The Guardians Omnibus

by Damien Benoit-Ledoux

  Victor charged at him and his fist connected with the side of Blue Spekter’s head. An explosion of red and blue sparks sprayed into the air around them as Blue Spekter’s body smashed into the ground.

  Victor bent down and grabbed him by the jaw. “Surprised to see me, boy wonder?”

  How did Victor get his powers so fast? It took me months to get to where I am.

  “Victor?” Blue Spekter asked, stunned.

  “Ding ding ding,” Victor said. Then, he pulled his fist back to punch Blue Spekter in the face, but the hero was faster. He kicked his legs up and smashed his feet into Victor’s buttocks, causing the man to stumble forward.

  In a flash, Blue Spekter was on his feet and ready to fight.

  “How the hell did you get powers?” Blue Spekter asked.

  “The same way you did. By watching the two of you muck around, we learned a lot about our basic abilities. We also trained hard with the sole focus of developing our powers. Think of what I’ve accomplished—what we could have accomplished if you had joined us. But now you have to die because you’ll only get in my way.”

  Victor raised his hands and blasted Quinn with hot fire. Blue Spekter merely deflected it around him with a defensive shield. Victor’s flames were super-hot, but not nearly at the level of heat Blake could muster.

  So, you’re either holding back or you’re not telling me something…maybe your powers aren’t matched to ours yet after all and you’re nothing but show-and-tell right now.

  “You should have stayed with Yoda on Dagobah,” Blue Spekter said. He raised his hands and created hundreds of ice daggers behind him, drawing from the ample snow on the ground. Then, he hurled them at Victor, who raised his hand and deflected them.

  You’ve got an invisible shield. Good to know. What else have you discovered?

  What Victor didn’t count on was Blue Spekter’s ability redirect the broken and deflected ice daggers and reform them into ice balls as they sailed around him, picked up speed, and smashed into Victor’s back.

  The startled man fell to his knees under the assault and then glared up at Blue Spekter. “You little punk,” he snarled. He jumped to his feet and reached out with his mind. Blue Spekter felt the familiar sense of telekinesis grasping at him, and he allowed Victor to think he had the upper hand. Victor raised him up and then smashed him into the ground.

  What am I, a hammer? At least Blake was creative.

  Victor picked him up again and then wound up like a Baseball pitcher and attempted to throw Blue Spekter out to sea. Instead, Blue Spekter drifted back in the air a few feet as he absorbed the power and let it wash over him.

  “That was cute, what else have you got?”

  Victor snarled and then leapt into the air at him.

  Oh, you can fly, not just super jump.

  Victor collided with him as blue and red sparks exploded into the air. Wrapping his arms around Blue Spekter’s waist, Victor dove into the raging river with him.

  Blue Spekter took a deep breath and waited, curious to see what Victor would do. A moment later, the water around him froze and Victor encased him in a massive ball of ice. Since ice is less dense than water, the gigantic ice ball pushed its way to the surface and bounced in the river.

  Impressive.

  Blue Spekter felt the ice ball lift up from the water and move through the air. The bright temporary lighting the marines had set up around on the ground near the naval prison grew closer until the ice ball crashed into the ground and shattered. The collision reverberated through Blue Spekter’s bones, but he pushed the pain aside and stood up.

  Then, everything around him disappeared and went silent.

  What the hell?”

  There was no prison, no marines, no vehicles, no rushing river, trees…all that was left was the snowy ground and shattered ice chunks around him.

  “Try this one on for size.” Red and blue sparks erupted as an invisible Victor clocked him in the jaw. Blue Spekter grunted and stumbled back. Another strike to the chest and a flurry of sparks, then one to the stomach, then another one to the face.

  “Confused yet?” Victor spat, then punched Blue Spekter hard in the gut.

  “I take it you’re not invisible,” Blue Spekter replied, raising his arms defensively—but he was unsure of where the next punch would come from.

  “Nope.” A rapid succession of blows struck Blue Spekter in the face, summing more bright sparks.

  “I call it perception shift.” Victor’s voice sounded like it came everywhere at once. “It’s one power you don’t have. I can twist your mind and make you see things that aren’t there…or completely deprive you of all sensory input.”

  Except pain…when you punch me, I feel that, which means I have a split second to grab you. That’s the only real thing, other than the ground, I can detect right now.

  He waited for the next strike.

