by Stan Lee
“And lightsabers,” Kim added. “Always throw in some lightsabers.”
“It’s not a story,” Ox replied. “It’s the truth.”
“Second,” Steven continued, “it doesn’t sound like you’re here because you don’t want to work with Maxwell anymore. It sounds like you’re here because he kicked your butt to the curb.”
“That’s—”
“And third…” Steven paused and realized his hands were trembling. “Third, you used to hit me. A lot.”
“Like I said,” Ox replied slowly, “I’m a soldier. I follow orders.”
“Until you don’t,” Kim said.
“Until those orders become unethical.” Ox turned to Steven, a pained look on his face. “But if it helps, I’m sorry.”
For a long moment, Steven stared into Ox’s eyes. He tried to gauge the man’s sincerity, to judge whether Ox meant what he said. But all Steven could remember was that very large man kicking him, punching him, and knocking him down—all at Maxwell’s command.
“Listen, I’m a simple guy,” Ox continued. “Liam, you know me. Have I ever lied to you?”
“No, ye haven’t,” Liam said. “Even when we were tryin’ to bash each other’s skulls in.”
Duane stepped forward, a suspicious look on his face. “I—I think Mister Ox might be afraid of Maxwell coming after him.”
“Is that right, Ox-y?” Roxanne asked. “You just come here so we could protect your sorry butt?”
“My name is Malik,” Ox replied, a new edge creeping into his voice. “And yeah, Maxwell is dangerous. He’ll throw anybody under the bus if it’ll advance his agenda. I’d be stupid not to be afraid of him.
“But he’s right about one thing: the Zodiac powers are also dangerous. I need help with mine—I need a group to work with. And since Maxwell’s out, that leaves you guys.”
“What a moving appeal!” Roxanne rolled her eyes. “I’m all choked up.”
“But forget all that,” Ox said. “I’m here now, and I came to you in good faith. Would you rather have me out on the streets, selling my powers to the highest bidder? Or here, where you can watch me?”
“Selling my powers,” Steven thought. Like Horse and Dog. That hadn’t worked out very well for anyone.
Keeping one eye on Ox, he gestured for the team to form a huddle. Mags made a show of rattling Ox’s chain, just to remind him he was a prisoner.
“What do you all think?” Steven asked.
“I don’t trust him,” Duane said.
“Me neither,” Roxanne said. “Where we can watch him? More like where he can learn all our secrets.”
“I don’t know,” Kim said, casting a quick glance back. “I think he might be telling the truth.”
“And we are supposed to help people with Zodiac powers,” Steven said. He paused, frowning. “Liam, you know him better than anybody. What do you think?”
“I might be able to find out.”
Before Steven could respond, Liam broke away from the group and yelled out, “Ox, mate! You say ye want to join us?”
Ox nodded.
“Training room,” Liam said. “Twenty minutes.”
Ox seemed confused, caught off balance. “I—okay. I guess so.”
“We’ll sort this out, mate. Just you and me.”
Roxanne leaned toward Steven. “Is this a good idea?” she whispered.
Steven shrugged.
“Okay, sure,” Ox said. “Your turf, Liam. Your rules.”
“Yeah,” Kim said. “We’ll all be there to—”
“Oh, no,” Mags interrupted.
Her voice was like iron. Everyone turned to face her.
“The last six weeks,” she said, “you kids have missed thirteen days of school. You might be Zodiacs, but you still need an education.”
Duane raised a hand. “But—”
“No buts. Makeup session starts immediately.”
“It’s okay,” Steven said, turning to his team. “You guys go with Mags. I’ll back up Liam—”
“Ahem,” Mags said. “You too, Tiger.”
“What? And did you actually just say ‘ahem’?”
“You might have been chosen by an ancient mystical power, but you’re still only fifteen. With Carlos missing and Jasmine distracted, somebody’s got to keep you in line.” Mags leaned down and gave Steven a harsh, accusatory look. “Have you read the book I assigned you?”
