“Rafael wants us to bring her to the docks, so he can take care of her,” he tells the other two. “Heart will meet us there.”
Club tears through the duct tape holding me to the bench like it isn’t even there then throws me over his shoulder—rough enough that I bounce against the steel hard muscles in his back.
“So, Club, you’re super strong. What’s Diamond?” I ask the brute.
“He’s tough. Can’t be hurt,” he says while walking slowly across the street.
“What about Spade?”
“He makes everyone float. A Spade kind of looks like a leaf? See?” he says, twisting slightly so I can indeed see. That actually makes sense in a weird sort of way.
“I take it Heart is because she can control people?” I ask.
“Yep, you got it. See, it isn’t a bad little motif after all.”
I don’t say anything else as he carries me across the street. They have the pedestrian doors to the hangar open and I catch a glimpse of what’s waiting for me. Heart stands next to it in her costume, with a cloak added so she looks like the rest of her team. She smiles at me as we go by, not the fun kind of smile, but the cat who caught the canary smile.
Inside the hangar smells like marine fuel and sea spray. Not the most pleasant thing—it wrinkles my nose. I try to hold myself up with my stomach muscles so I can see where we’re going. The first room is just an office, with old chairs and couches. The next one smells of oil and has to be some kind of workroom. Then we’re in a big open space. Water laps gently against the walls. Club pulls me off his back, sitting me down in a chair with arms, then duct tapes my wrist to the right arm of the chair. It’s a bit awkward, having my torso twisted this way.
“This again?” I ask him.
“You’re tricky, I don’t take chances with tricky,” Club tells me as he pulls the duct tape apart with his teeth.
“Ms. Lockheart, how nice to see you again,” Rafael says from behind me.
I sigh. This is going to be one of those evil villain’s rants about his master plans. I just need him to keep talking while I figure out how to escape.
“Ricky, I’d say it’s nice to see you again, but you keep having people try to kill me, so no, not nice to see you again.”
“Kill you? No. Capture you. I can’t risk you having the ability to become someone else when you die. Heart, take over her mind please,” he says with a gleam in his eye. I smile at him and give a little chuckle.
“I can’t,” she tells her boss.
“Explain?” He taps his walking stick against the floor like he’s using it to order people about. The red gem sparkles in the filtered sunlight coming from the thin windows high above. Beyond him is open water like a massive pool, a vast area of ocean bracketed by two thin docks. Nothing sits there for now, which is strange considering the hundred or so people in the big hangar all wearing costumes and colorful clothes, along with half a dozen uniformed police. They can’t all be waiting for me?
This must be his army of superhumans. How the hell did he recruit so many when even Ericsson never really got more than a few dozen—most of which were mind-controlled in some way.
“She has some kind of failsafe,” Heart tells him. I stick out my tongue at her. “She says that if her brainwaves alter she’ll explode like a nuke.” The woman’s scowl warms my heart. She’s not used to her powers being ineffective.
“She’s lying,” Rafael says as he stands next to me looming over. “She wouldn’t kill herself unless…”
“Oh, I’ll do it. I wake up in the morning and say, ‘Hey Amelia, today’s the day you want to be a plaything for some mind-controlling bitch, so don’t activate the failsafe you designed to stop Ericsson from taking you over.’ Yep, pretty much that’s how this morning went. Except it didn’t, and I did. My brainwaves alter and you all go boom shakalaka.” I give him my best serious look.
He shakes his head, peering at me. “I don’t believe you. You wouldn’t risk harming innocents like that. No, if you are truly Amelia Lockheart, as you claim, you wouldn’t.”
I laugh. “I don’t get it, Rafael. Either I’m Amelia Lockheart, genius billionaire do-gooder, or I’m Harald Ericsson, jackass tin-pot-dictator with no regard for the sanctity of human life.” I glare at him while I speak, and I pitch my voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “So, either I have no regard for life and will blow the ever-living heck out of everyone here, or I do and I won’t. But if I am me, then why the heck are you doing this?”
