by A. G. Taylor
Commander Craig shifted position in the chair. “Run, Sarah,” he said, voice distorted with pain. “Just get out of here.”
Major Bright ignored him and advanced on the girl.
“The Entity needs you, Sarah,” he said. “It needs to bond with a true telekinoid. I get it out of my head and in return it gives me all the power I want. It won’t be so bad. The alien seems to really like you.”
She backed away. “You’re crazy. All it wants to do is enslave the world, can’t you see that?”
“Who cares? As long as I’m not one of the ones getting enslaved.”
Bright reached out and grabbed her wrist. Sarah tried to pull away but he was far too strong. The major’s eyes bored into hers, but then their usual fury was suddenly replaced with a blankness…
Sarah, it’s been so long.
Sarah recoiled at the sound of the Entity’s voice in her head, but Bright’s hand kept its hold around her wrist. How didn’t I sense its presence the moment I set foot on this island? she thought. Stupid.
Don’t be so hard on yourself. I shielded myself from you because I was afraid you wouldn’t try to take Bright on if you knew I was here. In return I shielded your presence from him so you wouldn’t come to harm. You see? I want to help you, Sarah.
Let me go, she replied with her mind. I’m not joining you. I’ll never join you.
Don’t fight your destiny. There’s so much more for you than HIDRA or your friends can provide. And I can achieve so much more with you than a crude instrument like Bright. I realized that when we communicated under the ice in Russia. Your psychic potential is a thousand times greater than his.
You’re shielding this conversation from his mind, Sarah realized. Does he even know what you’ve got planned?
The major thinks in terms of armies and territories. Battles won and lost. He has no real understanding of the true power that flows through us. He just wants to smash things and bend them to his will.
From the corner of her eye Sarah saw movement. Commander Craig had shifted in his chair, reaching forward to remove something from one of the pockets of his combat trousers: a pair of grey, metal cylinders with pins set into the top. Grenades. He took one in each hand and met Sarah’s eyes. She saw the deadly resolve there despite his terrible injuries.
Why do you resist me, Sarah?
She turned her attention back to the Entity, determined to keep it distracted. Bright would never have taken his eyes off Craig for so long, but the alien was in control and it was solely focused on persuading her to join forces with it. The legs of the chair scraped the concrete as the commander prepared himself to move.
I don’t know, she said. Perhaps I’m afraid.
I will make you ruler of all you survey.
Sarah looked at the squid-thing sheltering under the hypersphere. What are you planning? Your meteorites have been destroyed.
Now I have found a way to spread my virus without the need for such crude methods. The hypersphere is a method of transporting armies across the vastness of space. All it needs are suitable telekinoids to unlock it...
Something clicked in Sarah’s mind. That kid, Hack. And the girl. You’re going to use them. For what?
To create armies like your world has never seen before. And to spread my consciousness via the fall virus.
Then you plan to release the virus. Infect more people. Where?
The Entity laughed. Please, Sarah, why do you think I am a fool when I have so much respect for you? Surrender to me and you will be privy to all my plans.
If you’re so powerful, why not just take over my mind right now? Control me like you controlled Bright and Makarov?
Because you are so much more than either of them. A being with your potential must surrender themselves to me willingly. Give their consciousness of their own free will…
That will never happen, Sarah said.
Oh, but it will. You’re going to beg to become a part of me. Then you’re going to help me kill all your friends.
No…
I told you before you would betray them...
A terrible cry – part battle yell, part agonized scream – split the air as Commander Craig launched himself from the chair at Major Bright’s back. In each hand he held a grenade. He had removed the pins a split second before he moved. Somehow, by sheer force of will, he managed to throw his arms around the major’s shoulders and clung there.
“Sarah, run!” he cried as he dropped the grenades. They hit the concrete between Bright’s boots. Face contorted with pain, Craig wrapped his fingers around the major’s neck and clung on for dear life.
