“That’s classified information.”
“Classified? It’s my fucking father! Tell me.”
“I promised your mother I wouldn’t. Not until either he tells you or he’s dead.”
“So he’s still alive?”
“If you call what he does living.”
“Is he hurt? Is she going after him too?”
“I don’t think she cares about him. Not yet.” Marlin sighed wearily, though Louise figured he had no need for sleep anymore. “Could we stop the Twenty Questions bit and get to work? You can harangue your mother about this later.”
“Fine. Why don’t you start by telling me what’s going on with Eileen.”
“The short version is that her real name is Isis. Not like the Egyptian goddess. She is the Egyptian goddess. Twenty-two years ago your esteemed mentor found a statue of her in the desert, which freed her spirit to inhabit the body of some poor girl conveniently named Isis. She married Dreyfus, came here, and wreaked havoc on the city until your mother stopped her.”
“How?”
“She cut out her heart and the bitch ate it.”
“Her heart? But—”
“Yes, she died. My master allowed her to come back to life.”
“Your master?”
“Merlin. You know, like Arthur, the Round Table, Excalibur, and all that nonsense.”
“So Mom gave this Isis her heart and Isis died?”
“Not entirely. The girl she’d possessed survived as a baby. Of course your mother couldn’t bring herself to do the smart thing and kill the accursed child, so she gave her over to the witches, who were supposed to keep her in check. Instead they let her run wild and now she’s come back to finish what she started.”
“Which is?”
“Rule the world. All that good old-fashioned megalomaniac stuff. But first she’s taking care of the old business. Starting with your mother. Then her ex-husband. Then her ex-husband’s lover. Then the witches. You see a pattern?”
“What about me?”
“She’s saving you for last. Which is why we need to hurry this up. Now that she’s taken care of the witches, she’ll be coming for you. We have to get you ready.”
Louise went back over to the red case to take out the cape and helmet. She tied the cape around her neck and then stuffed the helmet over her head. A surge of adrenaline ran through her as she did so. “Let’s do it,” she said.
***
Things were still chaotic enough after the break in at the museum for Louise to sneak out without much trouble. She crawled through the door, back to the elevator. In the subbasement, Marlin began his lecture on the armor’s abilities, most of which she already knew from word-of-mouth at school.
“If you wrap the cape around yourself, you’ll be invisible to human eyes. Not cameras, as your mother found out, much to her chagrin,” he said.
“That’s not all that useful then.”
“Yes, well, my master designed this four thousand years ago. A lot fewer cameras back then.”
“Can’t your master fix it?”
“If he wanted to.”
“But he doesn’t want to. He’d rather Mom risk her neck instead. And me risk my neck too, I guess.”
“He can’t just drop in for a visit like an old college chum. There are consequences of him coming back. Think Revelations.”
“Great. Mom never figured out anything on her own?”
“No and believe me she tried. Can we continue?”
“Fine.” Louise wrapped the cape around her body before she boarded the elevator up to the main gallery. Ordinarily it would have been difficult to cross the main gallery without a camera spotting her, but the break in had destroyed several cameras.
She kept the cape around her body as she scuttled along the sidewalk, into an alley. When she was certain no one would see her, she finally let it drop. “So now what?”
“The gloves allow you to climb up walls. Just put your fingertips to the wall and you’ll stick to it.”
“Like Spider-Man.”
“Shut up,” Marlin snapped. “The gloves can also open traditional locks, though I’ll admit that doesn’t have much value these days with everything using lasers and computers and such nonsense.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. What else?”
“The rubber soles of the boots allow you to jump very high into the air. Bounce a little first to warm it up and then you can power up one big jump. To keep you from falling on your ass, the cape can work as a parachute if you let it billow up. The armor itself will make sure you don’t break anything.”
“It’ll just leave a bruise.”
“Yes, well, that’s supposed to help you remember your mistakes.”
Louise nodded and then began to bounce slightly on the soles of her feet. She could feel the soles of the boots loosen until they became like a rubber ball she’d played with as a child. She decided to finally give it one higher bounce and found herself soaring through the air. She cleared the roof of the adjoining building and looked down to see caged pigeons frantically race around. She swam forward in midair to propel herself onto the roof.
Too late she realized she would land on the pigeon cage. She tried to use the cape to brace her descent, but she was too late. She slammed down onto the cage; miraculously she didn’t flatten any birds in the process. She lay facedown on the roof, while some of the curious birds pecked at her with their beaks.
“I guess that runs in the family too,” Marlin said.
“Shut up,” she growled. At least the armor worked as advertised to prevent her from breaking any ribs or other bones. She pushed herself onto her feet and adjusted the helmet, which had gone slightly askew. “Now what?”
“If you tap the side of your helmet you’ll be able to see in the dark. It’s just night vision, no infrared, ultraviolet, or X-ray vision. Your mother meant to put something in but never could seem to find the time. Can’t fancy why.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means because she had her hands full running a museum and looking after a certain little brat.”
“Hey!”
“It’s the truth. Trust me, I babysat for you often enough.”
“You?”
“Who else do you think was looking after you after that pig left?”
