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Baldur's Gate Heroes #011


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#1 Guest_Coutelier_*

Posted 26 October 2006 - 10:19 AM

Baldur’s Gate Heroes #011
Insurrection, Part Three


For Imoen, things kept getting curiouser and curiouser. Phrases like that were normally best suited to Aerie; almost every object they came across seemed to hold some fascination for the alien girl. She acted like she’d never seen tins of paint before. Of course it was quite possible that she hadn’t, and at least she hadn’t tried to drink their contents… Not that Imoen had ever tried that either, and definitely not as part of an experiment to see if green stuff all tasted like peas. Because that would be crazy, even for a five year old. And... well actually lets not bother with the ironic and unexpected age joke now. It was very silly, and the situation had become more serious.

Neither of them knew what to make of what they’d found now. These men had been killed quite recently, so recently that you could almost believe they were just asleep. That was before you realized that their bodies had been cut in two by machine-gun fire.

Maybe it was fear of her own mortality or something like that, you would probably have to ask someone who was actually a psychiatrist, but no matter how often she saw them Imoen never got used to being around dead people. She could bear looking at the stony eyes staring into nothing or the final expressions etched on their faces, which for her was often surprise and pain. Even so, just like the body she’d found on the island she just had to swallow back her uneasiness and examine them for possible clues.

They had no identification, but one thing that stood out was their clothes and some of the equipment still left on their bodies… all military issue. It looked a lot like this had been some sort of Special Ops unit.

“I don’t understand any of this,” Imoen shook her head, “why are people from the same army shooting each other?”

“T-they didn’t,” Aerie said. Thanks to Kalah she too had become acquainted with death, like Imoen though it still made her uneasy, but she hadn’t learnt to hide her feelings as well and shuddered when she touched the corpse in front of her. She caught Imoen’s gaze then flushed and turned away. “Not all of them anyway… this one wasn’t shot. I… think that… t-these are electrical burns,” the blonde pointed out, “this man was tortured… I think.”

“Why? I don’t get this at all…” unfortunately the only thing Aerie’s observation helped explain was why the red head thought she’d smelt barbeque.

“Do humans need a reason to do any of this?” Aerie muttered grimly, and then went wide eyed when she realized Imoen had heard her. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright, no-one can blame you for thinking that… but really, this stuff’s supposed to be illegal even towards other countries soldiers. And what happened to you… if more people had known, then maybe… I don’t know, they would have kicked up a fuss at least. Had a ‘let Aerie go’ campaign on television… and while they’re reeling from that they could hit the government and the military really hard with leaflets and posters and stuff…”

“And… they would have released me?” Aerie arched an eyebrow skeptically.

“You get the right people on your side… the sort who know how to manipulate people through media, then sure. You know, the pens mightier than the sword and that.”

“Then… w-why aren’t we armed with pens?” Aerie forced a slight smile.

“I’ve got a phone… I could say ‘halt your evil ways or I shall send a text message to all the major news networks…’ actually there isn’t any signal so I can’t. I suppose we’d need more evidence anyway… Yoshimo was right. People won’t believe just you… they’d want to see a great big space ship.”

“I’m afraid I lost mine… I-I suppose your army still has it somewhere. It’s just as well, I think…”

“Why’s that?”

“I… I know that humans can be kind, a-and extremely brave… Quayle and others have tried to help me over the years e-even while the majority didn’t care. But I do think that many others would be afraid. N-not of me of course,” Aerie grinned, “I am, as you say, an ordinary girl.. At least, I am wh-where I come from. But to others of your kind, I represent the knowledge that there are peoples out there far stronger than any nation on Earth… c-creatures that your leaders and their armies could never protect their people against. I-f my scout ship was in orbit right now… it could destroy all life on your world in a matter of moments. So… I think t-they did what they did out of fear.”

“Maybe,” Imoen went very quiet, which was strange. Maybe there was some truth in what Aerie said, but the red head didn’t really buy it as an excuse. Even if aliens were more powerful, we could at least show that we can be just as civilized… but if it helped justify things to Aerie then she wasn’t going to contradict it just yet. “Anyway… why are we standing around chatting in a room full of dead bodies?”

