A Question of Will (36 page)

Fil stepped forward. As always, his face was a mask, his eyes hidden behind those mirrored sunglasses. The man opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, and closed it again. He simply held out his hand, and Will clasped it.

“So...looks like you’ll get your wish for a while.” Will looked the man directly in the eyes, his expression neutral.

Fil frowned. “What wish is that?”

“You’ve considered me to be a great risk to this community since you brought me back here. I’ve not helped to change that thinking, I’m sure. Now I’m heading into the past, and there’s a very real chance that I won’t ever return.” Will tapped the gun. “So you’ll have your safety, and I may be dead and gone.”

Fil’s face reddened. “I have
never
wished for your death,” he snarled. “You’ve been a risk to our community, to be sure, but if we’d thought the risk not worth it, we never would have used an untested time machine to go back in time to save you, would we? No, we would have left well enough alone, and left you to the Hunters. They would have finished you off. You’re completely wrong about me.”

“Am I?” Will asked. “Then why is it that other people have tried to teach me and train me so that I can learn how not to
be
such a risk? Why do they try to make me feel at home? Why is it that you, and
only
you, seemed to only find my faults and see only the risk? I never asked for
any
of this, Fil. All I ever wanted to do was go home to my family. Until yesterday, though, this had become my home, and the people here my family. You’re the only one who has consistently pushed me away. And before I go risking my life on multiple levels to save the people in the world who mean the most to me, I’d really like to know what is I’ve done to you that makes me deserve such treatment.”

Fil’s face tightened, and his teeth were clenched, as if responding was the greatest effort of his life. “It’s different with me,” he said, his voice quiet. “My view of Will Stark was not the same as the rest of the people you’ve met here. The rest of them, they know the legend, the greatest practitioner of the Aliomenti arts, defender of humanity, the man who fights the Elites for true freedom for our people. But for me, Will Stark was the most selfish man who ever lived.”

Will’s face fell. “What? Why?”

Fil ignored him. “When we had to risk our lives with the time machine to rescue you, it was a kick to the gut. Why was I risking my life to save this man, this selfish man so heavily glorified by others? It was wrong. And it seemed I was proved right. You figured out how to grow your Energy faster than anyone has ever done. Yet you never told any of us how. You were careless and caught the attention of the Hunters, and my sister nearly died because of it. Yet Adam says that we’re supposed to blame ourselves for failing to train you adequately. To me, the extra training wasn’t what was relevant; for you, selfish man that you are, no amount of training would make you apply what you’d learned, because you wouldn’t think to do something for the benefit of others.”

Will started to protest, but Fil held up a hand. “Why did I think that? Because I knew that, if our mission to rescue you was successful, a good man would want to go back in time and rescue his family. Not just rescue them, but
be
with them. With his wife, a wonderful woman who deserved the best husband the history of the planet could offer. He should have been there spending time with his son, as it always seemed he wanted to do, to help that little boy discover himself and grow into a man. Yet you didn’t do that, did you? The technology was there, and you didn’t do a
thing
with it. The only explanation I had was that you were selfish, that you didn’t want to waste your new abilities for those people, and especially not for that little boy, the one who never spoke, the one who wanted to be able to tell his father that he was his hero and that he loved him. But you weren’t there.”

“I don’t need to listen to this!” Will shouted. “Here I am, ready to risk my life to go do
exactly that!
Why on earth would you prejudge me like that?” He shook his head. “I’m going to go take care of the people who need me most.” He punched the Depart button, and the top closed. He could hear the engine warming up.

“What I’ve been trying to explain to you is what I have always thought of you in the past, and why.” Fil spoke to him telepathically, and Will busied himself looking at the simple controls. “What I’ve learned, though, is that you truly are the hero I always believed you were when I was young. You’ve proved it beyond any possible doubt. Understand as you go back in time that the person who needs rescuing is your wife, though. Your son made it through just fine. With any luck, one day I’ll become the man you are.”

