Chapter 5 – Know your Foe.
A/N: Reviewers ahoy:
HHH – The flu and PE – never a good combo. Mind you, if your PE teachers are anything like mine were, you'd have been out there running lengths unless you had anything short of the plague!
DH – Nice way of summing up Lien's character, but still wrong on a couple of points; hopefully you (and Lien for that matter), will be able to see them come a few more chapters.
Looking up before her, Lien scowled as she was forced to dine upon a fat wedge of poisonous humble pie; she'd forgotten about these specific access stairs due to the fact she never used them, not when there was a perfectly serviceable elevator that covered the same distance with no effort. Swallowing the last crumbs, she turned to look at her hated friend in the circumstances, still confident she had a foothold to work with here,
"Well, it was a good idea, flawed in one tiny detail only", the mask turned to regard her as she pointed bitterly, "the fact that, with the power down completely, the doors are sealed and we can't even hope to open them".
"Incorrect"; the voice she was beginning to loathe dripping into her head like oil, making her ears gag as, with a slow movement and a crinkling, metallic noise, Seraph removed something from his belt and stepped forwards; she thought about pouncing on his back and trying to strangle him now but thought better of it; he could throw me off and from there on in it'd be painful. She settled for her fallback idea; keep the silent angel talking, make him open up and expose potential vulnerabilities she could have a go at,
"What is that?" She pointed at the small green can as he carefully held it to the hinges of the door and, with a tilt and small glugging noise, something was administered,
"Oil; brand name WD40"; the response was a factual statement rather than an engaging topic, defeating and frustrating her again; she tried to strike up a conversation but kept running into brick walls every step of the way. He was refusing to talk with her, preventing her identifying an emotional weakness on his part. Anger resurfacing momentarily, she strode forwards and grabbed one of the handles, tugging and, to her surprise, feeling the sealed entrance give a little way.
"Hey, get over here and lend a hand Seraph", she flipped her still wet hair out of her eyes as she continued, "I'm not doing all the hard work on my own". She set her feet in the floor and, with a hissed exclamation of effort, set her back to opening the stubborn door.
Danger.
It's coming; she allowed herself the first hints of a triumphant grin as, with a squeak of metal door on metal floor, the resistance to her pull lessened and the door began to creak open. She braced to put a hint more effort behind it when she was knocked flying, something jumping into her from the darkness, taking her to the floor. The light source rolled away, knocked out of her shocked hand, casting an eerie radiance on the scene as out of sheer instinct alone she fought to free herself; treachery, but why? She growled, kicking as his voice, still as soft and sharp as ever, hissed from the darkness just ahead of her,
"Struggle and die". What; the words made no sense – if she struggled, he had less of a chance of killing her,
"Want me to sit here while you strangle me; sorry, it ain't happening"; she made to carry on fighting but found her wrists clamped in twin iron restraints, her legs likewise held down by his bodyweight; she tasted warm breath on her lips and twisted her head aside, revolted he was that close to her, leaning over her; she was awaiting the rank taste of his tongue on hers as he took his pleasure before finishing her off,
"Wait there; move and risk death". The words were more ingested that heard, but as there was equally no lie and no truth in the colourless tone, and gradually the grip pinning her down was lessening a little, she decided to, if not trust him outright, hear his reasons for the unprovoked attack; if nothing else, watching him worm his way out of this'll be interesting. Heart pounding with shock, she rolled her eyes, tracking his movement with her ears, watching as the light on the floor was stifled for an instant before being rekindled, held before her attacker as he paced towards the door again. She squinted; at this distance it was hard to pick anything out, but as he cautiously extended the heatless chemical fire, she began to pick something out in the gloom. A creeper; for a second she was confused; there were no plants like that in the base, not that could have grown so soon after the power went down, when with a gasp and increase in her pulse, she saw just how close to the edge she had come.
Dangling down, swaying gently backwards and forwards through the gap she had opened in the door, was a power cable. An exposed, moving, potentially lethal power cable.
The blast from the generators must have increased the water pressure; her mind went into overdrive as she sought to explain this, reason it through to slow down the onset of shock; the racing water must have jolted the cables, they were wired in hastily and now, because of that, some of them must be loose, and live. Though there was no power flowing through them any more, Lien wasn't about to underestimate basic physics; the cables still probably contained enough static electricity, held unearthed within the vulcanised rubber sheath, to do serious damage to anything that touched them. I was on the floor, in soaking clothes; cold dread seeped from her blood to her bones, making her feel strangely, almost euphorically high as she realised she'd just been snatched from the jaws of death; that could have grazed me in the dark; touched my hand or arm – I'd be dead without even knowing what killed me. The euphoria of her narrow escape fled, chased away by sudden fear for her life, put into a new perspective as she ran this narrow escape over in her head; she was basically alone in an unsafe base, full of electricity and, on this level at least, still puddles of conductive water, in wet clothes and with only the Mobian who had put her brother in intensive care and probably had her pencilled in as his next victim for company.
