~~~
‘How could she possibly have ignored the neutralisation field?’ Ghostfire growled. ‘And how did Twilight get in so easily?’
‘The last is easy,’ Conrad replied. He was cleaning his rifle again. ‘You were distracted by Cygnus’ escape and your security here is based on the arrogant assumption that no one knows where you are. Given that Twilight and Cygnus were marching through your supposedly secure facilities one at a time, this place was obviously going to get the same treatment eventually. And you gave Twilight a strong reason to look harder.’
‘Arrogant?’ Of course, Ghostfire picked up on that.
Conrad felt a hand on his shoulder, a flickering of his flight or fight reflex… ‘I’ve faced down charging rhinos,’ he said. ‘If you want to keep your pretty face intact, you’ll never do that again.’
Before Ghostfire could respond, Kopf interrupted. ‘Cygnus is a unique Ultra. In fact, I would go so far as to say that she is not an Ultrahuman at all.’
‘She can fly, lift cars, bounce bullets…’ Ghostfire began.
‘But Ultrahumans derive their power from the ability to manipulate energy, an energy we call cosmic because we do not understand it. Some aspect of the Ultrahuman brain, I believe the greater interconnectivity of the two hemispheres, allows them to direct that energy as they see fit. In most, “as they see fit” has a rather limited meaning. Their powers are fixed by their belief in them.’
‘And Cygnus is different?’ Conrad asked.
‘Cygnus is a source of cosmic energy. There is something within her, embedded within her chest. My scans were unable to detect it. It has no mass or form, but it is there and it powers her.’
‘Can you get it out of her?’ Ghostfire asked, his voice urgent.
‘Not with her out there.’
‘Then find her!’
~~~
‘Police and UID agents continue to search for the fugitive Ultra, Cygnus,’ the ACPN reporter said from the screen in Penny and June’s apartment. ‘There has been no sighting of her since Monday when she attended the funeral of the man she is now accused of murdering, Robert Lee, aka Zephyr.’
In the background, footage of police escorting a woman to a waiting, armoured, police transport could be seen and Penny’s fists clenched.
‘There has been no statement regarding the identity of the witness in the case. UID Special Agent Jacob Dannon stated that she was being moved to a secure facility for her own safety.’
‘Heartbreaker,’ Penny growled. ‘She’s the one who killed Bobby.’
‘A tidy plan,’ Red commented. ‘No one else involved. She’s an unknown so there’s no one to identify her as a member of Ghostfire’s gang.’
‘They’ve got other evidence,’ June added. ‘A syringe with your fingerprints on it, security video of you entering her apartment building…’
‘Well, that’s real,’ Penny admitted. ‘I went there to accuse her of killing Bobby. That’s where they gassed me.’
‘And likely obtained your fingerprints,’ Red agreed.
‘It’s a good frame-up,’ Andrea said; she was actually Andrea, in civilian clothes and supposedly off work with a cold. ‘There has to be evidence in that lab facility to prove you’re innocent.’
‘They’re going to have beefed up security,’ Penny replied. ‘It was hard enough getting out…’
‘We need another distraction. Let me handle that. You’re going to need a new costume; something a little more discreet.’
‘Like a black catsuit?’ June suggested.
‘That’d do. It’ll take me a couple of days to get things going. You’ll have time to fit it to her. At least it doesn’t need bulletproofing.’
‘There is one thing…’ Penny began and then stopped, frowning. ‘I don’t know… I was in pain and maybe I was feeling paranoid…’
‘Anything might be helpful in stopping them, Penny,’ Red told her.
‘Ghostfire… He used some sort of strobe effect, and then he fired a light beam at me…’
Andrea slapped her forehead. ‘That voice! I knew I’d heard it before. He’s deepening it a bit to try to disguise it, but…’
‘Ultranova?’ June said, blinking and looking between them. ‘You’re suggesting Ultranova and Ghostfire are the same person?’
‘I’m saying he is,’ Andrea replied.
‘I never liked that man,’ Red growled.
13th December.
‘It is as if she has vanished from the face of the Earth,’ Kopf stated.
