Invader: Book Seven in the Enhanced Series

by T. C. Edge

  “Magnus, what’s the hold up?”

  I freeze in place and look into Magnus’ eyes. They lift from mine to the opening onto the main street over my shoulder.

  “Brother,” he says. “Um, I’m just…”

  He stutters, not quite knowing how to explain this. I hear a set of giant feet stamping towards me, so heavy they send little tremors through the earth.

  “Who is that you’re speaking to?” comes the voice, advancing.

  I take a breath to compose myself, and spin.

  “Hi, Titus,” I say with a nervy smile. “Good to see you again.”

  He stops. His face changes. My sentiments are not repaid.

  He looks anything but happy to see me again…

  14

  The glaring eyes of Titus are very unlike his brother’s. Sucking a full breath into his cavernous lungs, he stalks towards me without losing eye contact.

  I see, in his mind, more animosity than I’d like.

  He raises his gun, a great, heavy rifle, and points it at me as he comes.

  “Step aside, Magnus,” he says. “We’re taking her into custody.”

  “Titus…”

  “Step aside!” he growls.

  His younger brother does as he’s told, swooping to the other side of the alley. Titus continues forward until he’s about ten metres away from me. Given his gigantic size, he looks at lot closer than he is.

  “Put your arms behind your back, Brie,” says Titus.

  I do as I’m told, sliding my hands together behind me.

  “Now Magnus,” he continues. “Cuff her.”

  He stands firm for a moment. I can tell he’s torn.

  “Brother, you don’t understand. You don’t know what’s going on here,” he says.

  “Oh, I know exactly what’s going on,” says Titus. “I’ve known for a long time that Brie is a hybrid. I just didn’t take her for an assassin too.” He takes a step closer. “I warned you, Brie, not to do anything stupid, or I’d escort you to the REEF myself. Don’t you remember that?”

  “I remember,” I say. “And I also remember you saying you felt sorry for hybrids, and thought their treatment was awful. That’s why you helped me into the city in the first place, isn’t it?”

  Magnus clearly doesn’t know about this. His eyes swing down to me and over to his brother, back and forth as we spar.

  “Yes, and I’d do the same again. But what you’ve plotted is unforgivable, what you’ve done is unforgivable. I know all about your attempt on the Director’s life, Brie. And when that failed, what did you do? What did you do?” he growls, staring at me.

  I don’t answer. My heart is racing now, his voice growing loud.

  “I’ll tell you what you did…you destroyed the entire High Tower! You killed thousands and thousands of people. Men, women, children, Brie! And don’t tell me you weren’t a part of it. You’ve clearly been a part of all this from the start…”

  He takes another step forward, his weapon still raised and pointing right at my chest.

  “We had no choice,” I whisper, taking ownership of that terrible act. “We had to kill Cromwell, to kill all his men. You have no idea what he was planning, Titus. I showed your brother. Let me show you too.”

  “Show me? Show me? You mean, use those tricks of yours, get inside my head. How do we know you’re not lying. How can we trust anything you say?”

  Some doubt hovers over Magnus’ face now, as though he hadn’t considered it. I see it all through my Hawk-eyes, and turn to him.

  “I’m not lying. I swear it.” My eyes return to Titus, swapping between the giant brothers. “You’ve seen it yourself, both of you. You’re just too conditioned to serve, to do whatever your masters tell you. That’s all changing. We’re here to free everyone, Titus.”

  “Everyone? Everyone except the thousands who died when the High Tower fell?”

  “This is war!” my voices rumbles. “How many have been killed here in Outer Haven these last few days? How many, Titus?! And how many more have been taken to the REEF, or the new facility that’s meant to strip away people fears and set them free. They’re NOT free. They’re being turned to slaves, and you know that. Look at all the Con-Cops. You see them, and you still question me, question us? What side are you really on, Titus? I thought you were better than this…”

  His eyes flash with fury at the suggestion. His lungs draw in all the nearby air, and he stamps straight towards me, covering the ground far faster than you’d expect for a man of his size and reaching out with a massive hand towards my neck.

