Chapter 40

The morning was overcast, heavy clouds having rolled in overnight and threatening to rain at any moment. Seven clambered through one of her many concealed holes in the Orphanage fence and ran to the cover of the surrounding buildings, splashing through puddles from the pre-dawn cloudburst.

She was further from her hidden storage area than normal and she soundly cursed Sister Adoracion. Despite Seven’s best efforts, the Sister kept finding her escape routes and blocking them up. This had forced her to use an exit she had prepared at the opposite side of the compound, adding extra delay to her journey.

Seven was in a hurry but that did not make her lose concentration. She spotted her tail almost immediately and deviated from her original course, ducking through a series of narrow alleyways between tall residential towers.

Her pursuer was good, she had to give him credit for that. She turned a corner sharply and accelerated for the brief moments she was out of his line of sight. The alley was long and it gave her a chance to stretch out her legs, activating the adrenalin pump concealed in her small body. At a speed that would have impressed a Cheetah she reached the next corner and turned left, circling back on her route.

With practiced ease she opened a locked access hatch to the maintenance tunnels that ran beneath her feet and dropped into the darkness. Seven smiled to herself and drew a small torch from her pocket, orienting herself using her internally stored maps. Her hunter would not find her down here, she was confident of that.

Satisfied she knew the right tunnel to head down, she set off at a loping pace. For once, being shorter than the adult clones she was related to proved an asset, allowing her to run without needing to duck the odd pipe or junction box. Then her keen hearing picked up the sound of a second pair of feet following her, the noise echoing softly from the concrete walls that lined the tunnels.

At the next tunnel crossing she pulled in tight to the wall and drew out a micro-camera. She had four in the surveillance kit she was carrying and could spare this one. It was quickly attached to the ceiling, angled to look down at whomever was pursuing her.

It took a few precious seconds so she had to run at top speed once more, using more of her limited adrenalin booster to reach the next tunnel junction. Breathing harder than she had wanted to she threw herself into cover around the bend then checked her phone. It was relaying the signal from her micro-camera and she caught a glimpse of the pursuer.

A familiar blonde headed boy came to the first corner and looked carefully around it. Then he looked directly upwards into the lens of her hidden camera and gave her a cheeky wave!

Seven drew out a slim stun baton and stepped into view, facing Eric along a thirty meter stretch of tunnel. The dim service lights that illuminated this section made it hard to see the boy but there was no doubting it was him.

“What happened to giving me some time?” she yelled crossly at Eric, her words sounding sharper in the enclosed space.

“I don’t know what you mean?” he called back. “I was just going for a run to build up my endurance. Fancy meeting you down here!”

Seven’s hand twitched angrily on her stun baton and she was very tempted to march up to Eric and let him have the full charge. With a conscious effort she calmed herself, knowing that if it came to a fight, Eric was better trained in those areas than she was.

Her training had focussed on infiltration and data theft, while her intended companion was the combat expert. He was meant to protect her, not for her to attack him.

“Please Eric, you promised me!” she said and was annoyed at the note of pleading that had crept into her voice.

“I’m just worried about you, Seven” he called back. She could see him suddenly indecisive and realised he had not planned this encounter. He had probably just wanted to see what she was up to and now he had to deal with an angry girl!

She replaced her stun baton in her belt and stalked along the tunnel until she was an arm’s length from him. He was dressed in mottled grey clothes, loose fitting and easy to run or fight in. His face was barely flushed from the chase and his blue eyes were wide, the pupils big and black in the poor light.

Seven felt an impulse come over her and she surrendered to it. One step and she was close to him, their chests touching as she lay her head against his, nestled into the crook of his shoulder.

“You’re the perfect height for me” she whispered and wrapped her arms around his back. Eric was stunned she could tell and stood solid and unmoving, uncertain how to respond. She pressed her lips to his cheek, enjoying the soft skin that covered his strong jaw.

“My hero” she said without condescension and leaned back, meeting his bright eyes with her dark ones. “Thank you for caring, but I need to do this myself”

Seven released him and stepped back. He made to take a step towards her and she lifted one index finger in warning. “Stay” she commanded and he paused. Walking slowly backwards, she moved to the tunnel junction behind her. Eric watched her all the way but made no move to follow her.

“Be careful, Seven” he said and she could not tell if it was a plea or a demand.

She stepped out of sight and slumped with sudden fatigue against the wall.

“That was well done” Nothing spoke to her from the darkness of her mind.

“Oh shut up” she snarled back. “We are going to be late!”

The summons had come out of the blue, her phone ringing early in the morning. It was meant to be her day off and Naomi swore loudly as she staggered from her bed to the dressing table where the phone was demanding her attention.

She had snatched it up and answered without checking the Caller ID.

“This had better be good!” she had snapped.

