Steel Life (Cape High Series Book 25), page 21
“I know one thing,” Jack says softly. “No matter what you’ve done in the past, Jesus loves you. He says you’re worth dying for. Maybe you should stop hating everyone else so much and start asking Him what there is about you to love.”
“You’re joking, right?” Jackson says, stunned for a moment before breaking out in laughter. It’s a harsh, unamused sound. “Now you’re spouting JESUS?” he demands. “Take responsibility for what you’ve done to me!” he says, shoving futilely at Jack’s hand.
“I turned you over to the police for being a vandal,” Jack says honestly. “And I made your brother do a bit of construction work, and then I offered him a job because even though he was mad he was straight-forward about it. These are the things I’m responsible for. Oh, and I knocked you around a bit,” he adds. “Life Light, did I break anything in him?”
Aubrey’s eyes glow. “Nothing,” she says.
“There we go,” Jack says. “That’s what I’ve done. What have YOU done?”
“That was battery!” Jackson says.
“Actually, it was self-defense,” Nico says, clapping his hands together and showing the hospital security footage. In the feed, Jack is standing there and Jackson starts to brush past him—the screen zooms in and shows that Jackson tries to grab the watch that Jack is wearing. “You tried to steal his watch.”
“I—” Jackson says, taking a step back. He turns and bolts for it, not even attempting to justify himself this time.
“Now, can we go in?” Aubrey asks the guards.
“It’s not considered self-defense if it’s done by a living weapo—” the guard starts out, only to sigh and give up. “If you would follow me,” he says, heading inside.
“Are you going to let me in or not?” Jack asks.
“We ask that you behave yourself, please,” the guard says. “I didn’t even realize there WAS such a thing as a neutral super,” he mutters to the other guards.
“I am a neutral super, as well,” Summer says, although she’s still looking in the direction that Jackson had run. There’s a bittersweet smile on her face. Jack frowns, seeing where she’s looking, and then groans and lets out a whistle.
“I’m going after him,” he says, stepping on the board that comes flying.
“You said what you needed to say—” Aubrey starts out.
“He’s in danger,” Jack says. “Herold used him. If Herold gets the urge to clean up loose ends, he’s going to be one of the first to go.”
“I’ll go with him,” Nico says. “You two go on in. Call Ken and have him come and watch your back.”
“I can—” Summer starts out.
“Call Ken now, or I’ll do it for you,” Nico says, firmly. “You’re not just protecting you and Aubrey, got it?” He places a hand on her belly and leans down, kissing her quickly before taking off after Jack.
Summer and Aubrey look at each other, sighing, and then head into the hospital. “So what’s the emergency?” Aubrey asks the guard as Summer pulls out her phone. She looks at it with irritation, hating to bother Ken… maybe she should call before they leave, instead?
“Life Light!” a nurse tech calls out, almost running, he’s walking so quickly. “You’re finally here. We need you. After what happened yesterday, we knew you would be able to help with this new case. She needs a heart transplant right now—she won’t make it if she has to wait for a new one to be available. But if you help her, she won’t need one, will she?” He grabs her hand, tugging her away towards the surgical ward. She pauses, though, as she sees a familiar looking child sitting in the waiting room.
“What—” she starts out, completely confused why Kelly would be there. She doesn’t get the chance to ask, though, because she’s pulled through a door.
***
It isn’t long before Jack pulls to a stop, finding himself over a large area what looks like abandoned warehouses. Places like these aren’t that surprising, so he doesn’t think much about it—other than the fact that there’s a lot of scrap metal in there that no one is claiming, anymore.
“You need to look into purchasing them before you scavenge them,” Nico says from behind him, but his eyes are on the eighteen wheelers parked beside one of the buildings.
“Ah, yeah, think I could afford it?” Jack asks, a bit sheepishly, since he’d been so obvious about it.
“Weren’t you looking for that kid?”
“He’s in his twenties,” Jack says.
