by Riley Tune
Impervious looked at me. His eyes were red. “Blue Rush, was your brother?” a reporter asked from behind her cameraman. Impervious ignored her as he sobbed. “I soon found myself a father for the first time. Years went by and the Spellborn returned. Their power, our power, was unmatched. Some of them were able to see the aura of a person. Their glow as we called it. This allowed them to channel the power of their victims for short periods.”
In the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but notice that Infinity seemed to channel his victims power indefinitely. “They found me and my brother, but even then, we refused to leave. Instead we fought. Fought our fellow Spellborn. Fought for our freedom, for our loved ones here in Atlas City. These were the early days of the Battle of Ages.”
I looked at him, and slowly, began to turn on him. Everything that I thought was good about this man was beginning to unravel. Where a hero once stood, now seemed like a selfish child who only cared for what he wanted. “How many people died because you two refused to leave.? Because you two wanted Freedom?” I asked slowly.
“Hundreds did.” Flex said as he looked on at Impervious. “He didn’t have a choice.” Detach said as she stepped up.” “Yes, he did.” Mr. Reid said. “We all did.” Impervious held up a hand to silence them both.
“Their new leader was from another Royal family. He offered me a way out. To halt the war. He offered a trade of peace. His son for mine.” Instantly I looked at Picasso who seemed as surprised by this as anybody else did. His brow was raised and his head was turned slightly.
“You gave your son away?” I asked him. “You could have just gone back home to your world, but you decided to stay, fight, and what, make-” “The world forget I ever existed.” Infinity added.
Nothing seemed right now. My father could have been alive if they just left. Sure, we would be on a different world, but we would have been together. Then he went and got killed before the war was even halted. “How?” I began to speak then paused. “What gives you the right?” I asked Impervious. “Then you,” I said as I looked at Detach. I know you knew each other when he was younger, but to blindly follow his madness. To play with minds of the people in the entire city.”
I had never felt such disgust for people that I respected. “And you agreed to this. To him giving his son away.” I finally asked Mr. Reid. A man who raised me in the absence of my father. A man I loved. How could he have felt like it was okay?
“When he came to us and told us what was going on,” the war had already started and we were not winning. We did what we had to do, in order to save lives. To save Atlas City. The world.”
At some point, Flex, Zeva, and I had distanced ourselves from the three The Imperial Lords that were responsible for what happened. Power Prince soon followed. It seemed that none of us wanted to be close to them anymore. “Now you have to decide, cousin.” I heard Infinity say to me. “You all do. You can stand with these, so- called Lords and accept what they did, or you can join me.” He looked at us all. Flex was the first to speak.
“I’m a hero. My purestock goes back generations. It’s in my blood. I can’t say I agree with their methods, but for now, I’m an Imperial Lord, and I’ll stop you, even if it kills me.” Just like that, he stepped beside Mr. Impervious.
Flex had chosen his side. Zeva didn’t even speak, but stood still for a moment. She had been oddly quiet this entire time now that I thought about it. Then, she simply moved between her brother and Detach, and looked at me. Infinity simply smiled. He had enough powers that he really didn’t need us on his side at all. “Hunter.” he said to me.
I swallowed as everybody looked at me. Hero or villain. It was always the question looking down on me. Now I had to decide. Lives, including mine depended on it. I moved away from the Imperial Lords.
“Hunter. Son.” Mr. Reid said as he stretched a hand out. Beside him, Jen became visible. I stopped moving, and looked at Infinity. My cousin. A half Spellborn just like myself. “I’m not with them, but I’m not with you either.”
Infinity shook his head and clasped his hands behind his back. I felt the energy ripple from him as he performed this simple gesture. “I spent the better part of the last year collecting the abilities needed to bring you and this city you hold so dear to its knees.” He said as he looked at us. Then he narrowed his gaze to his father. “You picked this world over me, and now I’ll take it from you. You can’t be hurt, but you can be broken.”
