Caught

As his vision returned to normal, the haze coalesced in to the face of Liberator. Liberator struck him across the face again. “About time you woke up.”

Freedom struggled against the cuffs around his arms. I would kill this bastard if I didn‘t have to worry about him popping in to my head!

“No, no,” Liberator said. “We’re not letting you off that easy this time. You aren’t going to die quite yet though. See, I want you to know exactly how bad you failed, Patton.”

Liberator stepped aside to allow Freedom to see past him. For the first time, Freedom could see everything around him. He stood in an empty field, but only a few feet away from him was a large cluster of trees. Rising from one side of the forest was what looked like a miniature transmitter tower.

Liberator smirked as Freedom looked back to him. “That tower is one of many. Many more than are needed, actually. Once the towers go online through out this state, an energy field will blanket ninety percent of the state. Everything but Federation really. Once that happens, we will declare our independence, our freedom, from the corrupt government. The New World begins tonight!”

“It’s official,” Freedom said. “You are crazy. I mean, I suspected it, but this pretty much closes the deal.”

“Laugh all you want, Patton. Soon the United States will be reborn and you will be dead. And I will rebuild my family’s legacy!”

“What goddamn legacy are you taking about? If you’re talking about all these damn people constantly rambling in the back of my skull, you can have them whenever you fucking want!”

“Don’t you dare deny your powers. My grandfather was the Patriot, the greatest hero of World War II. My aunt was Lady Liberty, martyred as Saigon fell. For generation after generation, those powers passed through my family’s veins. They were supposed to be mine, damn it! My family’s legacy given to me and you stole it!”

Freedom tried to hide his glimmer of understanding. He knew at least the twentieth century history of America’s patriotic heroes, even spent a few months studying them himself back in 2003. But he never would have guessed they shared his power. But why? Why did these abilities even exist?

“Or maybe you just don’t deserve them,” Freedom said. “Someone so willing to sell out his country shouldn’t be the defender of her martyred. I may not always embrace our supposed leaders, but what you’re doing is down right insane.”

“No! You’re the one who’s crazy! Crazy to think I would let your thievery stand!”

Liberator’s face burned red with his fury. He turned away from Freedom and breathed deeply. Freedom braced himself. “But I’ve got to control myself now,” Liberator said. After all its not my job to kill you. No, we’ll leave that up to some old friends of yours, Patton.”

Liberator turned and drove a fist up in to Freedom’s jaw. The last thing Freedom registered before his consciousness faded again was Liberator’s almost insane laughter.

*****

The first thing Annabelle could see was a toothy grin. Her head throbbed and her vision swam. She groaned and tried to sit up.

“Don’t try to move, girl. The drugs keep your muscles relaxed and keep you unable to even stand on your own.”

“Who are you?” The words came out flat. She didn’t need to ask, she realized. She knew that grin. She recognized him; she could never forget the man who ordered Richie’s death.

“I am Atlas. I am your people’s worst nightmare. I’m the man that will wipe your kind from the face of the new America. The untainted America.”

“The white America you mean.”

“No, my dear, not exactly. We will have a place for your kind as the country will always have jobs its citizens won’t do. And someone as attractive as you, young lady, could also bring quite a bit of entertainment to our young men.”

“You’re sick.”

“This meeting isn’t about me,” he said. “It is completely about you. I want to know all about your nice new physiology.”

“Don’t touch me, you sick freak!”

“No, no, no, Ms. Montalvo. Don’t be so conceded. I have far more important things to worry about than your physical examination.”

“Why are you doing this to me? Please, I’m nothing to you.”

He nodded. “At one point in time that was true. A few days ago you were just a nuisance who had seen too much. But our mutual friend Liberator changed that when he injected you with the enhancement serum. You see, my dear girl, Liberator thought he was killing you. Before your injection, the only one able to survive the process was Liberator himself. Every other subject mutated in to a horrible monstrosity before dying a very painful death. So before we kill you, we plan on finding out what you and he have in common to make the process work.”

Annabelle held back a sob. “I just want to be normal.”

His face went from inviting and friendly to an angry scowl. “Normality is a thing of the past for you, spic. Change or die.” He paused to grin again. “Of course for you, it will be the second choice.”

Annabelle struggled to move on the table, but her body continued to betray her.

He turned to somewhere outside her range of vision. “Dr. Francis, you may begin the procedure. Do whatever is necessary to find out what we need to know. You know how to contact me?”

“Yes, sir.” An ugly little man, Dr. Francis she assumed, appeared to lean down over Annabelle. Atlas exited her vision a moment later.

As Francis began to cut her ragged clothes away, Annabelle silently vowed to make Atlas pay for his actions.

*****

“Iniri, wake up! Wake up!”

Iniri clutched her throbbing forehead as she slowly sat up. “What? Where are we? What’s going on?”

Tilby sighed. His own vision was already adjusted to the almost total darkness. “Calm down, girl. It’s me, Sheriff Tilby. They’ve got us locked in some kind of transport vehicle.” Now that he said it, Iniri realized she could feel their darkened surroundings moving. “I’m guessing it’s something simple. Some kind of delivery truck.”

“But how? Why are we here?”

“Liberator said it at the last moment. Some kind of final defense system. A massive taser device wired to the entire building. We’re lucky it wasn’t fatal.”

“Tilby?”

“Come on, Iniri. Focus, baby. We’re on our way to parts unknown. I need you to help me here.”

“I’m sorry, Edward. I have a blistering headache. Trust me, for an empath that makes it especially hard to focus. Head injuries are an esper’s worst nightmare.”

“I understand but we don’t have time for pain. We need to get out of here.”

“What are we looking at? What’s our situation?”

“One exit to the bank, bolted and probably chained shut. No other exit. At least one hostile in the driver’s seat, but I’m guessing he has a partner or two with him. By the dimensions of the truck, I‘m guessing we‘re in a standard self-shipping vehicle; the kind U-Haul or Ryder use.”

Iniri clutched her temples. She let her consciousness flow outward several yards. Tilby sat in silence as he waited for her. Her eyes refocused and she looked at Tilby with a scowl.

“Two men in the cab plus four more in a follow car. None seem very happy to have this assignment. We’re in trouble here and I don’t think we can get away.”

Tears formed in her eyes. Tilby stammered as he tried to think of something comforting to say.

Iniri wrapped her arms around his torso. He looked down at her tear-stained face and wrapped his own arms back around her.

“Shh. Iniri, we’re going to make it through this, I promise you. Somehow, some way, we will get free.”

Iniri sobbed again and buried her face in his sleeve. She said a silent prayer to Isis and hoped he was right.

*****

Freedom shook the weight in his head away as he struggled back to consciousness. He raised his hands to remove the blindfold around his eyes only to find his hands bound together in front of him. He pulled the blindfold down with both hands and the morning light blazed in to his eyes.

He blinked repeatedly to adjust to the sudden change in his vision. A circle of two dozen men of varying ages appeared out of the blur. Everyone came dressed in hunting gear and all carried at least one firearm. Freedoms’ head throbbed, and he began to wonder if he recognized members of the posse.

“Well boys,” a portly man in the middle of the group said. “It looks like our old friend is awake. Let’s all welcome him back to Tudor!”