The Love Hina Fanboy War: The Bonds of Time
Love Hina by Ken Akamatsu
Original story by Kanako Himezaki-Urashima
Story by various authors, such as Andrew J. Talon, Kebinu, Lance Waymire, and the like
This chapter written by Tuxedo Jack and Andrew J. Talon
Warning: If the asterisks in this part are not visible, please go
read the text-formatted version at
had apparently decided to ban asterisks in new stories, and as
asterisks are a critical part of my scene changes, I refuse to
upload to FFN any more. Screw 'em.
Talon's Note: Accepting Jack's generous offer, I have decided to begin hosting this story on , in case decides to ban the story for one reason or another.
In light of how much effort and time Jack has put into this magnificent final chapter, we're keeping his standard writing format.
OH! And any and all authors who were involved in the Love Hina Fanboy War, go to , the forums! You have a chance to determine the path and write yourself into the next part of the LHFBW series, "The Light of Evil!" Any and all authors of the LH section are welcome to join in and help brainstorm. This is your hour! Let it shine!
But, to keep up the tradition, roll 'em…
The looming mass of Cheyenne Mountain had been the nerve center of the
United States military command for nearly fifty years. With access to any
satellite system or communications network on Earth, and control of every
one of the ICBMs employed by the SAC, it was easily the closest thing to
being God to be in command of this base.
Kana Himekazi looked upon the mountain with his traditional expression:
Disinterest. His cold, hard eyes watched the morning activities of the
creatures inhabiting the mountain, the sun rising slowly behind him.
"YAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH-" Kana whipped his hand around and caught his attacker in
the jaw, sending the hapless man flying back into a tree. Kana stared after
him, as the soldier struggled to get back to his feet.
"Once again, you have failed to rid yourself of your irritating habit of
yelling," Kana intoned. "You do not learn."
"I'd think that a 'better this time', would have been appropriate,"
the soldier panted, wiping some blood from his lip.
Kana raised an eyebrow. "I would note improvement if there was any."
"In which case, I suppose you'll never note anything," he replied, glaring
at Kana. Kana stared back. A tiny part of his black soul stirred. Kana attempted
to ignore it, but...
"... On the other hand, you did manage to adjust your flight from my fist.
Anyone else would have been killed. It is... An improvement." The soldier's
eyes widened, before smiling wryly.
"Have I lived to hear you compliment someone, Lord Kana?"
"You will not hear it again," Kana replied coldly, turning away. Other
troops nearby were sparring with each other, training in various forms of
hand-to-hand combat. No one dared to stop under the hard gaze of Kana. Kana
snorted. He'd only taken this duty because Shinobu had pleaded and begged
for him to do something other than slaughter hapless travelers and terrorize
the villages with his skeleton minions.
FWOOSH... FWOOSH.... FWOOSH...
Kana looked up. The daily launches of reconnaissance Mecha-Tamas had begun,
dozens of them flying from the peak of Cheyenne Mountain and dispersing themselves,
heading along all axes of the compass rose.
"I really do love to see that," said a grinning voice off to his side. Kana did
not move, continuing to watch the troops, as Tuxedo Jack stepped to Kana's flank.
"..."
"Boy, some morning, hm?"
"Like any other," Kana drawled. Jack rolled his eyes.
"You know, in all the time I've been here, I've never seen you look
anything other than pissed off."
"My facial expressions are irrelevant."
"It's not so much the expressions I'm concerned about," Jack replied,
"but the feelings behind them."
"Emotions are for the weak."
"Feh. Everyone has emotions," Jack snorted. "Some people just tend to
ignore them."
"Was there a point to you coming out here?" Jack grinned. Aha, thought
he, a soft spot if any.
Rather than pursuing the perceived weakness, Jack decided to reply.
"Shinobu would like to talk with you, and I'm the messenger boy."
"Hm..."
"That's it? No scathing remark? No quip?"
"If you'd like one, I can provide it," said Kana, turning and walking
towards the main gate. Jack smirked to himself, his arms crossing over his
chest.
"And I thought that coldhearted bastard didn't have a sense of humor..." the
man in the tuxedo said, chuckling and following Kana into the mountain.
With a muted roar, the first Mecha-tama patrol of the day took off out of the
South Portal of Cheyenne Mountain, and Su grinned.
"Wai! Mecha-tamas four fifty through four fifty-three, go!"
Su turned and headed back inside after they made their first lap around Colorado
Springs, and as she entered the base, Riam passed her a legal pad filled with
statistics and diagrams.
"We think this diagram should work for the new fiber-optic lines. The ones that
the U.S. government had laid are far too thin to support the dataflow we need, as
you said. Can we somehow get a supply of fiberglass and refractive materials for
the coating?"
Su nodded, and with a flick of her fingers, a large amount of nearby sand flew
together to form a large ball. Su's hand clenched into a fist, and the earthen
materials compressed, giving off a searing heat - and when she released her hand
and shook her fingers, small cables of glass tinkled to the ground.
"Will that work?"
Riam nodded and called over some nearby sergeants to gather the materials up.
Su continued inside, her manic grin and hyperactive personality as truly in
force as ever.
Jack stopped at a set of double doors (reinforced steel with a stylistic "S" painted
on them) and tapped an access code into the panel set into the wall. The doors opened,
and the two men stepped through them into the cavernous room that once served as
NORAD's command center.
They moved down the path to Shinobu and Su's thrones, just in time to hear Shinobu's
startled "She did what?"
Shinobu sat bolt upright in her throne in the command room, her eyes widening, as the
lieutenant in front of her continued.
"The information is correct, Lady Shinobu," the lieutenant said, kneeling in front of her. "Naru
has sent a diplomatic delegation to the Otohime Union. It consists of a single jet, which,
according to the spy satellites, held under ten people. We don't know who the delegation
consists of, but from the infrared band imaging, we could detect a being with increased
body heat on the craft."
"That will be all, Lieutenant," Shinobu said, and the man bowed, clicked his heels against
the flooring, and left.
"Now the million-dollar question is 'what are they up to?'" Jack said, frowning as
he walked up in front of her.
"Naru-senpai and Mutsumi-san never were that friendly towards each other back when we
lived at Hinata-sou," Shinobu said. "Ano, I mean that Mutsumi-san was friendly towards
Naru-senpai but Naru-senpai didn't like that she was involved with Urashima-senpai for
a while."
"But a diplomatic delegation?" Kana's expression was more cynical than usual, even for
him. "She calls herself the 'Evil Empress' for a reason, milady."
"Aauuu, that's true," Shinobu fretted. "But I'm sure that Naru-senpai was just joking
when she named herself that!"
Jack shook his head. "Ma'am, if there's one thing I learned back when I lived in Texas,
it was that there was no enemy worth underestimating, and to do so was to pretty much
get yourself killed or removed from the field."
"As I'm more than certain you've found out at least once in your time, milady," Kana
said, his voice practically dripping sarcasm.
"Find out why they went and sent a delegation," Shinobu said, leaning back into her
throne's padding. "Naru-senpai's doing something, I'm sure of it."
Kana turned to leave, and Shinobu spoke again. "Jack, go ahead. I need to talk to
Kana for a minute."
"Wait in the hallway," Kana muttered. "You and I need to talk."
Jack nodded before slipping through the door, which slid shut with a boom behind
him. "Recon, recon, always recon," he muttered before the doors shut.
Kana stood before Shinobu and waited with his customary frown. "What is your wish,
milady? I am neither death nor devil, but merely your servant."
Shinobu shook slightly at that before composing herself. "Something happened to our
last Tama-scout patrol over Texas. It met the Otohime Union's patrol near a ruined
city that apparently was once called Houston, they communicated, flew together
for a while, then blanked out."
"You want to find out what happened to it."
"Yes, Kana," Shinobu nodded. "You'll also find a set of orders on your desk.
Follow them."
Kana nodded, then turned and left, the heels of his boots clicking against the floor,
and the doors slammed shut after him. He turned to see Jack leaning against the wall
to the left of the doors.
"So, what did she want?"
"You need not concern yourself about me," Kana said, walking down the hall. "She is
worried. You will assuage that worry by examining Texas for her. Specifically, the area
where Houston used to be. I would suggest you use the satellites. It will make the
job significantly faster."
"Houston? The hell is in Houston?" Jack frowned. "The only thing that was ever
there was my old house. That, and a few places that really hated people like us."
"I did not issue the order. Shinobu did. Deal with it." Kana stalked down the hall,
his presence silent, but obviously malevolent.
Jack walked down the corridor, a frown upon his face. Something's bothering her.
It's something big, whatever it is. I'll task the spy satellites to take a look over
Texas. Su-san won't mind my use of them, Jack thought.
He grimaced. I hope she won't mind. I remember what she did the last time I borrowed
the satellites without her permission. He shook at the vaguely disturbing memory, and
then continued on his way to the control room.
Kana smirked before pulling a can of bug spray out of his pocket. He sprayed a nearby
moth, and it fell to the ground, lifeless. With a wave of his hand, the bug arose, fluttered
into the air, and hovered three feet in front of Kana. It flitted about for a second, then
flew off after Jack.
Kana continued on his way with an aura of calm smugness until he reached his office.
He went in, immediately noting an envelope on his desk bearing Shinobu's seal. He opened
it, read through the lines, raising his eyebrows about halfway through.
"Really, now," Kana drawled, sinking into the chair in his office. "Shinobu-sama
has such... interesting... ideas," he whispered as he continued reading the orders.
"Find Urashima? Even a child could do that. I'll not deign to do this myself.
Let that overdressed fop deal with it." He flipped it back onto his desk and smirked.
"Besides, I have other plans." He closed his eyes and let the corners of his mouth
curl up into a cold, cruel smirk.
"And so, Talon - may I call you Talon? - that's Naru's proposal to open up
trade between our two groups." Kebinu waved his hand over a table of documents that
he'd set up in front of Talon at the Pentagon.
"There's no mention of tariffs or reciprocal trade agreements," Talon said with a touch
of suspicion in his voice.
Kebinu shrugged. "We'll let the diplomats handle that. I'm just the messenger."
"Indeed," Talon replied. He stood and stretched. "I think we should call it a day.
These negotiations are tiring."
"I'll drink to that," Kebinu said, rising from his seat. "You have anywhere I can
sleep here? I'd hate to have to sleep in the jet. The seats really hurt my back."
Talon nodded. "I'll have the people here show you to a spare room." He rose, and
Lucia followed him.
Kebinu, meanwhile, was led to a room by two of Talon's soldiers. Each was armed,
and while Kebinu knew he could take them out, he'd rather not jeopardize his
mission - finding Keitaro.
