by Alana Melos
I think she’d have been amused to know she helped me. There was a pad of paper nearby and a pencil, and I wrote the instructions down as she must have done, not taking a chance on memorizing it. I knew the coordinates. They would leave us outside of the walled capital of the Reich, Berlin. Time flowed there at the same rate, but all the same, Huraiva was going to take control of Adira’s body when the vampire stepped through as a precaution even though it would be night. Things could change, and often did. Since the human body hid the vampiric spirit from sunlight, maybe it hid the spirit from other forms of detection as well, like Richter’s spells. Neither of us knew, but it was a fair guess. There had to be an advantage for the vampiric spirits to possess people other than granting the human a long life. Else, why were they made that way?
To me, that brought up an interesting question of how and why vampires were made, but this wasn’t the time or the place to even attempt to investigate. I shelved it for later, and reviewed the instructions once more. There had been one additional catch I hadn’t been prepared for: to travel to or from Origin required certain windows through the dimensional barriers. We hadn’t needed that to travel from Prime to the Reich, nor back. It appeared it only applied to the Origin point. I tore out that sheet when I’d programmed everything in and figured out when the next window would be. We only had to wait an hour or so, which wasn’t bad. For some of them, you had to wait days.
“You ready?” I asked, glancing to the vampire.
She nodded, and her skin darkened as the red in her eyes faded. The transformation wasn’t as obvious as Nosferatu’s--his human host was Hispanic and since the vampire was so old, his skin turned pale as bone which made for a startling change the first time you saw it--but it was still noticeable. Now that Huraiva was in control, her stance changed as did the expression on her face. Adira stayed cool and calm, save when experiencing some powerful emotion. Huraiva was more nervous and fidgety, though that had gotten better over the last couple of months. She still wasn’t anywhere near confident, but it was a marked improvement.
“We are ready,” Huraiva said, with a slightly thicker accent than Adira.
I moved over to the console. “Here goes nothing,” I muttered and started the process. All in all, it wasn’t too hard since the diagram in the book had been explicit. Nothing was labeled on the control panel, so you really had to know which one to press so you didn’t make a mistake. I set it to shut down in sixty seconds so we wouldn’t leave an open portal behind, and it would give us some time to see if we were going to be ambushed and leave before it got bad.
My hand hovered over the execute button. “Are you sure? We might not be able to come back. I can leave you the coordinates and time for the window for Prime… you could go home.”
Huraiva cocked her head as a dog might do if it heard a faint sound. “No, we are going with you,” she said, though she shook her head as she said it. “I don’t think it’s wise, though Adira neglected to tell you this.”
“I don’t think it’s wise either,” I agreed. “But it’s necessary.”
Her look to me turned contemplative, and I hit the button. I reached down and grabbed my backpack and hefted it over a shoulder, then looked to the silver portal. Unlike the bigger one at Interdimensional, Inc., this one didn’t hum. There was a soft sound, like silk sliding over itself, and then portal opened. The power needed to open it vibrated in the air, making my teeth ache. Without hesitation, I walked through the silvery curtain.
I know I’ve described the sensation before… standing still while going a hundred miles an hour, being in an open wide space while being squeezed and so on. This time was different. In addition to the uncomfortable yet mind opening feeling traveling through the portal created, there was a sense of loss as well. Part of me yearned to go back to Origin. Every cell in my body knew I didn’t belong on Axis and, as I exited the portal, I had the gentle urge to mourn. The uncomfortable squeezing sensation I remembered well from my last visit here returned, as if the dimension was trying to shut me out, get me to go back to where I came from. This time, my body agreed, yearning for something which was beyond my grasp, which might stay beyond my grasp forever.
Huraiva exited the portal, carrying her backpack in both hands. She let out a soft, sensual sigh as she stepped into the tall grass. I knew that feeling now. Gerard had made a similar sound when we’d been here. There were no ambushers, no signs of anyone out here at all. We allowed the watery portal to close and leave us in darkness. I looked over my shoulder to spy the tall walls of Berlin, then readjusted my backpack.
