Dreams of the Golden Age (Golden Age 2)

Danton finally shrugged, letting his hands drop. “Why didn’t you tell me?” He almost sounded forlorn.

“Because I knew you’d try to turn me into that!” He pointed at the quartet in the matching skin-suit uniforms, Majors’s personal superhero team. Delta’s finest, no doubt, chosen and cultivated by the entrepreneur to be so.

Celia realized something: Danton Majors had accused her of manipulating the city and its superhumans because that was what he’d done in Delta. He couldn’t imagine her doing anything else with her wealth and power and connections. And he figured there was room for only one of him in the world.

“Eliot. You need to stay out of this. You shouldn’t be here.”

“I was trying to help,” the man in green—Eliot—said. And exactly how much had Anna been hanging out with this guy? “I know you came to Commerce City to stop the Executive. I wanted to help. Prove to you a lone hero can do some good without you, without the team. But … I think you’re wrong, Dad. I think you’re wrong about what’s been going on and about who here really needs to be stopped. When we started looking for clues about the Executive, we didn’t find Celia West. We found you.”

Danton bared his teeth. “You don’t understand anything, not at all! Get out of the way and let me deal with this!”

A roomful of people was poised to jump, if only they knew which way to go. Steel was twitching toward Eliot—but surely Majors wouldn’t want him to attack his own son. Arthur and the others seemed to be choosing their targets.

As enthralling as this was, Celia had had quite enough. It was time to go home. “Danton Majors, you should have gagged me when you had the chance,” she said.

“What?”

She yelled, “Take out the skinny guy, he’s the mentalist blocking Arthur!”

She pulled her hand out of the strap and pointed at Mindwall, who still crouched by the wall. His eyes went round, and he jumped and ran. Then everyone ran.

Mindwall didn’t get far before tripping on nothing but thin air—and that must have been Teddy, still here, still invisible, still incredibly helpful. Teia and Sam charged toward him, Shark and Sonic charged after them, and Steel appeared at Celia’s side, a razor-edged arm held across her throat.

“Don’t move again,” he muttered.

She glanced up, held his gaze. “You are done.”

When Majors lunged toward her, planting his hands on the arms of the chair, looming over her, she flinched back, startled. “You did this, didn’t you? You turned my own son against me.”

“I’ve never met the guy, but if it helps you sleep better at night, sure.”

The only response he could manage was a wordless snarl. He turned to Steel. “I’ll watch her. Guard Mindwall. If that block goes, the telepath will kill us all.”

Arthur would never do that, but Celia could spend hours explaining that to Majors, and he’d never believe her. How he must have wished Mindwall could do more with his powers.

The battle was a mess, pure and simple. The Fletcher twins hitting the room with wind-driven rain and ice wasn’t helping, more like turning everything into a soggy frozen mess. Maybe the bad guys would slow down when hypothermia set in. The Commerce City heroes focused their attentions on Mindwall, as Celia had requested, but the Deltas were tripping them up. Paulson and the SWAT guys had guns but no clear targets. Everyone was moving and tangled together. Arthur pulled Anna to the wall, shielding her with his body.

Sam managed to pin down Shark with his blasts, but no more than that. The kid had more in him—he’d blasted down walls, after all. But Celia realized: He was holding to the old Olympiad ideal and avoiding lethal force. He must have thought if he could just keep Shark from doing damage, he wouldn’t have to actually hurt him. The teenager was trying very hard not to kill. So freaking admirable, Celia wanted to cry. But she knew Sam was making a mistake. The Delta team didn’t seem to have such ideals.

The inevitable moment came when a squeal from Sonic distracted Sam, and the swarm of insectlike laser bolts ceased. Shark took advantage of the lull, and his superstrength made him unstoppable. The others, going after Mindwall and doing battle with Sonic and Steel, couldn’t help Sam. The strong man seemed twice as big as the teenager, three times as muscular, and was faster than should have been possible for someone that size. Growling, he grabbed up Sam, put his head in a lock, and wrenched back his ar

m until the boy cried out. Shark pivoted, swung, and threw, and Sam sailed … not toward any walls but toward the shattered windows. He fell through and down, screaming.

Anna screamed with him. Arthur grabbed her, to keep her from running after him.

Eliot ran toward the open wall and leaped.

Lew threw himself to the floor, leaned over the edge past the broken glass, arm reaching. “I can get him, I can catch him!” he yelled, while Teia and Analise both kept hold of him, begging him to come away from the space. Celia held her breath, unable to look away.

Outside, wind howled, debris rocketing into the office. The sky darkened, and black clouds descended until they shrouded the buildings across the street.

The thin tornado that passed by didn’t seem any more surreal than the rest of it. Not too big, it could travel down the streets without causing too much damage. Just the right size to buoy a falling boy to safety. Celia prayed.

“Did you get him?” Anna begged. Her voice had gone thin, fearful.

“I don’t know,” Lew said, gasping. “That guy, Eliot—he’s jumping, he hit the building across the street and jumped over. He’s got him, I think he’s got him!” The excitement darkened. “He looks hurt. They hit the ground, I can’t see them.”

In the meantime, Paulson leveled a handgun at Majors. “Commerce City PD. Danton Majors, stand down, tell your people to stand down. This is over.”