by Jon Davis
I was shaking, but I didn’t back away. Not even when she started pushing forward an inch at a time and gaining speed. She didn’t have to go that slow. She was being melodramatic. Oh, wonderful, she’d win the prize for being today’s most over-the-top villain. But as melodramatic as it was, it gave me the chance to do something to stop her. I knew I couldn’t just scream. All that would do is cause her to splash all over me. Having seen what she’d done already, acid burns were not a pleasant thought.
But I also saw one important point about her slow advance towards me. We were in a tunnel. She slipped forward another foot. I could hear her gurgling laughter. Wow, all she needed to do was monologue, and she’d be a movie villain. Nah, why give her the chance? Smiling, I said, “Hey…acid reflux…ever been in a wind tunnel?”
Confused, the cube woman stopped moving. I let loose. As I screamed, I felt the sound itself. This was different from the other times. Those had been outside, though. Here, sound was reflecting off the walls, and I could feel it coming back at me. I used it; somehow, I found I could feel and even redirect my own sound back at Kular. With a full roar, I pushed the sonic blast for all it was worth.
Waves appeared in her ‘body’. But she just kept coming. Worse, she was speeding up. Desperate, I changed my voice, shifting the pitch up and down the vocal scale hoping to find the right frequency that would stop her. I pulled at the buzzing in my brain. I used the power it represented and shoved it into my voice and the sounds hitting me. Sweat beaded on my forehead and down my back.
And still, she kept coming closer. Worse, I could smell the sharp tang of the hazy smoke coming from the concrete. If I didn’t stop her, I was going to die from just breathing her in!
Then, I finally hit the right frequency. Without warning, Kular literally exploded. I could only stare as my attacker went from a semi-solid cube shape to a fine mist with my scream causing her to burst. With a cough thanks to the slow, wafting smoke, I muttered, “Wow…okay.”
I grimaced and then said, “I really have to work on my one-liners.”
I ran back to the others. At the end of the hallway, I saw the surviving soldiers and FBI agents all staring at me. What, it’s normal for people to blast things apart with their voice, isn’t it? Bah, people freak out too easily. I said, “It's all right…Kular’s out of it for a moment.”
“What?” one soldier yelled.
That’s when I noticed that they were all rubbing at their ears. Except Ian. He wasn’t hurting. But I could see fear in his eyes. In answer, I gave him a cocky grin. Now he understood what I was talking about. Good, it was about time something cracked his arrogance.
Then I realized we were all just standing at the end of the hall and doing nothing. I looked at all of them and the elevator doors beyond. Another door led to stairs, but no one was moving toward that or the elevators.
I said, “Okay, this is nice. So when is the great escape?”
One of the FBI agents shook his head. He seemed to have heard me well enough, since he said, “We just sent Lieutenant Perez up to take a look around. We need to find another route.”
I looked at Perez. “How bad?”
Perez flinched, reflexively moving a hand towards a holstered gun. I realized that I was yelling. The guy was a soldier, young looking, but still a soldier. And he’d seen what I could do with my voice. Raising my hands and lowering my voice, I said, “Sorry…what’s the situation up there?”
He relaxed and answered me. “There are four people. Three are in old camouflage style military uniforms. The forth guy has a swastika on the front of his costume. I think that’s the one called Reich. The three military guys have a patch on their sleeves that doesn’t look like a standard military patch. I think they may be Red Water.”
The other two soldiers groaned and shook their heads. I had no idea why until Ian spoke up. “They’re a private heavy security outfit out of North Dakota. They want to replace Academi in Afghanistan and the Middle Eastern nations. No one has ever taken them seriously; they never even made the news.”
I groaned. “Oh, man…we’ve been stupid.”
Ian looked at me, confused. I said, “Yasmine didn’t have to go to Dubai to get terrorists. All she had to do was walk into a military base or mercenary company to get soldiers for her cause! She’s a full telepath! Worse, she’s an Empowered telepath, a walking generator of psychic force! That means mind control to such a level that, well, we’re in this mess! The terrorists, they were just for show. When it came to getting cannon fodder, she just grabbed mercenaries from Red Water!”
