Halcyon's Hero (Atramento Book 1)

by Nix Whittaker

  Hal frowned at the person and said, “Kim Si?”

  Misha came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She reached up and covered his hand for a short while. A brief acknowledgment that he was there if she needed him.

  “You look like crap, Kim Si.”

  His usual neat appearance was just a little bit off. His shirt was untucked on one side and his hair was starting to get fly-aways. He was never like this. He patted his hair self-consciously. His voice sounded like he had been screaming and it was hoarse.

  “Chin Sun is in the hospital.”

  Hal gasped and went up to him and took his hand. He shook. His voice cracked as he spoke.

  “She was mugged. She didn’t see who it was, just some young boys. Teenagers maybe.”

  “Do you think it was something other than a mugging?”

  “I’m not sure. It was in one of Marcus’ neighbourhoods so it could be him, but none of them sounded like his usual goons,” his voice firmed as he managed to steady himself. He didn’t show much emotion usually, so it must overwhelm him to be as shaky as he was.

  Misha brought Kim Si a glass of water from inside.

  “Maybe it was young boys wanting to impress Marcus. That way he can keep his hands clean.”

  “Maybe.”

  Kim Si didn’t sound very sure. There was a tense silence, then Hal broke it by saying determinedly.

  “We will be careful.”

  Kim Si nodded his head. “We all will be.”

  He passed back the empty glass and left without his usual surly quip. His wife’s attack really rattled him. Hal hesitated over something and Misha asked, “What?”

  “Do you think I should tell people about the strength atramento?”

  He said, “We still don’t know what it will do over time.”

  She sighed. There was a reason she used Misha as her guinea pig. If she was going to give these atramentos away wholesale, she would first make sure they were safe.

  She nodded firmly. “Once I have finished running tests. Then, then I will see if there is anyone that needs it.”

  He leaned down and briefly kissed her. “Just imagine if Marcus found out about them? He would terrorize people with strength like this.”

  She huffed. “They wouldn’t work on him. You were the first I found who could deal with it.”

  He grinned and asked, “Is it because of my calm?”

  “Don’t joke about it, Misha. Not many people are like you.”

  He kissed her again and said, “Don’t mind me, I’m just fishing for compliments.”

  She frowned at him. “You think me telling you, you have a calm EM field is a compliment?”

  He had to laugh at that. “Your version of them, anyway.”

  “You are mad, Misha.” And she loved that about him.

  ___

  Hal plopped on the couch next to Misha. He was drinking something and watching something on the large screen though it was gathering dust because she hardly used it. She squinted at the screen and realised she was wrong. It was clean. Actually, there were a lot of things cleaner, now that she looked around.

  “Where is Natasha?”

  “She’s making dinner. Do you feel like Thai tonight?”

  Hal shrugged. As long as she didn’t have to cook it, she would eat it.

  “Do you really think it was Marcus who sent those muggers?”

  Misha pulled her closer and rubbed his cheek on her hair.

  “Yeah. Just seeing how far Kim Si and his people will go to protect us.”

  That thought chilled her. A cautious Marcus differed from what she was used to and threw out her extrapolations on what he was likely to do. “You don’t think they can?”

  “I never thought they could. Marcus is ruthless and heartless. The landowners merely challenged him and he knew he would find a way around them, eventually. He could afford to wait.”

  Hal sighed and tucked her hands up so they were between her and him. She turned and rubbed her nose against his chest. She closed her eyes and took in his scent.

  She mumbled, “You smell nice.”

  She could hear his amusement in his voice as he said, “I try.”

  She pulled away and smacked him. He just grinned at her. He reached out and tugged a bit of her hair.

  “I like how you smell too, Halcyon.”

  “You know you are the only one that calls me that. Why won’t you call me Hal?”

  He wrinkled his nose at her nickname. “Hal is a boy’s name.”

  She said, “Are you afraid someone will think you are gay if you have a girlfriend called Hal?”

  “There are many things I am afraid of, but that isn’t one of them.”

  She said, “You aren’t afraid of anything my calm Zen master.”

  His fingers gently caressed her cheek and neck. “I’m just a man, Halcyon, and we are afraid of a lot of things.”

  “Yeah? Name one.”

  He bent down and kissed her. “Of making our girlfriends angry.”

  “You afraid of me, teddy bear?”

  He chuckled. “No, I’m more afraid to run away and never have you in my arms again.”

  “My hero.”

  She drawled with a fake southern accent; he kissed her again and she forgot what they were talking about, anyway. They both groaned with disappointment when the buzzer went on the gate.

  Natasha called out, “Can one of you get that, please?”

  Misha leaned his head against hers for a second before he went to see who it was. He came back shortly, towing behind him Harold.

  Hal grinned and called out, “Harold. Take a seat, are you going to stay for dinner, Natasha is cooking?” She flapped her hand to indicate one of the free couches.

  Natasha called from the kitchen, “Tomorrow is your turn.”

  “You are dreaming, sister. You are my slave and will cook and clean for me for the rest of your life.”

