“I know this is the point where a doctor would tell you not to worry, that this won’t hurt a bit... They always lie, so I won’t say any of that. This is going to hurt more than anything you’ve ever experienced. If you are still alive, and sane, when the procedure is finished, you will have the power of a God.”
Vixen screamed as the saws came to life and started moving toward her. The scream came out as a weak mewl.
“I’ll take that as a yes. Let us begin.”
Nine
I stifle a yawn as the door to the mass spectrometry lab opens. A young man with a white lab coat and bow tie rushes to greet me.
“Ms. Lockheart. Oh my, it’s such a pleasure to meet you. I’m Doctor Farnsworth, the head of the lab. I can’t tell you how excited I was when I read the email this morning from the dean of science and engineering,” he says holding out his hand to shake mine. He’s still standing in the doorway, keeping us half in and out. I shake his hand and smile.
It had to be from someone. If they call or email to check, it will be routed through me.
“I have to say Dr. Farnsworth, I wasn’t expecting such an enthusiastic welcome,” I say. He backs up, holding the door open for me to wheel through.
“Nonsense. You’re one of the foremost experts on metallurgy in the country—no… the world—regardless of your lack of degrees. I read the paper you wrote on artificial covalent bonds in non-stable masses. It was amazing.”
“Oh, you read that, huh? I seem to recall MIT telling me to stop claiming to be a scientist after I sent them that,” I say. I assumed the theories I was putting forth were beyond them. I don’t think they liked me sending them papers that contradicted their own science.
“Yes, indeed. I have to say, when it was revealed that you were Arsenal, I wasn’t all that surprised. If there was one person smart enough to make all this work it would have to be you. Right this way,” he says pointing at the elevator at the end of the hall.
It appears you have a fan.
“So it would seem,” I whisper out of the side of my mouth to Epic.
Once in the lift Farnsworth hits the button marked ‘lab’ and waits. Muzak fills the elevator as we wait in silence for it to take us to the next floor.
“How long do you think you’ll need the lab? I have some students coming in at eleven; if you are still here I would love it if you could talk to them, tell them the things that are possible if you have the will and the commitment to make them happen.”
I stumble over my response, trying to think of a polite way to say no. But I can’t. “Sure, I would love to,” I say, lying. “Probably no more than a few hours.” We ride the rest of the way in silence. I have no idea what to say to this man. He’s obviously thrilled to meet me, but... how does a normal human being even deal with that.
“Here you go,” he says as we arrive in the lab. “I’m pretty proud of our baby,” he points at the mass spectrometer behind the sealed double doors. Taped onto the device is a nameplate that says “Johny-5.”
“I like the name,” I say with a smile.
He takes me to the room with the large, blocky device.
“I have to ask,” he says, somewhat serious, “you’re not putting anything biological or dangerous in here, right?”
“What? No, it’s metal, just a rare kind. I need to find the atomic frequency is all. I normally work out of my own lab… I just don’t have such a lab at the moment.”
“Excellent. Sorry, but it’s our policy to make sure. Don’t want to kill everyone on campus.”
I giggle. “No, it’s perfectly safe.”
As far we know.
“Quiet, you,” I whisper to Epic.
I pull out the case with the sample I extracted from Kate’s arm and place it in the tray. We retreat to the other room, where Dr. Farnsworth starts the machine up. Now there is nothing to do but wait. The lab has giant windows facing the campus; since the weather is clear and sunny I can see forever.
“Great view,” I tell him over my shoulder as I wheel toward the window.
“One of the perks of the job.”
The view really is awesome. The science complex is at the head of a group of buildings that outline a t-shaped quad called Killian Court. From the window I can see the entire park-like area of the T and past that, the Charles River.
I lie back as far as my chair will allow and try to relax. It doesn’t come easy these days. When I sleep I think of Luke... when I sleep, which isn’t often.
“Uh, Ms. Lockheart, this is a very unusual piece. Where did you say you got it from?”
