“You need to absorb this attack, too,” she said. “I saw how Blake was able to toss you around, but you deflected him when he fell.
“Ugh! I…this…” Quinn grunted, struggling to speak as she crushed his torso.
“You’re invulnerable, so act like it. You can be hurt, but not destroyed. Your bones will break and your muscles will tear, but they will mend within seconds and you will heal.”
She squeezed him harder. “Absorb my attack, Quinn, just like you did the electricity.”
“I can’t!” he wheezed.
She squeezed harder and Quinn felt his ribs break. He cried out in pain. “Is that what you’re going to say to Blake when he’s trying to kill you? When he’s shoving rebar or something worse through your chest? That you can’t do it?”
He looked it at her with anger, ready to pass out from a lack of oxygen. She shook her head then dropped him to the ground. He grunted when he hit the cement floor, then twitched when his ribs popped back into place.
Ana Maria walked a circle around him. “Perhaps you’re not ready for this yet.”
“I just need more help,” he pleaded, discreetly wiping a tear from his eyes. “Tell me what to do. Tell me why Blake could skewer me with rebar.” He shuddered at the memory of that moment.
“The only reason Blake could skewer you with rebar is because he’s figured out that physical pain temporarily inhibits our abilities and powers. I’m sure you’ve noticed.”
“Yeah, it sucks,” he muttered.
“I’ve had my fair share of accidents, but the healing factor responds quickly, even in those moments. Unfortunately, it’s not limited to physical pain. Emotional pain—like heartbreak—can take its toll on us as well. There just isn’t time to teach you everything I’ve learned. If you aren’t ready, Victor or Blake will win and all will be lost. I can’t sacrifice any more of my time with you.”
Quinn launched himself to his feet and roared at her, his body blazing with blue fury and his eyes shimmering with angry energy. “Don’t you talk to me about sacrifice, you hypocrite!”
She squared off with him, smiling devilishly.
“All you’ve done is hide like a coward.”
Ana Maria threw a telekinetic punch at him, but he deflected it.
“You could have done so much good in the world but instead you let evil grow all around you,” Quinn yelled.
She threw a stronger a telekinetic punch at him, but he deflected that as well.
“You could’ve done so much good by coming out, but instead you hid the gift of who you are.”
She telekinetically shoved him hard, but the energy dissipated through him. Quinn was furious, his shoulders heaving with anger.
“I’m leaving!” she exclaimed, then turned to walk away.
“No, you’re not!” Quinn snarled, reaching out with an unknown power and spinning her around with his mind.
He gasped. Oh my gosh!
In a flash, his angry emotions faded to wonder and awe.
“Holy shit! Did I just do that? Are you okay? I’m so sorry!”
Ana Maria grinned at him. “You don’t get angry very much, do you, Quinn?”
He shook his head. “No.”
She nodded, then stroked her chin as if puzzle pieces were coming together in her mind. “Our powers reveal themselves against the full spectrum of human emotion. I figured that out early on, but with you…it’s no wonder you’re each missing certain powers because you and Blake are emotional opposites. That must be why you have a different power set from him. I now suspect that will be the case for anyone orgone-created super humans.”
“I’m sorry for what I said.”
She smiled and approached him, then took his hands in hers. “You’re not entirely wrong, Quinn. I am afraid; I’m very afraid, but not for the reasons you think. I’ve waited in the shadows, lurking where evil lives, keeping it under my watchful eye while hoping the day would never come when I would be forced to expose myself to the world, a lone super human with no support system. You’re right though, I could have done so much good; I have hidden the gift of who I am, but unlike you, I am not ready to come out yet. I hope you can understand that.”
Quinn nodded. “I can totally relate to not being ready to come out. But you can’t leave me alone. I can’t guard the city or the world without you. I don’t think I can defeat Blake or Victor without you.”
She chuckled. “Guard the city? Who, you and me?”
He shook his head and gently squeezed her hands. “My team. I want you to be on it.”
She tilted her head with curiosity. “Who, you and your science teacher?”
“And a few other people, too.”
“Interesting. I had no idea. You’ve been busy.”
Quinn grinned at the idea of knowing something else Ana Maria did not. He let go of her hands and stepped back. “I suppose you want to go another round? I know my unexpected ability to absorb your attacks had something to do with my anger.”
She nodded. “How about we take a break and learn something else?”
Quinn nodded.
“I will teach you how to mask your presence from both of us.”
“Explain something to me first, please. If you were the only superhuman around, how did you figure out you could hide your ability to hide yourself from others if there were no others to hide from?”
“That’s a great question, Quinn.”
“A few days after escaping the morgue, things started happening to me. Suddenly, I could manipulate water and fire, but I didn’t understand why. I knew the only way I could learn the purpose of their experiments was to stick close to Orgonon and hope to learn what happened. Of course, as a dead person, it would have been unsettling to show up at the front door in my military uniform, and I was already leery of what the experimentation would produce based on my symptoms.”
“You thought you were sick?” Quinn asked.
“I was too stunned to understand the things I could do were abilities and not signs of a new, horrifying disease.”
“Makes sense.”
