The Suns of Liberty: Legion: A Superhero Novel (48 page)

     And like that, they were gone.

Rachel
appeared at Revolution’s side. She scanned him with her RDSD. Lantern dashed over
as well.

     “She’s fried the armor,” Rachel said.

     Lantern ran his own scan and frowned grimly under his
visor. “Neurotoxin effect. His body is dying,” he said, still scanning. 

     Ward and Sophia hobbled up, bloodied and stunned. A
couple quick jabs of serenity serum and the two were alert.

     They gathered around their fallen leader.

     “Okay, let’s assess our options,” Sophia said.

     Ward swallowed hard. His earlier thoughts about the
man in the metal were still running through his brain. Yet another sacrifice
he’d made. One he might not bounce back from.
How could he?

     Ward blinked, bringing himself back into physician
mode. “We have to get him back to the HQ. Leslie can help me treat him, but we
need the equipment to get through his armor.”

     “Too far away. He’ll never make it that long,” Lantern
said grimly.

     They stood there, helpless. Revolution dying in front
of them.

     “Norristown,” Drayger blurted from behind them. He was
now leaning back up against the low wall, the serenity serum starting to wear
off. “Take him to Norristown...closer...has stuff he needs. He told me. Dr. Gibbons...walk
you... through the armor,” he said to Ward.

     “Neuro’s right,” Lantern said. “We do have a safe
house there. Might be our best shot.”

     Ward strode forward, knowing there was not a minute to
lose. “Then, let’s go, before it’s too late.” Knowing he had no idea how to
reverse a neurotoxin that didn’t really exist.

CHAPTER 50

“H
ang
on,” said the man in the shadows. “I’m getting a message.”

     Von Cyprus leaned over the console, adjusted his
settings, and clicked the gauges over to self-control mode. He needed only one
more protocol before his latest, greatest creation sprang to life.

     The man in the shadows spoke again. “It’s done. Spectral
just confirmed it.”

     Von Cyprus clicked the final button. “Then we have
only one great enemy remaining.”       

     “The Fletcher girl,” the man in the shadows said.

     “Yes, the Fletcher girl,” Von Cyprus replied.

     A massive steel machine in the shape of a man stepped
out of the dark from the far corner of the room. The man in the shadows gasped.
It raised its arms, and the Black Matter Container that had held Fiona
Fletcher’s power captive sprang back to life at the robot’s command.  The black
lightning shot out from the anti-laser’s needle-like gun and played over the
robot’s open hands like black Tesla coils from hell itself.

     The great machine soaked up the black matter of the
anti-laser. Blackness glided over the metal outer skin of the machine until it
covered it. The now all-black robot then raised its arms again, and Von Cyprus
hit the high ceiling lights so that the man in the shadows could watch the process,
 and the great mirrors that took up most of the lab’s walls began to melt. They
liquefied into a silvery fluid-like substance that streamed across the room and
poured onto the robot’s black shoulders—which rapidly turned sliver. The
mirrors, the same mirrors that had hurt Fiona earlier, had melded onto the
robot, becoming the machine's outer-armor.

     Von Cyprus swung his arms toward the massive mirrored
android. “Mr. Chairman...”

     The man in the shadows flashed a knowing grin. He did
like the sound of that. Premature to claim the title so fast, but Eric could be
forgiven for his excessive fervor. He was a loyal servant. One a new chairman was
going to need when that day came.

     Bannister Tarleton
stepped out of the shadows,
at last, to get a better look.

     “Meet Photuris. The Fire Fly's Kryptonite.”

The
Sikorsky landed at Norristown, and they wheeled the Revolution out on a gurney
from the chopper’s emergency hold. Two medical assistants met them at the door.

     Drayger was wheeled in shortly thereafter.

     The facility was just an old warehouse, but inside,
Ward found an impressive medical suite. Any normal patient could likely find
the care they needed here. But most patients weren’t wrapped in unbreakable
titanium that you couldn’t take off.

     The entire staff had huddled around the room where Revolution’s
prone body lay. Rubbernecking. Everyone wanted to see the famous leader.

     “Clear the door!” Ward shouted. “Give us some room!” He
was worried they’d have no way to get through the suit.

     The staff scattered and Lantern, Rachel, and Sophia
lumbered in behind him. Lantern pulled out his RDSD, pointed it at the Revolution,
and pressed a few buttons. Then he zipped over to the medical hub, a large
array of computers and monitors along the wall that was designed to track a
patient’s vitals, even if that patient was “unconventional.”  Lantern figured
the Revolution qualified, and he digitally
synched
the unit to scan
through his armor.

     A three-dimensional scan of Revolution’s body materialized
above the patient, and Ward gasped.

     “What’s wrong?” Sophia asked.

     “It’s his...suit. It’s not just a suit,” Ward said
absently, still staring at the scan. He had no idea how much any of them knew
about Revolution’s armor, but both Sophia and Rachel looked genuinely surprised.
Lantern’s reaction was hidden beneath his visor. “I...I can’t tell where the
suit ends and his body begins,” Ward told them.

