by Barry Reese
“Help you willingly?” Van Draught stood up. “That’s not going to happen. You’re talking about the overthrow of our government. I’m a red-white-and-blue American.”
Hiroshi stood up and clasped his hands behind his back. He regarded Van Draught with a mixture of respect and amusement. “You are a curious man, Mr. Van Draught. You are willing to bargain away your honor for a relatively small amount of money and yet when offered the chance to truly grab power in the coming order, you refuse, citing some sort of loyalty to your country.”
“Well, that just goes to show how little you understand about Americans, son. None of us are averse to making a little money on the side. That’s called Capitalism. But when the push comes to shove, I think we’re the greatest country on this planet and I won’t do anything that would work against that.”
Hiroshi raised his voice and said, “Pandora, now, if you please!”
PANDORA HEARD THE shout and she closed her eyes, allowing the dark emotions of the Seven Deadly Sins to play across her soul. She focused on the most violent of them: Wrath. Using the strange device created by Prof. Potter, she began to project Wrathful images into the mind of the man whose picture she’d been studying. The exact nature of the scenes would be tailored by Van Draught’s own mind, showing him the dark nightmares that haunted the deepest crevices of his psyche.
She could feel his anguish even before his startled screams began to echo through the hotel. Pandora did not hesitate. She had long ago learned to turn off her emotions when confronted with the pain of others. She drew no pleasure from seeing men and women struck down, of course, but it was sometimes necessary for the greater good.
The power was almost palpable. With Potter’s device augmenting her own ability, she was able to touch the minds of everyone around her. It wasn’t telepathy. She had no idea what Van Draught was seeing in his mind, for instance, but she could sense that they were there and she knew the basic emotional state they were operating under.
A smile touched the lips that had once belonged to Locke. Tamaki and Potter were thinking so small. Perhaps it was because they had no idea how powerful she truly was or perhaps it was because they were men, who tended to think on an immediate level. As soon as their quick desires were satisfied, they moved on to the next conquest.
Pandora could feel that a lot more was possible with this device. Manipulating the mind of one person was hardly a true test of its abilities. Allowing her mind to expand further, Pandora was able to brush the consciousness of people throughout the city, blocks and even miles away.
The spirit of Wrath tumbled out from her as Pandora began to test the power she had now been given.
The number of screams began to multiply.
HIROSHI BACKED AWAY in confusion. Van Draught was on his knees, his fingers raking at the skin of his face, digging deep furrows in his own cheeks. The old man’s voice was hoarse now but he was still shrieking.
Strangely, he was not the only one. Other voices were joining Van Draught’s. Hiroshi ran to the window and yanked open the curtain, watching as several cars careened off the road. One of them ran up the steps of the hotel, smashing into the spinning door and shattering the glass.
Then the visions began to shove their way into Hiroshi’s head. He saw a river of blood, the waters filled with bodies and the weapons of war. Cannons, tanks, swords and rifles floated past a ruined landscape where Hiroshi himself sat upon a throne formed of human remains. He wore a set of armor formed of flesh and bones, the upper half of a skull affixed to the top of his head like a helmet.
This was the landscape of his dominion, the result of his mad grab for power.
Hiroshi’s lips pulled back into a horrific grin and he began to laugh, wildly, madly.
By the time Pandora finally ceased her ‘experiment,’ Hiroshi had sagged to the floor, his back against the wall. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw only the bloodied streets of his future realm. He smelled the decay and death. He could taste the bile rising up from his throat.
“MR. TAMAKI?”
HIROSHI swiveled his head and fixed his gaze upon the worried features of Doctor Craig. “Yes?”
“Are you… are you alright?”
Hiroshi stood up, noticing Van Draught’s corpse. “He is dead?”
“He’s not the only one. The streets are filled with them. The hotel, too. I have no idea why we’re still alive. Most of these people… it’s like their brains were burned up inside their head. They’re oozing right out of every orifice.”
“Pandora?”
“She’s fine. She said she wanted to test the upper limits of the device.” Craig looked disturbed. “I suppose she did that.”
Hiroshi pushed past him, striding across the hall. He found Pandora and Potter huddled together. The old man was obviously frightened, having revealed the second thoughts he was having about the use of his device.
Pandora turned to face Hiroshi and from her demeanor he knew that she expected him to be angry. She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for his fury.
“You’re the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen.” He reached out and embraced her, pulling her against him. She stiffened in surprise. When he pulled back, his intense gaze held her own, refusing to let her look away. “I had no idea what you could do with that thing. Forget all of my earlier plans! You’re going to seize control of the entire city, all at once! The President will be ours and through him, we’ll rule this shadow government! The military, the treasury, the media – all of it will be ours!”
Pandora stared at him, noting that there was something… off-kilter. “You experienced the visions?”
“I did. We all did. But you allowed us to live, didn’t you? You wanted us to know that you believed in our mission and wouldn’t kill us even when you had the chance.” When Pandora didn’t answer, Hiroshi continued, taking her silence as agreement. “What I saw was… amazing. Terrifying.”
