“And how did you come by that knowledge I wonder, hmmm?” he said, lifting a lofty eyebrow in her direction.
Epone paled, wondering if everything that had happened was of the wizard’s design. Then she shook her head frantically. “You are trying to get in my head, to confuse me,” she said.
The wizard looked steadily at Zorica. “Am I though?” he asked, his voice soft, thoughtful and ominous.
∞
AX flopped onto the bed next to Jordan, eyes on the ceiling. He sighed loud and deep, hands tucked in behind his head.
“Something on your mind?” Jordan asked, not looking up from the book he was reading.
“Just thinking about Uzochi and his sacrifice, you know...that was quite something that he did.”
“He believed it was his destiny,” Jordan said.
AX turned his head to study Jordan’s profile. “Are you saying that it wasn’t?”
Jordan shrugged. “I don’t believe in destiny.”
AX’s eyes returned to the ceiling, eyes on an inexplicable stain shaped like an amoeba. He wondered how it had gotten there. Leakage from outside? “I just feel that I would like to do something to honor him,” he said.
“Then you absolutely should.”
“I shall organize a wake for him,” AX said.
Jordan looked up from his book, at last, peering at AX’s eyes to check their color. “Is this you talking or Matthias?” he asked.
AX favored him with a bitch face. “It is I, AX-8721 who speaks,” he snapped, sitting up. “I think sometimes you do not take me seriously as an intelligent life form.”
Jordan put his book down and sat up as well. “Why would you think that?”
“Because you assume that I would not wish to do something nice for Uzochi. Why is that? Because you don’t think I have feelings.”
Jordan laughed. “AX, clearly you have feelings. You get upset, excited, curious...I just...I didn’t know you and Uzochi were that close.”
“He was a teammate.”
“Indeed he was, and you are right. We should honor him. What were you thinking of doing?”
AX narrowed his eyes, recognizing the attempt to change the subject but letting it slide. “I thought we could gather in the starboard meeting room, and hold a wake for him before releasing him to the universe.”
“That’s a great idea. We should tell the captain.”
AX stared at him, blue eyes glowing. “I care about things, you know?” he said.
Jordan nodded. “I know.”
“I care about you,” AX continued with emphasis.
“I know,” Jordan replied.
“I too care about you.” AX’s blue glowing eyes disappeared and were replaced by Mathias’ soft brown ones.
“I know,” Jordan said and leaned toward the hybrid, softly touching his lips to theirs. A gentle touch became a raving hunger, and soon they were licking, sucking and biting, tossing each other about on the bed as they tried to get closer, clothes flung off with abandon.
“Want you,” Jordan said, before plunging down, sticking his tongue in the USB port at the back of the hybrid’s neck and eliciting a wail of reaction, literal sparks flying from Matthias/AX’s hair, making it stand on end.
The hybrid grabbed him, throwing him down on the bed, tongue plunging back into his mouth, reaffirming life in the wake of death.
∞
Cain stepped quietly into the holding cell, his eyes on Eshugurin the Wizard.
“They are letting you run around unsupervised I see,” the wizard said.
“You and the dead Seer have them a bit distracted,” Cain said with a grin.
Eshugurin sighed. “What do you want, Cain?”
“You know what I want. And you will give it to me. Why do you think I answered the summons of your savant?”
“Answered? You coerced her into summoning you.”
“Semantics. Now, where is it?” The wizard stayed silent. “You are outmatched here. They have destroyed your soul - the source of your power. Even if they do not kill you, you will die soon enough. So what’s the harm in telling me?”
Eshugurin merely snorted.
Cain sighed. “Fine. What if I get you out? Will you tell me then?”
The wizard lifted his head. “I do not care for your methods, demon. Now go away before I exorcize thee.”
“You would rather take your chances with them?” Cain asked, incredulously.
The wizard laughed. “My chances? Hardly that. My plan proceeds like clockwork. Whether they have me in this cell or I am free, the wheels are set in motion.”
