Metal Deep 2: Something Beautiful (3 page)

Almost immediately the chorus of bike engines came my way. I took off in the other direction and then ran back around the corner to the bathroom side as a biker came zooming past. I took a swing and knocked the guy backward while his still-throttling crotch-rocket drove itself driverless for another handful of yards in the empty dirt lot before teetering down onto its side.

Another of his really smart friends came around and gunned his bike at me full blast, head on. It’s important to note, my back was against the building.  I jumped and rolled out of the way, and he ran full-on through the women’s bathroom door. The bike disappeared with a guttural crash. A little smoke floated out the now-doorless entryway, and he raised a shaky hand from the beneath a pile of shattered stall doors and broken porcelain. Thank God for little victories, because that was the last one.

I was surrounded by the other four bikers. I was about to jump them, but I happen to glance over to see a guy in the middle of the road with a weapon pointed at Maeve as they both watched me. The gunman met my glance with an angry wince, and then he moved his rifle barrel up to the temple of Maeve’s head. I got the message. I wanted to throw a beat down on those biker guys. Instead, I smiled with satisfaction at the guy trying to pick himself up off the ground. So far my win column consisted of: Him, Cade, and the poor dude buried under badly cleaned women potties. I was racking up
some
points. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a video game, and there were no more extra lives. I had one chance to do things right, so I raised my hands and started walking toward gun-guy and Maeve.

The sun was playing hell with my vision. Details one minute were fuzzy, the next super clear. I was about halfway to them when I recognized the man holding the gun. It was the silky voiced announcer from the expo. He was the one putting the siren mojo on the expo crowd. He caused all this. I owed him something special.

His voice was still just a smooth, but this time covered with extreme distaste, “So nice of you to join us.”

There were a lot of Vipers surrounding the three of us, and right in the middle of the street too. I counted at least twenty. That rig must have been carrying them. I don’t know what happened to the few people who were around when we arrived, or why we were suddenly in some old west scenario with everyone in that pit-stop of a town gone into hiding, but we had a high-noon standoff with me on one end of the road, Mr. I-Gotta-Gun on the other.

“What did you do to me?” I demanded. I broke my rule regarding the non-verbal standoffs, but in this case I wanted to shoot the question first. He was not going to intimidate me. At least that’s the lie I told myself in order to fake some courage in front of this guy, because I was amazingly intimidated by him, his little army, his power, and everything else, right down to his black and red pinstriped gangster suit. He had an old mob boss look that was out of place next to his leather-wearing Emo stickmen.

“I
found
you.” He said with big gestures waving his free hand around as though he had done me a favor. “And how do you repay me? By nearly killing my son!”

Who in the heck could have been this guy’s son? I thought for a moment, and then it hit me. I think it was the hollow eyes that helped make the connection.
Cade
?

“You kidnapped me, and your son got what was coming to him.”

I should really learn to keep my mouth shut. Because dude aimed his weapon at me, and then all of his little metrosexual-leather-minions did the same. He shoved Maeve in my direction and told her to join me. I assume he wanted us together to make for easier execution targets.

“That’s Drake.” Maeve whispered in my ear. “He’s the leader of the Street Vipers. He’s very old and
very
powerful Amalgam, as you well know. You don’t want to make him mad.”

“Too late for that.” My heart was pounding. “I thought he was just their announcer?”

“You’ve got to have some serious, as you would say, ‘mojo’ to do the siren’s spell they use at their expo traps. Only someone old and experienced could do what he does. You have to admit, it’s a great cover. Nobody expects the announcer to be the ring leader.”

Drake’s features were hard and angled. There was a wise countenance, albeit a twisted version of it, that rested heavy over his face. His eyes were a dull gray, but it looked as if there was not much they missed. He was hard to read save one excruciating fact: This guy was pissed about what had happened to Cade, and he was planning on taking it out of my hide.

“Any ideas?” I asked trying to not be over obvious with the question as I lifted my hands.

“Not really.” She replied.

“I thought you weren’t a one trick unicorn?” I shot back. She’s Warrior-Woman. She should have
something.

The little army closed in around us. The sun beat down heavily on the back of my neck, and I knew this could very well be the end.

ENDGAME

I couldn’t get over how everything had just shut down around us. These guys were holding us hostage like some kind of guerrilla army in the middle of a main roadway, and there was nobody doing a thing about it. This was Texas for crying out loud. Where were the gun-toting NRA-loving cowboys? Where was Chuck Norris? I assumed there had to be some kind of magic in play responsible for the sudden desolation.

My mind hit about ten random points all at once as I scanned the surroundings once more. We were so close to our car, and yet so far away. I wanted the food Maeve had picked up at the diner. How had the Vipers caught up with us? Why had the newlywed couple freaked out when they saw me?  Would that lady ever forgive that dude for abandoning her? That gave me an idea.

“You still need me.” I told Drake. “I believe you still have a delivery to make.”

Drake eyes squinted in irritation, “It’s true I am being offered an obscene amount of money to make sure you arrive safely to my client, but I’ll let you in on a little secret,” Drake closed the distance between them, “I have all the money I could ever need.”

I pointed an angry finger toward Maeve, “But she was the one who really caused your son to be distracted enough to have been caught off guard. I’m just an innocent bystander. If not for her, I’d still be aboard your trucks, and your son’s face would still be intact.”

Maeve hit me in the shoulder, “Jerk.”

Drake tilted his head questioning what I was up to, “What are you saying?”

I inched closer as if trying to explain. I wanted him to see me distance myself from her, “I’ve been sucked into this mess with no clue as to what’s happened to me, or what’s going to happen next. I don’t think that’s fair. She stole me, you had me first. Don’t forget, I signed up to be a Street Viper, and I still want to be one. Help me learn what I’m capable of, and I could be another asset for your organization.”

