by Samit Basu
“We’re going to beat this,” says Uzma. “This is not over.”
“Speaking of beating things, I must warn you that further disorderly conduct will give us grounds to restrain you with necessary force,” says Azusa. “I advise you to rest until your colleagues are up and about, and then depart in an orderly fashion.”
“What have you done with Jai?” asks Uzma again, trying to match Azusa’s calm and failing utterly.
“I do not know of any Jai,” says Azusa. “I must warn you that this conversation is being recorded, and your repeated references to a super-criminal would cause a great deal of harm to your team’s reputation should these recordings be accidentally leaked to the media. Especially considering that you will be rendered irrelevant to the world after your unfortunate loss of power. Perhaps the acquisition of more enemies would be unwise.”
“I see,” says Uzma.
“Thank you,” says Azusa. “Would you like some tea while you wait?”
Uzma takes a step forward, fists clenched. And then she sees a flicker of pure joy in Azusa’s eyes – something tells her Azusa is dying for a reason to beat her senseless. Uzma sits down on her bed instead, steeling her face into perfect composure, and waits for Azusa to leave. Then she starts shaking her teammates awake.
* * *
At a gesture from Norio, Awesome Boy stomps up to the cage. Jai observes the robot with interest; its arms and legs extend and contract as it walks, like pistons. It isn’t a robot built to care for the elderly or the young; it’s a warrior. It stands in front of the cage and transforms: one of its hands retracts its fingers, and sprouts spikes in its place; the other transforms into a plasma cannon.
“I’m offering you a choice my father never had,” says Norio. “Would you like my robot to kill you, or should I do it myself?”
“You,” says Jai.
“It will be slower,” says Norio.
“I’m in no hurry.”
Norio steps up to a lever, but sees Jai smiling and stops.
“What’s so funny?” asks Norio.
“Life,” says Jai. “I was supposed to rule the world. To think I should meet my end in an empty room, at the hands of some nobody. Life is strange.”
“Believe me, Jai,” says Norio. “When I am done, the world will see your death as a footnote in the tale of my adventures.”
Jai smirks. “Trapping me like this was a fluke, boy. Caused by Uzma’s poor planning, not mine. You wouldn’t stand a chance against me.”
“When you were a super. Which was another fluke, wasn’t it? Right now, we’re here. We’re on equal terms. You can show me what you’re made of.”
“Oh, I’m not making excuses,” Jai snaps. “But if you’re planning more than just revenge, then killing me is a very stupid idea. You should employ me instead.”
“And why would I want to do that?”
“Because I have seen how this world really runs, boy. You have no idea. You’re just a rich kid with lots of fancy toys who thinks he’s ready to play in the real world. You’ll get crushed. You need me to survive.”
It’s Norio’s turn to smile.
“I wonder what inspires this sudden concern for my well-being,” he says. “Does it have anything to do with your impending death?”
“I was thinking about it,” says Jai. “I took your father’s life. It was an accident, and technically it wasn’t even me, since my mind was controlled by someone else. But let’s say it is my fault, and all the years you’ve spent plotting your revenge weren’t a waste of time, if we became allies, I could save your life, and then we would be even.”
“No,” says Norio.
“Think about it,” says Jai. “You say you have a larger plan. I would guess it has something to do with defeating supers. Forming a human resistance. Depowering more supers.”
Norio says nothing.
“Well, you’ve made me human. I have many enemies. Supers. That means my side is picked for me. I have lived in slavery for eleven years. My every thought dictated, my every action controlled. They made me – me, Jai Mathur – a puppet. How do you think I feel about that?”
“I would imagine you feel pretty angry.”
Jai’s anger is evident now; the veins on his neck stand out.
“Let me get my revenge first. Then kill me as you please.”
“Why should I?”
“Because I know enough to bring down every superhero organisation in the world. I haven’t slept through these eleven years, Norio. Uzma controlled me, but I was awake, I was alive. I was watching. Together we can end the age of supers. And that’s what you want, isn’t it?”
