by Jamie Zakian
“I don’t know whether to high-five you or start digging your grave.” Lucius stomped across the steel-grated floor and slammed the lab’s door shut, but the solid steel door only muffled that woman’s infuriating racket.
“Are the results in yet?” His fists clenched as a faint shrill pierced his ears. “I’m hoping it’s negative, so I can dump her ass in the harbor.”
“You’d put her back where you got her from if it were negative, which it’s not.”
“Really?” Lucius rushed to Cyrus’s workstation. He leaned over the long table and peeked at the computer. The lines on its screen told him nothing but his brother’s stare, teeming with fire, was a different story.
“And you’re smiling. Does this mean you want to supercharge your girlfriend now?”
“I’m starting to like the idea,” Cyrus said through a grin. “She’s a lot stronger than I thought, in spirit. Maybe she’ll get enhanced strength, give Simon a run for his money.”
“You can’t tell, with all your squiggly lines?”
Cyrus rubbed his chin as he stared at the monitor. “No. I might be able to later on, after a few more conversions—”
“Conversions. I like that.”
“I know you’re just placating me.” Cyrus stepped around the workstation, puffing out his chest as he stood tall in front of Lucius. “You don’t want any tests because you plan on putting everybody in that machine. You want the weak to die and the special to twist into something unnatural like us.”
“I want those who are worthy to be given the best advantages. What’s wrong with that?”
“Free will.” Cyrus glanced at the machine behind him. “You’re not God. It’s not up to you who lives and dies, or how they live. This is real evil. If we do this, there’s no coming back.”
“Back?” Rage flooded Lucius’s chest, growing and churning inside him. “Back to what? Max and his super-squad of boy scouts? If that’s what you want, brother, I’m sure they’ll welcome you with open arms.”
He turned from Cyrus, resisted the urge to drive his fist through everything in sight. “Go. Crawl to Max and beg for his mercy.”
“That’s not what I want.”
Lucius couldn’t stop his muscles from coiling tighter. Cyrus was all he had, the last piece of good he had left in his life to keep him human.
A hand landed on his shoulder, his brother’s hand. The grip was soft, gentle, yet strong enough to relax Lucius’s tight muscles. That touch, the affection, left a warm sensation in his chest, one he’d long forgotten.
“I want to change the world with you, brother,” Cyrus said in true sincerity. “But I want to give people a choice, and not murder thousands of innocents just because they’re different from us.”
“That’s noble.” Lucius turned back toward Cyrus, grasping onto the sides of his arms. “And brilliant. We don’t have to release the test. We’ll just let the public know about the machine, tell them they have a fifty-fifty chance to become super-powered or die. Allow the choice to be their own.”
“That’s not exactly what—”
“No. It’s perfect. The majority of sheeple will go for it, regardless of the consequences. They’ll all die, the chosen few will live, and we’ll become the misunderstood saviors of humanity. The new superheroes who eradicated disease and ended suffering.”
“It’s not a fifty-fifty chance. Only ten percent will survive the blast.”
“Earth is severely overpopulated. Don’t second guess your genius.”
Lucius walked toward the lab’s door, leaving Cyrus wide-eyed beside his machine. “The entire world will be a better place when only people with superpowers live in it. Now get that power source worked out. I can’t use souls to run that machine any longer. We shouldn’t utilize evil means to liberate the people, not if we’re trying to be heroes. Right?”
Cyrus groaned, a sour look crossing his face. “Where are you going?”
“Upstairs to strangle Mimic. The fluke won’t stop blowing up my phone.”
“Is it male or female, originally? Lucius?”
Lucius opened the heavy steel door, which let the shouts of Cyrus’s wretched woman into the room.
“It’s a chick,” he said, walking from the lab.
“This is where I was,” Shay said to Max and Hetal, between chews. She pointed the bacon in her hand at the map on her computer screen, leaving a greasy smear overtop the group of red dots that blinked at the asylum. “There’s indicator marks at this location. They must still be there.”
