Domination

by Jon S. Lewis

  Why? Because you’re the Betrayer? Koenig said, his voice penetrating Colt’s mind. I can sense the change inside of you. Soon your body will be covered in scales. You’ll be a hideous monster like the rest of us, and when that happens, humanity will turn on you. You’ll be an outcast. A villain.

  Suddenly Colt felt a sharp pain in his temples, and before he realized what was happening, everything went black. The last thing he remembered was falling . . . and then he succumbed to the darkness.

  : :

  CHAPTER 20 : :

  Colt opened his eyes to get his bearings, but whatever wasn’t blurry was unbearably bright, so he closed them again. He had a splitting headache, and the constant tapping of someone pounding on a keyboard wasn’t helping.

  From what he could tell he was in a bed, but he was fairly certain that it wasn’t his bunk back at the dorm. His nostrils burned with the smell of lemon, pine, and ammonia instead of the musty stench from the sheets that his roommates refused to wash.

  “Is somebody going to tell me where I am?” he said through cracked lips, his voice weak.

  “Good morning, sunshine.”

  “Oz?”

  “Who did you expect, your fairy godmother?”

  Colt opened his eyelids a slit and saw Oz standing at the foot of his bed and Danielle sitting next to a window. “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “You’re in the campus infirmary, third floor,” Danielle said. “And you’re welcome. I mean, it’s not like we’ve been cooped up in this place for the last thirty-six hours watching to make sure you didn’t have a seizure or anything.”

  “A seizure? What happened?”

  “Koenig pulled some kind of Jedi mind trick on you,” Oz said. “One minute you were standing there, and the next minute you were out cold.”

  “Wait, were you there?” Colt asked, trying to reach back into his memory.

  “Nah, but they showed us the video footage,” Oz said. “At one point you were answering questions that Koenig never even asked. It was kind of crazy.”

  All Colt could remember was that Grandpa had taken him to an underground prison facility to meet Aldrich Koenig, but after that things got fuzzy.

  “I don’t get it,” Colt said. “I mean, I thought you weren’t allowed back on campus.”

  “Your grandpa pulled some strings,” Oz said. “Apparently he doesn’t think the campus security is good enough around here, so he wants me to watch your back.”

  “What strings did he pull?”

  “The president was a big Phantom Flyer fan growing up,” Danielle said. “So your grandpa promised him a signed picture in exchange for Oz’s full reinstatement.”

  “He bribed him with an autograph?” Colt smiled as he shook his head.

  “There were some stipulations,” Oz said. “I had to agree to a full memory extraction to prove that I wasn’t part of all that stuff my dad did. Plus I have to see a counselor once a week—you know, to talk about my feelings or whatever.”

  Colt had to stifle his laugh. “Seriously?”

  “It isn’t funny,” Oz said. “I hate that stuff, but I did it for you. Figured you’d get yourself killed if I wasn’t around.”

  “Does that mean you’re back on Project Betrayal?”

  “That’s what they tell me,” Oz said.

  Colt felt relief wash over him. Knowing that his best friend was going to be there with him suddenly made success seem almost possible.

  “So what happened in there?” Danielle said as she walked over and stood next to Oz. For a split second Colt could swear they were holding hands. “You know, with Koenig. Was he using telepathy or something?”

  “To tell you the truth, I’m not sure,” Colt said. “I could hear him—well, feel him inside my head. I tried to push him away, but I couldn’t.”

  “I didn’t know the Thule used telepathy,” Danielle said.

  “Then you need to read more,” Oz said.

  “I’ve read just about everything there is about them in the digital library.”

  “Try The Phantom Flyer and the Agents of CHAOS #87.”

  “That’s right,” Colt said as he sat up a little too quickly. He felt light-headed, and for a moment he thought that he was going to faint, but the sensation passed. “They had a spy network that infiltrated General MacArthur’s staff, and they were leaking information telepathically to Thule scouts who were hiding nearby.”

  “Comic books aren’t exactly the most reliable source when it comes to history,” Danielle said.

  “Says you,” Oz said. “But it’s true.”

  “Did you tell Dr. Roth?” Danielle asked.

  Colt shook his head.

  “Why not?”

  “Probably because I’ve been unconscious,” Colt said. “But I’m not sure if I want to tell him anyway.”

