Becoming Super

by Plowden, Richard A.

  BECOMING SUPER

  By: Richard A. Plowden

  Chapter 1

  Being the best wasn’t easy for most people. But for Taia Morris, it came just as naturally as breathing. She was confident. She was smart. She was tough. And in a fight, one on one, she knew with all her heart that there was no human on Earth that could take her. After all, in her 16 years no one had. And she had been in a lot of fights.

  But for the love of God, she could not figure out why the hell she had decided to go on this mission.

  Her father, General Tony Morris, had told her not to. He had said that it was too dangerous and that no soldiers were allowed to go. So Taia was now regretting why she had agreed to go on this mission considering she wasn’t even a soldier yet. She was only a cadet!

  But that’s what Lieutenant General James Connor did. He constantly undermined the General because he felt that he was the best to lead the Resistance. He felt that he was best fit to fight against the Supe Regime.

  So Connor had manipulated 14 of the best cadets that the Academy had to offer into going through the barren desert of the Wasteland against the General’s knowledge and orders, to destroy a Regime weapons processing plant.

  Taia was now realizing that she had been played. Connor knew that she hated Supes with all her heart. He had played her into disobeying the General’s orders and going on this mission. And now she was going to die.

  Taia didn’t feel like her usually confident self. She was nervous, her palms were sweating as she rode in the truck with her fellow cadets. She had seen the destruction and carnage that a Supe could cause firsthand. She might be able to take on any human one on one. But against a Supe, she was going to get slaughtered.

  Looking at the faces of her fellow cadets, she realized they had no idea what they were in for. They had never seen a Supe in action like she had. Her firsthand experience in the ways of Supes is why she trained so hard at the academy in the first place. Taia’s father told her that she was the best cadet that the Academy had ever seen. He said that if she kept training she would be fit to lead the Resistance in its 200 year long war against the Regime since the Outbreak. The Regime was the country made up of people who had been turned into super powered freaks of nature 200 years ago by the Outbreak virus. These Supes looked at humans as nothing more than scum.

  “Alright there, Morris?”

  Taia looked across the truck into the eyes of the young man sitting across from her: Jake Pitts.

  Pitts was tall and muscular, a hulking figure. He had sandy blond hair and dark brown eyes. He looked like the guy who in all the old Pre-Outbreak movies was the jock in the high school. And he seemed to relish in this fact.

  He was one of the many bullies at the Academy. But in such a place it was only natural to have those who tried to establish themselves as the big fish. That’s why even though Pitts was in her year at the Academy, she never usually let his bullying antics get to her on a verbal level. And he wouldn’t dare take it to a physical level. Not with Taia.

  “Daddy’s little girl isn’t afraid is she?” Pitts sneered, wearing a confident smirk. “Scared daddy’s going to be mad for breaking the rules?”

  “Shut up Pitts,” Taia snarled.

  This infuriated Taia. Because for what was rare in her life, she was scared. But not because of breaking the rules. They weren’t ready for this mission. They were only cadets and Supes were….well, Supes. And the only person that might have a chance of surviving this was the driver of the truck; the man who should be scared of breaking the rules; the only actual soldier here; Staff Sergeant Alan Davenport.

  Davenport was a man in his late 30s, but in the physical peak of his life. He was a soldier for the Resistance who had dedicated his life to fighting against the Regime. His family had been fighting Supes since they started appearing and taking over the world two centuries ago. But a Supe had also killed Davenport’s wife and children. His pain and outrage turned him into a dangerous soldier for the Resistance, a ruthless man, willing to follow any order to fight against the Regime. Even if the order came from the wrong person of authority like James Connor.

  Davenport would not be able to return to Sector 6, Taia’s faction of the Resistance; one of its 9 sectors. One of the rules of Sector 6 was to never leave. If the Regime caught you, it would be too much of a liability for the safety of the sector. So the punishment was that you would be exiled. This is why Connor sent cadets. General Morris would never exile children into the Wasteland to fend for themselves against the Regime. But Davenport didn’t care about returning to base.

  He was a bit unhinged. A phenomenal soldier, all he cared about was the opportunity to kill Supes. And now he had his chance.

  As the truck came to a stop, Taia’s heart almost jumped into her throat. After 3 hours of riding, there were only two reasons they’d be stopping, either a Regime patrol had come through or they were at their destination. Taia looked toward the back of the truck at its doors. They were opened revealing the face of the only other person on this mission who had seem Supes kill firsthand.

  Staff Sergeant Davenport, usually a quiet and reserved man, looked hungry and had a sadistic smile on his face. The only man who was a true soldier looked almost demented at the prospect of going against a Supe and killing it. This is why Connor had chosen Davenport to lead this mission. Davenport didn’t care about coming back to base. He didn’t care if he got kicked out and left to fend for himself against the Regime. Connor also knew that he would never betray the humans. Davenport hated Supes and all he wanted to do was kill some for what they had done to his life. For what they had done to his family.

  Taia felt a sudden wave of sadness come over her as she realized that there were countless soldiers at base for Connor to extort like this. And an even more crushing wave came over her as she realized that she was one of those individuals. That’s how Connor had manipulated her; he had convinced her to come here against her better judgement.

