Raine VS The End of the World (29 page)

Lacie’s fist caught Lily’s nose. She hit the ground.

Her head smacked off of the hard rocky plain only to see Lacie lunging towards her with a concealed knife.

“So that’s how you wanna play?”

Lily fumbled her legs, at last managing to stick one up against Lacie’s stomach. She wiggled her big toe to initiate its super-hot jet.

Screaming at the heat melting the outer layers of her suit, Lacie pulled Lily close, desperate to shove a knife into her opponent’s neck.

“This is the end!” Lacie yelled, and smashed her forehead into Lily’s.

Lacie tried to pull away after the headbutt, but Lily grabbed her throat and squeezed through the suit’s protective collar. The flames were almost through the fabric. Lacie smashed her head into Lily’s once again, almost knocking her out this time.

The Sky Admiral tossed a haymaker into the General’s neck. It worked - she coughed and Lily pushed her foot even deeper in, forcing her off her body at last. Lacie rolled away on the grass as Lily leapt back to gain her bearings. She ignored the blood dripping down her forehead.

Coughing deeply, Lacie stood up a mess. She clutched at the gaping hole in her midriff where her suit had almost burned through.

“You’re a murderer,” she said. “Nothing but a murderer. All those parallel universes, all those people just floundering out there waiting to die.
You left them to die! You left them there so you could witness your own victory!
You’re not a god, Lily. Your work is futile. It is power you seek, not peace. Your blood alone deserves to be spilt.”

“I have nothing more to say to you. You two said all that needed to be said two centuries ago when you betrayed me.”

“
We
betrayed
you
?”

“I believe that is the proper terminology for what you did, yes. Not to mention mutiny. Lorelei’s perverting Terra in your – our – collective image was inspired, in a twisted, maniacal sort of manner, but morally and strategically flawed.”

“All these years and you still don’t get it. The flaws were built into the system.”

Lily raised an eyebrow, then tore off a piece of her undershirt and used it to wipe the blood from her eyes.

“You made us this way. Inferior. We were cloned from your DNA, yet you didn’t trust us, didn’t treat us as equals…”

“Every mission needs a leader. You had your tasks, as did Lucy and Lorrie. I made that clear! I treated you fairly! I asked for nothing more than what I knew you could give me! I already made five attempts to get humanity off the planet. Five attempts, Lacie! I had the experience! I had the intelligence!”

“But never the skill or the sleight of hand. And you made sure that we didn’t either. We never had the potential to become complete beings. You made us in your image, but gave us weaknesses. Yes, don’t think we didn’t figure it out. You hampered us. You couldn’t trust us – couldn’t trust yourself – and that was the true spark that ignited Lorelei’s fury. That is why Lucy is now dead, and why you soon will be too.”

Lily winced.

She had, indeed, made each of the three weaker than she in certain aspects; primarily, Lorelei lacked empathy, Lacie was robbed of resolve, and dear departed Lucy had no physical prowess. That truth she couldn’t deny. But it was a secret that was supposed to spur on teamwork. They were meant to have differences that complemented each other.

Lacie picked up her electromagnetic belt and strapped it on. She called forth her knives.

“You want to know what I think of your rules?” the older one asked, advancing.

“Lacie, I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?!? YOU’RE SORRY?!?”

“Yes, I’m sorry. Drop the weapons now and I will do what I can to give you a new life. It will not be an exceptional life, but it will be better than nothing. A life with no obligations, free of Lorelei, free of myself, and free of the mission. It is not for you. It was never for you. It’s true; I had no right to decide your fate before your birth.”

Lacie clenched her knives. Routine sixty-four would put both in the girl’s neck. Lillian Hermes’ life would end in seconds. A final silencing of the nagging voice in Lacie’s head, a small atonement for the lives lost at the
Jerusalem Un-Incident
and beyond.

