Ultimate Sacrifice

by Damien Benoit-Ledoux

  The closer he got, he more he felt Victor and the yellow goon trying to grab him in a telekinetic hold. He deflected it and flew at the yellow goon, tackling him at the speed of sound and adjusting his flight path to the naval prison. Blue and yellow sparks exploded when they collided. The man angrily slapped Blue Spekter’s back, but Blue Spekter only chuckled.

  “Let go of me,” the yellow goon exclaimed.

  “Poor choice of words, buddy,” Blue Spekter replied.

  Seconds before crashing into the west wing of the naval prison—where the storage batteries were located—Blue Spekter abruptly halted his descent and let go of the man. The man rocketed away until he crashed through southwest corner of the building. Marines with TaseBolts immediately moved in to apprehend him.

  Blue Spekter sensed Victor rapidly approaching from above, so he spun around to face the red-glowing man.

  “Those were my men!” Victor shouted.

  “Yep, they sure were,” Blue Spekter said, taunting him. Then, he waited.

  As Victor reached out to grab him, Blue Spekter swung to the left and blasted Victor with electricity as he sped by him. The man howled in agony and plummeted to the earth like a meteor and crashed.

  Blue Spekter dashed after him and swung his legs down so his feet would smash into Victor’s body. Time to end this, once and for all.

  Victor raised his hands and his body ignited with red-hot flames. Then, he felt Victor shove him hard with his mind and his flight path shifted.

  Blue Spekter landed next to Victor and the ground around him reverberated with the shock of his landing.

  “I’ve been saving my favorite trick for last,” Victor snarled. Then, he jumped up and grabbed Blue Spekter by the throat, lifting him several inches off the ground.

  Blue Spekter’s eyes popped open with surprise and discomfort. His hands clawed and grabbed at the hand and arm that immobilized him.

  “Admit it, you’re never going to stop me,” Victor said.

  A moment later, Blue Spekter’s neck veins turned black. His mouth opened and he gasped for air. Horrified, he felt energy or life—even the will to live—draining into Victor, and he knew it would leave him severely weakened or dead if he didn’t break free.

  Victor smiled wickedly and watched the neck veins near his hand fill with blackened sickness. “Blake used this little trick on me and I’m so glad it was one of the first powers I developed.”

  A familiar voice to Blue Spekter’s right spoke next.

  “You know, the problem with scum like you is that you never learn. You can make all the promises you want, but you’ll never stop being scum.”

  “How touching. Did your mommy teach you that?” Victor snapped, ignoring the speaker as he watched Blue Spekter struggle to breathe.

  “No, you did.” Then an orange streak lunged at Victor and tackled him to the ground.

  Blue Spekter fell to the ground and laid on his back for a moment to catch his breath and restore his energy—if that was even a thing for them these days because he always felt powered up. Whatever that draining power was seemed to affect him, be he recovered quickly.

  I must be able to absorb the attack as well…I just have to figure out how.

  He tilted his head back and saw an orange-glowing figure fighting with Victor. Orange and red sparks flew into the air as they fought. When the effects of the life-draining power faded, he sensed a new proximity in his mind. His mouth dropped open with surprise and he rolled on to his stomach to watch the world upright.

  Wait, is that…I didn’t kill Blake?

  A commotion near the prison caught his attention. The marines shouted and backed off as the yellow goon jumped out of the pile of rubble and walked toward Victor. The orange man dashed across his field of vision and tossed Victor at the yellow man. Blue Spekter’s fully restored proximity sense confirmed the orange man was Blake.

  Holy shit, I didn’t kill Blake!

  Blake zipped toward Blue Spekter and extended a hand down to him. “Hey buddy, are you done fucking around in the snow yet or are you gonna help me stop these assholes?”

  Quinn took Blake’s hand and pulled himself up. He looked into the glowing orange eyes of his best friend. “Blake?”

  “Yeah, it’s me, Quinn.”

  Quinn threw his arms around his best friend and they embraced warmly. “I thought I killed you.”

