Powerless: In a world of superpowers, what happens when you have none?

by Niall McCreanor

  Reaching the outer fence he lay at the base of it, camouflaged and undetected. Waiting for the light to pass from left to right, he then removed his wire cutters from their pouch in his trousers and began to cut an opening along the base of the fence. Cutting a length long enough for him to slide underneath with relative ease, he worked his way across the gap between the fences ensuring to stay as low to the ground as possible and making only moves as intended.

  Moving towards the internal perimeter fence, the guards were getting closer to his position. Edging his body against the fence the guards were within only a few feet of where he lay.

  They began to pass by him when one of them stopped and turned in the direction of Lee. He quietly gasped, holding his breath thinking he had been spotted, but desperately hoping he hadn’t been. The guard began to walk towards him.

  Seeing this, he slowly ran his hand down his hip to where his knife was. He also had in his possession a tranquiliser gun, but the effects of the gun wouldn’t be instant so in this case he opted for his knife. He gripped the handle and readied it for action, knowing that if seen there was very little chance he would ever make it home to see Jennifer again. He did not know what kind of powers these guards possessed, adding further danger to the situation. Very little ran through Lee’s head as survival mode kicked in. The constant battle in his thoughts went silent for a little while. He stopped thinking about Tom’s disappearance and Jennifer’s worry. He only thought about getting through the next few minutes.

  Less than a few paces from the vents with only the fence standing in the way, Lee was so close to getting in unseen and undetected. Lee made himself small on the ground and lay motionless. He was virtually invisible. He would remain so unless the guard had already spotted him or if he trod upon Lee’s motionless body.

  The guard continued his silent advance towards Lee, but stopped abruptly, planting his boots within spitting distance of Lee’s face. So close in fact Lee saw his breath slowly steam up the tip of his left boot. He was careful to control his airflow, fearing the fog would no longer conceal it while the guards were so close.

  The guard reached into his pocket to search for something and tilting his head upwards toward the tower and let out a loud whisper. “Psst Jack.”

  Lee kept his face down, in hopes that the guard would not look down to the ground and spot him. He gripped his knife tightly while trying to figure out in his head what was going on, when he heard a louder whisper, “Psst Jack...” but this time there came a response from up in the tower.

  “Yeah, what’s up?”

  “Throw me down your matches; I need a smoke…” and with that the guards in the tower dropped a box of matches to the man below. The guard fished out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and began to light one up. His partner, who was a little further on turned to him, saying, “Man those things will kill you…”

  The guard then inhaled deeply from his cigarette, turned away from Lee and slowly started to walk. Lee loosened his grip on the knife and inwardly revelled, thinking, they nearly did and you have no idea.

  With that Lee began to cut along the bottom of the second fence, again allowing him enough room to pass underneath undetected. From this point it was only a few meters further for him to reach the vents and hopefully an entry point.

  He got to the vents undetected; slowly unscrewing the cover to the vent and slipping into it, closing it behind him.

  He stopped for a moment to take a breath and think of what was next. Before undertaking this mission Lee planned to get into the base to find the bunker in hopes that Tom was being held there, but he was left with only his instinct as to where within the bunker his brother actually was. Working his way along the vents, slowly lowering himself down the vertical shaft, he used the rope he brought in his pack, and dropped down further and further into the bunker until he reached the bottom.

  Here the shaft split in two directions. He decided to go to the right, but after a moment Lee hesitated, peering ahead seeing a long maze of vents that were feeding into the rest of the compound. He sensed this to be wrong, as he had previously deduced the cells to be close to the point where he entered into the vent system. He slowly worked back up the shaft and then headed to the left. Passing down the shaft, carefully checking all the rooms he passed over to look for evidence that his brother was there.

  Reaching the end of the vent he found the rooms he had highlighted to himself on the schematics. There were two rows of three cells, hidden from sight in the safe confines of the vents. Lee could see into the cells on one side and was clearly able to see they had no-one inside. This was going to force Lee to take a big risk in making himself visible.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  As the cells were empty, the doors were left wide open in the first two. Entering either of these would leave minimal cover if a patrol walked by the cells. The third cell door was open, but left ajar so he decided this would be his best point of entry, as the door would offer him some degree of cover in the cell.

  There was a vertical drop down the vent into the room, so he secured himself at the top using a rope and slowly lowered himself head first down the shaft to the vent cover. He began to unscrew the cover of the vent and carefully remove it, being sure to not make any noise as he passed through the vent to the ground below. The room he found himself in was dark; the only light illuminating his line of sight came from the light in the corridor outside the cell, which leaked in through the gap in the door and through the small window on the door. The cell was small with only a mattress lying on the floor behind him, in full view of any guard looking through the viewing hatch as they passed by the door on their patrol. There was also a steel washbasin and a stainless steel toilet.

