"This Ain't No Party"
May. 26th, 2022 02:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dochermes"This Ain't No Party"
7/17/ 2011
I.
"What? WHAT?" yelled Dandelion as she woke up and instantly jumped off the broken-down old bed. "How did you even get in here?" She hit the floor and rolled to come up with empty hands that apparently baffled her. A petite woman only an inch over five feet tall, she moved as quickly and decisively as a leopard. As the situation began to sink in, Dandelion rose to one knee and then stood up. Her ash blonde hair had been cut so short it looked like a buzzcut starting to grow out. She was wearing dark jeans and a maroon sweatshirt too large for her slender frame. "Oh. You. Why am I not surprised to see you?"
Standing across the shabby attic room in the fading light from a curtained window, Jeremy Bane stood with his open hands raised and open as if he was being arrested. "Easy, take it easy. Everything's okay, Dandy." The Dire Wolf was a gaunt man all in black, sport jacket and turtleneck and slacks. In a narrow watchful face, remarkably pale grey eyes fixed on the woman.
"Oh, everything's okay, is it? I doubt it." Dandelion looked down ruefully at her empty hands. "First of all, where is my hardware, Jeremy?"
"All three of your Walthers are safe on the dresser over there," he answered. "Complete with the silencers you make yourself. I didn't tamper with them."
The most dangerous assassin of her era rushed over and began examining the small pistols while keeping one watchful eye on the Dire Wolf. "I'm not even going to ask what you're doing in Eastern Europe," she snapped. "But I do want to know how you got in here. Come to think, my head is aching. Did you drug me, you lunatic?"
"I had to," he said, swinging a rickety wooden chair around and lowering himself to sit facing her. "I sprayed some gas under the door. It's the same chemical we use in our anesthetic darts. You'll be fine."
"You take awful liberties," the tiny blonde growled, picking up a denim jacket off the floor and shrugging it on. Two holsters were built into either inside flap and she secured two of the Walthers but kept the third in her hand. "I've helped you out once or twice. Against my better judgement. But we are not pals! Don't treat me like this with your anesthetic gas and your tricks or I will do something you won't like."
The Dire Wolf kept his voice mild. "You do remember shooting me in both ankles and across the top of my head?"
"Oh, please. With your Tel Shai healing ability? I'm sure you laughed it off." She did not sit down herself but stood with feet braced well apart and regarded him without warmth. Dandelion was beautiful, with a wide jawline and dark blue eyes under a high forehead, but the chill in those eyes made them frightening.
Bane had tilted his head and was frowning more than usual. "That's the sound of gunfire."
"What, off in the distance? I'm getting used to it." She finally dropped down on the foot of the delapidated bed and stared at him. "This godforsaken country has had a civil war going for eleven years now."
"And here you are in the middle. Dandy, I had a hard time finding you. You were last reported in Houston, but I trailed you to Detroit and then to Pittsburgh. Finally, I found out you were actually here, right next to Russia. I know you accepted a commission from the Mandate to take out one of the rebel leaders... the real planner behind the whole movement."
"And what do you care?" she scoffed. "Politics never meant anything to you."
"Not really. Keeping up with the Midnight War takes all my attention. But I thought I should warn you that you're being set up."
"Yeah? What else is new? Playing with spies is dancing on quicksand, you know that. Who is supposed to be putting my head in a noose this time?"
Bane stood up again. The accelerated metabolism which gave him his unusual speed also made him constantly hyperactive. "The man who gave you your orders, the new head of the Mandate on the East Coast. Seth Petrov."
"Feh. No big surprise. I've been playing both sides against each other anyway. The Russian oligarchs paid me to protect this Lazlo fool but I liked Petrov's offer better."
"You've pushed your luck once too often," the Dire Wolf said. "Seth thinks you're a loose cannon that might do more harm than good. You'll be walking into ground zero."
Dandelion finally tucked her Walther into the back of her jeans, where her jacket hid the bulge. "This ain't no party, Boy Scout. I weigh the risks against the rewards. How exactly did you find me? Don't tell me it was your girlfriend's telepathy again?"
"No. I have access to Trom technology. I can get Above Top Secret information with a little digging. Wait. I hear something close." He strode over to one of the two large windows and pressed his ear to the glass.
"Damnit, Jeremy! You oughta know not to stand by the window. Somebody'll see you up there." There was genuine alarm in her voice now.
