Story Eleven: The Prince

"We should have brought more back-up."

"Will you relax?"

"Lee, we're right outside a Technocratic construct, trying to make sure a defector gets out safe, with just the two of us as an extraction team."

Lee Rossdale turned and looked her partner, Carr Stanton. Staring through strands of long, fine, blonde hair, Lee smiled slowly, and clapped Carr's shoulder. "Relax," she said.

"What's his name again?" Carr asked.

"Luther Christian," Lee replied. She folded her arms over her chest and looked below.

Shaking his head, Carr pulled away from the edge of the rooftop and sat back on the floor of the roof, sitting cross-legged in front of his laptop. Following him, Lee crouched down behind Carr and glanced at the screen.

"Where is he?" she asked, arms still crossed.

"He's still in his office," Carr replied, pointing to the computer screen. The laptop was Carr's focus for his Correspondence magick. Some mages used incantations, others spellbooks, or wands. Carr was a more modern type of mage. The kind that made some of his more traditional allies nervous at times: technomage. Carr looked over his shoulder at Lee, who was standing again. "Remind me how easy this is going to be again?"

Lee answered without looking at Carr, her eyes again roaming the streets below. "Luther leaves his office, goes down the street, gets a cup of coffee, sits and reads the newspaper, and then hops on a trolley. At that point, we jump on the back of the trolley. He'll get off at a stop only halfway to his home, pretend to have forgotten something, and head into a certain store. When he comes out, I drive up next to him and you pull him into the back seat. We make like it's a kidnapping, drive down to San Jose, switch cars, and make it back to L.A."

Carr stood up, pulling his thin, black leather jacket tight around him. "How do we get him to Detroit?"

"One thing at a time," Lee said, flashing another flawless smile at Carr.

"Are you sure about this guy?" Carr asked.

"Fernando said he was," Lee replied.

"And we trust that guy?"

'Sebastian does."

"Right," Carr said, looking down at his computer screen while answering. "And we trust him?"

Lee frowned at her partner. "Carr."

"Right." Carr pulled his jeans up just above the knees, to keep them from tightening as he sat down again. "He's moving."

Lee turned back to look down at the computer from her standing position, arms still folded. "Is he alone?" she asked.

"Yes," Carr said.

"Good."

Lee turned into the wind and ran her hands through her long, flowing hair, closing her eyes, focusing herself, relaxing. She gave her hair a final shake before putting her right hand into the pocket of her puffy grey vest while with the left she tugged at the neck of her suddenly too-tight black turtleneck. "Time?"

"Five-oh-nine. He put some quality extra minutes in."

"Can it," Lee said, straightening her baggy khakis. Bouncing up and down, she tested the cushion on her dark grey sneakers.

The two mages watched through the computer as their man walked down the halls of the pristine office, saying his good-byes for the day and nodding politely to colleagues on his way out. Briefcase in hand, he turned out of the office and moved down the street towards the coffeehouse, per their arrangement. He moved slowly, patiently, before turning his back on his viewers and walking into the coffeeshop. He paused, then turned around and left.

"What's he doing?" Carr asked.

"I don't know," Lee said, shifting her balance to her other foot.

Luther turned a few feet to his left, put his hands in his pocket, and then put some coins in the newspaper vending machine.

“Jesus, ”Carr swore, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

“Calm down,” Lee said, looking away and then back, breathing in, then exhaling. "Everything's going to be fine."

Luther went back inside and moved towards the cash register, ordering something; he waited for it patiently and then sat down. He opened up the paper and started to read. Suddenly, something else caught his attention and put the paper down.

"Back up the viewer," Lee said.

Carr hit a few buttons and the picture zoomed back, showing another man at the table. "Who the fuck is that?" Carr asked.

"I don't know," Lee said, squatting next to the Virtual Adept.

"Is he a mage?"

"I don't know," Lee said.

"Of all the times not to have Cortland or Damon with us."

Lee gazed intensely at the screen, focusing on Luther. Her eyes narrowed as Carr looked at her, curiously. "He's very nervous," she said slowly. "His feelings are very strong. Something's not right."

"Now what?" Carr asked.

"Stay here. Keep an eye out. You're our cover fire. I'm gonna go in and get him."

"All right," Carr replied, turning back to the screen. "Be careful!" he added as she walked away.

 

Lee did not reply.

