(Disclaimers in the prologue)
Another day passed before Sapphire's request to see Steel was approved. She spent the time recovering her energies and occasionally reaching for Steel, but the closest she came to sensing his presence remained in her dreams, and thus could not be trusted.
When Topaz told her that a meeting had been organised, she felt understandably apprehensive. She knew that it was important to see her partner; it might be the only way to heal him. But this was the man who had tried to strangle her to death in a fit of violent rage, and her stomach fluttered with trepidation.
He would be sedated, Sapphire was warned. For her own safety and the safety of those in attendance, Steel had been tranquillised in an attempt to minimise the reaction he would naturally have to her presence.
Topaz also warned her, as they made their way through the building, that Steel remained insistent that his partner had betrayed him. The man waiting to see her, safely under lock and key and the supervision of Nitro would be virtually unrecognisable from her long-time partner.
Nitro met her at the door and Topaz turned away, retreating down the corridor. Sapphire took a single deep breath and entered the room.
Steel sat in a corner, on the floor, his knees drawn up beneath his chin. He didn't look up as she stepped inside, his gaze fixed rigidly on a small item which he twisted and pressed between his fingers.
It was one of the pawns from the chess set in the café.
Sapphire shared a nervous look with Nitro, who followed her in and closed the door behind himself. Sapphire reached for a chair and sat down, keeping her distance from the hunched wretch in the corner. As Nitro settled against the wall, slightly closer to Steel than she was, she became aware of the noise her partner was making. He hummed, constantly, low-pitched and in time with his breath.
Everything about her partner left Sapphire unnerved. She had hoped that simply seeing her again might have a recuperative effect on Steel, but he barely seemed to notice her presence.
"Steel?"
He didn't even look in her direction when she spoke his name. Sapphire reached out with her mind to try to touch him but came across the same Transient barrier which she had encountered with Topaz. Her head snapped round to face Steel's keeper, and her roughened voice barked a question.
"Nitro, why are you shielding his mind?"
The former specialist looked startled, before shrugging. "We've been shielding it since he came here."
"Drop the shield," commanded Sapphire. "I want to contact him mentally."
"I can't."
"Do it!" she ordered. "It might be the only way I can reach him!"
"I don't mean I won't, I mean I can't do it, not without the others!" Nitro insisted. "Look, treat this as a preliminary meeting. Talk to him. See if you can get him to respond. I'll talk to the others about mental contact and we can try that next time, if we make no progress now."
Left with no reason to contend, Sapphire returned her attention to Steel. When he continued to ignore her voice, she knew she had to get closer. She stood up and took a pace toward him, stopping again immediately but detecting no reaction.
"Be careful, Sapphire," came Nitro's low, warning voice.
She stepped closer again, and still Steel remained oblivious to everything except the small chess piece. Her final step brought her close enough to reach out and touch him, and she gradually dropped to a crouch before him, wanting to lose the difference in height.
Nitro had edged closer, obviously concerned at Sapphire's proximity to this unpredictable, damaged agent. She looked up and met his gaze calmly, before stretching a hand to bridge the gap between herself and her partner.
She stopped just short of touching him.
"Steel, can you look at me? Steel?"
Finally Sapphire perceived a reaction. The humming increased in volume, as though in an attempt to drown out her voice. She was not to be beaten so easily, however.
"Steel, I know you can hear me. Steel, it's me. It's Sapphire. I'm here, I'm fine and I want to help you."
The humming became a growl. Steel's eyes did not move from his chess piece, but the growling grew in volume until it was finally a roar. As it reached its crescendo, Steel's eyes rolled upward in their sockets to stare accusingly at Sapphire. Startled by his sudden attention, she flinched from his anger and unbalanced, tipping backwards to the floor.
Nitro was there immediately to help her up. He seemed to think that she should leave, but Sapphire shook off his supporting arm and fell back to her knees before Steel.
"Steel. Help me help you. Look at me."
The room was quiet, now. Steel made no further sound and his hands slowed their incessant fidgeting. After a few moments of silence, he swung his gaze abruptly to meet Sapphire. His eyes burned with accusation and madness. She reached across tentatively.
"Take my hand, Steel," she urged. "Just for a moment, let's forget all the horror of the past days. Take my hand like you've taken it a thousand times before."
Steel watched her, more uncertain now. Sapphire held herself steady, moving no closer to him. She had to make him come part of the way.
"Please, Steel. We can get through this nightmare. I won't deny that we're in danger. But how can I think about facing the world tomorrow, if you won't even take my hand today?"
Steel seemed to respond to this statement. His eyes became more focused, tracing the outline of Sapphire's features. He pulled his fingers apart and dropped the chess piece, momentarily distracted by the way it bounced across the stone floor, then he began to move his trembling hands closer to hers.
Sapphire refused to speak further. She remained motionless, waiting for Steel's skin to touch her own. Despite the danger in their situation, she knew that her desire to feel his contact once more was quite selfish.
She missed him.
