The Suns of Liberty (Book 2): Revolution (26 page)

“Brilliant,” Sophia sneered at
Rachel. “Nevertheless”—she turned to the whole group—“what right do we have
not
to do this? To keep this out of the hands of people whose lives it could save?
I mean, this isn’t some gadget to spy on your neighbors in the shower.” 

Now Rachel’s cheeks crimsoned, but
with anger. The two of them had been at each other for weeks. Fortunately, they
were on two opposite sides of the table. Revolution figured he should probably
talk to Leslie about moving one of them out of their shared room. But they were
the only two females on the team, and splitting them might actually make things
worse. Not give them a chance to work it out, if that was possible.

But then Sophia seemed to soften
and included herself in her assessment. “And it isn’t half-finished like fusion
reaction, either,” she admitted, meaning her unfinished Helium-3 project. “This
is important. This is done. This works.” 

“I disagree,” Hollis said.
“There’re just too many unanswered questions with this thing. Too many possible
unintended consequences.”

“We can’t allow the Council to get
access to these orbs,” Bailey added with authority.

“And use them as a way to build
weapons that we’d have no defense against,” Revolution said. No one had wanted
the orbs to be a reality more than he. It could change the balance of power
against the Council, just like he’d told Ward. When Leslie showed him that
first one not so long ago, they had been mesmerized. But at some point, cold
hard reality set in. In a very real sense, bioluminescence was their only
significant advantage against the Council. Take that away, and they were in
trouble. Ironically, using the orbs meant losing their advantage. A catch-22.
They had to find a way to use them without handing their power source over to
the Council.

Revolution peered over at Lantern.
He’d stayed quiet as usual, but Revolution figured he was against the orbs’
distribution. He was cautious and secretive by nature.

Hudson, for his part, seemed a bit
intimidated by his surroundings. He hadn’t made a peep during this squabble.
But his blood pressure, as measured in Revolution’s HUD, had risen any time
they’d spoken against distribution. Understandable really. He was on the front
lines, seeing people suffer every day. In a way, it was his
job
to lobby
for such things. Revolution imagined he would not stay silent at too many more
meetings. Hudson was a natural leader. But this group was nothing if not
intimidating. Hard to jump right in on your first day.

Altogether that made five in
favor, four against distribution.

They argued for an hour.

In the end, Leslie thought of the
solution and brokered a deal: the orbs would be distributed to only the most
trusted Minuteman houses at first, using the Capers as an example. Then, once
the Orbs had run for a while and the kinks were straightened out, the Suns
would work on securing areas of the city block by block with help from the
Minutemen. As soon as they were secure, they’d power them up. Expanding and
testing the orbs’ range as they spread. This would mean the Council could not
get to the orbs without a massive firefight. Not something they’d want to risk.

It was a good solution. A slow
retaking of South Boston.

The Suns had just finished their meeting. They were
exiting the conference room in a group. They had strolled out just in front of
the Fire Fly chamber, and the Revolution turned to face the group. He spoke to
everyone, but his words were directed toward Hudson. He needed him to know, to
believe, despite the earlier bickering, so Hudson would share that belief with
those who struggled on the outside.

“The quarantine's designed to
diminish our support. To divide us. We just proved it's not going to work,”
Revolution said. He stepped out in front of the group and motioned for their
attention. “Life outside these walls is hard,” he said to them. “But thanks to
Dr. Gibbons”—he motioned toward one of the orbs burning in the chamber—“we'll
make the Council's quarantine irrelevant.” The group's eyes drifted past him...

And widened in shock.

Fiona stood behind him in her
patient's gown.

They all knew who she was. They’d
all heard the story. For months she had been in a coma. No longer.

He turned, following their eyes.
His heart was stopped dead cold by her icy glare.

“I trusted you and you betrayed
me.”

Revolution tried to remain calm.
Inside he was screaming.
Be delicate. Remind her of the mission.
“Yes. I
did. But for the greater good. For the Republic.”

Her pupils burned with energy and
narrowed.

