle's still with us. He says he's got a GPS location from the number that girl was dialin'. Says he'll provide air cover while we make our way there."
"And you trust him?" She asked, rubbing the soles of her feet.
The canine alertness drooped. "I don't know. He's hot-headed, like his Dad. We'll need to get there faster, or he's likely gonna go in without us."