She didn't cry, or ask for help; weak people would break down, but Lien-Da was not weak, would never tolerate anyone calling her weak – she'd been through a lot to get where she was now, and a position of her responsibility required a certain amount of inner steel. This will strengthened her now, let her stand of her own accord as she nodded at the darkness that still coiled around Seraph like an attentive pet serpent.
"You saved my life"; don't think him – he's not showing anything yet, so I've got to be at least as cool as he is to try and trap him later; "why?"
"Harm not the innocent".
Well, so much for the not showing anything bit.
At those words, as if it had been waiting for an opportunity like this all along, Lien felt hysteria grip her unopposably; sheer, unadulterated mirth bubbled through her bloodstream as a small snicker broke through her lips. She had to bite down, try to delay this reaction to stress even as she knew it was a hopeless battle; those words, in that same absolute deadpan voice, were running in her head over and over, each one torturing her a little more until, inevitably, she cracked up helplessly, slumping against the walls as laughter came screaming out of her. Better than breaking down crying I guess; in the small part of her mind that was left to think, she had to agree with herself as she was consumed hopelessly; her streaming eyes rolled over to where the now-blurred light source was and she pointed a shaking finger at the highlighted areas of Seraph's leather,
"I'm ahahaha, I'm a lot of thihihings Seraph", she slapped the floor with her free, unpointing hand as she felt herself begin to topple onto her back, "b,but I'm not innocehehehehent!" His reaction, or more accurately lack of reaction, somehow shattered her again and she fell onto her back, giggling madly as all the worries she'd been exposed to recently just let themselves out in the rush of laughter.
XXX
Method of stress relief. Escape must be paused until innocent recovered.
Understand what she was doing even if it was impossible for him to conceive of doing such a thing himself, the vampire bat left the echidna to her own, noisy devices for a while whilst he set about finishing the task she had started. Carefully using one of his knife-sticks to hold the potentially live wire out the way, Seraph used his other hand to lever open the other door, the one furthest away from the dangling wire. As he worked, he kept his ears open in case the laughter changed pitch; he knew she probably wanted him dead and was intelligent enough to use any advantage that came her way to gain such vengeance. However, soon it wouldn't matter; he bore her no grudge and, once they had left this place, he would be able to leave and never see this innocent again.
XXX
Finally, when air would once more remain in her aching lungs, Lien sat back up with an audible groan, a last few giggles displaced by the movement and rattling up her trachea as she felt a bit more like herself and, she noted, more hasty to be gone from this place. Though not before giving the still-silent partner a bit of a verbal poke,
"Hey, Mr Military", her tone was still scornful, but lacked the bite of her earlier comments due to her exhaustion from laughing so hard, "lighten up; you can laugh you know, you won't crack". Seraph leant down and, in answer it seemed, gestured the knife-stick he now held at the portal he'd managed to open; sighing, she got to her feet as his sense of humour failed him. In fact, as she walked past, lingering effects of the hysteria finally beginning to exit from her system, she felt the hairs on her back prickle as she squeezed herself in tight to the open doorframe, hugging the metal at her back to give as much distance as possible between the still dangling power cable and her body, faint doubts began to nag the back of her mind. He's still going with the heartless approach; she mulled it over as she heard rather than saw him come through behind her; is it…nah, it's not – no-one could be like that all the time, they'd never survive in life. He's just still trying to keep this professional – I have to get in there and stop this.
She paused, intrigued by this new angle; he was keeping her at arms-length, now what could that mean? He was after her, there was no disputing that and to hell with all his talk of innocents, but apparently he needed her alive; if he didn't he could have let her fry in the power line. Was it possible he was actually afraid of her? Or, more accurately, afraid of getting close to her, in case it put his ability to finish her off in jeopardy? Now that was a thought, and a promising one at that; I can't talk to him verbally, he's not letting me close enough; she licked her lips slyly, an idea in her mind now as she felt the toe of her boot touch the first of the stairs; but body language can be a much more direct form of communication.
XXX
"Hand me the light a minute"; one detail of base layout came back to her mind and she seized it, as much to smokescreen her intentions as actually find something interesting out. The silent spectre behind her acquiesced, holding out the glowing tube that she duly snatched up and held high, searching for the enamelled map that should have been posted at the side of the stairwell. Gotcha, here we go; joyously re-familiarising herself with the map of this place, she noticed something with interest and the potential to make a really bad situation that little bit better.
