by Simon Archer
“Nice try, Brad!”
“Thanks!” Brad called out from the very top of the wall climb.
I cursed and raced up to him as he struggled with the lock to Adelaide's cage. I climbed the wall quickly like a spider, from one foothold to the next, skipping several in upward leaps and taking great risks at a fall. I made it up the wall in record time and found Brad’s back turned to me.
“Foiled... by a lock?” I struggled to catch my breath and set one hand on my knee. After a moment, I gestured up at him. “What’s the matter, Brad? You run out of minions to do your dirty work?”
“Seems you’ve run out of girls to do yours,” he shot back. “How’s your little fuck-party going these days? Did you bang the alien yet?”
When I glared at him, he continued, “What’s her cunt look like? Is it purple?”
I could have killed him then and there. I could have charged him, knocked off the wall, and sent him tumbling to his death. I could have.
But I didn’t.
“The game’s over, Brad. Too much time has passed, your score is going to be abysmal.”
He laughed at that and released the lock to look me up and down.
“You think this is about the final? I don’t give a shit about some stupid score,” he sneered. “That’s not why I’m here.”
“Then why are you are?”
“To learn!” He spread his arms wide and gestured at the whole of Valcav. “And learn I have! You heroes, you’re a piece of fucking work. Look at you, for instance, whining and carrying on about your daddy issues all fucking year. I’ve heard it all, listening to that thing you call a brain.” He twiddled his fingers at me mockingly, and his voice went falsetto. “‘Oh no, I love my daddy, but he’s evil!’”
I ignored the obvious bait and the anger that came with it. I knew that he was trying to get me to charge at him so that I’d take the fall instead. Balling my fists, I held firm.
“What’s your game, Brad?”
“Game?” He snorted in derision. “This isn’t a game.”
“Why twist Matt around?” I snarled. “Why manipulate the two of us into a stupid feud? Why bother attending all year just to fuck over your group in the final? What do you want?”
He laughed again, and there was an insane edge to it. I frowned, uncertain, and glanced down to Adelaide in the cage. She was looking up at Brad with a nervous expression.
“Brad—”
“I’m sorry, Nick.” Brad chuckled as he wiped the mirth from his eyes. “Is this the part where I go on a rant and tell you all about my dirty little plans? You want my motive, huh?” He thought for a moment before rambling on. “Well, you see, my mommy killed my daddy when I was three. She liked very much to beat me and shove me into closets for days at a time, so now I have a hatred for the slimy whores you call women.”
He said this with wide, mocking eyes, and I wasn’t sure if he was serious or not. I gritted my teeth and shook my head.
“You’re sick. You need help.”
Brad chuckled again. “I knew you’d say that.” He grinned and pointed at me. “It’s the line they always say. A real hum-dinger. ‘Brad, you need help,’” he mocked in falsetto. Then his voice took a deep, serious tone. His glare was bitter and spiteful.
“Help is an asylum where they torture you with drugs for months and then tell you that it’s all in your head! Mommy’s dead, Brad, you killed her. Remember? But I live in everyone else’s head. I lived in your head. You miss your mommy something fierce, eh? I heard the bad guys had their way with her. Is that true?”
I wasn’t going to kill him. I wasn’t going to take the bait. It was a struggle, but I held my ground with gritted my teeth.
Brad whistled and clapped his hands. “You’re a strong one! I really admire that. It must be the Gateon blood, eh? No, I knew you’d prove to be a pain my ass, so I went for Matt instead. He was easy, all that pent up aggression and denial. Like clay in my hands! And that whore sister of his was so busy living in her own little world that it was relatively no contest. To be honest, it was Judgment who suspected something. I thought he was going to be my downfall, but then he was so busy watching you for issues that I fell through the cracks. You’re a fucking magnet for attention, Nick, but me, I’m just Brad!” He flailed his hands. “I’m just nobody!”
From the cage, Adelaide admonished, “You’re just expelled, honey.”
