The Indestructibles (Book 2): Breakout Page 12

  "You should break out," Billy said, watching Jane pace and Emily pretend she wasn't staring at him. "Just go. You can leave me behind."

  "They disconnected your alien, not your brain, Hondo," Emily said.

  Jane stopped pacing. She turned her gaze on him, and Billy noticed he didn't see all of her anymore. When Dude was a part of him, he could see particles moving, could sense the waves of heat she emitted, discern the manner in which her skin seemed to glitter like glass in the sun if you looked closely enough. Now, with his ordinary human eyes, she was just a girl, a little too skinny, with a countenance that said she held the weight of the world on her shoulders.

  She worries about everything, Billy thought. She always looks so sad. She's not been the same since Doc disappeared.

  He waited for Dude to answer back, but nothing came.

  Jane crouched down in front of where he sat on the floor, put her hands on his knees. Hands that were preternaturally warm.

  "We're not going anywhere without you, Billy," she said. "I'll never leave you behind."

  She held up her hand, three fingers. Three times.

  "You caught me three times when I was falling," Jane said. "We're going to get you and Dude back together it'll be okay."

  "I'm a liability. I'm expendable."

  "You're also a drama queen," Emily said, but her usual snark wasn't in it.

  Billy looked up at her, and watched the way Emily stared at him — no, not at him actually, but staring at the way Jane knelt down to join him, the proximity of her. He didn't know what to make of it. Emily looked so tiny without Dude's powers flowing inside him. The alien had told him Emily was perhaps the most dangerous of all the Indestructibles if she ever learned what she could really do. But here and now, she was just a kid, undersized, with ridiculous hair spilling around her face.

  The suite's door opened with a heavy clunk, and Prevention walked in. She was alone, this time, though Billy was sure they had any number of ways to threaten them if anyone made a move to escape. The agent spoke directly to Jane as if Billy and Emily weren't even there.

  "I need you to come with me," Prevention said.

  "You're not separating us," Jane said, standing up.

  It was strange seeing her in this environment dressed in her Solar costume. Their outfits seemed so ridiculous and pointless here, caged in the Labyrinth. Have we just been playing at hero all along? Billy thought.

  "Don't be ridiculous," Prevention said. "I'm not trying to split you up. I just want you to get a look at the evidence we collected at the hospital."

  "Then the others can come with me."

  "Welcome to leadership, Solar," Prevention said. "Not everyone gets to know everything right away. We're going to discuss it, and then we're going to discuss how you and your friends can help. This is not negotiable. Don't make me play hardball."

  Jane looked at Billy, then Emily. Billy nodded. Go on. It's okay. I'm just going to sit here being useless anyway.

  "I'll be back soon," Jane said.

  Prevention led Jane to the door, but stumbled just for a moment on her own high heels. She gasped. Jane looked at Emily, who didn't say anything, but did stick her nose out at Jane. Prevention, deliberately ignoring Emily walked out, locking the door behind them.

  "All right, sunbeam," Emily said, plopping down next to Billy on the floor. "You're going to help us figure out how we're getting out of here."

  "I don't see that happening."

  "Toot toot. The pity party express left the station yesterday. You are going to use your wonder brain to think us a way out of here."

  As if to emphasize the point, Emily pushed her index finger into the center of Billy's forehead.

  "Didn't you determine all of twelve hours ago I was the dumbest Indestructible?"

  "You're not book smart, but you're more than passing clever," Emily said.

  "I'd rather have my powers back and blow the whole place up," Billy said.

  "I won't argue your logic," Emily said. "You know, I could probably bubble of float this entire place to the moon."

  "With us in it."

  "Ah, I see you have found the crack in my egg," Emily said.

  Emily kicked her feet out, her oversized combat boots banging heavily against the floor.

  "You think this place is bigger on the inside? It seems to be bigger on the inside."

  "I think that's because it goes underground."

  "I always thought if I found myself in a structure bigger on the inside, it would be more fun," Emily said. "With perhaps a dashing alien with an English accent who would want to take me with him on adventures."

