Recap: Brandon escaped out of the Bellagio after rescuing the super-powered Donovan from the lightning blasts of identical men who appeared to be clones. He ran into the immensely strong brute he dubbed “Sideburns”, and a wiry and strong woman they called Spider. After more clones appeared and entered the battle, Brandon was helped once again by the mysterious figure in leather, who turned out to be his missing wife, Nicole. She fled, telling him not to follow. At the same time Brandon’s friend, Ryan, seemed to be in trouble nearby. Brandon was torn what to do.
Winning Choice: Help Ryan. He’s not augmented and if he’s in trouble I need to get him out of danger before I do anything else.
Nicole disappears out of sight, and my heart screams for me to follow. The thought of finding her is the biggest thing that’s kept me going since I got these powers, and as much as I hate to see her go, I can’t abandon Ryan. Nicole and I will catch up soon. I can feel it.
Donovan and Spider are going at it with at least three of the clones, but I can’t spot the fourth. The clones are fast and strong in their own right, so between that and the lightning bolts, they are holding their own against Donovan’s strength and Spider’s speed.
The crushed and burnt-up cab still hasn’t moved, but I have a hunch that Sideburns isn’t going to be under there for long. He already didn’t like me before I hit him with a sedan, he’s definitely going to take me off his Christmas Card List once he gets free.
Donovan and his EDI team must be the product of the genetic modification laboratory I destroyed back at Area 51. Former soldiers or other volunteers, if they were given a choice at all, pumped full of chemicals and treated to alter their very DNA to make them stronger, faster, and who knows what else. They’re crazy powerful, but they don’t entirely look human. The hairy dude I pummeled into unconsciousness looked more like a gorilla than a man, and I have no earthly idea what Spider is. I really hope her name isn’t literal, because if she tries to spin me into a web to eat later I’m going to freak the hell out.
The clones, if that’s what they are, seem jacked with nanobots like I am. Mandeville said they are Samsara, the rich investors who parted ways with EDI when Mandeville’s team went rogue and created me. With some luck, they’ll take care of each other. That never happens, but I always hope. Maybe they’ll at least keep each other occupied long enough for me to help Ryan.
I fly up and over the canopy to avoid getting caught back in the fray, and the view is disturbing.
A crowd of frightened people still pushes down the driveway towards The Strip, but they’re colliding with a whole new crowd of people trying to get closer: tourists afraid they are going to miss something exciting. The two groups press and push against each other, and on the road itself nearly every police car in Las Vegas is rolling up, unable to get any closer. It’s madness, and I want to scream at them to stop. Somewhere in all of that is Ryan.
A news helicopter hovers nearby getting shots of the chaos for the evening news. The days of people thinking reports of super-powered people were rumors are going to come to a crashing end. I’m just glad I put my mask back on.
On the horizon to the north, coming from Area 51, three small, black helicopters are heading our way at a very, very high rate of speed. Superb.
Even with all the commotion on the ground people see me fly up and point. I’m spoiled, used to flying overhead with few people noticing me, but the chaos has people looking in every direction trying to figure to what is going on.
Halfway down the driveway a small pile of people struggle to get to their feet in the middle of the retreating crowd. They must’ve been knocked over in the crush of casino guests running away and couldn’t get back up. Ryan was probably pushing back against the tide trying to get to me and was trampled in the panic. Stubborn idiot!
Dropping down into the crowd, I’m a good distance from the battle but still far closer than I’d like. The crowd is thinning out as people continue to push away from the hotel and the ones who are left part around me like a stream around a rock. This gives the people on the ground a chance to recover. A few scramble to their feet and continue running down the drive. Others moan and limp but rejoin the retreat, looking at me with a mix of confusion and terror. One woman pauses to stare at me, eyeing my costume up and down.
“What are you?” she asks.
“No idea, lady,” I tell her. “Get out of here!” She does.