The map had no labels; the Legion didn't want to give out a free layout of the base to anyone who managed to break into it. The different areas were colour coded to a pattern only the Legionnaires knew; this allowed them and no-one else to follow the maps and get where they needed to be. The main entrance was only a floor up; due to the small size of this particular base, it only had three floors to begin with; the basement held the generators and main storage supplies, the ground floor was where the main assembly room, the barracks for the troops and other necessities for active life were found while above that, on the smallest of the three floors, were the officer's quarters, war room and a couple of small laser batteries to ward off unwanted attention from the air. However, Lien's eyes had found something interesting out; the stairs she was on now were right at the rear of the base, so by going up them she'd have to go through the whole place to get to the front door. And that meant going through the big red patch, where something she wanted very badly could be found. Seeing this and cheered by it immensely, the echidna turned back to her assassin and went for phase two of her plan.
"Right, there's only one flight of stairs on this well; this'll get us to the ground floor. From there I can get us out". He nodded, his perennial gesture it seemed, before she crossed her fingers and, putting on a look of apprehension, she gestured at the unseen stairs ahead of her and spoke in a doubtful tone,
"Not sure it's safe to walk up there in the dark", suddenly the 'idea' struck her and she looked at him directly, "we'll get there faster if you carry me; you said you can see in the dark after all".
Statement correct in essence if not technically; echo-location differs from conventional vision.
Her next move depended on what he did next; if he refused, she'd be able to conclude there was something he wanted to hide and, on the basis of that logic, would be able to engineer other situations where close contact would be necessary – Lien had sworn, in the second she'd seen what this thing had done to Kragok, that she'd sink to any low necessary to bring him down. If he accepted, well then so much the better; it meant she could get started right away on bringing the big guns to bear on his cold-as-ice image. Well, the ball's in your court now – let's see what you do with it. Seraph appeared to be paused for a minute, making up his mind, before suddenly standing erect and nodding once more.
XXX
Not quite what I had in mind; Lien raved silently as she suddenly found herself slung over the same shoulder that had, unbeknownst to her, recently borne Lara-Le's weight also. She felt her feet leave the floor and a sudden sense of vertigo as Seraph straightened, apparently unperturbed by the extra weight as Lien felt her stomach muscles juddered by the shock of him walking up the stairs carefully, taking his time to navigate his way upwards without risking a trip. So much for that great idea; she huffed bad-temperedly as she considered her situation now; she was close to him, but this position wasn't the best way she could think of to try and break the ice. Registering the strain of holding herself upright over his shoulder, she gave in and flopped down, hands trailing uselessly over the back of his leather body suit, until, she snatched them back, horridly fascinated by what had just been transmitted from her fingertips. That hadn't been leather she'd felt just then – halfway down his back was something else, something that didn't feel like any material she'd ever heard of. Quietly and softly, she slid her hand back down along the curve of this strange monster's back, the leather shiny and smooth beneath her fingers. There; she felt the strange substance again and this time, didn't jerk away immediately; rather, she bit the glove off her free hand and, exposing her fingers, let that travel down to stand parallel with the gloved hand that had located this substance. She touched it, not really sure what to expect, but the first thing she realised was that it was fuzzy, a faint sensation that her gloves had blocked from her hands; velvet maybe – no, too thick, and, what the heck are these underneath it? Her hand traced the outline of something hard and thick nestled beneath the material and her confusion grew; he was holding the light source ahead on him as he needed it far more than she did, but deprived of its light she had no choice but to rely on other senses to try and work out this component of her opponent's armour. So, it's fuzzy, thinner at one end than the other and has something under it, and, wait a sec; something else was there, it was cooler than the leather surrounding it, but that wasn't right, it should have been the same temperature, unless it had some way of making itself cool.
"Seraph, what the hell is this on your back?" She doubted he'd tell her, but she could hope; in fact, she was so keen on waiting for the words to come back to her that she nearly missed the material under her fingers moving; it was only when she realised she had moved her fingers to keep up that she realised it had twitched; that movement let her understand what she was actually touching.
It wasn't material at all. It was skin.
XXX
Seraph didn't feel annoyance, or anger, or in fact any emotions as normal people could understand them; he'd registered touches on one of his wings, but as they were not impairing his combat readiness he didn't bother with them. Similarly all he registered when the innocent over his shoulder started struggling was an increase in the delay for getting out of this unsafe structure. Seeking to reduce the delay, he clamped his supporting arm around the innocent more firmly, stifling her struggles as her voice shouted,
"Oh that's disgusting; put me down, put me down now; I do not want to be close to that…urgh, skin!"
Unfeasible to release innocent. Ground still uneven – risk of falling exceeding acceptable levels.
Unable to countenance putting the echidna down, he merely carried on until he felt impacts on his back; most of them were absorbed by the armour, but one of them reduced his efficiency as it landed on his wing.