He stepped through an open door, and found his room to be comfortable, if not
luxurious. The door slid shut behind him, and he quickly looked around to see if
anyone had placed a spy camera or two where he could find them. He knew they were
there. He just wanted to be able to counter them.
Not finding any, he sighed and flopped down on the bed.
Finding that boy is going to be harder than I thought, Kebinu thought to himself.
Not only is he hidden here, but I've got surveillance all over me. He shrugged.
I'll dig him up in the morning.
Kebinu rolled over and went to sleep.
"Jikei, do you think he's telling the truth?"
Lucia and Talon walked down the hallway, their heels clicking against the cold
stone floor.
"He's full of himself," Talon muttered. "He's conceited, powerful, and he's got
some ulterior motive."
"The question is, what is it?"
Talon stopped by his bedroom and opened the door. "I'll see you in the morning,
Lucia."
Lucia smirked. "Night, jikei."
He entered, and the door slid shut behind him.
Jack tapped his access code in on the panel guarding a control room deep
in the mountain's core, and the door opened with a soft hiss.
Very few people knew about this room, and even fewer actually used it.
At the moment, no one was attending its myriad of consoles, but there was
a smoldering cigarette that indicated someone had just stepped out sitting
in an ashtray near a cup of coffee (warm, Jack noted as he lifted it. The
monitor hadn't left long ago).
He stepped up to a console and sat down in the swivel chair in front of it.
As one of his hands tapped in his passcode on the keyboard in front of him,
a moth landed on the keyboard's edge. He made no move to shoo it away before
continuing onwards.
Its antennae twitched slightly.
Jack continued through his work with the ancient UNIX derivative that powered
the mountain's mainframe systems - and their spy satellites. Admittedly, it
was at least near the Linux systems he'd used before the Cataclysm, but
only so long could go before you lost your memories.
He snorted at that thought. "Memories. They're worth quite a bit to the
right people."
He paged through the day's log files, then the log file of the Tama-patrol that
seemed to have been shot down - but how, he muttered. One man with no visible
weapon... of course, that EM spike could have done it, but it would have taken
out our satellites if it was that powerful.
With a tap on a set of keys, he retargeted a drifting U.S. KH-11 satellite to
shoot a series of pictures at and around the city jail in downtown Houston.
The satellite wouldn't pass over the area for a few hours. Jack stood up from
his chair, stretched, and met the cadet on duty on his way out. The cadet saluted,
then smirked. "Sir, will we be discussing the current state of readiness in regards
to the proximity of Naru's Empire tomorrow in class?"
"No, I won't be here tomorrow. I'm taking a little trip," Jack said, sighing.
Why he'd ever agreed to teach a group of cadets - admittedly, the cream of the
SASA crop, but still kids - how to use the remaining computers and technology
was beyond him. He guessed it was because he'd been half-bombed at the time.
Night descended over the Western Hemisphere with a soft creeping that only
time and master thieves excel at.
Most people fell asleep and ran through their endless dreams; Jack was no
exception, and once again, he dreamt endlessly of the people he had killed,
tossing and turning in his sleep.
Kana, however, did take exception to that rule.
He stood up from his lotus position on the floor, then reached over to his
katana. "Let it begin."
A soft click signified that Kana had left his room, and he slipped down the
hall with a fluidity that rivaled that of liquid shadow. Guards were no problem;
those he could evade, he did; those he couldn't - he knocked them out.
He didn't need to kill. Not yet.
Although he would kill them if they failed to protect Shinobu.
He continued through the empty halls of Cheyenne Mountain, his pace quick
and sure, and a short time later, he entered the satellite control room.
Kana stood for a second, then beckoned to the moth that sat quivering on
the console's top. "Show me."
The moth took off from its perch, and with a flutter, it started to land
on the keyboard in front of the terminal. Kana smirked and tapped each key
that the moth landed on.
"Kurikaesu... odd password." Kana straightened up, then nodded at the moth.
"Good." He brought his hand down on it hard. The necromancer wiped his hand
on the terminal's edge, then set to work retargeting the spy satellites.
"Oh, this is perfect," he said, spotting something on the most recent group of
photographs sitting next to the terminal. Kana tapped in the coordinates on the
photograph into the computer, and sure enough, his target was stationary. He
retasked the satellite array to keep a watch on them.
He'd need them when the trouble began.
Kebinu wasn't exactly resting, either.
He'd slipped out of his room via an air duct and had managed to gain access
to the Pentagon proper. He'd wandered the venerable base for a few hours, not
knowing what was where, and eventually, he'd come across a map.
Kebinu walked down one of the side corridors, one that led to the guest quarters.
He didn't know what that had been turned into, given the circumstances, but he'd find
out soon enough.
He reached the front door, and surprisingly, it was devoid of guards. He turned
the knob.
Behind the door, Mutsumi moaned softly and squirmed under Keitaro's caresses.
"Ara, Kei-kun..."
With a barely audible click, the door opened, and Kebinu stepped inside. He had
but a second to catch a glimpse of Mutsumi and Keitaro before he blinked.
Keitaro took that second to look around, having heard the click of the lock.
"Who are you?" he said, catching sight of Kebinu.
"Ara ara, Kei-kun, how can you forget who I am?" Mutsumi said, pouting cutely
on top of him.
"Not you, Mutsumi-san, him," Keitaro replied, pulling one of his hands away
and pointing towards Kebinu. "There's a man there."
"Really?" Mutsumi said thoughtfully. "Oh, yes, there he is, and he's a live one,
too. He's a little embarrassed, though, since we found him." She smiled winningly
and pulled some of the sheets around her, covering her with a modicum of decency.
"It's all right, come on out." Just to add to the bait, she muttered "threesome,"
to Keitaro, whose face went beet-red at that, and she giggled.
Kebinu's face was a fiery red as he stepped out from the shadows and into the
relatively brighter light of Mutsumi's bedchamber. He stared straight into her
eyes, then looked around...
And his face was suddenly lit with fury.
"YOU!"
Jack stepped into the Tama-transport with a group of his students and started the engines.
"Okay, kids, let's go. I haven't got all day here."
Shinobu and Kana stood off to the side of the vehicle. Su had gotten into the vehicle's
turret half an hour ago, and they couldn't get her out. Jack had shrugged and said that
she was more than welcome to come along if she wanted to.
"Nothing had better go wrong while I'm gone, Kana," Jack yelled over the rumbling of the
engine. "If even one thing dies, so help you God, I'll be furious."
"You do not command me, nor do you command death," Kana muttered. "If it dies, it will
not be my fault."
Shinobu shuddered, and she and Kana returned to the safety of Cheyenne Mountain.
Jack pulled the lever, and the transport started off along the straight road that served
as a runway for the small air fleet that the group possessed. "Okay, kiddies, welcome
to Reconnaissance one-oh-one. We're off the base for a week, and in this time,
you're going to learn to use our remaining night scopes and sniper sights to track
units and potential threats while we get some parts for our machines. Su-sama, you've
got the scopes readied?"
The demi-ruler of Colorado Springs leaned out of the turret, her head upside-down and
facing Jack. "Yep! We've got seven Starlight scopes, five scopes that use Zeiss lenses,
and twelve pretty, pretty Unertl thirty-ex sights! You can see for miles with these!"
She retreated into the turret, and for the next four hours, the riders in the vehicle
were semi-entertained by the slightly off-key sounds coming from the turret.
"And Su would walk five hundred miles..."
Jack groaned. It was going to be a long flight.
Kana glanced up and down the hallway where Jack's office was. With furtive movements,
he quickly moved down it, then stopped in front of Jack door. He produced two small
lockpicks from his pocket, then slipped them into the doorknob, and inside of forty-five
seconds, the lock clicked open. Kana stepped inside and shut the door behind him just
as he heard voices coming down the hall.
He clicked on the wall switch for the lights, and surprisingly, it didn't do anything.
Kana shrugged and felt his way around the room until he found a lamp, which he switched
on, and the room was bathed in a soft white glow.
"So this is what he's done to it," the man hissed. Admittedly, it was comfortable, but that
was about it in terms of ease. It had been turned into an information center - every last
outlet was filled with monitors and terminals and displays.
"Amazing. What secrets has he been keeping all this time?" He walked over to the desk,
sat down, and pressed the power button on what looked to be the primary terminal and its
monitor. When it didn't turn on, he frowned, then pushed it again, and it roared to life.
It then sat there and flashed a prompt on the screen.
WELCOME TO TSUKIMI!
This system is
running Linux.
Login:
The prompt sat there and flashed at Kana. The man in Jack's chair, thought for a second,
then leaned forwards and began typing.
WELCOME TO TSUKIMI!
This system is
running Linux.
Login: tuxedojack
He hit Enter, and the system processed for a second, then spat up a new screen.
WELCOME TO TSUKIMI!
This system is
running Linux.
Login: tuxedojack
Pass:
Kana typed "kurikaesu," Jack's password for the satellite controls, but Tsukimi balked.
WELCOME TO TSUKIMI!
This system is
running Linux.
Login: tuxedojack
Pass:
Login/pass incorrect. Please try again.
Note: 2 more fails will trigger alarm.
Kana stared. An alarm? He is more clever than I thought. I had better get this right.
He typed in another word - "yume." He'd heard about Jack's nightmares from when he was
on his own.
WELCOME TO TSUKIMI!
This system is
running Linux.
Login: tuxedojack
Pass:
Login/pass incorrect. Please try again.
Note: 1 more fail will trigger alarm.
Tsukimi seemed to pause for a second, then a new line appeared under the others.
Gotta ask yourself one question. Do I feel
lucky? Well, do you, punk?
Kana's lip curled at that. He put his head in his hands and thought long and hard,
but couldn't come up with anything. He sighed and stood, then leaned forwards onto
the keyboard. "Why not? I can be long gone from here by the time the guards get here."
"Shi... no... bu..."
WELCOME TO TSUKIMI!
This system is
running Linux.
Login: tuxedojack
Pass:
Login accepted.
Welcome to Tsukimi. I'm running on kernel 2.4.26.
Please input your commands after I launch KDE.
Your last successful login was twenty-two hours
and fifteen minutes ago, sensei.
[tuxedojacktsukimi tuxedojack]$
Kana stared. "I take that back. He's not as clever as I took him for. He's an idiot.
An overdressed idiot." He sat down and began typing again.
"And what have we here?" Kana smiled as he came across the latest satellite photos that
the computers in the control room had uploaded to Tsukimi, and he flicked his eyes over
them in turn.
"Two drones being taken out by one man, and at that distance too? This bears investigating.
Perhaps I was too hasty to assign him that." As he clicked onto the next set of photographs,
a cruel grin broke out on his face.
