Just Cause: Revised & Expanded Edition (31 page)

Sally nodded. She cuddled up next to Jason.

“Can you give me a clearer understanding of what we’re looking at, based on your experience?” Juice asked.

Sally pointed to the central building. “This is a power station. They’re using some kind of radiation from it to create new parahumans. It doesn’t seem to work very well though.” She handed Juice the CD she’d carried with her from Guatemala. He put it into a player and they watched the test unfold, expressions of distaste and disgust on their faces.

“The fact that it works at all is very disturbing,” said Sondra. “If it’s not too complicated a process, we’re going to have governments around the world decimating their populations to create their super-soldiers.”

“If these people were being taken against their wills, how is it that they’re now working to defend the compound?” asked Jason.

“Jay detected a ton of psionic activity in the area. I think it was centered on the guy he killed. He said the other psi was the most powerful he’d ever found. I bet he was reprogramming their minds, just like what happened to Diego.”

“Who’s Diego?” Jason asked.

“Just some kid they used to trap us. He’s dead too.”

Juice’s brow furrowed. “Psionics are among the least common parahuman abilities. It’s likely this man was the only psi on hand, or at least the only one with enough power to accomplish the reprogramming of an entire city.” He looked at Sally. “Jay may have put a serious hitch in the operation of this compound before he died. Let’s hope he did.”

“Maybe some of the people that psi was controlling took off after Jay got him,” said Jason. “What do you think, babe?”

Sally snuggled a little closer to him. “I don’t know. I didn’t stick around to find out.”

“Well, we may hope that there’s a much smaller force waiting for us,” said Juice, “but I’m not banking on it.”

“Whatever happened,” said Forcestar. “They’re expecting trouble. Taking this place on is going to be very ugly.”

“Sir, we just received final clearance to land at Tucson Airport,” Ace announced over the intercom. “Looks like we’re not the first ones to the party, either.” The Bettie’s forward motion slowed as Ace brought her in to a gentle three-point landing.

Sally looked out the window and saw a plane that could have been the
Bettie
’s twin, except with a different pin-up girl painted under the cockpit windows. “What’s that?” she asked Sondra.

“That’s the
Marilyn
, as in Monroe. Just Cause Second Team is already here.”

“Ace, go ahead and power down,” said Juice. “We have to wait for everyone else and have a meeting before we leave.”

“
Roger
.”

They disembarked from the
Bettie
and hurried across the tarmac to an open hangar. An informal briefing area had been set up on the hangar floor that consisted of folding chairs and a PowerPoint projector. Several other costumed heroes lounged around, sipped coffee, and munched on donuts.

“I thought you said it was urgent, Juice,” said a handsome young black man in close-fitting brushed steel armor and an infectious grin. “We’ve been here for hours.”

Juice clasped the younger man’s hand. “Keith, thanks for coming.” He poured himself a cup of coffee, appropriated a couple donuts before Jason could get to them, and sat down with the other man to discuss plans.

“You know the Second Team?” Jason asked Sally.

“Only by name,” she said.

With a flash of purple light and a howling, dissonant chord filling the air, the Lucky Seven arrived. Sally ran up and distributed hugs among them.

“Any word on the others?” Juice asked Spark as he stepped up and shook hands.

“Haven’t heard,” said Spark. “Divine Right should be here any moment. I think the New Guard and Young Guns are flying conventional.” Divine Right was a team of Christian-themed heroes, who believed their powers had been granted by angels. The New Guard was a young team, formed from some independent heroes and some original Hero Academy graduates that had opted to go into the private sector instead of joining Just Cause. The Young Guns represented the rest of Sally’s graduating class at the Hero Academy.

Sally’s jaw dropped as she realized Juice had managed to recruit every American superhero team to this mission. “Wow,” she said in amazement. “Who’s left?”

Spark nodded. “I’m a little curious about that myself, James. Who’s minding the store while Just Cause is away?”

Juice rubbed his jaw. “The Homeland Security Director has issued an emergency order authorizing the faculty and students of the Hero Academy to act in an official capacity if needed.”

