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Chapter -3-

Ascending in Reverse

March 30, 4:00pm LDC Louisiana, 'Lower Confederate Coast' ...

** Sinopa paced the kitchen, her four tails flitting about** in annoyance. She turned by the wall and came back towards the center of the room. "Jules, what are our options? He hasn't even finished High School. We now have to consider the possibility that they won't be coming back. Just like Carmen. I told them not to go. They were impetuous and irresponsible! What kind of example is that to set for a teenaged boy?"

"Chere, I..."

The window opened and Conner slid into the kitchen then shut the window behind himself. The boy said nothing.

"Sinopa, m'amor."

Sinopa Guillot turned from her husband to face her grandson, staring wide-eyed at her and the four well-brushed tails behind her. She bit her lower lip. "I thought you were supposed to be at a movie until eight this evening?"

"Uhm. It was sold out so I came home." He licked his lips then glanced back at the tails coming from behind her. "Why are you wearing those?"

"They're mine. They're not removable," she said, immediately insulted, only to bite back on her tone. "Shitsurei, pardon my tone."

"Miss, I understand that you're family and all but ... really? Tails? You're not one of those CosPlayers are you? The anime freaks or whatever? Or, worse yet, are you a furry?"

Sinopa furrowed a single brow and stared at him for a moment. Her drawn out silence caused Jules to groan.

"Aw, you done it now, son."

Sinopa took a deep breath and whispered, "Topaz-san, doumo sumimasen," then approached Conner and put a hand on his shoulders and shoved him down onto a kitchen chair. "I. Am not _... your cousin. I am your _grandmother. Do not interrupt." She paused, waiting for it to sink in, and to make sure he wouldn't interrupt. "Arigat?."

She walked out of the kitchen, through the dining room and into the hall near the bathroom. Sinopa opened the linen closet and took a mirror off the inside door then carried it back to the kitchen and leaned it up against the sink counter. She walked back towards Jules and Conner and said, "Stay quiet, stay reverent. Do not embarrass me." She then turned back to the mirror and said, "Tamamo-no-Mae-sama, please, with all due respect, attend me."

To Conner's surprise, a fox with numerous tails appeared in the reflection. It settled upon its haunches and looked up at them. The white-furred vixen glanced at Conner then back at Sinopa. "I thought this was forbidden?"

"Senpai, please ... Topaz and Fox never came home. Just like Carmen. They've disappeared. I need to know if they're alive. Shite kudasai, Tamamo-sama."

Tamamo leered at Sinopa briefly then turned her head to Conner, who appeared flabbergasted that an animal was speaking. The left corner of the small fox's muzzle began to tug back, until it appeared to be smirking at the boy. "Nihongo o hanashimasu ka?"

Conner licked his lips and held his hands up. "Hai. Sukoshi. Yukkuri ...hanashite kudasai."

Sinopa's eyes widened and she looked back at Conner in surprise. "You do? Since when did you speak Japanese?"

"Mom told me I had to learn it. She didn't give me a choice in the matter."

Tamamo's vanilla-furred brows lifted as well. "Topaz Nevada speaks Japanese? I've never heard her speak our language beyond words and partial phrasings."

Conner smirked somewhat and glanced back at the mirror. "The only thing she ever said back to me was, 'Wakarimasen,' or 'Shirimasen.' I had to learn from a computer program called Rosetta Stone." He eyed the mirror. "Is this a trick?"

Tamamo eyed him then laughed softly. "I like him, Sinopa. Your grandson amuses me." She trotted away from the mirror briefly then returned with what appeared to be a human skull in her maw. She placed it down onto the ground, rolled it right-side-up then put her forepaws onto it.

After a moment, Tamamo began to transition before their eyes into a beautiful, white-haired Japanese woman. "Konichiwa, Conner. I am Tamamo-no-Mae. From here on out, you may refer to me as 'Sensei.' Normally, this would be a job for Sinopa but we now believe that things will be escalating at a difference pace and it would be wise to ensure you have the most experienced teacher available. Sinopa asked me, should your parents disappear as your sister did, if I would step in and aid you. When do you turn fifteen years old?"

"Tomorrow, April first. Most everyone already considers me fifteen. How did you know I wasn't?"

"Ah. An Aries. As an Arien, you have many positive things going for you, Conner-kun. But you'll be loath to perform menial tasks; I will be delighted to humble you with them. If I ask you to perform simple tasks, know that I have meaning behind them and you will do as you're told without questioning me. Do you understand?"

Conner eyed the mirror then looked back at Jules and Sinopa. After a moment, he approached the mirror and reached behind it, checking for wires or a holo-emitter. "Okay, this is a neat trick, Gramps, but seriously ... what's going on here?"

Sinopa appeared completely embarrassed. However, to her surprise, as well as the surprise of everyone else in the room, when Conner put his hands on the mirror, Tamamo reached up and put her hands upon his and grasped his wrists. She pulled him into the reflection.

Conner spilled into the Celestial Corridor and fell onto his side, in front of the window, which showed Jules and Sinopa in the kitchen. The young man got to one knee then rose to his feet and looked about. "What the...?"

Tamamo-no-Mae placed a delicate, manicured finger beneath his chin and lifted his head somewhat. "Speak like a man, not like a child, little one. You have now entered the realm of the Celestial Bureaucracy. This is no trick. This is no game. It is the first of April here, due the fact that this realm shares the same 'time zone' as you people call it, with Japan. SO, here, you are fifteen. Happy Birthday. You are now a man. And, as a man, it is time that I show you why you need to take things more seriously." She turned back to the window and offered Sinopa a wan smile. "I won't be long, Sinopa-chan. Please, prattle amongst yourselves. We will return shortly."

She put her hand upon Conner's shoulder. "Carry my skull, Conner-kun."

He eyed her for a moment.

"As I said, Aries, I will humble you with menial tasks as I see fit. Carry it."

He leaned over and lifted the skull from the shimmering floor. With her guiding touch, he moved forward and walked alongside of her through a hallway of windows. "I'm, uhm, I'm sorry I didn't believe..."

"How would you have known? I place blame into your mother for not making you culturally aware to the many things around your world. I must say, though, you're remarkably calm for having just been pulled into a reflective surface. I cannot join your world because I was killed in it. It's rare we host physical beings in this realm of spirit beings."

"So how can I exist here?"

