I don't own anything except Victor Corvin, James MacPherson, and Tamara Klein
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After our inconclusive battle with the somehow-alive Virgil, we returned to the Kukai Foundation, whose main cannon would be best suited for annihilating the Song of Nephilim.
"That man..." MOMO said. "He said he was looking for the key inside me." She looked at the deck. "He... probably..."
Jr. touched her face. "It's not your fault." He nodded toward the Song. "Are you sure about this?"
"Yes... My sisters would want this."
Jr. stared out at the menacing object. "Hey, chaos... Do you think this will finally put the Kirschwassers to rest?"
chaos nodded. "Their thoughts exist within MOMO now. Their dream... finally came true."
"Yeah..." Jr. walked up toward the firing station. "Maybe... that's what Albedo wanted... It's... it's because I couldn't..."
"Little Master?" Shelley prompted quietly.
"Yeah... Go ahead."
"Main cannon ready to fire. Target: the Song of Nephilim."
I stood off to one side with Shion, watching. I still wore my armor, though I had removed the helmet, for I was not yet convinced that the danger was past. "This is it," I said quietly. "One of the last phantoms of the Miltian Conflict will finally be destroyed..."
Shion looked at me. "By the way, Victor, you mentioned the 'Abyss' before we left for the Song. What is it?"
I shuddered. "A pair of black holes that mysteriously appeared in the Miltian system at the end of the Conflict. Theoretically, at least, most of the really dangerous remnants of the war were disposed of in it. But I'm no longer certain that this is the case. I had thought the Song of Nephilim was dropped in, too, and then Albedo decided to use it on us. Just be glad it wasn't operating at full strength; the Miltian Conflict ended up a lot worse than it should have been because the Song drives Realians insane... U.R.T.V.s, too, for that matter. That's what sowed the seeds of madness in Albedo; contact with U-DO drove him over the edge."
The Foundations cannons fired then, arcing out to vaporize the Song of Nephilim. But before they hit, a surprising thing happened: the beams bent away from their target, dispersing harmlessly into space.
Jr. gasped. "What the-"
"The Gnosis!" MOMO cried. "The remaining Gnosis! They're being-"
The Gnosis that had yet to be destroyed by the Rhine Maiden were being dragged into the Song, as though drawn in by some irresistible force.
Somehow, I was not surprised to hear a cackling voice over the comm. "I wanted to have some more fun, so I dropped by for a visit," Albedo said, laughing.
"Albedo!" Jr. shouted in rage. "Just let me at you! It's time for you and me to settle this!"
"Now, now, cool your jets. Save the emotional outburst until you've seen my entire performance.": Albedo's mech generated a blast of flame, causing explosions in a line some distance across. And then something materialized beneath the Song, a disc-shaped station.
I swore vilely as I recognized it, and dimly noticed that exclamations were coming in over the comm, from various members of the Contact Subcommittee and Representative Helmer. "You bastard!" I shouted. "How the blazes did you get hold of that abomination!?"
"Impossible!" Helmer breathed.
Dr. Juli Mizrahi echoed him. "That was supposed to be destroyed!"
"Proto... Merkabah..." MOMO said.
"Proto Merkabah...?" Shion repeated.
"The place... where I was born..."
"Impressive, isn't it?" Albedo said, laughing.
For once, Jr. ignored him. "This is where you were born, MOMO?"
She nodded. "Yes. Daddy gathered together the data he needed to create me on Miltia, then sent it to Proto Merkabah."
"So that place was built for the purpose of creating you?"
"That wasn't its original purpose," Dr. Mizrahi said. "It was created to discover the true nature of the universe... The role we ourselves were meant to have. But then he took it, and-"
"That's exactly why we dropped it into the Abyss after we recovered the 100-series!" another Subcommittee member broke in. "How is it that it has returned again!?"
"I don't know," she replied. "But the Original is still on Miltia. With only Proto Merkabah, he can't..."
The massive installation was now firing beams at the Gnosis, beams that I found all two familiar. The snared the inimical life forms, pulling them in. "That light..." Shion murmured. "It's just like when KOS-MOS..."
I nodded. "Yeah. Proto Merkabah has that technology. That's what I was referring to, when I said that the only thing I knew of that could do that no longer existed." I grimaced. "Silly me."
