Torg Eternity – Dead Legion
The Death of Sophia
The dull popping of Hakim's dying fire was the only sound in his living room after Nakatomi finished his dire proclamation. Silently, Nakatomi stepped over to the table and extended a hand toward the Heart of Drakul.
Suddenly Ghost impaled his dagger into the table right in the way. With the consummate unflappability of a secret agent, Nakatomi tucked his arms behind his back and kept walking like he'd never even thought about touching the relic.
Ghost would've sworn Sophia Black was hiding an amused smirk behind her gloved hand. Evidently trying to keep their attention from slipping off him, Nakatomi casually, "Have you thought about my offer, Ghost?"
"I've thought about a lot of things," Ghost replied. "The big thing I'm thinking about's getting rid of Doctor Mobius."
"So I'm offering you help fighting him," said Nakatomi. "We're coming at this problem across all vectors, all over the world. Identifying vulnerable spots, protecting civilians, infiltrating High Lord operations…and studying Eternity Shards."
His meaning wasn't lost on Sophia or Ghost, who both narrowed their eyes and exchanged a glance. "I'll think about it," Ghost said and put the Heart of Drakul back in its case.
Nakatomi aimed his sternest unit commander look at Ghost. "You aren't planning to make this easy for me, are you, mister?"
"It's a tempting offer, sir," Ghost replied. "But if you really want us, you'll appreciate people being smart enough not to rush blindly into an important choice."
Immediately the hard look on Nakatomi's face softened. "Well-played." He whipped a card out of his shirt pocket and slid it across the table to just in front of where the dagger was stabbed into the wood. "This is how you can reach me after you make up your mind to sign on. I'll be counting the minutes." He sauntered to the door, hands tucked behind his back. "Destroy that after you read it. Goodnight," he said and swept out the door.
"There a private spot where we can put a classy lady up for the night, Hakim?" Sophia raised an eyebrow as she realized Ghost was talking about her.
Hakim nodded. "Please, ma'am, you can sleep in my bedroom tonight," he said and ushered Sophia upstairs, then turned back to Ghost. "What about you?"
"What about me?" Ghost asked right back, stretching out on the floor and using the metal case holding the Heart of Drakul for a pillow.
Truly an unusual man, Sophia thought as she followed Hakim upstairs. I wonder if this new world has many like him.
Once more, the black shape hurled itself forward, its curved knife-like teeth gleaming in the moonlight. The hunter that was its target took aimed and his rifle barked. A pained growl was the only response it got from dark shape before it was on top of him. Its powerful jaws closed and a pitiful strangled cry marked the death of another brave member of their expedition.
She sat up suddenly, panting for breath and drenched in sweat. Obviously she was no longer in the forest; the brightest sun she'd ever seen in her life was shining through the windows,
Sophia came downstairs to find Ghost sitting at the kitchen table, shaving with a small mirror he held in his other hand. With his mask off and a clean shirt on, she could hardly believe he was the same powerful adventurer who'd beaten the pharaoh's soldiers and gospog singlehanded. He had brown-blond hair and ice blue eyes, and such a smooth face. So unlike the Victorian gentlemen she knew from back home, with their heavy beards, mustaches and sideburns. Aleksander had been so proud of his facial hair…
"Good morning," he called to her, smiling. "Don't tell Hakim I borrowed his razor."
How different things seemed in the morning, she thought. The night before, Ghost had been so somber. But now he was smiling, and looked totally relaxed. It was as if he'd transformed into a completely different person.
Transformed.
That word darkened her thoughts.
She went over to the washbasin and splashed water on her face. When she felt collected enough she turned around to face Ghost. "My I ask why you use an alias, if you fight for justice?" she asked, trying to take her mind off it. "Surely 'the Ghost' isn't your given name."
Ghost shrugged and got up to put the razor back with Hakim's other toiletries. "I was still with the police when I decided to put this on," he said and held up his mask. "I started calling myself 'the Ghost' because that's what those gangsters who dropped me off the pier said I must've been when they saw me again." He chuckled, then seemed to realize what he was doing and stopped himself "Ah, what about you, though? What kinds of injustice do you specialize in?"
"It's much as I explained last night. I come from a dark world with many dangers, and I became a slayer to do what I could to fight back," Sophia said, looking away. "I am sure your exploits are every bit as exciting."
Ghost nodded slowly and let the point pass. He put down his mirror and razor and wiped his face clean over the washbasin too. When he turned around to look at her again, he was smiling lightly. "Miss Black, may I suggest you and I take in a light lunch and then visit the theater? We can put last night behind us and think about what to do with the Heart with clearer heads."
Her eyes went wide with surprise. "Lunch? What are you talking about?"
Ghost gave her side-eye. "It's already a little past eleven in the morning."
Sophia gaped down at him in complete disbelief. "Impossible! I never sleep so deeply!" she gasped.
With a shrug, he suggested, "You came all the way from Orrorsh territory, isn't that right?" he asked, unconsciously shivering at the mere mention of that terror-filled realm. "I suppose a trip that long would've worn you out."
