Perfect Weapon

by Jade Kerrion

  Miriya scrambled after Zara and waited until they were out of earshot. "Okay, that was unkind."

  "No, that was kind. 'Unkind' would have been if I'd strung him up and given Danyael my dagger so that he could spill Galahad's guts out on the floor."

  "Danyael would never do that."

  Zara scowled. "Of course not, which would make it a waste of good string."

  Miriya chuckled. She peered at the island and frowned. "How are we going to get across?"

  "There's a footbridge from the parking lot just south of here. It isn't far."

  "Okay," Miriya said, a cheerful lilt to her voice that Zara considered grossly misplaced, in view of the situation. "We're going to save Danyael, aren't we?"

  Zara clenched her teeth. She shared Miriya's determination, if not her optimism. "We're going to damn well try. So tell me, what is Danyael's plan?"

  "He fights his way in as far as he possibly can, our alpha telepaths smash through their psychic shields, our alpha telekinetics drop a dome around them, and then Danyael cuts loose, lowering both his psychic shields."

  "For the emotional equivalent of a nuclear bomb?"

  "Pretty much. Sakti will be unshielded, the dome will contain the spread of Danyael's powers, and---" Miriya clasped her hands and then yanked them apart with controlled violence. "Kaboom. Mass suicide. Of course, the last three things have to happen within split seconds of each other; otherwise it wouldn't work. Sakti would catch on, and they'd be able to counter our plans."

  "Do you have any idea how many things can go wrong? If Danyael's out there in a fight, he could get killed at any time."

  Miriya winced. "That's not part of the plan, but even if it does happen, his shields won't collapse immediately. We should have enough time to break their psychic shields and drop the dome."

  Zara shook her head. "I see 'luck' written all over this plan."

  "There is a bit of that," Miriya admitted.

  "So why are you down here with me? If you're tapped into Danyael's head, you should have the timing down."

  "And I suppose Danyael is precognitive too, huh? He can see every attack coming his way? Like you say, he could get blindsided. If I'm close, I'll have a better handle on the situation."

  "Will you be breaking all those psychic shields and lowering the dome?"

  "Who, me?" Miriya scrunched her nose. "God, no. I'm not strong enough to channel all that psychic energy, plus I'm not even telekinetic. Jessica's coordinating that."

  "Jessica who?"

  "Jessica Richardson. I don't think you know her. She's council trained, an alpha telepath and telekinetic."

  "Another uber-powered bitch?" Zara had not forgotten her run-in with the council-trained mutants who had come to Danyael's aid prior to his arrest and imprisonment at ADX.

  "She's nicer than Andrea Hunter, if that's what you're asking. Jessica's not as strong a telepath as Andrea or as strong a telekinetic as John, but she's both, which is a plus."

  "So where is she?"

  "With Sakti. She sneaked in when they were pouring onto the island."

  Zara's eyes widened. "Isn't that just a touch...unsafe?"

  "We need someone to anchor the telepathic and telekinetic energy coming from the council and the assault group. Jessica's the logical choice. She has really strong shields; she won't be discovered."

  "Good for her. Let's also hope she doesn't get torn up by a super soldier."

  Miriya's jaw dropped.

  Zara stopped short and turned to look at Miriya. "You didn't consider that possibility? What do you think the super soldiers are going to do when they find her? Politely ask if she's an agent for the council before deciding if they should rip off her head?"

  "Well, there's lots of people in the fight and we thought---"

  "You're counting on that luck thing again, aren't you?" Zara sighed. "Tell Danyael's she's there, and send him a mental image of her face. With luck, he'll locate her and keep the soldiers from spilling her guts." She glanced up at the lightening horizon as she strode across the footbridge. "Dawn's going to be here sooner than we like."

  "Huh?"

  "It's a lot easier moving around in the dark."

  "Xin's right. You really do have the soul of a thief." Miriya halted at the end of the bridge to catch her breath. She looked around, her green eyes distant, and then pointed to the north. "They're up that way."

  "Sakti or Danyael?"

  "Both."

  "All right, follow me. No, not on the footpath, Miriya. Stay behind the tree line---" Zara glanced up sharply.

