Omega

by Riley Tune

  “What’s gotten into you?” Cayden said. “Normally you can barely stand me, but now you’re leaving me off missions?” Cord cleared his throat into his hand. “I wanted to, yes. But Perkins had more plans for you all. A plan that I agreed to go along with.”

  With that, Cord used his hand to erase the word Soldier A off the board and replaced it with Team A. “Since I’m tired of being interrupted, I’ll let Perkins explain her plan for you,” Cord said as sat in the chair that Perkins had just gotten up from.

  “So, Team A will be the combination of Hunter, Danielle, and Cayden,” Perkins said as she wrote the names on the board. “Team B will be me, Flex, Cord, and basically anybody else we have left in the base.” Once again, she wrote their names down as she spoke. “It’s unlikely that anybody will try to attack the base, but unlikely doesn't mean impossible.”

  Flex watched as she continued to explain the plan to them, and glanced to Hunter who was actually paying attention completely. He was happy to see his intern stepping up, thinking, and above all else controlling his anger. He really had changed a lot in a year. Flex smiled some. This made him happy because if he had to do what he was thinking he was going to do, it would make things much easier.

  “So, once we fly there, then what?” Danielle asked. “Do we try to take out Empress Omega Queen or whatever her name is?” “Empress Queen Omega,” Cayden said from across the table. “Yeah, her,” Danielle replied casually. “What’s the end goal once we get there because I’m sure there will be Wardens and a bunch of other flunkies around.”

  Perkins nodded her head. “Indeed, there will be, in theory. That’s why we want you to be as low- key as possible. Between your shadow form, and Cayden’s ability to conceal Hunter, you all should be able to get around rather easily. So for now, this mission is strictly to search and rescue. Try to find Impervious, and if able, free him.”

  “Free him from what?” Hunter said out loud. Perkins paused for a moment and then glanced from Hunter to Flex. “We don’t know,” Flex said. “We have to assume that he is either captured or unable to return to us.” “But he’s Impervious,” Danielle said. “What in Atlas could stop him?”

  “We don’t know. We just have to consider all options,” Flex replied. Danielle thought to herself, all of this seemed damn near impossible. She knew Impervious, mostly by legend and from Hunter’s stories, but one thing they all had in common was that he was one major badass. An unstoppable force that you couldn’t contain. She shuddered slightly at the thought of something or someone with the power to do just that.

  “Sounds almost like a suicide mission,” Hunter said finally. “No. Remember don’t engage.” Flex said as he looked Hunter in the eyes. “Do. Not. Engage. As your leader, your safety is most important to me, but still, this is the job. You all have the skills to get this done, and the ability to protect yourselves if needed, but make that the last resort.”

  Flex turned his gaze from Hunter to Danielle who had a smirk on her face. He rolled his eyes some. He had known Hunter for so long and seen him go from rebel bad boy to hero that he forgot that his better part was still getting used to the hero side. Between the two of them, Hunter had the temper, but Danielle had a swing first ask questions never attitude. “Do. Not. Engage,” Flex said to Danielle this time.

  “Cross my heart,” Danielle said with a smirk. Flex took in a breath. “Good enough.” “Now can we begin?” Cord said as he stood up. Cayden stood with him and for a second, they looked at each other, gave a slight quick hug, and then faced the rest of the room. Hunter looked at Flex as he stood up. “You know, I bet the rest of Purgatory Academy is having normal internships. Even Jen is having fun. But for me? Nope. I’m off-world on a rescue mission. I should have stayed home with Power Prince.”

  Flex extended a hand to Hunter. A hand which Hunter shook with a look of suspicion in his eyes. “Look at it this way,” Flex replied. “You’ll be the better hero in the end. Stubborn, and hotheaded as you are, your potential will take you far.”

  Hunter was surprised at the words. Flex was a great guy and a better hero. Few could compare to the name he had created for himself in such a short time. Sometimes Hunter even forgot that Flex was only a few years his elder. Still, he rarely spoke to him this way. “Now get your ass in gear, Paragon. We have a mission to do,” Flex replied as he punched Hunter in the shoulder a little too hard.

