Sky Pirates of the Rio Grande - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was easy for Eden to simply linger in her cubicle until after hours.  The sounds of other people gradually diminished and finally stopped.  She knew a few of her crazier coworkers would be still here, but they would be buried in work and wouldn't be likely to notice if a bomb went off.

Even now, hours later, she was still furiously angry.  It was impossible to work with her insides so knotted up, so she spent her time finding every dime novel that featured that cad Gray and ripping them to bits.  By the time she was ready she had a box full of shredded paper and she still didn't feel any better.  The occasional muffled singing from the package of mummified rats didn't help in the slightest.

Finally it was late enough, or she hoped it was.  She left her cubby and went down the long hall to the back lift.  It was a larger, heavier elevator meant for transporting heavy cargo down to the lower levels, and it was the only lift that went down to the ninth sub-basement.

There was a combination lock on the panel over the buttons for the lower floors, but Eden had broken the code for it months before, and opened it in only a few moments.  A last glance down the dimly-lit hallway showed no one to see her, so she pushed the key for the ninth level and started down.

In theory the ninth sub-level was the most secure and intensely-guarded area of the Institute, but in practice Eden knew this was not so.  It was designed to keep things in, not out.  This was where the most dangerous Experimentals were imprisoned, and so the concern was escape.

There was a guard post just to the left of the lift doors.  He was supposed to make a circuit of the floor once every hour, but likely did not.  When the doors opened Eden ducked down so he wouldn't be able to see her from behind his desk and peeked out.  All she could see was feet propped up on the corner of the desk, and she heard soft snores.  Perfect.

She had a map of the whole place in her head and knew exactly where she was going.  Around the corner, three halls over, and then all the way to the end.  It was not well-lit down here at night, and it had a disturbing smell – like a cross between the bestial smell of a zoo and the antiseptic odor of medicine.  It brought back memories of Dr. Praetorius' lab and she shook them off.  Now was not the time.

It was oppressive in these close stone halls.  So far below the surface, the walls were always damp, and water dripped from the low ceiling to make shallow puddles on the floor.  She tried to be quiet, knowing that the denizens of this place were very, very dangerous as well as unfriendly.  Most of the cells were enclosed, with heavy doors bolted shut top and bottom and only a single window set high so the keepers could check inside before they opened anything.  Most of these prisoners were never let out of their cages – it was too risky.  In here were all the criminals, traitors, and madmen ever given experimental powers and abilities by modern science.

Some of them, she knew, were not themselves dangerous.  They had been made by those scientists who left the Experimental Military Unit and turned their knowledge to profit or malevolence.  In the aftermath of the great disaster at Blue Mountain, all the creations of those turncoat scientists were hunted down and either imprisoned or destroyed.  Only a few escaped and remained at large.

At the end of the row Eden found the door she wanted.  It was locked, but she slipped a pin from her hair and easily sprang the lock – it wasn't a very good one, just big and meant to intimidate.  After all, who would want to break into this place?

She slipped the bolts as quietly as she could, looked around to make sure she was unobserved, and then pulled the heavy door open.  It was dark inside, but she pulled the chain beside the door and activated the flickering light.

Three steps inside the door was a second barrier made of heavy steel bars, keeping the inhabitant from getting at an observer.  There was a clearly painted line on the floor indicating how close it was safe to stand.  Eden made sure not to cross it as she pulled the door shut behind her and looked at the inhabitant of cell 67.

Zenobia Santiago looked less fierce than perhaps Eden had expected.  Rather than a bed she lay on a pile of old mattresses amid a sort of nest made from sheets and pillows.  She wore only a short, dirty shift to cover herself, and her long arms and legs were tawny despite her long captivity.  Eden could see on them the beginnings of the stripes which she knew covered the woman's back.  Her hair was a mass of dark curls with lighter streaks and locks in it.  She lay on her belly, arms pillowing her head and legs sprawled carelessly and without the slightest hint of shame.  She looked asleep.

