“Yes. Let them go and I’ll willingly surrender and do whatever you want.”
“Anything?” Nightmare asked.
“Anything. Just let them go home safely, please.”
“Dark Flame, go across the hall and instruct the control room to shut down the weapon. Tell them to recalibrate for chamber infusion.”
“As you wish, Hegumen,” Dark Flame responded.
Blue Spekter looked at Nightmare, then at Dark Flame. “I thought you’d let them go if I surrendered to you?”
Nightmare shook his head. “You are far too trusting, Quinn.”
Dark Flame turned and made his way to the control room.
5-21 | The Trickster’s Improvisation
Quinn
TEARS DRIPPED FROM QUINN’S FACE and mixed with the pool of blood on the concrete floor beneath him.
How did I not see this coming?
“You two,” Nightmare said, pointing to the brown and amber goons near Catamount, “go secure the reactor and ensure our guests are ready.”
“I can’t believe Blake betrayed me again,” he whispered, sniffling as he cried softly to himself.
The two goons exited the workroom and Catamount whispered to him. “It’s not your fault. I didn’t see it coming, either.”
“But all those interrogations…how did he fool everyone?” he whispered incredulously.
Nightmare exited the work room with the orange super goon, leaving them alone except for a couple of nervously sweating technicians.
“I have no clue,” she whispered back.
“This was a stupid idea,” he said. He tried to laugh, but it hurt too much.
“You think so? The next time I say ‘strike hard, fast, and furious,’ stick with the plan and do not deviate.”
“Yes ma’am. If we get out of here, that’s exactly what I plan to do with the rest of his super goons.”
“At least we know where your family is now.”
“But Victor still intends to fry them. I can’t believe he wouldn’t take my surrender.”
“Were you really going to surrender to him?” Catamount asked.
Quinn shook his head. “Maybe.” I dunno. We have to get out of here,” he said, straining against his restraints and grunting at the pain that blazed through his body. “The electric cuffs don’t hurt me, but this knife through my chest prevents me from healing my broken limbs. I’m useless at the moment. I thought we were supposed to be invulnerable.”
“I am also incapacitated. Nightmare is a quick study. I suspect he followed your fights with Dark Flame and studied every move the two of you made. When Dark Flame impaled you with rebar in the park, Nightmare realized how we could be sufficiently weakened and immobilized.”
“You think so?”
“That is my assessment of our predicament. On the other hand, he may have discovered it himself while training with his henchmen. However, I have also told you that I observe you consistently hold back. I firmly believe the man who tackled you should not have been able to move you. You are far more powerful than you realize.”
Blue Spekter sighed. “You keep saying that, but he caught me off guard. Whenever I’m caught off guard, it’s like they can overwhelm me.”
Catamount pursed her lips. “If someone were to strike Superman with a baseball bat from behind and he didn’t see it coming, would he fall over in pain or simply turn and look at his attacker?”
“He would look at his attacker and wonder why they had hit him.” His tears dried up as they spoke.
“Exactly. We should be the same as Superman in that regard. We are invulnerable and you are much stronger than you know. When we trained in the warehouse, I told you that you keep projecting a shield because you failed to realize the shield is already a part of you. You must integrate your powers so they become more intuitive so you 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. If we’re going to win today, you need to have a heart to heart chat with your superpowers in order to save your family.”
“If what you’re saying is true, then why do you have a knife shoved through your chest?”
Catamount glared at him. “Because you told us to let them overwhelm us and I dutifully followed your leadership without question.”
“Oh, right.”
“As for the knife, I assure you that is an unpleasant and unexplainable surprise.” Her expression softened. “However, as I am also largely unfamiliar with fighting other super-powered humans, I reluctantly admit I was caught off-guard. I severely underestimated their ability and wasn’t prepared for the sheer strength these super villains manifest. Next time, I will not be so…breakable.”
Blue Spekter nodded. “If we get out of here, I need you to get my dads and Keegan to safety.”
“Why me? What will you be doing?”
He firmly set his jaw as he answered her. “Ending all of this, once and for all.”
❖
Blake
Dark Flame forced open the control room door with his mind and stepped through the sparking doorframe. Arik and Miguel, along with several other technicians, looked at him with surprise and fear. When the guards aimed their weapons at him, he raised his arms in surrender. He slowly moved his hands to his cowl and pulled it off his head.
“Remember me?” he asked, briefly making his eyes glow orange.
The technicians looked at each other with confusion. “Dark Flame?” Miguel asked.
He smiled. “Good, now that we have that part out of the way, lower your weapons.”
Miguel nodded and gestured for the guards to comply. When they did, Dark Flame pointed to Arik. “The Hegumen instructs that you shut down the weapon and recalibrate for chamber infusion immediately.”
Arik looked at Miguel with concern.
“Now!” Dark Flame shouted, and they jumped. Don’t give them a chance to question me.
“Yes sir, right away,” Arik said. He started tapping buttons at his station and Dark Flame walked over to it. “Tell me about the weapon.”
“Uh, that’s…classified.”
“Do I look like I care?”
