“What are you doing?”
Crack. Another finger breaks.
“Amelia, he’s hurting me,” Luke sobs as another finger breaks.
“What? No, stop!”
His hand slaps himself square in the face, breaking his nose and sending blood splattering down. Luke screams again. Panic threatens me. I don’t have a sedative or some way of knocking him out, just my lethal weapons; I don’t want to kill him.
“If you want me to stop, turn off your device and fly away,” the terrible voice says. When I don’t answer he reaches one finger up to his eye. When I still don’t say anything, he pushes against his eyeball as if he’s going to dig it out.
“No,” I scream, throwing my hands out to get him to stop. “Epic, kill the pod.” The power to the pod cuts off immediately. Luke falls to the ground, absorbing the impact from the thirty-foot drop on his knees.
“Fool. Don’t interfere with me again or I will force him to rip himself to pieces. You are powerless, Amelia Lockheart. I know everything Luke knows, I know where your parents are, where your precious Carlos spends his time, where Kate sleeps. Interfere with me again, and more than just Luke Lancaster will die.”
I nod numbly. What am I supposed to do? I watch helplessly as he leaps away, running even faster this time, and vanishing in the distance. The entire time, his evil laugh echoes in my ears.
158
Arizona never looks so good as it does while the sun sets in the distance. But even the majestic vistas and purple hues fail to comfort me as I bring the suit in and land on the Spire’s roof pad. The other Spire, where the jets and vehicles are kept, is open and an Emjet lands at the same time I do.
My armor crackles when I touch down—the broken foot section doesn’t quite work right. I limp to the yellow square that marks the elevator that carries me directly to my lab and takes my armor off in the process.
“Epic, contact Teddy and tell him I need his help, please.”
Will do.
Epic hasn’t spoken much to me since we left Branson. I think he’s mad at me for not fleeing when he told me to. But... but Luke. Maybe Epic saw that very outcome happening and was trying to spare me, or perhaps he knew there was no winning. Either way, I owe my friend an apology.
Incoming call from Kate.
“Amelia, are you okay? Epic filled me in on what happened,” she says. Just hearing her voice takes the edge off my emotions. I’m confused and angry, and I just don’t know what to do. I tell her all these things as the elevator descends. Right before we get to the lab the armor comes off and I am a sweaty, sticky mess underneath it.
A few minutes later I’m in my chair, foot propped up. Teddy gingerly moves it at different angles, trying to detect any broken bits.
“You’re lucky… again,” the Doctor says with a sigh. “Amelia, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you—”
“But you’re going to anyway,” I say with a smile.
“Quite. You’re not a normal person, Amelia. Your body doesn’t heal the way others do, especially your legs.” He’s interrupted by Kate and Carlos appearing next to me in a pop of displaced air that blows my bangs aside. They’re in civilian clothes, not their costumes, and they wear identical worried expressions.
They circle me, one on either side. Kate reaches out and rests her organic hand on my shoulder, flooding my system with relaxing emotions. I let out a big sigh and my body unwinds from a level of tension I didn’t think possible.
I look up at her with a smile. “Thanks, I needed that.”
“Of course, hon. No going out and wasting it, though. You’re going to bed, not your lab,” she tells me with a school teacher expression.
“That is excellent medical advice, Kate. Advice, I echo wholeheartedly,” Teddy adds. “My powers have kicked in and you will probably be good as new in a few days. For right now, wear a brace and try to stay off of it.” Teddy packs up his gear into his medical bag, gives me a hug, and leaves.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t come when Epic called,” Carlos says by way of apology. “We were tracking Tempus and I thought we had him, but, as usual…” he says with a shrug.
“No luck then, finding the time-traveling bad guy?” I ask.
“No,” Kate answers. “It would be nice if we knew who he was, but we’ve not had any luck finding that out either.”
I nod, stifling a yawn as I think about everything that happened in Branson. A flicker of a memory scratches at the surface of my brain. “Epic, pull up the Branson footage,” I say as I roll over to my big TV.