“We looked, but that place is a maze,” Max said.
“Did you find the machine?”
Max closed his empty Styrofoam carton, which once held a tall stack of pancakes, and tossed it into the trash bin at the end of the long computer desk. “What machine?”
“Down the hall from the dungeon-like cells, in the mad scientist lab.”
“Like this one,” Hetal said with a smile.
“No.” Shay actually took offense to that comment. Her lab was sanitary, ultra-shiny, and absolutely perfect. “Like the creaky metal floors, frayed wires arcing, bad lighting kind.”
“I didn’t see any of that.”
Hetal put down her coffee and grabbed a tablet. “What did this machine look like?”
“Why?” Shay swiveled her chair to face Hetal. “You gonna do a search in the mad scientist directory?”
“Umm, yeah.”
Shay dropped her grin. So that’s what they taught at college, how to get all the good connections.
“But really,” Hetal said, typing on the display in her lap. “All tech is based off each other, it’s just modified to suit the user’s needs. If I can find the general design, maybe we can figure out what they’re up to.”
“Is that why they took you?” Max asked. “To fix their machine?”
“No.” Shay rubbed the sides of her arms as a chill crept in to ice her skin. “I think they were going to put me in the machine.”
Hetal raised her hand, waved it around at the wrist.
“This isn’t school,” Shay said, turning her attention back to Hetal.
“Was it square?”
“Round, like the nanobot chamber but way bigger. It was liquid cooled with wide magnetic plates on the inside and thin ones around the outside.”
“That’s …” Hetal shook her head, eyes wide. “I’ve never heard of anything like that.”
Shay turned her chair toward Max. “What are they up to?”
“How should I know?”
Shay had to look away from the cute crinkle of Max’s nose, or she’d never be able to continue drilling the man. “You knew them, before the powers. You guys were friends, right?”
Max shifted in his chair. “That was a long time ago.”
“Yeah, but, people don’t really change. Their core beliefs stay the same, it’s a person’s approach toward the world that alters.”
Max smirked as he stared into a corner of the room. “Lucius always talked about making the world a better place. He dreamt of a future free from viruses and disease. A world where people had no reason to hate each other, because everyone was equal. And Cyrus. The guy’s an actual rocket scientist, but when it came to his brother … he just follows Lucius, blindly.”
“No way!” Shay jumped up from her chair, which sent it rolling across the glossy floor to crash into a table.
“What?” Max asked, rising to his feet.
“I’m going first,” Hetal said. “After beta testing, obviously.”
Max’s stare alternated between Shay and Hetal, a lost look in his eyes. “What?”
Shay couldn’t believe Max hadn’t figured it out. It couldn’t be more clear what Lucius and Cyrus were up to. “They’re—”
“Shay,” Simon called out from the lab’s entrance. He spotted her behind the wall of computers then hurried across the lab.
“Have you seen Evie?” he asked, stepping beside Shay
while typing on his cell phone.
“She went to assemble some task force.”
“No.” Simon tucked his phone into his pocket. “The captain of the task force just contacted me. She never checked in.”
Shay gripped her stomach, which had started to churn. Twenty different scenarios ran through her mind, all of them ending with Evie in a ditch—and they didn’t even have ditches in the city.
“She left over two hours ago,” was all her brain could whip up, besides Oh my God, Oh my God and that wouldn’t help.
“Why don’t you give her a call?” Simon said. “She didn’t answer mine.”
“I’m sure she’s fine,” Hetal added. “It’s not like Evie has a superhero’s soul inside her body too. Right?”
“No.” Shay shoved aside tablets and empty Styrofoam cartons, and grabbed her cell phone. The words nobody wants Evie almost flew from her mouth, except it wouldn’t be true. She wanted Evie, right now.
With a shaky finger, she tapped the picture of her sister’s frowny face. After two rings, Shay was sure she’d never see Evie again. Three and she almost ran from the room to shout her sister’s name from the rooftop. When the forth ring broke off and Evie said, “Hello.” Shay didn’t know what to do.
