Into the Fire
Forty
The street café was strategically located near the ferry from Montevideo and did a brisk business later in the day, but this early it had just opened and only one table was occupied. She looked up from her coffee and pastry as someone pulled out the chair on the other side of the table. “Good morning, Tanika.”
“Good morning, Magdalene.” The red haired Catgirl waved to the Ingénue waitress, who hurried over. “I’ll have an omelet and the same coffee she’s having.” After the pokegirl had gone, she leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs comfortably. “I am well aware that predictability is boring, but what your pet project did this time is more than a bit worrisome.” She stopped talking as the Ingénue returned with her coffee and waited until she was gone once more. “The fact that he knew not only that Nightraven exists but unconsciously knew how to get to where she lives is scary enough. But then she let him return home when he asked to. That’s unique for her.”
Magdalene nodded. “I know. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that she took him as her student. That suggests Iain has depths that nobody was aware of.”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass about his depths,” the cat kami shot back. “She indulged him. Father was a virtual prisoner of hers for a millennia and she let Grey go after ten years because he wanted to leave. I think she was replaced with a pod person.”
“It wasn’t the same Nightraven who trained father,” the unicorn pointed out gently.
“We don’t know that. Another thing which adds to her creepy factor is that they all look the same no matter how far out you go.”
“Tanika, not even the gods cross dimensions like you’re suggesting. And Nightraven, for all of what she is, is not a deity.”
“I suppose you’re right. She does tend to do vicious things to people who try to set up temples to her.”
“Maybe she let him leave early because she already knows he’s not going to be able to help her with her project.”
“I’d feel better about that, sister dear, if we knew what her project was. Then it might sound a little less like you’re whistling in the dark.”
Magdalene shrugged. “Nobody knows that. All we can do is to indulge ourselves in a bit of speculation and I’m not interested in wasting time doing that.”
Tanika’s ears flattened for a heartbeat. “So you’re not going to speculate, but you are going to make him a part of the family?”
“I don’t really have any say in the matter. And I did not obligate myself to finding him a family member to marry him. I said I would be introducing him to some of our unmarried relatives. If they’re not interested in him, that’s not my fault.” She rubbed her fingers gently against the tablecloth. “However, if I do spend a bit of time beforehand giving anyone who is interested in him a detailed briefing on the threat he may pose, that would only be fair to them. After all, marrying him is looking more and more like it might have the possibility to be extraordinarily hazardous to any potential bride to be.”
“He ate someone’s soul accidentally and he’s of interest to the queen of all things enigmatic? Yes, I think I’d be accurate to call him a potential catastrophe on legs.”
“Remember, Tanika, the fact that he spent any time with Nightraven will also enhance his desirability for some. It’s a sign he could go on to do great things.”
“I know. Some of our family is that stupid.” The waiter returned with Tanika’s omelet and she was silent as she ate. Finally she put down her fork and wiped her face with the napkin. “I’m going to run back to Father’s home and rummage through his library to see if I can find out anything more about Nightraven and the threat she might present. I’ll brief you on what I find when I return.”
‘Thank you, Tanika.”
“I think you should keep a closer eye on Grey.”
Magdalene chuckled softly. “The only way I could watch him more closely would be if I joined his harem and I am not interested in doing that. He may be interesting, but he’s not that interesting.”
***
Iain watched Eve dip a spoon into the paper cup and pull out ice cream swimming in a thick red syrup, shuddered slightly and happily went back to his paper sack of fish and chips. Her eyebrows rose slightly as she licked the spoon clean. “What’s the matter?”
“I’m trying to decide if you’re having ice cream covered in syrup or syrup garnished with ice cream.”
“You’re just being silly.”
“No, I’m pretty sure you’re breaking some law with that. That’s got to be cruelty to ice cream. And the poor thing never did anything mean to you. I’ve liked ice cream since I was an infant, and that’s just cruel.”
Eve chuckled. “You’re just jealous.”
“No, I had a chance to order dessert instead of lunch just like you did. I chose lunch.”
“We have fish and potatoes a lot, Iain.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t be forced to cook so much.”
She chuckled. “That’s true. We do seem to have it when it’s your turn.” Her expression turned pensive as she ate another spoonful. “What was it like?”
He stopped in the act of reaching into the bag again and his eye became distant. His voice was calm. “It was lonely. There wasn’t really a set schedule. Nightraven would summon me when she had something she wanted me to learn and send me away when she decided the lesson was done. The summons could come at any time, even in the middle of the night. A lot of meals got burned or not eaten and I learned to sleep in my clothes because when she wanted me to attend, I’d better be prompt or there’d be hell to pay. We didn’t take meals together, either. Lessons and sometimes in passing were the only times I saw her.” He blinked and dug out another piece of fish. “I was extremely busy. She made sure I always had something to do. I didn’t have any free time for the first five years. For the first year it was chores and study, lessons and practice.” He crumpled up the sack and pushed it away from him. “I went from having a family to being alone.” He smiled faintly. “I was constantly trying the delta bonds to see if I could contact you.”
“What changed after the first year?”
“I was sent into an elf village to learn swordsmanship. Nightraven tried to teach me herself, but she only has two modes, not fighting and no holds barred. So she made some kind of arrangement with a retired fighter-mage to teach me. Loetheal was an angry eight hundred year old moon elf who blamed the humans and the dwarves for a lot of the problems in the world, but that didn’t bother Nightraven. After he started teaching me, I then had to add three hours of practice in to my everyday schedule.” He snorted. “I’m not even sure where the village was. I was always teleported there and back. There are entries in the various monster manuals and guides that mention in passing the fact that elves are insular and that they tolerate humans but aren’t really all that fond of them. I never understood what that actually meant before I started going to the village. Children would scream and run away from me in mock fear, and that’s when I saw children. It was three years before that happened. The parents were worried I’d either do something to them or somehow contaminate them.” His eyes met hers. “I was treated like pokegirls are in some of the less repressive leagues. There was a pub there, but my custom wasn’t welcome. The only time people talked to me was if they absolutely had to.”
“You found two women to have sex with, so they all couldn’t be that way.”
He nodded unconsciously. “That I did. One was the wild child of the village. She was told that under no conditions was she to have anything to do with me, so she found me whenever it was convenient for her. She’s the one that left. The other was a retired adventurer who was, as she put it, tired of being plowed by farmers. She gave me a try out of boredom and because she wanted some spare money. You and the others have apparently made me somewhat of an expert, so she kept coming back.”
“Where did you get money from?”
“Looting the dead.” He ignored her shocked look and pushed to his feet. “I think I’m supposed to be getting a haircut.”
She got up and followed him out into the street. “You looted the dead? Why?”
“They had stuff I didn’t. And don’t start with any comments that it was immoral or somehow repulsive. It was necessary, I did it and nothing you can say will make me regret what I did.”