No! the Entity exclaimed. It pushed Sarah away and released the grip on her wrist. As she staggered back, she saw Bright’s eyes snap into focus once again. He looked around, momentarily bewildered, then grabbed Craig’s arm and swung him over his shoulder. The commander smacked down on the floor. Sarah turned and bolted for the darkness. As she reached the edge of the illuminated square she reached out and snatched a camera from its tripod. She clutched it to her chest as she flew headlong into the black...
The grenades exploded simultaneously, engulfing Commander Craig, Major Bright and the surrounding area. The computers, lamps and cameras were all destroyed in a brilliant flash. Sarah staggered towards the hangar exit, half propelled by the force of the blast at her back. The hangar was thrown into complete darkness with the destruction of the lamps, but she was guided by the outside lights showing through the gap in the hangar doors.
It was only as she made the exit that she stopped and turned. At the centre of the hangar an electrical fire burned, perhaps the remnants of one of the computers. In the flickering flames she saw wreckage from the blast, but sensed no life. For a moment she hesitated, wanting to know for sure that Commander Craig had completed his mission. Then the Entity’s voice sounded in her head…
Sarah.
Something moved in the firelight.
She turned and ran.
20
“Sarah!” Robert cried, running towards her across the middle of the camp as she emerged from the hangar. As they met, the blazing searchlight beam whipped over them. They shielded their eyes against the light, which was shining down from a guard tower. A deafening siren wailed across the camp.
“Where’s Commander Craig?” Robert shouted above the klaxon.
Sarah shook her head. “He didn’t make it…”
Seeing the tears in her eyes, Robert placed a hand on her arm as her voice trailed away. Hack, Louise and Wei approached out of the darkness.
“I hate to interrupt,” Hack said, “but we’ve got company.”
Sarah looked around and saw what he meant. Soldiers were running towards their position from all directions, drawn by the beam of the searchlight. A guard in a second tower angled his beam on them as well. She took a deep breath. With Craig gone, it was up to her to get them out of the base and back to the jet. She opened the back of the camera she’d grabbed from the hangar, removed the SD card and placed it in her pocket for later.
“We have to take out those searchlights!” she said, tossing the camera away.
“Allow me,” Hack said. He took a step towards the nearest guard tower and threw out his hand. The giant bulb in the searchlight exploded, showering glass and electric sparks all around. The guard staggered back and fell over the side. Hack rounded on the second tower and blew up its light also. All around, the soldiers had stopped their advance and were taking aim with weapons. A burst of gunfire split the air and the ground before them tore up.
“They’re using real bullets!” Wei exclaimed, moving closer to Louise.
“What did you expect?” Robert said, pulling the dart-gun from his backpack. “Water pistols?”
Sarah looked at the soldiers surrounding them, then spoke to her friends. “Okay. Stick close. Use your powers. And don’t hold back.”
“Finally!” Wei said, taking a step towards a group of mercs moving round the side of a truck. A line of fire bu
rst from the fingers of his right hand, licking the side of the vehicle. The soldiers scattered as the fuel tank ignited, lifting the truck and depositing it several metres away.
“Nice!” Robert said, teleporting away as a volley of bullets flew in his direction. He rematerialized directly behind his attackers and calmly shot them both with the dart-gun. They were unconscious before they hit the ground.
Hack continued the job of knocking out the searchlights around the perimeter, while Louise created an invisible shield around them. Bullets flying in their direction turned in mid-air and flew back towards their attackers with silent, deadly speed. As the mercs were strafed by their own bullets, they began to fall back. Sarah concentrated on one of the final groups holding their ground, subverting the minds of several of them. Soon the soldiers were fighting among themselves in a melee of flying arms and legs. Robert materialized beside her and grinned.
“These guys are no match for us,” he said. “What do you want to do next?”
Sarah thought of what she’d seen in the hangar, how Commander Craig had been tortured and killed, and said, “I want to destroy this camp.” She turned her attention to Wei. “Burn it all.”
