Fire and Thunder

by Bowen Greenwood

  Linc and Spooky interrupted his reverie, strolling up from outside the parking garage. Sebastian considered whether to tell them about his encounter with Connor and decided against it. Linc still harbored too many mixed emotions about his old friend. Not good to bring it up now.

  Spooky had an unfamiliar purse in her hand. Sebastian assumed it was the same thing he’d sent them to find, but he asked to make sure.

  Linc grinned. “Yup, we found the mugger. Spooky just kept looking at houses until she pointed at one and said, ‘He lives there.’ After that… Heh, that guy didn’t know jack about fighting.”

  Spooky added, “Yeah, but finding the purse is only half the story. We went through it. Just wait ‘til you see what we learned!”

  Sebastian held out his hand. “Don’t keep me waiting.”

  Instead of handing over the purse, Spooky drew a black leather sheath out of it. It looked almost like a small men’s wallet, but with no pockets. It was just one piece of leather folded over.

  She held it out and let it drop open.

  That exposed a shiny gold shield and a badge with the letters “AAA” in prominent bold blue font.

  The badge identified, “Special Agent Terri Jackson.”

  “Guess who our girl of prophecy is?” Spooky asked rhetorically.

  Sebastian didn’t answer. He just grinned like a wolf. His plan to strike a blow against the government suddenly became a lot clearer.

  Chapter 13

  The black hood lifted up from his head. Bright light stabbed in; Pitch squeezed his eyes shut to avoid the glare.

  The bulky young man’s arms and legs were tied in place, held to his chair with nylon straps. Bright light aside, he felt slightly cool, as if someone had cranked up the air conditioning too high.

  When he opened his eyes, he saw her. Short. Gray hair cut above the neck. Big nose.

  Maven Flake.

  Pitch knew her from before. He had been in government captivity once, when they had wanted to study his telekinesis. Back then, Flake directed the tests of his powers. They culminated in an exercise where federal agents tied him down under what looked like a two-ton rock and dropped it.

  With his mind, he had tossed it to the side, so at least he had endured no physical harm. But the experience had scared him enough that he’d broken out of the prison that night and had brought Sebastian with him. It had been the start of the Legion. A lot of people had gotten hurt in that breakout. It wasn’t a memory Pitch liked anymore, especially not now.

  There were others in the tiny cubical cell with him. Two soldiers stood guard at the only door. Their desert camouflage utilities seemed a bit out of place against the undecorated steel of the walls.

  “Aaron Case. Welcome back.”

  Pitch felt anger simmering in his chest. No one had called him that since he had broken out. It made him want to flex his muscles or use his power. It made him want to remind Flake that she didn’t control him anymore — not his power, not even his name.

  However, he’d been with the Sons of Thunder a month or so, and Legion’s way of dealing with this situation wasn’t his anymore. Besides, he’d seen the consequences of violence in his encounter with Drake. Thus, he didn’t lash out at Flake or her soldiers. Instead, he prayed, and then did his best to smile. It came out a bit lopsided.

  “I go by Pitch lately.”

  She smirked. Instead of replying to that, Flake said, “When last I saw you, we were having trouble figuring out the problem of how to hold a boy who can move objects with his mind. Interested to hear how I solved it?”

  Pitch shrugged. In his head were the words, “How about I just break down the walls to find out,” but he didn’t let them out.

  “We’re underwater. At the bottom of Lake Mead. So go ahead if you want. Push the walls down with your mind. We’ll just drown is all. I wanted to warn you about it before you tried on your own.”

  “What do you want with me?”

  “To keep a dangerous terrorist off the streets, of course.”

  “I’m not a—”

  “Really? Attacking a military installation? Engaging in combat with soldiers of the U.S. Army? You’re not a terrorist?”

  Pitch sighed and shifted his gaze to the side. The things he had done when he was still in the Legion kept coming back to haunt him. And Flake didn’t even know most of it…

  “That’s not who I am anymore.”

  She laughed at him. “Yeah. Right. It hasn’t been that long.”

