I Am Not Junco Omnibus: Books Four - Six (94 page)

Chapter Thirty-Nine—TIER

Peak City

I watch from the tallest red rock that overlooks the mall of New Peaks. I’ve got a clear show of the fountain and it surprises me that I’m not detected immediately.

Arrogance gets you nowhere, even if yer an eternal being with unjust righteousness on yer side. Aesin owns this planet. Fine. I’ll give him that technicality. But he’s no steward, and the very idea that High Order Justice puts up with what he does, what he did… well, fuck them. Fuck. Them. This is our planet now.

Movement down the mall catches my eye so I scan and pick up Junco and Gideon. I sigh.

What will she do? What will she think?

I watch them as they crawl across the flat roof. They seem fine so far, but Annun hasn’t delivered the news yet. Junco positions the rifle and then I can tell she’s arguing with Gideon.

He better be able to control her.

They drop down behind the little lip so I can’t see them anymore, but I send out a feeler and catch her mood.

It’s… neutral. Almost contemplative. I realize she’s thinking about the Halo and I look up. It’s beautiful. Deadly, but beautiful. It sparkles a bright silver as it catches the sunlight.

Lucan’s feelings invade my thoughts and I stop my skygazing to find him down below. How many pawns do we have in play? How many irons in the fire, as they say here on Earth?

Dozens. It’s a fucking miracle we even got here. But really, it’s just Junco and me. We’re the only ones who matter in the end. Everyone else is a diversion.

Annun appears near the fountain with Iliana. She’s calm for a fraction and then all hell breaks loose as Deb leaves her body and probably inserts herself into the empty AI facility that HOUSE vacated when I took her from New Peaks a few days ago. The cliff behind me begins to crumble and I port away just before the six demon Siblings from the Polar Friendly thunder down the mountain. I end up on the miniature version of the red rocks in the fountain.

The screaming demons are almost overwhelming, but I’ve got no time to worry about it because Angels attack instantaneously. I port. They follow in the wake I leave behind. I catch about a dozen of them, then speed up time so fast they appear to be still. I cut their wings off, pair by pair, and then hold them by the flight feathers. Like a trophy.

I exit the time tunnel and toss the feathers on the ground like so much dirty laundry. I smile at the one they call Aesin, then reenter my time shift and take out the Six Siblings and grab Iliana, writhing and screeching, her teeth gnashing as she tries to bite me.

My knives burst forth from my hands and I cut Iliana’s arms off at the elbow, tossing those limbs into the growing pile. “You want to stack bodies?” I ask Aesin. “Killing is yer thing? Well, killing is my thing, too,
Aesin
.”

He bares his teeth at me, and we circle each other. Fangs and claws out, eyes red like fire, and hate and anger coming off us like steam.

“Brother!” Rikan says from the other end of the fountain. “Brother! Hold up, hold up, Tier.”

My jaw grinds and it takes all my power not to let my energy escape as heat from my eyes, but even as Rikan approaches, Aesin never leaves my sight.

“Aesin, this is the mighty Tier!” Rikan says it sarcastically and the fact that I’m offended almost has me laughing. “I told you I could deliver him. I told you he’d come fight for his precious father.”

“Aye, the mighty Tier. The one who will end you,” I call back.

Aesin laughs and this is a good sign. “You? I know all your secrets, Angel, all of them. I see far, I see wide, and I have your brother here to tell me what you’re doing. He has sold you out, Raubtier. You think you can hide secrets from me?” He laughs again. “Your weapon above will not work. All the Pillars were already used, son, thousands of years ago to wipe the planet clean after we left. They can do nothing but shield the planet from a space attack now.”

“So says you, Grandfather.”

His eyebrows shoot up and the look of surprise might even be real. “I think not, Beast!”

I shrug. “Close enough, though, right? I’m his one true son.” I nod my head at Lucan. “Not the throwaway yer keeping safe.” I nod to Rikan this time.

“I know how you were made. Illegal genetics, illegal Archer gifts, and yet… you have
wings
, son. How does that happen?”

“We cheat,” I say with no emotion at all. “We lie, just like all of you. But unlike you, we’re really,
really
fucking good at it and we’re about to cheat you the fuck out of this planet and claim it for ourselves.”

Inanna appears next to Aesin and puts a hand on his shoulder. “Mmmmmm, it’s been a very, very long time, my Master.”

Aesin bellows out a laugh at her charm. “Master? Since when, Inanna?”

But she’s not even paying attention, she’s circling Lucan as he stands quietly in his locked position just off to my right. “The great Lucifer finally gets what he deserves,” she says. “That girl, Aesin”—she points to Iliana—“that’s not the Seven.”

“I should hope not,” Aesin says. “And she was a pathetic substitute. I can feel my Seven, Inanna. She is close by. You have her set up to take the shot?”

I steal a look at Lucan, but his face is stoic.

