“Amelia, if I don’t... if I don’t do as he says, he will kill you, and Kate, and everyone I’ve ever loved,” he says.
“Luke, don’t be ridiculous. Its already tried to kill me, with a giant frigging robot I might add. I’m still here.” I try to smile in a comforting way. Goosebumps are crawling up my skin, and a shiver runs up my spine. What does he mean by he? “Luke, whose making you do this?”
He looks down at the ground, fists opening and clenching impotently. “The Gem isn’t a jewel Amelia... it’s a thing, an entity far older than—” Luke falls to his knees, mouth stretched wide in a soundless scream of agony. His hands clasp his head, pulling his hair and pressing hard against his temples. “Amelia,” he spits out as his face turns red. Veins pop out of his neck and face. Fabric stretches as his body swells, pushing against the limits until his clothes rip at the seems. I’ve seen him get big before, but this is something else. His skin takes on a red hue, and he finally finds his voice.
“Faceplate down,” I scream as I back up. Luke roars like a lion with a megaphone. The concussive force of his voice knocks the crowd back. “PA, now.” I wait for a heartbeat. “Evacuate the area, immediately!”
Luke slams the ground with a massive fist, cracking the pavement and sending seismic ripples out around him like water. He’s still growing, raging with snorts and growls as he reaches toward the heavens and howls again.
He has stopped growing. His mass now exceeds that of a semi-truck, and I estimate his level of strength at F5.
“Epic, how is this possible? He’s an F4 at his most worked up; he’s never hit F5 before!”
Does this look like Luke to you?
He’s right. Luke’s skin is the color of molten rock, glowing like there’s a million-watt light inside of him, shining through his blood. Despite the cold weather, the temperature of the immediate area shoots up ten degrees and the air around him shimmers from the heat pouring off him.
In the last few years, we’ve run up against people who had powers they shouldn’t have—like the sonic teenager in the Riot Boys and Girls. I thought maybe the DMHA database wasn’t being updated, but now... now I think this Red Gem has been behind a lot more than I thought.
“Amelia,” Luke howls, slamming his fists into the ground again. “Run!”
“Like hell. Let go of my man!” I scream back at him. I fire off a rapid pulse of IP Cannon that rips through the air in a burst of blue light. The energy hits him square in the chest. Luke takes a step forward, growling as the energy swirl of the cannon ripples around him. “Continuous fire, full power!” I order Epic.
ZPFMs whine as they dump more power into the IP Cannon. Alarms ring as the capacitors reach max. I don’t usually use them as a beam weapon—they’ll shut down after a few minutes of continuous use. At least they’re not like the particle beam, which could set my suit on fire.
He stomps the ground, sending a shockwave rolling through the pavement. The cars parked along the street closest to him flip over. Every window I can see shatters, and if it weren’t for my kinetic shields I’d be paste just from that. Then he takes a step forward, followed by another, then one more.
Amelia, the IP Cannon is affecting him, but not enough. I suggest you take flight immediately.
“Yeah, I think you’re right.” I ignite the Emdrive, leaping into the air and turning as I do. Alarms wail as the armor jerks to a halt. I look back—Luke leaped forward, catching my ankle on one giant hand. He reverses course and slams me down onto the road like a child with a fly swatter. I scream as we hit, my voice drowned out by the alarms. “Full power to shields.”
I can’t see Epic’s response since I close my eyes before Luke swings me around again to crash into a parked F-150. “Luke, let me go!”
“Luke’s not here, woman. There is only me!”
He doesn’t even sound like himself. The monster hoists me up, hanging me upside down in front of him, a huge smile splitting his face. I can see Luke in him; I can see the man I love.
Amelia, use the particle beam.
“It could kill him!”
He could kill you.
“No. I won’t do it. There has to be another way.” I ball up a fist and swing as hard as I can for his face. With the Animetal core and my kinetic manipulators, I’m pretty frigging strong.
He doesn’t attempt to block it—just takes the blow on his jaw—which doesn’t move.