Brad rolled his eyes without a care and twisted to point a finger at her. Whatever he had to say, I didn’t want to hear it. I closed the distance between us with a leap and punched him hard in the temple. He spun around with a blink before pointing at me with another mad chuckle.
“Good arm,” he said with a crazed smirk. “Not quite enough stopping power though—”
I punched him again, and he fell unconscious on the floor.
“How’s that?” I said as I stepped over his body. When he didn’t respond, I gestured to the lock on Adelaide's cage. “Let me help you out there?”
“Nah, I’m quite comfy.” She smiled. “Besides, you’re supposed to keep me in here.”
“Oh, right.” I nodded.
I sat down in the platform and peeked over the edge to catch a glimpse of the others. Jack had reformed and was now making his way out of the acid pit. Kristen and Matt were sitting side by side near the starting line, and the girls were all huddled together speaking quietly.
“I don’t think they care about the final anymore,” I said. “Are they going to fail?”
“I don’t know, sugar.”
A few moments later, a bell rung, calling for the end of the fight. City Master drew our attention with a wave and held a microphone to his mouth.
“All of you, report to me! We need to discuss things.” After a thought, he pointed up to me. “And Mr. Gateon! Bring Mr. O’Connor with you.”
Chapter 30
Matt crossed his arms with a nervous sigh. Then he rested them at his sides. Then they wandered down into his lap. His fingers kept curling into fists which then released to pick at invisible lint on his clothes. He bit his lip, then let it go. Then he glared at me for staring, only to fall apart a second later and look down at the floor instead.
“I’m really sorry,” he muttered for the seventh time as he glanced at his sister. “I didn’t mean it.”
“I told you, it’s fine,” she whispered. “Seriously. We’re good.”
“I’m... I’m sorry.”
“Jesus, Matt. I’m gonna kill that bastard.” Kristen wrapped a comforting arm around her brother. “Listen, it wasn’t your fault.” When Matt seemed determined to stare at the floor, Kristen drew his attention by pulling his chin to look up at her. “Hey. Focus. Are you going to be alright?”
“I... yeah, I... I, uh... I’m sorry, Kris,” he said again. He seemed to be a broken record and was unable to shake what Brad had done to him. All the time, Judgment kneeled beside him and whispered something in his ear. Matt frowned and leaned into his sister.
I turned away from them to watch as the police carted Brad away on a stretcher. He was still out cold, but they had still bound him to the stretcher with handcuffs. Triton was at my side, a calm hand on my shoulder.
Just out of earshot of Matt and the others, I whispered, “Is he going to be alright?”
“Matthew is a strong and capable young man,” Triton whispered back. “Though the touch of madness is hard to shake, he will recover quickly enough.”
I glanced back at Matt with a frown and found him glaring at me again. I wasn’t certain if this was him anymore or Brad’s lingering influence. I looked back to the gym doors where Brad had disappeared with a sigh.
“Have you ever dealt with this kind of thing before, sir?” I asked as I continued to stare.
Triton nodded with an unhappy twist of his lips. “Telepathy and mind control are rare gifts, but they do occur from time to time. The telepath I knew was a hero who fell. Fighting her was... very difficult. I commend you on your performance because I know it
is not easy to navigate those waters.”
I blushed, not sure how to take that. I glanced back to Matt again. He was hugging Kristen, his face buried deep in her shoulder. Kristen nodded to me with troubled eyes, a silent thank you for saving her brother.
“I did what I could,” I muttered to Triton. It didn’t feel like a win, to be honest. Brad had spent the entire year undetected, and now, he’d left a mark that wouldn’t be easy to shake.
“You acted as a hero should, and your score will reflect this.”
I glanced back up at him with a furrowed brow. “But what about their score, sir? Will they pass?”
“They’ll be fine.” Triton smiled gently. “It’s very sweet that you’re so concerned about it, considering they are your rivals.”
“Rivals, but not enemies,” I pointed out. “Matt might be a dick, but he doesn’t deserve what happened. Neither does Jack. This was all Brad.” I scowled, angry again at the memory. “What’s going to happen to that bastard? Is he going to pay for this?”
