King of Superheroes, page 23
“You also look amazing,” I told the blonde Dreamer as she greeted us, and I wrapped an arm around her waist.
“Thank you.” Hannah smiled happily, and she leaned into my embrace with a giggle as she grabbed my half-drunk bottle of beer from my other hand. “I don’t know about you guys, but I need something stronger than this. Are we getting mojitos again?”
“Sounds like a fucking great idea to me,” Danny said eagerly.
“Let’s go to that mojito truck in the square,” I said and shot the blonde a pointed look. “Where we had our first date.”
“Oh, that place is so cute!” Hannah hopped from one foot to the other with an eager laugh. “Yes, let’s do it!”
“Are we all getting the Mark Maddock first date experience tonight?” Frank joked as we headed for the elevators.
“You should be so lucky,” I scoffed. “That’s saved for very important people only, you guys don’t make the cut.”
“The boys might not,” Hannah agreed. “But Rhiannon definitely does.”
The brunette looked around at the blonde with sudden surprise as we piled into the waiting elevator, but Hannah just grinned and looped an arm through Rhiannon’s.
“It’s worth it,” she half-whispered in the brunette’s ear, and she shot me a devilish look from beneath her heavy black eye makeup. “Trust me.”
“I do,” Rhiannon said immediately. “Trust you, I mean. I…”
The green-eyed Tempest’s voice trailed off into a nervous silence, and she quickly tucked her hair behind her ears again as she did her very best to avoid my gaze. Hannah just fell into a fit of giggles and kept her arm looped through Rhiannon’s as we finally made it out of the foyer.
My dream team and I spent a good amount of time in downtown Miami sinking flavored mojitos in plastic takeout cups and watching as the girls danced to the music that filled the square, and I finally felt some hint of relaxation as we celebrated my tournament win.
That was until I spotted a figure in the corner of my eye that made my heart sink with dismay. I nudged Frank and grabbed Hannah’s hand to get her attention, and I nodded to the dark-haired figure loitering on the edge of the plaza.
“Look,” I said with a sigh. “Dahlia’s over there.”
Chapter Fifteen
“What is it, Dahlia?” Hannah asked with a smile as the five of us approached our mentor.
“Why haven’t I been able to reach any of you?” our mentor asked as we approached.
“We haven’t had any calls or anything,” I said defensively.
“The city has gone mad,” Dahlia huffed, and she flung her arms up in exasperation. “I thought you were all meant to be glued to your cell phones, for God’s sake.”
“What’s happened?” I demanded.
“There’s been a bomb threat,” Dahlia said bluntly.
There was a beat where nobody spoke, and Hannah tripped in surprise at the sudden change of pace.
“Shit,” Frank muttered.
“Where?” I quickly asked our dark-haired mentor.
“Miami Airport,” she said and then nodded at the five of us as she turned on her heel. “We need to go. Now.”
The five of us stood there, mojitos in hand, and just stared blankly at our mentor.
“No rest for the wicked, then?” Frank broke the silence with a nervous half-smile.
“Apparently not,” I said with a raised eyebrow. “I’m gonna make us t-shirts with that phrase printed on it. Dahlia, do you have any more information?”
“A flight was apparently hijacked,” our mentor said in her usual stoic voice, and she kept her steely gaze on her parked black van as we hurried along behind her. “But like I said, the city’s gone mad. There’s been several bomb threats. I know Thunderbolt’s been called to a mass shoot-out somewhere, and the police department is stretched to its limits.”
“And this… Isn’t normal?” Frank asked.
“Definitely not, no.” Dahlia’s voice was cold. “Most of the big Supers have already been called out to their own missions. I don’t know the full extent of the situation at the airport. It could be nothing. Could just be a bunch of baseless threats to make the city descend into chaos.”
“Or it could be exactly how it sounds,” I said with a nod of understanding. “We’d better get going.”
“Is no one coming to help us with this?” Rhiannon asked nervously.
