Black Power- The Superhero Anthology

by Balogun Ojetade

  -M

  M walked into the Elementals base of operations – the Rackson family manor – with Lucas Rackson right on his heels. “Hold up,” Lucas said when they reached the top of the hill the huge house sat on.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “There are too many cars here,” Lucas pointed toward the long black car and the four cars parked around it. “Somebody else is inside.”

  M looked from the manor to Lucas anxiously. “What should we do?”

  “Go in, but be ready,” Lucas answered, and he swung open the front door. The moment the two of them stepped into the foyer, they could hear arguing from upstairs. They could make out Rod’s voice, but he was arguing with someone who (for once) wasn’t Mo. Now, more curious than anxious, M and Lucas started walking up the stairs and headed to the upstairs study, where Rod and President Bradley were arguing while De, Mo, Kiara, Don, and Jas listened.

  “-this aint our fault-” Rod tried to explain.

  “Yes it is! If you had destroyed these things when you were supposed to none of this-” the president jumped in.

  “When was the last time you tried to get rid of an android army? Oh, right, NEVER, because your sorry police-”

  “The police force has nothing to do with this-“

  “Yea, they do! If they actually DID something then maybe-”

  “Okay already!” Lucas yelled. The shock of hearing Lucas raise his voice shut up both Rod and the president and brought all attention to him. “Why are you here?” he asked the latter.

  President Bradley adjusted his fitted suit before he answered. He looked a little uncomfortable now having this over six foot new opposition, but still held his ground. “I come on the behalf of myself, the presidents of Grandia and Phorbes, the king of the Underground Kingdom, and the primes of the Sky Nation and Teratitra to demand that the Elementals rectify the remnants of the A.G. situation.”

  “What do you think we are doing?” Lucas asked

  “I understand that you all are…routinely destroying androids-”

  “So you think we’re just playing around?” Lucas interrupted.

  “Let him talk,” De finally spoke, much to the added frustration of both Lucas and Rod.

  “Thank you, Derren.” President Bradley adjusted himself again and addressed the room as a whole, ignoring the dirty looks Jas was throwing his way. “I understand that you all are making progress, but what happened today should have never taken place. I am certain, by now, the leaders in other continents are probably all trying to set up a meeting to discuss how all of them were embarrassed in front of the media. How did you all let a bunch of androids get to the shrines? You were supposed to have taken care of this! The previous generations would have never let something like this happen!”

  “You’re not helping at all, President Bradley,” Kiara said quietly. Luckily it was she who spoke, since by this time, all the others looked ready to pounce on the new president.

  President Bradley noticed. He sighed and tried to talk calmly. “It has been very difficult, for me particularly, to calm the general public after what happened with A.G. People are terrified of their toasters now because they are certain they will rise up and try to enslave them. Just when we got people believing in us again; just when things seem to be back on track, a bunch of androids try to kill media personnel from around the world. I’d be surprised if they don’t call for all of us elected leaders to step down by the end of the week,” he sighed again and looked around the room for sympathy. He got none. “You all might not understand it, but it’s not easy running a country.”

  “Try saving one,” Rod spat.

  “Well you should understand, then, that you have to keep working to save it. Please, you all have to finish off these androids, quickly, so that things can go back to normal. The world is depending on you.” There was real pleading in his eyes, but he had long since killed any chance he had at getting sympathy from the Elementals. Instead, he just turned and walked out of the room, leaving the eight of them to discuss what had just happened. As soon as the door closed behind President Bradley Rod started cursing, and both Jas and Lucas nodded their agreement.

  “I don’t like him either, but he’s kind of right, we gotta finish what we started, and fast,” De let the others vent their frustrations before he spoke. “We need to get rid of these androids. Fast.”

  “And how do you expect us to do that? We don’t even know where the ones at the shrines came from, how are we supposed to find the rest of them when they’re probably all over the planet?” M countered.

  “Sparky is kind of right,” Rod pointed out.

  “Actually, I know where the androids are,” Don spoke for the first time since he had arrived at the manor. He kept his face buried in the screen of his most trusted electronic device, but he finally looked up at this exact moment.

  “What are you talking about, Don?” Jas asked.

  “Well, when Mo and Gancta were finishing off the androids, I told them to leave one to escape, and I slipped a tracking device on it,” he lifted up his device so that everyone could see the single flashing dot on the screen. Behind the dot was a faint map of what looked like Redd Continent.

  “Wait…is that still here?” Mo asked, looking closer at the screen.

  “Yea, it actually looks like it came to Phorbes. I’m willing to bet that’s where whoever is giving them orders is!” Don explained.

  “So if we go there-” M started.

  “-we can stop whoever is giving out the orders!” Jas finished.

  De perked up and looked around at his comrades. “Looks like we have another mission, guys! We might be able to actually do what Bradley wants us to do, and before the end of the night too!” He pointed to the not-yet-set main sun outside the window on the other side of the room.

  “Speaking of President Bradley, I kind of feel sorry for him. I know journalists are going to be ruthless with him after what happened today. It’s going to be hard out there for him,” Kiara said sadly.

  Most of the rest of the room was having trouble sharing Kiara’s feelings, but De looked thoughtful.

  “Lucas, why don’t you go help him out?” he suggested.

  “What?” Lucas almost yelled at the suggestion.

  “Your dad and aunt are already talking to press trying to smooth things over, it may help if they have one of us speaking with them,” De explained.

