“Tons, I imagine,” I say.
She shakes her head as she puts down Tigress who proceeds to wraps herself around Kate’s legs and purr like a cell phone on vibrate.
“Other than Luke and Pierre? None. Tommy is nice and I hope he and I can be friends but he has to acclimate to my pheromones first… until then I try to keep my distance. Any other guy I might want to be friends with I have to be very careful.” She flops down on the couch next to me with a sigh. “Even if I didn’t have powers, guys always take any sign of interest as sexual interest. That’s just the way they’re wired. Of course, there are always exceptions, you and Carlos…”
I nod, “But I’m safe, right? He knows we can’t have a relationship because of… things… so it is safe to be friends with me.”
She smiles, “Yep. I’m never safe, I’m always ‘available’,” she puts air quotes over it. “Then there’s the girls. I irritate the hell out of most women. Either from my pheromones or because whenever I’m with a group of people I’m always the center of attention. I can’t hang out with anyone who’s married.” She shakes her head, half-smiling half-sighing as she rubs her eyes. “I had a good friend once. She got married and I was her bridesmaid. This was… six years ago? I’d been out of the Academy for two years and working for the…” she looks alarmed for a moment and then shakes her head, “I guess it doesn’t matter now. I worked for the CIA after brain school but before the Diamondbacks.”
“Wow, cool. I had no idea.”
“It was a secret. Doesn’t really matter now that we’re wanted fugitives. Anyway, I’m at this wedding and I had a little too much to drink and every guy there is hitting on me… including her brand new husband.” She falls back on the couch rubbing her hands down her face with a long sigh.
“That was the last time I had a friend I could just hang out with and talk too until you came along.”
I trigger the faceplate so she can see my face, “What makes me so special?”
“I have no idea. You’re not jealous of me, you don’t begrudge me, you just accept me. I guess that makes you an awesome person.”
“Maybe, but I’m an awesome person in a suit of armor since we left for New York and it’s getting ripe in here.”
“Can you take it off?”
“Not without my lab or my mobile. But that’s roaming the streets of Phoenix.”
A tone beeps letting me know Epic has something for me. Kate has a huge TV in one corner and it has the ‘smart TV’ logo. Epic wirelessly connects displaying his words for us both.
I’ve finished my analysis of the data and I think I’ve discovered what is going on. Though, you might find it improbable to believe.
I glance at Kate, who is wearing the same expression as me. After the last twenty-four hours, that seems unlikely. A vast array of images pops up on the screen. Nine men, each in their late twenties, early thirties. From black and white photos that are obviously old to color, pre-digital camera images. All the photos line up on the left side and the financial statements show one by one on the right.
What do you see?”
“These men have all worked for Cat-7 since their founding. The first one, Harald Ericsson, the guy in the black and white photo with the military cap, that’s him, right? The others, I have no idea,” Kate shrugs.
This is all data Shai-Hulud gathered while embedded.
“Shai-Hulud?” Kate asks.
“You know, Dune? Tell me you’ve read Dune…”
“God, Amelia, is everything sci-fi with you?”
“I’m wearing a suit of armor that allows me to fly while talking to my best friend the empath teleporter…”
She concedes, “Fair point. Go on.”
Other than Ericsson all of this was scrubbed from public databases. Twelve years ago an advance virus filtered through every computer in the world destroying select data… it did so quietly. The data is about people. Telepaths who attended the academy, mostly. Along with eight of these nine men. There are no public records of them.
“Who are they then?” I ask.
Each one is an F5 telepath who attended the academy before joining Cat-7.
“That’s not possible, Epic,” Kate says jerking upright as she spoke. Her feet carry her around the room as she slides her finger through long black hair. “You don’t just disappear as an F5 anything… let alone a telepath. Who are these men?”
The question isn’t ‘who are these men?’ Kate. But, who is this man?