“To me, he’s a kid,” Nico says. “Especially if he’s like how you think he is.”
“I… I see my old self in him,” Jack admits, only to frown as he moves closer to one of the warehouses. “There’s a ton of metal in that one,” he says. “If someone abandons a warehouse, do they usually leave that much raw material, or do they try and sell it?”
“Even scrap metal can bring in a bit of cash,” Nico says, frowning as well. “I hear machines. And those trucks look a lot like the ones we’re looking for.”
“Hear?” Jack repeats, shocked. “You mean you don’t sense them?”
“I don’t… and that means one thing,” Nico says, and then drops to the ground, heading into the warehouse. Jack drops down as well, distracted from his hunt for Jackson.
The warehouse is full of men and machines. The moment the door opens, they all turn, aiming guns—no, Jack realizes, not guns. Those are power strippers.
“I was wondering when you would show up,” Herold says, stepping through the crowd. “I’ll admit, you did cut it a little close, but I had just enough time to finish.” He reaches up to tap a hand to the pendent on his chest, and the living metal spreads out over his body, taking the form of a skintight suit. “Time to leave,” he says. He holds up a fist and sends a bolt of energy right into the largest support beam. The norms run as the building begins to collapse, but it isn’t enough for Herold. He sticks one fist out and rushes straight up, crashing through the ceiling that’s already threatening to fall in.
Large chunks of concrete and steel start falling on the norms that are too slow to get out. Nico lets out a curse.
“I’ll get it,” Jack says, holding out his hands. Unfortunately, all he can stop that way is the metal. A large chunk of concrete breaks off, falling straight towards one of the norms. Nico rushes forward to grab the norm and take him out of the building.
By the time they get all of the norms out safely, Herold is long gone.
***
In the distance, Jackson watches the building collapse and the thugs race to get out. He’d been searching for Herold ever since he got out of holding, but just leave it to Cold Steel to find him so…
“Ah,” he hears someone say overhead. “There’s my bait boy. I was wondering if you would show up, again.”
Jackson looks up, dreading what he’s about to see. “Who—who are you? How did you find me?” he asks. The voice is too familiar, but the uniform isn’t. The man floating above him is covered in metal, complete with a mask that has no holes for anything. The metal coating shifts even as he watches, and the super seems to disappear. If only he were that lucky, Jackson thinks. He had felt out of his league, earlier, but this is so above his pay grade that he’s certain he’s going to die before this is over.
“Do you really think I haven’t been keeping an eye on you?” Herold asks. “What do you take me for, boy? You were useful once, you’ll be useful again.”
“Herold?” Jackson asks, in a tiny voice. The mask pulls apart, revealing the familiar face. Jackson doesn’t dare to point out that he looks like a floating head right now.
“Nice to see that I don’t need to break you out of jail,” Herold says, and then looks him over. He frowns, slightly. “Not even a phone?” he asks. “How back-water of you.”
“What are you—” Jackson says as Herold waves a hand. A wave of liquid metal shoots out, wrapping around Jackson’s chest. He finds himself lifted into the air.
“You might be utterly useless, but I’m sure I can think of something,” Herold says. “And if you want to blame someone for what’s happening to you right now, well… blame Cold Steel,” he says. Then he stops, seeing how dark it is, and frowns.
Jackson looks out, as well, confused why he’s frowning. This guy is a technopath, right? That means he’s like Technico. So what does he have to fear? Wait, if he IS afraid, then whatever it is must be terrifying, right?
“Is there… is there something out there?” Jackson asks.
“There is always something out there,” Herold says. “Trees, buildings, small rodents,” he lists off a bit too casually. “And since this place was… unfortunately destroyed, I suppose we should find a new one.”
“What do you need me for?” Jackson asks as Herold flies, dragging him around like a ragdoll. The metal around his chest barely gives him room to breathe.
