by Stan Lee
“That’s not true across the board.” Malik gestured at the others around the table. “The powers may have sought you out—but not the three of us. Maxwell chose us.”
I never thought of that before, Roxanne realized. It’s another way they’re different from us.
“I’ve heard you express doubts,” Malik continued. “Can you tell me that you’re absolutely comfortable with your own place on this team? With the part you’ve been chosen to play?”
A wave of anger washed over her. She liked Malik, but who was he to question her? To bring up these very real doubts that—yes—she’d been feeling lately, more strongly than ever?
“I’m just glad to have my powers back,” Nicky said. He held up a hand, smiling as fur sprouted to cover it. “Maybe now we can start hirin’ ourselves out for the big bucks. Right, Josie?”
Josie didn’t answer. She sat turned away in her chair, staring at the wall.
“What’s wrong with her?” Roxanne asked.
“Ah,” Nicky said, “she’s been like that for weeks now.”
“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” Josie said.
“Why not?” Nicky snapped. “You never talk about yourself.”
Watching Josie, Roxanne’s anger grew stronger. She remembered a time, just over a year before, when the three people at that table—Malik, Josie, and Nicky—had mounted an assault on Zodiac headquarters, along with their then-teammate Vincent, who held the power of the Monkey. As soldiers in Maxwell’s private army, they’d been following orders. And those orders had been to capture Steven’s team at all costs.
At the time, Roxanne had only had her Rooster powers for a few days. Josie, already a trained soldier with the power of the Horse, had chased her down and taken her captive. Josie had bound and gagged Roxanne and dragged her, struggling and helpless, through the complex and outside.
Roxanne could barely reconcile that memory with the sullen, withdrawn woman who sat across from her now. She knew she should feel sympathy, should wonder what Josie had gone through. But all she felt was disgust.
“You don’t look so tough now,” she said.
Josie half turned, regarding Roxanne with a single eye.
“Back off,” she said. Her voice was low, dangerous.
“Or what? You’ll toss me out in the snow again?”
Nicky turned to Malik. “What is happening here?” Malik motioned him to silence.
“Maybe you’d like to throw down again,” Roxanne continued. “I’ve been practicing.”
The Rooster avatar rose, involuntarily, above her head. She knew she should stop, should walk away from the table. She was tired from the mission; they all were. But the memory of her humiliation at Josie’s hands, combined with the blank look on Josie’s face, made her blood boil.
I can’t let this go, she thought. The Rooster wants blood.
“You’re afraid,” Roxanne said, still staring at Josie. “You’re afraid to fight me.”
“I’m afraid I’ll kill you.”
The Rooster avatar cried out a silent challenge.
Josie turned to face Roxanne for the first time. “Aren’t you leaving this team?” she growled. “You seem to say that every ten minutes.”
“Make me. Make me leave.”
Josie’s eyes locked on to Roxanne’s. There was contempt in them, and weariness. Sadness, too, buried somewhere deep down. The raging Horse appeared above Josie, shaking its head in fury.
Then she stood and walked away.
“That was like old times,” Malik said. “Little too much like ’em.”
Roxanne reached for her chopsticks, then dropped them. Her hands were shaking.
“She’s not herself,” Malik continued. “Not here, and not on the mission. What happened to her?”
Nicky hesitated. He seemed concerned, more serious than Roxanne had ever seen him before.
“I dunno,” he said finally. “After we escaped from Australia, somethin’ changed in her. She got real low, stopped working. Stopped goin’ outside, even. I had to take care of her, bring her food.”
Roxanne frowned. “But you both came, when Steven called?”
“I thought it’d be good for her. Practically had to drag ’er here.” Nicky smiled sadly. “I hoped gettin’ her powers back would snap her out of it. An’ I really thought she was back to her old self when she whooped Beta. But as soon as we got back…” He gave a helpless shrug.
“Josie has her demons,” Malik said. “We all do.”
They were silent for a moment—lost in separate dark thoughts.
