“You’re saying we’re not dealing with one rogue telepath but several… great. How many would it take to do this efficiently?”
At least twenty. All F4 or F5. With a high probability that there are more than that.
“Are there that many on record?”
Negative. As Kate said, there are not many F5 telepaths. Mr. Kana was one, Mariposa of the Brigade is another. There are four others in the entire world. A half dozen F4s and thirty-one F3s.
“I don’t suppose it’s possible that almost the entire world’s population of telepaths are in some kind of secret society? We already know whoever’s masterminding this wants world domination. And according to Pythia, that’s exactly what they will get.”
The Oracle said she saw two futures. One where we cause the end and one that is despotism and slavery. While one telepath could conceivably hold the world together, a group of them could do it easily. While there is most certainly one person in charge it would appear that we are—
“We’re fighting an army, great.”
It would seem so.
“An army of telepaths who control one of the largest companies in the world, have their hands in multiple supervillains and are bent on world domination. This isn’t 1938, Epic. Who wants to control the world anymore?”
I do not have enough data to suggest motive.
“Me neither,” I sigh.
The lights of Kansas City pass below. The interactive map pings the halfway point.
“Okay, I’m going to try and sleep, wake me up when we need to start our approach.”
Closing my eyes I try to push out all the terrible visions of the future. Pythia said there wasn’t a future if I continued my crusade, as she called it. Not that humanity would be hurt, but simply had no future. This is the stuff of nightmares and sleep doesn’t come.
Five minutes out. I am contacting Phoenix ATC for clearance. Carlos left you a message that he has returned home and will see you tomorrow. Luke is waiting for you at HQ with dinner. Kate made it to Seattle safe and sound. She is staying there for a day to make sure her friend is okay. ATC has given us clearance, follow the yellow brick road.
A yellow path highlights on my HUD with speed and maneuvering directions, when to slow down, and when to turn. The thrusters cut and gravity takes over with the occasional assist from my stabilizers. No need to fight momentum when wind resistance and friction do the work for me.
Once I’m down under three hundred feet I use direct thrust and slow down even more. Phoenix flashes under me in a colorful chorus of lights and sounds. I’m not a huge fan of going out in the city at night. From this high up, though, it’s breathtaking.
Coming up on—Amelia—we have guests. I am sorry I did not see them sooner, they must have been jamming.
My HUD clears of the ATC directions and shows the HQ. On the other side of the parking lot is a familiar looking VTOL. The Brigade loiters around beneath the wing while Captain Freedom and Luke speak a few feet away. Epic tags everyone with identifiers.
Freedom, the hockey-mask-wearing super soldier. Torque, forcefield generation. Comanche, directed energy beams. Mariposa… flight and telepathy. Behemoth, invulnerability, and strength.
A hundred feet out I spot their escort, six bipedal robots painted with army camo, each with a plasma gun for an arm.
That would answer the question on Mariposa. We should assume the Brigade is under the control of our antagonist and act accordingly.
“Roger that, buddy. However, I don’t want to see the team get hurt… let’s see what is what. Just to be on the safe side let’s put ECM to max.”
I land hard a few feet from Luke, sending up a plume of dust. Mr. Perfect, Fleet, and Glacier are in costume and hanging back, which speaks volumes for this visit.
I glance at Mariposa, she’s fluttering around by the aircraft behind her team, she doesn’t take her eyes off me while I walk toward Freedom.
Our Faraday cage is catching interference.
The metallic ink on the outside of the armor glitters like diamonds in a spotlight. So much for this being a friendly visit.
“Captain Freedom, good to see you again,” I say coming to a halt next to Luke. My boyfriend doesn’t look happy. He flashes a worried glance at me as I speak.
“Arsenal, I’m afraid we’re going to need you to come with us. Please take off the armor and…”
I hold up my hand. “Hold up the horses skipper. I’m not going anywhere with anyone and I’m certainly not going to take off my armor. Care to explain what this is about?”
