by Simon Archer
“You’re not here, I know that much already,” I mused mentally, just as Brad took a few pot shots at me. He must have had as much interest in making this a show as I did, but he was purposefully off-mark, and I was still on guard. Between the two, he missed by a mile, four missiles blasting chunks out of the black stone. “I guess you’re not in Crystal Falls anymore, are you?”
“See? I knew that for being a complete muscle-head, you’re actually pretty smart.” Brad mentally chuckled. “Yes. Telepathic receivers connect me both to that poor sap and to this robot, but we did meet earlier. You got to see the real me for the first time.”
“So, why the big charade? What do you want, if not to take me out?” I could feel the fountain of power inside me twist and bend, and the handanu collar started to grow hot against my neck. I couldn’t blame Aylin for wanting to intervene, I just hoped it would take her a few more moments to try.
“It can’t hurt to tell you,” Brad mused as the puppeted robot’s weapons now tracked to my precise position. “You can’t do anything about it, not really. We’re here for three reasons. One, collect as much data on our rivals as possible. After all, when you’re a class of villains-in-training, you had best read up on the heroes you’ll be facing when you graduate.”
My eyes widened at that. It made a sick, twisted amount of sense, but before I could process it, he kept going.
“Two, to inject you with this custom-made nano-virus based specifically to bond with your DNA. If you had your powers active, it’d be burnt right out, but Switch handled that.” Brad was clearly taking delight in this as the Oliver ‘bot raised its needler arm. “I’ll spare you the details, but it’ll basically connect your brain and nervous system to my telepathic network. Basically, you’ll be my bitch, and I’ll have all your power… and all your lovers.”
Maybe some sense of the disgust I felt at that fed into Aylin because I could feel the heat rise against my neck and her power feed harder through my body. I actually twitched from the sudden jolt, something that made Brad pause for a moment.
“Don’t leave me hanging, Brad,” I goaded. “What’s three?”
He took the bait as he stalked forward now. I kept backpedaling to keep my distance, my focus now on the needler over the missiles. That was the real threat.
“Three, well, to kill Triton, Judgment, and Inferno in one fell swoop, of course.” Brad practically cackled in my head. “Our teacher is just waiting for the right cue to turn their box into so much ash. The idiots are all sitting together, you know that? Fortunately, your sweet, sweet Gemma isn’t with them, so maybe I’ll add her to your collection once I have my claws in you.”
That did it, that was the last fucking straw. Maybe it was the utter blinding fury that I felt that pushed the power inside me towards Aylin, or maybe she felt that same rage in my heart and broke through the walls herself, but whatever caused it, those floodgates inside me cracked open. It wasn't a full flood like usual, but what power did flood into me burned like fire in my veins… and a trickle of the infinite is still vast.
Just like that, Brad was burned right out of my head. Though the world slowed down some as strength poured into me, I knew from the first moment I wasn’t nearly as fast as I normally was, and while I knew I was certainly tougher than any normal man, I couldn’t risk taking hits I didn’t have to, especially from that virus-coated needler. Besides, who knew how long Aylin could maintain this or the ring would hold out?
I needed to end this fast, as fast as I could manage.
Speaking of that, the moment I made Brad vacate the premises, the robot surged forward, firing a full salvo of missiles from its pods as it tried to force me against the arena wall. I launched myself upward, fortunate that I had enough power to fly, as the missiles turned the wall into a pile of shattered stones and right into the reinforced metal beyond. Damn, that was a lot of firepower.
And I wouldn’t let him use more of it. I cut off my arc and immediately surged back down feet-first. My target was the head, not that I thought anyone would be dumb enough to put the main computer in a clear target, but if I started there, I could plow right into the chest. Though I know I was hurtling down at immense speeds, it felt painfully slow compared to my full power, and compared to the robotic reflexes of Oliver, it was. The robot managed to twist so that my feet tore through one of the missile racks, shearing it clear off the thing’s back but also putting me out of position. Before I knew it, the thing slammed a vicious backhand into my side as its entire torso spun on the waist.
