“You seem to have some performance issues. Maybe you should see a shrink,” my synthesized voice says. I’m sure the sarcasm came across when his face turns into a mask of rage. He blurs and his foot hits me in the face knocking me back. I guess he’s not going to try and cut me. Epic signals Domino’s departure as she teleports Mr. Perfect away. He’s annoying, but I hope he makes it.
How do they do it without armor? I don’t have time to ponder it now. Foehunter is throwing every object he can find at me. It results in a small meteor shower of rocks, tire irons, lug nuts and anything else he can find to hurl.
“Epic, is there any pattern?”
He’s chaotic. If you could stop him for one second I could fire the lance and bring him down.
“Good plan, but how do I stop him?”
I check on Force. He and Jack Danger are dancing around each other, both are incredibly skilled in hand-to-hand. Except when they miss, parts of the landscape are destroyed. While I’m watching, Force dodges a kick and the side of a very expensive car caves in from the blow. Force comes up and knocks Danger to the ground. It dissolves into a ground game and I can’t spare any more time for it. At least I know he’s okay.
“You know what, Foehunter,” I put a lot of emphasis on his name, “You win. Go ahead and run away, I have more important things to do.”
He appears in front of me, a spear from what must be a Chinese prop pointed at me. His mouth opens to retort and Epic fires.
The lance catches him as he blurs away. Instead of a smooth line to his destination, he runs headfirst into a concrete wall. I’m not sure the level of his invulnerability, but the way he falls flat back tells me he’s out.
“Fire all bean bags at him.”
The puff of compressed air makes me smile as his body twitches from the impact. Once they’re depleted I pod him. When I turn away his form is slowly rising into the air.
Force and Danger are a blur of motion, punching and kicking each other. I’m not sure they could hurt me, but my armor only slightly enhances my strength. I should look into fixing that. Right now there is one more guy—there he is. Sitting on the steps to the casino, eating an apple?
“Epic, scan him please.”
My entire sensor suite comes online. It draws significant power and the lights inside the suit dim. I would have preferred doing this during the day as I have no way to recharge without a hookup or solar power. I smile inwardly, of course now that I understand the Zero-Point Field, I should be able to do something about it.
“Arsenal, stop standing there and help me!” Force yells from behind. I’m not sure what he wants me to do. I turn and bracket Danger. He’s got Force down on one knee and is repeatedly bashing him in the face.
“Epic, pod him.” The puff of air signals launch. Danger jerks back in surprise. I guess he expected it to explode or something. When he’s twenty feet in the air he starts laughing.
Force looks at me incredulously.
I shrug, “Unless you’re telling me to kill him, it’s all I got.”
Force snarls. He’s breathing heavy and I know he’s at his limit.
“How long?”
“Until I shut it off.”
He takes a few steps toward Danger.
Alarm bells ring on my screen. Epic flashes a radiation warning and all my passive sensors are going haywire.
“Epic?”
The unknown man with the apple is building up to some sort of explosion. Based on the thermal energy and the gamma rays his body is giving off, he’s going nuclear, possibly a one-kiloton yield.
Epic throws up a countdown. We don’t have much time. I fire a pod at the living bomb. Epic reads his body temp at four hundred degrees. The pod hits him in the chest and activates. I’m not sure how long the pod will last, I didn’t design them to withstand thermal distress. I don’t need it to last long. I hit my thrusters full and slam into him. I put one hand on his belt and the other I use to maneuver. It isn’t the easiest and my left arm feels like it’s going to rip out of its socket.
We’re pointed up and everything is full power. My radio kicks on and I can hear Force trying to talk to me. The radiation from apple boy is too much and the signal can’t get through.
My HUD shuts off and I can’t access any of my controls, however I’m pointed up and the suit is still blasting away. I don’t think we’re high enough, and if he detonates… a nuclear bomb burns five times as hot as the sun. Titanium-Tungsten Carbide armor will be as useful as a piece of tissue against a nuclear fire. I glance down. It’s been at least thirty seconds—at two hundred mph it is a mile and a half easy. I can feel the heat in my hand. I’m amazed my pod is still working at this point.
