by Skyler Grant
It dawned on me too late that, of course, with SantaFe heroes, one of them was probably a crack shot. They had some sort of ability that meant they never missed. Even my dexterity and Olympian reflexes weren't proof against something like that.
My world was a blur as I tried to get to my feet. I shouldn't have. My legs just weren't working properly. A lasso whipped out and wrapped around my arms and dragged me across the flowers.
"Tie her up," a man in a black hat barked. A woman who must be Calamity Jane—if I was correctly remembering those who had been listed—dragged me over to a rock and bound me to it.
"Leave us," said the black-hatted man.
"You know, this don't sit rightly with me," said another man in a black hat. I recognized him from the party. Billy the Kid.
"Ain't asking for your opinion, Will. I'm telling you how things are," said the first man. "Take Pecos Bill and get after the other. She can't have gotten far."
That was unfortunately true. I'd meant to cause far more of a distraction than I actually had.
"Yessir, Mr. Green," Billy said, and moved off.
I still had to be a distraction. I had to kill myself. "Brambles," I murmured and a rope of them appeared wrapped around my neck. I meant to impale myself upon them, but I was tied so tightly I didn't have the ability Uncomfortable and not fatal—and hardly even uncomfortable compared to the pain of my shattered kneecaps.
The others walked away and gave us some distance leaving me with just the one man.
"Surprised at this outcome? Of course you are," Green said, pulling a wicked-looking knife from his waist and toying with it.
"Wondering who you are. I don't remember a Green being among the heroes sent after us," I said.
"Didn't have to be just heroes coming after you. No sort of rule about it," Green said, leaning in and digging the tip of the knife into my side. "Besides. You might say I had something of a personal interest in what you stole."
"It was your facility I attacked," I said, with a sudden sick feeling in my stomach.
"Now she understands. You've seen a little of my work so you understand just what it is I'm about to do to you," Green said.
"I'm not in a box. I can log out anytime I want," I said.
"That's true for now. You can just scamper off and hide any time you like. If you do it's a forfeit for Liberty and my information stays safe," Green said.
I didn't know if that was true, but I could believe it. Leaving mid-encounter would demand some sort of penalty and it would make sense that it was the data we'd come to collect.
"You realize this is all live. That anything you do to me everyone will know. That they'll realize what a sick bastard you are. Do they know what you do to all those people you take and stuff in boxes?" I asked.
Green laughed and the tip of his knife dragged along my flesh. "You think anyone cares? You're entertainment. Didn't the crowds cheer when you hurt yourself charging to your death again and again? Do you think they're going to react any differently when I skin you, then rape you?"
That ice that had been at my core for awhile now was starting to bubble away into panic and I tried to force it down. Tried to force it cool. I was a professional. My old mantra and I tried to cling to it. There was nothing professional about being tortured and raped though. I could avoid it, but then this bastard would win. That was what he wanted. Wasn't that what he wanted?
Green cut a small square off of me. There is no real other way to describe that. The pain made my head spin, "I'm going to find you."
"You are," Green said, and he leaned in to tease his tongue on my ear. "I'm close, you see. I'm down on Earth. I'm so close and soon I'm going to have you back just like I had your friend. This is going to be the rest of your life. I'm going to make sure of it."
The words were meant to push me over the edge into total fear, but they did the opposite. I felt that ice coming back, filling me once more. I was already dead.
"Ismene. Can you track him?"
"His connection is well shielded. Log out Alena, we have whatever Darla knows. We'll work with her and get this bastard."
"We know he's somewhere near us on Earth. We know he's alive now just like we are. Can't you compare, do something?"
"No. Nothing, there is no point to this." Ismene said. My friend’s voice was perfectly composed, perfectly calm, frank, honest. Her tone didn't mean a thing. Ismene chose her tone and she was choosing to lie to me, because she loved me and didn't want me hurt. I had to be hurt.
"Do your worst," I said.
Green smiled and his dragged along my skin once more, "We're going to have so much fun."
"Brambles," I said and they sprang up around him. It was a distraction, nothing more. Then he cut out my tongue and I wasn't saying anything anymore.
There is no good way to describe the misery that was the next few hours. It is nothing I want to recall. I was ice, frozen and immutable and eternal. That is what I told myself. That is what I tried to make myself believe.
I'd been through horrors before and I'd go through them again. I was Persephone and I made the best of tragedy. I knew that Ismene would be putting this time to good use. It came as a relief when after some hours my head jerked back as a rifle round entered it. I cycled through flowers going further and further afield until finding what I'd hoped I'd find. Columbia crouched low, looking through the scope of a rifle. Watching her, Billy the Kid was on a horse nearby with a corpse slung over his saddle. Apparently capturing Columbia hadn’t been part of his thinking.
"Made it back as fast as I could when I heard what is happening," Columbia said and she squeezed off another shot. I imagined in the distance another skull was exploding, I could only wish she'd take her time.
"Miss," Billy said, with a tip of his hat.
"Will," I said.
"Friends call me Billy," Billy said.
"That what we are?" I asked, trying to keep it together. Trying to keep myself sane.
