Free The War of the Supers (The First Superhero Book 3) by Logan Rutherford Page A

and they didn’t seem to need us. Sure, we could give them a bit of a head start, plus they’d have our powers at their disposal. But they seemed to be doing just fine without us.
    “Okay, whatever,” I said finally. “I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.”
    “As am I,” Leopold said with a sparkling smile.
    “So, when are we going to be able to meet with these people?” Selena asked, obviously annoyed at how much talking was happening. She wanted to make some real progress, and I couldn’t blame her.
    “Yes, we’d like to speak to them as soon as possible,” I said.
    Leopold’s expression changed, as if he hadn’t been anticipating what he was about to say. “Well, the thing is,” he began. “My people obviously want to speak with you, but they aren’t quite…convinced.”
    I furrowed my brows as Selena and I exchanged a glance.
    “Here we go,” Samantha said in my head.
    “What does that mean?” I asked.
    Leopold took another sip of his tea. “They aren’t convinced that you’re going to be able to do more help than harm. Everywhere Tempest shows up, there’s always destruction and death. And over here, on this side of the pond, we’ve escaped all that mostly unscathed.”
    I looked at him, dumbfounded. “Everything I’ve done has been reactionary. I didn’t cause Atlas to create a Legion of Supers and kill everyone in our government. I didn’t make him launch nukes at New York and Los Angeles.”
    Leopold clapped his hands together as if he’d just had a brilliant idea. “Yes, that. That’s also a large concern. Atlas has nukes . We have the capacity to detect them before they arrive, and we’ll just get Ellie—oh, she’s one of the members of our team—to take care of it. But, still, it’s a concern.”
    “Cut the shit, Leo ,” Selena said. “What’s your point? Do your people want our help, or don’t they?”
    “Yes. They do. However, they need you to prove something else to them first. They need you to prove that you can have some sense of… subtlety in your actions. That you’d be able to use your abilities and not destroy half of London,” Leopold said with a laugh, trying to defuse the discomfort.
    I ignored his laugh. “So, what, they want us to do something for them?”
    “Yes,” Leopold said. He drank the rest of his tea before continuing. “They have something that they want you to do first, to prove that our relationship won’t be detrimental to the general public.”
    “They want us to audition ?” Selena asked, not trying to hide her annoyance at all.
    Leopold cringed. “I don’t like to call it that.”
    “But you could?” I asked.
    Leopold thought about it for a moment. “Yes, I guess you could call it that. They want to make sure they’re not going to regret this, so they want you to do something small for them. It’s a way to gain their trust. And once they have it, we can get down to the real work: destroying Atlas and the Legion.”
    I sat back for a moment, processing everything. I hadn’t expected to have to jump through hoops to get some help from Leopold’s people. This was starting to get complicated fast.
    “Kane, Selena, I and everyone here agree. We don’t have any other options. Just do this for them, and then we can move on to getting the help we need.” Samantha’s words echoed in my head. I looked up to Selena, who’d heard her words as well. She shrugged and rolled her eyes.
    I sighed. “Alright, Leopold. We’ll help you with whatever you need.”
    Leopold smiled. “Excellent news!” He stood from his seat. “Now, if you’ll follow me, I’ll explain the situation to you on the way there.”

15

A FAMILIAR VOICE
    I followed Leopold down the street, Selena close behind me. I pulled my jacket tight, trying to stay as warm as possible.
    “Again, I should reiterate the importance of subtlety. The people around here are understandably cautious when it comes to Supers, and if they knew that Tempest of all