by Jason Zandri
“I cut the link,” Lynn said, closing her eyes and leaning back. The sweat poured off her forehead. She continued to hold the professor’s hand. “The Greek gods don’t have their bond here any longer.”
“Nathan nearly lost his life, along with a great many others. I realize you didn’t know what you were doing—”
“I knew exactly what I was doing,” Lynn roared violently. She sat up and tightened her grip on Rebecca’s hand. Dual voices sounded when she next spoke, “Nathan needed to find the secondary conduit to his power connection to the realm. He has it now.” The duality in her voice dissipated, and she became weak again. “I can also connect to the same bridge … to help him … he cannot … do this … on his own.”
“Lynn, you’re sick; we need to get you to the doctor,” Rebecca said. She tried to stand, but Lynn tightened the grip on her hand and wouldn’t release it.
“I made a mistake,” she said, with a slight duality returning to her voice. “I tried to bridge everything fully all at once. That won’t work for us. It is too much for us to manage. We can manage the connection from the elemental plane. Gaea is tied to all of it, but most closely aligned with Earth and nature. And she favors us women.”
Lynn pulled Rebecca back down and stared directly at her face and into her eyes. She tipped her head ever so slightly. Her eyes went totally white, and the normal features all disappeared. Only the whiteness remained. Then the whiteness filled with black. With her free hand, Lynn reached around the back of Rebecca’s neck, held it tight so she couldn’t move, and chanted—first in Latin, and then in Greek. She then kissed Rebecca on the lips, deeply and passionately. With the final remnants of her consciousness, the professor responded and kissed her back.
The room filled with light, and then just as quickly, with complete darkness. A deafening hammer of thunder erupted from the room and radiated outward, flattening everyone in the vicinity to the ground and knocking them unconscious.
CHAPTER FIVE
Zeus entered the realm of Elysium casually. He spent only a moment before he located who he wanted to speak with.
“Watcher,” he said, still at ease. “Or do you prefer your Earth-bound name of Cici Johnson?”
Cici turned in her elegant and flowing golden dress, which seemed to absorb and amplify the sunlight that streamed through it. “There are a few Watchers here, mighty Zeus. It’s a tad confusing if you only call out, ‘Watcher,’” she said with a warm smile.
“Very well, Cici Johnson. Do you know why I have come here to seek you out?” Zeus asked and stepped toward her.
“Cici would be just fine.” She turned to walk with him. “I would think it has to do with the disruption between the realms. I don’t know things the way I used to when I was on Earth, but we all felt that disruption.” She turned a weary look to Zeus. “Some are far more aware than others.”
“What do you know?” Zeus stopped in his tracks.
“Not as much as you might hope,” she said, resigned. “The Fates see certain things. The Watchers see certain things. We both see the same things differently some of the time. Only they know the path ahead, and it can change suddenly on them. I know that is not entirely clear. What is clear is that neither set of us saw this event. Which is concerning.”
“It has been millennia since a Watcher chose a champion. I do not question your choice in Nathan. It is at a time when it is needed, and he continues to evolve beyond expectation in his role. The Olympians set a mitigation. You worked around that partially. As strange as this may sound, I do not question you for that. I do need to know what you did.”
Cici turned to look at Zeus fully. She took in a deep breath and sighed. “Ahzeem Ama is not as fully and completely banished as you and the Olympians would have hoped,” Cici said and stepped away.
Zeus followed her. “And you knew this? And you said nothing?”
“A Watcher’s duty is to watch. Not to interfere. Not to report back. Not to stem a tide or let one flow. The only exception to that rule is to choose a champion, when the call is heard.” She stopped and turned back to look at Zeus. “I heard the Olympian call and I answered.”
Zeus held up his hand, and then motioned forward with it. “I do not question that. I will reiterate, I need to know what you did in anchoring Nathan’s powers. I need to know what you know of Ahzeem Ama.”
