Nova Academy: A Superhero & Supervillain Novel

by Scott Olen Reid

  Chapter 62

  I walk into the barracks and instantly see a couple hundred pairs of eyes staring back at me. No one speaks. All of them have a smock cover on their heads. Looking to Dreamweaver I say, “I’ll send Anvil and Hit Point to help you. It’s time to un-hijack these kids’ minds.”

  Dreamweaver is checking them over visually, but can’t read any of their minds right now with their hats still on, “They seem to be cooperative. Let’s get them on the busses and I’ll start on them there. I want to get out of here.”

  Dreamweaver's warning we need to get out of here is not lost on me. “You're right. I’ll send Anvil and Hit Point to help load.”

  I go outside to send them in and see Granite, still with concern on his face. He’s looking at the ground where the hole used to be. It is now a pile of loose dirt that I can see trembling from the human earthquake that is happening below. When I stop next to Granite, I can feel the ground trembling as the Class 5 is digging his way out.

  “He going to get out?” I ask Granite.

  “Not as long as I’m here, he won’t. But, eventually, yes. He’s hollowed out a space down there and is digging his way out. I have to keep shifting the earth to keep him down there.” Granite never takes his eyes off the ground, sometimes frowning in concentration.

  “That guy’s scary,” I say.

  “No crap.” He gets a big grin on his face as the stress of the long fight with one of the strongest men on earth begins to fade.

  Turning, I tell Anvil and Hit Point, “Can you go help Dreamweaver get the kids loaded onto the busses. I want to be out of here as soon as they’re loaded.”

  They both give me a nod and start heading into the barracks, so I turn and start checking all the villains to make sure they stay out of the game. A couple are still conscious and looking at me and the two who were hit by the glass and door frame shrapnel have reduced their screaming to whimpers.

  Everything seems to be under control for the moment. There is one more building on the property that looks like it might be the factory for whatever the kids were making. Going in, I find a full production line for the neural neutralizers, along with two other production lines for devices I have no idea what they do. Continuing through the facility, I find a storage area with boxes of the devices. After breaking the lock to the storage room, I pull a large canvas bag out of my belt I brought just for this purpose and help myself to as many “samples” of the devices as I can stuff in the bag. I also break into the manager’s office and rifle through the files and find supplier information and shipping manifests. The devices are all going to a location in Maryland, by D.C. We’re going to have to convince someone of what is going on. Along with the papers I rip out the hard drives of a half dozen computers in the lab and move out. I get a smile as I wonder what the new devices will do that disappears when I think of Sparks.

  It takes twenty minutes to get all the kids loaded onto two of the two busses. None of the kids knows what is going on and we are fortunate they silently go along in the direction we point them. We start pulling off all their caps until Dreamweaver stops us. She tells us their minds are broadcasting incoherent confusion and visceral fear, and it will overwhelm her if we pull all of the caps at one time.

  Granite is still standing where he was and has not moved the entire time as he monitors the Class 5 who is still trying to dig his way out. I can feel the vibrations of the earth beneath my feet, as they have grown in intensity. I leave him to be the last to get on the bus and he tells me we likely have about ten minutes before the Class 5 will be able to dig his way out.

  It isn’t until Anvil asks me about what to do with Sparks that I remember Granite and she were an item. He doesn’t know yet. Damn. Damn. Damn. It will just have to wait a few minutes longer.

  I go behind the building and get Sparks’ body and place her in the back of one of the busses through the emergency exit. She's wrapped in blankets taken from the barracks. I don't know how I'm going to tell her parents, or even if I will be able to go see them without exposing my identity. They have to be told. The thought of it drags me down even more than the thought of having to tell Granite.

  Once everyone is loaded up I head over to Granite. He is still watching the ground and I can feel the tremors of the Class 5 trying to dig his way out. “How’s he doing?” I ask him.

