Super Powereds: Year 2

by Drew Hayes

  It took only a moment and his eyes fluttered open. He pulled himself upright and gave his body a quick once over. Satisfied he was healthy, he turned to Camille.

  “Thank you, yet again,” he said with a smile.

  He pushed his restored hand under her branch then blasted it away with a kinetic burst. Since he was able to aim, there was no fear it would come down on her like his branch might have. It crashed into a tree and shattered into little more than splinters. Camille pulled herself up, ignoring his outstretched hand. She took a brief moment to heal her own injuries and wipe her face, then she turned to face him.

  Had he known it was coming, Vince probably could have dodged her punch. As it was, it struck him squarely in the jaw, leaving him with watering eyes of his own.

  “Fuck you! Fuck you for doing that! Fuck you taking that risk! Fuck you for... FUCK YOU!” Camille was shaking and her face was red, but for once it had nothing to do with embarrassment. “You could have died, you idiot. If you’d passed out from pain or smoke inhalation you could have burned to death under that branch. Did you even think of that? I can’t heal the dead, you goddamned pigheaded moron. We’d have been fine, we’d have survived.”

  “I would have been eliminated,” Vince said softly, avoiding her eyes. “If I don’t give them some reason to keep me, if I go down again, I won’t come back next year.”

  This time Vince did see it coming, but he purposely didn’t avoid it. Camille slapped him on the cheek with all her might, adding to the already noticeable pain in his jaw.

  “So what! You’d have moved on. There is life after Lander. But you can’t help anyone if you die. You can’t be there for the people you care about in any capacity, Hero or otherwise. Did you think about that? Did you really consider the consequences for everyone else while selfishly risking your life for some stupid job? Life doesn’t end if you get kicked out. Life definitely ends if you burn yourself to death in some dumbass escape attempt. The next time you do anything like that, I’m not going to heal you. I’ll pull you back from death, but then I’ll leave you to suffer.”

  Her shaking was getting worse. Vince reached his arms around her and pulled her in close. It wasn't a conscious decision: in that moment it was merely what he knew she needed him to do. She struggled briefly then allowed him to hold her until the shivering subsided.

  “I won’t help you kill yourself,” she whispered into his chest.

  “I’ll be more careful,” Vince told her. “I promise.”

  She stayed in his arms for a few moments more then pulled away. “What’s done is done. We should get moving. We made a lot of noise.”

  Vince nodded wordlessly and they set off back into the battle. Camille made no offer to heal the blows she’d dealt, and he didn’t dream of asking for it.

  179.

  Rich might have heard his assailant coming if he hadn’t been distracted by Julia’s clone talking. He might have seen him if his gaze hadn’t been drawn by smoke rising to the north. He might have still had a shot if he’d gotten that prickling sensation of being watched before the taser sent its searing voltage into his back. None of those things happened, which only goes to show that a power which can merely affect probability still has its uses. By the time Rich recovered, he realized his hands had been bound behind his back and a thick strip of cloth was tied against his head, covering his eyes.

  “Julia! Call for help!”

  “So sorry, your energy clone has been disconnected. Please pick up a fresh one and try again later.”

  Rich felt the tension he hadn’t noticed in his shoulders loosen. Being captured was bad. Having his eyes covered was worse. But if he was only caught by Nick, then he didn’t have much to worry about. The guy had caught a few lucky breaks, obviously, but he was nothing to get worked up over.

  “Did you shock her too?”

  “Cracked her over the head with a branch. I’m afraid she’s completely dissipated already.” Nick’s voice was coming from behind Rich, and it was calm. Actually, this was the first time Rich remembered Nick not coming off as flippant, joking, or sarcastic in some manner.

  “That was stupid. If it had been the real one you might have gotten disqualified, not to mention seriously hurt her.”

  “A calculated risk. I needed access to you, and I couldn’t risk her relaying to the others what was about to happen.”

