Geek Fire: A YA Superhero Adventure

36. Agent Johnson Knows!

Heart hammering, Emma inched out the front door and headed across Ms. Range's lawn towards the sidewalk with half a dozen guns trained on her. Police cars, two SWAT trucks, and a Mack truck lined the street.
A big man in a gray suit waved her forward. Emma squinted, at least she thought he was waving her forward, and everyone else was in uniform.
Emma swallowed, struggling against the urge to spin, to freeze, to run away, all the urges to do anything other than walk to the man waiting for her.
As she approached, Johnson's features eased into focus. Of course, the Super Commission representative assigned to Pueblo Lindo would be here.
Her heart started pounding triple time and Death Valley set up camp in her mouth. No matter how many times she licked her lips or tried to work saliva into her mouth, nothing helped.
Johnson would know she was Geek Fire. How could he not? She'd been at every super event on campus. At the very least, he had to have figured out she was involved with Geek Fire. Or Dragon Girl. She supposed she should just give up on the name. Dragon Girl was everywhere now.
Emma focused on one step in front of the other.
Silent, Johnson held out his hands to her and, when he grabbed her hands, he pulled her around into the back of the nearest SWAT truck. An EMT slapped a blood pressure cuff on Emma's arm and clucked his tongue when he saw her wrists.
"Sit still and try not to talk," the EMT said.
"But I need to—Hannah!"
"Emma?" Mr. Johnson glanced at her, but remained on the ground, just outside of the SWAT van where he had a clear view of Ms. Range's front door.
Emma nodded, confirming her identity. This was it. It didn't matter if the others covered for her or not, if they shared why Ms. Range had kidnapped them. He had to know that she was the Dragon Girl. This wasn't a secret that she'd managed to keep. "Hannah needs help."
"Okay." He met her gaze briefly. "Supers have it out for you and your family, don't they? Your cousin, Hannah, is inside and injured. Is that correct?"
Emma nodded again, stunned that she wasn't being arrested. He had her glasses, didn't he? Or... maybe that was how Connor and Ms. Range had figured out who she was. They were the ones who had her glasses.
But still, Johnson had the letter she'd written with her incorrect accusation of Summer and Ms. Ngo. She didn't dare ask anything. She just had to wait and see.
"If I were you, I'd get some self-defense training." Johnson gave her a tight smile Emma assumed was supposed to make her feel better.
It did.
"I'll look into having the school offer it as an alternative to PE. With so much super activity here, you students should know how to handle yourselves."
Emma glanced at him. He really didn't know she was Geek Fire?
"Blood pressure is elevated," the EMT said.
"No kidding," Agent Johnson snapped. "She's under a lot of stress. Check her other vitals, ignore the blood pressure. Haven't you ever done crisis medicine before?"
"Hannah can't walk, sir," Emma said. "Her feet..."
"Let us worry about that. From what dispatch said, Ice Queen pulled the same thing on her as she did on Riley and Captain Vann."
"Yes, sir." Emma waited for him to say something, anything, but he didn't. Instead, he nodded to a man she hadn't noticed. Emma could scarcely see him as he oozed out of the shadows and along the sidewalk.
"Send out the next hostage!" the man on the megaphone shouted.
"We weren't really hostages—not after she decided to turn herself in," Emma said. "All of this—" Emma waved her hand. "—really isn't necessary."
"You're quick to forgive and trust her after she kidnapped you. We'll let Mr. Invisible take care of her and your cousin." Johnson stiffened as he watched Ms. Range's house.
"He was helping her, wasn't he?" Johnson asked Emma.
"Who?" Emma didn't know how he was talking about, but he seemed to know more than he had been told. She realized he must be talking about Connor. She shrugged, trying not to throw Connor under the bus, not after he'd agreed he wouldn't rat her out.
Instead, she stared at the back of the EMT's head as he bandaged her wrists. The EMT moved on to her ankles, whistling at the marks the icy rope had left.
"Emma, don't worry," Johnson said. "You and your cousin will be safe. I'm not going to do anything to hurt you. Even Ms. Range will be taken into custody in as safe a manner as possible. We want to get her rehabilitated and helping people. Her powers are a gift to humanity. All the supers are."
Emma looked at him sideways. That didn't sound like someone who was part of a project to kill and arrest her.
So, what had happened to the other supers who had disappeared? Then she remember he was using a super to help bring this situation down.
