by Simon Archer
“I have no doubt of that, Aylin. No doubt at all.”
We leaned forward to kiss once more, but both our comms buzzed to life at the same time. As we both startled from the sudden noise, I recognized that it was Eric’s voice, and whatever was going on, he was in full hyper mode.
“Oh my God, guys!” he shouted. “I don’t know where you are, but something crazy! Incredible! Unbelievable just happened! You’ll never believe it, because it’s, uh, well, unbelievable!”
I rolled my eyes at his exuberance, making Aylin giggle as I tapped on my earbud. “Buddy, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I find it hard to, well, believe that whatever you’re seeing is unbelievable.”
“No, you don’t get it, dude!” Eric replied. “The Brand--”
I tensed up in anger. “The Brand’s attacking? I knew it. I knew this was just some ploy to--”
“No!” Eric cut me off. “No, the Brand lost! Carter beat them!”
14
It was strange. I shouldn’t have been as shocked as I was that we were facing Carter in the finals or that Dad’s hand-picked team had been beaten. We had watched Carter in action, and they were powerhouses, and past that, you could never tell for sure who would win a battle with so many powered heroes grouped together. Anything was possible in any match-up.
Still, it was hard to believe that, after seeing how dominant and ruthless the Brand team was, especially with such a wild-card like Akemi on their side, that they could have not only lost but so quickly. It had barely taken me thirty minutes in total to track down Aylin and talk to her on the roof. While the Orion staff was efficient, it still took several minutes to reset the arena, then gather everyone to their start positions. At most, the Brand-Carter match lasted ten minutes.
“Come on, Aylin,” I said as I hopped to my feet. “Let’s get back down there and find out what the hell happened.”
She nodded and took my hand up as I offered it to her, but the moment the alien princess popped up to her feet, she pulled me into her arms. “There is no need to waste time with the stairs, Starlight,” Aylin said with a smile. “I would be happy to fly us down, but only if you wish it?”
Maybe someone had been paying attention and understood more than I thought she did. I flashed her a grin as I put my arms around her waist. “You have my permission, just so long as we pass by the locker room showers.” When she arched a curious eyebrow, I grinned. “I need to make sure a helpful lady doesn’t lose her job.”
Aylin smiled back at that, secured her grip around me, more like a hug than anything else, and flew us up in a twirl. Flying in some places might be dangerous, but with Aylin, it was always a joy. We pirouetted with a mutual laugh before she brought us down to the ground in front of the arena’s side entrance.
We didn’t even have to present student IDs since the attendants knew very well who we were between my fame and Aylin’s distinctive appearance. It only took us a couple of minutes from there to jog through the halls, drop off that badge, and get back to our locker rooms. We didn’t run into anyone aside from a few staff since every academy was no doubt in their own rooms looking at the footage of the upset that had just happened.
That’s what Eric and Kara were doing when Aylin and I burst through the door, while Gemma was pacing behind them, arms folded behind her back. Her nerves had come back, and I could only wonder if there was something else bothering her beyond just our performance. I mean, she was an immortal superheroine who had stomped more villains under her giant boot than most anyone else save Triton, Judgment, or my dad had, one I had known for a decade. She wouldn’t just be worried about us facing Carter.
“Oh, some good news at last!” Gemma said, looking up as we entered. “You found her, Nick.” Some of the tension dissolved on her beautiful face as she crossed the room, and before either Aylin or I could really react, she hugged us both quickly before pulling away to focus on Aylin. “Aylin, sweetie, you can’t just disappear like that at a time like this. This might only be the first event, but there are only three and--”
“I am very sorry, Gemma Corcoran,” Aylin said as she clasped her hands in front of her. “I should have told someone where I was going, but…” She flashed me a happy smile. “... everything is good now, thanks to Starlight.”
Gemma let out a sigh of relief and refocused on me. “Good. We don’t have a lot of time, so let’s get you up to speed.” She turned toward where Eric and Kara had stopped with the note-taking and were looking over at us, but before Gemma could take a step, I put a hand on her shoulder.
