Tales of the Scarlet Knight Collection: The Wrath of Isis Read online

  “I suppose.” Becky thought about her rescue of Emma and Dan and Emma’s anger at her afterwards. She supposed to shoot the Russians hadn’t been the most Scarlet Knight-like thing for her to do. What other choice did she have? Emma would have found a way of course. She probably could have guided the Sword of Justice to disable him or could have jumped him with one of her karate moves. But Becky wasn’t Emma, even if she looked like her on the outside. She had done the best she could, but in the end she hadn’t been much better than Don Vendetta’s thugs or that nasty witch who’d possessed Ms. Chiostro. Some people just weren’t cut out for being a superhero.

  “Come on, stop looking so glum,” Sylvia said. “We’ll do this and tomorrow everything will be back to normal.”

  Becky resisted the urge to snort at this. Normal? She didn’t know what that meant anymore. She hadn’t felt normal since Steve died. The day of her wedding she thought they would have a normal life together with a house and then a couple of kids, maybe a dog. It would be the life she had always dreamed of. An assassin’s bullet had destroyed all of that to leave her with nothing.

  In the window she saw Robinson Tower and some of the other skyscrapers of the city. She thought about Dan in the Rampart Arms hotel, how he thought he loved her and that he’d made love to her when really he loved Emma and had made love to her. Provided she wasn’t gunned down by the Russian mob tonight, she would have to sort out that situation, just another part of her “normal” life.

  Sylvia let her off at the gates to the reservoir. There were no guards to patrol the grounds and no alarm system; the city didn’t think anyone would bother to steal water from the reservoir. If she survived, Becky made a note to bring this issue up with Napier; she doubted Emma was the first person to use this as the site of a shady deal.

  The fence didn’t even have barbed wire along the top of it, so Becky could scale the fence and drop onto the other side. The problem came in that she thought with Emma’s body instead of her own. She reached for a link of the fence with Emma’s longer arms only to realize she grasped at air. Becky concentrated and made it over the fence to drop onto the other side.

  From there she made her way to the meeting spot, just an unremarkable spot of concrete next to the reservoir at roughly the center of it. Moonlight glinted off the calm surface of the manmade lake; any other time it would have looked beautiful. Becky checked her watch: 11:55. She still had five minutes until the Russians were due to arrive. As she looked around, she tried to determine where Emma would be in the scarlet armor. The site wasn’t visible to her, which she supposed was the point.

  Three minutes later she heard footsteps against the concrete. The Russians were early. Becky gulped; now they would find out if Emma’s plan—and Sylvia’s magic—worked. She fidgeted nervously where she stood and wished she could have brought a gun or a can of mace or even a stick to at least give her the illusion of being able to protect herself. As it was, she felt like a sitting duck in the open with a half-dozen heavily armed men bearing down on her.

  At their head was a woman who looked as if she were about to attend a board meeting rather than a covert, illegal meeting. The woman actually smiled at Becky. “Dr. Earl,” she said in her accented English. “It is good to see you again.”

  “Thanks,” Becky said in Emma’s voice. Becky had questioned why it was so imperative for the Russians to see Emma Earl at the meeting. Couldn’t Emma have just said her friend Becky would make the trade?

  “Not for something important like this,” Emma said. “They’ll smell a trap then.”

  Grudgingly, Becky had to agree with this. So just hours after she had switched back to her normal body, Becky looked like Emma again. The only difference was this time she merely looked like Emma; Sylvia’s spell created a sort of optical illusion to fool anyone who saw Becky into thinking they saw Emma. That had left Becky with a sense of double-vision as she saw Emma’s phantom limbs.

  “Well, here I am,” Becky said.

  “But you do not have the meteor or Ivan,” the woman Emma had referred to as Markova said. “Are you trying to trick us?”

  “No, of course not,” Becky said. “I just want to make sure you hold up your end of the deal. Once you’ve guaranteed my safety, then I’ll show you where the case and your employer’s son are.”

