Nathan Returns

by Jason Zandri

  ***

  Congressman Patrick Johnson came out into the lobby to meet Nathan while the news crews and press swarmed. Other Congressional and Senatorial delegates, including Senator Mackenzie Kelly, followed him closely.

  “Senator Kelly,” Nathan said, smiling. “Nice to have you at my hanging.”

  At first, Senator Kelly hesitated because Nathan made his comment straight-faced. Only after the smallest hint of a smile to him, while he shook his hand, did he catch the actual feeling of Nathan’s comment. “Wouldn’t call it that, but I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  “Yes, and it would seem the world can’t miss it either,” Congressman Johnson said, waving his hand about to the news crews.

  It took several minutes for all of them to move from the lobby to the inner area just outside the chambers.

  Nathan stopped and looked around.

  “Something wrong, Nathan?” Congressman Johnson asked.

  Nathan felt uneasy. Something tugged on his psyche. He looked around, and then up to the ceiling. Suddenly, he grabbed at his wrist. “Warm,” he said when he touched the bracelet.

  “Computer Central?” Nathan said and reached up to touch the small device in his ear.

  “Enabled,” the female voice of the computer responded.

  “Now wait just a …” Congressman Johnson started until Nathan held up his hand. All the news crews fell silent.

  “Where are Officer Jack O’Malley and Officer Adia Santiago?” Nathan asked.

  “Adjacent perimeter, crowd control,” the computer responded in his ear.

  “I need a fast scan; priority omega,” Nathan said in a frantic voice, and then spun around to move back towards the lobby. The crew followed him back. The bracelet on his wrist changed from warm to hot.

  “Re-tasking satellites; deep level scanning.”

  “Just a minute, mister!” Congressman Johnson boomed, trying to catch Nathan. He managed to get a hand on his suit, which stopped Nathan.

  Nathan spun around to face the congressman just as Computer Central responded through his earpiece. “Class one firepower. Attack imminent. Readings on explosive compounds are confirmed.”

  “Evacuate now!” Nathan screamed at the top of his lungs. “I am powerless to stop it!”

  Nathan turned to Senator Kelly to move him but noticed Congressman Johnson fumbling with his phone.

  “Computer Central?” Nathan said into his phone.

  “Enabled.”

  “Give the live feed to the head tactical officer onsite; give them all the data. Patch me directly through to both Officer Jack O’Malley and Officer Adia Santiago’s radios.”

  “Working … Connected.”

  “Adia!” Nathan shouted while waving people out.

  ***

  Outside, Adia turned to see the mass of people exiting the building in a panicked flurry.

  “Nathan?” She grabbed the radio and looked diagonally over to Officer Jack O’Malley. Both sprinted toward the building.

  With people still exiting, a bright light erupted straight down from the sky while two rockets entered the building from the east, and a detonation from inside let go.

  Adia ran at full speed, with the ground rumbling beneath her pounding feet.

  Jack did his best to keep up with her, but pure chaos reigned, and he found it impossible to tell where the courthouse building had once stood.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Adia ran at her top speed toward the destruction that had once been the courthouse, with Jack following behind her. The debris bloom and shockwave hit her, but she barely broke stride. Although she couldn’t see clearly for a moment, she continued to run opposite the flow of the exiting masses. Jack slowed even more.

  Once Adia got clear of the people and debris, the leveled courthouse came into view. The bright light that erupted from the sky seconds before the rockets fired, still shimmered down. Adia looked up and saw a figure in the sky descend slowly.

  “Nathan,” the woman called out. “I can sense you; are there people that are injured?”

  Adia looked away from her and hustled over to where the light field ended. She could see numerous people within it, including Nathan.

  Thank God, he was okay.

  Nathan looked up at the woman as she lowered herself to just a few feet above the ground.

  “Who are you?” he asked, and around at the shocked and traumatized people.

  Congressman Johnson looked up from the ground where he lay, clutching a twisted ankle. “My God, there are two of them,” he muttered. When he tried to stand, he winced. The woman seemed somewhat familiar, and he stared at her.