“Very well then. I will find it on my own. Good luck to you and your machinations, old friend.”
Eshugurin the Wizard merely turned away as Cain left. He turned his head to the corner where a shadow had been growing the entire time he’d been speaking to Cain.
“Seer. Show yourself,” the wizard said.
“What did he mean by that? What did he want?”
“You come back all the way from beyond the grave to ask me that?” Eshugurin laughed.
“I come to make sure the job is done.”
“Ah, you would kill me then? Destroying my soul was not enough?”
“I must protect my people.”
“Seventeen hundred tribes and species in the galaxy. Sixteen hundred under the thumb of the Federation. And you worry about one.”
Uzochi stayed silent.
“I will make a bargain with you, oh Seer. I will spare your people, but you must leave me to my plans. Now.”
“Your blood bond then,” Uzochi said.
The wizard leaned down, bit into his own hand with his teeth and let the blood flow.
“By the blood that gives me life I vow, no harm shall come to Brekson or its people.”
Uzochi nodded, his shadow fading away slowly until there was nothing left in the corner but dust mites. The wizard took a breath, head once again bowed. It would not be long now before the dominoes began to fall. He had to preserve his strength so that he would be ready. Everything was precision timing and there was none to be wasted.
∞
Zorica and AX collided at the door of the captain’s quarters.
“What are you doing here?” Zorica asked.
“I could ask you the same question,” AX replied.
“I need to speak to the captain, it’s urgent,” Zorica said.
“Yeah, I need to speak to the captain too,” AX said.
“Well...come back later,” Zorica said.
“You come back later,” AX retorted.
They were gearing to get into a full blown argument when Jaime showed up behind them. “Children,” he said pleasantly, hands clasped behind his back. “Can I help you with something?”
“I need to talk to you,” Zorica said.
“I need to discuss something with you,” AX said at the same time.
Jaime looked from one to the other in bemusement. “Is what you need to discuss of a personal nature?” he asked.
“Yes,” they both said.
Jaime took a deep breath and closed his eyes, then opened them. “Fine, Zorica first and then AX,” he said, stepping into his office.
AX opened his mouth to protest but Jaime lifted a quelling hand, stepping aside to usher Zorica into his office. He closed the door, gently, in AX’s face and gestured for Zorica to sit.
“We have a really huge problem,” Zorica said.
“Tell me,” Jaime said, taking the seat at her side instead of across from her.
Zorica explained about the wizard’s uncanny resemblance to her, and what he had said about them all being dead soon. Jaime listened without interrupting and then sat thoughtfully, mulling over her words.
“I don’t suppose he hinted as to why he thought we’d all kick the bucket soon,” he asked.
“No. But I think it should have something to do with the contagion, don’t you?”
<
br /> “I don’t really want to assume. I will ask Ash to step up her research. Meanwhile, we need to set up an interrogation room and really get to work. I can ask Ash to run DNA so we can rule out any familial ties you might have.”
“DNA, yes, that’s a good idea. Thank you.”
“Good, so you, Epone and AX should get started on building something suitable,” Jaime said.
“Yes of course, after his talk with you,” Zorica reminded him. Jaime nodded.
“Yes, please send him in on your way out. Unless there’s anything else you need to tell me?”
Zorica shook her head slowly.
“Okay then.”
Zorica stood up and walked out, ushering AX in as she left.
“I want to have a wake for Uzochi,” AX said before he’d even closed the door behind him.
Jaime raised an eyebrow. “Don’t we all?”
“Yes, but I would like to organize it with your permission.”
Jaime stared at him in surprise. “Okay,” he said. “But first, you need to help Epone and Zorica build a secure interrogation area for the prisoner. It is urgent that we find out what he’s planning.”
AX nodded. “Understood.”
“Good. I am available to help with any and all plans regarding Uzochi that you may have,” Jaime said.
“Thanks. I’ll go help the girls now.” AX stood up, moving to the door where he paused. “You won’t regret letting me do this,” he said.
