The suit bucks as something hits me. The Emdrive flashes red as my apparent weight has… no, he’s on my back. Thick spider-like legs covered in fine wolf’s fur wrap around me. Epic diverts full power to the kinetic dampeners as the thing holding me spins me around while… ew, covering me in webs. Gross.
“Particle cannons,” I yell as I spin. Epic flashes a three-dimensional schematic of the room on my HUD. With my arms trapped at my side, I need to be careful not to shoot Glacier. Fang is a lot like a real spider, he finishes wrapping me one way then spins me around to start the other direction. However, as he spins me—I fire.
Super accelerated silicon particles slice through his webbing and parts of him. He howls and drops me thirty feet to the floor. The suit bounces after it hits and I land face down.
Of course.
I can activate my thrusters but thanks to my upgrade they don’t produce any flame. I can’t burst the stuff because I’m not strong enough. That just leaves…
“Epic, unlock the sword.”
Without the kinetic field holding my four-foot long black blade to my back, there’s nothing stopping it from falling. Even a tiny bit of gravity can cause it to shift. With the edge being one molecule thick of diamond, all it has to do is touch the fibers and it slices between their bonds like they aren’t even there!
A few seconds more and I can move. I snatch up the sword then carefully slice through the webbing around my legs. Once I’m free, I can stand. The four gang members have split into two groups, one continues to load the backpacks while the other two go after Glacier. Arrogant dorks that they are, they don’t even notice Fang retreating. I can’t say I blame him. The leg I cut off is still twitching on the floor.
The two attacking Glacier have her pinned. One is shooting some kind of focused energy beams from his eyes, while the other leaps around her like a frog on crack.
“Epic, HE in the vault when the two guys aren’t in it.”
I whip my sword around a few times to shake the cobwebs off of it before clicking it into place. It’s just too deadly to use on flesh and blood people.
I hear the puff of the grenade launcher. Two seconds later the explosion rips through the vault with a deafening boom. IP Cannon’s nail leaper when he’s distracted. The energy slams him thirty feet into the far wall as if he were weightless.
Interesting.
I miss eye-beam-man and bring my hand around to refocus. Alarms sound and my HUD flashes red. Heat levels rise as the outside temperature of the armor begins to climb. He’s focused on me, the red beam burns through the air striking the side of the armor. At the rate the temperature’s climbing I have thirty seconds until the titanium-tungsten carbide outer shell softens.
Too bad he doesn’t have that long.
“IP cannons, maximum power, narrow beam.”
The targeting bracket hovers over him showing me exactly where my twin IP cannons will strike. Since he’s not moving because of the ice I take an extra second to make sure I’ll get a headshot.
The sandpaper sound of my cannons discharging fills the air. The two force blasts strike him in the face shattering his nose and sending him sprawling backward head over feet sliding on the floor until he bumps unconscious against the far wall.
“Wow,” Glacier says as she moves beside me.
“Careful, my armor is about a thousand degrees right now.” It will take a good hour for the armor to cool off. I sigh. This is going to take a hundred hours of maintenance and diagnostics to make sure nothing was damaged.
“I got it,” she says. She lifts her hand up to my chest piece and the temperature drops rapidly. Not instantly, not fast enough to damage it, but about twice as long as it took to heat up.
“Wow,” I say.
She shrugs.
“Part of being an ice elemental is the constant need to absorb heat. If I don’t absorb enough then…”
“What?” I ask.
“I freeze in place,” she says looking down at the ground. I can tell this is upsetting her so I switch lines.
“You held your own against leaping lizard and gazer beam over there, good job.”
She looks up and a smile splits her icy face. I still can’t get over how ice can move and react exactly like a person but not be one. I mean, I can see through her head. She is a walking, talking statue of ice…
So how come Epic can detect a heartbeat?