***
Iain grumbled softly and pulled at the collar of his shirt. “I need a bath. Maybe I’ll give up on haircuts until they figure out a way to keep from getting bits of hair in my clothes.”
“You look good.” Eve patted him on the shoulder.
He glanced at her. “Maybe I should send you to barber school.”
“If you want to then you will. I might even go. That does bring up a question though. Who cut your hair while you were gone?”
“I did. When it started getting into my eyes I would chop it with some poultry shears from the kitchen.” He smirked at her appalled expression. “I didn’t have anyone to impress there.” He shifted his pack off his shoulders and released his pokedexes. “It’s time to cycle through them.” A few minutes later a surprised look appeared in his face. “Both Austin and Kerrik have mail. Let’s see who wants to talk to Kerrik.” He pulled up the message and made a face.
“Who is it from?”
“Cherry wants to talk to me as soon as possible.”
Eve shook her head. “We just came from London.”
“Now we know that next time I should check my messages before I go for a haircut.” He busied himself with Austin’s pokedex. “It’s from Rudy Wells again.” He read the message. “Well, shit. It looks like someone took my comment about there being people hunting me literally and went looking for them.” He looked up. “They found one, too.”
“What?” Eve blinked. “I guess that makes sense. We only know what Kirabo has been doing and not the rest of Sanctuary.”
“Actually, that’s not quite right. We know that Kirabo has set Austin on Kerrik. We don’t know what else she may have done.” He tossed her the pokedex. “Here. You’ll want to read this.”
Austin,
Rudy again. I hope you're still among the living. Kelvin got wind of a team of pros hunting Kerrik, and he went after them. The troops are carrying on as if it were a great victory, some 29 of the 30 taken down in their sleep. I hope you are not among them.
Then Kelvin revealed that the reason it wasn't 30 of 30, is that the people you may or may not be working for, hired Neo Atmuff to walk through nightmares and find Kerrik Wolf.
Buddy, I don't know what you promised to whom, but take my advice. RUN! The people here are talking about weapons that haven't been seen, or used, since the Revenge War. And they aren't talking much about surviving; only winning. People in that mindset have a bad-habit of taking out everybody before they go down. But they all know that if Neo Atmuff gets loose, Wolf and Choice will be the least of the world's problems.
Sorry to be the bearer of such bad news, but better I tell you, than you find out they succeeded by a knock on the door in the middle of the night.
Rudy Wells
Then Kelvin revealed that the reason it wasn't 30 of 30, is that the people you may or may not be working for, hired Neo Atmuff to walk through nightmares and find Kerrik Wolf.
Buddy, I don't know what you promised to whom, but take my advice. RUN! The people here are talking about weapons that haven't been seen, or used, since the Revenge War. And they aren't talking much about surviving; only winning. People in that mindset have a bad-habit of taking out everybody before they go down. But they all know that if Neo Atmuff gets loose, Wolf and Choice will be the least of the world's problems.
Sorry to be the bearer of such bad news, but better I tell you, than you find out they succeeded by a knock on the door in the middle of the night.
Rudy Wells
Eve made a choked sound and looked up to stare at him in shock. “Please tell me there’s a code in there somewhere that I don’t understand.”
“Well, I could tell you that Neo Atmuff is code for Neo Atmuff, but that would be about it. Other than that, it’s a plain text message. Neo Atmuff is stalking through dream stuff and looking for me. It also warns us that it’s not Sanctuary that set her on me, either. It’s the Celestial Alliance, although what they have against me when Kelvin’s been kicking their ass I don’t get.”
“You did help to bring him back to life, Iain. They might resent that a little.”
“Yeah. That bit about special weapons is a bit worrisome, that and the part about wanting win at the cost of survival. Kamikaze can be very, very dangerous, even if the original ones were useless.” He frowned and looked thoughtful. “Maybe there is a bit of code there after all, Eve.”
“Oh?”
“I think that Kelvin wasn’t talking about the CA deploying binary nerve agents. I think he was suggesting that Neo Atmuff may be physically present at the base. She’s suicidal, after all, and most Megami aren’t. It could also be that it’s not code and that he’s worried about the side he’s on will be going kamikaze to make sure that Neo Atmuff doesn’t get loose.”
“They can’t kill her.”
“That’s not certain. By weight the Daisy Mae can put more steel in the air than a battleship from WWII could. If a dozen of those rounds are composed of thermonuclear warheads, Neo Atmuff might not survive the confrontation. However, doing that while the rest of the prisoners are still there would doom them too, so the Des Moines and Kelvin would try to get them out first, possibly giving the CA time to cut Neo Atmuff loose. What they really need is a fast way to neutralize Neo Atmuff if she does get loose when they’re not ready for her.” He suddenly looked unhappy. “And we already have one. Cherry’s going to have to wait a little while.”
***
The island was a couple of miles across and, other than some seabirds and scrub bushes, was completely devoid of life. Vanessa appeared, looked around and vanished again, only to reappear with Iain seconds later. More figures appeared as the rest of the harem followed the bond with their male.
“Iain, why are we here? There’s nobody around our home.” Dominique looked around and scowled. “This puts a new definition on remote.”
“Which is almost far enough away to make me feel better,” he replied. “I’d actually really like to do this on the moon, but we haven’t been working on how to survive in vacuum.”
Eve put her hand on Vanessa’s arm. “You don’t have to do this. You are pregnant after all.”
Vanessa smiled grimly. “Iain and I have already discussed that, Eve. I am pregnant. That doesn’t change the fact that I am Evangelion and this is what I came into existence for. I don’t want to lose my pregnancy, but all of us go into every fight knowing we may lose everything. This is no different. I can and I will fight Neo Atmuff if it comes down to it. She cannot defeat me.” She looked at Iain. “But the problems we discussed still exist. She will flee and I may not be able to catch her when she does.”
“That’s why we’re here.” He smiled. “Everything you need to beat anyone decisively is already yours and it’s just that you haven’t figured it out yet.”
“Anyone?” Vanessa looked skeptical. “If that includes you, I’m going to have a hard time believing it. You’re the most dangerous thing I’ve ever encountered.”
He grinned suddenly. “Flatterer.” The smile faded. “All I’m going to do is show you something that you haven’t considered. After that Neo Atmuff will become a cakewalk.”
“What do I have to do?”
“First, you’ll have to do some remembering. After that, I’ll show you something in those memories and then it’ll be up to you. Now you don’t have an eidetic memory like I do, so I would like Canaan to help you to remember.”
The Splice nodded. She stepped in front of Vanessa. “I’d be glad to. What’s the memory that needs dug up?”
“It’s Evangelion’s battle with Typhonna. She needs to run through it in its entirety and have it as fresh as possible.” He grinned again. “I always hated that fucking bit in the Evangelion entry, but right now I could kiss whoever wrote it originally since that made it real.”
Ninhursag’s hand shot up. “I did it. Kiss me.”
Iain joined in the laughter and continued when it died down. “Canaan, Vanessa, get started.”
