I flew down, zeroing in on my first target. A short pudgy man who had a large pair of sunglasses on his head. He was looking at his friend who Avery’d just brought down, confused. He had no idea what was going on.
I slammed into him, sending him straight to the ground. In a swift motion, I handcuffed his hands together, jumped off his back, and kicked the other Super next to him through the bookshelf to his left.
A bunch of Supers began to emerge from bookshelves all around, trying to see what was going on. Standing towards the back, in a small clearing with chairs and desks to work at, was a large hispanic man, his arms covered in tattoos, a thick book held in his hand. He tossed the book aside, and his eyes began to glow. “It looks like we’ve got company,” he said with a sneer. “Take care of them, boys.”
About a dozen Supers started attacking. They all had some form of super strength or speed. It was like fighting twelve less powerful versions of myself.
One lunged at me, and I simply slammed my fist into his face. The man collapsed to the ground, and I clicked a pair of cuffs on him before turning to see another man coming at me. He slammed a book into me hard, causing me to stumble into the bookshelf to my right. I kicked at the man’s leg and he fell to the ground. I got up and grabbed him by his shirt, jumped in the air, and flipped him back on the ground hard.
Right as I was about to click a pair of the Eximus cuffs on him, someone slammed into me, knocking me through the balcony, across the library, and through the second floor. I flew through one bookshelf, sending paper and books through the air like confetti. The second bookshelf stopped me as it toppled backwards, sending all the other ones in the row falling like dominoes.
I pulled myself up, searching for my attacker. He took a step towards me, and I realized it was Jigsaw.
“I recognize you,” he said as he stepped through the hole in the bookshelf. “What’s little ol’ Kane Andrews doing all the way over here?” he asked with a sneer.
I jumped up catching him off guard, and wrapped my arms around his legs. I pulled him to the ground, and clambered on top of him. I punched him in the face a couple of times, but he got his arms underneath me and threw me up in the air. I slammed into the roof of the second floor, the ceiling cracking around me. I caught myself and floated there. Jigsaw jumped up to knock me through to the third floor, but as he jumped up to get me I dodged out of the way.
Jigsaw burst through the ceiling causing pieces of drywall to rain down on the second floor. I flew out off the second floor and up in front of the third floor balcony. I floated high above the ground, watching through the bookshelves as Jigsaw regained his composure and looked for me.
I looked behind me and saw Selena and Ellie fighting the other Supers. They were holding their own, although there weren’t many of them in handcuffs. Avery had joined Drew, and the two of them were shooting Eximus into the fray.
I turned my attention back towards Jigsaw as he stepped out from the bookshelf. We made eye contact, and he let out a roar in frustration. He ran towards the balcony, used the edge of the half-wall as a step, and launched himself towards me. I dodged out of the way easily, and Jigsaw turned and came for a second attack.
He swung at me, and I blocked his punch and countered it easily. I went on the offensive and got a few knocks in before he started to return the favor. The two of us floated three stories above the ground inside the library, fighting each other like two boxers in a ring. Jigsaw was a good fighter, easily dodging my punches for the most part. I found it hard to get a few of my own in, but succeeded here and there. He was definitely a much more trained fighter than the Supers I’d faced recently. All the time Selena and I had been practiced meant that I wasn’t just some amateur fighter either. I could dish it out and take it in.
After a few moments of back-and-forth, I landed a solid kick to Jigsaw, sending him soaring to the left side of the library. He slammed into some bookshelves, flying straight through a couple of them. I flew over to continue our fight—and hopefully end it. But whenever I got to the spot I saw him fly through, Jigsaw wasn’t there. I saw the bent metal of the bookshelf that finally stopped him, so I knew where he should’ve been.
I looked up just in time to knock a book out of the way that had been barreling towards my face. I looked down the row and saw that four aisles away was Jigsaw, a smirk on his face as he threw another book my way. The book came flying at me fast. More than fast enough to kill a normal human. I punched it out of my way as I took off running towards Jigsaw.