I definitely cracked a rib, telling me in an instant how reduced my invulnerability was, and then I hit the ground and rolled a good twenty feet from the thing. As I bit back the pain and willed myself back into the air, Oliver simply back walked at me as it fired a volley of needles in a wide spray.
While I may have been slowed, I was still super fast and just barely managed to launch myself sideways through the air and out of harm’s way, and as I did so, things got crazy up above me. Though I tried to focus on Oliver as I sped around toward the side of the thing with the needler to take the weapon out, I couldn’t help but notice the flash of something up above. I spared a momentary glance to see one of the private boxes burst apart soundlessly… but it wasn’t the box I knew that Triton, Judgment, and my dad were in, and it wasn’t an explosion of any kind.
No, it was the white-and-gold clad form of Amazoness growing to size factor four, twenty feet tall, and beyond as her back foot leaned back and landed on the force dome above my head. Her hands were clutched around something pulled against her chest… as if she were shielding people from a bomb.
In that moment of worry, I almost let Oliver tag me, but there was a tug in my mind, a sensation of warning that punched through over my link to Aylin, and I twisted at the last moment as another burst of needles slipped right past me. I didn’t look up again, I put my faith into Gemma and all the other heroes that had to be watching. Ignoring the soundless flash that came a moment later, I tried to reach down deep, pull on the last bits of power I could from the crack Aylin held open.
If a robot could look surprised, I think this one did as it tried to find a bead on me, but each volley of needles flew just a hair’s breadth past. Right before I hit, I pulled up what energy I could spare to coat my hands with chisel-shaped planes of force. If I were diminished in strength, I’d use science on my side to punch through this thing.
And up close, it was clear the robot’s combat programs were no match for my decade of training in martial arts. With a roar of anger, I laid into the thing, ducking and weaving its fast-but-predictable blows, especially as it kept trying its hardest to jab a needle in me. It was a furious thirty seconds, as my sharp, force field-backed blows slowly ripped through the robot’s super-heavy combat armor, but finally, with one last haymaker punch, I shoved my fist through its center of mass, the most highly armored point… and right where I knew its central processing unit would be.
There was a shower of sparks and a hard jolt through my system as I took some of that charge through me. With a cry of pain, I ripped my hand out, something that ripped up a few cuts from torn metal in the process, and let the thing fall over. The Oliver ‘bot twitched a few times then went dead and still.
I wavered on my own feet, barely catching myself before I fell over too as the floodgate inside me slammed shut hard, the collar around my neck rapidly cooling, and with it, the constant connection with Aylin as well. Though I wanted to just fall over right then and there, I forced myself to stay standing, to look up into the stands in a vain attempt to get answers.
What I saw sent a cascade of relief through my body.
Gemma was still there, at her full fifty-foot height, her left boot covering half my view and her back arched against the ceiling, her hands and chest still smoking from whatever weapon she tanked… but she looked fine. Not just fine, as her eyes met mine, but happy. Thankful.
As I cast my glance at the box she had burst from, Triton and Dad were both
there now, a surging cage of fire from Inferno around a figure I couldn’t quite make out through it, though whoever it was seemed to be frozen solid from Triton’s blood bending. When I swept my eyes to the other side, where I knew my team was sitting, I didn’t see Aylin, but I did see Andie, her torso stretched up above the stands, and her hands expanded to giant size to form two larger-than-life ‘okay’ signs.
With that, I knew deep down that everyone was safe, and more than that, I’d kept my promises. I’d beaten Oliver… won the World’s Finest for Valcav… but I also knew that this was just the beginning.
31
“You shouldn’t be here, Starlight,” Aylin said to me from the infirmary bed. “You should be at the awards ceremony.” She cast her glowing eyes at the rather sizable collection of people around her bed. “You all should be.”