Grudge of pain owed. Grudge settled.
XXX
Something like a steel bar shot into one of her calves and she gasped, ceasing her struggles for freedom in the light of the pain. After a second it relented, letting her think again; that hurt, but why did he hurt me in the first place. I was hitting him, was he just retaliating? Her scientific mind quickly planned an experiment and, bracing herself, she brought her hand down on one of those patches of skin again.
Grudge of pain owed. Grudge settled.
When the pain subsided, she was left with mixed feelings; for a start she was reasonably sure that, as long as she didn't make any aggressive moves against him, he wasn't going to attack her – kind of a live and let live policy on his part. Secondly, disgusting as it was, it appeared that his armour didn't cover all of him; there was a weak spot she'd be a mug not to strike at when the time came. So, when I get the chance, I need to make sure I put him down cleanly – if he gets to strike back I've not got a chance against him; with that in mind, and remembering he hadn't complained when she'd just been touching, she returned to her previous work, trying to see what was going on with this strange thing, thinking back to try and recall anything that might explain this patch of exposed fur. Nothing was there though, and she didn't have long to dwell on it anyway; with a sudden jolt, Seraph slewed to a halt and bent; she settled back to her feet as she felt his hold on her relinquish. Once down, she disguised her thoughts behind a brisk, business tone,
"Good, we made it at last", she favoured him with a venomous glare that, once more, his impassive mask swallowed whole without a ripple, without a trace of lingering feeling, "we need to get out this way, but we're making a stop at the barracks first".
"Reason?"
"I'm sick of blundering about in the dark"; just for once Kragok, I have to admit sticking to the rules paid off; "there are a few flashlights there and we can use them until we get out of here. Happy with that?"
Immaterial. Efficiency unaffected by light levels. Innocent requires elevated light levels. Resistance increases delay – reply in the affirmative.
His head nodded and she smiled, satisfied at finally getting one over on her personal demon as she held out a hand, stating,
"There might be more of those power cables down; you'll have to look out for them. Now, we need to get to the barracks".
Route known. Decrease delay.
Without a second thought, Seraph obeyed the logic behind his reasoning; Lien didn't have time to say much more before she was suddenly back over his shoulder and going a lot faster than before. Such was her shock of being treated like this she didn't even have the time to muster a protest before he pulled to a stop.
"Lines down; remain motionless". Despite all the reasons she had for hating the Mobian holding her, fear of death convinced the echidna to follow his instructions, just this once. Unfortunately, as she tried to compress into his body, making her frame as small as possible on his, she rolled a hand over the skin underneath her; as something rolled under her fingertip she cringed, her flesh creeping away as a shudder ran through her; urgh, that was a tendon, I felt that…;
"Ahh"; from virtually motionless to full speed he'd gone, dragging her with him as he raced further into the darkness. A little embarrassed by her unnecessary panicked shout, Lien twisted her head over her shoulder to see the light ahead wavering erratically as Seraph ran. Uncaring and drowning her fear in anger, she demanded,
"A little warning next time, before you take off like that?"
Flight unnecessary. Risk of damage to wings exceeding safe limit as structure is unsafe. Destination close – decrease velocity.
He didn't answer, but as she felt the vibrations transmitted to her body lessen, she realised he was slowing down. Bracing herself for the stop, Lien allowed him to lower her to the floor before snatching back the light source and snarling,
"Great, now where are we?"
"Barracks".
"Really?" She looked around, the light playing off the bare walls as she put her hands on her hips, smirking as she pounced on his error, "never seen a barracks like this before; no bunks, no chests, no porno mags; are you sure we're in the right place?" Seraph's hand extended, the fist clenched; for a split-second she feared he'd hit her before a single digit extended, pointing the way a little further forwards,
"The entrance is there".
In the future Lien-Da would never know exactly why it was at this second her nerves finally gave way; she could only ever say that, for some reason, they simply did – thrusting her face forwards, the echidna unwisely let her petulance get the better of her,
"Will you stop that?" She couldn't tell if he'd understood or not, so she assumed he hadn't and explained, refraining from stamping her foot with great difficulty, "that tone you're using, in fact the whole I-care-about-nothing-because-I'm-an-emotionless-machine thing you seem to take pleasure in. Stop talking like you've had your vocal chords cut out; I am a living creature, not a robot – I have the mental capacity to understand emotions. You can talk to me normally; it's not that difficult – try and add a little lightness to your tone, it works wonders. I have to put up with you, I don't need your bad attitude stinking things up any further – for the love of anyone who dwells above, just act normal!"
No disguise adopted. No extenuating circumstances dictating events – complaint invalid.
