“Samantha?” I said. “You still there?”
“Yeah. I’m working on something with Drew right now, so I’ve pulled back enough that I can just hear your voice. Why? Something you want me to see?”
“No,” I said with a chuckle. My cheeks flushed, and I felt embarrassed for some reason. “Actually the opposite. I’m about to take a shower, so could you—”
“Yeah, I—uh, of course,” she said, obviously flustered, realizing what I meant.
“Okay, cool. Just come back in, like, half an hour or so. We can talk then,” I said as I walked into the bathroom, the cool air sending a chill down my neck.
“Yeah, roger that. I mean—you betcha. I...okay. You know what I mean.” With that awkward exchange finished, she left my mind.
I shook my head and chuckled as I turned on the shower, the first burst of cold water causing my hand to jerk back. After I’d waited for a few seconds, the water was hot and steaming. I jumped in, instantly forgetting about the stress and troubles around me, instead focusing on how refreshing and invigorating the water felt.
Those thoughts didn’t stay gone for long, though, and after the initial shock of the hot water, the stress returned. I couldn’t believe that the British government wasn’t helping us. We were basically representatives of the United States, and they were denying us aid. Still, the devil’s advocate in my mind couldn’t help but see things from their point of view. They couldn’t leave their own forces weakened by the loss of a single man, not when they were up against an enemy like Atlas and the Legion.
Maybe they’d be able to reverse-engineer the Eximus blasters they’d gotten from the Supers they’d captured. Then they’d at least stand a fighting chance—although the U.S. government had made the blasters in the first place, and that hadn’t worked out too well for them.
That led to another thought: Where did these blasters keep coming from? The STF couldn’t have made that many of them, could they?
I shook my head. Yet another enemy I knew little to nothing about. Maybe one day I’d either be able to get the STF on my side, or they’d just disappear altogether. But I wasn’t betting that either of those things would happen anytime soon.
I finished cleaning myself up and spent a few more precious minutes in the shower. For a few more minutes, the outside world didn’t matter. Then I shut the water off, stepped out, grabbed a towel from the rack, and was back in the real world once again.
I slipped into my clothes—a pair of gray sweatpants and a white t-shirt—and left my room. It was a good thing I’d decided to get dressed in the bathroom, because sitting on my bed eating a sandwich was Selena.
“They brought us food. I told them I’d bring you yours,” she said, pointing to a tray sitting on the desk with a sandwich, chips—or crisps, since we were in London—and a bottle of water.
“Thanks,” I said as I sat down at the desk. I took a bite out of the sandwich, suddenly realizing how hungry I was.
“You do realize it’s only, like, the middle of the afternoon for us, right?” Selena asked in between bites of her sandwich.
I nodded as I took a big gulp of water. “Yeah, this whole jet lag thing is weird.”
“We could go back to help Samantha and the others,” Selena said.
“Yeah, we could, but I’d rather be here. Just in case.”
“Just in case what?”
I shrugged. “You know, just in case they change their mind?”
Selena rolled her eyes. “As if. You saw them. They were almost happy they could deny us help.”
“Oh, come on,” I said, waving a hand at her. “You’re projecting that.”
“Like hell I am,” she said under her breath.
“You are! I mean, yes, it sucks. But would we do anything different? We don’t want to leave our country unprotected, and neither do they.”
Selena didn’t respond. She just became really interested in her sandwich all of a sudden.
I felt a soothing sensation in the back of my mind. “Hey, just checking—not looking,” Samantha said. “But I, uh—”
“I’m not in the shower anymore, Samantha,” I said.
“Okay, cool. I’m coming in.” The sensation in my head grew. “Ah, gross. Are there pickles on that sandwich?”
“Yeah, there’s pickles,” I said.
“Barf. I’m pulling back so I can talk in Selena’s head too. Still watching from your point of view, though,” Samantha said.
“You’re doing pretty good with your powers,” I told her.
“Yeah, you’re able to talk to both of us and you didn’t even have to kiss me!” Selena said with a sly smile.
I laughed. I could picture Samantha blushing. “Don’t worry. I understood where it was coming from.”
“Let’s not talk about that, okay?” Samantha said. “Anyway, we need to figure out what’s next. Doug’s working on something right now, but it’s a bit more difficult working with just his laptop and the equipment in his backpack.”
“Then you’ve got nothing for us right now?” Selena asked.
“Well, kinda. Doug says that the last good lead he had was Johannesburg, South Africa. Apparently there’s some Supers who have taken over the city. One in particular is acting basically as a tyrant. Doug was in contact with one of his friends that he used to play games online with, who says that there’s a group of soldiers who are trying to fight back against the Supers. If you could join in and help them take down the bad Supers, I bet they’d repay us somehow. Maybe the South African government would reward you for winning back the city.”
“If they’ve taken over Johannesburg, I doubt there’s a South African government left,” Selena said, finishing the last bit of her sandwich.
“You never know,” I said as I pulled open my bag of chips. “It’s worth a shot, at least.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Hopefully Drew will be able to get more info for you soon. I’ll be sure to relay everything I know to the two of you.”