“Mr. O’Connor, if that is indeed his true name, will be taken to an asylum for examination,” Triton explained. “This time, there will be precautions set to keep him there.”
“So you think that his ramblings were true?” I asked.
“I think the best lies are woven in truth,” Triton amended with a pointed look. “Given what Mr. O’Connor stated in his final confrontation, Efraim and I believe that he may be an escapee from the hospital. We will look into local records and investigate the matter, I assure you.”
I nodded and glanced up at the wall-climb where we’d made our last stand.
“I nearly considered killing him,” I confessed quietly. “I wanted to. Fulgurite was one thing, but Brad, he... he felt truly evil. There was no saving him.”
“But you didn’t,” Triton pointed out. He had no doubt that I could have, even unpowered, hell, even with the school’s precautions set in place.
“I still considered it,” I insisted.
“You know the rule by now, Mr. Gateon. ‘Heroes arrest—’”
“‘—Villains hurt,” I finished for him. “Yes, I know.”
“Brad might be beyond redemption, but he is still a young tortured mind and deserves the offer of care,” he said soothingly. “You did the right thing, and we will continue to give that offer to him until there is truly no hope left for him.”
“I... understand,” I muttered.
We were given an hour’s break to calm down. Matt slowly recovered in the company of his sister, until he seemed back to his normal, confident self. He continued to glare at me in distrust, but there wasn’t an edge of madness to it anymore.
For once, I was relieved to see it. If Matt could go back to being the rival I sometimes wanted to strangle, then I could shake this stupid thing with Brad and move on too.
I spent most of the hour seated by the gym doors while glancing out at the course. Andie and Kara joined me at some point, both quietly leaning against me. The silence was comforting, and I took solace in it while listening to Aylin and Eric chitter back and forth.
This time, I was more thankful than ever for Eric’s presence. As always, he shook the drama off easily enough and then quickly shifted topics from Brad’s insanity to the second match to come.
Triton and Judgment both decided that in order to keep the second match fair, Eric would be temporarily joining Matt’s crew as Brad’s replacement. He was excited to work with a ‘legendary Barbur,’ and even more excited to fight against me while I was powered.
Aylin wasn’t so certain, but Eric couldn’t be swayed. With confident hands on his hips, he loudly proclaimed that he was going to save his biggest, best attacks for me because he knew that I could take it.
This seemed to work well for Matt. Even though I’d more or less saved him earlier, he wasn’t even remotely close to bro territory. His glares grew more and more heated the closer we reached the final match, and he conspired with both Jack and Kristen on the various ways to deal with me.
By the time they entered the obstacle course to set their own traps, I already knew that simply flying up and grabbing Adelaide wasn’t going to be in the cards.
Gathering the girls, I huddled us together while we waited for Matt’s team to finish.
“The two of us can fly, so they’re probably going to move Adelaide to stall us.” I gestured between Aylin and me. “Leaving her up on that ledge doesn’t make any sense. They’ll want us to fight on the ground.”
“They’re also going to use some pretty lethal traps,” Kara offered, “and they’re not going to hold back against you, Nick. That means I plan on keeping my distance for the most part. You, Aylin, and Andie should be able to take the heat while I figure out Adelaide’s new position.”
“I can take a beating, sure,” Andie chimed in, “but two sets of eyes are better than one. You got an extra invisibility thingie?”
“It’s called a cloaking device,” Kara chuckled, “and yeah, I do. Here.”
She passed Andie a small black box, and she immediately tested it by pressing a little switch on the side. Instantly, she vanished, and I heard a cry for joy.
“This is awesome!”
“It also means we won’t be able to see each other,” Kara said with a shrug. “I’ll figure that out later. For now, we’ll just use the communicators to keep track of each other.”
Andie reappeared with a wide grin. “That works, sugar pop. You take the left half, I’ll take the right.”