“She’s ready, Aesin. But first, my promise. I have delivered the girl, she will shoot the SEAR knife using a weapon made by Lucan’s best team, and that one shot will put an end to it. We’ve lied to her so often, she has no idea who’s telling the truth.” Inanna looks over at me. “He doesn’t either and neither do—”

She stops as her gaze sweeps around the circus and takes in the players. Her brows knit together for a moment as she realizes what’s just happened.

And then she looks at me and it’s my turn to gloat.

Chapter Forty—JUNCO

Peak City

“Junco, listen to me, Snowbird.”

“Fuck. You. No, no way. I knew it! That’s just so fucked up and there’s no fucking way I’ll do it.”

Gideon ignores me, just tips me to the side, reaches under my shirt and grabs my SEAR. I make a grab for it, but he bares his teeth at me and pushes me off so hard I actually slide across the smooth concrete several feet. He thrusts the SEAR knife into the barrel of the rifle, pulls the mechanism back to lock it in, and then grabs my hand. “Here,” he says, placing my palm on the trigger. “There’s a biometric pad right there. You don’t need to have the SEAR powered up, Junco. It’s a projectile filled with everything it needs to complete the mission—”

“Complete the fucking mission?”

“—all you gotta do is aim and shoot. Ready?”

“Do I look ready?”

Gideon slaps me across the face. “I asked you a fucking question, soldier. Now I want a fucking proper answer.”

“No, sir!” I scream. “I’m not ready. I’m gonna refuse this order!”

“You’re not, soldier. You’re trained to do one thing and one thing only. Follow my orders. You hear me?” Gideon gets up on his knees and positions himself over the top of my prone body. He drops all his weight on my back and slips his mouth up to my ear. “Aim, now! And when I tell you to fire, you will fire, understood?”

“No, sir! I will refuse—”

“Aim the fucking weapon, Junco!”

“No!”

“You are
my
soldier, you will follow orders, you will—”

“I would rather die than kill him, Gideon! Please!” I try to turn so I can plead with him face to face, but he won’t let me move. He pushes my hand to the trigger mechanism and I feel the plates underneath the skin of my palm vibrate as it locks into place. I can’t remove my hand, it’s stuck. “No, Gideon.” I begin to panic. “Please, please don’t… please, I won’t!”

“You will, Junco.” He pushes on me, the whole of him presses against me. “Snowbird, listen,” he says in a soft whisper that I can barely hear over the fighting that’s now happening down below. “Listen to me, OK? I would never—no matter what you think I feel for Lucan—never tell you to hurt him if it wasn’t necessary. Trust me, Junco. I told you, back at camp before Inanna took me away to morph. I promised. I told you to never doubt me, Junco. And I’d never doubt you, either. And that’s how I know, little bird, you will do as I ask right now. Because you trust me, Junco. And I trust you.”

“I do not trust you!” I scream it as the tears stream down my face. “I do not trust you!”

“Please, Junco. Just follow orders like a good girl, please!”

I shake my head no but he slips his cheek up next to mine and peers through the scope. “Look, they’re fighting, Junco. Tier can’t win against this Angel. He’s not strong enough. That Aesin will tear him apart. He’s going to die today, no matter what. If you kill Lucan, you’ll stop the fight. You can save Tier!”

I watch the fight and realize he’s right. Tier is losing. He’s good, and he’s got the other Angel all bloody and hurting, but it’s clear that Tier is almost done.

“Look down the sight, Junco.”

I sniff back sobs and peek into the scope. My training kicks in and my mind automatically starts performing the calculations and before I even realize it, my fingers have adjusted my rifle and I’m breathing.

In, out, stop.

But if Tier lives… and that Angel is in charge…
“I’m not gonna do it,” I say softly.

“You will follow my order, Junco. You will do what you’re told.”

In, out, stop.

… then what happens to Tier when Lucan is gone?
“I’m gonna refuse this time. I won’t do it.”

In, out, stop.

“You will not, Junco. You will not. You will do as you’re told!”

Because if Gid said Lucan is the only thing keeping us safe from these Angels…
“I won’t kill him like I did Isec. I’m not a machine that only follows orders. I’m a person who makes choices.”

In, out, stop.

“You are a soldier, Junco. You only exist to complete the mission.”

… then that Angel will have Tier to punish when Lucan is gone.

In, out—

“Fire,” Gideon whispers.

And before I even realize that I’m on
stop
, my finger squeezes.

The SEAR knife flies through the air and I am one with it. I am the weapon and the weapon is me. I hurl through the air towards my target and for the briefest of fractions, I catch a smile on Tier’s face as his gaze meets mine. His red eyes flash green in my scope, then back to red.

And then I slam into his heart, just like Jupiter’s arrow.

I shoot Tier instead of Lucan.

Because there really are worse things than death.

Chapter Forty-One—JUNCO