4
Only after I land the suit down in my workshop do I feel tired. The day started almost twelve hours ago and my arms feel like jelly. I take a step over to my right, lining up my oversized boots with the taped out squares on the floor. I keep meaning to turn them into something more permanent, but if it ain't broke…
Epic takes over and the suit shifts. While the MKI used the kinetic manipulators to detach and form, I decided with the MKII I needed a way to take the suit with me. I never want to be in the position again of having to rely on outwitting someone like Vixen who sneaks into my lab. Of course, taking the suit off and on isn’t something I can do by hand, so I had to get clever.
Each piece of the suit slides down as the plates shift and reform. It only takes thirty seconds but when it’s done I’m sitting in a shiny red and white wheelchair with hi-tech looking wheels. The chair isn’t formed from the armor, more of a storage unit for it. I can press a button and be in the suit in a few seconds, but I can only repackage and take it off, here in the lab.
I also bit the bullet and motorized it, though I try really hard to use my arms whenever I can. Upper body strength is crucial for building and operating the suit. As much as I like walking around in the suit, it isn’t real. The suit does the work and my legs are just along for the ride. Though, a nice added benefit from wearing it is the physical therapy of keeping my paralyzed parts moving.
“Arsenal, Force here. The AG would like a debrief on the Riot Boys asap,” Luke says over the comms.
Sigh. I was so looking forward to a long shower and a nap. I grab a Coke from the fridge, Doritos, and a Snickers and I am on my way. I haven’t eaten all day and my blood sugar has got to be rock bottom. Something I need to fix if I’m still going to go through with my extracurricular activity tonight. I slip my augmented reality glasses out of the chair and slide them on so I can interact with Epic. They’re a stylish pair, more like fancy prescription glasses than the work goggles I’d made before. Except these have a slight yellow tint to help with contrast in the bright sun.
“Epic, run a full diagnostics and make sure we are up to snuff for our little trip. Also, make a note, we need to add a Camelback to the suit or something. Someway to take some form of nourishment with us.”
Affirmative. I will add ‘soda dispenser’ to our project list. Enjoy your meeting.
“You know me too well.”
The team’s offices take up the second floor, the third and fourth are the workout, training, and conference rooms, and the first floor is the lobby and museum. Which, up until six months ago, didn’t have a lot in it.
After we took down The Creature we experienced an influx of traffic. Luckily, it has died down since then. While the Arizona government, my team, and Cat-7 know my identity, I would rather it wasn’t public. Having civilians wondering around our HQ compromises that. I already have Epic combing the Internet for signs that my identity has been leaked. If he finds any he’ll wipe them out.
It’s weird being the object of so much admiration. We still see a dozen people a day coming and going looking at the tourist part of our little brick building.
As I roll into the briefing I hear the AG’s voice. Crap, I’m late. Oh well. I wheel in with my soda between my legs and my bag of Doritos clenched in my mouth. He’s just gonna have to deal. Sometime between returning to base and now Luke managed a shower, I can smell the old spice on him and it warms my stomach. I knew I shouldn’t have spent a half hour flying around Phoenix looking for the missing leadership. I very much don’t smell freshly showered.
I shiver as I roll up to t
he table, I have my own spot they keep clear of chairs, and Luke even lowered the height so I didn’t look like the kid trying to eat at the adult table at Thanksgiving. Glacier or I guess Monica since we are ‘off duty’, is across the table from me. She’s wearing a parka, which seems weird but then she has to keep warm or she will freeze solid. Still, just having her in here lowers the ambient temperature by twenty degrees. Should be good for our AC bill.
“Thank you for joining us Arsenal,” the AG says from the giant flat screen on the wall. He’s smiling so he can’t be too upset.
I smile back, “Sorry sir it takes a few seconds to get the armor off…”
Luke reaches over and touches my hand under the table. It is about as public a show of affection as he’s capable of.
“I’m disappointed you weren’t able to capture the leaders of the gang, but regardless. Having sixteen members off the streets is pretty impressive.”
I pop the top on my soda and freeze as everyone glances my way.
“Sorry,” I say, taking a long drink.
