She was the one who persuaded Vash to come here, and this is the deal she might have to make to make sure everything goes according to plan.
The plan. Right. The alphas will not enjoy the next part of her plan.
She calms herself. It takes a good ten minutes to get ready for the outside, but when she feels her heart slow, she faces the commander and nods. “Okay. It’s an agreement. I get Esternbrock no matter what. If I die, it goes to the alphas. But if I live, you get the children. And you get me, too.”
“That wasn’t the agreement,” he says.
“But it’s the only one I’m willing to make,” she says.
Her heart turns to stone. Assuming a handshake is in order, the commander holds out his hand. Instead, she pulls him in for a hug. Behind his back, she slides her finger through his back pocket.
The commander stiffens but does not seem to feel any peculiar sensation. “Whatever you do, don’t die out there,” he says.
After they break away, the commander orders his men to free the alphas.
She feigns a look of confidence as he walks away, appearing pleased with the results. He might think he won, but she still has the upper hand.
They release Vash and Killian with their weapons. The alphas pick up the children. They appear morose, and Ruby can’t stop thinking about the deal she has made. She has to keep moving.
She hides her sadness with a lucid outward confidence. “We have access to the region. Let’s go,” she says.
They exit into a cloudy sunrise. A mist hangs in the sky, a remnant of the ruined world. Carabaro was lucky to survive the fallout, but they’ll never see a clear summer sky again.
“We’re free? What did you tell them?” Killian asks.
Vash eyes her.
Ruby tells them half the truth. “I told him I would marry him,” she says.
Vash jumps in front of her. “For what?”
She walks around him. “Because I knew he’d give me what I needed,” she says.
Killian groans. “We should have followed Lucas. This was a bad idea trusting her.”
“Lucas is on his way to the Iron Eye. It’s a death trap. We had no other choice but to keep moving,” Vash says.
Ruby stays silent.
“The options should have been discussed,” Killian growls.
For a while, they walk. Ruby knows what to do, but she wants to see the city. A long brick walkway takes them to an old market. Though it’s daylight, the stalls are closed. The city has boarded up most of the homes. The alphas that walk through the streets keep their heads fixed at the ground.
It’s quiet.
“It’s different from what I remember,” Ruby mutters to herself.
Vash glances ahead at the end of the road. A large cemetery rests past a gate. “I came to see my father’s grave,” he says.
Killian stays with Ruby. She watches him enter the gates. He will find nothing, she thinks. But a part of her understands the need to connect to his history. It’s the one thing he can understand.
Vash stops at a plot she cannot see. He kneels and lets out an angered howl. Standing with soil falling from his palms, he shouts, “It’s gone. Someone took the grave.”
“What did you expect to find? The dead offer no clarity,” Killian says. “We’d be wise to keep moving.”
Vash drops the soil. “You’re right.”
“So let’s go,” Ruby says.
Vash turns his attention to her. He looks like he has just given up his hope. “I came here because of you,” he says. “What did you need to get here?”
Ruby bears the weight of their disdain. “This,” she says, throwing a keycard on the ground.
Vash bends to grab it. It’s blank. “What is it?” he asks.
“It’s our ticket to the Iron Eye, so we can find my sister and end this once and for all,” she says.
Vash scoffs. “So we’re doing exactly what Lucas said to do.”
“I thought you said the Iron Eye is a myth,” Killian mutters.
Ruby nods. “I lied. But I only did it because I had to find a way in first, and now I’ve figured it out,” she says. “And before you both go on about not trusting me, I want you to get one thing straight. I put my life on the line to for this. I agreed to marry that alpha so you could have your moment with her.”
“Moment,” Holger growls. “Is that all we get?”
Vash holds the keycard. “Where does this get us inside?”
She points toward a section of military warehouses on the peripheral. A watchtower rises near the center. “A facility,” she says.
“It’ll be full of guards,” Killian says.
“Then don’t be clumsy,” she says, running over to a fence.
“Dammit,” Vash curses and hops the fence with her.
They lie low and hurry toward a large hanger. Ruby takes a deep breath and smiles, exhilarated. She presses the keycard to the door, and the green light gives the go-ahead.
Quiet, they slip inside the hanger. No one else is inside. Ruby runs over to a cabinet and searches, throwing open every drawer she can find.
“Nothing,” she whispers.
She walks to the back. There’s a large battery-like device in a glass case. “There,” she says.
“What is it?” Holger asks.
“A neut,” she says.
“A what?”
“Energy neutralizer. They use it in combat all the time. The problem is they take forever to run,” she says, analyzing how best to carry it. “We’ll bring it to the Iron Eye and wait for it to destabilize the particle accelerator.”
“So that’s what the Iron Eye is? A particle accelerator?” Killian asks.
“That and more,” she says.
As she removes the battery from the glass, she feels a sudden weakness flow through her like wind. Inhaling, she remains poised, but on the inside, she knows something is wrong. Her leg is numb.
She takes the battery and brings it to her chest. “And this is our ticket in,” she whispers.
“It’s at least a twelve hour drive,” Vash says. “There’s no point going on foot. Ask your husband, the commander, for a car. I’m sure he’d be happy to oblige.”