Kara snorted at the nickname. “Sure. We should go invisible before it starts to throw them off. That means we’ll take care of Adelaide, okay, Nick? You and Aylin focus on keeping them distracted. Kristen, in particular, because she’ll wise up pretty quick after I used my cloaking device in the previous match.”
“Just be careful.” I nodded, happy with the plan. “If they have lethal traps on the field, I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“I’ll be fine, Nick.”
“Kara...” Her arm was fully healed now, but there was no way I’d get over the feeling of nearly losing her. I frowned at the memory, and she shook her head, a stubborn little light in her eyes.
“Seriously, Nick. I can take care of myself.”
“I know that,” I said. It was true, Kara had trained very hard the last few weeks to overcome her physical weakness within the group. Her reflexes were nearly as good as mine unpowered. “It’s just—”
“I know.” She rested her hand on my shoulder and looked me deep in the eye. “But it’s time to kick ass, and you’ve got to let me do my part. Alright?”
“Yeah, we’ll kick some serious ass,” Andie chimed in. She nodded in confirmation and then hugged us both with an arm slung over either shoulder. “We’ve got this. It’s time.”
I nodded to them both and then watched as Andie released me to go invisible. Kara did the same, and seconds later, the wall fell behind us. Kristen was wrapped in metal once again, and Eric was beside her, bouncing excitedly on his heels. Matt and Jack waited at the starting line.
I slowly walked with Aylin to the line and met Matt’s eyes dead on from the other side of it. I looked him up and down with concern.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Like you even care,” he sneered.
“I’d tell you that I do,” I sighed, “but you’d never believe me.”
In a way, it was sort of comforting how easily he dismissed the whole thing.
He rolled his eyes and looked a little bit irritated. “Time’s ticking, Nick. You going to power up or what?”
It was the first time all year he’d called me by my name and not by some stupid insult meant to get a rise out of me. I lifted a brow at that, then, with a nod, power burst through me like a rushing tidal wave. I held my fists at my sides and glanced up at the wall climb. True to form, Adelaide was gone.
As if that were the cue, the fight was on.
Aylin immediately dodged to the side as Matt rushed me, teeth bared and claws out
. He tried to tackle me, his claws scraping viciously against my skin. I grimaced at the sensation but freed myself easily enough and shoved him backward with a shake of my head.
“You’re too predictable.” I sighed. “You’ve got to stop charging at me like you expect something else to happen.”
“Shut up,” he snarled. “Don’t think that because you took out Brad that we’re friends now. You’re just like him, hiding in plain sight and taking advantage of our resources while you bide your fucking time. You’re going to betray us the same way he did!”
So he really did hate me. Well, that was good. At least it was familiar. I rolled my eyes at him before disregarding him entirely in favor of Jack. As I lunged past Matt, I closed the distance between Jack and me with a flying punch, using enough strength and speed to kill an ordinary person. The big dumb brick idiot simply stared at me and watched as I connected. He flew backward, smashed against a nearby wall, and scattered into a pile of bricks.
Matt muttered a soft curse and chased after me.
Meanwhile, Aylin took to the skies and reported, “Adelaide isn’t in view from above.”
“Taking care of it,” Kara whispered. “Andie, stay low.”
I sped toward Kristen who held her ground and tried to thrash at me with a slice of metal that floated around her. I didn’t bother to dodge the attack and lifted a brow when it did no damage, the metal crumpling on my chest. She cursed and backpedaled.
I followed, and we formed a peculiar train as Matt chased me and I chased Kristen as she ran for cover in the obstacle course.
It was Eric who stopped me in my tracks. A tremendous crack of thunder shook the whole arena and the biggest bolt of lightning I’d ever seen jolted through me. Even powered up, it hurt like hell, and I groaned in pain and stumbled to my knees.
Eric was concerned for a moment that he’d gone too far, but then I chuckled and shook my head. I grinned at him and nodded in approval. He jumped in the air and cheered like a toddler in a toy store.
“Hell yeah! You see, Nick?” he cried out. “I’ve been working on it, and I finally did it! The meditation really helps! That was awesome! Thanks, man! You’re the best!”