Arcing through the air, Renata couldn’t feel anything, but she could see from the muzzle-flashes on the automated weapons on the building’s corners that she was being shot at.
As she crashed down on to the HQ’s roof, the firing stopped, just as Stephanie had predicted. The automated guns were still tracking her, but not firing. This low, they couldn’t shoot at her without damaging each other.
“I’m down!” Renata called over the radio.
“I see you. Good luck!”
One of Impervia’s lessons was that on any mission it was vital to secure an escape route. Renata ran to the nearest of the automated guns, and tore it apart. She picked up the gun’s barrel and used it to smash the remaining weapons.
She looked around. A pair of large steel doors was set into the roof at the far end. Some sort of hangar. If there’s a craft in there I might be able to use it to get out.
The hangar doors looked too strong for her to break through, but then she spotted a smaller metal hatch close to the edge. She ran towards it, punched her powerful fingers through the metal, tore the hatch off, and dropped down.
Trutopian guards were already streaming towards her position.
Renata locked her fingers together and cracked her knuckles. She smiled at them. “All right. Let’s do this.”
Hanging upside-down, miles above the Earth, Danny Cooper struggled to free himself from Colin’s grip.
It came true.
The vision I had in the Californian desert. I saw myself leading a group of teenagers and kids away from an army. I saw the mechanical arm.
Again, he tried to pull himself up, but Colin was flying too fast, too erratically, for Danny to grab hold of him.
God…I thought I could prevent the vision coming true by never accepting the mechanical arm. But then I had to take the arm because it was the only thing that would give me an advantage over Colin.
So the future is already there, just waiting for us to catch up with it. And everything my real father saw also came true. The war happened – it’s still happening – and it was all my fault. Even though I tried to do the right thing, people still died.
Quantum said that billions of people will die in the war. Billions.
He thought back to the video tape he’d seen of Quantum making his prediction. Talking to Max Dalton, Quantum had said, “The end. The end of everything. He was there, leading them. None of us were there. None of us.”
But Max is still alive, as far as I know.
And Quantum never mentioned that in his vision I would have a mechanical arm. How could he have missed something like that? Which means that either he was wrong, or this war is not what he saw in his vision.
The future is not written. We create the future as we go.
So maybe we’re not done yet.
Renata tore her way through the last set of doors leading to the Trutopian control centre.
The men and women working at their computer stations didn’t even look up.
She moved to the nearest computer and punched her fist right through it.
A voice from above said, “I wouldn’t bother if I was you. Everything is protected with a triple back-up system.”
She looked up to see Yvonne on the gantry, smiling down at her.
“Your armies have retreated, Renata. You’ve lost.”
Renata glanced at the clock on the wall. Eight minutes until the countdown expired. “No, you’ve lost, Yvonne. You know why they’ve retreated?”
“They’ve realised they can’t win.”
“They’ve been prepared for a superhuman threat ever since your father’s last battle. In less than eight minutes a missile will detonate over this town, showering it with VX gas. I’m sure you know what that is.”
Yvonne hesitated. “I do. But this building is completely self-contained and sealed off from the outside world. Our air and water can be recycled for years. We can just wait it out.”
Renata began to climb the steps to the gantry. “You mean, the building was sealed off from the outside world. Until I tore my way in.”
Yvonne backed away.
“I’m one of the lucky ones,” Renata said. “You can’t control me. And I know I’m stronger than you are. So surrender now. This doesn’t have to go any further. You’re already responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. But if you give yourself up then maybe you won’t be executed.”
The girls were now almost face-to-face.
Yvonne said, “I may not be stronger than you, Soliz, but I am smarter. I don’t do anything without having a back-up plan.” She smiled. “You remember my sister, don’t you?”
Behind her, Mina stepped out of the shadows, her hands locked around Niall Cooper’s neck.
“One word from me, and Mina will kill him.”
Yvonne started to descend the stairs. Renata reached out to grab her, but Yvonne stepped aside. “One word, remember? And just in case you’re thinking of using your power to solidify me, Mina’s also been instructed to kill him if that happens. So whatever way you look at it, you lose.”
She turned to one of the engineers. “Prepare the escape pod.” To Renata, she said, “I have to give you people credit, Renata. I really didn’t think you’d ever get this far. Mina? If she tries to follow me, kill the boy, then do whatever it takes to stop her.”
Yvonne raced down the metal stairway, and darted from the room.
Renata turned back to Mina. “Can you hear me?”
Mina nodded.
“You do know that she’s controlling you, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Still as talkative as ever, I see. Can you find a way to resist her control?”
“No. I…We’re clones. We’re closer than sisters. She can control me more efficiently than anyone else. I’m sorry, Renata. I can’t help myself.”
Renata looked down at Niall. “I’m sorry too, Niall. I did my best.”
“I don’t want to die, Renata!”
“I know,” she said. She glanced at the clock: Only six minutes to go before the nerve gas hits. To Mina, she said, “You won’t do it.”
“I don’t have a choice.”