He flew another book at me, then another. Both, I knocked out of the way with ease. He started throwing them fast and harder, and I knocked them to the ground just as easily. He started to panic, now throwing two and three at a time. I laughed as I closed in on him. It was almost like we’d taken a break to play a game. I was just a few feet away from him now, and I jumped into the air, my fist barreling down on him like a heat seeking missile.
Right before my punch connected, he held up a book to block it. My fist hid the front cover, and the pages exploded like it’d been rigged to blow. I punched straight through the book and right into Jigsaw’s chest. He slammed to the ground, and I grabbed him by the front of his shirt.
I held him up and pushed him through one bookshelf, then we walked through another, and another. I used him like a battering ram, slamming him through one shelf after another. I reached the edge of the floor, and slammed his head into the balcony, breaking away a piece of the stone wall. I held him by his throat up against the balcony, my grip tight, squeezing the air from him. No oxygen meant his powers were weakening by the second.
“What are you doing here?” I yelled loud in his face.
He reached up and grabbed my wrists, trying to pull my hands from his throat. I was no much more powerful than him, as I was making sure he wasn’t getting any breath.
“I’ll…kill…y—”
I slammed his head on the balcony once again, interrupting his speaking. I pulled him back up to my face, the cut on his forehead struggling to heal. “One more time, Jigsaw, or else you’re going to be in for a really bad time.”
Jigsaw opened his mouth to say something, his face turning blue. Before he could answer, a bolt of Eximus energy slammed into my side, sending me straight to the ground, my powers retreating.
Jigsaw fell to his knees, gasping for air. I struggled to regain control of my body, but the electricity was still having its own way with me.
“Son of a bitch!” Jigsaw yelled as he pulled himself up from the ground. He kicked me in my side, sending me sliding backwards across the ground. At least one of my ribs broke. The pain flared throughout me as I slid to a stop. I wanted to cry out, but the Eximus was still lingering. Just a few more seconds and my powers would be back.
“Fall back boys!” I heard Jigsaw scream.
Come on, I thought. Come on! I screamed in my mind. The Eximus only had a second or two longer before it would dissipate. I felt the pain in my side beginning to leave. I moved my fingers, then my toes. The Eximus was gone, I was back in control. I jumped to my feet, ready to get back into action. But when I looked around, all I saw were Drew, Avery, Selena, Ellie, and only four or five prisoners.
Drew came running over to me. “Are you okay?” he yelled as he ran.
“Yeah,” I said, out of breath. “Who shot me?” I asked, anger rising within me.
I could tell from the look on his face that Drew didn’t want to answer that. “It was me,” he said, weak. “I watched Jigsaw reach for your cuffs,” he said, pointing to the Eximus handcuffs clipped to my pants. “I was trying to shoot him before he got the chance and used them on you. I missed though,” he said, looking away, his hand shaking with adrenaline. “I’m really sorry.”
I wanted to be mad at him, but there was no reason to. He was trying to help, and had Jigsaw been able to take me out like that, it probably would’ve been bad for Drew and Avery, seeing as how they couldn’t heal themselves. Besides, it was the least Drew could’ve done a
fter what happened a few days ago. I might not have wanted it to happen while I was in the middle of fighting an enemy, but I couldn’t say I didn’t deserve it. “Don’t worry about it,” I said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Accidents happen. You made the right call.”
Drew nodded, and Selena came flying up behind him. “Hey,” she said. “You good?”
I nodded my head. “Yeah, I’m fine. That Jigsaw guy knows how to put up a fight.”
“So do his men,” Selena said, looking back at where she’d come from. I followed her gaze and saw where the fight between her, Ellie, and Jigsaw’s men went down. The whole area was destroyed. Bookshelves were bent out of place, there were holes in the wall and ceiling, and pieces of paper floated over the edge of the balcony and down to the ground.
