With that, Samantha stormed out of the room, not letting me get another word in.
Nobody said a thing. The only sound to be heard was Doug typing away on his keyboard.
“Look, I know you don’t want to hear this, but she is a little bit right,” Drew said. “It’s been a long day. Maybe we shouldn’t make a decision right now. The Legion just attacked, which means we have a while before they do so again. Let’s at least sleep on it for one night before we make any major decisions, alright?”
I looked to Selena. She nodded.
“Alright, I can agree with that,” I said. I stood up from my chair, ready for this meeting to be over. “Keep working your contacts, Doug. We need to know as much as we can before we jump into anything.”
Doug nodded. “Already on it.”
“I guess we’ll meet back here tomorrow morning?”
Everybody nodded as they stood from their chairs, save for Doug.
“I should be ready by then,” Doug said.
“Alright then,” I said. “It’s settled. We’ll make our decision tomorrow.”
4
A NEW ASSIGNMENT
“Hey, I need you for a sec,” Selena said from behind me.
I stopped in the hallway and turned. She walked out of our meeting room and made her way towards me. “What’s up?” I asked her.
“I brought someone back with me,” she said with a knowing smile.
“Oh, yeah?” I asked, perking up. “Please tell me it’s a new Super.”
Her shoulders slumped a bit. “Well, not really. I mean, he is a Super, just not the good kind. I was able to grab one of the Legion’s Supers and bring him back with me. I’ve got him locked up in room 306—it’s one of the rooms we cleared out. I thought maybe we could pop down there and ask him a few questions. He’s pretty harmless, just has the ability to fly. Very slowly, I might add. I was able to chase him down easily.”
“Yeah, that sounds great. I’ll take all the answers I can get. I’ll grab Drew and we’ll go see what this Super knows,” I said, sounding as definitive as I could.
I began to turn around, ending the conversation.
“Why Drew? I figured you and I could do it,” she said.
I guessed I hadn’t sounded definitive enough. I’d known she’d get upset. “You’re just really tired, Selena. You need to get some rest, especially if this plan Doug has is going to happen. Don’t worry about it. Drew and I can handle it.”
“I’m not tired, Kane. If anybody needs rest, it should be you. I’m the one who brought him in. I’m the one who’s going to be asking the questions,” Selena said.
“Come on, Selene—”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Whatever. It’s going to be fine. He’s probably not going to answer our questions, anyway. It’ll only take two seconds. Go get some rest, please.”
Selena rolled her eyes. “Fine. Whatever. I don’t have time for this. I’ll see you before dinner for training.”
I smiled. “See you then, Selene.”
She didn’t smile back.
I walked towards the elevators as Selena blew past me in full Holocene mode. I chuckled to myself and shook my head. If I were asked why I didn’t want Selena there, I wasn’t sure I could’ve given a definitive answer. I suspected it had something to do with my getting carried away. I was so angry at Atlas and the Legion, I was happy to take my feelings out on one of the Legion’s members, especially after the attack we’d experienced earlier that day.
So I really did know why; I just didn’t want to admit it. I didn’t want Selena to be there to see me if I got carried away. Which was exactly why Drew had to be there. He could use his Eximus energy to keep me in check. Just in case.
Or to keep up appearances, at least.
I rounded the corner and saw Drew and Samantha waiting by the elevator.
“I wonder how far you could run in the time it’s taking the elevator to get here,” Drew said.
“Ah, probably not as far as you think,” I said as I walked up to them.
“I swear Eddie is making this damn thing go so slow on purpose. He’s trying to mess with me,” Samantha said, frustrated.
“Oh, come on. He can’t control how fast the elevator is going,” Drew said, leaning back against the wall.
Samantha grumbled something under her breath.
I laughed at her annoyance. “You know he just messes with you because he likes you.”
“Oh, shut up, Kane Andrews,” Samantha snapped at me. “There’s nobody that I find more annoying than Eddie.”
