The Guardians Omnibus

by Damien Benoit-Ledoux

  “What?”

  “If you had let me, Darien would have never bothered you again, but you always chose to let him pick on you and held me back when I should have clobbered him.”

  “I don’t even understand you anymore. It’s like you’ve become a different person, like you believe whatever Victor tells you.”

  “Victor has opened my mind to the real world.”

  Quinn shook his head. “He’s opened something, all right. We came here to destroy this place; that’s exactly what I’m going to do and then I’m flying home—and you’re coming with me.”

  “Don’t tell me what to do!” Blake roared as rage consumed him, his raised hands directing a blast of super-heated flame toward Quinn. The flames stopped just short of Quinn, fanning themselves around an invisible shield Quinn was producing. Blake could feel him resisting his fire bombardment, so he took a step forward and turned up the intensity, yelling as he burned off his shirt.

  A moment later, the fire alarm sounded and the sprinkler system above them switched on, spraying water on the super-heated flames that instantly turned to scalding steam.

  Blake sensed Quinn shift.

  Suddenly, all of the water from the sprinklers was diverted from gravity’s natural pull and pummeled Blake’s face. He sputtered and coughed, ceasing his flame assault as he raised his hands to protect his face.

  Something hard struck his gut, knocking the wind out of him. He looked down through the water assault and saw bowling ball-sized pieces of ice shatter on the floor at his feet. Another one struck his gut and he exhaled in painful surprise, then collapsed to his knees.

  In a flash, Quinn was on him, eyes blazing blue, knocking him backward. Blake grunted with surprise when he landed flat on his back.

  Water splashed around them as Quinn pinned Blake to the floor by straddling his stomach; his feet and ankles securing Blake’s thighs and his hands securing Blake’s wrists above his head. Water rained down from the sprinklers while sparks flew and smoke billowed from most of the computer consoles.

  2-27 | One Chance

  Quinn

  “DO YOU HAVE ONE OF THOSE chips in you?” Quinn asked, shouting over the water and ringing fire alarm. “Did you let them put a micro bug in your head?” That’s got to be why you’re being so weird.

  “I don’t know!” Blake shouted, struggling to breathe.

  Quinn’s surprise ice attack had caught his friend off-guard and he knew he needed to be careful in case Blake had concealed some unknown power. “Is that why you’re acting like such a dick? Do I need to zap it out of your head?”

  “I don’t have one!” Blake shouted.

  “How do you know?” Quinn yelled, shaking Blake’s wrists.

  “Victor would have told me!” Blake answered, catching his breath.

  “Victor’s a lying asshole!” Quinn yelled back.

  “No, he’s not!” Blake screamed. Then, with superhuman strength, Blake threw Quinn off him with his arms and his telekinetic ability, slamming him in the stomach with an invisible fist.

  “Ugh!” Quinn grunted and flew backward, but he caught himself midair, raising an arm to deflect Blake’s assault. Blake rose to his feet without effort, and Quinn saw the air around his friend shimmer, his wet skin steaming as he summoned his fire power. Quinn was faster and flew toward him, tackling him to the ground again. This time he landed two punches to Blake’s face, splitting his lip and drawing blood.

  “We shouldn’t be fighting!” Quinn yelled, trying to subdue Blake with a wrestling move.

  “Get off me!” Blake shouted, super-heating his body.

  Quinn struggled to hang on as Blake became unbearably hot to the touch. He focused and pulled all the water from the floor onto Blake’s body. At first, the water turned to steam on contact, but the more water he doused Blake with, the faster it cooled him off. Quinn super-chilled the water and it started freezing around Blake, cocooning him in ice—until Blake responded with a swinging fist that clocked the side of Quinn's face.

  “Ow!” Quinn exclaimed, Blake’s strong punch throwing him off balance. The water and ice fell away from Blake, who pushed Quinn off him and scooted back as fast as he could.

  Quinn rolled back to his feet and chased after Blake. They sloshed in the water and ice, struggling for dominance over the other.

