It isn’t natural. Something is moving in the bottom of the Gulf. The quake was near, but not on a fault. It isn’t a subduction zone, there is no threat of tsunami.
I show the message to Luke. “We should probably get back to the office,” he says in response.
“If there is something large enough to cause a massive quake in the Gulf, will the Mexican authorities be able to deal with it? I mean, they have super teams right?”
He shrugs, “I’ve never met them. We’re not allowed across the border and as far as I know, they aren’t either.” “I guess we’ll find out,” I say as he climbs in.
We’re all in the break room of the HQ. Central is offline as is the teleportation elevator. Not that I would want to go through it after a massive Earthquake. Phoenix is two hundred miles away from the epicenter and we got shook up. The cities nearest in Mexico didn’t fare well. I’m on the couch with Luke, he’s holding my hand. Kate is sitting on the table, Pierre is floating in the air, and Tony is zipping back and forth from the kitchen and here to watch and eat. He’s stocking up on calories and I can’t say I blame him.
“They’re going to call, right? Call and ask for help?” I ask.
Kate replies, “The tensions between our two countries are pretty high. Our idiot leadership with their nonsensical border policies aren’t helping, then again neither are theirs.”
Several news helicopters film the action below. Occasionally they will switch to talk about casualties or cities devastated but most are focused on what they are calling, The Creature. I honestly couldn’t think of a better name. An hour after the Earthquake it emerged from the water. Its monstrous brown and gray head bubbles up from the surface a quarter mile from shore, when it’s gigantic bloated body of scales, claws, and tentacles finally came forth, it was over a hundred and fifty feet tall.
It turns out, Mexico does have a super team. The entire world got to watch them die horrible deaths. Each one eaten by the monstrosity. Their army arrived shortly afterward, far too late to help those poor bastards. They were no more effective than the supers.
“It looks like the thing is turning north now. Yes we have confirmed course change. After a half hour of shambling East it is now turning north. The best estimate is it will hit the Arizona-US border in less than twelve hours. Our biologists are unable to explain the beast’s enormous size, it must be a meta-lifeform of some kind.”
I glance to the side and I notice everyone is looking at me. I shrug, “Why are you all looking at me, I’m not a biologist.”
“If it is heading north from the Gulf then…” Kate didn’t need to finish the thought.
“What’s the call, Major Force?” Mr. Perfect asked from his floating lotus position. Luke looks around and I can see in his eyes he doesn’t know what to do. He’s a fantastic marine, and he can follow orders with the best of them, but coming up with his own stuff—it isn’t his strong suit. Which begs the question, who put him in charge? Part of me thinks this entire team was set up to fail long before I ever arrived.
I squeeze his hand reassuringly, “I have an idea,” I blurt it out before the silence drags on too long, “Why don’t we suit up and at least go to the border. Epic can keep us updated on its progress. If the Mexican military can’t or won’t stop it, then at least we’re in position.”
“You did watch the entire Mexican national team be eaten, right?” Tony says quietly. I get he’s scared. Hell I’m scared. How do you even fight something giant like it?
“I know you’re all scared, I am too, but this thing is coming. If it gets into a city—thousands, millions, could die,” I say.
“Won’t the Feds send The Brigade?” Perfect asks.
“Maybe,” Force says. For a moment it seems like he isn’t going to say anything else, he just turns and looks out onto the desert behind us, “But, this is Arizona. They might arrive in time. They might not. Or maybe they’re being ordered to hold back. If they come, they’re in charge, but until then—this is our State.”
That’s more like it, he needed a few seconds to think things through. He looks to me and gives me a brief smile and his eyes twinkle.
“Suit up and be ready in thirty.”
“We’re not going to let Kate do her thing?” Tony asks.
