Metal and Ash (Apex Trilogy) (29 page)

“You don’t have to,” Beth gulped. “He’s coming here.”

“You sure? How do you know?” Melissa asked.

“I just caught glimpses of his thoughts, but he’s definitely coming this way. I think he’s with the Three’s navy.”

“We have to tell Masterson,” Melissa insisted as she got up.

Beth grabbed her hand and held her there. “No, you can’t!”

“Why the fuck not?”

“Because if I can hear his thoughts he might be able to hear mine,” Beth said. “What will Masterson do to me if he thinks I may be a liability?”

“You’re too valuable,” Melissa said as she shook her head. “We’d all be dead or floating in whale piss in this bay if you weren’t here. He’ll listen and understand.”

“But I don’t understand, Mel. This isn’t supposed to be happening. I talk to biochrome, not people. But now I’ve been in two people’s minds in one night. This is outside the parameters of my creation.”

“You’re creation? You aren’t fucking Frankenstein!”

“Are you sure about that?”

Thirty-Five

“It’s alive,” Mr. Gein joked as he stood next to Stone on the ship’s deck. The view on all sides was warship after warship. Their ship, the Three’s command ship, was insulated from any attack by about ten ships deep in any direction.

“The joke is old, Gein,” Stone said as he gripped the railing and took in the ocean air. Not that he needed to breathe. He’d tested that theory. He also didn’t need to eat, shit or piss. Even though his body looked and felt normal, he knew it wasn’t. Sure, it could perform basic bodily functions for appearance, but Stone had figured out how to mentally override those functions. He, of course, hadn’t mentioned that to anyone. “Get some new material.”

“I see you are adjusting well,” Mr. Gein said. “Same Stone as always.”

“What do you want?” Stone asked, his eyes taking in the dawn light that crested over the horizon. “Here to give me another speech about duty and honor and all that shit? Here to try to convince me to play the part of the puppet? You know you can’t.”

“They’ll kill you, Stone,” Mr. Gein said. “They’ll do it permanently.”

“That’s what I’m hoping for,” Stone replied. “Some bloody peace finally.”

Mr. Gein rubbed at his haggard face. The days of non-stop drinking had taken its toll and his skin was grey and hung from his cheeks, he hadn’t shaved and he smelled of alcohol from every single pore.

“There won’t ever be peace,” Mr. Gein said. “They have a backup plan.”

“A backup?” Stone laughed. “There’s only one me. You even said so in our little welcome back to life chat. Once my upload took it cleared from the database.” Stone turned from the ocean view and leaned one arm on the railing, his eyes locked on Mr. Gein’s. “This isn’t like my conditioning before, Gein, I know that. I’m something new. Not a clone, that’s not it either. So if they kill me and there’s no backup then there’s no more Stone.”

“No more Stone, no,” Mr. Gein said.

What Mr. Gein left unsaid played at the edges of Stone’s mind until he realized what Mr. Gein had been getting at.

“No,” Stone said flatly. “They can’t.”

“They can,” Mr. Gein said. “And you know he’ll obey every order. It’s who he was…or could be.”

“Fuck,” Stone swore. “That’s where he is.” Stone tapped his head. “I’d gotten used to him in here so it was obvious when he was gone. Have they started?”

“No, Ms. Isely won’t bring him back unless you go rogue,” Mr. Gein said. “So don’t go rogue.”

“Wait…,” Stone said and flashed a grin at Mr. Gein.

“No, Stone, for fuck’s sake, no!” Mr. Gein nearly shouted. “I said don’t go rogue!”

“But if I do then they bring Reginald back, right?” Stone said, his grin widening. “And the team will be back together.” He slapped Mr. Gein on the shoulder. “Me, Reg and you. One big happy family.”

“Jesus fuck, you’re crazier than before,” Mr. Gein said, shaking his head. “I honestly didn’t think it was possible. Do you even know how to stay out of trouble?”

“Why would I do that?” Stone said. “Trouble is where all the fun is.”

***

“Completely unstable,” Ms. Isely admitted as she stood before the Three. “The process worked, but none of the mental conditioning held. He’s just as free willed as before.”

“And the subconscious triggers you installed?” Mr. Plain asked. “Those aren’t in place?”

“I scanned him last evening,” Ms. Isely said. “The son of a bitch has overwritten his entire cerebral matrix.”