Amelia, are you sure?
I nod. I’m not, not really. I could do without it, to be honest. But something is nagging at me. Something I saw, but I can’t quite put a pin on it.
“Wow,” Carlos says when the screen comes to life and shows Luke as he changes. “How did he do that?”
“Oh, Luke,” Kate whispers. “I can’t believe he did this. This can’t be Luke.” She shakes her head in disbelief and I don’t blame her. If I hadn’t been there I wouldn’t believe it.
“Epic says he’s an F5 now. I don’t think it’s him, not really, anyway. Both in Argentina and a while ago here at home, we’ve fought people with powers that they either weren’t supposed to have or that were much more than they’re listed as having. A magician we ran into,” I glance at Kate, “told us about Rafael’s Gem. How, when they touched it they could see something. I’m thinking that whatever entity is in the Gem, it can grant superpowers or increase existing ones. If that’s the case then it explains Luke—and a lot of the other stuff we’ve seen over the last few years.”
“But... How does increasing his level of power make him attack you?” Carlos asks.
“He said something while we were there. Something about the gem. He referred to it as a him. Like it was a living thing. He said it threatened to kill me and everyone Luke loves.”
We all go silent for a moment and watch the fight play out. These things always seem longer than they actually are; it’s all over in less than a minute. When we get to the part where Luke starts hurting himself, Kate looks away. When it ends I have Epic rewind it. “Focus on the civilians, pull any footage you can from other sources to fill in the gaps.”
It would help if I knew what I was looking for.
I shrug. “I don’t know. Not really. I just feel like I’m missing something,” I say with a sigh. Epic pulls more footage, focusing on the crowd this time, replaying it from different angles.
“Stop,” the three of us say at the same time. We instantly look at each other.
The image freezes on a man in a gray trench-coat and hat. He has a five o’clock shadow and he’s scribbling in a notebook as Luke and I battle. I glance up at my friends with a question on my face. “Do you recognize him?” I ask.
“That’s Tempus,” Carlos says.
“He was at the awards ceremony. I saw him as we were leaving. He stood behind the crowd, writing in the same notebook. He looks exactly the same as he did then,” I say.
“I’ve only seen him twice and Kate’s seen him once. He looks exactly the same every time,” Carlos says.
“Why was he there? And how could he be there and where you were following him at the same time?” I shake my head. Time travel is confusing as hell. “There’s good news here,” I say with a grin.
“What?” Carlos asks.
“Epic, who is he?”
Running facial recognition and processing it through the state and federal databases. I have a match.
When Epic doesn’t speak for a moment I glance around at Kate and Carlos, then all three of us say as one; “And?”
His name is Frank Parker. He was a low-level analyst for the CIA. He quit just after the failed coup attempt in Washington, DC.
“Any information as to why he quit?” Kate asks.
His wife and twin teenage girls were killed by Behemoth. The details are not in the file. Only that they were killed in the incident during the fight at the White House.
&nb
sp; “What?” I ask. Shock floods my system and my ears ring. My skin goes hot and my ears hurt from the emotions flooding me. I put a hand on my heart as I try to calm down. This can’t be my fault, can it? But I was there. I was the one fighting her outside the White House. How did I miss a vehicle full of civilians, and how did I not know about it after the fact?
“Amelia,” Kate says my name like she’s trying to convince me of something, “this isn’t your fault. It’s just not. You’re not responsible for every bad thing that happens from the bad people we stop. Behemoth made her choice, so did the Psychotic Six, Ericsson, and everyone else we’ve had to put down.”
I shake my head. No, no, no... this is just too much. Too much.
“Carlos,” Kate says, “She needs to lie down, right now.” Carlos lifts me out of the chair with no effort, adding thoughts of Luke to my overwhelmed mind. He carries me to the bedroom as Kate holds her hand on my shoulder whispering words of comfort at me. Her powers, more than anything, ease my racing heart and let sleep overtake me. I don’t realize how exhausted I am until I’m in bed. I vow to find out everything I can about his family when I wake up. If I had to bet money, I’d bet he’s just trying to save them.
