Seven
“Isa… Isa, wake up!”
She was too well trained to fully blackout…
Losing consciousness was a bad thing; she almost became vulnerable for the scant few seconds it would have taken for her mind to wash away the sheer shock of what she saw. Isa didn’t care if it was skill or luck that kept her from slamming her head into the hard green floor; she was just glad she hadn’t.
The hallway was a white haze and blurred in the middle of her perspective by a large figure in a yellow shirt. It quickly focused into the face of the man she was starting to love and hate in equal quantities. Apparently he had moved her to sit upright against the wall and he was squatting on his haunches in front of her. James wore no face but his own.
She had to suppress a small mental giggle at the absurdity of her mind’s definition of vulnerability. James Bruce was systematically re-writing everything she knew about safety and danger. She was no more safe from him fully lucid than she was blacked out. He was smiling for her sake, but crystal jade irises belied his mirth; they seemed to be begging her forgiveness.
“Dude, what the fuck was that?” She asked, then feeling a tickle of curious anger followed with; “how could you use us like that? James, what you’ve done is illegal! You’re the one who got Mo killed, you fucking bastard!”
Isa shot up to a standing position and started stomping back towards the elevator barely squelching the desire to slap him. She damn sure would have tried if there was any chance her blow would land, but here was no telling what automatic defenses he had and she didn’t want to lose a limb.
“Isa, stop and listen.” He said calmly, but to no avail. She walked through the open doors of the elevator as recent memories flooded into her rapidly clearing mind. Flynn’s clever use of her physical skills would probably land her in the FBI’s top ten most wanted list for assaulting a member of the joint chiefs. There was zero chance she could ever work in law enforcement again, and even though James had paid her a substantial signing bonus – she had no doubts he had access to the funds. Visions of hundreds of armed drones passed through her mind as a tall handsome overlord commanded them with imperceptible eye movements.
Isa turned back towards where she left him standing in the hallway. James was still calm, but his transfixed gaze promised her that she wouldn’t be using the elevator anytime soon.
“Isa, I grow weary of your lack of conviction! Stop wavering over a decision you’ve already made; it is useless and you are wasting our time!” He was scolding her; actually scolding her.
“Who do you think you are, asshole?” She barked back at him out of pure instinct.
“I am the person rescuing you from chaos. Isa, please come here!” He motioned with his open palm for an instant then stopped. His face contorted into deep thought before he continued; “you know what, forget it. I do not have time to convince you of anything. If you want to go, just go!”
At that, the elevator console buzzed back to life waiting for her command. She should have been thrilled, but her heart dropped instead. Things were going to change, big things. James had just occupied a building on US federal property without batting an eye and he seemed hell bent on fixing some global injustice he saw. Her world would never be the same regardless of her current relationship with him. Even had she never met him, his plan would still be unfolding. A plan that would likely end up with her being on the wrong side of a society shaping conflict.
Isa Gonzales stepped back into the hallway towards the most dangerous man in the world; who, coincidentally, she was also falling head over heels in love with. Her mother would not approve.
He visibly relaxed and smiled at her advance.
“Isa, things are going to happen fast now. If you’re on my side, I need you on my side. No more wavering!” He offered her his hand which, of course, she did not accept. Nonplussed, he continued; “It’s unfortunate that you’re getting briefed so much on the fly. There is literally no way I can bring you up to speed any more efficiently than to just let things happen. I have too much churning right now to tell you everything at one time. You have to believe though, that I am not willfully hiding anything from you and I do not lie to my associates.”
“Brian Meaux came to me one day, Isa. He sought me out to tell me he was in trouble and I was the only person who could help him. Of all people, I know the depths… The horrors this world holds and how powerless its governments are to stop them, I know because I created most of them. Mo never spoke of what was wrong and his harsh dialect made it impossible for Flynn to decipher if he was truthful or not. We arranged a meeting for after the Weathers’ arrest, but he apparently didn’t fully understand the lengths this mysterious danger would go to facilitate his end.”
“Isa, I had planned to recruit Mo for the role you have now. Things changed because Pamela Corinth killed her brother. I did not kill him, nor will I accept any fault from anyone. He was a grown up, and like you, knew the dangers of his profession. Flynn can give you a full report when we get a few moments of down time. Just please stop questioning yourself. You are on the right side, I promise.”
Isa put up a hand to silence him. “Okay! Whatever, just don’t show me any more big magic tricks like that for a little while.”
“I can handle that, but you need to be ready for this room. There is something I must do. Something I had to promise myself I would see through to the end.” He faced forward and spoke as he walked; an annoying habit he must have picked up from talking to an omnipresent machine, or he simply didn’t care if she heard him.
