“Primary systems activation reset to ten minutes at the request of Doctor
Halvaren,” Allie’s mechanical voice echoed over the loudspeaker.
“There we go,” Allie said. “I found the sight centers of your brain.”
She appeared before him, not the two-dimensional hologram, but a seemingly real girl. Pushing a stray lock of hair from her face to behind her ear, she smiled. Taking hold of her skirt with her hands she twirled, making it flare around her.
“How do I look,” she asked, soundly strangely abashed for a computer.
“Real,” Gabriel said. “I’m the only one that can see you?”
“Right,” Allie nodded firmly.
“You’re a computer, why choose to look and sound like a little girl?”
A very sad expression crossed over Allie’s face, and she shrugged uncomfortably.
“You’ll see that soon enough. We should move before the security system picks you up.”
With a crack of thunder, the railing behind Gabriel rang like a struck gong.
Spinning, he found himself facing a black cloaked figure crouching on the rail. Leaping to the catwalk, he straightened his cloak and reached inside for something.
Whoever it was, he certainly was impressive. Tall and slender, his black cloak concealed his entire body, and the hood hid his head. He wore a black, polished mask and Gabriel caught glimpses of black armor under the cloak as well.
“She Gate Jumped here,” Allie cried. “We were followed.”
“The Apostle,” Gabriel snarled, his addled brain finally connecting the black
cloak and mask to what Kari had told him of their enemy. “She must have broken through the shield somehow!”
Fear bolted through his heart. If the Apostle was here, she must have taken over the Spires of Infinity. Was Sam all right?
Gabriel drew his pistol at the exact moment the Apostle drew a long, slender
rapier, made from the same black material as his knife, from within her cloak.
“Wingless,” Gabriel hissed, bringing his pistol up to point at the Apostle. The Sa’Dhi automatically corrected his aim as he pulled the trigger, and lessened some of the pain and sluggishness rattling around inside his skull.
Sounding like a cannon blast, the gunshot caused pain to spike through his head, and the recoil jarred his arm. At such close range he had little doubt that his pistol could punch through the Apostle’s armor as easily as it could a sheet of paper.
With a fluid, almost casual motion, the Apostle swung her sword in the graceful sort of movement that only came with long, hard practice. It wasn’t like in the movies where everything was choreographed beyond believability, with actors still looking awkward handling their weapons. The way she moved, the sword actually seemed part of her.
The bullet didn’t punch through or ricochet off of her armor. It didn’t even hit the wall behind her. Clinking on the ground, two smoking pieces of lead dropped out of the air.
Gaping, Gabriel stared at the bullet, neatly bisected on the ground between them.
She’d actually stopped a bullet with a sword, cutting it right out of the air!
“What the hell,” he said in awe, as Allie stared openly with wonder.
“Get out of my way, insect,” the Apostle said in a voice mechanically distorted to sound like the movie preview voiceover guy on a partially blown speaker. “I have little time to deal with the likes of you. You may live, but do not impede my revenge!”
“I don’t know how you got here,” Gabriel took aim again. “Or what you did to
the people on the other side of that Gate, but whatever you’re planning, I can’t allow it.”
Gabriel fired again, and as the Apostle moved to cut the bullet out of the air he aimed and fired a second time. The Apostle wasn’t able to block both, and the second bullet struck the center of her mask. It pinged off, ricocheting into the sky with a low whine. Her mask cracked and fell away piece by piece, revealing a very pretty face with pale skin and big, green eyes that were pinched with anger. Snarling, she bared bestial teeth. Whipping her hood out of her face, she revealed wolf ears like Sam’s and chestnut hair, cut very short in military fashion. Gabriel wondered if she was hiding a tail under that big cloak too.
“You will pay for that,” the Apostle’s voice was surprisingly gentle and melodic, contrasting greatly with the acid anger raging through her tone.
“I don’t think so,” Gabriel grinned as he fired twice more.
The Apostle tried to cut both bullets with the same stroke this time, but missed one of them and it struck her in the face just below the cheekbone. Blood and flesh exploded away from her as the bullet ricocheted with a hum, causing Gabriel to gape.
The bullet had actually bounced off of her face! Who the hell was this chick anyway, Chuck Norris! She could cut bullets out of the air with a sword, and bullets bounced right off of her face!
Before bouncing off of the bone, his bullet had completely destroyed the left side of her face. Her entire left cheek and lower lip were gone, and blood poured down her neck and chest. He could see her inhumanly sharp teeth grating together against the pain.
Then he saw something truly shocking. Glinting through the ragged hole in her face, her bones appeared to be made of a golden metal, smeared with blood and bits of flesh.
“Oh, that’s just great,” Gabriel cried, unable to tear his eyes away. “Of all the people in the universe to pick a fight with, I had to choose the freaking Terminator!”
Ignoring the wound as her face began to knit back together before Gabriel’s very eyes, the Apostle raised her sword and charged at him with such speed that she seemed to blur. Thrown against the wall, Gabriel felt the wind knocked out of him. Unable to breathe, he lost his grip on his pistol and his knees gave out as he fumbled for his knife.
The Apostle raised her sword over her head to deliver the finishing blow. He could see his death in her eyes, and reflected in her black blade as it began to fall toward him.
Then there was a metallic thump and the Apostle’s eyes rolled back in her head. Going limp, she fell in a heap next to Gabriel.
Standing behind the Apostle was Sam, holding a dented fire extinguisher and
sporting an extremely relieved expression that it had actually knocked her out. Tossing it aside, she grinned at Gabriel, showing her fangs and wagging her tail.
“He’s mine, bitch. Hands off!”
“What the hell are you doing here,” Gabriel cried as he holstered his pistol and dragged himself back to his feet. He was so relieved to see her still alive that he nearly forgot to be angry that she’d followed him through the Gate.
Pointing a paw at the Apostle, Mister Mittens shrugged.
“She got through,” Sam explained, “so we came after her. And a good thing too, she almost—oh wow! Mister Mittens, look at the sun!”
Sam stared upward, and the cat on her shoulders leaned forward as though doing so would get him a closer view of the sky.
“This really is the past,” Sam said in wonder. “Look at the wastelands. I’ve never seen so many plants in my life. Who would have ever thought there’d be such a thing as green plants! Hey, what’s that white fluffy thing in the sky?”
Despite his stabbing headache and aching body Gabriel chuckled at the sheer
wonder in Sam’s voice.
“You’ve never seen clouds before,” he asked.
“Why am I all wet,” Sam rubbed at her arms. “It’s really hot. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so warm.”
Allie cleared her throat loudly.
“As entertaining as this simpleton’s marveling is, we have to get moving or the security systems are going to pick us up. Two people will set off alarms for sure.”