‘That’s not possible,’ Ghostfire replied. ‘I should know. I’m good at hiding myself, and you can’t entirely disappear.’
‘I’ve been unable to find any sign of her,’ Conrad said.
‘My informants in the UID indicate they have been unable to find her,’ Kopf went on. ‘The NMCPD are, of course, at a loss, but Project Jekyll has taken an interest and their resources are more extensive and specialised. As we suspected, she has not gone to the police to clear her name. Our fabricated evidence is too damning.’
‘The most logical course of action is to wait for her to come here,’ Conrad said.
‘You really think she’ll come back?’ Ghostfire replied; his tone suggested he did not.
‘This is the only place she can come to clear her name, and to take you down for murdering her lover.’ He finished slotting a pair of large rounds into his rifle and snapped it shut. ‘She’ll come with Twilight. We need to be ready for them.’
‘There’s only one way in,’ Ghostfire said. ‘We’ll post a squad of zombies in the corridor…’
‘Leave the traps to me,’ Conrad said. ‘It’s what you paid me to do, and I’m good at it.’
~~~
‘No reports of sightings,’ Bryant said. ‘Every informant who’s come forward has been lying or wrong. It’s as if she dropped off the planet.’
‘I’m still not convinced she did it,’ Dannon said, sighing.
‘Hiding out like this is not exactly helping her case.’
Dannon noted that his partner did not say she disagreed with the sentiment. ‘That’s assuming she’s hiding, rather than being held somewhere.’
‘Well… true. I never thought I’d hear you defending someone like Cygnus.’
Dannon frowned and then shrugged. ‘She doesn’t seem the type. And this girl, Philips, there’s something about her… I don’t know what it is, but she just doesn’t come across as on the level.’
‘She’s scared…’
‘Agreed, but what of? Cygnus and Twilight start nailing Ghostfire’s places, and then this happens. I don’t like that kind of coincidence, Heather. Don’t like it at all.’
~~~
Penny sat on the sofa watching ACPN. She could not really hear the reporters; the voices in her head were clamouring for attention. She had had to almost force June to go out to the Den, and it had only been the promise that Andrea would be coming over later which had finally persuaded her, but now she was alone with the noise.
There were fragments of it she thought she could understand, or perhaps just get an impression of the meaning. They sounded like people dying. There were screams, shrieks of pain, shouted words in gibberish languages. The gibberish came as calm speeches as well; never anything understandable, but she felt like she should grasp their meaning; something or someone was trying to tell her something and it was her fault she was not getting it. It was like… It was as if the voices were memories from lives she had never lived, out of synch with her mind and so indecipherable.
‘Penny?’
Penny’s head snapped around at the sound of Andrea’s voice, and the voices receded.
‘Penny, are you okay?’
‘I’m… better now. Any news?’
‘Not really. Tomorrow I’ll go see Lena and get the ball rolling.’
‘That’s your distraction?’
Andrea nodded. ‘Tonaldo got a shipment of heavy weapons in yesterday. I’ll give him the location and he’ll send a smal
l army. We go in after them.’
‘You know, both sides are going to want us dead.’
‘Yeah… But I think they’re going to be too busy killing each other to worry too much about us.’
‘It’s risky. Are you sure you want to do this? If I get you killed…’
‘No one’s getting me killed but me,’ Andrea said. ‘Have you got any booze in this place? I think alcohol would be a good idea right now.’
Penny got to her feet and headed for the fridge, her mind on the possible outcome of their next big adventure.
14th December.
‘Have you got someone?’ Penny asked, her speech a little slurred. One bottle had been finished and then she had found a second.
‘Waddya mean?’ Andrea asked in return.
‘Someone special, like Bobby was.’
‘No time. Closest thing I have is Lena Tonaldo, and I’m being paid to fuck her.’
‘You should make time,’ Penny replied, as firmly as a drunk Penny could manage. ‘We could both die soon. You never know when something’ll get ya… Or when you’ll lose someone.’
‘Well… There is someone, but it’s com’licated.’
Penny giggled. ‘You said com’licated.’
