by Jon Davis
I smiled as I said, “What’s the problem? A scream, a whistle, you know kung fu. Go all Keanu Reeves on ‘em. We’re set!”
He laughed weakly, “Oh, ha, ha, my shield ain’t all that strong and…hey, who was that science guy?”
I said, “I don’t know, Alexi something…he’s Russian. It’s getting so you need a list of characters around here to…”
I stopped talking. Brand, Reich, and Kular stood at the edge of the parking lot, smiling with malicious glee. That alone might not have worried me. The half-dozen mercenaries to each side of the outside doors did, however. Especially since they were pointing rifles at our heads.
BJ and I glanced at each other. He said, “Well, getting to the bad guys certainly has been easy today.”
I sighed. “Yay.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
I had to give Yasmine credit for one thing; she certainly knew how to make a melodramatic entrance. Walking out of the line of trees on the other side of the parking lot, she started to clap her hands. With a wide smile, she said, “Oh, don’t you two look sweet. How lovely it is of you both to give yourselves up!”
BJ’s breath caught in his chest. I looked past Yasmine and saw why. She had Alan following her; wearing a welded-on metal collar attached to a leash that lead to Yasmine’s belt. Worst of all was the look of defeat he had on his face. I found myself stunned by such perversity.
BJ muttered, “Oh, man, she’s turned him into a slave.”
Yasmine heard him and chuckled, glancing over at Alan, “Of course, Shield. He fought me all the way. He still fights deep inside. But once I kill his sister, he will break.”
Walking across the parking lot, Yasmine casually stepped over bodies until she joined the other Empowered. She smiled with triumph and said, “Really, boys, did you think this was going to end with the cavalry coming to the rescue? And who would that have been? Paradoxis?”
I felt a pressure on my head as I heard more within the silence of my mind. *Truly, Vaughn, did you expect a miracle? The Noumenonii, perhaps?*
Aloud, she said, “And, thinking of the Noumenonii, tell me, where is Eisenhawk? I have so wanted to meet the man who stopped me so…casually. I would so very much like to meet him at last!”
BJ gasped. A grimace of pain crossed his face then, and, gritting his teeth, he said, “Bitch! Get out of my head!”
Yasmine’s eyes tightened, and she flinched away. Looking back, she said, “Very well, Shield, keep your secrets. But there will be no rescue. I’m afraid this is the end.”
I sighed. “Please, kill us now. Seriously, this melodrama…no more of it, please.”
I got the satisfaction of watching her snarl. Nice thought to take with me. But before she reacted, Brand said, “Oh, Christ! He’s right, Yasmine! Just kill them and get it over with! We’re already moving too fast!”
Brand cried out and grabbed at his head. For a split second, I saw fear in his eyes. Yasmine glared at him for a moment longer, and then looked back to me. She said, “Your friend is impatient, Vaughn, though I think his hatred of you makes that understandable. But I want to savor this moment.”
Walking forward and dragging Alan with her, she stepped in front of the others. She said, “Where is the Noumenonii, Vaughn? I won’t ask you again!”
I felt another wave of power ripple across my mind. This time, I tried to push back. With a growl, I said, “Get…out…Yasmine!”
*Why? It’s so easy—so very easy—to change things. I can turn love into hate, as Demon can attest to. Now, tell me where Eisenhawk is, Vaughn. He holds the information about us! I won’t have his kind fighting me with that kind of knowledge!*
The contact was so damn intimate. Thoughts of family, of friends passed in my mind’s eye. I tried to push her out, but that only made it worse. In my mind, I heard, *Shall I take them from you? Shall I strip the love you feel for them? Watch as you think of them and don’t care any longer? Do you want that?*
Yasmine pushed onward, looking through my mind, casually tossing memories away as she searched for Dane…Ian…oh hell…*Who is Ian, Vaughn? Tell me…who is Ian? What is this confusion? What is Eisenhawk? Who is Ian? Tell me!*
“Enough!” The word came with a bright fire suddenly shining in my mind. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and found my head clearing. Gasping for air I didn’t even know I needed, I looked at BJ. I almost pulled away from him out of reflex.
