XGeneration, Books 1-3: You Don't Know Me, The Watchers, and Silent Generation

by Brad Magnarella

  A horrifying thought clutched her heart. Would the five of them be the ones to usher in that future?

  “So do we just go home now?” Jesse asked.

  “No,” Janis said, insistence scoring her throat. “We came to talk to whoever’s in charge, and we’re not leaving before that happens.” She raised her masked face to the ceiling and rotated, fresh anger burning inside her. “Did you hear me, whoever you are? We’re not leaving before you come out from your hiding place and tell us what in the hell is going on.”

  The others followed her gaze and then looked at one another. Scott rested his hand on her back.

  “Why don’t we—” he started to whisper.

  A talkie squawked. “What’s your status, twenty-two? Are the subjects contained?”

  Janis’s spine straightened. She walked to one of the slumped-over men and unhooked his talkie from his belt as it squawked a second time: “Do you copy, twenty-two? Are the subjects contained?”

  Janis depressed the black button on the talkie’s side and held the speaker beneath her filter. She closed her eyes. “That would be negatory,” she said.

  A pause. “Who is this?” the voice asked.

  “You’re through asking the questions,” Janis said. “Now it’s our turn. For starters, what’s your real name, Agent Steel?”

  “You are not authorized to use that equipment or frequency.”

  Janis laughed. “Oh, really? What are you gonna do, write me a ticket? Your goons already tried, and now they’re catching up on their Zs. The uniforms were a nice touch, by the way.”

  “I repeat, you are not authorized to use that equipment or frequency.”

  “Then I suggest you come stop me, you heartless bitch.”

  Another pause. “That can be arranged.”

  “We’ll be waiting.”

  Janis clicked off the talkie and exhaled, her wrath rushing out in a jet. When she opened her eyes, the room swam. All of the masks were facing her. A pair of sharp dimples appeared on Creed’s face. “Well looky here — a fräulein after my own heart.”

  Janis raised her eyes toward the ceiling and pushed. The lingering mist fled for the windows. Janis unbuckled her mask and tested the air. A faint, ammonia-like odor found the back of her throat, but her thoughts remained clear.

  She nodded to the others. “It’s clean enough.”

  They removed their own masks, dropping them to the floor. Scott retrieved his helmet from his backpack. Jesse and Creed watched him strap it on, their expressions betraying more than a passing interest, as though they’d seen it before. Jesse was taking a step forward, perhaps to ask him about it, when a shard of glass clinked from one of the shattered windows.

  Jesse bellowed like a gored beast, his head snapping back. The entire house shuddered as he landed facedown.

  “Get away from the windows!” Scott cried.

  Janis ventured a peek. Encased in black gear, a raised wide-barreled gun in her grip, Agent Steel was marching up the walkway. She must have arrived while we were going back and forth on the talkie.

  Behind a clear face shield, Steel’s frostbitten eyes locked onto Janis.

  Janis threw herself down as the gun barked. Something blew through her hair and punched one of the flower paintings on the wall. Glass spilled around her. The projectile flopped to a rest beside a chair leg. Janis picked the sandbag up and turned it over in her fingers.

  That would’ve taken my head off!

  The front door banged open, and Agent Steel surveyed the room. Creed, who had taken refuge behind Jesse, sprang up. In a blur, he darted across the room, blades extended. Agent Steel drove her knee into his stomach. Creed crumpled to the ground with a whimper.

  Janis raised her arm, but the threads connecting her and Agent Steel fluttered in and out. Agent Steel’s sudden appearance, not to mention the speed with which she’d dispatched two of them, had stunned Janis’s fury into submission. And nothing about Agent Steel’s demeanor spoke to fright. Except for Janis’s own fear, her powers had little to feed off of.

  Janis pushed as Agent Steel’s gun barked again. The shot went wide of Janis’s head. Barely.

  When Janis tried to scramble away, the rug doubled up beneath her. She fell against the wall, banging her head. For a moment, she saw double. Agent Steel took a step toward her, then stopped and lowered her gaze.

  A red line had appeared across her vest.

  “Now!” Scott yelled.

