The New Heroes: Crossfire

by Michael Carroll

  “Cross didn’t teach you manners, then?” So they do have Mina. “It’s not polite to say stuff like that. And what about Cassandra? Do you think she’s pretty, too?”

  He shrugged. “I only saw her for a few moments. I was too busy killing your friend Butler to check her out.”

  “Well, Mina and Cassie had better be still alive, because if they’re not, if you’ve killed them too, we are going to tear you apart. Though we’re going to do that anyway.”

  “We know where your brother is, Renata. We can get to him just like that.” Shadow snapped his fingers. “He’s not superhuman. How many punches do you think it would take me to cave in his skull?”

  She glowered at him. “If you go anywhere near Robbie I will…” She caught herself. He’s trying to get me riled up—I should be doing it to him! “What if your artificial aging hasn’t stopped? How long before you and Roman and the rest of you die of old age? You look about fourteen or fifteen now. How long ago were you born?”

  “Six months ago.”

  “So by the time you’re three, you’ll be the equivalent of about ninety years old. Wow. That’s not a lot of time to save for a pension.”

  “Yeah, but the artificial aging has stopped.”

  “How do you know?”

  Shadow’s gaze flicked away for a moment.

  Got him! Renata thought. “You know what I could do? I could freeze the world again. Just keep everything except you guys frozen for, say, five years. Then I turn everything back to normal, and you’d all have died of old age. How do you like the sound of that?”

  “You’re bluffing. You might have some of your powers back, but not all. If you could solidify anything other than yourself, you’d have already done it to me and Roman and Tuan.”

  “OK, so I was lying about that. But I’m not wrong about your rapid aging. Victor Cross has built a time-bomb into your systems, and it’s ticking away the seconds of your short life. Tick, tock, tick, tock. You don’t believe me, get Cassandra to read Cross’s mind.”

  “We’re not stupid enough to let a telepath anywhere near Victor.”

  “So why did you take her?”

  “We don’t want you to have her either. Telepaths are dangerous.”

  “And what do you want Mina for?”

  “She’s…” Shadow stopped. His body stiffened, and he said, “Next time we meet, I’m going to kill you.” He darted toward Roman, arms out-stretched.

  Renata did the same: she grabbed Roman’s ankle at the same time Shadow caught his wrist.

  Shadow soared into the air, dragging Roman behind him. It was only when Renata screamed, “Let him go!” that he looked back and saw that he was towing her too.

  “You let go!”

  Renata pulled herself up, reached out and grabbed Roman’s other wrist before letting go of his ankle. She jerked on his arm with all of her strength, and swung her body around enough to lock onto Roman’s throat with her free hand. “Let go or I’ll crush his neck!”

  She didn’t want to think about how high up they were right now. All she allowed herself to focus on was Shadow. She had to stare him down, make him believe that she really would kill his clone-brother.

  Shadow glared back. And then let go.

  In seconds, he was gone.

  The wind whipped at Renata as she and Roman began to plummet toward the ground. She knew that she could survive the fall, but wasn’t sure about the clone. What have I done? If he dies, it’ll be my fault!

  Still holding onto Roman’s arm, she twisted around, spread her limbs in the hope that the increased wind resistance would slow her descent.

  The ground was rushing toward her now—close enough that she could see the abandoned farm below. Shadow had dragged them straight up: they were going to come down within yards of the grain silo.

  At the last second she flipped over onto her back, throwing Roman upward, hoping that it would help reduce the speed of his fall. She turned herself solid and crashed into the ground.

  Even before the dust had settled, she was on her feet, scrambling out of the crater she’d made, running to where the clone had come down.

  He was alive, moaning softly. His eyes were flickering wildly.

  His left leg and left arm were shattered, twisted at sickening angles no human being should ever have to see, let alone suffer.

  He’s not going anywhere for a while, Renata thought. She ran for the grain silo and tore through the rubble until she found her armor. Beneath it, shielded from the falling bricks by her chest-plate, was a small computer similar to the one Colin wore on his wrist.

