Enemy Invasion

by A. G. Taylor

  “Okay.”

  He bent down and pressed a couple of buttons on the side of the casket. The lid gave a hissing noise and then swung up. Sarah reached in and touched Daniel’s hand, which was warm.

  I don’t know if you can hear me, Daniel, she thought, but we’re in the fight again. Robert’s in trouble too, but this being called the Entity has the secret to the fall virus. I’m going to get it and bring you both back. Do you understand? I haven’t given up on you.

  She waited a while, kneeling beside the casket, imagining that at any second she would hear his voice responding in her head. But there was nothing. The expression on his face, which was strangely peaceful, didn’t flicker. A warning beeped on the side of the casket.

  “We have to close the lid,” Alex said softly.

  Sarah gave her father’s hand a final squeeze and then let it go. As the lid descended, she rose and turned to Alex.

  “Okay. Let’s go meet the others.”

  28

  The raised area in the centre of the power station was a hive of activity. Mercs with machine guns stood guard at the base, while technicians scurried around the hypersphere, attaching cables and sensors to its surface. They almost looked like doctors prepping a patient for surgery. Hack and May watched this work through the bars of a holding cage near the wall. They’d been placed inside it when Marlon Good finally got bored of boasting about his achievements. The technicians began setting up two tables, one on either side of the hypersphere. Wires extended from these tables to the sphere itself and off to a set of control panels.

  “What do you think they’re for?” May asked.

  “I don’t know,” Hack replied, keeping his real thoughts to himself: the tables were roughly the size of a person, had ankle and wrist restraints, and appeared to be linked to the hypersphere. And there were two of them…

  One for him.

  And one for May.

  Hack recalled the mental and physical drain their earlier connection with the Entity and the hypersphere had exerted upon them. How much power did the Entity need to release the army of machines contained within the sphere? Would they be strapped into the tables until every last drop of their life energy was sucked out?

  “We have to get out of here,” May said, the rising fear in her voice making it clear that she was thinking the same thing. “Now.”

  “What did you have in mind?” Hack replied, eyeing the mercs patrolling the cage. The men were alert, but their heads were turned towards the activity on the podium.

  “I think I have enough energy to do something,” May said.

  “But even if we get through the bars of this cage, we still have to escape from the power station.”

  “I’m not planning on going through the bars. Keep an eye on those mercs.”

  Hack moved so that he was standing in front of May, blocking the guards’ view of her. He glanced over his shoulder and watched as she kneeled and touched the index fingers of her right and left hands to the concrete floor just a few centimetres apart. She closed her eyes and concentrated...

  A black circle appeared on the floor, midway between her fingertips. The circle grew steadily, until it was about the size of a dinner plate. As Hack watched, it became clear what was happening: the solid matter of the floor was literally dropping away into the hole, as if it had suddenly become liquid. At the edge of the circle as it grew, it was possible to see concrete streaming down like a waterfall. May pulled her fingers further apart and the circle grew until it was a metre across.

  “Wow,” Hack said as she stood up and opened her eyes slowly.

  “That’s our way out.”

  “What’s down there?” Hack said. The tunnel stretched down, but was perfectly dark. The bottom was not visible and for all he knew it stretched down for ever.

  “I’m not sure,” said May, voice uncertain.

  “Great.”

  As much as Hack wanted out of the base, he didn’t like the idea of jumping into a black void that led into…who knew where. Any protest was cut short, however, as one of the mercs gave a surprised shout.

  “You two! What are you doing?”

  Bootsteps approached the cage. This is our only chance, Hack thought. If we don’t go now, they’ll sedate May again. He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the black circle. They jumped into the darkness…

  And fell…

  Hack had the sensation of the tunnel walls, melted concrete, whizzing past faster and faster as they descended, and realized that landing was going to be a problem. Then, amazingly, they began to slow. Rather than falling through air, it was like falling through treacle – an unseen substance slowing their rate of descent.