"Jr., the Federation ships!" MOMO cried.
Proto Merkabah had abruptly rotated in space, pointing the cannon mounted at its base at the Federation fleet. It took only a moment for it to charge, and then it fired.
My eyes smoldered with rage as enormous blast ripped into the Federation ships. It was so huge that it wiped out the entire fleet in seconds, simply disintegrating them.
"Well, well," Albedo said. "What do you think of my new toy?" He laughed. "And that was using only the minute amount of energy remaining in this thing."
"How do you know all that!?" Jr. demanded.
"It was ma peche," he explained, oblivious to MOMO's look of shame. "When I linked with her consciousness, I found out how to use this thing." Laughing, he appeared to consider for a moment. "Hmm, I wonder what I should destroy next?" Then his expression brightened. "I know! My next target will be..."
Proto Merkabah turned once more. "Proto Merkabah is changing direction! It's targeting the capital of Second Miltia!" a 100-series exclaimed.
"What!?" Shion shouted.
Albedo chuckled. "Those 100-series are sharp, aren't they?" He noticed Jr. trembling as he gripped a control panel. "You're looking a little pale there, Rubedo. Scared, are you?" He burst into laughter again. "Maybe I should turn you all into pillars of salt. That's not a bad idea!"
I shook with fury. Did you pull that out of a hat, Albedo, or have you been reading Genesis recently? Pillars of salt, indeed. This isn't Sodom and Gomorrah, and we're not Lot's wife. Knock off the melodrama, buddy.
The maniac was still laughing. "Red will become white!"
"Don't mock us, you bastard!" Jr. screamed.
"How long do you think it will take to charge?" Albedo wondered aloud. "Five minutes? Or perhaps ten?" He smiled. "I'll be waiting for you, Rubedo." And his image winked out.
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Later, Dr. Juli Mizrahi's image hung where Albedo's had been. "The target is an old manufacturing facility that was abandoned long before it was completed. Among the data I sent to you earlier is a map showing the most direct route to the core. There's a series of maintenance tunnels leading there. The reactor is located at the nexus where they all meet."
"So all we have to do is take out that reactor, right?" Jr. asked.
Dr. Mizrahi nodded. "Yes. That's shut down Proto Merkabah completely." She looked at us seriously. "I ask you, for the safety of the galaxy, and as a member of the human race, to destroy that abominable machine, one and for all."
"Leave it to us, Juli," I said; I'd known her for fourteen years, so I was on a first-name basis with her. "Besides, I have my own score to settle. That freaky bastard seems to have gotten the services of an old enemy of mine, and I am going to kill him. And anyone else who gets in my way."
"Mommy..." MOMO said quietly.
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We quickly headed for the Elsa from there; the remaining Gnosis had been neatly sucked in by Proto Merkabah, but the old ship was the only thing still in space that was of the right size to dock with the massive space fortress.
"Sorry," Jr. said as we prepared for launch. "I didn't mean to drag you into my personal issues."
Shion shook her head. "Don't worry about it. After all, my homeland is in peril. And we've received company approval." She glanced at Allen. "So it's okay, right, Allen?"
"Oh, sure, why would I want to miss out on the fun?" he said, voice dripping sarcasm. "Besides, it's not like you ever listen to me," he muttered.
"What was that?" Shion demanded. "If you've got something to say, then say it!"
"Ah, no, nothing!" he said, stiffening to attention. "I'd follow you to the very depths of hell!"
"Overdoing it, my awkward friend," I murmured to myself, chuckling. "And also a little pointless, if you ask me."
"Hey," Captain Matthews protested, "what are you trying to do, jinx us?" He looked to MOMO. "So, getting in shouldn't be a problem, right?"
"Right," she agreed. "There should be no external anti-air defense, since it was originally designed as a manufacturing facility. However," she went on, "the internal security systems are probably still operational, so we can expect many active guard machines."
"Mary," Jr. said, "what about the reinforcements from Second Miltia?"
She shook her head. "The spaceborne units were destroyed in the first blast. It looks like a few more are on their way, but they won't get here in time."
"So I guess it's up to us," he murmured. He looked up at Gaignun's comm image, hanging over the deck between Mary and Shelley. "Gaignun, I'm counting on you to cover us until we get inside, okay?"