  “You can’t keep secrets like that.”

  “Why, so they can dissect my brain to see if they can replicate whatever is happening to me? Because that’s where this is heading.”

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  “I don’t know,” Oz said. “He may be on to something.”

  Danielle shook her head. “You two are the biggest conspiracy theorists I’ve ever met.”

  “Takes one to know one,” Oz said.

  “How old are you?” Danielle asked.

  “Look, as much as I love listening to the two of you bicker like an old married couple, I have a splitting headache. Think you can find me some aspirin?”

  “I might have something even better,” Danielle said. “That is, if you’re up to it.”

  Colt couldn’t believe it. Somehow Danielle had managed to get Lily Westcott in front of a hologram camera. Her image was standing in front of him looking as real as if she were right there in the room.

  He reached out and touched the empty air that was her hand, and she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. Even though it was only a hologram, it felt so real.

  “What happened to your hair?” she said, her perfect lips parted in a smile.

  Colt rubbed his hand over the stubble. “Do you like it?”

  “I’m not going to lie,” she said as the smile disappeared. “I liked it long. But you still look handsome.”

  The smile returned, and Colt felt actual warmth erupt inside his chest.

  “Mostly I’m just glad you’re still alive.”

  “Look, I want to apologize for the way things ended back home,” he said, bowing his head to look at the ground. “I shouldn’t have left you alone, and then they arrested you and—”

  Colt still felt guilty for abandoning Lily at the rodeo the night before he left for the CHAOS Academy. He had wanted to tell her how he felt—that he really cared about her, maybe even loved her—but then he got into a fight with a shape-shifting alien, and before he knew what was happening, he was detained by agents from the Department of Alien Affairs. Since Lily was there with him, she got detained as well.

  “It’s okay,” she said. “I mean . . . maybe at first I was a little upset.”

  “A little?”

  “A lot,” she said, but she was smiling. “Your grandpa came over and explained what happened, though.”

  “He did?”

  She smiled, and Colt longed to take her in his arms. “He told us everything.”

  “I should have called you. I wanted to apologize, but . . .” His voice trailed off as she stepped close enough that Colt imagined he could feel her breath on his cheek.

  “All I wanted was to hear that you were all right. That we were all right.”

  He touched his fingers to her holographic cheek, remembering how soft her skin was. “I didn’t want to make it harder than it already was.”

  “I pray for you every night.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

  “Me too.” He stopped to consider what he had just said. “I mean, I pray for you. Not me.”

  They both laughed.

  “I know this might sound strange,” she said. “But let’
s not talk. Let’s just be here together for a little while. Okay?”

  Colt nodded, savoring each moment.

  : :

  CHAPTER 21 : :

  Colt stood in one of the tunnels beneath Tesla Stadium waiting for his cue to take the field with the rest of the flight team. He could see members of the Virginia Tech marching band as they performed a medley of songs from the original Star Wars soundtrack in front of a capacity crowd that had grown well beyond standing room only.

  Three thousand more had gathered outside the gates of the academy, all hoping to catch even a glimpse of the historic moment when the Phantom Flyer and his Agents of CHAOS would take to the skies for the first time in over fifty years.

  Becoming the official symbol of hope in the fight against the Thule should have made Colt nervous. The president of the United States was going to be in attendance, along with a laundry list of politicians, corporate leaders, musicians, and actors, and all of them wanted to meet him after the show. And everything was going to be broadcast in more than two hundred countries and thirty languages, to a viewership that was supposed to eclipse one hundred million. But all he could think about was Lily Westcott. Her eyes. Her smile. Even the scent of her shampoo.

  He wanted to slip away and head back to Arizona right then and there, but the campus was swarming with agents from the CIA, FBI, DAA, and Secret Service, not to mention the heavily armed members of Delta Force. They were all there to make sure nothing happened to Colt, which meant that all eyes were on him.

  “Looks like the president’s motorcade has arrived,” Colt heard Captain Starling announce through the speakers inside his helmet.

  “You mean his body double?” Oz said.

  There were rumors that the president had employed a team of shape-shifting Thule to stand in for him during any public appearances, while he and his family hid in an underground bunker—which seemed odd, considering that all of humanity was at war with the Thule.

  “I can pretty much guarantee you that the Secret Service is monitoring this frequency, genius,” Danielle said.

