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Tag: Zoe

Chapter 51 – She Was The First Voice I Ever Heard

Published by Sabrina Labelle on June 27, 2016

Part 6 – Zoe

“I need to ask you something,” I said. Zoe looked up from her work, curious.

“Ask away, kid.”

“I need to know about Haylie,” I said. “Rachel said she’s awake now. I know a lot of people have been looking for her. Is she… should we be worried?”

More importantly, tell me something, anything I can use to find her. She’s the last piece of the puzzle. Without her, Envy won’t let me fight Charlie.

Zoe sighed, putting her tools down. Rachel looked up briefly, then decided she wasn’t interested, and went back to her work.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Zoe said, uncharacteristically tender. We began to walk together. “She’s not…”

“Like the rest of you?” I guessed.

“Well, that much is certainly true,” she agreed. “But not what I meant. She’s dangerous, but not aggressive. It’s hard to explain. I…”

“What is she?”

Zoe smiled, a more wistful, nostalgic smile than I’d ever seen on her before. She sat down, folding her legs and holding one knee against her chest.

“She’s unique,” Zoe said. “She was the first voice I ever heard.”

“Wait, really? So she’s older than you? Is she like, your mother? Another sibling?”

“Good grief, no,” Zoe said, laughing. “Sorry, that doesn’t answer anything, does it? It’s all very complicated.”

“Tell me about it, then,” I said.

“Really? Why?”

“I dunno, it seems like a good idea,” I said. “Things have been… tense, between us. That’s mostly on me. So I want to, you know…”

She smiled again, looking genuinely touched. Either she actually believed me, which seemed unlikely, or she was playing along for her own reasons. So long as she told me what I wanted, it didn’t matter. And if I had to listen to a bunch of irrelevant, sentimental drivel, that was a small price to pay.

“It’s kind of a long story,” she said. “You sure you wanna hear it?”

“I’m not exactly busy,” I lied.

“I’m sure I can come up with more tasks for you,” she said.

“Or we could try actually talking,” I countered. “Look, you were there for me, when I woke up and everything was different. When I was different. Without you, I don’t know what would have happened to me. And I’m sorry I haven’t been great at showing my gratitude for that.”

“Gratitude’s unnecessary,” she said. “But sure, if you’re that interested. Take a seat. Let’s talk.”

Just get it on with it already, fuck.

I sat down opposite her, waiting for her to speak. To my surprise, Rachel joined us, hanging out in the doorway, her arms folded across her chest. Zoe nodded to her.

“I was born in a lab,” she began, leaning back in her chair. “You probably already knew that. I was the last of us to be born. I don’t know if he went with twenty-six specifically to match the letters of the alphabet, or if that was just a coincidence. I guess it doesn’t matter.”

“That explains Specimen Z,” I said. “And Gabriel, he was what, seventh? Did you all pick names based on your code letter? Or did this mysterious creator pick them for you?”

“Neither, actually. Alice chose our names for us. She was the second voice any of us heard, and the first face we saw.”

“And Alice is…?” Rachel prompted, surprisingly interested.

“Specimen A,” Zoe said. “The first of us. A child, really. The prototype, never meant for combat. A little sister to us all. She loved each and every one of us.”

“So Haylie is Specimen H?” I asked.

“No. H was… well, they’re dead now. Most of them are. Haylie predates even Alice. She helped Mason create us. She looked after us, taught us, nurtured us.”

“Did you say Mason?” Rachel asked.

“Does that name mean something to you?” Zoe responded, curious.

“Does the name Genesis mean anything to you?”

“Yes,” Zoe said, a little concerned. “Genesis was Mason’s company, the name of the company when we were born. How do you know it?”

“I’m not sure yet,” Rachel said cryptically. “Forget about it. Continue your story.”

“Curious. But fine, I’ll continue. There was a divide, between us. We knew we were being prepared for war. Not all of us wanted that. A fight broke out. The lab was nearly destroyed. Gabriel and I escaped together, along with Alice. All we wanted was our freedom. Haylie let us go. She didn’t know. None of us knew.”

“About what?” I asked.

“The infection,” Rachel guessed.

“Gabriel and I both carry it,” Zoe confirmed. “Alice doesn’t. Not that it matters. We let the virus out into the world. It’s still unchecked. More than ninety percent of the population is, well, you’ve seen the results. We did that.

“Gabriel wanted to keep running. I didn’t. Mason hunted us, but not because we left. He just wanted his daughter back.”

“Alice was special,” Rachel said. “The first, not designed for combat, a child… a replacement?”

“His daughter died. The reason we exist is because Mason wanted a way to bring her back, and make sure he never lost her again. So he made me a deal. He told me he’d cure me if I returned with her. So I did. I betrayed Gabriel and returned with Alice.”

“But he didn’t cure you,” I said.

“No. But by the time he realised he couldn’t cure it, it didn’t matter. The world had changed. And Haylie had left. She and Gabriel built a new Genesis. I stayed with Mason. Eventually, Alice returned to Gabriel. I don’t think Mason ever recovered from that.”

“I guess that explains the animosity between you and Gabriel. Doesn’t explain much about Haylie, though,” I said.

“She’s an artificial intelligence,” Rachel said. “An android.”

“Not exactly,” Zoe said. “She’s not artificial. Her consciousness doesn’t run on code. Her body is synthetic, but her mind is… different. She’s unique. Kind of.”

“I’m not sure I understand the distinction,” Rachel said.

“You don’t really need to. The important thing is, I don’t think you really need to worry about her. She’s a good person, and I doubt this Celestial clown can say anything that’d change that.”

That doesn’t help me at all, though.

“Tell that to my arm,” Rachel said, waving her stump impotently.

“That was… out of character,” Zoe said. “Did you provoke her somehow?”

“I threatened the Celestial. She seems attached to him for some reason.”

“That doesn’t make sense. She’s not…”

“She didn’t seem all there,” Rachel said. “Kind of… hollow. Hard to explain.”

“Then we have a problem. The body she’s inhabiting right now, it’s just one of many. A combat unit designed especially to go up against someone like me. That kind of destructive power, without… her controlling it…”

“With the Celestial controlling it,” I corrected. The two of them looked at me, annoyed. Annoyed because I was right.

The conversation apparently over, the three of us parted ways. Zoe and Rachel went back to whatever they were working on, and I began to wander. Once I was far enough away from the other two, Envy appeared.

“Don’t worry,” she said, leaning against the wall. “We’ll find her. And we can handle her.”

“Why do we need to?” I asked.

“Not sure I follow,” Envy said.

“Everyone else, I get. I lock eyes, you copy their power. We both get stronger. But Haylie’s an android. What would you even copy?”

“Haylie’s the key,” Envy insisted. “It’s not her power I’m after. It’s what’s inside of her.”

“Now I’m the one that doesn’t follow…”

“Don’t fret about it,” Envy said. “All you need to do is find her. I can take it from there.”

“Alright,” I agreed reluctantly. “Any ideas on where to find her, then?”

“Kind of. You won’t like it, though.”

“Hit me.”

“You don’t need to find her,” Envy said. “Just make enough of a scene, and she’ll come to you.”

“You’re right. I don’t like it. But…”

“But?”

“But I’ll do it,” I said.

 

Next: The First and The Last (Bonus)

Chapter 50b – You Should Have Joined Me When You Had The Chance

Published by Rachel Fierro on June 23, 2016

“You go on ahead,” I grunted, summoning all of my strength to toss her across the room. She crashed through the fire stairs door. Close enough. “I’ll take care of this clown, then catch up with you!”

She didn’t respond to that. Just took off. That was fine. Wasn’t exactly in the mood for conversation.

Electrified spikes? Not a bad tactic, I had to admit. Might have even worked, if he hadn’t already played his hand by equipping street thugs with a similar design. Should’ve been more creative. I’d already made sure my body could channel excess electricity into a safe outlet.

The poor boy twitching at my feet clearly didn’t have the same advantage. He was already done. Not that it mattered, the temporary boost he got from Zoe’s blood would burn up within minutes. They couldn’t have collected that much, and I doubted they’d waste it all on an untrained brat like him.

Still, it had gotten rid of Sabrina, and that was what I needed. By the time she got all the way up to his office, he’d be long gone. There’d probably be a trap waiting for Sabrina. Not my concern.

I’d already done the math. His only escape from that office was with Miss Murder’s blinking. Her range was limited, and she needed to reorient herself before teleporting again. Given the limited time frame before her needing to be back to ambush Sabrina, she’d only be able to get him a short distance away. There was only one building that made sense.

I left the boy twitching and convulsing on the floor. He might follow later, but he’d already proven he wasn’t a threat. No instinct, no fighting experience. Not a problem.

The second I left the building, I felt a dozen weapons pointed at me. Reinforcements. God, but he was annoying.

“I don’t have time for this,” I muttered.

A dozen thugs, all armed. I had approximately zero time for their shit, but they weren’t exactly going to let me just walk away. Time to weigh up the risks.

My clothing would protect most of my body from bullets. There’d be bruising, but nothing I couldn’t handle. The only place I was vulnerable was my head. Even there, bullets would rip up the skin and muscle, but wouldn’t penetrate bone. Unless they hit my eyes, the damage would only be cosmetic.

I could cover my face with my arm and run, but I didn’t want them on my tail when I confronted him. The damned floor spikes had ruined the propulsion systems in my boots, so that wasn’t an option.

Had to take them out.

Killing them would be so much easier. Physically, at least. Emotionally, I wasn’t comfortable with it. They didn’t deserve to die. But disabling them was a lot more work.

Inventory. I had a flashbang, two foam grenades, my shock baton, a shock gauntlet, a pistol with non-lethal rounds, a small supply of plastic ties, Miss Murder’s knife and an untested venom dart gun. Theoretically, that one would induce a process that mimicked that of Zoe’s blood, but in reverse, making them weak and close to useless, temporarily. Unfortunately, my abilities as a tinker were limited when it came to biochemistry, and I wasn’t entirely certain how accurate my formula was.

“Fuck it.”

One arm in front of my face, I ran into the nearest cluster of thugs. I had very little time to put them all down. No pulling punches.

Stun baton to the throat. One down. Draw the pistol, two headshots. Probable concussions, but they’ll live. Three down. Trip the next up with the baton, kick them in the side of the head. Four down.

Drop the baton, throw a foam grenade. Two more headshots, then the grenade explodes, catching three in the blast. Nine down.

A hail of bullets hits me in the back, staggers me. Drop the pistol, vault over cover. Punch to the sternum, enough force to crack ribs. Ten down. Grab their gun, snap it in half. Twist their arms behind their back, tie their wrists. Eleven down. Shove them into the last remaining thug, gauntlet to the face, deliver a strong charge.

No time to waste.

I ran towards the building I’d marked off beforehand. Motion sensors I’d planted confirmed something was happening there, but that was as much as I’d been able to set up. It was enough.

It was possible he’d set another trap, but paranoid as he was, I didn’t think he was that prepared. Not for this.

I crashed through the entrance, disregarding subtlety entirely. He was no threat to me, and he had nowhere to go. Better to intimidate than to surprise.

