The Suns of Liberty: Legion: A Superhero Novel (33 page)

    
“First name basis now, huh? Doesn’t that put me at
a bit of a disadvantage here? Or are you ready to take our relationship to the
next level?”

     “You’ve got thirty seconds.”

    
“I’m here to reiterate the offer the chairman made
to you. A very generous offer, you ask me. I figured he’d decide to chew you up
and squirt you out his asshole by now.”

     “Why do you keep trying this? You know what the answer
is.”

    
“Because supposedly you’re smart. And this is
pretty much your last chance.”

     “You’re just following orders aren’t you?”

    
“We’ve been on the same side before, remember?”
Arbor asked.

     “That was the Aztech. The fate of the world was at
stake.”

    
“The fate of
your
world
is
at stake,”
Arbor chuckled.

     “My
country
is at stake and joining you is not
going to help that.”

    
“The country thinks you’re a terrorist now. How is
that helping?”

     “The answer is no.”

    
“Think long and hard on this. You’ve seen what I’m
packing on the webcasts, I’m guessing? You’ve still not seen the half of what
the Legion has at our disposal. It’s time to be smart for the people you claim
to care about.” 

     “Good-bye,” Revolution said.

    
“You’re signing all of their death warr—”

     Revolution terminated the holocom.

     “Lantern, analyze that call. Make sure there was
nothing encrypted somewhere underneath it.”

     In his religious shrine/communication hub, Lantern was
projecting a digital representation of the communication lines they had just
received from Arbor. They showed up as multicolored beams of light across the
expanse of his room. Their eerie glow danced off the shiny metal consoles and
the portraits of Christ and crucifixes that adorned the walls. Lantern ambled
around the beams, analyzing every spec of data that filtered through them.

     “Yes, sir,” he said, “I’m doing it now.”

In
New York, Arbor’s com crackled in his ear as he exited the broadcast room.

     It was Ray.
“We’ve got it. Sending you the coordinates
now.”

     Arbor smiled his toothy grin. “Open war, my boy. Open
war.”

MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY

Scarlett
stopped in her tracks. She and Spectral were back in their “castle.”

     The android had simply stopped moving, halted in midsentence.
Something he almost never did and the sign of a likely malfunction.

     A Spectral breakdown was never good. Sometimes it
meant that the Aztech robot had taken control of Spectral and was just around
the corner. Something that had happened more than she cared to recall. The
supposedly destroyed Aztech had a knack of rebooting itself through what some
called the “Aztech Virus.” A virus that lived hidden in the world’s computer
systems.

     She raised her arms, ready to strike.

     <
Do not fear. I am receiving a message.>
Spectral said finally. <
A most unlikely message.>

     “From who?” Scarlett had asked him.

     <
A highly improbable source. Code name:
Mohawk.>

     “Mohawk? Never heard of Mohawk.”

     Spectral turned toward their computer, and its printer
whirred to life. It printed out a full-page picture of a man’s face. Scarlett
ran over and snatched it up. Her eyes grew wide. “I don’t believe it.”

     <
My security firewalls are being overridden. The
message is genuine.>

     Her ruby lips stretched into a broad smile, tinged
with a bit of sadness. She traced the outlines of the face in the picture
“We’re back in business.”

     Spectral’s red eyes narrowed. <
Are you certain
you wish to revive the old mission? You have publically disavowed any further
connection. Those activities were a long time ago.>

     Scarlett peered into his crimson eyes. “More than
anything in the world. The cause is more important than ever.”

     Spectral nodded. <
I have completed the second
protocol. A second message is incoming.>

     A video streamed to life inside of Spectral’s internal
vision.  The same face as before appeared on screen. A voice spoke. It was
audible in the room, and tears came to her eyes when Scarlett heard it...

    
“Spectral, I am sorry I kept this secret from you
and Scarlett.  But I never doubted the two of you. And I knew I could always
count on you. This is emergency protocol 001. Details are provided in the enclosed
documents. As of now, we are an active unit.

     “Scarlett, honey,”
the voice said, and she immediately
began to weep.
“You have publically disavowed me. I know how hard this has
been on you. But for our plan to work, you must continue to keep up this
front.” 

     A series of documents then flashed on the screen.
Vulnerabilities for both the Freedom Council and the Suns of Liberty. Spectral
interacted with it, filling in required information that the program asked for.
By the time it was over, they had devised a battle plan of their own, and no
one in the Legion or the Suns of Liberty knew anything about it.

     Neither side would see it coming...

CHAPTER 34

TRENTON, NEW JERSEY

E
ric
Von Cyprus was ecstatic. The mirrors were everywhere. He just kept thinking to
himself that had the Suns of Liberty gone down one more floor, none of this
would be possible. At least not on the timeline the chairman had requested.

     Across the room stood the Fire Fly chamber. A second Fire
Fly chamber. Fully working now, built from the schematics of the original.

     Von Cyprus had been pleased beyond all hopes to find
that one of his secondary teams had made enormous progress in mimicking the
original chamber. They’d been working on a duplicate ever since they recovered
the chamber. So as soon as Fiona had destroyed the original, his entire team
immediately went to work getting the duplicate up and running.           