  “The guy is a tough son of a bitch. He hasn’t slowed down,” Granite replies. He then looks around and then at me, “Where’s Sparks?” He has been paying attention to what is going on more than I realized.

  I can hear the concern in his voice and it almost chokes me up, “I’m sorry, Granite,” I tell him, without looking at him, “She didn’t make it.”

  The muscles in Granite’s jaw clench and I can hear his teeth grinding. The ground we are standing on begins to pack down by at least a couple feet. It concerns me for about a millisecond that the Class 5 may not make it out of that hole, until I decide I don’t care if he does or not.

  “How?” He asks, through his clenched teeth; tears are welling up in his eyes.

  “She was shot in the chest before they knew they had been spotted,” I tell him, relaying what Carly told me.

  Granite just nods his head and looks down. The ground stops compressing and I can once again feel the Class 5 trying to dig his way out.

  We’re out of time and need to get out of here, so I put my armored arm around Granite and lead him over to the busses. Once he is loaded the busses start to pull out of the compound.

  I stay behind and watch them leave, then take a quick look around and see three more vehicles on the side of one of the buildings, not far away. It won’t do to give them a way of pursuing us, so on the way out I flip over two SUVs and a sedan and take my war hammer to the transmission of each of them before heading back into the woods.

  Chapter 63

  While running back to our vehicle through the woods, I start thinking about Sparks. She was very good with her powers and I am more than a little shocked she is dead. I had expected her to dominate at range and no one would get close to her, but that was stupid of me to believe. All it took was a baseline with an assault rifle to take her out. It shouldn’t have happened. I shouldn’t have allowed it to happen. Supers you see on TV, real supers in the news, not the television show kind, rarely wear armor. I always thought it was stupid not to take every protection you can, but I guess they see it differently. Sparks wasn't wearing any protection. Where she was shot would have been right into the breast plate of a bullet proof vest. Although, I don't know that it would have stopped an assault rifle round.

  I am second guessing my decisions and blame myself for her death for the entire run back to the van. It is not until I am back in the van and bouncing my way down the rut filled dirt road back to the main road that I think about how Dreamweaver must be feeling. She must be blaming herself, I know she is. In her eyes, she is just as much a part of leading this mission as I am, and Sparks was in her squad. She’s going to put a lot of guilt on herself that one of our people, one of her people, was killed and she didn’t stop it. I can’t be doing this right now, I think to myself, there is nothing I can do about anything right now and I need to stay focused.

  Going as fast as I can on the dirt road without running the van off the road, I make the drive back to the main road with the headlights off to keep from attracting attention. Not that anyone is out here. Using my low light vision in the HUD in my helmet, I can see clearly the road and forest around me. It’s pretty tight in the driver’s seat with armor on, but doable with the seat all the way back. The van is huge and a top of the line touring vehicle and I had this exact case in mind when I rented it.

  When I get to the main road, I take the turn towards the truck stop we are going to meet up at that’s about a hundred miles north of here. I knew when I laid out our routes I would be separated from the team and the kids during this part of the mission and playing catch up. There was no way around it unless I abandon the van. This is the m
ost dangerous part of the mission as far as I’m concerned, and I would not have tried it if we had not wiped out the opposition at the compound.

  Feeling even greater need to catch up to the others, I push the throttle all the way down until the needle is pushing over a 100 mph. Driving at normal speeds I would be a good twenty minutes behind the busses, but going a hundred miles per hour, it’s more like twelve minutes. I catch up to them six minutes later. Sooner than I anticipated.

  My HUD shows me large vehicles ahead. They must be my busses on the side of the road nearly a mile ahead. One of them is on its side, and there is a third vehicle pulled off the road a little further ahead that is perpendicular to the road, blocking it. There are a number of people — supers, they have to be, moving around, but I can’t see what they’re doing other than they’re doing it fast.

  I can see there are a handful of warm bodies lying on the ground as well. Damn. Damn. Damn.