  “No, you saved me. But, um how about we talk about that later…okay? Victor and that other guy need to be stopped.”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Quinn saw Victor charge at them. He erected an invisible shield around them and Victor harmlessly bounced off it and swore as he fell backward. Quinn pulled back a little and smiled. “I never thought I’d hear you say that.”

  “My mind…it’s amazing what I can think about now that you destroyed the micro bug.”

  “Do you remember everything?”

  “Unfortunately, yeah.”

  The yellow goon bounced off the invisible shield, causing it to flash blue.

  “Okay, let’s take care of these two idiots, shall we?” Quinn asked.

  “Do you have a plan?”

  “I think so. Keep them here near the marines and their TaseBolts.”

  “I hate those things.”

  “Work like a charm though, don’t they?”

  22 | Battle Royale

  Blake

  Blake turned and faced Victor, who snarled at him. The man looked at the yellow guy. “They will be stronger together, so separate them; take care of Blue Spekter and I’ll take care of Dark Flame.

  “Dropping my shield,” Blue Spekter whispered.

  “You lied to me, you son-of-a-bitch!” Blake charged at Victor, who smiled and took a defensive stance.

  Victor opened his mouth to respond, but Blake blasted him with full wave of telekinetic power and hurled him across the open field. Victor tumbled backward but regained his balance. Then, he sent an invisible punch at Blake.

  Blake’s head snapped to the side, but he brushed it off. So, that’s what that feels like.

  Blake pummeled Victor again, but the man fought back by pushing against Blake’s telekinetic power with his own.

  “Do you think I’m going to let you destroy everything I’ve built? Everything we’ve worked toward?” Victor thundered, charging at Blake.

  “You messed with my head!” Blake shouted back. “You made me do things I would never have done!”

  “I did no such thing. Everything you did, you chose to do freely. You killed all those people, Blake, not me!”

  “No!” Blake roared, igniting his body with superheated flame. Then he extended his hands and blasted Victor. The yellow guy tumbled across the field in his peripheral vision and Blue Spekter chased after him.

  To his surprise, Victor ran through the flames, jumped in the air, and landed a solid kick to Blake’s chest. He stumbled back, slipped on a patch of ice, and fell to the ground. Victor followed with several swift punches to Blake’s face. Victor landed on him and pinned Blake to the ground, holding him down with a powerful, telekinetic vice grip.

  “You were always the tool, the means to an end. You thought you were doing me a favor, but I set you up from the beginning.”

  Blake struggled to wrestle out from under Victor’s invisible grasp, but the red-glowing man held the upper hand for the moment.

  “It was I who engineered and orchestrated this elaborate ruse—a design with a singular goal in mind; to bring you under my control until I could become what you are. It was I who manipulated The Order and drew out Mother Superior to Rangeley so you could kill her.”

  Victor punched Blake in the face and a spray of red and orange sparks exploded into the air. “It was I who made sure you and Quinn were sufficiently distracted and separated so you would never see my real purpose, even though it’s been right under your nose the entire time. I made sure Project Genesis was resurrected after you two brats stumbled into that cave and developed powers.”

  Victo
r punched Blake again. “I sent you down to Boston with Radoslav because I knew you would uncover the Archimandrion’s criminal web and wipe them out for me. I sent you on stupid missions to keep you distracted from my real purpose, to become just like you so I could create the perfect World Order completely under my control.”

  Another strong punch made Blake wince.

  “It was I, not Mother Superior, who made sure you were chipped from the beginning so you would remain open to my suggestions because I knew you would be our greatest asset and our greatest liability. If you were able to make up your own mind, you would naturally side with your pathetic friend against The Order because you are weak like him. You’d work with him to bring down as much of The Order as you could because your stupid, teenaged ideals about right and wrong can’t handle the difficult truth of humanity on this planet.”

  Victor coiled his hand back but Blake found the strength to push through Victor’s oppressive power and caught Victor’s fist in his hand.

  “You used me!” Blake yelled, heating his hand and squeezing as hard as he could.

