Seven Wonders (52 page)

  "This may be true, Paragon," said the Dragon Star. "But we now face another dilemma."

  Jeannie exhaled slowly. "Tony?"

  The Dragon Star inclined his head. "The Thuban power that lives on, using Tony, yes."

  Sam squinted as a thought dawned on her. "But Tony's still in there, right? You just said so. So all we need to do is use that thing again, drain the power off, and we're safe."

  "Could work," said Conroy. He folded his arms and carefully looked over his shoulder. Aurora and Tony were still in conference. They hadn't appeared to have noticed the other discussion going on inside the shield.

  Jeannie shook her head. "No. This thing doesn't work like that, remember? It doesn't just drain power off, it
transfers
it. The shell of the power core was absorbed by Tony when he became the man in black there. Where do we put the power if we can drain it off? It can't be one of us, or one of the other superheroes, or we'll just be back to square one."

  Sam looked the Dragon Star up and down, trying to ignore the fact that the blank expression on his face was nothing like an expression Joe would − used to − make. The powerstaff pulsed gently.

  "The staff? It's the same tech, isn't it? Can it be the receptacle?"

  Conroy and Jeannie looked at each other. "Worth a shot?" asked Conroy.

  The Dragon Star nodded. "Prepare the machine."

The conversation had grown cold, and Aurora was growing wary. After Tony had described his method of attack, the topic had now moved to the superheroes – Tony asked not just about the Seven Wonders, but about all of the groups and individuals who had joined the attack. Aurora had humored him politely for a while, but Tony's questions pressed on. The superhero armada had begun to move back to the moon, after a few had broken off to return to the Earth to mop up any shards of the Thuban that might have survived re-entry, and to liaise with the authorities to assure them that the threat was over.

  But now Aurora had had enough. Tony's conversation had the relentless, repetitive nature of a child. He held up a hand and after a few moments, Tony stopped talking. He looked at Aurora, his gash-like mouth turning into a child's drawing of a petulant frown.

  "Tony, we should return to the moon. We have much to discuss with the others."

  Tony was looking at the Earth, watching a handful of heroes spin through the atmosphere.

  "Yes, much to discuss."

  Aurora nodded, waited for a moment, then flew upwards, relative to Tony, and curved over the purple bubble holding Sam, Jeannie and Paragon. He saw the Dragon Star, and gestured to him as he passed over. The Dragon Star seemed to see, but made no movement.

  A hundred yards later, Aurora stopped. He was outstretched, pointing towards the moon with one fist, looking up as he flew towards his destination. Except he wasn't moving, although his flaming trail streamed out behind him as though he were still in flight.

  "Did I say you could go, Nikolai?"

  Aurora didn't speak, couldn't speak. His head was fixed, looking towards the moon, as Tony glided serenely beside him until his eyes were the same level as the frozen, horizontal superhero.

  "You see, Nikolai, now that I removed the Thuban for you, it seems I'm owed something. What, I hear you ask? Oh,
lots
of things. There's Bluebell of course. As chairman of the Seven Wonders, I need a consort. And Bluebell – Alexandra – is such a rare beauty."

  Aurora's aura swelled, just a little. Enough for Tony to see.

  "Ah, no no no. I don't think so." He flicked a hand, and Aurora went dark, superpowers extinguished. His eyes became visible under the mask, wide and bloodshot, as Aurora began to asphyxiate and freeze. Tony laughed and flexed his wrist again. Aurora's body shone with solar energy again.

  "And then there's the Earth. You owe me that. I mean, I wanted it before, I could have had it before. Then you killed me." He floated closer, maintaining eye line with Aurora but pressing in so close their noses almost touched. Tony's voice was reduced to a whisper. "You killed me. Remember? And superheroes never kill. And you know what that makes you? A supervillain. The Seven Wonders are no more superheroes than the Dark League or the Steel Council. Perhaps you killed them too. Where did all the supervillains go, Nikolai? Nobody ever saw them again after they were sent to one of the UN superprisons."

  Tony stopped, and floated back a little. "You may speak."

  Aurora said nothing, but his mouth moved, muscles now freed from Tony's control.

  Tony was impatient. "Well?"

  "Now!"

  Tony had ignored the humans in the support bubble. They were of no consequence, and if the Dragon Star had dared take any action, he would have shut the bubble off in an instant before throwing the Dragon Star into the sun, leaving the three humans to die in the awful hostility of space. Tony had ignored them at his peril.

