“I just don’t think that continuing the production of Eximus weapons should be our main concern.”
Loren did her best to keep from rolling her eyes. “Nichols, sit,” she said, and the man who’d been blabbering on took his seat at the long table. At each end sat her best scientists, agents, and advisors. “We’re not deviating from the plan. Not when we’re this far in.”
“But the probability of success is slim,” another person said. He had red hair and a scruffy beard. It took Loren a second, as her mind was still foggy from the Eximus, but she eventually remembered that his name was Dr. O’Donnell. “We’ve seen the Legion and the progress they’re making,” he continued, speaking clearly and confidently. “Every time we set up Eximus weapons for them to steal, there are always casualties. We can’t afford to lose many more lives.”
“Then it’s a good thing we have plenty of people to choose from, should we need more agents,” Loren said, relaxing into her chair.
“You aren’t suggesting a draft, are you?” Agent Cassidy piped up.
Director Loren tried her best to hide her disappointment. She always hated it when Cassidy questioned her. She wouldn’t even have Cassidy be a part of this meeting, but she hated to have Cassidy out of sight for too long. She was, after all, the only person who knew Loren’s secret.
“This is a war, Cassidy,” Loren responded. “We have the authority to draft.” She placed her hands on the table in front of her and pushed herself up. “We need to be patient. Everything we’re doing here is deliberate. The preparations are almost complete. Our plan is coming along right on schedule.” She scanned the faces of those at the table, being sure to make eye contact with each and every one of them. “Just be patient.”
35
SEVEN DAYS
One week later
I stepped out into the night, frustration growing within me over another failed experiment. I wanted to punch something really hard, but refrained so that I wouldn’t have to deal with the slow and painful healing process.
After seven days, we still knew nothing more about the asthenés plásma. We’d tried pretty much everything. We’d tried meditating around the bottle, tried staring at it for a while, even tried talking to it. Nothing. I had no idea even what I’d expected to happen, though. Was it supposed to talk to us? Was it supposed to give us some sort of visions? I had no idea. But it had sure seemed to give Raven some knowledge he couldn’t have had otherwise.
Then again, Raven was crazy. Was I really following in the footsteps of a madman? Was that what it had come down to?
I sighed as I looked up into the night sky. Only a few stars were visible, since the lights around the gymnasium had been turned on.
“Hey, you okay?” Samantha asked as she walked up behind me.
“Yeah,” I said, not looking away from the stars. “Just trying to think.”
“Oh. Sorry. I’ll leave you to it,” she said.
“No, wait,” I said, turning to her. She stopped mid-step. “I didn’t mean it like that. You can stay.”
She moved back to my side. “You’re frustrated, aren’t you?”
I chuckled under my breath. “Yeah. What gave it away?”
“We’ll figure it out,” Samantha said.
I wanted to believe that. “It’s just so annoying to me that Raven apparently could unlock its secrets, and yet none of us can. There’s something we’re missing.”
“When have things ever been easy for us?” Samantha said with a laugh.
“That’s true,” I sighed. “I’m sure we’ll figure things out. I just wish it was sooner rather than la—”
The barracks across the way exploded. The force of the explosion blew Samantha and me backwards, and I slammed to the ground, the air rushing out of my lungs, my ears ringing.
Dazed, I looked over at Samantha, who was sprawled next to me, blood leaking from a wound in her head. “Samantha!” I yelled, my voice muffled in my ears.
Her head turned and she looked at me, wincing in pain. I stood up, scooped her up into my arms and ran towards the doors of the gymnasium. Through the windows, I could see Selena and Drew running towards the doors from the inside. They pushed the doors open, letting me in.
“What the hell is going on?” Selena demanded.
“Somebody’s attacking!” I told her as I ran towards the doors that led to the gymnasium, Selena and Drew close behind.
The whole gym was lit up by the asthenés plásma, which was glowing brighter than it had been just a few minutes earlier. Doug covered it with a blanket, shrouding the room in darkness.
