Full Metal Superhero Box Set [Books 1-3]

by Haskell, Jeffery H.

  Ready to fire SDF-1 on your command.

  Sweat trickles down my brow. There’s a tightness in my chest. I haven’t had the chance to test the mass driver yet. If I’ve miscalculated, or if the energy is too much… the suit could end up as ionized plasma along with the tungsten marbles we fire.

  We are out of time, Amelia.

  I close my eyes. “Fire.”

  With a thunk, a twenty-three-ounce tungsten ball bearing slides into place. The ZPFM whines as more power is tasked from the generator, more than what ran the MKII at break orbit speeds.

  The tungsten ball slides into the pipe and then it fires. Forty-nine more tungsten balls lock into place and shunt to the barrel as the magnetic rails accelerate them to fifty miles per second. Fire rips through the air with a boom that shatters glass for miles. The concrete around my feet cracks and I can hear the buildings nearby crumble. The fire reaches out all the way to the drone. Air ignites around the point of impact as the ship jerks sharply up on its tail. Epic adjusts the aim firing the next volley to split the underside. The air burns as the metal balls are converted to plasma, exploding with the fury of a small sun on impact.

  Holes the size of basketballs perforate the ship, the engines give out and for a second it holds ground then it slides backward to crash into the bay. The last of the ball bearings blast through it, ending the rampage. The air around the suit is hot enough to boil water. Half the ship explodes as green fire shoots up into the sky while the other half crashes into the ocean. A wall of water a hundred feet high crashes into me.

  We may have miscalculated the side effects of dumping that much power into a mass driver. The suit will need extensive repairs.

  I can’t move my head, but I can see the massive damage I caused around me.

  “I concur.”

  3

  The damage to the city looked far worse than it was. Thanks to our warning, most of the dock area evacuated in time and with Kate doing her thing and the steep nature of the waterfront, no one even got their shoes wet. Except me. When the water hit, the force knocked me into the pier and I ended up stuck in the muck for a bit. Turns out my super powerful LED lights are all but frigging useless under water. Something Epic and I are going to have to address at some point.

  I take one last pass around the area, scanning for anyone in trouble or any major blockages we can help out with. Epic keeps me informed of Kate’s progress as she ports around the area, guiding rescue workers and making sure people stay calm. She’s really good at crowd control. Hell, she’s good at everything.

  Amelia, what about the drone? We should try to salvage some of it to return to the lab. At the very least we might be able to devise some way of penetrating the hull. The collateral damage of the mass driver may keep us from using the weapon if there is a next time.

  He’s right. I knew the retort would wreck things but I had no idea it would be so devastating. I could never fire it if people were around. It’s a miracle no one was killed as it was. The sound alone shattered wood and glass. Before I can risk using it again, I’ll have to tone down the power.

  Banking hard to the harbor, I drop down to skim over the wreckage. Half the ship is scattered over a quarter mile of ocean, but the back half, with the engines, is wedged hard into the bottom of the bay with the broken front sticking just above the water. The sea fills it every time there’s a wave but I can still see plenty of open spaces.

  “Epic, you think their computer systems remain operative?”

  It is impossible to know. They have interstellar travel. Everything they have should be an order of magnitude more advanced than us.

  “True.”

  The place where it broke in half is all jagged edges and blackened metal. I can see what might be wires and circuitry, or it could be anything really. Epic still can’t ‘see’ the metal with radar or any of our other sensors, just visual.

  “I’m gonna risk a landing.”

  A makeshift ledge where the alien metal bent as the hull tore apart sticks out near the water level and looks sturdy enough. Just in case, I keep the Emdrive on minimum as I land. I don’t want to end up in the drink, again.

  The metal feels hard under my feet. Hard, but somehow flexible. Inside the drone there are tubes spilling out white goo, others have green lights flickering on them.

  “Full lights.”

  The LEDs light up and even in the afternoon sun, I can see further into the ship. Tentatively I take a step closer in.