Her eyes wandered away from his and took on a thoughtful light. "I'm really not traveling with any clothing formal enough for the theater, however. How long have you had your reservations?" she asked him.
"I was thinking more the Bijou and less the Royal Shakesperian, Sophia. You don't need to book seats in advance in this one."
She met his eyes again, and nodded. "I haven't been to the theater in rather a while. Very well, suppose I'm interested. What about the Heart of Drakul?"
"It's safe," Ghost replied, looked around surreptitiously, then made sure to close the shutters to the window looking into the room. "It's in a secret compartment inside the fireplace," he explained. She gave him a slight knowing smile, and found herself thinking Ghost might make a worthwhile ally.
XXX
They ate lunch as they walked the streets, something Sophia was only used to doing while on the hunt. Ghost bought it from a street vendor, slightly greasy brown balls. For the second time she glanced back at little banner on the vendor's stand to see what the name was: falafels. It made her taste buds tingle almost uncomfortably after all the dry jerky and biscuits she'd survived on for weeks.
"So, ah…Alan?" Sophia asked, using the name he'd given her before they left, while she delicately wiped the last of the crumbs from her mouth with a lace handkerchief. "Are you going to keep me in suspense about what we're going to see at this theater you mentioned?"
Ghost, or Alan, smiled back at her, seemingly unaware of the crumbs clustered around his own mouth. At least until she stared at him for another few seconds, then his smile faded and he got out his own handkerchief and wiped his face. Sophia couldn't help noticing the faded red spots on it. She knew their like well.
"It all depends on what they're showing this week. It seems like it's different every time you go," he explained.
"Ah, surprise is the appeal of your theater," Sophia observed aloud, a confused look on her face anyway.
They turned a corner and went down another street. As they got closer he raised his arm and pointed at the marquee sticking out of one building. "Oh, look! Against the Winds is playing. I've heard that's amazing. And they're showing it along with The Forbidden City." The theater seemed especially proud of the second, its marquee reading 'Yusef Kharim in The Forbidden City'.
"Is this Yusef Kharim famous?" asked Sophia.
He nodded, but had a mischievous smile. "That guy's been in a bunch of these adventure pictures. I've seen them, they're all ridiculous…Honestly, I'm kind of amazed Wu Han doesn't ban these kinds of pictures. You'd think they might inspire adventurous people to revolt against the Nile Empire's rule, or something."
"Wu Han?"
"Hmmm? Oh, Wu Han's one of Pharaoh Mobius's inner circle. He's in charge of this city, but mostly he's in charge of making sure all the crooks in town give Mobius a cut of their loot. After he takes a cut for himself, that is."
Alan went up to a glass box in front of the theater and exchanged a handful of coins for a pair of tickets. Inside he exchanged more coins for two boxes of puffy yellow bits of food. Sophia wasn't entirely sure she felt safe putting it in her mouth. Instead she let her companion guide her to empty seats near the back of the theater. She looked at where the stage ought to have been, and was surprised to see a sort of screen that stretched across the room instead. The lights dimmed, then a beam of light lanced from the back of the theater onto the screen.
On the screen formed the words "THE FORBIDDEN CITY" in big dramatic letters. They faded into a title card: "Leap of Faith", then faded again into a still image of a square-jawed, cleanly-shaven fellow with perfectly coifed black hair. He had on a white safari coat and jodhpurs so crisp they almost sparkled. Sophia didn't miss Alan snickering at the sight until she glanced over at him. A block of text appeared underneath the character's image: Hassan Najim races with the forces of the unscrupulous Denton Taylor to the location of the lost city. He falls into a trap and Taylor's followers flood the box canyon where he took refuge.
"Are we supposed to read this performance?" she whispered to her companion.
"…no. This is a recap of what happened last chapter," he whispered back.
"Shhhh!"
They obeyed, going silent as the recap ended and Denton Taylor's flunkies dynamited the dam, sending a wall of water rushing down into the canyon toward Hassan Najim. As he found himself trapped at a dead end, the serial showed the part it hadn't the week before of Hassan's trusty sidekick throwing down a rope ladder he used to climb out of the canyon without even getting wet.
Hassan wrapped his muscular arm around the beautiful Amandine's waist and clutched the rope in his other hand. They took a running start and swung out over the chasm just as Denton Taylor's flunkies started firing their jeep-mounted machine guns at the pair.
Without warning the rope frayed and snapped. The film faded out to a title card: 'Treacherous Bargain', then into a few seconds of credits before the screen went dark.
"That 'film' was awfully short. Did all these people really come all this way just to see that?"
"No, Sophia. That was…that serial was the opening act before the main picture. It's supposed to make you want to come back soon to see the next chapter of the story. And pay the theater for another ticket."
She made a thoughtful "aaah". "That explains it. A bit underhanded though, wouldn't you say?"
"Quiet down, you two!" hissed the patron who'd voiced his displeasure before.
"He's got a point," Alan whispered. "Let's enjoy the show."
Jeanette and Raoul's kiss seemed like it was spilling into its fifth minute when they stepped away from each other. Looking back over her shoulder the whole time, Jeanette walked up the boarding ramp to the ship. It sailed slowly away, Jeanette and Raoul staring at each other until the ship was out of sight and the credits rolled.