“Get me something to prop up her head,” I said as I laid Samantha down on the floor.
Doug ran to my side, took off the hoodie he wore and handed it to me. “Samantha,” he said, kneeling next to her. “Samantha, are you okay?”
Samantha winced, trying to sit up. My hearing was coming back, I noticed—I could hear the sound perfectly. I pushed her back down. “Stay here. You have a head injury.”
“I’m fine,” she said.
“I don’t have time for arguing, Samantha,” I said as I stood up.
“You gotta get that stuff out of here, now,” Selena insisted.
I pulled the blanket off the glowing liquid and grabbed the handles of its container—but when I tried to run out, I couldn’t pick up speed. I ran across the gym only as fast as I would as a normal human. I turned and locked eyes with my worried friends.
“My powers are gone,” I said.
We could hear gunfire and explosions outside as those who weren’t in the barracks fought back against our attackers.
“This isn’t good,” Samantha said with a moan.
I looked around, trying to come up with a plan. Over in the corner, a rack of guns sat next to the door. I ran to it, set down the plásma and grabbed an assault rifle and a couple of magazines.
“Come on guys,” I said when I saw that everybody was standing there watching me. “Grab a gun. We have to fight back.”
Selena and Doug shook themselves from their daze and ran to join me. Samantha tried to get up too, but I stopped her.
“You’re in no shape to go anywhere,” I said, and handed her a pistol from the pile. “Can you stand?”
“I think so,” she said. She grabbed my hand, and I pulled her up. She was wobbly on her feet at first, but after a few moments she was able to get her bearings.
“Alright, find somewhere to hide. Don’t come out for anything.” I retrieved the asthenés plásma and then went back to Samantha. “Take this with you,” I said, handing her the bottle. “Keep it safe.”
She nodded. “I will.”
“Come on guys, let’s go,” I said as I walked towards the exit, purpose and determination in my step.
36
SHOTS IN THE DARK
I pressed my back against the wall next to the door. Drew was standing beside me, Selena and Doug on the other side. I peeked out, looking through the glass front doors of the gym.
People were running about outside. A couple dozen of our soldiers dressed in their camp fatigues were hiding behind vehicles and buildings, firing into the darkness at an unseen enemy.
“Who is this? Legion?” Drew asked.
“That’d be my guess. There’s obviously Supers out there, or else our powers wouldn’t be drained,” I said.
"We can take cover behind that half-wall over there," Selena said, pointing towards the brick wall on either side of a walkway that led to one of the visitor buildings.
I nodded. "Everybody follow me."
I opened the door and took off running. I kept my head down as gunfire sounded all around, and didn’t look to see where it was coming from. All I was focusing on was getting behind cover as soon as possible. I ran as fast as I could, but it felt as if I was running through molasses, or that I had concrete blocks tied to my feet.I hated not having my powers, knowing I was unable to protect my family as well as I could be. My anger at our attackers grew even more as I crouched
down behind that half-wall.
I gritted my teeth. I’d have to use my anger as my new superpower.
Selena, Doug, and Drew dropped down behind the wall alongside me, all of us breathing hard from running. My hands shook slightly, not only from the flood of emotions rushing through me, but the adrenaline that was surging, begging me to not stand still.
I leaned up, peeking over the wall. Gunshots were still ringing from all around. In the distance, I could barely make out the muzzle fire from the enemy guns. The light from the street lamps made it hard to see.
I sat back down, turning to the rest of the group with a plan beginning to form in my mind. “Aim for the street lights,” I said, pointing. “If we can take them out, it’ll be easier for us to see where the muzzle fire is coming from.”
“How are we going to see?” Doug asked.
Another explosion went off near us, causing all of us to throw ourselves to the ground. “The fire from the barracks will give us some light!” I said, pointing to where the barracks were burning bright and hot. “This is our home. This is where we live. We know this place better than they do. We have the advantage, don’t forget. Now, let’s do this!”