He stares me down, his steely eyes unflinching as he looks at me. “You are clever,” he whispers. “Too clever for your own good. You see Miss. Lockheart. When today is done, everyone will know the truth about you. Congratulations, though. You’ve convinced me you’re not Ericsson.” He walks back a few steps, glances down at his gem, then at the group of police officers standing off to the side. “Shoot her.” He says it so matter of fact I’m stunned.
“Wait,” I say as a woman in a balaclava steps in front of me. She pulls the large black gun from her holster and points it at me. “Just wait,” I say again. Panic flares up in me and I start struggling against the tape.
In a last-ditch effort I look up at the woman’s eyes to plead for my life and I see… Kate. It’s Kate in a mask. She winks at me, turns the gun on Rafael and pulls the trigger.
147
Chaos erupts as the gun barks. The round hits him in the chest knocking him down in a lazy arc. His hands hit the cold floor and his cane rolls away from him in what feels like slow motion.
Club lunges for Kate a half second before the shock wears off everyone else. His meaty fist swings toward her and I try to scream for her to look out. Tia, also disguised as a police officer, leaps between them and holds up her hand. The flooring cracks and the air around her takes on a heaviness that is a trick of her powers. Club’s meaty fist smacks her hand. The shockwave pops my eardrums and sends everyone scrambling for cover. The diminutive woman steps into his blow and counters. When her fist connects with his jaw it is like a bomb explodes. Club flies back through the air, crashing through the corrugated aluminum siding.
Kate turns the gun on Heart and rapid fires, but Diamond anticipates it, stepping in front of the Witch. The bullets bounce off him, only leaving smoking holes in his costume.
“Can you teleport?” I yell.
“No. Something is still blocking me,” Kate says. She moves toward me, gun unwavering, pointed at Diamond.
“Tia, hit Diamond like a train!” The officer nods and moves toward him. Heart moves slightly to the side, so she can see the cop. Her hands come up with that soft eerie glow.
Kate stops walking and fires off a shot at the Witch to keep her from using her magic. The rest of the people in the hangar have realized what is happening and they are moving toward us—we’re about to be seriously outnumbered.
“Kate, free my hands,” I yell. She looks at me, but the Witch starts casting again. Another bullet keeps her behind Diamond. Tia marches toward them, crossing the twenty feet, walking like she’s pulling a needy child with her legs. The flooring cracks underneath her, groaning with each step.
“You can’t hurt me,” Diamond tells her with a cocky grin. “Diamonds are indestructible.”
I pull on my taped wrist, trying to bend over without falling so I can rip the duct tape. Kate fires at Heart again but has to turn to the growling man-cheetah charging at her. She can take care of herself, but the moment she isn’t threatening Heart anymore, the Witch ensnares Tia, freezing her in place.
Dammit. I need my hands free. Kate goes flying by, bouncing off the floor from a kick by the shape-shifting mage. I struggle too hard and fall off the chair, twisting my arms painfully over my head and out of reach of my teeth.
“Epic,” I yell, I know he can hear me. “Beep if the armor is ready?”
One beep.
“Is the team inbound?”
Two beeps.
“Why the hell not?”
No beeps. The speaker pops to
life with a news announcer’s voice. “Mt. Rainier continues to spew lava. Without the aid of the Protectors and other state-sponsored superheroes, the loss of life would be incredible. As it is these brave men and woman are all that stands between nature and the death of thousands.”
“You son-of-a-bitch,” I scream at Rafael. To my utter despair, he sits up, pulling the bullet from his chest as if he’s removing a bur.
“Sacrifices, Ms. Lockheart, sacrifices must be made for the greater good.” If I could kick him I would. Instead, I’m hanging by my arms from this stupid chair, twisted and on the ground where I’m of no use to anyone.
Cheetah-man flies by me, screaming as Kate drills two rounds into him. She rolls past me, lines up her shot and fires. All the time I’ve spent being a hero, I will never, not ever, get used to seeing someone die. The bullet catches Heart in-between the eyes. She drops like a discarded toy from a child's hand.