"Because I will you to exist here. Just as people in the physical realm often will a spirit being to exist. Let us hope I do not suddenly lose my faith in your existance. I wonder if you might fade." She watched his expression and smiled, when she saw his eyes widen. "Oh, I am only jesting. How can I not believe you exist? I witnessed your birth, Conner-kun." The woman walked with a graceful glide, her nine brilliant tails waving and dancing behind her. She caught his eyes and said, "See something you like? It hass been well over nine hundred years since last anyone has glanced at my backside."

"I, uh ... wouldn't that make you a little too old for me?"

Tamamo tittered softly. "Ah, you amuse me, Conner-kun. No, dear boy, my lover was nearly fifteen when we began courting. At first, his wives were very much against the idea. And within mere weeks, they came to adore me. Ah, Konoe..."

"What happened?"

"He was manipulated to believe that I made him ill for my own personal enjoyment or amusement. The mundane mortals asked themselves what would an immortal want with a child emperor? They wrote stories about me, some good, some very dark. The details became skewed after centuries of conjecture and rumor spinning. No one ever knew my side of the story. Now it is part of mythology. They think I was a witch who decided to randomly eat travelers after fleeing the Imperial Palace. This was their explanation for people who couldn't survive traveling about the country alone..."

Conner frowned. "Right. Because we all know that animals would never eat a person who thinks they can survive a cross-country trip with a simple flask of water, a quiver of arrows and a dagger. Any human should be able to make that trip safely, sure. Yup, you're right, travelers who disappeared must have been eaten by spirit ladies."

"Indeed!" Tamamo exclaimed. "As if a tiny fox creature has a large enough stomach to fit people within! What were those foolish baka thinking? Sinopa has shown me that the modern mortals are far less narrow minded."

"Yeah ... but there's still a lot of really dumb people in the world. Just saying."

"And you base this on what personal experience?"

"I call it The Internet. Be glad you don't see it through my eyes. It's the location of the world's greatest knowledge guarded by a wall of the world's greatest morons."

"Mm. I've heard this story before. Know you of the great Library of Alexandria? It was burned to the ground. Many of your world's greatest truths were guarded by your world's greatest Aho. How does one access this ... 'Internet'?"

Conner closed and opened his hands so as not to fidget. "Imagine making a machine that displays books and writings, and encyclopedias and articles, so you can view them form home or, well, anywhere. Then you make it so that these machines can talk to one another, allowing people to send letters to each other instantaneously. Then you have people who create an interface so that people can share information with each other in a more convenient way. Now imagine that half the people using these machines are gullible enough to share fake information."

Tamamo cut a sidelong glance back at him. "Such would render the true facts worthless. People would not know which truth was factual. It would devalue any information garnished, turning fact into possible fiction, and rumor into assumable fact."

"Exactly! But it's not all bad. There's some pretty amusing cat pictures."

"Pardon?"

Conner, realizing he'd become a little too comfortable with the conversation, ran his fingers up through his short bangs then gave a tug on the strands. "Fluff and filler. Things put on The Internet for the sake of amusement. It may devalue the whole system even further, but then again ... everyone needs a laugh every now and then."

"You are taking all of this in stride. Surprisingly so. Perhaps you are the kind of man that will ponder this later. What use is this Internet if one cannot determine fact from fiction?"

"Knowing how to separate the signal from the noise is par for the course. A smart person can listen to gossip and pick out the truth from the rumors. Now the community is a lot bigger. Then there's something called Dark Internet. It's the un-indexed stuff. Text message records, for example."

"I'm not sure I follow your terminology but I am quite curious. And what of these 'cat pictures' you've mentioned?"

"I got Sinopa into looking at cat pictures my first week staying in Louisiana. Now she can't get enough of it. I just thought it would amuse her. Anyhow. Uhm ... so why did you bring me here?"

"Ah, excellent. You know when it's time to become serious. A wonderful trait - impeccable timing. Now we only need to help you with your sense of respect. Conner-kun, behold." She lifted her hands as they came from the hallway into a large room.

He looked about the large room, decorated with artistic sculptures, megaliths and pillars that reached to a ceiling far above. "Jeeze. I was wrong about everything I thought I knew."

She placed her hand upon his elbow and smiled. "Do not let this sway you from believing in one Almighty being in the universe. This is simply a step between there and where you are from. Every major religion somewhat believes in a level between themselves and God. The Catholics believe in prayer to the Saints. Some call people of this layer, 'Angels.' Some call them 'demigods' and others use the term, 'spirits.' The truth is, we are a complex society. We represent the interests of the people who pray to us. We are a political system but instead of votes, we require your faith to act on your behalf. People pray to us for a variety of things. Rain for their crops, for their son to learn his lesson and become honorable; for their daughter to bare a child ... and we vie for what we can do for our people by working with gods above us, beneath the Great Creator of the universe. The True Creator builds and maintains the universe. The True Creator makes worlds. We maintain them and do our best to bring happiness and humility to our faithful."

Conner rubbed his eyes. "Sounds like a headache and a hassle."

"It's compounded by conflictions of interest, in-fighting, bickering..." She trailed off.

Conner Nevada laughed. "Sounds like human governments."

"Hai. Look." She eased her hand over, beneath his chin, and guided his jaw shut and his head upwards. His eyes stopped on a courtroom, and, at the center, was an image of a domed city, the likes of which he'd never seen.

"That's the bureaucrats you mentioned?"

"Hai, Conner-kun." She spoke in hushed, reverent tones. "They cannot intervene directly. True divine intervention comes at a cost that isn't easily explained. But this city you see at the middle of the room, which is hidden and well protected, is embedded within the rock below the Ocean your people call, 'Atlantic.' In the year, known by your western world, as '2025,' there was a great quake. It caused a tsunami that was beyond measure. Another occurred in '2027.' Do you know of such?"

"Yes, ma'am. It's historical knowledge. I learned about the Great Quake in school. The east coast of North America ripped away on a tectonic plate that shattered. The country moves west on a tectonic shelf, bringing California closer to Japan. But, suddenly, a strip of the American East Coast began moving towards Africa and Spain. In 2025, it ripped away from America. In 2027, it locked into place, creating another quake, pressed overtop what used to be an underwater ridge of mountains. It's forced those mountains up, higher, and created an enormous gap between the American Appalachian Mountains and what used to be the continent's east coast. The Atlantic water was pushed up onto Africa, Spain, and parts of France. Then it was pushed back over the new strip of land, filling in the gap between that land and the newly formed American East Coast Mountain Range. It, uh ... caused thirty-five million deaths the first year it happened. Mom had only just married my father, Vincent Nevada ... they stayed in California and said they could feel the earthquake from over three thousand miles away. The one in 2025 lasted about two weeks and shook the whole world to some degree."