  The door into the cell was made of heavy steel with four electrically controlled lock bars and a small window in the centre for the guards to keep an eye on any prisoners. He examined the door and thought to himself, this door is heavy duty, but I don’t think it would hold Tom. If he’s locked in here and hasn’t escaped, it’s only because he’s chosen not to…

  He peered out the door, through the gap between it and the wall; from here he could see the three cells that lay adjacent to the one he was in. He could also see down the corridor to where a guard was sitting. The guard seemed to have his feet up, watching a small TV perched on a shelf behind the desk.

  This meant that the guard was looking away from where the cells were located and as there was not a recognisable entry point from that direction he had no need to be suspicious of anything from behind him.

  Lee needed to assess if in fact his brother was held in any of the other cells. Removing his heavy hiking boots in case they made noise on the ground and alerted the guard to his presence, he opened the door gradually and gently made his way out.

  Stepping up to the first cell, which was the furthest away from the guard, he spied into the cell and took a survey of everything he saw. The room was dark, too dark to assess if his brother was inside. But while staring in through the window, his eyes adjusted to the darkness, and gauged there was nobody in the room.

  Calmly and deliberately he moved onto the next cell, being careful to choose where to place his feet. Each time he took a pace forward he would look up to see if the guard had been alerted to any movement from over his shoulder, being mindful to control his breathing, for if the guard turned around he would clearly see Lee standing behind him.

  There was nowhere for him to hide between where he stood and the desk that separated him from the guard. Being unsure of the guard’s power added further danger to this undertaking. Making it to the second door, he again sought to confirm if his brother was in the cell or not.

  As his eyes adjusted to the darkness inside he saw that there was the figure of a man inside. Unable to see if the features of the person inside were the same as his brother, as the person lying in the room had their back to the door, he raised his hand to make a small noise on the glass to get the attention of whoever was inside. />
  Pulling his hand back he began to slowly release it towards the glass. He interrupted his own movement just as contact was about to be made with the window and paused for a moment to think. If he tapped the window the guard could be alerted to his presence and if he was lucky enough not to, and the person inside was not his brother, they would certainly make a noise and bring the attention of the guard towards the cells. Instead he chose to examine the third and final cell.

  Tentatively Lee backed away from where he was standing. Walking in the direction of the third cell, he was careful to stay low, so as to not cast too long of a shadow ahead of him towards the guard, who was still engrossed in watching his inaudible, small and fuzzy TV. Every so often the guard would let out a chuckle at the programme he was watching.

  Again he made very deliberate movements, being careful to focus his breathing so he didn’t make a noise over that of the TV, reaching the final cell undetected. Every ounce of his being was focused on finding his brother and getting out of that place. He didn’t want to be in there for a second longer than he had to be, but he knew that he had to do it right. As these thoughts past through his mind, his head instinctively twitched a fraction, as if to expel them from his head through motion alone, for he couldn’t handle the reality of a world without his brother and thinking about it wasn’t going to get any of them anywhere.

  Breathing in and trying to remember the relaxation techniques that his father had taught him, he forced his mind back to the task at hand. He was still bent down to avoid casting a shadow. Extending his legs and straightening his back, he looked through the window to see if anyone was inside.

  The light from behind Lee shone in through the window onto the floor inside and the first thing he saw was a pair of boots on the ground. So he had at least discovered that there was someone inside. The silhouette cast by the shadow of Lee’s head obstructed his view of the person who lay inside.

  Angling his body so the light passed over his shoulder revealed the person that lay therein, as the light passed over him he was able to see the features of a man that he had loved his entire life, a man he would risk all to save. Lee had finally found Tom.

  He raised his hand and waved it in front of the light to wake his brother from his sleep, the breaking light got Tom’s attention and slowly he began to wake. Tom, confused as to what was going on, was fighting off the symptoms of a deep sleep. Seeing the shadow cast by his brother trying to get his attention, he slowly got up from the bed and walked towards the door.

  With every small half-awake half-asleep movement he made he woke a little more. Through the light he saw the silhouette of a person beckoning him begin to fade and the features of the man in the door began to come clear.

  Firstly he saw eyes that he had known for what seemed to him to be forever, then a furrowed look of fear that he had only seen a few times. In fact the last time he saw that look of apparent fear and relief was not since they came face to face with the bear, all those many years before. The face gawking out at Lee was that of a man confused, scared and excited.

  Before any explanation was given to Tom or before he had a chance to seek one, Lee raised his hand to his face and placed his finger in front of his lips, signalling Tom to remain quiet.

  No sooner had he made this gesture to his brother than a high-pitched screech rang out from between Lee and the guard, who sat only a few paces away. Lee’s eyes opened wide as he looked in at his brother and any relief that he had held instantly drained to terror.

  Tom’s expression reflected that of his younger brother who was risking everything to find him. Lee dropped to the ground and using his entire body he pushed off the wall and slid along the polished ground in the direction of the guard. He pushed his body tight up against the security desk, which hid him from the guard’s line of sight.