“Miss Tengaki, that is no way to address your master” Quent Scarfe had scolded her. Naomi felt a chill run down her spine like a bucket of ice water had been thrown over her.

“Oh, sorry” she had stumbled to reply. Her wife Alison was sleepily asking her who was calling so she had to leave the bedroom and take the call in their living room. Once there she addressed her new employer, the one she dared not let her wife or anyone else find out about.

“What do you want?” she had asked. Scarfe had told her and some short time later she was standing in a quaint and rather expensive cafe in District Eight.

Her pistol was in a concealed holster at her back, under her plain black jacket with matching pants. A light weight armour vest was concealed under her dark grey blouse and she had a Bonded Ceramite Tanto in a sheath on the inside of her right leg, hidden under her loose black pants.

“So who are we meeting?” she had demanded politely but firmly from Scarfe. Just then a young Japanese girl in a blue blouse and black skirt had walked into the cafe, looking alertly at the few patrons.

As the girl and Naomi locked eyes, they each recognised the other. With an angry shout, Naomi had reached around and drawn her pistol. She was bringing it on line with her target when the girl had leaped onto the tables, scattering cutlery and wine glasses as she raced in an arc from one table to the next, closing in on the Security Head.

The girl was swinging a stun baton at Naomi, her movements so fast she was struggling to get her pistol into a firing position.

“Stop!” Scarfe had yelled as he stepped nimbly between them. His left arm caught Naomi’s pistol and pointed it at the ceiling. The right metal arm caught the girl’s baton in his iron grip, the sparking discharge having no obvious effect on the man.

Naomi and the girl looked at Scarfe in stunned surprise. He glared from one to other then slowly released their weapons from his grip.

“Ladies, please show some decorum” he admonished them. “Miss Tengaki, this is our fellow conspirator, Miss Smith. Why don’t we take a seat as our other guest should be arriving any minute”

Naomi put her pistol away slowly, watching her slender adversary do the same with her stun baton.

“So the little troublemaker has been working for you” she stated calmly to Quent Scarfe.

“Actually, it was more of a partnership” Scarfe admitted, waving off the attentions of the café owner with a promise to cover all damages. “Miss Smith has been very useful in our attempts to take over the Brackenridge company”

For herself, the young girl approached the table where Scarfe was seated and sat down opposite him. Naomi scowled and took a chair facing the girl, with Scarfe at her left hip.

“Is your name really Smith?” Naomi asked the girl, who regarded her with deep brown eyes. She blinked, a moment of almost fear passing across her pretty face, then her expression became blank and remote like the Guard clones she resembled.

“From today, please call me by a more appropriate name” the girl said flatly. “Call me Nothing”

=====

When Seven had entered the Silk Tie Café and seen the Tengaki woman, she thought Scarfe had betrayed her. She should have left but rage took hold of her and she had charged at the woman, leaping from table to table like a maniac.

Seven idly wondered which of the two would have won the fight if Scarfe had not stopped them. Tengaki was Enhanced but it was more subtle than the extensive changes made to Seven’s own body, so she liked to imagine she would have beaten the older woman.

It should not have surprised her that the wily Emissary had been able to subvert a key member of the Brackenridge business. That was why she had sought out the agent of the Abyss in the first place, wasn’t it?

She sat demurely at the table and pondered the new situation. Seven was no longer sure how viable her plans were and wondered again if she was doing the right thing. The voice of Nothing rose up in her mind, laughing at her indecision.

“You are wavering, aren’t you little girl” Nothing mocked her. “You are wondering if these plans of yours will really give you want you want?”

“Shut up” Seven snarled a thought at her invisible companion. “You are just a voice in my head. Shut up and let me think of what I need to do next!”

“No” Nothing answered without hesitation. “Your time is over, little Seven. It is time for the grown-ups to take charge”

“What do you mean?” she demanded and tried to quell the alien voice in her head. Except she couldn’t. It grew louder and stronger, filling her up with its dark presence. Seven panicked and tried to stop Nothing, but the creature brushed her thoughts aside like cobwebs in a tunnel.

“Go to sleep, little Seven” Nothing whispered and she felt her mind fall unstoppably into darkness.

“From today, please call me by a more appropriate name” the girl said flatly to Scarfe and Tengaki. “Call me Nothing”

=====

“There you are at last” Quent said to the young girl facing him. “I wondered for how long you would let the child play her games”

Her dark eyes were flat pools of emptiness, only the white outer edges showing any signs of her humanity.

“We have a mission to complete, Emissary” she responded to him. “Miss Smith has been useful up to now but her resolve was wavering”

“So I see. I am glad to be working with you directly, Nothing” he responded.

Miss Tengaki was looking askance at Quent so he turned to regard his ‘employee’.