Force shakes his head, “I want to be there and be rested when it arrives. If she ports us all there she’ll be tired and we’re going to need every edge. Fleet, Arsenal, I want you there ASAP. See if you can find us some advantage. Whatever you do, don’t engage it, and don’t cross the border.” He looks sternly at both of us. We all break and head for our rooms. Fleet looks at me and grins, “Race you,” and he’s gone in a blur of motion. He’s fast over open ground. I don’t think I can catch him. Perfect and Kate run to their rooms. I grab Luke’s arm as he stands.
“Come here,” I whisper. He leans down and kisses me. I want it to last longer, but it can’t.
“Epic, show me a map of the area it’s likely to cross the border at?” I’m in flight cruising at ten thousand feet on a trajectory to the border. It’s a one-hundred and twelve-mile trip. Epic puts up a slice of Arizona’s south-western corner. On the American side there is a little town called—I can’t stop myself from laughing—Lukeville! Oh Luke is going to get a kick out of this. On the Mexican side is Sonoyta. Epic pulls up their vital statistics. Lukeville is a ‘city’, and I use the term loosely, of a few hundred. Sonoyta has twelve thousand. They better be evacuating.
I’m cruising at three-fifty since I still haven’t solved the overheating thruster problem. It isn’t a mechanical problem with the thrusters, but a heat problem. As I approach Mach One the exhaust ports shoot past two-thousand degrees. When they’re within five hundred degrees of three thousand, I have a problem. The suit will begin to break down at three thousand degrees. For now, I keep it under four hundred and I can fly for as long as I want. As long as I don’t try to turn too much. The buffet at speed is incredible and one wrong move could have my arm pulled out of its socket. Which is why I have Epic lock the suit up so I’m not dripping sweat when I arrive with arms too sore to lift. On the bright side, my kinetic sheath works brilliantly and my sword stays firmly attached to my back.
Fleet pings me from a diner north of Lukeville. I check the clock, wow. He did it in thirteen minutes flat. I still have another nine minutes of flight time to go. I use that time to review the footage of the Mexican team. They’re good, they work together, move as a unit but… it takes them out one by one. The thing has tentacles ending in sticky pods. Once it had its pods on them, it reeled them like a fishing rod. Ugh. Its mouth is full of shark’s teeth. What the hell is this thing?
With its size and mass, hurting it will be a problem. Even at full power I doubt my particle beam could cut all the way through it. One of the Mexican supers had fire generation and it didn’t even slow the thing down. I don’t know what it’s looking for, but it seems to have a direction in mind. Every once in a while it stops, and the pods waver in the air. After a few minutes it adjusts and starts going again.
Approaching Lukeville, I’m cutting velocity and freeing your hands for breaking maneuvers. When the speedometer falls under two-hundred MPH I bring up my hands and use the stabilizers as retro thrust to help slow us in.
“Epic, full sensor sweep.” I see a problem. Even with a town of a few hundred, there should be cars lining the road. I thought for sure part of us being here would be to help with traffic and keep people moving to safety. There are three ways to go, North, south, and west, obviously no one is going to go south… I don’t see a mass of headlights anywhere.
The ground comes up fast, forcing my attention to landing. The suit hits the asphalt outside the diner with an audible crack of concrete. I came in hot and spider webbed the ground. There is a blur of air and Fleet is standing in front of me.
“How come no one is evacuating?” I ask.
He shrugs, “The only people in the diner is a cook and a waitress. They’re listening to it on the rad
io but there hasn’t been a call for evacuation. The news is saying they’re going to do air strikes on it and there isn’t any need to worry.”
Isn’t any need to worry? They fired fifty-cals and anti-tank weapons at the thing and it didn’t even slow down. What do they think a few air-to-surface missiles are going to do?
“Fleet, can you find the sheriff and alert him to the danger? I’m going to call this in.”
He nods and vanishes in a blur. I notice little bolts of electricity wrap around him as he runs. I wonder if I hooked up a capacitor to him if he could power it?
Focus!
“Major Force, this is Arsenal, come in.”
“What’s your sitrep, Arsenal?”
Situation Report. Epic kindly translates for me.