“I just wanted my powers back so I could make a livin’,” Nicky said. His eyes were fixed on the exit, the door Josie had just walked through. “But I can’t leave yet. I can’t give up on her.”
Roxanne nodded. Her rage had subsided; she felt slightly ashamed of herself. But a new purpose, a new path, seemed to tickle at the edges of her consciousness.
I can’t give up on her.
“Maybe it’s my turn,” she said.
STEVEN ROUNDED the corner, started down the hallway toward the living quarters—and froze. His Tiger senses rose to full alert; a rush of Zodiac power, almost like an electric shock, ran through him.
The door to the guest suite was ajar.
He crept up to it, listening for any noise from inside. Nothing. This is where Kim’s parents are staying, he thought. Why would they leave the door open? Has the Dragon found them already—here, in our own headquarters?
He pushed the door wide and crept inside. The suite opened into a small kitchen. A thin archway led to a living area beyond, but he couldn’t see much of it from that angle. Most of the living quarters were single and double rooms; this was one of the few larger suites. That means more places to hide.
He sneaked up to the arch. When he peered around the corner, his breath caught in his throat.
Kim’s mother and father sat together on a small sofa. Her father looked older than Steven had remembered, his eyes slightly unfocused. He had one arm around his wife, whose friendly smile only partially hid the worry in her eyes.
His other hand was on his daughter’s shoulder. Kim lay sprawled across her parents’ laps, fast asleep. She looked very small, even younger than her fourteen years. She made a small noise and nuzzled her head into her mother’s stomach.
Kim’s father didn’t seem to notice Steven’s presence. But her mother looked up, nodded at Steven, and silently mouthed the words: Thank you.
Steven smiled back, embarrassed, and left. He pulled the door shut behind him.
The medical bay was just down the hall from the living quarters, easily accessible from the garage holding the trucks and land vehicles, and also from the plane hangar one level above. That day the bay stood nearly empty, rows of diagnostic beds attached to large blank monitor screens. The entire room held just one patient, strapped loosely to his bed: Carlos.
Jasmine stood in the middle of the large room, staring at Carlos. The small man lay unconscious, his eyes closed. Little hologram readouts rose from chips affixed to his bare chest, displaying heart rate, blood pressure, and other medical details that Steven couldn’t understand. A compact diagnostic computer sat on the adjacent table.
He hesitated, not wanting to disturb Jasmine. But he had important things to discuss with her, and he wasn’t sure they could wait.
A tall, severe-looking woman in a lab coat crossed in front of him, holding a tablet in one hand and a hypodermic needle in the other. She shot Jasmine a look, then jabbed the needle into Carlos’s arm.
“A mild stimulant,” the woman said. “If he does not respond to this…”
Steven moved to join them. The woman emptied the hypo into Carlos’s arm and withdrew it, swabbing once to wipe away a teardrop of blood. It reminded Steven of lava bubbling from the lip of a volcano.
Carlos’s eyes remained closed. He made no movement, no noise, gave no sign he was aware of the injection.
Jasmine turned to the woman. “Doctor
Snejbjerg?”
“I’m very sorry, but I can do nothing.” The doctor frowned. “We are at the bottom of my bag of tricks.”
“We flew you in here.” A hint of anger crept into Jasmine’s eyes. “At great expense—”
“This is not a physical problem.” The doctor waved a long-fingered hand at Carlos. “You said yourself this man is a victim of brainwashing.”
“Brainwashing?” Jasmine snorted. “Calling what he experienced brainwashing is like calling a typhoon a little breeze.”
“Be that as it may, the mind is not my province. And I believe it is his mind, not his body, that is keeping him in this state.” The doctor turned toward Jasmine and reached for her face. “You should treat those cuts again. The poison may be—”
Jasmine pulled away angrily and slammed her fist on a nearby table. She glared briefly at Steven, then turned and stalked into a corner of the room.