“We’re the closest fledgling team, and they need all hands on deck.” Dahlia said. “The call came in from a General Navi who’s already been deployed to the scene, and they’ve contacted another fledgling team, but they were already on their way to another situation. The hijackers have the airplane grounded at least, but they demanded no police so it’s just us for now.”
“So, this is a big deal then, huh?” Danny asked nervously.
“If the big supers are already dealing with it, I’d guess so.” Rhiannon’s voice was quiet, and her teeth were half-buried in her bottom lip.
“Like I said, there have been multiple threats of bombs and violence all across the city,” Dahlia said as she opened the side door of her van for us. “Everyone’s been called in to get more boots on the ground, including the fledglings. We won’t know the severity of the situation until we’re there.”
There was a large plasma screen opposite our seats in the back of the van, and up until now I’d never seen it even turned on. But as we clambered into the back of Dahlia’s vehicle, the screen was illuminated with a sprawling mess of flashing red lights, and I realized it highlighted an intricate map of the city.
“These are all the current… Situations?” I asked our mentor as she hopped into the driver’s seat.
“Yes,” Dahlia said. “Each red dot symbolizes an active call out, and if you click on one, it will tell you which heroes are responding to that specific situation. I added in the fledglings, too, so this is everyone.”
“Geez, that’s… That’s a lot of things going on all at once.” Frank’s voice was strained.
“So you can understand my frustration when none of you answered your damn phones,” Dahlia said as she hit the gas.
I frowned at the flashing map of Miami and tried to find some sort of rhyme or reason to the scattering of red lights, but there were so many dotted across the city that I couldn’t decipher any higher meaning to them.
It just highlighted exactly how crazy the situation was, and I swallowed thickly as Dahlia weaved through traffic.
“We can do this,” Hannah said confidently as we buckled up. “Just another day at the office, right?”
“Right.” I nodded at the blonde Dreamer. “Same old, same old… Except we’ve all had several cocktails.”
“I can probably help with that,” Danny said.
“Are you telling me you can sober us up as part of your healing power?” Hannah’s jaw dropped open.
“I don’t see why not.” Danny shrugged. “Definitely worth a shot, because we’re all pretty sauced.”
“Speak for yourself,” I said with a waggle of my eyebrows, and then I sighed. “Okay, yeah, we need to sober up quick time.”
“I agree,” Dahlia said bluntly. “Do it.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I gave a mock salute and then quickly lowered my hand when I saw her hard gaze in the rearview mirror.
“I’ve been instructed to not step in on your missions,” Dahlia said as she expertly moved her blacked-out van in and out of traffic. “But this definitely isn’t a regular fledgling mission at all. So you stick with me, and you keep your wits about you. Do you understand?”
“Wait, we don’t have our suits.” Rhiannon suddenly clamped her hands over her mouth in horror.
“You’ll have to make do,” Dahlia said bluntly. “Your suits don’t make you, they just aid you.”
“I know, but--”
“We’re the closest,” Dahlia interrupted. “We have to do what we have to do. Healer, get to sobering your crew up.”
“Yes,” Danny said and then after a beat he shook his head. “Yes, right. Let me, ahh… I’ll try it on myself first.”
I watched curiously as Danny took a deep breath and then let his eyes slide closed. His eyelids fluttered softly for a brief moment before he let out a long sigh, and he made us all jump as his eyes suddenly shot open.
“Hoooo, that’s really something!” he said with a breathless laugh.
“Did it work?” I asked quickly.
“Yup!” Danny nodded. “I feel right as rain. Oh, that’s gonna do absolute wonders for a hangover!”
“Do me, do me,” I said with a lopsided grin, and I ignored Dahlia’s disapproving expression in the rearview mirror.
Danny placed both of his hands over my heart and quickly explained he was purifying my blood of alcohol. I felt a sudden jolt course through every vein in my body, and I let out a full-body shudder as the newly cleaned blood sped around me in one quick, fluid loop.
