Dark Hunter

by Andy Briggs

  Jake got the gist of the conversation. “You’re going to have to push yourself to fly. I can teleport us out of here but not right away. My power has to recharge.”

  “Watch out!” Psych yelled as Chromosome soared into view on her massive bat wings. She had not fully transformed to her monstrous visage, so she now resembled a twisted angel. Her Legion had evolved wings and swarmed around her like flies. They dive-bombed in, tails jabbing into Jake’s back as he shielded Psych from the blows.

  “Go!” yelled Jake, and he pushed Psych off the edge of the roof.

  Jake swooped out over the busy ferry terminal. When he looked back he saw that Psych was plummeting to earth. Chromosome had spiraled around to intercept the old hero. Then he remembered that she could dampen powers, like she’d done to his flying ability on Liberty Island. It wouldn’t have taken much to strip Psych of his aging talent.

  Jake rocketed forward.

  The busy concourse below the building was full of people, many sitting in the sun enjoying a drink. Somebody saw the commotion above and screamed—it looked like something out of a nightmare as a winged creature swooped down on a falling man.

  Chromosome stretched out and grabbed Psych’s foot—five floors before he splattered on the ground—as Jake tackled him from the side. He was traveling so fast that they both cannoned through an adjacent set of plate-glass office windows, plowing through office desks, filing cabinets, and thinly partitioned walls before coming to a halt in a rain of paper. Office workers screamed and ran for cover, adding to the confusion.

  Chromosome appeared at the window, her wings beating quickly to keep her hovering. The whimpers from Psych meant he was still alive. Jake sprang to his feet and swept a hand toward Chromosome. His telekinetic power lifted a copy machine and hurled it at her. She dodged aside as it spun past her—but wasn’t quick enough to avoid a metal filing cabinet that struck her head, momentarily stunning her.

  Jake shouted at Psych. “On your feet!”

  He hauled the man around the edge of the office as the Legion flew in pursuit, like homing darts. Jake and Psych crouch-ran through an aisle of cubicles as the Legion buzzed around, searching every nook.

  A woman suddenly screamed as the Legion found her cowering under a desk. She sprinted away, the bugs ignoring her.

  Jake pulled the older man under the cover of a desk, where they remained motionless as the Legion flew overhead before landing farther down the aisle. The mass of shifting creatures suddenly fused together with a sucking noise, forming one long featureless snake that silently slithered around the legs of desks. Its blunt head shot up as though listening.

  Jake held his breath. He had wanted to find Psych without resorting to combat. Luckily the Legion headed away from him and the leathery sound of wings indicated Chromosome was still hovering at the window behind them. Jake looked down the cubicle rows ahead of him. They ended at a panoramic window.

  The silence was shattered when Jake’s phone suddenly rang. He knew without looking that it was Lorna.

  His hand thumped the phone silent, but the damage was done. The Legion twisted around and whizzed toward Jake’s hiding place.

  “Run!” he yelled as he pulled Psych from under the table. They raced toward the window, Jake throwing a fireball to blow the glass out.

  “I can’t fly anymore!” wailed Psych. He felt Jake’s arm around his waist, and the next second they leaped back outside.

  Jake took Psych’s weight, but couldn’t gain altitude because the man was too heavy. It was as though they were descending on an invisible zip line as they soared over the busy ferry terminal. Psych’s legs kicked uselessly, narrowly clearing the smoking funnel of a berthed cruise liner. They sailed over the water and in between a hotel and an apartment block before landing and rolling on the dry grass of a park.

  Jake got to his feet—unaware that Chromosome had soared after them. She fiercely booted him in the back, sending him sprawling, as she landed.

  “I’m not playing games, Hunter! You help me or he dies now!”

  The Legion, no longer a snake but still just as deadly, swarmed all over Psych. Articulated tails pinned his arms and legs to the ground, while others quivered over his face, ready to strike.

  “By my side you can have everything, Hunter. You have untapped potential and I know how to use that. This is your last chance.”

