34. Clay
Chapter 34
Clay
Combat boots echo down the hall through the open door. “Where is Edgar?” Specter asks.
“I don’t know. He’s probably here in the building. I’ve been a little pre-occupied with the mental torture, so I haven’t had time to ask him to send me a map pin.”
The brilliant green of his irises glow and he squints as he looks through several walls, scanning each room before he tilts his head to check the upper floors.
“This way,” he says, and speeds away, barely giving me enough time to catch up.
We come to a stop in a hallway upstairs a second later and Specter holds up his fist, signaling to wait as we near an open door.
“What do you mean, they’ve escaped? That’s not possible!” Edgar bellows.
“That’s the report from the basement.”
“Fucking incompetent morons. Go get General Davenport,” he grumbles.
A super soldier speeds out of the room, oblivious to us. A phone rings, some old ringtone from one of those ancient flip cell phones and Edgar curses. In the silence, Specter nods at me over his shoulder and I nod back.
We speed into the room. Edgar is in his chair, his fingers hovering over an ominous looking red button on his desk. Of course, the bad guy would have a doomsday button.
“I push this, and thirty super soldiers will be here before you can blink.” He still holds the phone to his ear.
Specter glances at the button but remains silent as Edgar addresses me. “I see Chen succeeded. Did you kill him?”
I press my lips together, and he smirks. “How about his son?”
“Any last words?” I ask.
He laughs. “That’s cute.”
He’s far too confident for a cornered man. Specter glances at me and I check the hallway, but it's empty.
My enhanced hearing zones in on an altered voice on the other end of Edgar’s call. “I know you can hear me, Clay. Leave now, and you will never have to deal with Edgar again.”
A vein in Edgar’s temple bulges.
“Who are you?” I ask.
“Someone who knows your weakness.”
I yank the phone from Edgar, who remains rigid, his fingers still hovering over the button. “You don’t know shit.”
I glance at Specter, who circles his finger, telling me to keep him talking. Raven must be tracking the call.
“There’s something you and your team haven’t figured out yet. I don’t know if the ignorance is willful or not, but in the end, it will kill you.”
“Are we all allergic to peanuts or something? Because yeah, that would suck.”
“Infinitum isn’t a person or a people. It’s an ideal. You can’t kill ideals, and that’s why we will always win.”
“Oh yay. The villain monologue. My favorite part. Please, tell me all of your plans.”
He chuckles. “I like you, Clay. So I’ll give you a piece of advice as a token of my appreciation.”
“Because everybody loves unsolicited advice.”
“Keep your circle small.”
“Wow. Super helpful.” I roll my eyes.
“Especially when you’re at home, or you might let in the wolves.” The line goes dead and my stomach drops. There’s no time to respond as a man enters the room and Specter and I slam against the far wall.
“They took out our comms. Go! Warn them!” Specter shouts. Edgar sneaks out the door as more men file into the room.
“But–”
“Now!”
Specter puts himself between me and the door, and I jump through the window.
Glass shatters, and I pull on every ounce of electricity in the air, creating a barrier around my body that absorbs the impact when I hit the ground, and I speed towards the bunker.
I skid to a stop in the common room and find Garrett with Henry, who shoves Clara behind him at my abrupt arrival. “Fiona?” I ask.
He frowns. “Paul just took her to the med bay with Skye and Jordy. Where’s Specter?”
I speed to the med bay and Skye looks up with concern, her hands poised over Fiona’s wrist. Healed skin peaks out from the bloody holes in her shirt. Paul stands next to her, holding her other hand. Jordy jumps to Skye’s side at my abrupt entrance, but nothing seems amiss.
“What happened?” Paul asks, but Raven’s voice carries from the hall, followed by his running boot steps.
“Nova, activate Defcon Alpha.”
“Defcon Alpha initiated. The Bunker is on lockdown and I’ve dispatched the drones.” Nova responds.
“Disrupt all energy signatures in a 50-mile radius.”
“On it, sir.”
He rushes into the room, his gaze landing on Fiona. “Luke and Liv, get the civilians to the safe room,” he says into his implant.
“Foreign entity detected in the med bay,” Nova says.
Raven draws a gun from somewhere and aims it at the woman I love.
Fiona’s eyes widen, and she shrinks into the chair. I speed in front of her, blocking her with my body.
“Drop the gun,” I snarl.
Raven fires the weapon and Fiona screams as my lightning fills the room. I spin, my heart in my stomach, but she’s unharmed.
Skye gasps, her flames encircling my lightning as Paul slides down the wall, gripping the wound in his stomach.
He looks at the blood on his hand, then up at me with shocked, wide eyes, but before I can process what the fuck just happened, his eyes flicker to opaque gold and a feral grin spreads across his features.
“We always win,” he rasps, the voice his, but not.