Perhaps once the enemy of my home is vanquished
, Lacie thought
, Claire and I can live without the dark shadows of my past hanging over our heads. There will be no more regrets, no more uncertainties.

“You still think you know what’s right for me? Well, it’s too late! Even if I wipe my memories a thousand times over, I can never turn back from all that I’ve done!”

“I’m just trying to be civil. There are other ways, Lacie--”

“I’M SICK OF YOU PLAYING MOTHER!”

Her eyes filled with unchecked rage, Lacie ran to slash Lily’s throat. Lily’s gauntlet blocked the blows, and she scampered backwards.

“Come here, mother! Come and know our shame.”

But Lily had already found her stun laser and her whip. She wielded both with the expert confidence of a lion tamer. Lacie ran for her katana. Lily fired a laser blast at her leg, making the General lose her footing for a split-second. That was all she needed; with her electric whip she lashed onto Lacie’s knife-wrist and squeezed the handle, sending a jolt straight down the wire.

Lacie kept a firm grip on the knife. Lily continued to electrocute her clone, fearful tears welling in the eyes of both.

“Children’s toys, mother.”

Neither stopped their charge. The nano-machines in Lacie’s brain gave her one final boost to fight back against the electricity. She abruptly lunged with her knife towards her creator’s whip hand. Missed. Tried to jump back.

Lily pulled the whip forward, dragging Lacie to the floor, then shot the stun laser at her neck. Lacie’s body flashed with lightning, her eyes glowing with fury.

“I didn’t want this for you!” Lily cried. Lacie dropped the knife, which was promptly kicked away, and the Admiral took the further opportunity to place her insulated boot down on her opponent’s chest.

Lily injected her clone with fast-acting truth serum, and held her there for some time.

“Now that I don’t have Gerrit, it will be significantly harder for us to enter the mainframe. I shot tracking bullets into your ship in order to trace him back to the home base.” Lily said, glancing at her Holo-Lens, and continued. “But unfortunately, it seems my plan has been compromised. Your team was smart enough to swap for fresh aircraft at an abandoned base. I see Lorelei’s given you access to a whole range of toys. I don’t doubt she’s been kind with her information as well.”

Lacie shook her head. The serum was having no effect; her nano-machines nipped the toxin in the bud.

“You’re not getting anything from me!”

“I’m trying to be polite here. You’ve failed. As for Gerrit, I’ve got ways of tracking him you don’t want to know about. But please tell me two things. First, where is
Endless Metaverse’s
super-soldier program being run from, and second, just how much do you know about the future? You know I have safe communities. The people I’ve liberated are rebuilding their homelands. Once this is all over, you have my word. I’ll set you free. You won’t have to speak a word of this to Lorelei. If you behave, and if you so choose, I may even reconsider your position aboard the
Belladonna
.”

The Sky Admiral’s face was filled with desperation. Lacie fell silent. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
Would Lily really give me a second chance? It’s not worth the risk. It’s too late, anyway, isn’t it? What about the fate of the universe and all that? And what of Claire?

The thin air hung heavy over a long silence.

“Lacie, please. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You’re gonna have to!” Lacie squirmed. “Just end it! Kill me, goddamn it!”

Lillian sent a minor jolt down the whip. Her sister winced.

“What does she know, Lacie? How well did you do your research?”

“I’ll never tell!”

Lily zapped her again, much harder this time.

Lacie closed her eyes, trying to imagine a future where she and Lily were working together as equals. The sheer implausibility of it was painful. This was to be her grave. The Sky Admiral gave the General another dose of the serum.

“Don’t make this harder than it has to be. Tell me what I need to know. You still have a chance, Lacie. That’s a big city,
Neo Eden.
The Overseer could be running from anywhere, and if I don’t get those plans to my people, many more innocents will needlessly die in the conflict. We wouldn’t want that, would we?”

“G-g-go to hell!”

The shocks continued. Lacie convulsed in extreme agony. Lily turned her face away to hide her tears. Lacie raised her head once more.

