Exerpt from The Premonition Trilogy

As the rest of the group left the conference room, James and his companions followed Luthor out a separate door. They walked down a hall, until they reached a door with a keypad next to it. Luthor punched the code in, and a cover panel above the keypad slid up. Luthor stared at the black cylinder that extended out. A red beam swept over his eyes, then the cover slid back down. Another one next to the keypad slid up and Luthor pulled his glove off.

He placed his hand on the panel, and said, “Sorry for the delay. You’ll understand once we get inside.”

After a few moments the doors slid open. James was surprised at what he saw. Along one wall were more than a dozen large lockers. On another were several desks, each with large flat-screen computer monitors on them. On the monitors were rotating, 3D images of the weird guns that the soldiers in the forest had carried. There was a hallway that Luthor started walking down, so the others followed him.

“We took one of the guns that the soldiers had and analyzed it carefully,” he said. “We were able to replicate and eventually manipulate the technology. I was able to develop several different types of weapons, to be used both offensively and defensively.”

They got to another set of doors that slid open as the group approached. Luthor led the way inside and motioned to his right. “Here they are,” he said.

James looked and saw five display cases. Each one contained were different silver, metalic objects.

Luthor walked to the first one, which had several silver disks in it.

“These,” he said, “are mine.” He opened the case and took one of the disks out and put it in his pocket. “We’re going to test all of these in a few moments, so don’t activate them.”

He then gave them each one of the objects from the cabinet.

Dinah got what looked like a dagger hilt; John got a pair of gloves; Karen, two pistols that looked like the ones the soldiers from the forrest had, as well as a red cloth with a blue stone in the center; and James got two black wristbands. They followed Luthor into an adjoining room. It was a round room with blue walls and floors. Standing in the center, was a bronze-skinned girl. She had long brown hair and a bright smile.

“Lily,” Luthor said. “Thank you for joining us.”

Lily bowed her head. “My pleasure,” she said.

Luthor introduced Dinah and James, and then said, “Lily is one of the people we rescued from the organization. She is going to be helping us test our new ‘toys’.”

“Nice to meet both of you," Lilly said. "And to see the two of you again," she added, nodding to Karen and John. "Please stand back."

James and the others stepped back as Lily clapped her hands. When she did, there was a brief flash, and then there was...another Lily standing next to the first one. They each clapped their hands and duplicated again. The process kept going until there were sixteen Lily’s.

James realized his mouth was hanging open. He closed it as Luthor started talking.

“This disk," he said, pulling one of the disks out of his pocket, "uses the same kind of energy used in the pistols to stun whomever it hits. It then uses a combination of the ‘knock back’ energy and bio-scanning technology to home in on another target, and then another, and another.” He pushed a button on the center of the disk with his thumb and a blue halo of energy surrounded the edges. “Until I call it back,” he added. “Like so.” He threw the disk at the nearest Lily.

It hit her, and she disappeared. It flew to the next closest Lily with the same results. After it hit a third, Luthor held his hand up. The disk altered its course and flew back towards Luthor. Just before it reached his hand, the blue energy disappeared. He caught it and put it back in his pocket.

“Wouldn’t using their guns work just the same?” John asked.

“Yes, but these will allow me to dispatch multiple targets at once,” Luthor said. “And they’re just plain wicked,” he added with a grin and a slight sparkle in his eye.

All thirteen remaining Lily’s chuckled at the comment.

“Moving on,” Luthor stepped in front of Dinah. “Dinah, please grasp the hilt that I gave you as you would an actual dagger.”

Dinah did as she was told and a three-inch silver beam extended from the top of the hilt.

“In a nutshell,” Luthor said, “you can stab that into a person, and it can cause them pain or even knock them unconscious without any permanent damage.”

Dinah nodded her head, appearing impressed.

“Plus,” Luthor continued, “You can cut through almost any non-organic material.”

“‘Almost’?” Dinah asked.

“It has a small problem with metal,” Luthor answered. “Can’t quite figure out why, though.” He stepped to the side. “Try her out,” he said. “Oh, and I’ve asked Lily to put up a fight.”

Dinah smiled. “I wouldn’t want it any other way,” she said.

