Now I’ve killed people and severely crippled many, many more. Is it irony? A crippled person crippling other people? I shouldn’t feel bad for Tire-Iron, he had it coming and if he can never walk again, well then maybe he’ll never kill again. I shake my head, no, I did right. Then why do I feel guilty about it all?
Kate puts her hand on my shoulder, she must be feeling some backlash from my inner turmoil. They caught me by surprise when they showed up today in different uniforms. Had I known we put on colorful, flashy outfits for public appearances I would have added some flashing lights or something.
Kate’s wearing a dark blue semi-rigid top. It looks like body armor. Under it she has on a form fitting long sleeve shirt and below it a skirt. I couldn’t believe it. She’s wearing a skirt. Her boots come up to her calves and she has stockings on for the rest but…
Luke’s wearing something I could best describe as a Marine dress uniform without any medals or insignia. Fleet’s never had to make a public appearance before. He didn’t have time for an alternate costume. Kate set him up with a very nice metallic blue suit. He wore his usual domino mask as did Kate. Luke had his half-mask on and Mr. Perfect… he wore a tux. Which is totally normal for him. Along with his Phantom of the Opera mask. He twirled his little cane and smiled and all the ladies swooned. What is it with him?
The stage is large enough we can all stand shoulder to shoulder with plenty of room. Right now the Chief of Police is recounting his experience of how Fleet saved child after child and even brought a mother with her baby.
He’s last in line on my right, we’re formed up in order of seniority, and I nudge him.
“See,” I whisper.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it, women and children first.”
The ceremony goes on for a while, finally culminating in the Mayor giving Luke an award for the whole team. The crowd cheers and we all take a bow. I almost missed my cue. Halfway through I started falling asleep. I put Star Trek on my heads-up display to help keep me up. I think Kate noticed my mood change because she gave me some funny looks.
I can’t help it, I love me some Captain Kirk.
The cheering goes on and on. I wave a few times and then it is over. Kate guides us down the stage to the waiting crowd for autographs and pictures.
“I’m sorry, I can’t really hold a pen.” I’m going to hell for all the lies I tell. “I’m happy to take a picture with you,” I tell one young lady. She poses as her parents snap a pic.
Kate nods at me, or past me, and I turn and look. My heart stops. There’s a little girl in a wheelchair. She can’t be more than eight or nine. She’s hanging back from the crowd. It’s rough in the chair. Crowds are an opportunity to be accidentally knocked over, or pushed in a bad direction. I had to weigh every crowd, every line, and decide was whatever I was doing worth the risk?
I could see her doing the same math and deciding against it. I couldn’t take it.
“Excuse me.” I begged off another photo op and walked toward her. I’m not tall, not even in the armor, but I am bulky. I don’t think anyone would miss me in a crowd.
Her face lights up as I walk to her. I don’t see her parents, but I can’t imagine they aren’t nearby. I kneel down in front of her to look her in the eye while we speak.
“Hi, I’m Arsenal.” I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to open my faceplate more than right this second. Stupid secret identity.
“I’m Wendy, I can’t believe you came over here. You’re my favorite!”
I smile inside my helmet. I have a fan.
“Wendy, can I tell you a secret?” I lean in as I speak. Her face lights up and she leans closer.
“I’m in a wheelchair too,” I whisper. I don’t think her eyes could get any bigger without falling out.
“Really?”
“Honest Abe,” I say holding up my hand. “I invented my armor to help me walk. Only when I’m in my armor, the rest of the time I wheel around just like you.”
She reaches out and touches my arm. “If I had this I would never leave. I miss running something awful.”
I’m desperately trying not to cry. “I do too. I can’t stay in here all the time—it smells if I’m in here too long.”
She laughs. I reach over and hug her as best I can and she hugs me back.
“You’re my best friend,” she whispers in my ear.
“Our secret, okay?”
