Lazarus (2013) 8

Lazarus (2013) 8
Apr 2014

Lift (Part 4)
By Greg Rucka, Michael Lark, and Santi Arcas

Past

Malcolm visits the training facility on Forever’s 10th birthday. She is in a combat simulator when he arrives. He was hoping to see her fight with Marisol. Marisol tells him that she’s not ready. Malcolm isn’t pleased and tells Marisol that he will return in 30 days. He leaves the present that he brought for Forever, The Once and Future King by T. H. White, with Marisol and tells her that Forever is not to know that he was there.

Present

Forever and a Dagger team locate a team of rebels who have broken into a Carlyle Family facility in Los Angeles. Most of the rebels are killed in the encounter. Forever interrogates one of the survivors. She already knows that the rebels have a bomb and are planning to detonate it. She doesn’t know where.

The Barret family continues their journey to Denver. Casey spends her time running messages throughout the caravan in exchange for clean water. Michael uses his knowledge of first aid to help others. His efforts lead to an introduction to the religious order that has been providing medical assistance to people in the caravan.

Forever talks to Johanna about what she learned from the captured rebels. Angel, the guy with the bomb, is headed to Denver. She calls Malcolm. She wants to call off the Lift operation but Malcolm refuses. He expects her to prevent the bomb from being detonated and to capture or kill Angel. Anything less is failure in his eyes.

Casey gets into an argument and accidentally knocks over another pilgrim on his way to Denver. She helps him up. She introduces herself. He’s carrying a large bag. His name is Angel.

Thoughts

The tension keeps ratcheting higher and higher. Malcolm is an evil, heartless person. It is hard to foresee exactly what is going to happen in the final chapter of this arc. I expect that more of the Barret family will be killed but how and how many members of the family will die is unclear. There’s a lot of conflict within Forever. It shows on her face. Johanna seems to be more sympathetic to “her sister” in this arc but I have to wonder if this is just an act. When will she revert back to the way she seemed in the first arc and why?