  He and Tyler hit her simultaneously — a red pulse and a bolt of lightning-like energy that cracked from Tyler’s hand. Agent Steel staggered back a step, but wouldn’t fall. Her vest seemed to have absorbed the brunt of Scott’s pulse, while her suit continued to disperse Tyler’s energy in small fizzles.

  “You showed your hand a little early,” Agent Steel said to Scott, straightening. “I had the suit redesigned. As for you…” She turned her gun on Tyler. “We already know about your particular ability.”

  The color drained from Tyler’s face as his arms sagged to his side.

  “No!” Janis cried.

  The gun barked and Tyler went down without protest.

  Scott unleashed another blast, but it had no more effect than the first.

  Her head clearing, Janis raced past the bound men to the dining room table and dug through the cache of weapons. She seized one of the wide-barreled guns and swung it toward Agent Steel, who had her own gun pointed at Scott.

  “Drop it!” Janis screamed.

  Agent Steel’s lips pulled into a sneer.

  Janis squeezed the trigger. It wouldn’t budge. She grunted as she curled her entire arm into the effort, the barrel wavering all over the place.

  “Those feature a hidden safety,” Agent Steel said. “One you’ll never find. I know you don’t think much of me, Janis. That’s all right. I didn’t get to where I am by way of the Miss Congeniality circuit. So I don’t expect you to believe me when I tell you we are the good guys.”

  Janis’s gaze flicked toward Scott. Though his beam still illuminated Agent Steel’s midsection, he’d paused his assault — whether to listen to Agent Steel or because Janis was back in her sights, she couldn’t tell.

  “It was never my intention to hurt you,” Agent Steel continued, “to hurt any of you. But I’ve sworn to do a job, and in doing that job, the ends justify the means. Always.”

  “Like wiping our memories?” Janis’s voice trembled.

  Agent Steel nodded. “But I’m going to give you the choice to submit willingly. No more fighting. No more bloodshed. Everything will go back to the way it was until we need you. If we need you. You might never have to see me again. I know you’d like that last part.”

  Janis glanced at Scott. He shook his head slightly. No deal, he was saying. She’s not wiping anything. He drew something from his pocket, concealing it against his forearm: Mr. Leonard’s neural scrambler.

  Janis threw the gun down. “All right.”

  Just keep your attention on me.

  Behind her visor, Agent Steel’s eyes didn’t change. Not only was she still in control, the eyes said, she’d never lost it. “Have a seat on the couch.” She gestured with the gun. “You too.”

  The instant the barrel strayed from Janis, Scott released his blast. The scarred corner of Agent Steel’s mouth drew into a wince as she hit the wall. The pulse had been stronger than the others, but Janis could see the toll it took on Scott. He stumbled as he rushed forward, the blinking device extended from his outstretched arm.

  Agent Steel recovered first and smashed her gun butt into Scott’s face. The tube laser shattered and died.

  “Scott!” Janis screamed.

  Agent Steel switched off Mr. Leonard’s device, then lifted Scott by his backpack. Blood rolled from beneath the helmet, gathering along his lips. Agent Steel clenched an arm around his throat. Scott stirred enough to grasp her forearm plate. He looked like a drowning man clinging to a piece of wreckage.

  Janis ran toward them. Agent Steel lifted a handgun
from her belt and pressed the barrel to the temple of Scott’s helmet. “I loaded this gun myself. No more soft ammo.”

  Janis hesitated. “You can’t…”

  “I have authorization to use force whenever and wherever necessary. Even lethal.”

  Janis watched Agent Steel’s face. She wasn’t bluffing.

  “I’m going to repeat my offer,” she said. “Submit willingly, and all of this ends. Scott will be safe. You’ll be safe. We can get back to our lives and duties and stop this silliness.”

  A vehicle pulled up and boots pounded up the walkway in lockstep. When they arrived at the door, men in riot gear entered two at a time, their black-visored gazes taking in the room. Without waiting for instructions, they cut the cords from the men dressed as police officers, pressed oxygen masks to their faces, and began helping them outside. Something glistened beyond the slit of Scott’s helmet, but Janis couldn’t tell whether it was broken glass or blood.

  “I accept,” she heard herself saying.