“I didn’t. But if you really want to know, it’s alien.”
Amelia, we have a problem.
“Go ahead, Epic.”
There is a large, unidentified plane coming toward the campus. It is about the size of a military transport, but it is flying at an extremely low altitude and it is slowing down.
“Uh, oh, that doesn’t sound good.”
The building shakes and the windows rattle as the transport passes overhead. It has variable wings that are in the process of turning up as it slows. The transport has four engines, one on each wing and two on the tail. Two gun mounts on the front swivel back and forth like the worlds deadliest antenna.
It flies toward the river, rotates until the tail faces away from me, then slides back through the air until it is above the middle of the open area. The rear door opens, and four ropes roll out. Dozens of men clad in black outfits, with high-tech goggles and weapons, rappel out of the plane.
Somehow, I don’t think this is a coincidence.
“Epic, call Kate... and Carlos... On second thought, call the whole damn team.”
Cellular signals are jammed, rerouting to alternative relay. They have cut the hard line for the entire campus, along with all Internet access. Fortunately for us, we have our own satellite.
“And a more powerful source of energy.” I slide up my sleeve to reveal my quantum wrist computer, and tap a few keys until the micro-ZPFM energy output is visible. Then it’s a simple matter to push the reactor’s output up past normal.
That should allow us to break through their jamming. One second.
About twenty of the high-tech looking ninjas have hit the ground and are fanning out. Boy, this looks familiar. I use my glasses to zoom in on one; it isn’t a great zoom, about four times.
“Epic, is it me, or are they carrying plasma weapons?”
It would appear so.
While the design is different than what CAT-7 used, they have the tell-tale glowing power source and the coolant wires attached.
“Dr. Farnsworth, you might want to seek cover. I think they are coming for me,” I tell him.
I leave him and wheel back toward the lab. I have about three minutes before they’re in here and I don’t want to waste it. Mass Spectrometers don’t take that long to work; with any luck I can have the info I need and be gone.
“Epic, status?”
Kate and Carlos are inbound. ETA, thirty seconds.
I nod. They should be more than enough to handle these fools. Still, it would be nice to have a suit handy. I shake my head; another time. Checking the reading on the monitor, I notice that it has zeroed in, excellent! It only takes a moment to relay the information to the wrist unit, then I wheel inside and retrieve the sample.
As I come out, I see them. Four of them are facing me, with plasma rifles pointed. Two are holding Farnsworth, who looks like they slapped him around. Another stands in the middle of them, looking at me.
“I’m sorry,” I say, “I forgot it was ‘wear your pajamas to work day,’ otherwise I have this great pair with penguins and polar bears...”
They don’t laugh.
“Amelia Lockheart. You are coming with us. If you do not, we will kill everyone on campus.”
My blood runs cold at the threat. Based on that transport they arrived in, I have no doubt they could, and... there are fifteen thousand people on campus at any given moment. There’s no way th
ey could hope to get away with that. Or maybe they don’t care who comes looking for them.
“Who are you?” I ask, as I carefully stow the Animetal in my bag.
“We are ARC, and we are here for you. Come quietly, or there will be trouble.”
“You just quoted Robocop. You know that, right?” I ask.
There is a slight pop as Kate displaces the air behind me. “Sorry boys, she’s got plans.” There is a sudden shift as we teleport and I’m hit with a moment of nausea as my inner ear adjusts to us moving without moving.
“You okay, hon?” she asks.
“Yeah, listen, you need to take those guys out. They’re going to kill everyone on campus if I don’t go with them.”
Kate growls. “The hell they are. Be right back.” She vanishes and I look around to where she’s brought me. It’s a rooftop of a nearby building; I wheel over to the side and I can see the transport, the men with guns, and the building I was just in.
A pop later and Kate is there with Farnsworth. He drops to his knees and pukes, and she is gone again.
Then I see it.
