Empowered, p.22
Empowered, page 22
That got everyone’s attention. He pointed at the wall display and turned it on with a nearby remote.
“This is the data we extracted from the Irish Necklace station.” A map of the world. He moved it to Antarctica. The image zoomed down to a mountainous area near a bay. Gold lines radiated out in all directions. “The Gaia force, as constrained by the necklace.” He tapped out a command on his data pad. What looked like glowing steel bands appeared at points along the lines. “RAMPART,” Titan said. “Invisible, undetectable by radar. Controlled from here.” He zoomed in closer to the mountain until it filled the screen. “The amount of power must be staggering. The data I was able to get from James Goldin’s codes revealed that there is a network of fusion reactors providing power, both there, and at a secondary station on the sea floor beneath the north pole.
This was the first I’d heard of codes from Goldin. He hadn’t mentioned any when I spoke with him. I would have remembered.
Somehow Titan had gotten them from him. But when? The answer hit me. He’d gotten them from Goldin’s data.
“The Dark-Net, Goldin’s ‘shunt,’ has a node inside the ice mountain, in a cavern not far from the complex.”
“You could have let us take that route,” Naoko griped.
“The Dark-Net is too unpredictable,” Titan said. He spoke like a cat pouncing on a mouse. “Besides, the node will be watched. We’d be cut down as soon as we emerged from it. The so-called secrecy faction in charge of that facility is ruthless.”
Kwame shrugged. “We’re aboard this aircraft, so none of that matters, now.”
Titan nodded. “Precisely.”
My fingers tightened under the table. I was fucking sick of this dance. “Can we cut to the chase, please? We’re going to put on the freakin’ blue jumpsuits, and pretend to be part of the secrecy faction that runs RAMPART in order to get inside and turn the system off, right?”
“Who said anything about turning the system off?” Naoko asked, giving me a hard look. “I thought this was about seizing—"
Titan broke in. “You’ll be paid no matter what.”
“The damn system isn’t working,” I snapped. “Or haven’t you noticed the horrendous mega-storms that are going to flatten the world in less than two days?”
She went pale, looked at Titan. He nodded.
“Oh my god,” she gasped.
“Exactly,” I shot back.
Titan crossed his arms. “I didn’t tell you because I wanted to keep us focused.”
Kwame laughed without humor. “No, sir, you didn’t tell us because you didn’t want to scare us off.”
Bingo.
Gregory looked shocked. “You lied to us.”
“No, I didn’t tell you the entirety of what this operation was about.”
Keisha and I looked at each other. She rolled her eyes.
“Listen, we have to do this,” I said, getting up and pacing. “You can’t hide from the mega-mega storm when it forms.”
“The hell I can’t.” Naoko glared at me. She gave Titan a nasty look. “Only now, I don’t have the chance.”
“I don’t see what the big deal is,” I said. “Why does the storm change your mind about how crazy-impossible this mission is?”
“Because I could always retreat if things got too ‘crazy-impossible,’ only now there isn’t time.”
Keisha scowled at her. “Don’t have much faith, do you?”
“I only trust myself,” Naoko said.
“This is done,” Titan said. “We need to discuss the details.”
So, he laid them out for us. We had a code that let us in. RAMPART control never communicated with the outside world. Any arrivals had to use a code, otherwise an automated defense system would laser them out of the sky or sink them in the ocean, depending upon whether they were arriving by air or sea. There were guards stationed there. We were going to be an emergency replacement for the people running RAMPART. Including mom, I thought. My skin went cold.
Titan went on. We were to get inside, neutralize the guards, and seize control of the system. Then, Titan would evaluate how to shut it down. He shot Kwame a look when he started to ask a question about that. It was pretty freaking obvious now that Titan had no intention of shutting the thing down. I rubbed my sweaty hands on my thighs, under the table.
“Better be quick,” Keisha groused when he told us about shutting down the system. “We sure as shit aren’t going to have much time.”
The others nodded.
