Or maybe ...
Experimentally, Grunge pulled out another hunk of the mysterious goop. He held it to his nose and sniffed it, then recoiled from its pungent smell. Then, just to be sure, Grunge released his grip and let it drop. He watched the stuff fall until it was obscured by the smoke below him. A heartbeat later, there was another puff of flame.
Grunge nodded in understanding. Now he knew what the oily goop was. Solid rocket fuel.
A sly smile crossed Grunge’s face.
00:00:27.
“It’s no go! Nothing’s working!” Fairchild cried.
“Keep trying!” Lynch snapped back. “We’ve got to be on the right track! Ivana’s the biggest monomaniac I’ve ever met! Whatever the code is, she’d never pick anything that wasn’t directly related to hers ...”
Lynch stopped in mid-sentence. He and Fairchild stared at each other as the same thought struck both of them at the same time.
No, it couldn’t be. It was too simple.
And yet...
00:00:21. .
Fairchild typed slowly and thoughtfully. It was nothing like the lightning pace she’d used up to that point.
She entered a single word:
Ivana
The clock froze.
00:00:17.
Fairchild held her breath as she continued to watch the display. One second. Two.
It was true. The clock was no longer counting down. Still, shutting down a nuclear missile isn’t like flipping off a light switch. The engines didn’t go silent as soon as Fairchild entered the code. But their roar was starting to die down now.
Fairchild and Lynch moved quickly to the window. They leaned through the breach and looked down to gauge the results of their efforts.
“Y’know,” Fairchild said with a grin, “waiting until the last second would have been more dramatic.”
“I can live without drama,” Lynch replied dryly.
% Suddenly, Freefall soared toward them. Grunge hovered beside her, courtesy of Freefall’s gravity field, his body once again returned to flesh and bone.
“Come on!” Freefall shouted urgently. “We’ve gotta motor—now!”
“No, it’s okay,” Fairchild said. “We found the code. Everything’s safe again.”
“Nuh-uh!” Grunge said, looking down nervously. “We torched the fuel!”
Fairchild’s eyes widened in horror. She looked down and saw flames shooting out of the side of the missile. Burnout soared up past them. Rainmaker was already up above, heading for the opening at the top of the silo.
Freefall grabbed Fairchild and Lynch by the arms and cut their weight to less than nothing. She and Grunge flew upward, pulling Fairchild and Lynch through the window and up with them.
“Wait!” said Fairchild. “What about Ivana? And Gen14? We’ve got to go back for them!”
“No time!” Freefall yelled. “That sucker’s gonna blow!”
Fairchild looked to Lynch for guidance. Lynch stared silently upward, his jaw set firmly in place.
The raging fire in the silo spawned hot updrafts that added to the effect of Freefall’s negative gravity field. The two combined to push the group upward like a bubble rising through water. They sailed upward at breathtaking speed, but there was still no guarantee that it would be fast enough.
Pushing herself to the limit, Freefall widened her field upward until it encompassed Burnout and Rainmaker as well. Their weight reduced, the pair flew ever more quickly upward toward the only safe means of escape.
Back down in the launch center, Ivana began to stir. The discomfort caused by the mounting heat had been enough to revive her. Ivana swayed groggily as she raised her head to see the inferno breaking loose before her eyes. The impending disaster shocked her instantly back into full consciousness.
Her scream was a blend of rage and fear.
Ivana’s scream never so much as reached the ears of Gen13. The team burst forth to the surface and veered off at a sharp, ninety-degree angle, putting as much distance as possible between themselves and the mouth of the silo. They landed in the snow that blanketed a surrounding field and hit the ground, flattening themselves as best as they could to protect themselves from the force of the blast that was coming.
It didn’t take long to arrive. No sooner were the heroes sprawled out on their stomachs than the ground erupted with an explosion that roared like thunder. A pillar of fire shot skyward from the mouth of the silo, bright enough to make the team turn away with their eyes clamped shut. The very earth pitched and rolled beneath them.
