The Gathering: Quantum Prophecy 2 (28 page)

“Thank you,” Colin said.

With a last smile, she followed the others into the building.

Warren watched her go, then—as the third helicopter landed—he said to Colin, “This…This is going to be a tough one for you, but I know you can do it, OK?”

“What do you mean?”

“We need an expert in mind-control if we’re ever going to stop Yvonne and Cross.”

Colin looked up to see a man with a cane being helped out of the copter. The man had a touch of silver in his hair, deep lines on his forehead and an unmistakable scar on his neck, just below his left ear.

“No!”

“It’s the only way,” his father said. “We need him.”

“For God’s sake, Dad! This is about the
stupidest
thing that we could do!”

Limping, leaning heavily on his cane, Max Dalton slowly approached Colin. “I know you’re not pleased to see me. I don’t blame you. Considering what happened…but they’re right, Colin. I’m the best man for the job.”

Colin held up his right hand. A powerful bolt of lightning arced around it. “After what you tried to do to us, Dalton, give me one good reason why I shouldn’t burn you to a cinder right here and now!”

Max Dalton smiled weakly. “Because you know that would be wrong. You were trained by Solomon Cord. He taught you to always do the right thing. If you want to honor his memory, you will let me live.”

Colin looked away and the spark between his fingers faded and died.

• • •

Later, when everyone else had gone inside, Danny and Renata came out on to the roof and walked over to Colin. “You OK?” Renata asked.

“I will
not
work alongside that psychopath! We don’t need him. We don’t need
any
of them! Let’s get out of here. The three of us will find Cross on our own.”

Then Renata said, “No. Danny and I talked about it all last night. We’re staying.”

“Are you crazy? A couple of months ago Max Dalton was going to
kill
us!”

“I know. Look, he’ll be watched at all times. Max is still a prisoner. It’s just that we need him here.”

“No! I won’t have any part in this!” Colin said.

Renata said, “I’m sorry, Colin. You just don’t have a choice.”

“You know something? I’m getting pretty tired of people telling me that I don’t have any choice. Well, I do. I do have a choice.” Colin stepped on to the low wall at the edge of the roof and jumped.

Danny and Renata watched as Colin landed heavily on the ground far below and began to run.

“I’d better go after him.”

“No, Dan…let him go. He needs to do this. When the time is right, he’ll come back.” Renata reached out and took hold of Danny’s hand. “He’ll come back.”

T
HREE
M
ONTHS
L
ATER
…

Victor Cross sat in his office, watching footage taken from a CCTV camera. Beside him, Yvonne sat with her feet up on the desk. Evan Laurie pointed the remote control at the screen, pausing it. “That’s him…”

“Where and when was this taken?” Yvonne asked.

“Hungary, just east of Budapest. Four days ago.”

“At least his hair is finally growing back. Where is he now?”

“We’re not sure, but we’re getting closer. We’ve met a lot of people who’ve spoken to him since he left the new heroes.”

Cross said, “When you do find him, I want him tracked at all times, but tell the men to keep their distance. Wagner can hear someone coming from miles away. When the time is right, we’ll pick him up. It won’t be hard to convince him to side with the Trutopians.”

“I can do that easily enough,” Yvonne said.

“No. The only thing I want you to do is make sure that he doesn’t remember you. I definitely don’t want him to be fully under your mind-control. I want him to
believe
that the Trutopians are the only way forward.”

“You’re playing a dangerous game,” Laurie said. “After what we did to Solomon Cord, I don’t think we can expect any mercy from him. If he discovers…”

“I’m a lot smarter than he is, Laurie. He’ll never figure out who we really are.”

“But suppose he
does
? Neither of you have any physical superhuman power that comes close to his. If he finds us out, if he can somehow find a way past Yvonne’s control, Colin Wagner will tear us apart. We don’t have anyone even nearly powerful enough to stop him.”

Cross sat back in his chair, staring at the grainy image of Colin on the screen. “Mr. Laurie, you have never been more wrong.”

TEN YEARS EARLIER…

Her eyes streaming from the smoke that billowed from the burning battle-tank, Energy limped across the shrapnel-strewn battlefield to where Titan was sitting propped up against an overturned jeep. The hero was tearing his blue cape into strips—he’d already used several to bind a stick to his broken right leg.