She settled back, a little exhausted as she waited for his response, his outline visible in the glow of their light; she was expecting him to talk back to her, probably in that same monotone just to get under her skin, or he'd go completely silent. What she did not expect, what froze the very marrow in her bones, was when, perhaps unconsciously, his head cocked to the side almost as though trying to recall something, trying to figure something out he couldn't quite see. Oh God no; she tried her damndest to disbelieve what she though she was seeing; after all, it was still dark and she couldn't read his face through the leather mask he still wore, but all the same she couldn't quite quash her first, gut instinct from his slight reaction; I don't think he's faking this. She had to shake her head, refusing the evidence for now because, lord help her, if that really was the case and he was like this, then all her best-laid schemes were going to amount to precisely nothing.
She was caught up in her thoughts that, when she looked to try and affirm her reasoning, only then did she realise he wasn't there any more.
"Hey", she saw the light further down the corridor and snapped off her question, "what are you doing…no, forget it", she saw him crouched at the door and immediately guessed what he was up to; as everything below her waist tingled with renewed vigour she made up her mind, "I'm doing that, I know how the damn shocker works; last thing I need now is to walk out of here looking like someone stuck a voltage cable in my hair". She strode up to the door and thrust out a hand, all scheming and ideas temporarily suspended while she sorted out this problem and got hold of the light she wanted so much.
Information revealed Lien-Da gifted with technological anomalies. Logical to reduce delay and avoid risking efficiency impairment.
She wasn't quite sure what he was going to do now; so far pretty much everything he'd done defied anything she'd managed to glean from her delving into the male psyche. Slowly, however, he stood to his full height and moved soundlessly to the side, gesturing to the locked door, letting her sneak in an attack,
"And how do you expect me to work with no tools?" She shook her hand a little more, beckoning with her fingers, "hand them over; I know you've got something from that fiasco downstairs". He nodded, a sight that was really beginning to get on her nerves before he reached into his belt, raising his hand a second later and offering something small and oblong towards her with hissed instructions,
"Hold away from you; press the stud". Regarding the small box and accepting the small light stick with her other hand, she knelt down and, after making sure this strange thing was aimed well away from her, she thumbed the slight bump she could feel on one end of it.
What shot out the other end nearly made her drop the whole contraption; sliding smoothly out the other end came a blade, even in this light she could tell it was about as long as her finger, narrow and sharper than the average razor. A knife; she was fascinated, turning the blade over, the red light gleaming dully off the polished metal, the illusion of blood dripping down the handle intoxicating as Lien found her knuckles whitening on the grip; blood, blood like my brothers, blood of his killer – I can do it, here and now; she shook her head, the gore besmirching the knife once more just reflected light as her thirst for vengeance was knocked back, defeated by bitter but still unsullied logic; he wouldn't have given me this if he didn't think he couldn't take it off me if he needed to. Come on girl – planned revenge is more important, and a heck of a lot safer, than quick revenge.
"I see", she spoke to paper over the lengthening silence, "what kind of knife is this; it's from the world below right?"
"A Spyder, and yes"; the reply was clipped and to the point as always, the tone slitting through her resistance almost as easily as the knife cut through the first of many tiny wires, Lien shrugging off the brooding presence behind her to focus on the task in hand.
XXX
Primary priority – recover weapon.
Seraph watched as the echidna stood up, tensed for action in case she attempted to attack him; though she was an innocent and thus immaterial to him, he was allowed by the code to defend himself should the situation demand it.
"Knife; retract the blade"; he held out his hand, ready to move it in any direction should she attempt to slash or thrust the exposed limb; his shielded eyes tracked her every movement as she turned to face him; the look on her face said that, though tempted to attack, she was intelligent enough to avoid becoming a target for his attentions.
"Fine", with one fluid movement she gently pressed the point of the Spyder against the steel door, the pressure mounting until, with a faint click, it retracted back into the sheath and she tossed it towards him casually, "nice piece of kit that; you have to tell me your supplier. Anyway, right now", she leant forwards, one of her legs pistoning backwards to slam into the door; it flew open with a crash, as she finished, "let's shed a bit more light on the situation shall we?"
XXX
She didn't need the glow-stick this time; she knew the layout of these barracks as well as she knew the structure of the steel implants that crowned her own brow. Swiftly feeling for the small box just to the side of the door, grafted there for easy access; she quickly unclipped the front of it with one motion and heard the front fall open – before it had even banged against the wall she'd plunged her grip inside, scrabbling for the familiar bulky shape that, with a hiss of unconcealed triumph, she ripped out the flashlight and hugged it tight; finally she would be unfettered by this hateful blackness. And now; she placed her thumb atop the switch that would turn on the light beam; let's get a proper look at who I'm dealing with here. With that, she quickly threw herself into the doorway, pointed the beam forwards and pressed the button down.
