Neha shifted position slightly to stand even closer to me than before. She pressed her body tightly against mine except for her glowing arms. She held her arms away from me to avoid touching me with them as they were freezing cold. Isaac began to glow as he always did when he was undergoing a transformation. He began to swell, as if he was a tire being inflated. He got so big that his head started to press against the top of my force field. He bent over, hunching over me and Neha as he continued to grow in size. His body grew to dominate the tiny space we were in, filling it like a balloon being inflated inside a glass jar.
“Now!” he yelled, his voice strained.
Neha stopped glowing. She wrapped her arms around me. I dropped the force field that kept the rubble from collapsing in on us. I simultaneously activated one around myself and Neha. She pressed against me so tightly it was as if she was trying to climb inside of me. Dust and debris fell in on all of us with a deafening roar, bouncing off the force field around me and Neha. Isaac was not so lucky. The weight of the destroyed building bore down on him while he simultaneously grew in size and tried to lift it off of us. He was trying to transform into Atlas, the Titan who supported the entire world on his shoulders in Greek mythology.
For a horrifying instant, Isaac stopped growing. He shrank a little. He was not going to pull it off. This was it. I found Neha’s hand and squeezed it tight. Isaac roared in pain and effort. The sound competed with the thunderous noise of falling debris. His primal scream made my bones rattle and my ears hurt. He started to grow again, slowly at first, then faster and faster and faster. He was soon a behemoth that towered over us the way a man towers over an ant.
In his Atlas form, Isaac stood up straight. He shrugged the rubble off of himself like it was crumbs. Rubble crashed and rumbled around us, bouncing off my force field. Isaac reached his massive hands down and swept debris and rubble away from me and Neha like it was dirt. We were free! I blinked at the sudden brightness as the now exposed sun was shining brightly.
Isaac stood up straight again. His giant form loomed over us like the now destroyed building once had. Isaac’s massive eyes were bloodshot and unfocused. He took two unsteady steps backward, away from us. Each step made the ground rumble and my teeth rattle. Isaac swayed for a moment, like a cornstalk in the wind. Then, he slowly fell backward. He was so tall, it took him a few seconds to hit the ground. But when he did, he hit the ground so hard, it was like a bomb had gone off. Some of the smaller buildings around us collapsed. Trees on the perimeter of the building complex were crushed under Isaac like they were matchsticks. Birds launched into the air.
Isaac’s now supine giant body began to glow. The light was so intense, Neha and I had to look away and shield our eyes. When we finally were able to look again, Isaac’s giant form was gone.
It took Neha and I several minutes to find Isaac’s body amid all the devastation and debris. He was on his back with his eyes closed. He was covered with cuts and bruises. His uniform was little more than bloody rags.
Neha and I rushed up to him, fearing the worst.
I checked Isaac’s neck for a pulse. It was a few seconds before I felt anything. It was some of the worst seconds of my life. He was alive! His pulse was thready and weak, but he was alive.
Isaac stirred a little as I touched him. His eyes slowly opened to slits.
“Are we in Heaven?” he whispered. His voice was weak.
“No,” I said. I blinked away tears.
Isaac frowned a little.
“The other place?” he asked.
“No,” Neha said. She smiled down at him. “We’re very much alive. Thanks to you.”
“Good. I’m glad we’re not dead. I loaned Theo some money the other day. He never paid me back.” He paused, licking his cracked lips. His voice was getting even weaker. “We survived a massive explosion. An expression springs to mind. If I felt well, I’d say it. Theo, you say it.”
“Say what?” I asked, confused. Isaac’s eyes flicked over to Neha.
“Surely you know,” he said. “You know everything.”
“It’s not usually my style. But for you, this one time, I’ll make an exception.” Neha paused for effect. “That explosion was da bomb.”
Isaac smiled.
“That’s my girl,” he said.
And with that, Isaac’s eyelids fluttered shut.
