Convergence (13 page)

Porthos sniggered. “Looks like it’s your move now, Destructor.”

Fil stood still for a moment before lifting his wrist toward his face. He tapped on the bracelet there. “Dad, can you hear me?”

Porthos spun on him. “Dad?” He turned back to Arthur. “He has a Dad?”

Arthur’s face had paled a bit, but he glared at his Hunter. “Most people do, Porthos.”

“Who’s Porthos?” Rand asked.

Will’s voice boomed forth from the bracelet. “
I’m here, son.
”

Porthos stared at Arthur. “That’s Will Stark, isn’t it? It’s true, then. What Stark told us all those years ago? He truly does have a son?”

“
Porthos, you moronic twit, shut up. My son is speaking to me and you’re interrupting.
”

“I’ve encountered a bit of a situation here, Dad,” Fil continued. He ignored Abaddon’s return to a vertical position and the looks of death shooting from his red-lined eyes. Rand noticed the Assassin’s return to verticality and backed away, his hands moving to his throat. “The Aliomenti have informed me that they’ve taken hostage hundreds of humans throughout the Island. I’ve been informed that they’ll execute all of them if I don’t surrender.”

“Running to Daddy for help, Fil Trask?” Arthur hissed, his eyes full of a raging fire.

“
Most children turn to their parents for help in time of need, Arthur, because most children learn to expect a positive outcome from the effort. I realize that’s something you wouldn’t understand.
”

Fil snorted. Porthos frowned, not in anger, but confusion. Rand looked puzzled. He peered at Porthos. “Who’s Arthur?”

Fil held his wrist higher. “Thoughts on next steps, Dad?”

There was a pause. “
Having seen what happens to those entrusted to Arthur’s care, I can only recommend that you decline his offer.
”

Arthur’s eyes flashed. “Stark, you do understand that you’re sentencing innocents—humans, even—to death, do you not?”

Rand lowered his gun. “Wait. If this man”—he pointed his gun at Fil—“does not surrender to you, then you’ll… you’re going to
kill
people?”

“Hush, Rand,” Porthos whispered. “This doesn’t concern you.”

“It does if I’m going to die!” Rand snapped. He pointed at the men and women held at gunpoint around them. “You’re going to kill them? Why? And then you’re going to kill me?” Then, chastened, he added, “Sir.”

“
My primary concern, Arthur, is for the safety of my son. It is your decision to fight your battles using others as pawns. I protect my children, Arthur. If you don’t protect the humans entrusted to your care… well, that would be quite consistent of you.
”

Porthos scrunched up his face. “Sir, what’s he talking about? Why is Stark talking about children? I thought he had just one child. Or is he talking about something else?”

Arthur ignored him. “At least I don’t hide while people are dying, Stark. I don’t seem to recall seeing
you
out trying to save people you supposedly cared about when they were directly threatened and died.”

Fil felt his face redden as Abaddon laughed.

“
Being unable to stop something from happening isn’t the same thing as encouraging it, Arthur. Is your memory that faulty on events of that sort? I can relate the story for you, and the people in the room with you, that—
”

“Shut up!” Arthur screamed, bounding forward toward Fil. “Just
shut. Up.
” His face had purpled as he wagged his finger at Fil and the disembodied voice of Will Stark. “I’ll
not
have you spreading any lies!”

Porthos glanced at Abaddon and the other Aliomenti in the room. Even Abaddon’s murderous look had faded, replaced by one of confusion. “Sir, what’s going on—?”

“I said
shut up!
” Arthur’s eyes blazed, more murderous even than Abaddon’s. “I forbid you to speak in my presence, Will Stark!”

Fil raised his hand. “Am
I
permitted to speak?” He paused, realizing the truth. Even the Hunters didn’t know Arthur’s secret. Well, he could fix
that
. And use it to his advantage. “Will you forbid me to speak as well, Grandfather?”

Porthos whirled on Fil. “
What
?”

“He lies!” Arthur screamed. “This man is a
liar
!” He stepped forward and seized Porthos by the shoulders, spittle flying from his mouth as he spoke. “I forbid you to listen to him or believe him!”