“Bad, I think.” I strike a pose and blast off into the sky. I have Epic put a beacon on my HUD showing me the border to keep me from accidentally crossing it. I use my stabilizers to try and hover in a forward motion to keep it down under fifty.
“I’m approaching the border now and there isn’t anything happening.”
“Good, the monster shouldn’t be there for another eleven-odd hours and—”
“No, you don’t understand,” I interrupt him, “There isn’t anything happening. No one is evacuating. Not from Lukeville, not from Sonoyta, nothing. Thirteen thousand people live in this region and there are only three roads out. One of which leads to the creature. These roads should be packed with traffic.” I’m trying not to sound desperate but I think I’m failing. Thousands of people are asleep in their homes less than a mile from me. An imaginary line on a map is the only thing keeping me from helping them.
Luke must have forgotten he had an open mic, I hear him swear for a solid thirty seconds.
“I’ll contact Central and find out what the emergency plan is.”
Like that will help. Something is better than nothing, at least.
“Good, tell them air strikes are a waste of time, too. There isn’t anything in any arsenal powerful enough to hurt this thing. El Fuego, was an F5. He could generate fire over two thousand degrees hot. If he couldn’t hurt it, Paveways and Cluster bombs aren’t going to scratch it.”
Please understand, Luke, make them listen!
“I’ll pass it on to Central. Out”
When the line clicks dead I form a plan. It’s obvious outside help is going to be insufficient.
“Epic, is there a civil defense siren in Lukeville?”
Searching—yes. It isn’t currently operative according to the mayor’s email to the Army Corps of Engineers dated thirteen years ago.
“Good thing I’m an engineer. Show me.”
“They want us to assist in the evacuation of Americans, but our standing orders are in effect. We don’t cross the border,” Luke tells me over the radio. There in a SUV heading down here and it will arrive in an hour. Apparently the Hover cycles are in for their annual maintenance. Another coincidence?
“Is Central sending us any assistance? The California team could be here in twenty minutes on their vehicles.” I tell him while I pull a wire from the civil defense siren and strip the plastic housing. Doing detailed work in the suit isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.
“I’ve contacted the governor’s office and let them know they should consider calling a state of emergency. Without it though, we have to make do. The national guard is on the way, and they were confident the Brigade would show up.”
Damn, this would be a perfect time to find out some info on them… but…lives first. When did saving lives and being a hero become more important than finding out what happened to my parents?
“Fine, I’m sure they will be awesome,” I can’t keep the vitriol from my voice.
“Amelia, I know how you feel about—”
“Are they going to call off the air strikes?” I didn’t want to talk about it. Not now. I need to focus. Thirteen thousand people. Men, women, and children were all counting on me getting this outdated, rusted, piece of crap working!
“No, the Pentagon rep told me they are one-hundred percent confident they will work,” he said. I could hear the man who wanted to have faith in his government. He knew I was right and the conflict in his voice says so.
“At least it shouldn’t hurt anything. Okay, see you when you get here. Park at the diner.” I disconnected the call.
The wiring is too old. If I hook it to the suit I will blow it all up, I need something stronger than a car battery but not too powerful.
“Fleet, you find the Sheriff yet?”
“Negative. The police station is closed. At this point I might have to go door to door,” he says.
“Awesome, come to m—”
A blur of motion flashes and Fleet is grinning at me.
“I notice electricity flashes around you when you move. Is it you or is it static electric build up?” I ask. His blank stare tells me it’s static.
“Good, take your glove off,” he does, “and hold this.” I hand him the power cable to the siren.
“I always thought the little lightning bolts were because I’m fast,” he said with a grin.
“They are, sorta,” I kneel down and pull the baseplate off, “it’s called ‘electron affinity’ as you move through the air, electrons from the particles in the air, like dust, are attracted to you. Your protons like electrons more than the dust in the air does. As you move at super-speeds the electrons begin to collect on your surface. You don’t feel it because it’s you. However, if you were to run without your fancy suit, and the weather conditions were hot and dry, the first person you touched would feel it.”
“How much would they feel it?” asked Fleet.
