The Guardian Chronicles 2: Dark Horizon

by Matthew Burkey

  David threw a punch. It had poor form, poor speed, and poor accuracy. Gabriel side stepped the attack easily, arching an eyebrow at David as he reeved up for another hit. Gabriel easily dodged the blow. That set David off, sending him into a flurry of poorly aimed punches, all of which Gabriel managed to evade.

  “Done yet?” Gabriel asked, staring at his nail beds.

  David was irate now, muttering and cursing under his breath. He came at Gabriel again, swinging wildly away like he was some sort of crazed monkey. All and all, Gabriel found the display rather amusing. He avoided each strike easily; finally grabbing one of David’s failing limbs and shoving him hard into a locker. At the same time he kept a hold of the arm, twisting it up and toward David. He struggled against the grip that Gabriel now had on him.

  “Let’s get one thing straight, friend,” Gabriel said, making sure his voice was loud enough that everyone gathered could hear him. “You don’t have nearly as much power as you think you do and I’m not going to let you bully me or Cody or anyone else, you got that.”

  David yelped in pain as Gabriel applied more pressure to the joints locked behind his back.

  “I have had enough of you thinking that you are better than everyone here, stay clear of me and my friends from now on, you understand me?”

  David nodded. Gabriel spun him around and let go of his arm but not before giving him a good swift kick in the rear. David yelped again and took off down the hallway at near breakneck speed. When his goons turned to look at Gabriel all he had to do was smile and beckon them forward with one hand. They took after their fearless leader down the hall.

  “Aw,” Tony said, wiping away a fake tear. “Our little boy is all grown up.”

  Gabriel didn’t notice the applause that he got after that. He simply picked up his book bag and continued toward history, Tony and Ryan falling into step beside him.

  “And how long have you wanted to do that?” Ryan asked.

  “Oh, a while.”

  “Hey Gabriel.”

  Gabriel turned around at the mention of his name, searching the faces of those in the crowded hallway. He finally realized that it was Teddy that had called out his name, his former friend. The same Teddy that had pretty much ignored him since he came out.

  “That was pretty cool man,” Teddy said, as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

  “He had it coming for a while I just couldn’t stand watching him push people around anymore.”

  “Yeah,” Teddy said.

  They stood in awkward silence for a few moments.

  “So...um...maybe we could hang out again sometime.”

  “Sure,” Gabriel shrugged. “Need my number again?”

  “Nah,” Teddy shook his head. “I still have it in my phone. I need to get going, see you around man.”

  “Sure thing,” Gabriel nodded.

  “You could do better,” Tony said, watching Teddy walk away.

  “It’s not like that,” Gabriel frowned, shaking his head. “We used to be friends. After I came out he sort of started ignoring me. I haven’t really talked to him since last summer.”

  “They do know that you can’t get gay, right?” Ryan asked, as they continued their walk toward history. “I mean it’s not like a foot fungus or something.”

  “Personally, I’d rather you just punched David’s face in,” Tony shrugged. “It would have served him right.”

  “Yeah but I don’t think I want to explain to my mom why I got suspended,” Gabriel shrugged. “Plus his dad has a ton of lawyers I’m sure he would sue the hell out of me and my family.”

  “You could always use Aegis’s legal services,” Tony offered.

  “I could?”

  “No, you can’t,” Ryan said.

  “Besides, I think that he’ll keep his mouth shut.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “What self-respecting straight guy, especially in high school, is going to admit that he got beat up by a gay guy?”

  “Dude, has a point,” Tony nodded, sliding into his desk.

  The final bell rang and soon Gabriel found himself on his way to his car, ready to spend another afternoon at Aegis. He climbed in, started it up and took off toward Aegis.

  Along the way his thoughts started to wander. He marveled at how much his attitude has changed over the past few months. And he knew that a lot of it had everything to do with Ryan, Tony, Cody, and Everett. All of them had taken to training him a few days a week.

