Blood Legion: Adamantine Chronicles Book Two Read online

  It was stupid, but then it was the government, so that was no surprise.

  Carina wasn’t a bad sort. She was a badass when on a mission, focused, and very crisp. Outside of that though she showed her humanity without fear, and even tweaked Nate on occasion. Outside of missions and training, she didn’t take much else in life seriously, and usually had a smile and nod of greeting for me.

  Carina Russo was five foot three, twenty-nine years of age, and in great shape. She had dark brown hair, doe brown eyes, and had a classically beautiful face. She was Italian, with that dark skin, and her patrician’s nose that was slightly too big for her face just gave her otherwise stunning beauty character.

  Nate on the other hand had a perpetually pissed off resting face, and was just a hard ass, all the time. We’d been on a few other joint missions the last month, and thankfully he hadn’t shot me in the back again, but I really had no doubts that he wanted to.

  Nate Jameson was thirty-two, six feet one, and had a wiry build. He had black hair and green eyes, and he really was my least liked person in the building. He was also my boss when on missions together, so I supposed that was pretty normal, hating the boss I mean. Still, the man obviously disliked all supers, and only worked with us because it was absolutely necessary, otherwise Mindwave wouldn’t have been able to get him to shoot me like that. He’d been officially reprimanded for it, and forced to go to counseling, but I hadn’t seen a change in him at all.

  Carol and I sparred, and the last month had made me better, but I still got the impression she was handling me like an adult to a child. Carol was just scarily good at combat, which was probably why she was the only straight out fighter on the team. Sure, she could split herself, but she couldn’t fly and she didn’t have energy attacks. She just… kicked ass that well, when the fact the four of us were rated above a thousand other heroes, a handful of them S-class.

  The proof in that was that we could spar at all. My talent was enchanting, or at least similar to that and enchanting was what I did. Point being, outside of my shields and suit, I was just a squishy human, and she was an A-class badass who could kill me easily on accident if she ever lost control and used her super strength or speed at any time. That took a fantastic amount of self-control and discipline.

  Things were going well enough, until I extended one of my punches just an inch or two too far, and I found myself being tossed over her hips and onto my ass. My arm stung from her slapping grab, a teaching method so I wouldn’t do it again.

  Carol reached down, and she pulled me back up while her lips twitched into a tiny smile. She held my hand, just a second or two too long after I was up. I’d mentioned that harmless flirting earlier? That was it, things like that, as she stared at me with her intense dark blue eyes. It wasn’t much, but she was a shy woman, and I thought she was just trying to open up to me.

  What made it harder to connect as a team, was we hardly saw Carol and Tina outside of the first and second floor, outside of combat when we all had those ear pieces and were being listened to even then. It was hard to get to know someone and start a friendship when it was all in a fishbowl of sorts. Well, they had ear pieces, I’d enchanted my suit to mimic two separate ones, so both me and Rose could communicate to the others during a mission, on our own channels.

  Carol said, “I think you’re probably around where you were six years ago, when you were still competing?”

  I nodded, “I think so too. How’d you guess?”

  She said softly, “You’re rate of improvement slowed down dramatically a few days ago. That told me we’re no longer reminding your body of what it knew but teaching it new things.”

  Of course, that was obvious after she’d pointed it out.

  “I appreciate the help.”

  Her lips twitched, “Anytime. That last punch was sloppy, I think we’re done for the day.”

  I headed out and didn’t change right away. I was soaked with sweat, but I knew if I changed before I cooled down, I’d just sweat in the fresh clothes. Our workouts were intense, and I think I was in even better shape than I’d been six years ago.

  It wasn’t that I was trying to compete with supers that had super strength, I couldn’t. I fought in my suit, and it was a combination of a lot of things that would determine a winner. In truth, it usually went to the one with most power, the larger store of meta-energy in their bodies, if the two combatants just faced off and whaled on each other.