Arik’s face went white and he nervously shook his head. “N…no. Um, it’s a prototype unique to Orgonon. It’s an adaptation of the weather modification system. It saturates the target location with orgone energy tuned to specific frequencies that affect the human psyche or body instead of atmospheric particles, though it’s not perfected. There might be unexpected meteorological effects, but we can’t be sure at this point.”
“So, this is the only facility that can do…whatever it’s doing to Portsmouth?”
“That’s right. Other installations do not have the necessary modifications to perform the required functions that…”
Dark Flame waved his hand. “Yup, technobabble. I’m bored. When will the reactor be ready for infusion?”
“In about three minutes, sir,” Miguel replied. “The prisoners are ready as well.”
Dark Flame looked at him with curiosity. “There are three, correct?”
“Yes, sir.” He pointed to a monitor that displayed the interior of the chamber. Tim, Aren, and Keegan sat chained together on the center of the silver disc.
“Thank you. The Hegumen will be pleased to learn of your progress.”
Dark Flame exited the control and nearly ran into Nightmare and one of his henchmen in the hallway.
“Why are all my doors busted?” Nightmare asked, pointing at the control room door and gesturing down the hallway to the security door that led to the reception area.
“That would be Catamount. Since my access had been removed, she forced her way in,” he lied.
Nightmare sighed angrily. “Those aren’t cheap.”
“You can’t expect those doors to keep people like us out, right? Besides, I had to let them damage the place or I would have risked blowing my cover.”
&
nbsp; “If only I had known whose side you were really on…”
“It was necessary to fool everyone, Victor. I’m sure you can forgive my strategic need for absolute secrecy.”
Nightmare eyed him with annoyance. “Perhaps.”
Dark Flame smiled at him. “You’re not used to being out of the loop, are you?”
Nightmare shook his head. “Come on, it’s time to put an end to this charade and advance The Order.”
“How will you do it? Will you make them watch or will you put them out of their misery first?”
“By them I assume you mean make Blue Spekter watch his family’s demise? That’s brutal and cruel, even for you.”
Dark Flame shrugged.
“I have something far more sinister planned. I intend to fire the reactor and then inform Quinn his family and boyfriend are dead.”
“I thought you said they might survive?” Dark Flame responded.
“I lied,” Nightmare said with a malicious smile. “The energy collected from the various mega fusion reactions we’ve been doing and the storm above created an impressive charge that would kill one of us. They’ll be irradiated and die within minutes.”
“You’re sure that’s necessary? I’m not sure how you expect Quinn to work for you if you kill the people he loves.”
Nightmare’s malicious smile turned to a menacing glare. “He won’t be joining us, Blake. I intend to eliminate him and the woman as well.”
“I see.”
“If Dr. Madison were still with us, we might have retained them for scientific experimentation—the kind you were afraid of when you first considered joining The Order. Unfortunately, I don’t have the necessary restraints to hold superheroes indefinitely and I don’t need them bleeding all over the workroom. It’s more efficient to terminate them and move on, like you did at the Mystic River Power Plant. Don’t you agree?”
“Of course, Hegumen,” Dark Flame replied with an evil grin. “But I think they should watch. Why not put Blue Spekter and Catamount in the reactor core with his family so they can die together?”
Nightmare’s eyes flashed with excitement. “Make it so.”
Dark Flame nodded. “If you’ll indulge me a moment, I’d like to say goodbye to him.”
“Don’t take too long, Dark Flame. I don’t need him changing your mind.”
“He won’t. My mind is already made up.”
5-22 | Can’t Read My Poker Face
Ana Maria
“HARTMAN TO BLUE SPEKTER, COME in,” the agent said over their ear comms.
“Yup,” Blue Spekter responded, his voice strained.
“The weapon appears to have been shut down and life is returning to normal on our end. Keep up the good work.”
“Hello all stations, this is Catamount. Impose radio silence. Over,” Catamount said.
“Acknowledged,” Agent Hartman replied.
Blue Spekter looked at her with a confused expression.
“Dark Flame has an ear comm which means he can hear everything we say.”
“Right.”
They sat quietly in the room for several minutes until Dark Flame returned and grimaced at them. “You were wise to impose radio silence because I can hear everything you say.”
“Your treachery will never be forgiven,” Catamount spat, ignoring the pain as she struggled to speak loudly and with anger.
Dark Flame didn’t seem interested in removing their ear comms.
That’s unexpected.
With her super vision, she noticed his eyes shift up and left, where they lingered for a moment. She followed his gaze as he spoke and noticed a tiny security camera.
Interesting.
He ignored her. “There’s been a change of plans, Quinn. The Hegumen has decided you will join your family and suffer whatever fate the orgone reactor imposes upon you all.”
“Well, what’s the point of that?” Blue Spekter asked, his voice carrying extreme irritation. “If it might or might not kill normal humans, why would it…” He stopped speaking, then his face expressed understanding.
“Nightmare intends to kill us, doesn’t he?” Catamount asked. “The orgone infusion will be of sufficient power to exterminate us as well.”
Dark Flame nodded. “Once you’re out of the picture, there will be no one left to stop us.”