"Perhaps I should take the men and women who try to learn from me out on a field trip
as well," he said, looking over a photograph of a group of Naru-Empire soldiers out
in the field with their APC and...
"My, my, my," Kana whispered. "Mortars and shells and rifles. This is beyond perfect."
All those soldiers, out there, dangerously close to SASA territory...
He stood up from the chair and logged off Tsukimi. He flipped the switch on the
terminal and the monitor, turning them off and supposedly erasing all traces
of the usage.
With naught but the quiet sound of his shoes on concrete, he stepped into the halls
and through them towards his place outside Shinobu's chamber, and a wicked grin
formed on his face as he took his seat near her door.
Yes, things were going to become very interesting soon, and not just for him.
It would have been slightly better for Kana, in retrospect, if he had noticed the
two small lenses on a rack of machines that pointed towards Jack's desk. They had
red lights under them, but they were camouflaged well enough.
Jack landed the transport on the ruined remains of Highway 6 at Interstate 10, just
south of their intersection outside Houston. "Okay, people, out of the vehicle, then
form ranks."
As the students got out, Su came out of the turret and landed in the passenger's
seat in the cabin. "Be careful, okay? There's something out there. I can feel it."
Jack nodded. "We won't be gone long - maybe a week or so. Come with us if you
want."
Su shook her head. "I'm staying here, y'know. There's so many fun things here for
Su to play with!"
"Suit yourself," Jack shrugged. He gestured to two of his students and pointed them
towards the transport. "Stay here and guard Su-sama. If she is in trouble, radio any of us
immediately. It doesn't matter who gets it - we'll be back as soon as we can."
He turned back to the rest of the group. "Okay, kiddies, we're here. Welcome to
Houston, the land of the fundamentalists and ruined buildings. Of course, that's just
like the rest of the world now. We've got a twofold mission here - we're going to
scout the area as our primary, and then we're looking for computer equipment that
still works. Three of our servers are dying, and we need replacement parts pronto."
Jack popped open a compartment on the side of the transport and grabbed a bolt-action rifle
from inside it. "This here is your standard field-issue sniper weapon - a Steyr Scout
rifle. It fires off point two-two-nine rounds as fast as you can pump them with enough
force to splatter heads against walls. Each team will be outfitted with two of these
as well as a Sig-Sauer nine-millimeter pistol and a hundred rounds of ammo for each weapon
on this expedition. Team leaders are armed with an M4-A1 assault rifle, firing five point
five-six rounds on a thirty-round clip. They'll have three of those to distribute, as well
as two hundred rounds of ammunition for each member."
He grabbed two small cylinders from the compartment as well. "Here we have two medium-power
hand grenades. These have a standard three-second fuse. Pull pin, hold for two, throw.
Simple." He grinned, then faked pulling the pin.
His students, to their credit, didn't flinch.
Jack sighed. "You kids are no fun. Anyways, the group leader for each group will have
five of these. Split them up as you see fit. If something goes wrong, use this." He
pointed a flare pistol downward. "It'll fire off a blue flare. We'll come for you as
soon as we can. Unless there's an attack on the transport or Su-sama - or you find something
big - maintain radio silence."
"You'll each get an SU-V from the transport. Use it to move around town and get back
as you need to with materials." Jack nodded, and Su opened the back of the transport to
reveal five compact-sized vehicles.
The students armed themselves, and Jack started dividing them up. "Group one, go take the
northwest section of town - I-10 and Clay to I-10 and loop six-ten west. Group two - take
the north side of loop six-ten. Get it all. Group three - take downtown and the tunnel
system. Groups four and five - take the east side of town. I-10 and six-ten east eastwards.
Divide it how you like. If you can find vehicles that work, negotiate for them or take them.
Same goes for fuel or supplies. Negotiations, as always, are preferable. You have your
target lists - if the buildings are still there, get what you can and get the hell out."
He shouldered his rifle and rolled up the map he held in his right hand. "Daniels, Nolan,
you're with me. We're going to take the southwest side of town."
"Move out in your SU-Vs, groups!"
"He's furious, Kei-kun," Mutsumi said, smiling at Kebinu. "Don't tell me why, let me
guess," she said to Kebinu, planting a finger on her mouth and pouting for a second.
"You were sent here ostensibly to open trade negotiations, but really to find
Kei-kun, ne?"
Caught in the obvious problem of lying to a telepath, the man just stood and stared
at Mutsumi. "You obviously know what I'm thinking, then, so I won't lie to you." He
turned to Keitaro. "But you, you rat bastard - she's been waiting for you for over
a goddamned century and here you are in that woman's arms."
Kebinu raised his hand and pointed straight at Mutsumi. "You don't know, Urashima -
you don't know how much my queen wanted you to go back to her. She missed you so much -
hell, she cried over you God only knows how many times. It's like she's tortured inside -
her goddamned house looks like that place you used to live with her - Hinata-sou!"
His hand fell, and tears came from his eyes. "You wouldn't believe the times I've walked
in on her looking down through some hole in the floor. The second I come in, she kicks
some boards and a goddamned plush squirrel over it, then she wipes her eyes - she was crying,
you stupid bastard! She told me that the hole was from her room to yours, and that
she'd go through it a lot to see you - just to see you! And now she's stuck looking on
an empty room and crying!"
Keitaro sat up straight and sputtered. "Now wait just a minute -
Kebinu narrowed his eyes and wiped the tears away angrily. "You shut the hell up. You made
her cry, you sick bastard. Even if she forgives you someday, I won't. You better remember that.
I don't give a shit if you go back to her, if she takes you back, if she cries over you coming
back to her - I still won't forgive you. You've scarred her, and scars don't heal. And mark
these words - if I see you again, and you hurt her again, I won't just yell at you like today."
Kebinu called forth a jet of flame. "I'll kill you." He turned and left, then shut the door behind
him. A few seconds later, the edges of the metal door glowed a bright red, then turned to black
again as they were melted and fused together into the frame.
Jack sighed.
Two days, and nothing at all seemed to be out here. Even the settlement of fundamentalists
had vanished.
"Sir," Daniels said from his side. The girl pointed to a nearby Shell station, one
that didn't seem to be completely ruined. "That may have fuel for the SU-V."
He shook his head. "Don't bother, private. I took the gas tank from that station over
a century ago. No stations within five miles have any gasoline any more. That's why
all our major vehicles have micro-reactors now - gasoline is that scarce."
Nolan grinned sadistically. "At least we don't have to pay two bucks a gallon any more,
sir!"
The three chuckled for a bit at that, then Jack stepped off the ruined road. "We're getting
close to where I used to live. Let's stop there for the night. At least I know that it's safe...
unless something got in."
They walked across fields with grass and weeds growing up to their waists with their pistols
drawn. Snakes weren't that common in Houston, but they'd been there, and no one wanted to
get bitten out in the bush. After about five minutes of walking from what once had been
Enclave, they found the old Sysco building.
It was grown over with ivy and weeds; birds roosted on the roof. Jack sighed. "I may have
been wrong. This may not be useful any more."
They entered, pistols drawn and at the ready, but nothing charged them.
After a minute of standing at the elevator lobby, Jack pointed. "A century of disuse
has to have ruined those things. Let's take the stairs."
A quick trip to each stairwell later, it was ascertained that they were all blocked thanks
to a few explosions and the remaining furniture blockades that he'd set ages ago.
The two students with him sighed, and Jack shrugged. "Whoops. Didn't think they'd last that
long. Well, there's another way up." He led them back to the elevators, then pried one open
with help from Nolan. A few seconds later, he aimed his pistol at the hatch in the roof and
fired a single round. The hatch shuddered, and he whacked at it with his rifle. It gave
way, and he clambered up, using the sides of the elevator for leverage. He pulled Nolan up,
then Daniels, and they set to climbing the ladder set into the walls.
A few minutes later, the door to the tenth floor was opened, and they stepped out into the
remains of Jack's home. Surprisingly, it was well-preserved - storms hadn't broken too many
windows, and the door was still intact.
Kebinu ran through the corridors of the Pentagon, seeking an exit - or at least a
wall that he could melt to get out of there. After a few miles of hallway, he found
a doorway - one guarded by three OU soldiers. With a quick burst of flame, he
melted their guns - fortunately for them, they dropped the guns before they were
melted into their hands.
They stared in astonishment as the firemaster streaked past them, then
one had the sense to reach over to a wall and slap an alarm button.
Alarms sounded throughout the complex, and Talon was up and on his feet in a
few moments. After girding himself with Greyspar and some shoes, he dashed
off, creating a wind shell around him. When he arrived at the Situation Room,
he found the operators there staring in panic at the alarm panel.
That's right, sir, he just melted our guns and ran off! the sentry said,
near tears.
Talon's eyes narrowed. "It was that Naru Empire emissary, right? Kebinu?"
Yes, sir, it was him! the sentry replied.
"Don't worry. You didn't stand a chance against him anyways." Talon put his
hand to his chin and sighed. "Mobilize the troops at Reagan - we moved his
plane there, and he'll try to get out now that he's committed a hostile
act on enemy territory."
He turned, exited, then ran down the corridors as fast as he could, taking
the stairs every time it was necessary, then arrived at Mutsumi's bedroom.
When he knocked on the door, he saw the edges - fused. He pounded harder,
yelling all the while.
Ara ara, Talon-kun, we're all right, the voice inside his head came.
I think you know who did this.
It was Kebinu, he thought back. He's on his way to his plane, I just
know it. What retribution can I take?
None, Mutsumi replied. He just wanted to know if Kei-kun was here, and
he saw that he was, so he left.
But he'll tell Naru, and...
Ara ara, and what? She knows she can't fight against me, we're old friends!
I'm not as trusting, Mutsumi-sama. I'm going after him. His plane will have been secured by now, and I'm not letting anyone get hurt because of him.
Ara... What if I ordered you not to?
You and I both know what would happen...
Mutsumi sighed mentally. He could be so stubborn...
Very well. But I'm sending Silver to help.
I wouldn't ask for anything more. Thank you, Mutsumi-sama.
Ara, you're welcome... But stop with the "-sama", please? It gets rather old, and older still when my friends call me it...
"Ah?"
The half-insane man grinned violently before resuming his shaking in the corner of a ruined store
inside the Houston tunnel system's bowels.
"Visitors. No trespassers allowed. None shall pass!"
He stood up, then walked unsteadily towards an exit.
"This land is my land, this land's not your land..."
The five students who made up group three sighed as they entered the McKinney entrance to the
tunnel system, but held their rifles at the ready.
"Why'd Jack pick this place anyhow?" one of them said as they descended into the underdark
of downtown Houston.
