Full Metal Superhero Box Set [Books 1-6]

by Haskell, Jeffery H.

  I knew you would say ‘no,’ so I did not ask.

  “I swear he’s sticking his tongue out at me,” I say to Tia.

  She grins back at me. “It’s hard to believe he’s a computer. He talks like a person,” she says.

  “He is a person, just not a human being. Epic is truly autonomous. His own person in every respect,” I say proudly. I haven’t had to order Epic to do anything, ever. He works with me, not for me.

  “Now what?” Tia asks pointing at the monitors.

  “Now we go for a little joy ride past the island and then turn around, come back and go for a swim,” I tell her as I program in the course. Once I’m satisfied, I have Epic announce it to the team just to make sure no one has chosen this moment to jump overboard. Once everyone’s accounted for, the boat zooms off with a roar of diesel engines.

  Two hours later I’m back on the top deck, lying down this time. My chair sits folded up next to me and somehow... SOMEHOW, Kate has talked me into putting on a bathing suit and soaking up some sun. I’d be more concerned about missing something, but to be honest, that’s what the recording equipment is for. Right now I can just look at the island with my MK I eyeballs and use my special glasses to zoom in on points of interest.

  At a half mile in the distance, it doesn’t look like we're interested in the island. After all, at a half mile, it is impossible to see details with the naked eye. Of course, the people with the naked eyes don’t have Epic.

  “I have to say, that’s the weirdest looking island I’ve ever seen,” Carlos says, sitting next to me and slathering on sunscreen like he owns stock in the company.

  I know what he means. It’s like a big lump of tree-covered dirt with a near vertical shoreline. Even if we wanted to dock, we couldn’t. The island has no beach—it just goes down to the water and stops.

  Someone screams as they run past me, and I realize it’s Fleet doing his best impression of a cannonball as he leaps off the side of the boat to splash into the water. The rest of the team are already swimming around—even Monica. I was worried she wouldn’t be able to swim because her body temperature is so much lower than everyone else’s, and she has a tendency to freeze everything that comes into contact with her skin for too long. I sigh. The belt isn’t perfect, but it works.

  “Regardless,” I finally reply to Carlos, “I doubt we’ll be assaulting it from the ocean. We’re going to have to fly in on the Emjet and do a combat drop.”

  “Well, you’ll have to,” he says with a grin. “I’ll just drop in my usual way.”

  “Show-off,” I mutter.

  He shrugs. “All those years I spent hanging out with you... I never dreamed this could happen,” he says with a far-off look. “All the things I’ve seen. It’s hard to go home and see my family, you know? They don’t really get me anymore. Not, that they ever really did,” he says. There is regret in his voice and I can empathize. I have a little bit of that too.

  “Hey, you always have me, and Kate, and everyone else who loves you. I know it’s not the same, believe me, I know...” I let it hang. Regret and guilt make terrible companions—and any second Kate is going to pop in and scold me, I can tell.

  “Niña, I... I don’t...” he stumbles, trying to say something. I’m not Kate; I can’t read people the way she can. All I can do is my best to be open and honest.

  “Carlos, whatever you want to say, it’s okay. We’re friends, we’ll always be friends. You won’t offend me.”

  He nods with his trademark sly smile. “That’s why I love you, Amelia, you’re always so understanding.”

  I shrug and give him a smile. “I know—one of my many admirable qualities, like humility.” I hold a serious expression just long enough for it to be funny.

  When he’s done laughing he gets that faraway look again. “I sure hope this works. It would be nice to focus on Luke again and maybe have a shot at retrieving Pythia.”

  “You two are still going to go through with it?”

  He nods. “If Mr. Parker agrees, I don’t see why not. From Delphi, we can go back, grab her, and return lickety-split. Hell, she probably knows we're coming and will be waiting with her bags packed,” he says.

  “Are you sure about that? I mean, are you sure she’ll be there?” I try not to sound skeptical, but it’s hard not to.

  Carlos shrugs. “I don’t know what else to tell you, Amelia, to make you believe... other than this: Trust me.”