As Lee walked across the roof, toward the staircase door, Carr ran a hand through his short, spiky hair. "I've got a bad feeling about this," he said. He hit another button on his laptop to engage the audio connection.

Inside the cafe, the second man shook his head. "So then, perhaps what I've heard is wrong," he said. "Maybe you're not unhappy with your job?"

"Colin, why would I be unhappy?" Luther said, sipping on his coffee. "The firm is an excellent place to work. They take care of you at work and outside of work. Not only that, but we engineer the way to a better world through our management and investment techniques."

The second man, Colin, smiled wryly at Luther. "What are you now, the company brochure?"

Luther raised his eyebrows as he sipped on his coffee again.

"I'm just trying to find out what it is and how I can fix it, Luther. That's all."

Luther set his drink down. "There's no such thing as 'that's all,' in our business."

"Luther," Colin said, leaning forward. "You're starting to get paranoid on me."

Far above, Carr noticed that the other man's face was stoic. Abnormally so. No matter what turn the conversation took, no matter what was said, he kept a small, tight smile on his face. He was too calm, too interested: but yet not caring. He clicked on the sidebar and opened up another application. He typed in 'electricity, mechanical', and used a laser pen to circle Colin before hitting the 'enter' button.
A horizontal bar slowly crawled rightward, charting the progress of Carr's scan. After a moment, several sections of the other man started to glow, outlining a grid of power—one which was completely artificial, not biological in nature. "Oh shit," Carr muttered.

Carr was about to signal Lee to tell her what she was getting into, when he noticed both of the men's hands moving slowly under the table. "What the—?" Carr watched Luther's hand reach into his pocket and pull out some kind of small gum and stick it to the bottom of the table. Colin, on the other hand, began to extend some kind of wire from his hand: reaching insidiously towards Luther. Carr watched, enraptured, his curiosity paralyzing him.

"Colin, I know the procedures," Luther said.

"What are you talking about?" Colin said, stalling.

"Termination. No displeasure allowed."

"Don't be silly," Colin said, his tentacle still creeping towards Luther.

"I'm not. That's why I set an explosive adjustment under the table."

"What?" For the first time, the other man showed something resembling emotion, as his eyes opened wide.

"I'll see you in Hell," Luther yelled as he turned and jumped out of the coffeehouse window, as the table exploded behind him, blowing out the rest of the window, and knocking his 'friend' backwards. Luther hit the ground hard, but was prepared for the impact. After pulling himself up and brushing himself off, he stood and looked around, nervous—still carrying his briefcase.

From above, Carr watched Lee run into the picture and grab him by his arm.

"Escape Route?" flashed across the bottom of Carr's screen.

"Continue away from the Construct, top speed," Carr typed. "That guy was a HIT Mark."

"Shit," ran across the bottom of the screen.

Carr moved their image to the left hand side of the screen, using the other half to search a city map for an improvised escape route. He clicked another button and the map took over the entire width of the screen, only now he had two blinking blips showing Lee and Luther's position.

"Next alley on your right," Carr typed. A third blinking blip appeared out of the coffee shop. The application scanning for electricity and mechanical presence was still running in the background. It was the HIT Mark. "Fuck," he whispered.

Below, Lee received the bad news. "That HIT Mark's back up," she said to Luther, leading him down the alley.

"I figured he would be. Is anyone else in pursuit yet?" he puffed, slightly out of breath.

Lee paused, before grimacing. "Yes, two more unknowns coming out of the construct—out of your office."

"They should just be thugs -- —regular associates."

"Associates?" Lee asked, looking over her shoulder.

"Magic Men. Call them what you will," Luther said.

"Oh."

The two continued to run down the alley. Luther probably believed that Lee knew where she was going.

"What do you mean?" Lee said suddenly.

"What?" Luther asked.

"Not you," Lee snapped. "Fuck." Turning around, she pulled him by his arm. "Back this way."

"That's the way we came from!" Luther said, eyes wide.

"Are you going to argue with me or come along?" Lee asked, already moving.

"Don't you even know where we're going?" Luther asked.

"Hey, the HIT Mark wasn't part of the plan," Lee said.

"Jesus Christ, didn't I say I was in danger? I could have ran away myself if that's all it would have taken!"

"Just come along," Lee said over her shoulder.

"Don't tell me you didn't have a contingency plan," Luther said, running after Lee.

