Chapter Thirteen: Intervention

Hurry!

Lanni awoke with the word echoing through her mind and a sick, anxious feeling in her gut. The feeling that always accompanied the dream where she had overslept, and had only minutes to prepare for an important exam. She grumbled at herself for foolishly forgetting to set her alarm, and swung her legs out of bed.

Except she wasn't in bed. She was sitting. She was sitting on something hard with a keen edge that dug into the back of her thigh, and she couldn't move.

What is this?

The reality of her world flooded back into her brain. She was in the room she shared with Alex.

Alex!

He was gone. He had tied her to an ancient office chair inside her own ring of nanite-killing electrical tape, and left. He was now loose among the people they worked so hard and for so long to protect. Without her help, he would soon succumb to the powerful urges to feed on their emotions and drain their memories. He would turn them into husks, and himself into a full-blown host.

She looked down at the ring of black electrical tape surrounding her. He must have made her put it there and then wiped her memory of it. Her arms and legs were bound to the chair's armrests and legs with black Velcro straps.

He had to have known Velcro wouldn't keep her here. Maybe he strapped her in to keep her from falling through the tape barrier while she slept.

Sure. Maybe he'll be back in a few minutes with ice cream and popcorn.

She still felt the sense of urgency. If anything, it was getting stronger. She suppressed her aura and used her power to sever her bonds. Free to move, she pushed her aura out like an inflated balloon, neutralizing the nanites in the electrical tape.

"Alex?"

No response. It was worth a try.

She tried to recall what happened before she woke up in the chair. She and Alex were in a made-up re-creation of their South Carolina home. They were planning their next moves, and joking about the awful Mutant Ninja Assassin film. That was where it stopped. Whatever else he might have shown or done to her, he'd made her forget.

Hurry!

A sense of impending doom descended upon her. What did it mean?

"What am I supposed to do Alex? How am I supposed to figure it out when you hide everything from me?" She didn't bother masking her frustration. She knew he wouldn't answer.

This mysterious sense of urgency tipped her body into combat mode. With no opponent or even anything that moved within sight, she didn't get the slow motion effect, but it helped her focus. It helped her think. She raced through the events of the last few hours like a video on high speed.

Her exploration of the Red Point warehouse and docks had gone spectacularly wrong. A host had not only seen her, but was curious enough about her to follow her home. It had found the MPC, and would return soon with a mutant army to take it.

Alex had dropped his barriers, destroying the protections of the safe zone. He couldn't hide her from the colonists anymore, and now, thanks to her indecision, he was among them—the proverbial fox in the hen house. She had been awake for over twenty-four hours, and it was shaping up into a heck of a day.

She stripped out of her gore and human waste-soaked clothes, wishing she had time for a bath. And a bathtub. She settled for a bottle of water and the least disgusting bath towel she could find.

Glancing down at Mutant Ninja Assassin #7, the comic on top of the stack by the sofa, she admired the heroic figure on the cover. Her idol, Nominon, was the coldly efficient assassin forced to defend himself against killers he had trained. On the cover he was in his full ninja gear, carrying the black meteorite Naginata he crafted to honor his murdered wife.

You are so much better than Nominon, Alex had said to her. He'd told her to stop worshiping a phony hero, and go be a real one. Those were the last words she remembered him saying to her, and they gave her an idea.

She found the duffel bag Alex had given her that day in the hospital. The ninjitsu gi and weapons he had taken the martial arts hobby shop were still there.

The weapons were show pieces. They'd probably break after a hit or two in real combat, and she'd feel ridiculous going out dressed like a ninja. But she had her spear, she had the gi, and if anyone saw her, she'd have a mask. Why not enjoy it a little? Have some fun? Besides, the gi was clean. Not just haven't-been-worn-much clean, but really, just-off-the-rack-clean.

She dressed quickly, sheathed in black from head to toe except for the narrow opening around her eyes.

Her spear was a replica of Nominon's. She crafted it with the raw metal of a manhole cover and the Con-altering effect of her touch. It was stronger than steel and lighter than a broom handle, with a razor-sharp serrated edge that repelled nanites. Any mutant it wounded would heal much slower than normal, giving her a better chance to either kill it or escape.

She packed some essentials into a leather shoulder sling and crawled through the tunnel to the laundry room. Her watch said 5:34 AM. The entire interaction with her brother had only taken a few minutes, just like he said.

Most of the MPC would sleep for at least another hour, except for the handful on watch duty near the entrances, and two more patrolling the sleeping quarters.

"Where are we going?" John asked. "This isn't the best way to get outside."

"I can't leave without warning Diane. Then, I'll find a way in to see Tina. If I'm heading out to single handedly take on a host and its army, I can't leave without warning everyone. And I can't leave without balancing Tina one last time. It may be the final push that gets her through it."

"You aren't planning on coming back, then? Some might say that expecting to fail and choosing to fail are the same thing."

"Which 'some' would that be, John? You or Rumiko? Or are there people hiding in my head I haven't met yet?"

"There were others. Pacifists. But Rumiko killed them."

She had to chuckle. "There's never a wrong time for a joke with you, is there?"

"No, not yet. I think you're making a mistake. Do as your brother says and kill the host first. When you are done, he can restore his protections around sector zero until the child is born, and you can find a better way to introduce yourself to the colonists. If you fail, it won't matter if Diane is warned or not."

She continued on her way to Diane's room, jogging up the stairs to the third floor. She gave the residential pods a wide berth, and finally reached the door to the stairwell at the central cell blocks.