Without explanation, Bane wheeled around and hurtled across the attic, snatching Dandelion up under both arms and diving headfirst through the opposite window. Even as they spun in mid-air, a thumping explosion detonated where they had been. Bits of glass and fragments of wood and plaster followed them down to the lawn. Somehow, Bane rolled and got her above him so he took the impact on his back when they smashed onto the ground. Above, flames shot out from the gaping hole in the wall left by the explosion. Blinding against the overcast evening sky, the fire crackled.
II.
In a few seconds, the Dire Wolf recovered from the fall and rolled over, pushing the blonde assassin off him. He coughed and recovered immediately where any normal person would be dazed or injured.
"Jeez, I'll hug you if you want, Jeremy, you don't have to get dramatic," Dandelion laughed. The fall seemed to have awakened her to a higher state of alertness. She was up and on her feet before he was. "Look at that shack go," she muttered. "They're burning down the house."
"I heard what sounded like an RPG," Bane said, rubbing a sore shoulder. His enhanced healing was good but he was by no means invulnerable. "There are a dozen men in the front yard. We'd better get moving."
Seeing the white cones of flashlights moving on the other side of the house, Dandelion took off at a sprint without comment and Bane followed. They raced into the nearby woods and continued for half a mile before concluding they were not being chased.
"You crack me up sometimes," Dandelion said as she caught her breath. "The idea that you can recognize the sound of an RPG being cocked... from the second floor through a closed window! And you don't see anything unusual about it."
The Dire Wolf was watching and listening for any hints of pursuit. "Did you lose anything valuable back there?"
"Nah. This jacket has money sewn inside the lining. I've got three passports, a couple of visas. All different. I don't even know my real name. Maybe it doesn't matter anymore." She turned up her jacket collar and touched her bristly hair. "That's another thing. Brunette, redhead, blonde, straight, curly... I've changed my hairstyle so many times now I don't know what I look like."
Bane looked down into her face thoughtfully. "I know what you look like, Mika."
"Knock it off. There is no 'Mika.' Not anymore. Back to the war. What's your plan, Mr Dire Wolf?"
"I have transportation hidden another mile in this direction," he said. "But what happens next is up to you to decide."
She took his arm and started walking briskly. "Fine. Let's get somewhere a little bit safer and talk plans over. I don't think you can be clear-headed about Petrov. There's too much history between you two."
As they hiked at a good pace deeper into the forest, Bane decided to tell her about the recent Octavius atrocities, how Seth Petrov had arranged the brutal murders of a classroom of children so that he could deviously get more funding for his organization. "I should have killed him right then and there in his office. He deserved it if anyone did. But I can't do it. I never could execute someone."
"Yeah, you're soft that way," she scoffed with a noticeable lack of sympathy. "I don't know how you have survived the Midnight War as long as you have. You still have a lot of illusions about life, Jeremy."
"I guess." He marched on in silence for a few minutes after that.
Then Dandelion snorted and went on, "Hell, I don't know if I would ever want you to change, old buddy. You're not part of the Kingdom of the Lost like I am. My moral compass busted years ago."
They reached the crest of a rise and Dandelion stopped short. In a narrow clearing, beneath a few oaks, was moored a black helicopter with a distinctly shark-like shape to it.
"Now what?" she asked. "I take it that is your CORBY that everyone wants to see?"
"Yes." Bane unfastened a steel cable that had secured the craft to one of the oaks, then removed wooden chocks from under the landing gear while she watched. With a signal from his Link, he unlocked the passenger hatch which slid open on the left side of the cabin. "Better get in and buckle up. Warm-up has started."
"Sure, why not." The mercenary hopped nimbly up and settled into the seat, finding restraint straps that closed around her waist and down across her chest. The interior had lit with softly glowing instruments in pastel green and blue, as well as a row of small monitor screens. She was studying everything when the Dire Wolf swung up into the pilot seat to her right and sealed the cabin.
"This thing is too advanced to be true," she said. "I could get a couple hundred million for it. Enough to buy my own island in the Caribbean and retire."
"No, it would self-destruct if anyone tries to steal it. You'd have only a glazed area on the ground and some molten slag." He secured himself, gripped the collective/cyclic stick between them and pressed a few final buttons before pulling back. The rotors overhead had begun to spin, but the CORBY rose smoothly upward before those blades could possibly be generating lift. He paused at tree-top to hover and take readings.
"The Trom, again," Dandelion said. "They designed this bird, right? I can't stand it. Are they from outer space or something?"
