After the End - Chapter 21
Author's note: I admit to stealing the term "Grendels," not from Beolwulf but from Simon R. Green, who used it in almost exactly the same context.
*****
"Kevin! Where did that man go?" VonReichter yells from the other side of the door.
Cybersix tries to calm her whirling thoughts. Lucas and Yashimoto stare at her expectantly. She considers her options. If they run, there is a small chance they'll make it past all the soldiers and out of the compound. But then they would have the jungle to deal with, and she doesn't know which direction the nearest village is.
It doesn't matter anyway, she realizes. She knows it's time to deal VonReichter permanently - one way or the other.
"Here's what I'm going to do." She addresses her two friends. "Sylvester's down and there's no types or fixed ideas in there. If I can just get the jump on Data 7 I can rip that thing out of his head. VonReichter won't stand a chance against both of us."
"That's too dangerous!" Lucas insists, trying to keep his voice down.
In no mood to be contradicted, Cybersix turns on him. "I won't leave without my brother!" She hisses.
He backs off.
"Just wait here. I'll charge in there when they least expect it." She goes back to the door and places her ear against it, listening intently. Her keen ears pick up the sound of VonReichter walking across the room, but nothing else. She's going to have to go in blind. She takes a deep breath and kicks open the door.
She quickly takes in the scene. Data 7 is sitting on the other side of the room, head hanging and face completely blank. So VonReichter has to command him before he'll do anything. Wasting no time, she leaps over to him to get at the implant.
"Data 7! Defend yourself!" VonReichter calls just before she reaches him. The panther's eyes focus on her. Cybersix jumps, twisting in the air to land straddling Data 7 's back. With animal-fast reflexes his head whips around. Pain lances through her leg as his teeth sink into her flesh.
"29! It's me!" Cybersix grabs for the implant and tears it out just as her leg feels like it's about to snap in Data 7 's strong jaw.
The intense pressure on her leg disappears as Data 7 lets go of her. She hobbles off his back. He looks at her, then at her bleeding leg. An expression of abject apology overcomes his features. Cybersix smiles at him. She has her brother back.
They hear a scuffling noise from the other side of the room. Both of them spin around to look - but not fast enough. A gunshot rings out. One of Data 7 's hind legs gives out and he falls to the ground. Lucas rushes into the room at the noise, fists raised. Yashimoto appears hot on his heels.
VonReichter is standing near the back of the lab holding a gun. Without pausing he aims it at Cybersix and pulls the trigger. Nothing happens. He pulls the trigger a few more times. The gun is empty. He looks at it incredulously, then drops it. He begins discreetly sideling toward the exit.
Cybersix moves to block his escape, trying to keep from limping. "Oh no, not this time VonReichter. I'm stopping you now."
Even with an injured leg, he's no match for her and he knows it. "Stop!" He holds up his hands in a commanding gesture.
Despite herself, Cybersix stops.
The confidence returns to VonReichter's face. "You'll regret it if you kill me, Cybersix. I have something you desperately want."
He waits for a response. Cybersix just raises her eyebrow cynically.
"I can free you of sustenance. And I'll do that for you if you a little something for me. A fair trade. No strings attached."
She frowns at him. "You offered me that once before and I refused."
His brow furrows. "I did not."
Cybersix is puzzled. "Yes you...." Oh, of course. Now she understands. Sylvester wasn't there when she and VonReichter confronted each other after he unleashed the Isle of Doom. So there was no one to tell this version of VonReichter, the clone, what had happened between them that day.
She purposely lets him see her trying to suppress a grin. Attitude is everything with VonReichter. "Do you know..." She begins stepping toward him. "What happened in your lab that day the Isle of Doom exploded?"
"Jose betrayed me."
"Yes. But do you know who else betrayed you?" She deliberately waits for an answer. VonReichter just looks confused. "Every single one of your monsters did. They attacked you."
He scowls. "What? The Grendels could never... They're not capable..."
She cuts him off . "It's true. You released them from their tanks to attack me. But they ignored me. They turned on you."
VonReichter stumbles backward as if he's been struck. "No. You're lying."
Cybersix shakes her head, then looks him right in the eye. "You must know your own creation better than that, Master; I am not a liar."
"Then they were failures if they disobeyed me!" Now he's getting angry. "Every last one of them!"
She snorts derisively. "Failures! That's your favorite excuse, isn't it?" An idea comes to her. "Let's see now," She begins counting things off on her fingers. "Failures.... first there were the Cybers, then Data 7, Jose, and finally your Grendels. That's a large number of your creations who turned on you in the end. And one of them was your own clone! You couldn't even control him! Not a good track record for the world's most brilliant scientist, if you ask me."
