The Secret of the Supers (The First Superhero Book 4) (10 page)

“
H
ey
, what’s that?” I heard someone ask as they walked up behind me.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw Samantha. My heart skipped a beat and I did a double take. Selena. It was just Selena. “I—uh,” I stuttered, still trying to recover from thinking I saw Samantha. I held up the suit to her as we walked. “They made me this replica of my Tempest suit. They think I should wear it, but I’m not too sure.”

Selena laughed. “Oh man, I remember the first time I saw you wearing that thing on the news. I thought it was so cheesy.”

I smirked, wanting to stay engaged in the conversation, but too weirded out by the fact I thought I saw Samantha. I could’ve
sworn
she was the one walking up behind me, her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, bouncing behind her as she walked. “Yeah, it’d feel weird putting this thing back on.”

“Are you going to?” she asked.

I stopped in front of the door to my room. I shrugged as I retrieved the keys from my pocket and unlocked the door. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

“If it were me, I wouldn’t. But you’re not as cool as me so it’s whatever,” she said, sarcasm evident in her voice. “Catch you later,” she said as she turned and walked away.

I opened the door and locked it behind me. After tossing the outfit on my bed, I went to the bathroom. I turned the water in the sink on cold, and took a handful of it in my hand, splashing it on my face. The cold water tried the best it could to clear the fog from my mind, but I still couldn’t take my mind off the fact that I thought I saw Samantha.

My feelings turned from confusion to a weird sort of happy. I’d accepted it wasn’t her, so instead I was relishing the fact that I got to “see” her, even for a split second. It was as if I saw a picture of her, except the picture was life size and walking towards me. I cursed myself for turning away from her so fast and not lingering for a few more seconds. I was just so thrown off guard I didn’t know what to do.

Once my thoughts went down the track of thinking about Samantha, there was little I could do to stop it. I couldn’t help but wonder about where she was, whether or not she was aware of anything—which was my nice way of saying conscious or unconscious. If she was conscious, she would’ve been talking to me, right? Was there some reason she wasn’t communicating? The only reason I could think is if she wasn’t
able
to.

I didn’t like thinking about that, but I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about her. So instead I turned my thoughts to thinking about good times. My brain instantly went to the moment before Selena and I left for London, when she kissed me.

“That didn’t mean anything,”
she’d said immediately afterwards. I chuckled as I shook my head. She was so scared her powers wouldn’t be strong enough to reach me all the way in London, and wanted to do anything she could to give us the strongest connection possible.

Well, she had no trouble talking to both Selena and myself while we were over here, and I didn’t see her giving Selena any meaningless kisses. She had no reason to fear. I believed in her, and she’d come through.

“I still believe in you,” I whispered.

My stomach growled, and I remembered that I actually never got anything to eat. I grabbed a towel, dried my face off, and switched off the bathroom light as I walked out.

I opened the door to my room, and almost jumped out of my skin when I saw Ellie standing there, her fist raised as she was about to knock on the door.

“You scared the hell out of me,” I said, laughing as I grabbed my chest.

“I’m so, so, sorry,” Ellie said as she laughed. “I forgot to tell you something and wanted to before I forgot.”

“What is it?” I asked as my laughter died down.

“Well, my parents live nearby, and they wanted to cook a big dinner for you and your friends. I told them we were way too busy, but they just wanted me to ask. Just to say thanks for all you guys are doing,” she said.

“Of course, we’d love to,” I said. “I’ll let everybody else know. When is it?”

“I’ll find out from them when I tell them you’re coming. They’re going to be thrilled. It’d be good to get out of this building for reasons that don’t include defending the city from The Legion,” Ellie said.

“I think I’ll have to agree with that.”

“I’ll text you when I have the details,” she said as she stepped away.

“Okay, sounds good! See you later,” I said as she walked out of my room, closing the door behind me.

****

T
hat night
I entered my room, eager for sleep. I’d spent the last couple of hours hanging out with Avery and Doug, talking and laughing around a booth in the food court. We told Avery about our Selena and Drew suspicions, and she said she’d keep an eye on them because she’s really good at figuring people out. They both scolded me for not asking Selena about the argument while I talked to her in the hallway after meeting with Ellie. Of course I didn’t tell them that I was too distracted by the fact that I saw Samantha, so I just took their grief and suddenly hoped they’d forget about the whole thing.

