Chapter 80

Day 265:

“Cold approaches, even this far south.” Odmaaran Battle Lord Dire told Ariel and John the evening after their joint battle at Contested Oasis. “Tempest Squadron and I will be departing tomorrow for Odmaara. Your assistance was invaluable today, to my surprise. Many with great reputations fail to live up to them when the tides of battle turn, whereas you have lived up to every word of Ariel’s description. How shall we refer to you, when the song of today’s battle is sung?”

John and his group of friends: Sygraid the Titan Nord and her son Treb, the Dukalfyr Spooky (aka Herb Mason), Hal the former slave Cambion, and Cherubim Paladin Ariel had begun the day battling John’s nemeses Kertug the Brute and Xenos the Exile. They’d driven the two enemies off the field, but doing so had been costly. Sygraid was gravely wounded, and healing his mother had exhausted Treb the Mage. After further fighting, most of it alongside an Odmaaran Cohort led by Sergeant Fist, the unrested friends again faced the half-Orc Kertug and the Vampyr Xenos (using the body/avatar of an original project subject from Earth). They emerged victorious, and though Ariel struck the final blow against Kertug, credit for the defeat rightly belonged to Veronyka. She, the SEAL Adam Brown, and retired Delta operator Ben Hull, escorting a newcomer to Challenge World: U.S. Army Special Operations Colonel Amos Nunez, arrived in the nick of time to turn the battle’s tide.

John blinked, glancing helplessly at Ariel for an answer to the Battle Lord’s question. “Uh, by our names, Lord Dire?”

“Lord no longer.” Dire insisted. “We are allies against a great foe, and have shed blood together. To the warriors under my command, I am their Battle Lord. To you: Lluinso, or merely Dire.”

John bowed. “I’m not really that concerned with my titles either. Just John will do.”

“And your band?” Dire asked again.

“Band?” John wondered, mind going off on the wrong tangent.

Ariel snorted. “He asks if our group calls itself by a title.”

John looked around, thinking. “Not really. I’m sorry, but many of us are together because of circumstance. We never really called ourselves more than ‘friends’.”

Dire smiled. “Humility, the sign of a truly great warrior, among my people. After your performance today, this does not surprise me. Ariel says that all who travel with you look to you for leadership, and I have seen the truth of his words during our time here. Overlord John of the Watch at the End of the World, and his Eclectic Companions. Yes, I think that will do. Where do you travel to from here? Back to Gluboskal?”

John shook his head. “No, our plan was to do the next Challenge.”

Dire looked surprised. “You seek the Anvil?”

John nodded. “That was my hope, yeah.”

“And mine.” Ariel added.

The Odmaaran officer smiled. “I will send someone to you, this evening. He will tell you what we know of that place. And will have tokens, so that you may return from each attempt without paying any toll or penalties.”

It was John’s turn to be surprised. “That would be great! Thank you!”

“Before I go,” Dire said, “I feel I must ask who it was that struck down your two friends. From my vantage point, confirmed by others whose vision I trust, neither were near the enemy when they fell. You claimed an assassin, I heard?”

John sighed. “Yeah. What do you know about the Wraithguard Clan in Gluboskal?”

Dire’s eyebrows rose. “That they are a secretive group, but good spies, scouts and rangers. And are the Clan who bears responsibility for maintaining the vigil, watching for Challengers returning from the Anvil. It was one of them?”

John scowled. “Yeah. Their assassin types have some kind of powerful ability to remain unseen anywhere. I don’t know how they do it, but I’m one of the very few who can see them when they use it. I saw the one who tried to kill Veronyka. I’m assuming based on the weapon signature that it was the same guy who killed Hal.”

“Who was this Dwarf?” Dire frowned angrily. “That attacks someone he should call an ally, when his city is under siege?”

“His name’s Mokul; the Clan Wraithguard’s Huntmaster he said. Claimed to be second only to the Clan leader.” John replied.

Dire dipped his head. “Thank you, again. I will tell my counterpart to be wary with those of this Clan, and especially their leaders.”

The Odmaaran officer took his leave, to go brief the other Battle Lord. John and Ariel joined their friends, in a small camp tucked into the north side of the ruins. Almost everyone John knew in Challenge World was there. Some were staring into the fire, lost in thought. Others were talking quietly. The mood was somber.

And there was one face John vaguely recognized, but couldn’t remember from where.

“I’m John, do I know you?” He offered a hand too.

Nunez stood up stiffly, and John suddenly realized the man was wearing hiking clothes. Clothes from Earth. He hadn’t been imagining it earlier.

