by J D Cowan
“Not a chance.”
“Matthew, release me!”
A chain reaction of explosions rocked the building. The floor rocked. Large blasts consumed the entire area in a fireball. The ceiling above Shaula trembled and broke under the heavy weight. Melting steel splashed and crashed against her flailing form.
Her bones bent and snapped. The rush of fire and crushing metal consumed her screams as she was torn and ripped apart. Plumes of purple air puffed and expelled from her before evaporating into thin air.
Jason watched her scorch away to ash under the blaze as he fell through the floor, her body incinerating, and Matthew’s ethereal form with her. The life of Shaula of Mageuopolis had finally ended in the blaze she had set herself.
Not a single thing remained on that burning floor but cinders, liquid metal, and ash. The quaking from the ceiling continued.
The entire building was about to come down on Jason’s head.
Chapter 23
End of the Road
The very foundations of the building shook, shedding metal, stone, and drywall as Jason’s dropped through them. Everything around him imploded.
One floor, two floors, three floors . . . just how high up he was he couldn’t tell. And above the ceilings continued coming down. The floors above were nothing but rubble now.
He saw no one in any of the rooms or offices on his way down.
Jason dropped out thirty feet into the tiled atrium area. Daylight bathed the carved marble and large water fountain in the center. Security guards stood outside the front doors. Civilians wandered out there with them. Red and blue lights flashed around the corner of the large doors. The police must have evacuated everyone on the lower floors. No one else was left inside.
But he had no time to think about it. Ceiling tiles fell around him, breaking against the floor. Soon a building would fall on his head. Jason punched the floor again and fell through, just as the ceiling gave in. He landed in a maintenance area. Tight tunnels and the pungent smell of cleaning products assaulted him. Another hit sent him twenty feet downward into the parking lot. The quaking concrete threatened to toss him aside. Abandoned cars laid about everywhere, but he found something nearby that could help him: a manhole cover.
He threw it open and jumped down into the dark. His boots splashed in pungent water. A long sewer tunnel stretched on in both directions. He went right in the opposite direction of the police. The parking lot cracked apart above him, sending stone into the small tunnel.
Pollux fired on all cylinders as he cut it loose. The ceiling crumbled in and the broken building crashed into the sewer with him. Rocks cut at his cheek as a piece of cement knocked the broken helmet from his head. Each hit against his armor broke off more metal pieces, slicing into his tunic and pants and drawing blood. Fatigue slammed into his insides like a jackhammer. Pollux was running out.
A large pile of stone fell through the ceiling. He swung his fist and shattered it instantly. A manhole cover smashed into his back as he slid forward and—landed in a pile of garbage. Jason rolled over and slammed into the side of the tunnel when he finally realized that the ceiling had ceased collapsing. The ground still quaked, and shouts roared far behind and above, but the wall of destroyed concrete and road sat motionless in the tunnel behind him.
Jason took a hard breath. He had outrun the destruction.
After several minutes taking hard breaths, he looked at his hands. The bracelet was gone. He then realized the weight that hit him was Matthew. But was he alive or . . .
Jason tried to stand, but his legs seized, stranding him in the tunnel where sirens whined in the city above. Pollux ran out of energy.
“Are you there, Matthew?”
But Matthew didn’t answer.
No choice. He had to do it himself.
Jason crawled along the bottom of the sewer on his elbows, knees dragging. Inch by inch he pushed as his muscles cried and jerked against him. His fingers spasmed. Blood from his forehead obscured his vision. Each push brought blinding pain.
But he did push. He dragged his legs for what felt like years as the city erupted in chaos above. He climbed onward, the destruction behind him. His goal was the end of the tunnel.
Sickness swirled in his head. A blackout almost consumed him. Jason smacked himself awake.
He remembered what Matthew had given him. He reached behind his back and pulled out the mirror. Miraculously, it was still in one piece, but he couldn’t see anything through it. Why exactly did Matthew bother with this?
