Chapter 35:
Activation
The expression on Rose's face was all the information Black needed.
She was speaking to their employers. Her conversation took place over a phone in the windowed conference room off the main atrium of the underground headquarters. Rose's guise projected the right combination of self-righteousness and terror for the call to have been from the top.
She nodded several times, then hung up.
"They're curious," the Lady said.
Black nearly climbed out of his skin; he hadn't noticed Natasha standing next to him. The audio sensors contained within his cybernetics should have warned him that someone was approaching, but he remained convinced that she simply materialized beside him. She'd done stranger things in the past.
"Word from upstairs," Rose said, joining them on the catwalk outside the office. "They'd like us to throw a few of the rejects into the field."
"What for?" Black said. "Most of them are useless."
"Not useless," Rose said. "Uncontrollable. Doesn't mean they don't have their uses."
"Will it be up to me to implement some controls, then?" asked the Lady.
Rose shook her head.
"Not this time. They want us to cast them out to stir things up. The bosses are curious about our new opposition," she said.
The Lady nodded.
"Good. I'd like some time to look into who it was that banished my little pets yesterday," she said.
"The folks upstairs might have some information for you," Rose said. "They wouldn't be averse to a phone call."
The Lady unleashed one of her disarming smiles. Rose understood the smile wasn't meant for her; yet, she smiled back.
"I'm sure they wouldn't. But, I'll do my own research, if it's just the same," the Lady said. "I prefer to look into these things first hand. No need to tell them that, though."
"Of course," Rose said.
Agent Black scanned the atrium below them, looking for Wegener. The scientist had grown more and more withdrawn since his meeting with the Lady. Black was certain the man would never be the same.
"Which ones are we using?" he said. "I'm guessing they want expendable ones."
"Tinder and Hyde," Rose said.
"Really," Black said. "Interesting choices. I won't mind seeing the back of Hyde, but did they mention why they chose those two?"
"The right combination of inherent destructiveness, and they both failed the psych tests with flying colors," Rose said. "They're much more useful as improvised weapons than long term projects."
Black frowned. The Hyde project — or rather, the test subject himself, not the overall concept — disgusted him, but Tinder was one he had hoped would work out. He fought back the twinge of pity that wriggled in his gut.
"Where are we deploying them," he asked, instead.
"You're sure to get a kick out of this," Rose said, smirking.
Chapter 36:
Attention
What did you mean yesterday?" Jane said, interrupting Doc in the observation room, where she found him chatting with Titus.
"When you said a 'complication'?"
He waived Titus off.
The werewolf settled down in front of the monitors and began a circuitous scan of the globe. The Tower's computer regularly made use of satellites planted long ago to detect anomalies and occurrences on the surface, and were able to indentify large-scale events like explosions or violent weather patterns. The computer —
Neal
, Jane reminded herself, forgetting that the mainframe seemed to have more personality than a lot of humans she knew — also tapped into news feeds and Internet chatter for the strange and violent, ready to alert them if anything unusual appeared. Neal would break into the Tower's loudspeakers if needed, but it — he? — sometimes seemed to work best when a human was helping him organize what was being seen. No matter how powerful the AI, a human touch always appeared to make things work smoother. Oddly, the werewolf got along better with the artificial intelligence than anyone else on the team.
"What I meant was that the constructs — the creatures you saw — were familiar to me," Doc said. "And that might mean we're dealing with a bigger threat than I originally anticipated. Have to do some digging to make sure though. I could use your help later."
"How can I help?"
"I need someone to — "
"Doc," Titus said. "You've got to see this."
Titus had launched on screen an enormous red spot that appeared on a heat-register map of the US. He zoomed in and converted it to real time video.
Fire. A massive one in California.
"Not again," Doc said.
"Worse, Doctor,"
Neal added.
"Zooming in."
Neal took control of the monitor from Titus and brought them in quite close to the epicenter of the fire. A human shape stood there, walking slowly. Rather than engulf her, the fire appeared to emanate from her, spilling from her body like water. The girl's skin glowed like heated metal, and her hair flickered and waved like a candlewick.
"Is that what I think it is?" Jane said.
"Looks like a pyrokinetic," Doc said. "Where did she come from?"
Neal intercut surveillance footage from an hour earlier and maximized its size to fill the screen. It showed a black helicopter, military grade, flying low over the forest canopy. The door opened, and a body was throw from the copter. Before the body hit the tree line, however, she burst into flames, the ensuing fire caused hair and clothes — green hospital scrubs, of all things — to burn to ash in a heartbeat.
"Someone just dumped her there?" Titus asked.
"Looks like," Doc said. "Jane. Find Billy."
