by Drew Hayes
“Two on one isn’t a bad idea, but the trouble with fighting a single target is that, if they know what they’re doing, they can use your own numbers against you.”
That was the extent of Lodestar’s warning before Medley raced in, swinging wild again. Rather than swing back, she opted to drop low, ignoring gravity for a few moments as she swept her legs between Medley’s, turning him into a tumbling ball of fur and scales. With one shove to his back, Lodestar reoriented his momentum, rolling her opponent directly at his chilly teammate.
It should have ended with him slamming into Cold Shoulder’s ice-construct legs, except Medley was instantly scooped up in the gigantic ice-hands that were dropped low and waiting. With the smooth expertise of someone who’d practiced this move for hours already, Cold Shoulder caught her teammate and chucked him directly back at Lodestar, claws first. Her short, terse reply as she hurled was all the explanation Lodestar needed:
“We know.”
A Medley-sized projectile was enough to drive Lodestar back— when she had to play at this level, at least. It didn’t stop with the launch, either. He came at her like a true wild animal, a fury of scratches and fangs. If not for Cold Shoulder’s durability, Lodestar would have had to fold down under the assault.
More shots rang out, most going wide, one taking her in the back. Cold Shoulder was right. They did know the risks of fighting a single target in a confined area, and had clearly trained for it.
At last, Lodestar spotted what she’d been waiting for. Hat Trick appeared from behind a rocky outcropping, exactly opposite of place near the boulder where Lodestar was holding her ground. Three for distraction, one to make the run. Not a bad play, especially since their runner had the wildcard of magic to work with.
With a quick motion, Lodestar fired a beam of energy into Hat Trick’s legs, sending her tumbling over. That done, she floated a few inches off the ground, neutralizing Cold Shoulder’s terrain trick. Medley’s eyes went momentarily wild, but that was his own fault. She’d told them what powers were on the table; part of the challenge was planning around them. It did no team any favors to hold back, because the people who fought with blood on the line surely wouldn’t.
A blast of ice energy nearly took her, but Lodestar dodged away in the nick of time, putting herself in the path of another energy shot. Dropping down like she’d taken a painful hit, Lodestar counted to three as she estimated how long Medley would need to recover from such an attack. The pause offered Cold Shoulder the chance to come in swinging, huge fists of ice smashing down on the ground.
This was the greatest challenge of the group, in Lodestar’s original estimations. Her ice construct was durable, thick, and could be repaired if she had time to focus. Worse, none of the other members hit hard enough to do serious damage. Thankfully, Cyber Geek had offered just the tool she needed.
Dodging the huge fists, Lodestar took aim at the construct’s knees, ensuring Cold Shoulder’s actual body was nowhere near them. Firing off beams of energy at precisely the same intensity as what she’d been receiving, she saw cracks form immediately. The entire thing tottered precariously to the left for several seconds.
“Being big and strong is useful, but it also makes you the easiest target. Reinforce your weak points, or change the design to get around them.”
Just as Lodestar prepared to knock her over, Medley rushed in from the side. She readied for another flurry—only, this was different. Instantly gone were the wild, animalistic strikes. Suddenly, Medley was holding himself carefully, entire body tense and waiting, even his tail extended, ready to attack. He came with a pair of punches that fell short, only for that tail to whip around and catch Lodestar in the leg. While the blow wasn’t powerful enough to earn a serious reaction, he’d still scored it.
“Not bad, although I wish you’d started off like this. Would have let me see more of what you can do.” Eyes darting to Hat Trick, Lodestar noted that while she was staying low, the team’s fourth member was still crawling steadily closer to the boulder. If she fired at this angle, Lodestar was most likely to hit Hat Trick’s head—much too dangerous for a simple evaluation. But if she flew over, Medley and Cold Shoulder would have a clear path to the boulder. Once someone made contact, her job grew far more difficult.
“Now!”