  Of course, fighting that way would be stupid. I employed many levels to manage my power, as I enhanced my enchantments with my personal power. If I could dodge or parry a punch in the suit, which did give me the ability to go head to head with a physical A-class, a lot of that punch’s spent energy would be redirected.

  On top of that, I only used enough drive, stasis, and inertial dampers to avoid death, and for the times my body was damaged I had the healing ring to compensate. In truth, I could load up my stasis enchantment and take a direct hit on my shields, without moving a millimeter, much like White Witch’s shields work.

  But that takes a lot of power, and my gravity drive is the cheapest in cost as far as bleeding inertia. So when I’m hit, that’s why I fly back away from the villain. It bleeds the energy off in a cheaper way than just taking all that power and momentum into my kinetic and stasis shields. If that makes sense. Point is, it’s why I bother to focus on fighting skills at all, redirected kinetic energy or dodging energy will allow me to stay in the fight longer since it uses less of my internally stored supply of meta-energy.

  Pretty much all supers tried to fight that way, it was the ones with the better skills that came out ahead most times. I said pretty much, because there are always exceptions. Alyssa for instance, is so powerful her shields could probably take a nuke or two, plus she has to stay in place, while casting her focus is absolute.

  Rose said, “Meeting room, Millicent has a change for us.”

  Why do I get the impression I’m not going to like it?

  Rose could read my mind, so thinking at her worked better than drawing weird looks when talking to myself out loud. I was the only one who could hear Rose, unless she was using her ear piece enchantment to talk to another.

  Rose said, “Intuition, you could hear it in my voice.”

  Right, but she obviously wasn’t going to tell me what it was, and I refused to ask.

  The command center was a large room on the second floor, in the middle front of the building, stuck between the massive entertainment room I’d never even stepped inside, and the kitchen. It had a clear glass wall and glass doors on the inside hallway, and solid walls on the adjacent sides, and then a very large window facing the street.

  I opened it up and walked over and sat next to Alyssa, who bit her lip and gave me a nervous look. My stomach flipped, as I wondered what the hell it was about. It couldn’t be that bad could it?

  Millicent Hutchins, the special agent in charge of the Silver City MTF location, sat at the head of the large conference room table. She was forty-six, five foot eight, with short brown hair and hazel eyes. She was a statuesque woman, a no-nonsense rule follower, and ran a tight office in my opinion. She had her differences with Washington, but she toed the line regardless of her personal feelings.

  Along with her, it was the four of us, plus Nate and Carina in the office. I assumed since she hadn’t started the meeting, we were waiting on another, which was proved out a moment later when Jenna came in and quickly took a seat.

  Millicent said, “Good morning. We’ve been together for a little over five weeks, and I think we’re doing very well, despite the shaky start. This morning there’s going to be a couple of changes going forward. There is no reason for them, beyond the idea of cross-training, and forming closer professional relationships and improving teamwork.

  “The super teams, we’re going to be switching partners for patrolling. Daniel, you’ll be teamed up with Tina. Carol, with Alyssa. We’ll switch up again next month and then take stock on the most effecti
ve team ups based on the statistics, and we’ll determine if further training is required.”

  Tina scowled at me, like it was my fault, and I got the impression she’d rather team up with the crap on the bottom of her shoe. I wasn’t all that excited about it either, but I didn’t really have anything against Tina at all, outside of how she saw me that is. I had empathy for whatever her issue with men was, and I’d tried to be respectful and keep my distance, but that kind of thing only went so far.

  Millicent continued, “Carina, you’ll be assisted, if you need it, by Tina and Daniel. Obviously, Alyssa and Carol are assigned to Nate for future joint operations. Are there any questions, or concerns?”

  Well, that was one piece of good news, I liked Carina a lot more than Nate. If only because she didn’t want to shoot me in the back.

  I couldn’t help but look at Tina, expecting her to raise hell. I wasn’t happy about it either, that would take away a huge chunk of time I spent with Alyssa, but I’d survive.