Then, to Epic, “Broad spectrum ECM, let’s make sure Mariposa doesn’t take control of our friends.”
As if he were completely prepared he pulls out a tablet and holds it up for me. The video playing is shaky and grainy at best. It shows a building, the one from Boston, and a dark figure crashing into the roof. After several enhancements the dark figure takes form and it could be me. I know it is, but they don’t, not for sure.
Then the image shifts to New York. It shows me and Kate entering the school then the next shot is of us leaving, her with Perry and me by myself. The screen shifts showing eleven bodies in various states of death.
“We’re arresting you for the destruction of private property and the suspected murder of eleven people. Not to mention the kidnapping of a security guard. If you tell us where Domino is, this will go easier on you.”
I’m the dumbest smart person in the world. I was so fixated on stopping whoever’s behind this, I didn’t think about them being ready for me legally. They couldn’t get their grubby hands on my armor illegally so they just waited and watched for me to step outside the law. They must have hidden cameras in New York, knowing I would go there. And then I dragged Kate into it. Epic warned me it was a setup, I should have taken more precautions.
Awesome.
“Listen, Freedom, there is a perfectly innocent explanation for this, I—”
“This is you, not some trick?” Luke asks. The hurt on his face is plain. My heart constricts in my chest. As if I didn’t have enough going on.
“Luke, I found a lead to who took my parents.”
“That’s great but why didn’t you tell me?”
“Every piece of evidence,” and I say this to both of them while glancing at the butterfly-winged woman thirty feet away, “Suggests there is a telepath behind it. If I told you anything they would be able to read your thoughts and without knowing who it was… I didn’t want you to be in danger just for knowing.”
Luke nods, I can see he understands when he puts his hand on my shoulder.
Freedom interrupts, “That aside, you broke the law, Arsenal. I need you to take off the armor and come with me.”
“You know I can’t do that. In here I’m safe, once it’s off, there’s nothing stopping Fluttershy over there from controlling me the way her boss controlled my parents.”
That makes him pause. She reacts, even though she doesn’t have super hearing. She must be riding shotgun in his mind and then I know the jig is up.
Freedom takes a swing at Luke. His powers kick in and he steps back a heartbeat before it connects.
“Diamondbacks, protect Arsenal!” Luke shouts.
We are seriously outgunned.
“Thrusters, we need distance,” I yell. Epic tags everyone as we climb. The one I’m most worried about is—
Alarms scream as we slam into the ground. My HUD blares red as outside pressure increases ten-fold.
Localized gravity increase.
“Fleet, take out Torque. Mr. Perfect, engage Mariposa, keep her off balance so she can’t use her mind control powers.”
I’m guessing it’s probably hard enough for her to maintain control of her own team let alone break through the ECM to take over mine.
“On it,” Fleet says.
“As you wish,” Mr. Perfect replies.
The gravity field lets up almost immediately. Rolling over, I see Fleet holding Torque with both hands as he spins in a circ
le fast enough to create a small tornado.
Comanche steps forward and fires off his twin ion beams. Tony vanishes in a swirl of dust reappearing a few feet away to throw a rock at him. Torque sails off in the distance and I don’t envy his landing.
An ice blue hand reaches down to help me up.
“I don’t know you and I don’t know your team. But, do you really think you can help me?” Glacier asks.
“I do,” I say, as she pulls me up.
“Then I’m on your side, what do you want me to do?”
I glance around at the battle. Luke and Freedom are going toe-to-toe, Perfect is keeping Mariposa busy with his constructs, and Tony has Torque down for the count leaving Comanche and Behemoth… who doesn’t seem to be doing anything? Just leaning against the plane as if she doesn’t have a care in the world.
“If Mariposa has a free second, she’ll mind control you. Keep her busy?”
Glacier grins and skates off behind Perfect before sending out jets of ice at the fluttering telepath.
Torque drags himself up from the truck that stopped his momentum. We can’t have that. Three bean bags hit him in the chest with the force of a car crash. He falls face down.
