by Ben Mason
He started thinking about it. By the time they had driven off toward the drone’s last known location, he still hadn’t found an answer.
6
It wasn’t fair that the desert turned cold at night. Katie had been burning under the heat all day and now she was shivering from the cold. Her clothes were soaked. The pain from the scorpion sting had lessened leaving a dull ache in her bones.
“Come on, Katie. Dad’s watching.” It wasn’t very effective, but it got her moving. She staggered up using the rock as a crutch. It was a new moon so she didn’t have any light.
Staring down at where her hand must have been she tried to get the glowing purple lightning to come back. Anger didn’t work. Neither did the threat of death or stubbing her toe really bad.
Darkness started playing tricks on her mind. She thought she heard a coyote howl in the distance, the sound of a scorpion skittering around her feet. She heard the hiss of a snake right before it was about to bite her and her skin tingled as if she had brushed a cactus. Pushing her back against the rock, Katie tried not to be scared.
She tried to be like Miss Mercury.
Back when her mom had been stationed in Alaska there had been a boy named Marvin, a pale marshmallow of a kid. He had a crush on her and he was about as smooth as a splinter, but he had shared his comics with her.
Most of them had women in bikinis with figures which defied the laws of biology and physics, but she liked Miss Mercury. Transformed by a radioactive meteor, Kim Masters had turned silver and gained the ability to stretch and expand like the metal. She struggled with boys and trying to be feminine but tough and she never let the bad guys see her sweat.
So of course the comic lasted six issues.
Still, Katie decided she wanted to be like Miss Mercury.
Closing her eyes she imagined a dull glow coming from her chest, spreading out and warming up her entire body. She did feel warmer. Imagination or not she was willing to take whatever she could get. As the feeling spread, she thought she heard the sound of feet moving toward her.
The sound of a gun cocking made her open her eyes. A dozen lights were shining all around her, moving in tight circles.
Katie sucked in a breath. The lights were moving closer toward her. One beam swung right around the edge of her shoe.
No way, she thought as her fingers dug into the palms of her hands. There is no way Creepy Kessler is going to shoot me for blowing up his stalker drone.
“Katie?” A voice whispered.
“What are you doing man? You want to blow our cover?” Another deeper voice hissed.
“What cover? We’re flashing lights all over the place. And besides, this is a recovery mission.”
Katie’s face broke out into a grin as she recognized Leon’s voice. He had come to save her. Of course he had. He was the most awesome guy ever.
And hot. He had the cutest dimples when he smiled.
She was about to yell for their attention when she stopped herself. The desert was massive. There was no way they had found her this quickly unless they had tracked the drone which meant either Mom or Kessler had sent them. The same people who had thrown her out to die.
Even without light, Katie felt her vision go red. The sound of crackling energy rang in her ears as she felt tears sting her eyes. Everyone she had ever trusted let her down. They were all liars.
“Boss!” One of the men barked out.
Katie screamed and a large circle of purple energy shot out.
7
Leon had a second to duck behind Brodus before the wave of energy hit. Kessler had said whatever was inside of Katie wasn’t actual lightning but a manifestation of the gene enhancer. It didn’t have any of the weaknesses like normal electricity, but it didn’t have any of its extra strengths either.
Now he was gambling the loathsome scientist wasn’t full of it.
The wave hit Brodus and knocked the large man into Leon, smashing them both into the sand, taking the air out of his lungs.
Leon kicked his feet up and pushed his team mate off of him, rolling to his knees. Sucking in a breath he staggered up. Half of squad was down. Most of them were knocked out.
Katie stood in front of all of them her face twisted in a snarl. Glowing purple energy surrounded her and bolts of purple lightning crackled from her hands.
“Stupid puta,” Cruz snarled. “I’m going to take you back in a body bag.”
Leon felt the adrenaline hit his system as time slowed down. He saw the light from Cruz’ gun swing up in a slow arc aiming it at Katie’s blind side.
“No.”
A gunshot rang out and Cruz dropped with a soft thump.
The light around Katie dimmed as fear spread across her face. “What—”
Leon squeezed off a few more controlled bursts aiming at chest level wherever he saw lights. Their were grunts and shouts as his men fell. He rushed over to Katie.
“They’re wearing kevlar so we need to move now before they get back up. Do you trust me?”
Leon held out his hand.
Katie bit her lip, staring at it.
“I’m not taking you back to him. I promise.”
“Give me a gun,” Katie said.
“Kid, you don’t need one.”
Hesitating for a second, Katie nodded. “Okay, fine,” she said as he pulled her up.
Leon slung his rifle low and took off into a run.
“What’s the plan?” Katie asked, her breath turning ragged.
“I’ve got the keys to a jeep. We’ll take out the other one before we leave.”
“And then?”
“We’ll figure it out when we get more distance.”
“That’s your plan? That’s a terrible plan. It almost violates the definition of what a plan is!”
Why was it teenage girls were able to talk so much even when they were running for their lives? Leon bit back a curse. The girl had been kidnapped and left in harsh conditions for a day and a half. She was holding up remarkably well, all things considered.