After brushing my teeth, I changed into a pair of sweatpants and a fresh t-shirt. I walked over to my bed and picked up the Tempest outfit. It had been sitting there untouched since I tossed it aside earlier. I held it in my hands, and even considered trying it on. I realized that it probably wouldn’t even fit. How did they know my exact dimensions? They had plenty of reference photos and videos to choose from, of course, but still, I decided it wasn’t worth my time. I tossed the outfit onto my desk and climbed into bed, trying not to think about the time when I was Tempest. When I was
really
a superhero, and not an eighteen year old fighting a war and was in over his head way more than he knew.

A
n alarm blaring
woke me from my sleep.

I jumped from my bed while the noise shrieked around my room, a red light above my door flashing. I changed out of my night clothes and got dressed in less than a second. I picked up my phone from on top of my dresser and dialed Ellie’s number as I exited my room.

Red lights flashed around the hallway. People stampeded down the hall towards the stairs. I searched around for anybody I knew that could tell me what was going on.

“Kane, where are you?” Ellie said in my ear.

I realized she’d answered. “I’m leaving my room. What’s going on?”

“Get downstairs as soon as you can. Jigsaw is here, and he’s got hostages.”

I took off running, but not downstairs. Not yet. I burst into Doug’s room, but he wasn’t there. I ran to Drew’s about to barge in, but then I thought back to the other night. I slammed my fist on it, and the door swung open. Drew was standing there, half dressed, trying to pull his shoes on.

“What’s going on?” he asked, his eyes wide.

“Jigsaw. He’s got hostages. Have you seen Doug? He’s not in his room,” I asked, trying to figure out where he could be.

Drew shook his head. “I just woke up,” he said, looking down at the fact that he wasn’t fully dressed.

“Right, of course,” I said. “You find everybody and make sure they get to safety. I’m going down to take care of Jigsaw.”

“Okay, don’t worry I’ll find everybody,” he said.

I left Drew and ran down the stairs as fast as I could. I swerved between people in the crowded stairwell as they moved in slow motion, their faces frozen and filled with fear. I had to make sure I didn’t touch anybody, since anything moving at hundreds of miles an hour touching you usually didn’t end very well, even if it was a small tap.

I grabbed a hold of the hand rail, and lifted myself up and over the edge of the stairwell, falling five stories down to the first floor. People continued running down the stairs towards the basement where the emergency shelters were located. I, on the other hand, ran out the door, and found Doug.

He was sitting with Avery to his right, along with a dozen or so other government agents, explosives rigged on and around them. They were surrounded by a bunch of Jigsaw’s men, with Jigsaw himself standing in front, a gun in one hand and detonator in the other.

There was a gap of a hundred feet or so before there was a line of soldiers, their guns aimed at Jigsaw. I looked behind them and saw Ellie standing nearby Mr. Auder and Ms. Ava, along with a whole contingent of superior officers.

I ran over to them, finding it hard to take my eyes off Doug. He didn’t see me yet, but I could see the look of fear on his face easily.

“Kane, let me debrief you on the situation,” Ellie said when she saw me approach. She pulled me aside and began to explain. “This morning Jigsaw and his men hit us like a whirlwind. They flew through and grabbed as many hostages as they could while others rigged the explosives. They were all set up so fast our heads were spinning. I tried ringing your mobile, but you wouldn’t answer, but I guess when we pulled the alarm that did the trick.”

“I’m sorry, I had my phone on silent. Not used to having one of them again,” I explained. “What does he want? Why haven’t you just taken him out yet?”

Ellie pointed towards Jigsaw, and that’s when I saw it. He was wearing some sort of wetsuit looking thing that flowed with Eximus. “If anybody touches him, their powers are gone. Nobody’s going to be able to get close without him letting his thumb off the detonator. He hasn’t listed his demands yet. All this has happened within the last few minutes, but we should know more soon.”

Right when Ellie finished getting me caught up on the situation, Selena came running over to us. “Hey, what’s going on?” she asked, her gaze focused on the hostages.

As Ellie filled her in, I walked over to the line of soldiers who had their guns trained on Jigsaw and his men. I surveyed the situation, trying to figure out if there was any way I could end this all right then and there.

