Cone of Silence Read online

  Kekoro ran his hand over his face. “Kliadra broke the rules. She disobeyed the contracts we signed. She acted outside of her scope as a hero.”

  Maira blinked. “By acting like a hero, she stopped being a hero?”

  “This isn’t your concern.”

  She looked at him and activated her cone. “It is because it concerns my friend. She is a screaming mass of conflict because not only did your sister do the right thing, she was taken advantage of, and it cost her her life.”

  He looked to Lorora. “Don’t speak that way in front of her.”

  “She can’t hear us. Only you can hear me, and only I can hear you. Speak freely.”

  He looked at her, and his bronze skin was flushed with emotion. “I worry about her. She has so much potential, so much energy.”

  “She wants to be an investigator and dispatch heroes to places they need to be. She wants heroes free to act on their own if the situation warrants it, and she wants you to be able to speak your piece about your sister being ignored, even while she died in the pursuit of her calling.”

  He stared at her, and his shoulders slumped. “And for her, I want a life without smothering politics. I want freedom.”

  “She doesn’t want freedom. She wants purpose. The sooner you accept that this is where she has directed her life, the better for you both.”

  “I won’t accept it.”

  “You don’t have to, but you do have to acknowledge it. It is still how she feels. Your feelings don’t change hers.” Maira smiled. “I have had a lot of therapy recently, and it is definitely something I would recommend to anyone who has suffered a loss like yours.”

  He blinked and nodded slowly. “Why do I know your name?”

  “Survivor of Arcon Moring?”

  His eye widened. “No. But... really?”

  “Yes.”

  “All right. Ah, no. Ada Lefs. They are the lawyers responsible for bringing the case against the elite of Dlio.”

  She smiled slowly. “You don’t say. Okay, resuming regular audio now.”

  Their conversation had taken less than two seconds, but it was enough for Lorora to have caught on.

  “Is that what it looked like when you spoke to me? What did she day to you, Keko?”

  He stroked Lorora’s hair. “She gave me some information I was missing, and we need to talk about it.”

  Maira smiled. “I will make some tea.”

  She grabbed her swords and shrank them down into the armbands that housed them. They were a birthday gift from Lorora, presented by Jianik.

  Jianik was playing with the cats on the porch. “Did everything go well?”

  “As well as it could. Tea?”

  “Yes, please. I will make it. The stuff you put together is toxic.”

  Maira grinned and followed. The investigator made tea. She made sandwiches. She was good at sandwiches.

  Jianik made an announcement. “Kliadra’s name is being added to the Team Memorial. Redmon is being replaced as investigator as it is glaringly obvious that his family ties stopped him from pursuing an investigation into the bribery and draining of Translucent. Blaming any victim is not the Team Project way, and he has been reminded of that.”

  The siblings got weepy, but Maira smiled. “So, what does an investigator do, precisely?”

  “Ah, well, we look at the current information and extrapolate. If we are correct, we put the right people in the right place to save the maximum amount of life.”

  “So, you looked at me and said that you would show up on my doorstep?”

  Jianik cupped her teacup in both hands. “No, I looked at the newsreels of the found bodies before and during your confinement, the horrors of the last moments of those lives, and I said, if you didn’t turn up dead, you would be the most strong-willed woman I have ever met, and I have met a few lately.”

  Lorora spoke in a sober tone. “She isn’t wrong. I have seen the files.”

  Her brother scowled. “What are you doing looking at the files?”

  “The disappearances are public record. Some of the girls he took were my age. When Maira was found by Team Three, they made a public record of her condition.”

  Maira wrinkled her nose. “Most of it. The official reports missed a few details. Gross details, but I definitely remember them.”

  Lorora looked to Jianik. “Have they found him?”

  “No. Not yet. With his talent for audio paralysis, he simply has to whisper, and those around him fall until he passes.”

  Kekoro murmured. “Maira, how did you escape?”

  Jianik bit her lip, and Lorora looked pale.

  Maira smiled. “I deafened myself, and when the rescue team collapsed, I picked up their weapons.”

  “You put something in your ears?”

  “Yes. Yes, I did.” She wrinkled her nose.

  Jianik cleared her throat. “A narrow scalpel. She put a scalpel in each ear until she perforated the eardrum and caused enough of a blood clot to block any residual hearing.”

  He looked pale and put the sandwich down. “I see.”

  Lorora smiled. “I told you. She’s a hero.”

  Maira didn’t say yes and didn’t say no, what she said was, “I wanted to survive, and that meant doing what was necessary. That was the first window I had, and I took it.”

  “And you saved another woman in the process.”

  “That was why he had left me alone long enough for me to shake his influence. On previous occasions, he had chemically sedated me when he was going to be away for more than two hours.”

  She looked at Kekoro. He seemed ill at ease.

  “Haven’t you ever met a victim before?”

  He shook his head. “No, as heroes, we go in, take care of things, and leave again.”

  Maira made a face. “I was fortunate enough to meet with some heroes that had more interest in me than that. Of course, they activated my gift by accident, so I was more of an experiment than anything else.”