"Very well." He paused. "I have a request of my own, as well: don't let his provocations get to you again."
"I won't," Jr. replied quietly. "You don't have to worry."
"Then let's launch," I said. "It's time we ended this."
"Right," Matthews agreed. "Hey, Tony, we're launching the Elsa!"
"Aye, sir!" Then, in a quieter voice, "We're getting hazard pay for this, right?"
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As the Elsa soared out toward Proto Merkabah, I stood toward the rear of the ship's Bridge, lost in thought. James... will we meet again aboard that monstrosity? Will our feud end here, or will it continue even past this? What exactly is the nature of your dealings with Albedo? And are you alone in this, or do you have more Immortals with you, waiting for us? I clenched a fist. Why are you doing this? I realize I caused you some trouble four thousand years ago, and later I killed your lover, but isn't four millennia a long time to hold a grudge!?
I was jolted out of my reverie by a hand on my shoulder. "Victor?" Shion said quietly. "Are you okay?"
I turned. "Yeah. Just thinking." I nodded toward the space station. "I have a feeling I'm going to face MacPherson again there. Thing is, I don't know if I can beat him. On the Song of Nephilim I only managed to cut off his arm, and wouldn't have pulled even that off if he hadn't been distracted. Every time I've fought him, he's been just a little better, and twice now he's nearly killed me."
She frowned. "But with Tamara helping you..."
I shook my head sharply. "She can't. According to the rules, only one Immortal can challenge another. Even if she knows I'm going to lose, she can't interfere. Tamara can avenge my death, but she can't save it. One way or another, MacPherson will die this day, but I may not live to see it." I chuckled humorlessly. "Funny; usually an Immortal worries about his mortal friends dying. This time, it'll be the Immortal half of the relationship that bites the dust."
Shion wrapped her arms around me. "Don't think about it, Victor. You'll figure something out."
"Yeah, I hope so." And if MacPherson makes the mistake of sending his flunkies after me first, I'll be even stronger when I challenge him again.
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After docking, we left the Elsa and began the long journey through Proto Merkabah. This wasn't my first time aboard the station; at the end of the Miltian Conflict, I'd been part of the detail assigned to recover whatever there was of use, then scuttle it in the Abyss. I hadn't, however, known of MOMO's presence. Her recovery must have been carried out by another member of the team.
As MOMO had predicted, we faced numerous machine guards, as well as several Gnosis. But I was not overly concerned until I felt the Buzz; and from the strength, there were at least two of them.
"Victor..." Tamara murmured.
"I know." I drew my blade, watching for the Immortals' entrance. I didn't have to wait long; moments later, two people sauntered toward us from a side passage. One was a woman carrying a staff with a blade at each end, and the other was a Chinese-looking man, bearing a light broadsword.
"Elizabeth Frost," Tamara said, narrowing her eyes as she recognized the woman. "But I don't know who the other guy is."
"I do," I said, "though I've never met him and I didn't know he was still alive." I walked toward the pair. "You would be Kim Sun, would you not? The man who was once a friend of Duncan MacLeod, and developed the drug that you hoped would allow you to use morals as mindless soldiers in the Gathering?"
The man nodded. "I'm impressed that you've heard of me, Victor Corvin. Yes, it is I."
"So what are you doing with MacPherson?" I asked. "Elizabeth Frost, I can understand; as I recall, Tamara caused her some grief a thousand years ago, on Atalya."
Frost nodded with a sneer. "That's right; your old girlfriend destroyed my revolutionary movement when she was working with the Atalya counter-terrorism squad." She snorted. "How dare you? We were freedom fighters, not terrorists!"
Tamara smiled. "One woman's freedom fighter is another woman's terrorist. Oftentimes, there's not much difference. And you most assuredly used terror tactics. What else can you call blowing up a hover bus full of school children just when it was passing a government building?"
"The next generation of our oppressors," Frost said contemptuously. "The children of the enemy are just as much at fault as their parents."
"Blaming the children for the sins of the fathers?" Tamara laughed. "And that assumes that the fathers were committing the sins you accused them of in the first place!" She glanced at me. "I'll handle Frost; you take care of Kim Sun."
I nodded fractionally. "As soon as I find out what his grievance is." I looked back at him. "You still haven't answered my question, Kim Sun: Why do you wish to fight me?"