Will looked up sharply at Fil. The man reached for those ever-present sunglasses and pulled them off, revealing a pair of shockingly blue eyes, eyes that revealed an incredible depth of intelligence and wisdom beyond their apparent years. Eyes that literally sparkled with Energy. Eyes that looked at him with admiration.

Eyes that belonged to his son.

“Josh?” he whispered, and for the first time, the man he knew as Fil smiled, a huge, joyful smile, the smile of a man who has finally figured out who he is, and that his beliefs as a boy of a heroic father were fully justified. It was a smile that reached his eyes, the eyes he’d waited so long to see just like this.

“Save Mom, Dad. She’s the one who needs you.”

Dad
. It was true, then. But that also meant...

He looked at Angel, and she too was smiling at him, tears of joy on her cheeks this time. “Love you, Daddy,” she mouthed, and blew him a kiss.

The top of the time machine snapped opaque, blocking his children from view, and then he no longer felt their presence, losing them again in time just as he’d finally found them.

XXVI

Retrace

2030 A.D.

The Leader sat at the head of a large table in an opulent conference room at Aliomenti Headquarters, joined there by the three Hunters. It was the first meeting at this location since they’d failed to capture the outlaw Will Stark at his home. The news continued to be disturbing, suggesting that Stark, wherever he was, was cleaning up anything that could be used to trace him.

There had been no sign of him. Porthos had spent nearly every waking hour in deep concentration, trying to detect even the slightest hint of the fugitive, but there were no Energy trails of Stark’s to be found. That wasn’t unusual; Stark had amply demonstrated to the Hunters, in their most recent meeting before the one in which Will Stark’s house burned down, that he could somehow hide his Energy, rendering himself invisible to Porthos’ skills. More concerning was the fact that the Energy of others the Hunters were charged with finding was also impossible to sense, as if the entirety of the Alliance had vanished. They couldn’t simply hope that the scourge was wiped out, however; they needed proof that the criminals had been destroyed. An Alliance that managed to hide its existence was far more dangerous, because it had the chance to grow and recruit new members without detection, without the true Aliomenti thinning their ranks.

The news from the humans on Will Stark was also ominous. It seemed that the large sums of money that Stark had earned had vanished as well. The man had established accounts and processes through which his fortune would be disbursed upon his death, and yet the money had run out far too quickly. The two men charged with performing the distribution had accused their national government of stealing the money, and had various means of proving it to be true. Porthos found the story entertaining; then again, he’d been the one who had so enjoyed a book by a human that he’d insisted the Hunters adopt the names of the characters. Athos believed that Stark had simply taken his own money back — since he was not actually dead — and had not bothered to tell anyone. With the sums of money in question, he could certainly engage in his favorite form of recruitment — directly from the humans themselves. On the positive side, Aramis noted, it meant he wasn’t poaching anyone from the core group of Aliomenti, or worse, those working at Headquarters with the Leadership team.

Outside his usual fatigue concerning the never-ending negative news about Will Stark, the Leader was distressed by two points after the mission had ended, both of which had been hinted at in their meeting immediately after Stark had escaped.

First, The Assassin had not returned to Headquarters. Nor had he contacted them. Nor had the human or Aliomenti investigative teams on the scene of the fire located any suggestion of a male victim of the fire matching his description. That most assuredly meant, as they’d speculated previously, that the Alliance had gotten him, and it wasn’t simply a case of him trying to continue his mission until he was finished.

“Gentlemen, with The Assassin’s capture, we must fill the role of official Assassin for the Leadership team. Thankfully, we were able to locate another bloodthirsty human-hater within our organization. While he’s not quite as skilled or creative as The Assassin we have recently lost, he will more than make up for the deficiency with sheer cruelty and hatred.” Porthos clapped quietly, stopping only after a glare from the Athos.

The Leader resumed. “The Assassin was no lover of humans, as you well know. Yet he recognized that, despite his most fervent wish, he could not simply eliminate them with impunity. We strive for secrecy above all else, and massive numbers of deaths would lead to investigations we simply cannot risk. My greatest fear with our new Assassin is that he will lose control and carry out the type of rampage that could lead to questions that would be...uncomfortable. However, he is the best candidate we have.” He nodded to the door. “Come in, Abaddon.”

