“Enough, General,” she responded, not taking her eyes off Blue Spekter, who powered down his eye and body glow. “All of you, lower your weapons.” The officers reluctantly complied.
Blue Spekter turned around to face the captive audience in the room around him. “As for the rest of you. I know what you did to Agent Hartman this morning and you should be ashamed of yourselves.”
“You can’t blame us. We have no idea of what you’ll do, if you’re American or even human,” the Air Force General said.
Blue Spekter faced the man. “General, I grew up in New Hampshire, next to Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont. I put real sugar-shack maple syrup on my pancakes and waffles, I like French fries, Ketchup, and a Pepsi with my hamburgers, and I run on the track team at school. You can’t get more American than that. Unless you like Superman more. He grew up in Kansas, so he’s got me beat.”
“And I suppose you and Superman are…friends?” someone in a business suit sarcastically asked. “Perhaps you’ve already met Batman, Iron Man, Wonder Woman, Captain America, and the rest of the Justice League?”
“Wow, dude, you totally screwed that one up,” the man sitting next to the pissed-off business suit said.
Blue Spekter spoke. “If I were evil, I’d be giving you a rather unpleasant demonstration of my powers. In fact, if I were Dark Flame, none of you would make it out of this room alive.”
He paused to let the thought sink into their minds. They stared at him with fear and interest.
“I’m on the side of right, just like Captain America and Iron Man.”
“That’s a freaking comic book movie,” an army general spat. The man looked extremely annoyed.
“Yet, here I am with comic book powers. I walked past all your fancy security guards and secret cameras and stepped into the most secure office in the country completely undetected and surprised all of you. If Victor Kraze wants to have a little chat, I guarantee you won’t like how that goes down. People will die and this building will be in ruins.”
“A point we considered,” the President said. “What do you propose?”
“We’re going to stop him,” Blue Spekter replied. “My team is working on a plan to learn more about The Order and bring it down or expose it before Victor can create an army of superhumans like me, only they’ll be evil.”
“Is that his plan?” one of the generals who hadn’t spoken asked. “To raise an army of superhumans and…take over the world or something to that effect?”
Finally, someone with a reasonable mind.
Blue Spekter nodded. “I firmly believe that, General.”
“Then what are you doing here?” the President asked. “Go back to your teams…and stop Victor Kraze. I will personally allay Agent Hartman’s fears.”
“But Madame President,” a familiar voice protested.
“Thank you, Madame President,” Blue Spekter replied, glancing at the frustrated voice. It was Senator Wilmott.
“You have a team?” the Senator asked, his voice riddled with contempt.
Blue Spekter turned and addressed the man. “Yup. We’re the Guardians. We’re here to selflessly protect people like you from idiots with dreams of grandeur and global destruction. Have a nice day, Senator Wilmott.”
Blue Spekter turned back to the president and casually saluted. “Madame President.”
The President chuckled and Blue Spekter walked through the middle of the gathered military and government personnel. The Secret Service and security guards who had arrived late and aimed their weapons at him relaxed and holstered their firearms.
Before he left the Oval Office, he turned back to the group and glanced at Senator Wilmott. “I will leave you with one last thought. The Order is everywhere, and they’ve infiltrated countless levels of society. If any of you are members or speak on the Archimandrion Council…let this be a warning to you: We’re coming, and you won’t be able to hide from justice forever. You will answer for your crimes against humanity.”
Senator Wilmott shifted nervously in his chair as Blue Spekter walked out of the oval office.
❖
“So, what kind of information do you have for me then?” Quinn asked after the elevator doors opened and he walked back into the operations room of the naval prison on Seavey Island.
A familiar man in a suit turned and smiled when he saw Quinn.
Oh wow, Agent Potter’s back. I wonder who’s in charge now.
Potter’s right arm was in a cast and a sling that hung from his left shoulder. His left index finger briefly pressed to his lips, indicating Quinn should be quiet. The rest of his team listened intently to their side of an important phone call.
