by Simon Archer
“That’s exactly it,” I agreed. “Look, Lyla’s blood is on your hands, as is all the blood of the people who have died in your war to ‘save the world,’ that’s all on you.” I pointed at him now, tracking his motion back and forth with my finger. “But what’s going on right now, this you can change. You can look not at the name, but at the person, just like a lot of people have done for me now when they see the Gateon name.”
Inferno finally stopped his pacing and turned to face us, hands clasped behind his back.
“Is it that easy, do you think?” he mumbled. “To just forget about it?” His voice grew stronger. “Because let me tell you, all I see when I see that bushy-haired little twerp and his scowling sister is Ice Bringer. The man who didn’t want to help me save the world and then, when he decided to fight me, gave up there too.”
I took in a deep breath and ran my hands through my hair. It was like trying to break down a brick wall without my powers on. As I searched for some way to get through to him, Kara squeezed my shoulder once before she started walking towards Inferno.
“That’s really what did it, isn’t it?” she asked softly as Dad ran a gauntleted hand over his face. “It wasn’t just that you think he turned away from you when you needed him, it was that he couldn’t stand on those other principles either. That’s why you think Matt and Kristen will betray us, no matter what.”
“See, Junior?” Dad pointed at Kara with a slightly crazed grin. “She’s a smart one, sees right to the core of a problem and goes for cutting that tangle at the center.” He nodded. “Yep, kiddo, that’s about the long and short of it. Barburs can’t be counted on when the chips are down, no matter what side they’re on.”
I let out a low sigh. “But Dad… that doesn’t mean they have to die, does it?” With a few long strides, I caught up to Kara and then, together, we stepped up to my father. “Look, you want me to learn while I’m at Valcav, right? To prepare myself to… to take over when you retire.” I didn’t want to say it aloud, but it was a way to break through his shell, so I had to go for it. “As much as you want to spare me from harm, I have to learn things the hard way or else it’ll never stick.”
“And maybe things will be different between the Barburs and the Gateons,” Kara added, easily picking up my thread and running with it. “Wouldn’t it be something, Mr. Gateon, to see Nick and Matt… or maybe Nick and Kristen… bringing a new age of glory for both families?”
Inferno frowned deeply, and I could see how torn he was about this. “As swell as that would be, I can’t… I can’t risk losing Junior here. You love him, you gotta understand, right?” He shook his head. “But on the other hand… you’re not going to stop being a hero towards them, are you, son? You’ll keep diving in front of the bullet.”
“Sorry, Dad.” I took a risk, a small one, and reached out to him with an open hand. “You taught me too well, I guess. Heroing is in the blood.”
To my surprise, that admission brought a tear to my eye. For all my father’s problems, for how broken and twisted his mind had become from the murder of his wife, my mom, he still wanted to be nothing more than a hero. I really had learned the core of heroism, the act of self-sacrifice and standing immovable on your principles, from him.
“Aw, damnit, kid,” he relented as he grabbed my hand and brought me in for a big hug. “You’re making your old man cry.” I hugged him back, and it felt… good. As we pulled apart, I could tell he was tearing up himself. “Fine. I’ll stop trying to turn the Barbur kids into human coleslaw because you’ll get your dumb ass killed being like me.” He raised a warning finger. “But… they turn on you, you just give me a call, and I’ll slate them for a spot at the next Volcano Palace barbeque.”
21
“I still don’t believe it,” Matt said as he shook his head in disbelief.
The remainder of our first day in Phoenix had passed amazingly uneventfully, mainly because Gemma enforced a lockdown on the floor of the hotel room we all shared. During that time, Matt said those same words or some variation of them quite a few times after I told him what had gone down between my father and me. Even after Kara had told him that, yes, that’s exactly what happened, he just couldn’t process it.
Now, on the armored hover-bus our team was riding in toward the Grand Imperial Colosseum, a brand-new structure built in the shadow of the Volcano Palace, Matt was still saying it.
