Just doing my job

Time seemed to stretch on as I lay there in bed, trying to comprehend what I had been told: someone, quite possibly my wife, had decided to detonate a nuclear weapon in close proximity to where I had been sitting.

Charlotte was right; I am a tough son-of-a-bitch, but I’d never faced anything even remotely as powerfully as a nuke before.

There was a good possibility that I could have been vaporised by the blast, as Ren and Duke had evidently been. It was worrying that the conspiracy was willing to act so overtly in order to stop me, and that they where willing to risk innocent lives in the nearby town to get at me.

I couldn’t help but feel a little smug that they thought I was that dangerous.

“The search team found no trace of Ren or Duke, so they’re presumed dead, vaporised by the blast.” Charlotte sat on the side of the bed, “I’m sorry about Duke: I know he was a friend…”

“Then why did you murder him?” I looked at her accusingly.

“The attack was nothing to do with me.” Charlotte looked hurt; “It was made higher up, by those I…” She hesitated, “Work for.”

“What’s that?” I looked at her accusingly, “I figured you had to be in charge of all this.”

“I’m not, not even close. I couldn’t even tell you who’s really in charge if it. All I know is they’ve got more money than god and complete control of the American Military-Industrial complex and all its agents. These are people who are so far beyond the law that it’s just an abstract to them.”

“You expect me to believe that you’d get involved in something like this against your own will?”

“I had no choice…”

“Why?”

“They threatened you: they said that if I didn’t do what I was told, they’d kill you, and make me watch.” Charlotte lowered her head, “These are powerful people Nathan; at least two of their enforcers are more powerful than I am, maybe more. I’ve been told that they have a list of over 10,000-superhumans.”

“That’s 3,000 more than the U.N!” My eyes went wide, “How long have you been involved?”

“Four years.”

“Four years? We’ve only been married three!”

“Yes, but even then I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you…”

“What do you do for them?”

“At first they just wanted me to pass on information about the people at the Institute. Nothing much: just were they where from and what their abilities were. Then it became blood and DNA samples, medical records, personal histories, next of kin.”

“Why?”

“They’re afraid. Not of us, but of the rest of the world: they believe that it is only a matter of time before China or India takes over Asia, and Muslim fundamentalist take Europe. They want an army of superhumans to stop them.”

“An army of the kidnapped?”

“No: the superhumans who disappeared where selected because of specific traits or abilities. These were then somehow copied into clones.”

“What? That’s impossible: people have been trying for decades to artificially duplicate superhumans without success.”

“They’ve succeeded: you met Smith and Brown? They were Class-1 clones, basic foot solders designed to be unquestionably loyal to this New World Order. There are others, grown for different jobs; assassins, spies, NCO and officer classes.”

“And where do we normal superhumans fit into all this?”

“As long as we do as they say we are safe. If we protest or refuse to do what they say, they find our weaknesses and use it against us. With me it was my growing feelings for you. Others have secret vices or dark pasts they want to remain hidden. You can’t fight these people Nathan: they know and see everything.”

“Not everything; there has to be someone who can bring them down.”

“Who Nathan? Who? These people have agents everywhere, they have files on everyone. What did you think was going to happen: you’d gather some evidence and take it to someone? The Sectary General of the U.N. perhaps?”

“I hadn’t got that far; I was still getting over the fact that you attacked me.”

“I didn’t want to do that Nathan, but they said it was imperative that I captured Ren.”

“So you dropped a nuke on her?”

“That was not my decision to make.”

“Leave, walk away from this. There has to be somewhere we can go away from all this…”

“I can’t Nathan.”

“Why not?”

“I’m in too deep. If I try and leave now they’ll hunt us down. You don’t know what these people are capable of, the things they could do.”

“You’re scared?”

“Wouldn’t you be?”

“True…” I sighed as Charlotte layout on the bed next to me, and we slowly fell asleep.

