Age of Power 1: Legacy (41 page)

“The
two of us against a dozen or so crazies with guns and superpowers…are you
insane?” BJ said. He sounded a bit incredulous at my words. He still followed
me as I went towards the doors leading outside.

I
smiled as I said, “What’s the problem? A scream, a whistle, you know kung fu.
Go all Keanu Reeves on ‘em. We’re set!”

He
laughed weakly, “Oh, ha, ha, my shield ain’t all that strong and…hey, who
was that science guy
?”

I
said, “I don’t know, Alexi something…he’s Russian. It’s getting so you need a
list of characters around here to…”

I
stopped talking. Brand, Reich, and Kular stood at the edge of the parking lot,
smiling with malicious glee. That alone might not have worried me. The
half-dozen mercenaries to each side of the outside doors did, however.
Especially
since
they were pointing rifles at our
heads.

BJ
and I glanced at each other. He said, “Well, getting to the bad guys certainly
has been easy today.”

I
sighed.
“Yay.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

I
had to give Yasmine credit for one thing; she certainly knew how to make a
melodramatic entrance. Walking out of the line of trees on the other side of
the parking lot, she started to clap her hands. With a wide smile, she said,
“Oh, don’t you two look sweet. How lovely it is of you both to give yourselves
up!”

BJ’s
breath caught in his chest. I looked past Yasmine and saw why. She had Alan
following her; wearing a welded-on metal collar attached to
a
leash that lead
to Yasmine’s belt. Worst of all was the look of defeat
he had on his face. I found myself stunned by such perversity.

BJ
muttered, “Oh, man, she’s turned him into a slave.”

Yasmine
heard him and chuckled, glancing over at Alan, “Of course, Shield. He fought me
all the way. He still fights deep inside. But once I kill his sister, he will
break.”

Walking
across the parking lot, Yasmine casually stepped over bodies until she joined
the other Empowered. She smiled with triumph and said, “Really, boys, did you
think this was going to end with the cavalry coming to the rescue? And who
would that have been?
Paradoxis?”

I
felt a pressure on my head as I heard more within the silence of my mind. 
*Truly,
Vaughn, did you expect a miracle? 
The Noumenonii,
perhaps?*

Aloud,
she said, “And, thinking of the Noumenonii, tell me, where is Eisenhawk? I have
so wanted to meet the man who stopped me so…casually. I would so very much like
to meet him at last!”

BJ
gasped. A grimace of pain crossed his face then, and, gritting his teeth, he
said, “Bitch! Get out of my head!”

Yasmine’s
eyes tightened, and she flinched away. Looking back, she said, “Very well,
Shield, keep your secrets. But there will be no rescue. I’m afraid this is the
end.”

I
sighed. “Please, kill us now. 
Seriously, this
melodrama…no more of it, please.”

I
got the satisfaction of watching her snarl. Nice thought to take with me. But
before she reacted, Brand said, “Oh, Christ! He’s right, Yasmine! Just kill
them and get it over
with
! We’re already moving too
fast!”

Brand
cried out and grabbed at his head. For a split second, I saw fear in his eyes.
Yasmine glared at him for a moment longer, and then looked back to me. She
said, “Your friend is impatient, Vaughn, though I think his hatred of you makes
that understandable. But I want to savor this moment.”

Walking
forward and dragging Alan with her, she stepped in front of the others. She
said, “Where is the Noumenonii, Vaughn? I won’t ask you again!”

I
felt another wave of power ripple across my mind. This time, I tried to push
back. With a growl, I said, “Get…out…Yasmine!”

*Why?
It’s so easy—so very easy—to change things. I can turn love into hate, as Demon
can attest
to
. Now, tell me where Eisenhawk is,
Vaughn. He holds the information about us! I won’t have his kind fighting me
with that kind of knowledge!*

The
contact was so damn intimate. Thoughts of family, of friends passed in my
mind’s eye. I tried to push her out, but that only made it worse. In my mind, I
heard, 
*
Shall
I take them from you? Shall I
strip the love you feel for them? Watch as you think of them and don’t care any
longer? Do you want that?*

Yasmine
pushed onward, looking through my mind, casually tossing memories away as she
searched for Dane…Ian…oh hell…
*
Who
is Ian, Vaughn?
Tell me…who is Ian? What is this confusion? What is Eisenhawk? Who is Ian? Tell
me!*

“Enough!”
The word came with a bright fire suddenly shining in my mind. I felt a hand on
my shoulder, and found my head clearing. Gasping for air I didn’t even know I
needed, I looked at BJ. I almost pulled away from him out of reflex.

