The Rise of Dark Flame

by Damien Benoit-Ledoux

  Aw, crap.

  Then, the arrowhead exploded.

  The loud explosion burst his eardrums, triggering an excruciating ringing in his ears. It was quickly replaced by the pain of his body slamming into the concrete surface of the loading area. He rolled on the ground, pressing his hands on his burning ears, trying to ease the torment he felt. His face smoldered and he cried out with agony, but it sounded like a muffled echo in his head.

  The ringing in his ears and the disorienting blur in his vision prevented him from getting back up when he felt pinches on his body and realized they were shooting at him. He squinted and looked around. Blurry shadows of soldiers in black uniforms approached, their guns trained on him.

  Get up and fight back!

  The thoughts in his mind seemed sluggish.

  He tried to get up, but couldn’t because his equilibrium remained disoriented by the explosion. Then, he rolled onto his back and looked at the sky, his hands covering his ears. His lucid mind pulled back from the present moment and he felt strong hands grabbing at him and pressing him down to the ground.

  Voices spoke around him, but the voices were distorted and unclear. He felt a pinch at his neck, then another at his arm. He tried to swat them away with telekinesis, but he couldn’t focus his mind.

  They’re trying to drug me.

  Distorted voices yelled around him and the pinching stopped.

  Just relax, and this will pass. You’ll heal in a minute or two.

  The hands holding him down moved as one and rolled him onto his stomach. Then, his hands were fastened behind his back with something cold and metallic. Then, his ankles were shackled together. A moment later, his hands and ankles were brought together, and the soldiers hogtied him by locking the metal shackles together.

  One voice came through the echoey din. “Secure the target for transport.”

  Dark Flame’s face and ears felt itchy, a sign that his healing powers were working to restore him.

  Something was thrust into his mouth. It was round, uncomfortable, and it held his jaw open. Someone secured it tightly behind his head, along with a blindfold someone else pulled over his eyes.

  The comm device in his ear still worked, but he couldn’t understand what his teammates were saying. Someone was shouting his codename, but he couldn’t respond. Instead, he grunted as the kidnappers hoisted him up.

  I don’t have full strength yet, but I know I don’t want to go where they’re taking me.

  “You sure he can’t break out of those? I heard he’s really strong,” a voice asked, breaking through the distorted noises ringing in his head.

  “They’re titanium restraints. I’d like to see him try,” someone answered.

  Dark Flame felt his arms falling asleep and he knew he needed to do something to get away. He tested his strength against the shackles, but stopped. Without his sight, he didn’t know what to do. A moment later, he felt pressure against his stomach as they lowered him onto something soft. A moment later, it moved…it rolled. A number of clicking sounds suggested he was being loaded into a vehicle, and then the rolling movement abruptly stopped with a jerky bang.

  “Target is secured,” someone said, close to his head. “We’re moving out.” The doors at the back of the vehicle slammed shut and his body rocked back and forth as they drove away.

  Come on, Blake…get it together.

  11 | RuVeal

  Quinn

  A sharp sound jarred Quinn from sleep. He lifted his head up from the pillow and listened. Muffled mens’ voices and the sound of a closing door came through the floor. He dropped his head back onto his pillow.

  My dads are home.

  He blinked his eyes and focused on the blue LED numbers of his alarm clock.

  11:30.

  Oh wow, I guess I slept in.

  He yawned and pushed himself out of bed, padding across the hall in his boxer shorts to use the restroom. When he finished, he went downstairs, running his hands through his bedhead. He entered the kitchen where his dads were unpacking groceries.

  Daddio noticed him first. “Hey buddy, how are you? Glad to see you’re all right.”

  “Yeah,” Quinn said. All right?

  “Hi sleepyhead, I see we slept in, huh?” Dad asked, winking at him as he pulled vegetables out of the grocery bags. “Must be nice not to have responsibilities today, huh?”

  Quinn smiled. “It is. I’m fully enjoying the benefits of having the afternoon shift.”