“I just want a world where people are equal, or at least not more unequal than when this all started,” says Norio. “I know it sounds naive, especially coming from me, but an elite group running the world doesn’t work. Nothing changes.”
“Because if the First Wave had never happened, you would have been in that elite group,” says Jai. “I understand.”
“No, that’s not it at all,” says Norio. “I could become a super if I wanted – the Utopic board has already upgraded. But if some people are super and others aren’t, people like my father die unnaturally. This has to stop. And I will stop it.”
“And I will stop it with you!” says Jai, his face aglow with enthusiasm as he pounds the glass wall enthusiastically.
“No you won’t,” says Norio. “I’m almost flattered by how stupid you think I am. That was some of the worst acting I’ve ever seen.”
Jai grins ruefully. “Worth a shot,” he says, and steps back.
And then they both notice the huge crack on the glass cube’s wall.
As they watch, the crack grows, like lightning in super-slow motion. It spreads, slowly, sending tributary cracks off in every direction.
Jai punches the reinforced glass. It shatters. Jai looks at his fist.
“Interesting,” he says.
* * *
The first thing Anima does on waking is turn into her cartoon princess form, and send green sparks shooting across the room. One strikes Wingman, who leaps up and covers himself with what looks like an armadillo shell. Jason and Wu are up as well, rubbing their eyes, taking in the room.
“I’m an idiot,” says Uzma.
“We know,” says Anima. “Why exactly?”
“That nurse didn’t speak English.” Uzma smacks her forehead. “I could have made that bitch dance the Macarena instead of taking all that shit.”
“That’s nice,” says Wingman. “What now?”
“Get up, all of you,” Says Uzma.
The other four stand up immediately, startled and immediately disgruntled.
Azusa bursts in with four armed guards. A flick of Jason’s wrist, and they are disarmed. The guns bury themselves in the ceiling. Anima sends sizzling maces into the guards’ foreheads; they fall, stunned.
Two seconds after entering the room, Azusa finds herself alone, facing the Unit.
“Slap yourself,” Says Uzma.
Azusa does, her eyes blazing.
“Your poison didn’t work on us. Why?” Uzma Asks her.
“I don’t know,” says Azusa. “I personally tested the tea and the steam on other guests.”
“And your other victims didn’t recover like we did?”
“No. We held the first two subjects for a week to make sure.”
“What did they have in common that we don’t?”
Azusa looks thunderstruck. “Physical deformities. Powers that brought them pain.”
“Just like the Utopic subjects. And Rowena’s blood fixed them.”
“Yes.”
“So you gave us a healing potion. Not necessarily a power removal portion.”
“Yes.”
“And how stupid does that make you feel?”
“Very.”
“Good. So, Norio. Where is he?”
“In Awesome Boy’s dojo.”
“I don’t know what that means, but take us there. No, can
cel that, mark it on your phone and give it to us.”
Azusa busies herself with her phone.
Uzma turns to Wingman.
“You take her to the hoverjet. Wu, go with them. Jason, Anima, we need to move fast. I want Norio alive.”
“Aman Sen didn’t have any physical deformities,” says Azusa, mostly to herself.
The room goes very silent.
“Slap yourself again,” Says Uzma.
* * *
Awesome Boy’s pulse cannon keeps up a constant barrage of blasts. Each pulse lands squarely on Jai’s chest, and Jai’s body shudders, but stays upright. His clothes are in rags, but he’s healing at incredible speed.
Norio races around the hall looking for Azusa’s rifle, praying she left it somewhere in the room. One shot, he tells himself as his search grows more frantic. One shot wins it all. The stench of burning flesh and hair fills his nostrils, he wants to vomit.
Jai walks closer and closer to Awesome Boy, energy pulsating off his chest, deflected blasts shooting all over the room. The glass cube is in smithereens now, broken sprinklers raining water on a lake of shards.
“I’ll give you a choice,” Jai shouts, above the whine of the pulse cannon. “Would you like your robot to kill you, or should I do it myself?”
Norio’s heart pounds. Finally he spots the rifle, stacked neatly on a shelf in the darkest corner of the hall. He races towards it.