  “What’s happening?” Hack said. His words sounded muffled, as if he was speaking from behind a sheet of glass.

  “I’ve changed the air density to slow our fall,” replied May, her voice equally indistinct.

  Hack looked up and saw light from the top of the tunnel. Guards appeared and one of them actually jumped in after them. He fell, but at the same unnaturally slow rate.

  Then Hack felt solid ground beneath his feet. Above them the tunnel began to fold in on itself, closing up like the aperture of a camera as May stopped exerting her power upon it.

  “Wait, May!” said Hack, but it was too late. There was a cry from above and then nothing as the tunnel snapped shut on the falling guard.

  “Oh, no,” she said quietly, putting her hands over her mouth. “I didn’t see him. Hack, I didn’t see him...”

  “It’s okay.” He looked left and right and realized they were far from safe. Wherever they had landed was so absolutely dark that he couldn’t even see May’s eyes right next to him. The ground rumbled and then began to vibrate violently. To their left, a single beam of brilliant light cut through the perfect dark, illuminating curved tunnel walls…rails…

  The hum of an electric engine rose… Warm, stale air rushed towards them... We’re in part of the London Underground system, Hack realized…

  “Come on!” he yelled, pulling May to the tunnel wall. They pressed themselves as flat as possible. Seconds later an underground train flew past at high speed, the carriages just centimetres from their bodies. In the lit windows of the train, Hack saw people passing in a blur, blissfully unaware of them down on the tracks.

  The train howled down the tunnel and was gone as quickly as it had appeared.

  “Are you okay?” Hack asked and had time to see May nod in the receding light from the train. Then the darkness was complete once more.

  “What are we going to do?” she asked.

  Hack scanned the area with his mind, sensing a series of emergency lights set into the ceiling of the tunnel. He placed his hand against the wall, just over where he knew a connecting wire ran, and concentrated. Lights flickered into life all along the tunnel, dimly at first and then stronger. Now it was easy to see the soot-stained walls and the three metal rails running along the centre of the tunnel.

  “Don’t touch the centre rail,” Hack warned as he stepped away from the wall. “It’s electrified.”

  May’s hand slipped into his and he met her eyes. He could tell she was just about as terrified as he was following their narrow escape. He smiled reassuringly. “Well done getting us away from the bad guys. Now let’s find a way out of here.”

  “But which way should we go?” May asked, looking left and right along the tunnel.

  “You choose.”

  “Let’s follow the train.”

  They started off in that direction, single file, careful to give the electrified rail a wide berth. As they walked, the lights ahead of them illuminated while the ones behind dimmed and went out.

  “We need to get to a phone and call HIDRA,” Hack said as he led the way. “Tell them the location of Bright’s base.”

  “Right,” May said, but then stopped moving.

  “What is it?”

  “Nothing. I thought I heard something.”

  Something brushed again
st Hack’s leg. There was a squeak and the scurrying of clawed feet. A rat the size of a small dog scurried along the outer rail, jumped the middle one and disappeared into the darkness. May placed her hand over her mouth to stop from crying out. In the distance there was more movement.

  “Let’s pick up the pace,” Hack said, trying to disguise the fear in his voice.

  They began to jog along the tracks. After five minutes the tunnel seemed to be stretching on for ever, then a pinprick of light appeared in the distance. The light grew as they ran, becoming the arch of a tunnel exit – a station.

  “Listen!” May exclaimed.

  In the distance came the sound of rumbling. The rails began to vibrate again. Another wave of warm air pushed against their backs. Rats squealed and scampered for cover. A second train was coming.

  “Run!” Hack cried.

  They tore down the tunnel, sacrificing caution about the electrified rail for speed. The walls were closer here. If the train reached them before they got to the station, there would be no escape.

  “We’re almost there!” Hack called back to May, pointing ahead.

