“Wow,” Blake said. “You’ve been with Eli the past few days and you hardly know anything about him.”
“Look,” Taia said. “If you can’t help him here then I’ll just have to take him to my Sector. Teleport us there.”
“He’s fine!” Blake retorted.
“Take us there!” Taia was beside herself. “He did all of this to save me and make sure I got home. I won’t let him die!”
“I need coordinates on where to go and you won’t tell me what they are!”
“42 degrees North, 83 degrees West” Taia said quickly.
Blake’s eyes widened.
“Please Blake,” Taia begged. She didn’t care that she had just revealed the coordinates of her home to a Supe. She had to help Eli. “We can help him at my Sector.”
Blake sighed. “It’s a waste of time. Come on.”
The pair then picked up Eli again. They walked out of the room and down a hall. They went up a flight of stairs until it was a door. Blake pushed the door open and they climbed out of the pit.
Wherever they were, this part of the Wasteland looked pretty different from what Eli lived in. Whereas Eli lived in the desert there was a decent amount of vegetation in this area.
“I’m hidden from everything,” Blake said smiling, seemingly proud of himself. “It’s like my own little Bat Cave.”
Taia raised an eyebrow at him. “Your own little what?” She asked.
Blake shook his head. “Never mind,” he muttered. He looked at Taia. “You sure about this?”
“We can help him,” Taia said. “I know you think he’s tough but I want to make sure.”
Blake smiled. “I like you Taia,” he then extended his arm and a vortex opened up. Blake and Taia covered their eyes with their arms as the strength of the Vortex pulled wind and dust towards it.
Blake and Taia had to stand strong to stop all of them from sliding forward into the vortex. “Alright!” Blake yelled over the sounds of the vortex. “You got it from here?”
“Huh?” Taia yelled back. “You’re not coming with us?”
“My place is here. And I have to get Alfred. He should be able to escape my mother’s house and he knows where to meet me and I have to get him. He deserves better than my mother. He deserves to be free. I’ll be in touch, don’t worry. Just take care of my boy!”
Taia was kind of sad. She was going to miss the smiling teleporter. “What if I never see you again?” She asked.
Blake smiled widely. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m sure I’ll be able to take you on that date sooner than you think.”
The vortex then began getting stronger. Blake let go of Eli and Taia had to kneel as she could not support his weight. Soon the pair were pulled toward the Vortex and into its purple haze.
Eli and Taia arrived in the middle of the streets of Sector 6. “Help!” Taia screamed. “I need some help!”
Different people began running out of buildings headed towards the pair. A woman in a Sector 6 standard soldier uniform recognized Taia. “Taia Morris?” she said. “General Morris’s daughter? You’re supposed to be dead.”
Taia smiled. “I was never good at doing what I’m supposed to.
Part 2: The Regime
Chapter 12
The best doctors that the Sector had to offer had come and checked on Taia. It was now late into the night. She was now sitting next to Eli on his bed in the Sector’s hospital after the doctors figured there was nothing they could do and she was as healthy as she was going to be. Eli however was bandaged up and hooked up to an IV to help stabilize him due to the plasma volt shot he had taken and the burn on his chest.
Looking at Eli she couldn’t be more thankful that she had met the boy. He had risked his life to save her, a girl he barely knew for reasons she didn’t understand and reasons she was sure he didn’t either. And he had actually gotten her home.
She didn’t tell anyone in Sector 6 that Eli was a Supe; she couldn’t. They wouldn’t understand that he was a hero and the best person she knew. People like Connor wouldn’t accept him being here and under their care. Actually, Taia knew for a fact people like Connor would like to kill him.
Her thoughts of this were only confirmed by the fact that they decided to handcuff him to the bed. They had no idea that these chains would do nothing to hold Eli if he didn’t want them to.
He looked so innocent and harmless sleeping like this; nothing like the soldier Taia now knew him to be. Out of his tuxedo and in this hospital gown he even looked younger.
