Baldur’s Gate Heroes #012
Insurrection, Part Four
An unearthly silence came upon the soldiers as they swept through the buildings in search of the red head. Even the wind had stopped, insects and other creatures of the night made not a peep, until…
“It’s damn quiet,” someone whispered and the others immediately hushed him up.
Major Tom Helstone led them, but in an unusual bout of unprofessionalism from the aging soldier his mind wasn’t fully on the job. He and the others had been told that their mission was crucial not only for the security of the United States but of the whole world, but the alien they’d captured didn’t seem like much of a threat to anyone or anything.
Of course, if you were some hyper intelligent being from another planet and you wanted to send spies and assassins to Earth wouldn’t you make your agents appear as harmless as possible? Unless they were so intelligent they knew that that’s exactly what we’d expect and try to make their operatives as ordinary looking as possible… and what was with the ears? Most importantly, why, if Aerie had been sent to destroy the human race, why would she have sacrificed herself to help the human girl escape?
On top of that, Sorel seemed to have his own agenda that didn’t include saving humanity, at least not in the form it was in now. Revenge seemed to be all he cared about, or maybe he wanted to make everyone else like him? That was a chilling thought too. It may be old, but he rather liked his body. It was still in good shape, and he’d felt and experienced so much with it. A brain encased in metal may indeed be more resilient, but it would deny a man of so much.
The soldier next to him gestured towards a windowless brick building, where it was clear the door had recently been forced open. A few muddy foot prints had been made there recently as well.
“Any other ways out of there?” He asked, and the other soldier shook his head. The major sighed as he realized none of what he’d been thinking about really mattered and what he had to do was inevitable. He’d already betrayed the people he’d sworn allegiance to… at the time he’d thought it was for a greater good. Even if that was no longer the case, he couldn’t exactly go back. Hindsight was no use… this was the path he had set himself on.
“Masks on,” he ordered, “we’ll gas her out.”
***
Aerie hung her head and wept. Sorel had left the room, having broke the Avariel without even laying a finger on her. Bound as she was, crying was simply the only thing she could do. Unless… yes, she should save her moisture, so that when he came back she could spit on him.
That thought amused her, for a few seconds. But she recalled from her experience that such acts of defiance were always answered with pain. A while ago it wouldn’t have mattered, but she should have known better. Sorel always found ways to control her.
She couldn’t help but feel that the Seldarine had made serious errors with her design, and possibly of all the Avariel. After all, if her intended role was as protector then shouldn’t they have made her far stronger? More than likely it was just her though. Something must gone wrong with the mother cities genetic program resulting in the pathetic creature she was. She was so pathetic that all she could do in a situation like this was sit here running herself down.
A moan helped bring her out of herself a little. The man Sorel had called Colonel was regaining consciousness. His glazed eyes tried to focus on her, but it was doubtful he could make out much of her features at this time due to the effect of the drugs and torture.
“Who are you?” He slurred.
“I… my name is Aerie,” she said hanging her head once more. His life was in no immediate danger so she could get back to feeling hopeless and miserable, which was all she could do after all.
“I’m… Colonel Jack Carter… Air Force. Aerie?”
“T-that’s right…”
“I guess your parents must have been hippies or something, right? Don’t worry; I was very close to being called Moonbeam or Tree. At least your name sounds nice.”
“What’s… what’s a hippy?”
“Huh? You’re kidding, right?”
“No… I-I don’t think I am…”
“What, you’ve lived your whole life in a cave?”
“Well… yes,” Aerie admitted. Even when she wasn’t held captive and was technically free to go wherever she wanted in the entire galaxy, the other Avariel never allowed it. She had knowledge of races and places, but what was the point if she could never actually see them? The Avariel now lived in constant fear of everyone else, and had forgotten the very reason they existed. They told her of how her people were hunted and of the many evils that lurked in the voids darkest places, stories that the naïve young Aerie never believed. She never believed in creatures that inflicted pain simply because nothing else gave them pleasure. Even now she refused to; after all, everything happening to her was her own fault. It was her who stole the scout ship and came here.
Of course, she’d only intended to fly around a few star systems and return before Faenya Dail jumped away, but then the distress call. She wondered if any of the others ever tried to find her. They would certainly have given up by now if they had and the city ship would be long gone. So the mother computer would have generated her replacement. Aerie wondered what she was like. She wondered if any of them missed her at all.
