Broken (17 page)

Winter took a long breath, and when he breathed it out the air in front of him frosted. “Better than you know.”

“
I don’t want her to be a killer,” Zack said, staring him down. “I don’t want her to be like you—like us, always seeing people in the way they can be moved, pushed or taken out of the way if needed. I want her to be herself. I want her to
keep
being herself—good heart and all. Killing a person coarsens you in ways she shouldn’t have to experience .” He glared at Winter. “I bet if you do it enough, you can just about lose your whole soul.”

Whatever might have been said next was lost as a sudden flash lit the windows. The lights blinked off then on and finally went dead. There was an explosion outside and the building shook, and Zack’s gun was in his hand even as Old Man Winter was on his feet. Steps were audible outside the office and Ariadne was there a moment later, along with M-Squad—all of whom must have been in her office. I looked at the faces of them—Bastian and Parks solemn, Clary a little excited, and Eve emotionless—the faces of people who were now dead, people that I’d killed.

“
It’s starting,” Parks said, rather futilely, I thought. Another explosion followed his words, the fixtures of headquarters rattling in the shockwave. “They’re here.”

“
We must—” Old Man Winter began to speak but stopped, his eyes frozen as he looked past the members of M-Squad who were clustered just outside his office door.

“
Hello, Eric,” a shadowy figure came forward out of the darkness, her greeting tempered by a heavy accent. There was a multiplicity of shadowy figures standing out in the cubicle farm that monopolized the center of the fourth floor, none of them visible in anything other than silhouette save for the one who had spoken, the one who stood in the aisle that led straight out Winter’s door. She stepped forward another step, and the explosions out the windows to her left lit her face. She was barely visible, even with the fading glow of the explosion that had destroyed the science building lighting her profile.

“
Bastet,” Winter said, shouldering his way past Zack and M-Squad. “It has been a long time since Bubastis. I can only assume that this is not a social call.”

“
Hardly,” she said with dull amusement, almost slinking forward, holding to the shadows. “We’ve come to destroy your Directorate, all the buildings, all the structures and, if you force us to, you as well.”

“
And what have we done that has so provoked Omega’s ire, Bast?” I could have sworn I heard a little sarcasm from him.

“
As if you don’t know,” she said, laughing. She didn’t act particularly venerable, the way I would have thought an old god would; she seemed more cautious. “Stealing Andromeda and allowing her to be killed by Century?”

Winter showed a flicker of emotion. “Century? I had thought them finished long ago.”

Bastet offered him a playful smile. “You are far behind, Erich. They’re a threat, rising in power, growing. They have new leaders—one them I think you’re very familiar with—what was his name when you ran across him in Peshtigo?”

Winter actually paled, something I wouldn’t have thought possible for the light-skinned giant. “He called himself Sovereign. A man unto himself.”

“
Sovereign and Century,” Bastet said, smirking. “Andromeda was our hedge against them. Sienna was too, once we found out about her, but you’ve blocked her from us.” She gave a neat shrug. “That’s fine. You’ve annoyed and harassed us for far too long, Winter, hampering everything we do in America to try and protect our interests. Your moment to do that is done.” Her face hardened. “Century has begun wiping out every single metahuman that they can get to. They mean to destroy us all, and leave only themselves behind on the earth.”

“
Who are they?” Zack said, and I sensed his sudden blush when the question crept out.

Bastet smiled. “They are a hundred of the world’s most powerful metas, united in a common purpose.” Her smirk vanished. “To be last one hundred metas on the face of the planet.”

“
Extinction of the species?” Parks said. “I can’t believe the humans are just gonna lie down and let themselves get wiped out.”

“
The humans will not be wiped out,” Bastet said. “They’ll be slaves.”

“
Ridiculous,” Zack said. “A hundred metas against the armies of the world? Against guns, and bombs and nuclear weapons?” He snorted. “Good luck. Your age was over about a millennium ago.” He looked her up and down. “That cat … is out of the bag.”

