In the crowded, cramped interior I listened to a handful of them talk. As expected it was all about the incident at the restaurant. Fortunately they knew next to nothing.
I breathed a little easier.
The elevator stopped at a couple of floors on the way down to the parking levels.
I stepped out of the elevator at the lowest floor, along with the last of the passengers.
The sub-level felt cold, but it wasn’t the kind of cold that gave away a Fragment manifesting. It was cold because heat from the habitat above failed to penetrate this far down. I knew the building’s life-support system pumped some of the heat into the sub-levels but it barely dented the cold.
The parking floor had a few vehicles occupying it. The shoppers that rode the lift down with me went their separate ways. I found myself a quiet spot and called Arisa again.
She answered the call. “Where are you?”
“Arcade vehicle parking…sub-level six.”
“I’ll send a van over. Don’t move from there.”
“Why? I was planning to walk out the exit ramps.”
“Every exit is being watched. I wouldn’t put it past that bastard to try hauling you in.”
I swallowed again. “But it wasn’t my fault. I even saved the Countess—”
“I know that. But you know how difficult he is.”
I had an unpleasant thought. “Caelum is on his way to the hospital with the Countess and Prissila Ventiss. He’ll be apprehended.”
“Leave Caelum to me. You just stay there and wait for the van. They’ll call you when they arrive at the arcade.” She paused before adding, “Good work, Caprice. Thank you for saving them, and for watching Caelum’s back.”
I clenched my jaw for a heartbeat. “I’ll wait for the van.”
“Caprice—”
I ended the call.
Idiot. Why am I getting so flustered? It was his choice. He could have said no to her, but instead he said yes. Bastard didn’t even tell me about today’s date. Instead ‘she’ called me and let me know her plan for Sunday.
I walked over to a spot where the overhead lighting failed to reach, then leaned against the cold wall at my back. I had a good view of the elevator bank, and the down ramp.
I had a good view of the two men in dark suits that stepped out of the elevator that announced its arrival with a ping.
I tensed and crouched. They were less than a hundred feet from me. Still crouched I edged toward a nearby support pillar.
One of them had something in his hands—no, he was wearing thick gloves and he was holding his hands up, palms out, as though feeling the breeze on them. I had the feeling he was sensing the space around him through his palms.
Shit! Is that a Fragment? Is it the kind that can sense other Fragments?
I knew there was a Fragment like that. Van Demon had let that tidbit slip out when Caelum questioned him about camouflage capable Fragments. Caelum could be really persistent at times, and rephrase questions over and over.
Van Demon was a master of the sidestep but that one time he slipped up, though he wouldn’t say which Pride possessed the Fragment.
I peered at the two men from behind the pillar.
So it’s the Raynars that have it. That figures—they are responsible for security within Pharos. That Fragment would come in handy to them.
But it’s messing with me now!
The man with the glove Fragment began walking deeper into the floor. Then he turned my way.
Damn it. How the Hell does that thing know I’m here.
The second man called it in, and approached me with a sidearm in hand.
“Step out now. We know you’re there.”
Indecision kept me rooted. I didn’t want to make trouble for Arisa, but I had no intention of being hauled in, as she put it.
The Fragment wielder, obviously a Familiar leashed to the Raynars, suddenly called out, “Wait. Wait a minute.”
“What is it?”
“Ah…I’m not sure. I thought I felt something.”
The first man called out to me again. “Caprice Steiner afil Lanfear, come out. You’re wanted for questioning on the authority of Field Captain Alessandro Alucard.”
I banged my head against the pillar.
Damn, Arisa was right.
I chose to step out from behind the pillar. “I’m not responsible for what happened.”
“Come quietly.” He aimed the weapon down at my legs. “Remove the Fragment and hand it over.”
I leaned forward in disbelief. “What?”
“I said, remove the Fragment and hand it over.”
“Not going to happen,” I snapped at him. “My affiliation is Lanfear. This Fragment belongs to the Lanfear Pride. I’m not handing it over.”
He reached up and touched his ear piece. “Sir, she’s refusing to co-operate…yes, sir…we’ll take her into custody for questioning.”
I heard a vehicle descend the down ramp a moment before I saw it. I wasn’t sure if it was the van Arisa had sent for me, but after it stopped I saw four Enforcers pile out. A second van descended into the parking level and came to a stop a few metes behind the first. Enforcers piled out of that one as well.
Eight enforcers, and two Raynar agents faced me. All but one had a weapon drawn in my direction.
Wonderful. They’re treating me like the enemy.
I shook my head slowly.
Sorry, Arisa, but I’m going to make a scene.
I inhaled deeply, then spoke out loudly. “You want the Valkyrie Legs? Come and get them.”
Caelum’s Fragment resembled a wide bracelet.
Mine resembled a pair of matching obsidian anklets.
Inwardly I called out to my Fragment, and it manifested in moments. The sword-like Valkyrie Legs encased my legs, stockings, shoes and all. I stood a good two feet taller than mere seconds ago, and I faced the Enforcers and Raynar agents with confidence.
Actually, I wasn’t all that confident but I wasn’t going to give them a different impression.
Then something unexpected happened.