  “God changes people. He—”

  Flake laughed even louder. “Oh not really? A jailhouse conversion? The worst criminals always find God in prison — you’d think he was on staff here.”

  Her taunting brought the old anger to the surface. He didn’t have to break the walls down to pick her up with his mind and squeeze her until she couldn’t breathe.

  He took a deep breath and said nothing.

  “You’re done, ‘Pitch.’ You can sit down here until you’re ready to participate in our efforts to learn about people with abnormal abilities, and you’ll be in government custody the rest of your life. I’ve figured out how to hold you, and I’m not letting you go again. This is what happens to criminals. They go to prison.”

  His eyes adjusted to the light enough for a better look at his surroundings. Walls of bare metal encased him — almost like a seamless box. The facility reminded him of his previous time in captivity with the AAA. It replicated a prison cell almost exactly. There was a toilet and sink in the back corner, a narrow bunk in the other corner, and a door at the front. The chair to which he was tied was the only other furnishing.

  “And now, Mr. Case, I need you to tell me what you know about the kid with a nuclear-powered abnormal ability.”

  Pitch eyed her with a confused expression. “Nuclear-powered abnormal ability?”

  “Yes. Nuclear powered. Defense Department satellites detected radiation signatures here in Las Vegas. Radioactive material is easy to spot — it’s always giving off particles we can detect. Normally, the military monitors for those signs because they’re protecting us from terrorists or an enemy nation.

  “When we detected the latest radioactive signature, though, I had a different idea. It didn’t follow a trail — like someone trying to sneak a dirty bomb in from the port of Los Angeles. It appeared in one place. Suddenly, with no warning, there’s a radioactive signature near the Las Vegas strip. To me, that doesn’t sound like terrorists or the Russians. It sounds like an abnormal ability. Only freaks like you have the ability to appear suddenly in one place with no trail.”

  She paced as she spoke, then stopped in her tracks and turned to face him head on. Flake put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

  “You’ve always been near the top of the hierarchy at the so-called Legion, so you must know what Sebastian’s up to. Who developed an abnormal ability that’s like a nuclear bomb?”

  Pitch blinked. Confusion showed on his face. He knew nothing about someone new with a new gift. But, of course, he wouldn’t know. Not anymore…

  “I’m not with Legion anymore.”

  Flake’s eyes snapped open wide. “Not with… Then what was that business at the coffee shop? I assumed you and your old friend Mr. Tesla were trying to recruit someone new — probably the person with the nuclear ability.”

  Pitch remembered the look on Drake’s face. “Drake and I aren’t really friends anymore.”

  Thinking of Drake, though, directed his thoughts down other pathways. The Legion believed that powers came from wanting them bad enough and being willing to sacrifice anything to get them. The Sons of Thunder, obviously, disagreed, but what if…

  Drake hated him so much now. What if Drake wanted revenge bad enough and was willing to sacrifice anything — even a whole city — to get it?

  Could his ability to create fire grow into an ability to create nuclear fire?

  Might it be Drake who triggered all those government radiation-detecting satellites?

  Wh
at if anger at what Pitch had done made Drake into a walking nuclear bomb? What if the entire city of Las Vegas died in a mushroom cloud because something set him off? Did that make him — Pitch — responsible? He was the one who hurt Drake badly enough to make him so mad. He was the one who drove Drake to want revenge badly enough to burn down a whole small business for the chance to get it.

  Pitch locked on the question and couldn’t get it out of his head: What if millions died because of his dark past?

  ***

  Cloaked in his power of invisibility, Sebastian Crest tiptoed up to the team of AAA Agents surrounding the coffee shop. He’d watched from a distance as they had hauled Pitch away. Now, closer, he snuck in and out among the officers as they worked, learning everything he could.

  Why would Terri Jackson, apparently a Special Agent with the AAA, have anything to do with Pitch? Why would she lead The Legion to a chance for revenge against Pitch? Sebastian didn’t know, but he figured spying on the other AAA Agents would be the quickest path to finding out.

