The Reckoning: Quantum Prophecy Book 3 (17 page)

D
IOXIN TOLD
C
OLIN
, “M
Y GUESS IS THAT
they’re keeping the airstrikes to a minimum because if they destroy the mine then they lose the only real asset this country has.”

Colin nodded. “That’s something at least. What about chemical weapons?”

“Then they’d lose the prisoners. The rest of the world pays Lieberstan a lot of money to keep us here.”

Dioxin led Colin to the heart of the dome, where most of the prisoners had been gathered. They had raided the food and water supplies, and for the first time in years they were able to eat enough to fill their stomachs.

“How badly are we doing?”

“At least twenty-three dead,” Dioxin said. “Another fifty or so wounded.”

“Out of how many?”

“About four hundred, I think.”

A voice shouted, “They’re coming back!”

“Brawn! Dioxin!” Colin yelled. “Get them all inside the safest structures you can find!”

As the prisoners were rounded up, Colin turned and ran from the dome, reached out with his senses. He could feel the heat radiating from the approaching engines of the tanks.
They’re close.
He slowed a little.
No, it’s not that they’re close—there’re
hundreds
of them!

He pulled off the headset communicator and examined it. It seemed to be working, but why hadn’t Kinsella contacted him?
Maybe I need to get to higher ground.

Colin ran toward the western gate, darted outside, then turned and began scrambling up the side of the dome.

From the dome’s apex, he could see the tanks approaching from the east, surrounded by a massive cloud of dust. He turned. More were coming from the north, and the west. The mountainous terrain to the south prevented them from approaching that way.

There’s no way I can defeat them all on my own.

Brawn is the only one of the prisoners who has any superhuman strength, and that’s just due to his size. If he was as strong as he used to be, then maybe we’d have a chance.

Colin heard a low humming coming from the west, and looked up to see a dark aircraft streaking across the sky.

A roughly spherical object dropped from the aircraft, spinning and tumbling so fast that even Colin’s enhanced vision couldn’t make it out. Whatever the object was, it was glistening in the sunlight.

The object crashed into the side of the dome, bounced off and hit the ground rolling.

Colin chased after it.

He skidded down the side of the dome, landed heavily on his feet and reached the object just as its surface shimmered, becoming opaque, and human.

It stood up, and swayed a little. “Whoa! That was fun!”

Colin almost tripped over his own feet. “Renata?”

She grinned, and looked over to the huge dent she’d left in the
side of the dome. “That was the coolest thing ever! Did you see that?” She jumped at Colin and wrapped her arms around him. “God, I’ve missed you!”

“What are you doing here?”

Renata stepped back. “Helping you. I see your hair’s grown back.”

“Dioxin’s here.”

“I know. You’re keeping him locked up, right?”

“Well, not exactly. I—” Colin heard a scream coming from directly above, and jumped back. “Someone’s falling!”

“Ah, he’ll be fine.”

As Colin watched, he realized that the falling man wasn’t screaming: He was laughing. At about forty meters above the ground, his fall began to slow, cushioned by some invisible object.

Butler Redmond touched down with a slight bump. He raised his right hand to the communicator attached to his ear. “We’re down. And Colin’s here.” He nodded to Colin. “Long time no see, stranger. You’ve got the entire Lieberstanian army on the way. What’s the status with the prisoners?”

“Most of them are not really in any condition to fight. Brawn is here and he’s still four meters tall—and still blue—but he’s been shot about a dozen times.”

Butler said, “Colin, from what we can tell, so far you’ve just been putting out fires, right? Dealing with the attacks as they come. We need to go on the offensive. My force-field can withstand practically anything, but there’s no way I can make it large enough to shield the entire dome. We have to get all the prisoners into one place, the smaller the better. I’ll protect them while the
rest of you deal with the Lieberstanians. We just need to hold them off long enough for the UN peacekeeping force to get here with the rest of the team.”

Colin said, “Where is Danny?”

“Right here,” Danny Cooper said, suddenly standing next to Colin, a cloud of dust settling around his feet. “These two might be able to survive jumping out of the StratoTruck, but I wasn’t taking that chance.” He smiled. “So you phoned Brian, but you couldn’t find time to phone
me
?”

