Omega

by Riley Tune

  Then in reply, Hunter called his force field to life. More whispers came from around the room. Even Cayden was paying attention now. Danielle looked and could see more people piling in from outside and joining halls. Clearly, Bravado had more soldiers left that she had originally thought. “One last go, to settle the score. A tiebreaker.” Flex said as he raised his fist.

  “Oh, you think you won the second time?” Hunter said. “Fine. let’s do it.” Hunter allowed the room to turn blue as energy danced in his eyes. In an instant, he released his Impact Blast and was surprised to see that Flex didn’t even flinch when it hit him in the chest.

  CHAPTER 21:

  DARKNESS BECOMES HER

  H unter knew it would happen eventually. He had always known. Icons like Flex, born with invulnerability always eventually did what Flex had just done. The thing with invulnerability was that it was a growing power. As the Icon got stronger and older, so did the invulnerability.

  When Flex first got his powers, a small caliber bullet wouldn’t hurt him too much. It would leave a damn good bruise, or even puncture the skin a little, but as he got older those same bullets bounced off of his skin in comic fashion. Not just small caliber bullets either.

  Heavy- duty stuff like bombs, armor piercing ammo, energy blasts, and much more left barely a scratch on Flex. The only comfort Hunter had was that his energy, his special kind of energy could still hurt the titan of a hero that Flex had become at such a young age. “Well those days are over I guess,” Hunter said as he and Flex both looked at Flex’s chest.

  “When in Atlas did that happen?” Danielle said from the side. “What are we talking about here?” Cord asked. “Normally Flex’s invulnerability doesn’t do so well against Hunter’s energy. It seems that his growing invulnerability has reached a point that Hunter’s Impact Blast no longer leaves damage,” Perkins said.

  “Well, well, well,” Flex said as he stood a little taller and stuck out his massive chest. “It’s not too late to back-,” another beam of blue energy roared towards Flex’s face. Instinct took over. He had been hurt several times before by Hunter’s energy and found himself guarding his face out of habit.

  The energy slammed into his raised arms, sparing his face and eyes from the blue burst. Hunter wasted no time now. If his energy attacks didn’t work, this would for sure be a one-sided fight. His pride was hurting as he moved towards Flex. Every fiber in his being was screaming for him to quit, to admit that Flex truly was the superior Icon, and deal with it.

  Hunter couldn’t. He knew he didn’t have the raw power of Flex but his powers were more versatile. As he ran towards Flex, Flex himself formed a fist and charged towards Hunter. Then, in an instant, they both slowed down. When they were only feet apart from each other their steps became slower as they lost momentum. Hunter fell to his knee, as Flex began to wobble on his own.

  “What’s going-” Hunter groaned as he clenched at his stomach, unable to finish his question. His bones began to hurt and his body started to ache. Flex coughed as his vision became blurry, and spasms spread throughout his back. “That’s enough, Cayden,” Cord said as he glared at his now standing brother.

  Danielle looked at Cayden. The casual, smart-mouthed, spoon eating youth she met in the hallways was gone now. Replaced by a young man, standing with his hand stretched out and a smirk on his face. “Cayden, he said that’s enough,” Perkins repeated from behind Danielle.

  Danielle glanced at Perkins. She had forgotten her friend was behind her for a second. She then looked to Hunter on the ground. He was looking at Cayden and had energy in his eyes now, but Danielle could see a difference. The energy wasn’t is normal raging beast clawing at the cages to be set free. No, it was more a flicker. As if the energy wouldn’t come to its call.

  Her eyes fell back to Cayden whose hand was still stretched. Only a few seconds had passed since Cord told him to stop, but that was far too long in Danielle’s mind. She summoned her powers quicker than even she knew was possible. As darkness consumed both of her arms, her eyes became pools of eternal blackness.

  She didn’t think, she simply reacted and as the room seemed to go dark, black energy exploded from her arms and poured over Cayden. His screams filled the rooms he was lifted off the ground and slammed into a wall several feet back. Cord watched his brother fly and barely reacted. He had no care in the world for what just happened.

  Danielle took a step forward to advance on Cayden. She wasn’t done yet. She wanted him to feel her anger. The recruits in the room had huddled together as if they were afraid to stand alone in this room of powerful people.

