Men of Steel

by Ryan Loveless

  As they stood there in the aftermath, leaning heavily into each other, their breaths coming out in hot pants, Robert tried to wrap his mind around what had just happened.

  “You see,” Zach said, pulling back a little to catch Robert’s eye. “Pretty damn amazing.” He then leaned forward to press a soft kiss to Robert’s mouth, the gentleness of it helping to ease some of the tension Robert could feel starting to flow through him.

  “Zach… I… well....” Robert trailed off, unsure of how to respond. Even though Zach was pretty much all he’d ever wanted in a man, it just seemed so unexpected. He had never actually believed that Zach was something he could actually have.

  Zach smiled down at him. “I know, this is all—” He broke off suddenly, tilting his head to one side as if listening to a distant noise.

  It took Robert’s orgasm-muddled brain several seconds to work out that Zach was listening to his radio, the frequency pitched too high for regular humans to hear.

  “Robert, damn it, I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go,” Zach said, pulling back and, grabbing a box of tissues from a nearby desk, starting to hurriedly tidy himself up. “There’s been an emergency—flood alert right in the middle of the Calganese Civil War. Everyone’s being called up for active duty immediately.”

  “I… okay,” Robert replied, trying to get his brain back into gear.

  “Look, I’ll find you when I get back, okay?” Zach said, already starting to back away from Robert toward the door. He darted forward once again suddenly, placing a hard kiss to Robert’s mouth as one hand reached out for something on the bench. “We’ll talk then, okay?”

  “Okay,” Robert repeated, his mind still reeling, but Zach was already gone.

  ROBERT went home that night in something of a daze. From celebrating the first successful—if unofficial—trial of his prototype invisibility powder one moment to being pressed up against the wall and fucked into oblivion by Zach the next, Robert wasn’t exactly sure why he wasn’t happier. Because surely having both a successful project and Zach was the fulfillment of his every wish.

  But Robert was a scientist to the core—he liked to be able to break things down into their composite parts and understand how they all fit together to make a whole. Although he would freely admit to having fantasized about having something more with Zach, he was also pretty damn certain that such desires would forever remain mere fantasies. Even if Zach was gay, which, well, yeah, there was now some pretty convincing evidence in support of that fact, then why would he want Robert? They’d known each other for almost six years now, and Zach had never shown any signs of wanting something more than friendship. So what exactly had their little interlude against the wall really been about?

  As he lay in bed that night, mind still whirling, Robert replayed their conversation over in his head, searching for something to explain what had happened. One particular phrase stood out: This is really going to change things—make it so much easier for us out in the field. So was that what the kiss, and all that had followed it, had been about? Some misplaced sense of gratitude on Zach’s part that he felt he needed to repay? Robert felt his stomach turn over at the thought, a deep nausea rolling through him as he contemplated what kind of person he must be to make Zach think he had to offer him sex in exchange for his work. But, try as he might, he could not come up with any other reasonable explanation.

  Needless to say, he didn’t sleep. Instead, as soon as the first gray light of dawn crept through his window, Robert was up out of his bed, throwing on whatever clothes came to hand and heading out of his apartment. He needed to get to the lab, to bury himself in his work to ensure there was no possibility he would think about Zach.

  As Robert entered his lab, an extra-large take-out cup of coffee in his hand, he studiously avoided looking at the workbench, unwilling to be pulled into yet more memories. He turned on his computer instead and, unable to bring himself to work on the invisibility project, he turned his attention to other matters, soon losing himself in some complex heat equations he’d been toying with in his spare time.

  The sound of the lab doors opening some time later dragged Robert out of his algebra. He turned, disappointed but not surprised to find Stephanie on her way in; he’d been hoping to have the lab to himself.

  “Hi Robert,” Stephanie said as she breezed past him on her way to her desk. “You see the news this morning? Our augments are kicking ass out there!”

