He heard the cursing from Abaddon as the knife dissolved. Fil turned to offer a smirk of his own. Abaddon threw an arm around Rand’s neck instead, squeezing the man’s throat. Rand tried to pry the killer’s arm free without success. Fil turned back to face the Leader.
“Legitimate, you say?” Arthur snorted. “Abaddon, it appears this man has a faulty memory and thinks you incapable of inflicting pain. Perhaps you should refresh that memory.”
Fil didn’t turn, but heard the thud as his Energy tore Abaddon away from the guard and hurled the killer against a wall ten feet away. Abaddon slumped to the ground, dazed. Rand’s fingers moved to his neck, massaging his throat as he took huge gulps of air, his eyes wide as he tried to understand the sorcery unfolding around him. Fil tightened his gaze upon Arthur. “Perhaps we can stop with the theatrics and get down to business? Mind you, I’d be perfectly happy to hurl your Assassin through the exterior wall if you’d like.”
Arthur studied him with an appraising glance once more before nodding. “What business do you, a member of the Alliance, have with me? Are you here to dump water on my building again?”
Fil shook his head. “I’m here to discuss the terms of your surrender.”
The silence in the room lasted several seconds. Rand looked between the men he knew as Mr. Sebastian and Mr. Lowell, trying to understand what coded language the stranger spoke. Porthos glanced at the Leader, his lip curling, his face bearing a look of amusement.
Arthur snorted, leaned back, and took another sip of water.
Porthos laughed. “Is this some type of standup comedy routine, Fil Trask? You’re in our building and you’re sorely outnumbered. We have… means of limiting what you might try to do.” The Hunter flicked his eyes in the direction of Rand, who looked confused before busying himself trying to find the gun he’d dropped when seized by Abaddon. “You cannot demand surrender from us and expect to be taken seriously.”
“I’m quite serious,” Fil replied. “And I’m not alone.”
“Is that so?” Arthur asked. He put his drink back on the desk and moved around to the computer on the other side. “Were you perhaps counting on the assistance of the Alliance woman sent to my data center to steal my computers and data?”
Fil felt his stomach churn as he sought to control his emotive energy. He’d never managed to master the lessons on the topic from Sarah before she… “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Arthur laughed, clapping his hands together. “Young man, you’re a terrible liar.” He tapped a button, and Ashley’s voice filled the room, bantering with an unknown human employee.
Fil felt his breath catch in his throat when the man whispered his apologies, staggered when the man whispered, “I’m sorry.” When the sound of the gunshot reverberated throughout the room, he bowed his head and fought to retain his balance. He wanted to drop to the floor, to grieve her loss, but he steeled himself. What Arthur didn’t know is that she’d accomplished her mission before the fatal gunshot wound. He’d let Arthur’s original assumption stand. “It’s a moot point. We’ll get in and capture that equipment once your surrender is complete.”
Arthur shook his head, his eyes full of cruel laughter. “Ah, the naiveté of the young. There will be no surrender today.” He paused. “Unless you’re planning to surrender to me.”
Fil snorted. “I think not. I’ll accept nothing less than your unconditional surrender.”
“You’ll get nothing of the sort,” Porthos hissed.
Rand had located a gun he’d hidden in a holster on his leg. “Yeah, we’re not surrendering! Aw, come on!” He stared as the second gun dissolved to dust as had the first.
“It would appear, then, that we are at an impasse. We each demand the surrender of the other, which seems unlikely to happen because of mere… words.” Arthur stroked his chin.
“Don’t do it, Porthos,” Fil said. “I won’t be standing here when you pop in behind me.” He turned his head toward the Hunter.
Porthos arched an eyebrow before beginning a slow clap. “I’m suitably impressed.” He glanced at his Leader. “This guy’s legit, sir. We won’t capture him through Energy means.”
“What energy?” Rand asked.
The Leader offered a grave nod and a sigh. “I thought so. Will Stark wouldn’t send a lightweight in his stead.” He glanced up for a moment. “Perhaps I can offer you a bit of motivation to see things my way.” He snapped his fingers.
He heard the sound of doors opening around the penthouse level. A dozen Aliomenti guards stepped forth, each pressing the barrel of a gun against the head of a human prisoner. The eyes of the humans were wide with fear as their captors steered them forward toward the Leader.