He looked up as Energy approached. “Hey…You okay?”

“I’ll live.” Holding on to the jeep to steady herself, Energy carefully sat down next to him. “Just so you know, the medics are bringing their own bandages.”

Titan forced a smile. “Had to keep busy. Didn’t want to pass out.”

“So, did we win or lose today?”

Titan dropped the shredded cape and took hold of her hand. “I don’t think that’s something we’re going to know for a long time.”

Energy nodded, then paused. “Diamond didn’t make it. She was in her crystalline form when it happened. Without her powers, she wasn’t able to change back.”

“God…what was her name? Her real name?”

“She never told me. Max said he didn’t know either.”

“How are we going to find her family, tell them what happened?”

Energy didn’t answer.

Titan leaned his head back against the jeep. “She was just a kid.”

“I know.”

A voice called, “So how are you guys doing?”

They looked up to see Paragon striding toward them.

“We’re alive,” Energy said. “Thanks to you.”

“That’s all part of the job description.” Paragon unclipped his jetpack and checked a tiny readout on the back. “Damn. Left thruster’s just about blown. Not that it’s worth repairing now. If it’s true that you superhumans have all lost your powers, then I’m going to quit the business too.”

Titan began, “No, you should—”

Paragon raised his hand to his helmet. “Hold it. Go ahead, Max. Got it. I’m on the way.” Slinging his jetpack back into place, he said to Energy and Titan, “He thinks they’ve just found Ragnarök’s base.”

He soared into the sky.

Energy activated her communicator. “Paragon, you’re crazy! You can’t go after him without your armor!”

His voice came back. “Dioxin destroyed most of it. But maybe he did me a favor; the armor slows me down. Without it, I can get there a lot faster.”

“I’m on the way, Max,” Paragon said. “Tell me everything.”

“Ragnarök’s battle-tank was built a hundred and fifty kilometers west of here, big warehouse outside Westmoreland. My people have been checking the satellite images and traffic records. Their analysis shows a large SUV making regular trips between the warehouse and Sherman’s Bay, Chautauqua Lake. Same SUV

came back today, arrived in the warehouse an hour before the battle-tank emerged.”

Paragon said, “Max, that doesn’t mean it was Ragnarök!”

“They also detected a vapor trail from Ragnarök’s escape craft going in the same direction. They were able to pick it up by analyzing—”

“Skip the details,” Paragon interrupted. “Just give me the exact location.”

“I’m sending you the coordinates now.”

Paragon glanced at the map that was projected on to the inside of his visor. “I see it.”

“Checking it against the city’s ordnance database. It’s…good Lord…. It’s an apartment block. We’ve been searching for this maniac for years and he’s been living in an ordinary apartment block!”

The army ambulance raced over the rough ground, hit a furrow and bounced. Inside, lying on the stretcher, Titan gasped as the pain in his right leg flared up again.

“Take it easy up there!” Energy called to the driver. She turned back to Titan and checked the temporary splint on his leg. “You okay?”

Titan gritted his teeth. “Not really.”

The truck bounced again and Energy grabbed a handrail to steady herself. “You’re going to be off your feet for the next few months.”

“I know.” He nodded. “Look, if our powers never come back—”

“We’ll survive.”

“Yeah, but—”

The ambulance swerved sharply to the left.

“Hey!” Energy shouted. “Watch where you’re going!”

“That wasn’t me!” the driver called back. “Something hit—”

Titan was thrown from the stretcher as an explosion ripped through the side of the ambulance.

“Paragon, this is General Piers. Backup is about ten minutes behind you.”

“I’m not waiting,” Paragon said. The visor’s readouts showed that the jetpack’s shuddering was caused by the left thruster. Just hope I can get there before this thing shuts down completely.

He dropped down to fifty meters—high enough to avoid the powerlines, but not as low as he’d have preferred to fly with a malfunctioning jetpack. He knew that even if he’d still had his armor, hitting the ground from this height would be fatal.

Okay. There it is. The visor’s map showed the apartment block less than a kilometer ahead.

The homes and gardens of Sherman’s Bay streamed by below him as Paragon steered himself toward the building.

