by Simon Archer
I might very well die.
Without a moment to waste, as an immense stone the size of a hover-car tumbled down out of the portal, I opened the floodgates and let the power surge into my body. As my muscles swelled and time stopped, I regarded the slowly tumbling boulder for a split-second before raking my laser vision across it five ways, rendering the boulder into something less likely to cause excessive damage when I powdered it, then smashed into it with a big right hand. With a clap of thunder, the remaining chunks of stone blew into dust and debris.
“From that sound,” Switch’s voice was warbly and distorted as it seemed to come from both portals at once, “you’ve finally decided to take this seriously. It doesn’t matter. You can’t touch me, and I can do this all day.” She giggled, though it was through teeth gritted with pain. “You? You’ll go limp dicked in less than ten minutes.”
I didn’t give her taunts a moment’s thought because I was already planning on how to take her down. The solution was as simple as it was impossible for my normal mortal form to do. The key to it all was elementary: Switch had to have a solid place to stand in that portal dome of hers, or else she’d be falling through portals endlessly. That meant that, if I could do it fast enough and quietly enough, I could attack her… from underground.
Switch was spouting off something else as another rain of stone began to fall on the arena, but I was already in motion. Trusting to the constant, ear-splitting crash of the boulders around me to mask the noise, I channeled part of my power into a force field around me, but not for protection. No, this field I imagined into the shape of a drill bit around me, tapering to a point at my feet as I began to use my super speed combined with my flight to spin while pushing downward. It was crude, and if I didn’t have the raw, untamed power I did, it wouldn’t have worked, but with all those factors working together, I became a human drill, burrowing down into the arena floor.
From there, I willed myself to move fast, focusing on my memory of the arena above and my drastically enhanced senses in the hopes that the two together would guide me to Switch’s exact location when she opened the portal dome. Kind of like when I had plowed into the massive Androsaur’s hide, I had no visual sense of where I was going, but I kept going, trusting in my instincts and memory.
A split-second later, there was a high-pitched scream of shock as I plowed up through the ground… right under Switch’s feet. Everything around me was glowing blue portal, the twisting of space around me so disorienting I would have probably been lost if I didn’t focus on the one thing real there: Switch. The sudden expulsion of earth threw her upward, and in a panic, she snapped her fingers before she fell into her own portal.
The dome went away instantly, as did the massive portal over our heads… not that there wasn’t already a few more boulders raining down on us in mid-fall. Before she had a chance to get her bearings or to get splattered by her own overkill attack, I rocketed up, caught Switch in both arms, and covered her from the impending hunk of stone. It slammed hard down on my back, shattering into a dozen pieces on my nigh-invulnerable skin even as the kinetic force was enough to drive my feet down ankle-deep in the floor.
Switch stared up at me wide-eyed and panting, safe in my arms. “OhmyGod, I--”
I didn’t give her the chance to finish. I couldn’t take the chance she wasn’t going to go into total kill mode again. Before another word left her lips, I very gently, well, for my current strength level, flicked her in the forehead.
She went out like a light.
I rose to my feet, Switch still in my arms as I shrugged off a half-ton of debris. Already, a mixture of cheers and astonished gasps filled my ears as the force field retracted, while crews spilled out of both doors. Maybe they were already intending on stopping the match with how far Switch was going, but they couldn’t get inside safely.
It didn’t matter. I didn’t even pay much mind to Patty crowing about my victory. While it felt good to put Switch in her place, especially after her extreme tactics, I had to wrangle with the big problem.
I might have made it to the finals, but I wouldn’t have my powers to rely on to win. With how tough the competition was, any chance of victory seemed to be draining away quickly.
29
Aylin
“I don’t know who it will be, but whoever it is, there has got to be a way to win this,” Starlight said firmly as he sat in one of the chairs in his preparatory room. Though I knew concern was heavy in his heart, I could only admire his conviction and strength in the face of such a daunting challenge.