Though I normally didn’t carry extra stuff around with me, the very unknown nature of this job turned me cautious. I’d grabbed a couple of the MREs and a bottle of water from the supply depot they had in the base… but the rest was a mish mash of tools and suchlike that I thought might be useful. As you could imagine in a super villain base of operations, there were a lot of items which had been tempting. First and foremost? A gun. I’d grabbed a nine millimeter from a room which had been weirdly untouched. The closet had contained suits, all expensive and tailored. I was pretty sure that had been Tommy Cortex’s room. I chuckled to myself as I took the weapon: the tommygun had had a gun. He’d had several, actually, one an actual tommy gun. I chose something I knew how to fire and was easy to scavenge for ammo. In that and other rooms, I found four boxes of ammunition, and split them between Adira and I. Huraiva carried the gun with awkward confidence. She was the only one of us three who had taken actual lessons in shooting. I could maybe hit a guy in a small room, but that was about it.
I ransacked Cortex’s office again too, and found his stash of pills long forgotten in the picture frame. The twelve extra Clarity added to my stash, though I separated them, keeping most in the bottle. I tucked a couple away in hidden pockets. They might gather a little dust, but that wouldn’t cross my eyes any if I had to take them. That, and it was unlikely that even if someone did search me and took my stash of “aspirin” that they’d do the same with a stray pill in a pocket. I also didn’t like having such a powerful tool consolidated in one place. I’d had the thought of giving a couple to Adira, but in the end, I didn’t want to part with them. Just in case.
Somewhere else I found a set of lockpicks and snatched those. In another room, I took a small toolkit--you never knew when a screwdriver would be handy. I grabbed a quick change of clothing, revisiting my mother’s insanity for a brief second. There had been money everywhere, but it’d been all American, nothing which would be useful. When I found where Gerard had laid his head, I had to stop and laugh. It was pristine, made up as if he were part of the military with absolutely nothing personal to denote it was his. A quick search of his usual hiding spots turned up a pair of his back up knives. They weren’t the curved blades he normally used, but straight and dependable instead. I was familiar with using them as these were the ones I used when training with him. My mind flickered briefly to the fate of the Gerard in this world, then I shook my head. With cold certainty, I knew he was dead. There would be no place for him to hide on Origin, no matter how good he was at it.
The best find came from the armory. Unlike the one on Prime, this one was in disarray with most of the weapons broken and useless. Here, we also found a couple of corpses, torn apart like those in the lobby. When I saw who they were, I sucked in my breath. Jeneva lay across the room in scattered bits and pieces, the light gone out of her eyes. Another cyborg lay in the middle of room. This one was male, but he had a similar look and tattoos. It must have been her partner, the one she wanted to bring back to life on Prime. She must have caught them unawares, especially knowing what damage Jeneva could do on her own. Poor suckers. I snatched a couple more knives--you really could never have too many--and then grinned as I found a brick of plastic explosive. It had some military designation on it which I didn’t recognize, but I knew what it was as soon as I laid my eyes on it. We also found a remote detonator and blasting caps to go with it, though the batteries were s
hot. I felt positive we could find them somewhere in the Reich.
Between the two of us, I loaded us up with as much as we could carry, including some jewelry and watches we could sell for quick cash, if needed. The reason for this was simple: if we ran into a super soldier or metahuman here with invulnerability or a healing factor or whatever, these weapons would cut through their immunities. Origin artifacts trumped all energy based powers save magic. The explosive would be something we’d have to plan carefully if we needed it. It would shred any force fields or energy armor. I had the inklings of a plan to get into the Reichstag with it, where their portal equipment was held. It might be our only way in.
I looked to Huraiva, and considered. Switching to German as if we never left the Reich, I asked, “Can you sense Nazferatu anywhere, or does Adira have to do it?”