Then Steel's fingers grazed hers. For an instant, she let his hand start to slide over her own, before a revelation flashed through her mind and she stood up, staggering away in shock and horror. Steel scrabbled for his chess piece and began to hum once more, obviously distressed by this rejection. Nitro tried to steady Sapphire, but she jerked away and stalked over to the door.
"What the hell have you done with him?" she demanded, as soon as they were in the corridor once more.
"Well, let's see, we've saved his life, kept him safe, stopped him from harming -"
"Don't insult me with that rubbish!" Sapphire growled. "That - in there - that is not Steel! And if he's not in there, then what have you done with him?!"
~~~
Steel was surprised when the Transients' leader himself attended his room, to tell him that he was to be permitted a visit to Sapphire. He had seen little of the man since arriving in the abandoned hospital, and until this unannounced visit, had heard nothing more of his request to see his partner.
As he walked alongside the Transient, his stomach lurched with nervousness. What would he say to Sapphire? What might she say to him? This was the woman to whom he had felt closer than any other person, the woman who had betrayed that closeness and bargained happily with his meaningless life.
He still walked slowly, though the dizziness of the past two days was almost gone. His arm remained bandaged, and he wondered whether Sapphire was actually aware of his attempted suicide. All in all, Steel knew he was slowly recovering. There would always be scars - it was impossible to suffer the betrayal of a loved one without accumulating a few - but he was regaining his strength.
The itch hadn't returned, but Steel had not forgotten the flooding relief as Sapphire had connected with him, so painfully fleetingly. So transitory a memory was still enough however, to keep the glimmer of hope from being completely extinguished.
~~~
Nitro had spent long minutes protesting his ignorance before an angry Sapphire. Though he wanted to throw his own anger back at her, that would not serve the plan, so he responded as calmly as he could until Sapphire turned and walked away in disgust. He followed her as she paced through the building, worried that he would have to physically restrain her should she wander too close to other sensitive areas, but she fortunately headed straight back to her cell.
After he was confident that she was not about to leave again, he went looking for his leader. He found the man standing around the corner from the place where Steel confronted Sapphire, or rather the woman the agent thought was Sapphire. Separated by a forcefield reeking of their own power, Steel spoke pleadingly with his former partner, begging her to remember their link and their partnership.
Nitro noticed his leader working hard to disguise chuckles which bubbled just below the surface, every time Steel tried some new method of reaching his partner. Topaz, playing the disdainful wanton with great zeal, was of course untouched by all the sentimental reminders.
It took some time before Nitro was able to command his leader's attention. Even when it was grudgingly given, Nitro knew that a part of the Transient remained enrapt on the nonsense it had contrived. He almost dreaded having to make his report.
Discarding any kind of introduction, he simply reported, "It didn't work."
The leader's eyes grew cold and his smirk vanished.
"Details," the man hissed, grasping Nitro's shoulder and moving away from the corridor.
"She knew it wasn't him," Nitro expanded. "She knew it wasn't Steel!"
"How? The image should have been perfect."
"It was perfect. It fooled her completely. But when he touched her -"
"You let them touch!" The man pulled Nitro into an empty room and rounded on him. "What kind of an imbecile -"
Nitro reached snapping point.
"You left no specific instructions about not letting them touch!" he barked in response. "If it was important, why did our colleague let it happen? He was the one playing the part! I was only there to play the protector! I will not take this from you!"
The man's eyes blazed an involuntary ice blue, but they lost their glow as they noticed the same light in Nitro's. Incredibly, though the former specialist had prepared for an attack, the man backed down.
"You are quite right, brother," the leader muttered. "I was remiss in not specifying the boundaries of our illusion." He sighed, heavily. "Where is Sapphire, now?"
"She returned to her cell."
"Her room, old chap. Cells are for prisoners. Rooms are for guests. Now, I think I'd better go and pay her a visit. I've been putting it off quite long enough." He made for the door. "Oh, by the way, you didn't actually tell her what we have done with the real Steel, did you now?"
"Of course not," Nitro returned indignantly. Then he smiled. "What kind of an imbecile do you take me for?"
"See that Steel returns to his room," the man said as he left. "And tell Topaz not to enter Sapphire's room until I have finished."
~~~
Steel had run out of things to say. Sapphire remained cold and untouchable within her prison, and she had responded to none of his reminders of better times. Her obvious contempt hurt all over again, and he wondered at how he could possibly have known this woman for so very long, yet never have really known her at all.
She had even removed the ring, he had noticed. A silly gift, really, sentimental, but she had always worn it previously on the smallest finger of her left hand.
Nitro appeared quietly by his side, touching his shoulder. He turned from the barrier which separated him from his partner and walked away, surprised at the comfort he took in Nitro's presence. When, during the last couple of days, had this turncoat actually become a friend?
"I've lost her," he found himself saying out loud. "I thought that maybe ..." Steel tailed off and shook his head. "I've lost her."