But if he can travel through time, why hasn’t he saved them already?
159
“That’s the situation, Boss Lady,” Tessa says over our video comms. My foot swelled up during the night, stranding me in the Spire while the rest of the team went off to fight a guy named Mountains Quake. What a pretentious tool. A big, strong, nearly indestructible, pretentious tool. Thank goodness Lux was here on Earth. Between her and the rest of the team, they were able to bring him down. Tessa finishes filling me in, cuts a sharp salute, and turns the camera off.
I wheel around from the monitor she was speaking to me on and look up at my current project. The MK VII Combat suit is almost ready; I found a way to add in an extra ZPFM along with a fourth kinetic manipulator, which I’m in the process of working on. It’s in pieces on my workbench—I had a neat idea for maybe fine tuning it’s shields. Epic can reshape them to a degree, like stealth mode, making radar bounce off me in angles so that I can’t be picked up by conventional means. What if, though, I could shape it into tighter angles? I mostly use them to absorb kinetic shots and G-forces that would sheer me in half. If I could—
The hairs on the back of my neck stand up and goosebumps spread up my arms. I suddenly feel like I’m being watched. I glance up at the far monitor with my lab’s camera output displayed on it... sure enough, there is a man behind me not ten feet away. I can’t help but stiffen as my heart races. There isn’t any way for me to suit up in here. The best I could do would be to use my mobile gateway and go that route. But that would leave a strange man in my lab who—so far—hasn’t made a move to hurt me.
“Hello Mr. Parker,” I say as I wheel around, affecting a calm demeanor I certainly don’t feel.
He nods, more to himself than me. “You’re very clever, Ms. Lockheart.” His voice shakes a little as he speaks, and he looks like he hasn’t slept in a week. Or eaten, for that matter. I get him; he’s trying to save his family.
“Can I call you Frank?” I ask. He doesn’t really move, just clutches his notebook in one hand and a pencil in the other. Now that I’m close to him I can see a few more details. He has deep brown eyes and his face looks like it used to smile a lot. He wears simple clothing; sketchers, slacks, a white button up shirt with no tie, and his gray overcoat and rain hat, which he takes off while we speak.
“Sure,” he says, glancing around as we speak.
“No one is going to hurt you,” I say to reassure him. “I’m not in the habit of hurting people who aren’t trying to hurt me... you’re not trying to hurt me, are you?”
He shakes his head. “I just want to save my girls, that’s all. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt, but I don’t always have a choice,” he says, taking the first step since he appeared in my lab. Not directly toward me, but in my direction. His eyes dart around the room as if he’s looking for something.
“I’m very sorry about your family, Frank. Believe me, I did everything I could that day to stop Behemoth—to stop all of it.” I don’t have to pretend to hurt; I am. I’ve grown used to the pain of losing innocent people, but Kate is right—it’s not my fault. I do my best to stop Behemoth and that is all I can do. If I didn’t do what I did, a lot more people would be dead right now, possibly the whole planet. I’ve had to find a way to be okay with that. If I’m not, next time maybe no one is saved. I can’t imagine that pain would be any better, and most certainly worse.
I notice the monitor behind Frank has a blinking light. Epic is trying to get my attention. There are days I’m glad he doesn’t have a voice.
Kate is on the way. They are still trying to rescue people from the aftermath of the battle. She says three minutes.
“I know. You all did your best. Behemoth was a monster and I’m glad she’s dead. But that doesn’t change the fact that my girls are gone. At least, in this present.”
I cock my head to the side. “You know I’m a bit of a scientist,” I say with a chuckle. “Maybe I could help?”
His eyes don’t stop moving as he takes another step. It’s like he’s trying to see everything at once. “You can, I mean, you are, or you will. I’m not sure anymore, things tend to blur together.” He shakes his head like he can clear it all up in his mind. “I need your kinetic manipulator, the one you have on your workstation.”
