Supernal Dawn

by J. A. Giunta

  Will said, “I hope Jim and his team can corroborate. For now, I need you in confinement until I can sort this all out. I’ve watched you grow up, kept your family safe for years. I need you to trust me. And keep the changes you made to yourself quiet. It’ll only lead to questions about why you did it. If my plans go through, you’ll never have to worry about a Bullet Squad or anything like it.”

  Lee had nothing else to say. He nodded and turned to head for the elevator.

  “One more thing,” Will said. “The Sherwood girl, Tammy. Until the lab is done testing, until we know exactly what it is you did to her or whether it can spread, no more animating corpses. The last thing we need right now is a Super zombie apocalypse.”

  Will gave a nod to indicate the conversation was done, so Lee continued on to the elevator.

  “There you are,” Anna said. “I lost connection for a bit. Is everything all right?”

  “Yep,” Lee said as the elevator doors opened, “just headed to my jail cell.”

  “It’s confinement,” Anna said and chuckled, “not prison. Think of it as timeout for adults.”

  “Sure,” Lee said without humor, “just like the death penalty is a really long nap.”

  The elevator doors closed, and it began to move. It took him further down than he’d ever been before but opened to the usual white corridor. There were no guards or agents, just rows of small cells on either side, closed off by transparent fields of blue energy.

  “Yours is sixth on the right.”

  He’d expected the other cells to be empty, but each one he passed had someone in it. No bed, no seat, no toilet or running water, there was nothing for them to do but stand and wait or lie about on the floor.

  “Who are they?” Lee asked.

  It was eerily quiet. He could see a girl’s mouth moving as he walked past but couldn’t hear a word she said when she got up to pound against the energy field.

  Anna sounded like her cheer was forced. “Like I said, they’re in timeout. It’s just temporary.”

  Lee stepped into his cell, and the field flicked on. There was a quiet buzz, like an electric hum, that he couldn’t hear when he was on the other side.

  He sat on the floor, waiting. There was nothing else for him to do. The imaginary clock in his mind ticked away for seventy-nine minutes.

  “Hmm,” Anna said. “Something’s wrong. I’m being locked out of systems one by one. I’m trying to alert—”

  Her voice had cut out. His energy field flickered, and the electric drone died out as well. Lee could hear footsteps clicking slowly toward him from down the hall. Whoever had gotten off the elevator was getting close and began to whistle.

  “Who’s there?” Lee asked and got up to look out. The people in other cells were up and banging on their fields, but no noise made it past. “What’s going on?”

  Jim stepped into view.

  “Hey, buddy,” he said and smiled. “How’s it going?”

  Lee almost felt relieved to see him, though surprised and a bit confused. Jim eyed the energy field with a curious look. Lee went to raise his arm to lean against the wall for dramatic flair, but when he saw the dried blood, all sense of levity left him.

  “How’d you get down here?” Lee asked instead. “This is a high security area.”

  “There’s no guards,” Jim pointed out. “Tech’s easy to bypass when you have the right skills.”

  “Or people,” Lee said. “I didn’t think the Bullet Squad had a tech.”

  “We do now. You’re not a stupid guy,” he said, arms crossed and smile gone. “You know what’s going on. I think maybe you’re just waiting for the right opportunity to do something about it.”

  Jim knocked on the wall.

  “Let me guess,” Lee said. “You’re my opportunity.”

  The smile returned. “I wanted to get you before they do a reset. We don’t have time for retraining.”

  “So you can get me out of here,” Lee said. “Then what?”

  “We burn it all down.”

  “But what’s the plan?” Lee pressed. “You need a way to survive, to deal with the repercussions. You’ll turn the entire city into a target.”

  “More like a Briarwood,” Jim said. “Just think about it, an impenetrable city, where Supers call all the shots. Hundreds will flock to us, thousands, from towns and cities all around.”

  Or maybe you’ll set a bad example for them to follow.

