Super Jaded (10/23) (Patreon)

Chapter 10: Negotiations

The roof of the hospital was reduced to a smoldering crater as I exploded out from it at top speed. A determined glance around with my enhanced vision revealed three helicopters, each going in opposite directions towards the horizon. Two of those were bait, one of them had Fern.

There was no time for deliberation. I flew towards the first copter in my sight, the closer I got, the better my x-ray vision could better focus, checking for Fern’s body shape. I had often found myself staring at her body in my other vision modes in the past out of curiosity, appreciating her form even in more conceptual, less conventionally attractive settings. It might have sounded  quite strange, but I knew Fern’s bone structure better than my own.

FUCK! They were prepared for my x-ray vision. Unlike most helicopters, this one seemed to be plated with an extra layer of metal, something I had not practiced nor prepared for. I switched to my ultraviolet vision, same deal. Their body heat was clearly being nullified by some sort of armor that the helicopter bore.

They must’ve been preparing tech to counter me for a while now. Those disingenuous fucks.

Oh well, the government may have taken liberties to counter my sense of sight, but nothing could prepare them for my sense of touch.

Reaching the fleeing machine in seconds, I dug my fingers into the malleable metal of the  helicopter door and ripped it off of its hinges. The passengers within the chopper were too scared to even fire at me, but that didn’t matter to me. I grabbed each and every one of them one by one, chucking them out of the doors like irrelevant contents of a treasure chest as I desperately searched for my true prize.

But Fern was nowhere to be found in the helicopter. I had chosen wrong.

The pilot was gone, as was a parachute on the wall. Putting two and two together I saw him floating safely down to the ground level. Running out of time, I let gravity punish him accordingly; Using my laser beams to cut through his parachute strings. Hopefully the 9,500 foot fall would give him something to think about.

Encroaching on the second helicopter, I hoped dearly that this was the one I needed. If Fern wasn’t in this one, the third helicopter would most certainly get away.

Parting through steel and protective glass like curtains, I peaked my head into the chopper, taking a cursory glance throughout the cabin. The crew members here were far more receptive to shooting me, not that it amounted to much. Their ricocheting bullets only seemed to damage the cabin as they reflected off my skin.

“Where is she!?” I shouted with ferocity. Despite my enraged voice being far louder than any of the violent wind that was entering the cabin, no one responded to me. These bastards would rather die just to get a one-up on me than just tell me where my girlfriend was! Despicable fucks.

Taking a deep breath, an action that created somewhat of a vacuum within the cabin as more and more air became compressed within my lungs, I released a highly concentrated stream of sub-zero carbon dioxide that instantly froze over everything, including all the controls in the cockpit. I removed my head from the hole I had made and watched as the frozen helicopter quickly lost control and careened down into the concrete jungle below.

My intuition from earlier proved to be correct. The third helicopter, which likely contained Fern, was nowhere to be found. I tried to follow several possible routes it could have taken, but that proved to be a dead lead. Even though I could tear through all of their facilities with just the tips of my fingers, the Government had won. They had my Fern captive. My last tie to humanity. My kryptonite.

I don’t know how long I floated in the air after that moment. I had become aimless. If I returned to the surface, I would have to endure the scornful looks of the populace. But up here, I was safe. I could just float here for the rest of my life. Yes, become an oddity for thousands of years, long after the heat death of the universe.

Just then, a loud voice called to me. I turned my body around in the air to see a nearby baseball stadium’s massive screen turn on. I was sure there was no game today, further evident by the empty bleachers, then what was this all about?

A photo of Fern tied to a chair, still unconscious, filled in the gaps. The government was trying to broadcast a message to me any way they could. Rage quickly overtook my apathy.

The footage then cut to an unfamiliar man in a business suit. He had a very serious face to him, with wrinkles that only further defined his steely gaze.

“Ms. Etana. We understand you are upset. We merely wish to establish a compromise here.”

His words echoed into the sky. I didn’t believe a single one of them.

“If you leave this city to a designated spot we provide for you, then we will ensure that Ms. Chang falls upon no harm. However, if you rampage any farther or attempt to rescue your significant other, there will be consequences. We will give you an hour to comply. Good day.”

With that, the towering monitor shut off and an unsettling quiet permeated the sky.

I fought back tears as my body radiated with anger. How could they just use Fern as a bargaining chip like that!? Those controlling little shits wanted me to follow their orders so badly, but I wasn’t going to do it. Not at all.

But how was I going to find Fern? That was the question of the hour. She was in a government facility, but where? I had no leads, no powers that could help, no one I could turn to for guidance…

...or did I?