Yet, for all the fury of the explosion, the event was equally notable for what wasn’t there. Despite the fire and smoke that gushed forth like a hellish geyser, there was no telltale mushroom cloud to accompany them. Rainmaker had been right. Causing the missile to detonate incorrectly was enough to prevent a nuclear blast.
It took almost a full minute for the flames to subside and retreat back below ground. The tremors went on even longer, as the silo and underground complex collapsed in on themselves. Before long, the entire facility was entombed beneath a cascade of rocks and dirt.
Once the ground stopped quaking, it took a couple more minutes before the heroes felt secure enough to stand up. They stared in silent awe at the smoking ruins before them.
Then, as one, Gen13 burst into a chorus of wild cheers. They hooped and hollered in abandon, jumping up and down, hugging each other, and slapping each other on the back. It wasn’t just their victory that they were celebrating. It wasn’t just the fact that they had saved the world from a near-doom that most of its population would never suspect existed.
No, the thing they were celebrating most was the simple fact that they were alive.
“Woo-hoo!”
“Who da man?”
“We da man!”
“Yeah!”
Grunge threw an arm around Roxy, and raised his other hand for attention. “Mad props to my sweetie,” he said, “who saved our butts when it all hit the fan!”
There was another round of cheers, and suddenly, Roxanne found herself at the center of a torrent of hugs and kisses. When she could finally squeeze in a word between the accolades, she squealed, “You like me! You really, really like me!”
Despite her flippant tone, Roxy couldn’t wipe the grin off her face. After the day’s events, not to mention the massive outpouring of affection, all of Roxy’s unspoken doubts and fears were starting to feel kind of silly. There was no denying it, even to herself: Maybe—maybe— Sarah and Bobby could have gotten out of the silo in time without her help. But there was no way that everyone would have made it out alive. If it hadn’t been for Roxy, at least some of Gen13 would be buried underground beneath tons of earth right now.
No matter what she had believed before, Roxy wasn’t a weak link. The team needed her. More important, it was clear that they all knew they needed her. And more important still...
... they loved her.
“Um, speaking of saving butts ...” Bobby pointed down at the lower portions of Grunge’s naked anatomy.
“Huh? Oh. Right,” said Grunge, suddenly realizing that he was shivering in the cold winter air. In all the excitement, he’d pretty much forgotten about his lack of clothes. Now that things had settled down, and he no longer had metallic skin to hide behind when he blushed, Grunge reached down awkwardly in an inadequate attempt to cover himself with his hands. Kat looked away, her cheeks a vivid crimson, but Bobby and Sarah just looked amused.
“Here, Grungie,” Roxy said. She pulled off her leather jacket and offered it to him.
“Thanks,” Grunge said. He took the jacket and wrapped it around his waist as best as he could. Once he had the jacket positioned the way he wanted, he used the sleeves to tie it in place. He touched the trunk of a nearby tree and absorbed its molecular structure to toughen his skin against the cold.
“Uh... so where do you suppose we are, anyway?” Kat said, hastily changing the topic in what she hoped would come across as a seamless segue. I
n fact, despite the transparent ploy, it was a reasonable question. The green fields and hills around them made it abundantly clear that they weren’t in New York City anymore.
“I dunno,” Grunge said with a shrug that made his brown, leaf-like hair crinkle. “Hicksville, U.S.A.?”
Roxy scanned their surroundings. “No signs of life,” she said. “Not even a mall.”
“Well,” said Kat, “I guess we should find the nearest town, and then try to figure out a way home.”
“Home?” said Bobby. “But...”
The team looked at each other in sudden realization. They squirmed as they cast a guilty eye toward Lynch.
“Oh, yeah . .. home . ..Roxy said.
“Yeah, about that...,” Bobby said.
Grunge put on his most innocent expression and whistled tunelessly.
Sarah took a tentative step toward Lynch. “Mister Lynch . ..,” she said, “there’s something we should tell you about the apartment..