“Oh, wow…” I breathed. “Oh, there are Kardashian types that would pay big bucks for that kind of treatment.”
“I should definitely start a clinic or something like that.” Danny laughed. “You guys are getting the good stuff for free.”
“I expect a lifetime supply.” Hannah warned our healer friend and poked him in the arm with a giggle. “Okay, my turn.”
Danny made quick work of sobering us all up, and though we felt in physically tip-top condition thanks to his blood purification, the sudden lack of alcohol gave way to the gravity of the situation.
We had a very real, very serious, very active bomb threat at a major international airport, and we were just fucking fledglings.
We’d dealt with burning buildings and car accidents. This was very different.
“Focus up,” Dahlia said as she suddenly caught my eye in the rearview mirror. “You all can do this. Don’t let self-doubt stop you from doing what you were born to do.”
Her sudden words of comfort came as a surprise, but they certainly weren’t unwelcome, so we all just nodded at her reflection in the rearview mirror and fell into sober silence as she continued to drive us to Miami airport.
Everything was deceptively calm as we arrived, until I realized Dahlia was driving us right onto the runway. I had no idea how she knew the route to get her onto the tarmac, but she drove with her usual confidence, as if this was just the usual everyday road trip.
But as her van screeched to a halt outside a huge airplane hangar, I realized the appearance of calm was entirely false.
Because inside the hangar, it was absolute chaos.
“We’ve lost connection to the tower, but they did say that it was probably--”
“Understood, sir, but as you can appreciate, we’ve been told not to--”
“No, nobody deals with the press without my say-so, I said no dammit, why doesn’t anybody listen to--”
The place was alive with the bedlam of people trying to do damage control, and I immediately sensed in that moment just how serious the situation was.
“So, we’re the lucky ones with the actual bomb threat I’m guessing?” I asked as I turned to our mentor.
“Seems like it,” Dahlia said as she motioned for us to follow her. “Let’s find the general.”
The fact it was a very real threat sent a sudden jolt of nerves coursing through my body like a wildfire. I shared a look with Hannah, and we all immediately fell in behind Dahlia as our mentor stalked through the packed airplane hangar and headed straight for a makeshift office space, which was actually just a desk hidden behind several rows of air steward carts.
Sitting behind the desk was a woman dressed in a neatly pressed khaki military uniform, with a number of polished badges on her lapel and an emotionless expression on her face.
“You’re Dahlia, I presume?” the military woman asked the moment she locked eyes with the equally expressionless fledgling mentor.
“Yes, ma’am.” Dahlia gave a single nod, and the two women shook hands curtly.
“My name is General Navi.” Her voice remained stiff and businesslike as she sat back down. “What do you have for me?”
“This is my fledgling team,” Dahlia explained as she motioned to the five of us who were waiting nervously behind her.
“This is all we have?” the military woman asked as she studied the group of us, who were still dressed in our civilian clothes and admittedly looked green as grass. “God save us…”
“We’re here to help,” Hannah said in a surprisingly soft voice.
“Anything you need,” Danny added with a nod.
“What I need,” the military woman said with a heavy sigh. “Is a full bomb disposal unit, a fully trained riot team, and maybe someone with actual negotiation skills. If I were just throwing wishes out into the ether. Instead, I get a bunch of kids with superpowers. Which are what, exactly?”
She cleared her throat and fixed us all with a stern stare.
“Danny here, he’s a healer,” I said as I quickly began to reel off my team’s abilities. “Anything to do with the human body, he’s your guy. Hannah can read people’s minds, Rhiannon can fly, and Frank here can control sparks and anything that might set off a fire.”
“And you?” The general’s steady gaze bored right into me.
“Me, I…” I cleared my throat. “Well, I can do a bit of everything.”
General Navi looked up at Dahlia with a raised eyebrow.
