Storm Girl

by Ben Mason

  “I’m not going back with you,” she said.

  “Your mother is going to suffer setbacks if you don’t, professional and otherwise.”

  “Screw her job, and screw you, too. I’m not going back and I’m not going to let you hurt her.”

  Kessler sighed, giving a glance towards Leon. “You see what I have to work with. And you destroyed my other sample. I guess,” he said as he dug around in his lab coat, bringing out a silver canister, “I’ll just have to create another.”

  26

  Everything happens for a reason.

  If there was a more insipid line in the glut of human vapidity, Kessler wasn’t aware of its existence.

  Wolfsbane had been terminated, the girl was intractable, and the dead police were going to create so much paperwork he was starting to get a headache.

  The one silver lining was that the girl had been tested and he had been there to witness it. Inevitably, more human trials were going to be green lit. And since the process had started as a happy accident there was no need to break the trend.

  Kessler locked eyes with the girl as he fitted the plastic mask to his face and sprayed.

  The mists burned going down and pushing him to the point of lacking out. He thought of Emil, forcing himself to stay up. Emil, his brother who had endured far worse for days. There had been no dead policemen for him, no driving search for justice when his body had been recovered. What made this girl so special?

  As the worst of the pain passed his thoughts shifted to his growth. He hoped for the physical changes to be minimal. Scientific accolades tended not to be given to those who were less than photogenic.

  Or, if his powers were potent enough, he imagined stars on his shoulders, even an oval office if he chose it. No more small men telling him how to limit the implementation of his ideas or curb his talents. He was finally going to have power to change the world into what it needed to be.

  He thought about Emil one more time as the changes started and found he could not remember his brother’s face.

  27

  Mom wasn’t around so Katie swore as loudly as she could. It wasn’t how Miss Mercury solved problems. It wasn’t how adult solved problems either, but it didn’t stop them from doing it on a regular basis.

  And yet those same adults told Katie she shouldn’t swear. Well, they weren’t facing creepy kidnapper scientists who were changing into even creepier monsters.

  Katie tried to look tough. She was worn out from pumping that last charge into Wolfsbane. She felt like two double AA batteries trying to power a casino sign.

  Before her, Kessler started to shift. His stomach and chest started narrowing and growing longer, his fingers and arms stretching and thinning. There were gross pops and cracks as the bones shifted, snapped, and reformed.

  Total ick.

  His skin becoming pale to the point of being translucent and his veins turned black as sludge started to pump through them. His fingers darkened into a silver tone, sharpening into claws a foot long each and every single hair on his face fell out. Only his eyes stayed the same, cold and gray like a robot. When he caught her staring, he gave her a smile, his mouth filled to the brim with needle teeth.

  Make that infinity ick.

  Katie curled her fists using the pain to push for one last charge. She was about to strike when Kessler disappeared. His shadow fell on top of her and she pivoted to see him picking up and tossing Wolfsbane like the he was a bundle of sticks.

  “Interesting,” Kessler said. Or tried to. His voice sounded like a bunch of metal shrapnel trying to explode out of an industrial dryer. “A shame about my physical appearance, but the benefits are undeniable, wouldn’t you say?” He asked, inclining his head toward Katie.

  Her fist landed in his face as she blasted him point blank. His skin absorbed the energy and he even seemed to grow little thicker, the muscles tightening.

  “Thank you for the meal,” he chimed.

  Katie stumbled backwards, her legs trembling. She was running on fumes and unlike Wolfsbane, Kessler didn’t have any obvious weak points.

  “Time to go home. We’ve got some tests to run, child,” Kessler said.

  “No.”

  “Come with me or I kill Stanfield and your other friends.”

  He held out a claw, trying to look friendly. The whole razor-sharp instrument of death was killing the vibe.

  Katie struggled to try and think of something. She didn’t have any good options. In the distance she heard cars. They must have been diverted onto a detour by the police.

  He doesn’t care about Leon, mom, or anybody else. He’s just saying those things because he knows it will make me go with him. But what if it didn’t?

  Katie took one step forward and ducked around Kessler. He reached for her and she brushed against his claw, slicing her forearm.

  “Ghh!”

  Kessler recoiled and she took off, tiny sparks of purple popping from her all but ruined boots. She tore off and saw the dark shape of speed barriers which had been deployed against traffic while the police were moving in. She leapt them, landing on the hood of a large Ford F-150 heading toward Novatropolis. A burly man with a few days worth of stubble and a stained cap glared at her.

  “What you doing up there? Get off!” He yelled swerving his car left and right as Katie fought to stay on. She had to get to the city. If she did there was no way Kessler was going to be able to confront her. And he wasn’t going to kill Leon or mom because they would both be out of the way.

  She started to relax (as much as you can while on the roof of a speeding car) when she heard the driver swear and accelerate.

  Looking up, Katie saw Kessler running after them, smashing cars off the road with a swipe of his hands. Each stride of his legs carried him a few car lengths closer. Taking one last leap he landed on the car beside Katie’s, a large SUV.