"He said that there used to be access tunnels to each major building in this area through
here, and if the entrances at street level were blocked, we could get in through here,"
the team leader said as he stepped forwards. "According to the map on this wall... we are here...
and the Bank One Center is here... okay, then. We've got to walk for a bit, then we'll..."
He was cut off as one of his team pointed his rifle towards a nearby tunnel.
"I heard something!"
"You're bullshitting me. Nothing's down here but rats and snakes."
The woman shook her head. "I'm not joking! I heard singing! There's someone down here!"
The leader shrugged. "Whatever. We've got to get moving." He took the point, and the
group moved down another tunnel.
The woman aimed her gun as she took up the rear. "I know I heard singing."
Jack sighed as he walked through the ruins of his old home. "To think that
I'd once lived here..."
The people who came after him had wrecked the place throroughly. There wasn't
a single square meter of the room that hadn't been defaced in some manner, and
vines and plants grew everywhere in it.
"With all due respect, sir, damn," Daniels said, shaking her head.
"There's nothing here, sir," Nolan said, stepping out of what once had been the
server room in that office. "They took it all."
"Damn." Jack pounded his fist into his open palm. "Okay, then, we've got another
target nearby. It's getting kind of late, so let's stop off here for the night.
Or we can stay in the car."
Daniels and Nolan looked at each other worriedly, then pulled their weapons out.
"I'll stand guard first, sir," Nolan said, checking his weapon for jams.
A short time later, Daniels was asleep. Jack stood from his prone position
on the floor and stepped over to Nolan. "I'm going out for a bit. There's
something here I want to see. Stay here. I'll be back in about half an hour."
Nolan nodded, and Jack stepped out, then climbed down the elevator shaft. He
knew where he was going, even in the dark, and with the aid of a small flame
which he called forth, he made his way east through the ruins.
It was still there, after all those long years. His house - one wing of it,
at least - was still standing! He ran towards it, hoping against hope that
there was some indication that someone from his family had passed through it
in the previous years...
He stepped onto the now-moldy carpeting and looked around. Very few people
had gone in here - it still looked to be in good shape. He walked over to a
nearby door - the one which had led to his room - and tried to open it.
Unsurprisingly, it didn't open easily, which forced him to kick it open, and
when he did, what he saw surprised him - it was mostly intact, and the goods
that he'd had inside were mostly still usable.
He grabbed his ancient desktop computer (even though he doubted it still
functioned, what with a hundred years or so of elemental attacks; of course,
being inside his room with an airtight glass-and-metal case around it, it
should be fine), all the disks and CDs he could find, and anything that he
could find - books, DVDs, papers, anything. After Jack did that, he walked out
into the next room - and tears came to his eyes.
It had been his brother's room ages ago, and on what had once been the computer
desk was a yellowed envelope. It was addressed to him, and he opened it.
"Hey, Jackass."
Jack grinned. That was his brother, all right, always taking cheap shots
when he could get them.
"I'm okay. Things aren't easy - it's sure hell out here since the big event.
Anyways, I'm working with a group of technologically advanced people. They're
paying me in room and board, and I can't really complain about that, since
there's not much to get as is. For once, what you taught me is coming in
handy - these guys lost a bunch of communications stuff, and their networks
run on an old UNIX derivative. Easy for me to run, hell for most.
Mom and Dad... they died a few years back. Dad died from some kind of disease -
I don't know what - and Mom went a few weeks later. No one knew what it was,
but I think it was a broken heart.
Nicole... I never heard from her. I don't think she made it through the
big blast. I tried getting to her cellphone a few times - a few hundred,
really - but I guess the repeater towers are dead.
How do I know you made it? Simple. You're too damn tough to die. Hell,
I used to do tons of stuff to the food and drink you ate and you didn't die
from it. You didn't even have a damn upset stomach - or if you did, you didn't
show it. You better be alive, or this letter's going to waste, and ink isn't
cheap these days.
I'm around what used to be Washington, DC. If you ever get to the area, try
to find me. I'll take you to lunch.
Michael"
It was dated ninety years previously.
Jack folded the letter and slipped it into his pocket, then looked around.
One family photo had survived the Cataclysm, and he grabbed that and looked
at it for a minute, then tossed it into his sack.
He closed the door on his brother's room, then exited the remains and started
back to the Sysco building, bundle of loot in tow.
Ten minutes earlier...
Group three ran through the tunnel system, lost and confused.
"Dammit, there was supposed to be a turn here that led into the
Downtown Loop!" the leader screamed in frustration. "Where the hell
are we?"
"I don't know, man, but I swear, something's following us," a nervous
private stammered out, his hands shaking on his rifle.
"I vote we get the hell out of here and try the street-level
entrance again," the woman who'd heard the singing said, and the
rest of the squad backed her up.
"All right, there's supposed to be an exit to street level here,"
the leader said, pointing to a map on the wall next to the ruins
of the logo for the Houston Center. "And according to the map...
we are... here." He stabbed his finger towards the star on the map,
and with a snort of surprise, he saw it.
"We're at the downtown loop. Dammit, I knew something was wrong."
"As you walk through the storm, hold your head up high..."
The woman looked around again. "Anyone here singing Christian
songs?"
The rest of the group shook their heads, and she checked the safety
on her rifle. "Then we've got someone following us."
A few seconds later, she dropped to her knees and aimed her rifle
towards a set of escalators that led up into the El Paso building.
"Who's there?"
"Lower your weapon, private!" the leader screamed.
"Sir, it's the same guy I heard earlier! He is most definitely
following us."
The other members of the group drew their weapons and started
searching the tunnel near them for threats just before a single
man in black robes came down the escalators.
His pace was slow, delicate - almost as if he'd been wounded,
but it carried a manner of focus rarely seen outside of high-ranked
military officers, and his pose was that of a natural-born leader.
"What are you looking for, my people?" the man said with a calm,
gentle inflection. "I may be able to help you find that which
you seek."
As the leader opened his mouth to speak, the man raised his hand.
"Shush. Those who come here only come for two reasons - to worship
me...
"Or to die." He cast his gaze over them, and he frowned. "I see
that you worship the Lightbringer. She is not too far off from
what I am; after all, we are both aspects of the same personality.
She brings light, and I - I am the Morning Star, Lucifer incarnate,
the fallen angel bringing the dark light from the desolate earth.
You may switch the light you worship to mine..."
He turned his head around, wondering idly if there would be takers...
but none appeared. He sighed. "I do so hate this part. It means more
for my people to clean up." He snapped his fingers, and people started
emerging from the tunnels - enough to completely surround the team
and its leader. "At least your friends around town can be left for
the birds to deal with."
"What do you want?" the leader screamed in panic.
"It's quite simple, really," the man said as the mass of humans
closed in on the troops.
No matter how loud the party screamed, nothing was heard aboveground,
and their radios were all but useless in the metal-lined tunnels.
"I want Nothing."
Jack shook his head to keep himself awake. Nolan and Daniels slept
quietly in a back room, resting on sleeping bags, and he stood watch
in the early hours of the morning.
A call came from the transport. Sir, we've spotted movement in the area nearby,
and it doesn't look like our troops, the voice over the radio said. Orders?
Jack's eyes narrowed. "You're ordered to shoot to kill. Su-sama must be protected
at all costs. I'll get back to the transport. I'll order the others back. Once we all
regroup, we're getting the hell out of here."
He stepped into the back room where Nolan and Daniels were and shook them
awake. "Get up, you two. The transport may be in trouble."
A few minutes later...
Group one reporting, sir, the radio at his waist crackled. He unclipped
it and tapped the transmit button.
"Find anything?"
You were right, sir, the leader said. The schools had tons of equipment
locked up in their rooms, especially the Spring Branch ISD ones. We've got
Dell servers like mad out here, and most of them appear to work perfectly.
We'll have to format them and install SuLinux, though, and we may have
to write our own drivers.
"Good," Jack transmitted. "Load what you can get - and that includes cables
and equipment - into your vehicle and get it back to the transport. We're starting
back as soon as everyone reports in."
Roger, came the reply, and a few minutes later, groups two and four reported
in with their findings - none too sparse in group four's case, and group two
had looted enough to fill a compact car. Jack ordered them back to the transport,
and he, Nolan, and Daniels started down the elevator shaft to their vehicle.
Sir, we're under attack! Group five's leader sounded panicked, and the
sound of controlled M4A1 fire could be heard in the background. They came out
of nowhere, they're not armed, but they're like cockroaches - shoot one, more
come out of the woodwork!
"Where are you?" Jack snapped into the radio. "If you're near a freeway, get in your
car, get on it, and head west! We're getting the hell out of here!"
We're near Buffalo Speedway, sir, but they've got us surrounded! We're not going
to be able to make it back without - The radio hissed and sputtered, and then
screams could be heard through it before a long burst of rifle fire. Come on, you
bastards, come get me! You know you want it, so come and try your luck!
"What the HELL are you doing, soldier?" Jack screamed. "Get out of there, now!
I don't give a goddamn if you have to run over them with your SU-V! Just get
back to the transport!"
I'm drawing them off, sir, the leader said, her voice grim. I've got two rifles,
and I'm pulling them towards me so the others can get away. Just get out of here!
Go!
"You better be at that transport, soldier," Jack said quietly into the radio. "You're
going to get a good talking-to."
It's been a pleasure serving with you, sir, the leader's voice came over the radio,
her normally happy voice strained and adrenaline-filled. All for the mission, all...
The transmission cut off.
"All for the mission, all for her," Jack whispered. He dropped his head and
sighed heavily. "Nolan, Daniels, start up the SU-V. We're getting back to
the transport."
They piled in, and Nolan and Daniels grabbed rear seats, rolled down the windows,
and looked around for threats. "Keep those rifles ready. If the APC's in trouble,
we'll pull strafing runs."
Jack started the engine, then they pulled off the side street onto a main street,
and they were off. Jack jammed the gas pedal down, and they tore through the streets -
fast enough to get Nolan to worry.
"Sir, are you sure you can handle this area at these speeds?"
"I did it all the time when I was younger, I can goddamn well do it now!" he barked
back at the private. As if to emphasize his point, he floored the gas pedal and the
vehicle sliced through the morning fog. "No more cops to pull me over, so I can go
as fast as the roads permit!"
He screeched to a stop.
About a hundred feet in front of the SU-V, a line of people stood with what looked
to be spears and pitchforks in hand. One man stood alone in front of them, and he
stepped forwards into the rising sun's light.
Jack's eyes widened, and he stepped out of the car.
"Sir, who the hell are these people?" Nolan muttered, checking the safety on his
rifle.
"They don't look like the welcome wagon to me," Daniels said, fingering her grenade.
The one figure in front of the line threw out his arms towards the sky and began to
speak in a loud, commanding voice.