Bane actually smiled at that. "I've heard that some people think that. No, they're just a subspecies of incredible geniuses. I have a deal with the Trom."
"You would," she said sourly.
"Radar alignment systems are on," he told her. "We are not giving off any heat signature or external lights. We are good as invisible, especially on a dark night like this."
As they ascended swiftly up to five hundred feet, Dandelion tried to make her voice softer. "I suppose I should thank you for saving my life. But why start being nice now?"
Bane nodded, his concentration on flying. "Well, you could have killed me a few times during that business with Karel Cherny. I was an obstacle and you went out of your way to let me live."
"Hmm. I was wondering why you never tried to have sex with me, Jeremy. Everybody else wants some. But you never even went for a friendly kiss."
"Like you said, my girlfriend is a telepath. Not that I haven't been tempted." The faintest sigh escaped him. "I think you've gone too far into the dark, Dandelion. At first, you were hiring as a bodyguard and counter-assassin. That's defendable. But you've taken commissions to kill innocent people in a dozen countries."
"People are targets," she replied. "No heroes, no villains, just animals fighting for survival. I can't believe you haven't seen the light after all these years. I should ask to use your radio to contact my local Control. I haven't been able to reach them for a week."
"You can if you want. That's the mic, by your right hand. I'll have to set the frequency. We're at five thousand feet and moving South by South West."
"I should transmit the message to the Receiver," she said. "Hope for an answer some day. But I think they've cut me loose. I might not ever get home."
"There's the highway to the capital," said Bane. "Not much traffic. Just that one government Jeep going like hell."
After a few more minutes, he slowed the CORBY and swung it over into the forest. The windscreen blinked and changed to reveal the outside in an eerie pale green that showed details as well as daylight would. "Light enhancers and an illuminator that works on the high end of the spectrum. See those vehicles parked way off the road?"
"You've learned what nobody's supposed to find out, Jeremy," she whispered. "This is dangerous knowledge."
"I've heard of some grave sites, out by the highway. A place where nobody knows what goes on. I think you'll find your answers there. Do you want to?"
In a barely audible voice, she said, "Sure."
III.
His agents had brought out a folding canvas chair and Seth Petrov gingerly lowered himself into it near the edge of the pit. A mere four years of rheumatoid arthritis had arched his back and gnarled his hands, and his femurs were starting to bend out from the pelvis. In his neatly tailored suit and tie, the Weapons Master looked more physically normal than he was but his days of unarmed combat were behind him. He watched as his men put their shovels aside. Dirt was piled waist high around the pit they had dug up the crates of the Baxter machine pistols and bags of ammo, which were being put into a white panel van by the rebels.
There were six Mandate agents and five Liberation rebels at work, all men in their prime and tough-looking, all wearing dark clothing with wool hats or billed caps. It was hard to tell the so-called Freedom Fighters from the so-called Department of Justice officers, especially in the insufficient light from a quarter moon. Seth smiled to himself and leaned on his cane.
"How the mighty have fallen," said an unexpected voice from the woods to his left.
Seth jerked upright despite the jolt of pain in his lower back. All his agents and the rebels had reacted by yanking out pistols and either crouching where they stood or swinging around behind the van. They did not relax when they saw the stranger was holding up empty hands.
Jeremy Bane stepped closer, staying forty feet away from the scene. "The dreaded Weapons Master. Still stirring up grief and loss, still causing deaths wherever you go."
"You are a long way from home, Dire Wolf," said Seth.
"So are you. I'm amazed you came to this deal in person. Any other mastermind would stay safely hidden thousands of miles away." Bane lowered his arms and surveyed the area. "Those are the new Baxters 100s, right? Reliable, easy to maintain, just right for running fights with government troops."
When Seth gestured with one hand, his agents carefully began to spread out in a semi-circle facing the intruder. "Hold your fire for the moment," he ordered. "I believe this man has an offer or he would not have shown himself."
The Dire Wolf took a long tense moment for reply. "I came to this country for someone else."
"Oh. I see. That little psychopath with the flair for marksmanship. Have you found her, old friend?"
"That's hilarious, you calling someone else a psycho," Bane said. "Your other team sent a couple of inceniary grenades into the abandoned house where she was staying. She won't be filling her commission for you." Oddly, everything in those statements was true but misleading. Bane had always preferred to offer incomplete information rather than lie outright.
