BOOM!
The three semitrailers lined up at the other end of Federal Street exploded, sending mushroom clouds of flame that shattered windows and reflected off the glass of those that didn't.
“And the crowd goes wild,” she said. “Remember to tip your servers.”
“What the hell was that?” Revolution asked.
“That, boys, was the external controller going up in flames,” she said. “Found it. Bombed it. Whatever kind of AI they have programmed into the son of a bitch is all it’s got left now.”
They could actually hear Lantern's smile through the com. “Somewhere there's a room full of geeks pissed off at you, Stealth,” he quipped.
In fact, he was right. Nestled deep inside an underground bunker beneath the massive Freedom Council HQ in New York City—a location even the Chairman, sitting thirty stories directly above it, knew nothing about—there were three of them. They watched their screens go to static and their controllers fall dead.
“You would know, handsome,” Rachel shot back at Lantern.
Lantern actually laughed over the com, and Revolution said, “Good work, Stealth. Now get out of there and keep yourself safe.”
“I'm going to find Lantern. Sounds like he can't run away from me tonight.”
“Not funny,” Lantern said back, but the levity was still in his voice.
“Keep this line clear,” Revolution said, returning to seriousness. Rachel had given them a small victory, but a far more dangerous enemy had just arrived, and while she seemed to be on their side for now, Revolution could not stop thinking about what Fiona had done the last time he saw her.
Rachel spoke only to Lantern’s com this time. “Lantern, no bullshit. Are you all right? Do you need help?”
“I'm okay. Don't worry about me. Just help the General.”
Up top, the explosion of the semitrailers jolted Paul Ward awake. His head was pounding and his vision was blurred. But he was able to sit up and then slowly rise to his feet. He leaned back against the shattered glass and steel frame of the building and looked down to see the Fire Fly's tiny glowing form confront the Man-O-War. Ward thought he must have been dreaming.
Fiona floated in front of the machine. Its sensors scanned her, trying to figure out what she was. Nothing in its database matched her energy signal. It was like looking at a mirror, and without the external controller, Man-O-War had no idea how to respond.
So Fiona opened her palms and blasted a massive sphere of luminescent fire that exploded across its cylindrical face. The machine quaked from her blow and whipsawed its tentacles at her in automated response. She slung her hands up defensively, creating a wall of chartreuse energy to block them—as brilliant light haloed off the contact points. The Man-O-War pulsed with power, pushing through the energy wall as it phased red to white with increased effort.
Revolution saw the colors of the machine shift and moved further out into the street. “It's working!” he yelled to no one.
Fiona pushed, the Man-O-War pushed. Inching closer to one another as an electrical grinding noise thundered through State Street. The pressure grew and grew—and then it broke. A supernova of energy blasted the two combatants across the sky as the strain of their power combusted against them. Fire Fly recovered and jetted toward the machine, but a glowing tentacle sliced at her, catching her off guard. Then another and another. Energy beams blasted from the machine and locked her in a scarlet prison. She screamed in agony as the red blaze burned through her body. She felt pain in the Fire Fly form for the first time.
Revolution watched her in horror. He had to consider that she might lose. And he had to admit to himself that if she couldn't force Man-O-War to overheat, the red energy was more powerful than hers.
Then something caught his attention.
His sensors detected a bogie flying in from his left. He spun to see Spider Wasp gliding in beside him. He had two rifles in his hands. Ward tossed one to Revolution. “Got these off a couple of Guards who made it out of the War Zone. They're sleeping like babies now.” Ward noticed Revolution's mangled arm. Blood covered his blue armor, and flaps of loose flesh hung off the metal in several places. “Boss, you okay?” he asked.
“I've been better.”
Ward nodded and cocked the rifle. It emitted a low hum of energy that Revolution knew meant they were charged with luminescence. Revolution followed suit.