“One thing first,” I said as she turned back to look at me. “What’s wrong? And don’t say it’s the surprise win by Carter, because you’ve been like this since we got here.” I left off the whole bit about me being too caught up in my own problems to process it. No need to complicate it more.
She hesitated a moment as all eyes fell on our teacher, but Gemma gave me a wry, crooked smile after a moment. “You know, I could fob it off on having all the responsibility dropped on me when it should be Triton and Judgment here, or I could just say, ‘I’m your teacher, so I don’t have to tell you,’ but what good what that do?”
Gemma planted her hands on her hips as she glanced between the four of us. “This will sound stupid, but… it’s just that I’ve got a bad feeling about this Carter team, and more specifically…” She shook her head as she bit her lip. “I just feel like I’ve met that Mother woman somewhere before, and when I’ve tried to get a word in with her during the breaks, well, I can’t be sure, but I really think she’s been avoiding me.”
Kara frowned thoughtfully as she leaned over the back of the couch Eric and she had been sitting in. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean anything odd, does it? With how… competitive Carter has been in the field, I doubt their coach is going to be very sociable.”
“Yeah, they kinda seem like jerks to me too,” Eric chimed in.
“That’s what makes the most sense, and that’s why I haven’t been as worried about it but…” Gemma frowned deeply. “I’ve just learned from all my time in the field that it’s smart to trust my instincts, and something about these Carter folks doesn’t add up.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “But we’re also heroes, or, uh, heroes-in-training for most of us. We can’t really do anything just on a hunch, but we can be careful out there.”
“Indeed, Starlight.” Aylin nodded emphatically to Gemma. “We will most certainly be watchful for any oddness or treachery from the Carter team, teacher.”
“Where’s everybody else?” I asked as we gathered around the couch. Eric grabbed the remote to reset the footage of the last match on the monitors as Kara looked up at me to answer.
“Andie and Matt hit the showers while they could, and Kristen said something about going to find Aylin too.” She laughed and ran a hand through her red hair. “Barburs and family, right?”
Aylin blushed as she hovered next to the couch while I took the open spot next to Kara. “Then I bet she’ll be back any moment,” I pointed out, “and the others will be close behind. We can just wait on the others to start planning. I know we don’t have a lot of time, but they’ll want a fair match, so they have to let Carter rest up and prepare.”
Gemma nodded. “Right, and whatever funny business Carter might be up to, I don’t think it will matter. My big worry for the finals was the Brand making it through and Akemi stealing your powers, Nick, but that won’t be happening... this time.”
“That reminds me!” Eric cried as he snapped his fingers with a spark. “I saw something really weird in that match, about Oliver and Akemi.” He stopped the recording and punched in a specific time code. “I wonder if you noticed it too, Kara, because it goes off something you said!”
Kara perked up beside me, and I was right there with her. As Eric cued up the footage, something that by the time bar seemed to be near the end of the match, the door opened behind us as Kristen returned.
“I’d bitch you out, Ay
lin, if I wasn’t glad to see you--” she began, but Eric waved his hands frantically at her.
“Shhh!” he hissed out, and when Kristen shot him a glare in reply, he gulped. “Uh, please? Like, this is important.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, something that Aylin and Kara joined me in as Kristen exaggeratedly rolled her eyes as she joined the alien princess behind the couch.
“Guess I can spare you this time, Eric.” Kristen looked up at the monitors. “Hard to believe Carter won but considering the Brand seemed to get cocky there, I guess I’m not too shocked.”
“Right,” Eric nodded, then pointed at the screen. “Here is what I wanted to show you guys.”
What Eric had paused on was definitely the middle of everything falling apart for the Brand team. Considering how tough and vicious they had looked, I really wanted to watch the whole recording, but that could wait. Over half the team was sprawled over the pock-marked battlefield, probably a result of Oliver’s heavy firepower backed by the three elementalists Carter had on its side. If the Brand had any clear weakness, it was their lack of defense.