  Lee considered it without meaning to. It was just in his nature now. Scenarios played out in his mind, details of possible futures bubbling beneath the surface.

  “They’ll just bomb us from the air,” he said, “send in drones to spare soldiers, make us into a warning for other cities. They’ll cut off power and water. Food will run out within weeks. There’s no sequence of events that doesn’t end with the deaths of millions.”

  Jim waved off his assessment. “We’ll have a city full of hostages. We can use them to bargain for whatever we need. We’ll take control of power and water, buy or steal everything else.”

  “That might work on a smaller scale,” Lee said, “but you’re not a criminal organization. You’re less than ten guys. Even with powers, you can’t take this whole complex, let alone Sungrove.”

  “We’ll see about that.” The sense of confidence coming off him, the deception and vindication, left Lee feeling that Jim had become a far more dangerous person than the one he’d met at the police station. “But you’re going to have to make a choice,” Jim went on, “a lot sooner than later. You can fight with us and be on top, or you can sit here and roast marshmallows.”

  Whatever uprising Jim had planned, Lee knew there would be no talking him out of it.

  It was already happening.

  Lee asked, “What would she say about all this?”

  He didn’t know her name but didn’t have to. If Jim had remembered anything, it would be her.

  “Joselyn?” Jim asked. He gave Lee an appraising look, as if further impressed. “She was more than my tutor. At least, to me. She’d probably tell me to follow orders. No matter what. Too bad she isn’t here anymore. You once said you knew how to kill me. That true?”

  Lee looked up at him with regret. It was a matter of semantics, but he’d been wrong at the time.

  “No.”

  “Good.” Jim let his arms drop and moved to stand directly in front of the cell. “What’s it going to be? You with us, or…?”

  “I have friends here,” Lee said, “family. I can’t attack them. If you’re forcing me to choose between you, then I guess I’m against.”

  Jim pursed his lips in disappointment. “All right. Let it drop.”

  The energy field between them fell away.

  Lee knew the attack was coming, had cells building in Jim since he’d arrived, but wasn’t equipped to fend off the vibrations. He brought his own power to bear, sent in everything else he had, and tried to roll out of the way. Jim raised both hands, used his power to begin shaking every bit of Lee’s body with waves of vibrations. Lee sent shocks down his spine, and Jim’s muscles went into spasms. Waves of rolling vibrations struck the walls and ceiling, rippling the smooth metal into flakes.

  There was nowhere to run. The cell was too small, and he needed more time. Jim growled with the strain and fought for control of his own body. He brought his hands back down toward Lee. The vibrations struck like a car at full speed and raced through. Lee tried to push against the force building between them, to land kicks or punches like he’d been trained. There was just no getting close enough.

  He sent more shocks into the spine and brain, knew he was causing damage despite how quickly Jim was able to regenerate. Lee’s skin crawled and began to tear. He dropped to his knees and screamed against the pain of every organ and muscle breaking down beneath the stress. It became difficult to concentrate on his cell
s within Jim, and the more his attack eased, the stronger Jim’s became. Even with the alterations Lee had made to his bones, they too would shatter and turn to jelly before long.

  His eyes stung with blood, and his vision blurred. The floor beneath him cracked, as both hands and every finger broke with it. Blood ran from his ears and joined the growing puddle. Lee had no choice but to relent, to draw cells from his attack and use them to heal himself. He simply wasn’t strong enough, not after all he’d been through already that day. If he ignored the damage to his own body, he wouldn’t survive the next few seconds, let alone put a stop to the assault.

  Two voices cried out over the tumult of Lee’s screams. It was Ember and Allison. Jim cursed and turned to face them, as fire filled the hallway. Twisting streamers of yellow and orange, the controlled inferno snapped out and engulfed him.

  It was Jim’s turn to scream.

  He rolled away from the growing fires, his clothes, hair and skin scorched.

  “Open them all!” Jim yelled, and Lee sensed him run in the other direction.