Canaan took charge. “Vanessa, please sit down.” She settled down in front of the legendary so that they were facing each other. Her antenna uncurled and she rested the tips against Vanessa’s forehead. “Please don’t try to fight me. Let me guide you while you think back to your fight with Typhonna.” Their eyes closed simultaneously.
Iain touched his wife on the shoulder. “I need the island swept. Nobody but us can be here. We can’t trust anyone we don’t know on this. Catch or kill.”
“What if we find a tamer and a harem?”
“Then tell me and I’ll deal with it.”
She nodded and started giving out orders. A few minutes later she turned back to him. “It’s clear. I still don’t see why the security needs to be so tight, but I trust you.”
“Thank you.”
Canaan’s eyes opened. “Ok, I’ve refreshed the memory. That was quite a fight. It made quite a mess on the moon.”
“Here goes.” Iain sat down with his knees touching one of Canaan’s and one of Vanessa’s. He reached out and pressed his fingertip against Vanessa’s temple. Her eyes opened and she gave him a questioning look that became surprise when he pulled the finger back. Floating just above the tip was a golden sphere the size of a marble. “It’s ok,” he said soothingly. “I’ve made a copy of the memory. Nightraven taught me how to do this. She used it to monitor my studies and did it in reverse to teach me the languages I needed to know so I could read the books in her library.” The sphere moved with his finger and he pressed it into his forehead, where it vanished. His eyes closed and his breathing slowed down.
Dominique smiled suddenly. “He’s going to teach me every language he knows. That’s better than a T2.”
“He’d better teach us all,” Canaan said in a jealous voice, “because I can learn it another way if I have to and you don’t want that.”
The Archmage snorted. “How’s that?”
“I can learn everything you know by eating some of your brains. If I’m fast enough, I can pokeball you before you die, but either way I’ll know what you do.”
Dominique swallowed heavily. “We’ll convince him to teach us all.”
“Good idea.”
Iain’s eyes opened. “Stop that. I will teach anyone who wants to know. We’ll all cross train as much as possible that way, too. I know Ninhursag speaks several languages I don’t and many of you don’t speak Swahili yet.” He touched his finger to his forehead and pulled a golden globe from his head. “Vanessa, I’ve altered this memory slightly. It won’t affect your memories of the event. Instead it’ll be like you get another perspective, as if there was also a camera recording the event. I’ve also added some suggestions to it. May I give this to you?”
She nodded. “I trust you, Iain.” In spite of her words, she flinched when the globe touched her temple and sank in. Her eyes widened and she stopped breathing for a second. “I am such an idiot.”
“No, you’re not. It wouldn’t have occurred to anyone else, either. Do you want to give it a try?”
Vanessa bounced to her feet with a joyous expression. “I do!” They stood near the eastern edge of the island and she quickly turned to face west. “Everyone needs to get behind me and whatever you do, stay there.” When everyone was behind her, she held her hands about a foot apart. Her eyes narrowed in concentration.
After a minute passed without anything happening, Dominique glanced at Iain. I’ll admit this looks pretty scary. I think I may pee myself.
She’s trying to learn to do something new. You remember what it was like to learn new techniques from other pokegirls.
Is that what she’s trying to do?
Yes. Now please stop distracting me.
Several more minutes passed without result. Suddenly sheets of energy shot between Vanessa’s palms and vanished. Sweat began to trickle down Vanessa’s face.
There was a sharp crack and twenty meters away light flared and then died, grew, faded and then died completely to become a tiny blue glowing dot that hovered in midair. As it appeared, a light hissing noise began to sound.
Then it vanished.
Vanessa whirled around and hugged Iain. “I did it!”
He pried her free. “Yes you did. Now do it again and prove it wasn’t an accident.”
She nodded somberly. “You’re right.” She turned and held out her hands. This time the sphere appeared in less than a minute.
Dominique was frowning. “What is that, Iain?”
“That is a point singularity and it’s the basis for Typhonna’s ebony void technique.” He smiled when everyone turned and stared at Vanessa. “I thought about that technique long and hard when I was considering a revision for Typhonna and decided that it was impossible for even Typhonna to create a small black hole. I thought about it for a while and concluded that the best way to explain that ability was that she didn’t create them. Instead she somehow located small black holes in the universe and shifted them to her with something similar to the StarlightXpress’ long distance teleport. Pokegirls can learn techniques from watching other pokegirls, and I suggested to Vanessa that since Typhonna used ebony void against her when they fought on the moon, she could learn to do it too.”
“Why is it blue?”
He shrugged. “I’m not sure. It could be X-ray radiation or Hawking evaporation causing Cherenkov radiation. I’m just glad it’s over there. The singularity is anchored in place relative to the Earth, like Typhonna’s was. It can be anchored to just about anything, and will move with it.”
The singularity vanished and Vanessa turned around. “That second time was a lot easier than the first. I think your idea will work.”
“Tell us,” Dominique almost snarled. “If it’s anchored, what are you going to do, throw Neo Atmuff into it?”
Vanessa shook her head. “I’m going to anchor one of them to my spear just beyond the tips. That’ll turn it into even more of an irresistible weapon than it is now, and it should kill Neo Atmuff or anyone else that I hit with it in one shot. It’ll also be far enough away that I won’t take much damage from radiation when I do hit someone with it.”
Iain nodded. “I did more of that math that Dominique hates me doing in front of her and the singularity’s size should mean it exerts nearly seventy gravities of acceleration to anything that gets within a meter of it. It’ll either suck something the size of Neo Atmuff completely into it or tear a huge hole in her. It’s not nearly as powerful as the bullshit singularities that Typhonna used, but it’ll do nicely.”
“Why are they bullshit?”
“Whoever wrote Typhonna didn’t know much about gravity and black holes. The strength falls off as a square of the distance. Either her black holes weren’t as powerful as reported, they weren’t anything near microscopic in size or they’re not really black holes and Vanessa just learned a unique technique from my imagination.” He blinked. “Let’s forget that idea completely for now. Something as powerful as Typhonna’s black hole generator would have been in the range of at least the Earth in mass and several millimeters across.”
April shrugged. “Then maybe they were.”
“Those kinds of black holes don’t just vanish. The tidal effects alone would have changed the shape of the earth. We’re not living on the big blue oval, so that didn’t happen.” He shrugged. “Someone didn’t even try to pay lip service to physics, but then I’m guilty of that from time to time too. In any case, Vanessa now has an irresistible weapon to use on Neo Atmuff and it should kill her before she can run away. So, now let’s go home and then I can go see what Cherry wants.”
Dominique grabbed him by the arm. “Not so fast, handsome. I think we should all learn every language we speak right now. That’ll keep us from having to chase you for the information.”
April snickered. “It doesn’t mean we won’t still chase you, but she’s right.”
“Fine. At least information doesn’t have to be remembered like recordings of memories.” He rubbed his face for a moment and then smiled slightly. “Who’s first?”