  The headlights on the van are still off and I barrel down the road until I’m about an eighth of a mile away before I stomp on the brakes. When the van gets to twenty miles per hour I jamb down the emergency break and throw it into park; jumping out of the van as I crank the wheel over and throw open the door. Sprinting over to join the fight, I ready my war hammer and shield and activate my repeller field.

  Opening up a communications channel, all I get is Carly’s heavy breathing. “I’m here,” I tell her.

  I bring up the monitoring system for Carly’s suit and I can see in my HUD she has her fighting sticks activated. And, her neural neutralizer built in her repeller field is activated. Now that concerns me. The only reason she would activate the neural neutralizer is if she was in a telepathic battle, and losing. Which doesn’t seem right because she’s engaged in close combat right now, and I’m not sure if she can do both at the same time or not.

  Wait, wait, wait. That’s exactly when she would be in close combat. When she can’t use her telepathic or telekinetic powers. Who is she fighting?

  She had to have activated her neural neutralizer to stop an overpowering telepathic attack on herself. Ah, damn.

  I finally quit using my obviously slow to catch on mind and start using my eyes. Carly’s holding her own just up ahead. And, I can see she’s overmatched and completely defensive. The other guy is faster than her and is blocking the powered attacks of her fighting sticks with his forearms while snapping punches back at her. Her reach is the only thing keeping it even. My HUD shows me her repeller field and sticks are fully powered. The power flow is fluctuating between eighty and ninety-five percent. Normal parameters for a fight with her strength. If she were stronger, she would be able to transfer more power from the repeller field into her hits. I have the same problem. The harder you can hit, the more power is transferred from the field into your hit.

  The guy does not look armored in any way, so he’s definitely a tough bastard and I now know who my first target is going to be.

  Dreamweaver has her neural neutralizer activated, so I activate mine as well. I have no intention of leaving myself open to someone strong enough to make her activate hers. Taking a last look around, I see Granite has a barrier put up between the bus and a couple other supers and seems to be keeping his head down behind one of the barriers while spikes of stone randomly shove up through the earth in front of the barriers to keep them back. He can keep. Anvil is in a full double embrace with another super, and neither one looks to be getting crushed by the other — telling me they are on a par in strength. They’ve gone beast mode and are having a contest of strength, loser gets mushed in the arms of the winner. There’s not a lot I can do except bust them apart, but since Anvil does not look like he’s lost the contest just yet, I choose to let them go at it. For now. Hit Point is on top of the roof of one of the busses and is backing up Granite by throwing anything, and everything, at the supers they’re dealing with.

  My team is all accounted for, and I am wondering who the people are lying on the ground. I’m afraid they are students.

  I finish my scan of the battle just in time as I reach Dreamweaver and her protagonist. I’ve already equipped my shield and war hammer and my first thought is to hit this guy with my war hammer, then I think about all the momentum I’ve built up and need to shed, so instead I go in shield first like you would busting through a wall, only I’m busting through Dreamweaver’s opponent. I have to give the guy credit. He does not even try to get out of the way. He just drops his shoulder and takes the hit from me.

  I’m close to full speed when I pile into the guy shield first and I dip at the last moment so I can rise up and thrust out with my shield to counter his set to absorb my impact. It’s the same thing defensive linemen do to take the leverage advantage away from offensive linemen when they come off the ball. The lower center of gravity that can come at an up angle doesn’t allow the other guy the ability to direct the force coming at them downward into their legs. It saves me a world of hurt.

  When I impact the guy, I know I'm dealing with a Class 4 strongman, which is impressive as hell that Carly was able to go toe-to-toe with him at all. It's like hitting a truck. What evens up the exchange are my armor and shield, and especially my repeller field. Dreamweaver’s opponent, now also my opponent, goes flying through the air a good sixty feet before landing in a pile and tumbling through the tall grass, head over heels, between the road and the woods. I'm feeling the impact through my suit. It rattles me, but the suit does its job and I don't take any real damage.

