Just Cause Universe 2: The Archmage

by Ian Thomas Healy

  Sally looked over at Jason. His face was white with terror. Her own nerves sang like taut violin strings and her accelerated perceptions had kicked in and forced her to experience every nuance of the danger they faced.

  “Ace, can you get us to the ground?” Juice shouted.

  “We’re going to the ground no matter what, sir. I’m trying to get us there in one piece.” The plane heeled over and began to tumble toward the ground. Overstressed metal shrieked and the airlock assembly ripped away. Jason’s seat belt snapped and he was flung hard into a bulkhead with a yelp of pain. Ace tried to regain some kind of control, but the Bettie fell like a wounded bird.

  “Everyone who can, get out now,” shouted Juice. “Regroup on the ground. Charge me up,” he added to Doublecharge.

  Jack swung his bag over his shoulder, ran to the back of the jet, and leaped out into the swirling sky.

  With a crackle of electricity, Doublecharge fed power into Juice to increase his strength and toughness. “Go!” said Juice, and she flew out after Jack.

  Shannon faded into mist and then vanished. While insubstantial, she could drift safely to the ground unharmed by impact, dragon, or explosion. Switchboard levitated himself out of the gaping hole.

  “Sally, with me,” shouted Sondra. Sally shrank back into her seat, terrified of falling. Ever since she’d ridden Destroyer on what should have been a one-way trip toward the stratosphere, she’d been afraid of falling. She shook her head, not wanting to leave her seat, not wanting to leave Jason, knowing she had to do both. “Girlfriend, we don’t have time for this!” Sondra wrapped her muscular brown arms around Sally and dragged her to the back of the plane.

  “No, wait! What about Jason?” screamed Sally as she looked back at him. Their eyes locked and she saw in them his love for her. Not for Shannon; for her. Then Sondra leaped into the open air with her wings spread wide and her arms wrapped around Sally like they were tandem-skydiving.

  “Stratocaster can get them out!” Sondra shouted over the noise of air combat. Sally screamed and thrashed. “Do you want me to drop you?” hissed Sondra in her ear.

  “No!”

  “Then hold still!”

  Sally tried to be a good passenger as Sondra cupped the air in her wings, and turned their tumble into a spiraling descent.

  The Air National Guard jets made another strike and one more dragon exploded into flames. Two dragons still wheeled in the air, but they were hard-pressed by the fighters as they provided cover for the descending heroes.

  Sally watched as the engines on the Bettie gave out. Their once-proud transport was a broken shell of her former glory. Purple flashed from within the cabin and a glowing sphere emerged that held Juice, Jason, and Stratocaster inside it as Ace ejected from the cockpit.

  Seconds later, the Bettie smashed into the ground. Her remaining munitions exploded from the impact and tore the wreckage apart in a brilliant fireball.

  A dragon closed in on Sondra and Sally. Sally squealed in terror. She needed to run; it was the only way she knew to get to safety, but she was still too high up to drop from Sondra’s grasp.

  “Shit. Sally, I’m going to need my hands.”

  “I can’t!” cried Sally in a panic.

  “Sally, there is a very large dragon coming toward us and I can’t reach my guns!”

  “I can’t!”

  Lightning engulfed the dragon. Doublecharge rose up behind the dragon as raw electricity poured out of her. The dragon’s wings collapsed and it plummeted toward the ground, its scales charred and smoking.

  The Air National Guard jets took down the final dragon with another heat seeker missile. The pilots waggled their wings in tandem before they turned back east toward Fargo.

  Sally clutched Sondra as the winged woman glided down toward the ground. “I’m sorry I lost my head,” she said.

  “That’s okay. Flying isn’t for everyone. We’re down now.” Their feet touched the ground and Sally immediately crumpled to dig her fingers into the hard Dakota soil.

  Sirens screamed as emergency vehicles and the rest of the team converged on their position.

  “Don’t worry, folks, Just Cause is here. Everything’s under control now,” said Sondra under her breath.

  Sally could tell that Sondra didn’t believe it for a second.

  Neither did she.

