The black SUV sped down the wet highway. Mike drove faster. His big hands gripped the wheel.
"Which tower is on fire, boss?"
Jack stared straight. "Hart Tower. Darius is doing this intentionally in front of the whole city."
Mike hit the gas harder. The car made a loud noise.
Jack pulled out the small black phone again. He pressed a button.
Every Legion soldier in New York heard the city heard the order in their earpieces. "Commander is active. Code Black. Secure Hart Tower. Save the people inside. Kill anyone who tries to stop us."
Sirens could be heard from every direction. Black trucks and motorcycles sped toward the burning building.
Inside the Hart mansion, the family and guests stood frozen.
Victor's hands shook."My tower… all my money is in that building!"
Victoria sat down hard. Her cane fell to the floor.
Emily looked at the dark windows. Half of New York had no lights now. Only the distant fire was glowing red.
Alex, still on his knees, cried. "This is your fault! You made him mad!"
One Legion soldier hit Alex in the stomach with the end of his gun. Alex folded and stopped talking.
Emily stepped closer to the soldier. "Please. Let me talk to Jack."
The soldier looked at her up and down. "Commander is busy."
He turned and walked out. The big front doors closed with legion men standing guard outside. No one could leave.
Victor looked at his phone again. Still zero in every bank account. He looked like an old, broken man.
Victoria picked up her cane with shaking fingers. She whispered, "We just woke up a monster."
Downtown, the SUV skidded to a stop. Hart Tower was very bright as it burned.
Flames shot out from the tenth floor and climbed higher.
Fire trucks were already there, but the water did not reach high enough. People screamed from the windows.
Jack jumped out of the car. He ran straight to the main doors.
A fireman tried to stop him. "Sir! You can't go in! The building is collapsing!"
Jack pushed past him. Mike followed.
Inside, smoke filled the lobby. The elevators weren't working. Jack took the stairs, three at a time. Mike stayed right behind.
They passed crying workers running down the building. Jack pushed through the crowd.
It was as hot as an oven on the twentieth floor.
Jack kicked open the door to the main office floor. The desks burned. Papers flying like fire birds.
A little girl, maybe eight years old, stood by a window. She cried for her mom.
Jack ran to her, not caring about anything else.
Lifted her up with one hand.
"Hold tight."
He saw more people trapped behind a wall of fire. Jack looked at Mike and passed the girl to him.
"Get them out. I will go higher."
Mike nodded and started breaking the side door.
Jack kept climbing to the thirtieth floor. There he found a bomb.
A big metal box with red numbers counting down.
00:04:59… 00:04:58…
Jack quickly pulled on the wires. The timer had three seconds left before it stopped.
He took a single breath. Then he kept going.
Floor thirty-five.
Three men in black masks were planting another bomb. They pulled guns when they saw Jack.
Bang! Bang!
Jack rolled behind a desk, dodging the bullet. The bullets ripped through the wood.
He took his gun out from under his jacket. With a single shot, one man was down.
The second man charged at him with a knife. Jack grabbed the wrist, twisted, took the knife, and pushed it into the man's shoulder.
The man screamed and fell.
The last man tried to run with the bomb.
Jack jumped and landed on his back. They both fell to the floor.
Jack pushed the man's face down to the ground. "Who do you work for?"
The masked man laughed. "Darius Kane says hello."
Jack hit him once. The man went quiet.
Jack threw the bomb out the broken window. It blew up in the sky far below. Nobody was hurt.
Then his phone vibrated.
Mike's voice came through. "Boss, I got thirty people out. But there is another bomb on the roof. And… someone is waiting for you."
Jack ran up the last stairs. The roof door was open to the storm. It rained heavily, and lightning flashed.
A big black helicopter sat in the center. Its blades moved slowly.
There was a man standing next to it. Tall with long gray hair wet from the rain and scar across his face.
Darius Kane.
He smiled. "Hello, little brother."
Jack stopped ten steps away. His gun pointed at Darius.
"I am not your brother."
Darius opened his arms. "Common, for three years I thought you were dead. I even cried fake tears. Now look, the dead man is walking. Alive and healthy."
Jack's finger tightened on the trigger. "So you blew up the tower to bring me here."
Darius laughed. "Bingo. I knew the great Jack Ironheart could not allow the innocent people to die."
