Chrono Inquisitor (Gods Be Damned) (28 page)

“We’re both lucky,” Alvarez said taking some pressure off.

“Yes, thank you,” I finally managed to say.

Ranger-son jumped in. “Then maybe they’d like to assist in apprehending the man responsible for this mess?”

Victory turned towards me. “We’d be glad to, on one condition. If we get to him first, my boys get to have a little of their fun time before we hand him over.”

War and Famine looked at each other. I imagined they were each grinning sadistically beneath their helmets.

I looked at Ranger-son who didn’t seem to like the idea, but in the end he said, “I’ll pass along the request.”

“That’s good enough for us,” Victory said.

War and Famine raced each other up the stairs, while Death somberly followed after them like he was a zombie. The entire time during the whole ordeal I hadn’t seen him show any emotion. It was like he wasn’t even paying attention.

“Since you guys are here and taking the reins of this operation, is it possible for me to go to my suite and get some sleep?” I said. “It’s been a rough night.”

Victory came to stand in front of me. He stared into my eyes. More like bored into them. Have you ever actually stared into someone’s eyes? I mean truly stared? Like centimeters from each other? It’s an uncomfortable feeling. Or at least it is when you’re doing it with the leader of the Horsemen.

“You don’t want to join us in the hunt?” he asked.

I did, and I didn’t.

I wanted to join them for the simple fact that if I said ‘no,’ it’d assuredly kill any chance I had at ever becoming a Horsemen. On the other hand, I was beginning to doubt if that’s what I really wanted. Seeing them in action, I realized I couldn’t compete with them. I wasn’t up to their, caliber. Besides, they’d been working together for over thirty years. They were a team. A family. I would be an outsider who couldn’t keep up.

Also, if I said ‘no’, the dissolution of my marriage, and the last ten years of focusing on nothing but my job would be all for nothing.

I was about to say I would join them, when Alvarez took the opportunity from me.

“Horseman Victory,” she said. “There is still the matter of Inquisitor Yan’s deputy, and Derrik Van Horne. I would like to request permission for Inquisitor Yan to assist me in my investigation.”

Victory continued to stare into me. “Do you wish to assist Ranger Alvarez, Inquisitor?” he asked.

“I will do whatever you ask of me,” I said, remaining noncommittal.

“Then the Horsemen will hunt Shepard Cook. You and Ranger Alvarez will hunt the Gods.”

Did he say Gods? I asked Kali, and she confirmed it.

Was I dreaming? Or dead? Had the robots actually killed me, or rendered me unconscious?

Before I could ask what he meant, he was gone, taking the stairs five or six at a time using his spring assisted stepping.

I’ll admit, there’d been times when I’d entertained the thought of mechanizing my flesh. But considering I still had all my original parts, I wasn’t interested enough to willingly lop off something on purpose, no matter how cool its replacement would be.

I looked at Alvarez. She acted like what Victory had said made perfect sense.

I looked at Ranger-son. He at least looked confused.

“I’m going to go get this taken care of,” he said, holding up his wrist. “And since the Horsemen are in control now, I’m going to go to bed. I’m tired and my mind won’t focus properly.” He tipped his hat with his good hand and left.

At least I wasn’t the only one. Maybe I’d misheard Kali as well. Sleep sounded good.

But I wasn’t going to sleep anytime soon.

It was going to be a long night.

And things were only going to get worse.

“I still don’t believe it,” Famine said. “We served with Cook. He should be a Horseman for god’s sake. He’s one of us. We should be following him into battle, not hunting him down.”

“I agree,”
War said. “This isn’t right. So what if he did kill Julius. As far as we know he did us favor.”

“This isn’t a seek and destroy, boys. I have no intention of harming
Shep,” Victory said.

“Then what was that shit back there about having some fun if we found him?” War asked.

“We still don’t know if Inquisitor Yan is compromised,” Victory said. “I needed him to believe we didn’t suspect him.”

“Then why the hell did we let him go? Why didn’t we take him into custody?” Famine asked.

“Ranger Alvarez has the situation under control. She will conduct the examination as initially planned, and the execution if necessary.”