  “He’s the one!” Shouts Dreamweaver, “That’s the telepath we fought in the warehouse!” She is pointing at him with one of her fighting sticks and I can see the blue glow coming off it as it dissipates heat from continuous use. I’ll have to look into that when we get home. Heat buildup could be a problem. Wait. What did she say?

  Chapter 64

  Oh crap. No wonder she had her neural neutralizer active. “You okay?” I ask her through our comm system.

  “Yeah,” she responds. I can hear her breathing hard.

  “What about the others?”

  We both look over to their fights and it’s still a standoff. “I think they’re still in it. I was on the bus that flipped. The kids got banged up a lot, but I didn’t see any serious injuries before the fight started.” Her hands are on her hips and she’s bowed over.

  I don’t ask about the people lying on the ground. They’ll keep. They have to. “Good. You mind if I dance with this guy for a bit?”

  Dreamweaver lets out a sharp laugh, “Hah! He’s all yours, baby!” She starts to give me a kiss and we bang heads through our helmets. She lets out a guffaw, and bends over with her hands on her hips again; she’s still breathing heavy as she turns and starts walking bent over, then straightens up and starts running over to help Granite and Hit Point.

  She’s tough as nails, I think to myself. Yeah, that’s my girlfriend.

  I look over to where the guy who is responsible for all of this is picking himself up out of the grass where I knocked him. I knew he wouldn't be out of it. He’s standing there and looking at me, which I’m taking as, he’s trying to use his telepathy, or telekinetics on me and not getting anywhere. So, instead of waiting for him to figure it out, and start heading over to me, I go ahead and start heading over him.

  “You know, I still don’t know your name.” I say to him, amplifying my voice through my helmet speaker.

  He takes a deep breath and shakes his head, then starts his own walk over to me. We’re both taking our time for the moment, sizing each other up. “Ah, from the warehouse,” he says, wagging his finger at me, “I thought I recognized the suit of armor your friend is wearing. She did not have the ability to block her mind last time, however. Nor did you. The neutralizer is a fantastic invention, but I had not thought to incorporate it into a field to defend against telekinetic powers. Ingenious. Is that your doing?” He pauses for a second before answering my question, “I did not give it. My name. Tell you what, you tell me your name, and I will tell you m
ine.”

  “That’s fair. My name’s 'Thor.' My teammate over there, whom you’ve already met, is 'CinderKilla.' ” Hah! I'm not giving this guy any name that could lead back to me. Screw that. CinderKilla is a cool name, too. I hope Carly likes it.

  “Not very original names, but thank you,” he replies, then waving toward the others, he continues, “She has some talent. As, it seems, do you.”

  Jerk. Not very original my ass, “Appreciate it. You’re not a pushover, either. Class 4 strength and toughness. Class 4 telepathy? Is that right? I’d guess Class 3 telekinetics?” I don’t mention his speed, maybe he’ll think he can surprise me with it and do something stupid. Which could be hard for him to do, since he's nigh on invulnerable. What a freak of nature!

  We’re about sixty feet apart and start to circle. I go to my right, away from the other battles that are going on, so as to not put a potential threat behind me. I know it gives him an avenue to attack my friends, but I think I have his attention enough he won’t go that route. If he does go for them, though, I will have to put one of my steel bearings into the back of his head.

  “You are very observant. Reasonably fast. The armor is superior, if not underpowered. Excepting the shielding, of course. The combo of armor, hammer, and shield serve to make up for your inadequacies. Did you make them yourself?”

  “No. They were a gift from Cyrella.”

  “Pity. I could use someone with some real technological talents,” he replies, before realizing who I was speaking of, “Ah, Cyrella, yes. I read those comics as a child as well. So, a middle aged super who has found a way to extend his career. It will be a shame to see it end for you this way. Yes?”

  This asshole is smart. Not smart enough, though, as he is drawing the wrong conclusions.