  Harold frowned and Hal turned back to him. “So what brings you our way, Enforcer Harold?”

  He tucked his hands into his pockets. “There has been a rise in violence in your neighbourhood.”

  She grinned at him as she enjoyed teasing him. “I swear it wasn’t us this time. We keep our crime-fighting strictly to weekends and stop muggings only on Thursday nights.”

  He said, “We’ve managed to take down several drug houses and labs. We believe the violence is retaliation for this. The victims are what concern me.”

  Misha sat down and Harold did as well. Maybe he was waiting for Misha to sit. The Enforcer seemed very uncomfortable on the couch that sagged under him.

  “He has been targeting sick people. Well, former sick people,” they all frowned at that, “and strangely enough all these people seem to have a faint pink tattoo on their cheeks.”

  Misha swore. She visibly shook though she wasn’t sure if it was fear or anger. Emotions were always tricky things to pin down. Her voice, when she spoke, had lost all the amusement of before.

  “Thank you, Harold, for telling us. We’ll deal with this.”

  Harold reached out and touched her arm in a surprisingly intimate gesture for the brusque man.

  “I’m only telling you, so you’ll be careful.”

  Hal said, “You once told me that the gangs could easily disrupt the city.”

  Harold said, “There are three million people in this city. We have less than a thousand Enforcers though we have double that of police who deal with smaller issues.”

  Harold continued, “If you did something it could be merely adding fuel to the fire rather than stopping this Marcus fellow.”

  Hal hesitated. He was right. She looked past him to Misha. He appeared worried and that worried her.

  “Fine, tell me what the best thing to do is. Not some nonsense of letting you fix everything.”

  He said, “There isn’t enough of us to fix this problem, even if we wanted to and we have pressure from the leaders of the city to focus on more political crimes. They d
o not see the danger of the gangs as it is not an aspect that touches on their lives. Miss Smith, you need to protect yourself instead of fighting Marcus the same way he fights. He has his gang and he uses them to maintain his income.

  “He sees himself as a businessman, not as a gangster. There are certain rules in his business. If you want to take over a trade, you sabotage your competition and you gain some kind of assistance to take advantage of the situation. He will understand this kind of fighting and retaliate in kind. At the moment, he sees you as weak and that you surround yourself with weak people, mainly because you have not used your advantage so far. You need to make sure all your people are safe.”

  “Okay, so if I consolidated and re-enforced my position and made my people able to fight back, you think he might back off.”

  “Yes, because it will maintain the balance.”

  She stared at Misha and he said, “Run the final tests tomorrow. I’ll talk to Henry at the Centre. Not all of our people will need to be marked.”

  She agreed. She didn’t want this. She just wanted to be left alone to invent her things. She didn’t want to have people or responsibilities.

  Pointing a finger at Misha she said, “You deal with the people.”

  Misha broke the tension by laughing. She turned back to Harold and said, “You are first.”

  He seemed astonished for the first time since she had met him. Misha got up. “After dinner and include the senses, that will help him at work.”

  Hal agreed and she wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

  ___

  People threw things into the tray in front of Natasha. She sorted from there. Semi-precious stones into one container and electronic components and such into another. A lot had dust and things on them. Probably useless in the state they were in now.

  Understanding enough to know she could get gold and other components from them and with that really cool 3D printer, Hal hid in a corner, Natasha could make almost anything.

  Natasha was also in charge of making sure the right people got through. She could see the ones who were really not suited, but there were others like Misha. She understood now what Hal saw in him he was like one of those reflection pools. Placid and calm, but with great depth.

  Something flickered in the corner of her eye and she glanced aside only to see that nothing was there. Her heart skipped for a beat. That happened more often and she wondered if her own atramento was going to be the one that had side-effects.

  One of the young men, who had come to try for a strength tattoo, smiled at her and leaned over the table she worked behind.

  “Aren’t you a breath of fresh air? New to the city?”

  Natasha blinked and realised he was flirting. She blushed. “Ah, are you here for the atramento?”

  He waved to where Hal was working with a rig that copied her movements, so she could work on several people at the same time.

  “You mean that tattoo? Do you have one?”

  He looked significantly at her cheek. Hal was busy and Natasha was healthy so she hadn’t asked for the healing atramento yet though that was one she wanted. It also meant she was a little safer as the only tattoo she had on at the moment was on her lower back that allowed her to see people’s auras. She could avoid the bad guys with the sight and also stay hidden. Unless they saw her here today. It was a risk she was willing to take.

  Henry, on the door, turned away anyone he recognised was associated, even slightly, with any of the gangs. That most of the people in the line were women and young boys didn’t surprise her.

  Natasha studied the young man. He was fine for his aura to get the atramento so she waved him on. He hesitated and she realised he wanted to talk to her more. The woman behind him laughed and shoved him so he would move. He huffed and threw a single earring made of turquoise into the tray.

  She touched it. Fake, but she didn’t tell him. It was merely plaster that was painted to look like turquoise. Hal had told her not to turn anyone away because of fakes. Just to make sure they weren’t put in with the others because plaster in the inks made life difficult.

