The First Superhero (Book 2): The Siege of the Supers Read online

  The mysterious government soldiers coming and taking the teleport away was suspiciously absent from their report, however.

  “Looks like you were busy,” Dad said when he saw I was standing there.

  I smirked. “It’s been a crazy day, that’s for sure.” I thought back to earlier in the morning and Drew’s revelation to me.

  “What’re your plans? You up for some bowling later, once your mom gets back from the store?” he asked. He turned off the TV and stood up from the couch.

  “Maybe not right when she gets back. I gotta run to LA and talk over some things with Samantha and Doug. I’ll be back around five, though,” I said as I walked over to the door.

  “Okay, that sounds good to me. We’ll throw in some dinner and make a night of it.”

  I opened the door. “I like the sound of that. See you later, Dad.” I shut the door behind me, and in a few minutes, the Hollywood sign was already in my sights.

  * * *

  “GOT you a double with no onions,” Doug said as I entered the storage unit that he and Samantha had set up shop in.

  I grabbed the bag that had my food in it and sat down in my big comfy chair. Samantha passed me my drink. “Thank guys,” I said.

  “No problem. Looked like you could use it after what happened in Chicago,” Samantha said after swallowing a bite of her burger.

  I sighed as I chewed my food. “That guy was a quick thinker,” I said after swallowing. “I’d be okay with never seeing him again.”

  “Well, after those government guys showed up and took him away, you’ll probably have your wish granted,” Samantha said.

  “How’d you know about that? The news wasn’t reporting it,” I said.

  “I was watching the whole thing,” she said, tapping on her temple.

  “Right, forgot about that. I was kinda distracted.”

  Doug laughed. “Yeah, sure seemed like it. I would be too if I was getting sweaty and wrestling with Holocene.”

  My cheeks flushed. I hadn’t expected something so overt and direct from Doug, especially since that wasn’t the case at all.

  “The hell are you talking about?” Samantha snapped at him. She looked at him like he was truly the stupidest person ever.

  He shrugged as he took another bite of his burger. “Just saying.”

  “We weren’t even fighting each other,” I said. “That made no sense.”

  Doug put his hands up in defense. “Just a jo—oh. You’re right.”

  I looked over at Samantha and saw she was concentrating on Doug. “You just told him something, didn’t you?”

  Samantha was visibly angry with Doug. She shot him daggers from her eyes. “You’re an idiot.”

  Doug smiled, showing his teeth and the bits of food stuck between them.

  “Sorry, I was just saying that given certain recent events regarding females, now probably wasn’t the best time to bring up Holocene,” Samantha explained.

  Oh, right. Macy. I wouldn’t even have thought of her had Samantha not brought her up. I felt my stomach twist, and my appetite left with my next breath.

  My thoughts turned to Drew, and I remembered the whole reason I had stopped by. “So I’ve found another Super, and I don’t think he’s on any of you guys’ radars.”

  This piqued Doug and Samantha’s interest, and they both suddenly forgot all about the awkward exchange we’d just had.

  I explained to them everything that had happened with Drew that morning, leaving out no detail. I even told them how I was afraid of him, and what his powers could do to me. At least, what I assumed they could do. I realized that I wasn’t even one hundred percent sure. Just ninety-five percent, which was close enough for me.

  “Maybe the graze from the bolt he experienced messed with the neurons in his brain. At least, that’s what we think it does to Supers,” Samantha said.

  “What exactly do you think it does to us?” I asked.

  “Just a theory, but I think the core of our powers is in our brains. They’ve figured out some way to block, or fry, or scramble, or do something to our brains when we’re hit with the lightning.”

  I thought back to when I was hit by one of the bolts. “That makes sense. I felt as if my head was going to explode when I got hit by one.”

  “Yeah, I think it’s a pretty solid theory. I wish I could learn more about it, though. It might help us learn more about where our powers come from.”