  “The Order can’t be allowed to make more of us, you have to know that,” Quinn pleaded, their fight turning into a silly slapping game as they wrestled like brothers in a heated argument.

  “That’s not your call to make,” Blake spat, slapping Quinn’s face as he tried to put him in a headlock.

  Quinn pulled his hand back, crouched, then shoved his shoulder into Blake’s ribs. Blake grunted and fell, then flung Quinn backward again with his mind.

  I really hate that power.

  Now it was Blake’s turn to rush at Quinn. He jumped to his feet and charged, punching Quinn twice with large invisible fists. Quinn grunted and winced as Blake’s right shoulder slammed into his midsection, his arms wrapping around him and pulling him to the ground.

  “If you’d shut up and stop being such a goody two-shoes you might understand what’s really going on!” Blake snarled.

  Quinn fell backward onto something sharp that poked at the small of his back. “Ow!” he cried out, his face contorting with pain. He tried to move away from whatever poked at him as Blake raised his arms, but he couldn’t move with Blake on top of him and the thing stabbing his back. Quinn looked up at Blake and horror filled his eyes. Blake’s teeth were bared, and his face was twisted with fury. Watching Blake raise his fists to strike, Quinn tried to protect himself with a defensive shield, but his powers wouldn’t respond. He winced as Blake’s fists reached the apex of their arc and then smashed down onto Quinn’s chest with incredible speed and power.

  Quinn gasped, hearing the sound of cracking bones in his body. He coughed as pain surged across his chest. His body spasmed with shock, tightening and falling slack as he became overwhelmed with the physical agony of broken bones, crushed organs, and whatever else Blake had done.

  “You will not take this away from me!” Blake shouted, wiping his bloody mouth with the back of his right hand.

  Oh crap, is he going to kill me?

  Quinn could only stare back at Blake’s angry face, the excruciating pain paralyzing him.

  Blake’s face relaxed and he shook his head. He pushed himself up, his sneakers squeaking and sloshing in the water on the floor. When Blake got off him, the stabbing pain at his back lessened. They glared at each other; one boy surrendered, one boy victorious. “You need to leave.”

  “What are you going to do?” Quinn wheezed, his voice weak. Something popped in his chest and he cried out in pain. Blake ignored him and looked around the room. Another pop in Quinn’s chest sent a volley of pain through his body.

  Then, another.

  Am I healing? Are my bones mending themselves?

  A moment later, the fire alarm silenced, and the sprinkler system shut down. The overhead spray of water reduced to a trickle as the remaining water drained, then dripped from the sprinkler heads.

  Blake squatted next to him, his eyes blazing orange. “I’m going to do what I need to do. I belong here now, Quinn, and you need to accept that. I’m going to finish school and work with The Order and you’re not going to stop me.”

  Blake pressed his right hand on Quinn’s sternum, causing agonizing pain. Quinn cried out, but his breath hitched in his throat. Blake removed his hand and smirked. Quinn understood Blake had made his point.

  “I’m never going back to my alcoholic parents. If I do, I’ll probably kill them. So, to avoid that, Victor promised me The Order will take care of everything I need, and in return…well, that’s between me and Victor. I’m going to give you this one chance because you’re my friend. Walk out of here and never come back. If you do, I’ll make sure Dr. Madison puts that micro bug in your head.”

  Two more pops reverberated in Quinn’s ch
est. “Why are you letting me go?”

  “To prove to you that I’m not without mercy, and not the bad guy. But if you’re still here and they find you, I won’t stop them from experimenting on you.” Blake stood and turned, hesitating for a moment. Then he looked down at his friend. “Goodbye, Quinn.” He turned and walked out of the control room.

  Quinn watched his best friend leave, gritting his teeth as more bones painfully popped in his chest. Several moments later, the popping stopped, and Quinn looked down at his chest. With his right hand, he pressed on it lightly, but felt no pain. He took a deep breath and sat up. Amazingly, his body had healed itself. Outside in the hall, Quinn could hear guards preparing to storm the control room.