  Ember was first inside, came running to kneel beside him. By the fear and overwhelming concern he sensed come off her, Lee imagined he looked even worse than he felt.

  Allison continued to throw fire down the hall, blasts that filled the cell with waves of crackling heat. She stood just outside, as if daring Jim to come back.

  The energy field to every cell went down.

  “Ah shit,” Allison said. “I might need a hand here.”

  She threw both arms wide, and walls of flame erupted to either side. The skin not covered by her outfit, her hands and face, glowed like molten glass. Veins stood out from beneath the brightness, like crimson rivers of boiling fury.

  “Do yourself a favor,” Allison told the girl in the opposite cell. “Stay inside until we leave, or I’ll stop holding back.”

  The girl’s eyes widened further. She was already backed up against the wall to avoid the heat. A nervous nod was all she could manage through her fear.

  “Can you move?” Ember asked. She’d been careful not to touch him.

  Lee only nodded. He was focused on healing, closing ruptures and mending breaks. The pain made it impossible to think about anything else. He could alter himself again, turn the pain off, but didn’t want to risk making a mistake with so many lives on the line.

  “We need,” Lee started and coughed. His lungs had been punctured by bone fragments. When they’d healed and he could draw breath, he went on, “We need to stop them. The Bullet Squad. They’re trying—”

  “We know,” Ember said. “Kevin knew before anyone else, had alarms hidden in every system.”

  “Ember!” Allison shouted. Shards of ice flew through her fire wall on the left, cutting through her uniform, as a purple field of energy began to bend the flames on her right. “I need you!”

  “Be right back,” Ember said to Lee. She got up and stopped, looked down at her middle and back to Lee with a sense of panic. “What the—”

  Everything flared white, and she was gone.

  - Ember -

  Will was waiting when the team disembarked from the aircraft. With a curt wave, he pulled Lee aside. “The rest of you get down to medical for clearance, then get cleaned up. Grab some rations,” he told them before leading Lee away.

  Ember looked back at them, trying to see where they were headed, but the hallways in this part of the facility were still a mystery to her.

  Once the docs had cleared them, they headed back to their rooms. Ember had Zeta deliver a pile of fries and a huge chocolate protein shake.

  “Carbs and protein never tasted so good,” she said to Allison, who sat across from her chowing down on a bowl of brown rice and steamed veggies.

  “I don’t know how you eat that junk,” Allison said between bites. “It’s gonna do you in.”

  “Nothing a spare set of organs and a brother who can heal you from across the room can’t take care of.” Ember vacuumed up the last of her shake with a slurping sound.

  “There’s a problem in Omicron,” Zeta said, suddenly. “Lee—improper—access—systems—communi—breaking—some—hacked—”

  “What? What’s going on?” Ember asked as her comm went dead.

  Allison dropped her fork and stuck a finger in her ear, trying to fiddle with her earbud. “Did you get any of that?”

  “We got issues,” Kevin stuck his head inside the door, hands full of wires and components.”

  “You have comm?” Ember asked.

  “Not exactly.” He continued to mess with the electronic materials. “But I’ve got this.” He slapped the mess on the wall inside the doorway.

  A video feed flashed to life and Ember jumped up when she saw Lee in the picture. “Lee! That must be Omicron.”

  “Yeah.” Allie stared at the screen. “What the hell is Breaker doing in there?”

  “I’m guessing, under the current circumstances, that it’s nothing good.”

  “We need to get down there!” Allie shouted.

  “Not without these.” Kevin handed each of them a spare ear bud.

  “Tinker!” Aegis roared from his cube, “stop blabbing and get this show up and running.”

  “He’s giving the orders,” Kevin said quietly, “or is about to, and as much as I think Lee screwed up out there, I don’t think we should leave him to fend for himself. He’s still one of us, and I have a feeling we’re going to need all our allies today.” He nodded at Ember and Allison. “So, if I were planning on getting to Omicron before someone sent me elsewhere, I’d be moving my ass already.” He grabbed Ember’s game system, then ducked out and sprinted across the hall. “Thanks for the loan,” he yelled over his shoulder.

