Age of Power 1: Legacy (38 page)

I looked from the picture and glared at Ian. “All this talk
about Claire is nice, thanks for the history lesson.
But as a
distraction?
It didn’t work. A question you didn’t answer was the reason
that Alex was the only one to stop the asteroid.”

Ian looked away and then commented, “Yasmine wants something
from Ryan Technologies. I’m guessing it’s the information about the Empowered.
What else could she want?”

I sighed. He was avoiding the question. This was getting
ridiculous. But I humored him and said, “Yeah, she wants all the information
that Ryan Tech has about the Empowered. I’m guessing she doesn’t like people
knowing too much about what makes us tick.”

I explained quickly as I could. Laying out what I thought, and
what
had been told
to me by others. Throughout my talk
about Yasmine’s idea to create opposing sides to fight against each other, Ian
looked more and more incredulous.

He finally stopped me. “Let me see if I understand this. Yasmine
hires…or manipulates a terrorist group to attack…what, Riverlite?”

I leaned back in my chair, giving him my answer.
“Yup.”

He ignored my snide remarks and continued. “Then she brings in
her group of Empowered to stop their attack.”

“Yup.”

He took a breath, then, “And she does it as publicly as
possible, to get the acclaim and acceptance as heroes.”

“And from then on, she and her group of heroes become public
icons, getting deeper into modern society and begin to influence things.
Politics, social views, laws, until finally, they take over. Ta Da.
New world order made in Yasmine’s version of heaven.”

Ian looked at me, unable to believe what he was hearing. After a
moment, he chuckled slightly and then said, “That’s ridiculous! It’s
simplistic! Just the fact that the Empowered are superhuman will make it nearly
impossible for such easy acceptance. Yasmine may think of her plan as a
successful way to control humanity, but it would hardly be heaven!”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Hey, man. Yasmine’s a telepath. If it
doesn’t work she might just run out of patience and take over the minds of
government leaders.”

Ian shook his head and said, “History is full of examples of
what happens when governments and dictators try such tactics. People wake up.
Germans in the 1930s and 1940s actually did fight against Hitler, weakening him
in whatever way they could. Hitler barely survived assassination attempts by
his own military. And in Occupied France, the French Resistance did far more.
What do you people—?”

“Ian, you don’t get it. The Empowered aren’t a culture. We
aren’t organized enough to demand something. Yasmine was able to manipulate a
group of the Empowered to stop the warring parties in Africa. She’s stopped
entire armies with her mind! And as for the Empowered who
are
following Yasmine…well let’s just say
that she’s Jim Jones in a
dominatrix outfit. She is using their belief in the Avatar to get them to carry
out her wishes.
Damn it, Ian!
Riverlite and Ryan Tech
is just the start of it!”

Ian finally looked worried. Good. Finally, he was seeing what I
feared. But while Ian looked worried, he also wasn’t convinced.
“No, Vaughn, sorry.
There are simply too many people. She
won’t be able to control all of humanity. She might get control for a
short-while, but humans will eventually win out. There would be a war, yes, but
the Empowered would lose. Yasmine is a fool to even consider such insanity.”

I sat up, folding my arms on the table. In a casual tone I said,
“War…funny that. You’ve mentioned a couple. The war against Hitler and Germany,
and the French Resistance was a good point too. But, you know, I like history
and I like comic books. And I don’t think you realize that, for all the damage
all those wars have caused, they were spread out over miles and miles of
battlegrounds.”

Ian let out a short breath.
“Your point?”

“In the comics, well, think about what happens when Superman
fights any big powerful villain. Those fights trash cities. At least on
television it has music playing along to enhance the drama. But in reality, there
is no music, and the actors don’t get to leave the stage. And when it comes to
actual war, between the Empowered? Think about those kinds of scenes on a much
larger scale.” I explained.

I paused for a moment. He 
still 
looked
skeptical. So I said, “Come on Ian, think of every square foot of Earth getting
bombed like Dresden was in Germany of 1945. Hell, I can easily see some
superhumans having the potential to create the same level of destruction that
Hiroshima or Nagasaki went through. After all, if Alex could split Yama in two,
then he could have done the same thing on Earth.”

I took a breath. “And likely, so can Empowered. We 
are
 his
legacy after all.”

I shut up. I didn’t want to push it any further. We sat there in
silence. Finally, he said, “No, that’s…that can’t happen. I can’t believe it
could go that far. Besides, with the physical limits that you have I doubt—”

Ian shut up. Raising a brow in surprise, I asked, “What limits
are you talking about?”

