“Shit,” Max said. “This is real.”
“Or is it?” Blade asked. “Maybe this is a mass hallucination he’s imposed on us.”
Bastion nodded. “I could do that too. Such things are child’s play.”
“You said you can move physical things while you’re like this?” Kit asked.
Bastion thought of those terrible moments in the shower with Selena and her box cutter. “I can, but for me it takes extreme concentration. For Flynn, it would be easy. Give me a test.”
Max and Greer looked at each other. Greer whispered something to Bastion. He disappeared, then reappeared in the ops room, grabbed Greer’s favorite pen, and took it into the bunkroom, dropping on the first lower bunk. He reappeared to the group.
“It’s done.”
Greer smiled. “I told him to take my green pen and put it in the bunkroom.”
The group went out of the conference room, down the hall, and into the bunkroom. Blade grabbed the pen and handed it to Greer.
The four men returned to the conference room with a lot less bluster than when Bastion started the session.
Bastion had returned to himself and was sitting up, waiting for them. The guys sat at the table, stunned and so full of questions that they didn’t know where to begin.
“Astral travel is the perfect vehicle for spies,” Kit said.
“Correct. And that is exactly what we were specially programmed to be. Allowing ourselves to be visible to regulars is a danger we’ve long avoided. Opening ourselves to you takes a lot of trust—on both of our parts.”
He looked at the group, now lost in their own thoughts as they amended their sense of reality. It was something regulars clung to as the end all, be all that kept chaos at bay. He regretted having to tell them it was something that had never existed in accordance with their beliefs.
“Let’s do an exercise to get a feel for how sensitive you are to energy,” Bastion said. “It’s important for you to know that your sense of energy is basically dormant and wholly undeveloped”—he looked at Greer—“except for you. But then, you received training from Santo when you were boy.”
Greer nodded. “How did you know?”
“Liege read all of you when he first visited. Santo wasn’t changed at that point, but his instincts were highly developed.” Bastion nodded at Kit. “Come sit on this side of the table. The rest of you, sit opposite him.”
They all took their seats. “Kit, I’m going to give you three orders to give your guys.” Bastion looked at the three. “Each of you will do what Kit orders you, as he orders you.”
Bastion compelled Kit to point to Blade and order him to say his name.
Blade looked at Kit, shaking his head once as if to clear it. He squinted, clearly seeing that Kit was talking to him but unable to hear it.
Bastion then compelled Kit to point to Greer and order him to say his name. Greer heard the order and shouted out his name, but no sound came from his mouth.
Last, Bastion compelled Kit to write an order down on paper and pass it over to Max. Max took the pad of paper, but just set it down, awaiting his own order; he’d lost his eyesight and needed an audible instruction.
Bastion removed those energetic blocks and smiled at the team’s confused faces. “You, Blade, couldn’t hear the order. You, Greer, couldn’t speak in response to it. And you, Max, couldn’t see the order.”
Kit chuckled. “My three monkeys—couldn’t hear, speak, or see evil.”
“This is what you’ll be up against when you confront a modified Omni. It’s why I suggested you get out of the battle side of the fight and get into the support side of it.”
“Or take the mods,” Max said.
Bastion felt wrecked. He shook his head. “My brother—my best friend—followed me into the program. Neither of us knew what we were getting into. He didn’t survive the changes forced on him. It is dangerous to be modified.”
Max pushed his chair back violently and prowled around the room. “I have no one but Hope. No family. No children. Only my wife.” He looked at Bastion. “I’m healthy, strong, mentally stable.” Greer snorted, which Max ignored. “I’m a good candidate.”
“All of you here are good candidates,” Bastion said. “But what happens to your body is major. My brother was as healthy as I was at the time, and he didn’t make it through.” He stared at Max a long moment. “If this is something you’re open to, and if your wife is on board, then let’s talk to the Ratcliffs. Their knowledge is better than mine. And they’d likely be the ones doing the procedure.”
Max nodded. “I don’t see a way around it. How can we contribute when we’re up against mutants like you?”
“We’ll talk to the Ratcliffs when they get to the fort,” Kit said. “For now, our focus isn’t on the mutant Omnis but the chimeras they’ve created—and on helping Eddie get her dogs up to speed.”
After lunch, the women and children gathered in the gym. The kids were boisterous, excited for whatever the security lesson would bring. The women were tense.
Bastion looked at Guerre, hating with a passion that he was going to have to scare them. “How do we do this? I don’t even know where to begin. I don’t want to do this. We’re supposed to protect regulars like these, not expose them to our reality.”
“These aren’t normal regulars, Bastion,” Guerre said. “These are the families of warriors. They know what their husbands do. They know the risks they face. Even the wild ones, maybe especially them, come from a side of life most humans could never understand. They are all strong enough for this.”
“No one is strong enough for this.”
“We do what we have to do,” Guerre said. “You will find the strength for it, because what we’re about to do will save their lives.”
Bastion bowed his head and shut his eyes, trying to center himself. A slim, warm hand slipped into his. He looked up to see Selena standing next to him. I think I’m having a panic attack, he told her. Doing this goes against everything I stand for.