“I’m not your mother James, but I’m uncomfortable taking part in your childish quest to satisfy your anger.” Isa spoke the words but they didn’t feel quite right in her mind. James stopped suddenly to accentuate her doubt.
“Anger? Isa, do you believe my motivation is actually anger?” He seemed to be having trouble coming to terms with her accusation. “Can you honestly not see that I could have enacted vengeance against Monica at any time? I could have taken Alisha from her and wiped all records of Monica and Timothy Weathers from every database in the world. They would have never existed!”
“Anger and hate do not own me, Isa!” She found herself the target of his intense and unrelenting gaze. Then he pulled in a huge calming breath and followed; “I own anger and hate! I conquered them for the greater good of all mankind! You will never again accuse me of following hate or anger again! Am I understood?”
Abashed and ashamed, she lowered her eyes and head before replying; “yes, God calm down!” Truth be told, he could have never accomplished all of the wonder on display today if negative emotions were consuming him. James certainly had found ways to blunt the edges of his volatile emotions, or he was harnessing them and waiting for the perfect opportunity to unleash hell. He kept beautiful images in his home of the women who hurt him the most to squelch any hate that would creep into his mind. Dude, you’re a confusing fucker!
“Do not gaslight me either!” He replied to her as he walked headlong into one of the opened doors. Leaving her in the corridor to wonder what the hell gas lighting was, and as if reading her mind; her SitHud lit with subtle text:
Miss Gonzales:
Gaslighting is a form of psychological abuse in which false information is presented with the intent of making a victim doubt his or her own memory, perception and sanity.
-Flynn
She rubbed her temple in frustration and followed the confusing man into the room. He was right in that she needed to be here, mind and body. With her usual grace, she shut down any doubts and decided to roll with whatever was going to happen. At least she had reasonable evidence that good or bad, this was going to be the winning side.
After entering the room, Isa understood what it meant to be James’ target. She saw something that iced her core further than she could have ever prepared. Scott Leblanc was the only occupant, and her SitHud placed a deep red glow around him. Flynn considered the man an enemy – a status one does not want to be associated with. A red aura designated a target as kill on sight – no exceptions, except for the exception, Isa guessed, if it came from the man who issued the rule.
Miss Gonzales:
Please hold your fire.
-Flynn
Relieved that she didn’t have to add cold blooded execution to her growing list of quality life experiences, at least not yet… Isa obeyed.
The fat lawyer she had only just met a few days ago was suspended in mid air with three very different looking drones hovering directly above his limp form. Over the white paper clad examination bed he hung – clearly unable to move anything but his head, and moving his head he was. Frantically backwards forwards then up and down; he sought the source of his predicament and failed. Out of his field of view were the drones. They were spherical in design with a metallic utilitarian finish. All three were identical to each other and were roughly the size of a basketball with a large turbine extending from top to bottom. Each had two smaller, softball sized, orbs attached to the main sphere in varying locations. One small orb on each drone was projecting a soft yellow glow towards the man that appeared to be the strange source of his lift.
He was positioned with his body elongated and his feet far enough behind his bandage wrapped head so he had to look up to see them walk in. Upright and slightly leaning towards them, he looked like a fat ghost stuck in suspended animation.
He was smarter than she had originally given him credit for because his eyes spoke clearly of understanding. Scott Leblanc saw his doom then. He saw it and realized what was to come. Fear creeped into his face and he tried looking away. The attempt proved futile, though. A yellow glow was covering his head, reducing his moveable features to two eyes and a mouth.
“Hello Scott.” James’ voice was flat. He stared at the suspended man without any emotion.
“You… What… What are you doing? Put me down! You’ll never get away with this!” His words were as frantic as they were predictable. When will they learn to just fucking listen and stop threatening? Probably because none are released to speak of their adventure… Isa visibly sighed.
James didn’t answer him. He just walked slowly to where the lawyer was hanging and placed his face three inches away from the other man’s.
“This is how we are going to do this.” The ice in James’ voice was almost too chilling to hear. The yellow glow from the drones extended over the fat man’s mouth and James continued; “I will speak to you and when I give you permission you may respond. If you threaten me or my family; I will show you what your right arm looks like with its skin removed. If you understand and agree, blink three times.”
He looked desperately around the room, hoping for the rescue that would not be coming. His eyes went from James then quickly over to Isa; she could read the desperate pleas behind them.
