"Then I guess you're of no further use to me." Fuller took a step forward, out of the shadows. "Tell me this, Jocasta. How were you able to overcome the hypnotic suggestion?"
"Jocasta?" Newcombe glanced first at Fuller, then at her and only then did comprehension finally dawn. "Oh, my."
"You give yourself too much credit… Schadel. I was never under your control."
"And yet, here we are." The ersatz FBI agent chuckled, but there was no humor in his eyes. He raised the Staff over his head. A halo of energy began gathering at its crest, building to the intensity of a star about to explode.
And then it did.
Burton fired again and again, until his pistol was empty. Dodge winced when the first shot was fired, but that first bullet, like the ones that followed, failed to hit their target. The shield generated by the exoskeleton device, which Dodge had removed from the Float Car and hastily donned, repelled every round.
The pilot discarded the now useless weapon and charged like an enraged bull. Dodge knew from experience that the force field would bounce Burton away just like it did the bullets, but he decided not to let the man get that close. He pointed one of the gauntlet-like hand grips at Burton and unleashed a bolt of electricity that blasted the man all the way back to the adjoining tunnel.
The pilot was dazed, but whatever had been done to deprive him of his volition also increased his ability to tolerate pain and trauma. He was back on his feet in a matter of seconds and immediately tried another frontal assault. Dodge fired the lightning weapon again, sustaining the discharge until wisps of steam began rising from Burton's rigid form. When he finally relented, Burton did not stir. Only the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest indicated that the man still lived. Dodge approached cautiously, half-expecting that the pilot was playing possum, but Burton was out cold.
Dodge unbuckled the belt of the exoskeleton, instantly deactivating the device and set about stripping the unconscious man's bootlaces. As soon as his stricken foe was securely bound, he reactivated the device and took flight.
At last he understood what had happened in the final moments before the plane had broken up. Both pilots, Burton and Stevens, were under Fuller's thrall and when the latter had given the impossible command to safely land the aircraft, they had been unable to do anything except make the attempt. Fuller believed he needed the plane intact, no doubt to transport away the spoils of the Outpost and had thought nothing of sacrificing one of his pawns in a futile effort to land the plane.
Now Fuller was out of pawns; it was time for the endgame.
Dodge's sense of confidence was short lived however. When he arrived at the central chamber and saw the newly opened passageway descending into the ice, he knew the game had already changed.
With the exoskeleton engaged, he drifted down the passage. It had been several months since he had last used the device, but it was a skill that, once learned, was easily remembered. The articulated joints responded to his direction like they were an extension of his own body. He glided a few inches above the ice as easily as if trying to walk stealthily. The only differences were the all-but-impenetrable force field and the two-fisted lightning attack he could unleash at a moment’s notice. But as he descended, the sounds and lights reflected in on the white ice walls warned him that his command of ancient technology might not afford him the advantage he first imagined.
He could hear voices — Newcombe's odd combination of didactic lecture and child-like fascination — and Fuller occasionally interjecting a comment or question, but the words were unclear. And then, as he stepped from the passage on to the floor of a large open area, one more piece of the puzzle clicked into place.
He still didn't know who Fuller really was, but there was no mistaking the object he now held above his head. It was the Staff, stolen from their facility in the Empire State Building; the key to all the technology in Outpost. And there in the center of the cavern, pulsing with energy, was a pillar of the same metal.
That pillar had been the beacon which had drawn them across the icy continent and finally to the central chamber above. The Staff had then made it possible for Fuller to unlock the final door and gain access to the source of power.
Similarly, although Dodge could not fathom what Fuller's final ambition might be, there was no mistaking his immediate intent: he was preparing to use the power of the Staff to incinerate Newcombe and Amelia Dunham.
Without a moment's hesitation, Dodge stabbed the gauntlet at Fuller. A blinding ribbon of electricity arced across the chamber. If Fuller saw the sudden flash of illumination behind him or glimpsed his own shadow on the icy wall, he had not even a fraction of a second to react. But because he had the Staff, he didn't need even that much.
Dodge's attack stung to be sure, but much of its intensity was lost as the charged bolt encountered force field surrounding Fuller. Within the violet corona, the pretender grimaced for only a moment before turning to Dodge and unleashing the fire he had prepared for the others.
Dodge dropped his attack and sped away as lightning stabbed impotently through the space he had occupied only a moment before. He swooped behind the silver column around which the domed chamber seemed to revolve. He knew intuitively that Fuller would not dare risk harming the pillar; it was surely the goal which had brought him here.
The column wasn't broad enough to hide him from Fuller's view or vice versa. Dodge could see the rage etched into the other man's features. Fuller stalked toward the column, the Staff held aloft and bristling with violet intensity. Dodge circled to the right, keeping the column between them and glanced toward Newcombe and Amelia. The scientist was staring at Fuller and his energy weapon like a moth drawn to an open flame, but Amelia's eyes locked with Dodge's gaze.
"Get out of here!" shouted Dodge. "I'll hold him off as long as I can."
The blond woman nodded and immediately launched into motion. She grabbed Newcombe's arm and dragged him bodily toward the exit. Dodge continued circling, intent on the same goal. Fuller must have realized what he was attempting, because he abruptly charged toward the column, cutting the distance between them in half and at the same time started hurling bolts of energy toward the exit. Lightning discharges hammered into the ice, vaporizing it instantly. The staccato crack of electricity ionizing the air reverberated in the domed chamber. Steeling himself against the pain he knew would come, Dodge twisted around and aimed for the heart of the tempest.
Fuller's fire followed him. The force field dampened some of the shock, but he nevertheless felt his muscles seizing as the current arced through his body. Sparks danced between his skin and the force field, but somehow, he made it to the exit.
As soon as he entered the confines of the upwardly sloping tunnel, he did an about-face and began hurling lightning, not at Fuller, but at the ceiling of the tunnel. Huge chunks of ice began crashing down, filling the opening. He dared not hope that he might permanently entomb the treacherous villain; his only goal was to buy his friends a few extra seconds to reach safety above. He was only able to bring down a few large blocks before Fuller's violet fire blasted into the obstacle. A spray of smaller fragments hammered into this force field and the sheer energy of the attack send him bouncing further up the tunnel and then he abruptly found himself face down on the ice.
The significance of the ice scraping against his cheek did not immediately sink in. It was only when he stretched his arms out, trying to fly away from the maelstrom of Fuller's fury that he realized the exoskeleton was no longer functioning.
He felt the loss as acutely as the loss of a limb. For few seconds he was unable to do anything more than continue struggling to make the device work; he waved his arms and flexed his feet, but still nothing happened. Then, as the crunch of Fuller's footsteps on the broken ice became audible, he twisted around, stabbing his gauntlets at the approaching figure.