Our Last Echo

20

Washington DC

"POTUS joining," Major Farris reported.

Swanwick noted that her eyes never left the live stream of data and images from Metropolis. The situation room was in an uproar.

"Mr President," he acknowledged.

"What the hell is it, Calvin?" The president demanded.

"We don't know," he answered, doing his best not to sound as helpless as he felt. "It emerged from the crashed Amazonian ship."

"Sir, they've cleared the city," Farris reported.

"We can go straight to key red, Mr President," General Baldwin suggested.

"Are you crazy?" Swanwick objected.

"They are high enough that we can nuke them with no casualties," Baldwin insisted.

"One casualty, Mr President," Swanwick pointed out relentlessly. "Kovalan." But even as he spoke, he knew what was coming.

There was a silence, and then the President spoke. "God have mercy on us all."

Swanwick nodded to Baldwin and prayed that Kovalan could outrun a ballistic nuclear missile.

Metropolis

Wonder Woman looped her lasso around Bill Centron's body and tied his hands. The young man offered no resistance. She tugged on the lasso and he walked as she indicated, toward the exit.

"The lasso is a gift of my people," Wonder Woman explained to Diana. "When used as a weapon it will not break, no matter how much strain is put on it. But it is also an instrument of truth."

Diana glanced back at Bill. "What do you mean?"

"It may not work as well for you as it does for me," Wonder Woman said, "but as long as he is bound with it, he is bound to truth."

"You mean he can't lie?"

"Exactly."

"But once he realises that, he'll just stay quiet."

Wonder Woman smiled. "Perhaps. I can compel answers, but whether it will work that way for you...I'm not sure. You're strong, Diana. If you are a truthful person yourself, I believe you'll be able to wield the lasso." It was a big if. Diana's profession was not well known for honesty. But Tyler loved her. He wouldn't love someone who lived her life in lies.

She offered the end of the lasso to Diana. "Regardless, he cannot free himself until you let him go. I suggest you wait until the police risk coming closer."

Diana smiled and accepted the lasso. She turned to Bill. "Let's start with why you had me abducted this morning."

Bill looked at her, frowning, and began to speak.

As he threw himself and Centron's monster higher and higher above the Earth, Kovalan found the clamour of the city fading away. Though there was more to hear as the cities behind them blurred into many, it was paradoxically easier to cut through the billions of voices to find what he needed than it was to sift through thousands.

What he needed was Secretary Swanwick's voice. He heard his conversation with the President. He knew a nuclear strike had been authorised. That told him just how expendable he was to them...but it also did seem like a reasonable solution.

He put on an extra burst of speed then slowed for a moment so the monster's momentum carried it upward, away from him, for just a moment before it began to fall back. Not long enough. He pushed harder, higher, further.