Phoenix Rising (Book Two of The Icarus Trilogy) (37 page)

“Shit,” she whispered, rushing over to the side of the barely-conscious soldier.  “Hector, I am
so
sorry!  Are you alright?” Charlotte asked, not bothering to keep up with proper protocol.  She had already messed up the procedure and rushed through the thing, hoping to get the soldier’s resurrection taken care of before it was too late.  Cortes felt an itch in his throat and realized that the doctor had not administered the right drugs before removing the breathing tube.  The Spaniard did what he could to focus and lifted his head to look at the doctor.

“I’m… ok.  What happened?” the soldier asked, every word a struggle.  He didn’t have the capability to think for himself in this state.  Dr. Kane visibly sighed and started to detach the electrodes from her patient.  The Spaniard was quite lucky that he didn’t suffer from a mental dissolution.

“I had to resurrect you early.  I have to resurrect all of you earlier than you’d want.  They’re shutting down the satellite relays as we speak,” the woman said, not bothering to ease the soldier into the conversation.  She didn’t have time to waste on him.  There were still eight soldiers lost in the storage area.  Cortes shook his head as he propped himself up on his elbows.

“What are you talking about?” the Crow asked, shaking the grogginess out of his head.  He had never heard of the satellites ever shutting down.  The Commission wouldn’t risk the problems for their investments.

“Goddamnit, Cortes, were you paying attention at all?  They did it.  The EFI finally declared war on the Trade Union.  They’re shutting down the relay so that the revolutionaries can’t resurrect.  I’m doing what I can,” she said as she bent down and helped Cortes to his feet, half-carrying the soldier who weighed more than her.  She set him down on another gurney and then turned back towards the computer.  “But Haywick and the rest are still stuck down there.  He died right after you and the others, and,” Dr. Kane said, searching through the database for the lost soldier.  It was a frantic moment as she scrolled down the page, but the soldier’s name popped out at last.

“Fuck me,” Cortes said, completely unaware that a revolution was taking place around him.  A dozen half-heard conversations and huddled meetings finally made sense to the Spaniard.  He hadn’t known what was happening; he was always just lost in his own thoughts.  Cortes hadn’t realized the deeper meaning of Sam’s appearance and the opportunities for atonement that he had offered, but now it was quite apparent.  Hector was supposed to help Jenkins in this struggle, whatever it was.  The Spaniard tried to regain control of his thoughts.

The doctor had spoken about a revolution and the EFI, which was an organization that the Spaniard had heard about before.  For the Commission to stop resurrections there had to be an uprising of soldiers.  Cortes pushed away the rest of the questions in his mind.  He had to focus on the present.  He felt a chill pass through him as he realized that he had just narrowly escaped oblivion.

“No!”  Cortes turned to the doctor, whose face was gaping open in a mixture of disbelief and horror.  Cortes picked himself up and limped over to the woman before looking at the screen.

“What’s going on?” he asked, a creeping terror seizing control of his mind.  He looked from the screen to the doctor’s face and then back to the monitor.  He read through the names quickly before the doctor could even respond.  Then he saw what had caused her reaction.

“I was…. I was too….. late,” Charlotte said in a weak, small voice.  Her eyes couldn’t focus on anything but the blinking name on the screen and the picture beside it.  That gaunt little face that she remembered from just a few days ago; that tortured man stared back at her from the terminal.  There was only one word written beside his status.

Retired
.

The whole list had been filled with the word.  Beside each soldier, beside each Crow there was just that one, wicked, little word that meant entirely too much.

Retired
.

Charlotte fell to her knees, too weak to stand.  She had wanted so much more for that soldier.  The last few years of his life had been a twisted half-recollection of torture and death.  If she had only been a little faster, if she had pushed Cortes through the resurrection process with just a few less seconds she could have helped Haywick.  He would be in pain, he would be coughing up biotic fluid, but the man would be alive.

She sobbed soundlessly on the floor of the resurrection chamber.  She did not cry, her eyes were dry, but her face was flushed, her mouth was left open and she felt the kind of misery left to almost-heroes and almost-saviors.  It was a kind of pain that she had not thought possible.

