Age of Power 1: Legacy (22 page)

I said, “Eisenhawk, Alex didn’t say anything. He never told me.
He never told Dana. He never let anyone know that he could do any of the things
that he did. Don’t you get it? This has been one hell of a mystery to everyone.
Not just for you, but for me, too! Hell, not only did I lose a friend in Alex,
I lost a friend 
because
 of Alex. Now I have to grieve for two
people. So do me a favor and fuck off. I’m done with this crazy shit!”

Eisenhawk started toward me, but stopped when Dana stepped
between us. Without another word, she turned me and we continued walking to her
SUV. She looked at the man over her shoulder and said, “We’ve been up all night
saving lives, Dr. Eisenhawk. You weren’t here. You were somewhere thinking
esoteric things about how someone flew. Fine, go do your thing. But right
now, we are leaving.”

We left him and his bruisers behind and walked stiffly away.
No, really.
I was stiff and sore from standing there, even
just for a moment. My whole body ached. Coming down from adrenaline can do that
to a person. At least this time I didn’t feel that pressure like ache in my
head.

I said, “Good job. You might have a future in speech writing—or
even politics.”

Dana grimaced at the idea and said, “No, I’d rather be consigned
to Hell first.”

With a click of her remote, the doors of her SUV unlocked. Climbing
in, I said, “I know what you mean. Politics is creepy. I’m not even sure how
someone as young as Eisenhawk even got the job. Seriously, he’s a scientific
advisor to the President of the United States?”

She was about to put the key in, but then, she hesitated and
looked at the retreating trio of feds. After a moment of thought, she said,
“Hmm? Yes, he is, I did a little research. He’s in charge of the Avatar
situation. He has ties to DARPA and the International Sciences Council at the
UN. As for his age, I don’t know about that. He seems about the right age for
someone in his position.”

I glanced back at the three. Just then, Eisenhawk glanced back,
and our eyes met. I looked at him. He looked to be at most on the low end of
his thirties. Brown hair, high cheekbones, and a chin beard, with close-set
ears and brown eyes.

No, I couldn’t see this guy in the position he was in. That kind
of thing only happened in movies or television shows, where they needed a
good-looking actor to be the ‘smart and sexy scientist.’ This was reality. Hmn,
I’d have rather been in the movie world. Then 
I
 would be the
smart and sexy lead.

Yeah, right.

Dana turned the engine over. With a shrug, she said, “Well, he
may call himself a scientist, but he’s more of a bureaucrat than anything else.
He probably hasn’t done any real scientific work for years.”

I couldn’t see how anyone could get that jaded, but if he lived
in Washington D.C. and worked with politicians, then maybe, that was the
answer. Yep, politics is creepy. I sighed, “I just wish he’d leave the
whole thing about Alex alone.”

She sighed. Then, with a shrug, Dana said, “He’s an obsessed
idiot. He wants to know how to do what Alex did so he can use it as a resource.
Bastards like him…”

I caught the anger in her voice and said, “Sounds as though
you’ve met his type before.”

Dana gave me a shrug and said, “Sadly, yes I have. With what I
used to do, sometimes we had issues with the authorities.”

I grinned and asked, “What did you do, take part in political
activism? Picket outside nuclear power plants and stuff?”

She said, “Teach people how to control their psychic talents and
not get caught.”

My jaw dropped. Dana's eyes widened. With a sigh, she said,
“Ugh, well, that was a bit revealing. Yep, I’m tired. But it’s out now.”

Dana pulled out of the parking space. As we sped down the road,
I tried to stay quiet. This wasn’t the time to get into what she did, and I
knew it. But it was out, and I had just inadvertently lied to
Eisenhawk. And if Dana had trained people with psychic abilities, that meant
she had trained Alex. She had to have known him. No, I didn't want to ask.

