The First Superhero (Book 2): The Siege of the Supers Page 14

  Leo looked back into the mirror. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

  The whole building shook and an explosion sounded in the distance.

  “What the hell was that?” Leo asked, looking around for some sort of explanation.

  “That, Leo, is the war. It’s what we’re going to end—together,” Kane said with a smile.

  A door to the room opened and a girl with blonde hair rolled in in a wheelchair. “We’ve got some Legion ships incoming. We need the both of you up top ASAP,” she said.

  Selena and Kane met eyes and nodded.

  “Thanks, Samantha. We’re on our way,” Kane said.

  The girl Leo assumed was Samantha rolled out of the room in her wheelchair, closing the door behind her.

  “You try to rest, okay? When you get your strength back, then we’ll talk,” Kane said, placing a hand on Leo’s shoulder.

  Leopold nodded, his head still spinning from all the questions he had without answers. Kane and Selena left the room, leaving Leo lying there all alone, listening to the sounds of the war raging on in the distance.

  40

  DETOUR

  I LANDED on top of a building as we crossed into California.

  “What are you doing?” Samantha asked.

  “I gotta do something really quick,” I told her. I set down Hank and Drew.

  Drew looked at me and sighed, knowing what was next.

  “You need to start talking, and fast,” I said.

  Drew crossed his arms. “Look, I understand why you didn’t tell me you were Tempest. Trust me, I’ve seen the things that the STF can do, and I know you were just trying to keep me safe. Still, it kinda sucks.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything, but like you said, I was just trying to keep you and everybody else safe. How did you get mixed up with the STF?”

  “Well, I wasn’t entirely lying when I said I’d been volunteering with the relief and rebuilding efforts. Late one night, I was wandering around one of the sites we were working on, just getting some fresh air. I ran across some STF people gathering samples for research. I started freaking out, saying I was going to call the cops, not realizing that they were government people. They captured me and I was put into a tiny cell without any windows. They left me there for a while before they finally came to me and told me that I could either join them or spend the rest of my life in prison. Of course I joined. The main reason they were interested in me was because I was from Ebon, and they knew Tempest—you—were from somewhere around there. So they trained me, implanted devices in me that give me my abilities, and sent me back to Ebon to keep an eye out for any Super activity.”

  “So your powers aren’t naturally developing?” I asked.

  Drew shook his head. “No, they’re not. I don’t know how they did it, but they allow me to control the Eximus energy. Not everyone can do it. Some people had terrible reactions to the devices and died.”

  The idea of the STF experimenting on humans without Super abilities disgusted me. I couldn’t believe the government was allowing something like this to happen. “What made you turn against them?”

  “Well, I was never really with them. I just didn’t want to spend the rest of my life in prison. The pay wasn’t bad, either. But when I knew for sure you were Tempest, I had to get you out of there. They’d end up killing you, and I couldn’t let that happen. I tried to warn you before they captured you, but I wasn’t one hundred percent sure it was you. I had my suspicions, and after a while I was able to put the pieces together. That’s why I told you about my powers, so maybe you would shed some light on it on your own. I had to be sure it was you before I just started telling you all these things. But then they trapped you with that whole Delvin mission thing, and it was too late.”

  I stood there for a moment, thinking about what Drew had just told me. It all sounded true, and if it was, it wasn’t like Drew had much of a choice. I would’ve joined the STF too if my only other option was prison. I looked to Hank, who was standing off to the side trying not to get in the way. I knew he was listening, and he didn’t seem to be disturbed or upset about anything Drew had said. I guess he believed him too.

  “Okay,” I said, coming to a decision. “I believe you.”

  I’ve never seen someone so relieved. Drew smiled and shifted his weight around on his feet. “Yeah, okay. Thanks, man. I’m really sorry.”

  “No, I’m sorry. Thankful, too. I don’t know how I would’ve gotten out without you.” I smirked. “Definitely would’ve found a way, though.”