Four people still lay on the concrete. Two men, one woman, and Ryan. All of them are unconscious, and judging from their positions they’ve had a rough time of it under the crowd’s feet. Ryan’s left leg is bent at an angle that makes me wince. I crouch next to him and grab his hand.
“Ryan? You awake? We’ve got to get you out of here,” I say.
He opens his eyes one at a time and swallows hard. He has a gash on his head where it hit the pavement. “What happened?”
“You tried to take on two hundred people going the other way. You lost. Now lie still.”
“Did you find him?” Susan asks frantically in my ear.
“Yes, he’s in rough shape but he’ll live. He’s going to need a doctor.”
“I’ll see if we can get an ambulance out there, but… Brandon, you have a lot of stuff headed your way. Police, security, and there’s something else coming down from the north. Air traffic control is going nuts over it.”
“I saw them,” I tell her. “I’ve got this,” hoping it’s not a lie.
“Be careful,” she tells me.
Ryan’s hand goes limp. He’s passed out again. I could carry him, but it would be slow flying out of here carrying someone, especially with so much going on. I certainly can’t fight and carry him. Running at super speed also isn’t a good idea as I’d jostle him around too much with his injuries. What good are all these powers if they can’t help the people I care about?
There’s an enormous crash and I turn just in time to see a huge portion of the massive canopy collapse, crushing several people below it. They had been trying to escape back into the hotel lobby, but the hotel must’ve locked the doors. Donovan leaps away from the wreckage, battling furiously with one of the clones.
Rage and guilt swim through me. Rage that these fools seem unconcerned about everyone caught in their cross-fire, and guilt for my not saving those people. Going to check on Ryan while these lunatics kept fighting probably cost those people their lives. The guilt and rage combine into one ball of fury and I head back towards the fight… only to be stopped by someone grabbing my arm.
“Wait,” a voice says. I spin and it’s another clone. He’s dressed like the others, but his clothes are clean and undamaged so he must be new. How many of these guys are there? His eyes shift from the battle to me.
“You should not fight them further. Come with us,” he says, with a calmness and conviction that’s a little unnerving.
“Listen, you idiots, that’s my friend right there. He’s injured, and I’m not abandoning him. If you want to help, hold Donovan’s team off while I get him to safety.”
“You must not be captured. You are more important than your friend,” he says.
“Not to me, buddy. So help or get the hell out of the way.”
Having taken out another clone, Spider turns her attention back to me. “Oh no, you don’t,” she yells, racing towards me in long, graceful leaps.
“These people are hurt,” I yell at her. “They need to get to a hospital.”
“We’ll take care of them after we take care of you,” is her reply as she lunges for me.
I leap to the side, but Spider is wicked fast and adjusts. She catches my arm, and I spin towards her, pulling my arm away and sending her tumbling across the ground. She rolls once and pops back up to her feet.
“Don’t you tell yourself you’re the good guys? How can you put so many people in danger,” I ask.
“You attacked a government military installation. You’re a terrorist, and if we let you get away you’ll just come back with something worse. You’ve forced our hand,” she says.
There’s a creak of metal, as Donovan works to slide the car off of Sideburns. I see two more of the clones down on the pavement under the canopy, but I can’t tell if they’re alive or dead. I’m about to get horribly outnumbered, and the clone standing next to me just watches silently.
Spider ignores him and grabs for me with her good arm, spinning like a dancer and trying to get behind me again. I turn with her and try to keep her in front of me. She drops down to try and take out my legs, and I grab her arm with both hands trying to wrench her away. She’s not as strong as I am but she’s so impossibly wiry I can’t get a good grip.
There’s a blast of white light and Spider screams, part leaping, part hobbling away. The clone had sidled behind her and zapped her right in the head at close range. He fires another shot at her that she narrowly avoids. She leaps behind a planter, falling over in pain.
A second clone appears next to the first, they look at each other silently for a moment, then the first one nods at the second.
“We can help your friend,” says the first.
“But you must help us in return,” says the second.
There’s a roar of fury, and I look up the drive to see the battered, burnt taxicab flying through the air at me. At us. At Ryan.