The
hyperactive and happy guy I had known was gone. This BJ looked deadly angry; it
was beyond anything I’d ever seen before. His eyes were gray storm clouds. Yep,
the Sinclair family had the market cornered on hard, cold looks. I was almost
jealous. I just annoyed people with my angry looks.

Yasmine
remained unfazed. Actually, it made her angrier. She said, “Damn you, Shield!
Someone grab him already!”

Three
mercenary soldiers lowered their rifles and grabbed BJ, pulling us apart. I
didn’t feel Yasmine again, though, and I took the chance to distract her. I
said, “You really want his head, don’t you, Yasmine? Are you that scared of the
Noumenonii? I think it’s
kind of
funny. They blocked
you out so easily that it’s got you freaking out!”

Yasmine
sneered. “I’m not afraid of them, boy!”

“You
should be. We all should be.” I said softly, taking a step forward.
But only a small one.
If I did anything beyond that, the
mercenaries would shoot me in the head.

“Face
it, Yasmine. You came into this thinking you were on top, and all this time,
you hadn’t been anywhere near it.”

Yasmine
suddenly looked suspicious, and I knew she'd guessed my idea. She smiled, and I
felt a pulse of her power again. She didn’t need to look deep this time.

She
laughed and then said, “Oh, Vaughn! You’re waiting for help. Still! Hope
springs eternal and all that, but really now. Parry is gone!
She can’t send help! Thanks to my little visit to the Chinese
authorities, she’s on the run. You and Robert James Sinclair are quite alone.
And now, since you won’t tell me where that psychic primitive is, you have
nothing for me. But first, let’s be rid of any last ditch hope that you think
you have at the small of your back.”

Damn it!
 All that thinking about help coming was
worthless! She’d seen past those thoughts to my real intent. Yasmine took
psychic hold of my body. I fought. I used every bit of willpower that I could
muster. But, even while my mind screamed against it, my hands reached back and
pulled the gun out. With an almost casual gesture, I tossed it away, unable to
stop myself. Then my body just slowly relaxed and I stood there. I couldn’t
talk, I couldn’t move, react, or do anything now.

“Gentlemen
of the Red Waters High Security Company—kill him,” Yasmine said, smiling. Then
she giggled. Bitch!

BJ
fought hard to get free from the men holding him as they pulled us even farther
apart. Desperately, he said, “Yasmine, don’t do this! Don’t fall into that
trap! You can be better than this!”

Yasmine
rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, Shield. You sound like an idiot when you say
stuff like that. Face it boy, this is a kill or be killed world. My childhood
taught me that. Africa taught me how to fight back, though.”

As
I watched, the six of the mercenaries began to line up into a firing squad.
Brand waved goodbye. No last minute saves there. Oh, fuck…I was going to die.

*Yes,
you are…goodbye, Vaughn.*

I
managed to close my eyes.

One
of the mercenaries stood away from the rest and yelled, “Ready!”

I
opened my eyes then.
If I were about to die, then I was going
to stare death in the face.
I looked at Brand, thinking of our years of
friendship.

“Aim!”

“Wait.”

I
looked as Yasmine held up a hand and looked over at something. I followed her
gaze and could see no one. Then, Yasmine narrowed her look. Suddenly, with a
yelp of pain, a large, rotund thirty-something-looking guy in boots, black
jeans, and a big, maroon jogging sweater stumbled out from around a corner of
the building. A camera was on his shoulder.
So much for my
abilities.
If I had heard him, I would’ve gotten him to safety. Damn!

At
the snap of Yasmine’s fingers, mercenaries quickly went over to the cameraman.
He didn’t stop them from taking him by his arms. He was still shaking his head
in confusion toward whatever Yasmine had done to him. Yasmine’s men pulled him
over toward us while he struggled to keep from dropping the camera. Yasmine
looked at the poor guy imperiously. I couldn’t help but think of cats and mice.
Yasmine then walked over to him and brushed the back of a gloved hand over one
side of his face. He whimpered.