Ian blinked and shook his head. “But why would she…oh my God. It was a distraction.”
I gave a nod. The others just looked on confused by our comments. The good ‘Doctor’ never told them about Yasmine’s trail. I said, “A false trail. She knew you were on to her, so she laid out this trail to follow. How many people did you send to Dubai?”
Ian sighed, “Half the investigative FBI team. The rest are here, or dead. She convinced me to send most of the people I had, to get me as alone as she could.”
I leaned towards him, and whispered, “I told you, she’s after you. And she’s been after you since you blunted her probes into Ryan Tech. Now, do you believe me?”
Ian groaned. “You’re right. We thought we had stopped her in Dubai. But it’s was just a ploy to get to me more easily. Oh damn, she really played me hard.
Turning to the agent nearest him, Ian said, “Case, is there another way of out? If we try to go up there now, they’ll mow us down. And I am certain they’re searching for me. I know too much that they don’t want the government to have.”
Oh, good lie. Though, it’s close enough for the truth. To all of them, Ian still looked like Dane Eisenhawk. Why I didn’t see him that way, I still didn’t know. But it also wasn’t as though I could reveal the truth. Especially when that sort of confusion could get us all killed.
As the others discussed where to go next, I made sure that the smoke from Kular’s acid form wasn’t getting worse. Fortunately, ‘she’ looked to be simply pooling on the floor. The smoke still closed in, though, sliding across the floor. We couldn’t stand around forever here. And if Kular had been in contact with Yasmine at the time, it wouldn’t be long before she—
I turned to the group. “We have to get to the helicopter. And we have to do it fast. Yasmine will send those guys down this way sooner rather than later. They’re just up there now looking for stragglers, I’m sure of it.”
I looked at Ian. “I’m thinking that she wants to deal with you directly, Eisenhawk. And you’ll be the last person they try to kill. I may not like you, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to let them take you.”
Perez said, “Forget it amigo. We can’t get to the helicopter as long as those bastards are up on the first floor. We might be able to take the mercs, but that Uber-Nazi would fry us.”
I let my breath out slowly. “I’ll deal with them. I distract them, and you move out.”
Ian stared at me as he said, “What? Do you really think you can take on that many? Are you insane? Once they see you, they’ll radio for reinforcements!”
I glanced back down the hall. Tendrils of smoke were still slowly flowing this way. Time was short. Looking back to Ian, I said, “Not much choice, man. Any suggestions? Not to bust your illusions or anything, but right now, I am the only one who can match the super psycho up there.”
Ian winced at my comment about illusions, but only said, “You’re not as strong as they are, Vaughn. They’ve used their abilities without any of the reluctance you’ve shown. But you’ve been attacked more than they have been, individually. So your body can take higher stress than they can.”
I nodded. That was a good bit of logic. I had been smacked around a fair bit. But, “Why would that be?”
Ian cocked his head slightly as he said, “That is the way that the magnesium now works in your cells. The more you use your power, the more your body utilizes the element to keep it fr
om blowing apart due to the stress of generating such high levels of power. It also works the same way when you take physical damage.”
I nodded. “So it keeps me from going boom, and it’s like an energy drink—like Red Bull. It’s full of caffeine, vitamin B, and sugary goodness to not only get me going, but now with added metal to reinforce my cell walls. Cool!”
I was joking, but Ian said, “No, you fool. It acts as armor and fuel. The more you get hurt, the more you heal, and the faster it gets used. But use your powers for too long, and the magnesium burns out in the same way. Frankly, if you attempt to use your power while you're healing, you could die. It’s a balance you can’t possibly maintain!”
Pointing behind me, he went on. “That alone may have pushed you past your limit. But you’re so high on adrenaline right now that you wouldn’t feel it until it was too late. Think about this, Vaughn. The way your body tries to utilize magnesium now is a massive weakness in combat.”
