Ultimate Warriors (19 page)

     
Angel
blushed. "I’ll tell you later," she promised.

     
"Where
are we?"

     
She
reached above her and pulled a strange red container from the countertop.
"Drink this, and I will explain everything to you — slowly."

     
Julien
sucked in a mouthful of the sweet liquid. He swallowed in surprise, coughing a
bit as it fizzed against his tongue. The flavor was new but appealing.
"Where?" he asked again, staring into the metal container.

     
"This
is called the workroom. The free powers use this as one of our communications
centers."

     
"How—
Why
have the Calante never found this?"

     
"That
is a little difficult to explain. Let’s start slowly." She motioned for
him to drink again.

     
"My
father—"

     
Angel
tipped the container to his mouth with a look that brooked no argument. She
nodded as Julien took another drink. Whatever it was, it was good.

     
"Drink
all of that. You’ll need your mental fortitude to read me. What I have to tell
you—
You
aren’t likely to believe me, unless you read
it from my mind."

     
Julien
drank down several mouthfuls. As if the elixir were some sort of magic, his
extremities started to strengthen a bit, and his head cleared. "He
followed you into that — transport circle."

     
She smiled,
touching his face. "He was terrified."

     
"I
think I know why," Julien grumbled.

     
"Jake
was transported to our headquarters in what was once Glenvale City, unable to
move and surrounded by people he perceived as enemies. It didn’t take Jake long
to understand that we were not what the Calante painted us as."

     
Julien
finished the drink and offered it back to Angel. His limbs were tingling,
sensation returning much faster now. "How did you convince him?"

     
"Anthony
touched his mind. After that, Jake wanted to know everyone. I think
,
he believed we were deceiving him — at first."

     
He
pushed to sitting, leaning heavily against the console at his back. "He
changed sides. I know that much."

     
Angel
sucked in a ragged breath. "You really know?" She reached down
another of the strange containers and drank deeply from it before turning it
over to Julien.

     
He
nodded, taking a drink. If the contents of the containers were what
was
healing him, the Grellan had medical knowledge far
beyond the Calante ability to heal him.

     
"How?"
She took the container back again and drank
then passed it into his hand.

     
Julien
chuckled. "I’ve made a habit of picking the old man’s mind.
A thought here and there.
Adrien certainly didn’t expect me
to know his true name." He sobered, the moment he learned that true name
bringing him back to more important issues. "Tell me about the night my
father died."

     
Angel
nodded. "Jake devoured information, every record we had of the war between
the Calante and Grellan. We knew why our originator, Grelda, opposed the
Academy, but even we didn’t know the whole tale."

     
"What
was her reason?"

     
"Calan
and Thomas lied. The ancient texts did not demand the system they implemented.
The powers were not born with a duty to live as slaves."

     
Julien
drank another mouthful, trying to internalize that concept. "But, we were
born special," he protested weakly. What other reason would we have these
powers for if not to use them for the good of mankind?

     
"An accident of nature.
We knew that much, but we
needed Jake’s help to locate the ancient texts. We arranged a rather dramatic
scene to put the old man off guard. To all appearances, Jake escaped back to
the Calante with knowledge of a few old bases that we left new trails in to
make the story more convincing."

     
Julien
motioned for her to continue. The tingling in his arms was subsiding, though
his limbs still felt weak, drained.

     
"Jake
agreed on one condition. When we had our proof, we were to take you and your
mother from the city to safety. Your mother—
We
weren’t in time. I am sorry for that. That is why we came for you. We had a
duty. We owed Jake that much."

     
"I
was a duty?" he asked in disbelief.

     
Angel
ran her fingertips up his chest, shooting him a look of invitation that he
wished he could take her up on.

     
"Well,
not just a duty," she commented coyly.

     
"Good.
My father found the texts?"

     
She
nodded. "He went with us. My parents had the electrical and telekinetic
abilities to retrieve the texts. Anthony and I—"

     
"Had to get the group in and out."

     
"Yes.
Jake went in as a witness."

     
"What
happened?"

     
Angel
offered her hand. "We knew my parents’ outlay of power would bring the
Calante. It did."

     
Julien
set the drink aside, taking her hand. He opened himself to her thoughts,
letting them wash over him. Julien closed his eyes as the memory solidified
around him.

* * * *

     
"Hurry,"
Jake urged, looking toward the doors nervously.

     
The
woman— Anna reached into a small vault and removed a metal case, handing it to
her husband, Sam.

     
"Take
the charts, too," Sam instructed. "We’ll need them."

     
She
nodded, grasping a handful of micro discs and storing them in the case he held.

     
"Good.
Let’s go," Jake commanded in a tense voice, taking the case from Sam. He
stalked to Angel’s position, looming over the children. Jake managed a stiff
smile.
"Time to go."

