by Riley Tune
Flex rolled his eyes and looked to Perkins. “Take as much time as you need.” He kissed her on the cheek, turned to Hunter and jerked his head in the direction up the hall from which they came.
Perkins stood there for a moment until their footsteps were out of earshot and then put her attention back on her multibox. She had to figure it out, or she really would likely have to leave. It could have been anything, and she couldn’t just stay, and not know.
She hadn't felt this type of focus in months. Since her time being here, she always kind of just went with the flow, and things worked out. Her multibox going off wasn’t part of the flow, though. She tried to be casual about it in front of the others to avoid questions, but she was more worried that something was going on back in her home dimension. Considering that the only people that knew of this method to contact her were members of a rebel group, she had a strong feeling that whatever was going on, wasn’t a social call.
CHAPTER 1:
TRAINING DAY
H unter shifted his weight from side to side as he stood in a single line with Kevin, and Danielle. “Hey! You sure you don’t want to join us?” Hunter said, as he turned his head and shouted to his adopted sister. Jen had recently made it to the base but wasn’t dressed for training. Then again, she didn’t usually train with the team anyway. She felt her talents were more of a gentle slash from a knife than the devastating blow from a hammer.
“Nope, I’m keeping my invisible ass over here and eating some sushi,” Jen said as she pulled some food out from her bag. “You get me any?” Hunter asked. Jen didn’t even respond, she just shook her head and kept unloading her bag.
“Bitch,” Hunter mumbled under his breath as he eyed the sushi. He loved sushi. He loved it more when it was fried, covered in spicy mayo, and dunked in sauce. In reply, Jen casually gave him the middle finger and kept pulling out her food.
She loved her brother, but she only had the power of invisibility and the power to turn things intangible. Over the last year of her internship, she had learned that there were a time and place for powers like hers, and going toe to toe with a person that could lift trucks, withstand bombs, or create energy wasn’t the time.
She also embraced that hand to hand wasn’t her strong area, even though during her entire school career she told herself it would improve. As a result, she had invested the last year learning the art of swordplay from various teachers around town. To many of their surprise she was a natural. Combined with her powers, Jen had found a way to even the playing field, and often joked she would be an assassin for hire if being a hero didn’t work out.
“I thought you just ate,” Danielle said. Jen looked at her as she held a sushi roll in her hand. “Okay?” Danielle shook her head and cracked a smile. “Never mind.” Jen closed her eyes and moaned as she proceeded to pop the portion of sushi in her mouth. “Oh, it’s so good, too,” she said in a mocking tone. Hunter refused to look. He wouldn’t give her the satisfaction.
Not only that, but he refused to give his sister a reason to use the katana that rested near the wall. Jen had decided to name the weapon Big Whopper. It was a custom- made blade of her own design. Big Whopper had a handle made out of a carbon fiber alloy that was wrapped in red leather, a blade just over two feet in length, and Jen’s Icon name etched into the steel.
“Alright, here’s the agenda for the day,” Flex said as he descended from the sky. “First and foremost, Perkins will not be joining us today in practice.” Kevin and Danielle looked at each other, brows raised. This was a surprise to them. Flex usually got his way when it came to training, so for Perkins to get a slide was rather unexpected. Especially because of fixing a piece of equipment.
Kevin leaned into Hunter, “Dude. You followed him, how did the argument go. Was there yelling? Name calling?” Hunter thought for a moment. A year ago, he would have blurted out what he heard in an instant. Also, a year ago he and Flex were mortal enemies that had fought on two different occasions. Now, though, he respected Flex and his privacy. So, he shook his head. “Nope. They talked some and then Flex left her to it. Girlfriend perks. You know how it goes.”
Kevin nodded his head as he turned back to Flex. He actually didn’t know how it went at all. It had been so long since he had a girlfriend that he couldn’t even recall how his last relationship ended. At that moment, Kevin made a decision to himself to eventually, find a woman. Everybody but him had a better half to relax and share with. Even Jen, and from what he gathered she had a history of being, well, friendly with various people.
