by David Finn
‘Is it too much to hope you play zombie shooters? I’m in the middle of a siege situation, I could use a second gunman.’
He punched his chest softly. ‘I play them all the time.’
‘Cool.’
Iverson slipped off his shoes and tucked his feet beneath him and she started the game. Tension slid off their shoulders at the familiar sound and banter of the loading screens. He glanced around at the fancy couches mixed with the overflowing comic shelves. Heating came on and the chill left the air.
‘Do you come here often?’ he asked.
‘Not so much these days. I share it with somebody else.’
‘Who?’
She gave a guilty smile. ‘Kate. An ex. Actress-model-call it what you want. She has a show in syndication back in Babelzon.’
A faint recollection rang in Iverson. Something the agent Madiysn had mentioned back in the reality prison. Her client, on the verge of some anticipated comeback.
‘Anything I would know?’
‘Do you enjoy glossy romantic dramas featuring sappy teens and not much comedy but a lot of heart?’
Iverson grinned. ‘I’m more of an action guy.’
Demorn tossed him a glossy hologram photo. ‘Do you enjoy hot blondes with nice tits and a whole lot of sass?’
Iverson rolled his eye across a beautiful looking blonde woman dressed in a robe and not much else. ‘Of course.’
Demorn smiled. ‘Me too. Anyway, these days this place is mostly for Kate if she needs it. I only crash in case of an emergency.’
Iverson said, ‘Well, this counts.’
Demorn looked around and gave her couch a fond pat. ‘Sure does. Kate doesn’t even like comics and I own it.’
Demorn took a last longing look at Kate then waved her fingers towards the hologram, sending it into the trash.
‘What happened with you two?’
‘Eh. Life. We were deep in love once. If I didn’t have a heart, she’d be out on her ass. The show is small time and on the bubble. She’s living on credit cards and next week’s pay cheque. I don’t want anything bad to happen to her.’
Iverson said, ‘What about the Clubhouse.’
‘She hates all that. Always has.’
Iverson shook his head as he threaded his way across a zombie filled landing strip, firing in rapid bursts as they moved fast towards a stationery aircraft. ‘You aren’t what the Order handlers pitched to me when I got posted to Bay.’
Demorn was amused. ‘What did they pitch me as? Let me guess, damaged lesbian with a heart of ice?’
‘They didn’t mention who you dated, Demorn. But the way they talk about your legend, I thought you might be one of the robot units that were used by the Prussians a couple of years back. Like some weird malfunctioning model gone rogue.’
Demorn gave him a vicious smile. She rapped her ruby heart. ‘Sounds cool, but there isn’t anything robotic about me.’
Iverson leaned back deep in the couch. The zombie figures on the screen felt hazy and far away. He was so tired he felt he could sleep for days. The horrors of Kingdom and the time snake were playing tricks on his mind and imagination. He could still see Natalia. Her face was ingrained, existing close enough to real to make him feel sad. Suddenly he was very sleepy.
‘How secure is this place?’
Demorn smiled as she looked at him. ‘This is the panic room to beat all panic rooms. We are barely connected to anything. If they find us here, the universe has ended. C’mon, man, I have a guest bedroom, you look like you need a solid eight hours.’
She took him by the hand, guiding his tall form through a shadowed entrance.
‘I hope I’m not stealing your bed,’ Iverson mumbled as he hit the sheets.
‘Nah, I have a four poster bed outside for me and all my lovers.’ She laughed.
Iverson’s response sounded both appreciative and sarcastic but he was asleep and softly snoring within seconds. She tucked him in under an old Spider-Man bedspread she’d bought in Babelzon.
Demorn went back to the main room, relaxing into her arm chair, putting her headphones on. She was tired but wanted to grab some downtime. The threat from Kingdom had abated for now. He would be licking his wounds in whatever godforsaken bolt-hole his portal took him to.
Her watch buzzed, blue and ghostly on her wrist. It was Smile feeding her mission details. The connection synched with a perfection rarely seen in the vast wilds of the Firethorn Dimension, his golden glinting teeth scrolling down the screen.
