The Clash (The Permutation Archives Book 5)

by Kindra Sowder

  Could I fight my baby sister? Sure. I just hoped I didn’t hurt her.

  I wouldn’t make the first move. From what I learned, you never did. You always waited for your opponent, and I knew Gaia was so impatient that she wouldn’t wait long before doing just that. And didn’t I love to be proven right?

  Within mere seconds, Gaia launched herself in my direction, silent and quick. Just as I had witnessed in the field fighting among the Fallen Paradigm and King’s men, she moved with such a swiftness that I almost couldn’t keep my eyes on her. She approached with fist pulled back, ready to enact the first blow in our first physical altercation. Stepping back and leaning to the left, I dodged her fist altogether and spun away from her. As soon as I found my feet, Gaia struck again, her closed fist colliding with my cheek. I stumbled a couple of steps but didn’t fall. Pain spread from the point of impact and radiated through my entire face, causing my rage to build until I knew I had to win this – sister or not.

  Warmth spread throughout my belly as my ability activated, tingling spreading into my arms and legs and down into my fused prosthetic. It felt stronger than ever, which led me to believe that, if I unleashed it in this room, I could very well obliterate it and everything inside it. I reveled in it, but I wasn’t certain how long I could control its heightened strength. I could even feel the Nanos working away inside my body, working swiftly to repair any damage done by the punch – even on a cellular level.

  Approaching Gaia, I lowered into a leg sweep, but she jumped over my prosthetic – avoiding a fall altogether. I rose up, arms ready to block any kind of attack. She struck, but couldn’t penetrate the block, causing her to cry out in frustration with each attempted strike. I pushed forward, deciding it was time to strike as well. We blocked each other’s punches, each of us only managing to land a few blows. Putting all of my weight on my prosthetic, I brought up my other knee, hitting her square in the gut with a grunt of effort.

  Gaia made a pained noise and fell back a few steps, curling around her belly with a grimace. She recovered quickly and pulled out one of the blades she had picked up, the fluorescent lights glinting off the steel. Following suit, knowing this path was inevitable, I slid the Jagdkommando out from its home and twirled it in my fingers – only to look intimidating, nothing more.

  We went at it with the blades for what felt like an eternity but must have been only about thirty seconds with how quickly we moved around one another’s attacks. My power built inside my chest, flooding through me in a blaze of heat that made my entire body flush with sweat. I put out my hand, palm facing Gaia – it was as if my ability was acting on its own, driving my body’s actions. Energy exploded from the center of my palm, radiating outward in a spear of invisible radioactive energy that flew toward Gaia with lightning speed. While I had done it purposefully, I hadn’t meant for this to be the result of my actions, or my ability. But I couldn’t stop it, and it was far too late to draw it back into my body.

  Somehow, she was able to avoid it, ducking and surging toward me again with her blade swiping the air. A few people standing in its path felt the heat of the attack, moving out of the way just in time for it to strike the far wall – leaving a crater-like divet in the concrete that radioactive particles drifted into the air from. I felt the sting as it sliced into the flesh of my upper arm, and cried out, but didn’t back down even though I probably should have. My power ignited again, acting of its own free will, and delved down deep into the tissue that made up the part of Gaia I had already scorched. It was as if my power refused to lose to someone that wasn’t a Special. It wasn’t a sentient energy, even I knew that, but that didn’t stop me from believing it on some level.

  I screamed just as she did when her blade sliced downward, and my ability burned, both of us stopping in enough time to prevent serious injury.

  First blood, that was the rule, and Gaia had already achieved it even though I followed close behind. Blood poured down my arm while blood bubbled at the edges of Gaia’s chest wound, dripping black and coagulated from the charring warmth.

  “First blood,” Ryder yelled.

  Backing away, I slid the tri-dagger back into its sheath. My hand then drifted to the gash on my arm, stinging severely as soon as my fingers touched raw and open flesh. It was warm, and the intense pain radiated down my arm, burning deeply.

  Ryder ran toward me while John shot toward Gaia, but the burning in my arm had most of my attention. I dropped down to my knees and sat on the gymnasium floor, holding back the tears that stung almost as badly as the wound.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Ryder asked, coming to sit in front of me – his warm palm closing over my hand.

  A hiss passed through my lips at his touch, despite how light it was.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. We said first blood, we meant it. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised my little sister kicked my ass, huh?”

  “Well, you both kind of hit each other at the same time so I don’t think there’s a clear winner here,” he responded, attempting to lift my fingers slightly to see the wound underneath.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll have Madeline look at it,” I assured him.

  “You will?” His green eyes were sincere and penetrating.

  I nodded but didn’t get a chance to check on Gaia or get another word in when the doors leading in the gymnasium slammed open, and Ruckus came barreling through like a bull in a China shop. His muscles were coiled as if he was angry, but I didn’t see the emotion in the hard lines of his face or his deep brown eyes. I saw determination and immeasurable strength as well as exhilaration. It rippled through his body as he spotted me and approached at a speed I had never seen the large man move in before.

  “Ruckus?” Gaia said as she stepped forward, John still fussing over her chest wound.

