I nod not trusting my words. He smiles, leans down and kisses me on the cheek.
“Great, be ready at seven.”
29
The hot water pouring over my head and shoulders feels incredible. My upper body aches from the strain of training. Six hours of team drills, practicing everything we might need. Luke was right to have us do it. We were lucky at the airport. Still, I’m sore as all hell. My suit isn’t built to fly and carry someone. I had to figure out how to do it. It meant awkwardly holding someone in one hand while ‘pushing’ down with the flight stabilizer in the other. It ended up feeling like I did one-armed push-ups all day.
We practiced more than combat moves; we did tactics and how to retreat in an orderly fashion. It was a long day. I liked it though. I got to be around Luke and with my mirrored faceplate he didn’t see me giving him the goo-goo eyes all day. However, I did catch him looking at me more than once.
I turn the shower off and slide myself out onto the floor. It’s much easier to be on the floor in the shower than to risk being on a bench or having someone here to help me. My shower is completely custom. The nozzle is only a few inches above me. I can easily reach it and adjust or detach it. I have all the soap and supplies I need. When I’m done I slide out and towel myself off. The mirror, sink, and everything else is on an adjustable counter I can raise or lower. Whether I’m on the floor or in my chair I’m covered.
Once I’m done there, I use a step-like attachment to enter my wheelchair. I raise myself up one step at a time until I’m sitting in the chair and then I take the attachment off, easy-peasy.
Pop.
“I knew you were going to do that!” I holler at Kate. “Have you ever heard of knocking?”
“I wasn’t in the neighborhood, but I wanted to help you get ready.”
She must have been at the gym; a light level of sweat glistens off her body. She’s wearing boy shorts which hug her hips like they’re painted on, and a sports bra. Her muscles are incredibly toned and detailed, and her legs… the exact opposite of mine. She looks like she could run forever. Shapely, toned, agile. I glance down at my own; thin, emaciated, worthless. I wish she had waited until I was dressed instead of only wearing a towel.
“Oh honey, I’m sorry, it was thoughtless of me.”
Empath, right.
“I—it’s okay. You didn’t—it isn’t anything I didn’t already know.”
“Still, I pop in here wearing my workout clothes and I just—I didn't think. Forgive me?”
“Of course,” I wipe my eyes with both hands.
When did I become such a crybaby?
She wheels me out to the bedroom and gives me a brush to start on my hair. She pops out and almost right back again holding three bags. Two from a trendy place I would never shop at, and one is pink and is obviously from a lingerie store.
“I am not wearing that,” I point at the pink bag.
“Listen, I’m not saying you have to undress for him, but trust me when I say, wearing this will make you feel sexy. When you feel it, you are sexy. Have a little faith I know what I’m talking about.”
“Says the woman with the perfect body and mind control powers,” I say skeptically.
“The truth is, Amelia, all women have mind control powers, it’s just most never learn how to use them… I will show you and then the learner will become the master.”
“Only a master of evil Kate,” I laugh, “Okay, only because you nailed the quote. Show me.”
A few hours later I’m in Luke’s Ford F-150 driving down 51 to Camelback. He says he knows a great French place we can eat at. I love that he has a truck. A nice one too. He lifted my chair into the bed no problem. A perk of dating a man who can deadlift most cars is he won’t have any trouble with my chair.
The interior of the truck is immaculate. There isn’t even trash in the little receptacle. I reach over and flip on his radio, curious to see what kind of music he listens too.
Country, ugh, more country, country, Cage the Elephant. Score!
“We may not have overlapping taste in music,” I say as the first notes of Aint no rest for the wicked plays.
He smiles at me. His hand slides over and covers mine. This has got to be a dream. One I’m going to wake up from any minute… nope.
“You did great today in training. I thought Fleet was going to pee his pants when you hoisted him up in the air. For a guy who can run a couple of hundred miles an hour you would think flying would be no big deal,” he says.
