The Suns of Liberty (Book 3): Republic

by Michael Ivan Lowell

  THE SUNS OF LIBERTY:

  REPUBLIC

  A Superhero Novel

  ___________________________

  MICHAEL IVAN LOWELL

  To David. For the love of the super.

  To JoAnna. For your love.

  Also Available From Michael Ivan Lowell:

  THE SUNS OF LIBERTY: REVOLUTION (Book 1)

  and

  THE SUNS OF LIBERTY: LEGION (Book 2)

  IN THE NOT-TOO-DISTANT FUTURE...

  THE STORY SO FAR...

  THE SUNS OF LIBERTY: REPUBLIC is the third part of the “Council Trilogy” started in The Suns of Liberty: Revolution and continued in The Suns of Liberty: Legion.

  It started with a plane crash.

  Ten years ago, desperate for an end to the Second Great Depression, the leaders of corporate America let democracy die. Or rather, they killed it. Leaders of the newly formed Democratic Republican Unity Party, including its president, Lincoln Kerrigan, are all killed when Air Force One crashes into the Atlantic Ocean in a highly suspicious accident.

  Led by the charismatic CEO of Media Corp, THOMAS SAGE, corporations take control of the country through the cynically named FREEDOM COUNCIL. They own the police, the media, the courts, the military, the gangs. They are everywhere. They protect their wealth by any means necessary. They initiate a “Purge” to eliminate their enemies that kills close to a million Americans. They stopped the depression, but at what cost?

  In Suns of Liberty: Revolution, we are introduced to the REVOLUTION, the world’s first superhero. He is a one-man army known as much for his quick escapes and lucky breaks as he is for his brutality. Many wonder how long he can keep up his one-man fight against an entire system. Doing so, he inspires a movement of imitators across the nation.

  Ten years later, PAUL WARD, spurred on by the death of his family at the hands of Boston’s brutal gangs, becomes the pacifist hero the media call SPIDER WASP. With the help of a Freedom Council insider, he tracks down the elusive Revolution. Revolution reveals to Ward that the Resistance is working on a new substance called BIOLUMINESCENCE. If successfully melded with a human being it should create a person of unstoppable power. A person they have called the FIRE FLY. Unfortunately, everyone they have tried the substance on has died, including the scientist who invented it.

  Realizing the Council is closing in on them, the Revolution is forced to take a drastic step and endangers the life of FIONA FLETCHER, a beautiful young teenager he had sworn to protect. Fiona Fletcher loves him, trusts him, and he uses that against her to transform her into the all-powerful FIRE FLY. Though the procedure seems to work, Fiona is thrown into a deep coma. The Revolution is forced to switch tactics.

  They are compelled to recruit a team of heroes from across the country to fight off the Council’s coming assault. They adopt the name THE SUNS OF LIBERTY, and the world’s first super team is born. The group is formed by a vote of the governing body of the Resistance movement, the democratically elected CONGRESS OF THE REVOLUTION or COR. COR is led by brilliant scientist LESLIE GIBBONS.

  Along with Revolution and Ward, the new members are LANTERN (DIEGO ALVAREZ), the all-seeing locator; HELIUS (SOPHIA LIHN), the plasma-firing powerhouse; STEALTH, (RACHEL DODGE) the invisible CIA agent turned vampy hero; SARATOGA (JOHN BAILEY), the muscle-bound double agent who used to run the government’s top-secret spy agency, and HUNLEY (RAMSEY HOLLIS), the superman of the sea.

  And then, Fiona Fletcher wakes up.

  The Revolution has miscalculated. His betrayal of her trust turns her against him. In her rage, she destroys their secret headquarters, and the Revolution and Ward are captured by the Council. The chamber that created the Fire Fly is taken by the Council. Fiona flees to Lake Tahoe, where she is taken in by BECKY COLLINS. The two immediately form a strangely powerful bond that neither can explain.

  Revolution and Ward risk a daring escape but in the process provoke a war. The Council unleashes a city-sized machine called the MAN-O-WAR. The Suns of Liberty have nowhere to turn. As they fall one by one, Fiona returns to save her city and defeats the machine. But she will not save the Revolution from the army that descends upon him. That is left to the citizens of Boston, who rise and show that they, the people, are the true heroes. But victory in Boston comes at a terrible cost to the team: Ramsey Hollis and John Bailey are lost.