"Er, excuse me," Eden felt ridiculous trying to get her attention.  "Hello?  Are - are you awake?"  There was no movement from the sleeping woman, and without thinking Eden stepped forward and reached out a hand to tap on the bars.  "Hel--"

Zenobia was up and moving faster than Eden's eye could really follow, with far less warning than a human would give.  One moment she was somnolent and breathing slowly, then Eden blinked and the other woman seemed to apport across the room.  She slammed into the bars and her arms shot through.  One hand closed around Eden's wrist and yanked her in close, while the other snagged in the collar of her dress and dragged her up against the bars.  Eden squeaked as she felt her feet lifted until only her toes were on the floor.

"Well now," Zenobia growled, her voice like sweet thunder.  "What have we here?"

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Eden closed her eyes and tried to control herself.  Her heart was pounding and it was making her head hurt and her brain race.  Zenobia squeezed her wrist and it hurt – she was extremely strong.  "Wait!  Wait don't kill me!"

"Why should I not?"  Zenobia rumbled and Eden opened her eyes and looked at her.  It didn't make her feel any better, as the other woman's glimmering yellow eyes were very close, her beautiful yet animal face just inches away.  Eden could smell her – a heavy, musky smell.

"Because I'm here to help you escape," Eden managed, wheezing as Zenobia twisted her collar tight around her neck.  "Really."

Zenobia's breath was hot on her face.  "Why would you do that?"

"Because – because I need your help.  I want to – to make a deal."  Zenobia's grip did not loosen at all, in fact she felt that powerful grip grinding the bones of her wrist together painfully.  "Please, just listen to me!"  She was beginning to panic.  This had been a terrible idea, and she was going to die here.  She was going to die and they would find her dead in here tomorrow and not understand why.  She wondered how much of her Zenobia would eat.

Then she was free and staggered back, fell against the far wall.  She gasped for breath and unbuttoned her collar, unable to bear the constriction anymore.  Her wrist ached.  She looked up and saw Zenobia just standing there, arms thrust through the bars as she leaned on them.  Upright, Eden was startled by how big the woman was – easily a head taller than herself and powerfully built.  Long-waisted, heavy-hipped, and with big, jutting breasts that strained the fabric of her shift.

"Who are you?" she said, grinding the knuckles of her fingers until they popped like cracking ribs.

"I'm – my name is Eden Kane.  I'm an archivist with the Hazardous Artifact department."  She was still catching her breath.

"Mmm."  Zenobia sniffed the air, licked her lips.  "Who made you?"

Eden started.  "Uh, no one.  I'm not – that is, I'm not a--"

Zenobia snorted.  "Yes you are.  I can see it on your face.  I can smell it on you."  She sniffed again, let it out slowly.  "I can smell lies.  Don't tell me any."  Her English was accented but clear, the Spanish accent combining with the liquid purr of her voice in a way that was both sensual and dangerous.

"I...."  Eden bit her lip.  "Doctor Praetorius.  He made me what I am."

Zenobia squinted.  "I remember him.  He worked with brains."

"Yes, he... well, I was his housekeeper.  He wasn't supposed to use his methods on me.  He didn't ask me, he just did it."  She winced, remembering the drugs and the needles, shook her head.  "Nobody knows.  He died at Blue Mountain and nobody knew what he did to me.  They have his brain in a jar upstairs, but they don't know if they can revive it.  I don't know...."  She trailed off.  "All his other subjects went insane and had to be destroyed.  Now there's just me."

"And you keep it secret, because if they knew they will destroy you too."  It wasn't a question.  "How are you different?  I cannot see anything."  Zenobia shifted, muscles rippling over her splendid body.

"Well I'm... I'm nothing like you.  It's all in here," she pointed at her temple.  "I can remember anything I see.  Perfectly.  My brain recognizes patterns without me having to think about it.  I can break codes, combinations, decipher maps and coordinates like that," she snapped her fingers.  "I can read telegraphs just by hearing the clicks, without trying.  I can look at a map and know the fastest way to go, I can look at a page in a book and tell you how many 'e's are on it."  She shrugged.  "It makes my job very easy."

"And very boring," Zenobia stretched.  "How do you know about me?"

"Oh I know everything about you.  I read all the encrypted files.  You were a bandit in Texas before the war.  They caught you and brought you here.  You were going to be hanged anyway, so they gave you to Doctor Laclos for his theriomorphic experiments.  Most of his subjects died, but...." she gestured.  "Not you."

