Talent Storm (49 page)

Standing to his full massive height, he waved a hand at the women, his cape rippling on his broad shoulders. “Leave us.”

The women squeaked, their eyes darting from the massive man to us. After gathering their projects, they scurried from the room, their breasts threatening to bounce free from their tops.

“You too,” Goldwater said as he waved toward Sid.

Sid raised his hands. “But I helped capture them.”

Goldwater slowly turned to regard Sid, his eyes like death. “Did you just question my order?”

Sid paled behind his thick glasses, only a shade darker than the white bandage on his cheek. “No, no Sir,” he stammered.

“Sir? You will call me archduke. Now leave.”

“Sorry Archduke,” said Sid. He bowed and hurried from the room, his stomach bouncing. Now only Goldwater and his two guards remained.

I examined Goldwater. He was born to be followed. All men looked like children compared to him; all men
were
children compared to him. How could I have ever thought that we had any chance of defeating such a supreme being? I should have learned from my last encounter.

He exuded power and confidence as he spoke in his booming voice. “You killed Nieri.” He spat the words out, his large jaw bunching. “A man worthy of respect, the only one I could trust for ages. Now that he’s dead, you’ll feel pain.” He smashed his gloved fist into his palm.

“Still, you did defeat him... that makes you superior. I underestimated you in thinking the warden and Sid could contain you. They convinced me that I didn’t need to use a grand duke to watch over you. Now, the warden’s dead, but Sid has redeemed himself. I’m glad I recruited him. He’s a good puppet.”

Goldwater shrugged his massive shoulders. “At least their torture methods were passable.”

Spotty memories of unbearable pain, followed by my rampage, assailed my consciousness. My heart began to race, and I clenched my jaw. I didn’t care if he was a god. I would make him regret my torture. I would make him regret killing all the people he did.

The smile that extended on his face repulsed me. “It’s amazing that through all our torture you never gave up your pathetic Coalition. Until we tricked you, that is. Not so clever are you?”

Sofia hissed to my right. “You’d be surprised.”

Even now, her support warmed my heart.

In a flash, Goldwater’s smile faded as he rounded on Sofia. “Nothing surprises me, girl. You have no idea what I’ve seen, what I know, and what I’ve done. And you can’t
possibly
imagine what I’m capable of.”

She glared at him, unwavering.

“The Coalition supports its people like America used to,” I said. “I will never intentionally betray them.”

Goldwater laughed, throwing his head back. “What a joke. You really think the America government supported its people... that the Coalition does? America unleashed the greatest horror mankind has ever lived through.”

I squinted. Did he mean the Atom bombs? They were nothing compared to the Terror Virus.

“I see you’re struggling to figure it out. Let me help you. You trust your government and your education. You think they have your best interests in mind, but they lie. They lie to keep you in line, just like I do to my people.”

“About what?” I asked, suddenly feeling patriotic. “The Coalition’s government is by and for the people. They wouldn’t lie.”

He grunted. “How many times have you been told that Iran released the virus on America?”

I raised my chin. “So what? They like to remind us of our true enemies. Iran destroyed the world and you oppress your people.”

His entire body bounced as he laughed. “You got one part right, but it wasn’t Iran who released the virus.”

I scrunched my face, shaking my head. “Then who?”

“It was America who released the Terror Virus on Americans.”

“Liar! Why would they do that?”

“Shut up Goldwater,” Sofia said. “He’ll say anything to disturb you, Jaden.”

“One more interruption, girly, and I’ll muzzle you,” Goldwater said before turning back to me, suddenly calm. “They did it because the virus imbued talent. The people in charge wanted more power and they got it. The virus only mutated into a killer after the subsequent exposures. It killed people that didn’t matter... regular citizens.”

“That’s not true.” The Coalition would have told us if it was... right? Could they have been lying all this time?

He laughed. “Silly boy, it is true; I was there. I’m the one who commissioned the creation of the virus in the first place. I’m the one who ushered in the vote for its release. I orchestrated the collapse of America because I wanted power; I wanted more control and now I have it.”