She didn't answer and he grabbed her arm. "You do have a back-up plan, right?"

"No." She glared, whirling on him. Luther bit back his response as he watched her beautiful features turn violent, her eyes flaring.

"You two! Freeze!" a voice yelled from the end of the alley that they had just turned away from.

They both looked up to see a police officer with his gun leveled at them.

Carr? Lee thought, trying to figure out if he was a mundane cop or not.

"Both of you raise your hands slowly," the cop yelled.

Luther looked at Lee for guidance. She just looked back.

Carr! She screamed through her mindlink with the Virtual Adept.

Just then, far above, Carr smacked his computer. "Loading Data? Fuck you! They're going to die while you're loading the fucking data!" Lights finally flashed on his computer, giving him the answers he needed. “HIT Mark,” he typed fervently.

Having sent the message, Carr watched on his screen as Lee met Luther's gaze as the words, "Do it, slowly," read on his screen. Then almost too fast for his digital tracking to follow, Lee pulled a nine-millimeter pistol from out of the back of her waist-line and fired several rounds at the cop, then pushed Luther back up the alley. The word "Run" trailed along the screen.

Suddenly, another blip turned to meet their sprint at the end of the alley. Before he could send another message, another, larger, blip appeared in the middle of the alley. "What the?" He opened another program to examine the last blip.

Below, Luther ran stiffly into the fist of the cop turning the corner at the end of the alley. His cheek caved with a sickening crunch. He spun around, falling to the ground. Lee fired several more rounds over Luther's prone body, and into the officer's chest, none of which dropped him.

"Unit damaged. Containment factor critical," it droned.

"Understood," echoed a voice from behind them. Lee spun to see the other cop coming from behind them, trailed by the man from the coffee shop.

Carr, we need help extremely fast. Situation is critical. We are both about to become flatlines if you don't do something!

I'm on it.

A noise started softly and as it cleared the tops of the buildings, began to roar. Luther looked up as Lee helped him up. Above them was a police helicopter, hovering, men looking down out of it.

"Great job," Luther muttered, grimacing as he spoke.

"Stupid mistake," Colin bellowed. "You of all people should know better." He passed the police officer and strode over towards Lee. "Pretty accomplice though. I hear she's pretty good with a gun." He smiled at her, not even bothering to take the gun from her.

Carr!

Wait.

Well, orders are to make it look like a common occurrence. They don't want a ruckus being made over this. Control wants a simple beating, one which sadly leads to a fatality. Take his wallet when you're done." He looked from the one cop to the other. "Commence."

The two cops moved towards Luther.

"Come on, Colin," Luther said holding out his hands. There's got to be some kind of a deal we can work out."

"Don't try your mind adjustment on me, Luther. It won't work," Colin said, shaking his head.

"Come on! I've been one of the most profitable associates in the entire Syndicate from the last ten classes! I had the highest yield potential! Awards from every employer! Nothing but good recommendations!"

"Those that burn the brightest, often burn out the quickest."

"Fuck you, Colin! Fuck you, lady! Thanks for nothing."

"Don't worry about her," Colin said. "She's wanted for questioning. She'll be having lots of fun."

Colin locked his hand onto her arm.

The officer who had already hit Luther once, grabbed him by his neck and pushed him into the wall. The other officer stepped forward and punched Luther in the kidney. Then the officer hit him again and again, as Luther cringed in pain, barely able to stand, were it not for the first HIT Mark's grip.

Dammit Carr! We need some fucking help!

You have to trust me. I'm on it. I have something.

Not good enough. We need it now.

We're a team. Lee. You have to have faith in me. Stop distracting me.

Lee scowled and looked at her jailer.

"Look at them pound on his back," Colin said calmly. "If we weren't going to beat him to death, he'd probably never walk again."

Lee refused to watch Luther get beaten.

A voice called out from above, and as the two looked up, they saw a rope ladder fall towards them. "New orders," a man yelled. "They're both to be taken in."

"What?" Colin said, as both officers suspended their beating of Luther. "That's not what my data reads."

Lee missed the other officer's reply as she heard in her brain, I have control of the ones above. Take out the others.

Is that all? Lee thought.

