The Reckoning: Quantum Prophecy Book 3 (18 page)

She dropped to the ground, pivoted on one arm and swung her legs at his stomach. Colin doubled over.

Can’t stop now, got to make sure he’s unconscious!

She surged upward, forcing Colin back. He let fly with another lightning bolt that struck her in the shoulder. The pain was excruciating, but Renata knew she couldn’t let that stop her: She charged at him.

Then Colin turned and fled, racing toward the electrified fence, leaping at it. He seemed oblivious to the shower of sparks as he scrambled over the fence and dropped the six meters down to the other side, and continued running.

Renata pounded after him.
I’m not immune to electricity, but maybe if I—

The ground gave way beneath her, the thin sheets of concrete-colored metal buckling and splitting.

Renata instantly turned herself solid, plummeting into the darkness.

He tricked me!

Oh God, it’s too dark…I can’t see anything!

When she was in her solid form, Renata could feel nothing. Not heat, or cold or pressure. Not even the sensation of movement.

How will I know when I’ve stopped falling?

That’s two down.
Colin scrambled back up the fence, leaped from the top and easily cleared the three-meter-wide pit.

A part of him felt guilty for attacking Renata, but he reminded himself that she was the enemy.
If she didn’t want to fight me, then she chose the wrong side. They all did.

No, it’s me.
I’m
on the wrong side! Yvonne is working with the Trutopians. They used me!
He swallowed.
They’re still using me…They made me attack my friends!

No, the New Heroes are the enemy. No matter what they try, I’ll fight them and defeat them. They’re the ones who murdered Kinsella.

Yvonne’s controlling me and I can’t do a damn thing about it!

Colin found Butler half-buried under the frozen splinters of the shattered tree. He waded through the debris and lifted Butler to his feet. The older boy was clearly concussed, shivering, blood seeping from a gash in the back of his head.

Can’t leave him here to die…

Carrying Butler over his shoulder, he began to run, back across the open space toward the dome.

There was a sudden roar of jets, then a huge metal figure sailed over the dome, and set down directly in front of Colin. It was almost three meters tall, bristling with weapons.

Stunned, Colin stepped back, allowing Butler to drop to the ground.

The armored figure strode toward Colin, moving with a grace and fluidity that seemed impossible for something this size.

It stopped in front of him, then a voice boomed out: “You’re in an awful lot of trouble, son.”

Colin stared. “Dad?”

I
NSIDE THE NEW
P
ARAGON ARMOR,
Warren Wagner looked down at Colin. “I don’t want to have to hurt you, son. Stand down!”

Colin’s rage-filled eyes stared back at him. “No.”

“Colin, what do you think is happening here today?”

“I’m here to free these prisoners, and you are trying to stop me.”

“You’re wrong. We only just found out about this place ourselves. We came to help you protect the prisoners from the Lieberstanian army.”

“How can I trust you, after what you did at Sakkara? You took the side of the man who tried to kill me. You chose Max Dalton over
me,
Dad! I’m warning you: Take your people and leave this place right now.”

“Fine. That’s exactly what we
want
to do. But you’re coming with us. We need to find a way to deprogram you.”

“I’m not leaving.”

“Then…we’re going to have to do this the hard way.”

Colin smiled. “Renata and Butler tried and failed. You really think you can take me?”

“Yes,” Warren said. He held out his right hand: He was holding one of Max’s shock-bombs, aimed directly at Colin. The bomb activated: There was a deafening
boom
, and Colin instantly shot backward.

Colin skidded across the rough ground and stopped only when he collided with the concrete wall of one of the bunkers.

He jumped to his feet, but Warren was already on him, locking one huge mechanical hand over his face, and forcing him back against the wall.

Warren pressed his free hand palm-first against Colin’s chest. There was a brief, intense flash of light from his palm, then he stepped back, letting Colin drop.

Before Colin could recover, Warren unclipped a weapon from his forearm, aimed and fired. The fist-sized canister exploded against Colin’s face, enveloping him in a thick cloud of orange gas.

Scrambling backward out of the gas cloud, Colin began to choke and cough, then collapsed on to his back.

