Part IX
Conall Cian left the Roses under the care of a pair of younger Shades very eager to prove themselves to both Ebony Rose and Conall. He was as sure as he could be that they would be safe. As he teleported himself back to the base, he allowed himself to chuckle at the idea of a thoroughly evil demon keeping a nice suburban couple safe. From a hero.
He shook off his human seeming and flexed his wings upon arrival at the base. He took a particular enjoyment in watching the humans cower before him as he stretched his wings to their fullest, flared them over his body, and then folded them neatly over his back. He passed the basement to which Rose had denied him access and a scowl crossed his face. Once he finished with Rose, he decided, hed make up for lost time in that regard.
He found his way to Roses lab. It was empty, even the enormous robots were missing, which meant shed felt the need to summon them to wherever she was. He was cautious in entering. She might be a foolish and weak woman, but she was a wizardess when it came to traps. What a unfortunate way that would be to end his time on earth - killed by a hidden trap while indulging his curiosity.
Initially he touched nothing. He stalked slowly and carefully into the lab. There, on a far worktable, was that stack of colored file folders. He approached the table cautiously, crouched to look underneath the table, before finally reaching out and spreading the small stack of folders out.
She had been researching a number of topics, he saw, but three folders caught his eye. One was green and labeled Six-Four. A blue one was labeled Shattered, and a purple folder bore the label Crey Lab 1138. He pushed the green one aside and opened the Shattered folder. There were a number of photographs and a few handwritten notes, but little of any substance. The last note had a few small blood stains and Roses typically small and neat handwriting was shaky. It readSCIROCCO. Crey lab 1138. Underneath that was the date that Shattered had vanished.
Conall immediately turned to the purple folder and began leafing through it. There was detailed information about a Crey biological facility located in Nerva and abandoned a few years ago. Rumor held that it was shut down by a biological accident.
Conall looked up and out into the bright garden where Rose wasted so much of her time. She had gone after Shattered. Shed sent him after her parents while she had gone to find Shattered. An interesting choice.
He closed the folders, stacked them back up, and stalked back out of the room. He intended to visit Lab 1138 himself and see what there was to see.
---
Rose didnt know how long she sat there, but she began to realize that she could well die in the cold leaking from Shattered Ice9's body. She struggled to her feet, shivering and aching, and activated the teleport link that would bring her robots to her. She hadnt packed a coat, but she did bring a pair of blankets, and she quickly swaddled herself in them. She used Crimson Queen to light a fire in the room across the hall using materials gathered from the other three rooms, and warmed herself.
Once the racking chills subsided, she determinedly searched the entire level, looking for any sign of Cowboy Nightmare. She couldnt believe that CN would willingly leave her husband, but there was not even a lock of blonde hair to show shed been there.
She pushed her grief and frustration back and steeled herself to return to the room where Shattereds body lay. She refused to allow herself tears, and instead gave herself over to anger as she observed the extent of his injuries. She determinedly pulled the sheet back, every inch uncovered more damage. The blood had been cleaned away, but his clothing was still stained with it. Oh... hed been beaten so badly.
She yanked the sheet the rest of the way off, and frowned. His hands had been neatly laid one atop the other on his abdomen, and under those bloodied fingers was a heavy manila envelope. That ominous feeling was back, even stronger. She knew she didnt want to see what was in that envelope, but she had to.
Her flesh hand trembled too much, so she reached out with her prosthetic. She gently tugged the envelope free and carried it back across the hall, where her fire still crackled. She settled herself on a rolling stool that had been abandoned in the corner, and gingerly opened the envelope.
She peered inside to see a thick sheaf of papers, a shiny DVD and several photos. On top of the entire stack was a handwritten note. She was relieved to see it was not in that heavy, neat and precise handwriting of her new enemy within the Ghosts, instead this was a spidery scrawl, as if the writer were capable of writing neatly, but was in too much of a hurry to do so. Still, it was perfectly readable:
[ QUOTE ]
Here lies Paul Smylie, though many knew him as Shattered Ice9.
He has no living relatives.
He did not have a legitimate job or place of employment.
He has known associates among the Marcone family, the Malta Group, and Arachnos, but no one will notice his passing. That is why he was "volunteered" for a gene therapy project run by Crey Corp. They tortured and murdered dozens of men like Paul (see file photos and DVD attached) in the pursuit of perfect soldiers.
He was lied to and led to believe he was another man - a man who had been a hero, and carried out terrible crimes in that assumed name. His complete criminal record is a matter of public information and can be reviewed with authorization at any Paragon Police Department precinct.
He was not an upstanding citizen, but he did not deserve what Crey and Arachnos did to him in the name of science and power.