“A Watcher—”
“Your time as a Watcher has passed. You are an everlasting spirit here in the Elysian Fields. You are no longer bound by those rules—at least not while you are in here.”
Cici looked Zeus over. “You are aware, of course, we Watchers still feel strongly about our bonds of duty, even after we are gone.”
“I am fully aware,” Zeus said. “But I know you also realize there is much more at stake here, and certainly where Ahzeem Ama is concerned.”
A small stone bench appeared out of the nothingness when Cici thought of wanting a place to sit. Another did for Zeus when he thought the same. Cici took a seat and spoke, “Very well. I will start where I believe it makes the most sense. Some time ago, a few decades now, while still relatively young, I would hear a disembodied voice call out. At times, I believed it to be my imagination. As I became older and understood my duty and role, and came closer to the existence of all the realms, I could hear the voice more clearly. Ahzeem Ama. He was in the Ethereal Plane, where the Olympians had trapped him. His energies had fully dispersed across the plane as you left him. Over the preceding centuries, he had learned to use the existing ethereal streams to connect himself; as if using the streams like a thread as a conduit to pull his essence together. Each time he managed to localize a segment of himself, his spirit and energies would coalesce. His voice would sound louder to me at that time.”
Cici adjusted herself and her dress, then leaned in toward Zeus. “I wasn’t the only one to hear him. Each Watcher designated after me could also hear him, although less so. Certain followers of the Wicca religion could as well. A few of the Druid followers, too.”
Zeus leaned back and furrowed his brow.
“Once he realized so many could hear him, and that no one would answer him outright with everyone interconnected, he stopped. Many assumed he lost the ability to do so or dissipated across the realm again. I knew better. He continued to work on coalescence and looked for weaker prey; someone that he could better manipulate.”
“We can destroy the fabric of the Ethereal Plane,” Zeus said, once he realized a way to do it. “That should stop him there.”
“It’s too late,” Cici said. “He has moved into another plane. He strung all his fragments together and moved. I presume the Astral Plane, but there’s no way to know where he went from there. Since his life ended, not even the Fates know. He’s escaped their view.”
“If he escapes into the material plane, if he makes it to Earth …”
“There are seven billion souls there. You can be sure that is where he is headed,” Cici said.
“We will have to intervene directly.”
“You will not be able to.” Cici looked away.
“What do you mean?” Zeus asked.
“The last major disruption, from the minor ones that Hades was reviewing, has severed part of the connection between Mount Olympus to the Earth Prime universe. While the connection is somewhat restored, you will find, unlike how you were able to travel here, you will be unable to get there. At least not in a normal fashion.”
Zeus stood, closed his eyes, and focused intently. After a moment, he opened them to realize that Cici had been correct in her assessment.
“Were you and The Fates aware of this future? Is that why you anchored Nathan’s powers to the Earth Prime realm rather than Mount Olympus?” Zeus asked.
“It was mostly something I felt,” Cici said. “And even with that, it wasn’t a normal … observation that a Watcher would have, but almost a cross between what we might normally observe and a disruption between the realms. It offered what I can best describe as a glimpse
to a possible outcome. The vision became unclear, fluid, and changing, and I am unsure as to why that was. It was mostly as I stated earlier. Any of the lead Watchers, or The Fates, even myself, none of us saw this event building.”
“Then we will be unable to intervene if the connections to the realms are still not as they were,” Zeus said and moved away from the bench, which dissipated.
“There may be more that can be done to restore the connection, but magic is at play that hasn’t been seen in millennia. I believe it’s never been seen. I believe Ahzeem Ama has found a mortal that has a grasp of both sides—magic and science. I believe he is leveraging both.” Cici rose and walked toward Zeus.
“I guess we shall see how well your champion of choice performs, Cici Johnson,” Zeus said, and then focused on home. “It would seem to me that he is going to be tested far more than Artemis and Athena wanted.” He faded into the ether. “I hope for all our sakes, given the disconnection especially, that he is successful. He is now as much the champion of the Earthers as the Olympians.”
