Bastion: O-Men: Liege’s Legion

by Elaine Levine

  “You don’t have to make any decisions immediately,” Liege said. “I’d like to give you a full tour of our facilities here and the fort above. We have space to house your team and families here, while you train.”

  Owen rubbed the back of his neck as he considered that offer. Selena could tell it wasn’t one that sat well with him. “What’s the probability that we’ll actually ever see these ghouls of yours?” he asked.

  “I’ve mentioned we’ve already fought them at your place,” Bastion said, “so you’ve hit Flynn’s radar.”

  “These monsters are only sent out after dark,” Guerre said. “With the shielding we have on your premises, provided everyone is inside before sunset, you should be fairly safe.”

  “But we cannot guarantee that,” Bastion added.

  Selena didn’t like the odds of being able to keep everyone bottled up at night. Eden had to care for her dogs in the kennels. Mandy had the stable to tend. Ivy had her diner to see to. Remi had university events and meetings some evenings. “What about Fiona and the boys at school in Fort Collins?” She looked at Owen. “How is this even doable, given the obligations we all have?”

  Owen nodded. “How long are we looking at?”

  Liege didn’t answer quickly, which itself was an answer. “Forever. Or until the world catches up with what the Omnis have unleashed.”

  “Once modified,” Rocco said, “can those modifications be altered? If we take friendly mods, could they later be overridden by enemy modifications?”

  “They could,” Bastion said. “The new battlefields aren’t geographical anymore—they’re inside of us.”

  “Once you break the seal that Mother Nature provides, you have to deal with the devil that comes out,” Guerre said, “as at that point, there remain no natural checks and balances.”

  “Which is why we have to be better, faster, more strategic than our enemies, or we’ll all become slaves to them,” Acier said.

  “And we know the Omnis are not altruistic,” Liege said.

  “Are you?” Selena asked the mutant leader. Silence filled the room.

  “No,” he said. “We have a single goal in mind, and that is to save humanity. I have no illusions that can be achieved without bloodshed and/or with only minimal destruction, which is why I built this fort.”

  Kelan looked at Owen. “Selena was right. This is the apocalypse that Lion was told about.”

  “If so, this has been in the works for generations,” Rocco said.

  Selena felt a chill wrap around her. She folded her arms and sent Bastion a worried glance. Unlike his usual jovial self, he didn’t try to allay her fears.

  “My team and I aren’t ready to make permanent decisions,” Owen said. “Let’s begin with the training you’ve offered, then once we know more, we’ll decide how much assistance we can provide.”

  Liege nodded. “We’ll come up to your place to begin, as that’s where you’ll most likely be facing the ghouls and any other Omni challenges.”

  Hours later, the team gathered for a debrief in the bunker. Owen looked at Bastion. Selena knew he was going to block him from joining them. Owen kept them aside as Ace and the rest of the guys filed past…as if she were no longer a welcome member of the team.

  She thought that by this point in her life, she’d be used to being an outsider. Staring into Owen’s icy blue eyes, she had a pressing urge to bolt, but this was something she couldn’t escape.

  "I didn't start this, Owen,” she said. “I didn't ask for this. I don't want this. But we can't ignore what's happening. You've seen the evidence with your own eyes of what Bastion can do. He's one of who knows how many fighters like him. Liege told us he has teams around the world. We’re lucky they’re on the same side of this fight as we are. But there are others like them still deep in the Omni machinery who are not on our side."

  "So you want us to get cozy with beings whose capabilities we don't even fully understand?” Owen asked.

  "Your own father is one of those beings," Angel said.

  Selena was so focused on Owen that she didn’t realized a few of the guys had come back into the den.

  "Yeah, I'm afraid this train has already left the station, Owen,” Blade said. "We have to deal with reality as it is, not as we'd like it to be."

  “This isn't Selena’s doing,” Val said.

  “You can’t effectively keep Bastion out of the conversation we’re about to have. You know that, right?” She tilted her head and gave her boss an impatient look. Both of them knew he couldn’t really keep Bastion from attending—it was just a matter of whether his presence was seen or unseen.

  I would not spy, if you wished me not to, Bastion said to Selena.

  Bullshit. You were made to spy.

  I was. But I will always try to honor your wishes.

  “Fine,” Owen said, giving Bastion then followed the group down the long flights of stairs to the bunker.

  Owen stood by the end of the conference table, where the three team members who had not gone to the fort were. “Were you able to see much from Greer’s feed?”

  “Yes and no,” Kit said. “When he was stationary, the resolution was good, but every time he moved, it got scrambled. Were you really in a secret transportation pod?”

  Angel answered, “Yep. And it took us from Cheyenne to northeastern Colorado in about ten minutes—a trip that would usually take more than an hour.”

  “And no one knows about that train system?” Blade asked.

  “Some must,” Owen said. “It’s a huge engineering endeavor that didn’t happen overnight. And it can be accessed by thousands of major transportation points across the U.S.”

  “We should see if Lobo knows about it,” Angel said. “I’m sure he’s been read in on more than we would expect, seeing as he’s the FBI point man on the WKB and the Omnis.”