  “You leaving me captured and useless?” The tension was creeping back into Rich. Something wasn’t right. Ambushing him might have been Nick’s style, but the rest of this, the careful bindings, the ruthless dispatching of Julia’s clone, it didn’t sit right.

  Nick laughed, and something in Rich’s stomach turned. “I’m not leaving you anywhere. You’re going to be a very helpful part in making sure my team wins.”

  Rich snorted and felt Nick draw closer. Nick leaned in closely, his mouth less than an inch from Rich’s ear. Briefly he contemplated a head butt; however, he doubted Nick was as open as he seemed. This was all too calculated for him to make an error like that.

  “I don’t want anyone to overhear this part,” Nick whispered, his breath hot on Rich’s ear. “It also wouldn’t do for them to read my lips later from some hidden camera’s video, so forgive the proximity. When they ask you about this later, you should tell them this is where I threatened to kill you.”

  Rich gulped, not because he thought Nick was actually making that threat, but because some part of him understood he wouldn’t be telling him to lie if he wasn’t about to threaten something worse.

  “In fact, this is where I tell you that I also employ a hidden camera or two from time to time. Like that time before winter break where I paid you and Adam to come incapacitate and then impersonate Vince to take his test for him.”

  “But-” Rich’s next words never left his mouth; they were superseded by a cry of pain as Nick reached down and pulled back his pinky until it snapped.

  “Your mouth isn’t covered. You don’t get to talk. Sorry about that, but at least that will make this look real.”

  Rich whimpered softly, but otherwise took the cue and remained silent.

  “Now then, I’m sure you were going to say that if I really did have that tape, then turning it in would get both Adam and me in trouble, too. You’re certainly correct there; however, you’re also operating under the delusion that I give two fucks about staying here. In that regard, you are woefully wrong. So here is what is going to happen. You will stand up and loudly protest that you’re not telling me where the orb is. That will keep the professors from intervening when they notice I’ve taken you prisoner. If you try and yell about me threatening your life right now, then they’ll save you. And then I’ll show them you committing extreme academic fraud for money, all but guaranteeing the end of your career as a Hero. If you play along, on the other hand, I promise to give you that video file and make sure you come out blameless when the dust settles. Your choice.”

  Rich felt himself being pulled up, and while the force was rough, there was evidently care to make sure he got his footing and didn’t fall down. A sharp pain came from the broken finger in his hand. This was insane; this couldn’t really be happening. He was a Super, a skilled warrior. He couldn’t have been taken prisoner, have been made utterly useless so easily. And by Nick of all people! But... the scam to help Vince had been smart. The more Rich thought about it, the more it started making sense. Despite his demeanor, didn’t Nick always seem to come out ahead? Everyone had brushed it off as luck, but maybe...

  Nick cleared his throat and brushed Rich’s broken finger, sending more pain through it. He was supposed to deliver the line about the orb: that was Nick reminding him. He could still call for help. The professors would let a certain amount slide, this was a brutal game by its nature, however this had to be more than they’d tolerate. He could get free, but if Nick was telling the truth, his career as a Hero would be destroyed. So it came down to whether or not he thought Nick was so cunning a person that he would record his own illicit
activities in case he needed to blackmail his compatriots later. Rich didn’t think he was. Of course, he also didn’t think Nick was the type to do any of the things that had passed in the last five minutes. So, was he willing to risk it?

  “Let me go, damn it! I’m not telling you who has the orb!”

  “Fine then; I’m still keeping you with me to make sure you don’t get free,” Nick replied loudly. Rich could imagine the smug look on his face, and to his credit, he got it almost exactly right. The part he missed he can hardly be blamed for: only a select few people knew that Nick’s eyes glowed with golden light when he used his power.

  Right now, resting atop that calculated smug expression, they blazed like a pair of twin suns.

  180.