She nodded. That’s why I came over. Rocco and Kit will open this session and set the stage. They know the kids—they’ll break it to them in a way that is not terrible.
Please, have the pregnant women sit off to the side. I don’t want them to faint.
On it. Selena went over and took Ivy and Mandy to the stadium seating. Both already looked terrified. He was glad that Selena sat between them and gripped their hands.
Calm yourself, Liege said, speaking via their telepathic link as he was monitoring the exercise from the fort in Colorado.
I’m going to vomit, Bastion answered.
It is what must be done. Better they experience this now among friendlies than during the heat of the moment. Keep it light, make it a challenge.
Merde, alors. Liege, these are monsters coming for them, not a doughy purple dinosaur with a perpetual giggle.
They will take their energy and response from you. Lead them.
Kit came up to Bastion and Guerre. “Before we begin, can we somehow contain this information in their minds so that they can discuss it freely here but nowhere else? I want them to be able to talk about this and remember these lessons, but I don’t want it slipping out in public.”
Guerre nodded. “We will impose that constraint.”
Kit held up his hands, getting the room to form a circle and be quiet. “You guys all know we’ve been working with a team like ours from Colorado. And you know that Troy and Augie’s granddad is an altered human. I’m sure you’ve noticed that he looks as young as their dad. You also probably know that your teacher’s parents, the Ratcliffs, are altered humans. You also know that we’ve been trying to deal with an anarchist group called the Omnis for a long time. What you don’t know is that the Omnis have begun making other kinds of beings.”
“What do you mean by ‘beings,’ Dad?” Casey asked.
“These are things that didn’t make it through the modification process as expected. Whether that’s intentional, we don�
�t know. But the long and short of it is that the Omnis are creating…well…monsters.”
Some of the younger pride boys moved closer to their brothers, some reaching for each other’s hands. This was wrong on so many levels. He wanted to scoop all these civilians up and force them to go to the fort, where they would be safe and protected and would never need to know the ugly side of mutant life.
“Bastion, would you please show the group an example of what I’m talking about?” Kit requested.
“I cannot.”
Bastion, it is for their own safety, Selena said.
It will fucking shred their young minds. He slapped a hand on Guerre’s chest. You will not show the ghouls either. But I have an idea. Follow my lead.
“Let’s make a game of this, oui? I have seen you play. You’re favorite monster at the moment is a thing you call the wendigo. For our purposes, that will do nicely. In this game, let’s say the wendigo is trying to catch you and eat you. There are ways you can escape him. Both involve getting down to the bunker. I know you’ve run drills here practicing that, so for our game today, let’s say that blue tumbling pad to your right is the elevator that leads downstairs. And that one to your left is the access in the den. All of you are familiar with both of those, oui?”
Everyone indicated they knew the drill.
“Ladies, Jim and Russ, this exercise applies to you as well. When Guerre whistles, you lead as many of the kids as you can round up to one access point or another. All of you need to end up on one of the blue pads.”
“Lion, come forward,” Guerre said, taking over the exercise, as he was fully tuned in to what Bastion had in mind via their mental link. “You are going to represent the wendigo.” Guerre looked around Lion at the kids. “I am going to give him a mask that will make him look like the monster you want to run from. Lion, they will see you as a monster. Roar and make terrible noises as you chase them to one pad or the other.”
Lion nodded. Guerre changed Lion’s appearance so that from the shoulders up, he looked like a ghoul. But his arms and body were just his regular self, mitigating the impact. He slowly turned to face the group. The kids screamed in delighted terror. Guerre whistled.
The chase was on.
Lion often played with the wild boys, so this game was something familiar to them, although prior to this, they’d all had to imagine what a horrible wendigo looked like. Lion shouted. Women and children ran, bunching together on the different pads, laughing and trembling.
When Lion turned around, there was only one boy left on the court. The littlest wild boy of all, he was crouched in a small ball, his head tucked down near his knees. Kids from both pads shouted for him to come to them, but the boy was frozen in terror as Lion stomped closer and closer.
Bastion choked on a broken breath. This play was all too close to the reality of what might happen. He made the boy invisible—no one on the pads could see him. Lion had to look around, wondering where he went.
When the wendigo failed to get him, the little boy ventured a look up. Bastion nodded and smiled at him. “No one can see you. I’ve hidden you. You will be safe if you can get to one of the pads.”
The boy slowly stood up, never taking his eyes off Lion. The boys had stopped calling him over—they didn’t know where he’d gone. The boy took a step, then another and another, until he ran to the pad that represented the den. As soon as he stepped on it, Bastion allowed him to be seen again.
Everyone on both pads laughed and clapped, and the ones near the boy slapped him on the back.
Guerre removed the mask from Lion. “Very good. Well done, all of you. Now let’s go over what happened.”
“They need battle buddies,” Rocco said. “Every one of them needs to be responsible for a friend.”
“Good call,” Kit agreed. “We can’t have anyone left behind.”
Bastion looked over at Selena, who was still holding the women’s hands in a white-knuckled grip. She nodded. He nodded back. This had been a good exercise. If all went well when—and if—the ghouls came, the kids would get to their safe spots without ever setting eyes on the ghouls.