  “Hold off talking to Lobo,” Owen said. “We don’t want to tip our hand sooner than we have to.”

  Blade gave Owen a measuring look. “He’s a friendly.”

  “He is,” Owen agreed, “but we know nothing about his higher-ups.”

  “I want to see their fort,” Max said. “And I think Nick and Jax need to be brought in, too.”

  “So you think those beings they had in the morgue were real? Or just movie props?” Kit asked.

  “They are real,” Bastion said. Selena didn’t sense frustration in his voice, or resignation, or anything that indicated he was losing patience with the firm grip her team had on the world as it had been before mutants entered it. His patience surprised her.

  I’ve had ten years to come to terms with this new reality, he told her. They aren’t going to shift gears quickly. Patience is the only way forward, ma chérie.

  “One way to find out,” Kit said. “Get that head over to Doc Beck. See what he makes of it.”

  “I assume this Doc Beck is someone you trust?” Bastion asked.

  “He’s in the Omni resistance with us,” Selena told him. “He’s patched all of us up, at one time or another.”

  “Maybe none of this real.” Blade glared at Bastion. “Maybe it’s an elaborate hoax to trick us into handing over the Ratcliffs. We know how well they can manipulate us.”

  Bastion nodded. “Never doubt it—we mutants are capable of any ruse to get what we want. But in this case, those things are real. Tomorrow, you will learn more about our abilities, and then you will be better equipped to make the decisions you must.”

  Selena stared at Bastion. That’s what you’ve done to me, isn’t it? Manipulated me.

  I have not.

  No? What do you call wiping my memories if not manipulation?

  I could have done much worse, Selena, than hide myself from you.

  That is not reassuring, Bastion.

  I know. That’s why it took me so long to reveal myself. I was at war with Fate.

  So you don’t want what’s happening between us?

  My heart and my mind were yours the night I first saw you. But in ma
king you mine, I had to bring you and your friends to the point we’re at now. I did not want to shred your world.

  Selena hated having her options ripped from her. Every decision she’d made since she was fourteen, had been to keep from being cornered, and yet here she was.

  “You all know that I’m in the ‘trust them’ camp,” Selena said.

  “How do we know that you aren't being manipulated by him?” Owen asked. “How do we know your thoughts and opinions are your own?"

  "Because we have to trust our instincts."

  "And how do you know that what you believe is your instinctive reaction to all of us is really yours?” Blade asked. “I mean no disrespect, Sel, but given the circumstances…”

  Selena accepted that as a valid question. She looked at her team, who also appeared to want the answer. "I'm not saying that we should follow Bastion or Liege or Nick or Owen or anyone without question. I think we must always understand the decisions we make and why we make them. I've been interacting with Bastion consciously and unconsciously for months now. I think I have a feel for when he is influencing or projecting and when I'm responding to my own instincts. Remember, I was able to block him. Yes, with extreme effort, but I've always been aware of the difference between us. Let's trust them until they fail us."

  "And by the time they fail us, we'll all be dead." Owen said.

  “But if we don't trust them, we may all be dead long before that,” Selena said.

  Owen gave her a stare-down, then did the same with Bastion. “Liege and others are coming up here in the morning. We’ll see how that goes before deciding anything.”

  “That is a wise decision,” Bastion said.

  Doc Beck led Angel to his office. Angel closed the door, then took out his phone to do a security sweep.

  “Cloak and dagger, much?” Beck said as he leaned against his desk.

  “Had to be sure. Your office is open to everyone all day.”

  Beck folded his arms. “What’s on your mind, Angel?”

  “I need you to examine something and answer two questions: is it real, and what is it?”

  “Okay.”

  Angel set the cooler on one of the guest chairs and lifted the lid. Beck looked inside, then reached in and took out the specimen.

  “Shit.”

  “You don’t sound surprised.”

  “I’m not. I’ve heard stories—urban legends, I’d hoped—about Omni werewolves.”

  “Please tell me this isn’t a werewolf. I really don’t want that word in my vocabulary.”

  “It’s not. If werewolves existed, which they don’t, they would live in one of two states—human or werewolf. These chimeras have only one state. They don’t shift. They’re a mix of human and one or many different animals.” He looked at Angel. “No has ever captured one of these things. We have no known science describing them.”

  “So it’s a big find?”

  “Huge. Career-making.”

  “Right. Then I’m sorry to have to tell you that this is top secret. Word about this thing can’t get out to the general public.”

  Beck sighed and put the head back in the cooler. “I expected as much. But I will need to consult with the Ratcliffs on it.”

  Angel nodded. “Agreed. When you have some specific info, give Owen a call.”

  27

  Selena pushed herself to a sitting position on her bed. She’d almost fallen asleep several times, but kept waking up, her mind spinning over everything that was happening.

  It had been a relief to have her team shown all the things—and more—that the Legion had shown her. Even better was the fact that they’d come to the same conclusion she had about the need for further dialog with the mutant mercenaries.

  She looked over to the side of the bed that Bastion had occupied last night. She hadn’t invited him over tonight—nor had he asked to join her. Maybe that was for the best. She needed time to adjust to everything.

  A sea change had happened, and ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the human population had no idea it was already afoot.