Demorn flicked her fingers across the watch screen. Smile was floating in the air. He was less electronic than usual, his pale face shining with vivid neon purple stripes across his cheeks. A huge window was the backdrop, white snow falling across a city at night. He wore a thin black night robe and he looked thin and so alone.
‘Hey, bro!’
‘You look sleepy, sister dearest.’
She laughed, drinking her coffee. ‘Thanks, Smile. You look like you’re getting ready for your electro-pop album release.’
Smile pulled a funny face. ‘These are my pyjamas, it’s one a.m. here.’
‘What’s the update from Babelzon?’ she asked.
‘Everything’s fine. The Tyrant still rules. Club revenue is up.’
Smile shed some of the electric shield. He looked anxious. She could see snow falling outside his window.
‘You have Iverson?’
‘Sure. He’s asleep in the other room.’
Smile nodded. ‘You know there’s an Order warrant out on you? Iverson could take you in.’
‘He’s not going to do that.’
Smile was sharp. ‘He’s tried before and he almost succeeded aboard the Olympus space station. We both know that.’
Demorn said, ‘You know it. I vaguely remember it.’
Smile looked miffed. ‘You act like there’s nothing to worry about but as long as the warrant is open you’re at risk. The Order doesn’t mess around. They normally stay in their own sphere, but they have access to Babelzon. They could launch a strike against the Clubhouse. We need to solve this before it goes south.’
Demorn popped a mint from a fresh pack on the coffee table. ‘You should come visit the Front, bro. We’re a long way down south.’
‘It’s the license to operate, it’s every mission Santos gave you. You and the Club could lose it all, Demorn.’
She held up the tiny thumbnail drive. ‘I got this out of the Triton computer system. Iverson helped me. System schematics. I bet it shows how Triton cracked the Ruby Room in Bay City. Why don’t you reverse engineer the hell out of it with Jackie Z and formulate a plan to beat them forever or hold them back or cure cancer or something useful.’
Smile’s mouth formed a perfect O. He held out his hand and Demorn threw it over to him. Smile caught it with easy hands, his fingers tingling with electricity. ‘This is . . . amazing. How did you get it?’
‘I beat Kingdom in a soul fight, basically. TKO.’
‘You beat him inside the Circle? Was he wearing his power suit?’
She traced her cheek. Even though her pain locket had healed her face incredibly well, Demorn could feel a slight roughness in the skin that would take some time to become smooth.
‘He sure was wearing it. It was victory by an inch, but they all count, bro. Kingdom ported out to this slave-world or wherever he comes from and we got to my panic room before the Ruby Room blew.’
Smile drew a love heart with one finger. ‘We. It sounds so cosy between you two. And now he’s already sleeping over. Do we need to talk about boys, sister dear?’
Demorn stuck her tongue out. ‘Oh, be quiet. He’s in the spare room with the Spider-Man blanket.’
She found herself looking at the snow falling behind Smile. It didn’t snow in Babelzon. As real as it looked, it was just another beautiful hologram. Smile wasn’t broadcasting from the Clubhouse.
‘Where are you, Smile?’
He began to lower to the floor. ‘Back on the Spire. The signal to you is a lot
stronger from the ship.’
The Spire was the now crippled jump ship which had brought them from the ruins of Asanti to Babelzon when the Fracture Event had shaken and broken reality around them. A half-sentient machine, Smile was the master of its workings and used it as a primary place of study even though it could no longer fly. When Demorn had travelled to the Grave Dimension to try and rescue Kate before the animated undead ripped her apart on Dead Day, she had eventually come to the site of that dimension’s Spire, ripped apart and ruined at the bottom of a massive canyon. On that lost world neither Smile nor Demorn had survived the crash. In her most private moments, Demorn wondered if the single event of the Spire dying in the canyon abyss had doomed that world. She wondered if it was merely her brother and her that stood between this fragile moment and oblivion. It was tiring to think about. Demorn wasn’t sure how long she wanted to keep going. The quests weren’t about killing dragons or evil kings anymore. They had turned into wars that dragged on for decades and soiled her in murky politics.
Smile cut through her thoughts. ‘I have an update on the Reset Pyramid mission.’
Demorn cut back to now. She could feel her brain unblock, data flooding back to her. ‘I had forgotten all about the Reset.’