     
Angel
screeched as the doors exploded in. A laser pulse lit the air, and the smell of
seared flesh burned her nose.

     
"Sam,"
Anna pleaded in a voice choked with tears.

     
Jake
pushed the case at Angel, as Anna fell to the next volley. "Leave,"
he ordered, turning away. "Go home."

     
Anthony
grabbed her hand, starting the reaction and enticing Angel to join him despite
her shocked tears.

     
"Stop,"
Jake demanded, trying to wave off the operatives. "There are children
here."

     
"Stop
the children," Adrien instructed coldly. "Shoot them if you have
to."

     
Jake
looked to Angel and Anthony in desperation, throwing himself into the circle on
his knees and using his body as a shield.

     
The
laser fire was eclipsed by the discharge of a conventional weapon. Angel
collapsed under Jake, screaming in a combination of pain and terror as the room
faded away. Adrien threw the handgun at them with a howl of pure fury.

     
Angel’s
eyes closed as the world spun around her and lights flashed. She groaned as
Jake’s body landed over her more forcefully. Angel pushed at him, her shoulder
protesting her efforts.

     
"Jake,"
she whispered, pleading for a sign of life that she instinctively knew he
wouldn’t provide for her. Angel sobbed in the realization that they were truly
alone.

     
Anthony
looked at her with frantic eyes, pressing at the pain in her chest.

     
Angel
surveyed their surroundings. At five, Anthony’s control was questionable when
he was pressured. He’d short-circuited again. Angel had no clue where they
were, but she prayed they were close to headquarters where Sky Child could
locate them quickly.

* * * *

     
Julien
opened his eyes, touching the scar on her chest lightly.
"The
bullet."

     
Angel
nodded. "It would have killed me. Jake saved us both. The laser fire
killed him. He didn’t— I don’t think he felt the bullet."

     
Julien
pulled her to his chest. "Thank you for that."

     
"For
letting you know that he didn’t suffer?"

     
"No.
For showing me that he died with honor, that he was a hero, as I’ve always
believed he was."

     
She
nodded. "Are you ready to hear the rest?"

     
"Yes.
I think I am."

     
Angel
pushed back then to her feet. She went to a glass cabinet and pulled out a half
dozen pieces of faded artwork. Angel brought them to Julien and placed them
reverently in his hands.

     
"What
are these?" Julien asked.

     
"The ancient texts."

     
He
looked at the plastic-wrapped drawings in confusion. "I don’t
understand."

     
Angel
drew the thin books out one at a time, opening them to marked pages.

     
Julien
read them in growing understanding. "These are—" He pressed a hand to
his heart, barely breathing in glee.

     
"Children’s books.
Fantasy," she assured him.
"They were entertainment."

     
"Myths
about famous Earth heroes," he mused.
"The best of
their time.
Human children read these, didn’t they? I’ve always said
that human children should know—"

     
"They’re
not real," Angel whispered. "These people never existed."

     
"But
the histories—"

     
"Were written by the victors, Julien."

     
"But—"
He held a book out to her uncertainly. "Here is the first academy run by
Dr. Xavier." He set the book aside carefully and picked up another.
"Heroes in disguise serving the public under assumed names." Julien
rifled through them for the one that touched him the most. He pointed to the
quote excitedly. "With great power
comes
great
responsibility," he crowed.

     
Angel
cupped his face between her hands. "There were never heroes on Earth,
Julien. These stories were inventions of writers and artists."

     
He shook
his head. "It can’t be. How can you know for sure?" he challenged.
"You can’t, can you?"

     
She rose
and helped Julien to his feet, steadying him as she guided him to a door. Angel
opened it and led him onto a wide balcony.

     
Julien
looked out over a blue-green sea in awe. A bright blue sky was littered with
fluffy white clouds unlike the pale yellow clouds he was accustomed to.
Manicured gardens surrounded the mansion, full of plants he could not
recognize.

     
"I
know all of Suraden," he breathed. "Where are we?"

     
Angel
took his hands. "We took a chance that all the stories Grelda told were
true. We used the charts to find our way home."

     
"Home?"
Julien asked, watching the waves crest and
crash up on the rocky shoreline.

     
"Anthony’s
sign language—" She smiled. "He said, ‘Welcome to Earth,’
Julien."

     
He reached
for the stone railing, collapsing to his knees. Julien gasped for breath, the
dizziness intensifying.

     
Angel
eased him to his back. "Calm down, Julien. You need to sleep this off. I
know it’s a shock."

     
He
grasped her hand, trying to find the words to ask her to stay with him.

     
She
nodded, holding his hand tight. "I’m not going anywhere."

     
Julien
nodded, closing his eyes.