by Chad Kunego
“ROBERT! YOU ALL RIGHT?”
As he got closer, he noticed the look of pain on his boss’s face, but otherwise he appeared okay.
“Robert, we’re going to get you out of here. Just hold on.”
“All of you, get out of here! There’s some crazy person out front blowing stuff up.”
His boss winced as he shifted position to look at Rick.
“I’m not leaving you here,” Rick said, examining the shelving unit.
“It’s no use, my leg’s broke. Plus, it’s pinned under this mess. There’s no way for any of you to lift it without a forklift, so just get out of here.”
Rick could hear the edge of panic creeping into the older man’s voice. He also noticed Robert’s words started to slur, an early sign of shock.
“Not happening boss, I’m going to get you out of here, but you have to trust me.”
Rick glanced at the other employees as he stepped up to the twisted metal.
“Okay, you’re going to need to move fast when this happens, so get ready,” he said, reaching down to grab a handhold. As the other employees started reaching down to help lift, he snapped at them.
“No! Just get ready to help him.”
Before they had a chance to respond, Rick reached out with his aura, stabilizing the framework along with the loose piles of materials that had been sitting on the shelf. Taking a deep breath, he pulsed his field upward, snatching the shelving unit overhead in one smooth motion.
“How… How’s that possible,” he heard someone whisper as several of them took a step backward.
“Help… him…” he said, gritting his teeth in effort while sweat started popping out on his forehead.
Snapping out of their shock, they leapt forward, hooking the older man under the arms and half-carrying, half-dragging him to safety. When they’d gotten several feet away, he released his field. Hopping back, he absorbed some energy from the shelving unit crashing back to the ground. The impact caused the people helping his boss to stumble slightly.
“Get everyone to safety while I deal with this.”
They stared at him blankly, stunned looks on their faces.
“GO!,” he yelled, startling them into motion.
They spun away, staggering toward the emergency exit, carrying his boss as he watched. Extending his awareness, he senses nobody was left in building. Striding toward the front of the warehouse, he slowly powered up used falling objects. He noticed his energy manipulation was becoming more efficient, allowing him to draw in power more easily and retain more of it. Nearing the front exit, he felt the seams on his shirt start to fail, a result of his body converting the stored energy into more muscle mass. Thankfully, he preferred to wear tactical style fatigues. With the extra bagginess and fitting tabs at the waist, he’d have to absorb significantly more energy before he’d have to worry about them giving out.
Adjusting the strap of his tube across his chest, he uncapped it, allowing the spheres to get caught up in his aura and rapidly start orbiting him. Then he dumped the contents of another container and gathered it up in his field. A cloud of what appeared to be superfine silver glitter suspended in a thin, clear oil began shimmering around him. Striding forward, he used his powers to project his voice, the amplification of his yell causing the building to vibrate.
“What the hell do you want from me! I’ve ignored you for almost two decades!”
He kicked the door off the front of the building, causing it to sail across the street and embed itself in the front of another warehouse.
“My, my, my… Someone’s been eating their Wheaties is seems. Does that mean you’re up for round two?”
“Like round one went so great for you,” he yelled back, his voice echoing around the area.
He felt the slight vibrations of Reaper’s laser cannon charging to its peak moments before discharging, allowing him time to react. Instantly whipping the glittery material around, he shaped it into a flat disk. A puff of smoke rose from the impromptu mirror while reflecting the beam back at Reaper, narrowly missing him.
“Oh ho ho… Ablative AND reflective. That’s something you didn’t have before.”
Shifting the material again, he formed it into a globe floating over his head. Glancing up, he watched as Reaper hovered in the air several dozen yards away.
“So they finally perfected the antigravity system, eh?” he asked, noticing the lack of exhaust.
Reaper chuckled.
“For the most part. It’s not good for high speed, but it does well for this type of stuff.”
