by Simon Archer
“I think someone will have to,” I said slowly after considering how best to respond. “I know it’s frightening, but I think that’s what needs to be done. We’re sitting ducks right now. No one knows what’s going to happen, or even what’s happening right now. And we need to find out. There’s no other option. Someone will have to leave.”
“And that someone will be you,” Kinley said flatly. I considered this again, though I already knew the answer.
“Probably,” I finally admitted. “Who better to do it, honestly? And I’d want to at least take Malthe with me, and probably another binder, too.”
“We’re all going then,” Kinley said with a sharp intake of breath and a nod. She exchanged a look with the other foxgirls, and then they nodded, too.
I opened my mouth to protest again, but I already knew that it was too late. It was too damn late. They’d decided. They never would’ve decided any differently. As scared as they were, as scared as we all were, we were soulbound now. We were a package deal.
“Okay,” I said finally. “Okay. But this is still all just speculative, okay? For all we know, he could be hiding out alone in the tunnels with some cans of beans.” We all laughed for real at this idea, though we knew it probably wasn’t true. We could never be that lucky.
With that, everyone dispersed to their respective rooms. My apartment was large, with several guest bedrooms that had been converted into living spaces for each of the foxgirls, and with a bedroom for myself, and another that had belonged to my father, as well as studies for both myself and him.
For decades after he died, I kept his bedroom and his study vacant. Before meeting Malthe and the foxgirls, I had never once even had a single visitor in my apartment that wasn’t a service drone, but now that I’d opened up my life to others, I’d relaxed that rule and allowed guests to use those rooms. My life was far richer for it.
I made my way into my own room, yawning as I went, and Kira followed close behind me.
“I was wondering if I could stay with you tonight?” she asked, lingering in the doorway. “The doctor said someone should keep an eye on me, after all.” I wide grin spread across my face.
“Of course,” I said, running a hand through my hair sheepishly. “I’d be happy to… uh, keep an eye on you.”
“I thought you might,” she said, a mischievous smile crossing her usually kind and gentle features.
She slipped out of her jacket, which tumbled to the ground, and took several steps toward me, where I was standing by the bed.
“You sure you’re good for…. you know,” I mumbled. “I mean, you’ve had a rough day.”
“All the more reason to enjoy myself tonight,” she said, brushing her fingers up my arm in a tantalizing gesture. “How are you feeling? Healing up alright?”
“Oh yeah, I’m okay,” I said. “I can already feel things healing, but now that you mention it, I do need to switch these bandages out pretty soon here.” I picked them up from where Cindra had deposited them on my bedside table earlier.
“I can do it,” Kira offered. “I was watching when the nurse gave you instructions.”
“Okay,” I said, giving her a warm smile this time.
“Take off your shirt then,” she instructed, and I was more than happy to oblige. I pulled off my shirt, revealing the old bandages still tightly wrapped around most of my back.
I sat down on the bed, and Kira sat down next to me, and one by one, she gently peeled the bandages off and replaced them with the new ones and the necessary medication. It would’ve hurt if anyone else did it, I imagined. But Kira had the gentlest touch out of anyone I had ever known, and my raw skin tingled at her touch instead of burning as it probably should have.
When she finished, she patted me on the shoulder, above where most of the burns had been.
“There,” she said. “Does that feel better? Is it tight enough? Too tight?”
“No, it’s perfect,” I said, turning and meeting her eyes. She smiled back at me.
She leaned in and kissed me, pressing her small body against mine on the bed. I cupped her ample breasts in my hands and reached down to press my fingers between her legs. She was already wet, and I was already hard. No surprise there.
She moaned into the kiss as I loosened her up, and I continued pressing my lips against hers, my firmness matching her softness.
Then she came, her back arching and her breasts pressing against my chest.
“Thank you for today,” she said when she had recovered, her voice wobbly. “For saving me. And for this.”
“I’ll always be there to save you,” I whispered back, leaning in to kiss her again. “I just wish I didn’t have to.”
“We do have our fun, don’t we?” she asked with another sly smile, and then reached down to return the favor I’d given her. She wrapped her fingers around my already pulsing dick and began to move her hand up and down on it, slowly at first, but then faster and faster. She trickled the tip of her forefinger up and down on my shaft, and I moaned as I continued to kiss her. I’d kiss her forever if I could. I never wanted this to end, especially now that I knew what it felt like to come close to losing her. I’d never let anything like that happen again. I made that promise right then and there to myself and to her.
When I realized I was close to coming myself, I gently pushed Kira back on to the pillows. I would have to be on top, considering that my back was all messed up. But I was happy to oblige.
I gently spread her legs apart and pressed myself inside her, also slowly at first, but then harder and faster. She groaned and threw her head back against the headboard, her neck arching upward just as her back had moments before.
“Nic,” she cried out, unable to help herself. “Nic!”
And then I came inside her, filling her up, smiling and reaching down to kiss her again as I did so. She met my lips and came herself again a moment later, convulsing in my arms.
Then I lay down on my good side and held her close to me, savoring having her in my arms, when just mere hours before I’d been so afraid that I’d lost her forever.