Probably because they both wanted to keep their minds off it. And though she stuttered a lot and was hard to hear sometimes, it was easier chatting to Aerie than it had been to Minsc, or even Yoshimo since neither of them had ever really trusted the other. Not very professional though. Luckily, with all the noise Minsc had been making they could be pretty sure they were well away from the main battle for now.

As for these men… she didn’t who they were or what they’d be doing, or who would miss them; but there was nothing they could do here. Yet, she found herself staring down at a corpse, right into its grey marble eyes…

Death is pretty?

“Mm..ma’am?” Imoen jumped suddenly when she felt Aerie’s touch on her shoulder. She in turn startled the blonde who fell on her butt again.

Had she said that out loud? Why would she even think that?

“Ar-are you okay?” Aerie scrambled quickly back to her feet.

“I’m sorry… I’m fine. Gee… don’t suppose anywhere in that vast brain there’s a cure for stress?” That’s all it was. It had to be. She’d been targeted by a top secret project for reasons she knew nothing about, she had Minsc suddenly rush off on a mighty berserker rage, and Aerie… well actually Aerie had been pretty good so far, but Imoen was worried about what either of them would do after this was over.

“N-none that would help in our current situation, I’m afraid. I think the on-only permanent cure is to find the source of your worries and deal with it.”

“Your right, that’s what we should be doing,” the source of it was Irenicus, a man whom she’d only ever seen in a dream and whom she’d recently started might be an alien without thinking that at all strange… that wasn’t a sign of insanity though, it was just that her mind had been opened up to knew possibilities. To deal with him she just had to find him. “Let’s go.”

She took one last look at the bodies, and was relieved to find she wasn't yet developing a preference for dead people. Imoen couldn’t avenge these men, much as she wanted to. Pursuing revenge would place Aerie’s life in more danger as well as her own. She was at least still able to hear Minsc tearing the place apart and beating the crap out of the enemy.

At least now she knew the animals deserved everything they got. And if she should happen across any of them herself, and should happen to have a loaded gun in her hands… well she did. So now she almost had to use it.

***


“Evil! Say hello to Minsc’s little friend!” The Russian roared, sending a hail of bullets into walls, boxes, crates and other evil looking items of scenery, all out of the nozzle of a gun designed to be mounted on a jeep which Minsc held in one hand. Soldiers scrambled in all directions in their attempts to escape the destruction the cyborg unleashed.

“Damn… you’re giving me such a headache,” said a voice. Minsc looked at his other hand, and was surprised to find he was still holding onto a foot attached to a man. “Why you have to shout everything?”

“So that evil doers will learn to tremble before the might of Minsc and Boo! But Boo has no voice, so Minsc must shout for both of us!”

“People will tremble at the sight of you… you don’t have to shout. It just makes it seem like you’re doing all this just for the attention.”

“Hmm… yes, Minsc’s size means people cannot help but pay attention, and Boo often does say that it is actions that will speak louder than words,” the big man screwed up his face as he thought deeply about why he needed to shout so much. “Minsc just likes shouting,” he eventually shrugged, bounced the man’s head off the floor a few times until he had lost consciousness then dropped him.

Other evil doers then started to shoot at Minsc. By now you’d have thought they’d have learnt that ordinary weapons wouldn’t hurt him. Grinning wildly, the cyborg raised his weapon and pulled the trigger. There was a click and then, nothing. He had expended all the weapons ammunition.

Frowning, he threw that aside as well and stomped towards the nearest attacker who was crouched behind a crate. Bullets bounced around him, but still he proceeded with terrifying inevitability, taking the nozzle of the soldier’s gun, twisting it, then lifting the man and throwing him across the room into the other attacker.

To Minsc’s annoyance things went quiet after that. He continued to stomp through various buildings shouting as he went, but it seemed evil was now keeping its distance. He thought a few times he could take it by surprise by walking through a wall, but found nothing. Perhaps there was something to be said for not shouting.

“You cannot hide from the boot of justice forever evil!” He called out in frustration. “Butts will be kicked!”

“Oh my, such a right-brained personality we have here.”

