I push off and level my cannons, they’re reading one-hundred percent, and fire. The blast of Ion energy rips through him and slams him back down to the ground from where he was almost up. He may be invulnerable to physical attacks, but he still has a nervous system.
“Pod him,” I hear the puff of my grenade launcher and he floats unconscious up to the ceiling.
“One down.”
The number on my screen changes to 76. I guess without him having to wait to go he can move a little faster than one every three seconds. At least all the kids are out. I don’t know how to deal with Sandman, and Mr. Perfect and Jadoo are surrounded by bizarre energy which could disrupt my armor: I can’t risk it.
“Major Force, Domino, trade,” Epic says over the comms.
Domino, like a champ, teleports to Force, slaps her arms around him and appears next to Sandman with him. Then she’s back to Blade.
Engage Nova and Tire-Iron before they have a chance to return to the hostages.
Two-on-one and they’re both deadly.
Awesome.
The thing about superpowers is they seem amazing until you fight someone your powers have no effect on. I blast down the baggage claim to the east end where the two most powerful members of the Six are waiting to ambush any police who come in. I land fifteen feet from them with my arms up to fire my cannons. I suspect it won’t have an effect on Tire-Iron. The big lug steps in front of Nova and the energy wave dissipates off of him.
“Tire-Iron, Blade failed, do you think you can take her?” he asks in his creepy crackling voice.
I’m not sure if he’s surrounded by fire or is living flame. It’s hard to tell. The floor under him is black but not burning. My sensors register him at three hundred degrees.
Tire-Iron leers at me, “I’m gonna rip you out of that armor and break you in half.”
I fire my cannons again. Okay, he should not be fast and strong. I hear glass shatter and then a roar like a campfire and Nova is gone.
Running? It doesn’t seem like the thing to do.
“Epic, all power auxiliary kinetic fields.”
This isn’t exactly the test I was hoping for. Tire-Iron lumbers toward me and I stand my ground. Five-eight in the armor and he has to be six-six. He towers over me.
“And they said you were smart,” he rears back his arm.
Did he just imply he was warned about me? I don’t have time to guess. His fist is nearly the size of my head. He lets fly, I reach up with my left hand—and catch his fist. A thunderclap blows through the room shattering windows and sending debris flying. My design worked, I’m holding his fist.
I’m glad I’m recording the look on his face.
“What?” he asks.
“Yeah, it’s like that,” I put my right hand against his knee and bend my wrist down while flexing.
Time to see how ‘invulnerable’ he really is. Sub-atomic particles charged with positive energy and accelerated to near light speed fire out of my wrist emitter in a howl of fury and fire.
The beam splashes against his knee and for a brief moment I think it isn’t going to work.
Then it cuts through and blasts out the other side.
His mouth opens, and his eyes fill with tears. The man mountain, who’s committed countless crimes, falls down grasping his knee and keening like a little baby as tears and snot roll down his face. There are days I love my job.
“Pod him.” Puff and he’s floating up. I imagine he could do some damage to the ceiling, even get through the roof, but all he would do is float away.
Domino has Blade in a choke hold and is riding her down like a calf. I can’t hear what she’s saying but whatever it is, the swordswoman is slowly relaxing. The plasma sword vanishes, and she drops to the ground unconscious.
Perfect and Jadoo are still locked in their battle and I take an educated guess.
“Fire kinetic lance,” the force beam smashes into the man on the carpet and crumples him like a rag doll.
With his concentration broken, his energy constructs vanish and Mr. Perfect’s power crashes into him. A smoking husk of burning flesh and scorched hair falls to the ground.
“I don’t know how to fight this thing,” Force screams.
Sandman is the only one left besides Nova. I step forward to help when Epic flashes a warning on my screen.
Temperature outside is spiking. There are tens of thousands of gallons of jet fuel in and around this airport. Nova could detonate it and cause a catastrophe.
