Omega

by Riley Tune

  Instead of wrapping her entire body in a force field, he instead encased only her head. In an instant, he caused the gravity inside the bubble to rip apart. In a flash, blood splattered on the inside of the force field as the pain in his body stopped, and the Pain Conduit fell to the ground. The sound of grunts and guns buzzing to life were the only warning Hunter got as he scrambled to his feet.

  A force field the size of a small car manifested around him only seconds before bolts of energy bullets began to bounce off of it. He didn’t know where the gunners came from, but they came in force. So much force that his force field was hurting, and he could feel it. Dozens of tiny cracks appeared on the surface and Hunter forced the field to expand and pushed it back on his attackers.

  At the same time, he pushed himself fully to his feet, ran to the balcony and leapt over the edge, as he began to fall to the city below.

  CHAPTER 27:

  CAYDEN’S PLAN

  H unter loved flying. It was long considered to be his favorite power. It wasn’t the power that first manifested for him, but it was the power that gave him freedom. Freedom from a world that judged and teased him because of his parents, and their unaccepted union. Flying gave him the means to escape it all.

  It was the first power he learned to truly master. That’s why, as he was falling down towards the city, he found it surprising that he couldn’t fly now. He could barely focus with his head still spinning from the number that Pain Conduit had done on him.

  Slowly, as the ground below rushed to meet him, he could feel his world return to normal. He could feel the power flowing around him as he began to slow down as the power of flight returned to - “Ah,” Hunter grunted out as something solid and strong wrapped itself around him.

  Hunter struggled in the air and turned to find a Warden latched onto him. This Warden wasn’t wearing the normal black suit that the creatures dawned. “Eager to prove yourself, huh,” Hunter said as his vision shifted to blue. He could tell this was the newly- created Warden from inside of Omega’s party.

  He must have been sent after him after the others failed. Before Hunter could release the energy from his eyes, several things happened at once. First, the Warden wrapped its hands around Hunter’s head. The metallic touch felt cold to Hunter’s skin and the pressure made him feel like his head was going to explode.

  The Warden’s must have possessed some sort of super strength because try as he might, Hunter couldn’t move away from the grip around his head. The next thing that happened was an utter shock to Hunter. The wind around him came alive with air and heat. Where he was once falling, he was now being lifted by this heated air current. Hunter had been in the Icon world long enough to know air manipulation when he saw it, and apparently, that was the elemental force that this Warden controlled.

  Hunter wrapped himself and his attacker inside a force field as he braced himself and prepared for the worst. It was all he could do considering he still couldn’t see. He had seen an Icon back home called Lobo with the same power, snatch the air from a person’s lungs. He waited for something along those lines to happen but it never did.

  This Warden didn’t seem to have the style or precision to pull off such an attack. Instead, he resorted to good old fashion body blows. Hunter’s vision returned and for a second one of the vice-like hands removed itself from his head, formed a fist and punched him in the stomach. Pain almost as intense as the feeling created by the Pain Conduit flooded his body.

  Despite the Warden’s size and bulk, it moved fluidly inside the force field. In the blink of an eye, the Warden detached itself from Hunter and shifted the hand wrapped around his face to his neck, and applied pressure. Hunter was having a hard time breathing now as the grip increased in strength. His force field around them flickered in and out of life, as the continued to rise in the air.

  Hunter didn’t even know whose power was pushing them up anymore. His or the Warden’s but he could feel his grip on his own ability slacken. In a horrible effort, he released an Impact Blast full to the face of his attacker. The attack connected, and he could feel the grip on his neck release slightly.

  The air around them came alive again as the Warden sent two punches to Hunter’s body. He could taste blood in his mouth now. He wasn’t even sure where it came from, but he knew he had to stop this beast, but it was just too strong. It was becoming harder and harder to keep his eyes open now. There was no doubt in his mind that only the rushing hot air created by the Warden was keeping him in the air.

