by Andy Briggs
Chameleon bounded off the vehicle as Jake slammed his arms down on the car with such force he fractured the roof and his new claws tore through it like paper. Chameleon retreated up the wall like a gecko.
Basilisk circled around the opposite side of the cavern, trying to trap Chameleon between the two villains.
“You don’t stand a chance, lizard breath! The boy is more powerful than you realize. And he wants you dead!”
“And I want you dead. What a predicament we have here,” came the reply from the darkness. The hanging floodlights blinded Basilisk, preventing him from seeing beyond them.
Chameleon continued. “And I saved your family, Hunter. Saved them from the heartbreak you would have caused. They are happier because of what I did!”
Jake had been staring at the damage to the SkyKar, wondering what superpowers he’d been fed while unconscious, and how many. But Chameleon’s taunts brought him back to the situation just as Basilisk fired a blast into the darkness above.
Rock exploded, but the flash was enough to briefly illuminate Chameleon as he reached a chunky electrical cable that branched out to each of the powerful floodlights on the ceiling. With a grunt of effort the hero tore the cable apart in a massive shower of sparks and the entire chamber was plunged into darkness and silence.
Jake’s eyes picked out the faintest shaft of light coming from the open tunnel above them, which offered a glimmer of moonlight.
Then a ghostly green haze filled the room—or at least that’s what Jake first thought. It reminded him of TV news reports when they used night-vision cameras. It was the same feeling he’d had in Russia and now he could see Chameleon, hanging inverted on the ceiling, as a pulsing mass of electronic charges. It made the hero stand out against the blackness like bright stars on a clear night.
Jake could see Basilisk across the cavern, his arms outstretched as he fumbled blindly across the hangar, although the neon flare of his eyes could no doubt be seen by anybody. Chameleon had certainly picked him out as he raced across the ceiling and prepared to drop down on the unsuspecting villain.
“Basilisk! Above you!” bellowed Jake.
Basilisk heeded the words without hesitation and shot a bolt of energy blindly upward. Chameleon fell from the roof as the blast hit overhead. He crashed awkwardly onto the floor and rolled into a table as a chunk of the ceiling pulverized another workbench.
Jake saw Chameleon’s shape waver, transforming back into that of the dark-haired young man, the reptilian skin morphing into normal clothing. Jake assumed this must be Chameleon’s natural form, and the lizard transformation just one of his many powers. Chameleon looked around and spotted Jake. He too could see in the dark.
Chameleon raised his hands with a snarl and launched a fireball at Jake, which lit the cavern with flickering orange light. Jake ducked behind the SkyKar as it was hit with the force of a wrecking ball. The vehicle cannoned into him, and crushed him against the wall.
The brief illumination from the flames made Jake’s vision revert to normal and was enough for Basilisk to get his bearings. He spun around and shot an enfilade of energy across the floor, tearing the ground from under Chameleon’s feet. The hero was pitched backward, his feet arcing over his head as he slammed heavily onto a trestle table that cracked in two under the force of the impact.
“You’ll die just like your partner!” roared Basilisk. “But first you can watch my operation unfold and know there is nothing you can do to stop it from happening!”
Jake grunted and pushed himself away from the wall, shrugging off the SkyKar, which rolled aside with a crunch of metal. The vehicle was aflame, filling the cavern with a dim light. Jake felt the muscles in his arms swell powerfully and the claws in his fingers retract. He registered that he must have some incredible strength to have pushed the heavy SkyKar.
He looked around the chamber and assessed the situation. Chameleon was lying on his back amid the wreckage of a workbench and seemed momentarily stunned.
Basilisk seemed more interested in delivering a monologue to the hero than killing him. He activated the small control panel on the side of the Core Probe. The machine hummed to life. The lasers energized, and the underside dome blazed to life as they focused their combined efforts on the dome’s transparent surface. The dome began to glow, the superheated air around it becoming a haze.
“What are you doing?” shouted Jake. “This is not the plan!”