  Jake looked between Chromosome and Psych. The Legion tightened their hold on him with a sickening crunch. Jake sighed, and then lowered his guard, defeated.

  “Okay. You win. Let him go.”

  Chromosome squinted suspiciously at him. She had been expecting more of a fight. “Really? Just like that?”

  Jake matched her gaze. Then he smiled. Chromosome was taken aback. It wasn’t the innocent smile of a friend or coconspirator. It was the calculating look of a predator.

  Jake raised his hand toward Psych. It felt as though his fingers were being pulled from their sockets, although physically they didn’t change. He felt a new power charge through his system.

  Before leaving, Jake had prepared himself. No longer would he walk blindly into battle. He had spent time selecting what he hoped were the right powers for just this situation.

  The chrome bodies of the Legion began to stretch toward Jake as if he’d activated a giant vacuum cleaner. Their legs scrambled for purchase on Psych but they were losing grip. Jake had chosen a magnetic power to combat the living metal Legion. The creatures shook violently before relinquishing their grip on the man, and sprang toward Jake’s hand. As they approached, Jake reversed the immense magnetic energy he was producing—the sudden polarity change ripped the Legion apart in a shower of atomized metal and green gloop.

  Chromosome screamed and lunged for Jake. “No!”

  Jake was ready for that. His other hand issued an intense radioactive beam with such force that Chromosome was pitched head over heels.

  Jake pulled Psych up by the wrist. The man rubbed his throat, trying to get his breath back.

  “Mate! Thank God there’re still heroes like you around!”

  Jake’s smile faltered, he didn’t have the heart to correct him. “Yeah. Right, come on. We’ll get away from here soon.”

  They ran away from Chromosome, who was screaming in pain as she clawed at the radioactive burns across her chest.

  Jake hopped over a small fence as they ran from the park and took stock of his surroundings. Ahead were the massive white curves of the Sydney Opera House. Crowds of tourists stood around the magnificent structure, but their attention was firmly on the park where they had just seen a winged monster land.

  The Australian soldiers took cautious steps forward, guns raised. Jake noticed that the barrel of the tank had swiveled around toward the park.

  A British tourist grabbed Jake’s arm as he ran toward them. He was excited, trembling hands holding a video camera.

  “Did you see that? What landed in there?”

  “You don’t want to know,” said Jake.

  He then watched in amazement as the man ran toward the park. An inhuman howl echoed from the trees—and Chromosome emerged, mutated and angry. She had transformed into the massive ogre that had nearly defeated Jake in America. One wing was still burned and hung limply, dragging across the ground. Chromosome was unable to adapt the injured limb into something useful.

  The mass of tourists screamed as the villain lumbered from the trees like a prehistoric giant.

  The soldiers opened fire. Bullets thudded into Chromosome but did nothing more than irritate her. She charged forward and slapped one man off his feet, then backhanded another.

  The tank fired, rocking on its tracks. The missile blew up the flagstones under Chromosome’s feet and smoke obscured the view. Jake heard the footsteps before he saw Chromosome running out of the smoke.

  The terrified tank commander poked his head from the turret just as Chromosome reached the vehicle. She picked it up without effort and hurled it out into the bay. It smashed onto the deck
of a ferry; the entire boat listed dangerously before righting itself.

  Psych pushed Jake forward. “Go on, mate. Kill ’er!”

  Jake stared at him. “Are you crazy?”

  “I can’t do it! Too old. Go on!”

  Jake shook his head. He could feel his teleportation powers were almost ready. He just had to hold out for a minute longer. He grabbed Psych around the shoulders and took flight.

  More tourists screamed and ran when they saw the flying boy. Chromosome charged toward the Opera House, people scattering in her wake.

  Jake struggled to make it to the top of the tallest of the three curved concrete shells before his flying power refused to be pushed any further. He landed on the spine and clung to the side of the building, more than two hundred feet up.

  “Why’s this happened to me?” moaned Psych.

  Jake strengthened his grip on the man. “Because you stole my family’s memories of me! I want them back!”