Taia supposed that she probably looked younger too with all of the makeup off of her face and in hospital scrubs opposed to her gown. She had refused to go home and change because she didn’t want to leave Eli alone here. He wouldn’t have left her. So she borrowed clothes from the hospital.
A door opened to the hospital room and a soldier came in. “The General would like to see you now,” he said.
Taia let go of Eli’s hand. She did not want to leave him but she missed her father and needed to see him.
She followed the soldier out of the room and down the hall. The hospital staff was staring at Taia. She couldn’t blame them. 15 citizens had left Sector 6 and only one had come back. And she had come back with some stranger that no one knew or had ever seen before.
The soldier stopped outside of a door where another soldier was already waiting. He opened the door for Taia and looked at her blankly.
Taia walked into the room. General Morris must have commandeered an empty hospital room because he was the only one in there. He grabbed Taia and hugged her tight to his chest. Taia wrapped her arms around her father and let tears fall down her face.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” The General said quietly. “I can’t believe it.”
“Me neither, Dad,” Taia said, smiling as tears fell down her face.
“How did you get here?” Morris asked sitting Taia down in a chair and sitting across from her. “Where are the others? How did you get past the Sector’s defenses at the gate? Who is this boy with you?”
“Dad, slow down,” Taia said looking down.
Morris paused. “Taia. What’s wrong?”
“They’re all dead, Dad,” Taia said staring at the ground. “Davenport, Pitts, everyone died. Connor sent us on a suicide mission.”
“This is why you don’t go on missions without my permission,” Morris said angrily. “I know what’s best for the sector. I knew we weren’t ready.”
Taia shook her head. “No you don’t understand, Dad. It was a trap. And Connor knew it. You have to arrest him!”
“Taia what are you talking—“
“They knew we were coming!” Taia exclaimed desperately. “They set us up! Connor and those Supes.”
“Taia,” Morris said softly. “James Connor has done more for the Resistance than any other man I know. Why would he send you all to your deaths?”
“I don’t know” Taia said angrily. “But I know he did. And my friends are dead. And if it wasn’t for Eli I would be too.”
“Yes,” the General said. “Eli. This boy saved you?” he asked, looking at Taia skeptically.
Taia’s mind was racing. She loved her father. And trusted him. But there was simply no way that she could let him find out that Eli was a Supe. He had protected her, now she had to protect him.
“Yes sir, he saved me,” Taia said.
“How?” The General asked. “How did a boy, who from what my connections know, is part of none of the 9 Sectors of the Resistance, save your life and bring you here? But one of my best soldiers and 13 cadets end up dead?”
“Well,” Taia began, forging a lie in her head. “He’s not part of our resistance, Not the Sectors’. But he’s part of some resistance. He knows more than us. He has information about the Regime that we don’t have. He’s been training to take them down since he was 7 years old,” Taia figured that this wasn’t a lie. Everything she said had technically been true.
“Okay. How did you get here? How
’d you get past the defenses at the gate?”
The Gate was the structure surrounding the Sector and protecting it. It had four walls; North, South, East, and West, and they were all made of titanium alloy and hundreds of feet in the air and guarded at all times. There were also guns attached to all of the walls in order to shoot any enemies that would dare to attack the Sector.
The Gate also had sensors built into meant to alarm the Sector headquarters in case any large amount of movement was detected. No one was supposed to be in this part of the Wasteland, there were no Regime city for miles. And in case any movement was detected, the Sector would prepare for battle. These defenses were added when the Supe that invaded the Sector killed Taia’s mother.
Taia grimaced. This was the part that she was going to have to do some serious lying with. “Well we didn’t go to the gate. I teleported into the Sector.”
“You what?!” the General exclaimed standing up, headed towards the door. “How could you bring a Supe here?!”
