Quinn stared at him, unable to speak. No, that’s impossible…of all the twisted shit in the universe…this is what has to happen?
Darien leaned forward and clasped his hands together on the table. “That’s right, Quinn, I know your dirty little secret. You and Blake are the two super freaks running around this town.”
“What is it you want, Darien?”Quinn snapped.
Darien smiled and leaned back in his chair, then put his feet up on the tabletop. “What do I want, you piece of shit? I want you two freaks to know that I know all about you. I want you to know I can destroy your perfect little gay boyfriend bullshit anytime I want by telling Keegan who you really are.” He pulled his feet off the table and leaned forward again, twisting his face with anger. “Then, you little puke, we’ll see how fun it is to have everything.”
“What makes you think I won’t hurt you,” Quinn asked, his tone flat and angry.
Darien nodded. “That’s a great question, Quinn, one that I’ve already thought of an answer for. The answer is: because you’re the good guy. You don’t hurt people. You save them.”
Quinn looked down at the page number on his textbook. He’s right.
Darien stood and saluted. “See you around, Blue.” Chuckling, he turned and walked out of the library.
He’s right, I won’t hurt him. But Blake will if he’s not careful.
“Darien!” Quinn called after him. Heads turned in the library at the loud sound and the librarian shushed him. Darien glanced at him over his shoulder but didn’t stop. Quinn got up and chased after him. In the hallway, Quinn caught up with him and grabbed his arm.
Darien jerked his arm away. “Don’t touch me, freak!”
“Shut up and listen to me,” Quinn said, the assertion in his voice surprising both him and Darien. “You’re right, I won’t hurt you, but right now, Blake isn’t himself. He has a malfunctioning microchip in his head that makes him extremely violent. If you piss him off, he’ll hurt you…or kill you.”
“You’re such a nerd, Quinn. How much shitty science fiction do you watch? A microchip? Blake and I are friends…”
“No, you just think you’re friends. I know how you broke your arm.”
Darien paused and looked at him, his face blank. Now, it was his turn to be caught off guard.
“Blake also had a seizure of some kind when you were in the park. That was his microchip malfunctioning. When you were waiting for the dump truck to pass in front of you on Marcy Street, you were pushed…you didn’t jump in front of it, right?”
Darien nodded. “How do you know that?”
“Ravone told me her side of the story; I just pieced it together. Blake pushed you with his mind. He has telekinetic powers.”
Darien’s right eyebrow went up, signaling either interest or confusion. Quinn wasn’t sure which.
Quinn relaxed a little. “Yeah, he can do that. If you pull this little stunt with him…well, you may not walk away.”
Darien started laughing. “You are such a freak, McAlester.” Then he turned and walked away.
Why hell did I bother to warn him? He’s been my nightmare all through high school.
He sighed and walked back to his table.
Sacrifice. Responsibility. I guess Ron was right; being a superhero can really suck balls at times.
❖
Quinn arrived at the address Ana Maria had texted him on Thanksgiving Day and looked around the empty parking lots of the businesses and warehouses of Piscataqua Drive. Presuming the coast was clear, he crossed the empty parking lot and approached a single, weathered metal door on the side of a seemingly abandoned warehouse building.
When he was about to knock, Ana Maria pushed the door open from the inside and greeted him. “Hello, Quinn.”
“Hi,” he replied, awkwardly waving with his left hand.
“Are you ready to get started?”
“Yup.” Stay focused here, don’t let Darien’s bullshit interfere your time together.
Ana Maria smiled and scanned the empty lot behind him. “Great. Come on in.” She stepped aside and he squeezed past her. When he stepped inside the building, she pulled the door shut and made sure it was locked.
“This way,” she said, waving with her hand as she turned and walked through an old office area that was in a state of neglect. She pushed through a set of double doors on the other side of the space and pointed to a chair he assumed she rolled in from the office area. “You can put your coat with mine.”
“Okay.” He pulled off his pea coat, folded it, and placed it on the chair with her belongings. Then, he followed her to the middle of the room.
“How is it you know all about our abilities if you never use your powers?”
She glanced at him and smiled. “Who said I never use my powers? I simply stay under the radar and make sure no one catches me using my powers.”
Quinn smirked, and the two super-powered beings stood and chatted for a few moments. “I’m not sure that’s exactly what I meant, but…”
Ana Maria waved her hand dismissively. “If you think I wasn’t going to fly to Paris on my own power, you’ve got another thing coming. Paris is beautiful, but especially more so when you can fly over it at your own discretion.”
Quinn nodded. “You have a point. I never thought of flying to Paris.”
She laughed. “Bring a map or you might end up in Africa by accident. The ocean is a confusing thing to cross if you can’t navigate by the stars—which unfortunately is not one of our powers.”
“How long does it take you to cross the ocean?” Quinn asked.
“Right now, maybe fifteen minutes.”
“Wow, that’s fast.” Quinn said.
“I’ve noticed your power of flight; it’s quite evolved. I suspect you could do the same, but you simply don’t know it yet. My powers of flight took shape like Blake’s seem to be evolving; frustratingly slow and steady.”