A distant yet distinct memory entered my brain, one I had clearly repressed. I must’ve been around eight years of age when Grandpa took me to his place of work, before I had been inflicted with the sickness that would eventually result in him bestowing me with superpowers. I recall him telling me that there were locations within the facility that were out of reach, even to his level of clearance, as they contained “negotiations.”

That was the day my parents left. I hadn’t known it at the time, but they would never return. He had only taken me there just because he couldn’t get a sitter on such a short notice, but he was so well-respected in the offices that his superiors didn’t mind his energetic little granddaughter goofing around.

My mind then shifted to another unlocked memory. One ten years later. I had stopped a bombing of a government facility. I hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but it was only now that I realized that the two facilities from each of the memories were the same.

I recalled how, at the time, I was miffed that comics left out a crucial part of superhero work: how long it took for the useless police to arrive. Even after I had saved the day, the crazed bomber was yelling his head off about how he had been taken to an underground chamber where experiments were done on him in the very building he had tried to bomb. I passed it off as more inane ramblings from an equally inane terrorist, but now I felt as if I was on the horizon of a grand realization.

A memory of my grandpa and a memory of a crazy guy. Sure, I may have been scraping the bottom of the barrel for solutions now, but it was all I had left.

I concentrated, attempting to remember exactly where that specific compound was located. It was still a long shot, but it was the only realistic chance I had at finding Fern.

Once I had the coordinates locked inside my head, I closed my eyes as my floating form gradually began to point in the direction of the facility. It was as if my head was the arrow of a compass and the compound was north.

I knew that once it was obvious I was deviating from the government’s plan, I’d only have a few seconds to retrieve Fern. Therefore, I needed to move fast. Faster than I had ever moved before. I was sure I was capable of such a feat, but I had never attempted it. After all, there was a point in time where I actually gave a shit about the fragile humans below me.

I began to build a sizable amount of energy within me. I’d need to be there as soon as I took off, just to be on the safe side. With the location 151 blocks away from mine, a straight shot would cause quite a bit of property damage to the skyscrapers that got in my way. Oh well.

As the energy within me reached its peak, I fired off into the distance. A large shockwave erupted from where I once was, toppling every civilian in the area. Like a bullet through brie, I tore past everything in my path without a second thought. It was effortless to me. All of the blood and dust generated burned off of me as I crossed roughly 30,000 meters in a single second.

Once I arrived, I didn’t stop. I only came to a complete halt once I was in the direct middle of the building. Personnel that weren’t killed from a variety of factors ran and screamed in fear. I didn’t have time to deal with them now.

Time slowed to a crawl as I perceived the nearby hallways. This building was definitely familiar to me, albeit vaguely.

Then I saw it. The door that sixteen years ago my grandpa forbid me from entering. Now, no one could prevent me from going anywhere I wanted to.

Breaking through the door much like I did anything else, things were already starting to look promising. The coloration of the wall was almost instantly recognizable, being the same as the image of Fern being tied up.

Sure enough, after detecting the sound of motion from a room five doors down, I ripped a new entrance into the metal before coming face to face with the comatose Fern, as well as two men from either corner of the room pointing their rifles at me. I couldn’t get a read on their expressions from the riot gear they wore, their heartbeats were faster than normal, however.

I fired a quick beam of laser-vision at the man on the right, decapitating him instantly. The other man turned to fire at Fern, but I lasered the bullet into ash as it was mid-flight. Light traveled faster than sound and I traveled a hell of a lot faster than his trigger finger. Before he could even fire a second bullet, I had crushed his windpipe with a singular hand.

While it was rather irrational of me to do so, I spent a brief moment lightly cupping Fern’s cheeks. They filled my numb hands with a sense of warmth I simply could not replicate. Despite the overwhelming circumstances, I found comfort within her. Even if our last conscious encounter was less than positive.

I blasted a hole in the ceiling, making sure to shield Fern from any consequential debris. I flew as high into the sky as I could after that, knowing that it was one place I could take Fern that would not be easy to follow. I just wanted to live on the moon after that, even though I knew it was simply impossible.

After much deliberation, I found a small, isolated shack. It was thousands of miles away from the nearest city, that was all I was sure of. I opened the door gently, all the while making sure Fern’s head got the support it needed.

I laid Fern down in an old, decrepit bed. At least when she was unconscious she couldn’t see me cry.

Even though I had Fern now, I wasn’t sure how much longer that would last. She wasn’t showing any signs of waking up and Dr. Butz, the one doctor I trusted, wasn’t exactly alive anymore to perform any more diagnostics.

I cuddled up next to her, unsure of what to do next.

This was worse than when my Grandfather had died.