Bastet laughed at his joke, a delicate, chiming laugh that was followed with something that almost sounded like the meow of a mountain lion. “I’m afraid that until fairly recently, you would have been right. The relentless march of technology has dissolved our advantage over the humans. That was made painfully obvious to us who believed differently by the chaos of World War One.” She turned her gaze to Winter, who had said nothing. “But with the addition of … Sovereign … at their head … you are now quite wrong.”

“
He … “ Winter said, “ … has never cared to involve himself in the affairs of others. He has never desired to bother with anything he did not wish to … dabble with.”

Bastet’s eyes flicked narrow, like a cat, watching them. “It would appear that someone has changed his mind.” She waved a hand at them, Zack, Ariadne, who stood still, too stunned to speak, and M-Squad. “None of you need die right now. My orders are to destroy your facilities and warn you to remove yourselves from our affairs. Interfere with us again, it will become rather more than warning, but for now … every last one of you can walk out of here today, go on about the rest of your lives free from worry.” She smiled. “Other than the worry that should creep upon you at the thought of what Century is doing in this very moment. And the fear of what we will do should you come between us and our objectives again.” She looked them over with a smile. “Go on. Be about your business. Omega will take care of this problem.” She let out a slow breath that sounded like she was stretching. “Just as we always have.”

With that, she started to recede into the darkness. “Oh, and by the way, Erich … Sienna Nealon will be joining us.”

Winter was stone, a monolith taller than any of the others in the room. “Sienna will make her own decisions.”

Bastet smiled again, and I could sense the infuriating effort she put into it. “Of course. But her decision will be to come with us, eventually. And woe betide he who stands between us and our goals, you remember that, right?” She looked him over carefully. “Of course not. You always were a slow learner, Erich.” She snapped her fingers. “Remind him. Roughly, if necessary.” She turned and started to stride out, and the other shadows, the ones that had surrounded her, they remained, and began to move closer to the office, to M-Squad, to Zack.

I felt myself pulled out of the memory, back to a place of cold, of pain. It felt like I had fallen, and when I landed it was roughly, on the runway at the airport in Eden Prairie. I felt the searing agony of my lost hand and the cold air filled my sinuses. I remembered what had happened, where I was, and the tears streamed down my face as a presence came over me. “I’m sorry, Zack. I’m sorry I couldn’t kill him for you.”

It’s okay. I never wanted you to. I never wanted you to be a killer. I just wanted you to be you. I love you
.

“
I know,” I said. “I know. I’m sorry I doubted you.”

You have to get up now.

There were sirens in the distance, I could hear them, wailing loud and growing closer.
You have to get up
, Zack said again.
You have to get out of here before they arrive
.

“
Yes,” I said, “okay.” I dragged myself to my knees, spasms of pain racking me in between the occasional sob. I started toward the fence in the distance, the one I had entered the airport over, and I started running, tuning out the pain. “You’re with me. You’re finally with me.”

Yeah. Sorry it took me so long. I was afraid. Afraid you’d find out what I did. How we started. I was afraid that you’d never forgive me
.

“
I forgive you,” I sobbed, running through the snowy night. “I forgive you.” I sniffed. “There’s only one person I can’t forgive, and it’s not you.”

I kept running until I got to the fence, and by the time I had cleared it and gotten back to my car, the wind had numbed me, numbed my pain—everything but the little bit still inside, hiding, secreted away with Zack.

22.

I made it a few miles down the road before I stopped. I pulled off Minnesota Highway 62 at the exit for Southdale Mall. I kept going down the snow-covered surface roads until I pulled into the parking lot of the mall. I figured I had gone far enough, that this was good enough for what I had in mind.
Glove box
, Zack’s voice told me, and I opened it to find what I needed. I swallowed heavily; we were close to the end now. We had to be.