  Victor winced. “You came willingly, but now it’s clear you’ll only get in my way—so like a rabid dog, you need to be put down. After all, it’s now up to me to deal with the enemies of The Order.”

  Victor pulled his hand back away from Blake’s grasp and slammed it into Blake’s face.

  Blake grunted with pain. Then, Victor howled with pain and violently rolled away from Blake, who immediately felt the telekinetic grasp release.

  Finally.

  Marines had approached and fired their TaseBolts, careful to target out Victor and not Blake. Victor angrily retaliated and ripped a few marines apart in the process.

  ❖

  Quinn

  Blue Spekter dashed across the grounds and leapt at the yellow goon.

  He’ll hurt more people if I don’t stop him right now.

  The man grimaced and raised his hands to catch Blue Spekter, but Blue Spekter fooled him by performing a midair somersault over the man’s head at the last minute. Spinning around as he landed and using his power of flight to lunge at the man, he tackled the yellow guy to the ground, dragged him across the campus away from the prison, over the rocky shoreline, took a deep breath, then plunged into the raging river.

  If I can’t breathe underwater, then neither can you.

  He rapidly dove to the depths the river, holding onto the man who squirmed and wriggled in his arms. When the riptide grabbed them, they were pulled out to sea between rocks and plants near the riverbed. Bubbles escaped the man’s mouth as he struggled to break out of Blue Spekter’s stronger grasp.

  You guys are strong, but you’re inexperienced with your powers and how to use them. I guess I have Blake to thank for that. I wish there was another way, but until we have a prison to hold you…I don’t want to do this…but I have to end this.

  He put his hand over the man’s face and froze the water around his hand, then hesitated.

  Do I really want to do this again? This isn’t the kind of sacrifice I thought I would have to make…the kind where I become a necessary evil to restore the good. If I don’t do this…I know how this will play out, and it won’t be good.

  Blue Spekter flash-froze the water around the man’s face, then filled the man’s nostrils, mouth, and lungs with frozen water, suffocating him. When the man’s head and neck was encapsulated in a frozen ball of ice, Blue Spekter ascended through the rushing waters with the limp body and flew back to Seavey Island where Blake and Victor were blasting each other with fire.

  Blue Spekter landed in front of a group of marines with the limp body of yellow goon. “I don’t know if he’s dead or unconscious, so keep your weapons trained on him in case he wakes up.”

  Blue Spekter turned toward Victor, ready to dash toward him and give him the beating he deserved. Blake was tumbling away from Victor on the ground, but he recovered and jumped to his feet. A moment later, the yellow goon’s proximity faded from his mind.

  So, he’s dead…

  “I’ll kill you, Blue Spekter!” Victor roared. With rage burning in his red eyes, Victor put his hands in front of him and discharged an energy beam at Blue Spekter.

  “No!” Blake screamed, jumping into the beam’s path.

  Shit, can he already channel energy?

  Blake took the brunt of the destructive beam and his body spun and flipped through the air until he crashed into the ground, leaving a clearing of snow behind him. Blake came to rest, his body black and smoky from whatever Victor had hit him with.

  “Playtime’s over, Blake.” Victor snarled. “You’re served your purpose.”

  Oh no you don’t.

  Blue Spekter charged at Victor, but he was telekinetically knocked to the ground by a single look from Victor’s angry, red eyes. Caught off guard, he shook his head, rolled over, and pushed himself to his feet as a group of marines to his right took aim at Victor and fired, but the man telekinetically grabbed Blake’s weakened body and moved him in front of the oncoming beams. Blake screamed as his body convulsed, taking the brunt of the electrical attack.

  “Stop firing!” Blue Spekter yelled out, and the marines complied.

  “Now you die!” Victor shouted. With speed and fury, he plunged his hot, glowing hand into Blake’s weakened back and it broke through his ribcage, shattering the bones. Blake screamed as several sickening cracks and pops reached Blue Spekter’s ears.

  Blue Spekter winced in horror at the smashing sound of breaking bones and tearing flesh. “Blake!” he roared, charging at Victor again, but it was too late. The fingers of Victor’s hand, now sticking out of Blake chest, curled inward and then jerked out of Blake’s body cavity.