  A beam, undulating and twisted, projected itself through the support bubble and played across Tony. At first he did nothing but smile, dazzled just momentarily by the brightness of the light. Then the beam, plain white, began to tint, turning first a light purple then increasing in intensity to an electric, shining violet.

  Tony twisted, realizing what was happening, but it was too late. The alien energy of the Thuban was drawn off, drained away. He tried to fly up, out of the beam, but like Aurora, he was unable to move. His mouth opened in a scream, but without the power to break into the comm link channel, nobody could hear.

  After a few seconds, his black skin began to flake off like ash. Underneath, his pale, human flesh appeared in patches, exposed to the vacuum. Tony writhed as the Thuban power was drained and his human form was exposed to space.

  Freed from Tony's grip as his power faded, Aurora dropped away, avoiding the beam projected by the transfer machine held by Jeannie inside the bubble. He could see the Dragon Star holding his powerstaff to the machine's output, enabling the power to flow into it. The entire surface of the weapon was a moving rainbow of color. At the back of the bubble, Paragon and Sam crouched, arms over their heads.

  Aurora could feel the detritus fizzing in his aura. Turning, he saw Tony was almost completely free of the covering. As the last of the material was shed into space, the beam snapped off. Aurora sped forward, tapping Tony with enough force on the head to render him unconscious, then scooped him up. He made a tight turn to fly back toward the bubble, but in the blink of an eye found himself in the moonbase infirmary.

  Someone touched his shoulder. He turned to find it was the Dragon Star. On the infirmary floor, Sam and Paragon slowly unfurled themselves. With a crash, Jeannie dropped the MIC-N and collapsed.

  "The threat is eliminated," said the Dragon Star. His powerstaff glowed white, infused with the energy from the race that had created it. Linear buzzed and lifted Tony from Aurora's arms, and in a second had him connected to the monitoring equipment. Monolith and Lawmaker, ever vigilant, resumed their guard as Bluebell turned her attention immediately to the medical readouts.

  Aurora looked around, just in time to see the Dragon Star walk from the room. He glanced at Sam and Jeannie, who stood. Sam blew out her cheeks.

  "I thought the teleport was busted?"

  Aurora licked his lips. "I think it still is," he said, then followed in the Dragon Star's footsteps.

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

Three days later and the conference room was full again, but this time with a new mix of heroes. Sam hardly knew any of them by name, but scanned faces and costumes in morbid fascination, seeing who had made it, and who hadn't. Of the eighty who had survived the Thuban attack, three more had died on the moon. Most of the injured were now up and mobile at least, and a mix of science and magic was being employed in the infirmary to heal the remaining few who were in critical condition.

  Sam had slept most of the three days. She realized she'd never really recovered from absorbing the power core back in San Ventura. Like an unprepared runner attempting a marathon, she felt drained, lethargic, and she suspected she would for some time.

  She sat at the table in the conference room, again unsure of her right to be seated among the Seven Wonders when so many powerful, important, and famous heroes stood around her. Immediately opposite, standing behind Linear's chair, was Lady Liberty and her robot Presidents. They'd made it at least. Beside Absolute Lincoln, Sam recognized X-Realm and Might, four others she knew by sight but not by name, as well as Lawmaker and Monolith. Pangolin too. She was glad about that – the diminutive hero was most definitely B-list or lower, and she doubted he'd ever faced such a challenge before. The little man saw her looking and nodded a greeting, his snouted face beaming in delight.

  Then again, none of them had. Never before had so many fallen in a single day.

  She gave up her game of spot-the-hero after that. It wasn't important.

  All chairs at the table were occupied − Sam, Jeannie and Conroy as the "humans" on one side, Sand Cat, Bluebell, Linear on the other as the "superheroes", Aurora at the head as usual. Sam felt uncomfortable at being included at the table, and tried to ignore the fact that she had to sit next to Jeannie. The former Blackbird appeared to have taken to wearing her orange prisoner jumpsuit like a costume itself. It had been three days, and Sam realized that she'd even changed into a fresh one.

  Sam looked around the table and squirmed in her chair. She felt like Aurora's blank eyes were constantly watching her, and she was very aware of the Dragon Star standing behind her chair. She could hear his powerstaff humming in her left ear.