  “Epic… there’s something written on the wall here, do you see it?” I point to a script of some kind, barely visible and only when I shine light directly on it. I can’t tell if they’re words or…

  Let me try something.

  Hundreds of LED’s built into the external housing of the suit flash through the visible light spectrum, illuminating the wall as I move closer. All at once the flashing stops and Epic ends the spectrum on black light. An entire block of text appears, glowing slightly. Parts of the words still fade in and out, almost as if they were meant to be read under a different light.

  The text is not only photoluminescence but it is meant to be read by biological creatures with heat sensitive vision. I am sorry I cannot mimic the infrared spectrum. However, I can see most of it. Uploading to our central database for translation. Without a key, though, it seems unlikely we will have any success.

  “An honest to god alien language… so cool.”

  There are no active electromagnetic signals that I can tap into.

  “I figured.” The ship shuddered, sending me sidestepping to keep my balance. “Okay, enough sightseeing. I can only imagine the government will be pulling this thing out of the harbor, maybe we can find out more from them. Let’s get us some metal and get out of here.”

  We searched for the ideal piece. My particle beam had little effect on the hull, but from the inside, it might have more luck.

  To your right, there is a jagged piece of metal half torn. Aim at the section where the metal stressed.

  I see it. Grabbing the torn edge in one hand, I bring the beam to bear on the seam. Blue light strobes the room as the super accelerated particles flash in three-second intervals to keep the emitters from overheating. After nine seconds the silicate bursts through. The metal pulls away with a bright glow of melting alloy as I tear it like a sheet of paper.

  “Will this be enough?” Turning the piece over in my hand, I notice two things. How light it is and the fact that even the edge I’d just cut through is cool to the touch.

  More than enough.

  My hip whirs as the small storage compartment opens. I stuff the metal in and Epic locks it down. The ship shudders again, nearly toppling me.

  “Okay, time to leave. Punch it.” The Emdrive blows me out of the hull and immediately pulls straight up. ATC diverted all air traffic so I had no worries about colliding with any planes. The only things flying are the Navy and Coast Guard choppers performing search and rescue.

  I watch as the sea surges and the remainder of the drone sinks beneath the waves. After a few minutes, only churning water remained.

  “Wow.”

  This will certainly be a day to remember. Kate is calling you.

  “Go for Arsenal.”

  “Arsenal, I’ve done what I can do here and I don’t think I’ve got another port in me. Come pick me up and let’s head home.”

  “Roger, I’m on my way. Your eagerness to leave wouldn’t have anything to do with Triple Threat being on the PNW team, would it?”

  “Is the disgust in my voice that obvious?”

  “Is he there now?”

  “Yes…”

  “Hang tight.”

  I dial up the speed to break the sound barrier, blasting over Seattle high enough to avoid breaking windows, banking hard to come back and zero in on Kate’s location. The city’s emergency management teams had set up a base at Pikes Place Market. Kate’s transponder tells me exactly where she is. Epic zooms in so I can see her; sitting on a folding chair cr
adling a cup of Starbucks while all three of Triple dork clones stand around her. This is going to be good.

  I pull up right above her, at five hundred feet, and cut the drive. “Kinetic shields to max.”

  Roger.

  The MK III weighs almost five hundred pounds. Far heavier than my other two suits. It also adds another full inch to me and about four inches in width. In other words, I slam into the ground with an impact that shatters concrete and sends the three stooges leaping out of their pants like frightened little kids.

  The speedster vanishes in a blur, trips, and rolls to a stop a hundred feet away. The other two don’t fare any better.

  “Well if it isn’t the three stooges? I see you got a promotion. Too bad,” I say over the PA.

  They glare back at me. The air around them shimmers and they go from three identical clones to one. My understanding is he only has superpowers when he’s split into three selves.

