She watched dancers on the stage, who did not go out at night to live a life of violence, and she realized that in many ways she got involved in all the dangerous things so that somewhere, each night, other people could dance in peace. Other people could create something beautiful, the sort of beautiful thing her body no longer felt capable of doing. She carried the pain silently so that no one else would have to.
I'll need to thank Jane for these tickets, she thought. Her mind drifted as the show came to a close, to where her friend might be, out there in the night sky alone.
Titus and Kate slowly made their way out of the theater, "like normal people," the werewolf whispered in her ear, though Kate knew he joked to avoid pondering things they were both already thinking about, like how this could be the last time they did something like this together. They possessed a strong sense of the consequences of the risks they both took, and they had an unspoken agreement not to talk about how any day might be their last. Still, with the strains of music resonating in their ears and worry in their hearts, it felt more real tonight. When Titus slipped an arm around Kate's waist, something she normally shied away from in public, she didn't pull away, instead leaning in and wrapping her arm around him as well. It caught Titus off-guard. The look he gave her unmasked his surprise. She glanced at him and realized just how terrible she was at saying anything at all, and even here, arm and arm, she still never seemed to find the words to tell him what was on her mind.
I wish you spoke dance, Kate thought, reflecting on the pure emotion of the performance. I could use it like sign language to tell you how I felt about all the things I never say. About every single thing. Instead you stand, waiting for me to reveal things I never will.
"I could help with that," a familiar voice said from an alley. Kate and Titus immediately launched into defensive positions, stepping apart to flank the newcomer, Titus already sliding out of his coat to transform.
Then a woman both of them thought they'd never see again stepped out from the shadows.
"Prevention," Kate said, snarling.
"I'm going by my first name now, but that's fine," the woman said. "And I mean it. I'm a telepath. I heard all those complicated dilemmas bouncing around in that dark thing you call a brain, Dancer. And I could translate for you."
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't knock you out right now," Kate said.
"I'm here to help, not start a fight. Calm down," Laura, the former Prevention said.
"You kidnapped my friends and tried to kill me," Kate said. "And you're here to help?"
"I came to you exactly for this reason," Laura said. "Because you have the most reason to distrust me. I wanted the person I contacted to be suspicious."
"Well, we're suspicious," Titus said.
Laura removed an envelope from inside her coat and put it on the ground slowly.
"Inside's a list with information about a stockpile of tools you'll want to fight the invasion," Laura said.
"What do you know about it?" Kate said.
"Probably as much as you do, maybe more. I've been working to prevent it all along. None of us knew that, but it's true."
"You're full of garbage," Titus said.
"Take that envelope to the Department. Have Sam Barren look up what's in there. It'll help them to help you," Laura said.
"You think you're just going to drop this on us and walk away?" Titus said.
"Let her go," Kate said.
"I knew you of all people would understand," the former Prevention said. "You know it's not personal, don't you?"
Kate said nothing and watched the telepathic agent drift back into the shadows.
"Don't think this settles things between us," Kate said.
Prevention, Laura, shrugged.
"My fight's not with you anymore," she said, pointing up into the sky. "In a lot of ways it never was. Just give that to Sam. Tell him it's all their gear anyway. I just put it away for safe keeping."
Prevention disappeared. Kate held out a hand, to stop Titus from pursuing.
"We're really going to just let her walk away?" he said, staring at the empty space where the former agent had just stood.
"It's the end of the world, Titus," Kate said. "If ever there was a time for strange allegiances, it's now."
Chapter 53:
The strange machine
Henry Winter limped into his office, looking at a text message from Sam that simply said "we have to talk." Winter found himself strongly considering hitting an old man. "We have to talk." About what? Is he quitting? Having digestive problems? He couldn't possibly give slightly more detail than this?
"When did the old man get so good at being vague," Winter muttered, sitting down at his desk dramatically and reaching for the phone.
"They say that talking to yourself is a sign of insanity, but I don't believe it," Entropy Emily said, standing in the corner looking at the bookshelf lining the office wall. Winter's whole body shook in surprise, not having seen her on his way in. "I talk to myself all the time."
"Why didn't you tell me you were here!" he said. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Emily said. "That only happens in the movies."
"I don't… you can't just… why are you here, Emily?"
"You're going to teach me how to use that strange machine you showed me and Kate before," Emily said.
"You're not touching that machine unless there are no other options," Winter said.
Emily crossed the room and sat down in one of the chairs across from Henry Winter. She crossed her legs and steepled her fingers.
"We're days away from an alien invasion, we're outmanned and outgunned. I'd call that having no other options. Obi-Wan Kenobi, I'm your only hope. Show me how to use the machine."
"Emily," Winter said.
"Don't Emily me, Henry Winter," Emily said. "I saw the look on your face. You are dying. Dying. Dying to show me how to work that thing. You want to see it in action. You're a crazy inventor guy. Watching your creations destroy stuff is how you sleep better at night."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Winter said.
"You built that thing for yourself, huh," Emily said.
"Huh?"
