Nova Academy: A Superhero & Supervillain Novel

by Scott Olen Reid

  I pull our tour van off the dirt road and into the woods at our destination and we unload. The van is hidden that way so it can't be seen in the unlikely chance another vehicle comes down the road. Everyone starts changing into their super suits. Carly transforms into Dreamweaver and I into my new identity, Nova. My super name is definitely a one-off to never be used again after this mission. I only used it to because it is also the name of the Academy.

  I have Dreamweaver take point as she has light enhancement in her helmet as well as her telepathy to identify potential threats. I take up the rear to make sure no one gets separated as none of the others has enhanced night vision. That I know of anyway. We travel a little over a mile and I can see Hit Point is pushing branches out of her way and stepping over things, making it clear she has some kind of low light, UV, or thermal vision enhancement. Granite seems to have this relationship with the ground that he knows how it is shaped, maybe even knowing where the trees are penetrating the earth as he is having no difficulty. Sparks and Anvil are definitely struggling and catching their feet on the ground and the occasional branch in the face. Hit Point is helping Sparks, so it’s not too bad for her, but Anvil is moving through the forest like a bull through a briar patch and I’m afraid he’s going to knock down a tree and wake the entire forest, I have Granite give Anvil a hand making his way. After that we’re finally making good time without making too much noise. I should have planned for this ahead of time instead of relying on the team members to take care of their own needs. Next time I will definitely investigate team members’ ability to operate in the dark, even though I told them we would be working at night. For now, we’ll have to make do and hope for the best.

  We’re a quarter mile out from the compound when I have Dreamweaver hold up. The team gathers together with Hit Point doing what she should be doing and scanning the area with whatever enhanced vision she has. Granite is just standing there, but I have a feeling he’s using his power over the earth to detect anyone coming.

  “Hey, Carly,” I call over our helmet comms, and immediately get corrected to call her Dreamweaver. “Sorry. Can you bring up the aerial of the compound? It should be in the mission folder of your HUD.”

  “Got it,” she replies after only a moment.

  I review the plan with her, “We’re coming in from the South. The main building is off to the East and directly ahead of us. That should be the sleeping quarters. The busses are on the other side of the main building.” I’m identifying the buildings shown in the image, which Dreamweaver is already very familiar with, but she lets me do it anyway without saying anything. She knows I’m getting it all organized in my own head as much as trying to communicate what we are doing. “How much time do you think you’ll need to work your way around to the East side?” I ask Dreamweaver, “The main building is where two of the sentries are stationed and they’re fairly static, so I want to take advantage of knowing where they are and take them out first.

  “Give us twenty minutes and I’ll comm you when we’re in position,” Dreamweaver replies.

  “Okay. While you’re doing that, we’ll make our way around the perimeter and see if we can get in position to take out the roving patrol.” I cut off the comm channel and go back to my external communications, “All right, let’s split up into our teams,” I tell them, “Right now we're about a quarter mile south of the compound. Dreamweaver’s team will make their way around to the East side and neutralize the sentries there while my team moves up and locates the roving patrol. We’re about twenty minutes from getting this thing started, so shake out the kinks and get loose.”

  Dreamweaver pulls a short length of leather rope from her pouch. I’m not sure what she’s going to do with it until I watch her hand part of it along its length to each of her teammates and use it to link them together with her so she can guide them through the forest. Huh, good idea, I think, being reminded Carly used to spend her summers volunteering at a school for the blind.

  Once we get into the compound the images from the Dragon shows there will be lights, so I tell myself to not panic over the team’s inability to see in the dark.

  We work our way to a position where a tree has fallen, and there is a low spot we can crouch in. We can see the lights of the compound to watch for any patrollers who may be walking the perimeter as they will be backlit against the lights as they pass. Dreamweaver and Team 2 are not in position yet, so we wait here until they're ready. Another ten minutes pass and Dreamweaver comms me to let me know next time she gets the heroes who can see in the dark. And, her team is making slow progress.

  I see a shadow passing in front of the lights ahead and it’s also showing as a strong heat source in my HUD. Brighter than I would have expected in IR. The person patrolling stops, then casually backtracks a few steps into the shadows beside a building. I can only see her with light enhancement. For now, we stay low and wait for Dreamweaver’s team to get into position.

  A few minutes later I hear something coming through the forest off to our left. It’s moving fast and not trying to be quiet and I’m pretty sure we’re blown, “Granite, put up a wall between us and whatever’s coming from over there,” I order. Then, as I move out toward where the first patroller disappeared to intercept them and tell Hit Point, “Be ready,” and break into a run as I pull out my shield and war hammer. There is someone over there and I’m worried about how hot their IR signature is. Opening my channel with Dreamweaver, I let her know, “We’re engaged.” I’m not sure what she says back to me.

  Granite raises an earthen wall about five feet high and a pit opens behind it, presumably the hole is where he got the earth for the wall. He can move tons of earth in a matter of seconds and it’s impressive. It doesn’t help in this case though, except in inconveniencing whatever, or whoever, is coming over it.

