Amanda and Ben jumped a little when a loud bang! sounded from down the hall. “The monster?” Ben queried.
"The monster.” Jaz glanced around. “Where's Q?"
"Q?” Orcus frowned.
"Quickfingers—you know, the imp."
"Ah. I get it. I like that. Much easier to say than Quickfingers."
"Where's Loki?"
"Back in the room with the ... symsuit?” the giant replied. “He said he had an idea."
Loki has an idea. God help us.
"I want to see this symsuit thing,” Amada told Ben. She strolled up and into what Chaz was calling the bio-lab. As she walked in, Loki was standing on one of the bookcases, carefully inspecting the bulbous growth on the ceiling.
"This is really fascinating. I think this is a genuine Centian symsuit incubation tank. What I could learn from this thing.” He reached out for a mana thread, shaped in into a small knife, and carefully shaved on a small segment of the sac.
"Loki? What are you—"
The sac burst, burying Loki in a sudden avalanche of viscous orange goo. Something, like a human shadow with jet boots, zipped around the room, bouncing from wall to ceiling to floor like an oddly shaped pinball.
Then came straight at her. She screamed.
* * * *
Ben bolted into the room and found his wife on the floor wrestling with what looked to him like gray silly putty with an attitude problem. It was trying to cover her body and she was doing her best to fight it off.
He reached down to help, thinking the whole time—I can't stop this from happening!
Jaz came through the door like a whirlwind. “What the hell?!"
"That thing's attacking her! Dammit, Jaz, do something!"
"It won't hurt her!” Loki snapped. “Quite the opposite. Just back off!” He was back on the floor, wiping the goo from his clothing with a paper towel. A whole roll sat in the crook of his arm as he scrubbed at his hair.
"Didn't he say it was a Centian thing?” Ben asked Jaz.
"Do as he says,” Jaz told him. They stepped back and watched as the symsuit swallowed Amanda.
A couple of minutes later, as she lay there, panting, the suit shifted from gray to a deep, deep midnight blue, forming rainbow bands around each wrist. She sat up, fingers probing her face. “What did it do to me?"
"Turned you blue. But it's a pretty blue,” Loki said, picking little bits of orange from his clothes.
"What? I can't be blue."
"Hey—there's nothing wrong with being blue,” Quickfingers said, materializing only a few feet away. He'd been invisible and ethereal—he probably hadn't gone anywhere at all. “Take it from me. I know all about being blue."
Amanda groaned. “I'm blue."
"Isn't that a song?” Loki asked.
"It's probably a hundred country songs,” Amanda snarled. “Somebody help me up."
Jaz reached down and helped her to her feet “He's sorry,” she told Amanda, jerking her thumb at the embarrassed Trickster. He was very pointedly not looking at her. “At least one screw up per operation—it's the Loki guarantee."
"This isn't funny,” Ben grunted, aiming a glare at Jaz.
"Actually,” Amanda said, “it is kinda funny."
He gave his wife a doubtful look. “It is?"
"I should know better than to stay in a room with Loki when he's doing something like that,” she told him. “It's at least as much my fault as his."
"That's quite a woman you've got there,” Loki said cheerfully, slapping Ben on the back. “I honestly didn't expect that taking a sample would activate the damned thing. Live and learn, I always say."
"You do, do you?” Jaz shook her head and walked toward the next door. She stopped in front of the one containing the monster. “You! Shut the hell up before I have to come in there and shut you up!"
The howls stopped. The banging diminished into a kind of muted scratching, like a cat trying to convince someone to open the door.
"That's how tough my boss is,” Quickfingers announced proudly. “Even the monsters are afraid of her."
"Something that's bothering me,” Orcus pitched in, “is that they've got to know we're here by now. So where's the security troops?"
"He's got a point,” Ben said. “I'm getting a really bad feeling about this."
Jaz had already been wondering about that. Giving them free rein to explore this area seemed remarkably strange to her as well, but she hadn't wanted to complicate things by being the first one to bring it up. “Just be extra vigilant. Hey, Q—why don't you check out the rest of the building for us? See if there are any security people on the way?"
