“That soldier hit you with his rifle. The second he did that, I realized I didn’t want to beat the bad guy. I just wanted to save the girl.”
“You defeated Smith’s powers through a semantic argument.”
“I don’t know. Did I?”
“So it would appear. It also appears you have heroic fantasies where I am ‘the girl.’”
“Well…” He tried to figure out what the right response was.
She looked up at him. “Do not worry, George,” she said. “At the moment I find your heroic fantasies somewhat endearing.”
“Ahhh,” he said. “Good.”
“I am sure Specialist Hayes appreciates them as well.”
St. George glanced down at the soldier hanging from his other hand. “Well,” said the hero, “he probably will once he wakes up.”
* * *
So, how’d things go up there?
Stealth slipped free from St. George’s arm and dropped the last dozen feet to the ground, her cloak billowing around her. He kept his other arm up so Hayes didn’t crack his head on the ground and two other soldiers grabbed the man. “Could’ve gone better,” he said. “Smith got away. I’m sorry.”
“Not good,” Kennedy said. “If he reaches another base he can start all over again.”
Freedom shook his head. “It’s not important for now,” he said. “Smith’s a traitorous piece of crap, but right now our mission’s to keep this base safe.”
Three lines of soldiers formed a rough triangle. It reached almost a hundred feet on a side, with close to two dozen men on each line in pairs and trios. Jefferson doled ammunition out of a Humvee packed with crates and loose weapons. For the moment, they’d pushed back the exes.
“Where did you say he was headed for?” St. George asked the huge officer. “A lake?”
Freedom gave a single nod. “Groom Lake.”
Seriously? Zzzap dropped closer to the ground. Groom Lake? He’s heading for the Groom Lake?
“I am sure the actual base does not live up to the popular urban legends,” said Stealth.
“Well,” said Freedom, “we can discuss that at another time. For now, we need to figure out how to save Krypton.”
The cloaked woman tilted her head. “The base is lost,” she said. “The best course now is to prepare an evacuation with as many supplies as possible.”
Captain Freedom pulled himself up to his full height. He loomed a good foot over Stealth. Kennedy stood next to him, her arms crossed. “As I told St. George, we are not going to abandon the base,” he said. “Even if we wanted to, for a facility this size it’s a process of days, not hours. There’s too many people for an orderly evacuation in so short a time. It’d cost us too many lives.”
“I doubt that.” Stealth turned her head to the lines of soldiers. “You claim to have a full brigade here, yet every squad I have seen is four or five soldiers at best.”
“Teams are four or five soldiers,” said Kennedy. “Squads are eight to ten. If you don’t understand the organizational structure it can—”
“I am aware of military command structure,” said Stealth, “which is how I know your numbers are incorrect.” She looked at the soldiers defending the gate. “Every squad here is undermanned. So are both platoons of super soldiers.”
Freedom shook his head. “You’re mistaken, ma’am.”
“Counting yourself, captain, I have seen fifteen soldiers on this base wearing the super forces patch. Shall I name them for you?”
“You haven’t seen everyone.”
“I believe I have.”
There was a burst of gunfire from the fence. A few exes had tried to force their way around the capsized flatbed. They were gunned down.
I kept asking where everyone was, said Zzzap, and you kept saying they were just out of sight.
Before Freedom could respond, Cerberus came around the side of a building. It moved with a quick, long stride, and Danielle rode piggyback on its shoulders, her arms around the metal skull. The battlesuit moved past the soldiers and up to St. George.
“Told you I’d keep her safe,” said the titan. It set Danielle down on he ground. “You can count on me, man.”
“There’s a good sized mob of exes about two or three minutes behind us,” she said. “Legion seems to be focused on them. They’re coming after me.”
“Lucky you,” muttered Kennedy.
“Stow that, First Sergeant.”
“Sir, yes, sir.”
“Man, am I glad to see you,” the battlesuit said to Zzzap. “The armor’s at, like, eighteen percent power. I’m starving in here, bro.”
Yeah, join the club.
“Danielle,” said St. George. “You guys were at the north-west corner. How many people did you have with you?”
“Counting the guys in the towers?”
“Include everyone you can,” said Stealth.
Danielle skimmed through her memories. “Nine, I think.”
The battlesuit nodded. “Nine. Seven on the ground, one in each tower.”
“There’s always three soldiers in every tower,” Freedom said.
St. George looked at the towers flanking the gate. “There’s only one up there,” he said, “and nobody in that one.”
“Specialist MacLeod came down to help secure the gate,” said Kennedy. She pointed to the soldier. “That’s why it’s unmanned.”
“If one guy left, shouldn’t there still be two people manning it?”
Kennedy looked back at the tower. “He must’ve been on solitary shift. Sometimes, the way rosters line up, someone gets stuck pulling duty alone.”
“Sounds like none of your rosters are lining up, then,” Danielle said. She pointed down the fence line at other towers. “One. One. One.”
“Smith has been biding his time here,” said Stealth. “I would surmise since the outbreak occurred, his priority has been his own survival and little else. The easiest way for him to maintain control was to let you believe you were performing your expected duties, within the scope which served his purposes.”
“Then why recruit people?” asked Kennedy with a gesture. “If you’re right, if we were all just drones running the base, why rescue all these people and bring in a bunch of extra mouths to feed? Why put a few hundred civilians through basic? Why…”
Her hand drifted down. They all looked at the small squads fighting to defend the gate. Kennedy and Freedom looked over at the empty barracks.
“Oh, God,” said Freedom.
Colonel Shelly told me you guys had enough supplies for years, said Zzzap.
“I would surmise,” said Stealth, “there were far less recruits and refugees than you remember. It is likely no one was rescued from Yuma. Smith merely convinced you of such to make you more docile.” She turned her head to look out over Krypton. “I would not be surprised to discover there are fewer than a hundred soldiers and support staff on this base.”
“This isn’t a base,” said Danielle. “It’s a ghost town.”
The huge officer looked at the buildings and roads inside the fence. There was no movement. No sound past the chattering of teeth and distant gunfire. “The base fell ages ago, said Freedom, “and we never even knew. They’re all dead.”
The cloaked woman nodded. “Which is why Smith required the ex-soldiers. If he had a full battalion at his command, why would he waste resources to create such inferior warriors?”
Another burst of gunfire from one of the far lines of the triangle. A mob of exes was coming in from the north. The soldiers were taking slow, steady shots. Almost every one made an ex collapse.
St. George straightened himself up. He was still ten inches shorter than Freedom, but he didn’t let it show. “You haven’t failed,” he said. “If Stealth’s right, there’s still a lot of people here depending on you.”