by Wyatt Kane
It was then that Ty recognized the flaw in what he and Tempest had done. They had assumed that where Lilith would be, they would find the Master as well. And probably Bain, and anyone else associated with them. They had assumed that if they could rescue Lilith, they could rescue her stepfather as well.
But that was not the case. There were no other rooms in this basement space. It was just an out-of-the-way place where the Master could keep a dangerous pet.
Which meant Lilith’s stepfather was still in danger.
“I don’t know,” Ty said.
“You don’t know?” Lilith repeated. Another half dozen emotions flickered over the woman’s face. “You don’t know?” she said, much louder, her expression settling on anger.
All at once, she surged to her feet, and while Ty was no longer afraid of mercenaries and would even back himself against Bain, he took an involuntary step away from Lilith.
“Then why have you come?” she shouted. “Why have you put my father at risk?”
Ty had a sinking feeling. Lilith was right, and he knew it. He had been so focused on rescuing the demon woman herself that he had forgotten what might happen if they couldn’t rescue her stepfather at the same time. He had been intent on hitting back at the Master and hadn’t thought about the consequences.
He realized now that just because he could do something didn’t mean that he should.
“We thought – we thought he would be here as well,” Ty began, but even as he said it, he knew it wasn’t enough.
Instead of bursting into this basement room, he and Tempest should have taken the time to learn what they were up against. Perhaps they should have installed surveillance equipment and made use of Dinah’s abilities to figure out what was really happening.
Yet he wasn’t ready to give up hope entirely.
“Maybe the guards know something,” Ty suggested. Lilith’s green eyes flashed in anger and she looked at him with something akin to disdain.
“Get out of the way!” she demanded, and Ty had no choice. The demon woman pushed past him into the main room, and an instant later, it felt as if the whole building was starting to shake.
It was all Ty could do to stay on his feet. He turned to follow Lilith as she rounded on the mercenaries.
“Where is he?” she bellowed. “Where are you keeping my father?”
As she shouted, she unfurled her wings in what may have been an unconscious gesture of rage. The impression he gave was that of a powerful demon unleashing her strength. The force of her anger was like an earthquake, and Ty feared for the building’s structural integrity. Yet he wasn’t about to do anything to stop her. The demon woman was right. He and Tempest had blown it, and this might have been her only chance to get answers.
She was a figure of power looming above the mercenary at the desk, and Ty could see the terror on the man’s face. He didn’t understand what was happening, but knew in his soul that Lilith was dangerous.
Not even Tempest tried to stand in her way. She understood as well as Ty did that they’d made an error. The expression on her face as she stood aside was one of acceptance.
If the building collapsed on them, that was the price they had to pay. Perhaps Tempest would even be able to survive it, and maybe Ty could as well, with his shield. But even then, they would be trapped under tons of rubble.
“WHERE IS HE?” the demoness bellowed, and cracks started to appear in the walls.
The mercenary finally found his voice. “I don’t know! I just do what they tell me! But Gavin – he might know!”
Lilith let out a shriek of rage that was all but incoherent. Perhaps she was responding to the mercenary not knowing. Or maybe she was simply scared for her father’s safety.
Tempest was more in control. “Who is Gavin?” she asked.
The mercenary at the desk was literally shaking in fear. The blood had drained from his face and he was staring at Lilith as if she was an apparition of doom. Yet he managed an answer. He indicated the other mercenary, the man still crumpled on the floor.
“Him,” he said.
And that was enough. Tempest reached down and picked the other mercenary up. Ty’s treatment of the man had left him incoherent, but he was at least partially conscious. Tempest shook him to wake him more fully.
“You have one chance,” Tempest said. “Tell us what we want to know, or I will give you to her! Do you understand?” The man, held up by Tempest strength, shot a terrified glance at the demonic form of Lilith and managed to nod. “Where is her father?” Tempest asked.
“Prison,” the man managed.
It was an answer that made no sense at all. Yet it was enough to make Lilith pause. She reined in her power a little.
“What do you mean?” she demanded.
The mercenary was too scared to look at her as he spoke. “It’s a block and a half away. Decommissioned prison. If he’s anywhere, he will be there. That’s where they keep all of them.”
41: Life Or Death
To Ty, the way the man said, ‘all of them’ was ominous. Yet at the same time, it gave him hope that they hadn’t ruined things for Lilith’s father. Nor was he the only one to think that way. The atmosphere in the room became suddenly lighter, and the shuddering from Lilith’s power stopped entirely.
Tempest glanced at Ty, then focused her attention on Lilith. “You can home in on our devices, correct?” she said.
Lilith looked vaguely puzzled. “Yes.”
“Good. This man is going to show me where this prison is, and when we get there, I want you to follow with Ty. Okay?”
Lilith nodded, and that was enough for Tempest. Without waiting for Ty to figure out what was happening, the blonde superhero marched the mercenary to the door with the hole in it. She didn’t try go through the hole or even unlock it. Instead, she simply kicked it hard enough that it burst wide open.
Then she was gone, leaving Ty and Lilith alone with the other mercenary.
Ty gave Lilith a hesitant look. He felt awkward for having messed up her rescue, and didn’t know quite what to say.
