“By your command,” the orange henchmen said as his eyes and body ignited with blazing color. The amber henchmen was ready to attack as well. The brown guy, whose skin was healing, stood and flipped Helion the middle finger. The shy purple guy simmered with hate and anger.
Helion shifted to a fighting stance, ready to attack or defend. Behind him, a number of panels discreetly clicked as they unclipped from the chamber wall. Catamount stepped forward with him, her shield still in place around Quinn’s family.
“Stop playing with them! Take the woman out, then kill the family. Leave Blake to me.” Nightmare instructed.
“By your command,” the super villains replied. Is that what a functioning microchip does? Turn them into robot slaves?
Faster than Helion could react, two of the four henchmen moved with super speed and shoved Catamount. Brown and amber sparks sizzled into the air as she grunted, her body slamming into the wall behind her with a loud cracking sound. A few panels fell off the wall and crashed to the floor.
Blake watched the orange henchman step forward and grab her with telekinesis. He lifted her and started pulling her apart, ready to kill her. His actions forced her to abandon the protective shield so she could counter his attack.
The purple goon raised and aimed electrified hands at the now exposed family members. The three men huddled in fear and Keegan turned his face away, burying it in Daddio’s chest.
“Bye bye,” the purple thug taunted.
No!
As he discharged his lethal power, Helion dashed in front of Tim, Aren, and Keegan and took the blast for them.
Yielding to the pain, he dropped to one knee as the brown villain joined in the electrical attack against him. Electricity arced and crackled across his body, but that didn’t stop him from yelling and throwing his hands toward the four super villains.
I can do this!
To everyone’s surprise, Helion ripped as many panels as he could from the walls and sent them hurling across the chamber. They whistled through the air and plowed into Nightmare and his four henchmen and knocked them to the floor.
Free from the orange thug’s grasp, Catamount dropped to the ground and regained her composure.
“I thought you were supposed to be the baddest bitch of all of us,” Helion said with a smirk as his body recovered from the electrical assault. Then, he pushed himself to his feet.
“While I have more experience with my powers, I’m not trained in combat against other superhumans,” Catamount replied.
“Which is why you’re going to die,” Nightmare snarled as he climbed to his feet.
Helion winced as his mind became aware of two new superhumans. He looked at the door to the antiquated control room and saw the yellow and the charred green thugs enter the chamber. Dammit, I thought I had take care of the green guy. I guess Quinn didn’t kill the yellow guy.
“I told you, we’re leaving,” Helion said. Then, he lowered his stance and summoned all the power he could muster.
A moment later, the floor and walls of the chamber rumbled like an earthquake, threatening its eminent collapse. Dirt and a few panels fell to the floor. Everyone stared incredulously at Helion.
“Helion, stop what you’re doing. You’re going to destroy this place with us in it,” Catamount cautioned.
“It’s not me,” Helion replied, stepping back.
“Quinn!” Aren shouted, and all heads turned to where Blue Spekter’s body had been cast aside by Nightmare. The young superhero stood tall, hands balled into fists.
“No! That’s impossible!” Nightmare shouted.
“We have to go, now,” Catamount pleaded, stepping toward Quinn’s family.
“You’re alive!” Tim said excitedly, his face full of renewed joy.
5-25 | Endurance of Hope
Ana Maria
CATAMOUNT’S MOUTH FELL OPEN IN disbelief when she saw Blue Spekter push himself up from the floor. It was nothing short of a miracle, and the chamber fell silent as everyone’s eyes focused on the completely healed teenaged superhero.
Blue Spekter stood tall, his legs akimbo and his hands at his side with his fingers extended. He took a deep breath, slowly raised his head, glared at Nightmare, then curled his hands into fists.
How is it he’s alive?
His eyes flashed on with an intense blue fury and his body dramatically illuminated itself from head to toe, but the glowing blue energy surrounding his body appeared to dance and sizzle with electricity. Blue and white arcs of potential energy sparked and cascaded all over him, and Catamount’s super vision allowed her to see bolts of power flaring across his face and teeth.
