Part 17: Liam

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The construct smashed through the door and tackled Spider. Both tumbled over the conveyor belt and into one of the ship's exposed datanodes. The beam of light and information melted through the series 4's chest plating with ease, killing the machine in an instant. Spider rolled aside, but not before the superheated energy could cut into the plating over his ribs.

He jumped to his feet and shook off his burning tactical armor. He stomped out the fire while his R.Nano sealed the gash in his side and rehardened into new armored bands. In a moment he was good as new except for a ringing in his ears.

He scanned the adjacent hall with his blue hard light visor, tracking the movement of the troopers beyond. A squad of three approached from the west, another three entered from the other side of the causeway. He thought of X-Ray vision and the heat blobs displayed by the infrared sight of his visor switched in an instant. He could see the circuitry and vents running through the walls, as well as the transformers and power switches. Spider set his pistol to high-yield high-density rounds and fired. The bullet penetrated the wall and cut through a cluster of power relays.

Spider ducked around a column as an explosion rocked the hallway. Dashing through the smoking rubble, he switched yield and density back to his preferred settings. He plowed into a burning trooper, shattering flexsteel and bone. Low yield rounds broke against his armor like flies against a shuttle's glass shield. Spider's visor tracked the movements of the oncoming troopers while he scanned the area for more combatants. Satisfied, he fired three times and added three more bodies to his tally.

Once the Core AI had caught sight of them, Cheshire was of little help. Troopers and legionnaires arrived through every egress into the gunnery in waves. They weren't trying to stop Spider and Raven from destroying the ship's gun controls. They focused on one thing only, their capture. The Pale Garden suffered heavy losses, but continued their assault undaunted. If the enemy wanted to dash themselves against an immovable wall, who were they to stop them?

Spider and Raven would have gladly cut them down, but Renegade's warning that the ship's Primus was on the move with the CEO had required a change in tactics. Raven was ready to give chase, but Spider knew they would be dragging the ship's entire contingent in their wake. He decided the two should split up, fight on the move and converge on the Primus from multiple angles. The added bonus was the more distance they kept from each other, the less persistent the ringing in their ears.

The ringing was what concerned Spider as he burst into a stairwell at the end of the hall. A voice whispered to him; bodiless, insisting, and increasingly difficult to ignore. It ordered him to comply, ordered him to bow down, ordered his complete surrender. Spider punched the wall, focusing on the sudden sharp pain lancing through his fist.

"Your name is Liam Marcus," Spider said to himself. "The Pale Garden took your brother, framed you for capital crimes, and made you a monster. They ruined your life." The pain and the affirmation helped push back the whispered orders. "You will never serve Lady Belladonna. You will destroy her."

The R.Nano in his system made Spider an exceptional weapon, but that weapon was created to serve The Pale Garden. T.Nano made the troopers compliant soldiers. R.Nano was meant to make the test subjects stronger versions of the troopers, but that strength made them resistant to the siren's call. Usually Raven and Spider could ignore the little voices, but, so close to the very commanders they were driven to serve, resistance was a battle of will. The ship constantly communicated and coordinated with its troopers. It produced a low frequency signal, a buzzing in their ears.

Spider shook his head to silence the diminishing ringing and ascended the stairs three at a time. As he ran, Spider allowed himself to hear The Pale Garden's comms chatter. When no longer suppressing the R.Nano in his blood, Spider became a part of their information network. He listened long enough to find what he sought then blocked the info before the Core AI could try to crack his nano. Cracking nano was a specialized skill, but Spider operated under the assumption that anything Renegade could do a persistent AI could manage.

The philosophy had kept him one step away from Belladonna's bounty hunters for years.

"Sounds like the target is on level CB, quadrant 2," Spider said. He stopped, pressing his back to the wall. He'd passed level CB four floors ago.

"I'm enroute. Ran into some trouble," Raven said over their private link.

"What kind of trouble?"

"Nothing I couldn't cut my way through. Just can't seem to shake the voices in my head."

"Focus, kitty litter. It's the Primus. Either she's strong or there might be two onboard."

Raven growled. "Did you just call me 'kitty litter'?"

"If the smell fits," Spider said with a shrug.

