I smiled. “I have a really good feeling. With their help, we might actually stand a fighting chance.”
Selena sighed as she leaned back. “I can’t believe this is actually happening.”
We sat there alone for a few moments longer before our friend returned to the table sans tea. “Now, I understand you just came from the States a little over an hour ago?” he asked, engaging in small talk while we waited for his tea order to be finished.
I nodded. “Yeah, we haven’t even been awake for two hours.”
“That’s incredible,” he said with a laugh. “Having powers like that must be quite amazing.”
“It definitely doesn’t get old,” I said, glancing over at Selena, who shrugged in agreement.
The barista came to our table with a glass of tea in hand. “Here’s your order, Leo.”
“Thanks, dear,” he said as he took his glass from her hand with a smile.
“So, that’s your name? Leo?” I asked.
Leo tapped himself on his head. “Duh, I’m so sorry. I got so caught up in meeting you, I forgot to introduce myself.” He stretched his hand out for me to shake. “My name is Leopold Renner. It’s nice to meet you.”
The World of the Supers
Making Luck
Selena and I shook Leopold’s hand, and he returned to his tea. He took a sip from it before setting the glass back down on its small plate.
“Now,” he began. “I should tell you about my group, and why someone so young is working with the British government. When everything started going terribly wrong for you all in the States, the government acted quickly to keep something like that from happening over here. Anybody who discovered they had powers had to turn themselves over to the government or else be marked as a fugitive. Of course when I discovered my powers I went straight to the government. Not just because I wanted to obey the law, but because I wanted to help keep my country safe.”
“When you say ‘turn themselves over,’ what do you mean by that?” Selena asked.
“I don’t mean they’re arrested or anything. You just have to make yourself known. Tell them who you are, what your powers are, where you live, and so on. Then you’re free to go about your normal, everyday life, as long as you don’t do anything bad with your powers.”
“What’s keeping these people accountable, though? What’s the incentive for turning yourself in?” I asked.
Leopold took another sip of his tea. “Well, you’ll be a fugitive and lose all your benefits as a citizen.” He cleared his throat and leaned forward in his chair. “You see, we don’t have as much of a problem with bad Supers over here as you do in the States. The main reason for that is, well, you guys. Most of the bad Supers here flock to the United States to join Atlas and the Legion of Richter. They get over there in a number of ways. They fly, have other Supers fly them, teleport—pretty much any way possible. Which leaves all the Supers here the level-headed, less evil type.”
“Lucky you,” Selena said.
“Well, yes, we do consider ourselves quite lucky. We only wish you and your people could’ve been so lucky,” he said, and his sorrow seemed to be genuine.
“I think there still may be hope for us. What do you say we make our own luck?” I asked Leopold, wanting to hurry up and get to the part where we came up with a plan.
Leopold smiled. “Yeah, of course we shall. Before we go and meet the people I work with, I should fill you in a bit.
“The team I am a part of is a group of Supers working for the British government. We make sure there are no uprisings within our borders, and that the threat of Atlas and the Legion stays in the United States. In order to keep the threat from spreading, however, we’ve determined it’s necessary to go on the offensive and travel to the States to take care of the threat. We’re hoping you can help us out. Fill us in on the situation over there. That would go a long way toward getting a head start.”
“Well, any help you can provide, we’d be grateful for,” I told him. “It’s just a few of us in Texas. I’m sure there are other good Supers around the country willing to help us, but we’re having trouble finding them, and it doesn’t exactly seem like we’re the winning side. If we were to have your people on our side, it would go a long way on morale alone. Not to mention the strategic military advantage.”
“Yes, we believe the same,” Leopold agreed. “However, I’ve been asked by my superiors to tell you that while your help would go a long way, you’re not vital to our operations. They’re thankful for what you’ve done with Richter and the steps you’ve taken to keep Atlas and the Legion occupied, but they’re completely capable of operating on their own.”
I glanced over at Selena, whose face was sour. Leopold’s words had definitely rubbed me the wrong way as well.
“I can see by the look on your face that you don’t agreed,” he said. “Again, that’s my superiors speaking. I think that the insight you’d provide would be invaluable. But they aren’t going to listen to a nineteen-year-old, even if I do have superpowers.”
I sighed. I might not like the mindset Leopold’s superiors had, but it wasn’t like I could just walk out on them. They held all the power. We needed them, and they didn’t seem to need us. Sure, we could give them a bit of a head start, plus they’d have our powers at their disposal. But they seemed to be doing just fine without us.
“Okay, whatever,” I said finally. “I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.”
“As am I,” Leopold said with a sparkling smile.
“So, when are we going to be able to meet with these people?” Selena asked, obviously annoyed at how much talking was happening. She wanted to make some real progress, and I couldn’t blame her.
“Yes, we’d like to speak to them as soon as possible,” I said.
Leopold’s expression changed, as if he hadn’t been anticipating what he was about to say. “Well, the thing is,” he began. “My people obviously want to speak with you, but they aren’t quite...convinced.”
I furrowed my brows as Selena and I exchanged a glance.