  She knew she shouldn’t go against her father; that her father was right, that they probably didn’t stand a chance against these Supes, but as Taia thought about her conversation with Connor to come here she realized he had played on her emotions. He played on her thirst for revenge against Supes.

  Taia stifled back a sob as she realized she might never see her father again and her last act was one of disobedience against him. She never cried, but she knew she was walking into her death. Taia was not ready for this, she knew it. And as she looked around at her the eager faces of her fellow cadets, she realized that she was the only one who knew this.

  Staff Sergeant Davenport grabbed an AR87 energy rifle from the back of the truck.

  “Ready?” Davenport asked, wearing a maniac smile. Nearly all of the cadets responded “Yes sir” simultaneously, all but Taia.

  “Let’s move.”

  Chapter 2

  Taia felt a rifle shoved into her hand. Her world was spinning. She looked towards the large 4 story building that she was sure she and her team were headed into. They were a considerable distance away from it as they stood outside of the truck. Taia assumed that Davenport stopped this far from the plant so that they wouldn’t be in sight of the Supes, but she could still see the building.

  Taia looked around at where they all were. They were in the middle of the Wasteland. 2 Centuries ago when the war between humans and Supes broke out, humans launched nuclear weapons all over the country hoping to kill the Supes, leaving the majority of the land a burned and inhabitable sweltering desert known as the Wasteland. The plan didn’t work and ended up only weakening humans. No one in the Regime lived in the Wasteland, it was impossible. The Regime had isolated cities that its citizens inhabited.

  Taia looked at Davenport as he unload
ed more energy rifles from the truck one by one and gave them to everyone without a gun in hand, talking as he did so. He, along with everyone else, was wearing the beige and white camo Sector 6 combat uniform.

  But Taia could not hear him. She was not listening. She felt an unnerving pressure in her ears. She had to say something.

  “I really don’t think that we should go in.”

  Everyone looked at her in surprise. It was clear that she had interrupted Davenport.

  A roaring laugh broke the silence. Everyone looked at Pitts as he spoke.

  “I was only kidding when I said you were scared Morris. Geez, you’re a wuss. Even for a girl.”

  “Yea, no beauty and no brains,” another one of the male cadets said.

  A few of the other guys chuckled. It was so bizarre to Taia that they were fighting a war against an entirely different species and gender inequality still existed. But she also thought that she at least had some beauty. Sure, nothing special but she looked alright. Her skin was tanned from her days of training in the sun and her long, brunette hair was currently in a ponytail for the mission. But her striking blue eyes were always her most defining feature.

  Before she could retaliate, Davenport spoke first.

  “I won’t have you endangering this mission because you’re afraid Morris.

  We’re going in.”

  Davenport said this with finality. But Taia was never one to stay quiet when she was supposed to.

  As she opened her mouth again to respond, Davenport beat her to the punch.

  “If you’re too afraid, fine. You can stay in the truck,” Davenport said disgustedly. “But we came all this way and I’ll be damned if this mission isn’t a success.”

  Taia had a strong desire to avoid the weapons plant altogether and stay in the truck. She was sure this was much safer. But if she stayed in the truck she would be alone. If she went in the plant at least she would be with people. And maybe they could fight any Supes off together. If not, at least she wasn’t dying alone.

  “I’m sorry Staff Sergeant. I’m going in,” Taia said.

  Davenport glared at Taia before looking away and at the rest of the cadets.

  “Okay, let’s go.”

  Suddenly everyone started going in different directions until nearly everyone was gone.

  “Wait, what’s –“

  “Come on you scared little girl, it’s me and you.”

  Jake Pitts was wearing a confident smirk while holding his rifle with both hands.

  Taia must have looked quite confused because the smirk quickly slipped off Pitts’ face and a look of annoyance replaced it.

  “You weren’t listening were you? I knew you were looking even more spacey than usual. Out of all the cadets, I just can’t fathom why Connor would pick you. Other than the usual reason you get special treatment. Being the General’s daughter--”

  “Shut up Pitts,” Taia said for the second time that day. She was irritated. It wasn’t an honor to be here. And contrary to how it usually was, where Taia never got special treatment for being the General’s daughter, but instead only on the fact that she was at the top of her class, Pitts was right; being the General’s daughter was the main reason that she was here. She was insurance so that if the General found out about the mission, he wouldn’t dare try to stop it and endanger his own daughter’s life. Connor was using her against her own father. She just wish she had seen that before. “Just tell me what the plan is.”

  “Wow. That’s it? A “shut up” from the famous Taia Morris? You’re off your game today girly.”

  This was true. Taia usually had a lot more to say.

  “Davenport split us up into pairs,” Pitts said before Taia could open her mouth and live up to her reputation. “There are 14 different entrances to the building counting windows, vents and doors and we’re going in 8 different ways to cover more ground. He says the Supes are going to be split up. Whatever squad sees a Supe, takes it out immediately. In a permanent fashion.”

  Taia knew what this meant. This meant to set her energy rifle to kill.