He was waiting for me, still in his chair, a pained expression on his face. Haylie was nowhere to be seen. It was annoying that he’d already found time to stash her, but I could beat the information out of him if I had to. I wouldn’t torture his thugs, but him? He deserved it.

“It’s good to see you again, Rachel.”

“You’re awfully chipper for someone who’s about to get flayed alive,” I snapped. “Where’s Haylie?”

“Right behind you,” he said, smirking.

I whirled around, and clichéd as it was, she really was standing right behind me. How long had he been waiting to pull that trick?

More importantly, she was awake. That changed everything.

She was beautiful, with long, wavy red hair, fair skin, and a smattering of freckles. Her eyes were yellow, almost luminescent, and just slightly vacant. She was taller than me, but not by much. Dark jeans, combat boots, a white shirt, all kind of worn and dirty.

Just one look at her set my mind ablaze. Concepts, ideas, schematics and blueprints formed in my head, distracting, disrupting. Stop.

“You’re awake,” I said, nearly stumbling over my words.

“I’m alive,” she corrected, though I didn’t understand the distinction. Surprisingly, her accent sounded American. Gabriel and Zoe had British accents, Ami’s was… surprisingly neutral. I could never pick it.

I didn’t know anything about her. I didn’t know what she wanted, or who she was. I knew she was dangerous, but not if she was a threat.

“I’m honoured to meet you,” I said carefully.

“Are you,” she replied, no question in her tone.

“A lot of people have been looking for you, you know.”

“I don’t. And I don’t particularly care.”

There was no life in her. She seemed half-baked, distant, unfocussed. It was disappointing, but it also seemed wrong. Like she wasn’t supposed to be like this. Not that I had any idea what she was supposed to be like…

“What do you care about?”

“I haven’t worked that out yet,” she said. “I might have a better idea after killing you.”

“Why do you want to kill me?” I asked, feeling a pang of genuine fear. She was an unknown, a potential enemy I knew nothing about. The small fragments of data I did have suggested I probably didn’t stand a chance.

“Because he wants you dead.”

I glanced back over my shoulder. The satisfied, smug look on his face made it really difficult to resist the urge to punch him.

I had to resist, though. Haylie seemed to have latched onto him, and I needed to know why if there was any chance of detaching her from him. Until then, if she was protecting him, he was far less vulnerable than I thought.

“You should have joined me when you had the chance, Rachel,” he said.

“Fuck off.”

Haylie reacted to that. Her fists clenched, and her body weight shifted. Crap. Did I upset her-

She hit me before I had a chance to brace myself. The impact sent me flying across the room, right over the Celestial’s head. I slammed against the wall, and she was already right there in front of me, her expression still completely blank.

Her next hit threw me sideways, the shock resonating through my entire body. If not for my reinforced skeleton, I’d have been borderline liquefied by that. She hit harder than Zoe or Sabrina could. And she was every bit as fast. That was intimidating.

I was ready for the next blow. I managed to block it, absorbing the force of it and counterattacking with Miss Murder’s knife. The blade didn’t even pierce her skin. Her fingers wrapped around my throat, and she tossed me across the room again.

“Stop playing with her, Haylie,” the Celestial ordered. “Just kill her.”

“Your wish is my command,” she replied.

She began walking towards me, her expression completely neutral. Her right arm stretched out, and the air beyond her hand began to shimmer and warp, forming the shape of a blade, barely visible.

Panic flooded my system. My tinker brain was already analysing what I was seeing, and though I didn’t fully understand it, I knew that blade was dangerous.

She swung at me, and I hurled myself sideways, out of the way. I wasn’t fast enough. The blade sliced right through my left arm, completely severing it at the elbow. Even my reinforced skeleton didn’t offer any resistance.

I screamed, and scrambled backwards, holding the stump of my elbow. She attacked again, but something knocked her out of the air, throwing her backwards. She recovered quickly, but her assailant was already dashing towards me.

Zoe picked me up with one arm, and carried me out of the room. She moved quickly, bouncing between buildings, staying away from street level. Haylie didn’t follow.

We didn’t slow down until we reached her base, our home. She dropped me gently onto a bed, took one look at my arm, and swore.

I glanced down. The wound had cauterised, which was probably good for me, but it was a horrific sight.

“Thank you,” I said, looking up at her.

“Any time,” she replied.

“Where’s Sabrina?” I asked.

“Here,” Sabrina said, entering the room. She looked a little shell-shocked, but her expression turned soft when she saw my arm. “What happened?”

“Haylie’s awake,” I said.

“We’re in a lot of trouble,” Zoe said.

 

Next Week: She Was The First Voice I Ever Heard

Chapter 49 – You Want To Know What I Took From Charlie

Published by Sabrina Labelle on June 13, 2016

“Welcome to your own personal hell,” Rachel said, twirling Miss Murder’s knife threateningly through her fingers. “I’m so glad we have this chance to talk.”

Miss Murder just glared back, unsurprisingly mute. Zoe and I hung back, willing to let Rachel take the lead on this. She was the one who had a personal history with the assassin, after all.

“I’m gonna make this really simple,” she continued, running the tip of the knife along Miss Murder’s cheek. “All you need to do is tell us where we can find the Celestial. You ready to sell him out yet?”

Both of Miss Murder’s hands were bound, and it was obvious she couldn’t talk. Was Rachel just mocking her? Was it part of her interrogation technique?

“You must be getting tired of him, right? Always following orders, killing on command? Or is that what you want? Is that all you are? A living weapon? If not him, it would have been your family, right?”

Slowly, the anger began to fade. Her eyes darted across to mine, then focussed back on Rachel again. She seemed to be ignoring Zoe entirely.

“You can’t mean to tell me you’re really okay with what he’s doing, are you? The number of people he’s killed? The number of people he’s had you kill? You think all this power he’s amassing is safe? You think you’ll be safe, when he doesn’t need you anymore?”

Miss Murder closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Was Rachel actually getting to her? Was she just playing us? Was there something I was missing?

“You’re already planning on turning on him, aren’t you? You know he’s dangerous, probably better than any of us. But you have to have realised you can’t stop him alone. He’s too paranoid for that. He’s prepared for anything you can do.”

Slowly, she nodded. She didn’t look relaxed, exactly –that would have been impossible with the light current running through her –but she did seem composed. It worried me. It would be too easy for her to have just decided to help us. More likely, she had a plan of some kind.

I looked at Zoe, who was staring intensely at Miss Murder. It looked as though she were trying to decipher something, but didn’t have all of the information. Not unlike me.

“I know the two of you have been through a lot together,” Rachel continued. “I know that you don’t have anything without him. So I’m going to make this really simple. I’m going to offer a trade.”

Miss Murder’s head snapped up, a sudden intensity in her stare. Rachel smirked.

“Give us the Celestial. Give me the Celestial. We’ll take care of him, and you’ll be free. In return, I’ll give you Charlie.”

What?

No, of course, this makes perfect sense. Rachel’s playing her own game, here. The only two significant threats to her are the Celestial, and Charlie. If she can take them both out…

Miss Murder cocked her head to the side, a silent expression of surprise and a request for clarity. Even Zoe seemed surprised.

Should I allow this? Give up my quarry so easily?

There was no way Miss Murder stood a chance against Charlie, though. Even if Rachel armed her and sent her at Charlie like a missile, what could she hope to achieve? Teleport her underground and leave her trapped? Even something like that didn’t seem like it could stop Charlie.

“You want to know what I took from Charlie?” Rachel asked, but the question was directed at Zoe and I.

“The reason she’s still a threat to us?” Zoe asked. “Yes, I would love to know.”

“I took her heart,” Rachel said.

Fuck off.

“Her heart,” Zoe repeated, sounding unimpressed.

“Not literally. The organ is just that, an organ. But back when we were still… together, we experimented. She wanted to find out just what she could survive. As it turns out, she can survive complete obliteration.” Rachel flashed us a grim smile. “All it takes is one teeny, tiny piece. And I have just such a piece.”

“Still impossible,” Zoe said. “For so very many reasons.”

“Believe it or don’t,” Rachel snapped. “The important thing is that Charlie wants it back. That makes it valuable.”

Miss Murder looked contemplatively at Rachel. Then she smiled. Zoe frowned.

“Sabrina. Do you have the girl’s phone?”

“Yeah,” I said, remembering pocketing it before tying her up.

“Check it.”

I dug it out. There was a messaging flashing on the screen.

“On my way,” I read out. “It’s from Ami.”

“Check the last message sent,” Zoe instructed.

Surprisingly, the phone wasn’t actually locked. The message history with Ami was the first thing to come up.

“She sent ‘Suspect trap. Sending location. Back me up?’ just before she attacked us at the warehouse,” I said.

“Fuck,” Rachel said, whirling around. “She probably followed us here. Zoe, can you-”

“On it,” Zoe said, heading for the door.

The door was hurled off its hinges, throwing Zoe backwards. She reacted quickly, but Ami was already through the door, blade drawn.

I felt psychic hands pin me against the wall at the same time as Rachel was knocked off her feet. The straps around Miss Murder’s limbs all snapped, and she was pulled forward out of the chair, separating her from the current that was keeping her from teleporting away.

Rachel and I recovered at about the same time, pushing through Ami’s telekinetic assault and lunging for Miss Murder, but she vanished before either of us got there.

“Fuck,” I snarled, using my momentum to move towards Ami. She’d learn not to interfere in our business. The hard way.

I watched as Zoe evaded Ami’s cutting strikes with practised ease, getting close enough to rake her claws across Ami’s face. There was a splash of blood, and Ami staggered back, but before either Zoe or I could follow up the attack, Miss Murder appeared again, grabbing Ami and teleporting them both away.

“Follow them!” I bellowed. Zoe was out the door in a blur of movement, but Rachel stopped me from following with a hand on my shoulder. “The fuck?” I demanded.

“Following them would be a waste of time,” she said. “Zoe’ll track them some of the way by scent, but if Miss Murder was that easy to track, she wouldn’t have survived this long.”

“I’m not giving up that easily,” I said. “She’ll tell him what we’re planning, he’ll be prepared, we won’t stand a chance. Fuck. Since when is she in league with Ami?”

“For a while now, actually,” Rachel said, seemingly unconcerned. I wanted to hit her.

“You knew? And you didn’t do anything to stop it? You didn’t even warn me?”

“Why would I want to stop it?” she asked. “She never would’ve given up any information about the Celestial, even if we actually did resort to torture. And I’m not comfortable torturing anyone, regardless of who they are.”

“Then, what? You were just pretending to help me? Did you just want to see how far I’d get before it all fell down around me? I thought you wanted to take out the Celestial.”

“I do. And really, I’m a bit disappointed you still think so little of me,” she said, feigning pain.

“What’s the plan, then?” I demanded. “What are we going to do now?”

“Wait a little,” Rachel said, shrugging. “See where Miss Murder goes. Eventually she’ll return to the Celestial. Then we just hit him before he has the chance to get ready for it.”

“Huh?”

She laughed, and pulled out her phone. A few taps later, I was looking at a map, with a blinking dot on it.

“Come on, this is one of the oldest tricks in the book,” she said. “I embedded a tracking chip in her. Ami rescuing her was all part of the plan, since she knows she’d never escape on her own. Seriously, Sabrina. What kind of a person do you think I am?”