“You know you have no way to beat me, right?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” the cyborg said, launching several MIRV type projectiles at him. The missiles forced him to lash out with his orbiting spheres, stopping them from causing more damage to his workplace. The sudden impact that hit him in the chest caught him completely by surprise, launching him backward through the building. He’d neither saw nor felt what had caused the impact, but whatever it was, it’d hit him harder than anything he’d ever felt before. He slid across the factory floor before impacting another shelving unit, causing it to buckle and collapse on top of him. Absorbing the energy, he willed his metal projectiles toward him, using them to shred the beams that were pinning him to the ground. Springing back to his feet, he took another invisible blast to his chest, throwing him backward and embedding him in the back wall. He had vaguely sensed something traveling toward him, allowing him to brace for it an instant before it hit. This time, it wasn’t disorienting to find himself embedded in a wall.
“Ta-ta for now Newton. Be seeing you again soon.”
Launching himself from the wall, Rick rocketed toward the front of the building, aiming for the gaping hole he’d punched through the wall from the first blast he’d suffered. Reaching the outside, his jaw dropped open when Reaper casually spun around, shimmering slightly before vanishing from sight. He could still vaguely sense the cyborg, but it required all of his concentration to detect him drifting away through the air. A sensation that continued fading the further Reaper got.
While he could technically fly for short distances when fully powered up, it was immensely draining. There wasn’t a lot of kinetic energy to absorb once he got more than a few hundred feet above the rooftops. Instead, he pulsed upward at an angle, allowing momentum to carry him through the air. Approaching Reaper’s original location, he lost track of his opponent. Redirecting his momentum, he hovered momentarily in place, trying to pick up some hint to where the cyborg had gone. At the last second, he sensed something massive rocketing toward him an instant before it struck. His aura flared up, deflecting the object while ricocheting him away. His trajectory made him slam into the ground violently enough to form a deep crater, a small mushroom cloud of dust slowing rising above him.
Popping to his feet, he shook the dust off before leaping the ten feet upward to land softly on the lip of the crater his body had created. He felt the vibrations ripple through the ground as whatever had hit him crashed to earth, causing him to glance over at it. Gritting his teeth, he extended his senses outward again.
It’s that damn mace again! I don’t need this right now…
He mentally pulled his weapons toward him before causing them to start rapidly orbiting around him again. He noticed the massive mace slowly lifting into the air before rocketing away toward the sound of another large object slamming into the ground some distance away.
He slowly turned, stretching and cracking his joints as he prepared for another fight. He felt his frustration levels start to rise as he heard the now familiar voice echo to him from across the street.
“So it would appear that all I needed to do is hit you more vigorously with this,” the giant of a man said, emphasizing each word by slapping his open hand with the giant weapon, “a mistake I won’t make again.”
“Again? I’ve got more important things to do than beating the crap out of you. So get out of here before I get pissed.”
A r
apidly approaching weapon was the only response.
§§§§§§§§§§§§
“Say again Jetlag. Repeat your last transmission.”
“Thunderclap has engaged the target. I repeat, Thunderclap has engaged the target. Please advise!”
Kaitlyn cursed under her breath before keying the mic again.
“Jetlag, Blitz. Verify there are no civilians in the area, then engage target. Our ETA is six minutes. Do you copy?”
“Yes ma’am, clear civilians, then engage target.”
She tapped the shoulder of the pilot.
“Full afterburner. Get us there as fast as possible. Permission to come in hot.”
“Aye, aye ma’am. Cook the concrete. Strap in cause it’s gonna be bumpy!”
Kaitlyn made it back to her seat just as the afterburners kicked in, the sudden acceleration forcefully shoving her backward into her seat.
Let’s hope we get there before someone gets killed.
§§§§§§§§§§§§
Rick pulled in the kinetic energy of the mace hurtling toward him. Holding both hands in front of him, he caught it, using the excess energy to counteract the backward shove of the impact, allowing him to remain stationary. Before he could respond further, he staggered off-balance slightly when the weapon was forcefully yanked away, rapidly flying back toward the towering man slowly approaching him.