Wei nodded, dark eyes flashing in the flames of the vehicles he’d already ignited.
“Wait!” Hack cried, running over as the last of the mercs retreated. “We have to find May first. She’s in one of the buildings.”
Hack stopped dead as a new sound filled the air: the thrumm of helicopter blades. A squat, black machine appeared over the roof of the second hangar and approached, nose angled down. Gun mounts on either side erupted, chewing up the ground before Louise. She managed to deflect a hail of bullets, but was driven back as the chopper swooped overhead and came round for a second pass.
“It’s too powerful!” she said.
“Run for the wall!” Sarah shouted and they broke as the helicopter fired again. Robert staggered as the line of bullets almost ripped across his legs, but Hack grabbed his arm and pulled him on.
“That was too close!” Robert said as they made the edge of the compound.
The helicopter had stopped firing. It hovered above the middle of the camp, adjusting its position, taking aim at them. Sarah looked at the dark windscreen, unable to see the pilots beyond. Then she noticed the rocket launcher on the side…
“Oh, no. Louise!”
There was a whooosh and a missile flew. Louise stepped forward just in time, both hands out… The missile exploded in the air, halfway between them and the chopper.
Sarah nodded at Wei, who started burning a hole in the fence. “We have to do something about that helicopter!” she said, turning to the others.
“I’m on it,” Hack said, moving in front of Louise. Dead ahead, the helicopter angled for another shot. He reached out with his mind, sensing the sophisticated computer-controlled steering mechanisms inside the machine… The missile targeting systems...
“Make it fast, Hack!” Robert said.
A second missile flew, but it veered wildly off course, over the top of the fence and into the jungle. Seconds later there was a distant explosion. Hack focused his concentration and the helicopter engine began to make a groaning sound. The blades started to tilt and the cockpit rotated clockwise and down in a dangerous fashion. The spinning blades tore into the ground and for a moment, through the open side windows, it was possible to catch a glimpse of the pilots desperately struggling against the joysticks, which weren’t doing what they were supposed to.
“Move!” Sarah yelled as the helicopter hit the ground and kept on coming. Blades detached and flew across the compound, followed by lumps of jagged metal and broken glass. Sarah and the others piled through the opening Wei had made in the fence and into the darkness of the jungle. Only Hack held back, remembering the explosive collar around his throat.
“Come on!” Robert exclaimed, pulling him away.
“Wait—”
“No time!”
Behind them the helicopter exploded as it finally came to rest against the shattered fence. Robert, Hack and the others tore into the trees on the other side and instantly became lost in the blackness of the island night.
Marlon Good found Major Bright standing amid the smouldering wreckage of what had once been the studio in the hangar. All that remained from the explosion was the hypersphere, the squid and the major himself.
“Are you okay?” Good asked uncertainly, looking over the tattered, burned remains of Bright’s uniform. Strangely, his skin seemed completely unharmed.
Bright looked at him with distant eyes, then cocked his head to one side, listening to gunfire and explosions in the distance. His gaze snapped into focus.
“What’s going on?” he said.
“Superhumans,” Good replied. “The base has been attacked. Don’t worry, I set the Black Hawk on them and they’re on the run. Our men are going to chase them down in the jungle.”
“You had the men use live rounds?”
Good looked at him incredulously. “Isn’t that what all the guns are for?”
“Idiot.” Bright turned his attention to Kotler, who was standing off to the side. “Call the men back. And start the evacuation.”
Kotler saluted and moved out at the double, leaving a perplexed Good to follow the major as he crossed the hangar towards the containment field holding the squid.
“Those kids just tore up half the camp!” he exclaimed. “They blew up a chopper worth 5.9 million bucks!”
“So buy another,” Bright said, eyes locked on the ever-changing shape of the squid as it moved beneath the hypersphere. “The boy is essential to our plans. As is Sarah Williams. And you would have gunned them down.”
