Extraction (4 page)

I took a calculated risk then, telekinetically giving his hand a little nudge. With any luck, people would think it was the recoil that made him fire so wildly. Regardless, when the trigger was pulled, the rocket headed towards Mr. Ponytail, not me.

I’m not sure what I expected to see. Maybe Mr. Ponytail was going to duck and take cover. Maybe he was going to simply sidestep the rocket. Maybe he was going to do what I did, and throw something in its path to intercept it. What I did not expect, was what actually happened.

As the rocket came towards him, Mr. Ponytail reached out his hand and caught it. He then held it in his hand as its propulsion jet seemed to expend its fuel and sputter out.

To say I was impressed would have been an understatement. What he did next, however, awed and astounded me.

As the flames at the end of the rocket died, Mr. Ponytail must have had a premonition of what was going to happen, because he suddenly looked from the rocket to the guards with him, and then back to the rocket. Then he tucked the rocket to his midsection, wrapping his arms around it and enfolding it like a running back protecting a football. There was a muffled sound, like a giant stone statue coughing, as the rocket exploded and a concussive blast of air shot out from the big super’s abdomen in various directions.

It was an impressive display of both strength and power. About the only other person I could imagine doing something like that was Alpha Prime, the world’s greatest superhero.

Mr. Ponytail had obviously failed to completely cover the explosive, but his actions had undoubtedly saved the lives of the guards with him. Even so, the force of the explosion caught one of the guards and sent him flying through the air. He landed unconscious just a few feet away from me. As his head hit the floor, something popped out of his ear and rolled towards me. I scooped it up into my hand at super speed, hoping no one had seen me.

I needn’t have worried about being seen. Mr. Ponytail, upon standing up straight again, with the front of his outfit hanging in blackened, scorched tatters, only had eyes for the guard who had fired the rocket. I feigned still being dazed as he glanced at me, then marched on the guard in question.

Mr. Ponytail didn’t say a word. Instead, he snatched the rocket launcher with a speed that made the guard blink. Gripping the weapon in both hands, he twisted his palms in opposite directions. Accompanied by the shriek of tearing metal, the rocket launcher came apart like papier-mâché.

Mr. Ponytail turned back towards me, but before he could take a step, the entire place shook with explosions. The building rattled like dice in a cup, so badly that even the big super had trouble keeping his feet as huge chunks of the walls and ceiling started raining down. Still not quite at one hundred percent, I dashed for the door to the living quarters on my hands and knees, making it through just before a cavernous amount of debris fell down on the other side.

After a few moments, the shaking seemed to stop, but the facility clearly had extensive damage, as even in this area the walls had practically been shaken apart. I put my fist on the ground to brace myself to rise up, and as I did so, I felt something in my palm. After regaining my feet, I looked at what I held – the little item that had come from the guard in the activity room. It was an earpiece. The guard had probably had a microphone of some sort on him, too, but I didn’t need that.

I slid it into my ear and headed towards the direction of Rudi’s room, eavesdropping on a conversation that was already in progress.

“–was that?” asked a male voice.

“At a guess, Spence, I’d say it was the generator in the main power plant blowing up,” said a deep voice.

“What???!!!” the man named Spence asked incredulously. “You guys blew up the generator??!!”

“No, that would be your boy Plasmatic,” came the response. “He panicked a little and started firing plasma bolts like they were candy he was giving out on Halloween. One of them struck the generator. And at this point, it’s probably safe to say the whole power plant’s gone.”

“Geez, Megaton! How’d that happen?”

“I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner. This is what happens when you put someone in the field who isn’t ready.”

“Guys,” said the somewhat whiny voice of Plasmatic, “you know I’m right here listening – along with everybody else…”

At this point, I came across Electra and Smokey standing in the midst of a huge pile of rubble. I switched to normal speed, causing Electra to glance in my direction.

The explosions had really done a number on this part of the building. Looking around, I could see a sink here, a coffee table there, a bedroom set, etc. These had been multiple living quarters, and the walls between most of them, as well as a good part of the ceilings, had come down.

“Well, where’s Rudi’s room?” I asked after taking in the view.

Electra didn’t say anything. I looked in her direction, and I saw her lift her goggles to wipe at tears in her eyes. I also felt sadness welling up in her. And the truth hit me.

One of these rooms was Rudi’s. And Josh’s. The place had come down on top of them.

For one brief moment, I screamed mentally (if not out loud), falling to my knees in anguish.

RUDI!!!!

My empathic senses exploded outwards, searching for something – anything – that might indicate she was alive.

RUDI!!!!

I was about to mentally call her a third time when I felt it – a brash attitude and youthful boldness covering a protective and nurturing spirit – like a rose decked out in a suit of armor. I reached for her telepathically.

she said in exasperation.

I answered defensively.

she answered, mentally rolling her eyes.

she said with a mental wink, clearly proud of the way she had pulled the wool over the eyes of some grown-up.

I smiled – same old Rudi. I looked at Electra. “They’re alive.”