“I think you should start doing so, young Barbur,” Triton said as he planted his hands on his hips. He had been standing in the aisle and providing us with an overview of the latest information the teachers had come up with about our competitors. “You keep thinking about Lord Inferno simply as another villain when there is much more to him than that. Remember, you must understand your enemies to overcome them, and Inferno always considers himself to be a hero, whether he is or not.”
While Matt was having problems believing it, Kristen seemed to take it at face value. Not that I was too worried either way, because honest to God, I was feeling better than I had in a month or more. While there was still an uphill battle ahead for my father’s soul, I felt this could be the first shaky step toward bringing Lord Inferno back to the side of the angels. Either way, the last dregs of fear were gone, and there wasn’t a nightmare to greet me last night.
“Understood, Mr. Aberforth,” Matt grunted. “I’ll stow it until after we make it out of this.”
“Speaking of heroes and villains,” Andie called from her seat as she waved an oversized hand, “if I’m not out of line to ask, did you guys find out anything you want to share about the whole Carter mess?”
Gemma, who had been kneeling in her seat so as to hang her arms and head over it to look at us, frowned a bit at that before glancing sidelong at Triton.
“There isn’t much more to add,” she began. “Douglas and Efraim talked to their coach while I wound up in a teleconference with their dean, Richard McShane. Their story is that the records on Oliver Sindell were, well, falsified to prevent any backlash over Oliver’s psionic powers.” Her voice betrayed to me that she didn’t quite believe it, and neither did I. “Apparently, in the Carter city-state, psychics face a lot of prejudice because of the nature of their powers.”
“Gee,” Kristen grumbled, “I wonder why.” She flashed Matt a sympathetic look before settling back on the teachers.
Gemma didn’t give that a response. “As for Switch’s undocumented powers, Dean McShane pled ignorance, that their testing hadn’t discovered it yet.” She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s not impossible, but… well, we have to take their word on it.”
“Indeed, Gemma. Now, I can tell that most of you are unsatisfied with that explanation,” Triton mused as he looked over us, “but for the time being, that must be the end of it.” He raised a finger. “Still, I encourage you to keep a sharp eye on your Carter competitors. If you see any other oddities during the defense event, let us know as soon as possible.”
Eric glanced from across the aisle at me and shrugged helplessly. As our resident expert on just about every powered being on the planet, I could tell he wanted to crack this mystery more than anyone, but he was right. There wasn’t anything to do about it for now, especially with what could be the most grueling of the three events ahead.
For the rest of the ride, it was mostly small talk and information that we all already knew from the rescue tournament. A lot of the practical specifics of the defense event, the exact nature of the arena, the enemies, and the initial placement of the six academy teams to make it to this round, were all closely guarded secrets to prevent cheating and foul play. There was little else to do but see it alongside everyone else when the event started.
It wasn’t much of a wait. I had been lost in surprisingly happy thoughts when Aylin tapped me on the shoulder. “Starlight, look! There it is!” Eric practically shot across the cabin and plastered his face against a window as I sat up myself to glance past Aylin.
“Holy crap!” Eric cried out. “That thing is just… wow
. It’s wow big. That’s a new category of big I’m inventing just for this.”
“You’re not wrong,” I muttered as I got a full look at the Grand Imperial Colosseum for the first time. “Whatever else you want to say, it’s definitely my dad’s style.”
The thing was quite literally the size of a small city and built like a bunker, the kind of structure that could take a nuclear strike and laugh. It was as if it had been carved out of a basalt mesa risen up in the shadow of the Volcano Palace. For all I knew, maybe it had been. Gleaming, red-painted steel reinforced the stone in strategic places, and large, low doors ran along the side we were cruising towards. The name of the structure was engraved above the entrance and glowed as if lava filled the letters. Again… it probably was filled with lava.
And coming up to the front entrance in droves were the people of Phoenix. Long, winding, orderly lines led up the front gates with armored security troopers keeping things moving along at a steady clip, at least in comparison to the more traditional mass of foreign visitors that were being channeled to another set of doors. The frenzied fans of all stripes caught sight of our hover-bus soaring past and let out a cheer.