“Epic,” I scream. Just a few more seconds and I can let him go. Ten…nine…eight…my hand feels like I’ve stuck it in a fire. I need to reach two miles. He’s glowing now, I close my eyes but it doesn’t do any good.
This is all I have, I hope it’s enough. I let him go. My thrusters quit out and I’m falling. I watch as he continues to float up. I’ve got to be at terminal velocity. He’s just a spec now and—A light flares to life so bright it is like looking at the sun.
My faceplate goes black to protect my vision—
Science has solved every problem I’ve ever had in my life. Usually the science of blowing things up, but science all the same.
-From the journal of Amelia Lockheart
The first thing I hear is the soft beeps and hums of heart monitors and breathing machines. Oh god, did they peel me out of the armor? I struggle to open my eyes, it’s like they’re wrapped in gauze, but finally I see some light. Everything is blurry. I can smell antiseptic air, but I don’t feel the suit on me.
“She’s awake,” I hear a man’s voice I don’t recognize.
I try to ask for water but it comes out as a mumble. Something cool and wet is pushed to my lips and I sip it up. My throat is raw, it hurts to swallow.
“Where—” I manage to spit out. Everything is floaty and indistinct. I must be on loads of painkillers. If they took me out of the suit how come I’m not dead?
“I’ll go get your friends.” The male voice says. “You can come in now, both of you.” My vision is still not a hundred percent. Two indistinct blobs, one with shoulder-length blonde hair, and one with a crew cut. Great, he’s here to yell at me.
I try to raise my hand, instead it just shakes a little.
“Ms. Lockheart, try not to move dear. You’ve suffered a major concussion, contusions across half your body and somehow managed to get second-degree burns on your hands and face. You’re lucky to be alive. Honestly, a person in your situation shouldn’t be skydiving.”
I can see now, the doc is an older fellow, the grandfatherly sort. Next to him are Kate, and Major Force, Luke. Even in civilian clothes he still screams marine.
“Skydiving?” I mutter.
“Yes, don’t you remember? We told you it was a bad idea but you insisted,” Kate says.
I’m really confused. I look back and forth between them and then to the doc, “I promise I will never jump out of an airplane again.”
“Good, because I don’t think you could survive a second fall from such a height. It’s a miracle you survived this one.” He shakes his head as he walks toward the exit.
After he leaves the room I point at the water. Kate moves to grab it but Luke intercepts her and picks it up. He carefully moves it to my lips. I swallow a little more but most of it dribbles down my chin.
He dabs at it with a cloth. “For what it’s worth, I was wrong,” he looks at Kate, “and a jackass, I’m sorry.”
“How?” I manage to say. My throat is feeling better by the second and the fuzz is clearing from my mind.
“When we couldn’t find you after the blast we figured you were either vaporized or in the desert somewhere,” Kate said.“You forget I can… boop,” she makes a funny sound while wiggling her fingers, “to anyone I know—uh, well. Imagine my surprise when I appeared in your works
hop. Your AI—Epic? Cool name by the way, he helped me get you out of the suit. After we got you free it was easy enough to bring you here. This is Maricopa county hospital, not affiliated with the Diamondbacks in any way.”
I nod, “What happened after?” I seem to be able to use a few more words each time.
“He was three miles up when he detonated. We got a sun tan, all the power went out, and not much else. It would have been horrific if he had detonated at ground level. You saved a couple of million people, Amelia.”
I shrug trying to ignore the staggering number of people.
“And Perfect?”
Kate smiled. “He’s fine. He’d fought the douchebag before and had his armor spell on. It was more of a bleeding cut than a damaging one.”
Despite how annoying he is, I find myself glad he survived. However, I must have serious head trauma, Major Force spoke civilly to me and he used my real name.
“I take it the cat is out of the bag then?” I ask.
He gave me an odd look.
“On my name.” I clarify.
“Oh, yes. Also, Kate?” he asks.
She smiles lifting up a briefcase and opening it. Inside is a shiny medal, along with an ID. They used my state ID picture, not the best one I’ve ever taken. Kate pushes down on the pic and it morphs into Arsenal. The information changed as well.