Once we got away from the damage, things began to look nice and
normal. People were starting their day, getting cars warmed up and brushing off
the snow that was covering them. The snow last night hadn’t lasted for long,
but there was a fresh covering now, with almost two inches of the stuff. No,
winter wasn’t quite done with us yet. Before last night, it had seemed to be
almost gone. 
Not anymore.
 Recovery from the
attack was going to be that much harder. And I was just pushing away the big
question, wasn’t I?

With a sigh, I said, “You did train Alex, didn’t you?”

Dana nodded. We drove on in silence for a couple blocks.

Then, I asked, “You lied to everyone, then?”

Dana continued driving. We crossed Main Street. She was tense. I
was tense. This was stupid. I shouldn’t have said anything. We were both too
tired. But now, well, I had to confront it.

I said, “Look, sorry, Dana. It’s not as though we’ve been
friends for years. Hell, I’m angry over the fact that Alex never said anything.
All those years of comic book reading and not once, did he mention that he
could do some of the stuff that superheroes can? Yeah, no, I’m
not happy.”

The SUV continued for a couple more blocks. Then, as we neared
the edge of town, she slowed down and pulled into the lot of a long-closed gas
station. The owners had stripped everything out to leave an empty building with
broken glass doors, wood-covered windows, and an empty, locked icebox. Pulling
up near the sidewalk, she parked and let the vehicle continue to run.

Turning to me, she said, “All right, Vaughn, I did train Alex.
When I first met him, Alex had a low-level, but controllable ability. Alex told
me that his talents were active since he was four years old. He came to me
about it when he was fifteen.”

I nodded. “For the last two years, then. Why come to you? Wait,
how did he know to come to you anyway?”

She sighed. Outside, the sun was beginning to show on the
street, and a couple cars passed while we talked, kicking up a slight spray
from the slush on the road. After a moment, Dana said, “Alex was a telekinetic
and an advanced cognitive. It’s hard to explain. He’s never been a telepath,
but think of it as a sort of psi-based information gathering talent.”

“Hyper-cognition—that’s what the fans call it
when it happens in the comics.
Most just see it as a
way to let writers put in knowledge, a ‘deus ex machina’ sort of thing.” I
said. She looked at me and laughed.

I chuckled and said, “Guess some things have a basis in
reality.”

Dana said, “Well, that’s how he found me and asked me to help
him. His abilities started to get out of control because of adolescent growth
spurts. It’s only natural I suppose. Hormones can wreak havoc on a psychic.”

She looked bemused as she said, “It’s not for nothing that my
coven describes hormones as killers of psi powers and the source of
poltergeists at the same time.”

Okay, there it was. All those fantasy games, comics, and movies
had a reality behind them. But I was tired. And I really needed to relax my
brain. I was feeling
way too
much tension from the
fires, the twins…

So I quipped, “You know, I don’t believe in that stuff. The
‘magick with a k’ stuff, like ghosts, and psychic talents—they just don’t
exist. Obviously, what I do is something
totally
different. It must be that I’m an alien or something, ‘
cause
it’s the only explanation.”

She started, and then stared at me for a moment. Then she said,
“I will make this as clear as possible. Psychic, cognition, psychometry, mind
over matter, spiritualism—all of it, even the idea of what people call
‘magick’—is all very, very real.”

Then Dana finally noticed the lighthearted way I had said it.
She said, “Heh, okay, you got me. For a second there, I thought you meant it,
though!”

“Um, you mean the alien bit didn’t clue you in?” I said,
grinning. For a few moments, we just looked at each other and then we both just
started laughing. The momentary tension fell away.

Dana said, “So, would that make you from the planet Krypton, or
are you secretly Metro Man?”

Laughing at the idea, I said, “Oh gods, no! I’d rather be Mega
Mind, anyway, big blue head and all!”

That got us laughing more, but we quickly calmed down, realizing
that mental exhaustion was pushing this whole thing. But I found myself
relaxing with Dana. She seemed a lot more easygoing, too. That made it easier
to discuss this without the feeling of melodrama or the straight out surreal
feeling that felt before now.

After a moment, I sighed. “Okay, I admit I didn’t believe in the
stuff previously. But Alex didn’t exactly pull those powers out of a hat. I
mean, they had to come from somewhere, right?”