  "You watch too much TV, Em."

  "And instead, I have a grumpy alien with an American accent. You don't even have a sonic screwdriver."

  "I'll work on that," Billy said.

  "Please do."

  Billy kicked his feet out next to Emily's. She started rocking her feet back and forth like she was keeping time. Billy joined her, so all four of their feet were tick-tocking in unison.

  "Think Kate's okay?" Billy said.

  "Are you kidding?" Emily said. "She's probably figuring out a plan to murder every single person here until we're free. Never anger a perfectionist vigilante. Assassin Barbie is going to get us out of here."

  * * *

  Prevention led Jane into a huge, dark room. Agents, with faces veiled by darkness and only illuminated by the digital gleam of their screens, monitored prisoners, while others observed larger screens for world events. Jane spied a different news network broadcasting wherever she looked.

  At the center of the area was a glass conference room, an empty space, brightly lit and dominated by a large table. Aside from a few chairs, the only thing visible through its glass walls was an expensive laptop. Prevention gestured toward the glass room and Jane complied.

  Once inside, Prevention sat down and spun the laptop around to Jane. On screen was the footage from the hospital, with their mystery person prancing through the facility.

  "What do you know about this one?" Prevention said.

  "Is Dancer okay," Jane said.

  "We underestimated her," Prevention said. "We sent a standard extraction team after her in the City and she was able to evade them. Your friend is still at large."

  "She's going to be so mad," Jane said.

  "We're prepared to deal with that," Prevention said. "Now what do you know about this person."

  "And Fury?"

  "The werewolf? He's none of our concern," Prevention said. "He crossed the border into Canada months ago and we haven't discovered any evidence of him since. Either he's dead or he's not coming back. Either way, out of our jurisdiction, not our concern. Can we talk about this now?"

  Jane sat down.

  "We were just starting our own investigation when you kidnapped us," she said. "We were collecting evidence, but then we got too busy fighting your people in Distribution suits. Where'd you get those, by the way?"

  "You have yourself to thank for that," Prevention said. "When you defeated Elliot Smoot last year, he was turned over to the Labyrinth. We were able to have Mr. Winter reverse engineer the suit and make a few improvements."

  "Elliot Smoot?"

  "Yes. The young idiot who called himself Distribution."

  "His name was Smoot?"

  "Can we be serious for a moment?"

  "I can't wait to tell Emily his name was Elliot Smoot," Jane said. "This almost makes this whole fiasco worthwhile."

  "Solar. This person. We think it's a man. Or a boy, at least. And he's making people very sick. What do you know?"

  Jane frowned, felt her face grow hard. She thought about attacking Prevention right here and running to save her friends. She could probably find her way back to their chamber. But how would they get out? Where would they go from here? What about Billy? He was right, in a way — he couldn't help them escape. He'd be a liability.

  "We don't have anything concrete," Jane said. "We were following up on a lead that
he might have been an escaped experiment."

  "From the Children of the Elder Star facility you raided last year?"

  "Raided is a loaded word," Jane said.

  "Attacked? You were the aggressors according to our own report."

  "They were experimenting on kids. We put a stop to it. Are you going to hold that against us?"

  "It happened in international waters," Prevention said. "And you took out the bad guys. We were happy to let you do your thing that time."

  "Good," said Jane. "Do you know where he is?"

  "This human plague rat?" Prevention said. "Not exactly. He's been strangely hard to track. He's a ghost. Besides, if we found him we wouldn't know what to do with him. We couldn't send agents in. They'd get sick."

  "Which is why you need us."

  "Among other things, but yes," Prevention said. "So are you going to play here? Are we going to work together?"

  "I have some bad news for you, Prevention," Jane said.

  "Oh really."

  "Oh yes," Jane said. "The Dancer is our resident detective. She was our lead on the investigation. Ad you went and poked the tiger."

  "So you're saying we need to make nice with her?"