He exhaled and shook his head. Infinity quickly opened his hand and created a miniature ball of red energy. The ball formed into a sharp spear and hovered in the air. “Well, let's begin shall we.?”
It happened so fast. He thrusted his hand towards the still- restrained Picasso. As he did so, the spear of red energy pierced his chest. Everybody gasped as blood flowed down Picasso’s chest and he slumped over.
The red spear pulsed and his body slowly began to turn to ash, leaving nothing but bone visible. He looked up from his wound to us, as tears rolled down his face. “No!” Impervious screamed as he shifted into super speed. I thought he was going for Infinity. For his son, and in a way, he did. When his speed faded away he was holding the limp body of Picasso in his hands as what was left of him turn to ash, and slipped through Impervious’ hands.
“You see, dear old dad can’t be hurt. He is truly Impervious. But his heart is weak. As people die around him, he will break.” Infinity looked at Impervious as he held what was left of Picasso’s skeleton.
“He loved the wrong son.” Infinity said. Then slowly, each and every child he held with his power began to twitch and fall to the ground lifeless as their eyes turned black.
CHAPTER 25
LORDS NO MORE
L
ife-Line was the first to react. His glowing green hands came together as he covered the fallen children. He stood in the middle of them, and allowed his green energy to flow over their bodies. He would heal then and, in theory, they should be okay.
Flex lifted in the air, balled his fist and went for Infinity. As he moved, Infinity sent both a cone of fire, and red energy his way. Flex flew right through the attack unharmed. His fist was several inches away from the stomach of Infinity, and then it stopped midair . Infinity was using his telekinesis again as he smiled at the trembling Flex.
The smile faded away as Flex slowly began to move again. “How,?” Infinity asked as his eyes grew wide and he looked at the moving fist. He may have spent years gathering powers, but still one thing that he couldn’t match was the uncapped power that was Flex’s strength. His face contorted as he continued to move closer to Infinity.
I looked for Impervious, but he was still holding Picasso’s remains, rocking back and forth crying. I had never seen him so vulnerable. Nothing else seemed to matter to him as he held his son's remains.
“A little help here.” Flex shouted as he was hit by a wave of sound from Infinity. In that moment several Detach clones appeared. Materializing out of thin air and were on Infinity in mere seconds.
The clones had no additional power, they were nothing more than shields. As one fell, the real Detach would form another. I summoned force fields around them all to give them extra support, and I moved to help Flex fight Infinity. “It’s not working,” I heard Mr. Reid scream.
I glanced over to him and saw him leaning over the children and police officers. “They’re mentally being harmed, not physically.” I glanced at my watch. My ace in the hole should be here any moment now. Just had to hold Infinity off.
“Let me try,” the prime Detach said as she went to assist Life-Line. For the first time I was thankful for her mental abilities. Then something unexpected happened. Her clones began to scream as they all fell and faded away. Flex didn’t have room to breathe as it was, and now his support was gone.
Why had the clones screamed? I looked for the original Detach and then I saw what was going on. She was slumped over, covered in her own blood as an ice shard several feet long was sticking out
of her chest. My eyes grew wide as I watch Zeva pull the ice from Detach’s body.
“Zeva,” I screamed to her, “What are you doing?” She looked down at Detach and grinned a little. “Picking a side.” she said calmly as she slashed her ice blade in the air to remove blood from it. “This is why I wanted to talk to you in your room earlier. I’ve noticed for a while now that the Lords weren’t the heroes we thought they were. Their events at the Battle of Ages and the cover up confirmed it.”
I shook my head. All I could think was how could she have killed Detach. I was the one who didn’t know which road to take. She was the favorite born of purestock. “They were no better than the villains they were supposed to stop.” She said once more as she raised her hands and several important- looking ice structures came into existence. All standing around four feet tall and transparent. The imps held their hands up, and they formed into sharp edges.
How in the world, had she thought that was true? I didn't’ agree with the Imperial Lords actions but that didn’t make them villains. She had gone to a place there was no coming back from. “Z,” Flex said from a distance. I glanced at him to see that Kevin, Power Prince, was in the mix now. Slinging glowing hands of pure energy.