“Katie, there was no plan until I was able to get away from Kessler. As far as he and anyone else in the chain of command sees it, I’ve gone rogue.”
“I’m a criminal?” Katie asked. She was starting to slow down, her legs seizing up.
Gunshots exploded the sand around their feet.
“Talk later, move now!” Leon grabbed her hand, forcing her to keep his pace.
He felt Katie give one last push as the jeeps came into sight. Leon let go of her hand long enough to take out the keys and unlock the driver’s side. She didn’t wait for an order and launched herself inside.
Bullets ricocheted off the armored paneling. Leon jumped inside as pain bit into his leg.
“Grh!” He snarled as he closed the door. He hoped it wasn’t serious. Starting the car they sped off.
“Where are we going?” Katie said. She was doing a good job of not letting her voice tremble.
“To an old friend,” Leon said.
8
Kessler fumed as he stalked down the hall. The neanderthals other men called soldiers were even dumber than he had first believed and the only competent one among them, Stanfield, was a traitor.
There were punishments to give out when this was all over, but first there were phone calls. Kessler grabbed a door handle and touched his thumb to the ID panel. When the light turned green he opened it up.
The room it opened to was plain. There was a chair, a desk with a single red button in the middle, a screen on the wall, and hidden speakers in the paneling. If anyone else had been allowed to access it, they would have been thoroughly unimpressed.
However, the room’s specialness lay in the fact it was an impenetrable fortress. No listening device was able to crack its walls, no bugs were able to transmit inside its borders, no hackers were able to crack the line it gave him access to. And anyone else who tried to access to it would find an explosive surprise before they and the room were wiped off the face of the planet. Because in
this room Kessler was God. In this room Kessler was able to bend the ears of kings and leverage the world.
Pressing the red button, Kessler sat down in his seat. It took ten seconds before the call connected and the picture flicked on. A man wearing silk gray pajamas sat facing him. The man was completely bald with thick gray eyebrows and plenty of wrinkles. His mouth was curved in a small frown, the kind a person got from having too many responsibilities stacked on their shoulders.
Kessler had never found any information on this man who seemed to hold no rank. He was a ghost in the system. And yet any request Kessler made, this man made into reality. Even his name was a mystery.
“Kessler. I want good news.”
“You will have to settle for a mixed bag.”
The man grunted.
“The experiment was a success. It turns out our happy little accident was just that. I sent a team out to retrieve the subject.”
“And?”
“The subject was able to neutralize them.”
The man’s eyebrows went up. “A little girl took out Black Prism?”
“All but one. Stanfield went off the reservation.”
The man let out a string of curses. “This girl is as impressive as you say?”
“Everything I wanted and more.”
The man’s eyes settled in a faraway look for the briefest of seconds before snapping back to Kessler. “What do you need?”
This was the moment he had been waiting for. His mouth was dry from excitement. “I need Wolfsbane.”
The man’s body tensed. “We shelved that part of your research for a reason. Stop chasing redemption, Kessler.”
Taking a breath, Kessler fought the urge to lash out. Right now this small-minded man was the gatekeeper. Politeness was the key needed to gain access. “It’s our only option. We can’t call in too many reinforcements or it might leak out.”
The man’s frown deepened. “Before smart phones I could have exterminated a whole town to keep this quiet.” He sighed. “I’m getting to old for this. Fine, we’ll send Wolfsbane and its handlers to you in twenty-four hundred hours.”
“Understood. One last thing.”
“Yes?”
“The girl’s mother. Should she prove…problematic?”
The man didn’t waste a second. “Dispatch her.”
Kessler smiled as another future complication vanished from his plans.
9
Tonight sucked.
Leon Stanfield—dreamiest guy since the history of ever—had rescued Katie, holding her hand in the process, and driven her all the way through a secluded desert to a rundown RV on edge of Novatropolis.
This was not how it ended in her fantasies.
And calling the RV rundown was charitable. The old Winnebago was rusted, its white paneling having turned yellow with age. The thing came straight out of the eighties and the airbrushed muscle wizard on the side wasn’t helping things. He was shirtless with a white beard and a sword and glowing staff in one hand each. Thankfully there were no half-naked chicks rolling at his feet.
“Seriously?” Katie said, giving Leon an incredulous look.
“I know how it looks. Grady is a bit…out there. But he isn’t going to sell us out.”
Katie nodded. Her whole body felt sluggish. When the adrenaline wore off she had passed out until Leon had nudged her awake. Realizing she had been sawing logs in front of him had been so embarrassing.
Shuffling out of the car she saw Leon wince. He hadn’t even bothered to do more than wrap a little gauze around his leg to stop the bleeding. Stopping for too long was a liability, he had told her.
That scared her even worse. How bad was there situation if Leon was more worried about getting caught than bleeding out.
she stood slightly behind Leon as he wrapped on the door, giving her a hesitant smile right before the door swung open and a double barrel shotgun stuck itself in his face.
“What branch of the government are you, pig?”
“Nice to see you, too, Grady,” Leon said, folding his arms over his chest.