“But you are not dissuaded from your intention of ruling as Emperor?”
“Oh, no! Not at all. In fact,” he lowered his voice and leaned close. “I’m terribly aroused.”
Pandora’s eyebrows rose in surprise. The look of hunger in his gaze and the warmth that seemed to emanate from him, both were intoxicating. For the first time in a very long time, Pandora felt like a woman and she was all too aware of Hiroshi’s maleness.
This new body of hers was responding to his proximity and she wondered if the Sins were influencing her words as she said, “Craig and Potter, leave us.”
The two academics exchanged quick glances and then hurried away, both of them glad to be free of this place. Neither of them were killers at heart but they were a part of this now and the dark knowledge frightened them both.
When they were alone, Hiroshi began undressing, his excitement making his voice tremble. “I saw such terrible things. It was like I was Death himself, deciding who lived and who died.”
“I want to eradicate Sin,” Pandora responded, her eyes hungrily drinking in his body as he revealed it.
“We’ll eradicate it all. Everything!”
When he embraced her, she not only did not pull away, she reciprocated his kiss.
Chapter IX: City of the Damned
The morning papers called it a variety of things but the one that would catch on in future years was “The Midnight Madness.” Gravedigger and her allies had been too far away from the hotel to suffer from Pandora’s attack but the tales of terror and the damage left behind was all too apparent the next day. In all, nearly two dozen men and women were killed while many more suffered both physical and mental injuries, some of which seemed likely to impair the victims for many years to come.
“It had to be Potter’s machine.”
Assembled around a table set with breakfast, Gravedigger’s aides alternated bites of their food with reading the various newspaper front pages that were scattered amongst the plates. Charity was not with them, which allowed a little more personal freedom in their commen
ts. Though all of them considered Charity to be a friend, she was also their employer and leader and all of them deferred to her in the appropriate manner.
Cedric, who had made the decree concerning Potter’s machine, pushed his plate away and dabbed at his face with a napkin. “I think we need to call around to the various hotels and figure out where Tamaki is staying. Even if he’s smart enough to be using a fake name, it can’t be hard for us to locate a group matching their descriptions.”
Mitchell studied a photograph on the front page of The Washington Post. It showed a wide-eyed young woman on her knees, surrounded by police officers. Her mascara had run, leaving dark tracks down her face. A burning car could be seen in the background. “We need to be careful. We don’t know the specifics of what Potter’s machine is capable of. The last thing we need to do is break into Tamaki’s headquarters and end up having our brains oozing out of our noses.”
Li made a face and set down her fork, having suddenly lost her appetite for scrambled eggs. “Yuck.”
“Sorry,” Mitchell muttered, having realized his mistake. He looked over at Mortimer, who was smearing butter onto a biscuit. “What do you think, Mortimer? Any idea what we should be doing?”
“Doesn’t matter what I think.”
“Where do you get off saying that?”
“Gravedigger was already out when we woke up. That means she’s already decided what should be done and she’s doing it. When and if she wants to bring us into her plan, she’ll tell us. Until then, I’m going to rest, read and eat.” Mortimer looked around the table, his gaze finally settling on Mitchell. “I’ll be honest with you. I think it’s a really strange thing that she’s surrounded herself with so many different assistants. In my day, I would have one or two around from time to time but they didn’t live with me or travel with me. Josef worked solo most of his career, didn’t he? You weren’t with him the entire time, were you?”
“I was there for most of it.”
Mortimer held up a single finger. “That’s one person. One. By having a single agent working in his employ, he was able to forge a tight relationship with you and the two of you eventually could guess what the other was thinking, right?”
“Of course.”
“That’s unlikely to happen with all of us. There’s too many cooks in the kitchen.”
“That’s why she shouldn’t have let you join us,” Cedric responded with a cool grin.
Mortimer shrugged, refusing to take the bait. “I just think it’s unusual, that’s all. It’s not what I or any other Gravedigger has done. I understand that she considers each of you to have different skills but I think having so many people to keep track of might hinder her down the line.”
“You’re forgetting something,” Li pointed out.
Looking curious, Mortimer waited for her to continue.
“You said that she’s not acting like all the previous Gravediggers. But she’s not like the others. She’s a woman.”
“You’re saying that she needs more help because she’s a woman?”
Li gave a little giggle, hiding her face behind one of her hands. “No,” she said with a shake of her head. “I just mean that men place a value on being self-sufficient. Women are much more likely to realize the importance of family and a strong group of friends. We’re not as challenged by differing opinions as men are.”
“It’s not a matter of being challenged,” Mortimer argued.
“Of course it is. That’s why Charity had to make it clear to you who was in charge. Because as a man, you define yourself by your place in the pecking order. She knew that and she was hesitant to let you into the group until you understood how we worked here. This is the modern world of 1937! Times have changed from the days when you ran around as Gravedigger.”
The verbal dressing down was delivered so sweetly that Mortimer found it hard to get angry about her words. Nonetheless, he certainly understood that he had just received a rebuke.