  The Suns of Liberty: Legion takes place three months later. The old chairman of the Freedom Council, Thomas Sage, is stepping down, replaced by his longtime ally WILLIAM HOWKE, who also replaces him as CEO of the giant conglomerate Media Corp.

  Howke is not a charismatic leader like Sage so he leans upon his second-in-command, BANNISTER TARLETON, CEO of General Defense—the second largest company on the Council. While Sage and Howke believe in a policy called the VELVET GLOVE when dealing with the Resistance, a policy aimed at using the media to keep them at bay, Tarleton is a believer in the IRON FIST—crushing them by any means necessary.

  Lantern locates the Fire Fly chamber in New York in the heart of the Freedom Council’s towering fortress called FREEDOM RISE, so the Suns hatch a plan to destroy it. But it’s a set up. Howke has recruited LITHIUM (CLAY ARBOR) to command a team of heroes called the LEGION to take down the Suns. Arbor acquires team members FIDDLER and his right-hand man, FANG, two former gang leaders from Boston. Also on board is VELOCITY (VERONICA SOTO), a part-cyborg speedster. The attack on Freedom Rise reveals that the Fire Fly chamber is not in New York. Rachel is taken captive, and the rest of the team barely escape with their lives. They are assisted by a nervous young man by the name of NEURO (BEN DRAYGER), who has the ability to manipulate emotions (especially fear) in others through a device he calls his Neurolyzer.

  Lantern locates Rachel, who has been taken to a secret research facility in Trenton, NJ. The Suns attack this facility in the middle of a massive hurricane, using the storm as cover, and they rescue Rachel. While there, they encounter ERIC VON CYPRUS, the Council’s Science Division Director, who has invented “electrosleeves” that can fire bolts made up of some combination of “dark energy and antimatter.” The team also destroys the USS Delaware, a massive all-terrain, all-robotic flying military base that was protecting the secret Trenton site.

  To up the ante against the Suns, Arbor recruits two new members. One is the LADY RAGE (SCARLETT RAGE), a former terrorist and “the woman who can kill with a thought.” She is the daughter of DOCTOR RAGE (KIERNAN RAGE), “the most dangerous man in America.” The second is SPECTRAL, a self-aware android with enormous power, including being able to shift to light, fly, and project laser weaponry.

  No one knows how Scarlett is able to take control of the powerful android Spectral. Scarlett can scramble computers with her mind and kill with a thought, but she cannot control computers like her father. At one point, Scarlett and Spectral are contacted by a mysterious person called the MOHAWK who tells them they are now active with Emergency Protocol 001. When Scarlett hears the voice she begins to cry. It becomes clear she and Spectral have secrets they are keeping from both the Council and the Suns.

  Fiona solidifies her relationship with Becky. Fiona also begins to bask in the light of her many followers—including beautiful young women who want to emulate her. She begins to mold them into a strange combo of a dance troupe and a fighting squad capable of defending their turf with bioluminescent weapons. Fiona comes to call them the LUMA.

  Eventually, COR is attacked in Philadelphia at the HALL OF CHAMBERS, and the members are held as prisoners inside the facility. As the Suns are headed to Philly, they are contacted by a recording of the dead John Bailey, who tells them a secret weapon has been activated at COR that will kick in once the Suns ar
rive to rescue the members. Bailey tells them that for reasons they will come to understand later, he cannot tell them anything further about the weapon.

  An enormous battle takes place. The Council brings its COUNCIL GUARD, the Legion, and many robotic drones. The Suns bring their rag-tag volunteer force called the MINUTEMEN. Bailey’s secret weapon disables the robotic drones all across the field of battle, and Scarlett is unable to find it or stop it. Drayger fights like a madman, but in a horrific sequence, he is shot by a drone and loses his leg. Fiddler, Fang, and Veronica are all killed. Drayger shoots Arbor in the chest, wounding him gravely. The members of COR are rescued and evacuated.