"Lo, there was a command given to the Chosen people to go forth and smite the
false prophets, to destroy them from this earth, to slay them and their children
and their children's children, that the Chosen would rule forever in the great
Nothing beyond the end of the world!"
The man started walking forwards, and as he did so, he drew a pistol from his clothing.
"And it was said that one of the greatest followers of the lord had forced one
of the False out years ago, that he had driven it from His midst, but had let it live
instead of killing it on the spot! The lord was unhappy at this, and his follower suffered
much for it, but he was eventually forgiven, and the mission continued!"
Jack reached for his Glock.
The lone figure aimed his pistol and screamed. "And lo, his grandson did reclaim
his flock, he did slay the Falsehood, and he rectified the past mistake!"
He got off one shot which missed Jack completely. Jack and Nolan fired at the
same time - Nolan's shot hit the pastor's leg, and Jack's hit him in the center
of mass, knocking him back onto the ground.
Jack dove into the car and slammed his door shut. "Get your guns, aim, fire at will!
Go, shoot, shoot!" He jammed the accelerator down and the SU-V lurched backwards, then
after a few seconds, it shot forwards, its momentum carrying it through the four-deep
line of people.
A few moments later, they were speeding down what remained of Highway 6's south side,
and Daniels shook her head. "Who the hell were they?"
"A figment of the past, Daniels," Jack said grimly, focusing on the road. "They
were people who hated people like me and Kana. Just be grateful you never got on
their bad side."
After about five minutes of fast driving, they pulled up alongside the transport, and
Su lowered the back gate. They pulled inside, and the door quickly slammed shut behind
them.
Jack stepped out, and the two guards who had been at the transport ran up to him.
"Sir, they're just ahead, they're near the old Holiday Inn," one of them said, his
rifle in his hands. "They're coming for us."
"Give me a set of binoculars and open the roof vent," Jack said, going to a wall-mounted
rack and pulling down an Arctic Warfare Magnum, then strapping it to his back. "I'm going
up there. Nolan, Daniels, you two check with groups one, two, and four and see where they
are. Once they get here, we're gone."
He climbed up a wall ladder, out a vent, onto the roof, and lay down on top of it,
pulling the binoculars to his eyes.
What he saw astounded him. Easily two hundred people stood there, weapons in hand,
and they were waiting for someone or something. All were dressed in black, and all
stared straight towards the transport.
The rumble of engines sounded neaby, and Jack saw three SU-Vs pull up, then into
the back bay of the transport. The door clanged shut, and Su turned to him from
the rooftop turret, her radio in hand.
We're all here, except for groups three and five. Where'd they go?
"Don't worry about them for the moment, Su-sama," Jack replied. "I'm coming in."
He re-entered the vehicle, and stood in front of his troops. "Okay, we've got a
problem. Group five is presumed dead. They fell under attack by the same people
that are outside, and we're about to get hit by them too. This transport is
heading back to Colorado now."
The statement hung in the air for a moment, then Nolan stepped forwards. "Sir,
where's group three?"
Jack's eyes widened. "Oh, hell, they've not reported back yet?" He raised his
radio to his lips. "Group three, report in."
The radio was silent.
"State your location and status, group three, that's an order!" Jack snapped out.
So, the Lightbringer's leader speaks, an amused voice came over the radio.
It's a pleasure to hear from you at long last.
"You're not Chalmers," Jack said evenly, though his face went slack. "Where are
my troops, and how did you get one of my radios?"
The smooth voice continued. It was rather simple. They trespassed on my
property, and I took the liberty of having my people grant them access to Nothing.
Incidentally, they put up quite a fight, and they sent a more than a few of my people
back to Nothing as well.
"Just who are you?" Jack snapped, the anger beginning to show.
You know what I look like, the man said with a soft laugh. Your drones took a
picture of me before I eliminated them. Did it come out well? I do hope that I
didn't get red-eye in it. Of course, that wasn't the best angle for a photo,
but you do what you can, don't you?
"You rat bastard. You killed them! You killed them all!"
Why, yes, I suppose I did, the reply came. And I do hope you know about the
group near your transport. I would hate for you not to know what's going to
send you into Nothing.
Before he tapped the button to transmit a reply, Jack barked out an order
to the troops there. "Unload the back SU-V of the stuff inside it. I'm borrowing
it. This bastard and I have a score to settle for groups three and five."
My sheep tell me that you're pulling out! Surely you want to see just who
did this to your little children, the voice cackled over the SASA radio frequency.
Su narrowed her eyes and climbed out of the turret.
"Where the hell are you, you bastard?"
I won't be too far. As a matter of fact, I'm right at Wilcrest now. Perhaps
we should meet at the place where you were once happiest.
"And that is where?" Jack snapped into the radio.
You know full where I speak of. It was the only place you fit into, the
only place that you were accepted. It is the empty void in your life.
Come return to it. The radio paused. Was that obscure enough?
"Yes, you jackass," Jack sighed. "Give me an address."
The radio was silent for a few seconds. Between Wilcrest and Kirkwood,
just south of Interstate 10. Look for the school.
Within thirty seconds, the vehicle's cargo was empty, and Jack climbed into it.
The back door slid down, and he pulled the SU-V out onto I-10.
"Get out of here, get back to Cheyenne Mountain!" Jack bellowed to the troops
standing at the door to the transport. "Get the cargo and Su-sama back there,
and don't look back! I'll be there later!"
The SU-V shook with the weight of something landing on its roof, and Jack pulled
his Glock out - only to find that Su had opened the passenger window via remote
and was buckling herself into the seat.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Su-sama?" Jack said, dropping the
pistol on the dashboard. "You've got to get out of here!"
"Su told you that someone was here, didn't she?" she said. "Su knows what Su
is doing. Now either you drive or Su's going to."
Jack grimaced. "You know that that's almost as scary as what we're going up
against?"
The goddess nodded and grinned. "Let's go!"
They peeled off just as the transport took to the air and winged its way west.
So, my followers tell me that the large turtle-plane has left the area,
the radio crackled. You're a fool to stay here, you know that?
"You killed my students," Jack growled. "You ain't getting away with that,"
he said, his Texas accent beginning to show again.
Oh, good, I do love it when something goes right.
Within five minutes, the SU-V pulled off the feeder road and into the flattened
area specified. Jack stepped out of the vehicle, and Su slid into the driver's
seat.
One man stood out in the wastes, one simple, lone man. His hands held a small book,
which he clasped to him, and as Jack walked forwards towards him, a black aura
flew up around the psychotic man.
"It took you a while to get to me, didn't it?" the man said quietly, but loud enough
for Jack to hear.
"Just who the hell are you?" Jack said, pulling his rifle off his back. "You killed
a group of my students..."
"Two groups, actually," the man said, shaking his aura. "They got close to
me, and I don't let anyone do that unless they follow my path. Your students
refused, and so..." He waved his fingers. "Poof."
"You son of a -"
The man put his left hand to his chin. "Well, it was more like 'Aaagh, aiyee,
oh, god, no, the pain, stop, please' and that, but you know what I mean, don't
you?"
Jack took aim and fired.
"A standard AWM rifle bullet is a .338 caliber Lapua Magnum round. Fired from
a rifle like the AWM, it can easily sever entire limbs with one shot, splatter
heads like cantaloupes, or just tear an exit wound the size of a fist in someone.
"Suffice it to say, this is a very deadly weapon, isn't it, Miss Arney?"
The girl nodded, her hair bouncing with every movement.
Talon smirked. "The let me be the first to tell you that it did absolutely
nothing against this man."
The aura stopped the bullet.
Jack stared in astonishment. He'd used this very rifle to hunt near Cheyenne Mountain,
and the bullet had brought down whatever it hit.
It was certainly enough to bring down a man.
And yet the man stood there, his aura slowly bringing the bullet towards him for
inspection. It dropped it into his hand, and he held it up to the light. "A Magnum!
My, my, you're quite angry at me, aren't you? Still, though, I wouldn't think that
the situation calls for that."
Jack fired two more rounds in quick succession, pumping the round into the chamber
after each one, then a fresh round after the second.
Each time, the aura stopped the bullets.
The man smiled, and his teeth could be seen against the darkness of his aura.
"And now perhaps I should show you my weapon, Lightbringer's pawn." He raised
his hands high, and clenched in them was a book.
"Behold, the Light, the true Light. The Light of Evil!"
He lowered it back to his chest. "Perhaps it is time I showed you just what it
can do."
With that, a black tendril shot out towards Jack, who barely had time to
roll aside before it struck the ground and lashed up dirt and stone.
"I missed! Oh, well, you remember what they said when we were young - smile
and fall down, night and day!"
Another tentacle of black energy flew towards Jack, and it would have hit,
except for the fact that Jack had formed a small shield of his ice and
used that to block the tentacle while he drew his sword.
"You're trying to fight me? Oh, this is rich!" the man chortled. He narrowed
his eyes. "You can't win." His aura expanded, and it flared, ready to send off
hundreds of tendrils -
- and a huge circle of earth shot up around him. Jack looked around, then saw Su's
hands in contact with the ground. He sheathed his sword and dropped the icy shield,
then ran for the SU-V as Su opened the passenger door. He dove in, slammed it shut
behind him, and Su jammed the accelerator to the floor.
The vehicle sped away, and a few seconds later, the wall of earth exploded outwards.
"They are dead. They just don't know it yet."
"They obviously didn't die, though," Arney said, her hands turning white as
they gripped the armrests on her chair.
"That's kind of a given, seeing as how Su's still alive today," Talon said
with a grin before he unwrapped another Jolly Rancher. He pushed the bowl of
the candies towards Arney, but she shook her head. Talon shrugged and continued.
"Jack to Tama-transport, come in, Tama-transport," Jack said into the SU-V's
radio as Su drove with insane speed along the ruins of I-10.
This is Tama-transport zero-five, sir, the reply came. What the hell happened
to you and Lady Su, sir?
"You don't want to know, son," Jack said, his voice grim. "Once you get back to
home base, get a plane to San Antonio pronto. Su-sama and I will hole up in the
airport and wait there. Bring tons of weapons - hell, bring Kana if you have to.
I don't give a goddamn what you bring, but make it powerful!"
Affirmative. We'll relay your request to control for you, the reply came.
"We'll be there in about three hours. Have the plane either on the ground
or close by!" Jack clipped the radio to the dashboard. "What the hell was
that guy?" he muttered.
"Su knew something bad was there," Su said as the SU-V tore along the slowly
decaying freeway. "That place needs to be destroyed."
Affirmative. We'll relay your request to control for you.
The man grinned, then clicked the radio off. "My people, watch over
this for me - watch over the city of Argyle! I shall return!"
