First Superhero 1: The Second Super (18 page)

Only to see the nuke was just a few yards away from hitting me.

I almost didn’t have time to dodge out of the way. I shot straight toward the ground, my heart shot to my throat. I looked up, and watched as the missile made a wide turn. It changed its course, and came for me.

I took off running across the desert floor. I looked over my shoulder and saw the nuke was following me, just a few feet off the ground. It kicked up large plumes of sand, as if the sand was water and the nuke was water skiing.

I ran faster and faster, but the nuke was always close behind, not changing its course, staying straight as an arrow.

I didn’t know what to do, or why the nuke was locked on to me, not Richter.

The earpiece,
I thought. It wasn’t locked onto Richter, because he didn’t have an earpiece given to him by the people shooting the missile. They knew we’d be in the same place, so they figured they could just have the missile locked on to me.

I reached inside the head gear of my suit as I ran, but before I could pull the earpiece out and throw it onto Richter as I ran by him, I realized Richter wasn’t where I’d left him.

I felt as if I should look behind me, and as I did, I saw Richter grab the missile, and begin to fly upwards, fighting the thrusters of the nuke to get it off course. His face strained and spit flew as he fought with all his might. Finally, he got it to go off course. He lifted it up, and with the missile thrusters combined with Richter’s flying, they shot over my head.

I pulled the earpiece out and crushed it in my hand. I leaped into the air, and began flying after Richter and the nuke. Richter was furious, and wanted revenge. I had a feeling I knew exactly where he was going to take the nuke: Ebon, Indiana.

I flew up behind Richter, and punched him hard in the side. He had such a tight grip on the missile though, that he didn’t let go. He and the missile went tumbling to the right. He corrected himself, and flew on to Indiana.

I flew up behind him and grabbed his legs. I began to fly in the opposite direction, slowing him and the missile down. He fought hard against me. Technically, he was winning, because he and the missile weren’t stopping for anything. Still, it slowed them down a bunch, which gave me more time.

Richter kicked at me, but I didn’t let go.

“Son of a bitch!” he shouted. He let go of the nuke, and twisted around to punch me. I dodged his punch, and gave him a hard right cross to the left side of his face. He went tumbling through the air, and I flew for the missile that was now just flying straight forward, not locked on to anything.

I wrapped my arms around it, and began to pull it upwards. I had to go easy, and couldn’t just fly straight up. We were both moving fast, and a nuclear missile isn’t exactly as flexible as the human body.

I started reached the apex of my loop, and the missile began to head back toward the desert. Richter, however, had recovered, and wasn’t giving up that easily.

He grabbed my back, but let go of the missile with my right hand, and elbowed him hard in the face. Now I was only holding onto the missile with one hand, and both the missile and I began to spin uncontrollably in the air.

I tried to correct our course. I wrapped both arms around the missile, and hugged it tight. I became extremely disoriented, and my trying to do course correction turned to me just holding on for dear life, praying I got my bearings before the nuke and I went slamming into something, causing it to explode.

I felt the missile slip out from beneath me, and I scrambled for it in a panic, trying to grab ahold of any part of it. I’d lost it though, and once I got out of my tailspin, realized that Richter had taken it back from me, and was now trying to turn it back around and head toward Ebon.

That’s when he made his mistake.

The fuel on the missile suddenly ran out, and the thrusters stopped working. This meant that the missile was now a hunk of nuclear explosive metal, and was much easier to maneuver. Richter had been in the middle of a loop with the missile, and now, without the thrusters, was overcompensating.

The nuke hurtled toward the ground, and Richter didn’t have time to stop it.

I turned and flew as fast as I could, feeling the heat of a nuclear explosion on my back for the second time that day.

34

PLAN B

I
FELL
into the desert floor, having barely gotten away from the blast in time. I lay on the ground, heaving huge breaths. I stared up at the sky, the intense heat of the sun bearing down on me.

A few moments later, the sandstorm caused by the explosion began to pelt me. In a matter of seconds, it washed over me, but it was over almost just as soon as it began.