XXX
Silhouetted in the glare, Seraph was untroubled by the light as his mask acted like a pair of sunglasses; photo-reactive chemicals immediately darkening at exposure to the emitted photons and protecting his vision. Regarding the figure ahead of him, the vampire bat folded his arms, already anticipating her reaction and not disappointed by it; he knew by his calculated studies of what could be considered a 'normal' mind that his profile would send unconscious fear through potential opponents; a necessary advantage in the course of paying off his past as well as providing camouflage in the lightless conditions he preferred to operate under. He expected the innocent to display fear and unconscious loathing and they were present in her face, at least they were until her beam moved downwards, to where parts of his now defunct disguise, not removed as they had not impeded his efficiency, were still present.
XXX
Right; despite herself she was a little rattled by the sight ahead of her; though she knew rationally the flesh and blood Seraph could never be as outright terrifying as the figment of her mind the darkness and previous conversations had aided in creating, he was still an imposing, threatening sight. His leather armour reflected the light dully, the obsidian material gleaming in the flashlight's sudden glare; he hadn't flinched, even when she'd shone the light right in what counted as his face, he hadn't made any attempt to shield his eyes even after prolonged periods in the dark. That should have made him blink in the least; the lack of reaction didn't fool her though – once bitten twice shy in underestimating this guy. Quickly tracing the beam down his body, actually wanting to see his back more than anything, find out why there was a hole in his otherwise unbreached suit, something winked back, standing out from the black material like Kragok at a beauty pageant.
What, how did that…I should have seen; the answers fled her mind at the same time the questions filled it; how could she not have drawn the dots earlier? How had something that stood out that badly have been missed, even in the dark with only something akin to a candle to light it, she should have been able to pick that out. He'd known the way here better than even she had, he'd run her to the barracks, she hadn't even needed to offer directions; the question of how he knew his way around what was supposed to be a secret facility, even to the majority of the Dark Legion, had nibbled the back of her mind even if she'd not actually acknowledged it, having more pressing things on her mind. Now though, that question came back, and back with a vengeance as under the beam of her flashlight, the answer stood out.
The left hand of his suit was covered by a glove that, though stained, had at one stage been a spotless, shining white.
XXX
"You", the flashlight wavered as she suddenly trembled; I was within strangling distance of this guy for weeks – I damn near threw myself at him – he could have left me for dead for so long; "you infiltrated us?"
No disadvantage in disclosing that information.
"Yes". He did – he was here the whole time, he just acted like one of us and we swallowed the fake acting whole; furious that this snake had managed to wriggle into the Dark Legion in the first place and deeply shocked at how close she'd come to suffering at his hands even before today, she demanded he tell her, simply needed to know,
"Why? Who do you work for?" Terrifying visions of the inner working of the Dark Legion, the location of Necronopolis, their weaknesses, next planned moves and, perhaps most worryingly of all, the knowledge that they were not immune to infiltration being sold on made her shudder, even more so when she realised she and Kragok would quite rightly be held responsible.
"Are you with the guardians?" He's gotta be, he helped Knuckles, the current guardian, out of that trap – oh if he tells the Brotherhood how we work and Dimitri gets wind of it my life won't be worth living. To her immense relief, though the terror hadn't quite dissipated, he shook his head in answer; he might have wanted to speak then, but she overrode him,
"The EST?" Again, he shook his head and the inevitable conclusion slapped her in the face; he's a freelancer – he'll put the info up for sale to the highest bidder. That's survivable, maybe I can scrape together some cash and put in enough to convince him to keep his mouth shut; her first priority was to ensure the Legion's safety – only when that was secure would she let herself consider the other baffling questions that plagued her,
"Right, so you know about us; listen what do you want here?" He regarded her, mask inexpressive as always and she pressed on, a tinge of desperation flavouring her tone as she realised that, if this fell through, her great-grandfather was going to make what had happened to Kragok look like a graze when he got his hands on her, "Money? Contacts – I can get it; I can make sure you get whatever the hell it is you want".
Not possible. Reasons for offer as yet unconfirmed – innocent is fearful of some circumstances as yet unclear.
Lien watched on; she had his attention, she was sure of that even if he hadn't moved; now all I can do is pray; crossing every finger and toe, she made her make-or-break deal,
"All you have to do is forget you were ever here; technically, this place doesn't exist and none of this ever happened. Just keep your mouth shut about everything you saw and…"
Not possible. Information already utilised to settle debt to Echidnopolis Security Team.
Oh no; she saw his head shake and goosebumps rose all over her skin; still she clung to a vestige of hope, maybe he was going to say she'd never have enough money or power; believe me I can get it – I'll get whatever it takes to keep this quiet; but then his voice, hateful and needling as always, cut through her ears,
"Information already disseminated to recipient". The tongue had frozen with the rest of her; it took a lot of effort to form the next, single word, a dry, anxious squeak,
"Who?"
