by Chad Kunego
Zarina felt a slight blush of heat spreading across her face. Recovering quickly, she shook her head.
“Nyet. Just checking aura, making sure is strong, like before.”
Good recovery. Would hate for him to find out about me snooping earlier.
He gave her a hard stare for a second, then appeared to get lost in thought again. His sudden voice caused her to jump slightly.
“Hey, I want to try something. I want you to examine my aura again, tell me what you see.”
“Okay…?”
I wonder what he is up to?
Nodding, she started examining his aura again. After a few seconds, it winked out.
“Bozhe moi!”
What she was witnessing was impossible. Shrinking or toning an aura down to become less noticeable was an extremely rare, extremely difficult ability to perform. Master Levi had demonstrated it once, but even after decades of practice, he could only shrink it by a about a foot. Plus, he could only maintain it for about a half a minute before it sprung back to normal size, leaving him gasping for breath.
What Rick was doing right now went well beyond anything her master had ever demonstrated. Getting up from the chair, she hesitantly moved closer to him, trying to see, or even sense him.
All she could detect was a void similar to how his mind had felt earlier. After thinking about it, she realized that wasn’t quite right. It was more like anything getting closer to him just vanished. Reaching a hand out cautiously, she slowly extended it toward him. Just when she was about to touch him, her aura brushed against something that felt like the piece of dry ice she’d accidentally touched when she was younger. The icy burn quickly spread from her fingertips, causing first her hand, then her arm, to go completely numb in seconds. Reflexively, she snatched her hand away.
“Ow!”
Glancing down, she was horrified. Her aura was missing from the area numbed by contact with whatever he was doing. Her whole arm appeared to be black. When she tried to flex her fingers, they barely moved. A moment later, she felt heat spreading up her arm again. The warmth slowly traveled up her arm, restoring both sensation and her aura before fading away. Looking back at him, she could barely focus on him, like her eyes wanted to slide past him. After a few seconds, she started noticing something else going on. Returning to normal vision, the area around his body shimmered slightly, making the outline of his body seen less defined.
“What are you doing? Is looking like seeing you through air above summer road.”
He gave her a brief nod before his look of concentration became more pronounced. The shimmering effect intensified dramatically, making it appear like he was hiding behind a waterfall. It became a struggled to focus on where he was lying. After a few seconds, she started having a hard time even remembering what she’d been looking at. For some reason, her mind was becoming repelled by something that was in front of her, but she couldn’t even remember what it was. Her eyes refusing to focus on the area before her.
With a gasp, his presence suddenly slammed into her. She’d completely forgotten about him being in the room until he’d stopped using his power. Sweat slowly trickled down his face while he gasped for air like he’d just run a marathon.
“What was that! What were you doing?”
She noticed a slightly guarded look cross his face before responding.
“I know how he managed to get past my defenses. More importantly, I know how to defend against it.”
Zarina noticed an almost predatory glint in his eyes when he spoke again.
“I can hurt him now, just like he hurt me.”
Chapter 19
Rick watched as Zarina hurry away to check outside. The slight look of fear on her face after his experiment concerned him. The fact that she scurried outside with the pretense of seeing if Kaitlyn was back told him he’d done something with his powers that frightened her, especially since she knew he’d be able to sense Kaitlyn’s return well before she got within visual range.
I’m beginning to strongly suspect Inanna isn’t just a figment of my imagination. How else could I figure out how to do what I just did?
He shuddered at the memory of how she’d basically forced herself on him when he was powerless to stop her.
Whatever she did when she forced herself on me unlocked more knowledge about how to use my powers, like this new void ability. She said I was like her, but I don’t even know what ‘she’ is.
He paused again, examining the new sensation he felt in his mind since waking up.
It also doesn’t tell me what else she might have stuck in my head. I can feel something trapped away, like I know I know something, but can’t remember what it is. Like it’s just out of reach.
He looked at his hands for a moment.
What else can I do? Inanna made it sound like I’ve barely scratched the surface of what I’m capable of.
He mentally poked at the resistance in his head, sensing it sliding away from his mental grasp every time he got close. After several minutes, he gave up trying.
Did she block it from me permanently, or am I just not skilled enough to access it yet? More importantly, do I tell anyone, or keep it secret. How would I even approach this? I mean really? “Hey, guess what? I have someone else living in my head that’s teaching me how to use my powers. Unfortunately, I’m too dumb to understand it yet.”
He felt a sarcastic smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
Or better yet, “Hey, Zarina. Can you go rooting around in my head? See if you can unblock this chunk of info a strange ghost woman crammed in my head? Might be important.”
Rick chuckled to himself.
Yeah, I can see it now. “Sure, we’ll help you with the woman in your head. We’ll set you up a bed right next to Dr. Sullivan. It’ll be fun!”
Rick sat up on the pallet and really noticed his surroundings for the first time. Floating upright, he investigated the room.
“Seriously, the best we could do is hide out in an abandoned building? What is this place, anyway? A repair shop?”
