Haywire (15 page)

“
I don’t think we should . . .” She stopped speaking for a moment, her breath hitching in her throat and her hands shaking. When she spoke again, her voice quaked. “Oh my god. They... They’ll kill you, Shawn.”

“
What?” His eyes widened in shock, and he pushed down on the metal bed so hard the frame twisted. “You can’t be serious, Mom.”

Artemis began to speak, but suddenly her armor softened and vibrated like a pool of quicksilver. Her back arched, and she hammered her fists into the wall behind her until the concrete cracked. Then, as quickly as it began, her seizure ended, her armor solidifying once more. After shaking her head, she sighed and leaned against the wall. “She is, Shawn. As a Titan you’re already a potential danger, but if they find out about the virus, that I’m sick, they wouldn’t hesitate for a second to try and kill us both. You’re not military, Shawn, but I am. I know how they think. They’ll take the least risk for what they see as the most good.”

The world spun in dizzying circles around Alicia, with possible futures spiraling out from her in frayed threads that went from bad to worse, and she felt vomit churn in her gut. To regain control of herself and stop the spinning, she stood up straight, sniffed sharply, and smoothed the wrinkles from her suit jacket. It wasn’t much, but it was something. Once she felt a semblance of control over herself she said, “All right, then we need to decide what our next step is. Whether we save the Titans or stop them, either option means making our way into another of Groesbeck’s facilities and finding something no one else has found yet. Given his penchant for paranoia, that’s not an impossibility. In fact, in light of what I’ve seen today, it’s more than likely such a place does exist. Finding one, however, will be problematic, especially if time’s limited as much as you suspect.”

“
Couldn’t the Alliance and the Union militaries stop the Titans?” Shawn asked. His right eyebrow was raised, and Alicia knew from experience that it was his hopeful expression. The brow lowered in dismay when Artemis shook her head.

“
The Hezrin had an empire that stretched across dozens of worlds, and even though it took us nearly a century to do it, we destroyed them. Their might was something human ships and soldiers couldn’t match then, and certainly can’t match now. So, if we could decimate the Hezrin, what sort of threat do you think the Sol System poses?”

Shawn sighed and hung his head. “Probably not much.”

“
And then there’s the infection to consider. Eventually it’ll fry our circuits and burn us to a crisp from the inside out, but until then it’s driven them into a blood frenzy that’s nearly unstoppable. The Titans are coming, and hell is driving them.”

Alicia gestured toward the doorway, refusing to give in to the panic that snapped at her like rabid dogs. “Then I suggest we go. Once we get up to the museum I can compare the records we have of all known Groesbeck sites with what you have stored in your memory. That should give us a good idea of where to go next.”

“
Agreed,” Artemis replied, pushing away from the wall. The previous gold, blue, and red colors returned to her armor. “But first we need to finish up here.”

The Titan walked out of the room in long strides, leaving Alicia and Shawn to scramble to catch up. When Shawn’s feet hit the floor, a gong resounded through the room as if a massive weight had been dropped. Alicia glanced back and saw her son looking at the chipped floor with a hangdog expression.

“
Sorry,” he said, his voice soft and sad.

Her heart breaking for the thousandth time that day, she took his metal-clad hand in hers and squeezed it as hard as she could. He was alive, and for now that had to be enough. “It’s okay, Son. This… I imagine it’ll take some getting used to. I’m the one who should be sorry.”

“
It isn’t your fault.”

“
Yes, it is. Those pirates came for me, not you. The only reason they took you was to make sure I did what they said. And then you got shot…” Hot tears welled up in her eyes, and there was nothing she could do to stop them. Cool metal touched her face when Shawn wiped them away.

“
What happened, happened,” he said. “If you want to blame anyone, blame those murdering pirates. The sooner we deal with them, the better.”