  Kate stands up, handing her coffee to a very startled aid worker, along with the blanket she’d wrapped around her shoulders. “Let’s get out of here, ‘kay?”

  “As you wish.”

  Triple Threat’s delayed response is lost in the whine of my Emdrive as we blast off and head south. I keep the speed down to fifty so Kate doesn’t freeze to death. I know her suit is more than just leather, but she still has to bury her face in my shoulder.

  I can tell she’s surprised when I slow down even more, dropping to under a hundred feet. We skim the treetops north of the airport before the roar of jets and the smell of fuel fills the air.

  “Amelia, I can’t fly commercial,” she gestures to the guns on her hips.

  “We’re not,” I say with a smile.

  Epic takes care of the clearance and all the minutia. He’s so far beyond what I programmed him for I’d really classify him as a legitimate AI. I never envisioned him learning how to do… well, everything.

  We bank around the southern terminal where the private jets park.

  Hanger 34b is where the Emjet is parked.

  I bring us to a soft landing outside the marked hanger. The doors shuffle open, revealing the sleek black nose of my new jet.

  “Amelia… what is this?”

  “The Emjet. She’s the first Emdrive powered jet in the world.” I take Kate’s hand and pull her excitedly into the hanger. The jet is sixty feet long and twenty wide. Her wings are swept back at the moment, but they are variable for maximum lift and thrust. The tail is the masterpiece if I do say so myself. I got the idea from watching a John McClain movie. The single Emdrive engine sits in a housing designed to look like a normal turbine engine. The engine itself connects to two pylons that form the split tail which allows the engine to rotate in any direction… including reverse. I explain this all to Kate as we circle the jet. Her mouth never closes.

  “Amelia… how?”

  “This is the best part, watch.” I run my hands along the hull until I find the designated spot about two-thirds of the way back. Previously invisible seams split open, revealing a specially designed lift mechanism that drops down and connects to the armor, pulling me up. “I’ll see you inside.”

  I know from experience the passenger doors are already opening and dropping stairs for her. The lift pulls the suit up and disassembles at the same time. The whole process takes sixty seconds. The small cabin it deposits me into has enough room for a quick change and when I come out to the main room, I’m wearing jeans and a Han Shot First shirt. The inside of the jet is as nice as we could afford. Rotating leather recliners for every seat. Folding tables, beverage and food dispensers (in other words a Coke fountain and Doritos). The aircraft had a small kitchenette where the cockpit would normally be but I could burn water so I don’t know how much use it will get. Luke though, that man is an artist with pancakes.

  Kate is dumbstruck as I wheel out, she hasn’t even sat down.

  “There’s a small cabin in the back with a shower and a change of clothes if you want. I’ll explain everything when you get out.”

  Thirty minutes later we’re flying over Oregon at a sedate three hundred miles an hour. Windows would reduce the Emjet’s structural integrity so we’d lined the walls with photovoltaic paint and the outside has the same visual sensors my faceplate uses. If I want, I can have a picture window on either side. It’s a tad disconcerting though, so right now I have them set to mimic normal plane windows.

  Kate comes out of the room wearing a pair of stylish jeans, a red sequin blouse with her black hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. Only a perfectly adorable strand of wavy hair falls just to the side of her face. I know it’s her powers, but every once in a while I wish I could look like her. Especially the walking part.

  “Okay Amelia, spill. I can’t even begin to think how much this jet costs?”

  “You don’t want to know.”

  “Actually, I do. Did you rob the Federal Reserve or something?”

  I feel my cheeks flush and I glance out the window to try and hide it.

  “Oh my god, you did…”

  “No,” I say shaking my head. “Well, not in the way you think. You see, Cat-7 is— was—a fortune fifteen company. They were worth hundreds of billions of dollars on the stock market.”

  “Well, now they’re worth squat. The government dissolved the company after their stocks went from hundreds of dollars a share to pennies and—”

  Understanding dawned on her. She’s no slouch in the smarts, that’s for sure.