  “So is it!” she replied, meaning the light of the train coming up behind them. Now the hum of the engine could be heard, rising in tone. The train lights appeared around a bend in the tunnel, brilliant and bearing down on them…

  Ahead, the light of the end of the tunnel loomed closer…the tiled surface of a station platform stretching away on the right…

  And the train bore down relentlessly…

  Hack grabbed the edge of the platform and hauled himself up. Rolling round, he caught May’s arm and pulled her beside him as the train tore past, slowing to a stop along the sixty-metre length of the platform. For a moment they lay there, breathing heavily. They looked at one another and laughed with relief as they staggered to their feet, ignoring the shocked stares they were receiving from people along the station.

  “Okay,” Hack said, checking out the name of the station: Vauxhall. “We need to find a phone.”

  “Over there,” May said, pointing to an exit halfway down the platform with a sign indicating an emergency telephone. They walked along the platform, weaving between the commuters piling on and off the train. However, as they reached the exit, May grabbed Hack’s arm and pushed him past it.

  Hey! he protested, but she shook her head.

  Just keep walking. They’ve found us.

  Hack looked over his shoulder and saw two men step onto the platform behind them. They were wearing bulky leather jackets, but their merc uniforms were visible underneath. May thought fast.

  Let’s get this train.

  They jumped through the nearest doors as they slid closed. Seconds later, the carriage pulled smoothly away. Trying not to draw attention to themselves, they moved to the opposite door and held onto the rail.

  How did they find us so fast? May asked.

  The collars must have tracking devices inside, Hack said.

  Do you think they got on as well?

  I don’t know, Hack replied. But if we don’t get these things off our necks, we’ll never get away from them.

  They both looked down the train. At the end of the carriage there was a window through to the next. The two mercs were weaving through the crowds of people in the next carriage, making their way towards the adjoining door. Without any discussion, Hack and May moved towards the other end of the carriage. There was a door there also. Hack grabbed the handle and mercifully it turned, opening to the rushing sound of the tunnel flying by. He opened the door of the next carriage and stepped through, closely followed by May. Hack looked round and met the hard, determined eyes of one of their pursuers.

  They’ve seen us. Run!

  They sprinted through the next carriage, getting plenty of nasty looks and cries of protest as they pushed past people, and made the next door. As May turned the handle, the train was already beginning to slow.

  Wait, Hack said. We’re coming into a station. Time to get off.

  They moved to the automatic doors and prepared themselves. As the platform whipped past and they felt the pull of the brakes, Hack looked back again. Both of the mercs were in the same carriage as them now, positioned at the doors at the far end. One of them opened his jacket and removed an object: unmistakably a gun.

  Did you see that?

  May nodded. Uh-huh.

  The train doors slid open…

  They ran, using the crowd for cover and not looking back to see if the mercs were following. They made the nearest exit tunnel and jumped onto an incredibly steep escalator leading up to ground level.

  Keep moving! Hack said and they continued to run. The escalator had to be fifty metres long at least…

  At the top, two more mercs appeared, dart-guns in their hands. Thrusting people out of the way, they actually got onto the escalator and started running down. Hack looked round and saw the two mercs from the train running onto the bottom. And they were trapped in the middle.

  Get ready to move, May said urgently, nodding at the escalator going in the opposite direction. There was about a metre of polished metal between the two moving stairways. These stairs are going to get slippery, she added.

  Hack felt the metal steps under his feet tremble and lose definition, as if they’d been turned to jelly.

  Jump! May cried.

  They leaped across the divide and pulled themselves onto the down escalator. On the other side, the mercs and a few unlucky commuters tumbled towards the bottom as the metal of the stairs changed from a solid to a gooey, mercury-like liquid.

  Neat trick, Hack said with a laugh as he watched the mercs slide down and land in a heap at the bottom. He touched a finger to the side of the escalator and changed its direction to aid their way to the top. Seconds later they ran off the escalator onto the upper concourse. Hack led the way towards a set of barriers as three mercs ran from the side, aiming to cut them off.