  Miriya's eyes flared with alarm. "Watch out, there are---"

  Zara raised her Glock and fired a single shot into a wall of bushes. Something large dropped to the ground with a thud. A lifeless hand flopped out from behind the tangle of leaves.

  Miriya's mouth dropped open. "He was shielded. I barely sensed him. How did you know he was there?"

  Zara resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I don't know how you telepaths function in the real world. Humans do have five other senses, you know. I heard him and saw him."

  "But you didn't even know which side he was on."

  "True, but on an island filled with terrorists, I had no intention of waiting to find out. So, does Sakti have scouts on the perimeter, or was that a one-off?"

  "I don't know, but I can scan ahead."

  "No, I'll handle it. You just focus on Danyael."

  The scout had not been the only one, but their haphazard placement bore testament to lack of planning. Zara located and killed each one before he sounded an alarm. She was at the top of her game; she had to be, for Danyael's sake, for Laura's sake, for the sake of everyone and everything she loved.

  Zara and Miriya's pace slowed as they closed in on Sakti. They had their first glimpse of the large gathering of people while hidden behind a cluster of bushes. Miriya gasped. "There are so many of them."

  Zara's gaze swept over the crowd. "Looks about right to me. Four to five hundred people. What were you expecting?"

  "Uh...I don't know. I don't know if we have enough telekinetics to create the dome."

  Zara's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

  Miriya chewed on her lower lip. "I don't know if we can create a dome that large. We don't have enough people."

  "Where is Jessica, and why didn't she identify it as a problem before?"

  Miriya was briefly silent. Zara realized that she was probably engaged in a telepathic conversation. "Jessica's still in the crowd," Miriya reported. "She said she didn't think of it."

  "She didn't think of it?"

  Miriya's brow furrowed. "You can yell at her later, but it won't do any good. Her brain just doesn't work like that yet."

  Zara bit back the sarcastic comment on the edge of her tongue. Power and intelligence did not necessarily go hand in hand.

  "Jessica's a good kid," Miriya said, as if she had read Zara's mind, which she probably had. "She just needs to grow up a bit more."

  "Kid? How old is she?"

  "Fifteen. Or almost fifteen."

  Zara's jaw dropped. "Are you telling me that Danyael's life rests in the hands of a fifteen...fourteen-year old? Is it even legal to send a fourteen-year old into a fight?"

  "How old were you when you made your first kill? Twelve?"

  "That's different. Lebanon was in a civil war. When did America start sending cripples and children into battles?"

  "We are at war, Zara. Right here, right now. In a war, you send in your best people; you don't get uptight about gender, age, or genetic makeup."

  Zara ground her teeth and refocused on the real issue. "If you can't create a dome large enough to contain all those people, will Danyael still be able to kill Thomas?"

  "Well..." Miriya dragged out the word. "Sort of."

  "Yes or no? You either kill someone or you don't. There's no 'sort of' about it."

  "Danyael will need physical contact if he can't just drop his shields. That means he'll actually have to reach Thomas. Can he f
ight his way through?"

  "He's got forty super soldiers, maybe fewer. Those are crazy odds."

  Miriya winced. "Okay, so we...ah..."

  "Tell Danyael. Tell him his window for error just vanished."

  ~*~

  Danyael stood on the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge gazing out over the eighty-nine acre island. The night breeze ruffled his hair, its chill edge cutting through the warmth of the shirt Lucien had lent him. Surrounded by super soldiers, he nevertheless felt alone.

  He leaned against the bridge, set his crutch aside, and opened a small case containing two filled syringes. He flicked off their protective plastic caps and injected their contents into his veins. Several minutes passed before the grinding pain faded and his head cleared. He exhaled shakily and slowly rolled his neck to ease the tension in his shoulders and back. Better. I don't have to keep this up for much longer.

  He glanced over his shoulder at Scar. "Take me down to the island."

  Scar coiled, his muscles bunching, and launched himself in Danyael's direction. With impeccable timing, his heavy arm swept out and snagged Danyael around the waist. Scar leapt over the bridge, pulling Danyael down with him.