  Hunter rubbed the shoulder as Danielle stood up. “It’s me and you again, boo,” she said as she glanced over to Cayden. “Yeah us, and the jackass,” Hunter replied.

  CHAPTER 23:

  ROOFTOP RENDEZVOUS

  H unter stood on the roof of the base, close to the ledge with Flex and Danielle, as they waited for their new gadgets provided to them by Cord and Bravado. Cayden, still not on Hunter’s good side, decided to wait alone and leaned on the roof door that led back inside of the base’s upper level.

  As he yawned, he caught Hunter looking at him for a second before he turned back to Flex and Danielle. Cayden just didn’t understand it. Flex and Danielle seemed to be fine with him and how he had shown his powers during the fight for the recruits. Hunter on the other hand, still seemed like he would attack him given the chance.

  Was it because he had attacked without their notice? If it was, Cayden really didn’t care. Many battles were to be won by any means. It was what he was used to growing up in Mo’eizus. Born of elite blood almost made you a target, and he and Cord had to fight a lot before Bravado came along. Many of those fights weren’t fair and the way to victory wasn’t either.

  He had no issues with that. Deep down Cayden felt that Hunter was simply jealous. Why wouldn’t he be? The way Cayden saw it, Hunter was used to being the powerful one. Used to being the one getting the attention, and now he wasn’t. Now he was against a power he couldn’t stop. Time came for all things that were living, and Cayden controlled time better than any other.

  “You’re better than him. Maybe better than them all.” Cayden said to himself as he dropped down from leaning on the wall to sitting down. With just that slight movement, Hunter’s head turned quickly towards him. “Damn, he really doesn’t trust me,” Cayden said under his breath.

  He personally had no real issues with Hunter and as far as he was concerned, they were fine with each other but he would never be the one to bend to another’s ego. So instead of looking away from Hunter's glare, Cayden pulled some long steel nails from his coat pocket and began to chomp on them. All while smiling and waving back to Hunter. “Hi, Paragon! My dear sweet friend,” Cayden said as he continued to eat on his nails.

  “That prick,” Hunter said as he turned from Cayden to Flex and Danielle. “Really?” Flex said as he leaned and looked back at Cayden. “I don’t understand what your issue is with him but let it go. We are all on the same side now.” “You don’t understand?” Hunter repeated as he glanced over his shoulder towards Cayden.

  “That metal- eating freak jumped us. He could have killed us with that damn attack,” “But he didn’t,” Flex replied. “He has just as much control over his abilities as any of us.” Flex paused for a moment and looked at Hunter. “What?” Hunter replied as he jerked his head back. Flex shook his head in return as he laughed slightly. “It’s just that of all people, it’s funny to hear you call somebody out of their name. Metal- eating freak is no better than being called spawn or abomination. He can’t help what he is.”

  Even though Flex was merely speaking, the words hit Hunter with the strength of a punch. Hunter had been the target of people’s verbal abuse for years just because of his birth. The names Flex had mentioned, Hunter had been called for as long as he could remember. When he became Paragon, the names stopped mostly but still, some people saw him that way.

  At that moment, he looked to Cayden. Sitting alone. Eating his nails, and seemingly carefree. Now Hunter felt differently for being so aggressive towards him. He could remember the pain that came along with being called a name that he wasn’t or being made fun o
f based off of things he had no control over. Most of all he knew the pain that came with being different.

  He took in a deep breath. “Fine,” Hunter said as he returned back to their huddle. “I’ll cut the kid some slack.” Flex nodded. “I thought you’d see it my way.” “You really are getting this leader thing down,” Danielle said as Flex smirked some.

  “Don’t let it go to your head, Ken Doll,” Hunter said. “We still got plenty of time for you to screw stuff up when we get back.” Flex nodded, but didn’t reply as his smile faded slightly. A reaction that Hunter didn’t notice, but Danielle did.