He pointed to a big bomb by the helicopter. Timer: 00:09:59 and still counting down. "One press and the whole building falls. All the people Mike saved will be gone."
Jack looked at the timer. Then at Darius.
Darius pulled a second small box from his coat with a red button on top. "Dead-man switch," he said.
"If I let go, then boom."
Once more, there was a flash of lightning. For one second, the two men looked like statues.
Jack spoke first. "You want me? Take me. Leave the city alone."
Darius shook his head. "No. I want the city to watch you lose." He pressed a button on the helicopter.
The doors opened. Ten men with big guns jumped out.
Mike spoke into Jack's earpiece. "Boss, I see them. I have six men with me. Say the word."
Jack whispered, "Wait."
Darius walked closer. Rain ran down his scar. "Give me the Phantom Legion codes. All your secret bases. Do it, and I will let the people live."
Jack looked him in the eyes. "No."
Darius smiled. "Then watch them die."
He raised the dead-man switch.
Jack moved very quickly. He shot the hand with the switch. The box flew into the rain.
Darius screamed and grabbed his bleeding hand.
The ten men opened fire.
Jack rolled behind an air-condition unit. The bullets made a ping sound when they hit metal.
Mike and six Legion soldiers came up the stairs shooting. The roof turned into a war.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Two of Darius's men fell. Then three.
Darius ran toward the helicopter. He jumped in.
Quickly, the pilot pulled up. The blades spun quickly.
Jack ran after it. Too late.
The helicopter rose into the black sky.
Jack stood in the rain, gun still hot.
Mike ran to him. "He got away."
Jack looked at the bomb. 00:02:11 left.
He opened the cover. There are too many wires. Red, blue, green, black.
Mike watched. "Which one, boss?"
Jack cut the green wire.
The timer stopped at 00:00:07.
Mike let out a big breath. "That was close."
Jack looked down from the roof. The firefighters below cheered. People are safe.
But the city remained dark.
Jack spoke into his phone. "Turn the city lights back on. Except the guilty stay in the dark."
All over New York, the light was restored, block by block.
Except one place: the Hart mansion.
Inside the mansion, Victor tried the light switch.
Nothing.
He checked his phone. Still zero account.
Emily stood by the window. She watched the city lights return, but their house stayed black.
Victoria sat in her chair. She spoke to the dark room.
"We provoke a devil."
Alex cried on the floor. Legion soldiers watched him like hawks.
Emily walked to the big window.
She saw a black SUV stop outside again.
Jack got out. He was soaked by rain. He walked to the front door alone.
The Legion guards opened the house door for him.
Jack stepped inside. Water dripped from his coat.
Every person in the room looked at him.
Victor tried to speak. "Jack… the tower… thank you…"
Jack raised one hand. Victor stopped talking.
Jack looked at Alex. "Stand up."
Legion men pulled Alex to his feet.
Jack held out the old letters from the safe.
"Read the name you sold us to."
Alex's voice shook. "D-Darius Kane."
Jack nodded. "Good, he just tried to kill hundreds of people to get my attention."
Victor fell to his knees. "We are sorry! Please!"
Jack looked at Emily. She met his eyes. No fear now.
Only questions.
Jack spoke to the whole room. "From tonight, the Hart family has officially gone bankrupt. No power.
No name."
Victoria closed her eyes. Tears ran down her old cheeks.
Jack turned to go. Emily ran and grabbed his arm.
"Wait! Please!"
Jack stopped.
She whispered, "Take me with you."
Jack looked at her hand on his wet sleeve. Then he looked into her green eyes.
"No," he said. "You have chosen your family a long time ago."
He walked out. The doors closed behind him.
Mike waited by the SUV. "What next, Commander?"
Jack looked at the dark sky where the helicopter had disappeared. "Find Darius Kane. Tonight the city only burns a little. Tomorrow it burns for real if we don't find him."
Far away, the helicopter flew low over the river.
Darius held his bleeding hand. He spoke into a radio.
"Plan B. Wake the sleepers. Tell them the Undefeated God of War is back. Time to paint New York red."
The radio answered.
"Understood, sir. Sleepers awake in three… two… one…"
Red dots started showing up on the roofs of buildings all over the city.
Snipers.
They looked through their scopes.
And every scope pointed at one man walking in the rain.
Jack Ironheart.
The real war had only just started.