A large tire swirls through the dust and slams into my kinetic shields at three hundred miles an hour. My alarms scream as the shields deflect the tire. The mass and speed of the projectile sends me sliding backward in the sand. They give up entirely when the utility truck crashes down, flattening me into the sand and dirt.
“Ow.”
I cough and try and move. The utility truck is noticeably larger than Luke’s. Which makes me think—
“We should buy Luke a new truck, what do you say?”
Shift your left arm three feet to the right.
I follow his instructions and trigger the particle beams. White-hot, hyper-accelerated silicate slices through the metal and plastic, creating a wedge in which my kinetic shields can rip the truck in half.
“Anyone who surrenders now, won’t be hurt,” I say over the music. “Epic, cut the tunes, we have their attention now.”
Kate is on scene. She is behind them dealing with the F2’s carrying guns. The Emjet is landing now. I think buying Luke a new vehicle would be a nice gesture after you apologize to him.
“Nice mess you have here, Arsenal,” Fleet says over the comms.
“Good to hear you, Tony. There are wounded soldiers on the field. Get them to The Doctor.”
A line of dust swirls through the air as Tony zips through the fire running at hundreds of miles an hour and turning on a dime. He only has to stop for a couple of heartbeats before his powers envelop a person before he can run with them. Otherwise, the friction from running three-hundred miles an hour would be like the worst full body rug burn ever. Bodies of the fallen vanish one by one.
“Tessa, stay with Teddy and keep him safe. Glacier, do your thing and contain as many of these fools as you can.”
A chorus of rogers follow. “Right. Teddy Bear duty, yay.” Tessa’s sarcastic reply comes over the comms.
“You know I’ve heard that joke before,” The Doctor says.
“Doesn’t mean it isn’t funny.”
“Focus people,” I break in.
Epic pings the fire thrower through the dust, he’s lobbing more fire bolts at the soldiers. I guess he decided I was down. His mistake.
I start toward him when Kate pops in front of me, hands waving in the other direction. “Amelia, there’s a strong man with low-level invulnerability. He’s the one tossing cars around. You need to deal with him, I’ll take Hothead.”
I didn’t realize that was his name, but now that she says it Epic has a little ID badge on the HUD showing me his info. I really want to smack Hothead around but she’s right. Reluctantly I kick in the jets for altitude and speed the five hundred feet to the parking lot. Epic opens a small window on the bottom of my HUD showing me Kate’s vitals. It eases the anxiety I feel every time she has to go into battle.
I upgraded her suit – well I upgraded everyone’s suit. Nanofibers protect them from temperature changes, micro Kevlar weave gives them durability and protection from damage and finally my special blend of Titanium and tungsten carbide for trauma plates protecting their vitals. They all have AR glasses or goggles that are tied directly into Epic. Micro cameras let him see and hear what they do. I also gave Kate a pair of IP pistols. They’re each powered by a micro ZPFM. The only limit to how much they can shoot is the heat build up in their chassis.
Epic identifies the man in front of me as Cannonball. He’s not terribly tall, in fact as I land, I realize he is shorter than I am and incredibly squat.
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll run,” he says with a gravely voice.
“Dude, if I had anything to fear from you, neither of us would be here.” I sound far more confident than I am. Then I realize I am confident. I’ve been doing this for months now and I keep hearing these threats, but that is all they are, just threats.
“Have it your way,” he says, running toward me. I fire a barrage of IP cannons at him and they slide off his skin. I expected them to, but I had to try. He leaps through the air, curling himself up into a ball—
The ringing in my ears followed by the impact of the ground startles me. I’m staring up at the blue sky. “What happened?”
His name is not because he throws cannonballs. He can throw himself like a cannonball. Do not get cocky.
“Yeah, yeah.” I roll over, scanning for him. He’s fifty feet away coming out of his own roll. The shields protected me from the impact, but they had nowhere to channel the force, hence why I ended up on the ground.