“Welcome to the Diamondbacks,” she says with a smile.
If I grinned any broader they would need a surgeon in here.
“Guys, this is great. Really. However, can you call the doctor back in here?”
They both looked alarmed.
“What’s wrong?” asks Luke as he moves to the door.
“I can’t feel my legs…”
It took a second, but they got it. The three of us burst out laughing at the same time.
“Something is seriously wrong with you,” Kate says between breaths.
It turns out, when you’re a superhero, a genius, and you wear a suit of armor to fight crime, your team doesn’t really like it if your armor is stored in your suburban house. I tried to explain to them the necessity of me living wherever my armor is. Kate’s solution? Well, since I was wholeheartedly against moving into the shared HQ underneath Portland, she decided to remodel the two empty offices into one large workshop/living space.
“I don’t know about this,” I say as I wheel myself off the elevator.
“It’s going to be great,” the gorgeous blonde walking next to me says.
“Kate, you have to understand how hard it is for me to live someplace... not mine. What about Carlos? How is he supposed to come visit me? What about security? You guys have a direct pipeline to Mr. Personality and I’m pretty sure he tried to kill me and steal my armor.”
She shakes her head, “Carlos can take a bus to get here, we’re only thirty minutes away. I even gave him a special badge. He was thrilled,” she says with a smile. I’ll bet he was thrilled. Kate’s the kind of woman men fawn over. Even if she wasn’t a low-level empath with pheromone projection, she’s still a leggy blonde with a figure most women would kill for. Most, not me. I have my own priorities and romance isn’t on the list.
“As for the other matter, we have our own security—something I expect you will be upgrading.”
“Obviously.”
“I don’t know why they’re doing what they’re doing, Amelia, but we’re a team, we’ll help. Cat-7 may control a lot of what we do and have, but we answer to the Governor and the State. Maybe if this were a national team and was more about politics it would be different, but it isn’t. We have your back.”
“Thanks, Kate, it means a lot to me.”
We pass by Luke's office and I can’t help but look in. The room is as spartan as I would imagine, he glances at me as we pass. He smiles and my thoughts of no romance vanish. Luke Lancaster, aka Major Force. Ex-Marine, team leader and a hard ass. At least until I saved Las Vegas. Of course, maybe it’s because he found out I’m in a wheelchair, I’m not sure which. I do know my stomach does funny things when I catch a glimpse of his crystal blue eyes, or the way his mouth crinkles up when he smiles. His abs of steel and chiseled arms don’t hurt. I shake my head, no, no, no. I don’t know if I can trust any of them. I want to, but can I? Kate is easy, but the rest… if they’re ordered to take me down, would they?
Kate walks into the room in front of me. The techs I hired have done a bang up job of moving my personal workshop here. Arsenal is suspended in its electromagnetic field, waiting to go into action. There’s a pull bar in front so I can reach up and stand while the armor wraps around me. I’ve got my super computer with liquid cooling behind the holding area. I didn’t tell them why I needed my computer specifically. Luke and Kate know about Epic, but no one else needs to know. He’s been my best friend since the day I turned him on. It took years to make him work. Up until now, all I’ve had is him and Carlos. Now there’s Kate to add to the mix.
The living quarters look exactly like mine did at home. There are a few subtle improvements, but for the most part all the same.
“This had to cost an arm and a leg,” I say as I spin my chair three-sixty to look around.
“Yes, but you’re worth it.” She walks over to the TV and flips it on. She glances to make sure the door is shut before she speaks, “Epic, show her.”
“Wait, what? Are you colluding with my AI to keep secrets from me?”
“Not, exactly,” she replies as the TV fills with footage. It’s the fight in Las Vegas. It’s split screen and there are several different camera angles. Some look professional, others like cell phone footage.
“On any given day,” a voice in the background says, “there are twenty-five superhuman events in the United States.” I realize the voice belongs to the broadcaster, the one who does the show on Sundays, but I can’t remember his name.
