The War of the Supers (The First Superhero Book 3) (22 page)

Nothing. No response at all.

“You having trouble finding your friend?” Thomas asked, again with a patronizing tone in his voice.

I scanned the trees. “She was supposed to be here.” My heart beat faster.

Avery slipped her handgun into the holster at her side. She stood up straight, searching the area.

“You see something?” I asked.

She walked to a spot by a tree where the grass had been pressed down. “Is this where she was sitting?” she asked, pointing at the spot.

I nodded. “Yeah, that was right where I left her.”

Avery pointed at a trail that I’d totally missed. “There’s some footsteps. Lots of grass pressed down in this area.” She picked up a twig. “Some broken sticks, too. Definitely signs of a struggle.”

I took a step towards her, my mind racing with the possibilities. “What are you saying? That she had to fight someone?”

Avery nodded. “From the looks of it, she didn’t win.” She pointed at a small patch of leaves on the ground that were spattered with blood.

I thought I was going to throw up. “Oh my god,” I breathed, stumbling backwards. “They found her. I should never have left her. I thought she’d be safe here but…
agh
!” I screamed, kicking a tree in frustration. The tree went soaring into the air, disappearing from sight.

“Whoa, calm down there, buddy,” Nathan said. He was one of the ones who were strong and could fly. “Rescuing your friends is what we’re here for. She’s going to be alright.”

I nodded with gritted teeth. I appreciated his efforts to reassure me, but they were in vain. I couldn’t believe I’d been so stupid. I should never had left Samantha there all alone. I’d figured she’d be safe, since we were a couple of miles away from the base and
in the middle of the woods, but that hadn’t been enough. I wanted to kick another tree, but stopped myself. I needed to save that anger for Raven and his men.

“Are you guys ready?” I asked.

Leopold looked over his group and nodded, apparently satisfied with what he’d seen. “I think we’re all good.” He turned to me, a smile on his face. “Let’s go get your friends back.”

I hovered high above the woods as the sun set, my eyes closed, focusing on the sounds around me. I took in everything I could, trying to gather as much information as I could in the few short minutes we had. Everything I could tell Leopold would help his team with their rescue mission.
Our
rescue mission.

I heard a few meaningless conversations between soldiers here and there, but nothing that was going to give us an advantage over them—well, besides the advantage we already had, which was a team of Supers that despite not being able to use their powers, were still highly trained government agents. Even if their training had been a crash course and they were all barely older than I was.

“Hey, it’s time for a shift change. Get to the library to watch the prisoners,” I heard one soldier say to another.

“Ah, shit. Really?” the other soldier replied.

“Yeah, really. Get over there before Raven freaks out.”

Okay, the prisoners were in the library. That was definitely some information I could use. I focused on the gymnasium I knew Raven was based out of, but I heard nothing other than the sound of shifting footsteps. Nobody spoke. The walking sounded regimented, like the soldiers were pacing. I heard nothing from Raven.

But then, I heard whispers. I was only barely able to make out that it was Raven speaking. Still, I had no idea what he was murmuring. It was a language other than English.

I felt a tug in my chest and knew.

He had the
asthenés plásma
.

I flew back down to Leopold’s group. They were standing in a circle, not speaking, getting ready for the battle ahead. “Okay,” I said as I landed in the middle of them, facing Leopold. “The prisoners are in the library. The main bulk of Raven’s people seem to be in the gymnasium, where Raven is. I believe he’s found the
asthenés plásma
, which means there’s no telling what he’s capable of.”

“I thought you said that stuff takes away your powers? How would he be capable of anything, besides what a regular human can do?” Nathan asked, his voice calm and collected.

“Yes, but there’s so much about it that we don’t know. He knows a
lot
about the
asthenés plásma
. I’m just saying, don’t underestimate him.”

“What about the prisoners? Were you able to find out if your friend Samantha is there?” Avery asked.

I shook my head. “They were being quiet. I do know they’re in the library, though. I was thinking that I’d go there and rescue them, while you all take on Raven and his people.”

