Domino is the most stylish, but I would expect her to be. She wears a black, form-fitting catsuit with several belts, buckles, and pockets. She carries a lot of small gear with her; two pistols, Tasers, and even a grenade for if things go badly. Her ability to teleport is a tactical asset not to be underestimated.
Epic is bracketing everyone on the strip, running facial recognition in the blink of an eye. If they’re out there, he will find them.
“Do we know of any possible targets?” asks Domino.
“The local PD says there are two fights tonight with large purses, not to mention the casinos are packed for the long weekend,” Force replies.
For some reason, I thought we would land and the bad guys would come running out of cover and we would fight. I’m not a police officer, I don’t know how to investigate things, and I certainly can’t go around asking people have you seen this man?
“Out of curiosity,” I say with my synthesized voice, “why are we here?”
Force grunts at me. “Weren’t you listening to my briefing?”
“Yeah, I heard your briefing, and I read the file.”
“Then you know why we’re here,” he says as if it is obvious.
Domino glances at me and raises an eyebrow. Her eyes shine like jewels in the night and I wonder for a second if it is part of her empathic powers. I shake my head to focus.
“No, I know why a team was sent, what I’m asking is why this team was sent?”
“If you’re not up for a little danger, proby,” Mr. Perfect chimes in, “you’re in the wrong line of business.”
“None of you think it’s odd we were sent? Jack Danger is on the FBI’s top ten powers wanted list. He’s rated an F3, and he has two F3’s with him. I don’t know what you all have rated me as, but it is probably F2—”
“That’s for damn sure,” Major Force says with a snarl. To his credit, he hasn’t taken his eyes off the street.
“So, I ask again, why this team? We’re shorthanded and doing the math I’m not sure we’re capable of taking on three F3’s.”
Domino puts her hand to her earpiece, “Sighting, two blocks north. They’re out in the open. The sniffers picked them up as the passed the north entrance.”
Force smiles as he turns to face us, “We’re here because it is our job and we’re paid to protect people. If you don’t like it,” he points his big finger at me, “you can walk whenever you want.”
I clench my jaw trying not to say anything, but this is too much.
“Dude, what is your problem? Is it because I’m a woman, or because I don’t have any powers? You’ve been a jerk to me since the day we met.”
His eyes widen and the little vein above his eyebrow twitches.
“Force, Arsenal, now isn’t the time,” Domino breaks in, stepping between us. “Focus on the mission.”
Mission. Right. I don’t know how these people don’t see this. It feels like a setup to me.
“We’ll talk about this after, Arsenal. Right now I need you to fly recon. Perfect, go on the ground, blend in and be ready to strike. Domino,” he turns to her, “’port us there now.”
I look at her as she moves beside him. She puts her hand on his shoulder. I’m tempted to open my faceplate and tell her to be safe. Instead, I nod. I hear a pop and they’re gone.
“Epic, stealth mode and blast off.”
15
The Strip from two-hundred feet is beautiful. Neon lights reflect off of everything casting brilliant hues and shadows. It’s also playing havoc with thermal imaging. I switch to enhanced and I’m looking at the street as if I were fifty feet above instead of two-hundred.
“I’ve got them,” Perfect says over the comms.
His voice sounds cocky and arrogant. I know it’s part of his persona but I want to punch him in the face.
“Epic, if I go unconscious for any reason, activate safety protocols. I can’t have people trying to remove the armor from me.”
Affirmative.
I zoom to where Perfect is. He’s changed his appearance; somehow, he’s switched to a red tuxedo and has a gorgeous blonde in an evening dress to hang on his arm. The only reason I know it’s him is his comm pings my HUD. I knew he could make constructs… but holograms?
“Be ready. They’re coming up on our position.”
I track forward until I find them. Three men, walking afield of each other. They have a confident stride about them. The one in the middle is Danger - his ID pops up on my screen. Epic flags the one to his right—Foehunter. What kind of stupid name is—crap, he’s badass. His bio flashes by; low-level speedster with hands like razors. Apparently, he’s a world class martial artist and can cut people to ribbons in a few seconds.