“Ha, yeah,” I think about my next words carefully, “Luke, are we dating? I mean like, are we boyfriend and girlfriend?”
He focuses on the road for a moment, maneuvering his dark red pickup through some hairy traffic. I don’t mind; he’s wearing chinos and a tailored button-down blue shirt. I follow the line of his jaw down his neck to watch his muscles flow as the shirt strains slightly as he moves. I could seriously watch this all day.
“Do you want to be? I don’t want you to feel pressure or anything, but I don’t normally kiss women I don’t want to be involved with.”
“Can I tell you something?”
Oh boy, I have no idea how to say this. Don’t screw this up, Amelia.
“Fire away,” he says in typical Marine fashion.
“You’re the first guy who has ever wanted to date me, let alone kiss me,” I stumble over the words.
I had told Kate this and she suggested I tell him. Get it out of the way and clear expectations. I need to take it slow; she said he would understand.
“Are you saying you’re a—”
“Woman who’s never dated a guy before,” I say with a little warning in my voice.
Typical guy, the first thing he thinks is ‘oh she’s a virgin’.
“Amelia, you’re twenty years old, a knockout and quite frankly one of the smartest people on the planet. How is it possible you’ve never dated before?”
I shrug, ignoring his obvious attempt at false flattery.
“I’m dedicated. I cut everything out of my life I didn’t need to have in order to be where I am. Honestly, Luke, most guys don’t even look once at a girl in a wheelchair, and I’ve been in it since I was six.”
As I speak I hear a bit of anger in my own voice that surprises me. I thought I had come to terms with this a long time ago. It’s easy, though, to come to terms with something when it isn’t a possibility. Here, in this truck, it is.
“I would be honored to be your boyfriend… if you’ll have me. Seriously though, no pressure.”
I look at him carefully.
“I don’t want it to change our work dynamic. The team is really coming along and—”
“—You mean the dynamic where I yell at you and you slice me with some cutting remark?”
“Yeah, that one,” I say fake punching him in the arm.
It’s like hitting a brick wall. I shake my hand, “Ow.”
We drive the next few miles in silence. The sky fills with vibrant pinks and oranges as the sun continues its slow march toward the horizon. The western sky looks alive and on fire.
He gently guides the truck into a parking space outside a restaurant I’m positive he can’t afford. Once he puts it in park he shuts the engine off and turns to me.
“Amelia, I’m not the smartest bulb in the bunch, I know this. If we were to speak of your intellect like my strength, then I’m you and you’re me. I can’t even imagine what it is like to have your wit, your imagination, to see the world the way you do. You make connections, you invent things… hell, I’m just an ex-Marine whose only asset is he can punch through steel. I have to be careful every single day not to hurt people. I’m desperate to control my emotions because my powers feed into my anger. The more my heart pumps the stronger I get. It’s why I was in awe with what you did at the airport.”
I turn to him as best I can and put my hand on his shoulder.
“Luke, I… I’m not going to be patronizing, I know I’m smart—”
“—Genius
—” he interjects.
“—Smart, and maybe not everyone can compare to that, but I don’t think less of you because you can’t do quadratic equations in your head. Honestly, it’s refreshing to be around someone who isn’t trying to prove he’s smarter than me. I get in these heated debates with idiots at MIT who think everything in our world being a fractal at the molecular level is somehow a random coincidence and—” Shoot, I lost him. “Sorry, my point is you have your area of expertise and I have mine. I like that. It’s clear lines of who can do what.”
“I guess what I’m trying to say is… you’re a catch. If you’re willing to date me, then I am wholeheartedly on board,” he says.
“Okay then, yes I—” he leans over and kisses me.
It starts out gentle and sweet but quickly turns into something far more energetic. When we break the windows are fogged up and I’m breathing hard.
“Uh, we should eat,” he says.
A flush of red fills his face as he glances away from me. God he’s cute.
“Alright then, muscles, retrieve my chair!”