  Scott thrashed his legs until Agent Steel cinched her grip. I’m so sorry, Scott, Janis wanted to tell him. But she’d already seen the alternative. She’d seen it too many times in her nightmares.

  “Approach me,” Agent Steel ordered Janis. “Slowly.”

  Janis could barely feel her legs as she walked past where the final two men were being helped from the floor. The man in riot gear who appeared to be leading the effort trotted up to Agent Steel.

  “And the others?” he asked, nodding toward Jesse, Creed, and Tyler. Creed had managed to stagger to his knees and forearms and crawl in a small, groaning circle before collapsing again, but the other two remained still.

  “Take them to the back room,” Agent Steel replied, not moving her gaze from Janis. “I’ll see to them shortly. We’ll need to manufacture a scenario involving a vehicular collision.”

  The man nodded. He and several others placed thick cuffs on the three of them and dragged them away, Jesse requiring four men and a harness. As Janis watched Jesse’s body being tugged beneath the archway, she understood the plan. After Agent Steel wiped their memories, the men would drive Jesse’s car somewhere remote, crash it into a tree or streetlight, and then place Jesse and the others inside. When they awoke in the hospital for the second time in almost as many months, everyone would say they’d been reckless. And with their memories scraped, the three would have no choice but to wonder themselves.

  Janis wondered what kind of scenario they would manufacture for her and Scott.

  The lead man returned. “Are we needed here?” he asked.

  “No,” Agent Steel replied.

  “We’ll be outside.” He and the remaining men exited through the front door as efficiently as they’d entered.

  “I’m here.” Janis stepped in front of Agent Steel. She could just make out her own reflection in the visor, small and narrow. She looked beyond it into a pair of pitiless eyes and then at the gun against Scott’s temple.

  “Attempt any heroics,” Agent Steel said, “and I will pull the trigger.”

  “I understand.”

  Not that Janis could attempt any heroics. The luminous threads were nowhere to be seen or felt. Her powers had abandoned her. All she wanted was for Scott to be safe. She tried to peer into the slit, hoping to see a shine of recognition in his eyes one final time before…

  “Look above my left ear.”

  A red light had already begun to blink beside her visor. A high humming filled the room. She’d had a neural scrambler installed in her helmet. Dense gray clouds scudded over Janis’s vision while the inside of her head popped and sizzled like bacon.

  “It seems my dose was insufficient the last time,” Agent Steel said.

  The fallen tree in the woods… Have to remember the fallen tree in the woods…

  “I’d hoped to spare Scott some of the nastier side effects.”

  It’s where I go to think… It’s where I go when I’m upset…

  “I won’t make the same mistake again.”

  The gray swirled more thickly, insinuating itself between Janis’s thoughts until they no longer seemed to belong together, no longer seemed to belong to anything. She felt her legs stagger.

  The fallen… tree… in… the…

  The sizzling ceased.

  “Oh my,” a voice said.

  Beyond the gray, Janis saw her grandmother. No, not her Grams. The woman inching down the staircase was shorter and wore more makeup, red lipstick wavering outside the lines of her mouth. A pillbox hat topped the woman’s orange curls, and she wore a white waist jacket over a floral sweater. Plastic necklaces clacked around her neck. When the woman reached the corner of the staircase, she turned and stared at her ruined living room.

  “Oh my,” she said again.

  “Go back upstairs, Mrs. Montgomery,” Agent Steel said. Not only had she turned off the neural scrambler, Janis saw, but she had taken the gun from Scott’s temple and reholstered it. Which meant this Mrs. Montgomery held some kind of sway, whoever she was.

  The old woman squinted. “Is that Walter you’re holding?”

  “Yes,” Janis said before Agent Steel could answer. “He’s hurt.”

  “Oh my.”

  She descended the final steps, her white-gloved hand clutching the banister. At the bottom of the staircase, the old woman unsnapped her purse and began searching through it. She continued to shuffle forward, her orthopedic shoes scuffing the carpet. “I believe I have a Band-Aid in here somewhere.”

  Agent Steel pressed her lips together. “This is not Walter, Mrs. Montgomery.”

  “We’ll take it from here,” Janis said to Agent Steel.

