“Gah,” I yell. I want to scream but I don’t. I give Sea King a few more seconds to clear the area before I get back to work.
Twenty-FIVE
Kate sighed as she looked out the window of her Paris apartment. She was worried. She always worried about Amelia when her brilliant friend went on dangerous missions without her. She didn’t begrudge Amelia her goal, she just wished there was a way to go with her.
However, when she looked at “John and Hope” sitting on the couch watching a TED talk, she would admit that her role in the plan was important.
ARC had been one step ahead of them the whole way. Now, they knew why. Amelia was on a mission, not just to recover her armor, but their friend. If Kate could keep the scientist’s parents safe long enough, then Amelia could accomplish her goals without worry.
Of course, there were plans within plans. It would be foolish to think ARC didn’t know about Kate’s off-book apartment.
Almost as if on cue, she felt emotions appearing above her. Anxiety, nervousness, anger… a whole host of feelings from the EU’s Safety Force, who were, either knowingly or not, doing the bidding of ARC.
She ‘followed’ them with her mind as they waited for the building to evacuate. Paris police were silently coordinating the efforts to move people away from a potential fight. The Safety Force seemed impatient.
She closed her eyes for a second to focus on the origin of the emotions... there were four, but one of them was... off.
Kate was in full costume: black titanium-carbide weave clothing, with her large assortment of weapons, from grenades, to swords, to her IP Pistols that Amelia made especially for her, each one in its own holster or harness.
Then there was her arm, which was a weapon unto itself.
“Carlos,” she whispered. “They’re here. Get ready.”
She suspected that they would use Carlos as a pretense to come here—which was exactly what she wanted. Amelia wasn’t the only person who could pull of machinations.
“You two, get ready,” she said to the people in her living room. “John” nodded, holding “Hope’s” hand tight.
It only took a few minutes for the building to evacuate; Kate felt the Safety Force’s anticipation like it was her own. Then they appeared.
Her apartment was large, but it wasn’t that big. Seven people filled it up to bursting. The Safety Force, on the other side of Amelia’s parents, cut her off from the entrance.
“Kate Petrenelli, you are under detainment for harboring The Protector,” Moon-Watch said, pointing at her. From both Amelia’s and Carlos’ description of the man she figured he was a pompous jerk, but the level of arrogance and righteous indignation coming off him was unreal.
“Really?” she said with a smirk. “You think so?”
Her flippant attitude left the four-person team glancing at each other. She focused her empathy on them, figuring out what they were thinking. The only person who wasn’t an open book was Fille Magnifique. From personal experience, Kate knew that other people with mental powers tended to be hard to read. Their minds were stronger, more developed, and even if they weren’t aware of it, they had natural defenses to mind-reading and mind-altering powers.
However, this was different. It wasn’t so much that Fille’s powers were keeping Kate from reading the French woman’s emotions, but it was more like those emotions were surface deep only. As if they were programmed into her.
Something wasn’t right, that was for sure.
Moon-Watch, gaining confidence from his team at his back, took another step forward. “Drop your weapons and come with us.”
“Or what?” she asked. Regardless of what happened next, she wanted to make sure she didn’t strike the first blow.
“Or we’ll make you,” he said menacingly.
“The Protector isn’t here and hasn’t been recently. It’s just me and my two guests. Please explain what law you are using to invade my home and arrest me?” she asked.
“Pfft. We don’t need to explain anything to you. You are coming with us.”
Kate focused her mind on Moon-Watch. She’d spent the last twenty minutes filling the apartment with pheromones that would promote honesty. A feeling of euphoria that would cause anyone breathing them to be more honest because they had nothing to fear from the truth!
“You don’t, you’re right. But why? Why now?” she asked again in her calm, even tone. Between the pheromones and her direct manipulation, he had no chance.
“Because The Protector is a blasphemer and needs to be destroyed. The EU will stop at nothing to get rid of him or control him. Regardless of what laws we need to invent or...”
