“It’s an Artifact of Power,” Jigsaw said. “There are three. You know where the third one is, and you’re going to tell me.”
“I swear to you, the only thing I know about is the plasma. That’s it.”
“Liar!”
“I’m not! I don’t know how to prove to you, but I’m telling you I. Don’t. Know.” I put emphasis on the last words, pain shooting through me with every forceful syllable.
Jigsaw hit me across the head. “You know. And you’re going to tell me. I’m going to give you a few minutes to consider your options—or lack thereof—before coming back and asking you one last time.” Jigsaw stood, and he and his men walked out of the abandoned subway car.
The drawing of the dýnami pétra sat next to my foot. I could tell just by looking at it that it was something powerful. I thought about what Jigsaw said. Three Artifacts of Power. The asthenés plásma was obviously one, this stone another. What was the third? I assumed it had something to do with the amulet that Atlas wore. I didn’t want to know what would happen if all three of them were to come together, especially if the one wielding them was Atlas.
But thankfully, I didn’t have to worry about that right now. If what Jigsaw said was true, Atlas was back to just one Artifact. That meant the plasma was out in the wild though, which definitely wasn’t good.
“Having some trouble there?” I heard someone say, a pleasant lightness to their voice.
I looked up, and saw Samantha standing just a few feet away, her face terrified, at total opposite from the joking tone in her voice.
I blinked, and the form changed. It was no longer Samantha, but instead Athena, smiling at me. The pain mixed with the fact that I kept being hit in my head must’ve meant my mind was playing tricks on me.
“I guess you could say I’m caught in a bind,” I said. I nodded my head towards the drawing at my feet. “That stone. What is it?” I asked.
“That’s what you’re going to bring me.”
37
THE DEAL
“Why do you need it?” I asked. “You’re already pretty powerful to me.”
“It’s still not enough to defeat Atlas. Not while he has the amulet. If you bring me the dýnami pétra, I promise we will defeat him. That’s all I want, Kane. For the Earth to be returned to its former glory,” Athena said, a warm glow radiating from her face.
“Kane!” someone shouted from outside.
I jerked my head around, trying to crane my neck to see who it was.
“What are you searching for?” Athena asked. “There is no one there.”
I shook my head, trying to get a clear train of thought going. “Even if I wanted to, I can’t get out of these restraints. I don’t have my powers.”
“No, but what you do have is my faith in you.” Athena took a step forward and kneeled in front of me. “You can do this, Kane. I know you can. You’ll figure out a way to break free. You’ll find the stone. You’ll bring it to me. Understand?”
I thought about it for a moment. Athena seemed genuine, and she’d helped me before. If the stone was really something as powerful as the asthenés plásma, it probably would be most safe with her. It’d definitely be safer than in the hands of Atlas. “Okay, I’ll try. But where even are you? Jigsaw said the plasma was taken from Atlas.”
Athena stood and shook her head. “Do not worry about me. Find the dýnami pétra, and then I will tell you to take it.” Athena turned around and breathed deep. “This is very important, Kane. When you find the stone, it will be inside of a clear crystal case. Do not open the case, and most definitely do not touch the dýnami pétra. Its power is too immense, and you will cease to exist immediately.” Athena turned to look at me. “Understand?”
I nodded my head. She didn’t have to tell me twice. Ceasing to exist was not on the list of things I wanted to do. “If I do this,” I said. “You’re still going to tell me where Samantha is once I get rid of Jigsaw, right? That deal hasn’t changed?”
Athena gave me a warm smile. “Yes, Kane. Of course.”
“Okay then, I guess I need to figure out a way to get out of here."
“I’ll be seeing you soon,” Athena said. She gave me one last smile before her figure drifted away.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I counted to three, and then pulled on the cuffs, trying to break them apart. The pain in my sides from Jigsaw’s punches was too much to bear. I collapsed back against the pole, breathing heavy. I couldn’t break free.
