Chapter 30 #4
“The traitor doesn’t deserve your grief,” she said softly.
Bez scrubbed the tears from his face. “I know.” He nodded at Arly to show he was alright. “We should go. The humans and the rebels are in this together.”
Caius’s smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Perhaps on the way you can fill me in on everything that’s happened while I’ve been otherwise occupied.”
Jin
“What the hell?” a pirate exclaimed as the door slid open to reveal a woman crouched over the body of a pirate.
She looked up at their entrance, her mouth dropping into an “o” shape. “Ah. This is a bit awkward.”
The pirates took in the massacre before them in stunned surprise.
Bodies lay everywhere. Like puppets whose strings had been cut.
They slumped face down or on their sides.
No signs of trauma to indicate what had killed them.
It was as if they’d simply lain down for a rest. Except they would never open their eyes again.
Almost twenty in total. A sizeable chunk of Belladonna’s leadership, Jin was betting.
One by one, the pirates’ gazes returned to the woman.
“What did you do?” their leader demanded.
The woman pursed her lips as she took in the dead. “I’d say this isn’t what it looks like, but I doubt you’d believe me.”
“You’re damn right about that,” someone muttered.
“I told the cadre that trusting wizards was a mistake,” another pirate spat.
The woman nodded. “Yes, I agree. That was definitely a mistake.”
“What do we do?” one of the pirates asked their leader.
Already a few of the smarter ones were edging for the door and the possibility of safety. The leader proved to be not as intelligent.
“Kill her,” he ordered.
“That’s hardly wise, don’t you think?” Jin said. Seeing their looks, he shrugged. “I mean—she just took out over twenty people without lifting a finger.”
“I thought you didn’t speak human standard,” someone at the back of the pack whispered.
“You assumed and I went along with it.”
Another pirate glanced at the bodies. “How do you know she didn’t lift a finger?”
“Look at them. Do you see any wounds? No. They were taken out by a fast-acting poison. They dropped where they stood.”
Or sat, in a couple cases.
“How’d I do?” Jin asked the woman. “Did I get it right?”
“Correct on every point, Jin.”
Jin smile deepened into something soft and sincere. “You recognize me.”
He hadn’t thought she would. Mars and Cleo hadn’t.
Pityrodia Augustensis inclined her head. “Your soul is quite loud, little brother.”
Jin scratched his cheek, feeling a little bashful. “You say the sweetest things.”
“What is going on?” a pirate asked, looking spooked.
Jin glanced at him. “What’s going on is that you’re not very bright.
I mean—what kind of idiot doesn’t question the presence of a child wandering freely in a place like this?
” Jin waved his hand. “Never mind. Don’t answer that.
I don’t care. I already got what I needed.
” The location of their hideout. “I’m done with you. ”
A pirate opened her mouth on a scathing retort that she never got to voice as Jin’s body erupted. His loose shirt and pants billowed outward as dozens of shapes shot out from under them, ripping the fabric of Jin’s clothes in the process.
Oh, well. He was sure Kira would buy him new ones.
Jin noted Augustensis watching in mild curiosity as the swarm gave her a wide berth, falling on the pirates with a ferocity that would have made most flinch.
Not Augustensis though. She remained unmoved as the swarm took care of the rest.
Everything was over in a matter of seconds. The pirates dead and Augustensis and Jin the only ones left standing.
Well, them and one other.
“You can come out now,” Jin called.
Augustensis was expressionless as a red-haired man moved away from the weapons cabinet that had concealed his presence earlier.
Flame sauntered toward them with a wry twist of his lips. “I didn’t think I’d run into you again so soon.”
Jin didn’t respond, directing his next words toward Augustensis. “I take it he’s with you.”
“I guess you could say that.”
She didn’t sound very convinced.
Mentally, Jin shrugged, not wanting to get involved in whatever strange relationship these too had. Augustensis must have trusted him on some level or else she would have already killed the irritant and his obnoxiously cheerful smile.
“Alexander tells me you prefer to go by Gus,” Jin said.
Gus tilted her head, her forehead wrinkling slightly.
“Is he wrong?” Jin asked.
“No, that’s correct. I do prefer Gus. I just hadn’t realized he possessed enough awareness of my existence to know anything about my preferences.”
