Ancient Arsenal (Full Metal Superhero Book 7)

by Jeffery H. Haskell

  “That didn’t happen, it’s a myth,” a woman said behind Carlos said.

  He smiled. “This armor,” he said, making a fist and knocking the chest piece a couple of times, “was made for Achilles by Hephaestus. He wore it when he died.”

  There was a guffaw behind him from one of the hostages. “Troy is a myth, a tail told to warn people of the danger of obsession,” the same woman said.

  “It’s funny that you all have no problem with me crashing through the ceiling and having bullets bounce off me, but there’s no way the Trojan war happened? Come on...”

  Carlos continued his story, mostly without questions as he related the tale of the Trojans. It was only slightly different than history remembered, and he glossed over the differences to focus on the important part.

  “A lot of people died, and it didn’t accomplish anything. Just more death. Is that what you want? More death? Because once you’re dead you can’t change anything. Alive you can, but dead... it’s all over.”

  The two boys looked to each other again. He could see understanding in their eyes and they slowly dropped their weapons. “Good choice.” He looked over at the door nearest to the front and pointed at the woman who doubted his story. “You, go open the door and let them know it’s all good.”

  To make sure the two boys weren’t accidentally killed, Carlos stood up and walked over to them, kicking away the guns. He secured his shield on his back, put a hand on their shoulders, and walked them outside.

  Once outside, it was a tense few minutes but once he was sure no one else would die, he held out his hand. The spear flew through the open door and over the heads of the police to come to rest in his palm.

  “Wait, we need a statement,” one of the officers said to him.

  The blue lights of the police cars illuminated the place and Carlos couldn’t help but feel bad for the two boys.

  “The dead one is the reason this happened, these two boys were duped.” He threw the spear up and a second later was back in space.

  Three hours later, one ship rescued and twenty tons of rubble removed, Carlos stumbled down the slope near the collapsed bridge to sit on a rock outcropping overlooking the chasm the bridge had once crossed. He took his helmet off and placed it down beside him, along with the shield and spear. Lying down with his legs dangling over the chasm he starred up into the stars and let his mind drift.

  I know what I did wrong. I’ve been waiting all this time for her to make a move, and when she didn’t, I thought she wasn’t interested. But she was, wasn’t she? She was waiting for me to make some kind of gesture.

  He slapped his face, running his hands down to his jaw. The pure stupidity of his own actions stunned him. How could he not have seen it? Here he was, the big hero, and the second he was around Kate he was back to acting like the shy kid. Like she couldn’t possibly like him.

  Now that he thought about it, it was obvious. When they were on the boat, she kept finding excuses to touch him. Whenever they were in a room together, she would sit down next to him and lean in close. And oh, golly did she smell good.

  “Dork,” he said to himself with a smile. Time to man up.

  He sat up, placing his helmet back over his head. “Milton, you there?”

  “Always sir,” the AI replied.

  “Where is Kate right now?”

  “I’ve lost contact with her sir, she’s moving through an area of Mexico with intermittent cell coverage.”

  His heart raced. Lost contact? Now he really was a jerk. He’d left her there to fend for herself because she hurt him, but really, it was his fault. Sure, she could have acted differently, but that was no excuse for his own behavior.

  “Damn. Okay, I’ll go check on her. I need to talk to her anyway.”

  Spear don’t fail me now.

  He heaved it up into space, thinking of Kate’s gorgeous face the entire time.

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  DOMINO

  She moved toward the monster. She’d done this previously— teleported away with him before he could explode. It had nearly killed her; if it wasn’t for Amelia and Teddy, she would have died.

  No Amelia this time. Even if she were here, no Teddy either.

  None of that mattered; she wouldn’t allow these girls to die like this.

  “No, not this time,” Apple-man said. “You take one more step toward me, you disappear, you do anything, and I’ll detonate. Right now, it’s just enough to kill everyone here. You have one play here; I’ll let these girls go, but you have to stay.”

  She looked at the girls then at him. “They can go free?”

