Secret Super (Book 1)

43. The Battle

Zadia was ready. She ran her tongue over her lips. The tension in the room was palpable, and cold sweat doused her entire body. But she was ready. The door shuddered, and part of her wished it would break already so they could get this over with. The waiting was killing her. She shifted her stance. 

"There are four of them, from the camera view," Mira grunted. "We need to find cover and take 'em by surprise. You stay back," she told Anthony sternly. "Get behind that computer."

"But--"

"No!"

"I wanna fight," Anthony protested.

Mira shook her head. "Stay back," she said. "It's my job to make sure you don't get hurt." She brushed a strand of straw-blonde hair hanging across his face out of his eyes, then snapped her fingers and pointed behind the computers.

"I've been on a mission before!" Anthony looked to Zadia for help. She shrugged.

"This is different," Mira said sharply. "Now go." She steered him to the back of the room by his shoulders. Then she met Zadia's eyes and jerked her head to one of the computers.

Zadia nodded and crouched behind it. She kept gripping the baton. It slid in her sweaty grasp.

Mira flipped a switch by the door, plunging the room into darkness.

Zadia's heart thudded. All she could see was inky blackness. She wouldn't be able to see her own hand if she waved it in front of her face.

Then the door exploded.

The floor shook with the heavy thudding of boots.

"Search the room," a voice rasped.

Dusty blue beams of light swept through the room.

Zadia didn't dare look around the console. She was sure her heartbeat was going to give her away, it was beating so loud. She held her breath. 

A clattering noise from the back of the room shattered the silence.

Damn it, Anthony! 

The Enforcers started running.

"Over here, pigs!" she heard Mira scream, followed by shouts and crashing noises. 

Zadia twisted around to look. Enforcers were charging at Mira. Her weapon glinted and flashed as she screamed: "Super scum! I'll kill you!"

She isn't gonna last. Not with that many Enforcers. 

Zadia looked at the exit. She could sneak out now, unnoticed. What did she owe to two people who hated her guts? One of whom had beaten her to a pulp?

Gunshots pierced the air. Someone screamed in anguish. Keeping low to the ground, Zadia went for the door. She was almost there when--

"I got movement!" an Enforcer shouted. 

Shit. Zadia dropped the ground, just in time. An arc of light hit the wall behind her with a bang. Black shapes hurtled towards her.

She kept trying to reach for the energy in her chest, trying to disappear, but no dice. It was gone. 

She was on her own.

Without thinking, she ripped a button from her jacket and flung it. It hit a computer.

"Over there!" Footsteps thundered towards the noise.

Zadia stuck out her leg. Metal connected and an Enforcer toppled to the floor. She sprang to her feet. She brought the baton down on the Enforcer, again and again. She bashed it into his armor. Her arms ached. Someone was screaming.