He made a dismissive hand gesture. “Never mind, it’s classified.
Suffice it to say, the Empowered would lose. So we aren’t all that worried
about Yasmine’s plans, Vaughn.”

I glared at him and said, “Look, that’s fine for you, but she’s
already made Riverlite her first target. It’s on the news; she wants people to
see this city
being attacked
so she can ‘defend’ it!
Damn it, Ian, I can’t stop her alone! I need help!”

I stood and leaned on the table. “Look, I know that you guys
aren’t powerhouses, at least not up to the level that Alex was. Maybe that’s
why none of you tried to stop Yama. But seriously, if there were enough
Noumenonii around, it might make Yasmine reconsider. She’ll come after you no
matter what; she knows about you. So cut her down now, before she can raise an
army to find you and kill you.”

Ian stared at me for a moment. I could see that he was fighting
not to tell me something. Or he was fighting 
to 
tell me
something. Maybe his people had a way of blocking him from saying certain
things. I wasn’t sure.

Either way, it didn’t surprise me when he said, “You don’t
understand.”

“Fine, okay! You’re a bunch of selfish pricks! I got that from
how you callously treat people’s memories and make people disappear! But
the Empowered exist because of you!
Because of the
Noumenonii!
If you people had tried to stop the asteroid or even helped
Alex to push it away—”

I stopped when Ian visibly swallowed. Shame flashed across his
face. He wouldn’t meet my eyes. For a moment, his reaction just confused me.
Why would he feel ashamed about not helping Alex? My last question reverberated
in my mind. Something was seriously wrong here…no, it wasn’t possible…was it?

Memories of those horrible days returned. NASA researchers had
been confused about how Yama was acting. Nothing made sense. The concussive
waves from all those nuclear blasts should’ve pushed the thing away from Earth.
Instead, Yama literally swung around the moon to come right back at
us. Oh, damn. I understood now.

“The Noumenonii—they didn’t just sit back. They—you—pointed the
asteroid at us,” I said, praying that I was wrong.
Praying
that he wouldn’t answer.

After what seemed like an eternity, Ian finally said, “Yes.”

“You bastards!”
 I
yelled. I could only stare. This was just too much. It was as though…as though…

God, I couldn’t even think of something that could describe what
these bastards had done!

Then the building shook with a rumble of noise, and yells of
panic sounded outside the room.

I looked at Ian and said, “Time’s up.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Planetary genocide.
What do you say to
something like that? How do you react to seeing someone who almost made it
happen? What do you even call something like that?
Maniac?
Madman?
Hell, the word ‘insane’ doesn’t begin to cover
the concept.

And
how do you even label such a person? I couldn’t do it. And before I could even
comprehend it, the attack had begun. Soldiers rushed in and pulled us out of
the room.

They
took us down the hall toward the stairwell. They were snappish, but
at the moment
, none of them seemed worried about me.
No
they were more worried about what was happening outside.
More rumbles of explosions
could be heard
as we ran
down the hallway towards the stairwell.

On
the way down the stairs we had come up earlier, they told us that mercenaries
were attacking the outposts near the highway. Perez asked Ian what he and his
men should do. Ian gave them orders to call for help—they already had. Ian gave
more orders, and I could see that he was definitely the man in charge around
here.

I
wasn’t sure how good an idea that was now that I knew what Ian’s people were
like. But I also knew this wasn’t the time to discuss it. I just had to hope
that the crazy genocidal maniacs hadn’t already done something new horrible
thing.
Like using the biology labs here to make a super virus
or something.
To make me worry even more, Ian tried to tell me that
things would be all right. I just glared back at him. This was definitely not
the time to try to make me feel all calm and relaxed. He had the sense to look
away with a guilt showing in his eyes.

Running
down the hall, we had to stop when the building shook—an explosion. And it was
a lot closer than the guard posts. Someone was lobbing explosives…or running at
the buildings and firing super-heated bolts from his hands.
Brand.

As
we came up to a corner to another hallway, we ran into a group of FBI agents. I
remembered the tallest
one,
he helped Ian by guarding
me during the good ‘doctors’ interrogation.

Ian
said, “Dobrowski! Get us to that farmhouse. Reroute the helicopter there. We’ll
take
who
we can as well. Get as many civilians
evacuated as possible!”

I
sighed. “That’s stupid! Yasmine has someone with super speed! As soon as they
hear a helicopter, she’ll have him crash it to the ground!”

Ian
turned to look back to me and shook his head. “No, it has the same stealth tech
that we followed you with. If we’re careful, we should be all right.”

I
smiled, mirthlessly. “I hate to spoil your day, but I heard it. I 
let 
you
take me, you jerk.”