‘I’m drunk. So are you.’
‘Yesh, but I didn’ say com’licated.’
‘But you did just shlur yesh.’
Another giggle. ‘It’s not complicated. If you like him, I assume it’s a him…’
‘It’s a him.’
‘If you like him, then go get him. Well, maybe not right now. You’ll port inoo a wall.’
‘He doesn’t know who I am,’ Andrea replied disconsolately. ‘He knows Twilight. I think he likes her. I know he likes her ac’ually. I was lying on top of him’n…’
‘Wait… You were lying on top of him?’
‘It’s com’licated. Anyway, he likes Twilight and how am I going to start a relationship when I’m in a mask all’a time? And then if he found out about the shadow-stepping…’
‘Some men like some mystery. Some men’d go for the mask staying on. Kinky…’
Andrea burst into a fit of giggles. ‘Maybe…’
‘If we get out of this alive,’ Penny said, turning serious, mostly, ‘you do something about it. Hear me? You don’t want to washte the time you have on maybes. You never know when you’ll loosh it all.’
Andrea gave her a solemn nod and then grinned. ‘Too serious. You’re not drunk enough.’
Penny just groaned.
~~~
Cygnus examined herself in the mirror in June’s room. In truth, the catsuit showed less skin than her usual costume, but it was not really less revealing. She looked… badass. Yup, that was the word for it. June had fitted it well; it was really tight, but she thought she could move well in it.
‘Happy?’ June asked from behind her. She sounded a little tired. It had been a late night, then she had slept badly, and she had been working on the costume most of the day.
Cygnus turned and smiled. ‘What does my designer think?’
‘I think… I think it’s a job well done, and you look really hot in it. It’s a little generic for my taste, but without a mask and with the hair and figure you’re not a clone of Twilight.’ June nodded. ‘I think it’s good.’ Then she grinned. ‘Obviously, I’d prefer more flesh on show…’
Cygnus grinned back, reached to her throat, and opened the zip down to just above her crotch. ‘Better?’
June’s cheeks heated a little. ‘Uh… yes.’
You don’t want to waste the time you have on maybes. You never know when you’ll lose it all. Penny had said it, and she had been right. Cygnus came to a decision and stepped forward, closing the distance between them quickly before either of them could object. Her hands grasped the sides of June’s face and she pulled her friend in until their lips met. There was an instant of resistance before June was kissing her back.
‘We shouldn’t…’ June breathed as Cygnus broke the kiss.
Cygnus pushed her backward, onto the bed, and then climbed on top of her. ‘Yes… we should.’ Their lips met again. June let out a little moan as Cygnus’ fingers began working the buttons on her blouse, but there was no attempt to stop what was happening. Cygnus trailed kisses down her friend’s throat and chest until she found an exposed nipple. June was moaning louder now, her hands pushing the suit from Cygnus’ shoulders, roaming over bare skin. She found the back of Cygnus’ neck and pressed hungry lips harder against her breast.
‘Wanted this… so long,’ June moaned. ‘Don’t stop.’
Cygnus’ hand found its way under June’s skirt. The brunette’s panties were already damp. ‘I have no plans to,’ Cygnus said before moving down between June’s thighs.
~~~
Andrea looked down at the mop of blonde hair spread across her breasts and smiled slightly. There were worse ways to get information. Lena disliked her father’s business, and wanted no part of it. Tonight, however, there was a need to be more direct about it.
‘Lena, honey?’
‘Numhuh?’
‘I need… I need to tell you something. Something for your father. He can’t know it came from me or he’ll ask how I know, but…’
Lena lifted her head and saw a worried expression on her lover’s face, and reacted as expected. ‘What is it? Are you in trouble?’
‘No. But… It’s this guy your Poppa’s having trouble with. I… I… One of my clients talks in his sleep. I know they’re planning something big. I’m afraid they’ll hurt you, Lena.’
‘Big?’
Andrea nodded. ‘Like massive Ultra attack big. They’re going to kill everyone they can find up here.’
‘Shit!’
‘Yeah. But…’
‘What?! What is it?’