“Don’t worry, Dad!” Taia rushed. “Eli isn’t who teleported me! It was another guy that we found after a few days of searching and we shot him right after. We forced him to open up a vortex here by threatening to shoot him and when it opened, we shot him. We couldn’t let him know the coordinates of the Sector. I know better than that.”
What was Taia supposed to do? Tell her father that the teleporter was now probably one of her best friends and that she trusted him not to tell anybody the coordinates? Yea, that was not going to go over well with the General. And it was no way he would believe that the two of them were able to fight their way out of an entire Regime city.
“Taia,” Morris began. “You have to know how difficult for this is for me to believe.”
“What part is difficult to believe, Dad?” Taia asked innocently.
Suddenly the door to the room burst open. A man with a large brown mustache and hair of the same color came through the door.
“Where are my men?” Connor exclaimed angrily.
“Lieutenant, I’m speaking with my daughter,” Morris said.
“I don’t give a damn if you’re speaking with God himself,” Connor said. “Where are my men Morris?”
“They’re dead,” Taia said. “And it’s your fault.”
Connor froze and spoke with an emotionless mask. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Taia leapt at Connor and the General had to grab her. “Don’t lie!” she yelled. “You ordered the mission! You did!”
“I did no such thing,” Connor said. “Davenport went AWOL and took a group Cadets with him. I am not responsible for that man committing treason.”
“He didn’t commit treason!” Taia cried, the emotion for her fallen comrades crashing into her at once. Struggling against her father. “He was following his superior’s orders! Your orders!”
“Prove it,” Connor snarled.
“Leave us!” The General commanded. Connor sneered at Taia before he turned to walk away.
“You’re a traitor!” Taia yelled at him. Connor turned around with an eyebrow raised. “They all died because you’re a traitor.”
“What are you talking about girl?” Connor asked.
“It was a trap and you know it. You did this!” Taia was beside herself. But Connor kept his cool.
“I am many things girl,” he said. “But a traitor is not one of them.” He then left the room.
“He has a point Taia” The General said. “James Connor is many things and undermines my authority more often than he should. But he loves his people. He’s no traitor.”
“But he did order the mission Father,” Taia said. “He talked to me himself. Manipulated me.”
“I don’t doubt that but I can’t prove it either”
“I can,” Taia said desperately. “He talked to me directly.”
“It’s hearsay Taia. Your word against his. And who do you think people are more willing to believe? A war hero? Or a girl who just left the Sector without permission with 14 others and only came back with some stranger, claiming everyone else was dead?” Morris was looking at his daughter sympathetically.
“They knew things about us Dad,” Taia said. “Things no one should know. There is a traitor.”
“I believe you sweetheart,” Morris said, putting his hands on his daughter’s shoulders. “But I can assure you, that the traitor is not James Connor.”
“Well then why would he order the mission?” Taia asked.
“Because he truly thought sending you there would benefit the Resistance,” Morris replied. “Now come on. Let’s get you to your dorm. And you will be at the Academy for training at 0600 hours.”
Taia shook her head. “I’m sorry sir but I can’t go to the Academy. Not tomorrow.”
“That wasn’t a request Taia,” Morris said with a piercing gaze. “It was an order.”
“As my father or as the General of the Sector?” Taia asked.
“As both.”
But Taia refused. “I can’t go there,” she said. “Everyone is going to look at me like I’m some kind of parasite. Just like Connor. Because I’m the only one who came back. And by now I’m sure he’s spinning the story in a way that’s making me seem like a monster.”
Morris sighed. “Taia. I know the experience was traumatic. I am putting you in the soldier psych program but you are still a cadet. I will excuse you from any PT but you have to go to the Academy. You’re a soldier. And for the morale of your comrades if anything.”
“Dad, please,” Taia said. “I’m begging you not as a cadet to the General, but as a daughter to her father. I can’t go back there. Not yet.”
Bowing his head Morris finally relented. “Okay Taia. But you are still going to be under psych evaluation. Let’s go home.” He then made a move to leave the hospital room.