  “I can only give you my word that you and your friends will not be harmed.”

  “I think you can do better than that.”

  “How so?”

  “You’ll stay here with me and your buddies will go fetch the rock and kid. If they try anything I’ll break your neck.” As always, threats like this sounded feeble in Emma’s voice. Becky did successfully resist the urge to add a swear word or two in there, so she wouldn’t give herself away.

  Markova considered this for a moment. Then she turned to bark something at her companions. Becky wished she had Emma’s knowledge of Russian to know what they said. When Markova turned back to her, she said, “That will be acceptable. Where are the meteor and Ivan?”

  Becky turned to point to the spot Emma had indicated on a map. “Over there behind the pumping station.”

  Markova said something in Russian again. Then the half-dozen Russians left. Becky shifted awkwardly from one foot to another and waited for her cue to take cover. That came when she heard the first gunshot. Then Becky snatched Markova by the arm to drag her over to the lip of the hill. “What are you doing?” the Russian woman asked. “You have violated our agreement!”

  “I’d have thought you’d learned not to trust the word of an American by now,” Becky said with a smile.

  A minute later it was all over. Becky heard Emma’s Scarlet Knight voice call out, “Dr. Earl, Ms. Markova? You can come out—”

  Becky peeked over the edge just in time to watch Emma fly across the reservoir, a black shape in pursuit. “What is that?” Markova asked.

  “That’s Ivan. If you know what’s good for you, stay here.”

  Then Becky hurried off to carry out the next phase of the plan. She just hoped Emma could survive long enough to hold up her end of it.

  ***

  The Russian goons didn’t take long to subdue. Emma took four of them out with a variety of her best moves while Jim and his friends overpowered the other two. It felt good to fly around in the Scarlet Knight’s armor, to feel the fluidity of her limbs as they executed a spin kick or throw or a variety of other moves. For the first time since she’d emerged from the cauldron, she really felt like herself again.

  Once the last of the Russians was down, she turned to Jim. “Thanks for your help. Can you watch them until the police get here?”

  “We watch them,” Jim said.

  Emma nodded to him and then stepped out from behind the pumping station. She was in the middle of calling for Becky and Markova when something heavy landed on top of her. Though she couldn’t see it, she knew Koschei had arrived. Somehow he had shown up and no one—not even Marlin—had seen him. That was probably due to the alien’s influence, she had time to think before he flung her across the reservoir like the doll Jim had made for her.

  The armor cushioned the fall so she didn’t break any bones, though if she survived she might have a nice bruise tomorrow morning. She rolled to her side and wrapped herself in the golden cape at the same time to disappear. Koschei thundered down to where she had been and then looked around with his silver eyes.

  “I know what you are,” Emma said. She threw her voice to sound as if she were behind him when in reality she stood three feet in front of him. “Your partner told me. She wants to help you. If you follow me, I can take you to her.”

  “I don’t need her help,” Koschei said. He swiped at the air behind him where her voice had come from. “She’s the one who’s sick. She thinks we are merely explorers. We should be conquerors.”

  “Is that what you want?” Emma asked. She changed the direction of her voice to further confuse him. “You think killing me will let you take over Earth?”

&
nbsp; “Once your puny leaders have seen that I have defeated their most powerful champion, they will bow to my will.”

  “That’s not likely to happen. A lot of people here would be grateful to you for getting rid of me. But they aren’t going to surrender to you. Not without a fight.”

  “Then I will destroy them as easily as I will destroy you.”

  Emma nodded to herself. She had tried to reason with him. Now she would try a different form of persuasion. With the cape still around her body, she charged straight at Koschei. It was difficult to get up much speed with the cape on, but she got just enough so that when they collided, he collapsed to the ground.

  She shook the cape away to reveal herself. He recovered more quickly than she’d hoped, to kick her in the midsection and send her back a good ten feet. He already raced towards her as she scrambled to her feet.