Cortes looked down at the woman and could not help but feel empathy.  He felt guilty that he could not share that burden with her; he knew that he was the reason that she had not had enough time.  He knew that he had been given his life at the expense of that tortured soldier on the screen. 

But Hector couldn’t help but feel grateful.  He had been so close to death, but she had brought him back.  He looked up towards the control room and saw his brother in the reflective glass.  Cortes confused himself for the moment and thought that Sam was really there with him.  The boy didn’t speak, but nodded, leaving Cortes with the knowledge of what he needed to do.

The Spaniard lowered himself to his knees and brought his arms around the wounded woman.  He let her sob into his shoulder, even though the pain from his resurrection still coursed through the arm.  He could feel the woman shaking and brought his hand around to the back of her head, leaving the other hand to rub softly against her back.

“It wasn’t your fault, Dr. Kane.  The Commission did this.  This is not your pain to bear,” he said, not fully comprehending how the statement would affect the beautiful doctor.  He could only think of himself in that moment.

This pain is mine.

-

Carver walked into the medical building with Templeton right behind him.  The old veteran still didn’t trust the man, but he didn’t really have a choice now.  The thin man was basically in charge and carried himself with an arrogant confidence.  He pushed past the old man and continued on down the hallway to the resurrection chamber.

The veteran held back the growl and kept his resentment quiet.  This was no place for it.

Albert walked behind the three soldiers and was amazed at how ready they were.  The nervous, undercover guard was still trying to come to terms with the start of the revolution, but the two men in step with each other had already adjusted and were ready for every action. 
Must be dealing with war all the time
, Albert thought.  He had never seen real action, and he assumed that was why he was so nervous.  Albert didn’t even consider that the two soldiers were just working through their own apprehension.

The four of them arrived in the Control Room and were greeted by a welcome sight.  Hawkins had been tied to his favorite chair with his hands behind him.  He looked up, beaten and still somewhat drugged, and laughed at the soldiers.

“Here to join the party, eh?  Fucking slut tricked me.  Seduced me and then stole something.  Don’t even know what she wanted, she just beat on me a little and tied me up.  And you four,” he said with a wicked grin spreading across his face, the cut on his lip opening a little further and letting out a small amount of blood.  “You’re all gonna die.  You can’t do this to me and get away with it.”

Carver’s eyes twitched at the statement.  He had never liked the weasel-faced man who sat helpless before them.  The scientist had made too many mistakes with the veteran and Carver fondly remembered the experience of stepping on the man’s neck after one of those mistakes.  He walked up to the small man, shameless in his captivity, and looked the man in the eye.

“Peter.  You must understand,” he said as he reached out and grabbed a fistful of the brown hair with his left hand.  “You don’t have the power, here.  The soldiers have risen up and you’re… well, stuck in the middle.  No one is coming to save you, so here’s the deal.  You’re going to help us bring back Jenkins, and then, well,” he said, looking back to Roberts, who was glaring at the little man in the chair.  “Then it’s up to Roberts.”

“Is it true?” Roberts asked in a clipped fashion.  He almost didn’t wait for Carver to finish his statement, but he held onto his resolve.  He stepped forward a few paces and stood over the mad scientist, who seemed to be reeling from the news.

“Is ‘what’ true?” Hawkins asked with a sneer, recovering from his previous disorientation.  If nothing else he could quickly adapt to any situation with his great mind.  The scientist looked at each man in the room and his eye twitched in disgust.  He held contempt for every man there, but he especially didn’t appreciate the boy’s tone.  Hawkins knew he was better than all of them.

“Are you responsible?  Are you the one who gives me all this pain?” Roberts asked, already knowing the truth.  It made so much sense, already, but he needed to hear the small man admit to it.  Hawkins looked down and scoffed before breaking into a quiet chuckle.

“How can you even ask that, Roberts?” the scientist asked before looking up with a patronizing look.  “Of course I did.  I own you, body and soul.  You’re.  MY.  Little. Experiment,” he said, smiling and punctuating every word.  Hawkins couldn’t help but feel pride in his sadism.