  But aside from the constant training with them; Gabriel found himself really liking most of his teammates. Ryan and Elise always managed to exude a calming influence, no matter the situation. Tony and Cody were great at pushing him to his limits and knowing how to get him to go past those limits. And Everett was ever patient with him, encouraging him to always think outside the box and learn new things.

  And then there was Ethan. He had remained pretty distant from Gabriel, although not as condescending as he once was. He watched him practice more than once, although he never made any sort of comment about how he was doing. He just stood off to the side and looked on, almost as if he was studying him. At school he was nice enough but still managed to keep his distance.

  Which made the fact that Gabriel still found him so attractive all the more annoying. He couldn’t figure it out either; yes he was insanely good looking, yes he was smart, and yes he was a badass in pretty much every sense of the word. But he was also arrogant, condescending, and downright rude on more than one occasion. There were times when he found himself asking Ryan, Tony, Everett, and Cody how in earth they could be friends with someone like him.

  And they all just said that you had to get to get to know him. And therein was his problem. He really wanted to get to know him, not just as a friend either. Oh, Gabriel was well aware of how unobtainable Ethan was, mostly due to the fact that he had zero romantic interest in guys. Another thought occurred to him…was he one of those guys that liked bad boys?

  Great, he thought. You’re only attracted to unobtainable jerks, what a winner you’re turning out to be! Get a grip already!

  He shook the thoughts away as he parked his car and grabbed his smart phone, courtesy of Aegis of course, his gym bag, and his project notes from the back seat. One of the other huge advantages of working at Aegis was the scope and breadth of their research facilities and resources. He took checked in with the front desk and headed right up to the lab level where he was working closely with Aadesh on a few projects.

  “Good afternoon Gabriel,” Aadesh nodded as he entered the lab.

  “Hey, I finished the second draft of my research paper on the bio-enhancement implants that I was working on.”

  “So quickly?” Aadesh asked.

  “I sort of got into a groove last night,” Gabriel shrugged. He handed Aadesh the folder along with a flash drive that contained his paper and a few power-point presentations.

  “You seem to have a real gift for this science,” Aadesh smiled. “I see promising things for you in the future my young friend. Have you thought about a career in medicine?”

  “I doubt that I would have the patience to deal with someone people,” Gabriel shrugged. “But actually, I have thought a great deal about bio-engineering. The more time I spend in the labs the more I really like it.”

  “I can tell,” Aadesh chuckled. “You’ve been putting in more hours than some of our staff.”

  Gabriel shrugged. “Once I get interested in something I tend to get really into it.”

  “So I am beginning to realize. How is the rest of your training going?”

  “I think I am doing ok,” Gabriel nodded. “I mean I think I still have a very long way to go but I think that I am getting better. Ryan and Tony are good teachers, so that helps.”

  “From what I hear you are being entirely too modest,” Aadesh smiled. “You didn’t tell us that you had a photographic memory and your ability to adapt tactically in the heat of battle is very impressive. You’re better than Guardians tha
t have been in training since they were only a few years old, dare I say including some on the team.”

  “That might be exaggerating a bit,” Gabriel winced. “I get lucky sometimes.”

  “As Imogene would say ‘Luck is nothing but skill wrapped in one’s own self doubts’.”

  “She’s much more than a weapons maker, isn’t she?” Gabriel asked.

  “I believe we are all much more than we seem.”

  Gabriel nodded. “I’ll come back tomorrow, I need to get downstairs.”

  “Go in peace my friend,” Aadesh smiled.

  Gabriel returned the smile and headed out of the lab and down to the actual base. Despite all the changes in his life, he was stuck on something that Imogene said about "a wound on his soul". He first assumed that it was from the attack but both Aadesh and Everett had been adamant that Imogene couldn’t mean the wound that his attacker had placed him; the Rite had cured him of that.

  The only other explanation was one that Gabriel did not feel like entertaining at the moment, mainly because everything was going so well. He made a commitment to the Guardians to look forward, not live in the past.