Alicia nodded and did her best to smile. Inside she felt like the worst mother the universe had ever created, but she knew she had to bottle those feelings up if they were going to get through their current situation, so she nodded and led him out of the room. They saw Artemis cross into the canister room and went in after her.

The smell of blood and death was thick in the air, like chocolate and rotten meat. Alicia was woozy and had to avoid looking at the ground, the sight of so many men slaughtered and strewn across the floor more than she could bear. To the left of the door, the Titan stood over the only body that still had life in it.

Shawn moved next to her. “I can’t believe she didn’t kill that son of a bitch. He’s hurt, but he’s still breathing, and that’s too good for him. Still . . .” Shawn’s voice petered out for a moment, then in a softer tone he said, “I can see his heart beating, the body heat. It’s… amazing.”

When Alicia looked up at her son, small lights shifted and rotated in his eyes, just as they did in Artemis’s. A chill wafted through her, and she wanted to reach out and hold him, reaffirm for herself that he was still human, still Shawn. But then he looked over at her, and in his expression she saw the boy she’d loved and kissed as a baby. He was still her son, no matter what else had changed.

The Titan reached down, grabbed Laroux by the front of his shirt, and lifted his unconscious body into the air. She shook him like a ragdoll, but his eyes stayed closed. She slapped his face, but that didn’t rouse him either, so she pointed her right index finger at him. A long talon extended from her finger, and with a grim smile she plunged it into the meat between his shoulder and chest muscle. His eyes snapped open and he screamed. When Artemis pulled her finger out, it was coated in blood. More blood dribbled from the wound, but foam sealed the tear in his flesh a second later.

“
Cher dieu
!” he said, looking around in pain. “Who? What?” He then saw the woman holding him up, and his eyes locked on the bloody talon still pointed at his chest.

Artemis hoisted him higher into the air and said, “I would love to gut you and leave you here to rot, but instead I’m going to let you live, and for that small mercy you’re going to call your people and send them away.”

Laroux grabbed the hand that held him and tried to pry her fingers apart, but all he got for his efforts was a face covered in sweat.”And I do not suppose you will also let me go, as a sign of… good faith?” His accented voice was smooth, but his eyes were red and trembling.

“
You tried to kill me,” Artemis replied, drawing him in close to her and tapping his chest with her claw. He blanched at the fury that lit up her eyes. She then turned him to face Shawn. “You nearly killed him, too.”

Laroux eyes widened when he saw Shawn was still alive, and then they narrowed to slits and his jaw muscles clenched.

“
He appears more than fine to me.”

Artemis shook him roughly and growled in his face. “He isn’t, pirate, but I don’t expect a worthless son of a bitch like you to understand that. Now, are you going to do as you’re told, or should I just tear you open and be done with it?”

The Titan’s long talon flashed in the weak overhead light. Laroux’s face paled and he gulped loudly.

“
No need for that. I will comply, of course. What do you want me to do?”

Alicia, happy for something to finally go right, stepped forward and crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re going to ride with us to the surface. Once you’ve told your men to surrender, you’ll call your people and tell them to flee while they can before the authorities arrive. Then you’ll wait to be taken into custody. If that isn’t acceptable, then she’ll kill you, and I’ll enjoy watching her do it.”

Laroux snarled, his teeth bared like an angry dog, but then he glanced again at the Titan’s clawed finger and nodded. “Oui, all right, I will do as you say.”

Artemis lowered the pirate captain to his feet, but she didn’t look happy to be doing it. She then turned him toward the door and marched him to the elevator. He stumbled and rubbed at his chest – the painkilling foam probably working slower than he wanted it to – but a minute later they were on their way back up. The silence in the elevator car was deafening.

When the doors opened, raised voices flooded into the lift. Alicia was shocked to find her assistant, Joseph, standing in front of the two disguised pirates with his small finger pointed at them like a gun.