Dropping her connection with Carr and turning her mind powers on Colin, Lee lashed out with a vicious scream; the pure ferocity and suddenness, if not the actual strength behind it, caught him off balance and stunned him. Lee took advantage immediately and jumped on top of Colin, tipping him over; as she rode him down, she landed on his stomach, forcing the air out of his diaphragm, knocking the wind out of him. Before he could react, She pulled out her gun again and raised it to his forehead, firing two shots point blank—holding up her other hand to shield herself against the splatter of blood and grey matter.

Lee spun around immediately, rising to her feet. One of the officers was coming directly towards her when a garbage can fell over amidst the swirling winds of the helicopter, tripping him. Lee leaped towards the officer and fired another two rounds into the back of his head.

She looked up, expecting to see the other officer moving toward her also, but he stood frozen, convulsing from an internal breakdown of critical circuits, his primary motor functions suspended. Finally, he collapsed in a heap, at the very least unconscious. Striding forward, she bent over and fired another two rounds into the back of the HIT Marks' head, just to make sure it did not get back up to follow them.

Lee hustled over to Luther and picked him up carefully. He was barely conscious and one of his eyes was bleeding. His suit was wrinkled and torn, but somehow, as he had fallen, he had still clung onto his briefcase. Lee worked as hard as she could to pick him up, but she could barely get him to stand. "I need some help, Carr," she whispered. After a moment, she nodded.

Luther began to feel a little lighter and sporadically, his good eye flashed open. Lee shook him. "I need you to be able to climb this ladder," she said. A part of him must have understood and it must have been a deeply buried survival factor, for as he glanced at the fallen bodies around him, he seemed to awake a little more, and suddenly was cogent, climbing up the ladder without any further ado. Lee followed him, holstering her weapon and watching Luther carefully.

 

Atop the building still, Carr snapped up his laptop and put it into his black padded case, which he quickly slung around his shoulder. Moments later, the helicopter swung over the rooftop, ladder still hanging underneath it; in moments, Carr had climbed up into the vehicle. Inside were Lee, Luther, a pilot, and one other officer. Carr glanced intently at Lee, and then she turned to guide the pilots to the spot where their car was supposed to be waiting for them in the first place.

Carr went over to Luther. He looked horrible. Carr knew he had taken a beating, but he didn't know it had been that bad. He wrinkled his nose and knelt down next to Luther, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"It's okay," Luther gurgled. Carr was about to get back up when Luther stopped him. He slipped a small magnet into Carr's hand and winked. Carr cocked his head and looked at Luther confusedly, but then he understood and a smile spread across his face. Carr turned his back to Luther and instructed him to open and close the computer case on his back, and retrieve the laptop. Luther did so. Carr turned back around and took the computer from Luther, hastily opening it. It was still running, feeding encrypted command sub-routines into the HIT Marks' neural interfaces.

Minimizing that command window, Carr opened a second window which opened the video channel and again began recording data. He closed the laptop again, but held onto it. The helicopter landed in an open park area near the car, and the three jumped out. Before the helicopter could take off, Carr placed the magnet on the back of its frame.

As the three jogged away—Lee aiding Luther—Carr opened the laptop and watched as a red square highlighted the magnet on the helicopter; he depressed the 'return' key and then blinked as the screen lit with a bright white glare and an explosion lit the fuel tank, ripping through the body of the helicopter, sending shards of it flying in all directions. They could all feel the force of the explosion.

Lee, still holding onto Luther, turned and smiled at Carr, who was staring back at the destroyed helicopter. Moving toward the car, Lee had to call to Carr to snap him out of his fascinated stare. Once they got back to the car, Lee got behind the wheel and they roared off. Carr sat in the passenger seat, closing down all his applications, finally shutting of the computer.

Luther passed out in the back seat.

 

 

 

"I still don't understand exactly how we escaped that deathtrap of an alley," Luther asked, sitting up in bed.

Carr looked down as his cheeks flushed. "I feel really horrible about that. It took so long, we almost got you killed."

"Listen, kid," Luther said, staring at Carr and darting a glance at Lee. "You two got me out of San Francisco alive. That's more than most people could have done. I may have gotten broken up a little, but I'm alive."

Carr smiled. "Well, I finally realized that HIT Marks are pretty resistant to magick, and I'm not exactly the most powerful mage out there. So I simply relied on my own skills. I mean, I projected the radio waves with an application of Forces, but I detected and broke through the encryption codes to the HIT Marks' neural processors on my own, and then sent them a different set of orders. But I'm sure that trick won't be so easy next time."