The hyperactive and happy guy I had known was gone. This BJ looked deadly angry; it was beyond anything I’d ever seen before. His eyes were gray storm clouds. Yep, the Sinclair family had the market cornered on hard, cold looks. I was almost jealous. I just annoyed people with my angry looks.
Yasmine remained unfazed. Actually, it made her angrier. She said, “Damn you, Shield! Someone grab him already!”
Three mercenary soldiers lowered their rifles and grabbed BJ, pulling us apart. I didn’t feel Yasmine again, though, and I took the chance to distract her. I said, “You really want his head, don’t you, Yasmine? Are you that scared of the Noumenonii? I think it’s kind of funny. They blocked you out so easily that it’s got you freaking out!”
Yasmine sneered. “I’m not afraid of them, boy!”
“You should be. We all should be.” I said softly, taking a step forward. But only a small one. If I did anything beyond that, the mercenaries would shoot me in the head.
“Face it, Yasmine. You came into this thinking you were on top, and all this time, you hadn’t been anywhere near it.”
Yasmine suddenly looked suspicious, and I knew she'd guessed my idea. She smiled, and I felt a pulse of her power again. She didn’t need to look deep this time.
She laughed and then said, “Oh, Vaughn! You’re waiting for help. Still! Hope springs eternal and all that, but really now. Parry is gone! She can’t send help! Thanks to my little visit to the Chinese authorities, she’s on the run. You and Robert James Sinclair are quite alone. And now, since you won’t tell me where that psychic primitive is, you have nothing for me. But first, let’s be rid of any last ditch hope that you think you have at the small of your back.”
Damn it! All that thinking about help coming was worthless! She’d seen past those thoughts to my real intent. Yasmine took psychic hold of my body. I fought. I used every bit of willpower that I could muster. But, even while my mind screamed against it, my hands reached back and pulled the gun out. With an almost casual gesture, I tossed it away, unable to stop myself. Then my body just slowly relaxed and I stood there. I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t move, react, or do anything now.
“Gentlemen of the Red Waters High Security Company—kill him,” Yasmine said, smiling. Then she giggled. Bitch!
BJ fought hard to get free from the men holding him as they pulled us even farther apart. Desperately, he said, “Yasmine, don’t do this! Don’t fall into that trap! You can be better than this!”
Yasmine rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, Shield. You sound like an idiot when you say stuff like that. Face it boy, this is a kill or be killed world. My childhood taught me that. Africa taught me how to fight back, though.”
As I watched, the six of the mercenaries began to line up into a firing squad. Brand waved goodbye. No last minute saves there. Oh, fuck…I was going to die.
*Yes, you are…goodbye, Vaughn.*
I managed to close my eyes.
One of the mercenaries stood away from the rest and yelled, “Ready!”
I opened my eyes then. If I were about to die, then I was going to stare death in the face. I looked at Brand, thinking of our years of friendship.
“Aim!”
“Wait.”
I looked as Yasmine held up a hand and looked over at something. I followed her gaze and could see no one. Then, Yasmine narrowed her look. Suddenly, with a yelp of pain, a large, rotund thirty-something-looking guy in boots, black jeans, and a big, maroon jogging sweater stumbled out from around a corner of the building. A camera was on his shoulder. So much for my abilities. If I had heard h
im, I would’ve gotten him to safety. Damn!
At the snap of Yasmine’s fingers, mercenaries quickly went over to the cameraman. He didn’t stop them from taking him by his arms. He was still shaking his head in confusion toward whatever Yasmine had done to him. Yasmine’s men pulled him over toward us while he struggled to keep from dropping the camera. Yasmine looked at the poor guy imperiously. I couldn’t help but think of cats and mice. Yasmine then walked over to him and brushed the back of a gloved hand over one side of his face. He whimpered.
She said, “A survivor…you ran and hid. I am very impressed, remnant. I almost didn’t hear you.”
“Lady…what…who are you? I’m just doing my job!” the big guy cried out, his voice full of panic and fear.
“Shush, it’s quite all right. This is a good thing. I suppose you have the battle recorded, and perhaps have even transmitted it to your television station?” Yasmine asked.
