“And you didn’t tell me you were in there because you knew I’d do something just as stupid and suicidal as you had done, to get to you, and get you out.” She nodded, face contorting with mingled anger and acceptance, knowing he had been absolutely right, damn him. Because she would have. Hell, she and Sera and JM very nearly had.
“Hey,” he shrugged. “Who knows you better?”
She wrapped both her small hands around his massive one, and said nothing. Mostly because she couldn’t get words out around the lump in her throat.
“It’s you,” she said finally. “It’s really you.”
“Not quite the reunion I had in mind,” he said, and brought her hands up to his chest. He patted them gently. “I mean, you armed with what looks like a wicked sharp sword to rip me to pieces, and me wearing this ugly-ass meat suit. But I’ll take it. I’ll take whatever we can get. I think we’ve earned that much.”
Vickie nodded, steeled herself, and pulled away.
“Whatever we can get, we’ll make it be enough,” she said, and scanned the monitors in front of them. “Days of uninhibited sexy fun times. There might even be outfits. And toys. And chocolate. But first, we need to finish this.” Her eyes flew over the readouts. “Eight? You picking up on this?”
“Yes, Vickie. With the shields down, our invasion forces have penetrated at least halfway into the bowls of both halves of the ship. We have lost remarkably few troops.”
“And it doesn’t look from these readouts that they’re doing the logical thing and retreating into the decks below the bowls.”
“That left flank doesn’t seem aware of impending attack,” Red grunted. “We should send them a—” He broke off abruptly and jabbed a finger at one of the monitors. “That…that’s not good.”
“What is that?” Vickie asked, as a small blip began to glow beneath Red’s finger.
“They’re arming it,” Red said grimly. “We’re doing even better than I thought, if they’re willing to—” He broke off again, but this time he staggered back, and began clutching his sides.
“What? They’re arming what?” Vickie moved to him and rested a hand gently on his chest. “What’s wrong?”
Red held up a hand and pushed her back. “She’s waking up…it’s too soon, but she’s waking up…oh lord, you can’t be here…she’s coming…”
“She…” Vickie said. “You mean…her. Doppelgaenger is waking up.”
“Crap…” Red gasped. “Crapcrapcrapcrap…she knows, Vickie. She knows. Oh, this is going to get ugly…”
Vickie backed up a dozen paces, and pulled the sword out of the floor, checking her watch when it was free. Still fifteen minutes on it…
“I…” Red groaned, his arms tight around his own body. “I can’t hold her, not for long, and I don’t know if I can take her. I’m not strong enough yet. She’s a monster in this body, Vickie. You need to run. You need to get away from me.”
“I can’t,” Vickie said, bringing the sword up in front of her. “I can’t do that, Red. I can’t leave you alone with her again.”
“Then you have to finish her,” Red said, wincing. “She can undo everything! You can’t let her near that console! You have to…”
“You have to force her out!” Vickie urged. “You can do this, Red! I can slice her apart, but you have to separate from her!”
“I don’t know if I can!” Red screamed. “No time…no time…Promise me, Vickie! I can try, but if I can’t, you have to end her! You have to! Promise me!”
“I will,” she said, tears scalding her face. As bad as it had been when she had lost him, this was a thousand times worse. “I promise.” Three times, and the geas is set. This was going to tear her apart, past ever mending. And it didn’t matter. Because only one thing mattered now, and that thing was bigger than her, or Red, or even all of ECHO. Doppelgaenger had to be stopped, here and now. She brought the sword up in her right hand, the dagger in her left in the “guard” position. This was her strongest fighting style, dagger/rapier. And she didn’t intend to hold back. But there was one tiny little thing she could do for the both of them. “Your turn. Whatever happens on the other side, you wait for me. No matter who or what comes for you, you tell them you can’t go without me.” The tears were a river now, but her dagger tip wove her sigil in the air, and it drifted over to settle into him, become a part of him, marking him hands off to whatever might try to claim his soul. “Promise.”
Red snarled, his face contorted in agony, but his eyes met hers, and he nodded.