  “You short sold them? How?”

  “I didn’t. Epic did. He’s played the stock market for years and when I told him to dump all that incriminating evidence on the Internet he just made one little quick transaction. Took my entire net worth and used it to short sell them. Kind of brilliant, if I do say so my self.”

  Thank you, Amelia. His words appear on the wall easy enough for us to see.

  “Epic, can I give you my account information? I could use a few extra million dollars.”

  It was not millions. At the going share rate and when I pulled out, Amelia is now worth eighteen point seven billion dollars.

  “Epic!” I shouted. Dammit, it was embarrassing enough to have millions – I didn’t want anyone to know I had billions. Honestly, I had no idea how to come to grips with it. The first thing I did was have Epic identify charities that were doing good works and start donating to them. With this much money, I could give away several hundred million a year and still make money on the interest alone.

  Kate shakes her head. “Wow. Well, what are you going to do now?”

  “I was going to spend a few years working on new designs to stop the thing we just fought. Now though, I guess we’re out of time.”

  “I didn’t expect them this quick either. You told me Ericsson rushed his plan because of you?”

  I nod, “He did. Which means he wouldn’t have been ready either. According to Pythia, though, he did succeed. I just…” I look out the window not sure how to say what I feel.

  “Amelia, you don’t know that. None of us know the future, not even Pythia. Who knows how her powers work? Maybe she only sees the likeliest outcome? If there is anyone who can beat the odds, it’s you.”

  “Thanks,” I say, meaning it. “I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t on my mind. I thought I had years to fix this. Not months. What if there’s such a thing as destiny or fate or whatever? If she can see the future and she’s right…”

  Kate places her hand on mine and leans forward, “Amelia, you are a scientist. A real one. You question everything. You look to disprove everything and you believe in the impossible. It’s why I love you so much. You give me hope. Don’t stop now.”

  Her words bring a smile to my face and fills my heart with joy, “I don’t deserve a friend like you.”

  “Damn skippy, you don’t. But you can make it up to me with a shopping spree in Paris.”

  “Deal.”

  4

  Why not build in Phoenix?” Kate asks as the Emjet banks over the city. Epic fli
es by twice to make sure he has the proper clearance before heading east, ten miles from Phoenix proper.

  “If I have to blow it up I don’t want to risk innocents.”

  Kate laughs for a few seconds before stopping cold. “You’re serious.”

  “As a heart attack. I can’t risk my inventions falling into enemy hands. If the base is compromised, or I’m killed… Artemis fires an Arrow dead center.”

  “Good to know. Well, this should be fun. You’ve been busy these last few months, no wonder I’ve hardly seen you.”

  “Sorry about that—here we are! This is the fun part.”

  The jet’s walls vanish as the transparency kicks in, Kate gasps until her mind comes to terms with it. “Aren’t we heading to the airport?” The Arizona ground flashes by. I love this view, it fills me with excitement as the jet banks. I could almost reach out and touch the ground.

  “Nope.” The grin on my face is ear to ear. Epic slows the plane down to just over a hundred miles an hour as he makes one final turn for the compound.

  The new Corporate HQ for Mars Tech Global sits on eight acres of pristine land. Groundskeepers work tirelessly keeping the grass green in the front and the food garden in the back. Ultimately, I want the building to be self-sustaining. It has a ZPFM the size of a car battery powering the ten stories above ground and the four below. The building’s architecture is spire-shaped with each floor being consecutively smaller until the top floor, which doubles as a landing pad that blooms out from the spire in a large egg shape.

  Epic lazily circles the grounds for Kate to see it all. Covered pool, underground parking garage, six-foot walls with state of the art security circle the entire thing. Along with my pride and joy: at the top of the spire is an eight foot tall, bronze statue of The Protector. He holds his spear up as if calling on lightning itself. He doubles as a lightning rod but at the same time, I wanted to honor the man who saved my life.