The First Superhero Books 0-3 Box Set Page 21

  “That hurt,” I said with a sigh.

  “Looked like it,” Samantha said from behind her desk.

  I looked up and saw that Doug wasn’t there. “Where’s Doug?”

  “He went home. He has school tomorrow.”

  I clenched my eyes shut and groaned. “So do I,” I said, telling myself that more than Samantha.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked, shutting her laptop.

  “Not the best. Do you have any idea how bad that purple stuff hurts? It’s not fun.”

  “I can imagine,” she said, sitting back in her chair. “Looks like the government has another Super in their possession,” she added, referring to Brian.

  “Yeah, and he’s my ex-girlfriend’s current boyfriend, and he also bullied me my entire life until I knocked some screws loose. Now he’s apparently the nicest guy ever.”

  “Geez, tonight just wasn’t your night.”

  “Not at all.” I sat up in my chair. “I’d better head home and try to get some rest before school tomorrow. What was that thing you wanted to tell me? Please say it has something to do with the government taking the Supers. I could really use some good news.”

  Samantha sighed and searched the corner of the room. “Well...it depends on how you look at it. Doug and I were going over all the profiles of the Supers so far. One thing we noticed is that they all seem to be under the age of twenty-five. I mean, we can’t know for sure, but those that we do know about are, and from what we can guess from the others, they seem to be young.”

  “That’s definitely interesting,” I said, standing. “How do you know it’s not just a coincidence, though?”

  “It could be, but I doubt it. Twenty-five is the age when your brain is fully developed. We don’t know what brain development has to do with all of it, but we think it has something to do with granting us our powers. We’re just not sure exactly what yet.”

  I mulled over that information in my mind. So the key to our powers was in our brains, somehow. At least, that was what I had gathered from Samantha’s theory. Although it was just that—a theory. Still, it was nice to have some sort of idea as to what was causing all of this. “I think we’re on the right track,” I said.

  “Well, judging from the response time of that task force once Brian went all flaming, I’d say so,” Samantha said with a satisfied smile.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I think the government is figuring all this out too, so they’re either putting people in schools and colleges to keep an eye out for Supers, or they’re having students who are already there report any suspicious activity.”

  I thought back to the party tonight. I didn’t remember seeing anybody there that I didn’t recognize, but then again, I had a bit of a one-track mind. “I’m pretty sure it’s the latter. I can’t be a hundred percent sure, though.”

  “Well, in either case, keep an eye out. One thing’s for sure, and it’s that they’ve got their eye on Ebon High.”

  I nodded in agreement. This new development wasn’t going to make my life any easier, that was for sure. “Speaking of which, I’d better get going. I’ve gotta think of some reason to tell Drew why I left without saying anything.”

  “Just say you left after your argument with Macy,” Samantha said absentmindedly as she opened her laptop back up.

  “What was that?” I asked. Had she been listening in on me?

  Samantha stopped what she was doing, horror washing over her face. “I mean, I’m a girl, so if my ex showed up after being gone for six months, it could only end in an argument, right?”

  I eyed her suspiciously. “Right.”

  “See? I’m pretty good at this girl thing,” she said with a self-gratifying nod.

  I rolled my eyes. “Good night, Samantha.”

  “Goodnight, Kane.”

  I left the storage unit and began flying home to Indianapolis.

  Speech Therapy

  More rumors were spread the next day at school than the Monday after prom.

  Everybody was talking about Brian and his superpowers. How long had he had them? Why had he used them at the party? Where had he gone?

  The last one was the one that interested me the most. The official story was that he had been taken to the hospital and was recovering, but I knew that wasn’t the case. I seemed to be the only one, though. Even people who’d been at the party—including Drew—believed Brian was lying in a hospital bed somewhere, making a speedy recovery. Everyone thought the soldiers in black had been there for Tempest, not Brian. I knew that, really, they were just trying to get two birds with one stone.