Kevin had just decided to make sure his life as Power Prince didn’t control his life. He had to make time for Kevin, too.
“First line of business, we practice.” Flex continued. “We have gotten much better over the last year, but if we want to be taken seriously, we have to keep going.” “Taken seriously?” Jen asked between mouths of food. “We took down Infinity. That nutbag had like,” she swallowed some food loudly. “Twenty plus powers. If that’s not serious, then I don’t know what is.”
Flex went to open his mouth, but Hunter raised a hand as if he was in school. “I got this one,” he said to Flex as he walked out of formation and stood by his sister. Hunter felt it was his duty as a brother to embarrass, poke fun, and insult his sister at almost any given time, and damn if this wasn’t the time. Especially after she refused to give him some sushi.
“Jen, dear sweet Jen, we didn’t do anything. If I remember correctly, you were tied up with bands of energy when I arrived. We got you free, and then the rest of the fight you pretty much turned invisible and stayed out of the way.” Jen shook her head. “Oh no. Don’t paint me like I’m a victim.” “But you were the victim,” Kevin added in.
Jen flipped her middle finger to him and he promptly turned back around. “Let's not forget, I kept our ace in the hole concealed until he arrived, and put him in place to neutralize big bad Infinity. I played just as big a part as you two.” “Meh, did you though?” Hunter asked as he shrugged his shoulders and began to laugh.
“I hate you,” Jen said as she placed her last chunk of sushi in her mouth. Hunter, in turn, did a slight bow, “then my work here is done.” He then turned around and went back to stand in line beside Kevin, completely missing the gesture that Jen gave him behind his back.
“Moving on,” Flex said as he looked at them all. “Prism!” He called out. A few seconds went by, and then the holographic butler appeared beside Jen, causing her to jump. “Yes, young lord?” “Hang around, and keep time for us,” Flex said as the flickering hologram did a slight bow. “Keep an eye on Perkins too, in case she needs anything.”
“I have already chatted with her, sir. I’m standing in her room now, on standby.” Prism was almost a god of the New Lords’ base. He could be anywhere and everywhere within its walls, and network. He could clone himself to be in multiple places at once, hear all, see all, and insult all that was in the base or anywhere connected to the base’s network.
Many of the New Lords’ members had never seen a computer system as advanced as Prism, and even though they didn’t admit it, he was a valuable member of the team that was almost a friend to them. He may have insulted them, but he also told them the unwanted unvarnished truth. Traits that some of the best friends have.
“Training will be about two hours or so,” Flex continued. “For Atlas’ sake. Two hours.” Hunter said as he exhaled. “Training will be about three hours,” Flex said in response. Kevin took in a deep breath and glared at Hunter, who in response cleared his throat and took a step closer to Danielle.
“Once training is over, Hunter and I are on the list to go to Vincula. Shouldn’t take long, but still, it has to be done. After that, Power Prince and I have to head to DC.” Kevin gave Flex a slight nod at this. “Why double P? I’d like to go, I’ve never been to DC,” Danielle said. In response, Flex shook his head.
“Has to be me and Kevin. We are the only members here that aren’t technically interns. We were full, active me
mbers on the Imperial Lords, and have several victories under our belts. We have a better chance of swaying them.”
Hunter didn’t want to admit it, but Flex was right. Two decorated heroes that had saved a few hundred lives, would have better luck with the suits of I.C.E. The branch of government commonly referred to as Icon Character Enforcement, had been up their asses for a while now, and Hunter was happy they finally were meeting with Flex and Power Prince.
“If this goes well, we should be given some breathing room.” Flex continued.
“Breathing room?” Jen asked as she pulled out her phone. Hunter was the first to respond, but this time he didn’t poke fun at her. He was, surprisingly, serious. “You know how it was in the old days. It was damn near the wild, wild west for heroes. The government used to give us a good amount of freedom. They monitored supergroups and made sure schools like Purgatory Academy stayed licensed and able to adequately train Icons. They passed laws here and there for us, and for the people we protected, but in the grand scheme of things they quietly let us do what we wanted as long as we stopped the villains, and didn’t cause too much property damage.”
