Stormfront: Nibiru Rising: Book 2 Read online

  In front of the volcano’s base were thirty blocks of steel, each one nearly a foot thick, leading away from the base in a straight line. The object of the test was to determine how many he could punch through with the iron ball floating in front of him. Before destroying the base his brother Hal had commanded, he would have been lucky to get through one, maybe two of the thick slabs of metal. Now he wasn’t so sure. He’d seen videos of the Navy’s rail gun shooting through several plates of steel, but they’d only been around an inch or two thick. He hoped he could at least match it.

  “Mark. 3… 2… 1… Launch!”

  Pulling all the kinetic energy available around him, time seemed to slow to a crawl. All the air molecules came to a stop for a split second, causing the air around him to become nearly opaque. An effect he’d been told had something to due with light refracting differently through the frozen air. Releasing all the energy he’d just gathered, he mentally shoved the iron sphere forward at hypersonic speeds, setting the air on fire for a split-second. The projectile slammed through the metal plates, instantly turning them into super-heated globs of molten steel, some of which bounced off his aura.

  “Did you get t—”

  Something enormous rushed toward him, forcing the air past him in a sudden gale. An instant later, a pyroclastic cloud slammed into him before he could activate his super speed. Without thinking, he launched himself skyward, the crack from breaking the sound barrier was lost in the roar of super-heated air and ash rushing past beneath him, obliterating the area he’d been standing in a moment earlier. A plume of debris he’d accidentally pulled after him flowed around him, obscuring his vision.

  “Holy shit! Newton, what’s your status? Are you alright?”

  Rick smiled to himself, the concern in Kaitlyn’s voice was obvious.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Wasn’t expecting that to happen. Almost got sandblasted is all.”

  There was a slight pause before Kaitlyn spoke again.

  “What is it with you and volcanoes?”

  Rick chuckled under his breath.

  “Hey, to be fair, this one was already active.”

  “Okay, I’ll give you that. What happened? You told us that the best velocities you’d ever achieved was about around Mach four or five. If our analysis is correct, we’re looking at speeds and energy levels approaching orbital mass driver potential.”

  “I’m think when I dealt with Reaper’s weapon, it somehow boosted my power levels by an order of magnitude, if not more.”

  “Well, whatever happened,” Kaitlyn continued, “if you ever decide to stop working with us, you could always take up a career launching satellites into orbit.”

  He smiled again.

  “That assumes the world governments allowed open knowledge of super-powered beings. It’d also have to be a pretty small satellite.”

  “Har Har. Very funny. As for the size of the satellite, are you sure about that? If our readings are correct, it might not be that far fetched. Anyway, since you destroyed the test area, you might as well head back to base. You don’t want to get caught in a cloud of poisonous gasses.”

  “Roger that. I should be there in about half an hour.”

  “Confirmed. See you in a bit.”

  Rick tapped his mic again, shutting it off.

  How powerful am I, anyway? Do I even have a limit?

  He paused, hovering in the air while surveying the damage he’d just caused.

  More importantly, is this what I really want? I’ve hidden away from the world for a long time. Do I really want to work with another government department, even one I laid the groundwork for shortly before I went into hiding? With all this power, I could do just about anything. Or nothing. So why have I gone back to being a soldier?

  Contemplating his situation, he looked back at the pyroclastic flow. Extending his senses down, he tried getting a sense of how much his abilities had expanded. He could feel the hot ash and gases violently rushing past, the turbulence creating eddies that quickly disappeared as more material flowed in behind it. Extending his senses further, he felt the molten rock quickly pouring out of the hole he’d accidentally punched into the caldera. Drifting lower, he tried getting a sense of where his new, expanded aura actually ended.

  Coming to a stop approximately twenty yards above the rapidly moving material, he could see it start reacting with the bottom edge of his auric field. With a little concentration, he was able to shape it and force it further into the roiling super-heated ash cloud beneath him. Absorbing more energy from the kinetic energy rushing past beneath him, his aura first doubled, then tripling in size, It continuing expanding further than he’d ever managed before the incident at the base.

  Maybe those headaches were actually what limited my powers. Makes more sense than the alternative. I’d never would have been able to handle this much energy when I suffered from migraines.

  On a whim, he drained all the kinetic energy from the deadly flow beneath him, forming an area devoid of volcanic material. Continuing to pull energy from the area, ice started glittering on the ground below.

  Drifting down until his feet touched the surface, he watched with interest as a wall of debris formed in the direction the ash and gasses were coming from. Looking to the sides, he felt like he was standing in the eye of a hurricane. He focused more on what information his awareness was providing him.

  Hmmm, something else I wasn’t able to do before. I can actually feel the different forms of energy in my environment. Before, I couldn’t really distinguish between heat and movement. Now, not only can I feel the difference, I can selectively draw from one and not the other.

  Pushing his awareness outward, he became aware of all the individual particles of ash flowing past, along with what he suspected was the actual molecules of different gasses as well. He wasn’t quite sure though since he didn’t have a point of reference to judge from.