“Ah…”
Bright reached under the hypersphere, fingertips crackling with electricity, and placed his hands on the squid. Its tentacles, at once solid and yet liquid, metallic and yet organic, wrapped around his arms as he pulled it out. Good watched transfixed. As the squid struggled to envelop Bright, the major’s eyes gleamed with a strange energy.
“Bring me the boy, Hack,” he commanded the squid, which had stopped struggling against him. “And the girl, Sarah Williams.”
With that, he dropped the alien machine-beast on the ground, where it simply lay for a few seconds. Then it began to change shape yet again. The writhing tentacles became thinner, more elongated. They gained definition, taking on a shiny hardness as they formed into segments, eight of them in all. These new legs lifted the black, central body from the ground. On the forward part of the body glowed red orbs, too many to count, set in the surface of the metal. Eyes.
“My god,” Marlon Good murmured as he took in the transformation. “It’s like a—”
“Spider?” Major Bright finished for him, taking a step towards the machine. He held a hand out to the creature, which was now the size of a large dog. “Hunt them down. The other children are expendable. Kill them.”
With that, the robospider darted towards the open doors of the hangar, needle-sharp legs scuttling on the concrete...
21
After running through the humid darkness of the jungle for five minutes, Sarah looked back and, seeing no sign of pursuit from the camp, ordered everyone to stop. Breathing heavily and drenched with sweat due to the heat, they collapsed against the trees and on the giant roots spreading across the ground.
“Is everyone okay?” Sarah asked when she had her breath back. “Is anyone injured?”
Nobody spoke up. Either they were fine, or too exhausted from the flight to complain.
“Why aren’t they following us?” Robert asked. In the distance they could see the flames of fires still burning and hear the sound of men’s voices, but nothing closer. No torch beams flicking through the trees.
“We caused a lot of damage to the camp,” Hack said. “Maybe they’re too busy putting out fires.”
“You should have let Wei burn it all,” Louise said and her friend nodded vigorously at her side. “We should sneak back and fi
nish them off. Right?”
Heads turned towards Sarah, but she said, “No, we need to get off this island. Bright is planning an attack on the Ulysses. We have to warn HIDRA.”
Louise began to protest, “But if we get Bright first—”
“He’s too powerful,” Sarah interrupted. “He’s not just using the serum any more for his strength. He’s joined with the Entity and he’s stronger than ever before.”
“The Entity?” Robert said. “How’s that possible? I thought we destroyed it when we flattened Makarov’s Spire.” He looked at Hack and said for his benefit, “Makarov was a Russian billionaire in league with the Entity. He wanted to take over the world from this giant skyscraper in the middle of nowhere. We blew it up.”
“Okay,” Hack said.
“But the Entity didn’t die in the Spire,” Wei corrected and Sarah nodded.
“We only destroyed the meteorite fragment the Entity was using as a transmitter here on earth.”
Hack was becoming more and more confused by the conversation. “So, what is this Entity you keep talking about?”
“It’s an alien force,” Robert explained. “Like a kind of giant brain somewhere out there in the universe. We don’t know where.”
“The main thing is it’s evil,” Sarah added. “And incredibly powerful. It uses the fall virus to control beings on different worlds.”
“Which explains us,” Robert continued. “We get a little bit of the Entity’s powers as a side effect of being immune to the virus. And it doesn’t like it one bit.”
Sarah nodded. “It plans to enslave the world and either kill or imprison anyone immune to its power.” She smiled at Hack. “I guess all this must sound pretty far-fetched.”
“Not really,” Hack replied. “I think I’ve met this Entity of yours.”
The others exchanged surprised looks.
“Back in the hangar,” Hack explained. “Major Bright grabbed my and May’s hands. That’s when I sensed something else… Like a kind of presence coming from a massive distance away. It was the scariest thing ever.”