Absolute Power

“What’s a shock-bomb?” Renata asked.

“Another of Max’s inventions. It’s a grenade that only explodes in one direction. You could hold one in your hand when it explodes – they’re about the size of a can of soda – and it wouldn’t do you any damage, as long as the business end was pointed away from you. And there’s no shrapnel.”

“Let’s see one!” Danny said.

Razor’s hair flicked about his face as he shook his head. “They’re way too dangerous to fool around with. How did the mission go? Find the weapons?”

“There weren’t any weapons. It was food.”

“Food? That seems…strange. Do you think Impervia knew?”

Renata shrugged. “It’s hard to say. She didn’t want us going into the building, so maybe she did know. We can’t ask her, because then we’d have to tell her how we found out. You know what she’s like about us breaking the rules.”

Razor asked, “Are you still thinking about leaving?”

“If I had somewhere to go, I’d leave in a second,” Renata said. “We should all go. Except Bubbles. But we can’t take Mina with us, and I really think that one of us should be here for her, if she ever wakes up.”

“I talked to Warren,” Razor said. “They’re no happier here than we are, but they won’t leave. He says that this is the best chance they’ll have to find Colin. There’s something else bothering them, but he wouldn’t say what it was. He did say that Sakkara is probably the only place that’s safe from Yvonne’s influence.”

Renata said, “Much as I despised Josh, at least when he was in charge we had some say in the way this place was run. Now if we want anything we have to go through Impervia.”

Razor noticed the expression on Renata’s face. “You really don’t like her, do you?”

“What’s to like? She makes us call her by her superhero name even though she hasn’t had any powers for over ten years.”

Razor’s cellphone beeped. “Oh, what now?” He flipped open the phone. “Yo…Oh, hi Caroline. What’s up?” He listened for a moment. “Damn…All right, we’re coming down.”

“What is it?” Danny asked.

“The guys you arrested on the island aren’t terrorists. They’re security guards. The food supplies belonged to the Trutopians. And they’re not happy.”

Colin stood at the back of the room as Reginald Kinsella stepped in front of the camera. Kinsella looked annoyed and a little flustered. He cleared his throat, took a sip of water from a glass.

Harriet, operating the camera, said, “We’ve got the link…Going live in thirty-two seconds.”

Beside her, Byron tapped at his laptop computer. “It’s coming through fine.”

Despite his reservations about the organisation, Colin was impressed with how the Trutopians worked. Everything seemed to be done with tremendous efficiency: even though the community in Satu Mare was quite small and didn’t have its own official broadcasting facilities, it had only taken Harriet and Byron a few minutes to track down a digital video camera and a powerful laptop computer and connect them to the Internet.

Harriet counted down the last few seconds, then Kinsella stared into the camera and began to speak.

“Good morning. Or good afternoon or good evening, depending on where you are…As many of you will know, the Trutopian organisation does not simply look after itself. Our mission is to help everyone, Trutopian or otherwise.” Kinsella took another sip of his water. “In a number of different locations we have been stockpiling preserved foods so that in the event of a disaster – an earthquake, for example – we will be immediately able to ship those supplies to the countries in need. Over the past six weeks, fourteen of our stockpiles have been destroyed or irrevocably contaminated by some unknown outside force. A few hours ago, our enemies struck again, on Isla del Tonatiuh, a small island to the west of Central America.

“After the first few attacks we greatly increased our security measures. Our compound on Isla del Tonatiuh was covered with hidden cameras. We have the perpetrators on film.” He tilted his head to look past the camera towards Byron, and nodded.

The tall man tapped a few keys on his computer.

Colin walked over to Byron and watched the video footage play out on the laptop’s screen.

His heart jumped when he spotted Renata and Butler attacking the guards.

Once the footage was over, Kinsella reappeared on the screen. “Just in case some of you have been living on Mars and didn’t recognise them, they were the New so-called Heroes, agents of a government that preaches democracy but apparently does not feel compelled to practise it.” Kinsella paused. “I can’t speak for anyone else, but I personally am not impressed with this new generation of superhumans. At least, not those who are still working for the US military.” With that, he cast a quick look in Colin’s direction.

“I want answers. I want to know how they can justify an action like that. What if there is another disaster like the flooding of New Orleans? If the US government comes to the Trutopians for help, what will we say? Will we turn them away? No. We will not. We will help them in any way we can, because the Trutopian organisation is made up of the people, by the people, and, most importantly, for the people. Words with which the powers that be in the USA should be only too familiar.”

Kinsella stepped back a little from the camera. “I want answers. I want those answers to be honest, complete and without condition. And I want them within the next twenty-four hours.” He took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “To the ordinary people, thank you for watching. And to the governments of all the countries that are opposed to the Trutopians…We are watching you.”

6

IN SAKKARA, DANNY and Razor stood in the doorway of Ops, watching the monitor over the heads of everyone else in the packed room.

“We’re in trouble now,” Razor muttered.

At the far side of the room, General Piers hit the remote control to turn off the monitor, then swivelled back to face everyone.