“I know I won’t,” Jaime replied.
∞
Ash examined a holographic rendition of the virus, as it swirled around in front of her in all its three-dimensional glory. It resembled nothing so much as an amoeba, testing out the environment it was in to see if it was suitable for survival. It reproduced like amoeba too, splitting itself in two at terrifying speed.
It accounted for the rapid deterioration of the patient. Just an hour past his revival, the patient - whose name tag said Alfionso DeSouza - was back to foaming at the mouth, bleeding from the eyes, and swollen over with black veins.
He was still lucid, and terrified, so Ash had resorted to sedating him in order to stem his panic. She took a sample of Zorica’s blood and added it to the Petri dish. Immediately, she could see a slowdown in the replication. Even more interesting than that was the mutation occurring to the virus. It seemed to be responding to the presence of Zorica’s blood as if it was a rival species to be fought. The cells were literally locked in battle as Ash watched, fascinated. She took a sample of her own blood and added it to a second Petri dish. The difference in reaction was obvious. Her blood merely fed the virus, strengthening it, while Zorica’s fought it, slowing down its growth and beating it down.
“Interesting,” Ash murmured and then frowned when she heard a knock on her laboratory door.
“Come in,” she called and Jaime stepped in. Her heartbeat inexplicably picked up at the sight of the tall, unruly-haired captain. He looked frazzled like he had spent the time since he left her, putting out fires. Ash’s hand tingled with the desire to reach out and ran a soothing hand down his cheek. She shook her head as if that would get rid of her fantasies and faced Jaime with a professional mien.
“What can I do for you, captain?” she asked.
“We have a problem,” he said.
“Another one?”
“Yes. The wizard.” He stopped looking like he couldn’t find the right words.
“What about him?”
“He’s…” Jaime opened and closed his mouth like a landed fish, and Ash began to get seriously concerned.
“Has he escaped? Or is he dead?” she asked.
Jaime shook his head. “None of that. It’s just that...he’s some sort of doppelganger...of Zorica’s.”
Ash frowned, not really understanding what Jaime was trying to say. “You mean…?”
“I mean they look exactly alike. We need you to carry out some tests and find out just how deep the resemblance goes.”
Ash gawped at him, her mind-boggling at this news even as it lit her up with excitement. She adored mysteries and puzzles, especially when called upon to solve them.
“All right. But we need to get him out of the cage.”
“AX and the girls are setting up somewhere suitable,” Jaime said.
“I will be ready.”
Chapter Thirty-One: Revelations
AX, Jordan, Epone, and Zorica stood around the supplementary lab, simply looking, trying to visualize the best way to make it an effective interrogation room. The bulbous brightness of the incandescent lights bounced off the white walls and created an almost luminescent feel to everything. The circular space was stark, empty but for the bariatric bed nailed to the floor in the middle of the room, surrounded by a computer capsule designed to capture the most minuscule change in the structural or functional organization of any body lying on the bed. The blue-tinged walls of the capsule provided the only color in the room.
“Where do we start?” AX inquired of Epone.
“Well first, we need to make a decision on shackles. Are we content to just handcuff him to the bed or shall we fix shackles on the floor?” Epone asked.
“Also magically, are we thinking steel or iron to hold him?” Zorica chimed in.
“Iron is a stronger magic repressant. Let’s get the spells and sigils done while AX and Jordan fashion those shackles. We will anchor them magically as well as manually to the floor,” Epone concluded.
They got to work and, with their combined skills, it did not take them long to form a psychic as well as physical space that would hold the wizard yet give them unrestricted access to him. They called Ash in, who set up her equipment and then stood ready for them to bring the wizard in.
Jaime and Jordan went to retrieve him from his holding cell, covering his head with a black cloth, and cuffing him at the wrist and ankles with magical chains which they then shackled around their own wrists. They led him to the interrogation room, tense, ready for any attempt to flee, but Eshugurin the Wizard simply followed them docilely. He got on the bed in the interrogation room without being asked as they removed his blindfold and held his hands out to be bound.
