by M. R. Anglin
“One moment.” Bee paused and rewound the feed until the culprit stood in the open. “Let me freeze this frame and enhance it.” The picture zoomed in on the figure, pixelated, then clarified. A grainy picture of a man, eyes glued to a device in his hands, appeared.
Nicole recognized him at once. “The TelePorter.”
“I’m contacting Starlight with this information. One moment, please.” Bee let her eyes unfocus while staring at the wall. “I’ve sent the message, but Starlight’s BT-X system is in battle mode. She’s fighting someone right now. Nicole, you have to hold him off until she can get here.”
“Right.” Nicole bit her bottom lip as she crept out of the bathroom. Glancing over her shoulder to make sure Stephanie and Margaret were still sleeping, she slipped outside, and eased the door shut behind her. “Is the hallway secure?”
“Hallway is secure. However, I suggest you duck into the ice room before I change you to be certain.”
Nicole ducked into the corner with the ice-maker before saying, “Suit me up, Bee.”
She shut her eyes against the flash of light hiding her transformation into Refraction. When she opened them, Bee was floating beside her dressed in a full bee costume complete with black, “compound eye” goggles over her eyes. “Bee, what are you doing?”
“I’m a hard-light hologram. Since you’ve finished my design, I can help you instead of being stuck inside the data hub. I even finished the costume you made for me.” Bee spun in the air.
“You’re so cute,” Nicole said, though secretly amazed at how much Bee could change in one day. “Where’s the TelePorter now?”
“Outside the pool area.” Bee displayed a map of the hotel complex with a red blip indicating the TelePorter. “He seems to be tracking toward our room.”
“Margaret . . . Starlight was right. We better hurry.” Nicole sped off with Bee trailing her.
CHAPTER 24
THE TELEPORTER STALKED through the darkness surrounding the hotel building, following the faint signal of the Sapphire. It led him to a hotel room—up on the third floor. Pausing underneath a balcony, he narrowed his eyes at the French doors leading into the room in question.
“Maybe the signal is a dud, or maybe I broke this thing somehow.” The TelePorter struck the side of the scanner against his palm. Or maybe . . . he didn’t want to consider this possibility . . . maybe the scanner was inherently faulty.
The TelePorter shook the thought out of his head. He trusted his inventor implicitly. The scanner was working which meant something—the Sapphire or something else—was hidden in the room. He’d have to get up there and find out.
During his last encounter with Heroes when he had almost nabbed the Sapphire, Refraction had damaged his teleporter stabilizers. Since then, he had barely been able to repair them. What repairs he managed were temporary fixes at best. Even so, they kept giving out mid-teleport at random times dropping him in odd places. He’d have to visit his inventor sooner rather than later to have it properly repaired. Until then, he’d have to be careful.
But a teleport up to the third floor shouldn’t be too taxing. He snapped his fingers, disappeared from the ground, and dropped onto the balcony where he pressed himself against the wall beside the French door. Slowly so as not to alert the room’s occupants to his presence, he peeked inside. Two people were sleeping in the room—two women it seemed, one on each bed. The one of the far side had curly, red hair sprawled out on the pillow.
The TelePorter let a ghost of a smile tug at his lips. The hair reminded him of Ste . . . of his inventor. He couldn’t let himself even think her name. He had no assurance Shadowman had revealed all of his powers to him—and mind-reading could be one of them. In a world where humans had all sorts of supernatural abilities, it didn’t hurt to be careful—especially since Shadowman seemed to forecast every move the TelePorter made.
Turning his mind and his eyes from the redhead, he fixed his attention to the figure closest to him. This one had straight, dark hair splayed out on her pillow. He recognized her at once. Doctor Margaret Farber, Head Researcher of the Tifuld Sapphire. Though she had the deepest understanding of the gem, she was inconsequential to the TelePorter’s designs. Still . . . why would the signal lead him here? Unless . . .
“You sly dog!” The TelePorter let a grin cross his lips. “The convoy’s a decoy. Clever.”
“Hey, you! Get down from there!” A shrill voice pierced the night.