Tia shakes her head once, before balling up her fist and swinging for the fences, aiming squarely at Diamond’s jaw. Confident in his invulnerability he takes the blow.
False confidence. Diamonds are not unbreakable. Tia’s fist connects with his jaw carrying the equivalent force of seventy-two thousand tons. Nothing I can think of could stand up to that amount of mass, condensed to a woman’s fist and unleashed on an area no more than six square inches. With a sound like shattering glass, Diamond vaporizes in an explosion of particles that rain down over the ground behind him all the way to the wall.
“Get them,” Rafael yells as he stands. He looks frantically around him for his cane. Locating it, he dives for the magical item. Scooping it up, he runs away from Kate and toward his army of minions.
A hundred super-powered mages with everything in the world to lose, run at us. I can see some in the back waving their hands with crackling bolts of lightning forming.
“Kate,” I scream again. “My hands!”
She lunges for me, a knife appearing between her fingers. Cheetah-man hits her from the side, dragging long sharp claws along her bionic arm.
“Full beast mode,” Kate says as she hits the ground. Her hands sprout claws as she rolls over. Cheetah rains down blows on her, fighting to get on top and rip her throat out.
Tia takes off running for the crowd of mages. Each footfall shaking the ground and sending the light fixtures far above dancing around.
I jerk on the tape again. Three more people jump on Kate. There are too many to count trying to kick her into submission. A spray of blood followed by a scream tells me she’s still fighting. I jerk again on the stupid tape and let out a scream of frustration.
“Let me help you, señorita,” a man says. A knife appears and Domingo slices the blade through the tape. I fall on my back and hold my wrists up. He slices those apart too, then helps me unwind the tape. “Is there anything else I can do?” he asks.
I reach up and pull him down and plant a kiss on his cheek. “Evacuate the area, it’s about to get nasty.”
“Si,” he turns and runs, leaning his head to talk into a radio as he does.
Who says no good deed goes unpunished? I finish pulling off the rest of the tape from my wrist computer. Something I will have to think about in the future. Kate has four people engaged with her, trading blows like there is no tomorrow. Tia is running around shoulder checking anyone stupid enough to get close to her. A bolt of green energy shatters part of the roof above her, slamming down and super-heating the ground around her. She screams and falls to her knees.
“Come on,” I mutter as the last of the tape comes off. I catch Club coming back in and I know I don’t have much time. With the last of the gunk from the tape residue off my screen, I can see Epic’s message.
Ready.
I grin. I’ve been waiting all night to say this. Club bears down on me, his big feet impacting the earth with small tremors.
“Epic… Initiate!”
148
Leaps, keystones, singularities—advances in science and technology have many names. My first one was the kinetic manipulators. With them, I could build my armor, stay relatively safe, and do the things I needed to do. As I gained more knowledge, possibilities opened up. The ZPFM was my second. Boundless energy in a shell the size of a 9-volt battery. Third would be the Quantum gate generators. The Th’un and other aliens, use it to travel faster than light. Me? I use it as a storeroom.
Club bears down on me with maniacal glee, arms out wide to sweep in and snatch me up. I simply waggle my fingers at him as the gate opens beneath me. The ground vanishes, and I fall three feet to bounce in netting stretched from wall to wall. The gate closes above me, and I know Club just face planted on empty flooring.
Amelia. It is so good to see you. I am glad you are okay. Though, your vitals are erratic.
“Almost dying all night will do that to a girl. No time for pleasantries, some butt needs kicking, buddy.”
Luke and Carlos stand by, ready to assist if needed.
“Aren’t they dealing with an angry volcano?” I ask him. My hands fly over my shirt, pulling it off and discarding it to the side, followed by the odd dance I have to do to pull my pants off. I’m covered in dirt, scratches, and bruises, and I desperately need a shower, but that will have to wait.
Yes. But both of them have expressed a willingness to leave in order to assist you.
“Tell them no way. I won’t risk lives up there on the off chance I’ll need them here. Besides, I’ve got you now.”