"You know perfectly well she could not counted on," said Seth calmly. "Dandelion was a good assassin until she started playing one client against another. That is against the code. Even we keep that one tatter of honesty."
"So you ordered her here, intending to have her killed while you made deals with the rebels?"
"Yes. Of course. What is your point, Dire Wolf? You are not still angry over that Octavius operation?"
Bane took a deep breath but his voice was steady. "I'm kind of glad I can still be outraged. It means I haven't become as dead inside as you... or Dandy."
As he spoke the last word, a barrage of sharp coughing sounds sounded in rapid succession. The men in that clearing jerked and twitched and fell with their heads blown open or blood jetting from their chests. There were no gunflashes to betray where the shooter was concealed, but the desperate Mandate agents and the rebels started firing wildly in all directions in the seconds they still had to live.
Three of the men swung their guns up toward Bane. A long-barreled .38 Smith & Wesson had appeared in his left hand quick as a conjuring trick and it blasted four times to slam those men to the ground. The fourth bullet was a follow-up where he was not sure he had hit dead center. The heavy silence that followed was broken by gasping and moaning as the few remaining victims died.
Bane had immediately wheeled around to train his revolver on Seth, but the Weapons Master had not moved. Those gnarled hands rested on the ornate ebony cane with its silver cap. There was a sword blade inside that stick but he had lost the ability to use it.
"Not so long ago, I could have stopped you," he grumbled. "We fought as equals once."
"I remember. But honestly, you deserve the pain your body is putting you through." Bane edged in closer, still covering his longtime enemy, watching for any hint of suspicious movement. "I went to the town where those kids are buried."
From the other side of that clearing, a slim figure quickly trotted toward them. The short silver hair was most visible on that dark night as Dandelion holstered one of her Walthers inside her jacket and clicked a fresh clip into place. "Hey, boss," she called out. "Thanks for setting me up."
With great effort, Seth Petrov levered himself to his feet. He could not straighten up fully but he tried. On either side of him stood his most dangerous enemies. He responded with an unpleasant chuckle. "So. Dandelion. You do realize that this man is using you against me? He is too weak to kill me in cold blood. As long as I do not move to attack, I am safe from him."
"Yeah. What's your point?" she asked.
"He is as much a Weapon Master as I am," said Seth. "And you are his weapon."
"That's okay with me," Dandelion said. She sent two of the little .22 slugs into the front of Seth's face, ripping it apart. The low stopping power of her Walther P22s was reduced even further by the silencer but that was more than compensated for by her superhuman accuracy. Every bullet she fired went exactly where she wanted it to. Seth crumpled straight down to the hard dirt, knocking over the folding chair as he fell.
Bane had watched in silence. He returned his gun to the holster at his belt behind his hip and exhaled. When Dandelion came over toward him, his voice was low. "He had a point, Dandy. Mostly I wanted to get you safe but in the back of my mind I did think it would be convenient if you killed him."
"Eh. Don't worry about it," she scoffed. "You think too much about right and wrong. Listen. That van is loaded with weapons. I'm going to claim it as a perk of the job. With the money I get for it, I can spend the rest of the year sipping cocktails by the lake."
She opened the front door of the vehicle and vaulted inside as agile as a squirrel. The keys were there. Once the van was running, Dandelion came back over to where the Dire Wolf was still standing. "Come on, snap out of it. You better go back to your chopper and head home. Don't get exhausted. You ought to get you some sleep."
"I saw a roadblock from the air. Don't go toward the capital."
"I'll be fine. I've been doing this a while." The tiny blonde stepped closer until she was almost touching him. "I shouldn't admit this, it's a weakness. But sometimes.. you make me shiver. We make a pretty good team."
"Dandy, don't think that way," he said almost inaudibly. "You know better."
She swung up into the van and gave him a final look. "I'd like to kiss you, I'd love to hold you," she laughed as she closed the door. "I've got no time for that now."
After the headlights of the van had vanished down the long hill to toward the highway, Bane remained. All these bodies. He counted thirteen dead men. And Seth Petrov was among them. One more great menace of the Midnight War gone forever. Bane wondered who would find this massacre, the local government troops or a follow-up squad from the Mandate. It didn't really matter. It would be covered up anyway and no one would learn what had happened here.
Finally, reluctantly, he headed back toward where he had concealed the CORBY a half-mile away. Seth had paid for all his crimes and Dandelion was as safe as she would ever be. Bane should have felt relief, even triumph. He didn't.