  I nod, “ I do. I really do. I just... you know the scientist in me doesn’t believe anything without hard data.”

  Amelia, Artemis is in orbit and there is something you need to see, all of you.

  171

  Whatever the heck it is... it isn’t good.

  “I don’t understand this science bull,” Tessa says. We’re huddled around a large monitor in the day cabin, on the first deck where the meals are served. If the yacht had a crew this is where they would be.

  I have to admit, I kinda wish I didn’t either. “It means Mr. Strungel has a rocket and he’s preparing to launch something.”

  “You can tell that from a couple of orange splotches on a photo?” Tessa asks.

  I nod. “Heat blooms are very specific. A rocket in pre-launch doesn’t look anything like a generator or a power plant. We have seventy years of footage to compare,” I say by way of explanation. “Bottom line, whatever Strungel is up to, it’s not good.” I finish speaking, looking around the room at the team so they know I’m serious.

  My best guess for his plans is that he has his own satellite, possibly based on Artemis. Building a rocket, computer systems, and everything else he would need to launch into space would cost millions, if not more. It would explain why he aided Rafael and why he used his advanced tech to rob western banks.

  “But why not just sell your tech on the open market?” Tia asks. “If you can make money off of it, then he can make money off of it. Wouldn’t criminals pay any amount to have access to power armor and giant robots?” Tia asks.

  It’s a good question and one I don’t have an answer to. We don’t know enough about Strungel’s motives to speculate. Which is what I tell them.

  “Right now, we know he’s here, we know whatever he’s planning is bad for the world. Rafael, Strungel, The Armory... Luke—” I have to stop for a second to keep from choking up. Kate gives me a reassuring nod. I press my fingers against my eyes for a second before I continue. “They’re all domino's in a chain. Whatever is controlling Luke has orchestrated this whole thing. If Strungel is launching a satellite, it will be like Artemis—or a hundred times worse. I won’t—can’t—let my tech be used to wipe out a city. It’s bad enough he used it to kill those idiots on the PNW team.”

  A round of nods and mutters of agreement reassure me they’re all on board. Not that I had any real doubt.

  “We haven’t spotted a way onto the island, and clearly there are no structures on it. He must have dug down and relied on the prodigious jungle growth to hide his entrance. I was planning on doing an airdrop with the Emjet, but we’re out of time. We have to move, and soon. Epic will pilot the boat right up to the cliffside, where TK will lift Monica up. Lux, you fly up with Tia. Fleet, you should be able to run up just fine, and Domino can teleport anyone who needs extra help. Once on the island...” I bring up the picture of where the heat bloom is registering. “We head for here. Carlos, this is where you come in. Land right here and open that sucker up like Fleet eating a gallon of ice cream.”

  “Hey,” Tony hollers. “That hurts, right here,” he says, miming a knife going into his heart. The rest of the team chuckles and I get an approving nod from Kate.

  “Listen, this is going to be dangerous. He’s tried to kill me with the Armory, and he did kill most of the PNW team. Don’t take any chances. Defend yourself by any means necessary, okay?”

  A chorus of ‘yes’ and ‘roger’ greets me and it ’s reassuring. We usually face bad guys, but not every use of powers is a deadly force type of situation. A reminder that
this is, won’t go amiss.

  “Any questions?” Kate asks. There aren’t any.

  “Good,” I say. “Okay people, time to work for a living. Suit up!”

  I didn’t build the boat; there’s no special mechanism for me to suit up with. My plan had been to return to the Emjet and suit up there. However, this is why Epic and I came up with the stable quantum room—so we wouldn’t be trapped somewhere without the armor.

  Once everyone has cleared out, I slide out of my chair onto the floor, lift up my sleeve, and activate the portal. The white square opens beneath me and I fall right into the hammock-like netting, bouncing for a moment or two before the gateway closes behind me. The interior of Quantum space is eerily quiet. No sounds—not even air moving. The structure we built in here has its own atmosphere, power, and supplies. I could also use it as an emergency shelter if I needed too.