Abaddon appeared to lose interest, as did the others in the room. Porthos did not. He turned to Fil, craning his neck and working to keep his balance as Arthur tried to block and push him bodily away. “How… is Will… I don’t understand.”

Fil pointed at Arthur. “My mother is Arthur’s daughter.”

Arthur threw Porthos to the ground and whirled toward Fil, sprinting towards him at a speed one ought not to see from a man pushing twelve centuries in age. The rage upon his face was pure and uninhibited. “I’ll kill you!”

Fil stepped aside nimbly and tripped Arthur as the man rushed past, focusing on Porthos. “He encouraged her death after squandering her life, and he would have succeeded had my father not been there to nurse her back to health.”

Porthos’ eyes were calculating, shrewd. “There have been rumors… it would make sense… the emails, the warnings not to hurt the woman who’d married Will… it all makes sense.” He looked at the Leader as the man scrambled back to his feet from the brief time on the ground as if seeing him for the first time.

“
It! Is! A! Lie!
” Arthur screamed. He sprinted at Porthos, who didn’t move, and seized the man’s head in his hands, forcing the Hunter to look him in the eye. “I have no daughter. I—” He broke off, his face a mask of horror and confusion, as his eyes focused on something behind Fil.

Porthos, Fil, and the others in the room turned to see what had seized Arthur’s attention.

“Hello,
Daddy
.” Hope’s voice was filled with scorn and sarcasm. “Twelve centuries pass, and you’re still denying me. I guess some things never change.”

Arthur’s knees gave out, and he fell to the ground, unable to blink.

The teleportation portal was based
upon long dormant technology they’d developed decades earlier, technology promoted as a means to transport goods between spots in an instant. Though they’d publicly discouraged the use of the technology for moving people, they’d always known it was a workable option. After revealing his secret, the former Mechanic introduced those who opted to stay and fight the Aliomenti to the portal he’d established between the Cavern and Eden.

After bidding Gena and Adam a fond farewell, they’d entered the portal, a barren room in Will’s private Mechanic quarters that smelled slightly of salt water, and closed the door, sealing the transport chamber. Angel pushed the transport button on the wall, and they felt the sense of displacement indicative of a teleportation-style move. The room on Eden mimicked the counterpart in the Cavern, though it, ironically, bore the earthy scents so common in the underground city. Charlie opened the door, and they emerged into the natural sunlight and salty air of Eden.

Charlie had never been to the Island, and Angel could sense the pleasure he derived from the perfect weather. “You know how you joked about never leaving this place?”

“I can’t say it was exactly a joke…”

He laughed. “I totally understand now.” He pointed. “What’s that?”

Angel looked ahead. To her right she saw two smaller buildings constructed of native timbers. “That’s where Dad—and, later on, Mom—lived and worked while they were here. We found those buildings when we detoured here when we traveled back to 2030 to get Dad. It’s how we knew we’d been sent here and knew we’d be back.” She pointed to the large structures to her left, resting on the opposite side of the river bisecting the island. “Those, however, are new.”

Her father had talked of the new, tent-like structures he and her mother constructed on Eden, meant to hold various populations of people who’d reach Eden during the course of the invasion plan.

They started walking toward the bridge that would ferry them across the river before heading toward the smaller tent. She sensed Charlie’s unease. “What’s wrong? Are you nervous about this?”

Charlie laughed mirthlessly. “Fight to the death with the Aliomenti, a group we know will use every dirty trick and tactic we can divine and a few we can’t? What’s there to worry about?” After she chuckled, his face turned serious. “No, that’s not it. I’m concerned about Adam.”

Angel frowned. “What do you mean? What are you concerned about?”

“Well…” Charlie hesitated. “I’ve not known him as long as you have, of course. But he’s always seemed… guarded. Like he’s afraid to let anyone get too close to him.”

Angel paused. “What made you think of that just now?”

“Like I said, he’s always seemed that way to me.” He paused. “But… it’s been much more pronounced over the past few months.”

He’d noticed it, then, after they’d brought Young Will from the past to this present. “I can’t say I’ve ever noticed it, to be honest. You’re saying it’s been more noticeable since the months we spent with Dad from the past?”