“You’re right, he can’t seem to fly as fast as I can,” Quinn replied.
She nodded in agreement. “That’s how it works with some of our powers. You start with a general ability, but as it evolves, it becomes stronger and more easily controlled. Flight starts as basic hovering, then what Blake can do, until it reaches what we can do. Who knows, I might fly across the Atlantic in ten minutes next year?”
“How did you see Blake’s flying power?”
“I witnessed your fight in Prescott Park—the one where you created the tower of ice to trap him. That was a brilliant use of your powers, by the way.”
Quinn smiled and puffed out his chest. “Yeah, I thought it was pretty darn awesome myself,” he quipped, dusting off his left shoulder.
She smiled and said, “I also saw him blast you with orgone energy.”
Quinn’s chest deflated, and he looked at her with surprise. Way to suck the wind out of my sails, sheesh! He nodded. “Yeah, that hurt like hell and it knocked me out. Is that what you meant by channeling your energy?”
She nodded. “I believe that specific power is one of our most dangerous offensive abilities because it has no constructive use except to hurt or destroy. You must only use it in times of desperation, when nothing else will work.”
“I’m not sure Blake did it intentionally,” Quinn said softly. “When he gets angry, he loses his temper and his ability to control his powers becomes erratic. I think he blasted me and doesn’t even know how he did it.”
Ana Maria nodded. “That’s how our powers manifest. They arise after some emotional response until we learn how to control them with our minds.”
“Except, our powers are different in some ways,” Quinn said. “For example, I can manipulate and create water and ice, he can manipulate heat and fire.”
She nodded “Did you assume heat and fire were his powers and not practice them yourself?”
Quinn regarded her with confusion. “Do you think we have the same powers?”
“Why not? I have all of your powers, plus ones you don’t know about
yet, I suspect.”
“You can make fire and ice?” Quinn asked, astonished.
“Yes, I can.” She raised her hands and smiled. The left hand ignited with flame while the right became covered in ice.
“Oh, wow,” Quinn said.
“You told me your powers were created at the same time, did you not?”
“Yes, we were in the reactor together when it fired.”
Ana Maria extinguished her left hand and evaporated the ice on her right hand. “I can only guess that’s why you don’t think you have the same powers, but I would be willing to guess you do. It makes sense to me that certain powers manifest more predominantly in you over Blake, and vice versa, of course.
“You mean I might be able to get telekinesis?” Quinn asked, suddenly excited at the prospect of a powerful new power to fight with.
“Can you not now?”
Quinn shook his head. “No! I mean, I just assumed that was his power. I never really tried to learn it.”
“So, you never practiced which means you have no idea if you have telekinesis or not?”
“No. I mean, all my other powers just…happened. Wouldn’t the same happen with that?”
She shrugged. “Even my knowledge of how and why is considerably lacking. From here on out, I want you to assume you can do anything Blake or I can do.”
“And I should assume he could do the same?”
“Correct, only he doesn’t have anyone like me working with him to tell him that. He’ll figure it out once you use a few of his own powers against him.”
“Okay, cool.”
“Now, to our first lesson. I noticed you can project a very powerful force field around yourself or a group.”
Quinn nodded. “Yup. That’s come in handy several times.”
“What does it protect against?”
“Um… it protects me from attack?” he replied, unsure of where she was going.
“Put your shield up,” she instructed. Then, both of Ana Maria’s hands came up and turned into living flame.
“What?” Quinn asked, caught off guard.
A moment later, she blasted him with scalding beams of fire. Quinn reacted and crossed his arms in front of him, making an X with his forearms. He projected a shield around him that dispersed the fiery attack around him. She pulled back and then wound up like a baseball pitcher throwing a fast ball.
“Good!” she yelled. “Don’t drop it!”
“What the hell?” he exclaimed as she sprung forward and hurtled six-pointed ice blades at him. They shattered when they smashed into his invisible shield. She relaxed her stance and nodded at him.
“What the hell did you do that for?” Quinn said, lowering his arms and his shield.
“Tell me what just happened,” she said.
“You attacked me and I stopped your attack with my shield,” Quinn responded, flustered.
“That’s right. Now, stop this attack.”
Oh shit.
Quinn crossed his arms and projected one of his strongest shields, bending the visible spectrum of light around him. Ana Maria’s eyes ignited with pink, swirling power. A moment later, she leaned forward and blasted him with raw power.
The energy assault passed right through his shield and struck him squarely in the chest. Quinn grunted and lurched backward, tossed twenty-feet back by the energy that overwhelmed him. He caught himself in midair with his mind, hovering for a moment before he landed and walked back to where Ana Maria stood.
She relaxed her eyes. “That was a low-powered attack. I suspect Blake hit you with a much more powerful beam.”
“See what I mean? That power just appeared, and he’ll figure out how to use it. It doesn’t make any sense that I wouldn’t have telekinesis, especially now that he can fly.”
“I understand your frustration, but that is not the lesson to be learned at the moment.”
“Okay, so, why didn’t my shield work?” Quinn asked looking at his hands, not that his hands had anything to do with it. That must be what you’re going after, right?