  Kekoro asked, “Who was it?”

  Jianik chuckled. “Patches with the help of Overclock.”

  “Shit! I am amazed that she didn’t explode.”

  Maira chuckled. “So were they.”

  Jianik explained, “Maira was nearly dead, so there was nowhere to go but up.”

  Maira shrugged and sipped her tea. “She’s not wrong. The sheer amount of incisions on my body were killing me from infection.”

  Everyone was quiet for a moment. Maira looked at Jianik and asked, “So, what are you up to this weekend?”

  The investigator chuckled. “Very smooth. I am going to meet with a few candidates for the new team that is being assembled.”

  Kekoro looked surprised. “You are participating in that?”

  Jianik nodded. “I believe that my team will be very successful. The candidates are from all walks of life, all backgrounds, and all situations. They have acquired their skills and gifts through accidents, birth, and experimentation. They are not what we have seen in a team before. These are people who can actually work together or independently, and they will be allowed to.”

  “Lorora, will you be leaving with your brother?”

  Lorora smiled. “You still have two weeks with me. I am going to continue learning from you every moment of every day that I am here.”

  Kekoro frowned. “You are learning from her?”

  “Emotional control. Dealing with grief and loss. She is very good at it.”

  “I learned from a very good counsellor. He was very specific about facing the things that made me sad and those that filled me with rage. The rage was what needed to be controlled. Grief could run its course, but rage had to be addressed immediately. It can get out of control so quickly.”

  Kekoro looked at his sister and nodded slowly. “I can see that. Do you mind if I visit while not on duty?”

  Maira was a little flustered. “Of course not. Is there anything that you could teach m
e that Lorora can’t?”

  The young woman in question smiled. “He can teach you to dance.”

  She looked over at Kekoro, and he was grinning. “I can definitely teach you to dance.”

  “Then, you are welcome to come whenever you are between assignments. I welcome you to my home as a friend.”

  Jianik looked around the table, and she simply had a tiny smile on her lips.

  Maira snorted silently and looked at the investigator. It was like she had hoped this would happen the whole time. Given her previous description of her job, it seemed that it was likely that it had been her intent all along.

  It was strange. The idea of creating a team without social ties was odd in and of itself. It was the lack of ties that caused the dissociation between the heroes and the people they were helping.

  Weaving the new team with prior teams and leaving them unbound by the same restriction to singular action would create a team that could call on others without hesitation. More to the point, the other teams would come to them.

  It was an interesting strategy, but seeing if it would work was a question for the future. Maira could hardly wait to see how things shook out.

  Chapter Eight

  Standing in the ceremony space at the Team Memorial, Maira felt distinctly out of place.

  The family of Translucent was standing together. Lorora and her brother stood with their parents and received the folded uniform of their relative. In the background, music from Dlio was playing and a video of all of Translucent’s greatest moments of heroism was playing. There were a lot of them.

  Dignitaries and a representative from the Team Project spoke, praising Translucent’s pursuit of safety for the public at all costs. There was a vague mention of betrayal of trust by those she was protecting, but that was smoothed over, and the memorial concluded with the three-dimensional image of a serious Translucent was in place over her designated space on the wall. Next to the hologram was a plaque that described who she had been, how long she had been on her team, and when she had passed. The hologram kept a serious face for a few seconds, and then, she laughed before sobering again. The woman had enjoyed life.

  The family passed the memorial and bowed before touching the plaque. One by one, they passed the assembled folk, and Lorora smiled at Maira as she walked next to her.

  She was supposed to wait a few minutes, and then, she was invited to have tea with the family. Other heroes passed the memorial. A few bowed, some cried, but all paid their respects before filing out and going their separate ways.

  Waiting was agony, but she didn’t have a rank and didn’t actually know the deceased, so she paced through when everyone else had gone and did her bow and paused to say to the hologram, “You are so missed, and you were so loved.”

  The hologram smiled and laughed brightly.

  Maira bowed again and left the memorial. The general public would be allowed in in an hour, but right now, the place was private.

  She left the stone building and was walking down the path when she heard a voice that she normally saved for her nightmares.

  “You are looking well, Maira. I confess, I never imagined you to be one hanging out with heroes.”

  She slowly turned, and there, lounging against a tree in the memorial garden, was Arcon Moring in all his smug glory.

  She froze and tried to calm herself. Her instinct was to act quickly, but her training told her to cool her jets.

  “I never thought you would be dumb enough to come and find me in a public place.” She smiled slightly.

  He flinched, and his face darkened. “Come with me.”

  She let her face go blank, and he stepped toward her. A quick pivot had her striking his knee with her shin, and her fist slammed into his jaw.

  His shock was nearly palpable. “Stop! Freeze!”

  She used her cone on him. “Stop? Freeze? Really? You are going to have to do better than that.”

  His eyes narrowed. “You don’t get it. I didn’t come alone. One word from me, and they die.”

  She saw figures come out of the shade of trees, and each one of the three had a knife pressed to their own throat.

  She quirked her lips. “You don’t get it. You are never going to make that command.”