CHAPTER 22
“I’ve seen people do some stupid, reckless, irresponsible, and foolhardy things in my time,” the Old Man said, his voice raised and his steel-grey eyes flashing in anger, “but this takes the absolute cake.” He thumped his fist against the top of his heavy wooden desk. The legs of the desk collapsed. The top of the desk cracked with a loud splitting sound. This was the first time I had ever seen the Old Man angry. I hoped it was the last time.
We were back at Camp Avatar. We were in the Old Man’s office. It was the day after my fight with Iceburn. The Old Man stood behind his desk wearing, as he always did, his full costume. Neha and I stood at attention on the other side of his now-cracked desk. Isaac was in the camp infirmary, which was where he had been since I had flown him there yesterday. Athena leaned against the wall to the right of me and Neha. Her arms were crossed and her face was impassive as she watched the Old Man rip Neha and me a new one.
“You could have gotten yourselves killed,” the Old Man said. “If you had, I would have nominated you three for a Darwin Award. You nearly did get Myth killed. What were you thinking, going up against that Meta by yourselves? All of Camp Avatar was out fighting that wildfire. A passel of Heroes were a simple communicator’s call away.” Neha and I glanced at each other.
“We thought we could handle it,” Neha said.
“Truth be told, Smoke suggested that we call for reinforcements,” I added, trying to take the heat off of her. “I vetoed the idea.” Isaac had too, but I certainly was not going to throw him under the bus. I already felt incredibly guilty that he was lying in the infirmary, injured because of me. I was also angry and frustrated that I had let Iceburn get away. Again. What was worse, I still did not even have a clue as to how to find him.
“You should have listened to Smoke,” the Old Man said, glaring at me. “And Smoke, you should have called for reinforcements despite what those other two knuckleheads told you. Not only are you three guilty of stupidity so egregious it ought to be criminal, but you used your powers without the supervision of a licensed Hero for unauthorized purposes, which actually is a crime. You had authorization only to use them for purpose of fighting the wildfire, not for the purpose of playing cowboy and chasing after a Metahuman murderer. And, not only did you recklessly chase after him, you chased after him unsuccessfully. He killed not only your father, Theo, but eleven people died in that wildfire he set. If he’s a killer for hire the way you say he is Smoke, God knows how many other people’s deaths he’s responsible for. If you had exercised the common sense of a toddler, you would have yelled for help and we would have Iceburn in custody right now. And did I leave out the fact that you abandoned the sectors of the fire you were assigned to fight?” The Old Man shook his head at us in disgust. “I have half a mind to throw you out of the Academy, recommend to the Heroes’ Guild that you be forever barred from being licensed, and ask the local prosecutor to charge you with unauthorized use of Metahuman powers.” I glanced over at Athena. Her arms were still crossed and her face was still expressionless. I was surprised she was not yelling at us too. Yelling at trainees was what she did best. I guess she figured the Old Man had the situation well in hand. Too many cooks spoiled the broth.
The Old Man sat down heavily in his leather chair. He let out a long breath.
“Once I calm down enough that I’m not tempted to rip your arms off and spank you with them, I’ll decide on your punishment. In the meantime, go to your quarters. Confine yourselves there until further notice. Now get out.”
“But—” I started, intending to take full responsibility for what had happened. I was not about to let Isaac
and Neha take the fall when they were merely being good friends and helping me.
“Get out!” the Old Man roared. My ears rang. My skin rippled backwards, like I had stepped into a wind tunnel. Papers flew off the Old Man’s desk and flipped through the air like giant pieces of confetti.
Neha and I turned and quickly left the Old Man’s office, closing the door behind us. I had to stop myself from running out.
“Did you know the Old Man had super breath?” Neha asked me a bit later. We were walking down the stairs towards the ground floor of the camp’s administration building. The Old Man’s office was on the second floor of the building.