Part III

It only took us a few minutes to locate Rudi and Josh. Being precognitive, she’d seen what was going to happen. Thus, she had dragged the mattresses from both their beds into the bathroom, and they had gotten into the bathtub with the mattresses on top. Some of the rubble had fallen on top of them, but they were essentially unharmed.

I looked Rudi over. She was a spunky ten-year-old with an olive complexion, green eyes, and curly brown hair. I’d gotten an image of her in my mind when she helped me before, but this was the first time we’d met in the flesh. Her brother Josh was basically a younger male version of his sister, although he had brown eyes instead of green.

While I checked to make sure Rudi and Josh were okay, Electra took Smokey’s stealth suit from my backpack and placed it behind one of the few still-standing walls in the immediate vicinity. Smokey, in mist form, billowed in that direction and disappeared.

A few minutes later he reappeared, human and in his stealth suit. Now came the part of my plan that was a little crazy.

“Rudi,” I said, turning to her, “we were able to get in on our own, but we need you to get us out. Can you handle it?”

“Piece of cake,” she said, snapping her fingers.

I breathed a sigh of relief, as did Smokey and Electra. This had been the part of the plan they considered insane. I had seen Rudi in action before, and her precognitive abilities were first-rate – even for a ten-year-old. Thus, it had seemed like genius to me when – trying to formulate a plan – I had latched on to the notion of letting Rudi do the heavy lifting with respect to getting out. That said, I hadn’t realized how much I was dreading asking her about it – how fearful I was of the response – until Rudi actually said she could do it.

And she was true to her word. With Rudi leading the way, we suddenly became will-o’-the-wisps; we either slipped past guards or avoided them altogether. Again, I was simply amazed at her ability to not just see the future, but to use it to her advantage. She kept the directions simple as we traveled:

Stop.

Go.

Turn.

Duck.

Crawl.

Since my job at this point was to simply be a mindless automaton, I turned back to listening to what was being said via the earpiece.

“–n’t you found them yet?” Spence was asking.

“Because you’ve got men running back and forth hunting for these people when it’s completely unnecessary,” Megaton answered. “The only way out is the way they got in – the ventilation shafts. Just monitor those for air obstructions like you did before and we’ll know exactly where they are.”

“We have been monitoring them, and nothing’s shown up yet.”

“Well, it will. It’s a good thing the air monitors operate on the backup power system. Otherwise they would have slipped right by when the main grid went offline.”

Of course! That’s how they found us!

Down here, air was part of their life-support system. It made sense that they would monitor it constantly for any obstructions. When we came through the vents, we were blocking airflow, and some system of theirs must have picked that up. And when we switched shafts and started going in a different direction…that must have been like watching something that you thought was a meteor suddenly stop, hover, and change direction in the nighttime sky. It was obvious that something was moving through the vents with intent and purpose. All they needed to do was look at the schematics to see where the shaft ended to know exactly where we’d pop up. Following that, all they had to do was wait.

I felt incredibly stupid, and I’m sure Smokey and Electra would as well when I got around to telling them later. However, we still had to get out of here.

A short time later, we found ourselves in a room that looked shockingly familiar. We were in a large tunnel, and before us stood a giant fan. However, it wasn’t the same room as before because this fan was a little smaller, and the blades were shaped differently.

Rudi pointed to a nearby electronic panel.

“That controls the fan here,” she said, “and connects to the backup generator.” She turned to Electra. “You need to short out the backup generator like you did the first one.”

Electra nodded, and a few seconds later it was done. However, even with the power gone, the giant fan still had enough momentum to keep turning – at least for a little while. There was also a noticeable change in the acoustics, and it took me a few seconds to realize that there had previously been an electrical droning in the air, but that it was now gone.

It was the work of a few seconds to pick everybody up and zip them through the blades at super speed. However, just as I got the last of them through, the door to the room flew open and Plasmatic stepped in. He didn’t look particularly happy, and – perhaps more importantly – he exuded a feeling of reckless abandon and mindless desperation. Apparently having Megaton withhold his stamp of approval – on the airwaves, no less – made Plasmatic all the more anxious to prove himself.

The blades of the fan were still spinning too fast for someone without super speed to get through. Nevertheless, he could see us on the other side, moving away. Plasmatic clenched his fists and screamed in frustration. Then he pulled back his arm like a pitcher trying to strike someone out in the bottom of the ninth, and threw a massive plasma blast at us.

His shot hit one of the spinning blades, and suddenly there was a mad clanging sound from the fan, like someone ringing a misshapen bell. There was the distinctive shriek of metal tearing, and then the end of one of the fan blades came loose and flew straight at Plasmatic. He dove to the ground, squealing as the piece of fan blade that his plasma bolt had torn loose missed him by inches before imbedding itself in the wall.

Despite having almost killed himself, Plasmatic recovered quickly. He looked at us angrily, but after such a narrow escape, he was unlikely to try anything so foolish again.

We left him standing there, staring at our disappearing backs.