"Look, you hairless ap- oh, I see what you did there. It's helping."

"Wait, what? I wasn't trying to help." Spider chuckled. "Stay focused, Raven. Don't let them get to you."

The door on the landing above opened and a heavily armored legionnaire entered the stairwell. Spider laid down a stream of suppressive fire, forcing the soldier back through the door. With his left hand he primed a mine to explode on impact, and threw the explosive at the portal. Spider dove down the stairs, an explosion backlighting his deft feat. He landed in a rough tumble and dropped a second primed mine over the railing. Almost to the door to level CB, a second explosion rocked the stairwell.

"I'm on CB. Let's do this." Spider threw open the door and left the smoke filled landing behind. "Remember, the CEO is top priority."

"I know the job, Spider."

"Yeah. You know, but do-"

"Spider, I got this."

"Freeze!"

Spider spun around to stare down the twin barrels of an energy cannon. He raised his hands slowly, scanning the area for targets. There was no one in the immediate area save for himself and a maintenance clone armed with an energy cannon, a weapon powerful enough to burn through Spider's armor bands. The clone's eyes darted around, framed by streams of sweat. However, his hands were steady.

"Umm, Lord Scorpion, is that you?" the clone asked.

Spider stared at him, confused and trying to hide it. The clone lowered his weapon and dropped to his knees.

"I'm sorry, my Lord. I didn't realize you were aboard. Please forgive me. The fugitives are here and Diva-12 ordered everyone with weapons training to join the search... did I do the right thing? I wasn't sure."

"You didn't," Spider said.

In a blur of speed he grabbed the clone's wrist and shot him through the hand. The clone screamed and dropped the cannon. Spider covered the man's mouth and slammed him against the wall. The clone's eyes rolled to the back of his head, but a rough shake from Spider kept him from losing consciousness.

"Give me a reason and I will kill you," Spider said. He listened for sounds of approaching troopers with hearing amplified by R.Nano.

"I'm so sorry, Lord Scorpion. Please spare me," came the clone's muffled words through Spider's hold.

"You know me?"

"Not personally, My Lord, but I've served on your ship. I... I'll never forget the first time I saw you. You looked exactly the same, only younger."

Spider's heart quickened, his mind chasing multiple thought trains at once. People always said the Marcus family features were strong. As children Liam and Lance had been mistaken for twins, as Lance was large for his age. Scorpion had been Lance's callsign during their time as freelancers. To a simple minded person, like a low ranking clone, the brothers could easily be confused.

"Where will I find the Primus?"

"She's going to secure her cargo in Diva-12's nexus, My Lord."

"On this floor?"

"Yes, quadrant 3. Please don't report me, Lord Scorpion. I was trying to bring glory to this ship."

Spider struck a blow across the side of the clone's head. He lowered the unconscious man to the ground with undue gentleness. Spider took medical grade nano from his kit, and sprayed the foam into the clone's gunshot wound. He snatched the energy cannon without really seeing the hall around him. All he could see was his brother strapped to a gurney being carted away from their cell. Liam had been too sick from the R.Nano infusion to stand, let alone help Lance. The attack on the Pale Garden facility happened while Liam had waited in vain for his brother to return.

The renewed ringing in his ear was a warning. He was losing focus. Spider slapped himself with jarring force.

"Focus. You have a job to do."

He observed the clone on the ground. The Pale Garden didn't give T.Nano to its clones or officers of lieutenant Legionnaire rank and higher. Everyone else was a slave with his will subverted.

"You're no flower," Spider whispered to himself, "you're a weed, choking this garden from the inside."

Spider ran for quadrant 3. The longer he stayed in war mode the stronger the pull on his nano. Neither he nor Raven had dared stay under the full sway of their R.Nano for more than 180 minutes. Three hours. The strength of Diva-12 and the ship's Primus were too great to tempt even that boundary.

They needed to grab the CEO and get off the ship as soon as possible.

"Got 'em!" Raven said over the comms.

Spider ran up a flight of stairs and through a sliding door, onto a catwalk overlooking a wide assembly hall.

