Floor 21- Dark Angel

by Jason Luthor

  We all do. You see their skeletons sometimes, in the Deadlands. Tommy shakes his head. “Yeah. Those giant robots that were used during the war. About the size of buildings. Central used them to fight back Carthaginian forces. Also giant Creepers the size of towers.”

  “Exactly. We’ve never found one intact.” His eyes move between all of us. “We think the raiders have.”

  Before we have anything to say, Yousef speaks up. “From everything we’ve ever discovered, Panzers have the firepower to hold back entire armies. They’ve got the firepower to combat both ground and air forces, and frankly, the old stories make it clear that at full power, one of them could go shot for shot with even the Dynamis. If the raiders were to get ahold of one, the results would be disastrous for everyone in the region. Our problem right now is that we don’t have the intel necessary to know if they actually do have one that’s operational and, if they do, where it is and what they plan to do with it.”

  “And we don’t have the time to wait and see when we’re talking about a weapon of this magnitude.”

  General McCullum speaks. “Now, the War Council’s putting together a few recon units to go along with some scouts from Fort Silence and sniff out the city, maybe find this Panzer. The odds of that aren’t good though. We all know how spread out things are out there.”

  Jackie nods. “Almost two hundred miles in every direction.”

  “You’re damned right. Every time we’ve gone in after the raiders, we’ve had some idea of where they were. This time? It’ll be like looking for a drop of oil in the ocean.”

  Branagh looks at Jackie. “Dark Angel, I understand that you’ve had a tiring night . . .”

  “You need me to head out there to recon the area. I’ll do it.”

  “I appreciate it, but we’ve got a different idea in mind. If the Panzer’s already operational, we’ll need to move fast. We can’t get a team into Zone Delaware without stirring up the hornet’s nest. It’s too well guarded. This needs to be a one-woman operation. You get in, find out whatever you can about the Panzer, and then head back into Central. This isn’t just recon. This is a full covert operation. We don’t have very accurate maps of the area because we just discovered this zone within the last week, but we’ve identified some landmarks, some particularly high towers where you might be able to drop in. You’ll need to be quiet about this.”

  “If they’ve got any sort of sensors on the sky, my suit will scatter the beams, so they’ll see something, they just won’t know what it is.”

  “And your more . . .” He tilts his head past her and to her back. “Flamboyant presentation?”

  Jackie actually smiles. “The fire’s for show. I found out a long time ago that making my enemies scared of me rattled them enough that sometimes they didn’t even put up a fight. I can turn off the flames.”

  “Good. That settles that.”

  “But there’s more?” she asks, picking up on his tone. “What else?”

  “We’ve also got to prepare in case that Panzer is already on the move. A unified raider assault with something like that backing them would make it hard for even the combined military of Central and Fort Silence to win. We’d like to call up the Dynamis and literally every aircraft available from Fort Silence to provide air support in case we have to turn this into a fight.”

  “The Dynamis? That makes sense if the Panzer’s not working with full power, but I thought we couldn’t fly ships too deep into the city without stirring up the Creep.”

  “That’s true, which is also why we’re happy to say that Doctor Watson completed work on one of his anti-Creep devices the other day,” he says as his arms brace along the edge of the table. “I’m fuzzy on the details, but it’s supposed to create a type of Pocket Space field that causes widespread collapse in the Creep’s structure. The only problem’s that it needs to be put right at the heart of the Northwest Creep Colony. It’d take half of our forces to fight our way into one of those things, and that would leave us exposed to the Raiders.”

  She shakes her head. “I can’t be two places at once, Mr. President.”

  “You can’t. You’re right. You’re also not the one person in this room who can control the Creep with their mind.” His eye go to Mike. “And, as we found out tonight, that person has already been staying off their medication.”

  Mikey shifts uncomfortably, figuring out something to say when Jackie shakes her head. “No way. You’re not sending him out into the Creep.”

  Mike looks her way. “Why not, Jackie?”

  “What?” She returns his look and seems obviously confused. “It’s too dangerous for you to go alone.”

  “But it’s not too dangerous for you to go alone into Raider territory? Jackie, whole point of me coming off the meds was to save Cynthia and Mandy if it came down to it. Maybe, I dunno, maybe it was all supposed to go down like this. Fate or something. I’ve got the power to control the Creep again and just in time to help clear a way for us to get some serious hardware out into the Deadlands. If you were the only person who could do this, would you turn it down?”

  She stares at him for a long second before she shakes her head and smiles at him. “I guess I keep thinking of you all like the people I helped down the Tower, barely scraping to get. You’re all still my friends, but you’re all way stronger than you used to be. Yeah, Mike. If you think you can do this, then I’m not going to doubt you.”

  “I can do it.” He turns to look at Branagh. “I can do it, Mr. President.”

  Branagh nods to him. “We do have our concerns about your powers, which I think is understandable considering what we saw tonight.”

  “That was because my family was being held at gunpoint. Won’t be seeing anything like that out there in the Creep. And I know I can control the Creep. I’m a lot stronger now than I was coming down the Tower.”