“Evie?” she sputtered.
“Hey. I’m in a meeting right now. Can I call you back in twenty?”
“Sure, I—”
“It’s not important, is it?”
“No. I—”
“Okay. Talk to you in a bit.”
Shay flinched when a click replaced Evie’s voice. She looked up from the rudeness that just erupted from her phone’s speaker, caught Simon’s leery expression, and shrugged. “Evie’s at a meeting.”
“What kind of meeting?”
Max rubbed his chin. “Evie seemed off today. Don’t you think?”
“And what was up with her outfit,” Hetal said. “Sweats and sneaks, does Evie jog?”
“I don’t know.” Shay lifted her hands, pushing through the crowd that now swarmed her. “I have to go make weapons. I’ll sound the alarm if I hear something.”
She hurried to her workbench but the annoyance lingered. They all posed valid questions and she should know the answers, yet she didn’t. Other than the breakfast mishap, she hadn’t noticed anything different. She hadn’t even noticed Evie was wearing sneakers, which she refused to believe until she saw it with her own eyes.
Visuals of Evie in a silky jogger suit streamed through her mind and she pushed them aside, chuckling. There was no time for fantasies. She had a great idea for a containment field grenade, structure safe of course.
A cool breeze rolled off the harbor. The salty air curled around Alexie, blowing strands of hair in front of her eyes. Every blue streak that fell into view tinted the world in a somber shade. Not that the asylum in front of her needed anything extra to add to its creepy ambience. The building’s crumbling walls, its barred windows hiding dark shadows in broad daylight, reeked of evil … and dead fish, which basically smelled the same.
A sharp crack rang out, echoing over the harbor’s gentle waves, and a layer of frost crept along the water’s surface.
Alexie didn’t have to look over her shoulder to know Lucius stood behind her. A heavy weight pressed against her chest, and hope drained in his presence.
Lucius circled Alexie, like a vulture, brushing against her arm before he stopped in front of her. “What are you doing here?”
It was a question Alexie had asked herself a thousand times since she’d arrived at the asylum five minutes ago. Each time, she gave herself the same answer. She was trying to save the city, redeem two good men who had fallen off the righteous path, and stay a hero.
“I’ve decided to accept your offer.”
“Good one.” Lucius didn’t smile, didn’t scowl. He merely dismissed Alexie with a wave of his hand.
“Get lost,” he said, walking away.
“Hey.” Alexie grabbed Lucius by the arm and he spun to glare down at her. His fierce gaze rocked her courage. It made her miss the man’s fearsome iron mask.
“I’m serious,” she managed to choke out, almost convincing herself.
“You sound real serious.” Lucius pulled his arm from Alexie’s grasp and gave her a little shove. “You must think I’m stupid. Why don’t I save you some time, draw you a map to my real hideout, maybe outline my end game for you? Then, you can send a big S signal in the sky and your super-buddies can swoop in.”
“You know what, screw it. I was having doubts about this whole thing and you just made up my mind. Thanks, asshole.”
Alexie turned from Lucius and stormed away from the asylum. A smile snuck onto her lips, but she held it back. Any second, Lucius would come nipping at her heels like the desperate dog he was.
“Wait,” Lucius called out.
His voice carried on icy winds and slowed Alexie’s steps. She looked back at Lucius, but he was gone. Just a long field of dead grass sat in front of her, leading to a decrepit asylum.
Alexie turned from the asylum and crashed against a hard chest plate. Lucius gripped onto the collar of her suit, and lifted her off the ground before she could work up an electric charge.
Energy swelled beneath her flesh as they soared through the air. The heat pricked her fingertips, sizzled her blood. She opened her fist to send a billion volts of pure electricity into Lucius when he stopped midair above the harbor.
“Don’t do it,” he said, lowering Alexie’s boots into the icy water. “Lightning and water don’t mix.”
Alexie held tight to the bare skin on Lucius’s wrists. “I might fry, but I’ll take you with me.”