‘That’s for your own good. It’s dangerous enough you remember the Fracture Event.’
Demorn begged to differ. She liked to stay on top of what she could. ‘What’s the update?’
‘We found the Reset Pyramid.’
Smile threw the thumbnail drive back. She caught it. Her hand had turned to steel.
‘Where am I going?’
‘Josephine was right. It’s on a Source Core World. One of the first ever spawned.’
‘What are my orders?’ she asked.
Smile looked sad. ‘This isn’t a paying gig, Demorn. I’m going to suggest this is why the Order issued the warrant. They’re scared of what a rogue element like you will do to the system.’
She snarled. ‘It’s a broken system. We all know that.’
‘And they prosper like that, Demorn. Whatever the Investigators and the Order were prior to the Fracture Event, they are now a powerful independent party. Their tentacles are spreading. If you aim to claim or adjust the Reset Pyramid, any Investigator with you will have his own agenda.’
She thought of Iverson, asleep in the room next to her.
‘If it comes to the crunch, I can put a bullet through him, don’t worry about that,’ she told Smile with a savage grin.
Smile laughed. ‘Oh, I know that. I’ve fed the jump points into the drive. Be careful, you don’t have much time.’
I never do, Demorn thought. ‘See ya, bro.’
Smile vanished to dead air. The zombies were back on the big screen tearing apart her character. It was too late for him. She cancelled the game and turned it off. She heard a knock at the bedroom door. Demorn forced herself not to go straight for her gun.
‘Hey, Dee,’ Iverson said softly.
He was slumped against the door jamb, looking exhausted. He had stripped down the top half of the jump suit to reveal a sheer black t-shirt underneath.
‘I’m not going to take you in,’ he said.
‘What about the Order warrant?’
He shrugged, struggling to wake up. ‘They kept it flexible. I’m running lead on this, Demorn. Josephine is the one we want.’
‘Why Josie? She’s a diplomat. Haven’t you guys got bigger things to worry about? Like the end of the world?’
‘She shouldn’t be here. Her Root World is dead.’
Demorn gave him a look. ‘I come from a dead world too, y’know. “Exiled at thirteen.” People do what they can to survive.’
‘Josephine is a terrorist. She’s trying to game the system by collaborating with different versions of herself to reach the Reset Pyramid. You can’t imagine the level of damage a person like that can wreak. Lydia warned me, back in Bay City. I saw something there . . .’
Demorn nodded. ‘I can imagine. Josie caused a lot of trouble at the Court. It was foolish. That’s why Baron Santos kicked her out.’
Iverson said, ‘I know you’re close to Santos. Did you talk him into expelling her?’
Demorn laughed. ‘You’re an Investigator, but somehow don’t know a thing. I didn’t talk Santos into anything. I rarely do.’
Iverson looked like he was about to fall asleep on the spot. ‘My records say different.’
She said, ‘Check them again. I’ve been busy at the Front, killing people for him. Keeping our great city safe.’
A smile was playing on Demorn’s lips. ‘I saw Josephine from a distance. I admired her. She had an entourage, a mystique. She’s beautiful. That scares some people. Some men. Santos liked her company, enjoyed it.’
She gave him a last withering look. ‘They had an affair, if you must know. Kept it hushed up. Baron Santos is sick and trying not to lose a war. She’s probably a bit of a head trip. She takes chances. Maybe she feels like everything that lies behind her is a tomb and there’s nothing more to lose.’
Maybe I do too, Demorn thought, but she kept it to herself.
Iverson said, ‘She’s a terrorist.’
‘So you keep saying. I thought you were going to bed. I want to play my Xbox.’
Iverson repeated, ‘She’s a terrorist. You’ve saved Firethorn countless times, Demorn. You’re a legend whether you remember or if you even care. But I’ve had to terminate whole worlds in the wake of people like Josephine. Flick the kill switch when all hope is lost. I’ve seen where the diplomacy of Lady Josephine will lead us. They sell more than their own soul to Ultimate Fate. I don’t need the Order to tell me this is my primary. It already is. She must be stopped.’