“Yes, that’s what we thought,” Leopold agreed. “You seem to know your way around a gun, and you’re competent enough, especially if you took on Raven in South Africa. Still, I’d rather that Avery go with you. I can’t in good conscience send you in without backup.”

Avery stepped forward. “It would be my pleasure to help you liberate your friends.”

I met her dark green eyes and nodded. “Thank you.” I turned back to Leopold. “So, you ready to go?”

Leopold nodded. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

44

THE LIBRARY

Avery and I watched the doors to the library from behind a parked truck, waiting for the sounds of Leopold’s attack. I wasn’t sure how the four of them were going to take on Raven’s men. I knew Raven didn’t have that
many soldiers, but still, Leopold’s people were outnumbered. I just hoped that their special training and strategy wouldn’t fail them. I made a mental note to ask for some tips once we’d gotten out of this mess.

An explosion sounded.

“That was Thomas’ RPG blast,” Avery said. “They’ve started their attack.”

Adrenaline pumped through my veins, sending my heartbeat soaring. I was itching to run in and rescue my friends. The vial of
asthenés plásma
felt hot in my pocket, and I felt as ready as ever to save Doug.

“How much longer do we have to wait?” I asked Avery, growing impatient.

“Just another minute,” she said, looking down at her watch.

We were waiting to see if anybody left the library to see what was going on, which would mean less resistance as we rescued Samantha and the rest of the group.

Guns fired in the distance, and I could barely stand the wait any longer.

The door to the library swung open. Three guys and a girl took off running towards the sounds of the fight. Avery and I ducked further behind cover, and once their footsteps were gone, we peeked out.

“I think that’s the only help God’s gonna give us,” she said.

“Then let’s get in there,” I said, stepping out.

We ran towards the library, holding our guns steady. I moved a bit faster than Avery, since I still had a sliver of my powers. From either side of the door, we scanned the room. Two soldiers were standing next to the librarian’s desk, talking to each other and looking worried. Their grips on their guns were turning their knuckles white.

“I got right, you get left,” Avery said, then stepped into view, aiming her gun.

It took me a moment to respond; my mind was in a million places at once. “Yeah,” I said. I stood next to her, aiming at my target. I tried my best to keep my breathing calm, but my nervousness was growing. After this, everybody in the library would know we were here.

“Three,” Avery said. “Two…one…”

We fired, and the glass door in front of us exploded. Glass flew everywhere.

I heard people shouting in the room in front of us. Avery bolted inside the room and took cover behind the nearest bookshelf. I followed suit, slamming into the shelf so hard it swayed slightly.

“Keep cool,” Avery whispered. “We’ve got this.”

I nodded, and she leaned out and fired a barrage of bullets at the soldiers coming down from the second floor to see what was going on.

“Get to the other side of the bookshelf,” she ordered. “Make sure they don’t flank us.”

I ran to the other side without hesitation. I scanned the rows of books, waiting for anybody who might come my way.

The setting sun cast a fiery orange light through the windows of the library. The smell of old books was almost overwhelming to me. Avery’s gun fired constantly, but I didn’t see anyone coming from my side. I watched the staircase on the left, waiting for someone to come down. But it seemed most of them were taking the staircase on the right, near Avery.

Then I saw someone descending the stairs. I raised my gun and fired. It took a couple of shots for me to get the weapon under control, but once I did, my shots were accurate. A couple of Raven’s soldiers dove down the stairs into cover, but I was able to take out two of them.

“How’re you doing over there?” Avery shouted.

“Under control!” I called back.

She nodded. The gunfire paused, and she leaned out from cover, returning fire.

I peeked out and watched two soldiers with their guns raised descending on my position. I stuck my gun out and fired blindly, then stopped and looked out. The two men had dove into cover, dodging my bullets. I saw one of them move behind the bookshelf. I fired at their position, sending paper from books flying through the air like confetti.

My gun clicked. I pulled back into cover and reloaded while they returned fire. I winced and tensed up, waiting to feel the unbearable pain of hot lead tearing through my flesh. But it never came, and their gunfire ceased.

