Ascension (The Ascension Series)

by A. L. Patterson

  “Of course he doesn’t remember,” Clark joked. “He’s so doped up on morphine he barely knows his own name. If he doesn’t recover I’ll never forgive myself.”

  “He will,” Sarah said. “Charles is strong. He’ll get through this.”

  Clark and Sarah walked across the street to a small diner and had breakfast together. They tried to keep the conversation on small talk but the fateful night they had just endured continued to pop up no matter what they discussed.

  While Clark and Sarah were having breakfast together, John stood outside across the street. Despite having robbed a bank and subsequently thrown the money into a crowd of people, John remained outside in broad daylight. He felt like a man without fear as he swept his trench coat behind him and entered the hospital.

  “I’m looking for Charles Walsh,” John told the receptionist.

  “He’s on the eleventh floor,” the receptionist said.

  John took the elevator and arrived on the right floor. He approached the desk and was greeted by a nurse.

  “How may I help you?” the nurse asked.

  “I’m looking for Charles Walsh,” John said with his head lowered.

  “He’s in room 3-11 but I’ll have to confirm your visit. One moment,” the nurse said as she walked off down the hall.

  John turned to his left and saw the two large bodyguards standing against the door. Then he noticed a doctor speaking on the phone and overheard his conversation.

  “We’ve analyzed his blood,” Dr. Hewer said over the phone. “He arrived last night─ His molecular structure is unlike any other─ his blood platelets show a particular aversion to lead in a manner wholly different than other humans─ I believe he is likely one of the masked vigilantes─ Yes, Mr. Wu─ I’ll keep an eye on any friends who visit him.”

  John quickly turned away and hurried down the hospital stairs. When the nurse returned, she looked around and couldn’t find him.

  John made his way back down to the ground floor and exited the hospital. He walked around to the side of the hospital and looked up to the tall building. After peering around to make sure that no one was watching him, John shot up into the air. While levitating next to the eleventh floor of the building, John looked around until he saw a window that had the curtains drawn back. He saw Charles sleeping in the room so he placed his hand out and the window slowly opened.

  John flew through the window and landed on his feet. Charles was sedated but John stood next to his hospital bed and spoke.

  “I loved you, Charles,” John said softly. “I’ll never forget all of times you were there for me. I’m here because you made the eleven o’clock news. I almost couldn’t believe it. But now you see what happens when you’re under the almighty leadership of Clark O’Sullivan─ a bullet to the back. I only hope you recover but now I’m afraid we must part.

  “But this is it. There is no turning back. The time has come for a new order on this earth. And I will lead it, Charles. And soon, I will possess the power to bring back my loved ones. It remains my greatest task in proving my worth. You see, I was never before certain that God existed. But now I am. I am certain that God exists because I have his powers. I have his strength.

  “And I will use these gifts to usher in a new world order. I will create a world without destruction and fear and loss of the ones we love the most. But in order to rebuild, I must first wipe out the seeds that have already been planted. For those seeds have grown into wild vines that will plague and cover the earth until they are uprooted. And that is my job. I will uproot the seeds laid by these dragons. And all who stand in my way will face the same fate. They. Will. Perish.”

  John softly placed his hand on top of Charles’s head and said his final goodbye. At that moment, the door of Charles’s room opened and Dr. Hewer entered with a clipboard in his hand. The doctor looked up and saw John.

  “Who are you?” Dr. Hewer asked.

  John looked at the door behind the doctor and it quickly shut.

  “Scream and I will kill you,” John told him.

  “You’re one of those… super… superheroes,” the doctor stuttered.

  “Not anymore,” John said.

  “What are you?” the doctor asked as he looked around the room.

  “I heard your conversation,” John told him.

  John looked the doctor in the eyes and the doctor’s feet lifted off the ground. He was suspended into the air as John clenched his fists.

  “How much do you know about us and who were you talking to?” John asked him angrily.

  “I was talking to Zhang Wu,” the doctor spoke quickly. “I’ve been selling… information to him.”

