Does he mean me?
“My friend… is he okay to go on? You’re not—”
He holds up his hand, “As long as you keep him hidden then we won’t have a problem. I have several men from cybersecurity who would love to pick his brain if you would allow it. The ease of which he moves through our computer systems has given the joint chiefs a collective heart attack.”
“I can imagine. I’ll see what I can do. As for the team… let me think about it.”
“Sir, we’ve got to go,” the man from the White House battle says.
“Is that a no, then?”
“It’s a ‘let me think about it’,” I say with a smile.
“Of course. It was a pleasure miss,” he turns to the man in the corner, “Palmer, give her your card please.” Palmer instantly reaches into his pocket and retrieves a white card, he leans down to give it to me and as I catch his eye he mouths, ‘thank you’.
I smile back at him, still blushing like mad. I don’t normally talk to people about my activities inside the armor.
“One more thing. NASA detected a massive unknown station breaking orbit three days ago. They have it colliding with the sun in a few years. Would I be correct in assuming it had the man responsible for all of this on board?”
I nod. A lump forms in my throat and I can’t risk speaking.
“Good to know. Good day, Ms. Lockheart.”
My mind catches up with what is happening and I wheel forward as he leaves, “Sir?”
“Yes?”
“The Protector died defending DC. If there is to be a monument of any kind, I would like it to be of him.”
“I’ll see what I can do. Take care Ms. Lockheart, let me know what you decide.” He left in a hurry, his men shutting the door behind him.
Luke rushes in and looks between the door, then me, then back to the door. “Do you know who that was?”
“He’s President, Luke, not William Shatner, calm down.”
“William… Amelia, you just got a personal visit from the leader of the free world! What did he want?”
“Food first, then politics. Go, pizza, root beer, now!” I smack his tight bottom with my hand. Then I shake it muttering ‘ow’ over and over. He lets out a big sigh and marches to the kitchen to get his keys.
Why didn’t you tell him about the aliens?
“I barely believe myself, I don’t think anyone else will. Pythia didn’t even see them she just senses their actions.”
I smile at Luke as he closes the door, giving me one last peering gaze before shutting it all the way.
What are we going to do then? They are coming and we know nothing about them or how to stop them.
“Ericsson was right about one thing.”
What?
“We need unity. We need a team, Epic. We need a solid team if we’re going to fight this.”
I’ll start running numbers on people.
“Good, but I already know at least a few people who are going to be involved. Call Kate, I want to fill her in personally.”
Do you think she will believe you?
“At least she won’t think I’m making it up,” I tell him. I run my hands through my hair and shake my head back-and-forth. I’m not, right? I didn’t lose my mind and suddenly see conspiracies where none existed? No. I know what I saw and what I heard.
They’re coming. The question is, can we stop them?
THE END.
Epilogue
Carlos closed the case on his guitar, shoving it into the corner to rest on a pile of dirty clothes. He didn’t want to do laundry and he was too worried to play.
Three days since he saw her on the news fighting that monstrosity in DC. Three days. Not a word then suddenly this morning he gets an email from Epic letting him know she was alright.
He kicked a pillow across the room. He’d felt so helpless watching her. Not for the hundredth time since he met Amelia he wished for powers of his own. That wasn’t happening. While he would never tell her, he’d taken the test twice. He was so sure it had been wrong the first time.
With an exasperated sigh, he slunk onto the bed. There was no hope. He saw her less and less every week and now she couldn’t even let him know in person she was alive. Part of him, the more reasonable part, understood. But for six years he had her all to himself, and yeah, he knew there was nothing romantic between them, but she was his best friend. And he missed her.
“No hope at all,” he muttered.
He was trapped between going downstairs and looking for food or staying up all night playing Xbox without it. If he went downstairs he’d have to face his parents. He really could do without another lecture about his future. He had to have an old bag of chips up here somewhere? The TV powered on with a flash of light blinding him.
“What the?” He grabbed the remote and mashed the button until the TV turned off. The light didn’t go away. It was coming from the closet. Every scary movie he’d ever seen ran through his mind. He backed away from the glowing door holding his controller above his head as a weapon.
The door opened. A girl, not even a ghostly girl, just a girl in a white gown with a crown of lavender flowers around her head and long black hair and big blue eyes. Carlos blinked several times. She couldn’t be more than thirteen, though something about her seemed far older.
“Uh, hi?”
“Hello, Carlos. Your destiny awaits.”
The adventure continues in INESCAPABLE ARSENAL! Continue reading for an excerpt!
Part III
Inescapable Arsenal
Full Metal Superhero Book 3
All rights reserved. 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 permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review, or for educational purposes.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Real world locations are used and in some cases fictionalized.
Jeffery H. Haskell
Visit my website at www.jefferyhhaskell.com
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing: Dec 2017
Molten Graphics
In my life, I have been young and foolish. This is for everyone who ever helped me, but I was to dumb to thank. Thank you!