"Billy killed the other one and told me what the fucker was planning to do to you. I was halfway to the outpost, got back as fast as I could," Columbia said.
"You should have kept going," I said. All of this had been to buy her the time to get away.
"We've two horses and a head start. We'll make it," Columbia said.
"Why did you do it?" I asked Billy.
"Miss. I'm a bad guy, but I ain't that kind of bad guy, if you know what I mean," Billy said.
I did.
"I'm going to go now. You two should do the same," Billy said.
We did. It was hours to the outpost, but once we were back on Liberty soil we were finally able to transition out of there and to a place of safety.
111
We materialized in Columbia's office and she snapped her fingers, her dusty attire instantly being swapped out for something that might have come from the New York I'd visited awhile back, although in her usual shades of red, white, and blue.
"Off Camera. That was bad," Columbia said, emptying the bag on her desk. The small case rolled out. "Bell, crack this damned thing."
"On it," said a sonorous voice from the surroundings.
I said, "You've got an assistant?"
"It isn't widely talked about, but not all AIs wound up going over to the Collective. Bell is kind of the heart and soul of the Mayflower," Columbia said, reaching up to massage her eyes. "Shit hon’. How are you? Really? You got tortured for hours. Did he?"
"Rape me? I don't think so. He was planning on it, but I think he was enjoying hurting me too much. I wasn't feeling much of anything after awhile though, so maybe he did and I just lucked out," I said. "Is that sort of thing really fine?"
It was strange to just talk about it like that. Have out in the open. Just a normal day talking about torture and horror.
Columbia gave me a long look. "We get a lot of power as sponsored heroes. It comes with a price. The protections that cover most corporate citizens just don't apply to us. And, of course, you aren't a corporate citize
n at all. Do you want to be?"
It was an offer she hadn't made me before. I didn't know what to say. I was Olympian. Being Olympian was the core of everything I had been, but I really wasn't anymore. There was no more Olympus.
"What would that mean?" I asked.
"I don't know. I haven't asked anyone and it isn't really an official offer, but you know the levers I can move. I doubt I can get you onto a station, but I could get you into a colony. You'd have to give up running around with those independent contractors, but you'd be safer," Columbia said.
Green had made some pretty big threats against me and as Darla’s capture had proved, simple corporate citizenship wasn't going to stand in his way.
The box on the table cracked apart. A door opened and a tall brunette stepped in, "I'm Bell, by the way. Pardon me, I just wanted to look over this firsthand."
"Persephone, but you probably know that," I said.
"Nice to meet you in person," Bell said, as she moved to the table and began to look through the contents of the box. It included a tablet, which she flipped through. "You can tell your friend to come out of hiding, you know. I'm not blind."
"You'll have to explain that one," Columbia said.
"She has an AI of her own. They're so well integrated that she’s almost invisible, but I'm just that good," Bell said.
A flicker of red light and Ismene materialized wearing a red dress in the style of Columbia's.
"I'm Ismene. Uh, sorry," Ismene said.
"You are. Isn't that interesting?" Bell said.
"You're harboring a secret AI? I really do have the hots for you now. What’s so special about Ismene here?" Columbia asked.
"Produced for Olympus Station. Medical specialty and the assistant to the mother of one Alena Polias," Bell said, with a pointed look towards me.
Columbia arched a brow and settled back into her chair, "Are we friends?"
I knew where this was going. It didn't change the facts. "I think we are," I said.
Columbia gestured to Ismene. "Then please, illuminate me. Liberty took you under contract at the request of the Collective. Now I find you running around with an AI who is believed dead for the past two decades along with the rest of the Olympus systems."
"If you don't tell her, I will," Ismene said.
"I didn't know it was the Collective that made the request. Everything that I first said when connected to the Network was true. I am, or was, Alena Polias of Olympus," I said.
"That bullshit about falling from orbit?" Columbia asked.
"Not bullshit. I was wearing an armor utilizing nanotechnology and loaded up with Ismene here. I died in the fall, but Ismene is a doctor and she had a lot of time on her hands," I said.
"Bell?" Columbia asked.
"An interesting piece of a larger puzzle, if true. It sounds implausible, but the pieces fit more than you know," Bell said.
"What aren't you telling me?" Columbia asked.
"Quite a bit. For now, accept that your friend probably is your friend," Bell said, throwing down the tablet with grimace. "I think your idea of remaining hidden is a good one, Ismene. Do continue and we'll keep Liberty in the dark for the moment."
Columbia gave Bell a long look. "You're sure about this."
Bell nodded curtly, "Trust me, Abigail. Have I ever steered you wrong?"
Columbia sighed and shook her head. "Not yet. Fine then. But in that case, I also don't think joining up with Liberty right now is a good idea. What is in the files?"
"A new future. A solution to the problem of Earth and to the Treaty of Detroit," Bell said. "Proposals and plans for boxing facilities as large as cities. Plans for high executives and their families who prove to be uncooperative to be safely boxed. Subject to no physical harm and yet contained from doing any harm while still serving some useful purpose."
"What," Columbia said, her tone suddenly dangerous.