He nodded vigorously and said, “…recording on disc in van, or sent through an uplink with the cell towers.”
Then he shook his head, looking frightened at what he just said. I realized that the poor guy was a dead man, one way or another. This was bad, very bad.
BJ spoke up. “I guess you can forget being the proud hero that everyone fawns over, Yasmine. Right now, I’m betting that every military installation in the country is getting ready for a fight, thanks to this guy.”
For a moment, Yasmine just glared at BJ. There was a flash of light from his aura, and then she growled wordlessly. Taking a breath to steady her anger, she said, “No matter, Shield. If I can’t gain power by worship, then let it be through terror!”
Damn. Was she thinking what I thought she might be?
Yasmine whipped around to glare at me, laughing in my mind. She thought at me, *Why not? It was in my plans already! This merely advances things. I would have ruled over people who were in awe of me. But fear and domination will do just as well. I grew up with the same exact thing throughout my life. Why shouldn’t I now force it on others?*
I tried one last time to get through to her. It was my last chance, and I knew it. “Yasmine, don’t do this…don’t make yourself into the same type of persons that hurt you over the years. Being Empowered can be a good thing. Don’t let it become as dark as your childhood was.”
“Remnants…” The word came from the cameraman. I looked at him and did a double take. He looked…blank, somehow, yet he was sweating, tense. He was fighting something and losing. Yasmine just laughed at me and looked at the cameraman.
“Yes, Thomas Delmar. That would be you. All humans are now nothing more than remnant survivors of the Day. You are nothing more than servants to your new Gods. Or useless pieces of meat to be purged from the face of the planet. Now, do this one last service for me, and I will set you free…”
With drool coming out of Delmar’s open mouth, the cameraman nodded dumbly in response. Whatever Yasmine was doing to him, he didn’t even seem alive anymore, much less a thinking human being. With slow yet deliberate motions, he readied the camera to record the execution. As a green light came on, he said, “Transmitting now…”
Yasmine smiled. She came and stood in front of me and looked into the camera. I could only watch as she stood straighter, taking in the moment. She was insane, and dangerously impulsive. This was not the way to introduce us to the world! But she was doing it.
With a melodramatic wave of her arm, pointing toward me, she said, “I am Yasmine! Leader of a strike force of beings called the Empowered! We are the true legacy of the Avatar! Today, a hero tried to stop the coming of my dark force. He too is an Empowered. But he is one who sought to stop us. His name is Son’x! He tried to stop my plans, and he failed! He wishes us to help your kind. But that is not our destiny! We will rule humanity, not coddle them! Saving you remnant humans may be the wish of Son'x. But my wishes are what will rule this day!”
Yasmine stepped toward the camera. She raised her hands up in a gesture to the men holding their guns pointed at me, ready to fire. Not once did any mercenary react to what was going on. Looking closer, I could see a glazed look in their eyes. They were in the same boat as the cameraman.
Yasmine said, “Having lost, the hero dies! And I shall lead this world into the new Age of Power!”
BJ struggled, but mercenaries continued holding him down on his knees. Yasmine ignored his struggles and said, “Watch, humanity, as one of the new young champions dies this day! Say goodbye to Vaughn Hagen, once and for all!”
Stepping away from the camera, she took her position behind the firing squad. Delmar focused on me. Walking back around the line of mercenaries, to stand with her fellow dark Empowered, Yasmine said, “Fire!”
Angela! I couldn’t help thinking of her. My eyes slammed shut at Yasmine’s order. I heard the firing of the automatic rifles echoing in the countryside. But I didn’t feel the impacts. In fact, I was still thinking. Confused, I opened my eyes as I heard Yasmine mutter, “What?”
Bullets hung in midair right in front of me. BJ whispered, “Holy Matrix…what?”
I realized I could move. I looked around as the bullets fell to the ground. I then saw that everyone was looking at something to my left.
Brand said, “Holy shit…”
Yasmine said, “Who the hell are you?”
In a stunned-sounding voice, BJ stared and said, “Ian? Ian Devonshire?”
