The Indestructibles (Book 3): The Entropy of Everything (25 page)

Chapter 49:

A crowded sky

      Billy skimmed in next to one of the giant robots, so close he could smell the vapors of mechanical heat escaping from it, like a car that had been running in the hot sun too long.
The monstrosity stepped back, faster than seemed possible, yet couldn't pivot quickly enough to take a swing at him.

      Billy fired a blast of white energy at the robot's armpit simply to antagonize him.

     
You are enjoying this too much,
Dude said.

      I was dispatched here to be a human target, Billy thought. Everybody wants to hurt me when I'm having too much fun.

     
I will not argue with that
, Dude said.
But do not be reckless.

      Billy dodged a gravity-gun blast easily, twisting in the air and swinging back around for a strafing run. He fired a string of bolts from his hands into the robot's face.

     
And try to remember, because we have discussed this more times than I can count, robots do not have brains,
Dude said.
Hitting them in the head is not the same as doing so to a living creature. Their motor functions are usually controlled in the chest.

      I'm shooting a robot in the face with light-beams, and you're asking me to be logical about this? Billy thought. Cut me some slack, Dude.

      He risked a glance over at Jessie, who played a similar cat and mouse game with the other robot.

      She caught his look and tilted her chin at him. "Change partners?" she said into her earpiece.

      "Why not?" Billy said.

      They crossed paths mid-air so fast they almost broke the sound barrier, the atmosphere around them ripping at the molecular level.

      Jessie's robot, bulkier than the one Billy had been taunting, wore heavier armor plating, but responded in slower movements. It acted more aggressively, though, as if possessing a shorter temper when dealing with irritants like flying humans, and swatted at Billy with greater frequency and more accuracy.

      There's some fight in this one, Billy thought.

     
It is a robot
, Dude said.
They only have as much fight in them as they are programmed to have
.

      Tell that to Optimus Prime, Billy said.

     
Ordinarily the pop references you and Emily throw around are lost on me, but that one I know
, Dude said.

      Well, he is a classic, Billy thought.

      He caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye and saw Jessie land on the robot's shoulder and throw a barrage of blasts at the mechanical creature's ear, causing its huge metal arms to flailed helplessly, like a grown man trying to swat a bee.

      Billy glanced around at the barren landscape of the fallen city, looking at crumbling and forgotten buildings. He got an idea.

      "Hey Jessie?"

      "What, flyboy?"

      "This whole area has been evacuated, right?" Billy asked.

     
What are you thinking about?
Dude said.

      Hush, Billy thought. You can read my mind. Figure it out.

      "There hasn't been anyone living here in a long time," Jessie said. "Most people got out of the City years ago."

      "Good. I've got an idea," Billy said. "Cover me."

      "I don't 'cover' you," Jessie said. "Unless you're planning on doing something awesome?"

      "Everything I do is awesome," Billy said.

      "Fine," Jessie said.

      He flew straight up, blasting off like a rocket, turning in a wide arc above both robots as the pair of machines reached out for him clumsily. Swinging back around at full speed, he came roaring back, low to the ground, almost skimming the crumbling pavement.

      "You're about to do something really stupid, aren't you?" Jessie said.

      "No," Billy said.

     
Yes,
Dude said.

      When he came within range, Billy fired with both hands, pouring on a damaging explosion of white light into the back of the leaner robot's knee. Pistons and gyros broke loose, metal split and cracked, and the great lumbering machine began to topple.

      "Fall down go boom!" Jessie yelled, laughing.

      The robot, its body language almost human in its confusion, fell backward. Arms spinning comically, descent out of control, it collapsed into the broken frame of an old skyscraper. Concrete chunks and metal support materials fell, pounding and cracking its carapace.

      "I love my job," Billy said.

      Jessie laughed into her headset. "I honestly can't tell if you doing that means you're amazing or a complete and utter jerk for enjoying it so much," she said.

      "Can't I be both?"

     
I would lean toward the latter
, Dude said.

      "I think you can be both," Jessie said. "What do you want to do about the last one?"

      Billy turned his attention to the more heavyset robot, which had begun a lumbering approach toward them.

      "Who controls these things, anyway? They don't have pilots," Billy said. "Emily would be so disappointed they don't have pilots. She's always wanted a Gundam of her own."

      "We think they have remote pilots somewhere," Jessie said. "Never found them. Just as well, means we can destroy these things without feeling bad."

      The heavy robot's shoulder opened up and a sizeable cannon projected out and locked in, perched beside its head. Something looked vaguely familiar about the design.