He drifted around some more, examining his surroundings. Yawning, he felt a tugging pain in his chest. Puzzled, he rubbed the spot. Something felt odd about the spot, like the skin was raised or something. Surprised, he realized it was the same area his opponent had spiked him like a vampire. Opening his shirt, he noticed a circular pucker of scar tissue, the center of which was an angry red welt.
“What the hell?” he mumbled, running his fingers over the surface.
Reaching over his shoulder, he felt a similar raised area on his back as well.
“Why the hell do I have a scar? That isn’t possible.”
He shifted his vision to examine the injury. The effect always reminded him of Kirlian photography. The energy pattern of the skin around the wound looked normal while the pattern of the ring-like scar looked distorted, almost smeared. Everything within the ringed area looked off. Extending his senses inward, he mentally felt around the area, sinking through the skin and tracing the wound path through his body until reaching his back. The energy along the entire path felt wrong, like it was distorted somehow. After some more mental probing, he decided to try straightening out the distortions. Hopefully it would eliminate the tugging pain he felt when he stretched or flexed the area. Bracing himself, he poured energy into the area, mentally trying to strong-arm it back normal.
Pain rippled through him, bringing tears to his eyes. A primal scream of pain forced its way past his lips.
Distantly, he felt his knees slam into the floor. A moment later, yelling from what seemed like miles away reached his ears. The fire racing through his body made it nearly impossible to concentrate on the words. The agony threatened to overwhelm his senses. Struggling through the pain, he tried focusing on what sounded like Kaitlyn screaming at him. A slight smile crossed his lips when he finally realized what she was yelling.
“What the fuck is going on!”
Yep, that’s what I expected…
; §§§§§§§§§§§§
Kaitlyn noticed Zarina pacing back and forth in front of the building when she got closer. It was a real pain in the ass trying to carry this much food by herself, but without knowing when Rick would wake up, or even what condition he’d be in, there hadn’t been a better tactical way to handle the situation. Seeing the younger woman outside pacing instead of keeping an eye on Rick caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up. The look on Zarina’s face told her basically what she needed to know.
“What happened? What’s wrong? Is Rick okay?”
Please let him be okay.
The woman took a deep breath before responding.
“Is fine. Scary, but fine.”
Kaitlyn paused, confused by what she heard.
“What do you mean scary? Did something happen while I was gone?”
“Da, he—”
A blood-curdling scream tore through the air, originating from inside. Both women looked at each other in shock. Kaitlyn responded first, dropping everything and lunging toward the door, yanked it open before rushing inside. Bright flashes of light blinded her, making her pause inside the doorway. Blinking rapidly, she struggled to see clearly again. Scanning the area, she spotted lightning crackling through the interior, but couldn’t immediately determine where they were coming from. Zarina attempted to force her way past, but Kaitlyn shoved her back.
Is he being attacked by the mutant again! How did he find us so quickly!
As her eyes adjusted, she spotted Rick slumped on the floor. Giant bolts of electricity rippled around his body before arcing jaggedly across the floor. Shielding her eyes with her hand, she spotted the energy erupting from his chest and back. It was hard to tell with the alternating flashes of light and darkness, but it appeared to be coming from the area where the icicle had pierced through.
“What is happening! We must do something!”
Without thinking, Kaitlyn ran over, her heart pounding from the sudden surge of adrenaline coursing through her body. Before she could get too close, she felt something intangible yank her backward.
“Stop! You will be electrocuted!”
Before she could yell at Zarina, she felt the hairs on her body stand up. An instant later, small tingles across her body made her muscles start twitching involuntarily. In a near panic, she looked around, searching for something that might help her. A long metal rod in a corner caught her attention, along with what looked like a long section of tow chain. Sprinting over, she snatched up both items before rushing back. Wrapping the chain around the bar, she quickly threw the other end into the metal floor grate. Looking back at Rick, she struggled to figure out what to do next.
“Kaitlyn! I need you to let bar go! I have it!”
Kaitlyn nodded in understanding, letting it go an instant before the bar was suddenly snatched away by invisible hands. Quickly sailing over to him, the metal came in contact with his chest, erupting in a shower of brilliant reddish-white sparks. A loud humming reverberated around the enclosed space, quickly causing the bar, chain, and grate to begin glowing with a dull red light. Waves of heat suddenly washed over them, causing the air to become filled with scents of burning oil to fill the air. Nearby scraps of paper started smoldering as well, throwing up little wisps of smoke. Using her ability, Kaitlyn drew in all the excess heat, attempting to keep the place from going up in flames.
As quickly as the screaming started, it stopped.Rick laid motionless on the ground, the only sound coming from him raggedly gasping for air. Approaching slowly, she kicked the partially metal bar away, drawing the remaining heat out of it. With the apparent threat gone, she breathed a sigh of relief. Kneeling down to check on him, she quickly scanned the area, trying to determine what happened. His pained chuckle caught her off-guard.
“In hindsight, that was a horrible idea,” he rasped, a grimace etched across his face.
“What the hell happened?”
He coughed a few times before responding again.