A moment later, his body transmuted into raw power, his physical features giving way to rippling, pulsing energy that defied explanation. Blue Spekter’s energy shadow leapt into the air and the glowing shadow of his right hand reached upward. Traveling in a smooth arc, he landed in the middle of the metal platform, dropped to his right knee, and then super-punched the center of the disc with a supercharged fist.
A deafening bang ricocheted off the chamber walls as the metal disc cracked into several pieces. The ground shook from the force of his strike and the chamber rumbled again, as if experiencing an earthquake. A few more panels fell from their mountings. Everyone took a step back, unsure of what Blue Spekter would do next.
What on earth is he doing?
Blue Spekter’s body hyper-sparked for a few seconds and then several surges of electricity snapped across the floor from his hands and feet, skittered across the chamber, and detonated under Nightmare and his six henchmen, leaving small, blackened craters in the floor where they once stood. The men yelled with surprise as the explosions launched the villains into the air, knocking them against the walls and ceiling of the chamber until gravity pulled them to the floor.
Then, another blast of energy surged outward from Blue Spekter and the disc, bolted across the floor, and travelled up the eight conduits. The purple henchmen was caught in the blast and he instantly vaporized.
Catamount jumped in surprise as the energy passed harmlessly beneath her, but she realized she had been enveloped in a shield. She glanced at Helion and Blue Spekter’s family, only to discover they were also protected by a powerful defensive shield.
Who’s doing that?
As the eight blasts of energy reached the top of the chamber, Blue Spekter’s energy shadow raised his energized right arm, looked at the ceiling, extended his fingers, and then unleashed a powerful beam from his right hand. The beam connected with the eight bolts of energy at the apex of the domed ceiling. Then, the ceiling erupted into the sky, taking the bunker, its antennas, and everything above ground with it. Dirt, rocks, concrete, and twisted chunks of structural steel landed in the Cloudbuster array field that surrounded the reactor core. The storm clouds above the facility were still swirling and churning with lightning, high winds, sleet, and thunder.
Tim, Aren, and Keegan shouted at one another with awe and fear, but Catamount and Helion were too focused on what Blue Spekter was doing. Dirt and debris rained down into the chamber around them, but the defensive shields Blue Spekter manifested protected everyone except the villains. They successfully dodged the falling debris, except for the yellow villain whose terrified screams abruptly stopped when a large beam of structural steel crushed him. Exposed electrical wiring sparked and ruptured, mangled pipes hissed and vented steam and gas.
I guess that’s another way we can be killed…
Catamount watched Blue Spekter take a deep breath. The air around him visibly shook with potency.
He’s overpowered…like he’s taken in too much orgone. I’ve never seen anything like this and I didn’t know this was even possible.
❖
Quinn
Blue Spekter drew in a deep breath and sensed everything around him. As he exhaled, the air visibly shuddered around him.
Everything feels different. I’m more…connected…to the people and things around me and the raw power cours
ing through my body.
He raised his hands and looked at them. They crackled with raw power as energy snapped along and between his fingers. The orgone energy—his super powers—felt different than before.
Now I understand why Ana Maria kept telling me I was overthinking my powers instead of intuiting them. They feel like…part of me now, like my sense of smell, my eyesight, my very existence. Whatever happened to me when the array discharged seemed to have increase my capacity to contain and wield more orgone energy.
“How is that even possible?” Nightmare snarled. “You’re pathetic, like your relentless friends,” Victor snarled, adopting a fighting stance.
Blue Spekter’s body shifted back to normal, but the energy continued to sizzle and spark across his body. “My friends may be relentless, but I’ve got a different problem. You made this personal when you took my best friend and used him against me.”
“Take him out!” Nightmare screamed.