  “WHY?” John shouted.

  The bodyguards on the other side of the door attempted to open the door but were unable to.

  “I said WHY?” John shouted again.

  “Because Wu is trying to fight you. All of you vigilantes.”

  “What have you learned about us!?” John shouted again.

  “Your body shows an aversion to lead. I believe it inhibits your powers. Wu is planning to use it against you.”

  “And where is Wu located?” John asked him.

  “In a penthouse downtown.”

  “I should kill you,” John told him.

  “Please,” the doctor begged, still suspended in the air. “I told you everything.”

  “Precisely,” John said. “You know everything about us. You know who we are and you know what we are capable of. And you have been selling this information to a man who wishes to destroy us.”

  The bodyguards began banging at the door. “Open up!” one of them yelled.

  “Please,” the doctor begged. “I have a wife and a son.”

  “So did my father,” John said angrily.

  “Do it.” John’s mother appeared by his side. Her smile turned into an expression of dissatisfaction as she told John what to do. “Kill him,” she said.

  John turned his head and Dr. Hewer went flying through the air at a breakneck speed. John sent the doctor to his demise as he crashed through the eleventh floor window and plummetted. The bodyguards threw all of their weight against the door to Charles’s hospital room and it broke open. The bodyguards looked at John who was standing near the broken window and they drew their guns. While in bed, Charles opened his eyes and watched as John placed on his military beret, darted out of the eleventh floor window, and flew away.

  Charles’s father rushed into the room. “What’s going on in here?” he asked.

  No one had any answers for him. Mr. Walsh looked at the broken window and demanded that they immediately move Charles to a new hospital room.

  Clark and Sarah were finishing up their breakfast at the diner when they heard loud noises coming from the St. John’s Hospital. They ran across the street to the hospital and found several officers had tapered off an area. A blanket was lying over a dead body.

  “You don’t need to see that, Sarah,” Clark told his girlfriend as he grabbed her by the hand. They walked back to the front of the hospital and went through the entrance. When they made it to the eleventh floor, they saw Charles lying on a hospital bed being pushed into another room.

  “Mr. Walsh!” Clark yelled out to Charles’s father. Clark and Sarah caught up with Mr. Walsh and he looked fatigued. “What happened?” Clark asked him.

  “I don’t know,” Mr. Walsh said. “We think the doctor was pushed out of the window while in Charles’s room.”

  “By who?” Clark asked.

  “I don’t know,” Mr. Walsh said. “Charles is bedridden but the bodyguards said they saw a blonde haired boy leap out of the window and fly away. I know it sounds ridiculous.”

  “John!” Clark said aloud.

  “John?” Sarah asked. “He killed the doctor?”

  “Oh my God,” Mr. Walsh said. “It was John. What sort of deranged lunatic has he become?”

  Clark and Sarah followed after the bodyguards and entered into the new room where Charles was
placed. The bodyguards attempted to stop Clark and Sarah from entering the room but Charles objected.

  “Let them in!” Charles said as loudly as he could.

  The bodyguards obliged but refuse to leave them alone.

  “What happened?” Clark asked.

  “It was John,” Charles said. “I saw him fly out of the window. He killed the doctor. I heard it. The doctor knew about us. He knew everything and was selling information to someone named Wu.”

  “Zhang Wu?” Clark asked. “That’s the same guy who was responsible for all of this last night.”

  “Yeah,” Charles said. “He’s a real nuisance.”

  “But we’re done being superheroes,” Sarah whispered so the bodyguards would not hear her. “What would Wu still want with us?”

  “We may be done,” Clark said. “But Wu doesn’t know that. And we’re still capable of anything, aren’t we?”

  “We need to be on the lookout,” Sarah said.

  “We have to end this,” Clark said as he slammed his fist into his palm.

  “He said something about the element lead,” Charles said.

  “What?” Clark asked.