Minsc had found them at last, or had they found him? Perhaps they’d realized that by hiding they only delayed the inevitable. In any case, the man who would just spoke appeared to be their leader, as clearly commanded the fear and respect of the soldiers with him, although he was dressed very unlike.

Minsc couldn’t see all of him, for the man lurked in the shadows. Evil doers don’t like to be seen in the light. He wore a long dark coat and cowboy hat… further proof of his evil since Minsc knew enough about westerns to know that only the bad guy cowboys wore black hats. There was also something unusual about his right hand; it was large, segmented, and it glinted.

“A pity really, you were once such a visionary,” the man spoke again. If he did feel any pity though his voice showed no trace of it. “Even I have learnt much from your research.”

“The only thing Minsc will teach you now is to bend over and accept your punishment!” The Russian roared and charged towards his foe.

“But there I think you are very mistaken,” the man said, not flinching at all as the five hundred pound cyborg bounded his way towards him. He waited until Minsc was halfway, and then moved his left arm around to the front revealing a device with a large antenna at the front which he pointed at Minsc.

Suddenly Minsc found that only his momentum was carrying him forward, until he stumbled and smashed head first into the concrete leaving a man shaped crater. He tried to move, but found that none of his cybernetic components would respond to his brains signals. Boo suggested he’d been struck by some kind of Electro Magnetic Pulse weapon.

When he did move, it wasn’t under his own power. The man in the black hat along with some of the soldiers turned him over so that the Russian was looking up.

“My own implants are not as sophisticated as yours,” the man said. Minsc could see his face now, or at least part of it. Only the eyes, mouth and jaw were really visible, the rest of it having been replaced with skin of steel. “I think however you will teach me much, now that I have this opportunity to study you.”

“Is that a hamster?” Another man, whose insignia indicated he was a major, said as he saw the small animal scurry away.

“I do think we have bigger concerns right now,” the leader said and the Major snapped back to attention.

“Half the men are out of action and we’ve seen no sign of any of the others,”

“There is no need to go looking for them. They will come to us.”

“How can you...?”

“Would you abandon a comrade, major?”

“I guess not.”

“When the others come to check on the condition of their friend, we will have them. All we need do now is prepare the trap.”

“Yes, sir,” the Major saluted as the black hat man walked away. It was clear the Major was uncomfortable taking orders from him.

“That Sorel… I don’t know why he creeps me out as much as he does,” another soldier said as a group of them prepared to heave Minsc.

“He talks like a man. He even tries to act like one sometimes,” the Major answered, evidently unnerved just thinking about his commander. “But its wrong… it’s not just that there’s no emotion. He’s got no body language at all… it’s like taking orders from one of the living dead.”

***


“Minsc?” Imoen got nothing but static back through her radio, “It’s like he’s not even got his switched on.” She bit down on her lip, knowing she was going to have to go back to check on him.

The battle had gone quiet a while ago, but then suddenly it had gone too quiet. It was what she’d been afraid of. Sure, they’d taken the place by surprise, but these guys must have known what they might be up against and prepared for it. She hadn’t heard an explosion, so at least it had been a bazooka to the chest. The good news was Minsc was very hard to kill; his head could survive away from his body for a very long time. But if he had only been incapacitated, there was still the problem of herself and Aerie not quite being up to the task of carrying the whole of him out of here.

“We’ve gotta go back,” she said to Aerie, “How’s your witch crystal thing?”

“Well,” Aerie held up her wrist. The original tiara it had been set into was still fused to Kalah’s skull, but with Minsc’s assistance they had set it into a bracelet. “W-witchy and crystally, I guess.”

“Okay. We’ve gotta be quiet. No more friendly banter, okay?” Aerie nodded. She took a few small steps in their direction, when Imoen stopped her with a hand on the shoulder. “Aerie…”

“Y-yes?”

“We’ve gotta be quick too.”

“Faster than Chiktikka Fastpaws,” the blonde smiled.

“Um… that cartoon about the Raccoon?”

“I-it’s one of the television shows I was allowed to view on the island. Do you like it?”

“It’s okay I guess,” but now wasn’t the time for discussing the merits of their favorite TV shows, “We’d better get moving.”