“He’s clearly lying,” Sofia said to me. “He’s just trying to get under your skin.”

He lifted his hand with a confident smile. A plague jumped off the wall and hovered over to me. A newspaper article was laminated to the surface of the dark wood. In the picture were two men shaking hands in front of a large white house with tall pillars at the center of it. Something about the building looked familiar. I didn’t recognize the one man, but the other was Goldwater. I read the title, my eyes widening.
Goldwater’s Super Pac, Living Free, Tips Presidential Election.
President.... My gaze darted back up to the picture. Of course. It was the White House, where American presidents lived before it was destroyed in the war. How was that possible? It’s been gone for hundreds of years.

While Goldwater’s mouth smiled, his eyes were stone under his thick black eyebrows. “It’s the president and I shaking hands. The great American president, who I and the other financial elites owned.”

“Impossible. You can’t be that old.”

“No, not impossible. The first of us were unimaginably more powerful than anyone with talent today, including you. Some of us were granted incredibly long life.”

I squinted at him. “Where are the others then?”

“I couldn’t afford to have others around me who were that powerful. I’ve long since taken care of them.”

I raised my chin. “The people would never have allowed the government to release the virus. America was a democracy.”

He laughed. “America was no democracy. All past governments catered to a few privileged individuals. America was the worst.”

I shook my head. “No. People in America were free and prosperous.”

“They really did a number on you. You’ll believe anything they tell you. It was the same way with the American people. The Coalition teaches you that democracy equals control, so you’ll follow the people you elect like lemmings. Like all governments, yours doesn’t work for you. Did you ever notice how big the high general’s mansion is, how much wealth he has?”

I stared at the ground. He was extremely wealthy. Where had he gotten all that money and rare artwork? The position didn’t pay much more than any other?

“Don’t listen Jaden,” said Sofia.

“You see that I’m right,” said Goldwater. “The American government was a gun. Everyone sought to point that gun in the direction that benefited them, but no one could compete against the massive wealth of corporations and other super wealthy Americans.”

I shook my head trying to wrap my mind around the idea. America was the land of prosperity for all. Was he lying?

“As one of the super wealthy, I was among the people who truly controlled the government. We took over power gradually, primarily through lobbying and campaign donations. By
lobbying,
I mean giving politicians gifts and then lucrative jobs when they retired. When we gathered enough power, we ushered in Corporate Personhood, which open the floodgates for campaign donations. By then we had near complete control of the government. It was impossible to get elected without our money, and with our money, came our demands.”

Did that really happen? His story sounded more and more plausible. It would explain how those people got so rich in the first place. “How would the people have missed that?”

“People are sheep. Most people believed anything they were told by the media, the media that we controlled. Anytime someone came to the correct conclusion, we used the media to make them look like crazy conspirators or violent extremists. It was amazing how well it worked.”

I couldn’t help but think about how many times I was told we were free in the Coalition. Why then was I forced into the military?

Goldwater continued, “Through my influence and my wealthy friends’ influence, Congress passed the law to release the Terror Virus, a virus they knew would mutate into a killer. Only seven people voted against the bill, but they all knew we were committing mass genocide. Worst of all it was on our own people.”

Sofia gasped, shaking her head.

Goldwater smiled. “After the virus began to kill Americans, we used the media to convince the people that it was Iran who released it. They bought it like the fools they were. We went to war with Iran and the world joined in, but the Terror Virus killed the most. ”

The thought of America releasing the virus on its own people was disgusting.

“First we arrested protestors. According to our new national security laws, they were terrorists. By the time the general population realized what was going on, it was too late. The people rose up, but what chance did they have against us? We controlled the wealth, the food supply, and the army. We saw everything with our cameras, drones, and our surveillance of the internet. We also had talent, the power to destroy the world. We slaughtered them until they fought no more. By then, over ninety percent of the population was wiped out. We put the remaining citizens into camps, where we could control their every behavior. They worked for us, just as they always had, to usher in prosperity for the rich.”