  “Well, I guess that means the government knows more about our powers than we do, if they were able to develop something like this, and that’s very unsettling to think about,” I said, leaning back in my chair.

  That thought lingered in the air as the three of us sat in silence. We were all lost in thinking about what the government could be doing with all the Supers they were gathering. The types of things they were learning.

  “Are you going to bring Drew in?” Samantha asked.

  Broken from my train of thought, I turned to her. “What do you mean?”

  “Are you going to tell him about you? About all of this?” Samantha asked, gesturing to the room around us.

  “I don’t know. I haven’t had much time to think about it. I don’t know what his reaction would be. I was the first one he told about his powers, and he still has no idea about mine,” I said.

  “To be fair, when you got yours it was kind of an urgent situation. You didn’t have much time to show off to all of your friends. Then you were out in space for six months, so you can always just say you didn’t have the time,” Samantha offered.

  I sighed. “Yeah, but this is something I should’ve made the time for.”

  Once again, we all sat in silence.

  “I know what the right thing to do would be,” I said. “But I don’t know if I could do it. It would probably mean losing Drew as a friend.”

  “Telling him or not, that’s still a possibility,” Samantha said, saying what I hated to hear.

  “That’s the crux of this situation.” I stood up. “I need to think. I’ll talk to you guys tomorrow. Get some rest tonight, because tomorrow’s when Holocene and I are going to the docks.” I felt the answer pop into my head—or the best excuse, at least. “Once that’s taken care of, we’ll focus on the Drew situation.”

  “Sounds good,” Samantha said. “Talk to you tomorrow.”

  24

  THE DOCKS

  AT SCHOOL THE NEXT DAY, the Drew situation wasn’t a factor, as Drew was absent. This worried me, as I was worried what he was up to. However, deep down I was relieved that our confrontation—however it went—was postponed.

  My thoughts turned to the shipment coming into the docks in Houston that night, and how Holocene and I would be there waiting for it to arrive. I enjoyed working with her, and was glad she was becoming an ally. She was a powerful one, and I felt sorry for anyone who might underestimate her.

  I wondered what her real name was. Who the real Holocene was. Was she my age? Was she sitting in a boring high school class thinking the same about me? Or was she out of high school, and like Samantha, focused only on the Supers? I hoped that I could at least find out the answer to one of those questions soon. I’d be satisfied if I could find out what her first name was, mostly because that would mean she trusted me. That in her eyes I was a hero.

  * * *

  HOLOCENE and I floated above the Houston docks and watched as armed guards stood around an eighteen-wheeler as workers loaded the contents of one of the shipping containers into the trailer.

  “What’s the plan?” I asked her. “Do we tail the truck and see where it takes us?”

  “The fastest way from here to Dallas is north on I-45, and that will take hours. I don’t have the patience for that. We’re going to do this the quick and easy way.”

  I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that. “And what exactly is that?”

  Holocene flashed me a smile. “Asking the driver nicely. I’ll grab him and get what we need to know. You make sure those guards aren’t going anywh
ere, and take care of all those drugs,” she said.

  I looked down at the scene below us. There were about a dozen guards and a truckload of drugs. I wasn’t sure why they didn’t just load the shipping container onto the truck bed and take the whole thing to Dallas, instead of having to deal with transferring everything between it and the truck trailer. It didn’t change the fact that that’s what was happening, though, and I began to put together a plan in my head.

  “You ready for this?” Holocene asked me.

  I nodded and smiled. “Ladies first.”

  She rolled her eyes as they began to glow, but still smirked at me. She disappeared in a blur and grabbed the driver.

  I turned on the glow in my eyes and flew down, landing on top of the shipping container. The steel bent beneath my feet and the thud echoed throughout the shipping yard.

  Yelps of surprise sounded from the guards, but that was replaced by the clicking of their guns as they them trained on me, safeties off.

  I smiled. This felt good. I was in my element. Thirteen heartbeats filled my ears. Twelve of them were fast and erratic, one of them calm and smooth.

