Chapter Sixty
"Has anyone spotted him yet?" Seven said to Admin Fisher over the din of the disquieted crowd. The teeming masses before her made her feel uneasy and claustrophobic, as though they were all gazing at her through the blue haze of plasma. She shook off the feeling with a wry chuckle. She wasn't in a cage anymore. No need to panic. The earpiece in her ear, custom-fitted by Giovanni's scientists, gave off a subtle hiss of static.
"Not yet," Fisher grunted back. "No way to tell what's what, even with all the cameras. I did get word about a minute ago that the test came back positive, so it's in here somewhere.
Seven scanned the crowd, wondering where she would hide if in N's place. Somewhere to the rear, near a small exit or a bathroom with ventilation shafts, would be her choice, but the countless bodies blurred into a cacophonous smear. Singling any out proved impossible.
"The speech is about to begin," Fisher said. "Don't screw up the lip syncing."
Out of the corner of her eye, Seven caught a flicker, the faintest hint of wrongness somewhere in the upper reaches of the stadium. Her eyes tracked a flash of pink, but she lost it in the throngs.
"You're on in five."
Seven's gaze darted back to Giovanni's image standing in front of them. A green light flashed on the podium, and Giovanni's voice whispered in her ear through the earpiece. As the words floated through her mind, she projected them through the image. When she had asked why they couldn't have the speech prepared ahead of time, Giovanni replied that people trust not in carefully laid plans, well-executed reason, or in structure, but in their gut instincts, and nothing speaks louder and truer to that instinctive search for inherent truth than impromptu speech, with all its imperfections.
Despite that, his words carried no hint of pause or stammering she could detect. Each word felt as though it were chiseled of stone, polished smooth and angular with sandpaper, and stacked into geometric piles with precise dimensions. He examined one concern after another with swift, rigorous rhetoric, laid out his plans to address them, and summarized the cost of his projects. As he built his mountain of words, the crowd fell to a hush and sat at the edge of their seats. Gasps and mutters rippled through the crowd as he laid his evidence for Ghetsis' false identity, brick by brick, calling up images and news clippings on a projector.
When he announced N's presence, uneasiness rushed through the crowd like flames dancing over a lake of gasoline. Some rose from their seats and pressed towards the doors, but Rocket Grunts toting metallic riot gear blocked the exits. Even from the bottom of the stadium, Seven could tell it was the same metal used in her – in Bruno's cell.
A flash of blue light cut across the stadium. Her arms rose up to block the harsh glare. From it emerged a towering figure awash in blue flames. Spikes jutted from its arms and chest, and its eyes burned like dying stars.
Giovanni swore in her ear. It was the first time she had ever heard any semblance of shock in his voice. Then he said, "Have everyone withdraw. We can't risk a fight here and now."
Seven relayed the order to Fisher. The Admin shouted a few words into his radio, and the Grunts at the entrance slid aside, letting a stampede thunder out into the streets.
The Mega Lucario glanced at the exits, then up at the snipers perched from the rafters and nearby buildings, and last at the podium below, at Seven. With a roar, it raced down the concrete steps and landed with an earth-shaking thud a dozen feet in front of her. She drew a dart gun and fired, but the handle slipped in her long, slender fingers. The dart flew wide, landing point-first in the grassy turf.
The Lucario sprang forward. Seven was knocked aside. Fisher blocked the blow meant for Seven's head with a riot shield. In his right hand was a metal baton. It shot forward and clocked the Lucario in the shoulder. Fisher dropped the baton and fired two darts. They struck it in the chest. It wrenched them free and flung them on the ground.
From the ground, Seven saw Giovanni standing there, observing the battle with an impassive expression. Then she remembered it was only an illusion. With a flash of panic matching her own, the image backed away and sprinted after the Sages. Two ranks of Grunts formed a line of shields behind him, brandishing batons at the Lucario.
Giovanni's voice rasped in Seven's ear. "Find N, and make sure it does not escape."
Four Grunts ran forward, coming at the Lucario from all sides. It whirled, flinging blue light from its paws. The aura glanced off the shields, but it swept the men off their feet. It sprang forward. A paw slammed down, and a man's chest caved in with the hollow crunch of shattered ribs.
Seven scrambled to her feet and tapped Fisher on the shoulder. He whirled, his baton hurtling towards her head. It stopped half a short of caving her skull in.
"Where is N?"
Fisher spoke into his radio. "Section J, near the top. He's been incapacitated."
"Cover me." As she sprinted for the seats, the Grunts formed a wall of shields behind her. The Lucario sent out another wave of aura, but the shields held it back. Darts rained down from the rafters. They stuck out at odd angles from the Lucario's head and shoulders. It slumped forward, panting as the tranquilizer coursed through its veins.
It glanced up and saw Seven approaching N. With a howl, it leapt on top of the shields and bounded towards her. Seven scrambled over the seats, looking for N. She stepped in a sticky puddle, looked down, and saw the eyepiece. Harsh red light emanated from the glass lens. For a second, she was in the dark room, with scalpels and needles suspended above her, reddened either from its light or her blood.
