The War of the Supers (The First Superhero Book 3) (2 page)

36.
Shots in the Dark

37.
Always a Super

38.
Breakthrough

39.
Athena

40.
The Only Way Out

41.
The Messenger

42.
Return

43.
Struggle

44.
The Library

45.
The Amulet

46.
Samantha

47.
V.M.I.

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Book Four

Also by Logan Rutherford

About the Author

The War of the Supers © 2016 by Logan Rutherford

All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events, or locales is purely coincidental.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cover Art by Damonza (
www.damonza.com
)

Copyedited and Proofread by Carol Davis (
www.caroldavisauthor.com
)

Fragments & Fictions

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THE LONG DAY

FREEFALL

I flew in silence. Nep soared alongside me to my right, scanning the ground like a hawk searching for its prey. I scanned as well, but my mind was elsewhere. I had been constantly thinking, worrying, and analyzing everything for a month straight. I could almost never get my mind to shut up.

We reached the edge of our patrol and banked right. Not the edge of Dallas, or the metroplex even, just a small circle made up of downtown and a little bit of the outer areas. Not a lot of space at all.

The city was pretty much deserted. A few hundred people were staying at our camp downtown, while the rest had scattered. Most people lived in shelters or stayed with friends or family, just as they had over six months ago, when Richter had first appeared and gone on his rampage. A lot of people hadn’t come back to the city after that, and surely now, after Atlas and his Legion of Richter, they’d never want to come back.

We flew closer to the battleground, where my friends and I had taken on the Legion and won. That battle had two losers: one was the Legion, the other was Dallas. Looking down on the wreckage still struck me with guilt, even a month later. I could remember it all vividly, and suspected I’d be able to do so for the rest of my life. Then I looked into the distance and could see the smashed remains of the top of Reunion Tower—an icon in the Dallas skyline, and I would suspect in the future, an icon of history.

That was, if there was even a future for its history to be a part of.

“See anything?” Nep asked.

“No, I’ve got nothing.” I had to yell to be heard over the wind. Nep might have had super strength and flight, but that was the extent of his powers. He didn’t have my super-hearing.

“Wanna take a break to eat?” he asked as he began to slow down.

“Sure, might as well,” I told him as I slowed to a stop. I pointed towards the top of the tallest skyscraper in Dallas. “Let’s sit up there.”

Nep and I flew to the top of the building and sat on the edge, our feet dangling hundreds of feet above the cement. Nep dug through his backpack, searching for our lunch.

The cold wind bit at my skin, and I gritted my teeth. I shivered slightly under my red flannel shirt and light jacket. Clouds covered the sun, offering us no relief. Still, it wasn’t the coldest I’d ever experienced, and it’d have to be much colder before I’d give up the view for some warmth.

I scanned the horizon, the clear view of the city doing its best to take my breath away. With no cars running, all the factories shut down, and no airplanes flying in and out, no pollution clouded my view. After a few hard rains a couple weeks before, the pollution had been washed out of the sky.

It was somewhat ironic, really. The lack of pollution made me feel sad whenever I really thought about it. There was nobody around. Nobody left in the city. Nobody to pollute it. Dallas turned into a ghost town, its former residents fleeing the city in fear as they hid from Atlas.

Still, despite the reason for it, it sure was a damn nice view.

“Killer view, huh?” Nep asked as he took a bite from his sandwich.

I gave him a fake smile and nodded. “That’s for sure.”

Talking was the last thing I felt like doing, but I knew that wasn’t going to stop Nep. I’d spent a bit of time with him over the past couple of weeks, but not much. Holocene had brought him onto the team during my time as a captive of the Super Task Force. He seemed like a really great guy and a huge asset to the team. I guess everybody’s an asset when your team is so small, though. Still, I didn’t feel like talking.

“What’s the plan when we’re done here?” Nep asked.

I took a bite from my sandwich, chewing slowly to give myself more time to not answer. “We’ll do one more circle before heading back to base.”

Nep sighed and grumbled. I could tell he felt frustrated by something, and despite my longing for silence, I knew it’d bug me until I found out what. “You had something else in mind?”

He waited a moment before responding. “I’m tired of doing patrols and sitting around waiting for the Legion to come to us. How are we supposed to defeat Atlas when we’re just sitting around doing nothing?”

I shook my head and chuckled. “And how are we supposed to defeat Atlas whenever we’re just a dozen or so Supers, and he has an army?”

“I know, I know. You say that all the time. I’m just tired of waiting, you know? I feel like we’re not making any progress. We’re just picking away at their installations here and there. Nothing substantial.”

“I get that,” I said as I took another bite of my sandwich. I swung my feet back and forth over the edge of the skyscraper as I thought. “Don’t worry—it won’t be long until they mess up. As soon as we can find their Achilles’ heel, we’ll be on top of them.”

“Is this really something we’ll be able to do on our own?” Nep asked as he fidgeted on the ledge.

I sighed. “Let’s do another patrol.”

Nep nodded. “Alright, sounds good.”

I handed him my trash and he stuck it in his backpack. I set my hands down on either side of me, and pushed myself off the side of the building.

The wind roared in my ears as I went feet-first in total free fall. The ground rushed towards me as my stomach twisted and my heart leapt to my throat. I didn’t move. Didn’t fly. I just fell with my arms at my sides and a smile creeping across my face.

Just a few feet from the ground, I willed myself to slow. I came to a graceful stop as I placed my feet on the ground and breathed a sigh. My body rushed with adrenaline. That feeling never got old. A small part of me still couldn’t believe I had the ability to do such things.

“You’re insane,” Nep said with a smile as he landed next to me a few moments later. He’d decided to simply fly down, opting out of the Kane Andrews Free Fall method.

“Well, it’s not like it’s gonna kill me,” I said.

“It certainly doesn’t look that way,” he said as he adjusted one of the straps on his backpack.

“Well, this one time I threw a guy into the sun and that didn’t kill me, so I doubt slamming into the concrete’ll do it,” I said nonchalantly, as if throwing supervillains into the sun was a normal thing for one to do.

Nep looked at me, his mouth slightly open. “I guess that’s one way to look at things.”

“You ready to go?” I asked. I felt my sour mood dissipating after eating and jumping off a building.

“Yeah, I’m good. What do you think about checking out the tunnels? Nobody’s gone down there in a while. Some people could’ve wandered down there, or maybe there’s some Legion spies in them or something.”

My chipper mood left.

“What? Come on—there’s nothing in the tunnels. We need to do a sweep of the perimeter, and then we can go home,” I said. I turned around, about to take off, ending the conversation.