Hidden Potential: Nibiru Rising: Book 1 Page 18

  “Do we have a visual?” he asked, looking toward the technician.

  “Switching the feed to the main screen.”

  The feed changed on the main screen, showing the top of the Rapier building in real time. As he watched, the Colonel noticed a slight wavering in the air above the building, like heat radiating off hot asphalt. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the bubble of shimmering air slowly grew in size.

  “How fast is its rate of growth?”

  “Current projections indicate its growing in diameter at approximately two feet per minute.”

  “Heaven help us if they don’t stop it in time,” he said, realizing the mass of wavering air was already almost twenty feet across.

  “They’re our only hope now.”

  §§§§§§§§§§§§

  Kaitlyn brought her mouth closer to Scattershot’s ear.

  “I count two guards by the door. With the way they’re guarding it, I’m suspecting it’s something important.”

  Scattershot nodded in understanding, adjusting his position.

  “On the count of three,” she whispered, holding three fingers up. As she dropped the last finger, they silently sprinted around the corner. Scattershot launched two projectiles, taking out the guards as she thrust both hands forward, projecting plumes of blue flames at the door. It rapidly melted into a pile of slag, creating an opening as they ran toward it. She dove through the doorway, absorbing the radiant heat that washed over her. Tumbling across the floor, she reached the other side before springing back to her feet. Spinning rapidly in place, arms outstretched, she searched for threats before slowly lowering them back to her sides.

  “CLEAR!”

  Kaitlyn echoed back the all-clear sign, then slowly looked around, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.

  “There’s nothing here… Why would they guard a room when there’s nothing important to guard?”

  “Not sure boss lady. Maybe we’re overlooking something?”

  She watched him wander around while she continued her own search.

  What are we missing here?

  A sudden jolt of electricity rippled through her body, launching her across the room like a rag doll. Bouncing off a wall, she fell to the ground, convulsing uncontrollably. From her crumpled position on the floor, she could partially see Scattershot wildly firing projectiles at a figure slowly walking toward him. She could hear the projectiles ricocheting off the stranger, scattering around the room ineffectively as the stranger continued approaching. Without warning, the stranger darted forward, backhanding Scattershot with a sickening crunch, launching the smaller man across the room to hit the far wall with a loud thump before falling to the ground in a heap.

  The stranger turned toward her, finally moving into her field of view. Light glistened off the metallic body as he came closer, his cybernetic eye glowing brightly. Crouching down in front of her, he smiled broadly.

  “Boy, you sure are being a brazen hussy, forcing your way into my, shall we say, bedroom. I do want to thank you though, for bringing Newton to me. I’m not sure if he would’ve come on his own, even with the threat of destroying the city he’s been living in. Now my plan of showing him who’s better is finally coming to fruition. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

  “Reaper,” she whispered through the spasms, struggling to push herself up. Regardless of her determination, her muscles refused to respond to her mental commands. As a last resort, she forced her body to flare up. If she was going to die here, she was going to take him out with her.

  “Uh, uh! Naughty, naughty. We can’t have that now. How will I ever get Newton to do what I want if you kill yourself,” he said, casually reaching through her flame aura, his hand slowly beginning to glow a dull red.

  The last thing she remembered was another blast of electricity arcing through her body before she blacked out.

  Chapter 29

  Rick slowly approached the door in front of him. As far as he could detect, all the kinetic energy was flowing into this one room. Not sure what to expect, he spent a few minutes examining the area with his awareness.

  Whatever’s going on in there, I can’t get a read on it. There’s too much interference. If I go in there, I’m going in blind.

  Allowing the kinetic energy that was flowing past to flow through him, he topped off his reserves before pressing against the door. He was slightly startled to find the door opened effortlessly. Hesitantly, he slipped inside, hugging the wall. Working his way deeper into the room, he noticed the wall looked like a natural formation, rather than something they’d dug out. Looking around, he noticed he couldn’t see the far wall through the darkness beyond. As best he could sense, it was nearly a mile across, but the swell of energy at the center of the room made it difficult to determine. Glancing up, he could see a tiny trickle of light coming from the open sky in the distance above him. Squinting, he thought he could make out some type of screen or netting covering the opening. Whatever it was, it reduced the amount of light able to reach them so far underground.