Lynch had been facing away from the group, staring at the remains of the silo. He turned toward Sarah and the others with a serious look.
“Later,” he said. “You can worry about figuring out where we are later, too.
“We’re not done here yet.”
CHAPTER 15
“A hhhhhhhh, this is more like it..
A “Nobody wake me. I’m gonna sleep for a week.”
“Look—a fridge! Whadda we got in the fridge?”
By the time Gen13 was on their way back to New York City, they were totally wiped. It wasn’t just the strain of defeating Ivana and destroying the missile. It wasn’t just the battles with Gen14. It wasn’t the crash that inevitably followed the adrenaline rush that came while saving the world. It wasn’t even the incredible physical and emotional punishment they’d endured over the past couple of days.
It was also the fact that, after burying the underground complex beneath countless tons of debris, Lynch had insisted that they dig all the way down through the rubble to make sure that Ivana and Gen14 were really dead.
While everyone’s first reaction was to look at their mentor like he was crazy, no one could really deny the fact that he had a valid point, either. They knew from long experience that Ivana had a knack for escaping certain death without so much as a hair out of place. Given that, and the fact that one of Gen14 was a teleporter, it would be both foolish and irresponsible to take anything for granted.
Still, that didn’t mean they were happy about it.
Nevertheless, they did their best to blast their way back down into the underground complex. It wouldn’t have been an easy task under the best of circumstances, and it wasn’t made any easier by the knowledge that the damaged warhead could be spilling radiation throughout the filled-in silo. The only reasonably safe way to avoid the danger was to bypass the silo completely and dig a new way into the base, through far too many feet of dirt and solid rock.
The team gave it their best shot. But with their energies at low ebb, they never made it all that far down. Beyond a certain point, even Lynch had to admit that it made more sense to leave any further excavations to crews who were armed with the proper mechanical equipment. Even if none of them could escape the nagging feeling that no bodies would be found.
Despite forcing them into the recovery effort, however, Lynch did take good care of his charges. There was no doubt that Lynch was a tough taskmaster, pushing the members of Gen13 beyond their limits, but he also made sure they got back to Manhattan in comfort and style. Once they’d hiked to a nearby town and established that they were in rural New Hampshire—much closer to home than it could have been, all things considered—Lynch had excused himself to use the first pay phone he found. Thanks to a telephone charge account that Lynch had set up for just these sorts of contingencies, it took only a couple of calls before he announced to the team that appropriate transportation was on its way.
Sure enough, forty minutes later, a mobile home the length of a tractor-trailer pulled up to the gas station where Gen13 waited, attracting stares from the curious locals. How much of the attention was due to the girls’ skintight costumes, and how much could be attributed to Grange’s lack of pants was a matter of opinion. Unfortunately, while Lynch could make telephone calls without ready cash or a physical credit card in hand, the same couldn’t be said for buying clothes at one of the shops that lined the main drag of the small town. On the other hand, though, at least a quiet conversation between Lynch and a suspicious police officer prevented anyone from doing time for indecent exposure.
When, at last, the heroes wearily dragged themselves into the back of the vehicle, they found that its insides easily lived up to its exterior. The ride back to Manhattan was certain to take at least six hours or so. Knowing that, Lynch had arranged for all the amenities. The mobile home boasted a couple of narrow but (as Grunge immediately discovered) comfortable beds, a television, and a fully-stocked refrigerator, complete with a selection of plastic-wrapped sandwiches that matched the team’s individual tastes. “Bean curd and sprouts on whole-grain bread,” Bobby said. He tossed it to Sarah and continued to paw through, searching for the ham and cheese.
“Where’s the beer?” asked Roxy.
“Ask again when you’re twenty-one,” Lynch replied.
There was even a pair of jeans waiting for Grunge. No underwear, though. Even Lynch knew that it would have been wasted on him. Grunge was much too vocal a proponent of “going commando.”
