Chapter 12.

Following in the Footsteps of Angels

The suited figure, their clothing hiding even their gender, stood above the crumpled form of Meryl Strife. It laid down the metal piping and leant over to inspect her small body. As it did so something caught its eye, a delicate golden chain dangling from her pocket. A gloved hand slowly picked up the golden chain and the figure saw that it was a locket. Opening the locket, it gazed at the picture inside it and the small strand of blond hair trapped there.

'Can't have you possessing that,' it muttered and slipped the jewellery into its wide belt.

Now the helmeted head moved to consider the figure upon the bed.

Vash was asleep, but even had he been awake, he probably would have taken little heed of the figure. He was so lost into his Plant aspect now that all affairs of humans were nothing to him. He was enraptured by the singing of his sisters.

The expression on the intruder's feature was impossible to make out from behind the golden mirrored surfacing of their visor. It regarded Vash for a long, long time however and when it spoke there was the slight tremor of emotion behind an otherwise cool voice.

'I thought you deserved this,' it said. 'I mean… if nothing else you deserve to see me… face to face… as it were. I just wanted you to know… I… I'm sorry, for all of this. I suppose it's all my fault after all. I hope things turn out alright, for the both of us. I hope you find forgiveness, I hope part of you… if there'll be anything left, might forgive me. And… I am sorry Vash, no matter what else happens, you must know that. I'm sorry.'

With this, and a soft sigh, the figure turned and left the tiny room, pausing only to fiddle with the door's lock before hurrying down the corridor and out of sight.

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Steve had not aged well.

Knives sneered at the skeletal face peering at him through the glass of the sleep chamber. Strange to think that such a wretched piece of rotting meat had once been the nightmare of his existence. Strange to think he had been the thing he had loathed the most in the entire universe. Strange to think that this had been the man who'd shaped him, broken him, made him.

And now he was this. Pathetic.

But he was dead, gone for ever. Knives' first victim and the only one which Knives could honestly, truly say he had no regrets about. Perhaps that was wrong, perhaps he should have felt guilt or sorrow at conspiring to take this life, at setting up the mechanisms that had killed Steve. As it was he just felt a cold, hard ball of pain and rage at the pit of his stomach. A horrible feeling that was only a little negated by the warm sensation of satisfaction. The bastard was definitely dead.

'Mr Knives?' Millie's high pitched voice brought him back to reality.

'I'm done,' he said. 'Just checking up on an old friend.'

'Oh… well then don't you think we should get to engineering?'

'Yes,' said Knives. He was about to step away when a compulsion occurred to him. He paused and, with one, last look at his dead nemesis, he spat at him.

'Rot in hell,' he muttered under his breath, taking some final satisfaction at seeing the sad of his saliva dribble down the glass front of the case, dripping down Steve's skeletal face.

Then, ignoring Millie's shocked expression, he started down the corridor. If he was correct then there was another exit down the way, it should take them quite a bit closer to engineering.

They walked down the corridor for a little while and were nearly at the exit when a small beeping sound made both of them jump.

'What is it!' cried Millie, unhooking her Stun Gun and readying it.

Knives was reaching for his own gun also when he remembered something. He smirked at his own paranoia. 'It's the communicator,' he said, reaching into the pockets of his coat and taking out the small, pen-like device.

He pressed a small button on its side and put it to his mouth. 'What is it?' he asked sharply.

'K… Knives?' it was Meryl's voice, or it sounded like that anyway. But it wasn't her usual, crisp tones. It was slurred and halting, 'Knives… Millie please… get down here I…' the voice faded away.

Millie's eyes widened as she heard these words, she was obviously worried.

'What is it girl?' Knives snapped, also concerned. (If only, he told himself, for his brother. He didn't care a bit for the short insurance woman. Of course not. Certainly he didn't. Not one bit...)

There was no answer from Meryl, though and after calling several times Knives could only presume that she was no longer in a position to answer.

'We have to go and help!' cried Millie, turning back.