With a blast of darkness, his aura flared, and he moved with such speed
that dust clouds were raised behind him.
He moved towards San Antonio.
Tama-transport zero-five to control, come in, control, over, the transmission
came.
Kana and Shinobu were in the control room at the moment, and due to his
presence, the technician on duty scrambled for the radio. "This is control.
What's your situation?"
We are missing personnel and the commander and Lady Su are not on board. They
stayed behind to investigate something, and now they're requesting transport
from the San Antonio airport. They requested heavy backup too, over.
"Heavy backup?" Shinobu said, a frown crossing her face. "Su requesting backup?"
Kana's face tightened. "You cannot seriously be entertaining the thought of
going in person."
Shinobu shook her head. "I'm going, whether you like it or not. She's my friend,
and she's coming home!"
Kana stared for a second. "Your compassion will one day be your downfall. That
day, however, will be a long way off." He patted his katana. "That day will be
when I will not be with you."
Shinobu smiled. "Let's go!"
She started for the North Portal, Kana in tow.
"Control to Tama-transport zero-five, backup is heading to the San Antonio airport
now," the technician said, a note of relief evident in his voice as Kana left.
"Backup consists of Lady Shinobu, Lord Kana, and their VTOL transport. It's unknown
if Lord Riam will be joining them; I assume he will."
Assume nothing, Control, the transport replied. Just hope that Lady Su and the
commander are still alive when they get there. If they're not, we'd better learn
to kiss Naru's ass. Request landing vector, over.
Jack collapsed onto a sofa in a lounge in one of the terminals in the airport,
which he and Su had gotten to half an hour faster than they thought they would.
"Su-sama, you drive like a maniac."
She flashed him a grin. "Hey, we're here, aren't we?"
His face darkened. "Yeah, no thanks to the rat back there who tried to kill
me. He got my students, those drones... just who the hell is that guy?"
Su shook her head. "Su doesn't know, but I think we better start watching
our backs until we get back. That guy was serious."
Jack nodded and sighed. "And now we've got to wait for whatever Shinobu and
Kana send - assuming they even got our message."
After about half an hour, Jack was reading an old "Time" magazine, and
Su had stepped out of the room - but a soft sound came from outside the
room - that of a hard heel clicking on the tile floor.
"I would wager they got your message, boy," the man said, stepping in, his book
in hand. "However, they will not be fast enough, and when they arrive, I will
send them to the depths of the damnable Void as well!"
Jack bolted out of his seat a split second before a shaft of darkness tore a
hole through it, then pulled out his sword. "I'll be damned if you send me anywhere,
you bastard!" He flung the issue of "Time" straight at the being, and it was torn
to ribbons in front of him.
"You can't hide forever, you know. You know my nature, and you'll either serve me
or be damned for eternity!" The man held up the Light of Evil again, and Jack took
the opportunity to charge up what he could of lightning.
"To me, o Thunder!" With a wave of his hand, the bolt flew towards the book, and
when it hit, it did nothing.
"To me, o Fire!" A small bolt of fire repeated the process.
"It won't do anything, fool," the man laughed. "It draws on you, your fear, your
mind, your soul - all the evil in you feeds it, gives it more power!"
"Then be damned with it!" Jack aimed his sword at the book. "With this blade,
and the weak powers I have, I'll at least delay you!"
"You're welcome to try," the man said.
"Hyah!" An earth wall shot up around him again, and Jack took the opportunity to
fire off a ball of ice towards the nearest window, which Su then pulled him through.
A second later, the earth flew in all directions, and the man gave chase.
The two fugitives stopped on the nearest runway, just as a plane came into view
above.
"What in the nine hells..."
Kana stared down at the fight below, Shinobu at the next window over.
"Whoever that is, they wield a considerable amount of darkness. Let us
pick up Su-san and the fop and leave."
Shinobu went to the cockpit. "Take the plane in!"
Riam came up behind her. "Run over the man with the aura down there.
Keep Su safe at all costs!"
"You can't get away, you know," the man said, his book in front of him.
"You can run, you can hide, but I'll catch you every time."
"You'll catch me? Catch me?" Jack sighed as he held out his sword. "Then
let's finish this." He grinned as he saw the nose of the plane tilt up
and the landing gear come out...
The man, however, didn't.
He did hear it when it got close, and he dove for cover before it would
have crushed him.
A few seconds later, Kana strode down the ramp. "You called for help, you
weakling?" His katana was drawn, and it emitted a soft black glow. Riam
came up behind him, a Hechler and Koch MP5 in his hands, and his eyes
glinting murderously.
Jack grinned weakly, his sword hanging loosely in his hands. "For once
in my life, Kana, I am goddamned glad to see you!"
Kana charged the man with the book, Jack trailing behind him, and
Shinobu ran out of the plane to hug Su. The two women started making
their way back to the plane across the degraded runway -
And the madman cackled. "So, it IS the Lightbringer! Oh, this is perfect,
this is too perfect! I'll corrupt her and..."
A clang of steel on aura interrupted him. Kana was in front of him, his
black katana impacting on the man's aura, and he bore a truly furious
look in his eyes.
"You will NOT."
Kana slashed repeatedly with his katana, driving the man back step after
step, until he'd gotten him up against a wall. Before Kana could strike a
killing blow, the man smashed the wall open with his aura and started
levitating the chunks of cement from it.
One by one, they flew towards the jet - specifically, the engines. It seemed
as if he was going to get them and keep them there...
And just before the first rock hit the plane, a small ball of ice hit it and
deflected it just barely enough so it would skim over the plane. A spray of bullets
shattered the second, then the third, and the ones following it -
Kana turned around just enough to nod to Jack and Riam and continued pressing his
attack.
The psychotic's eyes widened. "You are like me, necromancer. We both have the same
goal in mind... you hate humanity as much as I do... join me, aid me, and we can
achieve the goal of eradicating them. It's really not that hard to do - just
say that you switch your allegiance; the Lightbringer won't mind one bit..."
He was cut off as Kana slapped him across the face. "I am NOTHING like you!"
With one swift blow, Kana knocked the Light of Evil from the man's hands. He tried
to pick it up - a bolt of blackness shot across his hands -
And the man grinned. "Yes, you can't touch it now. It's too strong for you.
Soon, though, soon you'll be able to absorb all of it, then you'll have my
powers, my powers and yours, all in you, and then what'll you do? The Lightbringer
will hate you, and you won't be able to do anything about it!"
Kana dropped the book and stepped backwards in horror.
"Yes, that's right," the man grinned. "I've seen it, and you know what? You
can't escape it any more than I can. But I don't want to escape it - I love
it."
He reised his arms theatrically. "Yes, I, Thomas Hatchet Argyle, love my powers - "
He turned to Kana and flared out his aura. "But I HATE you!"
That was as far as he got before Jack clubbed him in the back of his head with a
long blackjack of ice. He fell to the ground unconscious, and Jack reached out and
plucked the SASA radio from his body.
He then spat on the side of Argyle's face. "You goddamned bastard. I hope
you burn for what you did to my kids."
He and Kana stepped back, and for the third time, Su threw up a wall of earth
around Argyle.
Kana and Jack ran back to the VTOL, then entered it. The door shut behind them
after they followed the goddesses into the craft, and within a few minutes, they
were on their way back to Colorado.
No one spoke during the flight. Su and Shinobu were in each other's arms; Riam
cleaned his MP5; Jack stared out a window, his head in his hands; Kana sat in his
seat, his katana across his legs.
Kana's stare was, as always, intense.
Back in Colorado Springs...
"One man did that."
Shinobu shook her head in amazement. "Aaau, this isn't good. He knows who we are,
and if he had the radio... he knows where we are!"
Jack shook his head. "He knew who we called. I don't think he knew just where
we are, though. We didn't talk about the base via radio."
"You called for help." Kana's voice dripped venom at Jack. "He heard it, obviously."
"Silence, Kana. He heard that we called the base. There's no way he could
have heard the transport relay the message, and we didn't have a satellite radio."
"So we've got someone in Texas who's a threat to anyone who meets him. What are our
plans?" Shinobu said quietly.
"We do nothing," Kana said flatly. "He wields power beyond that which I can control.
Suffice it to say, he will easily defeat the tuxedoed fop over there."
Jack snorted. "Su-san and I fought him off twice. We can stall him. We can't beat
him, and neither can you, Kana. I'd say - no offense meant - that it's a tossup
even for Shinobu-sama."
"Claim it as you wish; I will not be a part of attacking him," Kana said, then
turned and left. Jack sighed, as did Shinobu.
Jack turned to Shinobu and shook his head. "Shinobu-sama, we don't have a chance
against him, and we all know it. I say that we officially forget this thing ever
happened - but unofficially, we start training the recruits to deal with and
possibly neutralize him."
Shinobu blinked, then nodded. "I'll work on some things to try to stop him with Su.
Riam will keep the soldiers ready."
Jack bowed, then exited the command room.
As he walked down the halls, a soldier - one of the ones assigned to the satellite
control room - came up to him. "Sir, I just thought you'd want to know this. Today's
batch of satellite photos came in. They're on the server now. Did you like the ones
that came in earlier? Nice and crisp, eh?"
"What are you talking about? I haven't requested any new satellite photos," Jack
said irritably.
The soldier laughed. "Of course you did, sir! There's an e-mail in my box from you
that told me to track a few Naru-patrols that are just a little too close to the
city for comfort. Not only that, the file tags on the satellite photos from
earlier - you know, the ones over Houston that show that wacko - they show that
the file was accessed by your login a while back! You must've forgotten about it
or something."
"But I swear that..." Jack stopped there, then nodded. "Sure, thanks. I'll take a
look at the new ones once I can get to my office." He moved on, and the soldier
eventually wandered off.
Jack's face grew grim.
He reached his office, and he drew out the key to unlock it - but the door slid
open when he touched the knob. The cleaning staff may have left it open, he
thought for a second. He shrugged, then shut the door behind him after switching
on the lamp, noting the calm red glow of the two security camera lights amid the
shelves of servers.
"I really do think that hiding the cameras in a rack of servers was smart" he
muttered to himself. "All the status lights hide their presence, and hell, they
almost fool me."
Jack rubbed the two labels next to the lights - "SuSE Server 1 - Power Supply A"
and "Sendmail Server - Antivirus Update Needed." He cackled for a minute. "Nope,
never gonna need an antivirus program now!"
He walked over to his desk, saw that the power light on the main unit was off,
flipped on Tsukimi, then sat down in his chair and turned on the monitor. It
booted - a little slower than normal, or was it his eyes? - and Jack was soon
presented with a familiar screen.
"This shouldn't have been off, though... I never shut this down."
WELCOME TO TSUKIMI!
This system is
running Linux.