“It’s good to see you again, Sergeant Morgan.” Nunez clasped his hand in a firm shake. “Been a long time. Do you remember me?”

John shrugged. “I remember your face, but ... can’t recall your name. I’m sorry.”

Nunez waved it away. “I was much younger then, and you were already an experienced operator. I’m Colonel Amos Nunez, though I was a brand new Major the last time we saw each other.”

“Sunset!” John snapped his fingers. “Your call-sign was Sunset.”

Nunez chuckled. “Guess you pass the memory portion of this exam.”

John laughed too, as they sat back down. Veronyka moved over to plaster herself against his side until he curled an arm around her. She laid her head on his shoulder, also.

“So,” John started when everybody looked at him expectantly, “who wants to kick this party off?”

“I will.” Nunez spoke up.

John was taken aback, but game. “Sure, sir. Go ahead.”

“Sergeant, fifteen years ago you suffered a catastrophic injury and had to be medically retired.” The Colonel summarized. “Though you didn’t have to, when representatives from the IC asked, you did what you were able, to help. And I’ve seen the project recordings. You were a huge boost! Hell, you even got yourself and Doctor Krasnov here out of there when Chinese commandos showed up. And through some miracle, you even got your whole body back! When I told the JSOC CG** about you, do you know what I was asked?”

John snickered. “Why didn’t you get the alien cube, too?”

Nunez blinked at the non sequitur. “What? No, that was encased in reinforced concrete. The mutants couldn’t blow it out, that might break the thing. And our retaliation strike didn’t give them enough time to jack-hammer the thing loose. Why would you even ask about that? Do you know something we don’t?”

John shook his head, shaking with laughter. “Sir, it was a joke. I know you had to have it; how else would Adam have gotten here?”

Nunez’s eyes flickered to Adam. “Oh, yeah. Sorry, it’s been quite a day.”

“Welcome to Challenge World.” John waved an arm around.

Nunez blinked, tilting his head in amazement. “That still—I’m not sure I believe it yet.” He reached back to pat the cuirass resting behind him. “Even have this thing, though nobody knows what it does.”

“It protects your body, sir.” Ben snarked, from across the fire.

“But only if you wear it.” Adam added, with a smile.

John leaned to get a better look, so Nunez held it up for his perusal.

“That’s a dragon-enchanted piece of armor!” John exclaimed. “How long have you been here?”

“I brought him through today.” Adam told his friend.

John’s eyes pin-balled from Nunez to Adam to Ben to Veronyka. “What the hell happened?”

“Wait.” Nunez held up a hand. “Let me finish before we get into the storytelling.”

The men all offered ‘go ahead’ motions.

“As I was saying,” Nunez continued, “Sergeant Morgan, I’ve been instructed to offer you a return to active duty. Full reinstatement of your retirement rank, plus another rocker to boot***. And immediate assignment to the unit headquarters, detached to my command.”

They say that after too many shocks, your system becomes inured to them. Despite the day’s reversals, John clearly hadn’t reached that point. He opened his lips to speak three different times, and nothing came out for any of them. After running through every facial expression in his repertoire, he settled on an incredulous stare.

“Say ... what?”

Nunez nodded. “You heard me right. We’d like to bring you back on board. What you’ve done here is extraordinary, and well, after today’s events, I think you and me both could use some allies.”

John’s eyes narrowed. “What events are you referring to?”

Nunez looked over at Adam and Ben. “Who’s first?”

Ben sighed. “I guess that’s me. Wh—en”

“No.” Adam interrupted. “Let me give the context. John, did you know about the other portals on Earth? From the way you reacted earlier, I’m guessing that you had no idea.”

“I didn’t.” John admitted.

“So, yeah, there are other portals on Earth.” Adam joked. “And I was able to duplicate your feat, using the one we found in South America. Chile, specifically.”

“Got yourself a nifty tan there, too.” John retorted in kind. “Purple’s in this season, is it?”

Adam laughed. “Once they see me, you bet it is!”

John held up a hand, twisting it back and forth like a parade wave. “I got a few bits back. You?”

He got a full row of teeth from his friend. “Yup, hand and eye are both fully functional.”

John grinned back. “That’s great!”

“You wanna know what else is great?” Adam asked. “The Network took something away, too. Something I’ve wanted to ditch for a long, long time now.”

John cocked his head to the side. “Huh? Like what?”

“Like my addiction craving.” Adam deadpanned. “I’ve ignored it for so long that it’s not a conscious thing anymore, but it was always there. Lurking behind every corner.”

John’s eyes widened. “The—whatchacallit, process took it away? Wow! That’s ... amazing! Fantastic!” He lifted a fist for bumping.