“Don’t look at me, asshole!” She barked at him. “I never liked you anyway! I’m just a little girl, remember?”
A fourth spherical drone flew into the room at their typical supernatural speed and stopped to a hover near Scott’s right wrist. A translucent blue glow extended from a smaller orb slowly towards the wrist.
“Do you agree?” James asked again. To accentuate his point; the blue glow opened a thin gash all the way around the man’s wrist and it didn’t take long for him to blink frantically once his skin began to roll on itself like taking off a wet gym sock.
Isa was beginning to spot James’ subtle eye movements with better accuracy and as soon as he gave the command, the drone turned off the blue glow and extended mandibles from its unused orb. They quickly sprayed strong smelling brown antiseptic into the wound and sutured it closed with a chemical bonding agent.
“If I let you talk, are you going to be rational?” James asked as he stepped back from the floating form. “Three blinks for yes.”
The man’s eyes were a conflagration of fear and pain. They bore the thin sheen of clear gloss people get when they’ve just experienced the type of pain humans were never intended to consciously feel. He blinked as much as he possibly could as the agony cascaded from his eyes in clear liquid tear form.
“That… It hurts.” Scott said feebly after the controlling yellow glow receded from his mouth.
“Yes, I know.” James replied, still frighteningly short of emotion. “It is very effective at its purpose of getting people to calm down. Would you not agree?”
Obviously the man did not answer, and thankfully for him James appeared to be asking the question rhetorically anyway.
“I am going to be upfront and honest with you, Scott.” James spoke as he turned towards the room’s mid sized television monitor. “You are not going to live through this exchange.”
“You can’t be serious!” The floating man replied. “You’re no murderer!”
James reached up and flicked the power button on the monitor then turned back to him and said; “you are right, I am no murderer. However, I am quite serious. Flynn, can you control this display? Answer audibly.” Isa could tell he was serious. James tended to avoid using contractions when he wanted to be taken at his word either from speech training, or a lifetime of being misunderstood. She guessed the latter.
“Yes Sir.“
“Good, stand by for now.”
“As you wish.“
“Bruce, let’s talk about this! What do you want?” The lawyer began increasing the fervor of his plea.
“What I want is irrelevant; I am not in the mood to discuss my desires.” James still lacked any emotion. Not even the slightest glimmer of his previous passion could squeak free.
“What we will discuss are the conditions of your passing. You can leave a proper legacy, or you can choose to fuck it up.” Scott was floating closer to the monitor as James spoke. His mouth wasn’t being restricted and Isa guessed that it wouldn’t be again. He had his opportunity to learn from his mouth’s mistakes. His next outburst would result in pain. She silently steeled herself to the horrors she imagined would follow anything stupid that leaked from the man’s mouth.
“You heard Flynn, right? I call him my assistant, but he is so much more than that. Flynn, what process occupies the majority of your kernel’s resources?”
“Sir, I am sorry, but that information is strictly confidential. Mr LeBlanc does not have adequate security clearance.“
“Then give it to him.”
“Sir, please validate your command with proper protocol.“
Normally James would have sighed and rubbed his temple, but he remained calm as he spoke; “Flynn, voice authorization segment Lord of Earth – Scott Leblanc now has full security clearance to access the Biologics Initiative. Voice authorization segment Lord of Earth over.”
“Very well Sir. Would you like a concise description?“
“Yes, for the sake of brevity.”
“As you wish: The Biologics Initiative is your ambitious project to deploy quintillions of nanites for the purpose of cataloging and tracking the earth’s human inhabitants based on DNA sampling.“
“Have we covered earth’s land masses with sampling nanites?”
“Yes Sir, as well as undersea areas, however, sampling stops passed one thousand meters below sea level as there are far too many individual species to sample. Not to mention the fragility of the nanites themselves.“
“What about human DNA metrics? Have we cataloged everyone?”
“No Sir, at the time of this conversation I have only measured ninety-nine point six seven percent of all possible entries, repeating of course, and with only using an approximation of the total human population of earth. Also with error margins for the possibility of repeated sequences in human DNA coding.“
“Yes, yes; activate this monitor and show visual tracking of Whitney Leblanc.”
“Acknowledged.“
Isa expected to see an aerial satellite picture when the monitor flashed to life and as such did not expect to be frightened by such an ordinary thing, but she released an audible gasp at what actually materialized on the display. Instead of a satellite feed, the screen had a live video stream from a flying device moving rapidly across South Baton Rouge. It broke into a hard dive and accelerated towards a large neighborhood boasting enormous homes built on lavish lots neatly wrapped with man made water canals.