  As she inched closer to Cayden, she felt a small hand grasp her arm. As she turned her head, her eyes became normal again and she found the green eyes of Perkins looking back at her. “Easy,” Perkins said. “He’s down.”

  Danielle looked to where Cayden was slowly being helped up by the recruits. Hunter and Flex were finally getting to their feet too. “What?” Danielle’s voice trembled some as she tried to ask the question. She could see Cayden standing to his feet now, but was being assisted with walking by a recruit.

  Danielle watched them walk away as she fought back tears. She was afraid of how far she could have gone had Perkins not stopped her. She wanted him to feel fear. Feel pain for what he had done to her team. The people she loved. No, it wasn’t even for them. She just wanted to keep going. That feeling inside her as she slowly moved from the gray zone of bending the rules to the darkness that came with breaking them scared her.

  “I’m a hero,” Danielle said to herself strongly. Perkins tilted her head. “I’m a hero,” Danielle said again, but this time not with as much certainty as before. “You’re nerfing right you are,” Perkins said softly as she moved to stand in front of Danielle who quickly wiped at her eyes. “And don’t you ever forget it. Okay?” Perkins said.

  “What did he do to them?” Danielle asked as she took in a few breaths and avoided Perkins’ gaze. Perkins went to move her mouth but the two loud thuds beside her caused her to stop. As they both looked towards the sound, they could see Flex and Hunter slowly breathing on the floor, unconscious.

  CHAPTER 22:

  TEAM A AND TEAM B

  B eeping and a smooth humming noise was all Hunter could hear as he slowly opened his eyes. He could feel a stiffness to his body as he propped himself up in his bed. “What the…” he slowly said as he realized that he was dressed in white and on a medical gurney. “Welcome back, boo,” he heard a voice say from the side of the room.

  As he turned around, he could see the rest of the room around him a little better than before. His eyes finally focused to the point where his brain could connect the dots again. He was in the same medical bay from earlier. Danielle placed her hand on his forearm and kissed him on the cheek.

  Hunter closed his eyes for a moment and felt the energy from the kiss spark a fire in his body. It felt, good. “Hey,” Hunter finally said. He realized his voice was lower than he wanted it to be, and his throat was dry. “Why am I in the medical bay?” he asked. “And why am I facing a wall?” “Same thing I asked when I woke up.” Hunter heard the voice but couldn’t see where Flex was. Slowly, his gurney began to slowly pull away from the wall, and spin around.

  “You,” Hunter all but hissed as he saw Cayden sitting at a square white table in front of him. “Easy. Easy,” Perkins said as she stood up. They were all in the room together. Danielle walked back into view, for it was she who spun Hunter around. She stood beside him and gently rubbed his arm as he looked at Cayden, Perkins, and Cord sitting at the table. Just to the side of the table was Flex.

  He was also dressed in white, and on a gurney similar to the one Hunter was on, but he was sitting with his feet hanging from the side. Hunter ignored them all and just glared at Cayden. The boy tried to avoid his eyes, but Hunter didn’t care as the room turned blue.

  The energy rushed to his eyes so fast that he got a slight headache but Hunter ignored it. For him, it was worth it to blas
t this little bastard into oblivion. “Whoa,” Danielle said as she stood in front of Hunter and put her hands up. Behind her, chairs could be heard screeching as the residents of said chairs leaped up and out of the way. “What did he do to us?” Hunter hissed as he tried to lean around Danielle.

  “Babe, you need to relax,” Danielle said. “Relax?” Hunter yelled. The slow footsteps were heard before he saw Flex pop into view and stand beside Danielle as he rubbed his neck. “Just calm down,” he said.

  Flex looked over his shoulder towards the rest of the room. “I’m sure they will explain everything,” Perkins nodded as she moved to grab Flex’s hand and led him back to his gurney. “Cayden,” Cord said in a flat voice. The boy let out a sigh. “Sorry for attacking you a few days ago. I-” “A few days?” Hunter let out as he looked to Danielle. “How long have we been here?” he asked her.