The TelePorter swung around. Down below on the ground stood a teenager in a mask and costume.
“Refraction.” He clenched his teeth. Though he had no idea how she had done it, the lowly side-kick had hampered his device. If he engaged her, she might completely disable it. Not to mention if she was around, Starlight couldn’t be far off. He’d have to move now to nab the Sapphire now before she could act.
He teleported again, emerging in the darkened room. Apart from the air conditioning running, the only sound was the slow even breath of the two ladies sleeping. Holding up the scanner, he perused the room. He had to hurry and find the gem before Refraction . . .
Ah, there it is!
He trotted to the room safe housed in the closet. This time he knew better than to teleport the Sapphire into open air. Opening a special bag meant to dampen the Sapphire’s energy, he teleported the contents of the safe into it. The weight of the bag shifted as the contents dropped into it. Bracing himself he opened the bag a bit. He had to make sure the Sapphire was in there, after all. If the wave of dizzying energy which struck him didn’t convince him the Sapphire was there, the orange glow gave it away. Closing the bag, he stood to his feet to teleport out of the room.
The doors to the balcony burst open and a fist slammed into the TelePorter’s cheek. He flew across the room, collided against the door, and dropped to the floor, losing his grip on the bag. The Sapphire rolled out of it, plinked off the wall, and came to a halt at his feet. Its dizzying energy wafted toward him.
“What?” The red-headed girl shot up in bed. She screamed as soon as she saw him.
“Huh?” Dr. Farber, a heavier sleeper, shot up to a seated position. She glanced around in a daze until she spotted the TelePorter. Her eyes widened, and she groped for her glasses on the night table. “What the—the Sapphire? How?”
The TelePorter didn’t heed her. He gaped at the red-head. The woman was no woman. She was a teenager with pale skin and a smattering of freckles across her face.
“Stephie?” The TelePorter whispered to himself. “What’s she doing here?”
“Stand down, Villain.” A slight figure stepped in between him and his view of Stephanie. It was a young girl—not more than 12 years old—wearing a bee costume and floating off the ground, her bee wings fluttering behind her. Weird. The TelePorter thought ASH affiliated Heroes had to be 14 or 15 before they started fighting in the field.
“Who are you?” he said.
“I’m . . . uh, the Hornet. Yes.” She pointed at him. “Give up now!”
At that moment, Refraction flipped in onto the balcony. She ran up beside Hornet. “Give it up, TelePorter!”
The TelePorter clenched his teeth. He couldn’t engage these two Heroes here, not with Stephanie nearby. She was liable to get hurt if he engaged in a conflict with those maniacs. Time to make good his escape. Snatching up the bag with the gem in it, he teleported.
And dropped out of the air an inch from where he started.
“What?” The TelePorter’s stabilizers sparked, and a message appeared on the screen projected onto his goggles, “Error.”
“No, no, no!” He backed up against the door with the two Heroes converging on him. He clenched his teeth. He couldn’t get caught now. He had too much at stake to be confiscated by Heroes, but if he travelled too far without his stabilizers working . . .
All at once, he felt his power flare responding to his fear. Teleporting energy blazed at his fist, swirling with uncontrollable power. The TelePorter glanced at it with clenched teeth. Not eve
n he would trust a teleport with all this power behind it, but it could give him an edge on those Heroes.
He flung the energy at them, swung the door open, and fled into the hall. Most likely, they’d dodge it—at least Refraction seemed to be able to sense his power, but the few seconds of chaos would give him a chance to escape. If only his stabilizers would reactivate. “Come on! Come on!” He struck the device as he ran down the hall.
A new message scrawled across the screen. “Rebooting, please wait.”
“Get back here!” Hornet rushed into the hallway.
Glancing behind him, the TelePorter spotted Hornet racing after him and Refraction slide into the hallway after her.
“Stay in your rooms! There’s a Villain here!” Refraction yelled at the curious hotel guests who peeked out of their room to see what was causing the ruckus. “Be—uh, Hornet, we have to stop him before he hurts someone!”
