“I’m sorry I left you hanging. It won’t happen again,” he said over the roar.
“You can make it up to me by taking out the one on the left,” she said, pointing ahead to the giant Spores.
“Hey, that’s what I live for! A day isn’t complete until I wrestle a giant, homicidal robot.” Ward shifted his darts to Disabling Mode, and he felt them slither into place inside his armor. “You know,” he continued, “I said to my mother when I was a kid: Mom, you know what I really want to do when I grow up—”
Sophia blasted her boot-jets at full power and burned away from him, making a beeline for the Spore on the right. Her wake was so strong Ward nearly fell out of the sky. “Be afterbirth in the after burn. Evidently,” he mused to himself.
He set his sights on the other Spore and blasted toward it.
Sophia reached hers first, and just as she was about to blast it out of the sky, the thing fired. Sophia banked left, turning her body on its side as the beam narrowly shot past her. She fired at the damn thing, but her angle was awkward. She missed, wide right, and now the Spore turned a hard arc in the sky and came at her head-on.
Maybe that was the only way. She pointed her arms out in front of her just in time to block a red beam with one of her own. The two rays of energy haloed at the point of contact, blocking her view.
But she kept on firing. And less than a second after she saw the Spore explode in a fiery burst from one of her propulsor blasts, she felt the air knocked out of her and the world exploded in red flash of heat.
She was falling.
The Spore’s last shot had struck home.
In that moment, she realized she was going to die. It had been a one-in-a-million shot. But as she peered down to assess the burning in her belly and saw the flayed skin, the charred flesh, the already dried blood, cauterized from the extreme heat of the laser blast that had ripped open her suit and cooked her flesh, she also realized the blast had taken out her flight system. She was falling to her death. Ward was too far away to catch her. Lantern was not there to send the Hollow, and even if he were, there was no guidance system for it to commandeer.
The loneliest thing about falling to your death, she thought, was that you had the time to think about it. “Get that goddamn thing, Paul! Tell the General I’m sorry,” she said to Ward over his com.
Ward spun. “What?” he shouted. And then he saw her in free fall. “Oh, hell no!” he yelled.
But his Spore had turned, and it was zooming toward him. Ward grunted and arced to his right with all his power, put his thrusters on full, and dove toward Sophia.
She saw the maneuver and screamed. “No! Don’t you do it, Paul Ward! Don’t you do it! You get back up there and stop that Spore!”
Ward said nothing. He just kept coming, but the Spore was fast. Faster than him. It was gaining on him quickly.
“Forget about me. You’re only going to get yourself killed and you can’t get to me in time!” she screamed at him.
“The hell I can’t!” he yelled back.
Ward put the thrusters into overdrive—a move he’d never made because the likelihood of overheating was far too high. He began to catch up with Sophia.
The Spore opened fire. Ward banked left, and the laser shot screamed by him on the right. But it had been close, and it was just luck he’d guessed the right direction to dodge.
Ward closed the gap with Sophia, despite the Spore’s pursuit. Twice more he narrowly dodged shots from the machine. He was nearly on Sophia now, who looked astonished he had caught up to her. But the ground was fast approaching—too fast. If Ward did not pull up now he would not have time to do so.
The Spore made the same calculation and began to slow.
Ward scanned the ground and in a split second made a decision and kept on going. He angled his body for a final time, just as Sophia turned in midair to get a better view of what was happening behind her. Ward grabbed Sophia in a bear hug and then hit his reverse thrusters.
“You know we’re too late for that, right?” she said, the two of them face to face.
“I know. This is gonna hurt,” he said apologetically.
“Thanks for trying,” she said, and the last thing Ward felt before they hit was Sophia burying her head into his shoulder, hugging him back. Hard.
CHAPTER 46
Scarlet stopped in her tracks. “Uh-oh. Spectral, do you feel that?”
“What? What is it?” Arbor growled.
The android lifted its head.