“By your command,” the four remaining goons said simultaneously. The green, orange, brown, and amber goons powered on their eyes and bodies and took a step toward Blue Spekter.
I don’t think about moving my muscles, they just move when I want them to. Now, I feel that much more in touch with my powers. I don’t have to think about it anymore, I just will it to be.
Blue Spekter smirked and levitated several feet. He curled the fingers of his hands into fists, and brilliant flashes of lightning bolts from the dissipating storm above struck his hands. Catamount, along with everyone in the chamber, shielded their eyes from the bright flashes of lightning. Thunder cracked and rumbled overhead as Blue Spekter manipulated the elements.
Blue Spekter flicked the fingers of his hands and arcs of lightning exploded from his fingertips and blasted Nightmare’s goons, instantly vaporizing the orange, brown, and amber goons. The remaining green goon fell to the ground, seriously burnt and smoking. His super suit appeared to have disintegrated in several spots. Astonished and unhurt, Nightmare took a step back when Blue Spekter landed on the cracked disk.
Blue Spekter’s body flashed with power again and the chamber rumbled again. He took a step toward Nightmare, who stepped back again, his face conveying abject terror.
“You kidnapped my family and my boyfriend. Along with Blake, they are the four people I love most in this world. But you won’t stop if I let you go today, will you? You won’t stop until you take me out and make the world kneel and cower at your feet. You’ve forced my hand, Victor, and now I know what I must do.”
“You’re not man enough to stop…”
A blast of lightning leapt from Blue Spekter’s hands and connected with Nightmare’s face, silencing him. The villain reeled around in pain until ice formed at the super villain’s feet as Blue Spekter froze him in place. He took a step forward and spoke. “I’ve been so careful with my powers, always taking care not to hurt anyone or break anything, like I live in a fragile world made of thin cardboard and glass.”
Nightmare broke free of the forming ice sheath and pummeled Blue Spekter with multiple blasts of fire, but Blue Spekter absorbed the power into himself.
Blue Spekter took another step forward. “I was too afraid to lose control because I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I was terrified someone would die because of something I did and I wanted to bury my powers in the sand.”
Nightmare grimaced and reached out with both hands. Blue Spekter felt Nightmare’s telekinetic forces at work against his body, but he simply absorbed the attack.
Blue Spekter took another step forward as Nightmare, suddenly appearing afraid, shrank back against the wall. “But you can take it, can’t you, big man? Thanks to you and your science experiments, you’ve given me the rare chance to let go and show you just how powerful I really am.”
5-26 | Götterdämmerung
Ana Maria
SHE SMILED.
Finally. Quinn has embraced his power.
The large chunk of debris that fell on the yellow henchmen shifted and he pushed himself up, then glared at Blue Spekter.
Oh dear, this is going to be amazing and disastrous. We need to get the family away from here before they get hurt.
Then, she turned to Quinn’s family and Keegan. “Look, you don’t want to be here when they destroy this place,” Catamount insisted. “We need to leave, now.”
The dads nodded, but no one moved. Instead, their eyes were transfixed on their superhero son.
Keegan nervously looked at the door, his boyfriend, the dads, and Catamount. “I’m ready to go.”
❖
Quinn
Blue Spekter brought his hands up in front of him and summoned the immense amount of orgone energy flowing through him. The air around him visibly shook and the chamber rumbled. Fallen debris around him began to levitate.
“Protect me!” Nightmare ordered as he gathered a defensive shield around himself. The green and yellow goons obediently jumped in front of Nightmare and blocked him from Blue Spekter’s line of sight.
Blue Spekter lunged forward and screamed with ferocity as powerful beams of energy leapt from his hands and eyes and slammed into the three men, knocking them into one another like dominoes and pushing them back through the door, the antiquated control room, and the hall that ended at the antique elevator shaft. The yellow goon took the brunt of the lethal attack and his torso and head incinerated. A set of hands and legs from the knees down fell to the floor in front of the green goon and Nightmare, who had crashed into and mangled the antique elevator car.