Fil glanced at Arthur. “I’ve already demonstrated that such a tactics are useless. Why do you bother repeating something that you know won’t work?”
Arthur chuckled. “Oh, this isn’t the threat, young man. This is, shall we say, a visual demonstration. The human population on this Island reaches into the thousands, but my people number into the hundreds themselves. Each of them is, at this moment, capturing a human prisoner throughout the Island. Each of those prisoners finds his—or her—life in peril as you stand here exchanging small talk. You can’t find and disarm all of my people before I can get the word out to execute the prisoners.”
Fil stared at him.
“But I am a merciful man, Fil Trask. They’ll be freed when I have your surrender, when I’ve isolated you into an Energy deprivation cell built for one of your… unique skills.” He sighed, a dramatic sigh. “Their lives are in your hands. Will you save them, Fil Trask? Or will you once more act in the role of Destructor?”
Porthos sniggered. “Looks like it’s your move now, Destructor.”
Fil stood still for a moment before lifting his wrist toward his face. He tapped on the bracelet there. “Dad, can you hear me?”
Porthos spun on him. “Dad?” He turned back to Arthur. “He has a Dad?”
Arthur’s face had paled a bit, but he glared at his Hunter. “Most people do, Porthos.”
“Who’s Porthos?” Rand asked.
Will’s voice boomed forth from the bracelet. “I’m here, son.”
Porthos stared at Arthur. “That’s Will Stark, isn’t it? It’s true, then. What Stark told us all those years ago? He truly does have a son?”
“Porthos, you moronic twit, shut up. My son is speaking to me and you’re interrupting.”
“I’ve encountered a bit of a situation here, Dad,” Fil continued. He ignored Abaddon’s return to a vertical position and the looks of death shooting from his red-lined eyes. Rand noticed the Assassin’s return to verticality and backed away, his hands moving to his throat. “The Aliomenti have informed me that they’ve taken hostage hundreds of humans throughout the Island. I’ve been informed that they’ll execute all of them if I don’t surrender.”
“Running to Daddy for help, Fil Trask?” Arthur hissed, his eyes full of a raging fire.
“Most children turn to their parents for help in time of need, Arthur, because most children learn to expect a positive outcome from the effort. I realize that’s something you wouldn’t understand.”
Fil snorted. Porthos frowned, not in anger, but confusion. Rand looked puzzled. He peered at Porthos. “Who’s Arthur?”
Fil held his wrist higher. “Thoughts on next steps, Dad?”
There was a pause. “Having seen what happens to those entrusted to Arthur’s care, I can only recommend that you decline his offer.”
Arthur’s eyes flashed. “Stark, you do understand that you’re sentencing innocents—humans, even—to death, do you not?”
Rand lowered his gun. “Wait. If this man”—he pointed his gun at Fil—“does not surrender to you, then you’ll… you’re going to kill people?”
“Hush, Rand,” Porthos whispered. “This doesn’t concern you.”
“It does if I’m going to die!” Rand snapped. He pointed at the men and women held
at gunpoint around them. “You’re going to kill them? Why? And then you’re going to kill me?” Then, chastened, he added, “Sir.”
“My primary concern, Arthur, is for the safety of my son. It is your decision to fight your battles using others as pawns. I protect my children, Arthur. If you don’t protect the humans entrusted to your care… well, that would be quite consistent of you.”
Porthos scrunched up his face. “Sir, what’s he talking about? Why is Stark talking about children? I thought he had just one child. Or is he talking about something else?”
Arthur ignored him. “At least I don’t hide while people are dying, Stark. I don’t seem to recall seeing you out trying to save people you supposedly cared about when they were directly threatened and died.”
Fil felt his face redden as Abaddon laughed.
“Being unable to stop something from happening isn’t the same thing as encouraging it, Arthur. Is your memory that faulty on events of that sort? I can relate the story for you, and the people in the room with you, that—”
“Shut up!” Arthur screamed, bounding forward toward Fil. “Just shut. Up.” His face had purpled as he wagged his finger at Fil and the disembodied voice of Will Stark. “I’ll not have you spreading any lies!”