"Because you destroyed my last remaining batch of the drug!" he snarled. "One hundred years, I've been looking for you. One hundred years, searching for the man who destroyed my life's work!"
I frowned. "While I would be glad to be responsible for that, I'm afraid that I have no idea what you're talking about. I've never met you in my entire long life."
"It was Senir, you fool!" Sun was shouting now. "When you raided the headquarters of the terrorist group I was experimenting on, you set fire to everything there, incinerating the last few specimens of that plant that existed in the entire universe!"
A light dawned. "You were behind the terrorists that Ziggy and I annihilated on Senir? In that case, I would be most pleased to kill you. Let us begin."
Without warning, Kim Sun charged me, swinging his blade wildly and screaming at the top of his lungs. I easily parried his first attack, then kicked him backwards. "Have you lost all traces of sanity, Kim Sun? Or are you simply desperate, having been one of those Immortals who spent centuries on holy ground, staying safe while other Immortals gained in strength?" After he made another wild charge, I knocked his attack aside and nodded thoughtfully. "Both, I see. Well, then I'll just have to put you out of my misery."
Tamara was having little difficulty with Frost; she'd already hacked the dark-haired woman's weapon in half. Now her opponent wielded it like a halberd, attempting to use its longer reach to counter Tamara's lethal skill. But it was clear that she was going lose; Tamara was simply too much better.
Of course, she was trained by me, I thought, cheerfully inflating my own ego. What else can you expect from one of my students?
I was having little trouble with Kim Sun, myself. Finally coming face-to-face with the man who ruined his little mind-control project seemed to have pushed him over the edge into complete madness; it was only a matter of time before I killed him.
Indeed, it took even less time than I had anticipated before I lopped off his head; it was at almost the exact moment that Tamara killed Frost. What followed was one of the most bizarre Quickenings I had ever experienced, a double-Quickening. Tamara and I were connected by a strange, bluish, spiral light, as we absorbed the spirits of our defeated enemies.
When it was over, I slowly stood. "That," I gasped, "was most unexpected. MacPherson must be really determined to kill me."
Shion looked confused. "Then why did he send others to kill you, if he wants your spirit for himself?"
"Because he knows they can't beat me; he's sending them out to die to tire me out." I smiled then. "But he's made one miscalculation. James has forgotten that the Quickenings will simply make me stronger, and thus more likely to be the victor when we battle."
"Talk about it later, you two," Jr. said impatiently. "We don't have much time before Proto Merkabah finishes powering up for the next shot!"
"You're right." I sheathed my blade. But as we moved on, I couldn't help but wonder. Albedo thought that it would take no more than ten minutes to charge. So why hasn't he fired yet?
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After battling through several guard machines, and a few Gnosis, we reached a stairway leading up to the 44th level. Not knowing exactly which way we needed to go, we checked the rooms branching off from it.
In the first, we found what appeared to be Realian data. "They're of various makes and models," Ziggy noted, "but they're all older than T.C. 4752."
I shrugged. "Sounds like there was something going on beneath the surface of the Miltian Conflict; it's almost as if somebody planned from the beginning to use the Song of Nephilim, and made sure that Realian types most susceptible to the Song's influence were transferred there."
"Maybe Albedo will have some answers," Jr. muttered darkly. "Though he probably won't feel like enlightening us."
"Let's try the next level," Shion said. "There might be some useful information there."
We found another interesting set of data in the next room. "It's like the Realian information," Shion murmured, "except that this seems to be a list of wounded soldiers."
"Can you tell what the injuries were?" Jr. asked.
"Not exactly," she replied, "since the data is too fragmented, but from the lists of medications, they were mental, not physical, injuries."
"I see. I guess there's a reason you're chief engineer at Vector." At Shion's odd look, Jr. appeared confused. "What? Did I say something weird?"
She shook her head quickly. "Ah, no, it's- it's nothing."
I tapped the computer screen. "She's right, though. I recognize one of these as the medication Cherenkov was taking, before he died. It's for personality reconditioning."
"The Commander underwent personality reconditioning?" Shion asked, surprised. "How did you find that out?"