The TelePorter skidded around the corner and headed for the door to the stairs. He had to stay in front of them until his stabilizers came back online. Glancing behind him, he kept an eye on the two Heroes’ progress. They were small but quick . . . and gaining on him.
“You’re not getting away!” Refraction waved her hands in front of her.
The TelePorter swung around—
—and came face to face with a wall.
“Wha—?” He dug his heels into the carpet but too late. He slammed right . . . through the wall? Confusion addled his mind for a moment.
He was so discombobulated that he slammed into the real wall before he knew what was happening. Before he could recover, Refraction rushed up and slammed her fist into his jaw. The TelePorter went down again.
“Did we get him?” Refraction stood over him. She snatched the bag from his grasp.
“Let me check.” Hornet hovered nearby. “Scanning . . .”
The TelePorter cracked an eye open to look at his stabilizers’ readout. “System ready” was displayed on his goggles’ screen. Perfect.
He leapt up, taking the two Heroes by surprise. He teleported Refraction to the ceiling and let her plunge onto Hornet. The two tumbled all over each other coming to a rest down the hall. Refraction groaned and rubbed her head while Hornet lay still on top of her, eyes staring ahead. He snatched the bag and held it aloft.
“This is why ASH shouldn’t send Junior Heroes to fight a real Villain.” The TelePorter stalked toward Refraction. “But, hey, it’s all good. Shadowman has been meaning to run an experiment on some Heroes with this Sapphire, and you two fit the bill. Allow me to be the one to introduce you to him.” He held his hands up to teleport them all.
Two fists slammed into the TelePorter’s back. He flew forward and tumbled to the ground. Rolling to his feet, he glanced back. Starlight stood over Refraction and Hornet, lips pulled back in a snarl.
“How did you get here so fast?” The TelePorter pulled himself to his feet. “You should be protecting the armored van.”
“I will never let you hurt my Starling!” Starlight alighted her fist with deep red power. The TelePorter froze, mind blank, forgetting how to teleport. Being hit with all this energy was liable to cave his face in or worse. Weren’t there ASH rules against using excessive force? With a snarl akin to a rabid animal’s, Starlight drew back her fist to sock him. Right before she connected, the power went out. Her fist slammed into his jaw, knocking him down, but luckily it didn’t break anything.
Starlight seemed as surprised as he did. She glanced at her fist, then snarled at him again, and pounced.
The TelePorter leapt out of one of the windows, glass shattering as he crashed through it. Starlight leapt after him heedless of any damage she might cause. Her fist again lit up with power as she drew it back ready to slam into his face when he impacted the floor. It didn’t seem she would let the power dissipate this time.
“So much for ASH protocol.” The TelePorter teleported himself right before he hit the ground and slammed into his bed. The impact broke the frame, and he collapsed to the ground, air jolting from his lungs. As the sudden silence and pain from his impact washed over him, he contented himself with imagining Starlight breaking her fist on the concrete when she connected. Served her right.
After a few moments, the TelePorter turned his eyes to his hands. The bag with the Sapphire was in his grip. He’d done it. He’d gotten the Sapphire.
Getting to his feet, he limped through the relative silence of the base. His first task, to deliver the gem to Shadowman. After that, he’d sell this stupid invention, and be done with Shadowman for good.
CHAPTER 25
STEPHANIE AWOKE TO a loud bump at the door. She jumped out of her sleep and gazed around in a haze. A man was on the ground at the door, looking rumpled as if he had rolled into it. He wore a leather coat, and a pair of goggles to obscure his face. A Villain. A scream leapt out of her.
The Villain swung around at her. His mouth dropped open. “Stephie?” he whispered.
Stephanie halted. Stephie? The only person who called her that was—but, no. It couldn’t be . . .
“Huh? What noise . . . it . . . ?” Margaret jerked out of her sleep. She gazed around in a sleep induced haze but when her eyes fell on the Villain, she snapped wide awake. Scrambling to put on her glasses she yelled, “What the—a thief . . . How?” Her eyes flicked to the hotel safe.
