"I can't just waltz into a bank, Doctor!"
He could barely get a breath. "Get one of the others to do it! Posey---you will not kill yourself. Please, do not end your life. Promise me! Promise a stupid old man that you will fight for every breath!"
Posey hesitated. She swallowed hard. New tears were flowing. "I...can't promise..."
"You must!" Fire was burning in Cormair's chest and his veins felt like they were crawling with flames. "Promise me!"
Posey opened her mouth and no sound came out. She swiped her eyes with the back of her wrist. She nodded slowly before uttering, "I...Promise."
"You can never go back on the promise you make to a dying man," said Cormair. His breath was coming in short, sharp bursts. "Now go! Get the key. Find your brothers and sisters and live! Go forth into the world and live your lives!"
"I will, Doctor."
Cormair took in a final breath. His lungs no longer wanted to work. He hissed through a clenched jaw, "And Posey...please tell them...I love them. I love you all."
Cormair seized in pain, and then he went limp. His eyes closed and he spiraled into the darkness, tumbling end over end into nothingness.
"...from whose bourn
No traveller returns..."
It was all John could do to keep breathing. Every time he moved in the slightest, the general would light them up with a jolt of lightning. Each wave of electricity felt like it was burning his muscles. Each wave of electricity made keeping thoughts in his head more difficult. He wanted to lash out, to do something heroic that would save his friends, but nothing came to his mind, his tactical supercomputer brain had gone offline.
Tucker checked his watch. John could see a hint of frustration in Tucker's eyes. John couldn't keep his tongue in check. "What's the matter, General? Your team late?"
"They will be here. I'm afraid Brawn's little tantrum damaged some of the gear in the warehouse needed for the vivisections. They are making repairs and looking for back-up equipment. It's just taking them a little longer than I had anticipated." For good measure, the general blasted them once again.
"I'm getting a little tired of that," growled Andy.
"You and me both," Indigo moaned.
John's jaw kept clenching involuntarily, a side effect of the electricity. With all their combined powers, with all their abilities, they were held powerless against one man with a remote control. It was unbelievable. He'd actually had the time to get over to the Home and sit down and wait for them. That meant that he had to have departed the compound well before Sarah had left. He had shot Kenny, and then made it to the home before the girl who can run faster than any car could drive.
Something in John's brain clicked, the tactical supercomputer rebooted and began making connections. Tucker had left before Sarah! He hadn't been in the compound when Kenny's final hack had taken effect. He hadn't seen the power go down or the electrical fires. He hadn't seen the computers melt down. Tucker was oblivious to the fact that his compound was cleansed of all technology that had been plugged into a wall socket or hooked into Wi-Fi. Something in John's gut told him that Tucker's team wasn't coming. Their computers were shot. Any medical machines that were on the electrical line were now useless. Kenny had put a big whammy on the Trust and Tucker was oblivious to it.
"Hey, Tucker," said John. A jolt of electricity went through him. "Sorry, General Tucker. I got five bucks in my pocket here that says your team isn't coming and you're not going to kill us."
"Elite, when you are dead, I will take that money. I'll use it to buy a nice bouquet of flowers to place on the steps of this place in your memory."
"Seriously, General," John tried to sound aloof. "I don't think they're coming. Why don't you try to email them or something?"
Tucker gave John a patronizing smile. "Psiber hacked the computers down here. The experiment neutralized the intranet we had between here and the installation. The computers in the building are all useless as well. It made sure to blank their hard drives."
"I know," said John. "He downloaded everything in the hard drives into his brain."
Tucker leaned forward. John could see he was suddenly interested. "Downloaded the hard drives?"
"Every last bit. All the data this place had, from Cormair's private log to Holly's trigonometry homework, is rattling around Kenny's brain."
"Can it download the information again into a computer?"
