Absolute Power. Michael Carroll

My people have been checking the satellite images and traffic records. Their analysis shows a large SUV making regular trips between the warehouse and Sherman’s Bay, Chatauqua Lake. Same SUV came back today, arrived in the warehouse an hour before the battle-tank emerged.”

      Paragon said, “Max, that doesn’t mean it was Ragnarök!”

      “They also detected a vapour trail from Ragnarök’s escape craft going in the same direction. They were able to pick it up by analysing—”

      “Skip the details,” Paragon interrupted. “Just give me the exact location.”

      “I’m sending you the coordinates now.”

      Paragon glanced at the map that was projected on to the inside of his visor. “I see it.”

      “Checking it against the city’s ordnance database. It’s…Good Lord…It’s an apartment block. We’ve been searching for this maniac for years and he’s been living in an ordinary apartment block!”

      The army ambulance raced over the rough ground, hit a furrow and bounced. Inside, lying on the stretcher, Titan gasped as the pain in his right leg flared up again.

      “Take it easy up there!” Energy called to the driver. She turned back to Titan and checked the temporary splint on his leg. “You OK?”

      Titan gritted his teeth. “Not really.”

      The truck bounced again and Energy grabbed a handrail to steady herself. “You’re going to be off your feet for the next few months.”

      “I know.” He nodded. “Look, if our powers never come back—”

      “We’ll survive.”

      “Yeah, but—”

      The ambulance swerved sharply to the left.

      “Hey!” Energy shouted. “Watch where you’re going!”

      “That wasn’t me!” the driver called back. “Something hit—”

      Titan was thrown from the stretcher as the explosion ripped through the side wall of the ambulance.

      “Paragon, this is General Piers. Back-up is about ten minutes behind you.”

      “I’m not waiting,” Paragon said. The visor’s readouts showed that the jetpack’s shuddering was caused by the left thruster. Just hope I can get there before this thing shuts down completely.

      He dropped down to fifty metres – high enough to avoid the power-lines, but not as low as he’d have preferred to fly with a malfunctioning jetpack. He knew that even if he’d still had his armour, hitting the ground from this height would be fatal.

      OK. There it is. The visor’s map showed the apartment block less than a kilometre ahead.

      The homes and gardens of Sherman’s Bay streamed by below him as Paragon steered himself towards the building.

      “General, I can’t see the craft…Either he’s already gone or—” Paragon’s jetpack suddenly sputtered, lurching him to the left. “Hell. Jetpack’s on the way out!”

      “Pull out, Paragon!”

      “No, it can run on only two thrusters…” The apartment block loomed up ahead. “Just not very well.” Paragon angled upwards, slowing as he neared the roof, and switched his helmet to infrared. “I’m getting two heat patterns in there. Neither of them big enough to be Ragnarök. Could be pets. General, better get your people to widen the search radius. Ragnarök’s long gone.” He touched down on the building’s flat roof. “What’s the intel on this place?”

      “He’s been living in the penthouse apartment for six years,” Piers replied. “Seems that the building manager thought he was a European rock star living in tax exile. Paid them a lot of money to leave him alone.”

      Paragon stopped in front of the door to the stairway and pulled a small device from a pouch on his belt. “Scanning…I’m picking up a lot of sensors on the door. Could be booby-trapped. I’ll check the windows.” He walked to the edge of the roof and stepped off, activating his jetpack at the same time.

      He hovered in front of one of the large windows. “Sensors on the window, too…The infrared shows—”

      The general’s voice barked, “Paragon! We’ve just heard that the ambulance carrying Titan and Energy has been hit! It’s Ragnarök!”

      “Damn it! All right, I’ll…Oh my God…That can’t be right!”

      “What is it?”

      Paragon didn’t reply. He aimed his armour’s grappling gun and fired it directly at the window. The small but heavy hook ploughed through the thick glass, showering the room inside with crystal fragments.

      He kicked out at the window, widening the hole, then pulled himself through.

      Ahead of him, six large glass canisters were mounted on a workbench. Cables ran from the canisters to a small monitoring computer.

      Paragon swallowed. “General…Better get your people in here. Right now.”

      “Talk to me, Paragon! What is it?”

      “I…I don’t…Four of them are empty. But the other two…”.

      “For God’s sake, man! Just tell me!”

      “They look like they’re about three years old. They’re suspended in some sort of fluid…There’s…” Paragon walked around the canisters, staring at them. How could he have done something like this?

      Floating inside the nearest canister, the black-haired baby girl reached out and placed her hand against the glass.

      Paragon stared at her.

      She stared back.

      And smiled.

      A ripple of pain tore through Titan’s body, bringing him back to consciousness. He opened his blood-caked eyes to see a shadowy figure standing over him.

      “You’re awake. Good.” Ragnarök leaned close, baring his teeth. “I didn’t want you to die without knowing who killed you.”

      Titan looked around wildly. The ambulance was more than twenty metres away, burning. “Energy…”

      “She’s unconscious, but alive. For the moment.” Ragnarök locked his massive fists around Titan’s neck and lifted him off the ground. “You ruined everything! I spent over a year working on that machine! I would have been the only superhuman left!”

      Gasping, struggling for breath, Titan slammed his left fist into Ragnarök’s stomach.

      The villain staggered. “You destroyed my force-field! Now my powers have been stripped too! You realise what that means?”

      “You’re…gonna have to…get a real job?”

      Ragnarök let go and stepped back.

      Titan collapsed to the ground, landing heavily on his broken leg.

      Ragnarök lashed out with his foot, catching Titan in the ribs. “Without your powers, you’re no stronger than the average man, are you? Me, I work out.” He grabbed hold of Titan’s arm, and began to drag him along the ground. “There’s enough space in my flyer for the two of us. I’m going to take you somewhere they’ll never find you.” Ragnarök paused, then dropped Titan’s arm. He reached out and tore the mask from Titan’s face. “Huh. So that’s what you look like…You got a family, Titan? A wife? A couple of kids, maybe? I’ll find them.”

      Titan scrambled around with his free hand, trying to find something he could use as a weapon.

      Then he spotted something in the distance, racing towards them through the sky. “Wait, wait!”

      “What