“Blake, stop!” Victor shouted.
“The problem with scum like you is that you never learn. You can make all the promises you want, but you’ll never stop being scum. Victor told me The Order wasn’t tied to criminal activity, but I’ve discovered your dirty little secret, Nigel. I know who each and every one of you are and exactly what you do.”
“How?” Nigel asked, terrified.
Blake ignored him. “I saw the hopeless faces of the men, women, and children who were forced into slavery to make your drugs and make you money. Tell me, Nigel, have you ever seen an eleven-year-old child stuff drugs into a teddy bear?”
The Archimandrite shook his head, whimpering as his tears rolled down his face.
“And you never will,” Blake said. Then, he pressed his hand against the man’s face. The flesh sizzled, and the man screamed in agony as his blood flash-boiled and the skin melted at Blake’s touch. Blake sent a pulse of heat through the man’s skull and incinerated his brain. Then, he released him and gave him a gentle push.
“Timber,” Blake whispered. The Archimandrite’s body fell backward, his skull and shoulders slamming onto the conference table with a sickening thud. Nigel’s last breath hissed from his mouth while flesh and blood sizzled on the man’s exposed skull bones.
“Take him down!” one of the Archimandrite’s associates yelled, ducking for cover.
“No, don’t shoot him!” Victor yelled before diving under the table.
Blake smirked. “You’ve learned.”
The two guards at his left and right jumped back while the pair of guards on the opposite side of the boardroom leveled their weapons and fired. Blake raised his hand and curved the bullets back toward their owners. The bullets ripped through their bodies and the men collapsed to the floor, dead. Looking to his right, he met the gaze of a terrified guard.
“I’m good,” the man said, raising his hands in surrender.
“Me too,” the guard to his left said.
Victor popped up from under the table, leaned forward, slammed his palms on the tabletop, and yelled at him. “What the hell, Blake? You were supposed to meet him, not kill him!”
“I changed the plans, Victor. I suggest you get used to it.”
“But why?” Victor yelled. “These are our people! Have you lost your bloody mind?”
Blake glowered at him. “Don’t act like this isn’t what you wanted, Victor.”
“What are you talking about?” Victor pushed himself to a standing position.
“When you convinced me to take out Mother Superior so you could take her place, I believed your promises and eliminated her so you would be promoted. You got what you wanted, but I know you aspire to be more than the Hegumen.”
Victor’s face exploded with surprise as the Archimandrite’s associates looked at him in disbelief.
“Is this true, Victor?” the bearded associate asked.
Victor shook his head. “I don’t know what he’s talking about.”
“Liar,” Blake responded, gambling on one of the theories he gleaned from Melvin’s notebook. He decided to call Victor’s bluff. “Why did you send me to Boston in the first place, Victor?”
“So, you could see and understand the other side of life.”
“The other side of The Order, you mean,” Blake retorted.
“What?” Victor said, looking confused.
Blake swallowed, irritated by Victor’s feigned innocence. “You must’ve known I wouldn’t rest after discovering who and what is truly responsible for what I discovered in the power plant.”
Victor shook his head. “Blake, don’t. Whatever you’re planning, just stop.”
Blake pointed at the chair behind Victor. “Sit down, Victor, or you’re next.” Victor’s eyes bulged with indignation, but the man obeyed.
Then, Blake turned and waved his hand over the door control. The door slid open and Blake noticed the two remaining guards were trembling with fear. “Today you work for me, is that clear?”
“Yes, sir,” they both responded, vigorously nodding.
“Traitors!” one of the associates yelled.
Blake rolled his eyes. “Grab those two and follow me.”
“Right away, sir.” The guards did as they were told and pulled the associates up from their seats. The men had no choice but to accompany guards.
“Where are you taking them?” Victor asked, remaining in his chair.
Blake turned back to address him. “When I decide to tell you, that’s when you’ll know. Perhaps you should think about what it is you really want and show a little more gratitude when it’s delivered to you.”
Victor frowned and sat back in the chair.
