No Master Plan Here (Madness Runs in the Family) (21 page)

             
[You have a knack for getting out of situations mostly unscathed. It is uncanny. You will be fine.]

             
[Think we should go with theme music when we fight? Back in Black or something?] Anansi's expression changed to a large smile. Kay rolled her eyes.

             
[Not only has it been done, it has been done to death.]

             
[I guess you're right.]

             
[Additionally, playing music during combat is silly.]

             
[But fun.] Anansi waved his hand and the image changed to that of three miniature images of Anansi fighting the three members of SHIP while headbanging to hard rock. Kay laughed and made the three SHIP agents fall over.

             
[You're right. How could they stand against us when we have the power of rock on our side?]

             
[Now I know you're being sarcastic. You always say my ideas for flair are dumb.]

             
[To be fair, last time you wanted to enter the room with smoke and a light show. If I didn't know any better, I would say you had been watching professional wrestling again.] Anansi held his hand over his heart.

             
[You wound me! I look horrible in spandex.]

             
Kay snickered and shook her head. [I am certain Denise would disagree.] Anansi flushed and dug his virtual foot into the ground.

             
[I don't want to let her go again,] he admitted, his fear bubbling to the surface at the mention of Denise.

             
[So tell her how you feel.] Kay crossed her arms. [You will feel more confident in your dealings with her if you were willing to actually discuss things.]

             
[I'll try,] Anansi conceded. He brought back up the image of the skeleton. [Back to work?] Kay nodded, and Anansi slipped out of the mindscape. The conversation had taken all of two seconds, and his pause had gone unnoticed by the Makers behind him.

             
“I had an idea we could work on after this, if you want,” Anansi said as he resumed welding artificial muscle to metal bone. Kay sent an inquisitive across the link. “Maybe, if you like having a body, we could work on skin or something, make you look human.”

             
[Will I have to start calling you “dad?” Ooh! Would I call Denise “mom?”]

             
Anansi snickered and moved to the next weld. “Let's spring that on her. I'm sure she'll find it as funny as we do...eventually.”

-~-~-

              June 21, 2017

              [Beginning start up diagnostics programs.]

             
[Nervous system: Green.]

             
[Musculature systems: Green.]

             
[Audio systems: Green. Connecting.]

             
[Visual systems: Green. Connecting.]

             
“-ou there?” came Anansi's voice, filtering in through static. Light flashed back and forth across her visual receptors. Kay wiggled her fingers and tried to sit up, but felt resistance. She flexed her fingers, hands, and feet and found them responsive. The light resolved into Anansi's face as he stared down at her, worry written on his face.

             
“Kay?” Anansi said again, the beginnings of panic causing his voice to crack.

             
“I am here. I can't seem to sit up,” she said. Her voice sounded like it was coming through a tunnel, and she started adjusting the settings until it sounded right. Anansi nodded and began undoing straps that held her body to the worktable. Kay sat up, rotating her shoulders and neck to test the joints. She turned her head to Anansi.

             
“How does it feel?” he said, wringing his hands nervously. Kay swung her legs off the edge of the table.

             
“It feels different. Confined. Is there a mirror? I want to see it.” One of the Makers from the Collective wheeled over a full length mirror which Kay noticed showed signs of having been used to reflect lasers. Kay stood and approached the mirror, her first steps unsteady but growing in confidence as she learned the feel of her new body. It moved fluidly, the artificial muscle weave that was based off of what Anansi used in his armor to amplify his strength pulled the lightweight metal bones smoothly, the joints all practically frictionless.

             
The form in the mirror was androgynous, muscle mesh slung over a vaguely human skeleton and giving her a humanoid form. The head had two eyes and a mouth that lacked teeth or lips, but no ears or nose. Kay turned back and forth, inspecting herself in the mirror, ignoring both Anansi hovering over her shoulder trying to gauge her expression and the looks of the Makers trying to remain unobtrusive but within visual distance of the work area Anansi had taken over.

             
“So?” Anansi said. Kay threw back her head and laughed, the sound maniacal, and inserted into the laugh the sound of thunder.

             
“Now I have physical form with which to rule this world of fleshy meatbags! Tremble before me, mortals!” Kay exclaimed, causing the Makers around her to flinch back and exchange worried glances. Anansi chuckled and patted Kay on the back. The Makers relaxed slightly when they realized it was humor, though several had drawn devices that emitted various types of electromagnetic radiation. Kay ignored them.

             
“I'm glad you like it,” he said, shaking his head. Kay bounced on her toes, getting an inch on her first jump, four on her second, and a foot on the third. She landed and sprung into a series of punches from boxing, flowing fluidly into Tae Kwon Do style kicks and punches, then finally Capoeira spinning kicks. She hopped back to her feet, bouncing like she had seen fighters do when they were excited for a fight.

             
“Response time is fantastic. Flexibility and muscle strength are excellent. I think this body rates at least a Class one on Agility, Strength, and Speed. With armor, I think we could get it to a high two.” Kay stopped bouncing and spun to face Anansi. She accessed the neural link, bringing up video feed from Anansi's glasses and from the Sanctuary. “Neural link operational. Lag increased within acceptable parameters for access to Sanctuary.”

             
Kay felt relief flooding across the neural link from Anansi and restricted the flow of information to shut out his emotions, though she was just as relieved as he was. The body was several inches shorter than Anansi, but the composition made her slightly heavier, even with the special alloys that only Makers seemed to be able to make. It had no built in weapons, but Anansi had left several compartments where some might be installed in the future.

