We followed him silently, and I glanced at every computer we passed. Every screen was alive with images and various computer programs, flashing and scrolling so quickly I couldn’t make anything out. Not that I knew what any of it meant. I knew absolutely nothing about computers besides the basics, like typing and running the typical word processing programs from when I was in school. The light reflected off the walls despite the overhead lighting.
It wasn’t until that moment that I realized how well I could move with the Nano-advanced prosthetic, especially since it was now fused to my entire being. It moved smoothly, like muscle over bone as I walked, gliding as well – if not better – than my natural leg ever did. I felt whole even though the evolved prosthetic didn’t truly belong to me. A part of me now, and would forever, belong to John Baker in one way or another. As far as I could tell, though, I still had control over my own actions and thoughts, which made me want to sigh with relief all over again. It had been only a few hours since I awoke after the Nano-infusion, but I had a feeling nothing horrible would happen as a result. Yes, it had been painful – extremely – but that had been the worst of it.
In a few dragging moments, Jameson guided us to a laptop in the back that stood proudly in a line amongst others along the back wall. The screen flashed.
“Here we go. This is as basic as we can get in this room. It’s still pretty advanced but has a USB port as requested. It’s a five-year-old HP workstation with a seventeen-inch screen, the best Intel processor money could buy at the time, forty terabytes of storage, and five-hundred terabytes of RAM. Back in the year two-thousand, they were capable of a lot less. Most of these worked off Cloud storage, but we ripped that crap out and replaced it all so they couldn’t track where our information was coming from when it went into the Cloud automatically,” Jameson said.
“I understand,” I said. “Not taking any chances.”
“Exactly.”
Looking at John, I held my hand out and gestured toward the computer. “You’re up, Baker.”
“Okay,” he breathed, approaching cautiously.
He glanced at Gaia, who smiled broadly, eyes sparkling with pride, love, and adoration.
“You can do it,” she assured him. “I believe in you.”
He nodded and walked up to the device with a renewed confidence. Standing before it, he didn’t have to touch the keyboard or the mouse. Slowly, he reached to the side of the laptop where the USB ports were located, pointing toward it with his index finger. Curiosity spiked, and I watched with rapt fascination, as did everyone else when the room went completely still. John closed his eyes and took a deep, steadying breath as his hand trembled slightly.
It wasn’t long before something began to happen, the tip of his index finger reshaping itself into what looked like tiny robotic tendrils that looked a lot like the legs of the Nano spiders we encountered on Kiawah Island.
“Wow,” I heard Ajax breath from behind me.
Even more exclamations were whispered from everyone else in the room, especially when the computer screen began to flash with blueprints and documents instead of what had just resided there.
“That’s my boy,” Ruckus said. “You’ve fucking got this, son.”
I couldn’t help but grin hearing the words of encouragement as all the information John had stored poured into the computer, moving across the screen in rapid succession. It didn’t take long before all the information was uploaded and the tendrils coiled back into John’s finger.
As we watched, he opened his eyes and took a step back, admiring his handy work. There, on the screen, was an open menu that held every piece of documentation we would need to form a plan, including so much more we didn’t.
“Damn, Baker, I think you just proved to some of us what side you’re on,” Fairbanks stated. “Welcome to the Fallen Paradigm.”
John practically beamed, and when I looked at my sister, she did too. She was happy and in love. Now, he had proven himself to everyone. We would just have to keep our eyes open for what would happen next and come up with our plan to end the pain and the suffering.
Chapter
TWENTY-TWO
Since I knew absolutely nothing about computers or the documents that would need to be sifted through, I delegated the task to two of my brightest minds – Jameson, who was extremely knowledgeable in the technology, and Ajax who was a wealth of knowledge as well. One other person motivated himself when it came to the project, knowing so much more about the United States military than most of us combined. Ruckus looked to be more useful than I originally thought, which was a pleasant surprise. He sat tucked away in the computer lab with the other two men, each of them sitting in front of one crystal glass screen – pointing, talking, and typing animatedly.
Doctor Aserov went back to her labs, working on anything we could possibly use that she could come up with. She was a doctor, but still a scientist in the most basic sense of the word – and she assured me that she could figure something out to help.
We left them to their devices, all deciding to make our way into the gymnasium so we could train up while we waited. I learned a little in my time with the Fallen Paradigm as well as in the middle of a fight, picking up bits and pieces from everyone I came into contact with. Now, if we were going to go to war soon, I needed much more than that. I needed something concrete that I could understand and that I could use with my limitations – even though they didn’t really seem like restrictions anymore.
Pushing through the doors, the blue mats were already in place across the way, but I didn’t feel they were necessary. If we were going to fight in the field without them, training with them was something I was going to put a stop to. The ground everywhere else would be more unforgiving than those mats would ever be, making the landing when you fell much less realistic. Walking quickly toward the mats, two women were sparring, but I let out a loud whistle to draw their attention as I approached.