  When one tight little knot of black-clad federal agents broke apart, something startled him so badly that he almost gave himself away with a sound.

  Maven Flake was in the center of that group!

  The other agents had apparently all been listening to her, and now they were off to execute her orders. Sebastian crept closer to her. Since that embarrassing moment when the girls ran into him hiding in their locker room, he’d become much better at avoiding physical contact when invisible. Now, though, he pressed himself to his limits. Police and federal agents milled around in every direction, and the risk of being bumped skyrocketed the closer he came to Flake.

  “…don’t have much time,” he heard her say, finally close enough.

  “We don’t know that,” the other agent replied. “We don’t have any idea how much time there is. If it’s a kid with AA, he might never go off. If it’s a bomb, we have no idea what kind of timer it’s on.”

  Intrigued, Sebastian inched closer still. A bomb?

  “Jason, how many times do I have to tell you? It’s a punk teenager whose AA gives him nuclear power. No traditional bomb has a signature like that, just showing up in the middle of a big city without warning or any kind of trail. It has to be an abnormal ability. And it’s a danger to every single person in this town. If this kid, whoever he is, loses his temper… Well, you know the danger better than I do. You gave the briefing.”

  “I don’t think it’s a kid. I still think it’s a traditional terrorist bomb. I think the FBI or the Nuclear Emergency Search Team should be leading this, not us.”

  “I don’t care what you think, Penn, and I’m in command.”

  Flake whirled on her heel and stomped away. Sebastian did likewise, much more quietly and slowly.

  Now that was interesting. An atomic bomb? Here in Las Vegas? Or, even better, someone new with powers but more powerful than anyone else in history? That was the kind of thing the Legion could use! If they had that kid, the government would have to listen to them.

  Lincoln and Spooky hid in the parking garage, far enough away that the federal agents investigating the coffee shop never even looked at them. Silently, Sebastian made his way back to them and returned to visibility.

  “New plan,” he announced. “Forget about revenge against Pitch for now. The AAA thinks there’s a new kid out there with powers, and that those powers are like a nuclear bomb. They think, if he uses his power, he’ll blow up the whole town. We’re going to find this kid, and we’re going to use his power to teach the government a lesson they’ll never forget.”

  ***

  Anna, Kila, and Connor flashed into existence in the Sons of Thunder’s conference room. The two girls were crouched on their haunches. Connor lay flat on his back. Mr. Moses blinked in surprise and started over toward them.

  “Go get Renee!” Anna shouted. Moses turned in his tracks and did as she asked, jogging off to find her sister.

  Anna knelt by Connor, holding his hand and praying. “Please help him, Lord,” was all she said, over and over again. Kila joined in silently. She sat down beside Anna on the floor, closed her eyes, and said nothing.

  Anna’s sister came into the conference room with Mr. Moses following close behind. She immediately took charge of Connor. She laid her hand on his jawline. The purplish bruise developing there instantly vanished. She moved her hands around his head, eyes closed.

  “He’s been knocked unconscious. He had a concussion. God healed all that up. Now he’s basically healthy; he’s just sleeping it off,” she said. “What happened?”

  “There was a fight,” Anna replied, wiping tears out of her eyes. “Sebastian. Pitch and I were looking for Ms. Jackson. We split up, and Sebastian caught me. He grabbed my arms and held them behind my back. I didn’t want to just teleport away from him because whoever’s touching me usually comes with me. I didn’t want to bring him here. Then Connor and Kila showed up, and Connor went right into it with Sebastian. Sebastian won. Connor got knocked out.”

  Renee Wales nodded. “That’s what it looked like to me. He’ll be fine, Anna. Just let him sleep for a while.”

  Anna hugged her older sister. “Thank you, Renee. Thank you.”

  “Thank God, not me. I just touch people; he does the miracles.”

  Anna nodded but kept hugging her anyway.

  Finally, she pulled away, looked at Kila, and then asked, “Why’d you guys come, anyway?”

