Chapter 19: Facing Typhoid Mary
The compound was more complicated than they had first assumed and Guinevere was out of her element. The buildings they had seen from a distance were actually just one building with several towers. Once inside they found themselves in a maze of white halls, observation rooms, medical labs, beaker labs and various other science study areas. One room would lead to four others that opened into different hallways. Men and women in white lab coats leapt out of their way and tried to flee.
Thatch and Rory caught as many of the scientists as they could and questioned them about Mary, but none could give them answers. None of them even knew she was supposed to be on the island, though some didn't know her at all and others were shocked to learn she was supposed to be there. The later's reaction a mixture of revulsion and horror. Thatch could sympathize with them even as he growled in frustration. Who wanted a walking epidemic working near them?
As they continued, they encountered fewer and fewer people, probably a result of warnings being radioed ahead of their coming and the scientists evacuating the building. More and more of the rooms they peered into were empty of people.
"She may already be gone from the building at this rate, Commander," said Rory.
"I didn't think the place would be this big," commented Teech. "I thought once we reached the main area she would be easy to find."
"My apologies," said Guinevere. "it seems my use to you is at an end and we still have not found this woman yet."
"We did better because you were with us than we would have without you," said Thatch. "We would still be searching the slave quarters without realizing how far off the mark we were if you hadn't guided us this far."
"Still, if she has fled the building as suggested, then we may have to search the quarters as originally intended."
"It was never are intention to search those areas, however, I don't think she has fled. If that plant scientist's words are true then she is probably here waiting for us in what will be her ideal battleground." Thatch paused as he thought back to the words of the scientist at the slave's medic bay.
"I knew she needed a person to incubate her viruses first or else it can't be used, but why did she place such an important one in an outside body instead of using the ones we had available? And why not just do it again with our incubators instead of insisting on capturing this one?"
"Whatever it was she gave Ace she, for whatever reason, needs him specifically. I'm certain she will come to claim him herself now that all other attempts to capture him have failed. We're conveniently bringing her precious incubator to her. She won't flee from such an opportunity."
"That could mean we're heading right into another trap, Commander," said Teech.
"Do you see any way to avoid it?" asked Thatch. When no one responded he continued, "We need to find her and she knows it. All she has to do is wait in her set trap. It would be foolish of her to move from it."
"So what's the plan once we find her?" asked Rory. "We don't have the element of surprise and she's waiting for us on ground that will favor her."
"Rory, as our only doctor," replied Thatch, "you'll stay out of her spray range and out of the fight in general if there turns out to be more than just her waiting for us. You have to stay healthy for all our sakes."
Rory growled but responded, "I understand."
"Good thing you're a gunman by trade," said Teech. "You'll still be able to help."
"You are thinking that if you get Mary before her illnesses can take hold it won't matter that she infects you?" asked Guinevere.
"I wish that were the case," replied Thatch as he closed another door on an empty room. "Her illnesses are fast acting and able to drop a person within seconds of exposure. This is devil fruit power, not something natural."
Guinevere was silent for a moment then muttered, "The twenty kings were truly horrid people to fashion such despicable things."
Thatch wondered at her words but, before he could ask for an explanation, she stopped before a door with her hand outstretched, frozen. Thatch stopped the others then cast his senses into the room beyond. A person was present, alone and unafraid. Given that all the other rooms had been empty for a while this one's presence stood out sharply.
"Get ready," hissed Thatch.
Teech put Ace down and readied his knuckle blades. Ace wobbled and Rory reached out to steady him. Thatch felt his heart catch in his throat. Ace was with them because there was nothing else they could do with him in their situation, but he really should be hidden away somewhere to rest until all this was over. Medicine or not, Ace was not fit to fight.
Then Ace and Rory nearly pitched forward. Thatch was about to tell Rory to keep Ace near him when he felt his own body lurch. The ground was shaking. Dust fell loose from the ceiling and glass lamps rattled in their wall stands.
"Oi oi, what's going on?" said Teech.
"I do not know," replied Guinevere. "This has never happened before."
"Let's get this over with," said Thatch suddenly having a bad feeling about the tremors. "Let's go!" He kicked open the door with his cudgels raised. Teech followed then Guinevere and last were Ace and Rory.
Standing in the middle of the room was the woman that had attacked the Moby Dick. She smiled warmly at them.
"Welcome, crew of White Beard," said Mary. "I'm so glad you could accept my invitation and even better you remembered to bring me my precious incubator. My, he seems to be ripe. We must harvest my virus soon less it begin to rot on the vine."
Thatch bared his teeth at the way she was addressing Ace. Rory stuck his hand out to hold Ace back. Not that Ace was moving yet, still it was a good precaution. There was no telling when Ace would act on his own in the state he was in.
"Why Ace?" asked Thatch. She wasn't attacking yet. He didn't know what she had planned and he couldn't rush her without understanding her motives. If he knew her motives he could guess how she would attack. Also if he could distract her by stoking her ego Rory might just be able to line up a shot. After all, Mary was a paramecia not a logia. Rory's guns would be effective if he could land a hit.
