by Gareth Otton
Stella froze as her vision played tricks on her. Her eyes told her that the man in front of her was the trendy geek she relied on so much over the past six months. However, that deeper part of herself where she had a sixth sense for separating truth from fiction, was sure that the man in front of her was not Miles.
For a second only she froze as she struggled to figure out just what the hell was happening. It turned out that was all the time he needed.
The version of Miles who was not Miles sprang forward, and the LED lights of the server to his right twinkled off the six inches of steel that formed the razor edge of the knife he thrust at her face.
22
Wednesday, 30th November 2016
02:56
Stella swayed back, barely avoiding a knife in the eye. She felt a sting as its razor point scored the skin just below her left eye.
She hissed and fell back, trying to create space between her and this strange man who somehow looked like Miles. Strangely, he didn’t chase her. Instead, he turned and ran for the computer behind him.
It took a few seconds, but Stella guessed what was happening. She saw the truth of his actions from how he held himself and what he ran toward. He wasn’t here to kill her; he was here to open the way.
Under no circumstances could she let him reach Miles’ computer. Miles had full access to the security of the building, and she suspected he only had a single keystroke left to execute whatever command he had been writing. But he was too far away and there was no time to catch him.
Unless he stops running, part of her whispered, flashing her a memory of The Phoenix.
“Stop!” Stella shouted and knew by the instant weariness that made her legs weak that it worked.
The man was two steps away from the keyboard when her Authority hit him and he skidded to a stop, cringing like a child in trouble and glancing back at Stella like he was scared she would tell him off.
She still saw Miles when she looked at him, but overlaid atop that image was another face, one of a young man with black hair and eyes of such deep blue they were almost purple. She had never seen eyes so vibrant save in members of her own family or when she looked in the mirror.
He is one of the Eidolon, she thought to herself, instantly recognising the truth of what he was. Unfortunately, she didn’t arrive at the next conclusion quick enough and when she finally leapt forward, it was too late.
It made sense that one of the Eidolon would be less susceptible to her Authority as he wouldn’t think she had any over him. Therefore, he’d snapped out of it quickly. As soon as Stella lunged for him, she knew she was too late as those twin sets of eyes blinked in surprise and he turned back to the computer.
Stella screamed again for him to stop, but her words lacked power and though her finger nails brushed at the fabric of his shirt as she tried to pull him back, there was the click of a key being pressed.
Suddenly the monitors on Miles’ desk came to life.
Stella looked up with wide, horror-filled eyes as code starting compiling and great, red alerts popped up on every screen. She caught the word disabled before she was once again fighting for her life.
She ducked, the knife sailing harmlessly overhead. From where she crouched she could only see his feet, but instinct told her to dodge to the right and avoided his next slash. Twice more she fell back, her clumsy movements not letting her get a good look at him but inner instincts reading the truth in his movements and keeping her one step ahead.
Then she was out the door again and there was space between them. He stood before her, knife clenched in his fist and a determined look on his face as he glared at her with naked hatred. The mask of Miles grew weaker by the second, and it didn’t just reveal the truth about him, but also the truth in his intentions.
Her talent fed her a steady stream of information like it never had before. It was more than the ability to spot the difference between lie and truth, it was interpreting his intentions from the position of his muscles and the expressions on his face. Suddenly, despite the weapon in his hand, Stella had the advantage.
She knew before he moved that he would lunge again, and she stepped aside. Something screamed at her that he would try to sweep her legs and she stepped back. She ducked as he slashed at her again, and finally she stepped in close when she realised he was about to overextend himself.
It looked like a well choreographed Hollywood action scene. He frantically attacked and met nothing but air for his results. It didn’t matter how fast he was, Stella was one step ahead. More than this, she was faster and stronger. Her fame was considerably more than whatever belief powered this man.
That extra speed and strength meant that when Stella punched him in the ribs, there was a horrifying snap as bone broke. He gasped in agony and staggered back, eyes wide with a touch of fear. That fear turned to fury as he readied himself to come at her again, but he never got the chance.
Without so much as a snarl to announce his arrival, Freckles lunged at the back of the man’s leg, biting into his hamstring and tearing with his considerable strength. The man squealed as he spun toward the dog, his knife raised to protect himself. However, Stella’s caught his knife hand before it could get anywhere near Freckles, and with all her might she twisted sharply. There was another crack, louder this time, and the man squealed again as the knife dropped from nerveless fingers.
She didn’t have time to take advantage of her momentary victory as she heard the loud banging of doors being thrown open and knew this man’s reinforcements had arrived. Three enormous men sprinted down the corridor directly for her, and her sense for truth told her these men were quicker and faster than the fake Miles had been.
She needed to flee, but without Freckles she couldn’t dreamwalk and right now he was still tearing into the hamstring of the squealing, fake Miles. Without an option to flee, Stella was left with no choice but to attack.