It needn’t be so bad here though, if she would only do what they wanted. Of course, even when she did do what they wanted it seemed it wasn’t enough and they demanded more. And then like with Sorel and the ELF project, it all just kept going wrong and people were hurt and even killed.
“Okay… well, I’ve been kind of out of it, but I think you saved my life somehow. So thanks.”
“T-the others… the other soldiers we found… were they…?”
“My team? Where are they?”
“They’re… d-dead,” Aerie stammered out, unable to find a way to break the news more gently. “I’m so sorry…” Colonel Jack shut his eyes and banged the back of his head on the table, as if causing himself some physical pain would take away some of what he must already be feeling. There was a moments silence from both of them before he spoke again.
“Why is he keeping you here?”
“He w-wants to know what I know…”
“Which is what? All about stalactites?”
“Er, no,” Aerie smiled, even though Jack’s tone had become less friendly. Considering he’d just been told his friends were all dead though…
“I’m sorry… it’s just… damn…”
Something was tugging in Aerie’s mind… the fact that the Colonel didn’t seem to know anything about her, but seemed to know about Sorel. She only knew a little about Earth’s politics through what little she was given or overheard during her captivity. Soldiers from the same nation were killing each other, and a Colonel was a pretty high rank wasn’t it? He would surely have information… information that could be important to Imoen, who was still out there somewhere. If there was even the slightest chance that she could still help her, then she had to stop moping and try.
“He w-want’s to know… want’s to know what I know about… P-project ELF,” Aerie lied, which she wasn’t good at. Fortunately the Colonel was still ‘out of it’ enough that he didn’t notice.
“It doesn’t exist,” the Colonel murmured. Aerie feared now that he may have suffered some head trauma. She needed to keep pressing, asking him questions and keeping him awake to help them both.
“You mean… because it’s secret…”
“No, I mean it doesn’t exist. It did… it… it was a project ran by some sort of government think tank, I think it was called The Grey Cowl or something… and yeah, it was secret… I wasn’t even told what exactly it was they were up to. But it was shut down five years ago, for using ‘questionable methods’. Hmm… I see what the General meant now… they damn well tortured people! That’s not questionable, it’s just wrong,” the Colonel winced and his head started to slump.
“Stay awake!” Aerie called out suddenly. “You need to stay awake… w-what’s Sorel doing? A-and why does he still have all those soldiers with him?”
“It was shut down,” the Colonel tried to focus, “but then, a few months ago, Cowlies suddenly reappeared and a number of our guys joined up with them. We don’t know whether it’s because the Cowl has something on them or some kind of brainwashing… but hell, I’m not naïve enough to think that a lot of them didn’t turn their backs on their allegiance just because someone’s offered them more money. But we don’t know who that someone is, we don’t know where they’re based from… don’t know much about anything. We were supposed to track Sorel, find out who he’s working for… guess you can figure out the rest. Probably shouldn’t be telling you all this, but I figure if you’re a plant then this is stuff Sorel already knows.”
“Won’t someone be coming to rescue you?”
“We went dark last night… that doesn’t mean turning out the lights, cave girl. Complete radio silence, no contact with the outside world at all. We disappeared, or we thought we had. But anyway, no one knows I’m here.”
“Imoen would want to know all this,” Aerie said. She wished she could find out what was happening…
“Who?”
“My friend… I-I think she’s my friend. She tried to help me… but when I tried to help her, I couldn’t…” Aerie paused and thought about her situation. She chose to believe that Imoen was still free for now. But Minsc had been disabled. She’d already seen the EMP device Sorel had used. It was only good for one charge unfortunately. Of course to have used it at all she would have to get out of her bindings, which she doubted she could even if dislocated her own thumbs to try and slip free. Oh, and then without any witchy and crystally things she may have to fight her way through Sorel’s soldiers.
She tried to pull free anyway. She could see Colonel Jack was losing consciousness again despite her calling out to him. He was going to need to get to a hospital. Imoen had said she couldn’t use her communication device in this valley, but maybe Sorel had a means of communicating somewhere…
Unfortunately, no mattered how hard she tried she simply wasn’t strong enough and eventually had to give up. That was it then, it was hopeless. She would spend the rest of her life not seeing anything but the inside of a lab. Worse, she could do nothing to help the Colonel or Imoen.