“Is it ever going away?” Roberts asked, his voice shaking from the effort.  Hawkins furrowed his brow at the question.

“What?  The pain?”  Roberts narrowed his eyes at the question and nodded slowly.  Hawkins laughed at the preposterous nature of the situation.

“No, my little puppet.  The pain is permanent with each clone, and if what you say is true,” Hawkins said before looking at the floor and smiling, bringing his gaze back up before another cruel statement.  “The satellite relays are shut down and there is absolutely
no
way of getting you another body.  You’re stuck with this one, little boy.  And if I remember correctly it’s a wicked, little specimen,” he said, stretching his face and looking even more like a weasel.

Hawkins hit the floor and almost passed out.  The boy had wrecked him with a hammer blow which had caused his chair to lose its balance and slam against the floor of the Control Room.  The scientist thought that it was becoming harder to breathe and realized there was a metallic taste in his mouth.  Then he felt the pain.

“You little freak!” Hawkins shouted from the ground, unable to turn himself from his position, but looking at the young soldier out of his periphery.  “You will die for that!”

Carver watched the exchange and felt pride for the boy soldier.  He had expected the kid to lash out, of course, but he had not expected what came next.  Roberts merely bent down and picked up the small man bound to the chair.  He set the thing back on its wheels and then stood back.

“You’ll die first,” Roberts said with a quiet malice.  “But first, Ryan comes back.”  Hawkins laughed at the statement and shook his head.

“He should be fine.  The action figure wouldn’t die against that team, they’re far too unimportant,” he said, knowing that he was right.  He had programmed the man, after all.

“Not that one,” Templeton said, making himself known.  “The one you didn’t corrupt,” the thin man said before walking over to the scientist’s side.  The pudgy man was noticeably confused, at first, and looked up at the revolutionary.

“What are you talking about?  Why do you want a suicidal soldier?” he asked, unaware of the EFI’s grand plan.

“Not speaking for these two, since I didn’t really have a relationship with the man, but we don’t really need
him
so much,” Templeton said, sighing after the statement, “we just need the symbol.  The very finest example of the evils that you’ve performed in your line of duty.”  Hawkins looked at the man with a raised eyebrow and shook his head.

“Please, what evils?  You all signed your contracts; I can’t help that you legally signed away your rights,” Hawkins said before sniffing.  He sensed that metallic taste again and wondered if he was bleeding from his nose.

“Fuck your contracts,” Carver said, unwilling to entertain the conversation any longer.  “The boy’s coming back and you’re helping.  Then you’re gonna realize how wrong you were all these years,” the old man said before turning to Roberts.  The boy soldier gave a small smile.  “Roberts will help with that,” the old man said, wanting to intimidate the scientist just like always.  The lunatic merely scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Why in the name of everything sacred would I ever
help
you?  If you’re going to kill me, well, let’s just say I’d like you to fail.  I have no incentive to bring back your poor, widdle action figure,” he said, adopting a toddler’s voice in mockery.

“We don’t need him,” announced a voice from the other entrance.  The five men turned to see Dr. Kane, still visibly shaken from her experience in the resurrection chamber.  “I just need to load his brain mapping into the terminal and force an early adoption and we’ll have him back,” Charlotte continued in a despondent tone.  The room was silent from the abrupt statement for just a moment before Hawkins roared with laughter.

“You fucking dumb slut!  An early adoption will destroy the man’s mind,” Hawkins said, laughing so hard that the fat of his torso jiggled.  “I would
pay
to see this little abortion of yours.”

Charlotte merely looked over to Carver, who almost immediately understood why Hawkins was wrong.  The old man smiled at the little twist of fate and let out a soft laugh.  Hawkins was struck silent by the sound and looked up at the veteran, who merely breathed out sharply and gave a scornful look to the bound man.

“He’ll be just fine,” he said before turning to the man and bending down so that his face was only a few centimeters away.

“You won’t.”

-

Ryan Jenkins opened his eyes to pitch-black darkness.  It had been a month since he had last experienced consciousness, but he had no concept of time or his lack of existence.  He only felt the pain of resurrection and the bleak and destructive darkness that encompassed him.