She takes the chair and stretches it out. Carlos places me in it and pushes me to the special spot. He makes sure we are all standing within the boundaries and presses his hand against the ancient rock wall.
The ground shakes, separating from the Earth around it as we lower into the shaft that leads to the secret lair of the Protector.
“How is it no one knows about this place after almost seventy years of the Protector?” Kate asks.
“She told me once that a few governments have tried to find this place, but it will only open to people she allows. That’s if they even knew where it is. I mean, clearly they have to know I operate out of Greece, but it’s not like they can follow me on radar or anything.”
“That could change with the new EU laws on superheroes,” Kate says.
More regulations? Great.
Carlos chuckles. “They can’t really make me do anything, Kate. It’s not like they can threaten me with jail or something. The rules for the Protector predate the European Union by quite a lot.”
The lift shakes to a halt and the doors slide open. The cave beyond looks vastly different than the last time I saw it… more like a fully furnished open floor plan apartment than a cave. The ceiling stretches up high above, the walls are square, and the little lake is gone, as well as the waterfall.
“Wow,” I say.
“Yeah, she remodeled a little.”
“A little?” Kate says, astonished.
On the far side is a swank little kitchen with everything a five-star chef could want. To the left is a massive sunken living room with a huge TV, stereo, and a half-moon couch that looks like it’s made of marshmallow. On the right is a large round swimming pool. A skylight shines eerie blue light down on the pool. A large red-rock step formation reaches up a dozen feet and twice as wide, giving it an almost desert appearance.
Pythia swims out of sight behind the rocky island then reappears a few seconds later. She splashes through the water until she reaches the steps that lead out of the pool toward us. Emerging from the water in a form-fitting swimsuit, she runs her hands through her long black hair, pulling it behind her and out of her face. She grabs a towel from the rack next to the steps that lead into the pool and wraps it around her lithe form.
“Amelia, Kate. I didn’t expect to see you back here so soon.”
The temperature in the room drops about a hundred degrees as Kate’s eyes slowly turn toward Carlos. I can’t imagine I would be happy to find out my boyfriend was living with a girl so blatantly hot.
“Amelia needs to discuss something with you,” he says as he pushes me into the room.
Pythia gives us a coy smile as she turns and saunters toward the single bedroom door.
“I’ll change and be right out.”
The moment the door closes I push myself out of Carlos’s grasp and head for the kitchen. I’m thirsty and I know she stocks Cokes in the fridge.
“Why is there only one bedroom door?” Kate asks Carlos as I pull away.
“I don’t control her, you know,” he says. “She does what she wants.”
“Oh, I see. And the fact that you and I...”
“Kate, you’re my girlfriend and so much more. My heart belongs to you,” he says. I can’t help but smile and think, ‘good answer.’
She clearly agrees. “Smooth,” she says. “It wouldn’t bother me if I could read her, but it almost feels like she’s taunting me.”
Carlos shrugs. “She doesn’t interact with a lot of people and ever since she came back, she’s been a little different.”
I find the stash of Cokes she has in the fridge and help myself to a couple. Holding them in my lap, I wheel over to the living room and park myself next to the couch to wait.
Kate and Carlos sit down, holding hands, which is nice. He places his helmet on the end table next to where he sits.
We don’t have to wait long. Pythia comes out of the bedroom, her black hair in an elaborate braid. A little makeup accentuates her very blue eyes. She’s wearing skinny jeans and a long white t-shirt. She grabs her own Coke before coming and sitting down on the ottoman facing the three of us.
“What may I do to help you?” she asks.
I think of a lot of things to say, but none of them will do any good. The past is the past and it can’t be changed. Even if Frank could still travel through time, I’d be taking Luke from a timeline where people would die who wouldn’t have, and he wouldn’t like that.
“I need to know if you can predict something for me,” I ask her.
She raises one exquisite eyebrow before her lips part just enough for her to ask, “What?”
“I need to know where Tia is, or where she will be. Can you do that?”
Confusion crosses her face as she looks from me to Kate and back to me. “I was under the impression your teammate had died... I’m sorry but I was away for a while. I’m still catching up on—”
I grip my chair hard, trying to reign in the frustration I’m feeling. Lately it’s like my emotions are boiling just under the surface and my usual calm, cool, collected demeanor is cracking.
“Pythia, I don’t have time for your games. She’s not dead and you know it. I just need you to tell me where she’ll be, it doesn’t matter if it is in three days or a month. Just a where and when and I can do the rest.”
Her eyes narrow at me and her lips form a scowl. “I’m not playing games with you, Amelia. I’ve never played games with you. I did what I had to do to save humanity. That is my sole mission. Protect the human race. I’ve never lied about that.”
“Sure, just everything else.”
“Amelia,” Kate warns me.
“Yeah, yeah. Focus. One day, Pythia, you and I are going to have words, and you aren’t going to like it. But that day is not today. I need you to drop the act and tell me where she will be.”
“I’m confused,” Carlos says suddenly. “I get you think Tia isn’t dead, but how can Pythia know where she is? I mean she vanished, right?”
