‘It’s worked pretty well in the past,’ Cygnus replied.
Andrea nodded. ‘She’s a huge distraction.’
June smirked. ‘I suppose that’s one way of putting it.’
7th June.
‘How come you’re not drunk?’ June slurred in Andrea’s general direction. ‘You know I really did a good job on that coshtume.’
‘Because,’ Andrea replied, ‘I’ve been pacing myself.’
‘Why? Ish my birthday.’
‘Because… I don’t want to get drunk enough to give in and put my mask on.’
‘Spoil sport,’ Twilight commented.
‘What’ll happen if you pu’y’re mashk on?’ June asked, oblivious to Twilight.
‘The evening would likely end up in a threesome, and I’m not going there.’
‘Nuh-huh. Not happ’nin’. Nope. Not making Pen, or Cygnus, the rebound girl. Nope.’
‘Methinks the lady doth protest too much,’ Twilight said. You could hear the smirk.
Cygnus chose that moment to return from the bathroom adjoining her bedroom. She had changed, taking off her skirt and T-shirt to put on her robe. June made slightly strangled noises before muttering, ‘Nope…’
Then the phone rang. Everyone frowned at it, but it was Cygnus who growled, ‘Who the Hell’s calling at one in the morning?’ She stalked across to the offending instrument and stabbed the speaker on. ‘Yes?’
‘Good, you’re still up.’ It was Heather’s voice and they all got a sudden sinking feeling. ‘We had seven Excelsior releases in nightclubs about an hour ago–’
‘Why didn’t you call us then?’
‘Because we knew it was June’s birthday and there wasn’t really anything you could do anyway.’
‘Thoughtful,’ Andrea said warily, ‘but why are you calling us now?’
‘Because three more went off. They were designed to catch the emergency services once they’d figured the coast was clear.’
‘Are you okay?’
‘Yes…’
‘Jacob?’
There was a slightly too long pause. ‘He didn’t get much. Didn’t seem to affect him, but then he started feeling dizzy. They’ve taken him into hospital. It’s like it’s caused a recurrence of the hypothermia he had after the freezer thing. I’m on my way there now.’
‘I’ll beat you,’ Andrea told her, getting to her feet.
‘Right.’ The line went dead.
‘I’ll change–’ Cygnus began.
‘Stay with June,’ Andrea told her. ‘You’ve had more to drink than I have and there’s nothing your strength can help us with. This is personal.’
‘All right, but tonight we’re taking her down.’
‘Yes, we damn well are.’
~~~
‘I’m fine,’ Jacob insisted as both Andrea and Heather glared at him. ‘I’m a little cold, but I’m fine. They’re keeping me in overnight for observation, but my temperature’s already stabilised.’
‘I’m more concerned about your reaction to the drug,’ Andrea replied. ‘It’s not… normal.’
‘Because exactly what that stuff does to someone is a totally known quantity, right?’
‘He does have a point,’ Heather said. ‘It seems to enhance communication between the hemispheres of the brain. That could result in all sorts of weird effects.’
Andrea’s frown deepened. It was an annoyingly good point. ‘We’re going to nail the woman behind this tonight, when it gets dark.’
‘You’re sure you’ve found the right person?’
‘Ten bombs, ten flunkies left the house with a purpose. I suppose it’s circumstantial…’
‘The NMCPD have camera footage from the entrance lobbies of three of the clubs,’ Jacob said. ‘If you could spot one of these guys entering the building, it would make it less circumstantial.’
Andrea sighed. ‘Let me get a few hours’ sleep and I’ll go down there. Can you arrange it?’
‘I’ll meet you there,’ Heather replied. ‘My partner is going to take the day off. Whether he likes it or not.’
Jacob gave a shudder. ‘Yeah, okay. I am still getting these cold snaps. I’ll rest.’
Andrea and Heather glared at him and chorused, ‘You’d better.’
~~~
‘We’re sure about this?’ Cygnus asked.
‘I spotted the guy going into one of the nightclubs that was hit last night,’ Twilight replied. ‘Facial recognition ID’d him as Daniel Trey, known as Danny, minor criminal from Atlanta. He’s done time for assault and robbing a liquor store.’
