by John Jr. Yeo
"On orders from Colonel Bridge himself, I drained the power cells of the array," Chidike admitted.
"I used my powers to make the guards in the genome lab forget we were ever there," Cass said. "The hope was that we would flush out the real enemy by having them make a play for the last one."
"When Dr. Progeriat tried to play for time by downplaying the safety of the array at DSA headquarters, I really started to get suspicious," Baltrin summed up. "When he attempted to send DeathTek alone to grab it, I was convinced. DeathTek didn't really do much to assist your team in stopping Adrenaline and Wormhole from stealing the device, did he?"
"No, he didn't," I realized. "He stayed in the Event Horizon, in case we needed to make a quick pursuit after the thieves."
"It was a convenient cover," Baltrin nodded.
"So what do you think is happening?"
"I think that Dr. Progeriat saw the writing on the wall, and he knew the funding was going to go out the door unless he convinced the congressional committee of the need for an Infinite League," he replied. "But now we think he's planning to sell the cloning technology to Ubaidullah Zahr and the Habindaque government, giving them a chance to grow their own superhuman soldiers.”
"But they still need a power source to run this time widget, don’t they?”
"That’s right, that’s exactly right,” Baltrin confirmed. “This device can alter the flow of time within its radius of effect, and you need something powerful to run it. Underneath the Dome is a custom-built particle collision engine, where matter and anti-matter get combined to create huge amounts of energy. Dr. Progeriat wouldn't risk his cover by letting the terrorists march into the Dome and using it, but there's another such device on Earth that does roughly the same job."
"Wormhole's comment about having dinner at that restaurant in France tipped me off," Chidike explained.
"The CERN institute," Cassiopeia explained. "The Large Hadron Collider is the biggest particle collision engine in the world. It could power the CDA, and they’re going to use it to set up a new cloning farm. We're going to France to stop them."
With that, the truck came to a stop and the back of the truck opened up once again. The walls of this truck must have had some crazy amount of shielding and insulation, because I hadn't heard a thing. But as the back door opened, the deafening sound of a helicopter was roaring and I had to cover my ears with one hand, and hold down my billowing short skirt with the other.
"If I'm right, a terrorist is about to get his hands on nearly a dozen superhuman warriors programmed with whatever instructions they've paid Dr. Progeriat to put in them," screamed Baltrin. "Submission and Necromancer are going to Geneva, Switzerland. They’re going to the site to investigate, destroy the cloning tubes if they exist, recover the array if it is there, and apprehend anyone there assisting this operation."
"You can go home," Cassiopeia told me. "Or you can say that you flew with the Infinite League on their very last mission to save the world from certain doom."
"You sound like a dumbass when you say things like that," I shot back.
“And yet I don’t see you flying away,” she smiled, as she ran towards the helicopter with Chidike.
I looked at Major Baltrin one last time, and shook my head. "You'd better do what you promised me, pal. A clean record, understand?"
“Good hunting, hero,” he told me.
So, one more time, I decided. I've survived everything up until now. Maybe, if I'm terribly lucky, I'll have some sort of semblance of a life to return to when I came back.
Besides, I'd never been to Switzerland before.
23
The Recovery
Monday, June 3 – 3:30 a.m
We crossed over the Atlantic Ocean in just a few hours, during which time Necromancer quickly briefed me on what I would need to know about where we going. It dawned on me that I hadn't really slept in over twenty-four hours, and it was starting to catch up with me.
Captain Eric Quincy was flying the helicopter, while Chidike, Cass and I rode in the cabin. Inside the surprisingly insulated interior that allowed us to speak without using those bulky headphones you see the military using, the Necromancer started briefing me on the mission that lay ahead.
“We’re going to the CERN facility. It’s the European Organization for Nuclear Research,” Chidike began.
“Wouldn’t that be EONR?” I pointed out.
“CERN stands for the French name,” he replied. “Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, actually.”
“How the hell do you know all of this random shit?”
"Major Baltrin has been trying to speak to anyone at the CERN institute, but we haven't been able to get through," he continued. "That's a huge red flag that he's right on the money about Zahr using the institute to build of an army of clones. The primary objective, above everything else beside the protection of civilian lives, is to get that CDA back if we can. If he doesn’t have the array, he can’t quickly develop a clone army."
"If we can't do that, we have to destroy it," Cass added. "Either way, this is going to be the last adventure for our little team. Let's make it count for something."
“This facility was originally devoted to the study of atomic nuclei,” Chidike continued, droning on like a college professor giving a lecture. “They now have the largest particle accelerator in the world. They call it the Large Hadron Collider, or simply, the LHC. It’s used for high-energy physics research, like studying the interaction between subatomic particles. Are you listening?”
“Yeah, I’m with you,” I slurred.
“It can create 2.0 tera-electron volts per Nucleon, which is the minimal amount of power required to make the Chronal Dampening Array do its job. Only two hadron colliders are known to exist that can do that. One powers the Dome, which is now under military control following Dr. Progeriat’s escape. The other is inside this facility.”