Warren flipped Colin over onto his face, pulled his hands behind his back and sprayed them with a thick, clear liquid that instantly set. He bound Colin’s legs in the same way.

Warren stood back, disgusted with himself for what he’d had to do to his own son. He activated his communicator. “Razor? I’ve got him. He’s immobilized. Get the StratoTruck over here.”

“Is he OK?”

“Just get here, will you? What’s the status with the Lieberstanian army?”

“They’re retreating. The UN forces are on the way.”

“Good.” Warren reached up and opened the visor of his helmet. He crouched down beside Colin. “You conscious?”

Colin stirred, but said nothing.

“I’m sorry, Colin, I truly am. I had no choice. I know you’re more powerful than I ever was, but there’s no substitute for experience.
When Solomon Cord designed this armor he made sure that it would be powerful enough to stop a renegade superhuman. We never thought it would be you.”

The roar of the StratoTruck’s turbine engines approached.

“We’re going to take you back to Sakkara, OK? We’ll find a way to help you.” Warren sighed. “Your mother and I were worried sick about you. You shouldn’t have just taken off like that! But we’re going to sort you out, and we’ll be a family again.”

The StratoTruck soared over the hills, and touched down close to Warren and Colin.

Half a dozen soldiers jumped out, followed by Razor.

Razor looked down at Colin. “My God. Warren, what did you do?”

“What I had to do.” He turned to the soldiers. “Someone go and pick up Butler, and check out that pit; see if you can find Renata.”

Razor crouched down. “Hey, Colin…Col? Can you hear me?”

Still bound and blindfolded, Colin nodded. “I hear you, Razor.”

“You’re going to be OK. Man, I’m glad you’re back with us. There’s stuff happening at Sakkara…. But more important than that, it looks like the Trutopians are gearing up for war.” He patted Colin on the shoulder. “But you can do it, right? You’re strong enough to beat them, aren’t you?”

Again, Colin nodded. “Yes, I’m strong enough to stop the Trutopians. But…what makes you think that I
want
to?”

Colin tensed his arms. There was a loud
crack
from the solidified binding material.

Warren Wagner darted forward, grabbed hold of Razor’s arm and pulled him back from Colin. “Run! Get the others into the StratoTruck and take off!”

He stepped back from his son. “Colin, you’ve got to listen to reason.”

Colin tore his arms free from the binding fluid.

Oh Jesus, the look on his face—he’s going to kill me!
“You just stop right there, young man!”

Colin paused.

Warren had used the tone of voice that had always worked on Colin when he was a child.

Then Colin grinned. “What are you going to do? Ground me?”

Warren tried to take another step back, but at that moment the armor’s motors stopped working, and the display projected on to the inside of the helmet disappeared.

“I can control electricity, remember?” Colin said.

He charged forward and struck, plunging his hands right into the armor’s chest plate.

Colin tensed his muscles and pulled.

He tore the armor apart, showering the area with fragments.

The ruined exoskeleton staggered, then tumbled backward to the ground.

“For God’s sake, Colin! You’ve got to stop this! Can’t you see what you’re doing is wrong?”

Colin pulled his father out of the damaged armor and threw him aside toward the wall of the dome.

Warren raised his arms in front of his face. He felt the bones in his left hand and arm snap as they hit the wall. He fell to
the ground, landing heavily, breaking his right leg. The leg that Ragnarök had broken over ten years earlier.

He watched, unable to move, as Colin used his lightning to fuse the armor into a pile of useless scrap.

Colin strode up to him. “The UN forces will take care of the prisoners. Against my orders, I’m going to let you all live. But if you ever come after me or my people again, I might just change my mind on that. Do you understand me, Dad?”

Warren nodded. “I…Colin…”

“Tell Mom I said hello.”

“Please. Son. You can’t do this. Don’t leave us again!”

“I know I’m only thirteen and a half years old, but I don’t need you anymore. I’m leaving.”

Then a voice behind them said, “No. You’re not. Not if I have anything to say about it.”

They turned to see Danny Cooper standing close by, staring at Colin with revenge in his eyes.