  Keep going! May cried, stooping down to run her finger across the tiled floor as she ran. The tiles turned into a sheet of ice. The mercs’ feet went out from under them and they skidded along in a heap. Hack held out his hand and all the ticket barriers sprung open before him. They raced through and up the nearest set of steps.

  We need to get to a phone, May said.

  Not a problem.

  Passing a guy coming down, Hack reached out and snatched a mobile from his hand.

  “Hey!” the guy cried out, turning to give chase. May touched the steps as she flew past. The man fell back as they crumbled under his feet.

  “Sorry!” she called down and they ran out into the sunlight at the top of the stairs…

  …onto a bustling city street. Predictably, the road was jammed with cars, snarled up by the locked-out traffic lights. Horns blared. People leaned from the windows of their cars and yelled at one another. May looked round in confusion as someone bumped into her roughly.

  “Idiot,” the girl who’d knocked her snapped without even stopping.

  “Let’s find somewhere quiet to make this call,” Hack said above the noise of the traffic and people all around.

  “Good idea,” May agreed and they started along the street, keeping to the side as much as possible.

  “In there,” Hack said, indicating the recessed doorway of a disused shop up ahead. He was already connected with the mobile, searching for a HIDRA UK contact number…

  The sound of a helicopter rose, drowning out even the sound of the cars.

  Hack! May warned.

  He looked round and saw one of the Black Hawks appear over the roofs of the shops on the other side of the street. It looked out of place – a war machine hanging over a normal city street. The chopper angled round, twin machine guns aiming down at them…

  May pushed him towards the doorway as the guns opened up. Shop windows exploded as bullets ripped through glass and wood. People screamed and ran. Others cowered behind vehicles. Hack and May collapsed into the doorway as the helicopter made a pass, spraying the top of
the building with bullets. Lumps of brick and broken tiles rained down on the pavement. Then the shooting stopped.

  “They’re insane,” May said. “They’re going to bring the whole country down on themselves!”

  Hack held the mobile to his ear. “They don’t care any more. If they get us, they can unleash the machines from the hypersphere. And then no one will be able to stop them.” Inside the phone he searched the internet for the protected area of the HIDRA portal and patched himself through the firewall.

  “Watch out!” cried May, pulling him from the doorway as the helicopter opened fire again. They took cover behind a four-wheel drive as the place where they’d been standing was ripped apart.

  The Black Hawk circled over the street and then descended, low enough so that Kotler and three of his men could jump down onto the tops of cars. In their hands they cradled automatic machine guns. With a word from their commander, the mercs opened fire, blasting out car windows and tearing through tyres. Helpless civilians cowered in fear and crawled for safety.

  “What are they doing?” May yelled above the noise.

  “Making a point,” Hack said as the phone line finally connected to the HIDRA base.

  “This is a secure line,” a woman answered, “how did you get this number?”

  “Shut up and listen!” Hack yelled above the gunfire. “I have a message for Sarah and Robert Williams—”

  “Who?”

  “They’re superhumans! Just listen. Major Bright’s target is London. His base is Battersea Power Station.”

  “I don’t—”

  “Just tell them to get here fast!”

  The windows of the four-wheel drive shattered. Hack left the phone connected and threw it under the wheels of a nearby car. May gave him a questioning look.

  “They’ll be able to triangulate the location from the nearest cell phone towers,” he explained.

  She grinned. “Smart.”

  “Give yourselves up!” Kotler shouted from down the street. “Give yourselves up right now and nobody else has to get hurt.”

  Hack looked round the side of the four-wheel drive. The mercs had fanned out through the stationary cars, eyes scanning for them in every direction. Kotler jumped on the bonnet of a taxi and removed a grenade from his jacket. Ripping out the pin, he held it tight in his gloved fist, cooking it so it would explode shortly after being released. “We’ve got orders not to kill you,” he shouted in the direction of their hiding place. “But if you don’t give yourselves up right now, we’ll kill everyone else on this street.”