by Chad Kunego
“Glaizia’s one of our tanks. Along with an impressive level of strength, she’s also a cryomancer—”
“Great, a frost giant…”
Kaitlyn attention snapped toward Thunderclap when Glaizia cringed.
“That’s enough of that shit! One more comment like that and you’re gone.”
“Not sure why boyo there’s even on the team since he obviously couldn’t stop our guy the first time ’round.”
“What’d you say, you little piece of dung!”
“ENOUGH!”
Kaitlyn flared up, lifting into the air and getting everyone’s attention.
“We’re all here for one reason, and one reason only. To capture or eliminate this Newton person. If you can’t work together, then I don’t need you. I don’t care if you’ve already had a confrontation with our target. I can always find someone else. Our target has powers that place him at lambda level, if not higher. If we can’t function as a team, then we’ve already lost.”
Dropping back to the floor, she gave everyone a stern look before continuing.
“Scattershot, you’re next.”
The one who made the snide comment about Thunderclap strode forward, a cocky grin on his face.
“Present boss lady.”
Kaitlyn glared at him for a second before looking back down at her tablet
“Says here you shoot projectiles of an unknown material. Are you able to control their direction once you fire them?”
“Nah. Once they go, they keep going straight. All I can do after that is make ’em disappear. But I kin shoot a jolly lot of ’em at once, so there’s that.”
“So Scattershot’s going to be our sniper/artillery person. He small and agile, so he might be able to get the jump on our adversary.”
“Not small where it counts though, luv.”
Before she had a chance to respond, he winked at her before stepping back in line.
“Blitz, you’re up next.”
Kaitlyn heard a slight pop before she got buffeted by a blast of wind.
“If you couldn’t tell, Blitz is a speedster. Top measured speed of Mach 2. Plus, the faster he runs, the more durable he becomes. Can also shoot energy beams from his hands. He’s going to be our ground support. While we don’t know Newton’s top speed, we’re hoping between Blitz and our next team member, they’ll be able to keep him contained.”
“Jetlag. Front and center.”
A petite woman lifted up into the air from the back of the group, quickly drifting over them before touching down.
“She’s going to be our air support and reconnaissance. Along with supersonic flight, she can also generate and project lightning.”
Nodding to Jetlag, she glanced over at the final member of the team.
“Last up is someone you all probably know. Thunderclap is going to be the other tank on the team. Now as you’ve already noted, he’s already had a confrontation with our target, but appeared to have little effect on him.”
Kaitlyn started pacing back and forth in front of them.
“As I mentioned, we still have no idea what the extent of Newton’s abilities are. All we know is, he’s survived explosions, a fall off a seventy story building, a point blank hit from Thunderclap’s war mace. More disturbingly, he somehow negated my power while completely ignoring the impact of a fully loaded armored car.”
Clearing her throat, she looked at each member of the group.
“We do know he can be injured since I personally saw he was wounded somehow by the other subject known as Reaper, but we’re unsure how it happened.
“During our first encounter with him, he easily shrugged off everything we threw at him. Yes, Thunderclap hit him with his mace. What wasn’t put in the report was that it stopped dead upon impact. It didn’t keep traveling, it didn’t rebound. It just paused, then dropped to the ground.”
She met the eyes of each of them to emphasize her point before continuing to pace.
“There’s also video footage of him catching both the hostage that was dropped off the roof, along with debris that would have crushed bystanders, with just a touch. And when I say catch, I mean instantly stopped moving.”
“One last thing. My personal opinion. I witnessed him accelerate so quickly that I initially thought he teleported. This was when he grabbed me and got me out of harms way. Why he protected me, I don’t know, but I mean to ask him next time we meet.”
She looked them over one last time before finishing up.
“With everything that was witnessed, we speculate the subject either can control gravity, or inertia. We’re not sure which, but we haven’t been able to think of anything else that makes sense. Our only hope is that one of your powers can either negate, or overpower, this ability. With that said, any questions?”
She glanced around at everyone. After a minute, she continued.
"Then grab your gear and make final preparations. We’re wheels up in thirty.”
§§§§§§§§§§§§
Rick berated himself again for what felt like the hundredth time since he left the house.
I shouldn’t be going to work, dammit! I should have taken off by now. Someone’s going to get hurt the longer I stick around.
While he could take care of himself if it came down to it, he really didn’t want to fight anymore. He was sick of fighting. Plus, did he really want to risk the lives of people he’d surrounded himself with by dragging them into this mess? There’d be no way for them to protect themselves from what was probably coming. Instead of doing the right thing, he was instead sticking around, putting lives in danger. He told himself that he was obligated to at least put in his notice before taking off. He owed his boss that much at least. He also didn’t want to put Tim on the spot again.
But deep down, he knew that was a lie. The real reason he hadn’t just taken off was because he’d grown attached to the people in his life. Now that attachment was going to come back to bite him. He just knew it.
