The Indestructibles (Book 2): Breakout

by Phillion, Matthew

  "Knife, let it go. It's not worth it," Sam said.

  The woman lunged at Sam, acrobatically spinning out of the way of a poorly aimed light blast from Billy's hand. She came within inches of sticking her improvised knife into Sam's chest, but stopped, mid-air, and then went flying violently back down the hallway. Her blades fell from her hands, spinning and clattering on the floor. The would-be assassin rolled a few times and then flopped to a complete stop, unconscious, all the way at the end of the corridor.

  "Don't bring a knife to a bubble of float fight," Emily said. Then she giggled.

  "Did you do that?" Billy said.

  "Yeah. Just like Indy," Emily said.

  Billy stared blankly at her.

  "Indiana Jones? Harrison Ford, God's gift to the movies."

  "I know Indiana Jones," Billy said. "You just threw that woman all the way down the hall."

  "You missed," she said.

  "What the . . ." a new voice said.

  Billy, Sam, and Emily all looked up to see Jane, leaning heavily on Bedlam's shoulder, walk slowly around the corner and stare at the prone body of the Knife.

  "You messed her up," said Bedlam.

  "She'll live," Emily said.

  "Bedlam?" Billy said.

  "Glowstick!" Bedlam said. "So you're not dead."

  "Not quite," Billy said. He looked at Jane. "You look terrible, You okay?"

  "Just need some sun," Jane said, smiling weakly. Her eyes were bruised, her skin pale and clammy.

  "Our favorite house plant," Emily said.

  She has depleted her power cells, Dude said. She is going to start seeing significant drop-off in her invulnerability and strength soon.

  We'll get her outside as soon as we can, Dude, Billy thought. She kept me safe when you and I were separated. I'm not letting anything happen to her.

  Jane walked slowly over to Sam and crouched down in front of him, picking his hands up in her own.

  "How you doing?" she said.

  "A lot better seeing you, sunshine," the old man said. "You got a plan?"

  "Yeah," Jane said. "We're going upstairs, taking this place over, and then we're getting out of here."

  Chapter 56:

  Out of control

  Professionally speaking, this had been the worst day of Agent Rourke's life.

  His communications team had apparently lost their commanding officer outright with Agent Prevention not appearing on camera anywhere in the building and not responding to her radio or cell phone. A literal hurricane hovered on top of the prison, preventing air travel in and out and making it difficult to send for reinforcements. There were potentially a half-dozen or more escaped convicts from among the facility's most dangerous prisoners still wandering the premises. The team's big guns, the Distribution suits, had been remotely deactivated, presumably by a mole. And there were five or six very powerful and very angry superhumans trying to get revenge on his team for locking them up unfairly.

  "I should have joined that Bodyguard to the Stars service when I had the chance instead of the Department," Rourke said, sighing. "What else could possibly go wrong?"

  "Agent Rourke?" one of the techs said from his monitoring station.

  "No," Rourke said.

  "I didn't say what — "

  "You're going to tell me something awful. And I don't want to hear it."

  "Sir," the tech said.

  "Fine," Rourke said. "What is it?"

  "We picked up this image from one of the Department's satellite monitoring stations," the tech said.

  "The satellites can't pick up what goes on inside the Labyrinth. Winter made sure of that," Rourke said.

  "This isn't on site. This is in a small town about three hundred miles south," the tech said.

  "I don't see how this is relevant to us not getting killed right now," Rourke said.

  "Look," the tech said. He tapped a few keys and the largest monitor in the screen cut to satellite footage.

  Someone had written a message in chalk big enough to view from the sky on one of the small town's main streets. The message was so ominous that it took a moment for Rourke to realize nobody was moving in the street. No cars, no pedestrians, no dogs. Nothing. Just one boy in a hooded sweatshirt sitting on a park bench looking like a small dot above an i.

  The message read: "COME STOP ME."

  "What is this?" Rourke said. "What's happening?"

  "We have no other information, sir," the tech said.