Ruby frowns. “Our negotiation was nothin more than an opportunity to win against me,” she says. “He doesn’t care either way if I come back. Look at this place. He’s given up hope.”
Ruby walks out of the hanger and a nearby runway with three planes. “We’ll fly there,” she announces.
Killian laughs. “You know how to fly a plane?”
“Three years in the sky. Two on ground. I’ve fought everywhere on the planet,” she says.
To avoid detection, they crawl through the grass.
Ruby inhales the scent of nearby gasoline, and she remembers the wars she fought. The honor the public felt rewarded her with felt nice, and seeing the plane before her brings it all back.
“It’s home,” she whispers to herself.
She stares for a moment. This is her final chance to do something real.
It’s overwhelming. The thought drains her remaining energy.
She falters. For a second, everything in her peripheral drifts. She drops to the floor, but repositions and leans on one leg.
Stunned, her heart flashes. “Home,” she repeats, blinking to gain her clarity back.
“Your leg... What happened?” Killian asks.
Ruby looks at her leg, stunned. She feels weak. With shallow breath, she stumbles but regains her step. “I must have hurt it on boat,” she says.
Adrenaline courses through her veins, solidifying in cold fear. What is happening to me?
Vash eyes her. “We should go,” he says. “If we have the key to shutting down the accelerator, Lucas will need the help. It’s about time I settle the score with him.”
Killian nods and keeps the children together. “The pack needs to converge.”
Flushed, Ruby nods and gets into the plane with the others at her tail. She starts the systems and rolls th
e vehicle onto the runway.
Every time her heart beats, the world whisks away.
“Systems ready,” she says.
Her palms sweat as she increases speed. The sound of the engines roars against her eardrums. On the runway, an alarm blares, and lights shine around them. They’re caught, but she can get them out of this.
“Increasing speed,” she mutters to herself. “Come on...”
A loudspeaker echoes: “Stop!”
“Let’s go!” Vash cries, holding the frightened children.
They take off into the air. They rise above the toxic haze of the world below, treading into blue skies.
That’s when Ruby feels it. Her blood pressure drops, and she fades like a fallen leaf. Her vision distorts until everything disappears. She lets go of the wheel.
What’s… happening…?
She feels the engines putter out. They’re going down.
Rae
It doesn’t matter how detailed someone gets with a copy. Nothing in the known universe is the same. A fragment of difference makes something real.
The baby floating in her hands, her children—are they real?
She is doomed to a life of pain and punishment. The whole planet is sick, and she will be the one to destroy it.
Was this worth living for? Worth finding love? Was it worth having three children she never mothered?
Yes. No question. She wouldn’t have done anything different, except maybe fight harder for them. Because of their bond, she still has a purpose. She believes she can override extinction gene.
There has to be a way.
With the glowing tank baby in her hands, she climbs the ladder into a dark city below the network of caves. Below the home of the fragile devil.
There are tubes everywhere, wires so big they resemble resting snakes. Crude homes made from flimsy metal sheets line the road. Nearby, a pile of bodies, stacked. She can’t be sure anyone is still alive.
Someone did this. Someone is here and watching her.
There’s nowhere to run, so she walks forward.
She hears a noise; feet, running across a flat pavement. Rae stops in alarm. The sound circles around her. A girl’s laughter follows until both disappear.
Rae’s chest rises with a fearful breath. Deathly alarm chills her blood. Forced to continue, she narrows her vision and counts each step, occupying her mind as she taught herself to do years ago.
She walks under a tall ceiling made of stone. Excess drainage spills from small hollow reservoirs above, creating a damp atmosphere where strange mold grows and bugs collect to gather and stew for morsels of excess.
Rainwater collects inside large barrels. They’re filled to the brim.
Suddenly, one next to her tips. Dodging the barrel, Rae falls onto the ground as insects and small winged creatures of all kinds scatter over her body, toward safety in the cracks and crevices of the small city.
Trying to get away from them, Rae flings the last stragglers and rolls out of the water. “Ugh!”
Her voice echoes across the empty city.
“Great. I’m soaked,” she whispers.
She sees a set of eyes staring from one building. A body comes from the shadows. An omega, young. She exhibits no markings or characteristics of a clone.
She holds a blade.
“You—why are you following me?” Rae asks.
“I didn’t kill them,” she says, dropping the blade. “When I came in, they were already dead. I found this on the ground.”
Rae takes a step back, keeping the baby out of harm’s way. Though the omega is young, her stare is dead cold.
“You’re an omega. How are you alive?” Rae asks. “We’re supposed to be extinct.”
“I could ask you the same question,” the young omega says.
Rae fights the temptation to run as the omega walks toward her. “What is this place?” Rae asks.
The omega laughs. “You mean you don’t know? You’re beneath the Iron Eye,” she says.
“The Iron-what?”
“An abandoned particle accelerator,” she says. “Left over design from the first Republic. This is what caused the first detonation. Now, it kinda has a mind of its own. No one can get in or out.”
“But you did,” Rae says.