“I will always wait for you,” he rasped. “I swear it.”
And then his face—and his eyes—changed.
It was a war; a battle within a body, as muscles rippled and shrunk and swelled, as guttural grunts and wheezes and muffled screams and not-so-muffled curses tore their way out of his throat, and as his face contorted, his eyes bulged and the cords of his neck stood out like bridge cables.
Vickie watched as Doppelgaenger’s body fell to its knees, its arms still clutching its heaving chest, and a weary head rose to greet her with a snarl.
“Oh, it’s you. Isn’t it about time that I killed you?”
“You can try,” she said flatly. New plan. I need to make it hurt, and I need to make it realize it can be hurt. That should be enough shock to keep it off balance. And if Red is going to have any chance of taking it from inside, I need to make it concentrate on me. She wasn’t holding on to much hope for the latter, though, as she ran up the console, flipped in midair, aiming, not for a kill, but to take a nice fat slice of meat off the thing’s upper right arm. Doppelgaenger watched, almost lazily, as Vickie’s sword sliced effortlessly through a bicep. Vickie landed behind the monster, deftly struck again with an extended tip-slice down the spine, and braced herself for the counterattack.
Instead, the brute simply turned to look at her, uncaring, as a large, bleeding mass of muscle slid away from her arm and plopped unceremoniously on the floor next to her. She glanced at the wound briefly, and looked back to Vickie as the flesh simply regenerated in place.
Okay. That was what I was afraid of. New plan. I’m going to have to cut it to pieces and do so in less than fifteen minutes. Time for Can Opener.
She didn’t wait for the counterattack. She charged, did a dive and a roll at the last minute, and slashed at the thing’s thigh, aiming for the femoral artery, with sword and dagger. She felt a brief moment of satisfaction as Tire Iron flashed through DG’s thigh muscle, and triumph as she guided Can Opener unerringly towards the wound. Tire Iron might have had the temporary nanoedge, but Can Opener had something else besides, a permanent antihealing spell on it, forged into the metal. All it would take was the slightest cut, and local wounds wouldn’t be able to heal. That was the main reason why she seldom brought it out. In its way, the dagger was deadlier than the sword. Even a small nick, and the target would likely bleed out and die, if proper arcane countermeasures were not applied in time. Vickie had often felt burdened with the responsibility of such a blade, and it was why, on the rare occasion she felt fully justified in using it, she prided herself that Can Opener had never missed its mark.
So she felt shock when Doppelgaenger’s hand snatched her wrist, and Can Opener was stopped mere inches from stabbing the monster in the leg. Vickie reacted instantly, and drove her free hand up, aiming to lop Doppelgaenger’s grasping hand off, when she felt a firm grip on that wrist, too. She found herself being lifted off the ground by the arms, unable to swing her weapons.
Well, shit. Vickie thought, on the edge of panic. She’s a lot faster than I thought she’d be. She ran through her options. A blinding flash of light in Doppelgaenger’s face seemed the best one. Of course, that was predicated on Doppelgaenger not tearing her in half in the next few seconds. Unlike Bela, she didn’t need her hands free to cast anything. The equations ignited in her head, and she closed her eyes and turned her face to the side as the light exploded right at the end of Doppelgaenger’s nose.
And nothing happe
ned.
She raised the temperature of the chainmail on her arms to just short of burning. Doppelgaenger ignored that, too. She hauled herself up like a gymnast and planted both feet in Doppelgaenger’s face—which should have broken her damn nose at least. Nothing.
“Are you about done?” Doppelgaenger asked, ignoring Vickie’s kicks. She sounded bored.
“Just getting started,” she snarled.
“I see you’ve finally got that mutilated piece of beef jerky you call a body to start moving,” Doppelgaenger said, and laughed. “You know you can’t hurt me, right? I guess you’ve been hitting the gym. My upgrades have been a bit more…substantial.”
Vickie grimaced, and shot her a venomous look. “Where’s Red?”