Login:
He logged in, then input his password, and a few seconds later...
WELCOME TO TSUKIMI!
This system is
running Linux.
Login: tuxedojack
Pass:
Login accepted.
Welcome to Tsukimi. I'm running on kernel 2.4.26.
Please input your commands after I launch KDE.
Your last successful login was ninety-three hours
and twenty-one minutes ago, sensei.
[tuxedojacktsukimi tuxedojack]$
Jack's jaw dropped. Admittedly, his password wasn't so hard to crack, and anyone with
a decent password decrypter could have gotten through it - but that technology was
restricted to Su and the other techs, and even Jack didn't dare use it.
[tuxedojacktsukimi tuxedojack]$ startx
Jack loaded KDE, and with a few clicks, he loaded the camera tape viewing program.
The computer scanned over to the time when he last logged in, and the demigod's face
hardened when he saw just what had happened in his office while he was gone.
"Oh, shit, that's what that soldier meant!"
Jack double-clicked on Evolution and checked his "Sent Mail" box, noting the last
one - "Request for Satellite Surveillance" and its sent time. He scanned the reply
to it in his inbox, then loaded up the files it referenced...
And his eyes went wide as he saw the photos that the satellite had taken. He
issued a command to the nearest disk drive to copy them, and to the cameras to
transfer the feed to a backup tape.
As he exited his office, the tape ejected itself, and all the evidence he needed
on it. He grabbed it, shut the door, locked it, and started along the path to an
office.
"That rat bastard, cracking into Tsukimi and going through my files... I'll
goddamned KILL him!" Jack muttered as he stomped through the halls in search of his
target.
After a few minutes, he found Riam in front of a few soldiers instructing them
on the proper way to oil an MP5. He grinned. "Oy, Riam, got a minute?" he said,
beckoning to Su's consort.
The man turned, then nondded. "What do you need?"
Jack leaned in towards him. "You know that rock outside? The one on the north
slope, near the north portal?"
Outside the mountain, Kana lifted a pair of binoculars to his eyes and grinned
with all the sanity of a deranged magical clown at the vision he saw through
the lenses.
"Oh, this is beautiful, this is too perfect." With a soft clink, he withdrew
his katana from its sheath, and the blade immediately started giving off black
waves. Kana ran the edge over his tongue softly, and with a feral grin, he flipped
the katana over, then started down the mountainside...
Towards the Naru-patrols there.
Two Naru-patrols were encamped about five miles away, their vehicles off and silent,
their campfires roaring and uncovered.
"And then he says, 'Zutto,' to her! Isn't that some kind of nut?" The troops burst
into gales of laughter, and a soft, oily voice slid forth from the darkness of the
nearby trees.
"It means, 'always.'" A laugh sounded. "Or it can mean 'never.' It depends on how
it's used," the voice said, and the Naru-troops gathered in the clearing immediately
shouldered their weapons and started looking around for the threat.
"Drop your weapons," Kana said, stepping out from the trees, his sword drawn. "I
don't appreciate your trespassing on Shinobu's property. I think you should leave."
The leader of the Naru-troops lowered his weapon and started laughing. "Ooh, big man
with his little pansy sword. What're you going to do, boy, bleed all over me?" His laughter
was joined by that of the other troops.
Kana smirked. "No, I rather like my blood in pools on the ground. It makes for a far
easier clean-up job."
"I'll try to accomodate you," the leader said, aiming his pistol. Kana moved, just quick
enough to avoid the leader's poorly-aimed shot, then ended up with his blade next to the
man's chest a few seconds later.
"No, I think I'll accomodate myself quite nicely," Kana said, shoving the blade through
the man's sternum.
"Bas... tard..."
Kana wrenched the blade out and turned to regard the other troops and their shocked
amazement before turning his blade on them.
Their screams echoed through the night, but they were short-lived - both the men and
the screams. A few minutes later, Kana wiped his katana on the edge of the leader's
pants and pointed it skyward.
"In life you served her, in death you shall serve me, and you shall generate more of
yourself in order to increase my power!"
The troops arose slowly, shambled to their vehicles, and started them... then Kana
bowed his head. "Go! Go to destroy the other Naru-patrols around here! Make more,
more corpses, more dead, more glorious death!"
As the vehicles started off on their thirty-six-hour trip, Kana turned and began
walking back to the mountain.
He didn't see the glints of the binoculars held to the eyes of the two scouts on
the mountainside. It was fortunate for them that he didn't.
Okay, I'm ready, Riam's voice came over the radio. It's all set up. Here's
hoping that you get your part done and done right.
"Oh, I will," Jack said grimly. "Just make sure that Shinobu's listening at the
scheduled time." He clicked his radio off. "God, I didn't think I'd ever be such
a bastard. He goes through my system, tries to blame me for the satellite photos,
and now I'm pulling this... Christ, I'm almost as bad as he is."
He opened the door to his office, then sat down in his chair and called Kana's office.
"Hmm. Not there. Weird." He placed a call up to the throne room's antechamber, but the
guards there said that they'd not seen Kana either.
"Something's up." Jack dialed the North and South portals, and yes, the North Portal
guards had seen Kana leave about twenty minutes earlier.
"Oh, hell, he couldn't..." Jack shook his head. This was Kana. He would. He
turned on his radio and started for the door. "Change of plans, Riam. We're moving up
the timetable. Get her to the listening post, and get her there now. I don't care how you do
it, just get her there and keep her quiet!"
Yo-kai, the reply came.
"Dammit," Jack muttered to no one in particular before exiting the North Portal and
starting down the road to the position where the Naru-patrols had been encamped.
Halfway there, he ran into Kana.
"Good evening, Kana," Jack said through tightly clenched teeth. "Out for a walk?"
"You could say that," the necromancer replied evenly.
"Then walk with me," Jack commanded. "We've got something to talk about."
"You don't have anything to talk to me about; nothing that's worth my time," Kana
snorted in reply.
"It's worth my time," Jack shot back. "And Shinobu's. If she finds what I found,
we're all dead. You, me, Riam - even her, most likely."
"If it's a threat to her, then we'll talk." Kana's eyes narrowed. "You had best not
waste my time, whelp."
By this time, Jack had maneuvered the walk so that they were near the large rock and
(hopefully) a radio that would transmit whatever was being said inside to the control
room - where Riam and Shinobu would be listening to each and every word.
"So what is this threat that places us all in danger?" Kana said mockingly. "Is it that
man Argyle? Is it your cooking?"
"Hardly, Kana," Jack replied softly. "What we say here stays here, got it? We don't
speak of this outside of this location. No one's nearby, so they can't hear us. The
problem? It's you." Noting the other man's eyes narrowing, he continued on. "You've
killed good men and women, destroyed careers, and just generally made life for many,
many people a living hell. That I can forgive, as I can work with them and their families
to undo - or at least try to mend the wounds - of what you did."
Jack crossed his arms, then mentally checked his side for his sword - it was there, as
always. He took comfort in the weight and continued. "But when you went into my office,
went through my files, then used that data - that I can't forgive. I don't care if it was
for Shinobu or not - you do NOT go through my property. Do you get me?"
Kana snorted. "Is that all you called me out here for? I never went into your office."
"You're a terrible liar, Kana," Jack said with an evil grin, hoping that the radio behind
the rock was transmitting. "I have cameras in my office. They showed you accessing Tsukimi
while I was gone."
"Tapes can be faked."
"Login timestamps can't." Jack pulled the tape out of his breast pocket and held it up
to the light. "That's the thing about Linux, Kana - it keeps logs of everything. I set
Tsukimi up to keep logs of logons and logoffs, and shutting the power off doesn't erase it.
When I came back and logged in, I saw it."
Kana's face tightened. "Fine. I was in your computer while you were gone. What's your point?"
"I saw the satellite photos that lay in my inbox, Kana. You know, the ones that you wanted
me to check on? The Texas ones, the ones around the mountain - and the new Naru-patrols."
Jack's voice turned to ice as he regarded Kana with a critical eye. "Tell me, Kana. Where
are the two Naru-patrols that were camped here?"
"They are not here. Is that not obvious?" Kana's voice, normally impassioned, was becoming
strained.
"I should think not," Jack muttered. "I have scouts looking out over the valley now." He
clicked on his radio, then turned it up to maximum volume. "THX-1138, what do you see out
there?"
Sir, the Naru-patrols are moving east. They don't seem to be tiring, either - they were in
camp for only about two hours, and they're moving too fast. Something's definitely wrong with
them, sir.
"Thank you, THX-1138. That will be all." Jack clicked the radio off, then clipped it to his
belt. He left his hand there. "So, Kana, what happened to them? Don't tell me, let me guess."
Jack put his other hand to his chin in a pseudo-thoughtful gesture. "You killed them all."
"They were dangerously close to Shinobu-sama's base. Had they come closer, they may have
mounted an attack," Kana said, hissing out his reply.
"It doesn't matter!" Jack said, finally losing his temper. "You're a goddamned murderer!"
"Whatever I do, I do to protect Shinobu!" Kana said, his hand going to his katana. "That's
why..."
"That's why what?" Jack said, then his eyes opened wide. "Oh, god, don't tell me."
"That's why those Naru-patrols are going to kill all the patrols near here." Kana's eyes
glittered in the darkness. "All the dead will come to serve me, and through me, Shinobu."
"Not if I can stop it," Jack growled. "Oh, and Kana? I lied. There's a radio here that's
been transmitting this whole conversation to the control room." He pulled his radio from
his belt while Kana stood stock-still. "Hear me, Riam? Shinobu-sama?" Jack said, then
turned his radio on.
Loud and clear, Jack, Riam's cold voice came from the radio. That's quite a list of
misdeeds, Kana. Don't expect a warm welcome from me.
Jack turned off the radio. "My point is made. Get out, Kana. Don't come back." He turned, then
started walking towards the North Portal.
It was the sound of metal-on-metal that made Jack dive to the side - and that saved his life,
as Kana's katana came crashing down where he was a few seconds ago.
"What the HELL are you doing, you maniac?" Jack bellowed before rolling and getting up.
"What I should have done a long time ago," Kana said, the maniacal glint in his eyes glaring.
"You can't protect Shinobu - you're not willing to take whatever steps are necessary!" Kana
turned towards Jack, his katana pointing straight towards the commander. "And if you can't
protect her, you'll be removed too!"
Jack ripped his sword from its sheath. "I can at least protect her from you!" Kana charged
Jack, and the mage stayed back, waiting until Kana got close - then he ducked under Kana's
slash, rolled to the side, and fired off a bolt of flame at Kana - deflected.
