The Gathering: Quantum Prophecy 2 (21 page)

“They’re not tracking the armor, Dioxin. They’re tracking
you.
Mina has some kind of power that allows her to spot superhumans, even from miles away. They’re bearing down on you right now.”

“Damn it! OK, I’m heading back to base!”

“No,” Victor said firmly. “You cannot come back here. If this girl can spot superhumans, she’ll find
me.
That girl is now your top priority…When you find her, I want you to tear her head from her shoulders. Got that? We cannot allow her to survive.”

“Got it. How much time do I have?”

“Minutes, at best…There should be a forest to your east. Their craft won’t be able to follow you in there.”

“I see it. On my way,” Dioxin said. He slowed, angled slightly to his right, then increased his speed and zoomed straight for the dense forest. “Cross…This armor is fireproof, right?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Just had an idea.”

“Mina?” Warren asked.

“Very close…He’s in that forest dead ahead! He’s not moving anymore.”

“He’s waiting for us,” Colin said. “How close can you get, Dad?”

“Not close enough. We can set down at the edge of the forest. You’ll have to run from there.”

That would take too long.
Colin unbuckled his seat belt. “Unseal the hatch! Hover directly over him, Dad.”

“What are you going to do?” Warren asked.

“I’m going to jump.”

“Are you
crazy?
”

“Probably.” Colin opened the hatchway and looked down. “Mina?”

“He’s right below us!”

“Drop us down, Dad! Close as you can!”
I survived a fourteen-story fall on to solid concrete. I can do this!

“He’s starting to move again, Colin!” Mina said.

“Damn it!” Colin put one hand on each side of the hatchway, took a deep breath and flung himself out.

He didn’t know what kind of trees they were, but they hurt: he was hit in the face and body as he smashed down through branches and was glad of the tough material of his uniform.

There!
Directly below him, he could see Dioxin wearing Paragon’s armor.

The scarred man looked up at the noise of the breaking branches, but it was too late: Colin landed right on top of him, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Colin tucked his legs under him and rolled on to his feet. Dioxin had landed on his back and was starting to get up.

Colin charged at him, smashing into Dioxin’s chest. He clung on, forcing the armored man to stagger backward. He dug his fingers into the armor’s back plate and tried to tear it apart.

Dioxin swung his fist at Colin. The blow caught him above the left ear, knocking his helmet off and sending him reeling backward. Dioxin sneered. “That hurt? Good!” He aimed his wrist’s rocket launcher at Colin. “This’ll hurt a hell of a lot more!”

He fired.

Colin saw the rocket coming and jumped to the side. The missile exploded somewhere behind him. Dioxin fired again and again.

Colin ducked and rolled, planted his feet against the stump of a tree and leaped forward.

Dioxin activated his jetpack and soared out of reach. Floating three meters above Colin, he said, “Thanks for walking into my trap, kid.” He laughed. “Look around you.”

Colin risked a quick glance. The trees behind him were ablaze.

Dioxin spun around, launching another volley of rockets. Within seconds, Colin was surrounded by a ring of fire.

“Don’t play with the big boys, Wagner, unless you want to get hurt!” He aimed his rocket launcher at Colin. “Where are you going to run to
now
?” He fired.

The missile hit Colin point-blank in the chest and the explosion knocked him backward. He smashed against a burning tree and collapsed.

“You’re a tough little kid,” Dioxin roared. “But
nothing
is tough enough to survive
this
!” He pulled the spare cartridge of missiles from his belt and threw it down at Colin. He launched another stream of missiles.

The last thing Colin saw was a blinding flash as all the missiles exploded at the same time.

The StratoTruck was rocked by the force of the explosion. As Warren struggled with the controls, Mina watched Dioxin soar out of the smoke and flames and disappear into the sky.

The StratoTruck now steadied once more, Warren stared at the inferno. “Colin…”

The entire forest was engulfed in flames. As they watched, several of the largest trees in the center of the forest collapsed and disintegrated under the extreme heat.

“Colin!”

Mina put her hand on his shoulder. “I…I can’t sense him anymore, Mr. Wagner. He’s gone. Colin’s gone.”