Channeling my power, even the small bit she did, had hurt Aylin more than I would have liked. Despite her own alien toughness and advanced physiology, she had collected serious burns around her neck and used up almost all the power inside her… but that could all heal. Already, Kara’s artificial skin was working wonders on the burns, and already, after a night’s rest under the care of Dad’s best doctors, some of which had some familiarity with Sahanan medicine, much of her light had already come back.
Still, the worst part is that I couldn’t even chide her for it, not after what I did last semester to save Matt and Kristen.
“Awards are nice and all,” I said softly as I stroked her face, “but I’ve already got a couple of medals as it is. You are far more important than a medal.” I looked up and took stock of all the people who thought the same way.
Andie and Kara had taken up positions on either side of the bed, Andie by my side and Kara opposite, both holding Aylin’s hands for comfort. Eric was at the foot of the bed, clinging to the railing at the foot of it, a position he hadn’t left unless forced to by the staff. Matt and Kristen stood with Kara, Kristen trying to occupy her alien friend by talking about Sahanan literature while Matt played the silent-but-loving big brother.
I wasn’t looking forward to telling him about what Brad had done, how he had come back with a vengeance, but for now, Triton had expressed a desire to keep it under wraps, at least until we returned home.
Speak of him, he was here too with Gemma by his side, both none the worse for wear.
“Ms. Ajlal,” he pronounced, “that is something you need not worry about anyway.” He nodded with a smile towards me. “The World’s Finest is an event meant at its core to hold up and honor the heroic ideal. With that being the case,” he turned his gaze back to Aylin, “we do that be being here, with you, to honor your heroism in the past day. If you were not willing to lay your life and power on the line, young Gateon would have certainly perished from that robot’s attack.”
Kara looked up at that, glancing sidelong at me before looking at Triton. “Speaking about that, Mr. Aberforth, what does all this mean? What actually is Carter Academy?”
Triton frowned slightly, then looked to Gemma. “We are still investigating the matter, but what I feel safe in telling you is that it appears that we have an unforeseen new rival. We all do.”
Gemma nodded. “Carter Academy isn’t a school for heroes.” Her jaw set. “It’s a school for villains.”
“Oh, my God!” Eric yelled out as he bounced to his feet and spun to face the pair of teachers. “My grandfather’s research! He always suspected such a thing had to be out there, that there were just too many organized and trained bad guys to just be dropouts from the twelve academies, but… to know that it’s real…?” His voice trailed off into a low whistle.
“So the question is,” Matt began with a growl in his voice, “when and how do we take them down? They tried to kill my family, and then they tried to kill you and Judgment.” I noted the absence of my dad in that equation, but I couldn’t blame him.
“Hold on now, young Barbur.” Triton held his hands up for calm. “You all are still students, trainees. Leave this to we trained heroes.” He put his hands down save for one finger. “However, if there is a proper time and place where your involvement is needed, we know we can count on your abilities and strengths.”
“Annnnd,” Andie piped in, “we shouldn’t talk about all this scary stuff while my little blackberry here is recovering.” She snaked a hand up to stroke Aylin’s brow. Totally unnecessary but still cute. As she did so, her head stretched up so she could be above the crowd. “In fact, all you crazy kids,” she turned towards Gemma and Triton specifically, “even you two, go, rest! I’ll take the next watch so you guys can actually sleep.”
I laughed at that. “Okay, okay, Andie.” I leaned over the bed and gave Aylin a quick kiss. “I’m leaving you in capable hands.”
She smiled at me. “I know you are. Fear not, I will be around and under you in no time at all.”
As if that broke the dam on the tension in the room, everyone broke down into chuckles and laughs.
“Aylin, honey,” Kara said between giggles, “I think what you mean to say is ‘up and around.’”
“Perhaps, Kara Johnson,” Aylin replied with a grin. “Or perhaps I meant what I said.”
After that, Andie did indeed shoo everyone out, from faculty to me. She hadn’t been wrong, most of us had slept little if at all, and the idea of curling up to rest after my own hard-fought battles seemed like a great idea. As we all piled down to the hover-bus back to the hotel, swapping stories of our triumph here, something undiminished by Carter’s crimes, we came out into the lobby to find Lord Inferno standing there, seemingly pacing as the entire hospital staff stared nervously at him.