  It shocked Natasha to recognise the boy who stood next to the woman. He was one of Misha’s students who had come by the warehouse a few times. She smiled at the boy and stared at the woman. There was a slight flicker of pink that reached out for the boy. Hal was teaching her how to read everything she was now seeing. The flicker was a worry, but it was pink and moving towards the boy which made her smile at the woman. Pink meant love.

  “What are you contributing today?”

  The woman dug something out of her pocket while she spoke, “My father collected stones and when he was fighting, he would pick up all sorts. I don’t know what they are called, but you guys can have them all.”

  “One would be fine.”

  The sentimental value of those stones was more than any monetary value.

  She shook her head and dropped a bag of stones the size of a fist into the tray.

  “What Misha does, did for my boys—” She trembled. “No, he can have it all.”

  Ari seemed determined and asked, “Can I have one as well.”

  The boy’s aura was red and yellow and full of turbulence. There was something he was trying to work through between logic and emotion. He would eventually be able to sort it out, but at the moment, he was in no position to have a atramento.

  She touched his chest and he said, “Yeah, I figured.”

  Hal had also explained that people knew they weren’t at a point where they could have the atramentos. The woman seemed worried. She placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder. He shook his head.

  “I will be alright, mum. It is just—”

  She frowned and breathed out softly. “I know.”

  She leaned down and kissed the top of his head. She nodded to Natasha and went to wait with the others.

  Hal couldn’t do a full tat on everyone, but she had taken the idea from her machines. Micro atramentos. She set up a triad of smaller atramentos and they seemed to work almost as good as the larger one.

  Natasha was thinking of getting that done for the healing atramento. So, she might not be able to spit out bullets as Hal could, but she would be healthy.

  A flicker right next to her made her jump. For a while there she swore, she had seen a man lying on the floor bleeding to death. She swore softly in Russian and went back to work. She wasn’t going to get used to those visions any time soon. That was if they were real or not.

  ___

  Hal lounged against Natasha on the chairs they had set out for the people to wait on. He was pleased the two of them were friends. Isolated on the water farm; he didn’t think she knew how to make friends. Hal, on the other hand just didn’t want to make friends with idiots. He smiled at that thought.

  Henry came up beside him. When he stared at him, he saw he was looking at the two girls as well.

  “You have a good life at the moment, Misha.”

  He said, “Family and a beautiful woman.”

  “Maybe not with that blue hair.”

  They both chuckled though he didn’t admit to Henry he liked the hair. Especially since he realised, it was short because she had kept it short after the Chemo. He thought the blue had to do with that as well. Maybe it hadn’t grown out the same colour or something. Halcyon was more sensitive than people thought, so he didn’t ask about it.

  “Do you think we got enough people?”

  Misha nodded. Both of them knew the people who came that evening and he had recognised that they came from all over the neighbourhood. Marcus would soon find it hard to do business when little old ladies and boys managed to take on his corner boys.

  Misha thought it was the peer pressure that was going to work better. Marcus and the other gangs had direct competition, now for the cool factor, with the younger kids. They all knew that to join up with Marcus now would mean a change in their aura and a loss of their power.

  It was why he liked to teach the flashy Tae Kwon Do. A li
ttle was enough to make your point. Misha was hoping Marcus got the point as well with only a little show of strength on their side. He wasn’t so sure the State Enforcer was right. Marcus already saw them as competition. Now they had their own little army.

  At least Henry and he understood what they were really doing today. That was why it was mostly women and the young who had come through. If they could save any of these women from being beaten up or abused was a bonus worth the effort of the day.

  The boys were the same. They were the protectors of sisters and mothers and needed an upper hand they could achieve. Henry patted him on the shoulder and went to clean.

  Misha went to Halcyon and Natasha. Natasha held Halcyon, so she didn’t slip off the chair completely. Without a word he slipped his hands under Halcyon and cradled her against his chest. His cousin picked up their gear and the box of things they had gotten from the people. Silently they walked home. Henry was right. It was good to have a family again.

  Chapter Nine

  Whatinga: August 2086

  Hal turned and cuddled into the body next to her. She went still when she didn’t remember going to bed with anyone. She opened one eye carefully. She could make out Misha’s bulk. She should have realised it was him, anyway.

  She settled her cheek on his chest and listened to him breathe for a very long time.

  She said into the silence, “My parents were very flighty.”

  She knew he was awake as his hand softly caressed her hair. After another long silence, he asked, “Is that why you say you like my calm?”

  She rubbed her cheek and let the heat from him seep into her bones and made a soft non-committal sound. She was almost asleep again when he said, “What if I had demands?”

  “What kind of demands?”

  His hand slid over her body.

  She looked up at him and said, “I’ve never before—”

  He still didn’t pressure her to more and simply answered, “I know. I just haven’t figured out whether it is because you are so prickly to people or because you weren’t curious.”

  She smiled as she sat up. “Ah, my touted master of understanding people you have me wrong.”

  His voice was slumberous and sexy as hell. “Oh, how did I get it wrong?”