“So you got a few tricks up your sleeve. Another reason not to hold back.”
His opponent rushed him, wildly swinging his weapon in an attempt to connect. Rick allowed the other man to come close, draining off some of the mace’s momentum every time it swung past. His aura started expanding as he grew in power, allowing him to more easily dodge the other man’s onslaught.
Ducking another wild swing, he sensed two other objects rapidly approaching. From the way they were moving, he assumed they were the giant man’s teammates coming to help him. After a few seconds, he noticed them moving erratically around the area. With a start, he realized they were getting people to safety rather than engaging him.
Okay, so they’re definitely not from Maelstrom. Otherwise, they’d be focused on me rather than protecting civilians. Why’s Reaper pitting us against each other? Maybe I should find out why.
Rick skipped backward out of range, holding his hands in front of him in a placating gesture. The movement only seemed to enrage his opponent more, inciting him to rush forward and swing his weapon more wildly.
“So uh, big guy—”
Whoosh.
“Who do you work for—”
Whoosh.
“Exactly?”
Rick easily dodged a few more wild swings without a response before changing his method. As the towering man took another horizontal swipe at him, instead of dodging the attack, Rick locked on to the kinetic energy and slid across the ground ahead of the mace’s path before coming to a stop behind his attacker. Rick couldn’t help but smirk while his opponent gyrated wildly, trying to catch sight of him, but Rick used his powers to remain directly in his blind spot.
“So as I was saying, who do you work for exactly?”
“Stand still you little cockroach so I can squish you like the bug you are.”
Rick lashed out, kicking his opponent behind the knees, knocking the other man face down on the ground. With a slight hop, he landed the giant’s back between the other man’s shoulder blades. Extending his aura, he created a kinetic field that locked his opponent to the ground, pinning him in place. Tapping his foot in thought, he decided not to hurt the man, instead dropping down to sit cross-legged on the now helpless man’s back. Almost as an afterthought, he returned his combat spheres to their carrier before speaking again.
“Okay, listen. I’m tired of all this dancing around. Who do you work for? It’s obviously not Maelstrom, otherwise your teammates would be attacking me rather than helping civilians get outside the danger zone. Honestly, if ya’ll had done otherwise, I would’ve ended this fight by now.”
“Get off of me!” the other man yelled, squirming around and trying to throw him off, but Rick just strengthened his field, slamming the man back into the pavement.
“Let’s start over. Sound good?” he asked, tapping his prisoner on the back of his head lightly, “Hi, my name’s Rick, what’s yours?”
After some more struggling, the man suddenly calmed down.
“Thunderclap, okay? My name’s Thunderclap. Now let me up!”
“Okay Thunderclap, nice to meet you. Now, who do you work for?”
“Let me up!”
“Not until yo—”
Rick sensed one of the Thunderclap’s teammates approaching at supersonic speeds from the air, but decided to ignore them. He figured if they got too close, he’d just gently deflect them away. The bolt of lightning that rippled across his body caught him completely by surprise, launching him backward through the air several yards before he touched down lightly on his feet. Embarrassed more than anything, he prepared to give chase. As his attacker rocketed away, Rick sensed the other speedster him from behind, on a direct collision course with him.
Good, solid tactics. Distract the opponent while your teammate attacks from behind. Let’s see what this one’s plan is.
Microseconds before he plowed into him, Rick slid sideways, sticking a foot out. The sudden movement caused the speedster to trip, plowing a furrow into the pavement in front of him. Shaking his head rapidly, he glanced over at Rick before streaking away, bits of pavement trailing behind him. He absentmindedly ducked under another massive swing from Thunderclap, instead focusing on tracking Thunderclap’s other teammates. Sensing the flier coming in for another strike, he shaped his metallic bubble into a pole, burying it into the ground a split-second before the next lightning bolt flashed toward him, channeling it harmlessly into the ground. Reforming it as a floating bubble, he jumped into the air, latching on to the flier’s shoulders. Flexing his aura, he absorbed the flier’s momentum, instantly stopping them in mid-flight. He wasn’t sure who looked more shocked, his opponent when they realized they were frozen in space, or his when he realized his new opponent was female. Recovering quickly, he pointed down toward Thunderclap before speaking.