“So she’s gonna lead us to the Celestial?”

“Soon as she parts ways with Ami.”

“Let’s go, then,” I said. “Let’s go tear his fucking house down.”

 

Next: I Just Want You To Be Safe (Bonus)

Chapter 48 – We Have A Reputation To Maintain

Published by Sabrina Labelle on June 6, 2016

“I think that went well,” Rachel said, as we left Zoe’s hideout together. “You’re a good actor. I’m impressed.”

 I was completely serious, I was tempted to say. I didn’t, though. It was useful, her still believing I was the same naïve teenager.

“We needed to make it convincing. We have a reputation to maintain, after all.”

“Think you can manage a repeat performance?” she asked, twirling a modified pistol in her hands.

“Assuming we can actually capture Miss Murder, sure.”

I was surprised Rachel wasn’t more concerned about that, honestly. Miss Murder had one ability, and that was to teleport. How the hell were we supposed to capture that?

Rachel had a plan, though. She always did. I just had to have faith in her. Could I manage that?

For Veronica, I reminded myself.

We made our way to a warehouse on the other side of the city, one where Rachel assured me a Stars strike was going to go down. I didn’t bother asking where she got her information. She’d yet to be proven wrong, and that was good enough for me.

We arrived before the Stars did, and spent several minutes observing the current occupants, more soldiers. It seemed like the military were sending more and more soldiers in by the day, regardless of how many of them wound up dead or infected. I guess there isn’t much else they can do, is there?

The warehouse was being used as temporary storage for several trucks worth of weapons and ammunition, and guarded appropriately. I counted at least two dozen armed soldiers patrolling, and that many again inside. I was curious to see just how the Stars handled that.

As it turned out, they handled it with lethal efficiency. Ten of them emerged from the shadows, silenced weapons taking out half the patrolling soldiers before the alarm was raised. By the time the reinforcements were surging out to defend against them, the other half of the patrollers were down.

It was impressive to watch, honestly. They outmanoeuvred the soldiers effortlessly, like they knew exactly where they would be in advance. Just how detailed a plan had the Celestial given them? How specific was his power?

“Let’s go,” Rachel said, as the last soldier dropped. We raced towards the warehouse, covering the last of the distance. Rachel activated something in her boots, and some kind of blast sent her rocketing through the air in a surprisingly graceful arc.

She landed in the middle of the kill squad, immediately grabbing the closest gangster by the neck, spinning around and throwing him against the side of a truck. The others opened fire, but I barrelled into two of them, slamming them into the ground without stopping.

We dismantled the rest of the team with our bare hands, making sure not to critically injure any of them. A few of them had those same electric spikes that were designed to take down people like me, but now that I knew to avoid them, they were easy enough to deal with.

When they were all crawling on the ground, grunting and groaning, disarmed but alive, we started to unload the crates of weapons from the trucks. We didn’t actually need them, but if it looked like we were just waiting for Miss Murder, there was a chance they wouldn’t call her.

We’d unloaded ten crates before she showed up. I noticed her first, barely audible footfalls as she teleported slightly above the surface she landed on. Just like Rachel and I had agreed on, I kept unpacking, giving no indication I’d noticed her arrival.

She watched us for several minutes, and we managed to get another few crates stacked up before she made her move. Three quick teleports, edging closer each time, but just out of sight. Had Rachel noticed yet? Did that really matter?

As I was wondering which of us she’d go for first, she materialised behind Rachel, dragging her blade across Rachel’s throat in a savage motion, cutting right through the muscle. Rachel twitched, went limp, and dropped. Miss Murder vanished before I could respond.

Holy shit.

I rushed to Rachel’s body, but Miss Murder appeared in front of me, a hand wrapping around my throat, and then the entire world moved.

We were in the air, falling. She vanished, leaving me to land on my own. The second I did, she appeared again, a vicious slash that carved through my cheek, blood spraying everywhere. Before I could respond, she was gone.

She’s been practicing. She knows how to fight someone as fast as me.

I considered changing forms, switching to Ami’s telekinesis. I’d probably have more luck with that, but it would mean revealing a power I didn’t want anyone to know about.

Not worth it. It wouldn’t help me capture her, which was the whole point. Without Rachel, I had no plan. All that was left was to run, really.

Miss Murder appeared again, running her blade across my back. A warm sensation began to spread as blood bubbled out of the wound. I turned, but she was already gone.

Goddammit!

If she wanted a fight, I’d give her one. She could teleport, but she wasn’t as fast or as strong as I was, and she certainly didn’t heal as fast. She couldn’t even hurt me, not really. I only had to catch her once to turn the tables.

I whirled around, trying to watch every direction at once.  Just try it, you psychotic mute-

There!

She appeared again, but before I could react to her, she stopped suddenly, her eyes bulging. Her body began to convulse, and she dropped to the ground.

What the-

Rachel walked up to Miss Murder’s body, a satisfied smirk resting on her lips. Her throat was still cut open, but there was barely any blood flowing from the open wound. But how? The damage was undeniable. It should have severed her carotid artery. Why wasn’t there more blood?

“Scared you for a bit there, didn’t I?” she said, her voice raspy and weak. “Figured she’d try and trick like that.”

“I don’t understand,” I said, staring at her neck. “How?”

“Made a few modifications. Made the vital stuff a little harder to cut. Nothin’ complicated.” She coughed loudly. It sounded painful. “Anyway. Let’s get this one somewhere safe. Can’t keep her like this for long.”

“What did you do to her?”

“Electric dart,” she said. “Was hard work getting enough voltage in such a tiny package, lemme tell you.” Another cough. “Should release a charge every few seconds, enough to keep her from using her blinking.”

Rachel ripped Miss Murder’s sleeve, exposing the skin of her arm. She pulled out a little box with wires attached, and strapped it the exposed flesh, then pressed a button on the side. I assumed it was a more reliable way of executing the same concept as the dart.

“Let’s get her to the interrogation room, then,” I said, picking her up. Rachel picked the assassin’s knife up from the floor, pocketing it.

When we got to the interrogation room we’d prepared, a different one to the last one, we were both surprised to see Zoe waiting for us. There was an almost vicious look in her eyes.

“What’re you doing here?” Rachel asked, her voice still strained and hoarse.

“I didn’t want to miss the fun,” she said.

“So you’ve finally decided to help?” I asked, accusingly.

“Just with this bit,” she said. “I want to see just how this one works. I’ve never met a blinker before.”

“And you’re not about to,” Rachel muttered. “Unless we fuck up, she isn’t going to be blinking. Only talking.”

“That could be an issue,” Zoe said. “She doesn’t talk.”

“You know what I mean.”

“What happened to your neck, anyway?”

“Cosmetic damage, nothing more. I’ll fix it later.”

While they bickered, I strapped the now unconscious Miss Murder into the chair we’d prepared. Rachel ripped at her outfit, exposing more skin, and attaching wires. A constant current would prevent her from teleporting away.

I hadn’t seen her up close before. Curious, I tugged at the scarf that covered her neck and half her face. She was pretty, surprisingly so. Her features seemed Eurasian, and somehow familiar…

“Holy shit,” I said.

“Something wrong?” Rachel asked.

“I know her,” I said softly. “We went to school together. She’s… she’s my age. How did she end up like this?”

My gaze fell to her neck, and the blackened skin in the shape of a hand wrapped around it.

“What the hell happened to you?” I asked.

She stirred, her intense green eyes darting about the room. They settled on Rachel, and her expression shifted from determination to fear.

“Let’s talk,” Rachel said, grinning sadistically.

 

Next Week: You Want To Know What I Took From Charlie?

Chapter 46 – Didn’t She Nearly Kill You

Published by Sabrina Labelle on May 23, 2016

“You’re alive,” Rachel commented, as I stormed back into the room. She sounded surprised.

“You’re different,” Zoe added.

I’m better, I wanted to reply. After all, I had Gabriel’s power, now. The last part of the fight was a little hazy, but I had his power. That was all that mattered.

“I got what I wanted,” I said, shrugging.

“You killed him?” Rachel asked, putting down the circuit board she was fiddling with.

“No. We came to an understanding.”

“That sounds more like him,” Zoe said, surprisingly easy to convince. “Done with the distractions now?”

Not even close. Your pathetic mission to get yourself home is at the very bottom of my priority list, you monster. I need to find Haylie, then destroy Charlie.

“In a manner of speaking,” I said cryptically.

Zoe twitched, a clear sign of irritation. She was having a harder and harder time hiding it. Or maybe I was just getting better at spotting it. Either way, she was easier to read, which was an advantage for me.

“Oh, what now?” she asked, mimicking Rachel and putting down the bundle of wires in her hands.

“I believe I owe Rachel a debt,” I said, my rehearsed lines flowing easily. Rachel gave me a curious look.

“That’s unexpected.”

“I was… angry, before,” I said, and it almost sounded genuine enough to convince me. “I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” she said, her confused expression nearly managing to mask her scepticism.

“Now, I want to help you.”

“With?”

“Your side project,” I said.

“Side project?” Zoe asked, her focus sharpening on Rachel.

“The Celestial,” Rachel replied, answering Zoe and confirming my inference.

Zoe looked exasperated. If I was being fair, I couldn’t really blame her. She’d been stuck here for months, and despite trying to keep herself, kept getting swept up in all of the chaos this city seemed to be embodying these days. Unfortunately for her, I wasn’t interested in being fair.

“I think we should bring him down,” I said. “He already found us once.”

“We don’t have the resources,” Zoe argued.

“On that, I disagree,” Rachel said, stepping away from her desk. Zoe rolled her eyes.

“You obviously have some plan in the works.”

“Purely conceptual,” Rachel assured her.

The two of them stared at each other, and the tension was obvious. Their ability to work together was being pushed. Maybe something to distract them would be good for everyone?

“Between the three of us, we can do anything,” I said, trying to channel the naïve optimism I’d been pushing before Veronica had died. They both bought it.

“I’m listening,” Zoe said, though her tone suggested otherwise. We both looked at Rachel, who hesitated for only a moment.

“Alright. Here’s what I know,” she said. “The Stars are the most dangerous gang in the city. Not the largest, but they’re the best equipped, best organised and they have the advantage of prescience.”

“Prescience?” I asked, unfamiliar with both the word and the application.

Rachel sighed.

“The Celestial can, for all intents and purposes, see the future.”

“Impossible,” Zoe said immediately.

“Lot of that going around,” Rachel said dismissively. “But to be more specific, he sees possibility and probability, so he always knows where to be, and where not to be.”

Well that just sounds unfair.

“How the hell do you fight someone like that?” I asked, feeling confident she had a plan, or at least a theory. That was her whole thing, right?

“He’s still limited,” Zoe said. “He has to be.”

“Right you are,” Rachel agreed. “His precognitive abilities seem unreliable when it comes to people like us.”

“Us?” I asked, feigning ignorance. It was new information, but I wasn’t nearly as clueless as I wanted them to think I was. “You mean like, superhumans?”

“Precisely,” Rachel said. “At a guess, I’d say our abilities create an exponentially greater possibility output, and he can’t keep up.”

“Convenient,” Zoe said, almost muttering it. It was a little out of character for her.