Agent Hartman turned to face him, his mouth agape and his cell phone pressed to his ear. “Yes, Madame President…I understand…Yes…the Guardians? Oh, you mean us…We will do everything we can to support him…Thank you…Will do…Have a great day yourself.” Agent Hartman tapped his smartphone with his thumb and disconnected the call.
“The Guardians? You are…unbelievable,” he said with exasperation, shaking his head in disbelief.
Quinn shrugged. “Sometimes it pays to have a direct conversation when you need to.”
“Now you know why he’s in charge,” Goodbutt said, grinning from ear to ear.
David shook his head and smiled.
Quinn nodded to Agent Potter. “So, are you in charge again?”
Potter shook his head and gestured to Hartman. “No, I’m not fully up to speed or health, but I couldn’t sit in the hospital room any longer. I’m here in an advisory capacity to Agent Hartman. He remains in command of the DHS operation.”
“How is Chief Applegate?” Quinn asked.
“Unfortunately, she’s still unconscious with a broken arm and injured pride, I’m sure. Her airbags and seatbelt saved her life.” Potter replied.
Hartman cleared his throat. “Let’s catch up later. Blue Spekter, debrief, please. How did your little chat with the President go?”
“The President officially refers to Victor as Nightmare. I thought Tasmanian was a cool name, but I admit it was lame. From here on out…let super villain Victor be known as Nightmare. To make a long story short, the President and the Joint Chiefs have accepted that we’re the Guardians, here to selflessly protect the world from idiots with dreams of grandeur and global destruction.”
They stared at him for a moment, and Quinn briefly relished in the success of his conversation with the President. “Now, David, do you have those top three locations for me?”
David nodded then jerked a thumb to Tara, who got up from her work station and walked toward him with a Post-It note.
“Great.” Quinn glanced at it. The Post-It note contained three building names, each with a corresponding New England city. He turned and handed the note to Ana Maria, who frowned. “One of these is Rangeley.”
“It’s very active,” Tara said, shrugging. “I’ve noticed bizarre energy readings between several locations, including this one right here. It’s like they can pull energy from other reactor cores across significant distances and use the energy when and wherever they want. I’m still figuring it out. Direct access to their data would be amazing.”
Oh…that must be the mysterious mega fusion thing Blake talked about months ago…we thought they were super-charging the reactors, but if they can move energy between them through the atmosphere…that’s like having an unlimited battery supply.
“We’ll start there,” Quinn said, “since I know the facility and it will be the easiest place to look for Dr. Madison.”
Trinity stood and pointed to a familiar looking briefcase. “If you can plant more of those devices next to their network equipment, that would help us a lot.”
Quinn nodded. “We’ll take care of it.” Then, his phone vibrated in his waistband pocket and he pulled it out. He smiled when he saw the text was from Keegan: Can you come over tonight?
Quinn thumbed an affirmative reply and then pocketed his phone. When
he looked up, all eyes were staring at him.
“What?”
“Must have been the boyfriend,” Tara commented.
His eyes widened and he involuntarily grinned.
“Yup,” Trinity replied.
Ana Maria smiled. “We’ve had a long day. Go rest tonight. We’ll leave first thing in the morning. Meet me here at eight o’clock sharp. We’ll head to Rangeley first.”
“All right,” Quinn replied. Then, he frowned. “You’re not leaving without me, are you?”
She looked at him with a crazy expression and shook her head. “Of course not. It just so happens I have…I’m busy tonight. Locally.”
Quinn sensed her embarrassment and smiled. “What aren’t you telling us?”
“Duh, she has a date with some lucky guy,” Goodbutt said, grinning and dusting off his shoulders.
“In your dreams,” Trinity interjected, smiling.
“It’s not me,” Goodbutt replied, raising his hands in surrender. “I never said it was me.”
Ana Maria grabbed her coat from the desk and shook her head.
“It’s not a guy this time,” she replied. Then, she walked across the room to the open elevator and stepped inside.
“Wait for me,” Quinn said.