Scarlett scowled. “It’s a disabling beam.”
“Can you stop it?” Arbor asked.
She raised her arm. “I’m trying. It’s very powerful. Like nothing I’ve ever felt before!”
“Where the hell is it coming from?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
“It’s got to have a source,” Arbor growled.
Scarlett stared back in frustration. “I can’t find it. There doesn’t appear to be anything here that could do that!”
Arbor decided it was time to leave the roof. “Just keep looking.” He bounded toward the door. “You two find it and stop it, then join the rest of us!”
“Wait!” she shouted suddenly. “It’s attacking!”
“Where?” Arbor’s cheeks flushed with anger under the mask.
She pointed to their left, still concentrating. “Over there, the Spores.”
Arbor spun to peer out where she pointed. The northern side.
No sooner had she said it than all three Spores fell. Crashing into the Earth, one clattering along the concrete of the street. Completely useless.
“Fuck!” screamed Arbor. The Spores were the trap. Without them, this was all going to be a shit-load harder!
“And there!” Scarlett shouted, pointing to the other side and the three Spores flying side-by-side, making another run on the Minutemen from the south. Again they fell, this time exploding on impact, catching fire, and burning.
“Let’s go!” Arbor shouted to all of them. “Everyone in the field. Take out the Suns first!” Arbor bounded to the door, Fiddler and Fang in close pursuit. He grabbed the door handle—
And was then flung against it by a massive impact and flash of red. Fiddler and Fang were slammed to the turf.
Arbor spun back to see one of the remaining Spores floating above Scarlett and Spectral. It fired at them again.
“Ray, what the hell are you doing? You got the Spores attacking the wrong target, dumbass!” Arbor was furious. How the hell had everything turned to shit so quickly?
“I’ve put them all on autopilot. The Chairman’s ordered me away. Guess I’ll see you when it’s over.”
“Away?” Arbor barked. First he’d heard of it. Pissed him off.
Spectral raised its hands, and the Spore’s red beam seemed to coil across the force field the android created. The residual energy struck Arbor again, this time throwing him to the turf.
“It’s attacking us! The virus has turned it against us!” Scarlett yelled.
The Spore fired again.
“Can you stop it?” Arbor shouted over another blast from the Spore.
“Go!” she yelled. “Get out of here! We’ll handle this!” Scarlett said.
By the time they reached the street, only two Spores were left. The third was out in the city, taking care of Ward and Sophia.
And the thing that Arbor noticed, as he bounded out the front door, was all the bodies. Council Guard bodies.
“Ray, where the hell is Crustac?” he shouted over the com.
He’d angled his body. He tried to slow their descent, but there was no way to stop them from being crushed by the fall. And that’s probably why the Spore backed off and fell back into an observation mode, waiting to verify its primary targets had been neutralized.
But Ward had gambled. At this height, at this speed, hitting concrete guaranteed death. But below him he saw a deep retention pond. The only one thi
s side of the city. Hitting the water was not going to be much better than hitting concrete, but he did not need it to be much better. Not if they angled their bodies just right, not with a little luck, not if the pond was deep enough.
He knew those were a lot of ifs.
They splashed into the water in an enormous spray.
It hurt.
Ward felt his ribs snap, his back wrench. Sophia grunted as well. But they both remained conscious, and they both held their breath.
But they hadn’t needed to. Ward had warned her what was coming, and she had followed his lead by activating Leslie’s new safety features that allowed their helmets to close in case of gunfire, extreme heat, or any underwater adventures they might fall into. In her case, an accordion-like neck piece unfolded and connected with the bottom of the glider helmet she wore. It was a slower process than Ward’s, and it snapped into place just before they knifed into the water.