“All that changed with Infinity,” Flex said. “The world hadn’t seen a being with power like his. Not even during the Battle of Ages. So, the people of I.C.E. feel it needs to be more hands-on and prepared. Special fighting teams, closer audits on sponsors, even new ranking systems are all being developed. Power Prince and I, are merely tokens of the Icon community. We show up, shake hands, smile, whatever they want.”
Power Prince didn’t like the term token, and it had nothing to do with his Asian heritage. He mostly didn’t like being a pawn in a political game, but he knew it served a larger purpose so he went along. “Dude, your cousin really fucked things up for us over here,” he whispered to Hunter.
Unknown to Power Prince, Hunter was actually thinking along the same lines. Infinity, the ultra-powerful being from a year ago, like Hunter, had belonged to an other-dimensional race of magic wielders called Spellborn. He was also a murderer with daddy issues. Daddy issues that finally came to a boiling point, and as a result left more people than Hunter could count, dead.
Despite his actions, Hunter still understood how Infinity had arrived at that point. He was traded away as a bargaining chip, in a war that was created by their fathers. Hunter had forgiven most of the people involved and had to use most of the last year to accept that while his friends were Icons, humans born with special gifts, he was a hybrid.
Half Icon, half Spellborn. Deep inside him were slithers of magic, and not just a mutation. It was the reason he had four powers, while most only had one, two, or three. Those same powers were once the source of his arrogance, but he was learning to better that side of himself.
“Alright,” Flex said as he stepped closer to them and removed his shirt. Hunter grimaced. Not because Flex was built like a Greek god, but because he kept taking his shirt off in front of his girlfriend. Danielle loved him, but Flex was Flex. Any girl would look, and while Hunter wasn’t out of shape, he surely wasn’t built like Flex. for that matter, neither was Kevin.
“Keep your shirt on pretty boy,” Hunter said as he slowly lifted from the ground and allowed energy to flow to his eyes. “Nobody here needs to see you shirtless,” Hunter said. While Jen didn’t reply, inside her head she was thinking speak for yourself.
Flex shifted and turned to Danielle. “Alright, oh lady of darkness, let’s see whatcha got.” Danielle took a fighting stance, and tendrils of dark energy crept around her arms. She knew her energy couldn’t damage the living tank that was Flex, but she damn sure was going to give it all she had. Plus, in her mind, she felt she was a better hand- to- hand fighter than Flex.
This wasn’t entirely untrue. Powerful types like Flex usually relied on their powers more than their natural skills. Hunter had the same issue, and Power Prince had been training them both in boxing. “Bring it on pretty boy,” she replied as Flex leaped through the air with a fist drawn back.
“Wait,” Hunter said as he watched them fight. He usually trained with Flex. Before he could realize that their leader had decided to switch things up for the day, a fist of glowing pink energy hit him square in the jaw, sending him to the ground and rolling comically.
Hunter could feel the energy travel through his body and it hurt. Touching his jaw, he looked up to see Power Prince bouncing on the balls of his feet, with both fists glowing. The boy was virtually a living battery with unlimited generating abilities on a supreme scale. He was also a damn good boxer.
“Dude, how many times do I have to tell you? Keep your guard up” Kevin said as he kept moving. Hunter stood up and called a pale blue force field to life. “Don’t mistake luck for talent,” he said as he rose into the sky. Power Prince looked up and laughed. “Don’t run now,” he said as he grunted some, and using his hands of energy, propelled himself into the air.
He wasn’t actually flying. His powers didn’t allow that, but he was able to jump and hover there for a few moments before he fell. Hunter was ready for him though, and as soon as Power Prince was in the air, Hunter’s eyes turned blue as he released energy from them and hit Power Prince in the chest, sending him down to the ground.