  Chapter Seven

  “A group of parahumans poses a far greater threat to us than an individual might. Just Cause is the best, the brightest, and the biggest hero organization in the world. No one person in their right mind would want to challenge that.”

  -Rick “Lionheart” Lyons, Time Magazine, December 3, 1976

  May, 2004

  Rugby, North Dakota

  The magically-created mountain loomed in the background as Just Cause regrouped. The team clustered around Juice and awaited new orders. Jason was getting his left ankle taped up. The paramedics said it was sprained and maybe broken. Juice gave rapid-fire orders to a North Dakota State Trooper, who pushed his hat onto the back of his head to mop his brow.

  “But they’re mostly just engineering and water supply battalions out here,” said the trooper. “We don’t have combat battalions.”

  “They’re still soldiers, aren’t they?” asked Juice. “Get the Governor to mobilize whatever National Guard units he can.”

  “I don’t think I have the authority…”

  Juice changed to his courtroom voice. Greater men than the State Trooper had wilted under that voice. “I’m here as a direct representative of the Department of Homeland Security, and I’m giving you the authority to make that call, Trooper, because I don’t have the goddamn time.”

  The trooper mumbled something apologetic and turned away to speak into the radio clipped to his shoulder.

  A Pierce County SUV pulled up to the group. Almost before the vehicle ground to a halt on the dirt road, the passenger door flew open and a furious Ace stomped out. She flung her helmet to the ground so hard it cracked. “Sixteen years! Sixteen years in the Israeli Air Force and not once did I lose a jet!” she shouted at Juice, her accent grown thicker in her fury. “And now you bring me to dragons and look at me. I’m a pilot without a plane. What am I supposed to do now?”

  “Easy, Ace. You’re alive and so are all of us, thanks to your flying,” Sondra said as she tried to smooth things over. “Has anyone seen Jack?”

  The young deputy who’d delivered Ace swelled with pride. “The guy who fell without a parachute? Jolson’s bringing him. He landed a few miles away.”

  The trooper that Juice had ordered to call the Governor returned with a sheepish look on his face. “Mr., uh, Juice? The Governor wants to talk to you.”

  Juice caught Sally’s attention, a plea in his eyes. Coffee? He mouthed silently at her. She nodded. “Yes, sir, this is Juice,” he said into the cell phone the trooper offered him.

  Sally turned to the young deputy. “Excuse me.”

  “Hmmm?”

  “Coffee. Where can we get some?”

  Right on cue, a catering truck pulled up, horn honking, and the front of a long procession of motor homes, pickup trucks, motorcycles, and one solitary news van. Doublecharge was aghast. “What the hell is this?”

  Switchboard shrugged. “This is better than reality television. This is an event.”

  “This event is going to get civilians killed.” Doublecharge grimaced. “Those dragons will incinerate anyone who gets too close.”

  Another sheriff’s cruiser pulled up and a filthy-but-excited Jack tumbled out. “Would you believe I hit the only bog in fifty miles?” he said. “I’ve got mud stuck in places I didn’t even know I had.”

  “All right, we’re all here,” said Juice. “Trooper?”

  “Y-yes sir?”

  “Set up a perimeter to keep these bystanders back. We’ve already seen dragons. I don’t want to know what else this guy is going to bring out.”

  “Yes sir,” said the trooper, relieved to be given something munda
ne to do like crowd control. He was obviously a little overwhelmed by the presence of so many parahumans.

  “All right… around the circle, I want observations and thoughts. Make it fast, people,” said Juice. “Jack, I assume you’ve been busy while being chauffeured all over the countryside. What have you got?”

  “Radar and GPS can’t find this mountain, but it’s clearly there,” said Jack. “The 119th fighters did a direct flyover before returning to base. They reported that all navigation systems went crazy on approach.”

  “I was just starting to notice that myself when I got distracted by the dragon trying to chew the wings off the Bettie,” said Ace.

  “Like space is being warped around the mountain,” said Sally.

  “Why here?” asked Juice. “No offense meant to the locals, but Rugby, North Dakota? It’s not really the point I would choose to begin the conquest of North America.”