  The screech sounded again, this time followed by a voice, “Ericson come in, over.” The security guard remained motionless, before there was time for any reaction from the guard the radio sounded again, “Ericson do you copy, over...” the guard swung round on his chair and lifted the radio that sat on the desk just over Lee’s head.

  Lee listened for a response.

  “Yea this is Ericson, what you want?!” a voice declared back to him in a disapproving tone.

  “Ericson this is command, you never checked in, over…” Before replying Ericson murmured to himself, “What is there to check in…” But his reporting came out clearly. “Prisoners secured, all clear…” turning his back away from Lee, once again he looked at his programme. As he turned, the voice on the radio barked.

  “Ericson it’s your job to check in, not my job to ask, over...”

  Again Ericson murmured, “Yeah, yeah, yeah…”

  Lee composed himself and reached his hand slowly across his belt and removed the tranquiliser gun from where it was sitting on his belt. Taking it up to his chest and pausing for focus, he took a few slow deep breaths.

  Beginning to position himself to neutralise any threat posed by guard, he got to his feet while remaining crouched and hidden behind Ericson. Raising his body up over the desk, gripping and stretching out the gun in front of him, he held Ericson in his sights and slowly pulled down on the hammer. As he did this the TV fell silent in a lull of activity and the noise was plain for Ericson to hear.

  Spinning around in the chair he was sitting in he saw a startled Lee looking back at him. Lee fired one round straight at him, thinking there was ample time to hit him before he could react.

  To Lee’s confusion all he hit was an empty chair and Ericson was nowhere to be seen. A flabbergasted Lee stood up and looked down over the desk to see if Ericson had sought coverage behind the chair, he had not. Lee instantly grabbed the radio from off the desk and slipped it into his pocket, and turned around to search the area to see where Ericson went. As he turned around he found Ericson standing in front of him with a menacing look in his eyes. He quickly surmised that Ericson had one of three abilities. Either Ericson was a teleporter, had the gift of speed or he could turn invisible. Quickly Lee ruled out invisibility, as the dart he fired at him would have still hit him even if he had been able to bend light around his body. So he was either a teleporter, which was very rare or possessed the capability of speed.

  Ericson just stood there and waited for Lee to make his move. He raised the tranquiliser gun from his hip, but by the time he raised it to shoulder level an immense impact landed on the side of his face and he fell to the ground. Stunned he looked up again at Ericson who was in the exact same position. Ericson smirked back at Lee and simply stated, “Faster than a speeding bullet, and certainly faster than you...”

  No sooner had the words reached Lee’s ears than yet another tremendous blow impacted on his face. This time Lee was left dazed by the blow and looking onto the ground below him he saw a steady stream of blood flow from his face.

  Tom had been watching these events unfold from inside his cell and as soon as he saw that Lee was in trouble he stood back from the door, clenched his fists and with a grimace upon his face he planted his right foot on the ground. He leaned back, raised his left foot and with all his might kicked the steel door that was in front of him. With one colossal wallop he kicked the steel door clean off the wall, taking a large chunk out of the wall as well.

  He stuck his head out through the door and Ericson was quick to stick it back in by landing a blow square on his chin. But as the strike landed and Ericson went to move away from him, Tom gripped him by his arm and as soon as Tom’s fist closed around Ericson’s wrist there was nowhere for Ericson to go. Tom pulled back his arm to hit Ericson a blow with all his strength that would surely kill him. Seeing this Lee quickly pulled up the tranquiliser gun and fired a dart into Ericson’s neck. This stopped Tom from killing him, as Lee feared the act would steal a little bit of his brother’s humanity.

  Before Ericson passed out Lee whispered in his ear, “You are fast, but not fast enough…”

  Tom stood up and turne
d to his brother in utter disbelief, grabbed hold of him and embraced him. Tom released him from his grasp and exclaimed worriedly, “How are you here? How did you find me?”

  Lee spoke reassuringly, “It doesn’t really matter right now, all you need to know is that I am and we are getting out of here...”

  Tom looked down at Lee’s feet and laughed, “Where are your shoes?”

  Lee glanced behind him at the door lying busted into pieces and a large chunk of wall missing, then pointed to Tom’s bare feet and replied, “Eh, where are yours?” The two men laughed then, Tom turned and grabbed his boots and hurriedly stuck his feet into them. Running down to the cell where he had made his entrance and grabbed his own boots and began to put them on.

  Lee popped his head out through the door to see where his brother was. He saw Tom down at the security desk searching for something and called down to him, “Hurry up Tom, come this way…”

  Tom glimpsed down the corridor at him confused, “That’s just a cell…”

  With a frustrated look on his face Lee asserted, “Look I'm the one that just broke in here, will you trust me to get you out and not argue, come on!”

  Tom’s eyes were still scanning the desk when he exclaimed, “I can’t see it.”

  “See what?”