  “An admirable effort child. Now come with me,” he said, sweeping his arm out. The claws shredded the truck door to ribbons leaving the driver gaping. Gunshots went off as the hood of the SUV was punctured. The rounds bounced off of Kessler without even rippling his skin.

  “We need better gun laws,” Kessler said, laughing, or trying to.

  The city was approaching fast. Cars struggled to pull off of the road as they got closer to the city. The truck driver swore as he honked his horn and cowered in his seat.

  Kessler’s eyes turned to the glowing lights and a smell crept out along his face. “You think I’m afraid of witnesses now? I’ve grown beyond such petty concerns. If you won’t save the ones you love, maybe you’ll try and save those you don’t.”

  Jumping off the SUV, Kessler slammed into the vehicles like a pinball, leaving a barren road in his wake and twisted metal coffins on the sides of the road.

  Katie’s heart sank as the last of her strength drained out of her. She wasn’t sure if Kessler was able to kill twelve million plus people.

  But he was going to try.

  28

  The truck slowed to a stop letting Katie slid off the hood onto the ground, the last of the strength drained from her body.

  How many people was Kessler going to kill before she got to the city? Thousands? Millions?

  And he had the military on his side along with the rest of the government. They weren’t going to put power like that in jail.

  “He’s going to Novatropolis.”

  The truck driver had stumbled out of the car and closer to Katie, his eyes fixed on the skyline. “Is he going to do more of this?” He asked, pointing at the wrecked cars, “When he gets there?”

  Katie nodded her head.

  “You were able to jump on my car while I was going eighty. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

  She shrugged. She saw where this was going and tried to shut her ears off.

  “Please, miss, I’m sorry about trying to throw you off of my car. I’ve got a girlfriend and a kid—he’s three and his name is Jeff. I was coming back home.”

 
“I fought one monster today,” Katie said, quietly. “I don’t have the strength to fight another.”

  “Is there anybody else?”

  Katie stiffened at those words. Dad used to say them. Once she had been out with a drive with him when they had seen a turtle crawling across the road. She had put her head down, trying to block it out because sooner or later mister turtle was going to get turned into turtle soup after they left. Not dad. He had pulled over and grabbed the little guy (avoiding the snapping jaws) and placed it on the side of the road.

  “He could have bitten you,” she had said. “Why?”

  Her father looked over and stared at her with so much love it had scared her. “Is there anybody else?”

  There hadn’t been. They were the only ones on the road.

  And there she was, alone on the road again.

  “It’s not fair, dad,” she whispered to herself. Her whole body hurt and she wasn’t sure she could stand back up let alone fight.

  But there was no one else.

  Maybe that was how Miss Mercury felt, too, sometimes. It helped Katie to think so.

  “Is your truck still working?” Katie said struggling for a second before standing back up.

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “I’ll need a ride.”

  “Not on the hood this time,” the man said, breaking into a smile. A little hope had returned to his eyes.

  “I’m not going to lie. We might die.”

  The man tried to shrug it off, swallowing the lump in his throat. “Just as well. If my girl saw what happened to the truck, she’d kill me.”

  Katie felt a smile tugging at her mouth and that gave her hope. “Okay. Let’s go.”

  29

  It took Leon a thousand years to get up. Or three minutes if his internal clock was right. When he finally made it he started to list to the right before Lee caught him, his full weight collapsing on her.

  “Not very macho right now, am I?”

  “Oh please,” she said, rolling her eyes. “What kind of girls are you used to?”

  “Not you,” Leon said, admiring the young scientist. She had no military training and she had run into battle fearlessly and, more importantly, with a plan.

  She was a keeper.

  “I don’t suppose I can get a sympathy date out of this?” He asked, giving her his trademark grin.

  “Only if you take me on a real one after.”

  “Ouch. Okay, I yield, I yield.”

  Staring at the carnage, thoughts of Katie swept through Leon’s mind. He had been trying to block them out. As much as he wanted to run after her and help he was a soldier and in his professional assessment, right now a liability. The best way to help her was to stay out of the way.

  “She’ll be fine,” Lee said, giving his arm a squeeze. “She’s got my tech with her. Unless you think Kessler’s smarter than me.

  “Not even a contest. You run circles around him.”

  She was about to reply when three black sedans pulled up toward the house.

  “Trouble?” Lee asked.

  He nodded as the door swung open. Men in black suits, all of them scanning the perimeter in the way only elite soldiers did, swarmed out, four from each car. A man stood in the center of them. He was older with a curve in his shoulders. A large vein stood out on his wrinkled, shaved head and his eyes were tight with controlled anger.

  The older man moved faster than Leon had predicted and within a few strides the man’s face was hovering inches from his own.

  “I should have you executed where you stand, framed for the murder of these fine men and women in uniform, and branded a sexual predator as the cherry on top. I should execute anyone who helped you as well.”

  Leon tensed for a second as did the guards surrounding the older man. He waved them all off. “However, Doctor Gelhart here understands Kessler’s formula far better than anyone else from what little we’ve seen, and with our lead scientist an out of control monster, we’ll need a replacement. If she agrees to join us this can all be buried and forgotten about.” The man held out his hand and waited.