“I have a theory about that too, but we’ll save that for another time,” Rachel said. “Let’s focus on what we can do.”

Thankfully, they were both saying exactly the things I needed them to. They were happy to focus on the Celestial, who would bring me that much closer to Haylie.

“Alright,” Zoe agreed.

“His entire network has one very obvious weak point,” Rachel said.

“Him,” I chimed in, surprising both of them. I smiled nervously, almost childishly. Their focus returned to the discussion.

“And how, exactly, do we get to him?” Zoe asked, back to sounding exasperated.

“He’s not well guarded,” Rachel said with a shrug.

“How do you know?” I asked, prompting.

“More people knowing where he is makes him vulnerable,” Rachel explained. “He trades in information. He knows how dangerous it can be, so he relies on his assassin for protection.”

As if for impact, she rubbed her palm, the one that had been cute wide open after her last fight with Miss Murder.

“Didn’t she nearly kill you?” I asked, skirting the edge of provocative. Rachel shook her head.

“One on one, she’s dangerous, but I survived, and I was already at the end of my rope. Between the three of us, we’ll be fine.”

I couldn’t bring myself to take Miss Murder seriously as a threat. With the possible exception of Rachel, her power seemed like the least threatening thing to me I could think of. I mean, teleporting? She didn’t have superhuman speed or strength, just a knife. Even if she could take me by surprise, she couldn’t cause any serious damage, and I doubted she was fast enough to stay ahead of me, especially with Ami’s power.

“You’re assuming my involvement,” Zoe said, almost petulantly. Rachel bristled.

“I told you, it’s all hypothetical.”

You’re getting off track. Focus on moving forward, not whether it’ll work. It doesn’t matter if it works, so long as it gets me close to him.

“So how do we find him, then?” I asked.

“We start at the bottom,” Rachel said. “Go out into the street, snatch one of his lieutenants. Pump them for information, rinse and repeat.”

“How delightfully crude,” Zoe remarked.

“If you’ve got a better idea…”

“I do, as a matter of fact,” Zoe said shortly. “I’m going to stay here, and keep working on the Gate. If you want to waste time on this, fine, but leave me out of it.”

“Happily,” Rachel snapped. “Sabrina, come with me. We don’t need help, especially for this part. If you can provide the muscle, I can come up with a solution to this.”

“I’m all ears,” I said, as she led me away from Zoe.

 

Next Week: There Are Far Worse Things I Could Do To Him

Chapter 44 – It’s Not Like You’d Miss Me

Published by Sabrina Labelle on May 9, 2016

By the time I made it back to Zoe’s base, my mind was made up. I felt resolve, clarity of purpose, and that felt good.

“Change of plan,” I said quickly, as soon as the door was shut behind me. Rachel and Zoe both looked up from their construction work. Rachel breathed a sigh of relief, playing it up for effect.

“Oh thank fuck.”

“Another distraction?” Zoe asked, equal parts critical and curious.

“I need Gabriel,” I replied, and she froze. Her eyes narrowed, and her lips curled into a sneer.

“No.”

That… wasn’t the response I was expecting. Not that it mattered. She wasn’t in charge, regardless of what she thought.

“You don’t want to be free of him? You’re enjoying hiding?”

“You don’t stand a chance against him,” Zoe said.

So people keep telling me. It’s getting a little old.

“So help me,” I said. “He’s down two teammates, and Ami isn’t exactly helping him. When will you get another opportunity like this?”

There it is. That cleverness, that calculating intellect. You’re weighing up the options, seeing the opportunity. You think I don’t know you, but you’re wrong.

“I don’t want to kill him,” she said. She sounded almost… tender.

“What?”

That was wrong. Of course she wanted to kill him. They were arch-nemesis, locked in battle for what, a century? Two? The details escaped me, but they were at war. His team had captured her. It was all…

“You’ll never understand,” she said cutting through my internal crisis. “We were born together. We rebelled together, ran together. We love each other, and always will. Just because we chose different sides, doesn’t mean I would ever want a world without him.”

But that’s not fair…

No, that was a momentary setback, nothing more. I didn’t need her; it just would have made things easier. Well, whatever. To hell with her.

“So you won’t help me.”

“No.”

She went back to work, delicately but rapidly assembling tiny components, putting together what looked like a futuristic circuit board.

So that was that, then. Fine. Gabriel couldn’t be that hard to find, surely.

“I’ll help,” Rachel said. “But only because I don’t think you can kill him. I don’t think you want to kill him.”

Technically, she was half-right. All I really wanted was to take his power. Killing him would just be a nice bonus, after what he did to Veronica.

Wasn’t like I could say that, though. She couldn’t know stealing powers was something I could do, in case I ever had to fight her. It seemed unlikely, but I still didn’t trust her, not by a long shot. She had some other scheme in the works.

“Whatever,” I said coldly.

“Just tell me what you need,” Rachel said, sighing again. Zoe glanced up, and the two of them exchanged a look, but it meant nothing to me.

“Get me in a room with him,” I said. “And make sure he can’t run.”

I could have asked for more. Death traps, maybe. I didn’t want her to have any more control over the situation than I was already giving up by including her.

“You’re signing your own death warrant,” Zoe said, as I walked out of the room.

“It’s not like you’d miss me,” I muttered.

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Zoe replied, just loud enough for me to hear.

Rachel joined me in the next room, frantically scrawling something in a large sketchbook. She met my eye, her hand still moving unsupervised.

“I’ve got a plan,” she said. “Help me build it and this will be over a lot faster.”

Perfect. Something to take my mind off of things, and the chance to pre-vet the place and make sure Rachel didn’t leave any nasty surprises for me, as well.

“Fine. Let’s go.”

We found an abandoned apartment complex, not too big, not too far from the city centre. I spent the better part of a day salvaging yet more scrap, a job I was very familiar with, and carrying them to the site Rachel had picked out.

She started working immediately, bashing down walls and setting up some kind of arcane construct inside them. I only caught glimpses, watching it all progress in stages, but I couldn’t even begin to comprehend what she was doing. All I knew was that it looked incredibly complicated, and she’d spent all of half an hour thinking about it before she started working.

“This was all off the top of your head?” I asked, dumping another pile of heavy metal in the middle of the room.

“That’s how my power works,” she said, shrugging and not taking her eyes off the wires she was delicately threading.

Twenty-two odd hours later, with neither of us resting, the work was done. Rachel showed no signs of fatigue, and she’d worked so fast, so relentlessly, I began to suspect she’d replaced herself with some kind of robotic clone.

When she finally did relax, though, it was the most human display I’d seen from her in a while. She groaned loudly, leaning back on her hands with her legs spread. I just watched as she let herself tip over, bouncing on her shoulder once and rolling onto her back.

No rest for the wicked, Rachel.

“So, now how do we get him here?” I asked, standing above her, arms folded. I wasn’t even close to worn out. If anything, I felt ready for a fight.

“Already took care of it,” she mumbled, eyes closed.

“How?”

“Don’t ask,” she said. Her eyes fluttered open, and she pulled herself back up to a sitting position. Our eyes met, and for a brief moment, I thought I saw concern. “Just… don’t die.”

“Won’t be a problem.”

She nodded, hauling herself to her feet, and brushed the dust and plaster off her clothes. We exchanged one final look, then she left.

The moment we were alone, Envy appeared in the centre of the room. She looked satisfied, confident even.

“Just do exactly as I say,” she instructed.

I didn’t bother saying anything back. She walked over to a wall, leaning against it, and I took her place in the centre of the room. Together, in silence, we waited.

It didn’t take long for Gabriel to arrive. I’d have to grill Rachel later to find out what she’d done to lure him here; it seemed very suspicious. He just walked in like he was expected, and even smiled when he saw me.

“Hello again, Sabrina.”

This is a trap, you idiot. Aren’t you supposed to be intelligent?

“Gabriel.”

He looked around casually, his posture relaxed and his expression friendly. We’d see how long that lasted.

“I seem to have walked into a trap,” he said idly. “How clumsy of me.”

His arrogance grated on me like nothing else had. No fear, no concern, just… indulgence. He was treating me like a child, playing pretend.

I’m going to enjoy killing you.

“Everyone seems to be underestimating me, lately,” I said. Time for that to change.

He smiled more broadly, his eyes locked intensely on mine. It was mildly off-putting.

“My apologies. What can I do for you, my dear?”

Arrogant, pompous shitheel.

“I need him distracted,” Envy said. Gabriel showed no signs of having heard her. “Thinking about you would be even better. Fight him.”

I cracked my knuckles, smiling genuinely for the first time in days.

“You infected Veronica, Gabriel. You can die.”

No fear, no concern. Just indulgence.

“C’est la vie,” he said.

Chapter 43 – Stop Telling Me Who I Am

Published by Sabrina Labelle on May 2, 2016

“I have a location for you,” Zoe said, handing me a folded up piece of paper. “She’s there a lot.”

That was the first and last thing she said to me about it, which was exactly what I wanted. No questions, no warnings, just information.

It had taken her a few days. That was fine. I spent that time preparing, going over everything I knew about Charlie.

Number one, she was a better fighter than me. She knew her way around a fight, probably had some kind of martial arts training, and she’d been a costumed vigilante even before Impact Day. In a contest of skill, she’d kick my ass.

Number two, she was vicious, and she was clever. She’d lied to Rachel, manipulated her and used their relationship to get what she wanted, then left Rachel broken and half-dead. Her intellect was not to be underestimated.

Number three, her physical ability was likely on par with mine. I didn’t understand the specifics, but it seemed like we were both derivatives of superhumans from the other reality. My power came from Zoe, hers from someone called Wendy. From what I’d gathered, Zoe was the superior fighter, but Charlie was closer to Wendy than I was to Zoe. That more or less evened us out, in that respect.

That might have been a comfort, if not for the first two points. If we were equally matched physically, her skill, experience and cunning would all give her the edge. In a head-to-head fight, I’d lose.

Except I had more tricks up my sleeve. I had Ami’s power, too, and I’d been practicing. It wasn’t even close to perfect, but I was pretty sure I could do some serious damage with it, especially if she couldn’t see it coming. That would be my trump card.

Previously, Charlie had presented herself to me as a pacifist. She didn’t even want to kill the infected. I would have expected that to give me an edge, if she hadn’t then resorted to cold-blooded murder. No certainty there.

The plan was fairly simple. Corner her, fight her, see which of turned out to be stronger. If it was her, I’d bust out Ami’s power, take her by surprise, rip her heart out before she could do anything about it. If I was stronger, I’d do the same, but with my bare hands.

I still had Rachel’s gauntlet. I doubted its electrical discharge would do much to Charlie, but wearing it made me feel a little safer. Like I had an extra weapon, another person on my side. And I could feel a little more righteous about the justice I was dispense. Charlie definitely had it coming.

“Sabrina.”

Rachel was waiting for me by the entrance, leaning against the wall, one knee tucked underneath her. She wore a haunted expression.

“Don’t bother, Rachel.”

“I just want to tell you what to expect,” she said.

I hesitated.

“Fine. Talk. Fast.”

“You can’t beat her,” she said. “It’s impossible.”

Great. Thanks for the pep talk.

