Aeon Legion: Labyrinth (39 page)

The Captain leaned back for a
moment, as if expecting Terra to ask about Alya. Terra averted her
gaze.

The Captain relaxed and
continued. “The worst injustice I saved for last. Lycus butchered
thousands in his blood lust. He killed my family and many others who
couldn't even fight back. After all that death and destruction, he
finally came to realize what a monster he was. He confessed his
crimes and once the Legion discovered all he had done, do you know
what they did to him?”

Terra looked up again as the
Captain leaned in closer, his mask almost touching her face.

“They called him a hero,”
the Captain said in a soft, but venomous tone before leaning back.
“All I seek is justice. I don't care about who rules Time. I don’t
care about nations or politics. All I want is for a few evil men to
be brought to justice and you have the key. You can end this. You can
end all the suffering and let my family rest in peace. I ask for one
little thing, the code to let us into the city. Your shieldwatch has
it. All that is needed is for you to access it. A simple press of a
button can end my centuries old quest for justice.”

Terra met his eyes. There was
sincerity to them and sadness. He was an empty vessel that centuries
of rage had hollowed out. Part of her wanted to help him, to bring
peace to his family, but she couldn't help ghosts. Killing Lycus
would not bring this man's family back. She looked away and remained
silent.

“I will give you a little
time to think about it,” he said as he stood. He made his way to
the door, but paused when he touched the handle while keeping his
back to Terra. “You know. Sometimes I wonder if the worst thing I
could do to Lycus is just let him live on as he is. If he truly knows
what a monster he is, then perhaps such a burden would be more
terrible than death.”

The Captain turned the handle
and exited the room, leaving Terra alone.

The moment his footsteps
faded, Terra began struggling against her bonds. Any bond can be
loosened with enough time or at least that is what her instructors
had told her. She had worked on loosening them since her first day
here in the rare moments when they left her unattended. One hand
slipped out of a loosened cuff and she pulled a small rock she had
taken from the evening walks. She smashed the rest of her bonds with
it. Terra then stood and grabbed her shieldwatch off the table just
as weapons fire echoed through the hallways.

Terra moved fast. The others
would likely make their escape attempt now. All they needed for their
plan was a distraction or opportunity. Their enemies' descent into
civil war seemed like both and the others would hear the weapons fire
before coming to the same conclusion. Now that she was free, she had
a job to do.

Terra moved through the
hallways, avoiding areas with shouting or the sound of weapons fire.
She then found her target near her interrogation room, a large series
of antenna that constituted the facility's communication hub. The
antennae proved delicate and Terra felt a strange pleasure in
smashing it into a twisted jumble. She then made her way to the
rendezvous point.

On her way to the rendezvous
point, Terra encountered another escapee. Terra sighed when she saw
it was Hikari.

Hikari pointed to a window.
Terra looked to see the enemy's gunships burning in the distance.

After a moment they joined the
others. Zaid tossed Hikari her aeon edge and a pair of sonic ciphers.
John gave Terra hers back as well.

Once everyone equipped their
gear, they understood one another again. Terra thought she had taken
these small sonic ciphers for granted.

Zaid looked at Hikari. “I
assume the explosion I heard a moment ago–”

“Our enemy's flying
machines,” Hikari said while loading a clip into her aeon edge.
“Which are not fireproof.”

John turned to Zaid. “Assuming
our enemy's message system is damaged, that leaves the key to the
lower level.”

Zaid shook his head. “I can
only pray to Allah that the Frankish knight succeeds.”

Terra turned to Zaid.
“Frankish knight?”

Zaid sighed. “I don't like
the Franks, but the other team leaders assured me he was quite
skilled. His name was Roland I think.”

Terra's eyes widened. Roland?
She felt a surge of panic. Roland would sell them out.

“There they are,” Roland
said, pointing to the group of escaping tirones.

Terra turned to see Roland
standing with an enemy soldier.

The soldier turned to Roland.
“You were right. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Zaid scowled and the others
drew their aeon edges.

The soldier shouldered his
rifle and took a step forward.

Once the soldier's turned his
back to Roland, Roland jumped behind the soldier and grabbed the
energy gun before tossing it aside and placing the soldier in a hold.

Terra stared at Roland with
wide eyes.

Roland turned to the others.
“You said bring a key. The keys here are a machine that recognizes
voices. This was easier than dragging him all the way here through
force.”

Terra stared at Roland, her
brow raised. “Why didn't you betray us? Wouldn't it be easier to
switch sides and help them?”

Roland shrugged. “They can't
give me immortality. Besides, I won't work with torturers.”

The captured soldier gave in
easily to threats. He opened several blast doors, clearing the way to
a small area below the facility. Now they ran alongside a shallow
river away from the facility. It wasn't long before they heard the
shouts of pursuers.

Shots hit around them as the
tirones returned fire with stolen weapons. They still couldn't move
fast and everyone's shieldwatch had not yet recharged. They kept
running. A forest was ahead. If they could run to that, they could
hide long enough to recharge their shieldwatch and then time travel
back to Saturn City for help.

An explosion hit near them,
throwing several to the ground. One didn't get back up. The others
didn't notice. No one was going to help him.

Terra gritted her teeth. Once
again, no one did the right thing. She ran over to the tiro who lay
face down in the mud. Terra rolled him over. She then paused when she
saw who it was. Roland.

Terra glanced up again.
Several soldiers closed in on her position. She glanced back to
Roland.