She entered the stairwell and quietly closed the door behind her. She took two steps up before an unseen door above her opened, spilling light and men's voices ahead.

"...almost forgot it was there. Funny how you can see something every day without ever really noticing it. I still think we should check it out. It's on our route."

She recognized the voice. It belonged to a nervous talker named Vince.

"We'll check it out on our next circuit. This is the most important route inside the prison. You and I are what stands between our sleeping comrades and any mutant that finds a way in here. We can't just leave them to go exploring."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. That's what I meant. I'd never..."

Their light and voices faded, vanishing on the other side of another closed door. They had gone up instead of down. Lanni let out a relieved breath. The risk of being seen made these familiar corridors seem strange and dangerous.

She would have known Diane's cell even if she hadn't been there on countless mornings like this one. Like most of the colonists, Diane's cell smelled of stale sweat and mildew. Air circulation was a thing for rooms with windows, and on this cell block, they didn't exist.

Lanni stepped over a pile of clothes in the doorway, and stopped when Diane made a noise. After a moment of panic, she realized that Diane was crying in her sleep. It must have been an awful nightmare. Her head rocked side to side, and she took short, sobbing breaths.

Easing cautiously into the room, Lanni put a bottle of water on the metal sink and turned to check on Diane. The pretty exterminator had no idea, of course, but Lanni had been here several times in previous weeks to balance her Con, just as she had for Alex and Tina. This time, of course would be different. Lanni would be sure to wake Diane when she finished, so she could explain things and warn her of the coming danger.

She suppressed her aura and knelt beside the bunk, gently placing her hand on Diane's sweaty forehead. The moment she touched her skin, an unexpected torrent emotion swept through her.

Images flashed through her mind: the faces of people she loved. Each person lingered just long enough for her to stab them in the heart with a long, black-bladed knife. They kept appearing before her, and she kept killing them, though her heart broke each time.

She sobbed, and felt the hot tears on her face as Diane's eyes opened and stared into hers.

The Ghost, she heard Diane think.

She shook her head to say no, but Diane launched out of her bed and pinned Lanni to the opposite wall by the throat, her feet dangling inches above the floor.

With an effort, Lanni kept her aura subdued, knowing it would hurt, or even kill Diane. But it wasn't Diane's face staring back at her, it was Alex's. Rather, it was a six-foot-four, ruggedly handsome version of Alex with big muscles.

"This is the last time, Lisa Ann," he said, dropping her roughly back to the floor. "I'm taking too great a risk using the Con with hosts nearby. You are endangering all of us, and throwing away everything we've accomplished."

"You've left me no choice," Lanni said. "How long will it be before I have to protect them from you? You were never supposed to get free, remember? The barriers, the tape, the secret room; those were all your ideas. It was to keep the humans safe from you. What happened? You changed your mind? Thought of a better idea? What's hiding in the memories you stole from me?"

"More than you need to know right now," he said. It was odd hearing this strong, baritone rendering of his voice, when he always spoke in a higher pitched monotone. "Those memories will come back to you when you need them. Use them when they do. You willingly accepted everything I gave you."

That meant he put more memories, knowledge, maybe even skills in her head. There was no way she would have agreed to it.

"Yet, you did agree. I did what I had to do to keep you safe. I suffer for you, Lisa Ann. Do you know what torture I endure every time I intervene for you? Humans think that hosts feed on their memories and thoughts. You know better, though. We harvest thoughts, memories, ideas, even things they think they've forgotten. We take everything from them until nothing human remains.

"A single nanite particle can store the entire life experiences of a human. Yet, that nanite is no more to the Con than a grain of sand is to the Earth. But we are compelled to extract this energy and transfer it to the Con. To ignore that compulsion is to suffer." His voice was deadpan again; his soft bad-actor voice. Only his final word bore the slightest hint of inflection.

"We? Are you so far gone that you won't even pretend you're still my brother?" She didn't bother hiding her emotions. He was already in her head, and would know what she felt almost before she did. In person, when she was protected from his mental intrusions, he was always distressed at even the faintest display of feelings. She was beginning to understand why.

"It would be so easy to give in," he said. She thought she heard a bit more inflection in his tone. "You're my only ally, and I need you to stay strong for me. I molded you for this day, and I need your help."

"I'm trying to help. I'm making the best choices I can with the knowledge I have. You are the one who needs to stay strong."

"I could give up," he continued. "Why shouldn't I just accept what I've become? Embrace it. It isn't a matter of if it will happen. It is only a question of how much longer I can suffer before it happens. I can't fight the hunger anymore. Every moment of weakness shreds another piece of my soul. Eight colonists have lost themselves to my Con because they were overpowered by their emotions. Their fear draws me like a magnet. Anger? A light in the dark. Lust, love, sacrifice? Drugs to an addict."

Giant Alex became normal Alex, and gave her a weak smile. "I will hold out a little longer. I am still in our hidden room, surrounded by your barrier. I only made you think you I was gone to stop you from killing me.

"You still need my help to save these people. I am strong enough. Even from within the electrical tape prison you built around me, I can destroy most of the enemy. But not until the hosts are gone. I can't let them find me. Kill them first. Kill them now, and then I can wipe away the rest and rebuild the safe zone. I can't help you again. I cannot even risk watching you. I hope we'll see each other again, Lanni. It's up to you."

"Alex, I can't... What about Tina? I have to take care of her first. This was all to save the baby, wasn't it? Alex?"

He was gone. Diane still wept softly in her sleep, unaware of the encounter between Lanni and her host-brother.