The Gathering

by Michael Carroll

  “God, let me tell you, Josh was a lot more fun ten years ago. I used to think he was so cool. Now there are times when it’s all I can do to stop myself from punching him.”

  “Don’t change the subject,” Danny said.

  “Look,” Renata said. “My parents are still in the hospital—back home in Breckin Falls—but at least they’re out of danger. And whether Josh likes it or not, I’m going to see them again. How, exactly, is someone supposed to be able to stop me? Col, you’re the only one who might be strong enough and I know you won’t try. Will you?”

  Colin shook his head. “No. But if you’re going to do it, then do it. Go, see them and get back here.”

  They fell silent as Solomon Cord approached, wearing his Paragon armor. “What are you kids up to?”

  “Nothing.”

  “I’ve been making some modifications to the jetpack. Thought I’d take it out for a spin.” In the half darkness, he gave Renata a significant look. “I’m heading southwest. Probably get twenty miles or so, maybe as far as the airport. Could get a lot farther than that, of course, if I wasn’t carrying anything. But twenty is about the best I can do.”

  Colin got to his feet. “It’s getting cold. I’m going in.” He glanced back at Renata and nodded, then walked toward the stairwell.

  Solomon put on his helmet and spoke into the microphone. “Caroline? Sol. I’m on the roof. About to test the mods to the pack. Warming up the systems and will be departing in about a minute.” He looked at Danny and Renata. “Say your good-byes or whatever it is that you need to do.” He walked away.

  “Ready?” Danny asked, helping Renata to her feet.

  “No…I don’t have my helmet…But this is the best chance I’ll get. If there is a traitor, I don’t want him to know I’ve gone.”

  Danny hesitated. “You…uh…You will come back, right?”

  She nodded. There was an awkward moment between them, then they heard the sound of Paragon’s jetpack starting up.

  The moment lost, Renata stepped away from Danny. “I’ll come back.” She turned and ran toward Solomon, who scooped her up in his arms and zoomed off into the sky.

  Danny watched the point of light shrink and vanish.

  15

  THE NEXT MORNING AFTER BREAKFAST, Joshua Dalton gathered the teenagers in the Ops Room. “Where’s Renata?” he asked, looking at Danny.

  Danny looked around. “She could still be in bed.”

  “She’s not. We logged her going out on to the roof last night with you, but she never logged back in. What happened, Danny?”

  “I’ve no idea. Maybe she’s still up there?”

  Josh sighed and walked right up to Danny. “Where is she?”

  “I honestly don’t know.” He’s not going to let this go, Danny thought. “Josh, if Renata’s missing then maybe we should be out there looking for her.”

  Josh stared at him. He wants to see if I’ll look away. Danny had once read that people who are lying tend to glance down or touch their face. He kept his eyes fixed on Josh’s.

  “All right,” Josh said, stepping back. He looked at the others. “There’s strong evidence to indicate that someone in Sakkara has been leaking information to our enemy. Renata’s disappearance suggests that either she is the traitor or she has been taken.”

  “She could have just left on her own,” Razor said.

  “How? The grounds are monitored by motion detectors. The only person who’d be fast enough to get through undetected is Danny and his powers have gone.” He glanced again at Danny. “You holding something back?”

  “No!”

  “You are all confined to your rooms. You are stripped of your television privileges. And until we learn otherwise, we’re going to treat Renata as hostile.”

  “That’s crazy!” Colin said.

  “No, it’s just wise.”

  In a cold voice, Yvonne said, “Josh.”

  “What?”

  “Look at me…Let it go, Josh.”

  The man sighed. “All right, all right. Carry on as normal. But…Keep vigilant! We still don’t know what we’re up against.”

  Josh dismissed them and, as they made their way along the corridor, Danny turned to Yvonne. “Thanks. It’s bad enough being stuck here over Christmas without being grounded as well.”

  An hour later, Mina approached Razor in the machine room. He was hunched over the workbench, soldering iron in one hand and a complex mechanical device in the other.

