The Reckoning: Quantum Prophecy Book 3 (12 page)

“The New Heroes would never let you get that far. Renata Soliz is immune to your control.”

“That’s why we need to be certain that Colin is on our side.”

“Suppose that they find a way to defeat him? What then?”

“Then I’d break out the secret weapon.”

Victor paused for a moment. “Mina’s really that powerful?”

“Absolutely. And she has no idea. Her ability to sense auras makes her almost untouchable, and she is immeasurably strong and very fast. I started suppressing her abilities before they could develop fully…. There could be even more to her.”

“So that’s your plan for taking over the world? You could do that in a month. Maybe less.”

“I know.”

“And then what? You’ve taken over the world, so what next?”

“Whatever I want.”

“Example?”

Yvonne shrugged. “Well…”

“Exactly,” Victor said. “You don’t know. You don’t have a plan.
I
have a plan. I know what I want, and I know how to achieve it. Your way might get you the world, but my way will get me something much more precious than that.”

“OK, now you’re beginning to sound like a crazy person.”

Victor laughed. “What do you mean,
beginning
?”

Two months after Yvonne and Mina’s twelfth birthday, Yvonne stopped General Piers in the corridor outside his office. “General, can we have access to the Internet?”

He said, “No,” and brushed past her.

Yvonne hissed an angry sigh.
Right. That’s it!
She marched after him, and shouted,
“Stop!”

The general stopped walking.

“Give me a computer, and full Internet access.”

“I’ll get Dalton to set it up for you.”

“You will cease all the tests on Mina and me immediately.”

“I think you’re right. We’ve done all the testing we can.”

“General?”

“Yes?”

“Tomorrow morning, you will resign from Sakkara. You will appoint Joshua Dalton as your successor.”

General Piers nodded, stared at Yvonne for a moment, then began to walk away.

Two hours later, Josh Dalton carried a brand-new laptop computer into Yvonne’s bedroom and began to set it up. “I don’t know what you said to make the old man change his mind, but it must have been good.”

“Thanks, Josh.”

“So how are you and Mina getting on? Any sign of her developing superhuman abilities?”

“Not yet.”

“Maybe it won’t happen.” He smiled at her. “But don’t worry, you might not be the only superhuman. There’s a kid in a military academy in Alaska who looks like he might have some extra-normal abilities. It could be a while before we’re certain, though.”

“Why?”

“Because he doesn’t know about it himself. Every year his school plays a friendly football game against one of the rival schools. The guy we’re looking at—Butler Redmond, his name is—knocked over another player but wasn’t even close to him. I’ve checked the camcorder footage: The other kid was definitely hit by something invisible, and from the way Redmond was moving, it could only have been him. Some sort of force-field.”

“Couldn’t you just requisition him?”

“No. Military academies are out of our jurisdiction unless we can prove that someone is superhuman. And that’s almost impossible to do if the person doesn’t know they’ve got powers. So we’re just going to have to sit back and wait.”

“But if he
is
a superhuman…”

“I’m sort of hoping that he
isn’t
. He’s arrogant and obnoxious. A couple more years in the academy should knock the rough edges off him. At least, I hope so. His father’s just as bad, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Redmond grows up to be a supervillain.” Josh paused. “Ah. Sorry. I’m not suggesting that you and Mina are going to turn out bad because of who your father was.”

“That’s OK,” Yvonne said. “We choose our own paths in life.”

While Josh returned his attention to the computer, Yvonne watched him carefully.

They all know that we’re clones of Ragnarök, so they’re never going to really trust us.

I’ll talk to them—to every single person in this place—and I’ll make them forget where we came from. Get them to change their files, and then forget that they’ve done that.

Two years later, Yvonne entered Joshua Dalton’s office and ordered him to tell her everything about the incident in California.

Josh said, “After they lost their powers ten years ago, Titan and Energy moved back home. They were joined a few years later by Quantum and his wife and son…Except that it wasn’t Quantum. Façade had been masquerading as Quantum for about a year before Mystery Day.”

“Why?”

“He’d been recruited by my brother. Max wanted full access to Quantum’s visions of the future.”