“Excuse me, but since your big burly friend down there doesn’t seem to want to chat, I thought I’d check in with you instead. Who do you work for?”
He could feel the woman’s efforts to try and rocket off, but Rick continued absorbing all the energy, powering himself up further. What he couldn’t absorb, he channelled in the opposite direction, effectively pinning the flier in place.
“Uh…” was all she managed to get out before Rick felt a burning sensation lancing into his lower back, involuntarily causing him to let go. Instinctively, he whipped his metallic bubble around, flattening it out to form a mirror. A moment later, he heard a satisfied yelp as he dropped back to the ground.
Okay, this is getting me nowhere. I need to figure out who the leader is so—
Rick felt the air start vibrating around him. He instantly stretched his senses out, searching for the source of the vibration. Was it another team member he somehow missed? Sensed nothing, he expanded his awareness further. He realized with concern that what he was feeling wasn’t the air vibrating. Instead, he realized what he sensed was potential energy slowly building up around the area, centered on his general vicinity.
Something about this seems familiar, but I can’t put my finger on it.
Dodging multiple attacks from all three opponents, it slowly dawned on him why it felt familiar.
Oh my god… No!
Desperately reaching out, he used his aura, reflexively shoving both speedsters away in kinetic bubbles, repelling them at supersonic speeds. Spinning around, he watched Thunderclap take a massive, two-handed overhead swing at him. Catching the mace in his left hand, stopping it dead, he placed his right hand on the giant’s chest. Cocking his arm, he looked directly in the other man’s eyes.
“You need to get out of here, now!”
He then pushed out, using a combination of strength and kinetic force to launch the other man backward through the air, protecting him as much as possible with another kinetic bubble. Watching the man sail backward away from him, Rick felt the air around him ignite as all the potential energy that had built up around him was suddenly converted into kinetic energy. The flash of energy was brilliant, like the surface of the Sun. The energy wave swelled outward like a small nuke, blasting him backward through the air. The last thing Rick saw before passing out was the beginning development of a small mushroom cloud and buildings being flattened.
Chapter 11
“What’s our ETA?”
“Two minutes.”
Kaitlyn glanced at her wrist-comp again, willing the jet to go faster. From the tactical updates she was getting, this Newton person appeared to be holding his own against the three of them without much difficulty. About the only thing new they’d learned was that his name was Rick and that he had some type of cloud or bubble of metal that he used to reflect Blitz’s energy attack and harmlessly channel Jetlag’s lightning into the ground.
Who the hell is this guy? He’s not acting like an enemy. If anything, he’d acting the exact opposite by trying to deescalate the situation while fighting off two speedsters and our physically strongest team member. What if he’s actually holding back?
>You need to get out of here, now!<
Startled out of her thoughts, she tapped the mic.
“Say again?”
“Ma’am, that was Newton shouting. He just picked up Thunderclap and threw hi—”
The brilliant flash of light nearly blinded her even though her mutation made it nearly impossible. She watched in horror while a mushroom cloud formed where Newton and her team had been.
“BRACE FOR IMPACT!”
She tried desperately to refasten her harness before the shock wave hit, but she knew she wouldn’t be fast enough. Without warning, she found herself surrounded from the back of her head and chin down in a solid block of ice. Looking over, she watched Glaizia became encased in a similar block of ice. Before she could respond, the blast wave swatted their jet out of the sky like the with a force that felt like the proverbial hand of God. The jet tumbled through the sky, completely powerless to correct itself. Kaitlyn realized that Glaizia had not only encased both the pilot and Scattershot in more blocks of ice, but had reinforced everything by filled up the entire interior of the jet, locking everyone into place and bracing their head and neck, protecting them against whiplash.