by Chad Kunego
“Can you use your powers?”
“No! These restraints are acting like power nullifiers!”
Damn it. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.
“Hold your hands out so I can break them off you.”
“No! Don’t We need to keep them intact. We don’t have anything like this, at least this compact.”
Spinning around, he gave her an incredulous look.
“Are you serious! You’d rather remain powerless until we can remove them without breaking ‘em too much?”
“Just think of how much better it’d be to restrain powered individuals instead of killing them!”
“You’re insane! Fine! Hold your hands out!”
Reaching forward, he wrapped his fingers around one of the cuffs. He felt his fingers going numb, but he ignored it. Flexing, he tried to force the restraint open. Without warning, he felt a blinding flash of pain erupt from his chest as Kaitlyn screamed. He saw a small trail of smoke waft off the top of her shoulder, revealing a small section where her skin and muscle had become charred without warning. Weakness flowed over him, dropping him to his knees. Looking down, he saw smoke curling up from his chest where his heart should be, rather than a fist sized hole. Struggling to turn around, he saw Reaper approaching, his hand outstretched.
He shot my heart out with that hand laser…
His thoughts became slugging, his brain slowly dying from lack of oxygen. His vision started to darken around the edges as he looked back at Kaitlyn, a look of horror spreading across her face.
They’re all going to die, and it’s my fault.
Something clicked in his mind again as another kinetic bolt struck him.
No, it ends here!
Focusing on his chest, he pushed his healing process into action. The power surge was so powerful, glowing purplish arcs of kinetic energy burst forth from his chest and rippled across the catwalk. An instant later, his regenerated heart pulsed powerfully, his mind suddenly becoming clear again. Energy arced and shimmer across his body as his power surged to new levels. Without warning, he became aware of sources of energy he’d never noticed before. He could feel the molecules moving through the air from static electricity buildup, even the flow of blood through Kaitlyn at a degree of subtlety he’d never experienced before. It was like being blind all your life and suddenly developing perfect vision.
Another blast hit him in the spine, pitching him forward. His hand grazed the wound on Kaitlyn’s shoulder, automatically healing it even as his subconscious instantly repaired the damage to his body. Following the ionization trail the blast had created back to Reaper’s hand. Standing up slowly, he turned toward his brother. In awe, he realized he could even feel the electricity flowing through the cyborg’s body.
“This ends now big brother. You’ve hurt enough people. I can’t let you hurt anyone else.”
“You can’t stop me! I’ll kill you!”
Reaper stretched his hand forward again, the energy building up rapidly. Rick mentally followed the energy buildup back to the energy bank that was powering the beam weapon. He forced the energy flow to reverse itself, overcharging the energy bank and causing it to explode.
Reaper’s body slowly crumpled on the catwalk.
“What did you… how…?”
“I always looked up to you Hal. Your ability with technology was something I envied. And what did you do with that gift? You injured and killed a whole bunch of innocent people. And for what? Because you though I was mocking you? I loved you! I knew I’d never be as smart as you, so I did what I could. I protect you from bullies who didn’t understand your gift.”
He felt Reaper attempting to charge up other weapons, but he redirected the power away, causing other power cells to rupture instead.
“I don’t know if you have any more bodies to jump into, so if you don’t, then I guess this is good bye. I love you big brother. Hopefully, you’ll find the peace you’ve been searching for.”
Chapter 30
Rick approached Reaper, his eyes glowing brightly in the dim light. He sensed the cyborg trying to arm what he assumed was his self-destruct mechanism, but he rerouted the power away again. Reaching out, he mentally froze movement around the explosives while increasing the vibrations around the frozen area. The combination of vibrations against an immovable section caused the metal to shear away, allowing Rick to pull the explosives out with minimal damage.
“I’m going to need this more than you.”
Thrashing weakly, Reaper glared at him.
“This isn’t over,” he said before the light behind his eyes went dim, then out.
Rick expanded his senses to see if another Reaper body was nearby. His awareness shot outward well beyond what he expected, allowing him to feel the entire complex. His discernment had become so sharp, he could actually recognize the rest of the team, another thing he’d never experienced before. Sensing no threats nearby, he turned back to check on Kaitlyn. His awareness enveloped her, allowing him to determine her level of stress by gauging her heart rate and other telltale biometrics. Satisfied, he nodded to her.
“Hold your hands out.”
“What about Reaper?”
“He’s gone… Whether it’s permanent or not this time is anyone’s guess, but he’s not a threat right now.”
Nodding, Kaitlyn held her hands out in front of her. He reached out to try breaking them again but realized he could sense the power flowing through them. With a mental nudge, he forced the electricity to stop. With a slight click, the bands popped open before falling off, bouncing a few times on the catwalk.
“How…?”
He gestured at the tower behind her
“Guess that thing just gave me enough XP to let me gain a level.”