  “No,” Robert replied, a little shocked at himself that he’d forgotten all about the flood that had called Zach away. “What’s going on?”

  “A lot,” Stephanie replied with a grin, “but so far it’s all been pretty good. They haven’t got too specific on the news, but it sounds like the augment teams have already had some success rerouting the river’s flow.”

  “That’s good,” Robert said just before another thought occurred. “And they haven’t had any problems with the rebel fighters?”

  “Not so far,” Stephanie said. “At least, nothing that’s made it through to the news networks.” She paused for a moment, shooting him a curious look. “But why am I telling you this? You’re the one who is usually on the case when Zach and Allison are on a mission. What’s up?”

  “Nothing,” Robert replied quickly, turning back to his screen. “I’ve just been working.”

  “Okay,” Stephanie said slowly, her tone unconvinced. “So how’s that going? Did you finish uploading the new code last night? Can we run a test simulation?” And, before Robert realized what she was doing, she was out of her chair and moving across to the workbench. “Hey, have you been running a simulation without me?” she asked as she spotted the bench’s disarray and the readings from last night still on the screen that Robert, in his distraction, had forgotten to power down.

  Robert sighed and got to his feet, knowing he’d have to tell her about the test run with Zach. “Yes,” he replied, coming up to stand beside her, his eyes drawn unwillingly to the patch of wall to the side of the bench where Zach had held him tightly. “Zach came by the lab last night.”

  “He did?” Stephanie practically screeched with glee. “So, what happened? I mean, I don’t know what I want to know first—did he finally work up the courage to ask you out or did the powder work?”

  “What?” Robert asked, his mind momentarily unable to make sense of the words. “What do you mean, ask me out?”

  “Oh,” Stephanie said, her face falling. “I guess that means he didn’t, then.”

  “But… but…,” Robert stuttered. “What would even make you think that he would?”

  Stephanie rolled her eyes at him. “Because it’s patently obvious that he wants to,” she said. “Plus, Allison told me that he was going to.”

  Robert shook his head in confusion. “What? No, that’s just… no.”

  Stephanie eyed Robert speculatively. “You know what? Maybe you should ask him out,” she said. “You know, put him out of his misery at last. After all, he’s been mooning after you for years now.”

  Robert stood stock still, trying to process that. He could feel the weight of Stephanie’s gaze on him.

  “Wait,” she said slowly, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. “Something did happen, didn’t it?”

  Robert felt his face heat and turned quickly away.

  “Robert, come on,” Stephanie wheedled. “Spill.”

  “It was nothing,” he replied, shaking his head. “At least, nothing that meant anything.”

  “I don’t understand,” Stephanie said. “I’ve watched you—both of you—for a long time now. It’s obvious that you want each other—to me and Allison. So, whatever happened, it must have meant something.”

  Robert turned back to her, starting to feel angry at her cavalier dissection of his life. “Look,” he said, attempting to relay the facts as dispassionately as possible. “He came to the lab, we talked, we tested the powder—which works, but the way—and he was… I don’t know… fucking grateful or something, so he kissed me.”


  Stephanie blinked. “He kissed you,” she said slowly, and then, “And the powder works. Oh my God, he kissed you and the powder works. Robert, that’s fantastic!”

  “No, it is not,” Robert snapped in reply. “Well, the part about the powder is, but did you miss the part where I said he kissed me just because he was grateful?”

  But Stephanie just shook her head. “That’s just ridiculous,” she said. “Zach wouldn’t do something like that. If he kissed you, it was because he wanted to.”

  “No,” Robert countered. “Why would he want me? And after all this time? No,” he continued sharply, raising a finger in warning as Stephanie opened her mouth to reply. “No, you weren’t there and the things he was saying…. The way he phrased it, just before he kissed me…. No, it was gratitude, nothing more. That’s the only thing that makes sense.”

  Stephanie was still gazing at him, her expression full of skepticism. “You need to talk to him,” she said firmly. “Get things sorted out between you.”