'Hold on!' said Knives, 'we need to get to engineering! We need to-'

But he might as well have been talking to a brick wall, Millie was already running away from him, down the cold corridors.

Knights sighed and thoughtfully ran a hand through his hair. It felt a little sticky in parts, having been splattered with Vash's blood earlier, when the wings had come through.

On the one hand he needed to get to engineering, needed to see if their nemesis was there, to gain control of the ship, to perhaps see if the equipment which had created the nano-bots was there. On the other hand, however, Millie was running off without him and would probably get lost in short order. There was no telling what had happened to Vash or, for that matter, for Meryl.

At length concern for his brother outweighed the need for control and, muttering ruefully under his breath, Knives followed Millie, hoping to catch up and guide her.

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They returned to an odd and disturbing sight. Meryl was lying on the floor, a small amount of blood smeared on the side of her head. Vash, however, was sitting up in bed, facing ahead his eyes settling straight on them, though there was no hint of emotion or even recognition there.

Millie was so shocked at the sight she had to hold back a little scream, for Vash was almost completely unrecognisable. Now entirely covered with white feathers, two splendid wings burgeoning from his back, his form was entirely alien. Two, solid, shiny aqua-marine eyes glared at them blankly, his ears had elongated into points, his very features seemed a little harsher, a little sharper than they had before. His hair had drooped from its upright position and now seemed more like strange, golden tendrils than anything else. His hands, or rather hand, had developed small claws but, most disturbing of all, he was glowing.

It wasn't very much, only a very slight, white luminescence, but it was noticeable enough to make Knives shiver with dread. Vash had almost completed his transformation, he was almost entirely Plant now. They had run out of time.

He gently reached out with his mind, trying to detect Vash's thoughts, to communicate. He might as well have tried to converse with a dog. Vash's mind was a whirl of instinct and emotion, his thoughts were buried deep, lost within a tumble of distance and madness. He wasn't even trying to reply to Knives contact, instead he seemed lost in conversation with his sisters.

'Mr Knives!' called Millie, who had gone to Meryl's side. 'I think Meryl's been hit on the head, can you pass the first aid kit?'

Knives nodded and reached over for the small package just as Meryl started groaning, coming back to consciousness slowly and painfully.

'Ma'am, what happened?' asked Millie.

'I got knocked out,' grumbled Meryl. 'Someone attacked me. They were wearing a space suit so I didn't see their face. I managed to come around long enough to contact you but I passed out again.'

'How do you feel Ma'am?' Millie enquired, fussing round her partner.

'Crap,' responded Meryl dryly, 'the world won't stop spinning.'

'I'll have a look at you,' said Knives, striding forward and crouching down besides her. 'You might have some mild concussion.'

Swallowing his distaste for the situation and reminding himself that this was the prudent thing to do, he carefully put his hands to her head and began to sort through her hair, hoping to get a look at her injury. A strange noise distracted him from his task.

Vash was growling.

Or rather, he was making a strange, chittering noise, a noise not quite describable. He'd started glowing differently too, there seemed to be a reddish tint to his luminescence, his features were twisted into a different expression, also. For the first time since they had entered the room, he was looking right at Knives.

'Vash?' murmured Knives tentatively, reaching out for his brother.

What happened next occurred almost too fast for even Knives to follow. Vash's head dived forward and, in one clean movement, he bit his brother.

Knives cried out in agony and wrenched his hand away, bringing it to his chest, Vash snarled around a mouth full of blood, his teeth had jagged points.

Grabbing both Meryl and Millie, Knives rose to his feet and quickly back-peddled out, hastily exiting the room and pushing the locking mechanism. The door slid shut and he leant against the hallway wall, panting and clutching his wounded hand close to him. He could hardly believe what had just transpired.

Millie, who'd taken over the task of tending to Meryl, looked up at him, a worried expression on her open face.

'I'm fine,' gasped Knives. 'It's not that deep, though I could do with it being disinfected.'

'Meryl will be alright too,' chirped Millie, passing Knives the med-box. 'She wasn't hit all that hard.'