Our bond crackled and pulsated just as our bodies had, content to have us together again after such a tumultuous day.
“I’ll never let anything happen to you, Kira, I promise,” I murmured into her ear just as she was falling asleep.
“I know,” she whispered back, her eyes already closed. “But we’re still coming with you.” The corner of her lip curled upward at that, and I smiled again and buried my face in her neck. I slept a dreamless sleep for the first time in I didn’t even know how long.
10
We all met Clem, Semra, and Lin down on the Void bright and early the next morning. Ever the faithful chauffeur, Gunnar drove us even though he was reluctant to do so.
“Are you sure this is safe, Mr. Joch?” he asked us as we approached the small island right off Termina’s southeastern coast, the ocean water rippling beneath us peacefully. “I mean, this is where all those people broke out of, isn’t it? What all them talkin’ heads are goin’ on about all day on the holo news?”
“Yeah, this is it, Gunnar, but it’s safe,” I assured him. “You’re with us, after all. And you’re going to be heading straight out back to the shore after you drop us off, just as a precaution. We’ll be there a while, anyway. You’ll be safe by the docks or wherever else you choose to park.”
“Okay, Mr. Joch, I trust you,” Gunnar said, though he still didn’t look so sure about all this. I couldn’t really blame him. Neither was I.
Lin had called ahead and informed the day warden that we would be coming. Well, I guessed he was the only warden now. They had killed all the night shift guys in the breakout.
Clem and Lin were waiting for us out on the shore when we arrived.
“You’re early,” Semra was saying to Clem as we arrived, and I noticed another air car leaving right in front of Gunnar, meaning that Semra had probably gotten there right before we did. “That’s not just unusual. It’s da
mn near impossible.” She was eyeing Clem with suspicion.
“Well, I had some help this morning,” Clem grumbled, running a hand through his hair sheepishly. He cast a sideways glance at Lin, who blushed.
“Ah, I see,” Semra said, narrowing her eyes at them.
“Well, we’re all here now, and we’re all on time for once,” I said cheerfully. “So, is everyone ready to head up?”
Several members of the group shifted uncomfortably on their feet, but everyone followed me when I started walking. We had work to do, they all knew that. But I couldn’t blame them for being gun-shy after what had gone down the day before. Hell, I was pretty gun-shy myself, but it had to be done.
The prison was a tall, wide, lone circular building sitting in the center of a larger swath of sand. There was nothing else on the shore, though I imagined if it weren’t for the prison, the place would make a popular beach getaway for the city’s upper class.
The building itself was cold and made of charcoal-colored steel, not at all inviting. But then again, it wasn’t supposed to me. Cindra shivered next to me at the sight of it, and I could feel in our bonds that all three of the foxgirls were very apprehensive about this whole scenario. They had spent time in the Void back when it was a prison for their kind awaiting non-consensual bindings.
“Is everyone doing okay?” I asked, looking between all three of them. “I know this must be difficult for you.” None of them had gone back to the Void when given the opportunity on TelCorp business, opting instead to let other board members spearhead the project of transitioning the place into a public prison for Achilles’s and Elias’s lackeys.
“We’ll be fine, Nic,” Cindra assured me, giving me a curt nod. “It’s just… not a place full of happy memories, is all.”
“Yeah,” I said glumly. I knew from what they told me before that the foxgirls weren’t exactly mistreated during their time in the Void. Everyone was scared shitless of them back then, after all, and would’ve been too afraid of them to try anything. Still, being involuntarily incarcerated and deprived of any human contact was a lot for anyone, even if they weren’t abused physically.
“We’re fine, Nic, really,” Kira said, placing a reassuring hand on my arm, clearly having felt my apprehension at taking them inside in our bond.
“Oh good, there they are,” Malthe said, craning his neck to look up ahead of us. I followed his gaze to see several TelCorp combat and security drones flying up ahead of us and preparing to land.
“Sending them to the tunnels?” Clem asked the hacker.
“If we can find them,” Malthe said, nodding. “We’re still not certain they exist anymore here, after all. But I have an idea based on old historical maps from when the tunnels used to be subway tunnels. I’ll send them there first and see where we are then. I’ll stay out here and monitor them if you don’t mind.”
“Someone should stay with him,” I said, looking around at the group.
“We’re staying with you, Nic,” Kinley said in a definitive tone.
“I need to go inside since I’m the one who’s been dealing with everything at the Void,” Lin said. “And Clem’s helped a lot.”
“Alright, I’ll stay,” Semra offered with a shrug. “No skin off my back.” She gave me a smirk, and I burst out laughing.
“Good one,” I said, instinctively rubbing where the worst burn on my shoulder blade was. Kira had dressed my wounds again this morning, and they looked a helluva lot better than they had before, but there was still an uncomfortable tingling sensation going on all up and down my back and shoulders from the skin regrowing itself at an accelerated rate.
So Semra stayed behind on the shore with Malthe, who had pulled out his E-pad to direct the drones where he wanted to go. She peered over his shoulder at the screen, watching the drones’ movements intently.
“Let us know if you need anything,” Clem called back after them, and they both nodded and grunted weakly, already totally absorbed by their next task.