  "Get people on the ground there now. Contact Department headquarters and get people on site. Where the hell is Prevention?"

  Rourke's voice took on a hard edge. His boss had been so determined to bring the Indestructibles under control that they had accomplished nothing else in weeks. Even the investigation on the. . .

  "Oh no," Rourke said. "Oh no, oh no. Bring up the map on the plague/virus investigation."

  "The map?"

  "The map, the one we were using to track its progress," Rourke said.

  A second screen lit up, showing the hotspots along the East Coast where the infection situations had arisen. Like a subway map, the little town on the main screen looked like the next logical stop.

  "Where is this?" Rourke said.

  "It's a town called Kirkland," another tech said.

  "Okay," Rourke said. "Gather all the information we have from the hospital investigation. Change of priorities."

  "Sir, we've got multiple escaped convicts on the loose," another tech said.

  "I know! I know that. We just . . ."

  A very loud, very metallic knock clanged against the command center's armored door.

  "Sir?" a security agent standing near the door said.

  Another knock.

  "Open it," Rourke said.

  "Sir," the same agent said, sounding alarmed.

  "Open the door now, agent," Rourke said.

  The agent unlocked the armored door and swung it open. Outside, a large, blue and white robot stood waiting for them, watching through bright red eyes. The device raised its hand and a weapon that appeared to be a very threatening water canon popped up from the back of the robot's forearm. Behind the blue and white monstrosity, more than a half-dozen prison guards were poised and ready for a fight.

  "Stand down, agents," the voice of Henry Winter said from within the robot. "The Coldwall suit is designed for nonlethal takedowns, but it's not going to feel good if I have to use force."

  "Winter?" Rourke said.

  "You can't keep a scientific genius locked up for this long and not expect me to have been tinkering the whole time," Winter said.

  "Winter, I need some help here," Rourke said.

  "Are you serious?"

  Rourke pointed at the screens behind and above him. The robotic suit followed the gesture, looked back and forth between both screens, and then lowered his arm. The faceplate to the robotic suit lifted up, revealing a sweaty and tired Henry Winter inside.

  "Is that what I think it is?" Winter said.

  "Sir?" another tech said.

  Rourke shouted at him.

  "What now?"

  "Sir, we're getting a report from the military base where the previous plague victims are being treated," the tech said. "Their condition has . . . it's simultaneously worsened, sir. People are coding left and right."

  "Sir?" yet another tech said.

  Rourke just pointed at him.

  "I'm sorry. It's just . . . talk to me, kid," he said.

  The tech retrieved another image to display on screen.

  The sky above the prison was a maelstrom of clouds and the torrential downpours made a clear image a challenge to find. Lightning arced across the sky like a light show. A shadow appeared behind the lightning, a blocky mass that looked too heavy to be airborne. Like a whale emerging from the murky depths, the massive shape coalesced into a solid form. The Tower, The Indestructibles ship, emerged from the clouds like a titanic monster rising from the ocean's depths.

  "That looks like our ride," a
voice said from the doorway. "Who brought the Go-Bot?"

  Rourke and Winter turned around together to find Billy and Bedlam standing behind the prison guards, who had parted to make room for them to enter the command center. Behind Billy, Jane pushed Sam's wheelchair, looking as though the chair was holding her up as much as she was moving it along. Emily brought up the rear, sauntering like some sort of royal ambassador.

  "Jeeves, bring the care around, if you would," Emily said.

  "Look at you in your fancy suit," Billy said. "You were holding out on me with that wrist-blaster thing."

  "You back to normal, kid?" Winter said.

  "As normal as anyone can be sharing a brain with a nagging alien," Billy said. "We having a party in here?"

  "Problems, Straylight," Winter said, his voice grim. "Sam, how are you feeling."

  "Like you're about to ask me to do something I'm not really in the mood to do, Henry," Sam said. "Talk."

  "No," Jane said. "We're not talking about anything until I know the Dancer and Fury are safe."

  Kate's voice, sharp with pain, chimed in at the doorway.