*********************************************************************

When I was at the Academy, learning how to control and use my powers I became friends with a powerful physic who taught me a thing or two. She taught me how to mask my emotions from those who can read them, how to send out false signals. She taught me how build mental blocks that could deflect scans, and how to clear my mind completely of a given thought without leaving a trace.

I’m sure that this training saved my life.

The base I had been taken to was apparently underground, somewhere in the southern United States if I read the accents right. I pondered on the possibility of it being the legendary Area-51, but I didn’t see any Little Green Men, so I passed on that.

Wherever the hell I was, the place was huge!

Stripped of my abilities by regulars doses of the same gas that had been used on me in Ottawa, it took me a long time to get anywhere, followed at all times by I silent minder, one of the Brown clones, this time dressed in crisp US-style uniform, but devoid of any rank of markings other than his name and a badge that showed a hand gripping an upright sword.

It wasn’t long before I was ready to start climbing the walls with boredom, probably what was wanted in the first place. I looked every where I was able, but I couldn’t find one book, one newspaper, one TV that showed anything other than CCTV images of another part of the base. I couldn’t have been more isolated if I was on Lunar dark-side.

I once read about people in similar situations playing chess in their heads to remain sane, but I could never remember how the little horses move.

Charlotte did her best to make me feel comfortable, but it was hard to show any genuine sign of affection when you know your every move is being watched and studied. I could tell she was also uneasy about me finding out about her involvement in the conspiracy, and this started to drive a wedge between us.

*********************************************************************

Nights and days blurred, and I started to lose all tract of time.

This was not something I could allow myself to do, so I started looking for things to occupy my time with. I rolled my socks in balls and started to teach myself to juggle. I practised my meditation, something I had gotten into at the Academy, but had stopped doing over the years as my life became more and more hectic.

I spent a lot of the time feeling guilty about Duke and Ren: neither of them deserved to be drawn into this mess, and I couldn’t help but feel more than a little responsible for their deaths. I thought about Doctor Lang, and how he had tried to stop the conspiracy, and paid for it with his life.

If they could get to kill him, what hope did I ever have?

*********************************************************************

The pain hit me as I was taking my mourning walk under the watchful eye of one of the Browns. At first I thought it was only a headache, something I’d grown used to after they started pumping the drug into my system.

Then it felt like my heart was ready to explode and I fell to the floor, clutching my chest as tight as I could. My body started to spasm uncontrollably, and I kicked out against one wall, knocking a hole clean through bubble layer brickwork.

Brown went for his side arm, but I grabbed his foot, crushing the limb without even trying. He fell to the floor beside me, clutching his bloody stump and crying out in pain.

I managed to get to my feet as people started opening doors to see what all the commotion was. They looked at me in amazement as I started to drag my finger along the wall, digging deep furrows with my fingers. Raw power surged through my body, heightening all my senses and invigorating me.

It was mind-blowing.

“Nathan!” Charlotte called out along the corridor, sounded by a number of troops carrying some kind of rifle I’d never seen before. They aimed the weapons and fired, my wife looking on helplessly.

Blood-red beams of laser-light stabbed at me, but none even touched my body. They seemed to stop a few millimetres from my skin, held back by some invisible force.

I was down the corridor in a heat beat, knocking the soldiers off their feet and grabbing Charlotte’s hand.

“Come with me!”

“I can’t.”

“I can’t stay.”

“You’ve always done what’s best Nathan…”

“I love you.”

“I know.” Charlotte looked to where more troops where approaching, “RUN!”

I took off like a rocket, blasting through the ceiling and up through the rest of the base like a guided missile. Nothing stopped me as I headed straight up, desperate to escape before what ever had happened to me wore off.

The last few meters of rock and dirt passed in a blur as I pushed through into the clear sky beyond. I kept climbing, revelling in the feel of the sun on my face for the first time in I didn’t know how long.

There was a flash of light, and I felt someone grab me by the collar before another flash of light enveloped me.

To Be Continued…