Our destination was slightly different. Instead of landing in the front lot with the myriad public transports, we flew over the arena itself. It was easy to see that there were multiple doorways carved in the rock, each one large enough to take a pair of hover-trucks at a time. Our pilot positioned us over one, and I craned my head to look below as the huge door panels slid back with a loud grinding of rock and steel. Below was a cavernous landing bay that we descended into.
As the doors ground closed above our heads, my heart began to pound in anticipation of the challenge ahead. I was ready, my friends were ready, and I knew that if we went all out, we would be able to stay on top.
From the time we landed, our arrival became a frenzy of surprisingly mundane activity juxtaposed by the overblown grandiosity of the Colosseum. I always knew Dad was a big fan of the World’s Finest. When I was growing up, we’d watch every one even after Dad went villain, but even I was a bit surprised to how much he pulled out all the stops here. The red-veined marble I had seen in the Spaceport was the dominant building material. That mixed with the gold and chrome fixtures and architecture made every wall and door seem like we were walking through an ancient gladiatorial arena, a place where gods and heroes would pit their might against each other.
In a way, that’s exactly what it was.
Still, our actual activities were straightforward and simple. Get checked in with World’s Finest administrators, get escorted to our locker rooms by black-and-red garbed staff, settle in and suit up to get ready for the event. It was all very mechanical, and I tuned out a bit, focusing my mind on what was about to come.
That detachment ended the moment we stepped out onto the floor of the Colosseum proper alongside the six remaining academies. Naturally, there was us, Carter, and the Brand, but also Kai-lao, still in their rainbow-colored catsuits, Krona, the team that Akemi and her friends trounced pretty handily, and Osata. At least they had fared better than Krona in their outing against the Carter team, but it was pretty clear to me that this was really down to the top four academies. I could see how Kai-lao could actually make up a ton of points in this event with the versatility of their shapeshifting powers and dedicated team spirit. If anyone were a smart ticket to team up with, it would be them, especially considering how friendly they had been both before and after our rescue match.
But any more thoughts of strategy were knocked out of my head when I took in the full extent of the field. See, the Imperial Colosseum was the size of a small city because it literally had a small city inside of it. At least that’s what it felt like as I scanned the replica downtown area that filled the entire arena floor. It was picture perfect, from the signage in a cafe window to the holographic billboards that played out over the city streets. Hover-cycles, cars, and other transportation was parked neatly, and the traffic signals even were running as one would expect.
The one thing this mock city lacked was people. It was a desolate ghost town at the moment, but I knew that would change for the start of the event, still an hour away. In fact, the only other people on the field aside from us and the arena staff guiding us was a perky-looking older woman in a smart blue business suit with a clipboard. She tapped a small clip-on microphone on her lapel which sent a pop echoing through the deserted streets.
“Oh, wonderful, it’s working!” she cried out with girlish glee before bowing to us. “Hello, students of the world! I’m Patty Brownstone, the Brand’s very own junior official with the World’s Finest committee, and it’s my honor and privilege to be your guide today to this year’s defense event. We’re going to have a gosh-darn wonderful and exciting time!”
Patty was practically bouncing in place as she spoke, and I couldn’t help but be reminded of Eric… mainly because he was bouncing in place just ahead of me in the same way.
“Now, I know you kids all know the basics of the event, but I bet you’re all eager to find out the exact nature of your opponents this afternoon, aren’t ya?” Patty flashed us all a brilliant smile before glancing at your clipboard. “Oh, boy. You guys and gals are in for a real humdinger today, let me tell you.”
I wasn’t sure whether to be taken by her strange folksy charm or yell out for her to get on with it. Judging by the looks of the other students, I wasn’t the only one, but most of us were polite enough to just let it lie… except for Oliver, of course.
The teal-haired jerk put his hands to his mouth and shouted, “Just get on with it!”