  “I didn’t do anythin’ to you …” He trailed off, his eyes growing as big as saucers. “Aw, no way! You’re Jake Hunter, aren’t you? Mate, I couldn’t ’elp it. Don’t kill me. It was Chameleon. Said he had a job for me! I only check in now an’ again to get some extra wonga. I don’t ask questions! Please … I don’t wanna die!”

  “Shut up! Can’t you see I’m trying to save your life? I just want you to help me. Then you go free.”

  Psych nodded. “I like that, mate. Sounds like a perfect plan. I can get ’em back for ya—”

  Chromosome’s howl made them both look down. She was climbing the curved shell, taloned fingers and feet shattering the tiles as she heaved herself upward. Her ugly mouth hissed at them.

  “Nowhere to run, Hunter! I just took your flight!”

  He didn’t even have to try the superpower to know that she was right.

  Psych pulled something from his wrist and shoved it into Jake’s hand.

  “What is it?”

  “A keepsake, mate. Y’know, just in case.”

  “Nothing’s going to happen to you. Grab hold of me.”

  Psych strengthened his grip around Jake’s waist. Pressing their backs against the dome, they shuffled higher. But the man’s additional weight wasn’t allowing Jake to move and his feet began to slip across the surface. They both slid slowly toward the advancing monster. Jake was holding Psych, so he couldn’t use his hands to shoot at Chromosome. He squinted, hoping he still possessed the laser eyesight … but that had gone. Despite all his superpowers, he was yet again completely defenseless.

  With the danger slightly out of reach, the crowds gathered below, watching the bizarre spectacle of the giant Chromosome gouging a path toward Jake and Psych.

  “Get us outta here!” shouted Psych.

  “I can’t yet! Can you do something?”

  “I’m all out!”

  Jake tightened his grip on Psych and freed his left hand. A radioactive surge coiled out and fell wide, leaving an ugly black scar down the side of the shell.

  “Mate! Are ya blind?”

  “Shut up!”

  Jake fired again. The tiles under Chromosome exploded, forcing her to jump aside. She landed awkwardly and slipped down the steep slope—but her claws ripped deep into the concrete and halted her fall.

  Jake could feel Psych slipping and had to refresh his grip. He could feel his teleportation power rippling through his body like pleasant pins and needles.

  “We’re out of here!”

  But before he could do anything else, Chromosome sprang up the shell, smashing into the concrete next to Jake. The tiles around him shattered from the impact, and he found he was no longer firmly attached to the building, but to hundreds of shattered tile fragments.

  He fell.

  Chromosome lashed out and plucked Psych by his shirt from Jake’s grip just as Jake reattached himself to the dome.

  Psych’s shirt suddenly ripped in Chromosome’s taloned fingers and he fell past Jake, bouncing off the shell.

  “Psych!”

  Jake threw himself forward and began sliding head-first down the slope, but he knew that without flight there was no way of reaching the man in time. Jake watched in horror as Psych slammed awkwardly onto the angled sloping roof. Even from this height he could see the way his neck was contorted as his body fell down the white tiles. Psych tumbled sideways before dropping among the crowd, which rapidly parted with further screams.

  Jake laid his palms flat against the shell to arrest his own descent. He could feel the pain from friction burns as he came to a halt, hanging upside down. He blinked in shock. It wasn’t the fact he’d just seen a man plummet to his death—it was the fact that it was the same man who had wiped the memories of his family.

  And the one man who could restore them.

  His only hope had just died. His quest had failed.

  He heard cackling laughter from above. Chromosome had seen it all. Rage and anger made every muscle in Jake’s body tense, but common sense trickled through his thoughts of revenge. Chromosome was somebody he couldn’t defeat.

  For the first time in his life, Jake chose to turn away from a fight.

  He teleported from Sydney, leaving his hopes and dreams smashed.

  Jake stared at the flames in the fireplace and resisted the urge to throw the frozen Chameleon onto the fire as he replayed the last few hours in his mind.