3/15/2019
7/17/ 2011
I.
"What? WHAT?" yelled Dandelion as she woke up and instantly jumped off the broken-down old bed. "How did you even get in here?" She hit the floor and rolled to come up with empty hands that apparently baffled her. A petite woman only an inch over five feet tall, she moved as quickly and decisively as a leopard. As the situation began to sink in, Dandelion rose to one knee and then stood up. Her ash blonde hair had been cut so short it looked like a buzzcut starting to grow out. She was wearing dark jeans and a maroon sweatshirt too large for her slender frame. "Oh. You. Why am I not surprised to see you?"
Standing across the shabby attic room in the fading light from a curtained window, Jeremy Bane stood with his open hands raised and open as if he was being arrested. "Easy, take it easy. Everything's okay, Dandy." The Dire Wolf was a gaunt man all in black, sport jacket and turtleneck and slacks. In a narrow watchful face, remarkably pale grey eyes fixed on the woman.
"Oh, everything's okay, is it? I doubt it." Dandelion looked down ruefully at her empty hands. "First of all, where is my hardware, Jeremy?"
"All three of your Walthers are safe on the dresser over there," he answered. "Complete with the silencers you make yourself. I didn't tamper with them."
The most dangerous assassin of her era rushed over and began examining the small pistols while keeping one watchful eye on the Dire Wolf. "I'm not even going to ask what you're doing in Eastern Europe," she snapped. "But I do want to know how you got in here. Come to think, my head is aching. Did you drug me, you lunatic?"
"I had to," he said, swinging a rickety wooden chair around and lowering himself to sit facing her. "I sprayed some gas under the door. It's the same chemical we use in our anesthetic darts. You'll be fine."
"You take awful liberties," the tiny blonde growled, picking up a denim jacket off the floor and shrugging it on. Two holsters were built into either inside flap and she secured two of the Walthers but kept the third in her hand. "I've helped you out once or twice. Against my better judgement. But we are not pals! Don't treat me like this with your anesthetic gas and your tricks or I will do something you won't like."
The Dire Wolf kept his voice mild. "You do remember shooting me in both ankles and across the top of my head?"
"Oh, please. With your Tel Shai healing ability? I'm sure you laughed it off." She did not sit down herself but stood with feet braced well apart and regarded him without warmth. Dandelion was beautiful, with a wide jawline and dark blue eyes under a high forehead, but the chill in those eyes made them frightening.
Bane had tilted his head and was frowning more than usual. "That's the sound of gunfire."
"What, off in the distance? I'm getting used to it." She finally dropped down on the foot of the delapidated bed and stared at him. "This godforsaken country has had a civil war going for eleven years now."
"And here you are in the middle. Dandy, I had a hard time finding you. You were last reported in Houston, but I trailed you to Detroit and then to Pittsburgh. Finally, I found out you were actually here, right next to Russia. I know you accepted a commission from the Mandate to take out one of the rebel leaders... the real planner behind the whole movement."
"And what do you care?" she scoffed. "Politics never meant anything to you."
"Not really. Keeping up with the Midnight War takes all my attention. But I thought I should warn you that you're being set up."
"Yeah? What else is new? Playing with spies is dancing on quicksand, you know that. Who is supposed to be putting my head in a noose this time?"
Bane stood up again. The accelerated metabolism which gave him his unusual speed also made him constantly hyperactive. "The man who gave you your orders, the new head of the Mandate on the East Coast. Seth Petrov."
"Feh. No big surprise. I've been playing both sides against each other anyway. The Russian oligarchs paid me to protect this Lazlo fool but I liked Petrov's offer better."
"You've pushed your luck once too often," the Dire Wolf said. "Seth thinks you're a loose cannon that might do more harm than good. You'll be walking into ground zero."
Dandelion finally tucked her Walther into the back of her jeans, where her jacket hid the bulge. "This ain't no party, Boy Scout. I weigh the risks against the rewards. How exactly did you find me? Don't tell me it was your girlfriend's telepathy again?"
"No. I have access to Trom technology. I can get Above Top Secret information with a little digging. Wait. I hear something close." He strode over to one of the two large windows and pressed his ear to the glass.
"Damnit, Jeremy! You oughta know not to stand by the window. Somebody'll see you up there." There was genuine alarm in her voice now.