She stared at him with a blank expression before a smile twitched at the corner of her mouth.
“Really? You’re cracking a joke here?”
Smiling back, he just shrugged.
“Can you use your powers now?”
He watched her face scrunch up in concentration. After a few seconds, he saw flames flicker around her body before vanishing.
“Not yet, apparently. It almost feels like the pins and needles when your leg goes to sleep, only in the back of my mind instead.”
“Think you can fly?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t think so, at least not safely, why?”
Holding up the explosive chest-plate, he gestured toward the tower again.
“I’m going to try and power this thing down, then I’m going to use this to destroy it. Just needed to know if you can get down under your own power is all.”
“If you can give me a few minutes, I should be able to do it.”
“Okay, I think we have tha—”
The power unexpectedly flickered before going out. A few seconds later, emergency lights kicked on. Looking back at the tower, he noticed the energy flow ripple strangely. Almost like a spinning top that’s wobbling before falling over.
“I, uh, don’t think we have few minutes. I think the field around that thing is starting to destabilize. Whether that means it’ll dissipate or explode is a really good question.”
“Then let’s get the hell out of here!”
Rick looked back up at the tower, noticing more instability developing in the field.
“I can’t. I can’t explain it, but I know this thing was charging up over the Rapier building. If I don’t figure out a way to pull that energy back, it’ll destroy part of downtown and kill a bunch of people. I can’t allow that to happen, not when I might be able to do something about it. Get you and your team out of here!”
“If you’re staying, then I’m staying. Simple as that. We’ll figure this out.”
“No, we won’t,” he said, raising his arm toward her.
“There’s nothing you can do to help me. If you stay, you’ll die.”
Sending out a tendril, he lifted her off the platform before encasing her in a kinetic
bubble.
“When you get to the floor, you’ll bounce a little. Once the bubble pops, get out of here. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to see you all again.”
Before she could say anything he dropped her toward the ground below.
“I hope I can keep this from blowing to bits long enough for them to get out of here,” he mumbled to himself. Expanding his aura outward, sparks began arcing between him and the field surrounding the tower.
“Here goes nothing…”
§§§§§§§§§§§§
“No!”
Before she realized what he was doing, she was already plummeting away from the catwalk. Looking down, she could barely make out the murky floor rushing up toward her.
“Come on! COME ON!”
Flames started so flicker across her body in patchy waves, only to gutter back out.
“DAMN IT!”
She braced for impact, the floor filling her entire vision.
“OH SHIT!”
She slammed into the ground explosively, creating a small crater and blasting debris skyward, creating a dusty halo around her impact site. Bouncing upward in a shallow arc, she barely had time to realize she hadn’t even felt the impact before touching down again. This time, she only rebounded around a foot off the ground before her ears popped. Unexpectedly, she dropped the remaining foot to the ground, landing awkwardly and slightly twisting her ankle.
“Newton!”
Her voice echoed around the chamber, but got no response.
Come on damn it!
She tried to flare up again. This time, she was able to maintain her flame aura long enough to rise a few inches off the floor before it rippled again before going out with a whump.
“Damn it! Rick! Answer me!”
All she heard in response was her voice bouncing around the area back at her. She stared upward, trying to figure out what to do. A dull ache in her jaw forced her to realize she was gritting her teeth. Forcing herself to relax, she looked around, trying to plan her next step. In the distance, she spotted a door that had an emergency light glowing over it.
Great, not only does he pull the doomed hero card, but I have absolutely no idea how to get out of here.
Breaking into a jog, she noticed something bouncing off her leg. Reaching down, she felt the restraint fastened to her belt.
When the hell did he do this? Never mind, I just need to get out of here so his sacrifice won’t be in vain.
She replayed the past few minutes through her mind as she jogged toward what she hoped was a way out.
How did everything get so screwed up?
§§§§§§§§§§§§
In a small corner of his consciousness, he tracked Kaitlyn’s path toward the door. Another ripple, followed by a surge in the field, brought his full attention back to the problem at hand. Floating upward, his aura started merging with the energy bubble surrounding the emitter. Tentatively, reached his hands out, encountering a phantom resistance where the energy field stood. It almost reminded him of trying to mold C4, but he only felt it through the aura surrounding his hands, not his actual fingers. Another fluctuation shimmered across the field. Reaching him, it smoothed out slightly after sliding past his fingers.
Maybe I can stabilize, or at least slow down its degradation, by shaping it.
Expanding his aura further, he sensed the field smoothing out slowly. Extending his senses through the core again, he realized with horror that what he was doing on this side was causing the cloud of energy on the other end to start rippling more violently. Quickly shrinking his field back down, he noticed that the field on the other end synchronize with the fluctuations on this side again.
