The Vindicators

Chapter VI: Secrets

"Hey!" I yelled. I couldn't get the guys attention so I had to run up to him through the huge crowd of people. I grabbed his shoulder, turned him towards me, and said, "Hey. You and I need to talk for a bit."
"What for?" he asked. He seemed like he was in his late forties. Around the same age as Logan probably.
"When all this was about to happen, you were running through the streets seventeen years ago and you knew about this. How?"
"Get me to my hideout. Then we'll talk."
"Where's that at?"
"A couple blocks down from the capital building. It's not that hard to get to."

As we traveled down the streets, people on the sidewalks were just staring at us. Why wouldn't they? I was leading several dozen people down the roads while all of us were armed with weapons that we "borrowed" from REVO. The reason I had several dozen people behind me was because they felt like they owed me or something. I told them the least they could do was go with us just in case a squad of REVO soldiers pins us down. I knew I didn't need them since I got superhuman strength and skin like steel but I just decided to let them tag along anyway.
I was walking in front beside the crazy old guy when I decided to start a conversation. "So," I said. "What's your name?"
"The name's Payton," he said. "What's yours?"
"Dawson. Dawson Walker."
"Well, Dawson, it's nice to meet ya. Ah, here we are."
We had arrived at an old Starbucks after a long walk. I took a good look at it and realized it was the same one my parents and I had hidden in when all of this happened. The memories triggered by that one were too much for me to handle without breaking something so I let it go.
"I could go for a cup of coffee right about now," said Logan from behind me. He was carrying a dazed Elizabeth over his shoulders. "But not this coffee. It probably tastes like radioactive milk or something."
"It's nasty, but not radioactive," Elizabeth said. "There would have to be radiation in the atmosphere but it's completely clean. REVO made sure it wasn't contaminated from the few bombs that they actually did drop."
We all looked at her a little funny. We knew they had dropped bombs but we didn't know that the atmosphere had been COMPLETELY cleaned of the stuff.
"How did you know that?" Payton asked.
"Honestly, I have no idea."
We all were pretty worried for her but Payton actually looked more worried than any of us.
"Get inside," he said. "Now."
We walked inside the abandoned Starbucks and went upstairs to the second floor where lots of tech stuff was sitting on tables.
"What's all of this?" I asked Payton.
"Sit down and I'll explain," he said.
We all sat down and took in the feeling of sitting in somewhat comfortable chairs after being imprisoned for so long. I could hear Logan talking to Elizabeth behind me.
"Just so we're clear," Logan asked her. "I can't have any coffee?"
She laughed a little and told him, "You might get sick. But sure, go try some."
"Hey guys," Payton said. "Now's not the time for joking around. What we're talking about is serious. Believe it or not, the fate of the human race depends on it."
The last line got everyone's attention. We were all looking at him with fixed eyes. Even the people who tagged along with us were listening. Some of them were downstairs guarding the entrance though.
"What are you talking about?" Logan asked him.
"Back when all this crap hit the fan, I was a big superstitious computer geek. Always wanting to reveal the secrets of the United States and stuff. I've actually hacked into some of the Pentagon's computers. But I didn't find any information that I was interested in. Anyways, one day I was looking for random radio frequencies and I found something a little different than the normal stuff I was used to seeing. I tapped into it with a bit of trouble and I heard a conversation going on between two people. There was this guy that called himself the Executioner. Him and some other guy were talking about all of this. You know, taking over most the country's big cities. Now remember, this Executioner guy is supposedly in charge of this whole operation. That's what the soldiers and scientists are led to believe-"
"But it's somebody else," Elizabeth cut off. "Someone only the highest ranking soldiers and scientists know about. The one that everyone calls the Storm before the Calm. The Savior of the Universe. And he will destroy us all like he's already done to trillions of other lives. The world will be devoured by his thirst for peace. But it won't end there." Her eyes started to tear up and her faced was drenched in the feeling of fear. She looked up and said, "There's no possible way to survive." And just like that, she fell to the floor unconscious.
Logan got to the ground and picked her up in his arms. "Lizzy?" He looked up at Payton. "What's wrong with her?"
"She fell into a deep sleep of fear. She saw too much of what she couldn't comprehend. She had more information than I ever did. But she'll wake up at some point. Now skipping the grand master thing, there's more to talk about. You." He pointed a finger towards me. "Your strength is uncomprehendingly abnormal. It's the drugs that they used on you. They've been at this for a long time. Trying to create something that could strengthen their soldiers to the point of near invincibility. They tested something similar on your friend Lizzy. But instead of increased strength and durability, she was granted knowledge. Most of the knowledge that the Enforcer and all of the best scientists and soldiers have is now in her head. Probably more. She's smart in more ways than one now. But I don't know about you. What's your name?"
"Logan," I told Payton. "His name's Logan."
"Right. I'm not sure it really did anything to you though. I'm not sure which one they gave you. I'd pay lots of money to know though. But sometimes the drug just sits in your system doing absolutely nothing. It's a shame. You could use their weapons against them."
"Since it worked on us," I said. "Do they know how to do this properly now?"
"I doubt it. You did kill everyone in that building and made a bit of a mess of the labs. The data is probably destroyed."
"So what now?" Logan asked.
I'd been so caught up in all of this madness that I had forgotten about somebody.
"There's someone I need to find. Once I do, then we'll take back this city and the rest of the United States. I've got some questions for the Executioner. Once I have him then I'm going after this Savior of the Universe guy. He needs to die."
As I was walking out of the room, Payton yelled at me from his seat.
"You can't kill him. From the looks on your friend Lizzy's face...it seems like you're gonna need thousands of people with your strength. She wasn't scared. She was positive."
"Of what?"
"I think you know."
Yeah. I knew exactly what he was talking about. I know what Elizabeth was seeing.

She saw the end.