She nods. Her mom picks that moment to walk up on us. I watch as she wheels Wendy away. The little girl glances back every few seconds and waves. I wave back every time.
I don’t know how long I’m standing there watching her go. If I do nothing else in life, this moment will have made it all worthwhile. I didn’t have anyone to look up to as a kid, I just wanted my family back. Maybe there’s more to this business than flying around stomping bad guys. I never had a ton of respect for them before, but maybe I was wrong?
“Arsenal?”
I turn around and come face to chin with Luke. He’s smiling. The skin around his eyes crinkles just a little bit from his squinting. It’s Arizona after all, and their costumes aren’t equipped with self-polarizing lenses. Which gives me an idea.
“Epic, make a note, let’s look at re-vamping their costumes.”
Noted.
“Neat, huh, when you can inspire people?”
I forget he can’t see me smile. “I didn’t know about this part, you know? Saving lives, sure, but inspiring people?”
“Most of us are forced into this. Our powers express and we’re too young to know what to do or too scared.”
“Which were you?” I ask.
He looks far away, not to the distance, but in the past.
“A little column A, a little column B, I suppose. The way my powers work, well, when I was a teenager you can imagine the problems I caused. Joining the Marines helped, but not as much as I would have liked.”
His sudden open nature catches me off guard. I wish I wasn’t in my armor. I want to touch him.
“I guess what I’m trying to say is, being a leader is terrifying. I’m constantly afraid of making the wrong decision, of causing someone’s death. All that. Here you come along and you always know the right thing, you always have your head on you. There are days I don’t even know why the Arizona AG put me in charge.”
He pauses for a moment, looking down at his feet. He doesn’t like being in charge, that much is obvious. Being terrified of it was less so.
“When we’re in the field, like we were against the six, and I… don’t know what to do. I want you to take over. I may not be a good leader, but I’m good enough to let others help. Okay?”
“You got it… boss man.”
He cringes, but he does smile.
“Can I come in?” asks Luke. My workshop is a mess. I have parts strewn everywhere and my new project is in a four-foot long metal box rigged with a kinetic field generator. I would have gone back to Detroit where I made the suit in the first place to do this, but I don’t have the time, and I don’t want those bastards at Cat-7 to know anything about how I built the suit.
I’m dressed in shorts, a tank top and my welding gloves as I solder a connection together under a microscope. My black hair is pulled back with a rubber band and I have these enormous goggles on. I’m the picture of beauty.
His unexpected emotional outburst, in a good way, has me reeling with chills every time I think of him. The way he opened up to me was wholly out of character for him or at least the character I had come to expect from him.
I wouldn’t care as much if it weren’t for the fact that he is exactly my type. Tall, smooth skin, and a smile to die for. And his eyes… I could lose myself in his blue eyes.
“You there, Amelia?”
“Oh, yeah, uh, yeah.” I say smoothly. I was staring, great. I pull off the goggles and free my hair from the rubber band. A quick dash of my hands through my hair and I look marginally better.
“What can I do for you, boss man?” He smiles at my cheeky remar
k. I know he doesn’t like it, but maybe he’s come to tolerate it from me. Since the other day I’ve felt a tad bit awkward around him. Kate assures me it’s perfectly normal to be awkward around a person you like, especially if they like you back. I told her she’s out of her mind.
“What are you working on?” he asks, deftly avoiding my question. Of course he knows I can’t resist talking about my projects. I give him my best wry grin.
“You certainly know how to play me. I can’t resist, though!” I rub my hands together with glee. It’s good timing on his part because it’s about done.
“I didn’t make the armor in my backyard, I had to go somewhere specialized to do it.”
“Where?”
“It’s not important. What is, is that I can’t go back, not with Cat-7 watching me. Even though the armor is theoretically indestructible it is entirely possible I might have to fabricate a new part. When I first purchased the raw materials—”
“Wait, you bought titanium?”