Well that was almost a disaster…
He tried ignoring the slowly increasing instability of the field. Instead he studied it, trying to figure out a solution. With a sudden realization, he noticed the field at the far end was echoing the fluctuations on his side, but almost in a mirror-like fashion. He felt an idea forming in the back of his mind. With sudden insight, he realized what he was seeing.
I might be a bit rusty on the specifics, but this seems similar to what I remember from high school physics about quantum entanglement. Something about quantum energy teleportation. Maybe this works by severing the connection somehow.
He shook his head in annoyance.
Great, now I’m giving myself a science lesson. Wish I’d tell myself how to fix it now.
The sudden thought almost broke his concentration.
What?
After a few seconds pause, he shook his head again.
Great, the stress of channeling all this energy is making me hallucinate. Either way, I’ve run out of ideas, so the hallucination’s suggestion it is.
Placing his hand against the field again, he tried to act as a conduit for the energy. Feeling it ripple across his aura, he launched a bolt of kinetic energy at the catwalk. He felt a shockwave ripple across the field. On the other side, he sensed an ominous ripple arc through the energy cloud.
Great job imagination. Looks like I actually made it worse. Great plan that was.
He tried pumping some energy into the field. He watched as both sides seem to stabilize, but the one over the Rapier building seemed to grow slightly larger.
Damn it. I stabilized it slightly, but at the cost of making it worse.
The alien thought echoed through his mind again. It suddenly dawned on him that it sounded different than his own thoughts, almost feminine.
Hello? I already tried that.
The thought returned a third time. This time, it was noticeably weaker.
He stretched his hand up to touch the field again, preparing to try draining the energy again but paused.
Draw the energy to me… What does that mean… Wait!
With sudden understanding, he realized what the thought was telling him. Tentatively, he stretched his aura toward the core of the collector.
“FUC—”
He tried to scream, but sudden agony cut it short. Without warning, he felt his aura get yanked through the rift that connected the tower to the Rapier building. The sudden pull felt like being ripped apart. In the back of his mind, he realized he’d been yanked physically toward the outer shell. He’d instinctively raised his hands to absorb the impact, causing them to form deep impressions into the metal cladding separating him from the core. Burning pain arced though him as the kinetic energy he’d absorbed began getting pulled forcefully out of him. His mind narrowed down, focusing on the fragile thread of sensation that connected his aura between here and the other side. Adjusting the frequency he was resonating at, he managed to stop the leakage again. His awareness came back into sharp focus when realization that he could actually feel the energy coalescing at the other end, not just sense it, washed over him. It was like the difference between the difference in sensation between fog and water. Gingerly, he tried pulling at it. The field contracted a fraction while the field on his side rippled erratically.
Okay, that actually works, but the field on this side becomes more unstable. How far can I push it before it explodes in my face? Guess there’s only one way to find out…
Taking a deep breath, he gently pulled again.
Chapter 31
Kaitlyn paused briefly when the door opened, taken aback by the amount of carnage greeting her the entire length of the hallway. Breaking into a slow jog, she started heading down the hallway.
Guess I won’t have much trouble finding my way out of here after all. Who needs breadcrumbs when you have someone like Rick.
Gingerly stepping over a lump that looked suspiciously like a semi hit it doing ninety, she considered again how powerful Rick actually was. The fact that having a fist-sized hole blown through his chest appeared to only be a minor inconvenience, he actually healed himself nearly instantly. He’d healed her sho
ulder as well, feeling almost like an afterthought on his part. If that’d been his only powers, he would have been welcome on any tac-team Stormwatch had.
People with self-regeneration abilities were pretty common. Something to do with ancillary powers and stuff. Healers, on the other hand, were pretty rare as far as powers were concerned. Healers that could heal people quickly? Even rarer. With everything Rick could bring to the table, he was easily more powerful than any stand-alone strike team they could deploy.
Does he even have an upper limit to what he can do?
Slipping on a greasy spot on the floor, she grimaced.
I should probably get out of here first before thinking of all the wonders having Rick on board with us.
She concentrated again, calling her power to her. Slowly at first, the flames rippled across her form before becoming a steady blaze. A few seconds later, she slowly drifted off the floor, hovering several inches off the surface. Waiting a few more seconds, and only experiencing a few minor fluctuations in her power, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Feels like my powers are finally stabilizing enough to risk it. Time to pick up the pace.
Expanding her flames outward, she roared down the hall, slowly picking up speed. She traveled for several minutes before the base shook slightly, the emergency lights flickering several times before going back to normal. An alarm klaxon started sounding off in the distance.
That’s probably not a good sign.
Rocketed down the hall, she continued following the trail of broken bodies strewn about the corridors. She tried to ignore the sickly sweet smell of charring meat every time she paused to peek around corners before moving on again, her passage leaving the walls blackened and smoldering.