"You did! You built it for yourself. Are you not showing me because you wish you were using it instead?" Emily said.
Winter stared.
Emily belly laughed. "I knew it. The second I saw it I realized you built that thing for yourself," she said.
"Why would you think that?"
Emily smirked.
"It's got the same color palette as—"
"Fine, fine, yeah, I built it for myself and it never worked. And yeah, I think Dr. Bohr is right and you'll be able to manipulate it using your bubbles of float, but you are not supposed to be allowed to use it yet," Winter said.
Emily leaned in conspiratorially.
"You ever seen it working?"
Winter shook his head.
"Not once?"
Winter shook his head again.
"Wanna go see if your plan will work?"
He shook his head a third time.
Emily stared, waiting.
Winter threw his hands up in the air.
"Fine, fine! I admit it! I'm dying to see if it'll work. I'm dying to. Why do you do this stuff?"
"Because I can," Emily said.
"Doc's going to kill me," Winter said.
"That's okay," Emily said. "There's a fair to moderate chance the whole world will be dead in a few days anyway. The least we can do is have some fun first, right?"
Chapter 54:
Spy games
So Agent Prevention just showed up in the street and gave you the location to a forgotten warehouse where a bunch of our stuff has been stashed?" Sam Barren said while standing in a hallway of the administrative wing of the Labyrinth.
"That's what happened," Titus said.
Kate folded her arms and leaned against the wall.
"We'll go retrie
ve the items," she said.
"No," Sam said. "No, we got this. If a Department field team can't go pick up items we actually recovered ourselves over the past ten years and lost, we don't really deserve our jobs. We'll take care of this and see if there's anything in the inventory we can use."
Sam thumbed through the file Kate had given him, grumbling under his breath.
"Well, she certainly made us look stupid for years," Sam said. "I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that she'd pop up one more time to make us appear like fools again."
"She said the people who hired her had this in mind all along," Titus said. "That she was there to get the Department ready for an invasion."
Sam sniffed and smoothed his mustache.
"Well I'll say this much," Sam said. "When I retired, the Department was like a giant detective agency. We were investigators, we were researchers… agents, certainly, and we knew how to defend ourselves, but we were really a covert sort of thing. Prevention turned the Department into a fighting force. I can't say I was happy about the idea of my old company being militarized, but that would make sense—she made the Department much more of an armed service than an agency."
"You think she's telling the truth?" Kate said.
"I don't know anymore," Sam said. "I can't say that I trust her. But we've seen some things the past few years, haven't we?"
Kate nodded.
"The Children of the Elder Star were infiltrated by people who wanted to promote the invasion," Kate said. "It's not a huge stretch to think that an opposing force might try to infiltrate the Department to do the opposite."
Sam grunted and closed the folder aggressively.
"This is too much cloak and dagger garbage, and I was a professional government agent most of my adult life," he said. He shook his head and turned back to Kate. "Any word from our friend?"
"Alley Hawk is still laid up," Kate said. "Vermin King almost killed him."
Her quasi-mentor and fellow vigilante without superpowers had dropped off the grid weeks back after recapturing his arch enemy. His allies had complete confidence he would recover, but still, everyone concerned. His injuries were severe. "No word on your end, then?" she said.
"We're keeping an eye out," Sam said. "He always disappeared when he needed to. And he always came back."
Kate made a sound in the back of her throat. She didn't have the time to worry about Alley Hawk, but she was worried nonetheless.
"I'll put a team together to check out this bunker," Sam said. "With its space-junk. You know, this is a clerical screw up."
"Clerical?" Titus said.
"Paperwork. We collected all this junk. If we'd kept better track of it…" Sam said.
The sound of Billy's voice in Kate and Titus's earpieces cut them off.
"Guys," Billy said.
"Way to be formal, Billy," Titus said.
"No time," he said. "We've got a thing. There's a ship coming in fast, one of the Nemesis fleet ships, it looks like a gunship or something."
"On our way," Kate said. "What's the trajectory?"
"It's headed right for the City. Where are you?"
"At the Labyrinth. We'll move out," Titus said.
"It's worse," Billy said. "Neal has detected that the fleet is within striking distance of the planet."
"What?" Titus said.
"It's starting," Billy said. "They're here."
Chapter 55:
As above, so below
Billy, Bedlam, Seng, Doc, Valkyrie and Korthos watched the monitor, a split screen in the control room. On one side, they saw the brightly glowing shell of the attack ship heading for the City, on a collision course for downtown.
But on the other screen was a feed from an Earth satellite pointing out into space. And there, in the distance, they spied the writhing monstrosity that was the Nemesis fleet.
"We've got to head up there," Doc said.
The first ship is a distraction, Dude said in Billy's ear. They want us to pay attention to a small ground force so that we're not prepared for the rest of the fleet. We got lucky spotting them.
"Dude says this is a distraction," he repeated. He couldn't stop staring at Doc.
Doc sent an irritated expression in Billy's direction.
"What?" Doc said.
"I'm sorry, I'm just trying to adjust to… you," Billy said.
