August 16, 2014
The Domine Maker Final Assault

This is going to be a long post. There is a lot to tell. We found the Domine maker. Her name is Heidi Caan. The hacker manual led us to a house, which led us to another home, and finally to what I can only call Heidi Caan's stronghold.

Heidi liked not only to control people but to control her environment. She had the place heavily surveilled on the outside. Melvin's job was to get us in past the cameras, even though Heidi would know we were coming by his intrusion. Melvin said that the Heidi's security person had to be a real hacker and not another controlled person using a manual. He said he could handle anything this hacker could throw at him, and bust through his defences, but it would keep him busy. To keep watch over the outside we had an O.S.I.R. drone that Mr. Peterson lent us. Melvin asked a friend to operate it and watch when his concentration was elsewhere. I didn't catch her name but my thanks to her.

Sarah, Myron, and Madam Sarcova pooled their gifts to watch and coordinate on the stronghold's inside. Mr. Peterson was keeping local law enforcement off of us using Directive 7642C and disciplinary threats as needed. When we met with him before heading out he was showing his obviously blind eye, no longer hiding it with the contact lens we saw last time. I went in after Heidi with a group of Protectorate people and Jenny. Jack's job was to find and tie up Heidi's hacker. I'd have sent Jenny with him, but I needed her to handle Susan once we found her.

We entered the building at noon. I slammed the two guards at the front door together. My job was to follow Sarah's lead to find Susan D'Amico. Jenny held onto the black backpack I was wearing. We went down a hall to a stairwell and started up. The second floor was offices. A couple of the Protectorates stayed to clear the rooms. We headed up to the third floor. It was some kind of former dance school with only a few separate rooms. There were a number of people in there. We had to cross it to the other stairwell to avoid a trap in the one we started up.

I strode across the room with Jenny in tow. I pulled the Domines' victims' feet out from under them without slowing down. The rest of the Protectorates began to deal with the victims, none of whom stayed down at all. It turned into chaos with guns and blunt objects. The victims tried to kill our people. Our people shot kneecaps, while others had baseball bats and smashed hands. The plan then was to zip tie or rope up the disabled victims.

At home base Madame Sarcova shook her hands free of Sarah and Myron's hands. She stood up, but her connection to them showing the distant visions only wavered a moment. Madame Sarcova said she could not be a part of it any longer. Sarah begged her; told her that it was the safest way for everyone. It was better that they suffer than die. Madame Sarcova spat out that she thought better of us than murderers. Sarah explained that we had a strict deal with Mr. Peterson. He would keep the O.S.I.R. out of this if we captured Heidi Caan on the first attempt. Mr. Peterson informed us that new procedures had been put in place at the O.S.I.R. because of Domine. Those procedures were nothing short of broadly murderous. It was better we damage some limbs. Madame Sarcova sat down, but she kept her hands to herself. They went back to managing the situation.

Back in the stronghold there was one man with us. He had a bat and dodged and weaved around the chaos. No one could touch him. He bashed hands and kneecaps in some weird kind of dance. This next bit I was told second hand. When Jenny and I continued on things turned bad. There must have been more Domine. Our people started turning on each other. The victims weren't good shots but our people were and things turned into a blood bath. The dancing dodger avoided everything from both sides until suddenly he just stopped and stood still and was shot point blank in the face by his best friend.

We were on the fourth floor. Back at home base Madam Sarcova let out a gasp. A man lie dead on the floor. On of the Protectorates checked the corpse and reported he was cold and starting to smell. Sarah shook her head. "So that's what Heidi does to people she can't control. Some people can deny mind powers used against them. Their will is too strong."

Madam Sarcova told her, "I'll be glad when this grisly business is over."

Meanwhile up on fifth floor we found Susan in a big board room with the table and chairs all up against the wall, the table on it's side. Susan greeted us. A column of flame spun up beside her. It was my cue to get out of there. Fire blocked the door for a moment before the temperature in the room dropped precipitously. As I stepped out I heard Jenny say, "You're going to have to try a lot harder little girl."

I could hear the fighting in the room, and it broke into fisticuffs after a while. It wasn't long past that before Jenny came out with a struggling Susan tied up with rope. Susan had black hand prints on her arms and a bruise on her forehead. We had a Domine breaker with us. He went in and destroyed the Domine and Susan became herself again. I'll have tell you more about what Jenny told me of the fight another time.

I left Jenny to back up our Domine breaker in going back and destroying the Domines. I really shouldn't have, but I let Susan come with me to speak to Heidi. We entered a room on the sixth and top floor. Seeing Susan made Heidi smile. Heidi said, "Do you still want to play, Susan?"

Susan got right to it and told Heidi, "You made me murder and kept me aware of everything that was going on. Those deaths will haunt me for the rest of my life. I'll regret every single one of them. I'm going to kill once more, and this time I won't regret it!"

I grabbed Susan's arm and said. "You will regret it. Believe me. I know. You don't want that."

Out of my pocket I pulled a small carved wooden horse's head on a pedestal--a knight from a chess board. I handed it to Susan and said, "Get her out of here, Myron."

Susan got a glazed look and turned and walked away. That was also Myron's cue to make Madam Sarcova not remember all of what happened next.

Heidi told me, "I knew it would always come down to you and me. These others puppets are just going to stand by. You're going to get the worst of anybody for messing with me. The things I am going to do to you. First, do me a favor and say Okinawa."

I shook my head. She repeated the request and I had no choice but to do it. I knew I didn't want to, but I did it. Heidi said, "That's good. You have no defense. Do you have any last words Josh Rhoads?"

There was a clattering behind me and a couple of Heidi's controlled people looked like they saw movement. I told Heidi, "Yes. I have four last words."

She said, "Okay, what are these four last words?"

I raised my voice and said clearly, "Strike the anvil, Klavier."

A black glossy plank of wood appeared over my right shoulder. The edges showed the natural wood color. It had a bright red, childishly drawn, toothy-grin face painted on it. It's thin single-strip limbs dangled from eyehook joints. Hovering below one arm was a sledge hammer. Klavier raised the hammer at me slowly but only briefly. Heidi stared at the thing, "What is that?"

Klavier shot over to Heidi. Although he was in midair he pirouetted; bashing her across the mouth with the sledge. I turned away after seeing Klavier proceeded to bludgeon Heidi to death. Heidi Caan, the Domine maker, was no more.

Tags: Directive 7642C, Domine, drones, Heidi Caan, Jack Tourmaline, Jenny Brumal, Madam Sarcova, Melvin Klein, Myron Nath, Mr. Peterson, OSIR, The Protectorate, Sarah Jayne, Susan D'Amico, surveillance. Special Spoiler Tag.