෴෴෴ ෴෴෴ ෴෴෴

Apathy

“This is Falcon 1. It’s time boss, we’re on final approach, target in range. Launch and evac window is 15 minutes starting now.”

McAvoy looked at the wall of screens and confirmed the timing. He pushed a button and a moment later he was on speaker phone with his client.

They spoke for a moment before the client interrupted him.

“Your Mandarin is atrocious. I would rather speak English than listen to the travesty of you gargling your way through this conversation.”

McAvoy glanced up at an engraved sign above the screens that read “The Customer is almost always wrong, but don’t tell them that!” He frowned but kept it out of his voice. “Of course, you’re the boss. We’re just over ten minutes out from our launch point. Once the missiles are in the air we’re unable to recall them. This is your last chance if anything has changed on your end.”

The man on the other end didn’t bother to hide his annoyance. “No! Nothing has changed. The region must be cleansed, and too many eyes are on my forces right now. The strike must happen while my negotiators are onsite, ostensibly about to grant them all that they ask for in good faith.”

McAvoy shrugged. “No problem. As I said when you hired us, I always give the customer a final go-no-go call. Sometimes my clients have second thoughts, or things change.” He paused almost imperceptibly, “Especially when chemical weapons are involved.”

The voice on the other end let out a drawn out cruel chuckle. “These weapons leave the infrastructure, such as it is, largely intact, with very little property damage. Why wouldn’t I use such an effective tool?”

“No reason, so we’re a go?”

“Go.” the call disconnected.

McAvoy hit another button and connected to the pilot. “Falcon 1, We’re a go.”

The pilot’s reply was hesitant. “Hey boss, I’m looking at the satellite footage of the site. It’s a refugee camp in the middle of a schooling complex!”

“Yes, I know. It’s very tragic what sometimes has to happen.”

“But that’s the thing boss, this doesn’t have to happen!” The pilot sounded scared. “Can you talk to the client? Maybe it’s a mistake.”

“That’s a good point. I’ll check with the client. Falcon 1, Maintain your current speed and heading and standby for new orders.”

“Roger that.”

McAvoy allowed another five minutes to elapse and then lifted the cover off a button and pressed it.

A few seconds later the pilot’s voice returned, this time in full panic. “The missiles! They just launched by themselves! One of them didn’t launch. I smell something! I think it detonated while still within the fuselage! Controls aren’t responding!”

McAvoy nodded to himself and keyed the mic. “That is very unfortunate. On a related note, your services are no longer required. I’ve got to let you go now.”

“Damn you M—” McAvoy switched off the radio and returned to looking over his next contract.

෴Raz෴

෴Hex෴

Now.

Raz pulled the chain hoist into place and hooked the chain onto the metal locking tab. “Ok, it’s a little low, but if I can duck under it, you’ll be fine.”

Hex looked at the gap between the bottom of the roll-up door and the floor and shrugged. Raz noticed a nearly suppressed smile flicker across her face. The rest of her aspects kept working on the arrangement of wires and devices near the door that led back to the hallway.

I feel like I need to learn how to read her all over again.

[It seems equally probable that you’re now seeing a wider sample, a more complete version of her. For instance, she doesn’t appear to care about the size of the opening because as you said, if you can fit, so can she.]

Well yeah, but—

[Also, she can just teleport outside.]

Ah shit. I am not used to thinking in these terms. How can you remember things like that but they slip my mind?

[We exist at different levels of your mind.]

[The part of you that you think of as ‘you’ has a lot more to deal with right now than the part of you, that you think of as ‘me’]

It seems like such a long time ago now, but before that day in the testing clinic, I thought people with five or six ability ranks had to be amazing. Now I have a lot more and I still can’t do jack.

Bee didn’t reply directly, but Raz sensed a feeling of disagreement.

You don’t like that idea do you? Well, we can talk it over when we get out of here.

Raz ducked under the door and checked out the courtyard again. It looked like a large rectangular warehouse receiving dock, for a secured facility. There was another roll-up door along the same wall as the one he’d just slipped under. The concrete underfoot met with brick and concrete walls, broken only by skylights in the high ceiling. After a moment of inspection, Raz realized that one of the wall panels across the courtyard had to be a large concealed sliding door.

He glanced back inside. Hex was still working on the intricate wiring setup. Raz turned back to the bare courtyard and studied the hidden door. He could feel something beyond the door. A barely perceptible, almost subliminal thrumm seemed to radiate through the door.

What is that?

[Analysis suggests there may be something beyond this door.]

[Increase host perceptual capab—]

Raz brushed off the message. Yeah yeah, get better, learn more. I got the message the first hundred times. Let’s learn what we can though. He resumed his careful study of the door and the tiny sensory pings he was receiving through the door.

A few minutes later Hex waved him back inside.

Raz glanced out at the courtyard one more time. “Well, if there’s a control for that hidden door, I couldn’t find it.”

Hex popped out into the courtyard. She looked around for just long enough to make it awkward. “I assume you’re not calling that hidden.” She pointed at the other roll-up.

Raz grinned and let out a short laugh before pointing at the hidden door. “No. I mean that door.”

She glanced at the wall. “Uh, yeah. Agree to disagree. I’m pretty sure that’s a wall.” she replied after popping back inside.

Another of her aspects put her hand on his shoulder. “Are you sure you need to do this? We can just go. No need to face your fears or whatever this is all about.”

Raz shook his head sharply, a single dismissive negation. “It’s not about facing my fears.”

She looked at him evenly. Each of her aspects stopped what they were doing and looked at him expectantly.

[You know she’s not all the way wrong.]

You’re not helping.

“Ok fine, it’s not only about facing my fears.” he grumbled.