Jake was so absorbed by Basilisk’s actions that neither of them noticed Chameleon stir, rubbing his head as he propped himself up on his elbow. He was aghast when he noticed Basilisk had powered up the machine.
“No! You’ll kill us all!”
Basilisk barely had time to spin around before Chameleon unleashed a fireball that caught him full in the chest. Jake watched in horrified fascination as Basilisk was hurled some sixty feet across the cavern—and crunched into the wall, his cloak and hood ablaze. The fiend rolled on the ground trying to smother the flames, screaming as he did so.
Jake knew he should help Basilisk, but as he stepped forward, Chameleon spun around and targeted him with a fireball. Jake jumped straight up, still unsure which superpowers the doctor had cycled through his system. Was flight one of them?
Luck was with him. Jake soared like a rocket as the fireball struck the wall below him. He extended his hand in the hope he had some type of missile power, but cracked his head forcibly against the ceiling. He had not been looking where he had been flying and the impact knocked him out for a moment. Jake fell onto the flaming wreckage of the SkyKar. The chassis buckled, effectively cushioning his fall. The impact roused him to consciousness and he rolled off before he burned.
“Time to stop playing, Hunter,” snarled Chameleon. “I would rather bring you in alive.”
Dazed, Jake touched his head. His hair felt damp and sticky and when he pulled his hand away, it was covered in blood.
Chameleon took a step toward him, but hesitated as the noise from the machine increased. The dome was now blazing like a supernova and sending waves of heat that everybody could feel. The stone floor beneath the Probe was hissing and popping like fat in a pan.
“Basilisk!” shouted Chameleon. “Stop the machine!”
Jake knew he had to act quickly. With Chameleon’s attention diverted, he sprang to his feet and slid one arm under the burning chassis of the SkyKar and the other around a bent window spar. He lifted the hulk with the minimum of effort. Chameleon shot a glance back at Jake, as the boy lugged the entire weight of something akin to a pickup truck over his head. He spat blood from a cut on his lip and glared at Chameleon.
“You took my family away from me! There’s no way you live!” Jake felt hatred like he’d never felt before. An accumulation of betrayal and grief was pouring from him. Despite all his bluster, bullying, and obnoxious behavior, Jake had never thought he could kill. But his mind was now occupied with just one thought:
Kill Chameleon.
Bracing both feet apart, Jake grunted and hurled the burning SkyKar at the superhero. Chameleon was rooted to the spot as the flaming wreckage flew toward him. It was like being hit by a bus. The momentum swept Chameleon off his feet, and sent him crashing against one of the doors.
Jake stared at his handiwork, his heart pounding. Just one of Chameleon’s legs could be seen jutting from the bottom of the wreckage. It twitched twice before falling still.
Jake swallowed hard. Had he just killed a superhero? He felt a tremor of guilt, but that was snubbed when he thought of the pain Chameleon had brought on him. The hero should never have messed with his family.
Jake glanced at the Core Probe as it began its descent, then sprinted across to Basilisk, who had doused the flames. Jake could see his arms were charred black, and a large portion of his cape and hood was burned away, although he still managed to keep his face covered. His breathing came in wheezing bursts.
“Are you hurt?”
“He caught me unprepared.”
Jake helped h
im stand. The villain limped heavily on his right foot, and Jake moved around to take the weight off that side.
“We should get you to the hospital wing.”
“No doubt the good doctor was evacuated the moment the alarms sounded, as were all nonessential personnel. I’ll live. I am blessed with the gift of regeneration.”
“What is that?”
“It’s the ability to heal wounds very quickly. Although it’s not what it used to be.” Basilisk looked across at the still form of Chameleon pinned under the SkyKar. He grunted with satisfaction. “You did well. Splendid improvisation. Shame about my car, though.”
“Stop the Core Probe,” Jake said firmly.
Jake thought Basilisk was about to argue, but instead the arch-criminal nodded and, pushing Jake away, limped toward the machine. The intense heat did not seem to bother him. He selected two wires, a red and a blue, and pulled one free. The Core Probe’s lasers powered down with a whistle, although the glass dome still glowed white-hot. Basilisk lovingly slid his hand across its cool upper surface.
