With the elimination of the target, and the removal of all of the immediate threats to Noir’s safety, the three women dropped out of their trance, and their normal personalities were allowed to emerge once again.
“What… what happened?” Chloe asked of no one in particular, with a look in her eyes that was somewhere between confusion and panic.
“I think…” Kirika started and paused briefly before continuing, “I think we just became Noir.”
“But… but we just killed Althena — I just helped you kill her…. I didn’t want it, but I… I…”
“You did it because you’re a part of Noir,” Mireille replied blandly. “Majority rules, remember?”
“But… but this doesn’t make sense! I didn’t choose to do this.”
“Yes, you did: when you chose to be a part of Noir, that meant you chose to follow Noir’s collective will, even when you disagreed. I suspect that if Kirika or I are ever in the minority when we make one of those trancelike decisions, we’ll react the same way. We’re all just going to have to trust each other not to make foolish decisions when we do that freaky trance thing. And don’t ask me how I know we’re going to do that again — I don’t want to think about how I know all this stuff right now.”
The mention of “trust,” however, brought up another issue that Chloe was worried about. “Hold on. You’re supposed to be some sort of leader, but you disagree with damn near everything Althena said about what Noir is supposed to do. How do I know I can trust you?”
“You don’t know that you can trust me — but if my suspicions are correct, that doesn’t change the fact that you still trust me anyway.”
“What? I don’t—” Chloe cut herself off abruptly as she realized that she did trust this Corsican, at least in one sense: Mireille was the Hand, and she would never intentionally do anything to harm her or Kirika. And for some reason, that was enough, for the time being, anyway.
“If it makes you feel any better, I have no idea why I trust you now, either.” Mireille sighed as she switched the subject of the conversation to more pressing matters. “Look, I think it’s obvious by now that there’s a lot of really weird stuff that goes along with being Noir that none of us expected, but quite frankly, we do not have time to worry about this. In case you forgot, we still have to get out of the Manor, and if most of the people in Althena’s faction are anything like Borne and Marennes were, they’re not going to like the idea of a rogue Noir.”
“And on top of that, once you’re out of the Manor, you’ll have to deal with Breffort’s faction,” another voice added in.
“Jeanette! You’re alright!” Chloe said with relief. Maybe she could bring some sanity to this situation.
“Of course I am — thanks to the note Mireille passed to me. Thank you very much, by the way.”
“It was the least I could do,” Mireille said. “I had a feeling things were going to get messy at some point, and you’re the only member of Soldats I… well, actually, I wouldn’t say that I trust you — you are a member of Soldats, after all — but I definitely would prefer to keep you as a contact. Now, the question is, whether or not you’ll support us.”
“Of course I will! As you pointed out, I am a loyal member of Soldats, and unlike most in our organization, I have not forgotten our original purpose. I will do whatever I can for you — I will even give my life, if you require it.”
“Even if you disagree with the course Noir may take in the future?”
“As Althena would say, it is not my place to question the will of Noir.”
“Well, perhaps you can help us now… we need to get out of here, and the guards at the top of the staircase are probably going to get suspicious if they see me come out of this chamber alive; I’m willing to bet that the only reason they didn’t react to the gunfire was because they assumed my death was somehow involved in the ceremony. The bloodstains on the Maidens’ tunics aren’t going to help either.”
“Yes, well, the bloodstains can be taken care of with a change of clothing,” Jeanette replied.
“And how, pray tell, do we get this change of clothing?”
“Oh, Althena had me put come clothing in the secret passageway.”
Mireille raised an eyebrow at that. “Secret passageway?”
“Did you really think that the final Noir ceremony would be held in a place where They could be easily cornered?”
“I… I suppose I didn’t think of it,” Mireille said, honestly.
Jeanette smiled. “Follow me,” she said, and she went back into the cell.
“So, what should we do?” Kirika asked.
Mireille looked back at the pair. “Do the two of you have your usual weapons as well as those swords?” Both Maidens nodded in response. “Then we’ll follow Jeanette for now, but be ready in case she makes trouble.”
“You think this might be a trap?” Kirika asked as she pulled out her own firearm and checked to make sure it was loaded.
“Right now, we can’t afford to trust anyone outside of ourselves — and quite probably, the only reason the three of us trust each other is because this Noir business has left us incapable of not doing so.”
This was enough for Kirika, as she’d always respected her partner’s judgment, and she moved to follow the “Hand of Noir,” (whatever that meant). Chloe, however, was still confused…. Was this really what it meant to be Noir? “Are you coming, Chloe?” Mireille asked, with an inscrutable look on her face.
“I… it’s just… I thought….”
Mireille sighed. “Look, I know you’re confused right now, and angry, and maybe even a little scared. I know I am. But at the moment, we don’t have the luxury of being emotional — sooner or later, some of those nuts are going to get suspicious and come down here, and I don’t want to be here when that happens. I promise that we’ll sort this all out once we’re relatively safe, but until then, we have to stay professional, because if my suspicions are correct, things are going to get even messier before this is over. And I’d rather not go back into another one of those creepy trances just to get you to cooperate. So I’m asking you, please, can you at least work with me until we’re out of here?”
“I… I suppose I can do that.”
“Good. Now, let’s move.”
