Eli was showing Taia that while Supes have powers, these powers do not make them invincible. There were ways to take them out without assuming that they were omnipotent.
“Why did the Core teach you how to do this?” Taia asked Eli. “Isn’t the Core supposed to protect and serve the Regime? Why would they teach you all how to take out different Supes?”
“You’re making this mistake of assuming that the interests of the Regime and all Supes are the same,” Eli said.
“What do you mean?”
“You remember how Transcendeds that don’t have the most useful powers live in poverty, right?” Eli asked. “Well some Transcendeds hate that and fight against the Regime. And how I told you about the guy who refused to work for the Regime? The Core hunts down Transcendeds that go against the Regime more than we hunt down humans. To be honest, it’s a lot more Transcendeds that are actual threats to the Regime than there are humans that are threats. And we have to learn how to fight those Supes. So we train and learn how to deal with different powers and how to incapacitate whoever might be a problem.”
“You killed them all?” Taia asked fearfully. “Everyone who you hunted down that went against the Regime?”
“No,” Eli said. “Thankfully the Core doesn’t kill everyone that goes against them. We killed some in action. Like if they tried to fight and we had to take them out. But the vast majority end up in prison.”
“It’s still so hard for me to believe you all have prisons.”
“Oh yea,” Eli explained. “They’re all equipped with different equipment to neutralize a Transcendeds’ powers so they aren’t too much of a threat but they definitely exist.”
All of this was a bit of a revelation to Taia. For some reason, the Resistance never imagined that the Regime would have enemies within itself. They didn’t think that there would be Supes that didn’t live within the walls of the Regime.
Sector 6 had relatively no crime. Its why other than Eli, the Stockade was completely empty. Sure there were incidents every now and then, but even these happened rarely.
Taia assumed the reason for this was because everyone in the Sector was united against the common enemy of the Regime.
When the pair arrived back in Eli’s cell and winced as he laid down in his bed.
“Are you going to be okay for training tomorrow?” Taia asked Eli before she left, smirking.
“Well I think you broke my ribs,” Eli winced. “But you know I’ll heal by sunrise. I’ll see you in the morning Taia.”
“Goodnight Eli.”
Chapter 18
The next couple of days past similarly for Eli and Taia. They would go to the Academy, hang out in the afternoon, and then go train during the evening after the rest of the Sector had been long sleep.
While in analytics class one day, a soldier came in and handed a note to their instructor. She read the note and looked up at the Cadets.
“Cadet Morris, Mr. Proof,” The instructor said. “Your presence has been requested. Gather your things and follow the Private.”
Eli and Taia followed the Private as instructed, but Jesse did too.
“Where are you going Cadet Bonner?” the Private asked. “Go sit down. I was told to only collect these two.”
Eli and Taia looked back at Jesse. “Sir, I don’t know who gave you those orders, but the General gave me orders to stick with Eli Proof at all times,” he said. “So unless your orders were given by God himself, I’m coming with you.”
The Private stared at Jesse but didn’t say anything and continued walking. When he stopped, Taia knew exactly where they were at. It was the Lieutenant General’s office. It made sense he had an office in the Academy. After all, as Lieutenant General, it was his duty to run the Academy.
The Private knocked on the office door. “Come in,” Connor replied. The Private opened the door and they all followed him in.
All of the cadets and the Private saluted the Lieutenant General and Connor saluted them back. Eli did not move, however. He knew that something was going on for Connor to call him and Taia to his office and he was on guard.
“You’re relieved Private.” The soldier nodded and left the office, closing the door behind him.
Connor stared at the three young people for several moments without a word.
“Do you take me for an idiot, Cadet Morris?” Connor asked Taia.
“Yes sir,” she replied. She still knew that Connor had betrayed them to the Regime and she didn’t trust him one bit. She would not show him an ounce of respect.
“Taia—“Jesse began worriedly.