“Military grade titanium, it ain’t cheap. Same thing with the tungsten carbide, and I needed a lot too. It’s not like the suit is a single piece of—why are you looking at me like that?” His mouth was open and his eyes were wide. He shook his head for a second and ran his hands through his buzz cut. He always did that when he was thinking.
“Would you mind if I came in and sat down?”
“Be my guest.” He closed the door behind him and to my surprise, sat on the floor in front of me. Luke is tall enough even when he’s sitting. It’s an odd experience for me. He’s 6’4” when we’re not fighting and with him sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of me he has to look up at me while I’m in my chair. I don’t think he could have done something more respectful and nice, if he had tried.
“Thanks, now, go on?”
“Where was I?” Damn I lost my train of thought. I seriously need to stop staring at his eyes—
“You were talking about buying military grade alloys.”
“Right, I needed a lot. My calculations were perfect, but the actual practical application of the process could need refinement. In other words, I had to try a few times to get it right. Also, I couldn’t be sure of the availability of it in the future. I bought—enough. Thankfully, I haven’t needed to make any new parts. After our fight with the Psychotic Six I started thinking maybe I didn’t have all my bases covered when it came to weapons.” I’d also needed a tiny amount to reinforce my chest piece after Blade nearly penetrated it.
He chuckled, “Your name is, Arsenal. Making new weapons seems like the thing you would do.”
I can barely keep myself contained as I spin the chair around to look at the readouts. I only need a few more minutes.
“Yeah, but I want to show you, not tell you.”
“Fair enough. Mind if I ask a question?”
“Shoot.” I’m fiddling with a dial when he asks. I know the pressure is right, but it helps my nerves to double check.
“How much are you worth?” he asks. I freeze, I really should learn to keep my big mouth shut. It isn’t like it needs to be a secret, but the more people know about me, the more I know about them, and then what if they’re somehow involved?
“Would you let it go if I said, a lot?” I hunch my shoulders hoping he can read my body language.
“Of course. I was just curious because you’ve never requested any parts or equipment with your per diem. Kate paid for all of the computers in here with our discretionary fund. Except, for Epic of course.”
I roll back over to him, a little closer than is strictly necessary. His eyes light up as I lean in, “I invented a little device which will help jets become much sturdier during high-g turns. Lockheed bought it from me for a tidy sum and Epic has been playing the stock market with what was left after I bought everything I needed, ever since.”
“So,” he says with a smile, “you’re a genius, you’re rich, and you’re beautiful? How are you not married?”
I laugh, of course he’s joking. What guy in their right mind would want a small-chested paralyzed girl who may not even be able to have children? No one, that’s who—he’s not joking. I’m laughing and he’s not. He’s serious. Suddenly the temperature in the room is far too much for me. My stomach clenches and my mouth has turned into the Sahara.
“Well, uh, that is—um.” Super genius with science, super idiot with words. We’re still close together and he leans forward. His head tilts to the side and—oh god he’s trying to kiss me. I don’t know what to do.
“This is the part where you lean forward, or slap me in the face. It could go either way,” he says with his sly grin.
I laugh nervously and decide to lean forward. Our lips meet and electricity leaps between us. An emotional wall I’ve been holding back my whole life, cracks. I put my hand on the back of his neck and I push hard against him. Our mouths open and for the first time in my adult life, a man is kissing me.
It’s incredible. My heart is beating so fast it feels like a rabbit is kicking me from the inside. I’m warm and cold at the same time. Things stir below my stomach I never expected to feel. Things I didn’t know I could feel.
Distantly, I’m aware of an alarm clock going off. Why would I set an alarm—oh, it’s ready. Reluctantly, I break the kiss in a way that isn’t sudden or off-putting. I lean my forehead against his and our eyes are mere centimeters apart.
“Wow,” he says, “I was worried you were going to go with the slap.”
I try to play coy but it comes out as sarcasm, “I still might.” Thankfully, he laughs. I want to kiss him again, in fact, I think I want to do more than kiss him. Oh, my alarm, right.