The actual focus of the camera, though, was Oliver in his oversized power armor and Akemi. I had to give the Brand captain credit because she was still fighting, even though she was clearly nursing a broken arm. And not to say that the Brand hadn’t left its mark either, as their shapeshifter, Roger, was down, as well as Callie, the light manipulator. Most importantly, the shoulder of Oliver’s armor had been cracked and torn right down to the squishy flesh beneath.
Crazy as Akemi was, I could follow her thought process going on in her head when Oliver went in for the kill with his massive armored fists. Her wounds were knitting, she must have stolen Roger’s powers, and that gave her enough strength to slip his blow, pull herself up his giant armor, and slap an ungloved hand on the exposed skin of his shoulder.
It was a smart move. Oliver’s powers were a form of technopathy like Kara, so in one swift move, Akemi would take Oliver out of action as she disconnected him from his tech at the same time she took control of the most powerful offensive thing on the field: Oliver’s suit. There was a play of scarlet sparks over Akemi’s hand and Oliver’s arm as her powers went to work, and then…
Akemi fell backward, landing on her feet with a look of confusion. She threw her hand out towards Oliver’s suit as desperation grew on her face, and all that happened was that Oliver punched her as if nothing had happened. She literally flipped over from the force of the blow and landed flat on her stomach in a heap, no doubt breaking something else in the process.
My fists clenched, and if I wasn’t already ill-disposed towards Oliver and his crew, I wanted to punch his stupid head off now. That blow had been overkill, way harder than was necessary, and while I would normally excuse something like that as being in the heat of battle, the recording picked up the clear sound of Oliver chuckling as Akemi hit the ground. The asshole was clearly enjoying himself.
But the fact Oliver was a dick wasn’t what Eric wanted to point out.
“She stole his powers, but something went wrong,” I began as my brow furrowed. “You can tell she was trying to control his suit, but--”
“It’s exactly like I said earlier,” Kara jumped in. “He can’t be a technopath or Akemi would have turned that around.”
Kristen had a counterargument, though. “I wouldn’t rush to a conclusion like that, Kara,” she said thoughtfully. “Maybe he’s just a powered genius, the info you guys found was kind of vague, after all. Him losing his powers there wouldn’t mean he’d lose control of the suit or that Akemi would gain control of it. She’d just get really smart, right?”
“Perhaps, Kristen Barbur,” Aylin mused, “but is this not too suspicious to ignore?” Her glowing eyes settled on me. “Though I am loathe to suggest this, perhaps you could find out what happened, Starlight? The people of the Brand… well… they will let you speak with her, I am certain.”
I froze at that. Going to the Brand’s locker room would almost certainly mean running into Dad, and I wasn’t quite sure if I was ready for that yet… but Aylin was right. Anyone else would likely get turned away, but if I went to the Brand locker room and asked to talk to Akemi, they would gladly let me in. Probably see it as some kind of honor or something at that.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Kara soothed from my side as she put her hand over mine. “We can see enough in the footage to adjust our game plan around it. I don’t like the fact that we don’t know, but--”
“No.” My voice was firm as I stood up. “Gemma’s got a bad feeling about this, it’s clear that Oliver is a complete jerk, and from what you and Eric said, the whole thing seems weird. We’ve got the time, I should take advantage of this opportunity to find out what happened.”
“You want us to go with you?” Eric chirped as he hopped to his feet. “You know, for moral support and stuff?”
I took a deep breath and shook my head. “Nah, man. I’ve got this. Besides, I want you guys here, getting ready and getting Matt and Andie up to speed.” I turned towards Gemma. “I’ll get to the bottom of this. How long do I have?”
Gemma glanced at her smartwatch. “At least twenty minutes. The Rules Council prescribes a minimum of a thirty-minute break between when a team can compete, well, unless the team waives that rest period.” She looked back up at me. “Considering how damaged that armor is and the condition of some of the Carter team, there’s no way they won’t take advantage of that time.”