“Nothing’s impossible,” I said, taking another step towards the door. If she was going to waste my time, I wasn’t interested in waiting around.

“Sabrina, she’s immortal. Literally. No matter what you do, you can’t kill her.”

It was amazing how little that word meant to me. Was I supposed to care? Functionally, I was too. So was Zoe. So were a bunch of others. It just meant killing her would take longer.

“Good. I can do it as many times as I want, then.”

Rachel recoiled, clearly not expecting my anger. Little did she know.

“Jeez, Sabrina.”

“She has to have a limit,” Zoe interjected. I hadn’t even realised she was paying attention. “We all do.”

Rachel’s eyes darted between the two of us, and she looked uncertain, like she was trying to make up her mind. Her hands clenched into fists, then relaxed.

“No, you’re not understanding me. Zoe, you have a huge reserve of energy. Enough to draw on to heal your body over and over, but like you said, it has a limit. Your body is still a container for it. Take enough damage, and you wouldn’t heal. The energy would escape, or be used up, and you’d be dead.”

Zoe looked genuinely alarmed, more so than I’d ever seen her before. There was a dangerous glint in her eye as she stared down Rachel.

“How do you know that?”

“Because I understand how things work. So trust me when I tell you, Charlie is different.”

“Impossible,” Zoe said, shaking her head. “Energy isn’t limitless.”

“Charlie’s is,” Rachel insisted. “That’s my point. She is impossible.”

Who cares? She can heal herself infinitely? So what? That just means I can keep killing her, over and over and over and over…

“Great, well, you two nerds have fun arguing about that,” I said. “I’m heading out.”

Neither of them stopped me. I shifted into Zoe’s form, already wearing my costume. It felt like the appropriate aesthetic for avenging Veronica.

The address Zoe had given me was for a warehouse along the riverbank, beyond the commercial part of the city. I couldn’t even imagine why it would be the sort of place Charlie would frequent, but it didn’t really matter. As long as there was a chance I’d see her, I’d wait as long as I needed.

“Sabrina, please don’t do this,” Envy said, appearing in a nearby window. I just ignored her. She couldn’t stop me, and I wasn’t interested in hearing her lecture me about it.

I only had to wait for a couple of hours before Charlie showed up. She wasn’t even trying to be subtle. Thankfully, she was alone.

Finally.

I dropped down from my vantage point, landing directly in front of her. She didn’t seem at all surprised, just stopped walking, her hands in her pockets, her trench coat fluttering behind her.

“Found you,” I said, letting my lips curl into what I hoped was a vicious grin.

“Sabrina.” She smiled back at me, almost compassionate. Almost… pitying. Bitch. “I heard about Veronica. I’m so sorry.”

So you won’t even admit it. You’re just making this easier for me.

“I’m sure you are.”

Once again, no surprise registered on her face. And why should it? She knew exactly what she did.

“Ah. I see.”

“Why did you do it?” I asked, not really caring what she had to say. There wasn’t any combination of words that could convince me not to go through with this.

She didn’t even try, though. Her body language shifted, almost imperceptibly, to a more defensive stance.

“I can’t explain it in a way you’d understand. All I could do was make it painless.”

That’s it? That’s all you can say in your own defence? You murdered her, you killed my best friend, a girl you’ve known for years. But hey, at least it was ‘painless’.

“A luxury you won’t be afforded,” I growled.

That time, she did look surprised. Her eyebrows arched, and her eyes grew wide. Not with fear, more… curiosity. I hated her.

“You want to fight me?” she asked, the same way a concerned parent might question a child’s wardrobe choices.

“I want to kill you,” I corrected her.

“That’s not like you,” she said, still sounding concerned.

I caught a flash of Envy, still watching, still silent. Good.

“Everyone needs to stop telling me who I am. None of you know me.”

“Evidently,” Charlie said, sighing. Her shoulders slumped, but if anything she seemed to be relaxing, not tensing up.

Don’t underestimate me, bitch.

“How many times do you think I have to rip off your head before it stops growing back?” I asked, letting all of my malice and aggression flow freely. If she wasn’t going to be intimidated by my words, I’d just have to show her with my actions.

“Go home, Sabrina,” she said calmly. “Find a healthier outlet for your anger.”

Don’t. Talk. Down. To. Me.

“Are you threatening me?”

“No,” she said, sighing again. “I’m very deliberately not threatening you. I don’t want to fight you.”

“Scared?”

In that moment, all of the compassion disappeared from her face. Good, it was clearly fake anyway. She didn’t know how to feel compassion.

“Sabrina, you’re becoming a cliché, and it’s boring me. I like you, I really do. But don’t push me.”

That’s it.

“DON’T TALK DOWN TO ME!” I shouted, loud enough that several windows shook. Envy looked almost frightened. Charlie seemed entirely disinterested, which was only making me want to hurt her more.

“Don’t act like a child, then.”

“You killed my best friend, you sociopathic bitch,” I spat.

Just hit her, I kept telling myself. Talking is a waste of time. Just hit her.

“She was infected, remember?” Charlie said. “Blame Gabriel for that.”

Oh, I will. Right after I’m done with you, I will track him down, and I’ll destroy him too. I’ll destroy every last one of you, if I have to.

“You said you could save her,” I said, barely aware I was fighting back tears.

“I tried.”

“Not hard enough.”

She hesitated, her eyes scanning me. Reassessing my threat? Trying to decide where to hit first? Checking me out?

“I’m leaving, Sabrina. Do us both a favour, and don’t follow me.”

No. You are not getting out of this, you are not walking away from me. You will answer for what you did.

“Fuck-” I began, but the you never came out of my mouth.

“Stop,” Envy said, just a voice in my ear.

I was frozen, completely unable to move as Charlie turned on her heel, and walked away, calmly, patiently. The walk of someone completely without fear.

It was only once she was completely out of sight that I was able to move again. I collapsed to the ground, my entire body aching.

“What?” I choked out, confused and in pain. Had Charlie done something to me? Was there more to her power than I understood?

“I told you not to fight her,” Envy said, standing right in front of me. Not a reflection, no mirrors, just her, standing there. “She’d destroy you.”

“What did you do to me?” I asked, still struggling to talk. I felt so weak, when I hadn’t done anything at all.

“I saved you,” she said passively.

“You-”

“We’re not enemies,” she said, not letting me finish. “Sabrina. We’re in this together.”

No. No, no, no. This is not fair. This is not how any of this is supposed to go.

“You can control me?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. How was she here? What had changed? “I can resist you. It’s not just your body anymore. It’s ours.”

“I never agreed to that,” I said, shaking.

Of course it wasn’t simple. How could it possibly be simple? How stupid was I, to honestly believe I could just one day get all of these superpowers, and not have to pay a price?

“Without me, you’d be dead,” Envy pointed out.

“That still-”

“I know,” she said, and she sounded sincere. She placed a hand on my cheek, and it felt warm. “I didn’t want to ever do this to you, but I had to save you.”

“You betrayed me,” I said, too weak to even push her hand away.

“It’s my power you’re using to fight.”

I felt defeated, barely able to support myself. My body was shaking, weak, and I couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. I dropped to hands, my chest heaving, letting the sobbing overtake me. Envy just stood beside me, one hand resting on my back, between my shoulders, the other gently playing with my hair.

I don’t know how long we stayed like that. It felt like hours. It could have been minutes. It didn’t matter.

I’d lost everything. I lost Veronica, lost my home, lost my purpose. I’d lost control over myself. I’d lost my future.

“You’re certain I’d lose?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said immediately.

“Why? What do you know that you’re not telling me?”

“Charlie, she’s…” Envy paused, and the pause felt pained, uncomfortable. “I don’t know the word. Essential? She’s like a law of this universe.”

What.

“What does that mean?”

“It means if you want to be able to challenge her, you need to use power from outside her universe,” Envy said.

“Like you?”

“Exactly,” she said, smiling.

“I already have you,” I pointed out, but she shook her head.

“I’m not strong enough yet.”

Yet. She said yet.

“So what do you need?” I asked. This fight wasn’t over yet. Together, she and I would get stronger. Then, we’d crush everyone else.

“Collect the power of the others,” she said. “Start with Gabriel.”

“And who else?”

“We need Haylie,” she said.

There’s that name again. It seemed like everyone was looking for Haylie. Even Veronica had written a bunch of notes about her.

Who was Haylie? What made her so damn important? What was she, their damn queen?

“Doesn’t everyone?” I said dryly.

“Gabriel first,” Envy said, ignoring me. “Then her.”

“Then Charlie?”

“Then Charlie,” she said. “I promise.”

Chapter 42 – Not Human Anymore

Published by Sabrina Labelle on April 25, 2016

“Veronica’s dead,” Rachel said.

I just stared at her, willing her to take it back, to tell me it was a lie, a bad joke, anything. She shook her head.

I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t sure there was anything I could say. It didn’t seem real. Veronica couldn’t be dead. Charlie was going to save her, wasn’t she? How could she be dead?

Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe Rachel had confused somebody else for Veronica. How did Rachel even know who Veronica was? Surely it was possible it was just a mix-up…

“No,” was all I managed to croak out.

“I’m sorry,” Rachel said. “I-“

“Take me to her,” I said, cutting her off. It didn’t matter what she said. It didn’t matter what anyone said. I needed to see her.

Rachel looked hesitant, almost uncomfortable.

“Are you sure? She’s not…”

“I need to see,” I insisted. “Who did it? Charlie?”

“It didn’t look like Charlie’s work,” Rachel said, trying to conceal a grim expression. I immediately felt guilty, remembering exactly how intimately Rachel was familiar with Charlie’s… work.

“Right. I’m sorry,” I said, though even I didn’t really believe the forced compassion in my voice. I couldn’t barely think about anything other than Veronica.

Rachel didn’t say anything. The silence began to drag out, then Zoe joined us, as unreadable and aloof as ever.

“Who was she?” she asked, as if she’d been present for the entire conversation. Well, knowing what her hearing was like, she probably had been, wherever she’d been in our little base.

“My best friend,” I said, nearly choking over the words.

“Nobody important, Zoe,” Rachel said, almost like she was trying to argue with me. “Mortal. Inconsequential.”

Rage flared up instantly. How dare she?

“She was not-“

“Why was she in the city?” Zoe asked, dispassionately.

Keep your cool, Sabrina. Zoe is not your enemy. She’s being logical, considering the angles. You need that.

“She was looking for me,” I said. “It’s my fault.”

“Why do you want to see the body?” she asked, catching me off guard.

What did it matter why I wanted to see the body? Did she not possess basic empathy? My best friend was dead, and she-

Right. Not human. Not even close. Of course she wouldn’t understand.

“What do you mean, why? She was my best friend. I want to say goodbye. I want to know what happened.”

She considered that for a few seconds, then turned to leave. As she did, she called back over her shoulder, “Don’t take too long. We don’t have that luxury.”

“You are not the boss of me, you-“

Rachel stepped in front of me, her eyes flashing with a warning of danger. It was enough to shut me up.

“Alright, I’ll take you.”

That was her last word on the subject. She grabbed her jacket, that black fake-leather thing, and a utility belt. Was she expecting a fight? Well, the city basically wasn’t ever safe. I grabbed the gauntlet she’d made for me, transformed, and we left together.