  "He's calling himself the Whispering now," Kate said. "But we're fine. You look like hell, Solar."

  Jane released her grip on Sam's wheelchair. She gazed at her friends, Kate clinging to Titus, exhausted. Both of them had racked up a mess of injuries; the Dancer seemed unable to stand up on her own without Titus to support her.

  Jane walked up to Kate, put her hands on both of the other girl's shoulders, and pressed her forehead against her friend's. Kate sent Jane an expression of confused shock, but her own face relaxed when she discerned how weak her teammate was.

  "Are you okay?" Kate whispered.

  "Thank you for coming for us," Jane said, ignoring the question. "Thank you both."

  Jane turned back to Rourke, clearly the man in charge in the room.

  "Are you going to try to stop us from leaving," she said, her voice deadly calm.

  "As far as I'm concerned, you never should have been here in the first place," Rourke said. "But I'm going to say something really stupid."

  "Like I love you?" Emily said.

  Everyone in the room — hero, villain, technician, agent, and prison guard, stared at her.

  "Frank Sinatra. It's a song. Get it?"

  Silence.

  "You people are so uncultured," Emily said. "I am alone."

  "What's going on, agent?" Jane said, ignoring Emily.

  Rourke gestured to the screens again.

  "Our mystery plague has struck again, and all of the previous victims are getting worse," he said. "I think whoever is doing this is about to make his final move."

  Kate swore viciously under her breath.

  "We need a ceasefire," Winter said.

  "Call off Prevention and your agents and we'll stand down," Jane said.

  "I don't even know where Prevention is," Rourke said. "But as far as I'm concerned she's been removed from command."

  "She, um, might be lying unconscious on another level," Titus said. "Sorry about that."

  "You knocked my boss unconscious," Rourke said.

  "Like you never wanted to do it yourself," Emily said.

  "Enough," Jane said. "Everyone, enough. That kid is the one causing all of this?"

  She pointed at the monitor showing Kirkland's main street.

  "We think so," Rourke said.

  Jane nodded.

  "Then it's about time we start sharing what we know so we can put a stop to this," she said.

  Chapter 57:

  Comparing notes

  The dog was more than a little freaked out when everyone arrived back in the Tower. The little bundle of fur was nestled in the landing bay with the Alley Hawk, who sat leaning against the back wall by the doorway. His entire midsection was wrapped in bandages; a blossom of blood leaked through on one side.

  Watson bolted to Billy just as Kate tried to run, her wounded leg stiff and peg-like, to the aging vigilante. Titus chased after her, not fairing much better. The dog glanced up at the werewolf with what seemed like a very human smile on his face and then jumped into Billy's arms.

  That's the Alley Hawk? Billy thought, letting Watson lick his face. Emily stared at the process with mild disgust.

  It is, Dude said. He stepped out of public life a long time ago.

  He looks like he's in really bad shape, Billy thought.

  So do you all, in case you had not noticed, Dude said.

  Kate's voice was as emotional as Billy had ever heard it, still laced with her usual growl, but with a hint of gentleness.

  "What happened to you?" Kate said.

  "Fight with an old friend," the aging vigilante said. "Believe me, kid, I've been in worse shape."

  "Do you need help?"

  "Nah," Alley Hawk said. "Neal helped patch me up. I'm just resting. Right, you weird computer?"

  "Designation: Alley Hawk received severe lacerations to his torso, but the wounds should be non-fatal should he not do something irresponsible such as attempt to fight crime before allowing himself to heal."

  The Alley Hawk laughed, a spasm of pain running across his face as he did.

  "Still the same Neal," he said. "Always nagging. You bring the entire United Nations with you, Dancer?"

  Billy looked around at the ragtag mass of people who had accompanied them back to the Tower. Emily and Bedlam — I really need to get her number, Billy thought — but also Sam, looking like death warmed over, complete with his wheelchair, Henry Winter in his insanely cool armored suit, and Agent Rourke. Jane finished off the cadre, standing on the edge of the landing bay's platform, holding her palm up to allow the gray light filtering through the Valkyrie-created storm to warm her palm.

