Psychoworld, p.16
Psychoworld, page 16
part #2 of Tear it Up Series
“Did we become unfocused?”
“Not really, but I want to talk to you about this cult stuff.”
Her eyes narrowed. “We all have our quirks. I happen to have a lot of ‘em.”
“Not that.” I put a hand on hers. “I wanted to say I’m sorry for judging. Listen… I… care for you, deeply.”
“Are you trying to say you love me?” She grinned, batted her eyelashes playfully, and waited.
“What?”
“Go on, say it. Come on. Don’t be scared.” I hesitated, just a bit too long. “Ohhh, ‘fraidy cat?” She glanced at Cheshire. “No offense. Old Earther term.”
The cat leaped onto her lap, tails moving along her arm, and stared at me as if waiting, too.
“Is this the way you want it to happen?” I chuckled, glancing around nervously. Nobody was paying attention, so I took her hand, leaned in toward her ear, and whispered, “Fine. I love you.”
She pressed her lips to mine, nibbling my bottom lip as she pulled back, and said, “And I you, even when you’re being a dick.”
I laughed. “Well, that’s cute.”
Of course, now I was wondering if I was supposed to say it to the others, too, and what it all meant. Love was such a foreign concept to me, that for years it hadn’t even seemed like something I would ever care about. Who the fuck wants to fall in love when there are so many criminals to take down? Since Cheri was at my side helping me take down the assholes, though, it was a different story. Same with the rest of my team.
Another glance at Mer, though, reminded me that the dynamics of my team were up in the air. What if she went back home, once she figured out where home was? And this new lady was an entirely different story.
“What can you tell us about where we’re heading?” I called over to Hinru.
She startled as if surprised that I was addressing her, but then relaxed and pointed at the screen that showed a new mountain range in the distance.
“If that’s where your friends are headed, they’re either smart or very stupid. Either way, we need to keep our heads up.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
She stood up and came over to where we were, and looked over the controls for a moment before waving her hands over the display. The waves of purple that radiated from her morphed into an image that melded with the display, and then it was like we had zoomed into the mountain. Suddenly we saw a child, running desperately.
“That’s… oh, shit, we need to help her,” Tink said, moving to the display.
“It’s in the past,” Hinru said. “I’m showing you an experience of mine from this spot.”
Sure enough, now I was able to make out the purple hair and other characteristics that showed this could have been her.
The girl fell as the ground shook and bursts of darkness shot out from between the rocks and dirt. The darkness swirled around, moving for her as she reached to stand, trying to get out of there as it wrapped around her and pulled her back.
A burst of purple erupted from her, pushing back the darkness, and she was up, floating as color drained from her hair, and then she was out of there in a flash.
“The only time I’ve been to those mountains, and it was…” Hinru paused, sorrow and regret seeping out from her. “…the last time I saw my mother.”
“The darkness took her?” Erupa asked, horrified.
A nod.
“Fuck, I’m… sorry.” Cheri pursed her lips, looking at the woman with sympathy.
“Me, too,” Mer added, placing a hand on her lower back. “What—what is it?”
“I spent many years asking that question. The best answer I could get? Remnants of power left behind long ago. Of a dying race, like souls from a war, but… not.”
“Is it connected to the Cult of Hermite?” I asked.
She nodded. “I believe so. The Hermites are working to harvest that energy, and it’s what they’ll use to open the gateway.”
“Do Bonder and the others know about this?”
Hinru looked perplexed, but offered, “All the locals do, although they don’t know where or when the darkness will rise. It seems random, but less random in certain areas. Your friends would know, if briefed properly. Since they chose this spot, I have to assume it’s for a reason.”
The image was gone now, only the display of the landscape there to be seen. I took a moment to process this, then asked, “Are we going to be safe?”
“No, but… it’s not like that’s one of our only worries.” After a moment, she added, “That said, I spent many years learning what I could about the darkness, harnessing my powers and… trying to adapt to it. If anyone is safe, we are.”
“They have someone like you,” Cheri said. “I mean, the voices aren’t telling me so, but if you were able to do something about the darkness, others were, too. Right? So that must be it—Bonder and Peg Leg and them, they have someone like you.”
“It makes sense,” Hinru replied. “They could use that to their advantage. Attackers would be in for a treat.”
Mer laughed, although it hadn’t been so funny to me.
Sure enough, the procession made its way toward those same mountains, and soon we saw a small crater, where we landed. They had been here long enough to put up a perimeter with outposts and massive cannons, along with a cloaking field.
First thing they did was get us set up, showing us the lay of the land. They fed us, then we were moved to a corner that had a lookout over a river and grassy plains, pockets of purple clouds moving along below our high-elevation position. That wasn’t where we would be yet, though, Peg Leg explained, leading us to the main cave of the base. That was for if and when the action began, we had to hold the position. As likely as not, we would all charge out for the hunt.
“Here’s where the magic begins.” Peg Leg indicated the cave wall, where two supers were finishing setting up a holo display.
“What’s going on here?” I asked.
Peg Leg grinned. “The Gold Reapers are going to make the proclamation.”
