“One of you…Search him for the keys. I’ve got to get back out there.”
“Yer a damn fool, kid,” one of the prisoners said. He was a weak-looking old man. “Goin’ out there and savin’ the lives of the men who kept us prisoner here!” The old man spat. “Whose side are you on, anyway?”
“Mine,” Colin said. He looked around at the other prisoners. “Any of you strong enough to use a weapon?”
Most the prisoners didn’t even react, but then a voice from the middle of the group said, “I am. No point asking any of these guys, Colin. They’ve been here way too long.”
Colin froze. He knows my name! And that voice…
Then the man who had spoken stood up. He was bald, with pale skin that was covered in thick red and white scars. He was taller than Colin, with a thin but athletic build.
“Dioxin!”
“Where did you think they’d put me, Colin? In some ordinary prison? This is where the supervillains end up.”
He backed away as Colin began to stride towards him, his teeth gritted. “No, stop! Colin, we’re on the same side here!”
Colin hesitated for a moment.
“Now, look…” Dioxin said. “I know that what I did to you and your family was wrong, but even I don’t deserve this.”
“You deserve worse. Tell me where to find Victor Cross.”
“You’re worried about him at a time like this?”
“Tell me.”
“Colin, I swear to God I don’t know. She…Yvonne…Put some sort of mental block on me. I know I met Cross, but I don’t know where. I can’t even remember what he looked like. You should know all this. General Piers had me interrogated for a whole month.”
“Who else did Cross have working with him?”
“No idea. It’s all been wiped.”
“How long did it take you to get from Cross’s base to Las Vegas? Which direction were you travelling in?”
“I’m telling you, it’s all gone. All I have left are a few fragments of memory. Me and you fighting in the forest, me and my men attacking Sakkara, then you and me fighting over the streets of Topeka…That’s pretty much it.” He held out his cuffed hands. “Free me and I’ll help you protect the others.”
“You have got to be joking! Cross murdered Solomon Cord, and you helped him. You’re a killer, Dioxin. You always were and you always will be. You can stay locked up.”
“You need me. Everyone else in this place is too old or too weak. Most of them can barely stand.”
Colin paused. “If you run, or try anything…I will hunt you down.”
“I know. Now are you able to snap these cuffs or not?”
Colin took hold of the short, strong chain linking the cuffs, and squeezed it in his fist. He felt one of the links split.
Dioxin pointed to the chains around his ankles. “And these?”
There was enough space for Colin to insert his fingers into the leg-irons and pull them apart.
He stepped back. “I’m warning you, Dioxin. You do what I say, when I say it. Anything else, and you’re really going to be sorry.”
“Understood.” Dioxin pointed to the guard. “Now. The gun.”
“I’m not letting you have a weapon!”
“Colin, even with a machine-gun I can hit a wasp at fifty metres. You don’t want me to kill the guards? Fine. I’ll shoot to wound.”
Colin hesitated for a moment then reached down and grabbed the guard’s gun. He handed it to Dioxin. “Don’t even think about turning it on me.”
“There wouldn’t be any point. I hit you with a volley of explosive rockets and you got up from it. Bullets aren’t going to do you any damage.”
Colin took a deep breath. “All right. I can hear the army coming back. We need to get the other prisoners under cover before they start shelling us again.” He glanced upwards: the metal dome was peppered with bullet-holes and in one section had collapsed completely.
He led Dioxin back to the doorway. “I just need you to watch my back and provide covering fire if necessary.” He pointed. “There’s more prisoners hiding behind that concrete bunker, all chained together. I’m going to lead them back here. You see anything – anything at all – just tell me. I’ll hear you.”
Dioxin carefully leaned his head out through the doorway. “Seems quiet enough now.”
“They’re regrouping…” Colin ran, darting across the open space between the dome and the concrete bunker.
He skidded to a stop in front of the terrified prisoners. “Head for the dome – I don’t have time to free all of you!”
The prisoners huddled together, and avoided looking directly at him.
“Move!” Colin yelled. “Now!”
An old man’s voice came from the centre of the group, “We can’t…There’s…”
“What?”
“We don’t have the strength to carry the dead.”
And then Colin realised that some of the prisoners had not moved at all.
“Colin! Heads up!” Dioxin’s voice said. “Incoming!”
Colin looked up. A bright light was dropping from the sky, heading straight towards him.
“Everyone cover your eyes!” he yelled.
He concentrated, focussing his energy on creating a fireball. He could feel the ambient heat of the area soaking into his body, converting itself into flame.
He launched the fireball. White-hot, it scorched the air around it as it streaked upwards towards the incoming missile.
The fireball struck the missile, erupting with a ground-shaking explosion.
OK, OK…That bought us some more time…He looked down at the prisoners, paused for a second, then began snapping their leg-irons.
The first was a woman of about his mother’s age.
“Don’t just stand there!” Colin yelled. “Get moving! Run!”
One by one, the prisoners were freed, and shuffled back across the open compound.
He took one last look at the bodies. An elderly man lay staring up at the sky, his chest covered in blood, his eyes still open.