***
Dominique stood in one place and slowly rotated on the spot to get a feel for the area as Iain turned on the Wolf pokedex. After it booted, he blinked. “I’ve got two more messages from Cherry. She really wants something.” He activated the communication subroutine and waited for it to connect to the local net and pass his request along.
The face that appeared was that of Camille. She smiled brightly at him. “Master Wolf, I’m glad you called us. If you can hold for a moment, I’ll let the minister know.”
“Thanks, Cammie. I’ll wait.”
“Before I go, perchance are you in London?”
“Perchance?” Iain laughed. “You’ve been reading something historical. Indeed, fair maiden, I am in London.”
“I steal the minister’s romances. Master Wolf, I’ll be right back.” She winked and the screen went into a hold pattern.
Eve was looking slightly confused and uncomfortable. “You’re flirting with a Ladyien. I thought you didn’t like bug types.”
“I do like the Ladyba and Ladyien, but otherwise you’re right. Most bug pokegirls are either creepy or silly.”
“I didn’t know that. I guess I never asked.”
“For the most part, it’s easy to see what I do like. I like cuddly, soft and warm girls.”
Eve flushed slightly. “You think I’m cuddly?”
He smiled as he nodded. “Don’t forget you’re also warm and soft.”
He broke off as the hold pattern ended and Cammie reappeared. “Master Wolf, the minister is happy to accept your invitation to lunch and she will be ready to leave at noon. Is it acceptable that she meets you at her building?”
Iain didn’t let the surprise he felt show. “That’ll be fine, Cammie.”
Something in the set of her face and shoulders relaxed infinitesimally. “Thank you, Master Wolf. I look forward to seeing you again.” The screen went blank.
Dominique glanced at him. “You invited her to lunch? When did this happen?”
“Considering I’m wondering the same thing, that’s an excellent question.”
Eve shook her head. “I smell politics, which means the real question then becomes why they are doing this.”
Iain checked the time. “Well, we’ve got a couple of hours before we get to find out, so let’s take care of some errands and generate some Kerrik reports for Austin while we’re at it.”
***
Minister Chambers smiled warmly at Iain and gave him a quick hug as her Ladyien and Lambchop looked on. “It’s so good to see you again, Iain. I really appreciate the lunch offer.” Her eyes sparkled mischievously and she winked. “Think we could skip the whole restaurant thing and go somewhere private?”
Iain? Oh, fuck. Iain kept his face from showing his surprise. “I don’t think that will be a problem, Cherry. Eve, let’s go back to that sandwich shop and put together a picnic. Dominique, nip down to that store we were just in and buy a couple of blankets if you would.”
Eve nodded as Dominique teleported away. “Sandwiches sound great.” What is going on?
I don’t have a clue, my dear. Iain took Monica by the elbow and steered her in the direction of the sandwich shop. But something most definitely is.
A few minutes later they had the sandwiches and Dominique had returned with the blankets and a bag full of drinks and sweets. Eve, Dominique, let’s go to the island we were just on. No warnings, though. Just act like we do this often with them.
Eve took his and Monica’s hand as she grinned at Cammie and Donna. “See you in a minute.” Then she vanished, taking both humans with her.
Monica looked around the island with approval. “Where are we?”
“The island is somewhere south of the Silver Islands League.” Iain helped Dominique spread out the blankets. “So, Cherry, sit down and grab some food while you tell me what in the hell is going on.”
As soon as Chambers had her food, she started talking. “Yes, we know you’re also Iain Grey, but that’s not common knowledge and it’s not in either tradesman’s file. You wouldn’t know that I know, but right now being seen talking to Kerrik Wolf could be problematic.”
Dominique sighed. “What’s gone balls up this time?”
Monica laughed abruptly. “You are certainly refreshing. There isn’t a problem with Kerrik Wolf or Iain Grey. The problem is that I need a job done and it can’t be linked back to me. So if I go to lunch with Iain and Kerrik does the job, I have something of a cutout already in place.” She flashed a smile. “And I know you prefer being called Iain.”
“Your cutout is only effective if whoever you’re hiding meeting me from doesn’t know that Iain and Kerrik are different identities for the same person,” Iain said sourly. “How did you find out?”
“As part of the maintenance program for the tamer, pet owner and tradesman DNA database we routinely look for duplicates. It’s a check both for people attempting to establish more than one identity as well as for people changing status and not reporting it.” She bit into her sandwich. “This is excellent. I’ll have to remember that place. The database is also checked for use times and intervals between uses so we can get an idea of who is missing and who isn’t.”
Eve carefully didn’t look at him. They didn’t link the Drummond identity to you. That means when you change your form, your DNA changes too.
Don’t be so confident. It was Dominique. It only means that we haven’t been told that they know about Austin as well.
“I’m surprised that Harris didn’t use it to find me.”
“She tried, but you’ve been very good at using only credit chips and not visiting places where you get scanned. We’re still instituting the program where all shops are equipped to automatically scan everyone entering, but when that’s in place it’ll be harder to disappear.”
“Thanks for the information, Cherry. I’ll keep that in mind for the future.”
Chambers put her sandwich down. “I’m not your enemy, Iain. Don’t try to make me out to be one because things like that can easily become self fulfilling. I’d like to be friends with you and I don’t have anyone looking for you.”
Iain thought about it for a few seconds and nodded grudgingly. “You’re right and I apologize.”
She smiled at him. “Don’t worry about it. If you do what you did to Harris and stop responding to my messages, I will have someone track you down.” Her smile widened. “But I’ll make it look like the agents are dropping by because I’m just worried about your health.”
Dominique’s eyes narrowed. “His health is fine and we monitor it constantly. We don’t need your help with him.”
“You know, Dominique, you never resigned from service to the government. I’m in a good mood, but I did not become the Minister of Defense because I am a pushover. Don’t threaten me.”
Iain took a second to center himself. “Dominique?” When she looked in his direction, he continued. “Cherry is much more likely to want to fuck you than me.”
Donna sprayed bits of sandwich over Camille when she burst out laughing. “Got that right,” she said around her food.
“Quiet, you,” the Ladyien warned her harem sister. “The mistress is doing the talking.”
The Kung Ewe glanced at her and became intensely interested in her sandwich.
“I do prefer women a lot more than men,” Chambers spoke quietly. “But my love life is not why I let you invite me to lunch.”
Iain put his sandwich down. “What is?”
“As you’re aware, Lindsey Harris recently retired from the service to the league. She’s moved to Ireland and has a place in Dublin. Unfortunately, she’s not taking her mandatory retirement very well and has been very outspoken about being forced into retirement. Certain elements within the Blue League government are concerned that she will reveal classified information that she knows and because of this the decision was made to arrange for her to be silenced. As soon as I found this out, I contacted you.”
Iain’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll admit that I’m not fond of Lindsey. As far as I’m concerned she’s an arrogant bitch and should never have been in a position of authority. However, I am not going to assassinate her for you or anyone else. I’m not your killer, Monica.”
