Gamma Accidents #1: Journey
By Erin Sheena Byrne
Copyright 2014 Erin Sheena Byrne
License Notes
Upbeats
Upbeats 2: Crime After Crime
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Epilogue
For Dad, Mom, Jonathan, Melinda, Celeste and Jolie.
Prologue
Downtown Rickerton City
Thursday, 8:39 p.m.
Rust lived in an endless, boring, useless rut.
"Live" isn't even the right word. He was not living life... he was simply existing.
He worked five days a week at the local garage fixing busted cars and trucks, came home at exactly five thirty every day and on the weekends, spent his time doing... nothing.
He had no family, no friends, no acquaintances, no one on his phone's contact list and he never crossed anyone's mind.
The people who worked near him thought he was miserable, but Rust would never say that. This was the life he lived and that was that. Maybe, somewhere in the back of his mind, he was lonely. But he didn't want to know people.
So, he lived, undisturbed by the outside world, never pestered by keeping up friendships because as much as he didn't bother with other people, no one bothered with him.
No one worried about him. He managed to get away with minimal contact with his workmates and maintained no relationships. He just wanted to be left alone. He didn't feel the need nor the desire to share in anything involved with the human race.
He had given up caring about other people. When everything he held dear was ripped away, he saw no reason in hanging onto threads.
And everything was just fine... until they showed up at his door...
It was a normal evening in. There was some lame game-show host grinning widely on television while quizzing the contestant; the noise of car alarms, someone breaking glass, a few neighbourhood dogs barking and howling and the regular shouting floating into the dingy apartment from the street; light rain drizzling outside... it was normal.
Then there was a knock on the door.
No one, in the eighteen years he lived in Rickerton, had ever knocked on Rust's door. When he first arrived, one or two people he worked with at the garage had tried to include him but quickly learnt it was futile.
Rust, mumbling something non-complimentary about his workmates' pranks, unlocked and unbolted the door and turned the knob, pulling the door open with a very unimpressed expression on his tanned face.
His grey eyes flew open when he saw, not one of his greasy workmates, but rather a young woman with neat, long black hair, sparkly blue eyes and a pleasant smile on her fresh face.
The professionally dressed woman hadn't caught his attention, though. It was the two massive, seven-foot and four hundred pounds of pure muscle, bodyguards with their arms crossed, standing shoulder to shoulder behind the woman like a solid, brick wall.
Rust lowered his eyes from the deadpan faces of the bodyguards to the friendly smile on the young woman's face.
"What do you want?" he asked, warily.
The woman held out her delicate hand for a formal handshake. "My name is Audrey Jones. It's a pleasure to meet you, Russell Swift."
Rust looked down at her outstretched hand and didn't react. Awkwardly, Audrey lowered her hand.
"It's Rust and, again, what do you want?"
Audrey's smile faded ever so slightly and her expression turned notably serious. "We need you to train a team of superheroes," she said, promptly getting to the point.
Rust was able to maintain an unimpressed expression with some of the most outrageous requests, suggestions or statements.
Nevertheless, this one declaration managed to change his not-bothered-by-a-thing expression to one of shock.
He regained his cool nonchalance. "You must have me confused for someone else. I don't train teams of 'superheroes,' lady."
"But you are the legendary Russell 'Rust' Swift... aren't you?" Audrey asked, furrowing her brow to look even more sincere.
"I don't know about legendary-"
"Leader of G-4, the greatest team of gamma accidents this world has ever seen; once held a position on the Board of Hero Education and Training; practically invincible, strong enough to lift a recorded maximum of 1,000 000 tonnes, lazer-vision, super-senses, able to see through solid objects, able to reach the speed of light, capable of flight-"
"Look, I don't know where you got your information because I can't fly," Rust corrected.
Audrey nodded, earnestly. "But, you can!"
"Not for the past eighteen years. Now, if you're done reciting my whole life's story, there's a very interesting commercial about paint drying I'm waiting to see, so-"
Audrey interrupted him. "Mr Swift, are you resisting us?" she requested. If Rust had seen the slight twitch of a smile on the young woman's face, he would have wisely closed the door.
Rust, however, didn't see it. He thought about the question for a second then nodded. "Yeah, I guess I am. What are you going to do about that?"
Because he had intended it to be a rhetorical question, he started shutting the door, hoping it would end their conversation.
But Audrey answered him.
"This," was all she said.
Rust turned around for a split second... just in time to see Audrey aim and shoot him with a tranquilizer handgun.
He hit the ground, his vision blurred and his body numbing, and all he remembered after that was thinking Audrey's shoe size was rather small...
It took Rust about four minutes after waking up to shake the grogginess away. He blinked his tired eyes and surveyed his surroundings, immediately groaning as he realized where exactly his kidnappers had taken him.
A conference room that, except for the new, large, oval table and brand new chairs, hadn't changed much since the nineties. The room held many memories, all of which Rust tried to forget.
But sitting in one of those office-like chairs, at one end of the oval conference table and looking out the oversized window at the brilliant, nighttime city lights... he felt like he had come home.
He shook the feeling, telling himself he was just suffering from the after-effects of the tranquilizer dart.
His head still spinning, he rested his crossed arms on the wooden table and leaned forward. "Okay," he said, loudly. A spotlight shone on him, throwing the rest of the room into total darkness, making it impossible for him to see anyone or anything in the room with him. "Can we please cut all the melodrama? We're all enemies here."
A tall, solidly built man with skin the colour of strong, black coffee flipped a switch and turned all the lights in the conference room on.
"Is that really the way you feel about us now?" he said, his v
oice carrying notes of authority, honesty, strength and humility, all in one.
Rust frowned. He looked the man up and down. "Samuel Danger? I thought you were, like, a hundred and fifty-eight years old!"
The man chuckled, heartily. "Boy, have I missed you. No, Samuel Danger was my father. We share a remarkable resemblance, don't we?"
"Right. How old is your ole dad?"
"He was eighty-seven. He died last month."
Rust didn't offer any sympathies and Mr Danger wasn't offended.
"So... you must be... City Danger?" Rust said, racking his brain to remember names from his past.
The man shook his head. "Urban," he corrected.
"Yeah, well I knew it had something to do with buildings. So, if your dad's dead... then who is the global director?"
Urban Danger slightly straightened his shoulders, his face business-like. "I am the new Global Director of Hero Education and Training."
"Top dog, then," Rust nodded, admirably.
"I intend to change a few things," Urban said, casually taking a seat across the table from Rust. "My father ran a smooth operation here, but he was stuck in his old ways, and so is everyone on the board. I don't mean to change everything... just one thing..."
Rust sighed, surrendering but irritated. "And for all your power and legal clearances... you need my help... don't you?"
Urban held up a hand. "Just hear me out. This story requires a lot of explanation. To begin with, there's a rat in one of the schools."
"I'm a mechanic, not an exterminator."
"This is no pest control problem. When I say rat, I mean there's a villain
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