He stroked his chin. “We’ll have time.”
I snorted. “Why are you so sure about that?”
Titan raised his eyebrows. “I’ve run calculations based on the information we’ve obtained.”
The bastard was so caught up in his perfect plan he wasn’t even trying to sound or act like Alex.
No matter what, I wasn’t leaving his side. We were getting inside, and then we’d see about whose plan became reality.
21
Putting on the blue jumpsuit felt like a betrayal. It had been the last thing I’d ever wanted to do: join the Hero Council and follow any and all orders. I hated the blue jumpsuit. Hated the logo, the gold “HC” inside the globe of the Earth on the left breast of the suit, over the heart.
Keisha and I were in the little bunk room. We finally had a moment alone together, right before arriving in Antarctica.
“You definitely don’t look like that belongs on you,” she said. She didn’t look any happier in her blue jumpsuit.
“Need to fake it, then,” I said. “But yeah, this sucks.”
She moved close to me, gave me a hug. “You’re pretty damn good at faking, bitch,” she whispered, and pulled me closer.
I hugged her back. “Not nearly as good as you, girl,” I murmured in her ear. “Have you worked it all out?”
“Not all,” she whispered, “but I sure as shit know that’s not Alex. Everyone said shapeshifting was impossible, but whoever that is that looks like him is proof it is.”
I held her close. “It’s Titan. He faked his own death, and then became Harris. His power is to mimic other powers.”
She jerked. “No shit?” Her whispered question had an edge of fear to it. I sure as hell couldn’t blame her. “Figures,” she whispered. She stepped back just far enough so she could look me in the eyes. “Pretty long odds, then.”
I nodded.
She lifted her chin, and the fear was gone, replaced by ‘to-hell-with-it’ determination. “Don’t matter, does it? We still have to do this.”
“Damn straight,” I said. “One thing we’ve got going for us: they don’t know that we know this is a setup. It’s freaking obvious they want to take over RAMPART, not shut it down. We’re headed to where we need to be to shut that damn system down, one way or another. You with your metal power. Me, I’ll be standing inside an ice mountain. Next to a sea. That means life. I can work with that.” I pulled her close again. “Together to the end, no matter what.”
She hugged me back. “Damn straight. Always.”
I grinned fiercely. “Okay, let’s do this.”
“To the end,” she said. “And beyond, if I have anything to say about it, bitch.”
The others were sitting uncomfortably in their blue jumpsuits when Keisha and I strolled in.
Naoko glared at us. “Where the hell have you two been?” She spat out the words. “We’re arriving in eight minutes.” Kwame and Gregory just stared at Keisha and I.
I glanced at Keisha out of the corner of my eyes, expecting her to swear and maybe conjure a cloud of razors to put Naoko in her place.
Instead, she grinned a little grin. “Then we’re just on time,” she said.
My muscles relaxed a fraction. Not too much, because this was one of those times when it really felt like you could cut the tension with a knife. I was glad Keisha had played it calm and loose, but those eight minutes dragged out forever. I fidgeted in my chair.
The engines finally changed their tune and the plane slowed. My heart pounded.
Those crates and their contents. Titan had been mum about those. Said it was insurance, in the guise of supplies. But how did he know what a super-secret RAMPART installation that none of us even knew existed a few days ago would accept? He must have gotten even more out of the info we had brought from Ireland than I’d realized.
He’s a mimic, I reminded myself. He can copy powers. Goldin said three was the limit. Shapeshifting was one. Healing was another. If he had copied Alex’s power, that would be three. My eyes widened.
The power blocking, was that an aspect of Alex’s power he’d figured out before Alex had? How fast could Titan master another’s power?
What if Titan had been able to go one better and make it four? What if he’d copied Goldin’s genius? That would explain how he’d been able to figure out so much in such as short time. Maybe he only got that in flashes, but it might be enough. Maybe his mimicking Goldin’s genius power let him master other power faster?