Epic flashes me a warning. The third guy has no ID.
“Force, the one on the right is Foehunter, the guy on the left is unknown,” I tell him over the comms.
“What? How do you know? Central doesn’t have an ID on anyone but Danger.”
“I’m telling you, it’s Foehunter. Keep Domino back. This guy will chew up anyone who isn’t armored or invulnerable.”
There is a moment of silence. He can’t seriously dislike me enough to risk her life?
“Kate, what do you think?”
“You may not like her, but if Arsenal says it’s him, it’s him,” Kate says.
I smile. My cheeks warm in the armor and I try not to cough from embarrassment. I don’t think anyone has ever expressed faith in me to such a degree.
“Alright, hang back,” Force says, “Perfect, you’ve dealt with the guy. Is it him?” asks Force. While they talk, Epic locks on to each of them. I could spray bean bags at them and follow up with AG pods. It might catch them by surprise.
“I’m close enough give me a—yeah, that’s his ugly ass. If I can get closer, I can wrap him up easy enough.”
I’m tempted to have Epic shunt power to my cannons and open with a barrage of ionic pulses. However, I would have to drop stealth to do it and I don’t think—
The trio stops. In a very familiar gesture, Jack raises his hand to his ear. They have overwatch? This feels less and less like some robbery and more like an orchestrated plan.
“I think they’ve made—”
I don’t get to finish. Foehunter vanishes in a blur of speed. He moves through the crowd and in a blink slashes Mr. Perfect from chin to thigh. Mr. Perfect flies back against the fountain he was standing at and falls in the water. A dark stain spreads out from where he’s lying, his tux vanishes along with the girl who had been hanging on his arm.
“Pierre!” Domino screams over the comms.
Force roars as he barrels in. It wasn’t my imagination; the guy gets frigging huge when he powers up. Two to four inches taller, at least six wider. He runs straight at Jack Danger.
“Domino, I’ll tag Foehunter. Get Mr. Perfect to a hospital!”
“Ready,” she says.
“Epic, drop stealth, charge cannons.”
Suddenly, heat bleeds from my suit and the air around me lights up as my thrusters go full power. I fling my arms behind me to dive down. When I’m forty feet away, Foehunter turns to face me. For some reason, he isn’t leaving Perfect. It’s like he knows someone will try to rescue him. It’s then I notice his collateral damage. As he moved through the crowd he cut everyone he passed. Some minor, some severe. A trail of blood follows him spattered across the concrete.
“Domino, do you see it?” I ask as I throw my arms up to halt my forward momentum and flip up to land. I’ve seen footage of me landing, I know how impressive the suit looks. I don’t bother with witty banter; I aim my left hand at him and fire. The pulse cannon’s energy is on a narrow beam, only five inches wide. I have a perfect lock on—he’s gone. The cannon impacts the fountain and channels into the ground. My kinetic shield drops ten percent… twenty… thirty… he’s hitting me with lightning fast strikes, each blow coming in faster than I can make out.
Three more strikes and I’m down to twenty percen
t shielding. The lance is fully charged though. I smile, “Epic, drop kinetic shielding.”
The field fades around me. I feel the next blow land. It hits my shoulder and spins me around. I also hear him scream in pain. He’s standing ten feet away from me, holding his hand as it drips blood on the ground.
“You seem to have some performance issues. Maybe you should see a shrink,” my synthesized voice says.
I’m sure the sarcasm came across when his face turns into a mask of rage. He blurs and his foot hits me in the face knocking me back. I guess he’s not going to try and cut me again. Epic signals Domino’s departure as she teleports Mr. Perfect away. He’s annoying, but I hope he makes it.
How do they do it without armor? I don’t have time to ponder it now. Foehunter is throwing every object he can find at me. It results in a small meteor shower of rocks, tire irons, lug nuts and anything else he can find to hurl.