  “Okay then. The both of you need to start getting ready to go. Dark Angel, you’ll be heading south. We’ll get our maps uploaded to your helmet and all the intel we have. Lieutenant Chapman, we’ll put everything we have on a tablet for you. Fort Silence has some pretty extensive recon data on the Northwest Creep Colony that you’ll find helpful.” He pauses a second when he sees Jackie staring down Yousef, the two glaring at each other from across the room. “As far as the larger circumstances surrounding the alliance between Central Freedom and Fort Silence, there are certain discussions ongoing that I think are going to help us all out. Until we get those finalized, I’d like to ask everyone in this room to withhold on any further arguments and to focus on your missions. Is that clear?”

  Everyone nods and gives an affirmative, and President Branagh bows his head a little. “Thank you, everyone. This might be the most important operation we launch in the history of Central. Let’s get this right.”

  Personal Recording of Devleena Kumar 04

  I’m out of my armor and sitting on my bed, facing Belinda and Roberts, when Roberts start growling. “She’s unnatural,” he mumbles as he’s holding his sidearm in his hands. “It’s exactly like the general says. People with these powers . . .”

  “Hey, Roberts,” I tell him. “First of all, the general is one of those people with powers. Unless you think he was born with that golden arm of his.”

  “It’s not the Creep or these insane psychic powers though. That’s technology. Human made technology.”

  “Second of all,” I continue, ignoring him, “Would you mind complaining about the beatdown you had tonight without flipping your pistol around in your hands? I’m not saying I don’t trust you, but I don’t think anyone in the room wants you accidentally firing that thing off while you’re venting.”

  “I hear you,” he says as he puts the pistol into the drawer underneath his bed. “I’m still pissed though.”

  “I would be too if I’d just been thrown across the street and into a wall,” I joke with him, but he doesn’t look amused. “Come on, Roberts. You’re the one who broke ranks and went after that Michael guy. Nobody g
ave you that order. I think I actually explicitly said to hold back until we figured out a strategy.”

  “He was going to hurt people.”

  “I’m not saying he wasn’t. Did that give you a reason to go in there like a big, bad man to duke it out with him?” He looks embarrassed when I tell that to him, and I lean over and slap him on the knee. “Hey. Heroes die young. I was completely down for taking him, but it would have been a lot better to go in as a group.”

  “I just wanted to take him out.”

  “You’re a little hot headed, Roberts. It’s not an endearing quality. I had a plan. Next time, obey my orders, alright? I mean, the last time I checked, I think I was still the one who supervised this outfit.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I appreciate it.” I give him a smile. “He really did whoop your ass though.”

  Belinda snickers from her bed. “Yeah he did.”

  “Roberts, he took you like yesterday’s garbage and tossed you down the road.”

  That at least gets a laugh out of him. “I didn’t see him coming.”

  “You’d just seen the guy put a dent in the Angel by slapping two slabs of concrete against her with his mind. What did you think was going to happen?”

  “I thought I could get to him before he reacted!”

  “Roberts, again, the Dark Angel wasn’t fast enough to avoid everything he threw at her.”

  “Well, in my defense, it was also our first time seeing her up close. I was still trying to compare how fast she was to us.”

  “Faster. Oh, way faster.”

  “Well, I know that now.”

  “That girl kicked some ass out there,” I tell them. “Did you see those moves? Forward flip into a flying kick? The reflexes to dodge some lighting quick punches and the power to knock a crater into the ground? Holy hell, kids. It was like someone took the best boxer in the world and mixed them with the greatest gymnast. She was everything I’d hoped she’d be.”

  Belinda looks my way. “Think we could take her, sarge?”

  “One on one? I highly doubt it. Altogether, I think we’ve got the firepower and the tech. Lesser armed people than us have managed to smack her around pretty good. I don’t think it’s something we’ve got to worry about though. Seems like we’re all on the same side.”

  “You said something was going down tonight?”

  “Yup. Word of God is we’ve got some major recon happening south of us overnight. She’s the only person fast enough to mobilize that quick. That’s why we’ve all got to call it an early night tonight. I’m not going to make any promises, but I think we’ll be deploying in a day or two. I guess it depends on what sort of intel we get.”

  “Are we thinking an aerial drop? That’d mean we’d have to head back to Fort Silence to link up with the Dynamis.”

  “I don’t know right now,” I tell her as I slide onto my back and put my arms behind my head. “You two talk or whatever. I’ve got some thinking I need to do about what we might need to get done in the next couple of days.”

  Roberts interrupts one more time. “Sarge, for real. You really don’t have any problem with her or that guy Mike? Even though you know how important it is to keep humans pure?”

  The question sounds awful even hearing it said like that. “Roberts . . . I couldn’t be more grateful that the general raised me. Living around Fort Silence saved my family from a life living, just trying to scrape by in the Deadlands. I’m a ten foot tall mountain of walking destruction because I got the chance to train at the fort. But this whole thing about human purity . . .” I shake my head as I think about it. “We’ve met some bad people out there, people who’ll shoot themselves up full of Creep trying to become powerful. Don’t get me wrong, I get where the general’s coming from. It’s scary to think about there being people like that.”

  “But what do you actually think about keeping things pure when we’re fighting with people like the Angel?”