“Okay, sounds good. We’re going to stick around here for the night, just in case our pursed-lips friends decide to change their minds,” I said.
“They did have really pursed lips, didn’t they?” Selena asked with a smile.
“Yeah. It was like they had lemons under their tongues or something,” Samantha said.
“Don’t even get me started on Leopold,” I said, leaning back in my chair. “What a prick. He outright lied to get us here.”
“He manipulated us. I’m almost glad we don’t have to work with him,” Selena said.
“He definitely rubbed me the wrong way,” Samantha chipped in.
We sat there for a few more moments, thinking about how much we didn’t like Leopold, before Selena got up from her seat on my bed. “I’m gonna go hop in the shower and try to at least take a nap.” She reached out for my tray. “I’ll take that, if you’re done.”
I handed it to her. “Yeah, thanks. If anything comes up, I’ll let you know.”
“Same here,” she said, then walked to the door and left.
“You still there?” I asked Samantha. I got up from my chair and plopped myself on my bed. I found it surprisingly comfortable.
“Yeah. You need anything?”
“Have you checked in with my parents lately?” I asked, a nervous knot growing in my stomach.
“I did about an hour ago. I’ll check in really quick, though, if you want me to,” Samantha offered.
“Thanks. I’d appreciate that. Tell them I love them, but don’t mention anything that happened today. I don’t want to worry them. Just tell them that we’re chasing down a couple of leads.”
“Okay. I’ll be back in a moment.”
Samantha left my mind, and I felt suddenly alone. I found myself jealous of her powers. I wished I was able to talk to my parents at any moment. That’d be pretty cool, and I would definitely feel a bit better knowing they were just a thought away.
“Okay, I’m back. They said that they love you
too, and they knew you were doing your best. They can’t wait to hear all about your adventures when you get back,” Samantha said.
I smiled, the knot in my stomach replaced by the warmth of my parents’ love and support. “Thanks, Samantha. I just hope the stories I tell them will have a happy ending.”
“I hope so too.”
Goodbye for Now
To say I had a bad night’s sleep would be an understatement. I spent all night tossing and turning, trying to force my internal clock into submission. No matter how hard I wanted it to believe it was the middle of the night, it just wouldn’t give in. Eventually I gave up and talked to Samantha for a bit before finally I was able to fall asleep for a couple of hours.
A knock at the door woke me up. I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. “Come in,” I said as I straightened out my t-shirt.
In walked Selena, already dressed and ready to go. “It’s almost ten o’clock. You ready?”
I nodded and climbed out of bed. “Give me a second to get dressed, and I’ll be out.”
“Okay, I’ll wait outside. I found a toothbrush and some toothpaste in my bathroom. I bet there’s some in yours. Just a heads-up.” Selena turned and left my room.
I lumbered to the bathroom and searched through the drawers next to the sink. I popped a toothbrush out of the package and went to work making myself presentable.
After a few minutes of brushing my teeth, messing with my hair, and getting dressed, I was ready to go. I walked out of the room I had spent the night in and stepped into a large hallway filled with doors, behind which, I assumed, were rooms identical to mine. Selena stood leaning against the wall, with Leopold Renner standing in the middle of the hallway alongside her with his arms crossed. Neither one of them said a thing, or even looked in the other’s direction.
“Kane,” Leopold said when he saw me step out of my room.
“Leopold,” I said as I shut the door behind me.
“I’m here to escort you out of the building.” He turned and began walking down the hallway. “Follow me,” he said over his shoulder.
Selena and I exchanged glances before following Leopold.
WE STOOD OUTSIDE ON the cold London street, our jackets offering us as much warmth as possible.
“Well, I guess this is it. We’ll be keeping an eye on you,” Leopold said. “I’m really sorry we couldn’t work anything out.”
I nodded. “Maybe one day if we need you, you’ll be there.”
“Same goes for you,” Leopold said. He extended his hand, and after a moment’s hesitation, I grabbed it and shook it. To my surprise, when I was done, Selena grabbed it and shook it as well.
“We should go,” Selena said.
“Be seeing you two, then,” Leopold said. He turned and walked back towards the building we’d come from.
“You ready?” I said to Selena.
She nodded. “Let’s go to Johannesburg.”
Johannesburg
Selena and I floated a few thousand feet above Johannesburg, watching as the city of four million people sat below us like a ghost town. Nobody was out on the streets, no cars were being driven about; it was as if everybody had just up and left. According to Doug, most of them had done just that. However, not everybody could escape, and the people who were left were hiding inside, keeping away from a crazed Super named Raven who ruled from the top of the tallest building in Johannesburg, the Carlton Centre.
“You ready to go down there and get this party started?” I asked Selena.
“Yeah, I could really go for punching something right now,” she replied.
“Okay, you ready to walk us through where we need to go?” I asked Samantha.
“I think so. If you’re starting above the center of Johannesburg, fly down to the Ponte City Apartments. It’s one of the tallest buildings in downtown. It’s like a big cylinder,” Samantha told us.
I scanned the skyline until I saw the building she was talking about. “That it?”
“Yeah, you got it. Fly down to the front door of the building. From there I’ll talk you through where you need to go.”