*****

“They’re back in the vent shafts!” Plasmatic said over the earpiece. “I almost had them!” He then gave an exaggerated account of his encounter with us.

“If they’re in the vents, then we
do
have them,” Megaton said.

“No.” This came from Spence. “The backup generator is now offline. Our sensors for tracking airflow obstructions are down.”

“Then they’re home free,” Megaton said.

“Maybe not,” said Spence. “We know where they’re likely to come out. But they probably know that we know. What if they’re just planning to double back?”

“Fine, we’ll check all shaft exits that extend from where Plasmatic saw them,” Megaton answered.

The earpiece was essentially silent from that point on, except for the occasional “All clear” with respect to a shaft exit.

We were all following Rudi at this point, exhibiting blind faith in her ability to get us out. We were now approaching what she said was the last door.

“That’s it,” she said. “We get through that doorway and we’re home free.”

That must have jinxed it, because suddenly we heard a bolt being thrown, and a second later the door started to open.

Subconsciously, I slipped into a fighting stance, ready to take out whoever came through the door. Suddenly, Rudi grabbed my hand.

“No,” she said. “Don’t do anything.”

I debated. We didn’t have any other friends here; the only people on the other side of that door had to be hostiles. And yet, we hadn’t really had any issues since letting Rudi lead the way. In fact, I had trusted her to get us out when I barely had a plan for getting us in. It only made sense that I trust her again.

The door opened up, and the light in the background cast the person standing there in silhouette. I had never seen him before today, but I immediately knew who it was – especially when his eyes put forth a baleful yellow light that swept over all of us before coming back to rest on me.

“Anything there, Megaton?” asked a voice that I heard almost in stereo – both over the earpiece and coming from the room behind him.

Megaton stood there for a few seconds, with all of us watching him expectedly. Then he said something that shocked me deep to the core.

“All clear,” Megaton said.

*****

We were still standing there, unable to believe our ears, when I heard the voice behind Megaton (and over the earpiece) sound again.

“Megaton, you okay?” the person asked.

“Yeah. Keep checking the other shafts.”

There was the sound of footsteps moving away, and a few seconds later, Megaton motioned us out.

We were in another power plant, although this one seemed to have a lagoon off to one side of it. As Megaton escorted us over to the water, Spence’s voice crackled over the earpiece.

“Megaton,” Spence said. “Where are you?”

“I’m getting ready to go through the vents to the fans,” Megaton responded.

“Scratch that. We need you over by the elevator. It’s not working since we lost power, but if we can get you into the elevator shaft, you can manually pull the cables and get it to the surface. Then we might have a chance of catching these people.”

“Negatory on that,” said Megaton.

“What do you mean, ‘Negatory’? You get your butt over here.”

“You seem to forget, Spence, that I don’t work for you. My role here is to assist in the overall mission, not to serve your whims.”

“But they’ll get away! What’s more important than stopping the people who broke in here?” Spence sounded desperate.

“Staying alive,” Megaton answered. “You seem to forget that with the emergency generator down, the air handlers aren’t working. I’m going to go turn them by hand until you can get some engineers out of lockdown and down here to fix things.”

“But they’ll get away,” Spence seemed to whine.

“Let’em,” Megaton answered. “But without those fans turning the air down here will turn real bad, real fast – and even
I
have to breathe. Think about whether you’d rather chase these people or suffocate.” He turned his earpiece and mic off.

At that point, we were at the edge of the water, and it was then that Smokey seemed to catch on.

“This little lagoon,” he said. “It’s part of the underground river here. It provides hydroelectric power for the backup generator.”

“You really are a bright and shiny penny,” said Rudi. She turned to me and held out her hand. “Your earpiece, please.”

I debated only a second before handing it to her (not even wondering how she knew I had it), then turned back to the conversation at hand.

“So this is how we get out,” Electra was saying. “Any idea how far it is until it breaks the surface?”

I shrugged. “Couple of miles, I think. We’ll have to share the rebreathers.”

I turned to speak to Rudi, but saw her hurrying to catch up to Megaton, who had walked away from us without a word.

I saw Rudi hand him something – presumably the earpiece – and then he glanced at me before turning to her and mumbling something I couldn’t catch. Then he turned and continued walking away as Rudi dashed back to us.

“Okay,” she said with a grin. “I’m ready to take a dip.”

“Wait,” I said, an idea suddenly occurring to me. “If everything’s shut down, then my entire reason for only using one power – so that they can’t figure out who I am – goes out the window. I can teleport us out, or phase us through the walls.”

“No,” said Rudi, “not yet.”

“Why not?” asked Smokey.

“Because I said so, that’s why,” Rudi insisted, hands on her hips. “Now let’s go.”

*****

Traveling by underground river is different and will give you a story to tell the grandkids one day, but it is not highly recommended. We ended up letting Rudi and Josh (who, brave little fellow that he was, never once whined or cried) use two of the rebreathers while Smokey, Electra, and I shared the third.

It really wasn’t a particularly long trip – only about twenty minutes. Thankfully, the river never went too fast and there weren’t a lot of obstructions.