  Without looking up, he asked, “What can I do for you, Mina?”

  “You knew.”

  “Knew what?”

  “Renata.”

  Razor put down the soldering iron. “All right, Mina. I know you’re not big on conversation, but if you want people to know what you’re talking about, you have to actually tell them.”

  Mina hesitated for a moment, then said, “You knew Renata was gone, didn’t you?”

  “No.”

  “Your aura tells me you’re lying. Just like you were in Ops.”

  Damn it, Razor said to himself. Didn’t know she could do that. He knew he had to change the subject. “Are you really serious about this aura stuff?”

  She nodded.

  “You’re the only superhuman I’ve ever heard of who can do that. What’s my aura like?”

  Hesitantly, Mina said, “Your aura is tainted.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “The future. It’s bad.”

  Razor shuddered. “OK, now you’re starting to freak me out. Mina, do you know how crazy that sounds?”

  “I am not crazy.”

  “I’m not saying that you are crazy, just what you’re saying.” He pushed his chair back from the bench and leaned back, arms folded. “All right then. Tell me about the auras. What do they look like? Do they come in different colors and shapes, is that it?”

  “Different colors, shapes, tones, patterns, emotions, time, weight…Every aura is different, but there are patterns. People from the same family usually have similar auras.”

  “Would you be able to know if someone was a superhuman just by looking at their aura?”

  Mina thought about this, then nodded. “Yes, now that there’s more than just me, Yvonne and Josh.”

  “Josh has a superhuman aura too? So the aura doesn’t change when they lose their powers…,” Razor said thoughtfully. “So how does it work? When you look at me, what exactly can you see?”

  “There’s a glow. Bright and dark patches drifting through it. It changes with your mood.”

  “How close does someone have to be before you can see their aura? Would you be able to see it from, say, a hundred yards away?”

  “If I know what someone’s aura looks like, I can always find them. If they’re within about eight miles.”

  Razor bit his lip as he thought. “Where’s Colin right now?”

  “In his room.”

  “Butler?”

  “The gym.”

  “And your friend Danny? Where’s he?”

  “In the gym with Butler. They’re not talking to each other.”

  “I’m not surprised. So what is it between you and Danny? You like him, don’t you?”

  Mina blushed, but didn’t reply.

  “Colin said that back home all the girls liked Danny. Until he lost his arm.”

  “Danny’s got a pure aura. Not a completely pure one, but the closest I’ve ever seen.”

  “Oh God, you didn’t tell him that, did you?”

  Mina shook her head violently. “No! Of course not!”

  “Good. So are you telling me you know where everyone is, all the time?”

  “Not automatically. But I can find them if I look hard enough.”

  “All right then…Here’s an important one: what makes a superhuman aura different from everyone else’s?”

  “There’s an extra twist. It’s hard to explain…There’s more to a superhuman aura.”

  “Are there any people here who don’t have powers but do hav
e that twist to their aura?”

  “Yes. Mr. and Mrs. Wagner, Façade, Josh and Niall.”

  “So when Niall reaches puberty he’s going to be a superhuman?”

  Mina nodded.

  “Can you tell whether Danny’s lost his powers forever?”

  She looked away. “I can tell that he’s holding something back. It could be that he’s just not letting himself use his powers. But it might be something else. If someone’s hiding a big secret it shows up in their aura. Like Josh and Mr. Wagner.”

  “Who else?”

  “People keep secrets for a reason.”

  “Who else?” Razor repeated, more firmly.

  “Yvonne. She’s had the same thing for a long time now. I think she might have found out something about our parents, but she’s not telling me. You have a secret too. Not just about Renata. Something else.”

  Razor glanced down at the mechanical device on his bench. “Yeah, I do. But you can’t tell what those secrets are, right? Just that we have them?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Good. I promise you that this secret isn’t a bad thing. Do you believe me?”

  Mina looked at him carefully, then nodded.