Selena and I flew down, stopping right in front of the building. From there, Samantha acted as our personal GPS, telling us the right turns to take to get to where we needed to be.
We walked down the empty streets of Johannesburg, doing our best to stay quiet. We didn’t want anybody to know we were in town other than the people we were going to meet. If too many people knew, we were sure word would get back to Raven. We wanted to hold on to the element of surprise as long as possible, at least until we knew exactly what was going on.
As we snuck down the street, staying close to the wall, I saw something in the distance flying towards us. I stopped walking, and Selena almost bumped into me from behind.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I think someone’s coming,” I whispered. I focused on the figure in the distance, and it became clear. A figure decked out in military gear was flying towards us. He had a gun over his shoulder, a vest filled with ammunition and grenades, and a mask to cover his face. He flew closer and closer, picking up speed.
I reached behind me and grabbed Selena’s wrist, then I ran into an alleyway, Selena in tow. We ran behind a trash can and huddled behind its disgusting, foul-smelling green exterior.
I peeked out and watched as the Super flew by, having not seen us.
“Wow, was that a patrol? You guys are going to have to be extra careful if you want to stay hidden,” Samantha said.
“That’s for sure,” I replied as I stood up, stepping out from behind the garbage can.
“How much farther do we have to go?” Selena asked.
“Just a couple more blocks. You guys can go a little bit faster if you want. I’ll try to keep up.”
I snuck to the edge of the alley, poked my head out and looked both ways to make sure the Super wasn’t going to be making another round anytime soon. “It looks clear,” I told Samantha.
The two of us made our way down the street, once again following Samantha’s instructions. I made sure my hearing and vision stayed sharp, searching for any signs of a patrol. We walked down a few more blocks, twisting and turning through the empty Johannesburg streets. Every once in a while, I saw somebody peeking out through their curtains, or watching us from behind their blinds. I just hoped that none of them recognized either of us.
“Okay, you’re coming up on the apartment building. It’s the second one on your right,” Samantha told us after we’d turned down a smaller street.
Selena and I walked down the sidewalk, keeping our eyes peeled for any signs of danger. There were two flights of stairs leading up to the two-story apartment complex. We walked up the stairs quickly and quietly. The door and the windows around it were frosted, making it impossible to see anything more than the shapes and colors of the courtyard on the other side.
I tried the doorknob, but it wouldn’t turn. “Samantha, the door’s locked. I don’t really want to break it—I’m not sure they’d appreciate that.”
“I agree, probably not a good idea. The apartment building is shaped like a rectangle, except the middle of the rectangle has been cut out and a courtyard was put there instead. Just fly over the building and land in the middle,” Samantha explained.
I turned to Selena. “You got that?”
“Yep, way ahead of you,” she said as she flew into the air.
I flew after her, and the two of us landed in the vacant courtyard—if you could call it that. Really, it was just a long, wide walkway with a couple of benches at the edge, up against the wall. “Which apartment are we going for?” I asked Samantha.
“Apartment three. If you go towards the entryway, it’s up the stairwell that’s immediately to your left.”
I walked towards the entryway, and sure enough, tucked in the corner to my left was a stairwell. I walked up and knocked on the door that had the number 3 stuck onto its exterior.
“Who is it?” a female voice
with a thick South African accent asked me from the other side.
“Umm,” I began. I wasn’t sure what to say. I hadn’t really thought this far ahead. “It’s Kane Andrews—I, uh, you probably know me as Tempest?”
A peephole at eye level opened, and a dark blue eye stared back at me. “Holy shit,” the voice said. “It really is you.”
The door swung open, and before me stood a woman I thought might be in her late twenties, her fair cheeks flushed red. She was wearing a gray tank top with camo cargo pants and a pair of combat boots. “Who’s this?” she asked, looking at Selena.
“This is Selena. You might know her as Holocene? Anyway, we heard you could use some help.”
A Rushed Plan
A few moments later we were taking off our backpacks and sitting on Clarissa’s—the woman who had greeted us—couch, being introduced to her group.
“This is Jackson. He’s our tech specialist,” she said, pointing to a tan-skinned guy wearing a pair of glasses that had a small crack in one lens.
“A pleasure,” he said, smiling wide.
“And this is our weapons specialist, Vince,” she said as she gestured to a large man standing next to the window. His muscles bulged from beneath his white shirt, and sweat was running down his dark-skinned forehead. A pistol was strapped to his waist, and a knife sat in a holster on the opposite side.
“We appreciate your assistance,” he said, his South African accent thick, but not quite as thick as Clarissa’s.
“I’m head of operations,” Clarissa said as she sat down in a chair next to Jackson’s. “So, what brings Tempest all the way to South Africa?”
I leaned forward in my seat. “Our tech specialist back in the States has been in contact with people all over the world, reporting on the goings-on of Supers outside our borders. We heard that Johannesburg had been taken over by a crazed Super, and we figured we’d come over here to help you guys take care of him. In exchange, we were hoping you’d be able to help us in some way with our situation back in the States.”
The First Superhero Books 0-3 Box Set Page 41