  Holding his hand level in front of him, palm upward, he mentally pulled ash and obsidian dust from the surrounding air, causing it to coalesce over his outstretched hand. Flexing his willpower, he suddenly bore down on the material with his aura, rapidly increasing the pressure he exerted until he formed a small statue that bore a striking resemblance to Kaitlyn.

  Definitely have finer control over my abilities as well.

  He debated whether to see how big of a statue he could create when his earpiece squawked again.

  “Newton. Are you on your way back yet?”

  Tapping the mic, he mentally caused the statue to rotate slowly in the air in front of him.

  “Not quite yet, was checking something first.”

  “You’ll need to check it another time. There’s been a possible Omega level occurrence. We need you back here ASAP.”

  Mentally willing the statue to disintegrate back into ash, he dusted his hands off on his pants.

  “Understood, be there in ten.”

  “Ten? I though you said a half hour before?”

  “I did,” he replied, the air growing darker around him. Pulling all the energy available in the environment, he prepared to launch himself skyward. His eyes started glowing like small stars while the buildup of energy began crackling audibly around him.

  “But I wasn’t in a hurry before. Now I am. Newton out!”

  The earth cracked, then shattered beneath him as he suddenly rocketed skyward. A thick plume of ash and dust chased after him before he went supersonic. Pulling more energy from his environment, the air darkened around him as he continued accelerating further. A smile slowly crept across his face.

  This has got to be the best part of what happened to me! I can actually fly now!

  Chapter 3

  Kaitlyn ended the transmission, shaking her head in disbelief. She’d thought he was pushing it in order to cover the nearly two thousand mile trek from the test site within thirty minutes, but now he’s going to do it in ten? She glanced over at one of the technicians.

  “How fast would he need to be going to get
back that quickly?”

  She watched the tech punch some numbers into his system.

  “There are a few variables we can’t account for, like altitude and—”

  She held up a hand, stopping him.

  “A ballpark figure is all I’m looking for.”

  The tech cleared his throat before replying.

  “Yes, uh… To cover that much ground, he’d have to be traveling over Mach twelve, give or take a bit.”

  Mach twelve?

  “What’s that in MPH?”

  She watched him punch a few more keys.

  “Somewhere north of nine thousand miles per hour ma’am.”

  Her mouth dropped open slightly.

  Is that his top speed, or just his, “I’ll get there in a hurry, but I’m not pushing it,” speed?

  “Okay, while we’re waiting, give me a rundown on what we’re looking at?”

  Before the tech could answer, Kaitlyn noticed Colonel Sinclair get up from his seat and start toward the door.

  “Sir? Aren’t you going to stay? You haven’t had the chance to meet Newton yet.”

  A strange look crossed his face before going blank.

  “Unfortunately, it’s going to have to wait for another time. I have a meeting I need to get to.”

  Before she could respond, the Colonel had disappeared.

  That was strange… is he avoiding Rick?

  “Ma’am?”

  “Yes?” she replied, shelving her question for another time.

  “We have more data coming in on the incident.”

  “Go on…”

  “Information’s still sketchy, but preliminary reports are indicating a storm chaser team was struck by an especially violent tornado.”

  “Ok, and? Don’t tell me I’m having Newton rush back if it’s just a case of bad luck,” she said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

  “Well, one of the survivors keeps mumbling something about the eyes of the storm.”

  “You mean the eye, don’t you?”

  The tech cleared his throat slightly, reviewed his screen again.

  “No ma’am, eyes.”

  He pressed a button, causing speakers to crackle to life.

  It took a few seconds for Kaitlyn to hear the soft whisper being repeated over and over, the voice sounding like it was coming from someone on the edge of insanity.

  “I saw the eyes of the storm, and they saw me…”

  §§§§§§§§§§§§

  Rick marveled at the feeling of sailing over the ocean. The concentration needed to cut a path through the air was so minuscule he basically forgot about it, a far cry from the blinding pain he used to experience when attempting to fly even short distances. What was strange though was how the air almost seemed to cast a shadow around him while he flew, the effect intensifying the faster he went. Then again, there had been a similar affect when he drew large amounts of energy from the environment.

  I need to ask someone back at base about it, see if they might have an answer.

  On a whim, he dove toward the surface, curious to see if the water would kick up behind him like in the movies. Approaching, he misjudged the distance to the surface. The optical distortion created by the shadowing effect made him think the surface was further away than it actually was. Striking the surface, he ricocheted off of it. The surface tension combined with his speed effectively turned the water into something approaching solid concrete. Laughing at himself, he readjusted his course instinctively, leveling out over the waves before accelerating again.

  “Woo hooo!”

  The almost childlike scream of excitement was instantly lost behind him. Looking back, the rooster-tails of water shooting up into the air behind him generated a level of excitement he hadn’t felt in decades.

  It does shoot up, just like in the movies! Next time though, I’ll need to use my awareness rather than my eyes when going this fast, especially with this weird distortion going on.