If Patty took offense, she didn’t show it. She just let out a tittering laugh and waved her hand at him. “Oh, you scamp you! Well, if you want it, who am not to deliver?” She cleared her throat and adjusted her tight-fitting jacket. “So, without further ado, your enemy for the thirty-minute defense event iiiiisssss… courtesy of Inferno Foundries… the Androsaurs!”
She turned and swept her clipboard in a flourish behind her, and on cue, a menagerie of surprisingly living looking creatures leapt down from the rooftops. Though they were a wide variety of colors and bodily configurations, from extremely humanoid to six-armed beasts to a centaur-like hexaped, there was definitely a similarity that painted them all as the same kind of creature. Mainly it was the reptilian scales and ridges on their skin… but the razor sharp claws and teeth was another. Most were human-sized, but some looked as big as a hover-truck, and I had no doubt we just saw only a small sample of what was to come.
“Now, now, kids,” Patty continued, utterly nonplussed by the beasts’ appearance, “don’t worry too much. While Lord Inferno designed these android dinosaur-men… get it, Androsaurs?” She giggled for a moment at that. “... to be as realistic as possible when you pulp ‘em and mash ‘em, rest assured that these are completely non-sentient robots at their core.” She turned back to us and swung her arm in the best ‘golly-gee-wilikers’ expression I’d ever seen. “So y’all should get out there and tear their little robotic guts out! Also, their robotic systems are mixed with pseudo-organic ones, so that you technopaths and biokinetics will have an equally hard time with ‘em. No playing favorites in this competition!”
“Excuse me? Mrs. Brownstone?” Off to our right, White Lioness, captain of the Kai-lao team, had her hand respectfully raised.
“Oh, sweetie, call me Patty, we’re all friends here, right?” Patty beamed a disarming smile at the white-haired girl. “What’s your question?”
“Speaking of playing favorites and also considering some of the competitors,” Lioness eyed the Brand team suspiciously and me apologetically, “is it fair that our opponents are products of Brand technology? Might that lead to potentially dishonorable and questionable conduct?”
That question was backed by less polite grumbles from students among most of the teams that weren’t Valcav or the Brand, but Patty clucked her tongue a few times to call for silence.
“Now, first of all
, a sweet young lady such as yourself shouldn’t be such a Negative Nancy,” Patty said with a giggle. “But, rest assured, the World’s Finest Committee has had our finest engineers and biologist inspect each and every Androsaur for potential tampering and, dare I say it?, cheating.” She smiled broadly once more. “So you can just put your little worries to rest. It’ll be a totally fair match!”
While that quieted most of the grumbles, it didn’t settle all of them, not that Mrs. Brownstone cared. I glanced around to try to gauge the reaction of the room, and already I could tell this new wrinkle was turning most of the teams against the Brand and us. Still, I thought we could maybe count of Kai-lao still, as the all-girl squad flashed us sympathetic looks.
The rest of the set-up Patty introduced us too was what we already knew. Thirty minutes to defend the mock city from the Androsaurs. Defeated androids would net points in the Offensive category based on the threat level. Civilians rescued from danger earned Rescue points with an additional bonus if they were safely ferried to one of three designated ‘safe zones’ on the fringes of the arena. Finally, protecting city structures and minimizing property damage earned Defense points, with key structures noted by bright red markings and signs earning extra points based on how long a team defends a point, with an extra bonus if a team is defending one at the end of the game.
Obviously, if multiple teams were involved with a defeat, rescue, or defense, the scores would be split appropriately, with the final call coming from the impartial World’s Finest judges observing the entire event.
“So, you crazy kids, you’ve got forty-two minutes to get ready and raring to kick some reptile booty!” Patty hooted as she led us back to the arena entrance. “Oh, and remember, there is a massive penalty to all categories for attacking your fellow heroes!” She waggled her finger as if she were scolding a dog before brightening up. “Now, I’m no powered type like you, but it pays to make friends for this one!”