“Calm down, Iain. I have plenty of people who would kill anyone I tell them to and not lose any sleep over it.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“The decision to kill Harris was not an official one. I make the official decisions about sanctions and I am completely satisfied that Lindsey Harris is not a threat to the Blue League. She’s a bitch and an idiot, but she’s a patriot and she would never spill classified information to hurt the league. I have to find out who ordered her murder and when I do they’re going to find themselves in prison at the very least. Unfortunately, I need all of the people I can implicitly trust for that investigation and until I vet some of the others I don’t have anyone to help me keep Harris from being killed. That’s why I want you to protect her while I’m cleaning house.”
“Why me?”
“I trust you.”
“That’s stupid. You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know you help people who need help. I know that you and your harem, which is not just two very tough pokegirls, are competent. I know I need your help and I know you will help me if I ask instead of try to order you to.”
Eve nudged him gently. “Eat, Iain, and think about her request.”
He realized he hadn’t taken a bite of his food and quickly started eating. When he’d polished off the sandwich, he paused. “I may end up killing the people trying to kill her.”
Chambers smiled grimly. “I hope you do. I hope you kill every last one of them. I give those orders and the people who pull the trigger know I countersign each and every assassination order. That means they are deliberately acting without my authorization and I want them made into an object lesson to remind everyone else that I do not tolerate that kind of behavior. If it’s not that, then they’re stupid and I don’t need stupid working for me.” She shrugged. “In either case any you don’t kill will still have to deal with me. Having them dead would make less paperwork.”
Dominique leaned forward. “It could be that the people who want her dead have hired independent contractors for the hit. Your people might not be involved at all.”
“I really hope that’s the case. However, even if the kill team is not Blue, I am almost certain that someone in the government ordered the hit. In any case it doesn’t matter since I want independent assassins in the league even less than I want rogue Blue operatives.”
“I should go get Ninhursag.” Dominique smiled when Iain’s eyebrow rose. “She’s our negotiator and you’ve already decided we’re doing this.”
“You don’t want to?”
The Archmage shook her head. “I have my research to attend to and every one of these little side jobs keeps me from it. Don’t forget our primary goal while you’re running around putting out brushfires, Iain.”
“I haven’t, but building a little goodwill with Cherry isn’t a bad thing unless you’re ready to move to Sunshine or Silver River.”
Chambers looked surprised. “You’d actually consider leaving the Blue League?”
“I like Blue. Hell, I wrote Blue and I deliberately made it what it is for a reason. However, apparently you know everything about me and where to get your hands on me whenever you want. While I like you, Cherry, I don’t like that. I have people who want to turn me into their puppet. Moving somewhere else would allow me to start over with a new name and new past and let us concentrate on Sanctuary.”
“Sunshine wouldn’t be any better for you, Iain. They’re more manipulative than we are; it’s just that they’re a little more subtle about it.”
“I am not here to debate which is the better league with you, Cherry, especially since you’re currently manipulating me. I am merely pointing out that I am not one of your minions. I know you asked me to accept the league’s shilling so you didn’t have to watch a whole bunch of your people die trying to capture me. I can agree with that since I wouldn’t especially enjoy killing them. However, it does not mean I wake up every morning hoping I’ll get a mission from you. I’ll do this because you’re right and Lindsey Harris doesn’t deserve to be murdered by the Blue League. It’s a favor to you, not to the league, and you’re not going to pay money for it. You’re going to owe me.”
Chambers sighed. “I think I’d rather give you a lot of money instead.”
“Tough. I don’t need money. I don’t want or need more pokegirls. What I need is a two megaton nuclear weapon, but I’m not going to get that, am I?”
“Officially the Blue League has no nuclear weapons. Unofficially we don’t have any that big even if I could give you one.”
“I know.” He stretched and reached for the bag of desserts. “So, should I give the impression when I take you back to your office that we’re lovers who snuck off for a tryst like you did when we met around your coworkers?”
Chambers chuckled. “I don’t eat lunch in my office roughly once a year. Trust me, you already have. If we do this once more anytime in the next six months, they’ll think I’m getting married.”
“That’s good. I’d hate to disappoint.”
***
Iain looked at his ladies. “All right, we’ve got her address. I want to get there, secure Harris and then see what’s what. Remember, we’re on our own. Cherry warned us that she doesn’t know who she can trust, which means we’re in the same boat. Anyone can be a potential threat, and that includes the local league officials.”
“What if we contacted the local Officerjennys,” Pandora asked curiously. “They’ll want to stop an assassination from happening and will help.”
“That’s only if they see the killing as being against the law,” April corrected her. “If an Officerjenny is told that Harris has been sanctioned, she’ll kill Lindsey at the first opportunity.”
“But that’s murder!”
Eve shook her head. “No, that’s obeying a lawful order. Because it is lawful, the Officerjenny would therefore be carrying out a legal execution and she would not hesitate. If she later found out that the execution was not sanctioned and she’d been lied to, she’d turn herself in and confess to the crime like a good little drone.”
“And that’s yet another example of why it sucks to work for the government.” Iain looked around. “Since we have no idea of what we’re facing, everybody goes.”
Vanessa took his arm and pulled him gently aside. “I can’t go with you,” she said quietly.
“You have another premonition?”
“No, I have something I have to do. If I get done in time, I’ll return home and wait for you.”
“You know, afterwards you could instead join us and help protect Harris.”
“Dublin is a pretty big place. I won’t know where you are, Iain.”
You don’t have to know where we are as long as you can touch us, and you can. You just have to think about it.
Her eyes widened. You know? When did you realize what happened?
You and I have been sharing dreams, Vanessa, which has led me to suspect for a while. However, I didn’t know for sure until right now when you answered me.
She gave him a mock glare. “You tricked me.”
“Guilty as charged.”
“This is important, Iain. I don’t know how long it will take, either.”
He touched her cheek. “It will take just as long as you let it take. The decision about how to approach this is entirely up to you. I’d suggest you think about how I’d do it and use that as a guide.”
She blinked. “You know what I’m going to do?”
“Anyone who knows you would figure it out. You want to come with us. With that knowledge together with what I know about your personality, well I don’t need to be from Arisia to realize that certain events must happen before you can leave here.”
“You’re not going to try to stop me?”
“My dear Vanessa, I’d like to go watch. Unfortunately duty calls for me, too.” He snorted. “Dominique is right. I’m helping way too many people. If I keep going, at this rate all I’d need is a Lens and a uniform of gray synthetic leather and I’d be Unattached.” He smiled slightly at her expression. “I’ll explain it all later.”
“Yes, you will. Now get going if you want to keep Lindsey Harris from dying today.” Vanessa put a slight emphasis on the last word in her sentence.
He blinked. “Today? Shit.” He hugged her and started to order Eve to go.