I could get out of the way and trust the clones to do the same, but it would crush Ryan and the other people still down on the ground. Well, when you can’t avoid a problem sometimes you have to meet it head on.
The car tumbles sideways through the air in slow motion, and I brace myself. If I try to smash it, the shrapnel could crush Ryan and the others behind me on the ground. There’s no way I can catch it and stop that much momentum that quickly, so that leaves only one option that I can think of.
The Malibu reaches me and I grab it, absorbing as much momentum as I can with my legs, which scream in protest. My claws sink into the metal on the side of the car, which buckles inward. I step backwards but instead of trying to stop it I push upwards and back, giving the car even more spin and sending it another twenty feet down the drive. It crashes into the driveway and skids along, shedding bits of metal and glass as it goes. Not a stop, but a deflection to get it over the people on the ground. Car Judo.
The two Samsara clones stepped out of the way and are watching up the driveway with their arms raised defensively. They seem utterly unconcerned with the people I just saved or anything but this fight. They’re also all eerily silent, which gives me the creeps. There’s a lot more to these guys than just being able to shoot lightning.
Up the driveway Sideburns snarls, disappointed his car toss didn’t take me out. Donovan charges towards us like a bull, rage painted across his face.
“Stop!” I yell. “There’s wounded people here!” I keep myself between the charging mutant-soldier and Ryan.
“You brought the fight here, they’re on your head,” he snarls, moving faster than normal, his augmented speed at work. I shift faster, as do the two clones. One of the clones fires lightning at Donovan, but he dodges it and backhands the clone away with a crushing blow. I swing at Donovan, catching him in the chin. It’s like punching a rock but he staggers for a second as his head snaps back. The second clone then catches Donovan with his own lightning blast, sending him over backwards.
The four of us dance like we’re inside a reverse snow globe, moving at our own speed while the rest of the world floats and plods along beside us. Sideburns thunders at us down the drive, a certain amount of glee in his eyes mixed in with the rage. He’s not as fast as Donovan, but is a whole lot stronger. I dodge his first swing.
“You stop the two soldiers,” says the first clone, returning to the fray.
“And we will get your friend to safety,” finishes the second.
“They don’t give a damn about anyone but themselves,” says Sideburns, swinging again and almost catching me with a right cross. “They’ll kill him,” he growls. “Or worse.”
Donovan springs up with a hard punch to my stomach. I see it in enough time to tighten my abs but it still feels like I’ve been shot with a cannonball. I kick him and he grunts in pain. It’s enough distraction for Sideburns to grab me with one of his mighty paws.
I twist but Sideburns only tightens his grip. The two are focused on me, probably thinking I’m a much bigger threat than the clones. Or maybe their orders are to stop me at any cost.
“We will help you, then you will help us,” says the second clones.
The first clones raises his hands to me. “My apologies, but this is going to hurt very much.” Lightning erupts from his fingers, hitting me in the back, and the world turns white with agony.
I scream and the pain flows out from my back to every part of my body like a wave. It surges like it is going to pull me apart, but it doesn’t. The energy flows into me, deep into my bones. Or more specifically, deep into my nanobots.
My eyes snap open and the world is frozen. Dizzy with more power than I’ve ever felt, my nanobots sizzle trying to process it all. Sideburns still holds my arm, but his grip seems distant and weak. I reach across and grab his wrist where he holds me, and his eyes bulge in surprise as I wrench his arm free.
“Donovan,” he yells. “He’s gotten a boost from the freak!”
I look at this angry, vicious man who had just killed one of these men he called a ‘freak’, and a cold feeling washes over me. Holding his arm, I step forward and spin in a small, tight, fast circle. Sideburns is yanked off his feet by the sheer force of my effort and screams as I whip him around by his arm. I aim for far up The Strip and let him go. Unfortunately I horribly misjudge both the direction and force behind his flight.
