Carrie Vaughn - Dreams of the Golden Age

“It’s certainly a good act,” he said.

“Damn you to hell,” her beloved shot back.

“Arthur, it’s all right,” she soothed him. Celia studied the wig in her hands, a mop of tangled red hair. An ugly thing. A mask, of sorts.

Danton Majors expected to see in her a mastermind, an architect of villainous schemes. To him, she was a criminal genius. She was the Executive. All right, then. That’s what he’d get.

She dropped the wig on the floor. Step by step, she crossed to Danton Majors. “You don’t know anything about me. About Commerce City. You can’t succeed here.”

“Stop me,” he said, sneering. “Save yourself, if you can.”

She’d been watching his people, Steel and Shark, Sonic and Mindwall. All through this exchange they hadn’t moved, and their expressions had shifted during that time, falling, their gazes turning inward. To uncertainty. To pity, possibly for her. To horror, maybe? She hoped. Sonic, in particular, kept looking at that wig, as if she knew exactly what it meant, what it cost her to take it off in this setting. Celia hoped she’d read them all right.

“Mindwall?” she said, glancing over her shoulder.

“It … it’s Edgar. My name’s Edgar.” His voice shook.

“Do you have control over your blocking powers, or is it autonomous?”

“I can’t control it. It’s always there.”

“Can I ask you to leave, then? Go downstairs, as far away as you need to until the block stops working here.”

“Mindwall,” Majors said predictably, “don’t move.”

Celia said, “You can do what you like.”

The man walked away, past the whole crowd of them, exhausted and injured, and disappeared into the hallway beyond.

“Edgar!” Sonic called after him, but Mindwall didn’t stop.

“Arthur, how long should we wait?” Celia said.

“The block starts about the tenth floor. A few minutes, at least.”

“All right, then. In a few minutes, Dr. Mentis will put all of us to sleep. When he does a blanket offensive, he can’t pick his targets. It will happen to all of us. He won’t kill you, I promise. I guarantee you, there’s no better way to stop a fight in its tracks. I’ve seen it done. Shall we simply keep talking until then? Keep trying to explain ourselves to each other? Or you can do … what, Mr. Majors? What’s your next move?”

She was rather surprised that he had one. He reached into his trouser pocket and drew out a device that appeared to be a cell phone but had only two buttons on it. He pressed one.

“I’ve owned this building for a number of years,” he said. “I’ve made many modifications to it, as your Dr. Mentis and his friends can attest. One of the modifications—the building’s entire framework is rigged with explosives. I’ve just armed the system. The second button will trigger the explosives, collapse the building, and kill us all. That’s how far I’m willing to go to stop you, Celia West. That’s how dangerous I think you are.” The spark in his eyes wasn’t crazed; rather, it held the determined light of a martyr. He was convinced of his righteousness.

“Danton, no!” Sonic said, stepping forward. Shark stepped with her, but Steel moved between them and Majors, his weapons held ready to stop them.

Celia stared at the detonation device with a sinking feeling that she’d lost it all. Called his bluff, but he held the winning hand.

“Ms. West, I’m giving you one last chance: Sign over your company to me, submit to treatment at Elroy Asylum, and we all get to live.”

“And you really can’t tell who’s the crazy one here, can you?” she murmured.

On one side of the room, Analise had her arms around both her kids’ shoulders. Teia and Lew must have been too scared to breathe, much less try their powers on Majors—they couldn’t stop him before he pushed that button. Nearby, Arthur and Anna were side by side, shoulder to shoulder. Anna stood tall and proud, glaring with anger. Not fear. Next she met Paulson’s gaze, and even wounded and lying in an expanding pool of blood, he looked angry. That lifted her as well.

Shark inched toward Majors, arm out comfortingly, wary of Steel’s blade. “Boss, don’t do this. This … the situation here, it’s not like you said. This isn’t worth it. Put down the remote.”

Majors glowered. “I thought you agreed with me. You’ve seen what these people can do! Who’s going to stop them if not us?”

“Did you ever consider that maybe we could all work together?” Celia said—to Shark, to Sonic. “I mean, our football teams may hate each other’s guts, but I never much liked football anyway.”

Danton pointed at her. “You, stop talking, unless it’s to agree to my terms. I’m going to detonate this building on the count of ten. One…”

Sonic pleaded. “Danton, Eliot is down there. If you collapse the building, he may not have time to get away—”

“Having powers means sacrifice. He knows that,” Majors replied. “Two … three…”

Shark ran his hands through his hair, pulling. “Steel, bro, come on, this is crazy. Don’t let him do this.”

“He’s right,” Steel said, his jaw set and lips trembling. “We all agreed, he’s right.”

“Four … five…”

—Please, Edgar, hurry!—

Sonic again: “Danton. Put that down, let’s talk about this.”

“Tell her to say yes!” Danton said, pointing with the remote.

The woman took a breath and begged. “Ms. West, please. No one will hold you to it, we can work it all out later. You’re the only one who can stop him.”

“No, I’m not,” Celia said, watching Arthur.

Whose eyes lit at the same time Anna yelled, “Dad!”

“There. There it is.” Arthur scanned the room with a dark, fierce gaze, and a familiar voice called to Celia from the back of her mind: —And there we are. I’ve got you all.—

Majors fell first, his eyes rolling back as he dropped the remote and collapsed. Steel was next, and Sonic and Shark looked at each other, bewildered and comprehending. Then Celia smelled sage, an achingly familiar scent of imposed sleep. She got a glimpse of Anna folding, and Arthur catching her to lower her to the floor, before her vision went dark.

—We’ll be here when you wake, dearest.—

ANNAawoke to someone shaking her. Her nose tickled, her head ached, and her brain was full of panic.

Gasping, she tried to sit up, but the headache rocked her sideways and bile climbed into her throat.

“Easy,” her father murmured, propping her up. “Slow breaths. Good girl. I’m sorry I couldn’t let you rest, but I need help. Will you be all right?”

She looked around. They were still in the empty office space in Horizon Tower. A few minutes of fighting had torn the place to pieces. She closed her eyes when nausea hit again, but her breathing steadied.

Her father was a mess, soaked with water, smudged with soot, face cut, eyes sunk with exhaustion. She clung to him.

“Dad, what’s that about Mom having leukemia? Was that some kind of joke?”

He smiled. “Should have known that wouldn’t get past you. I’m afraid it isn’t, love. Can we talk about that later?”

Only a few moments had passed since Dr. Mentis knocked them all out. Having now experienced his mind control power, Anna could confidently say he’d never used it on her before. It was a strange comfort in the midst of the chaos. He’d already found a landline that wasn’t shut down by whatever Majors had done to cut off transmissions and called the police and EMTs. They’d checked the elevators, deemed them safe, and should arrive any minute. Apparently, Mindwall had turned himself in once he reached the ground floor and told them how to disable the rest of the booby traps. Mentis collected weapons from the bad guys and ensured that the detonator was put somewhere safe until the bomb squad could disable it.