  “It’s the center of the continent,” said Stratocaster. “A lot of magical power is concentrated here. From here he can reach equally in all directions.”

  “To do what?” asked Sondra. “Take over the country? He’s hundreds of miles from anything of strategic significance.”

  Stratocaster fixed her with a serious gaze. “I don’t know, but I’m sure it’s bad, whatever it is. He’s got enough power to do all this.” He motioned to the mountain with its aerial guardians flapping around it. “He’s a devious bastard. Whatever he’s planning, this is a big part of it.”

  “I can’t see any other way to get inside his castle except by direct approach.” Juice studied the mountain through binoculars borrowed from the State Trooper.

  “That’s got to be playing right into his hands,” said Doublecharge. “Let the three of us give you some airborne support and reconnaissance.” She gestured to herself, Sondra, and Switchboard

  Shannon looked up toward the summit of the mountain. “If he’s got a fantasy thing going and we start playing outside those rules right away, he might start thinking outside them too. I happen to think Juice is right.”

  Brown nose, thought Sally, although she herself had to agree.

  “My original plan stands,” said Juice. “The three of you will be backup for the rest of us. With one change.” He looked at Jason. “Sorry, Jason, but I can’t let you come along.”

  Jason grimaced at his ankle. “I know. I’d just be a liability.”

  “One other change,” said Ace. They turned to look at her. She had requisitioned one of Jack’s machine pistols and cocked it with a decisive slap. “I’m going in with you.”

  “Absolutely not,” said Doublecharge.

  “Oh?” Ace’s accent grew thicker with her anger. “I have more combat experience than all of you put together. I may not be a trained commando, but I’m not afraid of a firefight either.” The diminutive woman stalked over to glare up at Juice. She barely came to his shoulder; in fact, she was only a couple of inches taller than Sally.

  “Nobody is doubting your abilities or your willingness,” said Juice.

  “It’s because I have no powers, is that it?”

  Juice shrugged. “Well… we don’t know what to expect inside.”

  “Then you don’t know if you’ll need me or not. Better to have me along. Somebody needs to think like a normal person.”

  “She’s got a point there, Juice.” Jack smiled as he made sure the rest of his weapons were loaded. “We do tend to have parahuman blinders a lot of the time. Might do us some good to have a more mundane perspective.”

  Sally didn’t say anything, but she hoped Juice would agree to let the spunky pilot come along; her dedication and professionalism was inspiring.

  Juice sighed. “All right.”

  They set up Jason as the liaison to local authorities, and arranged to have him relay information to and from the assault party as needed. The six heroes—Juice, Jack, Sally, Shannon, Ace, and Stratocaster—rode toward the mountain in the two sheriffs’ SUVs. Overhead, Doublecharge, Switchboard, and Sondra flew high point.

  Sally watched as the unnatural mountain loomed in front of them. “Are we going to just walk up the side of it?”

  “Maybe,” said Juice. “Satellite imaging showed what looked like a path.”

  “A path?” Jack rolled his eyes. “Maybe he’s got a nice convenient platter for us to lay our heads upon before he cuts them off. Well, your heads, anyway.”

  “Didn’t you ever play role-playing games?” asked Sally. “We did in the dorms all the time. There’s always a path, loaded with traps and ambushes and stuff.”

  “Sally, why don’t you pretend for a moment that we’re stuffy, uncool adults and explain to us how this all works?” said Juice.

  “Speak for yourself, boss,” said Jack. “I’ll only admit to not knowing about the conventions of the genre.”

  “Think of it like a series of challenges,” said Sally. “Designed to soften us up, to make us use our powers, to weaken ourselves. Maybe one or two of us don’t make it. It’s his way of showing that he’s powerful enough to toy with us. He’s watching it all for entertainment.”

  “Go on,” said Juice.

  “And once we get to him, he’ll imprison us, gloat, tell us all his plans, and then conveniently forget something important. Then we free ourselves and defeat him.”

  Jack burst out laughing. “I had no idea it was so easy. Maybe we should save ourselves the trouble and just order him to give up now. Surrender, Dorothy!”