“No, it’s fine Bonner,” Connor said smirking. “You will make a good soldier. Following General Morris’s instructions to a tee even now I see. Good job,” he was referring to Jesse keeping an eye on Eli.
“You see,” Connor added. “I can see you think I’m an idiot Morris. I know that. What I didn’t know is just how much of an idiot you think I am.”
Taia rolled her eyes. “Should I know what you’re talking about?” she asked. “Sir,” she added pointedly.
Connor’s nostrils flared. “You know exactly what I’m talking about girl!” he exclaimed. “I just can’t fathom how you could actually believe you would get away with it!”
“Me?!” Taia exclaimed. “You think you’re going to get away with killing my comrades! I know it was you!”
Connor laughed. “You have some nerve. Acting like you didn’t have a hand in their deaths. You and this-this boy.” He glared at Eli from behind his desk. “This boy, who claims to be part of a human faction that fights against Supes. But it’s a faction, that none of my spies have ever heard of.”
Taia froze, she was speechless. Connor must have used his connections to try and find some information about where Eli was from.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Connor continued. “It’s hard for me to get in contact with my spies so it takes a while for them to report back to me. But they finally have. And they’ve never heard of a human group that fights Supes other than the Resistance.”
“We don’t operate in public sir,” Eli said quickly. “It’s too dangerous and we don’t want the Regime to be after us.”
“But we don’t operate in public either Proof,” Connor said smiling. “And the Regime knows about us.”
“Yes sir. But that’s because you all have fought against the Regime publicly in the past,” Eli said. “My group was formed relatively recently. We’re just former slaves who fight against the Regime now. We have to try extra hard not to draw attention to ourselves because we don’t have an entire city to hide behind.”
“You say that but you killed 5 Supes,” Connor snarled. “By yourself. That’s drawing attention if I’ve ever seen it.”
“He did it to save me,” Taia said. “He did it to save my fellow Cadets and he couldn’t. But it was more than you did to save us. You did the opposite. And unless you have proof that Eli is somehow other than he says he is. And proof means actual proof, not the lack of information about him, then we have a class to go back to.”
Connor ignored Taia and kept looking at Eli. “I don’t trust you boy,” he said to him.
“I know sir,” Eli replied.
Having nothing else to say and no actual evidence that Eli was working against the Sector, Connor sent all 3 of them back to class.
“Do you have to provoke him like that?” Jesse asked Taia tiredly as they walked toward the classroom. “You really need to show respect to the Lieutenant General.”
“I don’t need to show respect to a traitor,” Taia responded.
“You don’t know he’s a traitor,” Eli said. “I don’t know who his spies are, slaves or Transcendeds. But he could have been set up.”
The rest of the day went normally and soon Eli was back at the Stockade. A few hours after night had fallen, Taia crawled through the trap door to retrieve him.
For the past few sessions, they had worked on Taia fighting against Supes with Super Strength. Today, th
ey had planned to move on to work on her fighting Supes that could fly. Taia could not help but be somewhat happy that Eli’s gravitational manipulation made it so that he had such a diverse set of abilities that she could train against.
“What’s the point of me learning how to fight someone who can fly?” Taia asked. “What harm can they do to me from the sky if that’s their only ability?”
“Oh, a ton,” Eli said. “Imagine all the damage you could do if you could fly. You could shoot people from the sky, drop bombs on them they can’t run from. In a fight, you could hit them and fly in the air, coming down only when you choose to. Being able to fly gives you a whole new plane to fight on.”
“Well can’t I just shoot you out of the sky?” Taia asked.
“Not if you can’t hit me,” Eli answered. “A Transcended who’s flying isn’t just going to float in the air waiting for you to shoot them. They’re going to be constantly moving. And you’re going to have to learn how to find a way to anticipate their movements to be able to actually stop them.”
As always, Eli was opening Taia’s eyes up to an entirely new way to approach fighting Supes. In the Academy, they had always laughed at Supes who’s ability it was to fly saying that if it came down to it, they would shoot them out of the sky; that it was a pretty useless ability. Eli had just removed that assumption from her mind.