“Unfortunately, this living metal requires more energy than I had planned,” Herold says. “That means there should be enough being released that a very persistent… old friend… of mine might be able to find me. I need a well-lit room, and enough time to recalibrate the energy flow.”
“Technico?” Jackson asks.
“Oh, no, Technico might try to hurt me, but the one I’m thinking of is much weaker.”
“That’s a good thing, right?” Jackson says. “If he’s weaker, he’ll be easier to take down, right? The weak are always easy to take down!”
“You really don’t understand how this world operates, do you?” Herold says, sounding amazed.
“What do you mean?” Jackson asks.
“The strong can afford to have boundaries, things they won’t do, because they have other options. The weak feel they have no options. That can make them far more dangerous than the strong are. But that’s only if they honestly believe in what they’re doing, I suppose.”
“I have no options,” Jackson mutters. “That makes me dangerous, right?”
“That makes you very dangerous,” Herold says, with a smile on his face. There’s something off-setting about that smile. “Would you like to have a means to be dangerous?” he asks.
“I want to be dangerous,” Jackson says.
“Then let’s find that place to work,” Herold says, flying up higher and looking around. Below him, the shadows flutter, slightly, almost imperceptibly, but he notices it. He looks down. “Not here,” he says, taking off.
Below, Shadowman pulls himself out of the shadows, tapping on his temple. “Technico,” he says. “I can find him now.”
“Then do it,” Nico says from the small device, “but send me the coordinates as soon as you find him. I’ll know where you are, regardless, Shadowman.”
“Yeah, yeah. But he’s wearing some new tech. It looks… well, frankly, straight out of the eighties,” Shadowman says.
“He’s gotten his hands on living metal,” Nico says. “Be careful of that. Parts of it were originally created for the single purpose of stopping Skye.”
“That’s… very interesting,” Shadowman says, and then sinks back into the shadows. The night goes still until the sound of crickets chirping starts up.
***
The police and several fire trucks pull up to the collapsed building, but Jack ignores them. He taps on his earbud. “Hey, Aub? We’ve got a situation.”
“I’m almost done,” Aubrey says. “This one was a bit of a case—ahh, there we go,” she says, letting out a sigh of relief. “Let me grab Summer and I’ll be there.”
“But Life Light—” they hear someone else say.
“I have to go,” she says, “it sounds like there was an emergency.” There’s a “poof” sound, and then Aubrey and Summer appear in front of them. Aubrey yawns, barely covering it with her hand, and then looks around. “Did you do this?” she asks Jack.
“Herold,” he says, looking irritated. “He put together some eighties body suit and blew out the main support. We managed to get all the norms out, but several of them got bashed up along the way.”
The norms are working fast and hard, trying to ignore the supers that are just standing there.
“Oh, dear, this is quite a mess, isn’t it?” Summer asks, placing her hands on her stomach. “I suppose I could help break up the concrete—”
“I thought I told you to call Ken,” Nico says irritably. “This dust can’t be good for either of you.”
“Both the baby and I are tougher than that, thank you,” she says, heading for the mess and holding out her hands. “Jack, honey, do you think you could remove the steel for me? The concrete can be broken to dust, but the steel will be a bit more of a problem.”
“Got it,” Jack says. “If I take it out, can I keep it?”
“Not the machines—ah, right,” Nico says. “You,” he says, pointing at one of the norms, “This is the site of a super villain, so all of the machinery in the area falls under Hall property.”
“Who are you to say—”
Nico takes to the air, ignoring the protests, and lifts his hands, hauling the conveyor and machines up straight through the rubble. “They took a bit of damage, but I think I can fix them,” he says.
“Were they being used to build the living metal?” Jack asks as he does the same move with the rebar and other various pieces of metal. As they do that, vines shoot out of the ground, wrapping around the concrete chunks and dragging them underground.
The norms, even those thugs that had been in the wreck, watch in shock as all of this happens. Aubrey walks over to them, holding out her hands, as well.
