The three of them got into his father’s truck and his father sped down the street.
“Don’t worry, honey,” Clark’s dad said to his mother. “We’re almost there!”
Twelve minutes later they arrived at St. John’s Hospital.
“This is where Charles is,” Clark said.
“Great,” his father quipped. “You can see your new sibling and your best friend at the same time.”
His father stopped his car at the entrance of the hospital and Clark helped his mother out of the truck. They walked into the hospital and Clark’s body went cold. The receptionist at the desk was the same woman who saw him bring Charles to the hospital. Clark looked down in an attempt to hide his face as they approached the receptionist.
“How may I help you?” the receptionist asked.
“I’m going into labor!” Clark’s mother yelled.
“Okay, ma’am, come on back!” the receptionist said. She paid no attention to Clark as she attempted to help his mother. The woman called for assistance as Clark’s dad ran through the hospital doors.
“Come on!” Clark’s mother yelled for his father.
His dad ran after them as the mother lied on a gurney. Two nurses rolled her into an elevator.
“We’re going on the tenth floor,” the nurse said.
They got off the elevator and stepped onto the floor below Charles. The nurse directed them to a large area labeled “Delivery.” Clark was told to take a seat as his parents went into a back room.
Clark sat in a chair across from another set of siblings whose parents were expecting. They were chatting vigorously and seemed to be full of excitement. Clark, on the other hand, was still tired and hardly felt like talking to anyone. He slumped his head over and nodded off to sleep in a chair that was hardly comfortable.
***
Several miles away, at five in the morning, Chloe Li was asleep in her house along with her parents. Nothing was out of the ordinary until a large black van pulled up to her house. Three mercenaries, all wearing black Kevlar, stepped out of the car and walked up to Chloe’s house. Using a pick, they quietly opened the front door and crept through the house. One of the men quietly opened the door to Chloe’s bedroom. She was sleeping in her pajamas until she heard her parents screaming. Chloe quickly woke up to the sight of a man wearing a black armored suit. Before she could place her hands out to summon an item to hit him, the man shot a dart at Chloe. She immediately passed out.
About an hour later Chloe awoke with a splitting migraine. She was still in her bed when she sat up. Sitting in a chair in front of her was the black-clad man who shot her with a dart. Chloe angrily placed her hands out but nothing happened. She focused on a chair and wanted it to hit the man but the chair didn’t move.
“Put your arms down,” the mercenary said.
“What did you do to me?” Chloe asked him.
The man held up an empty syringe. “Just a little bit of liquid lead. Shoot it into a normal person and they’d die. But you’re no normal person, are you, Chloe Li? For people like you, the lead inhibits your powers. So don’t bother trying to make that chair smash across my face.”
“What did you do with my parents?” Chloe asked.
“Nothing to be worried about. Just a good ol’ fashioned kidnapping.”
“Who are you and what do you want with me?”
“First off, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Caine. I work for Zhang Wu. But I imagine you already know that. We’re mercenaries who have been following you. The night your buddy Charles was shot we placed a tracker on you. That’s how we found your place. Sure, we could have just gone after Charles Walsh but screwing with a man like Paul Walsh is a little more dangerous.”
“What do you want with me?” Chloe asked.
“I might let you live or I might kill you. I guess it depends what mood I’m in.”
Chloe jumped out of her bed. She ran towards Caine and swung at him but he backhanded her to the floor.
“Not so tough without your super powers and magic tricks, are you?” Caine laughed. “Now down to business. We need you and your family in order to lure the rest of your little friends to Wu’s place. The plan is for them to arrive. They attempt to save you and we’ll kill them.”
“They’ll destroy you. Wait until my boyfriend gets to you,” Chloe said angrily, still lying on the floor.
“More empty threats,” Caine laughed. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that.”
“If we can inhibit your powers, what makes you think we can’t inhibit theirs? We’ve become more knowledgeable. We’re better equipped than ever before. But there is one other thing I need from you, Chloe Li.”