  I hang in the hammock for a moment, letting the quiet stillness wash over me. I wish Luke was here and I didn’t have to do any of this. I love being Arsenal, but I’m so tired of the constant battle. It feels like I stop one madman and no sooner than I get out of the armor another has taken their place. For a moment, weariness grips me. What am I doing? I’m just a girl in a wheelchair and this... this is all so much.

  Amelia? Are you okay?

  I smile. He knows me so well. “Yeah buddy, just... thinking.”

  That is a dangerous statement from you. May I suggest you not, “overthink,” as Kate would say.

  “She would say that, wouldn’t she?”

  I believe she has on many occasions.

  I can’t help but grin. “You always know what to say... Okay, Epic... Initiate!”

  172

  Air rushes by me as I blast up through the sky. Nothing beats the exhilaration of flying. If I had to trade all of this for one power, it would need to be flight. Well— flight and invulnerability.

  The island is two thousand feet across and almost two-thirds of that wide. It has a funny oblong shape where the North end is a cliff and the South end flows down into a slope. Too steep to climb, but not a cliff. Ocean to top, it’s covered in jungle so thick I can’t see the ground.

  Amelia, now that we have active sensors I am picking up some highly unlikely readings.

  “Like what?”

  There is no animal life on the island, with the exception of a few migratory birds. No insects, no monkeys, nothing. It is as if the island is lifeless.

  “That can’t be right. Let the team know something is hinky,” I say.

  Alarms blare as active radar pings the armor’s exterior. If it weren’t for the stealth coating and kinetic shields refracting the beams away from me, something would have a lock on.

  “Red alert!” The HUD flashes from the green of regular activity to the red of combat. All my weapons systems come online and the MK VII is ready to rock and roll.

  I am picking up multiple weapons installations coming online. Focused Lasers and surface-to-air missiles. Activating ECM.

  “Fleet, Lux, look for the weapon turrets and see if you can take them out,” I say over the comms as I loop up and around the island, trying to get a bead on them.

  “On it,” he says. I see a blur of motion as tree’s shudder wherever he runs by.

  Lux flashes by in a spear of light. Laser blasts emanate from her hands and she wipes out whole swaths of jungle, taking down weapons installations. Just... damn!

  Tessa finishes lifting Monica up onto the island and Kate grabs her and teleports into the dense canopy.

  “Okay, Carlos, it’s showtime.”

  I will never grow tired of seeing him make an entrance. Good golly Miss Molly. The spear drops out of the sky like the Sword of Damocles, cleaving through the air with a whistle to slam into the top of the island, almost exactly where the hatch was located on our picture. How he does that from orbit is beyond me. Even with the most advanced targeting computer in the world, hitting something that small by throwing a spear at it, would be nigh impossible.

  Almost as fast as the spear, Protector falls from the sky directly behind it. His sandaled feet hit the ground, sending a shockwave out around him that blasts through the leaves of the trees, leaving them shaking.

  “Amelia, I don’t know what this is, but it ain’t dirt,” Carlos says over the comms.

  I fly around in a large circle, coming at the island from the opposite direction. I’m hoping Strungel will be paying attention to me while the rest of the team goes to work. TK, Glacier, Domino, Fleet, and Tia all arrive seconds behind Carlos.

  “Amelia,” Lux says over the comms, her already unusual voice distorted more by the radio. “All the weapons emplacements are destroyed.”

  “Awesome, join us at the hatch.”

  I land next to Carlos with a metallic thunk—which is weird because the ground looks like dirt. A few seconds later, Lux flies over to hover behind Fleet.

  “Other than the gun turrets, why hasn’t he tried anything?” TK asks.

  I shrug, which doesn’t really translate well in the armor. “Protector, why don’t you knock,” I say, pointing at the place the hatch should be.

  Carlos spins his spear in the air a few times before driving it into the dirt. Except it isn’t dirt. It’s metal covered by a thin layer of soil.

  “Is this whole island metal?” Tia asks.