Without explanation, Bane wheeled around and hurtled across the attic, snatching Dandelion up under both arms and diving headfirst through the opposite window. Even as they spun in mid-air, a thumping explosion detonated where they had been. Bits of glass and fragments of wood and plaster followed them down to the lawn. Somehow, Bane rolled and got her above him so he took the impact on his back when they smashed onto the ground. Above, flames shot out from the gaping hole in the wall left by the explosion. Blinding against the overcast evening sky, the fire crackled.
II.
In a few seconds, the Dire Wolf recovered from the fall and rolled over, pushing the blonde assassin off him. He coughed and recovered immediately where any normal person would be dazed or injured.
"Jeez, I'll hug you if you want, Jeremy, you don't have to get dramatic," Dandelion laughed. The fall seemed to have awakened her to a higher state of alertness. She was up and on her feet before he was. "Look at that shack go," she muttered. "They're burning down the house."
"I heard what sounded like an RPG," Bane said, rubbing a sore shoulder. His enhanced healing was good but he was by no means invulnerable. "There are a dozen men in the front yard. We'd better get moving."
Seeing the white cones of flashlights moving on the other side of the house, Dandelion took off at a sprint without comment and Bane followed. They raced into the nearby woods and continued for half a mile before concluding they were not being chased.
"You crack me up sometimes," Dandelion said as she caught her breath. "The idea that you can recognize the sound of an RPG being cocked... from the second floor through a closed window! And you don't see anything unusual about it."
The Dire Wolf was watching and listening for any hints of pursuit. "Did you lose anything valuable back there?"
"Nah. This jacket has money sewn inside the lining. I've got three passports, a couple of visas. All different. I don't even know my real name. Maybe it doesn't matter anymore." She turned up her jacket collar and touched her bristly hair. "That's another thing. Brunette, redhead, blonde, straight, curly... I've changed my hairstyle so many times now I don't know what I look like."
Bane looked down into her face thoughtfully. "I know what you look like, Mika."
"Knock it off. There is no 'Mika.' Not anymore. Back to the war. What's your plan, Mr Dire Wolf?"
"I have transportation hidden another mile in this direction," he said. "But what happens next is up to you to decide."
She took his arm and started walking briskly. "Fine. Let's get somewhere a little bit safer and talk plans over. I don't think you can be clear-headed about Petrov. There's too much history between you two."
As they hiked at a good pace deeper into the forest, Bane decided to tell her about the recent Octavius atrocities, how Seth Petrov had arranged the brutal murders of a classroom of children so that he could deviously get more funding for his organization. "I should have killed him right then and there in his office. He deserved it if anyone did. But I can't do it. I never could execute someone."
"Yeah, you're soft that way," she scoffed with a noticeable lack of sympathy. "I don't know how you have survived the Midnight War as long as you have. You still have a lot of illusions about life, Jeremy."
"I guess." He marched on in silence for a few minutes after that.
Then Dandelion snorted and went on, "Hell, I don't know if I would ever want you to change, old buddy. You're not part of the Kingdom of the Lost like I am. My moral compass busted years ago."
They reached the crest of a rise and Dandelion stopped short. In a narrow clearing, beneath a few oaks, was moored a black helicopter with a distinctly shark-like shape to it.
"Now what?" she asked. "I take it that is your CORBY that everyone wants to see?"
"Yes." Bane unfastened a steel cable that had secured the craft to one of the oaks, then removed wooden chocks from under the landing gear while she watched. With a signal from his Link, he unlocked the passenger hatch which slid open on the left side of the cabin. "Better get in and buckle up. Warm-up has started."
"Sure, why not." The mercenary hopped nimbly up and settled into the seat, finding restraint straps that closed around her waist and down across her chest. The interior had lit with softly glowing instruments in pastel green and blue, as well as a row of small monitor screens. She was studying everything when the Dire Wolf swung up into the pilot seat to her right and sealed the cabin.
"This thing is too advanced to be true," she said. "I could get a couple hundred million for it. Enough to buy my own island in the Caribbean and retire."
"No, it would self-destruct if anyone tries to steal it. You'd have only a glazed area on the ground and some molten slag." He secured himself, gripped the collective/cyclic stick between them and pressed a few final buttons before pulling back. The rotors overhead had begun to spin, but the CORBY rose smoothly upward before those blades could possibly be generating lift. He paused at tree-top to hover and take readings.
"The Trom, again," Dandelion said. "They designed this bird, right? I can't stand it. Are they from outer space or something?"
