The Corporal listened to her head piece, then walked back to the jeep. The jeep turned around and went back toward the base.
“Now, what?” Saifullah said.
“Now, we wait,” I said.
We stood by the platoon. Some of the soldiers were in awe of being in the presence of Artemis and the terrorist Saifullah. Their Sergeant did not share their feelings. I scanned around the base and “saw” someone moving toward the mountains very fast.
>I “see” him. He is carrying some sort of electronic device. Mr. Benton believes we are ready for him.<
I “looked” at the device. I was not quite sure, but it resembled a EMP bomb that I had seen years ago.
>Done.>
I was too far away to fry or freeze the devise. I thought, for a moment, of flying over to engage him, but that might be his purpose, to have me leave Valla Grein less protected. The speedster started to zig and zag as he closed on the Agency's personnel location. Then the speedster bounced off something invisible and he was halted in mid-air. The device was torn from his belt and thrown far into the air. It activated and unleashed an energy wave. When it passed by the speedster, he fell toward the ground. It was a nullifier bomb. The wave weakened by the time it reached the Agency's personnel location. Unfortunately, it had prevented Ben Bronson from keeping the speedster from hitting the ground. I “scanned” him and he was alive, with a broken shoulder and two broken legs, which began to heal as I watched.
>Ben says he should be able to keep him down.<
There were none. It appeared that my guess that it was a diversion to get me to leave the healer side was correct. Another jeep drove toward the gate. It had the same driver, but a different passenger: Jane Kim.
She got out of the jeep, when it stopped, and walked up to the distortion field and through it. She smiled, but it was not a pleasant smile. I scanned her and she did not have an explosive in her skull. She was Jane Kim, but her body language was off. She reminded me of a tiger ready to pounce.
“Just to be clear. If I sense any threat, my psychic blast will render you and the troops behind you brain dead. Oh, Saifullah mind might survive, but I doubt it,” Kim said.
“You are not the one in charge,” Valla Grein said.
Kim's smile faded and the telepath stared at the healer for a few moments and then said,”Valla Grein, your reputation proceeds you. I prefer your real face. Welcome to Fort Greely.”
Kim looked at me and said,“Hand her over or else.”
“Where is your boss, the Impostor?” I said.
“We can use the healer, even if her mind is gone,” Kim said.
“In that case,” I said as I flew to her and put my left hand on her forehead and activated the nullifier in my palm. It did not work fast enough to stop all of Kim's psychic blast, but enough of it so the healer's and the troops' minds were intact, although, they had all fallen to their knees and complained of the worst headaches they had ever had. I took a wrist nullifier from my back pouch and snapped it on her wrist.
“Queen taken,” I said.
“No, she is just another pawn,” Valla Grein said through clenched teeth.
Kim shook her head. She looked into my eyes and said,”Where am I?”
Saifullah helped the healer to her feet. She went over to Kim and she put he hands on either side of the telepath's head. I, almost, stopped her, but did not. I hoped Valla Grein knew what she was doing. After a minute, the healer removed her hands.
“That can't be true?” Kim said in a pleading voice.
“It is true,” I heard Colonel Rosenstein's voice over Kim's headset.
“You must have suffered a tremendous trauma when you were young,” Valla Grein said to Kim.
Kim looked down and then into the healer's eyes.
“My parents. I destroyed their minds. I did not mean to do it,” Kim said.
“I am sure you did not,” the healer said.
“But, she did anyway and it split her mind. A contrite girl who seemed to recover and one not so contrite,” Rosenstein said.
“And we have her now,” I said.
“Yes, a walking time bomb. You will never know what might set her off,” the Colonel said.
“You aren't Colonel Rosenstein, are you?” I said.
“Oh, but I am,” he said.
He lied. I was sure he was the impostor. What he did not lie about was the threat that Kim posed. If her other personality regained control, she could not be trusted, and given her abilities, I wondered if she could hide the change from another telepath.
“We can't trust her,” Saifullah said.
“Yes, and that why she is here, because he can't trust her either,” I said.
“Let us both be clear. You are worried about the threat posed by so called Destroyer. I could care less as I care less about Ms. Kim. You need the healer to restore Apollo's full power so he can help you against The Destroyer. My associate, Mr. Jacobs, is insistent that the healer restore his full powers, first. If you try to rescue Apollo I will have him killed,” Rosenstein said.
I whispered to the healer,” Can you heal her mind.”
“I can only heal physical injury, not psychological damage,” she whispered back.
“I can wait. Can you?” Rosenstein said.
That was the problem. Eventually, I was sure that we could find a way to free John before he was harmed, but it would take time, and time was running out.
“I have to talk to Director Tenneth,” I said.
“And he will have to talk with his superiors and the American government. Take all the time you want. We will be here,” Rosenstein said.
The jeep's driver returned to his jeep and drove back toward the base's headquarters.
“Control, this is Artemis. You heard what he said,” I said for the first time in five years giving my code name.
“This is Tenneth. I was given an update on when we can expect our visitor. We have three days, four at the most. Artemis, it is your call,” I heard the Director over my comm link.