"Okay, boss.” He teleported out.
"He's a handy one to have around,” Amanda admitted, “even if he is kinda irritating. What are the chances I can get one, too?"
"You want an imp?” her husband asked. “Are you nuts? We've already got a toddler who thinks table legs are chew toys. No telling what kind of trouble an imp would get him into."
Loki snickered. “But trouble is what imps do best."
Quickfingers returned, materializing silently in their midst. “There's a whole bunch of armed people standing in the hall two floors up—they look like they're waiting for a signal."
"How much is ‘a whole bunch?'” He shot a look at Jaz. “Can imps count?"
She shrugged. “As far as I know he can."
The little blue fellow placed his hands on his hips and glared up at Orcus. “I can count as good as you can."
"As well,” Amanda corrected.
"That, too!"
"I don't think too much of hanging around here until they get the signal they're waiting for,” Ben muttered. “No sign of Thoth?"
The imp shook his head. “No sign of Thoth."
"We can't leave now,” Jaz said. “I have no intention of returning to our Earth empty-handed."
"Anyone ever tell you that you're a little obsessive?” Amanda smiled sweetly at Jaz, who responded with an inarticulate growl.
"I'll take that as a yes,” Amanda said wryly. “So what's the next step?
"We're not going to wait for them to come after us,” Jaz told them. “We're going to deal with their security personnel on our own terms."
"And what would those be? Our terms, I mean."
"Chaz—do you have any more mirrorgates?"
He shook his head. “I only made enough for the original crew—Johnny and Sam still have a set, but they're not here, obviously."
"How long would it take to make them, if I got you the materials?"
"A couple of hours."
"Too long. Damn. Okay, then. They're not in any way bound to a certain person, are they? I mean, I could give mine to someone else and they could use it, right?"
He nodded. “Except for Orcus, of course. His might fit Ben if Ben were to change into his wolf-man form."
"We call it a wolfen form,” Ben said.
"Fine. If Ben were in his wolfen form, he'd probably be able to wear that one—but no one else could."
"That'll never work. I'll give mine to Amanda—I can do it without a mirrorgate. So can you. You want to give yours to Ben?"
Chaz nodded. “That'll work."
She grabbed a handful of threads and wove three mirrorgating spells for herself. Chaz watched her tie off the first one and took his cue from her, crafting three spells of his own. He pulled off his mirrorgate and handed it to Ben, who thanked him and snapped it around his wrist.
Jaz unsnapped hers and handed it to Amanda. The tiny blonde woman looked at it dubiously and snapped it around her own wrist, then spun it. “I think it'll slip right over my hand, Jaz. I'm a little smaller than you."
Jaz stood almost a foot taller than Amanda, and weighed a good fifty pounds more. Jaz glanced at the device sliding around on the little blonde's forearm and sighed. “Well, at least you're not a front-line fighter. It'll work for you as long as you stay out of direct combat."
Amanda nodded. “Of course."
> "Is everybody ready?” Receiving nods all around, she walked up to one of the doors and hit it with the mana thread she'd been holding. The silver coating seemed to ripple, then, suddenly, the surface of the door transformed into a large mirror.
"Wow. Nice trick,” Amanda murmured. Jaz glanced over at her and grinned, then forced another thread into the mirror. Once the transit connection had been made, she shot a look at Quickfingers. “Q—go find a mirror or something else reflective—take it up to where the security guys are and drop it on the floor for us."
"Okay, boss!” He flickered out as she made the long step into the Dimension of Mirrors. Half a second later she stood on that strange gray floor, scanning upward at the fragments of reflections filling the space above her.
Another one appeared, giving her a view of a group of armored men from a position at their feet. Perfect. She threw one of her spells at the mirror and launched herself through the portal as it opened...
...and she was in their midst. She caught one soldier in the jaw with a wicked left hook, snapped a back kick into the gut of another, and finished off a third with a three punch combination up his center line—solar-plexus, sternum, and between the eyes. His head rolled back and he collapsed.