'It felt damn hard enough,' muttered Meryl, slowly raising her hand to her head and wincing. 'But what the hell was all that about? Why did Vash attack you?'

'I don't know,' responded Knives as he sprayed anti-bacterial spray upon his wound. 'I've no idea why he was so hostile towards me… beyond the obvious, but now he's a Plant he should have appreciated that.'

'Well, Plant superiority complexes aside, what did you find in engineering?'

'Nothing,' grunted Knives. 'We didn't get that far. We had to come and rescue you.'

'Well then,' continued Meryl, trying to ignore the bitterness in Knives' voice, 'what's our next plan of action? I suggest we go after the person who knocked me out.'

'Why?' snapped Knives, 'what did he do?'

'The locket,' explained Meryl. 'It's gone. I felt it as soon as I've awoken. They stole the locket with Mr Adams hair in it, we need to get that back or we'll have no comparable DNA to restore Vash with.'

Knives looked at her with new respect, partly because she'd said words like 'comparable DNA' with complete confidence, (as if she knew full well what she was taking about, even thought she probably didn't,) and partly because she got down to business incredibly quickly.

'I agree,' he found himself saying. 'This person is the key to everything, if we catch them then we can finally get some damn answers.'

'But how are we going to catch them?' asked Millie. 'We don't know where they are now.'

Knives frowned, considering this question, but an idea soon came to him.

He slowly sat down, positioning himself in a cross-legged pose.

'What the hell are you doing?' snapped the short insurance girl. 'Now is no time for a rest!'

'I'm not resting,' replied Knives coolly, 'I'm getting ready to use my telepathy.'

'You're what!' Meryl's voice was practically a shriek. 'Stay out of my head you freak!'

Knives, who'd been trying to concentrate, glared at her. 'If I wanted to enter your mind,' he snarled, 'then I would have done so long ago. If I could find it, that is.'

Meryl raised a fist, obviously intending to strike him, but lowered it quickly, undoubtedly reminding herself that this was Knives she was talking to, not Vash. Vash might put up with any light physical abuse she could lash out, but if she so much as touched Knives the wrong way he might well have her liver for dinner.

'Fine then,' she said, 'what is it you're doing?'

'I'm going to seek out our adversaries mind and track him, find out where he… or she is.'

'You can do that?' Millie's voice was full of wonder.

'I can try,' replied Knives, wishing he could sound more certain. Despite rumours to the contrary, his telepathy wasn't that strong or that skilled. He could communicate with his brother easily, and with humans and Plants too, if the whim took him. He could defend himself from most telepathic attacks, could even 'nudge' people certain ways, reinforcing ideas and emotions to make them act in a different manner than usual, but that was about the limit.

This, however, was not a trick he'd ever attempted before. He'd managed to track Vash by using telepathy, of course, but they were linked. To find a random human, who's mind he probably had never even encountered before… that could be tricky.

Still, he could probably just use a process of elimination, there were only about four other life forms on the ship, Vash and the still living Ship's Plant included.

Closing his eyes he reached out with his mind, trying to feel the tell-tale hum and buzz of thoughts and emotions.

The first minds he encountered were those of Meryl and Millie. For a moment he was tempted to see if he could go deeper, probe further. He'd like to do that simply to spite Meryl and to discern her real intentions towards his brother. As for Millie… she was just so interesting that he'd give his right arm for a peek into her head. He didn't though, such an attempt would take a lot of time, concentration and energy and right now he could afford none of these.

So he moved on, stretching out further with his mind. He encountered the now alien thought of his brother, far more Plant than human. He reached out briefly to touch that mind, to stroke it tenderly with tendrils of telepathy, but Vash was having none of it. He brought up his own telepathic shields and Knives was rudely rebuffed.

At any other time he would have been hurt by this, but now he could only feel a vague sense of puzzlement. He'd deal with that later.