She had just hung her head again when she felt something brushing against and tickling her skin. She tried to twist her head around to see behind her back, and could just make out a small orange and white shape gnawing on the ropes.
Hope was a very good feeling.
***
Now, these guys probably thought they could come in now, after launching their gas canisters, and just find Imoen rolling around and choking. What they hadn’t counted on was her having a gas mask of her own. And they’d have been right, she hadn’t. What she did have was a very small gill type thing she could just pop in her mouth and would filter out everything but the oxygen she needed to breath. It was an accessory Minsc had made for situations exactly like this. It would clog eventually, but she was good for quite a few minutes yet.
And here they were now, listening out for her coughing and gurgling. Strange thing about the human condition though… they entered the narrow corridor looking from side to side but not one of them thought to look up, which was a real shame because if they had they’d have found exactly what they were looking. Possibly because they were expecting her to be rolling and choking by now, but anyway the corridor was narrow enough for to brace herself between the walls and hang close to the ceiling.
After seeing the little soldiers come in one by one… ten of them, which by her estimation was all there were, she dropped down, went out the door and locked it behind them. It was a good thing they had their gas masks with them.
But apparently, math’s wasn’t Immy’s strongest subject and just as she was congratulating herself on a job well done she received a kick to the face. She managed to roll upon hitting the floor came around to face her attacker, a pretty well built woman. She sized up the diminutive red head, sneered, and threw her gun away.
“You’re one of those real hardcore feminist types aren’t you?” Imoen stood up. “I mean you have short hair and a full time job so what else could you be?” The red head tried to dodge another kick, but wasn’t quick enough and was doubled over by a hit to the belly, followed by an uppercut that lifted her into the air. The woman had to take a few steps to get near her again. She took her time though, clearly having no respect for her opponent’s abilities. Imoen tried to kick back when she got near but the shot was easily avoided and then the woman stamped down on her leg.
“Time out!” Immy wailed and made the little T sign. “Listen, sister, what are we proving here? That violence and stupidity come as easy to us as any man? Is that what suffragettes chained themselves to railings for?”
She didn’t get any answer, as instead the woman decided to pull the red head to her feet by her hair. Now Imoen had never had any actual martial arts training, but she’d grown up in a home for girls and even gone to a girls school, so she knew how to catfight (ugh… why’d it have to called a ‘cat’ fight) and how to employ moves such a nipple cripple to devastating effect and now did so. The woman squealed like a little girl and backed off, dropping Imoen.
But now, and Imoen honestly hadn’t planned this at all, now the woman was standing in position over a pole, which Immy somehow got a hand to and as she stood up she inadvertently lifted it straight up between her opponents legs. And now, although she had no idea how it got there, in Immy’s right hand was some kind of brass knuckle. Well it must have belonged to the army woman, so Imoen, being the good girl that she was, tried to give it back. But, in her enthusiasm, she slipped and it connected with the woman’s jaw knocking her out cold.
Now that was a series of very unfortunate events.
“I guess you proved your point after all,” Imoen panted and let herself fall into a sitting position. Her leg was sore and her belly and her head still ached. She realized if she was going to keep up this adventuring stuff without her sister then she was going to have to learn how to fight properly as sooner or later she was bound to run into someone who wouldn’t underestimate her.
It turned out to be sooner. She turned her head and found herself staring up the barrel of a gun with a Major on the other end.
“Ohhh, hello!” She beamed and smiled as sweetly as she good, “Oh, you’re muscles are soo big. I’m afraid little ol’me has gone and gotten herself completely lost and I need a big strong man to walk me home.”
“Open that door,” he demanded.
“That door? The one all your boys went in?”
“Open it.”
“Bit of a problem you see… the lock on that door is on a timer and I think it may have been set not to open until eight o’clock tomorrow morning. No chance of opening it before then, but if you want to wait around…” That was a lie of course. Not about the lock being on a timed mechanism, but even so she could have gotten it open at any time she wanted.
“Move,” he jabbed her with the gun bidding her to start walking in a certain direction. He’d bought the stuff about the lock though and they were moving away from it.
“Alright… y’know, there’s a lot of tension in your voice. I have a friend who teaches yoga. If you want I could show you a position or two…”
“I’m not falling for any tricks girl. Move!”