And they did. Imoen led the way back across the various buildings, finding it very easy to follow Minsc’s trail. You just had to look for thing that had been smashed, find where the holes in the wall were, and they found him. She climbed the stairs to the second story of a warehouse building and spotted him lying motionless on the floor, only the movement of his eyes betraying any sign of life. Imoen clenched her fist and held up her forearm up, but Aerie walked into the back of her.

“That means halt!” the red head whispered.

“Um… s-sorry,” Aerie reddened and bowed her head from shame.

“It’s alright… just keep your head up. None of this smells right…” In one of the Jurassic Park films the raptors had set a trap exactly like this, so it would be pretty dumb for her to fall for it now. But she couldn’t leave her friend there like that; she had to find out if he was okay. “Stay here and keep an eye out for… anything.”

Imoen stayed low as she moved out of the shadows, eyes and weapon scanning from side to side as she approached the big Russian. As she got close, she noticed his eyes staring hard at her as if trying to tell her something, but for some reason he was unable to speak. It was pretty obvious what he wanted to say.

A sphere of light flew by her ear, colliding with one of the soldiers as they funneled in from the other side of the room. The sphere had obviously come from Aerie – not quite the fireballs Kalah had but at least it had alerted Imoen and she scrambled back to where they come in. The soldiers immediately spread and started firing after her, most of their shots on target. Luckily for Imoen, the bullets met with a wall of energy. They had been firing at her legs though, like they were trying to take her alive.

When she got back to Aerie, the Avariel was staring ahead, her eyes wide in fear. Imoen followed the gaze back to the man with half a face and a black hat who stood right behind the soldiers.

“Sorel,” the blonde uttered under her breath. Imoen pulled her behind some cover – some old boxes that she could only hope contained something that would protect them. Aerie breathed in out deeply. She had explained earlier that channeling in this way requires a lot of concentration, but that it also places the body under strain which was why she couldn’t keep it up for long periods at a time.

“Who’s Sorel?” The red head asked.

“H-he… used to be in charge of the project. He’s insane… he blames me for the accident. But… I-I tried to warn him…”

Imoen shot up and returned some fire, before ducking back down again. When she did, she saw this man, Sorel, pressing something on a gauntleted fist.

“We’ve gotta get out of here. Ready?” Aerie gulped then nodded. She was clearly very afraid of this person, far more than she had been of Kalah. On the island she had been prepared to face the scary monster in order to help her friend, but now she was very eager to leave. So was Imoen. She would have to find another way to retrieve Minsc.

The two of them bolted to the exit, Aerie’s shield providing them with cover. But shortly after they’d made it through the blonde screamed and collapsed, apparently in great pain.

“What’s wrong?” Imoen leant over her.

“He… he must be using high frequency sound t-to disrupt the flow. I’m sorry… I-I’ve failed you,” Aerie got to her knees and sobbed.

“What are you talking about?” The red head pulled at her, urging her to get back up.

“I… I tried my best, ma’am,” the blonde said. Then suddenly she pushed Imoen, the red head falling through a hole in the floor and landing in some dusty sacks on the floor below. As she looked up, she saw the man with the gauntleted hand appear, striking Aerie with it just as she turned to face him. The blonde crumpled to the floor in a heap.

“Nononononono… No!” The red head shouted as she rolled off the items that had cushioned. “Sorel! You’re not getting away with this!”

“Another weak, emotional creature I see,” he looked down on her with lifeless grey eyes, “Why he’s interested in you I fear will forever be a mystery to me.” And on that, he just turned around and left. That… that made Imoen angry. She didn’t have time to curse him however; some of the soldiers had already made their way back down and were closing in around. She did what thieves do and took to the shadows.

***


“Not staying to watch, Major?” Sorel said.

Aerie had been quickly taken several buildings away, where she had been tied to a chair with a thin rope while Sorel made ready the instruments that she had become far too familiar with.

Next to her was a window, through which she stared out at the stars with tear filled eyes. That was what he wanted, she knew. He wanted to remind her that they were out of her reach, that there was no escaping this nightmare.

“We have only a few men out searching for the other one,” the major explained, “I should really be helping.”