  “Ready for today?” Tony asked, as soon as Gabriel stepped off the elevator.

  “I’m still not sure that this is a good idea,” Gabriel sighed.

  “Oh come on, it’s only three of them.”

  “Three of the best students from Phoenix that have been training a hell of a lot longer than myself,” Gabriel grunted. “Why do I sense a lot of pain in my future?”

  “You’ll be fine.”

  “I really hate it when you say things like that,” Gabriel responded, as they neared the locker-room. “It’s like when Ryan says trust me.”

  “Go get changed,” Tony smiled.

  “So, how’s he doing?” Jonathan asked.

  Jonathan’s office overlooked the training room, where Gabriel was about to undergo another round of training with the top three Phoenix candidates from the academy. Gabriel had been trying to put off this particular training session for the better part of three weeks; he had complained that he wasn’t anywhere near ready to face anyone in combat. Ryan and Tony had disagreed.

  Tony touched the glass, which also acted as a computer display. Images from Gabriel’s first attempt at defending himself appeared, as did reaction times, strikes, and blocks. On the screen, Gabriel appeared to glow slightly blue.

  “We’re about to find out,” Ryan nodded, as the Phoenix candidates entered the training room. “But trust me, the numbers aren’t going to lie, he is better...way better than anyone else that either of us have ever trained.”

  “That remains to be seen,” Jonathan shrugged. “Owl and Lion are still concerned that we may have not made the right decision.”

  Gabriel sighed heavily and walked into the training room, wearing his normal sparring clothes: which included a sleeveless gray tee-shirt and black athletic shorts. Ryan, Tony, and Jonathan watched him go through a series of warm up stretches before the other trainees entered the room.

  There were two boys and a girl and they all looked as athletic as Gabriel, if not more so.

  “That’s Landis, Cole, and Athena,” Tony nodded. “All three of them rank in the top five percent of Phoenix when it comes to unarmed combat.”

  Numbers appeared next to all three of the Phoenix candidates, highlighting a whole host of statistics.

  “Gabriel’s initial reaction time was 220 milliseconds,” Ryan said, indicating the numbers on the screen. “A blocking score of five percent and an accuracy with hand to hand hits at only five percent.”

  All the numbers were in red, indicating their less than stellar ranking.

  “I’ve seen better scores on eight year olds,” Jonathan scoffed.

  “Eight year olds that have been training for a while,” Tony added. “Remember, when he started this whole process he didn’t have any training at all.”

  “Here’s his first go around,” Ryan said, tapping the glass again. A window appeared within the glass and started to play, showing Gabriel’s first time sparring. He spent most of the twenty minute video on his rear or getting tossed around. The next three videos were about the same, with only a marginal improvement.

  “He’s been getting steadily better,” Tony remarked. “But about six weeks ago, he really seemed to get it and has been making massive gains since, you aren’t going to believe what you are about to see.”

  “Here they go,” Ryan indicated.

  The attacks came with blinding speed, reminding Gabriel that he wasn’t fighting ordinary people. He blocked a kick that was aimed for his head, shoved aside another blow coming toward his ribs and then had to dodge a snap kick, that had it connected would have broken bones. They clearly weren’t going to hold back, so he soon realized that he couldn’t either.

  Numbers started to tally next to the outlines of the Guardians on the screen. What they were seeing was remarkable. The words EVADED and BLOCKED in all capital letters kept appearing next to Gabriel on the display.

  “He blocked or evaded every single attack,” Jonathan said, almost in awe. “How in the world is he doing that?”

  Gabriel caught a jab and tossed Athena aside. He ducked under another swing and caught the Landis with a blow to his solar plexus, knocking all the wind from him. Landis staggered and was knocked off his feet as Gabriel slipped past him, slamming his elbow down on the teen’s back and pitching him forward.

  “How is that possible, especially in three months with someone that has never had any training before?” Jonathan asked again. He cringed when a snap kick sent Landis spinning to the mat.