Cici looked skyward as if she could see Zeus return to Mount Olympus. “I have seen the man he has been and who he’s become. The Fates have seen his future. He will never give up, even at the very end.”
CHAPTER SIX
Congressman Patrick Johnson stirred his coffee, then adjusted himself in his corner seat in the diner while his handler sat across from him, in the seat against the wall, reading the newspaper. He held the paper low and slightly off the table.
Jane Parker walked into the diner and sat in the booth directly behind the Congressman. Her two agents walked over to the waitress. One flashed his credentials, and then came over with the freestanding ‘SECTION CLOSED’ sign and placed it at the head of the seat row. He then took a seat right next to the sign, and the second agent sat one booth over.
“Status and update?” Congressman Johnson asked, looking up at his handler.
His handler did not respond but looked up from the newspaper. Jane took a deep breath and said, “We almost had a solid track on him. He’d been headed on a steady and direct course towards Nevada, and then he came to a stop—almost as if taking a break—somewhere in the Rockies in Colorado, in or near Buena Vista. When he left, he continued on his course, and then suddenly turned around and headed back to the east coast.”
“What have you done to track him more successfully?” Congressman Johnson asked and lifted the coffee to take a sip.
“We haven’t changed anything. The signatures we’re tracing and tracking seem to be active all the time. Before, he would disappear, and the tracked signature would be gone all of a sudden, and it would be hours or days until another signature showed up. The signatures seem nearly constant now.” Jane motioned to one of the agents. “Can you have the waitress bring over a pot of coffee, please?”
The agent nodded and got up.
“His powers may be growing or have become harder for him to mask,” Congressman Johnson said.
“We’ve figured out how to map his signatures and, possibly, what designates the change in Nathan’s powers,” Jane said quietly. “Interestingly, one of our information technology specialists came up with the theory. Big comic book geek. She mentioned that every power set belonged to, or seemed to mimic, the powers of a different fictional character from EarthWorld comics. We had her outline the main characters from EarthWorld comics and, basically, as she described it, they were all the members of Omega Alliance International—a worldwide group of twelve superheroes.”
Congressman Johnson raised his hand and wiped his forehead, then ran his hand back into his white hair. “Anything else?”
“It seems that Nathan’s powers have changed,” she said while taking the coffee pot and cup from the returning agent. “Before his entire power loss incident, my I.T. specialist theorized that his powers appeared to activate automatically when Nathan was needed. Effectively, he remained inert and just a regular man at other times. That would explain not only the long gaps of not being able to track him but also why we now suddenly can. With that power loss, something changed in however his powers become present.”
“Does this I.T. person have any ideas on weaknesses?” the Congressman asked, and then sipped his coffee.
“She did, and she was uncomfortable about telling us her theories,” Jane said.
“My heart bleeds over her discomfort.”
Jane shifted uncomfortably in her chair and said, “She indicated that any time Nathan has any of their powers, he would also have their weaknesses. Since these are all outlined in the canon of the comic world, we pulled all that data immediately.”
“Well, that is somewhat helpful, but unless there’s some common weakness or vulnerability, we can’t have a counter strike force carrying everything and the kitchen sink to combat him.” He leaned backward in the seat and rested against the cushioned backing.
“She outlined a theory on his powers, and they correlated with the different signatures we traced earlier,” Jane said, and then leaned forward and lowered her voice. “She believes that his powers are tied to the clothing he wears.”
“Magical clothing. Phooey.” Congressman Johnson sounded exasperated. “Am I going to have one of those weeks where I say, ‘I think I’ve seen everything?’ I mean, come on …”
“I never said it was the clothes and t-shirts he wears that give him the powers,” Jane said, lowering her voice even further. “We’ve analyzed what powers he’s exhibited and when, mapped them to the signatures we have, and tied them to what he had on at the time when that information was available.” Jane leaned forward more and spoke a little louder. “It’s a spot-on assessment. Whatever grants him his extraordinary abilities, clearly has changed since the power loss situation, as they are more available to him on a regular basis. What hasn’t changed are the properties and the design; they remain in lockstep to whatever he’s wearing.”