  “I think that maybe, as much as I respect the general . . . He’s not perfect. And maybe he’s got this one wrong. You’ve heard how people talk about the Angel around here, how much they love her. I’m not saying we give her a pass if she crosses a line. What I’m not going to do is pretend that we can judge everyone based on the fact that they’re different from us. So far, all the Angel’s done is shown is she wants to do the right thing. I don’t think I could turn a gun on her for that.”

  Mike’s Recording 19

  Cynthia and Mandy are staring at me from the bed. President gave them a bed for the night, so they don’t have to head home so late. Anyway, she doesn’t look so happy. I kind of wave my hands and put on a grin. “So . . . surprise! I haven’t been taking my meds.”

  “Michael.”

  One word. My name. It’s all she has to say. “I know. I know. I’ll go back on them as soon as this is all over.”

  “That’s not what I’m worried about. You could have hurt yourself by not taking them.”

  “True, but . . . I didn’t. And I recued you all from getting taken to detention. Also banged up Jackie pretty good while I was at it.”

  Mandy smiles. “That was kind of cool. I didn’t think anyone could actually fight her.”

  “Thanks, kid,” I tell her with a wink.

  Cynthia shakes her head and looks down. “The only reason I’m upset is because you could have gotten hurt. No, wait, that’s wrong. I’m also upset because you didn’t tell me.”

  “Honestly just kept hoping for the best, you know? Thought Jackie’d put everything to bed before it came to us duking it out or whatever.”

  “Are you two okay now?”

  “Oh, yeah,” I say as I shake my head. “I think between the fighting and the talk we had . . . feels like everything’s back to normal.”

  “That’s good to hear. It’s been hard seeing you two not talking with how much you care about her.” She takes a deep breath before going on. “And this whole mission? Should I be worried?”

  “Worried? Nah.”

  “Even though you’re going alone into the Creep?”

  “That’s just the thing though,” I tell her as I pull a chair up to them and take a seat. “I’m the perfect guy to do it. You two saw what I can do. Used to be I could force the Creep to stop and control Creepers with my mind. Nobody else we have that can do that, not even Jackie.”

  “I know what you’ve said before about that. You’ve also told me what happens when your powers go out of control.”

  “Only happens when I’m stressed about the people I care about. Impossible to do that when you two are safe here, right?” She still looks worried, and I grab her by the hand. “Hey. I came off the meds because I wanted to protect you. As long as that’s the case, and I know you two are safe, I’ll be able to handle this.”

  “I know, Mike. I know you can handle it. I didn’t even realize just how much you could do until I saw you fighting Jackie . . .”

  “Neither did I.”

  “You’ll be careful. You really can control the Creep?”

  “Almost as good as Judge. I was even able to stop him from attacking me once or twice. Took control of the Creep right out of his hands.”

  Mandy looks over at me. “So, you’re a superhero now, too. Just like Jackie.”

  “Nah, just your average guy who wants to make a difference. I just happen to have a few extra tools to get the job done.”

  Cynthia leans in and kisses me on the cheek. “I’ll make a special dinner for when you get back. Okay?”

  That gets the biggest smile out of me I’ve had all night. “You kidding? If I know there’s a meal to come home to, there’s no way I don’t make it back.”

  Jackie’s Recording 16

  “How long do I have to wear this thing?” I ask Doctor Watson while he’s fiddling with my gauntlet. He looks up at my forehead, the only part of me that’s not suited up in my armor, and plucks this small device that’s been stuck to my head. For a second, he looks at the small digital display on the f
ront before tucking it into his pocket.

  “Congratulations. You’re not demonstrating any abnormal brain functions, though I may uncover something when I upload this data to my computer.”

  “That’s a mobile brain scanner? You’ve got some crazy tech in here, you know that?”

  “Oh, quite. The stasis field I used to restrain you when I had to remove the rocket shell from your torso. Portable Pocket Space generators, but also industrial strength ones as well.”

  “Bigger? More storage space?”

  “You could fit a man inside if you wanted to. Though, that would be a poor decision.”

  “That’s actually something I’ve wondered about. What happens if a person goes into Pocket Space?”

  “Nothing, so long as their head remains on our side of reality. Of course, close a Pocket Space window while a person is on two different sides and, well, it would rather be like executing them on a guillotine.”

  “Okay, but what happens if you go in all the way?”

  He taps at his skull. “Your brain waves, for lack of better words, ‘fade’ into the background energy of Pocket Space. You quite literally become inseparable from the energy on the other side. The body, hm, dissolves quickly thereafter, as if it’s absorbed into the other dimension. We haven’t quite determined why that is.”

  “That’s kind of gross.”

  “It’s worse to see it happen,” he says with a shake of his head.

  “You’ve never seen anyone survive it?”

  “Well, I do know that a corpse inserted into Pocket Space does not dissolve, which leads me to believe that the unique reaction living humans have with insertion into that side of reality has entirely to do with their brain functions. I’ve hypothesized that, perhaps, a person with suppressed brain functions, such as a person in a coma, may have a chance at survival. With that said, most people tend to consider such experiments unethical.”