  “I can’t remember it all. The doctor mentioned something about us and how we react to lead. Something like pencil lead, I don’t know,” Charles said.

  “What does that mean?” Sarah asked.

  “I don’t know,” Charles said. “That’s all I remember. Something about lead”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Clark said. “Regardless─ we can’t sit back and be blindsided. Stay safe, Charles. Leave this to me.”

  “What do you mean?” Sarah asked him.

  “It means I’m going to have to suit up one last time.”

  “Then I’m joining you,” Sarah said assertively. “And I think Donny and Chloe will want to help as well.”

  “Alright,” Clark said. “I don’t know what Wu’s planning but as long as we’re together he won’t stand a chance.”

  Minutes later Donny and Chloe entered the hospital. They made it up to the eleventh floor where security had become even tighter but Mr. Walsh approved for them to see his son. When Donny and Chloe entered Charles’s hospital room, they had a flurry of questions. Clark and Sarah informed them of the crime lord known as Zhang Wu. They told Donny and Chloe about John visiting the hospital and throwing the doctor out of the window.

  “He’s insane,” Donny said of John. “What the hell is wrong with him?”

  “On Wednesday night, right before he left us, he talked about being a prophet,” Clark said. “I think it’s gone to his head. I mean, I could hardly control myself at times. I can only imagine how John is feeling, being so shattered.”

  “We can’t just let him kill people,” Donny said.

  “Yeah, but that doctor sort of had it coming,” Sarah said. “He was selling information about Charles to this Wu guy.”

  Donny shrugged his shoulders. “Still a pretty horrific way to die. John just dropped him out of a window? This is going to be all over the news.”

  “No, it’s not,” Mr. Walsh piped in. The kids all turned to face him when he continued to speak. “It’s too much publicity. A doctor with ties to the mafia is dropped out of a window by some insane teenage boy who thinks he’s a prophet? A story that ridiculous would turn the city upside down. They’ll say the doctor’s fall was an accident. It’ll be a ten second blip on Channel Five─ at most.”

  “You think so?” Donny asked.

  “I know so,” Mr. Walsh said. “Now if you all could excuse me, I’d like to have a moment alone with my son.”

  Clark, Sarah, Donny, and Chloe all exited the room and Mr. Walsh shut the door behind them. The bodyguards outside the room had doubled from two to four. The four teenagers hopped on the elevator, made it back to the ground floor, and casually exited the hospital.

  “Sarah and I are going to find Wu and stop him,” Clark told Donny and Chloe. “You guys are welcome to come.”

  “Sure,” Donny said.

  “I’m in,” Chloe said. “I’ll guess we’ll suit up one last time… one more time.”

  “That’s the plan,” Clark smiled. “And when I say this is going to be the last time, I mean it. Once Wu is out of the way, we can put this behind us and help Charles.”

  “What are we going to do with Wu?” Donny asked. “You’re not going to kill him, are you?”

  “No,” Clark said. “We’ve always operated on a strict no-killing clause. We’ll turn him over to the cops for a slew of charges.”

  “Sounds good,” Chloe nodded.

  “So when do we do this?” Donny asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Clark said. “First we have to find out where Zhang Wu is located. I don’t know, I guess we can search online.”

  “Yeah,” Donny laughed. “We’ll just do an engine search for the location of all crime lords in Cincinnati.”

  “Okay,” Clark said. “Then I guess we’ll have to find him some other way.”

  The four of them agreed to meet back up on Sunday to further discuss putting an end to Zhang Wu’s criminal dominancy. They just first needed to find him. That would be the difficult part. Everything else would be easy. Having honed their powers of telekinesis, Wu and his gang would hardly stand a chance against them.

  “But don’t you remember what Charles said?” Sarah asked Clark as they entered his house half an hour after leaving the hospital. “The doctor said Wu was learning to take us out.”

  “Wu’s plans mean nothing,” Clark said. “How can he stop a group of people who can move objects with their minds?”

  “I don’t know,” Sarah said. “But he did get Charles shot. I’m just saying we shouldn’t underestimate him.”

