Project Northwoods (53 page)

Catalina aimed her semi-automatic rifle and fired a round through the glass at the bluish streak whipping by her, the penetrating power of the gun just strong enough to punch a hole through the reinforced glass after it had been weakened by blasts of fire and ice from the pair of elemental twins out there. The support structures were groaning as another fireball was launched, this time at her. She dove forward as the fire licked the side of the glass, tongues of flame darting through the bullet holes.

From her prone position, she looked at her shoulder and chuffed in disgust. The charred clothing sent up almost unnoticeable wisps of smoke. She got to her feet. “You’re going to pay for that,” she muttered, mostly to herself. The two outside, Jeremy and Gerry Hollander, were the outstandingly unimaginatively named Spark and Frost, and they were a complete and utter pain in the ass. Even if Catalina had not been so annoyed at their continued effort to break in, the innumerable close calls she had in her arms-dealing with those two would have been more than enough to want to punch holes in their heads.

The observation area rocked, nearly throwing her off balance. It wasn’t like the twins’ attacks… it was something else. She anticipated the next blow, but it still unsteadied her. She ran around the perimeter, trying to time her steps so she wouldn’t lose her footing when the tower shifted underfoot. She found the source: Tree Frog, in his garish, lime green outfit and helmet complete with bugging orange eye-spots, clung to the top of the observation deck, crouching against the window as though it was the most natural spot in the world for a person to be. He reared back and planted a fist in the center of a safety-glass panel, sending a wave of cracks spider-webbing out from the impact point.

Catalina aimed her rifle at him. Tree Frog responded by pulling his fist back for another blow. Before she could pull the trigger, a fireball burst on the outside of the glass, temporarily blinding her as heat crashed over her body. “I am getting so sick of this!” she screamed, readjusting her sights. No doubt other fliers were hanging back, letting the candidates most likely to penetrate the sphere do the heavy lifting.

Her finger rested on the trigger when the intercom hissed. At the same time, Tree Frog held his hand to his ear in receipt of a transmission. “This is Overseer. A rogue element has been confirmed in a hero casualty. Lethal force has now been authorized.” Catalina ejected the rubber bullets from her gun and pulled out her sidearm. In a smooth motion, she fired the pistol squarely at Tree Frog’s chest, the heavy round piercing the splintered glass effortlessly before tearing through his costume. A splatter of blood vomited onto the glass as his body went limp, dangling from the hand and feet that remained attached to the observation sphere.

She holstered her gun and grabbed a magazine of lethal rounds from her tactical belt. Snapping it into place, she chambered a new round in her rifle, the last rubber bullet spiraling away. Catalina spun, aiming through the glass at the blue streak now emerging in her line of sight. She trained the gun ahead of it and squeezed the trigger. The bullet exploded out of the muzzle, ripped through the safety glass, and met its target. The blue trail ended abruptly, and the body tumbled end over end to the earth below.

“How much longer?” she yelled, a smile on her face as she watched the fiery trail dart downward after the prone body of his brother.

“We’re almost there! Just keep… damn it!” Arthur yelled as she ran around, watching another flier move in. She scared the hero off by bringing her rifle up. “Keep them off us!”

She brought her hand up to tap her earpiece on. “This is Catalina, boys!” she began as a small red-and-black flare on the ground caught her attention. She aimed the gun at the general area, scanning the night with her scope. “They’ve declared all of us shoot-to-kill targets!”

“Catalina!” Arthur shouted, something else competing with his attention. “What are you doing? Don’t make the situation worse!”

A dark shape appeared in the scope, a man in a cape and almost completely armored with riveted plates. Caliber, affectionately known as the ‘Human Bullet’, was rocketing toward her. She pulled out her side arm and fired several rounds into the glass, weakening it enough to be kicked out. It was only a matter of seconds now before Caliber was there, a prospect which would potentially wreck her day. Calmly, she holstered the pistol, removed a flash-bang grenade from her belt, primed it and waited.

The shape was now completely visible to the naked eye, growing larger by the moment.