“They weren’t so much as not captured as they weren’t even there. Other than Fang, the leaders were a no-show. Any intel on where they might be?” Luke asks.
The AG, an older man with balding hair and a well-groomed mustache shakes his head.
“No. Is there anything else to report?”
I raise my hand as I take a bite of my Snickers.
“Ms. Lockheart?”
I hold up one finger. Why oh why did I take a bite right before asking a question?
“Any idea—” I swallow, “—why several members of the gang had superpowers that weren’t in the database?”
He shakes his head and I can see a trace of a smile on his face. He’s a nice man, I’ve met him once before in person and he’s always been very respectful.
“We’re looking into the integrity of our local databases but we get all our info from the national ones. If there is a problem with the intel it is likely on a national level. Our DMHA liaison is looking into it.”
“Well that isn’t reassuring at all,” I say as I tear into my Doritos with a loud crunch.
“Job well done, Diamondbacks, enjoy the rest of your day.”
There is a chorus of ‘thank you’ as he signs off. Everyone but Monica smiles and starts talking about the day’s adventure. I try to catch Kate’s eye but she’s busy chatting with Mr. Perfect. Instead, I wheel myself over to the cold girl and park next to her.
“Hi,” I say as I chow down on the last of my candy bar, “Want a chip?”
She shakes her head. “I’m sorry I got on you for staring, I forgot…”
I hold out my hand to forestall the apology.
“Me being in a wheelchair doesn’t excuse my own rudeness. I’m sorry Monica, I let my fascination with the science behind you override my common sense. I won’t let it happen again.”
I hold the bag of chips out to her again. Her eyes are like perfectly blue like old ice.
“I… I don’t eat,” she says, pointing at her stomach, “despite the fact that I look like a person, nothing in here is actually real. According to the Cat-7 doctors, I am held together by will alone.”
I nod. I’d read her file, but I trust Cat-7 about as far as I can throw them… out of armor of course.
“I can’t say I can do anything, but if you ever want to give me a shot I would love to run some tests. I picked up some odd readings while we were in the field and it gave me an idea.”
She raises an eyebrow at me, “What do you mean ‘do anything’? Believe me, I’ve had enough tests to see what I can do, I don’t need anymore,” her demeanor switches to match her outside, cold. Didn’t Cat-7 try to fix her? No… of course they didn’t. They just wanted to know how she could be best used as a weapon. I make a mental note to have Epic look for info on her tests.
“I am going to go out on a limb and say Cat-7 never even talked to you about the possibility of reversing your transformation?”
Monica goes still as a corpse. Frost spreads quietly out around her hand on the table.
“Don’t joke with me Amelia, it isn’t funny.”
I shake my head, “I never joke about science… in the morning on,” I turn to Kate, “What day is it?”
“Tuesday,” she says with a raised eyebrow.
“On Tuesday. Not ever.”
She cracks a smile and nods, “I’ll come by sometime then. Maybe.”
“No rush, like I said, I can’t promise anything but I wouldn’t mind a shot at trying.”
She stands up, cold air eddies around her and little bits of frost fall from her like snow.
“Maybe I will, thanks.”
I watch her leave and my heart goes out to her. I’m stuck in a chair but I still get to eat, drink, sleep. I still get to feel the warmth of companionship, the kiss of another human being. What does she get? More ice.
“That was sweet, what you said. But careful, I don’t know about her emotional state,” Kate says stepping up behind me and pushing on my chair.
“My powers have no influence on her. I can read her emotions slightly better than a non-empath can, but as for influence,” she shrugs, “I have none.”
“Understood. Where are we going?” I ask.
“To get you some real food. Soda and chips doesn’t a meal make.”
“Clearly you’ve never played Battlefield all night long.”
5
The alarm, high-pitched and shrill, goes off and I immediately slap it. I haven’t slept. I wish I had but I’m too… something. Nervous, eager, excited, scared…? Pick one. After fourteen years I will finally have my parents back.