“Where to now?” Kira asked, hugging herself nervously as she stared up at the prison building.
“We have to go through security,” Lin explained. “They’re waiting for us there.”
“I was kind of expecting this whole place to be crawling with the press,” Cindra said, looking around at the empty beach surrounding us. “Where are they?”
“Oh, they’re here, don’t you worry,” Lin said darkly. “They’re just not allowed on the island itself. Our air car passed over a whole big group of them on our way here, just standing along the shore by the south side docks. They have no shame. And nothing else to talk about, apparently.”
“I’m glad I missed that,” I said. In the air car, I’d been more absorbed in my own thoughts than with paying attention to my surroundings, though I’d found the water itself calming.
“Did you see that shit on the holo news last night?” Clem asked us as we reached the front door. “We were watching. We couldn’t believe our fucking eyes.”
“Yeah, we saw a bit of it,” Cindra said, shaking her head in disgust. “But we couldn’t really stomach much of it. Unbelievable, that they actually think Achilles may be on their side.”
“They don’t know up from down, let alone which side is which,” I grumbled as a scanner on the front of the steel door which was almost indistinguishable from the rest of the building, scanned a red laser light over us, determining our identities and whether we ought to be allowed inside. After a brief hesitation, the door swung open, revealing that it was more a giant block of steel removed from the rest of the building than a traditional door you would expect to find.
“Ah, Mr. Joch, other TelCorp associates,” the frazzled-looking day warden said as he approached the entrance, where he had probably been waiting for us for some time. “I cannot tell you how good it is to see you this morning. I truly hope that you will be able to get to the bottom of this horrible occurrence.” The pale man wrung his hands together in anxiety as he spoke, and there were deep, dark bags under his eyes. He’d always been a bit pale and anxious, but this was a whole other level. His salt and pepper hair was sticking out in several directions as if he hadn’t slept since the break-out occurred.
“Mr. Rossum,” Lin said, taking his hand and shaking it. “It’s wonderful to see you again, though I wish it was under different circumstances.
“Please, please, call me Van,” he said absent-mindedly, waving a hand in the air dismissively as he turned on his heels to lead us into the prison. “You will have to go through security first. I hope you don’t take offense. We’re running a very tight ship here after recent events. Well, I thought we always ran a tight ship here, but who knows. I still can’t make heads or tails of it, I truly can’t….” The man rambled on like that as we walked, more talking to himself than to us. He was clearly rattled, not that I could blame him.
“It’s no offense at all,” Lin assured him, exchanging a wary look with me. The last thing we needed was a freaked out warden at our city’s top security prison. Not that there were any prisoners left to keep inside, I supposed. They were all dead or with Achilles.
The outer rim of the building was much like the outside, steel and plain, with marble floors and nothing of note in sight.
We arrived at a security terminal a few paces later, and we all had to step through full-body scanners, whizzing, whirring, and shining lights all over the place. It was an assault on the senses, to say the least, but we all made it through okay, our identities confirmed.
“Very well, let’s head to Achilles’s cell,” the warden said, continuing to lead us forward. “I imagine that would be the best place to start.”
“I suppose so,” I said, my stomach churning at the idea of being back here, and at the idea of Achilles himself. I’d spent so much of my time holed up with that man the past couple of weeks, trying to get something, anything out of him. But he never cracked, not even a little bit. Well, not since his surprise at first being captured, when he threw me that line a
bout Termina not being the center of the world we thought it was.
“There’s really no footage or anything?” Clem asked, almost disbelieving. “It’s all just… gone?”
“Disintegrated,” the warden said, nodding but not bothering to look back at us as he continued leading the way. “Completely gone. Dust. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Neither have I,” Clem said, giving the back of the warden’s head a skeptical look.
“I have, though, remember?” I reminded him, walking up next to my friend. “Back in Beaufort’s apartment. The same exact thing happened with those cameras. It was just as crazy as it sounds, but it was real all right.”
“All right,” Clem said, slowly, his brows furrowed together in confusion. “It just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, Joch.”
“What about any of this makes any sense?” I asked with a shrug.
“Fair enough,” he said.
The warden led us through the hallways full of doors I knew to contain interrogation rooms and binding rooms and all the way to the main holding area of the Void, a wide-open space of circular floors all around the building with a giant vat of crackling blue, green, and purple energy in its center. It was weirder than I even thought it would be, seeing the place completely empty, devoid of prisoners when it used to be stacked full of shady characters, every one of whom hated me with a burning passion for putting them in there. They would hoot and pound their feet on the ground every time they saw me, taunting me and trying to get some verbal digs in now that they were unable to assault me physically.
And now they were all gone, every single one of them. And they were nowhere to be found. You’d think the first thing they’d do would be to track me down and try to kill me. But no, they’d practically disappeared off the face of the Earth. Or at least off the face of Termina.
“Here it is,” the warden said, stopping in front of one of the thousands of identical cells. Except unlike usual, they weren’t on. The usual buzz and glistening of the force field keeping the prisoners stuck inside their cells were gone, leaving just a series of plain steel cells behind.