Neither of the pair said anything until they were out of the theater and walking down the street again. Sophia broke the silence. "Pardon me for saying so, Alan, but…you don't seem the type to partake in many tragic romance stories."
He casually looked over at her. "And what makes you think that?" he asked.
"Well, ah, you seem to be a man of action, if I may say so. It's rare that men of action seem interested in tragic romance stories. Even Aleksander called them 'feminine twaddle'," Sophia explained.
Alan raised an eyebrow inquisitively and immediately Sophia realized she'd said more than she meant to. "Aleksander?" he asked. "He was a man of action too?"
A look of confusion, maybe even fright, crossed Sophia's face before she managed to recover herself. "Aleksander was someone I respected very much."
Suddenly someone wrapped an arm around their shoulders from behind and dragged them into an alley. Sophia grabbed his arm and flipped him over her head out of pure reflex. Ghost started laughing as their assailant hit the ground, and at first Sophia was enraged at him laughing at a threat to their lives, until she saw who it'd been for herself.
It was Nakatomi, the strange man who'd come by to speak to them the night before. The one from what did he call it? The Delphi Council.
"Young lady, if we had ten like you working for us, we'd have kicked Doctor Mobius out of his palace by now!" Nakatomi chortled while still lying on his back in the dirt.
"Where I come from, horrors lurk in every shadow," Sophia scowled. "You're lucky you didn't taste my dagger." Ghost whistled when she said that, and Nakatomi snickered.
Ghost's expression became serious, the man he'd been the night before. He fixed their sudden guest with a steely gaze and asked, "What do you want, Deputy Director? I haven't said yes to joining up with your little outfit. Why does somebody with a bigshot title like yours have to go sneaking around alleyways to meet people in person anyways?"
Nakatomi seemed to disappear from where he lay on lay on the floor of the alley and appear again standing up, his suit immaculate and his hat perfectly straight. Sophia's hand flew inside her coat to the dagger she'd threatened out of instinct. He just saw her about to draw her weapon and smiled. Such a strange world she found herself in.
But, was the world she left behind really any better?
He opened his mouth and addressed Ghost's question. "Becaaaaause, my friend, I tried getting in touch with some of the other 'heroes' around town, but they prefer doing things on their own, not working with an organization like mine that nobody they know vouches for. Good guys, but loners. Whereas you, well, you're already doing things socially with someone you met last night," Nakatomi replied.
"That's none of your business," Ghost snarled. Sophia gave her companion a confused look that he seemed to miss with all of his angered attention focused on Nakatomi, whose smile only widened.
Clearly not intimidated, Nakatomi hooked his arm around Ghost's shoulder. "You seem more openminded to working with new people, and the truth is, the reason I'm asking you in person is the Delphi Council doesn't have a lot of operatives in Cairo yet. And, well, things are a little desperate," he admitted. "A network of informers has been disappearing one by one. The head of the group-she goes by the name 'Sabella'-reached out to us, and I need someone to get in touch with her and find out what she knows then keep anything from happening to her."
"All right, I'm going," Ghost grunted. "How do I find this Sabella?"
Nakatomi shrugged, and Sophia clenched her teeth. Was he just trying to waste their time? "I don't know," he admitted. "She's a little suspicious even of the Delphi Council; she always sends a runner to give us our information. The only thing she told us this time was she'd be in the bazaar district, and 'look for my namesake'."
"I'll figure it out," Ghost said. "I'm not a terrible detective. I'll need to go back and get my equipment—"
"Oh, there's no need," Nakatomi interrupted. "I put your mask and your weapons in a bag and hid it in that alley. You might want to hurry and pick it up before somebody without my outstanding moral scruples does," Nakatomi said, one side of his mouth perking up in sarcastic amusement. "Don't worry, I found where you left the Heart of Drakul, too. I promise we'll take excellent care of it."
Ghost shook his fist. "For two cents, Nakatomi—"
But Nakatomi smirked. "You'd knock my block off? I doubt it. You're a true hero of Terra, Ghost." He stepped away from the pair. "I'll be in touch later to find out how it went." Then he stepped into the crush of people and seemed to disappear.
Ghost sighed. "Well, I guess I know what I'm doing tonight," he muttered.
Suddenly Sophia put a hand on his chest to stop him. "Are you sure you're in control of your faculties? This could be a trap."
"It could be, but it could also be the truth. If people trying to fight the pharaoh are in trouble, somebody needs to look into it," Ghost replied. He walked across the street into the alley Nakatomi pointed out. A little dazed at his willingness to go running into danger on the word of someone he didn't seem to trust, Sophia followed along behind her only guide in this strange new world. Gaea was a hostile place, but there was an order to it all the same. This Nile Empire defied all logic as she knew it.
In the half-darkness of the other alley was indeed a bag lying on the ground as Nakatomi had indicated. As the Delphi Council's envoy had also indicated, a boy in ragged brown robes was already searching through the bag. Barely eleven, his black hair a cluster of dirt and debris. When he saw Ghost and Sophia coming he shoved his arms into the bag, tried to grab as much as he can and run.
