Steelheart

Prof calmly suggests that they firebomb David’s home. David panics; after ten years, he thinks, “losing [the notes] would be like losing a hand. Given the option, I’d rather lose the hand” (70). David persuades Prof that his information is worth salvaging, and that the notes are necessary for killing Steelheart. Prof sends David, Megan, and Cody to retrieve them.

When they arrive outside David’s room in the understreets’ upper levels, they pause to assess. David notices a trash can shimmer and deduces that an illusionist Epic named Refractionary is obscuring Enforcement soldiers. Refractionary also has personal invisibility powers, meaning that she isn’t necessarily hiding with the soldiers, but she must remain close to maintain the illusion. Megan wants to burn the room to finish the job easily, but David convinces her that they can both salvage the notes and kill another cruel Epic. He ponders why all Epics share the same heartless moral conscience: “Did the Epics kill because Calamity chose—for whatever reason—only terrible people to gain powers? Or did they kill because such amazing power twisted a person, made them irresponsible?” (77). Regardless, David only cares about killing them. They make a plan, David hands Megan his rifle, and he walks toward his door.

David enters his room, which he intentionally keeps messy to deter others from snooping. He pulls his backpack from a trunk and unzips his mattress case where the notebooks hide. The Enforcement soldiers approach, demand that David drops to his knees, and start sifting through his room. David waits impatiently while Megan and Cody finish their job—neutralizing the Enforcement sniper waiting outside—and the officers discover the notes. David realizes that one of the soldiers is Roy, an older boy from his Factory days. A soldier drops from a bullet wound, and David knows that Cody has control. David shoots Roy in the thigh with a pistol, then activates a smoke grenade, hoping to use Refractionary’s weakness to expose her. Unfortunately, she isn’t in the room. David spies Roy’s mobile, scrolls through his contacts, and calls Refractionary’s number. A gunshot fires a moment later, and David rushes outside to see Refractionary dead at Megan’s feet.

David shoves as many files and notebooks as he can fit into a bag. From the ground, Roy accuses him of working with the Reckoners. David denies it and instead implies that he works for a new Epic, Limelight, who aspires to overthrow Steelheart. On the way back to Hole Fourteen, Megan criticizes David for not killing Roy, but Cody sides with David: “We can’t become them, lass. […] If we have to do what Epics do to beat them, then it’s not worth it” (89).

Cody gives more information about the Reckoners’ operations. They have technology David has never seen before, such as tensors, which Prof invented right after Calamity when scientists still studied early Epics. Tensors are gloves that can turn solid, nonliving materials into powder, which explains how the Reckoners pull off many impossible missions. They arrive at Hole Fourteen, which is a spacious room complete with furniture carved from the steel walls and electricity borrowed from a forgotten subway line. Prof takes the notebook bag and begins inspecting David’s information.

As the Reckoners read through David’s documents, Cody comments, “Honestly, lad, I thought you were exaggerating. But y’all really are a fully-blown supergeek, aren’t you?” (96). Cody thinks that everyone takes their jobs too seriously, but even Prof dismisses that idea. Tia and David compare standard classifications—of which several exist, unbeknownst to David—and his own system, which categorizes Epics more on their limitations rather than abilities. David is confident in his plan to kill Steelheart, but Megan is still skeptical. David doesn’t understand why Megan turned antagonistic so suddenly: “I got the feeling she was arguing with me not because she actually disagreed, but because she found me offensive for some reason” (101). Prof leads everyone into another room, tells Abraham to activate the imager. All the metal surfaces turn dark and then display a bird’s eye view of Newcago. Prof tells David to explain his plan, but for the Reckoners to agree, he needs to persuade Megan.

Megan controls the conversation—as David describes how “her eyes could have drilled holes through butter” (103)—arguing that aside from Steelheart being impossible to kill, their biggest problem is simply finding him. She navigates the imager to Steelheart’s labyrinth-like palace, but the spynet surveillance network that the imager uses can’t access its interior. However, David insists they don’t need to find Steelheart; the Epic would come to them. He already started rumors about a new Epic, Limelight, who they can blame for Fortuity’s death. Steelheart only makes public appearances to directly address threats to his authority; if the Reckoners can make Limelight a large enough threat, then Steelheart might emerge. David suggests neutralizing Enforcement soldiers by killing Conflux, the Epic that heads Enforcement and supplies the city’s electrical power. Conflux is also a gifter (or transference Epic), meaning that he can lend his powers to other people. The Reckoners still doubt David’s plan, knowing that if they attack Conflux, they can never go back: “They’d be exposing themselves. No more hiding in the various urban undergrounds, hitting carefully chosen targets. No more quiet rebellion” (111).

Steelheart’s daily Reinforcement message appears, which Abraham displays on the imager. Steelheart stands atop a building, and he wordlessly demolishes an inhabited building with powerful blasts from his hands. Steelheart doesn’t explain himself, but the residents of Newcago understand the risks of living with basic utilities and jobs—an Epic may decide to kill their families for no reason. The video, followed by David’s further pressing, strengthens Prof’s resolve, and he orders the team to prepare to execute a plan.