The gun retreated and a short fat man with a tie-dye shirt waddled out. He had on a green bathrobe, sandals and shorts. He had a scruffy beard and coke bottle glasses with eyes that were bugging out behind them. “Leon? What are you doing here?”
“On the run from the government. They decided to turn on me.”
“Told you,” Grady said, giving him a sagely nod. “Come on inside Leon and, uh—”
“Katie.”
“Katie. So is this a ‘I need to lay low’ kind of running or some Robert Ludlum stuff?”
“Ludlum,” Leon said.
“Awesome,” Grady said, pumping his fist. “Come on in and we’ll talk about it,” he said waving them into the RV.
The insides are as beat up as the exterior Katie thought trying not to wrinkle her nose. There were piles of papers and books everywhere, most of them political thrillers and what looked to be government conspiracy papers printed out from online forums. The only thing the mobile home had going for it was there was no pizza boxes or leftover food laying around.
Grady moved over and swept a pile of books onto the floor opening a spot up at the kitchenette table. He motioned for Katie to sit and a minute later handed her a mug.
She sniffed it without trying to seem too judgy.
“Hot chocolate,” Grady said raising a hand. “Scout’s honor.”
Katie took a sip. Rich, creamy chocolate rushed down her throat and it took five more seconds before the mug was empty. “Can I have more, please?”
“Sure. How about a burger to go with it? You must be starving.”
The old hippie waited until Katie had finished her meal before turning to Leon. “So what happened? Short version.”
“Katie has superpowers and we’re being tracked by the scientist who gave them to her.”
There were a bajillion ways Grady could have responded to that. None of them were great. Instead, the man gave the one answer she wasn’t expecting.
“So Kessler pulled it off.”
10
Sometimes adults were able to surprise you. This was definitely one of those times, Katie decided.
Judging from his expression, Leon hadn’t told Grady about Kessler. His mouth was hanging open.
“How did you find out about him?” Leon asked.
Grady took a minute to heat a burger and bun in the microwave before putting it on a plate in front of Katie. Her need for answers took a hike for thirty seconds while she devoured food. The bun was totally soggy, the meat old and chewy and dry and in ten seconds it was gone.
“You’d be surprised how resourceful the internet is,” Grady said leaning against of stack of papers. “Kessler isn’t great about cleaning up his evidence either. Plenty of disappearances and less than legal stuff have been keeping pace with that guy since he came to America.”
“Who are you?” Katie asked.
Grady flashed her a smile and bowed a little. “The head editor for Blacklistliberty.com and head reporter as well. I ran into Leon here while following up a lead on UFOs.”
“You kept chasing me down and following me home,” Leon interjected.
Semantics,” Grady said, waving it away. “But Kessler is bad news. He was involved with a gene enhancer project called Wolfsbane which was the precursor to his work with you.”
Hearing the name of Kessler’s last project sent a chill down Katie’s spine. It was just her imagination. All guys named there stuff after movie monsters and explosions.
“How did you hear about any of this?” Katie asked.
“Same way I became friends with Leon. Persistence and beer.”
Leon grunted in the cutest way possible before crossing his arms and grumbling. Katie filed it away for future teasing.
“Wolfsbane was no joke. I had plenty of leaks because of how miserable Kessler’s associates were. Apparently he was doing Mengele level stuff in there. They even built him a crematorium.”<
br />
Katie’s blood ran cold. She had always thought Kessler was creepy, but she hadn’t believed he was capable of pure evil. “And we’re the criminals.”
Grady nodded. “He was close to being sent to jail when Wolfsbane had a breakthrough. It didn’t work out, but the effort was impressive enough to keep him on the government payroll and out of jail. I tried to dig deeper on what Wolfsbane was about and got a special visit from some men in black suits telling me to drop it.”
“And you did,” Leon said. It wasn’t a question.
“I had other people to think about,” he said, hanging his head. It got awkward until he slapped his palms on the counter. “So you’re a genuine superhero, hunh?”
“No, I’m not,” Katie said even as Miss Mercury flashed through her mind.
“Powers created in a scientific experiment, possibly by accident, and a government funded one at that. Sounds like an origin story to me.”
“I’m not one of those spandex wearing weirdos,” Katie said. “I’m like, fifteen.”
“Best part about being the first real live superhero is you don’t have to conform to the imagination. You get to redefine it,” Grady said winking at her. “Now we better get this show on the road. I bet that jeep has a GPS in it and we need to make tracks as fast as possible. Besides, we need to get to Novatropolis and talk to Lee. If anyone will be able to figure out what’s happened to you—other than Kessler—Lee will. Meantime you and Leon can focus on cleaning up that leg of his.”
Waving them off, Grady hustled to the front of the RV and into the driver’s seat.
He may have been wearing tie-dye and sandals, but he had just decided to risk his life for hers. If that didn’t qualify him to be cool, the word had no meaning.
11
Mary put down her glass of Macallan Rare Cask and stoppered the bottle. It wasn’t getting her to sleep or getting her drunk and the whiskey was to smooth and expensive to waste.
