Eidolon

Chapter Four-Stick 'Em up!

"Hmm," Becki mused. "You used a flying object before right? The AirGordon?"

Her eyes moved onto Artemus.

"What about trying that again?"

"Naw," James said shaking his head. "Loveless will probably be prone to that now. He'll know we're coming."

We lapsed into silence. I stared at the coffee table deep in thought. Suddenly, I had an idea.

"What if we ambushed them from the bottom?" I asked raising my eyes to James, Becki and Arte. Their eyes were watching me. "Like we come up with a device that will match that scorpions stride, long enough so we can get them from the bottom up?"

Excitement filled Artemus' eyes as he snapped his fingers. "That's a brilliant idea Emma!"

I grinned at Artemus and turned my eyes onto West.

Jim nodded. "That sounds like it just might actually work. Arte, do you have any plans for what this object could be?"

Artemus began excitedly rambling about something and scurried about the compartment. I looked at Becki amused but excited also to see what he had come up with.

"I've been working on this for quite some time. I figured the aerial attack would probably be expected again so I came up with this," Artemus laid out a drawn blueprint of an object. It was a rectangular object with wheels. "Basically we drive this under the scorpion, able to stay hidden and then these," he gestured to four 'arms' which extended upward. "Will grab onto the underbelly of the scorpion, basically taking us for a ride. They'll never know."

"That's wonderful Arte!" Becki said brightly. Artemus beamed and turned to Jim, hoping he liked the plan. His eyes briefly flashed onto mine. I nodded happily and we waited for Jim to respond.

"I think we have a plan," he said.

We eventually reached the destination. We stopped a good bit away, so Loveless wouldn't be able to tell if we were there. I quickly showered, getting all that dirt and muck off me. I washed my hair and let it dry naturally. I changed into a dark dress. Artemus had changed as well. Night had fallen. That was going to be our best cover. Sure enough, we could feel the ground shaking with each step of the giant scorpion. The invention was lowered onto the ground. As soon as the scorpion was in sight, Artemus began working the 'hugger' as he called it. We reached the scorpion and managed to stay with its stride. He pushed a button and the Hugger grabbed the underside of the machine and lifted off the ground. There was a trap door on the belly, which Jim had managed to pry open. Jim and Arte climbed in before they turned to us.

"You two stay here," Jim said.

"Oh no. We missed out on the first round. We're not missing out on the second," Becki said firmly.

Nodding, Jim helped Becki up and then Artemus helped me up. We began slowly walking forward. I heard the click of the hammer from behind us. We froze. One of Loveless' female associates had a long ivory gun aimed at Jim's head.

"Move," she ordered.

We marched forward up the front of the Scorpion. Loveless slowly turned around in his seat. He looked annoyed. There was a little girl standing off to the left, with handcuffs on her wrists. I looked shocked and stunned at this, but I stood next to Artemus, trembling.

"You are like cockroaches! I kill you once and you don't die!" he growled. "I am angry and you will not like me when I'm angry! Emma get up here!"

Another female associate grabbed me and shoved me forward. Artemus went to grab at me, but the female pressed a gun into his chest, warning him not to move again. I shakily stepped forward; my heart was hammering loudly in my chest now with fear and terror. I didn't know what Loveless had in store for me.

"My dear Emma," Loveless cooed. "Your father was certainly a good man. But let me ask you something. Do you know what went on at New Liberty?"

"Yes. You slayed innocent people you bastard," I snarled at him.

"Why yes that's true," he said grinning. "But there's more to it. I'm going to tell you the real reason why I killed your father. See, he was originally going to go the authorities over our little deal. He was having second thoughts about it. Now I don't like it when people go against their word. This little girl, her own parents went against me. She's the next to go."

Loveless moved his wheelchair closer to me. One of his girls held my arms tightly behind me so I wasn't able to move much.

"And what was our deal? That you, would belong to me," Loveless said.

"No," I heard Artemus say firmly and angrily.

"Geneva, please give that man a reason to say no," Loveless called over my shoulder. I slowly turned my head and saw a dark haired girl bring her knee up into Artemus' gut. Artemus let out a whoosh of air and was bent over.

"Now see," I heard Jim say. "If Emma belongs to you, then how on earth are you going to use her? Are you going to just walk her around? I think that would be a little hard. You could run over her feet. But you wouldn't know anything about having feet."

Jim's tone was mocking. I felt a grin forming, but I quickly hid it.

"And I assume Mr. West that you tend to blend in with the darkness?" Loveless retorted back with hostility. "The point is, your father wasn't going to honor our deal. So, I have to kill you because well, you know the saying."

He turned to the girl standing behind me, holding me tightly.

"Throw her over," Loveless said in a nonchalant way. "And kill those three."

I heard Becki sobbing. I screamed and struggled to break free of the girls grip but she had a tight hold on me. I dug my feet into the floor and tried every possible tactic. I could hear Artemus hissing out curses and struggling to get to me but it was impossible. The girl pushed me to the edge and then with one final hard shove, pushed me forward. I screamed as I felt my body falling. I heard Artemus' howl of "No!".

I lashed out my hands and managed to grab onto a railing. My legs dangled about 120 feet off the ground. I heard a scuffling above. I adjusted my grip on the railing, as I jerked my head to look up. I saw Artemus flat on his abdomen, reaching over the edge.

