by Simon Archer
“It worked!” he cried before letting loose another blast of lightning that took down a pair of applicants that tried to soar past us. “I just had to do what you said and focus better, Nick.”
I didn’t have time to respond because a fist came flying at my face. I caught it swiftly, and the woman it belonged to gawked, surprised by my reaction time. I kicked her backward, and she flopped into the body of another applicant who had tried to hit me with a laser beam. I dodged it, then clotheslined both of them, using my momentum to knock them both off the first tier platform.
Another applicant, water swirling over his body, sent a pressurized blast in Eric’s direction, but Andie’s body stretched out like a parachute and blocked the attack.
Andie winced, but she wasn’t seriously hurt. “Focus, dammit!”
“Uh, sorry.” Eric’s fingers cracked with lightning, and he lifted his palm. At his command, a thick bolt of electricity came down from the ceiling and hit his opponent with full force. The water amplified the damage, and a scream rang out.
Frankly, I was impressed. Eric claimed he couldn’t control his abilities very well, but he was doing an okay job of it so far. Guess, he just needed someone to believe in him.
As focused as we were on combat, time passed quickly. The horn overhead rang out again, and the three of us fought our way to the second tier. Several hopefuls were left behind after the grace period, and when they tried to claw their way back up, a golden force field popped into existence behind us and prevented them from cheating. The force field rose with us, sliding into place and leaving even more frustrated applicants in its wake.
We made it to the third tier before Matt and I were back in close range of each other. He kept glaring my way only to get distracted by another powered combatant, but he dealt with his opposition swiftly and effectively. They were well trained, holding their own just as effectively as Andie, Eric, and me, with Kristen providing support with their makeshift shield while Matt and Jack burst through the crowd like an unstoppable freight train.
The distance between us grew smaller and smaller until we were glancing back at each other over a small crowd of fighters. Just as it looked like Matt and I would get our duel, after all, a huge tornado of fire suddenly burst upward between Matt’s crew and us. The volley of fire and air sent at least a dozen applicants flying high into the air. I heard someone scream that their arm was broken, and another that they were on fire. A flier zipped by and caught two before they kissed the hard golden steps face-first, and in the chaos, Matt and I met eye contact. He sneered in my direction before turning to deal with a different contender.
I scanned the crowd and found the culprit behind the tornado, a small redheaded woman with a cocky grin who seemed more than delighted to watch the world burn. With an extended hand, she thrust the tornado my way when she spotted me.
I rolled out of the way, and Andie and Eric followed. It was one thing to throw out laser beams and water blasts, but I had a thing against reckless fire users. Call it a personal issue.
“Let’s take out tornado girl!” I called out. “She’s going to get someone killed if we don’t stop her!”
“Right behind you,” Andie grunted.
Her body was stretched out like a balloon over the top of Eric and me and took the brunt of damage meant for the two of us. Her arms had somehow made it halfway across the battlefield to punch some poor contender in the face, and then they swerved to wrap another in her rubbery arms like a thick cord, then knocked her victim and many others off the platform in the process.
Meanwhile, a man made of metal rushed us, his hand a menacing-looking blade. He tried to stab Andie with it, but I hooked his elbow and then tossed him backward. He skidded on the golden steps, then panicked when the fire tornado rolled in over the top of him. He flew up high into the air as the others had, and I felt the heat and wind of the storm trying to pull me up with him.
I climbed up to the second tier, then raced down the line to get the reckless fire user away from Andie and Eric. The redhead’s eyes squinted in irritation when I escaped her storm, and the tornado moved to follow my progress. I made it to Matt’s side of the pyramid and then taunted the redhead with a curl of my finger as the tornado followed behind her.
Given the way she’d focused on me, I knew it was personal. “Come on, then! Tell me, what did I do this time?”
“Your dad killed my uncle,” she shouted back as she jabbed a finger at me. “He joined Inferno’s army after they took Otevale! Inferno killed him on a whim to make some stupid point!”
I had sympathy for her loss, I really did, but I was tired of people blaming me for the crimes of another.