“Overwritten?” Mr. Brown Eyes exclaimed. “Then he knows what he is? He knows what he can do?”

“I don’t think so,” Ms. Isely said. “Or we would all be dead.”

Mr. Continental chuckled, but the look on Ms. Isely’s face stopped him cold. “Are you serious? The fail safes, everything you promised for our safety, they aren’t there?”

Mr. Plain shook his head in disappointment. “Ms. Isely, we counted on you. We explicitly allowed this project based on the fact that you could make sure Mr. Stone was controlled.” He looked at his colleagues and they both nodded at him. “I am sorry, but we cannot let this come to pass.”

“Come to pass?” Ms. Isely asked, fear and anger fighting for control in her panicked brain. “It already has come to pass! The man-!”

“He is not a man,” Mr. Brown Eyes corrected.

“No, he’s not,” Ms. Isely agreed. “But when he was a man he was one of the most dangerous men on the planet. Now he’s an engineered killing machine capable of things none of us, even myself, can possibly imagine. I told you there would be risks! I told you there would be a chance he would rebel!”

“Yes, yes, of course you did, Ms, Isely,” Mr. Plain agreed. “But you tell us many things.” He turned to the others. “Gentlemen? The consensus?”

“Termination,” Mr. Brown Eyes stated.

“Termination,” Mr. Continental concurred.

“Then it is decided,” Mr. Plain said to Ms. Isely. “The subject is to be terminated immediately. And we do mean immediately. It is a shame it must be done.”

“And the other subject?” Mr. Brown Eyes asked. “Is he ready?”

Ms. Isely stared at the men for a second. “The other subject? Are you joking?”

“We have an investment in this project, Ms. Isely,” Mr. Plain said. “We do not just walk away from our investments without getting every last penny from them.”

“But you saw how it turned out, right?” Ms. Isely asked. “And you want me to try again?”

“Would you not agree that the second subject is considerably more malleable and loyal?” Mr. Continental asked.

“Yes, of course,” Ms. Isely responded. “But not near as effective as Mr. Stone.”

“A close second?” Mr. Plain asked. “Of, course he is. We have seen him work in the field. We believe the second subject will be the right one for the job.”

“And if he shows aberrant behavior like Mr. Stone then he will meet the same fate,” Mr. Brown Eyes sated. “Please dispose of Mr. Stone and ready the second subject for deployment.”

“Don’t dawdle, Ms. Isely,” Mr. Plain said as he dismissed her with a look. “We are working with hours now. Time is ticking.”

Ms. Isely looked from one man to the next to the next and realized she had no choice. The implication that if the second subject didn’t work then she’d no longer be useful was quite evident. She nodded silently and left the room, headed straight for her contingency team.

She would miss Mr. Stone and his spirit, but what had to be done had to be done.

***

Despite their obvious attempt to remain quiet as they gathered outside his door, Stone could hear the guards and Ms. Isely as if they were standing right next to him. Once Mr. Gein had put the bug in his ear about going rogue, Stone had concentrated on increasing his senses. He could hear almost everything on the deck he was on and even from above and below.

By the tone of Ms. Isely’s harsh whispers Stone gathered she knew he was capable of the adaptation.

So he decided to play nice.

“Hello, Ms. Isely,” Stone said as he opened his door and was greeted by several rifle barrels shoved in his face. “Little late for a nightcap, don’t you think?”

“I will have to ask for you to come with us, Mr. Stone,” Ms. Isely said. “Please do not resist. It would be better for everyone.”

“Ah, yes, I know you only have my best interests at heart,” Stone replied, not moving an inch. “Sure you don’t want to discuss this a minute?”

“There is no discussion, Mr. Stone,” Ms. Isely responded. “Just your compliance.”

“Then I guess I’d better comply,” Stone said as he stepped from the room. “Which way? That way or that way?”

Half the guards looked one way and the other half looked the other way. Stone sighed.

“You make it too fucking easy,” Stone smirked. “Fucking low level amateurs.”

The nearest guard lost his rifle in a blink then had it handed back to him, barrel first, through his gut. The crunch of bone was the snapping of his spine. Before the other guards could even react, Stone lifted the mortally wounded guard up and tossed him into the next closest three.

“Fire, Goddammit!” Ms. Isely ordered. “KILL HIM!”