She heard the order ring out just before she saw Medley drop into a ball, covering his ears and eyes. Turning, Lodestar made it just in time to witness Cold Shoulder falling out of the ice in the same position as Medley. That was all she got before the giant ball of light overhead exploded.
This had to be something from a video game. No real-world item created a perfect sphere of noise and sound, crashing over victims in an effort to leave them helpless. Add in that it had clearly been fired from the ridge where Cyber Geek was perched, and the explanation was almost too obvious. None of it actually worked on Lodestar, of course, but based on what she knew of the others, they’d definitely be feeling the effects.
Still, even with an attack like this, Medley’s regeneration meant the impacted ears and eyes would heal rapidly, especially from such superficial damage They’d earned roughly ten seconds of “stunned” Lodestar with that maneuver.
Medley was the first up, to no one’s surprise. He motioned to Hat Trick, who hopped up from the ground and sprinted for all she was worth. This was it, then. The muscle races in to occupy her, while Cyber Geek adds to the pressure with his ranged skills. Hat Trick comes running, knowing she’ll be spotted, and gains ground slowly while the distraction team keeps up its work. When they can’t hold the line anymore, Cyber Geek launches the stunning blast, giving Hat Trick a window of opportunity to make the big play. If she got the boulder inside that hat, they’d be able to move it with no concern for weight.
While those two moved, Cold Shoulder leapt into action. Freed from her construct, she immediately fired blue energy at Lodestar, sealing the living legend to the ground and weighing her down with as much ice as possible. Smart: more delay, even when the stunning effects faded. It was a good, sound strategy overall.
The only trouble was, the team didn’t quite grasp their own strength. Much as she disliked this part, Lodestar had to impart the lesson—otherwise some criminal would, and not in so nearly kind a manner. With the ten seconds up, Lodestar sprang into action.
“Medley’s recovery means that even at full blast, the lightshow has already lost effect.” She tore loose from the ice, slamming Cold Shoulder once in the gut, sending her tumbling over. “That was your strength I used to break free and hit you back. Don’t make yourself vulnerable in a fight unless there’s a true need for it. Most enemies won’t give you a chance to recover.”
With a burst of speed, she flew over to Medley, slamming him to the ground. She landed heavy, buying herself some time with fewer opponents. “Cyber Geek has some rapid movement options, too, making it easy to get around the battlefield.”
That only left Lodestar and Hat Trick for the moment, the latter covered in dirt and panting from her undignified crawl. Lodestar respected that appearance; it was the look of someone who chose victory over vanity. In a way, she hated to do this. Showing the martial ones their failings was educational; she wasn’t sure what lessons Hat Trick could take from this exchange.
“It was a good effort,” Lodestar said. “Much more competent than most teams manage on their first go-round.”
“Maybe so, but we aren’t here to put in a ‘good effort.’ We’re here to give everything.” Hat Trick reached into her pocket and produced a classic magician’s wand, black with two white tips. It was the element of her powers she’d used the least, which meant Lodestar had minimal information on what that magical implement was capable of.
Lodestar darted forward, just as Hat Trick exclaimed, “Doveakazam!”
An explosion of birds blasted Lodestar in the face, white feathers smacking into her nose and mouth, causing genuine annoyance, if not pain. She hacked and spit as the avian attack dissipated, her attention br
oken until the last of them cleared. By the time she could see properly, Hat Trick was nearly on top of her, a deck of cards in her hand.
“Fifty-two hundred pickup!”
A torrent of playing cards washed over Lodestar, like a firehose of rectangular plastic. The deck either didn’t end or had some other enchanted elements, as card after card battered Lodestar’s vision. All the others had gone for damage, whereas Hat Trick, their supposed runner, was using distraction. Something was wrong. She’d missed a detail, and it tickled the edge of her brain as she lunged forward, grabbing Hat Trick’s wrists and angling the stream of cards away.
“Impressive,” Lodestar admitted. “That first one genuinely took me off balance for a few moments.”
“Thanks. I’m not much of a magician yet, but I have worked really hard on mastering the most important part.”