I stepped out into the night air and let the chill wash over me. Not much farther now. I went to the trunk, ignoring the snowflakes, and let my bare hand trail over the cold exterior of the car. It made my fingers numb, which was how I wanted them. I took a breath as I stood over the trunk, not really ready for what I was about to do. It opened and I stared down.

Ariadne lay within, bound with duct tape around her mouth, her hands and her feet. She let her eyes flick open, and when she saw me, it was a thousand megawatts of SCREW YOU evident in her eyes.

“
Time to go, Ariadne,” I said, and cut the tape around her hands, then her feet. The silk bathrobe that still covered her was barely adequate, but I tried to help her wrap it around herself before I pulled her out. She stared at me, huddling against the chill. I took off my coat and offered it to her as she shivered in the winter air. I saw her hesitate, and I knew she was thinking about telling me to stick it. She made the wise choice in the end, though, and put it on.

“
Is she dead?” she asked me after a moment’s silence.

“
Yes.”

“
Are you happy now?” There was more than a little accusation in how she said it.

There was a pause before I answered her. “No. Happiness seems like a pretty far off dream at this point, like something I might have woken up to a long time ago. Not something that exists in my reality anymore.” I shrugged, and she stood there, indifferent, shivering against the cold. “What about you? Eve clubbed you unconscious and hauled you away from the scene of the crime, but I still caught you with her. You even saved her life—for a little while, anyway.” I leaned in closer and I saw her flinch. “Are you happy, Ariadne? Did being with her make you happy enough to overlook what she did?”

“
I … “ Ariadne swallowed heavily, and clenched the coat tighter. Her bare feet looked cold in the snow, but I had reached the limit of what I was willing to give her. “I loved her, you know.”

“
I’m not surprised.”

“
Love tends to allow you to overlook some things, yes,” Ariadne said harshly. “Foolish things, maybe. Maybe it made me stupid, to try and ignore it, to be with her in spite of it, but—”

“
Oh, enough,” I said. “You overlooked murder. Your pals were all killers. Cold-blooded. You overlooked the fact that they stood there, and held me down, and made me use my own body to kill Zack. Sure, you were all upset in the moment, but Eve just whistles at you and you came running back, like a loyal b—-”

“
You don’t know anything about me,” Ariadne said, and I heard her voice crack.

“
Ditto,” I spat back at her. “Best of luck.” I turned and started to get back in the car.

“
Where does it end, Sienna?” Ariadne called out. “You killed them all, didn’t you?”

“
Not Winter,” I said, stopping myself, the door open. “I got all of them but Winter.”

“
And once he’s dead?” she asked. “What will you do then?”

“
I don’t know.” I shrugged. The wind howled, pulling against the door of the car as if it were trying to rip it from the hinges. “Does it matter?”

“
There’s a lot going on out there,” Ariadne said. “This thing, this storm that’s coming … it’s bigger than any of us. Bigger than you and me, you and Winter—”

“
It’s a little late in our relationship for you to be trying to give me career counseling,” I replied. “I think we passed the cutoff for that a few dead bodies—and a hell of a lot of trust—ago.” I stared at her, watched her, forlorn. “Goodbye, Ariadne. There’s a cell phone in the coat pocket. You can use it to call a friend to come and get you.”

There was a long, stark moment of silence. “I don’t have any left,” she said, and it was a bitter, frail statement of a truly lonely person.

I lowered myself into the seat and started the engine. “Join the club.” I closed the door behind me and pushed the accelerator pedal, and watched as she began to disappear in the rearview mirror. I stopped after a moment, and looked instead at the imposing structure of the mall, lit up all around me.

I turned to follow the ring road around the mall parking lot, but hit the brakes when I came around a corner. Everything looked desperately familiar, and it took only a moment for me to remember why. I’d never been inside this mall, nor around it, really, and there was a reason for that. I had seen it, though, from a distance. From a news chopper’s camera view of what was happening around it.