  Ember and Allie glanced at one another, then rushed out the door and into the main hallway.

  “Flux! Flare!” they heard Aegis call, but they were in the elevator heading down before he could order them back.

  “Any idea where we’re going?” Allison asked.

  “Omicron,” Ember said, her thoughts on Lee and what might be happening around them.

  “Omicron,” a voice said in her ear. The elevator slowed and lurched, stuttered, then began moving again.

  “What was that?” Ember asked.

  “Better question,” Allison said, “Who was that?”

  “You heard it too?”

  “Operative Assistant Alpha,” the voice said as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. “Left down the hallway, then left again.”

  Allison raised her eyebrows at Ember who shrugged. “Gotta love Tinker’s toys.” She stepped out of the elevator and jogged left.

  Allison stayed on her heels as they navigated the floor, following the directions that came from Tinker’s earbuds.

  Before they reached Omicron, chaos erupted. Noise and running people filled the corridors.

  “Emergency stairwell to your right,” Alpha said as they turned a corner and ran into three men in lab coats. The docs looked startled to see them and glanced around guiltily before running past.

  Ember stared up the hallway in the direction the men had come from. Large windows opened onto what looked like a laboratory, but Ember couldn’t see what the men had been running from.

  “I’ve got a bad feel—” An explosion sent shards of glass at them. Allison’s hands were up and fire flared, melting the glass before it reached them.

  “Thanks,” Ember told her, reaching out to press open the emergency stairwell door. “Let’s go.”

  “Jackasses, could have at least warned us.” Allison followed her into the stairwell. “Now, what?”

  “One flight down,” responded their virtual guide.

  “I don’t think those particular jackasses are on our side.” Ember headed down the spiraling metal stairs, grateful for her white ‘lab rat’ shoes for a change, beca
use they didn’t make resounding clomping noises in the stairwell like her boots would have.

  They stopped at the next landing and listened at the door.

  There were sounds of fighting. “This must be the place.” Ember crouched low and twisted the knob, preparing to shove open the door. “You ready, Flare?”

  Allie grinned. “Ready, Flux.”

  Ember shoved her shoulder into the door, but it caught on something and wouldn’t open. “Crap.” She peeked out through the slim opening. Crumpled bodies lay just outside. “A little help? They’re heavier than they look.”

  “Probably armed and armored. On three?” Allison braced herself against the door.

  “One, two, three.”

  Together they shoved at the door and the bodies of the guards on the other side shifted enough to let them through.

  “Remedy’s cell is down the hall on the left,” their virtual guide said.

  “Let’s go,” Flare tried to push past Ember.

  “Wait.” Ember filled her palms with heat, as a blast of energy shook the hallway. “We need to go in shooting, but don’t hit Lee.”

  “Duh.” Allison stepped out into the corridor and flung up her hands as a tall Super shot something black and slimy at them. The gloppy mass flared and exploded midway between them and the Super who’d thrown it. He looked startled, then pulled his arm back to throw again. Before he could form up whatever it was, Ember hit him square in the chest with a bolt of heat that knocked him backward and caused him to yelp when the mass of slime he’d formed splattered all over his chest and arm.

  “Damn!” Flare said. “You really were holding out on us.”

  “Sorry,” Ember said. “Orders.” She grimaced. “But I should have at least told you.”

  “I get it.” Flare shrugged. “But there is something I need to tell you.”

  “Really? Now?”

  “Well, yeah. It’s about Lee—”

  Something wet slammed into the wall beside them, causing the wall to ooze. They ducked inside the nearest room.

  The unkempt Super inside looked up and grinned, waggling his tongue at them.

  “Don’t. Even.” Flare shook her head at him.