  “I’ll go easy on him, but I still don’t trust a lot of this,” Hunter continued. “First Impervious, now we have to sneak in a base that they just happen to have blueprints to? How in Atlas do you even get blueprints to a city built on top of a flying monster?” “I get it. It all sounds …,” Flex searched for the words as his eyes darted a little.

  “Hard to believe. We all know Impervious. We know how he earned his status as an Icon that nothing could stop, but still, he hasn’t come back so we have to go. We owe him that much.” “You sure are tossing that we word around a lot for a guy that is staying behind in safety,” Danielle said.

  Flex narrowed his brow at her. “Lady has a point,” Hunter chimed in. “I’m literally the only major defense the base will have when you guys are gone.” Hunter shrugged as he replied. “I saw the video of you catching a plane out of the sky. You’ll be fine.” “That aside,” Flex continued. “I trust Perkins.”

  “Sex will make a guy do that,” Danielle said as she licked her lips slowly. Hunter tried to ignore this attractive gesture. “Lastly, they have been planning to take Omega’s base for years. Obtaining the blueprints was just part of the process.

  The door to the roof swung open and nearly hit Cayden in the process. Flex, Hunter, and Danielle turned quickly to the sound. “Calm down,” Cord said as he stepped through the door and saw Hunter’s blue eyes facing him.

  He was holding a stack of black clothes in his hands, as Perkins follow him out of the door with a small metal box in her hand. As she moved, she put something in her ear and twisted it. Behind them, Cayden pushed himself from the ground and joined them all in the center of the roof.

  “I know we wanted to get this done as soon as possible, but I needed some time to get some things,” Cord said out loud. “I had to go to one of my nests in the city. So sorry it took so long, but it was worth it. Put these on,” Cord said as he tossed each of them some bulky padded clothes.

  Hunter looked at the clothing in his hand. Both the shirt and the pants were black and felt odd in size with the pads made into them. “What is this?” Danielle said slowly. Flex and Hunter wore her confusion on their faces as they looked around from the clothing back to Perkins and Cord.

  Cayden, on the other hand, had already started removing his shirt and getting dressed as his brother instructed. They’re the uniform of Empress Queen Omega’s palace staff and guard,” Cayden said as he slipped his pants off. “It will help you blend in up there,” Perkins said. “Danielle, yours may be a little big, but that was the size that fit me the best, so I figured it would work for you.”

  Danielle nodded as she moved to stand behind Hunter and get dressed. Hunter noticed Cord moved his head slightly to the side as if he was trying to get a peek of her undressing. He cleared his throat loudly and Cord smoothly returned to his normal position.

  Perkins dropped down on one knee and opened the case. “Put these in your ear,” she said as she gave them a small black circle. “Hunter, Cayden, and Danielle each did what they were told. You will be able to hear us back here at base automatically. On the outer side of the com is a button. Press it once to speak to us back here at the base.” “So easy even you can do it,” Flex said as looked at Hunter.

  “Ha, fucking, ha,” Hunter said as he placed the com in his ear. “These go on your eye,” Perkins said as she passed out small circular cases that she pulled from the box. Danielle took her case and opened it to reveal what looked like a contact lens inside. “Make sure it’s the left eye,” Perkins said.

  “Your map will be displayed on these, and for some reason, they pick up better on the left eye instead of the right.” Danielle once again did what she was told. So did Cayden, but she could see Hunter moving slower than she was.

  Unlike her better half, she trusted Perkins. Maybe not Cord so much, but she had grown to know Perkins over the last year. She never had a reason not to trust her. “It looks like a video game,” Danielle said as she blinked a few times and looked around them.

  As her head moved a small, circular, rotating map appeared in front of her. On the map were various halls and large squares. “Perkins thought you might say that.” Cord said as he watched Hunter and his brother both move their hands in front of them trying to touch the map that they were seeing.

  “Once you arrive at the palace, you will see three dots appear. As I’m hoping you are smart enough to guess, those dots will be you. At that point, we will be here if you need us at the base. You shouldn’t get lost, but we really don’t know where to send you once inside. So, if you have to split up, at least you will be able to see each other. Understood?”