Doppelgaenger smiled, an enormous smile that seemed to tear her face in half. “You saw him, didn’t you? He’s still alive, still inside.” She closed her eyes, and the smile grew even bigger. “I can feel him. You have no idea what I felt when he went away…” She paused and looked at Vickie again, her grin vanishing. “Or maybe you do, at that. Of course you do. You, the center of his…love.” She spat the last word out, and Vickie hissed as she felt Doppelgaenger tighten her grip on her arms.
“Now where was I?” Doppelgaenger muttered. “Oh, right. I was deciding to kill you. Maybe I should get on with that.”
Vickie gasped as her arms were stretched apart and she struggled against the pain of feeling bones moving in ways they shouldn’t, and tendons stretching, on the verge of tearing. Desperately, she tried to concentrate, to think of a spell—any spell—that might distract this monster. Anything, anything, just to escape its grasp and dart away to regroup. Nothing came to mind. All she could do was weakly resist the indomitable force that was slowly tearing her apart.
She wasn’t going to escape. Not this time.
Got to…blow all…the storage…crystals…at once. That would unleash a huge magical explosion. It would certainly kill her. But would it take out Doppelgaenger? Between the pain and the certainty of death anyway, it was all she could think of.
And then, suddenly, Vickie felt the enormous hands release her, as Doppelgaenger staggered back, her hands clutching her head.
Vickie hit the floor, rolled, kept rolling, somehow managing to keep a grip on her sword and dagger. She got to her feet, ignoring the pain of her shoulders and elbows—it wasn’t that hard, hadn’t she been ignoring the pain for years?—and got ready for another attack. Hopefully this time she would be prepared for Doppelgaenger’s speed. She raised her weapons, picking her target. And then paused.
Doppelgaenger’s face muscle spasmed violently. Both her enormous hands were wrapped around the top of her head. But mage-sight and mage hearing betrayed more.
A slim blonde woman and Red grappled like a pair of Greco-Roman wrestlers, snarling at each other. The vision pulsed like a heartbeat with pure fury on Red’s part. The woman…seemed to be grappling with her own emotions as much as with her opponent.
“You don’t touch the lady, understood?” Red grunted, surprising her with a quick reversal and catching her in a rough neck lock. “She’s off limits. This is between you and me.”
“This was never just between you and me,” the woman snarled, landing a heavy elbow to Red’s midsection. Red appeared to cough up blood, though his grip around her neck remained firm. “That’s our whole problem, isn’t it? If she wasn’t around, would you really be fighting me?”
“Yes, I would.”
“Liar!”
“No, Karoline, really.” Red took a knee, but held her to him, forcing her down as his arms remained locked around her neck. “This isn’t right, what you want from me. You can feel it, can’t you?”
“No, I can’t!” She seemed to choke on the words. “You died! I felt it happen! The world stopped making sense. I stopped making sense. And now you’re back, and things are even more messed up. I’m broken, Red. That is what I feel! And the only thing that makes any sense is killing this cow and just taking you for myself!”
Mesmerized by the struggle, Vickie found herself rooted in place. Part of her was screaming to take advantage of Doppelgaenger’s preoccupation with Red. But there was a chance that Red might win this time…and she couldn’t bear to cut that chance short.
“You can’t take me,” Red said, his voice quiet and determined. “You must sense that. After all you did, you couldn’t claim me. You can beat me down a thousand times. You can destroy me. But you cannot have me. You could lay waste to this world, until the two of us are all that’s left standing, and still, you wouldn’t have me. Ever.”
“Not ever…” Karoline said. She looked up, and Vickie felt a chill as Karoline’s eyes seemed to meet her own. “I can never have you. Not like her.”
“Not like her,” Red nodded. “I’m…sorry.”
Karoline looked back at him, astonished, and began to chortle in anguish. “You’re sorry? Do you know how small that is? How pitiful?” She shook her head helplessly, and pointed at Vickie with her chin. “Look at her. She’s ready to cut us both down, just to finish me. You would be just another casualty in this war, cast aside for her ‘greater good.’ Is that how much you’re worth to her? You call that love?”