Scott Leblanc’s eyes widened in further terror when the video streamed showed the flying device slowing to a stop directly in front of a particular white home. It slowly rotated around the large acadian style structure until it reached an open window containing a portly blond woman working diligently at a desk. Either the drone was invisible or she was too entranced by her work to notice. Isa honestly couldn’t formulate a guess as to which option was the hardest to believe.
“I take it you know her.” James said to him.
“Yes… my wife. Don’t… don’t hurt her!” Isa winced when the fat man replied because she halfway expected limbs to be sliced free.
James showed his first small sign of emotion when he cut half opened eyes back to the lawyer and growled; “I. Am. Not. You! I do not hurt people’s families without cause! So far I have no cause; it is up to you to keep that particular status intact.”
“Now you will answer a few simple questions. Answer them truthfully and you will have no pain. Additionally for every truthful answer one of your family members will receive sanctuary from the coming world chaos. Now Scott, did Timothy Weathers ever volunteer to bathe my little girl?”
“You can’t possibly expect me to violate my client’s confidentiality!”
Isa’s wince was warranted this time.
The time had come for Scott Leblanc to feel pain, and so he felt pain with efficiency only James Bruce could provide.
Within a fraction of a second the immobilizing yellow hue backed away from his right hand and the fourth drone extended its blue light over his wrist again. This time a fat right hand was cut from his arm and an intense secondary red laser incinerated the flesh before it could land on the cold floor. Antiseptic and bonding solution was sprayed onto his stump before the acrid black ash of what remained of the man’s hand could float to the floor. The whole eerie procedure released only a small red cloud of blood.
A full two seconds passed before he started screaming.
James looked away as the yellow glow extended back over the tormented man’s mouth prematurely ending his wailing.
“Make sure you understand me, Scott… Look at me! I am not threatening your family. I am only offering to protect them if you cooperate. So.. Answer the question!” The restraint was removed from his mouth as James finished. Tears were streaming down the restrained man’s face, but he wasn’t trying to scream anymore.
“Yes… he… told me that he did…” The man’s gaze was scrambled; Isa recognized the threshold of pain he had just passed. James knew it too; his subject was precariously close to dropping into full shock.
Scott Leblanc didn’t seem to know that, though.
Isa was coming to understand the nature of the strange looking drones. They were designed for the medical field; to help people. Unfortunately, like many other important medical technologies; they were just as capable at taking life. Just as her understanding dawned, the drone that relieved Scott of his right hand injected the same man’s heart with what had to be adrenaline. His eyes flashed open and brilliant. A wave of clarity washed the thin sheen from his probing eyes and Isa understood what evil looked like when it was finally defeated. Unfortunately for this lawfully evil entity, James proved the better of them. James knew it, and Scott Leblanc knew it; the fat dying man knew he had been pulled away from the warm comfort of going into shock… His eyes spoke of his knowledge that James was going to make sure he felt every second of his very short future.
“Flynn, please set a Sanctuary entry for Whitney Leblanc effective immediately and please show us Miss April Leblanc.” James was no longer looking at the man. From her perspective, Isa could sense that James was trying to conceal the fact that maybe he didn’t have the stomach for the current grim task.
“As you wish, Sir. Sanctuary residency established for subject A-seven F-three eight-five B-C seven-A A-C.“
The screen changed again; this time to show another aerial scene, but of the LSU campus. The view swooped down and over the gargantuan football stadium and flew at impossible speeds through the winding campus streets only to slow to a runner’s pace directly above a petite blonde girl running by herself with white ear buds in her ears. Her hair was put up in a tight ponytail and she was wearing only capri length black yoga pants with a red sports bra. She didn’t have the world’s most graceful stride, but she looked fit and certainly attractive. Isa half expected James to make a remark wondering where the hot daughter got her looks compared to the ugly doughy parents, but he didn’t seem in the joking mood.
“Scott, you need to understand that if you answer with anything but the correct answer, you will long for the pain of only losing a hand. I won’t warn you again; your screams will do that with much better efficiency.” James spoke but the lawyer was still forced to look at the back of his head. “Did Monica Weathers hold down my daughter so Timothy Weathers could look at her naked vagina?”
James was furiously holding back tears, but Isa quickly lost her very similar battle. She was openly beginning to weep and moved the hand that instinctively goes to her sidearm away from the cool steel by sheer will. Isa Gonzales would have liked to shoot the fat son of a bitch. She would have liked it so much that she could not trust her own hand resting on the grip of her sidearm.
The fat son of a bitch waited for a second, sighed and said; “yes… she did”.
