Keystones: Altered Destinies (19 page)

No More Needles

“Derek,” said Jonny, “if you prod me with one more thing, I’m going to demand that we subject you to every test that I endure.”

Derek looked both disappointed and amused as he put away the paintball gun. “This is all for your own good,” he replied.

“So what was the paintball gun supposed to be testing?”

“Um, surprise, pain, and stimulus response.”

“How fantastic!” Jonny unleashed a brief burst of stout beer over Derek that would have made a fire hydrant proud. “We’re done here,” he declared.

A prostrate Derek wiped his eyes and looked at Jonny, an outraged scowl dominating his face. “I’m going to be sticky for weeks,” he opined.

“Try taking a shower then.” Jonny thought about all the different places where he’d had tubes put. He was pretty sure that something permanent had been done to him, but he let it pass. He’d had enough fun at Derek’s hands.

“Step into my office.” Derek gestured toward a closed door.

Jonny rolled his eyes. “You’re aware that I’ve seen your office, right?”

“Can you complain less, or is there an unmapped section of your genetic code that prohibits such behavior?” Derek swung the door open, and they stepped inside his office.

Jonny looked around. “Fine. Now what?”

“Open the closet door and look inside.” Derek took a seat at his desk, squelching into place and watched Jonny with a smug look.

Jonny opened the door to a tiny closet that enclosed little more than a few shelves. He didn’t see anything special about the space. “Is there something in particular that you wanted from in here?” he asked.

“Nothing. Feel free to close the door.”

Jonny closed the door and turned to face Derek. “If you didn’t want anything from the closet, why am I in your office, and why did you make me open that stupid door?”

“Do you remember what I said when I waived your fee?” Derek’s voice suggested an undertone of muted excitement.

“Something about splitting the profits,” replied Jonny, always suspicious of anything having to do with sharing money.

The excitement in Derek’s voice grew, and he smiled like a magician about to pull off his best trick. “Excellent! You remember. Watch this.” Derek stepped over to his closet and opened the door. The space inside was now large and well lit, its perimeters reminding Jonny of outer space if you took away the stars and substituted velvet.

Jonny gaped at what he saw. “What’s this?”

Derek nodded with a satisfied smile. “Potential.”

“Potential for what?”

Derek reached to the inside wall of this pocket space and grabbed a beer. “Potential for the most profitable bar on the Terra Rings.”

“So you’re a Keystone now, too?”

“Yep.” Derek looked very pleased with himself.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I was busy testing you.”

“And you want us to start a bar together?”

Jonny couldn’t think of a proposal he would have expected less from Derek. The bar was an amusing idea, but the implications staggered him. Jonny had spent his adult life facilitating contracts, always finding people or companies that provided solutions his clients needed. He knew that abilities grew apace. Under Derek’s regimen of testing he’d progressed to being able to produce fifty-seven different beers on command.

Jonny smiled because his idea was so much bigger than a bar. There were going to be hundreds of thousands of people who would want to know what they could do with their abilities, and there was no one who could help them, yet. “I have a better idea,” he said.

“Oh?” replied Derek cautiously.

Jonny leaned forward, beaming a broad smile. “I have an idea for a unique business, and I’m in a position to help you launch it.”

Chaos at the Elevator

Michael landed with less grace than usual. Having a passenger threw off his balance. Instead of a smooth landing with wings flared to the side, his feet hit the ground with force, and they both stumbled forward before regaining their balance.

Tricia had watched their landing, but she then went back to watching where they were headed. Her posture was tense, and she clutched her arms to her sides. “Do you see that? Do you see that?” She wasn’t frantic or demanding, but she sounded scared.

Brice dusted himself off. “Thank you, Michael.” His deep voice sounded calm when contrasted with his wife’s. “That was invigorating, and I hope never to do that again. I mean that in the nicest possible way.”

Michael laughed. “I understand,” he said.

“Are either of you listening to me?” Tricia’s voice had grown shriller and was tinged with irritation.

Brice walked over to Tricia and held her. “Yes, dear.”

She didn’t leave his arms but pointed toward the Elevator. “How are we supposed to get over there?”