  Alice was surprised to see a rock floating up to her, given her location in the air and the general lack of buoyancy associated with dense minerals. Then she realized someone had etched “Follow Me” across the flat front of it and grew suspicious. This looked like Mary’s doing, but it could be a trap. Violet could have made a rock light enough to get up here, but she couldn’t have made it guide her back to an ambush. Agatha could make inanimate objects move; however she was unable to change their properties. Alice was reasonably sure Tiffani’s illusions didn’t have this good a range, but just to be sure, she poked the stone with her finger. It wasn’t a high-minded or fancy test, but the stone was solid, so she knew it was real.

  That left the combination of Will and Jill, who might have made this using some crazy technology. Alice was reasonably certain she could get the drop on them if it was. Besides, this was a weirdly specific gizmo to have up their sleeves. At last she realized the easiest way to get confirmation. She thought about how if it were really Mary sending this, it should start doing loop the loops. Sure enough, the stone began floating in tight circles through the sky. That was as good as Alice was going to get, so she thought about how she was ready to follow it, then floated after as it began to descend.

  The stone drifted down to Mary, who was waiting in a small clearing just large enough for Alice to land in safely.

  “Find Britney?”

  “Sadly, no. She used Gilbert to hop about periodically, making tracking her all but impossible. I managed to avoid everyone and hang onto our orb, at least.”

  “That’s something. So why the rock?” Alice’s feet settled gently on the ground using a controlled maneuver that the Powered version of her could never have imagined.

  “I need to round up as many of us as possible. We’re supposed to meet at the depository before it goes active,” Mary explained.

  “Are we laying an ambush?”

  “Honestly? I have no idea what we’re doing,” Mary sighed. “We’ve got enough time to grab Roy on the way, so we should get moving. Alex woke up a little while ago; he got the message from me and is already on his way.”

  “What about Nick?”

  “No idea where he is or what he’s doing. I owed him a day of not listening to his thoughts from a favor last year, and he called it in during this match. He’s the one who wants us to meet with him, so I feel safe assuming he has something planned.”

  “Nick always has something planned. It’s just not always something we should want to go along with.”

  “Vince and Camille lost to Shane, Alex lost to Selena and Jill,” Mary informed her. “You’re the only winner; the rest of us have been safe or gotten a draw. No one has stolen an orb yet, so right now we’re all getting evaluated on our performances in this match.”

  “Some of us might make it,” Alice said, though she didn’t know which of them she was trying to comfort.

  “Some of us. Might,” Mary replied.

  “Damn it. So we either resolve ourselves to losing some friends or we go with Nick’s plan, whatever it might be.”

  “Or we try to make a grand last stand at the depository,” Mary countered. “However, I’m pretty sure Nick is already thinking of something along those lines anyway.”

  “Funny, he’s not really the ‘go out in a blaze of glory’ type,” Alice mused. “I say we go along for now. Time has to be getting close, so we’d need to go anyway. We can always tell him no if we don’t like his idea.”

  Mary nodded and the two set off, but inwardly she wondered about such a notion. She’d been deeper in Nick’s head than anyone else; she appreciated the extent to which he planned, the lengths that he was capable of going to in order to reach success. She had a nagging feeling that by the time they knew what Nick’s plan was, it would already be too late to do anything but watch.

  * * *

  “This isn’t looking good,” Professor Pendleton muttered as they watched the various students fight, sneak, or trudge across an expansive display of monitors. He kept his voice low, audible only to Dean Blaine, who stood next to him. Behind them was a room half-full of people. Most were the other professors and staff; however, a few were people dressed exceedingly professionally. Two of them were board members, and one, an older man whose hair was just beginning to grey, was their guest. He’d showed no badge, offered no job title; he’d merely been quiet and watched the students on the monitor. Or, rather, one student. His sunken eyes had never wavered from whatever monitor was currently displaying Vince Reynolds.

  “The thing with the branch was impressive,” Dean Blaine replied.

  “Would have been more impressive if coupled with a win,” Professor Pendleton shot back.

