The Siege of the Supers (The First Superhero Book 2)

A
gent Cassidy opened
the front door to the Tempest Memorial Museum and saw Leopold Renner standing there, clutching at the bloody bullet wounds in his torso.

“Leopold!” she breathed as she bent down to catch the man as he slumped to the ground. She brought a finger up to her earpiece. “Mayday, mayday. This is Agent Cassidy speaking. Epsilon is down. I repeat, Epsilon is down. Requesting extraction immediately.”

Agent Cassidy dragged Leopold into the foyer of the museum, shutting the door behind her. She locked it, then returned to Leopold’s side. His heavy, wet breathing struck panic into Cassidy with every breath. She put pressure on the wounds, doing her best to stop the bleeding.

Leopold grabbed Cassidy with a bloody hand. She looked into his crazed eyes, unsure of what more to do. She was trained on how to take a life, not save one. She didn’t have the tools necessary to keep him alive. All she could do was hope extraction would come soon. She clicked her earpiece again. “I repeat, mayday, immediate extraction requisition. Epsilon is do—”

“Y-y-you’re n-not Mrs. Andr—”

“—Leopold, stop speaking. We’re gonna get you out of this, okay?” Cassidy said.

Leopold nodded his head. His eyes focused on the ceiling as he concentrated on his breathing.

“Hello?” Cassidy screamed into her earpiece. “Epsilon is
dying
here!”

“Agent Cassidy?” a voice said.

Her heart fluttered. “Damien?”

“Yes. Omaha Delta Foxtrot nine five.”

“Charlie Alpha Omaha five two.”

“Identity confirmed. Cassidy, we’re under attack up here. We’re trying to get to you as fast as we can. Whatever you do, keep Epsilon alive. We’re doing what we can on our end. We’re trying to get to you as fast as we can, but we’re taking heavy fire.”

“Damien, I don’t know how much ti—”

“—Cassidy I have to g—
oh, shit!
”

An explosion came through the radio. “
Damien!
” Cassidy screamed.

“Cassidy! Get out of there!”

The line went dead.

“Damien? Damien?” Cassidy spoke into the earpiece. Nothing but silence.

“When are you all going to learn that I
hate
red? It just doesn’t look good on me,” a familiar voice spoke from across the room.

Agent Cassidy looked up. Standing in front of the crimson Tempest headpiece stood the man himself. Nineteen-year-old Kane Andrews turned and faced her.

“Hey there, Cass,” he said with a sly smile. He was wearing a red t-shirt under a tan leather jacket, and a dark pair of jeans. Very different from what she usually saw him in—his Tempest outfit.

Cassidy stood, and instinctively thrust her arm out to her side, activating her powers. But the purple lighting didn’t course across her arms like it usually did. In fact, nothing at all happened.

Kane chuckled. “Aw, that was kinda pathetic.”

Cassidy cursed herself silently for looking like a fool in front of Kane. “What do you want, Kane?”

Kane took a step forward. “I’m taking Leopold. Stand aside, Cassidy. I don’t want to have to fight you.”

Cassidy planted her feet in front of Leopold. “You’re not taking him anywhere. Epsilon is property of the UHA.”

Kane continued walking forward, still confident. “Help isn’t coming, Cassidy. My people are keeping yours occupied. You know very well what we’re capable of.”

“You know very well what
I’m
capable of, Kane,” Cassidy said.

“I know very well,” Kane said with a smile.

She thought back to the last time they’d fought. It hadn’t ended well for Kane, and he clearly remembered that.

“But your powers don’t work here, Cassidy.”

“Neither do yours. We’re even.” She moved into a fighting stance. “You’re not taking Epsilon.”

Kane sighed. “So that’s how it’s going to be?”

Cassidy said nothing.

“Very well.”

She lunged at Kane before he was ready, and planted her fist in his cheek. He stumbled back, but put his hands up to block her next punch.

Now he was ready, and their fight began.

M
y eyes cracked
open as I inhaled a deep breath.

“Oh, shit, he’s awake!” I heard someone shout into their radio over the loud roar of an engine.

“Hit ’em with neutralizer! I’m almost at the landing strip!”

My eyes shot open. Facing me were two people wearing uniforms with NASA insignia badges on the chest.

Time slowed as an arc of purple electricity came right for my chest. My instincts took over.

I shot straight back, the purple electricity barely missing me, and slammed into the rear of the aircraft. The back half of the plane flew off when I impacted, and I shot out into the night sky.

I went tumbling through the air, dodging objects that were being sucked out of the hole in the plane. I could see the people inside holding on for dear life as I righted myself in the air, gaining my composure.