  The super soldier landed in a battle crouch with Danyael cushioned in his arms. Hoots of excitement rang from the top of the bridge, and within moments, the other super soldiers leapt off the bridge to join Scar and Danyael. One of them brought Danyael's crutch down with him.

  Danyael started walking, confident that he would find Sakti. Occasionally they ran across members of Sakti concealed among the bushes and trees, but the encounters were brutally short for Sakti.

  Uh, Danyael.

  What is it, Miriya?

  We've got a couple of problems.

  He asked dryly, You mean something other than the five hundred folks from Sakti?

  I don't think we have enough telekinetics to create a dome large enough to cover five hundred people.

  Isn't this something we should have figured out before putting the plan in motion?

  Miriya's chuckle was sheepish but her response defiant. Hell, it's more exciting making it up as we go along.

  Thomas is key. It doesn't matter if we drop the dome only around half of Sakti, as long as Thomas and I are under the dome.

  Okay. Keep an eye out for Jessica, will you? She'll be near Thomas.

  Danyael froze. Jessica Richardson?

  Yup.

  You're channeling telepathic and telekinetic energy through her? She's a child!

  Jessica is a council-trained alpha telepath and telekinetic.

  Jessica is thirteen years old.

  Fourteen, now, actually. Almost fifteen.

  Can't she channel from outside the dome?

  Danyael, Jessica still gets lost inside the council headquarters, and she can't catch a ball from two feet away. She's very talented, but spatial perception isn't one of her strengths.

  Damn it! No one was supposed to get close to Sakti. No one else was supposed to get hurt.

  You're the only one who has the right to risk his life? This is our fight too, all of ours. Don't cheapen what we do by thinking you're the only one with a stake in this.

  I didn't want anyone to get hurt because of me.

  If people get hurt, it's because we're trying to stop Sakti. It's more than you now. It's going to be okay, I promise.

  He released his breath in a shuddering sigh, adjusted the crutch under his arm, and limped forward. Tell Jessica to stick close to Thomas.

  What are you going to do?

  Break Sakti into smaller pieces and make Thomas come to me.

  The super soldiers followed Danyael without hesitation. The day seemed darkest before the dawn, and the dense foliage provided additional cover. The super soldiers, despite their bulk, were silent on their feet, and Scar carried Danyael over the roughest spots. Danyael hunkered behind a bush and watched Sakti mill around aimlessly in the large open space in front of the Theodore Roosevelt statue.

  He glanced over his shoulder at one of the leaders of the super soldiers. "You and your friends wait here."

  The super soldier seemed confused, but complied. When Danyael walked away, the leader and the super soldiers from his barracks remained behind. Danyael made his way around the perimeter of the island, leaving small groups of super soldiers concealed among trees and bushes.

  What are you doing, Danyael? Miriya asked.

  Surrounding Sakti.

  Is it going to take much longer? Zara's nervous. It's getting light.

  Zara's with you? I told her to stay with the council.

  Miriya was briefly silent. When she spoke, humor laced her tone. Nope. Zara says you told her to go to the council. If you had wanted her to stay with them, you needed to be more explicit.

  Danyael stifled an exasperated chuckle. Keep her safe, will you?

  Of course. I'm shielding her. She'll be fine.

  Danyael looked up at Scar. "All right, let's get started."

  Scar grinned, baring fangs. He raised his head and hooted, a quiet sound, a call one animal might make to another.

  Safely ensconced within Sakti's large circle, several people glanced with consternation over their shoulders at the dark woods beyond.

  On the far side of Sakti's circle, another hoot sounded, and then another from the north. From the west, two other hoots chimed through the night, their music overlapping.

  Danyael's empathic powers wafted, as if carried by the night breeze, subtle yet unstoppable. Like a blade of grass easing through a crack in the concrete, his powers found slivers of weakness in otherwise impenetrable psychic shields and crept in.

  Fear stirred. The super soldiers, possessed of animal instincts, crept into the shadows and waited warily. In humans, curiosity was stronger than fear. Silence settled back over the island, but peace dissolved. Unease rustled. Apparently acting on instructions, several members of Sakti peeled off from the larger group and headed cautiously toward the directions of the sounds. They hesitated before entering the tree line, but after several seconds, they pushed into the darkness.