Mr. Johnson smiled. "Excuse me for a moment." He stepped closer to Ms. Range's house then yanked Connor behind the SWAT van.
"Connor Kid, I am placing you under arrest for aiding and abetting a criminal in her attacks on civilians including kidnapping two minors." He slapped a pair of handcuffs on Connor. The regular handcuffs meant he didn't know Connor was Strongman.
"How could you?" Connor glared at Emma.
"I didn't—" Emma started to say, but Johnson cut in.
"Range wasn't as careful as she thought she was. She used her work computer and documented your 'extra credit project.'" Johnson leaned against the truck. "Also, I'm not a mind reader, but I picked up on your guilt before I even saw you."
"You what?" Connor asked.
Johnson gestured to a uniformed police officer. "Get him out of here."
The police officer put Connor in a cop car. While the cop read Connor his rights, Connor glared back at Emma. He mouthed, "I'll get you."
Emma closed her eyes, avoiding his accusing glare. They must not realize he was Strongman. She'd stick to their agreement and keep her mouth shut.
"What did you mean, you picked up his guilt before you saw him?"
"I didn't just read his face." Johnson leaned in close and lowered his voice. "I felt his guilt as he tried to help your cousin inside."
Emma stared open-mouthed at Johnson.
"You think the supers are an accident?" Johnson asked, meeting her gaze. "There are some... early adopters of these abilities."
"You can read minds?" she asked, even though he just said that he wasn't a mind reader.
"Not exactly. Emotions, bits and pieces, enough to guide my investigations. It's not as useful as I would have hoped, unlike some powers." He nodded toward her but didn't actually say he knew she had powers.
Emma blushed.
"Not like Ice Queen in there or..." His eyes met Emma's.
Her eyes turned to her feet, but he said nothing about her abilities.
Johnson ignored the lack of eye contact and kept talking. "An aggressive ability like shooting ice from my hands or spitting fire would be a nice for an ex-soldier like me. This ESP emotions stuff—not really my thing."
How had he been an 'early adopter'? Didn't the powers come from that thing in the sky?
Johnson tapped his earpiece. "Shadow you're a go."
Emma stared at him, barely recalling the man who headed into the house only moments ago. Was amnesia part of his ability?
"You can watch on the screen behind you," Johnson said.
Emma turned and saw that the SWAT truck had a small screen projecting a POV camera of the inside of Ms. Range's house. Was that Mr. Shadow's point of view?
Ms. Range hadn't moved from her spot on the couch. The picture frame was still in her hand and Hannah was shaking her head.
No sound came from the screen, though Johnson probably had audio through his earpiece.
A gun was aimed at Ms. Range.
"No!" Emma shouted.
Ms. Range collapsed forward over the picture of her brother.
Emma was on her feet, shoving the EMT away, screaming, trying to hit Johnson. He'd said Ms. Range would be brought in with minimal force. Ms. Range might have kidnapped her, but she was also the woman who realized Emma was struggling and had pushed to have her tested.
On the screen, Hannah screamed. The image swung back to Ms. Range as someone shoved her unconscious body down and handcuffed her.
"I should have warned you," Johnson said calmly. "Tranquilizer darts are standard procedure. She'll wake up with a hell of a headache and disoriented, but she'll be fine."
"I thought he killed her!" Emma shoved at the massive man, her emotions calming.
He didn't budge. "Load her up." Johnson said, calmly touching his earpiece. Then, he stared down into her eyes. "It's standard procedure for subduing a super."
Emma's eyes watered. Eye contact was torture in the best of situations. Trying to read hidden messages in what he was saying, she shifted her gaze to his mouth.
He had to be warning her about turning herself in as a super. But why would he warn her about the darts? Either he knew she was Geek Fire or he didn't. It seemed like he knew, but why wouldn't he say it? "Even if they turn themselves in?" Emma took a step back.
"Especially if they turn themselves in. Some might pretend to surrender with the intention of harming those that arrest them. But the government still wants all the supers it can get."
Emma looked away.
He knew she was Geek Fire, but he wasn't taking her into custody. He wasn't forcing her into whatever their program was. But why not?
"They'll load Ms. Range into a nullifier truck, and Hannah's already being wheeled into the ambulance. Would you like to ride with her to the hospital?"
He knew and he was still offering her freedom. "Yes." Yes, she would.