“You did what?” Margo squeaked.
“Well, to be fair, I didn’t start from scratch. To construct a nanoid from the start would have been exceedingly tedious requiring access to high-tech materials, laboratory equipment and time I just didn’t have. So I extracted the deactivated nanoparticles that had been implanted into my chest by Arkdone.” Evan ran his hands through his hair, deep in thought before continuing. Had he taken a moment to look up, he would have seen the entire family staring at him, bug-eyed and jaws agape.
“I only needed one, you see. After some trial and error, I finally succeeded in reanimating and reprogramming one. The trials I conducted on Moe and Curly confirmed my work.”
“Moe and Curly?” Cole interrupted.
“His lab rats,” Kylie offered with a smile. She had known Evan was working on something complex and suspected it had something to do with the creation of an offensive strategy, but this—nanoweaponry—blew her mind.
Evan looked up and blinked as though waking from a foggy nap.
“Evan, keep talking,” Meg’s tone was both encouraging and anxious.
“Right,” Evan nodded, as though his sister were there to see him. “So, once I had the first nanoid functioning properly, I set it to self-replicate using the other hundred nanoparticles I harvested from myself as spare parts. Seventy-two hours later, I had amassed a microscopic army. I designed them to target the Circle of Willis where they remain in a sleeper-state until activated.”
Cole raised his hand. “I am so lost. Who the heck is Willis?”
Those with medical backgrounds found it hard not to smile at Cole’s perplexed expression. “The Circle of Willis is a ring of arteries found at the base of the brain that provides all the blood that comes and goes to the brain. It is essential for life,” Theo explained.
Cole reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. “Got it. Sorry, keep going Ev.”
Evan pulled the black, hard-shelled sunglasses case from his pocket and waited impatiently to continue. Cole was like a brother to him, but it was difficult to discuss his research and developments in a way that everybody could understand. “No worries, Cole.” He forced himself to smile, though inside he was chomping at the bit to finally explain what had been a guarded secret for months.
“The nanoids will remain in their sleeper-state indefinitely, unless triggered.” He opened the black case and held it out for everyone to see. “Meg, I have in my hand two vials and six keychain-sized cylinders.” He explained aloud so she could visualize what he was holding. “In the vials are the nanoweapons—one for Arkdone, the other for Williams. The Chapstick-sized devices are remote detonators. When any one of the detonators is triggered, the nanoids in both Arkdone’s and Williams’ brains will cause a rapid annihilation of those vital arteries. Death will be painful but complete in fifteen minutes.”
“So,” Theo’s eyes were alight with excitement. “Why would we bother with the remote detonators? I mean, if we’ve managed to inject them with the nanoids, why not kill them right then?”
Meg’s voice sounded distant, as though she’d pulled the phone away from her mouth. “We don’t want to kill them unless we have to. They’re powerful men who could be forced to use their positions for good.”
“My thoughts exactly, Meg,” Evan was grinning as he stared at the cell phone still in his mother’s hand.
“That’s why you made so many detonators?” Theo asked.
“So the ability to activate the nanoweapons was spread out. If either of them tries to kill any one or more of us, the survivors would still be able to retaliate.”
“But what if one acts out and the other doesn’t?” Farrow had been concentrating hard on the conversation, doing her best to keep up. She got lost in the medical and technical jargon that may as well have been a different language to her.
“That’s just another safeguard,” Alik explained. “Right Evan?”
“Precisely. I propose we explain the intricacies of our ‘checkmate’ like this: We allow them to live if Arkdone steps down from his political posts and closes his asylum completely—including the release of all metamonarchs currently ‘in training’. Williams must forfeit all associations with metahumans as well, disband the Facility and relocate to Arkdone’s asylum. Neither will be allowed to further experiment with human subjects of any age: zygote to cadaver. We tell them they can live out their days in this peaceful but forced exile, if they adhere to these rules. If one or both are ever discovered to have broken any part of these imposed rules of peace, they die.”
The plane was silent for a moment before Cole spoke up. “Or we just kill ’em. I vote for kill ’em.”
49 Winter’s Revenge