  There’s a sharp sound of something impacting the bark up high on a tree trunk above the wall. Hit Point is ready, but has to adjust before throwing the handful of one pound bearings she chose to start out with. They’re the least lethal things in her arsenal as she would prefer not to kill anyone. Her reluctance is soon to change.

  Hit Point’s arm is a blur as she starts the throw, but she doesn’t release the bearing as the target is already gone. She can hear them crashing through the brush, now behind the team and working their way around, counter clockwise. She follows the sound and periodically is able to see a blur moving between the trees. Later she tells me she was able to track the guy using her infrared vision as he left a heat trail, but was only able to effectively target him when she could see him directly with her low light vision.

  It, he, it is definitely a person, is moving too fast and there are too many trees for her to make an attack, so she uses this time to upgrade from the bearings she’s holding in her left hand to a double edged throwing knife. As fast as this guy, or girl, is moving, they could close into hand-to-hand range far too fast for her to not have a close-in weapon not already in hand. The throwing knife is the best dual-purpose weapon she has.

  I can hear the speedster behind me and have to assume it’s a super speed villain from their rate of movement. I wonder if it is the same speedster I fought back in the Henderson Robotics warehouse first semester. For now, he’s not my problem. Hit Point and Granite are going to have to deal with him while I deal with whatever is hiding in the shadows in front of me. I don't like the idea of allowing them to spring a trap from hiding as that looks like it’s the tactic they want to use. The speedster is there to distract, and whoever this is, to hit us while we’re trying to pinpoint the speedster. Not a bad tactic, but not one I'm falling for, either.

  I angle to the left, away from where the speedster is running, and clockwise around the hidden patroller behind the edge of the building up ahead. The villain finally makes her appearance and steps out. I can tell instantly it’s a woman because of the bright red, skin tight, costume she’s wearing. She’s showing some serious curves. Bolting directly for her, I flip on my repeller fi
eld, ready my shield and war hammer, and at ten feet away, I draw back the war hammer in a sidearm swing to make a sweep of the red lady’s legs.

  As I sweep her legs my IR in my HUD flares a bright white and I feel heat pouring over me. It's coming from her. I veer off to the right to put her on my shield side to block the heat. This is why my shield is sized like a Spartan shield. A smaller round shield like some other heroes use wouldn't be able to block nearly enough of the heat. I'm running blind with an over saturated HUD from all the heat, so I shut off the infrared in my HUD. I’ve got spots in my eyes and can barely see when I clothesline myself on a tree branch as I'm running away from her. Dammit. The branch is demolished, but manages to do its job and take me off my feet with enough force I do a back flip and land face down on the ground a good ten feet past the tree. I don’t care how much armor, or how much shielding you have, getting clotheslined will disorient the bajeebas out of you.

  Not hurt, but definitely shook up, I lift myself to a kneeling position, and before I can stand, a searing wall of flame engulfs my body. The repeller field shielding is holding out the heat to a large extent, but I can feel the heat begin to rise almost immediately and it's getting uncomfortable fast. The field is not designed with a fire attack specifically in mind, but it still gives a lot of protection.

  Turning to the source of the heat that is pushing me back, I put up my shield again to protect myself and drop my war hammer on the ground. Reaching toward the direction the heat is coming from, I put out my open hand toward the red suited fire elemental and discharge a fifty percent force blast to get her off of me.

  It definitely hits her, because the pressure of the raging furnace blasting into me stops. I can’t tell how hard I got her, though, or if she’s out of it as my HUD is having some difficulty with the super-heated air between us, something I’m going to have to fix. Later. If I live through this. While in an air conditioned laboratory.

  Granite yells, “Nova!” And I duck down and grab my war hammer back up. Spinning toward Granite's yell, I put my shield between me and where I last heard the speedster. I feel a sharp blow against the upper portion of my shield and I let it spin me as I swing the war hammer and try to make a hit on the speedster’s exit from my vicinity. Nothing. Clean miss. Just like the last time. Whoever the speedster is, he's faster than me.

  Trying to look everywhere at once, I am unable to see anything until the black spots in my vision go away that I can see again. My HUD display is showing me a green light for the enhanced vision feature, but IR is showing a bright red icon. There is no doubt it is burnt out as I can also sense a slight burnt electronics smell in my helmet.

  I decide to go without reenergizing my low light feature in my HUD to limit the chances of any additional failures, and just use my own low light vision my parents blessed me with. I see the speedster run to the red lady who is a good forty feet away and slowly picking herself up off the ground. The speedster only stops for a moment to see that she’s all right before heading off to our left, back into the woods again. Presumably to flank us.