Flex had seen what was happening and paused mid- fight. It was all Infinity needed, and he wasted no time. He screamed and sent Power Prince flying, and then he ran towards Flex. He then turned into a bolt of electricity, and struck Flex right in the chest. Flex screamed out as Infinity reformed and leaned over him, and looked him in the face,
I knew what was happening. He wanted Flex’s power. I wasn’t sure why because he was holding his own against him, but it was a process Flex wouldn’t survive. He would end up like Young Pyro. Quickly, I stretched my hand and a force field slowly formed over Flex. As soon as it was complete I used my manipulation over the force field and yanked it closer to myself, pulling Flex out of Infinity’s path. Then one of the ice imps hit me square in the back.
I fell face first and I could feel my force field go away. I rolled over quickly, flooding my eyes with energy and released it on every imp Zeva had summoned. I didn’t stop there. I liked Zeva, but as far as I was concerned, she was no longer on my side.
I sent another burst of my Impact Blast to her, but she created a solid wall of ice to hide behind in seconds. She stepped from behind the ice wall smirking. Then, unexpectedly she turned in a cloud of crystallized mist, and floated in the air for a moment and then flew away.
I realized two things then and there. One was that Zeva had been misrepresenting the true strength of her powers all along. Her purestock heritage, in my mind, put her on par with what the Spellborn considered elites. Two, I couldn’t let her get away. As I watched the mist float away, Flex ran to my side.
“Catch her, but don’t hurt her, Hunter.” Flex said as he looked at me with pleading in his eyes. “She’s still my sister. She’s just confused.” I was confused, too. If Flex was here, then who. Then I saw him. Impervious was dashing around with his superspeed, landing several blows to Infinity. Power Prince was back on his feet, too. For every ten punches Impervious landed, Power Prince would land one. Punches so fueled with energy that they sounded like amplified static burst going off.
“Go,” Flex shouted. “I’ll stay here and help them.” Flex wasted no time, as he flew back into action. When he landed, Infinity laughed, and then several other versions of himself stepped from his body. He seemed to have acquired the ability to multiply, likely to balance the scales when Detach became a problem. One copy, turned invisible. Another copy created weapons of fire, two other Infinity copies floated in the air, and one copy literally grew to about eight feet tall, and had muscles larger than anything I had ever seen.
Still, more and more copies came to life as Impervious, Power Prince, and Flex, were outnumbered. Unlike Detach, it appeared that Infinity’s clones came with powers of their own.
“Hunter, go.” I heard Jen’s voice come in my ear. I could only assume she was hiding invisible somewhere. Waiting for my plan to work. She only had to hide until, the help I summoned got there. Then she would help them.
I rocketed myself in the air and followed Zeva. It wasn’t hard. She had a head start, but her misty form was slower than my ability to fly and it left a fog like streak behind it. I tracked her to the top of the sports club near the aquarium. From there, she landed in the middle of the field, and caused a baseball game to halt.
I crashed on the ground more than I landed. As I collided with the earth chunks of dirt flew, causing the baseball players to scatter. “Go go.” I shouted as I waved hands to get them off the field. Zeva was breathing hard now. Her gaseous form seemed to take a lot out of her, as most abilities did when they turned you into a phased state.
“Just let me go, Hunter,” she said calmly. As she spoke I could see her breath, as if she was standing in a freezer. “You’ll slip up and then it will be over. I don’t want to hurt you. I want you to join me.” she said.
“I don’t want to hurt you. If I do, I’m sure I’ll have to deal with Flex and I don’t want to go a third round with him.” She turned into her misty form and flew directly into my chest. The pain was instant as the cold consumed my body, causing me to fall to one knee. The mist entered through my nose and mouth, causing what felt like every inch of my being to be in pain.
She reappeared standing before me, and hurled several ice shards my way. I summoned a force field just fast enough to block most of them, but one made it through and pierced my arm. As I screamed I heard Jen’s voice in my ear.