  Daddio loaded the meats into the fridge. “You never answered our texts last night.”

  “Your texts?” Quinn looked at him, confused. I don’t remember you texting me…that’s right, I was fighting the police and unconscious.

  “Yeah, you know, the typed messages we send back and forth on our amazing smartphones? I woke up at three and pinged your phone’s location when I saw you didn’t text back. When I saw you were home, I went back to bed.”

  “Oh, right,” Quinn said, remembering the family phones were set up so they could locate each other. “I’m sorry, I was so tired last night. I came home, jumped in the shower, and went straight to bed. It was stupid busy at work.”

  “I thought you were not working today?” Dad interjected, studying the family calendar magnetized to the front of the refrigerator. “You said you have the afternoon shift, but the calendar says you aren’t working today.”

  Quinn sleepily scratched his head and stared at the calendar. “Am I not working?”

  “Yeah, isn’t this the weird random Sunday you had off? Dad and I were going to go running later together and I thought Keegan was coming over for dinner.”

  “Oh yeah, that’s right,” Quinn answered, smiling. I can’t wait to see Keegan tonight!

  “Cool,” Daddio said.

  “How was your dinner thing last night?” Quinn asked.

  Dad shrugged. “It was fine, I mean it wasn’t very exciting and nothing unexpected happened.”

  “What did you expect to happen?” Daddio asked.

  “Nothing really, it’s just that sometimes these benefit functions are rather boring. Last night was a good example.”

  Daddio shrugged. “Aw, babe, I thought it was fun.”

  Dad laughed and pointed at his husband. “You liked checking out the hot waiters.”

  “Oh boy,” Quinn said, rolling his eyes and laughing.

  “Did not!” Daddio exclaimed in mock defense. Then, he smiled. “Okay, maybe just a little.”

  Dad rolled his eyes. “Predictable.”

  “I’m going to shower,” Quinn announced.

  “Okay, do you want lunch or a late brunch?” Daddio asked.

  Quinn spun around and snapped the fingers of his left hand. “We are gay and it’s Sunday. I expect a fabulous brunch with bacon.” Daddio burst into laughter and Quinn made his way upstairs to shower.

  “Dear lord, we’ve raised diva.” Dad commented.

  “Speaking of which…” Daddio replied.

  A moment later, Cher’s Woman’s World blared through the house’s sound system.

  ❖

  “What do you think?” Quinn asked. “Can we trust her?”

  “I don’t think we have a choice,” Ron answered. “By the way, when did you become we?”

  Quinn had texted Ron after a more than satisfying brunch with his dads and met up with him at his house to discuss the arrival of Ana Maria Garcia. Since it was an unseasonably warm day for November. They decided to walk to Prescott Park. They waited for a car to pass before crossing Middle Street.

  “It’s always been we for me,” Quinn answered. “I couldn’t have done any of this without your help.”

  “Well, I’m flattered,” his mentor responded.

  “Do you want a cool name like in the comic books?”

  Ron laughed. “You mean like the Justice League’s Watchtower or something?”

  Quinn shrugged. “That’s taken.”

  “Right, right. It needs to be something original. Unfortunately, I lack th
e sophisticated technology to monitor the entire city and planet for criminal activity, not that our quaint little town has nearly the level of problems that Star City, Metropolis, or Gotham have.

  “Thank goodness for that,” Quinn answered. “I wouldn’t have time to fight all that crime and go to school.”

  “Honestly, I think you need to learn what you can from Ana Maria. In reality, she’s the newest member of our team.”

  “But which team is she really on?” Quinn asked. “I want to know if she has an agenda other than preventing The Order from making more superhumans.”

  “Agreed. At the moment, your goals are in alignment, but she might be in a league of her own. Still, I’m fairly certain it’s not a bad idea to work with her.”

  “Are you trying to convince yourself or me?” Quinn asked.

  Ron shrugged. “A little bit of both. Sometimes, when a new character arrives on scene, you can’t always tell what their intentions are. They could make your life better or much, much worse.”