“Not feeling so talkative now, are we?” calls Jai, watching Norio’s progress with interest.
Awesome Boy’s pulse cannon spins, completely discharged. Jai’s not prepared for this, and stumbles. Awesome Boy’s right arm pistons forward, and Jai gets a face full of spiked club. The impact sends him flying backwards. He lands with a crash in the remains of the glass cube.
Awesome Boy retracts his pulse cannon. His left arm shifts, and a chainsaw emerges. “Nice,” says Jai.
Norio fires his rifle. The dart hits Jai on the shoulder, and bounces off.
Jai turns towards him lazily.
“Keep doing that,” he says. “Don’t go away.”
Awesome Boy stalks forward, chainsaw extended towards Jai, club raised above his head. Jai grins, and tilts his head, cracking his neck. He claps his hands together.
“Come on, then,” he says.
Snaking under the chainsaw thrust, Jai goes for Awesome Boy’s leg. But he hasn’t factored in how heavy the robot is. Awesome Boy stumbles, but gets a solid hit on Jai’s back with the club. Jai roars in pain, and, as his body convulses, Awesome Boy swings the chainsaw into Jai’s neck with a swipe that would have beheaded a full-grown bull elephant.
A fountain of blood and tissue spurts into the ceiling, but Jai’s head stays attached to his body. He screams in agony, and skids on his own blood. In mid-slide, he leaps up, and vaults far away from the charging robot. His neck is a mess of ripped muscle and exposed bone; every gulp of breath he takes makes a horrible whistling noise. But as he turns – his body, not his head – to face Norio, his voice is calm.
“What is your big plan?” he asks. “Where are you going with this?”
Norio watches in disbelief as Jai’s neck stops bleeding, and new muscle knits itself over his bones. Jai’s not at full strength, though. He moves lightly on his feet, retreating, keeping a safe distance between himself and the advancing Awesome Boy.
Norio has two darts left in his rifle. He shakes them out on to his hand, and races towards Awesome Boy.
Jai starts growing new skin on his neck. What worries Norio more is the smile on his face.
Norio reaches Awesome Boy. “Chain gun, empty two chambers!” he yells.
With a mighty clang, Awesome Boy extends his right arm, and a chain gun replaces the club. Two chambers open; shells drop out. The robot pistons its hand forward, and Norio stuffs the last two darts into the empty chambers.
Jai rolls his head around his neck. “Good as new,” he says.
Two darts, loaded with Rowena’s blood, stream towards him. Time slows down for Norio, as if he can hear the blood sloshing about inside the darts, feel the air heating up around them as they hurtle towards Jai, hear the never-ending growl of Awesome Boy’s chain gun rotating, new shells clicking into place.
Jai catches the darts in mid-air and tosses them aside. He charges at Awesome Boy. The robot fires the chain gun and raises the chainsaw to strike, but Jai is unbelievably fast. He leaps at the robot, shells ricocheting off his body, and slams into its breastplate.
Awesome Boy goes down. Jai springs to his feet and rips out the dented breastplate, ignoring the chainsaw that’s hacking into his thigh, and jettisoning a fine spray of blood into the air. Then he grabs Awesome Boy’s left arm and rips it off. The chainsaw is still whirring as he plunges it into Awesome Boy’s innards. Circuits and wires and sparks fly everywhere as Awesome Boy shakes, rattles, and shatters.
Norio’s heart seems to stop for a few seconds as Jai, matted with blood and dotted with pieces of robot shrapnel, looks up and into his eyes.
“Run,” says Jai.
Norio wants to, but his feet cannot move.
“Game over,” he says. “Kill me. I’m not afraid.”
Jai plucks a few shards of metal out of his body.
“I want you to understand something,” he says. “I don’t really care whether you live or die. You mean nothing to me.”
Norio bows his head.
“I did what honour compelled me to do,” he says.
“Spare me that nonsense,” says Jai. “You have no idea what honour means. You’re a foolish boy who read superhero comics and thought he understood power. A fat little sheep who thought he could play wolf. What was your plan?”
“It doesn’t matter,” says Norio.