Chloe looked at him with disgust. “Screw you.”
He ignored her insult and continued talking. “When you arrive at Wu’s place, he may ask you how you got your powers. That is what I want you to tell me right now.”
“Fuck you,” Chloe spat at him.
He grabbed her by the neck and squeezed tightly. “Give me the right answer or your parents die. I will personally kill both of them.”
“A crystal,” Chloe said reluctantly, gasping for breath. “My powers came from touching a crystal.”
“Tell me more,” Caine demanded as he loosened his grip around her neck.
“It’s located in a warehouse,” Chloe admitted before divulging the exact location.
“That’s all I wanted,” the mercenary said. “But here’s the deal maker or deal breaker. As I said, Wu is going to ask you the same thing I just asked you. Under no circumstances are you to tell him the truth.”
“Why?” Chloe asked.
“Because I want these powers all for myself,” Caine said truthfully. “If you tell Wu the truth, I’ll kill your entire family.”
“Okay,” Chloe nodded. “Deal.”
“Let’s go,” Caine said as he let go of her neck. He tied her hands up with and walked behind her as she went down the staircase. Then he directed Chloe to walk outside and enter the black van. She did as instructed and the van pulled off with Caine sitting next to her in the backseat.
Chloe was nervous as she sat tied up in the van. She watched as Caine pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to her.
“Call one of your little super powered friends,” he told her. “Tell them you’ve been kidnapped by Zhang Wu. 831 Oldsdon Street. We’ll see them at noon.”
Chloe grabbed the phone and dialed a number.
“Hello?” Donny said on the other end of the phone.
“Donny,” Chloe said, her voice cracking with fear.
“Chloe, is that you?” Donny asked.
“Yeah,” she said nervously. “I need your help Donny. I’m being kidnapped.” She began crying and Caine the mercenary ripped the phone from her hand.
“You heard that?” Caine said over the phone. “We’ve got your pal, Chloe.”
“Who are you?” Donny asked frantically.
“The men who work for Zhang Wu. As if paralyzing Walsh wasn’t enough. You can find us at 831 Oldsdon Street. Bring your pals at noon,” he said immediately before ending the call.
Soon enough the black van pulled into the parking garage of a large penthouse that was located downtown. Once they were parked, Caine pulled Chloe out of van and forced her across the garage and into an elevator. They arrived at the very top floor of the penthouse. The door opened and Caine pushed Chloe into the suite.
Sitting behind a desk was Zhang Wu, an Asian man with jet black hair and pale skin. He was wearing a black pinstripe suit and red tie. Seated next to him were Chloe’s parents. They were both bound and gagged.
“Mom! Dad!” Chloe yelled out. She attempted to run toward them but Caine grabbed her by the arm and prevented it.
“Why hello, Miss Li,” Zhang Wu smiled slyly as he stood up from his desk. “I am so happy you could be a guest today along with your lovely parents.”
“Why do you want to kill us?” Chloe asked him.
“It is si
mple,” Wu said. “You and your band of Do-It-Yourself superhero misfits are costing my empire millions. You have caused a drastic decrease in violent crime and drug output. In effect, as Cincinnati’s largest crime lord, I have lost large amounts of money, Miss Li.” Zhang Wu placed his hand up and led his fingernail down her face. “And for that, you will suffer.”
“Excuse me, Mr. Wu,” Caine said. “May I leave now.”
“What is the rush?” Wu asked.
“I have somewhere I need to be.”
“And where is that?” Wu asked Caine.
“Let’s just say I have a warehouse I need to visit,” Caine said as he smiled to Chloe.
“Then be gone,” Zhang Wu hissed.
***
Back at the hospital, Clark was in the delivery room holding his new baby brother for the first time.
“And what’s his name?” Clark asked his parents.
“We decided on Matthew,” his father told him.
“I love it,” Clark smiled. He cradled the newborn in his arms for a moment and returned him to his mother.
