He blinked three times, bringing up the HUD again, and scanned the ground. Morrigan was inundated with others, but she was holding her own.
It’s part of the plan.
Part of the--
“One more thing, though,” Dumol said. She turned the steering sharply to the right. And he saw that she’d laid the controller for his cyborg parts on the steering column.
It displayed a red warning light.
Shit…
He glanced at it. Then her.
She jerked the controls, banking the flyer at a sharp angle. The engine whined. Cadell held on, his cyborg hand a vise-grip on the handle.
Dumol twisted. The small, antique gun was back in her hand.
“What are you doing?”
She smiled. “Oh, come on. Did you ever think I’d fall for you pretending to kill her? I’m not stupid, Cadell.”
Adrenaline surged.
“Not stupid. Just trusting,” Cadell replied as he lunged forward, trying to grab her and the gun.
“Not exactly,” she said. She fired. Right into his chest.
He fell backwards.
This wasn’t part of the plan.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Morrigan blinked, focusing on the chaos around her.
Climintra officers were fighting each other. There wasn’t this many before. Where had they all come from?
And how had they found Ula?
Her friend started to stir a few feet away.
Morrigan snuck across the ground to check on her friend everyone else was occupied. “What are you doing here?” she said, as Ula’s eyes focused on her. “And how did you not get killed just now? She didn’t shoot you with a standard issue segif. That had a kill mode.”
Ula grinned. “Good thing my skin’s not standard issue.” In the sunlight, Morrigan noticed that Ula was damn near glowing. She held up her arm, and Mori could see the gold, almost like thread, all over her skin. Like a skinsuit of some kind.
Morrigan would have asked more, but she couldn’t. A man grabbed the back of her head, and yanked her to him.
Morrigan fought hard against him, kicking and punching, but he kept her still.
“I knew he didn’t kill you.” It was the officer who’d originally interrogated her at the Intra station--Charz. He smelled like bad food.
And anger. A lot of anger.
“Let her go,” Ula sai. She was now standing, and even in her green sleep clothes, she looked ten times more intimidating than she had before. Probably because she had three Intra officers next to her.
Charz held out a knife. “I have to make sure she’s dead.”
Mori forced herself to relax. She closed her eyes, and let the sensation wash over her. She saw the field. The Complex. Everything around her. All the minutia of the fight going on.
Even Dumol and Cadell on the--
Wait.
She glanced up.
Falling from the flyer was Cadell.
Morrigan didn’t think.
She didn’t blink.
She didn’t stop and consider.
She just moved.
Charz was on the ground. Dead.
And Morrigan charged forward.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Death would hit him hard.
Luke knew that.
Always did.
Didn’t expect it to be so…. Well, stupid. While part of him knew in these last moments, he should be angry, he wasn’t.
Irritated. He felt like this was a cosmic joke. Like Fate was mocking him for his past. Shot in the chest and falling to his death? It pissed him off that Dumol had killed him--
Thud.
He hit hard. And started to change direction.
But it wasn’t the ground that he’d hit.
Instead, he had been caught.
By Morrigan.
“What? Morrigan?” He glanced around. And oh, wow, how his chest hurt.
They were flying.
Wind whipped over him, and he would have loved it, but they hit the ground hard. Slammed into the grass, and he was covered.
Morrigan’s wings covered them both, like a cocoon.
They were beautiful.
Golden.
Shining.
Her whole demeanor was shining. She even wore a golden crown.
“You’re beautiful,” he said, and caressed a feather of her wing.
She stroked his cheek. “So are you.”
He smiled, though even that hurt. He coughed, and his chest hurt even worse.
He knew this was it.
Not how he wanted to go, but this was it.
He glanced in her eyes again. “I love you,” he said.
She stroked his face. “You’re not going to die on me,” she said with a smile, her eyes glistening in tears. “You have a future. I can see it.” Tears poured out.
“I screwed up,” he said. “Didn’t see…” He reached up. At least, he tried to, if only to touch her face again. Wipe away the tears she shed.
“You did great,” she said. “It’s going to be fine. You’ll see.” Tears rained down.
He smirked. Coughed.
Tried to wipe away her lie. But he couldn’t. He was too weak. The blood poured out of him.
“Only with you,” he said, and coughed. “Don’t cry.”
“Luke,” she whispered, her voice choking. “I--”
And all went dark.
Chapter Twenty-Six
In her arms, Luke Cadell’s body went limp. Blood oozed from his wound. Far more than livable.
She’d seen enough battles to know a death wound when she saw it.
Some Humans were known to cry. To cradle their loved ones until someone separated them.
Morrigan wasn’t Human. Instead, her grief consumed her, fueled her, and burned with a power that she couldn’t contain.
She couldn’t see his future, whether he had a life beyond now.
She’d lied to him. But he hadn’t believed the lie. She’d felt it, just holding him, as she felt his life force starting to dwindle.
This wasn’t part of the plan. He wasn’t supposed to be hurt.
She glanced at the sky. Dumol’s flyer zoomed by. She looked like she was gloating.