“No,” I said, distracted. My mind was too busy thinking about this mess, and the fact that Isaac and Neha were in trouble because of me. If they were thrown out of the Academy because of me, I would never forgive myself. Graduation was so close, less than a month away. I knew how important it was to them for them to graduate and go on to get their licenses. “Did you?”
“No. I wonder what else he can do we don’t know about.”
“I don’t know.” I stopped in the middle of the stairwell. “I left something in the Old Man’s office. I need to go back.”
“Just leave it there. He said to go right to our rooms. He’s mad enough as it is.”
“It’ll just take a second,” I said. “You go ahead to your apartment.”
“Okay,” Neha said dubiously. She smiled grimly. “But if the Old Man’s actually does rip your arm off and beat you to death with it, I hope your ghost remembers that I warned you.” Neha proceeded down the stairs. I turned around and went back up them. I had not left anything behind in the Old Man’s office, of course. I was going to go back there and fall on my sword. I would beg the Old Man to just punish me and to leave my friends out of it. I very much wanted to continue training and become a Hero, yet it would not be the end of the world if I was thrown out of the Academy. I did not have to be a Hero to track Iceburn down and take him out. Even though it was illegal, I would figure out a way to continue to train and prepare myself for Iceburn on my own. “Where there is a will, there is a way.” Another Jamesism.
I walked back down the hall towards the Old Man’s office. Once I arrived at the door, I heard raised voices. Through the thick wooden door, I could not entirely make out what was said, though I did hear my name repeatedly. Curiosity killed the cat. Though I was in enough trouble as it was without adding eavesdropping to my list of offenses, I pressed my ear to the door. I still could not entirely hear what was said. What I needed was a cup, or an ear trumpet like I had seen in old pictures.
That gave me an idea. I triggered my powers. I formed a force field cone, with my ear on one end, and the surface of the door on the other. Now the raised voices were clearer. I could hear what was being said.
“Well what in the hell did you expect them to do, Raymond?” It was Athena. I would know that yell anywhere.
“Like I told them, I expect them to call for help,” the Old Man said. I was so startled, I almost let my force field dissipate. The idea of anyone, even Athena, yelling at the Old Man was shocking. Around us trainees, Athena acted like every utterance of the Old Man’s was one of the Ten Commandments and like she was Moses delivering it to God’s people. And was Raymond the Old Man’s real name?
“Oh please,” Athena said. “Every day we pound into these kids’ heads that there is nothing they can’t handle. We have to make them believe it, otherwise they’ll turn tail and run the moment some bad guy looks at them hard or speaks to them harshly. We can’t indoctrinate them into believing they are capable of handling whatever the world throws at them one day, and then the next day expect them to holler for mommy and daddy when they are faced with a problem.”
“They could have gotten themselves killed.”
“You keep saying that. But they didn’t get themselves killed. They did exactly what they were trained to do: they encountered a Rogue and they confronted him. Sure, they didn’t win. And sure, they walked into a trap. But they got themselves out of it. They lived to fight another day, which is sometimes the best you can do. If they had actually managed to subdue this Iceburn guy, we would have given them a medal. Instead, you’re talking about throwing them out for trying and for doing exactly what we expect Heroes to do. You and I both know throwing them out is an idle threat anyway. Smoke and Myth are two of the best trainees we’ve got, if not the best. Theodore is no slouch either. Not to mention the fact he’s got the biggest potential of all of them since he’s Omega-level. Plus, he’s more empathetic than most of the trainees. Look at how he befriended Smoke when no one else would. Empathy is almost as important a trait in a Hero as superpowers are. All three of them are going to make fine Heroes one day if they keep at it.” It was the first time I had ever heard Athena call me Theodore. It was also the first time I had heard her talk about us trainees as if we were anything other than unhousebroken puppies who might at any time take a dump in the middle of the living room.
“You know we don’t give out medals.” The Old Man sounded almost petulant.