Blake turned back to the guards. “Let’s go.”
Then, he led them through the unfinished part of the facility to the interrogation room and knocked on the door. It unlocked, slowly cracked open, and then Radoslav peered through the narrow opening.
Radoslav saw the two men and grinned from ear to ear. “Dark Flame, my new best friend, I so happy you brought me things to play with today.”
Blake handed him two notebooks and two pens. The interrogator’s shoulders dropped, and he sighed. “Oh, I expected more fun today.”
“I doubt they’ll be easy. Just don’t break their writing hands. The rest is up to you.”
“What is it you want to know?”
“Everything Melvin did not know.”
“Melvin ratted us out?” the bearded associate asked. Blake turned in anger and thrust the man against the wall. He fell to the ground, unconscious. Then, Blake gestured to the man at his left. “Start with this one.”
“What makes you think they don’t have dinte moarte…a death tooth?”
“Would you recognize one if you saw it?” Blake asked, glaring at the standing associate.
“Yes.”
“Good.” Then, Blake raised his arm and spread the fingers of his left hand, simultaneously opening the associate’s mouth. “Have a look,”
Radoslav chuckled. “You make too easy,” he responded in broken English. He pulled a small flashlight from his pocket and shined it in the associate’s mouth. Then, he pointed and shined the light so Blake could see. “Right there, second from back on left.”
“I see it.” With the swift motion of his index finger, Blake ripped the tooth out. The man howled in agony and grabbed the side of his mouth as Blake released him. The death tooth fell to the floor.
Blake took the flashlight from Radoslav and walked over to the unconscious associate on the floor and opened his mouth. Quickly finding the death tooth, he extracted it and let it fall to the floor. The unconscious man moaned but didn’t react. He must have hit his head harder than I realized.
Blake turned to the two guards. “You now work for Radoslav, who works for me. If you want to leave this place alive, you will never speak of what you saw here today. Is that clear?”
They both nodded emphatically.
“Good. You can leave when Radoslav is finished. And, one more thing. If you have any residual loyalty to these two ass clowns and even think about helping them out by hurting Radoslav, I will rip you apart from the inside, bone by bone. I will show you your organs, one at a time, until you’re dead. Understand?”
The guards whimpered and nodded.
“Good. Call me when you’re finished, Radoslav.”
“Will do, Dark Flame.”
❖
Blake was about to exit the facility when Victor caught up with him. “Blake, we need to talk.”
Blake slowly turned around, noting that for the first time ever, he felt completely free of Victor’s authority over his life.
“No, we don’t.”
“What you did today can never happen again,” Victor said. “You pull a stunt like that again and I’ll cut you off and throw you out to the streets so fast you’ll have no choice but to…”
“You seem to forget how dangerous it is to threaten a man who can kill you simply by lifting a
finger.” Blake stepped forward and ignited his eyes. Victor turned pale with fear as Blake raised his right hand to Victor’s lapel and gently dusted off a rogue piece of lint. “If you cut me off, I’ll cut you off, and I promise you won’t like it, either.”
Victor silently blinked at him.
Blake inched his face closer to Victor’s face. “Boo!”
Victor blinked and twitched, involuntarily trembling as he gasped. He fought to regain his composure.
“I’m glad we finally have an understanding, Victor.” Then, Blake turned and made his way to his car.
4-3 | Power Play
Quinn
THE NEXT DAY AT SCHOOL, students gathered in the cafeteria and the ambient conversational buzz was vibrant and relaxed. True to his word, Agent Potter had removed the Department of Homeland Security, relieving the teenage population of unnecessary angst now that Agent Potter understood Blue Spekter was on their side. Only the regularly-assigned high school police officer remained on campus, and even he seemed happy to have the place back to himself.
Quinn winced when he sensed Blake drive into the parking lot, but he and his friends were in hysterics over Loren’s Thanksgiving Day story, where the family turkey preparations turned into a disaster.