VonReichter is visibly shaken. "But I... I"
Cybersix takes a breath. She's come this far - there's no turning back now. She rushes VonReichter and pushes him against the far wall. "Give me one good reason why I should let you live."
"I told you! I really can free you! Just let me go!"
Oh, so all of the sudden she doesn't have to do him any favors in exchange for freeing her. She sighs. He gave her the wrong answer just now. Cybersix looks her creator deep in the eyes. She doesn't find what she's looking for there either - some trace of humanity.
Decision made. I only hope I don't regret this later.
"The least of all evils..." She doesn't know she speaks aloud.
VonReichter has an instant to look perplexed at her comment. Then she quickly breaks his neck. The sound of his body hitting the floor is unnaturally loud. Then there is nothing but silence.
I did it. She has ended VonReichter's evil. And probably her life with it.
Probably the lives of hundreds... the lives of her closest kin. She didn't really think of this before, but for some reason it doesn't disturb her now. It's too late.
Data 7, Lucas and Yashimoto
For some reason this reminds her of Data 7. "Brother!" Her cry breaks the silence like glass. She rushes over to him. "Are you okay?"
He half-purrs, half-groans in response. She kneels down to examine him. The bullet has struck him in the left thigh, and there's no exit wound; it's still inside.
Cybersix is surprised when Lucas is suddenly beside her. "We need to stop the bleeding. On both of you."
His gaze goes to her leg, and hers
follow it. She has forgotten about her own injury until now.
"No, you won't be." Lucas replies. "Not if we leave that alone. Those are deep puncture wounds."
"Here." Yashimoto appears carrying a bed sheet. "This looks clean."
Lucas takes the sheet and rips it up, then proceeds to quickly bind Cybersix's leg. She watches him work.
"What about Data 7? That bullet is still in his leg. Could you take it out, Lucas?"
He stops what he's doing. "Me? How can I ? I'm not a doctor."
"No, but you're the closest we've got. Please try?"
"There are plenty of surgical instruments here." Yashimoto says as he rifles through a drawer.
"Okay. I'll try." Lucas looks at Data 7. "But this is going to hurt."
Data 7 just blinks at him.
Everyone is silent while Lucas tries to extract the bullet. Cybersix keeps her hand on her brother's head. Time ticks by to the rhythm of the beeping monitor.
After a quarter of an hour or so Lucas finally succeeds. He breathes a sigh of relief as he drops the bullet on the floor. "How are you doing?" He asks Data 7.
The panther nods. All and all he's doing rather well, Cybersix thinks - he hasn't gone into shock or anything.
Lucas begins to cover the wound. "What do we do now?" He asks Cybersix.
She sighs. "I don't know. VonReichter's army is still out there."
"What will they do when they find out he's dead?"
Cybersix looks up at Yashimoto. Does even he realize, she thinks to herself, the depth, the importance of the question he's just asked?
"I'm going to try to sneak you guys out of here. Then I'll come back and deal with VonReichter's creatures myself."
"No way!" Lucas exclaims.
"Are you crazy? You do realize they could turn on you?" Yashimoto questions.
"Of course I do. But there's no reason for all of you to risk yourselves. I opened this Pandora's box; I'll deal with the consequences."
Data 7 's head snaps up suddenly. He looks toward the main exit and begins to growl.
"Someone's coming." Cybersix whispers.
Yashimoto scrambles over to where VonReichter dropped his gun and picks it up.
"That's empty." Lucas tells him.
"They don't know that."
The lab door opens. All four of them stand in front of it, both Cybersix and Data 7 trying to hide their injuries.
A techno bursts in. "Master!.... Ah!" She steps backward reflexively when she sees who's there.
"VonReichter is dead." Cybersix says flatly. She moves out of the way so the techno can see his body lying on the floor.
The techno's face betrays no emotion as she looks on her dead creator. She looks up at Cybersix. "You killed him?"
"Yes."
She nods ever so slightly, then calmly turns back toward the hall. "I'll go to tell the others."
"Wait!" Cybersix calls after her. "What are you going to do?"
The techno shrugs. "I don't know. I guess we'll die eventually." With that, she walks out the door.
That certainly wasn't what Cybersix was expecting. But there isn't time to deal with the techno's odd reaction now. She walks back over to VonReichter's body and stares down at it, wondering what to do with it.
Yashimoto comes to join her. "You know," He says quietly. "I bet VonReichter never would have thought that the same sense of pride he passed on to you would be his undoing."
Cybersix doesn't move. There are many ways that statement can be interpreted, she realizes.