Argonaut - The Apprentice (Part II)

Chapter Four – Reverence

24th Apr 1:34 PM

 

“Crowley will be back tomorrow” I told the Argonauts as we descended the stairs down into the building on North Brother Island.

“Good” Cassius replied, “The Council will undoubtedly pay for any more information on Silverlight.”

“I’m sure that will make Crowley very happy.”

Serena had been almost completely silent on the way back from Valhalla; when my mental questions went unanswered I decided to give her some space.

“Do a global search for me” I told the house’s A.I, “The Silverlight Initiative. Go through the usual list of suspects; D.O.D, N.S.A, F.B.I, any acronym with three letters. Find me something to go on.”

“-Yes David-” it replied obediently, the monitors in front of my chair immediately blinked on. Information rushed across the screens as I waited silently, watching as Serena walked off without a word.

“Tell me if anything important comes up” I told Belisarius before following Serena out. When my attempts to make contact with her mentally went unanswered I walked a distance back silently. The door swung open quietly, allowing the Argonaut to step outside and walk through the trees with barely a sound. The leaves rustled gently in the early morning breeze; trees creaked as they swayed softly. Even though she gave no indication or acknowledgment she definitely knew I was there, it was impossible to hide things from her.

With a small shuddering breath she sat at the base of a large tree, staring off into space. I wordlessly sat next to her, waiting in silence as she leaned against me.

“What now?” she asked after a long time, “They hit us where we were at our strongest, how can we come back from this?” Her voice faltered as she finished.

“We’ll come back, if the Niphal couldn’t wipe us out what hope does Silverlight have?” I said optimistically, “At least the death toll was minimal.”

“It’s about more than just the city” she said sadly, “We thought we were safe, untouchable. It may have been minor, but it was where we least expected it.” As I grabbed her hand in mine tears began to flow down her cheeks, “Valhalla was my home.”

“Then we will show them why we’ve survived for so long” I told her, “We find whoever runs Silverlight and we take them down.”

She looked up at me, “We?”

“Yes. They attacked us first, now I have no moral quandaries with wiping them off the face of the earth.”

She gave a sad smile, resting her head against my shoulder “Thank you.”

No more words were spoken, only thoughts and feelings as she accepted my mental connection. We filled each other in on events that had occurred in the past few weeks since we had seen one another, flashes of her life crossed my vision as the world outside was shut out.

Hong Kong shone like a jewel through the window of the high-rise building, Charlemagne had been in a surprisingly good mood all afternoon, and why shouldn’t she be? Stage one of the Reverence Contingency had gone off without a hitch. And here she was in celebration, six of the biologically enhanced super-soldiers, dubbed ‘White Knights’ by her corporation, standing guard outside. She would travel back to the States tomorrow where she would give an interview detailing the fall of Valhalla; the world would revel in Silverlight’s triumph over the Archaeans and be all too willing to accept Reverence: Stage two.