I shrugged. "Contacted Helmer; he had Captain Roman fish Cherenkov's file out of the fleet database. That in and of itself didn't tell us anything, since it was largely forged, but we were able to connect it with a file in the criminal databases. It seems that Cherenkov was a super-soldier, created the year after the Zoar Incident, and couldn't adjust to civilian life. He was convicted of several murders, but the courts took into account his origins, and sentenced him to level 7 personality reconditioning. Unfortunately, it didn't quite take, so he underwent level 8, and finally even level 9, reconditioning. Even that didn't quite work, though, so he ended up with U-TIC." I paused. "He was the one who activated KOS-MOS, two years ago."
Shion gasped. "The Commander was there?"
"Yeah." I frowned. "But we still haven't tracked down who gave him the gear that activated the archetype. It had to be someone attached to the Project, but I surmise the culprit was killed in the incident."
"This is all very interesting," Tamara said, "but it's not exactly useful to our mission. Let's move on."
On level 43, we finally located the data we needed: a schematic of the station. "Can you find the reactor from here?" Ziggy asked.
"Yes," Shion replied. "It looks like it's several level below us. We need to go up one level, then down two elevators. It's a pretty complex route, but we should reach our target soon."
"Soon," Jr. hissed. "Soon, we'll finish this, Albedo."
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After several more minutes of traversing the enormous space station, we entered a large room that seemed to disturb MOMO somewhat. "This is..." she murmured. "This is the room where I was born."
"What?" Shion asked in surprise. "This is where you were born?"
MOMO looked at the deck. "Mommy never told me what this facility was actually responsible for, during the Miltian Conflict. But... I think I know." She paused for a long moment. "When I was born, Daddy died," she finished in a whisper.
I glanced around the room. I did wonder what this place was for... So this apparatus opened the way for the Gnosis to enter our world in large numbers?
"If that vision was true," MOMO continued, "then what happened afterwards was... Mommy's right. This is an abominable machine." She paused again. "If a lot of people died because of my birth, does that mean I'm an abomination, too? Just like Daddy?"
There was silence for several moments, and then Shion spoke forcefully. "No! No parent could ever say that!"
"Shion?"
"No parent could ever think of their child as an abomination," Shion went on. "Surely, there's no way..."
I stiffened then. The Buzz filled my head, and I had a pretty good idea of who it was. "Shion, go."
She looked at me, puzzled. "Victor...? What's-"
"Go, go, go!" I shouted. "He's coming!"
"MacPherson?" Tamara demanded. "Then I have to stay! If he kills you, then I-"
"Shut up and go!" I snapped. "The others need an Immortal with them, and this is my fight. Mine alone. Go!"
There was no time for further argument; Albedo needed to be stopped. And so they left, leaving me to face my age-old nemesis alone once more.
MacPherson showed his face as soon as the room was otherwise empty. "Victor."
"James." I glanced at his left arm, the on I'd amputated during our last encounter. There was a new one in its place. "I see you have a new arm, mon ami. Nanotechnology, like mine? Or just a standard prosthetic?"
The Scotsman chuckled. "I recovered what was left of yours after the madman Albedo blew it off. There were enough salvageable components to rapidly assemble my new appendage. By the way," he added, "I trust Kim Sun and Ms. Frost have been dealt with?"
I snorted. "I'm here, aren't I?" I drew Lady Vivamus. "It ends tonight."
"Indeed, Victor." MacPherson saluted me with his claymore. "Let the best Immortal win."
"Yes."
And then, we charged, blades raised. "There can be only one!"
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Author's note: Another chapter finished. Don't worry about the cliffhanger; I'll get the last chapter up as soon as I can. I simply felt this an appropriate way to end this one. Next chapter, the group will face Albedo... but Victor's fate is still unknown. That one will at least start from a third-person perspective; I think the effect will be satisfactory.
Oh, yes; I meant to reply to darkdragon24's review in the previous chapter's notes: At least once in the Highlander series, a head is indeed taken with a something other than a sword; I don't recall which episode or what the evil Immortal's name was, but Duncan used a spear to kill the Immortal who destroyed his Indian tribe a century before. Also, he used Caleb's own axe to kill him, in the first season. As regards a double-bladed weapon, you'll note that Jin Kei, in Endgame, preferred that weapon.
I think that about covers things for this chapter; read it and let me know what you think. Solid Shark