“Some hero you are,” the General laughed. “You’re not above torturing your enemies.”

“You’re the ones dooming the world’s population.”

“Says the woman who challenged us to war!”

“Back up a second. Why’s all this happening, again? It’s coming to me now. Right. You messed with my freakin’ time machine!”

Lily gave her a mega-jolt that lasted too long for either woman’s comfort. Any other opponent would have given in long ago.

At long last, Lacie nodded; the second dose of serum took effect.

“Okay, so I’m thinking the lower level servers in the
Spire
. Yes? Chamber 50B, you say? Good. You’re doing well so far. Question two. You two have been waiting for me to make a move. Of all my agents in the
‘
Verse, you correctly pursued Raine and Gerrit. But just how much did you see, exactly?”

Lacie hesitated.
I’m sorry, Claire.

“This is important, Lacie! We must settle this before your backup arrives! What did you two see in the future?”

The answer came in the form of spit in her face. While Lily was stunned, Lacie lunged at her and squeezed the whip’s handle, electrocuting them both. She pulled out Lily’s blade and aimed it at her face. Lily held the knife-hand out of the way with her left, while her right made its way around her opponent’s neck, catching on her locket, exposed through the burned fabric, which opened to reveal a picture of Claire, across from the Time Keeper Badge.

“Is she the one you’re fighting for? I’ll grant her passage, too. Last chance, ‘Cie. Let me help you.”

If only I could believe that those gentle eyes aren’t lying. There’s no more turning back for me, Lillian. It has to be this way.

The General only shoved her knife closer, drawing blood along the side of Lily’s neck.

“You… will never defeat us…”

Lily took a deep breath of the thin mountain air. She squeezed her metal fingers and an electrical current ran straight through Lacie; Lily’s limb enhancements cut the deadly circuit off. The older woman choked, gasped, and burst into the most horribly grotesque laughter before dropping dead.

The body fell. Lily staggered back. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen herself die violently, but it was the first time she’d been the one to do the killing. She couldn’t take her eyes off of her corpse, its nerves still twitching involuntarily. At last, the lifeless form concluded its dance, empty head turned and lifeless eyes gazing right into Lillian’s soul.

Just before she could take a well-earned breath, a younger Lacie reappeared before her once more. Like a ghost, her untied hair fluttered about in the wind. She had just arrived on a silent hover speeder, and she was pointing a gun directly at Lily.

There was no time to be shocked. Lillian anticipated the bullet and performed a perfect dodge-roll to pick up her bulletproof shield before taking cover behind a boulder. She knelt on the rocky ground, eyes fixed on her new opponent as her other hand nimbly and quietly wrapped around one of her pistols, hidden behind a tall shrub.

“Why, hello, Lillian,” the ghost cackled. “My, you’re fast. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“I thought we said no tricks!” yelled Lily.

“Hmmm? Whatever deal you made with that woman lying dead there, it doesn’t apply to me. I’m a clone of your clone. It didn’t take much, really. I’ve been instructed to follow her to every major battle, and should she fall, to finish the job. Luckily for you, your death shall be quick, as I’m fresh off the most intense training regimen-”

She gasped.

The single blast created a discordant shock that stopped everything dead but the faint whirring of Lacie’s clone’s speeder. The ghost looked down into her torso. A highly explosive round erupted through the bulletproof Kevlar vest, carving a gaping cavity in her chest. Her heart stopped in seconds. She collapsed onto the plateau.

There was a good minute of silence as Lily’s breathing returned to normal. She stood, walked up to Lacie’s clone’s corpse, and put another bullet in her just to be safe.

This is getting ridiculous.

While collecting her belongings, Lily tapped her Holo-Lens.

“Tiger to Fox Hole, come in, Fox Hole, over.”

Joaquin’s voice came in on the other end. “Fox Hole to Tiger, we read you, over.”