She turned to the first Lily a few feet in front of her and assumed a fighting stance, knees slightly bent and both arms back, with her empty left hand held slightly more forward than her right. Two Lilys came up on either side of her, roughly the same distance away. The one in front charged. The other two did the same a second later. Dinah jumped towards the first Lily. She planted her right foot on Lily’s left shoulder and kicked off, hard. The force pushed that Lily towards the ground. Dinah landed on her left foot and used her momentum to bring her right foot around to the left. The toe of her foot hit the second Lily on the chin, hard enough to spin her completely around. Dinah then crouched low and held the knife out to her side. She stood, and the blade went through the first Lilys side. She disappeared as Dinah brought her left foot straight up, catching the third Lilys chin. At the same time, she reversed her grip on the knife and stabbed behind her, hitting the second Lily in the stomach. When her foot hit the ground again, she sprang forward, flipping over the third Lily while slicing through her shoulder. Dinah hit the ground, rolled, and sprang up in front of another Lily, ready to strike.

“Enough,” Luthor bellowed.
James realized his mouth was hanging open.
Again.
The entire display had lasted maybe six seconds. John started to clap and, after a moment, James joined him.
“Whoa,” he said as Dinah approached. “Just…wow.” He was speechless.

John said, “Remind me never to make you mad.”
They all chuckled.
“John,” Luthor said, “You should also enjoy your testing. Your gloves make special use of the weapons ability to generate kinetic ‘knock back’ force. Basically you can use the gloves to generate a push or pull effect.”
“How do I switch between them?” John asked.
Luthor smiled. “You need only think it. The gloves, once they are put on, respond directly to your thoughts. The only limit to the power output,” Luthor said, “is how hard you can think.”

John nodded his head, grinning, then put the gloves on.
“Instead of fighting anyone,” Luthor said, “I’d like you to test something for me.”
He mashed a button on a wall panel and a large steel plate came up out of the floor.
“This plate of steel," Luthor said, "is a foot and a half thick. I want you to push through it.”

John nodded his head and stepped in front of the plate. He raised his hands, fists closed, and then pointed them at the plate. He closed his eyes for a second or two, then opened his fists.
James didn’t see anything except John fly backwards a few feet. He was silent as everyone ran over to him.
"Are you all right?" Karen asked
"That was awesome!" John shouted.

Luthor was already at the plate.
He was silent for a moment, then let out a sigh. “You hardly dented it,” he said. “I think you did more damage to yourself than the plate.”
John stood. “These aren’t the easiest things to use, you know,” he said angrily.

“I know,” Luthor said. “None of these devices are. That is why I am asking that you each practice here or in your quarters after they initial tests are concluded.”
John walked back over to the rest of the group and ran a hand through his hair.

Luthor moved on. “Karen you’re next. You surely notice that your guns look almost identical to the ones carried by the soldiers.”
Karen was silent.
“Well, you would be correct. They are almost identical. Almost. They fire the same energy, and the energy has the same effects. The only thing special about them is that you can control how powerful they are, to a certain degree.”

“Well that’s a rip-off,” John said. “She gets a slightly juiced-up version of their guns and all of us get wicked cool gadgets.”
“John, I wasn’t done,” Luthor said.
“Oh. My bad,” John said.

“That scarf that I gave you is supposed to be tied around your head, with the crystal centered on your forehead. It fires that same kind of bolt, but it is, of course, less conspicuous. It works the same as John’s gloves. Try it out.”
Karen tied the cloth around her head, and then turned to one of the Lilys. Her eyes narrowed slightly and the bolt shot out with the familiar slicing sound. It struck the Lily and knocked her backwards.
“Very good,” Luthor said. “Of course this presents numerous tactical opportunities and options.”

He turned to James. “‘And then there was one’,” he said.
James remained silent.
Luthor looked at Dinah and twitched his head in James direction.
Dinah hesitated only a second. She leapt at James. He immediately threw his hands up to block her, and was surprised to see Dinah hit a translucent white wall of…something, that suddenly appeared.
“What in the blazes?” Dinah shouted as she fell.
“James,” Luthor said. “Those bands create an energy barrier. You, of course, control them simply by thinking. You can make a barrier shaped like a wall; a sphere; an elephant; whatever you think. Big, small, humongous, it doesn’t matter.”

James nodded his head, and then made every kind of barrier Luthor had mentioned.
“It’s good to see that each of you can use your equipment properly. Take tonight and all day tomorrow to practice.”
“What if we need more time?” Karen asked.
“Then too bad. We move out in seventy-two hours.”
Then, he turned and left them with that thought.

James looked at each of his friends, and then at the remaining nine Lily’s.
“Who’s ready to have some fun?” James asked.
Karen, Dinah, and John responded by activating their equipment. Each Lily clapped her hands, then all the ones after that did the same.
“Dinah,” James said. “You go far right; John, center right; Karen, center left; and I’ll go far left.”
They each nodded.
“Go!” James shouted.