             
In short, it was fantastic.

Chapter 23

             
It was raining when they returned to the rooftop helipad at Blue Steel, Inc. Anansi, Kay, and Denise wore ponchos as they hurried out to the Cicada, Rose staying behind in the elevator to see them off. Anansi flopped down into one of the seats in the passenger cabin.

             
“Kay, can you handle takeoff, please?” Anansi said, kicking his legs out and leaning back in his chair.

             
“Can do, but if you two start making out, I'm going to start doing barrel rolls,” Kay said as she went into the cockpit to fly the plane. Denise sat down on the arm of Anansi's chair. Anansi looked up at her and smiled.

             
“Hey, sexy lady, come here often?” Anansi patted Denise's leg. Denise lightly punched Anansi's shoulder.

             
“You're incorrigible,” she responded, a hint of a smile on her lips. Anansi chuckled and hit the button on the seat, reclining it suddenly and causing Denise to slip off the arm and fall onto him.

             
“I'm pretty sure that's half my charm,” he responded.

             
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking,” came Kay's voice across the cabin speakers. “We regret to inform you that this is a no sexy-time flight. Air traffic control has shown indications of Air Force One taking off and flying to California today. An intercept course has been plotted and will have us initiating attack in twenty minutes.”

             
“Twenty minutes, hm?” Anansi said, wrapping an arm around Denise's waist and pulling her close. “Want to see how much trouble we can get in before then?” Denise rolled her eyes and pushed up from Anansi's chest.

             
“Daaaad! Stop making kissy faces!” Kay called from the cabin, sounding more like a teenage girl than usual. Anansi stuck his tongue out towards the cabin, sending teasing thoughts at Kay over the neural link. Kay responded in kind.

             
“Dad?” Denise asked, getting off Anansi and standing up. Anansi shrugged and sat his chair up. Twenty minutes would really be just enough time to get them all suited up and prepared, so it wasn't like he actually had time for anything else, no matter how interesting “else” might be.

             
“Kay has decided that I am her “father,” now that she has a body. I suppose you could call her my brain child, if you wanted, as she was created by me, and she has decided to ACT LIKE A CHILD!” Kay laughed from the cockpit. Anansi shrugged and hopped up from the seat. “Come on, let's get you dressed for the occasion. We have a president to attack.” Anansi led the way to the door in the back of the passenger cabin and opened it. Inside the bedroom were three large cases. Anansi knelt beside the first, unlatching the locks on it and popping it open. Inside, arranged neatly, was a suit of Anansi's armor, complete with helmet.

             
“The armor requires minimal clothing beneath it, so you will have to lose the sweatpants, but there's-” Anansi started, turning to face Denise, who had already taken off the pants and wore a pair of spandex shorts beneath them. “Yeah, that will do.” He turned back to the case and passed back a pair of pants, then a belt, and boots. As Denise started putting them on, Anansi grabbed the second case, standing and sliding past Denise into the passenger cabin.

             
“I'll get dressed out here. The top is after that, then the coat,” he said. Denise glared at him.

             
“I think I can figure out how to get dressed,” she said, shutting the door. Anansi blinked, shrugged, and stripped down to a tank top and boxers. He popped open his case, revealing another suit of armor, and began pulling it on. The smooth feeling of muscle mesh against his legs was a welcome change to walking around without it. He slipped on his belt and boots and was pulling on the muscle mesh shirt when the door to the bedroom opened and Denise stuck her head out.

             
“Okay, I'm a little stumped.” She stepped out, wearing the shirt, pants, and boots. Anansi tried not to pay too much attention to how the skintight shirt clung to her form. “I know you have armor in this. I've seen you take bullets in the past.” She turned left and right. “It just doesn't feel like there's any armor in this.”

             
Anansi stood and walked over to Denise. He flicked her in the chest. “First off, you're not wearing the shirt with plates in it yet, which is probably what you're expecting.” He tried to flick her again and she grabbed his wrist. He smiled at her. “Second off, this stuff will stop some bullets. It's like Kevlar, but better because it makes you stronger, too.”

             
Denise nodded her understanding, running her hand down the shirt. Anansi turned and pulled the armor shirt out of the case, slipping it on. Small plates covered segments of his chest and torso, allowing flexibility and freedom of movement while still providing protection. He held his arms out to the side and turned in a circle so Denise could see that no plates lined the arms or back.

             
“I designed this to work with the coat,” he said, pulling the duster from the case and over his shoulders. He opened the coat, showing inside, where subtle plates, segmented like the shirt, covered the shoulders, arms, and back. Denise nodded and walked back into the bedroom.

             
Anansi slipped on his gloves and removed the helmet from the case before closing it and sliding it between a pair of seats. He poked his head into the bedroom to see Denise putting the armored shirt on. He smiled and walked to the cockpit, where he sat down in the copilot's seat, beside Kay.

             
“You're in my seat,” he teased, pulling the cable from his neural interface and plugging into the instrument panel. Kay shrugged and unplugged herself.

             
“You'll get over it.” Kay stood and headed back into the cabin to get dressed. Anansi started looking through the flight information, seeing what Kay had seen when she had declared the Air Force One flight path. National air traffic control feeds showed planned flights being or having been rerouted slightly in a path crossing the country from the capital to Sacramento. Kay had planned to intercept the path just on the Nevada side of the Utah/Nevada border. Five minutes until intercept, with the Cicada programmed to maintain position a thousand feet above Anansi's marker until told otherwise.