“But you’re a ghost. What could you do?”
“I could fetch Aggie to take care of you.”
“Mom left me alone? With you?”
“Yes, well, none of us were happy with the arrangement, but your mother thought it would give the illusion of normalcy better than having you stay with Aggie every night. Now you know why her hair turned gray.”
“Jesus Christ,” Louise said. She shivered to think all those nights she’d been in bed and thought she was alone, a ghost had hovered over her bed to check up on her. She sighed and forced herself to focus on the task at hand. She was the Scarlet Knight now and she had to prepare herself to fight a very pissed off Egyptian goddess. “So when are we going after her?”
“Not tonight.”
“But you said she’s coming after me next.”
“Yes, well, it wouldn’t do any good to go at her right now. You’d be killed for sure.”
“Maybe I could surprise you.”
“Your mother nearly died fighting one Black Dragoon. You have three to deal with.”
“What’s a Black Dragoon?”
“The ancient foe of the Scarlet Knight. A big nasty brute Isis created to harvest souls for her. Once she was imprisoned, the Dragoon continued to wreak havoc and terror. Every time he returned, a new Scarlet Knight would rise to destroy him, including your mother.” Marlin shook his head sadly. “Unfortunately Isis has gotten wise to the Order’s tactics. This time she created three of the buggers. And they do all sorts of things we’ve never seen before: use night vision on their eyes, spontaneously grow spikes, and even turn invisible.”
“And I’m supposed to kill them? Sounds like a s
uicide mission.”
“Probably.”
“That’s all you’re going to say? ‘Probably?’ Aren’t you supposed to give me a pep talk or something?”
“I’ve seen Scarlet Knights die in almost every way imaginable, so forgive me if I’m not especially sympathetic.”
“Great. So if we’re not going after Isis, what are we going to do?”
“Bust a few normal thugs. If you survive that we can worry about bigger game.” Marlin pointed to the sheathed sword on Louise’s belt. “Let’s get into weapons and tactics now.”
She nodded and pulled the sword from its sheath. The slightly curved blade was pure gold and looked sharp enough to cut through anything, as she’d heard. “This is the Sword of Justice,” she said. “It can slice through anything, right?”
“Almost anything.”
“Almost?”
“Only things that are of this universe. Anything from a parallel world and it’s just a really nice knife.”
Louise took a few practice swipes with the sword, which felt much lighter than it looked. She had been on the fencing team at Northwestern, one of the few sports where it came in handy to be much shorter than her opponents.
“The sword will glow in the presence of evil, it will turn molten if someone unworthy tries to hold it, and you can control it with your mind. That will probably take some work. We should move someplace without so much wildlife.”
She nodded and tucked the Sword of Justice back into its sheath. Then she ran across the roof to spring from the edge towards the next building. This time she managed to get the cape up in time to slow her fall. She stumbled a little, but remained on her feet. “You’re a natural,” Marlin said. “Probably because you aren’t such an albatross like your mother.”
She took out the Sword of Justice and pointed it at him even though she knew it wouldn’t do anything. “Don’t make fun of her like that.”
“I’m just saying she didn’t have a very good sense of balance. Now, why don’t you throw the Sword of Justice and see if you can guide it?”
She brought her arm back and intentionally threw the sword through where the ghost hovered. As expected, it didn’t affect Marlin at all. She tried to put this out of her mind and focused on the sword itself. Renee would have a much easier time with this, she knew—
The Sword of Justice clattered onto the rooftop. Marlin shook his head. “You have to concentrate, especially at first. Once you’ve been doing this a little while then you’ll be able to do it easier.”
Louise retrieved the sword from the rooftop and then drew her arm back to throw it again. This time she closed her eyes and cleared her mind as she’d learned to do in yoga class. She pictured the golden blade spinning through the air, towards Marlin. Then she imagined it hovering in midair, just in front of his smug face as if poised to give him a much-needed shave.
When she opened her eyes, she saw the golden blade was in the exact position she’d imagined. “I did it!” she shouted. The Sword of Justice clattered to the rooftop again, but she didn’t care.
“Let’s hope you’ll be able to do it with your eyes open soon. Chances are you’ll need to guide it while some dumb thug has you in a headlock.”
“It was good for a second try. Admit it.”
“Yes, fine. You’re a quick study, which you should be.” As she retrieved the Sword of Justice to return to its sheath, Marlin said, “I’m going to assume you’re more into that kung-fu nonsense like your mother was until her joints started giving out. Just remember that in the end there are no style points. Get them to the ground as quickly as possible and keep them down.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Are we ever going to fight anyone or not?”
“Well, you certainly didn’t inherit her patience, did you?”
“You’re the one who said time is of the essence.”
The ghost sighed dramatically. “Very well. Go over to Eighth and Orchard. There’s a little convenience store still there. Always a good place to start out.”
Along the way to the destination Marlin had selected, Louise practiced her jumps. The gymnastics classes she took with Renee when they were kids paid off in this regard. Tumbling had always been her greatest strength as she was a natural at balling herself up and rolling. The armor was light and flexible enough that she could curl herself up like an armadillo as she came down on a rooftop. Then she only had to slow her descent and get to her feet.