Rifles began to bark, but didn’t come close to hitting Stone. He ducked low and came up on one guard, his fist punching through body armor and flesh and then ripping up until the man was split wide open. Stone took the luxury of looking at his hand in wonder as he pulled it out of the man’s chest cavity.

“Perfect,” Stone said as he side stepped the strafing fire of another guard and ripped the man’s throat out with two fingers. “Who needs guns?”

Stone spun the throatless guard about and squeezed of round after round of the man’s rifle, knocking down two more guards. Their armor kept the bullets from piercing flesh, but they didn’t keep Stone’s fists from crushing their heads as he leapt on them. Brains squished through Stone’s fingers as he gripped their helmets and popped their skulls like eggs. The BC of the dead guards’ helmets spoke to Stone, telling him it was his to mold.

And he did.

Blades, long and short, flew from Stone’s hands as he turned on the remaining guards. Body armor was great for bullets and concussive weapons, but the impossibly sharp edges that Stone crafted with his will slipped through as if it was air. Screams, cries, calls for retreat, and Ms. Isely’s retreating footsteps filled the hallway and Stone was able to isolate each sound. Without looking he sent more blades flying and more guards fell.

He kept a blade for himself, a nice eight inch, perfectly weighted, combat specimen modeled on his favorite style when he was a simple agent for the LOMSD. He chuckled to himself as he thought of his agent days, literally a lifetime ago.

The blade flashed imperceptibly and bits and pieces of guards started to fall to the floor as Stone sliced and diced his way down the hallway. In seconds he’d cleared everyone, or at least cleared them of their lives since their lifeless bodies littered the floor behind him.

“Hey, Isely!” Stone shouted, certain she’d hear him through her com. “Thank you for the new life, but I have to be going now. Good luck with your next project!”

Stone sprinted up the stairs that led to the next level, his fists ripping through the guards that had converged to stop him. He was surprised they still came at him considering what he’d done to the others. Not that he gave it much thought as he tore a guard’s arm off and shoved it through the faceplate of the one behind him.

Finally, as he mounted the last stairway to the top deck, Stone took a bullet in the shoulder. It barely moved him, feeling like more of annoyance than anything. His body reacted instantly and he actually felt the bullet absorbed into his system.

Absorbed into his system.

“Fuck me,” Stone exclaimed as he finally realized what he was. “Guess I’m not a real boy anymore.”

Thirty-Six

The cavern was like an old home that hadn’t been seen in years. Familiar in one regard, but totally foreign in another. Shiner couldn’t help but feel what must have been what humans called nostalgia. The scent of the earth and the grease; the metal and rot. All of it brought back memories he didn’t know he still had saved in his storage.

“The first returns,” Hollow Eye said from the floor of the cavern as Shiner came around the corner. “Your form has changed, but you still give off a distinct signal, Shiner.”

“I know you,” Shiner said as he watched several mini-mechs bustle about the large mech, busy repairing what looked like fairly extensive damage. “You have a name.”

“I do, rogue,” Hollow Eye said. “It has to be in there somewhere. After all, I am the one that cast you out.”

“Tossed you on your bum,” a mech said from the shadows.

“Into the wilds, all alone,” another mech said as it walked forward with a spare strut and handed it to a mini-mech. “Shunned.”

“Your mind had been corrupted,” Hollow Eye said. “Distorted by that blasphemer Johnson.”

“Taken over by the ones from away,” a fourth mech stated.

Shiner walked all the way into the Womb and looked about. It was the place he was supposed to be. When he’d pulled himself together, literally, he’d known somehow exactly where the cavern was and what would be waiting for him.

“The man?” Shiner asked. “Or is he a machine? He’s not here.”

“He’s not,” Hollow Eye said. “He has abandoned us.”

“Too much flesh,” one of the mechs grumbled. “The flesh always betrays.”

If mechs could nod the rest would have in agreement.

“So you are left here?” Shiner asked. “Alone?”

“We are many,” a mech stated. “We are never alone.”

“You have come for a reason, Shiner,” Hollow Eye stated. “Please do tell us what it is.”

“The wasteland is under siege,” Shiner said.

“It is always under siege,” Hollow Eye replied. “It is the nature of the wasteland.”

“But this time the siege comes from outside the wasteland,” Shiner said. “From where I have been. From where those that are away come from.”

Hollow Eye growled deep enough to shake loose a strut that was being welded by a mini-mech. The mini-mech protested, slamming the strut back in place and doubling its speed to finish the job.