  “Ha, you wish. No, they get to go back with their owners. But hey, life is better than death, amirite?” he said with a sneer as he took another bite.

  “Why do you even care? I thought you worked for Jack Random?”

  He shook his head. “Highest bidder, remember? I’m pretty sure even your disabled friend in the armor couldn’t pay me more than ISO is right now. So that’s the deal. You die, they live. Or you all die. Take it or leave it. But don’t take too long to decide, you know how I go. In three minutes, this whole area is going to look like Nagasaki.”

  Half the gang members were still up, and Kate got the feeling they hadn’t known about this. There was a lot of murmuring and sudden movement as they headed to their cars. If the girls died then there was nothing Kate could do. But once they were gone... maybe she could get him out of here, far enough away that they would reach minimum safe distance.

  “OK,” she said.

  “OK? You’re just going to let them take us?” Rachel yelled.

  “You don’t understand, Rachel. He’s a bomb, a living bomb. In three minutes—”

  “Two and a half,” Apple-man interjected.

  “He will go up like a nuke and everyone within three miles will die. You have to go now. I’ll come for you, I promise.” She looked hard at the girls, trying to convince them it was true, even though she knew she was lying.

  Rachel nodded, gesturing for the girls to get up and walk past the man. The gang-members quickly hustled them into the waiting SUV’s then tore out of there at break-neck speed.

  “One minute. I’m not sure they can get away. Too bad—some of them were pretty,” he said.

  “No more, Apple-man. This is the last time you do this. No matter what, this ends now.”

  He laughed. “Hardly. Nothing can stop me from exploding once I trigger it,” he said gesturing to the apple.

  So that’s why he’s always eating an apple.

  Kate smiled as she heard a familiar sound, a whistle as something fell through the sky. She didn’t know how he knew to come to her rescue, but he knew.

  “Here’s the thing, Apple. You think that you’re going to explode, and then in a few months, what? You reform?”

  He nodded. “Sometimes longer, but I always reappear wherever I detonate. Last time it was a little tricky because I went off ten miles up. The good news is, when I hit the ground I just detonated again. I’m like nitro, baby. Handle with care,” he said with a laugh.

  “What happens if you detonate in space?” Carlos asked from right behind the man. Somehow, without even Kate hearing or seeing him, he’d made his way into the back of the truck through a hole in the canvas. He seized Apple-man by the neck and in the same instant threw his spear up into the sky. Kate barely had time to see the surprise on Apple-man’s face before they were gone, flying off into orbit faster than Kate could follow.

  Amelia had told her the Protector made the journey in less than two seconds. She looked up at the night sky, wishing for a second it was her instead of—

  The sky lit up like a small sun had appeared a hundred miles up. Apple-man could trigger his detonation, and probably had as soon as he could. The flash illuminated the country side and then it was gone, vanished as if it was never there.

  Then she waited. Carlos wasn’t indestructible; he’d spent three days in the hospital after stopping Amelia’s satellite weapon, th
en a few days recovering after his fight with Titan. The last Protector, Sydney had died while fighting Behemoth... They were strong and tough, but they could die.

  Please don’t be dead.

  Minutes ticked by and Kate’s breath came in ragged gulps. Her chest heaved as the reality of what had happened set in... he was gone. Killed in the blast.

  She fell to her knees, sorrow and pain, loss and regret overcoming her. She put her hands to her face and screamed in frustration. Why? Why had she let this happen? It was all her fault, all her doing. If she had just dropped her petty need to be the center of attention for one second—

  Then the spear hit the ground ten feet from her.

  Carlos fell from the sky, slamming into the ground and dropping to one knee. His armor glowed bright red, smoke drifted off it as the cool night air clashed with the super-heated metal.

  “Carlos?” she asked, stunned.

  “I’m okay. Stay back for a second,” he said. He stepped away from her. He picked up the spear, spun it once and struck the ground with the point. As if he’d opened a fire hydrant, a gout of water, sea water from the smell, gushed from the ground, engulfing him in steam that exploded outward. She leaped to her feet, shielding her face and retreating from the hot steam.