Done. I turn my back on my team-hopefully they can finish this-and I kick in the jets. My armor blasts through the nearest window and I’m up in the air at a hundred miles an hour, banking to the west, scanning for Nova.
“Epic, these guys acted like they were ready for me. Come to think of it, Blade seemed pretty fixated on me. Who could sneak these monsters out of prison and move them to Phoenix without anyone noticing?”
It would require contacts inside the North Dakota UltraMax. As well as some form of technology or power to move people undetectably across the breadth of the nation.
“In other words—”
Teleportation.
“Yeah. Why am I not surprised? Same with Vixen and this supposed cabal. I’ve had enough of this crap—when this is done we’re going after the source.”
Epic locks onto Nova’s position. He’s floating a hundred feet above the fuel storage. Jet fuel burns at fifteen hundred degrees. The HUD says eleven-hundred and I’m five hundred feet away.
“Will the cannons work on him?”
Unknown. Heat can disrupt ion particles. “This really is Las Vegas again. At least he can’t melt the suit.”
I aim for the center of the fireball and I dive in. My faceplate immediately goes dark to protect my vision. I slam into something. He screams and I wrap my arms around him.
“I will burn you to a cinder!”
“Bring it, but I hope you brought your own oxygen supply.”
“What?”
“Epic, full power, ballistic trajectory straight up.”
The thrusters will overheat.
“He doesn’t know that.”
The jets on my back, the sides of my boots, and the one on the hand that isn’t wrapped around him, all light off with intense force. I hear the sound of a rocket blasting through the sky and I realize it’s me. He screams and the temp on the HUD flares to thirteen hundred. We hit four-hundred miles per hour and the overheating alarm starts blaring.
“Punch it!”
The afterburners kick in and we rocket past six-hundred miles per hour. He stops screaming. Warning lights are flashing all over my HUD.
“Cut power, let’s fall.”
The thrusters shut off and wind down, and I’m falling. My faceplate clears and I can see again. Nova is unconscious, frost covers his skin and I think I might have broken all his ribs. Whatever, he made his bed. The HUD says we’re at seventeen thousand feet.
“Hot damn, Epic. I need to work on the overheating issue. I want us in space. Wouldn’t that be—”
Awesome?
“You read my mind.”
26
It’s weird being on a stage while thousands of people cheer at me. Plain weird. The crowd is huge; I only know exactly how many people are attending the celebration because of Epic. He kindly lets me know. I’m not sure if this is his idea of a joke or not. I hate crowds and if I wasn’t in my armor I would be rolling for the hills. Regardless, I have a running ballistic course set in for the HQ.
We’re all here--it wasn’t a request. The mayor of Phoenix called Luke personally and asked for us. I think they like the fact of how we stopped the Psychotic Six, with no civilian or police casualties. Nova succumbed to his injuries and I’m trying real hard not to feel bad about it.
I’ve prepared for this my whole life. Mentally, at least. Physically… I’ve watched a lot of movies and read books on tactics and fighting. Until three months ago I had never so much as had an argument with someone. Not in real
life anyway. I argued plenty with so-called ‘scientists’ at Harvard and MIT, over the Internet.
Now I’ve killed people and severely crippled many, many more. Is it irony? A crippled person crippling other people? I shouldn’t feel bad for Tire-Iron; he had it coming and if he can never walk again, well then maybe he will never kill again. I shake my head. No, I did right. Then why do I feel guilty about it all?
Kate puts her hand on my shoulder. She must be feeling some backlash from my inner turmoil. They caught me by surprise when they showed up today in different uniforms. Had I known we put on colorful, flashy outfits for public appearances I would have added some flashing lights or something.