  Just when the Suns think they have won, Von Cyprus’s latest toy, called the KRILL (a man melded inside a machine that has many of the same capabilities as Fiona), attacks, quickly overpowering them. Fortunately, Fiona senses this and follows it to Philly. But she cannot defeat it on her own. Everyone combines their powers to destroy the Krill. However, it has a defense mechanism that sends out “Black Shards” made of the strange dark energy-antimatter combo that embed themselves in Fiona’s skin. They are burning into her.

  Suddenly, Spectral and the Lady Rage appear and seem poised to attack. But Scarlett tells Revolution she only wants him. Fiona teleports away, unwilling to defend him. Scarlett sends the Revolution into a coma and death spiral before the other Suns can fend the duo off. Meanwhile, Von Cyprus introduces Tarleton to his latest creation, a robot he calls the PHOTURIS, which is made up of mirrors that can absorb or reflect bioluminescence and wields the “Black Energy” as a weapon. “It’s the Fire Fly’s kryptonite,” Von Cyprus says.

  As the Suns get the Revolution to their safe house in Norristown, PA, they are horrified to see him flatline, just as ominous explosions ring out outside...

  CHAPTER 1

  The scene was devastating.

  Fires raged across the riverfront in Philadelphia. Bodies lay strewn in the streets, fields, and across parking lots. The hollowed-out, burning carcasses of airplanes and helicopters littered I-95. Great pockmarks of impact craters scarred the roadway.

  The historic Richmond Power Station that had housed the Hall of Chambers—the Resistance stronghold—was shattered and scattered across the river. Steel girders, cracked blocks of brick, and torn shards of concrete were spread over the banks of the Delaware River and jutted out of the shallows. One of the building’s massive signature exhaust vents lanced out of the waves, half destroyed.

  William Howke, the Chairman of the Freedom Council, stared at the scene in disbelief. His floor-to-ceiling television monitors beamed back the images from every conceivable angle. News helicopters circled the area. Shooting footage that only he could see, some of it too gory, too disturbing, to broadcast to the entire country.

  A tall man with a looming presence and vulture-like face, Howke shook his head. “How the hell did this go so wrong?” he asked.

  Thomas Sage, former Chair of the Freedom Council, stepped up from behind him and placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. He uttered two words in response. “John Bailey.”

  Well-groomed, early fifties, black hair slicked back and gray at the temples. Sage was a man in top physical condition for his age. He was accustomed to the finest things in life and kept himself in the finest shape.

  “Defeated by a dead man,” Howke lamented.

  “And whoever this Neuro kid is. We need intelligence on him.”

  “We didn’t expect any of that,” Howke said.

  Sage sighed. “Or the Fletcher girl.” Bitter memories of the Battle of Boston boiled up inside him and he added, “Again.”

  A crackle in the room’s sound system made them both glance up at the speakers in the ceiling.

  “Sir,” a strained voice said. Howke recognized it as Clay Arbor’s. “Lithium here, reporting in.”

  Howke could hear other voices in the background urging Arbor to seek medical help. “I hear you, Colonel, go ahead.”

  “Sir, the Revolution is dead. Spectral just confirmed it. Scarlett Rage killed him.”

  Arbor’s voice made it sound like he could collapse at any moment. It made Howke wince. “I’ve heard that news as well, Colonel. Good work,” he said as convincingly as he could. He glanced back up at the screen and gawked again at all the bodies. So many of them Council Guard bodies, he thought. “You did your best.”

  “Sir, the other Suns all got away. And Crustac, Soto, Fiddler, Fang,” Arbor coughed, barely able to keep speaking. “None of them made it.”

  “I know, son.” Howke peered over at Sage, whose face was even. “That’s okay, Colonel. Tarleton took this operation too far. Get yourself some help. We’ll talk later.”

  A reply came from behind them. “Yeah, it figures you’d try to blame me for your failures,” a voice said.

  They both spun and saw Bannister Tarleton standing in the doorway behind them.

  “How the hell did you get in here?” Howke demanded.

  Tarleton snorted. “Who do you think the Guards are more loyal to, the man that gives them their weapons, or you, Sage’s warmed-over pinch hitter?”

  The three CEOs stared at each other.

  “I can have you removed right now,” Howke growled.

  “Sure, go ahead, make the call. But how long do you really think you’re going to be Chairman?”

