Super Powereds: Year 3 (131 page)

           
      
“Just remember your part of the deal,” Nathaniel said.

           
      
“My men waited until your target was on campus before creating the shield, didn’t they? Like you expected, he soon dropped out of sight, but we know he’s here,” Crispin said. “I assume you have a plan to draw him out?”

           
      
“There’s not much need. Nicholas Campbell isn’t one to sit around and wait; he’ll uncover where I’m hiding and come to me.”

           
      
“Oh my. Well, that will be quite the surprise for him then,” Crispin replied. “I have high hopes that this night will end with both of us getting exactly what we want.”

           
      
“Things are certainly on track,” Nathaniel agreed. “Though, I have to say, you really hate Heroes. I grew up in a family of criminals, and even we don’t despise them this much.”

           
      
Crispin’s smile broadened by a few inches. “I don’t hate Heroes, Nathaniel. I hate the system that creates them. We were born with gifts, power beyond mortal understanding, yet humans, our lessers, seek to tell us when and how we can use them. Because they can’t fly, they want to tear off our wings out of spite, and ‘Heroes’ are the tool they use to do it. I want these poor, brainwashed victims to be free, just as I want the rest of the Supers to be free, but unfortunately, to earn us that freedom, there must be sacrifices. I will mourn every one of our Super kin that falls tonight, and know that their sacrifice went toward making a better future.”

           
      
“All I care about is killing one Powered,” Nathaniel said.

           
      
Crispin nodded and kept right on smiling. Nathaniel had many connections and a fair amount of clout, but he also had an unerringly one-track mind. So far as Crispin was concerned, this was actually a positive factor. It made his partner so much easier to control. And Crispin was a big fan of keeping everything under control.

*         
      
*         
      
*

           
      
Though she could feel practically feel the heat from the explosions as they rocked three more buildings, Impact kept her mind focused on the task at hand. It had been a while since she’d had to set up a viewing station, and her hands fumbled with the monitors, adding precious seconds to the task. At long last, she completed her work, and stood back to admire what she’d fashioned.

           
      
Around her were an array of cameras, pointing off in every conceivable direction across campus. Each was equipped with a short, medium, and long-range lens, so she could get a good view of anything in their line of sight. The cameras fed to a wall of monitors, giving her complete sight over the entire campus. Taking in information from so many sources was a difficult task, but she’d spent decades practicing it. Often, she was thrown into situations where she had to take shots on the fly; however, when she got the chance to prep a nest like this one, well, that was when she was truly at her deadliest.

           
      
“Zero, there’s a unit coming away from the Science building. I’ll take them all out, just be nearby in case any are Supers. Seamstress, there’s a squad to your southeast, one of which seems to have minor ground manipulation abilities. Black Hole, you’ve got two squads doing patrols near your location. They might not see you, but be ready to silence them quickly if I give the order. Wisp, any luck on the locations we need?”

           
      
“Nothing so far. These grunts are either being kept completely in the dark or have wills of steel.” From the background of Wisp’s communicators came a harsh, animal-like scream. “Personally, I’m betting on the former.”

           
      
“Keep trying. Mr. Volt has found and deactivated two bombs, but the damn things are hidden well. We need to get teleportation on the table or lower the dome, if we want to evacuate.” Impact checked the monitors again, making sure the situation hadn’t changed while she was relaying information, then reached into one of the buckets she’d stashed up here along with her equipment.

           
      
In the pouches of her costume were metal balls of various densities and with distinct purposes, but she was saving those for when they were needed. Dipping her hand into the bucket, she pulled up a handful of bullets. Hollow-points, technically illegal to use on humans, assuming someone wasn’t sanctioned to kill. Impact, along with every other Hero on campus tonight, was not under orders to wound.

           
      
She turned back to her monitors and squinted slightly. Every mercenary near Zero had a softly glowing mark appear on the back of their lower spines. They couldn’t see them, of course. Only she could see the marks she created. In her hand, three of the bullets glowed as corresponding glyphs appeared on their casings. They rose up from her palm and floated slightly forward before bursting away at speeds faster than they could ever reach when being fired from a mere gun.

           
      
On screen, the mercenaries fell in heaps, as what appeared to be streaks of light zipped down from the sky and struck them squarely in the invisible marks on their body. There was a lot of blood, and in her experience, they were all likely to be paralyzed at best, but she’d still given them a chance at life.

           
      
Given how many people had certainly been in those buildings, it was more than they were owed, but she couldn’t bring herself to kill without need. No matter how angry she might feel, that line was what distinguished Heroes from the monsters prowling the night.

           
      
Plus, it wasn’t as though Wisp could interrogate a corpse.

239.

               “Bubbles, get back!” Larry yanked his friend backward just as section of the burning floor gave way. Of course, this
had
to be the night he’d booked a damn lab for extra credit, and even worse, the night he’d dragged his best friend along to help him.