I looked and saw Ian at the corner of the building, collapsed on the ground and barely conscious. It was obvious from the way everyone was reacting that the illusions Ian had created were gone. Blood was running out of his nose and ears. He looked nearly dead.
And yet, he was still able to look over to me and whisper, “Scream, already, you damn fool.”
Enough said; I screamed.
But, doing it without though made it came out unfocused. Still, I pumped energy from my hyper-buzzing brain. Unfocused or otherwise, my voice exploded with power that sent the Red Waters mercenaries reeling with pain as their ears bled.
I saw BJ gritting his teeth as my scream smashed against his flaring energy shield. Still, in spite of the shielding, BJ was hurting. Worse was Delmar. He simply collapsed to the ground, unconscious, as his camera fell to the side. Guilt made me want to stop, but I knew I didn’t dare.
Instead, I kept up the scream and began to shape it into a more focused force and concentrated on Yasmine’s group. I had a problem, though; I was running out of breath. This wasn’t going to last much longer. But with the last of my breath, Yasmine folded up and flew back into the parking lot. The other Empowered staggered away, holding their ears, and finally collapsed to their knees. I was winning.
So naturally, something slammed into the back of my head, sending waves of pain down my shoulder and back. I fell forward, breathing in hard, trying to get my voice back. I didn’t get the chance. A foot slammed into my ribs, and I went flying. I hit BJ and slid over his force field to hit the ground and slide face down in the slushy snow.
Stunned but still filled with adrenaline, I turned over ready to defend myself. Before I could do anything, a foot came down on my chest. Brand glared down at me with a snarl on his face.
He said, “I told her this was stupid! But she’s been freaking over Eisenhawk! We should’ve just bombed this place and been done with it!”
I brought my foot up in between his legs as hard as I could. There was protection, but he still howled with pain and fell on his back. He clutched down there in agony. Taking advantage of the distraction that caused, BJ went after the mercenaries. Moving into a combat stance, he began to throw punches at the mercenaries nearest him. I could see that he was going for nerve clusters.
Seeing that she was still down on the ground, I went for Yasmine. I figured that if I took her out, it might free Alan. And once he was free, it would be over for the bad guys. Orbital space—that would be a cool place to drop them!
Unfortunately, some plans don’t go very far. As I got close to the parking lot, two mercen
aries were recovered enough to make a grab for me. I started dodging out of their way intent on their mind controlling boss. I could see that Yasmine was still out of it, but that wouldn’t last long. I sucked in a breath to scream as one of the mercenaries started to pull out a gun.
Then without warning, the two mercenaries literally disintegrated in front of my eyes. I looked up to see that Reich was coming at me, his teeth gritted in rage. He fired another burst of heat at me, and I had to dodge as fast as I could. I wasn’t going to let him get another shot. I put my fingers to my lips and shoved with all the power in my nerves to let loose a high powered whistle. If it took him down once, it would do so again. Or so I thought.
To my horror, Reich just laughed as he flew in an arc back up into the air. He yelled down at me. “Fool! Attack me once, and I am forever aware and indestructible! I am as unto a god!”
Then his eyes began to glow, again. I screamed at the same time, hoping to take him down before he let loose. Beams of laser light lashed out and missed when my scream hit him at full force, knocking him off-balance. The beams hit the ground near me and instantly turned a strip of it to ash and steam.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw BJ take out the last of the mercenaries with a leaping roundhouse kick. The guy went sailing across the snowy lawn to land in a heap next to Delmar. I only had enough time to take notice of that as Reich power dived at me.
I noticed he liked to boast a lot. “You think you can just play the super hero, Hagen? Nein! I think not. This is reality. And heroes die all the time in reality. With your death, this will be how the Ultimate Empire begins!”
I braced myself, ready to take the hit. His eyes still glowed red, but he didn’t fire his eyebeams. Instead, he flew down at me at increasing speed. I readied myself to try to swing him around and use his momentum to send him flying into a wall. Before he got close enough, however, a bright flare of gold-white light burst from nothing directly in front of me. Angela appeared, and I had a split second to see Reich’s eyes widen as Angela brought up her sword to meet Reich head on. Literally…head on. Oh, yuck!