  Tina just clenched her jaw, and she didn’t say a word even though her eyes burned with anger. Probably because it would’ve been pointless, Millicent had made a decision, and that was that. I’d been working with Millicent long enough to know that, she was in charge of the office, and was our boss. It was what it was.

  I exchanged a glance with Alyssa, and she had a sick guilty look in her eyes, what the hell was that about, and how did she even know what was going to happen?

  Millicent nodded sharply, “Very well. Same rules apply, I’ll leave it to you all to decide your schedule, and as always, you’re on-call for emergencies twenty-four, seven. Dismissed.”

  As we left the command center, Alyssa grabbed my hand, and dragged me toward the stairs.

  Chapter Two

  She didn’t speak until we were both in her apartment. She turned, and put her hands on my chest, and looked upset.

  “That was my fault.”

  I tilted my head, “How do you mean?”

  She sighed, “Remember our one on ones with the boss last week? She asked what could be done to improve team cohesion. I didn’t even think, I just blurted it out. I’ll miss you during our patrols, but we’ll still have off-time and nights together. I didn’t tell you, because I didn’t think she’d actually do it.”

  I nodded, “Mostly, but our days off won’t match anymore, you know we hardly see them because we’re on different schedules. No more full day dates on our weekends, just evenings and nights.”

  It wouldn’t just be patrol time we wouldn’t be sharing anymore.

  She bit her lip, “Yes, but they don’t look for us, and we don’t look for them. The reason it came out is because of you, I think. I want to be a true super team as well, and right now we’re just two sets of partners that workout together in silence in the mornings, and we all fight an occasional battle together. I love you, Daniel, but I don’t think it’s wrong, even if it was an accident. I want to get to know and get closer to Carol and Tina too, to be a real team. Remember that dream, you’re the one who espoused that in the beginning.”

  I blew out a breath, “You’re right, I’m being selfish, and I do want that. I just want you all the time too.”

  She smirked, “Can’t blame you for that,” she said cheekily.

  I laughed, and gave her a soft kiss, “If you think it’s the right thing why did you look so guilty?”

  She smiled, “I thought you’d be mad at me, and I should have told you what happened in that stupid one on one meeting, but I really didn’t think anything would come out of it until this morning, when Millicent let me know she was announcing the change. She thanked me for the idea, right before breakfast.”

  “Forget it. You’re right. I’d been so focused on you and us the last few weeks, and so tired of Tina treating me like I had leprosy, I just kind of gave up on that. I shouldn’t have. Thing is, even we don’t really talk on our patrols, since it’s hardly private.”

  The headsets were always active, and Jenna at least was always listening to our communications, if not more people than that. I couldn’t help but think if the first and second floor had tons of bugs in every room our official communications were monitored as well.

  She nodded, “But fighting brought us closer, just watching each other’s backs. Then there were the lunches, when we change out of uniform and I took off my ear piece on our lunch or dinner break.”

  She was right. I’d miss her, but perhaps over time I’d be able to break through to Tina, even in some small way. I did want to be a superhero team, one based on trust, friendship, and our common goals of keeping people safe and stopping those supers, supervillains, who abused their powers for self-aggrandizement. Not just co-workers in a job, but closer to the true partnership I shared with Alyssa, minus the love and sex part of course.

  “Did I mention I’ll miss you?”

  She grinned, “You might have.”

  I laughed, and gave her a soft kiss, “This is a good thing, and we’ll have plenty of time to spend together. I just hope it works, otherwise pining away for you won’t be worth it.”

  She giggled, and then bit her lip as she caressed my face, “I love you, Daniel. I’m also kind of excited by this, even though I will miss you when we’re apart. A girl needs other friends, women friends I mean, and because of you I feel that lack. I’m hoping Carol and Tina can fill that void. I love you, and you’ve made my life amazing this past month, you complete me in ways I didn’t even know I needed, but a lover can’t be everything, you know what I mean?”