  “That’s uh…not very comforting.”

  Ron clutched his chest and added, “Take heart, noble hero, I am but a mere mortal advising a super-powered being who will apparently age more gracefully than the rest of us.”

  Quinn laughed, and they let a car pass before crossing Pleasant Street.

  “Here’s the catch,” Ron said. “It might be wiser to keep her in the background. If The Order discovers they succeeded in creating a superhuman years ago they will stop at nothing to make more.”

  “That’s just insane,” Quinn commented.

  “Evil often is, whether you understand its perspective or not. So, you may have to be the solo superhero in the foreground fighting the battles without Ana Maria.”

  Quinn stopped and shook his head. “No way, she has to fight with me and risk exposing herself to the world.” Ron stopped with him, and Quinn continued. “I don’t know that I can defeat Blake on my own, especially after he walloped me good back in Rangeley.”

  “Well, that’s a conversation you need to have with her.”

  They continued walking. “Even if The Order manages to create superhumans, it’s going to take them time to figure out their powers, right?”

  “What do you mean?” Mr. St. Germain asked. “Well, it sounds like her powers developed over time and now, fifty or so years later, they’re probably really strong. Blake and my powers took weeks to get to where they are now, so it’s highly unlikely that a superhuman army would ever surpass us because they would always be playing catchup when compared to us. Or like, there’s no way they can make them at full power, is there?”

  Ron shrugged. “I have no idea, buddy. Maybe not in the first instances, but you should expect them to develop the technology as time allows. That said, I like where your thoughts are going. Theoretically, you will always have the upper hand whenever you battle a new super-powered person, but if they make a bunch at a time, there’s nothing that says they couldn’t overwhelm you with numbers.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t think about that.”

  “What we really need is intelligence; raw data about The Order. I’m willing to accept they routinely scrub the Internet, but that means there’s a datacenter out there somewhere that holds all their secrets. We need to find a way to infiltrate The Order’s networked systems and find out where there other reactors are.”

  Quinn looked at him with great interest.

  “Even if you were to destroy the Rangeley facility and the Seavey Island facility at the naval prison—which by the way, would piss off a lot of locals—we have no idea where the other reactors are or where they could be working on super-powered experiments. I wish we had a contact with amazing technical abilities.”

  “Do you mean a super hacker?” Quinn asked.

  “Well, that would be illegal but yes, that’s what I was thinking.”

  “I might be able to arrange that,” Quinn said.

  Ron looked at him, surprised and confused. “Have you been holding back on computer hacking superpowers?”

  Quinn laughed. “No, but, remember the Stratotanker I saved from crashing into Portsmouth?”

  Ron nodded. “Absolutely.”

  “Well, I recently bumped into the pilot again. We talked, and he offered his help.”

  “But you can already fly,” Ron said, grinning.

  Quinn rolled his eyes. “No, silly. He said he had access to special teams and equipment. Specifically, he said, ‘really smart computer people.’ I think he thinks he owes me a debt because I saved his life, so he might be useful.”

  “Do you know how to get in touch with him?”

  “Of course. I have his business card.”

  Ron chuckled “Wow, you’re already building up this little team of people to help guard the city, maybe even the planet. I think we’re going to need a code name for ourselves.”

  Quinn laughed. “Yes! Now all we need is a special hang out or a secret base and our superhero life will be complete.”

  Ron smiled and nodded enthusiastically. “Wow, wouldn’t that be so cool? The closest thing we have is the empty field behind Sagamore Hill and the roof of the 100 Club—but let’s face it, none of us mere mortals can get up there.”

  “True,” Quinn said. They turned on to Marcy Street and made their way into Prescott Park. Most of the leaves had fallen from the trees, but that didn’t stop a few people from enjoying the afternoon sun.

  “By the way, have you told your dads yet?” Ron asked.

  Quinn shook his head. “No. I’m waiting for the right time, it just hasn’t come up yet.”