He starts running at me again. The grenade launcher cycles switching to pods. I wait for him to leap… and fire. The boom echoes in my ears. It isn’t just that he throws himself at me. He creates some kind of micro-velocity envelope like he’s being shot out of a cannon. Epic throws the math on the screen and it looks like he breaks the sound barrier when he shoots himself. Amazing.
This time I was ready with angled kinetic shields. Instead of rolling me over, he bounces off the wedge, flying at a forty-five-degree angle. I can hear him screaming expletives once he realizes he isn’t coming down.
“Notify ATC and ping his location. I don’t want him bringing down a plane.” The AG pod caught him just as he bounced up, sticking to his lower back. If he even knows it’s there, he’ll never be able to contort enough to reach it.
Done.
I hear Kate over the tacnet directing the team. She has Tessa off of Teddy—The Doctor— and in the field using her TK abilities to great effect. Glacier overpowers the flame generators. Her blue beams of ice freezing them in place. Fleet can’t hit or touch anyone while he’s at speed. He has invulnerability to friction and g-forces but not if he hits someone. He can run into a wall at a hundred miles an hour and it’s a love tap. But if he punches someone at a hundred miles an hour it will break every bone in his body. While he heals fast, I imagine the pain is all the same. He does his best to help, evacuating wounded, zip-tying downed opponents, which is incredibly useful, and generally filling in where he’s needed. Tony loves his job and I’m glad to have him on the team.
“Arsenal, I need you at the jet please,” The Doctor says, a waver in his voice. “Now, if you don’t mind.” Teddy is always so polite. I fire up the Emdrive, climbing to a hundred feet. Kate has the mop-up, this is over. I’m halfway to the jet when I spot the reason for my return.
“Epic, land us, full power all weapons.”
Affirmative. Suit is one hundred percent, all weapons and systems are green.
This is a lot better than when I had to pick and choose which components to power, or having them idle at half power. I hit the ground, IP Cannons pointing right at the man known as Jack Danger.
“Arsenal, I’d say it’s a pleasure to see you again…”
“Cut the crap and let my man go.”
He’s standing behind Teddy, one arm wrapped around his throat in a chokehold. He’s being careful, not exposing himself any more than he has to.
“Your man? You mean you’re not dating Major Force,” he says with a smirk. Why is it when a woman speaks everything is assumed to be romantic?
“Danger, I’m only going to tell you this once. Let him go and get face down on the ground. Don’t think for a second I won’t put you down.”
I raise the cannons a little higher. I can go for a quick shot with the particle beam if he forces me. I hate to kill him. But if it is him or The Doctor, there’s no decision here.
“I want on your plane. Open the door, turn off security and give me your word you won’t stop me, and I’ll let him live. Refuse any of those and I snap his neck like a twig and take my chances. It isn’t as if I’m not already looking at life in prison.”
He makes a good point. I’ve got nothing to bargain with. He won’t surrender… but he’s a merc? What is he even doing here?
Amelia. His heart rate suggests he is dead serious.
I nod. “Yeah, I gathered that.” Then to Danger, “Listen, Jack. You’re a merc, right? In it for the paycheck? Why are you attacking a nuclear plant, you had to know there would b
e resistance before you could destroy it.”
He smirks, jerking the Doctor around a little bit to prove his point. “That’s my business. Now deal or he dies.”
Teddy looks at me and I can see an odd piece in his brown eyes. Like he’s at peace with whatever I decide. “Let him go, Arsenal, it isn’t worth a life to stop him. Mine or his.”
“How zen of you Doc.” Danger smirks thinking he’s won.
The problem is if I let him go, and he goes and kills someone else, then I’m responsible. And he will kill. He’s a merc, an assassin, a gun for hire. He’ll do whatever the paycheck says to do… which gives me an idea.
“Okay, Jack, you win. I’ll let you go, but I want to hire you.”
I don’t know who’s more stunned, the Doctor or Danger.
“Bullcrap.” He tells me.