  Drew chuckled. “I don’t doubt it.”

  “You guys ready to go meet up with Samantha and the rest of the group?” I asked.

  “Yes, they are. Get your ass over here,” Samantha practically yelled in my mind. She was growing very impatient.

  “Yeah,” Drew said. “Let’s go.”

  41

  HELLO WORLD

  MY ALARM SOUNDED, waking me from a deep sleep. It’d been two days since I had returned home, and it felt as if I’d slept the entire time. Even if I wasn’t that tired, there was just something about lying in my own bed that automatically put me to sleep.

  I got up and began getting ready for the day. It was a Monday, so I had to go to school. Not to go to class, but to clean out my locker. My parents and I had decided that the safest thing for me to do would be to finish up my senior year from home. I wasn’t sure how I felt about being homeschooled, but I didn’t have much school left to do. By that logic I probably could’ve just stayed in high school, but with Atlas and the Legion of Richter out there planning whatever they were planning, I had no idea when I’d be called into action. Homeschooling was really my only option if I didn’t want people to find out who I really was.

  I wouldn’t be doing it alone, though. Drew and his family were moving to Indianapolis, and the two of us would do school together. Drew’s parents knew he’d been working with the STF. They’d been threatened to keep quiet even more than Drew himself had been. They were glad he wasn’t working with them any longer; however, unlike me and my family, the STF knew exactly who Drew was. They’d have to use false names and lie low unless they wanted the STF to find them.

  Not that there was much of an STF left, anyway. Atlas and the Legion had done a number on the complex. Holocene and I did a couple of flybys, and we saw that the entire place had been destroyed. It looked like everyone was dead, too. Hopefully the STF believed Drew was one of the casualties.

  I brushed my teeth and stared blankly at my reflection in the mirror. Everything felt weird to me. Surreal, like I was in the middle of a transitioning period. So many things were happening that the general population didn’t know about, but were bursting at the seams to find out. It wouldn’t be long until Atlas and the Legion made their presence known, and I was sure the STF wouldn’t be far behind. Which meant my team and I would have to be there to stop both of them from causing everything to fall apart.

  Whether or not we’d be able to do that, I wasn’t sure.

  But those were Tempest’s troubles. Right now, I was just Kane Andrews, and Kane Andrews had to go face Ebon High School one last time.

  * * *

  I DUMPED a bunch of papers into a trash bin I’d dragged over from nearby. I put the belongings I didn’t want thrown away into my backpack, doing so as fast as I could. I wanted to get out of there before someone I knew ran into me.

  Of course, someone did, and it was the last person I wanted to see.

  “Hey, Kane,” she said from behind me.

  I turned in the empty hallway and saw Macy standing there, holding her books in front of her. Her sad smile caused my heart to flutter. Nostalgia flooded me and I couldn’t help but think about how much I loved hanging out and talking with her. How much I missed it.

  “Hey, Macy. Shouldn’t you be in class?” I said, looking down the hallway toward the closed classroom doors.

  “Yeah, I guess. I was just coming back from the restrooms and saw you. Are you leaving?�
� she asked, gesturing toward my half-empty locker.

  “Yeah.” I shrugged. “There’s just too much here, you know? Too many bad memories.” I mentally kicked myself. Why was I making myself seem like the victim?

  “I get that. You’ve missed a lot of days lately.”

  “Yep,” I said. I went back to cleaning out my locker. I just wanted her to leave, not because I didn’t want to talk to her, but because I didn’t like the feelings I got when I did. I didn’t even know why she was being so nice to me.

  “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry,” she said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

  I flinched and turned around. “It’s okay, Macy. Don’t worry about it. I was being selfish by not explaining anything to you. I just have a lot going on right now, and I need some space.”

