The Suns of Liberty (Book 2): Revolution (18 page)

“It's not that simple.”

“Why isn't it?” she asked. He said
nothing but pretended to work. She approached him. She was being bolder than
she had ever been. He hadn't allowed himself to be alone with her in the many
months since this behavior had started. Now that he had, she took advantage.
She stopped a foot short of him and looked up with her beautiful eyes.

Waiting. Patient.

He couldn't take it. “You don't
understand the sacrifices I have to be ready to make.”

“No, I do. I—”

“You
really
don't.” He
winced inside his helmet. He'd sounded harsher than he'd meant to.

“Okay, but...and I know you're a
hero to...like, everybody... but I see how you suffer.” Fiona moved to his side
and slipped her hand onto his chest. She ran her fingers across the titanium
grooves of his armor. “How alone you are. I understand
that
. I know you
make great sacrifices. And maybe I can't know them all”—her voiced deepened and
she nearly purred—“but I know enough.” With that she slid her thin frame in
between him and the worktable. “I may be young, but I know
enough
.”

They leaned toward one another for
a moment—but Revolution pulled away. “Fiona...I'm old enough to be your father.
I knew your parents.”

“And I'm old enough to know the
difference.”

She pressed her body forward. Her
hands rode up the chest plate, over the red star, up onto his helmet. The metal
was warm and smooth and hard. She felt electricity, her own electricity, course
through her just being so close to him. Touching him.

Her thin legs straddled one of
his. The heat of the armor moved through her. She caressed his face as if
searching for a seam in the mask.

Tenderly, he spoke. “I can't let
you... No one—”

“I know. I wouldn't ask you to.”
She leaned up, pressing her young body against the hard armor, and kissed his
mouth guard. He could feel the heat of her breath through its slots.

“Wait,” he said. Fiona's hopes
fell. But then the guard parted like a curtain opening, sliding inside the helmet.
His lips were full and wide; his face was ivory pale.

She lunged for him. They embraced.
Their mouths closed on each other, and their tongues met. Lapping at each
other. Slow but ravenous. She moaned into his mouth as her passion began to
overflow. His mouth tasted like cinnamon, hers like bubble gum. He pulled away
and smiled. “We could leave here,” he said. “Go somewhere safe.”

“I'm always safe with you,” she
said. “You lead, I'll follow.”

Then he took a step back, and his
shoulders fell. “But I can't. Leslie's gone, and I can't reset the
luminescence.” Each night a dangerous procedure had to be applied to the laser
trigger in the Fire Fly chamber. The same gun he had tested on the steel block
earlier. To keep the energy prepared for transference to a human, the gun had
to be constantly charged and reset. Any lull in the process could set them back
months.

Fiona was crushed. It showed all
over her face. Revolution thought she might cry. “It's my armor. The
electronics will interfere. I have to stay and monitor the levels. I'm sorry.”

Her face brightened, and she
nearly shouted, “I could reset it!”

“No, it's too dangerous.”

“I've seen Dr. Gibbons do it. I
know how, really.”

Fiona stood in the Fire Fly chamber, adjusting the levels
of carefully calibrated digital readouts. Each represented radioactive energy
that if tweaked in the wrong direction, at the wrong speed, could rip the
canister open and expose her to a lethal blast of energy. It was the only part
of the process that was dangerous. Once the luminescence was produced, it
contained a harmless amount of radioactivity. The complex circuitry in the
Revolution’s suit could play havoc with the digital settings, so despite his
knowledge of the system, he could not adjust the settings, only monitor them
from afar.  

“That's good. Just go slow.”

He and Fiona were alone in the
expansive lab. Revolution backed out of the chamber and closed the door
carefully and quietly. He clicked the lock. Fiona was reciting the steps she
was to make aloud—the carefully choreographed sequencing that Leslie had
developed for optimal energy production.

“Good, very good,” he said. “Now
double-check each one to be sure.”

With the door shut and locked, he
marched for the console, his cape billowing behind him. When he reached the
console, he grabbed the main levers and jammed them forward into place. As
Fiona set each segment's degree he would lock its corresponding lever forward
into its engagement setting. As he watched and waited for her to reach the last
degree, a voice came from behind him.