“W
E CAN
’
T STAY HERE
, M
R
. W
AGNER
,” Mina said. “Dioxin might come back!”

“No! Colin could still be alive in there!” He switched on the radio. “Colin? Colin? Respond!”

Silence.

“Colin! Come on, son! Say something!”

Mina said, “Mr. Wagner, I can’t sense
anything
down there! I was focused on Colin right up to the explosion—his aura just vanished! He’s gone!”

“He is
not
gone!” Warren roared. “Can you sense Dioxin’s aura now?”

“No.”

“Then if he’s out of your range, we still have some time.”

“Even if by some miracle Colin is still alive down there, there’s no way we can get to him! We have to leave!”

Numbly, Warren shook his head. He stared at the StratoTruck’s screens. “Come on, come on! Damn it, the heat is too much! It’s screwing up the sensors! Maybe if we focus on the center of the explosion…There.” He pointed at one of the screens. It showed that almost all of the trees in a thirty-meter radius had been destroyed.

Mina leaned over his shoulder. “Can you see anything?”

“No, but…maybe he was able to run before the explosion happened.”

Mina paused. “No. He was right in the middle of it. I’m sorry, Mr. Wagner, but I can’t detect anything at all down there.”

“He could be unconscious!”

“I’d still be able to sense him.”

Warren swallowed. “My son…”

Mina suddenly grabbed Warren’s arm. “Dioxin! He’s coming back!”

Warren glanced out through the windshield: a dark object was approaching fast. There was a sudden flare, then a second.

“He’s firing at us!” Mina screamed.

As Warren spun the StratoTruck about, the first missile streaked past, missing them by less than a meter. The second exploded against one of the StratoTruck’s short wings, knocking Mina to the floor.

“Hold on to something!” Warren shouted. He pushed forward on the StratoTruck’s joystick, then yanked it to the left, sending the craft into a spinning dive. A third missile shot past them, heading toward the ground.

Warren pulled the joystick up, then hit full power as the craft soared into the sky. The sudden surge of acceleration bore down on him like a great weight and he eased off the power. “OK, OK…We’re well out of his range now. We were lucky—that missile didn’t do any serious damage.” He called over his shoulder. “You all right, Mina?”

She grabbed the back of his seat and pulled herself up. “Yeah. I think so.”

“We’re going back to Sakkara.”

“You have to tell the others,” Mina said. “About Colin.”

Warren pulled off his headset and handed it to Mina. “I can’t do it. Caroline…Someone has to tell my wife that our son is dead.”

“I’ll do it. You get us back to Sakkara as fast as you can.”

Even before the helicopter touched down on the airfield outside Cedar Rapids, Renata was running toward it. She jumped in and it immediately took off again.

“You OK?” Danny asked.

“I’m fine. A bit stunned at what’s been going on with Paragon’s armor though. Who’s doing it?”

“Someone from your past,” Façade said. “Dioxin.”

“No…He died ten years ago!”

“I wish that were true, Renata. Warren, Colin and Mina are out there looking for him now.”

Danny quickly explained the situation, then added, “The only chance we have is that Dioxin is leaving a trail of destruction. Every time he stops to do some damage, it increases the odds that we’ll find him.”

“How’s Sol taking this?”

“He’s furious,” Façade said. “The labcoats are working like crazy to get the new armor ready, but they’re nowhere near close enough. Even if—hold it. Message coming through from Sakkara…” Façade listened. “Yes, Josh, we’ve just picked her up. We’re heading back to base now…
What?
Say again, Josh…Oh Lord…You’re certain? Yes, I’ll tell them. And tell Warren and Caroline I’m sorry.”

Danny felt his blood run cold. “What is it?”

Façade glanced around at them. “Just…sit tight, OK?”

Danny swallowed. “Why should Josh tell Warren and Caroline that you’re sorry?”
Please God, don’t let this be what I think it is!

Renata whispered, “Colin…”

Façade nodded. “They found Dioxin. He attacked…Colin’s dead.”

“No!”
Danny screamed. “No, that’s not right! He can’t die! Colin is the one! He’s the bravest of all of us!
He’s
the hero!”

“I’m sorry, son. I truly am.”