He made an odd noise when Vanessa whipped him around and kissed him soundly. “I wasn’t done yet. Take care, Iain, and take care of them too.”
“I will. You too.” Then he stepped away from her and turned back to his wife. “Let’s get this circus on the road.”
Eve nodded. “Pandora and Dominique and I are the primary response team. April and Ninhursag are going to protect Ms. Harris while Zareen will guard you. Canaan is our reconnaissance element with her precognition and telepathy.”
Iain had a thought. “Does precognition work against dark pokegirls?”
The Splice shook her head. “No, but it works perfectly well in regards to what they’re going to do, so while I may not sense their presence, I may still see their attacks before they happen. Remember, precognition is imprecise or I’d be unbeatable.”
“You’re close enough,” April muttered.”
“That I am, but that’s talent, not precognition.”
Iain slipped onto the Nightmare’s back. “Eve, lead us to Dublin.”
In seconds, everyone was gone except for Vanessa. She stripped off her robes and let her nude body soak up the wan sunlight as she braided her hair before summoning black tennis shoes, black jeans, a black t-shirt and a neat black jacket. Quickly she dressed and then she vanished as she teleported.
***
Bartolo Giovanni stood in Containment Room Alpha and regarded the huge cryogenic storage unit with satisfaction. His father hadn’t yet entrusted him with the implant that would allow his death to release what lay within, for that would only come when his father lay on his deathbed. It was only at that point that the doomsday device would pass from father to son. Still, considering his father’s growing infirmity; that day was not far off and soon he would represent the Giovanni family to the world. He would use the vast assets of what would be his empire to pursue his own goals, which were not that dissimilar from his father’s.
Except, of course, for the direction in which the best of the spoils would flow.
He turned to his Wildcat to tell her he was ready to leave and his eyes widened as a copper-tressed woman wearing the black outfit of one of his gym assistants entered the room. He knew everyone who worked in the building and this woman was a complete stranger to him.
Also, her presence here was impossible. Containment Room Alpha was impregnable without the proper access codes. Still, here she was. Bartolo didn’t hesitate and snapped out the order. “Kill her!”
Dinah reacted instantly and attacked the intruder. Her body hit the wall and slid down it in a bloody smear as the redhead turned to face Bartolo.
He stared at her in shock. Dinah had been the best trained killer his family had and she hadn’t even managed to reach the intruder before she was dead. He took refuge in calm bluster. “You have made a serious mistake in coming here and other one in attacking my bodyguard. Do not compound it even further by harming me.”
“It’s interesting that every Giovanni looks so much like all the rest of them. It’s even more interesting that their shallow personalities and naked greed are even more alike than their looks.” Vanessa stepped around Bartolo and tapped a command into the containment system’s computer. “Leave or stay, Giovanni, for your presence matters not to me.”
Bartolo’s calm began to fray around the edges. “How did you do that? What did you do?”
The giant mechanical locks on the first stage of the containment unit ground open and a man sized hatch swung out from the wall of the storage capsule. “I would have to physically destroy this section to get past it, but fortunately I know all the codes, Giovanni.” Blue and green eyes met his. “And I know them because I was part of the construction crew that Takuya Giovanni put together in 42AS to build this place and then murdered to keep it a secret from everyone else. I was just a lot harder to kill than he could have ever imagined.” She stepped into the hatch and pulled it closed behind her. It had been built so Takuya could enter and proceed to an observation room where he liked to go and gloat over the prize he kept safe here. The secret of its existence had died with him when he stroked unexpectedly and hadn’t managed to pass the information along to his son.
Vanessa quickly made her way to the observation room. The viewing window held only darkness since the lights under the window had long since ceased to function, but she was prepared for that and created a series of lights on the other side of the window to light up the area, just as she had done in 65AS when she’d pulled Typhonna from her sleep to test her mettle against what was supposed to be the ultimate adversary. She’d also created the same lights a week later when she’d returned Typhonna to her coffin.
Revealed inside the cryogenic chamber was the slumbering form of what was either Sukebe’s greatest failure or the first alien species ever known to walk the Earth. To be honest, Vanessa didn’t know which of the two happened to be the right description of Typhonna. She didn’t much care, either.
Vanessa activated her protective magic, making sure that the cryogenic chamber would have no effect on her when she entered it. It had no temporal dampening at all, so protecting herself was almost ridiculously easy. The teleport blocks that the Giovanni family had ringed their property with didn’t function inside the cryogenic capsule or the observation window, allowing travel between the two places, so an instant later she teleported inside the capsule, shifting to her battle form as soon as she exited.
In her frozen state, Typhonna was standing on the tripod formed by her legs and her tail. It was how she’d been when Vanessa had returned her to here. Even in her battle form, the celestial legendary was less than a third of Typhonna’s height, but that didn’t matter as Vanessa levitated until she hovered right about chest level to the titanic dragon type.
For an instant she was ready to pull Typhonna back to the surface of the moon for a rematch, but then she remembered Iain’s advice. She summoned her spear and created a singularity, anchoring it just past the twin tips of her spear.
Then she stabbed Typhonna in the face with it.
With a terrible noise, the singularity carved a three meter wide ragged hole in Typhonna’s face that became a tunnel as the spear slid into the hole and kept going until finally the singularity and then the spear points exited the back of Typhonna’s skull. For a second she marveled at the ease of what she was doing. In their previous battle, her spear had barely been able to penetrate Typhonna’s thick hide. Vanessa pulled the spear free and repeated the process several times until the head resembled nothing more than a mass of gruesome frozen lace. Then she carefully swept the singularity back and forth across the remainder until the entire head had been destroyed to the base of the neck.
After dismissing the singularity and her spear, Vanessa returned to her human form and returned to the observation room. There she paused and regarded her handiwork. Due to the depth of the cryogenic state, Typhonna wasn’t really dead. That wouldn’t happen until the cryogenic system spun down to release her. Then the body would truly die.
Vanessa let the magic powering the lights expire as she began to retrace her steps to the door leading to Containment Room Alpha. The current Giovanni, for after Takuya she’d never bothered learning their first names, had undoubtedly fled and was gathering his troops to kill her. Because he was the kind of person he was, Giovanni would prefer to set up the main ambush just outside the entrance to Containment Room Alpha as opposed to letting unauthorized eyes see anything they might pass on.
That was perfect for Vanessa and, after she’d entered the room, she headed across it to a panel. Ignoring the welded seams, she grabbed one edge and pulled. Metal shrieked and tore, revealing an intricate scanning system.
Vanessa verified it was she had remembered belonged here before putting her fist through the center of it. Something popped and smoke drifted from the scanner. Behind her, the computer lost contact with the implant in Gendo Giovanni’s neck and, concluding that he was dead, activated the doomsday device to begin waking Typhonna up for release.
There was no way to stop the process.