“Little declaration of independence anyone?” Ward said, and turned toward the great machine floating in the sky. They nodded to one another. And opened fire…
The luminescent bullets slammed across the machine, leaving multiple bruises. Man-O-War lurched from their fire, its attention diverted for a split second. And that was all the Fire Fly needed. She slipped free of its grasp. The machine swung its mighty tentacles at her. She threw up her shoulders and blocked them with her forearms. Beads of lava sprayed out of her with every blow. The blood of the Fire Fly. Pain burned through her body. She cried out, and the scream echoed across the square. Revolution and Ward tried to ignore it, but it made their blood run cold. If Fiona failed, what possible chance did they have?
The machine was relentless in its attack. Somewhere inside its programmed mind, it could tell its prey was weakening. The great towering tube of energy inside it pulsed harder, and the red power phased to white. Revolution began to feel himself sweat as he watched. It was a contest of who could hold out the longest. But Fiona was becoming visibly weaker as the machine grew stronger—too strong, he hoped.
Fiona's head was reeling; her arms began to fall. She couldn't block all the blows. The massive tendrils sliced through her neck, her chest, her face—sending beads of lava splattering across the glass walls of the skyscrapers. Her glowing blood ran down the steel mountains of State Street. Fiona's tattered head drooped. Her eyes were no longer visible, covered in the glow of her own fluids. The Man-O-War pulsated white hot. Its energy spiked for the kill.
And then Fiona surrendered.
CHAPTER 60
Fiona raised her head to the sky, her arms extended outward. Her eyes were suddenly clear once again. Her ruby lips set hard in concentration. She wasn’t fighting anymore. She was completely open, defenseless. Man-O-War raised its deadly tentacles and stabbed them into the center of her body with a sickening slosh of static and light. She screamed out as lightning coiled across the sky in every direction. The energy snapped and popped in the air.
Revolution couldn’t believe what he was seeing. With all her power and all her strength, she had just given up. Guilt racked him. This was his fault. He had betrayed her. Destroyed her will, broken her spirit. He wished so badly that it was him up there floating in the sky.
First, because it would save Fiona from this awful fate. Second, because he knew he could do what was necessary. He would be able to reach in and find the extra strength to go on, not surrender as she had just done. That was why Scott tried it on himself, made himself the first test subject, despite all the risk. Scott did whatever was needed. He was, in his own way, a fearless man. Revolution still looked up to him.
And now he had failed Scott.
In his reckless haste to create the Fire Fly he had misjudged himself, misjudged Fiona, misjudged everything. Fiona was not up to the task. She had been too sheltered. Scott had made it clear to him that it was his responsibility to look after her if anything ever happened to him. After Scott’s death, he knew it was his job to protect her, to mold her. He had tried his best, but now he saw the error of his ways. He had failed to create the Fire Fly, but he had also failed to create a strong young woman. He had failed Fiona, and yes, he had failed the entire Resistance. There was nothing more he could do. He and Ward kept firing at the giant machine, but in reality he was simply waiting to watch Fiona die.
Moments earlier... Fiona had felt like she would die. She couldn’t lift her arms. The world was fading in and out; she could feel herself slipping away as the monster ripped into her again and again and again.
She’
d felt this way before.
Her thoughts drifted back to those moments in the chamber when they had betrayed her, when they had tricked her. The energy had blasted out of the gun and stabbed into her. It felt like a hole had been ripped into the center of her chest. The powerful beam nearly split her apart. She had tried to fight it, but couldn’t. The energy burned into her and filled her up.
Then, just as quickly, it seemed to spill out of her and started crawling across her body as if it was measuring her, searching for compatibility. And then she was absorbing it. All of it. The power from the machine and the gun, the power from the room, from the air, from everywhere. The feeling had been one of growing pain and growing power. Eventually, she had stopped fighting it and just given in. She’d had to. And then suddenly it was over. And the world went black.
As she floated there in front of the mechanized monstrosity, she had a similar feeling. What if she just surrendered to it? The chamber was a machine, this is a machine. She dropped her arms to her sides, let her head fall back, her eyes rolled in her head and fluttered.