But Ghost lunged and grabbed the boy by the collar and shook him so he dropped everything he'd been trying to steal. Sophia expected him to drag the child into the street and find a member of the constabulary to hand him over to. Instead, he dropped the boy again. "You're too young to be playing with guns, kid," Ghost said, nonchalantly picking up his mask from where it'd fallen and slipping it inside his vest. Just as casually he picked his pistols and returned them to their holsters in his gun belt.
"Let's hand him over to the authorities and be done with it," Sophia said.
"My brothers and sisters are starving!" the boy snapped.
"And you were going to feed them by selling guns? To who? Someone who works for the Hajjar family? Or the Baz brothers? You know what they do with guns, kid? They kill people."
The boy scowled. "This is a wicked city!"
"Enough chatter! He's a thief! Hand him over the authorities!" Sophia interrupted sharply.
Instead, Ghost finished gathering up his equipment and after assuring himself everything was there, tied the bag up and slung it over his shoulder. He motioned for Sophia to follow him and walked past the kid. She did, but gave the dirty, malnourished street urchin a confused look as she walked past him. He got up and started to run, but Ghost called out, "This is a wicked city. That doesn't mean somebody with brains like yours has to be wicked to survive in it." The he turned and flipped a gold coin through the air to the kid, who snatched it out of the air before it could touch the ground.
Sophia and the boy both looked at Ghost's gift in confusion, but then a grin erupted on his face before he ran out into the street and vanished in the crush of pedestrians. Ghost turned and headed off into the alleys of Cairo.
They'd gone several blocks before Sophia managed to find words to explain her thoughts.
"Why did you reward that thief? Where I'm from, everyone would've known what he'd done so he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what the consequences for crime are!"
Ghost didn't turn to face her when he replied, "He's not wrong. This is a wicked city. If I handed him over to Wu Han's people, they'd have killed him. Or even worse, they'd get him to work for them. The last thing this city needs is another gangster or shocktrooper."
She shook her head and sighed. "I can't understand you, Ghost. On Gaea, people were never coddled for their lapses. If one of us couldn't learn to survive, sooner or later some creature of darkness would take advantage of their weakness. That child tried to rob you! He should be held accountable!"
He stood and waited silently for her to finish her angry rebuke. Quietly, Ghost answered, "A second chance was what convinced me to put on this mask to fight injustice even harder than I did before."
Sophia said nothing. Perhaps she'd misjudged what kind of hero Ghost was, to be so soft he was coddling thieves. He'd even rolled right over and was taking orders from the man who'd admitted to their faces he broke in and stole the Heart of Drakul from them. Maybe she still had time to track down Nakatomi and force him to surrender the artifact—
Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by Ghost turning away from her. "I'm going to find this Sabella person. After that I promise I'll check in with Nakatomi and make him give back the jewel. But I came here to fight the pharaoh, and that means I have to help other people who are fighting the pharaoh. I'll see you again when I have the Heart back."
With a last soft sigh of disappointment, Ghost literally disappeared.
The remainder of the afternoon passed while Ghost went through the bazaar district asking merchants and people he'd identified as being particularly knowledgeable about the comings and goings. Nobody seemed sure of who this 'Sabella' woman was.
Two rug peddlers thought they might've heard about another merchant Sabelle. Or maybe Sybil, but couldn't remember hearing about a Sabella. Their argument over what that charming young lady had been named (and which of them was going to marry her first) faded into the background when Ghost moved on.
One ancient rope-maker directed him to a merchant selling knives, who directed him to a very eager to help man selling jars of honey, who suggested he ask a wood carver, who directed him to a father and son selling junk, who said they were fairly sure the woman selling bolts of exotic cloth might be Sabella's sister-in-law. Who said she'd never heard the name "Sabella" before in her life.
A lead from a brass seller pointed Ghost to a snake charmer that didn't even bother talking to him. The musician waved his flute in the direction of a stall across the way.
When he looked, Ghost spotted a woman with a scar and wearing a long leather coat talking to a beautiful local woman selling furs. Sophia. She'd come looking for the informant too.
And she moved one hand under the counter of the stall and surreptitiously beckoned Ghost over.
The woman behind the stall leaned forward as Ghost walked up and whispered, "Is it just you two?"
"I'm sorry the Victorian army wasn't available," Sophia replied. She opened one flap of her coat, fanning herself like she was trying to relieve the heat, but showing where her rifle hung within easy reach so only Ghost and the woman behind the stall could see it.
"Okay, I'm convinced," the woman said. She whistled and a young man came rushing out of the low building behind her. "I have some business partners I need to go meet. Watch the stall for the rest of the day," she instructed him. Then she stepped briskly out into street and walked away, not waiting to make sure Sophia and Ghost were following.
Ghost leaned over and said to her, "I'm…glad to see you decided to get involved."
Sophia shrugged one shoulder. "I'm considering your point."
They walked on for another few seconds. Ghost leaned over again and asked, "How did you know that was Sabella?"
