The Suns of Liberty: Legion: A Superhero Novel Read Free Page B

Revolution reminded.
         “Sorry, General. Spider Wasp has not called
in yet,” she said, and then added , “the little fucker.”
         Revolution leaned toward Sophia, speaking not into the
com, only for her to hear, “This is a gang we’re taking down. He’ll be here.
Give him some time.”
         “He doesn’t show for anything else,” Sophia said, just
to him.
         “He’ll show for this.”
         Five minutes passed before a familiar voice broke the
silence over their coms. “Where you guys been? I’ve been waiting on you.” Before
anyone could answer, the voice added, “So, why do you think these guys
turned on the Council?” It was Paul Ward’s voice booming over the com. Sure
enough, Ward had shown. He had a particular dislike for the gangs in Boston. Revolution knew there was no way Spider Wasp was going to miss out on taking down
the very last one.
         Ward was referring to the not-so-well-kept secret that
the big gangs had all been bought off by the Council a long time ago and did
the Council’s bidding. This hadn’t stopped gangs from fighting turf wars. In
fact, it had increased them in many cases, upped the stakes, as they competed
for Council business.
         But to turn against the Council itself was unusual. In
the post-depression world of banking, the gangs stole from the deposit accounts
of customers instead of the reserve accounts of the banks.
         It wasn’t much of a distinction, in reality, since
most depositors’ money was insured by the full faith and credit of the US government,
but the distinction was one of high symbolic importance.
         It was one big Fuck You to the Council. A
public flouting of the rules.
         “The Council left Boston,” Revolution said, nodding
slightly to Sophia as he said it, as if to say, See, I told you he’d show .
That was about as close as you got to a ribbing from the man in the metal. “And
they took their business with them. These guys probably feel like they have
nothing left to lose.”
         “That makes sense,” Ward said.
         “Of course, they’re wrong,” Revolution said.
     
     
    Presently...
    09:56AM
     
    Revolution
stood in the center of the bus waiting for the nearly two-dozen men around him
to make their move. There was no danger for him there. Their bullets would be
repelled by the titanium alloy of his armor. They would do more damage to
themselves than to him. He was counting on that. If they bum-rushed him, he
could easily overpower them all. This was going to be very satisfying.
         Several of the men reached for weapons, placed their
aim, and began to pull their triggers—
         But just before they could fire, a voice called out
from the front of the bus, “That’s enough!” It was Big Bruiser Gunzy. 
         Bruiser walked forward as the men parted to let him
pass. He was not armed. Instead, he held a strange metal cylinder that the
Revolution did not recognize.
         “Oh, you think you’re so clever, don’t you? Scare the
shit out of us, make us fire on you. Take us all out without having to raise
your pinky. Let us do it for you.”
         The Revolution said nothing.
         “I’ve got news for you. I know all about you. I came
prepared. Let’s see how you fare without all that armor.” Bruiser pointed the
EMP device at the Revolution. The same one he had used to fry all the
electrical power in the bank.
         And pulled its trigger.
     
     
    CHAPTER 3
     
     
    A t
that exact moment, halfway across town, at the location the bus driver had
programmed into his GPS, a tall skinny bagman for Marconi’s boys was pulling
Uzis down from a shelf in the gang’s Weapons Room. His nickname was Stimpy and
he was alone in the room. Left to do the shit work—yet again.
         Stimpy’s job was to lay the guns neatly out on the
table for the two-dozen men who were presently in the adjoining Counting Room.
They’d received the