Charlie frowned and slowed his pace, wedging the toes of his boots more deeply into the springy grass. “It’s hard to explain,” he admitted. “It’s just a… a feeling, I guess. Like he’s carrying the burden of some awful secret that he fears anyone ever learning. I sense he’s worried that, if this secret comes out, everyone he knows will turn against him.”

Angel couldn’t fathom what secret Adam carried that would turn her against him. Or turn anyone else against him, either. She’d always found Adam a man generous with his time and advice. She struggled to find a comparable secret. “You think it’s something like being the cause of the Cataclysm?”

Members of the Alliance knew Fil to be the trigger of the devastation; that his uncontrolled release of anger-fueled Energy had led to the deaths of thousands of their Alliance brethren. Though forgiveness had come with time, she hadn’t needed her Empathy skills to detect the resentment many felt toward him, even when they learned the source of the grief that fueled Fil’s emotional outburst.

Charlie considered her words. “It’s not a perfect match, but it’s a good analogy. He doesn’t want the human world at large to know what he did for fear of the repercussions, and not just for him.” He shook his head. “I feel like it’s deeper than that in Adam’s case. With Fil, he had a support group immediately to help him overcome the grief at his loss and his remorse over the unintended devastation he caused. Even if his role in the Cataclysm had been revealed to the world at large soon after it happened, he’d have all of us there for him, to protect him from whatever anger might ensue. With Adam? I get the sense that it’s a burden he’s been forced to carry alone for a very long time. He has no support group, no one to talk to, and no one to help him deal with whatever it is he’s hiding.”

Angel stopped moving. The sea birds squawked overhead, and the silence in that moment brought the sounds of the ocean waves to their ears. “I can’t fathom what it might be, or why he’d think, after spending so much time with us, that we’d push him away, no matter what this secret might be.” She patted him gently on the shoulder. “Assuming, of course, that there in fact
is
such a secret.”

Charlie grinned. “I’ve never been wrong before, have I?” He tried to adopt a look of pure innocence, but succeeded only in eliciting giggles from Angel.

She grew thoughtful once more. “Still, your theory
would
explain something else.”

“What’s that?”

“If he’s hiding some terrible secret, one he thinks would leave him shunned if it were to be revealed… that might be the reason he won’t let anything develop with Gena. Do you think that might be the case?”

Charlie nodded. “I do. And that’s the greatest pain of all, isn’t it? The burden he can’t share is keeping him from the woman he loves.”

“That’s stupid, though!” Angel shook her head. “Gena wouldn’t leave him if she knew… whatever this mythical secret might be. If it even exists.” Angel scowled. “If something’s burdening him, he needs to tell her. She can help him. Why can’t he understand that?”

Charlie grimaced. “Perhaps he has reason to believe that what he told her would drive her away forever?”

Angel snorted. “But there’s nothing he could tell her at this point that would separate the two of them.” She paused. Adam was no fool. He’d shared with them, after many years, the truth around Gena’s birth and the identity of her well-known trend. But he’d kept that secret to protect her from the likely pressure she’d feel if she’d been thrown into Alliance life from birth, an environment of unreasonable expectations. He’d told the story… but only when Gena and the rest were prepared to handle the truth. That gave her pause. If he’d carried a secret so deeply held that only Charlie sensed its presence, and he’d held that burden for so long… “
Is
there something that might drive her and the rest of us away?”

Charlie sighed. “I guess he thinks so.”

They’d reached the smaller tent. A shared glance meant the conversation about Adam and Gena had reached what resolution they could reach. They moved inside the tent.

They found hundreds of members of the Alliance there, as expected. The fighters were stretching, bouncing on their feet, practicing moves with swords learned from the videos Hope Stark had produced during the time she’d been called the Shadow. Angel and Charlie separated, moving among the fighters, careful to avoid whirling blades and forceful air punches, asking if anyone needed anything.

It was all an expenditure of nervous energy. They were passing the time until they received word that it was time to go to Headquarters Island.

Angel wanted to join them.

The idea that her parents and brother would be there on Headquarters Island, fighting literally to the death—she swallowed hard at the thought—while she remained safe on Eden was maddening. She’d still not seen her mother restored to full health. Hope had gone from Eden to Headquarters Island to set up the initial defensive technology. She’d only see her mother after it all ended. But only if…