Kate’s wearing a dark blue semi-rigid top. It looks like body armor. Under it, she has on a form-fitting long sleeve shirt and below it a skirt. I couldn’t believe it. She’s wearing a skirt. Her boots come up to her calves and she has stockings on for the rest but…
Luke’s wearing something I could best describe as a Marine dress uniform without any medals or insignia. Fleet’s never had to make a public appearance before. He didn’t have time to get an alternate costume. Kate set him up with a very nice metallic blue suit. He wore his usual domino mask as did Kate. Luke had his half-mask on and Mr. Perfect… he wore a tux. Which is totally normal for him. Along with his Phantom of the Opera mask. He twirled his little cane and smiled, and all the ladies swooned. What is it with him?
The stage is large enough we can all stand shoulder to shoulder with plenty of room. Right now, the Chief of Police is recounting his experience of how Fleet saved child after child, and even brought a mother with her baby.
He’s last in line on my right—we’re formed up in order of seniority—and I nudge him.
“See,” I whisper.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Women and children first.”
The ceremony goes on for a while, finally culminating in the Mayor giving Luke an award for the whole team. The crowd cheers and we all take a bow. I almost miss my cue. Halfway through I started falling asleep. I put Star Trek on my heads-up display to help keep me up. I think Kate noticed my mood change because she gave me some funny looks.
I can’t help it, I love me some Captain Kirk.
The cheering goes on and on. I wave a few times and then it is over. Kate guides us down the stage to the waiting crowd for autographs and pictures.
“I’m sorry, I can’t really hold a pen.”
I’m going to hell for all the lies I tell.
“I’m happy to take a picture with you,” I tell one young lady.
She poses as her parents snap a pick.
Kate nods at me, or past me, and I turn and look. My heart stops. There is a little girl in a wheelchair. She can’t be more than eight or nine. She’s hanging back from the crowd. It’s rough in the chair. Crowds are an opportunity to be accidentally knocked over or pushed in a bad direction. I had to weigh every crowd, every line, and decide was whatever I was doing worth the risk?
I could see her doing the same math and deciding against it. I couldn’t take it.
“Excuse me,” I begged off another photo op and walked toward her.
I’m not tall, not even in the armor, but I am bulky. I don’t think anyone would miss me in a crowd.
Her face lights up as I walk to her. I don’t see her parents, but I can’t imagine they aren’t nearby. I kneel down in front of her to look her in the eye while we speak.
“Hi, I’m Arsenal.”
I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to open my faceplate more than right this second. Stupid secret identity.
“I’m Wendy, I can’t believe you came over here. You’re my favorite!”
I smile inside my helmet. I have a fan.
“Wendy, can I tell you a secret?” I lean in as I speak.
Her face lights up and she leans closer.
“I’m in a wheelchair too,” I whisper.
I don’t think her eyes could get any bigger without falling out.
“Really?”
“Honest Abe.” I say holding up my hand, “I invented my armor to help me walk. Only when I’m in my armor, though. The rest of the time I wheel around just like you. “
She reaches out and touches my arm.
“If I had this I would never leave. I miss running something awful.”
I’m desperately trying not to cry.
“I do too. I can’t stay in here all the time—it smells if I’m in here too long.”
She laughs. I reach over and hug her as best I can, and she hugs me back.
“You’re my best friend,” she whispers in my ear.
“Our secret, okay?”
She nods.
Her mom picks that moment to walk up on us. I watch as she wheels Wendy away. The little girl glances back every few seconds and waves. I wave back every time.
I don’t know how long I’m standing there watching her go. If I succeed at nothing else in life, I would be okay. I didn’t have anyone to look up to as a kid; I just wanted my family back. Maybe there is more to this business than flying around stomping bad guys. I never had a ton of respect for them before, but maybe I was wrong?
“Arsenal?”
I turn around and come face to chin with Luke. He’s smiling. The skin around his eyes crinkles just a little bit from his squinting. It’s Arizona after all, and their costumes aren’t equipped with self-polarizing lenses. Which gives me an idea…
“Epic, make a note. Let’s look at re-vamping their costumes.”
Note made.
“Neat, huh, when you can inspire people?”