“We’ll find him,” he said, trying to reassure her.
The demon woman nodded but didn’t say anything. She still looked angry and hadn’t forgiven him for his failure. The mercenary at the desk looked from Ty to Lilith and back again.
“Um,” he began, but Ty didn’t want to listen.
“Unless you have something useful to say, just shut it,” he said. The mercenary clamped his mouth shut and nodded. Then Ty had a thought. “Take out your weapons and place them on the table,” he said. “No false moves. You know what we can do.”
The mercenary did as Ty said. As well as the usual blaster, the man took out a police baton and a nasty looking knife. Ty picked up the blaster and looked to Lilith.
“Do you want this?” he asked.
The demoness nodded, and he handed it over. Then he picked up the knife and broke the blade, and tucked the police baton into one of his pockets. That done, he spent a moment looking for the blaster he’d lost when he’d tripped through the hole in the door. He found it resting against a filing cabinet.
He wasn’t sure if he still needed the weapon given his latest enhancements, but he certainly didn’t want it falling in into the mercenary’s hands, so he tucked it away through his belt and turned back to Lilith and the man at the desk.
“What should we do with him?” Lilith asked. She was pointing her blaster at the mercenary, her expression grim.
Ty looked at her seriously. “Your choice,” he said. “He kept you prisoner. Let him go, shoot him in the face, whatever you wish. He deserves it.”
Lilith’s expression turned into a snarl of righteous anger, and the mercenary started to cower.
“No!” he said. “Don’t hurt me! I was just doing my job!”
“Well maybe you should have thought a little harder about what your Master asked you to do,” Lilith said. Ty could see the tension in her trigger finger. She wanted to do it. Nor would he bl
ame her if she did.
But he had another thought. “Do you know where the Master is?” he asked.
The man looked terrified. It was as if he thought his answer to Ty’s question would determine his fate. Unwillingly, he shook his head.
Ty made a face of mild regret and shrugged his shoulders.
“Oh well. I guess you’re not much use to us then, are you?” He looked at Lilith, curious to see what she might do, but really didn’t care whether she shot him or not.
But the man cared. He cared a very great deal.
“No, wait! I don’t know where he is, but I can find him! I can help!”
Ty considered. The mercenary may have been telling the truth or just trying to save his own life. Either way, Lilith seemed unwilling to pull the trigger. If she wanted to, she would have done it already.
“What do you think?” Ty asked her.
Lilith’s beautiful face was still creased in anger. Ty could tell she wanted to hurt the man, but her need for revenge didn’t stop with just him. The Master was the one responsible for keeping her and her father captive.
She kept her blaster aimed.
“How can you find him?” she snarled.
Before the man could respond, Ty’s device sounded an alert. He answered and Tempest’s beautiful face appeared in hologram form.
“We’re here,” the blonde superhero said. “And the party is about to begin. I suggest you get here as soon as you can,” she said, and she was gone.
Ty looked at Lilith. “We can return to this later,” he said, then turned to the mercenary. “You. Get in Lilith’s cell. Do it now.”
The mercenary whimpered, but he no choice. He stood and walked into the dark, empty cell, with Ty following closely to shut the door behind him. When the lock clicked into place, he turned back to Lilith.
“Take us to Tempest,” he said.
<<<>>>
Once more, Ty endured a moment of cold like no other. He didn’t know if it was possible for a soul to freeze, but if it was, then five minutes in that space between universes would have done the trick. Even the brief moment he was there was enough to make him feel as if he would never be warm again.
Ty hadn’t yet seen Lilith’s character sheet or power schematics. Maybe he never would. If he did, he knew he could probably come up with a technological equivalent of her power. It was what his skill enabled him to do.
Yet he didn’t want to. He would spend his days flying if he could, but even the thought of teleportation was like an icy hand gripping his spine.
To him, it felt unnatural. It was hideous, an experience he would prefer never to have, and he was extremely grateful when he and Lilith blinked back into the darkness over the city of New Lincoln.
Lilith beat her leathery wings and hovered in the sky with Ty in her arms. Ty’s heart was beating too fast and he breathed in short gasps. He was acutely aware of the demon woman’s close presence as he held her tight to keep from falling. He saw that they had appeared almost within touching distance of Tempest. The blonde superhero was carelessly clutching the mercenary who had provided directions, gripping him by an arm as he dangled in an ungainly way, a look of pure terror on his face.
Ty couldn’t help but wonder at the image they offered to anyone who might have been watching. Four people hovering in the darkness, and only one of them had wings. It was so surreal that he might have laughed out loud if he hadn’t felt so awkward.
His awkwardness increased at Tempest’s expression. The blonde superhero was looking at the way he was holding Lilith. She didn’t seem angry, precisely. Nor jealous. Consternation, Ty thought, was the best word to describe her expression.
He looked away, in part to avoid Tempest’s attention and in part to get his bearings, and saw that they were hovering above a building in ruins. The old prison was in the process of being demolished, probably to make way for another mega-corporate structure. Much it was hidden behind fences, but from his vantage in the sky, Ty could see everything.
