Eli landed next to Taia. “Where’s Blake?” he asked.
A vortex opened up next to the pair and Blake arrived.
“How did you do that?” he asked Eli in rare moment of seriousness.
“Do what?” Eli replied.
“When I was taking out the female Core Officer, I saw you dodging that guy’s lightning,” Blake said. “Now I’ve seen you do a lot. A whole lot more than a lot of Transcendeds I know. But I know you aren’t as fast as lightning.”
“It’s from my training” Eli said. “And he was poorly trained. He had a tell.”
Blake and Taia both had confusion across his face.
“Well his hands glowed,” Eli continued. “So I knew where the lightning was going to originate from. And before he let a lightning bolt go, he drew his hand back like he was throwing a punch. I could basically predict where the lightning was going to be and move.”
Blake shook his head. “Wow. You really were a prodigy in the Core.”
It was obvious that this compliment made Eli uncomfortable. “Look let’s just get out of this city. Before more of the Core shows up.”
“Ahhhh!” a voice screamed. It was Randall, in his were-weasel form, several feet from them, running towards them at a pace faster than any human could run.
Eli cocked his head to the side. “What do you think he plans on doing?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Blake said squinting. “Does he have claws?”
“You have to give him credit,” Taia said. “He’s either really brave or really stupid. He’s attacking all of us at once and we just took out his entire team.”
“Good point,” Eli replied. “I wonder how he made the Core. His powers don’t seem all that great.”
“What powers?” Blake said. “He just seems a little fast and a lot of ugly. You want to take this one Eli?”
“Yea I got it,” Eli replied. Randall was now close enough to the group and leapt at them. Eli quickly brought his hand back and punched Randall in the face. Randall went flying back several hundred feet in the air as if hit by someone with super strength.
Taia was tired of asking questions. She couldn’t be any more surprised by Eli Proof. She just looked at him and raised her eyebrow before guessing. “Increased the gravity in the punch somehow to basically give yourself super strength?”
Eli smirked at her. “Something like that.”
“So where are we going to go?” Blake asked. “The Tele-port? The barriers probably aren’t shut down there.”
“No, they’ll be expecting that.” Eli said. “We just need to go to the doors and leave the city.”
“The doors?” Blake asked. “They’ll be sealed shut. And guarded.”
“No I don’t think so,” Eli replied. “They’ll think we want to use the Tele-port to get out. Like all Supes would think. Like you thought. They’ll send most of the Core soldiers there.”
“But they’ll be some guards there,” Taia said. “There were guards at the doors when we entered Carthage.”
“Yea but we can handle a few guards,” Eli replied. “And then maybe at the doors, the barriers will be lifted and Blake can teleport us out.”
The trio then began running down the street towards the entrance to the city. Every now and then Blake would open up a vortex to push them a few blocks forward. He didn’t want to push them too far though or directly at the entrance in case they would teleport right into a trap.
All throughout the city Core officers were walking through the streets looking for the trio, but they made a point to hide whenever they saw someone; they didn’t want to risk an altercation if it wasn’t necessary.
Soon they could see the entrance to the city. They hid behind a vehicle looking out for any Core officers. The city’s lockdown meant that the giant doors that one needed to get out of the city were closed shut.
Blake scrunched up his eyes. “They still have the barriers in place. I can’t open up a vortex to get us out of here. And we clearly can’t get through those doors.”
“Can’t you just break the barriers like before?” Eli asked.
Blake shook his head. “Those were weaker than these. And still took a lot out of me. Maybe if I was at full strength I could do it. But I can’t at my current level. We’ve been fighting too much.”
Taia couldn’t help but agree. She didn’t have any super powers but she was definitely exhausted. She looked at Proof and he looked even worse. He was probably just as tired as her and had taken out more Supes than any of them. So what he said next was nothing short of surpising.
“I’ll take care of it.”
Taia stared at him dumbfounded. “Eli, how are you going to do that?”
“What are you going to do?” Blake asked, looking at Eli expectantly.
“Not that,” Eli said pointedly. “I’m just going to blast the door off its hinges.”
“Will that work?” Blake responded. “Those doors are so big. And strong.”
Eli sighed. “It has to.”
“Well,” Blake said walking up to his surrogate brother, putting his hand on his shoulder. “The other way would definitely work.”
“I’m not doing that,” Eli said grinding his teeth.
“What’s the other way?” Taia asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Eli snapped. “This way will work. Watch my back.”
Eli then exited their hiding spot and began walking towards the hundreds of feet high double doors. It was Taia’s turn to respond. “Wait!” she whispered. Eli froze. “This is too easy,” she finished.
Eli turned and looked at her raising an eyebrow. “Believe me. There will be nothing easy about using enough gravity to blast this door off.”
“No that’s not what I meant. Where are the guards?” Taia asked.
“They’re looking for us” Blake said. “All through the city.”
“Even if they are” Taia said. “Why would they leave the only other exit point that we leave out of in the entire city unarmed?”
“We talked about this. They wouldn’t think we would go this way,” Eli said. “They think we would go after the teleportation center.”
“But we didn’t think it would be totally unarmed. We thought there would at least be some guards. This feels like a trap.”
