Freedom

Chapter 47

I've done combat. I've never done battle. Unless you count hanging like a side of meat in the middle of one. Dark silhouettes were coming out of the snowy haze; the line opened fire. Bullets, arrows, beams of energy – you name it, and the Velvets on this side of the emplacement were throwing it. GI Velvet had her BAR set up, bipod down, and was firing, braced against the recoil.

Dark Velvets were going down by the dozen, but they didn't seem to mind. I'd been planning for the worst, but even I had underestimated the size of the army. I put the AK to my shoulder and started shooting. There was no shortage of targets. I had landed bullets back in the real world – more of them than I was happy about. But this was different. These Dark Velvets just didn't care. They were tough, too. There was a whole crate of ammunition, so that wasn't a problem – but even though the fire from the line seemed overwhelming, it seemed like the dark shapes were gaining ground.

Bullets whizzed by, but not enough of them. Not all of the attacking Velvets had guns, or if they did, they weren't using them, and that bothered me. I was focused on the job at hand – and that was just putting the sights on a shape, pulling the trigger twice, and moving to the next one.

But I could only shoot so many. Maybe the other Velvets weren't meant to be an army, but they weren't bad at it. They were pulling their weight – but it wasn't enough to stop the push. I saw GI Velvet cast a worried glance over her shoulder, no doubt thinking about Bride Velvet and Velvet Fury. Not a lot of time had passed – they probably hadn't gotten far. It was hard to picture them moving very quickly – but we were definitely losing ground now.

That was when it started getting bad. Not that it had ever been good – but so far I hadn't been forced to watch anything like what was coming. Wesker Velvet vanished, then reappeared in the middle of the charging Dark Velvets, dealing out some really fearsome blows – until one of them plunged a knife into her exposed back in a moment of carelessness.

She fell down, very dead. The bodies of the Dark Velvets turned to ash after a little while, but Wesker Velvet didn't – she just lay there, bleeding onto the snow as the Dark Velvets trampled over her.

Hong Kong Velvet, blazing away with twin handguns, was hit, and went down. Even then, she levered herself up on one elbow and kept shooting until a Dark Velvet vaulted over the barricade and finished her off. I couldn't get there.

That was when I realized these Dark Velvets couldn't hurt me. I'd been hit a number of times, but I wasn't injured. I wasn't making enough of an impact with just the AK, so I took the sword from the hand of the fallen Samurai Velvet and charged out into the melee.

I worried that I couldn't bring myself to use a blade on a Velvet – even a Dark Velvet – but I didn't have any trouble. Maybe because they wore masks, or because underneath the numb shock I felt, I was upset. Or maybe because I could've done just about anything right then.

No matter how many I cut down, I couldn't stop what was happening. The Velvets rallied behind me, and all around the battle raged – and no matter what I did, it didn't matter. We couldn't win.

Poison Ivy Velvet and Harley Quinn Velvet were separated from the main force. They fought back to back, but a hand grenade ended their stand before I could reach them. I ran a Dark Velvet Officer through in time to see the Mist Velvet go down, overwhelmed by sheer numbers. For a moment Gandalf Velvet was forcing them back with a great wall of fire, but a drone roared overhead, and she fell in the following barrage of rockets. They didn't bother me, but the Indiana Jones Velvet at my side was killed by the shrapnel.

The boom of the Sniper Velvet's rifle had been absent for a few minutes, but I didn't want to look, because I knew what I'd see. I didn't want to see another Velvet die, but I didn't have a choice; it was happening all around me. And even if I'd closed my eyes, I still would've been able to hear the screams and the slaughter. Ever since the battle began, the sky had been darkening.

I could push forward, but the rest were being pushed back, and I couldn't protect them if we were separated. Against my every instinct, I let the onslaught push me as well, back toward the theater. Only the first waves had carried firearms; now it was a bloody close-quarters fight.

I fell to one knee, driving my sword into the snow. I couldn't get my breath – but I couldn't stop, either. In front of me, a Velvet I didn't recognize was bleeding out, her throat slashed. Her gun had fallen out of reach, and she didn't stop reaching for it until she was gone.

The attack pattern was changing. Something was coming. I pushed to my feet, jerking the sword free of the snow.

There was no longer a line. Just a pocket of resistance clustered around the theater entrance. Dark Velvets on all sides – but now they were parting down the middle.

I shouldn't have been surprised. An hour ago, there would have been a part of me that wanted to laugh – but that part was gone. The duality of this world was not lost on me. Bride Velvet in white had to have an opposite. This was it, and I should have seen it coming.

Darth Velvet was making straight for the entrance. My grip on the sword tightened. Maybe here I could make a difference. I didn't know if there was balance in this place, and if my being here, or what I was about to do was going to upset it.

The battle had ground to a halt. Obviously we had lost. I cast a quick glance back at the entrance. There weren't many Velvets left on either side. Though we'd been outnumbered, we'd worn them down – but it cost us. I spotted GI Velvet among the survivors. Darth Velvet had won. Maybe she was coming to seal the deal. I confidently moved to intercept her. If I'd known she was back there, maybe I could've done something sooner. Maybe it wouldn't have needed to come to this.

She deployed her lightsaber, but I didn't care. I'd cut her down like I had dozens, if not hundreds, of her troops. I raised my sword, and she raised hers. We both moved to strike, but I was jerked backward by my shirt. The red lightsaber sheared right through my sword, leaving me with just the hilt, and left a long burn across my chest. She must have just gotten me with the tip, or I'd have been in two pieces.