“Sheez… I was just trying to do you a favor.”
“You could have ran you know, stayed hidden. I see you’re good at that… so why the hell didn’t you?”
“Just… instinct, I guess. Find trouble before it finds me. It’s just what adventurers are like.”
“Stupid…”
“I liked the way I put it better. But I guess that’s easier to say. You don’t really want to be doing this do you?”
“I’m following orders.”
“Yeah… guess that’s easier too.”
***
Aerie knew Sorel would return soon. It occurred to her that since the Colonel was now very much out of it, but the other soldiers were still out searching for Imoen, then when he did then for the first time ever she and he would be alone with her unbound and no one to rush in and restrain her when she started getting feisty. She would have what her friend had promised, a fighting chance. Of course, there was the matter that even if she were a foot taller and two hundred pounds heavier, muscle and bone was simply no match for hydraulics and steel.
In her upturned palm sat Boo and she decided to stroke him. She understood that was what humans did with small furry animals and found it was indeed a quite pleasing sensation. She hadn’t realized the small furry animals were so clever though. Some of the larger ones, maybe. She’d heard of Lassie… but anyway, she gave Boo a warm smile and put him by safely so that she could search for a weapon.
There was all kinds of junk lying around this place, most of it useless… Sorel’s knives only cut flesh… or just too heavy for her to use as a weapon. She did find some kind of dark metal stick, curved and slightly sharpened at one end. Seemed to her that her best chance was to try and get that inside Sorel’s skull… she did hope that wouldn’t be necessary though. He may have tortured her, but she had never taken a life. Aerie had to brace herself, because she knew that it probably would be necessary, just like it had been necessary with Kalah.
She had to help… had to help protect good people like Imoen from the likes of Sorel. After what he’d done to the Colonel, she knew now for sure that there was no way he would ever cause anyone enough pain to fill whatever hole existed inside him. The odds were against her and the situation was grim, but she saw now that people like him needed to be fought no matter what. You couldn’t just hide away forever.
There were also several cupboards filled with jars, before she could examine all of them however her sensitive ears pointed up. Sorel was returning…
He entered his makeshift torture chamber with some computational device rested on his claw. He looked up, saw Colonel Jack still writhing slightly, but Aerie’s chair was empty. No shock or even just surprise. Apparently he just found her absence fascinating.
Aerie crept out from behind the door he’d entered, crowbar raised above her head. Imoen had noted during their trip here what a light step she had and how with some practice she’d make an excellent thief. Imoen didn’t know that Aerie had already once stolen what was undoubtedly now the most valuable vessel on Earth, even with a broken down hyper drive.
Once in position, she closed her eyes and brought the bar down, feeling the impact as it something hard and made of metal. But then it she couldn’t lift it back up, opening them, she saw Sorel had suddenly and had caught her weapon in hand. He swung his arm, sending her rolling away across the room. Then he remained, watching her impassively, as she struggled back to her feet.
“I suppose you’re going to throw another one of your tantrums,” he sighed, or imitated a sigh anyway.
“I’m not weak,” Aerie spat out, “I never have been. It’s… it’s you that’s pathetic. And you won’t kill me, because… because you need me far more than I’ve never needed anyone. I’m the only reason you have for continuing to exist... and that’s all you’re capable of, existing.”
“Excuse me?”
“I didn’t stutter!”
“The sooner I get you back inside your cage the better…” he stomped forward. Aerie grabbed the next convenient she could find, a short metal tube, and again swung for his head. There was the clang of metal against metal as his face was knocked to the side, a little.
With surprising speed however, he clasped his hand around her throat, lifted and slammed onto a table. He then rolled up some kind of manual and jammed it into the Avariel’s mouth.
“Perhaps you’re right,” he whispered, “but now, why don’t you admit something as well? You enjoy the pain. All the time you’re cut off from the world… unable to experience any real sadness or joy. It’s only when we’re together that we both get what we want… the proof of life.”
Aerie tried to tell him how utterly insane he was, but in her present predicament it was very hard to get any sound to come from her throat at all. It was only her struggles subsided that he released the blonde, only to lift the blonde and send her careering into the wall. It was then the Major arrived with Imoen, a disgusted look on his face as he surveyed the scene.