Danny thought he’d never seen the General look so old, so tired.

For a moment, Piers was silent, then he took a deep breath and looked around the room. “Any thoughts?”

Sitting next to him, Maxwell Dalton quietly said, “Someone set us up. And they did a good job of it too.” He looked up at Impervia. “You scanned the place?”

The woman nodded. “Twice. Danny did a high-speed pass, then I scanned it again as I approached. Obviously, they’ve found a way to mask their cameras from the scanner.”

General Piers said, “Obviously.” He turned to Razor. “How?”

“Probably used fibre-optic cameras. There are models that can run with minimal electricity. The scanners would only pick them up if they were specifically looking for them. You don’t set up something like that because you’re afraid someone might attack. They knew.”

At the far side of the room, Caroline Wagner cleared her throat and said, “I think we’re avoiding something here. Why did you go all that way to destroy food supplies?”

Impervia glared at the younger woman. “We didn’t. We thought we were going after a weapons cache.”

“Either you’re lying or you were wrong. If you were wrong then what else have you been wrong about? And if you’re lying—”

“All right, that’ll do!” General Piers said. “I’ve had the Secretary of Defence on the phone three times already and our press office has been bombarded with calls from every media source on the planet. I’m putting a hiatus on everything but the Paragon project until we find out who set us up. Maybe it was the Trutopians themselves, maybe it was a foreign power. God knows there are more than a few nations jealous that we have superhumans.” He turned his attention to the computer in front of him. “Meeting’s over.”

As they filed out of the room, Renata and Butler caught up with Danny and Razor.

“I’m really getting sick of this place!” Renata said. “They’re the ones who messed up, but we get treated like it’s our fault!”

“Right,” Razor said, “and we don’t even get paid! I work at least fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, and in return all I get is food and a bed. I got better food and a better bed in Florida, and all I had to do was take out the trash in the mornings.”

A voice said, “And if you want to return to that life, that can be arranged.”

They turned to see Impervia standing behind them. “Razor, back to the machine room. The rest of you…Go to your rooms and get some rest. I want to see you in my office in one hour.”

In the small town of Moate, Indiana, two teenage girls kept their eyes fixed straight ahead as they approached a large abandoned factory.

Erica van Piet and Karen Zemsty passed the factory every morning on their way to school, and they knew better than to even glance at it. The cluster of half-demolished, graffiti-covered buildings was well-known as a haven for local drug addicts and gang members. This wasn’t the worst part of town – there were places where even the police didn’t dare go alone – but it was bad enough that the girls knew better than to pass through on their own. There was some safety in numbers.

Erica was tall, slim and dark-skinned, while Karen was shorter and pale-skinned with long red hair. The day they met, Karen had told Erica, “The gangs’ll mostly leave you alone, ‘less you draw attention to yourself. Never make eye contact. Never carry more than a coupla bucks. You don’t want them to think you’re worth mugging.”

Erica and Karen crossed the barely-used, pot-hole-riddled street and quietly and quickly walked past the gaps in the rusted chain-link fence.

Only a few more minutes…Erica thought. Her backpack was slung over her left shoulder, and she kept a loose grip on it.

She sensed Karen stiffen as something moved inside the complex – the faint scrape of metal on stone – and they increased their speed.

Someone should do something about that place! About this whole damn town. I wish we’d never come here. I wish—

From behind, a rough, sneering voice called, “Hey, honeys! Hey, I jus’ wanna aks you somethin’!”

“Oh God,” Karen muttered.

“Just keep walking,” Erica whispered. She glanced around to see a teenage boy striding quickly towards them. He had a red bandanna tied around his head, and something sharp and metallic half-hidden in his hand. “Sorry,” she said, “Can’t stop. Late for school.”

I know I can out-run him, but Karen can’t.

Red-bandanna had almost reached them. “Didn’t you hear me?”

Erica took a deep breath and clenched her fists.

Then there was another noise behind them, a brief scuffle of footsteps, a muttered swearword from Red-bandanna. Erica glanced back to see a tall, well-built teenage boy racing across the street, slamming the mugger against the chain-link fence. She stopped and stared.

The boy was wearing a ski-mask and gloves, and a blue t-shirt with a white lightning-bolt painted on it.

Oh no…

The would-be superhero ploughed his fist into red-bandanna’s stomach, doubling him over.

God, I hope he knows what he’s doing! Erica swallowed hard. She knew what was coming next: two other gang members raced out of the shadows. The one with the crew-cut was carrying a short, rusted-metal bar. The other was empty-handed, but it was clear to Erica from his muscular, tattooed arms that he didn’t need a weapon.

The masked boy elbowed Crew-cut in the face, then yelled to Karen and Erica, “Get out of here! I can take care of myself!”

No you can’t, Erica thought. You’re big and strong, but you don’t know how to fight.

She felt Karen tugging at her hand, dragging her away.

“Erica, come on!” Karen said.

But Erica van Piet wasn’t even listening. She was watching the gang members: Red-bandanna was holding the young man down while Tattoo was punching him in the face and stomach. Crew-cut was swearing loudly, nursing his bloodied nose.