They both had the same thought as they plunged: stay under. Long enough that the Spore eventually flew down to search for them, to verify its mission parameters were completed. And as it skimmed over the water’s surface, Ward rocketed up, using the stored oxygen in the wings—which proved to be just enough—and the duo broke through the pond’s glassy sheen. The Spore aimed to fire, but it was too late. Ward’s Disabling Dart was already on its way to puncturing its steel skin.
The Spore splashed into the water. And sank at speed.
Ward and Sophia limped onto shore and collapsed on the bank, looking like a couple of drowned rats.
Fiona awoke from the strange dream, still hearing the man’s voice echoing in her head. She peered around in the dim light and realized that she was lying on the floor of the Fire Fly chamber.
Just as she had been in the dream.
Everything was just the same. She was in the same hospital gown, the room looked the same. The same odd black machine.
The machine! She spun to get a better look at it. Jet black. But at the top were five glowing buttons, all glowing the exact same color as her bioluminescence.
Slowly it came back to her. She remembered her power being taken from her. Sucked into this very chamber—a chamber of permanent darkness.
“You just need to unleash your power from the darkness.” That’s what the man in her dream had said. Only Fiona realized at that moment that this had been no dream at all. Michael Crustac, the Krill, had rescued her. How did she know this?
Fiona gazed at the machine.
Could it really be that simple? She reached out and touched the needle-like gun of the machine. And the whole assembly began to quake, rumble—with the power of the Fire Fly. And as she looked down, she saw that power seeping back into her body. Riding up the veins in her arm, neck, face, forehead, feeding her the power she now realized she had missed. The power that she craved.
If for nothing more than to exact her revenge.
She thought about letting go, stopping the process. Would she regret taking back the power? Since the moment the Revolution tricked her into climbing in this chamber, she’d wanted to go back, to be normal again.
But really, what choice was there? If she stayed human, they would never let her leave this place. And what of Becky or Arcadia? What of her followers? What kind of vengeance would the Council seek at their expense?
What had they already done? She was unsure how long she’d been out.
For now at least, she was the Fire Fly, whether she liked it or not. But this machine had proven she didn’t have to be forever.
Fiona smiled and let the luminescence take control.
The energy lifted her into the air once more, and she found herself floating at the top of the chamber. Lab techs were running into the room now, flipping on lights, finally alerted to what was happening.
Her gown burnt away, and her skin faded to the chartreuse glow of the Fire Fly. She thought about Crustac’s last words to her.
Fascism. What did he mean? Had to be the Council. But what was she supposed to do about it? Go kill the chairman? She’d thought about that before.
And then suddenly, like a peal of thunder, everything fell into place, the memory returning.
Philadelphia.
Only it wasn’t a memory. It was a message, or a connection, or something—she didn’t even begin to understand. She was still mystified by her new abilities. She would go there, but she had a more important priority first.
One second later, she was back at Lake Tahoe.
Lantern was watching the feed from the Hollow in his visor. The holographic robot was maneuvering the last sub out of the way, grounding it at the bottom of the river. The Hollow was remotely operating the submarine in a manner similar to how it had controlled Ward’s and Sophia’s flight systems at Freedom Rise.
The task was considerably easier than Lantern had imagined. The river was wide, so the Hollow backed the subs out, turned them in the opposite direction that the COR subs would take in their escape, and grounded them in the muddy sediment at the bottom of the river.
Easy. “It’s done, sir. COR has an open road.”
“Good work, my friend,” Revolution said.
Suddenly, Lantern caught a bogie out of the corner of his eye, coming in from the city. He spun to get a better look, ready to take on whatever it was—and saw Ward and Sophia. Ward was flying for both of them. They landed, and Lantern could see that Sophia was clearly hurt. Ward’s face was ashen and contorted as well. They’d been through hell.
“What’s left?” Sophia asked, wincing from her injuries.
“The General’s getting COR away, but we’ve still got the Legion to deal with,” Lantern said. Explosions rang out on either side of the compound, and Lantern felt no need to explain that the Minutemen were still in a firefight on both sides.