  It almost worked, too. I couldn’t stop thinking about how my powers had ceased to work for the few moments that the purple electricity was coursing through me. I was normal again. No longer Tempest, just Kane Andrews. It terrified me. I’d thought I had no weakness, but now I knew that that was no longer the case. And my biggest enemy knew that too.

  As did the people whose house I’d crashed through, and the backyard I’d dug a hole in big enough for a new hot tub.

  To make matters worse, that was Tempest’s big return. Cell phone footage from the party had leaked, and was being played on the news 24/7. It was all people were talking about. After his six-month absence, Tempest had returned to stop a high school party.

  Okay, so that’s not exactly what happened. I did save who knows how many lives. Still, it wasn’t the grand return I’d expected, or wanted. I wanted something grandiose. I wanted to let people know I was back, and I wasn’t messing around.

  The whole experience was definitely humbling. And it wasn’t over, either.

  Because I was sitting at the kitchen table in my apartment in Indianapolis, writing out the speech Samantha, Doug, and I were going to record that night and post on the internet.

  I scribbled out the last sentence I’d written. Then the last paragraph. Then I just crumbled up the paper and threw it in the pile with the rest of the rejects.

  “You know it’s not going to be live. You can do more than one take,” Mom said from the couch when she heard me groan in frustration.

  “I know. I just want to have everything ready so I can get it over with. I gotta make sure it’s perfect. There’s going to be a lot of people who watch this,” I said as I grabbed another piece of paper.

  “Make sure you turn monetize the video. You can make a lot from YouTube ads,” Mom said, only half-joking.

  “I think that would make us pretty easy to track down,” I said as I began writing.

  “Speaking of which, I’d like to meet Samantha and Doug sometime. You should have them over for dinner.”

  “Mom, they live in California. They can’t just fly over like I can.”

  “Yeah, well maybe—oh! You’re on the news again!” Mom said, excited. She turned the television up.

  I looked over my shoulder and saw myself on TV, telling everyone to back up and give Brian space. I barely recognized myself. My eyes were glowing bright, washing out most of my face. My suit was almost black from the fire, and parts of it were melted away. Muscles bulged from beneath the suit, but not excessively so. I didn’t look like a bodybuilder or something, just really fit.

  I thought about the six-pack I had, and couldn’t help but smile. I’d always wanted one—or six—but I’d never thought they’d be a package deal with superpowers.

  I looked at the clock and saw it was almost eight. I got up from the table and walked over to the closet that held my Tempest suits. “I gotta go, Mom. We’re supposed to meet at six.” Mom was about to say something about my being late, but I stopped her. “Time zones, Mom.”

  Mom smiled. “I was going to say good luck, and that I’m proud of you. You’re doing the right thing, sweetheart.”

  I smiled back at her, and I genuinely felt a little bit less nervous about the whole ordeal. “Thanks, Mom.” She’d come a long way from the way she’d acted when I first got my powers. Then, she was scared out of her mind, afraid for my life. But afte
r what I’d been through, she knew that I could handle just about anything.

  I put the Tempest suit on and felt the urge to tell Mom about what had happened with the government soldiers. I pushed those urges far down inside me. There was no way I could tell her. She would freak out—and with good reason. No, for now, I’d keep her in the dark.

  I left the apartment wearing a coat over my suit. Once I got outside and into an alley, I slipped the Tempest hood over my face and then took off, flying toward Los Angeles.

  “I BROUGHT SOME MAKEUP. I used to apply it on the actors for the school play, so I know what I’m doing,” Doug said as he reached into his backpack. He pulled out a handful of shades and began examining them, looking from my face to the selection before him. “Just gotta figure out your shade,” he mumbled to himself.

  “I think I’ll be good without makeup,” I said.

  “Yeah, Doug, this isn’t Peter Pan,” Samantha said as she adjusted some settings on her camera. “Alright,” she said as she put the camera on her tripod. “I think I’ve got everything where it needs to be.”