Vanessa looked at the door and shook her head. She could reveal who she was and just tunnel her way out of the complex, but there were several levels above her filled with people that, while not exactly innocent, did not deserve to die by her hand. It would result in far fewer deaths if she walked into the ambush, killed a few of them in passing and continued on to her exit point with them giving chase. It would also serve as a distraction so that the cryogenic system could complete its shutdown unimpeded while they pursued what they thought was an exceptionally powerful pokegirl. If they knew she was Evangelion, they’d retreat and Giovanni would have time to investigate what had happened.
She preferred for his finding out what she’d done to be the agony on top of the anguish from losing someone who obviously knew more about the containment system than even he did. If she got lucky, maybe the whole Giovanni line would die of collective apoplexy.
***
Lindsey Harris opened the door and the color drained from her face before it turned red with anger. “Why are you here? I’ll bet you’ve come to gloat. Well, I’m having none of that. You can just go back to hell where you belong.” She slammed the door shut.
Eve looked at Iain. “To be honest, that went better than I thought it would.”
Iain ignored her and sounded the doorbell again.
“That is a standard door,” Ninhursag observed. “Any of us could batter it open in seconds.”
Iain looked over his shoulder at her. “We are not her enemies and we are not going to force our help on her.”
Canaan’s antenna uncurled. She’s on the other side of the door and is listening to us talking. She’s curious as to what kind of help we might want to give her, considering your shared past.
He smiled craftily and rang the bell again. “I hope she answers so I can explain that Minister Chambers sent us to protect her.”
Harris’ voice sounded muffled as it passed through the door. “Why would Chambers send you to protect me?”
“Ms. Harris, I’d prefer not to talk to you through your door. And, to be honest, this isn’t the sort of conversation to have where any of us is outside and can be overheard by the people we’ve been sent to protect you from. May we come in? I assure you that if you refuse our aid, we will leave and I’ll have to send Cherry a message expressing my regret at not being able to do the favor she’s asked of me.”
The door opened and Harris gave them a sour look. “Come inside, Wolf.” After the last person had entered, she shut the door firmly and turned to face him. “Who is Cherry?”
He blinked. “Sorry, that’s a nickname that Minister Harris was called when she was in the BLSF.”
“You’ve never been in the military and you haven’t been here long enough to know her from then.” She frowned and then shook her head. “Nevermind. You’re an author, which explains that. Why did she send you here?”
“To be blunt, Lindsey, you’re ruffling feathers with your loud protestations about being forced into retirement. Cherry found out that somebody in the government is afraid you’ll spill secrets and sanctioned you for termination. She knows you wouldn’t do that and sent us to protect you while she figures out who did this and fixes their misconception that she’s farmed out that authority to him or them.”
“Monica did that?” Her eyes narrowed. “She’s not sure who to trust yet, is she?”
“Not in this. She knows I don’t like you, but that won’t stop me from keeping you alive if I can help it.”
Harris nodded. “I don’t like you either, Kerrik, but I’m not as stupid as to send you away right now.” She motioned towards her kitchen. “Come with me and I’ll make some tea.”
Eve looked at Ninhursag. “Secure the house.”
“I’m on it. Top to bottom and side to side.” She bounded up the stairs, taking them five at a time until she was out of sight.
April looked around the kitchen. “What pokegirls do you have, where are they and how deep is your bond with them?” When Iain glanced at her she didn’t take her focus off of Lindsey, but he felt the light touch of her mind. If she’s delta bonded to one or more they could be used to draw her out.
Good point.
Harris put the kettle on to heat. “I don’t have any pokegirls. I had two when I was younger but they’re both gone. One didn’t come back during a Sadie Pokens and the other died in childbirth several years ago.”
Eve nodded. “Do you have children or a significant other?”
“I have one daughter and a son. I never married. Human women who marry are usually expected to become contributors to the expansion of the league’s human population and my career was much more important to me than having a husband or a family.” Bitterness crossed her face. “And you got it ripped away from me.”
Iain’s eyebrows went up. “I did nothing of the sort. I considered our little feud to be personal in nature and never reported it. I understand that you were relieved of your duties due to several incidents that included how you treated me, but I didn’t do anything about your breaking your word to me.”
She shrugged. “I did what I had to do in order to keep you happy and working for us. The league was never going to give you an ebony stone.”
“I figured as much. Politics is all about lies.”
She glanced at him curiously and began pulling cups from a shelf, placing them on a serving tray. “If you knew you weren’t going to get the stone, why did you help in the first place? And why did you make so much noise when you didn’t get one.”
“I was upset about not getting an ebony stone simply because I was promised one. As for why I helped in the first place, I did it for two reasons. Securing the league’s flanks also secured mine and, while I never truly liked the government I gave Blue, I like the land and the people. Sanctuary wants to turn the world into a police state and reverse the status of pokegirls and humans. If I’d wanted that, I would have made Blue that way in the first place instead of giving them bits and pieces that showed the league was making progress towards human and pokegirl equality.”
“We are?”
“When I wrote Blue, there weren’t that many leagues that had been developed. Orange and the World Alliance leagues were about it, and they hadn’t been detailed to the degree I intended for Blue. In none of them were pokegirls free and in none of them could pokegirls marry humans like they do in the country here. I made the free pokegirl a tiny part of Blue and they were supposed to be a beacon for the future in a slightly repressive league and a sign that things were getting better. I gave Blue a growing industrial base and cottage manufacturing along with a rising tide of nationalism so they’d become as self sufficient as possible as fast as they could.” He smiled slightly. “And I gave the league Poppet, the first openly pokegirl ruler of anything significant that involved humans and pokegirls. Nobody had that. Oh, there were some pokegirls masquerading as humans in positions of authority in some of the World Alliance leagues, but even then they always had a tamer who called the shots.” He shrugged. “I will admit there were pokegirls running preserves, but they weren’t openly involved in shaping human destiny. If they were, it was all behind the scenes. My very first pokegirl story showed what I intended and that hasn’t changed.”
“Oh?”
“It was set during the Revenge War and was about the meeting between Jamie Harris and Poppet. Later it became the prologue to the Harris Saga, but originally it was a standalone short story that showed there was hope for anyone when Jamie overcame a deep hatred of everything pokegirl in order to save the life of a Unicorn who became Poppet.” He flashed a grin. “And Poppet was in almost every major story I wrote after that. She was always tough and bitchy, but she had to be to get where she was, a pokegirl who was a major player and a guiding force in the Blue League. She was unique in the world up to that point.” He shrugged. “In retrospect I was probably too subtle for the readership, but it did mean that I knew that the league and I would butt heads a lot since I didn’t make the Blue League out to reflect my political beliefs and instead tried to make them a realistic extrapolation of what Great Britain would be like 300 years after nearly everyone dropped dead.” He grimaced. “If I’d known I would end up here, I would have made them a libertarian government instead. Wow, I didn’t realize I’d be babbling. Sorry.”