64
Amelia is stubborn, eccentric, and absolutely the best friend I’ve ever had. You ask why I risked everything to save her? Because no matter the risk, that woman is a treasure to mankind and I would be as guilty as the people who took her if I hadn’t tried. I miss her every day. Every day.
—Excerpt from Studio 50’s interview with Kate Petrenelli AKA Domino, founding member of The Protectors.
My hands won’t move. I’m telling them to, but they won’t budge. Just sit there, white knuckling the wheels on my chair while I stare at the black and white tile floor. If I take my hands off the wheels they’ll shake and I don’t want anyone to see me freaking out. Well, anyone other than Kate, who patiently waits for me while I have my panic attack.
“Amelia, it’s going to be okay. Really. Dr. Grace is one of the best. She assures me your parents are making good progress. Remember, they asked to see you.”
I nod. She makes perfect sense in the way she always does. Breathe Amelia, just breathe. It’s one of the lessons taught while I learned to come to grips with my paraplegia. Panic attacks do me no favors. Despite my decent shape and the exercise I do get, there are inherent dangers in being paralyzed and I work extra hard to avoid the pitfalls of paraplegia.
“Kate… what if they don’t remember who I am?” I look to her for help. Kate Petrenelli could’ve modeled for a living if she wanted to, hell with her powers she could do a
nything, and she chose to fight crime. She’s finally ditched her disguise and now wears her straight black hair just past her shoulders. Her green eyes stare at me behind the very fashionable glasses I had custom-made for her. They let her ‘talk’ to Epic whenever she needs to. The rest of her outfit is as tasteful and well-put-together as I could expect. Stylish white blouse, a cardigan throw, and a flowing skirt that dropped down to her ankles and a pair of four-inch heels I would love to wear.
I had a dark blue turtleneck and jeans, though, with the temperature outside below 40 degrees, I opted for a thick wool blanket over my legs. The only thing out of the ordinary is my very bulky hi-tech-looking wheelchair. Of course, it isn’t a wheelchair, it’s my Mark III armor. I didn’t want to spend a lot of time redesigning the wheel, it ended up being more of a Mark 2.5, but with enough changes, I decided to go with the III designator.
“Amelia, this isn’t about them miraculously fully recovering. It’s a process. One you are holding back because you don’t want to see them.” She holds up her hand to forestall my complaint. “Believe me, I understand how painful it is. But you are holding it back. They need to see you, they need to try and reforge those neural pathways.”
I nod; I hate it when she’s right.
“Can you push? I don’t think I can keep my hands from shaking.”
With a grin, she steps behind me. Despite its appearance, the suit is actually quite light. Even if it wasn’t, Kate would put an Olympic weightlifter to shame.
“Have you decided where you want to go for your birthday? Where I come from, twenty-one is a big deal.”
I shake my head. “I don’t celebrate birthdays.” The only one I remember is my 6th, the one we had just before we left for California. I don’t need a yearly reminder of what I’ve lost. I have it daily.
“That’s too bad because we are celebrating.”
I don’t respond, I don’t want to force the issue right now. I’ll just weasel out of it when the time comes. I hear her giggle and realize she can probably feel exactly what I’m thinking.
We move in silence as she pushes me through the first floor. Like most hospitals, and I have visited my fair share, the smell of antiseptic is heavy in the air. Doctors and nurses scurry about here and there. She pushes me over to the elevator banks and we wait as the light blinks at us.
“Any word from Carlos?” she asks.
I shake my head, “Only that he received an offer to learn guitar from some famous person in Spain. His family said he packed up and left overnight about three days after the incident. Nothing since. I’ve emailed him a couple of times but no joy.”
“He’s 20, in Spain and he plays guitar… use your imagination as to why he could be… occupied.”
“Why Katherine Petrenelli, are you jealous?”
I turn to see her face and sure enough, there was a hint of red on her cheeks.
“Not jealous, per se, just… I get overly used to being the most popular girl in the room. It can be… disconcerting when I’m ignored.” She waves her hand in the air dismissively, “Oh, I know I should be thankful but part of me… well part of me likes the attention,” she said with a sigh. “The bad part of me.”
“Well, I’m sure he’s having a good time and thinking about you every minute. You or Monica, I’m not sure which.”
Kate smiles and pushes me into the elevator. The building stretched up thirty floors and my parents were close to the top for security reasons. Once in, we fish out our ID and show it to the camera. The elevator had an ECM suite to rival my own, I should know, I designed it for them. No one trying to access the 29th floor could do so using mind control, I made sure.
We ride up in silence. I really didn’t want to stay away but the part of me that was still a scared little girl curled up in my mind and cringed at the thought of losing her parents… again.
Kate’s reassuring hand squeezes my shoulder. The warmth of her feelings flows through our link and the edge of my panic vanishes.
I can do this.