Grinning, Colin slapped his friend on the shoulder. “I heard a rumor that the four of us are superheroes. Let’s find out if that’s true.”

They began to run toward the dome. Danny was already waiting for them next to the nearest doorway.

Colin’s headset communicator buzzed. “Finally! Hello?”

“Hello, Colin,” a female voice said.

Colin frowned. “Who’s this? Where’s Mr. Kinsella?”

“Reginald Kinsella is dead, Colin.”

Colin stopped running. “What?”

“Someone shot down his jet. We’re not yet certain who it was, but all the signs point to the New Heroes.”

Colin looked toward the dome, where Renata, Danny and Butler were entering through the doorway. “No way! That’s impossible! They’d never kill anyone! Who
is
this?”

“You will keep listening until I say otherwise.”

“Oh no…”

“Oh yes, Colin. This is Yvonne, your former teammate. The New Heroes are your enemies.
Destroy them.
”

“D
ANNY, WE NEED YOU TO SCOUT THE
area,” Renata said as she looked around the dome. “Get back to the hills and see what you can do about disabling some of those tanks.”

“Will do.”

Butler said, “There’s a large platoon approaching on foot from the northwest. You should be able to slow them down a bit too.”

“OK. Which way is that?” Danny asked.

Butler sighed, and pointed. “
That
way. Weren’t you ever a boy scout?”

“No.”

“Just go,” Renata said. “And don’t get killed.”

Danny winked at her and was gone.

“Butler?”

“I know. Round up the prisoners and protect them.”

“Not yet…. The east side seems to be their strongest point, so you go that way—see if you can use your force-field to flip over some of the tanks, create a barricade.” She turned around. “Colin can help you…”

Colin was standing in the doorway, silhouetted against the light, his hands by his side. Tiny electrical sparks crackled across his fingers.

“What’s the problem?” Butler asked.

Colin took a step closer. “You are.” He raised his hands—and bolts of lightning arced out toward Renata and Butler.

Renata ducked to the side. “That almost hit me, you idiot!”

At the same time, Butler yelped and ripped the communicator from his ear. It was now nothing more than a lump of melted plastic and metal. “What did you do that for?”

Walking toward them, Colin said, “I don’t want you contacting the others.”

He leaped forward and lashed out with his fist, hitting Butler square in the jaw. The older boy flew backward and crashed against one of the giant pistons.

Instinctively, Renata rolled out of the way, spun around and slammed Colin in the back of the head with a crescent kick. “Have you gone nuts? Why are you attacking
us
?”

Without a word, Colin sprang to his feet and launched himself at her, catching her around the waist.

Renata crashed to the ground and Colin crouched over her, pounding his fists into her face and stomach.

Renata felt her lip split and she grabbed hold of Colin’s wrists.
I’m stronger than he is…
She began to force him backward. “Damn it, will you just
listen
to me!” Renata shouted.

Colin didn’t reply: He just kept straining to get to her, his eyes mad with fury.

Then Renata noticed a tiny electrical spark run over one of Colin’s hands.

Oh no…

She jerked her head to the left milliseconds before Colin’s powerful lightning bolt arced into the ground. A smell of scorched hair filled the air.
That could have killed me!

Colin struggled to break her grip; Renata solidified her hands and arms, and forced Colin onto his back.

“Why are you doing this?”

Finally, he spoke. “These prisoners…Some of them are only children!”

“I know! We’re here to help you!”

“Liar!” Colin spat. “You’re like all the others—you’ll do or say anything to get what you want.”

Renata let go of Colin and jumped back from him. “We’re your friends, Colin!”

Colin stood up. “My friends? No, you’re not. Real friends would never betray me, never go behind my back and start working with Max Dalton. Your people killed Reginald Kinsella!”

Freeze him!
Renata told herself.
Like you did with the lawyers back in Bloomington. Never mind how much it’s going to hurt—just do it!

But Colin was already charging at her again, his powerful fists coated in white-hot flame.