  “I was part of Black Prism,” Leon said, slowly measuring his words. “You were our handler I’m guessing.”

  “Young man, your handler is so far beneath me he gets me coffee in the morning. But yes, I ordered the use of your team in missions I found necessary.”

  “So you ordered the missions where we were sent to eliminate witnesses,” Leon said, his jaw clenched.

  “Of all people, a commercial killer who, might I add, was well compensated for those missions, is going to lecture me on what is right? Witnesses talk and soon we have the Eternal Empire of True Korea, or the Pirate Collective of Madagascar churning out their own superhuman monsters. Men like you and I are the only reason Americans are able to drink a beer, or watch TV in their homes with their flimsy locks, or sleep with a girl they like and then relax in bed afterwards. We are the reason they can even have a shred of peace. You used to understand the need for necessary evil. Without our strength standing in the way, how does all of this,” he gestured waving towards Lee’s mansion, “stay around.”

  Leon thought about it. The rage that had been bubbling inside of him had simmered a little. It was true. Leon had believed in force and necessary casualties. The way the world worked was ugly, but the only way.

  He thought about Katie taking down that monster and dragging Kessler away from them. She was a young girl and who knew what the years were going to bring. She could get stronger, smarter, and with Leon’s help, sharper. A real superhero.

  Leon smiled as he stared into the man’s eyes. “I found a better one.”

  The man sighed. “Kill them.”

  “Wait. I’ll go,” Lee said.

  The man nodded and his guards surrounded them, pulling her to the last car, she was halfway in when she mumbled something to one of the suits and he nodded. She ran out and, wrapping her arms around Leon, gave him a passionate kiss.

  He held her tight in his arms. They were going to break her and she didn’t even know it. She was going to—

  A large explosion ripped her car to pieces and slammed the middle car into the first one, leaving them all scrapped and fuming. The guards were knocked out as was the man who lead them.

  Too bad they weren’t inside, Leon thought. Life seemed to give the worst of it’s subjects the most luck.

  Breaking off the kiss, Lee winked at him. “I may have had one more explosive,” she said. “Now let’s go grab my dad and back up our girl.”

  Leon felt a tug in his chest as Lee shuffled them closer to Grady who had started moving. He decided to roll with it. After all, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world, to find out you were in love.

  30

  Finding Kessler was easy. All they had to do was follow the bodies.

  Katie’s stomach dropped as they rolled into downtown. There were dozens of them. Young mothers with their children, friends and workers starting the day. A few people coming back from late nights. Each one of them was her fault. The weight threatened to crush her.

  Bryan, the truck driver, started to shake, his hands vibrating against the steering wheel.

  “You don’t have to come with me,” Katie said.

  Bryan’s eyes widened. He looked shocked.

  Katie was too. Inside she was a wreck and she wasn’t sure about limping into battle alone. But the evidence was all around him. If Bryan went with her he was dead meat.

  Staring forward, face pale, he shook his head. “No way. You may be some hotshot superhero, or alien, or cyborg, or whatever, but you’re also a kid. I can’t let a kid face off against that thing alone.”

  “What happens if your son grows up without a dad?” It was a cheap shot, but Katie didn’t want the loss of some other child’s father on her conscious.

  “He’ll grow up being told his dad did what was right.”

  “Fine,” Katie said, her voice choking with emotion.

  Ahead of them was a mound of
bodies. Sitting on top of them, perched like some monster out of a fairy tale illustration, was Kessler. He didn’t make a move, his eyes following the truck as it drew closer.

  When it stopped Katie took a deep breath and opened the car door.

  Time’s up.

  Kessler stood up and started leisurely walking his way down, kicking limbs out of his way as he went. “You know child, it could have been more. It could have been hundreds, even thousands. I stopped for your sake, so as not to break you. Fight me and, after I’ve restrained you, I’ll continue starting with him,” he said pointing at Bryan, “and moving on to your mother and your precious friends. Unless you think you are stronger than me. Are you, child?”

  Katie looked around. There were cars thrown into buildings. Kessler didn’t even look like he was breathing hard.

  “I’m not,” she said, her voice struggling not to quiver.

  Kessler smiled.

  She swallowed her fear and started over again. “I’m not a child.”

  The smile vanished from Kessler’s face. “Oh. And what are you?”

  “I’m Storm Girl, and I’m going to take you out.”

  Kessler sighed and slowly started to make his way toward her. “It didn’t have to be this way.” Raising his hand for a backswing, he froze as Katie dove in, wrapping her arms around him.

  “What—”

  A few sparks crackled and went out.

  “Nice try, child.”

  She hated that word. Gritting her teeth, Katie tried reaching out for more power. As she did, glass from the street lights went out as one by one their power poured into Katie, coursing through her and Kessler. She felt the creep stiffen and shudder as he fought to break free. She kept going until her arms lost strength and she staggered back.

  Kessler twitched once, twice, and then slumped forward his shoulders hunched inward.

  They straightened a second later.

  “Interesting results. We’ll talk about them back at the lab. For now, I have a promise to keep,” he said, striding past Katie, towards Bryan.