The doors open into a sterile room with metallic ink painted on the walls. A lonesome stainless steel tray with two necklaces sit alone in the middle of the otherwise empty white room. We place them over our necks and a white LED flashes on, letting the staff know the ECM was active and working.
Kate could still use her powers to some degree, pheromones, and touch, but she couldn’t read anyone’s emotions or influence them without touch. She pauses for a second, stumbling to the side and holding her head as if a huge headache had just cold cocked her.
Wheeling over, I lean down to look up at her, “You okay?”
“Okay… I,” she looks around, eyes unfocused as if she can’t quite see her surroundings. “Good lord, Amelia… can you make me one of these?” She holds up the necklace. The ones Mars Corp made for the hospital ran on a rechargeable battery; they were good for two hours, tops.
“Of course, I should have thought about that. Yeah, and I can make it look like however you want and,” I lower my voice to a hush, “Power it with something a tad more energetic.”
She nods emphatically. “Please. I’d forgotten what it was like to be alone in my own head.”
I grin, I love doing things for her and this would certainly take the cake. “Okay, let’s go in.”
The doors open and the security guards behind it, also wearing the amulets, check our ID one more time. Kate pushes me down the sterile hallway, past a desk and several rooms. The feel was that of a hotel more than a hospital here, which made sense considering how long-term some of the patients were.
“Any thoughts about the Presidents offer to form a team?” She asks as we follow the orderly.
“Epic and I ran the numbers and we’re just not sure. We both think it’s a good idea but the two biggest obstacles are finding people we can trust and… well, me.”
“You?” I could hear the surprise in her voice.
“They want me to lead it; they won’t trust anyone else to take charge. I’m no leader Kate, you know this.”
She clears her throat, “Amelia Lockheart I know no such thing! You moved into the Diamondbacks and practically took over in a day. You’re a natural born leader.”
No, I wasn’t but there was no arguing with her. Making suggestions to the Diamondbacks was one thing, being the full-on leader of a superhero team was something else entirely. I wanted to do it, but I also maybe thought I should solve this solo. After all, Pythia said I caused the destruction of mankind. What if this is how I do it? What if creating a team and then failing at leading them caused us to fail at some crucial moment and then we all died?
I shake my head, this is a trap. A trap I’ve been caught in for months. Ever since I sent Ericsson off into space. Every move I make could bring us closer to extinction. Not moving could bring us closer. I hunch my shoulders and rub my face, my chest tight with the fear of it all and from meeting my parents. I needed a second.
I signal for Kate to stop.
“No,” she says.
“What do you mean, no? I can transform this chair and—”
“Amelia, breathe and listen. You’re meeting your parents, put the rest of the stuff out of your mind for one second and just enjoy this.”
Either she hit me with her ‘calm down’ whammy or her words just made sense, either way, I calm down.
“Okay, let’s do this thing.”
The orderly gestures for us to continue, smiling at Kate with the largest grin possible. He also has his gut sucked in. It’s a good thing I’m not the envious type. Even with her active powers dampened, she’s still the hottest woman in the room.
The cafeteria lay beyond the double doors, a large spacious room with massive bay windows facing west to let in as much of the natural light as possible. They also came with a magnificent view of Puget Sound. The hospital crowded a hill west of Woodland Park Zoo with at least a few hundred feet of elevation, giving us a fantastic view of the entire Sound.
“I could eat lunch here every d
ay! I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much water in one place,” I say.
“It rains a lot here,” Kate says dismissively.
“Kate, so good to see you,” Doctor Grace says as she approaches. The doctor has a svelte figure, dark features, and even darker hair. If I had to guess I’d say she hailed from India, or her parents did. I tried to guess her age, but I’m terrible at it and she didn’t look much older than me.
“Dr. Grace—”
“Rashi, please.”
“Rashi,” Kate continues. “Are they ready?”
I didn’t want to look past her; didn’t want to see them. Fourteen years I spent looking for them and now I’m terrified of how they will look at me. I wipe my sweaty hands on the blanket in the hopes that they will stop.
“They are, and eager, if not excited to see your friend. This way,” she said, turning.
There they were.
My fear vanishes for a heartbeat. Mom and Dad, sitting at a table, laughing over a shared joke. His hair is shorter than when I saw him last. Mom’s longer. Her hair is as black as my own and when I see her face it’s like looking into a mirror. I’ve let my own hair grow out in the last few months to just below my shoulders.
They’re laughing and I so badly want to join them.
“Go on,” Kate says, gesturing toward them, “I need to confer with the good doctor.”
With a deep breath for strength, I push forward. Dad stops as he sees me, gently tapping Mom’s hand. She turns and her dark brown eyes widen at the sight of me.
I move the next ten feet in silence before coming to a rest at the table. They have some food, a burger, and fries in front of my dad and a salad for Mom. They must’ve just finished eating since about half the food is left on the plate.
Full Metal Superhero Box Set [Books 1-6] Page 35