  "Detective?"

  Sam blinked. The whole room was looking at her, silently. After a moment, Linear waggled his eyebrows discreetly and made a small motion with his hand, encouraging her to respond. She rubbed her forehead, looked around the room, then met Aurora's look.

  "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

  It was clear that she had been miles away, but Aurora let it pass and repeated his question without pause.

  "Do you accept our invitation to join the Seven Wonders?"

  Sam felt her chest tighten as her lungs refused to exhale. A second later she forced the air out herself. It came out quickly, and ended with a small laugh.

  "But I'm not a superhero."

  Aurora smiled. "Superheroes are not defined merely by special powers or abilities. Character counts, perhaps above all else, as well as dedication to a cause. You have demonstrated both. The first task for the Seven Wonders is to help rebuild San Ventura, and for the superhero community at large it is to re-join the world we have all neglected for too long. The Seven Wonders have a vacancy, and we need someone to both liaise with the city authorities, and to provide law enforcement and detective skills to our team. These qualities we need if we are to fight crime once more."

  Sam coughed, very aware of the masked eyes on her, and the everpresent hum of the powerstaff just beyond the edge of her vision.

  "I thought the Seven Wonders were seven heroes, until the Cowl killed David, my husband. You did nothing to stop him and your inaction brought destruction to our homes." She paused, and looked at Jeannie and Conroy sitting next to her. "Destruction directed by these two. I cannot believe you would welcome such people to the team."

  Linear buzzed. Aurora and Bluebell exchanged a look.

  "You are correct, detective. The Seven Wonders will remain as five to honor the memory of our fallen friend Hephaestus, and his remarkable robot, SMART. Now that the Earth is safe, Paragon will honor his agreement and go to the United Nations voluntarily, where he will stand trial. Blackbird also."

  Jeannie snorted but kept her eyes on the table.

  Sam turned in her seat and looked up at the Dragon Star. The face of Joe Milano looked down at her, the eyes an infinite starscape. It still felt like a dream.

  "What about the Dragon Star?"

  The superhero shook his head, and for the first time since taking his new body, smiled. Sam's heart raced − the smile was instantly recognizable, a signature expression. Joe was in there, somewhere, he had to be.

  "My new powers are not needed on the Earth. With the superheroes returning to the world, the Earth has more than enough protection. I have been given a gift, a new chance and new powers. I am not the only member of my race to crave identity and freedom. I shall return home to fight for them. It is the power of the Thuban themselves that enables this, thanks to the machine of Paragon and Blackbird. I feel… I think Joe approves."

  The Dragon Star smiled again, and later Sam would swear he winked at her.

  "Your first task, I should add," said Aurora, "will be escorting Mr Conroy to The Hague as his arresting officer."

  Sam looked at Aurora, then around the table. Sand Cat and Bluebell were smiling; even Conroy was, apparently content with his fate. Jeannie's lip was curled in disgust.

  Linear buzzed impatiently, then mouthed something which Sam took to be "just say yes, dammit!"

  "What about Tony?"

  Bluebell answered.

  "He is not fit to stand trial, yet, but will be held at the UN as well. We will prepare a holding cell for him."

  Sam considered. Slowly, a smile spread across her face.

  "Yes, I will."

  The room broke into applause, and Sam laughed. Her, a regular detective from San Ventura, just trying to keep her city safe and to bring the Cowl to justice. Now she was a superhero, and would be able to serve the city like never before, having a direct hand in the rebuilding. San Ventura would, once again, be known as the Shining City.

  Detective Sam Millar, superhero? No way. No
freakin'
way. Captain Gillespie was going to spit.

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

The cell was a spacious cuboid, one hundred feet in length, half that again in width, and with a ten-foot stud height, laid out as a stylish studio apartment, complete with study, den, bedroom, bathroom. The ultimate bachelor pad − simple, basic even, but not entirely uncomfortable. Most of it was glass, transparent or frosted. Privacy was not high on the list of required features. The box was suspended in space, without any physical contact with the concrete walls that surrounded it, offering a complete three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of ninety-nine percent of the interior, from any position on the gantry that ringed the equator of the chamber in which the cell floated. The remaining one percent of the cell was opaque to the visual spectrum only – and the selected superheroes that formed part of the guard rotation did not see in the visual spectrum.