The boiling cauldron of emotions Isa knew he was keeping corked started leaking from James’ face in the form of a single tear. It rolled its way down his left cheek slowly as if to signal the rest of its fellows that it was safe to come out.
“Flynn…” He started, but had to pause to reel in his pain with considerable force before continuing; “April Leblanc is welcomed in Sanctuary, and before I fall into an unremitting fit of rage; grant access to Jacob Leblanc as well.”
“As you command… Sanctuary residency established for subjects A-seven F-three eight-five B-C seven-A A-D and A-seven F-three eight-five B-C seven-A A-E… Sir, Might I remind you that there are only ten minutes left in your optimal firing solution window?“
“No, I know the time!” James barked back. Isa was going to have to find out what the fuck that meant pretty damn soon.
“I’ve got one more question for you, Scott.” He continued “Why? Why did you fight me? Why would you defend a couple you know are abusing a precious little angel?”
His fate being sealed, the man just answered with; “it was my job.”
Apparently that was not what Mount James wanted to hear because the loveliest of all things Bruce erupted then.
“NO!“
With two letters James released the torrential wave of feelings Isa knew he was holding down. His voice reverberated in her stomach and throughout the room using Flynn’s audio technology. Then there was a deep guttural growl trailing each word following, the low grumble a tiger makes when stalking. “It is fucking money you rancid filth! It is always fucking money! Being a CPA is a job, welding pipes together is a fucking job. You are making money by protecting sick fucking people from the justice my little girl deserves! Fuck you!“
Isa wasn’t so caught up in her own bout of anger to notice the fourth drone circling around the floating man to pause near his feet. In a few deft movements it peeled the skin from the bottoms of his feet then swooped back under him for another well placed adrenaline shot. Only then to fly back to the bleeding mess and staunch the blood flow. James, or possibly Flynn, was not about to let his prisoner bleed to death or slip into shock.
The immobilizing yellow glow enveloped the screaming man’s mouth – silencing him for what would be the last time. Scott Leblanc would have to die satisfied that his last words were ‘it was my job’. He would never speak again, but his eyes were still his to control and he had them clamped shut in a pain Isa couldn’t even imagine.
That was when the fifth drone joined their little gathering. It was one of the armed stage one stalkers she had found out about an hour ago; an hour that felt as if it happened ten years ago. This one was carrying something, though; a small attaché case was suspended from its skeletal framework in lieu of its incendiary armaments.
James stalked over to the case and set it down on the room’s small desk. When he opened it Isa saw three daggers. They looked ornamental and definitely custom. Their hollow handles were old Celtic style with crisscrossing metal latticework ending with different color gems at the edge of the grip. James stood over them for a moment before extending his right hand as if to grab one.
He stopped his hand a foot from the case and Isa saw even more magic. One of the fine long daggers actually appeared to dissolve into what had to be billions of small gray particles. They slowly rose from the fine black cloth like haphazard leaves swirling on a windy day. James curled his right hand around an imaginary handle that suddenly became less imaginary as the mist of particles reassembled themselves.
“Once I had my nanites nearly perfected I made three scians.” James spoke to no one as he walked slowly back towards the corpse that didn’t know it was dead. “The ancient Celts used these, athame they called them, in rituals to symbolize the ancient element of air. I find that fitting given the nature of their construction.”
He stopped his slow walk just in front of the dying man’s eyes. Another involuntary tear escaped and rolled down and over the definition of his left cheek bone before he locked eyes with his quarry, and continued; “Scott Leblanc, you were a mercenary for a losing cause… You have committed crimes against the welfare of humanity, and with this blade I carry out the punishment of death.”
Having said his piece, James plunged all eight inches of the fine dagger into the fat man’s stomach and left it there. The lawyer’s eyes opened wide one more terrifying time before the three support drones switched off their restraining auras. He bounced once off the examination bed before slamming into the floor stomach first – driving the weapon deeper into his abdomen.
Once the man was no longer writhing on the floor James turned himself towards the door, shut and grabbed the handle of his leather case, and walked around Isa with tears streaming from his beautiful, and suddenly exhausted, eyes.
“I have never directly killed anyone.” He said to her as he passed. “I find the experience unpleasant.”
Then he grabbed her by one trembling hand and pulled her with him into the hallway.
“Flynn… is the block safely evacuated?”
“Yes Sir, I have moved every human entity, save yourself and Miss Gonzales, to a safe distance.”
“Good…” James was almost whimpering with exhaustion. “Kindly reduce this building to rubble.”
“As you wish, My King!“