Catalina pitched the grenade, one-handed, into the path of the hero before covering her face. She heard the explosive go off and, despite the protection her hand provided her shut eyes, saw the flash of light. She smirked and watched as the dark shape now had the unmistakable flail of panic as it neared her. She politely stepped aside as Caliber rocketed past her, smashing head-first into the metal wall behind her. The Human Bullet should have slowed himself down as he neared his target, using the same controlled explosions he used to launch himself through the air.

Of course, it’s kind of hard when temporarily blind and deaf.

She gave Caliber’s slumped form a once-over to ensure he was dead, a fact betrayed by the angle of his neck. “Guess you aren’t physics-proof, asshole,” she muttered. Catalina slung her rifle over her shoulder and brought her left hand up to her ear. “Let’s show them what happens when they fuck with predators. I am giving the shoot-to-kill order.” She grabbed her pistol, ejected the empty magazine, and slid in a new one.

“This is Allison Capone,” her sister hissed over the static. “I am authorizing that order. Draw some blood, boys!”

Catalina smiled as she scanned the horizon. “How are the transports holding up?”

A pause, just enough time to see a flying hero fly up and toward the new entrance to the Panopticon. She brought her pistol up and fired, the female hero sent crashing unceremoniously into the tower before falling out of sight. “We lost a bus, but we’re managing to hold off the heroes.” A slight gap in the conversation, and another wall-crawling hero was scuttling his way across the safety glass. She chose to ignore the slightly anemic-looking plainclothes Bestowed for the time being. “What pissed them off?”

“Shut up and kill them before they kill you!” she yelled as the hero penetrated the observation sphere. He launched himself at Catalina only to be met with a spinning fist across his face. Catalina dragged him upright by his throat, then slammed him back into the ground. He gasped for air, the wind knocked out of him, as the mobster straddled him. “Why aren’t you in uniform, son?” she asked, pulling out her PDA.

He wheezed, his head lolling back and forth. “Fuck you,” was all he could manage. She slapped him before squeezing his face to bring him closer to the scanner.

“That was very rude,” she chided as the machine beeped. She read the contents of it, sighing with disappointment. “But you’re lucky you’re not too much of a pain in the ass.” She grabbed his head and slammed it into the floor, knocking him out. She put away the device as something orange worked its way up from the ground. She looked down, squinting into the rapidly rising fireball that darted away from the tower and re-aligned itself before bolting for the open window.

Rolling her eyes, she grabbed the unconscious hero and knelt in front of the window with him gripped firmly in front of her. Flame exploded against his back, heat licking the parts of her body that were exposed under his tiny frame. The blast was intense, pushing her away before knocking her up and on her back. She got to her feet as Spark soared at her and rocketed a punch across her face.

The blow was harsh, but Catalina refused to be put down. He swung again, but she blocked it with her left hand and grabbed the collar of his insulated suit, yanking him forward nose-first into her forehead. He stumbled backward, blood spurting from his face, and tripped over the ashen half-corpse of the hero Catalina had used as a shield. In his fall to the floor, he flicked his fingers toward her, launching five small fireballs in a wide arc.

Catalina ducked underneath the spray, sprinted once the flames cleared and leapt at him, bringing herself down as he got to his knees and launched another fireball into her. The explosive force didn’t stop her descent as she brought her hand down in a knockout blow before she crashed in an undignified heap near her attacker. Her vest started to smolder as fire from the impact spread, heat biting at her skin. She rolled on her back and tossed her rifle aside before unzipping the vest as far as she could and slipping it off. “Shit,” she growled as she threw the now-useless article aside.

The observation sphere shuddered, the lights flickering at the impact. Catalina turned toward the source and scrambled to her feet in horror. Arbiter rose to his feet, glistening with rain water. She reached for her earpiece. “Arthur, can you lock me down here?”

“What?” She took a step backward as Arbiter took one to match.

“
Can you lock me down here?
” she asked pointedly, taking another step backward.

“Yes, but…”

“Do it!”

Emergency shutters rolled across the Panopticon’s access ramps, drawing Arbiter’s attention. He sneered, turned back to Catalina, and continued his approach, cracking his knuckles. “Catalina Capone…”

She cocked an eyebrow, trying to make it appear she wasn’t as terrified as she was. “Have we met?”