  I hold my form, and don’t move, ready to spring away if I need to at the last moment. But just as he comes at me, Magnus surges from the side, the two giants meeting in a mountain of muscle and flesh and armour, the younger but bigger brother sending his sibling crashing into the brick wall on the other side of the alley.

  Titus’ body cracks into the brick, crafting a crater, and Magnus holds him up, locking him in place.

  “Stop, Magnus, and think!” he shouts. “Everything she says is true. Everything she says makes sense!”

  I barely know either of these men. I barely know what Brutes are really capable of. In all honestly, I’ve spent the last few weeks growing enamoured by their charms, by their smiling, friendly demeanours.

  Yet there’s another side to their characters that they keep locked away. A wild, testosterone fuelled bloodlust that, when unleashed, can be difficult to hold back.

  I think I’m seeing it now, Titus breathing heavily, his eyes on fire, struggling to hold back the growing madness inside him. I try to get into his head, but find his consciousness blurred and wild, some impenetrable barrier forming in this state that renders my powers useless.

  Magnus clearly knows it. He knew that, should Titus have taken a grip of my neck, he’d have snapped me in half like a twig. Perhaps I’d have gotten away, perhaps not.

  Perhaps, like Titus before him, Magnus has now saved my life too.

  “Look at me, brother,” shouts Magnus. “Look into my eyes, and calm down!”

  His voice is calling loudly now, but I’m so enthralled by the crazy spectacle that I don’t take proper note of my surroundings.

  Don’t hear the City Guards coming from the main door.

  Don’t see them gathering at the end of the alley.

  Don’t see them lifting their weapons in my direction, quickly recognising just who I am.

  Even with my Hawk-eyes, I don’t see it. I lose my concentration, if only for a second, my eyes stuck to the wildness spewing from Titus’ every pore.

  Then, a voice cuts through the commotion.

  “Hold up your arms,” it calls out. “Do it slowly. We have two Hawks with us. We’ll see you move if you try to escape, and shoot you right down. Don’t do anything stupid now…”

  I turn and see four guards at the end of the alley, pulses rifles pointed my way.

  The two Brutes stop their bickering. Both turn in the direction of the City Guards, their colleagues, panting. I turn to look at Magnus, who looks more torn than ever. He’s seen what I’ve seen, knows what I know, but has no choice but to keep quiet or else be taken in himself.

  I raise up my arms, guiding my eyes down the alley at the men. They’re too far away to manipulate, the link to their minds far too weak. I have no choice but to do as I’m told.

  “Now no sudden movements,” says the guard. “We don’t want any trouble.”

  Two of them begin moving a little closer. The other two stay behind. I scan them and see that it’s the Hawks at the rear, watching from afar. I can’t tell for sure what the two approaching men are, but one has the brimming mannerisms of a straight up Dasher.

  The main commander, one of the Hawks, continues to issue orders.

  “Now turn around, and lower your hands behind your back.”

  I quickly consider my options, staring down the opposite end of the alley. It ends in a dead-end by the looks of things, although surely must lead somewhere. Oth
erwise, why would Magnus have been patrolling down here, unless of course it’s another way into the concert hall?

  Whether there’s a way out down there, however, I can’t chance it. The Hawk sounded convincing when he told me they’d see me move before I could get away. Clearly, they’ll all aware of me and what I can do. My infamy must have spread through their ranks like wildfire by now.

  I have no option. I must do as ordered.

  Turning nice and slow, I let my hands fall. The two guards approach behind me, and I hear one withdrawing a pair of cuffs. I look to Magnus once more, just off to my right, and consider giving him an order to help me.

  I don’t follow through. It would only put him in danger, possibly even get him killed. I won’t sacrifice him for me.

  Turns out, I don’t need to.

  Down the alley behind me, the voice of the commander calls out once more. “Nice and slow,” he says. “No sudden moveme….”

