Ren had his hands on the dashboard. He said things under his breath. Sweat dropped

from his forehead as he talked to the van.

The rockets slid through the van. Smoke filled the cabin as they passed. Then they

blew up the trees behind the fugitives.

“You hypnotized the van again?,” asked Marty. He returned to the wheel and yanked

it the other way to straighten up the van so they could get back on the road.

“It seemed like the thing to do at the time,” said Ren. He leaned back in his chair,

trying to calm his breathing.

“What just happened?,” asked Cog. He had pressed into the side wall of the van. His

headlights looked at the intact rear wall of the vehicle.

“I hypnotized the van into letting the rockets pass,” said Ren.

“You know that sounds impossible,” said Cog. “I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see

it.”

“I don’t believe it now,” said Marty. “We need to get rid of that monkey.”

“How?,” said Ren. “He can multiply faster than we can deal with him.”

“If there was some way to keep him from doing that, he would be easy pickings,” said

Marty. “Too bad we don’t have a nullifier.”

“I have an idea,” said Cog. “It might get us out of this.”

“Do it,” said Marty. “We don’t have anything to lose at this point.”

Cog drifted out of the side door. He fell behind the van as it tried to elude the

multiplying monkeys. More weapons were being passed out as Troop tried to think

of something that would slow the machine down for his human allies to catch up and

finish the job.

“I hope he doesn’t run away,” said Marty. “That seems to be his preferred way of

dealing with things.”

“We can’t worry about that,” said Ren. “We are about to hit a bunch of apes who

want us to stop. I’m not sure the van will overcome his grasp on reality.”

“Do what you can,” said Marty. “If one of them gets inside, we’re done. One is as

much as a hundred in this case.”

“The problem is we’re dealing with a hive,” said Ren. “We can excise individuals but

the brain will keep spawning new individuals. We need to figure out the central core

if we want to stop this thing.”

“Except we don’t know which one that is,” said Marty. He hit a clump of monkeys.

They clung to the front of his van as he tried to shake them off. “This is trouble.”

“They’re going for the doors,” said Ren. He ducked away from a fist slamming

against his window.

Marty pressed a switch on his door panel. Locks clicked in place. He tried to peer

around the shapes blocking his view as he drove. If he hit a tree, that was the end of

the chase.

“I am out of ideas,” said Marty. “As soon as I roll down my window to use my

powers, they’ll be able to get inside with us.”

“Same with any weapons I have,” said Ren. “Punching a hole through the windshield

will allow him to put a duplicate inside. Then we have a population explosion.”

“There has to be something we can use to get out of this.” Marty ducked as the

monkey shot at the front windshield with a rifle. The plastic protection scarred from

the impacts.

“If he keeps that up, we don’t have long.” Marty stood in his seat. “I think we have

to think about abandoning ship.”

“What about Watson and Cortez?” Ren stood also.

“They’re on their own until we can come back for them,” said Marty. “When the van

wrecks, we’re going to have to move out and move fast.”

More rifles appeared in the many Troop’s hands. Bullets worked on the windshield.

Cracks appeared in the plastic.

“We need to buy some time for the others,” said Marty. He moved away from his seat.

The van drove itself as he went to the side door.

Ren joined him at the door. He glanced at the monkeys trying to get in. The

windshield looked like it might collapse at any moment.

“Get ready to jump,” said Marty. “Once we’re clear, we’ll have to think of some way

to take the monkey brain down and get away from whatever guards remain after all

the damage we have done.”

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” said Ren. He took a breath. “We better hurry before it’s

too late.”

Marty pushed the side door open. The step ladder almost touched the ground. One of

the Troops swung inside to confront the two humans. The Scout let a bull knock his

enemy back through the door.

“Let’s go,” said Marty. He dispersed the bull as he jumped from the van.

He rolled along the road as the vehicle kept going. He watched as the horde of Troop

registered that he was not within reach any more. They dropped one piece off and

then combined into that core persona.

Ren stood on the side of the road close to where Marty had stopped rolling. He

watched the approaching horde dividing to conquer them. There had to be something

they could do to stop them.

At least the others were getting away and had a chance to defend themselves from

more enemy actions.

“Too bad Finch isn’t here,” said Marty. He climbed to his feet to deal with the

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problem surging toward them like a wave.

“I know,” said Ren. “She is an excellent fighter, better than both of us combined.”

“Tell me about it,” said Marty.

The van went off the road and crashed against a tree. It remained in place with the

engine running. The tanks holding Cortez and Watson rolled around inside before

coming to a stop beside the crew table.

A purple beam blasted out of the sky as Troop reached Marty and Ren. All of his

bodies combined back into one body. He looked down at his hands. He tried to split

apart again.

He made a noise when nothing happened.

“I think you have lost your powers for the moment,” said Ren. “I think you should

run.”

Troop went for his throat instead. He could break two normal men. He could rip their

arms off with little effort.

Ren stepped back. He pulled a piece of paper from his bag. He waited like a

bullfighter waiting for the bull.

“Are you sure you want to take him on?,” said Marty. He flipped through the

catalogue of animals he had stored in his brain. Some of them could take on the

enemy without breaking a sweat.

“I think I have everything in hand,” said Ren. He walked away from Marty so the

villain had to concentrate on just one of them at a time.

Troop roared and charged the detective. Once he was done with this one, he could

turn on his hands and feet and run the other one down. He reached out with his hands

to grab his quarry.

Ren dodged the attack. He jumped forward. He slapped the piece of paper against

Troop’s head as he passed. The paper burned away. The monkey fell over, arms still

outstretched.

“More hypnotism?,” asked Marty.

“Yes,” said Ren. “We should try to get the van on the road again. There’s no telling

when more of the soldiers will show up.”