She twisted away from the muzzle of a machine pistol as it barked out a three round burst. She felt the heat of one bullet as it whizzed scant centimeters from her spine. She lashed out, slapping the gun muzzle aside, and followed up with a lightning fast punch to the center of the gunman's face. He went over backwards, obviously stunned.
She sidestepped a clumsy side kick and nearly tripped on one of the downed soldiers. She went to one knee and dove sideways away from a follow-up front kick that skidded across the side of her head hard enough to send stars winging through her skull.
She landed hard atop an unconscious soldier, knocking the breath out of both of them. She squirmed away from a thrust from a rifle butt and kicked out to the knee of her attacker. Fetched a glancing blow from her foot, her latest attacker staggered backward, cursing.
She scrambled to her feet, wondering why no one else had come through yet. A quick glance at the downed guards revealed that one had fallen across the mirror, blocking it from the light. No light, no mirrorgating, she realized. She called her katana to hand and strode across the broken soldiers to where the mirror lay. She lifted the man's unconscious body off the mirror and tossed him aside. The remaining four guards eyed her warily, their weapons in hand, but pointing at the floor.
Orcus came through the mirrorgate first, a half-naked man giant in monochrome. The guns swiveled up. Fingers tightened on triggers, but no one fired. As more of the team materialized, the guards slowly inched backward toward the bank of elevators at the end of the hallway. Not one of them was brave enough to try to rescue any of their downed companions.
"This was too easy,” Loki muttered. “I don't like it at all."
"Getting a suspicious mind, Loki?"
"Getting? I've always had a suspicious mind. It's our friend Ben here who's the naïve one."
"I'm not nearly as naïve as I used to be,” the werewolf objected.
"Don't let him fool you,” his wife interjected. “He's still pretty innocent.” This earned her a disgusted look from her husband.
They watched as the guards calmly pushed the button, waited for the elevator, and piled in when it arrived.
As the elevator door slid shut, Loki waved at them. “Buh-bye."
"That was pathetic,” Jaz growled. “They couldn't protect a bowl of cat food from a sick kitten."
"Makes you wonder, doesn't it?” Loki asked. “What is this place? And where is Thoth?"
"So what's on this floor? The color scheme is about the same, but there's a lot more doors here. I vote we check some of them out.” Cecil leaned down and relieved one of the guards of his rifle. “When the real security guys show up, I plan on pumping them full of lead."
"You don't consider these guys ‘real’ security either, do you?” Jaz asked him. It wasn't much of an effort on her part to make up for the way she spoke to him earlier, but it was better than nothing. He seemed to take it in the spirit it was meant, offering up a tiny smile and checking the action on the rifle.
"We're missing something."
"Gee, ya think?” Loki shook his head in obvious disgust. “We're being played—and we don't even know the name of the game."
"It's time we find ourselves a rule book,” Jaz said.
Twenty-two
The elevator dinged. Their heads snapped up as the door began to slide open. Cecil rushed forward, lifting the sub-machinegun to his shoulder.
Thoth stepped off the elevator, gun in hand. “Persistent bunch of nuts, aren't you?"
Jaz wasn't in the mood to play by his rules. “Where the fuck are we, Thoth?"
"You mean you don't recognize it? It's the Shea Building. Different universe. The right universe."
"Says you,” Jaz growled in response. “I gotta say—these guards were pretty pitiful."
"I've been telling Deryk that for ages now. That's why I brought all you here, to convince him that he needed better security personnel. We've been watching your antics on camera with a great deal of interest—I think he's beginning to come around to my way of thinking.
"I have to thank you for that, at least."
"So this was some kind of setup from the beginning?” Loki snorted. “Is that all you hoped to gain?"
"Actually—no. We were hoping to get some choice vampire and lycanthrope DNA ... which means we're going to have to capture your asses."
"Easier said than done,” Ben said.
"Oh, are you planning on being a bad doggie?” He lifted the muzzle of his pistol and aimed it directly at Ben. “I could blow your fucking head off right now if I wanted to."