He stared into it, and a strange sense of nostalgia blanketed him. He remembered the mountains, Alain and Ordopha, the abbey, the forest, and Zelana. Sure he had only ended up in Tyndarus because of Shaula, but it felt like an eternity ago. He bit his lip, and his fingers tightened. He couldn’t just to die here.
Jason put the mirror away again and crawled onward. He had nowhere to go, but he could not stop now.
Light burst in from the ceiling. His blurring vision made it difficult to see just what it came from. Suddenly he caught a figure in knight armor standing before him. The man kneeled down in front of him.
“Are you okay? Your clothes are all torn. How did you get down here?”
Jason blinked. He knew that voice. “I’m fine. Just really tired.”
“I can imagine. I’ll get you out, so just keep calm.”
The knight lifted Jason in both arms, and finally, he realized just who this was. Pendragon! The most famous hero there was. And he was saving Jason.
“It’s been a bit hectic up above,” the hero said. “I’m going to put you down outside, and you wait for the ambulance to come by, okay? Don’t move.”
Sleep consumed Jason before he could respond. He had so many things he wanted to ask Pendragon about heroes and villains, but he didn’t get to ask them.
“Jason, get up!”
“Matthew?” he mumbled
“No one is looking. Now is your chance. Get up!”
Jason’s eyes flew open, and he sat up. People were flying about all over in the medical tent around him. How long had he been out?
Thankfully with so many people hanging around, he could easily slip between them and back outside. He dipped around the doctor checking the broken arm of a college girl. Orange sunset beat down on him when he stepped out. Crumbled stone and broken roads lay several streets away, and sirens blazed unabated. They were coming this way.
Jason slid through the crowds and towards the shelter of the alley. No one noticed as they were busy dealing with the other wounded. But he kept his distance, hiding around vehicles and people as he moved. It would only be moments until he switched bodies. The boy ducked down between dumpsters as the sun vanished from the skies. Thankfully the alley was vacant.
The transformation kicked in within seconds, and the boy found himself without control of his physical form again. Instead, there was Matthew.
Matthew’s armor had been blown to bits leaving him with a scorched shirt and torn up pants just like Jason. He limped while he walked, yet he retained more energy than Jason. But he was alive.
Matthew tripped and leaned against the side of the brick. “I know a guy at a Salvation Army on 103rd that can give us some fresh threads. He can give us a few bucks to get out of town and lay low for a while. If any of Shaula’s goons are still alive, then we don’t want them to find us.”
“I was there when it came down. Trust me, there’s nothing left of them.”
“We should still be careful.”
“Are you sure we can just walk away, Matthew?”
“I’m not walking away. We’ve got Castor and Pollux. We’re going to do something with them.”
“And what’s that?”
Matthew groaned. “What do you think?”
“I think I met Pendragon. He’s just as cool in person. I mean, he was helping people. He even got me out of the sewer.”
“That’s his job. But maybe he isn’t so bad after all. It’s better than what I’d use his
powers for.”
“You’re not any different than he is.”
“Don’t be stupid. Just wait until I get out of here. Heck, maybe I’ll use Castor to make some extra money. Either way, we have to keep this out of the wrong hands.”
Before Jason could question it, Matthew left the alley out into the night. He didn’t believe Matthew would use Castor for anything like that. Matthew wasn’t that guy anymore, just like Jason wasn’t that same scared kid. They were Castor and Pollux now.
And Earth would know it just as Tyndarus did.
Epilogue
Matthew entered the motel room with his paycheque in hand. The sun would be rising soon, and the boy would be in charge. Matthew yawned as he flicked on the light.
He sat down on the squeaking bed and peered at the red sunrise peeking through the trees on the opposite side of the highway. It was going to be a long day.
