the ACEs stared at me.
Most of the military personnel stationed in Colorado stayed at the base in Colorado Springs, where our plane landed, but the ACEs hung their hats in the nearby nuclear bunker called NORAD. It’s this huge, heavily armed top-secret base built inside a freaking mountain. I guess because PACs are so top secret, they needed a more private place to train than the rest of the military. They needed a place where they can use their abilities without other people learning what they can do.
When we finally reached NORAD, the mountain swallowed up the road. There was a small, unflashy tunnel sticking out of the side of the mountain that just seemed to eat the road. It reminded me of a turtle missing its head. On either side of the tunnel was a high chain-link fence topped with barbed wire like the fences that surrounded prisons. Other than that, there wasn’t much to see. It gave me the creeps.
As we drove into the tunnel and were consumed by darkness, my heart started beating faster. A few hundred feet into the tunnel, the truck stopped at a set of thick metal doors made of solid steel. I shivered at the sight.
“So,” I asked, swallowing back my nerves. I didn’t want these men to see my fear. “How many of you have powers like Tyson and me?”
“Just one,” Ryan said, and all eyes shifted to the large African man.
“Abiodun, right?”
The big man gave me a shy smile. “Yes, Angel. And I must thank you. You saved my life when you freed me from Visticorp. Their experiments would have killed me.”
His gratitude felt misplaced because I couldn’t remember actually helping the man, but I forced a smile anyway and said, “I’m glad I could help. Ryan told me a little about what happened after the explosion. I’m very sorry about your friends. I’ll do everything I can to help you get them back.”
“Thank you, Angel. That’s very kind.”
Again, his praise made me squirm. I shrugged. “We can’t leave them there. Plus, they got Teddy, too. I know he lied to me, and I want to kill him for it, but I can’t leave him with them to be experimented on. I’m going to get him back. And then I’m going to stop Donovan once and for all so that we can all be safe again. That man took my memory from me, and he’s going to regret it.”
I met Abiodun’s eyes and found nothing but grim understanding. He was in—no matter what we had to do to stop Donovan. “We will help you.”
“Hell yes, we will,” Tyson agreed. “With our powers combined, we could take on the freaking X-Men. Donovan’s going to be no match for us.”
“So…” I wasn’t sure if it was polite to ask Abiodun what his power was, but if we were going to work together, then I needed to know. “What exactly can you do?”
“We call him the Fireman!” Tyson boasted before Abiodun could answer. “The guy can light up like a torch. He throws a mean fireball, too. He discovered his power when he got caught in an explosion in a petroleum production plant in South Africa and didn’t get burned. The whole warehouse was reduced to ashes in minutes. Hundreds of people died and he just walked right out of the flames stark naked—clothes burned right off his body. He wasn’t even singed.”
I was stunned speechless by the story, but also horrified that he’d lived through his nightmare and had to remember it. I wondered if that’s what the explosion I was in had been like, and how I’d survived it. I didn’t think I was fireproof, but maybe there had been no flames. I’d still been wearing clothes when Teddy found me. I shuddered, but I wasn’t sure what I found more disturbing—Abiodun’s story, or the missing details of my own accident.
“I will show you sometime,” Abiodun said, breaking me from my thoughts. “We have a great training facility here on base. They’ve modified it to make it fireproof.”
“What about electricity—lightning proof?”
Every soldier in the truck perked up at the thought of
Most of the military personnel stationed in Colorado stayed at the base in Colorado Springs, where our plane landed, but the ACEs hung their hats in the nearby nuclear bunker called NORAD. It’s this huge, heavily armed top-secret base built inside a freaking mountain. I guess because PACs are so top secret, they needed a more private place to train than the rest of the military. They needed a place where they can use their abilities without other people learning what they can do.
When we finally reached NORAD, the mountain swallowed up the road. There was a small, unflashy tunnel sticking out of the side of the mountain that just seemed to eat the road. It reminded me of a turtle missing its head. On either side of the tunnel was a high chain-link fence topped with barbed wire like the fences that surrounded prisons. Other than that, there wasn’t much to see. It gave me the creeps.
As we drove into the tunnel and were consumed by darkness, my heart started beating faster. A few hundred feet into the tunnel, the truck stopped at a set of thick metal doors made of solid steel. I shivered at the sight.
“So,” I asked, swallowing back my nerves. I didn’t want these men to see my fear. “How many of you have powers like Tyson and me?”
“Just one,” Ryan said, and all eyes shifted to the large African man.
“Abiodun, right?”
The big man gave me a shy smile. “Yes, Angel. And I must thank you. You saved my life when you freed me from Visticorp. Their experiments would have killed me.”
His gratitude felt misplaced because I couldn’t remember actually helping the man, but I forced a smile anyway and said, “I’m glad I could help. Ryan told me a little about what happened after the explosion. I’m very sorry about your friends. I’ll do everything I can to help you get them back.”
“Thank you, Angel. That’s very kind.”
Again, his praise made me squirm. I shrugged. “We can’t leave them there. Plus, they got Teddy, too. I know he lied to me, and I want to kill him for it, but I can’t leave him with them to be experimented on. I’m going to get him back. And then I’m going to stop Donovan once and for all so that we can all be safe again. That man took my memory from me, and he’s going to regret it.”
I met Abiodun’s eyes and found nothing but grim understanding. He was in—no matter what we had to do to stop Donovan. “We will help you.”
“Hell yes, we will,” Tyson agreed. “With our powers combined, we could take on the freaking X-Men. Donovan’s going to be no match for us.”
“So…” I wasn’t sure if it was polite to ask Abiodun what his power was, but if we were going to work together, then I needed to know. “What exactly can you do?”
“We call him the Fireman!” Tyson boasted before Abiodun could answer. “The guy can light up like a torch. He throws a mean fireball, too. He discovered his power when he got caught in an explosion in a petroleum production plant in South Africa and didn’t get burned. The whole warehouse was reduced to ashes in minutes. Hundreds of people died and he just walked right out of the flames stark naked—clothes burned right off his body. He wasn’t even singed.”
I was stunned speechless by the story, but also horrified that he’d lived through his nightmare and had to remember it. I wondered if that’s what the explosion I was in had been like, and how I’d survived it. I didn’t think I was fireproof, but maybe there had been no flames. I’d still been wearing clothes when Teddy found me. I shuddered, but I wasn’t sure what I found more disturbing—Abiodun’s story, or the missing details of my own accident.
“I will show you sometime,” Abiodun said, breaking me from my thoughts. “We have a great training facility here on base. They’ve modified it to make it fireproof.”
“What about electricity—lightning proof?”
Every soldier in the truck perked up at the thought of
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