“Sucks we had to destroy all these books,” Drew said, kicking at one that sat on the ground.
I nodded my head. “Hopefully there weren’t any first editions,” I said. I walked past the two of them towards where Ellie and Avery were gathering up the prisoners. “Let’s go see if they need any help.”
19
GIFTS FROM BEFORE
We stood nearby the four Supers we’d captured. The Eximus handcuffs giving them a steady stream of energy, keeping them from breaking out. The forensic team along with some detectives were on the way in order to figure out exactly what Jigsaw and his men were doing there. We’d tried to question the prisoners, but they weren’t answering us. Ellie told us not to waste our energy and just let the “professionals” take care of them.
The whole operation they had going on seemed like it was working well. Ellie and her team—or “our” team, as it now were—would go in and do the heavy lifting, while another team was sent out to clean up the mess and figure out exactly what was going on. Selena and I both agreed that it was nice not to have to do everything ourselves.
“How many times have attacks like these happened?” I asked Ellie. We were standing up against the balcony wall, the ground level three stories below us.
She thought about it for a moment. “Five or six?” she looked to Avery for confirmation.
Avery nodded her head. “They’re usually a lot more…involved than this one,” she said as she brushed a piece of her black hair out of her face.
“What do you mean?” Selena asked.
“Well, they’re usually the ones attacking us. Like we said when you first got here, they’re usually just testing us, trying to find weaknesses to exploit. This time though…I don’t know. It was different,” Ellie explained.
“It seemed like they weren’t intending for a fight,” Drew said.
I scoffed as I looked at the destruction that we’d caused around us. “Well, they got one.”
“That’s for sure,” Ellie said. “It did seem like they were hiding something. Searching for something. I don’t know. Leopold would’ve been really good at figuring this type of stuff out.”
“Where is he?” I asked.
Ellie shook her head. “I’m not positive, but even if I was I wouldn’t be able to tell. Out on some sort of mission. Thomas and Nathan too. Not the smartest decision to send our main Supers off whenever we’re being attacked, although they all left before Jigsaw got here. Now you and your mates are here though, so we’ll be fine,” Ellie said. “We did pretty well together.”
We all smiled and nodded. “Yeah, we make a pretty great team.”
The large doors at the entrance to the library swung open and I looked over the edge of the balcony and saw a flood of government agents poor in.
“Looks like our replacements are here,” Avery said. “I’ll go show them where we’re at.”
“Thanks,” Ellie said as Avery walked towards the stairwell. She turned to us. “Not much longer now and we can all head back and get cleaned up.”
“I think I’m going to read a book. In memory of our fallen comrades,” Drew said with a smirk.
We laughed at him as we waited for the agents to make their way up to us and take the prisoners off our hands.
****
An hour later and I was standing in my bathroom shower, my mind empty of all thoughts, enjoying the hot water running down my skin. I wanted to stay in there forever, but I knew I had to get out at some point. After a few more minutes, I shut the water off, and got out. I dried off and got dressed in a pair of basketball shorts and a black t-shirt.
I left the bathroom and walked into my room, unsure of what I was going to do for the rest of the night. I was pretty tired, but didn’t feel like going to sleep just yet.
A brown package sat on my bed with a note on it. I looked at the door and saw it was unlocked. Somebody must’ve come in and set it there for me. I sat down and looked at the note. It read:
Figured you could use one of these so we don’t have to page you every time we need you :)
-Ellie
I opened the box up, and inside was a brand new cell phone sitting in its package. I couldn’t help but smile as I opened it up and pulled out the slick black device. It was brand new, not a single fingerprint on it.
I turned the phone on, and went through the process of setting it all up. My number was long and confusing, very different from how the phone numbers in America were set up.
