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Her team jogs up behind her as Mandica is frozen. Jaidia covers her mouth
with her hand. “Oh my God.” They were told that Guinevere would be locked up
in this tower, but they assumed that they would find her in a
less-than-comfortable bed, and maybe—maybe—chained up. She’s chained
up all right, but not in the usual way. One leg is shackled to a wall while
the other is free. The same goes for her wrists on opposing sides. She’s
lying on her side in an awkward position, next to a bucket with an obvious
purpose. There’s a sink above her, but it doesn’t look like she can get to
it. Water is dripping from a pipe underneath, forming a puddle in the
chipped stone below. Her eyes are open, and she’s barely blinking, but she
is, so she’s still alive.
Mandica knows right away what has happened. She has no proof, it could all
be a lie, but this is what she is choosing to believe. Vanore never betrayed
her. She never plucked out her eyes, or stabbed her in the chest. She has
not been tormenting locals in Camelot and Greater Loegria. She hasn’t done
anything wrong. She’s been locked up here this whole time. The asshole
running around as Morgana is a shapeshifter, using Vanore’s face as a
default in order to sell a lie. It’s clever, she’ll give her that.
They never knew if there was anyone in the world they could trust, but if
they ever saw Vanore, they knew they couldn’t trust her. But that was
foolish. Of course there was another layer. Mandica gets down on her knees
and pulls one link in the chain apart while Jaidia gets down and does the
same to free her leg. “What did she do to you?” Mandica asks, tearing up.
She gently lifts Vanore’s head, and slides her crossed legs underneath it.
“She needs water,” Reagan notes. He finds a cup, and fills it with clean
water.
“I’ve been drinking,” Vanore assures them but her voice is hoarse, so she’s
not drinking enough, or it’s full of bacteria. Or both.
“Guys, I know this is important, but we gotta go,” Malika urges. “I have to
tell you what I learned. I don’t know what Morgana is planning, but it’s
bigger than we knew.”
Mandica is still crying softly as she’s running her fingers through Vanore’s
hair. “I’m sorry I doubted you. We should have seen it. I should have
seen the truth.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Vanore replies. No, she wouldn’t.
“She’s talking about me.” It’s Morgana, standing in the doorway, still
wearing Vanore’s face. She’s not upset at all, like all of this is going
according to plan.
Scared to death, the real Vanore presses the back of her head against
Mandica’s chest, trying to get as far from the witch as possible. “Who is
that? Who the hell is that?”
“Oh, sorry. You’re used to seeing me like this.” Smoke billows out of
Morgana’s cloak. Behind it, nanites begin to rearrange themselves. When the
cloud fades, they see a man in her place. He removes the cloak, as well as
the low-cut outfit underneath. He then peels a shirt from the cloak’s back
lining, and puts it on for a more masculine look.
Mandica thought she may recognize his real face—if this is even finally
that—but she doesn’t. It’s a guy. It’s just some random guy. “Let me guess.
Just Morgan.”
My real name is Jiminy actually.
Mandica blinks deliberately. “What?! Like...the bug?”
“It started out as a nickname, but I’ve been using it for centuries;
much longer than I had my original name, which I almost don’t remember.” He
notices the team in defensive positions. “This didn’t go well for you last
time. Nothing has changed. Except that face.” He waves his hand towards
Jaidia.
Her facial hologram disappears, leaving her scar fully visible. She only
covered it up when she came here so it didn’t draw attention from the
locals. She’s not fazed.
Jiminy tilts his head. “Those aren’t as deep as they should be. Let me try
again. He forms another cloud from his hands, but the particles are more
sharply defined. They look vaguely like a sword. He drops it down, and
slices through Jadia’s head, right were one of the slashes once was. Her
body drops. “You next,” he says, looking at Malika.
Blue Wave extends her wings, just as Ravensgate Rescuer did earlier, except
they are still less feathery, and more metallic. “I’m actually stronger this
time.” She attacks.
Jiminy takes hold of the wings, and twists so they’re wrapped around Blue
Wave’s body. He jams the sharp edges into her torso.
Malika falls to her back in front of Mandica, and begins to cough up blood.
She turns her chin towards her friend. “He’s...” she struggles to say. “He’s
in Underbelly a third of the time.” More blood, flying out like a geyser.
“Loegria the other third. And—” She dies before she finishes her thought,
but the math equation is easy enough to solve.
“Whoops,” Jiminy says. “You found out about that a little too early.
Whatever.”
Reagan his holding his decoherence gun towards the enemy, but not shooting.
“Ahh. Not charged quite yet, is it? Yeah, that’s a big downside, but a small
price to pay for full-on murder.” Jiminy takes a gun out from behind his
back, which doesn’t look unlike Reagan’s. “Mine’s freshly juiced up. And
bonus...” He trains it on Reagan. “I figured out how to propagate the backup
signals. Dead is dead is dead is dead.”
Reagan’s eyes roll to the back of his head, and he collapses.
“A neural suicide inducer?” Jiminy complains. “What a coward. Welp, I guess
I’ll test it on your girlfriend.” She points the gun at Vanore now. “Move
out of the way so I can get a clean shot. I’m not done with you yet. You’re
the key to everything.”
Mandica lifts Vanore’s head up more, and gently pushes it behind her back so
he has an even worse shot. “I don’t know why you think I would do such a
thing.”
He sighs. “To make it easier on all of us.” He reaches over his shoulder,
and quickly swings his arm forwards, sending a chained hook towards Mandica.
It digs itself into her shoulder. He yanks it, pulling Mandica out of the
way. Then he fires his weapon at Vanore, sending a blast of energy into her
stomach. Satisfied, he points the gun towards the ceiling in a comfortable
resting position. “The results will take time.”
Azad Petit literally appears out of nowhere. One second he’s not there, and
the next, he is. It’s impossible. It breaks the laws of physics, it just
does. But it’s a good thing he can do it. Without hesitating, he goes right
for Reagan’s decoherence gun, and shoots Jiminy with it. Jiminy’s nanite
bonds break, and he falls apart like a sand statue.
Mandica tears the hook from her flesh. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,”
She whimpers. She cups Vanore’s cheeks, trying to get some kind of reaction,
but Vanore doesn’t move. Her heart is still. Her lungs are flat. The light
in her eyes is gone. All of Mandica’s friends will come back to life, but if
Jiminy wasn’t lying, Vanore cannot. Every copy of her has just been killed
forever. Mandica lifts her head and screams as loud as she can. While still
screaming, her back begins to burn. It’s hotter and more painful than ever
before. Malika sits up quickly, and catches her breath. Reagan does too. And
Jaidia? Well, she’s too far gone. But Mandica doesn’t care about that.
She’ll be fine. She needs Vanore back. She stops screaming, and looks down
at her love. “Please.”
Vanore breathes in.
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