“Superhumans who break the law, who use their miraculous gifts for petty, selfish reasons, are often labeled supervillains. A child’s name for a very, very dangerous breed of criminal. Perhaps criminal is no longer the right word.” The audio from the cameras picks up. There’s scuffling and screaming. I can hear Luke and Danger fighting it out and he screams at me for help. I turn, and I look so much more casual than I felt. My grenade launcher flips over my shoulder and fires. Danger lifts off and starts his maniacal laugh.
“He’s in the supermax, right?” I ask in a whisper. Kate nods, “shh, this is the best part.”
I lived it, I’m not sure I would call this the best part.
“Oh my god,” someone screams, “he’s going to explode!”
I didn’t realize he was already glowing when I hit him. I can see the pod smack him and then I’m on him. My thrusters roar as I drive him up into the atmosphere. All the cameras drop away but one. Someone must have had a super-telephoto lens to track me.
“There are other people with powers. We call them capes, tights, and yes, superheroes. They use their powers to protect, to defend—”
The camera is still following me up. He’s zoomed in, but I am a tiny figure on the screen, more of a shadow from apple-man’s glowing figure.
“These heroes fight for us, they die for us, and they do it without hesitation. We don’t always know who they are, but we know what they are.” I can see my thrusters cut out. I shiver from the memory. I didn’t really have time to think I was going to die when it happened. I was surprised when I woke up.
The sky lights up, first in brilliant white then it morphs to orange as the mushroom cloud takes shape. The camera is still tracking me. The suit is easily visible against the thermal radiation shining down. Had he detonated a few seconds sooner—
“The experts best guess based on energy signature and the size of the event, is over three million dead. This armored hero risked her life to save the city of Las Vegas.” I’m still falling. My stomach goes all queasy on me. All I remember is the power going out and a few seconds later I blacked out. No kinetic shielding, no inertial protection.
“The Arizona State Militia, codename: Diamondbacks, saved the city. They fought against powerful and ruthless terrorists.” A shot of Foehunter cutting down three people in a blink of an eye before slicing up Mr. Perfect.
“For Major Force. Domino, Mr. Perfect, and their newest member, Arsenal, this is what they do.” There’s a picture of all of us. I turn and hide my face, I can’t stop myself from sweating. The photo is of me taunting Foehunter after he broke his hand on my armor.
“The city of Las Vegas hails you, the State of Nevada thanks you, and the people of the United States of America, salute you.”
Kate mercifully shuts the TV off before I have to see anymore.
“You’re a certified national hero! What do you think of that?” She’s all smiles and shining teeth.
I grab the trash can next to the couch and I hurl my guts into it. “You can take some time off if you want,” Kate says to me. This sounds very familiar. On top of doing the PR and the marketing for the team, she also runs the schedule and the day to day operations. As far as I can tell, she runs everything but the combat operations. Luke has those because of his time in the marines. I like the guy, well, dislike him less, especially since he’s been nice to me, but he isn’t the most rational, clear-headed human being when the fight starts. His powers amp up with adrenaline and he becomes a fighting machine running on instinct.
“Kate, I have. I’ve been working in the lab nonstop since you moved me. Three weeks of R&D is enough, even for me.”
Her face screws up, “You staying up until three in the morning working on your armor every night isn’t time off.”
I jerk my face away from the diagnostic screen I’m watching, “Are you spying on me?” Crap, I should have known…
“What? No,” she starts laughing. My visage softens a little, sometimes my paranoia gets the better of me.
“I just know how you operate.”
I nod. Epic signals me, he’s done— the suit checks out. What I’m not telling Kate is why I’m eager to get out there. I cracked the code and now have a shiny new Zero-Point Field Module installed where my lateral power cell used to go. I’ve run the numbers on what it can generate, but there is a difference between what you think something will do, and what it will actually do. Theoretically any size field can produce unlimited energy. However, the energy has to go somewhere. My ZPFM is the size of a D-cell battery. More than I need to power the suit, but not too much more. If I tried to make it any bigger I would have to upgrade the suits cooling systems. They’re embedded and it would require practically all new armor.
Arsenal (Full Metal Superhero Book 1) Page 8