I'd been rescued by Jedi Velvet, who leapt over me to clash with Darth Velvet. How she'd known this was the one thing here that could hurt me, I didn't know. But I wasn't paying attention to them – I was staring down at the smoldering wound in my chest. It hurt a lot more than I was ready for. My invincibility had gone to my head.

I was only peripherally aware of the duel – but it didn't last. Jedi Velvet's head thudded to the ground. I looked up in horror as her body collapsed beside it, and the sky turned another shade darker. One moment, nothing. The next, chaos.

The battle resumed in earnest, but this time I wasn't participating – it was all I could do to stay conscious. Darth Velvet was coming my way – she'd obviously identified me as a greater threat than the others. The Dark Velvets were falling back, but it didn't seem to matter to this one. She raised the lightsaber over her head.

Battered and covered in wounds, GI Velvet slid between us, holding up her BAR – but Darth Velvet sliced it in half, then stabbed her, never breaking stride.

I dragged myself backward, but I couldn't get away, not even from Darth Velvet's deliberate walk. My back hit stone, and I realized I was up against the theater itself. I'd have liked to force myself to my feet and go out like a man – but I didn't have the strength.

A shot rang out, and Darth Velvet dropped her lightsaber to clutch at her shoulder. She looked back, then vanished. GI Velvet lay in the snow, her sidearm outstretched – but even as I watched, it slipped from her fingers, and she went still. The world darkened again, even more than when Jedi Velvet had gone down.

A few meters away, the last two Velvets were locked in struggle. The Light had her fingers around the other's throat, even as the Dark one fired a handgun repeatedly into her abdomen. They separated, and both fell.

There wasn't a sound. Dark Velvets who had fallen earlier were beginning to disintegrate. The others lay where they had fallen. There were bodies everywhere, but nothing moved, and I might've been in outer space for all the sound there was. The colorful lights of the marquee, more visible now in the newly fallen darkness, flashed over the scene that would haunt me to my grave.

The pain in my chest was growing more manageable by the second, but it was hard to muster the will to do anything more than just watch the snow fall on the bodies.

Movement caught my eye, and I looked up to see figures coming out of the dark. They were not, as I'd first thought, Dark Velvets. They were normal Velvets. Or unarmed Velvets, rather. They wore normal clothes – no costumes. Just street clothes.

I watched them begin to collect the bodies of the fallen Light Velvets. They were respectful, if not exactly reverent, as if they knew they had a big job – so many bodies to clear that if they took the time each one deserved, they'd never finish.

I almost got to my feet when they came for GI Velvet, but what was I going to do, stop them? No. I slid back to the ground and watched as they carried her away. One of them had stayed behind. She reached down and picked up the pistol GI Velvet had used to save me. With a look of determination, she jammed it into her waistband, then turned to go.

It was a long and heart-rending job, but as I sat watching, it seemed to fly by. Almost before I knew it, there was nothing left but churned up snow and blood. The Dark Velvets had all dissolved, and the Light ones had all been removed. For a moment I thought I saw Bride Velvet out in the distance, but when I looked again, she was gone.

I realized I was waiting for something – I just didn't know what. I guess I just thought that when it was over, something would happen. But nothing did.

I turned to look at the theater doors, still securely closed. None of them had gotten through. The defending force had been eliminated, but the Dark Velvets hadn't actually taken the theater. I wonder if that counted as a victory.

When it became clear to me that nothing was going to happen, I finally got to my feet. My chest still hurt, but I couldn't make myself care about it. With GI Velvet gone, I felt even more numb than I had before.

I stood outside the doors, wondering what to do. I supposed I'd have to make my way to the palace. Or maybe I could go to the dark castle and destroy it. I was ready for Darth Velvet, now. It didn't matter that her lightsaber could hurt me – I was ten times the fighter that any of these Velvets were. Now that I was ready for her, she wouldn't have a chance. Maybe I could even just shoot her.

But not now. I couldn't even face the thought. So I tried the door to the theater. To my surprise, it opened.

The interior of the theater looked… more or less like the interior of a theater. It wasn't the cleanest, though the damage to the outside of the building didn't seem to affect things inside. It looked a little old-fashioned, and architecturally and stylistically unfamiliar – like much of the city seemed to me. There was a concessions counter, and two Velvets behind it. Two doorways with curtains made – I was fairly sure, of actual velvet – the fabric – flanked it, no doubt leading into the theater itself. There was no ticket box.

I approached the counter warily. I was, in a way, pleased to see these two Velvets alive – though as I got closer, my enthusiasm waned. They were both dressed identically. I read the t-shirts they wore because I was in a peculiar state of mind, not because I gave a damn about her magnificent chest – because at the time, I didn't. They read:

VIKING F.K.

1899

STAVANGER

But I read those words as an afterthought. The most striking aspect of the shirt was the bloodstains – which were identical on both Velvets. There was a lot of blood. They were covered in it. Their hair was disheveled.

The one on the left looked catatonic. I could've poked her face with a finger and not gotten a reaction. The other looked glum, but alert. I stared at them for several long moments. But I had nothing to say, and I wasn't hungry – so I made my way around the counter and through the first doorway.

The theater was cavernous. I'd never seen a bigger room in my life. The screen was the size of a city park. It was deserted. I took a few exhausted steps down the aisle, then collapsed into a seat. The lights dimmed, and I woke in a clearing, surrounded by blood drinkers.