  “Oh, he gets better,” Tony smiled.

  Looking down at Gabriel, they could see that he had gotten into the flow of the fight. He was moving much faster on his feet, allowing him to not only evade incoming attacks but quickly and effectively strike back with his own. The three Phoenix candidates were throwing everything that they had at him

  Gabriel slammed an uppercut into Athena and then avoided a series of jabs from Cole before striking the inside of his knee, crumpling the teenager down to the ground. He danced around a series of counterstrikes from Landis, flipping backwards to further the distance between himself and his attackers.

  “Look at his footwork,” Jonathan pointed out. Data continued to scroll by Gabriel’s image on the screen, accumulating for further study.

  There was a reason that these three were the top three in their class. They came at Gabriel with renewed vigor, sending furious blows and strikes at him from nearly every angle. But they couldn’t get around his defenses; Gabriel turned them away or outright avoided them. No matter what tactic they seemed to try it never penetrated his defenses.

  “This doesn’t seem possible,” Jonathan said, shaking his head. The words BLOCKED or EVADED seemed to be constantly scrolling besides Gabriel’s image.

  Gabriel lashed out with a roundhouse kick, sending one Cole to the mat. Athena came in from his right; he danced around the blow and latched onto her arm. He launched her sideways and sending her slamming into a charging Cole.

  “I taught him that move,” Tony smiled.

  “Jesus!” Jonathan snapped, looking at Gabriel’s accuracy rating. It was red before and then had climbed to the average green color, followed by the above average blue. Clearly, all his training was starting to pay off.

  Landis sprinted in, launching a series of powerful attacks that were intended to overwhelm Gabriel’s defenses. But Gabriel blocked all of them, responding with a haymaker that connected with an audible crack and collapsed Landis to the mat.

  The match continued, the three Phoenix candidates throwing themselves at Gabriel in every move that they could think of. Though Gabriel took some hits, the majority of them were minor blows and nothing that would have hindered his ability to fight back. After a half hour, Ryan finally called it, allowing the other members of Phoenix to limp away. Gabriel went to get something to drink while Tony and Ryan turned back to
Jonathan.

  “Well?”

  “That certainly was impressive,” Jonathan nodded.

  Tony called up another file and put it up on the window.

  “New numbers put his reaction time at ninety milliseconds,” Tony smiled. “Blocking percentage is ninety eight and his accuracy is ninety five. Dude’s better than anyone else we have trained...hell his scores beat out mine on average.”

  Jonathan raised an eyebrow.

  “Don’t you dare tell anyone that by the way,” Tony remarked.

  “I wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing,” Jonathan said.

  “His first mile run was at ten minutes,” Ryan went on. “Now, he can bust one out in almost half that time. He’s benching almost 600 pounds, far stronger than he was before.”

  “We know that the Rite can allow the strongest Guardians to get up around 900 pounds,” Tony added. “Still, 600 is nothing to sneeze at and that’s three times what he was doing when we first started. This guy is good, in every aspect of the word.”

  “It would appear that Owl and Lion might have been wrong in their assessment that he would be a liability and not an asset.”

  Ryan shrugged. “He has some serious talent.”

  “How could he be that good?” Jonathan asked. “Nothing in his family history indicated that anyone ever had any combat training that they could have passed along to him.”

  “Because you should have listened to me,” Ryan smiled. “Because I think Gabriel has a photographic memory or at least pretty close to one. That combined with the abilities he gained from the Rite make him a damn fast learner.”

  “So I’ve seen,” Jonathan nodded. “Tactical thinking?”

  “Pretty good,” Tony shrugged. “He’s adaptable; he won’t get weighed down if things go wonky in a fight. He’s good at obeying orders. He’s not the greatest at forming complex attack plans though but I think with enough time he’ll get used to it.”

  “Any other areas that you think he is lagging behind in?”

  “Not really,” Ryan said. “His shooting could use some work but he’s leaps and bounds ahead of where he was a few months ago.”