  "I'm saying it's too late," Jane said. "Dancer holds a grudge. You'll be lucky if you're not in traction after she finds you."

  Prevention leaned back in her chair and shook her head.

  "Well hopefully we can change her mind," Prevention said. "Because right now we've got someone walking around making a lot of people sick. Some of them have died. And the scariest part is none of them are getting any better."

  * * *

  There was a knock on the chamber door before Henry Winter entered alone.

  "What's the password," Emily said.

  "4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42?"

  "Dammit," Emily said. "Okay, you can come in."

  "You need a new password, Em," Billy said.

  "Can't mess with the universe," she said. "So. Dead guy. What do you want."

  Winter pointed to one of the chairs with his cane and Emily made a grand gesture allowing him to sit.

  "Well, right now Prevention is trying really hard to read your leader's mind," Winter said. "Which means she's too busy to know what I'm up to. So I came to talk to you."

  "Because she's a psychic," Billy said.

  "Telepath. Slight difference, but important one," Winter said. "Don't let her fool you. She can read minds but she can't predict the future."

  "And you work for her," Billy said.

  "As if I had a choice," Winter said. "I'm sorry you were struck with the null gun, son. That never should have happened."

  "The null gun? Is that the laser rifle Prevention hit me with?"

  "The one that severed your connection to your alien parasite," Winter said. "Yes."

  "How did that happen? What happened? Is it permanent?"

  "That much I can promise you," Winter said. "The gun was designed to temporarily disrupt the connection between Luminae and host. Provided your rider wants you back, he'll be able to return eventually."

  '"Luminae?" Billy asked. "What the hell is a Luminae?"

  "Sorry," Winter said. "You're right. That's not what they call themselves. It's what humans started calling them, because heaven forbid we don't name every damned thing we see."

  "Luminae. That's almost pretty," Emily said.

  "Yeah," Winter said. "I mean it's just a made up word. Because they glow. Without a host the Luminae are just light and thought."

  "Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter," Emily said in a pitch perfect Yoda impersonation.

  "Are you kidding me right now, Emily," Billy said.

  "Kidding you I am not. Jedi you are. The Force you had. Get it back we must."

  "Please stop talking like Yoda."

  "Mm. Angry am I making you? Anger leads to the Dark Side."

  "Please stop."

  "Waited my whole life for this I have."

  "This is my life we're talking about. Can we be adult about it?"

  "Too old to begin the training!"

  "Emily!"

  "Good, good! Give in to your anger!"

  Billy dropped his head into his hands.

  "Is she like this all the time?" Winter asked.

  "All the time. Every day. Always."

  "I'm not afraid," Winter said, raising a knowing eyebrow at Emily.

  "You will be," Emily said, still in full-on Yoda impersonation. "You. Will. Be."

  "I like you," Winter said.

  "Too bad you're keeping us captive," she said.

  "So be quiet and we'll work on that," Winter said.

  Billy rubbed his eyes and sighed.

  "So how do you know so much about the null gun?" he asked.

  "Two reasons. One: I saw it used on a friend of mine a long time ago," Winter said.

  "My symbiotic alien's former partner?"

  "Not exactly," Winter said. "You've heard the name Horizon?"

  "I have," Billy said. "Was he another Luminae?"

  Winter nodded.

  "Someone came looking to kill him. Not the Luminae, but the host. They used a version of the null gun on him."

  "Did it kill the host?"

  "Almost," Winter said. "But it was worse for him. The host wasn't human. He was another alien who had come to earth with the Luminae."

  "He was a what?" Billy said.

  "You two are terrible at focusing, you know that?" Winter said.

  "Speaking of focusing. You said there were two reasons," Emily said.

  Winter looked sheepish, an awkward, apologetic half-grin on his face.

  "I . . . helped reverse engineer the null gun for human use," Winter said. "I'm sorry."

  "Why? Why would you do that if you knew it was a weapon that could be used to hurt your friends?" Billy said.