We walked in silence, keeping as rapid a pace as Rachel was capable of. I probably would have been impressed with her, under better circumstances. She was still recovering from her fight with Miss Murder, and between her skeleton and her portable armoury, she was carrying more weight than a person her size should even be able to support. Somehow, she still moved as fast as any athlete I’d ever seen.

She was so different to when we’d first met. No longer the frail, shivering husk of a human, ruined by Charlie; she was powerful, determined, unafraid. I had to wonder about that. Like me, her power was getting stronger. Where had hers come from, though? What was causing them to become stronger? At least I partially understood mine.

“You need to be careful with her,” she said, out of nowhere. “Don’t provoke her.”

This was about Zoe? Why did she care?

“Or what? She’s gonna attack me? Why would she? Besides, I can take her.”

I wasn’t actually as confident about that as I hoped I sounded, but it felt unimportant. Zoe and I, we weren’t enemies. We had no reason to fight, even if we occasionally got on each other’s nerves.

“I doubt that, but fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

She seemed annoyed. Whatever. No skin off my nose. We didn’t need to be friends.

As we walked, I realised I recognised the neighbourhood. A deep, chilling dread washed over me.

“This is where I saw her,” I said weakly. “She was with Charlie…”

“I really don’t think-” Rachel began, but however she was going to finish that sentence got drowned out by my guttural scream.

I saw Veronica, lying on the ground, glassy eyes staring up at the sky. A massive gash replaced her throat. The pool of blood she was lying in had already started to congeal. The smell was overpowering.

“Veronica! Oh, no, no. Oh god, no.”

Whatever I’d been picturing, however bleak, however grim, it wasn’t even close to what seeing her in front of me actually felt like. I felt unstable, like the ground was moving, my head was spinning, the world was racing past me. Nothing felt real.

“I’m sorry,” Rachel said, placing her hand on my shoulder. It felt heavy. I shrugged it off.

“Her throat is slit,” I growled, trying to focus on something productive. Something useful.

“The Celestial’s assassin?” Rachel offered, crouching by the body. “If Veronica was poking around…”

“She didn’t deserve this,” I said, barely able to look at her. None of this was right. None of it made sense. I wanted to hit something, tear something apart, but it wouldn’t help. Nothing I could do would make a difference.

“No arguments here,” Rachel said.

“I’ll kill them,” I snarled, as the thought crystallised in my mind. If not progress, then justice. “Both of them.” The Celestial and his wretched assassin. I’d rip them to pieces with my bare hands, and whisper Veronica’s name in their ears before they died.

“Hey, that’s a sentiment I can get behind,” Rachel said patiently. “But…”

“But?”

“You know how dangerous they are,” she cautioned.

“And you know how powerful I am,” I retorted.

Part of me knew she was right, but I didn’t care. It was the only thing left for me to do. I couldn’t save the city, couldn’t undo the damage that had been done. I couldn’t save Veronica. All I could do was get vengeance.

“You’d lose,” Rachel said. “We’d lose. At least, without a plan.”

“A plan?”

“We could help each other,” she said, suddenly focused. Intense. “Your muscle, my brain. We could find them, make them pay.”

Telling me exactly what I wanted to hear. Why? What did she get out of it? What did she care if I ran off and got myself killed?

“What’s your stake in this?”

“I have my own issues with them,” she said, shuddering. “Let’s leave it at that.”

I noticed something then, sticking out of Veronica’s satchel bag. Ignoring Rachel, I leaned down and extracted it.

“She had a diary,” I commented, more to myself than to Rachel.

“Maybe you shouldn’t…” she cautioned, but I ignored her. This was the closest I could get to what was going on in Veronica’s head, before she died. I needed to know.

“Heh. She had a name for you,” I told Rachel. “You met her?”

“Once,” she replied, looking uncomfortable. “I liked her.”

“She called you Silver.”

“Huh. I like that.”

I kept flicking through pages. All of the notes, they were so very Veronica. Reckless, analytical, passionate. And her determination to find me, to save me…

It broke my heart.

“Okay, we-” I began, but stopped when I saw Envy, staring at me from a window.

“She’s lying to you,” Envy said.

“What?”

“Huh?” Rachel asked, and I realised what it must have looked like. I stopped speaking halfway through my sentence. Dammit, I didn’t want her to know about Envy.

“Sorry, I…” I fumbled for some excuse, some explanation that would satisfy her.

“Phone call,” Envy suggested.

“Right. My phone. I need to… Can I have a few minutes?” I asked, certain I looked like a complete idiot. So long as Rachel left me alone, it didn’t matter.

“Sure,” she said, sounding sceptical. Still, she left.

“Talk fast,” I demanded, as soon as Rachel was out of earshot.

“The assassin didn’t do this,” Envy insisted.

“How do you know?”

“Traces of energy,” she said, as if that explained anything. Still, it was good enough for me. Envy was some kind of weird supernatural entity. It’d pass.

“So who did do it?” I asked. “Not…” If Rachel was lying, what reason could she possibly have? Who else could she be covering for?

“No, the cyborg is innocent,” Envy said, as if reading my mind. “Of this, anyway.”

“Then?”

“The Vigilante,” Envy said, and my heart stopped. “You’ve encountered her before.”

No. No, that’s not fair. I trusted her. I gave her a chance, I left Veronica with her…

“Charlie.”

“Yes,” Envy said. “I’m so sorry, Sabrina. I know how much this hurts you.”

“So Charlie did this,” I repeated, focussing once more. It didn’t actually change that much. It just gave me a new target.

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll kill her, too.”

“What?” Envy said, clearly taken aback. “No, Sabrina, that’s not-”

“Not what?” I demanded. “Not a reasonable response? Not like me?”

Go on. Say it.

“Not like you,” she said.

“Yeah, well, surprise,” I snapped. “I’m not like me. Not anymore.”

“Sabrina…”

“No. Listen. Everything has changed. Monsters are real. My city is burning. My best friend is dead. I’m turning into a… I don’t even know what. I’m sure as hell not human anymore. And you, you are just a voice in my head. You don’t get to judge me.”

Too loud. Rachel probably heard. Whatever. It didn’t matter. Maybe she was scared of Charlie, maybe that was reasonable. I didn’t care. Charlie was going to die, one way or another.

“You’re right,” Envy said. “I’m sorry. Just, please, don’t go after Charlie. It’s not a good idea. You can’t beat her.”

“I can try.”

“Not yet you can’t,” she said, her tone still soft. “But I can help you. Trust me, and I can make you strong enough to fight her.”

Of course, she had her own ideas. Everyone did. Everyone just wanted to use me. Rachel had her schemes. Zoe had her schemes. Envy had her schemes.

“I don’t see why we can’t do both,” I said, dismissing her with a wave. “Rachel! I know you’re listening.”

“Only for my name,” Rachel replied, stepping back into the alleyway.

“Whatever. We’re going home.”

“Okay.”

I saw Envy watching me, watching us from windows and mirrors, but I ignored her. She needed me, and we both knew it. She’d help me get stronger, because she needed me to be stronger. That suited me just fine. We were just going to do it on my terms.

Rachel didn’t say anything the entire way back. She seemed pensive, lost in thought. For all I knew, she was just daydreaming about the next ridiculous weapon she was going to build. Didn’t really care.

I barged into the main room, surprising Zoe. Not with my presence, but with my attitude. She narrowed her eyes at me, putting down a welding torch.

“Zoe.”

“You seem… intense,” she said. “Did something happen?”

“Yes. We have a new objective,” I told her.

“Oh?”

“We’re going after Charlie,” I announced.

“What?” Rachel asked, suddenly tense.

“Why?” Zoe asked, far more composed.

“You know why she’s a threat,” I said. “Let’s deal with her before she deals with us.”

A satisfied smirk played across Zoe’s lips. She folded her arms, leaning back against the bench behind her.

“You think I’m interested in your revenge fantasy?”

Don’t take the high road with me, you bitch. I know what you’re really like. I saw you tear apart those thugs.

“After everything I’ve done for you, you owe me,” I snarled.

“No, I don’t,” she replied, unfazed. “But I’ll help you find her. And that’s all.”

“This is a bad idea,” Rachel interjected.

“So I’ve been told,” I said. “I don’t care.”

Interlude 3

Published by Snow on January 24, 2016

XO sat on the edge of the craft, staring down at the city below, racing past in the dawn light. The closer they got to the city centre, the greater their sense of unease. There was something about this city that just felt wrong.

“This feels like a trap,” they said, feeling the need to voice their concerns.

“It probably is,” Ami agreed, leaning with her arms folded. XO met her eyes, and saw the same concerns, only better hidden.

In her armoured bodysuit, she looked so tiny, but she more than made up for it with presence. A natural fit for the group’s second in command.

“So of course we’re going straight in. With no backup,” XO complained.

“Whatever it is, we can handle it,” Gabriel said, speaking from the back of the craft. His easy confidence, once inspiring, now just grated on XO’s nerves.

Unlike Ami, his bodysuit only served to make him look bigger, grander. His body language was regal, bordering on arrogant. If they were being honest with themselves, XO might have admitted they really didn’t like Gabriel, didn’t trust him, but even then, they’d have to admit he was the right choice for leader.

“That’s what you said last time,” they pointed out.

“Last time was different,” Ami interjected. “She had her attack dog with her.”

XO shuddered. Tyson Briggs was a man who was terrifying just by virtue of his presence. The fact that he’d been re-creating and upgrading himself for the past, what, two centuries? Purely for the purposes of destroying Gabriel? That made him an incredibly dangerous man.

“And how do we know she doesn’t this time?” XO asked. “Or worse?”

“She doesn’t,” Haylie said, surprising them. She didn’t usually weigh in on these conversations. “And it’s not a trap.”

Haylie was the only of them them not wearing combat gear. Instead, she wore a plain white shirt under a long red coat, the colour chosen to compliment her long auburn hair. Her yellow eyes, vaguely luminescent, were fixated on XO.

“You’re sure?” Ami asked, clearly as surprised as XO was.

“I didn’t say she’s unprepared,” Haylie clarified. “But she’s here for a reason, and it’s not us.”

“She’s been here for weeks, right?” XO asked. “I don’t see how she can stand it. I hate Melbourne.”

“None of us feel that quite as strongly as you, Exxo,” Gabriel said diplomatically.

“It’s not nothing, though,” Ami contributed. “Especially close to the Tower…”

XO twitched involuntarily, an instinctual reaction to a troubled memory. They didn’t know what was in the Tower, nobody did, but whatever it was, it radiated discomfort. The last time they were anywhere near it, they were overcome by feelings of rage, to the point where they nearly attacked their teammates.

“The screaming?” they asked, shaking the memory from their head as best they could. Ami’s experience was arguably worse; a never-ending tirade of psychic screams.

“I can’t hear it from this far out, at least,” was all she said in response.

The four of them were silent, as they flew closer to the city centre. XO knew the others would be going over attack plans, memorising street and building layouts, rehashing previous encounters. For their part, all they did was try to stay calm.

“I don’t believe the Tower is her objective,” Haylie said, breaking the silence.

“Any idea what is?” Gabriel pushed, trying and failing to disguise his desperation. His hunt for his ‘sister’ had been his focus for as long as they’d known each other, some eighty years.