A flash of blue whirled in front of her. A glowing pulse slammed into her chest. Head in her arms, she tumbled down a flight of concrete stairs. Her fur padded her fall, but scrapes drew blood from her knees and elbows. She stopped halfway down, on her back, staring at cracks in the concrete.
Seven looked up at Section J. The Lucario was gone. One Grunt scooped pink goo into a vial, and another sifted through handfuls of the viscous gunk on the seats.
"No sign of it sir," the Grunt reported.
Seven looked behind her. Admin Fisher had her in one of his arms. Muscles like steel cables bulged beneath his uniform. For a panicked moment, Seven imagined those arms gripping her tighter, snapping her spine in two. She shook the fantasy from her head.
"Where did they go?" she asked.
"The Lucario leapt out of the stadium," Fisher said. "Did you see Ghetsis' eyepiece?"
She shivered. "Yes," she said in a breathless whisper.
Fisher nodded and spoke into the radio. He received a reply, and said, "Giovanni is waiting."
He helped her onto her feet. Armored vans were parked at the rear of the stadium. Squads of Grunts filed into the back, but Seven and Fisher got their own car. Fisher drove them to the Jubilife building. Two Grunts let them pass into the inner halls, and another opened the doors to the Sages' meeting room.
Giovanni sat in Ghetsis' seat, with his hands folded in front of him. Celeste and Colson took chairs on the far side of the room.
Seven sat nearest Giovanni. The scent of sanitizer wafting around Giovanni was tinged with the faintest hint of sweat, and the muscles in his jaw trembled.
"I will admit this was my mistake," Giovanni said. "I hadn't expected either of them to be willing to use the Mega Stone in a crowded area, and before the battle tomorrow no less."
"There is a chance that the Elder will live until then," Celeste said. "However, symptoms may appear within a few hours. They may decide against using the Mega Stone."
"Even if they knew the Stone was poisoned, they would still use it." Giovanni gave a small grin, but the tension in his face remained. "The beauty of an absolute evil is that any means can be justified to eliminate it, and all groups, no matter how opposed in their views, will come together to oppose it. It is the evil that can be bargained with that lives the longest."
Celeste tapped her fingers on the table. "You mean yourself? Or Ghetsis?"
Giovanni's smile vanished. "Both, I suppose." He turned towards Seven. "You are certain you saw the eyepiece?"
Seven swallowed and nodded.
"There was no way for N to make an illusion?"
"None," Seven said. "N was just a puddle. The eyepiece was floating in it. It –" She stopped mid-breath, gripped by the memory of the lens staring at her.
Giovanni closed his eyes and rubbed his hands together. The sharp tang of isopropanol receded. "It's time I told you all my suspicions. I haven't thus far because I lack proof, and I had thought the problem done with until N came here."
Admin Colson cleared his throat. "You suspect that Ghetsis is an AI, do you not?"
Seven felt her blood freeze.
Giovanni nodded. "That eyepiece serves as an interface between the program and his brain. It was backed up by a remote server room in Harmonia Labs."
"The server room I destroyed, right boss?" Fisher asked.
"The same." Giovanni took a bottle out of his coat pocket and slathered sanitizer onto his hands. As he worked it into his skin, he said, "There are only a few computers left with enough processing power to handle a program as complicated as an AI. Of those, there's the computers in the Sages' tower, our own servers, computers at the university, and Colson's CPU."
Seven's mouth, hidden behind her mask, worked silently for a moment before she asked, "Couldn't he have copied himself onto those computers?"
Giovanni shook his head. "He could have, but doing so would have put him at risk. Other programs operating on that hardware could corrupt his data. Only Colson's system serves as an optimal host for his program, which is why he will have to remain away from N.
Fisher grunted and leaned back in his chair. "Well, there goes our ace in the hole. Any plans?"
Giovanni smiled, but his eyes flicked across the room. "We will be using Mewtwo."
Celeste stiffened at the announcement. Seven thought for a moment, and remembered the creature floating in the tank.
"You mean-" she began, but Giovanni cut her off.
"I've had a long discussion with it," he said, looking at Celeste. "We have nothing to fear from it."
Celeste nodded, but she remained at the edge of her seat.
"Now, get your men ready. Tomorrow, this war will end, one way or another."
By the time N felt any sensation in his body, they were already back at the underground hideout. Elder Bayron had reverted to his normal form. He lay shivering on the floor, squeezing his head between his paws and muttering under his breath. Cell by cell, the tiny mass the Elder had cradled in his arm rebuilt itself, until N stood upright before half a dozen Lucario. Two brought Bayron to his feet and helped him out of the room, while another approached N.
"What do we do now?" she asked. "Are we still going to work with them?"
N grimaced. "We don't have a choice. Get everything ready, and make sure the Elder gets some rest."
The Lucario nodded and left. N grabbed the computer over his left eye and wrenched it free of his flesh. The lens stared up at him, focusing and refocusing. It had clawed its way through him, to the mass Bayron had scooped off of the seats, with thin tendrils tucked away in its core. For a moment, he considered smashing the computer to pieces. But he still needed the Sages' nukes.
With a frown, he stuck it back onto his face and watched the scrawling red text lay out battle plans.
Changelog
12/28/18 – minor edits