Sure enough, James watched Mr. Zimmer turn, his eyes falling on Bradley.
“Bradley!” Mr. Zimmer barked. “I’ll take that, please.”
“But—” Bradley said.
“Now,” Mr. Zimmer said forcefully.
“But, sir,” Bradley said, his voice innocent. “It’s breaking news about the Supers.”
“I don’t care. Please bring me your phone—”
“What?” James interrupted loudly. The whole class looked at him. “What is it?”
“That is quite enough!” Mr. Zimmer said, trying to regain order.
Bradley glanced at James, then back at his phone. “It’s something in New York. It looks like there’s some sort of showdown between the Supers and the police!”
“What?” James said, his heart pounding. He snapped his head toward the rarely used TV in the front corner of the room. Without thinking, he stood and strode over to it.
“James, sit down!” Mr. Zimmer snapped, but James ignored him.
He turned on the TV and flipped up through the channels, finally arriving on CNN. A large banner on the bottom read, BREAKING NEWS: SUPERS ATTACK NEW YORK?
The network seemed to be showing live footage from the scene. A helicopter shot showed a building in downtown New York. It was almost completely collapsed, with only a few columns of brick and stone still standing, the rest a mess of rubble with soot and steam rising from it. Firefighters were still spraying it down with hoses while people were helped out of the debris. James reached down and turned up the volume.
“—complete chaos on the scene,” a reporter’s voice was saying in the background. “There are at least five confirmed dead and many more injured. Police are still searching the scene for missing people and recommend avoiding the area while the Supers are still at large. Exactly what provoked the attack, we don’t know.”
“Thank you, Sally,” a man’s voice cut in. “We’re getting word now that the Supers have gathered at a nearby plaza and are being confronted by police. We have cameras live on the scene and go there now.”
The scene on the TV changed. Now it was from street-level, the cameraman clearly being pushed and jostled as he tried to steady the camera. The shaking settled and the scene came into full focus.
“Oh my god,” a girl said from behind James. He glanced back. The entire class was gathered around him, their eyes wide and focused on the TV. Even Mr. Zimmer watched, his hand over his mouth.
A line of police cars blocked the street, parked haphazardly, their doors thrown open. Each door had a police officer standing behind it, gun out. Even more officers took cover around the cars, all holding their weapons at the ready.
The camera panned, and James’s heart plummeted. Five Supers stood in the square, in front of a large fountain. He immediately spotted Derek standing on the left side, supporting Leo, who seemed injured, blood running down the side of his face. Next to them were Avus and Ros. And in the middle, standing forward, taller than the rest, was Lychnus. As one of the leaders of the Supers, he always seemed calm, regal, and wise. The only thing that betrayed his immense age was a slight peppering of gray in his short beard.
A police officer wearing a bulletproof vest stepped forward. He had graying hair, probably the chief. He held up a megaphone and spoke. “Each one of you is under arrest and wanted for questioning. Please come peacefully, and no one else needs to be hurt.”
Lychnus took a step forward. Behind him, James saw Derek exchange a glance with Ros.
“No,” Lychnus said simply, his voice echoing powerfully, somehow just as loud as the megaphone.
The police chief paused, clearly nonplussed by the answer. The officers around him shifted uneasily, their guns trained on the Supers.
“This isn’t a negotiation. Come now, or we will use deadly force,” the police chief said, though even through the megaphone, his voice sounded flat, like he didn’t believe his own words. Even with all their weapons, what could they do against the Supers?
But why? Why had it come to this?
“There’s no need,” Lychnus said. He turned his head. James guessed a large crowd had formed behind the line of police, and Lychnus spoke directly to them now.
“The Supers have protected you for decades, saved thousands, if not millions of lives. We have sought only to help you. But now we have been betrayed. Beware those who seek power over you. We shall return only when we are wanted.”
With no other preamble or warning, all five Supers rocketed straight up into the air. The police aimed wildly, but nobody fired. The camera managed to pan up and catch the Supers as they flew away. They became five specks in the air and soon disappeared into the horizon.
James reeled, feeling sick. He leaned back against a desk, glancing at his classmates. The whole class was silent, staring at him, their faces stricken.
Somehow, the Supers were wanted criminals. They’d flown away from the police, leaving New York, leaving the people they were supposed to protect.
Just like that, they were gone.
Chapter 6
James strode out of the classroom. Nobody, not even Mr. Zimmer, tried to stop him.
He walked through the hallway in a daze. This was a bad dream. A nightmare. It couldn’t be real. Derek wasn’t gone. The image of him standing in the plaza, supporting Leo while dozens of police aimed guns at him, was burned into James’s mind. The police chief had spoken like he was some sort of criminal. Derek, a criminal? It made no sense. But he thought of the collapsed building, the injured people being helped out of the rubble...
None of it made sense. The Supers would never attack innocent people. There had to be a reason for it, a simple explanation. It was all just a misunderstanding, and the police would realize it and pardon them all. They would come back.
James was so caught up