“Stand down, Villain!” A Hero Stephanie had never seen or heard of before stepped into view. She called herself Hornet, but Stephanie thought her costume looked more bee than hornet. Ah, but what did Stephanie care? Hornet was a Hero which was marginally better than the Villain who stood in front of her. But the gem on the floor . . . what a pretty thing! While the TelePorter was distracted, she slipped out of bed, scooped it up, and hid it under her blanket.
At that moment, Refraction flipped through the window. “Give it up, TelePorter!”
The TelePorter disappeared for a moment, but something must have gone wrong with his teleporting device because he reappeared an inch from when he started. The device on his wrist sparked and went dead. Backing to the door, he made a throwing motion, and Refraction and Hornet dove to the side, though Stephanie couldn’t see why. A moment later, the floor lamp behind them disappeared. Stephanie never heard what happened to it.
During the chaos, the TelePorter swung open the door and fled through it. Hornet picked herself up and flew after him.
Refraction hesitated before she joined the chase. “Are you two alright?”
“I’m fine,” Stephanie admitted.
“Yes, go. Get after him!” Margaret waved her off.
Refraction nodded and rushed out.
“Wow!” Stephanie watched the door the Villain and Heroes had darted through. “This is one wild vacation.”
Margaret stiffened, glancing around the room. “Stephanie, where’s Nicole?”
“What?” Stephanie inspected the bed beside her. It was empty. “I-I don’t know. She’s not here.”
“Oh, no!” Margaret leapt out of the bed, still in her swim suit. “I’ve got to go find her.”
“There’s a Hero-Villain fight going on out there!”
“All the more reason I have to find Nicole! I won’t let the freak hurt her!” Margaret swung the door open. “Call John’s room, and tell him what’s going on! And stay here!” She rushed out, slamming the door behind her.
“Okay! Sheesh! It’s not like I’m safer here than anywhere else with those morons running around.” Stephanie crossed her arms. She reached for the hotel phone but paused. Her eyes drifted to the safe. It was subtle, but Margaret had glanced at it as soon as she saw the TelePorter. So . . . what was in the safe?
She pressed her lips together as she held up the orange gem. She had a pretty good idea about that.
CHAPTER 26
NICOLE PUSHED BEE OFF of her and rushed to the window seconds after Starlight had leapt out after the TelePorter. She watched Starlight ignite her fist, ready to slam it in the TelePorter’s face when he landed. Nicole
winced. She had never seen her so angry before.
The TelePorter teleported just before he hit the ground. Starlight’s fist slammed into the sidewalk. The concrete cracked.
Nicole hissed in a breath. What would have happened to the TelePorter if she had connected?
Without a word, Starlight climbed to her feet. Shaking her fist, she looked up from where she fell. “You okay, Starling?”
“I’m fine!” Nicole called from the window.
Starlight gave a great leap and landed on the window sill. Nicole had to back away so Starlight could hop back in. “I’m sorry I didn’t make it earlier.”
“Bee told me you were in a battle. Oh, Bee!” Nicole darted to Bee’s figure lying motionless on the floor. “Bee? Are you alright?”
Bee blinked and sat up. “I apologize, Refraction. The force of our impact jolted my system and made it go haywire. My motor functions were locked until my system stabilized.”
“How did you experience any sort of force? You’re a hologram.”
Bee simply tapped on the pink gem at Nicole’s chest.
“Oh.”
“Refraction, who is this?” Starlight stooped over Bee.
“You know Bee . . . my BT-X? I customized her the way I wanted mostly. She can now manifest as a hard light hologram.”
“Impressive! She looks so alive!” Starlight touched Bee’s arm. She jerked it back. “She’s warm!”
“Yeah . . .” Nicole pulled Bee to her feet. “What I don’t understand is how did the TelePorter get the Sapphire? Wasn’t it being carried in the van?”
“Hard light holograms aren’t usually so warm,” Starlight muttered as she pushed some buttons on her gauntlet. “This whole situation is baffling. I better report to Captain Justice.”
“Nicole! Nicole!” Margaret’s voice sounded from down the hall.
“Oh, no! It’s Margaret!” Nicole buried her hands in her hair. “She’s going to go ballistic if she can’t find me!”