“
Let me see your work credentials,” he said, his voice angry and high pitched, and his other hand raised toward an intercom panel on the far wall. “And where is your supervisor? This is not where you’re supposed to be. Where is Director Campbell?” The last question barely left his lips before he saw the open lift doors beside him. Since he’d never known the freight lift existed before that moment, the wide-eyed look he gave the lift occupants was understandable.

The sudden commotion was a temporary distraction, but that was all Captain Laroux needed. When Joseph turned toward the elevator, his mouth agape, Laroux grabbed him, pulled him in close, and then spun their bodies into the corridor. The pirates took that as their cue and pulled pistols from inside their stolen uniforms. Artemis lunged forward, but before she could clear the doors Laroux had a gun at Joseph’s head.

“
Stop!” the pirate captain shouted. “One more step and this man dies. If you want to see him live, take the lift back down. By the time you come back up we will be gone.”

“
And we’re supposed to believe you?” Shawn said.

Alicia looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, and she was amazed at the way the metal on his skin was changing, spreading across him like a glimmering shadow. He also seemed taller and broader, though it was an increase in size only a mother could detect. If it hadn’t already hit home to her before, the fact was undeniable to her now – Shawn was a Titan.

“
I do not see that you have any other choice,” Laroux replied, pulling her attention back. “If you do not, we will kill this man, and then we will find and kill more.”

Shawn clenched his fist with the sound of steel scraping against steel. “We’ll stop you.”

The pirate captain took a backward step, Joseph held tight and stepping with him. “Perhaps, but in time? Are you willing to bet innocent lives?”

“
I just might.” The metal across Shawn’s body pulsed, and within seconds he was encased in dark armor.

The pirates gasped at the sudden transformation, and Joseph used that moment to lunge toward the comm panel beside him. Laroux didn’t register what was happening until the alarm was already sounding, and by then Joseph was scrambling away on the floor. The pirates brought their weapons up and fired wildly. Artemis, moving faster than the eye could follow, dashed down the hallway and used her body to shield Joseph while Shawn grabbed his mother to do the same. To Alicia’s ears it sounded like a small war was waged around her, a war that ended as abruptly as it began.

“
They’re running toward the museum,” Artemis shouted, her voice like thunder.

“
We have to stop them before they try to hurt anyone else,” Alicia replied as Shawn stepped away from her.

The Titan shook her head. “There’s no time for that. We have to leave. Now.”

“
But everyone in the museum–”

“
Those pirates can’t afford to stay here any more than we can,” the Titan told her, cutting her off. “That alarm will bring the authorities, and none of us want to be here when they arrive.”

“
Who are you?” Joseph asked from the floor. His eyes were unfocused, and his face was slack. “What’s going on? What am I–” He fell onto his side before he could finish speaking, his eyes fluttering closed.

“
Is he alright?” Alicia asked. “Is he wounded?”

Shawn nodded. “He’s fine. He fainted.”

“
His vitals are normal,” Artemis echoed. “It’s us you need to be concerned about.”

“
We can’t just leave him here.”

Shawn took his mother’s hand and said, “We have to. You said so yourself. If they find us… me… they’ll–”

A stone in Alicia’s stomach turned, and she knew what she had to do, even if she hated it. “No, you’re right. We have to go. How do we get out of here though? It’s my museum, but I’ve never had to flee it. I never thought–”

“
The way we came in,” Artemis said. “We go to the docks.”

The words still lingering in the air, Alicia turned and lead them back they way they’d come. They crossed paths with only a handful of people as they ran since most of the museum’s staff had vacated the building when the alarm first went off. After a brief stop by her office to pick up a computer table, they reached the dock. The delivery rover was still there, as were the crates with the delivery men inside. She raced to open each one, fearful that something horrible had happened to them, but the men all seemed fine. Several of them were even starting to come around. She was grateful to have one less chain of guilt to carry.

“
How far is it to the nearest spaceport?” Artemis asked.

Alicia pointed toward the hills beyond the security gate. “About ten kilometers magnetic north.”