"Mm. You paid attention to your lessons. Very good." She eyed him for a moment and pondered telling him about Vincent Nevada but decided against it and put her hand on his shoulder again. "Conner, the dome city you see before you is the cause of that quake. It is currently where Vincent Nevada resides. I'm absolutely sure he is alive. And I can confirm that he was not responsible for that action."

"Who is?"

"The man that brought about that much death ... he did so for an obsession to learn more about humans that are older than I am. His name is Aris Falcon."

"Aris Falcon? Sounds like some sort of prototype model of a fighter jet."

"Mm. He is a..." she trailed off and brought a manicured nail to her chin. "What was the term Sinopa used? I believe it was a 'genetics scientist.' He studies people to better them or become their undoing using science."

"I see."

"Topaz-san and Fox-san have traveled to this place to look for your sister and for Vincent-san. They have disappeared. They are neither among the living nor are they among the dead. And we keep very excellent records of who travels to the spirit realm, because they cannot travel back to the same body. I can assure you that they are not dead. We simply cannot locate them. I have shown you more than I should have, and certainly all that I'm able. I would like to return you to your grandmother. She will eventually require your aid in finding your mother. I will make myself available to help the both of you."

"What about my grandfather?"

Tamamo turned to face him and put her palms on his shoulders. Her golden eyes met with his hazel hues. Her pupils constricted to vertical slits. "In another fork of reality, he was to have been essential in stopping Aris Falcon. But now ... he is needed here more than there. Do you understand?"

Conner's lower lip trembled. "He's ... going to die?"

"Not right away. But soon. I am sorry to bring you this news but I'm telling you now because you ... you, Conner-kun, will have to be Sinopa's anchor. You will have to be strong when she needs emotional support. She'll need you to be strong, when she is weak and hurting. I will give you time to grieve before I take you home. If you have any questions ... go back the way you came here ... I will be waiting by the window that will take you home." She kissed his forehead and turned back to the hallway of windows.

The teenager slumped to the softly glowing floor and stared up at the enormous court, in session high above him. He stared at the image of the domed city for a few moments then closed his eyes and buried his face into his palms.

X

---

X

April 2, 2049, noon

Paris, France...

** "Okay, right in here** ," said Karla with a flirty grin. A young team of Frenchmen hefted a hospice bed, carefully, and walked through a set of double doors. Karla watched them carry the bed. Reno Nevada lay silent, unconscious, and vulnerable upon the bed. The men carried him from the bottom of the stairs to the second room of the sublevel. They passed the wine cellar and into another room with a climate controlled atmosphere.

The group eased the cart down, carefully, and stepped back. One of them gave a tug on the bed railing to make sure it was locked into place.

Speaking in plain French, the man in charge looked up at Karla and said, "Mademoiselle, thank you very much for calling our company. We hope your friend recovers quickly. Is there anything else you would like for us to do?"

Karla looked over each young man then smiled. "No, boys. I can handle it from here. Thank you all for coming," she replied in a practiced French tongue indicative of a lady.

"It was our pleasure, mademoiselle."

She reached behind two men's head, gently running her fingers through their hair, then withdrew a hundred Euro tip and held out the currency in front of their faces. Karla walked to the other two men and repeated the magic trick, teleporting the healthy tip into her hands while teasing the backside of the other two men's ears.

"And for you, two, as well." She offered a curtsy. "Thank you, gentlemen. You'll have your own access to this room as I've shown you earlier." She glanced back at her six-year-old son, standing at the far end of the room. Her eyes returned to the four men. "I'll be locking these two main doors that lead upstairs because of my son. I don't want him playing on the stairs, after all." She paused to think of a fake name for Reno then decided against bringing it up unless asked. "When you come to check on him, I want you boys to let yourselves in through the private entrance. The single door leading to the back yard. I'm sorry the rose bushes block that entrance. I'll have them trimmed soon, to make it easier to come in that way. I appreciate your help and look forward to seeing you three times a week, gentlemen."

The field supervisor of the group offered Karla a polite smile. "Thank you, very, very much, Mrs. Loupe. I promise we'll be neat, quiet and respectful to your home during each visit. We will continue to monitor his health and vital signs from a computer back at our location and, remember, the transponder you can wear around your neck will be our way of calling you if something changes without warning. And the app for your smart phone will allow you to monitor his vitals if necessary."

"Which is why I chose your company," she said with a smile.

"For our records, can we get his full name?"

She cleared her throat to buy herself a moment to think then said the first name that came to her mind. "Nathanial Carrington. With three 'A's in the first name, no 'e's."

The man jotted something on a small tablet then nodded. He showed her the way he spelled it. Karla nodded with a smile. "We'll be in touch, Mrs. Loupe."

"Again, thank you, my friends," she concluded, speaking eloquently in French, "I will show you the rear way out of this room. Follow me." She led them to a hallway at the back end of the room and to an elegant oak door. She opened it for them and said, "I only wish we could have brought him in this way so you boys didn't have to carry him down the stairs. It's a shame it wouldn't have fit through this narrow door, here, no? Such is life. Thank you all, again, and remember the personal PIN code I wrote down on the cards I handed out. Take care of yourselves."

Once they were outside, she shut the door then walked back up the hall to where Reno was comatose in the bed. "Seems like a fitting lie, huh?" she asked in English. Reno's only response was his deep, rhythmic breathing. She sighed and shook her head. "Nathan would have probably liked you, Reno. What with the lightning thing and all. Some say you inherited that when you touched him at death. Ability transference has always been a myth in the Esoteric Community. I've never seen it, personally. You got his powers, so it's only right that you temporarily get his name, huh?"

Silence. Heavy breathing.

Karla moved a small, old fashion LED television besides his bed and turned it on so that it displayed the news. "The hospital said your brain activity was off the chart for someone frozen at negative two hundred Celsius. They've never seen anything like it. You showed brain activity while frozen, and during the thawing process. They also said the brain activity slowed to a normal rate once you were thawed out. Lance said your brain activity must have been preserved by your electricity ability. He said it was akin to running like a super computer, cooled with Liquid Nitrogen. Now you're out of that stupid stasis thing and your brain activity is back to normal. I, uh, just said that didn't I? I'm rambling to a man who won't wake up. Still, I'm nervous you'll be upset with me when you finally open your eyes. That, and I'm curious - what' going on in that head of yours, Reno Nevada?"

The small screen's image changed, showing a group of men and women sitting around a desk in a newsroom setting. Karla turned up the volume.