  He pushed himself up from the floor. His clothing was soaked, and his sneakers squeaked as he hobbled across the wet floor. The only way out of the facility he knew of took him back down the elevator shaft, through the chamber, and out the old mining tunnel.

  When Quinn stepped into the hallway, he surprised four guards who quickly pointed their guns at him. “Stop!” their leader called out forcefully.

  Quinn stood at his full height and let his eyes glow blue. “Do you really want to play this game again?”

  “Nope, not at all,” one of the guards said, dropping his gun to the floor. He raised his hands in surrender.

  “I don’t get paid enough to fight superheroes,” another said, lowering his weapon.

  Quinn smirked.

  “Fuck this shit,” the third man said, also dropping his weapon to the floor. The leader cursed and lowered his weapon. “Fine.”

  Quinn pointed to the workroom door behind the men. “Just remember, the other guy’s sticking around. If you have families, you might want to take out a large life insurance policy.” Then, he turned to leave.

  “You mean Dark Flame?” the lead guard asked.

  “What? Who?” Quinn asked, turning back to the guards.

  “Your friend, the one who glows with orange and purple flame. That’s his code name around here.”

  Quinn nodded. “Yeah, him. Watch your back.”

  “Good luck, Blue Spekter,” the second man—the one unwilling to fight a superhero—said.

  Quinn smiled and made his way to the elevator doors at the end of the hall.

  ❖

  Blake

  Blake entered the destroyed workroom and made his way through the debris to the spot Dr. Madison tried to insert the micro bug into his ex-best friend’s ear. He looked around the mess with his enhanced vision until he spotted the fried micro bug on the floor. He picked it up and studied it. Two of its six legs were missing.

  He scowled at Dr. Madison, who was still sitting on the floor, and walked over to her. She swallowed nervously and looked at up at him.

  “Do I have one of these things in me?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  Reaching out like Darth Vader or Kylo Ren, he grabbed her with his mind and pulled her up from the floor. She clutched at her throat.

  “Do I have one of these things in me?” he repeated, his voice angry and threatening.

  She vehemently shook her head. “No, you don’t have one of those in your head. We didn’t have time to perfect that technology until today. I swear.”

  He lowered her back to the floor and let her go. Then, he walked over to Victor, who was seated in a chair, nursing a bruise to his head with a damp towel.

  Having seen what Blake just did, he shook his head. “You don’t have one of those in you, Blake.”

  “Would you have let Mother Superior put one in me?”

  Victor looked into Blake’s eyes and then looked down. He took a deep breath, scratched his head, and looked at Blake again. “Truthfully, if things hadn’t gone as planned, I might not have had a choice. I wish I had a better answer for you.”

  “Have you ever lied to me?” Blake asked, crushing the micro bug in his fingers.

  “Yes, of course; I’ve had to. In this line of work, the truth is an ambiguous, ever-moving target. It is the nature of The Order to keep its priorities obfuscated so they cannot be discovered by our enemies. That being said, the plans I shared with you have been true and remain in place. It’s only a matter of time before we achieve what we set out to do.”

  “All right.”

  “Where’s your shirt?”

  “Burned it off while fighting Quinn.”

  “Ah, where is he?” Victor asked.

  “I let him go, but I hurt him good.”

  “You what?” Victor exclaimed, trying to stand but succumbing to pain in his left leg.

  Blake saw a shard of silver and black metal sticking out of his thigh. Blake turned to Dr. Madison. “He’s got metal stuck in his leg that you need to look at.”

  Dr. Madison waved. “Okay, I just need a few minutes to clear my head. Is it bleeding?”

  Blake looked back at Victor’s wet, black pant leg. “There’s blood, but I don’t think it’s gushing.”

  “Okay. Leave the metal there, it’s probably keeping him alive. I’ll get to him as soon as I can.”

  “Why did you let him go?” Victor asked, wincing again.

  “Because he’s my friend, Victor. You told me only willing test subjects would undergo the implant process. You told me Mother Superior ordered you to chip Quinn. Did you lie?”

  Victor didn’t flinch; he only shook his head. “No, you’re right. Maybe the guards will…”

  “Come on, your men won’t take him down.”