“Wow,” said Sally again. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like if Ms. Echevarria and Mr. Stone had to lead a group of parapowered kids somewhere to save the world. Juice really had pulled out all the stops to make sure Jack and Stacey would be rescued.

A man in a charcoal gray suit and dark sunglasses entered the hangar. Conversation quieted as he glided toward Juice. He removed his sunglasses and tucked them neatly into his jacket. “Bominger. Homeland Security.”

“Juice. Just Cause.”

“Great buffalo. Heap-big tree.” Sally could see the Spark’s grin even behind his full-face mask. Bominger glared at him. “Sorry, I thought we were talking in Tonto-speak.”

Bominger took a deep breath. “We’ve got two supersonic jets bringing in the New Guard from California and the Young Guns from New York. They’re expected within the next half hour. Divine Right just arrived.”

“Good,” said Juice. “Thanks for getting this all together so quickly.”

“Wasn’t me. These orders came straight from the Director. You’ve got a lot of pull with someone. I’d like to go on the record as being against Divine Right’s involvement in this operation, whatever it is.” Bominger frowned.

“Separation of Church and State, I suppose. Your concern is noted,” said Juice.

Juice called the meeting to order within minutes after The New Guard and Young Guns arrived. “First off, I want to thank you all for coming on such short notice. I’m pleased that you’re backing Just Cause despite our lack of authority to give orders to any of you. You’ve all read my report and felt it important enough to be here now. This may very well be the most important mission that American heroes have ever undertaken.”

Sally shrank against Jason as Juice reviewed what they knew about the Guatemalan compound. His brief elaboration on its methods to artificially create parahumans brought back many recent unpleasant memories to Sally, and a tear coursed down her cheek when Juice reported Glimmer’s death at Destroyer’s hands.

“The long and short of it is that two of my team members are being held prisoner in this compound. We’re going to go get them out and then destroy that generator so no more mass murders can take place. And I’m making it a priority for Just Cause to hunt down those responsible for these atrocities and bring them to justice. If anyone wants to back out, now is the time. From here on out, things are going to get ugly.” He looked evenly at the gallery of heroes. “Are you all in?”

Everyone stood.

Juice smiled.

Chapter Twenty-Two

“In the paths your lives will take, there inevitably will come a time in which you must fight for that in which you believe. When that time comes, know that you have received the best training from the best instructors we can provide. Know that you can count on each other no matter the stakes, for you are now the newest, the greatest heroes the world has. You have my congratulations on your achievements, both in the present and yet to come, and my blessing for success in your futures.”

-Dr. Grace Devereaux, speaking at the first Hero Academy commencement, May 25, 1998

February, 2004

Porto San José

Sally couldn’t sleep, despite the white noise of the
Bettie
’s engines and the comfort of Jason’s arm around her. Instead, she had a terminal active and reviewed the planned three-pronged attack Juice had designed.

She’d been assigned to the group whose mission was to rescue Stacey and Jack. She had none of her Just Cause team but three of the Lucky Seven with her, so she wasn’t stuck with a completely unfamiliar group. Juice placed Spark in command of their unit.

The second group’s task was to ensure the reactor could be safely decommissioned. Because it was a nuclear facility, it couldn’t just be broken apart. Blueshift of the New Guard was the only nuclear power expert they had, and he was given responsibility for that task. Jason and Juice were on that team.

The rest of the group would engage the opposing army and incapacitate as many of them as possible. Juice hoped that their psionic conditioning could be broken and asked that the battle team try to refrain from causing fatalities.
But
, he’d said,
if it comes down to survival, I’d rather bury one of them than one of you
.

Thirty-four heroes.

The
Bettie
flew at top capacity. Besides the five members of Just Cause, all the Young Guns and half the New Guard were on board. The Marilyn was just as full, and held the rest of the New Guard and half the Lucky Seven. The rest of the heroes rode in an Air Force transport jet. Unlike the Just Cause planes, the transport jet couldn’t hover, so the occupants would have to make their own way to the ground. Matthew of Divine Right had enough telekinetic ability to lower his team safely as well. The remaining members of the Lucky Seven on board the transport jet could fly on their own.