  “Shane is second only to Chad among the males. That would have been the result against nearly any other student.”

  “Too bad it was against Vince.”

  “Agreed.” Dean Blaine kept his sympathy for the silver-haired boy off his face and out of his voice. Right now he did his student more good by seeming objective, whatever little difference it might ultimately make.

  “They’re heading for the depository. Think they’ve got any shot of pulling this one out of the crapper?”

  “My answer depends largely on your thoughts about something. On monitor seventeen you’ve surely noticed Nick Campbell leading a captured Rich Weaver toward the same place as the others. He’s avoided detection so far, and the audio indicated he took Rich prisoner to keep him from getting back into play.” Dean Blaine hesitated, checking to be certain they weren’t currently being overheard. At least he didn’t have to fear telepaths or super-hearing; thank heaven for small favors. “Do you believe that is actually what he’s doing?”

  “Not a chance. That’s a stupid plan. The kid might be a lot of things, but he isn’t one to use stupid plans.”

  The lightest twitch of a smile played at the corner of Dean Blaine’s mouth.

  “Then I suspect this show has not yet reached the final act.”

  181.

  Vince and Camille didn’t talk much as they moved through the arena. They’d run into Alex, who had told them of the need to move toward to the depository; however, after that brief discussion they’d lapsed back into silence. One could make the argument that this was out of necessity, since they were sneaking across terrain where enemies could come from any direction. That theory wasn’t wrong, not entirely, but it failed to capture the true awkwardness of the silence that had descended upon them.

  Vince turned at every noise, halting their progress. He was on alert, beginning to verge on paranoid, determined not to be taken by surprise again. It might not have made a difference against Shane, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t make a difference against the next opponent. He was out of second chances. If he screwed up again then failure was inevitable.

  The two crept past a thick patch of bushes, walking into a clearing they hadn’t expected to be there. Waiting for them was a pair of figures, quite possibly the last coupling they’d expected to see.

  “Nick?” Vince pulled himself to a standing position. His dorm mate smiled back at him, but it wasn’t the smile Vince was used to seeing. There was something different about him, something far more disconcerting than the glowing eyes.

 
“Just in time,” Nick said, jerking his prisoner to his feet. “By my count we have less than twenty minutes until the depository becomes active.”

  “Why did you tie up Rich?” Vince asked. He heard Camille walk into the clearing behind him, then felt her tense up unexpectedly. This was their friend, so why were both of them getting such a sense of danger from the situation?

  “For what it’s worth, Vince, I didn’t want to do it this way. I sincerely hoped you’d be able to pull things off on your own. Unfortunately, sometimes even the purest of intentions need a little help from people on my side.” Nick made a quick motion with his hand, one so subtle Vince barely noticed it.

  Vince opened his mouth to ask for more clarity then saw a more attention-catching movement: a flutter of grey cloth floating to the ground. He glanced at it, only for a second, but a pair of eyes was waiting to meet his, and then it was over.

  Nick snatched the cloth from the air as Vince froze, securing it once more around Rich’s eyes in a manner of moments.

  “You gave him exactly what I told you to, right?”

  “I included the entire framework. His own mind has to supply the details,” Rich answered, his voice strained. “For now, he’ll follow basic direction. Once I look into his eyes again, his subconscious will start the scenario and he’ll begin moving on his own.”

  “That gift of yours never ceases to amaze me.”

  “Nick,” Camille said hesitantly, noticing the way Vince had frozen in place. “What did you do?”

  “I made a bet against long odds,” he replied simply. “Come on, we need to get moving. The rest of the teams will be gathering around the depository soon.”

  “I would really like to know what you’ve done.” Camille was working hard to keep calm, but after her day so far she could hardly be blamed for a bit of worry.

  “You’ll know soon enough,” Nick said, moving Rich toward the clearing’s edge. “Everyone will know quite a bit, in fact.” His prisoner set for movement, Nick walked back over to Vince, who was unmoved from the spot he’d been standing.