  Energy rifles were much like Pre-Outbreak assault rifles in size, as two hands were needed to operate them. Before the Outbreak of the virus that turned a small portion of the human population into Supes, and therefore cruel, emotionless, selfish, super powered freaks, humans’ main weapons were guns that had bullets as ammo. But after the Outbreak, bullets weren’t effective against some Supes because of Supes’ enhanced and super abilities. So humans invented energy powered weapons that shot plasma volts instead of bullets. These were much more effective against various Supes because of the multiple settings allowed on the weapons. In the Academy, cadet rifles and pistols were always set to “stun” or “sting” for practice. The setting that Davenport obviously wanted them to set their rifle to, fired a shot with a lot more volts than “stun”. It was “kill”.

  Taia instantly felt anxious at that thought. She had never killed before. She knew that she had been training to kill Supes, but to kill something that had a life, even if it was a bloodthirsty monster, made her very nervous.

  The small screen of Taia’s rifle already read kill. Davenport must have set the rifles to that setting prior to loading them into the truck. She took the energy pistol that each cadet was required to have with them at all times, even inside the Sector, out of the holster on her hip and set that setting to ‘kill’ as well.

  “You said 8 entrances,” Taia said. “But if we were all split into pairs, we can only enter 7 of them.”

  “We cadets were split into pairs.” Pitts then began walking towards the building. “Staff Sergeants riding solo.”

  The rest of the cadets were already out of sight having headed towards their various entry points.

  Taia followed Pitts nervously. This was insane. She was never scared. She was the top of her class in almost every field. She had been training to be a soldier her entire life. But she could not help but think that all of the simulations and training that the Academy had put her through was nothing like the destruction she had seen a Supe cause with her own two eyes.

  As Taia followed Pitts to the side of the building, Pitts took off his backpack and began rummaging through it.

  “Well come on Morris,” Pitts said as he pulled out a bulky silver device. Taia looked at it. It was a Pull-Up. Pull-Ups were used to attach a line to the top of something so that you could be pulled up to the top of a high structure. This meant that their particular entry point was at the top of the building.

  Mirroring Pitts, Taia pulled her Pull-Up out of her backpack.

  “On my count?” Pitts asked scathingly, obviously annoyed with Taia’s nerves. He then paused. “Listen Morris,” he began. “I’m not going to be dragging some frightened idiot along. I need a soldier. If you aren’t ready for this, I can do this by myself.”

  That didn’t sound like too much of a bad idea to Taia. She was honestly terrified. She could not believe that she had agreed to come on this suicide mission in the first place. And even if she did somehow survive and Connor and Davenport’s insane plan did work, her father was still going to have her head.

  But staying out here by herself did not sound like much better of an idea.

  “On my count,” Taia said smartly. Pitts smiled. Taia counted to three and on three both of the recruits lifted their Pull-Ups into the air and pressed the button on the top of it. A rope came from the Pull-Ups and attached to the top of the building. Taia and Pitts were pulled up to the top of the building before landing on the roof, rifles cocked.

  “Clear,” Pitts said before lowering his rifle and walking toward one of the vents.

  He pulled something else out of his backpack. It was a small square black machine. His laser. He activated the laser and began cutting around the vent to make a hole big enough for the two of them to crawl through.

  “I don’t know why Davenport is having us go through all of this bull,” Pitts said. “We just should’ve gone in the front door. Guns ho
t”.

  Taia rolled her eyes. “That’s why Davenport is in charge and not you stupid. “

  Pitts glared at her.

  “If we went in knocking on that front door, we would’ve been slaughtered,” Taia continued. “That’s probably why we’re going in through the vent. It’s inconspicuous.”

  “It’s unnecessary is what it is,” Pitts took the part of the vent he had cut off with the laser off of its hinges and put it off to the side. “Let’s go.”

  Taia’s heart jumped to her throat but Pitts had already disappeared into the vent. She quickly followed him into it.

  The vent was dark and gray. It was very difficult to see. Simultaneously, as they had done so many times in simulations, both Taia and Pitts blinked twice rapidly to activate the night vision option in their smart contacts.

  These contacts were required to be worn by every recruit. They provided perfect vision and had a night vision option attached to them.

  As they crawled through the vent Taia could not help but be terrified. She was gripping her rifle as tight as possible and could feel her palms sweating. What would they do if they came across a Supe? Or what if a Supe found them? It was just her and Pitts. They wouldn’t stand a chance against one of those monsters.

  She jumped as a voice came over the com in her ear. “One down,” Came the whispered voice of Davenport.

  Taia could not believe it. Davenport had taken down a Supe. Already. Well if it was going to be anybody, it was going to be him.

  “Hell Yea Serge!” Pitts exclaimed.

  Taia quickly quieted him as his voice echoed through the vents. “What is wrong with you?” she whispered fiercely. “Are you trying to get us killed?”

  “Whatever,” Pitts said boldly. “I want them to come. I would love to take out some Supes. Can’t let Staff Sergeant be the only one.”

  A part of Taia admired Pitts’ bravery. Though she would never admit it to the idiot.

  Pitts then began crawling with more purpose. They were moving through the vent for nearly 10 minutes before Pitts came to a stop. His breathing had suddenly become labored.