‘Sounds like a nice kid. A fine, upstanding member of society. Okay, so I walk up to the door and say I’m going to arrest him?’
‘Yup.’
‘And if they don’t attack me on the spot? This woman scares Ultras, so one of her own thugs is not going to talk.’
Twilight smiled. ‘They’ll fight. If they’re harbouring someone implicated in the Excelsior releases, it’s grounds to have the building searched.’
‘Okay. Let me know when you’re ready.’
Twilight turned and vanished into the shadows. The woman clearly knew what she was doing since the house was well lit all the way around. The power to the building was supplied from a pole at the edge of the property. Climbing it was easy and, once at the top, she attached a small pyrotechnic device to the cable with a radio detonator. Dropping to the ground, she tapped her ear. ‘Go.’
Cygnus dropped lightly onto the ground in front of the large, glass frontage and started for the door, but she could already see people moving inside. By the time she was raising her hand to the buzzer mounted beside the door, there was a large man walking over to answer it. He was exceptionally smartly dressed. June was the fashion expert, but the suit looked like it came from a designer outlet. His tie had a red diamond on it.
‘It’s Cygnus, right?’ the man asked, his voice a rumble. ‘To what do we owe the pleasure of a personal visit from New Millennium’s personal protector?’
‘One of the people at this address was sighted entering a nightclub last night,’ Cygnus replied, smiling back at him.
‘Boys will be boys.’
‘Yes, but there was a release of a hallucinogenic gas there later that night and Mister Trey has a previous conviction record we’re concerned about.’
‘Danny? Well, he was out last night… Isn’t this a matter for the police?’
‘Under the Specialist Policing Act, registered Ultrahumans have the same powers of arrest as the police.’
‘Of course… Hold on a second. I’ll get him.’ The big man turned and walked into the house and Cygnus waited quietly, wondering whether they were actually going to be this smart.
Inside the house, the big man could be seen talking to a blonde woman in a red dress. Cygnus watched them, watched their body language, and saw the woman stiffening. She was keeping her voice down, but she was angry and a little confused. At a guess, the confusion was the cause of the anger. How had Cygnus found them? That was probably the big question, but there was no time to answer that one, so the next one would come up. That would be how they were going to get–
The big man was turning, the other men around the room starting to rise. Just from his posture, Cygnus knew he was pulling a gun. She waited.
‘I said to run, Diamond!’ the man roared as a pistol the size of a small cannon opened up and the glass dissolved in front of Cygnus’ face. Bullets struck her skin, the sharp impacts indicating armour-piercing rounds; they were prepared for her sure enough, but they just had no idea how tough she was.
And then the lights went out and the screams started a second later as Twilight dropped herself into the darkness in the middle of the room. The guns stopped firing, but that was possibly because they could not see what they were shooting at as much as anything. There was one figure moving in the darkness, not the big lieutenant, but the smaller one, rushing for one of the windows. He fired as he ran, shattering the glass before he bolted throug
h it.
‘I’ve got him,’ Cygnus called out. ‘Take care of the others.’
‘I’ve got them,’ Twilight said, her voice carrying a hollow ring to it in the supernatural darkness she was enveloping them in. ‘Where did the woman go?’
‘No idea.’ Cygnus was already airborne and swooping at the running man, but she caught sight of something red running away on the far side of the gardens. There would be time for ‘Diamond’ when her thugs were all–
There was a sudden sensation of intense cold and nausea as though some ghost had just ripped through her body with icy claws. She dropped out of the air, tumbling to a stop on the grass with a yell of pain. Her limbs felt like they were made of lead, and her brain felt numb. She looked up and saw nothing. There was no attacker, but somehow she could feel something huge and menacing standing over her. She heard Twilight scream…
And then the black-clad girl was standing beside her, one arm outstretched as though she was fending something off. There was a roar from the air above her and Cygnus flinched, but Twilight looked down at her… The look in the jet-black eyes was terrifying. Hard, cold… Cold like the emptiness of space.