“I can’t trust you,” Lucius said in a tone that incited more fear than anger. “And that sucks, because I really want to.”
“It’s not my fault you’re an idiot.”
“Why the change of heart? Did your friends step on your sparkly cape?”
“They’re not my friends,” Alexie said, despising every word that passed her lips. “They’re my keepers. I don’t fit with them, not the way I did with Cyrus.” She forced the fear from her mind, and gazed at Lucius with warmth. “And you.”
Lucius tightened his grip on Alexie. He lifted her feet from the water, drawing her close to his chest. Daylight blurred to swirls of rainbow waves, the air fizzled and popped, then her feet hit solid ground.
Alexie wobbled, clinging to Lucius as she fought to find her balance.
“What was that?”
The blur covering her eyes cleared to tall grass. They were back in the same place, standing in front of the asylum.
Once Alexie’s legs steadied, she slowly let go of Lucius. “We weren’t flying.”
“No.” Lucius stepped back from Alexie and hoisted his hands to his hips. “I can teleport now.”
“How?”
“Uh-uh.” Lucius crossed his arms. “You tell me something first.”
“You’re a giant di—”
“Something I don’t already know. Come on, Lexie, don’t you want to prove how useful you can be?”
Everything always had to be on Lucius’s terms, which was the reason Alexie left the Grant mansion and never returned. This time would be different. She was stronger now, in both mind and spirit. Lucius would find that out the painful way, after she danced his little dance.
“Max found people, with powers. Like us.”
“Really!” Lucius smiled, warm and genuine, which was much more frightening than his wicked grins. It was the look of the remarkable man she’d met all those years ago, the stare of a friend not a maniacal villain.
“Do you have names, locations?”
“No.” Alexie held Lucius’s stare, even though her knees begged to crumble. “I can get you a full list.”
Lucius lifted his hand, and Alexie fought the urge to flinch. His fingertips glided along her cheek, leaving frosty trails on her skin.
“A gesture like tha
t could help prove your allegiance,” Lucius said in a whisper. The air around him shimmered then he vanished, leaving Alexie to sway in the harbor’s icy wind.
Sweat beaded on Shay’s palm but she didn’t loosen her hold on the needle-nose pliers that chafed her skin. She couldn’t move from her hunched-over position, didn’t dare disturb the circuit board just below her. It had taken her twenty minutes to properly align the thin wire at the end of her pliers with the transistor on the tiny circuit board, and she wasn’t going to so much as breathe until they were soldered together.
Her free hand slapped the workbench beside her. Something soft, something pointy, and something squishy grazed her fingertips before she found the soldering gun. Just as she brought the gun’s tip to the wire’s end, her cell phone beeped.
She flinched, which sent the soldering gun’s red-hot tip deep into the circuitry. Smoke rose, tickling Shay’s nose as she lifted the soldering gun from a melted hole in a one-of-a-kind golden circuit board.
“Great.” A little piece of Shay’s heart broke as she stared down at what equated to wire guts.
“Problems?” Max called out from across the lab.
Shay glanced at Max, who still lounged on her lab’s couch. He lowered a magazine and sat up straight at the slightest hint of attention.
“You’re still here?” Shay groaned. She had intended to say that without sounding like a jerk, and achieved the exact opposite.
“This is all so …” Max lifted his hands then dropped them into his lap. “Fun?”
“Just go. Save some car from veering off a bridge, or pull a cat out of a tree.”
“None of that stuff is going on right now.”
“Do you have some kind of superhero sixth sense?”
“No.” Max fidgeted on the couch. “I don’t actually do those kinds of things. The police and emergency services workers are great in this city. Sometimes the fire chief calls and asks for help getting people out of burning buildings, but mostly I just wait around for the Grant brothers to attack.”
Max returned to flipping pages in his magazine, and Shay rubbed her forehead. There was such great potential, wasted. Five people with incredible powers walked this Earth. Five people who could bring herds of cattle to the starving, deliver medicine to war-torn countries, and all they did was fight each other.