“Take out your pistol,” Eli said. “And I want you to try to shoot me. On the lowest level preferably.”
Taia set her pistol to the same setting they used in simulations, which was ‘Sting’. Eli then rose into the air but not too high so that he was still covered by the trees. He didn’t want anyone in the Sector seeing him fly.
Taia aimed her pistol at Eli with him floating in the air. She fired a shot at him with he dodged, fired by four more that he also evaded.
“You can’t shoot where I am Taia,” he said, floating 50 feet above her. “You have to shoot where I’m going to be.”
Suddenly Eli was hit with a plasma shot and fell to the ground with a sickening crunch.
“Taia!” Jesse screamed running towards her with his pistol out and pulling him towards her. “What the hell is this?!”
“What did you do?!” Taia exclaimed, breaking free from Jesse and running toward Eli. He was unconscious and his arm was at angle that showed it was clearly broken. But thankfully he was still breathing.
“What did I do?” Jesse asked flabbergasted. “I did the same thing you were trying to do! I shot the Supe in the face!”
“I was only trying to shoot him on ‘Sting’! You shot him on ‘Stun’! You could have killed him.”
“I was trying to!” Jesse said. “I didn’t get the chance to change the setting or I would have. I can finish the job right now—“
“No!” Taia said spreading her arms over Eli.
“Taia he’s a Supe!” That’s when something clicked inside Jesse’s head. “But you knew that,” he said, eyes wide pointing his gun at Taia.
“Jesse, calm down—“
“You knew he was a Supe,” Jesse continued. “I wasn’t sure. But I got suspicious earlier today when he said ‘Transcended’ instead of ‘Supe’. It surprised me. Because that’s Regime propaganda and no human actually says ‘Transcended’. But I figured, what do I know? He’s not from the Sectors, maybe his people use it. But I still wasn’t sure. So I didn’t tell anyone and I went to his cell to ask him about it but he’s wasn’t there. And I figured he must have figured out about the trap doors in the cells. And I come out here only to see this guy flying but you already knowing he’s a freaking Supe.”
Taia had never seen Jesse like this before. With his pistol pointed at her and hand shaking, he looked livid and betrayed.
“Connor was right,” he said.
“No, Jesse, It’s not like that,” Taia tried to explain.
“Shut up Taia,” Jesse said, pistol still pointed at her face. “Just shut up. You’re my best friend and you betrayed the Sector. How could you? They were our friends!”
But Taia did not know what to say. She did not know how to explain the full situation to Jesse with him in this state.
“Get up,” he said. “I’m taking you both to the Stockade and I’m telling the General about all of this.”
Suddenly, Jesse was planted face first into the ground. Eli slowly stood up.
“Don’t point that gun at her,” Eli growled at Jesse.
“What the hell is this?” Jesse mumbled angrily, his face in the dirt, not able to move due to Eli’s gravity holding him down. Taia quickly grabbed his pistol.
“Jesse you have to chill out,” Taia said quickly.
“Chill out?” he exclaimed. “How can I chill out when you’re working with some Supe? You killed those cadets. And the Sergeant!”
“I didn’t Jesse,” Taia said desperately. “Now you’re my best friend. And I need you to listen to me. I’m going to have Eli let you go—“
“I’m not letting him go,” Eli interrupted.
Taia glared at him. “He pointed a gun at you!” Eli exclaimed.
“I’m going to have Eli let you go,” Taia said pointedly, staring at Eli. Eli rolled his eyes. “And I’m going to explain everything to you. But you have to promise not to run. Or I’m just going to have Eli hold you down again.”
There was a pause. “I’m trying to nod, but I can’t move,” Jesse said pointedly.
Taia looked at Eli and he reluctantly lifted his hold on Jesse. Jesse quickly stood up and wiped the dirt off of his face.
“How can he do that?” Jesse asked. “Hold me down like that and fly? I thought Supes could only have one power.”