“I know how you must feel,” Imoen whispered. She was horrified to see the state Aerie was in, but her best plan for saving them both seemed to be the Major right now. “You’ve gotten yourself involved in something that’s way over your head and don’t know how to back out of it. Believe me, I know.”
“Shut up,” he hissed.
“Well,” Sorel appeared to notice them for the first time, “Look at what we have here. I wasn’t expecting this to be a double date.”
“That’s funny,” Imoen said, “I almost expected a wink and a smile.”
“I wonder if the Major has told you about his family yet. Such beautiful children.”
“Hmph… and I suppose it would be a real shame if anything were to happen to them,” Imoen sagged… so did the Major. Threatening a guy’s family was always the surest to ensure control over them.
“Now you understand the situation, but I’m sure you still have many questions about why all this is happening to you. To be honest I don’t understand myself, nor do I care. I have what I want and that’s all that matters. I do think I’d like to hear you scream though…”
“N-no…” Aerie rolled onto her back and started to sit up. She was covered in dust and other filth, and terribly battered and bruised.
“Stay down kid,” Imoen muttered between her gritted teeth. But Aerie’s hearing wasn’t that sensitive and she continued upwards until she was standing very unsteadily.
“Y-you… you won’t hurt my friend,” she said as she swayed slightly.
“Such bravery does deserve to be rewarded,” Sorel nodded, “so this time, I’ll finish you quick.”
He immediately reached for the blonde’s head with his claw. Aerie lifted her own arms, smashing something into the claw before allowing herself to fall backwards. Corrosive acid bubbled across the appendage; it seeped between the plates melting the circuits beneath. Sorel slowly turned his hand around, watching it spark and hiss with a slight look of confusion on what little there was of his face. Things became clear however when he looked to Aerie, who had managed to stand up again, and he saw that she had retrieved the bracelet with the crystal on it from the pocket he’d stashed it in. Aerie wasn’t a skilled pick pocket by any means, but with his skin of steel there was no way he could feel her hand slip in and out during their struggle.
“Oh, my,” he said, as Aerie’s arms made a wide circle, building up a terrific blast which launched him out the window. Perhaps not all the way into space, but probably very close.
“I… I’ve won,” Aerie stated as the glass rained down outside. It had taken almost everything she had left however, and she immediately fell on her back again with a thud.
The Major had just watched. Perhaps had he taken a shot it might have distracted Aerie. But perhaps a large part of himself didn’t want to. Even if that may be, Imoen jabbed an elbow into his gut and pulled his weapon away. As he fell to his knees, she backed away to where Aerie had fallen.
“Kid?” She prodded. Looking down, she saw that Aerie was still conscious, just about, and was staring out at the stars through her swollen black eyes.
“Col… Colonel Jack needs help,” the Avariel said softly.
“What about you?”
“My-my wounds will heal themselves. I… just need to rest a while.”
Imoen had seen some sort of satellite transmitter mounted on a vehicle outside that Sorel must have been using. She could call for help, but then the rest of them would have to get out of here right away.
“I’ll take care of it,” the red head promised, “Is that Sorel’s lap top?”
Aerie nodded. It was likely encrypted of course, but Immy could probably still find something. First though, she reached down and gently brushed some of Aerie’s hair away from her face as the Avariel closed her eyes.
“Hey, kid,” Aerie’s eyes flicked back open to see Imoen smiling down on her. “You look like a raccoon.” The Avariel smiled, and then fell asleep.
Behind Imoen, the Major had broke into a sweat. He had got out his pistol and kept looking between it and the red heads. He was a traitor to his country, but if they thought he’d been a traitor to them…
The shot rang out, the Majors eyes went wide, and then he slouched onto his side with a soft sigh.
“What the…” Imoen’s heart jumped a few beats with the shock.
“I was not expecting to find anyone so… human,” Yoshimo said as he stepped from the shadows with a gun in his hand. “I… need time to think on all that has occurred. I warn you… do not go after Irenicus yet. You are still far from ready,” and with that, he was just as suddenly gone leaving Imoen still wondering what the hell this was all about.
Seconds later, the Russian burst through the door.
“MINSC WALKS AGAIN EVIL!” He mightily roared. “PREPARE TO MEET… oh.”
“Still having trouble finding the door knobs, are we?” Imoen grinned.