One of them said, "...And today's topic is the new scientific look regarding the tectonic subduction theory that some scientists claim will help us explain the old American's east coast movement from over two decades ago. I'd like to remind viewers that this may be a sensitive topic for some viewers, as it rendered millions dead between the quakes and flooding. That debate after the next break, but first, we bring you the latest news on the development in the Middle East and Asia Minor. For those of you who don't know what's been happening, Tensions are high between Asia Minor and the Middle East. Turkey is nearly in a war with Syria and Iraq over freshwater. After one of the worst recorded droughts in recorded history, Turkey is using the Tigris and Euphrates headwaters, diverting the water to irrigate farmland. The water flow into Syria and Iraq is now nearly non-existent, causing extreme tension between the involved countries. The region has become increasingly destabilized in the past year. Iraq and Syria have threatened war. Turkey has replied by threatening to build a dam. We will bring you more on this story and the tectonic subduction theory after a word from our sponsors." The TV replaced the anchorwoman's image with that of commercialized household products.

Karla's phone rang. She waved a hand and teleported her phone into her palm. Topaz Parker's name showed on the screen. Karla's eyes widened

She answered it and said, "Topaz. I'm so glad you called. I really wanted to patch things up with you."

The woman's voice over the line was stern. "Stop. I don't have time for semantics right now. I've just spent twelve days under water. I'm only calling you as a courtesy. I'll explain in a moment. Things are getting beyond control. I can't even call mom's house because I don't want to worry them. But we've tracked Carmen back to the new location of Falcon's city. We're going back in. I need you to watch over Conner. We have reason to believe that Falcon is starting to search for new DNA and new powers. I can't be around to watch out for my son. So you need to watch over that boy, I mean it."

"Topaz, please. I will watch over your son but please don't be upset with me. We're friends!"

Topaz Nevada ground her teeth from over the line. "We're not friends. We're strangers with memories."

Karla scrunched her nose then sang the word, "Awkward!"

In return, Topaz sang back, "Juvenile!"

"C'mon, babe, let's not fight. I'm still your favorite sex demon right?"

"More like sellout demon. You want to make things up to me? You keep that boy alive and safe. I mean it. If he dies or disappears, I will find you and you won't like the consequences. I know where you sleep. And while I'm at it, I'll be looking for my goddaughter. At least I know I'm a good godmother and I won't break the trust of those who care about me."

"Topaz, please..."

"Karla ... I've said all I need to say. We're headed back into the dome, now. I'm about to lose reception. There was a note on Reno's stasis pod from Vincent. He's alive. We think Carmen is here. We need answers. The reason I called is because I have absolute proof that your daughter, Elvena is here. She's in cryogenic stasis. I think she may have come in search of Carmen, or because she was under orders to infiltrate. I'm not sure. But what I do know is that she's here. And she's alive. But she's in stasis. I'll bring her back safe. Not for you, or our friendship, but because she's my goddaughter. I'm losing signal out here. I came for supplies and to call you, but now I've got to go." Topaz hung up the phone from her end.

Karla swallowed, her lower lip trembling. She looked up, seeing her husband across the room.

Eric stood near the double doors, leading towards the wine cellar, his arms folded over his chest. "Are you sure this is the best idea? It's not too late to reconsider." He spoke in French, his dialect still showing that it was obviously a second language.

"That was Topaz. She just confirmed my worst fucking fear. Falcon has our daughter," she said with a shake of her head. "Remember, we'll need to keep the double doors locked." Her own French accent was obviously professional sounding, natural, and fluid. "Your job is to protect this house. You know I have to leave. Keep those doors locked, I don't want Donnie playing on the stairs or getting down here."

"He won't be able to get down here anyhow." He switched back to his native language, adding, "He's only six."

"Yes," she replied in plain English, "I know, babe. But ... better safe than sorry. Did you even hear what I said about Elvena?"

"If she's going down there, wait to hear from her first. I don't want you in unnecessary danger because I love you."

"You need to say that more often if you want me to believe it."

"I'm not very good at showing emotion."

"You do okay when you want something," she said with a grin, thinking back on the night she fell in love with him.

"So let me ask you this, Karla - why didn't you just teleport Reno down here?"

"We're supposed to be blending in, not using our powers as much. Plus I had to show those men how to get in through the back door and their company had to set up everything." She knelt down besides Reno's bed and plugged in the equipment. The battery backup unit had an orange light, which switched to green. A fan in the battery backup's power supply ran for another ten seconds then grew silent. She rose to her feet and shrugged. "Eric, what's on your mind?"

"Falcon's men tracked Reno to the hospital in DC and attacked it in broad daylight. That's bold."

"Well, they attacked because they were tracking Reno Nevada." She swayed her hand towards Reno's bed. She showed him the charts from the side of the bed. "This is 'Nathan Carrington,' an Englishman. See? No worries. Did you want me to pick up Donovan from Kindergarten today?"

"No, it's okay," Eric murmured. "Today's my turn. The office needs me to swing by and close a deal with a customer who speaks English. I'll be going in from five until seven."

"Alright. No worries. Thank you for having a good day with me, today. I like when we _don't _fight."

"I don't like fighting either, Karla. Now that Reno is here, are you really going to find Elvena?"

"Yes, hon. You can't talk me out of it. My plane leaves first thing in the morning. I'll drop off Donovan at school, bring the car back here, then I'll teleport to the airport. It's cheaper."

"Powers?"

"It'll be okay," she said with a thin smile.

"I just don't want you getting captured. Topaz may not have your back if she's this angry with you. Who knows, you might show up after she's gone. You may have missed the boat. Can't we just wait to hear from her?"

"Let me worry about all of that. Hey. Look. We've been pretty good today. How about some sugar before you go and get the kiddo? We still have chemistry in bed, might as well make the most of it."

"I suppose you're right about that." A slight grin found Loupe's lips. "I'm sorry I haven't made myself available for a while. You were right when you said I owe you that much. And you know, when it comes down to it, I want you. I always have. I always will."

"That's what I like to hear," she said then waved her hand. A soft pink glow illuminated the flesh of her palm and, in the blink of an eye, they stood in the master bedroom. She licked her lips in a flirtatious way; they faced one another at the foot of the bed. "Now ... show me you still love me."

X

---

X

April 2, 2049 noon CST,

Chicago, Illinois, Capital of the United States ...

** James Parker shoved a four-inch binder** onto his dresser, causing a pile of clean clothes to fall off the side and onto the floor. He turned about and came to face an ovular object on the floor then he nudged a panel with his foot. James walked back to his twin mattress and dropped onto it then put one of his feet up onto the bedframe.