"Because I saw that," Sophia answered, pointing over her shoulder. Ghost glanced back and saw a black pelt displayed prominently on top of the stall where Sabella had been waiting. "A sable," Sophia explained.
Sabella kept leading the way out of the bazaar district. Sophia kept one eye on her, but looked over at Ghost for a minute, only to see him chortling.
"Nice catch," he whispered.
Starry velvet blackness was creeping in when they got where they were going: Warehouse 77, a rundown building that backed onto the Nile River. Sabella opened the padlock on an unobtrusive side door and waited next to it inside to lock it again as soon as Sophia and Ghost had gone through. A click and bulbs flickered reluctantly to life above them, revealing an empty warehouse full of old trash and stacks of boxes that Ghost scanned once and then went to follow Sabella, but Sophia spent almost a minute leaning back and forth scanning the room until she seemed assured nothing was waiting for them in a dark corner.
"Ma'am, do you feel safe enough sharing the details on what's been going on that you feel the need to ask for protection?" Ghost asked, casually putting on his weapon belt and mask while he followed Sabella up some rickety stairs.
She looked back over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow. "You sound like you've asked questions like that a lot," Sabella observed.
"I have," Ghost replied.
Another key came out of Sabella's pocket and she opened the door on the landing. On the other side was a room that'd once been an office, but now all that was left was a battered wooden desk with a scuffed telephone on top whose cord had been chewed through by rats. She went over and started picking sheafs of paper out of the drawers and organizing them in a folder. "A few nights ago, the first of my operatives went missing. When I asked people what they saw, they said a fogbank just rolled in and there was no trace of him afterward. At first I thought it might've been Wu Han, but…"
"But that's not Wu Han's style," Ghost finished. "He always needs it to be a whole production. Catch Mobius's eye."
Sabella nodded while she was gathering up her records. Sophia spoke up then. "This Wu Han, he makes his crimes flamboyant to instill terror, then? Impress the other evildoer, or perhaps intimidate them?"
"That's pretty much it, yes," Sabella said. "The bottom line is I'm the only member of the group who hasn't disappeared yet. And if it isn't Wu Han, then who else in this city would be specifically targeting the pharaoh's enemies?"
"Looks like we're about to find out," Ghost said quietly. Both women looked at him in confusion, then Sophia noticed the tendrils of mist seeping under the door. In the same instant Ghost drew his pistols and Sophia whipped a tarnished revolver with a long bore out of her coat. "Get Sabella out of here. I'll cover you," Ghost said, then vanished.
Her hunter's instincts took over. Sophia opened the door and stepped back as she pulled it slowly, peering through the opening for any sign of an attacker. Human or otherwise. Nothing happened, and cautiously she glanced through and saw fog coating the entire warehouse floor. Raising her gun to have it ready if they were attacked, like she was sure they would be, Sophia waved for Sabella to follow her. The women went down the stairs, Sophia wincing with every protesting creak the ancient wood made under their feet.
They'd just gotten to the bottom when a human silhouette emerged from the fog and grabbed Sophia by the shoulders. "I finally found you, Sabella!" they exclaimed in a feminine voice. Their shoulders slumped just before adding, "You're not Sabella…"
Sophia lashed out with her foot, catching the woman, whoever she was, in the stomach. She leveled her revolver but the woman seemed to have already recovered and punched Sophia in the face. She made sure to hold onto her weapon even though she was dazed from the punch, but her attack hit the inside of her wrist and her revolver clattered against the ground.
But she was a huntress who'd come from a world much darker than this, to fight the greatest evil a world full of evil had ever known. She'd be damned before she went down without a fight. Sophia threw the hardest punch of her own that she could and felt a meaty smack from her knuckles connecting with the side of the woman's head. To any of the creatures of Orrorsh that Sophia was used to fighting, it would've been nothing, but the woman in the fog reeled backward.
In that moment of opportunity Sophia launched herself at the woman. Within seconds her knuckles were numb from furious punches. As if it was weakening along with the woman, the fog in the warehouse started to clear. She could finally see who she'd been fighting: a dark-skinned woman like the locals, wearing a green pantsuit and wide-brimmed hat. Dark goggles covered her face that she weakly pulled up to reveal a green mask over her eyes.
"Stop! Stop! I'm not with the Empire!" she protested.
Suddenly Ghost reappeared, the tip of his pistol prodding the side of the masked woman's face. Her eyes went wide, first with fear, then, it seemed, recognition. "Ghost?" she asked with plain disbelief.
His shoulders slumped as he seemed to recognize her too. "God damn it, Fog!" he groaned, kicking a rock in frustration, confirming it. Still, he did lower his weapon. "What do you think you're doing here?!"
"I've been trying to get spies out of Cairo," Fog explained, panting for breath after Sophia had pounded on her. The huntress still hadn't climbed off Fog, glaring down at her suspiciously.
"You know this woman?" Sophia asked. As calmly as she could manage considering they'd just been punching each other.
Ghost nodded and lowered his guns, but didn't put them away. "Yeah. She's a local Egyptian who was transformed to the Nile Empire's laws of reality when it appeared, and got special powers like I have." Gently, he nudged Sophia to indicate she ought to get off Fog, and helped the masked heroine to her feet. "Why are you smuggling spies out of Cairo, Fog? And why doesn't the head of their operation seem to know anything about you looking out for her people?" Ghost demanded.