“General, I can’t see the craft…. Either he’s already gone or—” Paragon’s jetpack suddenly sputtered, lurching him to the left. “Hell. Jetpack’s on the way out!”

“Pull out, Paragon!”

“No, it can run on only two thrusters…” The apartment block loomed up ahead. “Just not very well.” Paragon angled upward, slowing as he neared the roof, and switched his helmet to

infrared. “I’m getting two heat patterns in there. Neither of them big enough to be Ragnarök. Could be pets. General, better get your people to widen the search radius. Ragnarök’s long gone.” He touched down on the building’s flat roof. “What’s the intel on this place?”

“He’s been living in the penthouse apartment for six years,” Piers replied. “Seems that the building manager thought he was a European rock star living in tax exile. Paid him a lot of money to leave him alone.”

Paragon stopped in front of the door to the stairway and pulled a small device from a pouch on his belt. “Scanning…I’m picking up a lot of sensors on the door. Could be booby-trapped. I’ll check the windows.” He walked to the edge of the roof and stepped off, activating his jetpack at the same time.

He hovered in front of one of the large windows. “Sensors on the window, too…The infrared shows—”

The general’s voice interrupted, “Paragon. We’ve just heard that the ambulance carrying Titan and Energy has been hit. It must be Ragnarök!”

“All right, I’ll…oh my God…. That can’t be right!”

“What is it?”

Paragon didn’t reply. He aimed his armor’s grappling gun and fired it directly at the window. The small but heavy hook plowed through the thick glass, showering the room inside with crystal fragments.

He kicked out at the window, widening the hole, then pulled himself through.

Ahead of him, six large glass canisters were mounted on a

workbench. Cables ran from the canisters to a small monitoring computer.

Paragon swallowed. “General…better get your people in here. Right now.”

“Talk to me, Paragon! What is it?”

“I…I don’t…four of them are empty. But the other two…”

“For God’s sake, man! Just tell me!”

“They look like they’re about three years old. They’re suspended in some sort of fluid…. There’s…” Paragon walked around the canisters, staring at them. How could he have done something like this?

Floating inside the nearest canister, the black-haired baby girl reached out and placed her hand against the glass.

Paragon stared at her.

She stared back.

And smiled.

A ripple of pain tore through Titan’s body, bringing him back to consciousness. He opened his blood-caked eyes to see a shadowy figure standing over him.

“You’re awake. Good.” Ragnarök leaned close, baring his teeth. “I didn’t want you to die without knowing who’d killed you.”

Titan looked around wildly. The ambulance was more than twenty meters away, burning. “Energy…”

“She’s unconscious, but alive. For the moment.” Ragnarök locked his massive fists around Titan’s neck and lifted him off the ground. “You ruined everything. I spent over a year working on

that machine. I would have been the only superhuman left.”

Gasping, struggling for breath, Titan slammed his left fist into Ragnarök’s stomach.

The villain staggered. “You destroyed my forcefield! Now my powers have been stripped too! You realize what that means?”

“You’re…gonna have to…get a real job?”

Ragnarök let go and stepped back.

Titan collapsed to the ground, landing heavily on his broken leg.

Ragnarök lashed out with his foot, catching Titan in the ribs. “Without your powers, you’re no stronger than the average man, are you? Me, I work out.” He grabbed hold of Titan’s arm, and began to drag him along the ground. “There’s enough space in my flyer for the two of us. I’m going to take you somewhere they’ll never find you.” Ragnarök paused, then dropped Titan’s arm. He reached out and tore the mask from Titan’s face. “Huh. So that’s what you look like…. You got a family, Titan? A wife? A couple of kids, maybe? I’ll find them.”

Titan scrambled around with his free hand, trying to find something he could use as a weapon.

Then he spotted something in the distance, racing toward them through the sky. “One question. Allow me that.”

“What?” Ragnarök said, turning to him.

“I just want to know…why? What made you like this?”

“You want the whole sob story? How society treated me badly, so I turned to a life of crime?” Ragnarök raised his eyes. “You think I can’t tell when someone is stalling?”

Then Paragon was on them, roaring out of the sky, slamming into Ragnarök’s back.