  The deputies pulled up to the base of the mountain. Sally couldn’t hear any ambient background sounds. Even the droning of the trucks’ engines seemed stifled in the still air. A rough-hewn path wound its way up the side of the mountain. Juice dismissed the deputies and the team prepared for their ascent.

  The mountain’s steep sides loomed over the heroes and made Sally feel even smaller than normal. The narrow pathway could only accommodate two people side by side if they were extremely friendly with one another and one was only Sally’s size.

  “I think we’d better hurry,” said Stratocaster in a strangled voice. “He’s doing something. Something bad. I can feel the draw on my power.”

  “All right then,” said Juice. “Sally, take the point. I’ll follow behind you, then Jack and Ace. Will and Shannon on rear guard.”

  “We’ll cover you as you climb,” said Doublecharge. “Sondra will take high watch while Switchboard and I stay nearby.”

  Jack grinned. “And me without my ten-foot pole.”

  “I thought you didn’t know anything about gaming,” said Sally.

  He shrugged. “I’m pretty sure everyone knows about the ten-foot pole.”

  They began to climb. The path wasn’t too steep, and was forgiving and mostly free of loose rock and slippery spots.

  “Cave entrance up ahead,” said Switchboard from overhead.

  Sally rounded a bend and faced a dark cave in a rock wall. Jack passed a pair of flashlights up to the front. Sally and Juice shined them into the blackness. With a strange rushing sound, a great stream of bats flooded outward. Switchboard and Doublecharge barely had a chance to dive out of the way as the flying rodents spread out into a cloud. Ignoring the group on the ground, the bats swarmed around the flying heroes. Jack and Ace raised their guns, but Juice ordered them to stand down. None of the assault party, except for Stratocaster, could have easily fought against a swarm of creatures. Overhead, electricity crackled as Doublecharge charged the air around her. Crisped bats rained down like tiny meteors.

  “You three, stay here at the cave mouth,” said Juice. “Make sure nobody comes up behind us.”

  “We got it,” said Sondra, swatting at a bat that tried to bite her.

  The others advanced into the cave. “Is this part of separating us? Softening us up?” asked Juice.

  “Yeah,” said Sally as she shined her light onto a stairway carved out of the rock. “Hey, where do these stairs go?” she fed the Ghostbusters line to Jack.

  “They go up,” he said right away.
“And so do we, apparently.”

  The stench of bat guano filled their nostrils as they made their way up the stairs. A hundred feet in, Sally stepped onto a stair that gave way. Her lightning-quick reflexes allowed her to leap backward as several more steps cracked and tumbled into a deep pit. The others crowded in to shine their lights into the pit. Rusty iron spikes lined its floor some forty feet below. Jack whistled. “All the comforts of home.”

  They crossed the gap in the stairs without any problems and continued up. A few minutes later a large, heavy blade scythed across the stairwell and cut empty air between Sally and Juice. “That was close,” muttered the big man as he swung a foot hard at the flat of the blade and snapped it off cleanly.

  “Not much imagination, hey?” said Ace.

  “Well let’s not give the man any new ideas.” Jack seemed less concerned than the others. Sally figured he must have believed his invulnerability should handle anything the Archmage could dish out.

  An odd wave of energy passed through the ground, walls, and air around them, like the shockwave from an explosion, the sudden change in air pressure making Sally’s ears pop. “What was that?” Juice asked.

  Stratocaster’s face fell. “I think we’re in trouble. That was a summoning spell.”

  “How can you tell?” Sally looked up the stairs with apprehension.

  “And summoning what?” added Shannon

  “I don’t know on both accounts,” said Stratocaster. “Somehow I just recognize the way the magic was used. It might be because of something I learned from some friends in Japan. Whatever it was, I think we should hurry. There’s something else building up. He’s working on something big.”

  “Right. Double time then,” said Juice. “Stay sharp, everyone.”

  They rounded the last bend in the stairs to enter a great hall filled with skeletons sporting swords and shields. A great stone rumbled down behind them to seal off the stairwell. Likewise around the room, Sally saw other doorways slam shut, leaving the six heroes to face several dozen opponents.