A shrill whistle sounded from somewhere deep in the sublevel parking floor.
The glove-like Fragment user cried out, “Shit! There’s another one here—”
He never finished the sentence.
A pencil thin beam of light touched the van farthest from me. The van glowed faintly purple, then swelled and burst apart. The Enforcers and two agents near it scattered like bowling pins. Those standing further away held their ground a little better, aided by the effect-fields provided by their armor-skins.
I dropped to one knee and weathered the shockwave behind the barrier-field generated by the Valkyrie Legs.
My mind overclocked a heartbeat later, and I leapt forward in the direction from which the violet beam of light had shone.
A second shrill whistle cried out.
A second beam of light lanced toward the remaining van.
I stood in its path, one legged kicked out at an angle in the direction of the beam. With the effect-field barrier focused around my raised foot, the violet beam flashed against it and deflected away. It struck the ceiling in the near distance, and permacrete and steel blew away. What material wasn’t disrupted into powder and mist came crashing to the ground in large and small chunks that could easily knock a man unconscious.
I lowered my leg, and took defensive posture as I faced in the direction of the shooter.
The thermoptic camouflage she wore flickered and vanished like a pair of curtains being drawn aside. She no longer appeared transparent like glass, and I saw her clearly for the first time. She was dressed in a black skinsuit with a long coat over it, and she wore an odd visor over her face.
The cannon encasing her right forearm was shaped like a crystal shard, and was around five feet long.
I narrowed my eyes at her.
So this is what she used to bring down the restaurant. But what the Hell is she doing here?
She continue
d walking closer.
I sensed the Enforcers behind me starting to gain their feet.
This could turn out bad. If civilians walked in, this could turn into another massacre. Those Enforcers wouldn’t hesitate to open fire. Hell, they wouldn’t hesitate to open fire on me. Then I noticed the light above the elevator bank was dark. Did that mean the lifts had been shut down? What about the exit and entry ramps?
I focused on the cannon girl as walked closer then stopped a dozen meters away.
I willed the effect-field generated by my Valkyrie Legs to strengthen.
The cannon girl laughed loudly. “Well, well. I thought I was chasing them, but they were actually chasing you. This is a pleasant surprise.”
I asked in a voice as loud as hers, “What do you mean chasing them?”
She tapped the visor. “Neat little Fragment. I can distinguish Aventis from Regulars, and it can also spot Fragments and Artifacts.” She laughed quickly. “Well, it is a Fragment so I guess that’s what makes it so special.”
“You can see them?”
“Yep.” She pointed behind me and to my right. “I saw that Raynar dog was using a Fragment, so I grew curious and decided to follow them.”
“You were in the shopping arcade all this time.”
“Yep. My other little Fragment is cool too. It’s so perfect these fools had no idea I was following them. Of course, that was probably because ‘he’ was fixated on chasing you. He didn’t sense me behind him. Either his Fragment is a worthless piece of shit, or he’s worthless as a Familiar.”
I remembered what the Student Council President had told us.
All the network breaches had occurred within a crowded room full of unsuspecting students.
With that Fragment she could go anywhere and remain undetected, even inside a crowded shopping arcade.
Again she laughed, and sounded completely amused. “I’m glad I hung around. I would have missed out on meeting you, Caprice Steiner. Also known as the Valkyrie Runner.”
I crouched a little lower.
The cannon girl smiled. “Oh, I’m not here for you. I’m here for that one.” Again she pointed behind me to the right. “I want his Fragment.”
“Why? You won’t be able to use it. That Fragment is locked.”
“Yes, but the Raynars won’t be able to use it either, and that works out just fine.” She aimed the cannon at the Familiar behind me. “No time for last words.”
My legs tingled. The Valkyrie Legs were reacting to something. Was it the cannon girl, or the Enforcers I could hear moving quickly behind me.
Near the tip of the crystal cannon, light particles shone like violet motes and danced in a spiraling vortex.
I heard a shrill whistle pierce the air.
I didn’t wait for her to fire, choosing to leap toward her instead.
She must have expected I would launch myself at her. She swung the cannon quickly despite the fact I was overclocked.
But I was expecting that as well.
Kicking downwards with the effect-field around my left foot, I shifted my stance in the air, and aimed the heel of my right foot directly at the cannon. Without the benefit overclocking I would never have been able to concentrate my will and direct every ounce of effect-field power around my right foot in time to block her shot.
My eyes were blinded by a violet flare.
I was stupid. I should have at least closed them.
Blinded by the incandescent light, I collided with the cannon girl and her effect-field.
For a heartbeat I hung in the air, then I was blown back. Twisting in the air, I managed to land on my legs, though my stance was open and undefended.
But the cannon girl had been knocked back ten meters or so. She was on the ground and struggling to get up.
At least I’d come out of the clash best.
The Enforcers took the chance to open fire.
Heavy caliber rounds lanced through the air at supersonic speed, and impacted against the cannon girl’s effect-field barrier. She gained her feet quickly, and while the barrier kept her safe, she aimed the cannon at the Enforcers. Light gathered quickly, and the whistle was short. She fired and an Enforcer vanished into an expanding mist of superheated liquids and flesh. His armor-skin offered no more protection to the beam than naked skin.