  Guess which one was mine.

  I jumped down from the container, and twelve machine guns went off. I ran away well before the bullets could reach me. I jumped on top of the trailer of the eighteen-wheeler and watched as the bullets entered the container and ripped apart the drugs still inside.

  White powder filled the air, as well as the sounds of glass shattering and liquids spilling on the ground.

  “Nice! I’m guessing you all did that on purpose? You learning your lesson?” I shouted down from the top of the trailer.

  They all jumped, realizing I was no longer in front of them. They searched around frantically, trying to figure out where I’d gone. They saw me on top of the eighteen-wheeler trailer and trained their guns on me. A couple of them fired off shots, but I dodged them with ease.

  “Excuse me. I need to take care of something,” I told them.

  I jumped down from the trailer and grabbed the storage container. I picked it up with ease, even though it weighed tons. I spun in the air, gaining momentum, then let go of the container, sending it flying out into the ocean. I watched it until it eventually disappeared over the horizon.

  Return to sender, I thought. I wanted to say that out loud, but I stopped myself. That would be too much.

  I turned around and saw the twelve guards staring at me, practically shitting their pants.

  “Alright, guys. Everybody drop your guns and get into the back of the eighteen-wheeler.”

  Twelve sets of eyes stared up at me, dumbfounded.

  “Now!” I screamed, projecting my voice.

  They threw their guns to the ground, and were almost fighting each other to be the first ones into the trailer. I snapped their guns in half and then carefully picked up the trailer.

  I flew softly and steadily, doing my best to not rock the trailer back and forth. I found a nearby police station and brought the trailer down in the parking lot. I set it down gently and opened the back doors.

  “Alright, everybody, let’s go. Time to turn yourselves in.”

  The guards climbed out and stood outside the trailer. When they looked up at me I thumbed toward the station doors.

  “I’m trying to be nice here. I’m trying not to hurt anybody.” The tone of my voice changed. “Don’t test me.”

  They began walking toward the station doors.

  Holocene flew down and they started running, afraid of what two Supers might do. She dropped off the driver. “Go, join your friends,” she said as she set the man down.

  The man fell to the ground, stumbled to his feet, and took off running toward the police station.

  “From what I saw, that was very entertaining,” Holocene said with a grin.

  I shrugged. “Just trying to have a little fun. I’ve used my fists a lot lately. It’s nice to not have to.”

  “Well, the night’s still young. I’ve got what I need to know. They were taking the supplies to a nightclub in Dallas called Purple Venus. Apparently the owner is known for his incredible strength and his generosity when it comes to blood donations.”

  “Sounds like our guy,” I said as I began rising into the air.

  Holocene rose with me, ready to take off. “Sounds like it. I think you might need your fists for this one, though.”

  I popped my knuckles. “I’m warmed up and ready to go.”

  “Race you to Dallas.”

  25

  PURPLE VENUS

  DESPITE HOLOCENE SAYING that the night was still young, by the time we got to Purple Venus, it was young no longer. We decided to wait until it was past 2 a.m. so that any patrons of the nightclub would be gone and it would be just us and Bruce Culver, the owner of the nightclub.

  I was hoping that I could use the couple of hours we had to kill to learn more about Holocene, but she said she had to take care of some things and that she would meet me in our usual spot in downtown Dallas.

  So by the time the two of us were standing in front of the doors of Purple Venus in Deep Ellum, I still was none the wiser about who Holocene really was.

  We marched up the steps, Holocene in the lead. She kicked open the doors to the club, and there, standing in the middle of the dance floor, was Bruce, waiting for us.

  The main fluorescent lights were on instead of the party lights, so you could really see how dirty and nasty the club Bruce was standing in the middle of really was.

  Bruce looked at us, flashing a dirty, toothy smile. “Nice to meet you,” he said.

  I looked at Holocene, confused. Bruce didn’t look like a Super. All the Supers so far were under the age of 25, and Bruce looked to be way older.