Fog threw her arms wide helplessly. "Because there hasn't been time! One of Wu Han's stooges is onto them, and I've barely been one step ahead of him!"
"ATTENTION TRAITORS TO THE EMPIRE! THIS IS THE IRON CROCODILE!" The windows rattled from the blare of a loudspeaker. "MY MEN ARE ENTERTING YOUR FILTHY HIDEOUT NOW! I ADVISE YOU TO SURRENDER! WU HAN HAS BEEN IN A MERCIFUL MOOD OF LATE!"
"That means Wu Han's leaving the prisoners alive longer so they suffer more," Fog muttered.
"Fog, take Sabella and get—" Ghost started to say, but it was already too late.
A split-second later the door they'd come in through was knocked off its hinges and two men wearing green wetsuits and carrying harpoon guns charged in. Before the group had a chance to think about how to handle them their attackers, the back wall of the warehouse exploded.
As fast as he could, Ghost shoved Fog and Sabella out of the way of wooden shrapnel and disappeared. Sophia somersaulted across the floor, spotting some kind of metal vessel floating in the river outside.
With a man in a suit of armor with a crocodile's head for a helmet, complete with extended jaws.
Both of the men in wetsuits fired their harpoons. One was aimed at Sophia, who rolled, grabbed her gun off the floor and fired a bullet through his head before he'd even finished mentally processing her move.
The other harpoon was aimed at Sabella, but a cloud of fog had engulfed the warehouse again. No doubt Sophia would have Fog herself to thank for that.
Before the other underling could shift his focus to her, Sophia's hunting knife was in her hand and she was on top of him. He threw his harpoon gun aside and drew a wicked knife of his own. His lips twisted in a cruel leer as he recognized what he was fighting: a woman.
It vanished just as quickly when she lunged at him and sank her blade into his arm.
He held in a scream, but with how tightly he bit down on his lip Sophia was sure she'd gotten him good. Immediately he counterattacked by slashing his knife and shaving the side of Sophia's forehead as she was ducking. Next he tried kicking at the crouching huntress, who wrapped her arm around his thigh. Her knife slashed across his leg, drawing blood, and Sophia let go.
Gravity seized the Iron Crocodile's henchman. The soldier windmilled his arms and stumbled onto his wounded leg, then collapsed with a gasp of pain. He was just looking up when Sophia plunged her knife into his heart.
"Our own kind is the most tragic monster," Sophia whispered to herself. She retrieved her knife with one hand, but closed her opponent's eyes with the other. "Rest in peace."
Meanwhile, Iron Crocodile himself aimed and fired a harpoon on a cable from the deck of his submarine into the wall of the warehouse. Two more of his frogmen crossed the short distance to dry ground hand-over-hand then dropped and drew their harpoon guns.
Coils of mist rolled out of the huge opening in the side of the building, and the frogmen hesitated before entering. Where was the sound of the fight their partners should've been making? "One? Two? You in there?" one called.
"Don't stand around gawking, you idiots! Do your jobs!" Iron Crocodile yelled at them. "Or would you rather I let you be the ones to explain to Wu Han why his targets got away?"
A reminder of their real master's merciless nature was all the frogmen needed to get them inside the warehouse. They leaned forward and squinted, trying to spot anything in the impenetrable cloud they were walking through. Their weapons were leveled, ready to be fired at the first sign of an enemy.
Someone else shot first.
A bullet tore through the harpoon gun of one of the frogmen. His partner fired his weapon at where he guessed the shot had come throw. A few seconds later he heard the harpoon thud into a wall.
"You missed," said a voice that didn't seem to come from any specific place at all. "Is this the kind of henchman Wu Han's hiring these days? Maybe Doctor Mobius had the right idea putting him in charge of a cesspool like Cairo."
"You don't scare us, traitor!" the now-disarmed frogman yelled into the fog. "We're the greatest of Wu Han's fighters! You'll wish you were dead long before we're finished with you!"
"Kill me?" the voice laughed. "You can't kill a ghost, stupid."
A gun snarled and one of the frogmen clutched his arm, blood seeping between his fingers. The other drew and threw his knife where the sound had come from. He was pleased to hear a yelp of pain and guessed his blade had found its mark. Both of them charged at where it had come from.
Outside, Iron Crocodile waited. Gunshots came from inside the warehouse. Then silence.
"Of course," he sighed. "As usual, I have to do everything myself." He jumped overboard and motors in his boots hummed to life and propelled him up to the warehouse where his brainless minions had obviously met their doom. But a spy and a couple of masked heroes were no match for the mighty Iron Crocodile. They'd be worth a lot to Wu Han, though. Some impressive new upgrades for Iron Crocodile's suit as a reward for capturing them, he was sure…
Sounds of a scuffle reached his ears. Without any hesitation he stomped over to where it came from, where he saw one of his men grappling with a masked man wearing a fedora and sand-stained clothes. Without a second's hesitation Iron Crocodile easily picked up a crate and smashed it down on top of both of them. Both combatants were knocked flat onto the floor.