Ian’s
eyes narrowed. But he controlled his irritation and said, “But you have super
hearing, they don’t. We should be okay if we get out of here quickly enough.
Thankfully, there aren’t that many civilians on site.”

“And
what about all the people you’re evacuating? Do you think they can be
careful enough? Why don’t you just call in your friends?” I demanded.
Nope, I just couldn’t get past this insanity. Ian’s people, the so-called
‘people of the mind’ had to be utterly insane. To drop a giant rock on their
own planet—what had they been thinking?

Ian
leaned in to whisper something to me, but before he could, I fervently
whispered. “What were your people thinking?
Damn, man!
That’s…gods!”

He
grabbed my arm. Squeezing it, he said, “Now is not the time, Vaughn.
We’ll deal with it later! I know what you’ve heard is a shock. But you have to
let it go for the moment.”

Let it go?
 Seriously, he
wanted me to let a bomb like that
go?
 I started
to say something, but had to stop when Dobrowski spoke up. “We have a major
problem. Communications have just been jammed. We can’t get a hold of anyone
else in the complex. None of the other teams are answering, and mercenaries are
in the building above us!”

“Dobrowski,
we have a squad from Fort Harris. How are these terrorists able to put up such
a serious fight?” Ian asked.

Dobrowski
shook his head. His voice was filled with anger and fear when he said, “Doctor,
nearly two dozen men in full combat gear appeared with high-powered rifles and
grenade launchers. And when I say they appeared, I mean they just popped out of
nowhere! And that was just the beginning. Before the radios went out, security
reported more of these Empowered. They
were mixed
with
the mercenaries. Worse, there’s a freaking nut job flying around yelling about
being the start of the Final Reich and wearing a Nazi symbol on his chest!”

That
would be one of the Germans from the conclave. They called themselves…what was
it? Then I remembered. “They’re called the 
Letze Reich
. That Nazi
wannabe must be a part of their group. Was there a report of someone moving at
extreme speed attacking anyone?”

Dobrowski
looked at me with deep suspicion. “Someone like that just blew up the Abrams
tank that the military had outside. All the men inside are dead.”

I
blinked. Brand…damn it man, what did that evil witch do to you?

Looking
back at Ian, Dobrowski said, “Dr. Eisenhawk, we did manage to get the
helicopter. We’ll have to hurry, though. I don’t know how much longer we can
hold the attackers off.”

We
got the answer when Dobrowski screamed in torment. The FBI and soldiers pulled
Ian and me back down the hall as a black liquid engulfed the man. We froze in
place as he screamed in agonizing pain. The blackness pouring down his throat
ended that. It didn’t matter. I saw his eyes. He knew what was happening to
him. The acid consumed him, leaving nothing behind.

We
ducked down when the black liquid emitted what sounded like gurgling laughter
and streamed over our heads to cut off our way back up the stairs. It ate
through the last of the soldiers behind us. He didn’t have time to do anything,
but die. We could only stare at the rapidly eroding body while the liquid
reformed into a woman’s shape and solidified into Rao Kular.

Looking
at us with liquid black eyes, she laughed. She said, “So, Dane Eisenhawk! We
finally found our Noumenonii…is that the word? Yes, Yasmine wishes me to kill
you most of all.”

Then
she focused on me and said, “And young Mr. Hagen, so good of you to be here!
Shall we continue our earlier conversation?”

Guns
fired, and the hall filled up with smoke and fire. Kular shifted instantly back
to that black liquid state. In that form, she was simply destroying the
bullets. I pushed back the fear that threatened to overwhelm me. Guns kept firing
as soldiers and agents tried to pull us to safety. But I had to keep looking
back. It was almost like watching a snake dance. I hoped that she would
solidify while the soldiers were shooting.

No
such luck; she simply stood there taking all the bullets. Rao Kular was liquid
death. I realized that if we were going to get out, I would have to be the one
to stop her. But it was going to be a hard thing to
do,
I would have to get the soldier to let me go.

We
had reached the end of the hallway when Kular decided to make her move. With a
laugh, she changed her form again and spread out to cover the hallway in a
cube-like shape that ate into the walls. Thick, noxious smoke began to ooze
from wherever she touched the concrete. I couldn’t help but think of an old
Dungeons and Dragons monster. Great, I was going to die from a gelatinous
cube. Of course, it was far too late for a new roll of the dice.

Telling
myself how stupid I was, I pulled away from the group to stand between them,
and acid cube woman. Behind me, Ian realized what I was doing and yelled,
“Hagen, you stupid punk! Don’t be an idiot! She’ll destroy you as easily as she
did Dobrowski!”

I
was kind of agreeing with Ian’s assessment, but I only said, “Move it. Get out
of here!”

