Noah struggled to his feet. Mentally and physically he was pretty beat up. Kyle was just as much a warrior as he was perhaps even more so. Kyle knew everything he needed to know about Noah. He knew Noah’s weaknesses and how to best exploit them. He took great pleasure in seeing Noah suffer. He considered Noah’s death to be the finest kill of his career. Unfortunately for him, what is perceived and what is actuality are two different things.
Kyle approached a battered Noah confidently. He was not on his guard as he normally would have been. Noah could see that Kyle was overconfident and he used that to his advantage. Although he was legitimately injured, Noah played up his injuries more than they actually were.
“Any last words?” Kyle asked smugly. Noah waited until Kyle was close enough to touch.
“Yes,” Noah grabbed a hidden blade concealed under his pants leg and drove the blade into Kyle’s foot. Kyle cursed profusely.
“Your greatest weakness has always been your overconfidence.” Noah used his telekinesis to float his sword to him. He caught the sword with his right hand and placed it right over Kyle's shoulder.
“Do it Noah, kill me. Do it!” Kyle demanded.
Noah was filled with rage. The body count in which Noah had racked up over the years was plentiful. He wasn't a stranger to blood and death. He wasn't a stranger to ending another man's life. Yet for all the men that Noah had killed, for some reason, killing Kyle was something he struggled to do.
Noah fought with his inner self debating on if he would end Kyle's life. Kyle gave a smirk as Noah focused his attention back on the present. “Perhaps my greatest weakness is being too confident, but yours has always been and always will be letting go of the past.” Kyle stated.
“Then maybe it's time we change that!” Noah replied.
With a loud roar, Noah lifted the sword over his head and drove it downward. The inner dialogue Noah had with himself proved costly. Noah's contemplation gave Kyle just the opportunity he needed to defend himself. Mirroring Noah's actions moments earlier, Kyle reached to his hip and pulled out a hidden blade. He quickly lunged forward and drove the blade into Noah's side. Noah's sword dropped to the ground as did Kyle's hidden blade. Both men toppled over one another with neither one of them able to inflict anymore damage.
25
Separate Ways
Another two weeks had passed since Noah's bloody confrontation with Kyle Stanton. Kyle limped his way out of Noah's house leaving a bloody trail that stopped at the end of an alley. He wondered why Seth Maddox wasn't there to teleport Seth out. Were the two not working together? Was Seth unaware of Kyle's attacks? These were thoughts that flooded Noah's mind as he tried to prepare himself for his next encounter with his past.
The attack on Noah was just the first of a string of attacks on League members. Over those two weeks, separately each member of the League of Protectors found themselves combating some Post Human threat. While Noah's encounter was certainly the bloodiest, each member had to rely on their own training to fend off their attackers.
Fortunately for Garrett, Jason was around the day someone tried to take him out. Stephanie too found herself catching a bit of good luck. Mr. Connors used an inhibitor dart to subdue her attacker. It became clear that the League was under attack and had targets on their backs. Keeping a closer eye on each other was mandatory. The group became more focused with their training and began taking defensive precautions.
Until the threat could be neutralized, Mr. Connors ordered the group to operate in pairs. Garrett moved in with Jason, Stephanie moved in with Jessica and Bianca moved in with Noah. Mr. Connors recognized the inconvenience of the living situation, but he saw no alternative. This was the best way he could think of to keep his team safe.
The bellowing sounds of gunfire filled the practice room as target training for the novice heroes commenced.
“No! No! No! Stop right now!” Noah ordered, visibly upset. His eyes were dead locked on Garrett Blake.
“What was that?” Noah asked loudly. His voice echoing through the room as he stormed towards Garrett.
Garrett wore a confused look on his face. “What was what?” he asked genuinely unsure as to what he had done to rile up the already volatile man.
“Do you think this is a movie? Are you some sort of Hollywood actor?” Noah asked.
Garrett assumed Noah’s questioning was rhetorical and so he declined answering him. That did nothing but infuriate Noah more. Noah aggressively placed his hands on Garrett’s shoulders and demanded an answer. Jason Shaw zipped over and placed himself between Noah and the defenseless Garrett.
