After the End - Chapter 15
Yashimoto turns to look at Cybersix. Now things are getting interesting. She shakes her head slightly and holds the up her hand for him to wait. He looks back at the mansion and watches as the man who must be Sylvester scurries along the stone wall toward the back of the property, apparently trying to remain unseen. Minutes ago he had jumped from a third story window, carrying a large duffle bag. Which raised the first two questions: Why was he leaving secretly by the window instead of using the front door? And what was in the bag?
Not until Sylvester disappears around the far corner of the wall does Cybersix motion for them to get up and follow. Yashimoto firmly reminds himself of her admonition to be quiet as he follows her to the wall. She indicates that Data 7 should take the lead, and the three of them begin to track Sylvester's path.
When they get to the corner, Data 7 stops and Cybersix again motions for Yashimoto to wait. Standing behind her, he can't see what's going on ahead. A grating sound intrudes over the night insects.
Seconds later Data 7 starts forward and they follow him out into a field behind the houses. He stops at a manhole cover sunk into the bare ground and puts his paw on it.
Cybersix gives Yashimoto a look like "it figures," then kneels down and whispers something in the panther's ear. He nods briskly and turns around, bounding off into the brush surrounding the back of the mansion. She spreads her hands and shrugs her shoulders at Yashimoto; of course, Data 7 can't follow them down the manhole. She removes the cover easily, revealing complete darkness beyond, then starts down the ladder unhesitatingly.
Yashimoto wonders how they're going to get by down there with only the miniature flashlight they have, but because he promised, he follows her and remains silent.
Shaking off the sleep from his nap, VonReichter stretches languorously as he enters into his lab. He glances over at Type 2, sitting slouched in the tank, her back to him. He strolls over and leans close to the side, then knocks on it like a door.
Type 2's head jerks up abruptly. She squints at him through slitted eyes before turning away and burying her head in her arms once more.
He opens up the tank and reaches in to grab her chin, lifting her face to his. Slumping weakly in his grasp, she tries to stop herself from trembling, without much success. Her eyes remain closed. VonReichter pushes her head back to better examine the rest of her body. Sweat glistens on her collar and is beginning to show through under her breasts. Her breathing is a bit too heavy.
He releases her chin and waits while she slowly sits back. Then he raises his hands and claps them together loudly in her face. She whimpers feebly, hands moving to cover her ears at the painful noise.
He makes no attempt to keep the grin off his face. "What do you say now?"
She lowers her hands to her sides, her head hanging. "Please,"
"That's better. " He leaves her and returns a moment later with a vial of sustenance. Taking her by the hair, he tilts her head back and pours it down her throat. She gulps it down eagerly, moaning a little. He feeds her another half a vial to fully restore her levels, then waits patiently for it to take effect.
Withholding sustenance is not his preferred form of punishment, but his resources are limited right now. It makes his creatures weak, and he wants them to be powerful. On the other hand, one thing such punishment does do is remind his people just how much they need him.
In a few short minutes Type 2 has fully recovered. VonReichter crosses his arms on his chest and looks at her sternly. "You have been a good assassin up to now. I'm very disappointed in you. That was strike one. Fail me twice more and you're dead. Understand?"
"Yes, Master."
He points toward the exit. "Now go."
Without glancing at him, she rises and walks to the door.
"Oh, and Rue,"
The type whirls around, her eyes getting satisfactorily big at his use of her secret nickname. "Cut your hair," He says conversationally. "It's much too long."
She turns back toward the exit, her back stiffening ever so slightly. "Yes, Master." She leaves.
Something wet splats on Yashimoto's head. He sidesteps to get away from the drip, fervently hoping it is only water. He his attention returns to the faint light up ahead, a patch of less-dark surrounded by the more-dark. The light retreats quickly down the tunnel. Cybersix pulls on his arm to draw him forward. When they first entered the sewer, Cybersix had taken a firm grip on his arm to guide him; apparently she could see unnaturally well in the dark.
He can't say how long they've been following the glow of Sylvester's flashlight through the tomb-like tunnels under the city. They've had to stay so far behind him to avoid being heard that his light is only a glow in the distance, and sometimes as he turns a corner they are left in complete blackness. It is surreal ; Yashimoto feels as if he's suddenly been dropped into a thriller movie.
At what appears to be a dead end of their current tunnel, Sylvester's light stops moving. Yashimoto and Cybersix both halt in sync. Seconds later the light starts moving again - up. The sound of Sylvester's feet striking a ladder echoes in the silence as his distorted shadow makes its way up the far wall. Yashimoto suppresses a sigh of relief.