“If your uncle joined Inferno’s army, then he was a traitor,” I spat. I didn’t totally believe that, but I wanted to make her so angry that she’d stop thinking... and she did. Her eyes grew hot and wide, and the tornado flew right at me.
Unfortunately, she was in the way of its path, and it hit her first. She was hurled into the air by her own attack, flames trailing her path back down. The tornado fizzled out immediately, and she landed against the force field, motionless. Worried for her safety, I scrambled after her to make sure she wasn’t seriously injured. Just as I was checking her pulse, an angry cry from behind me told me that Matt had finally noticed I was much closer now.
I rolled to the side and just barely kept his claws going for my neck. They scraped against the golden steps with a high-pitched metal whine. I held up my arms to protect my head and sighed a little in irritation. Behind him, Kristen had molded her skylight into a giant metal bat and swung at five other contenders trying to take advantage of the distraction.
Jack stuck a thick, brick finger in my direction and roared, “Kill ‘em!”
“Oh, I’m not gonna kill him,” Matt sneered. “I’m just gonna make sure he never walks again. That’ll send a message.”
I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms, already tired with this pattern. “Wild guess, but is this about my dad again? You people are a broken record.”
Matt wasn’t overly thrilled with my tone, and he narrowed his eyes. “You don’t even remember me, do you?”
“Should I?”
“Just like a fucking Gateon to forget,” he spat. He angrily slashed at the air with his hand, and beside him, Jack’s bricks groaned threateningly as the monster of a man debated charging me. “Our dad is Ice Bringer, you prick. We were cousins once until your father went fucking Fruit Loops and turned on his best friend!”
Ice Bringer. It wasn’t a name that I was fond of hearing, because it was a reminder of a time when my family was still whole. Ice Bringer had been my dad’s old partner and the uncle who would send me on ridiculous adventures as a young boy. He played Santa Claus on Christmas and hid chocolates for Easter. A pleasant man with a loving smile who became distant after my mother’s murder. Inferno tried hard to convert him and grant him a position in his empire, but Ice Bringer was the stoic hero who never wavered in his duties. Legend said that he was never once tempted... I often wondered if that was true.
My father took it personally when his best friend refused him. He and Ice Bringer fought bloody battle after bloody battle for years, and I had no doubt that it cost the Barbur twins their childhood. Odd that I didn’t remember them. They were three years younger than me, and Matt had been this little squirt back then who hid behind his father’s leg with a constant thumb in his mouth. He had wide, curious eyes and a tendency to cry when I scolded him for stealing my toys. Which made the sister Kristen... she had been a quiet little girl who preferred her notebook to people. I wondered why she was here instead of a prestigious writing school, but trust in Matt to deliver the answer.
“He killed my mother, Nick,” he snarled, claws extended with the itch to murder me. “This isn’t about you. This is about sending a message to him.”
His mother was a woman named Lyla. A shapeshifter. A sweet, soft woman who always came with lollipops and a smile.
I’d
only heard about it through news outlets and never dared to ask any details. It had been something about a warped attempt by my dad to make Ice Bringer understand his personal view of the world. Likely, my dad thought that by taking from Ice Bringer what had been taken from the two of us, Ice Bringer would convert and finally join his forces. This proved my father’s insanity, of course, but I hated that it came from a place of mental illness and not outright depravity. It was a lot harder to fight my father when he was a victim of his own madness. It twisted my heart to remember his too-wide, too-desperate smile when we last spoke. He was convinced that I’d take up his mantle someday, and was proud that I, at least, understood him.
In some ways, I guess I did.
I settled my legs into a loose stance and scanned Matt’s body for weaknesses. Could go for his solar plexus, maybe strain one of his knees. He wouldn’t expect me to go for his eyes.
“I’m sorry about Lyla, so I’m asking you nicely, Matt,” I warned. “Back off.”
Kristen rolled her eyes and put a hand on her hip. “Aw, he’s so cute when he’s all puffed up.”