“Where’s Rage? Why isn’t she hitting us yet?” Ward asked.
Lantern shrugged. “Must be Bailey’s weapon.”
“Well,” Sophia said, “we can’t be sure COR is safe unless we deal with the Legionaries. So, let’s get to it.”
Just then, from across the way, they saw the front door of the compound open up and out strolled Arbor, Veronica, Fiddler, and Fang.
“Well, speak of the devil and his spawn,” Ward mused darkly.
Anger welled in Drayger’s eyes, and without pause or patience—he attacked. Sending a wave of fear their way, bounding toward them, firing the laser pistol. He targeted the one he wanted most.
Lithium.
Arbor tried to dodge the streaking bullet, but the aching idea that Fiona Fletcher might attack at any moment had again pervaded his thoughts. He broke the spell with a surge of willpower. But it had taken him half a second too long.
The laser bullet ripped through his chest, and he screamed in pain. The big man fell to the turf, blood squirting from a hole on the right side of his torso.
Drayger kept coming.
Meanwhile, Veronica recalled Arbor’s orders to take the Suns out in order of power. Helius was just across the road.
In a flash, Veronica closed the distance and slammed into Sophia with a full-body punch. The small but normally lethal Helius offered no resistance. Instead, she was rocketed off her feet and slammed into the dirt fifty feet away. She rolled on the ground, her breath gone, ribs cracked, blood seeping from her lips where a robotic fist had just barely caught her under the visor before the face shield could close off.
Veronica grinned. She was watching to see if the woman would rise again, and if she did—she’d hit her with no mercy again. But then she heard Arbor cry out again behind her. And at the very moment, something grabbed her. It was unlike anything she had ever felt. Someone was playing in her brain! She began to feel her systems shutting down.
The Saratoga Virus!
“Rage! The virus, it’s hitting me! Can you help me stop it?” she called desperately into the com.
“I’m sorry, Commander, it’s hit me too. I’m afraid my powers are useless. Spectral is down as well,” Scarlett said
back.
Veronica felt something press into her back. She spun.
Or tried to.
The virus had affected her legs as well, so it was only her muscles trying to move her heavy, titanium limbs. She could feel something on her back, just sitting there. She wanted to reach around and find out what it was, but her arms were frozen in place, just like her legs.
And then, Veronica Soto exploded.
Gore and guts and her four robotic limbs blasted in every direction. Everyone hit the dirt.
Rachel Dodge materialized just outside the blast zone.
“Fucking bitch! How do you like those MagCharges?” She turned to the others.
It was the first time any of them except Ward had seen her new suit—the skintight white jumpsuit that left nothing to the imagination. She’d worn a cloak that everyone had assumed was her normal invisibility cloak over the suit during the trip and preflight meeting.
Drayger just stared, mouth open. Maybe he was staring at the remains of Velocity, but his gaze followed her as she approached. Rachel, undaunted by such a caveman reaction, simply winked at him and continued to strut up to the others.
Ward was not so unaffected. He felt a wave of jealousy wash over him. Which was stupid. He had no claim on Rachel. In fact, if there really was anything to their constant flirting, he’d put the kibosh to it many times himself. He wasn’t ready to move on from Alison. He didn’t want to. Maybe it was just the disrespect Drayger was showing.
Yeah, that was it.
But a familiar voice broke through his sulking. “Paul Ward. I’m gonna rip your skull open with these daggers of mine, and then I’m gonna piss on your brain and pretend it’s the bloody corpse of your little fuck-wad kid that I shot through his little fuck-wad face. How does that sound, Spider Wasp?”
Ward’s hatred spun him around. To face Fiddler. The pain from his cracked ribs and strained back screamed at him. But so did the hatred of the man he saw before him. The hate was winning.
Fiddler was poised, aiming both harpoon guns that jutted out of his armor right at Ward’s face.
The Suns of Liberty: Legion: A Superhero Novel Page 30