Further his mind travelled, finding the instinctive essence of the still living Plant the ship. The Plant that was fuelling the life-support and all other necessities that allowed them to wander this place safely. Knives sensed that she was tired and, what was more, there was something else… different about her. Her emotional state was unlike any he had encountered before. Once more he was tempted to stay, to explore this strange sensation, but he did not have time.

He pushed his thoughts outwards, let them fill the ship, felt every corner, every cranny, desperately seeking his target. Then, when he'd almost given up hope, he found it!

Faint, strange, but human, it was moving not far away, hovering around a corridor, not moving too far away. It was human, he felt sure of that, and it was… it was worried.

Knives smiled, 'got you,' he murmured.

'I take it you've found them?' asked Meryl dryly.

'Of course,' replied Knives, standing up and stretching languidly. 'Now we'd better hurry up and catch them, I'll try to keep track of their thoughts.'

'Alright,' said Meryl, tightening her derringer laden cloak around her. 'Let's go, there's no time to spare!'

'Are you sure you're alright Ma'am?' asked Millie, 'you took a nasty hit to the head after all.'

'I'll be fine,' Meryl dismissed, 'now let's go! Knives, you lead the way.'

'Yes Ma'am,' responded Knives sarcastically before hurrying down the corridor, the two women hot on his heels.

In their eagerness to catch their quarry, to find the person behind all this, they neglected to check on Vash. Indeed, if they'd not been in such a hurry to get out of his room when he'd attacked them, they might have noticed that the locking mechanism of the door had been tampered with.

They might have realized, indeed, that the door was closed… but it was not locked.

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Meryl's legs ached, it seemed like they'd been running down the twisting, near identical corridors of the SEEDS ship for hours. Though she wasn't about to complain, it was wearing her down. It was all very well for Knives and Millie, with their long legs but she, loathed as she was to admit it, was having to work twice as hard to keep up.

And that was another thing, she was becoming increasingly, perhaps irrationally, irritated by they way Knives was 'leading' them.

It wasn't the fact he was physically leading the way, that was necessary, but more and more Meryl had found herself deferring to him, asking his opinion. She'd not considered it important at the time, (what with Vash's transformation she'd had other things on her mind after all,) but it was bothering her now.

After all, of all the people in their little group, Knives was the least suitable to lead and it would be irresponsible of her to let it continue.

So, when Knives skidded to a halt in front of two, large, automatic doors and started to give orders Meryl was not going to lie down and take them.

'He's through here, in one of the labs,' he said. 'We should go in, all guns blazing, aiming to wound of course. When he's down then we can question him.'

'I don't suppose,' the short insurance woman remarked dryly, 'that the phrase, 'shoot first, ask questions later,' is familiar too you? That sounds like a perfectly chaotic plan, Mr Knives. Apart from anything you're forgetting about the damage we'll do to the surrounding area.'

'Don't you ever think of anything besides your stupid job?' snarled Knives. 'I doubt that this bastard will be filling out any insurance claims any time soon anyway… or not by the time I've finished with him.' The corners of his mouth turned upwards a little in a wicked smile. 'Property damage,' he continued, 'is not our main concern.'

'Really? What if one of our bullets hits some vital piece of equipment? What if we inadvertently cause an explosion? Is that our concern?'

Knives visibly winced at Meryl's cool return, he'd obviously not considered this.

'You're just like Vash,' sighed Meryl. 'So concerned with your immediate aims you don't see how you effect everything else. I did not let Vash order me about, and nor will I allow you. We do this my way first.'

'Oh yes?' said Knives, honey dripping from his sickly sweet tones, 'and what way would that be, then?'

'We go in and try to talk with our adversary first. See if we can use reason here. Then, if they don't cooperate we can use force.'

Knives' eyes narrowed, he seemed to be assessing the situation. On the one hand he would probably hate to be ordered around by a 'mere' human. However, Meryl knew full well that Millie would follow her rather than Knives and Knives probably knew that also. He didn't know the nature or power of their adversary and probably would not be willing to go in alone. He'd want them around, if only as human shields.