I forget he can’t see me smile.
“I didn’t know about this part, you know? Saving lives, sure, but inspiring people?”
“Most of us are forced into this. Our powers express and we’re too young to know what to do, or too scared.”
“Which were you?” I ask.
He looks far away, not to the distance, but in the past.
“A little column A, a little column B, I suppose. The way my powers work, well, when I was a teenager you can imagine the problems I caused. Joining the Marines helped, but not as much as I would have liked.”
His sudden open nature catches me off guard. I wish I wasn’t in my armor. I want to touch him.
“I guess what I’m trying to say is, being a leader is terrifying. I’m constantly afraid of making the wrong decision, of causing someone’s death. All that. Here you come along and you always know the right thing, you always have your head on you. There are days I don’t even know why the Arizona AG put me in charge.”
He pauses for a moment, looking down at his feet. He doesn’t like being in charge, that much is obvious. Being terrified of it was less so.
“When we’re in the field like we were against the Six, and I… don’t know what to do, I want you to take over. I may not be a good leader but I’m good enough to let others help. Okay?”
“You got it… Boss man.”
He cringes, but he does smile.
Luke puts his hand on my shoulder before a voice calls him over. I catch a glimpse of the aforementioned attorney general and the Mayor are waving him over for photo ops. It’s our team’s secret of how we handled the airport. As far as the outside world knows, Luke made the call and he made the right one.
“Hey, mind if I ask you a personal question?” Kate asks from behind.
“If I said no, would it stop you?”
She’s smiling when I turn around.
“Of course not!”
I laugh, “Okay, shoot.”
“Why don’t you build or invent,” she waves her hand to pantomime science, “something to fix your back or at least help you walk.”
She realizes I’m irritated before I do. I hold up my hand.
“Don’t,” she was already opening her mouth to apologize.
“There are a lot of reasons. One—I’m not a biologist. There are a lot of really smart, skilled, determined men and women working on nerve regeneration. I think
they will get it someday, but as an Engineer, my brain just isn’t wired for biology.”
She nods.
“But you walk when you’re in the armor…” thankfully she pitches her voice real low.
“That’s an electrical problem. The nerves between my spine and legs were crushed. The black suit I wear underneath my armor picks up my nerve impulses where they originate—”
Her eyes glaze over as I speak. I laugh again.
“I bypassed the damaged nerves, simply put. It makes the armor go, not me. The only thing that leaves me to build is some sort of contraption for me to walk, and I have that already; I’m wearing it. No, right now this is it. One day, maybe, but that day isn’t today.”
I put my hand on her shoulder and I am sure she can feel me. I am me. And part of me is the chair. It has been that way since I was six years old. I don’t think any different of it than if I were left handed… or a Battle Beyond the Stars fan.
27
Can I come in?” asks Luke.
My workshop is a mess. I have parts strewn everywhere and my new project is in a four-foot long metal box rigged with a kinetic field generator. I would have gone back to Detroit where I made the suit in the first place to do this, but I don’t have the time--and I don’t want those bastards at Cat-7 to know anything about how I fuse the components.
I’m dressed in shorts, a tank top, and my welding gloves as I solder a connection together under a microscope. My black hair is pulled back with a rubber band and I have these enormous goggles on. I’m the picture of beauty.
His unexpected emotional outburst, in a good way, has me reeling with chills every time I think of him. The way he opened up to me was wholly out of character for him, or at least the character I had come to expect from him.
I wouldn’t care as much if it weren’t for the fact that he is exactly my type. Tall, smooth skin, and a smile to die for. And his eyes… I could lose myself in his blue eyes.
“You there, Amelia?”
“Oh, yeah, uh, yeah,” I say smoothly.
I was staring. Great. I pull off the goggles and free my hair from the rubber band. A quick dash of my hands through my hair and I look marginally better.
Full Metal Superhero Box Set [Books 1-6] Page 14