“I reached out to one of my trusted allies and they provided me with a new identity. Then, I got a job with the company responsible for the facility’s cleaning and grounds keeping. To conceal my true identity, I added extensions to my hair and adopted my mother’s immigrant lifestyle, a ruse I could successfully employ. Thus, I lived as a Hispanic woman would have in 1965. Also, I conveniently spoke only Spanish, a comforting notion to the pompous all-white male program leadership because they assumed I could not understand their secrets.”
“Okay.”
“After a brief orientation, I was back inside the facility with unlimited access, cleaning its offices and the reactor core, all the while reading whatever documentation they left open on their desks. Since I wasn’t the last test subject, I could sense the new creations as my abilities took hold in my life. The test subjects after me never lived for more than a week, but I could always sense them. I suspected they could sense me, too, so I learned—rather intuited—how to hide myself from them.”
“But you if you didn’t interact with the test subjects, how did you know you had hidden yourself from them?”
“I knew I had succeeded when one of the viable subjects crazily insisted he could sense someone else like him in the facility, but the guards only found two terrified Hispanic women mopping the floors. My cleaning partner was like my abuela—a grandmother—and when the guards cornered us she carried on like the men were looking for a good time and shooed them away. That test subject stood ten feet away from me, but he couldn’t sense me anymore. I think he died the next day.”
“Oh.”
“I was lucky. A few weeks later when they shut down the program, I quit my job and left Rangeley, secure in the knowledge that my secret was safe and the project was dead.”
Quinn thought for a moment, then looked at her. “So, is your given name Ana Maria?”
She smiled and shook her head. “No,
it isn’t. Let’s work on masking yourself, shall we? Then, I’ll teach you how to channel your energy.”
4-4 | A Jigsaw Puzzle with Missing Pieces
Blake
BACK AT HIS CONDO, BLAKE changed into his purple tights and put on a white, form-fitting long sleeve athletic shirt, knowing it would probably burn off if he got in a fight. He tucked his cell phone into the waistband of his tights and made his way out to the balcony, closing the French doors to his condo behind him. He looked around but saw no one because it was too cold for most folks to enjoy the outdoors on a balcony. A moment later, his body glowed orange as he launched himself into the air and flew upriver, using his phone’s GPS to guide him back to Rangeley, Maine.
Just over two hours later, Blake circled the snow-covered Rangeley, Maine woods that surrounded Orgonon, searching for the line of fallen trees that pointed the way to the bunker he and Quinn discovered so he could sneak into the reactor core once more. Moments later, he spotted the cleared line of fallen trees and followed it to the bunker.
Descending, he flew to the entrance. Since the rebar he ripped apart some time ago hadn’t been repaired, he passed through the opening and flew down the tunnel, his orange eyes illuminating his way. When he reached the rusty door at the end, he landed and pulled open the squeaky door. He stepped into the reactor core and the door hissed shut behind him. He looked around, surprised.
What on earth?
Hexagonal panels were strewn about the floor and scaffolding had been built around the interior walls of the chamber. With the reactor in such a state of disrepair, Blake decided Victor and Dr. Madison were not working in secret at Orgonon like he suspected.
He closed his eyes and focused on the orgone energy around him. The reactor seemed to be drained, which meant the facility hadn’t been used recently—probably since his battle with Quinn—and the system was still off-line.
If you’re not here and you’re not doing experiments in Portsmouth, then where the hell are you?
Mildly irritated by the apparent waste of his time, Blake walked through the reactor and made his way up to the control room. The door slid open when he placed his hand over the control unit.
To his surprise, the control room was mostly repaired. New equipment and computer stations sat ready for use at the various workstations and the damage their fight caused had been fixed. The air smelled of fresh paint, which corroborated with Agent Bob’s story that the two cargo runs on the Heart of Glory and the Cerulean had been distractions. Somehow, Victor had managed to repair Orgonon without anyone knowing it.
But why? What the hell does he need this place for if he’s got newer facilities to play with?
Blake made his way back through the reactor core of the Orgonon facility and then flew out of the tunnel, more frustrated and confused than when he arrived. Rocketing away from Rangeley, he flew south, using his phone’s GPS to guide him back to Portsmouth.
❖
Blake recognized his surroundings and tucked his phone into the waistband of his purple tights. He flew low over the Piscataqua River and zipped past the Sullivan Bridge, Schiller Station, and the three famous Portsmouth river bridges. Arriving at the naval prison facility, he landed at the front door.
“Howdy,” Seymour said. The other guard nodded at him.
“You’re learning,” Dark Flame replied.
Seymour chuckled. “Damn straight, Dark Flame.”
He entered the building and made his way up to reception, expecting to proceed to Radoslav’s interrogation room. When he entered the reception area, Alex flagged him down. “Radoslav is looking for you. He’s showering up, but I guess he has something important for you. Also, that man gives me the creeps.”
“That man gets me what I need. Thanks for the tip,” Dark Flame replied. He made his way to the locker room and waved his hand over the control unit. The door slid open and he stepped inside. Radoslav was in the shower, singing in a language he didn’t understand. Dark Flame assumed it was Romanian.