“It was a figure of speech. You’re right, we don’t give out medals. Why? Because awarding a medal implies the person you’re giving the medal to has done something exceptional. We expect Heroes and Hero trainees to always be exceptional, not just sometimes. You don’t get a medal or a cookie for doing what you’re supposed to do. The world can afford no less than exceptional behavior from us. We’ve got too much power for the world to expect otherwise. I say those three lived up to our expectations. You should be patting them on the back, not punishing them.”
There were a few moments of silence.
“Whose side are you on, anyway?” the Old Man asked. He sounded tired.
“The side I’m always on,” Athena said. She sounded amused. “That of truth, justice, and the American way.”
“You read too many comic books.”
“Some girls collect handbags. Others of us collect comic books. So sue me. I can’t be a hard-ass all the time.”
“You could have fooled me.”
The two of them said other stuff, but I could not hear them as they were not shouting anymore. I pulled my ear away from the door. As it did not sound like my friends were going to get thrown out after all, I quietly went back to the stairs. I went down them, out of the administration building, and started back to my apartment. I wanted to go visit Isaac in the infirmary, but the Old Man had confined me to my quarters. I had pushed my luck too much as it was to defy him again. Besides, the doctor had already assured me Isaac would be as good as new in a few days. The doctor was using his Metahuman healing powers on Isaac. Isaac was apparently responding well to the treatment. I still felt guilty about his injuries, though. He would not be in the infirmary at all if it had not been for me.
I entered my room. I plopped down on the bed. A bunch of thoughts swirled in my mind as I lay there. I thought about Athena and how she had defended us to the Old Man. Whenever we trainees dealt with her, she seemed like she could just barely stand us. I knew that the Academy was deliberately hard to weed out the trainees who had no business being Heroes, but Athena’s contempt for us had seemed real. She had sounded positively affectionate towards us in the Old Man’s office, though. It seemed like the domino mask she sported was not the only mask she wore.
I thought of both Isaac and Neha. I was so grateful for both of them. Never before had I had friends who had my back the way they did. It made me feel doubly guilty about Isaac. What if he or Neha had been killed? The mere thought made me sick to my stomach, as did the fact eleven people had died in the wildfire because of Iceburn trying to get to me.
I thought of how Neha had been in my bed just a week ago. Nothing had happened between the two of us since then, nor had we spoken of it. At some point I imagined we would. Right now, though, we were both too concerned about graduating the Academy and finding an Apprenticeship with an already licensed Hero.
And, of course, I thought of Iceburn.
I still did not know who had hired him to kill me. That was not what I was the most concerned about. I was more concerned about the fact Iceburn had bested me yet again. I seethed at the thought of it. At least this time I had acquitted myself better than I had when I had first encountered him. I had come closer to defeating him this time. But, as Athena was fond of saying, close only counted in horseshoes and hand grenades. It sounded like a Jamesism.
I stared up at the ceiling as those thoughts all swirled in my brain. I resolved to train even harder and to get better at using my powers. To be better. When I encountered Iceburn again, I would be ready to end things once and for all. Next time, only one of us would walk away. I was determined that someone would be me.
I burned with anger and frustration. I repeated the words Iceburn had spoken to me the night he killed my father.
“This is not over,” I said aloud.
CHAPTER 23
Four days after being confined to our quarters by the Old Man, Neha and I were back in his office. Isaac was here too, having been discharged from the infirmary early this morning. Other than a scar across his forehead, Isaac was mostly as good as new thanks to the doctor’s Metahuman healing powers. He had been cleared to resume classes and training. Isaac had said earlier he did not mind the scar. He said it made him took dangerous.
“I’m thinking of changing my name to Captain Danger,” Isaac had said. “The ladies love a daredevil.” He had not even cracked a smile. He might have been serious.
The Old Man had summoned us here to his office. Despite the conversation I had overheard between him and Athena, I was still a little worried about how he might decide to punish us, especially Neha and Isaac. I had not shared what I had overheard with Neha and Isaac. It was bad enough that I had eavesdropped.
Omega Superhero 1: Caped Page 17