Ouch.
Jin hid his wince. That was something he’d never understood about the forty-three. Their distance, both emotional and physical, from one another. He couldn’t imagine the last decade without Kira by his side.
The loneliness and isolation must have been awful.
No wonder Gus was keeping company with shady characters like Flame. Poor thing probably didn’t have many options.
“I didn’t do this, you know. I just want to make that clear,” Gus announced with an abruptness that made Jin blink.
He looked around in befuddlement. “Are you sure about that?”
Because he’d pretty much caught her red handed.
“Okay, yes, I did kill these humans,” Gus admitted. “But I had nothing to do with their actions.”
“So, you’re not the head of Belladonna?” Jin probed.
Gus’s flinch was microscopic, detectable only because his spawn were watching her with laser focus and sending him the feedback. “Okay, yes, I’m the head of Belladonna too.”
Jin studied Gus carefully, impressed with how upfront she was being. The forty-three weren’t usually this direct.
“But not this Belladonna,” Gus explained. “Someone is using me as their scape goat.”
“I know.”
Gus faltered. “You know?”
“I suspected.”
Jin hadn’t really known until right this second. Of course, there was always the possibility that she was cleaning house so nothing pointed back to her, but her reactions seemed genuine. Especially if she was Titan’s station master as he suspected.
It was much more likely that Mars and Cleo had decided to take advantage of Gus’s isolation to throw her to the wolves. In this instance, Jin and Kira.
“I have proof?” Gus’s tone rose at the end in an almost question.
Jin shrugged. “Okay.”
“O-kay?”
Jin nodded. “Okay.”
Gus didn’t seem to know what to do with that response. She fidgeted slightly as she glanced at Flame with a baffled expression that Jin found somewhat adorable.
Admittedly, he didn’t know this sister of his that well.
Even back in the camps, she’d kept to herself.
Their master’s obvious favor turning her into something of a pariah among the rest. Jin had never cared about any of that.
Back then, they were all just doing what they needed to survive.
Her crimes, such as they were, were no worse than anyone else’s.
Gus wasn’t flash and fury like Kira and Pallas.
She never outwardly stood up to their masters.
Hers was a quieter resistance. The type that ensured medicine got distributed to those punished and food delivered on the downlow when their trainer decided to starve them.
All her contributions happened behind the scenes.
But Jin saw her. He hoped others had too.
The idea of her being alone was a touch sad.
“I met Mars and Cleo already. I know they’re the ones behind this,” Jin admitted.
She blinked in startlement. “Does that mean they’re already dead?”
Her question pulled a chuckle out of Jin. “Not quite.”
Her high estimation of his skills sent a pulse of warmth through his chest. A rare gift since his transition to this body.
Gus frowned, disappointment crossing her features before she thought of something else. “They didn’t recognize you?”
“No.”
Gus pursed her lips as her forehead wrinkled in disapproval. “They’re not very observant.”
Jin stifled another laugh. “No, I guess not.”
Gus peeked at him out of the corner of her eye. “I should get going. Kira should be here soon. I put her on course to encounter Roake’s commander and the children.”
Jin wondered how she’d managed to do that. He doubted it was anything so simple as Gus walking up to Kira and pointing her in the right direction.
He concentrated, feeling for her and his spawn in his mind. After a moment, he nodded. “She’s not far. The children and Caius are with her.”
He didn’t think he imagined the way Gus’s shoulders relaxed, leading him to suspect she cared a lot more for the situation than she was letting on.
Gus glanced at Flame in silent order.
The man smiled easily, moseying over to Jin. “I suspect this is for you.”
Jin took the data device he handed over. “What’s this?”
“All the evidence I collected about the fake Belladonna and the people they were working with,” Flame answered before looking at Gus. “Ready, station administrator?”
Gus turned to go before pausing. “I’m really glad to see you well, Jin.”
“This has been fun. Maybe we could do this again,” Jin offered.
This sister of his was growing on him. It wouldn’t be bad to see her every now and then.
“I’m not sure about that,” Gus mumbled in a low voice, transmitted by Jin’s spawn.
She and Flame departed out of the exit at the back of the chamber. What must have been the pirates escape route should their hideout be breached.