He…He’s the one who told me that some of the others were dead. He was dying himself.
They’d all still be alive if I hadn’t come here.
Dioxin’s voice said, “Colin? You hear me? Get over here!”
Colin turned and ran, trying to push the images of the dead out of his mind.
As he reached the dome, Dioxin said, “Got some others coming in through the east door, but it doesn’t look good out there. They said that the big guy is still alive, but he’s pinned down.”
“Show me.”
Dioxin led Colin through the dome. This was the first real chance he’d had to look around. Enormous pieces of machinery were fastened to the ground with bolts larger than his head. Ten-metre-long cams and pistons rose from deep pits. The place had the stench of scorched metal and there was so much rock-dust in the air that Colin could feel it grinding between his teeth.
As he passed a woman lying against one of the machines, gasping for breath, he stopped and stared. The woman had grey, mottled tentacles in place of her arms, and a series of narrow slits in the side of her neck that looked like gills. She must have been like this when she lost her superhuman powers, but she didn’t change back…
Dioxin said, “Calls herself Loligo. Been here about fourteen years. Caught sneaking around an Italian battleship, trying to sabotage it.”
Colin crouched down next to the woman. “Are you all right?”
“Can’t…Can’t breathe…”
“She needs water,” Dioxin said. “And lots of it.”
“Where?”
“Over that way. There’s a tank…”
“Take her,” Colin said. “Make sure she’s all right!”
Dioxin backed away. “We’ve got more important things to worry about.”
“You will help this woman. Understood?”
Dioxin stared at him for a moment. “You’re the boss. But don’t blame me if these guys turn on you.�
��
Colin felt something strange touch his hand, and looked down to see that the woman had pressed one of her tentacles against him.
“Grazie…”
Colin nodded, then turned and ran for the east door, leaving Dioxin attempting to lift the woman into his arms.
He heard a series of gunshots and a loud, almost deafening bellow.
Directly ahead, one of the guards was standing in the entrance, shooting at something off to the side.
As Colin ran he tried to generate another lightning bolt, but creating the fireball had almost drained him of energy. Instead, he picked up speed, heading straight for the guard. He leaped the last ten metres, crashed into the guard, sending him flying. And finally he got a good look at the guard’s target. The enormous, half-glimpsed blue creature he’d seen from the hillside.
The four-metre-tall man was covered in bullet-wounds, but somehow still found the strength to stand. He staggered over to Colin, the ground trembling under his bare feet.
Colin looked up at him. “You’ve lost a lot of blood.”
“Tell me about it,” the giant said, his voice rumbling. “Thanks for the save, kid.” He reached down and patted Colin on the back, the blow almost knocking him over. “I owe you one. I suppose you know who I am? Or has the outside world forgotten me in the past ten years?”
Colin followed him into the building. “Forgotten you? How could anyone forget someone like you, Brawn?”
Yvonne stood on the control gantry that overlooked the monitoring room in the Trutopian headquarters.
She felt her stomach tighten as she read the information on the screen in front of her. The broken, burnt-out shell of the Trutopian Lear jet had been found crashed into a mountainside in Poland, twenty-four miles south of Rzeszow. There were no survivors. Under Yvonne’s orders, a team was currently en route to the crash site to examine the wreckage.
So far, the Trutopian military strategists hadn’t been able to determine who had shot down the jet.
They’ve covered their tracks well. Whoever did it knew we’d be searching for them. They’re scared of us. And they should be.
Yvonne looked down into the large, dark room. The dozen military strategists worked feverishly at their stations, overseeing the training of the Trutopian armies. The strategists didn’t talk to each other. They didn’t take coffee breaks. They didn’t look up from their work, or even stop long enough to stretch.
The wall directly opposite Yvonne was one giant monitor, currently showing a map of the world. The Trutopian communities were highlighted in green.
She turned her attention back to her own computer and began tapping at the keyboard. The Trutopians had hacked into every major news source and communications network.
Yvonne’s computer informed her that the New Heroes had left Sakkara and were currently on their way to Lieberstan. Right now they were in a high-speed transport – a second-generation version of Max Dalton’s StratoTruck – flying over Kazakhstan.
The US defence forces had been put on high alert, but no one seemed to know exactly why. Yvonne puzzled over this, probing through the reports and analysing the incoming data, until she found the reason: a video message from Sakkara to the headquarters of the United Nations.
Yvonne played the video, and Danny Cooper stared out of the screen. Standing behind him were Renata Soliz and Butler Redmond.
“My name is Danny Cooper. I’m sure most of you know all about me. And some of you probably know why I’m contacting you now. Many – if not most – of your countries have been involved in the prison camp in Lieberstan.
“There are innocent people there, persecuted simply because they have a connection to someone you consider to be a threat. Many of those innocents are children, born into slavery. You are supposed to be civilised people, yet you have knowingly allowed this place to exist.
“The New Heroes are going to Lieberstan. You will give us the support we need to put an end to the situation there with as little loss of life as possible. The prisoners are to be given their freedom, reunited with their families, and fully compensated. I’m sure that some of the prisoners do deserve punishment, but not there, not like that.