“Paragon one. Power Prince, one cheap shot.” Hunter said. Just at that moment Flex screamed out “Switch.” and as Hunter hovered in the air, he felt the crushing arm powered by the unmatched strength of Flex, wrap around his neck.
The more Hunter moved, the more pressure Flex seemed to apply around his neck. The two of them moved rapidly through the air as Hunter tried to shake Flex off, but his efforts yielded no results. “Do something, Paragon,” Flex said as he continued to squeeze. Hunter could tell he meant business.
Flex didn’t use true names often unless he was being really serious. It was almost like when a mother used a child's entire name to get the point across of how serious she was. Hunter used his hands to try to remove Flex’s arm, but he couldn’t.
As he floated there helplessly, he could see Danielle and Power Prince going at it. Fists of pink electricity swung and Danielle shifted into her shadow form, making Power Prince stumble. Before he could regain his footing, a blast of ebony energy hit his back and sent him flying.
It was a good shot. A good lasting shot, seeing as Power Prince didn’t have regeneration or any sort of defense powers.
Changing his course of action, Hunter delivered several quick blows to Flex’s body with his elbow. Flex didn’t move at first, but after a few more strikes, his grip loosened some. With air flowing to him normally now, Hunter opened his hand and created a force field around Flex’s head.
He looked almost like a spaceman or a scuba diver as he watched the force field get smaller and smaller. He released one arm from around Hunter and used it to punch at the bubble around him. It slowly began to crack, but that was all the time Hunter needed. He quickly slammed his elbow into Flex one more time, while at the same using his control over the force field, sent it rocketing in an opposite direction.
Once free in the air, Hunter turned and flew directly towards Flex, like a black-haired bullet. Hunter drew his fist, and at the same time released his Impact Blast from his eyes. To his surprise, Flex dodged the attack and flew directly to him.
In a fluid motion from years of practice, Flex caught Hunter’s raised fist with ease, grabbed it, and at the same time sent a blow of his own to Hunter’s face. Hunter had maybe a split second of time to form his force field to take as much of the damage from the attack before it was too late.
His force field cracked as the punch from Flex sent him to the ground. Flex landed on the ground and stood over top of him. “Damn. I was hoping to break it this time.” Hunter coughed as he rolled over on the ground and slowly stood up.
Flex nodded his head, and screamed out “Switch!”
Danielle walked over to Hunter. Sweat from her match with Power Prince rolled down her face, and even as she spoke, she was breathing heavy. “Looks like I fina
lly get some time with the mighty Paragon,” she said as she formed two floating orbs of dark pulsing energy.
“Now don’t go easy on me.” Hunter in response wrapped a force field around her and lifted it in the air. “Oh, I won’t. I know you like it rough.” “Gross,” Jen shouted from the sideline as she twirled Big Whopper in her hand.
CHAPTER 2:
NERF AND SPARKS
O ver the next two or three hours, Perkins sat quietly in her room, only speaking out to curse or talk to herself as she tried to figure out just what was going on with her multibox. She had only a basic knowledge of how the box worked, though.
If she was home, she could have had Cord, Cayden, or any of the upper level technical people on her team look the device over, troubleshoot it, and likely fix the problem in no time. Sadly, she wasn’t back home in her dimension, and for the first time in a long time, she wished she was. They didn’t need her, though. Impervious was there, and the life of a rebel was far from a life she could live nonstop. Another person of royal blood was there, and she hoped more than anything, that he had made things right since she had been gone.
Her extended vacation with the New Lords had turned into a life she thoroughly enjoyed. Her finding comfort, and passion from Flex, was an added bonus. A bonus she had no intention of leaving anytime soon.
She sighed as she reached for a different tool. Her thoughts were consuming her again, and now wasn’t the time for that. Now was the time for focus, razor-sharp precision, and perhaps a little luck.
She could hear screams, grunts, and loud bangs echoing from down the long hall. Her head jerked up as her eyes darted. “Everything okay there?” She asked Prism.