"I can't believe that you did it once," Luther said.

"Well, I was considered one of the best hackers and encryption specialists when I worked for the government," Carr said. "And that was several years ago. Now I'm really good."

"Hunh," Luther grunted. "But that doesn't explain how we got through the other three HIT Marks."

"Surprise and luck," Lee said.

"They didn't know I was helping," Carr said. "While Lee started blasting them, I was distracting them and tripping them, buying her just a little bit more time."

"I'd say we both put in a full workout," Lee said, able to smile with the luxury of hindsight.

"Yeah, but it was your ass on the line, Lee," Carr said.

"True. Did you get it all on tape?"

"Uh-huh."

Lee smiled. She sat on the edge of the bed and handed Luther a mirror. So, how do you like your new face?"

Luther's hand, unable to bend at the wrist, due to the cast, caught the handle of the mirror. He looked into his reflection for awhile. He wrinkled his nose, then caught his chin with his good hand. Finally he ran his other hand over his shaved head. "Nice hair," he muttered.

Lee shrugged. "Here's your new identity." Lee handed him a Michigan driver's license. "Joshua Palpatine, the name you asked for. The birth certificate and other good stuff is over on the table by your briefcase."

His gaze darted to the briefcase. Satisfied, he returned his gaze to the mirror. "My face is very plain," he said.

"Nathan thought it would help you blend in better. Did you really want something that was going to stand out?"

"No. No, this is perfect" Luther looked at the mirror a few moments longer. Who's Nathan?" he asked after a moment.

"Your doctor,” Carr said. “The less you know the better."

"True," Luther/Joshua said.

"So Fernando says he met you at a conference," Lee said.

"Yes. I chanced into him after a failed consultation with Hermetic mages. They thought I was a plant. A spy. They wouldn't help me. Fernando told me to check out the home page for the Pendragons, some Tradition craft. He said they had resources to help me. That's how I got a hold of you."

"And what are your plans now?" Lee asked.

"Fernando tells me the Pendragons have an economic wing," Luther/Joshua said. "If they'll have me. I'd like in."

Lee smiled. "Our leader, Sebastian, needs to check you out to make it official, but he's out of the country right now." She leaned over and brushed his shoulder, looking through her hair. "But with my recommendation, I'd say you're in." She flashed a smile. "He'll listen to me."

"And you would recommend me based on what's already happened?" Luther/Joshua asked.

"No, because I scanned your mind while you were unconscious," Lee replied.

"And wounded. My defenses were down," Luther/Joshua said.

"Sorry, sugar," Lee said, wrinkling her nose.

"I would expect no less."

"But I would say you're sincere," Lee said.

"Good." Luther/Joshua looked down, and then looked from Lee to Carr. "You know, I feel as if I should say something before we go any further."

"Go ahead," Lee said.

"I'm not doing this because I was rejected by the Technocracy. I'm not doing this to save the world. I'm not doing this because I couldn't stand the oppression of a single paradigm onto the masses—I'm doing it because I couldn't stand that oppression onto me. I wanted freedom. I wanted room to maneuver. I wanted space to create my own strategies and power relations. I didn't want it all dictated to me. I did this for me."

Lee looked into his eyes and smiled again. "That's fine, honey. That's what we're all fighting against. All you have to do is try to give other people the same chance you want for yourself."

Luther/Joshua returned her smile, and flashed it at Carr, also.

"So are you ready for a new life?" Carr asked.

"Very."

"Welcome to the Pendragons," Lee said. "I'm sure you'll find it . . . interesting," Lee said.

"Perfect," Luther/Joshua smiled.

 

 

 

Joshua walked through the halls of his new office, leaning on a cane. He nodded slowly as he looked over at the darker-skinned Fernando DeGaulle. "I like it very much," he said.

Fernando's gaze was just as catching as was Joshua's. As intently as the latter examined the office space, the former took him in. Joshua's body was still weak, but it was obvious that his mind was not. He was very observant, and from what Fernando could sense, hungry.

"And this is the Vice-President's office," Fernando said, ushering him into a spacious, luxurious office.

Joshua looked around and nodded again. "Perfect."

Fernando put out his hand. "Welcome to Harbinger Associated."

Joshua accepted his hand and shook it. "Thank you."