  “My name is Rebecca,” she said to Nathan with a smile. “And I am here to help, at Gaea’s pleasure.”

  “Professor Rebecca Farnsmith?” Senator Kelly stepped up near the front where Nathan stood.

  Nathan looked around at the dozen or so people who hadn’t escaped the building before the explosions ripped it apart.

  Congressman Johnson looked up and squinted some. “My God, it is you. No wonder you had his back in the debate. You were just like him.”

  “Not at the time, Congressman,” she said, settling firmly on the ground. “My powers are different than Nathan’s, and his source is stronger. Mine were only fully bestowed upon me today.” She looked around at the devastation. “It would appear, unfortunately, too late to prevent this.”

  “You said my source is stronger,” Nathan said, walking in front of her. “How do you know this?”

  She raised her hand and hesitated, then touched his face. “We can talk all about it later. There are people to help right now.” She looked about. “And military agents to apprehend,” she said sternly, looking back at the building where the rockets had come from.

  ***

  “I say again, the detonation did not have the desired effect. The rockets provided ineffective cover, and we now have a secondary bogey,” the man in gray fatigues said, pulling the gear.

  “Can you confirm the second target?” the voice squawked over the speaker.

  “I watched it land; it was not Nathan. Primary target remained in the courthouse.”

  A short pause settled in the communication.

  “Initiate Disavow Protocol,” the remote voice said.

  “Say again for confirmation,” the man in gray fatigues said and stopped dead in his tracks.

  The man in the binoculars whipped his head around. “That second target is moving this way fast. Direct heading.”

  Two jets rocketed overhead and bore down on the target. Both jets engaged with Rebecca on her approach to the building.

  “Those jets will not be able to stop her,” the remote voice said over the communication channel. “Initiate Disavow Protocol now before it becomes an unavailable option.”

  The man in gray fatigues pulled out his service revolver and shot both men on the roof. The first two shots to each to fully disable, and then one final shot to each in the head. He turned back to watch the jets re-engage the woman, who flew on an intercept course.

  Rebecca broke away, headed skyward, and the jets engaged to follow.

  The man in gray fatigues took the remote detonator and made adjustments to the settings. Once he’d completed his changes, he sat next to his brothers in arms and enabled the detonator.

  ***

  Helpless, Nathan watched Rebecca from the ground while the first responders tended the few injured people.

  Adia stepped over to him. “Who is that?”

  “I have no idea,” he said, barely looking her way. “I swear. She’s going by a human name, and the Senator and the Congressman both seem to think it’s the same professor from the America’s Roundtable show.”

  An explosion rocked the ground. Nathan and Adia both spun around. A fireball erupted into the sky.

  “That was the area where the shoulder-fired missiles came from,” Adia said, tugging on Nathan’s arm.

  Nathan nodded, and squinted to see as best he could. �
�Damn it. I’ve gotten so used to having the powers … even when it was just in times of critical need. This feeling of powerlessness is terrible. I can’t do anything to help.”

  Officer Jack O’Malley stepped over to the two of them. “Adia, you need to get him out of here. Now.”

  Nathan looked over, confused.

  “I don’t understand,” Adia said.

  “Those fighter jets? They’re ours. The explosion, the rockets, all of this.” Jack waved his finger around. “Is either military led or it’s a covert black ops thing.” He looked directly at Nathan, and then over to Senator Kelly, who approached. “Either way, if they get past that woman up there, or they have more ways to make a ground assault, they’ll come after him next.”

  “The officer is right, Nathan,” Senator Kelly said. “I don’t know what operation that was, but it is military. It’s unsanctioned, I am sure of it, but that is our weaponry and our men. They’re coming for you. Now that this woman is here, they’ll be after her, too. If you’re presently powerless, you can’t help her by staying here, and it’ll only get you hurt or killed.”

  Nathan nodded, and Adia grabbed his arm. “Come on, let’s move.”