  “And you need to keep your nose out of it,” Robert countered. “I’ll… well, to be honest, I don’t really know what I’ll do. Try to keep being his friend, I suppose.”

  “God, Robert, of course you’ll still be his friend. More than that, I’m sure,” Stephanie said, one hand reaching out toward him in a gesture of comfort. “Ah, but I’ll keep out of it—I promise,” she continued quickly as Robert shot a warning glance her way. “So, anyway, tell me about the tests you guys ran and please tell me you have video footage of when it actually worked.”

  THE rest of the day passed quickly after that, and Robert found himself more grateful than ever for Stephanie’s support and friendship. True to her word, she didn’t mention Zach again and made sure to keep Robert’s attention focused solely on their project. He left the lab, having declined Stephanie’s invitation for dinner, feeling far more positive about things and looking forward to having his full research team together the next day. The way things were going, they’d be taking their turn in the Prototype Technology Trial lab before too much longer.

  As he was making his way out of the Initiative’s main entrance, heading for the employee parking lot across the street, he became aware that something was going on. The reception area of the building was fairly standard—a large, plush lobby area with comfortable sofas and low-lying coffee tables, a reception desk and, beyond it, past a security checkpoint, a large bank of elevators. Ubiquitous flat-screen televisions were embedded into the wall opposite the sofas, each one tuned to a different news network. This time, instead of different stories reflecting the different countries from which the broadcasts originated, all the stations were playing the same story—the amazing rescue of dozens of flood victims from a troop of rebel soldiers by a single augment team. Right there, on each of the huge screens with letters like CNN and BBC and Sky in one corner, was Zach. He looked every inch the hero—uniform soiled and slightly torn, face sweat-slicked and muddy, muscles bulging and eyes bright with purpose. Robert stopped instantly in his tracks, rooted to the spot and unable to look away.

  “Turn it up!” he shouted, waving a hand toward the direction of the reception desk. “One of them, any of them, please, turn up the volume!”

  A few seconds later, during which time Robert was reduced to frantically attempting to lip-read various newscasters, the volume on BBC News came on. Robert found himself moving, eyes locked on the screen, until he was standing just a few feet away. The montage of pictures and accompanying reporter’s voice quickly filled in the main points—the riverbanks overflowing, the hundreds of lives in danger, the augment teams’ response, and, to cap it all off, the rebel soldiers’ attack.

  “In a region already in a desperate state due to almost ten years of civil war, another disaster was likely to cost the lives of thousands,” the reporter said. “The arrival of both the UN aid workers and the augment teams was greeted with almost universal gratitude.”

  The reporter paused as a montage of video footage, some professional and others obviously recorded using cell phone cameras, was shown. There were scenes of the devastation and of the rapidly encroaching river, its flow high, fast, and deadly. Then there were shots of the UN aid teams arriving, food, blankets, med kits being distributed and camps being set up for the survivors. Finally, there were shots of the augments. Robert found himself holding his breath as he spied Zach amongst them, his tall figure instantly recognizable despite the mud, moving at lightning speed as he worked with the other augments to stem the flow of the river.

  A voice-over started up over the footage. “However, there were some who were not so keen to welcome this foreign aid: the members of the Calganese anti-government rebel faction, the self-styled Calgan Freedom Fighters. In an effort to drive off international aid workers, the CFF staged a large-scale attack on one of the villages where one of the augment teams was working.”

  The montage switched to show footage of the attack, odd shots of explosions overlaid by the shouts of fleeing civilians.

  “However, the augment teams proved once again that they are ready for anything, and it fell to Zach Butler, one of strongest and fastest of the augments, to play the part of the superhero.” As the reporter spoke, shots of Zach were shown on screen. A couple were his standard publicity shots, but the rest were action shots of Zach in the field—his gaze intent, his movements precise and measured, and his power undeniable.