“Listen up! No more mats. As of this moment, we are training like we are going into battle because, soon enough, we will be. All sparring will be no-holds-barred, and everything will be as real as possible without us killing each other,” I announced once each figure froze and every pair of eyes settled on me.
Ryder took my wrist in his hand and tugged at me, leaning in to whisper through gritted teeth.
“Are you sure? Most of them haven’t been in a real fight since the compounds. It may be too much for them,” he said, eyes flaring with heat while still trying to be supportive of my choices. “As their commander, you have a duty to these people.”
“Yes,” I replied, “I do, which means I have a duty to keep these people alive. They need to be able to take care of themselves, and if I can’t teach them to do that, then they’ll die out there. I can’t have that on my conscience. Enough people have died for this. Enough of our people, human and Special alike. My mother…”
“I know,” he sighed and dipped his head. “Okay.” He took a step back and nodded to Caius.
Caius shifted forward, the damage done five years prior evident, and reached down to fold up the blue mat as those that had been standing on it moved out of the way. Taking the folded mat off to the side, he leaned it up against the far wall and came back to stand beside me with a smirk – hands stuffed into his pockets. I glanced at him, skeptical about his knowing expression.
“All right, who’s up first?” I asked, clapping my hands together.
No one replied, only shuffling on their feet as they stared down at the floor, suddenly shy.
“Oh, come on, guys. If it were my mother, you all would’ve jumped at the chance to impress me. Come on, I don’t bite.”
After a few quiet minutes, not a single person rising to the challenge, Caius spoke up beside me.
“Why don’t we see Mila in action?” he asked, winking at me.
I knew
what he was doing, but it didn’t keep the irritation from creeping in. Maybe, if I joined in, they would volunteer themselves – knowing that I was willing to do the same. It was a great idea, but who the Hell was I going to go up against that I didn’t mind hurting even a little? No one that I could think of. The only person that rejuvenated in the room was Baker, but I’d gone up against him before and didn’t want to again if I could help it. I would rather fight by his side instead.
Cheers sounded, echoing off the walls as I fought to focus on keeping my senses in check. Every now and then one of them ran away with me, my hearing being the one to do so at that moment because of the abundance of sound. I turned, spying mischievous grins on Ryder’s, Cecilia’s, Julius’, Genevieve’s and Fairbanks’ faces. Gaia didn’t have a single roguish bone in her body, but when I watched her, a light flared to life in her eyes that made me wonder what she was up to.
Waving my hands in front of me, I felt heat rush to my cheeks. “No, no. That’s not necessary. No need for me to scare everyone. I want you guys to get more practice in.”
Footsteps approached my back, and I jumped when I heard and felt the whisper against my ear.
“It’ll give them some morale. Come on, I’ll go up against you,” Gaia whispered directly in my ear.
She turned away from me and backed into the semi-circle that had formed. I shook my head but still grinned impishly.
“I want my turn at you, sis,” she said playfully.
My brow furrowed. “And what do you know about a fight, Gaia?”
I joked so that I could keep the image of her hardened gaze and battered body away, hands and arms acting quickly to save us as best she could – gun in hand. I couldn’t think of my baby sister that way, but it looked as if I was going to be forced to do so regardless of what I wanted.
“Ruckus and John have been teaching me a few things. I think I’m as good, if not better, then you now,” she teased, frosty blue eyes piercing with glee.
Glancing back at John, he shrugged and watched my sister beckon me toward her and the spar she wanted so badly. A part of me didn’t want anything to do with it, but could I hurt the little bit of morale that had been built in the last few seconds? No, I couldn’t. I needed to play along and show them what their new commander was made out of. I was nowhere as good as my mother, but I had one thing she and Gaia didn’t. I had the power to tear someone apart with a whim. I wasn’t going to use it if I could help it, even though I was certain she’d probably proposition me to do so. If I did in the spur of the moment, I would just have to make sure I didn’t hit her. I had seen what my power did to her flesh before, and as she removed her jacket and threw it on the floor to the side of the circle, I spotted the inflamed and blackened blemish that remained. I cringed but chose to give into her anyway.
“Okay, okay. I’m in,” I stated, putting my hands up in the air in a mock I surrender gesture. “You guys get what you want.” I turned to Gaia. “You have no abilities, you make the rules.”
She looked up thoughtfully, tapping her chin in the same way Jameson had when looking at computers. Her smile grew even wider, and her eyes flashed again with an urge and a craving I knew all too well. An urge to fight, and a craving for the adrenaline it would bring. A small thrill moved through my chest when her lips parted so she could speak.
“Oh, dear sister, I’ve changed a lot since you last saw me,” she practically sang, swaying slightly as she said the words. She stilled and focused on me, our eyes meeting. “I’ve fired guns, used knives, went hand-to-hand. Even went up against some Specials and Nanos, and I’m still kicking. So,” she paused for dramatic effect, “there are no rules. Anything goes. We’re just not going to kill each other. First blood wins.”
“I’ll say,” I heard Ryder mutter under his breath.