  She kneels down to wipe the dirt away. Her costume is pretty awesome; Kate designed it. It’s a solid blue one-piece that stretches from her neck down to her feet. It has to be skin tight because of her powers, but she looks damn good in it. The colors go from a solid dark blue on top to a fragmented pattern about halfway down, leaving her lower half in more gold-outlined blue boxes, giving her the effect of fading away. It’s a fantastic representation of her powers. Now we just need a code name for her.

  “I think this is some kind of boat,” I say to the team.

  “Or a sub,” Tia says.

  “Regardless, we’re going in.”

  Everyone else is in their usual costumes. Fleet’s in his blue and white speedster suit. Glacier switched to elemental form before we started, leaving her as a living ice sculpture in the shorts and t-shirt she wore on the boat. TK has her black leather pants and red jacket over a dark purple Kevlar weave top. Domino has her black catsuit with its nine million pockets, bandoleers, and pouches filled with grenades, smoke bombs, and restraints… not to mention her to IP Pistols and the swords slung on her back. Lux is in her usual white outfit with the gold starburst over her breast.

  The only person who is always in the same costume is Carlos, since his outfit isn’t one he can change. He slams the spear down again, wedging it into the metal, trying to get leverage against it. All the strength in the world won’t do any good if he can’t apply it to something.

  “Protector, hold on a sec. Lux?”

  She comes to hover next to me. Her body sheathed in brilliant light while her hair floats out behind her like tendrils of coherent energy. “I’m here,” she says in her musical voice.

  “Burn a hole in it; give Protector something to latch on to,” I say, pointing to where Tia cleared the dirt.

  Lux nods, holds her hand out like a knife and focuses it on the exposed metal.

  Amelia, I am detecting a vibration building up from below. It is low-level but at this rate of increase, it will become dangerous. It could be the rocket preparing for launch.

  “Understood.” Then to Lux, “Do it.”

  Light flares around her hand, building up to a crescendo until a bright yellow laser shoots out of her fingers to strike the metal where Tia had cleared the dirt away. Lux’s powers strobe, glowing brighter as her laser burns into the metal ground.

  “I don’t understand why it isn’t melting,” Lux says in her musical voice.

  After a few more seconds, she stops. The metal glows red then quickly cools to normal.

  “We’re running out of time,” I say. The vibration building up underneath is visibly shaking the ground now.

>   “Let me try something,” Tia says as she moves forward. The air around her condenses as if it has solidified and gained mass of its own. She can’t see the smile on my face, but it’s a mile wide. I love when she does this.

  She kneels down, lifts her arm up as high as she can go and the brings it down. I don’t know how much mass she gained, but the ground shakes in impact causing everyone but Domino to stumble. I stagger back a few steps before I regain my balance.

  “Damn, woman,” Carlos says with his mouth hanging open.

  Tia’s hand is wedged under the hatch and she heaves upward, her every muscle straining as she slips her other hand into the space she’s created. The metal creaks, creating six-inch tear next to where her hands are. Carlos steps next to her, grabbing the sundered metal with his gauntlet covered hands and pulling up as well.

  “What the hell... is... this... made of!” Carlos grunts with each word, the strain causing all his muscles to bulge. The ground under their feet gives in and they sink an inch into the metal from the pressure.

  “I have an idea,” I say quietly. The way the metal sheers reminds me a whole helluva a lot of my armor. Epic was right; Strungel can clone my work—or something like it.

  Amelia, thermal radiation has just increased tenfold!

  “Incoming!” TK yells. The air shimmers around us as she throws her hands up to shield the team. A deafening roar fills the air as a man burns through the sky like a comet, right at us.

  173

  “Epic is that—” The world around the shield explodes in fire, lancing out around us and scorching everything living until the world is nothing but a wall of superheated flame. Only Tessa’s telekinetic shield and Glacier’s innate ability to absorb heat keep us from roasting alive.

  “Glacier, Tia, and Lux, stay here,” I say, pointing at the fire. “Everyone else, into the hole!” I point at the hole Tia and Carlos made in the metal. I’m starting to think maybe this isn’t an island after all, but some kind of boat—or another of his giant robots.