I gritted my teeth. “Come on,” I told myself. I tried again, able to go a little bit longer this time, but I couldn’t break through. The Eximus energy blocked whatever it was inside me that gave me my powers. I couldn’t break free.
I recuperated for a minute, trying to store up as much energy as possible. I gave it one last try, and then everything around me exploded.
The whole subway car rocked backwards, and all sorts of rubble and debris came flying through the windows from an explosion outside. I screamed in pain as the debris pelted me. I pulled my arms free, and realized the Eximus cuffs had blown up as well. My hands were beginning to repair themselves, free from the block of the Eximus.
The subway car came to a stop, and I lay on the floor for a few moments, trying to regain composure. Whatever had exploded in the tunnel was not small. The whole other side of the train car was a crumbled mess. All the lights were off, and I could only see because of my glowing blue eyes and a fire outside.
I climbed to my feet and collected my breath. I moved to the end of the car and kicked open the bent and crumpled door. I jumped out onto the ground outside, and looked at the scene in front of me.
Everything where Jigsaw and his men had set up camp had been decimated. Abandoned subway cars littered the tunnel, and all of their supplies were on fire. I saw a couple of bodies lying around, unsure if they were unconscious or dead.
The ground shook around me, and a low rumbling sound reverberated through the walls. For a moment I thought it might be an earthquake, but it couldn’t be that.
Could it?
There was only one way to find out. I launched through the roof of the tunnel, and out into the London street. It was near the edge of the city, where things weren’t quite as crammed together. It was the early morning, the sun was beginning to turn the sky various colors of orange. Which meant the black cloud of smoke in the distance stuck out like a sore thumb.
I flew over, realizing in horror just what the smoke could be coming from every second I flew closer. When I arrived at the source, my suspicions were confirmed. The British headquarters building that we’d been living in and operating from was now nothing more than a pile of rubble.
38
THE CUFFS
I watched Selena fly right into the rubble. She didn’t see me, and even if she did, I doubted that’d stop her from diving into the bloody scene below. I flew in, landing on the burning rubble beside her and helping dig some people out. She didn’t ask me how I’d got there, where I’d been, what happened, none of that. There wasn’t time for that. The only thing there was time for was getting survivors out, and asking questions later.
I pulled two people out of the rubble, and brought them to the edge of the scene. Firefighters and ambulances were making their way over, and beginning to work on the wounded. Ellie flew in moments later, and together the three of us cleared the scene as fast as we could, trying to find as many survivors as possible.
Despite the fact that we were saving lives, the burning smell of death couldn’t help but remind us that there were those we couldn’t save. That no matter how fast we tried to clear the place, there was nothing we could do.
Once we finishing combing through the rubble, moving it out of the way, and making sure the fires were out, Selena, Ellie, and I landed in a circle near the edge of the debris.
“What happened?” I asked first.
“Last night, or here?” Selena asked.
“Both,” I said.
“Jigsaw came an
d took you away. Avery, Doug, Eddie, and Mrs. Montgomery all went to the hospital to get checked on, which is where they’re at now,” Selena explained.
“Everybody’s okay though?” I asked.
Selena and Ellie nodded. “My mum took a nasty hit to the head, but she’ll recover. It’s kind of a blessing too, really, because if Avery and them weren’t at the hospital, they might’ve been here.”
“Speaking of hospitals,” I said. “What about everybody in the building that was in the lower levels? We should probably get them.”
Ellie nodded, turning towards the wreckage. “The lower levels are made to withstand an attack like this. There’s enough supplies down there to last them months. They’ll be fine until the emergency crews can get down there to them.” She turned to face us. “What we need to focus on is finding out what caused this explosion.”
I nodded. “Jigsaw took me to where they were staying—which was in the subways,” I said to Selena.
She smirked. “We were at least right about that.”
“Yes, we were. Anyways, a large explosion similar to this one happened at the exact same time,” I told them. “It was a pretty nasty one. I had the Exi—wait a second.” A realization hit me.