  “Just over sixty hours,” she replied. Hunter cracked his neck and felt his hand form a fist as he moved his legs to stand. Danielle shot a hand out. “Let him finish,” she replied. Hunter didn’t speak. He felt he didn’t need to. His anger was filling the room like a thick fog and it was hard to miss.

  “Cayden,” Danielle said as she raised her brow to the boy who was now eating what appeared to be a small plastic pipe. “I wanted to show Cord that I could, under the right conditions, hang with you two power-wise,” Cayden said between chews.

  Hunter was becoming more and more pissed at this kid with every word he said. It wasn’t exactly what he said, it was how he said it. It was his tone. That casual, matter of fact, I don’t give a rat’s ass how you feel, tone. Yet again, Hunter was seeing bits of his old self in this brat, and he wondered how his friends tolerated him for so long before.

  “By the right conditions you mean, to ambush us with,” Flex paused as he spoke. “Whatever that power was that you used.” “Time,” Cord said finally as his brother took another bite out of the plastic pipe. Cord looked toward the entrance of the room and moved his finger, causing the young girl standing at the door to disappear in the hallway.

  “Time what?” Flex asked. “Time is what I used on you,” Cayden said as he burped. Hunter could feel his eyes narrow. “Say what?” he asked. “That was my reaction too,” Danielle added in. “Time manipulation is one of Cayden’s spells,” Perkins said as she sat on the gurney beside Flex now.

  Hunter didn’t speak. Instead, he looked from Perkins to Danielle, to Cayden. ‘Bullshit,” he finally said. To which Cayden leaned over and pulled a small fruit from his pocket. At first glance, it looked very much like a tiny apple, except it had a purple tint to it. He took a bite of it and then placed what remained on the white table in the room.

  With his hand stretched out, the fruit suddenly went from bright and lush to withered and decayed in seconds. It was as if some unseen force had pressed the fast-forward button in real life and only the fruit was affected.

  “Some smaller, less complex items, are affected faster,” Cayden said as he looked at the fruit then turned to Hunter. “That’s is pretty much what I did to you two. Not at full power, or anything. Just a little bit. I sped up the time in the space you both occupied. I may have started off too strong, though. That’s why it hit you so fast.”

  Flex whistled slowly. “You’re still not on my good side, but that’s a pretty good ability to have.” Hunter quickly turned to Flex with betrayal etched on his face and brows raised high as they could go. “Oh, come on. You know it is.” “It may be, but it consumes a ton of my energy. That’s why I eat all the time. Hence the random stuff I keep in my pockets as snacks.” As he said this, he pulled out a small metal cube and tossed it in his mouth.

  “Disease immunity, advanced consumption, and time manipulation,” Hunter said as he leaned back to rub the side of his head with his hands. “Anything else we’re missing?” “Stealth,” Cayden replied. Hunter rolled his eyes. “What do you mean- stealth?”

  “I can create an aura in a small radius that blocks those in it from being seen by anything,” Cayden casually replied. He didn’t even look to Hunter when he answered him. The only other thing he could have done to show how much he didn’t care was shrug his shoulders. A gesture that would have pushed Hunter over the edge.

  “Sounds like a long and fancy way to just describe invisibility,” Hunter replied. “Actually it’s-” Danielle began to say, but a glare from Hunter caused her to reconsider. “Never mind,” she said quickly.

  Those weren’t flashy powers. Well, they were, but not like his. Still, they were good powers to have and Hunter knew it. He just refused to admit it to Cayden. “Dodged the fight again, Ken Doll,” Hunter said to Flex. “You did see the energy from your blast did nothing to me right? Just how did you think that match would end?”

  “Actually,” Cayden interrupted. “The blast was caught in my area of effect for my time manipulation,” Cayden said slowly. “I was pretty much-making everything in that area advance in age. Your energy was no exception. So, from the moment it left your eyes, it was being aged so it was weaker. Your bodies just hadn’t reacted yet.” “Ha,” Hunter said with a genuine smile. “That explains it.” He felt relief wash over him. Flex wasn’t able to stand up to his blast after all. Not yet anyway.