Adam bumped. “It is! I feel like a whole new man.”

“I don’t know if you’ve checked out a mirror lately, but you are a whole different person.” John shot back.

“Perception matches reality, who’d’ve thunk it?” Adam asked.

John tapped his cheek, right underneath his eye. “Someone with the Eye of Truth.”

“Oh, yeah. Ugh.” Adam pooh-poohed. “But back on point, there’s a team at the Chilean portal. SAD guys and an officer from the Activity. I brought Colonel Nunez and another SEAL, Commander Conley to the Pyramid, and took Sergeant Major Ellis back to Earth. When I came back to Chile a second time, with Ben in tow, one of the SAD guys had a gun in Ellis’s face.”

“It was the same guy who had us captive; me and Ellis and Marty Hicks, up in Canada when we went looking for you.” Ben added. “Marty’s dead because of that fuck-wad.”

“So are two former Teams guys that were supposed to be working with the SAD security group.” Adam reminded Ben. “They killed them too.”

Both of them turned to look at Nunez, who sighed.

“Apparently, this Agency operator took a shot at Ben when they returned through the portal.” The Colonel finished up. “Then, when Adam asked Commander Conley what was going on, he stabbed me.”

“Wait.” John interrupted. “The SEAL officer stabbed you? Why?”

Nunez shook his head. “I don’t know. There’ve been some strange rumblings going on for a while now. Delta getting frozen out of missions we should be on. Rumors of an issue at DEVGRU***, and an odd preference from JSOC staff for personnel who aren’t Army. We thought it was the normal inter-service politics, what with a SEAL commanding general but this has gone beyond ordinary inter-service rivalry. Hell, we had an entire Troop of operators already staged in the NCR**** for a separate op when the mutants took down your project. We couldn’t get authorization to go after them, no matter what we said. SEALs came up from Dam Neck and conducted the mission instead. Now why would you want to wait an extra couple of hours instead of letting the guys already there do it? Or at least, use us to set the stage. Nope, unequivocal ‘stand-down’ from the CG.”

John looked at Adam.

“Don’t ask me!” Adam protested. “I’m in the dark just as much as you guys are. I mean, I know I’ve been sorta out of the loop lately, what with my medical treatments, but still. This is way beyond anything I would ever expect to see!”

“Sounds like officer games to me.” Ben spat. “That’s one of the reasons I’m glad to be retired.”

Nunez held up two hands in ‘surrender’. “It does, doesn’t it? So, we pulled what strings we could and got me added to the reconstituted project. Somehow, officers from the Activity are running it, for no reason I can get specifics on. They’re also only using certain SEALs, most of them guys I’ve been less than keen about to provide backup. Though I’m supposed to be the senior action officer, I’ve been pretty much frozen out of any real decision-making. I’m briefed last for everything, and if General McKnight is present too, I swear she already knows what everybody else is going to say.”

Ben sounded disbelieving. “You’re saying there’s a conspiracy?”

“At this point?” Nunez looked apologetic. “How can we say there isn’t? That’s why I wanted John back inside the unit. It really seems like he could use the protection, back home at least.”

John shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I have things I can’t walk away from, here.”

“Like what?” Nunez challenged. “Somebody else’s war? Why are you even involved with these people, anyway?”

John’s demeanor went stone-still. “What I’m doing and why, are none of your damned business, Colonel.” He made the rank sound like a dirty word. “My association with you, if any will be as equals, not your subordinate! You’ve been here, what, a day now? I’ve been all over this continent for the last year, give or take. Yeah, I got myself a new body, sorta. Big whoop. And you want to make—put me under your thumb? Uh-uh! Try again ... sir.”

“Sergeant,” Nunez snapped, “I think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself. You were a project subject, not the director. You did a good job; I’m not disputing that. A superb one, which was no surprise to us. But you’re not seeing the—b”

“Oh, hell no!” John growled. “Don’t you dare give me the ‘bigger picture’ line! Don’t you fucking dare! Do you want a ‘bigger picture’? Do you?” John pointed at Ariel, who got a deer-in-the-headlights look. “Ask him about the bigger picture! Ask him who he reports to now! Go on, ask him.”

Sygraid stood up, tapping her son’s shoulder. The boy obediently followed as she circled around to sit behind John and Veronyka. Even after seeing her in broad daylight earlier, Nunez still stared.

“How much do you wish me to say, John?” Ariel asked quietly.

John didn’t take his eyes off the Colonel. “Everything. Everything you know. Don’t worry, it’s fine. The others probably need to hear it too. Let’s get everything out in the open, for all to hear.”