He smiles and throws a mock salute before he gets out of the truck. My phone vibrates in my clutch, which is a good reminder I need to shut it off. I pull it out and check the message, fully expecting a teasing text from Kate. The truck rumbles and shakes. I put my hand on the dash and I turn to tell Luke to take it easy with my chair. He’s stumbling backward, and I notice every car is shaking. I hear glass break, someone screams, and the asphalt splits open all over the parking lot. Earthquake? In Arizona? I manage to pull my seatbelt on and grab the handle in the roof and hold on for dear life. I close my eyes and my fear runs away with me. Please stop shaking!
There are so many simple things being paralyzed turns into a nightmare. This is certainly one of them.
After what feels like forever, the shaking stops. The door flies open and Luke is there. He slips his arms around me and holds me. I realize I’m crying. I hate being helpless. Add scared to it and I don’t feel an abundance of control.
“You okay?” he asks.
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.”
He doesn’t let go, his arms wrap around me and I feel safe and secure. After a few moments I pat him on the back, letting him know he can let go. He holds on for a few more seconds before he does. He cups my chin and wipes some of my tears away with his thumb.
“Would it be terribly inappropriate to kiss you?”
“Please do,” I whisper.
After a few more minutes I’m starting to feel good again. Then I remember the phone. I pat him on the chest and he backs up a few inches.
“I think our date is going to be canceled,” I say as I pull out my phone.
9.3 Earthquake in the Gulf of California.
It’s from Epic. He must have sent the message as soon as it happened.
It isn’t natural. Something is moving in the bottom of the Gulf. The quake was near, but not on a fault. It isn’t a subduction zone, there is no threat of tsunami.
I show the message to Luke.
“We should probably get back to the office,” he says in response.
“If there is something large enough to cause a massive quake in the Gulf, will the Mexican authorities be able to deal with it? I mean, they have super teams, right?”
He shrugs, “I’ve never met them. We’re not allowed across the border and as far as I know, they aren’t either.”
“I guess we’ll find out,” I say as he climbs in.
30
We’re all in the break room of the HQ. Central is offline, as is the teleportation elevator. Not that I would want to go through it after a massive Earthquake. Phoenix is two hundred miles away from the epicenter and we got shook up. The cities nearest in Mexico didn’t fare well. I’m on the couch with Luke, he’s holding my hand. Kate is sitting on the table, Pierre is floating in the air, and Tony is zipping back and forth from the kitchen and here to watch and eat. He’s stocking up on calories and I can’t say I blame him.
“They’re going to call, right? Call and ask for help?” I ask.
“The tensions between our two countries are pretty high. Our idiot leadership with their nonsensical border policies aren’t helping, then again neither are theirs,” Kate answers.
Several news helicopters film the action below. Occasionally they will switch to talk about casualties or cities devastated but most are focused on what they are calling, The Creature. I honestly couldn’t think of a better name. An hour after the Earthquake it emerged from the water. A monstrous brown and gray head bubbles up from the surface a quarter mile from shore. When its gigantic bloated body of scales, claws, and tentacles finally came forth, it was over a hundred and fifty feet tall.
It turns out, Mexico does have a super team. The entire world got to watch them die horrible deaths. Each one eaten by the monstrosity. Their army arrived shortly afterward, far too late to help those poor bastards. They were no more effective than the supers.
“It looks like the thing is turning north now. Yes, we have confirmed course change. After a half hour of shambling east, it is now turning north. The best estimate is it will hit the Arizona-US border in less than twelve hours. Our biologists are unable to explain the beast’s enormous size; it must be a meta-lifeform of some kind.”
I glance to the side and I notice everyone is looking at me. I shrug.
“Why are you all looking at me, I’m not a biologist.”
“If it is heading north from the Gulf then…” Kate didn’t need to finish the thought.
“What’s the call, Major Force?” Mr. Perfect asks from his floating lotus position.
Luke looks around and I can see in his eyes he doesn’t know what to do. He’s a fantastic Marine and he can follow orders with the best of them, but coming up with his own stuff—it isn’t his strong suit. Which begs the question, who put him in charge? Part of me thinks this entire team was set up to fail long before I ever arrived.