  Baker let out an exasperated sigh, but let her move away from him anyway. Ruckus pointed at me as I mirrored my sister’s movements.

  “Hunter, I need to grab you,” he stated.

  “Okay,” Gaia and I said at the same time.

  Awkwardly, she looked over at me and shrugged, seeing that he obviously meant me. Practically having to slap Ryder’s hand away from my wound, I walked to Ruckus, Ryder on my heels. The man couldn’t stop moving, pacing from side to side as we walked up to him and stopped just within a foot of him to keep him from running me over.

  “You guys find something?” I asked, wondering if there was anything we could possibly use in all the documentation Baker had given us.

  Before, while we were still on Kiawah Island, he had managed to give us video, documents, and so much more that we never got to lay eyes on. Now was my chance to see how King’s America ticked. I wanted a better life for not only us, but for our future – whatever that would bring. Gaia and John came to my side, Gaia’s blue eyes wide.

  He nodded, “We did. I’ll need you to come with me to the computer lab, so we can show you what we found. Ajax and Jameson sent me to grab you.”

  “All right, I’m coming,” I said.

  “What about your arm?” Ryder asked.

  “Get on the walkie I know you have on you and call her to the computer lab. She can take care of it there. She’ll need to take a look at Gaia too,” I ordered speedily.

  “Okay,” Ryder responded, lifting up the hem of his shirt and removing the walkie-talkie from his belt. “Doctor Aserov, please report to the computer lab, over.”

  He let go of the button, and a loud chirp sounded almost instantly, letting us know there was a transmission incoming.

  “Roger that. Any supplies I need to bring? Over,” Doctor Aserov’s feminine voice came over the small radio.

  Pressing the button again, he licked his lips, and answered, “Basic first aid.” His eyes roamed over my still-bleeding arm. “With a suture kit. Over.”

  The beep came again.

  “Got it. I’ll
see you shortly. Over.”

  “Okay,” Ruckus rushed, “let’s get this shit storm on the road.”

  He began to walk brusquely away, giving us no choice but to follow him through the maze of the refurbished high school. All doors and halls looked exactly the same. Finally, we arrived at the computer lab with its rows and rows of computers. In true Doctor Aserov fashion, she was already there with a first aid kit and a sealed plastic pouch in her other hand. Jameson and Ajax still sat in front of the massive crystal computer, typing away and moving through document upon document with lightning speed. Both men looked exhausted but were nearly manic with excited energy all the same.

  “Damn, did you run?” John exclaimed.

  She shook her head, blonde hair brushing her shoulders. “Nope, I just know my way around the place.”

  “Did you help my mom pick it or something?” I asked the question causing a pang of grief to hit my heart.

  “Actually, yes,” she stated, moving forward and setting her kit and the pouch on the nearest table.

  The room went noiseless, even Jameson’s incessant clicking quieting. Clearing my throat, I shuffled into the room, Doctor Aserov rolling a stool out from under the table and toward me with a massive grin on her face. I could make out sadness behind her lenses, and a part of me wanted to take the question back.

  “All right, let’s see what we’re looking at, Mila. I’ll get to Gaia in a moment because, based on the blood running down your arm, you are more urgent,” Doctor Aserov asserted as the stool rolled to a stop at my knees.

  I lowered myself onto the stool, pulling my hand away from the wound. For the last few moments, I had completely forgotten it was there except for the hand I kept clasped over it. Even the burning sting was absent, showing what John had said about what the Nanos could do for me was indeed true. I removed my hand, and Doctor Aserov moved in with a saline-soaked stack of gauze to wipe the blood away.

  There was no familiar pull of open flesh. There was no pain. Just cold saline and scratchy fabric against smooth skin along with the slickness of my blood. She cleared enough of the blood away to see a spot where the wound should have been, and let out an exalted whoop that startled anyone not paying attention. Ajax and Jameson nearly jumped out of their seats, heads whipping around to glare at her.

  “Looks like our boy was right,” Ryder stated.

  “I told you she’d heal faster. Just can’t heal anything like a shot to the brain,” John reminded us, pointing right between his eyes.

  “Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle,” Ruckus said with surprise.

  While I was shocked by this as well, even though John had indeed told me this would happen, I didn’t want the attention. I just wanted to get on with what I was called for – and that was to see what they found.

  “While I’m also happy to see that I’m practically invincible now, I need you two,” I pointed at Ajax and Jameson, “to show me what the hell you found so we can get the ball rolling. I’m sick and tired of sitting around and waiting for the shit to hit the fan.”

  Jameson and Ajax turned hurriedly to the screen as Doctor Aserov wipe the rest of my blood from my arm. I didn’t even wait for her to dry my arm before standing and motioning Gaia toward the stool. She came forward and sat down without so much as a peep, rolling closer to Doctor Aserov as the woman changed out her gloves for a fresh, clean pair. I hadn’t noticed, but Ryder had moved to stand behind the two men at the computer, arms crossed over his chest as the image reflected in his eyes. Coming to stand beside him as John hovered over Gaia, his attention split between her and what else was going on in the room, I took a similar stance and nudged him with my elbow. He didn’t look away from the screen, but he did grin a little, nudging me back.