The bag on his lap, Matthew removed the mirror piece once again. Even now when it had been a few weeks since he took the thing from Shaula’s long destroyed hideout, he couldn’t understand why he felt the compulsion to take it. He kept looking at the useless scrap. Leaving Serenity City and Greycoast for the outskirts wasn’t enough to break his roaming thoughts. He didn’t think he would ever fully escape that world.
But his security job at the warehouse gave him too much time to think. He had saved up some money over the last few weeks, but what would they even do with it? Where would they go? Recently he had even thought he was being watched, but nothing ever came of it. Perhaps he was just getting stir-crazy. July was already here.
“We could go back to Serenity City and become heroes,” the boy had said.
Matthew only shook his head. “And make ourselves targets? That’s no plan.”
And he had been trying to figure out the plan ever since. There wasn’t one. Of all things, getting into the hero crowd was not at the top of his list. But he would do it if he had to. He just needed some direction, some clue.
“We’re back?” Jason asked. He stepped out of Matthew’s head into the real world again. “That was a long night. I fell asleep earlier than usual. Sorry about that!”
“Just gave me more time to think. The mess in Serenity City seems to have blown over. They think it was some sort of gas leak even after the investigation. Pendragon also caught a gang of car thieves a few days later. Big bust. We’re in the clear. But I think we’re missing something.”
“I keep telling you about my idea, but you don’t want to do anything about it.”
“Get real,” Matthew grunted. “I’m responsible for you now. There’s no way I’m traveling west just because you think there might be something there. For now, we have a solid thing going.”
“And you’re okay with a solid thing? You might think you’re cool and collected, but I see the way you look at the sky at night and hate that you can’t see the stars. The news reports about villains have you double checking before changing the channel. You don’t like it here any more than I do.”
“It’s irrelevant, Jason. What I want and what I have to do are two separate things. You’ll understand when you’re older. For now, we have to do this.”
“And if I get another dream?”
Matthew lay back on the bed and felt the rock hard pillow turn into a marshmallow against his skin. Heavy eyelids signaled the oncoming dreams that awaited him.
“Good question,” he said with a yawn. “I’ll think about it.”
Matthew closed his eyes and let fatigue win. There he saw the cavernous mountains, wide blue skies, and lush forests of a distant world. He traveled windswept plains with wildflowers whipping in the breeze, and up ahead he met the figure of a woman with familiar white hair and a welcoming smile. He would dream of Tyndarus again: a faraway world where dreams were reality and the intangible was always just within his grasp. One day he would return.
The creak of a door opening let in a burst of light to momentarily distract him. Jason had run outside again. He was probably going to the bus station. Maybe this time the stubborn kid would buy the tickets to go out west. Matthew almost wished he would.
As the daylight was cut off by the door, Matthew turned over and fell back into dreams. His eyelids slid shut.
Just one more dream. That’s all he needed. One more and he might reach home again.
An Excerpt From Hollow City
Keep reading in the Heroes Unleashed universe! Hero Adam Song, call sign Amp, fights against the gangs of Halo City in HOLLOW CITY.
Read an excerpt, or get the book on Amazon right now!
HOLLOW CITY
This was Halo City. This was America. The rules were different.
Instead, I yelled, “Halcón! Three o’clock!”
“Copy!” Oliveira replied. “Speed it up!”
We barreled down the street, eating up the last few yards to the target. As we approached, a chill washed down my spine, and a void invaded my mind.
Danger.
I looked around. No signs of threats. Yet. I gripped my weapon and steadied myself.
The BearCat screeched to a halt right outside the target block. I jumped off the running board, taking the carbine in both hands. Shane sprinted for the front door, orienting her shield to the door. The inhabitants had drawn curtains across the glass, but I could hear faint music. Sugary high-energy electronic trash melded to a female voice.
And just over the music, I heard a faint pattering sound.
A dark brown blur blasted out from around the corner of the house. A Doberman. Barking and growling, it charged at us. At Shane.