The Eximus cuffs.
They blew up.
“What is it?” Selena asked. I guess she could tell from the look on my face that my wheels were seriously turning.
“The Eximus cuffs,” I said. “They had a pair of Eximus cuffs on me. They were using them while they were questioning me about all this stuff,” I said, talking fast and excited. “The same time the explosion happened outside the subway car they had me in, the cuffs on my hands exploded. Blew them clean off, but thankfully they grew back. Anyways, the only thing that could’ve exploded that was outside the subway car, inside around my hands, and literally run all up and down this building, was Eximus.”
Selena and Ellie pieced together what I was saying. “So you’re saying that every single piece of Eximus gear in London just spontaneously exploded.”
“Yes, that’s exactly what happened. Except, are we sure it was spontaneously? That’s too much of a coincidence for all of them to happen at the exact same time,” I said.
“What, you think somebody caused them to explode?” Ellie asked.
I shrugged. “It’s a possibility.” I turned to Selena. “How long can you get from here back to the States.”
“Not long, why?”
“Go over there and see if anything similar to what happened here went down. Ellie,” I said, turning to face her. “You and I will go back to the tunnels where Jigsaw and his men are hiding and apprehend them.”
“How are we going to do that? If what you’re saying is true, then all the things we have that we can use against them just exploded,” Ellie said.
“I’ve defeated Supers before without using Eximus. We’ll just have to figure something out.” I looked between the two of them. “Are you two ready? You down to do this?”
They both hesitated, but then nodded their approval.
“Alright, let’s go.”
39
THE LONDON EYE
Ellie and I flew through the hole in the ground that I’d shot up through. We entered the subway tunnels, our eyes lighting up the area around. The fire from the blast had died down substantially. Many men were wandering around trying to clean up the place. They looked up and saw Ellie and I approaching, our eyes glowing bright. Some of them actually threw their things down and ran. I gave Ellie a glance. I guess we were intimidating.
Jigsaw stood to his feet, wincing. “Come back for more, have you Kane?” he asked, pain in his voice.
I walked right up to him. Purple electricity danced across his eyes. “You sure did absorb a lot of the Eximus,” I said. “Feeling a bit powerless?” I pushed him with just one finger, but it was enough to send him flying backwards, flipping over himself.
A couple more Supers ran into the darkness of the tunnel. Their powers hadn’t come back yet, and so I guess they didn’t want to stick around and watch the show. I kneeled down next to Jigsaw. “Now it’s time for me to ask a few questions. Where is the Stone of Power?” I asked.
“Are you a damn idiot?” he spat. “If I knew we wouldn’t have been living in this shithole tunnel, searching high and low for it!”
“Come on, you must have some idea at least.” I reached down and picked him up by his shirt. I held him in the air, pulling his face close to mine as if I was a child inspecting a new insect. “Where could it be?”
Jigsaw spat in my face. “Go to hell.”
I wiped the spit off, and tossed him behind me. He slid across the ground, groaning in pain.
“Kane,” Ellie said under her breath. “What is this you’re looking for?”
“I’ll explain later,” I told her. I stepped towards Jigsaw and bent over. I was about to pick him up, but he stopped me.
“You know the thing about Eximus?” Jigsaw said, breathing heavily. “It wears off.”
Jigsaw lunged from the ground and wrapped his arms around my throat. He flew straight up out of the tunnel, and then threw me into the road.
It looked like Jigsaw wasn’t going to give up any information as easily as I would’ve liked.
Jigsaw flew down hard towards me, and I rolled out of the way. I kicked at him from the ground, but he caught my leg and tossed me into a nearby car. The thing crumbled beneath me, and I pushed myself off it and into the air, narrowly dodging Jigsaw as he dove after me.
I flew down towards another nearby car. Jigsaw flew right towards me, and right before he got to me, I grabbed the car and slammed it into him like he was a baseball and the vehicle was the bat. The thing exploded, the force of which knocked me back.