“We’re going down!” the pilot shouted.

The plane began spiraling toward the ground. The plane had a weird shape to it… and that’s when I realized it wasn’t a plane. It was a space shuttle.

I watched it as it continued to fall. My mind was hazy, and my body ached. I looked at my surroundings, and couldn’t see a thing. It was pitch black, and the farther away the crashing space shuttle fell, the more quiet it got.

Soon, the only sound I could hear was my own breathing. I hovered in the air, trying to put together the pieces. Trying to figure out what was going on.

The screams of the people in the shuttle reached my ears, jolting me into action.

I’m Kane Andrews. I’m Tempest. I’m a superhero. And even though I wasn’t sure what was going on, I had a job to do.

I flew toward the space shuttle as it spiraled toward the ground. There was a pop behind me as I broke the sound barrier, traveling faster and faster toward my target.

The shuttle lit up the night sky, flames shooting out from the hole I’d created. I flew toward it at super speed, the wind whipping past, filling me with life. Everything was becoming clearer and clearer.

I slowed as I reached the shuttle. I flew through the back of it and grabbed the two people who had been sitting next to the bed they’d had me strapped into.

I flew back out, the flames from the shuttle licking my skin. The people I held—a man and a woman—screamed as I flew toward the ground. I flew fast, as I was going to have to go back up to the shuttle and get the remaining astronauts, and the shuttle was getting closer and closer to the ground.

I hit the ground as softly and gracefully as I could, and set the two people down in a large wheat field. I jumped up, flying right back into action.

In the time it took me to save the first two people, the shuttle had increased the speed of its descent, and it was now just a few hundred feet from slamming into the ground.

I flew as fast as I could, the stalks of wheat in the field below blown back as I hit supersonic speed not far from the ground.

The shuttle was hundreds of yards away, but I reached it in a matter of seconds. I flew in and grabbed the pilot and co-pilot from their seats as they struggled to gain control of the shuttle.

We were just a few stories above the ground, seconds away from slamming into it and turning into a huge fireball.

I flew out of the shuttle, moving away from it as fast as I could—but I was unable to reach top speed since my passengers wouldn’t be able to handle it.

I turned my back to the shuttle and did the best I could to shield the pilots with my body.

The shuttle hit the ground in a massive explosion. My supersensitive eardrums ruptured with a pop, and blood trickled from them. I felt my body immediately get to work repairing them. The flames licked at my back, followed closely by black smoke.

I continued to fly away toward the field. I found where I’d dropped off the first two astronauts and dropped their pilots off with them. They were radioing for help when I returned. They all looked at me, dumbfounded and afraid.

“Is help coming for you?” I asked, shaking my vocal cords to disguise my voice.

The female astronaut nodded as she pointed at the radio on her belt.

I wanted to say something more, like a one-liner or something. But I didn’t have the energy. My mind still felt hazy, and my body ached. All I wanted was to clear my mind.

I turned away from the four astronauts, leaving them in the wheat field. I flew over the flaming wreckage of the space shuttle, and toward the most peaceful place I knew.

That place was Ebon, Indiana. Home.

I
scanned
the area around my home outside of Ebon. There was no sign of any government agents or surveillance. Relief washed through me. They hadn’t figured out my identity. Any DNA samples they’d taken from me en route from the Moon to Earth had been destroyed in the crash, which meant when it came to figuring out who Tempest was, they were still at square one. At least, that’s what I told myself. They surely had pictures of my face, and those images had to have been transmitted back to NASA. Still, there was no one around my home, so I was safe for now.

I flew down softly and slowly to the back door of our two-story house. I twisted the doorknob, but it wouldn’t budge. I ran around to the front door and tried opening it, but it was locked as well.

I sighed as I knocked on the door. This would be the one time my parents wouldn’t be mad at me for returning home in the middle of the night.

I heard movement on the other side of the door. My heart beat faster and faster. Even though to me it seemed like no time had passed, I felt a longing for my parents hit me like a punch from Richter. The last time I’d seen them had been before my big battle, and I wanted nothing more than to see them again. I could only imagine how they felt after not seeing me for—I realized I didn’t even know how long I’d been gone. What if I’d been gone for a long time? Like, years? How much would my parents have changed? What if they’d forgotten about me?

Anxiety replaced my longing. I cursed under my breath at Dad for taking so long to answer the door.

The knob twisted, and the door opened.

My heart skipped a beat. Heat rushed to my head. I thought I was about to pass out.

“You’re not my dad.”