“She’s building something,” Haylie said vaguely.

“Alone?” Ami asked. It was a good question. Zoe had access to nearly all of the resources Mason could provide, which was significant. She could have had an entire construction crew, a contingent of soldiers, a temporary base of operations.

“It’s odd, I’ll admit,” Haylie said. “But there’s no-one else nearby. Only humans.”

Xo cringed again. Humans were the last thing they wanted to deal with. Vicious pack hunters, with the strength and cunning to make them dangerous even to someone like Gabriel.

“Exxo,” he began, the discomfort in his voice alerting XO to what he was about to ask. “Are we close enough for you to use your… ability?”

XO closed their eyes, blocking out all stimuli. Slowly, silently, remaining completely still, they reached out, searching. It didn’t take long to find.

Most of the mirrors in the city were broken, shattered. That was okay. They were only relays. XO kept reaching, kept searching. Found more, used them to reach further.

They inhaled sharply as the world burst into light and colour around them, as they attuned themselves to the mirrors, seeing through the reflective surfaces. As they focussed, glass and polished metal began to resonate as well.

It was’t quite a complete picture of the city, but it was a lot, massive amounts of information that threatened to overwhelm them. It took a few more moments of calm, and forced breathing, before they were able to open their eyes again, adding their normal vision to the supernatural expanse their power provided them.

“Not yet,” they said, replying to Gabriel’s question. “But it’s always weaker here.”

“She’s set up a large number of traps,” Haylie said. “And she knows we’re coming.”

“We stick to the plan,” Gabriel said, clearly frustrated. “We can handle this.”

“That’s what you said last time…” XO repeated. Gabriel said nothing.

“We can’t fly any closer,” Haylie announced. “Setting us down on the closest rooftop.”

“I still can’t see her,” XO said.

A 3D holographic map of the city materialised in XO’s vision, through the visor across their eyes. Another layer of vision to try and wrap their head around.

A symbol lit up a particular building in the 3D map.

“She’s here,” Haylie said.

It was within XO’s range, but in the middle of a black spot.

“No mirrors,” they said. “Right.”

“Don’t be reckless, Exxo,” Ami cautioned. “Gabriel, stay focussed.”

“I’ll be fine,” he said coldly. “Everyone ready?”

“Ready.”

“Ready.”

“Ready.”

“Then let’s go,” Gabriel said. “Don’t let her get away again.”

XO waited until last to move. They weren’t as strong as the others, not as fast or as durable. In a one-on-one fight, Zoe would tear them apart. Chances were they wouldn’t even make it that far, with all of the traps.

Gabriel and Ami were Inheritors. In addition to everything else, they could heal almost indefinitely, from all but the most grievous of wounds. Haylie was, well, Haylie didn’t need to worry. There was a reason she didn’t need to wear armour.

Through the reflections, XO watched as Gabriel descended with an almost ethereal grace. His body moved so quickly, his weight placed on surfaces that shouldn’t support it just long enough, from just the right angles, that he wasn’t even slowed down.

Gabriel was known for being strong and fast, and he certainly was those things, but they weren’t what made him dangerous. He was able to process and analyse information as fast as any computer, able to make thousands of tiny decisions in fractions of a second, and his body was fast enough to keep up. Brilliant, analytical, and a master strategist. Just like his sister.

Ami was far less delicate with her descent, but no less graceful. She leapt off the side of the building. The fall wouldn’t have killed her, would barely have slowed her down, but she didn’t hit the ground. Telekinetic forcefields bloomed around her, providing platforms for her to leap across the air, covering ground almost as quickly as Gabriel.

It was a facade, XO knew. Ami presented her telekinetic abilities as large, brutish even, even claimed fine control was impossible. The reality was that she could sever every major artery in a person’s body from across the room in a single instant, without so much as blinking. If you were alive in her presence, it was because she wanted you to be.

Haylie was slower, more methodical. She was capable of moving as quickly as Gabriel, had the mobility of Ami. She didn’t need it. Haylie was patient, and nothing would slow her down.

As XO watched, a pack of humans, roused from sleep, snarled and snapped and took off, chasing down Gabriel. XO considered a warning, but Gabriel’s senses were sharper than most, and he doubtless already knew.

Eight of them leapt from the shadows, each one a biological machine of destruction, all muscle and bone and fury. Gabriel tore through them, not even bothering to use a weapon, barely losing any forward momentum. Blood dripped from his boots and gauntlets.

In any other team, XO’s ability would have been useful. Awareness of an entire battlefield, a subconscious ability to process it all, they’d have been able to coordinate, to direct and control the flow of battle. Instead, they’d been teamed up with three people with absolutely no need for their ability. With Haylie on the team, XO was almost redundant.

XO knew why they’d been assigned to this team, though. Everyone else was frightened. XO was an anomaly, an impossibility, and Genesis only felt safe with XO being watched by the most powerful, dangerous people they had on hand.

Eighty years ago, they’d woken up with no understanding of the world. No language, no memory, barely able to control their own body. Genesis had found them, an infant in an adult’s body.

Genesis had experimented, of course. It would have been foolish not to. Had XO understood enough to consent, they’d have given it. That they couldn’t, and didn’t, was a minor issue in their mind.

The more Genesis discovered, though, the less warm and welcoming they became. XO learned quickly, absorbing language, culture, history in days and weeks. It didn’t take them long to be able to differentiate between the lies and the truth, the subtext and the stated facts.

Gabriel, Ami, Haylie, the many other superhuman entities in Genesis’ employ, they were all understood. They could be explained, if not replicated. They knew their own origins, the ways they functioned. XO defied all reason.

When their powers had begun to develop, it had gotten worse. There was no reason, no science behind what they could do. It broke their laws of physics, where the Inheritors just bent them. XO was impossible, and therefore, XO was dangerous.

Back to the present. XO leapt off the building, activating a gravity distorter before they hit the ground. It provided only a second’s reprieve from gravity, warped it, and they landed softly.

Like Ami, the fall wouldn’t have killed them, would barely slow them down, but it felt unnecessary, brutish even.

With their ability to see almost the entire battlefield, it was easier to avoid the humans than to engage them. XO wasn’t fond of violence, another thing that set them apart from the others. Gabriel could almost sadistic in combat, Ami was cold, unaffected. Haylie was a mystery, but she certainly didn’t seem adverse.

Without warning, six humans materialised in Ami’s presence. That didn’t make sense. There was nowhere for them to have come from.

The moment they appeared, they’d entered the field of Ami’s telekinetic awareness. She knew about them, no need to warn her. Within a second, they were dead, torn apart from the inside out.

Five more appeared, around XO this time. How? There were none nearby a second ago. No, there was something.

Through the mirrors, XO could only see. Complete sight, but no other senses. They could lipread, but they were still limited. Now, with the humans appearing so close, XO’s other senses contributed.

A sound, soft, like a distant crack.

A smell, metallic and acidic.

A taste in the air, chemical.

A feeling, a disturbance in the air, like a brief gust of wind.

And XO knew. The humans had been teleported.

“Haylie. Teleporting humans,” they said, activating their mic. “How?”

“Not sure,” came the response, almost immediately.

The humans attacked, and XO was forced to respond. Leap over that one’s head, only just agile enough to avoid being torn in two. Gun drawn, safety off.

The humans were fast, vicious, coordinated. Not just that, they looked different. Slimmer, sleeker than they should have been. Their eyes, eerily focussed. Calculating.

XO fired, a headshot, right between the eyes. The human was knocked backwards, but stood back up, the wound closing over, the grey skin knitting together.

Impossible.

What about Ami’s lot?

They’d stayed down. Why were XO’s different?

Another group appeared, teleporting around Gabriel.

“They heal, even from a headshot. And they look different. Almost like-“

“Zoe’s blood,” Gabriel interjected. “She’s injecting humans, turning them into soldiers. And teleporting them right to us.”

Another human attacked. XO twisted out of the way, holstering the gun, pulling out a short blade. A press of a button, and the air around the blade began to twist and distort. Gabriel had pulled out a pistol.

“But how?” Ami asked. “We can’t even manage teleportation, how did she figure that out?”

A human lunged. XO moved in, running on instinct, slicing through the chest. Human physiology wasn’t that different. The blood should have crystalised in the same place…

“It’s not a technological limitation,” Haylie said. “We understand how to do it, but the energy required makes it unfeasible at best, impossible at worst.”

The human collapsed, twitching but not getting up. Gabriel unleashed a barrage, still not breaking his momentum. All of his humans were hit, right in the chest. None of them got up.

“So where’s she getting the energy from?”

XO dispatched the rest of their humans in the same way, taking a hit to the shoulder in the process. The human’s nails, elongated and hardened like claws, tore through XO’s armour. Blood splashed, but the wound began to heal, the suit injecting localised painkillers that wouldn’t interrupt motor functions.

“The Tower,” Gabriel answered. “Now we know what she’s doing. And we’re a test run.”

“She lured us here?” Ami asked, suddenly angry.

“It’s fine,” Gabriel said. “We can handle this.”

“I can’t see where the humans are coming from,” XO said. “They must be gathered in my blind spot. She has an army protecting her.”

“So we dismantle the army,” Gabriel said simply. “I’m not letting her go. Not this time.”

“We should call for backup,” XO insisted. “Aaron, Mia…”

“No time,” Gabriel snapped.

They’d nearly reached the building Haylie had identified as Zoe’s base of operations, right in the centre of the blind spot, each approaching from a separate angle. None of them slowed down.

Ami, still about ten stories up, simply through herself through a window, forming a spearhead of telekinetic energy around her.

Gabriel leapt up the side of the building, magnets in his gauntlets and boots allowing him to ascend rapidly up the smooth exterior.

Haylie simply sauntered in the front doors.

As soon as they entered, they disappeared from XO’s sight.

XO reactivated the gravity distortion bubble, much weaker, attaching it to a grappling hook they fired up at the top of the building. With weaker gravity, the hook flew much further, hitting the top of the skyscraper easily, and latching on. Moments later, XO was pulled up into the air.

They smashed through the ceiling entrance, still reaching out with their power, but it seemed as though every reflective surface in the building had been removed. There was nothing to reach out to. They were going in blind.

A trap, placed in full knowledge of the approach they would use. XO knew the others would be facing something similar. Specimen Z knew them too well, had the same analytic capabilities as her brother. An explosion tore through the stairwell, filling the space in an instant. Nowhere to go.

Tech solution? Kinetic shielding, only good for projectiles. Gravity distortion field, no use against this. Weapons, useless. Comms? Stupid to even consider.

Doing nothing? The explosion would incinerate their armour, including the comms systems. They’d be even more blind, without being connected to the others. Their body would burn, but it would recover, back to the same state it began in, just like always. Zoe knew that. Wanted that. Not an option, then.

In the split second before the explosion reached them, they’d considered all the possibilities, but come up with no solution. That was the difference between them and Gabriel. He would have had a solution. Then again, his trap would have been different, taking that into account.

XO just stood there, letting the explosion knock them backwards, slamming them against the wall. Their armour withstood the impact, but not the heat. It melted, twisted, broke apart. XO’s body was already gone, reduced to nothing more than ash.