T
HERE WAS A LONG MOMENT OF SILENCE,
then…

Colin charged forward.

Danny shifted into slow-time, but Colin was still moving incredibly quickly.

He darted past Colin, heading for the doors of the dome to lead him away from the others.

Colin’s arm whipped out at the last second, but Danny ducked under it, rolled and came to his feet behind Colin.

Concentrating as hard as he could on his speed, Danny shifted even further into slow-time.

Colin seemed to be moving sedately now, almost gracefully, as Danny rushed up to him and landed a powerful punch across Colin’s jaw.

Another punch, and another. Danny knew that from Colin’s perspective the three punches all landed in less than a tenth of a second. He continued pounding, over and over with his one arm, not caring about the shock of pain that ran up his arm with each blow.

Colin staggered back from the assault.

I can do this,
Danny thought.
But even if I do manage to knock him out, what then? He’s too powerful; there’s no way we can keep him locked up!

Danny made another charge, but as he raised his fist Colin
launched a lightning bolt. Danny could see the bolt coming, but couldn’t move fast enough to get out of its way. The bolt hit his arm, the shock sending him skidding across the ground and in through the dome’s entrance.

He grabbed a discarded metal chunk and flung it at Colin, knowing that in real-time it was moving faster than a bullet. It struck Colin’s left arm and buried itself in his flesh.

Danny pressed home the advantage. He darted around Colin, and charged at him from behind, ramming his shoulder into Colin’s back. Colin was shoved forward against the solid stone wall of one of the dome’s interior buildings.

Colin collapsed to the ground facedown.

Danny switched back to normal time. “Stay down, Colin!”

Colin didn’t reply. He pushed himself up off the ground, somersaulting over backward to land on his feet.

They stared at each other for a moment, then Danny shifted back to slow-time and charged.

He saw Colin concentrating, the same look he got when he was building up to a lightning bolt. Danny dodged to the left, out of the line of fire.

Or so he thought: Something erupted from Colin’s body, an expanding shock wave of fire and lightning that rippled out in all directions.

Danny was caught in the explosion, the heat searing his skin, the light almost blinding him.

His entire body wracked with pain, Danny stumbled backward and fell to the ground.

Didn’t know he could do that…
Danny did his best to ignore
the pain; he put all his effort into moving at the fastest possible speed; he knew that he needed more time to recover than Colin was willing to give him.

From Danny’s perspective, Colin would take almost thirty seconds to reach him.

Slowly, the pain began to subside.
What can I do? He’s almost as fast as me, and he’s practically invulnerable. He won’t listen to reason!

Colin let loose with a white-hot fireball that scorched the ground along its path. Danny rolled to the left, but the fireball adjusted its trajectory to match.

He’s controlling it!

Danny scrambled to his feet and ran, the fireball gaining on him.

Got to do something he can’t anticipate!

Danny stopped, turned and raced toward the fireball, leaping over it at the last possible moment.

He kept going, straight toward Colin.

He saw Colin brace himself for the blow—and then Danny dropped to the ground and collided feetfirst with Colin, easily dodging his swinging fists.

Colin was knocked over like a bowling pin, but even before he landed, Danny was up again. He launched a powerful kick at Colin’s stomach. It felt like kicking a concrete pillar, but it had an effect: Colin visibly winced when he hit the ground.

I’ve got to slow him down. But how? He’s way too strong for me to just knock him out with a punch, and with only one arm I can’t exactly strangle him.

Danny frantically looked around for something he could use as a weapon, but there was nothing.

Now, Colin was getting back up. Danny charged at him, knocking him onto his back once again.

Then he ran: straight out of the dome, back to where Razor was lifting Warren to his feet.

Without stopping, Danny snatched up a steel bar from the remains of the Paragon armor, and raced back inside to where Colin was getting to his feet.

God forgive me for this…
He swung the steel bar.

It struck Colin hard across the back of his head. Colin barely reacted.

He raised the bar for another swing, but Colin managed to get his arm up and block the blow. For a moment, the two stood locked in combat. Then Colin grabbed the bar with his right hand and swung at Danny with his left, a low punch that hit him square in the stomach.