  Janis reached an arm behind Scott’s back and, with her other hand, pried at Agent Steel’s forearm. Agent Steel tensed for a moment and then released him. Scott fell into Janis’s embrace. She leaned back to support his weight. Laying him on the carpet, she removed his helmet, then his shattered glasses. A cut across the bridge of his nose had already begun to dry, but a sodden gash circled his left eye, where the brunt of Agent Steel’s blow had landed.

  “Don’t touch it,” Janis whispered as Scott raised his hand. She cradled his head.

  Mrs. Montgomery knelt beside them. The old woman had found a tissue in her purse and used it now to dab at the blood. “I used to be a nurse, you know,” she said as she worked.

  Janis brushed the hair from Scott’s brow.

  “I can feel you,” she said to Agent Steel, who stood behind them. “You had a chip installed to protect your thoughts — all of you did. It’s why you felt like an empty void. But Tyler’s blast must have shorted something, because your thoughts are leaking all over the place. Your name’s not Steel. It’s Dwyer. Susan Dwyer. You despise the name because it makes you feel weak and insignificant.”

  Agent Steel’s breath changed tenor. For the first time, Janis picked up a tremor of fear. Not much, but it was enough. Without looking, she looped the throbbing threads around her opponent’s armored body and cinched.

  Agent Steel grunted.

  “You tell us your job is to protect us.” Janis watched her fingers stroke Scott’s hair. “But we’re nothing more than objects to you. If sacrificing one keeps the rest of us in line, then you’ll do it. You would have shot him. You would have thrown his body down in front of me as I wept.”

  Make her fear you.

  Still not turning, Janis stripped Agent Steel’s outer armor. Forearm and leg plates clanked to the ground. Her vest ripped away, the belt spilling weapons as it flipped across the room. More fabric tore.

  Make her feel pain.

  Janis concentrated and shattered her face shield.

  “Arggh!” Agent Steel cried.

  Janis’s eyelids fluttered. She was drinking from Agent Steel’s pain as though it were a drug, one that fueled Janis’s passion, her power. And she wanted more. As Agent Steel’s throat tensed to call for help, Janis twined the luminous threads into a cord and drew it taut around her neck.

>   “You’re through intimidating us,” Janis said, her voice thrumming. “You’re through controlling us.”

  Mrs. Montgomery remained absorbed in tending to Scott’s wounds. Janis set his head down gently and rose to her feet, her body quaking with power. But when she turned, a small part of her recoiled.

  Save for a single boot, Agent Steel had been stripped to her black bra and French-cut briefs. Pale, muscle-lined legs kicked feebly. Inside her shattered helmet, a face the color of eggplant stared out, the eyes protuberant and pleading. Sweat poured from her brow. The luminous cords that seized her throat jerked her higher.

  You’re killing her, Janis thought.

  But Agent Steel’s fear, repressed for so long, was potent. Intoxicatingly so. And the greater part of Janis wanted to milk every last drop.

  “We’re in control now,” Janis’s voice boomed. “Do you understand?”

  She relented enough for Agent Steel to heave an intake of breath and nod her head. Janis paused, letting her believe she’d be able to scream to the men outside, before cinching the cord again. She twisted it tighter, like a garrote. Saliva bubbled from Agent Steel’s scarred lips.

  Blood is good, the voice urged.

  Janis twisted again. Red spouted up beneath the froth of saliva. An ecstatic state hammered Janis’s senses until it felt as though she would swoon. But she held on, and the vibrations and hard beats of her out-of-body form filled her until she became elephantine, the size of the room.

  Fear my power! the voice inside her sang. Know my fury!

  Janis jerked Agent Steel higher. Blood dripped from her spade-shaped chin and dribbled down her bare stomach.

  “Janis, stop!”

  The call came from beyond the tempest. Someone grabbed her. Janis thrashed as she felt her arms being pinned to her side. Agent Steel fell to the ground and began retching for air.

  “It’s over,” a familiar voice said.

  Janis continued to struggle, fighting to hold onto the passion that was seeping away, leaving her. The threads pulsed like dying heartbeats. The vibrations flattened. Janis felt herself diminishing, returning to form.