  Dioxin sat on a chair in front of the wall of television screens. Each screen showed a different channel, but all of them were reporting the same story.

  “I’ve got to hand it to you, Cross,” Dioxin said. “You’re a lot more fun to work with than Ragnarök was.”

  Victor Cross smiled. “And it’s going to be even more fun after tonight.” He turned up the volume on one of the channels. It showed recent footage of Paragon in flight. The reporter’s voice said, “Government officials are refusing to comment, but it’s widely accepted that Paragon, Diamond, Kid Titan and possibly three other teenage superhumans are currently operating from a base somewhere in Kansas.”

  The screen switched to footage of the destruction of the schools and the airport, plus body counts and costs in millions of dollars, then cut to an interview with a grime-covered, exhausted-looking fire chief. “If these new heroes ain’t gonna stop the terrorists, the least they could do is come here and help us search for the survivors. What’s the use of superhumans if they’re just gonna sit around on their butts at a time like this?”

  “Time for my own broadcast,” Cross said, reaching for his keyboard. He tapped away at the keys for a few seconds, then slipped a DVD into his computer. “Took me three takes to get this right.”

  A large screen in the center of the wall blanked out, then showed the Trutopians’ logo, with the words “Stand By.” A voice said, “We interrupt this program for a message from Reginald Kinsella.”

  A second later, Cross’s disguised face appeared on the screen. “My friends…This was supposed to be my Christmas—or, if you prefer, winter holiday—message. I was going to talk about the great strides our community has made over the past year, how successful we have been at drastically cutting down crime. But…my conscience will not allow me to do that, not while people in the outside world are hurting.

  “This is not a time for panic. I am certain that the Sakkara terrorists will be brought to justice, if not by the new heroes then by the regular authorities. There is no reason to assume that the superhumans have abandoned us: I’m sure that they’re doing everything they can to help. However…we relied on the protection of superhumans for a long time, then they seemingly disappeared and we had to learn to fend for ourselves. Who can say whether this time they are here to stay? We cannot assume that they will always be here for us. More importantly, this new generation of superhumans has been active for only a short time. Perhaps the question that we should be asking is not ‘Why don’t they do anything?’ but ‘Can they do anything?’”

  A pause. “In light of these attacks, I’m asking that every member of the Trutopian community be extra vigilant over the holiday season. This should be a time for peace, not destruction. It saddens me to have to do this, but…for the safety of us all, I’ve just given the order that security on our communities be doubled from now until the foreseeable future. All public areas are to be closed immediately. They will be checked and double-checked for explosive devices, and will not open until we are absolutely certain that they are safe. All stores, restaurants, bars, entertainment establishments, churches and schools are hereby closed. A dusk to dawn curfew is in place.”

  Dioxin turned to Cross. “You’re canceling Christmas?”

  Victor grinned. “Yeah.”

  “Nice.”

  On screen, Kinsella continued. “Anyone who has business outside their own Trutopian community will unfortunately not be able to go to work. From now until further notice, the gates are closed. I promise you that this will be only a temporary situation. My friends, I don’t make these decisions lightly. This is for our own safety. If the superhumans can’t protect us, we have to protect ourselves. Thank you for listening.”

  The phone on Cross’s desk rang. “Victor Cross. Speak to me.” He listened for a moment. “That’s good…At what time? Got it.” He hung up.

  “So now what?” Dioxin asked.

  “Now I sit back and deal with the fallout of that announcement and you get your men ready. You’re going to Topeka. That was our little puppet in Sakkara on the phone. He’s just given me Paragon’s schedule.”

  16

  COLIN AND DANNY WERE IN SAKKARA’S gym, taking turns halfheartedly tossing a basketball through a loop Colin had tied in one of the ropes.

  Colin knew that he could make every shot, but he deliberately missed a few: Danny was finding it difficult enough to even pick up the ball.