Her full mouth turned down into a frown for a heartbeat, then I saw her eyes flash red. Though Adira didn’t take control, she came to the surface like my Nosferatu would do from time to time while Michael had control. “He’s not near,” Huraiva said, her words slow and accent mixed as if both of them were talking at once. “He’s far away, towards the east.” She paused, and a shiver of fear ran through her features, “I think he is in Russia.”
I only had the very basics of the political geography here, but I knew that Russia was under control of not just a witch, but a legendary witch: Baba Yaga. Ostensibly, Russia was “free”, but in reality, I think she made the so called “iron curtain” from the cold war on Prime real.
I swore under my breath. I had been counting on Axis’ Nosferatu to help us out. He’d stayed behind during our assault on the Reichstag to protect the portal for his occulten miliz so they could slip through. We’d blown it up afterwards, but the Reich refugees and Gerard had informed me there were at least two other portals invasion size in Germany that they knew of. I’d imagined Nazferatu would stay in Germany to see them destroyed, or perhaps use one of them himself to escape. Both would have been ideal, at least for the pack of wolves and vamps who longed for their boss.
“Alright, what do we know about Richter?” I asked her. “We know he’s a higher up, so he’s probably got a lab here in Berlin, or somewhere close by.” The Clarity in my pocket felt heavy. I hadn’t wanted to admit I’d been jonesing for a pill, but only to have my ‘pathy back again. If nothing else, I could take one and search officers’ minds for information, but that was a last resort.
Huraiva nodded, her head cocked slightly. “That makes sense,” she said, then paused, a frown creasing her features. “Adira wants to take over, but I keep telling her that it would not be a good idea at this point.”
I had to smile at that. “It’s not,” I agreed and looked around. Maybe this rescue was a bad idea, but it had been my idea, so I was going to see it through. “He worked with the occult military… are there any places specific to you guys? Where you might have gathered or rested, like a military base?”
She shook her head. “No, other than the caverns, but that was for the the pack only.” She paused. “The wolves had their own places, and sometimes we gathered there… but not for magi or scientists.” Huraiva wrung her hands as she furrowed her brow. “Scientists… research. I think that would be the place to start, but that is not anything a common soldier would know much about.”
“We could try infiltration for information,” I mused. “Though Gerard knew some hackers here… that might be a better way. There’s always crooks.” We didn’t have money, but we did have the loot we’d collected. Gold almost never lost value, and it would be easy to trade it. “Let’s head towards the city. There’s a way in so we don’t have to go through the gates.”
She nodded and fell into step beside me. We walked in silence for awhile, the grass brushing against our knees. It was cold here, but no more than it had been in Imperial City. The air smelled better, sweeter. That was because of this world’s devotion to renewable energy, all the way from the early nineteen sixties on. Prime had been slow to combat the energy and pollution crisis, but they were getting there. We lived with the remnants of their slowness now, but at least things were getting back on track. I did have to give the white hats this--they really did make the world a better place through science.
When we reached the wall, it took me a little while to find the entrance. It wasn’t barred, and remained hidden and secure. We ducked into the tunnel and traversed it almost to the end. Dawn broke, so when we exited, we’d have sun. I stopped us there and asked a few basic questions. Since I didn’t have my telepathy, it would be much harder to get the information I needed, but not impossible. Huraiva, with Adira’s helped, strove to remember pawn and gold shops, as well as where the more nefarious element would hang their hats.
Now forearmed, we ventured forth. The streets of Berlin were much how I remembered them: bright, shiny, and without a hint of garbage anywhere. The art deco feel to the buildings gave the city a veneer of age, though many of the buildings were new. Not much of the original architecture had survived through the various world wars. Those that had had set the style for the new wave to come. It was a clean city with a dark current running through it. I couldn’t sense the people’s thoughts or emotions this time around, but I knew that lurking underneath their friendly exteriors was fear. Tightly controlled and never let out to play, the fear colored everything they did making even the most benign smile or gesture anxious.