She scooped up the fallen knife and hurled herself at the first man to come at her. As she leapt, she prepared herself for the oncoming weariness and again shouted, “Stop!”
Were she not was mid-leap the exhaustion would have sent her to her knees. Worse, it didn’t even have the same effect it had on fake Miles. About the most she managed was to make the men hesitate, removing some of the fury from their eyes. It wasn’t much of a distraction, but it was enough.
Before the first man could recover, Stella summoned the remainder of her strength and drove her knife into his shoulder, sinking the blade through muscle and sinew until it was buried to the hilt and was the only thing supporting her weight.
Her legs felt like jelly as she hung from the knife, her weight increasing the man’s agony and making him scream louder as the knife tore deeper into his flesh, only stopping when it jammed on bone.
Weary as she was, Stella couldn’t hold on and the knife slipped from her grasp. She collapsed into a heap, cursing herself a fool for using that power when she knew what it would do. She hadn’t even practiced with it since the incident at The Pheonix, and if there was one thing she learnt from Tad’s time figuring out his power, it was the importance of practice.
She hit the floor hard and curled into a ball as the man she stabbed tripped over her, his forward momentum carrying him into a roll that he couldn’t recover from. He collided face first into the wall before crumpling into an unconscious heap.
For all that he was out of the fight, there were two more men coming and they didn’t look happy. Stella noted they all carried knives and wondered why not guns?
Knives are quiet, she thought, her intuition recognising the truth despite her weariness. They didn’t want to alert the on-site tactical team. They were afraid of what Trevors’ men could do with their dreamcatchers.
Sensing an opportunity, she grasped at one last straw and looked to where Freckles was finishing up with the injured fake Miles.
“Freckles, shout,” she commanded, and Freckles understood.
He spun to face the men coming at him, planted
his paws like he was bracing himself against a strong wind, then he Barked.
Just as his brother’s growls were so much more than a simple dog’s growl, this bark was so much more than a simple dog’s bark. The sound was louder than anything Stella had heard since the Dragon incident. It was a sound so massive it bypassed her ears and went straight for her brain, eliciting the kind of agony that felt like someone had crashed symbols inside her head.
Her vision wavered as the sound compounded her weariness, and it was all she could do to remain conscious.
Luckily, she wasn’t the only one to feel its effects.
The two men dropped into a crouch and covered their ears to protect themselves from the oppressive noise. When the sound ended they both looked disorientated and didn’t immediately recover. Ducked low as they were, Stella could see the new figure when he arrived in the hallway behind them, a look of fury on his face.
The two men wiped the blood from their ears and looked angrier than ever. They advanced on Stella with new, more intense murder in their eyes and she was so exhausted she couldn’t even raise her hands to defend herself, not that she needed to.
Leon snuck up behind them like a wraith, using his incredible strength to drive the head of the man nearest him into the wall. Stella wasn’t sure if he killed him, but she didn’t think brick was supposed to crumble like that when a human skull made contact with it.
The man who was closest to Stella flinched again, this time at the noise behind him, and he spun to find out what was going on. He wasn’t quick enough.
The crack that accompanied Leon’s punch made the cracking of fake Miles’ ribs earlier sound like the nothing more than the popping of popcorn. There was no second punch, it wasn’t needed. The man crumpled to the ground and didn’t so much as twitch when he landed. From what Stella could see, if he survived the impact, he wouldn’t be eating anything without the aid of a straw for a long time.
Leon’s face filled her vision. He wore a concerned frown as he crouched next to her, looking her over for sign of injury.
“I’m fine,” she said. “Just exhausted.” He looked confused until she added, “I used Authority twice.”
Understanding dawned and he opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted as a series of pops filled the air. The already crowded corridor filled with even more bodies as the Dream Team tactical unit arrived, their guns at the ready, and all of them pointing at Leon as he was the only man left on his feet.
“Freeze,” they shouted, and it was about that moment when Stella gave up the battle with consciousness and succumbed to the darkness.
◆◆◆
When she next opened her eyes, she found herself staring into a big fury face. Seeing her awake, Freckles snorted happily and licked her face from chin to eyebrows.
“Urgh, Freckles. Get off me,” she groaned, pushing the big dog away as she wiped her face and sat up. It took her a few seconds to recognise the room, and she had to wipe the sleep from her eyes before she realised she was in one of the cells of the DTHQ.
Panicked, she turned to look at the door, then breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was left open and she wasn’t locked inside.
“This was the only place with a bed,” Leon said as he rose from a seat by the door. “We weren’t locking you up.”
“What are you doing here?” she asked, fighting back a yawn as she stretched out the stiffness in her muscles. It was strange, feeling so tense and sluggish. It had been so long since she felt bone weary that she had almost forgotten what it was like.
“They didn’t know where else to put me, so they let me stay here and keep an eye on you.”
“That’s not what I meant,” she said. “I mean, why were you here tonight?”
“Oh, that,” he said, unable to meet her eye. “I might have been following Deo for the last couple of days to see what he was up to.”