I
could just leave him
,
Terra thought.
He
deserves it, having cheated his way past everything. He has everyone
fooled but me. I should leave him.
Then Terra thought about how horrible the past few days were. No. She
wouldn't wish that fate on anyone, even Roland.

Roland stirred. Terra leaned
down and after struggling, lifted him up. She ran, trailing behind
the others and after a moment another tiro fell back to help Terra
and Roland. They were close now, so close. Terra allowed herself a
single fleeting hope, a hope that a figure she saw ahead crushed.

Terra turned pale when she saw
him again even though the others stood confident against a single foe
without a shieldwatch. Terra knew better. She knew the Captain could
beat a shieldwatch user.

Hikari approached the Captain.
“Out of the way.”

“Wait!” Terra yelled.

Hikari halted.

Terra shook her head. “He
can beat shieldwatch user. Don't underestimate him.”

Hikari paused and stared at
Terra with a doubtful expression. After a moment though she allowed
the others to surround the Captain.

It would have been a good
tactic if the Captain had held still. Without a shieldwatch, or even
a weapon, the Captain waded into the tirones, slinging them around
like they were toy soldiers. Panic spread when the Captain disabled
Hikari's shieldwatch before breaking her arm.

Zaid forced himself to stand.
“What kind of monster is he?”

Terra handed Roland to another
tiro before turning to Zaid. “Run. Take everyone and run! I'll buy
us time.”

Zaid scowled, taking a step
towards Terra.

Terra grabbed an aeon edge
left on the ground by a fallen tiro before turning to Zaid. “We
can't escape unless someone stays behind to stall him.”

Zaid paused, then nodded.

The other tirones began to
recover the fallen and retreat.

Terra's fight with the Captain
stalled him only seconds, but it was enough for the others to get a
lead on him.

The Captain kicked Terra to
the ground. “It appears the others were willing to sacrifice you.
Are you ready to die then?”

Terra groaned as the Captain
lifted her by the neck. “Well... not... really...” she said
between gasps.

The Captain threw her to the
ground. “Do they really mean that much to you?”

Terra coughed, but forced
herself to stand. “No one is going to save me, but at least I get
to save someone else.”

The Captain nodded. “Very
well. You have earned your freedom.”

Terra stared at the Captain
confused. Then the salient wall dissipated. After Terra's eyes
adjusted, she had a hard time believing where they were. She looked
up to see the titanic hands of Saturn City, looming overhead. The
rest of the tirones stared confused as well before Terra and the
Captain joined them.

The Captain took of his mask.
“We will divvy up points later tonight,” Lycus said, putting the
Captain's mask under his arm. “Well done. It has been a while since
a group performed that good.”

Zaid stared, wide eyed at
Lycus. “You tortured us!”

Lycus didn't even spare Zaid a
glance. “Yes, we did. If any of you had given away information, you
would have been dusted.” Lycus then turned to address the tirones.
“Those who captured you were Kavachain military regulars. The
Kavachains are descended from the Kalians and they are our allies
now. They train their soldiers by capturing tirones for this test.
After your capture, we transferred you back to Saturn City for the
next part of the test. All the soldiers who took part of the
interrogations were Academy staff and instructors. Everything was
planned and controlled. Your performance will be evaluated and
reviewed tonight. By morning, the scores will be posted on the
holoface in the central courtyard. Congratulations on making it this
far. Now that we know you are worth our time, we will push you twice
as hard.”

After a moment Terra collected
herself. She then turned to Lycus. “Praetor? Could they have really
gotten into the city using the shieldwatch?”

Lycus shook his head. “No.
The Sybil would have precogged it and the Legion would have
intercepted them.”

Terra thought for a moment.
“What if they used a salient? I traveled using a salient to get
into the city.”

“It leads to the timeport
where security is heavy.”

“But what about the salients
in the Academy?”

“They are modified to only
pull time into it. To alter one of the Academy's salients to become a
two way portal would require a mechanical genius.”

Him do I hate even as the
gates of hell who says one thing while he hides another in his heart.

-From
Homer's
The Iliad
,
translation by Samuel Butler

H
anns
shut
the case over the wires and stood, wiping the grime off his
hands with a rag. “It should be repaired now.”

The silver haired man
activated the holographic projector. It displayed a 3D map of
Tartarus, Saturn City's prison facility.

“Good job, Hanns,” Karim
said. He wore the standard armor of the Aeon Legion, but the infinity
emblem was not present on his uniform and instead displayed a shield
icon. Karim was an ex-legionnaire, though he had been unwilling to
discuss the details with Hanns.

Hanns thought Karim a decent
enough fellow, though he still did not understand the silver hair
thing. Most of the other guards had one or two locks of silver hair
while a few had none. The prisoners all kept their natural hair
color. Karim had explained to Hanns that most of the guards were dust
outs of the Aeon Legion training program. Many had taken jobs as
prison guards to remain in the city. The city natives considered such
tasks beneath them.

Hanns smiled and turned to
Karim. “That should fix it. I still don't understand why you do not
just use your time machines to restore it?”

Karim shook his head. “This
is singularity tech, Hanns. You can't Restore it with a temporal
state.”

Hanns looked at the
holographic projection. “So what does this device do then?”

Karim gestured to the holo
map. “This is Legacy Library recovered tech. This map can scan and
project all data within Tartarus. We can keep track of every prisoner
here and even see what they are carrying with them. We can even see
the fillings in your teeth.”

Hanns looked at the lower part
of the 3D map that displayed scrambled static. The other levels of
Tartarus appeared in perfect detail. Hanns pointed. “What about
that part?”