  He frowned and shouted, “Do it. Kill yourselves.”

  She smiled slightly and raised her brows when the hypnotized men and women didn’t move. “They can’t hear you.”

  “What?”

  “They can’t hear you. In an effort to save my life, I was forcibly healed as quickly as could be managed, and the result was this little peculiarity. As long as I will it, no one can hear you.”

  He lunged at her, and she reached for one of the silver bands on her arms. It unfolded into a blade in a heartbeat, and she held it to Arcon’s throat.

  “Now, now. That isn’t playing fair. I used a gift on you, you tried to use one on me. Mine works, yours doesn’t. It’s too bad, isn’t it? Mine is the last voice you will ever hear.”

  She pressed her foot to his chest and slammed him back to the ground, leaning over him. “All you will hear is my voice.”

  She set the words to echo in his mind, and she watched his eyes widen as he turned his head from side to side to escape. Inside the cone, she could hear him screaming.

  She gave him the pain of her self-surgery, and his screaming turned into gurgling shrieks. His ears bled, his nose bled, and his eyes slowly turned crimson. All the while, her voice in his head was whispering, “All you will hear is my voice.”

  His head pounded in the dirt and grass, and he began to seize. She stepped back and carefully replaced the band on her arm. His victims would come out of their stupor on their own, but she tried to get through to one.

  “Hello, you don’t need to hold the knife to your neck. He can’t hurt you or your people anymore.” She used her cone to send the message to the first of the three, a man who looked like he had been kidnapped from an outdoor occupation.

  He blinked as if waking up, and he jerked when he felt the knife at his throat. “What the hell?”

  She nodded. “You were used as leverage. The man has been dealt with. You are at the Team Memorial, and you should be able to get back to wherever you are supposed to be now.”

  He nodded and was a little dazed. She turned her back to him in preparation for releasing the second victim, and she saw the flash of steel.

  She grabbed her left armband and met the incoming blade with her own. She used the cone on him. “Why are you doing this?”

  “Because he pays very well.”

  She blinked. “Right. Well, he’s dead now, so if you haven’t been paid already, I really don’t regret doing this.”

  She flicked out with the blade and severed his hand. He screamed, and the woman and man who were standing as hostages turned on her with their knives extended.

  Maira disarmed both of the new attackers with a savage set of kicks and some light slashes. She called in law enforcement on her com unit, and then, she went to have tea with the bereaved family, thankful that her black dress was disguising the spray of blood across the hem.

  There was a bit of satisfaction watching the arrival of the peacekeepers who had to collect the three that she had tied to the corpse of Arcon. The first aid that she had administered might save the man’s hand, but as a few short questions had assured her, they were all there to force her to go with Arcon.

  The peacekeepers had her details or the ones she was comfortable giving.

  The walk to the family area where Lorora and her family were gathered was too short. Maira needed more time to process what she had just done and how she felt about it.

  She was on her third cup of tea when Kekoro stood next to her.

  “Was there some excitement after the memorial?”

  She shook her head slowly. “Not anything worth mentioning. No.”

  He leaned in close and whispered, “Then why do you smell like fre
sh blood?”

  “Um, maybe I tripped?”

  “If you went for first aid, would they find anything?”

  “Probably not.” She grimaced. “I have intruded enough for one day. I am going to head off.”

  He sighed. “I wished you would stay longer, but I understand. I will tell Lorora that you were overcome with emotion.”

  Maira gave him a dark look, and he laughed.

  “Fine, I will tell her that you don’t want us implicated in whatever just happened.”

  She nodded. “That’s better. It was nice seeing you again.”

  He inclined his head and bowed. “And it was very nice seeing you again. Be well and take Jianik’s advice. She appears to be pulling together one helluva team.”

  Maira blinked. “Who else is on it?”

  “She has chosen you, that shows exceptionally good taste and good sense.”

  Maira felt her face heat, she nodded curtly, set her cup on a nearby table, and left the gathering. It was time to get home and contact Jianik. If she wanted to retract the offer for Team Eight, now as definitely the time.

  “So, you think he is dead, but you are not sure?” Jianik spoke through the com in the cycle as Maira rode off with her dress skirt pinned under her thighs and flapping with the wind.

  “Correct. I was busy trying to free what I thought were hostages. Turns out, he has taken to paying thugs to help him.”

  “That tracks with what I have found out. You did good, and I will send the necessary clearances to the local peacekeepers.”

  Maira blinked. “Just like that?”

  “Just like that.”

  “How will you excuse my absence?”

  “I am simply going to say that your skills were needed elsewhere. They are, by the way.”

  “What?”

  “I need you to go home, grab your gear, and return to the portal for a trip to Liox. The trials for the team positions is happening tomorrow.”

  “You are joking.” She thought she would have weeks to go before she had to perform in public. Coming off taking care of Arcon, it was a little much.

  “I am not joking. You have diplomatic passage through the express gates, and from there, you will be directed via the navigation system to the training centre. This is your one opportunity. The team is going to be chosen in the next few days.”