“How could Façade replicate Quantum’s powers?” Yvonne asked.

“He didn’t. Most of the time Quantum was still Quantum, but Façade played the role of his civilian identity, Paul Joseph Cooper.”

“I’ve read enough about your brother to know that he wasn’t smart enough to build the power-stripping machine on his own. So who was behind it?”

“A man called Victor Cross. He’s twenty years old. A genius.”

“So he would have been ten when my father’s power-damper
was used. If Cross is a superhuman, his own powers wouldn’t have appeared for at least another year. Where is he now?”

“Escaped. But not for long. We have a good lead on him.”

For a few moments, Yvonne was silent. Then she said,
“You will find Victor Cross and tell me how to contact him, then you will forget all about him.”

A
FTER MUCH BICKERING, THE TWO
lawyers chose Bloomington, Illinois, as the meeting point, the city being roughly halfway between Sakkara and the Trutopian community in Breckin Falls, Cleveland.

Now, with the meeting about to start, Renata Soliz waited nervously in the small office, chewing her fingernails.

“Don’t do that,” the lawyer said as he flipped through his pages of notes.

“Don’t do what?” she asked.

“Bite your nails. It’s a sign of weakness. When they get here, just sit still, look like you’re paying attention. If there’s anything you don’t understand, just pretend you do. OK?”

Renata nodded, then realized that she was already biting her nails again.

A few moments later, the door opened and a well-dressed heavyset man entered, followed by Renata’s parents.

Renata jumped to her feet and began to move toward them, but her lawyer reached out and put his hand on her arm. “Don’t,” he said quietly.

Renata hadn’t seen her parents in four months. She smiled at them, doing her best to give the impression that everything was going to be all right.

“Not a word!” the Trutopian lawyer muttered to Mr. and Mrs. Soliz, steering them to their seats on the opposite side of the table.

What Renata wanted to do now, more than anything in the world, was leap over the table and wrap her arms around her mom and dad, and never let go.
Remember what Caroline said,
she told herself.
Slow, deep breaths. Everything will be fine as long as we all remain calm.

Renata’s lawyer shuffled through some of the papers on his desk, and said, “We’re all agreed that we can proceed—for this meeting at least—without third-party arbitration?”

“Agreed,” the Trutopian lawyer said.

“Fine. For the record, my name is Douglas Landron, representing the government of the United States of America in this initial discussion to determine the custody of Renata Maria Julianna Soliz, also known as Diamond.”

“Mackenzie Shoell of the Trutopian Organization, on behalf of Maria and Julius Soliz, biological parents of the child in question.”

The two lawyers looked at each other for a moment, then Shoell said, “So how are you doing, Doug?”

“No complaints at this end, Mack. You?”

“Things are pretty good here. So…Down to business?”

Landron nodded. “Sure. I’ve got a copy of Renata’s birth record here. As you’ll see from the highlighted details, she was born almost twenty-five years ago.” He slid a bundle of pages across the table. “I’ve also got affidavits from three Supreme Court judges that any person over the age of eighteen cannot be considered to be a minor. Therefore, your clients no longer have any legal status as Renata’s guardians. Case closed, as far as I can see.”

“No, case still open,” Shoell replied. “Renata spent ten years
in her solidified form during which she did not age and was unaware of her surroundings, and as such cannot be considered to have
lived
during those years. Therefore, Renata is still only fourteen years old. Testifying to that point I have preliminary letters from specialists in genetics, brain functions and”—Shoell gave a slight smile—“philosophy.”

“Philosophy? Seriously?”

“The real question in this case is whether Renata was alive during those ten years. The definition of ‘life’ is of paramount importance.”

Renata looked up at her mother and father. They seemed to be just as upset about all this as she was.

Landron said, “A person in a coma will not usually be aware of his or her surroundings, and may not necessarily age in the same way as a person who is conscious. By your definition, such a person would not be alive. That definition is clearly rendered inaccurate by far too many precedents to go into here.”

Renata said, “Isn’t anybody going to ask
me
what I want to do?”

“Sorry, Ms. Soliz,” Landron said. “It would be best if you didn’t speak at this time.”