     Suddenly, the heart monitor blared to life. “He’s
going into cardiac arrest!” Ward shouted. The two assistants bolted to Ward’s
side.

     “What do we do?” one asked.

     Ward’s mind raced. Despite the emotion burning through
him, he tried to focus.
Work the problem, work the problem!
He closed
his eyes tried to drown out the fucking alarm.
There are two problems. Have
to get through the armor. Have to stop the toxin. The toxin that doesn’t exist.

     “Leslie’s on!” Lantern yelled, pointing up at the
floating monitor.

     “Leslie, how do I take off this armor?” Ward asked,
his voice wavering, trying to keep his emotions in check.

     Leslie looked weary on the fuzzy digital screen that had
materialized next to the vitals scan of the Revolution.

    
“You don’t,”
she said, dropping her eyes from
Ward’s gaze.

     “That’s not acceptable!” Ward shouted. “There has to
be a way! You all have to have thought of this at some point, goddamn it!”

    
“I’m afraid he wouldn’t let us, Paul. I’m so sorry.
I argued with him a thousand times. He was never going to let us do it.”

     Ward noticed her use of the past tense as she referred
to the Revolution.

     Then Leslie’s head shot up. “
Wait! Earlier, when we
were in the chamber, Rage said something about the effect being a simulation of
snake venom.”

     Ward’s eyes grew large. “If we introduce an antivenom
aimed at that kind of toxin, it might trick the body into reversing the
effect!”

     “Sir,” one of the techs said, “his heart rate is
slowing!”

     Ward blinked. “Wait, that doesn’t make sense. Snakes don’t
use endogenous toxins. Their venom would be exogenous, right?”

     After all, snake venom introduced an outside agent
into the body—exogenous. And that was what started the process of poisoning. Ward
glared at the techs. “Does anyone know?”

     They all shook their heads.

     “Well, look it up or something!” Ward shouted, and one
of the techs darted over to a computer.

     “We’re running out of time!” Sophia shouted.            

     “I know!” Ward barked back. He had to think.
What
would you use to reverse endogenous neurotoxicity?

     Two major sources cause endogenous neurotoxicity—nitric
oxide and glutamate, he remembered.

     “EKG is dropping!” one of the techs shouted.

     Ward scrunched his eyes. He needed something that
would reverse the process.

     And suddenly—he knew what it would be.

     “Get every antioxidant you have in liquid dispensable
form and pump them through that bullet hole!” he commanded, pointing at Revolution’s
shoulder wound. “Fast!”

     The techs scrambled.

     Antioxidants are effective at countering neurodegenerative
diseases, Ward knew, so he figured their presence might trick the brain and the
body into reversing the neurotoxic effect as well.

     It was worth a shot.

     Across the room, Lantern’s body stiffened. Ward caught
it out of the corner of his eye. Lantern was staring at his RDSD, and he
snapped his head up and gave Ward and Sophia a look that, even through his
helmet, said he was worried about something.

     “I’ll be right back,” Lantern said and marched out of
the room with purpose, into the hall, and bounded toward the entrance.

     The techs were finally ready. They pumped the
antioxidant fluids into the wound. Ward searched the monitors for any sign of
hope. All of Revolution’s living systems were in decline.

     And then Ward saw a sign of hope.

     Rachel saw it, too. “They’re slowing down!” The
numbers were still falling, but at a slower rate. She pressed forward and gave
Ward a hug with one arm, never taking her eyes off the monitors.

     And then the numbers stopped.

     “C’mon, c’mon!” Sophia breathed. “Go back up!”

     “This is it,” Ward said, taking a step toward the
monitors. “Either they go back up, or they fall with no way for us to stop them
since we can’t get through that armor.”

     Suddenly…

     A
huge
explosion rocked the entire facility.

     Ward and Rachel held onto each other as they nearly
fell on top of Revolution’s operating table.

     “What the hell was that?” Sophia shouted. They all
readied their weapons. Even Ward. No longer the doctor. None of them had changed
from their uniforms, and now that seemed like a very fortunate thing.

     “How the fuck did they find us so fast?” Rachel asked.

     Voices shouting from the entrance. They couldn’t see
what it was. “Everyone stay put,” Sophia said, and she began to stride toward
the hallway.

     That’s when they heard the beep.

     One long, constant beep. They were so focused on the
mystery attackers that at first they didn’t recognize it. Even Ward, who should
have, instantly.

     “What now?” asked Sophia. Then she blanched. “Shit!”

     “What?” Rachel asked.

     “Some bombs use an audio signal as a detonator,” she
said.

     And then Ward realized what it was. There was a reason
the sound was familiar. It was no weapon. He turned, his heart frozen in fear. Dread
washing over him like he had never felt.

     Another explosion shook the room, and the lights
flickered. But Ward didn’t care about that anymore.

     His eyes were wide. He knew there was nothing he could
do. He saw what the beeping sound was.

     The Revolution had flatlined...

The Suns of Liberty will return in:

THE SUNS OF LIBERTY: REPUBLIC

AUTHOR’S NOTE

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     See you on the next adventure...

-- Michael Ivan Lowell

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