Her hat was gone. That’s what was off. As Lodestar looked down at the cape named Hat Trick, clasped in her grip, Lodestar noticed that the meta-magician’s most distinctive accessory was missing. Spinning around, Lodestar realized something else a hair too late. She hadn’t gotten shot in a few minutes.
Already knowing what was waiting for her, Lodestar saw Cyber Geek land a few feet from the boulder, the giant jumping boot dissolving back into electricity and numbers. He scooped up the unmistakable top hat from where it was sliding gently along the icy ground, slamming his hand against the boulder to establish physical contact.
“Misdirection,” Lodestar muttered. “The heart of illusion is misdirection. But now, it’s just a matter of catching him before he hauls it across the line.”
Even as she was speaking, Lodestar caught something else. Cyber Geek wasn’t trying to put the boulder in the hat. Instead, he held his hand out underneath it. Hat Trick wiggled in her grip, making some sort of motion, and a silver device fell from the hat into Cyber Geek’s extended hand.
Not knowing what it could do, Lodestar opted to sprint. They’d clearly built their strategy around making this part work, so she had to assume it would end the session. To her own shock, Lodestar realized something as she ran: they’d baited her out to just the right distance. While she might be able to cross this far in a blink, none of them were fast enough to do the same. They’d estimated their own best speed, and specifically worked to draw her out farther than that. She definitely couldn’t knock this group on self-analysis.
Pushing as fast as she felt appropriate, Lodestar rushed forward while Cyber Geek wrapped his arm around the boulder and pressed the silver device. There was a flash of purple, and suddenly, he was gone, along with the stone sphere. An identical flash appeared over on the ridge where Cyber Geek had been shooting from, and seconds later, she saw him leap from the edge, boulder clutched in his hands as jets fired from the Blaster Bros armor. From that far back, he easily cleared the line before Lodestar could even properly lift off the ground.
“Cyber Geek has an item that splits in two, and lets you jump back to wherever you leave the anchor. The issue was that it had a ten-second timer, but objects in my hat come out the same way they go in. Down to the second.” Hat Trick was dusting herself off as Medley and Cold Shoulder staggered to their feet, shaking off those last blows. “Was that okay? Are we allowed to combine powers like that?”
“Not only are you allowed, it’s exactly the sort of thinking these evaluations are meant to encourage,” Lodestar replied. Awareness of their own abilities, and that of their team, to the point where they’d started developing combination techniques. While they might be low on raw power, this group had worked on their coordination to an incredible degree.
Floating up into the sky, Lodestar saw the crowd milling around Cyber Geek and his prize: the boulder, dragged barely past the line in the ground. “Attention, everyone: the team of Cold Shoulder, Cyber Geek, Hat Trick, and Medley has successfully retrieved their target! Big round of congratulations to our opening group. I know it’s never easy to be the first in a situation like this one. Everyone else, take five minutes to update your plans based on what you just saw while I reset the stage.”
She looked down, noting the looks of hope and determination. Now that they knew victory could be achieved, that should make for some bolder, interesting plays in the evaluations to come. Perhaps a part of her was excited by that. Playing with limited stakes was the closest she got to a challenge anymore. No harm in enjoying herself, so long as the education and evaluation continued to come first.
“After that, have the next team ready to go. Our day is only getting started.”
Chapter 46
Deep down, Ivan had always known this day would come. In a world of secret identities and masks, he’d long ago learned that few things truly stayed hidden forever. Part of him had even imagined giving the talk to his children when they became adults in an attempt to get ahead of the eventual revelation. He wondered if he’d have really had the strength to go through with it, or if this was always the way it would have gone down: backed into telling the truth, his hand forced, the secret pried from his grip.
He and Rick sat in the living room, Ivan in a chair, his son on the couch. They both had drinks in front of them, because Ivan had needed to fill the minutes between getting Janet’s call and her dropping off Rick. That had been a hell of a half hour, picturing what it would be like to come clean, all the horrified reactions it might garner. Yet upon Rick’s arrival, they’d fallen into silence. Both knew what came next, and neither felt entirely sure of how to proceed.