Rick shrugged his shoulders, readjusting his equipment as he walked into work. It’d been a long time since he’d carried most of what he had on, so it felt slightly awkward and uncomfortable, but after yesterday’s fight, he realized the need to be prepared at a moment’s notice.
He paused as he crossed the doorway. Looking around, a question that he’d asked himself several times repeated itself, how did they track him down? Was he putting people at risk by staying, or did he have time to say his goodbyes?
He’d spent some time before work scouring the web to see if there’d been any similar incidents. After taking into account that the government would have scrubbed the actual cause of any incidents matching his criteria, including the language they used in the reports of the fight from yesterday, he’d been unable to find anything else even remotely resembling it.
Have I been careless somehow? How else would they have been able to find me? At least they didn’t know my exact location. If they had, Barbara’s diner probably wouldn’t still be around.
“Dude! Ya made it!”
Rick flinched at the sudden voice behind him. Whirling around, he swung his left hand up in a blocking position while his right hand had started to reach for the cap to tube strapped across his back before he recognized the owner. He watched as the younger guy stumbled back a step, raising his hands in front of him.
“Whoa there Fu Manchu. I come in peace.”
Relaxing, Rick dropped his hands to his sides before turning back to his locker to finish putting his drover jacket and other stuff in.
“Sorry about that. I guess between the news reports I’ve been watching and the weird dreams I had from the food poisoning, I’m a bit on edge.”
“S’ok,” he said as he took a seat at one of the tables. “What was that anyway? Some type of Shaolin ninja shit?”
Chuckling, he looked back over his shoulder at the man who covered for him yesterday.
“Yeah, something like that.”
He wiggled his fingers in front of
him for emphasis.
“If I hadn’t caught myself, you would have seen me glow, too…”
“Sho’nuff!”
“Who’s the master now!”
They stared at each other for a split-second, then burst out laughing.
“Need a topknot though…”
Rick reached up and scratched his head.
“Nah, there’s no way in hell I’d ever wear a man bun.”
Laughing again, Tim got up and followed Rick out.
Rick noticed out of the corner of his eye the younger man giving him an odd look. Looking over at him, he raised an eyebrow.
“Have I got something on my face?”
Smiling, he shook his head while meeting Rick’s stare.
“Nah man, just something about you seems different. Just not sure what.”
Rick tensed slightly before responding. He hated lying to his friend, but there wasn’t really that many options under the situation. With a slightly crooked smile, he responded.
“Uh, had a lunch date yesterday before I got sick.”
Tim got a confused look on his face. Stroking his beard, he continued.
“Grecian formula does wonders…”
The confused look lasted a second longer before comprehension flashed across his face.
“Dude, you dyed your beard!”
“Yeah, my hair, too. Thought I’d try to look a bit younger for my date.”
“You dog, you. Didja get lucky?”
Rick smiled again, thankful the ruse had worked.
“Nah. Unfortunately, we didn’t see eye to eye.”
Rick smiled at the memory of rescuing the literal fiery redhead he’d gotten out of harms way.
“Sorry it didn’t work out for you dude. Maybe next time.”
“Thanks Tim, I appreciate it. Now let’s get to work before I get canned.”
Next time probably won’t go much better. Which reminds me, I still need to talk to the boss about quitting…
Chapter 9
“So where we headed to first?”
Kaitlyn glanced over at Thunderclap.
“Our first stop is going to be the Rapier building. I want to work the entire trail, from the rooftop all the way until we lost contact with the subject. See if we missed anything.”
Looking over the rest of the group, she continued.
“Remember, at this point, we’re trying to keep a low profile. No display of powers unless absolutely necessary.” She glanced back toward Thunderclap.
“That means leaving your equipment and weapons in the jumpjet.”
Thunderclap started to open his mouth, but she cut him off.
“You already draw enough attention because of your size, I don’t need you strolling around with something resembling a Cooper mini on a stick being hoisted across your shoulders as well. If it comes down to it, you can always summon it to you, or whatever it is you do with it.”
Giving her a dirty look, he nodded.
“Fine, you make a valid point. I’ll just leave it sitting next the jet though. The last thing I believe you’d want is having the roof of the jet torn off when I,” Thunderclap said as he used his fingers to do air quotes, “summon it.”
“Glaizia, you’re with me. I want to go over the rooftop with a fine tooth comb.”
She waited for the withdrawn woman to acknowledge her before continuing.
“The rest of you, hit the streets. Following the path he took. Make sure to interview any possible witnesses, like street vendors, beat cops, whoever. If you need to, just imply you’re a city official assessing the damage. Flash your credential if you must, but only as a last resort. The point is to be low key. In the unlikely event we find someone who knows something about our target, we don’t want to tip him off prematurely.”
She waited until everyone had nodded.
“Ok people, we touch down in T-minus five minutes. Let’s earn our pay.”
“Aye ma’am”
§§§§§§§§§§§§
“Dude, man. That extra bit of sleep you got must have really done ya right. Either that or you pounded a case of energy drinks before you got here.”