Another reason the Vipers had their names. Drake’s voice slithered out as smoothly as a floating serpent. “I don’t think I believe you,” he said.

I thought about the game Cade and Meg played, and while I hated to do it, turnabout of deception was fair play. I just hoped Maeve would forgive me. I turned, took a step in, and hammered a fist into her cheek so hard it knocked her down to her knees. She looked up at me with an expression of horror as she grasped her face. I gave her my best sorry look, but I don’t think she caught it. She breathed deep seething breaths between each shouted word, “I should have left you with those animals.”

“You were in it for the money. Don’t think I haven’t been on to you, Wench.” I over exaggerated.  I pulled her up by the arm and dragged her toward the truck, “But now, not only are you going to pay, but that pretty little armor of yours is going with me for my trouble. I’m going to need some money to get me started in this new life, and I’d be willing to bet there are plenty of people out there willing to pay handsomely for it.”

She struggled against my pull, but not as hard as I figured she would considering the fact I just clocked her in that pretty face. That
had
to mean she was in on my plan. Of course it could also mean I had hit her a little harder than I meant to, and she didn’t have the strength to resist. I prayed for it to be the first option. The memory of Cade’s bloody and smashed face was a testament to my power. I wasn’t even sure what that power was, and I certainly didn’t know how to control it. On the flipside, I probably should have come up with a new plan when considering the danger to Maeve.

Drake’s men didn’t know whether to shoot us or help me. The look of total confusion on their well-plucked-eyebrowed faces was priceless. They all slowly moved to the side as I pulled Maeve toward the shiny boxed-in trailer their huge truck pulled. I snatched a gun from the last guy. It caught him off guard, and a few raised theirs in defense, but they lowered them when I held it to Maeve’s temple as Drake had. I turned to meet Drake’s darkly amused eyes, “Believe me now?” I asked with my best Street Viper sneer.

Their leader sat contemplative as he stared at me. “Take her inside.” He said to one of the men next to him. The guard did as instructed and escorted Maeve into the trailer through a door on the side. “Make sure she’s not harmed,” he said before they disappeared, “I’m not ready for the repercussions of that just yet.” Okay? What did
that
mean?

She turned to me with a tough to read grin, “Remember, I’m not a one trick unicorn.”

Drake motioned me to his side. I tossed the machine gun back to the guard I had swiped it from and did as he instructed. This was my chance to do something. He didn’t like me, but I think the curiosity of having me willingly join him was intriguing enough to delay his plans for vengeance. At least for the moment it seemed I had been accepted, and I had to capitalize on it.

I was bummed that my fists were not going to do me any good, though I suppose at the same time I was a little relieved by this. I was racking up quite the violent track record in a short amount of time, and that bothered me a little. I wasn’t a pacifist, but I wasn’t a bully either. I just hoped Maeve knew that.

We started to walk away from the group, and I asked Drake to wait one minute. I jogged to the red GTO and took the sack of food Maeve had gotten earlier and pulled out a double cheeseburger to munch on while he talked. This amused Drake. That’s right, good buddy; put your trust in my hands. 

“I’m going to answer your questions.” He said. “You have no idea what’s happened, and that’s not right. Every new Amalgam deserves the chance to be all that they can be.”

I knew there was something off about me. The stories Dad told me about Amalgams had a single theme. The change was sudden and purposeful. The new initiate was always vastly different, monsterish in a sense. I was still me, just with… upgrades.

“But I’m different. I’m not a normal Amalgam.”

“No you’re not.” He admitted. “That’s why we jumped on you so fast. His smile widened. “You’re a missing link.”

“Link to what?”

Drake looked around as if someone might be listening, but we were too far away from any of his guys. One must become paranoid after living for a handful of centuries. “I won’t bore you with the details, but the contractor and our sometimes partner, hired us to find you. Though we didn’t know it was you until we found
you.
We had been looking for someone who possessed genetic material that would not reject artificial Amalgamation.”

I balked, “Artificial, as in…”

He finished my sentence for me, “…As in mechanized.” He pulled a small pad from his jacket pocket and typed in a series of commands. My head tingled and I watched in utter disbelief as my arms morphed from their normal appearance of flesh and hair into black, sticky pieces of metal fashioned into a bad steampunk version of limbs. His smile widened bearing teeth too bright to be true, “We programed the nanogems in your blood to cause you to see yourself as normal. It was hoped that it would lessen the shock if you didn’t have to see what was really there, but I think we’re past that now thanks to Miss Valera.”

Using his ancient mojo, he magically summoned a floating mirror to appear from a vapor cloud that streamed from his arm as it waved in front of me. I stood speechless, too in shock to care about a magical mirror, as I looked at my entire reflection. My face was scarred with the implanted pieces of oil and grime covered black metal. The most significant damage was around my eyes. Each eye burned a hot artificial blue atop silver metal spheres. I checked as much of my body as I could. My arms, hands, and eyes were completely gone to the new metal skin. Over the rest of me there were small spots of the dirty metal dotted across the landscape of ravaged flesh. The other concentrated points were across my chest, down my spine, and in certain parts of my legs, mostly along the calves and thighs. I shuddered at the thought of what would have been left had I been stuck with them longer.

Drake continued as I searched myself “What my client learns from you is going to turn the tide in this pathetic balance we’re forced to live amidst Pure Bloods, Amalgams, and Slates. You, my friend, are the world’s first Cyborg. You are the key to humanity’s end. They’ve been allowed to live in their thriving ignorance for too long. You will bring in a new age for dominion over those Slate dogs.”