“It’s true,” Dahlia confirmed. “He has an affinity for all four pillars. So far, he’s demonstrated a proficiency for pyromancy, telekinesis, a little mind reading, and super strength…”
“But he’s a fledgling?” the general asked Dahlia, as if I were a dog she was considering purchasing.
“Yes.” Dahlia nodded. “But he recently won the Fledgling Cup and has proven surprisingly useful in the field.”
“You mean he’s reckless,” Navi said with a sniff. “The rest I can probably use, but not him.”
“Ma’am,” I immediately interjected. “I can be of use to you, I promise you.”
“He’s very talented,” Rhiannon added in my support.
“You’d be at a severe disadvantage if you didn’t utilize Mark’s skills, General,” Hannah insisted hotly.
“Mori thinks he’s an Omega!” Frank piped up, just trying to be helpful, but the place fell suddenly silent at his outburst.
The rest of the military personnel went about their business after a beat, but several of the airport security fixed me with uneasy stares, and General Navi just glared down at the five of us with a long, soul gazing stare of her own.
Just as she was about to probably make an incredibly biting remark, a member of the airport security team hurried over to the makeshift desk.
“Ma’am.” The security guard did an awkward curtsy and then nodded when the general fixed her with the same stare. “The plane, it’s… They’ve sent a message.”
“Let me hear it,” the general said quickly, and she followed the security guard to a cobbled-together communication station.
We immediately followed her so we could listen in, and Dahlia still kept her distance but dutifully stayed on our heels.
There was a large screen set up, and the airport security tried to get it to show the message they’d received from within the aircraft.
An image suddenly appeared on the screen, and the security guard turned to the general with a nod. Then we all crowded around General Navi as she watched the video message with the same stern expression she’d been wearing since we walked in.
The man on the screen looked to be in his late forties, with a thick coating of stubble along his jaw and heavy-set eyes that looked cold even on the crackling black and white screen. His hair was plastered to his head and a severe dark color, which was offset against pale, clammy-looking skin. He was dressed in nondescript civilian clothing, but the expression on his face was anything but civil.
He looked pissed off, skittish, but almost excited at the prospect of executing his plans.
“General,” the man addressed the camera with a slightly mocking smirk as the title rolled off his tongue. “I assume the so-called superheroes are currently insisting on diffusing the situation themselves, considering we demanded no police. Quite a loophole, you might have thought, but actually an integral element to our plans.”
The man on the screen pulled at the collar of his probably borrowed button-down shirt and cleared his throat.
“We currently have Dr. Kish and Dr. Hamlin as acting hostages, and they’ve been less than gracious with their role in our little play.” The heavy-set eyes suddenly flickered upward, and he nodded to someone off camera before he turned his gaze back to us with a serene smile.
There was a grisly thud in the background, like a fist coming into blunt contact with something fleshy, and then a long, pained groan coming from probably one of the good doctors.
“They have, however, been kind enough to give us access to the chemical weapon they were supposedly due to transport out of Miami and into somewhere that it has no business in being.” The man sniffed and pulled at his shirt collar again. “Both Dr. Kish and Dr. Hamlin were party to the creation of this abomination, so it is by divine justice that they are the ones to see it unleashed upon the world.”
“They’re planning on releasing a chemical weapon?” I muttered and glanced across the table at General Navi.
She hit the pause button on the screen when I spoke up and fixed me with an impatient stare.
“That’s classified,” she said after a little while, in the same blunt voice as before, but I could see how her jaw clenched at the question.
“It doesn’t seem all that classified,” Hannah pointed out. “If a bunch of whack jobs had such easy access to it.”
“They didn’t have easy access,” one of the airport security guards piped up in a reproachful voice. “They hijacked us.”
“Well, it seems to have been a pretty damn easy thing for them to do,” I countered and then shook my head. “Why are these doctors even flying out of a normal airport? It sounds like they should have been part of a military convoy.”