She let out a sigh. Then she said, “Yes, they do come from
somewhere. But, in all honesty, there’s barely any serious research. There has
been in the past, but right now, no. Psychic flashes and coincidences are what
most people have. But on occasion, some develop a controllable talent. And no
matter how weak those gifts are, we train them. I can only guess that someone
like Alex might come along, oh, once in a millennium.”

I nodded, but this wasn’t only about Dana training Alex. What
Alex had done was literally off the charts in any sense of scientific reality,
yet he had done it. And now I could say the same for myself. But if Alex had
gotten help from Dana, didn’t that mean I could do the same? I asked, “Can you
train me, too? I mean, I don’t want to lose control again.”

Dana considered my questions. She put the SUV in drive and
slowly pulled out onto the road. She said, “I think I can. Alex’s biggest gift
was telekinesis. As to how he changed you so you have powers is something else
altogether. Did you ever show psi gifts before this?”

I shook my head. I said, “Never. I mean, my Aunt Cassie claims
to be an empath, but as for me, nada. I’ve never had anything like that show
up.”

She said, “What about your sonic abilities? Anything connected
with that?”

I raised a brow and thought about it. We drove underneath a
small railroad trestle and I saw the top edge of my house. Mom and Dad would be
there now, sleeping. I wondered if I should tell them. Yeah I would, soon
enough. Finally, Dana looked at me for an answer. I said, “I have a sort of odd
talent of remembering what I hear.”

Dana nodded. “We’ve seen a connection between psychic abilities
and natural gifts such as that sort. From MRI testing, we’ve been able to
figure out that a telekinetic has a strong sense of spatial awareness that
’s intertwined
with the part of the brain that concerns
mathematics. Alex called it a geometric sense.”

I thought about it. It did make sense, in a way. I said, “I felt
the wall shatter. And I felt the car, too. So you may be right. Look, if we can
figure this out—“

Dana pulled up to the back door of my house. I looked around and
realized that we’d come up the drive, and I hadn’t noticed. Putting the SUV in
park, she said, “Okay, you go. Sleep. We’re both tired. Vaughn, I won’t kid you
that it will be easy. But let me call some friends, my coven. I think they can
help in this.”

I looked at her pointedly and asked, “You did do this before,
right? Not just with Alex…you said that you’ve trained others?”

Dana fought back a yawn, and said, “Yes. That’s why I’m calling
in help. But for now, go in, shower, eat, and sleep. We’ll talk later. Okay?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said as I got out and closed the door. I watched
her pull away and went in. Mom and Dad were still asleep. Leaving a note on the
table that I was home, I grabbed a quick shower and hit the bed. For once, I
didn’t dream.

But it took a day and a night of sleep to recover. Strangely,
when I awoke, I felt at peace. The pain of Brand’s loss was still there, but it
was akin to the feeling of a pulled tooth after days of healing. Instead of
feeling grief, I thought more about the good times and less about the loss.
There was a moment of regret that I didn’t have my phone that night. But, as
tragic as Brand’s death had been, the horror of what happened on Main Street
put it into perspective.

Like it or not, there had been a fatal aneurysm in his brain. If
Nathan hadn't pushed him to the edge that night, he would have died anyway. I
didn’t like it, but I had to accept it. Brand was dead, and it was time to move
on. Looking at a picture of Brand, I resolved to do just that. I knew it wasn’t
going to be easy, but if nothing else, yesterday’s insanity brought it home.
People died, and we had to go on, or we might as well have died with them.

I found myself chuckling ruefully at the thought. Then I said,
“Wow, I hang out with Dana and I get all philosophical. I have to get a life!”

A knock sounded at my door. I looked as it slid open and Dad
stuck his head in. He looked surprised that I was already up and half-dressed.
He said, “Wow, great timing. I thought I’d have to wake you up. Dana Sinclair
is here. She wanted to talk to you—something about helping her out with
something today?”