"Cold-blooded monster," Sophia hissed. She finished loading fresh shells into her revolver and moved to attack the armored villain. A hand fell on her shoulder.
"Are you crazy?" Fog whispered. "I can't keep this mist coming forever, and he'll tear you limb from limb if you try to fight him!"
"If he gets close enough to touch me," Sophia said, and pulled a weapon from inside her coat. "And I doubt that. Get Sabella out of here."
Around Iron Crocodile the fog was thinning. That probably meant the others were fleeing. He'd have to finish off the stunned hero and get after them in a hurry. When he'd been hoping for a chance to enjoy himself with some mayhem. Seizing another crate, he was about to smash the unconscious hero and his own henchman into oblivion.
"Put the box down, my good man."
Glancing over his shoulder showed him it was the woman in the long leather coat. Holding a rifle on him.
He did what he had to do. What any good villain of the Nile Empire would do. He dropped the box he'd been about to use as an improvised weapon, not even noticing as it shattered into splinters. Arms akimbo, he looked down at the woman, and laughed. "You think a gun can pierce my armor? This was made by one of the finest scientists in the Nile Empire just for me! To make me powerful enough to crush all our enemies!"
"I'd say it's worth a try," Sophia said with a wry little smirk that made Iron Crocodile doubt himself.
And she fired.
To his credit, the villain didn't go down. Iron Crocodile was rocked back on his feels, feeling like he'd been hit by a tank, but managed to suck in a breath and stand up again. "Not bad," he admitted. "But if that's the best your little toy can do—"
"I'd be more worried about what my friend's doing," Sophia interrupted him. Then she turned and ran for the door.
"What do you think—" Iron Crocodile roared, but stopped when he heard a metallic clink and saw Ghost tossing a grenade into the hole in his armor Sophia had made with her armor-piercing shot. The masked hero didn't wait around to make quips or see the results of his handiwork. He just dove through the hole in the wall and swam away down the Nile with the grenade's ring still between his teeth.
Just before an explosion collapsed the warehouse and sent the villain's submarine into the depths of the river from the flying debris.
"I wish I could say I wasn't noticing a trend."
Sophia, Ghost and Fog were sitting unmasked on the back veranda of a Delphi Council safehouse near the riverside edge of Cairo. A servant was clearing their supper dishes from the table while Deputy Director Nakatomi was sitting with his fingers steepled in front of him, an unmistakably disappointed look on his face after hearing Fog's story.
"I was in a hurry to save the informers. There wasn't time…," Fog started to say, but trailed off, obviously knowing how flimsy that sounded.
Nakatomi stood up to address all of them at the same time. "Fellas, the High Lords are managing to work together to invade Earth, and they have certain advantages. Like awesome supernatural power. Armies. The laws of reality giving them the advantage in the territory they conquer. Little things like that.
"I don't know why it seems like I have to explain this to the local heroes, but the only way of comparing to that is to get organized. Communicate. Strike decisive blows," Nakatomi said with a sigh. "Look, I know you pulp heroes are kind of used to being satisfied with the defeat of one villain at the end of an adventure and calling it a day. The High Lords are a legion of evil like even heroes from Terra haven't seen before, and little victories here and there aren't going to save the day.
"So what I'm saying is…will you help the Delphi Council stop them?"
Fog extended her hand, and Nakatomi shook it gratefully. "Yes, Deputy Director. I'll help you," she said. "Sabella told me to tell you she and her friends will still help with spying on the Nile Empire…but in Giza, since the local villains know who they are now."
"I'm right glad to hear that, miss," Nakatomi said, and turned to extend his hand to Ghost, who was unfolding a slip of paper Hakim had just come in and handed to him. "Don't tell me you're about to bug out on me again, Ghost," Nakatomi said with more open disappointment.
Ghost shook his head. "No, but it seems the Temple of Osiris got in touch with Hakim here about asking for my help with something. My coming was foretold when they would be having just such an issue, or something like that. Prophecies are pretty important, you know. Sounds like something your Council buddies would want you investigating, Nakatomi."
"If you're off on some journey, I'm going with you," Sophia said, crossing her arms sternly. Ghost smiled and nodded at her.
Slowly, a small but amused smile formed on Nakatomi's face. "Please, if we're going to be working together, you can use the codename the Council gave me: Snowflake."
With that day's events behind them, Ghost was heading up to the spare rooms in the Delphi Council safehouse he'd been told he and Sophia were free to use for the night. With that day's events still fresh in his mind, though, Ghost sat on the chair by the window and lit a cigarette.
Someone knocked. He wasn't surprised to see Sophia standing in the doorway. "Ghost? I…oh."
He motioned her to come in with a sweep of his arm. She did, and Ghost got up from the chair and moved to sit on the little bed, barely more than a cot, to let her have the chair.
"You're smoking," Sophia observed.
"It helps settle my nerves," Ghost replied with a shrug.
She leaned closer. Very quietly, so there was no risk of anyone but Ghost hearing her, Sophia said to him, "If it's not improper for a lady to ask this, may I have one as well?"