“Then I’ll be back before then,” I said as I went for the door. “Keep the home fire’s burning.”
It only took me a minute or two to cross through the cluster of locker rooms on this side of the arena. It was probably on purpose that our rooms were on one side while the Brand’s were on the opposite end. I skidded to a halt in front of the door, guarded by two Brand troopers to no surprise of mine. It was also no surprise that they both saluted and snapped to curt attention at the sight of me.
“Master Gateon! Welcome!” they shouted in unison before one of them took the lead. “What can I do for you? Shall I inform my Lord that you are here?”
I laughed uncomfortably as I raised my hands. “No need for that. I, uh, just wanted to talk to the team. You know, congratulate them for fighting so well and give them my condolences for the loss.”
Though I couldn’t be sure past their black-and-red helmets and visors, I thought they were both confused for a moment. Well, they were basically jack-booted thugs under my father’s command, so I guess the idea of compassion for your enemy was an odd one to them. All the same, after that brief moment, the spokesman came to his senses.
“Oh, of course.” He nodded to his partner, and they both stepped aside. “You are free to enter, young lord.” The leader pressed a button on the gauntlet of his armor, and the door buzzed open.
“Uh, thanks.” I gave them a quick wave and got on with it before I lost my nerve. After my time with Aylin, I might have known that confronting my father and opening up to Andie and Kara was critical, but with this fight with Carter looming so soon, now was not the time for a deep, emotional confrontation. With any luck, I’d be in and out like the wind.
Not that I always had the best of luck. I stepped through the door, closed it behind me, and when I turned back around to try to figure out where Akemi might be, I got a perfect view of now-kneeling advisers and henchmen, all exceptionally patriotic in their colors. In the center of them, looking just a bit shocked, was my dad. Strangely enough, he looked the most vulnerable I had ever seen him since I was a kid, even with his imposing power armor still on.
“Junior?” Dad asked, almost in disbelief before catching himself. “I wasn’t expecting you, kiddo.” He managed to crack a smile. “Congrats on getting into the finals.”
The rest of the room was dead silent as his last words lingered in the air. My chest tightened, and a part of me wanted to panic. This was the man I both loved and, after what he had done to me just a few weeks
ago, feared to some degree, but I clamped down on that fear. I couldn’t make it go away, but I could ride it out, could take it for the greater good of my friends and lovers.
“Uh, yeah, thanks, Dad,” I got out in a mostly normal voice. That already brightened him up and cut some of the tension in the room, but before he got too much an idea, I raised my hand. “Look, I really do want to talk to you… but I’m literally on a timer right now before the finals, and I need to talk to Akemi.”
There was a momentary look of hurt on Inferno’s face, but then a spark came to his eyes as he grinned. “She’s a little firecracker, ain’t she? Not that I don’t think your current girlfriends are awesome. Really great girls and all, but…” Then he arched an eyebrow. “Oh, but this isn’t just a booty call. Amazoness has got a bad feeling about these Carter twerps, doesn’t she?” He tapped the side of his head. “She’s a bit too up Dougie’s ass, but she’s got an intuition that can’t be beat.”
Part of me wanted to groan at just how ‘Cool Dad’ my father was trying to be, but I resisted and responded to the barrage of words and questions with a nod. “That’s basically it, yeah, and the time before our match with Carter is ticking.” I craned my head past him and his onlooking sycophants toward the rooms further in. “So, uh, can I…?”
“Oh, of course, son.” Dad gestured toward one of the side doors. “She with the doc, right through there.”
I nodded and made my way as quick as I could across the room, but before I could open the indicated door, my father cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Uh, Junior?” I paused at his question and glanced over my shoulder, still managing to keep my nerves wrangled. “You’re not just pulling your old man’s leg, right? We are going to, uh, talk later?”
I took a deep breath. “Yeah, Dad. I promise.”
Inferno let out a small sigh of relief and nodded. “Okay, champ. Sorry for holding you up.”