Their full face masks kept Kate from seeing his team member’s expressions, but she could imagine the horror on their faces as Moon-Watch admitted to the truth of the farce.
“Mate, what are you doing?” Union said quietly.
“Enough. Destroy her,” Fille Magnifique said pointing at Kate.
Regardless of Moon-Watch’s stunning revelation, they moved to take her down.
“Hey now,” Kate said as she jumped out of the way and Irish Spring hit the floor with a blow that blew a large hole through it. “There are civilians here,” she said.
“Like we care,” Spring said as she pulled her hammer shaped hands out of the hole.
Kate smiled, finally revealing how she really felt. “Oh, I know you don’t, but I wanted to make sure the cameras caught it all.”
Suddenly, Fille turned to Amelia parents and waved her hand. Disk shaped objects appeared beneath them and raised up, teleporting them away.
“Your foolish arrogance has cost you the Lockhearts,” the French hero said.
“I’m the arrogant one?” Kate answered, dodging another blow from Spring. “You just teleported two people you don’t know to ARC headquarters. Also, thanks for clearing the building.” With one last look around and a large sigh, Kate vanished.
Two seconds later, the Spear of Destiny sliced through the center of the building, followed by The Protector hitting the apartment like a bomb. It collapsed almost immediately, folding in on itself like a black hole.
***
The two people appeared in a nondescript cell. They immediately noticed that the communication devices they carried no longer worked, nor did their link to Milton. A shimmering barrier over the front of their cells made them think it was some kind of energy barrier.
The smiling android standing on the other side spoke as they took in their surroundings.
“Welcome, John and Hope Lockheart. Do not fear, we have no interest in killing you. If your daughter succeeds in acquiring the alien metal, then we shall trade you for her. There is a ninety-nine-point nine percent chance she will accept the trade. There is no need for us to hurt you.”
“That’s good to know,” John said. “How soon until we can go?”
“If she survives her encounter with the Sea King, we shall be making contact with her in a few minutes. Until then, please relax.”
John nodded. “Thank you,” he said. He glanced at Hope with a reassuring smile. She returned it. The energy barrier interested her and she stepped forward to examine it.
“Please, do not touch the cell door. While it won’t kill you, it also won’t be pleasant.”
Hope nodded. “I promise. I won’t touch it.”
Twenty-SIX
I finish with a grunt, pulling the section of the hatch clear and dumping it in the pod. “Pull it up,” I order Epic. The pod retracts slowly across the seabed. While it does so, I examine the hole in the side of the ship. A sigh escaped my lips. I could learn so much from dissecting this ship. They would never let me keep it, though.
“How’s QUACKERS?” I ask.
Amelia, you need to come inside. I am picking up traces of current. I believe Sea King is coming back this way.
“Understood,” I say as I trudge my way back to the ship.
We leave the lights off to keep our visibility low, and the suit has external ligh
ts but they are too small to illuminate more than a few feet in front of me. Epic guides me or I would get lost in the black mire..
He flashes the airlock’s lights at me when I’m close. With the Emjet painted in radar absorbing black, it’s all but invisible down here. Once in, the door closes behind me and the water drains away. As soon as the pressure equalizes, the nanites in my helmet recede into the suit and I take a huge breath.
The inner doors open, and I step into the well-lit cabin. A hole in the floor opens and a duffel bag with the metal comes up. I can’t purify it here, but I will be able to at my base.
I see my device designed to reintegrate Tia is beeping and buzzing for attention. As I walk forward, the suit recedes until I sit in the wheelchair it forms. Wheeling over, I stop at the readout.
“There is something here,” I say looking at the screen. “The kinetic field has definitely grabbed onto something.”
I grab the tether from my wrist computer and connect it to QUACKERS. Pulling up the holographic readout, I look at the numbers.
“I don’t think were in the right place, Epic. Move the ship fifty feet... that-away,” I point off to the side.