  She tapped at the controls for a moment, bringing up a map of the world

  On screen, two bright dots were rapidly heading north. “Flying home to Daddy. Good. Now we’ve got you.”

  And then the dots disappeared.

  Chapter 21

  When he could no longer see the two superhuman figures racing through the air, Danny slowed to a stop.

  After he left Renata he’d caught up with the clone and been able to keep pace, but he was stuck on the ground while his quarry was hundreds of feet above.

  Then another of the clones approached from the south, fell into place alongside the first.

  Danny had kept up with them for hundreds of miles, but in the past few minutes they’d increased their height, and disappeared into the clouds.

  He shifted back to real-time and switched on his computer screen. Why can’t they build me one that works when I’m in fast-time? But he knew the answer to that: Razor had explained that it didn’t matter how fast or slow Danny was moving: the signals from the GPS tracking devices they’d hidden in the clones’ boots would come in at the same speed.

  The on-screen map showed that the clones were approaching the Arctic Circle. So their base is definitely up north. Unless they know we’re tracking them.

  The computer told Danny that he was in Alberta, Canada, forty-two miles west of Edmonton. “Oh great,” he said aloud. “Thirteen hundred miles from home.” He looked down at his boots. Another pair about to wear out. I’ve got to find a better way to do this. Maybe I need roller-skates. Oh, that’d be cool!

  The radio built into the computer beeped. “Danny, you there?”

  “I’m here, Lance. In Canada, apparently.”

  “Good. Bring me back a maple-flavored moose, or something. The clones’ GPS signals just stopped—I’m guessing that they discovered the trackers. Or maybe Cross figured we’d plant something on them if they were caught, so they have a standing order to destroy their clothes before returning to base. Either way, we lost them.”

  “But they were going in a straight line, so just follow that path until it intersects with the other one. You know, the one from Berlin to where Mina’s phone was found.”

  “Right. Like they’re dumb enough to fly back to their HQ in a straight line. They must have known we’d track them, so we have to assume that wherever their base is, it’s not on this path.”

  “Yeah, but it they knew we’d know that, then—”

  Lance interrupted. “Stop. We could go back and forth all day on who knew what. Just get back to base.”

  In Sakkara, Lance and Colin watched the monitors. “Danny’s right, of course. North,” Lance said. “But where in the north?” He tapped on his computer’s keyboard. A globe of the Earth appeared on the screen, showing a straight line from the farmhouse to the clones’ last confirmed location. “Cross would have made it very clear to them not to fly straight home. But maybe we can make a few guesses. We extrapolate their vector. That takes them into Alaska… OK, now they’re not going north any more, the line’s starting to drift south… Across the Bering Sea, over Kamchatskaya… And down into Japan.” He sighed. “Even a few more minutes and we could narrow it down a lot more.”

  “What about if we trace a line from Berlin through the point where Mina’s phone was found?” Colin asked.

  “Already done that… It extends into Russia.”

  “And th
en the two lines cross in Japan. That’s where they are.”

  “It’s not. That’s too simple. Like I said, Cross wouldn’t let them fly home in a straight line. So we can assume that Japan is the one place they’re not.”

  “Unless that’s what he wants us to think.”

  “Didn’t I just have this conversation with Danny?” Lance angrily pushed the keyboard away. “This isn’t telling us anything useful. Colin, we’re going to have to go with the earlier plan. What do you say?”

  Colin swallowed. “They might just kill me.”

  “I know. You ever play chess? Sometimes, to get the better of your opponent, you have to do what he’s not expecting. You have to put your most powerful piece in danger. The queen. You’re the queen.”

  “Oh, great. Thanks.”

  “I know it’s asking a lot, but can you do it?”

  “Yeah.” Colin nodded. “Yeah. I can do it.”

  Lance crouched down in front of the injured clone. “So. I’m told your name is Roman. My name is Jason Myers, and you’ve already met Renata. You seem to be in a little bit of pain, yes?”

  Roman nodded slightly, and groaned.