“He didn’t ask how you felt, Samantha,” Drew said. “But thanks for the update.”
Samantha stood there fuming.
The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open. “You know, you should be a little more grateful, Samantha,” I said as the three of us stepped in. I had a grin on my face. “If it wasn’t for Eddie and his electricity powers keeping this place up and running, we wouldn’t be able to use the elevators.”
“Oh, wow, you mean we wouldn’t be able to use the tiny metal boxes that take us up and down all day long without ever being serviced?” She pressed the button to take us to the ground floor. “Let me roll out a parade for him.”
Drew and I laughed as I pressed the 3 button. “He really gets under your skin, doesn’t he?” Drew asked, astonished.
Samantha groaned as she rubbed her temples. “He’s such a headache. As are the both of you.”
“I’d hate to see how you talk about us behind our backs,” Drew said.
I nodded in agreement.
“What’s with the third floor?” Drew asked as the elevator began to slow.
“Selena brought back someone that you and I need to ask a couple of questions,” I said.
“A Super?” Drew asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s what she told me.”
“Nice. It’s been a while since I’ve used these things,” Drew said. He squeezed his fists and stretched his arms out. Purple electricity surged through his arms, popping away from his skin.
“Watch where you point those things,” Samantha said.
The doors opened, and Drew shut his electricity off.
“We’ll catch up with you later,” I said as I stepped off the elevator.
“Be safe,” Samantha said as Drew joined me.
“We will,” I said.
The doors began to close. “That elevator felt really wobbly,” Drew said, loud enough for Samantha to hear.
“Asshole!” she shouted as the doors shut.
Drew and I began walking down the hallway towards where the Super was being held. “How do you activate your Eximus energy like that?” I asked Drew.
Drew shrugged. “How do you fly?”
I thought about it for a moment. “I don’t really know. I just do.”
“Exactly,” Drew said. “Do you think Eddie is really as bad as Samantha makes him out to be?”
I shook my head and scoffed. “Of course not. Eddie’s fine. Samantha just got off on the wrong foot, and she’s too proud to admit she’s wrong about him.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. I love the guy. If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have air conditioning or Xbox.” Drew glanced at me. “You should come by and play with us some time. We usually play Fifa before bed.”
I laughed. “I’m a little too busy to play Xbox. But I’m glad you guys are having fun. It’s nice to take your mind off things.”
Drew sighed. “Yeah, it is.”
His mood changed fast, and I wanted to ask him if something was wrong. We had reached the room where the Super was being held, though, so any questions for Drew would have to wait.
“You know what to do,” I said to Drew before I opened the door. “If he gets carried away—”
Before I could finish my sentence, Drew activated the Eximus receptors embedded in his arms. His electricity buzzed through the air, sending unpleasant memories of my time as a captive of the STF to the forefront of m
y mind. I pushed them back down and locked eyes with Drew, then nodded and raised my eyebrows, asking whether or not he was ready.
Drew nodded, and I opened the door.
5
A FEW QUESTIONS
“Well, if it isn’t Kane Andrews, in the flesh,” the Super said when I walked in.
The chair he was tied to was the only piece of furniture in the room. Florescent lights in the ceiling cast a harsh, cold light across the room. The Super had dark red hair and flashed a white smile. He looked to be eighteen or nineteen.
“Well, it seems you know my name,” I said as I stepped towards him. “What would yours be?”
“Rob,” he said, smiling wide.
“It’s a pleasure, Rob. This here,” I said, gesturing towards Drew behind me, “is my friend Drew. He had Eximus rods embedded into his skin by the STF. I take it you know what Eximus is?”
Rob nodded, his smile shrinking by just a bit.
“Well, good. Then you know what will happen if you aren’t cooperative and try to use your powers.”
“I know what would happen if your friend Drew was still a part of the STF. But you’re Tempest,” Rob said, leaning forward a bit. “You don’t have it in you.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked, crossing my arms.
“You’re supposed to be a hero. Hope for the people.”