"Give me your hand," he instructed. I shakily extended my right hand up to him. His hand gripped mine and I felt my left hand slipping. It eventually slipped, and I was dangling a little lower.

"Emma don't let go," he winced.

"Pull me up!" I sobbed.

Slowly, Artemus began pulling me up. My feet reached a ledge and he helped me get back onto the deck. Breathing rapidly, I hugged him tightly. I noticed the little girl standing beside him, in a dirty nightgown. Her blond hair was blowing around in several directions. I looked around.

"Where's Loveless and his lovely friends?" I asked Artemus.

"He escaped again," Artemus said grudgingly. "That man is like impossible to kill. I think he's some kind of robot zombie."

"Whose this?" I asked him, turning my eyes onto the little girl.

"There's no time to explain that. We have to get off this before it explodes," Artemus said as he pulled me to my feet and gently scooped up the little girl with his other free arm.

"Let's go!" Jim shouted, waving us back toward the Hugger. We climbed in and lowered ourselves to the ground again, leaving the scorpion to continue walking on its own power.

"Get down," Jim said gently pushing the four of us down. There was a deafening silence before a loud BOOM. I could feel searing heat. I peered over the edge of the Hugger. The entire scorpion had blown. The legs wobbled before they collapsed to the ground. We began heading back to the train.

The little girl sat on the couch, and just stared into space. Becki was sitting with her, gently talking to her and smoothing out her hair.

"We don't know her name. From what I got from Loveless, her parents had double crossed him so he killed them. He was going to kill her after he threw you over when Jim stepped in. I think she's in shock. This means she more than likely witnessed her parents being executed."

"She seems to have taken a liking to Artemus," Jim said from the chair as he fixed the spurs on his black boots. The little girl had curled up on the couch and had dozed off. Becki got up carefully not wanting to disturb her. She and James headed toward the last compartment. Emmet started the train and began heading up north more in California. Apparently Loveless had one last trick up his sleeve. Jim vowed to get him this time regardless. The compartment was empty except the little girl sleeping on the couch, me and Artemus. Artemus sat on the couch across from the little girl after using his jacket as a blanket for her. I sat down next to him.

"You know, I'd never really actually even fathomed children," he mused. "I-I mean I know I want to have some one day. But I don't understand her. Why she took a liking to me."

"You'd be a great Dad," I said softly to him. "Kids are a good judge."

He smiled at me. I snuggled up against him, smiling contently. His arm wrapped around me and I felt him kiss the top of my head. I ended up dozing off as well.

Sometime later, I woke up abruptly from screaming. I sat bolt upright. Artemus had also jumped awake. I blinked a few times and realized it was the little girl. I quickly rushed over to her and soothed her.

"Easy there Hun," I said gently, putting my arms around her. She pressed her face into my abdomen. "Sssh now it's OK."

My tone was soothing and gentle. Artemus was on one knee in front of us. I heard the compartment door open and Jim stood there dressed in a white long john undergarment. He had a gun already drawn.

"Relax Jim. It was the little girl. I think she was having a nightmare," Artemus said raising his eyes to Jim's. Mumbling something sleepily, Jim turned around and closed the door.

"Hey now. What's your name sweetie?" I asked her kindly.

After a few sniffles and sobs, the girl spoke.

Her voice was so soft, almost like an angel. "Caitlin,"

"Well, I'm Emma and this is Artemus," I said softly. "Can you tell us what happened?"

"That mean man shot my Mommy and Daddy," Caitlin sniffled as tears spilled over her green eyes. I looked up at Artemus. He muttered a curse under his breath.

"Well, you don't have to worry. Artemus is a good guy. We're going to make that mean man pay for what he's done," I said earnestly. She couldn't have been more than 8 or 9 years old.

"What about that other man?" she asked. "The one who was colored."

"He's a good guy too," I promised.

She seemed to calm down a great deal and snuggled up against me. I leaned back, letting her curl up against me. I used Artemus' jacket as a blanket again. She had her head on my lap and closed her eyes. I just gently stroked her hair back, humming a tune my mother used to sing to me when I was little.

ARTEMUS

I watched Emma gently stroking Caitlin's hair, humming a lovely tune. A few strands of Emma's bangs fell over her eyes. She looked so beautiful. I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her…and eventually start a family of our own. She raised her eyes to mine and smiled. I smiled back and affectionately touched the little girls' cheek. She was adorable. A creamy complexion with deep rosy cheeks, green expressive eyes, and a perfect heart shaped face. I couldn't imagine why her parents had technically put her in danger by double crossing Loveless. I shook my head, clearing those thoughts away. Emma soon dozed off herself and I got a blanket, carefully folding it around her. I leaned in and gently gave her a kiss on the cheek before I curled up on the opposite couch, dozing off myself.

In the morning, Emma found a pair of clothes for Caitlin to wear. It was from one of my costumes, but it was better than wearing a dirty nightgown. Becki was entertaining Caitlin. Jim was going over our weapons inventory. I knew that if I didn't ask Emma now, I'd never ask her. I pulled her aside.

"Emma? I need to ask you something," I said nervously.

"What is it?" she asked watching me anxiously.

"Will you spend the rest of your life with me?" I blabbed out.

"Hmm," Emma said her expression teasing and her tone light. "I'll have to think about that one. Yes I will."

She broke into a huge grin. I grinned back, but beneath my thrilled exterior, I had dark thoughts going through my head. If Loveless succeeds now, there will be no more US as we know it.