  His thoughts and Flex’s retort were interrupted by the clanging of wheels being rolled towards them. A large chalkboard was being wheeled into the room by the same girl that left moments ago. “A chalkboard?” Danielle said as she leaned in and touched it. “Where in Atlas did you find one of these old things?” “We have several,” Cord said as he began to write on it.

  “Normally we do this sort of thing in a briefing room, but since we are all here anyway, this will have to work.” Cord jerked his head towards Flex and Hunter. “Your clothes are beside your beds. Feel free to get dressed when you’re ready.” Cord continued to write on the chalkboard, as Perkins and Danielle found their seats.

  Flex all but leaped from his gurney and began getting dressed. Hunter wanted to do the same, but he didn’t have that invulnerable body and endurance that Flex had. He couldn’t shake off time being increased on his body with such ease. “Need a hand, Hunter?” Cayden said through a smirk. “Fuck you,” Hunter replied as he slowly placed his feet on the ground and grabbed his pants.

  Cayden glanced to Perkins. “It’s an insult,” she said to him. “I see,” he said as he sat back in his chair. The loud clicks of Cord drawing on the chalkboard filled the room as Hunter and Flex finally joined the rest of them at the table.

  “A quick layout of the land,” Cord said as he pointed to the small picture he had drawn to the side. The picture has three sections on it. “At the bottom, we have the Sand Wasteland,” he wrote the words on the bottom portion of the picture. “The wastelands are where the real scum dwell. The lowest of the low, that the East section of Mo’eizus resides.”

  Cord then moved his chalk to the middle. “Here is where we are. Above the sands on the back of The Great Beast Arzi.” “They have names?” Hunter said out loud. “Why would they not?” Cord shot back at him without turning from the chalkboard. Hunter sucked at his teeth but said nothing.

  “The cities on the back of the Great Beast are considered the commonplace. It’s where regular citizens work, play, and do everything in between to live a normal life in the shadow of Empress Queen Omega. Naturally, that’s where we are.” His chunk of chalk finally touched the top of his little picture.

  “Where we need to go is here.” He punctuated his last word with a quick tap of the chalk. “We need to make way to the Great Beast Sonah. This is where Empress Queen Omega lives in Acropolis with her chosen.” “Chosen?” Flex repeated.

  Cord took in a deep breath and glared at him. “Does it really matter what they are called? All we need to know for the purpose of the meeting is that this is where we need to get to, in order to save Impervious. We can discuss meanings of names at a later date.” Flex nodded his head at Cord.

  “Very well,” he said. Hunter was impress
ed. That old Flex that came out to issue a challenge to him had been replaced by the facade of a leader again. “This is where Perkins and I disagree on how the plan should unfold.” Cord wrote out the words Soldier A and Team B. “I think it is better to send in one single soldier to infiltrate Acropolis. This soldier would make their way to the city, and be able to investigate without being seen. This also makes for an easier exit.”

  Cord paused and looked at the room. Perkins was the only one looking at him dead in the eyes. “I believe Hunter would be the ideal person for this-” Cord found his words sliced as they left his mouth. “Why me?” Hunter asked. Cord cleared his throat. “Well, considering that you're from another dimension, you don’t have to worry about the Curse of Varo.” “You think I won’t have to worry about it. Think. Nobody is sure,” Hunter said.

  Cord ignored his comments as he continued to talk. “You can also, and most importantly fly and defend yourself if need be.”

  “Why not Flex, or Cayden?” Hunter asked. He wasn’t trying to get out of going. Why would he? Hunter was confident enough in his abilities to get things done, but none the less he felt that there were better options for the job that for sure could become cursed or infected.

  “You do realize Flex can fly and is damn near unable to be harmed right? You do know your brother is immune and can turn stealthy right?” Hunter said as he laughed as he said the word stealthy. “So why in Atlas did you pick me to go?” Cord rubbed the corner of his eyes with his forefinger and thumb. “I’m not in the habit of leading the show, but I’ll do it just this once,”

  It took all the energy Hunter had recovered to not flip the table over right then and there, and try to beat Cord to a pulp. His hand skills be damned. “Well Flex would stay back to defend our understaffed base, and Cayden,” Cord stopped and looked at his brother who sat at the table but was eating another fruit. “Well Cayden is my brother and I want to watch him.” Cord said finally.