           
      
They watched the floor fall away, crashing in cinder splinters to the floor below. Historic Lander, with so many of its buildings made of wood; all-too-flammable wood. He grabbed her hand and pulled her down the hallway, trying to peer through the tears that smoke and fear were putting in his eyes. When they were almost to the corner, he caught sight of two men in dark clothes with guns held at the ready. Without thinking, he grabbed Bubbles and jerked her back against the wall.

           
      
“What are you—” Larry pressed his finger to her lips before she could finish asking her question. He might have been flunking chemistry, but he was good enough at math to put all these factors together. One explosion might be an accident; add in others, and you had an attack. The sort that people with giant guns and what looked like SWAT-grade armor would be carrying out. He tried to hold his breath to keep from taking in more fumes, desperately racking his brain for a way out that didn’t involve going past the gun owners.

           
      
The sound of bullets filled the air, followed by what sounded like a crackle of static, and then several grown men yelping in pain. Larry wasn’t quite sure what had happened, but if it had hurt those men, then it probably wasn’t all bad. He and Bubbles moved away from the wall just as they heard voices coming down the hall.

           
      
“That was a good hit, Energy Taker Lad.” The voice was female; Larry could pick up that much.

           
      
“Energy Taker Lad? Really?” A new voice; this one male. Larry thought he might have heard it somewhere before, though, between smoke inhalation and fear, he didn’t exactly trust his senses at the moment.

           
      
“It’s what came to mind. It’s not like we have code names, and I’m pretty sure you don’t want me using your real one, since there are two people in the next hall.”

           
      
Larry felt his blood run cold, despite the oppressive heat around them. He glanced back down the hall they’d come from, only to find the fire had spread to the walls and ceiling. Even if he were willing to risk jumping down a floor, they’d just be leaping to their fiery deaths.

           
      
“If you can hear us, please stay calm,” called the male voice. “We’re here to help, and should reach you soon.”

           
      
“And Larry, I know you’re scared and upset right now, but we’re not the enemies. You don’t need to be afraid of us,” added the female.

           
      
He barely had time to process a stranger calling him by name, and addressing exactly what he was thinking, before two figures came into view. They both wore layered gray outfits and gray masks, though he could still see enough of their bodies to figure out which was the guy, and which was the girl.

           
      
“Oh hell, you didn’t tell me there was this much fire!” The man hurried forward, past Larry and Bubbles as he stood over the brim of the collapsed floor. He stretched out a gloved hand and seemed to be staring directly into the flames.

           
      
“Wait!” his shorter partner yelled over the dull roar of the flames, grabbing his attention. “If you absorb all of that, you’ll burn out the floor below us. Remember, you take the stuff that’s going to burn too.”

           
      
The unknown man smiled, one of the few expressions they could make out beneath the featureless mask, and again, Larry felt a slight tickle of familiarity in his brain. “I might have been saving an ace or two up my sleeves for finals.”

           
      
Bubbles let out a squeak of shock, and Larry echoed her as they watched the fire below surge upward, striking the man in gray and vanishing as it swirled around him. In a matter of seconds, the flames were gone, and he had turned back toward them.

           
      
“Don’t worry, that fire’s out for now. Let’s get you two—”

           
      
A loud creaking interrupted him, and the floor below them began to splinter.

           
      
“What the hell?” This came from the woman, who was staring daggers at her partner.

           
      
“I didn’t burn any extra, I swear! It must have already been about to collapse,” he yelled back at her.

           
      
Moments later, everyone was screaming, as the floor below them gave way and all four people found themselves tumbling through the air. Larry had just enough time to reflect on how much bullshit it was that he was going to die in school, of all places, before the man in gray grabbed him in a tight hug and spun around in mid-air.

           
      
They slammed into the fire-rotted wood, the guy holding Larry taking the brunt of the impact on his back. Sadly, their trip wasn’t over, though, as this floor immediately gave way as well, sending them hurtling down fifteen feet to the ground floor. Larry felt his whole body tense for landing, in spite of knowing perfectly well that he was supposed to stay loose in a crash situation. His body refused to listen to his brain, however, and he grit his teeth as the marble floor came rushing up at him. At the last moment, he lost his nerve and slammed his eyes shut.

           
      
To his shock, when they hit the ground, he felt nothing. No splat, no pain, not even a slight push from the sudden stop. Peeling his eyes open slowly, he found himself staring into the smiling face of the man who’d been holding him.

           
      
“You have no idea how glad I am that that worked,” the stranger said, releasing his hold on Larry.

           
      
“Actually, I think—shit, Bubbles!” In his momentary flood of relief, he’d forgotten that she was in danger too. Jerking his head upward, he found his best friend floating down, along with the short girl in gray.

           
      
“Sorry, it’s hard for me to lift people and myself, so we had to go slower.” The girl set Bubbles down, who immediately ran forward and squeezed Larry in a hug with all her might.

           
      
“I understand this is stressful and terrifying, but you need to come with us quickly,” said the guy. “We’re going to take you somewhere safe, and the entrance is only one building away. The sooner we get you there, the sooner you can relax.”

           
      
“Let’s go.” Larry gently pushed Bubbles away, who immediately leaned forward and whispered in his ear.