“Hot,” Goodbutt replied.
“Don’t be gross,” Tara said.
Quinn shook his head. “See you in the morning.” Then, he jogged toward the open elevator and stepped inside. When the doors closed, he looked at Ana Maira. “Do you really have a date?”
She smiled at him. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
“I would, actually. I’m stupidly curious as to how the whole, ‘by the way, I’m like three times older than I look’ conversation goes down.”
She glared at him and he shrugged his shoulders. “Can’t blame me for wondering.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m seeing a close friend who’s in a nursing home in Newburyport. She aged, I didn’t. It’s that simple.”
“Oh, right,” Quinn responded. He pressed the button on the elevator panel and it descended. They rode the rest of the way in silence, but Quinn quickly forgot about the awkward conversation as he thought about his upcoming evening with Keegan.
5-7 | Respite
Quinn
QUINN RANG THE DOORBELL AND heard Keegan shout, “I’ve got it,” from somewhere inside the house. A moment later, hurried footsteps bounded down the stairwell and then the front door swung open and his boyfriend flashed a wide grin.
“Hey, handsome.” Keegan said in greeting. “Oh my gosh, it’s so cold out.” He reached out and pulled Quinn inside.
“No kidding,” Quinn replied, shivering briefly as he pulled his hat, gloves, and coat off and handed them to Keegan. Then, he pulled his boots off and nearly lost his balance.
Keegan caught him and said, “So, my superhero boyfriend can fly, punch through solid concrete, create ice and do who knows what else, but he can’t keep his balance when pulling off his boots?”
“Shut up,” Quinn said with a laugh.
Keegan laughed with him, then took his coat. “I’m glad you were able to come over,” Keegan said, hanging Quinn’s coat in the entryway closet.
“It’s not going to be weird given…well, you know. The whole thing with your grandfather?”
Keegan rolled his eyes. “Oh my gosh, my mom is so angry with him. I’ve never seen her this upset. She thinks he wanted me to inherit the family business, but she’s already put the kibosh on that. It ruined Hanukkah in her mind, but we’ve made do.”
“Sorry. I was really looking forward to celebrating the first day with your family. It would have been a really cool experience for me.”
Keegan shrugged. “I’m sorry I was such a dope.”
Quinn shook his head. “No, let’s not relive that. It’s in the past.”
“Okay,” Keegan said, smiling. “Come on, the parental units want to say hi.” After greeting Keegan’s parents and accepting their gratitude for saving Keegan once more, the boys went up to Keegan’s room.
When Quinn stepped into his boyfriend’s room for the first time, he briefly checked it out for clues about Keegan’s life and personality. The walls were painted with forest green and the windows had brown-and-beige geometric curtains suspended from each side. The hung pictures were of landscape scenes. The soft overhead lighting cast a warm glow about the room. To one side, he observed a desk, a loaded bookshelf, and a wall-mounted television with a PlayStation suspended under it. On the other side, a partially made queen-sized bed in a sleigh frame had some unfolded laundry on it.
Aw, it’s so homey in here. Keegan keeps it clean, which is nice. I’ll check it out later. Right now, I have more important things to do.
When Keegan shut the door behind them, Quinn turned and pressed his hand against Keegan’s chest and pushed him against the bedroom door. A moment later, the boys were passionately lip-locked.
“Wow, where did that come from?” Keegan asked when they separated and gazed into each other’s eyes.
“My toes,” Quinn quipped, smiling up at his boyfriend. “Tonight, I’m going to return the favor from Aaron’s party, and do so much more to you.”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” Keegan said. Then, he reached over and turned off the overhead light, leaving only the soft glow of his laptop’s screensaver to fill the room as they kissed again and sidestepped over to the bed. They frantically tugged at each other’s clothing and haphazardly tossed the various articles around the room until they fell onto the bed, their arms and legs fervidly entwined together.
I’m so happy we’re back together.
❖
Later, after the boys had their fun and showered, Quinn pulled on some of Keegan’s lounge wear.