“That scar was hurtin’ a bit, so I thought I’d try gettin' rid of ‘em. Didn’t realize it’d hurt so much. I’ve never had that happen before.”
His body shook as another coughing fit racked his body. Catching his breath again, he looked up at both women.
“I’m guessing there was some residual energy left behind. It’s probably why I scarred in the first place.”
Kaitlyn helped him slowly get back to his feet.
“I think I’ll be okay in a few minutes. Just need to catch my breath is all.”
Both women looked at each other before Zarina shook her head, concern still clearly showing on her face. Suddenly, she spun around, rushing out the door. A moment later, she came back inside, carrying all the supplies Kaitlyn had dropped in their rush to rescue Rick.
Kaitlyn helped him back over to his pallet, noticing he was staggering slightly.
“Can we try not to do that again anytime soon? We’re trying to keep a low profile here. Screaming like you got your family jewels stuck in your zipper is kinda detrimental to that plan…”
Rick started laughing again, but another coughing fit caused him to collapse on the makeshift bed. He wiped away a tiny trickle of blood coming from the corner of his mouth while he tried to control his breathing.
“Well,” he said between gasps, “that’s worse than the time someone dared me to eat a ghost pepper. Went down the wrong way and I almost had to go to the emergency room. For the record, having electricity travel through your lungs is something I’d highly recommend scratching off your bucket list if you have it. It’s an entirely unpleasant experience.”
Kaitlyn chuckled slightly before responding.
“I can imagine. I was assuming you were going to be hungry when you woke up, but after eating lightning, I’m not so sure.”
At the mention of food, his eyes literally lit up, a prism of colors playing across them.
That’s new. At least we know he’s going to survive now. He’s even cracking jokes.
“Eatin’ lighting is a bit spicy, but no where near filling. Let’s see whatcha brought back with ya.”
Reaching out, the food gently lifted out of the bags Zarina was carrying, sailing gracefully over to land in Rick’s hands. Unwrapping it, he ravenously proceeded to stuff it in his mouth, completely ignoring them.
Grabbing a couple burgers out of the bag, Kaitlyn gestured for Zarina to follow her. Once outside, she closed the door and moved away from it. Waving toward the door, she looked over to Zarina.
“Any idea what’s going on with him? And why were you waiting outside when I got here?”
She watched Zarina take a dainty bite of her burger, chewing it slowly before replying.
“Not sure. Something has changed with him. Need to contact my master, see if he might have answers to what I saw.”
“Which was?”
Kaitlyn noticed she looked pensive, pausing again before spoke.
“He did things that should be impossible. Stuff I do not understand. I have concerns, but would rather get understanding from Master Levi before I speak out of turn. Might not be important and would not want to cause undue problems.”
“That sounds very suspicious. Is it something I should be concerned about?”
“I wish I knew. Something is happening to Rick. Something outside my experience. Not able to advise if good or bad. Can only suggest keeping eye on him.”
Kaitlyn sighed before starting back toward the door. Opening it, she walked back inside.
Wonderful… Rick might be unreliable and dangerous while my psionicist is holding back info that might be important. How the hell are we going to survive this, let alone take the threat out? With what we’ve seen, there isn’t anyone else who could even come close to going toe-to-toe with this mutant.
Rick’s voice caught her by surprise.
“I think I might have a plan to take care of our problem.”
Chapter 20
“Are you friggin’ mental? Did your brain get fried
when you were getting electrocuted?”
Rick sat quietly while Kaitlyn ranted at him. When she paused to take a breath, he interrupted her.
“No, I actually like pretending I’m a cliché,” he said, watching Zarina struggle to cover her smirk before continuing, “Seriously though, I think the only chance we have against this guy is for me to go it alone. The main reason I got hurt was because I was trying to get you two to safety.”
“Yeah, I realize that, but—”
“But nothing. I know I probably would have still gotten injured, but like I’ve already told you, I think I have a way to defend myself against his powers now, but I can’t do that and keep both of you safe at the same time.”
“What, are you implying we’re just helpless women in need of a real man to protect us?”
“No. What I’m saying is, between the three of us, I have the best chance of getting some real intel on this guy. He seems fixated on me for some reason. Maybe we can take advantage of that. He barely acknowledged either of you were present before.”
“An even better reason for one of us to try making contact again instead of you. If you go, the situation immediately goes in the shitter. With me or Zarina, we might actually get him engaged in a real conversation. Maybe even figure out why he has such a hard on for you.”
“Or you might become bait to draw me out, then I’ll be severely handicapped against him. Even worse, he might just kill you to get to me. He’s already shown he’s willing to kill innocent people to draw me out.”
He started pacing, struggling to keep his temper under control.
“I only got tagged last time because I couldn’t operate at my full potential, speed-wise. I don’t think he can track me when I go supersonic. But I can’t do that while worrying about either of you getting hurt.”
“It’s still an asinine idea.”
Zarina tentatively held up her hand. Tension eased out of Kaitlyn’s posture at the gesture while a small smile crept across her face.