Jin watched them go for a moment before heading toward the nearest computer console. “Let’s see what Gus gave us while we wait for Nixxy to arrive.”
Graydon
Blood flecked Graydon’s synth armor as he yanked his blade out of a human chest. Finn and Talon did the same on the opposite side of the corridor.
Raider hung back, sniping their enemies and providing support.
Amila and Solal guarded each other’s backs as they worked their way through the latest patrol.
“There’s no end to them,” Solal complained once they’d dispatched their group.
Raider darted past, killing a pirate who tried to flee. “Humans breed like rabbits.”
“What’s a rabbit?” Amila asked.
Raider thought about it for a moment before shrugging. “Some rodent native to Earth, I think. I’ve never actually seen one.”
“How many patrols does this make?” Talon asked as he and Finn rejoined them.
“Four,” Raider said.
The path they’d taken from the upper levels to the lower ones appeared to be a popular route. Every encounter cost them time, making Graydon’s impatience to get back to Kira’s side grow.
“No rebels though,” Solal said.
“Either our information was wrong or they’ve already cleared out,” Graydon said.
The masterminds behind this rebellion were proving both more intelligent and patient than expected. They were also perceptive enough to sense when the winds shifted out of their favor.
Graydon had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last time he was forced to chase after their trail.
“Let’s move on. Jin and Kira are waiting,” Graydon ordered, heading toward the chamber the pirates had come out of.
They encountered two more patrols as they moved through the honeycomb. The time between encounters shortening significantly. Graydon chose to see that as a sign that they were getting close to their headquarters.
Still, no Kira. No Jin. And no rebels.
They had just reached the level below when Solal signaled that another patrol was ahead. Finn and Talon fell into position.
When the moments passed and their quarry failed to appear, the oshota and Raider began to get restless.
“Don’t shoot us, please. It would really ruin the day I’m having,” Kira called.
Graydon felt his heart lurch.
Surprise was on the faces of all those around him as Kira walked out with her hands up and a careless smile on her face. “Hey, friends. Fancy running into you here.”
Raider lowered his rifle with a muttered curse. “I almost shot you, you know.”
“That’s why I specifically told you not to.”
The two bumped fists as Finn hovered beside them. He waited until she was looking at him before wrapping her in an anxious hug. “You weren’t supposed to go off on your own.”
“Sorry about that. I made some new friends though.”
Kira beckoned. Roderick, Arly and a trio of children walked out from their hiding spots. Caius brought up the rear.
He tipped his chin at Graydon in greeting. “Little storm, you’re more like the rescue party I was expecting.”
“I think I did pretty well,” Kira griped.
“You did,” Caius agreed. “Very heir-like even. Harlow will be pleased.”
While she resumed getting a report from her oshota and Raider, Graydon clasped Caius’s forearm in heartfelt greeting. “It’s good to see you alive.”
Though his former mentor had seen better days.
Caius’s synth armor was trashed. Graydon didn’t think it could be salvaged. Then there were the extensive wounds dotting his torso. They would need time to heal and even then they’d leave scars.
“It was touch and go there for a while,” Caius admitted.
“I hope you made the responsible parties pay,” Graydon said.
“You could say that.” Caius glanced in Bez’s direction. “I’ve already collected the first installment.”
Bez turned his back on them, moving toward Arly and the children as if Caius hadn’t spoken.
Graydon wasn’t certain what caused the strain behind them, but he had a guess. On the rare occasion an oshota betrayed the person they’d sworn to serve, it marred the bonds of those that remained.
Caius might lose his pod over this. Replacing them would be difficult. He was already seen as something of an oddball for keeping the children of wanderers by his side. This incident wouldn’t reflect well on him.
“The heir caught me up on current events,” Caius continued. “I’ll wait to exact the rest of my vengeance until Roake is safe.”
“You’ll need to be debriefed by both Roake and a quorum of the major Houses,” Graydon said.
Some punishment was unavoidable. Someone had to take responsibility. But Caius and Roake should escape the worst case scenario since their crimes were small in comparison to others.
“Before that though, we need to retrieve the emperor’s son,” Graydon said.
Kira looked over from where she was catching up with her people. “We were just on our way there. It’s not far.”