The final match of the nemesis tournament would not be long now, despite the immense damage both of the quarterfinal matches had done to it. I only wished that I, or any of us who gathered to help Starlight, Andrea, Kara, Eric, or Kristen, could tell him the outcome of the battle between Matthew Barbur and Oliver Monroe from Carter, but it was forbidden. The way that Matthew fought with all his strength and all of his sister’s as well… Starlight would be proud of our friend, even though he was defeated.
“Maybe I could try integrating fusing two of my tech boxes into one unit, then at least I might be able to create something that can provide mobility and defense,” Kara conjectured. “With all your skill and training, if we cover those core bases, you’ll have a fighting chance.”
Andrea was right by Starlight’s side as was her place as first among us, her face contorted in thought as his. “That might work, strawberry. I mean, what else can we do? As much as I would love to compress myself down into something so Nick can smuggle me into the fight, I think that’ll just get us all disqualified.”
Kristen let out a low sigh. “But what if that isn’t enough, though? There has to be something else we can do. I…” Her voice trailed off as she turned to hide her pain from Starlight… but I saw it. Just as I saw the faint web of light that trailed off through the building, binding brother and sister together. Though Matthew was recovering well from the many injuries he sustained, I knew she still worried for him. Oliver had been… excessively vicious in his assault. “I can’t say why it won’t be, but-- I’m sorry, Nick.”
“I can’t either, but…” Eric bounced around, electricity crackling over his body as if he were fit to explode. “Gah, this sucks! This sucks so bad! How can we plan or anything if we can’t talk about it?”
Starlight glanced from face to face and frowned. “Because it’s the rules, man. We’re heroes, we follow them.” He got up and turned toward one of the monitors on the wall, all projecting pleasant images of Terran wilderness, no doubt to calm the combatants and save their bloodlust for the battles ahead.
“I’m trying to run through all the possible match-ups, and save for one, one I doubt is the case, it’s an uphill battle.” He glanced over his shoulder back to Kara. “Still, let’s start with your idea.” He unlatched the bracer from his arm and then turned to walk it over to her.
As he did, I observed Starlight very carefully. The truth was that I had an idea myself, but I was so unsure of its possible worth that I was reluctant to bring it forth. Still, I had the necessary tool in the cute backpack given to us at the hotel. It had what I assumed to be some Terran philosopher’s quotation on it: ‘I thought I was Hot Stuff until I stayed in Phoenix.’
Philosophy aside, I focused on the power inside him, the power that sang to my own. Though I knew Starlight could not summon it again by his own volition, it was still there, an endless whirling storm that crashed against his physical form. After he gave Kara the piece of armor, he moved to walk back to where he had been thinking, but I intercepted him, floating into his path.
“Aylin?” he asked as he blinked slowly. “What’s--”
Though perhaps I was being too forward, as I noted that Starlight very much preferred to be the dominant force in our romances, I cut him off by throwing my arms around his neck and kissing him deeply, with all my passion. It was very much what I desired to do, but not entirely for the overwhelming pleasure of his taste on my lips.
It was a test… and one that filled me with joy when I felt it come to pass. Though his power was locked from him, it still surged through the kiss, reaching out to touch my own, just as it should with my yodanu. It was a connection that yearned to be inseparable, much as with the connection between Matthew and Kristen, if in a different way.
As I broke apart from him, I felt all the eyes in the room burn into me, not to shame me, but in curiosity. Starlight too looked at me, a smile on his lips and a cocked eyebrow.
“Uh, if that was for luck or to boost my morale,” he said thickly, “mission accomplished and amen, but… that wasn’t it, was it?”
“No, though I too found great pleasure and satisfaction in our kiss,” I said as excitement and hope raced through me. “For I may have a solution to our troubles… though I must confess, even now I am uncertain if it will truly work.” With that, I slipped off my backpack, opened it, and pulled out the sacred case that contained my handanu rings.
