Chapter Twenty-Three
Not a Hero
Meredith Neighborhood
Renton, Seattle UCAS
November 7, 2059
9:24am
Lenny pulled the heavy armored jacket over his shoulder and clipped the snaps. The bulky armor had the added protection of non-conductive material in it's lining. he grabbed his Predator III from the table and placed it in its respective holster. Everyone was moving around in a bustle of activity. The tasks of gathering gear, preparing weapons, setting up the Pit's defenses were being completed in a tense rush.
A few minutes ago Shard had emerged from her chamber announcing that she had traced the old woman's location, but warned that time was of the essence. Magical tracing was a tricky task against a mundane person and especially dangerous against another magician. Yet the fact that the old crone had left a focus with Sergi signified her sloppiness. that focus provided an excellent link to the caster of that magic. A link that Shard was able to follow back to it's creator.
"Passive security is running like a kitten in heat, bossman." Riggs proclaimed as he shoved the last of a jelly donut into his cavernous mouth before grabbing his coat. "Van's gassed, loaded, and ready to roll."
"We don't have any time to waste." Shard pressed as she picked through a collection of jewels she used as fetishes.
"Any foresight on what we're jumping into?"
"I can't say for sure, Lenny." Shard answered. "The marks on the magic isn't like anything I've seen before. It's like a shaman's, only cruder. I sensed the presence of a spirit as well, but it wasn't a nature spirit. I know what a nature spirit feels like, warm and peaceful most of the time. It wasn't like that."
"Was it worse?" Riggs asked anxiously.
"No, not worse. Just different. I don't know how to put it into words."
"Heh, mumbo jumbo." Smiley leered from the doorway. "All mages are the same. You hit them a lot of times and they fall down. Who gives a frag about feely, touchy spirits?"
"Frag you Smiley!" Riggs stuck a pudgy finger right in the eccentric samurai's face. "A spirit can beat you seven ways from Sunday faster than you can drek yourself! Don't mess with spirits, that's what I say. Fragging magic! There's nothing in the 6th World more dangerous than magic!"
Smiley grinned, a grin that he gave Findler just before the end, and grabbed Riggs by the collar of his coat. He hefted the dwarf off his feet and held him face to face. Smiley let out a bone chilling hiss, blowing cigarette smoke in his face. "Heh, shaddup. Remember what I told you about your opinion and if I ever wanted it? I'd beat it out of ya', ya' stupid halfer."
"Smiley, put Riggs down and get your gear together."
"Yes, fearless leader."
Smiley dropped the dwarf on his butt. He stormed out of the room, prompting Tart to press herself against the wall as he passed. Tart watched him warily as he disappeared around the corner. He carried himself like a man who had nothing to fear and even less to live for other than the thrill of the moment.
Shard made a slight frown. "He's getting worse.
Lenny nodded in agreement as Riggs picked himself up, rubbing his bruised posterior.
Gideon walked in. His cybernetic hand held his M23 compact. It was just like old times for a moment. "Ready," He reported.
Lenny nodded. "Good, get Nightsky and load up. I'll be there in a minute."
"Fine. Where is he?"
Lenny shrugged.
"He's not back yet." Tart offered.
Her words caused Lenny to look up. Gideon also turned, putting his stone-like gaze on her. Suddenly Tart wanted to make herself as small as possible. With any luck, she might become small enough to slip through the wall where no one would notice her.
"What do you mean he's not back yet? Where did he go?"
"Where did he go?"
"He, uh," Tart nudged the wall with her foot. "He got a phone call a few hours ago, around eight o'clock. Then he woke me and asked to run a trace on where it came from. He left after I was done. I went back to bed. I didn't think it was important."
Lenny groaned, "Why didn't anyone see him leave?"
"I told you should keep an eye on him."
"It can't wait. We have to go now or we'll miss our window. This might be our only chance to recover the Orb. We'll find Nightsky when we get back." Lenny declared.
"No," Shard interrupted, exchanging a glance with Gideon. "It might be something else. We should go look for him."
"We don't have the time."
"Make time, Lenny." Shard crossed her arms. "Please?"
Lenny looked at her, then at Tart who bore a look of concern on her face. He didn't bother with Gideon. The ork's expression would be just as uncaring as usual. He sighed. The run was important, but safety of the people on his team was number one. The run was second. Everything else was a distant third.
"Where did you trace the call to?" He asked.
"A payphone in Auburn."
"Get in the van. We're short on time. In both cases."
Auburn, Seattle
10:05 am
Alona's eyes slowly flickered open. She was laying flat on a table. The cold steel made her shiver. She tried to move, but found her arms and legs tied down. There were voices. Jax and Darrel were nearby, speaking with a large man in a white coat. She shivered again, trying to wiggle out of her bindings without drawing their attention. Then she caught a glimpse of several red sacks on the floor. One of them held Leslie head. Her mouth hanging open in her last moment of disbelief.
Alona screamed.
"Well," Darrel laughed. "Awake again?"
"What the hell are you doing you madman?!" Alona panicked. "You're crazy! You murdered Leslie! You're a monster!"
Darrel clapped a hand over her mouth. "I'm not crazy. I'm getting by. You'd be surprised how much a young thing like Leslie is worth when you split her up."
