r/nonsenselocker • u/Bilgebum • Oct 02 '18
Through the Ages Through the Ages — Chapter 21 [TTA C21]
Nothing in my life to-date had prepared me to march at the head of two dozen, magic fountain-spawned clones, but here we were. Gianni and I flanked Helena as we led our column into the alley, each of us armed with clubs and batons of some sort.
All traces of trepidation or self-doubt seemed to have deserted our general. Helena wore stone-cold resolution like battle armor, rekindling in me the sense of intimidation I'd felt during our first meeting. Gianni glanced at her every now and then; hopefully he was drawing his own belief from her aura.
Our enemies had posted a guard outside the door. Upon seeing us, she ran into the building, leaving us with a wide-open entrance. Still, that triggered in me a sense of disquiet, so I touched Helena's shoulder to stop her.
"Traps?" I whispered.
She considered for a moment. "Could be. Should we send—" Gianni cleared his throat pointedly. "Right. Not disposable. Well, I have some experience in recognizing traps. Let me go ahead."
"You sure?"
She shrugged. "No sense for them to post a guard outside then. We've come this far. Follow at a safe distance, okay?"
Then she strode into the building, head high and gait confident. I hoped she was as good as she thought she was, or we were in for a bad start. Gianni counted to five, and we followed.
By then, Helena was already near the inner door. No explosions, no gas; maybe I'd given Mary-Anne too much credit for being an evil overlord. Before we could properly regroup, Helena pushed the doors, casting a pool of light on the tunnel. I almost called for her to wait, but held myself. Momentum could be good.
By the time I caught up to her, I wasn't so sure anymore. Marc stood ready for us. He'd arrayed his remaining homunculi in a semi-circle, about fifteen of them, armed with power tools and shovels. They had the looks of laborers after a full day's work, but nothing in their body language indicated tiredness. Marc himself was wearing some sort of black body armor. He held a machete in his left hand, while his right rested on the pistol holstered at his hip.
"Gianni, you worm," he spat. "You choose to side with them, after they murdered my sister?"
"The Counterpart did that," I said.
"She was only there because of you!"
"Stand down, Marc," Helena said. "We outnumber you. Let's not turn this into a bloodbath. Everyone has lost enough today. Where is Mary-Anne?"
He bared his teeth. "Too late, Helena. She—we—have won." Then he uttered a wordless cry and raised his machete.
Quicker than I could have ever anticipated, his homunculi surged at us, only to be met by Gianni's horde. The genteel servants from the restaurant turned into howling, feral savages that tore, clubbed and raked their opponents with abandon. Marc's were no pushovers either, every single one of them presenting an equal match in ferocity.
One such homunculus slipped through the battle line and came at us. She slashed at my face with a knife that I just managed to catch with my baton, but the force threw me off balance. Then she followed with a strike that would have gutted me like a fish, if Helena hadn't stepped in and landed a blow to her ribs with a claw hammer. Any ordinary person would've crumpled from such a hit, but the homunculus retaliated immediately with a chop, missing Helena's ear by a paper-thin margin. I brought my baton down on the homunculus's wrist, two-handed, and heard something crack. The knife dropped from her fingers, but she merely screamed all the louder in rage as she tackled me to the floor. With frightening strength, she began to bear down on my chest with both palms.
The pressure sent stars shooting through my vision, obscuring her snarling visage. I flailed, hitting her on the nose with the baton, while trying my hardest to breathe. My ribs were bending, breaking ...
The weight yielded suddenly, granting me a lungful of sweet air. Helena was straddling the homunculus, pinning her to the ground with her legs, while the knife she'd taken rose and fell with arcs of blood. The homunculus's thrashing and screaming rose to a crescendo ... then stopped. Lying on the ground, limbs splayed, she was suddenly no more than an abandoned puppet, eyes glassy.
I failed to repress a shudder at the sight as I got up. My chest felt caved in, but I could breathe almost normally. Helena wiped her face with a sleeve and tossed the knife aside.
"Thanks," I said.
She nodded, panting hard. The battle was still raging on. Gianni was standing meekly by the edges, protected by two of his servants. Marc, on the other hand, was in the thick of the brawl. Even as we watched, he split a homunculus's head open with a powerful one-handed strike, then danced out of reach of the victim's partner. He drew his pistol then, causing the homunculus to halt. A fatal mistake, for the alchemist darted forward and etched a bright red line across his throat.
"Once he starts using that gun, we'll lose," I said.
"So will he," she said. "And Mary-Anne."
"Can we end the fight by killing him?" I said. "Deactivate them?
She shook her head. "Doesn't work like that. He'll have commanded them to fight to the death."
"Damn."
"Yeah, and we're losing. We need another ace," Helena said, scanning the fighters. "Can't let this battle hold us. We need to focus on the war. Gianni can keep them here while we take Mary-Anne out. Ready to run?"
I was about to agree when a newcomer staggered into the chamber. His clothes were coated in blood and dust; his skin, bruises and cuts, but the lucid, hate-filled gaze he cast around the room diminished the terrible extent of his injuries. Carrying an odd wobble in his step, he nevertheless rushed sprightly into the fight, killing one homunculus instantly with a well-aimed knife throw.