Bane actually smiled at that. "I've heard that some people think that. No, they're just a subspecies of incredible geniuses. I have a deal with the Trom."
"You would," she said sourly.
"Radar alignment systems are on," he told her. "We are not giving off any heat signature or external lights. We are good as invisible, especially on a dark night like this."
As they ascended swiftly up to five hundred feet, Dandelion tried to make her voice softer. "I suppose I should thank you for saving my life. But why start being nice now?"
Bane nodded, his concentration on flying. "Well, you could have killed me a few times during that business with Karel Cherny. I was an obstacle and you went out of your way to let me live."
"Hmm. I was wondering why you never tried to have sex with me, Jeremy. Everybody else wants some. But you never even went for a friendly kiss."
"Like you said, my girlfriend is a telepath. Not that I haven't been tempted." The faintest sigh escaped him. "I think you've gone too far into the dark, Dandelion. At first, you were hiring as a bodyguard and counter-assassin. That's defendable. But you've taken commissions to kill innocent people in a dozen countries."
"People are targets," she replied. "No heroes, no villains, just animals fighting for survival. I can't believe you haven't seen the light after all these years. I should ask to use your radio to contact my local Control. I haven't been able to reach them for a week."
"You can if you want. That's the mic, by your right hand. I'll have to set the frequency. We're at five thousand feet and moving South by South West."
"I should transmit the message to the Receiver," she said. "Hope for an answer some day. But I think they've cut me loose. I might not ever get home."
"There's the highway to the capital," said Bane. "Not much traffic. Just that one government Jeep going like hell."
After a few more minutes, he slowed the CORBY and swung it over into the forest. The windscreen blinked and changed to reveal the outside in an eerie pale green that showed details as well as daylight would. "Light enhancers and an illuminator that works on the high end of the spectrum. See those vehicles parked way off the road?"
"You've learned what nobody's supposed to find out, Jeremy," she whispered. "This is dangerous knowledge."
"I've heard of some grave sites, out by the highway. A place where nobody knows what goes on. I think you'll find your answers there. Do you want to?"
In a barely audible voice, she said, "Sure."
III.
His agents had brought out a folding canvas chair and Seth Petrov gingerly lowered himself into it near the edge of the pit. A mere four years of rheumatoid arthritis had arched his back and gnarled his hands, and his femurs were starting to bend out from the pelvis. In his neatly tailored suit and tie, the Weapons Master looked more physically normal than he was but his days of unarmed combat were behind him. He watched as his men put their shovels aside. Dirt was piled waist high around the pit they had dug up the crates of the Baxter machine pistols and bags of ammo, which were being put into a white panel van by the rebels.
There were six Mandate agents and five Liberation rebels at work, all men in their prime and tough-looking, all wearing dark clothing with wool hats or billed caps. It was hard to tell the so-called Freedom Fighters from the so-called Department of Justice officers, especially in the insufficient light from a quarter moon. Seth smiled to himself and leaned on his cane.
"How the mighty have fallen," said an unexpected voice from the woods to his left.
Seth jerked upright despite the jolt of pain in his lower back. All his agents and the rebels had reacted by yanking out pistols and either crouching where they stood or swinging around behind the van. They did not relax when they saw the stranger was holding up empty hands.
Jeremy Bane stepped closer, staying forty feet away from the scene. "The dreaded Weapons Master. Still stirring up grief and loss, still causing deaths wherever you go."
"You are a long way from home, Dire Wolf," said Seth.
"So are you. I'm amazed you came to this deal in person. Any other mastermind would stay safely hidden thousands of miles away." Bane lowered his arms and surveyed the area. "Those are the new Baxters 100s, right? Reliable, easy to maintain, just right for running fights with government troops."
When Seth gestured with one hand, his agents carefully began to spread out in a semi-circle facing the intruder. "Hold your fire for the moment," he ordered. "I believe this man has an offer or he would not have shown himself."
The Dire Wolf took a long tense moment for reply. "I came to this country for someone else."
"Oh. I see. That little psychopath with the flair for marksmanship. Have you found her, old friend?"
"That's hilarious, you calling someone else a psycho," Bane said. "Your other team sent a couple of inceniary grenades into the abandoned house where she was staying. She won't be filling her commission for you." Oddly, everything in those statements was true but misleading. Bane had always preferred to offer incomplete information rather than lie outright.