I showered and cleaned up after today’s events but I went to sleep in my synthsuit. It isn’t uncomfortable and it certainly speeds the process up if I am already dressed. It’s easy enough to slide into the chair and wheel over to the marks on the floor. I glance up at the monitor to make sure Epic is ready. He did a full diagnostics with no hiccups.
“Epic, how’s Artemis coming along?”
He changes screens and shows my new baby. I’m constantly thinking up things, my mind is a raging inferno of ideas and often times simply writing them out or slapping some blueprints down will do the trick. This one, though, wouldn’t leave me alone.
On the screen is the launch site for Blue Origin, it’s a private space agency founded by the second richest person in the world. When I first had the idea for Artemis I thought it would be impossible to launch my own satellite. Here it is, however, two months and three million dollars later, and she is only a few hours away from launch.
Technically she’s a private communications satellite for Mars Tech Global. Blue Origin will put her in geostationary orbit above the equator with a direct line-of-sight to North America. Along with the cost of the launch, I have to pay transponder fees and orbital rent to the US government. What they don’t know is she’s far more than a comsat.
Now that I know she is safe and about to launch I refocus. Time to put an end to my quest.
“Epic… initiate!”
I never quite liked the old way the suit came together around me. This is much better. The chair stands me up as plates slide into place. My helmet flips over my head as the HUD boots up and with ten seconds I am fully functional and ready to go.
“Open the window,” I order. If I go to the roof there is a chance one of the other team might see me if they are still here. I don’t want anyone knowing what I’m doing. I know they would help and I love them for it, especially Luke. But what I am about to do is illegal and dangerous and my responsibility.
The Emdrive kicks in and I shoot out into the night sky. I love how silent the new propulsion is, barely more than a hum at full power. Ten thousand feet pass in the blink of an eye as I approach the speed of sound. There is something about the roar of jets that is exhilarating, but the advantages of stealth and speed of the Emdrive far outweigh hearing the sound. Besides, jet fuel was expensive and the process to compress it
was inherently dangerous.
“Course plotted?”
Plotted.
I’ve always wanted to say this… “Punch it!”
The suit locks up and the drive goes to full power mode. The wind buffets the suit like mad and the closer I get to Mach One the worse it is. Thank goodness I’m just a passenger. I imagine the boom in my head as the readout passes Mach One followed a few seconds later by two, then three. As we approach eighty-thousand feet and Mach Four Epic evens out our trajectory. With Arizona air being dry as it is I don’t leave a vapor trail or a shock cone.
No Orbit today.
“I know, not the mission. ETA?”
37 minutes.
“Show me the most recent footage?”
A window opens up on the HUD. The camera angle is an ATM across the street. A few other windows open up with red light camera footage, CCTV and even a few pictures posted on the Internet. Part of why I want Artemis is if I have to do anything like this in the future, I want my own spy satellite.
Then it hits me… will I do this in the future? With Mom and Dad back there won’t be a need for Arsenal anymore. A hollow pit forms in my stomach. Clearly, I didn’t give this any advance thought. To this point, my life has been about finding out what happened to my parents and saving them if I could. Here I am on the cusp of doing so and…
Amelia, I am detecting elevated heart rate and respiratory duress. Are you okay?
“Minor panic attack, buddy. Just thinking about the future and my place in it.”
To be or not to be, is that the question?
“Ha. I guess so.”
A new window opens and washes all the others away. The opening bars of Star Wars start and I am instantly more relaxed. Epic’s ability to read my emotional state and help me through trials is borderline unbelievable.
Thirty minutes later, and a daring escape from Tatooine, I’m closing in on Boston. It’s six a.m. local so the city is waking up and coming alive with activity. Though, I don’t think this city ever truly stops. The place I’m looking for is near the harbor off of Dorchester Street. A big white warehouse with no signs, just a chain link fence, and the standard private property stay out message. Epic highlights the location on the HUD as we come down toward the city. At twenty thousand feet he cuts the thrusters and I’m free falling.
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