Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1996 13:05:35 -0700 Reply-To: Hank Wyckoff Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Hank Wyckoff Subject: (28A/30) Reading the Endtrails -- HL Posting This chapter has been split for posting reasons The Cycle of Axer Carrick, Part 4 Reading the Endtrails (28A/30) A continuation of: When the Veil is Lifted The Duplicity Frostmelt The black-box men and their reinforcements were all dead -- some blown to bits by Mulder and Scully, but most bashed, bludgeoned, and deblooded. Nick and Janette were both exhausted, keeping a nervous eye in all directions. Scully had fallen to her knees, unable to catch her breath or her nerves, so exhausted that she couldn't even tense a muscle, let alone move it. Mulder was in a state of super-energy and super-excitement. Out of all, he was the only one who had come out of this feeling cleansed and charged. Although he knew deep down that he should be feeling horrible for causing so many deaths, he was honest with himself and admitted that he was exhilarated. He began to go around the bodies, trying to find an intact black box before any of the others recovered enough. He found one that appeared undamaged. It was too big to hide on his person, so he hid it underneath some boxes. When the coast was clear -- maybe in a few days -- he would recover it. The main doors were blasted open with some explosives then, and the Toronto police barged in, led by Reece, Detective Vetter, and someone that none of them recognized. The last one was a youngish man with a drawn gun and a rash attitude. He looked around with focused, almost nervous eyes, and seemed to recognize Mulder. The feeling was mutual -- even though Mulder could swear that he'd never met the man before. "Spread out!" boomed Reece. "Move it! Move it!" Special police units designed for this type of operation moved in, spreading out throughout the whole warehouse, and into the upper levels. Reece pulled his revolver and ran over to where Mulder and the others were, followed by Vetter and the other one. Of course, they were all too late, but it was a nice gesture. Mulder decided he'd have to send them a nice thank you card. "What the hell went on here?!" demanded Reece in a booming rumble, looking at all of the bloodied and blasted corpses in an expression that could only be called anger. Since Mulder was the only one with any apparent functionality, Reece addressed him, "Perhaps you could explain?" "We were following some armed kidnappers here, and we were met with armed resistance. It was too late to call for backup, and so we dealt with it as best we could. If I may ask, sir, how did you know we were here?" Mulder's nonemotional expression and frank statements seemed to calm Reece down somewhat, "He did," nodding towards the unknown man. "Detective Peter Caine. He said that I needed to get some shock troops down here in a hurry -- claimed that 'his sources' said there was something going down." Mulder nodded towards Caine, holding out his hand, "Agent Mulder, FBI." Caine shook it, an odd look on his face as he nodded, "Nice to meet you." Mulder continued his report to Reece, "It also turned out that the kidnappers were also the black-box killers. We haven't been able to find out much about them up until now, but if we search this place -- which appears to be their headquarters -- we might be able to find some files, or other evidence that will give us a direct clue -- or a better hint -- as to what this group truly is and why they were testing electrogravity weapons on the populace." If the situation weren't this grim, Reece would be smiling at Mulder's concise manner of communication. He just nodded, "Then get to work." He looked at Vetter, "Help Agent Mulder." She nodded, and they both took a good look around. There were a lot of boxes here, and this was just the ground floor. It was then that Mulder noticed that LaCroix was gone from where he had lay dead, but then he noticed that Janette had also vanished, so he relaxed, figuring that it was she who had moved him. Peter Caine looked around as well, letting memories flood him for a moment. It seemed as if those memories took over until he was in two times at once -- and the same place. The two times were superimposed on one another, each just as real as the other. There were less boxes here now, in different arrangements, but this was the very warehouse where he and a very unusual bunch had fought the immortal Dimack, Jin Ming. In the current time, he could scuff his feet on the floor and see the traces of the oiled net that had nearly proved their downfall. He looked a few feet away, saying to himself, //That was the place where Duncan nearly killed Jin Ming before Pop reminded Duncan of his oath.// The superposition left, and everything returned to normal. Reece looked at him, "Any thoughts?" "Yeah," said Caine, "I think someone should demolish this warehouse. I think it's cursed. Do you realize that so far three 'incidents' took place here?" Reece smiled, "But at least we'll know where to look next time." "Next time?" Caine raised his eyebrow. "Yeah. I'm something more of a cynic -- I say the half-full part of the glass just got drained." He frowned, "Thanks for reminding me -- I've *got* to do something about that water bottle!... ...and find that joker who filled it with Perrier..." "Captain?" Reece shook his head irritably, "Nothing! Let's get started..." ...Up above, Powys and Heimdall stood up, stretching their legs. So as not to make any noise, Powys just left the popcorn bag sitting on the beam before they left. They might not have made any noise, but for some reason, Caine found himself looking upwards, and seeing two figures. A logger-type and... "Alan?!" he whispered. "Excuse me," he said to Reece as he silently tracked the progress of the two above, without drawing attention from them or those on the ground level. They might have thought he was nuts, but they didn't even consider that he might be subtly looking up. Powys and Heimdall went by different ways, and when Powys was about to walk out the back door, he was quite startled - - for once -- to hear the click of a 9mm behind him. Caine stepped out, "All right, Alan, you have a hell of a lot of explaining to do. First Jin Ming, and now this. What the hell's your game, Welshie?" Powys smiled uncertainly, his hands in his coat pockets, "Observing. Rolling the dice. Stirring the pot. Whatever you want to call it. You know full well that I don't interfere." "I don't believe it. And I get enough of the poetry and code language from my dad -- I want a straight explanation from you." "How much do you know of quantum physics?" "CUT THE CRAP!" Caine yelled, his gun-hand tensing. "If *you* know your 'quantum physics', you should be able to explain it to a barmaid!" "Feynman?" "No. Axer Carrick. I met him at Tam O'Shanty's. He was playing 'drink scotch til you drop' with Strenlich." He stopped himself, shaking his head sharply, "Stop evading and answer my question!" "You wouldn't know the answer if it hit you on the head." Powys' tone was patronizing. "Oh yeah?" Caine looked pretty annoyed. "I think I'll get it." Powys nodded, coming to a decision, "Very well. You do deserve an answer, and for old partner's sake, I'll tell you. But -- are you sure you want it?" "YES!" Caine's voice rose a little in irritation. Powys nodded once more. "Just remember -- the truth sometimes hurts... a great deal." In a movement so fast it was a blur, Powys threw a small figurine of a cat at Caine's forehead, hitting it with an audible 'thunk' and knocking him down -- and then knocking him out when his head hit the hard asphalt. Powys stood over Caine's unconscious body, saying lightly, "See? I told you so! You *wouldn't* know the answer if it hit you on the head! And the truth *does* hurt!" He left the cat figurine with Peter. --------------------------------------------------------- Henry Wyckoff -- wyckoff@ag.arizona.edu Q: Want to know how to conserve bandwitdth? A: We all stay off the web and watch the servers shut down. =========================================================================