  I took a deep breath. We’d turned the storage unit into a mini movie studio—not the first time that’d been done in Los Angeles, I’m sure. Lights were strung up everywhere, and a white backdrop was taped up on the wall behind me.

  I eyed the big comfortable chair that I normally sat in. We’d had to move it up against the entrance, and I really wanted to move it back and sit in it instead of standing. I felt so awkward just standing there. Plus the comfort of the chair would’ve calmed my nerves a little bit. However, just sitting in a chair addressing the camera seemed a little too maniacal; too Bond villain-ish. I might as well have sat down in a computer chair and spun around stroking a cat when the cameras started rolling. I chuckled at the thought of that. I’d probably name the cat Socks, because it would have black markings on its feet that would look like socks and—I shook the thoughts from my mind. I clenched my eyes and took a deep breath. Focus, Kane. Focus, I told myself. I was really, really nervous.

  “You good?” Samantha asked.

  I realized I’d been staring off into space, and came back to reality. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good. Just practicing in my head,” I lied.

  “Alright, well, we’re going to do one really quick. You ready?”

  I nodded.

  “Okay.” Samantha pushed a button on her camera. “Rolling.”

  Doug pressed a button on his audio recorder and held up his microphone. “Speed.”

  Speed? What the hell did that mean? Why were they speaking this lingo? I felt myself get lightheaded. I didn’t know if I could do this.

  “Can you give me a clap-sync?” Samantha said.

  I looked at her like a deer in the headlights. A what?

  “Just clap your hands so we can sync the sound,” Samantha said with an eye roll.

  I clapped my hands, feeling very, very stupid.

  “Whenever you’re ready.”

  I looked into the camera. My heart beat faster. Why was I so scared? I grew frustrated with myself. What was my problem? Why couldn’t I just say anything? Why couldn’t I own up to my mistakes?

  I sighed.

  I didn’t know if I could do it. I didn’t know if I could face the embarrassment of my failures. I thought about the bank in Dallas. How many people had I put out of a job that day? How much money had that cost people? I was trying to be a hero, and I’d failed.

  Now, I was trying to own up to my mistakes—to be a hero again. And I was failing miserably.

  I looked to Samantha. “I don’t kn—”

  “Tempest,” she said, stopping me. “I believe in you.”

  I was brought back to when I’d met Samantha in person for the very first time. She’d given me a hug and thanked me. She’d thanked me for stopping Richter. For saving the world. Like a hero would.

  Suddenly, I didn’t care what anybody thought about me. I didn’t care what Holocene thought. I didn’t care what Macy thought. I didn’t care what the government thought.

  I’d done my job. I’d stopped Richter. I was a hero. Everyone else could believe what they wanted, but that didn’t change the fact that in Samantha’s eyes, in my parents’ eyes, and finally, in my own eyes, I was a hero.

  I cleared my throat.

  And the words flowed from my mouth.

  “My name is Tempest. I have some things I need to get off my chest.”

  Second Chances

  My speech racked up a few million views in the first 24 hours after it was posted.

  I couldn’t help but think about how much I could’ve made from ad revenue, like Mom said.

  It was all over the news, although every time it was on TV when I was in the room, I turned it off. I hated seeing myself on camera, even though you couldn’t even recognize it was me.

  Still, even though I couldn’t help but cringe when it was on, I was proud of myself. I stood there and told everyone that I’d returned a little bit earlier then they’d thought, and that I was behind the bank collapsing in Dallas.

  I didn’t say where I’d been during those six months, however. I didn’t want to add more fuel to the government’s fire. If I told everyone they’d lied about the reasons behind refunding the shuttle program, it’d just add to the growing tension in the country. People were starting to get very upset that a teenager was doing more to protect them than the government—even though, really, they had no idea I was a teenager. If they knew that, there’d probably be chaos. People would be very, very, pissed.