The Revolution watched the glow around Fiona begin to brighten. He and Ward stopped firing and just gaped in awe and horror. The intensity of the glare made Ward turn away. Revolution shaded his visors until they could go no darker and shielded his eyes with his hands. Man-O-War inched forward, tentacles stabbing her. Fiona was motionless, no longer screaming—probably dead. But then Revolution noticed something strange...
The machine kept injecting its tentacles into her, but they were not stabbing through her. They seemed to be disappearing inside of her. And Man-O-War seemed to notice it, too. The machine tried to pull back, raising its pulsating center. Straining to pull away.
Fiona's face turned down. She looked at the monster with a furrowed brow. Her fiery eyes narrowed, her lips curled up in a malicious grin, and she began to draw it in. The machine glowed blazing white, giving every ounce of power it had. Yet somehow Fiona held her ground. Her mouth wide open now in a silent scream. Metallic patterns began to dance across and then fade into her skin. She could feel its energy surging through her. More of the machine disappeared inside her. Man-O-War bellowed a high-pitched mechanical squeal. Whatever agony its circuits felt transferred across the tentacles into Fiona, and the Fire Fly screamed out as well, as the glow burst brighter. So bright, no one could look at it.
Then, suddenly...
Darkness.
A great rush of wind swept past everyone, as if a giant vacuum had sucked the two combatants into oblivion. The sky was empty. Silent.
BOOM!
A pulsar of light ruptured the night from the spot in the sky. A sonic blast. Fire Fly's body careened through the air, smashed through the walls of the Custom House Tower blocks away.
For a moment everyone froze. When he could breathe again, Ward asked, “Have you ever seen that before?” Revolution said nothing. He just stared at the Custom House, hoping for a sign, any sign, that Fiona was still alive. Her glow radiated throughout the building, but she lay still inside it.
The duo rushed over to the spot below where Fiona had fought the monster. Robotic entrails of the Man-O-War were scattered on the ground. Sparking light energy. But the machine itself was gone.
“She did it!” Ward said.
Revolution peered back toward the Custom House, hoping to see her emerge. But Fiona’s glow was fading. They watched it. Slowly it dimmed to nothing. Revolution fought back a flood of tears for the girl he had once tried to protect, to raise. But he made her hate him, and now she was dead.
“She must have absorbed it,” Ward said. “Bioluminescence must have stronger properties than...”—he couldn’t think of what to call it—“mechanical-luminescence.”
Revolution tried to listen to his friend, but his emotions were screaming in his head. All those years watching her grow into the beautiful, talented, brilliant woman she was becoming flashed across his mind. He had lost her. And lost his ultimate weapon. But she had won...
He was brought back down to Earth by a crackle of static in his helmet. It was Lantern's voice. “Sir. We have a new situation. Alison Mitchell's been exposed. She's at the new stadium on Charter Street...they have a firing squad.”
“We're only a few blocks away. Get it on the Net.” He placed his hand on Ward's shoulder. “Paul, we've gotta go. A friend needs our help.”
Celebrations would have to wait.
CHAPTER 61
Ward flew them to the stadium. The stadium was being built where Copp's Hill Burying Ground used to stand. The local Council had moved the historic graves, torn down apartment buildings, and started construction. Bostonians had protested, but to no avail.
The duo landed outside the stadium walls instead of flying straight in. Revolution told Ward it was a hostage situation, but he didn't tell him who the hostage was. Revolution scanned the structure and found a service entrance they could sneak into. Revolution calculated that if they could get in unseen, Ward could fire the darts and take Alison’s captors out before they could harm Alison.
The structure was sunken, mainly below ground. Mostly empty, and still under construction. Various cranes and dozers and other heavy equipment sat idle as they slipped in quietly. As soon they entered, they spied Alison tied to a post in the center of the field, hands behind her. Riflemen stood in a line aiming at her, ready to fire. It seemed they'd arrived just in the nick of time. Ward's reaction was spontaneous and unfortunate, and Revolution immediately regretted not telling him what they were walking in on. Ward’s eyes welled with tears, and he screamed out, “No!”