“And he’s never exhibited having powers in regular clothing? A plain, everyday shirt?” the Congressman asked, turning around in his seat to look backward at Jane.
“Not as near as we’ve been able to tell,” she said, also leaning back and looking around the diner. “It doesn’t mean that hasn’t been the case, but that’s the analysis we have and the theory we’re working from at this time. His powers mimic the clothing he wears, and while before there seemed to be an escalation tied to his powers activating, that is no longer the case; he now has them whenever ‘in costume,’” she said, making air quotes in the air.
Congressman Johnson nodded, and then turned to face forward in his seat. A few moments of silence passed before he spoke to her again, “I take it you saw the legal steps we’re pursuing?”
“It surprised me that you went a legal route at all. I presumed it would be pushing for something … more aggressive. A military response on some level.” Jane finished off her coffee.
“Your tone tells me you don’t approve,” the Congressman said with a wry smile on his face.
Jane stood. “Anything aggressive is going to blow up in your face. Figuratively is one thing; I’m more concerned if it’s literal because of the collateral damage that might be coupled to that.”
“Everyone says Nathan is a hero.” The Congressman chuckled. “Are you saying now that he’d put people in harm’s way?”
Jane moved alongside the table and looked down at the Congressman. “I’m saying he’ll attempt to defend himself. I’m saying that any aggression, at a level that can affect him powered up, is likely to impact innocent bystanders. And Nathan can’t be everywhere at once.” Jane glanced over at the Congressman’s handler then back. “But to address your first point: Yes, he is a hero. The people that dislike and fear him are in the minority. You’re in that minority.”
The Congressman smiled and stood, then took her hand and shook it. “Thank you for the update. Jane. I’ll be in touch.”
Jane smiled and took her leave.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The cameras focused on t
he debate in the judicial chambers between U.S. Senator Mackenzie Kelly and Congressman Patrick Johnson. The news corps swarmed the two of them.
“It’s been nearly three weeks since your superhero nearly fell out of the sky with a melting down nuclear power plant in tow,” Congressman Johnson spoke as much to Senator Kelly as to the cameras. “You indicated you haven’t been able to reach him; in fact, he hasn’t responded at all. The American people deserve answers. Not only about what happened that day, where he put America’s sixth largest city at full risk, but what his automated computer system did. It tried to commandeer the nation’s power grid.”
The lights from the video and news cameras blinded Senator Kelly, and the flashes from the digital cameras made it worse for him to maintain his focus on Congressman Johnson, but he did his best while saying, “I don’t disagree that we need to get in touch with Nathan to find out what occurred, but it’s his prerogative to follow up with us. He acted in the public interest and has always been open with his actions and activity.”
“No, not once his computer system attempted to re-route power from the nation’s grid. That’s terrorist level activity, and he will need to come forward to address the charges as outlined …”
Adia snapped the television off and slammed the remote down on the coffee table. “I hate politicians,” she said, then grabbed her keys and headed out of the apartment.
Her thoughts drifted to random things from her workday while she exited the building and made her way up 1st Avenue in the Loisaida area on the lower east side of Manhattan. The warm, unsettled evening air whipped around her long black hair. She pulled it around to one side and looked up. Storm clouds filled the sky, and she realized that she’d left without her umbrella.
A short while later, the twilight of early evening turned to night, and Adia found herself turned up towards Lexington Avenue in Kips Bay. She stopped herself short on the corner while looking around.
“I can’t avoid this area at all, can I?” she asked aloud, taking a look down the street where Cici used to sit and where Nathan used to visit.