She chuckled. “Your defensive shield protects you from physical or elemental attack. What I suspect you haven’t learned is how to defend yourself from an energy attack.”
“But, I can absorb electricity,” Quinn protested. “Most of the time, at least. If I’m surprised, it tends to hurt. Once I calm down, I can feel it surging through me and I can control it.”
“You’re on the right track and you might have figured all this out with time, but with Blake becoming more and more erratic and Victor on the verge of creating more super humans, time is a luxury we don’t have. Today, I’ll teach you how to protect yourself from an energy attack by absorbing the energy, so it doesn’t adversely affect you.”
“Will absorbing energy help defend against Blake’s telekinesis attacks?”
“What do his attacks feel like?”
“When he hits me or grabs me with that power, it feels like a baseball bat smashing me or a vice grip squeezing my body,” Quinn said.
Ana Maria shook her head. “But it’s not, it’s pure orgone energy directed at you. You can absorb it. Between your defensive shield capabilities, and your evolving absorption ability, you will be able to defend against his attacks, but I can’t guarantee it will be one-hundred percent effective.”
“How will I know when I’ve mastered it?”
Ana Maria tilted her head and thought for a moment. “You keep projecting a shield for yourself because what you fail to realize is the shield is already a part of you. Learn to integrate your powers so they become more intuitive and you’ll spend less time defending yourself, saving critical seconds for an offensive attack that just might win the day. You only need to project the shield when you want to defend someone or something else.”
“Okay,” Quinn said, unconvinced.
“When you fly, do you think about it mechanically?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Do you think to yourself, fly up, fly left, roll, fly down, land, or take off?”
Quinn laughed. “No, of course not, I just do it.”
“Exactly. Because it’s intuitive to you; it’s muscle memory for the mind.”
“I think I understand what you mean now,” Quinn said, considering the concept a moment. It makes sense.
“Good,” Ana Maria answered. “Now, I saw those TaseBolts incapacitate you in Goodwin Park, but I saw you harness electricity to stop Blake from choking you over the river.”
Quinn nodded.
Without warning, Ana Maria’s hand sparked and discharged a bolt of electricity at him, akin to when Emperor Palpatine zapped Luke Skywalker at the end of Return of the Jedi.
Quinn howled with painful surprise and collapsed to the ground, the electricity stunning him momentarily.
“You really can be surprised,” Ana Maria said incredulously, lowering her hand.
Quinn grimaced, then returned the favor. Opening his palm, electricity leapt from his right hand and connected with Ana Maria’s body. Instead of screaming and falling to the ground like he expected, she simply smiled at him as the electricity danced over her clothing.
“I did not bring a change of clothes, so I would appreciate it if you did not singe or incinerate what I’m wearing.”
Quinn stopped his assault. “Tell me how you did that?” he asked, pushing himself to his feet.
Instead of answering him, she raised both hands and hurled multiple arcs of electricity at him. He crossed his arms and created a shield, but the hot, blueish white electricity pushed through it and connected with his forearms. This time, she did not stop her assault.
Quinn yelled as his body convulsed and collapsed to the floor again as the electrical current coursed through it.
She stepped closer, her eyes blazing with pink fury. “You must absorb the electricity and make it yours,” she said.
Quinn struggled to think as the intense pain interfered with his thoughts. Focus! Do what you did with the TaseBo
lts.
He felt the current shift in his body and the electricity’s offensive power over him faded as it became part of him, coursing through his body like the blood in his veins. A moment later, he felt the electricity submit to his will as if he had generated it himself. He smiled and looked up at Ana Maria, who only turned up the voltage. He grunted under the new barrage of electrical power, but it quickly became part of him.
Then, feeling like a smart ass, he raised his hands and redirected the electricity back at her. She ceased her assault immediately.
“Very good!” she said, clapping her hands. “I didn’t even know that was possible. It’s not like I have someone to play electricity war with.
Quinn smiled. “I guess I’m not the only one learning things today.” He pushed himself to his feet, hoping she wouldn’t knock him down again.
“Don’t get cocky, kid. Why do you think the electricity stuns you in the first place?” she asked.
Quinn shrugged. “Because I’m not ready for it?”
“Possibly. But I think it’s because your body is not used to absorbing energy when it has to.”
“Is this like when I go back into one of the orgone reactors and I feel all buzzed and woozy?” Quinn asked.
She nodded. “Your body knows when it’s near a high concentration of orgone and it automatically absorbs it. Like I said to you before, orgone is everywhere, it’s all around us. All you have to do is tune your body’s reaction and you’ll discover how much easier it will be to protect yourself when someone attacks because you won’t always have to think about defending yourself.”
Quinn nodded, then Maria blasted him with electricity again. This time, he was ready and quickly raised his right hand to attract the electrical charge. There was no pain, only an intense feeling of his body harnessing energy.
She stopped assault and beamed with pride. “You’re getting it. Now, try this.” She wound back like a baseball pitcher and threw nothing at him. A split second later, an invisible, super-powered fist slammed into Quinn’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
He gulped for air, but she reached out and grabbed him with her mind, pushing his arms to his side and forcing his legs together, squeezing him like a boa constrictor.
The Guardians Omnibus Page 74