  “I think so. Life is balance, friends, lovers, career, purpose, and I can’t be all of that.”

  She grinned, “Exactly, and the way you filled that void in me, for intimate companionship, starkly brought up the other lacks in my life, dragged them into the light and forced me to stop settling. Just by the comparison. So, it’s a good idea for that reason too, as well as for becoming a true superhero team.”

  I nodded, “I’ll do my best.”

  She smirked, “Tina doesn’t stand a chance.”

  I snorted, and remembered the redhead’s scowl, “We’ll see.”

  I would try, but a fact of life was sometimes people just didn’t click. I was pretty easy going in my opinion, but if she wouldn’t open up or at least relax in my presence, it was going to be a nightmare.

  Walking on patrol was interesting, since Tina couldn’t fly. I was six foot even, with my armored suit I was a little bulky and at least six foot four with the armored boots and the top of the helmet. Tina on the other hand was a lithe woman of five foot six, dressed in a bikini and sari, I imagined we looked a little ridiculous walking next to each other.

  Tina had a sensual grace to her walk, her hips swung in a mesmerizing way that I did my best not to notice. Not to mention her breasts, which really were huge on her lithe body. Her long bright red hair hung in waves down her body, and her beautiful girl next door face looked sheathed in granite.

  Outside of agreeing to patrol from ten to six today, I hadn’t managed to get a word out of her. It didn’t help that I was being circumspect, given we were on a party line. I supposed there was one advantage to that, it meant she wouldn’t be overly rude to me either, since it would be recorded for posterity.

  Not to mention, we were being followed by press, and fans, from a distance. I wouldn’t put it past them to have a rifle mic aimed in our direction, in a bid for unofficial sound bites.

  That was one good thing, normal humans without powers tended to be smart that way. They’d never get too close to a hero on patrol. It was a dangerous thing, or it could be, as a villain could attack at virtually any moment.

  It’d been about three hours, it was close to one in the afternoon, and about all I’d done was fail to start a conversation, and I’d managed to wistfully think of my white clad goddess several times. I really did miss Alyssa. I didn’t think I was co-dependent or anything, but I’d gotten used to her bright, positive, and beautiful presence by my side during patrol.


  I was sure she was doing much better, because at least Carol was friendly if painfully shy. It wasn’t just missing Alyssa, it was going from good company to bad, in general.

  “Hungry?” I asked.

  Red Siren looked at me, and then sighed, “I guess we can eat. It’s been pretty quiet so far.”

  “Yeah, all the supervillains are working off their hangovers,” I quipped. We’d have a better chance of running across trouble later in the patrol.

  She didn’t even twitch her lips, tough crowd.

  I asked, “How about sandwiches, there’s a good Italian deli coming up.”

  She nodded reluctantly, whether that was for agreeing with me, or for the sandwich idea, I wasn’t sure.

  We both quick changed out of our suits before going in. She wore a tight pair of jean shorts, that showed off her amazingly toned legs, and a loose t-shirt that did absolutely nothing to hide her salient assets, there was just no way to hide those things, and her trying to do so just made them even more obvious.

  I was in a pair of light blue jeans, and a casual pullover shirt.

  It also had the added benefit of taking off the damned ear-pieces, while we were on break. I picked up a roast beef and cheddar, with lettuce, tomato, onions, salt, pepper, and mayo, while she picked up a footlong ham and swiss, with mustard, lettuce, and tomato. We also grabbed an iced tea. There were some small tables against the side wall, and we sat down to enjoy our meal.

  Enjoy being literary license, it was kind of a downer.

  I dropped, “So, before I popped last year, thirteen months ago now, I was in college.”

  I started to drop other small facts about myself, and I tried to start a conversation with her the best I could over our food, but the most I could get out of her was a cold neutral nod, and sometimes I didn’t even get an acknowledgement that I’d spoken. I was doing my best to break through her wall, just a crack, any crack really. Hell, shouting at me would’ve been an improvement.