The question seemed to catch him by surprise with how suddenly he looked up at her. Still, Ghost got the pack out again and offered the last cigarette to Sophia. "The ads say the Apep brand's supposed to have a more 'rugged' flavor, but help yourself." She did, clutching the cigarette between index and middle finger showing she already knew what she was doing, and extended her arm for Ghost to give her a light. At first she recoiled in surprise when he flicked open a metal box spun the strike wheel in a practiced motion.
The huntress took a slow drag on the cigarette. "I'm…sorry about earlier," Sophia said, looking like she almost had to spit the word out to have the nerve to admit it. "We have certain societal expectations on Gaea. We have to be firm and stick to our rules at all times, or the creatures of the darkness can easily find vulnerabilities to attack us with. I'm not used to giving any quarter to my enemies."
Ghost took a puff on his cigarette and carefully turned his head before he exhaled to make sure it didn't go near Sophia. "I'm sorry to hear that, Sophia. I hope you won't be offended to hear me say that sounds like an awful place to grow up. The world I'm from has its villains too—"
"Like Iron Crocodile?"
"…yes, like Iron Crocodile. They can be cunning, and they can be powerful. But they're not subtle. You always know as soon as one's around, and what they're after."
Both of them took a puff. It was Sophia who spoke first, "Yes, I've noticed, and I notice I'm having some difficulties adapting to the thinking of another world." She let the statement hang in the air for a minute, then abruptly she asked, "Alan? What was it that made you decide to become the Ghost? That is, taking an alias and wearing a mask to fight villains."
He chortled quietly and leaned back in his chair as she gave him the question. "Well…I used to be a police officer, you see. I stumbled onto a meeting between a bunch of gangsters and I tried to take them on one by one and make a name for myself, but instead I was caught and thrown off a pier.
"I managed to slip out of the ropes just in time and eventually I caught up with the criminals who weren't left behind. They were sure they'd killed me, and said I must've been a ghost. After I knocked them out and captured them I realized how much more effective I was at fighting crime when I wasn't wearing a uniform and walking the beat. After a little while of that I heard this really bigtime villain, Doctor Mobius, had left the planet somehow and a bunch of other heroes were getting together to hunt him down. I guess I was getting ideas above my pay grade again, because I volunteered to go with those guys, the Mystery Men, and help."
Sophia gave him a measured look. "Above your pay grade? That Nakatomi fellow seems very eager for your help."
"Yeah, but the Mystery Men didn't quite agree. I got assigned a more experienced hero to keep an eye on me until they were sure about my performance."
"And what does he think of your performance?"
"She's dead," Ghost answered simply, before he looked away, clearly hoping Sophia didn't press the issue.
There was a long, long moment of silence. Both let out their smoke in the same breath and it mingled in front of the two adventurers. Ghost looked at it, then over at Sophia with a look that seemed curious, then away again. "I suppose we have that in common," Sophia said to break the ice.
Ghost looked at her and tilted his head to go on, which she did. "I let slip about a man named Aleksander this afternoon, didn't I? The truth is that Aleksander Black was my fiancé. We were going to marry and unite our two estates, but something had been stalking the land his family owned. He gathered a party of hunters, and I insisted on joining. For days he led us trying to find whatever it was, until we found a pack of slaughtered sheep and finally found its lair nearby."
"What was it?"
"A loup garou. A horrific beast that, normally, is a man like any other. But at night, sometimes it takes on the qualities of a wolf and rampages, leaving death in its wake," Sophia explained.
He nodded. "We had those on Terra, too. Werewolves."
"Were they real?"
"Well, no," Ghost admitted with a soft chuckle. "I've seen a film about them. That's it."
Sophia nodded too as she listened to him tell her his experiences, then went on, "This loup garou was quite real. It killed many of the hunters who rode with us, and…there's no point in in hiding it. That demon killed Aleksander. Tore out his throat with its teeth right in front of me."
"Before you finished it off?" Ghost filled in for her.
"Yes," Sophia said, a distant look in her eyes. "After that, much like yourself, the soldiers and hunters of our world banded together to follow the High Lord who'd terrorized our world before coming to terrorize this Earth. He's called the Gaunt Man, but I know little more of him."
His hand fell onto her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Sophia was surprise and felt an urge to smack it away for his impolite familiarity, but stopped herself. She didn't even do it when he asked a question: "Pardon me if I'm getting too personal, but you said Aleksander was your fiancé, but you still have his last name."
"Yes," Sophia said, her eyes going even more distant than before. "My last name was Everly, but I took Aleksander's after he was killed by the loup garou so I'd never forget the brave man he'd been. Ever since then, I've felt like someone else than the person I was when we were still planning our wedding…"
"He sounds like a real hero," Ghost suggested.
"He was," Sophia agreed, still looking right through him. Gradually she blinked and seemed to become aware of where and when she was again. An impulse to ask about Ghost's fallen mentor passed through her mind, but she decided to let it go for now. They'd have plenty of time to get comfortable enough revealing secrets if Nakatomi was right about the stakes of the High Lords' invasion.