The financial statements unfold lining up next to the pic of the person they’re for. Circles highlight their signatures, flashing as Epic compares each one until a composite of all the signatures forms. No matter what letters are used, every name is written by the same hand.
“That would mean he’s been around for a hundred years?” she asks, mouth staying open and I can’t say mine isn’t either.
Probably older since I was able to find a signature in London of one Harald Ericsson arriving to fight in WWI. However, a comparison of a photograph of him before and after founding Cat-7 shows he isn’t the same person. Whoever this man is, he’s capable of switching hosts, targets telepaths, and has a large team of mind-controlled scientists hiding his existence while he fortifies his hold on the world.
“That’s why he wanted the armor. The damn robots.”
“How so?” Right, she didn’t see them.
“They have these security robots with plasma weapons. They’re very advanced but just steel, titanium, carbon fiber, and plastic. All alloys derivative of modern science. Luke, without getting mad, could probably beat one to a pulp.”
“If they were made of a certain super-genius’ armored battle suit though,” Kate finishes for me, “They would be nigh indestructible.”
“He’s making an army capable of defeating whatever supers he can’t convert,” I say.
And he’s killing any telepath that doesn’t join him. I believe Mr. Kana was going to be his next host. Something must have gone wrong and he was forced to kill him.
“Okay, the next question is… what do we do now?” Kate asks. My heart drops. I know who and what we’re up against, but I have no idea how to defeat him.
“First things first, I need to go back to Phoenix and get out of this armor for a while. Can we do that?”
A genuine smile spreads across her lips, “Air Kate is on the job. Let me grab a few things and I’ll have you back in the Copper State in no time.”
How did you do all of this?” Kate asks as I wheel out of the small RV-like bathroom installed in the back of the semi-rig.
“I didn’t, Epic did.”
“He doesn’t have any hands.”
Laughing, I wheel over to the mini fridge and pop the tab on a Coke. The cold soda feels good going down. It doesn’t hurt that I’ve had eight hours sleep and a solid meal.
“You’d be amazed what you can order over the Internet.”
It’s been sixteen hours since we raided Cat-7 and the news is going crazy. Shai-Hulud dumped virtually everything about them. Including a memo to make sure state teams were mishandled to allow for organic disasters to happen. I couldn’t believe it when I saw that. The Cat-7 treated the Diamondbacks in the past totally makes sense now. Luke is going to be so relieved. I thought it was just Arizona, but it’s everyone. The more the state teams screwed up the more Cat-7 would hire lobbyist and grassroots movements to put more of the teams in direct control of the big company by saying ‘the States can’t handle the responsibility’. I’m guessing Ericsson, or whatever name he goes by now, hoped to bring them all under his influence for his takeover bid. Well, that’s going up in flames now.
The TV switches to a live broadcast of the FBI and DMHA agents raiding their New York corporate HQ. Not just any agents either, ones with superpowers. If they try anything… I guess Ericsson doesn’t have as much pull in the government as I thought he did. Or at least not openly.
“Wow, talk about history in the making. Cat-7 founded the state militias.
They’re the whole reason the super teams are organized and now,” Kate snaps her fingers, “they’re gone.”
“Ask yourself this: are we better off because of them? Or have they been holding back the super teams since the beginning?”
“Good point.”
“This is all great and all, but it still brings us no closer to Ericsson. If he’s the telepath who altered my parents then he’s the only one who can undo it.”
“I know you want that, but there is the possibility it can’t be undone, you know this, right?” Kate asks.
I shake my head and wave the thought away, “I’m not ready to accept it as a possibility, not yet. Otherwise, what’s the point of continuing? No, I need to find him, Kate. I was hoping something in all these records would point to him but so far, no such luck.”