“Are you confused, Miss?” he asked her. He nodded at the young girl. “The child is a clone soldier like the Guards, made to resemble a young woman. She has a Quantum Processor in her skull but unfortunately for her it is defective. This has left her full of rage and despair, emotions that agents of the Abyss can use to manipulate their victims”

Naomi looked at the girl once more.

“Does that mean she has the same black oil inside of her?” she asked, barely concealing her horror from Quent’s keen eyes.

“No” Nothing answered her directly. “I am different to the Emissary. He entered your world as a physical creation, a living fragment of the Abyss. The ‘black oil’ you refer to is the organic form that our own bodies take in this world”

“So what are you?” Naomi demanded.

“The closest comparison is that I am like a computer virus, projected by the Abyss into the Quantum realm of Archimedes. I found a suitable host, this girl, and downloaded myself into her Quantum Processor”

“That means you can’t physically infect a living body?” Naomi pondered aloud.

“Only I can do that” Quent confirmed. “Nothing can only move in the Quantum realms, so she can only transfer her essence to another Quantum Processor”

Quent laid his metal arm on Naomi’s flesh one. His touch made her jerk in alarm and he smiled widely at her discomfort.

“We are unlike you, Miss Tengaki” he told her with amusement. “You are thinking of ways to stop us, to remove my essence from your blood. It is hopeless, you are mine to control for as long as I wish”

Quent could feel Nothing’s heavy gaze on him and smiled at her also.

“You allow this woman too much free will” Nothing accused Quent, her face blank yet her words dripped venom. “She should be held in deeper control!”

The man shook his head negatively.

“She needs the semblance of normality” he assured Nothing. “Miss Tengaki knows quite well the risks of disobedience. Her former bosses made sure of that and she knows I will be just as ruthless if she fails me”

“Very well” Nothing agreed sullenly.

Quent looked to the café entrance as the front door opened, revealing a wary man in an expensive suit. Behind him was a hulking slab of a man in a cheaper suit, dark glasses covering his eyes and obviously a bodyguard.

“Ah, our guest has arrived at last” he announced to the table.

=====

Blayne Lucas knew he had to be crazy to have agreed to this meeting. It had been two months since his older brother Antonio had challenged the power of the Brackenridge family. Two months since Blayne had buried his brother and all of their security team, killed in retaliation by one man who worked for their rivals. A single man who was also the family butler!

“Mr Lucas, thank you for joining us today!” welcomed an old guy in a fancy suit, his right arm a full metal replacement. This would be Quent Scarfe, the one who contacted Blayne with an offer he had to accept, provided it was real.

Blayne squared his shoulders and walked into the cafe, his bodyguard Karl following him. The big man’s presence was reassuring, his body Enhanced with enough illegal combat ware to bring this whole building down on his own.

“Thank you, Mr Scarfe” Blayne answered him warmly. “It is an honour to meet up with one of the Kings of Haven” Blayne knew Scarfe was a newcomer to the Haven underworld and was barely a Knight, let alone a King, but it never hurt to flatter a potential ally. Then he ran his eyes over Scarfe’s two companions, both Asian looking, a girl and a woman.

The girl he dismissed and focussed on the woman, who looked awfully familiar. With a shock he recognised who she was! It was Naomi Tengaki, head of Brackenridge Security. It took all of his resolve to stand there, seemingly unconcerned, as he waited for the ambush to spring.

“This is not a trap, Blayne” Scarfe assured him, still seated at the table. “These are my associates in our grand scheme, not your enemies” Scarfe beckoned to the seat at the table left empty, beside the young girl.

Blayne turned to his bodyguard and gestured for him to stand at one side of the table, then walked over and sat calmly in the last chair.

“You might have warned me she would be here” Blayne spoke with mild reproval to Scarfe, flicking his eyes at the Tengaki woman. “We could have had a bloodbath here today”

“Yes, well it has been a day like that I must admit” Scarfe replied with an easy grin. “I confess, this is the first time all the players have been brought together”

Scarfe beamed at them all, as if willing them to trust each other. That hardly seemed a likely result but Blayne gave a bland smile in response anyway.

“So how about you tell me who everyone is, just so I know who I am dealing with” Blayne asked Scarfe.

“Well, you know me I assume” Scarfe began. “My partner and I run the biggest scrap dealership in Haven, which is of course a cover for our other less than legal activities I won’t go into here”

“Hang on, you have a business partner?” Blayne interjected. “Why aren’t they here then?”

“My apologies, Mr Lucas, but he is a silent partner for the moment. Let’s say he is taking a back seat for the moment while I handle affairs for both of us”

“Hmm, Okay” agreed Blayne. “So is this really Naomi Tengaki, head of Brackenridge Security?” He looked directly at her, meeting her steely gaze with his own questioning expression.