Renata concentrated. She staggered against the wave of agony that surged through her brain, and when she could open her eyes again, Mina was staring at her in shock.
Niall Cooper was now a crystal statue.
Renata forced a smile. “See, I couldn’t change you, because then I’d never be able to break your grip on his neck. So now what are you going to do? Yvonne ordered you to kill him, and then stop me. But you can’t kill Niall now, so that means…”
Mina nodded. “I can’t carry out her order. Renata, I…I can’t stop her. She’s too powerful. You might have a chance, but…I can read your aura.”
“What about it?”
“Every time you use your powers, you’re making your condition worse.”
“I know.”
Renata pulled Niall’s crystalline body away from Mina, threw him over her shoulder and leaped over the gantry’s railing.
She darted from the room, not caring that she was stepping on the unconscious bodies of the guards who had tried to stop her on the way in.
She reached the hatchway and scrambled up the ladder. The huge hangar doors were open, and in the distant sky Renata could see a small, powerful-looking craft rocketing away.
33
COLIN SET DANNY down on the edge of a rocky plateau.
Danny wasn’t sure where they were, but it looked like the Grand Canyon. He immediately zipped away from Colin, and stood on the opposite edge of the plateau. “So what are you going to do? Kill me?”
“No. I only have to defeat you. And I can do that by leaving you here. There’s no easy way off this rock for someone who can’t fly.”
Danny shifted into slow-time and raced forward, slamming his mechanical arm towards Colin’s stomach.
Colin spun about and caught the arm at its wrist, placed his other arm on Danny’s shoulder, and pulled.
Danny stared at it. “Damn. I was getting used to having that!”
“It was your only advantage against me,” Colin said. “Sure, you’re a lot faster than I am, but I’m stronger and much more powerful. Without your weapon, you might as well be an ordinary person. You know you can’t beat me, Danny. So you can just stay here, where you can’t do any damage.”
Colin turned his back and began to rise into the air.
Danny switched to slow-time, snatched up the ruined mechanical arm, and charged at Colin, slamming him across the back of the head with as much strength as he could muster.
Colin was knocked to the ground. He instantly spun about and crashed his fist into Danny’s stomach.
Yvonne cursed herself for not having been better prepared. Next time, I’ll set up my base somewhere they can’t find me.
She frantically worked at the controls of the escape craft. God, I don’t even have another hide-out! Why did I believe that I was going to be able to just walk all over them? They’re superhumans too!
At least the war is still going strong. All I have to do is find somewhere to lie low for a few months, and then I can start again.
The radar screen blipped, showing an incoming object.
Some kind of missile. Yvonne stared at the screen. But the army retreated, and there’s still a couple of minutes to go before the nerve gas canister gets here.
The missile zoomed closer.
Yvonne banked the craft to the left; the missile adjusted its course to match. Should have spent more time practicing the controls…All those times I had a chance to fly the StratoTruck and I didn’t bother…
The craft rocked slightly as the missile struck.
No explosion. It wasn’t a missile! Yvonne looked around frantically. But the only superhuman who can fly is Colin, and he’s under orders not to harm me!
Unless he finally found a way to resist my control.
Then she spotted a figure crawling towards the cockpit, a pistol in its hand.
Stephanie Cord tapped on the cockpit’s glass with the muzzle of the gun, then aimed it at Yvonne’s head. Her amplified voice came through the helmet’s built-in loudspeaker. “Set this thing down. Now.”
Yvonne slammed the craft’s joystick back, flipping it over. Upside-down, she watched as Stephanie lost her grip and slipped away.
Renata activated her radio. “Razor! It’s me! You have to get Impervia to stop the nerve gas!”
“I’ve already asked her. She won’t do it.”
“But there’s no point now – Yvonne’s already escaped!”
“I—”
Impervia’s voice cut across Razor’s. “We’ve been monitoring your communications. Renata, I’m sorry, but the plan goes ahead. If Yvonne’s gone then we’re not going to be able to stop the war anyway.”
“These people here can’t help what they’ve done! They’re innocent!”
“They’re still controlling the Trutopian forces. Turn yourself solid. The nerve agent will strike in two minutes. Once it’s been deployed we’re going to napalm the entire area to destroy the gas. Assuming you survive, we should be able to pick you up in a week or so.”
Stephanie Cord recovered quickly, activated her jetpack and righted herself. Yvonne’s escape craft was streaking towards the west.
She raced after it, her jetpack set to full power. She aimed the handgun, steadied herself and fired, over and over, into the craft’s engine.
It shuddered and began to spin out of control, dropping out of the sky.
Stephanie caught up with the craft, adjusted her trajectory to match. Inside, Yvonne was desperately trying to get the controls to respond.
Stephanie shot through the cockpit’s canopy, shattering the glass. “Give me your hands!” She yelled. “Now!”
She let go of the gun and grabbed Yvonne’s hands, pulling her free from the craft.
As they slowly began to descend, the escape craft clipped the edge of a concrete water-tower, then ploughed into the ground and was torn apart.