Five months before, Maxwell had kidnapped Carlos and, using the power of the Dragon, altered his mind, turning him against his friends. That had almost destroyed Jasmine, who—Steven had come to realize—loved Carlos deeply. It had also given Maxwell access to Carlos’s unparalleled scientific genius, allowing the Dragon to build weapons far more powerful than those he’d used in the past.
Steven, Jasmine, and the Zodiac team had risked everything to rescue Carlos. In the end, they’d managed to pull him from the wreckage of Maxwell’s Australian headquarters. But Carlos remained dangerously insane. They’d had to lock him up in a cell to prevent him from escaping or trying to sabotage the base—the same base that he and Jasmine had built from scratch, in happier times.
Every rant, every vow of revenge from Carlos’s lips, struck like a dagger in Jasmine’s heart. And over time his condition had deteriorated. A week before, he’d fallen into a coma; he hadn’t moved or spoken since.
“I am sorry,” the doctor said, adjusting Carlos’s restraints. “I assure you I do not admit failure lightly.”
Steven watched Jasmine, across the room. He felt bad about Carlos; he understood Jasmine’s pain. But he really needed to talk to her about something else.
He turned to the doctor. “Could you, uh, leave us alone?”
The doctor raised an eyebrow. She checked a holo-readout above Carlos’s shoulder and made a notation on her tablet. Then she left without a word.
Steven turned toward Jasmine. Before he could go to her, she walked over to him, carrying a small travel bag.
“I need to talk to you,” she said.
“Yeah. I need to talk to you, too.”
“I know, I know. She did everything she could.” Jasmine waved in the doctor’s direction. “I’ll apologize later.”
“That’s, yeah, good. But it’s not what I—”
“Steven, I don’t have time for a debrief. You did good work at Mount Merapi, okay? I’m glad you found Kim, and got your powers back.”
“Sorry we couldn’t recover yours. Maybe when we catch up with Maxw—I mean, the Dragon.”
“Yeah. That’s me.” She stared down at Carlos. “Powerless.”
They stood silently for a moment, both staring at the body between them. Little readouts winked on and off in the air.
“Jasmine,” Steven said, feeling the words start to pour out of him, “are you gonna forget me?”
She looked up sharply. “What?”
“In the volcano. I had a vision.” He looked away, struggling to remember. “It was the old man, the old Tiger—the one who died in Berlin. He told me I’d have to choose between my family and my friends.”
Jasmine grimaced.
“He also told me that when this was all over…when the choice was made, the enemy defeated…”
“What?” she prompted.
“I know you’ve done research on the past Zodiacs. You and…” He gestured at Carlos.
“Some. We’ve tried, but the records aren’t clear.” She frowned at him. “What did the old man say?”
“He said, he said that everything—all memory of the Zodiac powers—would vanish from the world. And us, me and the others, we’d all vanish with it.” He looked up at her. “Is that gonna happen?”
She turned away.
“Is that why you couldn’t find the information?” he continued. “Because it was erased from the world?”
“Steven, I wouldn’t obsess over the words of one dead man. Even your predecessor.”
“It wasn’t just him.” He shivered, remembering. “I could feel them. All the Tigers, down through the ages. They all had their time, wielded the power, tried to make the world a better place. And in the end…”
Jasmine glanced down at Carlos again. She hefted her bag and circled around the bed, almost tripping over electrical wires. When she reached Steven, she looked into his eyes. He could see the tiny cuts that Mince’s rings had made all along her cheeks.
“I won’t forget you,” she said. “You will not vanish from the world.”
His reply caught in his throat. “Promise?”
“Promise.”
He nodded and turned away, wiping a tear from his eye.
“Now,” she said, “I need something from you.”
“Of course,” he replied. “Anything.”
“Doctor Snejbjerg says Carlos’s problem is mental, not physical.” She rummaged in her travel pack. “So there’s only one, desperate way to save him.”