Porthos glanced at Abaddon and the other Aliomenti in the room. Even Abaddon’s murderous look had faded, replaced by one of confusion. “Sir, what’s going on—?”
“I said shut up!” Arthur’s eyes blazed, more murderous even than Abaddon’s. “I forbid you to speak in my presence, Will Stark!”
Fil raised his hand. “Am I permitted to speak?” He paused, realizing the truth. Even the Hunters didn’t know Arthur’s secret. Well, he could fix that. And use it to his advantage. “Will you forbid me to speak as well, Grandfather?”
Porthos whirled on Fil. “What?”
“He lies!” Arthur screamed. “This man is a liar!” He stepped forward and seized Porthos by the shoulders, spittle flying from his mouth as he spoke. “I forbid you to listen to him or believe him!”
Abaddon appeared to lose interest, as did the others in the room. Porthos did not. He turned to Fil, craning his neck and working to keep his balance as Arthur tried to block and push him bodily away. “How… is Will… I don’t understand.”
Fil pointed at Arthur. “My mother is Arthur’s daughter.”
Arthur threw Porthos to the ground and whirled toward Fil, sprinting towards him at a speed one ought not to see from a man pushing twelve centuries in age. The rage upon his face was pure and uninhibited. “I’ll kill you!”
Fil stepped aside nimbly and tripped Arthur as the man rushed past, focusing on Porthos. “He encouraged her death after squandering her life, and he would have succeeded had my father not been there to nurse her back to health.”
Porthos’ eyes were calculating, shrewd. “There have been rumors… it would make sense… the emails, the warnings not to hurt the woman who’d married Will… it all makes sense.” He looked at the Leader as the man scrambled back to his feet from the brief time on the ground as if seeing him for the first time.
“It! Is! A! Lie!” Arthur screamed. He sprinted at Porthos, who didn’t move, and seized the man’s head in his hands, forcing the Hunter to look him in the eye. “I have no daughter. I—” He broke off, his face a mask of horror and confusion, as his eyes focused on something behind Fil.
Porthos, Fil, and the others in the room turned to see what had seized Arthur’s attention.
“Hello, Daddy.” Hope’s voice was filled with scorn and sarcasm. “Twelve centuries pass, and you’re still denying me. I guess some things never change.”
Arthur’s knees gave out, and he fell to the ground, unable to blink.
XVI
THE TELEPORTATION PORTAL WAS BASED upon long dormant technology they’d developed decades earlier, technology promoted as a means to transport goods between spots in an instant. Though they’d publicly discouraged the use of the technology for moving people, they’d always known it was a workable option. After revealing his secret, the former Mechanic introduced those who opted to stay and fight the Aliomenti to the portal he’d established between the Cavern and Eden.
After bidding Gena and Adam a fond farewell, they’d entered the portal, a barren room in Will’s private Mechanic quarters that smelled slightly of salt water, and closed the door, sealing the transport chamber. Angel pushed the transport button on the wall, and they felt the sense of displacement indicative of a teleportation-style move. The room on Eden mimicked the counterpart in the Cavern, though it, ironically, bore the earthy scents so common in the underground city. Charlie opened the door, and they emerged into the natural sunlight and salty air of Eden.
Charlie had never been to the Island, and Angel could sense the pleasure he derived from the perfect weather. “You know how you joked about never leaving this place?”
“I can’t say it was exactly a joke…”
He laughed. “I totally understand now.” He pointed. “What’s that?”
Angel looked ahead. To her right she saw two smaller buildings constructed of native timbers. “That’s where Dad—and, later on, Mom—lived and worked while they were here. We found those buildings when we detoured here when we traveled back to 2030 to get Dad. It’s how we knew we’d been sent here and knew we’d be back.” She pointed to the large structures to her left, resting on the opposite side of the river bisecting the island. “Those, however, are new.”
Her father had talked of the new, tent-like structures he and her mother constructed on Eden, meant to hold various populations of people who’d reach Eden during the course of the invasion plan.
They started walking toward the bridge that would ferry them across the river before heading toward the smaller tent. She sensed Charlie’s unease. “What’s wrong? Are you nervous about this?”