  His force field had long gone, and he was too weak and in too much pain to fly. Once the Warden decided to let go, he would die. They were up higher than before. Hunter could make that out as his eyes fluttered and struggled to stay open. Even the Acropolis wasn’t directly under them now.

  With all the effort in the world, Hunter lifted his head up. It felt like it weighed a ton now, and looked the Warden in what would have been its face. The skin wasn’t as polished and damage free as once before. It appeared to be chipped and cracked slightly. So, his Impact Blast, his own unique brand of energy had left a mark. Between pain and lack of vision, Hunter smiled to the best of his ability and spat on the Warden’s face.

  Apparently, that did it. The grip around Hunter’s neck released completely and he began to fall through the open sky. As he did so, he heard a faint pop but he didn’t know where it came from. He could barely keep his eyes open. There was just so much pain, and he was so tired. He tried and tried to form a force field. He was determined that he wasn’t going to die on some sand- covered planet.

  The force field would absorb most of the impact. It flickered around him and lasted seconds then faded away. “Fuck,” Hunter muttered out. He was too tired to scream. Too tired to show one last form of defiance to this godforsaken planet. He had begun to accept his fate and then, he wasn’t falling anymore.

  Instead, he was snatched out of the air by strong hands and slumped over a person’s shoulder. “No slacking on the job, intern.” a voice called from under Hunter. He had never been so happy to hear Flex’s voice in his life.

  “Ken Doll,” Hunter asked slowly as his eyes drifted open and then closed again. Flex laughed. “At least you haven’t lost your ability to joke.” “How are you here? Where-” Hunter asked slowly as he was lifted off of Flex’s shoulder and placed on something solid. “Before your com went out, we heard the attack ordered on the base. We made it out just in time to an alternate base. We found Cayden and Danielle headed our way as we made our escape.”

  Flex looked Hunter over and couldn’t see any major damage, outside of the trickle of blood in his friend’s mouth. He removed his shirt and balled it up into a makeshift pillow. “Anything to take your shirt off,” Hunter said through a cough. “Perfect. Just keep talking, I don’t want you to fall asleep. Just in case.” Flex said as he placed the pillow under Hunter’s head

  “Once we were all out, I got here as quick as I could to back you up. I saw your force field going in and out and figured you were in trouble. I caught you just in time.” Flex turned his head and searched the skies. He could see him, still up there. Looking and floating like a guardian of the skies around him.

  He took in a deep breath and balled his fist. “Wait here, and try to stay awake. I’ll make it quick.” Flex said as he stood up. “Sure thing,” Hunter said through a cough and a shaky thumbs up. The ground shook some as Flex exploded into the sky. Hunter was in too much pain to turn around and try to see what was going on, but his ears did all of the work.

  The silence of the sky was soon full of what sounded like loud explosions going off one by one. Hunter knew the Warden was strong. The punches he received were evident of that. He was sure that he could have put up a better fight had he not just been mind-raped by a Pain Conduit, and a part of him was embarrassed that Flex had to save him like he was a damsel in distress. But as he heard the sounds coming from the sky, he realized that Flex was the better person to be fighting the Warden.

  The Warden was
strong, but compared to Flex the metal monster was a mere infant learning how to throw a punch, and Flex was Mike Tyson in his prime. “All set,” he heard a voice say from behind him. Before he could comment, Flex had Hunter over his shoulder again. “Let’s get you home.”

  “Thanks, pretty boy,” Hunter said slowly. “Don’t thank me just yet. Wait until I tell Power Prince about all this.” Hunter groaned as he felt his head drop and against Flex’s wishes, and his own attempts to hold it off, Hunter closed his eyes.

  It seemed like only seconds had passed by when he opened his eyes again. He jumped as he found Danielle leaning over him with hair pulled back and a smile on her face. “Let’s not make this a habit,” she said as she helped him up. “Me having to wait for you to wake up in a medical facility isn’t exactly fun.”

  She removed her hand from Hunter’s back as he looked around. Cayden was sitting beside his bed as well. Actually, Hunter realised it wasn’t a bed he was on. It was more so a table. “How ya feeling?” Cayden asked as Hunter rubbed his stomach. “Not too bad.” Danielle applied pressure to his stomach and caused him to wince in pain.