“This is not over,” Morrigan said as she stood.
Dumol wasn’t going to live past this day.
From the corner of her eye, Morrigan saw a glint of green--Ula--headed for her and Cadell, just as she launched herself toward Dumol.
That woman would not get away with this.
Her wings flapped hard, and she headed straight for Dumol’s flyer.
Morrigan zoomed toward her prey. The wind whipped around her as he wings slammed in the air, shoving her higher and higher, moving faster than she had in, well…
Years.
It had been years since she moved like this.
She screamed as she approached the flyer. Weapon at the ready to take her opponent’s head off if necessary. She raised one sword, ready to strike.
Dumol, however, turned the flyer first left and then right. The Human wasn’t making this easy.
But that was fine with Morrigan.
A challenge made the win more worthwhile. Morrigan stowed her weapons and gave chase. Because she would not lose this battle against Dumol.
Dumol would jerk left, then right, up, then down, but Mori stayed with her. She was not letting her get away.
Dumol headed toward the ten-mile road that led back into the Complex. She darted in and out of other vessels as she zoomed toward the major metropolitan area.
If Dumol got out there, then she’d find backup, and wind up under the protection of Intra again.
Mori couldn’t let her get back to Main City.
She flew hard, her wings propelling her forward, as fast as the flyer moved. With a twist and a leap, she got ahead of Dumol.
And stopped, right in front of her.
Dumol turned to look behind her.
Her mistake.
Morrigan snagged the cocky Human off her flyer. She turned back toward the farms, and the flyer took a nosedive into the graveyard in between the farms and the main complex.
“What the…?” Dumol kicked and fought against her.
Morrigan head-butted her. With her golden crown of a Valkyrie.
Dumol fell limp in her arms.
“Stupid Human,” Morrigan muttered as she flew back into the farm zone. She considered dropping her from the same height Cadell had fallen. Poetic justice and all of that.
But Humans, and the powers that be in the Complex would want to have a mastermind. Whether Dumol was working on her own, or under orders, Morrigan didn’t know. But the proper authorities--the ones that Ula had brought in--would want someone to pin this on.
So Dumol may need to live. If only to be a criminal.
They’d just entered the farming dome, and were almost to the field when she felt Dumol stir.
Mori tightened her grip, pulling her still.
Dumol fought and kicked against her. Reached for her wings.
Perhaps because Mori hadn’t been flying in a while--that was the only reason she could guess why Dumol’s jerks and kicks affected her, but they did.
She started to swerve and jerk as she fought against the Human.
“Stop it,” Mori yelled, and literally hurled Dumol into the air over her head.
Dumol screamed as Mori corrected her flight and zipped back around, catching her by her foot.
“Fuck you, Meta,” Dumol snarled and brought around the gun--the one with the physical, projectile weapons.
Pulled the trigger.
Morrigan had but one recourse.
She dropped her.
Dumol kept firing.
The shots hit.
One.
Two.
Three.
This time, Mori went down.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Well, aren’t you two the sorriest looking pieces of heroes I’ve ever seen,” Ula said as she came into the hospital room and sat the bouquet of pink and blue flowers on the table.
Morrigan, shot in her stomach, her shoulder and her leg, could do very little other than move her right arm.
And roll her eyes at her friend.
“Lovely flowers,” she said, marveling at their color. Once again she was surrounded by nothing but white, gray and black. And the occasional orange for the Uni logo on things.
The colors were a pleasant distraction from the aches in her body.
“Don’t tell people that,” Cadell groaned at her. “Make us out to be what we’re not.”
Ula raised her eyebrow. “Oh, so I shouldn’t tell anyone that you two single-handedly took out Human First spies here in the Complex, who were out to destroy all the peace and joy in this fancy, smansy social experiment?” Her voice got louder as she spoke, so loud that most likely, anyone outside the room would have heard her talking.
“Yes. That,” Cadell grumbled. “There are no heroes. Just people who make choices.” He glanced in Mori’s direction.
Morrigan nodded and touched his hand. Their thoughts connected, and she felt what he felt.
And she knew what he meant--most heroes were never heroic, they just made a good choice once in a while. Cadell was no hero. He could be the biggest saint for the rest of his life, and he’d never lose the moniker of “The Butcher of P-Extinction.”
Neither was Morrigan.
A goddess of war--at least, she had been once--but not a hero. Because there was always a winner and a loser. A hero’s choice was only good in the eye of the winner. It all depended on whose side of the war one was on.
Some would see a hero.
Others a villain.
Neither one of them were heroes. Not really.
She was just glad they both had lived past their wounds.
They weren’t supposed to.
Mori had hit the ground hard. They both had been rushed to Uni Hospital. Morrigan underwent hours of surgery to remove the projectiles from her.
Cadell’s took longer.
And he still wasn’t quite right yet. Mori was just glad--and surprised--that they both lived past that day.
Ula tapped their hands, and they both let go, and giggled. “Shut up, robot boy. And you two need to quit having those private conversations.”