  After a moment the steam cleared and the water stopped.

  Carlos stepped forward, his usual lazy grin on his face. He pulled his helmet off and tossed it on the ground along with his shield. “Kate, I’m so sorry. It was all my fault.”

  “What?” she asked, surprised. “Apple-man had nothing to do with you...”

  “No, Kate, not Apple-man. I...” he closed his mouth and walked toward her with a purpose she had never seen in him before. A gleam in his eyes. Her empathy kicked in and she knew exactly what he was doing. His strong arms encircled her, and he pulled her close, planting his lips on hers and kissing her like she was the most important woman in all the world.

  More important than the kiss, which she enjoyed more than any kiss before, was the honesty in his emotions. He hadn’t intended to rebuff her, he’d genuinely thought she wasn’t interested, but now that he knew she was, he acted.

  After a moment, they broke their embrace, both of them breathing heavily. It felt so damn good to be in his arms, she almost purred.

  Then reality caught up with her. She stiffened. “The girls!”

  “Right,” he said, letting her go. “Let’s go get them.”

  “Then more kissing?” she asked.

  “Try and stop me.”

  She smiled mischievously. “I might.”

  He growled in response and Kate felt everything was right. Now they just needed to go kick some butt and save some lives.

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  Her glee turns to anger when she picks up the remains of the spear and points it at the ground and nothing happens. Her scowl becomes wide eyed surprise. Then she shakes the spear a few times and tries again.

  “It’s not working,” she says. Her eyes burn with anger as she looks at the spear then back to me.

  I’m guessing it was supposed to do something, but I don’t have time to figure out what. She can’t hear the dozens of people running toward us.

  I march forward, snatch the spear out of her hand, and wrap one arm around her waist.

  “Unhand me you cretin!”

  “Listen, I don’t know what you were trying to do or what you thought would happen, but you helped me find the spear; I’m not going to leave you to die here. Besides, I need to know what you know.”

  I kick in the Emdrive—this time I’m going for power. The high pitched whine of the engines fills the cavern and we blast off. It’s really difficult to maneuver while holding a person, but I manage. We fly over the heads of a dozen soldiers. They aren’t fast enough to shoot, but I can hear them turning around to chase us.

  I hit the ground outside where the staircase came down; the tunnel is too small for me to fly up while holding her.

  “You can fly?” she asks, her breath coming in gasps.

  “Can’t you?” I say with a smirk.

  “No, not at the moment.”

  I shrug. “Up the stairs. We need to get outside, then we can take off.” I let her go first; once she’s a few steps ahead I follow, but I examine the spear first. It certainly looks Bronze Age; the shaft is mostly deteriorated, almost petrified wood. The spear head might have looked great in the sun but now it is a dark green and only a small amount of the actual metal still exists.

  I hope Pythia knows what she’s doing, because if the fate of the world rests on this piece of junk, we’re doomed.

  Once we’re at the top of the stairs I grab Nemesis again. She doesn’t struggle as much this time and I blast off. Instead of going for the door, I pick a skylight that isn’t stained glass. Using my free arm as a shield, we crash through it and into the night air.

  I can’t fly nearly as fast with her in my arms—not only would she die of hypoxia, she’d freeze to death. Instead I shift her so she can ‘lie’ on my back, holding my shoulders as I keep my speed at a measly one-fifty—which turns the thirty minute trip into three hours. Thankfully, I can’t hear her whine the whole time.

  We hit the ground outside of Delphi just as the sun crests over the mountains. She stumbles and falls to one knee. I reach down to help her up and she jerks her arm away from me.

  “I’m fine,” she says. “Why did you bring me here?”

  I stop for a second. I had assumed she’d known about Pythia... but now that I have a second to think, I realize it’s a foolish assumption. Pythia has mentioned her loneliness more than once. If there was another Olympian on Earth, the prophetess hadn’t known about it.