He turned to see her holding up a small metal box. Cables dangled from it, ending in two sets of electrodes fixed to flat patches. The weapon, he realized. The one she used on Mince, inside the volcano.
Jasmine stared at Carlos’s unmoving form.
“We have to enter his mind,” she said.
ROXANNE SLIPPED the kneepads over her boots. She picked up a smaller pad and started strapping it on to her elbow.
Josie watched her. “What are you doing?”
“Getting ready to kick your butt.”
Roxanne tightened the second elbow pad and turned to face her opponent. Josie stood on the other side of the large training room. The floor was marked like a gymnasium, with a few punching bags and basketballs piled up in the corner. But the walls concealed an assortment of high-tech training devices.
“Ha!” Josie exclaimed. “As if you could.”
“Guess we’ll find out.”
“I’m not going to fight you.”
“Then why are you here?”
Josie didn’t answer.
Roxanne tossed a tangle of knee and elbow pads across the room. “Put ’em on.”
Josie just watched as the pads sailed past her. “Already got mine,” she said, indicating the padded joints on her uniform.
“Suit yourself.”
Roxanne stalked into the center of the room, hands raised boxing style before her face. Adrenaline surged through her, making her heart beat faster.
Hope I know what I’m doing!
Josie stood her ground. “What’s this about? Do you still want revenge for the whooping I gave you?”
“You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know you’re a lousy fighter. And a quitter.”
Anger blazed through Roxanne. The Rooster avatar appeared, shrieking and cawing. She lunged the last meter and jabbed a fist at Josie’s face.
Josie ducked, almost effortlessly. She dropped low and danced back about a meter. The Horse flashed above her, visible for just a second. Then it vanished again.
She’s not even winded, Roxanne thought.
Josie stared at her. “You’re determined to do this.”
“Oui. That means yes.”
“I know what it means.”
Josie began to dance sideways in a circle, hands loose at her sides. Her eyes bored into Roxanne’s. Roxanne mirrored the motion, keeping distance between them.
Josie gestured to the equipment at the side of the room. “Don’t you want some mats on the floor? This is gonna hurt.”
“I’ll take my chances.”
Josie’s fac
e went dark, intense. As she lifted her fists, the Horse rose above her, its mouth open in a silent scream.
Roxanne swallowed. She’s bigger than you, she told herself, and stronger, too. But the Rooster power is—
Almost before Roxanne registered the motion, Josie grabbed both her arms and swung her around. Keeping one hand clamped on Roxanne’s wrists, Josie locked the other one across her opponent’s chest, just below the throat.
“This is…a basic combat move.” Josie’s voice dripped with condescension. “Designed to disarm the—”
Roxanne whipped her head around and screamed. The Rooster flared bright; a burst of sonic energy struck Josie in the face, breaking her grip and knocking her away. The two fighters fell to the floor on opposite sides.
When Roxanne looked up, Josie was laughing.
“That all you got?” Josie said, climbing to her feet.
Roxanne rose to join her. “Knocked you off your feet.”
They moved closer together, glaring, and resumed dancing in a circle. “You’re a child,” Josie taunted. “A pampered girl with one trick, a power that fell out of the sky.”
“Yeah? And what are you?”
“A soldier.” They were so close, their noses almost touched. “Do you have any idea what you have to do to join Maxwell’s army?”
“Give up all trace of original thought? I’m just guessing.”
Josie grabbed Roxanne and threw her down. Once again, the action was so fast, so casual, that Roxanne was on the floor before she knew it. She shook her head, dazed.
Josie glared down at her. The Horse rose higher above her head, seeming to fill the room.
“You have to survive in the jungle for five days,” she said. “Alone.”
Roxanne struggled to rise. She scrunched her eyes shut and marshaled her energy. One chance, she thought. I’ve gotta use every ounce of power I’ve got.
“Stay down,” Josie continued. “Like I said, this could hur—”
Roxanne opened her eyes and cried out. A look of surprise came over Josie’s face as she flew across the room.