  “This is the worst Christmas Day ever!” Danny said. “My mum and Niall are in some safe house God-knows-where, there are no presents, no decorations and no nice food. And Renata’s gone. I hope she’s going to be OK.”

  The ball bounced back to Colin and he caught it left-handed. “I’m sure she will be. She’s able to look after herself.” Go on, Colin urged himself. Say it! “So, um, you and her are…Well, what’s happening there? Are you going out together or what?” He threw the ball at the loop.

  “Close one…No, we’re not,” Danny said. “But…I get the feeling that something might happen.”

  “Doesn’t it bother you that she’s really twenty-four?”

  “No she’s not. She was frozen for ten years! Physically and mentally she’s only fourteen.” He sighed. “She likes me, I know that much.”

  “So does Mina.” Colin sighed. “Just once I wish some girl would show some interest in me.”

  “What about Stephanie? She’s always teasing you. And it’s pretty clear that you’re crazy about her.”

  Colin hesitated. “Clear to you or clear to everyone?”

  “Everyone.” Danny trapped the basketball with his foot, then leaned over to slip his hand under it: it was the only way he could pick up the ball.

  “There’s just no way a girl like her would go for someone like me,” Colin said.

  “Well, you know how to find out, don’t you? When they all get back from the safe house, you could ask her.”

  “I can’t do that! What if she said no?”

  “What if she said yes?”

  “She wouldn’t say yes.”

  “Then forget about her.”

  “I don’t think I can.”

  Danny raised his eyes. “God, that’s pathetic, Col.” He spun the ball on one finger. “Hey, I can still do this!”

  “Suppose I do ask her out,” Colin said, “and she says no and then tells everyone and laughs about it?”

  “Would you go out with the sort of person who would do something like that?”

  “Well, no.”

  “Do you think Stephanie is that sort of person?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know. Probably not.”

  “There you are, then. Just ask her!”

  “Or I could get Renata to ask her,” Colin said thoughtfully.

  “Yeah, but—”

  The ala
rm sounded. They jumped to their feet and ran toward Ops. As they rushed into the room, Caroline was speaking into the communicator, “No way to tell whether it’s the same people. A large black copter, coming out of nowhere…Strafing the railway carriages.”

  Paragon’s voice replied, “Doesn’t matter whether it’s them or not. Whoever it is has got to be stopped.”

  Josh turned to Colin. “Get to the roof! Now!”

  Façade was running toward the StratoTruck as Colin emerged on to the roof. “What’s going on?” Colin asked.

  They climbed into the vehicle and Façade began the start-up sequence. “Strap yourself in. We’ve just got a report of an unmarked black helicopter attacking the industrial railway station five miles north of here. By sheer luck Paragon was already in the air; he’s gone to investigate. Now sit down!”

  “What about Danny and the others?”

  “We don’t have time to wait for them.”

  Warren reached the jet’s ramp. “Let’s go.”

  Colin put out his hand to stop his father. “You won’t be any good to us, Dad! They need you more here!”

  Warren hesitated. “Colin…”

  “Dad, get back inside and make sure all the doors are sealed!”

  “No, I’m coming with you.”

  “You’re not!” Colin put his hand on his father’s chest and pushed. Warren tumbled backward down the ramp and on to the roof. “Take it up, Façade!” Colin shouted. “Go! And don’t close the hatch!”

  “You’re the boss. Hold tight.”

  The force of the sudden vertical takeoff almost knocked Colin off his feet. When the StratoTruck was clear of the roof, it spun about until it was facing north, then surged forward.

  Colin looked out at the lights of the city streaming by below and felt the familiar queasiness and dizziness of vertigo. What am I going to do? he wondered. Jump? What if I miss?

  Seconds later, Façade said, “There they are. Dead ahead, moving away from us.”

  “Where’s Sol?”

  “I don’t see him…”

  “Match their speed and course! Get as close as possible to that copter!”

  Paragon soared through the night sky, straight toward the large helicopter. As he neared, the copter ceased its attack and banked away.