Maybe I’d break his jaw. “I’m not angry,” I spat. “You’ll know when I’m angry.”
Matt twiddled his fingers in a mocking gesture. “Ooh, spooky.”
The horn roared again, and I felt it thrum throughout my entire body. Matt and I both looked at the second platform. He probably thought I was going to try to roll past him, but I simply waited, even as the force field moved closer to block our progress.
He held his claws out, and his lips pulled back into a snarl. “Give up already, momma’s boy? You know, just like she gave in to those—”
Don’t kill him. It was a mantra in my head as the fury took me. His sheer fucking audacity. Don’t kill him. Don’t.
I felt raw power explode within me and then burst outward in a wave of pure force. Matt, Kristen, Jack, and several other applicants were all knocked backward as I flew up high into the air and hovered there for a moment while I let the feeling of nigh-unlimited power course through me.
It was always a rush when I let the power take me and so hard to keep it under control.
I rode the wave of the power inside me and dove down to snatch Matt by his collar. Then I plowed us both into the second tier platform so hard that it left an impression in the metal.
“I warned you,” I growled, my voice deeper than before.
Matt’s eyes were wide, terrified, and utterly convinced that I was the Devil himself. He coughed, and blood painted his lips. While I wanted to do a lot more damage, I held back.
As Gemma said, heroes arrest, villains hurt.
“You really are a monster,” Matt uttered.
I didn’t pay that any heed as I threw him hard onto the steps again, but he recovered a little quicker this time and scrambled back to his feet. He swiped at me with his claws, but they slid right off my skin like he was striking at steel. I knocked him backward with a backhand that sent him flying and shook my head. I was trying to be gentle, but it was difficult.
“Stop it!” I growled. “I’m not my father! Stop trying to tell me that I am! I didn’t ask for this, Matt!”
Behind me, the metal applicant from earlier tried to take advantage of the distraction and stab me with his bladed hand. It didn’t pierce my skin. I slowly turned to look at him and then punched him so hard that he flew off the platform and bounced against the force field barrier.
Matt looked from the crumpled heap of the metal applicant to me and then crossed his arms. “Not your father, eh?”
“I’m sorry about what he did to your family,” I shot back as I widened my stance to be ready for the attacks I knew were coming. “Hell, I’m sorry about what he did to Otevale, but that wasn’t me! You’ve got to listen. I don’t want to hurt you!”
“Just try, Inferno Boy!”
Matt rolled forward and went for my eyes this time. I blocked him with an arm and winced. At first, my skin resisted his claws, but with enough persistence, he managed to pierce it all the same. I felt blood flow out of the wound, saw it drip down my arm. Matt was rabid now, fangs bared like he was actually going to bite me.
With a sigh, I tossed him backward again. It was as easy as breathing. And the claw marks he’d left on my skin? They healed instantly. “Why won’t you listen?”
It was hard not to be a little angry at him, and I focused that anger into a punch to a woman made of ice who tried to take advantage of the distraction between Matt and me to attack me. My fist smashed into her face hard enough that she cracked a little.
As she stumbled backward and tumbled down the pyramid, Matt recovered again easily enough and slashed at the air in frustration. He was so angry that there were tears in his eyes. I had pity for him, really, even if he was a dick.
“Come on, Matt. I’m not my father, and you aren’t yours.” I smiled at him. “We were cousins once... Maybe we could be again?”
“Never! My family trusted a Gateon once, and we’ll never make that mistake again!” Matt shrieked. “Not now, not ever!”
He leapt at me again, and we twisted together in a flurry of fists, kicks, claws, and madness. I learned very quickly that he had a healing factor, and it was because of this that I stopped being careful. To be honest, he’d already gone too far, and my patience was a fraying thread. My vision red, I focused the power through my eyes into lasers that burned a hole through his abdomen, and when he doubled over in pain, I punched a hole through his chest.
He shrieked but healed through it and then clawed at my face like an animal. I grabbed him with both hands and flew up high, then slammed him into the ground with a strong enough impact to dent the golden platform below us and shatter his back into a million pieces.