“Take it easy Noah!” Jason placed his hand on Noah’s chest to prevent Noah from moving any closer. Noah stared down at the hand that was on his chest. His eyes flicked up to catch Jason's eyes and he made it clear that Jason needed to move his hand immediately. Jason, not one to be intimidated met Noah's glare and kept his hand placed firmly on Noah's chest.
Noah quickly grabbed Jason's hand and twisted it sideways. With Jason's back now facing Noah, Noah pushed him causing the man to stumble forward. Jason's impeccable coordination allowed him to quickly regain his balance. He sped over towards Noah and grabbed him by the shirt. Jason lifted Noah three feet off the ground and held him still. Shayne and Jackson quickly ran over to separate the two fuming men while Jessica and Bianca watched from a distance.
“Put him down Jason,” Shayne demanded calmly. Jason eyed Noah aggressively before placing him back on the ground.
“Shouldn’t we do something?” Bianca asked.
“Sometimes you gotta just let the men work things out for themselves,” Jessica replied having experienced the results of too many alpha males in the room at the same time before. Bianca rolled her eyes. She found the male testosterone in the room to be rather unattractive and more importantly unproductive.
“What's going on?” Shayne asked. Out of the men in the League, Shayne was probably the most even tempered one of them all. He never seemed to lose his cool and had a delightfully reserved and mature demeanor about him.
Noah and Jason continued their stare down, neither men wanted to break eye contact, “Ask him!” Jason shouted, his eyes remained fiercely locked on Noah.
“Well? What’s the problem?”
Noah broke the glaring stare he had on Jason and took a step back. He constantly had to remind himself that things were different now. That he was part of a team. He was part of an inexperienced group of heroes that needed guidance.
Noah pointed to Garrett with extreme disapproval over the way in which Garrett handled the gun he was practicing with. Garrett had the gun cocked sideways like some low class thug polluting the streets. His aim was way off as was his balance. While the way in which Garrett Blake held the gun irked Noah tremendously, that wasn’t what was really bothering him. It was the fact that Garrett showed no interest in improving his field skills.
“This isn’t TV, this isn't some action movie. This right here is real. This is the real deal. Real situations. Right now you look incredibly stupid with your gun cocked to the side like that. You look like these idiots I see every night trying to be down. They rather look good missing their target than to do it the right way. When you're out here with me, you do it the right way. Real shooters, professionals, they don't cock their guns to the side. Do it the right way! Tell him Jason!”
Jason took a deep breath and spoke calmly to Garrett echoing Noah's words. He spoke in a much calmer and respectful way. Noah began to storm off. He couldn’t deal with what he felt was total incompetence and ignorance on Garrett’s part.
Jessica, who was still watching from the side elevated herself off the ground and flew out the door after him. Jason had a perplexed look on his face as he watched her leave off after Noah. He would never understand what she saw in him. He couldn't comprehend why she made such an effort to be around him and relate to him.
“What’s that about?” Jason asked looking towards Shayne and Jackson.
“What’s wha
t about?” Jackson replied playing dumb. “Guess opposites really do attract.” Jackson said grinning. He gave his buddy a punch in the shoulder and then returned to training.
“Team, meet me in the conference room immediately.” Mr. Connors voice boomed over the loud speakers. Jason, Shayne, Jackson, Bianca and Garrett stopped what they were doing and headed towards the meeting room. It was the “immediately” part that made them move with a hastened pace.
By the time they arrived, Mr. Connors, Stephanie, Noah and Jessica were already sitting down waiting patiently. Jason spotted Noah and Jessica engaged in what seemed to be a rather friendly conversation. Jessica looked towards Jason as he entered, but Jason quickly turned his head so she wouldn’t see him staring.
“It looks like we got ourselves a situation not too far from here,” Mr. Connors said. He pulled up a map of the downtown Boston area and placed a red dot on one of the streets.