  His voice ends abruptly, turning to a strange, vibrating hum. Then the sound of two collapsing men filters to my ears, giving way immediately after to the velvety tones of a girl I’m just about ready to fall in love with.

  “No, no, no,” comes Kira’s smooth voice. “Don’t you go pointing those weapons at me. Drop them all…now!”

  I spin as she talks, and see her standing between the two Hawks at the end of the alley; both of them immobilised and sent to the dirt. Already, she’s managed to fix her baton back to her waist, and drawn out two pistols, one for each hand.

  One, she aims at the two guards nearing me. The other points straight at the two colossal Brutes off to the side. None of the four had a chance to react before she had them in her sights.

  “Drop them all, come on now. You heard your commander…don’t do anything stupid.”

  Even from here, I can see the glint in her emerald eyes, the whites of her teeth as her lips curl into a lively little grin.

  The four men have no choice. Rifles hit the floor, clattering loudly in the sudden silence.

  “OK,” says Kira. “Very good. I can see why you make such good soldiers; you follow orders in exemplary fashion. Now, you two,” she says, looking at the regular-sized City Guards, “keep on walking towards Brie. She’ll see to your handcuffs.”

  Scowling, they amble over to me. I set the handcuffs that were meant for me over their wrists instead, binding them both together. Then, just to be sure, I send my zapper into their necks, knocking them out cold.

  Kira raises her eyes and shrugs.

  “Fair enough,” she says. Then she turns to the Brutes. “Right, you two, big fellas...erm, I’m guessing there are no cuffs in your size. Brie, let’s immobilise them instead. I’d say ramp that baby up to its top setting. Might take a few jabs too. These guys make Freya look like a toy doll…”

  The Brutes look at me, Titus’ eyes still little more than a glare.

  “Go ahead,” he booms. “Just get it done.”

  I step forward.

  “It doesn’t have to be like this, you know,” I say. “We’re on the same side, all of us. Come with us to Inner Haven, then you’ll see…”

  Magnus looks to his big brother optimistically. His mind has been turned now, I know that. But Titus doesn’t look back.

  “That’s not possible,” he says. “Our place is here.”

  “It’s not,” says Magnus. “Our place is defending the people. We swore to defend this city, brother…”

  “Yes we did,” says Titus. “And that’s what I’m doing, defending it from these invaders.”

  “We aren’t invaders,” says Kira, sweeping down the alley. Her posture has changed, her pistols lowered and set to their holsters. We stand, not as enemies, but allies.

  We stand as one.

  “Then what are you?” questions Titus.

  “Emancipators,” answers Kira, those green eyes showing no deceit, no lie. “We have come to free this city from the grip of slavery. That’s all we’ve ever been – slaves. Slaves to the Savants, to the Consortium, to Cromwell. No one here is truly free…”

  “And now?” calls Titus. “What will change? Your people destroyed the High Tower. How can anyone ever trust you?”

  “Because sometimes terrible things are done in the name of good,” Kira says passionately. “You’re a soldier, a warrior. You understand the sins of war. Some sins are worse than others, and sometimes you need to commit unthinkable acts to prevent something even more cruel.”

  I can see Titus beginning to yield to the logic coming from Kira’s mouth. He can’t deny what she’s saying. He is a good man, sensitive to the pains of the people. But, like it did with me, it’s blinding him to the bigger picture.

  And now, Kira is showing it to him.

  “Director Cromwell wished to see all Unenhanced destroyed,” she continues, staring right at Titus, and Titus alone. “He was using them merely to breed and swell his ranks, rebuild his population of Savants. In time, he’d have wiped them out, and the rest of the Enhanced would follow. Brie saw it herself, heard it from the man’s own mouth. He wishes only to develop a super-race, and none of us here would be included in that.”

  She takes a breath and looks down the alley. I see her ears quickly prick, her nostrils sniff, her eyes narrow as if conducting a swift check of her surroundings.