At its center stood a statue of Lady Belladonna upon the throat of a vanquished soldier. Crushed between her fingers was a bull, the symbol of The EC, small and impotent. Spider felt the primus's presence before he saw her. Two of her personal guard scanned the room for trouble. Two more held Angelique Farnsworth between them. The Primus backed away from something just out of his line of sight, her golden armor pristine in the chamber's complimenting lighting. Her bearing was proud and arrogant like every The Pale Garden officer, but she lacked the confidence of a warrior.

The absence of a weapon on her person spoke volumes about her character.

"You killed my canamarian," said a familiar voice.

Spider'd heard it over Singapore's comms when The Pale Garden took control of the ship. She called herself Xavier.

"He wanted a warrior's death," growled Raven. "I gave him one. He deserved no less."

"He was mine. I determine what he deserved, not you."

"He wasn't one of your clones or a mindless trooper. He was a canamarian Knight, a warrior of Canamar. You couldn't own him, he already belonged to his people."

"Sounds like you admired him, a canamarian. Ridiculous, coming from a felarnian."

"A true warrior honors his enemies in life and in death," Raven said.

Xavier laughed derisively.

A silver clad trooper came into view, a Pale Garden lieutenant legionnaire. She was helmetless, short spiky hair capping her head. Raven wasn't far. He looked like a blue and silver hulk compared to her average height. Though she backpedaled, she didn't seem intimidated by the massive size difference. Like the primus, she didn't carry a gun.

"One of your noble warrior caste honored the canamarians by destroying Canamar. Unless honor translates to something else in felarnian, your people know nothing of it."

Spider took a sharp intake of breath. Raven and Renegade had one button which made them lose their temper. They weren't triggered by the affront to the warrior caste. They were infuriated by their father's legacy. The cowardly act of eradicating a planet under the guise of peace fell on his shoulders and history would always remember the Felinus name as one bereft of honor. Scott and Patricia were heirs to a dishonored line, reviled by their own people.

The roar of Raven's Plasmatic Edge, the weapon of his father, was an expected sound. The roar of Xavier's was not.

"Come, felarnian. Lord Scorpion has four edges, claimed from felarnian warriors who believed themselves his equal. I will have your blade and the hand that holds it." She did a flourish of whirling slashes, reminiscent of a young man Liam had mourned but never truly believed dead. "Lady Belladonna will see that he is not worthy of his place at her side."

Raven covered the fifteen feet between them in a flash, his blade crashing against hers in an angry thunderclap. He attacked with ferocious chops that would have felled a less skilled opponent. Her parries couldn't match his strength, but employed swift riposte that kept Raven from overpowering her. They danced about the room, her speed and skill met by Raven's own considerable speed as well as his strength.

He backed Xavier towards one of the hall's long tables and struck with a savage upward cut. Xavier backflipped to the opposite side and he cleaved through the table, melting through metal like butter. The table sustained a five foot scorch mark, the heat from the blades intensifying one another.

Raven leapt the table and Xavier cartwheeled out of the killing path of his edge, slashing his leg as she moved. He cried out, but the attack only fueled his fighting spirit. He pursued her around the room, striking at every opportunity, on the offensive with no thought of defense or safety. Raven had always used his rage as a weapon, but he faced an enemy who appeared to have trained specifically to fight him.

Lance had once told Liam a weaker swordsman can match a stronger opponent with finesse. He'd spent years perfecting a style that allowed him to compete against felarnian warriors who would always have the size advantage. Spider watched his brother's technique in action and knew, without a shadow of doubt, the identity of Lord Scorpion.

"You're good, but my teacher has made me a match for your people's brute force," Xavier taunted as she dodged one of Raven's attacks and thrusted forward with her own.

He deflected her swift strike and countered with his own, grazing her ribs. She screamed at the pain and took two short steps back followed by a third, covering an impossible twenty feet. Xavier swatted at burning pieces of fabric on her armor. By all rights, she should have been out of commission. Instead, her side sparked where cybernetic augments protected her organs. She tore a section of smoking armor free and rolled aside as Raven fell upon her with a new torrent of blows. This barrage was different.

Spider was no student of swordplay, but he recognized Raven's shorter strokes and quicker recoveries. He'd changed his style, and Xavier was hard pressed to adjust.