  We’re standing at the edge of the woods as I watch him scamper off, and as Hit Point and Granite close behind me in support. I tell them, “This is for keeps. Put these guys down and don’t hold back. If you do, we won’t win this. We might not survive it, either.” By the time I finish speaking, three knives thrown by Hit Point fly past me on my right toward the red lady. She ducks and dives and at the same time she flares flames in all directions in what amounts to a small explosion. Her entire body is on fire and flames are going everywhere. I've never seen Maria putting out that much heat, but I've never seen her in a fight to the death, either.

  Granite runs past me on my left and mounds of earth are pushing up on either side of him as he goes. He's built a protective barrier from any attack from the sides as he rushes forward to put himself between us and the fire elemental. Hit Point begins moving to my right to flank the red lady, which leaves me to turn back to the woods and deal with the speedster as we swap opponents.

  The speedster isn’t trying to be quiet. I can hear his crashing through the woods as he circles and predict he is trying to get around me and take Hit Point from behind. Rather than give it away I know where he’s going by calling out to Hit Point, I rush to intercept. I’m not going to reach him in time, but that doesn’t matter as I switch to my force blasters again. This time I push the charge up to eighty percent and wait to unleash it with a fist to where I think it will intercept the charging speedster. It’s a tighter blast than the open hand I used on the red lady, but I want the extra power when it hits. Hopefully, it will be broad enough to catch him as he passes. I want to put this guy down as I know how dangerous a speedster can be. A guy this fast could kill all of us before we even know we're dead.

  I can just see the smile come onto the speedster’s face as he closes on Hit Point’s back, she must know he’s coming with all the noise he’s making, but she’s not turning to face him. I know she's not slow. She's as fast as I am. And she knows how deadly that can be. But, I don’t see it to know that she’s defenseless as I have all of my attention on the speedster. He’s about to impact her and I finally see Hit Point come into my vision as I follow the speedster’s motion. Just before impacting Hit Point, my force blasters discharge into the speedster in the side and drives him like he's been shot out of a cannon into a tree. There's a sickening meaty sound and breaking of branches, or bones. Making no assumptions about the speedster’s ability to continue the fight, I run over to where he’s lying and slam the head of my war hammer into his knee with a satisfying crunching sound. I don't care what level of speedster you are, you're not going to move very fast with a shattered knee.

  Hit Point, still focused on the red lady, draws back and hurls three, one pound, steel bearings in rapid succession. The red lady dives to the side and narrowly avoids the first bearing, then runs into an earthen wall that wasn’t there a moment before, just as she receives the second and third bearings: one in the ribs, shattering them, and the other in the kidney with enough force to rupture the organ.

  First round goes to the Visiting Team.

  Chapter 60

  I turn from our defeated opponents and immediately hear a call for assistance through my comms. I wasn’t paying attention to anything while I was fighting and I know I screwed up by allowing myself to get tunnel vision during the fight. Carly is screaming for me through my helmet comms for me to get my ass over there. At the same time I realize I screwed up, the double doors to the main building blast off their hinges and fly out into the open area between the buildings where we are standing.

  “Granite, see if you can put a barrier around the barracks!” I shout, pointing to the barracks building to the right of the main building, “I don’t want to have to worry about the students getting hurt." What I don't say is I don't want the students joining in the fight, either. "Hit Point, back up Granite!" Having given my orders to my team, I open my comm channel and reply to Carly's call for help, "Carly, hold on! We're coming!” I do this as I run to the now blown open entrance to the main building. Dreamweaver and her team should be on the other side of the building and the shortest distance between two points goes through whoever blew those doors off.

  My war hammer is put away. I’m going in with force blasters to start and unleash a focused 40% blast on the first thing I see come out of the door. Whatever it was, it was big, and dark, and I doubt I’ll ever know who it was as they are blasted back through the door and I hear them crashing through a wall inside the building. I'm becoming agitated as the seriousness of our rescue mission is hitting home. There is serious power here and we're not going to be able to hold back if we want to win this and rescue the students. The reality is setting in unlike anything I could have conceived of planning the mission. It's just not the same until you've done it.

  My blast gets multiple responses, not least of which is the frame of the double door opening blasted out the same way as the doors. Someone inside
the building is using a very powerful unfocused blast to get that result, but I won’t know what kind of power it is until I go through the door. Actually, I think I would prefer to go through the window next to the door.

  I see movement through the window and send another blast that blows out the window, sending glass shrapnel and wood splinters into the room. Screams come from at least two different people, then the entire side wall of the building blows out and catches me full on as I’m about to enter the building. I’m thrown back and land on my back. Fortunately, my armor and shield blocks what little gets past my suit’s repeller field. Shaking it off, I roll off my back and out of the line of fire and am back on my feet before heading for the building a second time. Carly’s on the other side and nothing is going to stop me getting to her.

  Now I can see the people in the building, since most of the wall along this side of the building is blown all over the yard. There are six villains. Four are severely pissed off and looking at me with hate in their eyes, and two are on the ground screaming from the glass and wood splinters. I assume they're the two I heard scream when I blew out the window.