The engines revved up, snapping my thoughts back to the conference room and the five of us, strapped into our chairs, waiting to land.
* * *
There was a bump, the engines whined more softly, and finally cut out.
I licked my lips. A moment later Titan/Alex strode into the observation room. “Let’s go,” he ordered. He headed down the stairs.
Below, the minions had changed into Support black jumpsuits and carried stunners. They stood at attention.
“They’re laying it on a bit thick,” I said to Keisha, as we descended the stairs behind Kwame and the others.
She pursed a corner of her mouth. “Yeah, feels like a cover.”
Support agents would be less military and more quietly menacing.
“Try to act a bit less like you have sticks up your rears,” Kwame told the minions.
They nodded, shifted.
“Grab the pallet jack,” Alex said to one of the fake Support agents, a burly looking white guy. He rushed over, lifted the handle.
The door whooshed open and the ramp descended.
I wiped my palms on my jumpsuit.
My mother was nearby now. I’d kept from thinking about that fact the past few days, in the rush of everything, but now I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Michelle, my mom, dead woman no longer, plugged into this RAMPART, controlling the Gaia force, summoning dragons and other monsters.
My body trembled as I followed the others down the ramp. Titan strode ahead of the rest of us, followed by Gregory, Kwame, Naoko; all walking ramrod straight, miraculously looking the part. Then the minions followed in a little square, with the pallet jack in the middle, and Keisha and I brought up the rear.
The plane was parked inside a high, vaulted room. The walls were made of ice and it was as cold as hell. Huge racks of overhead lights illuminated the cavern, throwing harsh shadows everywhere. A pair of Raptor VTOL jets sat nearby, and a big snow cat was parked beside a huge set of outside doors, painted white.
Our breath hung in the air. The suits kept us warm, and we wore matching Hero Council-blue gloves as well. Our boots were insulated.
It was still as cold as hell.
A big dura-steel door at one end of the cavern slid back, and a half dozen Support types in black jumpsuits spread out into the room, stun rifles at the ready.
My skin began prickling beneath my suit. Other empowered were here.
An instant later a blue-suited figure flew into the room, landed in front of Kwame and Naoko, held up a hand. It looked like an armored gauntlet with a power pack. It had to be a weapon. The Empowered wore a blue head mask.
“Halt,” his voice boomed.
Another Empowered strode from the brightly lit room beyond the cavern. The Support agents moved out of her way. She was huge, broad-shouldered, with muscles that rippled as she walked. Her face gleamed silver. She was easily seven-and-a-half feet tall.
“Freak,” Keisha whispered to me. “Her skin is like quicksilver.”
My eyes widened. Empowered whose power physically changed them were extremely rare; almost unheard of.
Her steel gray hair was cut short. Her eyes gleamed quicksilver as well.
Titan smiled. “We are the relief team.”
The woman raised an eyebrow. “We received no notification.”
Titan flashed Alex’s thousand-watt smile. My stomach twisted. I wanted to smash that stolen smile off his face. Instead, I stood still and watched.
“We tried to reach you, but the atmospheric interference from the mega-storms is too great. We sent the code as soon as we descended. We need to get to the control center. We know that the RAMPART team is exhausted.”
I wondered if he really knew that.
“Your code needs verification,” the masked Empowered boomed at Titan.
Kwame’s fingers twitched.
“I sent the code, and it was received,” Titan said.
“That is not sufficient,” the masked Empowered boomed again. “A verification code must also be sent.”
“You have too many personnel for a relief team.” The giant woman’s voice rumbled. She flexed her fingers. Her quicksilver skin swirled.
“We were instructed to bring additional Empowered for extra security, given the global crisis,” Titan said, voice calm.
“That’s insufficient explanation, and there was no verification code,” the masked Empowered said.
“Very well, I will provide the code now.” Titan tapped out a command on his wrist comm.
Number thirteen cargo box opened and a nullifier cannon rose up and fired at the two sanctioned Empowered.