“It was terrible and funny at the same time,” Loren said. “Everyone was so focused on the turkey grandma dropped and the hot, greasy mess that followed, that they completely forgot about the bread, potatoes, and vegetables in the oven. No one noticed the stove was smoking until the fire alarm went off, but it was too late because the bread had charred, and the potatoes had burnt. The only thing we had left to eat was overcooked carrots and dried-out butternut squash with marshmallow ash.”
“I still can’t believe your uncle thought it would be funny to surprise your grandma when she had just pulled the turkey out of the oven,” Ravone said, shaking her head.
Loren laughed. “Let me tell you, he paid for it, literally. He forked over the cash for Chinese takeout for eighteen people because there was nothing left to eat. Grandma was so pissed she wouldn’t talk to him for the rest of the day. So, it was definitely the most memorable Thanksgiving I can remember. What about you guys?”
Quinn chuckled. “Compared to that story, it was pretty normal and boring.”
“Yeah, same here,” Keegan added.
“I can’t wait for what comes next,” Quinn said, bouncing his eyebrows at Keegan.
“And what is that?” Keegan asked, smiling at his boyfriend.
“Oh boy,” Ravone said, rolling her eyes and chuckling.
Loren gently slapped her on the shoulder. “Stop it!” she whispered.
“Christmas! I get to buy you Christmas presents!” Quinn exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.
Keegan tilted his head to the side with curiosity. “Um…”
Both Ravone and Loren immediately looked at Quinn with urgent expressions that suggested he made a mistake.
“What’s wrong?” Quinn asked, confused. What the hell did I miss out on?
“Quinn, I don’t celebrate Christmas,” Keegan answered.
Quinn’s face fell with shock. “What? Why not?”
“I’m Jewish.”
Oh my gosh. “Oh wow, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
Keegan smiled. “You don’t have to apologize, Quinn. Besides, I can tell by your reaction that you were clueless.”
Quinn slumped. “So…does that mean I can’t buy you Christmas presents?”
“No, but you can buy me Hanukkah presents instead.”
Quinn smiled, and his face lit up. “Okay!”
“This year, Hanukkah overlaps Christmas, so it will be easy for both of us.”
Loren piped up next and pointed at Keegan. “So, do you buy him a Christmas present or a Hanukkah present?”
Keegan chuckled. “I will buy him a Christmas present because that’s what he celebrates, but I will also buy him a Hanukkah gift because he’s too adorable and I want to spoil him.”
Ravone pretended to gag and throw up, sending the group into a fit of laughter. The bell rang, and the laughter changed to sad groans, suggesting their unwillingness to take on the day and start school.
As Quinn pulled his backpack over his shoulders, he noticed Darien glaring at him. Now what?
His casted, broken arm was still suspended in an arm sling, so Quinn didn’t fear a physical altercation—not that Darien could hurt him nowadays anyway.
Darien raised his good hand and pointed his middle and index fingers at his eyes. Then, he flipped his hand around and pointed at Quinn. “I’m watching you,” he mouthed.
Quinn rolled his eyes and shook his head. Ignoring him, he walked down the hallway with Keegan and gave him a quick kiss goodbye before they parted ways for their first class.
❖
“Holy crap! What did you do to the suit?” Ron St. Germain, his science teacher and superhero mentor asked, staring at the gaping hole in the superhero shirt Quinn held in his hands.
Quinn smirked. “Apparently you didn’t make it rebar proof.”
“Rebar proof?” his mentor asked, looking at him incredulously. “How come these holes go through the front and the back? You’re supposed to be invincible!”
“Um, so about that. I’m not as invincible as we thought. At least, it seems Blake and I can really hurt each other. Well, he can hurt me. The Prescott Park attack was the second time he’s managed to incapacitate me.”
“How exactly did he do it?”
Quinn retold the painful memory of how Blake used a vulnerable moment to trap and shatter his wrists with rebar and how when he was in pain, Blake impaled him with a piece of rebar through his gut. “It hurt like hell.”
“Huh, interesting. The police can shoot bullets at you that bounce off your skin, but Blake can shove rebar through your body when you’re in pain.”