“My turn,” he says with glee. The ground and sky change places as he swings me back and hurls me at a building. Glass and concrete explode as I pass through the laundromat, flattening a washing machine that bursts in a shower of suds and clothing. I end up on the other side of the building, upside down and covered in dirt and debris.
“Epic, status report,” I say, pulling myself up and doing my best to look away from the damage to my foot.
Emdrive number one is down. You have three left. The damage to your right boot is nearly one-hundred percent. Amelia, fleeing is the wisest course of action.
The ground shakes, sending dust bouncing into the air. I leap up, accelerating hard to avoid the juggernaut coming toward me. The drives whine as we gain altitude. I can’t leave, though. I can’t leave Luke behind—this might be the only chance I have of saving him.
“Epic, call Kate and Carlos, get the rest of the team on the jet,” I say to him.
The team will never arrive in time. Amelia, you have to flee or fight like you mean it. We do not have the tools to capture him when he is like this.
“Dammit, Epic, I’m not leaving him.”
I spin around, scanning the back the way I came, looking for him. I spot the tow truck hurtling up toward me a half second before it hits. “Brace,” I yell. Epic locks the suit up just as it hits. Half a dozen systems flash crimson on my HUD from the impact. Sparks fly and three of my five capacitors short out from the impact.
Amelia, change suits. We might be able to take him in the close combat suit, or even the Turtle.
We spin away from the impact and I nearly hit another building as I fly by. The tow truck lands in the lake. I regain control using the Emdrive and fly back up. Epic’s not wrong—we might be able to take him with another suit, but with the damage to this suit, I’m not sure I can change quickly. The Q-space pocket where I keep my suit delivery system isn’t designed to repair— just suit up or change suits.
“Epic, run the numbers. With the structural damage can we change suits?”
I spot Luke; he’s running down the main street to the East, hitting the ground with his feet so hard that glass shatters in the nearby stores and cars jump around like they’re on springs.
Unknown. However, we cannot stop him in the current suit. He is too strong.
Epic clocks him at eighty miles an hour as he half leaps, half runs down the street. I’ve got altitude now, and the advantage always goes to the high ground. If I can’t beat him into submission I’ll just pod him and deal with him that way.
“AG pods, lock on to a spot on his back he can’t reach.”
Trajectories pop up on my HUD along with a percentage chance of hitting him right. I don’t think I’ll get more than one shot off, which means I want a 100% chance of hitting him where I want. I drop down three hundred feet until I’m fifty feet above and behind him. When the numbers ping 100 I fire. The launcher puffs as the compressed air shoots the anti-gravity pod at him. The pod itself is covered in a gooey, sticky substance. When it hits, the glue splatters against his back, sticking it right beneath his shoulder blades.
He stumbles as the pod lifts him off the ground. Then he starts laughing. Not the kind, funny laugh of my beau, but the evil cackle of something truly horrific. What the hell is this Gem?
“He said you wouldn’t stop. I guess he’s right. Let’s see how far you’re willing to go?” His daemonic voice reverberates through the air—I don’t just hear it, I feel it, and it makes my skin crawl and nauseates my stomach.
“It’s over, whoever you are. You can’t have him.”
I fly down to hover out of arms reach of the thing that inhabits Luke. I don’t quite know how I’m going to contain him. But at least he’s stopped.
He grins at me, his face bearing little resemblance to Luke’s, but there is a hint of the man I love in there. He holds up his hand, fingers spread wide. With his other hand, he grabs his thumb...
The crack of the bone and the scream of pain that follows shocks my heart.
“What are you doing?”
Crack. Another finger breaks.
“Amelia, he’s hurting me,” Luke sobs as another finger breaks.
“What? No, stop!”
His hand slaps himself square in the face, breaking his nose and sending blood splattering down. Luke screams again. Panic threatens me. I don’t have a sedative or some way of knocking him out, just my lethal weapons; I don’t want to kill him.
“If you want me to stop, turn off your device and fly away,” the terrible voice says. When I don’t answer he reaches one finger up to his eye. When I still don’t say anything, he pushes against his eyeball as if he’s going to dig it out.