  They all gave a gesture or few brief words to signify that they understood what Cord had just said. “We can see you. We can hear you. But once you get inside, you’re on your own,” Cord said as he paused to see if they had questions. Nobody spoke. Instead they all just glanced at each other. “Good,” Cord said. “Off with you then. Time is wasting.”

  He said the words, gave his brother a quick nod, and then turned and walked towards the entrance door. In a fluid motion, he opened and closed the door behind him without looking back. “Not big on goodbyes, is he?” Flex said as he looked at the recently slammed door.

  “That nod that I got,” Cayden said as too looked at the door. “Was more than I was expecting.” Perkins motioned her head towards Flex and he gave her a slight nod before he turned to them. “Good luck up there. All of you. I would say play it smart, and don’t be a hero but, well that’s what we are.”

  Danielle avoided his eyes as they fell on her. “Yeah, yeah we got it,” Hunter said as he stepped forward between Danielle and Cayden. He turned and looked towards Cayden. “We good?” he asked as he stretched out his fist to him. Cayden looked down at the fist in confusion.

  Normally when a fist is aimed at him it would be coming from a punch. Not just hanging in the air connected to a person with a smirk on their face. “Yeah,” Cayden replied slowly as he looked from the fist to Hunter. “You gotta just,” Hunter grabbed Cayden’s fist as everybody around them laughed gently.

  Hunter balled Cayden’s fist up and then touched his own. “We’ll work on that,” Hunter said as he called a large force field to life, making sure to give him enough room as always. As they began to lift off the ground Cayden squealed a little as he felt weightless, as Hunter’s control over the gravity inside the bubble took over. His hand touched the force field from the inside and felt a slight tingle as the mix of warmth and cold touched his skin.

  “This is amazing,” Cayden said slowly as he let his other hand touch the force field. “I am aren’t I,” Hunter said proudly as Danielle slapped him in the head. “We have force fields, but they don’t,” Cayden said as he paused to put his face on the force field. “They don’t feel like this.”

  “Okay, you just made it weird,” Hunter said as he grimaced. “Remember,” Perkins said from below them. “Once you get up there, look for the big flying thing. You literally can’t miss it. The palace is in the center, so you will have to navigate through the city to get there. Just like we did here, come up around the back end. Should be fewer people there.”

  Hunter gave them a thumbs up, and then with all the power he had, shot the force field through the sky like a pale blue cannonball. From that moment, he was no longer Hunter. He was Paragon now, and he had a mission. He was going to find his uncle. Imper
vious. The only true relative he had left. He was going to find him, and figure all of this out.

  He didn’t know why, but he felt everything would be better once Impervious returned. The only thing that stood in his way was a flying monster and a ruler that had people that worshipped her like a god. How hard could it be? Hunter cursed himself for thinking such a thing. He knew right then and there, that he had just jinxed himself, and that hard times were coming.

  CHAPTER 24:

  STEALTHY

  T hat’s Sonah,” Cayden said from inside the force field as he pointed to the large winged creature in the distance. “Well, I’d hope so,” Danielle said in return. “Otherwise there would be just another dragon-monster thing hanging around up here.” Hunter wanted to laugh but he was too busy focusing his energy and power on navigating the skies.

  The speed in which he was flying combined with the weight of Danielle and Cayden was no easy feat. In fact, the feat wouldn’t have been done with such speed and ease a year ago. Virtual nonstop training for a year had its perks after all. “We are approaching it now,” Hunter finally said in his ear com.

  “Good. Just remember to fly around the rear just above the tail,” Flex said through the coms. “If you’re confused about which end that is, it’s opposite from the head,” Cord’s gruff voice came back. “Asshole,” Hunter said under his breath. “We can still hear you,” Perkins said back. “He knows,” Danielle said as she watched Hunter give her a grin.

  As he looked ahead of him, the grin on his face faded away. As the Great Beast called Sonah came into view only one word came to Hunter’s as he tried to voice his shock. “Whoa,” he said slowly. The monster was larger than he could have ever imagined. Its bright orange skin could be seen perfectly, even though it should have been barely visible in the darkness.