“No shit?” I stared in awe at the holo display as it lit up, first showing an image zooming in on several domed buildings, heavily guarded, then moving in on four figures that stood glimmering gold. Their faces weren’t visible, covered like the rest of their bodies with gold armor. Not many of us had seen them, even like this, as bids usually came in through our private channels and were nothing as elaborate as this.
A seed of doubt planted in my gut, and I glanced around. All of this felt wrong, so what was happening here, really?
That’s when I noticed him—Maji. First through his emotions, but then the bounty hunter was a blur of color, moving through the crowd, eyes meeting mine briefly before he vanished. I turned, about to go after him, when Bonder stepped up next to me and held up a hand.
“It’s beginning,” she said, and I turned to see that one of the four had stepped forward. My team was around me, although there was no sign of Hinru. Maybe she had gone off to relieve herself, or simply didn’t want to be around this type of charade? Regardless, I figured it wasn’t something to worry about.
“Members of the Gold Reapers,” a dark, deep voice said as the figure on the display addressed us and those watching from elsewhere. “The days of old are gone. We’re here today to usher in a new era, one where we can no longer allow traitors to move among us. The lines have been drawn, and the Gold Reapers will stand on the side of victory. When this day is done, will you stand with us, or against us?” A long pause followed, then the figure continued. “It is on this day that you must decide, as I am about to issue the first ever bid against one of the four. One of us here today, is a traitor.”
Murmurs and shouts rose up from the cave, nobody expecting that. I was with them all, feeling their surprise rush over me but like a distant, muffled scream against my own confusion. This wasn’t about me at all, then?
“Reaper Avanguerre, surrender.” The other three turned at once on the Reaper to their left, only… the Reaper vanished, no longer there.
Everyone was shouting, the alarms going up. Everyone here was gathered under the assumption that they would either be going out to hunt a traitor, or banding together to defend their so-called traitor. Nobody expected it to be at this level, and half of them hadn’t truly meant to go up against the Gold Reapers, even if it meant being allied with one.
The figure had faded, vanishing, as the others turned in what seemed like surprise but was hard to tell since we couldn’t see their faces. Yet, amid the confusion, not many seemed to notice one thing on the display that my eyes were very much glued to—a gold, vanishing mist. Or, not a mist, but a swirling bit of light, moving like a heat wave.
“Hinru…?” I muttered, then turned, scanning the area for her. She must know something about this, maybe even be able to explain who this Reaper was and how he had used the power to escape.
What I saw came as more of a shock, though, since she was standing beside me in a clearing away from the others, having just pulled off a gold mask. The purple heat waves still moved around her, and her worry-filled eyes met mine.
“It’s her,” others muttered.
“Avanguerre,” Peg Leg said, saluting with forearms crossed, head bowed. “We serve.”
“Fuck that!” someone shouted while lunging to strike.
A super nearby met the attacker. Spikes erupted from the latter’s fist and killed the other, instantly. More supers gathered in a circle, facing outward from Avanguerre—or Hinru, as I knew her. Now it made sense, or some of it did… She had disappeared to teleport herself, I guessed, to the location of the Gold Reapers for this demonstration. She must have at least sensed they were onto her and had this plan in mind. But why go at all, then? I had that and many more questions, but knew this wasn’t the time.
“Hinru, on me,” I shouted, forgetting momentarily that she was above me in rank and power.
“We don’t have much time,” Bonder was shouting, waving the others to her. “The other hunters will find a way of tracking us, so be ready.”
“At your stations!” Mad Mouth added, his speech a bit slurred so that I wondered if he was still drunk.
As Mer and my team formed a wedge, Hinru actually came to us and those guarding her followed. I turned to lead her away from the group, only to find Maji standing in my way, not more than three paces away, sweat dripping down his red, shiny skin and fists held up at the ready.
Apparently, we had a fight on our hands.
21
“We thought you were dead, sis,” Maji said, eyes moving from me to Hinru.
“Secrecy,” she replied with a wave of her hand. “A requirement for leadership among the Gold Reapers.”
“You can keep a secret, but not loyalty?” he scoffed. “Imagine my surprise when they told me I’d find you here. At first, I told them that you were dead, and that there was nothing they could do to get me to turn on my own sister if you weren’t. But then… they told me everything.”
“Everything?”
He took a step toward her. “How you went to Hadrian, how you’ve been feeding him information for years, even sending certain hunters on missions that would bring about our downfall…” At this, his eyes moved to me in disgust before he turned to address the crowd. “The rest of you can go home. Turn around, or better yet, help me kill these traitors. My sister sold us out, and this man,” he indicated me, “attacked me while helping to attack Orion Corp.”
Surprised exclamations rose throughout the cave. A few threats were shouted, and there was even a fizzle as someone attempted some fire power but it was immediately quenched.
“Enough,” Bonder said, holding up a hand that seemed to twist energy around it. “You’re here to attack us. Do it, so we can kill you and be done with it.”
“Deal.”
In that moment, all hell broke loose. I was shooting at incoming hunters, striking others as they turned on us—traitors among the ranks. A shadow strike from Erupa to my left, sword strikes and pixie dust nearby and even Mer was in the fight. Bodies piled up and moments later I’d managed to take out so many of them that my screen showed level six!