  “Well, without the anesthetic we’ve given you, it would be a lot worse. A thousand times worse. And this particular anesthetic is expensive stuff. I’m not going to waste it on you unless you’re willing to talk. It’s already starting to wear off so if you clam up, no more pain relief. You are really not going to like that, believe me. So you’ll tell me everything I need to know, right?”

  “I’ll talk. But it won’t do you any good.”

  “We’ll see. How many clones are there, including you?”

  “Nine.”

  “Have they all developed their powers yet?”

  “Yes, mostly.”

  “Where is Victor Cross’s base?”

  The clone looked away. “I can’t tell you.”

  “Oh, I think you can. And you will.”

  “No, it’s… It’s hidden from us. We don’t know. Victor modified our brains… All we know is that it’s somewhere north. When we get closer to it, we remember the location more accurately. He did this to stop anyone from using us to find him.”

  We could load him onto a plane, Lance thought. Head north and scout around until he remembers… No, that would make us sitting ducks. “Roman, what is Victor Cross planning?”

  “There’s a rocket. A missile. Very big. It’s almost complete. Please… The pain.”

  “Payload and destination?”

  Roman groaned. “The pain…!”

  “Payload and destination?” Lance repeated. “I won’t ask a third time.”

  “I don’t know! Victor wouldn’t say. But I know what it’s for. He’s going to crack open the world.”

  Lance leaned on his cane as he stood up. “Administer another dose,” he said to Renata. “Ten milliliters should do it.”

  He walked over to Stephanie and Kenya. “Get back to Sakkara. Tell Razor to prepare Brawn and ready the ship.”

  Kenya pointed to Roman. “What about him?”

  “We’ll be taking him back to Sakkara.”

  “Are you crazy? He’s dangerous!”

  “Not as dangerous as Renata, and I think he knows that by now.”

  Stephanie said, “Lance, we need Colin. Where is he?”

  “Colin’s busy. Now go.” He watched them depart, then he returned to the clone’s side. “What do you mean when you say Victor’s going to crack open the world?”

  “And I, behold, I do bring the flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is in the earth shall perish.”

  Lance rocked back as though he’d been slapped. “No…”

  “What is that?” Renata asked.

  “The Bible,” Lance said. “The book of Genesis. The flood.”

  “Yes,” Roman said. “We will crack open the world, shatter the tectonic plates and trigger a dozen supervolcanoes that will release enough magma to drown the Earth. All that you know will be destroyed. A flood. Not of water, but of fire.”

  Chapter 22

  In a small, well-hidden fortress in western Oregon, Antonio Lashley rushed out of his office, pulling on his jacket as he ran.

  In the long corridor outside, one of base’s guards caught up with him. “It’s coming in fast, sir, on a vector that brings it right to us.”

  “No arrivals on the schedule?”

  “No sir. Everyone’s on alert. Nothing is getting in or out. I’d stake my job on that.”

  “You already have.” Lashley slowed to a quick walk, already out of breath. Once, he’d been able to run for miles with a fifty-pound pack on his back and barely break a sweat, but those days were gone. Now he’d reached the age—and attained the status—that meant he shouldn’t have to run anywhere, that there was always a subordinate to do his running for him.

  He’d recovered a little by the time they reached the main corridor leading to the fortress’s concrete landing-pad. “Check the usual channels for authorization. We shoot first. I want whatever it is atomized before it gets within two miles.”

  “In range of the auto-guns in fourteen, sir.”

  “Fourteen minutes… Thought you said it was moving fast?”

  “Fourteen seconds, sir!”

  Overhead, the fortress’s automatic weapons burst into life with a sustained, deafening barrage of gunfire. Lashley cowered back, covered his ears with his hands. For half a minute the landing-pad was showered with a heavy rain of brass shell-casings.

  “So what was it?” Lashley yelled, the noise still ringing in his ears.

  The guard next to him shouted back, “Uh, sir, ‘was’ isn’t the right word. ‘Is’ would be a better choice.”