The ovular holo-emitter came to life, depicting a news anchorwoman at the center of the room. Audio came on in mid-sentence. "...With China now charging a premium on Rare Earth Elements. Eyes now turn to Brazil and India for many countries with energy demands. With the United States exhaustion of Mountain Pass mine in California, the Republican Party is calling on funding to open a mine in Nevada where a substantial concentration of Rare Earth Elements is said to exist. A new Super-PAC backed advertising campaign depicts the energy need as crucial to..."

James picked up a flat, metal remote control and began flipping channels. The television's sound switched from the base on the floor to a speaker built into his remote control. No sooner did he start channel surfing, his wristwatch illuminated and a ringtone played softly. The watch vibrated his skin. He glanced at his forearm then pressed a button on the left.

Fara Watson's image appeared over the TV holo-emitter, broadcast from his watch-phone. "Hey, mom. What's up?"

"I hate to ask but ... have you heard from your dad lately?"

"Nope. I've been working on a new ... well, it doesn't really matter. Have you tried calling dad's cell?"

"I've been trying, but Greg hasn't answered for over an hour. That's why I'm calling you, Jaye. I'm starting to worry. "

"I hate to state the obvious but..." He trailed off and shrugged then said, "Dad works for the United States Government. We live in Chicago, after all. If he's not at the Capitol building, then he's at The Office. Or the field office in Aurora. Or the other field office, up in Great Lakes. It's not like he'd be at the stripper bar or anything."

"James Marcus Parker," she said with a sigh. "Don't talk that way to your mother. You're twenty-six years old. You know better."

"Yeah, I'm twenty-six alright. I feel like I should be doing more with my life. Like I was meant for something more important."

Fara shifted her weight. Her upper body contorted, causing the bottom of the holo-emitter to display part of her torso as a flutter of polygons, briefly. Her form rematerialized, and the emitter refreshed the image in crisp high definition.

"Nevermind. I'm just being dramatic."

"No, Jaye, talk to me. If you need to vent, you can talk to me."

"I don't know. Dad works as some high-end government advisor. You're an editor for the Tribune. I'm a lazy slob in a luxury apartment, trying to start a comic book series about something overdone. People with abilities."

"Jaye, not everyone has the opportunities that you do. You don't need to slave at a 9-to-5 to pay your rent. You have the time to work on what you love. If you don't try doing what you love then you are wasting an opportunity that other people would figuratively kill for. If you believe in it, then try making it a reality."

Darkhorse won't return my emails. Marvel and DC don't want unsolicited material, either. Without an agent to sell my stuff, I'm striking out all over the place, here. Now I think the field is too saturated. But I know my stuff has merit. I wish I could get you to show some interest in it. I need that validation, you know? My main character is this roof-runner who pulls heists for hire and winds up having to take something of circumstance. Then he's stuck with the artifact and these two warring factions want to take it from him. I thought it would be more original to give him abilities that aren't over-the-top powerful."

Fara appeared uncomfortable. "I don't ... I don't really like talking about that sort of stuff. The thought of people that not only feel too comfortable with doing dangerous things, but are involved in stealing things ... I don't like it. I told you that your biological father, before he died, was a professional criminal and that I don't condone it. I never did. I should have never told you that, because you've romanticized it into a comicbook hero."

"I'm sorry. You know, I didn't intentionally make my character based on that. It sort of just felt natural to have a main character that can do that sort of stuff. Plus I like the anti-hero theme. Stealing stuff in the air of Robin Hood."

"I should have never told you that he did those kinds of things for a living. It subconsciously manifested itself in your work."

"Mom, you're a newspaper editor. Surely, you must know someone who can help me take my work to the next level."

Fara shrugged. "I deal in nonfiction. But if I ever come across someone like that, I'll let you know."

"Okay, okay."

"Promise me you'll never try doing that dangerous stuff you draw."

"Of course not, mom. I'm afraid of heights. And I'm afraid of getting caught doing anything illegal. Dad is in the Government. I wouldn't want that kind of crap on the news."

"Listen, Jaye, if you believe in your work, then I believe in you. I may not care much for superhero comics, but that doesn't mean I don't believe in your talent. You're a wonderful artist. Your sketches are graceful, articulate and very impressive. You have an eye for detail."

"Thanks mom. I guess I need to hear that every so often. At least from the people that matter most to me."

The two spoke for another few moments then she expressed her love as only a mother could, and ended the phone call.

James turned the emitter back off and walked to the window of his apartment.

He opened the glass pane then looked around outside. He stood up on his bed, stepped out onto the ledge and scooted down to a wire that led across the street to an adjacent building. Looking around furtively, he stepped out onto the wire and walked, slowly, across the wire to the neighboring apartment and knocked on a window.

A girl opened the glass by lifting it then, in a scolding tone, said, "Jaye! Get in here before you fall! I keep telling you that you're not 'J-Mark.' He's just a character in your comic. Please, stop it before you give me a heart attack."

"Do you think I should change his name? I mean ... James Marcus. J-Mark. It's starting to lose the ring it had when I first suggested it as the character's name."

"I kind of like it," she said with a smile then reached a hand up, took his, and helped him into her bedroom. "So what has you coming over here today?"

"I just needed to run some ideas and line art by my coloring illustrator." He smiled then made his way into the window and dropped down onto her bed. "How was your day?"

"I'll survive," she replied with a slight grin. "I can't believe you can walk across the power lines like your character. You'd better stop trying to mix fiction with reality before you wind up getting yourself killed." The two shared a kiss then she said, "The only character who is supposed to be like their real life counterpart is mine."

Jaye laughed. "Dawn, the uber leet hacker. Speaking of hacking, have you done that lately?"

"I just do it for the challenge. I always let the administrator know where their code failed. I always report the exploits to a browser's maker. It just feels natural to find my way in through a back door. But you know my true passion is coloring your comics."

"I appreciate that. You have any new panels today?"

"No, not yet," she told him. "You write any new parts for Dawn?"

"Not yet."

"I was thinking we could change the character's name to Rachel. I've always liked that name. And you've only just introduced her. It's not too late to change it."

A loud noise came from outside the window. James turned back to the sill and leaned into it, gazing down to the street level. "Whoa, look."

Dawn moved besides him and squinted at the people down in the alley. "Oh my God! I'll call the police!" She went for her phone on her desk.

"I don't think those people have time." Jaye pushed the window back open then stepped out onto the line again. "You're going to be so mad at me; just call the cops." He walked out onto the line then dove off of it.

Dawn's eyes widened and she ran to the window, just as the emergency services operator answered the phone. "JAYE!"