  We have to get her up in the air, Dude. She's dying.

  She is just weak. But yes. She needs the sun.

  We're out of there, now. Can't Val, like, let up with the storm?

  Jane and Kate believe the cover she is giving the Tower adds to the impact of your escape, Dude said. I agree.

  You agree? Did you pick up some of Kate's personality while you were . . . inside . . . her brain? Billy thought.

  Do not even joke about that, Dude said. I never want to go back there again.

  What's wrong with her?

  She is not a very good host.

  Because?

  We can talk about this later.

  Billy shook his head and found Emily staring at him.

  "It will never, ever stop being creepy watching you talk to yourself like that," Emily said. "Give me the dog."

  "What?"

  "Give me the dog. I missed him."

  Billy handed Watson over to Emily and then walked past Sam, Rourke, and Winter toward Jane. Sam nodded at him as he passed.

  "How you holding up, boss?" Billy said.

  Jane laughed. It was the sort of laugh you hear from someone at the end of her rope.

  "I'm so tired, Billy," she said. "I've never been this tired."

  "What can I do?" he said. "To help. I want to help."

  Jane shook her head. She sniffed, smiled weakly, put a hand lightly on his arm.

  "We've got Rourke. We've got Winter. We've got Sam. They're all going to spill on what they know about this kid in Kirkland before he kills an entire town, and then we're going to compare notes and we're going to put a stop to this," she said. "Nobody else dies. I'm tired of people dying, Billy."

  "Me too."

  Jane nodded. She looked back at Bedlam.

  "Valkyrie, Bedlam . . . the Children made a few heroes by accident with their little experiment last year, didn't they?"

  "Apparently," Billy said.

  "Okay," Jane said. "Can you go get Val and invite her inside? She shouldn't be out there alone if she doesn't want to be. I'd do it myself but I don't think I have it in me to fly again yet."

  "You got it," Billy said.

  Dude, she's falling apart, Billy thought.

  No, Dude said. She is about to real
ize she can do so much more than she ever knew she could.

  "Okay," Jane said. "We're going to have a powwow. Everybody into the command center. We're laying all the cards on the table right now. No more secrets. Let's save the day."

  Jane took Watson from Emily and walked out of the landing bay and into the Tower, leaving everyone to follow behind her.

  * * *

  "We have all of the previous victims centrally located on an inactive military base here," Rourke said, pointing to a site on a map less than a hundred miles away. The entire cast and crew were gathered around the command center's main table. Rourke stood by the screen, and Titus and Bedlam were taking turns pacing and stalking impatiently around the table, but everyone else seemed content to flop into one of the chairs and never move ever again.

  Emily, meanwhile, was still feeling a little scattered from the knock to the head she'd suffered in the medical lab. Voices sounded a little too loud, and definitely a little too annoying. And her sidekick was outside fetching a storm cloud and so Emily felt distinctly without a partner in crime to play off of. Apparently, she reflected, I now need a straight man for my act these days.

  "What do you know so far about the illness," Kate said.

  "We know everyone is getting worse," Rourke said. "And we know it's all interconnected somehow — they get sicker in waves, they experience attacks of fevers and dizzy spells all at the same time. The virus seems to act in unison, as if it's a school of fish."

  "Or under the control of one person," Kate suggested.

  There was an edge to her voice that made Emily want to bubble of float her way right the heck out of the room.

  "That's my working theory," Winter said. "The samples the Department collected at the hospital seemed to respond to specific commands — in fact, that's why the virus hadn't spread to anyone at the base, or any of the rescue personnel sent into the hospital. It seems like the illness is an actual deliberate attack rather than a simple virus."

  "The kid in Kirkland," Titus said. "You think he's . . ."

  "Patient Zero," Emily chimed in.

  "So what you're saying is, stop the source, stop the virus," Kate said.

  "This is where I come in," Sam said, his voice hoarse and tired.