'Alright,' he grunted, sounding almost sulky, 'but I'm keeping my gun out.'

Meryl shrugged and, bracing herself for whatever lay beyond, she opened the door.

It slid open to reveal a smallish, octagonal room with a large computer console dominating the centre and another door directly opposite. Over this console a figure, dressed in a space suit, a helmet concealing their entire head, was at work.

As soon as they entered the figure's head snapped up, Meryl couldn't make out the expression behind the dark visor but she guessed they were surprise.

She quickly moved to take advantage of their shock, wishing only that she had some peace making gift with her, like a box of doughnuts.

'Good day,' she said smoothly. 'I am Meryl Stryfe and I've come to ask you to-' she got no further as the figure, grabbing a small, dark box from the console, wheeled around and set off at a run.

Knives was soon in pursuit, even letting off one of his bullets (which missed,) but the fleeing figure had exited by the opposite door and though he surely didn't have enough time to press the closing or locking mechanism, the door slammed shut behind him. Knives nearly ran into it, he punched the metal of the door in frustration and quickly turned his attention to the locking mechanism besides the door, tearing open the panel and fiddling about with the insides.

'He ran away,' remarked Millie, sounding rather surprised. 'I think he was scared of you, Mr Knives.'

'Oh really?' retuned Knives sarcastically. 'I wonder why?' YHe spared his attention from the door long enough to flash a truly evil grin at the girls

'Well,' said Millie, seemingly oblivious to all implications, 'you do look a bit frightening, with all those blood stains.'

It was true, Knives was still covered in splatters of Vash's blood. It had dried on his skin, hair and coat and was letting off a rank smell.

'I shouldn't worry about that, Millie,' said Meryl, striding forward, 'Mr Knives is used to having Vash's blood on him, aren't you?'

If looks could kill then the look Knives shot Meryl would have rendered her so much space dust.

Luckily his attention was diverted as the door mechanism gave way under his ministrations and slid open.

'Come on,' he growled. 'We've no time to loose!'

He ran off down the corridor at full tilt, Millie and Meryl close on his heels. It seemed that he still had some sort of telepathic lock on their target, for he knew exactly what corridors to turn down, which way to go.

They must have been running somewhat faster than their quarry, for they soon caught sight of the suited figure again, dashing down corridors desperately.

Once again, however, a door slid shut in front of them. Knives rushed forward and tore at the locking mechanism, quickly fiddling with it so that the portal slid open again in short order.

'How's he doing it?' panted Meryl as they started the chase again. 'He's not even stopping to press the locking mechanism.'

'Didn't you see that box in his hand?' replied Knives. 'I think it's some sort of remote control, he's tapping into the ship's systems via that somehow.'

'How many of the systems do you think he can access like that?'

'I don't know, we'll just have to find out, won't we?'

Meryl repressed the urge to gulp nervously; she hardly relished the concept of the life support being switched off at any moment. Their quarry, after all, had a space suit.

A few moments later they'd caught up with the suited figure for a third time. Meryl was pleased to note that this time she could see the heavy rise and fall of a chest through the space suit. Whoever their enemy was, he or she was evidently not used to such strenuous exercise.

The figure was so tired, in fact, that it nearly tripped up over its own feet. Catching his or herself against a wall, the figure stumbled to a halt and turned towards them, the visor was steamed up with condensation.

'Give it up,' snarled Knives, striding forward, his gun drawn. 'Drop that controller now or you won't have an arm to hold it with.'

The figure took a few steps back, its hand still holding the black box of the controller Knives raised his gun but, before he could fire, the suited figure pressed a button on the controller and a red ray, a laser bolt, suddenly shot through the air, narrowly missing the advancing Knives.

A quick look to the side showed that the red laser had not come from the control box or the figure at all, but from the walls. Two guns, one on each side, were jutting out of the walls, both were trained on Knives.

'What are they?' asked Millie.

'Part of the security system,' explained Knives, staying very still and keeping his eyes trained on their adversary. 'He must have tapped into them.'