“Wait, Dad,” Taia stopped him. “I can’t go home yet either.”
Morris turned around confused. “Why not?” he asked.
“Eli is here.”
“Don’t worry,” Morris said. “Everything will be okay. He is constrained.”
“That’s why I’m worried,” Taia responded.
“I can’t do anything about that Taia,” Morris said exasperatedly. “He’s a stranger and a potential danger to my Sector. To my family.”
“I understand that Dad,” Taia said. “I really do. But he’s my friend. And I would feel better if I was here. Especially with Connor walking around.”
Morris stared at his daughter. “You are so much like your mother,” he said. He then went over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I will be back tomorrow Cadet Morris.”
“Yes sir, General,” Taia responded. The General then walked out of the room. Taia let out a breath. So Eli was safe. For now. All that was left to do now was to figure out a way to get him home. Taia walked out of the empty hospital room to see if her friend had woken up.
Chapter 13
“He is hot.”
“Shut up Kate.”
“What? He is. Did you kiss him?”
“What—No I didn’t kiss him!”
“Well that’s just rude Taia, I would’ve kissed the guy who saved my life.”
Taia. Taia. Taia!
Eli Proof sat up straight in his hospital bed. Taia and a blond girl next to her froze. “Taia,” Eli said looking at her. He then looked at the blond girl and at the bed he was in. “Where are we?”
“Calm down Eli,” Taia said. “Everything’s okay.”
“Hi Eli,” The blond girl said smiling widely. “I’m Kate,” she then stuck out her hand. Kate was wearing light green hospital scrubs that matched her piercing eyes.
Flabbergasted, Eli went to shake her hand, only to find he couldn’t because his hands were chained to the bed.
“What in the--” Eli began surprised.
“Eli, I can explain,” Taia said rushed. “Kate, can you give us some privacy please?”
“Of course,” Kate said brightly and winked at Taia
before moving to walk out of the room.
“And don’t tell anyone he’s awake,” Taia said to Kate as she left and closed the door.
Eli looked at Taia. “Taia, what is going on?”
“It’s okay Eli,” she said. “We’re back at Sector 6. We’re safe.”
“But why am I here?” Eli asked. He looked around the room “And where’s Blake?”
“Blake stayed behind. I only brought you here because you needed medical attention.”
Eli let out a loud groan. “I never need medical attention.”
“Nonsense,” Taia said. “Of course you did. You got hit by the mayor and you shot yourself in your own shoulder with my gun. Look,” Taia adjusted Eli’s hospital gown and removed the bandage on his shoulder to show him the burn from her plasma rifle, only to see that there was no burn. She then moved the gown down in a hurry and removed the bandage on his chest to see that the burn from the mayor was also gone. But that was impossible. Those were third degree burns.
“I don’t understand,” Taia said confused.
“I’m the sun,” Eli said plainly.
“What?” Taia asked. “The son of who?”
A small laugh escaped from Eli. “No,” he said. “The sun. The big yellow thing in the sky. That’s my power. It’s why I was able to fight the Mayor. I was harnessing the heat of the Sun.”
“But I thought your power was gravitational manipulation,” Taia was lost. None of this was making any sense.
“That’s part of it too. It’s all part of my base power. I can harness the gravity of the sun and the heat of it and manipulate it. What they say when they describe my power is that I’m the sun incarnate. I can harness all of its power.”
Taia was astonished. “But that doesn’t explain why you’re healed.”
“Doesn’t it?” Eli asked. “When the sun rises, I rise too. No matter what injury I’ve developed; from a little scratch to a broken arm, when the sun rises the next day, it all heals.”
That’s when Taia remembered something. “That’s why you weren’t limping anymore that day.”
Eli nodded. “I had hurt my leg earlier. But it was healed the next day when I woke up. And it’s why the Sun doesn’t affect me either. No matter what, hot or cold, I’m always at a comfortable temperature.”
Becoming Super Page 16