Why did people have to be so selfish? Why couldn’t they just work for the benefit of everyone?

“After the people were controlled, the wealthy, the politicians, and military, now all talented, began to disagree how we’d run the country. Our unimaginable new abilities went to our heads. The military fought with congress, the CIA with the FBI. The wealthy elites, like me, were suddenly no longer in complete control. We warred with them all, striving for power. Up until then America’s radiation walls and defenses had left infrastructure largely intact. In our struggle for power, we destroyed cities; we destroyed what was left of America. Eventually we burnt ourselves out.”

I shook my head in awe of his story. If it was true, everything I’d learned was a lie.

“Don’t think that
your
talented are any better. They’re descendants of murderers too... as are you. The Coalition told you that they wanted to invade Liberty Kingdom to free the people. In truth, they want more power and resources just like governments always do.”

Could that be true? Could they just be invading to gain more land? No, the Coalition cared about people. Surely after they invaded, they would let Liberty’s people govern themselves. “The Coalition wouldn’t do that.”

“Silly child. You’re acting like a mindless sheep. You’re not one of the weak. You’re one of the elites now, one of the guns. Join me, and we will control this land and its entire pathetic population. I know you; you thrive on power. I’ve been watching you for years.”

An icy chill ran up my spine, and I shivered.

“Join me, and you’ll have unimaginable control. No one will ever make you feel small again. No one could ever threaten us.”

“Never! If that’s what the American government was like, so be it, that’s not me. I believe in true freedom, freedom from manipulation. I believe in a true people’s democracy. As long as my heart beats, I’ll fight slavery; I’ll fight for the people.”

Sofia met my eyes. “I’m with you.”

Goldwater pounded his iron fist into his palm. “Then you’ll join me by force. I will blunt you against the men, women, and children of your homeland. You will kill your loved ones first, then everyone else. I’ll make you torture them until it haunts you for all eternity. You are now under my power, my control, just as everyone else will be.” The archduke smiled cruelly, a smile that would make the tough weep and the weak lose their minds.

An impending sense of dread shook my body. What was I thinking... that an ambush was enough to turn the tide in an impossible battle? I now realized we never could have won that battle.

Goldwater eyed Sofia. “I’m going to have some fun with you. You’ll fit in perfectly with my harem. I can’t wait to feel you on top of me.”

Sofia struggled against her chains. “You bastard! I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you for my parents.”

I clenched my fists, adrenaline racing through me. Luckily, I didn’t allow the talent inhibitor to enter our bodies. It was time for plan B, for the King’s Gambit. It was a bold and risky attack, but it brought me to Goldwater. He should have killed me in prison.

Clenching my teeth, I shot into the air. My body burst into a brilliant green inferno. My muscles bulged, but my mind did the work. When I flung my arms apart, my thick chains shattered, shooting out fragments of metal.

Goldwater grunted but didn’t flinch. He tilted his head down and grimaced. A three-inch steel shard sprouted from his uniform, a uniform that quickly grew crimson. Unflinching, he grabbed the shard, plucked it from his body, and tossed it to the ground, smiling the whole time. A black glow sealed his wound.

Goldwater stood firm like a bear, unconcerned by threats. I’d show him his mistake. In a shimmery burst, Sofia’s chains flew from her body as I propelled her upward. She shot into the air, drawing forth her hidden throwing knife. An instant later, it flew at Goldwater.

He didn’t flinch. The blade froze an inch before his face, then clattered to the ground. An easy kill was more than we could have hoped for. In all of the action, the guards had just sprung to life, drawing their weapons. I glanced at a couple curved swords and a steel-shafted halberd hanging on the wall. I only had a second before Goldwater’s telepathic disruption would hit me. The weapons sprung to life, shooting through the air and exploding through the chests of the two guards before they could wield their talent. The halberd, aimed for the archduke’s back, just missed him as he casually stepped aside.