“Well…” Steven began.
“I have,” Kim said brightly. “Well, half of it. Part of half, anyway.”
“But—but—” Steven sputtered. He looked around at the hangar bay, the high-tech machinery, the plane still covered with mud and sand. “We just saved Dubai.”
“And I’m sure they’re very grateful.” Mags gestured toward the door. “Now let’s go. No matter what happens, our new friend’s not going to hurt Liam.”
Duane started after her, followed by Kim and Roxanne. Steven hung back, leaning in for a quick word with Liam.
“Be careful,” Steven said, eyeing Ox. “I don’t trust him.”
“I will, mate.” Liam clapped Steven on the back and gave him a wide, charming grin. “Now you go learn something, aye?”
Steven nodded and moved toward the door.
As he edged past Ox’s bound form, he thought, We’re supposed to help other Zodiacs. But we’ve got to protect ourselves, too.
What happens when we have to choose?
STEVEN WATCHED the computer screen, shaking his head. In a small security-cam window he could see Liam and Ox sitting in the middle of the vast gymnasium-like training room. Ox was free of his chains, and Liam had set up a small folding table. The two men sat across from each other, hunched forward…playing chess.
“Chess,” Steven muttered. “Really?”
“Mister LEE!”
Mags’s voice made him jump. He grabbed for the screen and hastily closed the security-cam window.
On the other side of the small classroom, Roxanne snickered. She sat at another desk, reading listlessly on a screen. When Steven glared at her, she put her earbuds on and turned away.
Duane sat off to the side, staring at a holo-display. Numbers floated in the air before him.
“Sorry, Mags,” Steven said.
“It’s Doctor Oberdorf, now.”
“Sorry, Docto—you’re a doctor?”
“Yes. Of comparative literature.” She smiled proudly. “Just got my degree.”
“But…but you spend most of your time fixing cars and planes.”
“I like fixing cars and planes.” She bent down to glare at him. “Something wrong with that?”
He shook his head.
“What about the reading?” she asked. “Have you even looked at One Hundred Years of Solitude?”
“More like one thousand pages of solitude.” He picked up the hardcover book and hefted it in the air. “I can’t carry a big book like this on a mission.”
“That’s why we gave you the e-book version, too!”
“Did I mention we saved Dubai?”
The door creaked open and Kim walked in. Immediately, Steven knew something was wrong. She trudged across the room, staring straight ahead, her phone dangling loosely from her fingers.
“Good of you to join us,” Mags said sarcastically, gesturing for Kim to take a seat. “If you’re finished tweetering for the day.”
Kim sat next to Steven in a daze. He flashed her a worried look, but she didn’t even notice.
“Okay,” Mags said, “we’ll delay talking about One Hundred Years. How about Slaughterhouse-Five? That’s a nice short book. Did either of you read it?”
Steven looked at Kim. Usually she could be counted on to have done the reading, but she just sat staring at her phone’s blank screen.
“I read some of it,” Steven said. “The part about the city being destroyed. It reminded me of…of Maxwell.”
Mags nodded. “That’s one reason I assigned it to you.”
“It’s still hard to bel
ieve. I mean, Maxwell is a tool and all, but that he could kill so many people…the entire city of Lystria.”
“That’s worth discussing.” Mags cleared her throat. “But right now, can we talk about the book?”
“Yeah,” Steven said. “The book. There was something else about it.”
He paused. He had a strange feeling, one he couldn’t put into words. It felt as if something were gnawing at him from the inside.
“The soldiers,” he continued. “They’re friends…I mean, they act like friends, but they’re not really friends. They’re just people who got thrown together.” He looked up at Mags. “How do you know which it is? Are people your friends just because they’re like you, because you share some experience? Or are they really just…strangers?”
She looked at him for a moment. “I don’t know how to answer that,” she said. “Kim, do you have any thoughts?”
Kim started to say something. She looked at Steven, and he saw some strange new pain behind her eyes.
“Excuse me,” she mumbled.