  Then, she looks at the Brute again, and simply says: “Yes, we killed people in the High Tower, we can’t deny that. But in doing so, we wished to save countless more. It will weigh heavy on all of us forever. That is the price we pay, and we pay it gladly.”

  A silence falls. It seems to last an age as the wind whips through the alley, fluttering some loose bits of trash. I cast my gaze to the sky, and see some wispy white clouds gliding by, storming overhead on a strong wind. And behind, the sun peeks through, only just starting to take its bow on this long, long day.

  One, like so many others, that I’ll never forget.

  But always wish to.

  Once more, as the silence swamps us all, I see Kira react to something. Her eyes drop into a frown, and she cocks her head a little to one side.

  And then, a few seconds after, I hear it too. A sound of electronic static, buzzing around ahead of the concert hall, and away off through the streets all over the city. We all look to each other, and then begin moving as one down the alley, drawn by the sound.

  Reaching the end, I look out and see the large screens across the square beginning to glow to life. There are a number of them, just outside the hall, and others off down the street too, fixed to tall buildings at major intersections.

  The screens glow blue for a moment, fizzing and crackling, before a figure starts to materialise. And as it comes into focus, I see a face that will be being beamed all over the city, all across the public screens and advertising boards, the old archaic TVs and modern holograms, watched by the people in their homes and houses.

  It’s a face that every man, woman, and child in the city needs to see.

  It’s the face of Lady Orlando.

  15

  We all stand at the edge of the alley, looking up in silence.

  For a moment, Lady Orlando stares ahead, her greying eyes unblinking. Then, as if playing to the camera and the thousands she knows are watching, a small, closed smile lifts the corners of her mouth, and she sets a twinkle to her eye.

  Her first words boom out from the speakers all across the street. And all other streets too, stretching from this district to the next, all over the city of Haven.

  “Good afternoon to you all,” she begins, her voice practiced and precise. “To the men, women, and children of Haven. To the civilians and soldiers, to all those fighting for their survival, and the survival of those they love. My name is Lady Orlando, and I am the leader of the Nameless…”

  She stops for a moment, as if letting her words settle. As if giving everyone not in front of a screen a chance to find one.

  Then, she goes on.

  “The last few days have seen this city reduced to war. It i
s a state that we, the Nameless, have been fighting to avoid for many years. And through those years, you have been lied to, manipulated, turned into slaves. We have come to free you all. We have come to save you.”

  I glance up at Titus as she speaks. He does the same to me, and then Kira, our leader’s words mimicking our own.

  I look back to the screen, and wonder where Lady Orlando is. By the sounds of her voice, she’s in an enclosed space, the background bland. Most likely it’s her new office at the summit of the City Guard HQ.

  “Many of you listening to me will have your doubts. I would be disappointed if you didn’t. To doubt something is natural. It keeps us safe from harm, makes us wary of things we don’t yet trust or fully understand. So let me tell you exactly who I am.”

  She takes a breath, and shuts her eyes very briefly. When they open, the smile slides away, and some pain appears behind them, the network of wrinkles spreading for their corners seeming to deepen and multiply.

  “I was once of Inner Haven,” she says quietly. “I was once of the High Tower. I lived there at a time when all Savants did. It may surprise you to know that I am one of them myself.”

  Titus and Magnus’ eyes widen. They stare, transfixed to the screen.

  “When I was a younger woman, I had a child, a daughter. She was taken from me. This is the custom of the High Tower. To take children from their parents when they’re born. To raise them in communal nurseries so their parents can be free of the burden of love, of caring. Free to continue their work without distraction, while their children are raised elsewhere. It is a custom that most of you will find repellent, yet one that few in the High Tower ever questioned. That is our nature, to lack emotion, to see only logic. It is a nature that we cannot change or escape.”

  She goes silent for a moment, letting the truth dawn for all those who aren’t aware of it. I look again at the two Brutes to see if they knew, and wonder just how many of the Enhanced are aware of the realities of the High Tower and the lives of the Savants within.

  As I inspect them, noting the sympathy in their eyes, Lady Orlando continues her tale.