Time scale calculated; no risk of information being intercepted. No risk discerning recipient of information.
"Remington". Oh Christ, the EST.
Lien's world came crashing down around her ears; almost single-handedly, this maniac in black leather had turned a perfectly planned and prepared trap for the guardian and his followers into the Legion's worst set-back since the Bloodstone had been sundered and, unknown to the vast majority of Angel Island's population, Dimitri transformed into Enerjak. And it was more or less mostly her fault.
XXX
To her credit Lien didn't faint, or fall to her knees, or anything that amateur-dramatic; she shut her eyes and slowly, ever so slowly, counted to ten; what had happened had happened, there was no way to stop it now – it was her duty to get back to Necronopolis and, through it would probably cost her rank, dignity and possibly a near-fatal spanking, inform her great-grandfather of this latest unpleasant twist. This thought, though, was sullied by two related influences; firstly came the abject misery that she was the one this would impact on most and, for once, it hadn't been entirely her own fault – no-one could have predicted things would have turned out this badly. Secondly, and as her heart smouldered again more convincingly, was the latest in a long list of reasons to hate the Mobian stood in front of her.
As she looked up at him again, her burning eyes seemed to pick out every tiny thing that had ever bugged her in the few hours she'd known this Mobian existed. His complete impassiveness, the absence of a sense of humour, the way he'd almost mockingly overpowered her twice, even when she'd had the advantage of a knife in the first instance and, she gritted her teeth, willing him to die like never before, the way that, if she'd been a little more persistent in her earlier efforts, she might have been able to uncover who he was before things had escalated this much. You have no idea how much I want you dead; she growled in the darkness, the sound reverberating through the base as if her very voice could rattle him enough, make him show a flicker of doubt of his own abilities, yet still he stood there, monolithic, unperturbed by her naked aggression as he voice box managed to coerce some air to pass though it, grating the works with anger so thick they should have burned like magma,
"And why", her hands were fists, the nails on her still ungloved paw cutting into her palm, so tight was her grip, "did you do that?"
"Repayment of debt". The revelation was a little off-putting, but it'd take nothing less than a wrecking ball to divert her from her course now,
"And what, pray tell"; you better pray you tell me or I'll beat it out of you; "did you owe Remington?"
"Information"; that was it, that last ounce of obtuseness sent her sailing right over the edge; she was tired, still damp and completely stressed out and, with this new bombshell blowing her hopes of a warm welcome when she managed to crawl out off this hole to hell, she reacted in the only way she could think to do. The red mist descended and, with a roar of rage in her throat and wild anger singing in her veins, Lien leapt at the one who had ruined everything she'd ever tried to build.
Extenuating circumstances behind attack. Innocent stressed; logic disrupted. Immobilise until anger exhausted.
XXX
When she finally came back to herself, the well of curses all drawn dry and every last scrap of anger worked out in the thrashing to be free, Lien-Da blinked and sneezed; the dust tickled her nose as she realised that, for the third time today, she and Seraph were entwined on the floor. Also for the third time, he had her right where he wanted her; immobilised, both her legs locked by his and a double arm bar preventing her from striking, unable to make an aggressive move against him. Snarling, she struggled again before quitting as the hold on her arms tightened reflexively; she settled back down, quiescent, before speaking, her voice cold now, untainted by rage,
"You can let go now".
"Try and strike, I will harm you".
"Okay, I get it"; like lightning, the grip was released, the ruffling of leather picked out as he stood up, the movement mimicked more slowly and with better control by the echidna, who fought down a sudden, suicidal urge to let fly and test just how far he'd stick to that promise. Instead, Lien flipped her hair our of her eyes again and folded her arms, huffing bad-temperedly,
"Let me guess, I'm still an innocent right?" He nodded and cool, clinical curiosity touched her; it was probably a wasted effort, but it was worth a shot.
"What does that mean anyway", she shrugged, expressing her lack of knowledge, "why am I innocent to you?" Aha, progress; she smiled bitterly as his hand came up, pointing at her directly as he answered in the same monotone she was now beginning to loathe just that little bit less; one becomes inured to all things in the end;
"I owe you nothing; you are not a target".
Target; that made a few things stick together in her sharp mind; that's why he didn't attack me when he had the chance, when I was trying to seduce him – he didn't have a reason to. Maybe it was just as well I never succeeded; she shuddered as she tried to think what he could have done to her if she'd blown his cover earlier – all the evidence suggested it wouldn't have been pleasant. Much like; her thoughts of safety soured as she pointed accusingly,
"No, I wasn't your target; Kragok was, wasn't he?" Memories of her brother again lying helpless, bloodied in a heap roared in her, demanding revenge but she soothed them; fighting now would get her nowhere, "that's why you turned his face into street pizza; you were here to assassinate him?"