Demorn shook her head. Iverson could be a strange, cold man. Just like the organisation that spawned him.
‘Stop her then. It must be nice to have the answer for everything. What about your wife? I thought you were obsessed with finding her. I assumed that was the goddamn primary, considering what we just went through with Kingdom.’
Iverson sighed. ‘That’s the trouble, Demorn. I don’t know if Natalia is even real.’
She blinked. ‘Say what?’
‘I don’t know if I was ever married and I don’t know if Kingdom killed her. The more I think about her, the more I try to cling onto anything solid. I’m being pacified by generic movie images and soothing R&B love songs. And I can’t stand R&B.’
‘So what does all that mean?’
Iverson tapped his head. ‘‘I can feel an Order sub-routine running on me. It’s easier to notice here, where they can’t connect.’
Demorn sank deeper into her chair. ‘That’s some next level Virtual Reality/AI craziness. Why would they lie to you?’
Iverson gave an ironic laugh. ‘Motivation. It’s been a long war and the Order only cares about results. They couldn’t give a solitary cent about my feelings. Just like they don’t care about wiping my mind after the mission, so I don’t recall when and wherever we have met before, Demorn, if we did, if we have. I’m a vessel for the mission. That’s how it is for any Investigator.’
She booted up the zombie game again. ‘Jesus, remind me not to apply for your little boys’ club.’
‘They hire women, too.’
‘I’m sure they do. Go get some sleep, Iverson. We’re headed to a Source Core World. The next phase is me going for the win and I want you bright eyed and bushy tailed.’
Iverson smiled and went back to bed, closing the door. Demorn played the zombie game for a while longer, not wanting sleep or the dreams that came with it. On the screen, zombies shuffled across a broken city and she kept moving fast, kill and run, kill and run, barely stopping, always escaping, travelling light in the game just like in real life. Sometimes Demorn couldn’t tell which was which, life or the game, everything a blur, a flashing objective in front of her with nothing behind.
Part 5
1
* * *
Demorn woke, instantly
alert, refreshed. She couldn’t even remember taking herself to bed. Her arms were splayed across the pillows, there was nobody beside her. No Winter. A digital Punisher comic she’d been reading glowed on her iPad screen on the other pillow. Frank Castle aka the Punisher was in the middle of destroying a bunch of drug dealers. She smirked. A lovely bedside companion.
Demorn turned the iPad off, quickly washed and threw on a Batman shirt and black pants. She put her diamond studs into her ears and cracked her neck. Time to get to business. She went to the main room, which was ice cold. There was frost on the walls. It was time to go. You couldn’t stay in the panic room too long. She forgot that sometimes. It was a bolt hole from reality, a place to catch a breath and play some computer games. But stay in here too long and shit got weird.
The door to the side room was open. No Iverson, the bed was made perfectly. He was already gone, maybe he had woken early. Missing her favorite leather jacket, she grabbed a black hoodie from the closet and slid on her purple sunglasses. The hoodie couldn’t block the ice in the room. And suddenly Demorn knew what was coming like a hammer to the heart.
Kate said, ‘I guess you can’t even look at me these days, can you, Dee?’
Demorn wore a well practiced smile. ‘Sure I can, Kate. I don’t know why you can’t just call me.’
Kate was floating up near the ceiling, not wearing much. A new series of tats rolled down the side of her body. She was still so beautiful it hurt Demorn to look at her. No matter how far apart they grew, there was still something there, something alive between herself and Kate.
Kate was glistening, fading in and out like the ghost she kind of was.
‘I never know where I’m going to be, Dee. I stayed with a guy last night, an agent who’s lined up some Super Force signings. He’s bidding for the rights to an animated series. I just want to close the deal.’
And I bet you closed it, Demorn thought. But she didn’t say the bitter words, not even as a joke. There was no point. After the Grave Dimension and Dead Day and every futile move she had made to try and save Kate, any anger or bitterness at the real woman that was left behind was just a waste of time. Kate had changed. Demorn wished her well. She longed for a past they couldn’t bring back. She had to let it go and she had. But the beautiful blonde floating in the air was as intoxicating and as alluring as the first time Demorn had seen her. Just as raw and just as lost.