“As you wish,” Sorel said, “I think you simply have no stomach for this sort of thing. Like others, you are perhaps fooled by her appearance. This is not a girl… it is an alien creature. It doesn’t think or feel about anything the same way you do.”

“With all due respect sir, I wouldn’t exactly call you human either.”

“How bold of you, Major. While I respect your honesty, perhaps it would be best for you to return to your troops.”

“Sir,” the Major saluted and wasted no time doing exactly as he had been ordered.

Aerie’s head rolled away from the side. She felt no strength left in her body at all, and could only see the room from the top of her eyes. She noted the scalpels and knives; they were mainly to frighten her. For some reason they didn’t like her injuries to be visible. He was more likely to use the blunt instruments for breaking her bones and causing her to bleed internally, or electrocute her like he’d obviously done to the bodies they’d encountered earlier. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore.

Sorel lifted her jaw and forced her to look into his eyes. His lifelessness… contrary to what he’d said, it unnerved her for the same reason it unnerved everybody.

“Tell me something, Aerie,” he said, “Your people have a history of warfare, yes?”

She nodded meekly. In the ten thousand years of their history, Avariel had been involved in many wars across the galaxy, and one civil war which wasn’t spoken of much now.

“Here on Earth,” Sorel continued, “Centuries ago, European Knights would ride into battle wearing shining suits of plate armor. Even long after weapons such as the long bow had made such armor obsolete, conservative Knights refused to change and continued wearing them; most often to their cost of course.”

“I-I don’t understand…”

“It is I who is trying to understand. Your people are so advanced, yet you cling to bodies that are made of weak flesh?”

“You th-think we should be like you?!” Aerie nearly laughed out loud at that absurd notion. “You… you don’t see what you’ve become? W-when you put your hand into a flame you-you don’t feel anything, you… you can’t learn from that experience. I f-feel sorry for you.”

“Do you really consider yourself in a position to feel sorry for anyone besides yourself?”

“Maybe not,” she sniffed, “b-but I do. You’ve denied yourself any sensation. A-all you can feel now is hate.”

“Do not forget, you are responsible for making me this way.”

“N-no… th-that’s not true. I tried to warn you… the ships power core was t-too unstable…”

“Lies.”

“Be-believe what you want. It doesn’t matter, does it? Y-you’re going to torture me anyway, regardless of the truth.”

“I see you have lost the manners that I taught you.”

“Heh… I-I just don’t care anymore. I won’t help you anymore. There’s n-nothing you can do to me that will make me change my mind.”

“I know,” he her head up more and leant in close. Aerie’s breathing intensified as she was forced to meet his stare. “I know that there is nothing I can do to you.”

Sorel let her go and moved to draw back a curtain across from where she had been positioned. Behind it was a torture table, and bound to it a man dressed like the ones she and Imoen had found earlier. Only this one was alive, although unconscious.

“That is why, every time you refuse to co-operate with me,” Sorel explained, “another will be made to suffer in your place.” Aerie’s jaw just hung open for a moment.

“I… so? I don’t know who that man is,” she closed her eyes and turned her face away. The tremble in her voice however must have given her away.

“Do none of your people know how to bluff?” He said while he injected the bound man with something that caused him to suddenly be awake. “Now Colonel, there is really no point in struggling.”

“You bastard,” the Colonel spat, “You’ll not get a thing from me.”

“I do not want anything from you,” Sorel said as he attached wires to the Colonels head while Aerie could only watch.

“B-but he’s human!” She cried out suddenly. “H-how can you do it to one of your own?”

“You know that I will,” and Sorel never bluffed. As the Colonel turned to look at her, he immediately turned a dial causing the Colonel to scream in agony as electricity ran straight into his brain. Sorel stopped short of killing him, whilst Aerie wept uncontrollably.

“S-stop it!” She cried when he moved to do it again. Sorel froze in the middle of his action.

“You will show everything we ask for? Engines? Weapons?”

“I-it would take years for you to properly understand them,” Aerie sobbed. Sorel went back to what he was doing. “Alright! I-I’ll… I’ll give you anything you want.”

Anybody else might have smiled, but not Sorel. Instead he left the Colonel and again looked into Aerie’s eyes.

“You should not have tried to fight me,” he said, “I will always win.”




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