  “So, what did you find?” I asked.

  “Well,” Jameson began, stopping on a map of a city – one I didn’t recognize, “we found this map. It’s the city where Fuji-O’Hara is headquartered.”

  “Musgrave,” John said from the other side of the room. “They’re headquartered in Musgrave.”

  I looked at John who intently watched Doctor Aserov tend to Gaia’s wound, slathering it in burn and antiseptic ointment. He glanced up at me and nodded, but didn’t say another word.

  “What’s the significance of that?” Ryder asked.

  “How about I show you,” Ajax stated, entering another set of commands onto the keyboard.

  Red targets erupted on the map, seemingly in random places, but I knew better than that. Nothing King did was random – not even slightly. The roads were set up as I’d expect – in a grid – nothing like in South Carolina, which made no sense to anyone except for city planners who never wanted to rectify the winding nonsensical roadways. The startling amount of red splattered in intersections in various places made me anxious. I had no idea what they meant. All I knew was that it couldn’t be good.

  “These red targets are military installments. Like guard troops to make sure no one gets in or out that isn’t supposed to. As you can see,” Ajax explained, standing up to point at each that he could easily reach, “they are scattered randomly. My only guess is to make sure no one can use a specific kind of assignment structure against them. Who knows? Maybe they don’t even stay in the same place all the time, and see this?” he asked, pointing at a larger compass-like symbol in the center of the city. “This is Fuji-O’Hara, and they were smart enough to place some sentries closer to their headquarters as well. This will make it a lot harder to get in than we anticipated. We won’t just be able to land a plane and go right in to light the place up.”

  John moved away from Gaia as Doctor Aserov placed a bandage on her chest and came toward us, stopping at least a couple of feet away from where we stood.

  “Wait, I didn’t see any of these sentries when I escaped,” he stated, pointing at the map on the screen.

  “Unfortunately, man, I don’t have an answer for that one,” Jameson stated.

  “But what does their headquarters have to do with anything at this point?” Gaia asked from across the room. “We’re after King.”

  Jameson held up a finger and hit another button, an official document with King’s letterhead on the top coming into view.

  “Because, according to this, King will be there. He couldn’t stay in D.C. after what he had planned, and I have no doubt he’ll keep to these plans. That’s if he’s smart, and we all know he is,” Jameson explained.

  That was true enough. The man was highly intelligent. Even I could admit that, and I had a sinking suspicion as to why he would hide out at Fuji-O’Hara’s headquarters. It was possible that he would try to use their technology to advance his body, or even Valdus’ and Nero’s. Who really knew? We had no idea what we would be walking into, which was the larges part of the problem. We could have all the maps and schematics we wanted, but we didn’t know anything.

  “I guess my next question is, do we have anything that can help us once we make it inside the building?” I questioned with an audible sigh.

  Jameson and Ajax grinned like fools, showing way too many teeth and far too much white. Jameson’s finger came down on another key, and with a soft click, another map popped up on the crystal screen.

  On the bottom, it said very clearly in bold, dark blue letters Property of Fuji-O’Hara Inc.

  Chapter

  TWENTY-FOUR

  As soon as I realized exactly what it was we had in our possession, I knew we had to get on a plane and head out as quickly as possible – even if we didn’t have a solid plan. That was easy enough to come up with on the way to our destination. From what I gathered in the document outlining King’s plans after Washington D.C., he wasn’t planning to remain in Musgrave at Fuji-O’Hara for long.

  The plane we filed onto that evening was much like the ones we had in Myrtle Beach – a stolen government plane – but thi
s one was much more capable when it came to military action. The other was basic, run-of-the-mill, but this was far above and beyond anything I had expected us to be able to get our hands on. We had computers at our disposal. The same crystal glass computers that were widely used along with gunracks, weapons storage filled to the brim with all manner of artillery, as well as special provisions where we could look at any type of map or blueprint that was necessary.

  As it was, every single one of us except for Cecilia stood around a large lightbox — Cecilia being asked to stay behind as someone I could trust to save everyone at Dead End just in case of an attack. Or our possible failure. The blue light shone from below in a stainless-steel box topped with crystal glass, and it was enabled to display digital images and plans on any transparent map infused with microchips that were placed on its surface. At first, I wasn’t certain how we could get our hands on one of the specialized maps, but that question was quickly answered when Fairbanks sent the maps of Musgrave and Fuji-O’Hara through a program in the plane – then were generated through a designated printer. Apparently, this was also in wide use within the government. Seeing all of this, it made me wonder how much money was wasted on things we didn’t actually need. While this was an amazing luxury, it wasn’t exactly a necessity. It was easy enough to do the same thing on one of the crystal glass computers. There would be no need for transparent plastics and dyes and chips to make what I was now looking at – it felt like an immense waste of resources that could go somewhere else.

  Yet another part of the infrastructure to fix once this was all over. I had lived with the bare necessities, so it was easy enough for me to see where things could change. It wouldn’t be easy, but it could be done.

  But, first things first.

  “I won’t even pretend to know what I’m doing so, Fairbanks, you want to tell us exactly how we can get in this place without being blown up or shot?” I asked, motioning toward the maps in front of me.