Duncan tried to shake his head to stop the ringing in his ears. Dia giggled at him. “No head, silly. No body, either.”
All Duncan could perceive was brightness, frozen chaos around them. “What?”
“Nuke. We got vaporized.”
“Jonas?”
“Very dead.”
Duncan cast his attention about. “There’s a lot of very hot cobalt here. More than a ring’s worth.”
“It seems useful,” noted Dia.
They gathered what they could from the plasma surrounding them, then blinked outside the fireball.
Duncan studied the slowly expanding sphere. So far it had consumed the building they’d been in, and part of the next block. It seemed to be slowing down, and projecting the rate of deceleration suggested the fireball itself would only encompass a few blocks. “We’re moving awfully fast.”
“Thinking fast. Not really moving,” replied Dia.
“How many dead?” asked Donna.
“Forty seven so far. Forty eight,” Dia noted dispassionately. “Nothing we can do for the closest ones, the radiation’s already cooked them.”
“There are residential zones to the west, northeast and east that are going to get hammered.” Duncan blinked them up higher so he could survey the terrain. “Mostly industrial stuff for a good distance, hopefully that will help. So we need some kind of... ramp, I guess. Something to deflect the blast upward.”
“Across a mile long front?” asked Donna. “In the next second?”
Duncan was already sketching out the requisite barrier, and air was hardening under a torrent of magic. They slowed their perceptions enough to watch the blast wave crawl up it, reinforcing it where it was ready to shatter. The barrier survived for several seconds. The shockwave of expanding air still hammered downward on the rows upon rows of private houses. Many had their rooftops shattered, deflecting and dividing the blast, but by and large the walls held.
“Okay, good deed done,” groused Donna. “Is our family safe?”
“Yeah, they’re fifty kilometers away, and I’ll warn Sidney to keep them inside. Crap.”
“What?”
“All our comm crystals got vaporized.”
“We could go back.”
“And risk them getting hit by the next shot? No.”
Instead, they tested their link to Gwen, and found that she was nearly up to their mental speed once more. “Do you really need to run so hot?” she asked.
“Nuke.”
“That takes the fun out of it, doesn’t it? How are you holding up?”
“A little shaken up,” replied Donna. “Nukes are loud. Luckily, it seems our true self is immaterial.”
“Handy. Can you reform?”
“Already have, but all our comm crystals are gone. Can you relay for us? Priority one is to make sure Sidney and the kids stay inside until the shockwave passes.”
“Will do. What’s your next step?” asked Gwen.
“Colorado. Walt’s fortress of solitude is there, time to see if we can break his wards and find out where the Worldstone is.”
“Alrighty then. Good luck. If you need GPS coordinates...”
“Please?”
By the time Gwen replied, they were already accelerating sharply to the northeast.
*** *** ***
DISNEYLAND
ORANGE COUNTY, CA
10 NOV 2011, 17:15 MST
Sidney stared at the crystal. “Gwen? Why are you talking to me?”
“I don’t have time to explain. Get under cover, now.”
“Okay, okay.” Sidney gathered the kids up, and soon they were back inside a too-familiar room. “We’re inside. What’s going on?”
“The US just went nuclear against your husband. He’s fine, and you’re over the horizon from it, but...”
“Holy shit. What is going on?”
“We don’t know yet. Check the news, it’ll show up soon.”
*** *** ***
CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN
COLORADO, CO
10 NOV 2011, 18:16 MST
“Target continues to accelerate. ETA 15 minutes and falling.”
General Shepard nodded. “Keep us apprised. I’d like a five and a one minute warning.”
“I’ll do my best sir.”
The general turned to the rest of the room, many of whom were still staring at the mushroom cloud forming over LA. “Enough rubbernecking. How did it happen? Was this an authorized launch?”
“Definitely no on the second, sir. We’d have been notified.”
“I have a possible,” called another tech. “There was an F-18 training flight that called an in-flight emergency just before the explosion. Its last known vector would have it impacting at exactly the right time and location.”
“Where’d it take off?”
“China Lake. Supposed to be a weapons test, but it ended up a long way off the flight plan.”
“That’s not a coincidence. Get the base commander on the line.”
