Steelheart

David finds Megan outside the hideout. They sit in silence for a while, and then Megan speculates, “I think [Epics are] a test of some kind. […] I mean a test of what we’ll do, if we have power. Enormous power” (228). Cody appears, and they deliberate the plan further. Cody asks how they will defeat Firefight, but David doesn’t believe that he’s a threat. They retrieve his notes, and David explains that Firefight isn’t real; most people presume the Epic has basic fire capabilities, but because those powers lack any individuality, David assumes they are a ruse. He produces photos of Firefight that appear to blur from existence, theorizing that Firefight is merely an illusion controlled by an obscure man who often appears beside Steelheart. Because no one can trace any confirmed deaths to Firefight, David also assumes the Epic isn’t dangerous, just flashy. Megan disagrees with his conclusions, but as they argue, Tia enters with news: She found the bank vault.

The Reckoners visit the buried bank vault, which Abraham and Tia have secretly excavated under Prof’s orders. Tia rambles excitedly about her findings, but David inwardly panics as though in danger, reliving the day his father died. Steelheart preserved the bank in steel, and David recognizes the architecture and even particular people who died. While the team discusses the vault, David wanders toward his father. He uses a tensor to remove layers of steel rubble covering his father’s preserved body. Prof appears behind him, and they ponder the irony of David’s father defending Steelheart. Prof says, “Your father believed the best about people. […] You could call that foolish, but I’d never call it a fault. […] Your father couldn’t know the future. You can’t be so frightened of what might happen that you are unwilling to act” (242). David accepts his decision to kill Steelheart, though he acknowledges that his father would never take action in vengeance. David returns to the group, now convinced that Steelheart’s weakness doesn’t relate to the vault, but rather the situation surrounding his father. Prof orders the group to search the vault regardless.

Inside the vault, the team finds gold and jewels, any of which could be Steelheart’s weakness, and Prof instructs Tia to investigate further. Before they leave, Abraham gives David a handgun he discovered next to his father—the only gun to ever make Steelheart bleed. Abraham believes the gun might still work, and he will run its diagnostics at the base.

In Hole Fourteen, Abraham reports that while the public appears convinced that the power plant attack was Limelight’s work, Steelheart gives no indication of believing the propaganda. Prof affirms that the plan should move forward, and they need to strike as a contending Epic would: “It’s time to kill Conflux. […] And bring down Enforcement” (252).

Megan drives the van toward their mission with David in the passenger’s seat and Cody and Abraham back behind the divider. David notices that Megan looks more tense than usual and asks if she’s okay. She deflects, and David says, “It’s okay. […] I feel like a brick made of porridge” (255). Megan looks perplexed, then bursts into laughter. David tries to explain his terrible metaphor, but Megan calls him ridiculous and seems to relax. David apologizes for how his membership impacted the team. Megan shrugs the apology away, admitting, “Turns out I like you too much to hate you, Knees” (259), which sends David’s heart soaring. He distracts himself by thinking through the plan to kill Conflux: drive close to the Epic’s limo, blast the vehicle with the gauss gun, and flee. Prof reminds the team to split if the plan goes awry. The van naturally stops alongside the limo at a red light, and David glances over to see one of Nightwielder’s assistants—one he met in Diamond’s shop—notice him and casually look away. Just after David informs Prof that the mission might be a trap, Nightwielder launches from the limo.

David shines his UV flashlight toward Nightwielder, who flees. Enforcement chases the van, which Megan briefly evades by speeding directly under a falling copter and totaling the vehicle. To David’s amazement, Cody and Abraham pull the three motorcycles from Diamond’s shop. Enforcement fires on the team, and David jumps on Megan’s cycle. The Reckoners split ways as Enforcement surrounds them with blockades. Prof realizes that their plan is ruined: No Epic would run from a fight against Enforcement, and now Steelheart will never believe their ruse. Abraham gets hit, and Megan helps him escape to the understreets. Somehow, Enforcement thinks the Reckoners’ attack is larger than it is, to the Reckoners’ confusion. David remembers that he’s wearing Cody’s backpack and opens it to reveal the gauss gun. As Megan drives toward another blockade, David aims the gun over her shoulder and shoots.

They drive through the blast’s green smoke, and Megan grins, saying, “About time you started doing something useful back there” (276). They move through the city with David shooting pathways open. On the comms, Cody reports that he can hit the limo; they can still weaken Steelheart even if they can’t trick him. As Megan and David approach a gulley—a twenty-foot drop—a copter appears and aims its guns on them. Megan launches the motorcycle over the gulley, and David uses two hands to vaporize the copter with the gauss gun, falling into the ravine. His jacket absorbs the impact, but Megan still has to shake him conscious and help him up. Cody again reports strange circumstances: He broke through the limo’s defenses only to discover Conflux bound and unconscious in the trunk. Prof orders a kill shot, but Cody refuses, and they capture him instead. Suddenly, gunfire rains on the weakened side of David and Megan’s motorcycle.

David and Megan’s motorcycle crashes, sending David flying and pinning Megan under the bike as it skids across the ground. David stumbles to his feet and pulls the bike off Megan, who is unconscious and bleeding heavily but alive. David carries her until they reach a dead end, where he lays her behind a mound of broken bricks. He thinks to escape using the tensor, but it’s shredded from the crash. Over the comm, he hears Enforcement gunning outside Hole Fourteen where Tia works. Instead of helping Tia, Prof tells David to hold out until he arrives. Enforcement soldiers appear and demand David to emerge from his hiding place. David takes his father’s gun and Megan’s handgun, slowing them as much as he can. Between rounds, he confesses his feelings to an unconscious Megan: “For what it’s worth, thank you for making me care about something other than Steelheart. I don’t know if I love you. But whatever the emotion is, it’s the strongest one I’ve felt in years. Thank you” (292). At the last moment, the ceiling disintegrates, and Prof drops with tensors glowing powerfully. Enforcement launches bullets at him, which explode midair. Prof then attacks with his fists, disintegrating armor with each punch and carving his own sword out of metal. Once he defeats every soldier, Prof announces himself as Limelight and instructs any living soldiers to pass the message onto Steelheart. David is amazed, but Prof’s expression terrifies him—contemptuous, and only barely able to refrain from attacking David—as Prof orders him to get Megan.