I watch in horror as he stands, his wound already healed. “Paul,” I breathe, my mind refusing to believe this is real. It must be a simulation. It has to be. Please.
In my shock, Paul moves, grabbing me by the throat and lifting me in the air. He’s already killed me once this way, but instead of snapping my neck, he tosses me against the wall. Flames dance around the room and shouts ring out as Garrett and Charlie arrive.
Fiona screams, and the room stills as Paul grips her from behind by the throat. He puts his other hand behind her head, but pauses as I reach for her.
“Paul. Big guy. You gotta fight this, brother. Please .” My voice cracks, but Paul only smiles.
Hopelessness settles over me like a dark cloud. The creepy man was right. Paul kills Fiona, Infinitum wins. We kill him, Infinitum wins. They always win .
“Do you finally understand?” not-Paul asks. When I don’t answer, he drops his hand from the back of her head.
“Join us and she lives,” he says.
Fiona’s terrified gaze finds mine. “We’re the same,” she whispers, and her patterns flare at me like peacock feathers. The abuse, the pain, the hopelessness all mixed in with the love, the joy, and the safety of a profound love. She’s right. I would never give in.
“There’s something you don’t understand, either,” I say, stepping closer.
Amusement crosses not-Paul’s features, and the violation of my friend becomes that much clearer.
“Victory is an illusion. What you consider to be a win, the rest of humanity considers hell on earth. What good is victory if you can’t celebrate it with the people you love?”
He hesitates, glancing at the others before his face hardens. “Foolish sentiment will only get you killed.”
“At least I’ll die knowing I was loved, and that I had the strength and courage to love her back. You’ll still have nothing but death and destruction. Have fun ruling over a wasteland.”
“Raven, I’m detecting explosive hardware in the room,” Nova says.
Horror crosses Raven’s features as Paul’s smirk grows. “Everyone out. Now,” Raven barks, but nobody moves. If he thinks I’m leaving Fiona behind, he’s crazier than I thought.
Raven looks at his daughter, then at me. “I need you both to stay. Everyone else out.” Skye must understand what’s happening because she turns to Jordy, who refuses to leave.
“Please. I can’t concentrate if I’m worried about you. I’ll be fine. Super soldier, remember?” she says, and he sighs, pulling her in for a hurried, passionate kiss before he leaves, grabbing Garrett by the shoulder and tugging him along. Charlie hesitates, but follows them.
Fiona whimpers as Paul shifts her to the side. “The bomb inside your friend is ten times larger than the one we put in John, and it’s embedded in his brain.”
“What do you want?” Raven says, his voice low and hard.
Not-Paul blinks at him with his eerie, golden gaze. “The infamous Raven. It’s an honor to meet such a worthy opponent.”
“Cut the shit. You want something or we’d already be dead.”
“I want many things.” His gaze settles on Skye. “Your position is still vacant if you’d like to return.”
She barks a laugh. “Eat shit and die, asshole.”
I smirk. She learned that one from me.
“Let Fiona go, and I’ll promise you a quick death once we find you,” I say.
Not-Paul barks a laugh, but he shoves her to the ground. “Your confidence is refreshing. I look forward to having you on my team.”
I dive for Fiona, and she jumps into my arms. “Go, Flowers,” I say, pushing her towards the door. She hesitates, meeting my eyes. I kiss her, soaking in what will probably be our last time, before she grimaces and runs from the room.
“Nova, seal the doors,” Raven says. The metallic doors close with a whoosh and the four of them watch through the window, their concern making a combined super pattern of worry that clogs the small space.
“Sir, the room is sealed and reinforced. The explosive device has been activated,” Nova says.
Not-Paul spreads his arms. “Dying with your friend? How noble,” he says, his voice dripping with sarcasm. An ominous beeping sounds from his direction.
“We have to heal him as fast as the explosion rips through him,” Raven says, and my jaw drops.
“That’s impossible.”
Raven shakes his head. “No. It’s not. Clay, you need to pull the energy into you and feed it to Skye. Skye, I’ll guide your healing. Got it?”
The beeping picks up. “What if it doesn’t work?” I ask, my nerves turning my gut to mush.
“It will.” He puts a hand on each of our shoulders. “Margo made the serums for the trials from my DNA. It was diluted for each consecutive trial. Your father and Specter’s father were in the first group. The three of you are the strongest super soldiers in the world. I didn’t want to tell you until you were ready, but if you want to save Paul, you need to accept that fact right now. It’s our only chance.”
Skye nods at me, but there’s no way that’s true. Except now that it’s spoken out in the open, it’s like my powers are nodding along. I swallow hard, meeting Fiona’s gaze through the window. She’s always believed in me. So has Raven, and the rest of the team. I just didn’t want to see it. I’ve let my past dictate my behavior for far too long. Infinitum won’t win against me. Never again .
“Let's do this,” I say, wishing I had a gun to cock like they do in the movies. Skye takes my hand and her father’s and we face today’s enemy.