Instead of sailing far up the wide, glitzy road he heads straight for the Bellagio. Up into the air he sails, crashing right into the rooms about fifteen stories up with a massive THOOM of breaking plaster and stone. Dust and debris spews from the hole, and people in the crowd gasp and yell.
I hope there was nobody in those rooms, but I had better check. I rise into the air but Donovan leaps up and grabs my ankle.
“Get down here, you bastard,” he yells, trying to climb my leg to get to me.
Looking down at him as I rise, part of my mind notices how much easier it is to fly with his extra weight than it ever was before. The sun is warm on my suit, the air is full of smells of exhaust and the dirt of the city. People scream, car tires screech, people yell, a news helicopter whirs, and three black military copters thunder towards me. My senses flood with every note and texture of the world around me, yet my brain is numb. It’s like I’m controlling my actions in a video game.
I reach down, grab Donovan’s arm, and lift him up in front of me. He swings at me but misses horribly. Dangling there he has no leverage.
“I saved your life back in the casino,” I tell him. “They were going to fry you. Yet you keep coming after me. You’re no better than Corrales or those giants or the rest of his crew.”
“This isn’t personal,” he tells me as I continue to rise into the air. “We’re soldiers. We keep the peace and defend those who need it.”
“Starting a battle in the middle of Las Vegas, putting thousands of people at risk, that’s how you defend them?” A stab of rage cuts through my detachment.
“There aren’t separate battlefields like they had in World War II. Every place is a battlefield, and people could be in danger anywhere. That’s why the world needs soldiers like us.”
“No,” I tell him. “We don’t.” I fly forward and whip him along, letting go and sending him hurtling towards the hole in the front of the Bellagio that I just made. He crashes into the building slightly higher than Sideburns, and two rooms on the floor above tumble down into the gap. A plume of dust spews out of the hole as they collapse.
There’s a twinge at the back of my mind that I should be more concerned about people who might be in those rooms. Has this power surge made me as unconcerned as Sideburns and Donovan at the damage I cause? I brush the thought aside. These two are a menace, they hurt my friend, and I will stop them.
I fly up to the hole and peer inside. It’s now a giant cave filled with a shambles of furniture, clothing, and huge sections of walls. Water sprays from a broken pipe somewhere inside. I hover outside, several hundred feet in the air, listening for signs of life. There’s no signs of anyone trapped in the rubble, or even in the neighboring rooms. Everyone must have be out gambling or watching the place be torn apart by super-powered freaks.
There’s a creaking noise from inside the hole, and I float inside. Donovan leans groggily against an exposed support beam, looking battered and more than a little bloody. I’ve already seen how quickly he heals so he may be far from done. He looks up at me, grime smeared across his face and one eye bruised and red. He tries to stand but sags back against the beam.
I hover in front of him, not entirely trusting the cracked floor beneath us. “I am not a terrorist, but I will defend the things I care about,” I tell him.
He turns his head slightly and spits a bloody gob onto the floor, never taking his eyes off of me.
“I told Corrales and I’m telling you, no matter how important you think you are you have no right to control the lives of others, to experiment on them, or put them in danger. You also need to stay away from me and the people I care about. You understand me?”
“Yeah, I hear you,” he says blandly.
Arrogant. I move closer and look him right in his bruised and swollen eyes. “Do this and we won’t have any problems,” I tell him. “Ignore it and I will destroy you and this entire program of yours.”
He snorts as if I just told him something funny.
“You think I’m kidding,” I ask. “Look at yourself, you can’t fight me.”
“I’m not trying to fight you,” he says. “Just distract you.”
A freight train smashes into me from the side with a furious roar. The air goes out of me as Sideburns catches me in a tackle and we fly through the opening out into space.
“You think you can hurt us?” he screams. “We need what’s in your blood, and we’ll take it.” He holds me with one hand while smashing me with the other. In the face, in the ribs, in the arm, blow after crushing blow. I’m reeling but the nanobots flood me with power, keeping me awake and healing the damage almost as fast as he can inflict it.