“The only answer I see,” replied Michael, “is that I fly you up high and then bring you down on the roof of the Elevator terminal.”

“No!” Tricia and Brice said in unison.

“Okay, fine.” He kept his tone non-confrontational, more than willing to let Deklan sort out that particular issue. “It’s either that or deal with the fighting.”

Michael looked out over the small distance between them and the Elevator, his telescopic vision adjusted to allow him to take in the entire scene. In all fairness things were relatively quiet, with isolated patches of violence or activity. It was the patches that caused the problem, though.

Gunfire was the least scary form of violence he saw, because it was something he’d seen all his life in various forms of entertainment. Although scary, it didn’t hold the terror of the new. Keystone powers were what caught his attention. They were unique from user to user and unpredictable. Michael had spent his life being afraid of everything, and the unknown was always the scariest of all.

People ran from buildings in a dash to the terminal, some on their own and others in groups. Groups generally fared better in the chaos, though it occurred to Michael that a Keystone who could move fast, like himself, or move undetected would do just as well if not better on his own. He turned back to the Tobins, keeping his voice reassuring. “I’m going back for Deklan. I doubt that the terminal will still be functioning much longer.”

“Why not?” Tricia demanded, her voice still worried.

Michael decided to leave that answer to Deklan as he launched himself into the sky. He chose to fly in a high arc as far from the ground as he could get.

Below him Boa Vista spread out like a map. Some areas burned, while others were more or less untouched. In one section of the city, not far from the Elevator, Michael could see a massive leopard. It swatted threats down as it guarded and herded a group of frightened people toward the Elevator.

Looking for the place where he’d left Deklan, he saw a large discoloration on the ground. A feeling of dread filled his stomach. He dove down for a closer look, but doing so only confirmed his concerns. The stains on the ground were blood. Of Deklan’s whereabouts there was no sign.

Thinking of his personal safety, Michael rocketed back into the sky. Once he’d achieved an altitude that felt safe, he tried to figure out what he should do next. He needed to find Deklan. He could only hope that the bloodstains he’d seen had been left by someone else. He wobbled momentarily in the air as an ugly thought crossed his mind. What was he going to tell the Tobins?

As always when he was apprehensive, he turned to his Uplink for answers. Stabilizing his flight, Michael tried to contact Deklan, but there was no answer. He tried again and again, each time without success. Cold logic told him that there probably wasn’t going to be an answer.

Michael realized that he needed to get back to the Tobins, but he didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news. They’d already seen the vet, Susan, die, and now he had to tell them that Deklan was gone as well. He had to get those people to the Elevator. He just had to find the courage to tell them what had happened.

Stalling for time while circling higher and higher, Michael was surprised to see a man rising through the air without the aid of wings or any of the methods of flight that other Keystones exhibited. Too far away to help, Michael was forced to watch as the man continued up at an angle, hit the peak of an elliptical arc, and then hurtled to the ground where he slammed into a parked car on the street. The car crumpled around him. Brushing himself off, the man crouched in the debris with a slight bend at the knee before reentering the sky.

Girding himself to deliver the news about his search for Deklan, Michael spiraled back toward the Tobins while maintaining his altitude in the sky, as though the act of staying higher would make the coming conversation easier. He flew until he was almost over the top of the roof where he’d left them; then, like a man pulling off a band-aid all at once, he descended. His wings tucked into a narrow “V” formation, Michael dove, the wind screaming past his ears and tearing at his face.

Atop the building he saw Brice and Tricia watching the Elevator while keeping a low profile. Seconds before impact Michael snapped his wings open and jerked himself upright in the air, momentum carrying him to the roof where his feet touched down as he landed in a crouch.

Tricia and Brice looked at Michael and spoke as one. “Where’s Deklan?” Their voices were right on the edge of alarm.

For a moment Michael couldn’t speak. “I’m sorry,” he blurted out. “I went back to meet him and found a pool of blood. I’ve been calling him, but there’s been no response. I’m so sorry.” Realizing that he was babbling, he clamped his mouth shut.

A sobbing Tricia collapsed into her husband’s arms. Brice Tobin remained silent, but his face was grim and set.