The woman shrieked. Her skin melted off her body, falling in bloody chunks. She dropped to her knees; bone crunched. She screamed.
The masked Empowered staggered but managed to raise up his gauntleted arm.
A bolt of force smashed into Gregory and hurled him back onto the ice.
The base Support agents opened fire with their stunners, and our minions returned fire.
I hit the deck. Reached out with my power, but there was nothing.
Keisha flung spinning chains at two Support agents, pinning their arms to their sides. They lost their balance and fell.
“Gregory,” Titan shouted.
Gregory gestured and water erupted from the fallen agents’ mouths. They choked and writhed on the ice. Drowning with air all around. I looked away.
Naoko snapped her fingers. Force smashed into the masked Empowered. He staggered, fell to one knee. Kwame snapped his fingers and thunder boomed around the man, drowning out any shout he may have had.
“Kill them,” Titan ordered.
Naoko pointed at the woman, who still screamed. A bubble of force appeared around the woman, now a bloody wreck. Naoko closed her hand and the force bubble crushed the woman into pulp. Keisha had summoned spinning swords but held back.
Three of our minions sprawled out on the ice, knocked out.
A kneeling Support agent fired her stunner and Kwame tumbled to the ground, unconscious.
I jumped up and charged at the agent, tackling her, bashing her head against the ice. I hit her three times before her head lolled back. I grabbed her rifle.
More chains spun past me, and another Support agent went down.
I stunned the other two.
Just like that, the battle was over.
The masked Empowered sprawled on the ice, not moving. Smoke rose from his chest.
Titan held a strange looking pistol. It reminded me of a big automatic, but had a narrow, needle-like muzzle.
A laser pistol?
“We’re done here,” Titan said. The remains of the giant woman were rapidly freezing into an icy horror.
Titan walked around and shot each of the unconscious Support agents. I forced myself not to react. Keisha flinched, but didn’t speak up, either. Naoko gave a smug little nod. Gregory looked sick. Kwame was sprawled on the ice, unconscious.
My jaw tightened. Titan was a murdering bastard.
He pulled a hypo-spray from a hidden pouch in his jumpsuit, gave Kwame a shot, as well as the two unconscious minions, bring them around.
“All right, let’s move.” He pointed at the burly minion. “Push the jack. The rest of you, look alive.”
The men fanned out. Kwame stood up, rubbing his neck, his face sheepish.
Naoko laughed at him. “Not fast enough, old man.”
Keisha and I exchanged glances again, and we nodded at each other. We had to be ready to act.
Our group tramped across the cavern.
A gust of cold air from behind, followed by an ear-shattering roar, made us whip around.
A section of floor near the entrance had opened and three massive, impossibly huge bear -things charged toward us.
They had rhino horns on their heads and massive, vampire-like fangs. They were each the size of a tank. Impossible monsters, like the dragon-things at Kerch.
Naoko gestured and a force wall went up. One bear crashed into it, falling to the ice. Naoko yelled, and clutched her hand. Blood spattered on the ice. Somehow, her power had rebounded on her.
Kwame snapped his fingers at the two other mutant bear things. Thunder boomed.
Titan ran to the jack and fumbled to open the lid to #14. He pulled out a rocket launcher, brought it to his shoulder and fired. The rocket streaked into one of the mutant bears, detonating. The explosion tore a huge chunk of flesh from the bear thing. It collapsed with an ear-splitting roar. But the third charged, and the first stood up and lumbered after it, toward us.
“Make a wall!” I yelled at Keisha.
She gestured like a mad woman. Steam billowed. The skeleton of a wall rose, but the bears crashed through, roaring.
“Run,” I shouted at Keisha, and began back-pedaling away from the bears.
The minions fired their stunners, but the bears kept on coming. Titan fired another missile but it missed, striking one of the Raptor’s jets. Burning fuel spread across the ice.
The nearest bear raced at me. I brought up my arms. At the very last second the bear turned and charged one of our minions.