"Every form has a weakness," Raven explained. "A true swordsman masters multiple styles to close the gaps!"

Raven feinted at Xavier's unarmored side, only to deliver a devastating cut at her over extended wrist. His blade of burning plasma hit her but rebounded off. In his shock Raven was slow in defending against her sudden rejoinder. Four thrusts put holes in his side and gut. He fell back, fighting defensively for the first time.

"It's Liryc Steel, your edge is useless against it," she bragged. "I've filled my gaps well."

"Don't kill him, Xavier," shouted the Primus from across the room. "Our mistress would have him alive if possible."

She and her entourage mounted stairs to an upper area overlooking the main floor. The air between them and the battle rippled with heat. The battleground had grown too dangerous for spectators. Raven's R.Nano would compensate for the temperature. Spider assumed Xavier's cybernetics did the same.

He mirrored the group's movement, hoping to avoid alerting them to his presence. Primus could sense their troops and Spider had no way of knowing if that connection included him and his experimental War Nano.

They stopped directly beneath him. The Primus gestured for her guard to watch the perimeter while she leaned against a short glass wall and watched the sword dance. Her troops did as instructed, leaving the CEO unmonitored. Spider watched her work something slim from the placket of her blouse. He was happy to see she wasn't the type to wait on a rescue. He only hoped she was smart enough to wait for the right opportunity.

"Renegade, I'm going for the CEO," he said over the comms, confident Cheshire would keep Diva-12 from zeroing in on his signal.

While Raven danced with Xavier, Spider made his way to the edge of the catwalk. The drop to the platform below was over twenty feet, Spider jumped with a combat knife in one hand and the energy cannon tucked under the other. He landed behind a guard with a heavy thud. The trooper spun at the sound, Spider ducked under the barrel of his shotgun and struck. The serrated edge of the knife scraped the guard's clavicle as Spider buried it in the man's heart.

Spider rolled aside as a hail of medium yield shot filled the air, peppering the dying guard as he fell to the floor. Spider fired the energy cannon, burning the armor off the second guard's legs and taking him off his feet. As the guard fell forward, Spider blew off his head. The third guard fired round after round as he advanced, filling the air with shards of kinetic ammunition. Spider threw up his shield, but not before his shoulder was shredded by buckshot.

Nano spilling over the damage, Spider registered the position of the other immediate threats. He ignored the pain, ignored the voice in his head. Spider drew his pistol, and crossed his arms to fire to his left while keeping the shield in front of the incoming fire. He rushed towards his attacker, counting the number of times the shotgun was fired.

The weapon clicked empty as he entered melee range with the third guard. Spider smashed the energy shield against the guard's helmet, the overwhelmed personal generator failing. The hard light shattering. Driving his elbow into the guard's chest, he fired up under his chin where his helmet's protection was at its weakest.

Wounded, but not out of the fight, the fourth guard fired his shotgun one handed. With no shield Spider dove out of the line of fire. He raised his weapon and electric feedback slammed into him like a sledgehammer. Spider screamed as fire surged through his body like a rushing tidal wave, pulling him under and drowning him in pain. Through blurred vision and paralysed limbs Spider watched the Primus step into view. The air around her rippled with atmospheric disruption. Her hands were spread wide, and her baby blue hair flitted as arcs of electricity played about her body. Her eyes glowed with a celestial fire.

"Lady Belladonna named me Primus, and bestowed a flicker of her power upon me. Before me you are nothing but an upstart legionnaire, a peasant before a baroness." She raised her left hand, and Spider was lifted off the ground on searing ripples of electric current. "Primus Khophine said you ran from her on Planet Caucasus, and Primus Persephone was punished severely for letting your ship escape her blockade. To think I didn't have to chase you. To think you simply came to me. Within our mistress's garden my flower will be raised above all others."

Spider found it hard to see, or think. His world was pain. She wasn't attacking him, but the nano coursing through his blood. He could barely breathe.

"What is this about? what do you people want?" the CEO asked.

The Primus turned to Angelique, and her grip on him ended abruptly. He sucked in lungs full of air, willing his limbs to obey

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