Much of the lot was in rubble, with construction equipment scattered about. Excavator and bulldozers, abandoned for the night. Yet there was a full wing that hadn’t been touched, and from where they were, Ty could see lights shining within.
He looked at Tempest. “Do we have a plan?” he asked.
“We need to confirm that this is the right place,” Tempest began, but that’s as far as she got.
Lilith had made up her own mind as to what needed to be done. “Father!” she cried at the top of her voice, and then Ty was plunged into the cold once again.
An instant later, he was inside the prison, surrounded by concrete walls and iron bars. He stumbled, catching his balance, and in that instant Lilith vanished again.
42: Prison
To Ty, the prison looked like every prison he’d ever seen on the entertainment screens. He was standing in a narrow hallway outside of an empty cell, with his way blocked ahead and behind by doors made of steel bars of the sort that wouldn’t stop an android made of liquid metal. Despite the late hour, it was brightly lit, and Ty could see Lilith appearing and disappearing in sequence along the hallway.
“Father!” the demoness shouted. “Father!”
Her efforts attracted attention. Not only could Ty hear voices exclaiming surprise or hope as she passed, but already, guards were appearing in the hallway behind him.
If the partially-demolished prison wasn’t enough, the guards themselves told Ty all he needed to know. They weren’t regular prison guards at all, but were more of the Master’s mercenaries. They wore the same uniform and armor, and those approaching had already drawn their blasters.
Ty gritted his teeth. There was no way anyone here was being held for anything other than the Master’s purposes, whatever they were, and that alone was enough to inspire Ty to act. He rounded on the mercenaries who had come up behind him.
“Who are you?” “Don’t move!” two of them shouted in unison from beyond the steel bars.
Ty could have waited for them to open the door, but he did not. Instead, he reached for the door and with an augmented heave, ripped it from their hinges. The mercenaries looked at him in shock and fired their blasters, but to Ty they may as well have been hurling feathers his way. In moments he was upon them, heaving the door at them and then laying about with his fists, and seconds later the first wave of mercenaries was down.
Ty stood over their groaning forms with his fists clenched. He could hear others rushing up from downstairs and considered going to meet them, but before he could move, the concrete wall beside him erupted into a cloud of dust and rock.
Despite his shield, Ty flinched away from the noise, then turned to face the new threat.
It was Tempest. She had crashed through the solid wall just to be by his side.
The blonde superhero, completely unscathed by her efforts, took in the situation at a glance. “Where’s Lilith?” she said.
“She’s gone to find her father,” Ty replied.
Tempest nodded. “Well, we’d better go help her,” she said.
Before they could move, more mercenaries appeared at the stairs behind those Ty had taken care of.
“New plan,” Tempest said. “You help her. I’ll deal with these!”
There was no time to argue. As the blonde hero confronted the mercenaries, Ty started to work his way down the corridor. Many of the cells he passed by were empty, but some were not. The first person he saw was a young man dressed in normal street clothes that had become very grubby.
Ty asked him why he was there, but the young man couldn’t answer. “I don’t know. I was kidnapped,” was all he managed to say.
It was enough. Ty wrenched the door open. “We’re getting you out of here,” he said. “Hang tight.”
He intended to move onto the next cell, but before he did, Lilith appeared beside him with her distinctive pop! and whiff of ozone.
“Mercenaries!” she said as she reached for him.
Ty didn’t even get a chanc
e to offer his help before being plunged into cold once again. They reappeared at the opposite end of the corridor from where Tempest was, but the situation was the same. At least a dozen mercenaries were swarming toward them.
Ty stepped protectively in front of Lilith. “Is your father here?” he asked.
“Yes, he is.”
“Then take him to safety. And the others. Take all of them. I’ll deal with these – they won’t get near you.”
With that, Ty put Lilith out of his mind and turned his attention to the approaching men.
It was a short but brutal fight. The mercenaries had no answer to Ty’s enhancements. They carried blasters and police batons, but no nets. They couldn’t hurt him at all, and he could hurt them a very great deal.
To Ty, the fight was an angry blur. He yelled at the top of his lungs as he swung his fists left and right, bashing faces and chests and anything he could reach with sickening strength. He even used his new ability, letting rip with a mighty energy blast from his projected discs.
The blast tore through half of the men all at once.
Within the very few minutes, Ty was the only one standing.
He breathed hard as he looked at the carnage. Ty knew that he had likely killed men before, and he had no compunction against doing so again. But the evidence of what he’d done this time was more visceral. It was more real.
He hadn’t pretended that this was a video game. Nor was he actively protecting Tempest, Dinah, or himself. He had just let his rage at the Master and Bain take control and had done as he wished.
The results were awful enough to bring the bile up to his throat. He thought he was going to be ill and turned away.
He couldn’t stay there. He couldn’t face the evidence of his rage. So he made his way into one of the empty cells and sat on the bunk. Then he closed his eyes and tried not to think of the men he had killed.
<<<>>>
He didn’t know how long he’d been there before Tempest found him. All he knew was that one moment, he was alone in the cell, staring blankly at the wall, and the next Tempest was there, sitting beside him and holding his hand.