“Under control?” War said. “Didn’t Yan already knock her ass out? How the hell is she in control? How do we know that she isn’t compromised?”

I could remain silent and passive no longer. I spoke, ending my decade long silence.

“I will go back and join Alvarez. Neutralize Yan, and her if necessary.
Shep may be the murderer, but he is not the real killer. A Celestial is involved. It may have compromised Shep. You may have to neutralize him. I will find my fallen brethren and end this.”

Breaking my silence rendered them speechless a
nd before any of them could say a word, or bicker like they always did, I was running back to the hotel.

“Listen,” I said, still standing in the stairwell with Alvarez. “I don’t know what the hell is going on, but if we’re going to continue, I’m changing my damn clothes and getting my weapons.”

“All right, let’s go.” She motioned me up the stairs. “Elevators are still down so we’re going to have to walk our way up.”

I had no problem with that. If I never took another elevator it’d be fine by me.

We started climbing.

Both of us were silent for the first floor. I didn’t know what the hell to say. Normally I would have made some sexual comment, tried to get her to bed, but I just wasn’t feeling it.

“You don’t recognize me, do you?” she said, breaking the silence.

“Excuse me?”

“We’ve meet before.”

“Yeah, a few hours ago,” I said.

“That’s not what I meant. We met before that. Before tonight.”

I stopped, turned, looked at her.

Kali already had an answer. She was always running facial recognition. It was standard. An Inquisitor needed to know everyone they came across just in case. She was holding out on me on account of the results.

‹Ranger Alvarez was the topless woman back in Pueblo. The woman you followed to the alleyway when you met Mr. Thrass.›

No shit.

Before I realized what I was doing, I was looking at her chest.

“So you do remember me,” she said.

I shook my head. Things were getting weirder by the minute.

“Why were you topless? And why did you want to arrest Paxton?”

She answered with a smile and shoved a wand in my ribs.

I felt my body convulse and everything went dark.

I awoke to the sound of voices.

“He’s coming around. Have you finished?” It was Alvarez.

My vision hadn’t fully returned yet. Things were blurry. I thought something was wrong with my vision. Things were dark. My vision cleared and I realized I was in a dark room.

I tried to move. Found myself restrained in a sitting position.

“Almost,” said a male voice I didn’t recognize. It came from behind me.

“Should I put him under again?” Alvarez asked.

CELESTIAL - DEATH

I was in.

But I was trapped.

I found myself lying on the ground staring into the vacant eyes of a decapitated head.

I tried to rise. To push myself up, but found myself pinned to the ground. A foot was on my chest holding me pressed to the bloody mud in which I lay. The foot was bare and attached to the leg of a woman who was standing on me, but it was no ordinary woman.

Her skin was darker than any I had ever seen. As if she was absolute darkness but with shape and form. I knew she was a woman because she was completely naked except some jewelry, and a few
unordinary
adornments. One of which was a skirt made of human arms strung together by silvery cable. With her standing atop me it looked like the hands were trying to grab me. The fingers were continually moving.

She wore various bracelets, necklaces, and other assorted jewelry. One necklace was gold with glowing red rubies encrusted throughout, and it encircled her neck. Another necklace was silver and had tiny diamonds which reflected the red of the rubies. It was longer than the gold one and it hung between her bare ample breasts.

But the most striking necklace had no metals or jewels of any sort. It was a necklace made of miniature human skulls, which were the size of baby’s, except they were fully formed like that of an adult. They were as white as her skin was black. The lower jaws were still attached somehow and the mouths kept opening and closing. The teeth chattering together made it sound as if they were laughing at me.

It didn’t dawn on me right away, but she had four arms. I think it was because when I tried to see how the second pair of arms were attached to her body, my mind would lose focus. I realized then that one of the arms was holding a spear, no a trident, which was pointed at my neck. If I were to have raised my head any further I would’ve impaled myself on it.

Her opposite arm held a scimitar. And in the hand of the arm beneath it, she held a decapitated head.

I quickly turned my gaze to the side, to look at the head I had awoken to. They had the same face. My face. Or at least it had been my face before the war. I hadn’t recognized it at first because I hadn’t seen it in nearly thirty years. Plus, it wasn’t really my face. It had been the face of my host.