"Right here," he said, walking into the room and already half-suited up for action. He struggled to pull the left sleeve of his costume on. Emily followed and angrily helped him force an arm into his uniform.
"Great," Doc said. "You and Jane are the only two who can fly fast enough to get there while there's still time to do some good. Billy, I assume your force field is fire proof?"
"And laser proof and heartbreakingly beautiful to look at," Billy said. "Is Jane — "
"I'm solar powered," she said, cutting him off. "Fire doesn't burn me."
"We bringing her back here?" Billy said.
"See if you're able to subdue her. I'm leaving the call up to you. Ping us if you need advice on scene."
"Got it," Jane said. She turned to Billy. "Race you to California."
"You're on."
"Crap! Doc?" Titus said.
"What've we got?" he answered.
Again, Neal took control of the screen. Minimizing the scene of burning trees in California to a quarter of the screen, the computer retrieved an image from downtown, just a few miles from the Tower.
"This happened ten minutes ago," Titus said.
The screen showed a teenage boy walk into the center of a major intersection downtown. Cars in both directions spun out to avoid crashing into him. When all traffic came to a stop, the boy opened his jacket to reveal a contraption embedded in his chest, a circular emblem dead center with wires and tubes jutting out of it and into his skin. The boy pounded the symbol on his chest once with his fist. His whole body spasmed. Muscles began to pop and grow, veins ravaged the surface of his skin. He took on a grayish tone, and when he stretched out his hands, his fingers elongated, arms grew apelike, legs hunched and thickened. Even his face changed, mouth now a wide rictus of pain, filled with huge white teeth — a parody of a human face.
"No way," Emily said.
Then the boy, the monster, picked up an entire car and hurled it into the closest building.
The car exploded in a fireball, leaving a crater where the wall once was.
"I should — " Jane said.
"Let me take this one," Titus said.
"You sure?" Jane asked.
"He's just a bully," Titus said. "I know how to handle them. Go stop the firestarter."
He winked at Jane.
She was so surprised by the smile on his face her jaw dropped.
"What?" Titus said. "I've been looking for someone my size to tangle with for weeks. Good luck, guys."
"What about me? Should I help?" Emily said.
"I want to hold you back in reserve. This looks intentional," Doc said. "If there's a third incident, you'll need to jump in."
"Got it," Emily said.
"Where's Kate?" Billy asked, adjusting his mask.
"On patrol again," Titus said. "She's running out of people to punch."
"Emily, try to get her on the radio," Doc said. "Everyone else, off you go."
"Tell her I'm fighting a he-man monster downtown but I've got it completely under control and don't need backup," Titus said, walking out of the command center.
"How's that supposed to help find her?" Emily asked.
"Trust me, that's pretty much guaranteed to bring her running downtown," he said, then loped down the hallway and out of sight.
Chapter 37:
The girl of fire
Jane and Billy rocketed cross-country faster than any aircraft could have taken them.
They flew above the cloud cover to let Jane soak up more solar energy; the altitude made her feel immortal and super-powered, and when she saw the streak of blue-white light Billy left in his wake, she produced fire from her hands and left her own red-gold trail beside his.
"I feel like a hero," Billy said, grinning at Jane, who smiled back.
"Race you," she said, and burst ahead like a shuttle launch.
They're smiles disappeared when they dropped closer to the surface and learned how far the fire had spread. Miles of devastation, trees like burning skeletons stretching for the sky, smoke black and gray darkening the air.
"What a nightmare," Jane said.
"We've got to find her," Billy said.
She motioned toward a single point on the horizon; it burned brighter and more out of control than the others. The forest fire looked natural, but in this one place, it boiled over into something fluid, an elemental nightmare of fire.
Dude, will I choke on all this smoke? Billy asked.
Our shields will clean the air for you. The same way I explained how they would protect you underwater,
the alien said.
You promise? Billy said.
If one of us should have trust issues about the other, should not it be the other way around?
Dude said.
Point taken, Billy said, and swooped in to ground level.
Beside him, Jane swatted a few dead trees out of the air, sending up swarms of ash and embers. At the top of a ridge in front of them, the burning figure of the girl of fire walked, her back facing them.
"Hey!" Jane yelled.
The figure turned. Even at this distance, Billy could see the pain that registered on her face. She looked confused, terrified and raised her hands as if to say stop, but gouts of fire poured from her palms and rolled down her arms. A serpentine swath of flame rushed down the sloping hill towards them. Billy and Jane leaped in opposite directions to get out of the way.
Can't help it, can she? Billy thought.
She does not appear to be in control of her abilities
, Dude said.
Billy watched Jane charge the girl of fire, letting the snakelike river of flames wash over her like water. He looked on with alarm when he saw her cape catch fire in a few spots, but the futuristic material of their uniforms seemed to retard the flames and they sputtered out quickly.