“I got in, sure. But I’m not sure I can get out. One thing’s for sure, I can’t get us both out,” she says. “Look at it spinning. It’ll tear us to pieces.”
She points to a bend in the path. In the center of the city, a giant, round device rises out of the walls, poking through a large crack in the ceiling It shouldn’t be working, but someone has fixed it.
As it spins, a vibrant hum resounds. It’s the same hum that Rae heard upstairs.
A deep red emanates from the center. It speeds up and slows without a distinguishable pattern to guide them.
“Maybe it’ll send us to another dimension,” Rae says. “Maybe it’ll send us back in time.”
That would be nice.
“Maybe.”
Rae’s body freezes. “We’re stuck here.”
“Unless we can find another way out,” she says.
“Cassian… what was he testing?” Rae asks aloud.
The omega cocks her head. “Who?”
Rae relaxes, revealing the baby in the tank. “Someone I once knew,” she says, reflecting. “I’m looking for my alphas. I… have little time.”
Upon sight of the baby, the omega startles. However, her curiosity gets the best of her. “What… is… that?”
“It’s me. Well, it’s a new version of me,” she says.
The omega walks over to her, kneeling to see the baby in the tank. “You’re right. It looks just like you,” she whispers, comparing the sight of the two. “You’re a clone. Now, I see it.”
Rae nods. “Born to breed in an offshore facility,” she reflects. “I think I’m going to die here.”
Tank baby’s light dims. “Is it true?” the omega asks. “The extinction gene… is it like they said?”
“What did they say?” Rae asks, eyes creasing.
“Rae, right? They said you were born broken,” she says.
“You know who I am?” Rae whispers.
“You’re the first successful clone. Everyone knows who you are,” she says. “You’re a bio-weapon. I’m sure of it.”
Rae stands and pulls the tank back into her arms. She walks the paved path again. “How can anyone prove the extinction gene exists?”
The omega follows her, tailing her lead. “Is that why you killed him? Because you believed the gene is a myth?”
Rae slows, and the omega catches up to her side. “Is that why you took a rock to his head? Smashed his brains out…?”
“Why are you here?” Rae asks, horrified.
“The same reason you are,” she says. “To stay alive. I hid before the detonation. I did what I had to do. Just like you. We’re omegas. Alphas hunt, but we survive.”
“Until I explode,” Rae says.
“Until you explode. Then no one survives.”
Hurt, Rae looks at the particle accelerator one more time. “How did you trick the system and avoid splitting apart?”
The young omega shrugs. “The detonation exploded. I fell in and woke up on the ground. The bomb must have disrupted the thing’s power or something,” she says. “That’s right before I found the bodies.”
Rae traces the path of the giant wires leading to the accelerator. She turns back around and follows it. “Then we need to find what’s powering this thing,” she says.
And then Rae remembers what the fragile devil told her. There’s an energy source. It’s how they powered the synthesis tanks.
“Come with me,” she says.
Following the cables to the other side of the city, she reaches a shaft. She drops to a lower level. The entire room is filled with clones in cryostasis units. Thousands of them, as far as the eye can see.
She doesn’t dare look inside the actual units, lest she see ident
ical versions of herself again.
“My God,” she whispers.
Rae freezes and looks up with caution at the young omega. “Don’t come inside here,” she says.
The girl drops, and they’re both as still as a windless sea. “They were harvesting the omegas,” she says.
Rae grabs her shoulder and forces her to turn away. “We don’t need to talk about it.”
“Everyone knows about it,” she says.
“We need to turn them off,” Rae says.
“You’ll kill them,” the young omega says.
Rae drops back. Her chest rises as the lights from the cryo units shine.
Finding her courage, she walks up to a central control unit and gazes at the levels of those inside. The vitals illuminate. “Their brain activity is limited. There’s no telling if they’ll wake up normal. They must be the energy that powers this place.”
“Maybe, but you don’t know that,” the young omega says.
The omega is right. Turning off the units would be unconscionable. Rae can’t justify killing them.
She turns. “There’s another exit,” she says. “Something we’ve missed…”
“There isn’t,” the omega says. “I’ve checked for days. This is the only way.”
Rae climbs the steps back up to the city level. “Come. There’s an exploit somewhere,” she says. “Something will get us out of here without exploding.”
The omega follows. “Who was Cassian?” she asks.
“A monster,” Rae answers.
“There’s lots of those,” she says.
“Yeah,” Rae says, as she climbs back onto the pavement. She eyes the ladder up to the upper layer, knowing that she will have to return. “But not for long.”
Vash
“She’s not opening her eyes. Ruby? Ruby!” Vash screams and takes over co-pilot.
He puts his weight into pulling the throttle back. The pressure is too much to fight against. The plane rocks as they hit a set of dark clouds. “I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing,” he mutters.
Ruby wakes up, face drained of color.
“Care to jump in, miss soldier?” Vash asks.
Ruby coughs and grabs onto the wheel. “I’m fine,” she says. “Taking the vehicle into hyper-drive.”
Broken Angel: The Complete Collection: A Dark Omegaverse Romance Page 40