His eyes flashed to the charred remains beneath him. “What happened to my fellow heroes?”

Catalina quickly glanced downward before returning to Arbiter. “Would you believe they were like that when I got here?”

“You have no idea what you’ve done,” he growled.

She stared at him, finding the pinpricks of white that were his eyes underneath his helmet. “I know exactly what I’ve done.”

“I’ve grown weary of your insolence, your flagrant disregard of law, your disgusting parade of villainous behavior.”

“Lock me up for tax evasion, then,” she growled in return.

He launched himself at her, and she dove aside. She ran as fast as she could, even though she had no idea where she could possibly go. Pounding footsteps threatened to overtake her, and before she could get out of the way, a clotheslining blow sent her face-first into the ground. Her hands planted and shoved her up and backward as a fist was sent smashing downward where her head had been moments ago.

She didn’t even have a chance to start running again when the same fist rocketed upward, smashing into her chin and sending her tumbling into the air. Somehow, she ended more or less upright in a crouch, permitting her a vantage point of Arbiter rushing her again. She kicked to the side, rolling awkwardly out of the way. Behind her, she could hear that he was already readjusting for her maneuver. The only way she was going to get through this was by buying enough time for the others.

Getting to her feet, she ran, painfully aware that she had twisted her ankle. That was no concern, though. What was a concern was that Arbiter had opted to not chase her, but circle around the sphere to intercept her. His massive form charged forward, and she skidded to a halt before launching herself into the maintenance room.

She didn’t have much time before Arbiter would be on her trail. A nearby computer bank provided enough cover to hide until she could find a more suitable location. The door burst open, and the hulking hero stepped inside. He waited by the entrance, probably scanning the dark room for signs of movement. He shut the door behind him and took ponderous steps into the chamber, heading slowly around the computer banks. Shifting to keep him in eyeshot, she had to dart behind the computer bank when he whipped around.

Holding her breath at this juncture was the only thing to do. She couldn’t touch him, shoot him, or in any way incapacitate him. The kill shots she could make were rendered impossible thanks to his damn helmet and chest plate. In the off chance a flash-bang would…

Bang
.

She squeezed her eyes shut at the sound. He must have punched the floor or something in an effort to make her reveal her position. She heard metal creak, then nothing, allowing her to resume breathing after a burn slowly branched through her lungs. Cautiously, and with great effort, she moved from her position, trailing after Arbiter in careful, laborious strides, taking advantage of any outcropping of computers to duck behind. When she caught up with him, he had apparently just discovered Maelstrom’s corpse. He knelt by it, then stood, grunting as he stepped over the body.

“More of your handiwork, Capone?” he shouted. “I’m sure he wasn’t much of a challenge.” He spun around, prompting her to once again duck out of sight. “Or maybe you thought it would enrage me?” He chuffed in annoyance, turning back around. “The former Nazi is of no consequence.” Catalina leaned out a bit to keep an eye on him.

The door crashed open, and suddenly he was charging toward her blindly. She ducked behind the computer and pressed flat against it as he leapt, landing against it. Anticipating his hand splattering her face into putty, she was shocked as he leapt again, toward the sound. “Hurikane?” Arbiter boomed.

Another hero must have opened the door. “We’re having trouble breaking into the Panopticon. The shutters are reinforced,” said Hurikane, presumably, his voice cracking in the presence of the High Consul.

“Catalina, we’re ready to go on your mark.” Arthur’s voice made her wince. She inhaled deeply before reaching up to her ear. “Catalina?”

“There’s a situation down here, Art.”

“Can you make it to one of the ramps?”

She moved, crouched and as quiet as she could, to another bank of computers. “I think so. It might take some… personnel management.” All she’d have to do was kill an unknown number of heroes and make it to a ramp while dodging Arbiter.
Piece of cake.

“Okay. We’re going to open the west shutter on your signal, then close it behind you. Sound alright?”

“One question, kid,” she said. “Left or right out of the maintenance room?”

“Left,” Arthur answered. “We don’t have much time before Overseer notices he’s locked out of the password and door security subroutines,” he warned. “I can only give you two minutes.”