While one soldier was working on that, the General turned to Agent Brown. “Can your magic phone let you talk to this Faulkner?”
Brown shook his head. “Not directly. But Carter had something, I’ll see what I can do.” He pulled out his phone and started a hushed conversation with Carter.
“ETA ten minutes. Rate holding steady at Mach 12, exoatmospheric but not accelerating.”
“If he’s that high up, how are you tracking him?” asked the General. “He’s too small for radar.”
“Target is spilling gamma radiation. From the spectrum, looks like Cobalt-60.”
The General swore inventively for several seconds, and only stopped when the China Lake commander answered. “General Shepard, what can I do for you?”
“Tell me about your training flight that just nuked Glendale.”
The wince was audible. “We’re still trying to figure it out. Ward was one of my best pilots, I have no idea how he ended up over LA instead of the test range.”
“I would have thought the live nuke would be the bigger issue. How the hell does that happen?”
“Techs slip up now and then. This isn’t the first time, just the first one to go off.”
“What kind of shitshow are you running down there? Figure it out. I’ve got less than ten minutes until the target you nuked gets here.”
“The what now?”
“Your target survived,” growled General Shepard. “It’s now pissed off, radioactive, and headed my way. I need answers before it tears this entire complex apart looking for them.”
“You’ll get whatever I have.”
*** *** ***
SOMEWHERE OVER THE ROCKIES
NEARING BOULDER, 100 MILES NORTH OF CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN
10 NOV 2011, 18:27 MST
“Got a call for you, Donna,” came Gwen’s voice.
Donna gave up on scanning the mountains ahead to figure out where she was, and left the navigation to Duncan. “Yeah? Who is it?”
“One General Shepard, from Cheyenne Mountain. They’ve figured out part of how the nuke got loose.”
“Got loose? This was some kind of accident?”
A gravelly voice spoke up then. “Sabotage, more like. The techs who loaded the ordinance simulator are all dead. Two murdered, the third... it looks like his head imploded. The pilot got fried in the explosion, but he’d never be party to something like this.”
“Mind control,” growled Donna. “Getting really sick of it.”
“Tell me about it,” added Agent Cooper. “The FBI is under siege, and I’m expecting Stratcom to get hit soon.”
“What? Why is this the first I’m hearing of this?” shouted General Shepard.
“I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that. But my agent there has already notified me of some unusual troop movements. Brown, is order 22 ready?”
“Yessir.”
“Good. I’m heading toward Disney right now, to see what we can piece together. If something goes wrong, you know what to do.”
“Yessir.”
“Look, I don’t care about all that,” said Donna. “Do you know who ordered the attack?”
“Anyone with mind control capabilities who wants you dead, and is willing to nuke a city full of people to do it.”
Donna cursed. “Ghouls. Nobody else would be so callous.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” replied Agent Cooper. “You’ve spooked a lot of powerful people. Sacrificing thousands of lives to bag you is... disturbingly plausible.”
“The B61 was set to its lowest yield,” mused General Shepard. “It could have been much worse.”
“Great. Well, hopefully Walt’s cache will give me something to work with. Almost there now, try to keep from nuking me again, please?”
“I’ll do what I can,” replied General Shepard. “Good luck.”
Their headlong rush over the mountains was finally slowing, and the lights of Boulder were making their destination much easier to spot. As they arced down toward the city, their magical senses lit up almost as brightly. There was an unassuming residence on the outskirts of the city that positively glowed with magic, despite being entirely dark to normal eyes.
A minute later they were hovering at the side of the road, across from the grassy estate. The perimeter wall had a complex and unfamiliar spell on it, and the house inside was lit with dozens of them.
“Walt was a showman,” mused Donna. “Maybe this whole thing is a distraction?”
They scanned the area around them, and in so doing noticed four bright sparks of magic in the sky, headed their way. Scanning more closely, they found two fighters, each with a pair of missiles with very interesting warheads, packed dense with death magic and silver.
The jets were far enough out that Duncan took a moment to get Gwen to link them with Agent Cooper once more.
“What can I do for you?” he answered, promptly.
“I’ve got two jets inbound, armed with mage-killer missiles. Can you call them off, or do I need to swat them?”