“Well we’re in luck,” Marlin said. “A couple of blokes are making a withdrawal even as we speak.”
“A convenience store robbery? Shouldn’t we start with something harder?”
“You handle this and we’ll talk about it.”
She snorted beneath the helmet visor. “Fine.” She surveyed the old building and saw an entrance in the back. From what Marlin said, two men were inside, one with a gun pointed at the clerk and another with an eye on the customers. With a slight shrug, she dropped off the roof and used the cape to slow her descent.
She went around to the front of the store and kept the cape around her body. She stood before the front window to peer inside. The situation was just as Marlin had said. One man had a gun pointed at the clerk, who stuffed cash into a paper bag. The other had his gun trained on a middle-aged man with a porno magazine in his hand.
“Well?” Marlin said.
“Just wait a minute.” She shuffled over to the edge of the doorway and waited. The clerk finished stuffing the money in the bag and then handed it over to the robber. The man hurried towards the door, followed by his partner.
As they burst through the door, Louise stuck her foot out. The first robber tumbled forward, onto the sidewalk. The second tripped over his partner to land on top of him. Louise let the cape drop. “Oh, how clumsy of me.”
Then she gave them each a punch in the face to keep them down as Marlin had suggested. She retrieved the bag of cash from the sidewalk and took it inside to the clerk, whose eyes went wide. “You! They could have kill me while you do nothing—”
She grabbed the front of his shirt and hauled him halfway across the counter. “Listen, jerk, no thief worth a damn is going to waste a bullet on you. So just take your fucking money back and call the cops to take care of those two.” She tossed him back against the wall. “You’re welcome, asshole.”
As she stomped out, Marlin said, “Well, that certainly was different.”
“You said to handle it. I handled it. Now what?”
***
Marlin had her stick to petty robberies for most of the night. She broke up three liquor store robberies, two gas station robberies, and one strip club robbery. Outside the strip club she also prevented a rape; she broke three noses and probably twelve ribs in the process. Afterwards, the young woman collapsed against her. “Thank you so much. I don’t know how I can repay you.”
“I’m just doing my job.” One thing the scarlet armor didn’t have were handcuffs, so she had to borrow some from the strippers. Then she found a secluded alley where she could take off one glove to check her watch. It was almost four in the morning; Mom probably thought Louise had forgotten about her by now.
“I think that’s enough for tonight,” Marlin said.
“Tomorrow we go after these Dragoons.”
“They’re just a bit tougher than petty thieves and would-be rapists.”
“I don’t care. I’m not going to sit around while this Isis bitch keeps killing all of my friends! You got that?”
“Fine with me. If you die we’ll just find someone else.”
“That’s very comforting.”
“It’s also the truth.”
“So what do I do now? Go back to the Sanctuary and change?”
“No. There’s one last trick. Just say ‘mekka lekka weep ninibaum’ and the case will come to you.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“It’s the language of magic. Just do it.”
She rolled her eyes as she said, “Mekka lekka weep ninibaum.�
�� As Marlin had said, the red case showed up at her feet, with the Book of Isis still inside. She reached inside and stroked its cover. “What I don’t understand is why she put it in here.”
“Because it’s the one place where Isis can’t get it. My master’s magic is more powerful than hers; if she tries to stick her hand in there it’ll burn right off.” Marlin fixed her with a hard look. “That brings up one final point. If you do anything to prove yourself unworthy while wearing the armor, it will destroy you.”
“What?”
“The armor is only for those pure of heart. If you show that you’re not, it will kill you to protect the integrity of its magic.”
“Pure? Look, I’m not a virgin if that’s what you think.”
“It has nothing to do with that. Obviously your mother wasn’t a virgin either. Well, after a while anyway.”
“Jesus Christ, shut up!”
“I’m just saying. It shouldn’t be a problem unless you try to hold up a liquor store or go on a murder spree.” He yawned, which in turn prompted Louise to yawn. “Now, put the armor back in there and it’ll vanish back to the Sanctuary. Then I suggest you get some rest. You’ll need it if you want to take on the Dragoons.”
“The hell with that. I’m going to see Mom. Then I have to go to court for Dan’s will.”
Marlin shook his head sadly. “Do what you want then. Just try to go easy on your mother. She only did what she thought was right.”
She nodded as she dropped the helmet back into the case. “I’ve heard that before.” Then she closed the lid to the case and hailed a cab. She didn’t have her purse with her, but she’d kept a ten-dollar bill in one pocket for just such an emergency.
To sneak into Mom’s room was easy enough after the night she’d been through. The moment Louise sat down in the chair, Mom’s eyes flashed open. “Where were you?” she asked.
“Out taking care of some things.” She remembered what Marlin had said about going easy on Mom. That wasn’t easy to do, but the machines and bandages, not to mention Mom’s crippled legs and the sadness in her eyes all convinced Louise to try. “Mom, I know. I know what happened to you.”
“Who told you?”
“Marlin. He said—”
Tales of the Scarlet Knight Collection: The Wrath of Isis Page 89