Jigsaw’s men were surrounding the hostages in a semicircle, their back against the wall. Jigsaw stood in front of them all, the detonator in his head, his eyes glowing bright and blue. His thumb was pressed down on its button, and if he let any pressure off, the hostages were going to go boom. I looked close and saw the Eximus flowing across his suit like it was a fence keeping out Supers. As evidenced by the fact that his eyes were glowing bright and blue, he still had his powers. The suit must’ve worked in a way that the Eximus stayed on the outside, and the inside was insulated.

I looked over at Doug who sat huddled on the ground next to Avery. He was watching Jigsaw, but his eyes wandered from him to the soldiers. That’s when the two of us made eye contact and he smiled. I did my best to give him a reassuring look. From the look on his face I could tell he knew I was going to save him.

Now I just needed to figure out how I was actually going to do that.

“What do we have here?” Jigsaw said finally.

I turned and realized he was looking straight at me. I pushed the soldiers in front of me aside and stepped out into the open. I looked over my shoulder and saw Mr. Auder’s and Ms. Ava’s disapproving glances. I hoped just jumping the gun and stepping out there wasn’t going to come back and bite me. “What do you want?” I asked.

Jigsaw grinned. “Straight to the point. I like it. I’m glad you made it here in time for the show.” Jigsaw shifted on his feet, his grip on the detonator tightening. “My demands are simple,” he said, his voice raising as he addressed everyone in the room. “I want something you have. I have something you want.” He gestured to the hostages. “I’m proposing an exchange.”

“What is that you want exactly?” I asked.

“I want access to the government’s classified archives, specifically in regards to items and artifacts of unknown use or origin,” Jigsaw said.

“What, you lose a trinket?” I asked. My joke probably had bad timing, given the fact that Jigsaw held a detonator in his hands. Still, I couldn’t help myself.

Jigsaw spat on the ground next to him. “Of course you wouldn’t understand, Kane Andrews. What is it Atlas said to you? ‘You’re falling behind’?” Jigsaw said.

The words of Atlas echoed in my mind. He said that right as he took the
asthenés plásma
from Raven, moments after killing him. The same time I saw his amulet for the first time. And now he’s sent one of his lieutenants searching after some sort of artifact that the British government had? I had pieces to a puzzle, I just didn’t know how to put them all together. “You’re going to let the hostages go, Jigsaw. And you’re not getting anything.”

Jigsaw shook his head and laughed. “That’s not for you to decide,
Tempest
. Last I checked, you’re an American. You have no business saying what the British government does or does not release.

“No, he doesn’t,” Ms. Ava said, stepping forward, casting me a disapproving glance. “But neither do we. We can’t just release classified government documents and items to a madman. Even if we wanted to, it’s not our authority. Unlike America, we still have a government. A hierarchy.”

“Well either you get on the phone with the people who have the authority, or my men and I start killing enough people until you’re at the top of the food chain and
can
make that call.” Jigsaw gestured towards me. “Just ask Kane here. Killing government officials is something we’re good at.”

Ms. Ava wasn’t sure what to say. She thought for a moment, cleared her throat, and spoke. “I’ll see what I can do.” She turned and walked back behind the front line.

I turned and followed her, the line of soldiers opening before me and closing behind. I grabbed her arm and she turned around, yanking it from my grasp. “You can’t give in to these men. Trust me, whatever they’re looking for, if they get it it’s not going to be good.”

“What would you have me do? Shoot the Prime Minister myself?” Ms. Ava said, wanting to yell but keeping her voice down. “No, you may be okay with America turning into a wasteland, but I won’t let that happen to Britain without putting up a fight.”

“This isn’t putting up a fight. This is giving in to fear. Just give me a cha—”

“—A chance? We have no chances to give. One thing goes wrong and Jigsaw doesn’t give us another try. You stay out of this. This is business of the British Government. If you’re caught interfering, I’ll have you thrown into prison with Eximus chains on conspiracy to commit terrorism.” With that, Ms. Ava marched away.

I stood there fuming. People were trying not to stare at me, but they couldn’t help it. I probably seemed like I was a gasket about to blow. I couldn’t believe how I was being treated. Did Ms. Ava not remember that one of my closest friends was a hostage? Did she really think I’d just sit around while—whether she knew it or not—was about to aide Atlas in his mission?

If she thought I was going to sit around, if she thought her threats meant anything to me, she was about to be in for a rude awakening.