I took a step towards Rob. I leaned forward and placed my hands on the armrests of his chair. “Do you see any people around?”
The look in Rob’s eyes changed, and his face dropped. I pushed back on his chair lightly—well, lightly for me. His chair slid across the room and slammed against the wall.
I stood confident with Drew behind me. Rob looked between the two of us, his guard coming back up. He sat back in his chair and smiled.
“So, is this supposed to be good cop, bad cop or something?” he asked.
“No,” I said, walking towards him. “This is going to be us asking questions, and you answering them.” I stopped in front of him and crossed my arms. “What was the reason for the attack on our camp this morning? It was the biggest and boldest one yet.”
Rob smirked. “I heard they were planning something big. Looks like it really got you shaken up,” he said, looking me up and down.
“Answer the question, Rob,” I said, ignoring his comment. I leaned forward, showing him I was ready to make him regret not answering.
“Same as always. Just seeing if you guys have got any new Supers, what you’re capable of, stuff like that,” Rob said, his attitude slowly disappearing.
“Why did you join Atlas, Rob?” I asked, changing to a softer tone.
Rob looked up at me. He seemed unsure whether or not he should answer. Then the look in his eyes changed. It was as if he was rehearsing a speech in his head that he’d performed many times.
“I joined the Legion of Richter because Supers are the future.” He flashed a look filled with hatred at me, and I knew exactly why. “Richter was the future. He set forth the path that Atlas walks and leads us down. The laws, the society, the culture of the human race are irrelevant,” he spat. He’d said the word “human” as if it was a curse word. “You’ll see, Tempest, and you’ll pay. If it weren’t for you and your love for the humans, this would already be a world run by the Supers. We are a natural evolution of the human race. You can’t stop progress, Tempest. It’s like a bullet train, and it stops for no one. It barrels forward at breakneck pace, and anybody who doesn’t jump on for the ride will be flattened beneath it. Once the train of progress reaches its destination, we will have arrived in a world run by Supers. Run by Atlas, who acts as the right hand of Richter, doing his bidding.”
“I hate to tell you, buddy, but Richter is dead,” I said, getting right up in his face. “I killed him myself.”
Rob spat in my face. “How dare you speak his name!” he shouted, and jerked about in his chair.
I took a step back, wiping his saliva from my face. I fought the urge to hit him as hard as I could. It raged within me like a roaring lion, but I was able to keep it subdued. I didn’t want Drew to hit me with a jolt of Eximus.
“I’ll say his name all I want to,” I told Rob. “Because that’s all it is. Just the name of a teenage boy who thought that the world was supposed to bow at his feet and worship him like a god.”
“You think he’s not a god?” Rob asked me. “You think he’s a human? He’s no mere human, you steaming pile of shit. We are the angels, and Richter is our god. The earth is our domain, and Atlas is our shepherd. He leads us. He guides us. He knows the will of Richter. But you—” he said, looking at me with evil eyes. His body radiated hatred. “You are the devil. You and your demons.” He glanced back at Drew, who was standing next to the door with a blank face. “You think you can save the humans. You think we can go back to the way things were. The world has changed, Tempest. We can never go back. This is the way things are. The sooner you accept that, the sooner we can go about having heaven on Earth. Peace amongst the nations.”
I raised my hand, stopping Rob. “What was that you said?” I asked him. “Heaven on Earth?”
Rob hesitated. “Yes,” he said. “Heaven on Earth. We must prepare the Earth for Richter’s return.”
“Richter’s return?” I said, taking a step forward. “Listen to me. Richter is dead. I threw him into the sun myself.”
Rob jerked in his chair. He jumped around, trying to get out. “I’ll kill you!” he screamed, spit flying from his mouth. “I’ll kill you, Tempest! Say his name! Say it one more time, and I’ll kill you!” He jerked around in his chair so much that it tipped over and fell to the floor. He slammed his head, but after a few seconds of disorientation, he continued his attempts to break free.