I shake my head. “Tia can manipulate her mass and density. She could go heavy or light. I’m hypothesizing that she reduced her density to the point that her molecular cohesion drifted too far apart and she couldn’t pull it back together.”
Carlos stares blankly at me for a moment. “I don’t get it.”
I look at Carlos and roll my eyes. “She turned into gas, Carlos, and the wind blew her away. But her atoms are still attracted to each other; they won’t drift far apart, at least not initially. If we act fast enough we might be able to pull her back together, but I need to know where she will be at any given moment to do that. Since even I can’t do that math, I am turning to the only person in the world who can accurately predict where Tia will be. Once I know where, and how much time I have, I might... might be able to devise something to bring her back.” I turn back to Pythia who is still peering at me with narrow eyelids. “So, can you really see the future, or are you full of crap like I think you are?”
She puts her Coke down then wipes her palms along her legs, all while looking directly at me without blinking. “I wonder, if I’m so ‘full of crap,’ why you are here?” Her ice-cold tone leaves no doubt how she feels about me. Which is fine. I’m not happy with her either.
“Because I love Tia more than I’m angry with you. I won’t lose her because I can’t let go of the rage in my heart from losing Luke—for which I blame you. You knew from the second we met that I was responsible for all the death and misery in the world and you said nothing.”
She shrugged. “You wouldn’t have believed me if I had. Or worse, you would have believed me and then where would we be? A world without superheroes would have fallen to the Th’un. Would you prefer that?”
I shake my head, pinching the bridge of my nose and closing my eyes as a headache starts in. “I would have preferred to have the man I love stay with me. Maybe everything else was unavoidable, but I could have saved Luke. If I had known, I could have planned for it.”
She looks d
own at the carpet and when she speaks her voice is a whisper. “I told you the world still needed you, Amelia. Through you the world got Luke when it needed him most. You don’t know half the things he did to keep the world safe during the great wars. You never will. Without him, no Sydney and no Carlos. Can you imagine the death and destruction that would have swept the Earth for a hundred years? And that’s before the Th’un came. That’s without Ericsson. I have the weight of history on me Amelia; I can’t really hang all of that in the balance of your love life... no matter how much I wanted too.”
I open my mouth to retort but end up closing it. Her last words were so full of sorrow I have a hard time staying mad. Anger seeps out of me like helium from a balloon. She had a responsibility, and dammit Amelia, if there is one thing you understand, it’s sacrificing for your responsibilities.
“Okay,” I say letting out a long breath. “Okay. I hear you. I get it. You had to do what you had to do. So did I, so did... Luke.” I lean against my shaking hand covering my eyes trying to get everything back under control. “I don’t know if we can ever be friends, Pythia, but I’ll stop being mad at you for things you had to do. Anger doesn’t do me any favors.”
I know it’s irrational, but I lost the man I loved and I blame lies for it. She was so sure she was right, it never occurred to her that she could be wrong, or that I could have come up with a better solution.
“It doesn’t really do anyone any favors,” she says.
“There’s that girl in Florida who gets strong when she’s mad,” Carlos says with a smile. “I guess it does her favors.”
I glare at him. “Hardy-har, Mr. Chuckles.”
We all fall into a moment of silence as we figure out a way to break through the awkwardness that has popped up. As usual, Kate leads the way.
“Pythia, is there a way Tia could still be alive? I know you have impressive precognitive powers, but...” Kate lets her sentence trail off.
Pythia’s mouth spreads into a slow grin. “I know what you’re doing, flattery won’t work on me, but it really doesn’t matter. My precognition, my ability to know what is going to happen before it happens, isn’t something I can control. I’m also not omniscient. Sometimes I just get flashes of insight on where to send the Protector. Other times, whole futures show themselves. If I could touch her... but then if I could, we wouldn’t need me to.”
I nod. It makes sense. She’s always seeing things from touching people, like me in the past.
“Do... do you need to touch her, specifically?” I ask.
“What do you mean?” she asks, cocking her head to the side.
“What if you touched something important to her, or someone close to her?”
She nods, “Maybe,” she shrugs.
“Can you try?” I ask.
She leans forward and touches my leg. Her eyes go wide for a moment. Then she closes them tight. She starts shaking, tears fall down her cheeks, and she screams. Carlos leaps up, dragging her away from me and turning her around to face the other direction.
“Well,” I say. “That wasn’t ominous at all.”
FIVE
ONE WEEK LATER: THE SPIRES. PHOENIX, ARIZONA
The dark-skinned athletic woman flipped her long dreadlocks behind her as she crouched in anticipation. Her muscles were ripcord taught, and her hands ended in long, lethal claws.
“Are you sure this is the place?” she asked the two men behind her. Both were dressed in high-tech ninja outfits. All black, but with goggles that shimmered, and silver-plated guns with glowing green battery packs.
“Yes,” came the synthesized voice.