“Stephanie has detected a substantial power surge in this area here,” Mr. Connors pointed to the red dotted spot on the map.
“Who are we dealing with?” Jason asked.
Mr. Connors minimized the Boston map visual and pulled up two files. One file was on Erik Masters and the other on Seth Maddox.
“Erik Masters and Seth Maddox are downtown and using their abilities. These two are consider highly dangerous and are top priorities for G.U.A.R.D. Since we are already in the area, Commander Sullivan has asked us to apprehend the two individuals and bring them to G.U.A.R.D's custody.”
Mr. Connors used the touch enable screen to enlarge the files on the two men. In the files it indicated a detailed report on both men’s strengths and weaknesses. He stressed the fact that Seth was able to absorb any energy directed towards him. “As you can see, both men are high level Post Humans whose apprehension must be a priority. Erik Masters played a major role in the escape of the prisoners on the island. His capture could give us clues on who’s behind these organized attacks.”
The meeting ended with Jason Shaw assigning each field member their role in the confrontation. He knew the importance of being prepared and having a well thought out plan. The group was on their way to the Star Foxx Jet, the latest invention courtesy of Shaw Enterprises when Stephanie recalled them all back to the room.
“Stephanie, what is it?” Jason asked. He seemed a bit impatient. He knew all too well what capturing Seth Maddox and Erik Masters could do. Bringing them in would be their biggest victory to date.
“I’m detecting another power surge in Atlanta.”
Jason didn’t understand why they were being called in for that bit of info.“Why are you telling us that? Let G.U.A.R.D handle that situation.”
Mr. Connors walked back into the room and pulled up Joe Dorgan’s file on the big screen. “G.U.A.R.D. can’t handle this situation. We are the only ones capable of dealing with this.”
Jason looked at the screen with an agitated face. “How do you want to handle this Mr. Connors?” Everyone waited anxiously to see what Mr. Connors had in mind.
“We’re going to have to split the team up and deal with both situations,” Mr. Connors replied.
Chatter amongst the group broke out. Noah immediately voiced his objections to the plan. “It seems very likely that this could be a trap.” Noah's eyes focused on the map in the corner of the screen indicating the two locations of power surges.
Jason walked closer to the map and studied it. “I agree I highly doubt this is a coincidence.”
Mr. Connors looked at the League and sighed. He knew far too well that the chances of this being a coincidence were unlikely. But what choice did he have? This was the whole purpose of the League, to deal with the situations others couldn’t. Even though the League was still very inexperienced, he had confidence that they would get the job done.
“So what are the teams Jason?” Bianca asked nervously. She had no desire at all to face Joe again.
“You all deal with Erik Masters and Seth Maddox. I’ll deal with Dorgan,” Jason said. The group seemed a bit surprised that Jason wanted to face Joe Dorgan alone considering all the damage the man could do.
Mr. Connors immediately overruled him. “While I understand your reasons for wanting to battle Joe alone, I must object. There is strength in numbers and I will not have any of you guys going at this alone.”
Noah stepped forward and volunteered his services in aiding Jason in battle. Seconds later Jessica volunteered as well.
“No way sis, there is no way I’m letting you battle that monster. He’ll kill you without a seconds thought!” Jackson said.
Jessica gave her little brother a sympathetic look. “I have to do this Jackson. I’ll be fine. You guys take the jet. Jason, Noah and I have our own transportation,”Jessica looked at Noah and smiled.
The two of them left the room and Jason followed closely behind with a very bothered look. Shayne, Jackson, and Bianca would head downtown to deal with Erik and Seth.
“May God be with you all,” Mr. Connors said. He knew the group was about to embark on another dangerous confrontation.
26
The Woman in White
The Star Foxx Jet zipped through the sky and made its way towards the downtown area. Its bright red and black paint job was certainly an attention getter, but that was nothing compared to the bells and whistles inside. The engine was the fastest of its kind. Not even the military possessed an engine as fast as the latest line of Star Foxx Jets. The Star Foxx was equipped with a force field generator, top of the line missile system and a cloaking device that kept the jet invisible with the simple press of a button.