“Here we go,” Samantha said in my head.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Leopold took another sip of his tea. “They aren’t convinced that you’re going to be able to do more help than harm. Everywhere Tempest shows up, there’s always destruction and death. And over here, on this side of the pond, we’ve escaped all that mostly unscathed.”
I looked at him, dumbfounded. “Everything I’ve done has been reactionary. I didn’t cause Atlas to create a Legion of Supers and kill everyone in our government. I didn’t make him launch nukes at New York and Los Angeles.”
Leopold clapped his hands together as if he’d just had a brilliant idea. “Yes, that. That’s also a large concern. Atlas has nukes. We have the capacity to detect them before they arrive, and we’ll just get Ellie—oh, she’s one of the members of our team—to take care of it. But, still, it’s a concern.”
“Cut the shit, Leo,” Selena said. “What’s your point? Do your people want our help, or don’t they?”
“Yes. They do. However, they need you to prove something else to them first. They need you to prove that you can have some sense of...subtlety in your actions. That you’d be able to use your abilities and not destroy half of London,” Leopold said with a laugh, trying to defuse the discomfort.
I ignored his laugh. “So, what, they want us to do something for them?”
“Yes,” Leopold said. He drank the rest of his tea before continuing. “They have something that they want you to do first, to prove that our relationship won’t be detrimental to the general public.”
“They want us to audition?” Selena asked, not trying to hide her annoyance at all.
Leopold cringed. “I don’t like to call it that.”
“But you could?” I asked.
Leopold thought about it for a moment. “Yes, I guess you could call it that. They want to make sure they’re not going to regret this, so they wan
t you to do something small for them. It’s a way to gain their trust. And once they have it, we can get down to the real work: destroying Atlas and the Legion.”
I sat back for a moment, processing everything. I hadn’t expected to have to jump through hoops to get some help from Leopold’s people. This was starting to get complicated fast.
“Kane, Selena, I and everyone here agree. We don’t have any other options. Just do this for them, and then we can move on to getting the help we need.” Samantha’s words echoed in my head. I looked up to Selena, who’d heard her words as well. She shrugged and rolled her eyes.
I sighed. “Alright, Leopold. We’ll help you with whatever you need.”
Leopold smiled. “Excellent news!” He stood from his seat. “Now, if you’ll follow me, I’ll explain the situation to you on the way there.”
A Familiar Voice
I followed Leopold down the street, Selena close behind me. I pulled my jacket tight, trying to stay as warm as possible.
“Again, I should reiterate the importance of subtlety. The people around here are understandably cautious when it comes to Supers, and if they knew that Tempest of all people was in town... Well, it could cause quite the panic,” Leopold said as we walked.
“Don’t worry, we won’t destroy Buckingham Palace or anything,” I said.
“Well, if you did, don’t worry about the royal family. They’re far, far away,” Leopold said.
I didn’t want to tell him that the president had been as well, but that hadn’t stopped Atlas.
“You think you can do that?” Samantha’s voice asked in my head.
“It’s possible,” I said under my breath so she could hear me. It always was difficult for me to say what I wanted to tell her in my head. I kept forgetting that she couldn’t read minds constantly.
“That instills a lot of confidence,” she said with a scoff.
I shrugged. “If that’s what it takes, we can do it. Ask Selena, and let me know what she thinks.”
We walked in silence as I waited for Samantha to report back with what Selena had said. I could hear Selena murmuring under her breath behind me, responding to whatever it was that Samantha had asked in her head.
“She says she knows she can, but you’d better keep yourself in check. I think she was joking,” Samantha said.
I looked over my shoulder at Selena, who met my gaze with a smirk. “Maybe. She’s the one who has a habit of throwing me through things.”
“I’m sorry, what was that?” Leopold asked, turning to look back.
“Don’t tell him about me,” Samantha said quickly in my head.
“Oh, nothing. Just kinda talking to myself. Processing stuff,” I blurted out.
“Ah, yes, I know exactly what you mean. I catch myself conversing with myself often,” Leopold said with a laugh.
I didn’t respond, and we continued walking in silence.
“So,” Selena said finally. “What’s this plan? Where are we going?”
“We’ll be there in just a few minutes. Basically, there’s a group of Supers who are trying to take advantage of the sort of...Super power vacuum, I suppose you could call it. They meet at a pub nearby here, and should be there right now. What we need you to do is go in there and apprehend the Supers,” Leopold said.
“Okay. Sounds easy enough,” Selena said.
“Yes, compared to what you’ve experienced in the past, it should be a cakewalk,” Leopold said. He slowed as we reached a narrow alleyway. “We’ll cut through here. The pub is at the end of this alley, across the street.”
We walked down the alley in a single file line, the smell of trash and booze wafting up to my nose.
“Oh, man, that’s a strong smell,” Samantha said, retching. “No, not here, Doug. I’m in Kane’s head.”
It was weird only being able to hear her voice and not anything around her. I kept forgetting that she was probably in a room with Doug and Drew at that moment.
Leopold held up a hand once we reached the end of the alley, signaling us to stop. He turned to face me. “Alright. You stay here. I’m going to run in and make sure our guys are in there, and that there aren’t any civvies. Sorry, civilians.”