  A teenage boy stood in the center of the courtyard, slowly looking around. He spotted Lashley and began to walk toward him.

  A trickle of cold sweat ran down Lashley’s back. “It’s Wagner. Titan’s kid.” Louder, he called out, “How did you find this place? We’re not on any maps, there are no records—”

  “We have our ways,” Colin replied. “I want Cassandra Szalkowska. Now.”

  Antonio Lashley ran a trembling hand across his mouth. He knew there was no point in denying that they were holding the girl. “Son, I can’t authorize that. We were hired by appointed representatives of the United States government to seize and hold—”

  “No, you weren’t. You were operating on bogus orders.”

  “We received the correct authorization codes. They’re impossible to fake.”

  “Impossible for a normal person, maybe,” Colin said, “but we’re not dealing with a normal person. I know who you are, Lashley, and what you do. You sell your skills to the highest bidder. And I know who you used to work for—that gives me another reason to dislike you. So I know you understand what I can and will do if you don’t hand Cassandra over to me.”

  Lashley shook his head. “I can’t do that. Maybe if you give me a half-hour to check, I’ll be able to—”

  “No, you’ll bring Cassandra to me right now, or I will tear this whole complex apart, stone by stone.”

  Lashley turned to the guard. “Get the girl, Shango.” To Colin, he said, “She’s on the way.”

  Less than a minute later, the guard and a colleague returned, carrying Cassandra between them.

  “We had to sedate her,” Lashley said, “but she’s unharmed. She’ll be out for another couple of hours.”

  Colin took Cassandra in his arms, and rose into the air. In seconds, he was gone.

  Lashley turned to Shango. “I want the weapons checked and reloaded.”

  “Yes, sir. You think he’s coming back?”

  “No. But whoever really issued those orders might not be too pleased that we lost their prize.”

  Danny arrived at Sakkara to see the ChampionShip docked on its roof. He raced up the building’s sloping sides and returned to real-time. On the roof, Kenya and Stephanie were hel
ping Renata into her armor.

  “Hey,” Danny said.

  Renata turned around. “Hey yourself. Are you ready?”

  “Ready for what, exactly?”

  “We’re prepping to go. We know that Cross is based somewhere in the north, so we’re moving out. We’re bringing the war to them.”

  “Oh man… Where’s Colin?”

  “Lance has sent him out. He won’t say where.”

  “But what about Alia and Grant in Berlin? Lance wanted them to be the bait to attract Cross.”

  “A double-bluff,” Stephanie said. “He was sure that Cross had Sakkara bugged, so he knew they’d be safe.”

  Renata led Danny into the ship, and Kenya and Stephanie followed. She slapped Danny on the shoulder as she moved toward the cockpit. “I’m taking her up. Two minutes.”

  Inside, it was more cramped than usual, and Danny grinned when he saw Brawn. “So that’s it.”

  The giant rumbled, “Yeah. And there’s a present for you, too.” He reached out and pulled the top off a large packing crate. “In here.”

  Inside was a suit of armor similar to those worn by Team Paragon, but painted green rather than blue or red. “This is yours,” Brawn said. “You were able to use your mechanical arm when you were at top speed, right? Well, now you’ve got a new arm built into a whole suit. You got a jetpack and everything. And you’ll be bullet-proof.”

  “I thought you were modifying the armor for Lance?”

  “Another lie,” Stephanie said. “Remember that note he gave me with the specifications? It was this.” She reached into the crate and pulled out the helmet. “Are you ready to go to war?”

  Danny looked around at his friends. “Yeah. I’m ready.”

  Colin sat on a bed in Sakkara’s infirmary as his father again used superglue to seal the wound in his temple. “Ow!”

  “Sorry, son. I know it stings but needles just won’t do the trick.”

  Nearby, Lance stood leaning against the wall, watching them. “You understand what you have to do, Colin?”

  “I do. How’s Cassie?”

  “She’s recovering. Still a little groggy, but that’ll pass. Her anger at being taken, though, is going to take a lot longer to subside.”