  Screams of pain and panic ripped apart Sakti's tenuous sense of security. The shrieks started in a grove in the north, spread quickly, and within seconds, a noose of terror tightened around the island.

  Sakti crumbled into smaller pieces as people scrambled to aid their doomed friends. Danyael watched, narrow-eyed. Time to end this. He limped out of the tree line, a slight figure surrounded by the bulk of Scar and eight other super soldiers.

  "Get him," Thomas shouted.

  Scar threw his head back and roared, a bone-shattering sound that married the arrogance of a lion with the ferocity of a gorilla. The sound pierced the dawn, drowning out human cries and quashing Thomas's voice, leaving it with no power than the chirp of a cricket. Sakti members recoiled from Scar's display of power, unaware that they shrank as much from the whisper of terror Danyael had embedded in their hearts.

  Humans cower when frightened or cornered. Animals fight. The super soldiers, at their very core, were animals. They surged ahead, racing past Scar and Danyael, scarcely knowing or caring that they were outnumbered. For a few precious minutes, they held the upper hand, savaging anyone within reach. No elegance or subtlety was needed; brute force tore limbs and smashed faces. Mutant powers were helpless in the face of brutal pain and devastating injuries, until human courage reasserted itself.

  Slowly, inexorably, the battle turned against the super soldiers. One soldier fighting beside Danyael collapsed with a scream, his bones broken by large rocks hurled by telekinetics. Another crumpled in a hail of bullets. With his dying breath, he dragged his bleeding body over the ground to return to Danyael's side.

  One by one they fell, until only Scar and Danyael remained. Danyael jerked back as a man shoved an automatic machine gun against his chest. Scar grabbed the gun and swung the man around, wearing him like a shield. With his other hand, Scar pressed down on the man's trigger finger. Danyael dove to the ground as Scar spu
n in a circle. Scar's human shield screamed in denial as he gunned his friends down.

  Several members of Sakti collapsed, bleeding, among them a slim teenaged girl. She wilted to her knees, a trembling hand pressed against the rapidly spreading crimson stain on her light blue sweater. Danyael's breath caught. Oh, God, no.

  Miriya screamed into Danyael's mind. Jessica's hurt.

  Danyael lunged past the stampeding bodies.

  Thomas shouted, "Get him!"

  Hands grabbed Danyael, pulling him to his knees. He slammed an elbow back and heard fragile bone crack under the impact. The grip on his arms loosened. Danyael's hand brushed against Jessica's, but the contact was broken as others pulled him back. Something hard and heavy slammed against his face. Pain exploded, bright and blinding.

  Danyael!

  Don't...scream at me. Link us.

  Jessica? You're going to heal her?

  I can't reach her. I have to heal her through you.

  How is she---

  She's dying. Damn it, hurry up.

  Zara says no. You're shot up with painkillers. You don't know when to stop---

  Do it. Now.

  Miriya fell silent, and another voice, a child's voice, whispered through his mind. Danyael? I think I can still channel the psychic energy. Just have to do it now, before...

  Relax, Jessica. I've got you. His healing energies plunged, a river of light flowing from his mind, through Miriya and into Jessica. As Jessica's body healed, Danyael's body faltered. His chest ached, a burning pain that trapped his breath in his throat.

  Thomas's henchmen stripped his body armor from him. A fist smashed into his face, the impact driving him to his knees. "Not so pretty now, are you?" Thomas sneered. He tipped Danyael's chin up and spit into his face. "What did my father see in you?"

  Danyael clenched his teeth. The pain in his chest radiated across his shoulders, numbing his muscles. He looked up at Thomas, the motion swirling dizziness through him. "Look around you. Is this what your father wanted?"

  Thomas turned his head, seeing, perhaps for the first time, what Danyael saw. Broken bodies, lives---young and promising---destroyed in their prime. "You did this!"

  "No, you did this," Danyael said, his voice pitched low to conceal his pain and exhaustion. "Your envy, your jealousy, drove you to it. Was it worth it? Was I worth your fall from grace?"