  My alarm went off, and I turned it off as soon as it did so. It was of no use to me this morning, since I had already been wide awake for a half hour. I’d enjoyed the peace and quiet for those thirty minutes. I’d been able to just lie there, lost in my own thoughts.

  Now, however, it was time to get up. It was time to show people that Tempest was a hero—and hopefully, show Holocene that I was an ally.

  It was a Saturday morning, Mom and Dad were still asleep. I put on my basketball shorts and t-shirt, then grabbed my latest Tempest outfit from my bedroom floor. I slipped it on, and then put on my jacket and sweatpants.

  I left the apartment building, walked through my usual alley, and took off for Dallas.

  I didn’t go as fast as I could, but I wasn’t taking my time either. I made a mental note to keep an eye out for Holocene. If she saw me flying around Dallas, she probably wouldn’t be very happy, even if she’d seen my video. I hoped I’d be at the bank site before she saw me.

  After a thirty-minute flight, I reached Dallas. I landed on top of a skyscraper downtown and shed my coat and sweatpants, revealing my Tempest outfit underneath. Even with the outfit and the clothes underneath, the cold wind bit at me. I could’ve used some of Brian’s flames at that moment. Even though it was Texas, it still got pretty cold in December. Not Indiana cold, but still, nothing to sneeze at.

  I made sure my clothes weren’t anywhere where they’d blow away, and then flew to where the bank used to be. The construction crew was just arriving, working even on the weekend. They’d just begun to clean up the mess, and it would probably take a few solid days of work before they would be ready to move on to the next step.

  Bulldozers picked at the rubble, piling it up. They would pick up a chunk, drop it in the back of a dump truck, and then go back to picking at their pile.

  I smirked. I was about to give everybody the day off.

  I flew down and began pushing everything into small piles. I then grabbed the pile and threw it in the back of one of the dump trucks. I filled up the first dump truck in fifteen seconds flat before moving on to the next one. In just a couple of minutes, the seven dump trucks that were lined up in the street had been filled to the brim with rubble, and a large part of the building had been cleaned up.

  “You guys can go haul that off,” I said to the truck drivers.

  They all stared at me, their mouths open. They couldn’t believe what they’d just seen. The Tempest, the guy who’d saved them
from Richter just a few months ago, was now helping them do their jobs. It was like when a famous actor visited a hospital or one of his fans at work.

  I mentally kicked myself. Don’t get cocky, I thought. Just do your job.

  “Tempest,” a booming voice sounded from the sky.

  I looked up and saw Holocene floating down to my eye level. “A word.”

  I looked down at the construction workers. They looked at each other, eyes wide. Then they pulled out their phones, their faces plastered with wonder. Two superheroes were about to have “a word.”

  Really, they should’ve been scared shitless.

  Holocene turned and flew up to one of the skyscrapers.

  I landed behind her, ready for her to berate me.

  “I thought I told you not to come back here,” she said. She crossed her arms as she turned to face me.

  I shrugged. “I’m just trying to do my job. I made a mistake. I’m trying to do right by it.”

  “What’s your angle?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

  “No angle, I swear,” I said. I was telling the truth. I honestly just wanted to own up to my mistake. I wanted to be the hero everyone thought I already was.

  “Okay, fine. You can do your little community service work. But I’ve got my eye on you, Tempest. Let’s see if you can walk the walk.”

  With that, Holocene flew away, leaving me on top of the building.

  I walked to the edge and looked out over the city of Dallas. I knew I could do it. I knew I had it in me. I could walk the walk.

  More dump trucks pulled up, ready for me to load them. I flew down there and started doing what I’d come there to do: clean up after myself.

  I started to work a little faster. I wanted to get everything done before news got out and the government showed up with their purple lightning guns. That was the last thing I needed.

  Thankfully, that didn’t happen. After thirty more minutes, the whole site was cleaned up, and they could start rebuilding ASAP.