  I wonder why Stormwatch couldn’t see the exhaust heat drifting out of that massive opening.

  “Oh! There you are!”

  The voice echoed around the cavern. He tried locating the source, but his senses were still blinded by the energy swirling around the room.

  “Where are you, you bastard!” he yelled, using his powers to amplify his voice. He again felt some of his energy being drawn away by whatever was pulling the kinetic energy into the room. Without warning, the room was suddenly bathed in bright light, blinding him momentarily. Squinting, he could barely make out Reaper standing on some sort of massive spire in the center of the cavern. Something about the shape of it tickled a memory of something he’d seen a long time ago. He tried to figure out why it seemed familiar while approaching cautiously, his nerves on edge waiting for a trap to be sprung.

  “Aww, come on, don’t be shy. Step right up and be part of the future!”

  Getting nearer, he examined the spire more closely. It rose up several hundred feet into the air, terminating in a big bulbous shape, almost like a water tower but with a flat base. Looking at the half-bulb, it felt like he was staring into an abyss with his extended senses. What he originally thought was a buildup of energy turned out to be the exact opposite. In his mind’s eye, it looked like a big drain, with energy swirling into it and vanishing just as it passed the outer shell.

  “So what do you think? Impressive, isn’t it?”

  He heard Reaper’s voice echo again from all around him, but his attention was still locked on the void he sensed above. He was almost becoming physically ill in its presence, but realized he had little choice but to continue approaching. Glancing at his wrist, he noticed he only had a few minutes left to stop this madness, assuming Reaper had been honest with him. He realized he couldn’t trust him, but in this situation, he suspected Reaper wanted him to know how close he was to failing.

  Coming to a decision, he relaxed, allowing the energy to buoy him upward like driftwood flowing down a stream. The closer he got, the more he had to concentrate on rising in a slow, controlled pace. Struggling for control of his powers the closer he got, he tried returning his combat spheres to their case. The energy around him was becoming so overwhelming, it took several tries to be successful. He felt like he was actually getting drunk off the swell of energy enveloping him.

  “You’re almost there! Hurry up! I’ve got another surprise for you!”

  Gritting his teeth, Rick allowed himself to ascend faster. Above him, he spotted a platform about ten yards beneath where the spire flared outward. This close to the top, it suddenly hit him why it felt familiar. Unless he was mistaken, this structure strongly resembled Wardenclyffe with only a few slight changes. The only reason he recognized it was because Hal used to keep a working model on his desk when they were growing up together. Touching down gently, he had to maintain focus to keep from lifting off the platform and drifting higher.

  “So
what do you think? Impressive, isn’t it?”

  Rick’s head snapped to the left at the sound of the voice, spotting Reaper standing on a catwalk that ran toward the far side of the cavern wall. He tried to pulse over to him, but it felt like he was pushing through water as he moved toward the cyborg.

  “Kinda hard to move here, isn’t it? A side-effect of the kinetic accumulator. Wreaks havoc with my inertial dampeners. It always feels like I’m falling toward the thing when it’s running while I’m up here. Gets annoying after a while unless I shut them off.”

  Rick struggled to move forward faster, but every time he exerted more energy, he felt more drag pulling against him. Pausing to get collect himself, he involuntarily started sliding backward toward the tower. He holstered his staff before grabbing both railings. He physically pulled himself forward in an effort to get closer to Reaper, slowly bending the metal against the resistance generated by the kinetic energy flowing past him.

  “Why are you doing this?” he asked. His arms began to shake from the effort of just holding him in place now, the effort of moving closer now too much for him to move against.