  “Nathan!” Senator Kelly called out. Nathan turned and slowed his exit from the area, but still moved away. “You have to believe me when I tell you I had no knowledge of any of this. If I had, I certainly would have told you and, quite frankly …” He looked around at the destruction. “I would have avoided being here simply from a self-preservation standpoint.” Senator Kelly looked around at a few of his colleagues. “We all would have.”

  “I believe you, Senator,” Nathan said while Adia tried to hurry him along, and Jack came alongside the two of them. “I gave you my trust; I expect you’re giving me yours.” Nathan looked upward as the roar of the fighter jets making their turns grabbed his attention.

  Nathan stopped Adia, and then tapped his communications device. “Computer Central?”

  “Enabled,” his computer system responded.

  “Run all the data comparisons you have on the goddess Gaea; I need to know, as much as the myths tell us, what Rebecca can do to defend herself against those jets.” Nathan looked upwards as the jets made another run, and Rebecca climbed. All of a sudden, the wind picked up, and a localized, heavy cloud cover formed overhead. Rebecca disappeared into it.

  “Processing data. … According to the conflicting information available, her most likely abilities to defend would be obfuscating herself in weather or elemental anomalies. Defense could be taken in a position of an offensive against attackers by equal methods.”

  “Winds, rain, lighting …” Nathan said.

  “Microburst, tornado, earthquake, volcanic eruption …” Computer Central responded.

  “Okay; got it.” Nathan stopped further response. He turned to Adia, “I have to do something. She has a limited ability to defend herself against that aggression.” He pointed upward.

  “What can you do?” Adia asked.

  Officer Jack O’Malley stopped and returned to the two of them. “You’re totally powerless; she at least has the ability to avoid, right?”

  “She won’t last up there.” In desperation, Nathan looked at his surroundings. “She has no shielding capabilities other than to hide. If she’s forced to defend by attacking … oh, the vendor.” Nathan looked diagonally across the street and took off like a shot. Both Jack and Adia followed close behind.

  The street vendor looked up and flinched to see Nathan running towards him with two police officers. His hands tightened up on his push cart.

  “Vendor!” Nathan called out, looking over the superhero balloons and stickers. “Do you have t-shirts?”

  The vendor stared blankly at Nathan at first, and then finally responded, “Um … yes, but …” he looked over at Jack and Adia, who now stood alongside the cart. “They’re not licensed works from EarthWorld comics.” The vendor reached under to the lower shelf on the cart and pulled out half a dozen shirts. Captain Delta lay on top.

  Nathan tore his jacket off and dropped it to the ground. “I need that one.” He patted his pockets. “I don’t have any cash.” Nathan looked at Adia.

  The vendor waved his hand. “You take it. People need Nathan’s help. If Nathan needs mine, he has it.”

  Nathan took off his dress shirt and handed it to Jack, and then donned the Captain Delta shirt.

  “Did it work?” Adia asked.

  Nathan smiled, and then took two steps back and shot skyward.

  The vendor looked up as Nathan moved away. “My God …”

  “Be safe, Nathan,” Adia said, closing her eyes.

  Nathan tapped the communications device, “Computer Central?”

  “Enabled.”

  “Scan the communications frequencies; get me onto the channel that the jets are on.” Nathan powered up his personal force-field and moved into the storm clouds.

  “I believe I have the correct frequency; it is in high use in the area at your altitude. The communications traffic is encrypted,” Computer Central responded.

  “Break the encryption. Get me the heading on the nearest jet. I can’t see a thing, and I can’t hear anything directionally because of my shielding and all the wind up here,” Nathan said while he tried to find anything visually.

  “I have the communications feed; you can listen in or respond over the frequency.”

  Nathan slowed his speed, and then came to a full stop in midair. The storm clouds continued to move easterly. “Fighter jets, this is Nathan. I am requesting that you break off your pursuit.”

  “Gamma Three does not recognize,” one voice responded.

  “Gamma Four does not recognize,” the second voice responded.

  Three? Four? What?

  The cloud cover around him dissipated as it moved east of him, and two jets came on top of him with four missiles away.