      "Head's up, big gun's out now," Billy said. "We should be able to just—"

      Then the weapon fired, and Billy knew exactly where he'd seen it before. Red-yellow light tore across the sky, the air humming with alien energy. The last time he saw a weapon that used that kind of ammunition, it tore Dude entirely from his body.

      "Look out!" Billy said. "Don't let it hit you!"

      He dodged another blast of red-yellow energy, passing so close it twisted his stomach into knots. He could still feel the tearing sensation that he experienced when Dude's powers had been yanked from his very cells.

      "I got this. Our shields can take a hit from something that big, don't worry about it," Jessie said.

      She hasn't seen one of these weapons before, Billy thought.

     
We have to destroy it, now
, Dude said.

      On it, Billy thought.

      "Jessie, these aren't ordinary lasers, don't let it touch you!"

      "I said I've got this!" she said.

      Billy rocketed toward Jessie, trying to reach her in time, but as fast as he was, she buzzed through the sky like a jet fighter, moving too quickly to catch.

      One of the red-yellow blasts smashed into her. Billy saw her body in silhouette, black on gold, and then watched as the white-blue essence of her alien powers fell away like an inverted shadow, a glimmer of light.

      "Jane! We need backup! Jessie's down, they've got null guns. Jessie's been hit!" Billy screamed into his earpiece, hoping Jane or Solar were able to hear him. He watched Jessie's limp body fall from the sky. Not dying on my watch, Billy vowed, dodging another red-yellow burst of light and turning up the speed. Need a little help here Dude, he thought, and there it was, an influx of speed, power surging through him when he raced to catch Jessie as she fell.

      He grabbed hold of both of her wrists and arced back up into the sky. Got you, he thought, I got you, as he sensed another blast sizzle past his skin. Not again, Billy thought, not again not again not again . . .

      He saw the white light, that had just seconds before been powering Jessie's flight, flying in a circular pattern a few hundred feet above them.

      "What's he doing, Dude?" Billy said out loud.

     
I believe I am looking for a new temporary host
, Dude said.
I don't know why I have not traveled to one of the others until Jessie's cells are able to reabsorb the powers.

      I'm sure either Kate is available, Billy thought, looking for a safe place to put Jessie down.

      She stirred in his grasp, then looked up. "What the hell just happened to me?" Jessie said. Her eyes opened wide. "Where is he? Where's my partner? Straylight? Talk to me! Where are you!"

      "It'll be okay. You're temporarily—whoa," Billy said, rocking unsteadily as he dodged another blast from the robot's shoulder-mounted cannon. "I gotta put you down. He'll come back, that gun just separates you for a bit."

      "Why do you know this?" Jessie yelled. Her voice cracked.

      Billy felt awful for her, knowing how strange, how alien, how lonely it was to be alone in your own head after all that time. He found a sturdy building and put Jessie down gently. Her feet gave out, so Billy helped her sit then prepared to fly.

      "Don't leave me here," Jessie said. "I—I feel sick."

      "It'll pass," Billy said. "Don't—don't panic, I'll be back."

      He could hear the robot's rumbling footsteps headed their way.

      "I can't stay here, I have to lead him away from you," Billy said. "I'll be back."

      "You don't need to—" Jessie said, but Billy was airborne again, doing his best as the ammo from the null gun approached faster and closer.

      It's like he's becoming a better marksman, Billy thought.

     
Robots can learn
, Dude said.

      Billy chanced another look at the sky where Dude's future self had been hovering. The alien was gone.

      "Looks like you went to find another victim," Billy said, and then, out of nowhere, he felt something slam into his body like a kick to the heart. I'm hit, he thought, I'm going to fall, I'm going to die . .

      Then the power crashed over him like a tidal wave. More strength than he'd ever possessed, his skin electric with it, every sense hitting him with painful clarity. I can see molecules moving, Billy thought. What happened?

     
My future self chose the best host it could find,
Dude said.
We are no longer alone
.

      Soon the memories hit him, and the entire world stopped making sense.

Chapter 50:

Photo album

at the end of the world

      In a world full of destruction, the den of the White Shadow felt like a hallowed museum.
Family portraits hung on the wall—not just of one family, but many. A shrine preserved, honoring what had been lost, a gallery of strangers guarding darkened hallways, a photo album marking the end of the world.

      Titus led the way, both old and young, in full-fledged werewolf forms, a pair of tracking hounds on a hunt. Kate had stopped the older one earlier, as he walked inside, her future self long gone.

      "She didn't want to be followed," she'd told the scarred werewolf.

      Whispering paused to look at the balcony where Kate's future self had stood moments before and then turned to leave. He gazed at the now empty terrace with a silent, heartbreaking longing.