Incorrect. Grudge of pain not settled by murder.
His head shook; it made a change from him nodding, but only confused her further; he wasn't here to kill, and as far as I know it was a recon mission – why did he take out Kragok like he did? She was tempted to ask, but quickly realised that was probably a wasted effort and anyway, her next idea was of much greater importance both personally and for the Legion as a whole,
"It's a bit academic now, but, ah, what did you actually tell the EST? Oh come on", she tired to take advantage of his moment of decision, tilting the balance in the right way for her answer, "the comms of this place are shot to hell, I can't contact anyone to stop it happening so what have you got to loose – if anything", she smiled cruelly, wondering if maybe here was a chink in his armour; he seemed to have a thing for debts, maybe this was one he hadn't considered, "you can pay the Legion back for the free board you had here; tell me this and we'll call it quits".
Potential debt owed. Adhere to code; more logical to eliminate possibility of lingering debt now than risk debt maturing.
That idea appealed to Seraph's calculating mind; by revealing information he had already deduced she had no realistic chance of preventing from reaching the recipient, he could pay off a new debt he had only recently considered; he had retained his efficiency during the reconnaissance mission by utilising the supplies and equipment of the Legion. Here, alongside ensuring the innocent before him reached a safe location intact, was a method of payment.
"Information contained schematics of weapons, base construction, internal politics and ranks and short-term future plans of the Legion", he husked in his normal voice; Lien mulled this over and gradually became less fearful of what he'd revealed – if he was truthful and she had to admit everything he'd said up to this point had been the truth, aside from the short-term future plans he'd not given away too much.
"Okay", she was pure business now, all thoughts, even those of revenge against the assassin, were put on hold as she tried to size up the scale of this new problem, "where did you get this information?" Depending on the sources, the more sensitive the information;
"Mainframe computer"; nothing critical, this base runs a separate mainframe to the rest of the Legion – he can't have got much; "logistical papers, filed reports and casual conversations. Nothing personal". That is such a crock; that quote, the closest he'd come to a quip since they'd started this miserable journey, made Lien smile the smile of a condemned man being led to the gallows,
"Maybe not but I doubt Lord Enerjak will see it that way". She turned away before his voice slithered into her ears again, making her pause,
"Incorrect", she looked back at him, trying to work out what she'd done wrong, "no personal data divulged to recipient".
"Personal data", she tried to think what that meant; all she could assume was that he'd had access to the medical files and those would give away little, "what personal data do you have?" There was a silence; he didn't answer that, maybe he couldn't; she tried a different tack, giving him something to focus on rather than a general statement; maybe from this I can tell how through his research was;
"I mean, take me for example", she pointed at herself, or more specifically, at her torso area, still trying to trick him into looking, lowering his guard, "what did you discover about me; this'll be enough for the debt thing – answer this and we're square". In the glare of her flashlight, Seraph tensed and, from behind his mask, came a spoken dissemination of everything he knew about the echidna in front of him,
"Name, Lien-Da, title Lady Kommissar"; nothing new there; "living relatives; one twin brother Kragok", she had to digest that – most of the Legion knew she and Kragok were brother and sister, but not many to her knowledge had joined the dots to make them twins, "one half-sister Julie-Su"; what, I don't have a…; her confusion was blanked by his next words, words that stole the breath from her body, "and one great-grandfather Dimitri, now Enerjak", the shock paralysed her; this strange beast had pierced the veil, knew the former and present lords of the Dark Legion were one and the same – the consequences of that being revealed to the general public would be at the very best dire. She was unable to cut him off; it was only his next two words, still delivered in a perfect deadpan, that triggered enough outrage to get her tongue to work again,
"Borderline nymphomaniac…" Excuse me!
If anyone other than Seraph had been there, the look would have been priceless; her cheeks coloured as red as her fur; she thrust the flashlight forwards like a sword as she spoke very slowly, words dripping with wounded dignity,
"How dare you; I am not a nympho…"
"Seventeen sexual partners in thirty days; ratio medically recognised as borderline". Her mouth fell open as her face burned; the question she needed to ask next squeaked rather than shrieked,
"What the hell kind of report did you drag that up from; how did you know that?"
No disadvantage; information source already known to innocent.
"Information source; small book in your quarters".
There was a second's pause, then another, then a third before finally Lien-Da managed to understand what he was saying; her shriek echoed throughout the deserted base, a textbook case of feminine outrage,
"YOU READ MY DIARY!"
A/N: Sorry, you have to wait until next chapter to find out the reactions to this diary outrage – they'll make Bonfire Night look like a damp squib!