Renata leaped aside, ran for the dome’s superstructure and began to scramble up the girders.

A bolt of lightning plowed into her leg, the pain rippling through her entire body. Renata watched with horror as her hands spasmed, letting go of the girder. She fell.

She turned herself solid seconds before she hit the ground, and could only watch, unmoving, as Colin raced up to her, lifted her over his head and threw her.

Her crystalline body tore a ragged hole in the side of the dome and crashed to the ground outside.

She had landed on her side, facing the dome’s entrance, and now Colin came racing through, straight toward her.

Then he stopped, shuddered and started moving backward, struggling against the invisible force.

What the… ?
Colin thought.
Got to be Butler. His force-field.

Colin was lifted off the ground and pressed against the side of the dome.

Butler walked up to him. “Talk to me, Colin. What’s going on here?”

“You’re about to be defeated.”

Colin was slammed back into the ground, immobilized. He tried to break free, but the force-field was holding him down too tightly.

Butler was right in front of him, raging. “You fool! You’ve sided with the enemy!”

“You New Heroes are the enemy, Redmond! The Trutopians only want peace…but you brought war. You murdered Reginald Kinsella because you know the Trutopian way is right.”

“You’ve joined those nutcases? Well let me tell you this, Wagner.
We
didn’t start this conflict. You did.”

“He’s right, Colin,” Renata said, approaching from the side. “I don’t know what’s got into you, but this ends right now.”

Burn them,
a voice inside Colin’s head said. He concentrated, channeling all his energy into heat.

The ground around Renata and Butler was starting to steam and scorch. The concrete blackened.

“Back away, Redmond! I know you have to drop the force-field every few minutes so that you can breathe—if you open it now the heat I’m generating will burn the air from your lungs!”

Then Colin found himself lifted up, the invisible force-field wrapped around his entire body like a shroud, and thrown high and far into the air.

He spun about as he fell, crashed through the branches of a tree at the edge of the clearing and dropped into the coarse undergrowth.

Before he could recover, the force-field gripped him again, squeezing him so tight that his radio headset was crushed against his skull.

Colin reached up, pressed his fingers into the force-field and began to pull as hard as he could.

He heard Butler gasp and the force-field’s pressure increased.

Colin concentrated on the ambient heat from the area, from Butler and Renata themselves. He drew the heat into himself and channeled it through to his fingertips.

Renata said, “Butler, he’s doing something! It’s getting colder!”

“I
know
!” Butler grunted. “Turn yourself solid!”

In seconds, Colin’s fingers were glowing white-hot. He redoubled his strength, and pulled.

The force-field ripped apart soundlessly.

Colin leaned over, gasping for breath. He could hear Butler saying, “Not possible…Not possible!”

He looked up to see Butler on his knees, his hands clutching his head. A thick layer of frost covered the area. Butler was almost blue with the cold.

Colin charged at Butler, kicked out wildly. His foot hit
Butler’s chest, and sent him crashing against the same tree he’d slammed Colin into. The frozen tree shattered, and Butler fell to the ground, unmoving.

Colin looked around to see that Renata was curled into a ball, solid, covered in frost and ice.

He walked toward her.

Renata instantly turned human again and started to scramble backward, her feet skidding on the frozen ground. “Colin, please! You have to stop!”

“
I
have to stop? You chose to side with the warmongers, Renata! You had your chance to join the Trutopians. Now stand down, or I will
make
you stand down!”

Renata hesitated. “You have to fight
with
us, Colin! Everything has changed in Sakkara. We came here to help you, not to attack the prisoners.” She pointed toward the hills. “It’s those people out there you should be fighting.”

He strode forward. “That was your last chance. You wasted it.”

With a sudden lunge, Colin leaped at Renata. She blocked his punch with her left arm, and with her right fist landed a powerful blow square to his face.

Colin staggered back and stared at her. He used the back of his hand to wipe the blood from his mouth.

“I swear to God, Colin, I am on your side!”

But Colin wasn’t listening: He was aiming his hands at her.

Renata threw herself to the side just as a lightning bolt seared the air.