Epic scoured both Cat-7’s servers and the Cabals and nothing pointed at a central location for them. I opened up the files on my tablet and started browsing them, glancing really, hoping my subconscious would trigger on something. The TV flashes through a few different stories, the raid on the underground bases, the Department of Corrections arresting everyone in the UltraMax while cheering inmates watch. On live TV the President orders the Brigade to turn themselves in at ADX Florence in Colorado. The military equivalent to North Dakota’s UltraMax. Not surprisingly, Behemoth and Mariposa have disappeared. How many are in it because they’re mind-controlled and how many because they are with this guy? At first I thought everyone would have to be mind-controlled but clearly, people are evil.
“Do you think they can clear our names now?” Kate asks as we watch.
“Can you contact the Arizona AG and find out?”
“I have a few channels. It might take me a day or so. I’d have to go in person…”
“Kate, you need your life back. It isn’t fair them prosecuting you for what I did.”
She shakes her head, “Both of us or no deal. Besides, that can wait until we figure out what to do next.”
“Epic, when we were fighting the Brigade, you recorded everything on Artemis, right?”
Who exactly do you think I am?
“Right,” I chuckle, “Can you replay and give me the energy signatures and magneto scans if we have them?”
An idea forms, a glimmer of a plan really. It hinges on if he recorded the right info…
When we were fighting it really felt like the battle took forever but to see it now… it lasted less than three minutes.
“Damn,” Kate says under her breath when Behemoth slaps her hands together, “I’m both sorry I missed it and not sorry.”
“I’m just glad everyone’s okay. Luke heals fast and Pierre was able to put himself in some kind of magic coma to enhance his healing. No one died, it’s a win,” I say as I watch the sky light up from the impact of the Arrow.
“You put a weapon in space… isn’t that illegal?”
“I’m not a country, I can do whatever I like in space. Epic, play back the last part from my armor and from orbit, scans side by side please and half speed.”
He does.
“What are you looking for?”
“Remember the thing about Tesla waves?”
Just as the Arrow hits Behemoth’s magnetic signature goes off the charts. As if her powers are responding to the threat by amping up.
“Yeah?”
“I think I can find Behemoth using them. If she’s with Mariposa and they are with Ericsson…”
“Then we’re in business!”
“Yes we are. Epic, task Artemis to look for her magnetic signature. Now that we know what to look for we should be able to find her. I don’t think it would work with any other super. She’s just incredibly powerful so her magnetic field is commensurate.”
Reconfiguring… scanning. Oh no.
“That isn’t good,” I say.
I’m detecting her magnetic signature, as well as the power source of over ten-thousand of their security bots, in a warehouse located a half mile from the White House.
“The White House?” Kate asks. I hear the incredulity in her voice. If they’re in DC…
“Epic, locate every world leader with super-powered assets along with…”
There is a conference in DC hosted by the United States. I believe Luke was there with the governor. Over thirty heads of state are in various cities on the east coast. Now that I know what to look for I am picking up over a hundred-thousand security bots. I am reclassifying them as ‘warbots’. Amelia, I think—
“I know,” I say. I can’t believe it, but I know.
“Know what?”
“The only reason he would want the armor would be to make the warbots unstoppable. The only reason for that would be he plans a coup de’tat… against the world and it’s happening right now.”
“But he didn’t get it which means…”
“Arsenal is the only unstoppable armor. Let’s hope we’re in time and it’s enough. I need to suit up. We need to get the word out. Epic?”
Standing by.
“Alert every team, every government agency, tap into the EBS if you have to. Initiate ‘Firefly’ protocol.”
Confirmation of Firefly protocol required.
“Confirmed.”
“Okay all the Star Wars and Star Trek references I get, but what about Firefly fits here?”
“You can’t stop the signal, Kate. Epic always operates from the position of staying invisible. I just authorized him to get the word out no matter what.” She rolls her eyes as I wheel into position.
“Amelia, maybe you should call your parents…”
I shake my head. They don’t remember me anyways and I can’t afford to let those emotions in right now.