  “Could be better though, I suppose. Where are we?” he asked as he looked around the room. It was large and seemed to have everything needed for a base. There were monitors, although many weren’t powered on. Across the large rooms were several small cots, and to the side of them were blankets on the floor.

  Some tables nearby had several seats and boxes of food on them. As he glanced up, he could see dozens of lights, but only half were powered on, and while the floor seemed to be tile or some sort of polished stone, there was a layer of dust so thick that it had footprints in it.

  “This is the retreat base,” Cayden said. “It was supposed to be completed a long time ago, but it’s hard to do construction while trying to free the people from a ruler that has them brainwashed to not see the harm she is doing.” Hunter nodded. He wanted to comment on how Cayden had begun to see Omega differently than when he first told them about her. Instead, All Hunter could do was wince and groan some more from the pain in his midsection.

  “I take it, Bravado doesn’t have good medical stuff in this base.” Danielle shook her head. “They don’t have any medical stuff in this base. Except for Cayden.” Hunter raised a brow and looked from Danielle to Cayden, and then to Danielle again.

  “It’s not totally accurate, but if I focus and take my time, I can speed up the time around you just slightly, which will cause the natural healing of your body to take place.” “Atlas,” Hunter said as his eyes got big. “That’s -” “very complicated,” Cayden said.

  “I only did it about a little over half way. Enough to get you back up and moving and in the fight. You should be at about eighty percent.” “So, you’re a healer too,” Hunter said as he slid off the table and looked around the room once more.

  “Sometimes it seems that way,” Cayden said slowly as he glanced to Danielle. “Even when I try not to be,” he added. Far across the room, Hunter could see Perkins leaning on the wall as Flex and Cord exchange words.

  Flex could have been shouting, but it was hard to hear from this distance. Hunter could clearly see he wasn’t happy, though. “What’s that about?” Hunter asked. “Parents are fighting again,” Danielle said as she sat at the table and opened one of the boxes. She pulled out something that looked like a thick graham cracker and took a bite that sounded too hard on her teeth.

  She quickly spat the food out of her mouth and looked at the box. “The food has been here for a long time,” Cayden said. “Even I don’t like eating it, and that’s saying a lot.” to emphasize his point he picked up a stray chunk of metal from the ground, blew the dust off, and took a large bite. It had considerably less crunch than Danielle’s graham cracker.

  “Fighting about what?” Hunter asked. “Perkins and Flex want to wait and form a plan while giving us all time to regroup. Cord wants to take the few troops that we have and attack Omega head on. He feels that if Flex is strong enough to take on a newly- born Warden then he should be able to take on several others if the Pain Conduit is out of the way.” Cayden stopped talking and took another bite of his metal snack.

  “Perkins just got on Flex’s side though. When she heard he had killed a Warden she was all quiet and stuff,” Danielle said. “Why?” Hunter asked as he moved around some to get an idea of how much pain he was left in. “Get this, that brother she had,” Danielle said as she leaned in. “The one that died?” Hunter asked.

  “Turns out he didn’t die,” Danielle replied. “He left her and went on to be a Warden. Gave up his life to serve Omega after his chrome addiction became too strong to tolerate.” “Atlas,” Hunter said slowly as he looked at Perkins across the room. “She was afraid that Flex may have killed her brother.”

  “How many people made it out?” Hunter asked. “Mostly everybody,” Cayden replied. “All of us, and all but one new recruit. They’re in one of the other rooms. We’re in the main room now. There is a secondary room, and then like a closet for storage. Some base, huh?” Hunter shrugged his shoulders, and then felt a hint of pain from it, but not much.

  “So, what are we going to do?” Hunter asked. “I’m down for a fight, but that Warden kicked my ass up there.” Cayden shook his head as he finished chewing. “Newly created creatures are different. The creation process results in increased power for a short amount of time. We don’t know why. Either way, a normal Warden wouldn’t be as hard to control as the one you fought.”