I looked Leopold up and down. “How do you expect to do that? You don’t fit the type.”
Leopold held back a laugh as he took off his blazer and neatly folded it. He handed it to me. “Hold this right quick.” He untucked his shirt while I watched, Selena peering over my shoulder. He unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it off, revealing the white tank top he was wearing underneath. He folded the shirt up and set it on top of the blazer in my hands.
“You still look like you’re eighteen,” Selena said.
Leopold held up a finger, closed his eyes, and concentrated. His whole face scrunched up as he focused hard on something.
The bones in his face began to shift. His hair grew and turned brown. He shrank slightly by an inch or two. When he opened his eyes, I saw my own face staring back at me. “For the record,” he said in a voice eerily like mine, but not quite. “I’m nineteen.”
I stared with wide eyes, creeped out to no end that I was staring at the spitting image of myself.
“That’s weird as hell,” Samantha said.
“Okay, cool, so you turned yourself into a seventeen-year-old,” Selena said, not as convinced.
“Actually, eighteen,” I corrected her. I looked over my shoulder and saw her staring at me. “What? I turned eighteen today,” I said with a shrug.
“Well, happy birthday,” Leopold said, his voice still very much like mine. “I was just demonstrating my powers. As you can tell, the voice is the one thing I just can’t quite get, no matter how hard I try. It’s always a bit off.”
“Yeah, it’s giving me the creeps. Mind changing to who you’re actually going to be?” I asked.
“Yes, of course.”
Leopold closed his eyes, his whole body tightening up as he concentrated. His body grew by a few inches, and his muscle mass increased. When he stopped, he loomed a few inches above us, a hulking mass of muscle. His tank top was stretched to its limits, and the legs of his pants stopped a few inches above his ankles. “This avatar is just going to have skipped leg day,” he said when he opened his eyes, looking down at his pants. He voice was deep, but not as menacing as I’d expected. “Don’t want to create an embarrassing situation for myself!” he said with a deep laugh. “Sorry, I’m just a little nervous,” he added when he realized Selena and I were looking up at him, not saying a word.
“Alright, let’s get this show on the road,” Selena said.
“Right, okay. Stay here, I’ll be right back,” Leopold said.
He turned and exited the alley, looking both ways before lumbering across the street in an awkward run. He clearly wasn’t used to being in such a large body. He opened the door and disappeared into the pub across the way. It was an inconspicuous door at the front of a four-story building that was wedged in between two large structures.
Selena and I waited in silence for him to come back out of the pub. I held his blazer and dress shirt in my hands, running my thumb up and down the tweed blazer out of nervousness. I had no doubt that Selena and I could easily take down the Supers inside the pub; the problem was keeping them inside the pub. Every time we’d practiced with each other, we usually got carried away. Our whole mission hinged on our not making a mess of things, and doing this with “subtlety,” as Leopold kept putting it. The only problem was, I wasn’t convinced that “subtlety” could really be the Tempest and Holocene style.
A few minutes later, Leopold came lumbering out of the pub, looking both ways before he crossed the road. He transformed back into his normal self as he walked into the alley. “It’s all clear,” he said as he took his clothes back from me. “You can go ahead and do your thing.”
I turned to Selena, who looked ready to go. “Let’s do this.”
“Let’s do this with care,” Samantha said.
Pub Stomping
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As Selena and I entered the pub, our noses were assaulted by the stench of booze and smoke. A low house beat thumped in the background as the sounds of people murmuring reached our ears.
“Pulling back, Kane,” Samantha said, and the sensation in my head lessened. “I have a feeling this is going to hurt, so I’m just going to watch, not feel.”
“Good idea,” I said.
I took a step forward and scanned the room. In one corner, a couple of men were playing pool. Another was sitting at the bar, speaking to the bartender. There were booths along the wall and a couple of tables in the middle of the room that were sitting unused.
“Can I help you?” the bartender asked us.
Everybody in the room turned to look at us.
I eyed one of the pool cues in a rack on the wall across the room. I ran over to it, grabbed it, and ran back to the door. I slid the pool stick through the gap between the door handles.
The man at the bar jumped up, and the two guys playing pool stopped and began crossing the room, ready to take us on.
My eyes glowed, ready to begin.
The bartender produced a shotgun from beneath the bar. I sprang on him, reaching the bar an in instant, ripped the shotgun from his hands and pulled the bartender on top of the bar. I broke the shotgun across my knee and slammed it to the ground. With a small push on his shoulders, the bartender went flying into the liquor rack behind the bar, sending glass bottles to the floor.
I felt hands wrap around my shirt, and I was thrown backwards across the room. I slammed into the floor and skidded, taking out the legs of the pool table. The table slammed down onto me, knocking the air out of me and breaking at least one of my ribs.
The table was lifted off me as my rib repaired itself. A large man who looked as if he could’ve been related to the person Leopold had turned himself into was holding the table in both his hands. He brought it down onto me again, breaking more bones. It hurt like hell for a split second, but my healing powers repaired my injuries in an instant. Then the man brought the table down again, and again, over and over.
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