“Deo? Your friend from Hydra.” When Leon nodded Stella put the last of her weariness aside and glared at her cousin. “What do you mean you’ve been following him? You were supposed to be tying up loose ends so you could go home.”
“I did that too,” he said. “I just thought I’d keep an eye on him while he was in the country. When he ended up coming here, well… You know the rest.”
“Leon, that was dangerous. You shouldn’t have—”
“You shouldn’t rely on your Authority so much,” he interrupted, not wanting to talk about that topic and trying to move on.
“Why did it hit me so hard?” she asked, reluctant to move on but needing to know the answer. “It didn’t last time. I mean, it made me sleepy, but I never passed out.”
“Last time you used it on people who already respected your authority. It didn’t take much extra to make them listen. This time you tried it on people sent to kill you… Eidolon no less. You would need a lot more energy to make it work on them. I’m impressed your Authority had any effect at all.”
“You mean I nearly got myself killed for nothing.”
Leon shrugged. “You’ve got to be careful with it. No tool is perfect.”
“What good is it if I can’t use it on my enemies?”
“Don’t just think of it as a weapon,” he recommended. “There are other scenarios where making people listen comes in handy. It’s not just useful for making people stop.”
Stella grunted in annoyance, kicking herself for thinking so narrowly. Once again she realised she should have been practicing with her powers. She had been harsh with Tad about this after the Merging, and now here she was doing the same.
“What about the men who attacked me? Did any of them survive?”
“All of them did,” Leon said, knocking on the cell wall and nodding his head in that direction. “They’re locked up.”
“And has anyone spoken to them yet?”
Leon shook his head. “I think they were waiting for you to wake up. Plus, there’re no detectives here other than you.”
“What time is it?” she asked, feeling like she had been asleep for a week.
“Five o’cloclk, give or take five minutes.”
“It’s only been a couple of hours?” she asked, surprised.
Maybe it was a good thing. She had far too much to do without sleeping her way through the day, and now she had to add interrogating the men who attacked her to her list. The day was only getting started and it was already going downhill fast.
“I take it this is about as much proof as we need that the Eidolon Council have it out for me,” Stella guessed, and again Leon nodded but said nothing. Reading his expression and guessing his thoughts, Stella asked, “Where does this leave you? Can you still go home to avoid fallout from this?”
“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “If it’s just these guys, then so long as they stay here I should be okay. But I have to think that sooner or later the Eidolon Council will find out what I did and they won’t like it.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get you caught up in this.”
He waved his hand and brushed away her comments.
“They came after you, not the other way around. The way I see it, it’s their fault. I’m just glad I could be here to help. It would have been worse if you were alone and…”
His words trailed off and his eyes widened.
“What?” Stella asked.
“Your reporter friend. I thought she would be okay after nothing happened to her the other day, but if they came for you last night, then it wouldn’t surprise me if they came for her as well. Wipe out all their enemies in a single swipe. I should go check on her.”
“Hang on a second and I’ll get one of my guys to go with you,” Stella said, struggling to stand up.
“I’m not sure they’ll like that,” Leon admitted. “They weren’t thrilled to find me here. They were going to lock me up with the others until they checked the security footage. They’re also not happy that I haven’t explained who these guys are and why they’re here. Their boss showed up about half an
hour ago and he was furious that I couldn’t tell him anything.”
“That would be Trevors,” Stella said, then swore when she anticipated the conversation that was coming. Stella didn’t want to reveal her Eidolon status to Trevors and his guys and he wouldn’t be happy when she kept him in the dark.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll deal with it. If you could check on Lizzie though, I’d appreciate that.”
“It’s no problem,” Leon said as he headed out of the cell, expecting Stella to follow him. Before he could though, Stella called his name.
“One of the guys here last night, I could have sworn he looked exactly like Miles. I mean to where it took my truth sense to actually tell he wasn’t. What was that?”
“That would be Deo,” Leon said, a note of apology in his voice. “Sorry, I should have told you earlier. It’s his Eidolon power.”
“Shape shifting?” Stella asked, amazed.
“No, tricking people. In the old days you’d have called him something like a trickster god. He loved playing tricks on people as a kid and over the years he got better at it and cultivated enough belief that now it’s scary what he can do.”
“Really, he got so much belief that he could change into another person?” Stella asked incredulously.
“He never changed, he just convinced your mind that he was Miles. I’m sure if you look back through the security footage he won’t look anything like Miles.”
“But that’s… that’s like magic,” Stella said. “That seems so far removed from what we can do that—”
“Our only limit is belief, Stella. I thought I told you that. Besides, what do you think your truth sense or Authority is if not magic?”
“But you said yourself, it’s just augmenting what’s already there like the authority I already have and my skills at detecting lies.”
“And all he did was act like Miles, but he did it so well that your brain perceived what you saw as Miles. It only seems like a stretch because it’s so alien to what you can do. It’s all magic though, Stella.”
