Alien vs. Alien

either.”
    “Was there fallout?” If there was, we were really seeing the start of World War III.
    “No,” Mom said. “Something engulfed the fallout, all of it. And then the nuclear codes went dead. No one can fire anything world-destroying, nuclear or otherwise.”
    “Did Naomi and Abigail do that?”
    Chuckie shook his head. “They’re using the two Power Cubes we have to create shielding over this area. The Cubes are boosting their powers, and they already know how to create shields. It’s why the buildings aren’t completely destroyed. Yet.”
    So ACE was still protecting us. I was certain he was the one who’d engulfed the fallout and then killed our ability to fire more bombs. “Why are the girls protecting the buildings? I mean, I get it, priceless, rare thiˀngs, can’t be replaced and all that. But the people . . . they can’t be replaced either.”
    “It’s easier for them to cover the buildings because it gives them a shape to follow and also means they’re not protecting superbeings. They’re taking fewer direct hits this way, too. And they’re covering every building attached to the Mall, which means all the contents of those buildings, which includes people.”
    “I didn’t see anyone running inside anything.”
    “Reader gave the order for the Field teams to get all the civilians into the museums and memorials, other than Lincoln, so in addition to architecture, they’ve got countless people inside by now. It’s tricky to let people in and out of the shields, though, so I don’t know how much longer Mimi and Abby will be able to hold out.”
    “The girls are tougher than you think. Where did everyone in the Dome go?”
    “Into the tunnels,” Chuckie said. “The hackers were able to find the entrance for them. Easily.”
    ACE again, I was sure. “Have we talked to anyone in the tunnels?”
    “No, Mimi and Abby can’t spare the focus, White, Reader, and Crawford are busy, and Serene’s presumably in those tunnels. It’s a long way from New Mexico to D.C., and there are no gates in the tunnels.”
    “Only Power Cubes. If you can find them.” I looked in my purse. No Poofs still. “You think the Poofs are with Jamie and the others in the tunnels?” I asked hopefully.
    “Haven’t seen a Poof,” Mom said.
    “I haven’t seen Fluffy since you sent the Poofs off to try to find the cube that used to belong to White and your husband.”
    My husband. Last I’d seen him, he was fighting Al Dejahl. “I need to find Jeff.”
    “We need to stop this invasion,” Mom corrected. “We were hoping you had some ideas.”
    “I don’t know, how do you stop a flock of birds or a bunch of dinosaurs? Kill the leader?”
    “Maybe, but we don’t know who the leader is or are,” Chuckie said. “The three who came to the planet might be, but they might just be diplomats.”
    “Duck hunting,” Buchanan said.
    “Not sure a decoy will work, Malcolm.”
    He shook his head. “Lure them out, one by one, and finish them off that way.”
    “It could work, but it’s slow,” Chuckie said.
    “Take out the quarterback,” Kevin said. “Or get the ball away from them.”
    “Football?” Mom said. “Right now? Really?”
    “That could work, too,” Buchanan said.
    “Super Agent Man, any ideas?”
    “Take the king.”
    “So, you’re suggesting duck hunting, football, and chess?” Mom said. “No wonder yoˀu all work well with Kitty.”
    “Thanks so much, Mom.”
    She shook her head. “I say shoot to kill and let God sort ’em out.”
    “I like where your head’s at. But, there’s only one way to find out which one of these great plans is going to work. Find the tunnel entrance that’s around here, and get anyone you can down into it.” I gave Mom a quick kiss and took off for the front of the Memorial.
    To find more chaos than I remembered. And I remembered quite a bit.

    Yi

CHAPTER 99

    T HERE WERE SUPERSOLDIERS EVERYWHERE, most of them leaping into the path of laser beams. Some of them looked like they could take flight, but they weren’t doing so.
    I assumed they weren’t flying because we finally had jets in the air, firing on the Z’porrah ships. There were a good number of them, but I recognized the flying signatures of several of our aircraft—my flyboys were in the air.
    There were fewer people out and about, as Chuckie had said. In fact, I was fairly sure the only mobile people I was seeing were actually androids, because every one of them was fighting