"Now don't say that!" Nitro admonished. "You never know! What if they did something to her? Our enemy? In order to prime her to be a part of your trap, they might have messed with her in some way. She might not be herself!"
"That's not very likely," Steel muttered. "But I'll bear it in mind."
~~~
Sapphire sat in her room, frustrated and confused.
The man she had been taken to see had not been Steel. Of that she was certain. Why had the Transients attempted to pull off such a deception?
And yet everything else had made perfect sense. She remembered the violent events of the café; she heard their legacy, each time she spoke. The explanation offered by Topaz was credible; the way the higher authority had wanted to dispose of Steel and herself. The way the Transients had backed out of the deal they had made, lying low and attracting no undue attention; that was all utterly plausible.
So why should this group of outlaws be so concerned by the idea of her meeting with Steel in the flesh? Sapphire knew her partner was unstable. Maybe they thought that she would not be able to tolerate the sight of his madness. Maybe they thought that Steel himself would only deteriorate if confronted by her. But if those were the real reasons, protective reasons, why had they gone to the effort of arranging that little charade?
There had to be something more.
Sapphire mused the situation for a long while, before suddenly realising the answer in a moment of horrific inspiration. They couldn't show her Steel ... because they didn't have him. And if he wasn't here, with the Transient Beings, then he must be dead. That was why she had lost the link. That was why she hadn't been able to locate him in the building.
Steel was dead. It was the only sensible explanation.
Sapphire froze on her dirty pallet as she retraced her logic, trying desperately to find some flaw. She couldn't. It made too much sense. Her mouth fell open in shock and she began to tip her head backwards. When it finally nudged the wall and came to a halt, a strangled sob escaped her. A few moments later, as her lungs demanded air, she drew in a choking breath and then gasped her partner's name. She felt cold. It hurt deeply, more deeply than the memory of madness in his eyes and his crushing hands at her neck.
Steel was dead. She would never see him again.
Sapphire squeezed her eyes tightly shut, ignoring the hot tears which escaped the lids. Her mouth opened still wider as she began to scream, soundlessly, but with mindless pain. With barely a thought, she broke through the Transients' barrier of protection and hurled her grief far up and into the night sky.
~~~
Jet was taken aback when Diamond jerked in his position. "No!" he howled, screwing his features in reaction and shaking his head.
The entire chamber now looked to Diamond for some news. He seemed to return to the Hub, calming his distress and leaning heavily against Jet. She watched him steadily, desperate for his report.
She was not the only one. All three alcoves pulsed and were filled immediately. As the authority arrived, Diamond staggered to his feet and rubbed his face tiredly.
"Sapphire is alive," he began. He looked at Jet, who had stood up beside him. Sadly, he took one of her hands. "She grieves," he said, looking into her eyes. "I think she grieves for Steel."
"No," Jet found herself whispering. Diamond's hand tightened around her own.
"Where?" demanded the authority.
Once again, Diamond indicated the location on the image presented. Jet had begun to tremble. She hardly heard him finish his report and excuse them both.
The voice of the authority held them, just as they tried to exit the central chamber.
"We cannot draw any conclusions yet," the figure in the central alcove stated. "Let us wait until we have factual information on the status of our agents before we begin to grieve ourselves."
There was no comfort in these words. Silently Jet left the chamber, thankful that Diamond's strong arm was supporting her as she walked.
~~~
Sapphire was oblivious to the man when he entered her room. Quite lost in her grief, she did not see the speed with which he came through the door, nor did she note his alarmed expression as he sought her out. As her grief settled to a slow, aching pulse, she even remained unaware of the blue light which blazed in his eyes as he reasserted the barrier concealing their location.
She looked up only when he sat beside her.
"What do you want?" she demanded.
"To explain," he returned.
"Then tell me how he died."
"I beg your pardon?"
Sapphire bared her teeth and was pleased to see that the man backed away slightly at the sight of such naked fury.
"How did my partner die?!" she growled, punctuating each word with a breath.
She watched the leader frown and was sure that he considered his next deception.
"Steel isn't dead," the man finally admitted.
"I don't believe you."
"Really, he isn't dead!" The man shifted his position to look at Sapphire. "It was foolish to present you with an image of him, but I was absolutely convinced that if he saw you, he would relapse. He has been making good progress, becoming more coherent. I didn't want to ruin everything with an emotional confrontation."
"So why not just tell me that?"
"Because I know what you're like. You would not give any of us a moment's peace, if we were to keep turning your request to see him down. I thought that the image might convince you to leave him to his recovery, and to concentrate on your own."
Sapphire frowned, deeply confused. Just as she had begun to believe that Steel was lost to her for good, this being was persuading her that the agent still lived!
"I have to see him," she ground out through clenched teeth.
"Yes, I realise that," returned the man. "Will you follow me, please?"
He stood up and opened the door. Sapphire clambered to her feet, uncertain. This all seemed far too easy. Nonetheless, she followed the Transient as he left the room and started along the passage outside.
~~~~~~~
Continued in Chapter 11
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