Renata rolled her eyes, then slumped back in her chair.

“Sit up straight,” her mother said, automatically.

“Maria, please!” Shoell said. “You agreed not to say anything.” He looked back at his papers. “The Trutopian Organization will argue that not only is Renata a minor who is being held against the wishes of her legal guardians, but also that Renata has been involved in military action.”

“Even if Renata
were
a minor—which she is not—as she is a
superhuman being, Congress allows this under the Extraordinary Circumstances bill. Unless you want to claim that she is not superhuman?”

Shoell shook his head. “No, no. That one we
will
concede. Let me put it all on the table and tell you what we want, Doug. We want Renata out of Sakkara, back with her parents, and no longer working for the military. We are going to fight you every step of the way, so it would be much better all around for you to relinquish your claims to her right now. Sakkara has already had enough bad publicity without the media getting hold of this one too.”

“Mackenzie, if you want to try to bring the media into this, feel free. But you won’t get anywhere. Renata can be considered to be a military asset. If her identity was to be made public, the security of this nation would be compromised.”

“As a minor, Renata is subject to certain laws regarding her care and her schooling. I believe that she is being tutored by one Caroline Wagner, correct?”

“Incorrect. Ms. Wagner is indeed schooling the three other children at Sakkara, but not Renata. She is not a minor and therefore is not legally required to attend school. That she may have chosen to sit in on these lessons is entirely irrelevant.”

“And does Ms. Wagner have teaching qualifications recognized by the U.S. Department of Education?”

“Irrelevant. I refer you to the previously mentioned Extraordinary Circumstances bill.”

Julius Soliz said, “May I just say something here?”

“I’d rather you didn’t, Mr. Soliz,” Shoell said.

“Well, tough. Renata is our eldest daughter. I have only seen
her once in the past ten and a half years. We thought she was dead. And you two fools are sitting here arguing over her like she was a stolen car or something.”

Landron said, “Mr. Soliz, I understand your concerns, but the fact remains that—”

“Screw your facts!”

Landron began to gather up his papers. “Mr. Shoell, if you cannot keep your clients under control, I’m going to call a halt to this meeting. We’ll go to court. And we will win. We have the law, the military and the government on our side. What do you have?”

“The Trutopians,” Shoell replied. “Twenty million people throughout the world. You want to go to court? Fine. It’ll be at least a year before we can bring this case before a judge. By that time, we expect our numbers to have greatly increased. You really want that many people asking questions about the true nature of your work at Sakkara?”

“Mack.” Landron sighed. “This case will cost the Trutopians a fortune. It’ll drag all your dirty secrets out into the open.”

“But we don’t
have
any dirty secrets, Doug. I know your people can’t make the same claim. The illegal detention of minors—I’m not even counting Renata here, I’m talking about Yvonne and Mina—trespassing on Trutopian soil, destruction of property, illegal genetic experimentation…The list is endless. And the money aspect? Not going to be a problem, believe me.”

Landron laughed. “You actually think you might win? Seriously?”

“We
will
win,” Shoell said. “Sakkara will be disbanded. And rightly so—you’re a bunch of thugs using your strength to take
what you want. Your people aren’t happy that the Trutopians are gaining so much power, so you destroy our supplies. What do you call that?”

“An accident! We were misinformed. And there’s strong evidence to suggest that your people set us up. Why else would you have the compound on Isla del Tonatiuh so heavily monitored? You fed us the false information about the island, and then just sat back and watched us destroy the place. That’s entrapment.”

“And I heard that your official word was that the New Heroes were
not
involved, and that the video footage was faked. Thanks for the admission of culpability.”

Renata’s head was spinning, and she felt like she was going to throw up. A headache pounded behind her eyes, and was growing by the second.

Her mother was crying quietly, being comforted by her father.
This is harder on them than it is on me!

“Get lost, Shoell!” Landron shouted. “You know you can’t use that as evidence—it’s hearsay at best. But you want to play dirty? Fine. By trying to take away Renata, by deliberately leading the New Heroes into an ambush on Isla del Tonatiuh, the Trutopians are acting against the interests of the American people.”