It wasn’t until Chloe saw the Noir-as-three-people symbol inside the cell that she started to realize that Althena just might have intended for things to go the way they did. Granted, she still didn’t see why Althena couldn’t have been the Hand, but it was a start. When all four women were in the cramped cell, Jeanette shut the door behind them, explaining that the secret entrance wouldn’t open unless the door to the main chamber was shut: when one entryway was open, the other was automatically locked to make it more difficult for pursuers to follow, as this passageway was originally intended as an escape route. After handing two bundles to Kirika and Chloe (which presumably contained conventional clothing to replace their bloody tunics), Jeanette picked up a flashlight and started down the darkened corridor, followed closely by Noir.
Mireille noticed that they were gradually rising in elevation, but thanks to the corridor’s tortuous layout, she couldn’t quite keep track of where they were headed. Several times, the path split, but Jeanette never hesitated in selecting a branch to take — if she was lost, she did a good job of hiding it.
Soon, however, they stepped into a darkened room, which was soon lit up with the flickering of fluorescent light bulbs after Jeanette hit a switch on the wall, revealing a massive amount of assorted weaponry and other potentially useful objects.
“What is this place?” asked Chloe, who had clearly never seen a room like this before; she’d known that the Manor had several arsenals, of course, but to have so many deadly instruments in such a relatively small area — well, it was like an NRA member’s wet dream.
“Well, when Althena found it, this room was fully equipped with various instruments of torture. The fact that it’s back here implies that it’s somehow directly connected with Noir. Althena thought it was either used to persuade reluctant candidates to go through with the ceremony, or it was Noir’s personal torture chamber, for when they needed to extract necessary information in their fight against the Darkness.”
“Ugh,” replied Mireille. She didn’t have a lot of personal experience with torture — she preferred to get her information in less… distasteful ways.
Jeanette smiled as the blonde assassin once again demonstrated that she had not come from the strange subculture of the Manor (most of the people here would have had no problem using cruel and unusual punishment to obtain vital information). She switched the subject to more immediate matters. “This is a secret cache of weapons that Althena set up for just this situation. As you can see, there is a wide variety of firearms, as well as ammunition — those bins off to the side contain specialized cartridges for Kirika’s Beretta as well as your Walther. There are also bladed weapons at your disposal as well, including several dozen sets of Chloe’s customized throwing knives. There are also supplies of explosives and poisons, if you need them.”
“Huh. She was thorough, wasn’t she?”
“Indeed. Why don’t you peruse them while the Maidens change into something less conspicuous?”
“I will — but first, I think this gauze needs to be replaced,” Mireille replied as she pointed to her leg.
Within minutes, the Maidens had changed into their street clothes, and Jeanette had cleaned and re-dressed Mireille’s wound.
“Chloe, can you use a handgun?”
“Well, yes, but I much prefer my throwing knives.”
“Pick one out,” Mireille said, motioning to a rack of pistols. “I don’t want you to use those knives unless you have to.”
“What? Why?”
“Because,” the Corsican explained, “these knives are custom-made for you, and only you, and if we get out of here, chances are we’re going to have to lay low for a while to get Soldats off our backs. If we ordered a replacement set of your knives, and they intercepted it en route, we’d be compromised. Bullets, on the other hand, are much easier to obtain, and the tend to be much more standardized. I’m not saying you should make this your primary weapon in the long term — but until we know Soldats won’t try to interfere, those knives of yours are a particularly precious commodity. I’d prefer you didn’t use them unless it’s at a close enough range that you can easily retrieve them. Understand?”
“I suppose,” Chloe reluctantly agreed as she went over to the rack to select a firearm. “I can make do with ordinary throwing knives, you know,” she said with a slight sneer.
“Bullets are still less suspicious.”
Hoping to stop an argument between her two best friends, Kirika changed the subject. “Do you think I’ll need any additional weapons?”
“Maybe. You have a knife, or something for close combat on you?”
“Well, I still have the sword…”
“I suggest you either take that, or a combat knife if you want something less unwieldy.”
“Okay…” Kirika replied as she went over to the bladed weapons.
“And what about you? Are you going to be supplementing your arsenal?” Chloe asked with a slight glare over her shoulder as she held up a Glock.
“Actually, I’ll be taking this,” Mireille said as she reached for an AK-47 assault rifle.
“Um, okay, but why that? Don’t you prefer to use handguns?”
“Under most circumstances, yes, but these are not ordinary circumstances. Thanks to this leg wound, I don’t have nearly as much agility as the two of you, and since I’m going to be relatively slow, I may as well make up for it with increased firepower. By the way, if you’re trying to get a feel for that gun, make sure it’s loaded — empty guns have a different weight distribution.”
“Have you ever used Kalashnikov rifles?” Kirika asked. An AK-47 in the hands of someone who wasn’t experienced with them was never a good thing, in her opinion.
“I have enough experience for what I need to do,” Mireille replied. “I’m mostly going to use this to lay down cover fire so you two can get into positions where you can eliminate any threats. I’ll also probably draw attention away from you as well.”
“In that case,” Jeanette interjected, “You may want to consider some body armor as well.”
“Good idea.”
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(Posted Sat, 02 Dec 2006 00:15)
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