  “Well, since you take my counsel seriously, don’t wait too much longer. You’ve been very lucky with the accidents and late nights, not to mention sneaking out of the house at night. That’s going to catch up with you one way or the other. Now, you’ve got another superhuman to contend with, and a potential plan for creating a team to take down The Order. You need to realize this is quickly becoming a full-time responsibility.”

  “Well, I don’t play hockey so it’s not like I have athletics eating my time up right now. I still get out and run.”

  “Quinn…”

  “I know, I hear you,” Quinn said.

  Across the park, people screamed with panic and surprise. Even without super hearing, Ron cocked his head toward the sound “Oh, sounds like you’re needed somewhere to save the day,” he said.

  They looked at the commotion and saw people pointing toward the river. Quinn saw something big and white in the water.

  “What the heck is that?”

  Ron, who was a little taller, gasped. “Oh geez, it’s a capsized boat. Looks like it flipped over completely because I can see the centerboard sticking up. Go save them, Blue Spekter,” Ron said.

  “I need my suit, Ron! I can’t just take off here in broad daylight!” Quinn protested, surprised by his mentor’s advice.

  “You didn’t have a suit when you saved Hector from falling from the bridge tower, so why would that stop you now? If you get a running start, those people won’t die of drowning or hypothermia. I’ll walk in the other direction, so nobody can harass me about being with you.”

  Quinn shrugged and looked at the river and the boat. The current had already pulled it ten feet downriver.

  “The outgoing tide is fast, Quinn, get to it,” Ron said. “Go save those people.”

  “Here goes nothing,” Quinn responded.

  Ron turned and walked away as Quinn ran toward the water. With everyone’s eyes focused on the action in the river, nobody saw him ignite with blue brilliance and jump into the air.

  Blue Spekter swooped over the docks at the edge of the park and flew toward four screaming, panicking people flailing in the water who were unable to swim against the fierce current. Two people were hanging on to the right side of the overturned, medium-sized ocean-faring sailboat, and two other people were clinging on to each other. None of them wore life vests. When they saw him, they reached up and screamed for help. Blue Spekte
r dove toward the two people holding each other and lowered his arms; he grabbed a young man with his right hand and a young woman with his left. He recognized them as seniors from high school, but he didn’t know their names.

  He pulled them out of the water, looped around, and flew back towards the park where he dropped them off, so bystanders could help them. “Call 911 and get an ambulance here right away, these people need medical attention.”

  “I’m on it,” someone in the crowd yelled. Blue Spekter spun around and flew out to the fast-moving boat. The current had pulled it fifteen feet farther, a testament to the river’s power. He swooped down and grabbed the last two people from the side of the boat. He ascended, pulled them out of the water, and flew them back to the park.

  “I think Peter is still in the boat,” the girl in his right hand yelled, her teeth chattering. “We didn’t see him fall into the water when the boat flipped.”

  “I’ll get him” Blue Spekter replied. He dropped them off then flew back to the boat which had been pulled out even further.

  Blue Spekter scanned the flowing waters but didn’t see anyone.

  He must be trapped under the boat.

  Blue Spekter flew to the edge of the boat and thrust his hands and arms into the water until he grabbed the edge of the boat.

  Yikes, that’s cold.

  Then, he willed himself up and lifted the edge of the boat out of the water. A bell to his right caught his ear and he realized he was about to crash into a metal buoy.

  Oh no!

  Rather than smash into the buoy and wreck it, he dropped the boat, jumped up and over the buoy as the boat passed by it, then dove down and grabbed the edge of the boat again. He struggled to right the capsized sailboat because it had taken on a lot of water and it was much heavier than he expected. He strained and pulled until the boat flipped over and righted itself. It floated low in the river because it had taken on a lot of water.

  “Is there anyone in here?” Blue Spekter shouted at the boat, flying over it and searching for signs of life. “Hello? Hello?”

  He quickly grabbed the front of the boat and pulled it toward the shore, securing it to one of the larger buoys with the anchor rope. Then, he flew back to the middle of the river and ascended, so he could see into the water better.