  “Oh, because I can. And to prove, once and for all, that I’m better than you, stronger than you, smarter than you.”

  Rick slid backward again when the current increased without warning. It was beginning to take more and more effort just to remain stationary. The pressure from the energy flowing past continued to mount, almost like trying to move against the force of a rapidly flowing stream. A disturbing realization slowly dawned on him. Part of his problem was, kinetic energy was bleeding off him, weakening him the longer he stood there. The more he fought against it with his powers, the faster the energy was drawn from him. He could already feel his clothes fitting looser than they had when he entered the cavern. He was so focused on his struggle and ignoring the growing pressure behind his eyes that it actually took him a moment to realize what his brother had said.

  “Wait… What?”

  “Oh come off it. You heard me. You’ve always thought you were better than me. Even after I got my upgrades, you just had to show me up. Now who’s laughing?”

  “I’ve never thought I was better than you. I always looked up to you. The stuff you could do with technology? I’d never be able to do what you did.”

  “Now you’re patronizing me. You’re just saying that because I’ve finally beat you and you can’t stand it.”

  Rick slid backward another foot. What he’d experienced before at the last place this weapon was used felt like a mild breeze compared to the raging torrent of power rushing past him toward the tower. If he stayed there much longer, he’d be too weak to do anything.

  I still have no idea how to beat him, let alone how to shut this thing down.

  “Ok, fine. You beat me. Whatever makes you feel better about yourself. Does it make you feel like more of a man?” he asked, feeling anger slowly bubbling to the surface.

  “Wait, can you feel like more of a man, being mostly metal these days?”

  “SHUT UP! I won’t have you mocking me, not in my moment of triumph!”

  Rick noticed the rage etched across Reaper’s face.

  Is that how I looked earlier? Is that what I’m going to become?

  “Have you ever thought about getting therapy for your anger issues?”

  “I won’t have you mocking me,” his brother screamed again

  “Fine, whatever. So you beat me, so what? If that’s all you wanted to hear, then why bother destroying the city?” Rick asked, stalling for time.

  “You don’t get it, do you? Eighteen years ago, you took everything from me. My base, most of my body, even a lot of my comrade-in-arms. I had to explain to my superiors how you destroyed everything and left. They didn’t care that I was still there. They only cared that you’d left. It wasn’t until I told them I could duplicate your powers that they kept me around. Now you get to witness the fruits of that labor. Now the city you call home will get to witness it as well. Let’s see how YOU react to losing everything!”

  Reaper paused, a smile spreading across his face.

  “In fact, there’s something else I want you to experience losing.”

  Rick watched the cyborg turn, gesturing toward the darkness beyond. At first, all he could hear were the sounds of a struggle. After nearly a minute, he saw two guards dragging a person forward, someone who was fighting them. Getting closer, he realized they were dragging Kaitlyn, her hands bound with metallic bands. When they finally reached them, he had to bite back his acidic response.

  “Let her go, or so help me…”

  “Oh, how cliché… You can’t even move right now, let alone fight me.”

  Rick redoubled his effort to reach Reaper, but he only managed to slide further away. Frustration at being able to do nothing started gnawing at him.

  What the hell can I do? Every time I try to get closer, I only get dragged further away. There’s got to be something I can do.

  “Guess what time it is little brother? In less than five minutes, your city and everyone you know gets to go boom!”

  §§§§§§§§§§§§

  How can I fight against this current? What’d he call it? His kinetic accumulator? I feel like I’m circling the drain, just waiting to be sucked in.

  The image his thoughts conjured up caused him to feel like he was overlooking something. Something to do with how Tesla’s equipment functioned. Turning it over in his head, a memory of when they were kids rose unbidden into his mind.

  “Whatcha making Hal…?”

  “A Tesla coil.”

  “Why?”

  “‘Cuz it’s cool. When I’m done, this thing’s going to shoot purple lightning bolts. I’m trying to learn how Tesla’s stuff worked.”