“What are you doing?”

It was Leslie. Her face was a map
of confusion. Fiona was in the chamber and the door was locked. That fact was
obvious from the warning lights that glowed at the top of the chamber on every
side: red lights indicating lockdown. Fiona's concentration was such that she
hadn’t even noticed.

Revolution turned his head just
enough to acknowledge her presence. His voice analyzer had already confirmed
her identify, and his helmet-cam had seen her coming the moment she'd entered
the lab. “What is necessary.”

“Oh my God...”

CHAPTER
31

L
eslie
rushed forward.

Fiona was still unaware she was
locked in.

Leslie looked at him, the shock
hanging all over her face. No one knew the Revolution better than she. He was
intensely private. He did not care to have personal relationships. Whoever he
had been, whoever he had loved before his transformation, he had given all that
up. Their relationship was built on necessity. She knew that. He worked with
her, was friendly with her, because he had no other choice. She knew he could
be cold. That everything he did was in service to the war he was waging.

But this...  

This was something altogether new.

He could sense her distress.
“There're no more volunteers. There's no one left to ask. I have no choice.
It's time for the draft.”

Revolution pushed the final lever
forward and pressed the activation button down.

Leslie raised her eyebrows, and
she peered out at the young girl just now relaxing from her intense task. “The
girl is
special
,” she said, realizing what he had meant all these
months.
Or
y
ears? How long has he been planning this?

A low hum permeated the room.
Fiona heard it too. She stopped. Glanced around. For the first time, the teenager
saw the red warning lights at the top of the chamber.

Danger
. A cold chill ran
down her body, and she spun to face the console. Panic all over her face. Her
eyes locked on the Revolution.

“I'm sorry, Fiona,” he said into
the intercom. “I couldn't wait for your permission.”

Fiona bolted for the door. She
slammed into it. Pounded her fists into the reinforced glass. Tears streamed
down her face. Her body shook with the powerful sobs. Her sense of betrayal was
overwhelming. “Let me out! Let me out!” she cried.

“You'll have unlimited power,”
Revolution said. “You'll win the revolution for us.”

Fiona was having none of it. The
sound of his voice booming over the chamber intercom simply set her off even
more. She sobbed like a child. “Let me out! Please! Let me ouuuuuuut!” She
collapsed to the floor, sliding down the glass door. Then just stopped. Silent
for a moment. No tears. No sounds. Her eyes grew wide. She spun toward the
laser. If she could reverse the settings fast enough, she could stop him from
activating it. Smart kid.

She lunged for it.

Just as she reached it, a blast of
yellow-green energy erupted from its center. The laser lens gleamed with
white-hot power. The surging energy lifted her off her feet. She flew into the
air. And stopped.

Suspended by raw energy in the
center of the chamber. Residual power filled the room and then, as if drawn to
her body, lasered back into her splayed-out form. A cyclone of bioluminescent
energy, growing in power, filled the entire chamber.

“My God,” Leslie said again,
wide-eyed in horrified wonder.

Revolution checked the gauges like
a man possessed. “It's working! This time it's working!” Fiona's body began to
glow; her hair spread out around her in a shining radiance. No more panic, but
her mouth and eyes were open wide as if she was trying to scream. The chamber
blasted its light like a sun. Revolution and Leslie had to turn away as the
power and the intensity increased.

Then it all went black.

Across the facility the lights
went out.

Across the city the lights went
out.

Then, haltingly, blinking back to
life, the lights in the lab returned.

Fiona lay naked, huddled on the
floor. Her clothes burnt away. Leslie's eyes filled with tears. “She didn't
make it!” Leslie felt a deep affection for the girl. She had grown up right in
front of her. Leslie had no children of her own. Fiona was like a surrogate
daughter. There were many in the compound who felt that way. A few moments
earlier she would have counted the Revolution in that group.