“No,” I scream, throwing my hands out to get him to stop. “Epic, kill the pod.” The power to the pod cuts off immediately. Luke falls to the ground, absorbing the impact from the thirty-foot drop on his knees.
“Fool. Don’t interfere with me again or I will force him to rip himself to pieces. You are powerless, Amelia Lockheart. I know everything Luke knows, I know where your parents are, where your precious Carlos spends his time, where Kate sleeps. Interfere with me again, and more than just Luke Lancaster will die.”
I nod numbly. What am I supposed to do? I watch helplessly as he leaps away, running even faster this time, and vanishing in the distance. The entire time, his evil laugh echoes in my ears.
Arizona never looks so good as it does while the sun sets in the distance. But even the majestic vistas and purple hues fail to comfort me as I bring the suit in and land on the Spire’s roof pad. The other Spire, where the jets and vehicles are kept, is open and an Emjet lands at the same time I do.
My armor crackles when I touch down—the broken foot section doesn’t quite work right. I limp to the yellow square that marks the elevator that carries me directly to my lab and takes my armor off in the process.
“Epic, contact Teddy and tell him I need his help, please.”
Will do.
Epic hasn’t spoken much to me since we left Branson. I think he’s mad at me for not fleeing when he told me to. But... but Luke. Maybe Epic saw that very outcome happening and was trying to spare me, or perhaps he knew there was no winning. Either way, I owe my friend an apology.
Incoming call from Kate.
“Amelia, are you okay? Epic filled me in on what happened,” she says. Just hearing her voice takes the edge off my emotions. I’m confused and angry, and I just don’t know what to do. I tell her all these things as the elevator descends. Right before we get to the lab the armor comes off and I am a sweaty, sticky mess underneath it.
A few minutes later I’m in my chair, foot propped up. Teddy gingerly moves it at different angles, trying to detect any broken bits.
“You’re lucky… again,” the Doctor says with a sigh. “Amelia, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you—”
“But you’re going to anyway,” I say with a smile.
“Quite. You’re not a normal person, Amelia. Your body doesn’t heal the way others do, especially your legs.” He’s interrupted by Kate and Carlos appearing next to me in a pop of displaced air that blows my bangs aside. They’re in civilian clothes, not their costumes, and they wear identical worried expressions.
They circle me, one on either side. Kate reaches out and rests her organic hand on my shoulder, flooding my system with relaxing emotions. I let out a big sigh and my body unwinds from a level of tension I didn’t think possible.
I look up at her with a smile. “Thanks, I needed that.”
“Of course, hon. No going out and wasting it, though. You’re going to bed, not your lab,” she tells me with a school teacher expression.
“That is excellent medical advice, Kate. Advice, I echo wholeheartedly,” Teddy adds. “My powers have kicked in and you will probably be good as new in a few days. For right now, wear a brace and try to stay off of it.” Teddy packs up his bag, gives me a hug, and leaves.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t come when Epic called,” Carlos says by way of apology. “We were tracking Tempus and I thought we had him, but, as usual…” he says with a shrug.
“No luck then, finding the time-traveling bad guy?” I ask.
“No,” Kate answers. “It would be nice if we knew who he was, but we’ve not had any luck finding that out either.”
I nod, stifling a yawn as I think about everything that happened in Branson. A flicker of a memory scratches at the surface of my brain. “Epic, pull up the Branson footage,” I say as I roll over to my big TV.
Amelia, are you sure?
I nod. I’m not, not really. I could do without it, to be honest. But something is nagging at me. Something I saw, but I can’t quite put a pin on it.
“Wow,” Carlos says when the screen comes to life and shows Luke as he changes. “How did he do that?”
“Oh, Luke,” Kate whispers. “I can’t believe he did this. This can’t be Luke.” She shakes her head in disbelief and I don’t blame her. If I hadn’t been there I wouldn’t believe it.