The ground nearby exploded as Ellie and one of Jigsaw’s men flew by, grappling each other. Great. There went my back-up.
I got up and ran over to Jigsaw before he could do the same. I kicked him while he was still on the ground, launching him through the air. He hit the ground and rolled. Before I could reach him though, he was able to pull himself up from the ground.
I slammed my fist into his chest, and he countered with a punch of his own. Anger grew within me, both from the fact that he’d got a hit in and just because he was an asshole who kidnapped me. I thought about Mrs. Montgomery, how nice she was and how Jigsaw had almost killed her. Not just her either, but my best friends. These thoughts fueled my anger, which turned into determination. I wasn’t going to let him get away with this.
He hit me again, but I countered by swooping down and knocking his legs out from beneath him. He fell backwards, and I slammed my fist into his chest, sending him straight into the ground. I grabbed him by his shirt, pulled him up, and hit him in the face. One, two, three, four, I let out a shout. I didn’t want to stop.
But Jigsaw was a Super. While my punches might have been hard and would’ve killed any number of regular men, Jigsaw was not a regular man. He could take it. He grabbed my fist and knocked my hand away. This threw my momentum off balance, and I stumbled forward, dropping Jigsaw.
He lifted his leg up and kicked me in the back, sending me stumbling forward. I almost fell to the ground, but I caught myself, and flew into the air. Jigsaw jumped up behind me, giving pursuit. I flew across London, staying ahead of him easily.
I needed to come up with something and fast. Up ahead I saw the iconic River Thames sparkling in the beautiful morning sun. Big Ben and the London Eye sat on either side. An idea formed in my head.
I flew for the London Eye, picking up my speed so I’d reach it before he did. I grabbed a hold of one of the cars of the giant ferris wheel at the top, and prepared for just the right moment. At just the right moment, right before he hit me, I yanked one of the cars off, and threw it at Jigsaw.
Seeing as I’d just done this exact thing moments before with an actual automobile, Jigsaw saw it coming, which was exactly what I wanted. He dodged out of the way, which allowed me to get close enough to
him without him noticing.
I slammed into him as hard as I could, and the two of us fell for the water below. The ferris wheel car hit the water just moments before we did. The cold water from the river enveloped us as we grappled for dominance. I held my breath as I pulled my knee up and slammed it into him over and over. I head butted him, punched him in his stomach, and unleashed everything I had.
Jigsaw didn’t see any of it coming. He wasn’t able to hold his breath. All his oxygen escaped him.
Oxygen he needed in order to fuel his powers.
I grabbed him by his shirt, and threw him down to the bottom of the river as hard as I could. I swam up to the top and got a gasp of air, before going back under. My two glowing eyes lit up the river like the beams of a submarine. I saw Jigsaw trying to swim back up, but he wasn’t going to be able to get up in time. His powers had all but left him. He couldn’t just fly up and out of there.
I slowly exhaled, not wanting to run out of air and be stuck in the same situation as I’d put Jigsaw in. I swam over and grabbed the car from the London Eye, and pulled it over to Jigsaw. He was close to breaking the surface, but with one swift kick he fell almost all the way back to the bottom.
I swam down and set the car down next to Jigsaw. I grabbed, him, his body still struggling but beginning to give up. I swam through one of the broken windows, and grabbed part of the hand railing inside. Jigsaw jerked and struggled, but all he was doing was using up more of his energy. I wanted to be safe, so I broke off the hand railing, and wrapped the metal around Jigsaw. I made sure part of it wrapped around one of the beams in the cart. Without his powers, there was no way Jigsaw could escape.
I began to swim towards the exit, feeling the urge to breathe. Jigsaw let out a garbled shout as I exited, but I paid him no mind. I swam for the surface and broke through, leaving Jigsaw at the bottom of the River Thames.
40
THE STF
I flew back to where the fighting began, and saw Ellie there waiting for me. “You take a bath?” she asked.
The Secret of the Supers (The First Superhero Book 4) Page 15