“You found a way to trap me,” says Jai. “If your trick with the steam had not failed, you would have killed me. I’m almost impressed.” He picks up Norio’s sword from the floor.
“Your days are numbered,” says Norio. “I might have failed, but there will be others. Mankind will survive you.”
Jai swishes the sword around. “I used to be a leader of humans,” he says. “I used to inspire them to do things. Up in Siachen, where it’s so cold that you could die of exposure before taking three steps, I used to make them do what I wanted.”
He points the sword tip at Norio’s throat.
“People used to go mad up there, you know,” he says. “Young boys, stupid killers from some godforsaken village. It didn’t matter what side of the border they were on. They’d play games with each other. Collect heads.”
He nicks Norio’s throat with his sword. A slow trickle of blood runs down Norio’s neck. He’s amazed at how warm it feels.
“I am not going to kill you,” says Jai. “I gain nothing from your death. A life for a life: we are even. But before I let you go, tell me how you planned to defeat all the superhumans.”
“Step away from him,” Says Uzma from the door.
Jai lowers his sword slowly, and looks at his teammates as they run in.
Jason stands behind Uzma, Anima hovers in a green energy field in front of them.
“Are you all right?” he asks.
“We’re fine,” says Uzma. “There’s no need to torture him. He’ll tell us everything he knows. Let’s go.”
“So no one lost their powers?” asks Jai.
“No,” says Uzma. “Rowena’s blood doesn’t remove superpowers. It just heals people. We’ll find out more when we pick her up. Where is she again?”
Norio stands silent, head bowed. Uzma sighs and clears her throat.
“Wait a second,” says Jai.
He brings the sword up again, and points it at Norio’s throat.
“What are you doing?” asks Uzma.
“I thought I felt different,” says Jai.
“Put the sword down.”
Jai smiles. “Ask me properly,” he says.
“Put the sword down and step away from Norio!” Shouts Uzma.
The team
stares at Jai, horror slowly dawning in their hearts. He flicks the sword at Norio’s throat: another thin line of blood wells up.
“I don’t think I want to,” says Jai.
All hell breaks loose.
* * *
Norio dives for cover as Jason sends a swarm of jagged metal and glass hurtling towards Jai. Anima, screaming in horror, hurls a barrage of light-spears. Jai reels under the onslaught, but stays on his feet, bleeding from every possible part of his body.
“Get Uzma out of here!” shrieks Anima.
Uzma’s already running for the door, too shocked to speak, Jai’s fierce smile burning in her eyes.
Jai begins to laugh. A rich, rolling laugh that echoes around the hall as a swarm of glass and metal rakes across every inch of his body, as he twitches and shudders in an endless stream of light-spears.
Norio’s face and arms bleed as he rolls away into the shadows.
Jai grabs a piece of the robot’s breastplate and hurls it at Uzma. Jason, exerting all his strength, sends it slicing into the ceiling. Anima retreats, flying back in terror as Jai races towards her.
As soon as Uzma’s out of the hall, Jason rushes back in.
Anima hits Jai with every weapon she can think of, but nothing can stop his charge. Jason, roaring, sends another cloud of debris smashing into him, piling around his legs, until he trips and falls heavily. In an instant, Jai is buried in a pile of rubble. Anima flies around the hall, sending green daggers pounding into the walls. As they break, Jason adds to the rubble around Jai until he’s completely encased in debris; he rolls the pile around like a snowball gathering mass. Anima, screaming unearthly anime-princess battle cries, sends twin beams of light arcing around the sphere, covering it in a force field.
After a minute or so, the sphere stops shaking, and Jason pulls Anima down to earth. She reverts to human form, shaking uncontrollably, tears rolling down her cheeks.
“Uzma?” calls Jason.
“I’ve called Wu and Wingman in,” says Uzma from the door. “It’ll take all of us to keep him down.”
Jason looks around. “Norio’s gone,” he says.
“He is the least of our problems at this point,” says Uzma. “Stay focused on Jai. Believe me, you’ll need to.”
“Kind of you,” says Jai’s voice from within the sphere.