‘Light,’ Twilight hissed. ‘You have to focus. Blast it with light, a wide beam.’
‘D-don’t… Don’t know if…’
‘Do it!’ The voice was hard and low, but it cut through Cygnus’ mind like a knife. ‘Straight up, where I’m pointing. Now!’
Cygnus raised an arm, imagining the pulses Svetilo could fire, but broader, brighter. She felt power draining from her muscles as she summoned up the new ability and… Light burst from her palm, striking upward in a wide cone. It hit something and there was another loud roar which cut off suddenly before a cloud of darkness evaporated out from above her.
When she looked around, Twilight was on her back on the grass, blinking and looking dazed. ‘What happened?’
‘You don’t know?’ Cygnus replied, lying back and trying hard not to black out.
‘There was something standing over you. Big, monstrous. Like one of those imps, but huge. And then… Then I was here.’
‘Right… We’ll deal with that later. I think if I move I’ll pass out, so you need to get those men rounded up.’
‘On it,’ Twilight snapped and she was gone.
Cygnus closed her eyes. Thinking was an effort. One of the Shadow Court’s spies, or a bigger version, had been waiting for them. That seemed like it was a bad thing.
Part Seven: The Shadow Court
New Millennium City, 8th June 2014.
‘I’m fine, June,’ Penny said. ‘Honest. The tiredness is gone and I just feel a little sore. By tonight I’ll be good as new.’
June peered at her friend, curled up on the couch in her thickest robe with a mug of coffee. ‘You were lucky.’
‘Yeah. Kind of anyway.’ Penny peered at Andrea on the other sofa. ‘So… what happened?’
‘We don’t know,’ Andrea replied. ‘One second there was this… terrifying monster hanging over you, and then we were lying beside you and it was gone.’
Penny frowned. ‘I heard you scream, I think, and then you were there, right beside me. It was like you were holding something back, and you looked at me and told me to blast it with light.’
‘I don’t remember that.’
‘Your voice was different. Harsher. And your eyes… Your eyes were cold. You don’t think… Well, you know that other you?’
‘There’s another one in there?!’ June squeaked.
‘She’s not very sociable,’ Andrea replied. ‘And I’m not sure she’d be that helpful if she did ever…’ She paused briefly as though listening. ‘Twilight thinks she might, even if it was for selfish reasons.’
‘Well,’ Penny said, ‘it was a good thing she did. She seemed to know exactly what to do about the… demon?’
‘Shadow demon,’ Andrea agreed. ‘If we’re calling the small ones imps, it was a demon.’
‘It cut right through my wonderful, tough skin. Armour-piercing bullets? Easy. That thing dropped me like a rock.’
‘And Diamond and her two lieutenants got away. The big guy managed to slip away while we were taking on the demon.’
Penny shrugged. ‘Their operation is history. The police are raiding their distribution point and going through the house. Her men, most of them, are in prison.’
‘Doesn’t that leave the local organised crime a bit… disorganised?’ June asked.
‘Which could be good or bad,’ Andrea said. ‘The structure will be more broken, harder to keep tabs on, but also less effective. The real problem is that we may get violence as some of the people Tonaldo and then Diamond kept in their place try to grab more territory.’
‘We’re sure Diamond won’t try to regain control?’
‘That woman’s a planner. I think she’ll cut her losses and leave with whatever she’s got. I’m willing to bet she had an escape plan ready for just this kind of situation.’
~~~
‘Well, I have to admit that I did not plan to be saved by… whatever that was,’ Diamond said, her pale skin still a little paler than usual, ‘but I cannot but thank Lady Luck for the good fortune.’
‘I don’t think luck, incarnate or otherwise, had anything to do with it,’ Jack commented, his voice quiet, though that was from habit rather than a need for it.
‘What do you think it was?’ Rex asked. ‘I couldn’t see a thing out there, but there had to be something.’
‘It was an Oni,’ Jack replied. ‘A demon sent by–’
‘Sent by Mister Durant,’ Diamond interrupted. ‘Something out of the shadows. It needed the darkness, just like Twilight needs it. It didn’t show up until they cut the power, and it went for Cygnus, not Twilight. No, that was Durant’s doing, and I don’t think he did it to protect us.’