“Paul, fire!” Revolution shouted, hoping to retain the element of surprise. But Ward was beside himself. His fight-or-flight instinct kicked in automatically. It was a terrible moment to let his emotions override his brain. He charged the post, and Revolution followed him.
Out of nowhere, titanium chains snapped up from the ground as their feet tripped a high-tech trap designed to snag the Revolution. He and Ward were lifted off the ground as the chains coiled around them again and again and again. They were hauled up by a series of reinforced cables above them and hoisted over to where Alison stood tied up.
The riflemen turned and fled out of side doors. Alison brought her hands out from behind her. She had never been tied to the post. She’d been faking it. One of the riflemen glanced back at her as he slipped out. “Agent Mitchell, let's go!”
She hesitated. He stopped and yelled again, “We've got 'em, let's go!”
The cable lowered them toward the ground. Revolution spied a small platform below them and realized what it was: a land mine. Council had sent a spy, like he'd always feared, and it was Alison Mitchell. She'd betrayed them. He struggled hard to get free. And he knew he'd be able to—had he been able to buy more time, but he was too late.
Alison's eyes raced up to them, down to the trigger, over to the riflemen. She was out of time as well. She'd been living a lie. Two lies in fact—and now those lies had come crashing in on themselves. She’d wished this day away so many times, unsure of when she would get the ultimate order to take the Revolution down. She’d tried to keep Paul out of the line of fire, but now all her efforts had failed.
She felt a cold sweat cover her as Paul was lowered toward the bomb. She’d fallen for him hard. At first, his story had stirred her heartstrings with sympathy for what he had been through. But the relationship had matured to genuine commitment. She thought if she helped him reach the Revolution, take down the Brown Recluse, her actions would balance out. But they didn’t. She had been tempted many times to tell Ward the truth, but she knew doing so would endanger both of them. The path of least resistance was to keep up the lies. And now the man she loved was about to die because of her. She couldn’t live with herself if that happened. So she made a decision.
She stepped out. Onto the platform. It clicked down as the land mine's trigger detonator engaged under her foot. It was a long, flat trigger built so that it was guaranteed to be activated no matter w
here a prisoner landed. Revolution and Ward landed on it two seconds later.
Paul just stared at in her complete apoplectic shock. “What are you doing? You're telling me you're a spy? This whole thing was a set up?” he croaked at her finally, barely able to make the words. He already knew the answers, but his body was revolting. He thought he might vomit. The feeling he had at the prison came flooding back. She might as well have stuck the 100,000-volt poker into his heart.
Alison heaved tears as she peered into his eyes. “I'm sorry,” was all she managed.
Ward ripped off his mask. “Paul—” Revolution tried to calm him. He was having none of it.
“You bitch!”
Alison lowered her head and bawled. The reaction threw Ward for a moment. He just stared at her, confused and disgusted. Half of him wanted to kill her, the other half still wanted to hold her as she sobbed.
Killing her sounded better.
“Paul,” Revolution said, “we’re...she's standing on a land mine.”
“What?” Ward glanced at his friend. Tried to focus. Tried to control his rage. He peered down. His furrowed brow collapsed. A wave of emotions swept over him. His puzzle-solving mind began to put it all together. The Source, the setup, a double spy, now caught in her lies—by both sides. But with whom and where did her real loyalty lie? He had that answer too—it was right in front him. Literally. Instead of escaping to safety with the others, she had stepped out onto the platform before they had reached it. She was going to die with him.
“No, you can't!” Ward pleaded.
She knew he understood now. “It's the only way. I do love you, Paul. But I lied to you about a lot of other things. I never decided to fight back. I surrendered. You've given me back my purpose.” She clasped his hand. “My parents loved this city. And they died for it. Just promise me you'll never give up. For David. For me.”
The Suns of Liberty (Book 2): Revolution Page 30