She fired again, and a second Enforcer vanished the way of his comrade.
I was close to the sole remaining Enforcer van. I took a chance, and ran to its side, then used the Valkyrie Legs to kick the vehicle through air.
It struck the remaining Enforcers, knocking them aside.
But it also took them out of the line of fire.
I heard the cannon girl curse as I ran to a nearby parked car.
Kicking it up into the air like a soccer ball, I then kicked this much smaller vehicle across the parking level and into the cannon girl.
I think my move caught her by surprise because she didn’t even try to avoid the flying car.
My next thought was ‘no such luck’ as the car swelled and exploded before it could hit her.
Then she focused on me, and me alone.
And I focused on running and making myself a hard target.
As I ran, I wondered why she wasn’t using the stealth Fragment to hide herself. Hadn’t she been using it before?
She had even fired while remaining cloaked in a thermoptic camouflage field.
So why wasn’t she using it now?
Was there a limitation to the stealth Fragment’s use?
I ran past a car just as it swelled and exploded, showering me with shrapnel. My Valkyrie Legs kept me safe courtesy of the barrier they generated around me. I kept running, circling back to the girl.
Then I heard an enormous explosion off to my right in the direction of the cannon girl. The yellow-orange flash of light lit up half the parking level floor.
I stared in her direction and saw the floor and ceiling wrecked all around her. She was on her knees, and slowly gaining her feet.
What the Hell just happened?
I ran toward her. In the corner of my eye, I noticed an Enforcer fielding an enormous shoulder mounted rocket launcher. It must have been inside the van I’d kicked into them.
They had brought something like that to subdue me?
The Enforcer was down on one knee, hurriedly attempting to fire again but the weapon appeared to have failed him.
And the cannon girl was aiming at him as she swayed drunkenly on her feet.
I kept running, my mind overclocked, and came across a lone vehicle, one that had been spared the damage of the last few minutes.
I slid to a stop beside it, using the effect-fields around my Valkyrie Legs to drag my body to a halt.
Kicking the small lev-car into the air, I put everything I had into the next kick. My legs were starting to feel a little heavy, but I had more than enough strength left in them.
A good deal more than I’d used up.
I put that strength into the kick that sent the car sailing into the cannon girl.
Half the car shattered and crumpled into an unrecognizable mess from the kick. The rest of it disintegrated when it struck the cannon girl’s protective barrier.
But I didn’t get the chance to charge in after the car.
The Enforcer fired the second heavy ordnance rocket at the girl while she was distracted.
I had enough time to drop to one knee before the explosion rocked the parking level and debris sailed everywhere. Without the protection of my Valkyrie Legs, I would have been sent tumbling through the air with my skin and clothes badly scorched. After all, I wasn’t wearing a skinsuit or armor-skin like the Enforcers.
But my Fragment kept me alive and safe.
I could only wonder how well the cannon girl’s Fragment would protect her.
I had an answer in a matter of heartbeats.
She was standing surrounded by floating dust and black smoke, and bits of ceiling that rained down. Swaying unsteadily, she glared at
the Enforcers and at me, then raised the cannon arm and fired a wide, yet weak beam at the ceiling a few feet from her. It caved in, and as the rubble settled to the ground, I saw her leap through the hole in the ceiling, undoubtedly aided by the skinsuit she wore. A Regular would have had trouble catching onto the edge of the hole, but an Aventis might have matched her jump.
I watched and waited to see if she would fire down at the remaining Enforcers, but none was forthcoming.
She was gone. She had made her escape. She had fled empty handed, and left destruction in her wake.
I felt unsatisfied. She hadn’t been defeated. She had simply chosen to retreat.
As I looked at the hole in the ceiling I noticed the few standing Enforcers stare in my direction. The one conscious special agent pointed at me.
“Stay where you are.”
Like Hell I will!
I spun on my heels and ran away. I was running up the exit ramp long before they managed to fire a single shot.
I didn’t waste time thinking it might have been better to let cannon girl kill them. That might have saved me the trouble of having to flee from them, but then I’d have their deaths on my hands because I didn’t protect them.
Ungrateful as they were, I still had a duty and responsibility to protect those that couldn’t protect themselves.
I ran up the parking levels.
The entrance gate was up. I had feared I would encounter it down and locked.
I slowed my run to a walk, then cancelled the manifestation of my Fragment.
It disappeared into Pocket Space amid the swirling, writhing black mist that accompanied every breach into real-space.
I had to wait for the mist to fade away, before stepping out into the sidewalk sans the Valkyrie Legs.
I joined the throng of pedestrians.
Overhead and in the distance I could hear the sound of emergency sirens. Some of the pedestrians looked up and around, but most were too busy walking to their next destination or fiddling with their palm-slates to pay attention to the vehicles flying high over their heads.
I continued to walk away from the arcade.
It wasn’t until I was three blocks away that I felt my palm-slate vibrate in my skirt.
When I answered, Arisa yelled at me so loudly I had to hold the slate at arm’s length away from my ear.
Pride X Familiar ReVamp (Pride X ReVamp Book 1) Page 19