“Jealous?” Cadell asked, staring at the ceiling.
“Annoyed. I’m in the room. It’s rude.”
Mori and Cadell laughed. “As long as we can, I think we should,” Mori added.
“You’re not getting rid of me very easily,” Cadell said, though not looking at anyone in particular.
“Gah, the lovey stuff. Blech. You think you two would quit. You’ve been in here a week. That’s all you two have done, gushed at each other.”
“We weren’t supposed to live,” Mori said.
“Supposed to and did are two different things. I was supposed to give my riches to whoever found my pot of gold, or so the legends say. Instead, I destroyed it so I don’t have to give anyone anything.”
Mori blinked. Ula had never told her the circumstances of why she had come to the Complex. Of course, Mori hadn’t been terribly forthcoming about her own circumstances, either.
“I didn’t know that,” Morrigan said.
“Leprechauns really have gold?” Cadell asked.
“Mythology is always rooted in truth, in some way, shape or form,” Ula said, then turned to Morrigan. “Why do you think I came here, Mori? You told me I was safe on the transport the day we came in, remember? You said they weren’t interested in me, which meant I’d succeeded.”
Mori smiled at her friend. “I’m glad I helped you.”
“You did, more than you know,” Ula said. She crossed to look at Cadell’s scanner. “Looks like they patched up your stuff well.” She pressed a few buttons. “I may have to go in and adjust some of your cyborg parts, though.” She waved at Cadell.
He didn’t move.
“You still can’t see all the angles?”
“I get flashes,” he said. He told Mori he hadn’t been able to see right since being shot. Sometimes things were too bright; other times they were just flashes, like a strobe. And occasionally he’d be able to see properly.
She nodded. “I’ll get it fixed up, once your physical stuff heals. Those cyborg systems run all through your organic body. It’s a wonder you haven’t damaged them more than they are.”
That was one thing that confused Mori. “But he didn’t get hit in his head. Aren’t his visual scanners in his head?”
“Some of the ocular nodes are in his shoulder,” Ula said.
“Odd. Will it be hard to fix it?”
“Not really,” Ula said.
“I’m okay. No rush,” Cadell said. “The HUD works.”
“Good, you can see something,” she replied. “And your brain doesn’t seem fried.”
“Hate it,” he replied and yawned.
“Don’t care. It works.” Ula turned to Morrigan. “He’s grumpy.”
“One tends to be when shot with archaic contraband and then has his brain downloaded.”
“You’re not.”
“My brain wasn’t downloaded.”
“He volunteered for that,” Ula added.
“Better than jail time,” Cadell said.
Climintra was investigating all the details, and had been by several times to interrogate them both about the events. The only reason Cadell was in the hospital and not in a prison cell was because he’d let them download his memories--a benefit of being cyborg--to help them track down more of the Human First operatives that might be attempting to disrupt life in the Complex.
Evidently, Dumol had erased all records of Mori’s tips from Climintra’s systems, and had tried to erase all evidence of Morrigan herself, for that matter.
Ula had been helpful in finding the information.
Whether they had more suspects to pursue, no one had said, but it likely that Cadell had something they
could track.
“There is that,” Ula said. “According to the internal--“
“Ula, you’re spying again.”
“If they didn’t want me to find it, they’d use better encryption.” She grinned. “Anyway, they don’t think you all are responsible. They’re after the mastermind.”
“She’s lying in a grave,” Mori said.
“They think there’s another player to find. We’re working on it.”
“We?”
“My super programming powers have been revealed,” Ula said. “I got a promotion.” She pressed a couple of controls on Cadell’s screen. “How’s that?”
“Hurts like fuck,” Cadell groaned.
“You’ll heal,” Ula said as she tapped a few more things. “At least you two are sharing a room. That’s always a plus.”
There were a lot of plusses right now. The biggest one, at least for Morrigan, was that she was a Valkyrie again.
Not just a remnant of a Valkyrie.
A Valkyrie.
With her full powers and awesome strength and her wings--she had all the powers, and it had saved her. It had saved Luke. Though how long it was going to take for Odin to change his mind, she didn’t know. The Allfather was prone to fits of temper, and would likely not be happy to learn that a Valkyrie had survived, and was thriving among the Humans and Metas.
Her future was unclear, as was Luke’s. Would she return to life in the Complex as though nothing happened? Back to being a tailor, and for Cadell, back to working on the farms?
It seemed so bland after the last few days.
But truly, did she need exciting right now? She was alive. Cadell was alive. Dumol was dead. Her plan to kill the former ambassador had failed.
Now, all they had to do was heal.
That was what was going to take the time.
“We’re alive,” Cadell said.
“That’s a plus too,” Ula said.
Epilogue
Morrigan and Cadell were finally able to leave the hospital. After a battery of scans and pokes and prods, they both were declared healed of their wounds from the archaic weapon that Dumol had used.
Cadell’s vision was almost back to normal. Ula had been popping in every day to check him over and do “minor code modifications,” as she called it.
Unclaimed (The Complex Book 0) Page 11