Just what I wanted, all the responsibility. If I screwed up, the Director, the President, the UN committee will blame me. Of course, that won't really matter if The Destroyer killed thousands or more before she is stopped, assuming she could be stopped. I wondered if that was the Impostor's plan; wait until the major super-powered assets on the planet were dead or injured and then pick up the pieces.
Two hours later, I stood at the entrance to the base. Valla Grein and Jane Kim stood on either side of me. I stood in my uniform, with my mask tucked into my back pouch. I reached over, deactivated Kim's nullifier and took it off.
She rubbed her wrist and said,”This is a mistake. My bad side can come back at any time.”
“Yes, she can,” I said.
I was counting on it. The Impostor had left Kim out to dry. I hoped that her other self would not look kindly on that. Even if she stayed loyal to him, she was a known quantity now. She did not know it, but either way she was an essential part of my plan to free John. It was a matter of trust and mistrust.
A jeep drove up to the other side of the entrance with only a driver. The three of us walked through the distortion field and I “felt” a change in Kim. I looked over and she gave me the same evil smile that showed her other side was in control.
She forced a telepathic message through my mental shields, Don't worry. I am not on his side.
I had no idea if I could trust her, but , for the the moment, it was the best I hoped for. We got into the jeep and drove back to the base's center. I scanned the building's for John but I could not “see” him. I communicated to Mandisa and she could not “see” him either. She “told” me that although the distortion field did not block her “sight”, it did interfere with it. The jeep
stopped in front of the main building and we were escorted into Colonel Rosenstein's office. I scanned the building before we entered and did not “see” any threats.
The Colonel sat behind his desk. I scanned him and it matched the scan I made of Rosenstein when I first met him. Jacobs sat in one of the two chairs in front of the desk. He turned in the chair and looked at us. He smiled.
“That will be all Sergeant,” Rosenstein said.
The Sergeant saluted and let the room. As soon as the door closed, Rosenstein's image changed and he looked like John! I scanned him and he was John, the standard powers version of him.
“I thought I would get the preliminaries out of the way. I am surprised you brought both the healer and Kim with you. That will make things easier,” he said.
“What have you learned?” the Imposer said to Kim.
She walked over and sat in the other chair. She said,” Very little. They were careful what they said around my other self and, of course, they kept the nullifier on.”
“Read their minds,” the Impostor said.
Kim looked at me and then at my companion. She did not try to read my mind.
“Artemis's mental defenses are formidable. As for the healer, she is scared. They were careful not to tell her any of their plans,” Kim said.
“I am sure you want to see how Samson is doing,” the impostor said.
He activate the flat screen display on the wall. It showed John as he said in front of the portal aperture. He had a ring around his neck. I tried to scan him, but was blocked.
“The ring around his neck is an explosive device. The distortion field that blocked your clairvoyance will, also, block you long distance powers. He will be dead before you can reach him,” the Impostor said.
After she left, he continued,”I will allow the healer to restore Apollo's full abilities, after she restores Mr. Jacobs,” he said.
“Never,” the woman beside me said.
“We don't have that long,” the Impostor said.
The Impostor looked at the woman beside me and the woman's glazed for a few moments. He then said,” Go over and heal Mr. Jacobs.”
The woman went over and put her hands on Jacobs forehead.
Jacobs grabbed her hands and and pulled them away from his head.
“Nothing is happening,” Jacobs said.
I was ready to act, but since I had been concentrating on what was going on in the room, I forgot to check outside. I suddenly felt weak and the woman shifted to her true form, a six foot man. He pulled his hands out of Jacob's grip. The door opened and a woman stepped into the room, a null.
“She came with me, so Ms. Hanford did not know about her. I must say that using a shapeshifter to imitate Valla Grein was unexpected. However, with you in our custody, I am sure your Agency will turn the healer over to us,” the Impostor said.
“And after you are done here, you will just fly away with your ship,” I said.
He cocked his head for a moment and then shifted into the form of a blue humanoid. He was bald, with no external ears or eyebrows. Aside from that, his face looked very human. He wore no cloths that I could see.
“What have you done?” he said through clenched bright with teeth.
“We had a nice talk with the ship's AI. It seems that it is a exploration vessel with inter-planetary capabilities, used in your species' inter-dimensional exploration program. You stole it,” I said.
Onni, Safullah's telporter had ported onto the ship when it's shields when down from Kelly Price's attack. He brought Tiki Topia and Topia was able to establish contact the with ship's AI before the ship's internal defenses kicked in. Although Topia had not yet got around all the AI's security procedures, he did manage to talk it to landing and stop external communications.
“It seems that we have something of yours,” I said as I pulled a small, plastic pistol from my back pouch and shot the null with a tranquilizer dart. He had just enough time to realize he had been hit before he collapsed to the floor. I felt my full powers return.
“You are full of surprises. Kim, take her down,” the Impostor said.
Unfortunately, my pistol had only one shot. I strengthened my mental shields to try and defect Kim's attack, which never came.
She looked at me and winked. She turned her head back to the Impostor and said,”No. I think I will let you two work this out.”