Vixen snarled. She was tired of the games people played with her. ARC had freed her from the UltraMax, but that didn’t mean she was their slave. She was the best thief they had access too, and right then, that was what they needed—and they were willing to pay her a king’s ransom for her skills.
The last time she’d broken into a superhero headquarters to steal something it hadn’t really worked out well. She couldn’t help but compare the similarities here.
At least Lockheart is out of the superhero business.
The large desert rock they hid behind wasn’t much cover. If it wasn’t for the cloaking shield the two men carried with them they’d be visible to any camera pointed in their direction. And she was sure the Spires had plenty of cameras.
“Where’s her apartment?” she asked.
“Seventh floor, south Spire. This device will keep you invisible to cameras, and therefore the building’s AI. It will also prevent your prey from using her powers… at least temporarily.” The man directly behind her moved to place a small circular disk on her chest. She swatted his hand away.
“Don’t get familiar,” she said with an angry growl.
“Hardly. Just put it on your chest,” he said in his flat synthetic voice.
She sure would like to know how they did that with their voices. It was unsettling. She pressed it to her chest, and it sealed against the skin tight fabric she wore—not much more than a gymnast leotard. Normally she wore one with leopard spots, but this one was all black.
“This,” he held out a small cell phone like box, “should open any doors within a few seconds,” he said handing it to her and leaving her to decide what to do with it. He then pulled another device from his bag, unfolded it and reached for her head.
“Hey,” she snarled, slapping his hand away again.
“If you do not allow me to attach this, she will read your emotions and you won’t make it within a hundred feet of her.”
. “Oh. You’ve thought of everything.”
“Indeed.”
While he attached the headband, she slipped the electronic lock bypass into the small pouch she had on her belt.
“If you have all this, I wonder why you need me?” she asked.
“You’re good at what you do. Your claws are sufficiently sharp that you can collect a large enough sample without too much trouble,” he said.
“And I’m expendable,” she finished for him.
He nodded. “You do this for us, and you’re set for life. Remember, though, Clarice, no killing.”
She snarled. “Vixen. My name is Vixen. And I don’t know why you people are so squeamish about me killing a few Protectors.”
He shook his head. “You are short-sighted. If you kill any of them, it will bring a lot more heat on us than we need. If you kill the target, Lockheart will surely become involved and we can’t have that, yet... They won’t look too hard at your real goal as long as everyone lives. Do you understand?”
She did. She didn’t like it, but she got it. She glanced at the Spires then back at the two men behind her.
“Are you sure she’s there?”
“We have a person on the inside.” He held up his hand. “He can’t help you. It was ridiculously hard to infiltrate their staff. Any more questions?”
She shook her head.
“Okay. We’ll be here when you come out. Remember, we need at least five ounces. About a handful.”
“Fine.”
Vixen took off, bounding away through the dark, disappearing into the shadows as she ran toward the Spires.
She leaped over the fence with ease; it was topped with razor wire but only twelve feet tall. She landed on the far side with no more noise than a grouse disappearing into his hole.
She kept her mind focused as she made her way to the rear of the main building. On the fifth floor was a balcony that led inside to a break room. That was her way in.
The two buildings were only fifty feet apart, designed so that the living quarters were in the shadow of the second spire for most of the day. The ground around them was flat and paved, with various garden boxes and trees for shade. Perfect for her to infiltrate all the way to the wall itself.
She froze as she entered the garden, her sensitive hearing picking up a quiet whisper. Two people—she couldn’t make out who just yet—were walking slowly through the garden, hand in hand.
>
“How long can you stay this time,” the man asked.
The woman had incredibly long, golden hair. She turned her head to answer. “When last I spoke to Luxilla, they were making good progress. However, since Amelia returned to the present my ship’s quantum gate drive has been jammed. I cannot return there until we deal with whoever is behind it. It doesn’t really matter, though; the people are being awoken. They no longer need me there. I can stay for as long as I want Tony, and I want to stay for as long as you’ll have me.”
Vixen wasn’t interested in tangling with anyone, let alone Fleet and Lux. With his speed and her sheer power, there was no way to win.
She flattened against the ground behind a large pine tree and waited. The two lovebirds took a few moments to gaze into each other’s eyes before they moved on.
Took you long enough.
Vixen sprang up, padded quietly across the garden to the sheer walls. She placed her claws up above her head and jammed them into the metal, digging them in half an inch deep.
She smirked.
Climbing was easy for her; it only took a moment to pull her claws out and jam them back in. By the time she got to the balcony leading to the break room she was feeling confident about the whole affair. She grabbed the lip of the balcony and pulled herself over, landing on the other side in one smooth motion.
It was almost midnight; while the operation of the Spire’s staff was 24/7, the break room was empty. She slid the door open and slipped inside, scanning as she went to make sure she didn’t accidentally miss anyone.
Once in the hallway she debated for a moment. Ultimately, she decided on the stairs; no one would likely use them in a building this tall. She darted for the stairwell, a trickle of worry nagging at her from the cameras that she knew were there.
Arsenal Reloaded (Full Metal Superhero Book 8) Page 3