"There a problem with that one?" The man in the white coat inquired as he approached the table.
"No, sir. No problems at all."
"You haven't even started on this one yet."
"Yeah, I know." Darrel ran a hand through his hair. "The other one took a bit longer than I thought. This one is just more trouble alive than dead. We should have started with her."
The man grabbed Alona's chin with a forceful hand. He jerked her head from side to side as if she was some kind of animal. "Nice jawbones. Good skin tone. Yes, very nice skin."
"Darrel and I were just about to start on her." Jaxx pulled on a pair of surgical gloves.
"Nien!" The man rubbed his callous fingers over Alona's cheek. She cringed. "This one won't be a hack job like the other. I like her skin. There are some people in Salt Lake City that will pay handsomely for something this exquisite. I want it all, right down to the subdermal layers."
"Hey, that's no problem, man. We can handle it."
"Don't pretend to know what you're doing, whelp." The man smacked him. "An operation like this requires my delicate touch and skill. Something both of you lack."
"Hey, we're doing this stuff for you. Give us a little respect how about it, huh?"
"No, you're doing this for the money. Don't kid yourselves."
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"Hush, girl!" The man leered. "Oh you don't have to worry none. I'll make sure these two don't harm a hair on your head." The picked up a fine scalpel from a surgical tray. "However, your skin is a different story."
He pressed the cold steel against her skin. Alona felt the stinging bit as it bit into her skin. The primal fear flooding through her made every fiber of her being tremble with the anticipation of a cruel end. A thunderous sound of doors slamming open jarred her out of the pit of despair her life had become.
"What the hell?" Jaxx bolted around as the daylight poured into the sub-basement. A single figure trotted down the steps. The flowing edge of a long coat swinging behind him. "Who the hell are you?"
Alona could see only a glimpse of the figure who seemed to look at Jaxx, then lock eyes on her. There was an eerie silence where no one seemed to know what was going on. Then everything exploded. The report of a gun send Jaxx screaming in indescribable pain as white hot lead tore through his jacket, spraying a facet of blood from a grotesque wound. His throat exploded, snapping his head over the top of his shoulders, hanging there like some torn doll.
Darrel screamed in horror as his best friend's head flopped lazily on his own corpse. The anger swelled inside him. The sheer hate towards the murderer was overwhelming, finding a trigger for some beast in the other planes. Darrel charged the killer, lashing out with his hand. It looked like he would be shot down like Jaxx, but the dark figure hesitated. In that moment Darrel was upon him swinging fists like some made gladiator. Pounding flesh on flesh until one threatened to give way. The murderer dropped his pistol. It's clattering on the floor was drown out by Darrel's scream's of hate.
"You son of a bitch you killed Darrel you sick asshole I'll kill you! I'll kill you for what you've done! I'll-urk!"
Darrel's screams were replaced by a thick, gurgling sound as the cold blooded murderer pulled a sword from it's sheath and neatly slipped the ancient blade into the flesh of the young man. The killer twisted in a violent motion, working the metal between flesh and bone. One quick thrust and Darrel lay in two separate places at the same time.
"Well now! Aren't you a mean one." The man in the lab coat pressed the scalpel against Alona's throat. "But that's far enough! Otherwise this nice young vixen will have her blood splattered all over the floor."
The man's words feel on deaf ears as the murderous thing that this other creature had become passed his unquestioning gaze on a doomed soul. The good doctor actually stumbled over his words. In that look he saw the eyes of someone who did not care about threats or the safety of another life. There was only the burning desire to kill. The doctor's eyes traced to the pistol on the floor. The one that had been dropped when Darrel had launched himself to his own demise. It took only a moment to decide. He dived for the weapon.
Death came upon him.
When Alona dared to open her eyes the doctor was an unrecognizable heap on the floor. She could clearly see the inside of the body cavity from the way the corpse had been neatly severed by the swift strike of the blade. The cringed as the dark figure rose from the pool of fresh crimson. The blade of the sword dripping in the life of another man as the monster's face came into the light.
Alona gasped. "Nightsky!" Her look of hope did not linger for long. There was something different about his face. Something about the way he looked at her. A cold, disconnected gaze that chilled her to the bone. "Nightsky? Micheal, why are you looking at me like that?"
"Nightsky!" Another voice yelled from the stairway. Soft and kind, it was like the first rays of light parting the moonless night. "Is that you? What are you doing.......on my god."
He turned, watching Shard the elfin mage behold the results of his moment of rage. The bodies of the outcast broken on the floor. Their lives scattered across this cold, damp place. She offered no words for a long moment.
The murder's actions broke her silence. He brought the sword's blade down on the clamps around Alona's hands. The spark of metal against metal flared as the bindings shattered under the force of the impact, not even denting the blade of the cursed weapon.
Shard moved forward, wary of a scene that she expected only Smiley capable of making. "What have you done, Nightsky?"
He did not have an answer. The results of his march into the abyss were not intended. Nor was the look of horror across Alona's features as she beheld the carnage. This wasn't what it was suppose to be like. He was no hero. No knight in shining armor come to save the day. He was something much more simpler.
He was a murderer.
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