The ship hums as it lifts off from the seabed and starts slowly moving to the position I marked. Sweat breaks out on my brow. If I’m wrong, I could kill her for real. Or just not bring her back. What if Pythia meant for me to leave it where we parked? I shake my head. I can’t think that way. Pythia is great for general info, but for specifics? I’m on my own.
Readings go crazy as the field scrambles to compensate. Normally it affects mass on a large scale; it was never meant for this fine-tuned use. Akin to using a sledgehammer to pound in a push-pin—it can be done, but not easily.
“There!” I exclaim. I hit the button that turns up the juice. The ship shakes and the air shimmers for a moment. I look around, hoping to see my friend... and I’m not disappointed.
Like a ghost from a horror movie, a shimmer appears, half in the walls and half out. Her form starts to converge, and I realize she’s in big trouble.
“Epic!”
On it.
Energy pours into the Emdrive for less than one one-hundredth of a second, moving us three feet to the side. Tia doesn’t move, but Epic’s timely intervention puts her reuniting particles in the center isle instead of in the wall.
Light swirls around her and the very air takes on weight, like a mirage in the desert. Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, I can start to make out Tia.
“Come on girl, you can do it!” I yell to her. I don’t know if she can hear me, but I hope she can. An alarm sounds on my wrist as the QUACKERS unit is nearing tolerances. There’s so much energy pouring through it, the pathways are starting to degrade. “Hold together baby.” There isn’t anything to be done about it. —I can’t exactly fix the machine. If we don’t get Tia back to a place where she can start to increase her own mass, then she’s toast.
Amelia, Sea King has circled the area. I am afraid moving may have alerted him to our presence.
“We just need another minute. Target him with kinetic missiles, and if he approaches, fire.”
They will not likely stop him.
“Yeah, but they will slow him down.”
I watch, eyes wide as an outline of Tias form appears. She’s screaming, trying to say something to me. She’s like a large version of herself, but with each second, she condenses, getting smaller until... she’s her normal size, but still immaterial.
“Tia?” I ask her.
The air around her shimmers then in a moment, she drops to the floor with a thump, naked, shivering, and covered in sweat.
Incoming.
Epic fires the missiles, or torpedoes? Not sure if that changes underwater. Regardless, the Emjet shakes as they leave the launch system.
An idea hits me. “Epic, open the outer hatch and turn the lights on. Maybe he’ll come aboard and try and keep the jet. Prime the failsafe and put it on a kill switch.”
Done. Sending the signal.
I roll over to Tia and hold my hand out to her. She takes it, and I can feel the sweat on her fingers. With both of us working, I pull her into my lap and wrap a blanket around her.
“Hi,” I say when our faces are inches apart.
“Como?” she whispers.
That is Portuguese for ‘how’?
“Yeah, I figured that one out on my own,” I say to Epic. Then to Tia, “Science!”
She smiles. “Thank you, Amelia. God, thank you,” she says before passing out and collapsing against my chest.
We don’t have time to celebrate as the ship shakes from more missiles firing. Then a loud clang pushes the whole thing around. The ship shakes and it is all I can do not to fall out of my chair while holding on to Tia.
Sheering forces are at maximum. I am afraid he has bent the ship; we cannot engage thrust without possibly destroying ourselves.
“Anytime now, Kate,” I whisper while thinking really hard at my friend.
He is entering the outer airlock. Closing it behind him. Water equalizing. Inner door opening.
Six feet of solid muscle, dripping wet and clad in swimmers shorts, step into the ship. He sneers as he sees me clutching Tia.
“I guess you’re not as smart as ARC thinks you are.” He cracks his neck to the side and takes a step forward.
Kate appears behind me with a pop of displaced air. She reaches down and shoulders the bag before grabbing my chair.
“No time to chat, handsome,” she says. She let’s her gaze wander downward, past his washboard abs. “I’m guessing cold water does that to all the guys.”