“Have you left her any choice?” Red asked softly. He looked up at Vickie, and smiled. “You know this is killing her, but she’ll do it anyway. You know what she feels, and who she is. I showed you.”
“You did, didn’t you?” Karoline exhaled, and sagged in Red’s arms. “I can’t let you die again. I can’t.”
“You’re not leaving us much choice, darlin’.”
“It’s mine, then?” Karoline asked.
“Yes.”
“This is what love is…” Karoline glanced back at him. “You felt…something for me, didn’t you?”
Red nodded. “You know I did.”
Karoline looked away. “Then remember it, remember me. Remember me as Karoline, who finally understood love.”
Vickie watched, horrified, as Doppelgaenger’s body seemed to collapse on itself. Muscle and bone and hardened skin seemed to melt as it morphed into a shapeless blob, like something out of a horror movie.
“Red!” she screamed, and took a step forward. She stopped, confused, as her mage-sight continued to show him holding Karoline at bay. They were still there, they were still whole, but they were no longer struggling. Almost tenderly, Red released his grip on Karoline’s neck, letting her go. Her head drooped forward, bowed, and as her body fell forward, the disgusting, colorless blob…split. Vickie watched as the two halves fell apart, the transparent forms of Red and Karoline falling with them, joining with them and re-forming, seamlessly, until Red and Karoline lay physically before her, separated, in body and soul.
Karoline was the first to stir, picking herself up and coming to rest on her knees. She glanced up at Vickie, and simply nodded.
Vickie did not intend to let her change her mind. With the last seconds on Tire Iron ticking away, she swung. The initial blow bisected the skull. With the backswing, she took off the head. And she finished, burying the dagger to the hilt in the headless body’s heart.
“Regenerate that,” she said, then abruptly stumbled back and fell on her ass. The sword clattered to the floor, no longer able to penetrate it. She sheathed the dagger with exaggerated care.
And then she burst into tears.
* * *
Mel kept the ghostly figures in sight as they hurried Penny toward the exit. The Frenchwoman would zip ahead and double back, helping them along the roundabout path through the ship. The alarms had grown louder with each passing minute until Penny ran with her hands over her ears, the Russian pilot at her side.
The corridor split off into three identical hallways. Jeanne stood in the center, hands on her hips. Her expression was not optimistic. “This is the fastest route to exfiltration, but it is unsafe. Madame, it is unwise to go any further. We will need to double back.”
Retracing their steps would cost them time that
they didn’t have. Penny shivered and swallowed hard. Tears ran down her cheeks, but she didn’t say why. Mel chalked it up to terror and nothing more, and she couldn’t fault the girl for the silent steady release. They had to get her off the ship and back into ECHO custody. “Goin’ back isn’t an option, ma’am. Which way is going to take us out?”
“Two of these three would be acceptable, but they are all blocked. You would face significant resistance.” Jeanne started down the initial path, but the thunder of footsteps rumbled in the corridors around them. The floor trembled beneath Mel’s feet. She moved in front of Penny, feeling the chill haze of Lily’s form.
“Which way to the sub,” Mel growled. “Fastest route, maintenant.”
Jeanne flickered and reappeared in the right corridor.
Mel wrapped an arm around Penny’s shoulders and pulled her tight. Her own heart hammering in her chest, she could feel the girl beginning to hyperventilate. “Cherie, I got you. You an’ me, we ain’t gonna get taken by anybody. Not by them, not ever again.” She glanced up, the echo of footfalls so loud that the entire room shook. “I promise.”
Lily’s form blurred through Mel’s arm. For a moment, she saw the young pilot’s memories of a harsh Russian winter, charred bodies frozen solid and dusted with snow. The spirit shifted, and the images disappeared. Mel twitched and blinked at the spirit. “Do that again, ma’am.”
“Shto?”
“Step back and show me everything you remember from the war. Things before then, the worst you remember. Things that happened to German soldiers, things that you did—anything.” Penny shifted to hide her face against Mel’s nanoweave. “Try to remember everything.”
Avalanche: Book Five in the Secret World Chronicle Page 68
