PART TWO.

Rain woke to the sound of someone banging furiously on her bathroom door.

“Doctor Miller! I know you are in there! The humans you brought back are gone, open the door!”

Rain grinned to herself. She knew they would figure out something.

Three men who had been dead for a thousand years, lose in the world, and on the run from the government?

Now this was becoming interesting.

Rain grabbed her cane and hoisted herself to her feet. She made her way leisurely over to the locked bathroom door, trying not to look too pleased when she opened the door.

“Oh dear. Where ever could they be?” She opened her eyes wide and looked up at the alien. Maltass sneered. “Do not toy with me. This is a diplomatic incident and as soon as your government hears about this, you will be in prison and those things you made will be destroyed.”

A buzzing sound overhead made Rain look up, eyes going wide with genuine shock now. She looked back at the ambassador who dipped their head in satisfaction.

“Ah, there they are now!”

“You- you didn’t actually call them, did you?” Rain sputtered.

“I contacted your head of security, Major Chikara, directly,” Maltass hissed.

Rain attempted to rush past the alien, only to grabbed firmly by the back of the neck in their large hand.

“Let me go! You don’t know what you’ve done!” She snarled and attempted to hit the Komali with her walking stick.

“Causing trouble again are we, Doctor?”

A tremor went up her spine and Rain looked down the hall. At the top of the stairs stood Marie Rivera, Chikara’s metaphorical right hand. The tall heavily built woman looked down her snub nose at Rain. Officers of the federation rushed up the stairs and grabbed the stunned Rain from Maltass’s grasp, quick clapping a pair of electro-magnetic cuffs on her. She dropped her cane as she wrists twisted over on another, effectively making it impossible for her to use her hands together. The officer dragged Rain forward, tight grasp on her shoulder both restraining and supporting her as she was made to stand in front of Marie.

“I always knew it would come to this. Doctor Rainbow Miller, you are under arrest for treason and banned experimentation. Anything you say can and will be held against you. You will be held at the South west labor camp to await tr-” Marie cut herself off and put a hand to her ear, frowning.

“Yes, I understand. Alright.”

Marie clicked her fingers at her helmeted officers.

“Change of plans. Chikara wants to see to Miller personally. We’re headed to headquarters.”

“Personally?” Rain asked, despite the cold slimy worms of fear crawling through her belly. People always did say she had more curiosity than sense.

Marie smiled. It was a beautiful smile. She had a full broad face, with eye’s so pale they almost seemed gold, and dimples in both cheeks. However, it only served to make Rain shudder, despite its beauty.

“Oh yes. Chikara is very curious to follow up on these claims about the technology you stole. She promised the Komali she would investigate personally. It means she’s going to want to speak to you,” Marie leaned in closer, to where Rain could feel her peppermint scented breath waft over her, “One on one.” Marie clicked her fingers again. “Load them up and let’s move out!”

XXX

Chikara Haruka was not a tall woman. She was shorter than even Rain, which in a world where the average height was six foot even and you were only five eight was impressive. Despite this Chikara’s presence seemed to have no problem making up for what her size lacked. From her carefully starched uniform and shiny black hair, pinned back in a severe bun, Haruka’s bearing suggested a person who did not suffer fools or mischief makers lightly. Marie went to Chikara’s side, speaking quietly. Rain was held back by two massive guards, arms pinned down.

Rain had only met Chikara in passing, when she had first started working for the Federation. As officials, both excelling in their fields, both had been pressed into going to the occasional balls or galas that the Federation had. Rain had the feeling that Chikara was much like herself, more interested in field work than the pomp and circumstance of bureaucracy. Rain caught sight of a plain gold band on her finger and mused that her marriage to Zebadiah had not gentled her at all. However, considering the circumstances of her marriage, Rain could understand why.

Chikara Haruka’s wedding had been highly publicized. She had been wedded to a member of an alien species as the final effect of a long reaching treaty. Rumor had it that Chikara had only been chosen because she was the only unmarried member of the high government.

Rain wondered if Chikara knew that Zebadiah also has the technology blueprints as well.