“These are your instructions…You will immediately contact the government of Lieberstan and order them to withdraw their troops from the area. If they refuse, you will send in your own troops and you will force the Lieberstanian army to withdraw. After we have freed your slaves, the whole story will be made public. Do not doubt me on this: we will conduct a full investigation and we will name everyone involved. Those of you responsible cannot hide from us. You will have to answer to the people of your own countries.
“I want to make this very clear: This is not a negotiation. We are telling you what to do. The situation in the Lieberstanian platinum mine is intolerable and unforgivable. It ends here and now.”
The video blanked out, and Yvonne stepped back, still staring at the screen.
Good for you, Danny.
The Trutopians are everywhere. We’re poised and ready to go. It’s like a chain of dominos; Victor Cross and I spent a long time setting up the pieces, but in the end it all comes down to a single push.
And you’ve just provided that push.
17
DIOXIN TOLD COLIN, “My guess is that they’re keeping the air-strikes to a minimum because if they destroy the mine then they lose the only real asset this country has.”
Colin nodded. “That’s something at least. What about chemical weapons?”
“Then they’d lose the prisoners. The rest of the world pays Lieberstan a lot of money to keep us here.”
Dioxin led Colin to the heart of the dome, where most of the prisoners had been gathered. They had raided the food and water supplies, and for the first time in years they were able to eat enough to fill their stomachs.
“How badly are we doing?”
“At least twenty-three dead,” Dioxin said, “another fifty or so wounded.”
“Out of how many?”
“About four hundred, I think.”
A voice shouted, “They’re coming back!”
“Brawn! Dioxin!” Colin yelled. “Get them all inside the safest structures you can find!”
As the prisoners were rounded up, Colin turned and ran from the dome, reached out with his senses. He could feel the heat radiating from the approaching engines of the tanks. They’re close! He slowed a little. No, it’s not that they’re close – there’s hundreds of them!
He pulled off the head-set communicator and examined it. It seemed to be working, but why hadn’t Kinsella contacted him? Maybe I need to get to higher ground.
Colin ran towards the western gate, darted outside, then turned and began scrambling up the side of the dome.
From the dome’s apex, he could see the tanks approaching from the east, surrounded by a massive cloud of dust. He turned. More were coming from the north, and the west. The mountainous terrain to the south prevented them from approaching that way.
There’s no way I can defeat them all on my own.
Brawn is the only one of the prisoners who has any sort of superhuman strength, and that’s just due to his size. If he was as strong as he used to be, then maybe we’d have a chance.
Colin heard a low humming sound coming from the west, and looked up to see a dark aircraft streaking across the sky.
A roughly-spherical object dropped from the aircraft, spinning and tumbling so fast that even Colin’s enhanced vision couldn’t make it out. Whatever the object was, it was glistening in the sunlight.
The object crashed into the side of the dome, bounced off and hit the ground rolling.
Colin chased after it.
He skidded down the side of the dome, landed heavily on his feet, and reached the object just as its surface shimmered, becoming opaque, and human.
It stood up, and swayed a little. “Whoa! That was fun!”
Colin almost tripped over his own feet. “Renata?”
She grinned, and
looked over to the huge dent she’d left in the side of the dome. “That was the coolest thing ever! Did you see that?” She jumped at Colin and wrapped her arms around him. “God, I’ve missed you!”
“What are you doing here?”
Renata stepped back. “Helping you. I see your hair’s grown back.”
“Dioxin’s here.”
“I know. You’re keeping him locked up, right?”
“Well, not exactly. I—” Colin heard a scream coming from directly above, and jumped back. “Someone’s falling!”
“Ah, he’ll be fine.”
As Colin watched, he realised that the falling man wasn’t screaming: he was laughing. At about forty metres above the ground, his fall began to slow, cushioned by some invisible object.
Butler Redmond touched down with a slight bump. He raised his right hand to the communicator attached to his ear. “We’re down. And Colin’s here.” He nodded to Colin. “Long time no see, stranger. You’ve got the entire Lieberstanian army on the way. What’s the status with the prisoners?”
“Most of them are not really in any condition to fight. Brawn is here and he’s still four metres tall – and still blue – but he’s been shot about a dozen times.”
Butler said, “Colin, from what we can tell, so far you’ve just been putting out fires, right? Dealing with the attacks as they come. We need to go on the offensive. My force-field can withstand practically anything, but there’s no way I can make it large enough to shield the entire dome. We have to get all the prisoners into the one place, the smaller the better. I’ll protect them while the rest of you deal with the Lieberstanians. We just need to hold them off long enough for the UN Peace-keeping Force to get here with the rest of the team.”
Colin said, “So where is Danny?”
“Right here,” Danny Cooper said, suddenly standing next to Colin, a cloud of dust settling around his feet. “These two might be able to survive jumping out of the StratoTruck, but I wasn’t taking that chance.” He smiled. “So you phoned Brian but you couldn’t find time to phone me?”
Absolute Power (The New Heroes, Book 3) Page 12