“Epic, is there any pattern?”
He’s chaotic. If you could stop him for one second, I could fire the lance and bring him down.
“Good plan, but how do I stop him?”
I check on Force. He and Jack Danger are dancing around each other, both are incredibly skilled in hand-to-hand. Except when they miss, parts of the landscape are destroyed. While I’m watching, Force dodges a kick and the side of a very expensive car caves in from the blow. Force comes up and knocks Danger to the ground. It dissolves into a ground game and I can’t spare any more time for it. At least I know he’s okay.
“You know what, Foehunter,” I put a lot of emphasis on his name, “You win. Go ahead and run away, I have more important things to do.”
He appears in front of me, a spear from what must be a Chinese prop pointed at me. His mouth opens to retort and Epic fires.
The lance catches him as he blurs away. Instead of a smooth line to his destination, he runs headfirst into a concrete wall. I’m not sure the level of his invulnerability, but the way he falls flat back tells me he’s out.
“Fire all bean bags at him.”
The puff of compressed air makes me smile as his body twitches from the impact. Once they’re depleted I pod him. When I turn away his form is slowly rising into the air.
Force and Danger are a blur of motion, punching and kicking each other. I’m not sure they could hurt me, but my armor only slightly enhances my strength. I should look into fixing that. Right now there is one more guy—there he is. Sitting on the steps to the casino, eating an apple?
“Epic, scan him please.”
My entire sensor suite comes online. It draws significant power and the lights inside the suit dim. I would have preferred doing this during the day as I have no way to recharge without a hookup or solar power. I smile inwardly; of course, now that I understand the Zero-Point Field I should be able to do something about it.
“Arsenal, stop standing there and help me!” Force yells from behind.
I’m not sure what he wants me to do. I turn and bracket Danger. He’s got Force down on one knee and is repeatedly bashing him in the face.
“Epic, pod him.” The puff of air signals launch. Danger jerks back in surprise. I guess he expected it to explode or something. When he’s twenty feet in the air he starts laughing.
Force looks at me incredulously.
I shrug, “Unless you’re telling me to kill him, it’s all I got.”
Force snarls. He’s breathing heavy and I know he’s at his limit.
“How long?” he asks.
“Until I shut it off.”
He takes a few steps toward Danger.
Alarm bells ring on my screen. Epic flashes a radiation warning and all my passive sensors are going haywire.
“Epic?”
The unknown man with the apple is building up to some sort of explosion. Based on the thermal energy and the gamma rays his body is giving off, he’s going nuclear, possibly a one-kiloton yield.
Epic throws up a countdown. We don’t have much time. I fire a pod at the living bomb. Epic reads his body temp at four hundred degrees. The pod hits him in the chest and activates. I’m not sure how long the AG field will last; I didn’t design them to withstand thermal distress. I don’t need it to last long. I hit my thrusters full and slam into him. I put one hand on his belt and the other I use to maneuver. It isn’t the easiest and my left arm feels like it’s going to rip out of its socket.
We’re pointed up and everything is full power. My radio kicks on and I can hear Force trying to talk to me. The radiation from apple boy is too much and the signal can’t get through.
My HUD shuts off and I can’t access any of my controls. However, I’m pointed up and the suit is still blasting away. I don’t think we’re high enough, and if he detonates… a nuclear bomb burns five times as hot as the sun. Titanium-tungsten carbide armor will be as useful as a piece of tissue against a nuclear fire. I glance down. It’s been at least thirty seconds—at two hundred mph I’ve covered a mile and a half easy. I can feel the heat in my hand. I’m amazed my pod is still working at this point.
“Epic,” I scream. Just a few more seconds and I can let him go. Ten…nine…eight…my hand feels like I’ve stuck it in a fire. I need to reach two miles. He’s glowing now, I close my eyes, but it doesn’t do any good.