He resumed eating his breakfast. “All of that takes us back to my original point: this is Charity’s world and we’re all just living in it. She’ll tell us what she wants, when she wants it.”
GRAVEDIGGER SPRINTED FORWARD, leaping across the chasm that separated one building and the next. She had never been to the nation’s capital before and she had to fight against the urge to fall prey to tourist tendencies.
She had woken before all the others and crept out before dawn. She knew they were all mentally and emotionally exhausted from the events of the day before. Leaping out of a crashing airplane and barely escaping with life and limb intact was enough to take most people out of commission, even ones as stout as her friends.
Several of the newspapers had mentioned that the majority of the deaths had actually occurred in a relatively small area. It seemed to Gravedigger that this must have been the epicenter of the event, with the strength of the psychic wave diminishing as it spread out from there.
That gave her an idea of where she could begin her search, leading her to this particular neighborhood. While it was possible that Tamaki might own property, she thought it more likely that he was staying at a hotel. Unfortunately, there were five different possibilities within a three-block area.
Gravedigger walked across the rooftop of the building she was currently standing on. It was a bank, located between two different hotels. Both were within easy driving distance of the heart of the government, which would appeal to Tamaki.
She placed one foot on the lip of the roof, staring down below. The hotel to her right was surrounded by workmen and police officers, which had placed yellow caution tape around the ruined front entrance. Apparently, a driver had lost control of their vehicle and driven it straight into the hotel lobby.
She was contemplating stripping off her uniform and entering the hotel in plainclothes when a sense of disorientation washed over her. She stepped away from the edge, fearing that she might topple over. Was this some sort of attack? Had she stumbled upon the villains’ lair and been detected? If so, she might become the latest victim of what the papers were calling “The Midnight Madness.”
She swayed, placing both hands against her temples. Her skull was pounding and her vision began to grow dark. She was plunged into a world of nothingness.
The Voice filled her mind, drowning out all else. You stand upon the precipice of a great trial.
Charity opened her eyes. She was resting on her knees in a brightly lit room. The walls were decorated by a soft floral pattern and the floor was lined with lush carpet. She wore her Gravedigger uniform, though with her hood thrown back and her mask resting on the floor beside her.
Directly in front of her was an elaborate fountain, one that was shaped like a mountain, with a waterfall gently cascading down its surface. The entire display was nearly six feet high and half that across. The craftsmanship was so amazing that Charity felt that she could almost feel the cool breeze wafting off the water and hear the clip-clop of a mountain goat’s hooves.
Tearing her gaze away from the work of art, she looked around in hopes of finding the source of The Voice. “I’m… Outside, aren’t I?” she asked.
Yes. You are once again Outside.
Charity slowly rose to her feet, rubbing her sweaty palms against her legs. “The last time I came here I was nearly dead.”
You are unharmed. We have brought you here so that we may Commune.
“Do you know what I should do next?” she asked.
You are wise in the ways of the world, Charity Grace. You have been most pleasing as our Gravedigger. You have brought fear to the world of criminals and struck down those who are deserving of punishment.
“Pandora… Is she my Opposite?” she asked aloud.
She is. Like you, she was a good woman at her core but life led her to make decisions that were regrettable. Given a chance at redemption, she has squandered the opportunity. She has become mad, obsessed with the removal of her sin to the point where she herself has become a sinner. She will be your e
qual in battle.
“If I succeed in defeating her does that mean I’ll have accomplished what you wanted? Will I be redeemed?”
Such cannot be judged until your three years of service are up. However, a victory over your Other does show that you have faced your own faults and found a way to overcome them.
Charity ran a gloved hand through her hair. “I’ll do my best to stop her from hurting anyone else.”
There was no response and Charity realized that she was making a promise to an entity that had never shown any desire to be friends with her. The Voice had made a few comments here and there that could be construed as compliments but that didn’t necessarily translate that it planned to hold a true conversation with her.
Nonetheless, she asked, “You obviously felt the need for us to… commune. I doubt you brought me here just to tell me that Pandora is going to be a tough opponent.”
You will soon stare into the Abyss. Gravediggers have often given in to despair and lost their way after doing so. You must be resolute in your faith. Forgiveness comes from truly repenting. No man or woman is without sin.
The room around her began to shimmer and the sounds of the fountain began to fade. Charity tried to resist, not wanting to leave yet, not wanting to return without finding out more. She still had so many questions, not just about this current business but also about The Voice and the peculiar relationship she now had to this unseen entity.
The darkness once again overtook her, pulling back slowly, like a veil being removed from her eyes.
“Feeling better, I hope?”
Gravedigger whirled about, drawing her sword in one fluid motion. Standing near her was a man that she recognized from the Sovereign City Gazette: Jonah Craig. The thin academic was dressed in a tweed suit, a nervous smile on his lips.
Before Craig even blinked, Gravedigger was on him. She seized him by the back of his neck, drawing him close. Her sword pressed against his throat, just under his upturned chin.