Millie stepped forward so that she was next to Knives, 'are they deadly?' she asked.

'Extremely,' replied Knives.

'Right then,' said Millie, a very severe and determined expression on her face. Meryl's heart sank.

Meryl had never met Millie's mother, though she had of course heard a lot about her, (after all, family was one of Millie's favourite topics of conversation,) but she always though that Millie had probably inherited this expression from her. It was stern, unbending, the kind of no nonsense frown which would be perfect for dealing with mischievous or misbehaving brats but not, perhaps, for murderous megalomaniacs.

So it was that Meryl was not entirely surprised when Millie strode forward, passed a gob struck Knives, (who attempted, unsuccessfully, to grab her and pull her back,) and towards their enemy.

She ignored the guns completely, even though they followed her movements, she seemed to take no account of their deadly power.

'You,' she said in her high pitched voice, striding purposefully towards the suited figure, 'are being very bad! And silly! You don't want to go round hurting people, do you? And we don't want to hurt you. We just want to help Mr Vash. So you put down that box right now!'

With every word, she came a little closer, with every stride Meryl expected the guns to fire, reducing Millie to so much pulp… or whatever it is they did.

But this didn't happen. the suited figure merely stood there, fingers hovering above the control box, watching as the tall insurance girl advanced. By the end of her little speech Millie was so close to the figure she could have almost reached out and taken the control box from their hands.

At the last moment the figure bottled out, however. Spinning on their heel they ran, Millie fast in pursuit and Meryl and Knives, not quite believing what had just happened, also giving chase.

Their target ran through another set of doors, this one larger and more serious looking than any of the previous. As Meryl and Knives looked on in horror, the thick doors began the close.

Millie was close enough to the retreating figure that she managed to slip through the doors. But by the time Meryl and Knives had reached them they'd slammed shut.

'Hurry!' yelled Meryl as Knives once more set to work on the locking mechanism.

'This one will take longer,' rasped Knives. 'It's one of the high security areas. The locking control mechanism is more complex.'

'I don't care!' shrieked Meryl, not even heeding that she was panicking. 'Millie's alone with that monster! Who knows what will happen to her! Get the door open now!'

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Just a short way from the door Millie skid to a stop. She was in yet another corridor but this time she could see no sign of the suited figure. She was just wondering what could have happened when she felt something press into the small of her back and a soft, muffled voice besides her ear whispered, 'please, don't move. I don't want any trouble but I will shoot you if I have to. Please sit down and allow me to knock you out, I'll try to do it as painlessly as possible, I promise.'

Millie paused for thought, working several things out in her head. The suited figure must have dived to the side after running through the door, and she must have run right passed him, allowing the figure to get besides her. It was very clever but what else could she have expected? She considered the options ahead of her, thinking hard, and eventually she came to a reasonable conclusion.

'No,' she said firmly, 'I won't.'

'Excuse me?' the voice sounded rather taken aback.

'I won't sit down,' clarified Millie. 'Or do anything you tell me to. In fact, I think it's you that should sit down, you're probably rather worn out and it might take a while for Mr Knives and Miss Meryl to get through the door.'

'I'll shoot you,' threatened the figure, the pressure on the small of her back increased.

'No you won't.'

'How can you be so sure?'

'Well,' replied Millie, 'for one thing I don't think you've got a gun there, I think you're just using your finger. For another I don't think that you're the type to go round killing people. If you were you'd have locked the doors in the shuttle bay, or used real bullets in the Security Robots, or electrified Knives properly, or even killed Meryl when you knocked her out. But you didn't want to. In fact, I don't think you can kill at all, or you'd have shot me with those lasers when I walked towards you before. I think that you're just like your son. I think you're a pacifist... I wonder… do you think he inherited that from you, Professor Adams?'

NEXT TIME: Why is Alexander Adams alive? What is the meaning behind his actions? Why is he doing this? The truth is revealed… though certain parties may find out that the truth is a dangerous and dreadful thing!

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