Great. And this guy was giving that information to people that nearly obliterated humanity. Whispering, I leaned in and said, “Seriously, Ian, are you really sure that you want them to know anything like that about the Empowered? Think about that before you hand over any information about us to your people.”
His eyes widened, but I ignored him as I said more loudly, “Okay, I guess I have to deal. If you guys try to shoot your way out, it’s only going to bring in more mercs or Yasmine’s Empowered. I can do the distraction thing, but while I do this, where will you go once I clear them out?”
Perez said, “The loading bay has a door at the end of the main hallway on the ground floor. You clear those bastards out, and we can go. But, come on man, we can go with you and provide backup.”
I looked at him, the two surviving soldiers, and the last of the FBI agents. It would make sense to have this be a full-on assault, at least while Ian got out.
I shook my head. “No. I’m going to have to use my powers. If I have to cut loose, I could end up liquefying your brains. I just don’t have the control.”
Perez looked at me, taking me in. Here I was, a normal-looking guy in jeans, planning to go full-on against professional killers. He was impressed, I guess, because he reached down to his leg and pulled a gun from an ankle holster. Handing it to me, he said, “You’ve got a great voice, dude, but seriously, guns work! Be ready to use the thing!”
“Smart-ass soldiers, next!” I said in retort, and then I grabbed the gun. He was right, if I lost focus or burned out my power, they’d kill me in a second. The gun was a last resort, but it could save my life.
“You know how to use a gun?” Ian asked.
I snorted slightly and checked the safety, checked the rounds, and clicked one into the chamber. Slipping it in the small of my back, I said, “I grew up in Iowa. I hunted with my best friend for years. His brother taught us how to shoot when we were eight. It’s the Midwest. Of course I know how to use a gun!”
Stupid foreigners, I quipped silently.
Before anyone could say anything more, I ran through the stairwell door and headed up. Yay! No pressure!
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Jogging up the stairs, I could hear someone talking. “I told you, Reich! The sub-basement is down this way! Now come on! Yasmine wants everyone in this building dead!”
I moved faster.
Slamming through the door, I ran down a small hall and turned the corner, where I barreled into three men holding rifles. The first guy I saw had washed-out blond hair and was sporting a ponytail. I shoulder-slammed him into a wall headfirst. The next guy I elbowed across the jaw. Turning, I saw the third man just as he was bringing up his rifle to fire.
He started to yell, and stopped as he realized that he couldn’t hear his own voice. I just grinned and slammed into him with a full body tackle. He was big—really big. I lucked out when he fell back and his head hit the floor. I let out a breath of relief. He’d been distracted by what I’d done.
On the way up the stairs, I had an idea. I took a chance on the impulsive thought that I could dampen sound. In short, it worked. But I wasn’t done yet. I jumped up as fast as I could when I saw the flash of a hunter green costume out of the corner of my eye. The Nazi wannabe who called himself Reich.
Reich was dressed in a dark green spandex costume with a black and white swastika symbol on his chest. I saw him coming around a corner. I wasted no time to attack. I screamed at him with a tightly focused bolt of sonic energy. To my surprise, no sound came out of my mouth. But Reich suddenly went flying back at a high speed.
I could only watch, dumbfounded, as Reich smashed through glass partitions, destroy a reception desk and shatter the tempered glass of the building’s doublewide entrance doors. Flying out of the building, he ended up crashing into the grove of trees in front of the entrance. He made a nice dent in the largest tree and slid to the ground, out of sight.
I grunted in surprise. Somehow, I’d accelerated Reich to sonic speed. I really needed to get a handle on this stuff. Slowly, I relaxed. Once I did, sound came back to the room. I could hear shattered glass tinkling to the ground throughout the area. I looked around at the damage.
I sighed, and I muttered to myself. “Oh yeah, I’m just getting used to the devastating power thing, ain’t I? Oh wait, no, I’m not.”