I couldn’t keep the shock from my features, but I decided that if she didn’t want rules, I wasn’t going to deny her that. She wanted to give it all she had because, out there in the real world outside these walls, there were no breaks, and there were no rules. She wanted this to get as close to reality as possible without the obvious results that took place out on the battlefield.
“Okay, then I guess we need some toys, huh?” I asked, looking to Fairbanks who I knew had access to all the things we could possibly want to try out.
Fairbanks disappeared and reappeared within moments with two rolling trays of matching weaponry, making certain neither one of us had an advantage over the other. It was bad enough I already had one massive one over Gaia. I couldn’t stand the thought of it being too much worse. When we approached the trays, the first weapon to draw my attention was a military-grade handgun, much like a Glock from one-hundred years ago, except with the fingerprint scanner at home on the grip – obviously deactivated for our use.
“Are these walls really up to snuff enough for gunfire, Fairbanks?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
He shrugged and smirked, “Probably not, but it was a thought.”
Gaia’s fingers grazed the pistol in front of her and then switched over to a long silver blade sitting next to it that gleamed beautifully even in the fluorescent lights.
“Yeah, I think we’ll leave those right where they are,” she said. “We’ll stick with a less-combustible variety.”
“Your sister doesn’t count as combustible?” Julius asked, clearly entertained.
“Not according to me,” Gaia replied, strapping a belt to her hips and picking up a few blades – shoving them into the sheaths on the belt itself.
I did the same, picking up the weapons I felt comfortable with – a smaller blade and a Jagdkommando tri-dagger – not that I would use the latter much, if at all. It was just comforting to have considering how many of them I had used up to that point.
“What are you doing? You planning to shred your sister?” Cecilia asked.
Glancing down at the blade on my hip, I responded, “No,” in almost a high-pitched squeal of a sound. “I’m just used to them. They’re,” I shrugged, “comforting.”
She smiled broadly and patted me on the shoulder. “You’re a weird one, Hunter.”
“I’m fully aware,” I joked.
Ryder walked up to me and planted a soft, chaste kiss on my lips, stepping only far enough away to get a good look at my face.
“Be careful. You may feel great, but we don’t know how long that will last. Okay?” he voiced.
“I will be, promise. I’m more worried about hurting Gaia than anything else.”
“Another reason I want you to be careful. We don’t know what the Nanos have done to your ability. It’s best to play it safe, and if I thought I could talk her out of this right now, I would at least try. But it was going to happen at some point, so we’ll let her have it today.”
“Yes, sir,” I laughed, giving him a very informal mock salute.
With a chuckle, I placed another kiss on his lips and backed away from him – toward where my sister now stood, waiting. Her blonde hair shone in the yellow lights, making it even more golden than usual. Even her skin seemed to glow in a much different way than in natural light, but all the same, she looked happy despite what would soon happen. Soon, we would be going to war with the same country that made us who we are. Well, more the man than the country, and he definitely helped to make me who I was.
I came to stand across from her with at least ten feet separating us, both of us grinning like fools. Our mother would have never allowed this so, from what I could tell of Gaia’s excited energy and how she moved her feet, she was excited to get the ball rolling. Even when arguing as children, our mother never even allowed shouting in our home. We spoke and handled our differences like adults, or we forgot it altogether and let it pass. So, safe to say, we had a lot of unresolved issues to deal with.
“You ready?” I asked, placing my palm on the stub of the handle o
f the Jagdkommando tri-dagger.
“Are you?” Gaia mirrored.
“Always.” I paused, taking a peek at John who was watching Gaia with such intensity I felt she could burst into flames. When I turned back to Gaia, her cool stare met my own. “I’m definitely ready to see what John’s Nanos gave me. From what Doctor Aserov said, I’m assuming what I can get out of it is a bit of a coin-toss.”
John chuckled on the sidelines but didn’t say anything. Of course, everyone laughed just enough to barely be heard over the hush of the room and our voices, but the jab livened up the room even more than our oncoming battle had.
“Stop playing around and get to it!” Caius slurred, jovial.
Both of our smiles faded as cheers and jeers came from those around us, everyone wanting to see what the Nanos had gifted me as well as what my timid little sister had learned outside of the Fallen Paradigm – from a supposed enemy no-less.
After what felt like an eternity, I knew I’d need to move this along. Gaia had been excited about it to begin with but seemed to be losing her nerve. It was up to me to bring it back. I repositioned, taking a couple more steps back, and dropped into a stance I had seen from many others – Ryder and Julius included. Even our mother from what little I had seen of her skills in the field. I had to admit, that wasn’t much.
“Come on, baby sister. Show me what you’ve got.”
Chapter
TWENTY-THREE
After I said the words, it didn’t take long for Gaia to begin circling. As I learned early on, I mirrored the movement, but still in the same defensive stance.
Everything moved in slow motion as the adrenaline flooded my veins. Even those that formed the semi-circle moved with a snail’s sluggish movements. Every gesture or spread of lips and cheer was slowed down, turning my excited energy into panic and anxiety.
The Clash (The Permutation Archives Book 5) Page 19