      "She'll do what she will.  She always has," Whispering said, and he spoke no more of it.

      That definitive reaction, Whispering's silent resignation, haunted younger-Kate as they searched inside the Shadow's lair. At first it appeared undignified and pathetic, a lapdog anxiously waiting for its human to come home when everyone but the dog realized that would never happen. But there were those human eyes, the human eyes she knew and cared about, waiting for an answer that would never arrive from a person Kate herself hoped she'd never become. In this timeline, Titus becomes a hero and I become a ghost, she thought. What an awful thing to be. Both futures tragic and replete with pain.

      Titus, her Titus, pulled her aside within the house of mystery.

      "Where did she go?" he asked.

      "I don't know," Kate said, avoiding eye contact. Sometimes I swear all I do is avoid looking him in the eye, she thought. I don't know how we're even able to carry on a conversation.

      "Where do you think she went?" Titus asked. He leaned forward, in human form now, and Kate found herself thrown off by how delicate his features were, the alien contrast between his elfish human face and the monstrous maw of the werewolf.

      "How should I know?" Kate asked, growing impatient.

      Titus watched his future self prowl ahead, pushing open a darkened doorway with the blunt end of his spear.

      "Because you are her and she is you," Titus said. "They're not us, but yet they are. Where would you go?"

      "I'd go to find revenge, or I'd go to die," Kate said.

      Titus frowned.

      "You wanted the truth. She's looking for redemption, and you can only find redemption two ways."

      "There are other ways," Titus said.

      Always with the optimism, Kate thought. How is it that we're friends? We're friends because he loves you, she thought to herself. And he comes as close as you've ever gotten to caring deeply about anything in this world. Even in this terrible place, he enkindles hope enough for both of us. The monster hopes, the dancer despairs.

      Doc Silence joined them, leaning against a wall painted in burgundy. He took out a tissue and rubbed the smudges from his red-tinted glasses.

      "You know who the White Shadow really is, don't you?" Kate said. "You realize who we're up against."

      "I don't know for sure," Doc said. Whispering drew closer to listen as well, though Kate knew he could hear every word from two rooms away if he wanted to. "I have an idea."

      "Can't you just cast a spell and find out?" Titus asked. "Wave your hands around, say some gobbledygook and have a name appear in fire on the ground in front of you?"

      "What kinds of movies have you been watching?" Doc said.

      "Accurate ones," Titus said.

      Doc smiled one of his sad smiles, the ones that never reach his eyes. "I could find out through magic, yes," he said. "But some things are better to discover for yourself. In person. Through words."

      "The Shadow doesn't deserve any words from me," Kate said.

      "I don't think the White Shadow's going to be much for talking," Doc said. "But still. If it's who I think it is behind that mask, I've got to at least try."

      "Why?" Kate said.

      "Why?" Doc responded, raising an eyebrow.

      "What's the point talking to this person?" Kate said. "Look at what they did. The destruction. Check out what happened to us. To you. To me."

      "He wants to understand what happened," Titus said softly.

      Whispering nodded silently, approvingly.

      "So he can change things."

      Doc ran a hand roughly over his head. "We're not supposed to use what we learn here to change anything," he said.

      "But we have no choice," Kate said, a strange, unexpected weight growing in her belly. "We can go back and do nothing, but we'll still be different. Everything that happens tomorrow will be different all because we came here."

      Doc didn't answer.

      "You knew this would happen, didn't you?" Kate said.

      "It's okay," Titus said.

      Kate glared at him.

      "No. It's okay. It really is. Because everything is just what happens. It's why we can't change the past, Kate. Because there's no past. There are just things that happen, and the infinite ways they can be different."

      "Butterflies and 'I love yous,'" Doc said, mostly to himself.

      Kate leaned in closer. "What?"

      "The tiniest things change the world, every day. And the universe is made up of infinite possibilities. We were different the moment we left," Doc said. "In another timeline, Annie never comes home. In another timeline we turn her down. Somewhere, Jane never rescues me from the other planes and Annie can't find her way back. In another place, I don't have an argument in a subway tunnel and everything changes."

      "So why do this?" Kate said.

      "Because we're agents of change, and we have to do the best we can," Doc said. He brushed his hands off on his long black coat, looking a thousand years old and a million miles away.

      Kate removed her gaze from the tired wizard, too young to seem so old, to the scarred and faceless creature who, in this timeline, her best friend would become. She turned to Titus, but he was lost in his own world, eyes distant, pondering thoughts she was afraid to ask about. She listened to the sound of footsteps coming from deeper in this house of mystery. Kate thought of home.

      "Then let's do the best we can," she said, walking past Whispering and down the hall on a mission to change a future.