“Nope. What’s your rate? Five mil? Six?” I’m smiling ear to ear. I love doing the unexpected.
“Eight,” he says. His heart rate blips and Epic flashes, Liar, on my screen. That’s okay. Eight mill isn’t what it used to be.
“Done. Let the Doctor go, sit over there out of the way and you get your eight mil. But I want answers. Do that for me and I promise you your money.”
“I don’t believe you,” he says with narrow eyes. He glances around as if a trap is about to be sprung.
“You were willing to trust me to let you go with just my word… trust me on this. No tricks. You get paid, I get answers. After that, maybe we can come to another arrangement. But this is the best deal you’re going to get. And you don’t have much longer to decide.” I’ve put him off his ease and he’s sloppy because of it. Epic brackets his head with the kinetic lance… I really hope he takes the deal otherwise I won’t be getting any info.
“Epic, fire at your discretion.”
Affirmative.
Danger is a lot like Luke with his lightning-fast reflexes. However, where Luke has a preternatural danger sense, Danger doesn’t. Hitting him when he’s actively dodging his darn near impossible. But, if Epic is doing the shooting. His muscles twitch in his forearm and his eyes narrow to little slits.
“The plane or—”
The kinetic lance doesn’t make any noise. Dangers head simply snaps back flipping him and the Doctor over backward. I’m on him in a second pulling Teddy off of him and hitting Danger at point-blank range with the IP cannons. He’s twitching like a Muppet on crack.
“Fleet, full body tape, now!”
Danger is already recovering, struggling to overcome the IP cannons. In a whir of speed and three rolls of duct tape from the plane, the only piece of Danger I can see is his nose. Fleet finishes with a flourish, whips out a sharpy, and draws an angry face on the tape.
“Nice, Tony.”
“I aim to please.”
“Kate, how’s the situation out there?”
“Amelia, you better come. Better hurry,” her voice is deadly serious and I’m in the air when my radiation alarm triggers.
13
How do I know she’s alive? Well, I could tell you I have faith in her. I believe that if there were ever a person who could survive the impossible, it’s Amelia. But the truth is a little more factual. I can feel her. In my heart, I know she’s out there. She just isn’t a place I can get to… yet.
—Excerpt from Studio 50’s interview with Kate Petrenelli AKA Domino. Founding member of The Protectors.
The soldiers wave as I fly over them. The Doctor hasn’t reported any casualties; I’m hoping there are none at all, but especially among the soldiers. He’s really a good doctor. Even without his ability to stimulate regeneration in freshly damaged cells, he’d still be invaluable.
Amelia, the radiation is not at dangerous levels yet, but there is something familiar in the pattern.
The last time Epic picked up random radiation was also the last time we fought Danger.
“Apple-man is dead, Epic, he blew himself up three miles above—” and now I have to eat my words. Sitting with his legs crossed and leaning against the cooling tower, is Apple-man, even eating an apple. What the hell is with him and apples? Well, this is easy enough. I can have him in orbit before he explodes.
“ETA to detonation?”
If his pattern is consistent, one minute.
I slam into the ground next to Kate who stands a few feet away from him.
“Well, well, if it isn’t the Savior of Las Vegas.” He’s sitting on the ground with his back up against the silo.
“Bitter you didn’t get to kill three million people?”
He shrugs. “Fish gotta swim. I blow up regardless of whether I get paid or not. I might as well get paid.”
Interesting. He is implying a build up to nuclear fission is his power.
“And what? You figure take out as many people as you can?” Kate asks.
He shrugs again, “Life sucks.” He takes a bite of his apple then speaks with his mouthful, “Then you die. And you will. If you move me one inch.” That is when I notice he’s sitting on something. A pressure plate.
“Epic, scan it.”
Scanning… it is a pressure plate of some kind. I have identified c-4 bricks on his person. It is likely to assume if you move him, he will explode.
“Kate, what do we do?”
“I’m assuming if we move him those explosives will prematurely detonate him,” she says.