  "Because the Luminae weren't the only ones it worked on," Winter said. "Trust me, Billy, there's worse out there. Horizon himself knew the gun was horrific but said we should keep the it as a precaution."

  Billy frowned.

  "Where's Sam," Emily said. It wasn't a question.

  Winter's face softened. His eyes went misty.

  "Oh my god he's dead," Emily said. "They killed Sam! You killed him?"

  "I wish it was that simple," Winter said. "That's part of why I came here. If you have a chance to get out . . . I should take you down to see him."

  "Can you?" Emily said.

  "Not now. One thing at a time," Winter said. "But if you make a move before I can . . . help, don't leave without him. You can leave without me, but Sam needs your help."

  "Are they torturing him? Starving him? What are they doing?" Billy demanded.

  "They're trying to make him better," Winter said.

  Billy and Emily looked at each other. Make him better. All Billy could think of was the facility on the island where they found Bedlam, and all those cells where kids like them had been experimented upon to make them better.

  Winter stood up suddenly.

  "What's wrong?"

  "Just a feeling. I don't want to risk being here too long," Winter said. He uncuffed a thick bracelet in dark blue from his wrist and tossed to Billy.

  "What's this?"

  "It won't make up for the powers you lost, but that's a Coldwall holdout special," Winter said. "Crowd control device. If you have to take down any guards non-lethally, use it."

  Billy clipped it on his own wrist. It blended in well with the dark blue of his regular costume.

  "I'll be back. I want to get you down to see Sam," Winter said. "Keep your heads down. You're not alone in here."

  "When will you come back?" Emily said.

  "Soon as I can. Fill Solar in if you get any time alone," he said. Winter offered them a terse nod and then hobbled back out into the hallway.

  "I wonder what they have on him," Billy said.

  "Probably everything. Millionaire fakes his own death?" Emily said. "I bet the guy doesn't even exist anymore. Nobody
ever came looking for him."

  "Anything ever happens to me, check the body, make sure I'm dead?" Billy said.

  "You too?"

  "You got it."

  Emily was staring at him.

  Billy let her stare, because sometimes Emily was just Emily, before finally giving up.

  "What?"

  "You're a luminous being."

  "Stop it."

  "You need a lightsaber."

  "Stop it, Em."

  "And a wookiee."

  "I have a dog," Billy said.

  "You do. I really hope Neal feeds him."

  "Me too, because we both know Kate won't."

  Chapter 26:

  Cyborgs

  Bedlam agreed to meet Titus in a Brazilian restaurant outside the City, which suited the werewolf just fine — the Department hadn't made a move to bring him in, but he figured a sit down in a downtown burger joint would be more risk than necessary. Why tempt fate?

  He'd volunteered to speak with the cyborg partially because he'd been there when Billy met with her and they knew each other in a way. Titus was more personable than Kate anyway, and they knew Bedlam was distrusting and angry by nature.

  Lastly, Kate still hadn't stopped glowing since she bonded with Dude, which was alarming in all sorts of ways, and worse, she couldn't stop answering the alien out loud, so she was walking around the Tower having a lopsided conversation with herself at all times. Titus actually felt bad for the alien, because Kate was clearly unhappy with the situation and wanted him out, while the alien — from the scraps of conversation Titus could hear on his side of Kate's skull — felt that she was his only option for getting Billy back again.

  Also, Titus knew, Kate didn't even like anyone knowing her email address. The idea of an alien being who could read her thoughts was probably driving her insane.

  He walked into the small restaurant and was instantly overwhelmed by the aroma of food cooking. His stomach growled so loudly it startled him. All those months in the wild he had never desired cooked food, but good meals, prepared with skill and pride, that had been desperately lacking, and the open kitchen visible almost immediately upon walking in almost sent Titus into a feeding frenzy. He suppressed the urge to climb over the counter and start eating with his hands then he spotted Bedlam sitting in a corner booth, looking bizarrely casual for someone whose body was more than half-cyborg. She beckoned him over.