“Let’s see if we can get it rolling,” said Marty. “That was really helpful, Cog.

Nullifying his power helped us out of the woods.”

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” said Cog. “Whatever they are. I took the beam from

a group of soldiers coming this way. They may want to keep up from getting back on

the road.”

“That’s not good,” said Marty. “Let’s look at the van and see if we have a way to get

it moving again.”

The group jogged over to where the van rested. The engine still hummed as it pushed

against the tree. The window was a giant spider web of lines sliced into the plastic.

The front of the van bent inward from the impact.

“Let me back it up,” said Marty. He climbed into the side door. He worked his way

to the front of the vehicle. He slid the seat back so he could sit down around the

wheel that had been shoved forward from the hit. They weren’t driving this thing out

of the park. He cut the ignition.

He climbed out of the seat and headed back to the door. He shook his heads at his

companions.

“Nonoperational?,” said Cog. He could work on it, but it would take time they didn’t

have to fix everything wrong with the van.

“Yeah,” said Marty. “We’re on foot, guys.”

“Let me store the van,” said Ren. “We can try to repair the damage when we are away

from here.”

He pulled out the bottle he had used earlier. He pointed it at the wrecked transport.

It fell inside the mouth of the bottle without a sound.

“What happens to Watson and Cortez while they are in the bottle?,” asked Marty.

“They’ll experience some lost time,” said Ren as he put the bottle away in his bag. “It

will be like they are frozen. When I take the van out of the bottle, they’ll thaw out.”

“Let’s get out of here before we run into any more trouble.” Marty summoned his

dragon. “We talk to the rangers and get a government response to this. Maybe we can

get things going before the rest of the security force run away.”

“If they retreat to their base, it will take months for the government to do anything to

get inside without powered help,” said Cog.

“I will be glad to help them out,” said Marty. He climbed on the back of his living

gunship. “It will tougher to break in, but I can do it now that I have seen the place.”

The dragon started to lift off in a cloud of leaves and dust. It grabbed Ren in one paw

to carry him away. It grabbed Cog in the other. It flapped its tiny wings and swam

into the air.

Men ran out of the forest. They leveled weapons and shot at the beast as it climbed

out of range. Finally someone called for a ceasefire. They had to make plans to get

away from the scene before anything else happened. They had hours to get things

done if they wanted to retain their individual freedom.

“There’s the Ranger office,” said Marty. He pointed at a cabin in the distance. “We’ll

set down there and see if we can get some help.”

“It will take hours for any response,” said Ren. “The staff will be able to evacuate.”

“If we don’t tell someone, we won’t be able to get the law involved,” said Marty.

“You’ll have to keep Watson in your bag without due process for years while we keep

everything to ourselves.”

“I have no problem with that,” said Cog.

“That’s because you’re hiding in some underground labyrinth where villains have to

be powered to come after you,” said Marty.

“I have no problem with that,” said Cog.

Marty shrugged. He had spent the last ten years running. Who was he to tell someone

not to hide their strangeness from others? The difference was in the details as far as

he could see.

“You can work for me when this is settled,” said Ren. “I will be able to graduate, and

set up an agency. I’ll need support staff.”

“I don’t see where I would be good for that,” said Cog. “I am not one for chasing

down clues.”

“You can be my secretary and technology specialist,” said Ren. “Every detective

needs a scientist to figure out clues outside his knowledge.”

“I don’t think I can do that,” said Cog. “That requires constant visitation to my home.

I don’t think you would do that.”

“That’s why phones are useful,” said Ren.

Cog didn’t see how that would change things in the long run, but fell silent.

The dragon landed with a huff of wings and an explosion of gravel from the lot in

front of the Ranger office. It had been done up like a log cabin with the sign and

symbol of the park service on the wall next to the glass front door. People stood at the

window to watch the beast curl up to let its passengers off.

“Let’s see what we can get done,” said Marty. “If we can’t get any help, we’ll have

to try somewhere else.”

“I doubt things will go like we want them,” said Cog.

“We have to do what we can,” said Marty.

“Even if it’s not productive?,” said Cog.

“Especially when it’s not productive,” said Marty.

“I don’t like that at all,” said Cog.

A couple of park rangers walked out of the station. They were built to a type, lean

cowboys in green uniforms, tan hats. One was a bit more beaten by the weather with

sad dark eyes in his craggy face. The younger one looked like he had been given his

badge the day before.

“How’s it going, guys?,” asked Marty. “I need some help.”

“What kind of help?,” asked the senior member. His hand was close to the pistol on

his belt.

“We’ve been kidnaped and escaped our captors,” said Marty. “Their camp was here

in the park. There’s a mess of them so I think you guys might want to call for some

kind of backup before you try to arrest them.”

“That sounds like a load of bull,” said the ranger. “Got any kind of proof?”

“I can show you where we escaped from if that’s what you want,” said Marty. “They

might be destroying the evidence while we’re talking.”

“I can ride up there and take a look see,” said the ranger. “How many guys are we

talking about here?”

“A few dozen,” said Marty. “We didn’t get a complete count of how many were in the

building when we broke out. They’ve got injured to think about unless they left them

behind.”

“Let me get the truck,” said the ranger. “Call this in, MacBride. If it’s real, we’ll need

support from the other districts, the Indian Police, the local sheriffs, and maybe the

FBI.”

“We’re going to believe this loon?,” said MacBride. He gestured at Marty.

“It’s been a long time, but I still owe the Hazard Scouts,” said the older ranger. “Call

it in, starting with our stations. We don’t want our guys involved in a shooting war

if these bad guys are breaking out.”

“Got it,” said MacBride. He walked into the station to start his phone calls.