She hit the shield’s light switch. Six hundred lumens glared into the dog’s eyes. Undeterred, it leapt at her. She swung the shield just so, and it bounced off the heavy ceramic. Growling, it shook its head, moved to circle around her—
And a noose dropped over its head.
“Here boy!” Ray Monteiro called.
Ray was running the animal capture pole. The dog barked and scratched and yelped, to no avail. He tightened the noose and dragged it away to a waiting cage.
Carl Duncan and Tom Rodriguez sprinted around the corner where the dog came from. As Shane and I stacked on the door, Miguel Herrera stepped up on the other side, hefting his sledgehammer. Eric Williams dashed to the door, assault hook in hand, and fastened the hook to the heavy-duty security gate. A bright yellow sling connected the hook to the BearCat’s front bumper.
All of us took a step back.
“Pull!” Oliveira commanded.
The BearCat reversed explosively. Metal shrieked for a single, terrible, instant, and the gate went flying.
Miguel wound up his sledge. I grabbed a flash-bang from my pouch and pulled the pin. With a mighty swing, Miguel smashed the door in. I tossed the stun grenade into the room beyond.
The banger erupted in thick smoke and blinding light and thunderous sound. My ear protection kicked in, muting the noise. A split second later, another flash-bang detonated around the back of the house. Shane charged through the smoke, through the open door, and headed right. I was right behind her.
“POLICE! SEARCH WARRANT!” I shouted.
We were in the living room. Five subjects, scattered across sofas and couches. Three huge pizzas and cans of soda covered the table. A barely-clad woman gyrated on the enormous TV screen. They were all reeling, covering their ears and screaming, disoriented from the shock of entry.
At the far right corner, halfway up the stairs, there was a sixth subject.
Emmanuel Ruiz.
“POLICE! FREEZE!” Shane yelled.
Ruiz’s face contorted in fury. He held a small dark object in his right hand. A phone.
Twisting around, Ruiz brought the phone up to his ear. His eyes narrowed, his muscles contracted, and as he wound up, I saw the trajectory of his throw. I ducked and slipped right, and instead of slamming into my throat the phone merely bounced off my helmet.
Ruiz turned and ran upstairs.
“Suspect headed to level two
!” Shane called. “Amp! On me!”
I followed her, flowing around the room and following the walls. The rest of the team surged in, converging on the subjects.
Shane halted at the foot of the stairs, aiming her carbine up the stairs. I patted her shoulder.
“On you!” I called.
We headed upstairs. Heavy footsteps pounded the floor, Ruiz cursing as he ran. A woman yelled something in Spanish. Staying behind the shield, we sliced the pie as we ascended, leaning out and sidestepping to minimize our exposure.
No sign of Ruiz on the upper floor. There were four doors, all open. Bedroom to my right and front, bathroom next to the room before me, another bedroom to my left.
“Where’d he go?” Shane whispered.
“Emmanuel Ruiz!” I yelled. “Come out with your hands up!”
No response.
I Amped.
Electric fire surged through my ears, supercharging my hearing. Men yelled and complained on the lower floor, every word and obscenity amplified and articulate. Heavy boots pounded up the steps, the rest of the team following us. Fabric rustled, metal clanked, men inhaled and exhaled deeply.
I shut them all out and focused on the sounds on this floor.
To my right, I heard hands scrabbling against wood, plastic crackling, metal clashing on metal.
And breathing.
“Go right,” I whispered, stepping down my power. “Two subjects.”
“Copy,” she said.
She swung the shield to cover her right, shifted her carbine to her left shoulder, and pushed on the door. I was right behind her, peeking over her right arm, studying the room beyond—
My spine tingled again.
DANGER DANGER DANGER
Lowering my left hand to my other grenade pouch, I whispered, “Wait.”
Shane stepped through the door.
I Amped again.
Power roared through my belly, filling my hands and feet and head. I concentrated the energies, focusing them on my nerves.