She got up and walked to the door.
The Impostor said,” You know that I can't let you go.”
She turned back to him and smiled. I “sensed” that she released a psychic blast toward the door and “saw” everyone in the hallway outside the office collapsed. I was thankful that they were not dead.
“I like being the player, rather than being played,” she said.
She looked at me and said,”Good Luck.”
As she left he office, I “heard” in my mind, Apollo is in the office. Don't trust him.
I scanned the office again and then saw a shimmer in the corner of the room left the of the door and it was moving toward me. I reached over and grabbed the shapeshifter's arm. The shimmer faded and John and James Johnson appeared. John had a nullifier collar in his hands. I shot upward through the ceiling. My TK field protected the shapeshifter. Once on the second floor, I pulled the shapeshifter closer and flew through the room's window. I shot toward the mountain base of the Agency.
Once I got beyond the distortion field I activate my comm system.
“Control, this is Artemis. Apollo has been compromised,” I said.
I dropped the shapeshifter at the the base and shot back to the base. As I neared the distortion field, it faded and I was hit by an energy bolt. I was knocked back and my bio-field fluctuated. I fell to the ground. I took me a minute to recover. I “felt” a distortion and “looked” at the viewing portal. It was now a transit portal and people were going through it. I got up, only to be hit with another energy bolt. This one was not quite as powerful, but it still took seconds to recover. By then, almost all the people, including the Visitors, had gone through the portal. The Impostor, in his blue form, waved from the other side. Jacobs had not gone through yet. The blue man motioned for Jacobs to come through, but Jacobs just stood their. The portal flashed brightly, and then was gone. Jacobs, then, frantically, worked at a console.
He then stood up and said,” Ms. Tarlock, I am sure you can hear me. I stopped the self-destruct of the portal unit. I think we will be able to work together, now.”
Chapter 27: Monday, August 1,7:23 PM, Mountain Daylight Time.
The Impostor had taken only his people and The Group's extra-powered with him through the portal. He left the personnel assigned to the portal project, the soldiers and, Jacobs. Jacobs not only saved the portal unit from destruction, he deactivated the charges that were in every building on the base. I explained to the major left in command of the base that his only option was to surrender. He agreed. I had a short talk with the commanding officer of the troops who surrounded the base. His orders were to arrest, hold the base's personnel and keep the media out. The Director told me that an arrangement with the American government would protect the portal units and give the Agency access to them. The Agency's group in the mountains had been picked up by a VTOL plane. It landed at the base and Jacobs and I got on. The American commander was not happy, but he knew he had no choice. The plane lifted off and we headed to New Mexico.
Hours later, I sat in a meeting room at the Agency's headquarters. Director Tenneth, Security Chief Hernandez, Valla Grein, Tiki Topia and Polly Nash sat around the table with me.
“First, the Alaska mission was a total disaster,” Tenneth said.
“I disagree. We learned valuable intelligence about the Impostor, his organization and about The Group,” I said.
“And, we lost the world's greatest hero as well as his use against The Destroyer,” the Director said.
That was something I was well aware off. That John might have been compromised was something I had not planned would
happen.
“One good thing that came out of it is that the President has assured me of the full cooperation of the American government in dealing with the threat of The Destroyer. She claims she had no knowledge of the black ops group,” Tenneth said.
“Plausible deniability,” Hernandez said.
“Also, because of Mr. Jacobs' actions, the portal unit and the entire base was saved from destruction,” I said.
Jacobs sat in a cell in the detention area. Valla Grein agreed to remove his resistance to telepathy and Polly Nash had access to his mind.
“Any chance Mr. Jacobs might help us against The Destroyer?” Tenneth said.
“He is too dangerous,” Valla Grein said.
“Ms. Nash, what is your assessment?” Tenneth said.
Nash brushed her red hair off her face and said,” His mind is not pretty. He is a sociopath who has killed a lot and enjoyed it. His only saving grace, is that he kills people to prove his superiority.”
“That is why he killed other Warriors on the other Earth,” I said.
“Yes, and that is why he has not killed anyone in the past twenty years he has been on this world. He has, always, felt superior to anyone he met. He did dream of killing both Apollo and Artemis,” Nash said.
“Then he should be glad to face The Destroyer,” Tenneth said.
“Not quite. He sees her as the ultimate adversary, but he understands how powerful she is and he is not suicidal,” Nash continued.
“As I said, he is not to be trusted. Give him back his full powers and he may flee, especially if he fears he may fail in battle,” Valla Grein said.
Director Tenneth looked at Nash and she said,” Perhaps, but if we give him something he wanted he might to choose to help us.”
“And what does he want?” Tenneth said.
“Obviously, he want his full powers back, but from our discussion on the flight back to the headquarters he is just as interested in going back home,” I said.
“There would not be anyone there to stop him,” Valla Grein said.
“I understand your concern, but on this world we have an immediate problem that he may be able to help us with. Besides, from what I have been told about The Destroyer's powers, there is a good chance that he might not survive a battle with her,” Tenneth said.
Comes Great Responsibility Page 16