  She nodded as she shifted back and forth on her feet. “Of course, I get that. I just hate that everybody’s leaving,” she said. I noticed her eyes were beginning to water. “I mean, you, Drew, and Michael were the reasons I wanted to stay. Now everybody’s gone. Even Brian. I haven’t talked to him in weeks and I’m just so scared, Kane. I’m so afraid. I don’t know what’s going on with anybody and I’m just an outsider. I should’ve gone back to Indianapolis. I shouldn’t have stayed.” Tears leaked from her eyes, but she did her best to ignore them and stay strong.

  I took a step forward, testing the waters. Once I saw she was okay with it, I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a hug. “I’m sorry, Macy. I’m really sorry. If you want to, I think you should go back to Indianapolis. Do whatever will make you happy. You don’t deserve friends like me.”

  Macy pulled back, wiping tears from her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but I shushed her.

  I heard something.

  “Kane, wh—”

  I held my finger up and listened closely. A door creaked. A radio crackled.

  “Someone’s here,” I whispered.

  Macy looked at me like I was crazy. “Yeah, it’s a school.”

  “Target in sight,” someone whispered.

  I looked to my right just in time to see a purple Eximus bolt flying right at me. I dropped to the ground and the bolt flew down the hallway and slammed into the trophy case. Glass exploded and fire alarms rang.

  I grabbed Macy and dashed inside the closest classroom. The students yelled in surprise when they saw me suddenly appear.

  “What the hell is going on?” the teacher yelled.

  Macy jumped back, looking around, trying to figure out where she was and how she’d gotten there so fast.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything sooner,” I said as I turned to the teacher, Mr. Aspen. “Evacuate the school,” was all I could tell him. Then I turned and dashed out of the classroom.

  A wall of soldiers in black now stood on my right, each one holding an Eximus gun.

  I turned to my left and began running down the hallway. Not as fast as I could, though. I wanted them to see where I was going.

  Eximus charges flew all around me, but none made contact. I looked over my shoulder and saw that the soldiers were beginning to chase after me, just like I wanted.

  I turned right down the hallway and picked up the pace a little bit. I braced myself and charged through the fire exit door at the end of the hallway. The soldiers had yet to make it around the corner, but they’d know to go through the destroyed doorway.

  “Kane Andrews,” a voice boomed from a loudspeaker.

  I stopped in my tracks and looked up. Helicopters were circling above me, each of them filled with soldiers. One of them had a camera pointed right at me, broadcasting to who knew where.

  “Surrender immediately. We have the place surrounded. There is no escape, Tempest.”

  This time I didn’t need an Eximus blast to have all my strength taken from me. It left on its own accord.

  They knew. They knew I was Tempest; that Tempest was me.

  Macy knew. The kids in Mr. Aspen’s classroom knew.

  Whoever was watching the feed from that camera knew.

  “Oh my god, Kane,” Samantha said in my head. “It’s all over the news. That camera is sending a feed to every station in America. The whole world knows you’re Tempest.”

  I’d stood there for too long. Soldiers surrounded me, all pointing their guns at me. I looked up into the helicopter that held the camera. Sitting next to it was Loren, a giant smile spread across her face. She waved, looking more satisfied than anyone I’d ever seen in my life.

  This was all just a show. Loren knew I’d be able to escape. The soldiers didn’t shoot at me, even though they were standing in a circle around me. This was all just a power play.

  I launched myself into the air, flying as fast as I could to Indianapolis. No matter how fast I flew, though, there was no escaping the fact that the whole world knew that I, Kane Andrews, was the superhero Tempest.

  42

  ONLY THE BEGINNING

  I FLEW through the front door of our apartment building and up the stairwell, coming to a stop at the front door of the apartment. I frantically grabbed my keys from my pocket and after a couple of tries, finally got the key in the lock. I burst into the apartment, slamming the door shut behind me.

  Mom and Dad were standing in front of the TV, watching the news. They turned and saw me as I walked in. Mom rushed me and gave me a hug.

  “Everything’s going to be okay,” she said.