"Probably," said John. "If his body gets healed, that is. He's not much of a cyborg with a pair of bullets in his chest." John watched Tucker's eyes flick to the tank where Kenny's body floated in stasis. "Of course, if death is the only end for us, I doubt he'll even bother to help you out. Shame, too. There are a lot of things Cormair did that he never told you about, I'm sure. Having Cormair's files? That would probably make your version 2.0 whatever go a lot smoother, a lot faster. You might even get it done sooner than you think."
Tucker's eyes jumped from the tank, to John, and then back to the tank. Tucker broke into a haughty, toothy grin. "Nice try, Elite. Very good. You actually got me thinking for a minute. But, in the end, there will be no deals. I can't let you all just go free to be traipsing about the county with paranormal abilities. We need the information contained within your bodies to complete 2.0, not Cormair's files."
"Well, I think you're going to have to take whatever information you need by yourself, General. Your team is dealing with Kenny's little virus. He smoked your whole compound. We watched every building's power blow out as we left."
Tucker stared hard at John for a long moment. He reached into his shirt pocket and withdrew a flat communicator. He pressed a button on the side and murmured into it, "Tucker to Krantz." After fifteen seconds, he repeated it loudly, "Tucker to Krantz. Answer me, damn it." Only silence answered him. Tucker tossed the communicator aside muttering curses under his breath.
"I guess we'd call this an impasse, General. Perhaps a stalemate? You uploaded all this tactical military knowledge into my brain and it is constantly figuring out the best angles for me to do things. Right now, it's coming up blank. If there were any way that I could take you down right now, I would know. Right now, you've got us down. We can't even make a move without you bringing us back down to the ground with that little power button of yours, and you can't kill us because you need your precious information."
Tucker inhaled sharply through his nose. John could see him puffing out his chest in frustration and trying to decide what to do next. When he finally spoke again, he was no longer smug and aloof. "The problem with your uploaded information, Elite, is that your information only deals with battle tactics and combat under fire. In a situation like this, you don't possess a military man's thinking ability. Improvise, Adapt, Overcome. Unless bullets are flying at you, you don't have the ability to think like a soldier."
"And you do?"
Tucker snorted. "Of course I do."
"A soldier in a paramilitary organization, an anti-American organization at that. You're a traitor to the country who taught you to think like a soldier!" John knew he'd pay for that outburst. When the shock subsided, John could feel a trickle of drool rolling down his cheek. Tucker had really let them have it. John looked over at Indigo. Her eyes were closed and John couldn't tell if she was breathing. Holly was awake, she looked at John with scared, pleading eyes.
"What is the ultimate objective of my mission, Elite?" asked Tucker.
John rolled his head back to look at Tucker. He knew instantly where Tucker was going with this line of questioning. "Terminate the experiment."
"Now, if you have all that military tactical information rolling around in that big, soldier's brain of yours, perhaps you can tell me what a soldier is supposed to do if he has a series of objectives to complete toward a goal and some of those objectives are rendered impossible?"
John dropped his head back. "The ultimate objective is the only objective that matters. If other objectives are rendered impossible or might interfere with the completion of the ultima
te objective, those objectives should be shelved until a later time. Complete the ultimate objective at all costs."
"Excellent," said Tucker.
"What's all that mean, John?" grunted Andy.
"It means that he's going to kill us."
"What about the--"
"They'll just have to get what they can, when they can. Complete secondary objectives in a time frame that won't interfere with completion of the ultimate objective."
"It's a shame, really," said Tucker. "Millions of dollars of research and development, the finest geneticists we could hire---we had to kill them after they left here, you know---and all that time and effort in training and teaching you...It's all wasted now. A successful beta-test that leads the way to a better version."
"What do you mean by that?" asked John. "We're not defective."
"You are defective," said Tucker. "In order to get your bodies and minds to do what we wanted, we were unable to condition your minds the way that we wanted. Dr. Cormair tried to raise you as normally as was possible in that environment to make certain your minds developed as normally as possible. Television, music, internet access---all the things that normal adolescents have access to in their daily lives. Even that old Playboy magazine you found in the culvert by the road two years ago, Elite. That was placed there for you to find so that you could experience the full range of normal, adolescent teenage male behavior. Did you honestly think your luck was that unbelievable?"