I regret I cannot provide him a proper burial, but since this is where it began this is a fitting place for it to end for him.
I promise to avenge the wrongs done to you, Paul. I will bring justice to Crey Corp. and Arachnos.
Signed,
The Walking Ghost
[/ QUOTE ]
Rose scowled as she read it. It was a lie. Shattered WAS Ice9. It couldnt be true. She reread the note, and again, then yanked out the rest of the papers and read through them word for word. She studied each photo carefully, and by the time she was done, she believed. Some of the information was very technical and outside her expertise, but she understood.
The man she knew as Shattered Ice9 had been born Paul Smylie. Hed been a petty criminal, and not a particularly successful one. When his debt to the Marcones grew too large, it was sold to Crey, who told him his debt would be forgiven if he would allow them to attempt a new gene therapy that might grant him super powers. The file didnt contain a full listing of how many people had died under the treatment they subjected Paul to, but it did detail the pain those people suffered. Only four of the subjects treated with DNA harvested from the fallen hero Ice9 survived. Only two of those developed signs of powers, and then those two were subjected to something called brain-wave amalgamation, apparently a personality and memory transplant and override. Paul survived, his companion was not so lucky. They had succeeded in duplicating the heros powers, and implanting his brain-waves on the test subjects, but it apparently drove them both mad. The other subject destroyed himself with subzero temperatures. Paul embraced his new identity, took it to heart, and used his new power to escape the lab, becoming Shattered Ice9.
She glanced across the hall, at that battered body of her friend, and let herself cry at last. His existence had been a lie, but shed made it through her first months in the Rogue Isles because of him. Hed helped her survive before she finally became tough enough to stand on her own in the treacherous morass of the Rogue Isles.
Her fire burned low, and she began to shiver in the cold. Her robots waited patiently for her orders as she stood and began leafing through the papers again. She could do one last thing for her friend. There was no Paul Smylie. He was Shattered Ice9, and he would be buried with that name, and no other.
She tossed the handwritten note into the flames. That was followed by photo after photo of the rather rough man that Paul Smylie had been, showing various stages of the transformation. She watched each photo bubble and curl before tossing the next one in. Then page by page she began tossing the papers into the fire. Until a name caught her eye. She stared at that name and realized there was something she could do.
--
Six-four sat up on his bed in the Ghosts medical bay as Zemuron and Celestial Nav finished their final examination.
Zemuron shrugged as he tucked his percussion hammer away. Appears to have fully recovered reflexes. Thats sure not what they taught me in school.
Nav smiled at him, patted his knee and announced, Youre good to go, Six.
Thank you, he answered them, and pulled his uniform shirt back over his scarred chest. His recovery from his nearly severed spine had fascinated Zemuron, but Six just considered it a frustrating loss of time. Hed lost the Roses, and was basically back to square one with Ebony Rose. All he could hope for now was that she would want revenge and would come after him for it. Using himself as bait, maybe he could lure her to him.
He swung out of the medical bay and nearly ran straight into Ahren. Ahren rocked back on his heels as he said, Ah! There you are. I was just coming to find you. All your pieces back where theyre supposed to be, now?
Docs say Ill live. Six answered.
Unfortunate that you werent able to prevent the escape, Ahren said, but I do have some good news for you. My contacts in the Rogue Isles have spotted the Roses. At the Golden Giza.
The Giza? Six repeated.
Its nearly impossible to launch a full assault on that location, trust us on that one, but when youre ready, well put together a team. I think a small group of experienced Ghosts might just be able to get in and out of there without raising an alarm.
Six just stared back the vastly more experienced hero, unable to even formulate an appropriate response. For his goals, the last thing he wanted was a whole team of Ghosts following along.
Ahren studied his face for a long moment before speaking again, You know, Six-Four, youre a member of the Ghosts. Were a team. Thats how we do things. We have each others back and we help each other out. You need to learn to count on us more. Itll keep you out of trouble. You might have avoided that last beating if youd had back-up.
Six nodded, as if carefully considering Ahrens words. Youre probably right, Ahren. As soon as I feel up to action, Ill let you know.
Good man! Ahren answered. Dont wait too long, though.
Oh, I wont. Six answered, smiling.
---
Conall stretched his leathery wings in flight over Nerva. The abandoned Crey facility was not far, though there was nothing left of it but a pile of rubble. He hovered overhead and started to descend, but then he saw movement. He lifted back up into the air as Ebony Rose flew out of a jagged opening in the earth. She flew straight up, oriented herself, and then flew determinedly straight to the Vanguard base in Grandville, and from there to the Rikti War Zone. Conall followed her, at a discrete distance, keeping her always in sight.