  The first two impacted his personal shielding before he could even react. The shockwave blew him back hard. He steadied himself, and then rocketed straight up to draw the missiles away. They tracked after him. Nathan outpaced them with ease, turned, and blasted them with raw energy from his hands.

  “Gamma One to Gamma squad and Gamma command; communications are compromised. I say again, communications are compromised; switching to radio silence. Initiating Disavow Protocol.”

  Nathan continued to listen in on the frequency while he scanned for visual confirmation on the other two jets, as he believed he had jets One and Two in view.

  “Gamma Two, confirmed.”

  “Gamma Three, confirmed.”

  “Gamma Four, confirmed.”

  “Computer Central?” Nathan said and flew toward the cloud cluster moving away from him.

  “Enabled.”

  “Is there a way you can patch me through to General Westmartin from the US Air Command?”

  A trilling sounded in his earpiece, and then the sound changed to the female voice of Computer Central. “Communications channel now open to US Air Command.”

  “US Air Command,” Nathan said as he entered the storm cloud. “This is Nathan; I need to speak with General Westmartin, if possible, or whoever is in charge.”

  Nathan waited a moment for a response and continued to scan the cloud bank. When he noticed a jet trail, he turned to follow it.

  “US Air Command, can you please respond?” Nathan caught up to the jet. “Computer Central, can you confirm transmission?”

  “Transmission is active; they are either unable or unwilling to respond.”

  “US Air Command, I am receiving five by five, please respond,” Nathan said as he came alongside the jet. The pilot immediately dropped altitude and went into evasive maneuvers. The fighter above him opened fire, and the strafing fire ricocheted off his shields. “Damn these guys,” Nathan said, turning his head. “I don’t want to open fire on them; I’ll destroy the planes.”

  Nathan took evasive action and climbed at speed. He moved higher into the atmosphere and, w
hile doing so, Rebecca came into view, and he moved towards her.

  Rebecca smiled upon seeing him. “Here to rescue me?” she asked when he came alongside her.

  “I figured I owed you one for the courthouse,” Nathan said with a light shrug. He floated in proximity to Rebecca and extended his shielding around her. He glanced about, and his tone changed to a more serious one, “I can’t raise US Air Command. I want them to call these planes off. I don’t want to destroy government property and possibly risk a loss of life in defense of us.”

  Rebecca only smiled at him and floated a bit closer.

  “Can you dissipate all the cloud cover?” Nathan asked, looking over at her. “Let’s get lower to the ground, too. I can’t believe they’d open fire and risk civilian casualties.”

  Rebecca focused, and her eyes turned white. All the dark storm clouds, which she’d artificially created, dissipated.

  All four aircraft moved in on different intercept courses. Nathan looked around. “These four are out of their tree … what the hell?”

  “This is General Kevin Westmartin; Nathan, are you still on our frequency?” The voice of the general boomed through Nathan’s earpiece.

  “I read you, General.”

  “Those are not our aircraft. Well, they are, but this is not a sanctioned mission. Those fighters are rogue, and we must assume they will act with extreme prejudice. We are scrambling intercept aircraft.”

  “Thank you, General; have them keep the sky clear. I’ll handle these aircraft.” Nathan stopped his descent and, instead, climbed upward. Rebecca followed alongside. “Computer Central?”

  “Enabled,” the computer responded.

  “Can you track-lock the four jets if I have Rebecca conceal us within the storm clouds again?” Nathan asked while reaching a safe altitude above the ground, where he stopped.

  “Affirmative; tracking locked.”

  Nathan turned to Rebecca. “Conceal us, please.”

  Rebecca’s eyes turned white, and storm clouds formed out of thin air. “I can do more; I can help.”

  “Clearly,” he said and smiled. “I don’t know their intentions, and I assume you have no defense abilities other than to go on the offensive. I want to flame out their engines and bring the craft to the ground. We need to question them, or we’ll never figure out what this is all about. I presume you could use the force of Mother Nature, from the actions I’ve seen so far, to prevent them from harming you, but that might not allow us to get what we need.”