Sally heard a rumble under the noise of the
Bettie
’s engines and looked up to see Jason was sound asleep. She gave him a gentle shake. “Better get ready,” she whispered. “We’re almost there.”

He yawned and looked around the cabin. All the Young Guns slept except Surfboy, who had produced a Gameboy from somewhere and was deeply engrossed in electronic mayhem. Chrome’s eyes were shut, but Sally thought that perhaps he was meditating. The New Guard’s Javelin conversed quietly with Juice and planned strategies in her soft contralto.

“
Ten minutes to target
,” Ace reported from the cockpit.

“Ace, coordinate our approach with the other pilots,” said Juice. “I want as close to simultaneous deployment from all three planes as possible.”

“Yes, sir.”

Juice turned around in the cramped cabin to face the others. “Okay, people. We’re certainly expected today, but I don’t think they’re anticipating this many of us. Ace will get us down safely, but she’ll come down hard, so expect a real jolt. The
Bettie
’s overbuilt enough to take it. Once she pops the hatch, everybody out of the pool. As soon as we’re clear, the
Bettie
will go airborne and provide what support she can. When you’re on the ground, rendezvous with your team leader. Above all, watch yourself. We’re dealing with an unknown quantity of parahuman adversaries with unknown abilities. I’ve already lost one teammate to this place and I don’t want to lose anymore. Any questions?”

The cabin was silent.

“Jack’d have something smartassed to say if he was here,” muttered Jason.

“
You have been recruited by the League to defend the Frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada,
” Sally quoted. She smiled a little. “I’ve been saving that one for him.” She was met with blank stares from everyone in the plane. “
The Last Starfighter
. Oh for God’s sake. It was one of the first movies I ever saw!”

Tension filled Ace’s voice as she warned her passengers. “
Incoming missile. Stand by for evasive maneuvers
.”

At that moment, Ace stood the
Bettie
on her port wing and the engines howled. A series of thunks sounded from somewhere near the aft as she released anti-missile flares. Sally glanced out a window and saw a missile streak past only a few yards off the wing. The engine pitch changed as Ace flipped the
Bettie
upside-down and rolled into a screaming power dive.

Sally’s stomach pushed upward against her throat as the
Bettie
raced toward the ground. Something banged hard somewhere on the upper fuselage which caused the entire plane to shudder and vibrate.

“Ace?” Juice sounded worried.

“
Took a cannon round
,” said the pilot. “
Minor damage. Permission to return fire?
”

“Granted.”

Minor explosions surfaced on each wing as Ace fired a pair of air-to-ground missiles. “
Firing
,” she announced. A few seconds later she added, “
Target neutralized. Stand by for hard landing in fifteen seconds
.”

The
Bettie
began to level out of her dive. The landing gear hydraulics thumped as they lowered the wheels into position. The jet nozzles angled until the plane plummeted flat; its wings vibrated as they cupped the thick air. The engines screamed as they tried to slow the descent.

“Touchdown in six… five…”

C
LANG!

Another cannon round holed one of the wings and left a fist-sized impact crater in the armor. Ace muttered something venomous in Hebrew before she resumed her countdown. “
Three… two… one… impact!
”

The
Bettie
smashed down into the clearing. All the windows on one side of the cabin cracked. Sally gasped in surprise; the shock felt like she’d fallen two or three stories. The rear hatch popped open.

“Go, go, go!” Juice exhorted. The heroes poured out of the hatch and got clear as Juice slammed the hatch shut. The
Bettie
’s engines howled in fury and the hardy vessel took to the sky again in a blast of fiery exhaust.

Forcestar wrapped them in a sturdy shield to protect them from the bullets and parahuman energy attacks that started to come their way. A few seconds later, the
Marilyn
slammed down to the ground to discharge her passengers in similar fashion. Like Forcestar had, Stratocaster whipped up a magical force field around them. Above them, Matthew of Divine Right, hands clasped in prayer, lowered himself and the rest of his team to the ground inside a telekinetic shield.