  I feel your distress, my love. Do you want me to come over? Bastion asked.

  No. She did, but more importantly, she needed time to get her headspace right. If we catch and kill Brett Flynn, we still won’t be able to stop this thing, will we?

  Non, Bastion said. The Omnis seem like a single megalithic entity, but really they are a consortium of petty despots, each building his own sphere of influence and power. Their structure is much like medieval kingdoms—fragmented and self-focused. Taking down any of the big players just makes the remaining ones stronger.

  So what could our strategy be to buy the time Liege said is needed to devise new governance structures?

  The single best thing we can do is collect all the scientists we can find who are working on these human modifications for the Omnis. Without them, the Omnis lose their source of power.

  That’s huge, Selena said. These scientists have to be hidden all over the place.

  This is true. And it will be easier for us to capture the researchers who want out of the Omni hell, but we’ll hit a wall with those who see the power they hold and have the ambition to compete with us and the Omnis.

  The more Selena learned, the worse it all seemed. She changed the subject. Remember that night you came to my room after Addy’s bachelorette party? How far would it have gone if I hadn’t stopped you?

  You would have been very happy.

  And you?

  As frustrated as I was—as I am.

  Why?

  I can’t complete an intimate encounter while in my astral body. It always rips me back to my body.

  You’ve tried before?

  Of course. Selena could sense his sigh. Our libido was one of the first casualties of the modifications we underwent.

  Why?

  Because those who designed the mods we took architected it that way. I believe they thought our sex drive was a major weakness that our enemies could exploit, so they edited it out of our psyches. Some of the guys who came through the same camps that we did thought it was temporary, that our natural needs would return once we healed. They did not.

  But you could still have sex…

  Yes, but in reality, it was like bingeing on a favorite food might be for a regular…after the first few bites of something delicious, you stop tasting it. Eating it just becomes something you do—habit even. Except for us, we no longer even had the initial pleasure of those first few bites. Sex was just blah, beginning to end.

  But you tried to have it while in your astral state.

  I did. Always with willing partners, I want you to know. I thought that if the act didn’t involve my body, that I could experience pleasure differently. I didn’t.

  Would it be different with me?

  It would be.

  How do you know?

  Because with you, all of my sensation is back…my anticipation, hunger, need. I crave you, Selena—in a way that I haven’t since my modifications and even before them.

  She smiled, wondering what astral sex would be like and if it would make her more—or less—panicky.

  Why would you be panicky? Bastion asked.

  She shut her eyes. Maybe he hadn’t stolen all of her secrets. In this instance, she wished he had, because she wouldn’t have to discuss it. There was a time I wasn’t as strong as I am now.

  I am not so cruel as to put my desires before yours.

  He’d mentioned craving. God, she knew that feeling. She’d had it since he was first near her, when he was stalking them, before he’d ever come inside. Show me, Bastion—show me what would have happened.

  Selena felt his big hand take hers and lead her from her bed. It was odd, in that it was—and wasn’t—a touch. There was a distinct sensation of fingers and palm, and the pull as he tugged at her to stand in front of the long mirror. A thin line of light from the hall leaked from beneath her doorway, enough that she could see her reflection.

  We stood here, a
s I recall, he said.

  Her mouth was suddenly too dry to speak, so she only nodded. Not the mirror. She hated mirrors. He’d been behind her that night, naked. The light was on then.

  That is true, but seeing me so clearly freaked you out, so I have not turned it on tonight.

  That wasn’t what freaked me out.

  What was it the mirror itself?

  Yes, and more. Me, you, other things I didn’t want to share with you. And the realization that what I felt for you flew in the face of everything I knew about reality. I feared for my team—you were so powerful.

  Her hair moved behind one shoulder as he lifted it away. His lips touched her neck in a phantom caress. Mm-hmm. All of which is still the case tonight. Will you banish me again?

  Maybe. I don’t know. Blocking you hurt. I don’t want that pain again.

  A big hand slipped beneath her loose tank top, moving upward, lifting gooseflesh from his whisper-soft touch. She stiffened, dreading the moment when his hands would brush against her scars. Thankfully, he didn’t go higher than her ribs.

  I never sent you pain, he said. I don’t understand how there could have been pain between us, unless it had to do with the Matchmaker’s curse. You cried that night. I sat next to you, but could do nothing to ease your worry. All I could do was bear witness to what you were going through.

  Selena leaned back against him, feeling the solid mass of a physical form that wasn’t there. He moved her hair higher off her neck, kissing the soft skin there. She could feel his beard, his lips. In a way, this was more pleasant than a true physical encounter, as it was ephemeral and ethereal. His ghostlike hand gripped her chin and leaned her face to one side, giving him access to her jaw, which he caught between his teeth in a gentle grazing motion.

  His hands shifted. Catching the hem of her tank top, he lifted it. She blocked him.

  Easy, my love. I know this secret.

  Tears filled her eyes. Bastion.

  I told you that night your scars are what make you you.

  My scars show my weakness.

  He chuckled. She felt the air of it blow against her neck. No. Your scars show your strength. They’re the soldering that keeps the pieces of you together. You will know that one day.