“I think he’s here for me,” I said softly, then turned to the others. “Look, I’ll catch up, okay?”
Kara smiled and nodded. “Okay, Nick.” She gave me a quick kiss. “Tell Mr. Gateon hi for me.”
“I should be telling you to tell him to fuck off, man,” Matt growled, “but you seem to know what you’re doing.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “See you soon, Nick.”
Kristen didn’t say anything at all, she just gave me a quick, sudden hug, something I wasn’t quite expecting, then followed after Matt and Kara. Eric just shrugged and went along.
Triton seemed completely unconcerned himself. “Remember, Nicholas, this could be the start of a new age for our weary world.” He held his hand out, and I shook it. “We shall see you back at the hotel soon.”
“Of course, sir,” I said with a smile before Gemma hugged me from behind.
“Great job yesterday, Nick,” she said in my ear. “I know I tell you that a lot, but it’s only because you need to hear it a lot.” As she pulled back, I turned to catch her brilliant smile. “I love you, you know that, right?”
“Of course,” was my automatic response, because I knew it to be true, but only after a moment did it seem as if there was something else, some undercurrent I wasn’t quite understanding.
But then again, considering I’d gone through three intense battles and suffered more than a few hits on the way, I was probably just still a bit loopy from hits and exhaustion. Either way, the two teachers followed after their students, Triton giving a polite nod to my dad on the way out.
I shrugged to myself, then walked down the rest of the steps to meet my father.
“Hey, slugger.” Dad’s helmet peeled back to show his proud smile. “You did real good out there.”
I found myself smiling back. “I did my best, Dad. I… had some promises to keep to some people, and you know what you always told me about promises?”
“It’s not a done deal unless they have a notarized signature and a retinal scan?” he asked as he quirked a thoughtful eyebrow. “No, that’s not it. Wait, I know.” He snapped his fingers to make a spark of flame. “It doesn’t count if you have your fingers crossed?”
“Dad, seriously?” I rolled my eyes. “You don’t always have to do the, you know, the jokey evil emperor thing with me. We both know better.”
&nb
sp; Dad frowned a bit at that, a thoughtful look as he began to walk towards the door. “Yeah, maybe. Come on, Junior. Let’s take a walk.”
I nodded and kept pace as we walked out into the rather beautiful Phoenix air. While my memories of my time here were far from good, I had to admit that there were things about it I missed, and the beautiful skies were one of them.
“So, yeah, promises,” he began again after we walked a good few feet, “you keep those. People might call me a megalomaniacal genocidal monster, but you do know better. Gateons always keep their promises.” He glanced down at me. “And I’ve got some promises I want to make to you, Junior.”
I glanced back up at him as he put one of his massive gauntlets on my shoulder. “I hope they’re good ones, not like the time you promised to lay waste to my elementary school for giving me a time-out that one time.”
“Maybe that was a bit of an over-exaggeration on my part,” Dad admitted. “I still think that might have been justified, but anyway, look, here’s what I promise you. Number one, still not going to try to murder the Barbur twins right away. I know they’ll still fuck you over at some point, and then you’ll ring me up and be, ‘Hey, Dad, can you turn them into ash with your hellfire?,’ and I’ll be, ‘Sure, Junior, anything for you,’ but until that point, they’re safe.”
I couldn’t help but laugh as I nodded. “Sure thing, Dad. What else?”
“Number two, I promise to throw you and your Valcav buddies a big old party to start your new semester,” he said with a delighted grin. “I totally cleared this with the Gemmster, who, may I add, has really upped her esteem in my book for tanking that bomb like a pro. Figure you guys need some fun before another world-shaking crisis, am I right?”
“That’s really nice of you, Dad,” I said with a smile. It was surprisingly nice to hear my father make promises that sounded more like what other parents promise their kids.