Erica winced as Tattoo landed a savage kick square in the boy’s chest.

I promised I’d keep a low profile…But I can’t just…They’ll kill him!

The boy was on the ground now, on his side, curled into a ball to shield himself from the kicking. Crew-cut approached, slapping the short metal bar against his open hand, waiting for his turn.

“For God’s sake, Erica! If they see you watching, they’ll come after us next!” Karen said, almost screaming.

Little louder than a whisper, Erica said, “There’s only three of them.”

“What? What are you saying?”

The dark-skinned girl slipped her backpack off her shoulder and passed it to Karen. “Hold this.” She began to walk back, towards the fight.

“Erica! Are you crazy?”

Crouched over the masked boy, Crew-cut raised the metal bar above his head, aiming for the boy’s head.

Erica leaped forward, somersaulted in the air, landed on her hands and slammed her feet into Crew-cut’s back.

The metal bar dropped from his hands: Erica grabbed it as it fell, swung it upwards, hitting Red-bandanna in the back of his knees.

She whipped the bar in the opposite direction, jabbing the end straight into Tattoo’s bare upper arm, then spun about, a round-house kick that caught Tattoo in the chin.

Erica straightened up.

Red-bandanna was on the ground, clutching his legs. Crew-cut was sprawled face-down across the masked boy, moaning and gasping for breath. Tattoo was flat on his back, unconscious.

Her attack had lasted no more than two seconds.

The masked boy rolled the still-moaning Crew-cut to one side and awkwardly got to his feet.

Deep brown eyes peered from the ski-mask with a mixture of shock and gratitude. “I…How did you…? What just happened here?”

Erica glanced down at the boy’s shoes, then handed him the metal bar. “Next time, leave the superhero stuff to someone who knows what they’re doing.”

She turned around and walked back to Karen, who had turned even more pale and was starting to shake.

“Erica…Where did you learn to do that?”

“My dad taught me.” She took her backpack from Karen’s trembling hands. “Come on. If we’re late, we’ll get into trouble.”

Still staring at the beaten gang members, Karen said, “OK. Trouble. We don’t want to get into trouble…” She began to walk backwards. “Your dad taught you…What was he? A cop or something?”

“Something like that, yes.” Erica put her hand on Karen’s face and forced her to look away. “Karen, listen to me, OK? This didn’t happen. Got that?”

Karen nodded. “Didn’t happen. All right. So what did happen?”

“Nothing.” They had reached the end of the block and Erica looked back to see that the masked boy had disappeared. “Nothing happened.”

They walked the rest of the way to school in silence. Erica was glad of that.

But what about the masked boy? If he starts to wonder about me…

She remembered the final meeting with the agent from the Witness Relocation Program: “You must always keep a low profile. Your family dynamic is unusual enough that if someone investigates, it won’t take them long to put two and two together and come up with the right answer.

“That’s the main reason we’re putting the girls into separate schools,” The agent had told her mother. “There are a lot of people who still believe that your husband was responsible for all those deaths, and since his identity was made public, we must do everything we can to keep you hidden. From now on, your name is Kara van Piet. Your daughters are Tanith and Erica.”

At the end of the meeting, the agent had handed each of them a document. “Sign these, please. They’re to confirm that you’ve understood everything I’ve said.”

When the documents were handed back, the agent had sighed. “Two out of three. Now, Erica, see how easy it is to get it wrong? It’s vital that you remember that from now on, your name is Erica van Piet, not Stephanie Cord.”

The New Heroes gathered in Impervia’s office, a small windowless room situated in the heart of the building. She was already sitting down behind her desk when they entered.

Impervia said, “I know you’ve been expressing some concerns about how we do things here, but that has got to stop. You have to accept things as they are and trust us. Understood?”

“Yes sir,” Butler said.

The others didn’t reply.

Impervia sighed and went on. “On a mission, you do as you are ordered. And you do not question those orders, nor speculate about them. That sort of thing is enough to give any witnesses good reason to believe that we are not acting as a unified team. The media are already asking questions about what we do here.”

Renata said, “Questions such as, why aren’t we actually helping people instead of blowing up the Trutopians’ emergency supplies?”

Before Impervia could respond, Danny asked, “Did you know what was on the island?”

“No, we did not,” Impervia said.

“If you had known, but the general still ordered you to blow it up, would you have?”

“Yes.”

“But that’s crazy!”

Butler said, “No, it’s not. You have to follow the chain of command. Whatever General Piers says, we do. Back when I was in the academy—”

“The academy that threw you out?” Razor asked. “Or was there another one?”

Butler ignored him. “Back when I was in the academy, the first rule we were taught was that people die if you don’t follow orders. The commanders know more than the people under them.” He looked at Impervia. “That’s why you were brought in to be in charge of us, right?”

Impervia nodded. “Because I have military experience as well as the experience of being a superhuman.”

Renata said, “Kinsella wants an explanation. What are you going to tell him? That it was a mistake?”

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