Keegan chuckled and pointed at him. “You look cute in my things.”
Quinn looked down and smiled. “Thanks.” The pants were a little too long for him, but he didn’t care. I like wearing your things. It makes me feel close to you.
Then, they cuddled together and talked while Keegan’s bedroom television softly played sitcoms on Nickelodeon. Keegan gently stroked Quinn’s head, and for the first time, he asked about Quinn’s superhero life.
Quinn smiled and explained some of their plans to him. “I’m intentionally not telling you all the details because I don’t want you to worry and, well, the less people who know the plans, the better. The DHS and the military don’t like it when their plans are publicly talked about.”
Keegan feigned a smile. “I get it, I think.”
“You seem hurt,” Quinn said.
“I just hate the secrets. It’s what pulled us apart in the first place.”
“I understand. That’s why I told you I was holding some information back. Blake knew how to hurt me—the thought of losing you is too much on top of…maybe losing Blake.”
“Maybe?”
Quinn tapped his head and explained how he sensed Blake earlier in the day.
“Wow, that’s insane,” Keegan responded, his face appearing shocked at the news of Blake’s resurrection. “Wait, does that mean we might not have to have the funeral we planned?”
“I hope so. I don’t really want to bury my best friend.”
“Cool.”
“But…if Victor decides to come after me or the people I love, I’m pretty sure he’d target my dads. Maybe even you…I’m not sure how much Blake told him when he was under the influence of the control chip that was implanted in his head.”
Keegan shuddered. “I don’t need a repeat of that.”
“I’ll do everything I can to protect you.”
A knock on Keegan’s door startled the boys.
“Come in,” Keegan said.
His father opened the door. “We’re heading to bed. Are you sleeping over, Quinn?”
Quinn looked at Keegan for guidance. His boyfriend nodded. “Yeah, that’s okay, right?”
Mr. Miller nodded, smiled, and pointed at them. “Yes, but
behave. See you in the morning.” Mr. Miller closed the door as the boys called out, “Good night.”
Quinn smirked. If only he knew what we already did.
Keegan let his head flop back on the pillow. “I can’t believe we have to go back to school in a few days.”
“Ugh, I know. It’s going to be hard focusing on stopping Victor while doing school work.” Quinn’s body tensed with excitement and he sat up. “Wait, what does your family do for New Year’s Eve?”
Keegan shrugged. “Not much. Sometimes my parents go out to a friend’s house, but I’ve never really tagged along. Last year I hung out with friends, but I don’t have any plans this year. Why? What do you do?”
“My dads go to the New Year’s Eve gala at the Wentworth. It’s a tuxedo event and, well, since we couldn’t celebrate Hanukkah together, maybe we could all go together?”
“You mean with my parents, too? Don’t you have to make those reservations months in advance?”
“Normally, yeah, but Dad and Uncle John know the owner. He can get you a ticket. Maybe even three, if your parents want to go. Assuming you have tuxes and such. It’s a black-tie affair.”
“Yeah, my parents do fundraisers all the time and I got my tux refitted a few months ago.”
“Cool. Hopefully there won’t be any super villain problems that will screw this up. I want a fun night with my boyfriend. I’ve missed being close to you like this since Thanksgiving, and my uncle’s wedding.”
“Me too,” Keegan said, nuzzling his cheek against Quinn’s head. “But I’m glad we get to cuddle. I didn’t realize how much I loved cuddling until I held you in my arms over Thanksgiving weekend.”
“Now you’re getting mushy,” Quinn replied, chuckling.
“Want me to stop?”
Quinn grinned and gently shook his head. “Hell no. Besides, it’s your super power.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your embrace is like your very own super power. It makes me feel so safe and relaxed. Nothing else does that to me.” Quinn felt Keegan smile against his neck.
“Now you’re getting mushy,” Keegan replied, chuckling.
“Want me to stop?”
“Never.” Then, he rolled on top of his boyfriend and kissed him deeply. They enjoyed a second round of fun before snuggling together and drifting off to sleep.
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