  “So you’re the guy who makes Delvin?” Holocene said, taking a step forward.

  “That’s right,” Bruce said. But that was it. Nothing more, nothing less. I could hear his heart beating faster and could see sweat dripping from his hands.

  “Samantha,” I said as quietly as I could. “Tell Holocene something’s wrong.” Bruce was nervous. Too nervous. I didn’t like this one bit.

  “Are you going to let us take you in the easy way or the hard way?” Holocene asked, getting into her fighting stance.

  I looked closely and saw something in Bruce’s ear. An earpiece to a walkie-talkie.

  Holocene turned and looked at me, her eyes questioning. I looked over her shoulder and saw Bruce give a slight nod.

  I could hear soldiers stomping up the stairs behind us.

  “Holocene, run!” I yelled.

  Holocene saw the soldiers coming over my shoulder, and leapt into the air. They fired a flurry of purple lightning bolts into the room, and I jumped out of the way.

  One of the bolts clipped Holocene as she launched herself through the ceiling, sending her flying, of course, disappearing into the night.

  I jumped up into the air, ready to fly after her and escape, but before I could, a searing pain hit my calf and I fell to the ground.

  Electricity coursed through my brain as two more bolts hit me dead on. I felt more and more crash into me within a matter of seconds, and before I knew it, I found myself slipping into unconsciousness.

  26

  THE NAME OF A HERO

  MY EYES FLUTTERED OPEN. Light flooded into my vision, and I squeezed them tight. My head pounded and buzzed, like bees were flying around in my skull, stinging as they did so.

  “Hello, Tempest,” a voice said.

  I cracked my eyes open and my vision adjusted. A bright light sat above me, shining directly on me. My eyes adjusted more and I saw I was in a dark room, sitting on a metal chair. My hands were restrained to the armrests rests of the chair by a silver band that went across my wrists and another just below my shoulder. Similar bands wrapped across my ankles and above my kneecaps. The only source of light was one shining directly on me.

  “Are you comfortable?” the voice said, clearly amused.

  I looked
to its source and recognized the face of the government woman I’d worked with months ago during the Richter crisis. “Agent Loren?”

  “It’s Director Loren now,” she corrected me. Her once long black hair was now cut into a bob. Her eyes looked tired and worn from months of intense stress. “Director Loren of the STF—the Super Task Force.”

  “So you’re behind the all the Supers disappearing,” I said, my voice weak. I licked my dry lips, but my tongue offered little saliva to soothe my sore, cracked skin.

  “That we are. And soon we’ll be known as the ones behind the eradication of the Supers,” she said with a sly smile.

  I yanked on my restraints. I’d show her that it wasn’t going to be that easy. But when I jerked, the metal bands didn’t come flying off. I wasn’t suddenly free, bursting through the roof to freedom. I yanked some more, the panic within me increasing. What was going on? Why weren’t these bands as fragile as tinfoil?

  “Having trouble?” she asked.

  “What did you do?” I screamed.

  Loren laughed, and teased, “Come on, Tempest. You can do it.”

  I grew tired from the struggle. I stopped to catch my breath, trying to hold back the panic that threatened to explode inside me.

  “I simply brought you down to our level. Beneath our level,” Loren said with a satisfied smirk. She took a step toward me. Her face blocked the light, silhouetting her figure. “Do you feel a buzzing in your head? Can you feel the static?”

  I didn’t answer. I stared into her eyes, trying my best to remain as stone-cold as I could be. But I was slipping.

  “We’ve implanted a device beneath the skin in your neck, attached to your spine. It’s constantly putting out a low charge of what we like to call Eximus energy. You’re familiar with the Eximus, when it takes the form of purple lightning. It’s blocking certain receptors in your brain that are part of what provides you with your powers.” She took a step back and pulled a device from her pocket. “In fact, I can control how much energy you’re receiving.” She tapped on her screen. “A little.”