They will not like it, but I will inform them of your wishes. Which suit would you like?
“Spin up the MK VI, Hippie Control variant.”
Amelia, we have talked about the name.
“Fine, fine. Riot Control armor. My name is more fun to say.”
Riot Control armor is ready. Say when.
I laugh as the last of my clothes come off.
I am suspended in a hammock-like netting. The room itself is bland—gray walls with lighting so I can see what I am doing. I have three sets of netting below me in case the first one breaks for some reason. Epic also has local control of AG pod launchers built into the wall. The entire facility floats in quantum space, essentially waiting for me.
“When!”
The nets retract into the wall, and I fall. The room ends in a funnel with a grade so slight that I can’t help but slide in feet first. I hit the next section. I can’t feel what happens at first, because I can’t feel my legs. As I fall slowly through the hole, high-pressure nozzles spray me with a liquid version of my synthsuit. I may not have any more animetal, but some of the principles can be applied to other materials. I go through the sprayer and I feel it hit my stomach. A shiver runs through me as the cold paint reduces my temperature.
“Epic, make a note. Let’s heat the vats. This is freezing!”
Note made. Vats of boiling oil ordered.
“Smart mouth,” I say right before my head goes through the hole. I close my eyes and hold my breath. The back of my neck tingles as the nozzles spray me there. It shouldn’t get on my face or hair, but life is full of things that shouldn’t happen.
From there, an articulating arm wraps around my waist and the pre-suit secures itself to my back, butt, and legs. Next, the main suit comes out of the walls. This version is slightly bulkier than my MK III—which was already bulky. It locks into place with a whir of bolts and spinning servos, covering my waist, stomach, chest, and head. The HUD boots up as the last piece of armor comes in. From here I have a few different choices of armor.
Today is Hippie Control.
Another, far bulkier, chest piece locks onto my current one. Shoulder mounts come down and secure onto it as well as the final leg armor. Four ZPFMs spin to life, powering the entire suit. The HUD runs through the status of every weapon, giving me the thumbs up.
“Epic, time to work for a living.”
The arm lets go and the Quantum Gate drive installed in the room flares to life, opening a portal back to where I was. Only this time, about seven feet abo
ve where Club tried to pound me into paste.
149
I slam into Club’s head with both my armored feet. The suit itself weighs close to a thousand pounds—without the Animetal “tendons” for me to move it, I’d be the world’s heaviest paperweight—add in the kinetic manipulators, and I hit Club with the force of a semi-truck. His face slams into the floor with a crack of thunder. I barely feel the impact as I flex my knees just enough to keep from falling over.
“Kick their asses, Amelia,” I hear Kate yell with a cheer.
The HUD switches to red, showing me all the pertinent information. Eighty-seven of Rafael’s superhumans remain. He’s taken the opportunity to vanish, which is so typical it’s not even funny. Just once, I’d like the bad guy to stand up with his minions and take his lumps like an adult.
“Epic, take fire-control on the Gatling’s. Primary, assist Kate and Tia. Secondary, take out range threats.”
Confirmed.
Two double-barrel Gatling-style guns spring out of my back, run up to my shoulders, and lock into place on semi-autonomous articulating arms. They whir to life and I hear the puff-puff as AG pods start flying.
“Kate,” I yell over the loudspeaker.
“Here,” she says, leaping over a woman in a bright blue one piece. She hits the ground, backhands the woman, and comes running to me. My right arm opens, revealing a compartment with two IP-pistols and an extra set of goggles.
While she takes those, I raise my other arm and start firing off IP bolts. Three shots, three targets down.
“Got it,” she says as she takes a step back and leaps into a flip while shooting her pistols.
Club slams into me like a tornado of fists and flesh. Alarms scream as he hits me a half dozen times, forcing me on the defensive. I raise my arms to protect myself while moving backward as he swings.
“Activate the Ram.”
Powering.
Full Metal Superhero Box Set [Books 1-6] Page 79