I got down on one knee next to him. “What is Atlas planning, Rob? Tell me. What does he want?”
“I’ll kill you, Tempest! I’ll kill you!”
I sighed and shook my head, then turned to Drew. “I can’t get a straight answer out of these guys, can I?”
Drew shrugged and smirked.
I grabbed Rob by his shirt, lifting both him and the chair he was tied to into the air. I walked over to the window, and he continued to jerk about and shout at me.
With my left hand, I punched the window. The whole thing shattered into pieces and fell to the ground. I shoved Rob out of the window and held him dangling in his chair three stories above the ground. “What is Atlas planning?” I shouted.
“He will kill all the humans! He will destroy the false prophets who lead them!” he shouted.
I had a feeling that the “false prophets” he was talking about was us.
“I kinda figured that out on my own!” I shouted back at Rob. Of course Atlas was trying to kill us all. “What’s his end game? Why is he hiding? Why doesn’t he come here and end all of this?”
Rob’s eyes darted between me and the ground far below him. “A king rules from his throne!” he shouted.
I grunted in frustration and tossed Rob behind me, back into the room. He slammed against the wall, the chair he was sitting in shattering into pieces. He fell into a crumpled, shaking heap on the floor.
I ran to him in a split second, picked him up by his shirt and slammed him against the wall. “What is Atlas’ end game, Rob? Tell me! What is he planning?” I shouted as loud as I could.
Rob winced from the pain in his eardrums. “Atlas will raze the world, clearing it of all who do not bow to the will and power of Richter!”
I slammed Rob against the wall even harder. “That’s not an answer! Tell me exactly how he’s planning to do that.”
Rob shook his head. “I can’t! The will of Richter cannot fall on sacrilegious, blasphemous ears!”
I pulled Rob in so his face was just inches from mine. The lion of anger and frustration deep within me was growing stronger and stronger. “You tell me what he is planning right now, Rob, or you will regret it.”
He didn’t answer.
I didn’t know how m
uch longer I could hold the lion in. “Let me tell you something: Richter was a piece of trash. As you so eloquently said earlier, ‘a steaming pile of shit.’ I killed him. I threw him into the damn sun. He’s gone. He’s never coming back. Now, tell me exactly what Atlas is planning before more innocent people die.”
Rob looked at me, rage filling his eyes.
“What is his end game?” I said through gritted teeth.
Rob said nothing. I could see his jaw grinding his teeth in anger.
“I said, What. Is. His. End. Game.” I clenched my fists tight around his shirt, my muscles tensed up as tight as they could get.
Again, Rob kept his mouth shut. I could almost admire his fortitude.
I slammed Rob to the floor. He cried out in pain.
“Kane,” I vaguely heard Drew say from somewhere in the room. I could barely hear him over the roaring sound of my blood rushing through my head.
“Answer me, Rob!” I screamed, and I punched him in the face. It took a lot to hold back and not go full Tempest on him. “People are going to die! Tell me what Atlas is planning!”
Rob spat in my face. “Go to hell, devil.”
I slammed my fist into his face, sending blood flying across the floor.
“Kane, stop!” Drew yelled.
I raised my fist again, but felt a surge of electricity course through me. I was slammed to the floor, my body jerking and spasming from the Eximus coursing through me. The electricity traveled to my brain, blocking whatever it was in there that gave me my powers.
Drew had one hand on my shoulder, and in the other, he held a fistful of my shirt. He dragged me backwards, out of the room.
“You’re going to pay, Tempest!” Rob shouted, sounding like a crazed maniac. “You’re going to pay!”
6
TWISTED WORDS
My body seized up from the Eximus. Drew shut the door, and then took his hands off me. I lay on the floor, the Eximus still going strong in my brain. It took a few seconds, but it began to dissipate. My head felt like it was in a fog, and my muscles were sore from the electricity.
“You good?” Drew asked me. He reached down a hand to help me up.
The War of the Supers (The First Superhero Book 3) Page 3