Harris dumped tea into the pot and began pouring in the hot water. “Actually it’s interesting, although your hubris in assuming that you made the league the success it is annoys me. You have a unique perspective and I hadn’t considered how pervasive Poppet’s influence was.”
“Is.”
“Was. She has been gone for several years, Kerrik.”
“Lindsey, Devon and Tobias were raised by Poppet. They are a lot like she is and they are not going to change most of the policies she put into place. And since they have longevity and have pokegirls also with longevity, they’ll be influential in Blue League politics and development for a long, long time.” He frowned. “Change of topic time. You’re familiar with the Blue League’s assassins by the nature of your job.”
“Former job,” she interrupted.
“Whatever. I need to know a few things about them. Are they precision hitters or are they more of a ‘whatever it takes to get the job done’ type?”
“What do you mean?”
His eyes narrowed. “Don’t try to be cute while we’re putting our lives in danger to save yours. Should we be concerned more about snipers and knives in the dark or should my people be checking the outside of your house for large explosive devices?”
Harris began pouring the tea. “Both, but inside Blue we don’t use explosives if at all possible due to collateral damage. Outside the league we’re not quite so concerned about killing extra people and bombs get used a lot more.”
“You seem to be pretty blasé about the fact that people are trying to kill you.”
Harris looked at the speaker with amusement. “What is your name?”
“April.”
“April, I’m not blasé about it. I don’t want to die. What I am is resigned. The Blue League’s special teams are the best in the world and it’s very likely that Minister Chambers will only find out who to punish after I’m already dead.” She looked at them all in turn. “You should just go home. All your presence here will do is put you in danger too.”
Iain blinked as everyone turned to look at him. Mentally he cussed a lot as he tried to figure out how he was going to respond. While he was thinking, Ninhursag returned. “The house is clear.” Her eyes swept the room. “What?”
“We’ve been told to leave,” Dominique said simply.
“No.” Zareen shook her head firmly. “We were told we should leave. Now we wait for Iain.”
“And that’s the problem,” Iain said softly. “You’re waiting for me instead of thinking about what you might want. I don’t like Lindsey, but I don’t think this is right and I agreed to try to protect her when Cherry asked me to. She didn’t ask you and I didn’t consult with you about it, except briefly with Dominique. I should have. Now I have a problem.”
Eve put her hand on his shoulder. “What is it?”
“I agreed to do this. You didn’t. I’d like to give you the choice to decide if you want to leave, but I know what your answer is going to be because you’re pokegirls and you are engineered to do what you think I want you to do. So even if I give you a choice, you’ll decide in my favor even if you don’t want to be here. But I still want you to decide for yourselves. See the problem?”
“Of course we see it.” Canaan looked amused. “It’s the quintessential question you wrestle with in your dreams nearly every night. Do we have free will or is it just the illusion of free will that is in reality just a shadow of your will? In the end it doesn’t really matter, but it may help you to remember that we do not always agree with you. However, if you want us to decide on our own, then we will and I, at least, thank you for the opportunity to present my opinion.” She looked at the others. “As the newest member of the harem I will go first.” She cracked all four sets of knuckles loudly. “I like to fight. I like real fights, not the pap that is training. There’s a chance that we’ll see some fighting. I’m staying.” She looked around the room “In reverse seniority, Pandora is next.”
The Fallen Angel shrugged. “We’re all combat breeds and we all like to fight. I think that this is a deliberate attempt to murder someone and while I am no longer a Seraph, I will not stand for this kind of travesty of basic humanity. I’m staying.”
Ninhursag moved to stand near Lindsey. “I want to see this place he keeps telling us wonderful stories about. If he dies that won’t happen. Besides, he’s good in bed. In a world where pokegirls are always getting fucked you’d think most humans would be good at that, but it’s not true.” She grinned. “Or at least not in the way I like.”
Zareen snorted. “Stay.”
Eve frowned. ‘You’re not going to explain why?”
“No.”
“I love him. He’s mine and he promised me kids.” April fixed him with her eyes. “You promised me some before I become a pokewoman, too.”
“I haven’t forgotten.”
Dominique chuckled. “I’m with Zareen. Stay.”
Eve’s hand tightened. “I agree that this isn’t right.” That and I will always stand with my husband.
“You’re all crazy.” Lindsey shook her head. “You can’t save me and you may have just doomed yourselves.”
“I really doubt that.” Dominique glanced out the window at the street. “We’ve dealt with things you can only imagine. In the final analysis, we’re here and they’re not.”
Harris filled the cups and picked up the tray they sat on to bring to the table. “If it makes you feel better, I hope you’re right and I’m wrong. I’m not ready to die yet.”
Canaan blurred sideways and threw out her arm as a pane of the window abruptly shattered. She grunted loudly and opened her hand to reveal a copper jacketed bullet. “Caught it!”
“Give it here!” Dominique caught the bullet the Splice tossed to her and muttered a spell. A red glow surrounded the bullet and shot a ray of red light out the window. She put the round on the table. “At the end of that is the gun that fired this.” She vanished as she teleported outside, followed almost instantly by Eve and Pandora as April kicked Lindsey’s feet out from under her, taking her to the floor.
“Everyone get away from the window.” Iain looked at Canaan. “You ok?”
“Broke my hand. It’s healing and otherwise I’m fine. That was a heavy round. I almost didn’t see it coming in time.”
“You did and that’s all that matters.”
Outside, Dominique shot into the air, following the red light towards a third story window several hundred meters away. A bullet hit her force field armor and whined away. She dove slightly and accelerated hard as purple bolts of energy whipped past her and hit the window, shattering it as well as chewing away most of the wall around it, Pandora’s feather shuriken revealing a pokegirl wearing a leather crop top and skirt. She ignored the attack as she aimed a scoped rifle at Dominique, firing just as the Archmage teleported.
Dominique came out behind the pokegirl and her hands burst into fire as she punched her opponent in the small of the back. The pokegirl was catapulted out the hole in the wall, screaming in agony as the fire raced over her to cover her entire body in a raging inferno. The screaming stopped when she hit the ground.
Dominique and Eve landed next to the assassin as the fire huffed once and went out, leaving a badly charred corpse behind. “I was trying to take her prisoner by using heavenly fire so we could interrogate her. I didn’t know it would do this.”
“That must have been a very bad pokegirl.” Eve shrugged and grabbed the body. “She’s probably been sanitized, but we’ll search her anyways.”
Back at the house, Iain looked at Ninhursag. “We’re evacuating. Take Lindsey and follow along.” He grabbed April’s hand and thought a destination to her.
They vanished.
***
Iain Grey - Tradesman
Eve - Megami-sama (maharani)
Dominique - Blessed Archmage
April - Duelist
Ninhursag - Elfqueen
Zareen - Nightmare
Pandora - Fiendish Fallen Angel
Canaan - G-Splice (Amachamp Hunter - Alaka-Wham)
Dragonesses
Eirian - Silver
Skye - Blue
Emerald - Green
Aurum - Gold
Beryl - Red