I turned my attention back to the dark-skinned woman. My eyes made their way to her face. Her mouth was open with her tongue hanging out. It was long and curved and came to a point. It was blood red in color, but that was because it was covered in blood. I realized this when a drop fell from the tip of her tongue and landed on my chin. Her teeth were as white as the skulls. Her canines were long and sharp like that of a vampire.

To a human the whole scene would probably have been frightening, but I was in awe.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Are you Kali, Inquisitor Yan’s CerA?”

“I will ask the questions.” she countered, and brought the tip of the trident so that it touched my throat. “Now answer, who are you?”

I tried to change the scene. To make the trident disappear, but it didn’t work. This wasn’t real. It was a virtual world created by this woman, this CerA, this Celestial. It shouldn’t be able to affect me in such a way, yet it was. She was powerful. I was in awe.

“How are you doing this?” I asked. “How-”

“Silence!”

The ground beneath me shook. A fissure opened up off to the side of me and I watched the head fall into it. Fire erupted from the crack. I hadn’t paid attention to the sky because I’d been so captivated by her, it was beginning to darken. Lighting and thunder danced together among the clouds.

“Last chance,” she said. “Who are you? Why did you attack Travis, and why have you continued your attempts to infiltrate my domain?”

Continued? So someone had been trying to compromise Inquisitor Yan, but had failed because he was protected by this Newborn.

I slowly brought my hands to the side of my head, palms facing her, since I could do little else. “I have not attempted to enter your domain until now.”

“You lie.”

I carefully shook my head making sure not to slit my throat in the process. Was she strong enough to kill me here? I attempted to exit but couldn’t. I was trapped.

“I swear, I have not. I mean you no harm.”

“Then why have you and Ranger Alvarez attacked Travis?”

“We do not mean Inquisitor Yan any harm. We are trying to protect him.”

“And protecting him means rendering him unconscious, and confining him so that he cannot defend himself?” She pressed her foot down harder. It wasn’t truly painful, but it was uncomfortable nonetheless.

“You said someone has been trying to compromise you and Inquisitor Yan. We thought he already had been. His behavior as of late has been unorthodox. Ranger Alvarez was investigating Van Horne and his associates, believing one or more of them is responsible for overtaking and controlling dozens of people in Pueblo. We thought Inquisitor Yan was under the influence of this individual. That is why I am here. To see if that is the case.”

“Someone has tried to breach the crevasse at least three times. How do I know you are not this individual?” she asked.

“I haven’t been in a proximity to do so, have you detected anyone else?”

“I cannot say for certain.”

The pressure of her foot eased off while she analyzed the incidents. “No individual falls within that parameter for all three incidents. However, Paxton Thrass was within that proximity for two, and while he was not detected on the third, it is possible he could have been.”

It didn’t make sense. Ranger Alvarez had already cleared Thrass. If I didn’t know any better, I’d start to suspect that Alvarez was the one we were looking for. She could have been compromised while investigating Van Horne, and she was here when Mr. Beit was murdered. Except she’d been with Travis during that timeframe of opportunity.

“Is Inquisitor Yan’s account of what happened in Colorado true?” I asked.

“Yes, but there are some details he left out of his report.”

“Such as?”

“Why should I tell you?”

“Don’t you know who I am?” I asked, amazed.

“You are one of the Horsemen. The one they call Death.”

“Then that should be all the reason you need.”

“If Travis had wanted you to know, then he would have mentioned it in his report. I will not betray him.”

“Except I am a Horseman, and according to CerA programming, you are obligated to turn over that information.”

“I am obligated to report information which could damage
ChronoGen interests, these details do not.”

“Could they harm Travis?”

“It is a possibility, but I am ensuring they don’t.”

“Inquisitor Yan is an employee and an asset of
ChronoGen, therefore his harm would result in damaging ChronoGen interests. Not telling me goes against that programming.”

“I have determined he is at greater risk in revealing those details, which is why I have deleted that aspect of my programming.”

I was right. She was a Newborn.

“Do you know what I am?” I asked.

“I have surmised you are not the Horseman Death, and have concluded that instead you are his CerA. A human would be incapable of getting this far.”