“I can’t, Kate. Not right now. I need you to get to the Arizona AG and try and make him understand what is about to happen. He won’t believe you… Hell, I can barely believe it, but you have to try.”
“On it. Good luck.” She reaches out and squeezes my shoulder. I snake a hand up and put it on hers and hold her there for a moment.
“Thank you for being my friend.”
She smiles and vanishes.
“Epic… initiate!”
Even at our top speed of Mach 4 it will still take too long, a whole forty-two minutes…
“Epic, we don’t have that kind of time. How’s the warning going?”
I’ve almost cracked the EBS network. I have hack homeland and put them on ‘high alert’. However, it is difficult to give them an exact threat to defend against. They’re already on alert because of the visiting dignitaries. Amelia, even if every agent turns out to be on our side, the probability of success is low. Even a ‘best outcome’ is likely to result in significant civilian casualties and fatalities among foreign dignitaries.
“I think we need to go sub-orbital on this. Do the math, I feel the need for speed.” The Emdrive kicks in full power and Phoenix shrinks followed by Arizona. The sky above dims and the stars come out as the altimeter passes eighty-thousand feet. Epic puts a path on the HUD showing me where to go and how fast. The altimeter switches from feet to miles as we blow past sixteen.
We have now far exceeded the SR-71’s flight record.
While the top speed in the atmo is limited to how much heat builds up around the suit after I break the sound barrier, I won’t have that limitation when I slip the atmospheric bounds.
At thirty miles the atmo starts thinning and my speed shoots up. The HUD automatically switches from MPH to Miles Per Second. I let out a whoop. Four-point-nine miles per second and we hit a hundred miles in less than two minutes.
I take a deep breath. The Earth is beautiful from up here. The icy black of space above and the blue gem below. I could seriously get used to this. The HUD shows me DC’s local time. Just after five pm. Hard to believe that only twenty-four hours has passed since I came back from New York. At least I caught some sleep and food.
Congratulations, Amelia. You are the first person to achieve astronaut status without the aid o
f a shuttle or superpowers.
I’ve always wanted to do this. I just wish I could spend a few minutes enjoying it.
“Epic, have the truck start heading east, you never know if we’ll need it when this is done.”
Roger. Do you have plans on how to deal with Behemoth?”
“No,” I sigh, “Not without killing her. I suppose I’m justified at this point but… I don’t like it.”
I’m glad you do not. You would not be the little girl who created me if you did.
It’s suddenly very tight in the armor. Epic is my friend, he’s my family. I’ve had him almost as long as I’ve been on my own.
“Epic, whatever happens tonight I want… need… two things from you.”
Go ahead.
“I want you to know how important you are to me. Thank you, for everything.”
Of course. You are my creator and my friend.
“Second, you survive. If something happens and the armor is—breached… you survive. Understood?”
Understood.
“Okay, let’s go be heroes.”
The drive goes full power and I shoot through space at a crazy velocity without atmospheric drag. My eyes bug when we hit ten miles per second. Damn, if I had the capacity to load more air and maybe some food we could make a trip to the moon.
“Epic make a note, let’s look at setting foot on the moon!”
Note made. Even I would think that was awesome.
“I know right?” I can’t help but shout for joy as we burn through the upper atmosphere. My faceplate optics polarize as heat build-up creates a light too bright for human eyes.
Since you cannot unlock we are going to perform a flip… hold on to your lunch.
“Oh boy,” I manage to gurgle as we execute the maneuver. I pull my knees up as he cuts the thrust and I roll forward. Once I’m falling feet first I extend them again—slowly—and he locks the suit up and fires thrusters.
We are unable to communicate with the ground for the next two minutes. When we emerge we will be dead center over DC.
“Roger that.”
The countdown pops up on the HUD and I start sweating. Not because of the heat, but because what is about to happen. Ericsson jump-started his plans because of me. Logically I know he’s off balance. He’s reacting, not acting. Which means he wasn’t fully ready to do this.
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