There was a growing concern within the government over the jet. Many did not believe that a group of Post Humans should have such technology at their disposal. There were many that believed the assembling of jets and weapons was just part of a large and elaborate plan. The fear mongers insisted that the Star Foxx Jet was proof of Post Humans being a threat to national security. They claimed it was just a matter of time before The League used their jet to attack innocent civilians. The League constantly had to defend themselves from the large mass of people calling for their arrest.
Being a Post Human in a world of humans certainly wasn’t easy, but the League did their best to be model examples of the positive side of being a Post Human. The jet touched down near the source of the power surge. Shayne exited the jet first. He cautiously surveyed the nearby area before giving Jackson and Bianca the ‘okay’ to come out.
“Protectors, it’s so nice of you to join us!” Seth exclaimed in a sarcastic manner. Shayne knew the man wasn't standing where he was a second ago. He knew he didn't miss that.
“We were beginning to fear you guys wouldn't show up,” Erik added.
Seth looked about at the three Protectors and noticed that they were missing half of their members. He immediately noticed the “heavy hitters” hadn't accompanied them. He wore a slight smirk on his face making a mental note that his leader was right once again. The leader was confident the League would split into two groups the moment the alert came on their radar.
“What do you possibly hope to accomplish here today? Our skill level is greater than the three of yours combined. You three don't have what it takes to stop us,” Erik stated rather smugly.
Shayne looked towards Jackson and smiled amusingly, Jackson smiled back. Jackson reached inside of himself and unloaded a freeze blast that went hurling towards Erik. Erik easily deflected the blast of ice with a scorching ball of electric energy. He quickly returned a strong blast of electricity back in Jackson’s direction. Shayne was there to speed Jackson out of harm's way.
Shayne charged forward and swung at Seth. Seth used his speed ability to evade Shayne’s punch. He countered with his own punch to the chest of Shayne. Shayne found himself tumbling backwards from the impact.
“Are you ok?” Bianca asked.
“I'm good.”
Jackson placed his hands downward and created freezing ice on the ground which he used to slide over
to Erik. Jackson slid towards the man and froze the left side of Erik’s body.
“Stop messing around!” Seth called back as he charged forward towards Shayne. Seth trapped Shayne with a wall of fire. Shayne looked surprised by Seth’s manipulation of fire, but then he remembered that Seth was able to absorb and use the abilities of others. “I don’t think anyone will be distracting us now!” Seth said.
He gave Shayne a condescending smile and charged forward. Shayne shifted his body to the side and waited for Seth to get closer. As Seth closed in on Shayne, Shayne delivered a flawless kick straight to Seth’s face. The man tumbled backwards. He got up with a confused expression.
“You might be able to absorb abilities, but you can't mimic natural skill,” Shayne said with a huge smile on his face. Seth was less than amused.
Seth charged forward but was tripped by Bianca who used her phasing ability to bypass the wall of fire.
“Nice one B!” Shayne called out. Bianca smiled and exited the fire to check on Jackson and Erik. Jackson and Erik found themselves engaged in a duel between fire and electricity. Which element would prevail? Jackson was clearly exerting more energy than Erik was, but for the time being, neither man could get the upper hand.
“You might as well let go. There's no way you have enough skill to overpower me!” Erik said.
Bianca ran towards Erik, but Erik sent a bolt of electricity that caught her pretty well. The distraction gave Jackson the opportunity he needed. Jackson thrust both hands forward and unleashed a gigantic bolt of ice freezing Erik completely. He quickly ran over to check on Bianca. She was burned pretty badly, but her healing factor would help her recover soon. Jackson kept an eye on Erik who was still frozen from the powerful blast. Jackson then turned his attention over to his best friend Shayne. He couldn’t see what was taking place due to the wall of fire. The young man unleashed another blast of ice that melted the burning wall of fire. When Jackson looked to check on the progress of the battle, he saw Seth lying on his back defeated.
New Age of Heroes 1: The League of Protectors - Dawn of a New Age Page 20