Endgame (Book 3)

Chapter 27

I landed lightly and easily behind the police car closest to the back. Seeing the flash of light, one of the officers whirled around toward me, aiming his gun at me.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in the air. "Relax. I'm on your side."

The man's expression was quickly reduced from one of alarm to one of judgement. "You don't look like much. What are you doing here, kid?"

I looked around him at the flashing lights of the police cars surrounding the bank, the alarm still wailing loudly in the background. Their guns were trained on the entrance as some simultaneously escorted people out. Some glanced my way, but didn't focus on me for too long.

"I knocked out the robber," I explained. "Then, I took care of the bomb he accidentally planted. I know you saw it, right?"

The officer nodded his head in understanding. Even still, he looked at me as if I was the bomb about to go off.

"Hey, I remember you," he said suddenly. "From the footage of the fire monster that attacked a few days ago. But that's far away from here. What are you doing in Kentucky?"

So that's where I was. I didn't know a whole lot about Kentucky, but I would've guessed I was anywhere but here. Wasn't it supposed to be a whole bunch of farmland?

"It's a long story," I said, scratching the back of my neck.

I sped into the bank, grabbed the unconscious body of the culprit, and dragged him out so he could land in front of the officer I was speaking with.

"Your welcome," I said.

All of the officers' eyes widened, and their guns all swiveled from the doors to me.

"Hold your fire!" The man I was talking to yelled out. "He's helping us."

The men relaxed a little. They kept their guns trained on the body of the robber, though, in case he woke up.

I addressed all of them loudly. "He's a metahuman, but he's harmless. If he looks like he's about to hit you, close your eyes; he'll blind you if you aren't ready." I sucked in a deep breath. "I'll be in your company until..."

Then, I realized that there was no metahuman regulation yet here. The idea of superhumans had gone public like, what, days ago?

"The metahuman police will get him," an officer piped up to the side of me.

"Then I'll stay until they get here." I nodded to the man in thanks. I must have missed out on some things if a special force had been created in the days I was gone explicitly for superhumans. I had a suspicion MARAD had something to do with it.

I didn't have to wait for long. While keeping a watchful eye on the perpetrator, the sound of screeching tires alerted me to a new arrival. I looked up just as some black-clad men burst out of a black van and hustled over to us.

The policemen visibly relaxed when the cavalry came in. The men brusquely grabbed the robber by the arms and deftly slung him into the back of the open van in a few quick, successive motions.

On impact, the robber woke up and lurched against the open doors to escape. But the soldiers were too fast for that; they slammed the doors shut and waited, listening for the sounds of the man pounding against the walls, screaming for us to release him.

I felt marginally obliged to help the man out, but he asked for what he got. He had endangered lives, and that was something I wouldn't let go.

A distinguished figure made his way over to me, the name "Captain Levi" emblazoned on top of his left pectoral.

"Well, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were Jay West," the man said lightly, folding his arms over his muscular chest. I couldn't see his face because of the black masks the MARAD guards tended to wear, but I could guess what he was getting at.

"In the flesh," I replied in kind. "I apologize for any strife I may have caused you in a previous life. I can refer you to the person who did it, but Icsnf guarantee-"

"No, no, that won't be necessary." He waved off the apology. "You've put a lot of criminals behind bars over the years. We had to study you before getting this job."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "Really?" It wasn't often I heard something good about my worse half.

"Yeah- hey, get back to work!" he barked at the officers trailing behind to eavesdrop on our conversation. His own men were already piling into the van.

I took the opportunity to glean some information of my own. "And how long have you been employed with MARAD, Captain?"

"Publicly?" He winked. "A few days."

That confirmed it. Jeremiah was behind this.

That thought left me unsettled. Had he prepared this ahead of time?

"Privately?" I pressed.

"Sorry, kid. That's more than I can tell you. I just wanted to thank you for stopping the robbery. That could've gotten ugly."

As if on cue, the robber thudded against the wall of the van, and it rocked a little. Levi scowled in response.

"It was nothing. But please, go easy on him. He got the wrong sized bomb," I said, sticking up for him. "He didn't even know how to work the thing."

"Even worse, it was made using chemicals from the superhuman rocks things," Captain Levi continued. "Judging from the blue tint. How do you reckon people figured out its militaristic properties so quickly?"

I couldn't see the tint because I was still blind, and I was shocked at this revelation. I was uneducated on the uses of the rocks containing the metahuman-making energy- the energy I seemed to utilize every day, along with Zero.

A subordinate discreetly shared a few words with Levi, and he nodded his head in understanding. "We're getting ready to load up," he said to me. "I'll see you around?"

"Maybe," I agreed, though I seriously doubted it.

As he walked off, I asked him one last question before I took off myself.

"Hey, Captain, why did they choose you guys?" Energy began to appear and dissipate around me, and I slowly lifted into the air.

"We're not ordinary guys," he said with a smile and another sly wink in my direction. He jogged to the van and hopped in, and disappeared around the corner a moment later.

This place looks like it's in safe hands, I thought confidently. Maybe this won't be like the Metahuman Revolution after all.

I flew up, rising above the city to be free of the daily commute. Then, after finding the right road, I navigated my way back to the facility. It gave me plenty of time to think.

A brief, but nonetheless important, question entered my mind as I flew. But I dismissed it easily, unconcerned.

I was sure that wherever the metahumans went after they were captured, they were doing fine.