by JA Huss
And Thomas. I will switch him on. His emotions will flood his body and he won’t be able to control himself any longer.
I load the launcher with the cartridges, hit the charge command, and balance it in the crook of my shoulder. Lincoln is already up, staring at me as he does the same, loading his weaponized arms and legs.
“Stop, Case!” Molly is screaming. “No! Don’t do it! It’s the Blue Boar,” she yells. “The Blue Boar, Case! He did this to you! He’s still controlling you! Don’t—”
I pause for a second, my brow furrowing as I tune out her words.
“The Blue Boar?” I say, looking over my shoulder. But the chimera is gone now. Just Steve. Just plain old Steve with his plain old placating stare.
He smiles. “It’s OK, Case. Go ahead,” he practically sings in that sweet unaffected voice he always uses. “Do what you were made to do.”
“Yes,” I hiss through clenched teeth. I was made for something. And this is it.
Lincoln and I fire at the same time.
Mine hits him in the arm, blowing off a metal panel. Part of his weapon, I realize. He spins in place, then falls, bent over in pain.
His flies right past me and hits the office building. A billion shards of glass cascade downward, like a waterfall of shimmering red light.
Weakness flows though me and I realize what’s he’s done.
“Shoot the girl next, Case. Then Thomas.”
I’m already following orders, arming my weapon with an Electro cartridge, when I stop. “Wait,” I say, almost to myself. I have one eye on Lincoln, who is still down, looking at his body like he’s not sure if it belongs to him. And Thomas, who has a regular gun pointed right at me.
“Do it,” I growl, loud enough to make my voice carry over all the commotion. “Because this time, asshole, I’ll hit back.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you, Case?” Thomas yells.
I want him to attack, I realize. I want it so bad.
“The city,” I say. “I’m doing this for the city.”
“Fuck the city, you asshole! This is us! You just fucking shot Lincoln!” He’s still pointing the gun at me. “Don’t make me kill you, Case. I don’t want to do it. But if you think you’re taking everyone out with you, you’re wrong.”
I smile. And even from within, I know what it looks like on the outside.
Evil.
“Do it,” I say again. “Try to kill me. You’ll see what I can do now.” I stare him down as I reload my launcher and aim it right at Lincoln.
The bullets hit me square in the chest with enough force to make me take a step back.
But when I look down, I start laughing. Hysterically. Thomas fires three more shots, all of which hit me dead center.
I watch as my body heals. The thin wires under my skin knitting themselves back together. Repairing the connections of the superflesh they made me into. It taught me how to heal. Each night, up there on the roof. It was teaching me how to heal. Making me stronger. Better.
When I look at Thomas again, he’s shaking his head. “Don’t do this,” he says, lowering his gun, finally admitting defeat. “Don’t—”
I shoot him with the biological cartridge. Right in the neck, hitting the jugular so hard, blood spurts out as the dart pierces the vessel.
His heart is pumping so fast the drug flows through his body in seconds. I can almost see the change in him from where I stand. And I wish I had more time. More time to memorize the moment when Thomas becomes human again.
But I don’t.
I have one more person to take care of before I can finish the city’s job.
“Sorry, Lulu Lightly,” I whisper, walking towards her. “But it has to be this way.”
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE – LULU
“Sheila!” Molly yells into her phone. “We need another helicopter! Now!”
I don’t hear the answer because I’m transfixed with Lincoln, struggling to his feet. Rearming his—body weapons. I know one of them is damaged, but he must have more.
Just seconds later he sends another round of projectiles through another pane of glass. The cartoonish image of Steve with boar legs begins to flicker wildly. And Lincoln doesn’t stop. He sends one after another after another. Trying to destroy the SmartGlass.
When I look up all I see in the darkness is the red glow of Case, coming right towards me.
“Case!” I yell. “Stop!”
He’s talking to himself. His eyes trained on mine.
“Stop,” I say, putting both my hands up. I look around for help, but Lincoln is busy taking down the computer in the glass and Thomas is on the ground, writhing in pain. Molly is busy talking into her phone, standing near Lincoln.
“What are you doing?” I ask. Case never stops his march towards me. “Case? Please. What are you—”
He aims his weapon and, like a desperate child, I put my hands up to ward off whatever he’s going to use to take my life.
But it doesn’t help. Nothing helps once the dart pierces my skin. I drop, the electricity coursing through me.
He picks me up and starts running. I realize I’m not that hurt. Like he had that dart set to stun and not incapacitate. But there’s no way I can get out of his strong grip. He dumps me into the helicopter and then climbs over my slumped body and slides into the pilot’s seat.
“Where…” I try to ask him where he’s taking me, but the muscles in my throat are constricted.
I pass out and when I come to again, we’re already landing. I can’t lift my head, but I can think straight. I can open my eyes and try to look around, but all I see is the lights of the city, off in the distance.
Case grabs my body, throws me over his shoulder and starts running. I am dumped—not quite dropped, but definitely not set down gently—into a hard, cold pack of snow.
The cool ice on my constricting muscles is soothing, and a few moments later I open my eyes.
I’m on his roof, looking out at the city lights off in the distance.