This was all right. It was going to be okay.
The big blue gates swung open as Acier returned to the fort with Jax and the Ratcliffs. Bastion and Guerre were up at the Red Team’s headquarters in Wyoming. Only Liege and Summer were there to greet them.
Acier brought them across the open courtyard and straight into the long living room. He could feel anxiety rolling off Jax and the researchers. Liege was genuinely excited, and Summer was happy to meet anyone living so deep in Liege’s world. The two of them made a good pair. Summer was chatty with the newcomers, giving Liege a chance to read both of them.
He seemed pleased with what he discovered. “We’ve been looking for researchers like you for years now, ever since we left the training camps. I’m glad you’re here. I hope you’ll make the fort your home, at least for a while. We have a lot of ground to cover.”
The Ratcliffs checked with Jax, who’d been responsible for their safety for several months. He nodded at them. “It’s up to you. Owen feels you’ll be safe here. And given the nature of this new threat we’re up against, I think it’s a good place to set up a war room and centralize our efforts.”
Joyce looked at Nathan. “It would be nice to not have to bounce from safe house to safe house.”
Nathan nodded. “We could get back to work.”
“Why don’t we go see the facilities they’ve put together here,” Jax said, “see if there’s anything else you may need?”
“Good idea,” Liege said. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll give you the tour.”
Summer waved them off. “I’m staying here. I’ll have dinner ready when you’re done. I’m sure you must be starving!”
38
Selena was curled against Bastion’s side, warming her body and her heart. They’d had a few amazing rounds of sex tonight, then they’d played the “if you were” game he’d made up with that note he’d given her.
Now he slept deeply, peacefully, but she was up, worrying.
Acier had successfully brought the Ratcliffs back to the fort, so Selena knew they were out of Flynn’s reach, which meant there was nothing keeping him from coming for her. And soon.
Bastion, Acier said, come talk to us.
Selena heard that summons through the mental link she shared with Bastion. He woke fast. They scrambled into clothes and hurried down to room Acier and Guerre shared.
“Do you feel it?” Acier asked. “The air is thick tonight.”
Bastion nodded. He looked at her with sad eyes and pulled her close. “But then, I’ve been feeling this coming for weeks.”
“Let’s bring Owen in,” Guerre said. “Tell him what we’re sensing. Have him call a drill for the civilians so they get down to the bunker.”
“There’s a lot of them to coordinate,” Acier said.
Selena was relieved that she wasn’t alone in sensing something screaming toward them. At worst, the attack they’d been prepping for would happen tonight. At best, nothing would happen except a successful drill, and people would be tired in the morning.
It was a good call to make.
Bastion sent Owen a compulsion to join them. He knocked on their door a moment later, then entered, hair tousled, barefoot and shirtless, wearing only his flannel pajama bottoms.
Owen glared at them. “What?” he asked.
“We think it’s time,” Bastion said.
Owen frowned, then tilted his head as he slowly came awake. “Shit.” He rubbed his face. “I keep hoping that all of this goes away, but every time I wake up, it’s worse.”
“Such is the truth right now,” Guerre said. “Flynn and his ghouls are coming.”
Owen was instantly awake. “How much time do we have?”
“Minutes. Or hours. We don’t know,” Acier said.
“Right,” Owen said. “So we execute the plan. Acier, go get Russ and Jim. Guerre, you man the bunker
entrance in the den. Bastion, you’ve got the elevator. Kit and I will rouse the rest of the household. Once the civilians are safe, we’ll take up our assigned positions.”
Bastion and Selena hurried back to her room. He went to the closet and came out a minute later, wearing his tunics and leather pants, then sat down to tie his boots. He stood and slid his sai weapons into his belt, two in the back, one in the front.
Selena was donning her own battle gear. He paused to watch her dress. She saw the worry in his eyes. This was it, the night that had been giving him nightmares for weeks. The thought filled her with dread.
“Selena.”
She went over to him and held his hips, careful to avoid the sai.
He kissed her. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
He put his hands on her face. She committed to memory everything about him. His dark, soulful eyes. His big, poufy hair. His beard, which she now loved.
He ran his fingertips over her cheeks. “I need to ask something of you.”
“Anything.”
“I need you to stay in the bunker with the civilians.”
“Anything but that. I’m not a civilian.”
“Flynn and his ghouls are coming for you.”
“All the more reason I should be in the fight. I can’t let you and everyone else put your lives on the line while I hide.”
“You are an accomplished fighter, as is your entire team. Guerre, Acier, and I should be able to handle this without your team coming near the ghouls. I’m not worried about them. And I wouldn’t be worried about you if it were just ghouls.” That was a lie and she knew it. “I am worried about Flynn. He’s a sneaky bastard. He’ll be using tonight to get to you.” He took a deep breath. “Don’t die for glory when you could live for love.”
“This is what you’ve been fearing, isn’t it?”
He nodded.
“Then I’ll stay in the bunker with Greer and the civilians.”
He pulled her into a tight hug. “Thank you.”
Bastion: O-Men: Liege’s Legion Page 35