“Dude, everything is going to shit. Power Prince’s hands seem broken. Flex is down, my dad is down, and Impervious is slowing down. He’s taking everything Infinity sends his way, but can’t contain him. It’s like he is toying with them before he kills them. Your guy better hurry.”
I shook my head as Jen’s word gave me an idea. Contain. I created a force field around myself and Zeva. It was tight. So tight that I felt like the walls were closing in on me and it was becoming harder to breath. Like I was going to be stuck inside of my own power. I gritted my teeth and held out.
She punched an ice- covered fist into the force field and her ice shattered. “Just you and me now,” I said as I allowed the force field to lift us in the air. She tried her mist form, and simply bounced back around the inside. When she returned to normal she was wearing her ice armour and looked at me.
I ignored her pretty face, and the nausea in my stomach, as I released an Impact Blast on her. I was tired already and that burst of energy had done it for me. As the energy from my eyes punched through her armour my force field involuntarily faded away.
She fell through the sky, unconscious from my blast. I stretched my hand out to form a force field around her, but it was no luck. She continued to fall. I flew towards her but I wasn’t moving fast enough. She was going to crash into the ground. She was going to die because of me.
I stopped flying, and then I began to fall, but because I had stopped flying, now I had enough energy to save her. She was feet from the ground now, as a pale blue force field came around her, only seconds before she hit the surface.
“He’s here,” Jen screamed in my ear. It was so loud that I almost removed the ear piece. “Good.” I replied. He knows what to do, and he’ll hold up his end if he wants his one hundred grand I promised him. Just turn him invisible.” I’m on the way.
I wanted to check and see if Zeva was okay. I couldn’t waste time though. I had to hurry. If Jen messed up, Infinity would kill her for sure, regardless if he had her powers already or not. I left Zeva in the force field. Her own pale blue prison.
As I ran I slowly began to get some of my energy back, so my running became a hover, and my hover became flying. As I came back into view of the garden where everybody was I saw several cop cars in the distance parked, but none were advancing the scene. This fight was being broadcasted live, and if The Lords were having a time, then the police knew t
hey would fail. So, why even try?
I did find it odd, that no other supergroup had come to help. Had their actions made the rest of the Icons turn their backs on them?
When I landed on the ground, I could see Flex. He was bruised, bloody, and his eyes were closed. Mr. Reid was in some sort of trance and looked almost like a zombie. Kevin was unconscious, and bleeding badly from his hands. Not only that, but Impervious was now actually down.
I didn’t know how, but he, the Icon who could withstand anything was down on the ground and Infinity was on top of him. Leaning over. “You’re precious Lords will be no more when you wake up, father.” Infinity said. He said the word father like it was a curse, or that it caused him disgust to say. “You will be alone, just as I was when I arrived on that new world that turned me into who I am today.”
“You don’t want to do that,” I said as I walked towards him with my eyes glowing blue. “You’re still here, cousin?” Infinity said as he stood tall and looked at me. “I thought you had run after that ice girl. I really must thank her for killing one of the Lords. Even I didn’t see that coming.”
He looked around at the destruction around him. The children that were lifeless on the ground suddenly came to, and ran in all directions. “I told you, it was only ever about the Imperial Lords.” Infinity said.
“I will kill them all. Sadly, that includes your adopted father.” I shook my head. “I can’t allow that. “Allow?” he said and laughed. “How do you intend to stop me, cousin? What you should be doing is joining me. I could teach you about that power inside you. That power you don’t even realize you have. We could go back home. To the world of Spellborn. To Mo’eizus, or we could rule this world. My offer still stands, cousin. You played no role in what they did to me, but stand in my way now, and you will fall just as they did.”
“Almost in position,” Jen said in my ear. “Just keep him talking.” I swallowed. “You know where you messed up, cuz,” I said in a mocking tone. “You focused so much on power, that you stole from people with powers that other Icons would envy. You ignored the little people and that is how I’m going to stop you.”