Zebadiah shook his head. “Alright. Then I’ll tell you plainly. If you do not give me the data on this technology, I will report it, and you will find yourself on a labor farm in short order, never again to work with science. And then I will still take it when the government seizes your possessions. So you can give it to me the easy way, or you can give it to me the hard way. Regardless I will have it.”

Rain smirked.

‘Joke’s on you Zeb. Your wife is a step ahead of us both. But I bet she wants to be rid of you far more than me.’

Marie stepped back from the shorter woman, who eyed Rain, brown eyes blank and emotionless.

“Doctor Miller, do you know why you’re here?”

“Because you’re a fascist,” Rain relied flippantly, smiling.

Marie sneered, however Chikara didn’t change her expression even slightly.

“Doctor Miller, why did you take the data from the Komali, despite having electrically signing a contract with the Federation?”

“Because I could.”

“Doctor Miller do you understand that you have broken the law and you are going to be charged in jury of your peers, before going to prison?”

Rain held her head up proudly. “Yes. I don’t care, information should be free to use. I don’t mind going to prison for doing my job.”

Chikara’s eyes flared with emotion suddenly.

“Your job? You’ve endanger the life of every person on this planet. Not just from Komali, but from those things you brought back,” Chikara stabbed the air empathetically. Marie handed her the tablet, and Chikara frowned thunderously, scrolling though whatever was there.

“Savages. Murders. Imbeciles. And you’ve loosed them on the public.” Chikara looked up, and Rain’s confidence started to sieve out of her. “Before I put you onto a labor farm for the rest of your life Doctor Miller, you will help us catch the beasts you made, willingly, or by any force required.”

PART ONE.

While Maximilien couldn’t fully relax, not with knowing how far away the earth was, he decided that if he sat in the middle of back bench, and concentrated on the tablet that Leonardo had passed back to him.

An uneasy silence had fallen over the three men, and Max was uncomfortably aware this was the longest the three of them had been alone together. By themselves, without potential supervision or intervention. A shiver raced up his spine, and he held himself more stiffly against the leather seat.

“I wonder how long it will take to get to Paris?” Richard asked suddenly, looking over at Leonardo, who had taken the opportunity to press his face against the glass and was scribbling furiously.

“Tap the center panel, it has the rout mapped out for us, and will have an estimate.” Leonardo never took his eyes off the ground. Max leaned over slightly, trying to see past the other man’s broad shoulders. He caught sight of swirling sketches, thick lines and sprawling city maps.

Richard raised an eyebrow but sighed and did so.

“Seven hours?!” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Dear lord.”

“It’s faster than three to six months it would have taken us.” Leonardo pointed out mildly. Maximilien smiled slightly.

“Less comfortable though,” Richard grunted and stretched his back. “An ale wouldn’t go amiss right now.” Max noticed that Leonardo turned all of his attention to the man when he did this, intelligent brown eyes watching carefully. His pen stopped abruptly and Leonardo flipped to a blank page, rapidly scratching out curves.

“Well the faster we get there, the faster you can have your ale,” Leonardo said calmly.

“Praise the lord,” Richard said dryly.

XXX

Clio sighed and sat down cross legged on the self piloted hover car. The three men inside did not know that technically, their trans-Atlantic flight in vehicle as small as this shouldn’t be possible, but she did. At the moment she was using her own personal powers of plot to move them more quickly forward. If anyone ever caught on to them, she felt confident in her ability to navigate them away from danger.

“You’re an awful lot of trouble for minor bi-pedals, you know,” she muttered, crossing her arms.

“Humans, they think they know everything,” Spectra said, sitting down next to Clio. “You should see mine. He’s already stopped an assassination attempted and found roommates and he’s only been there for twenty-four hours!” The anthropomorphic hyena grinned proudly.

“If only, I’ve put up with weeks of this,” Clio rapped her knuckles on the roof.

Spectra smiled even more widely, sharp teeth glinting in the sunlight. They hung past her lips, shiny and clean. “Oh please, I know you like the hard cases, and humans most of all.”

Clio sniffed dismissively but did not refute the other Muse’s rather appropriate understanding of Clio’s unique tastes in narratives.

“Only because I was raised on earth, nothing more,” she defended herself. Spectra smirked and laughed, dissolving with the wind.