No Master Plan Here (Madness Runs in the Family) (13 page)

             
“I changed a bit,” Anansi said, his speakers lowered to not carry back into the cabin, where Stone and Spark were familiarizing themselves with the holographic entertainment system. Denise wished for a moment that she could see his face, but he had plugged into the plane through his helmet, which betrayed nothing. “I've traveled a lot during my bit out in the world. Found a lot of things I didn't care for out there. Fixed some things I could. Mostly, I avoided everyone I knew.”

             
“More fuel for that “The world is broken, and I need to fix it” thing you're going for? Why does it have to be you?”

             
“If everyone said “I don't have to, someone else will,” then nobody would.” Anansi sighed and ran a hand across the top of his helmet. He looked at Denise, then back out through the windshield. “History will be the judge of whether I was a madman or a visionary.”

             
Silence drew out in the cockpit as the plane passed into a cloud bank. Streams of cold white drifted past their fields of view, like the tendrils of ghosts. Denise looked down at her gloved hands. “I'd rather you be a man than an idol.”

             
Anansi looked back to Denise. “I...” He looked back to the windshield and muttered to himself. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, speaking loud enough that his voice carried to the back. “Visual on target. Archangel looks to have already hit the second target. He may still be on site. We're going in.”

             
The plane started to descend rapidly. Denise slipped her helmet on and started to strap herself in when Anansi stood and unplugged himself. “Up, up,” he said, gesturing for her to follow him. “Stone, Spark, you two are free to exit by the door. Mantis and I will meet you there.” He grabbed Denise by the wrist and suddenly she was tumbling through the air, looking up at the plane. She turned to look down and saw nothing but clouds rushing by her and Anansi. He pulled her towards him, placing her back against his chest. He angled them into a plummeting free fall, heads downward, his coat whipping against the wind.

             
For a second, Denise let herself enjoy the proximity. The clouds cleared beneath them, revealing forest beneath them, hundreds of feet below. A fire could be seen spewing smoke into the air from the only building in the area.

             
Then space rippled again as Anansi teleported them.

Chapter 12

             
Anansi touched the ground first, his feet coming to rest on the grassy lawn that separated the research compound from the forest. The fire was easier to see here, as was the gaping hole in the front wall where, presumably, Archangel had entered the building. Two of five charges expended for the teleportation rig, but they were the first on the ground. Kay let him know that Stone and Spark were beginning their descent as well.

             
“You can let me go now,” Mantis said, squirming against his arms. Anansi released her, cursing himself silently for letting it linger. Distraction with her was not what he needed right now.

             
[I think it's nice that you two still have feelings for each other,] Kay sent, the text appearing with the sound of a chime in his ears.

             
[Nobody asked you, meddling AI,] Anansi sent back across the link. He paused, tilting his head to one side. [Both?]

             
[No time. He's coming out now.]

             
Anansi looked to the hole and seeing nothing until Kay magnified into the broken wall and amplified the light feed to compensate for looking inside. Archangel was walking out with all the lazy gait of someone not expecting any resistance at all, his hair perfectly combed and his black bodysuit only barely showing dust from the wall. He carried a large metal tank in one hand like it was a briefcase, despite the fact Kay estimated its weight as close to two hundred and fifty pounds.

             
Anansi couldn't help but feel a bit of anger at the hero.

             
“He's coming,” Anansi said as he stepped forward. He dropped a pair of grenades, the black balls rolling across the lawn and away from him in opposite directions as Archangel walked into the light. Behind Anansi, Stone finally hit the ground and stepped from the crater he had made. Spark flitted down behind Stone, hovering behind him. Archangel waved across the lawn to them.

             
“You're late to the party,” he said with a smirk.

             
“I didn't get the invite,” Anansi replied as he walked forward. “I blame the postal service. You know how they are with losing mail.”

             
Archangel took a closer look at Anansi, taking several steps forward himself. He started laughing and set down the canister he was carrying, leaving a dent in the freshly mowed grass that allowed Kay to reassess her estimate of weight and increase it. “You're the last person I expected to try and stop me.”

             
“Why's that?” Anansi checked the positions of the grenades. Twenty more seconds until they were in place.

             
“It will make everyone equal, Anansi. Isn't that what you want?”

             
“Oh, sure. Let's kill a third of the world to make everyone else a ticking time bomb of unstable power. That's exactly what I want.”

             
“This is everything in your mantra. Reduce the population, eliminate differences. Make people appreciate each other. Once the smoke clears, the people who survive the chaos will bond and form a better world.” Archangel spoke with the sort of tone that people used when they believed they had found their calling in life. The type of people who truly believed that they were doing right, they were sent by whatever gods they followed to do this. Anansi wondered for a moment if he sounded like that when he talked.

             
“Except by releasing that into the world, you'll kill a bunch of people and accomplish nothing, assuming the world survives from the destruction caused by a bunch of Class Four and Fives losing their shit and blowing up.”

             
Archangel shrugged, his smile slipping as he was berated.

             
“Let's assume that your plan works, for a second, shall we? Class Ones become the new norms because the difference between them and a Zero is a lot closer than the difference between a Three and a Four. Congratulations, you just made it so that the power balance shifted to a different ruling caste. Not to mention that you've completely ignored all racial, cultural, sexual, monetary, and religious inequalities. Nothing has been accomplished. Way to go, idiot.”