  Blake screamed with a sickening gurgle and stumbled forward and turned slightly as Victor pulled out his beating heart. He fell silent, looked at the gaping hole in his chest, and then stared at the bloody organ in Victor’s hand. A moment later, he collapsed to the ground.

  “No!” Blue Spekter roared, terrified at the brutal murder he had witnessed.

  “You kill my guys, I kill yours. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” Victor dropped Blake’s heart on the ground and sneered at Blue Spekter. “Now, it’s your turn to die, idiot hero.”

  “I’m much stronger than you are, Victor…you’ll never defeat me tonight.”

  Victor levitated several feet and hovered. “It doesn’t matter if my powers can’t defeat yours, you little brat, because I know what your true weakness is. It’s only a matter of time before I take you out!”

  “Not on my watch!” Blue Spekter shouted. He brought his hands up in front of him and summoned all the orgone energy he could. The air around him began to shake and the ground rumbled with anticipation.

  Multiple beams of white-hot energy blasted over Blue Spekter’s head and caught Victor in the chest. Blue Spekter stopped drawing orgone from his surroundings and ducked.

  Holy crap!

  Victor wailed in anguish and dropped to the ground as twenty or more marines opened fire on the red devil. Electricity arced and flowed over Victor’s body.

  Blue Spekter backed off and looked behind him for a familiar face. Agent Hartman waved at him, so he dashed to the man. “What do I do?” Blue Spekter asked. “I’ve already killed two people tonight and…”

  Agent Hartman grabbed Blue Spekter by the shoulders and shook him. “Son, this is war, not a crime scene. That crazy man killed Blake and he’ll do the same to you. It is either kill, or be killed. I’m afraid you have no other choice but to put him down. Think of all the lives that are in danger so long as that man lives.”

  Blue Spekter sighed. “Fine. When I get close, your men need to stop firing.”

  “I’ll take care of that.”

  Blue Spekter jumped into the air and flew toward Victor.

  “All units cease fire,” Blue Spekter heard Agent Hartman shout.

  Victor lay on the ground, his face bitter with pain. When he saw Blue Spekter approachi
ng, he grimaced and stared at him.

  All of a sudden, Blue Spekter found himself falling through emptiness.

  What the hell?

  His body unexpectedly slammed into something hard and cold and he rolled through invisible snow.

  Aw crap, he’s using that perception trick on me.

  When he came to a stop, reality returned and Blue Spekter found himself alone on the ground. Victor’s proximity faded from his mind, which meant Victor knew how to mask his presence or was truly gone from the area.

  Oh no you don’t.

  Blue Spekter leapt to where he had last seen Victor and reached for him with outstretched arms, but he caught nothing except a face-full of snow and dirt when he plowed into the ground.

  He coughed and spat dirt from his mouth, then sat up. The marines ran toward him, their weapons trained on him.

  “Where did he go?” Blue Spekter yelled.

  “Put your hands on your head right now!” one of the marines shouted.

  What on earth?

  “Hey, where did he go?” Blue Spekter yelled back.

  “Victor, you will put your hands on your head immediately!” the marine shouted.

  Blue Spekter spun around but didn’t see Victor. His super hearing caught the click of a trigger being pulled. He turned to face the marines and extended his hand toward the beam of energy that lanced toward him. The beam connected with his hand and Blue Spekter simply absorbed it.

  They think I’m Victor…he’s screwing with their perceptions as well…but it’s only the marines closest to me position.

  “All units, stand down!” Agent Hartman’s voice screamed through the marine’s shoulder mounted radios.

  The marine stopped firing and blinked, appearing confused at what they had done. The others with him seemed flummoxed as well.

  “What the fuck?” The marine who had fired at him said. “Sorry for shooting you, man. I thought you were…him.”

  “Yeah, I know. That’s a new trick. Apparently, he can mess with our perception.”

  “Where did he go?” the marine asked.

  “He’s gone. I think he used that little perception trick to cover his escape,” Blue Spekter replied.