I’d expected him to stay down with that one, but a moment later, he was up again with a snarl, teeth bared to me like a rabid hound. He wouldn’t stop, not for anything.
“Matt, for God’s sake—” I cried in exasperation.
The horn blasted again to interrupt me. The final tier. The last battle. Matt tried to throw me down below, but I didn’t budge. This just pissed him off even more, and he vibrated with rage as he jabbed a clawed finger at me, his eyes wild with hate.
“You’re not winning this, Nick!” he roared. “You don’t belong at Valcav, and you’ll never be a hero! The others might be fooled, but I know you! You’re a Gateon! You’ll turn someday, I know it! You’re fucking evil! It’s in your fucking blood!”
I wasn’t sure what else I could say to him, and it hurt to know that he’d never believe otherwise. We’d been cousins, once. Distant, maybe, but I could still remember the look of joy on his face each Christmas when his dad, dressed as Santa, burst into the warm Gateon household bearing gifts for all the children. I could still remember Kristen asking me for a rhyme to one of her poems. I could remember all of us smiling, happy and warm, content with a proper family for once. They’d been a part of it. It should have mattered.
“I lost my mother too,” I said as my voice trembled a little. “I’m sorry, but it’s not my fault.”
Kristen came up behind and swung hard with her makeshift metal bat. It hit me square on the back of the head, and I slowly turned to look at her.
“It’s better for all of us if you just drop out,” she muttered and then hit me again. The metal bounced harmlessly off my face. Jack took his chance then and kicked me hard in the abdomen.
I sighed and shook my head. “You can’t hurt me.”
“Wanna bet?” Kristen snarled, and as she summoned more metal, I flicked the air between us, and the force of it was enough to send Kristen tumbling across the battlefield.
Matt let out a howl of anguish and leapt at me. With cupped palms, I unleashed the raging energy in me in a different, more subtle fashion, a ray of blinding light. It should have taken down Matt, but Jack interposed himself in front of it. His bricks singed and flung out in various directions, but they quickly reassembled into the walking dick I knew him to be.
Matt plowed into me a second later, and I heard the snapping of his bones as his shoulder shattered against my waist. Then I looked down at him and slammed one fist down on the small of his back with so much force he actually punched three feet into the metal floor.
Unfortunately, I could already see him healing the damage.
Kristen motioned to hit me again, but suddenly, an elastic arm twisted around her body and flung her to the floor of the platform, and the giant metal bat clattered off the pyramid. Andie rolled into the chaos, her body shaped like a barrel, and then kicked Kristen for good measure while she stretched and contorted back to normal. Matt leapt at her, furious on behalf of his sister, but Andie stretched her body out of his way and then giggled when he missed her entirely.
“You’re being stupid,” she said and waggled a finger at him. “You’re no Ice Bringer, he’s no Inferno. Stop being a bitch and get over it.”
Matt was not over it. He screamed in rage and then leapt at her again, but a sharp crack of lightning jolted him, and he fell to his knees with a sharp cry of pain.
Eric came to my side and pumped his fist into the air. “Yeah! Nick Gateon’s my friend! We’re all friends now! You don’t mess with us, because we’re friends! Buddies! Best friends, even! We’ll beat you up, you jerk!”
I had to smile at that. Eric was excitable and ridiculous, but at least he was loyal. Andie and I met eyes, and then I smiled a little wider, this time for an entirely different reason.
But I felt all the energy drain out of me. It was crazy how fast ten minutes could pass in the thick of battle. I sank to my knees, and Andie rushed forward to catch me before I could fall.
“Nick, what...?”
“‘M alright,” I slurred. “S’normal. Happens. I’ll be fine.”
“You sure?” She didn’t sound convinced as she hovered at my side.
“Yeah, I’m...” I tried to stand, and then immediately fell back to my knees again when the world swam a little. I’d expended a lot of energy, apparently. A nap would very, very nice, but there was no time for that now. “‘M good.”