“I worry and I worry,” Clark’s father said. “But then I lay my eyes on our new child for the very first time and I know that everything is going to be alright.”
“He looks just like you when you were a newborn, Clark,” his mother told him with a big smile.
“But at least I popped out at the right time,” Clark joked.
“Yeah,” his father laughed. “Glad I put in that overtime yesterday.”
A nurse walked into the room. “Clark,” she said.
Clark turned around and asked what she wanted.
“There’s a boy named Donny in the waiting room. He wants to see you.”
“Okay,” Clark said. He turned to his parents, nodded, and walked out of the room. As Clark walked down the hallway, he saw Donny who was looking frantic and afraid.
“Hey, Donny. What’s going on?”
“They have Chloe,” Donny whispered in a frenzy.
“What?”
“Zhang Wu! You said they were picking us off one by one. I got a call, they kidnapped her. They told me the address. We have to save her.”
“They kidnapped Chloe!?” Clark said, surprised.
“Yeah,” Donny told him again as he spoke frantically. “They have her hostage. They want us. Jesus, Clark. We can’t do it alone. First John went off the deep end. Then Charles got shot. Now they’ve taken Chloe─ What I don’t understand is how they got her? She can do just about anything.”
“No,” Clark told him. “We have one weakness and they know it.”
“What are you talking about?” Donny asked.
“Lead!” Clark said. “It’s the one thing we can’t control. I’m sure they’re gathering things like lead bullets and maybe even lead walls or whatever.”
“How do we save her, Clark!? I can’t go on without her. But we need help.”
“I called in backup last night,” Clark assured him.
“Who?” Donny asked.
“Andrew and Big Dan.”
“Seriously!? They’re returning to Cincinnati? Are they going to help?”
“They’re going to meet us at the warehouse. Come on, let’s go,” Clark told Donny.
Before they left, Clark found a nurse and told her to tell his parents that he was leaving and would return in a few hours.
“Tell them I’ll be back before they get discharged,” Clark said to the nurse.
“Sure,” she told him.
With that, Donny and Clark quickly exited the hospital. Once they were outside, Clark quickly called Sarah and told her to meet them at the warehouse. The he and Donny swiftly ran behind a large set of trees and took off into the air.
Traveling at an extreme speed, they reached the warehouse in minutes. While they usually entered through the back, this time they landed around back but walked to the front of the warehouse because Clark spotted two figures standing near the front door.
“Andrew! Dan!” Donny yelled as he saw them standing around the entrance to the warehouse.
“Nice to see the both of you!” Dan said.
“When did you guys get here?” Clark asked.
“I don’t know. About five minutes ago,” Andrew said.
“We noticed the door was open but we didn’t go inside,” Dan said.
Sure enough, Clark looked at the main door of the warehouse and saw it cracked. He assured them that it should have been locked so they entered the warehouse and found everything in its normal place.
“Nice digs,” Andrew said.
“We call it the Mecha,” Clark told him. “Well that’s the name Charles made up for it. And he decorated it too.”
“We don’t have much time for small talk,” Donny told them. “Zhang Wu’s got Chloe.”
“Who?” Andrew and Dan both asked.
“A crime lord,” Clark told them.
Moments later Sarah entered through the backdoor.
“Hey guys,” Sarah said.
She greeted Andrew and Dan but Donny told her there was no time. He filled her and the rest of them in on the details about Chloe’s disappearance. Andrew and Dan agreed to help them and Clark informed them that Zhang Wu would likely use their one weakness, lead, against them.
“What’s a little lead matter when we can move buildings?” Dan laughed.
“We’ve got to get you two suited up,” Sarah said to Andrew and Dan.
She and Clark pulled out several boxes full of costumes and told them to pick out something they liked. While Clark, Sarah, and Donny got into their usual costumes, Andrew and Dan began piecing things together. Dan chose a black suit and domino mask along with an orange cape. Andrew picked out a similar outfit but one with a black cape and a yellow infinity symbol on the chest plate.