Comanche rakes his eyebeams across the field toward me.
“Floor it!”
Comanche and the four robots are firing wildly trying to score a hit. I know the plasma weapons will take me out, I’m not sure about Comanche’s ion beams though.
“Epic, find me a targeting solution for the four robots. We know a shot through the chest will finish them. Let’s set it up like pins.”
Affirmative.
Green balls of death fly through the air and I get the feeling the robots aren’t trying to kill me so much as keep me from fleeing.
Twin ion beams of white-hot fire flash through the sky. A sign explodes, followed by a car. I have to stay low or he’ll just flash over me. As long as he might hit his team he’ll be careful.
I fire off a couple of bean bags at Comanche but he just vaporizes them. I’m too far away for the IP Cannons and I don’t want to kill him. Maybe I can take out two birds with one stone.
Robots, hard left, plant and fire.
I do it. I come to a crashing halt. Lift my arms and the moment they line up Epic fires. The hyper-accelerated silicate rips through two of them setting off secondary explosions.
“Luke, King’s Gambit.” We have our own comms and he hears me. We’ve worked on moves before and this one is tricky. I leap into the air at full acceleration.
“Epic, ready the kinetic field…”
Ready.
I accelerate hard, in the limited space available. He steps back from Freedom with a kick that lands on his chest. Reaching out to me, we lock hands and I slam feet first into the ground. Epic triggers my kinetic field to simulate a few thousand pounds so I have far more mass than normal and we spin. Using my momentum and Luke’s, we manage one full rotation before I let go. Like a human missile, he flies right at Comanche.
The Brigade member held off his ion beams when I got close to Freedom and now he’s unprepared for the hit. Luke crashes with the force of a truck. I can hear bones breaking from here. But what can I do? The man’s powers are deadly. It’s either hurt him or kill him. Mind-controlled or not I don’t feel like murdering people who think they’re doing right.
A size twelve boot hits me in the head with staggering force.
“Freedom, listen. You’re being mind-controlled. Mariposa isn’t on the side of justice here, she’s manipulating you.”
He shakes his head, “You’re the one on the wrong side, Arsenal. You just don’t know it yet. Behemoth, end this.”
“Epic, brace for—”
Behemoth grins as she pushes herself off the plane, arms out wide she leaps forward and slaps her hands together.
The thunderclap ripples before her, obliterating the ground and throwing everyone off their feet. The shock wave slams into Tony, knocking him to the ground. Luke leaps in front of Glacier to take the brunt of it. Mr. Perfect slams into a car crumpling like so much tissue paper. The remaining two robots explode as the shock ripples through the air.
The force wave rolls harmlessly over me since we still had our kinetic field set to root us in the ground. When the dust clears only Tony and I are standing. Their team still has Freedom, Behemoth, and Mariposa.
“You’re tougher than you look,” Behemoth growls.
Pierre and Luke are in serious condition. Both are unconscious and have sustained life-threatening wounds. Glaciers status is unknown.
This is not how I imagined the day going. Behemoth alone is all but unbeatable, but now it’s me against their three most experienced members.
“Is anyone up?”
“Arsenal, I got some distance when Behemoth did her thing. What do you want me to do?” Fleet asks.
As fast as he is, he can’t turn the tide, but he can save Luke and Pierre.
“Evac the wounded, then Glacier.”
“Roger.”
“Glacier,” she turns to me when I speak, her body is filled with spider web cracks from the sonic attack. If Luke hadn’t leaped in front of her, she would be dead. “Freeze that big piece of crap.”
“With pleasure.”
The blue girl rolls her ice shoulders and slaps her hands together not unlike the move Behemoth did. Freedom and Mariposa are still recovering from the friendly fire when blue light flashes from Glacier’s palms and strikes Behemoth dead center. The woman howls and starts marching forward, each foot falling with the force of a small earthquake.