She
said, “A survivor…you ran and hid. I am very impressed, remnant. I
almost didn’t hear you.”

“Lady…what…who
are you? I’m just doing my job!” the big guy cried out, his voice full of
panic and fear.

“Shush,
it’s quite all right. This is a good thing. I suppose you have the battle
recorded, and perhaps have even transmitted it to your television station?”
Yasmine asked.

He
nodded vigorously and said, “…recording on disc in van, or sent through an
uplink with the cell towers.”

Then
he shook his head, looking frightened at what he just said. I realized that the
poor guy was a dead man, one way or another. This was bad, very bad.

BJ
spoke up. “I guess you can forget being the proud hero that everyone fawns
over, Yasmine. Right now, I’m betting that every military installation in the
country is getting ready for a fight, thanks to this guy.”

For
a moment, Yasmine just glared at BJ. There was a flash of light from his aura,
and then she growled wordlessly. Taking a breath to steady her anger, she said,
“No matter, Shield. If I can’t gain power by worship, then let it be through
terror!”

Damn.
Was she thinking what I thought she might be?

Yasmine
whipped around to glare at me, laughing in my mind. She thought at me, *
Why
not? It was in my plans already! This merely advances things. I would have
ruled over people who were in awe of me. But fear and domination will do just
as well. I grew up with the same exact thing throughout my life.
Why 
shouldn’t
 I
now force it on others?*

I
tried one last time to get through to her. It was my last chance, and I knew
it. “Yasmine, don’t do this…don’t make yourself into the same type of persons
that hurt you over the years. Being
Empowered
can be a
good thing. Don’t let it become as dark as your childhood was.”

“Remnants…”
The word came from the cameraman. I looked at him and did a double take. He
looked…blank, somehow, yet he was sweating, tense. He was fighting something and
losing. Yasmine just laughed at me and looked at the cameraman.

“Yes,
Thomas Delmar. That would be you. All humans are now nothing more than remnant
survivors of the 
Day
. You are nothing more than
servants
to your new Gods.
Or useless
pieces of meat to be purged from the face of the planet.
Now, do this
one last service for me, and I will set you free…”

With
drool coming out of Delmar’s open mouth, the cameraman nodded dumbly in
response. Whatever Yasmine was doing to him, he didn’t even seem alive anymore,
much less a thinking human being. With slow yet deliberate motions, he readied
the camera to record the execution. As a green light came on, he said,
“Transmitting now…”

Yasmine
smiled. She came and stood in front of me and looked into the camera. I could
only watch as she stood straighter, taking in the moment. She was
insane, and dangerously impulsive. This was not the way to introduce us to
the world! But she was doing it.

With
a melodramatic wave of her arm, pointing toward me, she said, “I am Yasmine!
Leader of a strike force of beings called the Empowered! We are the true legacy
of the Avatar! Today, a hero tried to stop the coming of my dark force. He too
is an Empowered. But he is one who sought to stop us. His name is Son’x! He
tried to stop my plans, and he failed! He wishes us to help your kind. But that
is not our destiny! We will 
rule
 humanity, not coddle
them! Saving you remnant humans may be the wish of Son'x. But 
my
 wishes
are what will rule this day!”

Yasmine
stepped toward the camera. She raised her hands up in a gesture to the men
holding their guns pointed at me, ready to fire. Not once did any mercenary
react to what was going on. Looking closer, I
could
see a glazed look in their eyes. They were in the same boat as the cameraman.

Yasmine
said, “Having lost, the hero dies! And I shall lead this world into the new Age
of Power!”

BJ
struggled, but mercenaries continued holding him down on his knees. Yasmine
ignored his struggles and said, “Watch, humanity, as one of the new young
champions dies this day! Say goodbye to Vaughn Hagen, once and for all!”

Stepping
away from the camera, she took her position behind the firing squad. Delmar
focused on me. Walking back around the line of mercenaries, to stand with her
fellow dark Empowered, Yasmine said, “Fire!”

Angela!
 I
couldn’t help thinking of her. My eyes slammed shut at Yasmine’s order. I heard
the firing of the automatic rifles echoing in the countryside. But I didn’t
feel the impacts. In fact, I was still thinking. Confused, I opened my eyes as
I heard Yasmine mutter, “What?”