I stood, out of breath and tired. I brushed some of the sand off me, and shook it out of my hair.

I scanned the area, and saw a familiar body laying a good distance away from ground zero. I ran to it, and my fears were confirmed. It was Richter.

My mind crackled and began to ring. The loud sound echoed throughout my head, and I fell to my knees, clenching my ears, trying to get the sound to stop.

“Hello? Can you hear me?” a voice said it my head. It was the same woman as earlier.

My heart skipped a beat. “How are you doing this?” I asked. “I don’t have the earpiece anymore.”

The young lady scoffed. “Listen buddy, you and Richter aren’t the only ones with powers. Some of us just aren’t as public them as the two of you were. But that’s not the point. The point is, you need to get Richter into space, and fast. Without oxygen his body will take longer to heal. He still will, of course, but that will give us more time.”

“More time for what?” I asked.

“To figure out how to kill him. Just get him and get into space. Now!”

I didn’t like taking orders from the voice inside my head, but she did have a good point.

I picked Richter’s burned and battered body up, and began to fly into the air. I flew straight up as fast as I could, reaching heights faster than I ever had before.

I didn’t know who this woman was talking inside my head, but the fact that she had superpowers worried me. Would I have to deal with another Richter as soon as I’ve taken out the last one? The thought troubled me, but I pushed it out of my mind.
One thing at a time,
I told myself.

I reached low orbit and felt the terrifying sensation of not being able to breathe. It caught me off guard, and I faltered for a moment. I forced myself to keep calm, though, and pushed myself to fly even higher. With the low gravity and no wind resistance, I found myself shooting completely out of Earth’s atmosphere, and completely into space.

I began to feel claustrophobic, of all things. Like when I would go SCUBA diving, and I could see nothing but water on all four directions. Being in something so vast and infinite terrified me, and I felt helpless.

I did my best to push those feelings out of my mind. I had to focus on one thing, and one thing only: defeating Richter.

“Hello?” I said, unsure if the woman could hear me. My voice sounded weird, like it was far away.

“Yes, hi,” the woman said, crystal clear in my head. “Look this is what I’ve got. You need something hot and powerful to destroy Richter before his body can regenerate. There’s nothing here on Earth that has enough energy to destroy all the power that is within Richter.”

“I can’t just throw him into a volcano or something?” I asked.

The lady laughed. “No, no, Tempest. That won’t work. It’s not powerful enough. The power inside of him will still be able to keep him alive.”

I didn’t follow, but the lady sounded like she knew a lot more about this stuff than I did, and she seemed like she was really trying to help. “So what do I do?” I said. I looked down at Richter’s body in my hands. His skin was very slowly piecing itself back together, and it was only a matter of time before he regained consciousness.”

“Okay, this might be a little scary, and very risky. But the only thing really powerful enough is the Sun.”

My stomach twisted in knots, and if I was breathing, the breath definitely would have been knocked out of me. “The
Sun
?! That’s ninety-three million miles away.”

“And you can fly at super-speed, faster than any stealth jet or rocket ship on Earth. Without wind resistance, in zero gravity, you’ll be able to fly at speeds unheard of. Maybe even close to the speed of light. When you get close to the Sun, its gravity should begin to pull you in as well, bringing you toward it even faster.”

I gritted my teeth. It actually sounded possible, but also terrifying. I took a deep breath. “This is my only option?”

“As far as I can tell, yes.”

“Okay. I’ll do it.”

I heard a sigh of relief. “Okay, great. You better get a move on before Richter comes to. When you get back, I’ll find you.”

I felt as if a presence was beginning to leave my mind. “Wait!” I shouted, stopping her. “What’s your name?”

A pause, and I almost thought I’d maybe been too late. “Samantha. Now get Richter out of here. When you get back, I’ll tell you everything.”

Samantha left my mind, and I turned toward the bright burning ball of fire ninety-three million miles away. I flew toward it, faster than I’ve ever flown before.