Ultimately, Ivan pushed things forward. He was the parent. It was his job to take the harder role. “Your mother told me you have questions, and she let me know what they were about. I don’t want to lie you, son. I’ve never wanted to lie to you. What you’re digging near isn’t something minor, though. I hope you can understand that. But I also don’t see what’s to be gained by lying at this point. So, here is my bargain: I’ll answer the questions you ask. There will be details I might leave out, and I think that once we’re deep enough in for you to really grasp the situation, you’ll understand why. That said, there is a caveat to this. What we discuss here can be talked about with your mother, and no one else. Especially not Beth.”
Rick bristled, pulling his back up straight. “She’s your daughter. If I have a right to know, then so does she.”
“Beth is twelve years old, a child; she is in no way ready to grapple with this kind of topic.” Ivan didn’t need to sit straighter; he’d already been positioned properly from the start. “This is nonnegotiable. What we’re going to discuss could put you in serious danger if the wrong people found out. You have to promise me, Rick. Look me in the eyes and swear you will not tell anyone else about this. After the fuss you’ve kicked up over me keeping you in the dark, I can’t imagine you’d be hypocrite enough to break your word.”
The stubbornness in Ivan was reflected back at him in Rick’s eyes. For a moment, he thought obstinance would win the day and the whole talk would fall apart; however, Rick also had his mother’s skill for seeing the bigger picture. Swallowing his annoyance at being forced into something, he met Ivan’s gaze. “I promise, what we talk about here stays between me, you, and Mom. Maybe also a therapist, depending on how bad it is.”
“That’s a reasonable concession, and I know some people if it comes to that,” Ivan agreed. “All right, what do you want to know?”
“Who are you?”
That came fast; it had been on a hair trigger. Ivan considered the question, and how to honestly answer it while still easing Rick into all of this. “Ivan Gerhardt. The first name came from the monsters who raised me, the second was chosen by the first real friend I ever made. I’m a manager at Vendallia Industries, father to two children, and as of a few weeks ago, a Starscout cluster leader.” He paused. That was part of who he was, and for a time, it would have been the whole truth. But even if he counted Fornax as who he’d been, there was still Pseudonym, who’d been too active as of late to entirely discount.
“Past that... I w
ork with an organization that helps recovering criminals. Let’s leave that there for the moment; it might be easier to discuss once some of the other holes are filled in.”
There was a sheen of sweat on Rick’s forehead, despite the climate control in the townhouse. He rubbed his hands on his jeans, wiping away more perspiration. That question had been an easy one. He was still gathering courage for what he deemed truly scary.
“And who is Tori Rivas?”
“No.” Ivan halted the conversation midstride. “Who I am, what I’ve done—these are things that might impact your life, so I concede that you have a right to know them. The secrets of others don’t fall under that umbrella. Tori is a friend and a coworker, someone I trust. Anything past that you can find out by asking her directly, though I’m not sure I would recommend it.”
The denial had brought Rick up short, but Ivan had left him little room for rebuttal. More hand-wiping, a little frantic now. Reaching over, Ivan put a hand on his son’s shoulder. “Ask me whatever it is that’s eating at you. You’ll feel better when it’s out.”
“That’s not the impression I got from Mom,” Rick muttered under his breath. “Guess there’s no point in avoiding it. I want to know what happened at the beach. I don’t know which one, but when I was around four or five—”
“You were five. It was a small coastal town named Sandshire, down in Florida. We used to go there on family trips. Janet’s parents took her there as a child. It was something of a tradition. I liked that town.”
When Ivan’s pause stretched into true silence, Rick leaned forward. “Interesting as that is, it’s not the part I’m asking about. What happened there? Why do I start to freak out when I think about it too much? Why can’t I remember anything besides flashes of purple in the water?”
No more room for dodging. It was time to start giving Rick what he thought he wanted.