The man entered. Like The Assassin, Abaddon was dressed in black. He had multiple tattoos left exposed by his clothing, each of which depicted gratuitous killing and torture. The Hunters each winced at the twisted nature of the images.

It was his eyes that would give potential victims the greatest degree of concern, however. They were a deep brown, almost black, but there were streaks of different shades of red in each eye, as if the bloodshed he sought had reached the very windows of his soul. The eyes told of a man who was pure evil and chaos and a lack of self-control. The random nature of the streaks made the man look cross-eyed, as if to give an idea of the instability at his core.

“Abaddon, please meet my Hunters, the men charged with finding and bringing to justice within these walls those who would violate our laws and Oaths. In the circumstances in which they find compelling evidence of interaction with humans, to the degree that the human or humans may be reasonably assumed to know of our existence or our advances, they will inform me. And in those cases, and only those cases, you will be authorized to fulfill your blood lust, limited just to the offending humans. This role does not provide you sanction or backing to execute humans for any other reason, and if you are found to be doing so, you, too, will be considered in violation of your Oath to not enable humans to learn of our existence. In front of the Hunters as witnesses, do you solemnly swear to carry out this role and abide by its rules and limitations?”

Abaddon’s lip curled up, and it was apparent that his twisted mind was already trying to find loopholes. He nodded, a sharp, crisp movement that was barely noticeable.

“Abaddon,” the Leader said, “we must hear you state your agreement. A nod is not sufficient.”

“Agreed,” Abaddon said. His voice was reminiscent of nails scraping a chalkboard, and the Hunters glanced at each other, each to confirm he was not the only one frightened of this man.

“Then you are hereby and officially the new Assassin for the Aliomenti Leadership. You will report to me. I expect that I will not hear accounts of any unauthorized activities. Am I perfectly clear?”

Abaddon’s glare put a chill in the room. “Crystal.”

“Phenomenal. Now leave us.”

Abaddon left. Porthos waited until the door shut, and turned to the Leader. “While I’m not in the habit of questioning the mental stability of one of my Aliomenti brethren...that guy is a terrifying and insane monster. I’m quite fearful he is going to do something...imprudent.”

The Leader shot a lethal glance his way, and Porthos lowered his head.

“I do not appreciate the skepticism, Porthos. I am well aware of Abaddon’s instability. Sadly, most of my other candidates are far too soft. I am concerned that should the need arise, they would hesitate to execute humans, and would perhaps not even make the effort. Therefore, I had to appoint one of the opposite mindset lest the role lose its deterrence effect.”

Aramis nodded, while Athos stroked his chin. “We need that. If word gets out that Stark was married and fathered a child, without being captured or executed...well, I fear that the wrong message may be sent to those who are less than fervent. The understanding that someone like Abaddon is hiding in the shadows to enforce Oaths...well, I for one would think twice.” At the Leader’s narrowed glance, Athos amended his statement. “Figuratively speaking, of course.”

“And now, gentlemen, we must once more address the Stark problem. I have reason to believe that any child born to one Aliomenti-trained parent will be born with abnormally strong Energy stores and Energy control, and likely would be able to perform our most challenging tasks with ease, and perhaps perform others we can’t even fathom. Thus, Stark’s child is an inherent danger to us; he may spontaneously and publicly do things humans — or Aliomenti — should not be able to do. That will raise questions. However, it is worse than that.” He paused. “I have reason to suspect that Stark’s wife is an ancient Aliomenti woman long thought dead.” He glanced at the Hunters, who looked startled at this revelation. “The Energy ability enhancement mentioned with
one
parent is likely enhanced by orders of magnitude with
two
such parents. This child is not just a risk to expose us; he may well be able to destroy us.
Alone
. We must locate him. If necessary, we may resort to bringing Abaddon into play.”