The sight of it sent a thrill down
his spine. The Fire Fly was a reality! “You don't realize the power you have.
All the things you're capable of.”

“No. You don't.”
But you’re
about to.

Her body suddenly glowed, and the
hair on everyone's necks rose. It wasn't electricity. The power felt cold. But
it had the same kind of effect. The gown she was wearing was incinerated in the
bioluminescent power that enveloped her. For a brief second she was naked, and
she might have felt embarrassed, but she was quickly cloaked in the pure, raw
power of the Fire Fly. Only her lips and the whites of her eyes remained
unchanged. She was no longer Fiona.

She was something far more
powerful.

The flash of light was too bright.
They all covered their eyes. When they opened them Fiona had been replaced by
the Fire Fly. But it was more than visual, it was visceral. The entire room
shuddered, as if every molecule in the space around them had been singed by her
cold fire. Even Sophia took a step back.

Only the Revolution stood his
ground. He made a motion for the others to flee. Leslie had to pull Helius away.
Fiona’s transformation might have startled her, but Sophia Lihn was not one to
run from a fight, no matter who it was with.

John Bailey did not want to leave
either. Out of instinct he reached for his weapon, but no weapon ever
constructed could take down this girl. And negotiating with a pissed-off
all-powerful seventeen-year-old was definitely not his forte. He did what he
was told and retreated, motioning for the rest to do the same. They did.

Fiona glared at the Revolution.
“You wanted a Fire Fly. Here I am.” Her arms rose from her sides. Blasts of
energy coned outward from her hands as the coolness returned to her veins—it
would literally feel good to her to rip this place apart.

When the energy hit, the walls
around them splintered away. The gust of power hurled Revolution to the ground.

Fiona stepped toward the sprawled
Revolution. “You tore my life apart. Now...”  Revolution opened his
eyes—the roof, nothing was holding it. It hovered in the night sky. The walls
were gone. The dark warehouse district outside had replaced them. The Fire
Fly's hand was above her head, holding up the massive roof with pure energy. A
flick of her hand. The roof launched upwards and shredded into a million pieces
that sparked into the night sky and burned into nothing.

Fiona glared back down at him.
“Now I get even.”

CHAPTER
42

R
evolution
leapt to his feet, tried to retreat. “Don't you see? I gave you everything!”

“Then have some of it back.”

She raised her hands. And blasted
him. The beam of light struck him in the chest. It heaved him into the air and
across the compound. His armor immediately began the absorption process, but
the energy level was enormous. While it had blocked the beam itself from
entering the suit, the power overloaded its circuits. He couldn't hold a charge
that high. He would have to release it.

That was a first.

He smashed through a far lab wall.
Concrete and steel exploded. The barrier splintered from the impact like balsa
wood. He slammed against the hard floor, and a ring of her energy rippled out
from the armor as the charge released. It was like a wave on water, displacing
matter as it fanned out. It disintegrated the nearest things to him: chairs,
wastebaskets, desks, computers. And then it was gone. Revolution never saw it.
He lay motionless somewhere under the pile of rubble. Anyone brave enough to
have stayed and watched fled at that moment.

Fiona glanced back at the Fire Fly
chamber. She could have destroyed it then and there. It was designed to contain
residual bioluminescent energy, but no known substance on Earth could withstand
a full blast of her power. Instead, she clung to some hope that maybe she could
be restored to the way she was before. The chamber would be her only hope for
that. If she destroyed it, she would be the Fire Fly forever.

The entire compound was exposed,
roofless. People scattered into the night. Into a Boston that didn't even know
most of them existed. They would have to find places to hide, to live, to
survive. Leslie and COR had developed an emergency evacuation plan. But it was
new,  and it was predicated on dispersal of Resistance members to
Minutemen households and dependent on an orderly evacuation. This was nothing
of the kind. A second plan based on a quick escape was still in the works, and
many of them knew details of it and followed it as best they could. But they
all knew one thing for certain. First they had to escape the wrath of the Fire
Fly. So, they fled.

