“Ah, ah,” she said. “Let me pour.”
Paul smiled and tipped his head back, opening his mouth.
“Paul?”
“Yes?”
“I love you,” she said, miserably, and poured the acid down his throat.
The pain was excruciating and half the acid poured back out in an explosion as he rolled over on his side. She had expected it, though, and only a few drops fell on her arm as she rolled to the side. She snap-kicked his shoulder, rolling him onto his face as he grabbed his throat, which was rapidly dissolving. The acid had burned through his cheeks and she could see a cheekbone as she hammered him down onto his stomach and raised the bottle of red wine. Two blows on the back of his neck sufficed to sever his spinal cord but she continued to pound until she’d opened up the back of his skull, blood spurting in a cloud, then poured the remnants of the jug of acid, which fortunately hadn’t spilled, onto his skull. She waited until it had burned into the skull and burned into the cerebellum. When she was sure he was dead she fumbled in his naked crotch until she managed to pull the Key from the flap just under his scrotum.
She held it in her hands and panted, the pain of her arm -forgotten as she just looked at it for a moment. This was the moment of truth. If it didn’t work she might as well drink the rest of the acid herself. Actually, she had a vial of concentrated poison waiting in the lab. She took a deep breath and held up the Key.
“Mother?”
“Yes?” a voice answered out of the air.
She felt abilities she thought lost forever blossom. The pain in her arm washed away as her nannites reactivated and began healing the damage from the acid and a Net link formed in her mind.
“Paul is dead then?” Megan asked, shaking in reaction.
“Paul Bowman is most assuredly dead,” Mother said with just a hint of satisfaction.
“And I hold his Key,” Megan said. “That means I hold his power?”
“You are the new Key-holder for Key nine,” Mother confirmed. “Power, however, is restricted.” A green bar-graph appeared in the lower right-hand corner of Megan’s vision. It was partially down from maximum extent. “This represents current available power to a non-aligned Key-holder. It is a bare minimum power transfer that is a hard protocol.”
“I need to port out all the girls,” Megan replied. “And find the ones that are in pregnancy confinement.”
A map appeared in her vision. It was apparently a map of the local area of the castle. As Megan concentrated it zoomed out so that she could see the surrounding area. She zoomed it back in so that she could find her location and the girls as well. There were blue dots in the harem and others not far away. The map was also liberally sprinkled with red and green dots.
“The Changed are under the effective control of Celine Reinshafen and are marked in red,” Mother replied. “Paul’s guards have switched allegiance to you as the new Key-holder and are marked in green. Females associated with the harem are blue. You have insufficient power available for multiple human-volume teleports. You can open a portal, however.”
“I need to get the girls first,” Megan said as there was a scream in the harem. “What the hell is that?”
“Certain of Paul Bowman’s programs were designed to fail upon his death,” Mother said. “Including the mind-block on Amado Tillou. She is not particularly pleased at recent events.”
“Oh, shit.”
Megan rushed to the door and threw it open to a scene of chaos. Amber had Christel on the floor with her fingers locked on the other woman’s throat. Shanea and Mirta were trying to pull her off while the rest were either standing back in horror or fighting amongst themselves.
“Stop this!” Megan bellowed, walking over and bending back Amber’s pinkie finger. “I’ll break it, Amber, I swear I will.”
“Do you know what this bitch did?” Amber hissed in pain, continuing to clamp on Christel’s neck. The harem manager’s face was turning purple.
“Yes,” Megan said. “And I know what Paul did. And if I have to do it myself I will. Let. Go.”
With a final wrench Amber let go and sat back on her heels. Christel took a deep, racking breath and rolled over on her side.
“Ashly! Tory! Break it up!” Megan yelled, going over to the two struggling girls and kicking them in the side until they rolled apart. “We don’t have time for this shit.”
“What happened?” Christel asked, looking from Megan to the Key.
“Paul is dead,” Megan said, slipping the Key into her bikini bottom. “And we are leaving. As soon as I go get the girls who are in confinement.”
Mirta saw Christel’s look and slid between the two women.
“Even without calling on power, she could kick your ass,” Mirta said, crouching. “For that matter, so could I.”
“You killed him?” Christel said. “Do you know what that means?”
“It means I can go free,” Megan said. “And anyone who wants to follow me can, too. I’m not going to bother twisting arms, though. I’m going to go get the other girls and then form a portal. You either make it through or you don’t. You have until I get back to choose.” She looked around and then pointed. “Shanea, Amber, you’re with me. Mirta, you’re in charge here. I’ll secure all the entrances after I go but you’re going to have to get some order in this place.”
“Will do,” Mirta said.
“Come on,” Megan said to the two as she strode to the main door. “Mother, release all blocks for myself and these two. Raise blocks on all entrances against entry or exit. Form protection fields on all three of us. Only summon them to full power if we need them.” She saw the graph flicker slightly as the shields formed. Damn, there wasn’t much power.
The door opened at her touch and she stopped in the hallway outside. There were what she recognized as Paul’s “special” guards on either side of the door. They were in plate armor with full helmets so she had no idea what they looked like. She also didn’t care.
“Your loyalty has transferred to me,” Megan said.
“Yes, mistress,” the guards answered.
“We’re going to get the other girls,” she continued. “You two lead. Can you summon the other guards?”
“Yes, mistress,” the guard on the left answered.
“Do so,” she replied, pointing up the corridor. “Let’s move out.”
The two guards strode down the hallway, banging on their shields as they walked.
“Provide protection for us,” Megan said after a moment. “Mother, how much power to put blocks on all the cross-corridors?”
“Depends upon if they are challenged,” Mother replied.
“Block the biggest groups of Changed,” Megan said as a Changed warrior skidded into the hallway. When it saw the escaped girls it let out a howl and charged at them. She wasn’t sure if the orc was intent on recapturing them or raping them, but it didn’t really matter. The two guards engaged it immediately and the girls slid by to the side of the conflict. As they did three more of the specials came charging down the hall.
“Leave them,” Megan snapped as they reached the entrance to the confinement quarters. “Guard the corridor. We’re going to get the girls in here and then go back to the harem. As more guards come up, gather them to screen us back.”
“Yes, mistress,” one of the guards replied.
She touched open the door and entered a long corridor. At the end was a broad room where two women, both very pregnant, were sewing. In the distance was the sound of a baby crying.
“Megan?” Velva said, looking up. “Is it your turn to be stuck in this dump?” Then she seemed to notice the other two women and frowned.
“No, Velva,” Megan said, gulping as the sound of clashing steel came from the corridor. “Paul’s dead. We need to leave.”