"Then come on, come and get me, and we'll see what I can do!" As Kana charged Jack again,
his katana ready for a killing slash, Jack chanted something - and a block of ice appeared
in front of him, which was quickly pared down to the size of a large shield. Jack took it
in hand, then started bouncing on his feet.
"Kana, I swear by God, come today, one of us is leaving Shinobu's side, and it's sure not
going to be me!"
Sword met sword as the two leaders of the Shinobu and Su Alliance's forces clashed, and for the
second time in three days, Jack was outclassed by his opponent. His skills with the sword weren't
near enough to drive Kana back - instead, Jack was being beaten back towards the portal. Everything
he tried - sword attacks, fire, lightning, ice - nothing worked, though it seemed that
Jack wanted the fight to move towards the North Portal.
In desperation, he jumped over one of Kana's sweeps towards his legs, and fired off a small
amount of ice pellets at high velocity. They slammed into Kana, and he shrugged them off and
kept coming, blood barely oozing from his shoulders.
It bought Jack enough time to get a safe distance from Kana, and when he made it away, he turned
around. "Guess I'd better use this. It's been a long time since I've had to!" He shifted so his
sword was pointed straight at Kana, then spoke again. "Elemental Storm!" Shards of ice ran off
the main blade, making very pointy sword-catchers, fire ringed the tip, and every so often, bolts
of lightning would run down it. "Come on, Kana, try it out!"
"Gladly," the necromancer hissed before knocking the blade from Jack's hands with his katana.
"It doesn't look like it works very well, now does it?"
"Apparently not," Jack conceded as he moved out of the way of another slash - then a second -
and grabbed his sword again in time to block a third. "But let's try that again!" He ducked
Kana's decapitating sweep and then slashed out with his own sword, only to be blocked.
"Average - that's all you ever were," Kana said with an evil grin. "How you got so high
in the ranks, I'll never know." His katana moved like the tongues of flames, licking and jumping,
darting in towards Jack's weak spots, which the mage could only barely block in time -
- a quick strike of Kana's sent Jack tumbling to the ground, and a few seconds later, Kana's
left leg came down on Jack's hand, reaching for the sword he carried -
"It's over." Kana drew back his sword. "Any last words, jack of all trades, master of none?"
"Yeah." Despite his situation, Jack had a wolfish grin on his face. "Look at the Portal!"
Kana's eyes rolled towards the gate. "Please. That is the oldest trick..." He cut himself off
as a feminine scream sounded from the hole in the mountain.
"Kana!" Shinobu rushed out of the mountain, Riam behind her. The goddess held balls of light
in each hand, and Riam held an AWM at the ready and targeted straight at Kana's head.
"And the cavalry's here, Kana," Jack hissed quietly. "You'd better get out of here before
Riam shoots you - or I carve you up in front of Shinobu." He wrenched his arm free, rolled
to one side, and snatched up his sword, getting it into position as he came up from his roll.
"Kana..." Shinobu's voice was cracking. "How... how could you?"
Kana's eyes widened. "My lady, I... I did it all for you! All to protect you!"
"How does your killing others who had no intention of attacking protect me?" Shinobu said, tears
streaming down her delicate face. "You didn't do it to protect me at all! You did it for the sheer
thrill of killing those people!"
Kana stood there, his head bowed, his hand shaking on the hilt of his katana.
"You went against everything I asked you to do, Kana," Shinobu managed through her tears.
"How could you?" She shook her head. "Just... leave." When the necromancer raised his head
as if to protest, she raised her hand and pointed it at him. "Don't. Just get out. I don't
want to see you here."
Kana stalked towards Jack, katana at the ready, and before he could reach the mage, Shinobu
fired off a shot which lanced between the two. Her tears were flowing freely now, and even
Jack could see them glitter in the starry night.
"I said GO, Kana!" Her voice trembled, and Riam cocked the rifle. "I don't want to kill
you, but I will if I have to... if it means stopping others from dying..."
Kana turned towards Jack. "You're lucky. She's saved your life. Were Shinobu not here, I would
have killed you tonight. Remember that." He turned, then turned back rapidly and slashed a deep
wound into Jack's left arm. The mage howled in pain just before Shinobu fired, missing Kana completely,
but with the desired effect of making him flee into the night.
"Remember, viator lucis - all I did, I did for you."
Jack pressed his right hand to the gash in his left arm, and muttering a few words, began to heal it.
After a few moments, the wound closed, and he stood from his kneeling position, somewhat pale,
though obviously alive and able to take more.
"Let's get her inside," Jack said to Riam. "I'll carry her, you keep a watch for Kana."
Riam nodded, and the AWM went to ready position once more as the mage picked up Shinobu
in his arms. "Wrap your arms around my neck, Shinobu-sama," he said quietly as she sobbed
into his shoulder. Once her arms were in the requested position, he moved quietly into the
mountain, Riam following close behind.
"Sir, what happened?" the guards said, their faces ashen.
"Kana is hereby persona non grata on our territory. You have orders to remove him from the
premises on sight. Spread the word," Jack said grimly, walking past the guards into the base.
After they reached the elevator, Riam slipped off, claiming that he needed to return the AWM
to the armory. Jack tapped a button with the end of one of his fingers, and the elevator
sped down through the shaft deep into the mountain's core.
After a few moments, they arrived at the floor where Shinobu had her small residence. Jack
somehow manipulated the door into opening, and he carried her inside and wandered through
her suite until he found her bed. He laid her on it, then pulled one of her sheets over her,
and turned to leave -
"Please don't go," the small voice came. "I'll be alone again." The soft, quiet crying was
evident in her trembling voice. "They all left me, years ago, and I haven't seen any of them
except Su in years... I don't know how Naru-senpai is, or Urashima-senpai, and Kitsune-san,
Motoko-san, Kanako-san... I haven't seen them, and they haven't tried to talk to me at all..."
"You're not alone, Shinobu-sama," Jack said, pulling a nearby chair up to her bed. "You're
never alone." He tucked her in a little tighter, clasped her small hand in his, and gently
kissed her on the forehead. "Get some sleep. I'll stay here with you."
"Arigatou," Shinobu whispered, closing her eyes. "Oyasumi..."
"Oyasumi nasai, Shinobu-sama," Jack whispered before leaning back in his chair, but not
relinquishing his hold on her hand.
After a while, Shinobu's soft crying stopped, and her tears and sobs became soft breathing.
Jack hadn't fallen asleep, though. He sat there, his free hand rubbing his chin.
"'And the angel dark, angel light, each was half the balance, and each served to complement
and accentuate her inner soul,'" he muttered. "'Each would serve her, each would love her,
each would die for her, one will.'"
Jack sighed. "One will what? It cut off there, and I didn't ever hear the rest. It's obvious,
though, who the Angel Dark is." He snorted. "I'd have to be blinder than Mu Si to miss that. And
yet..." He moved some hair out of Shinobu's face. She frowned for a moment in her sleep, then
relaxed. Her grip on his hand was still strong, though.
"And yet I probably won't be around to see this Angel Light." He glanced at his left arm.
"If this is any indication, I won't be around for much longer, either. I'm not even strong
enough to beat Kana. How can I protect Shinobu?" He sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"Minor reflections of other people's powers can't do anything to help me help her."
He bowed his head.
"I just don't know any more."
Kana tore through the night on foot, his speed swift, his path sure. After a short while,
he caught up with a stray Naru-patrol that he'd missed earlier. Without bothering to spout
platitudes, he laid into them, and a scant few seconds later, their corpses were reanimated.
He boarded their Liddo-walker, and with a telepathic command, they began the trek east to
catch up to the other undead patrols.
Shinobu-sama, even if I can't protect you there, I'll protect you somehow!
Kana's mind was barely staying together under the shock of being forcibly discharged from
Shinobu's service, and that did not do wonders for his thought processes. He lay back on the
Liddo-walker's roof, and with a manic grin, his eyes lit up with a burning fury.
Go east, my troops. We'll get her protection there, and nothing - not Naru, not Mutsumi,
and not that jackass - will stand in my way of keeping her safe!
And on his throne in the desolate wastelands of Houston, Thomas Hatchet Argyle laughed
and laughed and laughed...
Until he fell off his throne.
"Ow."
"You made that part up."
"Did I, Ms. Arney?" Talon asked, raising an eyebrow with a smirk. Arney crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at the professor.
"Yes…"
"Really? How can you tell?"
"For two reasons: One, you weren't there, and two, Argyle never wrote anything down. All we know about him is from his brother, and the eyewitness reports of everyone during the Battle of Houston, July 4th, 2101."
"So I've stretched the truth slightly. Artistic license." Talon looked over his glasses at the young woman appraisingly.
"I seem to recall something in your last paper, alluding that Major General Ulysses S. Grant had a drinking problem during the Civil War, when in fact there was no evidence for this. Rather, there were only rumors that he was an alcoholic." Arney flushed, looking down at her lap.
"I heard it somewhere…" she mumbled, gripping her skirt nervously. Talon sighed deeply, leaning back in his chair, and staring at the ceiling.
"Yes, well… I've lived by this adage, ever since I was a child: Understanding is a three-edged sword: Your side, their side, and the truth.Take that to heart, Ms. Arney. I don't pretend that it solves all problems, but it certainly has helped me in making up my mind." Arney nodded, looking up at her teacher with a bright smile.
"Thanks."
"My pleasure," Talon responded, smiling paternally at the young woman. His gaze shifted slightly to the clock adorning the far wall, and sighed.
"I've been talking for over six hours," he noted in bemusement, while Arney blinked and looked at her own watch. She then looked out the windows, tinged red and purple with the sun's imminent departure."Oh! Oh no… I had… uh… An appointment! I've got to go!" Arney jumped up out of her seat, falling over in her rush to the door.
"Oof!"
"No need to rush, Ms. Arney," Talon soothed, getting up, rounding the desk, and holding out a hand to the now-completely-scarlet girl, which she accepted. "If your… 'appointment', is understanding, I'm sure they won't mind if you're a little late."
"Thank you, Proffessor… But, um… Can we… Continue this? At a later time?" Talon smiled at the girl, and squeezed her shoulder in reassurance.
"Of course, Ms. Arney. I'd love to. Good night."
"Good night, sir," Arney said breathlessly, as she turned and ran out the door, her footfalls echoing down the now-dark hallway. Proffessor Talon smiled warmly after her, before turning to the coatrack nearby, donning his long black cloak. With his books and notes in his breifcase, he departed himself, walking down the empty corridor, finally coming to the door, and clearing that, striding over the campus grounds. He looked around in admiration for the tall trees, shaking slightly in the warm summer night's breeze, and at the first few stars opening up above in the rapidly-darkening sky. And to a distant memory, his smile grew a little more.
"All I need's a tall ship…"
To be continued in, "The Light of Evil"