35

FLIGHT

T
HE SPEEDS
at which I traveled terrified me. I held on tight to Richter’s comatose body as the infinite blackness flew past me. Every second that went by, I traveled thousands of miles. Traveling at speeds this fast would be impossible on Earth, and I would surely slam into a building, or something else equally catastrophic if I tried. So even though I was terrified at how fast I flew, it was kinda nice to “stretch my legs” in a way. I flew as fast as I could, and didn’t have to worry about having to stop anytime soon, or crashing into something, or having anyone see me.

A huge, red sphere flew by me so fast that if I blinked, I would have missed it.
Holy shit,
I thought.
I think I just flew by Mars.
I couldn’t help but smile. I just saw
Mars.
That was the closest anyone had ever gotten to the Red Planet. I got so distracted by it, I felt myself begin to slow down. I forced myself to stop thinking about it, and pushed myself to fly even faster. Now was not the time to get distracted.

The Sun grew larger and larger as I came closer and closer. A few minutes passed by, then twenty, then thirty, then finally an hour. I was getting close to the Sun, but I still felt as if I was a long ways away.

I looked down at Richter, and saw that his skin was almost completely done patching itself up. He’d be waking up anytime now.

I pushed myself to fly faster and faster. I felt I was going so fast I might explode.

The Sun got closer and closer, larger and larger, faster than it ever had. I knew I was almost there. It was almost time to ride the Universe of Richter once and for all.

I felt myself begin to go even faster, and it felt like someone was trying to pull on me. It was the Sun’s gravitational pull, pulling me in. I gave into it, and in the blink of an eye, I found myself closer to the Sun than any man before. My body worked hard to replace the pieces of me that were melting before it was too late, but I knew I had to get out of there soon. My entire body felt weak from the lack of oxygen, and from all the energy I used flying so far so fast.

I took one last look at Richter. His skin was healed, and I could see his eyeballs beginning to move underneath their lids. It was now or never. “I won,” I whispered as I pulled my arm back, and then threw Richter toward the Sun as hard as I could.

One second he was there, the next, he was gone. The Sun pulled him in, welcomed him into her arms, and then devoured Richter, killing him once and for all.

I didn’t have time for celebration. I had to get out of there fast. I turned around and began flying away. I felt the Sun tugging at me, not wanting me to leave. I could defy Earth’s gravity easily, but the Sun was so massive and its gravity was so much stronger. I found it difficult, especially in my weakened state. Still, I wouldn’t give up. I pressed on as hard as I could, and like a rubber band stretched too far, once I broke free of the Sun’s grasp, I launched into space, flying far, far away.

36

ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL

I
WANTED
to stop and admire the planets as they zoomed by me, but my whole body felt weak and I craved oxygen. I couldn’t afford to stop. Flying so fast took a lot out of me, as did my body constantly regenerating itself to keep me from turning into a melted blob when I was close to the Sun.

My eyes grew heavy, and I forced them to stay open. No way I’d fall asleep at the wheel. I had to get back to Earth, and I had to fast. I didn’t know what would happen if I passed out in space, but I knew it wouldn’t be good. I needed oxygen for my energy to return, and my body to go back to normal. If I didn’t, and I went unconscious while hurtling through space, I might not wake up.

I saw a familiar blue planet far off in the distance, and I felt warmth well up inside me. I was almost home. I felt my body begin to slow down, not wanting to overshoot the planet. Once I did, though, a wave of weakness washed over me. My whole body felt as if it was going to shut down. My eyes grew heavy, and this time, I really had to fight to keep them open.

I opened them just in time to see the surface of the Moon come up to meet me.

I slammed into its rocky surface hard and skidded across the ground. I sent a plume of lunar soil shooting out in every direction. I rolled over onto my back and gasped for air, but there was none. I couldn’t move. My body felt weak and screamed for air. I looked out at the Earth. All the air I ever needed was right there in front of me, but I just couldn’t find the strength to stand. I felt paralyzed. All the energy left in my body was being used to keep me alive.

I wanted to scream and yell and curse everything, but I couldn’t. All I could do was look upon the Earth as it spun around peacefully in front of me, oblivious to the fact that its savior was fighting to stay alive on its Moon.