She stood up and ran out of the room.
Duane and Roxanne turned to watch her go. “Is she okay?” Roxanne asked, pulling out her earbuds.
Steven stood up. “I’ll find out.”
“No,” Mags said, pushing him back down into his chair. “I’ll check on her. When I get back, you be ready to tell me about the first chapter of One Hundred Years of Solitude.”
Steven groaned.
As Mags headed for the door, Duane turned to her with a half smile. “You won’t find her,” he said. “Kim, I mean. She can escape from anyone.”
“Just work on your multivariable calculus,” Mags told him.
Steven picked up his book and opened it. He read the enthusiastic blurbs on page one. He read the title, the author’s name, and the titles of other books the author had written. He read the little type with the copyright notice and the Library of Congress information.
By that time Mags was long gone. Feeling a little guilty, Steven turned back to his computer and opened the security-cam window again.
At first, all he saw was the overturned folding table. Chess pieces lay scattered on the floor. He widened the view and saw Liam and Ox, both on their feet, circling each other like boxers.
“Uh-oh,” Steven said. “You see this, Roxanne?”
No answer.
“Roxanne?” Steven called.
He turned to look. Roxanne had her eyes closed, and her head was bobbing up and down to the music in her earbuds.
Steven laid down One Hundred Years of Solitude—not at all reluctantly—and got up. He walked up behind Roxanne and yanked one earbud out of her ear.
“Hey!” she said.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“I’m not scared.” Roxanne glanced at the door. “Herr Oberdorf?”
“She’s still out looking for Kim.”
Steven reached forward, ignoring Roxanne’s protests, and opened a new window on her screen. He cycled through the security feeds until he came to the camera mounted in the training room.
Liam and Ox were rolling around on the floor like wrestlers, grappling and punching. The energy-forms of the Ram and Ox flashed up around them, flaring bright whenever either of them struck a blow. Ox jabbed his fist into Liam’s stomach twice, in rapid succession. Liam just laughed.
Roxanne turned to Steven. “Yeah?”
He stared at her. “Does this seem normal to you?”
“For them it does.” She gestured at the screen. “You’ve seen those two mix it up before. I wouldn’t jump in unless somebody’s guts are hanging out.”
He nodded, fidgeting.
Roxanne raised an eyebrow. “Something else, kid?”
Steven frowned; he didn’t know quite how to bring it up. “Is your mother still coming?”
Roxanne nodded. “She’ll be here in a few hours.”
“So you two are talking again.”
She shrugged. “Guess we’ll find out.”
“That’s good. I suppose.”
“Look, man. I know what you’re thinking.” She turned to face him directly. “I haven’t made any decisions yet.”
Steven waited. He had a feeling she wasn’t finished.
“Nothing lasts forever,” she added.
“I’m just worried,” he said.
“About Jasmine,” Duane said.
Steven turned, startled, to see that he’d scooted his chair up to join them.
“Yeah,” Roxanne said. “Me too.”
“Ahem!”
The three of them went stiff all at once. Mags was back.
“There it is again,” Steven said. “The dreaded ‘ahem.’”
Mags strode over to the group. Duane scurried back to his desk; Roxanne turned to face her computer. Steven suddenly thought of the storm in Dubai, rushing in and driving people out of the city.
“D-did you find her?” Duane asked.
“Find the fourteen-year-old teleporter who’s been running away from people all her life? No, I did not. But I’m sure she’ll turn up.” Mags glared at Steven. “You—back to your book. Roxanne, you’ve got a French history quiz coming up.”
“I hate history,” Roxanne grumbled. “I’m too old for this anyway.”
“You missed a lot of high school while you were touring with that band of yours, mamsell,” Mags replied. “Time to catch up.”
Roxanne shot her a look and mimed a big guitar stroke in the air. Then, reluctantly, she turned back to her work.
“This computer is too slow,” Duane said. “It keeps shorting out. See?”