Cigarettes for Roxy were similarly absent. Lynch wasn’t one to lecture her on the evils of nicotine addiction, or the health hazards it posed, but he wasn’t about to encourage her smoking either.
All in all, the set-up was more than enough to make the team grateful all over again for their mentor. For all the unasked questions about the mysterious connections that it must have taken for Lynch to pull this off—not to mention pulling it off in so little time—they were so happy to have it that they didn’t much care.
After they were comfortably settled in for the ride, Sarah screwed up her courage and once again broached the subject of the damage to the apartment. But even then, Lynch was cool. Instead of getting angry, Lynch assured the team that it was already being taken care of. He dismissed any further discussion with a cryptic comment about his “cleaning deposit.” It left them curious, but no one was too eager to press the issue in any greater detail. There was no way to know just how far Lynch’s air of benevolent generosity might stretch.
In spite of the laid-back air of calm that surrounded the group, there was little of the celebratory feeling that had pervaded the atmosphere just after their escape. The adrenaline rush had worn off, leaving the group battered, dirty, and exhausted. For the remainder of the trip, they would be perfectly happy to do nothing more strenuous than eat, relax, and reflect quietly on the events of the past couple of days.
“So,” Kat said, wistfully, as she wiped a spot of mayonnaise from her lip, “do you think they made it out?” “Who cares?” Roxy replied.
Sarah was gently probing her side, double-checking again to make sure that the tape protecting her ribs had stayed mostly in place. She winced as she got to a tender spot. “Well, not about Ivana, maybe,” she said. “But those kids...”
“Those ‘kids’ are stone killers,” Bobby reminded them. “In some ways, it might be better if they didn’t get out.” “Maybe,” Kat admitted. “But raised by Ivana? What chance did they have to turn out to be anything else? I wish we could’ve helped them, instead of just beating the heck out of each other.”
“I don’t disagree,” said Sarah, “but I think we have to be careful not to lose sight of something else. If Ivana and Gen14 did survive, we’re not out of the woods yet.” Each of them considered that point—and not for the first time. It was a sobering thought. No one said anything for a bit, until Lynch broke the silence.
“True,” said Lynch. He’d been sitting some distance away, with his eyes closed. Obviously, though, he’d been listening to the conversation
while he rested. He opened his eyes and continued. “However, if they do strike again, it won’t be today. We destroyed the linchpin in Ivana’s plan, as well as her current base of operations. Also, remember Ivana’s motivation for setting all of this in motion in the first place. Even if Ivana survived, she doesn’t have the resources at hand to rebuild overnight.
“You people did a good job today. You deserve to wait until tomorrow before worrying about what comes next.”
At that moment, everyone wheeled about at the sound of a window-rattling racket from the other end of the vehicle. Could it be another attack so soon?
Once they identified the source of the din, however, they relaxed. Grunge was sound asleep in one of the beds, and snoring loudly enough to drown out the traffic completely.
Roxy sighed. “Ladies and gentlemen, my boyfriend,” she said, a contented smile on her face.
Kat stretched an arm around Roxy’s shoulders, and gave her a sisterly hug. “Yes,” she said. “He is.”
Bobby studied his sleeping friend. A devilish grin crept over his face.
“Anyone got a marking pen?” Bobby asked. “And a dish of water?”
The long, restful trip back into Manhattan left all of Gen13 feeling somewhat better by the time they stepped into one of the elevators at the lavish Omni-Seasons Hotel. At least, they felt better physically, anyway. Despite Lynch’s assurances, they were still apprehensive about the disaster area that awaited them up above, in their penthouse apartment. They half-expected to find the staff of the luxury hotel in the midst of moving all their worldly possessions out onto the street.
However, when they exited the elevator several dozen stories later, they were relieved to find that Lynch was as good as his word. A construction crew was already hard at work rebuilding the wall that Gen14 had destroyed. In fact, a good portion of the skeletal frame for the wall had been erected already. It would probably take a few more days to finish the work and paint it all, but they could see already that the place would soon be as good as new.
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