“It is just as well it didn’t launch. My Dutch friend had not yet programmed the correct drilling path to compensate for the Probe’s extra payload. It would not do to miss its mark.”
“I would have thought the earth’s core was a pretty big target.” Basilisk said nothing. Jake shook his head and pointed to the console. “That’s all you have to do? Pull out a wire to break the thing? It’s not exactly sabotage-proof.”
Basilisk pointed to the wire. “The blue one simply shuts the circuits down. If I had pulled the red it would have overloaded the machine and detonated the warhead instantly.”
Jake felt uncomfortable with the thought. “You’re not really going to detonate the warhead, are you? That’s suicidal!”
“Remember this, Hunter. Idle threats fool nobody, and earn you no respect. When your back is against the wall you should use every weapon in your arsenal to escape with your life. Life is the most important asset you will ever have.”
“But this entire plan will end both our lives! Is that why you started the Probe? Because your back was against the wall?”
“If I’m going down, then it’s not going to be without a fight and certainly not alone.” Basilisk limped toward the command center. “But I assure you, we shall survive.”
Once again Jake felt his conscience tug at him. This was most definitely wrong. Despite the fact Jake had been instrumental in buying the nuclear warhead, he had hoped that Basilisk was bluffing and had no intention of detonating the bomb. But now he had seen firsthand that he had been wrong. Basilisk clearly had no regard for the world around him. He was obviously mad, and that sent a genuine ripple of fear through Jake as he followed him.
The command room was down to just three “essential” technicians who didn’t seem in the least bit fazed by the loss of their companions. On-screen they had a satellite map of the island with two highlighted blips slowly moving in from the sea. Basilisk pointed to them and turned to Jake.
“You see that? That’s an Enforcer task force. They are coming here because of you.”
“Me?” said Hunter in surprise. “I think you mean ‘us.’”
“Chameleon placed a tracer on your boot when you fought in Moscow. We removed it while you were unconscious, but by then it was too late. You led them here!”
Jake felt annoyed that somebody had found yet another way to use him. Basilisk turned to another computer terminal, where the Dutch drilling expert, Ruben Carlisse, was seated.
“Do it!” ordered Basilisk.
“You have to lift the veil of secrecy some time!” Ruben complained. “If you want the Core Probe to arrive at its target, then you must tell me exactly what kind of payload it is carrying!”
Jake frowned. Didn’t the engineer know what madcap scheme he had been drafted into? He crossed over to the arguing men.
“The payload need not concern you,” Basilisk muttered. “You have the measurements and the weight. That is all you need to make the calculations.”
“No no no!” Ruben slammed his palms against the desk, his face flushing red. “When I agreed to this project I assumed it was a legitimate business case. Only when I met you did I realize there was something more devious going on. And now you tell me the Probe will be carrying a payload that will affect how fast the machine bores, how different densities of rock will alter its path, and how it will cope in the fluid magma beneath the mantle. If you want me to work, give me the facts or I leave!”
Jake decided to intervene. “It’s a nuclear warhead.”
Basilisk turned to Jake, seething with anger. Ruben froze, and for a moment Jake thought Basilisk had somehow paralyzed him. Then the engineer fell back in his chair, his voice softening.
“A nuclear bomb? Are you mad?”
“Madness is a matter of opinion,” muttered Basilisk. “Get me those calculations.”
“Do you realize what would happen if you detonated a bomb?”
Jake stared at Basilisk defiantly. “The earth will spin off its axis, scattering seasons, thawing the poles, and turning the deserts into oceans?”
Ruben frowned and shook his head. “No, not with a single warhead.”
Jake breathed a sigh of relief, but he was almost afraid to believe what Ruben had just told him. “There’s just the one.” From Ruben’s expression Jake suddenly had a bad feeling that yet another lie was about to be revealed.