  “Follow me,” I say as I walk around to the correct pillar. Once she is in place, I press the stone. The ground rumbles, sinking slowly down. Her eyes go wide as we pass the barrier. She looks up as the new ground slides above us, replacing the one we’re on.

  “How is any of this possible? You mortals don’t have the ability or the knowledge to craft any of this,” she says as the lift walls give way to the cave.

  Frank and Luke are at the small table, eating and speaking in hushed tones. Pythia kneels next to the pond, running her hands through the surface and watching the ripples go back and forth.

  She turns around with a smile on her face, until her eyes meet Nemesis.

  “You,” she whispers.

  “Apollo, that fool!” Nemesis leaps off the lift and runs full speed toward Pythia. I don’t think it’s for a hug.

  “Luke,” I shout. I bring up the IP cannons, but the angle is wrong. Luke responds with the speed of a man who’s trained his whole life to fight; he’s up out of the chair before she takes four steps. He collides with her at the halfway point... and she throws him off her like a rag doll. Angle or no, I fire off a blast. Ionic energy washes over her, knocking her forward. She collides with Pythia, slamming the poor girl to the ground, then rolls on top, and starts choking her life out.

  “Nemesis, stop,” I yell as I jump down. Halfway there, I hear the crack of Pythia’s neck.

  I sock Nemesis across the jaw as hard as I can. My momentum and strength manage to send her flying, she stumbles sideways and falls into the water.

  “Epic, check Pythia!”

  Amelia, I have no way of knowing if she was alive to begin with, let alone what Nemesis has done. However, Pythia is not moving and does not appear to be alive.

  “What? How?”

  “Foolish mortal, aligning yourself with the spawn of Apollo. Justice is served for her crimes. Now, give me the spear so that I might unleash retribution on the rest of this pathetic planet.”

  Now I understand why they kept this thing in the vault. Luke regains his feet and walks up behind me. I toss him the spear. “Not today, crazy lady, today—”

  The bang of thunder behind me knocks me down and I face plant in the ground. I struggle to my feet when I see what caused the concussion.

  Luke’s face is a mirro
r of my own surprise. Instead of a spearhead, he’s holding the full spear in his hand like it was a snake.

  “Amelia, what is going on?” he asks.

  “How am I supposed to know?”

  “No, you can’t, it’s mine!” Nemesis charges out of the water, leaps through the air, and tackles Luke. She knocks him backward, he lands hard on his back with a grunt as the wind is knocked out of him.

  The spear clatters against the ground. She rolls off Luke and runs for it like a junkie looking for her next fix. I let loose with two full-power IP blasts, narrow beams, right in her back. They knock her off balance and she runs face first into the wall then slides down, leaving a streak of blood.

  I look down to Pythia to see what I can do but she’s vanished. I look around the room, but her body is nowhere; there isn’t even a pile of clothes like Obi Wan Kenobi.

  “Frank,” I yell, “Find something to tie that crazy bee up.” He nods, stunned, but jumps up and grabs the linen on the bed. “Luke, you okay?”

  I rush over and slide to a halt next to him. His blue eyes are a bit dazed, but his easy grin tells me he’s okay. “She hits like a Marine,” he says with a smile. I reach down and help him up.

  “Did you feel anything when you touched the spear?” I ask him.

  He nods. “It was like static electricity. I got hit with a zap that went down to my toes.”

  “Grab it. I’m going to check on Nemesis.”

  “Amelia, why did you bring her here?” he asks.

  “I thought she could help us. She’s an Olympian, Luke, and she knew where and what the spear was. I didn’t expect her to go full Gone Girl the second she saw Pythia.”

  While I check on Frank and Nemesis, Luke stumbles over to pick up and examine the spear.

  “Epic, what can you tell me about her?” I ask.

  Only what is in the mythology. She predates the Olympians and goes by several different names. All her incarnations had one theme in common; she would punish the hubris of humanity and gods alike. She is the basis for the avenging angel myths.