This is all I have, I hope it’s enough. I let him go. My thrusters quit out and I’m falling. I watch as he continues to float up. I’ve got to be at terminal velocity. He’s just a spec now and—a light flares to life so bright it is like looking at the sun.
My faceplate goes black to protect my vision—
16
Science has solved every problem I’ve ever had in my life. Usually the science of blowing things up, but science all the same.
-From the journal of Amelia Lockheart
The first thing I hear is the soft beeps and hums of heart monitors and breathing machines. Oh God, did they peel me out of the armor? I struggle to open my eyes, it’s like they’re wrapped in gauze, but finally, I see some light. Everything is blurry. I can smell antiseptic air, but I don’t feel the suit on me.
“She’s awake,” I hear a man’s voice I don’t recognize.
I try to ask for water but it comes out as a mumble. Something cool and wet is pushed against my lips and I sip. My throat is raw. It hurts to swallow but the cold water feels good going down.
“Where—?” I manage to croak out.
Everything is floaty and indistinct. I must be on loads of painkillers. How did they take my suit off?
“I’ll go get your friends,” the male voice says. “You can come in now, both of you.”
My vision is still not a hundred percent. Two indistinct blobs, one with shoulder-length blonde hair, and one with a crew cut. Great, he’s here to yell at me.
I try to raise my hand. Instead, it just shakes a little.
“Ms. Lockheart, try not to move dear. You’ve suffered a major concussion, contusions across half your body, and somehow managed to get second-degree burns on your hands and face. You’re lucky to be alive. Honestly, a person in your situation shouldn’t be skydiving.”
I can see now, the doc is an older fellow, the grandfatherly sort. Next to him are Kate, and Major Force… Luke. Even in civilian clothes he still screams Marine.
“Skydiving?” I mutter.
“Yes, don’t you remember? We told you it was a bad idea, but you insisted,” Kate says.
I’m really confused. I look back and forth between them and then to the doc, “I promise I will never jump out of an airplane again.”
“Good, because I don’t think you could survive a second fall from such a height. It’s a miracle you survived this one.”
He shakes his head as he walks toward the exit. After he leaves the room I point at the water. Kate moves to grab it but Luke intercepts her and picks it up. He carefully moves it to my lips. I swallow a little more but most of it dribbles down my chin.
He dabs at it with a cloth. “For what it’s worth, I was wrong,” he looks a
t Kate, “and a jackass, I’m sorry.”
“How?” I manage to say. My throat is feeling better by the second and the fuzz is clearing from my mind.
“When we couldn’t find you after the blast we figured you were either vaporized or in the desert somewhere,” Kate said.“You forget I can… boop,” she makes a funny sound while wiggling her fingers, “to anyone I know—uh, well. Imagine my surprise when I appeared in your workshop. Your AI—Epic? Cool name by the way, he helped me get you out of the suit. After we got you free it was easy enough to bring you here. This is Maricopa County hospital, not affiliated with the Diamondbacks in any way.”
I nod, “What happened after?” I seem to be able to use a few more words each time.
“He was three miles up when he detonated. We got a suntan, all the power went out, and not much else. It would have been horrific if he had detonated at ground level. You saved a couple of million people, Amelia,” Luke says quietly.
I shrug trying to ignore the staggering number of people.
“And Perfect?”
Kate smiles, “He’s fine. He’d fought the douchebag before and had his armor spell on. It was more of a bleeding cut than a damaging one.”
Despite how annoying he is, I find myself glad he survived. However, I must have serious head trauma; Major Force spoke civilly to me and he used my real name.
“I take it the cat is out of the bag then?” I ask.
He gave me an odd look.
“On my name.” I clarify.
“Oh, yes. Also, Kate?” he asks.
She smiles lifting up a briefcase and opening it. Inside is a shiny medal, along with an ID. They used my state ID picture, not the best one I’ve ever taken. Kate pushes down on the pic and it morphs into Arsenal. The information changes as well.
Full Metal Superhero Box Set [Books 1-3] Page 8