Ash fixed electrodes to his forehead, the pulse on his neck as well as his wrists, and then on every pressure point in his feet. She measured a baseline for all his vitals before nodding to Jaime.
“Good morning, Eshugurin. How are you feeling today?”
The Wizard smiled. “Shouldn’t you be taking me back to the Federation for this interrogation? Or have you gone rogue?”
Jaime looked away and sighed. “Do you want to go to the Federation for your interrogation?” he asked.
Eshugurin shrugged. “I do not believe it is within my purview to state my wants and have them satisfied. Or am I mistaken?”
“Well then, if you know you are the helpless prisoner, why even bring it up in the first place?”
“Perhaps I wished to test you. Find out your mettle.”
“Is that so? And what have you sussed out so far? I’m always eager to hear what others think of me.”
Eshugurin the Wizard looked around at them all. “Oh I have conclusions, don’t you fear. I am not quite ready to share them yet.”
“What would you like to share with us?” Jaime asked.
The Wizard looked to Zorica. “I would like her, to come closer,” he said.
Jaime was already shaking his head. “Not happening.” He nodded to Ash and she stepped forward, holding a needle gun to his arm and pressing in and then withdrawing blood. Eshugurin hissed and rattled his chains but there was not much else he could do.
“You think you can cut me open, find out what I am with your archaic equipment?” he spat at Jaime, before throwing back his head and laughing uproariously. A plume of black smoke made its way out of the wizard’s mouth and curled up on the ceiling of his capsule, spreading against the glass as if looking for a way out. Jordan’s gun was raised as were Epon
e’s hands while Zorica braced herself to counter anything the wizard might try to throw at them. The plume of smoke moved from place to place inside the Plexiglas capsule, as if seeking some weakness.
“What is that?” Jaime murmured to Epone.
“Some demonic essence,” she replied.
“Shall I summon my imps?” Zorica asked, fingers sparking.
“No need. You still have me.” Cain suddenly appeared in the room, startling them all. “And you are right, that is some demonic essence. But not necessarily dangerous without a host. My guess is, it will seek to possess the first person that comes into range.”
Eshugurin growled at Cain, and the Father of Murder shrugged at him. “What? I am here to serve.” Eshugurin simply narrowed his eyes at Cain but did not speak.
“If you have some holy water and the right incantation, you can banish it,” Cain continued. Jaime looked to Zorica and she nodded, reaching into her pocket and emerging with a vial.
“What is the incantation?” she asked.
“Douse the demon, and repeat after me,” Cain said.
Zorica put the contents of the vial into a water gun and aimed it into the capsule, not caring about getting some holy water on Eshugurin, even as he screamed and writhed, skin bubbling up and melting as the water touched it.
“Regna terrae, cantata Deo,” Cain chanted, and Zorica repeated the words after him, “psallite Cernunnos, Regna terrae, cantata Dea psallite Aradia. caeli Deus, Deus terrae, Humiliter majestati gloriae tuae supplicamus Ut ab omni infernalium spirituum potestate, Laqueo, and deceptione nequitia, Omnis fallaciae, libera nos, dominates. Exorcizamus you omnis immundus spiritus Omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio, Infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, Omnis and congregatio secta diabolica. Ab insidiis diaboli, libera nos, dominates, Ut coven tuam secura tibi libertate servire facias, Te rogamus, audi nos! Ut inimicos sanctae circulae humiliare digneris, Te rogamus, audi nos! Terribilis Deus Sanctuario suo, Cernunnos ipse truderit virtutem plebi Suae, Aradia ipse fortitudinem plebi Suae. Benedictus Deus, Gloria Patri, Benedictus Dea, Matri gloria!”
As she said the last word, the demon essence exploded in a shower of sparks, dissolving into nothing even as they watched. Eshugurin the Wizard sat hunched over on the bed, his breathing labored, making pained sounds.
Mage Marine Misfits: Book 01 Page 25
