However, I was definitely rocking her. The next move was another kick to take out her knee. Gladys, seeing this, tried to swerve out of my reach. No worries. Crane Has Long Wings wasn’t hard to do from this position, either.
I chopped the back of her neck with the side of my right hand as hard as I could. She stumbled and almost lost her balance, but recovered and ran on. Into an open isolation chamber behind me, which I saw as I spun around to supposedly hit her with the second Crane Wing.
She came out with a hypodermic. Not this again. “What are you going to threaten to do to Jeff or Christopher this time?”
She looked at the hypo in her hand then back at me. “Nothing. I’m going to stab this through your eye. And there won’t be a single thing you can do about it.”
“I think there are several things I plan to do about it.” Thought madly about what weapons take-away forms I knew. Crane said this was not in the rules and requested a knife or a gun, since Crane and I actually knew how to take both of those away. Needles were long, sharp, pointy, and yet small, making them hard to stop. Crane said it was out of ideas. Baseball Mitt shared that it was ready to take whatever it had to for the team.
Gladys smiled. “I doubt they’ll work. ACE isn’t around to help you any more.”
Figured part of the problem with Gladys that Algar had mentioned was that she’d figured out somehow that ACE was indeed on hiatus. Not good. I needed a weapon. I could pull out my Glock and just shoot her, but that seemed extreme at the moment, and not in any small part because I didn’t want to blow away White’s sister in front of him. That just seemed so horribly wrong to do to anyone, let alone someone I cared about. I just wanted to knock her out—potentially into a bloody pulp, but still “out” was what I was shooting for.
Should have kept my purse on. Could have gotten the harpoon out without looking. Oh well, so much for that. Could always grab my own hypodermic out of the isolation chamber—they always had tons in there—but that seemed both scary and ridiculous, even for me. Plus that would mean my back would have to be to Gladys, and even for a second that didn’t sound wise.
She ran at me, hypo held like a knife, slashing as she got closer. She slashed and stabbed, I dodged, using the mitt to block.
Wanted her away from the people who were unconscious, my husband especially. So I started backing up.
“Running away so quickly?” she sneered.
“This? This isn’t running. When I run, you’ll know.”
More thrusts with the needle from her, more dodging and blocking from me. At this rate one of us was going to get tired, and it was a fifty-fifty chance it might be Gladys. Not the best odds. Time for something offensive.
Technically, she was so tiny I should have been able to just pretty much use my longer reach and smash her. But she was fast, skilled, and waving that needle around. Fighting Uma the Bitch Leader during Operation Invasion had been a lot easier. But I’d had an Amazonian battle staff to use then.
“Tito! I need a distance weapon of some kind!”
Something sailed through the air. “Kitty,” Rahmi shouted. “Catch!”
Put my right hand up and caught Rahmi’s battle staff. They were weighted more like a javelin—one end heavier than the other—but both ends glowed. The staff was activated which was nice. Activated, it resembled a double light saber, allowing its wielder to totally get their Darth Maul on.
“Gladys, just a mention. This staff can cut through you like butter. Don’t make me want to do that. You know this isn’t you. You’re being controlled by someone you happen to despise.”
“How would you know what is or isn’t me?” she asked. “Or who I despise?”
“You’re Richard’s sister. You telling me that you’re choosing Ronaldo over him?”
“Richard’s dead,” Gladys said. “I saw him die.”
Couldn’t risk looking around. “Mister White!”
“Here, Missus Martini. Essentially right behind you. Gladys, it’s me.”
She looked right at him. Right at him. “I have no idea who you are, but you’re not my brother.” She looked around. “And before any of you try to claim kinship with me, I don’t know who you are, just that you’re not who you say you are.” She looked back to me. “Other than you. I know who you are.”
“And just who is that?”
“You’re the reason Richard and the rest of my family are dead.” She said it calmly, as if it was longtime common knowledge. “You infiltrated us and destroyed us. And for that, you have to die.”
With that, she lunged toward me.
CHAPTER 38
MY MIND LIKED TO WORK FAST in situations like these.
First off, it casually pointed out that there was no way Gladys was this convinced that no one she’d known all her life were her family, at least not over a few hour period. Meaning Ronaldo had probably been working on her for a while. Or else she’d been having problems ACE had nicely been covering up or helping her with.
Both options said the same thing—she wasn’t going to stop.
As I put the staff up into a defensive position, my mind then shared that both Option #1 and Option #2 had issues. My mind had a challenge believing that Gladys had turned. No one from White, to Jeff, to Walter, would buy this, long-term mind control or not. And if ACE had been working with her, he’d have told someone, Gower for certain.
Ergo, perhaps, and hopefully, this wasn’t the real Gladys. Tito had an OVS, and it might be a really good time to use it. Because Option #3 said we had a lovely new android in our midst, and, awful as that was, I was kind of praying Option #3 turned out to be the case.
But in order to verify which Option was our Big Winner of the Hour, I had to take her down. But not down permanently, in case Options #1 or #2 were what was going on.
Gladys closed the gap and Thought Time was over. I was really being tested on my long-term muscle and skills memory. Hadn’t fought with a Beta Twelve battle staff since just before my wedding, but thankfully the skills liked to show up when I needed them most.
The Skills would have preferred to have my left hand free and open, but Baseball Mitt said that it was, so far, the only thing really helping me, and the rest of the Peanut Gallery could chill. Had to agree. And I knew how to use a staff one-handed.
As it turned out, Baseball Mitt had called it right. Blocked Gladys with the staff and slapped the hypodermic out of her hand with one awesomely altered Crane move. Crane felt that it deserved second billing in the fight and was hanging about, waiting to offer help as needed.
Crane suggested a front ball kick to whatever part of her body I connected with. Did the move, got her right in the sternum. Go Team Sanity!
As Gladys fell back, I took a moment to listen. Didn’t hear the sounds of fighting any more. Hoped that meant that more than White were still standing up. Of course, if they were, a little help would have been nice.
Then again, I wouldn’t want to get near the active end of a battle staff, so perhaps the others were just showing wisdom.
Or else they were leaving room for Rhee. Who came up behind Gladys and slammed the length of her battle staff against the back of Gladys’ head.
A normal person, human or even A-C, would be down now. Gladys wasn’t down. She shook her head, reached back without looking, grabbed the staff, and wrenched it out of Rhee’s hands.
Baseball Mitt, Crane, The Skills, and I all agreed. “She’s not Gladys, I think she’s an android!” Hoped this would get someone verifying with the OVS.