"I heard Major and clones and nucleon, and then I dozed off, guys," I replied. "Look, I really need to close my eyes for a few minutes."
"You have five minutes," Chidike informed me. "We're coming up to the location."
"All I see is miles and miles of nothing but trees and hills,” I said, scratching my head.
“This facility is nearly seventeen miles in circumference, and over five hundred feet below the France-Switzerland border. We’re not going in the front door, we’re going to enter one of the lightly guarded access ports.”
“We don’t have clearance to charge into the facility, I take it?”
"Hell, we don’t ever have clearance to be flying in French airspace," Cass laughed humorlessly. "That’s why Major Baltrin loaned us a small chopper that could evade radar detection.”
"We're over the west perimeter access hatch," Chidike informed me. “Let’s be on our guard. If Zahr really is here, he might have his Spark bodyguards with him.”
"I’m kind of hoping so," I replied, trying to force a bit of adrenaline back into my body. "I’m really hoping for a chance to kick one or both of those psycho bitches right in their crusty twats."
As the small craft landed on the ground next to what looked like a small cement bunker, Chidike gawked at me and shook his head. "I'd tell you to set a better example as a member of the League, but..."
"Like you said," I nodded. "It's the last hurrah, isn't it?"
As the door swung open, the three of us jumped out of the vehicle. I shook my head violently, trying to wake up, and the three of us charged into the CERN institute.
I’ll say this for Zahr’s gang. They don’t like to waste any time. As soon as we opened the door of the access tunnel, a hail of gunfire began firing towards us. Chidike managed to jump back, pushing Cass and I to safety before any of us could get hit.
"They’re armed," he told us between bursts of bullets.
“So are we,” Cass pointed out. “Who are they?”
“They’re wearing black and silver tactical uniforms with a symbol I’ve never seen before.”
"Want me to scare them with some fireballs?" I offered.
"You can have the next ones," he promised me with a smirk. "There are only three of them."
He reached under his cloak and produced what looked like black golf balls, and hurled them in the direction of the shooters. It produced his signature inky blackness that cloaked the entire corridor in so much darkness that not even the halogen lamps above their heads could cut through the shadows. He dashed into the darkness, and began slamming heads into the walls.
“How does he do that?”
"I'll never understand how his Dark Balls work," Cass said with a shrug.
With bullets flying around and the sound of grown men screaming for mercy, it was hard to find humor in the situation. Despite that, I couldn't help but smirking. "Is that really what he calls them?"
Cass smirked at me, but otherwise remained silent. A few seconds later, as the shadows began to surrender to the light once more, the only sound remaining was Necromancer's heavy feet stomping towards us. If the men with the guns were ever to move again, it wouldn't be for hours.
"Stay vigilant," he warned us. "We have to get down to the first floor. That's where the LHC is, and that’s where the cloning tubes will be hooked up."
The three of us carefully moved down the flight of stairs, running into no further opposition until we descended three floors down. At that point, we started seeing the motionless bodies of scientists, police and civilians.
The smell of blood and decay hit me immediately, and I nearly gagged at the stench.
“Ugghhh, this just happened recently,” Cass said, covering her mouth with her shoulder to keep from hurling.
Like so many other times, we seemed to be one step behind the bad guys. This facility was manned by hundreds of scientists, engineers and civilians. “How many people did these monsters kill?”
“A radiation leak had been reported, but that was a ruse,” Chidike said. “The majority of the staff had been evacuated. Those who remained were overpowered by whoever is waiting for us down below.”
Some blood was still pooling from the heads of the men lining the walls, savagely cut down by a hail of bullets. “These men were killed recently,” I pointed out. “We’re too late to save these poor guys.”
“But we might not be too late to stop them from powering up the clones,” Cass said hopefully.
A wall of solid ice blocked the door at the end of the corridor. It was clear that we were on the right track. The ice was thick, but it didn’t have a chance of holding up to my fire. It took me three minutes to melt it down, far longer than I would have liked, but I eventually turned the barrier into a pool of warm water.
On the other side of the door was another long flight of stairs, leading down five hundred more feet to the tunnels where the Large Hadron Collider was kept.
Cass and Chidike took the long way down, jogging down the multiple turns of stairs to get to the bottom. With my ability to fly, I dropped down in the divide between the massive flighs of stairs and reached the bottom floor first.
On the ground, there were two directions to run towards. I know that there were miles of tunnels under the ground, but I didn’t have any clue which direction the LHC was at. For the moment, I was alone.
But my solitude only lasted for a few seconds. Six men, wearing the black and silver uniforms that Chidike had described, charged into the room but remained a safe distance from me. They all wore black masks, completely concealing their identities. Inscribed on their shirts was a simple symbol, but I had never seen anything like it before. It was just a bunch of squiggly lines as far as I could tell.
The weapons that each man was holding was standard issue M16 rifles. No fancy ray guns or advanced scientific weapons this time, just big guns that fired bullets into you.