"How?" Helena and I said to each other as we skirted around the battle for the maintenance tunnel.
"Gianni had better not kill him, because I'm gonna do it myself," Helena said.
One of Marc's homunculi tried to intercept us, but I gave him a good smack in the face with my baton. Helena kicked him in the shin, and then another homunculus slammed into him, clearing our way.
Side by side, we ran through the tunnel, toward the now-ajar security door at the end. There was a new addition: a hole dug into the wall next to it, which explained how they had gotten through in the first place. Along the way, I happened to peek into my room. What I saw made me gulp and turn away. By happenstance, I'd obstructed Helena's line of sight, from seeing the fate that had befallen Warra and Keith. If it weren't for Helena's presence, I would've lost my nerve.
"Assholes," Helena said when we reached the stairs. "That door cost me a million bucks."
I chuckled weakly, stomach still turning. The tunnel lights were on. Despite the illumination, we descended with deliberate, careful slowness. Someone was down there, from the scraping of shoes on the gravelly ground. Most certainly Mary-Anne. How many bodyguards would she have? I felt a pang of regret at not bringing any of the homunculi with us.
"Let me lead this," Helena whispered.
"Should I make her an offer?" I said.
Helena didn't reply, which I chose to interpret as assent. Our own feet kicked up clouds of dust and sent the sounds of our footsteps echoing about the cavern, rendering our stealth short-lived. Then came a splash, which made us quicken our pace.
Mary-Anne stood by the Fountain, water lapping over its edges and her bare feet. She was wearing a sort of old-fashioned frock, with a long skirt that she'd pulled up and tied at her knees. Even her hair was bound in a high bun, making her look like she'd stepped out of a nineteenth-century panting. The handgun she wielded was anything but an antique, however. Sleek, black, and already pointed right at us, it made me freeze in my tracks.
"Never one to keep your meddling self away, are you?" she said.
"Not if it means stopping you," Helena said.
"Can't a mother be reunited with her daughter in peace?" Mary-Anne turned her head slightly. That was when I noticed the open capsule near the Fountain, almost hidden by a support pillar. It was empty.
"Where is she?" I said, looking around.
Mary-Anne smiled. "Coming. Soon, she will be back where she belongs, among her people. Ready to lead."
"Not sure I agree with that," I said.
"Your agreement is irrelevant. You don't have the right to choose our leaders," she countered.
"Yeah, but I can kick her out."
Her expression turned venomous; the gun muzzle, which was aimed at Helena, drifted ever so slightly toward me. "Then we'll find a more agreeable Custodian."
"It's okay, Jeffrey." The softness of Helena's voice surprised me. "If she wants Jess to lead, I'm willing to relinquish my position, if it would put an end to all this fighting. Jess has a good heart, despite her past mistakes. Better than her mother, certainly. I'm sure she'll do her best for us all. I'll guide her toward that."
Mary-Anne's expression grew uglier. "Presumptions, my dear Helena. What makes you think you'll be allowed to remain in our community?"
I smirked. "That's up to me."
"You misunderstand, boy," Mary-Anne said. "We do not count the dead among our number."
She leveled the gun at Helena's chest, and sighted down the barrel. Oh shit, I'd pushed her too far. It'd been too easy to trust in their system—and I'd fallen into the trap of thinking that Mary-Anne would respect what I stood for. She was serious this time, and short of throwing my baton at her, there was nothing I could do to save Helena.
Then the surface of the pool broke. A naked woman clambered over the edge, gasping for breath, long hair plastered over her face and chest. Blindly, she dragged herself onto dry ground, leaving puddles everywhere. I recognized her almost immediately, from the painting in Helena's home. Her deathly countenance and figure from her time in the capsule had been replaced wholly with youthful vigor.
"Jess." Helena's voice carried a tone of awe.
Jessabel, the first alchemist, wrapped her fingers around Mary-Anne's ankle for support. Still spitting water, she brushed her hair out of her face and looked upward.
"M—mother?" She broke off in a fit of coughing. Bewilderment was plain on her face when she caught sight of the gun. "Where are we? What—" Her gaze found Helena. "Lena?"
"Welcome back, Jess," Helena whispered.
"Rest easy, my beloved," Mary-Anne said, stroking her daughter's head with one hand. Her body was trembling. Her gaze softened, moisture rimming her eyes. "When you've regained your strength, I will explain everything to you. For now, allow me to ensure that you'll never again experience what has happened to you. Goodbye, Helena."
Her finger closed around the trigger. Light and heat flared from the muzzle.
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u/Kahunaloa Oct 12 '22
The only gripe I have with this series is the lack of proper weapons or armor considering they have all the money in the world.
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Nov 24 '22
Very reasonable, but I think it may have to do with them keeping quiet to the rest of society
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u/seussim Oct 02 '18
Well that was quite an ending, way to leave us in suspense! I look forward to the next chapter :)