“Right, but he had to get me to that point. If I was ready, he would not have taken me down so easily.”
“What did he do to weaken you?”
“Well, we were falling through the air and I chased him, but before I could reach him, he blasted me with some kind of energy beam. I wasn’t ready for it so it knocked me out. I must have hit the ground hard, but I don’t remember it. I awoke when he pinned my arms down with rebar.
“Ouch.”
“Yeah, no kidding. Everything hurt, but it was worse because my body was trying to heal itself but couldn’t. Oh, and I totally forgot about the weird life sucking thing he did.”
Ron’s eyebrows went up. “Explain that?”
“He grabbed my neck and I felt my life…moving…shifting…like he was sucking it out of me.”
“Like Rogue in the X-Men movies?”
Quinn nodded. “Exactly. I don’t know if it would have killed me, but…”
Ron leaned forward and looked directly into his eyes. “This is why you need to meet with Ana Maria. I can’t teach you how to defend against an energy blast or a life-draining assault.”
Quinn smiled. “I know. I’m meeting with her after school.”
“Very good.” Ron held out his hand and Quinn passed him the ruined shirt. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to bring this to my brother, so he can study the damaged areas of the fabric. Maybe he can tweak his formula and make it…rebar proof.”
They chuckled.
Ron opened his briefcase and pulled out a vacuum-sealed Tyvek bag. “Here you go. Put this in your backpack. Two more complete suits. I’ll get a shirt to replace this one later.”
“Oh, wow, Quinn responded. “Thank you so much.”
“No problem. If you wreck more of these, bring them back to me so he can study the damage your suit takes. Who knows, maybe he will figure out how to make the material resistant to rebar.”
They laughed as Quinn shoved the bag into his book bag. “Thanks. See you later.”
“Ciao. Good luck with Ana Maria. I can’t wait to hear how it goes.” He folded and placed the busted shirt into his briefcase.
<
br /> Quinn smiled and made his way to the cafeteria for lunch.
❖
Later in the library, Quinn was in the middle of writing a book report for his English Literature class when Darien James dropped his book bag on the table with his free hand and surprised him.
Quinn jumped in his chair and looked up at him, annoyed. “What the hell, Darien?”
The bully smirked, then pulled out and sat in a chair on the opposite side of the square table.
Quinn sighed. “What do you want?”
“I want to know how much your secret is worth to you.”
Quinn raised an eyebrow. “What secret? I’m already out of the closet. Everyone knows Keegan is my boyfriend.”
“That’s right, Queer-boy, but that’s not what I’m talking about.”
“What then?” Quinn asked. “Enough with the riddles and name calling.”
“Everyone also knows that your boyfriend, fancy pants Keegan Miller, has less than enthusiastically supported you.”
“What are you talking about?” Quinn asked, aggravated by Darien’s game.
Darien smiled wickedly. “Let me tell you a story. You see, a couple weekends back, on the day I broke my arm, I was at Prescott Park and I ran into Blake. He was on his way to meet Ravone for a date.”
Quinn winced. “Yeah, so?”
“We had a little…conversation that didn’t go so well and when we were about to fight, I saw his eyes glow orange.”
Quinn’s face fell and he stared into Darien’s knowing eyes.
“Imagine my surprise when I saw the news a few days later, when Chief Applegate outed the super villain and warned us to stay away, just like she had done with Blue Spekter.”
“You think Blake is a super villain?” Quinn asked, trying to play it cool. “I mean, you both have anger issues but, come on.”
Darien didn’t flinch at the insult. “Oh, just wait, Quinnypoo, it gets better. Fate must be on my side these days, because I was also in Prescott Park the day Dark Flame and Blue Spekter decided to have their mega fight over the river.”
Quinn’s stomach dropped to the floor and his palms became sweaty.
Darien smiled in a patronizing way. “You know which fight I’m talking about, right? It’s the one where Dark Flame impaled Blue Spekter and almost killed him. Or should I say, Blake almost killed you.
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