“Blake, you don’t have to do what Victor wants,” his best friend exclaimed.
Dark Flame briefly glanced at the security camera again. “You don’t know the power Victor now wields with The Order. It is the power I will soon wield myself. I must obey my master.” Then, he approached his best friend and reached out with his right hand.
“Blake, don’t!” Catamount shouted, ignoring her pain. I have to stop him, but how?
❖
Blake
Dark Flame put his right hand on Blue Spekter’s shoulder and gently squeezed. Then, he grabbed the handle of the knife. “I’m sorry, but I hope you can understand why this had to be.”
Blue Spekter looked at him with pleading, tearful eyes and whispered. “You don’t have to do this.”
Dark Flame reached out with his mind and felt the edges and core of the blade impaling Blue Spekter. “Actually, I do, if you ever want to get your dads and Keegan out of here.”
“What?” Blue Spekter asked, surprised.
Then, Dark Flame winked at his best friend. He focused and manipulated the molecules of the metal blade through Blue Spekter’s body until it had completely egressed from his best friend’s torso. As Blue Spekter began to heal, he held the hilt and the clump of metal in place so it looked like the knife still impaled Blue Spekter.
Blue Spekter gasped silently and looked deeply into Dark Flame’s eyes with wonder and awe.
There, he gets it.
Dark Flame turned to Catamount and put his hand on her shoulder and grabbed the knife that impaled her. She glared at him and spat.
He wiped the bloody spit from his face and put his hand back on the hilt of the knife. Then, as with Blue Speaker, he focused and manipulated the molecules of the metal blade through Catamount’s body until it had completely egressed from her torso.
“Lady, you were always an interesting enigma. I never got the chance to talk with you about, well, you, but perhaps one day we’ll get that chance.”
Immediately, she began to heal. The popping of bones and other healing noises came from both of their bodies. Dark Flame used his mind to break the handcuffs that restrained them. They’ll be able to break free from the chains in seconds.
An alarm rang out around them.
“We don’t have much time,” Dark Flame said, pulling the hilts toward him and catching them. “Once Nightmare finds out I was playing him, he’ll order the reactor core ignition and Tim, Aren, and Keegan will be dead. We don’t want to be in there when it fires—he thinks the dose is lethal, even to us.”
“You little shit,” Catamount said with anger and amusement. “Did you not think it important to share this little plan of yours?”
“I’m sorry, but Nightmare had to believe I betrayed you. Your reaction to my betrayal had to be convincing for him to trust me again.”
“You had me going there, buddy,” Blue Spekter said.
“Good, because he bought the act, too. And honestly, it was an impulsive decision. With you two impaled and useless—no offense—I gambled that was the only way to get the electric shock cuffs turned off, so I could check things out and free you when the time was right.”
Blue Spekter broke free from his chains and landed on the floor. The clump of metal on his back fell to the floor. “Well, shit, Blake. I honestly thought you were still working for The Order.
Dark Flame shook his head. “Hell no. Oh, and by the way, letting them take us was a stupid decision.”
Blue Spekter and Catamount glanced at one another and smiled. “Yeah, we discussed this already. From here on out, we strike hard, fast, and furious,” Blue Spekter.
Catamount broke free from her
chains and landed on her hands and knees. The clump of metal on her back fell to the floor.
The sound of hurried footsteps alerted them to Nightmare’s arrival.
“We’re not at full strength yet,” Catamount said in a harsh whisper. “Also, I’ve never been stabbed before. I’ll need a minute to recover.”
“Shhh, he’s coming,” Dark Flame said. “I’ve got this.”
“Dark Flame, what are you doing?” Nightmare shouted as he ran into the room with the brown, amber, purple, and orange henchmen.
“I’m moving them to the reactor core, like you ordered me to.”
“Then why did you remove the restraining blades? Those were keeping them from healing and regaining use of their powers!”
Dark Flame looked at the impressive, yet bladeless hilts in his hands. “Really? Perhaps it’s more correct to say they were keeping them from healing.”
Then, he coiled his arms back, sprang forward, and threw the two hilts through the air at Nightmare and his thugs. The villains evaded the hilts and they struck metal wall behind him with a satisfying metallic cling and then clattered to the floor.
Nightmare looked at the fallen hilts, whirled around, and regarded Blake with an incredulous expression.
Blake focused and summoned a shockwave of explosive force. “Helion is a derivative of the god of the sun in Greek mythology and he burns more brightly than any dark flame you could possibly create.”
“How dare you!” Nightmare boomed, raising his hand to lash out, but Helion was faster.
5-23 | The Beginning of the End
Quinn
QUINN FELT HIS STRENGTH AND power return to normal when Helion lunged forward on his right leg and channeled an incredible amount of explosive fire toward Nightmare and his four goons. The blast was so strong that Nightmare and the goons broke through the walls of the workroom and slammed into the white metal wall on the other side of the hallway, leaving four human-sized dents and burn marks in the glossy finish.
Helion scorched anything he could see and the facility’s fire alarms sounded and flashed as flames erupted around him.
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