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He was quiet a moment before saying flatly, “Because I have read his diaries. His notes. His research. It was all given to me by the people who ran this project. I am as close to Dr. Parker’s copy as I can be. I was taught his mannerisms, coached and trained in the same speech patterns. I—”
I strained against the straps holding me down. “You’re still not him. You’ll never be him. You’re just a walking, talking cardboard copy.”
His eye twitched, and I knew I’d hit a nerve. He stomped his foot down and the chair I was in reclined. “It’s the military’s fault, you know. They’re the ones who found out about the tear between worlds. They’re the ones who cut him off from it. You have no idea how he had to beg, plead, and bribe to get access. The things he had to do to get back there would turn your stomach. By then, the damage was done. They were in control, and all Parker could do was dance to their tune. They wanted information, weapons, technology. Every week they were threatening to shut down his research if he didn’t bring them something new, something useful. Presenting the flora and fauna and its many interesting properties only got him so far. It took almost thirty years for them to wear him down. Thirtyyears before he brought back the first live subject. Do you know what that’s like? To live for thirty years on the edge, waiting for someone to destroy everything you hold dear?”
“Better than you,” I said sourly. “You’ve got no excuse now, though, do you? The military’s done with you. Chewed you up and spat you out when you were no longer useful. So why are you doing this?”
“I can get it back,” he said, yanking a light down from the ceiling. “I can get it all back. The funding, the base, the equipment. Even new things I never would have dared ask for before. All I have to do is prove that my experiments can produce results. That’s all that matters, Mr. Rose. Results. You and the irqed are all the proof I need. I can show them it works. That I can take a beast like an irqed and control it.”
“You’ll never be able to control Ghost,” I said through clenched teeth. “He’s not your puppet. He’s free of you!”
“Ah, but you’re wrong!” He moved out of sight, rummaging around behind me before reappearing, holding a box. Parker tipped the box up so I could see what was inside.
It didn’t look like much. Just a round metal band with a few red stones in it. It could’ve passed for one of those renaissance faire circlets if it didn’t have those high-tech looking screws.
“Congratulations,” I said dryly. “You’ve made a robocrown.”
“Not just any crown,” he said, plucking it from the box. “This is the result of decades of research based on the Dominion’s halos. The early prototypes weren’t nearly as smooth, but this one… This one will work. I have your friend, Honor, to thank for that, actually. He tested a smaller prototype for me. Unfortunately, that one was also flawed. I learned quickly that once my subjects became aware of the device, they’d discard it, so I came up with a solution.”
I frowned, wracking my brain for what little I knew about Cupid’s halo. I only knew what Charlie had told me, whichwasn’t much. Apparently, they all had special powers, and Cupid’s had been used to heal a bunch of sick people. I didn’t understand why Parker thought putting that thing on Ghost would make Ghost do whatever he wanted. That didn’t make any sense.
“I realized the crown had a single, fatal flaw.” He smiled, and a chill went through me as he lifted the crown. “I was putting it on the wrong person.”
I squirmed and tried to get away as he brought the crown closer. Bile rose in the back of my throat. My head and heart were both pounding. Ice water crawled through my veins and nausea made my stomach turn. No matter how hard I fought, it was wasted effort. I wasn’t going anywhere.
I screamed as the crown came down on my head. Searing pain bored into my temples, giving me the worst headache of my life. Sparks flashed in my vision, and everything went black.
The base yawned, ablack hole in the middle of the forest. Once, it had been my entire world. When I was a youngling, I didn’t know there was anything beyond the cold metal doors of the lab, my cell, and the hallway that connected them. I thought the base was everything there was, Papa my only friend and protector.
How naïve I was. How weak.
But I was not weak and naïve anymore, and I was not alone.
Axel’s friends exited the strange vehicle. Phoenix held his gun with the muzzle pointed toward the dirt, but ready to snap it up at the first threat. Ollie moved off to one side. I couldn’t see what he was doing exactly, but after a short while, a large spinning vortex appeared. Hopper, Robert, Chris, and Agent Mozley stepped through it as if it were a doorway. They looked like they were ready for a fight, too.
Phoenix shifted his gun, turning to Mozley. “Orders, sir?”
“I have a team en route. ETA…” Mozley checked his watch. “Twenty-seven minutes. We have until then to get down there,extract the civilian target, and get the hell out of dodge. After that, it’ll be fireworks, and anything caught in the blast radius will be yesterday’s news.”
“Translation for those of us who don’t speak military?” Hopper said with a frown.
Cupid and Charlie dropped from the sky, landing nearby.
“Means I’ve called in a few favors to nuke this motherfucker from orbit,” Mozley clarified. “In less than thirty minutes, this whole area’s going to be a blazing inferno, so I suggest you boys get going if you want to save your friend.”
I growled at Mozley, towering over him and flashing my teeth.
He swallowed loudly before taking a step back. “Don’t look at me like that. I’ve got a job to do, and unfortunately, civilian rescue is a secondary objective. That’s why I brought you guys in.”
“Fuck, Mozley,” Honor snarled. “That’s not enough fucking time!”
“If you do your jobs, and go right the fuck now, there won’t be an issue. Work together. Use the radio. Portal out when you’re done. If things get too hot, let me know and I’ll do what I can to divert the airstrike. Simple as that. Got it?”
“Fuck. Come on.” Honor waved us toward the crumbling entrance to the base. “Ollie, be ready to open a portal.”
“Onmysignal,” Phoenix said, glancing at Honor.
Honor snorted. “You want command of this shit show? Be my guest. Just don’t expect any yes, sirs from me.”