“Get off me,” Nightmare yelled, shoving the green goon aside. Above them, a series of explosions echoed through the underground rooms and the distinct, skunky smell of propane reached Blue Spekter’s nose.
In the reactor core, one of the batteries beneath them exploded and the floor shook. A chunk of dirt erupted into the air and then settled, leaving a small crater in the floor.
The facility is on overload…it’s gonna blow.
He turned to Helion and Catamount and pointed toward the tunnel door. “Get them out of here before this place explodes.”
❖
Blake
The defensive shields Blue Spekter had erected to protect them disappeared. A second battery exploded beneath them and the floor shook again. A chunk of dirt erupted into the air and then settled, leaving a second crater. Helion looked through the hole and saw fire raging below. Then, the smell of propane gas reached his nose.
Shit!
“Kick his ass, babe!” Keegan shouted to Blue Spekter as Helion ran over and ripped the tunnel door from its hinges. Then he vigorously gestured for them to exit. “Come on guys, this way!”
Somewhere in the facility, numerous explosions vibrated through the ground and shook the reactor core chamber, popping a few hexagonal panels from their brackets.
“Oh shit,” Keegan yelled, covering his head with his hands. Helion waved his hand in the nick of time and deflected the falling panels away from Quinn’s dads and boyfriend.
“Thanks, Blake,” Daddio said, hunched low and ready to leave.
“Come on, let’s go before this place kills us!” Helion said.
Catamount stood near the door and waved the family through. She grabbed Helion’s arm. “Go with them and get them to safety. Then, come back.”
“Where the hell are you going?” Helion asked, surprised.
“I’m going to make sure everyone gets out of the facility alive. We left a number of unconscious guards back there who might not be able to escape and this place is filling with propane gas. Its destruction is assured.”
“What about Nightmare,” Helion asked, the desire for revenge bubbling inside him.
“Quinn will take care of him. You can help him only when the family is safe.”
“All right, fine. See you soon.”
Heat and fire blasted into the chamber as Victor and his green henchmen attacked Blue Spekter.
Catamount shifted to invisibility, masked her presence, and dashed past Ni
ghtmare and the green henchman. Then, she dashed through the old control room and flew up the antiquated elevator shaft, shifting back to visibility.
❖
Quinn
The fire barrage Nightmare and his green goon blasted him with didn’t hurt. Instead, the now-destroyed doors of the chamber created a strong updraft of flames that licked near the hissing propane pipes. Blue Spekter smirked as an inspiration struck.
The green goon reached Blue Spekter first and lunged at him, but Blue Spekter electrified his hand, grabbed the unsuspecting goon, and threw him straight up through opened dome. As the electrified man passed by, the propane ignited and the pipes became whistling flame throwers.
Nightmare, who was right behind his green goon, lunged forward and tried to tackle Blue Spekter, but the hero swung around and landed a solid upper cut that propelled Nightmare up through the dome and the flame-throwing propane pipes.
❖
Blake
More explosions rocked the facility behind them and the solid concrete walls of the tunnel cracked. Dirt rained down on them, obscuring their vision as they escaped to the surface. Heat from the raging fire in the reactor core vented through the tunnel, turning it into a dry sauna.
“This tunnel better not collapse like an old mine,” Tim shouted.
Just ahead of them, a massive chunk from the top of the tunnel cracked and broke free, landing in front of Keegan, who was ahead of them. The frightened teen screamed and backpedaled into Tim, who stumbled into Aren, who stumbled into Helion.
“I’ll keep the tunnel from killing you, but you have to keep moving,” Helion shouted. They coughed and sputtered as dust and dirt filled the air and their lungs.
“Keep moving!” Helion shouted.
“I can’t,” Keegan shouted back.
“Why not?” Helion strained to see but couldn’t see light at the end of the tunnel.
The Guardians Omnibus Page 121