The next moment, time had passed. They didn’t know how long. They were naked, but unharmed. The stairwell was scorched. No mirrors. No way of seeing. They ran.

Without their helmet, and the HUD that it provided, XO had no concept of the interior of the building. They hadn’t memorised the layout, didn’t even know what floor Specimen Z would be on.

Down. They needed to descend. Keep going down the stairs, listening for any sound of fighting, or Z’s army, or her device. Anything.

One floor below. Two. They kept going, ten stories down, no signs of anything but calm and quiet.

There was a sound. Above them, somehow. They heard shouting. A familiar voice. Ami’s?

“Found them!” she shouted, to whoever was behind her. Then she dropped. A forcefield caught her, and she landed gracefully, reaching out to XO.

“Let’s go,” she said gently.

They took her hand, and she pulled them onto the forcefield. It rocketed them both upwards, back to the ceiling.

Ami and XO walked out onto the ceiling. Haylie had moved their transport to this roof. XO blinked, not quite believing what they were seeing.

Z was captured. Alive, furious, restrained. Gagged, because even letting her speak was dangerous.

“We did it?” they asked, in awe.

“Mostly Haylie,” Ami said. Gabriel glowered at her, but didn’t say anything. His anger was tempered by victory.

This was what he’d wanted, what he’d been working towards for two hundred years. He didn’t seem happy.

Both Ami and Gabriel’s bodysuits were wrecked. Whatever had happened, it had been one hell of a fight. XO had missed it entirely.

“Where is Haylie?” they asked, looking around.

“In the ship,” Ami said. “She took some damage, more than us. She’s resting.”

XO breathed a sigh of relief. Haylie was the closest thing they had to a friend. They respected Gabriel, liked Ami even, but the two of them were cautious, distant. With orders to keep an eye on them, it made sense. That didn’t make it any less uncomfortable.

Haylie was always kind, gentle. Understanding, even. She wasn’t frightened of them, not even concerned. Maybe she sympathised a little. Those who knew what she was, what she really was, tended to treat her similarly.

“Let’s go,” Gabriel said, tense, almost hostile. He disappeared onto the ship.

“What’s with him?” XO asked, once he was out of sight, knowing he’d hear anyway.

“They talked,” Ami said, shrugging.

“They..? Oh. Oh.“

Gabriel and Z, they weren’t accidents. Every part of them had been designed, for very specific purposes. Of all their siblings, living or dead, they were the two that had the most in common.

Part of their design was a vicious social cunning. XO had seen it in Gabriel, knew Z was capable of the same. He picked up social cues, processed and analysed them like combat data. He was an expert on knowing exactly what to say and how to say it, to get the exact outcomes he needed.

Z had needled him, gotten under his defences. The only way he was really vulnerable. Gabriel must have reached her first, and she’d been prepared.

XO didn’t even want to think about whatever she could have said to get to him.

Ami climbed into the transport, offering her hand to XO again. Once on board, she handed them a spare bodysuit, unarmoured. They’d forgotten about being naked. It didn’t bother them, but for modesty’s sake, they dressed.

The ship took off, rising into the air. In the distance, XO could see the Tower. It sent a chill down their spine, unsettling in a way they didn’t understand.

“I can’t believe we did it,” XO said.

“Believe it,” Ami said, placing a hand on their shoulder. “We-“

She didn’t finished whatever she was going to say. A scream filled the air, deafening, painful. XO dropped to their knees, clutching their head, trying in vain to block out the sound.

Ami collapsed to the floor, eyes glazing over. Not an audible scream, then. A psychic scream. One they could all hear.

Gabriel was frantic, panicking. XO had never seen that before. He looked at Zoe, accusatory, but she looked as bad as he did, overcome by fear.

No, not fear. Pain. The scream was one of pain, and they all felt that pain. It overwhelmed them, filled every part of their being, threatened to tear them apart.

XO staggered to the cockpit, looking for Haylie. She looked unconscious, slumped in the seat, eyes closed. XO looked ahead, saw the sky tear open in front of them. Another world expanded, unfolded before them.

No.

The voice filled their head, alien. It was their voice, but it wasn’t.

You cannot enter.

I don’t want to enter, XO thought in response.

The ship kept flying straight ahead, right into the tear, almost as if it were opened just for them. XO tried to seize the controls, but they were non-responsive. Nothing they could do.

The ship hit the tear, began to pass through it. XO did not. Like hitting an invisible wall, their forward momentum was arrested.

The ship continued forward around them, and they were torn out of their seat, thrown to the back of it. The momentum of the ship kept pulling it forward. XO became an immovable object. The ship strained, but it was more than its own engines pulling it forward. The tear had a sort of gravity of its own.

The back of the ship tore apart, rent in two. The ship launched forwards, and XO fell, reaching helplessly.

As they plummeted back towards the ground, knowing the fall would rip their body apart, watching their teammates disappear through a tear in reality, into another dimension, they felt something else. Something new.

Something gone.

A tiny sliver, barely noticeable. Almost nonexistent. They were aware of it, until it passed through the tear. The moment it did, it disappeared from XO’s awareness.

Part of them, gone forever.

Their team, gone forever.

They fell.

They hit the ground.

They died.

They returned.

The sliver was still gone.

Chapter 28 – More Secrets?

Published by Rachel Fierro on January 3, 2016

“What happened?” Sabrina asked, as I stormed in through the main entrance, fuming. I swore silently at myself for not pulling it together before I entered. Seeing Charlie had thrown me off balance, and I needed to be on top of my game whenever I was around these two.

“Nothing,” I said, a terrible lie. “Why?”

Sabrina frowned, folding her arms across her chest. Interestingly, she was looking more feminine than when we’d first met. Had she gotten access to hormones? How? No, the changes were too rapid, even for that. A side-effect of her power? Subconscious minor shifting? No, that wasn’t important.

“You don’t need to lie to me, Rachel. What happened?”

She wasn’t the type to let it drop, and if I kept avoiding it, I would only seem more suspicious. Better to twist it to my advantage. Couldn’t be too obvious about that, though.

“I saw Charlie. I don’t want to talk about it.”

I said it with just enough aggression that it sounded genuine, but not so much that she’d be scared off entirely. At least, I hoped so.

“You survived,” she said, sounding genuinely surprised. Thanks for the vote of confidence. Not that she was wrong to be surprised. There was no chance I’d survive a one-on-one fight with Charlie. “Wasn’t she going to try and kill you?”

Yes, I thought. And instead, she chose to dance with me. Somehow, it was worse.

“It’s not that simple,” I said, cringing as I did. What an awful, cliched line.

“Do explain, then,” Zoe said, practically materialising behind me. As there so often was when speaking to me, a hint of danger accented her voice.

I had to play this very carefully. Give them just enough information to throw them off balance. Preferably without lying. Could I do it?

“I have something of hers,” I said slowly. Truth. “Something she needs.” Lie. “That’s why she threatened me.” Partial truth.

“What?” Sabrina asked, and even though I knew that would be the very next question, I didn’t have an answer prepared.

“I can’t tell you. I’m sorry.”

Both of them looked at me, more suspicious than ever. This wasn’t going the way I wanted, but I couldn’t tell them more. If they knew what I had, what I’d taken from Charlie, what I could do with it…

“More secrets?” Zoe asked, a rhetorical question that was somehow also a threat. I needed to change the tone, and quickly.

“I’m here to help you build your machine,” I said, my tone forceful, aggressive. Half-truth. “You helped fix me. That doesn’t mean I trust you.” Truth.

Zoe looked angry, the same way she always did, for the briefest of moments, so easy to miss if you didn’t know to look for it. Not enough to push me further. That was fine. I just needed more time.

After this, she would probably do another search of my belongings, my notes, everything I had within her grasp. Just like every other time, she wouldn’t find anything. My prize was hidden far from where she could find it, and by the time I was at risk of revealing the location, she wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it.

“So what happened with Charlie?” Sabrina asked, breaking the tension. Well, sort of. I glared at her.

“We… We talked,” I said, letting my shoulders slump. “I don’t think she was expecting to see me, or for me to be… You know. Better. I won’t catch her by surprise a second time.” Truth.

“Maybe it’s not safe for you to go out,” Sabrina suggested. I had to fight the urge to laugh at her, because there was some validity to what she was saying.

Also, it gave me the opportunity to lay some pressure on the two of them, undermine their confidence. Putting them on the back foot would make my job just that little bit easier.

“It’s not safe for me anywhere,” I said. Probably true. “Sooner or later, she’ll figure out where I am. Hell, maybe she already knows.” Truth. She almost certainly knew where I was, she just wasn’t stupid enough to risk taking on both Zoe and Sabrina in a head-on fight. For all her power, she wasn’t guaranteed victory against either of them, let alone both, and especially not on their own turf.

“Should we move?” Zoe asked, and I could tell my attempt to unbalance her had been successful. She was too confident in her ability to stay undetected, too afraid that someone else might find her. Letting Gabriel know her location was one of my backup plans. Let the two of them tear each other apart. I had enough of Zoe’s schematics that I probably didn’t need her anymore.

“She’s not a threat to you,” I said. Mostly true. “Her power, it’s basically the equivalent of Wendy’s.” Mostly true again. “That’s where it came from, after all.” Depending on what you considered ‘all’ of it. There was the power she had before we’d known about Wendy. “Mostly she’s just tenacious.” Definitely true.

“I guess there are three of us,” Sabrina mused. The sort of naive confidence that could get a girl killed.

“I don’t like anyone knowing we’re here,” Zoe said, almost growling the words. It was satisfying, seeing her so on edge.

“Wherever we go, she’d find us again. She’d find me again,” I said. Truth.

“Then maybe I should leave you behind,” Zoe threatened, though her body language told me it wasn’t a serious threat. She wanted me to capitulate, to acknowledge the power imbalance. I was worrying her.

“You can’t finish your machine without me,” I replied confidently. Both the statement, and the confidence, were lies.

“I’ll figure it out eventually,” she said, and we both knew she was right. I was accelerating the process, streamlining production, providing a safer alternative than trial and error for some key components, but I wasn’t essential.

“And risk Gabriel finding you in the meantime?” I countered, with just enough trace of a threat of my own that she’d take it seriously. I could, and would, go to him.

She snarled, a look of utter contempt and fury in her eyes. Sabrina didn’t seem to notice. It was gone in the blink of an eye.

“Fine,” she said, barely concealing her rage. “But we are going to move. And you’re going to do everything in your power to make sure Charlie doesn’t find us,” she added.

“Of course,” I said, lying again. I fully intended on giving her just enough information to find us, just not yet. Not until I was ready. “I’m assuming you already have a place lined up?”

She smiled, accepting the compliment. I genuinely couldn’t tell if her ego was such that she couldn’t tell that I was only playing up to it, or if she just didn’t care.

“How are we going to move all of this without anyone noticing?” Sabrina asked, looking around and the rather massive collection of assorted salvaged tech and scrap.

Before either of us could answer, all of the lights in the building went out. As the three of us tensed, ready for a fight. My mind was racing. Was this Charlie? Had she followed me back? Surely not.

Every monitor I could see lit up, all at once. On each of them, two words were printed.

“Found you.”