  Oz shrugged. “What are they going to do, arrest me for telling the truth? Besides, if they haven’t locked me away by now, I doubt it’s ever going to happen.”

  The sound of footsteps echoed through the tunnel, and when Colt turned around he saw three men in black suits and mirrored sunglasses, each with a white earpiece and a stoic expression.

  “Told you they were listening,” Danielle said, but the Secret Service agents walked past Oz.

  “Cadet McAlister?” the lead agent asked as he approached Colt. He was older than the other two, with cropped gray hair and skin so pale that Colt wondered if he was a vampire.

  Oz, who had never been much for diplomacy, stood in front of Colt with his arms folded across his massive chest. “Who wants to know?”

  “My name is Agent Marz, and this is Agent Denton. The gentleman with the briefcase is Agent Galloway.” He paused a moment, as though waiting for Oz to introduce himself, but he didn’t. “We’re going to need Cadet McAlister to remove his helmet and one of his gloves.”

  “I don’t think so,” Oz said.

  Agent Marz was at least six inches shorter and thirty pounds lighter than Oz, but if he was intimidated, he didn’t show it. “Please step aside, son.”

  “Uh-oh,” Danielle said, her voice barely a whisper as it carried over the comlink. “This is about to get ugly.”

  Oz narrowed his eyes and flared his nostrils. “I’m not your son,” he said, the words spilling from his lips like a growl.

  “What’s going on down there?” Captain Starling said through his comlink.

  “We have a bit of an issue,” Glyph said, the pitch of his voice betraying his nerves. “Members of the Secret Service have arrived, and they are asking—”

  “Yes, I heard what they asked,” Captain Starling said. “What I want to know is why.”

  “Excuse me,” Glyph said, raising his unusually long index finger as he shuffled toward the agents. “I hate to be a bother, but Captain Starling—he’s the . . . I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten the title that he asked us to use.”

  “Executive producer,” Danielle said, rolling her eyes.

  “Ah, yes,” Glyph said with a nod. “The executive producer of the show would like to inquire as to the nature of your business with Cadet McAlister.”

  “According to our records, we’ve tested the entire campus, with one exception.”

  Colt’s eyes went wide, and his heart started to thrum behind his rib cage. The Secret Service had arrived early that morning to run everyone from cadets and instructors to dishwashers and maintenance workers through a series of tests to determine if any shapeshifters had infiltrated the campus prior to the president’s arrival.

  Colt’s status as the next Phantom Flyer was public knowledge, but the fact that Thule DNA flowed through his bloodstream was not. The last thing the government wanted was for the American people to find out that their savior was anything but human, and Superintendent Thorne had assured Colt that he wouldn’t be tested. Apparently Agent Marz didn’t get the memo.

  “Where’s Superintendent Thorne?” Captain Starling asked, his voice borderline shrill.

  Colt could picture his face turning red and the veins in his neck starting to pop out.

  “What about Giru Ba or Lohr? Please tell me there’s a faculty member down there with you.”

  “Not at the moment,” Glyph said, his head swiveling on his long neck as he searched the room.

  “This is a disaster,” Captain Starling said. “Whatever you do, don’t let them run that test, and that’s an order. Do you hear me?”

  “Um . . . sir, does that mean you’re asking us to engage in conflict?” Glyph asked.

  “That’s exactly what he’s asking,” Oz said, dropping his arms as his hands formed into fists. “So listen, Agent Marz, is it?” He took a step toward the agent. “I’m afraid you and your clones are going to have to leave. We’re about to put on a show for the entire world, and you’re kind of breaking our concentration.”

  “That won’t be possible,” Agent Marz said. “Please step aside.”

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  “I won’t tell you again.”

  “Is that supposed to be a threat?” Oz said as the flight team surrounded the Secret Service agents, each of them in full fight gear.

  “All we need is a blood sample,” Agent Marz said as he opened the left side of his jacket, revealing a handgun in a chest holster.

  “Fine,” Colt said, removing his glove as he pushed past Oz. He’d already lost his parents, and he was about to watch his friends get shot because they were trying to make sure his secret didn’t get out.

  “What are you doing?” Oz reached out and grabbed Colt by the shoulder, but Colt pulled away. “It’s not going to happen.”

  “That’s enough.”