  “Flex still wiped the floor with his newly metal ass, though,” Danielle said. “True,” Cayden replied. “Flex may possibly be the strongest being in this world after seeing a display like that.” Hunter rolled his eyes. “Please don’t tell him that to his face. The last thing I need is him reminding me that he is the strongest person on two worlds combined. That aside, we still have to figure out something. I’d bet Power Prince’s movie collection, that Omega will find this base. She is determined to make me join her, and I’m not sure why.”

  Danielle’s eyes went dark as stray tendrils moved around her hands. “Oh, I heard how she wants to make you her royal baby daddy. Give her an heir and all that. Cord played back what we missed while you were asleep.”

  “Yeah, it seems odd,” Hunter said as he glossed over Danielle’s comments. “And just what were they doing with Infinity back there.” Danielle shrugged. “We told Perkins and Cord about it but had zero ideas. We know that the lab is where the cure is made and tested, but outside of that, we haven’t the slightest clue. Then there is the million- dollar question.” “How are they holding Impervious?” Cayden said to complete Danielle’s statement.

  “Flex is having the hardest time with figuring that out,” Danielle said. “The leading theory is that somehow Icaro was able to assume Impervious’ form and is playing as a way to control him,” Danielle said.

  “Well, however they are doing it, he is being very chatty. Apparently, he told her boatloads about me. But if Icaro is in the mix, then he would have access to Impervious’ memories,” Hunter said as he looked at their leaders all arguing. “They need to come up with a plan, and fast.”

  “Oh, I have a plan already,” Cayden said. “I’m just waiting for them to finish. If they don’t like it, I’ll do it anyway.” Danielle and Hunter looked at each other slightly as their gaze fell to Cayden. Cayden in return started eating another chunk of debris found on the floor. “Well,” Hunter said as he waved his hands. “You want to fill us in?”

  Cayden swallowed loudly. “Simple. We kill the Great Beast, and bring Acropolis to us.”

  CHAPTER 28:

  HORN OF BOOMING

  A re you nerfing crazy?” Cord said as he held his hands on his brother's face and looked at him. He was squeezing his face so hard that it looked like his cheeks were going to explode. Finally, Cayden slapped Cord’s hands away and moved his jaw a few times to get the feeling back. “It’s not crazy. We need to rescue Impervious, get to Empress Queen Omega, weaken
her numbers, and have access to her data for the cure they are working on.”

  Cord grunted as he turned away from his brother. “It’s not even a full-blown cure, Cayden. It’s treatment according to the conversation you three recorded.” “Treatment that could have kept Becca here long enough to find the cure,” Cayden shouted back. “I don’t want to keep mopping up the blood of my friends, only because I’m the one immune. If there is a way to help them, then I’m going to do it.”

  Up until this moment, Hunter, Flex, and Danielle had stood quietly to the side as Cord and Cayden argued about his plan. Flex turned his head and could see Perkins frantically typing away at one of the few working monitors in their new base. What was she up to? His eyes narrowed as he quickly crossed the room and stood by her side.

  “What’s going on?” he asked her. Flex made sure to adjust his tone so that he sounded more like a boyfriend that was concerned, and less like a leader that was annoyed. Once he had a hard time separating the two. For him, it was all one and the same, but he had gotten better. “Cayden’s plan,” Perkins said quickly.

  “You agree with him? You think that this is the best way to handle this?” Flex asked and made sure to focus on Perkins’ face as she responded. He loved her, more than he could have ever expected, and one thing he had learned about her was that her face always gave away her inner thoughts. “I do,” she said slowly as she shook her head.

  “I must be losing it if I’m agreeing with Cayden. Kid barely likes me and I’m taking his side. Funny thing is, he wasn’t the first to come up with the idea. If I could just find,” her voice trailed off as she continued to type quickly. Flex took in a deep breath. “What about the people on Great Beast Sonah, though.” “What about them?” Perkins asked as she stopped typing and almost glared at Flex.