“What are you doing—” one of the EMT’s asks, only to stop as her hair starts floating and her eyes begin to glow. They watch her for a moment, until one looks at the bruised and bloody thugs and lets out a gasp. Their wounds are closing in front of their eyes.
“Jack,” Nico says, “take the girls home. I’m going after Herold.”
Jack looks over at him, hesitating. “I might be able to—”
“I don’t have time to argue, Jack. Shadowman is right on his trail. If Shadowman finds him first, well…” There are a lot of mixed emotions that show on Nico’s face. Apparently he’s not sure it’d be a bad thing, exactly.
“I can find him,” Aubrey says, much to their shock. She holds up her wrist, showing off the bracelet she’s wearing. “I can find him through the living metal he’s wearing.”
“Are you sure?” Summer asks.
“I can feel the part of Jack that’s built into it,” Aubrey says, her eyes glowing faintly. “Let me help you find him.”
“It’s too dangerous,” Nico says.
“What’s too dangerous is letting him run around coated in living metal like he is,” she says. “He kidnapped my boyfriend, he almost killed all of these men, and he’s the reason Mom’s mother almost completely ruined the wedding! I am NOT going to let him keep getting away with this!” Her eyes are glowing and her hair is floating, but this time she isn’t healing anyone. Instead, there’s a glowing aura that surrounds her that looks suspiciously familiar.
“She’s about to lose her temper,” Jack says, stepping back. ”You, ah, got some sort of non-reflective clothing I could put on? Like, a full-body suit? Mask? Gloves would be nice.”
“Honey? Shut up, please,” Aubrey says.
“Shutting up,” he says, holding up both hands and then promptly shoving them into his pockets again to make for less reflective surface.
“Can you point out his coordinates on a map?” Nico asks, bringing one up on a hologram.
“That’s not how I work, Nico,” she says. “He’s that way,” she says, pointing. And then she walks over to Jack, stepping onto his board and leaning against him. She pulls his hand out of his pocket to hold. “Okay, yeah, I can find him more easily this way,” she says.
“So… that way?” Jack asks, pointing.
“That way,” she agrees. He looks over at Nico, only to groan as he realizes their principal is glaring at his wife.
“I’m calling Ken,” he says.
“I’m perfectly capable of calling Ken, myself, Nico,” she says, sighing loudly.
“If you were capable of doing that, you would have called him when I told you to,” Nico says.
“Actually,” Aubrey says, touching her earbud. “Emily, can you come get Summer?”
“Sure, send me pics of your location,” Emily replies.
“Sending them now,” Nico says.
“We’ll just be going on ahead, so I don’t lose him,” Aubrey says. “You’ll be able to find us through your tech, right?”
“Yeah, sounds good,” Nico says.
“It does not! They’re not a match for Herold, especially when he has that suit you told us about!” Summer says, but Jack’s already started out. She lets out a sigh, shaking her head slightly and patting her belly. Before she can say anything, there’s another little “poof” and Emily is hugging her belly with a wide smile.
“Hiiiii, baby! We’re going to take you home now, where you’ll be safe and sound!” she says. And then they’re gone, leaving Nico to chase after Jack and Aubrey.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The small grocery store isn’t exactly what Herold had been thinking of, but it’s the first building they’ve come to. He scowls as he lands in the parking lot and heads inside, Jackson floating along behind him while whimpering softly. The doors are locked, but that makes no difference to Herold. He holds out a hand, looking for the security system—and then stares at the building with great disappointment. No alarm goes off and the doors slide open with a wave.
“Really,” he says with a sigh. “You would think with a technopath in the area they would have a decent security system.”
He heads in, boldly looking at the cameras that are set up at the door. Even if Technico does have them in his system, his pendent should block them from transmitting. He holds out his hands to the rickety looking lights hanging from the ceiling. They grow brighter, and then, to his frustration, several of them blow out, almost catching the place on fire.