I aimed at the first light and fired a burst of bullets until the light went out. My friends fired too, and the area got darker and darker. My ears rang from all the gunshots, but I did my best to ignore that.
I looked across the base; it was glowing orange from the fire, the shadows dancing about wildly. My vision adjusted to the darkness quickly, allowing me to see not only the muzzle flashes of the attackers, but the silhouettes of the vehicles and buildings they were hiding behind.
I aimed in their direction and begin firing. A cacophony of gunfire sounded around me as my group and the soldiers who weren’t in the barracks fired, focusing their shots at our attackers. The shots coming towards us lessened as our attack became more accurate, and our enemies had to stay under cover longer, waiting for a break in our fire.
I pulled the gun tight against my shoulder and squeezed the trigger. I watched through the sights as the muzzle fire on their end became less and less frequent. When it stopped completely, I should’ve gotten suspicious. I was too angry to think about anything else, though. Everybody around me continued firing, not thinking that our attackers could have a backup plan.
Shots rang out behind me and to my right. We’d been flanked, and they were now shooting behind us. I fired at a couple of the soldiers standing in the open, then hopped over the wall and took cover on the other side. The rest of my group scrambled over quickly.
“They’re surrounding us!” Doug shouted.
He was right. There was no telling how many of them were still behind us. We were practically out in the open.
There was a pop, followed by a splattering of blood, and Doug fell to the ground, screaming and clutching his side.
I grabbed his shirt, pulled him up and threw him over my shoulder, then ran towards the visitor center as fast as I could. I shot the glass door as I ran at it, and the whole pane shattered to the ground. I ran through the opening, my boots crunching on the glass.
The orange glow of the barracks fire provided just enough light to show me the way to a large waiting room. I laid Doug down on one of the couches there, blood pouring from his side. He coughed and moaned in pain.
The rest of the group ran in behind me. Selena stood next to me, while Drew stood near the door, making sure nobody came in.
“We need to stop the bleeding,” I said, putting pressure on Doug’s wound. “Try to find something to soak up the blood.”
Selena ran off, searching for something. I pressed hard on the bullet’s exit wound, blood seeping between my fingers. Doug moaned and kept moving around. “You gotta stay still, buddy,” I said. “Try not to move.”
He responded, but I couldn’t quite make out what he said.
“Here, use this,” Selena said, returning to my side with a couple of blankets that I guessed were used to make sure people were comfortable during emergencies.
“Put one underneath him at the entry wound,” I said, lifting Doug up slightly. He screamed in pain. “You gotta keep quiet, Doug.” I said. Selena pushed the bunched-up blanket underneath him, and I set him back down. Then I pressed the other blanket against the exit wound on his torso.
A gun fired behind me, causing me to lean over Doug, covering my head.
“Got company!” Drew yelled.
I looked behind me as Drew fired towards the soldiers trying to fight their way inside the building. I grabbed Selena’s shoulder and pulled her in close. “Grab Doug and find somewhere to hide,” I told her.
She shook her head. “I’m not leaving and hiding somewhere!”
“Selena, you gotta get Doug to safety! Drew and I will hold them off for as long as we can so you can get out of here. You have to find help.”
Selena hesitated for a moment, but she knew by the look on my face that I wasn’t taking no for an answer. “Okay, but you guys had better be right behind us, or I’m going to kill you.” She picked Doug up in her arms and took off running down a hallway to the back of the building.
I jumped up and took cover against the wall next to the small hallway that led to the front door. Drew stood opposite me with his back against the wall. I looked around the corner and saw three men coming towards us, guns ready. I made eye contact with Drew, and the two of us unloaded our guns down the hallway. The three soldiers who’d been advancing on us fell to the floor.