Yvonne struggled against Stephanie’s grip. “You set me down or I’ll tear your head off!”
Stephanie lashed out and hit Yvonne in the face with her knee, stunning her. “I blamed Colin for what happened to my father. But it wasn’t his fault. He made the only choice he could. Victor Cross planned it. And you…you’re the one who captured him.” She grinned. “Remember how your father died?”
Stephanie opened her hands.
Yvonne screamed as she plummeted to the ground.
And landed on her feet, to find that they had only been a few metres up.
On the roof of the Trutopian headquarters, Renata Soliz sat cross-legged next to Niall Cooper’s crystalline body. There was no way to get clear in time. She was going to have to solidify herself and wait out the nerve gas.
“Renata!” Stephanie said over the radio. “I’ve got her! She’s on the ground and I’m flying out of reach!”
Renata jumped to her feet. “Where are you?”
“We’re about four miles south-west of the town. Near a big water-tower. Look, I need help here! The Trutopians are advancing on this position, and if I leave Yvonne will escape.”
“Get out of there, Steph! You need to be further away. The nerve gas is going to hit any second now.”
“Can you do it from a distance? Can you turn Yvonne solid from where you are?”
Renata frowned. Can I? If I can solidify someone across the room, then I should be able to do it from miles away. But if I don’t know exactly where she is…
“I’m sorry, Steph. Just…Get to safety. If Yvonne survives we’ll track her down somehow.” And until we do, the war will continue and millions more people will die.
This has to end. And it has to end now.
She looked up. A black dot was racing across the sky.
The missile.
I could solidify it, but that won’t help Steph.
And then Renata knew what she had to do to.
She swallowed. “Oh God…This is really going to hurt.”
She began to concentrate.
Pain tore through Renata’s entire body, every nerve burning. She collapsed to the roof, blood streaming from her nose, ears and eyes.
A wave of energy rippled out from Renata’s body.
The building itself turned solid and transparent, the people inside becoming crystal statues.
The wave continued to spread. Everything it touched was solidified.
Above the Trutopian town, the VX missile turned to crystal and plummeted, untriggered, to the ground.
On a rocky plateau in Arizona, Danny Cooper and Colin Wagner stopped and stared as a curtain of energy zoomed towards them from the north.
“My God…Danny! Take my hand! We have to—”
They were too late. The energy wave was on them.
Three miles west of Sakkara, Butler Redmond and the children from the platinum mine were motionless inside Butler’s now-solid force-field.
The helicopters carrying the refugees from Sakkara turned to glass and dropped out of the sky, tumbling end-over-end.
In Indiana, Alia Cord and Grant Paramjeet watched the TV news with growing horror as the screen showed the spreading crystalline transformation of a battlefield. Then the picture was replaced with static. Alia reached out and took hold of Grant’s hand, and then they, too, were suddenly solid and unmoving.
The energy wave continued.
Everything it touched was turned to crystal.
Everything.
The people. The animals. The land. The sea.
The entire planet.
34
RENATA SOLIZ SAT up and wiped the blood from her face. She looked around, squinting against the sunlight that was reflected from every surface.
She pushed herself to her feet, swaying a little. She didn’t k
now how much time had passed, but the pain had eased a little, and she no longer felt like she was going to throw up.
Everything, as far as she could see in all directions, appeared to be made of glass.
The silence was almost overwhelming.
Then, from far away, there came the sound of something crashing to the ground, then another, and another. For almost a minute the same sound seemed to be coming from everywhere.
What is that? “Hello?” Renata called. The echo of her voice seemed to go on forever.
Something landed on the roof, and Renata saw that it was a bird. She picked it up. It appeared to be completely intact. She set it down again. So that’s what all the noise was.
Now…Where did Steph say she was? Four miles south-west, near the water-tower.
Renata looked over the edge of the building. It was a long way to climb, but she didn’t have a choice: the building’s doors would be completely sealed.
She picked up Niall and threw him over the edge, then started to climb down. After a few metres, she thought, Why am I doing this the hard way?
She let go, turned herself solid, and crashed to the ground.
With Niall Cooper now returned to his human form, and holding her hand, Renata made her way across the crystalline landscape. It took them almost two hours to find Yvonne and Stephanie, close to the crashed escape craft.
“Wow! It’s on fire, but the flames are frozen!” Niall said, looking at the pod. “That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!”
“I turned the whole world into crystal and that’s what you find cool? You are one weird little kid, Niall.”
“And you’re not?”
Stephanie Cord was lying face-up on the ground.
“You should stand her up,” Niall said, “because when you change her back her jetpack will start working again.”
“No, it won’t,” Renata said. “The StratoTruck’s engines were shut down after I changed it back.” She walked towards Yvonne. “So what do you think, Niall? Should I change her back first, or everything together?”
“Just her,” Niall said. “That’ll scare the pants off her.”
“You think so?”
Absolute Power (The New Heroes, Book 3) Page 21