"Mmmm," Zenobia made a low sound that Eden recognized meant she was thinking.  "Is Laclos alive?  They will not tell me."

Eden shrugged apologetically.  "They don't know.  He went rogue after Blue Mountain and they had a report he was in Brazil.  Nobody's seen him in years, or anything that looks like he made it.  They think he's probably dead."

"Mmmm.  Too bad if he is.  I promised to eat his liver."  Zenobia blinked slowly.  "What is it you want from me?"

"I... well."  Eden was feeling worse and worse about this idea every moment.  "I need you, I need someone who can handle themselves.  You know, someone who can fight."

"What for?"  Zenobia let her arm swing slowly back and forth, her eyes half-lidded, as if she were sleepy.  Eden knew it was deceptive, so she didn't step any closer.

She lowered her voice, unable to help it.  "I can find El Dorado," she said.

That got Zenobia's attention.  "The pirate lair?  Their secret city?  Mierda little one.  They keep that place well hidden.  And why would a little mouse like you want it anyway?"

Eden straightened up.  "It's important.  The corsairs have developed a coding machine."

Zenobia waved her away.  "I do not know or care about these things.  Machines."  She sneered with contempt.  "What do I need machines for?"

"Fine then, I want you to come with me on a mission across the country.  It's important, and I can do it - I may be the only one who can.  I can find the pirate code machine and bring it back, but I need someone tough to get me there."  She bit her lip and rubbed at her sore wrist.  "Will you help me?"

"And what do I get from this?  Tell me."

"Don't you want out of here?  I can get you out right now."

"And then I go and help you carry out a mission for the men who lock me in here?"  Zenobia drew back from the bars and started to pace.  "I help you help them?"  She was angry.  "They bring me here, they do things to me and make me into this," she gestured down at herself.  "It hurt, what he did to me, and then they lock me in here for how long?  What month is it now?"

"June," Eden said.

"Bastardos, more than a year now, almost two I am down here.  They feed me raw meat, they treat me like an animal.  I get out of here I should find them and kill them all, see how many I can get."  She hooked her fingers into claws.

"You'd never get away," Eden said.  "They have agents whose only job is to hunt down dangerous Experimentals.  The North is almost entirely under control, but out West there is still room to disappear.  Come with me, if only as far as Matamoros.  Once I'm there I can get to the sky-harbor in Bagdad and I'll be on my way.  Once we're across the Mississippi you can be free – go wherever you want, I don't care.  But I can't go alone, it's too dangerous to go alone."

Zenobia came close to the bars again and stared at her, her eyes feral and cold.  "You trust me to keep my word, eh?  What makes you think I won't just rip you apart if you open that door?"

"Because you're not an animal, whatever they think.  You're like me – somebody made you what you are, and you can't change it.  The only difference is I can hide what I am.  If they knew what I was I'd be down here with you, or worse."  Eden closed her eyes and shuddered at the thought of being locked down here, poked and prodded.

"So you want me to come and help you carry out a mission they won't send you on, to help the ones who keep me prisoner and would do the same to you if they knew what you are; and in return I will go free where they can hunt me again."  Zenobia licked at her long front teeth.

"Er--"  When she put it all like that it sounded silly, when it wasn't silly.  "I just want to be an agent.  I want that more than anything.  If I come back with that code device, I'll be a hero, it won't matter what I am or what I did to get it.  They won't send me because they think I can't do it.  They think you're an animal, and I'm useless.  Let's prove them wrong."

Zenobia looked at her, blinked slowly, then she smiled fiercely.  "I kind of like you little mouse.  Let me out of here and let's go, I'm tired of this hole."

Eden stepped close to the bars again, wary this time.  Zenobia didn't move as Eden slipped her hairpin into the lock and worked the tumblers.  It just took her a moment to spring it loose.  The cell door swung open with a slow squeal of metal.

Zenobia stepped out, shook her hair out and stretched, flexing her magnificent muscles.  She showed her deadly teeth in what was not entirely a smile.  "Finally."  She clasped Eden's hand, squeezing hard enough that the smaller girl winced.  Zenobia laughed and gestured towards the outer door.  "Lead the way."

Continued in Chapter 4...

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