Her voice faded from his ears as he dropped to a clothesline two stories down. It snapped from one end. He gripped it into his hands and swung down then, while holding it, his feet met the bricks of one of the buildings. He ran across it, while holding the now-vertical clothesline, then jumped away from the wall and brought his feet out.

James swung on the line. His feet caught the face of a man with a gun, throwing the guy down to the pavement.

Parker turned and glanced over his shoulder to the middle-aged couple. "This is the part where you run before that guy gets up! Go!"

The couple backed away. The early-forties gentleman slid a wallet back into his pocket. His wife re-shouldered her purse. They hurried away.

James turned back to the man with the gun. "God. I've never done anything like that before. This is the part where you try and shoot me now, right?"

The man sat up and pointed the revolver at James then fired it. Jaye dodged the gunshot narrowly. He wrapped the end of the clothesline around the gunner's wrist, so that it spiraled three times around the man's forearm.

James kicked his leg up into the air, putting his foot on the rope. He looped the line around his ankle then firmly brought his foot down to the pavement, causing him to control the gunner's arm like a puppet. The entire maneuver happened in the blink of an eye yet James perceived every detail with graceful casualness.

The man used his free hand to reach for his gun then pointed it back up at Parker.

Jaye turned about, releasing the cable from his ankle with ease. He put his hands on the alley pavement then wrapped both ankles around the man's neck and flipped him over effortlessly. James snatched the gun away, opened the cylinder, causing five rounds to spill onto the concrete. He shifted his weight. The gunman was thrown down again. He flipped the man face down and sat on his back, keeping his hands pinned behind his back. "Stop struggling, man."

"James!" called Dawn from the window, high above.

He looked up and gave her a 'thumbs up' gesture then smiled up at her.

"Okay ... that, uh, that was pretty impressive. I'm coming down!"

"No, wait! Just hang tight until the cops show up. You're safer."

"Shut up! You whipped his butt and emptied his gun! I saw you! I'm coming down!" She shut her window and retreated back into her room, where he could no longer see her.

The man wiggled beneath him, pinned to the ground "Who are you?"

James resisted the urge to say something akin to what his comic character would say. "Just ... the guy who kicked your ass. Stop struggling before you pull a muscle or dislocate your shoulder."

"How'd you do all that shit, kid?" the man grumbled.

"I, uhm ... don't know. It felt natural."

"You've never done this before?"

"Nope. You're my first rodeo. And how about that ... I stayed on the bull the whole time. Now shut up until the cops show up. I can't arrest you. I know they'll take us both in. I don't care. They'll get your prints off the gun. Good job wearing gloves. You do realize the second amendment wasn't written for people to steal wallets and purses right?"

"Fuck you, kid."

"Geeze. You really are a stereotypical badguy."

"I'm not a badguy. If this country wasn't so fucked up, I wouldn't need to do this shit for a living."

"Whatever. All I hear is, 'wah, wah, wah, I steal from the helpless.'"

"Shut up, you don't know me. You judge but you don't know my story. You don't know shit, kid."

Sirens came from the west, closing in. Jaye smirked. "I have witnesses and you have a gun with your prints. They'll release me after questioning, and you'll go..." he leaned forward and sniffed then made a sour face. "You'll be going in the detox tank. Dude, you're really drunk. Drinking and guns - that's seriously not cool."

"They're rocksalt rounds."

"What?"

"They're rocksalt; not real bullets. You're hurting me. I can't breathe. If you get off me, I won't file assault charges."

Two police officers came up the alley, shouting orders.

James eased off the perpetrator's back, stepped to the side, and knelt. He lifted his hands to his head, interlocking his fingers as ordered, then laid down next to the drunk man in the alley. "One of us is going home today. I hope I don't see you again. That wasn't cool." He heard Dawn in the background talking to a third officer. At the end of the alley, a fourth officer was talking to the middle-aged couple, getting a statement. James grew quiet and let himself be picked up by an officer. He remained calm, gave a testing tug on the cuffs then walked to a patrol car. He slid down into the seat and remained still.

Several feet away, the attacker was put into a second patrol car. They made eye contact. Grinning, James stuck his tongue out at the man then wiggled his cuffed wrists beneath himself. He shifted about pulling his cuffed forearms out from beneath his legs then folded his hands in his lap and leaned back in the seat, relaxing.

X

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X

April 3, evening

Paris, France...

** "This is the part where I'm done fighting or I'll hang up." ** Eric walked to the window and sighed, keeping the traditional smart phone to the side of his head. "Karla, please come home. I want to see Elvena, too. But we have a problem. Lance and Steven came here tonight. They were concerned because you weren't here. They felt it's important to talk to you about something to do with Reno. They also wanted to take him back to wherever they're staying but I wouldn't let them because I told them it would turn into an argument for you and me."

He could hear Karla's reply over the line; her tone suggested that she was smiling. "Thank you, Eric. You did the right thing. He stays with us. I know you're worried that it will bring drama to our door but ... it's important. And no one knows where we live except for Topaz. And she hates me now but she asked me to watch her brother-in-law. She's Elvena's godmother. She would never tell people where to find Reno. Speaking of them ... her phone number is disconnected, now. I called Sinopa and she said she had a premonition that Falcon captured them. Sinopa says she saw how it happened in her dream. Apparently Falcon used some sort of sonic sound device and a laser strobe. It's apparently the best way to render their abilities useless."

Eric cleared his throat. "Say what? They're captured? Topaz and Fox, both?"

"Yeah. They went to look for Carmen, apparently, and disappeared. Sinopa had the dream last night. She and Jules are raising Conner, now. Both twins have disappeared off the face of the Earth. We have to accept the fact they may be gone forever, now."

"Karla, that's it ... this is over. One doesn't simply take down the twins. One, let alone both ... Jesus Christ, Karla. This is getting too dangerous! Get home now."

"Excuse me?"

"Karla, get here. If you don't come home, then I'll leave. Do you understand? The game is over. You need to put your immediate family first. I miss Elvena, too, but you have to consider that this is too big to fight. I can't live in danger, looking over my shoulder every five minutes for the rest of my life. It's time to lay low and live a quieter life lest we attract the attention of the people who have our friends."

"Back the truck up," Karla said. "You'll leave? Is that a fact, Jack? Fine, but you'd better make good on your threats."

"If I did, you'd go right back to your old ways. You'd go right back to daily trysts and then what? I'm the only one who doesn't hold anything against you back in that city. You betrayed everyone except me. You chose me. I'm your bed, you've slept in it, and you can't just change your stripes now."