He saw two notebooks on the bench near Radoslav’s bloody clothes. He picked one of them up and opened it. On its pages, someone had scrawled random scribbles and words, none of which made a whole lot of sense to him. The second notebook however, gave him more of the puzzle pieces he sought.
The water turned off in the shower stall and the sound of a cotton towel zipping over a glass shower door echoed in the room.
“I am here,” Dark Flame announced loudly so Radoslav would hear him.
“All good, young friend. I have presents for you, two notebooks on bench,” the man replied in broken English.
“I found them,” Dark Flame answered, studying the names written in the second notebook.
“How did it go?” Dark Flame asked out of politeness. Radoslav walked around the corner nude, toweling his torso off.
Sheesh…you’re not shy…
“Skinny man no useful. He writes the scribbles that make no sense. Other man write lots of useful things.”
Dark Flame lifted the second notebook slightly. “I can see that.”
“Is what you look for?” Radoslav asked, softly humming his strange tune to himself.
Dark Flame nodded. “I think so. If this is the rest of the Council, then this should match up with the info Melvin gave us. I think I have a complete picture now. Thank you, Radoslav.” He glanced at Radoslav and smiled, grateful the man had wrapped the towel around his waist before pulling clean clothes from his locker.
“Dark Flame, I have small matter to discuss.”
“What is that?” Dark Flame asked, not lifting his eyes from the page he studied.
“Payment. I am surgeon yes, but I am a businessman, first. Victor, he always give Radoslav bonus when I operate and information is good.
Dark Flame stared at Radoslav. Shit, I don’t have a way to pay him.
“I know you not sign the checks, but perhaps you could find a way to honor arrangement I have with Victor?” Radoslav asked.
“I see your point,” Dark Flame replied. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Thank you. If nothing else for me to do, I go home now to picnic.
“You…are going to a picnic? In December?”
“Yes of course, but not outside. I have family, too.”
Of course you do. Dark Flame’s heart sank a little and he nodded. “Thank you again, and have fun.”
Dark Flame took the notebooks and made his way out of the facility. Launching himself into the air, he flew back to the balcony of his condo to study the notes and compare them against Melvin’s notes so he could untangle the complex web of The Order.
❖
Victor
Alone, Victor sat back in one of his black leather recliners, a glass of whiskey in one hand and a thoroughly abused stress ball in the other. He had removed his jacket and tie earlier and they still lay on the couch where he had haphazardly tossed them.
Running his fingers through his hair, he leaned back and exhaled.
Of course Blake gave me exactly what I wanted, but his timing is all wrong. What monster have I unleashed that even I cannot control?
The unspeakable, gory mess Blake had created for him by summarily executing Nigel Krause would soon become a proverbial noose around his neck when he reported the situation to the Archimandrion Council. He tried to spin the story several different ways, but it always came back to throwing Dark Flame under the bus and claiming he was—or had become—a loose cannon in order to exonerate himself and remain in good standing with the Council until it was time to have Blake eliminate them all…but the time was not now.
Fuck!
He sipped the whiskey and swallowed, enjoying the pleasant burn at the back of his throat. His cell phone rang, but he ignored it. When the call disconnected, his cell phone rang again. He groaned, then set the stress ball in his lap and reached for his cell phone. He swiped to answer and placed it against his ear.
“Yes?” he said, tersely greeting the caller.
“The fac
ility and the subjects are ready for the next procedure,” Dr. Madison said, “but I am not, and I encourage you to give me more time.”
“That’s not possible any longer, Doctor. Things have changed. I’ll be arriving tonight. Prep the test subjects and schedule the procedure for eight o’clock tomorrow morning.
“Very well, Hegumen.” Dr. Madison hung up and the call disconnected.
He smirked. She only referred to him by his title when she was upset with him.
Tomorrow will be interesting. Just do your job, Doctor, and everything will be all right.
4-5 | Revenge of the Nerds
Quinn
ON SATURDAY AFTER WORK, QUINN changed into his super suit and then put on some track pants and a gray sweatshirt. After making his way to the downtown Hilton Garden Inn, he nervously rode the elevator to the top floor. He pulled his cowl over his face and then pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his cowl. A moment before the doors slid open, he became invisible. Then, he stepped out and saw nobody in the hallway. The weeks before Christmas were slow, so the hotel’s luxury accommodations were lightly populated. Capitalizing on that, Captain David Prett decided to set his team up in one of the penthouse suites.
Quinn cautiously approached the room. He examined the area around the door and his super vision spotted a micro camera pointing at him. He smirked, realizing there had to be other cameras in the hallway he had missed. His super hearing allowed him to hear the low voices speaking on the other side of the door. Though they were muffled, he immediately recognized David’s southern drawl.
He knocked on the door and waited.
Footsteps approached, and the peephole went dark for a minute.
“There’s no one there,” an unfamiliar voice said.
“Check the camera feed,” another voice responded.
Quinn knocked again, startling whomever was on the other side of the door.
“Open the door,” David said, his thick southern accent making Quinn smile. “He’s there, trust me.”
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