"I had hoped."
"You were raised to be independent and free-thinking. That is a major defect for the purposes the Trust has in mind for this project."
"Can't be assassins if we were taught to value life, right?" said John.
"As I said: A major defect."
John glanced over at Indigo. She had opened one eye. He looked at her, staring hard, trying to mentally project the idea of taking the remote from Tucker's hand into her brain. As if she could read his mind, Indigo gave her head a slight shake and whispered, "Can't do it...No fear, no emotion. The shocks are too much."
John looked over at Holly. He could see her eyes were clouded over, a white haze. She was trying to summon animals. John hissed, "Holly?"
The fog left her eyes and she shook her head. "Can't make contact," she whispered.
He craned his neck to look at Sarah. Her eyes were closed and she was twitching slightly.
John looked at Andy. The big lug was still bleeding from a few bullet wounds. His skin was pock-marked with battle damage and even his forehead showed a few gashes and tears where bullets had bounced off his nearly unbreakable skull. Andy whispered, "I'm slower than you are, man."
John began to run battle tactics. How can he get up fast enough to avoid the electro-shock? Once up, where can he go where Tucker won't be able to shock him and take him down? And the gun---Tucker was in possession of a handgun. At a distance, John could anticipate the trajectory of the gun from the positioning of the barrel and dodge the shot. In close range, that would be trickier. If he could do a push up hard enough to roll to his toes and then jump sideways as hard as he could, he would probably be able to get to the edge of the metal flooring. Then, from there, he would be able to reach Tucker with a leaping kick. He'd have to take the gun out first, then the remote. He knew that Tucker didn't stand a chance against him in hand-to-hand; Tucker was older, gone to seed. John took a few quick, priming breaths. He'd only have one shot at this.
"Distract him?" John whispered to Andy.
"How?"
John couldn't answer that. He shrugged. Andy shrugged back. Andy suddenly curled fetal and rolled away from John while groaning loudly and clutching his stomach.
John sprang to action, kicking off the ground with a cobra's speed and flinging himself sideways. The second Tucker caught motion out of the corner of his eye, he thumbed the remote. Indigo, Andy, and Holly screamed. John landed on the protected area and rolled to his feet. He jumped again, whipping around in a circle and extending his leg in a textbook roundhouse kick. Halfway through the motion, something bit into his side and he felt every muscle in his body go tense at the same time. It felt like half the muscles in his body were being torn from his bones. John crashed to the floor and the pain continued. When it stopped, John couldn't breathe, he couldn't move.
"A taser," said Tucker. "Did you think I wouldn't plan for the chance that you'd try something stupid, Elite?"
John looked up at Tucker. The wires for the taser had come out of the end of the remote control. John's head fell to the floor, defeated. He was angry at himself, angry that he hadn't anticipated a taser, only the gun. It was a major tactical blunder. He had become so focused on the victory, he forgot that defeat was possible.
Tucker shocked him again. "Valiant, though. It was a great attempt. It is a marvel to see you in action, Elite. But, I think you have outlived your usefulness. I can't wait any longer." Tucker pulled out the gun clicked the safety. He pointed it at John. "As punishment for your heroism, I think you shall watch the other experiments die."
Tucker clicked the remote again and John heard the hissing crackle of electricity coursing over the floor. He heard Holly shriek in pain and Indigo groaning. Andy began to convulse. John began to smell the burning hair and the sickly sweet stench of burning flesh. He closed his eyes. The words of one of his old history teachers echoed in his head. You can't beat the system. The system will always win...
The world suddenly exploded around John's head. He clapped his hands over his ears and clenched his jaw to keep his teeth from rattling out of his mouth. The noise---so much noise. John opened his eyes and saw Posey standing in the doorway, an angelic shadow. Her screams immobilized Tucker. He was clutching the sides of his head in a futile effort to lessen the intensity of the noise. The remote had fallen into his lap.