“I’m going to explain all of that Jesse,” Taia said. “Just please calm down.”
Jesse was shaking. “Give me my gun. A soldier should never be without his pistol. Especially around a Supe,” he said with disdain.
“Not until you hear what I have to say,” Taia said. She then told Jesse the whole story, the entire true story of how Eli saved her from the Core officers and everything he did to get her home. She told him about Eli’s powers and how he couldn’t control some aspects of them. But she respected Eli enough to leave out any information too personal; like him accidently killing his parents and him watching Blake’s father die.
By the end of the story Jesse was speechless. He was looking between Eli and Taia in disbelief. “So what?“ He asked, looking at Taia. “He’s some kind of Superhero?”
“I’m not any kind of hero” Eli said. “I’m just the guy who wanted to help a girl get home.”
“Then why are you still here?” Jesse asked him.
“Because they wouldn’t let him leave if he tried,” Taia replied. “You know they wouldn’t. It would be too dangerous for the Sector if he knows where we are.”
“I have to tell the General,” Jesse said. “Listen Taia, we have to. He’ll understand.”
“No he won’t,” Taia said. “You know how he is. He hates Supes. And Connor wants Eli dead anyway considering he betrayed the Sector to the Core and Eli killed his little friends.”
Jesse was shaking his head. “This is too much,” he groaned. “Like what are you doing Taia? Why are you out here with him now in the middle of the night?”
“He’s training me to fight Supes,” Taia said meekly.
“Training you?!” Jesse exclaimed. “If he’s training you what has all these years at the Academy been for?”
“The Academy isn’t enough Jesse,” Taia said. “You weren’t out there. We’re not prepared. It’s why 5 of them were able to kill 15 of us with no issue. But when I was with Eli we were able to fight them off. If I’m able to learn how to fight them from him, I can teach it to the cadets at the Academy when I’m officially a soldier.”
Jesse looked at Taia in disbelief. “Taia, come on,” he said desperately. “He’s a Supe. A Supe killed your mom.”
“But he didn’t,” Taia replied. “He saved my life.”
Jesse looked at Taia
sympathetically. “I love you Taia,” he said. “You’re like a sister to me. So I won’t say anything. But—“
He paused and hung his head. “But I just can’t.”
Jesse then walked through the woods and headed toward the city.
Eli and Taia were frozen.
“What did that mean?” Taia asked Eli.
“It means I have to go,” Eli said.
“What?” Taia asked. “You can’t.”
“I have to,” Eli said desperately. “Aside from the fact that if Jesse tells someone, everyone here is going to try to kill me, but you’re going to get in trouble too.”
“Jesse isn’t going to tell anyone,” Taia said. “And you can’t leave anyway. I told you it’s a gate surrounding the city just like Carthage. You won’t get out.”
“I’ll fly out.”
“You can’t,” Taia said. “It’s sensors and soldiers at the gate. If they see or sense someone flying, they’re going to shoot you out of the sky. “
Eli groaned.
“You have to trust me Eli,” Taia said. “Jesse isn’t going to say anything.”
The next day passed the same way as usual. Jesse came at 0530 hours to pick up Eli and he did not say anything to him as usual. The only difference this time, is that he did not say anything to Taia either when he saw her.
Through the entire day at the Academy, Jesse didn’t say a word to anyone, let alone Taia or Eli.
They were both extremely concerned with Jesse’s lack of communication. Usually when someone wasn’t talking, it was because they were too busy thinking. And they were really hoping that they Jesse wasn’t thinking about telling Connor or the General.
Jesse spoke for the first time when they were all leaving the Academy for the day.
“Alright Proof,” he said. “Come on.”
“Come on where?” Taia asked fearfully.
“To the Stockade,” Jesse answered smartly.
This did provide Taia with some relief. Taking Eli to the Stockade was better than taking him to The General. But it was different than what usually happened.
Becoming Super Page 21