“Like a Taser. Start moving your left arm in circles, about six inches radius should do.” Within a few seconds his arm blurs out of existence. The noise it makes isn’t dissimilar to a helicopter. Bolts of electricity leaped around him and into the power cable. The familiar keen of the civil defense siren warbles to life.
“That’s loud,” Fleet says. The electricity he generates powers up the siren to full strength. It sounds like an old time air raid siren.
I grinned, “I know. Do this for fifteen minutes, I’m gonna see if it has an effect.” I launch into the air in a swirl of dust. I probably should have moved away from him before taking off. Whatever, the dust I kicked up will help.
At a thousand feet I slow to an unstable hover. Up here, Epic registers over fifty decibels on the siren. Perfect. I switch to thermal as I scan the surrounding countryside. Blooms of heat are coming on everywhere. I look to Sonoyta, same thing. A wave of relief washes over me.
“Epic, I know I’m asking a lot, but you need to find every active device with a wi-fi or cellular signal and you tell them to evacuate any direction but south.”
This will require much of my processing power. There are seven different cell companies and Internet providers I will have to access.
“Do it, I can manage.”
Affirmative.
While Epic does his thing I head over to the center of Lukeville. The place may be quiet but there has to be a police officer on duty somewhere. I do a slow circle of town with my eyes peeled for him.
All the residential lights are on now. There are even some people coming out of their homes. I spot him, he’s driving a beat-up old Bronco through the center of town. He parks in front of the small police station. I kick in the jets and I’m over him in a few seconds. He looks up and his face goes white as I land a few feet from him.
“Sheriff, my name is Arsenal, I’m with the Diamondbacks.” I tell him. He’s off guard and I notice his hand moving to his pistol.
“Sheriff, I’m bulletproof, please don’t endanger anyone with ricochets.” Now I have his attention.
“Sorry ma’am, it’s just—I ain’t ever seen anyone fly before,” as he speaks he takes his hat off and runs his hands through his thinning hair. He has to be in his fifties. He’s stayed in decent shape and I can see traces of military
in him, he has the walk.
“Are you why the civil defense siren is waking everyone up?”
“Yes, there is a creature heading directly here. We need to evacuate the town.” I try to sound authoritative. My synthesized voice is strong and sure.
“Creature you say? How big a threat could it be that we need to evacuate the entire town?”
As he asks Epic finishes his work. The man’s cell phone beeps and the emergency broadcast system activates every phone, computer, wireless TV, and game console within fifty miles.
“This is a notification of an Emergency. All residents in, or near Lukeville, Arizona should evacuate to the north. This is not a test.” The voice goes in a loop after it finishes.
“Well done, Epic. You’ve earned your keep today!”
Considering how inexpensive I am, you aren’t saying much. This is what I get for programming him to learn.
“All right then, I’ll get all the deputies on duty and we’ll keep the highway moving.”
I give him our teams radio frequency for him to call us if he needs us. After he goes inside I switch over to Fleet.
“They’re evacuating we can end it.” The siren dies down and I hear Fleet’s voice over the radio, “I need some food, running is easier than what you had me do.”
I check the clock, ten hours to go. I ignite the jets and I’m back at a thousand feet. I do a little pirouette to see all around. The area surrounding Lukeville is alive with activity. I check Sonoyta—not nearly enough.
“Were you not able to send the message to the Mexican town?”
Different systems in a different country. There is no possibility of doing it without being caught. If I cross the border to warn people it’s an act of war, as sure as if the Army crossed it. If Epic hacks their system it is an international crime and will likely be traced back to him.
Great. Maybe the team will have an idea when they get here. One way or the other, we’re evacuating Sonoyta.
In the remaining time before the team arrived a lot happens. The sheriff rouses all his deputies and starts organizing the evacuation. Cars filled with families, belongings, and pets start to trickle onto the road heading north. Every light in the county is on. Will it be in time? Not for Sonoyta if they don’t follow suit.
Arsenal (Full Metal Superhero Book 1) Page 16