Jane reached the crest of the hill and tried to grab the girl, but a massive tree, burning hot enough Billy saw its glowing red insides, toppled, knocking Jane to the ground and sending her rolling back down the hill.
Billy took off, flying over the broken and burning trees littering the path to the top of the hill. The girl focused her attention on him, the tendrils of fire lashed upward and washed over Billy.
"Hot! Dude this is hot! You promised!"
I said you would be able to breath,
Dude said.
I did not say you were in an air-conditioned force field.
"It hurts!"
Then you should try moving out of her line of fire, Billy Case,
the alien said.
I can't see, Dude!
Stay calm and fly up.
Billy, in a rare moment of humility, listened. Or, tried to listen. Up, however, was more difficult to figure out when he was half-blinded by the blast of flames, and so he took off fast at more of a forty-five degree angle, smashed into a tree trunk and knocked himself silly. He fell, crash landing only a few feet away from the girl.
She peered into his eyes. Her face contorted with pain. When she spoke, her mouth was more the absence of fire than anything real or alive.
"I can't stop it," she said. "Help me. Can't stop this from happening."
"I'm — I'm here to help," Billy said.
"Please," the girl said. "Everything burns . . . "
Dude, what am I supposed to do, Billy asked.
The alien was quiet. Billy could almost hear him thinking.
Dude? I need help. I can't — how do I extinguish her?
Lethal force.
What? No. No way, Dude. I can't. You won't let me.
I have stopped you from using excessive force when it was inappropriate and childish, Billy Case,
the alien said.
This might be the only way to stop her. I see no way to help her shut down her powers.
I don't want to.
I am open to suggestions, Billy.
Jane, covered head to toe in soot and char marks, clambered up the hill to crouch beside Billy.
"I feel like I'm inhaling mud," she said.
"Do you have a plan?" Please have a plan, he thought.
"I'm fire proof. I could grab her and try to bring her up into the atmosphere. Maybe if we get her off the ground . . . "
"What if she needs to breathe like a regular human, Jane? Won't that suffocate her?"
"I don't know," she said.
"It will. If flames can't survive up there, neither can a person," he said.
"Billy," Jane said. "We're miles from a town. The way this inferno is spreading we could be looking at hundreds of lives at risk. We have to do something."
Dude?
You have my support, whatever you decide, Billy Case.
"Yeah, we have to do something," Billy said.
He felt a swell of energy in his left hand as he prepared a blast of light to strike at the girl. He looked her directly in the eyes.
"I'm so very sorry," he said.
"You're going to — no you're not!" Jane said.
She whacked Billy's arm and the blast he'd prepared went skittering off through the burning forest, leaving ash and embers scattering like fireflies.
"I don't know what else to do!" he said.
"Let me try — " Jane started, but the girl of fire interrupted her.
"I know what I have to do," she said.
Her voice had a hollowness, an echo, a sadness that stabbed Billy in the chest.
"No! Wait! Let us try to help!" he said.
The air grew hotter, suffocating. The hot ground burned the soles of his feet.
The girl shook her head.
"There's only one way this ends," she said. "Step back."
"What are you doing?" yelled Jane.
She shook her hands in helpless frustration.
What are we going to do, Dude? Billy asked.
I think we should do as she says, Billy Case
.
"I don't want to do as she says, I want to help her!" Billy yelled. Jane looked at him, unsure if he was talking to her or to the voices in his own head.
The girl stared from Billy to Jane and then back again.
"I'm sorry. Tell everyone hurt by me that I'm so sorry."
And then she started to get brighter. From orange to pale yellow, from yellow to white. She transformed to an inverted silhouette, a being of pure light.
"Jane! I can't see you! We have to get back!"
He felt Jane's small and impossibly strong hand grip his arm. Together they took flight. Billy tried to fly east, away and toward home, but Jane flew straight up, above the flames above the intensity of the growing heat.
Below them, an explosion erupted so powerful it interrupted their flight, propelling them higher up into the air, a wave of superheated pressure sent them sprawling. Jane relinquished her death grip on Billy's arm. He watched as she regained control of her flight and let himself tumble a minute until the air itself felt more stable and he was able to circle around.
The ground deteriorated into a blackened dead zone. Trees here and there still flickered with loose flames, but for the most part, the explosion seemed to have knocked out the fire itself, whether through the force of the blast or simply by devouring all available oxygen.
"It's all gone, Dude," Billy said. "Everything once living down there is gone."
I'm sorry, Billy Case.
"Yeah," Billy said. "Hey Jane?"
But when he looked up, Jane had disappeared, her fiery wake a long streak in the distance. She left him there alone.