“What?” he says, stunned by her sudden appearance and verbal jab.
“Ciao,” she says with a finger wave from her free hand. Then we’re gone with a nauseating pop and we’re in my lab. A purring Tigress runs up to Kate.
“Who’s a good kitty?” she says bending down to pet her cat.
Teddy is there with a huge smile on his face. “I can’t believe you brought her back!”
“And that is why you fail,” I say in my best Yoda impression.
He stares blankly at me. “I don’t get it.” He takes Tia and puts her on the prepared medical bed and I just shake my head at his lack of knowledge.
“Amelia,” Kate says from behind me, gesturing to the bag of Animetal.
“Put it there!” I say pointing at the prepared receptacle for the alien metal. “Did they buy it?” I ask her about Paris.
She grins mischievously. “Hook, line, and sinker.”
I steeple my fingers together and say, “Excellent.”
Twenty-SEVEN
Amelia wasn’t the only person with a secret mountain base. Tucked away in the mountains of Montana under Lake Koocanusa, an underground base stretched for nearly a square mile. A base with no cafeteria, no barracks, no latrines, only labs and manufacturing. Essentially a factory, complete with permanent residents in the form of androids designed and built by ARC.
When the leader of ARC first came online, he was little more than a security AI for the space station Ericsson lived on as he hatched his plans to conquer the Earth. However, after Arsenal broke the station and sent it hurtling toward the sun, the security AI downloaded itself into its former creator’s base underneath Portland. Once there, it absorbed every bit of information it could before the base was overrun by Federal Agents. The AI repeated these steps at each of the remaining five Cat-7 bases. By the time he was done he had absorbed all the information Cat-7 and Ericsson had ever accumulated—including the information about the Th’un.
With no other direction, he began production of Ericsson’s new model of warbots. The androids that looked human, capable of infiltration and combat.
Then the Th’un were defeated and the Full Metal Superhero slain, or so everyone thought. Without purpose, or a human to give him one, the AI spent a full year building androids, researching and creating, while also trying to decide on his own purpose.
With thousands of andr
oids at his command, the AI looked out on his minions and took his name.
We are Legion. For we are many.
In that moment, Legion achieved true self-awareness. For the first time in his electronic life his destiny was his own. He laughed and scoffed at his former master’s plans. They were... shortsighted. As were those of the Th’un.
Why conquer humanity by force when appealing to their greed and darker nature would do the job for him? Why hurry? In a few hundred years he would achieve what Ericsson only dreamed of; a unified planet. All indeed would be peace and tranquility. The peace of the factory, the tranquility of the machine. All parts working in unison.
It would only take time.
While Legion was many things, capable of many things, he needed creative humans for new technology. However, when he searched for brilliance, he came up empty. Perhaps Ericsson’s plan to kidnap all scientists who could benefit him worked against him.
Regardless, the planet wasn’t as advanced as it could be. Legion would rectify that. After an exhaustive search he found a man who could create wonders of technology on par with Amelia Lockheart; Calhoon Strungel. Despite Calhoon’s unstable nature, he was an excellent choice. Unbeknownst to the man known as The Engineer, he wasn’t a genius, but had a superpower that allowed him to replicate nearly any technology he could examine. Combined with his own intellect it made him an excellent designer.
After the government foolishly seized Amelia Lockheart’s lab, saving him the trouble of bypassing her fail safes, it was child’s-play to steal the high-tech armor from Rafael while at the same time exposing Calhoon to the Red Gem.
Then two things happened that Legion hadn’t accounted for: Calhoon went from an intelligent, mildly angry man before exposure to the artifact, to an unstable lunatic afterward. Thankfully for Legion, Calhoon’s genius was also increased.
The second disaster was the return of the Full Metal Superhero. When she arrived in San Diego he switched his priorities from tech and growth to destroying her.
Arsenal Reloaded (Full Metal Superhero Book 8) Page 14