‘He used us as bait to get to Cygnus,’ Jack stated.
‘We should find him,’ Rex growled, ‘and–’
‘No, we cash our chips and go,’ Diamond said. ‘Maybe later we can come back and see if we can’t do something unpleasant to Twilight and Cygnus, but for now… Sometimes, when you can just see the sharks are circling, the only thing you can do is fold and hope you can get away with all your limbs attached.’
~~~
Durant opened his eyes and nodded. The imp which had been reporting to him faded into nothing at his side. ‘Diamond has a wiser head on her shoulders than I would have given her credit for,’ he commented to the men in the room with him, both of them Shades, the middle ranks of the Court. ‘What have we ascertained about the fate of the demon?’
‘Very little, Grand Master,’ one of the Shades replied. ‘Our observers suggest that Morgan was able to control it temporarily. Cygnus destroyed it with light.’
‘Controlled it? Unusual.’
‘We have been unable to determine how, sir. There has been no indication of any such capability. It was not the same as her ability to draw simple darkness about herself.’
‘Obviously…’ Durant frowned. ‘The next new moon is on the twenty-seventh. We will make arrangements to have Morgan at the castle on that night. Maintain a watch on her, but do not engage. I will be returning to Italy. There is business to conduct in Rome.’
10th June.
‘You realise it’s too quiet, right?’ Andrea said as she buttered a slice of toast which she was planning to have for breakfast, even if Penny had grumbled things about ‘a proper breakfast being important.’
‘We’ve only had two nights of nothing major happening,’ Penny countered. ‘That’s not long enough to go around expecting a disaster.’
‘I’m still going to tempt fate and spend tonight with Jacob.’
‘I’ll put the Union of Ultrahumans on alert for potential apocalypse,’ Penny said dryly. ‘I think we can manage one night where you can do disgusting things with your boyfriend without worrying about nuclear bombs.’
‘We can, but you just totally jinxed it.’
‘No,
because I knew I was tempting fate, and you were already doing so. Fate is now so overstretched that it snaps back and there’s no jinx. So there.’
Andrea munched on her toast for a second, considering this. ‘Okay, but if something happens, I’m blaming you.’
~~~
Jacob smiled as Twilight slipped into the lounge on arched feet, slinking toward him with obvious intent. It was, perhaps, made most obvious by the fact that she was wearing nothing but her mask.
‘Not quite perfect timing,’ the agent said as he pulled her into his lap. ‘I’ve got a headache. I’ve taken some pills for it and when they kick in I think you’ll help kill off any lingering pain, but right now–’
‘I will just sit here and look pretty for you,’ Twilight said, smiling. ‘I can do that. We don’t have to leap into the physical stuff immediately. It’s just… been a while.’
‘Not that long.’
‘Well… no, but I miss you when… Hold on.’ Reaching up, she lifted her mask free.
‘Evening, Andrea.’
‘Hi, Jacob. We really need to work out some way of… dating. I mean, this is great. I think all three of us enjoy the sex, but we should do something else. As well. Not instead. Because I like this.’
‘I got that you like this.’
‘Good. Just being clear about it. Give it some thought, okay? There has to be some way we can meet up and… go out for dinner, or see a movie.’
‘I’ll think about it. Just not right now. My head still hurts a little, and the parts that don’t have lost a lot of their blood supply.’
Andrea giggled and shuffled her butt a little. ‘My seat does seem a bit lumpy. Are you getting these headaches a lot?’
‘More than I’d like. Don’t think I haven’t considered the drug having some odd side effect, because I have. I’ve got a check-up scheduled for every Friday with the local UID doctor.’
Andrea nodded. ‘As long as you’re taking it seriously, I will not bug you about it.’ She pressed her mask back into place and Twilight grinned. ‘I have much better things to bug you about. Like, if you’re that hard, there is no way your head is hurting that much.’ She wriggled and Jacob groaned. ‘Though that did sound a bit painful. Let Twilight kiss it better…’
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