  Jake had been thinking about his family at the moment he teleported—and had appeared in the middle of the living room where his family sat watching a movie.

  Weak and upset, Jake had dropped onto a chair, his head in his hands, fighting tears of despair as they laughed at the film. Without Psych everything was lost.

  He toyed with the object Psych had given him. At first glance it looked like a watch, and Jake wondered why the hero’s last act was to pass it on. He wiped his bloodshot eyes and took a closer look. The watch face was a small glass bubble that held a turquoise liquid. Jake held it up to the light. The liquid moved by itself, silver particles glittering within. Then he noticed an engraving on the glass.

  The words: Hero Foundation Sample Receptacle.

  Jake’s heart skipped a beat as he realized what he was actually looking at. He flipped it over. Underneath was a series of small needles that would prick the skin when the “watch” was worn.

  Psych had given Jake a chance. Psych had donated his power—the ability not just to remove and restore memories, but to completely rewire brains, the manifestation of which was the turquoise liquid.

  Jake was shaking, both from nerves and lack of power, as he fastened the device to his wrist. There was one button on the side of the bubble. Jake pushed it.

  With a faint click the needles punctured his arm, but he didn’t feel anything. Then the liquid suddenly injected into his system with a hiss.

  Jake had expected the usual feeling of strength that he got when downloading superpowers, but instead he felt ill. He took a deep breath, but the sensation just got worse.

  “Come on!” Jake shouted to himself. He was so close to victory that he couldn’t afford to be weak now. He stood on trembling legs between his parents and touched their heads. It was an unpleasant feeling, as if his fingers were actually sliding through their skulls directly into their brains.

  “Remember me! Come on! I’m here!”

  He was expecting a wave of energy, a flash of colors … something to happen. Instead both his parents suddenly looked unfocused, and sagged in their chairs.

  “I’m here! It’s Jake. Your son, Jake! Remember?”

  Then they both started to convulse as if they were being electrocuted. Jake snatched his hands away, afraid that he’d hurt them. They shook for several more seconds before falling limp once more.

  “Mom? Dad?”

  He moved to Beth, who was watching her parents with a puzzled expression as her brain tried to work out exactly what was happening to them. Jake pressed his hand firmly on her head. She jerked as the last of Psych’s power flowed through him. />
  “Beth? Can you see me?”

  She drooled slightly. For a moment Jake thought he’d killed her, but then she shifted position. He turned back to his parents. They were looking straight at him.

  They could see him! Jake felt tears of joy spring to his eyes.

  His mother frowned. “Jake?”

  “It’s me, Mom.”

  She rubbed her head and winced. “Yes, I know. What’s the matter? You look ill. Perhaps you should go to bed early tonight.”

  Jake was speechless. He’d done it. Something had finally gone his way. This was his first real victory!

  Jake had spent the rest of the evening sitting with them as they watched the film. Such a trivial thing felt like the best time of his life. Nobody seemed aware of the time that had passed, which suited Jake fine. He wouldn’t have to come up with any lies.

  Things got a little dicey when his dad noticed that Jake’s room was empty. Luckily he assumed it was the same thieves who had stolen Beth’s laptop, and immediately called the police.

  While he was on the phone, Jake’s cell vibrated. He moved into the kitchen to answer it.

  “Hunter? Where are you?”

  Jake recognized Mr. Grimm’s voice. “I’m at home. Listen, I have some great news—”

  A portal suddenly opened right next to him. Mr. Grimm’s hand pulled him inside.

  Jake was back at the castle. The portal vanished behind him.

  “What are you doing?”

  Grimm hung up the phone. “Saving you! The moment your father called the police, a squad of Enforcers sprang into action. If you have reverted Psych’s influence on them, then they will be able to see the task force that is about to storm your house.”

  Jake was alarmed. “I have to go back! Save them!”

  “No. The Enforcers will not harm them. But you can’t go back there. The Enforcers will always be waiting.”

  Jake was crushed. After everything he had been through to be with his family, his prize was spending just a few hours with them watching some awful movie!