Michael bowed his head and looked away.

Tricia stopped mid-sob, her voice conveying a thread of desperate hope. “Did you see a body?” she asked.

“No, just blood.”

“Then he’s alive.” Tricia spoke as though she were stating a fact.

Michael was flummoxed. “That would be wonderful, but why do you believe that?”

“I eavesdropped on the conversation that you and Deklan had about his leg and the dog. His leg was ripped open, but he healed before he saw a doctor.”

Michael felt hope flare anew in his mind. “That’s true,” he agreed.

Tricia had the look of a woman analyzing everything that she had just been told. “If there was as much blood as you say, then whoever, or whatever, attacked him should have left him for dead. If he were dead, then a body or even a skeleton would have still been there. Even if,” she blanched, “scavengers had found him that quickly, there would have been something. That means the body was moved. Most likely Deklan is hurt somewhere but healing. Deklan is alive.” Her last words came out as a yell. “Brice! Deklan is alive!”

Brice Tobin held his wife and squeezed her, his body language indicating that she had just given him permission to hope.

Michael stared at Tricia, amazed.

Tricia continued her analysis. “We have to assume that he doesn’t have his Uplink, but we know that he wanted us to get to the Elevator. He doesn’t know where we are, but he might be able to contact us through our Uplinks, though we can’t count on that. We need to get to that Elevator if we want to find him. Yes, that’s what we need to do.” Tricia turned in Brice’s arms. “Sweetheart, we don’t have champagne, but I’d like some chocolate.”

A wrapped Twix appeared in Brice Tobin’s hand. He opened it and doled out the three bars.

Tricia patted his shoulder. “Good job, darling. You’re getting better. Now let’s head for that Elevator.” She turned to Michael. “You said you could fly us and bypass the chaos?”

Detours

Slate grabbed Deklan and without further ado teleported them. Earlier Deklan had been in no shape to assess the experience of teleportation, but now he was able to appreciate it fully. With no warning he was standing somewhere new. His stomach lurched every time they moved, as though he were in a plane dropping out of the sky.

Deklan watched as they passed over terrain similar to that which he, Susan, and his parents had traversed on foot. Slate usually stuck to oblique paths but would on occasion take a direct route that looked more dangerous, teleporting them from the rooftops down to a square and then back up the side of a building before continuing their rooftop journey.

After two minutes of silent and rapid travel, Deklan asked, “Is it taxing you to carry me like this?”

“No.” Slate’s tone did not invite further conversation. Deklan decided to press anyway.

“Are we looking for anything in particular?” he inquired.

“Trouble on the way to your destination.”

Something in Slate’s voice was bothering Deklan. “You’re not big on answers, are you?”

Slate didn’t respond.

Deklan allowed the silence to continue for a few minutes before asking, “Have you seen any other victims hurt like me?”

Slate did answer that question, but in a quiet voice. “Yes. Several.”

Deklan matched his tone to Slate’s. “Did you rescue all of them?”

“Yes,” replied Slate in the same hushed voice.

“Have you seen the person who has been hurting people that way?”

Anger crept into Slate’s voice. “I’m not certain that it’s only one person. I think there is a collection of new, super-powered psychopaths on the streets. Some are just more . . . visceral than others.” Slate stiffened. “We need to move now.”

Before Deklan could figure out what had caught Slate’s attention, he was whisked to a balcony that overlooked a shaded alley. There two men were accosting three young women. The men held guns. “Are you going to help me here?” asked Slate.

Deklan made a snap decision. “Yes.”

Slate’s response was fast, like the swing of a bat. “Brace yourself.”

Deklan found himself standing on the ground between the two men and the women, his body interposed as a shield. The loud report of a gun filled his ears before the sensation of pain made its way to his brain. He didn’t stop to look down but instead grabbed at the arm of the man who had just shot him. New bullets found their mark in him.

Slate fared better, dropping down between the two men and relying on Deklan to protect the women. Slate hoisted the second man from the ground and sent him twirling through the air. Before he landed Slate caught him by the calf and spun him around to club the man who was unloading his clip into Deklan.