Rick nodded, grabbing his lunch from his locker.
“Yeah, I think you’re right. I am feeling pretty good today. It’s been a long time since I really had a day off to rest.”
Sitting down, he started rummaging through his lunch box. He realized he’d unconsciously been channeling kinetic energy since the fight yesterday, and it was having a noticeable impact. His clothes were fitting tighter than they had in a long time, while at the same time, he started moving more smoothly as all the little aches and pains he’d allowed to develop over the years started disappearing. With all the physical changes that were going to result from him using his powers again, even if he wanted to stay, he couldn’t. There’d be too many questions that would get asked. It would be nearly impossible to hide the what his body would go through, things like looking almost twenty years younger, or packing on more muscle in a week than most muscle heads managed in an entire career.
Yeah, baggy clothing just isn’t going to hide those types of changes. I really need to find Robert before I leave to let him know I’m quitting.
“Why so down all of a sudden? Was it something I said?”
“Sorry, just lost in thought is all.”
He smiled again.
“Any exciting plans for the weekend?”
Rick watched the younger man’s eyes light up.
“Dude, you’re not going to believe it. My buddies and I found an awesome abandoned warehouse on the other side of the city. It looks like it was some type of plumbing supply house or something,” he said, barely taking a breath before continuing.
“One of my buddies knows how to weld, so we’re gonna go out there and try to weld up some rails. Make our own little skate park. It’ll be off the hook.”
Rick thought about how he’d used his powers to basically skateboard without a board. With a start, he realized how much he’d missed and enjoyed the experience.
“That actually does sound pretty exciting. I might have to check it out once you got it finished, assuming I’m still in town. Maybe take a stab at doing some grinding myself.”
Rick almost lost it when he saw the look on the younger guy’s face.
“You know how to skateboard?” he said in exaggerated slowness.
Laughing, he responded.
“Believe it or not, I actually used to be your age once upon a time.”
Rick stood up and went back to his locker as Tim continued staring at him incredulously. Finally a smile broke out across his face.
“Dude! That would be so—”
A loud boom reverberated through the break room, causing the building to shake. Screams of fear and pain echoed through the air before the building shook again.
“What the fuck was that?” Tim asked, fear slowly etching its way across his face.
Rick’s stomach dropped as his senses instinctively shot outward, locking in on the source of explosions. Without thought, he readied his gear, becoming a blur as he settled everything into place.
“What did you just do?”
Rick glanced at his friend, noticing the terror in his eyes as he stared back at him. He realized Tim had seen him shift to super-speed, but he didn’t have time to explain. Pointing at the young skater, he gestured toward the emergency exit as he strode past.
“Go! Get out of here and get to safety.”
In a fearful voice, he heard Tim’s voice behind him as he left the break room, the tone causing an ache in his chest to form.
“The news reports… It… it WAS you…”
§§§§§§§§§§§§
Kaitlyn quickly keyed her throat mic.
“Thunderclap, Scattershot, get back to the jet. NOW! We have reports of another attack on the other side of town. If you’re too far away, key your transponder and we’ll grab you. Blitz, Jetlag. Your GPS has the coordinates. Recon the area but do not
engage. I repeat, do not engage. Wait for the rest of us to arrive.”
She felt the jet start powering. A sudden boom sounded outside, causing the jet to slide and shake slightly. Glancing out the hatch, she watched the massive weapon rocket away, a Mach cone forming behind it as it passed through the sound barrier.
She jabbed at the mic again.
“Thunderclap! What the hell are you doing. I said meet back at the jet.”
“Negative. I can get there faster using my mace. I’ll meet you there. Out.”
She heard the link go dead before she could reply again.
I’m going to have some words with that egotistical asshole after this.
Turning back around, she noticed an odd smile starting to cross Glaizia’s face.
“You okay over there?”
She was slightly taken aback when the other woman looked back at her, a cold light flickering in the back of her eyes.
“I’m… Fine…”
Before she had a chance to respond further, Scattershot’s transponder beacon flashed across her display.
I’ve got a bad feeling about this.
Tapping the pilot on the shoulder, she spun her finger in the air.
“Let’s grab Scattershot and haul ass over there. Hopefully our guy’ll be there. If he is, this might be our best chance of catching him.”
Nodding, the pilot pushed the thruster forward as she settled down in her seat, the power of the VTOL engines pressing her down firmly into her seat.
Here we go…
Chapter 10
Rick stepped out of the break room, looking around. All the people he’d worked with for the past ten years were in a panic. Some were running toward him while others were frozen in terror, unable to act in the face of the unknown danger. He started moving toward the front, shaking people who weren’t moving, breaking their fear-induced paralysis long enough to push them toward the emergency exits at the back. He spotted his boss pinned under a toppled shelving unit, keeping him from getting to safety. A couple of employees were trying desperately to lift the shelving unit enough to pull him out.