  Howke and Sage turned back immediately and stared at the stock ticker running at the top and bottom of the massive wall of screens. The shares of Howke’s company, Media Corp, and Sage’s newly formed Americom were tanking in overseas markets. Tarleton’s General Defense, on the other hand, was skyrocketing.

  Sage blanched. “He’s right. You may have no choice but to call an emergency meeting.”

  “You couldn’t even hold your own company together, let alone the Freedom Council.” Tarleton stepped fully into the room. “Face it, Bill, they’re gonna choose me.”

  Howke thought about how all this had started. He’d secretly killed a local affiliate’s report on the Suns of Liberty downing the USS Delaware in Trenton. But somehow the report and his shelving of it had leaked to their investors. Tarleton had been one of the very few people who could have done it. He eyed the young rival CEO suspiciously. “Because someone leaked that report,” Howke said accusingly. “Someone with inside knowledge.”

  Tarleton scoffed. “Afraid you’ve been outplayed?”

  Sage shook his head at the young man. “By splitting the companies we quelled the shareholder revolt. Once our stocks start to rise, you’ll have two competitors working in tandem against you. The Iron Fist is, and always has been, a minority position on the Council. They’ll come back around to our side. Any victory you’ve won is temporary.”

  Tarleton stepped right up to the screens showing the devastation in Philadelphia. The images danced over his handsome, angular face. “Not after they get a good look at this,” he said with a gleam in his eyes. “Not after everyone has seen that the only answer is war.”

  CHAPTER 2

  NORRISTOWN, PA

  The Revolution flatlined.

  Paul Ward spun and saw the EKG. Just a single line repeating across the screen. The alarm screeched out its horrid siren across the expansive emergency room.

  Dead.

  That was the word burning into Ward’s mind. The Revolution, the leader of the Resistance, the world’s first superhero, the hope of millions, was dead. Dead—and there’d been nothing he could do to stop it.

  An explosion rocked the room. Pain shot through his ravaged ribs and aching back. None of it mattered to him. All that mattered was that his friend was gone. Still in shock, Ward stumbled over toward the makeshift hospital bed the Revolution was lying on. There was no way through the armor. There’d been no way to stop the neurotoxin effect—he didn’t even know what the hell that was. All he’d been able to do was watch helplessly as the man expired.

  “Ward!” came a shout from behind him that ripped through his senses. It was Sophia. “Let’s go!”

/>   Sophia Linh burst out of the big, open emergency room, hung a left, and headed for the entrance, toward the direction of the explosions. She sprinted up the wide hallway that connected the building’s lobby and the emergency room. But with her first few steps she could tell just how exhausted, how battered, her body had become. Her black, armored flight suit felt like a weight clinging to her entire body. This was not going to be easy. “Lantern, what the hell is going on up there?” she shouted into the com at the man who was supposed to be all-seeing, all-knowing.

  His answer made her stop in her tracks.

  “Spectral and the Lady Rage. Front entrance.”

  Shit. Sophia swallowed. She peered back toward the emergency room where the Revolution lay dead. These were the two who had killed him. Her lip quivered for a second. She couldn’t let her grief flood her senses. She had to focus on the villains.

  Were they back to finish off the rest of the team? It wouldn’t be too hard. They were all beat to hell from the battle at the Hall of Chambers. And this facility was not a fortress by any means. It was the Resistance medical hub, designed to handle health emergencies for the members of COR or other Resistance VIPs. Lots of medicine, lots of equipment, but dangerously few weapons.

  She charged her bracelets. Cobalt-blue fusion power glowed in the confines of the hallway as the blasters emitted their familiar electrical box hum. Under the long blue reflective visor that covered most of her face, she grinned. The blasters always made her feel better.

  Sophia burst forward.

  Or tried to.

  Pain swamped her again. Her progress was hampered by the, at minimum, three broken ribs she felt on her left side. Her back screamed with agony—a slipped or ruptured disc. Even a fracture was not out of the question. Her head was throbbing like a son of a bitch. Her protective black flight suit was burned open from just below her breast bone to just below her navel, and the skin there was blistered, bubbled, or just plain missing. Worst of all, Ward’s shot of serenity serum was rapidly wearing off.