“Epic, pod Freedom, go full automated attack against Mariposa, we can’t let her control anyone while Tony gets the team to safety.”
Affirmative. Amelia, the jig is up and the lab is lost… do you want me to enact Enterprise Refit protocol?
Dammit, no I don’t. A quick glance at the situation tells me that no matter how this turns out, I’m done with the Diamondbacks.
“Do it.”
Verbal confirmation code required.
“Zero-zero-zero-destruct-zero.”
Glacier pours on the power but Behemoth is somehow closing ground. The puff off my launcher signals Epic going after Freedom. Mariposa is on the ground fifty feet away. She’s shaking her head trying to clear it from the shockwave her teammate smacked her with.
Initiating fire alarm. All personnel are evacuating.
The suit bucks as I slam into the ground next to the butterfly-winged woman. I’ve never really looked at her before but I see it now, she’s beautiful in an elegant way. Everyone in the media is always going on about how wonderful she is. To me, she’s just another despot trying to take over the world.
I snag her tunic and lift her off the ground.
“If you so much as flinch I will shatter every bone in your face, understand?”
She nods and her eyes snap open, clearing of confusion immediately. The shield on my gloves sparkle like a live wire has arced against it.
“I’ve developed defenses to your powers, they won’t work on me. You people… it never occurs to you that if you can do it, so can I. Now give me a name!”
She shakes her head, “You don’t understand, Amelia. We’re trying to save the world.”
“I don’t care what brand of crazy you are. Tell me who’s in charge, a name Mariposa, I want a name. Who messed with my parents’ minds?”
I shake her to focus her thoughts. If she so much as glances away from me I’m blasting her with my kinetic lance. At point blank range it will likely shatter her face.
Building evacuation confirmed. Safeties off. Artemis is locked on. Adjusting orbital parameters…
“Arsenal, Force, and Perfect are in the hospital, what next?”
“Tony, get Glacier out of here. You two lay low for a few days. I’ll contact you and let you know where to go from there.”
“Amelia, we’re not leaving you,” he says.
Mariposa smiles as if she can read my thoughts, but I kn
ow she can’t. She thinks I’m being indecisive, the truth is I’m multi-tasking.
“Tony, seriously. There’s a lot going on here you don’t know. I need you two to vanish for a few days, can you do that?”
“What about helping me? You promised,” Glacier asks.
Epic shows Behemoths progress on the split screen. The monstrosity that is the unstoppable woman takes one earth-shattering step after another. Glacier is visibly weakening and I’m out of time.
MKI Arrow locked. Firing in seven seconds.
“Monica, I will. I know I can, it will just take some time. Go with Tony and I will explain when I can.”
I put my full attention back on Mariposa.
She glowers at me, “They can’t hide from me, you know. Or from us. We’re everywhere. Controlling everyone who matters. You only slipped through our net because we thought you were dead. He thought you were dead. You’re only one woman, Amelia. You can’t outsmart all of us…”
“The hell I can’t,” I fire the kinetic lance. I let the energy carry her away from me in a vortex of broken bones and blood. She crumples to the ground a few feet away. She’s going to need serious plastic surgery if she ever wants to show her face in public again. The life signs on my HUD tell me she’ll live. I’m tempted not to let her. They’re building a world where life and happiness mean nothing. I can’t fight against that by being like them, so she lives.
Glacier vanishes in a blur of speed as Tony carries her to safety.
“Epic, make sure they’re taken care of. Divert funds from Mars if you have to. Legal and everything. I don’t want any of this coming back on the team.”
Affirmative.
With Glacier no longer actively freezing Behemoth she is free to come after me. Freedom is floating up into the sky trying to contort himself to reach the AG pod on his back.
In the pipe.
I nod. The ground shakes as the massive woman sprints toward me. I feel like a herd of elephants are bearing down on me. I fire off full IP cannons just in case as I blast off. The blue energy envelopes her and flashes down to the ground with no effect. Just like White Rhino and every other invulnerable person I’ve fought.
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