             
Archangel glared at Anansi, his demeanor immediately turning cold. “You don't know what you're talking about, and if you call me stupid again, I'm going to beat your smug face into the ground like I did last we met.”

             
Anansi snorted. Five seconds. “You barely hurt me, and you only hit me because I was getting bored with making you miss, so let me say it again. Slower, so you understand it. You're. An.”

             
Anansi was unable to finish as Archangel launched himself forward with a push from his wings, arm cocked back to punch. Kay let Anansi know the grenades were in place and Anansi detonated them, sending blinding light and sound into Archangel's eyes and ears. The hero twitched to try and protect himself from the unexpected attack, throwing him off course and into the ground, digging a trench for several feet before he came to a stop at Anansi's feet.

             
Anansi pulled another grenade from his harness and slapped a core into it. “Say hello to the Tar Baby, Archangel,” he said, his thumb on the detonator.

             
Pain ripped through Anansi and knocked him off his feet, tumbling over Archangel. He saw a blast of electricity course past him, partially deflected by his displacement field.

             
Electricity? Anansi tumbled to a painful halt as his muscles twitched of their own accord. Across the lawn, Mantis and Stone were down as well, with Spark floating absently towards Archangel's position. Archangel shook off the effects of the stun grenades and stood, looking at Spark. Spark reverted to her normal self, settling on the grass before the winged hero and looked up at him. They exchanged a kiss.

             
“Good work,” Archangel said. Spark smiled up at him. Archangel turned towards the canister and began walking to recover it. Halfway there he stopped, looking to Anansi. He detoured the extra three paces to kick Anansi in the ribs, sending him rolling back several yards. His chest plate, where Archangel had kicked him, was cracked, but the rest of the impact had been dispersed through his body, preventing serious injury.

             
“That's what you get for thinking you could make a fool of me again.” Archangel picked up the canister and spread his wings, launching skyward with one mighty push. Spark returned to energy and chased after him, leaving Anansi to his pain.

             
[Sending the Cicada to pick you up. Do you want to allow the other SHIP members aboard?]

             
“Yes. We will be having words.” Anansi groaned as his muscles began responding again. He worked his way to his feet about the time the plane landed on the lawn, settling with a hiss as the gangway opened.

Chapter 13

             
“What the hell was that?” Anansi shouted, his face red as he paced back and forth in front of the console in the central chamber of his base. His helmet had been set on the table. Kay had manifested behind it, watching Denise with a cold stare. Stone leaned against the wall near the doorway, quietly staying out of the confrontation.

             
“How the hell should I know?” Denise shouted back. Spark's betrayal irked her more than she would like to admit. While she knew that Spark and Archangel had dated before, she had also been under the impression that they had broken up. That had been months ago, which raised the question of how long had this plan been in the works.

             
“You work with her, surely you must have known about her and her tryst with tall, dark, and trying-to-kill-the-world.”

             
“Well believe it or not, not everyone has an AI in their head that allows them to notice everything around them,” Denise retorted. She strode from her seat to Anansi, stopping his pacing, and placed an index finger on his chest. “And I did know they HAD dated, past tense, but as far as I knew, it ended, alright?”

             
Anansi glared back at her, his anger cooling to a simmering heat. He took her wrist in his hand and pulled her hand away from his chest. “It still would have been relevant information to have,” he said, his voice dropping low. He flung her hand away and stalked to another console and plugged into it, fingers dancing across the keyboard.

             
“Archangel has half of the compound now. With him actually having opposition now, he's going to pick up the pace. Spark's with him now, so I don't think he has any more wild cards. This gives us a major advantage, actually.” Anansi waved a hand and a hologram filled the open air before him. Two buildings were displayed in intricate detail with floor plans visible through the semi-transparent walls. Anansi gestured to the building on the right and it grew larger, the left building growing smaller and moving away.

             
“This is the Seascape Research compound. I'm betting it's the next target to be hit simply due to proximity. Archangel has hit the facilities in order from the east to the west coast so far, and while he could very well change his tactics, I don't think he will simply because it is on the way, and why not hit it then?”

             
Anansi changed the hologram to a map of the United states, showing with bright red points the two places that had already been hit, and with green points the places left to be hit. Denise saw that a straight line from the second point to the fourth, with only a small diversion for the third. The logic was sound.

             
“What if he bypasses it simply to throw us off?” Stone asked, stepping forward to look at the maps. “You seem to be basing a lot on the assumption that he won't go to the fourth point next.”

             
“Well he will eventually come to the third point, so it doesn't really matter, does it?” Anansi said with a dismissive shrug. “We go there now, we set up, we take him down.”

             
“What about Spark?” Denise said. Anansi seemed confident in his ability to neutralize Archangel, Denise wasn't so sure about his ability to take down a person of living energy.

             
“I've got a thing for her. Came up with it as a response for that North Korean energy super.”

             
“Why were you responding to Korean Thunder?”

             
“Because he was a horrible person. Because I was in the area. Because of several confirmed reports of murder and rape of children, not to mention what he did for the North Korean government. He got what he deserved. He cried when he died.” Anansi turned back to the holograms and stood silently, the lenses of his glasses displaying light passing up rapidly. Denise leaned over to get a closer look. He was talking to Kay. She looked up as a shadow loomed over her to see Stone.