“Doc, you’re gonna be sorry you missed this.”
Light glints off the bronze spear as it falls from the sky, slashing down into, and through, the center of the hovering transport. The four engines whine from the sudden blow, clawing at the air to stay up.
Then he comes.
The Protector falls from the sky and hits the transport where the spear sliced through. He lands on the roof in a crouch, holding on while the transport slowly rotates as the pilots fight the sudden change.
Carlos doesn’t miss a beat. He runs at the tail of the ship, leaps, and comes down with his shield like a knife. The bronze-era creation tears through the twin tail like it was made of Legos. Then he leaps up, does a spectacular backflip, and comes down on the front, slamming his shield into the body. Using the shield like a can-opener, he creates a wedge, then opens it up and jumps inside.
The transport shudders, sliding from side to side as the rotation picks up speed, then the engines die and the whole thing starts to fall from the sky. Carlos crashes through the belly of the transport, hits the ground then bounds back up and shoulders the entire transport. The massive plane almost floats in the air for a second before falling back toward the river.
When it finally crashes into the ground it’s halfway in the river. The discharge of plasma weapons pulls my attention down, and I search the area below the building. Kate is there, doing a dance, punching, kicking, and slicing with her swords, as she teleports in and out of the ARC soldiers. They fire at where she was, always missing her by microseconds. One goes down, then another, and within a minute the fight is over—all the soldiers are on the ground, unconscious or worse.
Carlos leaps from the wreckage back to the center of the T, retrieving his spear after he lands. He takes a second to look around, making sure everything is tidy.
The fallen transport reminds me how unbelievably strong he is.
Amelia, there is another signature incoming, much smaller than—
Epic is interrupted by the ear-shattering explosion caused by a small missile flying through the sky to land right on Carlos. The explosion sends a shockwave out that shakes the buildings and shatters windows, throwing up dust and debris so thick I can’t see.
“Epic, what was that?”
Unknown, though it appeared to be some kind of projectile.
“Kate?”
“I’m okay. I’m inside one of the buildings. I teleported right before the... whatever it was hit.”
The dust takes a moment to clear; when it does, I see two people. Carlos, on one knee, holding his shield up to protect himself.
The other person is... no... no it can’t be.
And it isn’t. She’s huge. Massive. seven feet tall and four feet wide with muscles that look almost cartoony.
But where Behemoth had the tan look of a Florida native, this woman is black, with her long hair pulled into dreadlocks. Her fingers end in six-inch claws that look like they belong on a wolverine.
“Oh my God,” Kate says over the radio. “Who is that?”
“Epic?” I ask.
Scanning. No known supers match her immediate description.
Carlos stands up, shakes himself off, and, in typical Carlos fashion, offers her the opportunity to surrender.
“Give me audio, Epic.”
It clicks on so I can hear everything they say. We need to know who this woman is.
“I don’t know who you are, but I’m going to give you this one chance to surrender peacefully, before you get hurt,” Carlos says. From anyone else it would sound like bravado or arrogance, but from The Protector? It’s just fact.
“I don’t look like me anymore, and truth be told, I don’t feel like me,” she says. Her speech is impeded by the fangs jutting up from her lower jaw. I take a second to really look at her. Clawed feet, muscles, hair... oh hell.
“Carlos, it’s Vixen!” I yell.
She surges forward, swinging wildly at him. Her claws clang off his shield like a church bell. He steps back from her onslaught, using his shield to deflect her blows. She’s fast; faster than a person that size ought to be.
Carlos ducks under a blow and jams his spear forward, the tip cuts through her clothes but slides off her skin.
“Ha,” she says, lifting her clawed hands up and bringing them down—hard. He lifts his shield in time. The ground cracks under the force of her blow, he sinks into the dirt almost six inches.
“Kate, can you help him?”
“Believe me, I’d like too, but... she’s out of my league. I’m going to make sure no more civilians are hurt and—”
Vixen suddenly grabs Carlos shield, pulls and twists, yanking him out of the ground and flinging him bodily into the opposite building. His impact is like a bomb going off.