“Uh, Aylin,” Starlight began hesitantly, “I don’t know if this is really the place or the time…”
Kara blushed as she realized what was being discussed, and to the surprise of none, not even me, Andrea had stretched across the room to be at my side. “Oh, so this is the… yeah… I can’t wait to try this, but…”
“No, it is not about the sex,” I said quickly to correct the notions of my friends, especially as Eric’s eyes seemed to be enlarging to an unhealthy degree. “This is about the connection that Starlight and I share. It was seeing the bond that Kristen and Matthew have that inspired me--”
“Hey, wait a minute!” Kristen protested as she spun towards us from where she had been staring off. “That’s a totally gross implication, Aylin. I love Matt, but I don’t, ugh, love Matt. If I have feelings like that for anyone, it’s--” She turned a curious shade of red as she realized what she was saying and cut herself off abruptly. “It doesn’t matter, it’s just… yeah. Not that with Matt and me.”
“Of course not,” I agreed. “I speak of the connection your powers share.”
Though everyone else was still lost, Starlight’s eyes lit up as his expression brightened. “Holy shit, Aylin. You’re a genius… or you’re nuts. I’m not sure which.” He glanced around at the others. “So, what Aylin’s saying is that our powers kind of… no, they definitely have some sort of connection. Like they’re on the same wavelength or something. I won’t go into the details,” Andie and Kara gave him a pointed look at that, “yet. Not yet, but the thing that’s important here is the alien… devices in that box can synch our powers. It let me access and control Aylin’s powers from outside her body.”
Kara then caught on as I knew she would. “So, you’re thinking maybe… maybe she can activate yours for you? Be the conduit that you usually are?”
“Hey now,” Andrea interjected, “while this sounds maybe possible on paper, Nick, your body is meant to channel all this, well, infinite power stuff. Aylin’s really strong, sure, and you guys are on whatever wavelength this is, but will it hurt her to try? And what about this, uh, device?” She gestured to the black case in my hands. “Can it handle that much power?”
“Yeah, I mean, good points,” Eric added. “Like, dude, if this whatchamacallit--”
“It’s a sacred alien sex toy,” Starlight said nonchalantly, words that made Eric’s face go beet red.
“Uh, yeah, uh… if it doesn’t work, you won’t have any gadgets or weapons, because whatever this thing is, that’s your one piece of gear.”
I reverently set the case down on an end table and pressed my palms into the edges of the stone, smiling as the glow of my energy filled the swirling patterns. “You must decide if you wish to try, Starlight, but I am confident that I can handle it.” I looked up to meet his gaze, my jaw set as I tried to will the determination I felt to be plain for all my friends to see. “I promised that I would be strong when you could not be. If that time is not now, when will it be?”
As I said those words, the case slid open, and the handanu rings rose up on their cloth bed. “Will you grant me the honor of being your pozu this one time?”
30
The cool alien metal of the handanu collar against my skin was both a source of comfort and worry as I waited by the entrance doors to the arena. This wasn’t exactly something we could test ahead of them, just in case it didn’t work and the collars, almost irreplaceable with the state of affairs with Sahana, were fried in the attempt. On top of that, I was worried about Aylin.
Her bravery and determination to try this touched my heart, but she had been nearly overwhelmed by just the connection the rings made when we had sex once. To try to channel the power inside me, to make it do what she wanted through me… Andie wasn’t wrong in being worried as to what could happen.
At the same time, just as I had made promises to my friends, promises to Gemma and Lioness, Aylin had made a promise to me. If I was going to risk my safety for my own promises, how could I not let her do the same? We were both heroes, after all, and making the sacrifice play is what heroes had to do.
Even now, as the doors to the arena opened up before me, I felt the sparks against my skin, the electric storm of our connecting powers dancing in my heart. There was no telling if that meant it would work or not, but I took it as a sign that it would. I stepped out into the arena, holding faith in my heart that our combined strength would see us through.