     Ray had done his work well to conceal it. Von Cyprus had lost his entire drone program, but he still had an army of those left in New York.

     Most hurtful was the loss of the
Delaware
. That
ship had been the bulk of their non-human defense. Had this chamber not
existed, the destruction of the
Delaware
would have dealt them a
crushing blow. It made him want to kill the Revolution every time he thought
about it. Made him want to exact some revenge. 

     And right there in front of him stood the means by
which to do it
. The chamber.

     And now, Von Cyprus was going to get to play God,
after all. A chill ran through him when he thought about what could go wrong,
but it quickly passed.

     “Taking risks is the only reason I’m standing here,”
he breathed to himself.

     “What was that, sir?”

     Von Cyprus blinked and peered up into the eyes of one
of his assistants. She seemed excited. “Oh, nothing,” he said. He noticed she
was carrying a report of some kind. He nodded. “What is it?”

     “We got the cybergenetic results back.”

     Von Cyprus raised an eyebrow and nodded approvingly.
“Have you looked at them?”

     “Of course not, sir,” she answered defensively against
the accusation. “Your eyes only, as always.”

     The scientist took the paper from her and flipped over
the cover page, glaring at her suspiciously as she hurried away.

     Just then his cell rang. It was Tarleton calling.

     “Hello, Mr. Tarleton. I figured I would hear from you
on such an auspicious day.”

    
“Cut the crap, Eric. Are you ready or not?”

     “We are. And the commander is just coming out of
surgery now, so we should be only moments away.”

    
“You sure it’s okay to go ahead with this right out
of the box? I mean, he’ll just be out from under the knife.”

     “Trust me, the data we are downloading into that boy’s
brain is going to bring him up to speed instantly. Remember, he’ll basically be
under remote control.”

    
“It’s freaky shit, Eric. Just make sure it works.”

     Von Cyprus thought of several witty things to say but all
of them carried the possibility that he might not live to regret them, or
worse, given Tarleton’s love of violence. So he kept quiet.

    
“And what about the other thing? Did the test come
back?”

     The test! How could he have forgotten? Von Cyprus flipped through the pages of the report he held in his hand, searching the
T’s
.
Pages of test results filled the report. Rows and rows of names on the left-hand
column, and page after page of the same result on the right-hand column:

    
Last Name:
     
First Name
: 
Compatibility:
 

     Aaron               Ezekiel            
0%

    
Abbott              Lawrence
           0%

     And on it went. Lots of zeros. Pages of them. Nothing
but utter failure to find a compatible donor for the cybernetic gene therapy
that could literally give an individual superpowers. Rather than treat disease,
this kind of therapy could supplement human potential to create post-humans,
meta-humans, or whatever you wanted to call them. The Rage girl was one of the
first, but her abilities, impressive as they were, only manipulated the neurological
aspect. Von Cyprus knew he could push things much further—physical strength, electrical
conductivity, the list was endless—with the right donor. With the right
Compatible
. 

     His mother had been a leader in the development of the
field, and he had always vowed to finish the work she had started.

     Finally, he found the T’s.

     Right near the top of the list was the name:

    
Last Name:
     
First Name
: 
Compatibility:
 

     Tarleton,           Bannister          
100%

     Von Cyprus nearly dropped his phone.

    
“Well?”
Tarleton asked impatiently.

     “Still looking for it,” Von Cyprus said, stalling.

    
“Tell me, goddamn it!”

     “Ah, here it is!” the scientist feigned.

    
“Well?”

     “Oh, I’m so sorry. Zero percent compatible, I’m
afraid,” Von Cyprus lied.

     There was silence on the other end. Finally Tarleton,
breathed heavily.
“Okay. Thanks, Eric,”
he said in a low voice.

     Von Cyprus breathed a sigh of relief, almost too
loudly—and winced, hoping Tarleton wouldn’t notice.

    
“Let’s keep this between us,”
Tarleton told
him.

     “Of course, sir. You can trust me. We’re in this
together.”

Michael
Crustac awoke to the strangest sensation.

     He could feel his body, but not really.  It was numb,
but not tingly. As if his nerve endings were just on pause. His eyes fluttered
open to see an entire surgical team standing over him. His eyes were the only
thing he could move. And that’s when he noticed the shell. Reflected off the
lights and the glimmering silver steel above him, his entire body was encased
in it—some kind of metal frame.

     No, not a frame—armor. A machine.

     And at that moment a white-hot surge of adrenaline
rushed through his being. Every cell in his body felt instantly energized.       

     And the data flow began...

    
“Project Krill initiated.”

     “Neurological synchronization
commencing.”

     “Pain modifiers commencing.”

     It took him a second to recognize his own voice saying
these things. The words were coming out of his mouth, but not under his own control.
He felt the sharp, cold steel pierce his body at two hundred entry points. It was
the most horrific torture one could imagine. Two hundred long, thick blades
stabbing deep into his central nervous system, fusing with his spinal cord and
brainstem, but he was aware only of a slight swooning sensation. Almost as if
he were about to faint, but not painful at all.