When the scream stopped, it seemed to linger in the air, a heavy reverberation that echoed in the ears. John didn't know what was worse, the taser or Posey's incredible scream.
"Who are you to dare hurt my friends?" Posey's voice was hoarse and guttural, raw from her scream.
"He's General Tucker," said John. "He is the man who was in charge of this whole place! He's the reason we became experiments in the first place!"
Posey's eyes narrowed to slits. She spoke in a tone that John had never heard emanate from another living being, a voice low and thick with loathing and anger. "You are the one who made me ugly?"
Tucker struggled to recover. He fumbled for the remote and the gun. "I will deal with you in a minute, Nightingale!" He hit the remote again and pushed himself out of the chair. "A shock cage! You cannot help them!"
Posey's face devoid of compassion, cruel and demonic. Her golden eyes glittered with rage.
"To shock me, I would have to touch the metal!" Posey sprang into the room and her wings shot out to her sides. With a heavy downswing, her wings propelled her at Tucker. Tucker raised the pistol and fired a single, panicked shot. The bullet clipped Posey in the shoulder, but she didn't slow down. She spun her body in the air and landed on Tucker's chest with her feet. As John watched in horror, she sunk her toes into Tucker's chest and pulled back, tearing bloody gashes in his flesh. The remote and the gun clattered to the ground from his hands. Posey's wings beat the air madly as she tried to stay aloft.
"How dare you?" Posey shouted. "These are my friends, my brothers and sisters. Who are you to think you can harm them?"
"Nightingale, stand down," Tucker grunted. Posey's talons flexed deeper into his flesh and he growled with rage and pain. "You will pay for this, freak!"
Posey dropped onto the General's chest, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and crouching on him like an eagle on a perch. "You will pay for making me the freak. You turned me into this...this thing!"
Tucker surged forward and tried to knock Posey away. She lost her grip on his collar and her right foot came free of his chest with a sickening slashing of flesh. She beat her wings wildly, trying to remain aloft. She kicked awkwardly, trying to maintain he
r balance and flight. Posey's foot shot out, talons flashing through the air, and her toes sliced across General Tucker's neck. Tucker's eyes became wide, terrified discs and he gurgled in shock. He clutched at his neck, blood seeping through his fingers. The general coughed and convulsed, and then slid to the floor, his eyes slowly glazing over with the glossy, endless stare of death.
Posey fell to the ground, her eyes locked on the general's body. She watched his life ebb. Silent tears began to run down her cheeks and slowly curled into a fetal ball.
John crawled over to her and wrapped his arms around her, sitting her upright, and holding her tightly to his chest. Posey pushed her face into John's body and wept. Holly and Sarah were by Posey's side in an instant, each clutching her from either side. Indigo knelt behind John and draped her arms over his shoulders, wrapping her arms around his neck. John could feel Indigo's frail body shaking with sobs. Andy knelt by them all and reached out his hand to gently stroke Posey's head with an oversized finger.
The rest of the world ceased to exist for a time.
Andy carried Kenny's hyper-womb out of the basement by himself. He and John slid it into the back of the pick-up truck, secured it with ties, and then covered it with a tarp, tying it down tightly. Posey and Holly gathered the key and the letter from Dr. Cormair's room. Each of them gathered clothes and personal trinkets from their rooms. None of them had much they wanted to save. Indigo and Sarah took whatever food they could find in the kitchen and packed it into plastic bags. Some they loaded into the pick-up truck with John and the rest they put into the old farm truck that was in the back shed of the Home. Sarah drove the pick-up out of the shed and left it to idle next to the white truck.
They gathered on the lawn in front of the Home. Andy draped his arm around Sarah's shoulders. Holly and Posey stood close to each other. Indigo stood with her hands on her hips, John towered behind her with his hand on her shoulder.
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