“I look so ridiculous,” Andrew said as he adjusted the mask that went over his eyes. “I promise I’m never going to wear this again.”
They were all dressed and ready to go until Sarah noticed something off.
“Guys, look,” Sarah said as she pointed to the door that led to the basement. The door was open.
“The front door was open too,” Andrew told her.
Clark and Sarah jogged over to the door. They pushed it further open and walked down the stairs as the others followed behind them. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, they noticed the second door was missing. It was the security locked door and it appeared to have been blown off its hinges.
“What the hell happened here?” Clark asked.
He and Sarah walked inside. The crystal was located in the middle of the room and lying on the floor was the lifeless body of a man wearing all black. It was Caine, the mercenary.
“Who is that?” Sarah asked.
“He’s dressed like one of those men that came after us,” Clark told her.
“What the hell happened here?” Andrew asked as he and the others entered the basement and peered at the lifeless corpse.
“He touched the crystal too long,” Clark said to him.
“Shit,” Dan said. “You mean that could have happened to us?”
“Yeah,” Clark answered. “He must have broken in here. Looks like he blew the security locks off. I guess he held onto the crystal and it killed him.”
“I bet he deserved it,” Donny sneered.
“Come on guys,” Clark told them. “Let’s go. We’ll have to deal with this guy later. We have to save Chloe right now.”
They left the basement and returned to the normal portion of the warehouse. Donny told them the address where Chloe was located so they exited through the back and flew off─ wearing full costume regalia─ in broad daylight.
Minutes later, onlookers watched and gawked as costumed teenagers descended onto the penthouse of Zhang Wu. They all landed on the ground and entered through the glass doors. A security guard in the main area reached for his gun and Clark threw his hand out. The guard flew back against the wall and was knocked unconscious.
“That’s all?” Donny asked.
Clark put his hand out again and commanded the guard’s gun. When the gun flew into his hand, Clark unloaded it and checked the bullets. He tried to make the bullets move with his powers but they remained motionless in his hand.
“Just as I thought,” Clark said. “They’re armed with lead bullets. Everyone be careful.”
There was a click and they all turned toward the elevator. The elevator opened and three men armed with automatic guns began shooting left and right. The six teenagers all ducked. They jumped behind metal tables which they flipped over as bullets flew everywhere. Some of the bullets even shattered the glass doors of the entrance and flew outside.
Sarah was hiding behind a table when the men stopped firing their guns. She and Clark took this opportunity. They jumped up and flung their arms out. The elevator door shut on the men.
“You didn’t mention how dangerous this would be, Clark!” Dan shouted as the others all stood up.
“Yeah, it sort of slipped my mind,” Clark said sarcastically as he continued to use his powers to keep the elevator closed.
“I’ll handle it,” Donny said. Donny looked at the elevator doors and the others could hear the elevator moving. “There,” Donny told them. “I jammed them in, I think you can let go now.”
Clark and Sarah put their hands down and prepared for the worst. But the elevator didn’t open. They only heard the men banging on the door and attempting to pry it open.
“I don’t know how long that’ll last,” Donny said.
“Come on,” Andrew piped in. “Let’s go!”
“Well we can’t take the elevator,” Dan shrugged.
“The stairs!” Clark told them.
Clark raced over to one of the walls and opened the door the led to the stairwell. They all entered the stairwell one after the other. The rushed up the stairs and Clark kicked open the door to the second floor. He looked inside and saw several women screaming.
“Doesn’t look like Chloe’s on this floor,” Clark said.
Donny looked inside the room to double check behind Clark. He too realized that Chloe was not on the second floor so they went back into the stairwell and fled up to the third floor. It was empty so they rushed to the fourth floor. While they were climbing the stairs, the door of the fourth floor burst open. Armed men stood in the doorway and began shoot at them. Clark and Sarah took cover while Dan darted out of the way. Andrew thought quickly and shot his arm out. The door slammed shut on the men and they began pounding at it.
Ascension (The Ascension Series) Page 26