"First of all, I'm not a zebra you moron. The only reason I'm not going to kick your ass for that comment is because I don't look good in stripes, and orange isn't my color. Second of all, if you think it's necessary to judge me by my past, don't be surprised when I put you there. And I could easily find love elsewhere if I needed it that badly."

"I'm the only one that does it for you," he said.

"I'm with you for the passion we have. Unfortunately, as passionate as we are in bed, we're equally as passionate when we fight. But don't tell me how you're the only one that does it for me, jackass. You're not perfect."

"You said I was."

"That's pillow talk. Sometimes, you're a disappointment. I bet if you ran into a wall with a boner, you'd hit your nose first."

"Fine, whatever. You said I was the best you've ever had. I guess that makes you a liar, too."

She sighed loudly over the line. "Don't you treat me like that. I told you, I'm your wife. I deserve your respect; it's a privilege based on my status as your spouse ... you vowed to give me your respect when we married. Love is about how you value and respect someone without unrealistic expectations in return. Yet you've set all these crazy conditions over the past couple of years."

"Karla ... I want you to stop fighting with me. I can't put up with it forever. If you don't come home and help me protect this house and our son, then I will walk away. Is that what you want?"

"Eric, I want our relationship to be like Tom and Jerry. No matter how many times we fight, we won't ever be apart. Your threats hurt the trust I have in you, and it hurts the trust I have in us as partners."

"I trusted you when you said we're moving to France and that all that nonsense was behind us."

"You always knew I had every intent to go back and finish the job one day."

"Fine. You're right. It's because I have trouble trusting that you won't backslide. You're a succubus and you keep looking for excuses to disappear for a few days at a time."

"I trusted you to treat me like your wife, Eric. And trust is like an eraser - it gets smaller and smaller with every little mistake."

"Have you always been like this before we met? No wonder you were never married before us."

Karla ground her teeth together in anger, changing the inflection of her tone. "You know my name, not my story. You've heard what I've done, not what I've been through."

"What the fuck is that? Some sort of song lyrics or something? I know you were on your back or kneeling for four hundred years before we married. Now you're always looking for a reason to disappear. All these little business trips you take. Get your ass home and mother your son."

"Eric, you're digging a hole you will not be able to climb back out of. Do not judge me, else it will be the last thing you judge."

"I want you permanently, not temporarily. But we both need to work at this. We have to be a team, here. It's so much easier when you're here. We fight, you get angry, and then I kiss you. And it works. But fighting on the phone, Karla, that's not something I do well. However, you're walking all over me. You don't respect me as your husband."

"You earn respect, and I'll reciprocate it."

"No. I have to put my foot down. Either come home or I'll pack my things."

"Goddamn ... I had to get attached to_ you_. Once you get attached, you're pretty much fucked. Well. I guess that's my fault for falling in love."

Eric rested his forehead against the window and sighed. "I love you, too, but you say it better than you show it sometimes." For some reason, the coolness of the window was refreshing.

"Yeah, well ... I'm not done here, yet. So stop bitching and be a man."

"I mean it, Karla. I won't say these threats forever. One day, I'll make good on them."

"Psht. I dare you. I've got to go. Love ya', Jackass. Now go man up and be a father and a husband. I've got to go." She disconnected the call from her end.

Eric groaned. "I hate when she calls my bluff." He turned away from the window and pocketed his cellphone. He paused then pulled it back out and called Rufus Darken. A moment later, the werewolf answered. Eric licked his lips then said, "I need your help. Can you come to Paris?"

"I ... I dunno, man. What's wrong?"

"We've not seen you in years and I think Karla is playing her own agenda by her own rules. I'm nervous that if Aris Falcon is starting to reach his feelers out into the growing population of supernaturals again, after all these years, that he might follow Reno Nevada to us. And yes, I said Reno. He's here in a coma."

"Holy smokes, son. Seriously? I thought I'd lost track of him," said the southerner over the line. "The Parkers aren't answering their line; I was getting worried."

"I just found out from Karla, through Sinopa, that they've been captured. It's over. And now Karla thinks she can hunt down everyone on her own. I told her to come home so we can circle the wagons, but she's off having some goddamn adventure. Whether she wants to admit it or not, her actions have betrayed this household. I cannot protect my son and Reno alone."

"You need my help because she betrayed you?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so."

Rufus snorted in disdain. "Been there, done that. Had my throat in Falcon's fist. She chose to take a bottle of pills instead of helping me. She said she was sorry, and then she ditched. She left me t' die so far as I'm concerned. I get why ... love and motherhood. But she let herself be manipulated. The demon who fell for temptation. Should'a saw that comin', huh? Fact is, Karla can't be trusted because she's selfish. She'll choose her desires over her obligations, reckon. Listen, my pal Kalen and I have business in Lyon. I'll come over. Just me, not m' friend. We'll, uh ... talk. A'ite?"

"Thanks. I appreciate it. I'll be here."

Loupe put his hand on the wall, facing a family photograph. In the picture, his daughter appeared older than Karla. At a glance, it looked like Eric and Elvena were the parents, while Karla and Donovan looked like the family children.

Over the line, Rufus said, "Betrayal is in her nature. I can't even hold it against her. I've had twenty-five years to come to terms with what happened. The fact she's betrayed her husband pisses me off. She chose you and having a family over me. And I expected her to treat you and the kids like gold. I can live with being sacrificed for family 'n happiness. But the fact she shit on that, too? It's like she tried to trade my life for nothing. I won't lie, that makes me spittin' mad something fierce."

Eric shook his head with a sigh. "I see how this sort of thing is starting to get you upset." His eyes lowered and came to rest on a blue crayon on the hallway floor. He knelt down and picked it up. "I'll explain everything when you get here." An explosion startled him. The front door flew off its hinges, sailed across the room and hit the wall, just beneath the photograph.

Dazed and confused, Eric shoved the door away from himself, having narrowly avoided injury. He pocketed the lucky crayon without thinking about it and turned back towards the foyer. His eyes widened, seeing a group of men in black body armor and black clothes. They filed in through the front door.

The cellphone burst in his hand, shredded by an expertly executed low-caliber sniper round.

A pop caught his attention, coming from the kitchen at the back of the house The sound of breaking glass rang out somewhere in the background.

Eric stood up and faced the men then spread his arms apart. Their shadows rose up and surrounded their bodies from their ankles to their waists. He ground his teeth together then drew his right arm back as if winding up for a punch.

The attackers screamed in terror, moved about through the air, as if being cocked back in some sort of slingshot created from the shade.