  “Does it do anything beside shooting lightning bolts?” he remembered asking.

  “Yeah. When it’s tuned correctly, it’s supposed ta allow wireless transmission of power through the ground and air. He said all it’d take to pull electricity out of the air is a receiving rod stuck in the ground. Just think, no more power lines!”

  Rick remembered how excited his brother was about the concept, but he also remembered something else equally important. It worked by resonating the power to a high frequency.

  The solution suddenly jumped out at him.

  That’s it! I have to find the right resonance to match the frequency of the accumulator!

  Rick closed his eyes in concentration, the headache from using his powers reaching an almost unbearable level. Sinking deeply into a trance, he focused on the tower behind him, searching for the frequency it was operating at.

  “Awww, saying a prayer for all the people ya’ll getting ready to fail?”

  Rick ignored Reaper’s insults. At the very edge of his awareness, he began to sense something, something that he could only describe as a high-pitched hum. Focusing all his attention on it, he allowed the vibration to expand, filling his entire awareness. He felt himself slide backward several more feet, but he ignored it. The resonations seemed to fill his entire being, reaching deep into his very being and causing his aura to match the frequency of the tower. As the harmonics intensified, the catwalk started humming almost inaudibly. He also noticed the drain on his energy slowly tapering off. Glancing toward Reaper, the cyborg’s expression told Rick he realized something was changing, but couldn’t determine what it was exactly.

  “What are you doing?” he said, worry spreading across his face.

  Something suddenly clicked in his mind, like a balloon bursting. His headache, and the pressure associated with it, simply vanished without a trace. Without warning, an invisible bolt of kinetic lightning lashed out from the tower, engulfing his aura and regenerating it. Overwhelming energy washed through him, like nothing he’d ever experienced before.

  The invisible flash of it forced him to close his eyes instinctively. Somehow, his awareness now reached into the core of the machine, allowing him to realize the tower was pumping the gath
ering energy to another location. A moment later, he realized he could sense the roof of the Rapier building. The bizarre affect reminded him of looking through a paper towel roll when he was a kid, pretending it was a telescope.

  Another bolt of kinetic energy lashed into him from the tower, his hair becoming a softly waving nimbus around his head. The excess energy didn’t bleed off of him like it normally would. Instead, it swirled around him like a slowly growing energy cyclone, gathering speed as it continued to expand around him. The larger his aura got, the faster kinetic bolts crashed into him. Even the flow of kinetic energy that was originally flowing toward the tower was now staring getting pulled into his kinetic cyclone instead. From what sounded like a long distance away, he heard an angry scream.

  “NO!”

  Opening his eyes, he saw the air faintly shimmering around him. Taking a step forward, he nearly stumbled from the complete lack of resistance. Taking another step, he slowly began moving toward the cyborg’s group was still standing on the catwalk.

  “This can’t be happening again! You’re not supposed to be able to win this time!”

  Rick noticed his aura starting to glow from all the energy it was absorbing, something he’d never seen before. He was drawing in so much energy, it was starting to become uncomfortable. Looking back toward his Reaper, he saw the rage and fear slowly expanding across his brother’s face as he took another step. Grabbing Kaitlyn, he picked her up and dangled her over the edge of the walkway.

  “Stop what you’re doing! Now! Or I’ll drop her. I mean it!”

  Rick paused for a second. Mentally, he uncapped his tube but kept them hidden inside.

  He took another step forward.

  “So what? I just met her a day or two ago, and most of that time was spent fighting. I barely know her. You picked the wrong bargaining chip…”

  Screaming in rage, Reaper flung her out into space. In one smooth motion, Rick yanked his staff off his back, throwing it toward Kaitlyn while whipping his spheres around and launching them at Reaper so fast, it distorted the light passing though air in their wake. The impacts blew several holes through Reaper, launching him backward in a shower of sparks. At the same time, he mentally directed his staff outward, snaking between her wrists and arresting her fall. Pulling her back to safety, he positioned her behind him.