I leaned from cover and returned fire, continuing our cat-and-mouse game. But then I heard gunfire to my right, and saw two puffs of red. I leaned out a little farther and saw Avery standing there, pulling her gun down. We made eye contact and she smiled. Her flanking maneuver was an obvious success.

She pointed towards the stairwell that I’d been watching, and I got the message. I stepped out from cover and the two of us walked towards the stairs. We got there at the same time, and I took a step up. Avery put a hand on my shoulder, pulling me back.

Me first,
she mouthed.

I nodded and let her go ahead of me. She took the steps with her gun up and at the ready. She reached the first landing, turned, and motioned for me to follow. Once we were up at the first landing, I took the second one just a step behind her.

We reached the second floor, where nothing but bookshelves met us. “We’re going to have to take this slowly,” Avery whispered over her shoulder.

I breathed as quietly as I could. I wanted to just sprint to the back, find Samantha and everybody else, then kick the asses of any of Raven’s men who were up there guarding them.

But I couldn’t do that, which meant I’d have to go slowly and follow Avery’s lead.

We went from bookshelf to bookshelf, peeking around the sides, looking across three rows, making sure nobody was hiding there. I watched our front and back, making sure nobody snuck up on us.

We reached the end of the second floor without finding anybody hiding in the rows of books. In the middle of the back wall was a small hallway which led to two classrooms, an office, and a bathroom.

We placed our backs to the wall and snuck down the hallway. Avery peeked around the corner, and a shout and a blast from a gun greeted her. She jerked back into cover and waited a few moments before firing back into the hallway as she jumped to the other wall, giving me space to move up. Now the two of us were standing on either side of the hallway, firing at the soldiers who were hunkered down at the other end.

After firing an entire clip into the hallway, I gritted my teeth in frustration as I went into cover to reload and the soldiers began firing back. Why couldn’t we just take them out so I could save Samantha and everybody else?

“Hey, Kane,” Avery said. I turned my attention to her. “You feel that?”

I tried to figure out what she was talking about, and then I realized that my powers had returned little by little. I felt like I was at about ten percent of normal.

I nodded. “Yeah, and it’s giving me an idea.” I looked to the closest doorway and fired down the hall blindly before running at the door as fast as I could. I slammed through the door, the wood exploding under the force.

I fell to the floor of the classroom inside, groaning in pain. It grew less and less, and just a few seconds later I was able to run to the doorway, where I pulled what was left of the door open. Avery stopped firing once she saw the door open, giving me the chance to shoot without having to worry about her catching friendly fire.

I still didn’t have a good angle, though. I couldn’t get a shot at Raven’s soldiers, who were taking cover to my left. I fired a couple more shots before running as fast as I could to the doorway to my left.

I burst through the door and slammed into the sink in a dark bathroom. It broke away from the wall, sending water shooting into the air and soaking me. The blue light from my eyes glowed brighter and brighter, filling the bathroom. When I opened the door, I was greeted by two guns being thrown into the hallway. Two pairs of hands reached out from the corners the soldiers were hiding behind.

“We surrender!” they shouted.

“Step out into the hallway, very slowly!” Avery shouted back at them.

Two men stepped out, their faces white with fear. When they saw me aiming my gun at them, my eyes glowing, they practically jumped out of their skins.

“Please,” one of them said. “Don’t shoot.”

“Where are the prisoners being held?” I demanded.

“In the office at the end of the hallway behind us.”

“Keep walking towards me,” Avery said, keeping her gun up.

Our two prisoners walked down the hallway towards her. Once they were past me, I bolted from the bathroom and ran to the end of the hallway.

At the end was another small hallway. To the left was an emergency exit, and to the right was a door behind which was a small office. I ran to it and yanked the door open so hard, the door fell off one of its hinges.

Drew, Selena, Eddie, and a couple of our other soldiers turned to look at me, their fright turning to happiness. They jumped up and ran to me, talking a million miles an hour.

“Where’s Samantha?” I said, which silenced them.