“Bingo,” he says over a mouthful of apple. “It won’t be a kiloton but you know, enough to send this plant into immediate meltdown.”
Anger wells up in me and I curl my fists involuntarily. How could he so casually consider this? I take a step forward. Kate puts a restraining hand on my shoulder.
“How long do we have?” she asks.
“Less than a minute.”
She nods, passing me to kneel down next to him. “I’ve got this Amelia. Step back, just in case.”
“No,” I yell, guessing what she plans. “He’ll explode as soon as you re-materialize. You won’t have time to teleport back.”
“I know.” She glances over her shoulder at me, her green eyes big and wet. I grab her shoulder and hall her back.
“I can hit him with an AG pod—”
Fifteen seconds.
He’s glowing now, my radar alarms scream at me as they approach dangerous levels.
“There’s no time, Amelia.”
“There’s always another way.”
She vanishes from my grip and re-appears behind me.
“Not this time.” She looks up into the sky, touches Apple-man and they both vanish.
“No!” I kick the thrusters in full and charge my electromagnetic shielding to max.
The sky lights up with a bright flash that polarizes my faceplate.
Incoming shockwave, brace!
The armor locks up and bucks as the concussive force blasts past me. I’m already at a thousand feet and based on the strength of the wave I’d guess she teleported maybe ten miles up. Wow. I knew she could do line of sight, it just didn’t occur to me she could go so far in one hop.
“Epic, full scanners, find her! She survived. I know she did. Find her!”
The spectrum is all screwed up by the detonation and subsequent release of radiation. If she managed to survive the explosion she might be unconscious and falling. If she didn’t teleport away in time she’s gone. Tears well up in my eyes and my heart thuds. No. I won’t accept that. She lived.
Amelia, I am sorry but it is unlikely she survived.
I try the radio but the signal can’t go anywhere because of the interference. “Dammit, Kate,” I scream in my helmet. This isn’t happening. She’s alive dammit. Alive.
Amelia, I cannot find her.
Think, Amelia, what would she do? A heartbeat to teleport, less really. Not enough time for her to lock on me or Tigress. So a short-range teleport only… she would have…
“Epic, full burn, she went up.”
Amelia, do not get your—
“Epic, she went up. She teleported
up, I know it.” The thrusters whine with power siphoning what they need from the ZPFM. Five thousand feet… ten thousand… Come on Kate… come on! If she made the second port she’d be falling. She wouldn’t be able to teleport anywhere else without carrying over her velocity. She’d be trusting me to catch her. The way I should have trusted her to do this. Dammit, Kate, where are you?
I’m having trouble seeing, my eyes are clouding up and I can’t read the HUD. “Anything?”
No… Wait.
Yes! “Where?”
It is faint, but I am picking up an intermittent signal that may be her transponder… marking a trail.
I go full over, almost one-eighty and three miles down to the west. The g-forces elicit a grunt from me and my vision goes black on the edges. My manipulators do most of the work but it still bleeds through.
Amelia, there is not much time, hurry!
The airspeed indicator blasts past Mach One as we race gravity. Every second brings us closer and finally her transponder signal comes through clean enough for a lock on. It’s her! Oh, thank you, God. She’s a thousand feet from impact and falling fast. Five seconds…
Four…
Three…
“Full break!” I slam forward in my suit as I throw the thing in reverse. The maneuver slides me through the air under her, I roll over, catch her and floor it, going down and then pulling five g’s to bring us back up. “Come on,” I mutter through my clenched teeth. The ground zooms up at us and if… I grunt as the g’s level off and we’re skimming the ground at three feet. Rolling over again, I put my back between us and the ground and pull up and head back to the plane at a sedate one hundred.
“Kate?”
Amelia, her vitals are low.
It’s then I see. She’s burned black from head to toe. Her beautiful hair is gone and her skin peels off as we go. I scream in my suit, then bite down to keep the bile down.
Full Metal Superhero Box Set [Books 1-3] Page 43
