The Pyramid Chronicles: Tyche Point (#1)

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Zero Gravity

Hovering a few feet off the ground, with nothing to use as an anchor, was a bit inconvenient. Willow tried to twist herself to face the chamber door and was completely unsuccessful. She wound up bumping into Adam and then drifting off in the opposite direction.

"Gyrokinesis?" Wren had somehow gotten herself upside down.

Ash glared in her direction. "Hey, Wren, maybe you could do something about this?"

"Yeah, yeah, give me a second. It's been a while since I practiced—"

"Stop talking and get us down!"

Sam cleared his throat. "Hey, uh, Veronica? This is super cool and all, but it would be more helpful if you only turned off gravity for the bad guys."

"I'm trying!" Veronica replied. "It's really hard to do this and focus on getting the fragment. I feel like I'm going to throw up!"

"That's not going to work." Willow sighed and folded her arms. "This isn't about gravity, it's about energy."

"So, Sam couldn't do it either?" Eric asked.

"No."

Sam closed his eyes. "Cool. I have a headache coming on, anyway."

"So, how do we get it out?" Summer asked.

Willow finally managed to turn herself so that she was facing the fragment. She reached into her bag and pulled out her phone, along with the sensor she'd reprogrammed the night before to take readings. She plugged the sensor into her phone and held it out toward the tower of rock. Her screen lit up.

"What are you doing?" Adam asked.

"Okay wait," Summer said. "The thing's made of metal, right? So couldn't Seth—"

"Seth's not on our side," Eric reminded her.

"Yeah, but if we—"

"Stop arguing," Willow snapped. "All of you. No one's powers are going to work on the fragment." She pressed a button, and the program began converting the incoming data into a graph. "I may not have all of SCI's data, but I do know they figured one thing out: the energy field needs to be disrupted. None of our powers will be able to affect anything inside the field until then. There's a certain metal that can disrupt the field, but—"

A new voice spoke. "—synthesizing it is a challenge."

A SCI agent stepped into the chamber. He took a moment to look over the array of powered teens drifting aimlessly through the air, and the soldiers in varying states of damage scattered around them.

Willow recognized the man from the roster of agents assigned to the Delta project: Agent David Martin.

"So, the reports of powered kids were real, after all." Agent Martin held out a hand. "This seems to be the edge of the gravity disruption."

Seth lifted his fists as if he'd be able to throw a punch from ten feet in the air. "Bold of you to come in here alone. We took down all your guards. You really think you stand a chance against—"

"Seth," Ash warned. "Shut it."

Martin chuckled. "Sure, you handled our guards. Some of them, anyway. But we have backup on the way. Do you think you'd fare as well against a force twenty times as large?"

"We also have backup on the way," Wren informed him.

Summer waved a hand. "And we also have backup on the way!"

"Uh, we do?" Eric asked.

"Well, no," Summer muttered. "But they didn't know that."

Willow lowered her phone and looked at Martin. "You figured out alterium disrupts the field. The reports say you created a semi-successful alloy. Why not do it?"

"Because we're not stupid," Martin told her.

"But it's inevitable!"

Adam flung his arms above his head in exasperation. "What's inevitable? What's going on?"

"Uh, guys?" Veronica's voice trembled. "I can't keep holding—"

Gravity came back with full force. Everyone dropped. Willow grunted in pain as she slammed against the ground. The moment she'd reoriented herself, she pushed herself up. On her phone, she switched from the energy data to the camera feed.

One of the exterior cameras showed a chopper touching down just west of the parking lot. As soon as it was on the ground, the door slid open.

The Director stepped out.

Willow glanced up. The other altered were still climbing to their feet, trying to figure out what to do next. Her gaze darted back to her screen. She rapidly flipped through security feeds, searching for lab rooms. If SCI had alterium ready to go, where would they keep it?

Some of Delta's labs were occupied by SCI, while others had been left untouched. That narrowed it down quite a bit. She kept tapping, switching feeds—

There. Four researchers gathered around a metal rod. Alterium.

Willow opened a map of the facility and identified the quickest route to the lab, climbing to her feet as she did. Her phone went back into her bag. A moment later, she was sprinting to the door.

Fights broke out around her. Agent Martin was gone, presumably to wait for SCI's backup to arrive.

"Willow, wait!" Adam yelled. "Where are you going?"

Willow didn't answer, and she didn't look back.