We fell back as more soldiers at the other end of the hallway fired at us. The bullets flew past us and destroyed the front desk to the visitor center, sending wood and pieces of paper flying everywhere. I winced, waiting for a bullet to hit me at any moment, but it didn’t come.
There was a pause in the gunfire, and a voice from the other side of the hallway shouted, “Surrender now! We have you surrounded!”
I didn’t doubt that. I did doubt, however, that they would accept our surrender. The same look of doubt was evident on Drew’s face. A shadow appeared in the flickering orange glow of the hallway. It stretched all the way down the hall and came to a stop at our feet. “Kane Andrews,” the person at the other end of the shadow said. “Surrender now, as the rest of your friends have.”
I recognized the voice.
“You’d better not lay a finger on them!” I shouted.
“Of course not. I would never, as long as you give yourself up and tell me where the asthenés plásma is located. You do that, and your friends can go free.”
I closed my eyes and sighed. It seemed I didn’t have a choice. We were outnumbered and outgunned. There were probably soldiers surrounding our entire building, and there was no way to escape.
I threw my gun down into the hallway. Drew looked at me, his eyes wide. I gave him a nod and looked down at his gun, and he got the picture. He sighed and threw his gun down as well.
I stepped out into the hallway, my hands up. All I could see was a silhouette because of the fire, but I only knew of one evil Super with a South African accent who knew what the asthenés plásma was.
“You’re a long way from home, Raven,” I said.
Raven laughed. “My home is wherever the asthenés plásma is. You’re more powerful than I believed, if you were able to fly the asthenés plásma all the way here.” He sneered and flicked his hand, and six of his soldiers came around the corner and down the hallway, guns raised.
37
ALWAYS A SUPER
They threw me to my knees on the gymnasium floor next to Selena. On the other side of her lay Doug, who was being stitched up by one of our soldiers who’d survived. There were seven of us in all in the middle of the gym: Doug, Drew, Selena, three of Colonel Graham’s soldiers, Eddie and myself.
Eddie looked at me with wide eyes. He was only sixteen years old, and his tan skin was all dirtied up. This was the first time in a long time that I’d seen him, as he was usually busy in some workshop tinkering with something, using his electri
c abilities to keep the power running. Raven’s men were all around, ready to shoot us if anybody did something they didn’t like.
Raven walked in, practically gliding across the floor. His black robes flowed behind him, and he showed all of his yellowed rotten teeth in an evil smile. Two soldiers flanked him, their guns at their sides.
“Hello once again, Kane. A pleasure to see you again, Selena,” he said with a chuckle.
Selena fumed next to me. I silently prayed that she wouldn’t do anything she’d later regret.
“What are you doing here?” I asked Raven, shifting on my knees. Kneeling on the hardwood floor was extremely painful.
“I thought I made that clear. I’m here for the asthenés plásma. You didn’t think you could just take it and I wouldn’t come for it, did you?”
“How did you know we were here?” I asked.
Raven smiled. “You have much to learn about the asthenés plásma, Kane Andrews. As a disciple and scholar of its teachings, it’s always calling out to me. There’s no place you can go that I wouldn’t find it.” Raven walked towards me. “That’s where you come in. I know it’s around here somewhere; I just can’t sense its exact location.” Raven turned on his heels and took a few steps. “Where have you hidden the asthenés plásma?”
I shook my head. “I have no idea where it is.”
Raven gritted his teeth, fuming. “Don’t lie or play games with me, Kane Andrews. You may be one of the most powerful Supers, but you’re no match for the asthenés plásma—especially when it’s at this level.”
“I swear to you,” I said. “I don’t know where they put it.”
Raven sighed and ran his fingers through his greasy black hair. Then he stormed over to one of his soldiers. “Give me this,” he grumbled under his breath, and grabbed the soldier’s handgun. He returned to us, cocking the gun. I held my breath, bracing myself for whatever he was about to do next, ready for him to shoot me, or torture me.
The War of the Supers (The First Superhero Book 3) Page 14