Her eyes filled with tears, Renata wrapped her arms around Danny and hugged him close, as much to comfort herself as him. To Façade she said, “We’re not going back to Sakkara yet. Take us to where it happened. I want to see for myself.”

“But we—”

“Take us to Colin!”

“The Wagner kid is dead, Cross,” Dioxin said. “The whole forest is burning. It’s got to be hotter than hell back there!”

“You’re
sure
he’s dead?”

“I’m sure that I’m not going back to check! He’s one vicious little fighter. His old man was never that bad. I hit him point-blank with a full cartridge of missiles. You should have seen the explosion! It ripped the whole forest apart like it was made of paper.”

“What about Mina?”

“No luck there. They took off before I could get to them. That machine of theirs is fast.”

“I’m sending your team to pick you up,” Victor said. “Until
we are absolutely certain that their little superhuman-detector is dead, you are not to come back here. Do you understand me?”

“I understand. But I’m going back anyway. If you don’t want them to know we’re working together, then maybe
you
should leave the base.”

“Dioxin,” Cross said, his voice calm and deliberate. “I’m not telling you again. You are not to come back here while that girl is still alive. When we modified Paragon’s armor to fit you, we planted a very powerful charge inside it. If you come within fifty miles of this base, I will detonate that charge.
Now
do you understand me?”

Dioxin swore. “All right.”

“Good. I’m tracking your path. Turn ten degrees to starboard and keep on that course. The copter will rendezvous with you in about fifty minutes and take you to Sakkara. Our man on the inside will make sure that their automated defenses are down by the time you get there.”

In the forest, lying in a bed of white-hot cinders, the body of Colin Wagner suddenly spasmed and opened its eyes.

Colin sat up, oblivious to the intense heat. He looked down and saw that his uniform was damaged, but mostly still intact.
Good thing they made it fireproof!

He opened the uniform at the neck and checked himself: there was a large bruise on his chest where the missile had struck him.

Is that it?
he wondered.
Is that the only injury I’ve got?
He ran his hands over his face and head.
Aw no! All my hair has burned off! I’m bald!

He pushed himself to his feet and looked around. The trees all around him had been destroyed by the explosion, but he was almost completely unharmed.

Back in the toy store, when my Titan costume caught fire…I didn’t even notice. And this heat…
Colin pulled off his gloves and tentatively reached down and pushed one hand into the cinders. He could feel some heat, but not nearly as much as he’d expected.
I’m fireproof!

The night of our first patrol in Topeka, everyone except me was freezing. I don’t really feel the cold anymore, and heat doesn’t affect me.

Looking around once more, Colin realized that he didn’t know which way he should go. He couldn’t even judge by the position of the sun; the sky was blocked out by a thick column of smoke. He chose a direction at random and started walking.

Something indistinct slowly drifted across his path; a thin wisp of blue light.
What on earth is that?

He reached his hand out toward the light and it instantly faded.
Never seen anything like that before.
He remembered the video of Quantum they’d watched, the first night they arrived at Sakkara. Quantum had said, “The blue lights. They drift about, cluster around certain people, and enhance our abilities.”
Is that the stuff that makes us superhuman?

I’m not as tough as Dad was or as fast. I can’t fly.

I chose the name Titan because I thought—because everyone thought—that I was going to inherit all of my dad’s powers.

It never occurred to anyone that I might inherit my mother’s powers instead.

He stood still, allowed the heat of the fire to soak into his body. He could feel the energy surging through him. He held out
his hand, palm up, and concentrated, shaping the energy into a small ball of flame that briefly danced and flickered in his hand before fading away.

That is just
too
cool! What about lightning? Mum could make lightning…
He concentrated again, tried to visualize the energy turning into electricity. There was a brief spark between his thumb and index finger.
When I get back to Sakkara, I’ll have to ask her how to do that properly.

Colin Wagner, the thirteen-year-old son of the legendary superhero known as Energy, walked out of the inferno.

T
HE COPTER TOUCHED DOWN ON THE
edge of the burning forest. Façade left the cockpit and followed Renata and Danny out of the copter. “Renata, this is pointless. Nothing could survive in there.”

“Do you have any firefighting equipment on board?”