Minutes later Cybersix helps him a out of the sewer. He takes a slow deep breath and looks around. They're standing on the very edge of town, on a narrow lane where all the buildings look abandoned. Sylvester is nowhere to be seen.
Cybersix points to a place in the scrub that starts where the pavement ends. Squinting in the faint moonlight, Yashimoto can just barely see the evidence that someone has recently passed this way. So Sylvester is going to out of the city; easier to track him, but harder to stay quiet.
They trail through the bush for another while yet, dodging stealthily from tree to tree to avoid being seen. Finally Sylvester stops in the middle of a small clearing. He turns a little...
Both of them instantly drop behind a dense bush. That was too close. They wait in tense silence to see if they've been found out, not even daring to even to peek at what Sylvester is doing. After several minutes Cybersix edges closer to the bush and moves a branch slightly to look through it. His heart beginning to slow, Yashimoto takes out his opera glasses and does the same; Sylvester is too far away for his eyes.
Together they watch as Sylvester crouches down. He places his hands on the ground - is he going to dig for something? Then he sits down and his legs appear to go into the ground. There's a hole there, Yashimoto realizes. Sylvester removes the heavy duffel bag he's been carrying from his shoulder and passes it down the hole, as if handing it to someone. Yashimoto sees him nod; then his lips move as he speaks. He disappears down the hole. Some kind of door slides over the place where he entered.
"Well, what do you think?" Yashimoto whispers, unable to keep silent any longer. "I'd say that whatever he's doing, it's without Jose's knowledge. And what do you think's down there?" He peers through the bush again at the place where the trap door appeared. "Cybersix?" When she doesn't answer, he turns to look at her. Her face has gone chalk white and her body is stock still. "Cybersix? Are you okay?"
"I heard what he said." She replies at length, her voice a hoarse whisper.
"What? What did he say?"
"'Yes, Master.' VonReichter's down there."
Lucas hangs up the phone and sighs. He's been trying to reach Cybersix all day and still no luck. He walks over to the window and looks out at the night. The sun has only just set, its last light a faint red smudge on the horizon. Without realizing he's doing it , he scans the rooftops of the nearby buildings, looking for her.
He shakes his head to stop himself, then sighs again. He knows he did something wrong by telling Kevin about her, but she hadn't even given him a chance to explain why he did it. Or to tell her that Kevin had agreed to help her.
He turns and looks around the room, his eyes falling on a host of familiar things. Well, he isn't getting anywhere trying to call her. He gathers his courage and his coat and leaves for her apartment.
****
Half an hour later he walks back in his own front door, now twice as despondent as before. Cybersix either wasn't home or wouldn't answer his knocks. Lucas finds himself hoping it's the former. He goes to his desk and sits down, resting his head on his hand. He hasn't been tied in knots like this over a woman since.. well, since never. In an attempt to get his mind off it - her - he takes out some tests he has to mark and picks up his pen.
"Ow!" Something pricks into the small of his back. He turns around to see a tiny dart sticking out of him. He pulls the dart out and examines it.
A sense of danger washes over him as survival instinct kicks in. Someone is here, and he has to get out fast. He gets to his feet and heads for the door.
A figure appears in front of him so quickly it seems to have materialized out of thin air. Sylvester is standing between him and the door.
Knowing there's no time to waste, Lucas moves in with a powerful punch.
Pain flares in his jaw and his head snaps back. Dazed, he looks at his opponent. Sylvester's punch was so fast he hadn't even seen the thought of it coming.
A wave of vertigo sweeps over Lucas. An unseen force at drags his arms back down to his sides. His feet disappear from under him and he abruptly sits down on the floor.
"Lucas," He looks up at Sylvester as if he's never seen him before. His eyes are glazed over.
"Listen to me, Lucas. You're going to do exactly what I tell you. Understand?"
He nods trustingly, like a small child.
"We're going to leave here. You're going to follow me, willingly, as if you're going out with a friend. If anyone asks who I am, you're going to tell them I'm your cousin, in town for a visit. Got it?"
"Okay." Deep in the back of his mind a voice is insisting that something's wrong here, but he can't quite figure out what that something might be.
"Get up."
He
"Get your coat." Sylvester conceals the dart gun in his jacket. "And your wallet." He adds as an afterthought.
Lucas does as he's told.