They
ran on. For a
moment
it felt as though something was
looking back at me. Kular stopped moving. With a gurgling sound, she said,
“Suicidal, Son’x? And here Demon thought you were a brave boy. He was certain
that you would go down fighting to the last breath in some fool hope to save
your little town. Pity, he’ll be so disappointed.”

I
was shaking, but I didn’t back away. Not even when she started
pushing
forward an inch at a time and gaining speed. She
didn’t have to go that slow. She was being melodramatic. Oh, wonderful, she’d
win the prize for being today’s most over-the-top villain. But as melodramatic
as it was, it gave me the chance to do something to stop her. I knew I couldn’t
just scream. All that would do is cause her to splash all over me. Having seen
what she’d done already, acid burns were not a pleasant thought.

But
I also saw one important point about her slow advance towards me. We were in a
tunnel. She slipped forward another foot. I could hear her gurgling laughter.
Wow, all she needed to do was monologue, and she’d be a movie villain. Nah, why
give her the chance? Smiling, I said, “Hey…acid reflux…ever been in a wind
tunnel?”

Confused,
the cube woman stopped moving. I let loose. As I screamed, I felt the sound
itself. This was different from the other times. Those had been outside,
though. Here, sound was reflecting off the walls, and I could feel it coming
back at me. I used it; somehow, I found I could feel and even redirect my own
sound back at Kular. With a full roar, I pushed the sonic blast for all it was worth.

Waves
appeared in her ‘body’. But she just kept coming. Worse, she was speeding up.
Desperate, I changed my voice, shifting the pitch up and down the vocal scale
hoping to find the right frequency that would stop her. I pulled at the buzzing
in my brain. I used the power it represented and shoved it into my voice and
the sounds hitting me. Sweat beaded on my forehead and down my back.

And
still, she kept coming closer. Worse, I could smell the sharp tang of the hazy
smoke coming from the concrete. If I didn’t stop her, I was going to die from
just breathing her in!

Then,
I finally hit the right frequency. Without warning, Kular literally exploded. I
could only stare as my attacker went from a semi-solid cube shape to a fine
mist with my scream causing her to burst. With a cough thanks to the slow,
wafting smoke, I muttered, “Wow…okay.”

I
grimaced and then said, “I really have to work on my one-liners.”

I
ran back to the others. At the end of the hallway, I saw the surviving soldiers
and FBI agents all staring at me. What, it’s normal for people to blast things
apart with their voice, isn’t it? Bah, people freak out too easily. I said,
“It's all right…Kular’s out of it for a moment.”

“What?”
one soldier
yelled.

That’s
when I noticed that they were all rubbing at their ears.
Except
Ian.
He wasn’t hurting. But I could see fear in his eyes. In answer, I
gave him a cocky grin. Now he understood what I was talking
about
. Good, it was about time something cracked his
arrogance.

Then
I realized we were all just standing at the end of the hall and doing nothing.
I looked at all of them and the elevator doors beyond. Another door led to
stairs, but no one was moving toward that or the elevators.

I
said, “Okay, this is nice. So when is the great escape?”

One
of the FBI agents shook his head. He seemed to have heard me well enough, since
he said, “We just sent Lieutenant Perez up to take a look around. We need to
find another route.”

I
looked at Perez.
“How bad?”

Perez
flinched, reflexively moving a hand towards a holstered gun. I realized that I
was yelling. The guy was a soldier, young looking, but still a soldier. And
he’d seen what I could do with my voice. Raising my hands and lowering my
voice, I said, “Sorry…what’s the situation up there?”

He
relaxed and answered me. “There are four people. Three are in old camouflage
style military uniforms. The forth guy has a swastika on the front of his
costume. I think that’s the one called Reich. The three military guys have a
patch on their sleeves that doesn’t look like a standard military patch. I
think they may be Red Water.”

The
other two soldiers groaned and shook their heads. I had no idea why until Ian
spoke up. “They’re a private heavy security outfit out of North Dakota. They
want to replace Academi in Afghanistan and the Middle Eastern nations. No one
has ever taken them seriously; they never even made the news.”

I
groaned. “Oh, man…we’ve been stupid.”

Ian
looked at me, confused. I said, “Yasmine didn’t have to go to Dubai to get
terrorists. All she had to do was walk into a military base or mercenary
company to get soldiers for her cause! She’s a full telepath! Worse, she’s an
Empowered telepath, a walking generator of psychic force! That means mind
control to such a level that, well, we’re in this mess! The terrorists, they
were just for show. When it came to getting cannon fodder, she just grabbed
mercenaries from Red Water!”