  “Hello!” Clark’s mother said. She hugged each of them as they walked into the living room.

  “Hi Mrs. O’Sullivan,” Sarah said.

  “I’m so sorry to hear about Charles. How’s he doing?” Clark’s mother asked.

  “He’s holding in there,” Clark told his mom. “He’s going to make it.”

  “It must be so traumatic for him. Is he ever going to be able to walk again?” his mother asked.

  “We hope so,” Sarah said.

  “His spine is okay,” Clark informed his mother. “So one day we hope he gets back to normal.”

  “Oh my,” his mother said. “What a sad world this is when an innocent boy is just shot in the back while walking home one night. It makes me scared for all of you, Clark. I don’t want you staying out late anymore.”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be okay, mom.”

  “I know,” his mother said. “But we do want to be on the safe side. You never know what kind of sickos are out there. I’m sure Mr. Walsh wishes his son had stayed home last night.”

  “Mom, please,” Clark said.

  “You’re right,” his mother said as she took a seat and held her stomach. She was now eight months pregnant. “I just want my children to be safe, that’s all.”

  “Where’s dad?” Clark asked.

  “He got called in to work today. I know its Saturday but we both agreed that he could use the overtime. This baby is coming out in three weeks and milk ‘n diapers aren’t cheap.”

  Clark and Sarah went up to Clark’s room. They held hands as they lied on his bed. They both felt sad over what happened to Charles and, perhaps, had still not fully processed it. Although they were holding hands, they said not a word.

  “Sarah,” Clark finally spoke up moments later. By addressing his girlfriend he had broken the solemn silence that penetrated the room. “Do you remember what Charles said about the doctor?” Clark asked her.

  “What?” Sarah asked.

  “He mentioned the element lead,” Clark said. “As a way of fighting against us.”

  “What does that mean?” Sarah asked. “What can lead do?”

  “I’m about to find out,” Clark said. He ran out of the room and left Sarah sitting on his bed. He returned seconds later with a
small waste bin. He placed it on his desk and returned to Sarah’s side.

  “What’s that for?” Sarah asked.

  “It’s made of lead,” Clark told her.

  He placed his hand out and focused on the object. Nothing happened. He focused even harder and still the waste basket did not move. Sarah then placed her arm out and attempted to make the basket move. She focused squarely on the object yet nothing happened.

  “We can’t move it,” Sarah said.

  “That’s what he meant,” Clark said.

  “What?”

  “Wu knows we can’t move lead,” Clark said to her. “The doctor told him.”

  “It’s like kryptonite?” Sarah asked.

  “Not quite. It doesn’t seem to hurt us. We just can’t control it.”

  “How’s he going to use that against us?”

  “I don’t know, Sarah. Maybe he’s putting together a bunch of weapons that are made of lead? What if he uses guns and bullets made of lead.”

  ***

  It was Saturday evening in Tampa, Florida and Big Dan had just flown in from London, England. Although it was seven o’clock, the sun was shining and showed no sign of lowering in the sunshine state.

  Big Dan was dressed in a dark blue suit as he sat in the back of a taxi cab. The taxi was driving down a street that featured an array of palm trees. The driver took a left turn and headed into a gated community. The car stopped in front of a security center. Big Dan rolled down the back window of the cab as the security guard addressed him.

  “What is your business here?” the security guard asked.

  “I’m here to see Andrew Lockman, the professional golfer.”

  “Hey,” the guard took off his glasses and grinned. “I recognize you. You’re the Formula One driver, Daniel LaRent.”

  “That’s right,” Big Dan said as he shot a finger pistol toward the security guard.

  “Okay, one moment.”

  The guard went back into his security booth and picked up a phone. Big Dan watched as he spoke for a few seconds to someone on the other end of the line. Then the guard hung up the phone and returned to Dan’s cab.

  “Okay, Mr. LaRent. Andrew Lockman says you’re free to enter.”