As if I thought there couldn’t be any more surprises waiting for me, two things were now radically different for this final match. First, the arena was not just pristine but redone in totally different decor. The white stone tiles were replaced with a glossy black finish, perhaps black marble or obsidian, it was hard to be certain. Burning braziers in the shape of the Brand’s ‘fist-of-fire’ emblem cast dancing light across the polished blackness to create a disconcerting sense of eeriness across the battlefield. Above, as before, the shimmering force field separated the arena from the audience, and even though the sound-canceling barrier was still in place, the crowd itself seemed more subdued, tenser, no doubt on the edge of their seats for the championship confrontation.
The other difference was that this time, I wasn’t the first to enter the arena. My opponent was already waiting for me, and the sight of him made my gut twist.
It was Oliver, towering a good ten feet tall in his jet black and blue-green power armor. Unlike the last time I had faced him in Alexandria, the suit wasn’t beat-up or crudely repaired. It was pristine, and that right away was a warning sign. Either he had a real tech genius on hand now to repair his suit… or this new revision was so strong he had blown his way painlessly to the top of the bracket.
I took a deep breath and stepped forward as he seemed to perk up. Smartly, his helmet was sealed, and the teal visor turned to focus on me.
“I had a feeling that we’d be meeting again like this, Gateon,” he said, his voice echoing over the speakers. “Having fun so far?”
“Yeah, really peachy time.” Though the lighting was pretty erratic, I could already tell something was… off. Oliver before had been strutting, overconfident, and he carried himself that way. The words were right, the tone was on point… but the body language was off. It was stiff and mechanical. “What’s wrong, Olly? Got a stiff back from when I threw you so hard against the ground it knocked your armor out?”
Oliver started to slowly march forward at that, two missile racks so full of micro-missile tubes I lost count unfolding from his back as he raised his arms to reveal more weapons in the forearms. Most of them were conventional blasters and flamethrowers and the like, but one stood out to me. One looked more a needle gun, a weapon favored by assassins to deliver loads of drugs or poisons, certainly not something most heroes would ever use in the field.
I was about to break right to throw off his aim and hope Aylin saw the trouble brewing when a sharp spike, like a sudden migraine that lasted a second, pierced my mind. The thing was, I was on guard for any psychic attacks after the truth about O
liver became real, but this, this was something way stronger than what I had encountered before dealing with Brad.
Instead of a surge of control or foreign emotion or any kind of actual psychic assault, there was instead a voice in my head, and I knew instantly it came from Oliver… but it wasn’t the voice I had heard throughout this tournament.
It was Brad O’Connor’s voice.
“I told you, Nick,” it came to me, dripping with malice. “I told you at the hospital that I’d see you guys again one day soon.” The weapon systems on Oliver’s suit whirred to life. “Now, don’t worry. I’m not here to turn you into chunky salsa, though I could. I really could.” I could hear the slimy smile in his voice. “After all, Switch already made you burn your powers, just like she was supposed to.”
I concentrated hard, trying to keep Brad in one part of my head while the rest of my thoughts were on Aylin. Not to beg her to try to start my powers… but to wait. Wait until I was in trouble because if Oliver was Brad, that meant all our worries about Carter were worse than we could have imagined, and if I could find out more information, there was a chance we could stop their plans cold.
The only thing on our side was that telepathy, as it turns out, is a lot faster than talking. Who would have guessed being literally able to speak your mind would work so well?
“She’s a real powerhouse,” I thought back at him as I slowly circled, hoping that the audience took this as some kind of face-off. “What I’m wondering is how you’re able to do this. Before, all it took was being vigilant and aware to keep you out of our minds, but--”
“Oh, Nickie, Nickie, Nickie,” Brad cooed in my head as if he were talking to a child, “that was all part of my initiation. I was forced to limit my power use and to use my knowledge and cunning to accomplish my mission… which I did.”