Charlie laughed mirthlessly. “Fight to the death with the Aliomenti, a group we know will use every dirty trick and tactic we can divine and a few we can’t? What’s there to worry about?” After she chuckled, his face turned serious. “No, that’s not it. I’m concerned about Adam.”
Angel frowned. “What do you mean? What are you concerned about?”
“Well…” Charlie hesitated. “I’ve not known him as long as you have, of course. But he’s always seemed… guarded. Like he’s afraid to let anyone get too close to him.”
Angel paused. “What made you think of that just now?”
“Like I said, he’s always seemed that way to me.” He paused. “But… it’s been much more pronounced over the past few months.”
He’d noticed it, then, after they’d brought Young Will from the past to this present. “I can’t say I’ve ever noticed it, to be honest. You’re saying it’s been more noticeable since the months we spent with Dad from the past?”
Charlie frowned and slowed his pace, wedging the toes of his boots more deeply into the springy grass. “It’s hard to explain,” he admitted. “It’s just a… a feeling, I guess. Like he’s carrying the burden of some awful secret that he fears anyone ever learning. I sense he’s worried that, if this secret comes out, everyone he knows will turn against him.”
Angel couldn’t fathom what secret Adam carried that would turn her against him. Or turn anyone else against him, either. She’d always found Adam a man generous with his time and advice. She struggled to find a comparable secret. “You think it’s something like being the cause of the Cataclysm?”
Members of the Alliance knew Fil to be the trigger of the devastation; that his uncontrolled release of anger-fueled Energy had led to the deaths of thousands of their Alliance brethren. Though forgiveness had come with time, she hadn’t needed her Empathy skills to detect the resentment many felt toward him, even when they learned the source of the grief that fueled Fil’s emotional outburst.
Charlie considered her words. “It’s not a perfect match, but it’s a good analogy. He doesn’t want the human world at large to know what he did for fear
of the repercussions, and not just for him.” He shook his head. “I feel like it’s deeper than that in Adam’s case. With Fil, he had a support group immediately to help him overcome the grief at his loss and his remorse over the unintended devastation he caused. Even if his role in the Cataclysm had been revealed to the world at large soon after it happened, he’d have all of us there for him, to protect him from whatever anger might ensue. With Adam? I get the sense that it’s a burden he’s been forced to carry alone for a very long time. He has no support group, no one to talk to, and no one to help him deal with whatever it is he’s hiding.”
Angel stopped moving. The sea birds squawked overhead, and the silence in that moment brought the sounds of the ocean waves to their ears. “I can’t fathom what it might be, or why he’d think, after spending so much time with us, that we’d push him away, no matter what this secret might be.” She patted him gently on the shoulder. “Assuming, of course, that there in fact is such a secret.”
Charlie grinned. “I’ve never been wrong before, have I?” He tried to adopt a look of pure innocence, but succeeded only in eliciting giggles from Angel.
She grew thoughtful once more. “Still, your theory would explain something else.”
“What’s that?”
“If he’s hiding some terrible secret, one he thinks would leave him shunned if it were to be revealed… that might be the reason he won’t let anything develop with Gena. Do you think that might be the case?”
Charlie nodded. “I do. And that’s the greatest pain of all, isn’t it? The burden he can’t share is keeping him from the woman he loves.”
“That’s stupid, though!” Angel shook her head. “Gena wouldn’t leave him if she knew… whatever this mythical secret might be. If it even exists.” Angel scowled. “If something’s burdening him, he needs to tell her. She can help him. Why can’t he understand that?”
Charlie grimaced. “Perhaps he has reason to believe that what he told her would drive her away forever?”
Angel snorted. “But there’s nothing he could tell her at this point that would separate the two of them.” She paused. Adam was no fool. He’d shared with them, after many years, the truth around Gena’s birth and the identity of her well-known trend. But he’d kept that secret to protect her from the likely pressure she’d feel if she’d been thrown into Alliance life from birth, an environment of unreasonable expectations. He’d told the story… but only when Gena and the rest were prepared to handle the truth. That gave her pause. If he’d carried a secret so deeply held that only Charlie sensed its presence, and he’d held that burden for so long… “Is there something that might drive her and the rest of us away?”
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