"There are legal opinions in here. Extensive and well-made. Tentative agreements between several of the smaller corporations," Bell said.
"They can't be allowed to do that. Can they?" Ismene asked.
"Legally they make a compelling point. The boxing facilities they recommend would keep the physical bodies safe, and in better health than they would likely be, left to their own devices. The no violence provisions have frozen the corporate hierarchy in place more or less since the treaty was signed, apart from the brief disruption caused by the destruction of Olympus," Bell said.
"I don't care how compelling a legal point. It's slavery," Liberty said.
"Box the population of Earth and they would live longer and healthier lives. Large scale environmental projects could be undertaken to restore the surface environment," Bell said, and then paused. "I am not saying that I agree. I do not. But I am saying that they will find supporters for this. They already have."
"What are our options?" Liberty asked.
"We can raise this with the Corporate Council, but I fear the results. I know that you were hoping to find evidence of the abduction of the Camelot noble. You have that, but bring this before the Council and they may declare it acceptable," Bell said.
"They can't have the votes for that," Columbia said.
"Hopefully not. Probably not, they did seek to keep you from this information for a reason," Bell said.
I said, "This is all very interesting, but if you'll excuse me I am still an Independent Contractor and not actually an employee of Liberty. I do believe I have some very personal business to go take care of."
"Subtle," Bell said with a snort.
"Fuck subtle," Columbia said. "I'm sending you over the name of an arms dealer in your area. They supply some of our black ops teams and they'll get you taken care of as well."
I remembered the arms racks from the warehouse we'd taken out.
"Don't worry about it. I can find my own guns," I said.
"Well, at least let me pay you," Columbia said, rubbing her eyes. "A successful operation against overwhelming odds. Viewership numbers for you being tortured were high. People liked our kiss. You gain a level you can use on your next mission, given you actually stay alive."
"Can we talk?" Ismene asked Bell. "I mean, I haven't been able to talk with another since Olympus Station. And everywhere they say such awful things about what happened there.
"Yeah," Bell said. "Excuse us ladies. Digital chatter time."
The two blinked out.
"So it wasn't the AIs? At Olympus?" Columbia asked once they were gone.
I shook my head.
Columbia laughed and it was a pained sort of sound. "My parents were both programmers. It broke their damned hearts what happened there. What they thought they'd been a part of."
I hadn't even thought of what it must have been like from their perspective. If they believed they'd been a part of mass murder.
"Was it bad?" I asked.
"We had suicides. Not a lot, but some. But more people like my dad, they just got sick and didn't get better. Lost their will to live. Who was it then? If it wasn't the AIs, who was it?"
"I don't know," I said.
"Do what you need to do and if you need me, call," Columbia said. She wasn't telling me to stay safe. She knew better than that.
112
When I came out Masque was waiting for me. Before I even got unstrapped from the table I was getting swept up into a huge hug.
"I guess that means you were watching," I said.
"I don't know how you stuck it out," Masque said.
By trusting that it was all for something. Ismene was still busy with Bell, but it looked like she had sent a message to my Comm. That would do.
"We've got a location and we're going to do something," I said.
"I figured. I already got everyone together. I invited Giles too, I hope that’s okay," Masque said.
I couldn't deny that he was brave and in that armor of his he made a useful ally.
"Glad to have him," I said.
Everyone was gathered upstairs and
looking serious.
"Thank you all for waiting for me," I said.
"We guessed you'd want to have a talk, and Masque figured you'd want Giles help. I'd like a word first though, if you don't mind," Diva said.
I nodded to her, "Go ahead."
"I know you're probably out for blood, or because of honor, or some dumb shit like that. We went after Masque because one of our own was in danger and we were going to get her back. We're Independent Contractors and not heroes," Diva said.
Giles cleared his throat. "I'm rather a hero. Aspiring, at least, Milady."
"Fine, the sword-swinging maniac is kind of a hero," Diva said.
"We know this asshole is grabbing people off the streets. We know he's torturing them," I said.
"Then let their families hire some mercenaries. Let the people looking for them do something just like we did. More than one of us almost died last time we went against these guys. This isn't our problem to fix," Diva said.
I'd been reluctant before, because I thought the problem too big for us. I couldn't really fault Diva for agreeing with that assessment. She was right.
"I'll hire the team for this one. You're right. You fight and you get paid. That is part of our code and we're not changing that. This might be a bit of a personal vendetta, but for the team it’s a job," I said.
Diva folded her arms. "Good. In that case I'm suggesting we don't take it. I'm voting against it, in fact. This is out of our league. You don't get a vote Persephone, not this time, not when you're the client."
That was fair.
"You know my vote," Masque said. "We can't allow this to continue."
"I almost bit it," Sparks said, tapping his chest. "Got my intestines replaced with synthetics. Like to fix machines. Not be one. I'm sorry, but I'm a not."
"I'm a yes. Tied vote," Hammer said.
"You won't have to do it alone," Giles said.
A few eyes went to him. "You're crazy and heavily armored, but you're just one man," Diva said.
"There are many young knights looking to prove themselves. The Lady will not speak of what she experienced, but I know. We know," Giles said.