Ruben licked his dry lips. “Detonating a nuclear warhead in a volcanic system, like this island, would set off a global chain reaction in other volcanoes.”
Basilisk stepped back, as though encouraging Ruben to speak. Jake looked at the two men. “A volcanic system? But I thought you were going to send the Probe to the center of the earth and detonate it there?”
Basilisk shrugged. “You had to believe something. Why not that?”
Ruben continued. “The volcano system around the world is like the earth’s pressure release and they’re all linked together. Basically, when things get tight under the surface we have volcanic eruptions to ease pressure. Detonating a bomb in that system would cause a mass volcanic eruption across the world. If all the volcanoes explode simultaneously, that would cause earthquakes, tidal waves, and it would send massive amounts of ash into the atmosphere, blotting the sun. Effectively turning the world into night.”
For a few seconds silence filled the command center. Then one of the technicians’ mobile phones rang an irritatingly cheery tune. He had the good grace to silence it immediately.
Basilisk nodded. “Of course you are right. But I am only taking out one volcano. And to achieve maximum effect I need that Probe to be at a precise depth. Are you going to program the coordinates, as per our deal?”
Jake couldn’t hold his temper in this time. “You lied to me again!”
“I did not! I told you the plan—”
“You told me a bluff. The demands, the money, weapons—it’s all a big extravagant bluff. You’re doing all this, ruining my life, just to destroy one single volcano? What’s so special about it?”
Basilisk ignored Jake and placed a heavy hand on Ruben’s shoulder. Ruben stared at the floor for a moment, wiping his palms against his shorts. Then he slowly stood and looked defiantly at Basilisk.
“No. I will not be part of this. I demand you let me leave immediately.”
He took a step forward, but Basilisk shot a hand up against the man’s chest to stop him.
“We have a contract.” The tone in Basilisk’s voice was menacing enough to prevent Jake from ranting again. “I am not an unreasonable man and appreciate we all make rash decisions in the heat of the moment. You have already calculated the densities of the rock?”
“Yes.”
“And computed the tunneling time to our agreed detonation point in the volcanic chambers?”
Ruben hesitated as it dawned on him that there wasn’t much use for him after all. Basilisk had come to the same conclusion.
“Then yo
u have completed your task?”
A flicker of confidence crossed Ruben’s face. “You still cannot do it without me. The cargo weight has been factored in, but the shape of this bomb you have attached could create drag on the Core Probe that would turn it off course. Then it would be pointless sending it down. So you listen to me, or I go to the authorities.”
“Running the Core Probe off course is a minor risk, my friend. You have completed the contract. But I cannot permit you to run free to the authorities running your mouth.”
Ruben gathered his nerves and managed to look defiant. “So what are you going to do? Kill me?”
“What an insightful idea.”
Basilisk’s palm shot around the man’s throat and he effortlessly hoisted him off the ground. Ruben’s feet swung free and both his hands gripped the fiend’s wrist, fruitlessly clawing at the stone arm as he choked. With one hand Basilisk lifted the man so they were nose to nose. Then he pulled back his hood.
Jake could not see Basilisk’s face. But what he could see was the back of a pale head that looked heavily burned. Patches of blond hair clung to the scalp, and the skin was pulled tight across the skull.
Ruben’s eyes boggled in terror at the face he saw. His thrashing became wilder, his feet kicking Basilisk in the groin and chest, but the villain didn’t flinch. Then, Jake heard a cracking sound like the noise ice cubes make when they rapidly melt in a drink. Ruben’s face lost its color as he was petrified. In five seconds the Dutchman had been turned to stone from head to foot, silencing his screams. For an instant, Jake could just see the blue light of Basilisk’s eyes reflected from the man’s frozen face. Then Basilisk let go of the Ruben-statue and it shattered on the floor. Basilisk made a point of crushing several larger chunks under the heel of his boot.
Jake was aware that everybody in the room had stopped what they were doing and were staring at the execution in silence. As Basilisk spun around, everybody looked back at their work.