  He came at her like a bull and like a matador she sidestepped his rush. She shoved him as he passed; the augmented strength of the armor allowed her to push him into the reservoir. She hopped into the water after him.

  Though the scarlet armor looked like plate armor, its magic made it weigh almost nothing. Otherwise she would have sunk to the bottom of the reservoir and drowned. Koschei’s alien-enhanced physiology didn’t have this luxury, so that he sank to the bottom. She hoped he would stay there until he passed out to make things much easier for her. Somehow, he fought his way to the surface and reached out with one arm to grab her by the cape to yank her down into the water.

  We’re going to have to do this the hard way, she thought. As part of her plan, she and Sylvia had installed a makeshift respirator in her helmet. She took this in her teeth as she sank into the water so she could breathe. Koschei didn’t have this luxury either.

  She surprised him when she rolled towards him and then grabbed the front of his coat. As she leaned against him, she pushed him down into the water, so he couldn’t breathe. She kept the pressure on him until she could feel his body slacken beneath her. She waited a few seconds longer in case he attempted to fool her by playing possum.

  Satisfied that he had passed out, she dragged him back to the surface of the water. With an arm around his neck, she hauled him towards the edge. “Becky!” she shouted. She’d forgotten Markova might still be listening and was supposed to think that Becky was the real Emma Earl. “Do it!”

  Koschei began to stir in her grasp. It wouldn’t be long until he was awake again. She tightened her grip around his neck and slammed his head against the concrete side of the reservoir. This would have killed an ordinary human, but Koschei’s head actually shattered the concrete. He groaned at this; his arms reached up to try and break her grip.

  Emma heard a splash, but assumed it was part of Koschei’s struggling. Then out of the corner of her eye she saw herself paddle towards them, the meteor held up over Becky’s head. Koschei’s eyes opened and then turned wide as if he knew what was about to happen.

  “This is for that woman in the alley,” Becky said as she brought the meteor down on Koschei. Emma closed her eyes as the world exploded in a burst of light.

  Chapter 32

  Emma found herself in the void again to face a grasshopper-shaped alien with silver eyes. She hoped it was Sarah and not her partner. A piece of paper appeared in front of Emma, written in the alien language. “You have returned him to me,” Sarah said. “I will deal with him now.”

  “He wanted to take over my planet.”

  “The madness is deeper than I thought,” Sarah said via another piece of paper.

  “Do others of your people think that way?”

  “No. We are too evolved to believe violence solves problems. Only primitives such as yourself believe that.”

  “That isn’t what I believe,” Emma said. “I would never use violence if I didn’t have to.”

  “A minor distinction,” Sarah said.

  “What are you going to do now?”

  “I will take him home for treatment. In time the madness will leave him.”

  Emma wasn’t so sure about that. If Sarah’s partner truly believed what he had said, that his people should conquer the “inferior” species they encountered, would he eventually return to Earth at the head of an invasion fleet? Emma didn’t know; she could only hope Sarah was right and watch the skies for trouble.

  Sarah was as stingy with compliments as Marlin. She said, “You have performed adequately—for an inferior creature.”

  The void disappeared and Emma found herself staring up at the sky. There weren’t many stars visible in Rampart City with the light pollution, but she could make out a faint light that rose higher into the sky. It winked once and then vanished completely.

  She turned onto her side and saw Becky next to her; she still looked like Emma. She didn’t have long to contemplate this strange, out-of-body moment as she heard Markova say, “What happened here? Where is the meteor?”

  “It’s gone,” Emma said. “Back from whence it came.”

  Beside her, Becky stirred and then put a hand to her head. Her head snapped around to look over at Emma. “It’s gone now?”

  “It’s gone. Thanks to you.”

  “I had the easy part,” Becky said. Emma saw her face turn red with embarrassment.

  Someone else began to stir. Emma braced herself as the mound of black clothes that had been Koschei rolled over. She relaxed a little when she saw only a pair of brown human eyes. “Where am I? What is this place?” Ivan Bykov asked in Russian.