Not-Paul watches us with clear amusement as he straightens from his casual lean against the wall. “To answer your question, Raven, I wanted the identities of your most powerful soldiers. Thanks for narrowing that down for me.”
Raven clenches his jaw, but remains silent.
“I’ll enjoy puzzling out your true identity. But that’s for another time.”
I reach for the energy pulsating off of the device in Paul’s head. Skye’s energy nudges me, almost like she’s knocking on a door. I open it wide and she siphons from me.
“I’ll see you on the other side,” not-Paul says. The gold in his eyes fades and the real Paul stares back at us. “Don’t! It’s a trap–”
The bomb explodes and the energy of a gazillion tons of dynamite rockets into me. I scream with the effort of containing it, clinging to my happy memories of Fiona and my family, Paul’s hope when he told me he’d met someone, the joy on his face whenever he cooked for us or made Fiona laugh. Skye’s scream joins my own as we grip each other for dear life.
Paul roars, grabbing his head and sinking to his knees as sweat pours off of him. It seems to go on forever, but it lasts less than a minute as the last of the energy flows into Skye and Paul tips forward, collapsing into a heap. Blood drips from his nose to the floor, but he’s still breathing. Skye lets go of my hand and we both sink to the ground, gasping for breath. Raven leans against the wall, his hands on his knees as he does the same.
“Holy fuck,” I whisper.
Skye grins and Raven checks on Paul. “He’s got a pulse.”
“I can’t believe we did that,” Skye says as she stands. She holds her hand out and hauls me to my feet.
Raven rolls Paul onto his back and checks his breathing. He lets out a relieved sigh, but it’s cut off when Paul grabs him by the neck. Gold eyes stare up at him as a terrifying look of acceptance crosses Raven’s features. He meets my gaze and then Paul squeezes, ripping his throat out as he tosses him across the room.
“No!” Skye screams, racing to his side. Paul sits up, facing me with his golden eyed grin. “I was right about you.”
Hopelessness settles over me. There was no chance for Paul. The second they got their hands on him again, it was game over. Paul tried to warn me.
He takes a step toward me but falters as the real Paul looks back at me with nothing but pure desperation. His patterns overwhelm me with sadness as tears stream down his face, mixing with the blood.
“Please, Clay. You promised,” he rasps. I did promise him, but I never thought it would be real. I never thought I’d have to kill my best friend. We always find a way. Raven gurgles for breath as his blood oozes between Skye’s fingers. Her arms shake with the effort to heal him. My friends are sealed behind a door that nobody but Raven can open. It has to be me. It was always going to be me.
I let my own tears fall as I flex my fists, testing the amount of power I have left after that massive drain. I’m surprised to find any, but it's enough.
“Well, big guy. I guess this is it, huh?” My voice cracks. “I’m going to hate you forever for making me do this. Thank you for helping me find joy in life again, brother. I love you. Oh, and I’m putting Gargantuan on your headstone.”
The gold flickers, and it's enough. My throat tightens as more tears fall.
“Do you want to know why he picked you?” not-Paul says, using my best friend’s voice and robbing me of a final farewell. “He knew you were the only one who would do it. You’re not as good as you pretend to be. You’re not a hero.”
I shrug. “No. I’m not.”
Electricity flows from my hands and slams into his chest. I cry out as he falls to the ground, tears streaming down my face at the unfairness of it all. Fuck Infinitum for making me do this. They’ll pay if it’s the last fucking thing I ever do.
He falls to the ground, and a small smile lifts his lips as his face relaxes. He tilts his head back, like he’s soaking in the rays of the sun. I’ve never seen him so peaceful.
“Go be with your sister,” I whisper as tears stream down my face. Paul smiles.
A searing burn slices into my side, and I drop to my knees as my lightning sputters out. Charlie appears next to me, and bright white light pours from his hands. He screams as it slams into Paul, the light so bright I have to close my eyes.
The light fades, and my remaining energy seeps into the ground. Paul lies on the floor, his face still peaceful as he stares sightlessly at the ceiling. Charlie’s chest heaves, then he strides from the room.
Garrett tries to stop him, but Charlie brushes him off and speeds away. The doors are wide open and Fiona stands with a laptop in her hands, connected to the panel outside of the room. Did she hack into Nova? Raven is gonna be pissed. She drops the laptop and races to my side as blood seeps through my hand that covers my wound.
“Someone help!” she calls.
My vision goes blurry and I sink against her as Doc crouches beside me. “Shit. Hold on,” she says. She looks exhausted, her hair sticking to sweat on her neck.
A moment later, the distant cry of a newborn floats down the hall. As one life slips away, another arrives. My nephew's first sounds vibrate against my skin and I focus on his patterns. They’re chaotic as they figure out how to form and I can’t help but smile, even as my vision dims.
They don’t always win.