Apex 2: Rise of the Super Soldiers by Adam Moon

staring at him, he panicked. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
    His arms shot straight up into the air until they would rise no more. And then his entire body started to float upwards, as though he were being lifted by the hands. He stopped rising when his feet dangled a foot from the ground.
    Melanie said, “Don’t ever call me names again and don’t ever stare at me that way again. Do you understand?”
    Delacourt adjusted to the situation with lightning speed. His astonishment was short lived, lasting a few meager seconds. “You don’t intimidate me, you little bitch. Is this all you’ve got?”
    Melanie concentrated harder and an audible thud came from the vicinity of Delacourt’s crotch region. He winced and pulled his knees up to his chest to guard his balls from further attack.
    Jack’s whimsy quickly morphed into sadness. It was a shame that some people wouldn’t listen to reason. It was horrible that violence or threats of bodily harm were necessary to make some people act like human beings. It upset him that Melanie was the one doling out the violence. She was better than that, but what choice did she have besides allowing the jerk to insult her and treat her like a second class citizen.
    He took a step forward and said, “Let him down. If he steps out of line again, I’ll teleport his head away from his body.” It was a lie to frighten Delacourt but it worked because the moment he was dropped to his feet, he issued a hasty, albeit half-hearted apology.
    Melanie just turned her back on him. Jack couldn’t help but wonder if she was turning from him out of anger or if she turned away out of shame that she’d been reduced to a vicious bully in order to stop his bullying.
    Delacourt turned to J ack and said weakly, “I’m so sorry if I’ve offended either of you. I’ve spent my entire life around foul mouthed soldiers who shrug off insults like so much water, and sometimes I forget to act civilized around strangers. In fact, if either of you wanted to, I could give you both a personal tour of a real military base. It would be my pleasure, to make amends for being so insensitive.” He held his breath, knowing full-well he’d already ruined his chances of tricking either of them into coming onto his base. His insults towards the muscular girl were inevitable because he just couldn’t help himself. It was his way, and most of his subordinates forgave him for it automatically which only made him more brazen about it. It was a social problem he barely recognized in himself because no one had the authority to challenge him. But he knew he had to try and get these punks to come along peacefully; especially now that he knew they couldn’t be made to come by force.
    Jack said, “I’m not interested and although it’s not my place to speak for Melanie I’ll tell you she probably won’t take you up on your offer either.”
    Melanie said, “That’s right,” through gritted teeth.
    Delacourt’s shoulders slumped. Even his back-up plans were falling apart. He was officially outside his comfort zone. He normally got exactly what he wanted without any fuss, but today was proving to be a challenge.
    But if anyone was up for a challenge, it was Commander Delacourt.
    He had an epiphany. Maybe he couldn’t get the teenagers to agree to join him and maybe the two infected soldiers would never recover. But that didn’t mean all was lost. In fact, his newest idea had him downright giddy with all the possibilities. It was what he had wanted all along, if only it worked now that everything had unraveled into such an uncontrolled mess. There was personal danger involved too which always gave an added thrill.
    He scowled at the punk kids and walked out of the unfinished room without so much as a goodbye.
     
     
     
     

The Search
     
    Delacourt had no idea where he was and had only a vague notion of what he was looking for. But time was on his side because Watson, the only person in the bunker who