Case is nearby, shooting things from the roof.
Not things, Lulu.
People.
Lincoln, Molly, and Thomas. He’s shooting them.
Do something!
I roll over and try to prop myself up on my hands. Another helicopter comes over the mountain behind the house, like the cavalry. Please be Sheila. Please be Sheila. It has to be Sheila. These crazy supervillains have to have more than one helicopter, right?
I don’t know what I expect her to do, but she has to be able to turn him off or something. It’s those nanites inside his body. They’re corrupted. And connected to the SmartGlass. And even though Lincoln is down there at ToyBox shooting it all to bits, this house is SmartGlass too. And if he’s still down there and we’re up here, he probably doesn’t know that.
Case launches something. Something big. Because moments later I hear—and see—a huge explosion from down the mountain.
They’re dead.
No. I am desperate to stop that voice in my head. No. They are not dead. If they’re dead, we’re all dead. The whole city is dead. They cannot be dead. There is only one way to stop this and that way is through Lincoln, Thomas, and Molly.
Get up!
I have successfully gotten to my knees, so I straighten my back, wait a few moments while my head clears, and when I open my eyes again I’m faced with the city again. The bright lights from a distance make it all look normal. Just another night. Until I see that woman in my head, slumped down on the sidewalk, clutching her baby to her chest and waiting for her husband to come pick her up so they can get out of the city.
They are probably all dead. Caught up in the riots. Or trampled by any of the fearful mobs of people who woke up to utter apocalypse and didn’t notice that they were stepping over bodies as they ran.
It can’t end like this, Lulu.
You didn’t come here to let it end like this. You came here as Lady Liberty. To make this city a better place.
I drag one foot up j
ust as Case shoots off that weapon again. Pause. Let my head clear. Then the other foot, until I’m stooping low. Another explosion down the mountain.
And then I stand.
“Come and get me!” Case is screaming from the edge of the roof. He’s torn off the leather jacket and the ripped shirt, and even though it’s freezing out here right now and the snow is almost pouring down like a curtain dropping on the world, his back and shoulders are slick with sweat. The red light seeps out through the pores in his skin, so he makes the white night glow all around him.
“Case,” I groan. But my throat is dry and I have to clear it and repeat his name several more times before he even hears me.
“Case,” I say, one last time, making him turn.
He brings the weapon around in a steady arc, and my heart thumps with the possibility that he will shoot me again.
His face is contorted, like he’s having some internal battle.
The sound of a helicopter comes into hearing range. The whomping thump of the rotors echoes off the backside of the mountain behind me, until I can’t tell which direction it’s really coming from.
“Back off,” Case says, growling the words at me. “Back the fuck off, Lulu. Now. I don’t want to hurt you but you’re not gonna stop me. No one will stop me from doing what I need to do.”
“What you need to do?” I ask. “Or what you’re being told to do? What are you doing? Do you even know? Are you even in there? You’re out of control, Case! Something is wrong with you!”
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR – CASE
Something is wrong with me.
The rope, tight around my neck. Molly pulling on it. The barbs sinking into my flesh. Cutting deep.
The jellyfish injections.
Nanites.
I reach around to the back of my neck to the patch Sheila attached to monitor me.
The pills Thomas gave me.
“No,” I yell, pointing the weapon straight at her chest. Lulu startles and I take a step back.
I scare her.
“Lulu,” I say, torn between doing what the city wants and easing her fear.
She is nothing to you, the voice says in my head.
I want to argue, but at that same moment, something hits the front window of my house, making the glass shatter. I turn away from Lulu and send another explosive cartridge off towards the approaching helicopter. Lincoln is hanging out the side door, his arms weaponized and shooting projectiles. One after the other, after the other, into the SmartGlass of my house.
Weakness floods through my body. I shoot back, just barely missing the helicopter.
“Stop!” Lulu is right up next to me now, her cold—freezing cold—hands gripping my overheated body. “Stop! Case! That’s Sheila! And Lincoln! Thomas and Molly! You can’t hurt them.”
“I can hurt them,” I say, baring my teeth to her in a snarl. “I put an end to the inhibitor and I can hurt them.”
“But you don’t want to, Case.” Her words are softer than I deserve right now. I don’t understand all of this completely, but I do know that I don’t deserve her thoughtful understanding. “You don’t want to hurt them. You don’t want to hurt me, either. Or the people down in Cathedral City. You want to help them, remember? Clean it up and make it good?”
“What the fuck do you think I’m doing?” I yell. “I am cleaning it up!”
“No,” she insists, still tugging on my arm. There’s steam coming off her hands from the heat trapped inside me. She’s gonna have burns all over her palms if she holds on any longer.
I shrug her off. “Don’t touch me.”
“Why?” she asks, making another grab for my arm. “Why shouldn’t I touch you? Tell me why.”
“Because you’re going to burn your hands, Lulu.”
“Why do you care if I burn my hands? You’re killing everyone, Case. You’ve been corrupted by some secret computer that weaseled its way into your house, and your company, and then finally your body. You’re being controlled, Case! Wake the fuck up!”