All but one. Who had hid in the
shadows. And was cussing at himself the whole time for doing so.

Ward was in horrified awe. She had taken out the
Revolution in one blow—though he noticed it was the crash that had gotten him,
not the blast. He'd been conscious, moving, before he hit the ground. Why he
had focused on that, Ward wasn't sure. His analytical, puzzle-solving mind was
always at work. Even when he needed it not to be. Maybe he could use it to talk
her down. Appeal to her mind. Though these people had treated Fiona like a
princess, she was actually quite intelligent. Maybe she would respect his own
intellect.

Fiona stalked forward, passing though the long
expanse of the structure. She took her anger out on everything. She blasted her
home, her lie, her prison to smithereens. Now she understood. It had always
been her prison. She hadn’t lived there. She’d been doing time. Just waiting
for her captor to execute her. And she'd thought she loved him. She'd thought
he loved her. The idea made her sick now. He had cared so little for her he had
been willing to kill her for a science experiment. No matter. He was the one
that was dead now. Good riddance. His sacred fortress would soon be a
smoldering pile of ash.

Behind her, the compound burned into the night sky.
She took another step toward Revolution’s buried body, and Paul Ward, in
hastily donned Spider Wasp armor and taking a deep, nervous breath, stepped out
from behind a partially standing support beam. He stood directly in front of
her.

“Fiona, stop!”

She did stop, but the Fire Fly stared
at him with her glaring eyes. “Get out of my way.”

“Please. I'm sorry for what
happened. But this isn't the answer.”

“I don't want answers.”

“Let me help you. We're on the
same side.”

“There are no sides anymore. Not
for me. Just stay away from me.”

“What he did was wrong,” Ward
said. He thought of his little boy, his little David. Innocent, vulnerable.
Just as she had been. “You're just a kid.”

She glared at him.
Uh-oh.
Ward shuddered in his armor.
Kid
was the wrong word.

Her eyes were tiny infernos. She
threw her arms forward. A band of energy shot out and then wrapped around him.
Lifted him.

“What are you doing?” Ward
screamed, his eyes bulging and his body snapping rigid. The power holding him
was immense, indescribable. He was immobilized by it as the night swirled
around him. Numbness spread across his body. He gasped for breath. She pulled
him close to her, and the world started to go black.

“I told you to stay away!” she
growled. She flung him across the compound, into a pile of jagged rubble. He
smashed through it with tremendous force. Ward cracked concrete with his body.
The sickening thud was the last thing he would remember before all went dark.

Fiona looked around her and realized she had done
it. Only the blaring of the compound's alarm and the crackling of the fires
filled the night. The compound was no more. She had destroyed her prison. She
had destroyed her home.

Home.
She felt a chill run
down her spine and a pain split her in two as a sudden surge of power washed
through her. She closed her eyes and tried not to scream. A brilliant flash lit
up the night—and she was gone.

Two seconds passed.

Fiona opened her eyes. To utter
darkness.

For a moment she panicked. She was
back in the black place. In the deep of space. She spun to fight off the black
matter—and felt water under her feet. Across the darkness she saw something she
couldn't make out.

Lights.

A sound.

Bells.

Then her eyes adjusted, like no
normal human’s ever could. She could see it clearly.

A boat, it was a trawler!

She looked down. She was crouched
defensively, standing
on top of the surface of a lake
. Fiona gasped. She
could see lights on the banks. A long way away. The lake was huge. Where had
she gone? How had she gotten here? Was this a lake, or was it an ocean bay? It
clearly wasn’t Boston Harbor. She reached down and put her hand in the water,
tasted it. Fresh water. What the hell?

She shook her head, tried to
understand all of this. She'd heard Leslie talk about the Fire Fly many times,
but she couldn't think, couldn't focus. Had she teleported somewhere? If so,
where? It came back in spurts. Leslie had said the Fire Fly would be able to
travel like light. Light speed. Is that what this was? It must be. She was
afraid to move, afraid to speak, afraid to think, for fear she might launch
herself away again.