"And before the echoed died, one of the rest of us would rip your stinking head off,” Jaz told him cheerfully.
"Oh, I figured that would be your response. That's why I brought my own insurance.” He reached into the hidden corner of the elevator and pulled a small, dark-haired girl about ten years old to his side. He rested the barrel of his pistol against her left temple. “I don't think any of you have the nuts to risk her life as well as your own."
Jaz met his gaze and spoke through clenched teeth. “If you don't let her go, I'll make sure your death is as slow and painful as I can manage."
"Nice threat. Too bad you're in no position to make such threats, Jasmine Tashae."
"What did you people do with the real Thoth?” Loki asked.
"I am the real Thoth."
"The real Thoth was my best friend—and he would never have agreed to become the lackey of some immortal dictator."
"There's no way you can know that,” was his response. He gave the girl's hair a sharp tug. She whimpered but kept her eyes downcast. “It didn't take long for us to realize these people are little better than cattle. They will tolerate almost anything as long as it doesn't impinge on their right to their petty little luxuries—their illusion of freedom.
"And mark my words—they much prefer the illusion of freedom to the real thing."
Jaz snarled under her breath. She was hard-pressed to argue with that statement. It struck entirely too close to the truth as she saw it. She sure wasn't going to admit it out loud, though. “So you expect us to simply turn ourselves over to you?"
"Not all of you. I just want a vampire and a lycanthrope. And maybe a few cell samples from you, Jasmine."
"You may have noticed—we don't have any vampires with us at the moment. They elected to return to Earth. Our Earth."
"I was wondering about that. I suppose you're just going to have to call one of them back."
"Can't."
"Can't? Or won't?"
"Can't. As much as I hate to admit it, our cross-universe communication capabilities are limited,” Chaz interjected. “Despite everything I've tried to do."
Jaz felt a tug on her pants-leg. “I can get the little girl away
from him,” he whispered up at her.
She gave him one swift nod in response. He ducked behind her and faded from view.
Have to keep him busy. “Takes a lot of balls for you to use a child as a shield,” Jaz taunted him.
This had the desired result of irritating the rogue immortal even further. “She is simply a means to an end—a lamb used to draw the sheepdogs into my trap."
"And we're the sheepdogs, I suppose? What does that make you—the wolf, or merely a scavenger, like a coyote?"
"Hey,” Loki objected.
"Sorry, Trickster. But he's pretending to be something he's not ... no self-respecting predator would hide behind a mere prey animal."
She spotted Quickfingers silently coalescing behind them. “You must be so proud of yourself, you lying two-bit bully."
Snarling something incoherent, Thoth took a step forward, lifting the weapon from the girl and drawing a bead on Jaz. Quickfingers rushed forward, grabbed the child from behind, and vanished with a loud boom!
Thoth froze, obviously well aware what that sound signified. “Shit,” he mouthed. He pointed the pistol directly into their midst. “Doesn't change the fact that I could kill any one of you if you try anything funny."
Loki smirked. “Say, have you heard the one about the evil immortal and the little kid?” he asked.
Thoth shifted the barrel toward him. “Shut up, Loki. I won't be clowned on. Play that tune again and I'll put a bullet between yours eyes."
"You know something, Thoth? You can go fuck yourself."
Thoth's fingers whitened against the trigger. “There's just so much of your shit I'm going to tolerate, Loki."
"Well, boo-hoo. Do I look scared? Fucking terrified."
"You shoot him, Thoth, and I'll slice you from crotch to gullet before the echo dies. And that's no exaggeration."
"You might have a bit of a problem with that, Jasmine,” a deep, thick voice emerged from behind them. The voice was eerily familiar. She knew what she'd see before she turned around.
"Deryk Shea."
In this universe the squat immortal had used his glamour powers to alter his physiognomy to improve his appearance—he looked nearly angelic but for a single scarlet-tinged scar running from the bridge of his nose all the way to the corner of his eye. He wore it like a badge of pride, just as her Deryk wore his natural face for much the same reasons.
Lady of Blades Page 30