“Oh come on,” Blake said loudly. “There is no way that this is a trap.”
Suddenly a loud crashing sound was heard. In the street, the Mayor of Carthage had just flown into the scene. He looked up, his hands glowing a vibrant orange color, looking terrifying despite his age. “No,” he said. “This is definitely a trap.”
Chapter 11
Taia sighed. This was just getting ridiculous at this point. Why couldn’t the Supes just leave them alone? Surely this old man didn’t think he could take them. If this was all they sent to stop them, this would be a piece of cake. One more Supe out of all that they had taken out. She could do this herself.
She pulled her pistol out and he began shooting at the Mayor. But the energy beams were merely absorbed into the Mayor’s body. “Taia, No!” Blake yelled.
The old man took a deep breath and looked over at the group. “Thank you for the charge girl.” He then sent a blast of energy at Taia and she was forced to dive out of the way, ducking behind a dumpster as the blast exploded feet away from her.
“What’s this guy’s power?!” Taia yelled at Blake.
“It’s complicated!” he responded.
Taia reached around from the dumpster and fired two more shots at the Mayor that he absorbed into his body, just like the first one.
“But don’t do that!” Blake yelled.
“He can manipulate energy!” Eli said, sliding towards Taia and hiding behind the dumpster, out of harm’s way. “He absorbs it and uses it as he sees fit. Your gun isn’t just useless; it powers him.”
Several more energy blasts landed close to them.
“Well then weigh him down. Then just blast the doors off so Blake can get us out of here.�
�� Taia said.
Eli shook his head. “He’ll just manipulate energy to make himself completely composed of it and immune to the effects of gravity just like Scott did. But unlike Scott, he can absorb the energy you send at him.”
An energy blast blew up the dumpster and Blake had to open up a vortex to intercept a second one from hitting Eli and Taia. They ran to hide behind the building next to Blake.
“It’s only one power,” Eli continued. “Being able to manipulate energy. But you can do so much with it that it makes you very dangerous.”
Another energy blast landed next to the group.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” the Mayor said loudly. “Tonight, you’re going to die.”
Eli looked back at his friends. “Not all of us,” he said. He then ran from behind the dumpster.
“Eli, no!” Taia exclaimed moving toward Eli, but Blake grabbed her.
“He’s got this,” he said.
Eli ran up and stood right in front of the mayor. For a second, it looked like fear came across the Mayor’s face.
“The Legendary Captain Eli Proof. The ‘Proof’ of the excellence of Transcendeds,” The Mayor said. “Right now all you’re proving is that Transcendeds can be just as idiotic and insolent as humans.”
“Or maybe,” Eli countered. “I’m proving that we can be just as good as them.”
Eli then launched himself flying at the Mayor. He tackled him and flew, crashing him into the wall. The Mayor took one of his glowing hands and punched Eli in the stomach.
Blood came out of Eli’s mouth as he was forced to let go of the Mayor and drop to one knee from the force of the punch. The Mayor kicked Eli and Eli flew several feet back.
Blake had to hold Taia tight as she tried to wrestle free from his grasp to try and help Eli.
“Eli, no!” she said. “You don’t have to do this for me! Just run!”
Eli chuckled. “That’s just not my style,” he said, struggling to stand up. “And I don’t think it’s just for you anymore. It’s for everyone.”
He then stretched out his arm at the Mayor and put as much gravity as he could on the man. The mayor then struggled to lift up his own arm and sent an energy blast at Eli.
Eli flew out of the way, barely dodging the blast, but his concentration had been broken, allowing the Mayor break free of his gravitational hold. And the second blast that the Mayor sent at Eli hit him square in the chest, sending him flying backward.
There was a singing burning hole in Eli’s tux where he had been hit by the blast and a large horrible third degree burn on his chest. Blood was trickling out of his mouth. But he still made his way to stand up.
He flew again toward the Mayor and hit him with a gravity charged hard right punch. The Mayor threw a punch at Eli which he dodged and responded with an uppercut to the face of the old man.
Eli then put as much gravity as he could on the Mayor and grabbed his head and drove his right knee to the Mayor’s nose.
“Enough!” the Mayor said, breaking free of Eli’s gravitational hold by turning himself into a being made completely of energy. He was too strong and Eli was at this point too weak and tired. He had been fighting for too long. And even if he was at full strength, with how much energy the Mayor had probably absorbed, he still may have been too much for Eli.
The Mayor kicked Eli in the chest and sent him flying back. Eli groaned as he laid on the ground gasping for air, too hurt to move. He was sure that the Mayor had fractured his sternum.
“Eli Proof,” The Mayor snarled. “I guess the legends weren’t exaggerations. But I was a legend too in my own right. I used to be a Senator, boy.”
The Mayor walked over to Eli to stand over to him. “And you are nothing but a monkey sympathizer.” His hands then began glowing.
“No!” Taia screamed angrily, still trying to get away. “Blake what is wrong with you?! This is your friend! Your brother!”
“He’s got this!” Blake said.
“Blake, I can’t,” Eli whispered laying down looking over at his friends.