"Why not?" Mary replied with a shrug.
"Did you attack the Moby Dick just to get Ace?"
"Heavens, no," said Mary with a dismissive wave. Her hands were bare and beneath her long sleeves he saw bracelets with edges. The means to make herself bleed to better infect people with. She wasn't bleeding yet but it would only take a second to get the blood flowing and, worse, she really just needed skin to skin contact to have the same effect.
Mary continued, "I saw your ship and thought it might be fun to try out some of my attack viruses I was crafting. They worked wonderfully, by the way. A complete success. I've already replicated them in our incubators here. I'll be able to turn them over to the World Government for their use as a weapon soon, once Doctor Holiday has finished processing them."
Thatch hissed at her words. Plague weapons? The idea horrified him. He wasn't the only one bothered.
"You would wage war using diseases?!" gasped Guinevere.
"The World Government will use any weapon at their disposal to gain the upper hand. This isn't exactly news. Only the foolish commoners think the World Government is a force of justice and light. What gets me rolling are the Marines who actually buy into that nonsense. Seriously, have they never stopped to wonder about what it is they are protecting when their superiors order them to kill the civilians just so they can get that one pirate that's hiding behind them? They do it without question because it is all for the sake of justice. They'll do anything if they believe it will lead to long-term peace. Too bad for them, it never does."
Guinevere looked as if she was going to charge the woman and Mary placed one hand by the other's bracelet, ready to cut herself. Thatch hastily put a hand out to stop Guinevere from attacking. Guinevere had no weapons and this wasn't her battle. Her revenge lay elsewhere, she shouldn't be getting hurt fighting their fight.
"Then why are you so fixated on Ace if he wasn't even your initial target?" asked Thatch. The ground beneath them shivered again and more dust floated down from the ceiling. He felt like he was wasting time, but he had to understand, so that he could tell White Beard what happened.
"The virus he carries is special. It won't be a weapon itself but will be used to craft a weapon and I thought adding a little fire as a component of this new weapon was a great idea. In other words, I saw his ability while fighting all of you on your ship and thought Doctor Holiday might like it for his project, that's all."
Thatch was floored. The entire attack on the Moby Dick had been done on impulse. There had been no plan, there had been no reason. She had just done it because they were there. The White Beard's, the most powerful and influential pirate fleet in the New World was in danger of being wiped out because of one woman's impulsive decision making. He would have laughed at the absurdity of it all if it wasn't so terrifying.
"And here I thought you were some brilliant mastermind but you're just an impulsive woman with a dangerous ability," said Thatch.
"Indeed," said Mary her face shifting to malicious glee. She struck her hands against her wrists and charged forward. Thatch dodged to the side, Teech jumped back and Guinevere leapt forward. Rory started firing but Mary leapt to the side and swung her bleeding hands around in an arc, crimson streams flew toward Guinevere. The nimble woman back flipped over the spray, landing on her feet and raced forward again.
Teech stabbed at the woman having charged while Mary was focused on Guinevere, but the woman leapt over his outstretched fist and lightly landed on it with her flat bare palm. Teech collapsed a second later, his muscles spasming.
"Teech!" shouted Thatch.
"Wretched creature!" shouted Guinevere, lunging forward.
Mary smiled and whipped another bloody arc at the charging woman. This time it struck Guinevere full in the face. Guinevere cried out and fell to the floor, blinded by the spray in her eyes.
Rory was still shooting but Mary was continuing to dodge. Then it happened. Rory's guns ran out of ammo. He looked down at his weapons in horror when the hammer clicked without a follow-up pop. Mary smirked then turned her attention to Thatch.
Streams of fire shot from Ace but missed Mary by several feet. Ace shook his head then stepped forward.
"Ace! Stay back!" shouted Thatch.
"I take it you're seeing double or else that would have been more accurate," said Mary with another laugh. "I highly doubt you're actually that terrible a shot."
"She won't attack me," said Ace. "She won't risk contaminating her precious incubator with another virus."
"How astute, Fire Fist," said Mary, losing her smile for a moment. Then it returned with a trace of mockery in it. "However, I doubt you are any threat to me seeing as you are struggling to just stand."
Cracks were appearing in the ceiling above and the ground's shivering was becoming a stance throwing shudder. Now Mary seemed to notice what was happening to the building.
"Is this Jane's doing? That crazy bitch!" snapped Mary.
In her moment of distraction, Ace staggered forward, trying to get close enough so that his double vision wouldn't affect his aim as much. Mary saw and leapt backward. The shifting ground caused her to stagger into the wall and Ace launched a double fist of flame at her. She dodged to the side and the flames ignited the walls and raced up to the ceiling.