Something pinched the side of Eric's neck. He froze then quickly reached for the side of his throat. Eric pulled a dart away. Everything became blurry. Behind him, he heard Donovan cry for help in a voice of distress and fear.

Eric turned for the stairs and fell to all fours at the bottom step. He began to ascend them, forcing himself to fight the effects of sleepiness. He came up to the top step only to receive a kick in the face by a man holding his son. Eric toppled backwards, careening down the staircase head over heels. The heavy tranquilizer dose took hold and he was limp before he slammed into the floor. Everything faded to black.

The last thing he heard was, "Get a bag over his head, put gloves on his hands and bind them behind his back. Someone put him in the van. I need the child-dose tranq. S-2, bring it over here and inject this stupid kid. S-6, put a call out to Falcon and let'em know we got the brat. S-3, you're on cleanup. Fix the door, clean up every room and make sure there is no evidence. You'll be the last to leave. Take Mister Loupe's car. When you're out of the area, drop it off at a 'Chop-Shop.' Everyone, you have your orders, now move."

"I thought we're only taking the kid out to the Atlantic?"

Another said, "We are. This guy, Eric Loupe, is going to the Freak Farm. Make sure you keep that bag over his face. Most of these people need to be able to see in order to use their powers. Move it, people. Double time." The mercenary's phone rang and he answered it. "Sir?" He paused and listened to the orders then said, "Yes, sir. Thank you for the heads up." He hung up the phone without another word then said, "Change of plan! We have a class three mythological supernatural en route. I'm told they're susceptible to gunshots. We're going to get the kid out to the Atlantic Ocean now. But one of us has to play 'handler.' We need to use this guy, Loupe, to kill the supernatural that's coming here. They want this guy dead because he may have information on how to find New Atlantis Dome. Get Loupe upstairs and we'll prepare the conditioning sequence."

X

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X

April 4, 8am

Paris, France...

Doorbell.

Eric sat up in his bed,his eyes were a brilliant shade of green. He tilted his head and waited. The doorbell chimed a second time. His pupils constricted. Eric stepped out of his bed, fully dressed. He walked to a nearby dresser, brushed his hair then picked up a weapon off the dresser and pocketed it. He opened his bedroom door, calmly walked down the stairs, across the foyer, and opened the door, coming face to face with Rufus.

"Howdy, man. She's not here is she? I thought I heard scuffling over the line before you hung up, earlier."

"No, you must have heard my son in the background, then the battery died. My apologies." He gestured for Rufus to come inside. "Please."

Rufus nodded and made his way inside the room.

Eric shut the door then turned to the Georgia native and said, "As I recall, you turn into a werewolf, correct?"

"Ayup."

"Very good. We have a problem. Falcon's people came last night. They took Donovan."

"What?! You shittin' me! Them bastards took yer son?!"

"Yes." Eric appeared oddly stoic.

A knock at the door caused Eric to turn back towards it. "This will just be a moment. Then we can speak about Karla's betrayal." He opened the front door and, standing on the front stoop was Aris Falcon, having not aged a single day since the last time Rufus was face to face with the man.

"Oh hell," Rufus groused.

Aris placed a hand on Eric's shoulder. "Kilo, igloo, lima, lima Rufus Darken."

With a distant look in his brilliant green gaze, Eric turned to Rufus, withdrew the handgun and fired it. Rufus took the high caliber round, flew back into a piece of furniture at the bottom of the steps and crashed into it. The wooden structure collapsed, spilling the un-changed werewolf to the floor in silence.

Falcon smiled. "Excellent. You've proven yourself useful again. There's a place known as the Freak Farm. I've put an address in your wallet. The GPS in the rental car in your driveway is programmed with the directions. Get into the car, put on some music and drive. When you get there, I want you to set fire to the government cell where the French are keeping their supernatural people captive. After that, you will take out your gun, put the revolver beneath against your lips, and sing the French National Anthem. The gun is your microphone. At the end of the first stanza, pull the trigger."

Without a word, the activated Eric Loupe pocketed his pistol and walked out to his driveway. He got into the rental car that was running in the driveway. He fastened the seatbelt, turned on the radio, backed out of the driveway and began driving.

Meanwhile, back inside the house, Falcon walked over to Rufus Darken, spit into Rue's long dark hair, and said, "That's what you get for trying to sabotage my surface operations. What? Did you think you could get away with terrorizing my people? Who did you think you are? I had your phone triangulated from the source - the cellular provider. It was only a matter of time before I caught up with you."

Rufus peered up at Falcon with a half-lidded gaze. "You took that little boy?"

"I did. His ability is undocumented. He can access the World Wide Web with his mind from anywhere on the globe. No IP address. He can access the darknet, the internet, the deepweb ... he can even access historical defunct ARPANET. That network was thought to be defunct and inaccessible for sixty years. No digital information is safe from him. I know you don't quite find this as exciting as I do but The First Age was a computer based city. This boy will allow me to access information and technology beyond the modern world's wildest dreams. This is necessary. I'm going to save the world from itself. And you're going to die right here on the floor Karla Loupe's floor. The woman whose disloyalty to her friends became a death sentence twenty-five years ago. I love when events play out in a way that suggests there is a greater meaning or purpose. I've worked hard to design an outcome but the thought of my success being fate inflates my sense of self importance."

"I worked for two years, right under your nose. I operated submarines, hidin' in the blind spots of yer ego. Karma is comin' for you, ya son of a bitch."

"If you truly believe in Karma, then you deserved to be shot, Rufus. It means you deserve to die on Karla's floor. I, on the other hand, have been rewarded time and time again. As you can see, Eric's MK Ultimate programming hasn't eroded. I'm glad I arrived just in time to see you take a bullet from your friend. It was worth the trip, 'Tucker.' Yes, that's right. I knew it was you."

Rufus's eyes fluttered shut, unable to keep them open. The sensation of wet blood on his skin faded away. He struggled to remain conscious. "Ego'll be th' end of ya.' Reno slipped through yer fingers. It's only a matter of time before the rest..." His body relaxed.

"I'm the one who let Reno be taken to the surface. It brought everyone out of the woodwork. Wherever he is, now, doesn't matter. He won't wake up unless I deactivate a hormone inhibiter from a control panel in my laboratory. He'll stay in a faux coma forever. Harmlessly sleeping, aging away, wherever Karla has hidden him. And speaking of being put to sleep forever, you were a difficult dog to put down, but as you said ... Karma. Proof you obviously deserved to die, and I deserve to live; I have a world to save. Goodbye, Old Yeller." Falcon left the mansion and pulled the front door shut behind himself.

X

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Next chapter: https://www.sofurry.com/view/678859