  He’s not very creative…face, stomach, face, stomach, face…”

  Blue Spekter’s super vision noticed a fist flying toward his stomach again. With super speed, he reached out and grabbed the wrist behind the fist and squeezed hard.

  Victor cried out in surprise and reality returned around Blue Spekter.

  “Well, this has been fun, Victor, but playtime is over.”

  Victor smiled wickedly behind his cowl. “I couldn’t agree more.” Then, he coiled his free arm back and it sprang forward, catching Blue Spekter off guard with its strength and speed. It knocked Blue Spekter into the air.

  “Come on, boys, it’s playtime!” Victor shouted, and his two goons leapt into the air after Blue Spekter.

  Shit, he’s been playing me after all.

  The yellow goon reached Blue Spekter first and grabbed him by the arm. Before Blue Spekter could react, the man flung him toward the purple man, who swatted him with an invisible bat to Victor, who used his telekinetic ability to accelerate Blue Spekter’s fall toward the island. He crashed and the snow around him sprayed into the air.

  Ouch.

  Blue Spekter was pulled into the air with an invisible force toward Victor, who charged his fist with electricity and punched Blue Spekter toward the yellow goon. Blue Spekter spun through the air and when he tried to recover, he was punched in the back with an electrical fist and flung toward the purple goon.

  This isn’t fun.

  The purple goon grabbed him with an electrically charged hand and spun around, flinging Blue Spekter back toward Victor.

  They think the electricity is going to hurt me like it did Blake…which means they probably can’t absorb it yet. Was Victor not paying attention when Mother Superior had me strung up in the workroom with the electrified chains? Or did he miss that part?

  Victor grabbed him by the shoulders and then smashed his forehead into Blue Spekter. The hero grunted and shook his head, but Victor had already super-kicked him in the balls and sent him on his way to the yellow goon.

  Intense, mind-numbing pain exploded in Blue Spekter’s groin and crawled up his abdomen, wreaking havoc with his nervous system and compromising his ability to fight. He struggled to breathe, and his stomach churned with nausea. His vision filled with white stars as his eyes teared up. The more he was tossed around the ring of superhuman death, the more he felt weakened and the pounding headache behind his eyes became unbearable.

  What a cheap shot.

  Blue Spekter struggled to get his bearings, but the three super humans threw him around faster and faster.

  I’m stronger than they are…Victor had to cheat because even though he was holding back, he knows he can’t defeat me without them…which means I’m going to have to…stop them any way I can, even if it means killing them.

  This is it…this is what I knew I had to do if Victor created more super humans…I just never thought he’d do it to himself.

  As the throbbing pain in his groin and stomach dulled, he quieted his mind and used his sensing powers to figure out where he was and who he was going to next.

  These guy
s are going to kill me if I don’t stop them.

  “Pull in the middle and blast him!” Victor shouted.

  Take the purple guy out…and assume they can’t fly like I can.

  When the yellow goon tossed Blue Spekter to the purple goon, Blue Spekter righted himself and surprised the purple goon by tackling him in the stomach with his shoulder and wrapping his arms around the man’s torso.

  “You’re coming with me, jerkface,” Blue Spekter yelled as he accelerated to the speed of sound and surpassed it with deafening boom. He flew straight up, knowing it would take less than four minutes at the speed of sound to cut through all sixty-two miles of atmosphere between sea level and outer space. A second boom soon followed, just like whenever he heard the space shuttle surpass the speed of sound.

  He smirked. It pays to listen in Mr. St. Germain’s science classes.

  “No, please, I can’t fly this high,” the man begged, suddenly afraid.

  “That’s the point.” He took a deep breath and continued accelerating for another minute until it looked like the atmosphere was beneath him. Then, he swung around and flung the now suffocating man into space. Without looking back at the spinning and flailing man, Quinn looped around and flew back to Portsmouth, using the night lights of the New England coastline to guide him. He spotted Massachusetts and aimed north, then found Portsmouth. His super vision spotted red and yellow trails of light flying toward him.

  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 and 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 exposed veins of Blue Spekter’s face turn black with 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. However that draining power seemed to affect him, he recovered quickly.

  I must be able to absorb that 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, 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?”

  4-22 | Battle Royale

  Blake

  BLAKE TURNED AND FACED VICTOR, who snarled at him, then looked at the yellow guy. “They will be stronger together, so separate them; you 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 a 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 learn 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.”

  Victor 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.”