“I can’t stop him!” Blake said. “Taia can’t stop him. So if you don’t just man up and do this, we are all going to die! Not just you.”
The Mayor laughed. “No,” he said. “You’re all going to die anyway.”
He then sent an energy blast directly at Eli’s head.
“Eli!!” Taia screamed.
But then she looked and Eli’s head was glowing. A light was surrounding his head; a bright, shining yellow and orange, and it was smoking, almost like it was on fire. His eyes were also glowing and smoking the same way.
“What the--” Taia said.
Eli then began to stand up breathing heavily, his head no longer glowing and smoking but his eyes still were. The Mayor’s eyes were wide. “Impossible. What is this?”
“This,” Eli said. “Is my gift.”
“No,” The Mayor said. “Your gift is that you can manipulate gravity.”
“Wrong. That’s only part of my gift.”
“No!” the Mayor said fearfully. “Transcendeds can only have one power.”
Eli stood up to his full height, towering over the Mayor. “Wrong again. We can only have one base power. And this is all involved in my base power.”
Eli then put his hands on both sides of the Mayor’s head. “My base power is to harness the power of the Sun.”
Eli’s hands began glowing the same way that his eyes were. The Mayor began screaming before suddenly his body was enveloped in light and he exploded.
Looking at his hands, a look of worry passed across Eli’s face. He then looked at his friends in fear. “Help me,” he said.
Blake and Taia ran over to him. “What’s going on?” Taia asked. “What’s happening to him?”
A large amount of heat was emanating from Eli’s body and he only seemed to be getting hotter.
“I’m overheating,” Eli said. “It’s why I don’t use this part of my powers. I can’t control it.”
“But you can,” Blake said hurriedly. “You just took out the mayor of Carthage!’
Shaking his head Eli looked at Blake desperately. “I just poured power into him. And he tried to absorb the energy. But even he had his limits. You have to do something Blake.”
“Okay, okay,” Taia said. “Just calm down Eli. You got this. Just bring it in.”
But Taia could tell this wasn’t helping. She didn’t know what it was like having powers. Or how you brought them about or brought them back in. She figured her telling Eli how to use his powers was like someone who had never walked before telling an Olympian how to run.
“Blake you have to do it,” Eli said frantically. “You have to do it. Take Taia’s gun and do it. I can’t hurt you guys. And I really don’t want to hurt any innocent civilians.”
“Shoot you?” Taia asked, looking between Blake and Eli. “I’m not going to shoot you!”
“I’m not asking you to!” Eli retorted.
“God!” Blake said. “Even when we’re all about to die you guys argue!”
“There’s a stun option right?” Eli asked. Taia nodded. “Then just stun me.”
Taia shook her head. “But even on stun—“
“Just do it!” Eli interrupted desperately, getting even hotter, his entire body nearly being encompassed by the energy. “Blake come on! You know I’ll come back.”
Blake grabbed the gun from Taia, switched it to stun and shot Eli.
Eli looked down at himself but then looked at the two of them.
“But how?” Taia asked.
“It’s not strong enough,” Eli said. “I’m only absorbing more of the sun’s power and getting hotter. Put it to kill and shoot it.”
“No way,” Taia said. “That’s too many plasma volts.”
Blake’s eyes were wide. “Yea Eli, that might kill you man.”
“It doesn’t matter!” Eli said. “Better than me killing you guys!”
Blake shook his head and put the gun down. “Sorry man, I
can’t do it.”
Eli glared at him. “Oh for God’s sake,” he then grabbed the pistol and quickly turned it on himself.
“Eli, NO!” Taia screamed.
But it was too late. Eli shot himself in the shoulder with the gun and went down. He stopped glowing and was no longer emanating heat.
Blake and Taia both ran over to Eli. Blake put his head to Eli’s chest and let out a sigh of relief. “He’s still breathing.”
Taia wiped a tear that fell down his face. “But how? How does Eli have more than one power?”
“I’ll explain later,” Blake said. “Right now, let’s get the heck out of here.”
One of the energy blasts that the Mayor had shot had made a hole in the doors leading into the city. Blake and Taia carried Eli out of the hole and through the walls and once they were clear Blake opened up a portal.
“Where does this go?” Taia asked.
“Somewhere safe,” Blake said, smile gone from his face, looking down worriedly at Eli. “We have to go before they come.”
Even with all that they had been through Taia still did not trust Blake entirely. But she trusted him enough. Taia held her breath and closed her eyes and with Blake went through the portal.
There was just no getting used to Blake’s vortexes. This was all Taia could think as she laid on the ground gasping for air with Eli’s body next to him.
Looking around the room Taia did not recognize where they were. The room had all kinds of machines and equipment in it, with a table in the middle.
Blake immediately ran over to Eli and began checking on him. “Come on Taia. Help me with him.”
Taia groaned as she helped Blake pick up and took him to the table in the middle of the room.
“We have to help him,” Taia said as they laid Eli on the table.
“He’s alive,” Blake said. “That’s all he needs. Just wait—“
“That’s all he needs?!” Taia said. “He’s unconscious and won’t wake up! He was on fire!”
Becoming Super Page 15