“Yes, I am” the woman answered him. “Mr Scarfe has made me an offer I couldn’t refuse” she added but seemed disinclined to offer any more details.

Blayne then regarded the young girl seated beside him. She met his gaze without a flicker of emotion, her dark soulless eyes reminding him uncannily of the Guard clones.

“Who’s the girl?” he asked Scarfe. “Is it bring your kid to work day or something?”

“You may call me Miss Smith for now” the girl spoke to him without inflection. “I am here to represent an outside interest, one who is very keen to bring down the Brackenridge empire”

“I see” Blayne answered thoughtfully. “I don’t suppose you would be willing to reveal who that outside interest is?”

“No” she replied calmly and turned away from him to watch Scarfe instead. That was the end of that conversation Blayne realised.

“Okay, Scarfe, assuming everyone here is really who they say they are, why am I here?” Blayne asked, keen to get to the heart of it the matter.

“We have excellent data on our targets, we know where all their key resources are located” Scarfe began. “I have agents inside their organisation ready to act when I need them. Yet there is simply one thing our group does not have and that is where you come in, Mr Lucas”

“Uh-huh” he responded. “And what is that?”

“Manpower” Scarfe told him. “You are now in charge of one of the largest underworld groups in the Zone, ever since your brother was killed by the Brackenridges”

“That may be so, but my brother got himself and some of our best men killed by going up against the Brackenridges. I am not stupid enough to follow in his footsteps!”

“Is that so?” Scarfe countered without anger. “Perhaps you might reconsider when I tell you what we are offering in exchange for your men and equipment?”

Blayne gave Scarfe a calculating look.

“Okay, what’s the deal?”

“It’s simple enough” Scarfe smiled widely. “You get half of everything the Brackenridge’s have. My associates and I get the other half”

Blayne thought about the debt his dead brother had landed them with after his poorly conceived plans. About the anguish of his poor mother when she had found out about the massacre at their private estate.

“Alright, I’m in!” he declared.

=====

The man that the world knew as Quent Scarfe sat at the cafe table, his metal fingers drumming a tattoo on the polished wood surface. Blayne Lucas and his walking slab of muscle had departed first, followed soon after by Miss Tengaki and Nothing, leaving Quent alone.

A small, eager man; the cafe owner, had come over to the table asking if he would like to order anything else. The departed guests had only drunk coffee, but Quent felt like something more substantial.

“Hey Bob-Two, since the meeting is done, can I come out now?” the real Quent Scarfe whined.

“Sure” Bob-Two answered, which confused the cafe owner. “How about some pasta, garlic bread and a nice bottle of wine?”

“Sounds great!” Quent replied using the same mouth and grinned merrily at the strange looks from the owner.

Once the order was finalised, the small man scurried away and Quent leaned back in the chair, tilting it up onto the back legs. He folded his meat and metal arms behind his head and sighed.

“It’s a shame we won’t be able to use this place for any more meetings” he observed to Bob-Two. “The food was quite good”

“I know, but the owner was far too nosy” Bob-Two replied. “He heard most of our conversation with Lucas so he will have to be dealt with”

“Yeah, and the rest of the staff too I reckon” Quent said with only a modicum of regret. “But let’s wait until after we have eaten”

“Oh, of course” Bob-Two agreed heartily. “It would be a shame to waste the food!”

Naomi was in a pensive mood when she opened her apartment door. She called out a subdued greeting to Alison, who was busy in the kitchen, and seated herself in their living room. She was still there ten minutes later when her wife bustled past and saw her seated quietly, clutching a lime green throw cushion against her chest.

“Naomi?” she asked her with a concerned tone. “What’s the matter? You are still in your work clothes” Alison sat herself next to the silent woman and grasped the closest hand.

“Your hands are freezing!” Alison exclaimed. “Are you coming down with something?”

Naomi finally looked at her beautiful wife and a crooked smile crept its way across her mouth.

“It’s just a little bug” she assured her. “Something I caught at work”

She looked into her beloved’s eyes and gripped her hand tightly.

“Alison, my job has changed in the last few days” she spoke earnestly. “There are things happening that I can’t control, things I can’t stop”

“I understand, Naomi” her wife replied. “Things you can’t tell me about, is that right?”

Naomi lowered her eyes, feeling ashamed at the awful truth she had to hide from her spouse.

“Yeah” she admitted. “But I want you to know that whatever happens, I will always love you”

Alison pulled her partner close and kissed the top of her head.

“Just do whatever you have to” Alison told her. “Burn down the whole city if you need to, but make sure you come back to me”

“The whole city?” Naomi joked half-heartedly. “Are you sure?”

“Well, maybe save our apartment tower if you can” Alison amended. “I would hate to lose all my lovely furniture”

“Sure, you got it” Naomi agreed at last.