Sia leaned on the wall and slid down into a crouch before beckoning to him. “C’mere, step into my office.”

Raz glanced at the doors and chuckled softly before theatrically checking his pockets. “Sorry Lucy, I don’t have a nickel.”

She looked confused for a moment. “What do you—actually, never mind, don’t tell me. I’m sure it's some old obscure reference.” she patted the wall next to her again. “Pretend I got it, and let’s talk. We’ve still got a while before I’m all done with that setup.”

Raz squatted down next to her. She leaned in a bit, putting them shoulder to shoulder and thigh to thigh.

“I’m worried,” she whispered.

“Why? I think the plan is solid, and working together, we’ll be ok.” he replied.

“Actually, you don’t even have a plan, you have a goal. A goal you haven’t been all that clear about.” she rebutted him with a frown.

“Ok, but we can—” He started before she talked over him.

“As for being ok, you don’t know that! Working together or not, you could get killed in here way too fast, way too easy. So no, dummy. I’m worried about you, and not just your physical health!” her tone was urgent. “I want to help, but I don’t know what you’re going through, or what I can do.”

Raz gently squeezed her leg just above the knee. “You’re doing it. I appreciate you coming with me. I couldn’t do this without you.”

“No kidding. You’d be dead without me. Cut all to hell without that armor.” she slipped her finger past his shredded shirt and slid it along the smooth overlapping armor mesh surface.

Raz looked down at her hand. “No doubt, no argument. I’m not sure what you’re trying to say though.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I just don’t know why we’re here, and I don’t like the position you’re putting me in. I’ve just spent the better part of a week fearing that we’d find you dead. I’m not up for seeing that happen at all, let alone here of all places.”

“We’ll be careful. You’re right, it's a risk. But there’s something here I need to see for myself.”

She let her head fall into her hand, and then rubbed her left ear. “I’m not going to be able to talk you out of this am I?”

He shook his head, with a rueful expression. “Sorry babe, I’ll be careful, we can be careful, but I need to do this.”

She stood up abruptly. “Well, no sense delaying the inevitable then. Let’s go.”

Raz stood up next to her. “Great, how long till you’re done with the setup there?” he looked over at the other aspects working at the other end of the room.

She laughed bitterly. “Oh that. It’s an excellent idea, clever but not complicated. I’ve been more or less done for ten minutes. I was just hoping to come up with some way to talk you out of this.” she shrugged. “Hope you don’t blame me too much. I just want you to live.”

He almost fought back a smile. “I guess I deserve that. I didn’t exactly give you much choice.”

“That's for sure. For the record, holding yourself hostage is some next level asshole behaviour.” She looked over at her other busy aspects. “Not to mention, rechecking your wiring is never a bad idea when dealing with explosives.

He nodded. “I wasn’t holding myself hostage. I was just telling you the facts.”

Her eyes narrowed and her upper body tensed.

The world around Raz seemed to slow down as her open hand swung toward his face. Raz felt as though he had all the time in the world to stop the slap from ever landing, or step back out of her reach. He stood his ground.

[You are about to be struck. Evasive action recommended.]

I thought you knew everything I know. She needs the release, and for our relationship to continue, it looks like she needs to hear the rule.

Her hand struck his face, the world returned to normal. The sting and soft ringing in his ear faded a few seconds later as he worked the ache out of his jaw.

“That’s a harder hit than I was expecting. Feel better now?”

She gasped and looked at her hand and then his face. “Oh my god. I’m sorry. I was just so mad, I care about you so much and you suddenly seem way too ok with dying, or risking it.” She opened her arms, inviting him into her embrace, “Baby I’m so sorry. Please forgive me!” tears appeared in her eyes.

He rubbed his chin. “That’s your one. I hope it was worth it.”

She looked at him in silence, her eyes wide.

“If you’ve still got something to work out physically, we can always gear up at the gym later on and go a few rounds in the ring, but I don’t hit you out of anger, and you don’t hit me out of anger. Are we clear?”

She swallowed audibly and nodded.

“Ok, if that's all ready to blow, show me how to activate it in case I need to be the one.”

She nodded and showed him the clacker style activators. She carefully reset it underneath a particular pallet near the roll up door. “This pallet moving enough will set it off. It’s a pretty solid trigger setup, but I’m going to hold it in place until you’re clear anyway.”

She kept looking at him distractedly.

Great, now I need to get her head back on straight before that distraction gets us killed.

He raised his hand. “Ok hold up. You don’t need to be freaking out or walking on eggshells. This probably wasn’t the time to bring it up, but I didn’t start that. We’re good, let's just get through this together.”

She nodded and looked at the door with a renewed focus.

“All right then, let’s get going.”

Her aspects took up positions around the room, ready to lend support from multiple angles.

He approached the door and opened his sensoria.

“I think we’re clear, let’s go.”

The aspect closest to him suddenly turned her head and looked him in the eye. “Hey wait a second.” She let go of the rifle handguard and pointed at him. “What about that time with the paddle?”

Raz shook his head with a wry expression. “You mean your paddle?! The one you had before I met you? I seem to recall you asking for that spanking. Also, that was definitely not done in anger.”

“So maybe later?...” She winked and trailed off.

He detected a very honest, vulnerable blend of emotions within the gap of that pause.

Hmm, starting to think there might have been more to that than her wanting to “try things”.

[Now who is getting distracted?]

touche.

He grinned at her. “Yeah, so that’s not the same thing at all. You want spanks in the bedroom from time to time, I got spanks for you, but let’s both stay focussed right now.”

“Ooh yes sir.” she purred, and then snapped him a loose mocking salute. “You got it sir, yes sir!”

He suppressed a chuckle and approached the door.

෴෴෴ ෴෴෴ ෴෴෴