It wasn’t a way to live. This city stifled me, but at least not having my ‘pathy was an advantage. I could pretend it really was like the surface presentation without the smothering oppression their thoughts gave. We navigated towards a business district, trying to look casual. I wasn’t afraid of being recognized, but Huraiva had been here for many years. Their occulten miliz wasn’t exactly known to the general population, but the possibility that any passing soldiers or officers would recognize her remained.
My worry that she would be recognized came to nothing. While Huraiva drew a few looks because of her Middle Eastern heritage, we made it to a goldsmith with no problems at all. I knew he cheated us on the price, but the jewelry was of good enough quality and, to quote him, looked “exotic” enough to sell well, so we still got a pretty decent stack of deutschmarks. I kept back a few of the smaller pieces--rings mostly--just in case we needed cash somewhere that didn’t take German money. I didn’t think it would happen, but it was far better to play safe than be sorry later. “Control what you can control,” someone said to me once, either Gerard or my father or someone else lost in time. It was good advice, no matter where it came from.
The criminals were harder to find, but not impossible. Not if you knew where to look. In the slums, I found us a contact. That contact led me to another, and so on. So long as you had money to grease palms, they didn’t care who you were. This eventually led us to a “security specialist”, which was Reich-crook-code for a hacker.
Does this all sound boring? It was. It was a long day of being on our feet, of walking through the city, and of talking to people and feeling our way around. If this was a movie, it would be done in a montage with images of cash changing hands and finger pointing. It wasn’t though. It was life, and thus we lived it… every boring, annoying second. Life would be so much easier if it was in a montage. Alas, no short cuts for me.
When we arrived at the “security specialist’s” apartment in a nondescript part of the slums, I rapped on the door in the code given. That was one thing I did like about the Reich’s criminals--they were way more honest than Imperial City’s criminals. If we had been in IC in the good old US of A, it would probably be a fifty-fifty chance this was a wild goose chase. You had to deal with reputable crooks in my city. Here, every crook held that remnant of respectability, at least among their own kind.
The guy who answered the door wasn’t who I expected. I’d had no name, save that he was an appropriator of information, and was caught flat-footed when Harry answered the door. My face dropped into a scowl for just a second before I slid on t
he mask of neutrality. He saw it and read my emotional turbulence correctly in just a glance. Even in this dimension, his skill at appraising people was ever quick and sharp.
“Do I know you?” he asked, fixing his blue eyes on mine.
“No,” I answered. “You remind me of someone, that’s all.”
“What do you want?” he asked, his voice dreadfully bland. I knew his Prime counterpart well enough to know that was his ‘I suspect you but don’t want you to know I do’ tone. Damn, why did I keep running into doppelgangers of him and Emily? Unlike her double, I couldn’t just kill him and be done with it.
“Information,” I said and flashed the remaining roll of cash. “And we’re willing to pay.”
He gave me another long look, then opened the door wider for us to enter. I tucked the money away and sauntered in as if I belonged there. Huraiva came much slower with a nervous smile and a ‘thank you’ for opening the door.
He shut it behind us, and stepped back into the cramped living room. There was a computer there, though it looked old and worn. The rest of the room was crammed with knick-knacks of all sorts, a little less packed in than a hoarder’s stash. I frowned as I looked around, and he chuckled in that infuriating way he had when he saw my disapproval.
“Makes it harder for them to search,” he said. “When they come, which isn’t often.”
Huraiva nodded. “Trust is hard to come by in the Reich,” she said. “It’s a sad day when the government doesn’t trust their own people.”
“They trust no one,” he affirmed, the German sounding weird coming the man with Harry’s face, “much less their people, as we hate them.” He sighed and plopped himself down on the chair in front of the computer. “Almost as much as we love them.”