"You know perfectly well she could not counted on," said Seth calmly. "Dandelion was a good assassin until she started playing one client against another. That is against the code. Even we keep that one tatter of honesty."
"So you ordered her here, intending to have her killed while you made deals with the rebels?"
"Yes. Of course. What is your point, Dire Wolf? You are not still angry over that Octavius operation?"
Bane took a deep breath but his voice was steady. "I'm kind of glad I can still be outraged. It means I haven't become as dead inside as you... or Dandy."
As he spoke the last word, a barrage of sharp coughing sounds sounded in rapid succession. The men in that clearing jerked and twitched and fell with their heads blown open or blood jetting from their chests. There were no gunflashes to betray where the shooter was concealed, but the desperate Mandate agents and the rebels started firing wildly in all directions in the seconds they still had to live.
Three of the men swung their guns up toward Bane. A long-barreled .38 Smith & Wesson had appeared in his left hand quick as a conjuring trick and it blasted four times to slam those men to the ground. The fourth bullet was a follow-up where he was not sure he had hit dead center. The heavy silence that followed was broken by gasping and moaning as the few remaining victims died.
Bane had immediately wheeled around to train his revolver on Seth, but the Weapons Master had not moved. Those gnarled hands rested on the ornate ebony cane with its silver cap. There was a sword blade inside that stick but he had lost the ability to use it.
"Not so long ago, I could have stopped you," he grumbled. "We fought as equals once."
"I remember. But honestly, you deserve the pain your body is putting you through." Bane edged in closer, still covering his longtime enemy, watching for any hint of suspicious movement. "I went to the town where those kids are buried."
From the other side of that clearing, a slim figure quickly trotted toward them. The short silver hair was most visible on that dark night as Dandelion holstered one of her Walthers inside her jacket and clicked a fresh clip into place. "Hey, boss," she called out. "Thanks for setting me up."
With great effort, Seth Petrov levered himself to his feet. He could not straighten up fully but he tried. On either side of him stood his most dangerous enemies. He responded with an unpleasant chuckle. "So. Dandelion. You do realize that this man is using you against me? He is too weak to kill me in cold blood. As long as I do not move to attack, I am safe from him."
"Yeah. What's your point?" she asked.
"He is as much a Weapon Master as I am," said Seth. "And you are his weapon."
"That's okay with me," Dandelion said. She sent two of the little .22 slugs into the front of Seth's face, ripping it apart. The low stopping power of her Walther P22s was reduced even further by the silencer but that was more than compensated for by her superhuman accuracy. Every bullet she fired went exactly where she wanted it to. Seth crumpled straight down to the hard dirt, knocking over the folding chair as he fell.
Bane had watched in silence. He returned his gun to the holster at his belt behind his hip and exhaled. When Dandelion came over toward him, his voice was low. "He had a point, Dandy. Mostly I wanted to get you safe but in the back of my mind I did think it would be convenient if you killed him."
"Eh. Don't worry about it," she scoffed. "You think too much about right and wrong. Listen. That van is loaded with weapons. I'm going to claim it as a perk of the job. With the money I get for it, I can spend the rest of the year sipping cocktails by the lake."
She opened the front door of the vehicle and vaulted inside as agile as a squirrel. The keys were there. Once the van was running, Dandelion came back over to where the Dire Wolf was still standing. "Come on, snap out of it. You better go back to your chopper and head home. Don't get exhausted. You ought to get you some sleep."
"I saw a roadblock from the air. Don't go toward the capital."
"I'll be fine. I've been doing this a while." The tiny blonde stepped closer until she was almost touching him. "I shouldn't admit this, it's a weakness. But sometimes.. you make me shiver. We make a pretty good team."
"Dandy, don't think that way," he said almost inaudibly. "You know better."
She swung up into the van and gave him a final look. "I'd like to kiss you, I'd love to hold you," she laughed as she closed the door. "I've got no time for that now."
After the headlights of the van had vanished down the long hill to toward the highway, Bane remained. All these bodies. He counted thirteen dead men. And Seth Petrov was among them. One more great menace of the Midnight War gone forever. Bane wondered who would find this massacre, the local government troops or a follow-up squad from the Mandate. It didn't really matter. It would be covered up anyway and no one would learn what had happened here.
Finally, reluctantly, he headed back toward where he had concealed the CORBY a half-mile away. Seth had paid for all his crimes and Dandelion was as safe as she would ever be. Bane should have felt relief, even triumph. He didn't.
3/15/2019