The helicopter swoops around in a wide arc just above my head. My trigger finger shoots automatically. Lulu jerks my arm, her hands still gripping hard. The projectile soars past the helicopter, allowing Lincoln just enough time to drop onto the roof.
My rage at her interference fills me up. Like I’m a deep, deep well of hate and anger. And when Thomas climbs over the side of the roof, I’m fully consumed with hate.
“Stay the fuck back!” I yell, pointing my weapon at all of them, one at a time.
“No,” Thomas says, shaking his head. “No. We’re not gonna—”
I shoot him. I shoot him and it feels so fucking good.
He goes flying back, skidding across the ice and snow on the roof, until he comes to a stop, his head pushed up against the lip of the roof.
“What are you doing, Case?” Lincoln asks, circling me. “You can’t kill him, you know this.”
I laugh. “Really?” I say, nodding my head to Thomas’s slumped body.
“He’s not dead. He’s wearing fucking armor, you dumbass.”
“He will be,” I say through the pain. It’s building inside me. So intense. The heat taking over. And there’s a part of me that wants Lincoln to attack. To cut me open and release whatever it is inside me that hurts so bad.
End it, the voice in my head says. End him. End them all. And then, Case, end yourself. Free yourself from this world of pain and corruption.
“Yeah,” I say. “Yeah. I should just end us all. You,” I say to Lulu. “And you.” Nodding to Lincoln. “Then Thomas, and then me. We’ll be free, you guys. From all this bullshit.”
My weapon drops and the strap goes tight as it slams against my ribs. I grab Lulu by the arm and pull her close to me. Her cold body feels so damn good against my hot one.
I’m so fucking hot. The pain coursing through my body, so intense. I just want it to go away. I want it to stop so bad.
Just make it stop!
You fix it, Case.
Just end it! Now!
The command in my head has me reaching for my knife. It’s pressed up against Lulu’s throat before she can react. But my eyes never leave Lincoln. He’s the threat. He’s the one who will take me down if he can.
Lincoln goes still as I press the blade into Lulu’s throat. I imagine how good it would feel if I did that to myself. And I will. After I’m done with them, I will. The blood will flow and—
The helicopter shoots another window out in the house and the agony inside me explodes.
So much pain, so much heat.
Make the cuts, Case, that voice hisses. Do it, do it, do it—
A scratch on my chest floods my body with relief. “What the—”
I look down and find Lulu tracing a heart on my bare skin. Her nail digs deep, into my flesh. Just like… just like…
“Just like last night,” Lulu says, looking up at me. There’s a trickle of blood running down her neck and disappearing into her coat. My knife is still pressed up to her skin.
Red, hot light leaks out from her scratch on my chest and she repeats the motion.
I close my eyes and enjoy the relief.
No! the voice inside me screams. No!
But it’s weak now. It’s weak. Sheila is still shooting the glass out of my house with the weapons mounted on the helicopter. All the tiny windows now. All the places where that thing is hiding.
“Case,” Lulu says, her other hand coming up to her throat. “Give me the knife. You don’t want to hurt me. I know this isn’t you.”
She’s still tracing the heart on my chest. And with each pass the pain eases. The heat dissipates. The light grows stronger.
I let her take the blade and she lifts it up to my chest. She makes the deep cuts I need. She cuts the final thread that holds me together and everything goes red.
“You’re beautiful, Case Reider,” Lulu says. “Like a work of art. I can help you. Let me help you.”
I slump down to my knees in the snow, so weak
, and thankful that the pain is going away.
“I can make you better,” she says. I hang my head, but open my eyes to watch her trace patterns on my body. The light leaks out in the simple shapes of flowers, and spirals, and hearts. She writes her name across my stomach with the tip of the knife and it lights up like a neon sign.
“I want to die,” I whisper. “I don’t want to live like this.”
“Yes, you do,” Lulu says, leaning in to kiss me on the lips. “You want to live. And I’m gonna help you do that.”
I lie back in the snow, enjoying the way it melts and creates a warm pool of water underneath my body. And I let her have her way.
I let her create something beautiful from my pain.
“We’re in control now, Case Reider. Us.”
Moments later Molly kneels down next to me, her clothes all wet and her hands gentle on my arm. I’m not burning her now. I’m not hurting anyone now.
Lincoln comes, stands over me, alongside Thomas, who really isn’t dead. Since when does that asshole go anywhere without body armor?
They watch Lulu remake me into something else.
And later, when she’s done, they help me up, walk me to the helicopter, and take me home.
Back to the cave. Back to the lab. Back to the tests.
I look down on my city as we leave Cathedral City behind, and wonder… who owns that city now? If not me?
The people?
The politicians?
Or are there more predators just waiting for their chance?
EPILOGUE - CASE
I stayed in the cave for weeks. I let Sheila poke me with her little minion-bots. They climbed all over my body testing me for… hell, who the fuck knows what they were testing me for. Lincoln did find some kind of inert programming inside me after the old corrupted nannites were purged and a new set—this time not linked to the supercomputer at ToyBox—were introduced. He says whatever code Molly put inside my body with that lariat thing is beyond repair. Just junk. So he says. It makes me very nervous. If it happened once… might I be corrupted again?