  “You are in Rampart City—in America,” Markova answered. “You have been ill.”

  “What are you doing here? Who are these women?”

  “I have come to return you to your father. These are my friends.”

  Behind Markova came a metallic click. “Are you guys all right?” Sylvia asked. She cradled the enormous .50-caliber machine gun.

  “We’re fine,” Emma said. “Ms. Markova and Mr. Bykov were just leaving.”

  “You’re letting them go?” Becky asked. She pointed to Ivan. “He killed that woman in the alley. He nearly killed a bunch of other people by freeing the zoo animals—”

  “He didn’t do any of that,” Emma said. “He was under someone else’s control.” She turned to face Markova. “Isn’t that right?”

  “Yes, he was not responsible for his actions,” she answered.

  “But I don’t think he should show up here again any time soon,” Emma said. “Or else the police might have to look a little more closely at this.”

  “Police? What are you talking about?” Ivan asked.

  Markova hissed at him to be silent. “I understand. He will not return to this place.”

  “I think he should stay out of America entirely. That goes for the rest of Mr. Bykov’s friends too.”

  Markova stared at Emma for a moment before she finally nodded. “Yes, I am sure Mr. Bykov will agree to those terms.”

  “Good. Sylvia, can you round up the rest of Ms. Markova’s friends? They can go with her—provided they don’t come back. Ever.”

  Becky pulled Emma aside. “Aren’t you being a little lenient on them?”

  “Some problems you can’t solve with violence,” Emma said as she thought back to her conversation with Sarah in the void. “If we keep them here, it will only give Bykov an excuse to come back for them. Before you know it, we’ll have a full-blown war between him and Don Vendetta.”

  “Maybe that would be a good thing,” Becky said. “Let them wipe each other out.”

  “And how many innocent people get caught in the crossfire?”

  “You’re right. I wish you weren’t.”

  Sylvia returned a few minutes later behind a line of Russian goons, her machine gun more than enough incentive to keep them in line. Markova helped Ivan up and then instructed him to follow the others back to their vehicle. From her pocket she took out a cell phone. She barked a few commands into it to demand an airplane be ready for departure as soon as they arrived. Once this was done, she turned to Emma and
Becky. “I believe our business is concluded here, Dr. Earl—and Madam Scarlet Knight.”

  Emma held up a finger. “One more thing. It would behoove your employer to stop his illegal activities in Grakistan. Otherwise I might have to pay him a visit.”

  “I will relay this message to him, but I think he will be receptive after what you have done for his son.”

  “Good. And now our business is concluded.” Emma walked away. She tried to keep her body straight although she wanted to collapse and take a nice long nap after the fight with Koschei. There was one last thing she had to do before she could go home.

  Jim still waited in the pipe, though his friends other than Pepe had disappeared. “You let them go?” he asked.

  “It’s for the best. Thanks again for your help. We couldn’t have done this without you.”

  “You welcome.”

  “I’ll see you in a couple of days—I promise.”

  He nodded to her. “I see you then.” His face disappeared from the pipe. Pepe remained behind a moment longer to thank her for snapping his friend out of his depression. A happy Sewer Rat was better for the entire rat community—and by extension the people of Rampart City.

  “I’m glad I could help.” She patted the rat’s head. “You’d better go catch up before he starts to think I’m stealing you away.”

  The rat nodded to her and then skittered away.

  “Well, as far as asinine plans go, that didn’t turn out so badly,” Marlin said as she began to limp towards home.

  “It could have gone better,” she said and put a hand to her side.

  “Oh please, in a day or two you’ll feel fit and ready to go again. Or are you going to milk that for a while so you don’t have to do your job?”

  “No, but can I have at least one night without you nagging me?” she asked. “We just stopped a galactic war from breaking out.”

  “And you think that means there isn’t something here on Earth for you to worry about?”