Walking into the room next, taking his place safely within the circle that the guards provided, was the very man we were hoping to find. He looked surprised to see me, but he wasn’t giving me the satisfaction of seeing him cower and beg for mercy. He stood there serenely still, caressing the silk blue tie that accented his midnight blue suit. I was once again staring into the hateful face of the most fearsome arms dealer in the Middle East. Ubaidullah Zahr.
“What am I paying you people for?” grunted Zahr. “Kill this intruder!”
I raised my fingers, preparing to toss fire right into the middle of the group. Maybe if I roasted half of them with my fire, Zahr would just surrender quietly.
I hesitated. The terrorists did not. Before I could act, one of the men withdrew a knife and flung it towards my head. I reflexively filled the air in front of me with fire and heat, and it knocked the blade off of its path.
“Shoot that bitch,” the knife-thrower screamed. “Cut her down before the rest of her freak friends show up!”
Two of the others aimed their weapons in my direction. My fire wouldn’t melt the bullets before they cut me down, but a few fireballs made them shoot wild and away from my very non-bulletproof body.
I still had one advantage they didn’t have. I could fly, and I made the most of it. I flew towards the closest man, punching one as I went past and igniting the pants of the other.
As the largest guard among them began to accompany Zahr back down one of the corridors, I concentrated on thinning out his group. Any loose weapon I saw, I set it on fire. Two of the guards were now completely on fire, and they’d probably be dead soon. I put the consequences out of my mind, and focused on surviving long enough to follow our main quarry as he retreated. There were two more guards on their feet, each seemingly ready to throw down their lives to protect their master. But by this time, they had already been overpowered. Cass and Chidike had finally reached the bottom of the stairs, and the fight was over with just a few words out of her mouth.
Zahr and his last standing bodyguard caught a glimpse of the three of us before he rounded the corner, and that was his mistake. He never should have made eye contact with Cass.
“Stop moving,” she commanded angrily. “Both of you bastards, stand perfectly still!”
Both of them obediently stopped moving, a hateful expression frozen on their faces. They were both under her mental control now.
“You. Big guy,” she continued, turning her attention towards Zahr’s huge bodyguard. “Take off your mask.”
He did so, revealing an ordinary but thuggish face that seemed European in descent. He was whiter than I was. Cass seemed as surprised as I was, we were expecting an army comprised solely of Middle Eastern extremists.
“We’re here to stop you from growing your clone army,” she stated. “Tell me which direction to the LHC. We’re taking the array back with us, and you two are going to jail.”
Zahr proved just a little more resilient than his minion, but they eventually both pointed towards the west. That was the direction we needed to be going.
“We should restrain these guys,” I suggested to Chidike. “Do you have any cuffs in that fancy utility belt of yours?”
“Of course I do,” he nodded, and he snapped both of their wrists to one of the many pipes that were bolted to the tunnel walls, running the length of the structure. “This should keep them restrained until we return for them.”
“I’ve got a better way to keep this prick occupied,” Cass said, taking a step towards the motionless men. She took a close look at their faces, and carefully considered what she was going to do. Zahr glared back at her, silently, but with hateful daggers in his eyes. The large companion seemed vacant and dull, just waiting to be guided.
“Submission, we really must keep moving,” Chidike reminded her. “Every second may count, the clones may already be growing. Who knows how many men he has guarding the array.”
“Who knows how many people have died because of this terrorist,” she shot back angrily. “Put your hands against the wall in front of you and lean forward.”
She didn’t order him to be silent, and he took advantage of this by screaming a few choice vulgari
ties in her direction. But despite this, he obeyed her immediately.
“No more talking, you pig. Pull your pants down, and then resume the position,” she continued in an even darker tone. A second later, he was leaning against the wall with his bare ass displayed for us all to see.
“Submission, this is not the tone the Infinite League should be setting,” Chidike reminded her gently. His advice was falling on deaf ears.
“The Infinite League is over,” I whispered back to him. “You said it yourself.”
“Hey. Big hairy guy,” she whispered to the other one, putting her hands on his shoulder. “Hop in there, sweetheart. Go balls deep, and make him feel it.”
We starting running immediately towards the west, but it wasn’t fast enough to avoid hearing the sound of flesh smacking together. If only her power worked on women as well. I would have begged her to make me forget I’d ever seen or heard what she had just done to Zahr.
I flew slowly through the air for fifteen minutes, allowing Chidike and Cass to keep pace with me. During that time, we hadn’t run into any further opposition. That was either a very lucky break for us, or it could be terribly bad.
No opposition might mean that the criminal’s mission had been accomplished, and they’d already bugged out of here.
We rounded the next corner, and found ourselves in a room the size of an airplane hangar. All the pipes and tubes that had been lining the walls of the tunnels we'd been moving through all lead to a massive machine bigger than anything I'd ever seen before. It was a huge structure of steel, electronics and cables tightly coiled around a massive circular machine.
"The Large Hadron Collider," Chidike told me. "The biggest one in the world. Inside this machine, mankind has been exploring the untapped secrets of physics. Anti-matter. The God Particle."