Thatch wondered at the speed then smelled smoke coming from behind him. The lamps in the hallway had broken free of their fixtures, their oil was spilling all over and some of the wicks had remained lit despite the breeze created by the fall. The wall that Ace hit must have already been ablaze on the other side.
Ace staggered again as he gave pursuit to Mary. Thatch withdrew to see to the others. Rory was looking after Teech so Thatch searched for Guinevere. The woman was not where she had fallen. He looked around for her then noticed the ceiling was beginning to sag over where Ace was trying to reach Mary.
"Ace! Retreat!" cried Thatch. "Ace!"
Ace wouldn't or couldn't hear him as he focused on his target. The ceiling cracked then came down in a shower of timbers, stone and tile. Mary screamed as the debris fell upon her. Ace, however, was knocked to safety by Guinevere, who appeared out of nowhere to throw herself on Ace and drive him away from the destruction. Somehow she had remained mobile despite the infection.
Guinevere and Ace landed several feet away from the crashed ceiling. She looked over her shoulder at the mess. Her eyes startled Thatch, their vivid green stood out now that the skin was darkened with blood. They seemed to glow in the firelight and appeared reptilian. She blinked and looked at Thatch, appearing normal, albeit, still splashed with blood. Thatch wondered if his eyes had been playing tricks on him.
"She is dead, I sensed her life expire just now," Guinevere reported. She stood up and helped Ace regain his feet. He wobbled, mostly from his own lack of balance, but remained standing. The ground was shuddering again and Thatch wondered what Mary had meant when she had spoken before about someone named Jane.
"Teech?" called Thatch.
"I'm all right now," Teech said, sitting up.
"Looks like if it doesn't have time to take, the symptoms disappear," said Rory.
"Ace?" Thatch turned to regard his young shipmate. Ace smiled weakly at Thatch and then a shadow leapt out of a doorway striking Ace in the back.
Ace yelled, his back arcing from the impact. The shadow was a man in a white lab coat. He then drew back and laughed.
"Thanks for this, Fire Fist," said the man. "You and Mary have given me a wondrous prize." He held up his hand and Thatch spied a large syringe nearly full with blood, Ace's blood. Guinevere caught Ace as fell forward and held his shuddering body while glaring at the newcomer.
"Holiday?!" hissed Thatch, certain this was the man Mary and the plant scientist had been talking about.
"Indeed," he said with a smirk. "But instead of coming after me, if you truly value your miserable lives, you should instead be fleeing. Calamity Jane has unleashed her power on the island and this old volcano is waking back up. So it would be best to not linger here much longer."
With that, the man disappeared and the door he had appeared through vanished beneath an avalanche of burning debris. Guinevere leaned Ace back to look at him. The young man leaned against her chest, unmoving. His eyes rolled open but he didn't seem to be looking at anything. His breathing was shallow.
"This virus has been in him for far too long, the effects will not fade as swiftly as it did with Teech-san, I fear," she said.
"I just need a second," said Teech still sitting on the floor as he worked through the various muscles, checking their responses.
"I don't think we have a second," said Rory as he looked around at the burning room.
"I think that second passed us some time ago," said Thatch as he too sought an exit, but all he saw were burning debris and walls. The doors were lost.
"Everyone head for the docks," shouted Crockett as the ground gave another violent shake. Ash was pouring into the sky from the lowest reaches of the quarry and he could hear the crystals popping as they exploded when exposed to the rising lava.
"Damn, Jane!" snapped Reid as he and his men ran up the tower stairs that led to the port.
"I never thought she would actually go and do it!" said Bill.
Lava was pouring out of cracks and fissures in the quarry. Buildings in the slave quarters, made cheaply with little regard to safety, had already begun toppling over just from the small earthquakes that had signaled the volcano's reawakening.
Crockett was on his den den mushi shouting, "Evacuate all personal at once onto every ship and boat in port and launch them as soon as they are full! There is no time to worry about equipment! Get everyone out now!"
I thank all those that are leaving reviews. I do appreciate it. Just to let you know... Fire Storm is fully written. I wrote it for NaNoWriMo back in November. I am purposely releasing the chapters once a day to spread out its exposure. (So please stop asking me to update. I'm flattered you like the story but reading "Please update soon" 20 times in a row, on the same day, in painful.)
I've found I need at least a few weeks between the initial draft and an edit to catch mistakes and make adjustments. A few more weeks for second edit then I post. The website here is not nice to my uploads. I just realized the scene break markers are missing and I'm too lazy to reupload all the chapters at this time with new compatible scene break markers.
If you go to my profile you'll see what I'm working on. I'm still trying to figure out Shadow Storm so the Storm Warning series won't be getting an update any time soon. Dark Sea Chronicles is going to be getting the next release sequence and that might be in May as I'm currently working on one of its entries right now. Camp NaNoWriMo is going on right now.
For artwork commissioned in relation to Dark Sea Chronicles as well as the cover for Fire Storm you can find it featured on my deviantart page. Artwork was done by the talented FanasY.
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