The detachment returns and I realize we’re falling. Sideburns is on top of me, pounding away, snarling at me like a beast. He wants my blood literally and figuratively. EDI made these people into monsters and there’s no way Corrales has control over them like he thinks he does.
“You’re not getting anything more from me,” I tell him, and fly just enough to flip us over, putting me on top.
“You’re not getting away from me again,” he says, grabbing on with both hands. I let him.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I say, and accelerate towards the ground like a jet, pushing Sideburns ahead of me faster than I’ve ever flown before. Wind whips past us like a gale.
His eyes go wide as he realizes what I’m doing. He lets go but has nowhere to escape to. I push into his chest, holding him out in front of me as I dive ever faster. He cranes his head around in a panic to look below us. I save him the trouble.
“Bath time,” I say, and we smash into the middle of the Bellagio’s fountain like a meteor. At that speed water doesn’t cushion you, it’s like concrete. His bones break under the massive impact, and we keep going to the bottom of the fountain about ten feet down where we crack the tiles.
I release Sideburns and he floats off the bottom, unconscious and broken, with blood flowing out of his nose and mouth in pink clouds. He’ll drown if I don’t pull him out, and for a moment that seems like a good idea. That twinge returns, and I take his leg and pull him to the surface.
In the plummet down I hadn’t noticed that the three military helicopters I’d seen before had arrived. Blackhawks, by the look of them, but heavily modified. One hovers high over the Bellagio itself and the other two hover over The Strip, basically surrounding me. Their side doors are open, and there’s men and weaponry visible inside each.
I fly just out of the water, dragging Sideburns by his foot, and glide slowly to the side of the fountain so as not to alarm my new friends in the helicopters.
“Susan, those helicopters are here,” I say into my radio. “Any info on them?” I ask.
“No, sorry, we saw them arrive but we’ve been trying to keep track of Ryan. The clones are carrying him behind the hotel. It looks like there is a SUV there to pick him up.”
They’re getting him out of there as they promised, but I can’t imagine they’re taking him to a hospital in an SUV. But they have a lot of technology on their own, so maybe they’re taking him somewhere far better.
“Stand down and surrender,” comes a booming voice from loudspeakers on one of the helicopters. It’s Agent Corrales.
I drop Sideburns on the ground and turn to face Corrales’ aircraft. I doubt he could hear me from here even if I shouted, so I spread my hands out to show him I’m listening. What I’m really doing is buying a bit more time for Ryan and the clones.
“These helicopters have special forces on them trained to fight people like you,” he says.
“People like me,” I wonder. With super-powers, or just anyone who resists their orders?
“And these weapons are strong enough to take you out. It’s over,” he says.
Is it? I don’t think he knows I’ve been turbo charged by the clones’ lightning, and even though some of it is fading already I’m still far stronger and faster than usual.
The news helicopter is still up there, but much further away. They were probably ordered back by the military, but they’re still trying to get a clear line of sight on me to see what happens. It’s surprising the military didn’t order them to leave entirely, or maybe they did and they know this story is too big to let drop.
“Susan, what’s the scoop on the van?” I ask.
“They have Ryan loaded and are pulling away. If leave the area we’re not going to have as many cameras to track them. We could lose them,” she says.
I look around the scene and take a deep breath, the lightning still crackling through my body. It seems clear what I need to do.
1. I’m going to take down Corrales’ special ops unit while I’m still turbo powered. The hotel has to have been mostly evacuated by now, and it’s time to make a stand. Plus it will let Ryan and the clones get away.
2. I need to ditch Corrales’ crew as quickly as possible and get to the van without drawing attention to it. I’m not sure I entirely trust the clones and I don’t want to let them out of my sight while they have my friend. The problem is that if I fail I could bring the battle right back to Ryan.
3. Since Corrales’ squad dragged me into the spotlight, lets see how bright it can get. Forget the military helicopters, I’ll go right for the news helicopter and blow this thing wide open. There won’t be anything for Corrales to cover up when the entire world knows about what’s going on.
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