Unfortunately, while it devastated Reich, it didn’t seem to touch the others I’d put down. The soundless burst of power had been that focused. At that moment, someone behind me yelled, and guns started firing. I ducked around the same corner I’d seen Reich come from. Concrete and plaster flew into the air as bullets ripped into the floor and walls.
Then the guns went silent as three distinct shots went off. I heard the thuds of bodies hitting the floor. I hesitated for a few seconds, then I heard. “Yo, coming dude? They’re dead. You can come out.”
I looked around the corner to see Perez standing there with a gun in his hand. He was holding his right ear and wincing in pain, but still, he was smiling.
Staring, I said, “Idiot! I told you I couldn’t control it that well!”
Perez shrugged. He said, “Man, I’ve heard worse at rock concerts.”
I looked down at the three mercenaries and said, “Nice shot.”
Perez snorted. I learned to shoot when I was young too, mi amigo. Now let’s get the hell out of here before any more nuts show up!”
The other men came up as fast as they could and joined us in the hallway. With Perez in front, they started down the hall towards the loading docks.
I turned to head out the front to make sure that Reich was unconscious. The last thing anyone needed was him pulling a surprise attack or warning his friends. But I stopped when Ian called out to me. “You’re going to try to stop them, aren’t you?
I turned and glared at him. “Someone has to. Yasmine is going to rip this place apart to make sure all the information on the Empowered never makes it out of here. And she won’t stop looking for the Noumenonii.”
“She’s too late to get the information, I already erased it. We’re very good at what we do, Vaughn. As for her hunting us, well, we aren’t exactly worried after all these years. We’ve become experts at hiding,” Ian said.
I growled. “Really? Do you think they could’ve hidden from that big ass rock they sent at Earth? It would have destroyed the Noumenonii too! The whole planet would’ve been wrecked!”
Ian hesitated and then said, “No, we were safe. In any case, it won’t happen again. The circumstances that brought it about have changed. So, for now, Earth is safe.”
I cocked my head, giving him a skeptical look. “Really? Gosh, I’m just so happy to hear that. You’re all still monsters, Ian. I’ll be sure to let Dana know how deep your love for her was.”
Ian looked away. Then, visibly swallowing, he looked back at me and said, “You’re wrong. We aren’t all monsters, Vaughn. More was happening than I can explain. And Alex was one of us. Was he a monster?”
I said, “From the sounds of things, Al
ex barely knew about you guys. His mom made sure of that.”
Ian gave me a smile that had no humor in it. He said, “You may be right on that point. She was a very powerful precognitive.”
I stared at him for a moment. Precognition was the ability to tell the future. I said, “Do you mean to tell me that she saw this—all of this—coming? You’re kidding!”
Perez yelled for Ian and me. Ian turned and raised a hand to him as he continued looking at me.
He said, “Think on that, Vaughn. Alex could have been following a path that his mother set for him. You should stay safe. Stay alive. You may be more important than you can possibly imagine.”
I gave him a cocky grin and said, “Trust me, what could go wrong?”
He got a pained look and then laughed softly.
He said, “Good luck.”
Ian went to join Perez, and I ran as fast as I could out the front door. To my surprise, the tall spandex Nazi was coming toward me at the same time. I didn’t waste my time with small talk. I just told him to stick it—at around a volume of two hundred. Okay, I exaggerate. But he flew back into the large tree again. He didn’t get up.
My eyes widened in fear when I heard a voice with a familiar light tenor from behind the tree. “Meep!”
I stared at the grove of trees, praying that I hadn’t just heard what I did. Hoping against hope, I called out, “BJ?”
Please don’t be BJ. Please don’t be BJ…don’t be BJ…
BJ came around the tree and waved at me. I sighed. Dana was so going to kill me.
I ran up to him and said, “What in the hell are you doing here? And—dear gods, what are you wearing?”
He had on leathers. Dark red with white highlights, the white formed a ‘V’ down the front center of the jacket. White stripes continued down the side of the pants to the dark red boots. They matched the dark red fingerless gloves, which had a white rectangular patch on the back of each glove.