“Wait!” he said. He raced to the
chamber, flung open the door. But she was out. He rushed to her side. Her long,
blonde hair was draped over her face. He moved it back and listened as he
watched for her chest to move. His advanced parabolic microphones caught her
breathing at the same moment he saw her chest move up and down. He reached out
his palm and held it over her neck. Sensors in his suit began to read her blood
pressure. It was slightly elevated but nothing worrisome. He had checked her
basic health many times without her knowing it. Another benefit of Scott's
design. Her skin was not blotchy and it was a good color. There were no burns,
nothing to indicate trauma.  

“She's alive,” he said.

Revolution bent down to pick her
up. He peered into her face. That lovely face that so many had admired. From
the time he first saw her when she was just a child, she had always seemed
angelic. She looked so now. And she had a brilliant mind in that head of hers.
He marveled at her, as he had done so many times before.

And then her eyes flew open. Her
pupils burned the yellow-green color of the energy. Raging at him. That, and
the furious anger in her face, startled him. He stopped cold. His blood ran the
same.

“Don't you touch me!” Fiona hissed
at him, the vitriol staccatoed on every word.

Revolution backed away. He felt a
very uncommon emotion wash over him.

Fear.
“Okay. It's okay.”

Leslie raced to his side.
Revolution wondered if she was more concerned about Fiona or him.

“All right, honey, just take it
slow. Are you hurt?” she asked.

Fiona said nothing. She just
glared at them.

“Just let me make sure you're not
hurt,” Leslie said. She reached out and took her arm to help her up. But Fiona
screamed in agony. She scrambled away from them, keeping herself covered, one
arm over her breasts, the other cupped between her legs. She felt humiliated,
betrayed, and pain raked her body from head to toe.

“Stay away!” Fiona said. “You hurt
me!” Her voice trailed off in sobs. “You hurt me.”

“Okay, I won't touch you!” Leslie said,
tears pooling in her eyes.

Fiona curled up like a child,
tried to stay covered, rocking from the pain. Revolution wanted to cover her.
He unlatched his cape and threw it to her. “Here!” The cape embraced her
perfectly, but as it scraped across her skin, the teenager screamed in agony
again. The glow from her pupils blasted a brilliant beam of light that launched
from her mouth as well as she lifted her head and let loose a blood-freezing
scream.

Then she collapsed. Out. Cold.

For a moment the two just stood
there, staring at her. They said nothing. Members of the nighttime skeleton
crew had gathered at a safe distance to watch. No one spoke. Finally,
Revolution sighed. “I had no choice.”

Fiona Fletcher awoke in the vacuum of space. A
million stars twinkled at her in the vastness. Once again she was naked. She
blushed and then realized...

She was alone. Utterly alone.

Yet somehow she felt that was
okay. It was like she had just been born. Everything new. Innocent. Beautiful.
The very universe itself stretched out around her. She was one with it.
Connected. She tried hard to remember how she had gotten here. Only flashes
filled her mind. She had travelled. Fast. Or...she had fallen.

“No...that's not right. Didn't
fall.” The memory was fading the way a dream does just after waking. She lifted
her head, peering back up at the stars. She took them in for several moments.
Then something changed.

Something was wrong.

She gazed at the beautiful orbs
and realized what it was. They were moving. All of them. Coming closer. The
entire universe was moving toward her.

No. Not just moving.

It was
collapsing
on top of
her.

She spun, lunged to dart away, but
the blackness of space seized her. It glommed onto her in sticky, stringy, wet
goo.
Is this what they call dark matter?
She fought it, tried to whip it
off of her, but each time she flung it away, more splatted onto her skin. Wet
and slimy and strong.

The stars were everywhere now. So
close that they began to merge. Fiona succumbed to the suffocating dark matter
as it crawled up her body. It wrapped around her slender legs. Pulled them
tight together. The blazing light from the stars blasted her. Its energy
surrounding her from all directions. She raised her hands for protection,
straining against the black goo, which now looked like a terrifying bodysuit of
tar. It pulled at her, sucking her down. Her arms mashed tight against her
sides. The goo closed around her head. It pulled her hair. Climbed her neck,
her cheeks, over her eyes. It covered her nose, and she couldn't help but
breathe it in. Suffocating, yet not. The stars merged into a solid mass of
radiance. The great wall of light consolidated around her, over her, and
consumed her. Fiona's consciousness slowly swirled into a great black
nothingness as she
screamed
...