The Dark Edge Chronicles - Hardwire

Lull before the Storm

As it turned out, Melanie and Tabitha were only the first in what would become a steady stream of psionics taking Raven up on her offer. And not just Avalonians, as Mordecai half expected. There was also a smattering from almost every one of the beleaguered independent nations, including not a few leaders, both male and female, that were willing to have their DNA rewritten to turn them into Storm Wolves. As Lisa and Samantha had before them, these transformed softwires immediately swore allegiance to the psi lord as their new powers coursed through them like rivers of fire.

In the end the bemused man in black found himself in possession of his own personal army. An army he needed to position properly to make them most effective against the devastation the Armageddon Project's fallout promised to have.

Somewhat surprisingly, even they had witnessed first hand the awesome capabilities being psionic entailed, their two Normal comrades had no desire to join the Storm Wolf ranks.

"You're kidding, right?" Dee had replied when Tabitha had asked them. "Rewrite our DNA so we could do shit we never could before? No thanks, Tabby. It took me this long to get used to how I am now. You put my brain in a blender like that and you might as well put a gun in my mouth."

"How can you tell me you wouldn't want that kind of power, Dee, when you Normals are always craving more power," Tabitha immediately retorted.

"Not this Normal, sister," Dee said with a tight frown. "In order to make me into one of you, Mordecai would have to change so much inside, it wouldn't be me anymore. Not to mention, as much as us womenfolk would like to read minds, I think I would hate having all those voices in my head, sharing my thoughts."

Oddly enough she watched Tabitha nod in understanding, her expression wry.

"You make a good point there, Dee," the former founding member of Avalon admitted. "My extra abilities allow me fully block them out now, but before, when I was tired, they would just seep in and make my head hurt."

For a brief moment Dee found herself considering that. With only Mordecai as their previous example, she had never even thought that being psionic would have challenges, like voices in one's head that you couldn't keep out. Of course thinking about that reminded her of that time that they had found an exhausted Mordecai working to develop their new offensive tech and Duffy had made that crack about his parents never letting him play with toys.

It was the first time they had seen the cracks in the big man's smooth, confident appearance. In that moment when he had admitted they had killed themselves because one couldn't take the voices in their head any more, and the other when the only person that understood their visions was gone, she could hear pain in his voice. Real pain, clawed up from somewhere deep and buried.

Now she found herself looking at Tabitha with new eyes. Yes, psionics were so powerful, many of them bordered on god-like. Yet, despite the facade, they were still people with problems and issues of their own. People that were now fighting for survival against a genocidal branch of their own race.

Shaking off the dark thoughts before they could overwhelm her, Dee threw on a roguish grin.

"Besides Duffy still has so much alcohol currently pickling his brain, you send any juice in there he'd light up like a Roman candle!"

Tabitha had laughed at that, the young woman oddly comfortable with the tall redhead. Tabitha had found herself gravitating towards the confident, capable Normal, drawn in by the power of Dee's experience and worldly presence, something that the previously sheltered young psionic had no exposure to before her capture.

It hadn't taken much for Mordecai to realize Tabitha, who didn't have a mother figure that he knew of, wanted an older woman to look up to. Somebody she could emulate in how she carried herself. The women of Avalon had been older, but they had also treated her like a younger sister, someone that one day would be their equal. One day, but not that day. So she hadn't really gotten any of the mentoring she had been looking for.

Now, working in Avalon's armament research lab an hour before the vampires were scheduled to hit the streets, the man in black watched as Tabitha carefully mimicked a number of Dee's mannerisms as the two continued to talk while assembling munitions caches. And he found himself nodding to himself in approval.

In the months that he had known Detective McMaster, Mordecai had found her to be capable, intelligent and driven. And, despite his earlier misgivings about Normals, both Dee and Duffy had proven themselves vital to their efforts against the Brotherhood. If the orphaned Tabitha could pick up on some of Dee's more useful characteristics, he was all for it.

"Mordecai, I have an incoming transmission from Commander Lash," Paladin advised him in its quiet voice.

Nodding, Mordecai turned away from the Shiva's he had been assembling.

"Patch him through," he directed. There was a slight pause tben:

"Mordecai, Lash here," the Qos Viran commander said, his voice filled with coiled intensity. "My team is in position to begin their sweep."

"Acknowledged, Lash. We have confirmed that all friendlies have moved to safety. You are clear to begin your first run."

"Copy that. There will be blood in the streets."

"Let it run hot," Mordecai replied, grinning at the blood lust he could hear in the vampire's voice. "Good hunting."

"Acknowledged. We will advise when the last run has been completed. Lash out."

Satisfied that things were now in motion, Mordecai turned back to the work bench. Time to get all of their armaments in order for all the non-psionics he was expecting to join their ranks for the final act in this macabre, genocidal play. With that out of the way, he could begin planning for the endgame itself.

Which reminded him. He needed to make some calls.