Steelheart

The Reckoners plan their next moves, and they prepare to question the prisoner, Conflux. Abraham pulls David aside and says, “Live your life. […] You are letting Steelheart live your life for you. He controls it, each step of the way. Live your own life” (309). Conflux awakens to Prof’s darkened silhouette and the others obscured behind him. The Epic introduces himself as Edmund Sense, but he scoffs at being called the “Head” of Enforcement: “More appropriately, I might be the heart. Or maybe just the battery” (310). Prof makes Edmund prove his identity by powering a drained energy source, which the Epic does. Without permission, David asks Edmund questions that only Conflux would know, according to his sources, and Edmund passes his tests. David concludes that Conflux himself is a prisoner to Steelheart, which is a revolutionary idea because Steelheart builds his rule on the idea that more powerful Epics have greater freedoms. Prof commands Conflux to recall all his energy and powers he has gifted, and he complies.

David asks Edmund about his past while they eat on the floor. He’s surprised by the Epic’s timidity, thinking, “This is what we get? I finally find an Epic who doesn’t want to kill or enslave me, and it’s an old, soft-spoken Indian man who likes to put sugar in his milk?” (317). He also learns that Conflux can only gift his powers to non-Epics. David leaves Edmund to join the team room discussion, where they are deliberating a location to confront Steelheart. David suggests Soldier Field for its remoteness and the Reckoners’ ability to carve tunnels beforehand. However, they still lack one major variable: Steelheart’s weakness. David believes his weakness is accidental crossfire; Prof theorizes that David’s father’s Faith made Steelheart bleed. Their best shot is to make as many different attacks as possible and hope one works.

David uses the tensor to cut tunnels around Soldier Field. Prof arrives to check on his progress and help him shift dust out of the tunnel. Eventually, Prof apologizes for how he treated David when he came to his and Megan’s rescue. David dismisses the apology, though he urges Prof to use the tensors more often, which Prof swiftly and angrily rejects. However, as penance for his behavior, Prof lets David ask one question about his past. Wanting to avoid invading his privacy, David asks about his career pre-Calamity. To David’s surprise, Prof was a fifth-grade science teacher. He never worked in a lab, and the Reckoners’ most important tools, such as the tensor and jacket, were not his inventions. Prof sadly reminisces, “It was the teaching itself that I loved. At least, I loved it back when I thought it would be enough to change things” (332). As David practices with the tensor, he learns how to punch objects to dust, and the team finishes preparations. Though Tia has an escape copter ready, David knows that this fight will end in death.

The operation begins, and Abraham shoots green fireworks upward to signal Steelheart. From his sniper hole, David reports that he sees a flash of gold from the stands behind him, but the team insists that nobody came through the entrances. Steelheart finally flies overhead and lands in the stadium, where the Reckoners planted various contents from the bank vault intermixed with garbage. If Steelheart’s weakness came from the bank vault, then a bullet should hurt him. Cody takes aim and fires.