  He watched the water spray skyward for several seconds before turning his attention back in front of him. In the distance, he saw the coastline rapidly approaching. Sighing, he changed direction again, rocketing back upward. Since people with powers were still supposed to be a secret from the public, he had to get high enough so people on the ground wouldn’t be able to see him. With an afterthought, he slowed his approach.

  The shadow effect slowly faded, making him confident he wouldn’t be noticeable from the ground at his current altitude. Even with the reduction in velocity, he estimated he was still going at least two or three times the speed of sound.

  I should see if Kaitlyn can get me some type of HUD display I can wear, rather than just a glorified wristwatch GPS model. I really need to get a better idea of my ground speed and altitude and stuff. At least until I get used to estimating it anyway. It’d be pretty dumb if I couldn’t get from point A to B reliably.

  Reaching the coastline, he paused to get his bearings. Making a slight course correction, he took off again, the sharp crack of the sonic boom rapidly falling away far behind him.

  §§§§§§§§§§§§

  “ETA is less than five minutes ma’am.”

  Kaitlyn nodded before returning to studying the incident report.

  Other than a survivor’s mumblings about eyes in the storm, there wasn’t much indication someone with powers was involved. If initial reading were accurate, this had been a record setting storm, but it hardly pointed to something unnatural. Based off the information they currently had, she suspected it was another false alarm, just one of the many they fielded on a regular basis. Now that she thought about it, she was beginning to regret asking Rick to rush back. He’d sounded annoyed with her request and she couldn’t blame him. He probably just wanted to test his abilities more, especially since his powers had increased drastically.

  Hang on a sec… There might be a way to keep this from being a complete waste of time.

  “Page Zarina for me, have her meet us in conference room alpha.”

  Turning away, she started making plans for the upcoming mission. Zarina’s name had landed on her desk a few days ago as someone interested in becoming a field agent. Since this incident didn’t look like it was going to amount to anything, she could use it as a good field ob with almost no downside.

  Kinda wish my first mission was something this simple.

  Picking up the pace slightly, she made a quick stop at her office, grabbing Zarina’s dossier before heading to the conference room. Flipping through it again, she quickly reviewed the prospect’s powers again. Seeing as how this was probably going to be nothing more than an information gathering exercise, someone with psionic abilities would probably be pretty handy. The fact she was a high level user didn’t hurt, either.

  “Major?”

  “Go ahead,” she replied, tapping her throat mic.

  “Newton is on site and heading your way. Zarina should be there shortly as well.”

  “Understood, HellKat out.”

  Kaitlyn stepped into the conference room, the lights clicking on automatically. Sitting down at the conference table, she typed in commands to route all mission specs to her console. A minute later, Kaitlyn heard the door open.

  “Ms HellKat, sir, uh… ma’am. Ma’am sir?”

  Kaitlyn glanced up, examining the newcomer. Standing just inside the door, a tall young woman waited, fidgeting slightly before unconsciously rubbing her hands on her pant legs. Looking her over, Kaitlyn noted the woman had strong Caucasian and Eastern European features, dark, nearly black eyes, and a long black braid disappearing behind her back. Kaitlyn intentionally stared at her for a few more seconds before waving her over, pointing to a chair across the table from her.

  The woman quickly scurried over before dropping into the chair, barely making eye contact. A moment later, Kaitlyn could feel the floor reverberating slightly from the newcomer’s knee bouncing up and down under the table.

  Not off to a good start. If she’s this nervous just meeting with me,
I’m not sure how well she’ll stand up to conditions in the field.

  Grabbing Zarina’s dossier, she started flipping through the pages absently. Glancing up from the corner of her eye, she noticed a change in demeanor. Instead of fidgeting, the woman was now taking slow, deep breaths.

  Kaitlyn was slightly taken aback by what she’d originally assumed was some new age jewelry around her neck was now glowing a light shade of blue. Dangling from a simple chain around her neck, she noticed the glow was actually emanating from a quartz crystal about the size of the young woman’s thumb.

  That must be some type of power focus based off how fast her mood shifted.

  “How easily can you maintain that under stress?”

  Kaitlyn observed the suddenness of her voice made Zarina jump slightly, her breath catching slightly before smoothing out again.

  “It depends on whether I’m expecting the situation. It also depends on whether I’m splitting my focus and how many things I’m splitting it across.”

  Kaitlyn nodded as the woman started fidgeting again.

  “Fair enough. So tell me. Why do you want to become a field agent? According to your file, you were due for a promotion to team lead at your old post,” she said, gesturing at the folder.

  With a look of concentration, the other woman took another deep breath before speaking, a slight accent coloring her voice.

  “Da. Was actually knowledge of upcoming promotion that prompted decision. I felt I could be of more use to my country if I became field agent instead of leading crime scene investigation team.”

  “How so?” she asked flatly. She watched the other woman’s eyes, noticing slight crinkling around the edges.

  “Only situation that ever used my talents for was retconning crime scenes.”