  “So, we’re letting him go?”

  Blake nodded. “This time, yes.”

  Victor looked around. “You guys really wrecked this place.”

  Blake chuckled. “If you think this is bad, you should see the master control room.”

  Victor’s mouth fell open, the disappointment obvious on his face. “You’re kidding.”

  “I wish I was. Sorry.”

  “Dammit.” He shifted, then he leaned back and looked at Blake. “This isn’t going to go the way you think, back home, you know.”

  Blake frowned, unsure of what Victor meant.

  “It’s going to be awkward at school, it’s going to be awkward on the track team, and your parents aren’t going to understand what’s going on with you, not to mention your job—which by the way, you can quit if you want. We’ll start paying you from here on out and we’ll get you a new place to live immediately. I’ve already got a high-end condo in Kittery picked out for you that I think you’ll love.”

  “Seriously?” Blake asked, intrigued.

  “The world’s first true superhero? Absolutely. We’d be honored to have you on our payroll. If you think about it, you just defeated the world’s first super villain. Not having to work at the coffee shop allows you more time for training and true superhero work.”

  “Cool,” Blake answered, smiling and pushing away curious thoughts regarding Victor’s super villain comment about Quinn.

  “We have to be careful, though. Chief Applegate is extremely loyal to The Order—Mother Superior, specifically. When she finds out the Hegumenia is dead, we’ll frame Quinn, which will lead her to conduct an all-out pursuit. It’s only a matter of time before she gains access to records like your real-world identities and physical addresses.”

  “She doesn’t know who we are?”

  “Not yet. She simply knew that you were a person of interest to Mother Superior and then the world. Then she unexpectedly found herself caught between the competing directives of The Order and that of the DHS.”

  “Why don’t you just bring her up here until things cool off?” Blake asked.

  “It’s too hot right now in Portsmouth; that would be more reactionary than responsive to the situation.”

  Dr. Madison walked over to them and knelt beside Victor. She sucked air between her teeth, suggesting she didn’t like what she saw. “Considering you’re still conscious and talking, I assume the metal shard missed the femoral artery. You’re lucky. I’ll get the supplies I need and we’l
l get this taken care of.”

  “Thanks, Doc.”

  Blake turned and walked toward the door.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Somewhere quiet to think.”

  2-28 | Fallout

  Quinn

  QUINN SULKED AS HE CHANGED course, soaring through the early afternoon sun toward Portsmouth about two miles over the coastline of Maine. In his absentminded sorrow, he had flown east from Rangeley and found himself hovering over Bangor, Maine. Frustrated, he flew southeast until he found the coastline and followed it home. At ten thousand feet, he would be too small to be noticed by the average human eye.

  He wanted to go home, crawl into bed, and cry the day away at his abysmal failure and the apparent loss of his friendship with Blake, but his boss texted as he flew over Portland and begged him to help them out of a dire staff shortage if he felt better. Since his clothing had nearly dried during the flight and it wasn’t ripped or burnt, he decided to head straight for work. He kept an extra T-shirt stashed there so he’d be all set with a clean uniform shirt.

  Ahead of him, a Cessna Skyhawk airplane toured the coastline, so he flew higher and passed over it, remembering how he took Blake on his first flight less than ten hours ago. He took a deep breath and wiped tears from his eyes.

  I thought my whole world had changed several weeks ago, but today, it’s completely changed again—but for the worse. If we had never stumbled into that damn cave, none of this would be going on and we’d be enjoying our normal teenage lives. This is going to be a mess at school and when my dads figure out we’ve stopped hanging out…at least they already know we’re fighting…still…

  ❖

  Quinn sighed and served the next customer, a thirty-something Hispanic woman with straight brown hair and striking, brown-mahogany eyes that lingered on his person long enough for him to notice her stare.

  “Can I get your name for the order?” Quinn asked, pen in hand. He smiled at her.

  She appeared stunned by his question for a moment, but quickly composed herself. She answered him, her spoken English flavored with a Spanish accent. “My name is Ana María.” It rolled off her tongue with grace and elegance.