I would have celebrated, if not for the fact that enemies were still coming strong. And then it wasn’t just supers attacking, or the ones fleeing and wanting nothing to do with this. No, it was the darkness.
It burst forth all around, surrounding and converging on us. I lunged for Hinru, wrapping an arm through hers as I drew and shot at Maji—only to find purple and black all around, and then… gone.
Everyone was gone. The mountain was gone.
I was standing in a puddle of retreating darkness, Hinru at my side, beside a frozen lake. Nothing about this made sense to me, at first. No cold air, so how could the lake be frozen? In fact, a warm breeze reminded me of a spring day, although the purple mist passing through smelled of fresh carpets.
“What happened?” I asked.
“The darkness,” she replied. “I must have used it to access my relocation power, which doesn’t make sense, but… maybe.”
“And everyone else?”
Her eyes met mine, her aura feeling comforting and warm, for the first time. “We have to get back to them.”
“The way I see it, we don’t have much time before other hunters find us. Even less if Maji reported in, or the other Reapers knew where Avanguerre was. I mean… you.”
“Hinru will do. It was my birth name.”
“No shit?” I blinked, confused. “But you really are one of the Gold Reapers?”
She nodded but then winced. “Was. Everything they said is true.”
“Damn.” I shook my head, looked away, then turned back to her again. “You’re a legend.”
“I’m a fool.”
“Explain.”
“For too long, I served them blindly, thinking we were keeping the system in balance. That we were providing a service. In the end, the Gold Reapers, like everyone else, was merely a means of serving one side versus the other.”
“And you’re from here?”
She nodded. “Cheshire!”
“What?”
“The cats, as you call them, are connected. Related to us, in a way, and I can…” She held out her hand, purple mist forming and creating an image, “do this, because Cheshire is with them.”
Indeed, judging from the angle, we were looking through the cat’s eyes. It was hard to get a fix as everything was moving fast—darkness devoured some supers but was held back by others. My team was on the move, I saw, and Erupa was somehow keeping the darkness off them in a way that told me her shadow magic had some connection here. A point I would have to ask her about later.
Cheri turned directly toward us, ducked, and said, “That you, Ez? If you’re with Hinru, keep her safe. Go! Wait, Lilly says… yes, Cheshire can lead us to you. Hopefully, before the others find your trail.”
Apparently, they were all calling me ‘Ez’ now. Annoying, and I imagined they knew it. Teasing me in a playful way like that was nothing new.
The image cut out and Hinru staggered, so I stepped forward and took her arm. She regained her composure and gave me that look that said, ‘back off.’
“Thank you,” she said, surprising me.
I released her, then nodded. “What now? Can you teleport us again?”
She shook her head. “It’s based on a certain type of energy. That darkness let me pull a bit more of it but not enough. Maybe I could get one of us, but not both. Even then, I’m not sure.”
Taking the lead, she guided me along the edge of the frozen lake, toward an area past a brim that looked like a lava field with wavy rocks covered in a purple moss. We followed this route for what felt like hours, passing gnarled trees with leaves that sprouted up like explosive bursts of purple and blue. We didn’t have water or food, so I was incredibly grateful for the fact that we had been able to replenish ourselves earlier with Peg Leg and the others.
“Just a second,” I said, indicating a tree and moving to the other side of it.
She didn’t say anything, so I figured she got the idea as I took position, undid my pants, and started to piss. Funny how sometimes the simplest actions can be like an escape from the chaos of the world. In that moment, it was the pleasant sensation of the piss leaving my body, the steam rising as it hit the mossy rocks, watching as the moss gave way and receded under my stream. My mind wandered to my team, worry gripping me, and I closed my eyes, wishing my empath power could reach across such long distances.
“It really is disgusting,” Hinru said, and I opened my eyes to see her squatting nearby. She was taking a piss while eyeing my dick.
“Then stop staring,” I replied, gave it a couple of shakes, and tucked it away.
She shrugged. “Disgusting, but…” She shrugged again, taking care of her business, and stood. “Like a fucking snake. What do those women see in it? The last time I thought a snake was attractive, the thing tried to kill me. That thing of yours ever try to kill anyone?”
I laughed. “Are you being funny?”
She allowed a smile. “Mer is… quite the catch. Where’d you find her?”
“Long story.”
“I see. And is she… spoken for?”
“Are you asking—”
“You fucking her?” She pursed her lips, then added, “No reason to beat around the bush. Are you and her a thing?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but yes to the first, and therefore I think so to the latter. But, our team isn’t exactly strict on such things, as long as you’re part of the team.”
“I’m not touching your snake, if that’s part of the team initiation or anything.”
I laughed. “It’s not a snake, it’s my cock. A sexual organ, made for pissing and bringing women pleasure. And, well, we haven’t really discussed what constitutes bringing someone onto the team. If we ever find them again, that’s a topic we can bring up.”
She bit her lip, then nodded. “Let’s do that.”
Not sure exactly what I’d agreed to, I looked around, wondering where we had found ourselves. “This place is… different.”