“Where’s the rest of the team?” I ask.
“On their way!” Kate yells.
Light flares through the sky as a star falls at near light speed to strike Vixen right in the head. She shrieks, stumbling backward, flailing her hands at the sudden brightness.
“Way to go Lux!” I yell.
She hovers six feet off the ground in her white, one-piece uniform with the starburst over her breast. She holds her hand out, fingers pointed like a gun, right at Vixen.
“Surrender or be destroyed,” she says.
Carlos climbs out through the rubble of the building he hit. He looks a little worse for wear, but still in the fight.
“Your little light trick won’t work again,” Vixen says. She leaps up at Lux, who vanishes in a blaze of light. Vixen passes through the empty space and slams into the ground, then rips a park bench up and throws it at Carlos. It explodes against him, sending fragments in every direction.
Lux re-appears, slaps her hands together and fires. A beam of intensely bright light blazes from her hands and hits Vixen like a laser. The supervillain screams so loud I can hear it without the comms patched in.
Then Carlos hits her in the side, slamming her into the ground and pummeling her from atop. Each blow hits with earth-shattering force.
Something isn’t right here. If they were after me, and not the sample, why send in Vixen? All they’re doing is ensuring the fight is focused on her... oh. It’s a distraction.
“Epic, bring in the Emjet, I need to get out of here. I think this is just a means to get to me. If Vixen gets the upper hand on Carlos, they know I’ll surrender.”
Affirmative, emergency departure from Logan in ten seconds.
I wheel back from the edge, spinning around to look for a good place to hide. If this is all just a distraction while they take me… I don’t plan on making it easy.
“Doc, run,” I say to Farnsworth.
“What? Where?” he asks.
“I don’t know, but get off this roof and hide until this is all over,” I say to him as I wheel past. He runs in the opposite direction, heading for the external fire escape tha
t runs down the east side of the building.
They probably already know where I am. Kate’s busy with civilians who are in danger, Lux and Carlos are fighting Vixen, and who knows when the rest of the team will get here.
I make it to the far side of the rooftop and roll next to a large AC unit that is as far away from the rooftop access door as I can get.
“Epic, north side. Hurry.”
The metal door that leads to the building clangs open. I peek around the corner and see them; four ARC soldiers, armed with plasma weapons.
I may not have my armor, but I’m not completely defenseless. I dig into my bag and pull out a handheld IP Cannon, about half the size of the ones I made for Kate. I don’t know how many shots I’ll get; best not to rush.
They spread out, rifles shouldered like professional soldiers. Where do these organizations get all these people to act as cannon fodder?
“Kate,” I whisper. “I could use a pickup.”
“Amelia, I can’t. I’ve got a civilian down and the only thing keeping him alive is me. As soon as the paramedics get here, I can come to you.”
“Hurry,” I say in a low voice. I’d never want her to sacrifice someone for me, but I’m a tad concerned she won’t be in time. I peek around the corner again; they haven’t spotted me yet, but they’re closing in.
Ten seconds to arrival.
The building shakes from an impact and I can’t help but let out a little scream as my chair almost tips sideways.
Time’s up. I push one wheel over, turning my chair to pivot around the AC. One of the ARC men is right in front of me. I bring up the IP Cannon and fire. The blue bolt spits out with a sound like a discharging battery and sandpaper. It hits him right in the face.
He steps back as the ionizing energy flows around him. I fire again, as it seems to have an effect, but not the usual one.
“Epic!”
The whine of approaching Emdrive engines brings a smile to my face. “See you suckers.”
Three of them raise their rifles to fire into the distance. The jet flashes overhead and pulls a turn that would kill any human on board, all the while flooring the Emdrives to slow down at bone-breaking speed.
Arsenal Reloaded (Full Metal Superhero Book 8) Page 6