I squeeze his hand reassuringly.
“I have an idea,” I blurt it out before the silence drags on too long. “Why don’t we suit up and at least go to the border? Epic can keep us updated on its progress. If the Mexican military can’t or won’t stop it, then at least we’re in position.”
“You did watch the entire Mexican national team be eaten, right?” Tony asks quietly.
I get he’s scared. Hell, I’m scared. How do you even fight something giant like it?
“I know you’re all scared… I am too. But this thing is coming. If it gets into a city, thousands, millions, could die,” I say.
“Won’t the Feds send The Brigade?” Perfect asks.
“Maybe,” Force says.
For a moment it seems like he isn’t going to say anything else, he just turns and looks out onto the desert behind us.
“But, this is Arizona. They might arrive in time. They might not. Or maybe they’re being ordered to hold back. If they come, they’re in charge, but until then—this is our State.”
That’s more like it. He needed a few seconds to think things through. He looks to me and gives me a brief smile and his eyes twinkle.
“Suit up and be ready in thirty.”
“We’re not going to let Kate do her thing?” Tony asks.
Force shakes his head.
“I want to be there and be rested when it arrives. If she ports us all there she’ll be tired and we’re going to need every edge. Fleet, Arsenal, I want you there ASAP. See if you can find us some advantage. Whatever you do, don’t engage it, and don’t cross the border.”
He looks sternly at both of us. We all break and head for our rooms. Fleet looks at me and grins.
“Race you,” he says and is gone in a blur of motion.
He’s fast over open ground. I don’t think I can catch him. Perfect and Kate run to their rooms. I grab Luke’s arm as he stands.
“Come here,” I whisper.
He leans down and kisses me. I want it to last longer, but it can’t.
; 31
“Epic, show me a map of the area it’s likely to cross the border at.”
I’m in flight, cruising at ten thousand feet on a trajectory to the border. It’s a one-hundred and twelve-mile trip. Epic puts up a slice of Arizona’s south-western corner. On the American side there is a little town called—I can’t stop myself from laughing—Lukeville! Oh, Luke is going to get a kick out of this. On the Mexican side is Sonoyta. Epic pulls up their vital statistics. Lukeville is a ‘city,’ and I use the term loosely, of a few hundred. Sonoyta has twelve thousand. They better be evacuating.
I’m cruising at three-fifty since I still haven’t solved the overheating thruster problem. It isn’t a mechanical problem with the thrusters, but a heat problem. As I approach Mach One the exhaust ports shoot past two-thousand degrees. When they’re within five hundred degrees of three thousand I have a problem. The suit will begin to break down at three thousand degrees.
For now, I keep it under four hundred and I can fly for as long as I want. As long as I don’t try to turn too much. The buffet at speed is incredible and one wrong move could have my arm pulled out of its socket. Which is why I have Epic lock the suit up--so I’m not dripping sweat when I arrive with arms too sore to lift. On the bright side, my kinetic sheath works brilliantly and my sword stays firmly attached to my back.
Fleet pings me from a diner north of Lukeville. I check the clock; wow. He did it in thirteen minutes flat. I still have another nine minutes of flight time to go. I use that time to review the footage of the Mexican team. They’re good, they work together, move as a unit but… it takes them out one by one. The thing has tentacles ending in sticky pods. Once it had its pods on them, it reeled them like a fishing rod. Ugh. Its mouth is full of shark’s teeth. What the hell is this thing?
With its size and mass, hurting it will be a problem. Even at full power, I doubt my particle beam could cut all the way through it. One of the Mexican supers had fire generation and it didn’t even slow the thing down. I don’t know what it’s looking for, but it seems to have a direction in mind. Every once in a while it stops and the pods waver in the air. After a few minutes, it adjusts and starts going again.
Full Metal Superhero Box Set [Books 1-6] Page 16