“Epic says he’s an F5 now. I don’t think it’s him, not really, anyway. Both in Argentina and a while ago here at home, we’ve fought people with powers that they either weren’t supposed to have or that were much more than they’re listed as having. A magician we ran into,” I glance at Kate, “told us about Rafael’s Gem. How, when they touched it they could see something. I’m thinking that whatever entity is in the Gem, it can grant superpowers or increase existing ones. If that’s the case then it explains Luke—and a lot of the other stuff we’ve seen over the last few years.”
“But... How does increasing his level of power make him attack you?” Carlos asks.
“He said something while we were there. Something about the gem. He referred to it as a him. Like it was a living thing. He said it threatened to kill me and everyone Luke loves.”
We all go silent for a moment and watch the fight play out. These things always seem longer than they actually are; it’s all over in less than a minute. When we get to the part where Luke starts hurting himself, Kate looks away. When it ends I have Epic rewind it. “Focus on the civilians, pull any footage you can from other sources to fill in the gaps.”
It would help if I knew what I was looking for.
I shrug. “I don’t know. Not really. I just feel like I’m missing something,” I say with a sigh. Epic pulls more footage, focusing on the crowd this time, replaying it from different angles.
“Stop,” the three of us say at the same time. We instantly look at each other.
The image freezes on a man in a gray trench-coat and hat. He has a five o’clock shadow and he’s scribbling in a notebook as Luke and I battle. I glance up at my friends with a question on my face. “Do you recognize him?” I ask.
“That’s Tempus,” Carlos says.
“He was at the awards ceremony. I saw him as we were leaving. He stood behind the crowd, writing in the same notebook. He looks exactly the same as he did then,” I say.
“I’ve only seen him twice and Kate’s seen him once. He looks exactly the same every time,” Carlos says.
“Why was he there? And how could he be there and where you were following him at the same time?” I shake my head. Time travel is confusing as hell. “There’s good news here,” I say with a grin.
“What?” Carlos asks.
“Epic, who is he?”
Running facial recognition and processing it through the state and federal databases. I have a match.
When Epic doesn’t speak for a moment I glance around at Kate and Carlos, then all three of us say as one; “And?”
His name is Frank Parker. He was a low-level analyst for the CIA. He quit just after the failed coup attempt in Washington, DC.
“Any information as to why he quit?” Kate asks.
His wife and twin teenage girls were killed by Behemoth. The details are not in the file. Only that they were killed in the incident during the fight at the White House.
“What?” I ask. Shock floods my system and my ears ring. My skin goes hot and my ears hurt from the emotions flooding me. I put a hand on my heart as I try to calm down. This can’t be my fault, can it? But I was there. I was the one fighting her outside the White House. How did I miss a vehicle full of civilians, and how did I not know about it after the fact?
“Amelia,” Kate says my name like she’s trying to convince me of something, “this isn’t your fault. It’s just not. You’re not responsible for every bad thing that happens from the bad people we stop. Behemoth made her choice, so did the Psychotic Six, Ericsson, and everyone else we’ve had to put down.”
I shake my head. No, no, no... this is just too much. Too much.
“Carlos,” Kate says, “She needs to lie down, right now.” Carlos lifts me out of the chair with no effort, adding thoughts of Luke to my overwhelmed mind. He carries me to the bedroom as Kate holds her hand on my shoulder whispering words of comfort at me. Her powers, more than anything, ease my racing heart and let sleep overtake me. I don’t realize how exhausted I am until I’m in bed. I vow to find out everything I can about his family when I wake up. If I had to bet money, I’d bet he’s just trying to save them.
But if he can travel through time, why hasn’t he saved them already?
“That’s the situation, Boss Lady,” Tessa says over our video comms. My foot swelled up during the night, stranding me in the Spire while the rest of the team went off to fight a guy named Mountains Quake. What a pretentious tool. A big, strong, nearly indestructible, pretentious tool. Thank goodness Lux was here on Earth. Between her and the rest of the team, they were able to bring him down. Tessa finishes filling me in, cuts a sharp salute, and turns the camera off.
Full Metal Superhero (Book 6): Explosive Arsenal Page 4