A funny feeling fell over me. The phone felt alien in my hands. It’d been so long since I held one, much less used one. But as I looked at the four bars of signal I had, I thought I was going to tear up and cry. It sounds stupid, but it all just felt so normal, and that was something I hadn’t felt in a very long time. If I closed my eyes, I could imagine that I was back home on my parent’s farm in Ebon, Indiana, sitting on my bed, texting my friends.
I got the idea that I might send out a mass text to as many phone numbers as I could remember, but that idea got squashed pretty quick. All the antennas had long since been destroyed. There was no way anybody in America was getting a signal.
I then thought about checking and seeing if any of my friends had posted something to Facebook or Twitter. It would’ve been a few months old, but still, maybe I could see if they’d been able to get somewhere safe. The servers for all those websites were long gone though, so there was no chance.
As I held a device in my hand that could connect me to the whole world, I felt hopelessly alone.
A knock at the door shook me from my own thoughts. I jumped up and walked over to the door, checking through the peephole. Doug stood on the other side looking freshly showered. “Hey,” I said as I opened the door.
“Hey man, gonna go get some food. Come with me, I wanna hear all about your fight with Jigsaw,” Doug said with an eager smile.
Even though Doug—and most other teenagers, really—had to throw away their childish behaviors once Atlas rocked our worlds, every once in a while Doug would do something that would remind me that he’s just a fourteen year old kid. The excitement he had when it came to any story involving Supers was one of those things.
“Sure,” I said. I shut my door behind me and locked it. “You get yourself one of these?” I said, showing Doug my phone.
He smiled and nodded, pulling his own out of his pocket. “Yeah, while you were out being a superhero and fighting bad guys, I was setting up my shiny new cell phone. Who’s the new winner here?”
I laughed and slipped the phone back in my pocket. “Definitely you, Doug. You’ll be out there fighting with us one day,” I said.
“Will I though?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. “By the time we find out what the hell my powers are we’ll either have won the war, or be long dead.”
“At least we know you have them,” I said. I looked around in the hallway. “Which one of these rooms are yours?” I asked.
Doug stopped in his tracks and turned around. “Let me show you real quick, it’s back this way.”
We turned and walked back down the way we came. We passed my room, and kept walking a few more doors down.
“This is it,” he said, standing in front of the room four down from
me. “If you ever need anything just knock.” He patted his pocket with a smile. “Or shoot me a text.”
I was about to respond, but then I heard something that sounded like shouting. I paused for a moment, listening to hear where the sound was coming from. “Are you hearing that?” I asked.
“What?”
“Shouting.”
Doug stopped and listened for a moment. We stood in the middle of the hallway while a couple of people walked past. After a few seconds he shrugged. “I think I hear something. Probably somebody’s superior yelling at them for doing a bad job.”
I thought I recognized the voices though. I took a couple steps towards the voices. I wanted to use my super hearing to listen more, but I didn’t want to be eavesdropping. I just wanted to be sure that no one was in trouble. The voices got louder, and after walking down to the room two down from the elevator, I found where the voices were coming from.
“They’re in here,” I whispered to Doug who stood behind me.
“That’s Drew’s room,” he said with wide eyes.
Well, now I had no choice but to listen, even if just for a few seconds. I had to be sure everything was okay.
“Just stop talking for two seconds and listen to what I’m trying to say!” I recognized the voice instantly. Selena.
I stopped listening immediately, not wanting to violate their privacy. I found that to be extremely difficult, however. Curiosity burned within me, and all the possibilities about what the two of them could be arguing about floated around my head.
“What is it?” Doug said, tapping me on the back.
I turned around and starting walking back down the hallway in the direction we were originally going, waving for Doug to follow. “It was Drew and Selena,” I said as we were walking.
“Selena?” Doug said, confused. “What was she doing arguing with Drew?”
I shook my head. “I have no clue. That’s really weird though, I don’t know what they could be arguing about.”
We walked in silence for a few seconds, our minds wandering, trying to figure out all the possibilities.
The Secret of the Supers (The First Superhero Book 4) Page 8