  “After you and Pitch left, Connor told me he fought a boy who could throw fire this morning. Throwing fire meant something to me. I know that guy. His name’s Drake Tesla, and he hates — hates — Pitch. I mean, he wants to kill Pitch. Seriously. No joke, murder him. So when Connor and Mr. Moses told me they sent Pitch out after this Terri woman…”

  “Ms. Jackson,” Mr. Moses cut in. He was a stickler for young people calling adults by their title.

  Kila stopped herself from rolling her eyes and said, “When I found out Pitch went after Ms. Jackson, and that when we met her, Drake was there, I figured there was a risk Pitch and Drake would run into each other. At most, one of them walks away from that. Maybe neither. I got Connor to take me out looking for Pitch. I still don’t know what happened to Pitch.”

  “We split up,” Anna said. “He was going to search the coffee shop there while I checked out the garage.”

  “Can we maybe go back there and look for Pitch?” Kila asked. “I’m not kidding about how bad Drake hates him.”

  Mr. Moses replied, “Don’t you think you’d better tell us exactly what happened to cause so much hate?”

  “While we talk Pitch might be getting killed. Can’t we go now?”

  “Mr. Merritt returns injured every time he goes out to deal with this situation. You and Ms. Wales both encountered Sebastian today as well. And now, we haven’t heard from Mr. Case.”

  Everyone was so used to calling him Pitch, it took a couple seconds to realize who “Mr. Case” was.

  “Whatever’s going on out there is serious. I won’t let you charge blindly into it. Tell us why this young man who can throw fire is so angry.”

  Chapter 14

  Terri worked at Groom Lake, Nevada. Known to the public as “Area 51,” it’s a top-secret government military base and testing facility for experimental weapons. Its location — isolated in the middle of the desert, far from any population center — made it the perfect place for keeping secrets. Over the years, it had acquired a reputation with the public for wild, unusual military secrets. Before anyone believed stealth aircraft were possible, the Air Force was testing them at Groom Lake. Secret programs the government never publicly acknowledged operated here. And, of course, when people speculated about UFOs and aliens, they thought of Area 51.

  When the government first formed the Abnormal Abilities Agency, Groom Lake seemed like the natural place to headquarter a secret federal agency charged with investigating supernatural powers. When dealing with telekinesis, teleportation, and the ability to throw
fireballs, keeping the research secret seemed natural. And when it came to keeping huge secrets, the government had a semi-official policy: keep them at Groom Lake.

  Recently, the AAA had established a secondary base at Lake Mead near Hoover Dam. It was a couple hours to the southeast of the main headquarters. But Terri’s security clearance fell far short of that facility. She spent her working hours in the AAA’s Tactical Operations Center at Area 51, and her sleeping hours in the Bachelor Officers’ Quarters on the government base there. It was like an extended stay hotel run by the military.

  But she couldn’t bring her parents to it. She wasn’t even allowed to confirm for her parents that either Area 51 or the AAA existed so bringing them to the place she spent most nights was out of the question.

  To give herself some place to tell her family she lived, Terri kept a small, one-bedroom apartment in Las Vegas. It was her official “home” when she had an occasion for family and friends to visit. The place sat mostly unused and had a fine collection of dust. Yet, when she turned the key and pushed open the door, she felt a momentary surge of safety

  “We can rest here, at least for a while.”

  She knew, though, that as long as she had someone with abnormal abilities with her, safety was an illusion.

  The door framed Drake’s tall, muscular silhouette like artwork as he came in behind her. His hair was out of place from his fight with Pitch earlier. He swiveled his head from side to side taking in the place.

  Terri berated herself for stupidity. She’d been thinking negative thoughts through the whole cab ride here, and they still echoed through her brain.

  Bringing a man with abnormal abilities to her home?

  If work found out, she’d be disciplined, if not fired. If Maven Flake found out, she could be imprisoned herself as a sympathizer with the people they were trying to study.

  But Drake’s haunted eyes spoke to her. His strong jaw and clean-shaven face made her crave just a tiny little crack in the classified, neither-confirm-nor-deny lifestyle of someone working for a government agency that didn’t officially exist.