He ran both hands along the holo-display, sending the columns of numbers spinning wildly in the air. The Zodiac Pig appeared briefly above his head, and the holo-display flashed bright. Then it winked off.
“It’s not too slow,” Mags said. “It’s your power—it disrupts the machinery. Stop using it.” She sounded like she wanted to hit something.
Duane balled up his fists in frustration. “But if I don’t use my power, I can’t take in the data fast enough—”
“Doctor Mags?”
Steven turned and gestured to her. He pointed to the window on his monitor, the one that showed the training room.
“Steven,” Mags said, “for the last time, turn that thing…”
Her voice faded as she saw the image on the display. Steven panned the view across the floor of the training room, past the overturned table and scattered chess pieces. There was no sign of Ox—and no sign of Liam, either.
“We better get down there,” Steven said.
Mags nodded. Roxanne rose to her feet, and Duane clicked off his display. They moved together toward the door—
—and almost ran into Liam.
His hair was mussed, his jeans dirty. There was a small rip in his jacket. But he smiled warmly at his teammates. “Learn everything already?” he asked.
“Are you okay?” Steven asked.
“Course I am,” Liam said. “You know nothing can hurt me.”
“Where’s Ox?”
“I set him up with living quarters,” Liam replied. “Don’t worry, I had a guard posted on ’im.”
Mags frowned. “What do you think?”
“About Ox?” Liam shrugged and plopped himself down in Steven’s chair. “He’s still a hell of a fighter. Good strategist, too. I think we can use him.”
“Yeah,” Steven said, “but can we trust him?”
Liam thought for a moment. “I think he’s trustworthy,” he said. “But we won’t know for sure until he’s fighting by our side.”
Steven frowned. For a moment, they were all silent, thinking.
“Here’s an idea,” Liam said. “Maybe we should have a little, I dunno, party or something. Then you can all get t’ know old Ox.” He paused. “Decide for yourself if he’s membership material or not.”
“Yes!” Roxanne exclaimed. “A party. That way I won’t have to talk to my mother one-on-one.”
Lia
m held up the torn collar of his jacket. “I might need some new gear, though.”
“Great. Wonderful. You guys go plan a party.”
Everyone turned at the sharp tone in Steven’s voice.
“Meanwhile,” he continued, “I’ll go tell Jasmine that Kim has run off, Roxanne’s thinking about leaving, and one of our enemies has just joined the team. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled.”
Steven turned and marched out the door.
Liam swiveled in his chair, watching Steven go. Then he caught sight of the book lying open on the desk.
“One Hundred Years,” Liam said, holding up the big volume. “This’d drive anybody out the door.”
Mags threw up her hands. “Class dismissed,” she said.
JASMINE WASN’T in the war room. She wasn’t in her quarters. She wasn’t even in the third-floor labs, where most of the complex’s scientific equipment was stored.
Steven knew where to find her. Carlos had a second laboratory called the Vault, deep underground. The Vault was a secret to most people, even within the complex; Steven had never been down there before. But he had to talk to Jasmine. So he climbed down a long ladder, going deeper into Zodiac headquarters than he’d ever been before.
Behind a heavy steel door, the Vault was huge and dusty. Thick cables lined the stone walls, feeding power to computers, incubators, large freezers, and other assorted machinery. In one corner, an old freestanding sink stood next to an arrangement of shelves and Bunsen burners.
And in the center of the room, at the end of the thickest cable of all, a huge metal sphere floated a meter or so off the ground. It measured about five meters in diameter, and its surface was shiny and opaque.
Steven walked up to the sphere and knocked on it. “Jasmine?”
Then he noticed the door. It was small, like a hatchway—just big enough to crawl through. He reached for it, wrenched it open—
—and found himself falling, tumbling into the center of the sphere. His stomach lurched, and he flailed in midair.
Down! he thought. Which way is down?
“Zero gravity field,” Jasmine said. “Takes some getting used to.”
Steven tumbled through the air and grabbed on to a built-in handhold inside the sphere. He shook his head and looked around.