Doc had swapped out his usual jeans and long black coat for a form-fitting costume, a black and gray suit with a long black cape, a full mask hung around his neck. The suit had been treated for the vacuum of space, and Billy understood Doc's reasons for swapping his outfit, but seeing their mentor dressed basically in spandex, in the face of an alien invasion, was profoundly disturbing to him.
"This is really your biggest concern right now?" Doc said.
"Hey man, you're wearing tights. It is disturbing," Bedlam said.
Korthos, let out a rumbling laugh. "I profess, when you stopped wearing that getup in the early days I was supremely relieved," he said.
"Forget it," Doc said. "Battle plan. Kate, are you online?"
"We're both here," Kate said.
"Where's Emily?" Billy said.
"I'm listening!" Emily said, her location still a mystery.
"What are you doing, Em? This is kind of important right now," Billy said.
"I'll be there when you need me, cupcake, cool your jets," Emily's disembodied voice said.
"The plan," Doc said. "Bedlam, you'll rendezvous with Kate and Titus and handle the ground assault. We expect that ship is going to dump some foot soldiers on the City and we need them neutralized."
"Got it," Bedlam said.
Doc turned an eye to Val, who watched him with a gentle, neutral expression.
"Are you up for this?" Doc said.
"I will be," Val said.
"Okay. You're powers are only going to be effective here with an atmosphere to work with, so you'll be air support for Kate's team. Are you comfortable with that?"
Val's eyes glowed a deep, electric blue.
"This is my world," she said. "I'll do anything you need."
"The storm goddess will be fine," Korthos said, stroking his midnight-blue beard. "I see a warrior in her."
"Right," Billy said. "Thanks for the color commentary, Beowulf. The rest of us are heading up into space?"
"We'll be the first line of defense," Doc said. "You all must hold back for my signal. I've got something big planned and can only do it once. But hopefully it'll start us on the right foot."
"I'll anxiously await your performance, war wizard," Korthos said.
"Seriously, this guy," Billy said.
Korthos shot him a vile look.
Billy smiled sheepishly back.
"I can provide some advice as we head up," Seng said. "I engaged the fleet once before. I couldn't stop them, but I know some of their weak points, and a few of their tactics."
"What should we be looking for, Seng?" Doc asked the alien.
Seng walked up to the screen and pointed to some of the larger structures visible in the blurry video of the fleet.
"The fighters will provide cover, but we need to stop the seed-ships," he said, pointing to the spear-like machines. "If those make Earthfall, they will immediately begin to terraform the planet. The destruction they'll cause in hours may be more than the planet can recover from even if we're able to defeat the entire fleet."
"Which is unlikely," Billy said.
"Aren't you a ball of sunshine today," Bedlam said.
"We shall be victorious, little shiny one," Korthos said, thumping his chest. "Fear not!"
Billy found himself staring blankly at the warrior god, completely unsure how to respond.
"Is there some sort of mother ship you could hit?" Kate's voice chimed in. "Cut the head off the beast?"
Seng gestured to one central shape, bigger than the rest, its features unclear.
"This. Their brain-ship. All others receive orders from it," Seng said.
But we'll never ge
t close enough, Dude said. We're better off focusing on the seed ships first.
"Dude's being a pessimist and says we'll never hit it," Billy said.
"Straylight is correct," Seng said. "Every ship in that feet will die to protect the brain-ship."
"So we know our first targets," Doc said. "Billy, Seng, you're the fastest. You'll run interference after my alpha strike. Korthos?"
"I shall break everything in my sight," Korthos said. "My axe will—"
"Right, Korthos smash," Emily said, cutting him off.
Korthos looked around the room for her. "Distance makes you brave, little sprite," he said.
"You're wearing a kilt," Emily said. "You're automatically ten points less scary dressed like that."
Korthos fumed but said nothing.
Billy almost laughed at the idea of Emily shutting the big guy down with a jab. But then he remembered something. "What about Jane?" he asked.
"She's out there somewhere," Doc said, his voice strained with worry. "We just have to hope she's close enough to help."
"And not dead," Emily said solemnly.
No one spoke.
Emily broke the silence.
"What? Nobody else was thinking it? I don't know about you guys but after our time travel thing it's like all I can think about."
As if on cue, a new and welcome voice interrupted the meeting. Billy felt a smile of relief break out on his face, but seeing the look of pure joy on Doc made him feel even better.
"Indestructibles," Jane's voice said through the speakers. "I'm back. Mission failure. They're not stopping, and they're closer than we thought."
"Jane?" Billy said. "We know they're close—they're already here."
Chapter 56:
Among the stars
The night she left Earth, the same night Kate and Titus had their run-in with Prevention, Jane flew straight up into the sky and beyond, leaving the Earth behind. She felt the atmosphere cling to her, like a hand pleading with her to stay. But a few moments later, as if passing through a soap bubble, she crossed beyond the stratosphere and felt, for the first time, the unadulterated rays of the sun splash against her skin.
Like A Comet: The Indestructibles Book 4 Page 25