I clench my jaw to keep from saying, “Like hell.” Instead, I smile thinly and say, “Frank, I can’t let you have my tech. The government seized a bunch of it and turned it over to a madman and I’m still trying to clean up that mess. I can’t just hand over the one thing that...” My eyes narrow as I look at him. “How do you even know about that?” It occurs to me the only people I’ve ever even told about my kinetic manipulators are on the team. It’s not like I publish papers or anything. And the very, very, stripped down version I sold to Lockheed to get all this started couldn’t even be used in this capacity.
“I read about it in your museum. It absorbs kinetic energy and lets your armor survive G-forces that would,” he holds up his fingers to do air quotes, “Make a fighter pilot cry.”
I shake my head. I do recall writing those words in my journal a few years back, when I was testing the MK I. Was it really only two years ago? Seems like a lot longer.
“Um… museum?” I ask.
He cracks a grin for the first time since entering the room. “Time traveler,” he says with a shrug. “I can go pretty far in the future. But it’s not terribly relevant because it’s a future without me. Too many things can be changed by a single person. I go often to see what happens next and about half the time I’m seeing something that won’t happen because—”
“The observer effect!” I shout it out like a prize physics student answering her favorite professor.
He smiles. “Yep. I change things every time I observe them. At least, I can see a few things and I can learn things I wouldn’t otherwise be able to know.”
“Like what?” I ask because I’m curious… and I’m stalling.
“Like how your best friend can feel your emotions at any given time. How your AI works. Things like that. If an event happens that I have no way of influencing, I can be pretty sure it will happen, even if I do observe it.” He checks his watch, it’s a lovely timepiece. Something I haven’t seen in a while. I think it’s a pilot’s watch, an Aviator.
“Do you have somewhere to be?” I ask.
“No. I can tell you a lot of things, Amelia. I can tell you how things turn out with Mr. Lancaster, or if your friends,” he gestures toward the picture of Carlos on my desk, “will ever marry, or if you will have kids... I can tell you anything you like. And I will, if you give me the kinetic manipulator.”
How to save Luke... that’s the only thing I can think of that would matter. Could he tell me though? I know he says that if he doesn’t have in
volvement in it then it’s more likely to happen... but now that he’s here, he’s involved. Just telling me could change it, and not for the better.
“I’m truly sorry for your loss, Frank, I really am. I can’t give it to you, though. If this got out... I can’t even imagine what would happen.”
He nods like he knew that was going to be my answer. Has he done this before? Is this his past? My present? If it’s his past, then it has already happened for him... thinking about time travel can give Grand Canyon-sized headaches.
“It’s the last piece I need and it’s the only thing I can’t get from the future. Every time I’ve tried it fails to work. No one I’ve taken it to can replicate it, not even people with powers that allow them to understand tech. No. I get it from you, here and now in the present, or I don’t save my family. I’m sorry, but I have to save them.”
“What do you mean it’s the last piece. It isn’t useful without a power source and—”
“I stole a ZPFM from the government. It’s why I had people in California, they had a rough prototype they were shipping to—oh, you didn’t know?”
I work my mouth open and closed a few times as I try to suppress the rage building up inside of me. Of course they stole one. Of course! Major Nelson and I are going to have words. I thought the worst of it was Rafael creating those monstrosities with my armor... something I still haven’t figured out how he did.
“I just need that,” he says pointing at my tech, “and a few more things and I’ll be set.”
“Well, I’m not going to let you have it,” I say, the anger from the revelation seeping out in my voice.
He rechecks his watch. “I know. That’s why you have to leave. We’re out of time, Amelia. I’m truly sorry about Carlos.”
“Over my dead—”
Amelia! We must evacuate the Spire immediately. Red lights flash and emergency klaxon's sound with an ear-splitting ring.
“What’s going on?” I ask both Frank and Epic.
Someone has hacked Artemis and is preparing to launch an arrow at the Spire. We have less than three minutes to evacuate.
Full Metal Superhero Box Set [Books 1-6] Page 85