‘I know where their main base is. If you told Mister Tonaldo, then he could hit them first and… and I wouldn’t lose you.’
Lena frowned and pulled herself up the bed to settle shoulder to shoulder with Andrea. ‘I never go out. If I tell him, he’ll wonder where I got the information…’
‘Oh,’ Andrea said, ‘I… I hadn’t thought of that.’ She had, but she was confident that Lena would be able to handle the necessary subterfuge.
‘Billy the Fink. He’s a ratty little bastard, but he’d sell his mother for information like that, and he’ll want to take the credit for it. I’ll call him in the morning and he’ll be around here so fast he’ll leave skid marks on the carpet. Neither of us will be mentioned.’
Andrea grinned. ‘You know, you’re incredibly sexy when you’re being sneaky.’
Lena grinned back. ‘How sexy?’ she replied.
15th December.
Cygnus slipped out of bed, found her new suit, and climbed into it as quietly as she could before picking up her boots and walking to the bedroom door.
She looked back once. June’s hair was a pool of black against the white pillow. The sheets covered her to her waist. Memories of fingers sliding over that tanned skin came, unbidden, to mind. Cygnus shook her head and went through into the lounge to put her boots on.
If she lived through the day, what she had just done might prove to be a problem. She hoped it would not, but Penny had been right in thinking it would change things. She had been right about the connection not being there with Dom as well. Tonight it had been different. Tonight it had felt like it had with Bobby.
Pushing those thoughts aside, Cygnus went to the window. She was leaving now, and she might not be coming back, but at least she was not going to die regretting that she had never let June in as close as her friend wanted to be.
~~~
‘Anyone here yet?’ Twilight asked as she stepped out of the darkness behind Cygnus.
‘One day you’ll do that and someone’ll die of shock,’ Cygnus commented.
‘Sorry.’ Twilight dropped to her knees beside her partner and looked down at the warehouse opposite.
‘No one’s arrived, no.’
<
br /> ‘Should be soon. Billy the Fink showed up…’
‘Wait… Billy the Fink?’
‘William Finkle. Unfortunate name for a mobster. He turned up at nine in the morning, and it was a good thing he had good information; David doesn’t like getting up early on a Sunday. Jonny went out about ten minutes ago with some friends. They took six cars.’
‘Right… Well, ten minutes isn’t enough time to get here and they sent Jonny?’
‘Uh-huh.’ Twilight grinned. ‘It’s going to be a blood bath. Well, assuming those zombie things bleed.’
‘Don’t you know?’ Cygnus nodded at her colleague’s sword.
‘Good point… It’ll be an ichor bath. They bleed… something.’
‘Oh… There!’
Twilight narrowed her eyes, trying to spot what Cygnus had seen, and then she did as the first of the six town cars passed under a street light. They were driving without lights, but Cygnus had spotted them. Being able to see that well in the dark had to be useful.
‘Okay. We give them ten minutes and then we go down the lift shaft after them. Try to stay hidden as long as possible.’
‘There didn’t seem to be much down there to hide behind.’
‘And that’s why we have them to help, and I have you to be distracting.’
Cygnus was still watching as the men began climbing out of the cars. ‘Those look like some really heavy weapons.’
‘Yeah,’ Twilight said, grinning more broadly, ‘that’s just what we need.’
~~~
‘The elevator is on its way down,’ Kopf said, his tone almost absent. ‘I must say, I was a little disappointed that they just broke the lock on the door, and fixing the lift controls is going to take time.’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ Ghostfire replied. ‘They’re coming. How many zombies do you have in the corridor?’
‘Twenty. That should be quite enough. Not even Cygnus is up to stopping twenty of my blood zombies. That just leaves my personal guard… They have reached the bottom. Visuals should be coming in…’
The sound of an explosion echoed through the structure. ‘What the Hell?!’ Ghostfire growled. His gaze flicked to the images coming in from the zombies in the access corridor. ‘That’s not Cygnus and Twilight! Those are Tonaldo’s people! I want all guards to positions. Everyone pick up a gun!’
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