“Okay,” I push myself away and wheel over to the computer. My ears are warm and my stomach won’t stop moving around. It was just a kiss… what a kiss!
“Are you ready?”
He nods. I hit the button lowering the kinetic field within the grey-silver box. It’s made out of a grade of titanium that is extremely pressure-resistant. Not the same stuff I use on my armor, but close. The box opens down the top and folds to reveal my brand new, four-foot long sword. The blade is black with the gray of the carbide on it. The cutting edge sparkles from the crushed diamond coating.
“Holy crap, that is the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen!” Oh good, he likes it. I haven’t fastened on the hilt yet, the blade just ends in the tang.
“The core of the blade is titanium, of course, which I’ve bonded tungsten carbide too. It’s as strong and as hard as my suit. The blade…” he reaches out to touch it and I lurch forward, “Don’t!” He freezes.
“Uhm, the blade is coated with diamond powder which has been compacted to a monocrystalline form.” I explain hurriedly.
“Uh, Amelia, I don’t know what any of that means.”
“The edge is one molecule of diamond crystalline thick. It literally can cut through anything, except itself.”
His jaw drops and he looks at me. The admiration I see in his eyes makes all of this worth it.
“I think this deserves another kiss,” he says. I can’t say I disagree with him.
The hilt of the sword had been a little trickier than I originally thought it would be. I didn’t account for the amount of force I would be swinging it with. On my first practice it shattered. Which is bad considering what’s in it. It got me thinking, which is why I’m up at seven in the morning with my magic box.
The kinetic field emitters inside the apparatus are busy compressing the handle around a small tube of carbon steel. I don’t need a lot of room, enough for a micro-kinetic field generator and a teensy-tiny Zero-point field module. Enough to power the kinetic field for a few hundred years. I need the kinetic field generator to give it weight. Titanium is incredibly light, even when bonded with tungsten carbide. With the kinetic field generator I can have it hit like a hundred pound weight. This is not a weapon I screw around with. Like my particle beam, it’s lethal.
Kate is asking permission to teleport in. I had to d
itch Epic’s voice synthesizing. I love it, but I was having problems focusing on what he was saying. If something exploded at the moment he spoke he would have to say it again, or put it on my HUD anyways. I decided to stick with silent Epic. He could beep at me and get my attention if he needed to. Since I’m wearing the glasses I designed to hack with he can just scroll messages across my field of view.
“Uhm I’m not really—”
Pop.
“I brought you breakfast. I know you’ve been up all night and I thought you could use some food—wow, cool sword!”
I’m dead. Dead, dead, dead. She’s an empath, it is going to take her exactly—
“Amelia…” she says in a naughty voice.
—that long to figure it out.
“What did you do?” she asks.
My face is flaming red, my ears are burning and I want to die. I spin my chair around and hide behind my computer pretending to go over the specs of the hilt.
“Spill girl, did you two—you know?”
Oh god, this couldn’t be any worse.
“No, no we did not. Thank you very much.” I say.
“You did something, it’s like an emotional high in here.”
“We kissed,” I squeak out, “and there was some snuggling.”
“Aren’t you the cutest,” she squeals. Kate is like this perfect woman. Pin-up model beautiful, eloquent, smart, and an empath. She can have any guy eating out of her palm. Literally and metaphorically. How she could possibly be excited about me having kissed someone is beyond me.
“You could knock me over with a feather,” she says. Please leave, please! She isn’t.
“Well I’m tired. I think I’ll just go to bed,” I say, knowing it won’t work.
“Uh huh, come on Amelia, we’re friends, a little girl talk won’t kill you. Here, have a bacon, egg and cheese bagel from Ollie Vaughn's, they’re to die for.” I numbly take the sandwich knowing any second she is—
Arsenal (Full Metal Superhero Book 1) Page 14