  “From what we have been able to gather from witnesses at the scene,” the reporter continued, “and using an as-yet-undetermined new piece of augment technology, Zach was able to cloak himself entirely—literally render himself invisible—to infiltrate the rebel force, disarm them, and take them all into custody.” The pictures changed once again to shaky footage of what was presumably the rebel force being vanquished at the hands of an invisible Zach. It was hard to make out anything at all, the pictures were grainy and out of focus, but Robert had stopped paying attention anyway

  The instant the reporter had mentioned invisibility, Robert’s mind had gone into overdrive. It could only mean one thing: Zach had used Robert’s invisibility powder. His untested, unlicensed, and altogether incomplete piece of research. What had Zach been thinking? How had he even managed to get the powder in the first place? And what would the consequences be? Robert’s blood ran cold—anything could have happened out there. It could have been a complete and utter failure. In the field, with literally hundreds of unpredictable variables, the nano-transmitters could have failed at any time, leaving Zach completely unshielded in the midst of a large group of heavily armed enemy combatants. Zach could have been killed and it would have been on Robert’s head.

  “Dr. Taunton,” came a voice from behind him.

  Robert slowly turned away from the screen, his eyes still slightly glazed and his mind whirling, to find one of the receptionists addressing him, a large security guard at her side.

  “I’ve just had a call from the Directors’ Office,” she continued. “Your presence has been requested by Elizabeth Solomons.”

  “What?” Robert said, blinking in confusion, as yet unable to process anything other than the fact that Zach could have been killed and that, miraculously, Robert’s unfinished invention had worked sufficiently to prevent it. Why would Solomons, the Augment Initiative’s Director of Research and Development, want to see him? And then realization struck. “Oh, oh, right,” he said, nodding as his mind suddenly clicked back into place. One of his projects had just been deployed by an augment in the field—an untested and unauthorized project. “Oh, fucking hell,” he cursed under his breath as it struck him just how much trouble this could cause and wondering how much of a difference it would make that the powder had actually worked despite the fact it hadn’t been approved.

  “Right this way,” the security guard said, gesturing back toward the bank of elevators.

  Sighing with resignation, Robert cast one last glance behind him as he started to follow. As he did so, he managed to catch a glimpse of Zach on th
e screen, looking strong and gorgeous and alive. It suddenly hit Robert that he actually didn’t give a damn what the consequences were—whatever price he had to pay, it would be worth it.

  IT WAS almost five hours later when Robert finally made it home to his apartment, his entire body practically shaking with exhaustion. He’d been through several grilling interviews with Solomons and pretty much every one of the Powers That Be at the Augment Initiative, and his head was pounding after having to repeat the same things over and over again ad nauseam. No, he’d said countless times, the invisibility powder hadn’t been given final approval for use in the field. No, it hadn’t even been through final prototype testing yet so, no, of course it wasn’t ready for use in the field. Yes, he had shown it to Zach, but, no, he hadn’t realized Zach had taken a sample. Yes, he understood the dangers of deploying an untested piece of tech in the field but, as far as he understood it, it had saved lives—augment and civilian—so didn’t that count for something? The ominous silence that had followed that particular comment had not been encouraging, so Robert still wasn’t sure what to make of any of it.

  At least he’d managed to ascertain that Zach and Allison were due back in the next few hours—something about them needing to de-brief and then to give a series of press conferences. Robert knew how hard the Augment Initiative worked at public relations, counting on the augments to be an outward and approachable face to the humanitarian aid they rendered, so he guessed it kind of made sense that Zach and Allison would be the public face of this episode. Still, it hadn’t made him feel any more secure in his position when his access to his lab and the Augment Initiative as a whole was temporarily revoked, pending the outcome of the debrief and a further internal investigation. As he was finally escorted out of the building to his car, he’d tried to concentrate on the one silver lining of the whole debacle: the fact that the powder had worked and Zach, Allison, and who knew how many innocent civilians were alive because of it.