  I nodded and pulled away from her hug. “I know, but right now we need to get out of here. Pack your bags. They’re probably on their way here right now.”

  Dad nodded. “I’ll get all the cash from my safe. Zoe, you start packing.”

  The two of them rushed into their bedroom and I ran to mine. I grabbed a duffel bag from my closet and filled it with my clothes and toiletries in seconds. I grabbed another and ran to the closet that held my Tempest outfits. I shoved all of them into the bag and then put the two of them by the front door.

  I walked over to the TV, watching what was happening in disbelief.

  “We’re on location at Ebon High School, where it was just revealed that senior Kane Andrews is, in fact, the superhuman Tempest,” the blonde television reporter said. “This has been confirmed by Loren Westlake, director of a government division known as the Super Task Force. We are on location with Director Westlake now.”

  The camera zoomed out a bit and Loren stepped into the shot, that smug look of satisfaction still plastered on her face. “How are you, Melissa?”

  “I’m good, thank you,” the reporter said. “First of all, how did you learn the identity of Tempest?”

  “Well, we’ve been working for months on figuring out the science behind the Supers and what we can do to protect the American people from them. We never want to have something like the Richter crisis again, and we won’t. Part of the process was learning everything we could about Tempest. Then we just followed the clues until they led us here. Mr. Andrews demonstrated his abilities in his escape from the high school moments ago.”

  “Is that something you’d planned, his escape?”

  “Yes, of course. We had to prove he was Tempest, and he did so magnificently. It won’t be long before he’s in our custody,” Loren said, looking straight into the camera, knowing I would be watching.

  My heart beat so fast I thought it would explode. I was freaking out. I had no idea what I was going to do. My life was over. I could never be Kane Andrews again. Everybody would know my face. Everybody on the planet would know who I was. This is it. I’m through.

  “One of the questions I know is going to come up is why he should be taken into custody. I know this is going to spark major debate. Could you elaborate a little bit?”

  “Yes, of course. It’s clear that all Supers are a danger to society. Just look at Richter. He could’ve wiped us all out. Yes, Tempest—Kane—is the one who took him out. However, what people don’t know is that Kane actually came to us for help. We’re the ones who came up with the plan to stop Richter.”
>
  I almost threw my remote through the TV screen. It wasn’t their plan at all! It wasn’t my plan either, though; it was Samantha’s. But she was on my team. On my side. Besides, Loren hadn’t even answered the damn question! All she was trying to do was create some character assassination. She was trying to make me look weak.

  It took all the power within me not to fly back to Ebon and argue my case. I didn’t have time for that, though. I had to get my family to safety.

  “Come to Los Angeles as soon as you can, Kane. We need to talk in person,” Samantha said in my head.

  “Yeah, don’t worry, I’ll be there,” I said.

  “Kane, are you ready? We need to leave,” Dad said as he walked out of his bedroom.

  “Yeah, I’m good to go,” I said as I walked toward the door.

  Dad handed me his and Mom’s cell phones. “Destroy these.”

  I took the two phones in my hands and took out my anger and frustration on them. I crushed them as hard as I could; you couldn’t even tell what they’d once been when I was done. Then I took my own phone out of my pocket and clicked on the screen. It was filled with missed calls and texts. A few of them were even from Macy. I crushed the phone in my hand, even though I wanted to stop and read what people were saying.

  Having taken out some of my anger on the phones, I felt a bit better.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Dad said.

  The three of us walked out of our apartment, and I know we all felt the fear creeping in. I knew this was only the beginning.

  43

  CALLED OUT

  “DREW’S FAMILY went into hiding just in case, too. I’ll fly him up when I’m done here,” I told Samantha and Doug as I paced inside their storage unit.

  “What are you going to do?” Samantha asked me again.

  And again, I had no answer. I stopped pacing and stared at the wall. I honestly didn’t have the slightest clue. What could I do? Everyone knew who I was. Everyone knew my face. I could never go out in public without my Tempest costume on again.