  “Having one of us that is directly related to the previous generation is pretty good too,” M added.

  Lucas opened his mouth to argue, but as far as he could tell, De was right. As much as he didn’t want to go anywhere with his father, it would make the most sense if he, the oldest of the current generation and the blood relative of two of the previous generation’s most famous members, went to talk to the cameras. Lucas sighed and nodded.

  “So, Don, can you keep a track on that thing until we get there?” Rod asked.

  “I sure can! It will be easier than the wimpy setting of Xtreme Brawls!” Don said excitedly.

  M laughed. “We’ll take your word for it.”

  ***

  “All of this is my fault. Well, no, that’s not true. Dad is the one who created the android that would become A.G., but that makes me guilty by association, right? He created the android because he knew the money he would make could really help us out. So that kind of makes it my fault, right? Plus, President Hammock only found out about my dad making androids because he made Lauryn first. And that wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t miss Mom so much. I should have been there for him more so he wouldn’t have had to make all this stuff. That…that is my fault.”

  -Mo

  “Mo? Mo! MORGAN PETERS!” Don yelled over the phone to get Mo out of his daydreams.

  “Huh? Oh, sorry, what is it?” Mo asked.

  “You guys are close to where the signal is coming from. Where are you guys?” Don asked again.

  “Don wants to know where we are,” Mo informed the others. Kiara answere
d from the front seat.

  “The last sign I saw said we were approaching the Western Oasis. Looks like we’re pretty much here now,” she said. Sure enough, the sandy roads of Phorbes had turned green, and trees and a large body of water replaced sand dunes and rock formations outside of the car.

  “You heard that?” Mo asked. When Don answered he continued, “I don’t know why you didn’t just come with us. It would have been easier and I wouldn’t have to stay on the phone for hours at a time.”

  “Oh, you know, I had to stay here and coordinate, you know? It’s hard to see the whole picture when you’re really close to it, you know?” Even though this was a regular phone conversation and Mo couldn’t see Don’s face or expressions, he still felt like the inventor was lying.

  “Sure. Anyway, call De or M in the other car so they can know too,” Mo suggested.

  “Will do!” Don was so relieved to be done with the conversation that he hung up without saying goodbye. Mo started to feel a little jilted, but now was not the time. They had a mission to complete. He peered out of his window and looked around at their new lush surroundings. He even saw what looked like a large old rest stop a little down the road from where they were, right before a small community of houses. This would be a good place to hide.

  “I’m going to park here so we can take a look around,” Kiara said to Mo and Jas. She had whipped Lucas’ car off the main road and focused on trying to park. “Hopefully we can find out where the-”

  “LOOK OUT!” Jas screamed suddenly. Kiara looked back at the road to see a group of androids racing toward them firing lasers at both cars. Kiara swerved to try to dodge some of the attacks, but one of them managed to tear through the backseat of the car, blasting through one door and carrying Mo out of the other one.

  “No!” Kiara yelled. She slammed on the breaks and leapt out of the barely stopped car to rush to Mo’s side.

  For once, De’s dangerous driving skills worked to his advantage, and he was able to throw his car in reverse and avoid much of the damage. After yelling at De for nearly breaking their necks, Rod and M leapt out of the car and using the water from the oasis, started the attack. Jas soon joined them by creating a powerful gust that stopped more of the androids from coming out of the shabby building that they were using for a “base.” Kiara and De, however, were tending to their fallen teammate.

  “Is he okay?” De asked. Kiara dropped Mo’s hand and breathed a sigh of relief.

  “He’s just knocked out. He was sandwiched between the two doors so he’s hurt, but he’s okay. Aurora Baris Mal!” she roared at the android that slipped past the others to approach them.

  “We gotta help!” De said once he saw the android hit the ground. Kiara nodded, and the two of them joined the fight. Thanks to their closeness to the oasis Rod was able to send quite a bit of water over the seemingly never-ending flow of androids, making it easier for M to hit them with bolts of electricity, or Jas to create concentrated wind to tear them apart. When De joined the fight he immediately began pitching fire balls at every android he could see, and Kiara was casting spells as fast as she could.

  “Where are all these things coming from? It’s so many!” Jas complained.

  “They’re coming from that little hut thing!” M answered.

  “Well it’s coming down!” Jas broke away from the onslaught and raced toward the building that the androids had poured out of. A few of the nearly two dozen machines outside had seen her and tried to follow the Air Elemental, but one had her back.

  “Octoren Lumes!” Kiara yelled, sending no less than eight beams of light from her fingertips and directly into the androids. The four machines glowed yellow and collapsed into a heap behind Jas, and the younger Elemental raised her own hands, and immediately the building stared to shake and sway from the strong wind pushing against it. The other androids were dropping like flies thanks to the combined attacks of De, M, Rod, and Kiara. Even Mo started to stir and lumbered over to help out.

  “Jas, bring it down!” Rod encouraged his sister. Though no more androids were coming out of the building, he was under the impression that if the building fell so would the androids. Jas agreed, and a particularly powerful gust took the roof off the building. At that moment, a single figure came running out of the building, flailing his arms and screaming at the top of his lungs. Jas stopped her wind to better hear his surrender.

  “Stop, stop! I’ll call them off! We won’t do anything else! Just stop!” the figure, in its tight buttoned shirt and short buzz cut looked desperate enough to catch the other Elementals attention as well. Only three of the androids remained, and as soon as “I’ll call them off” left this new figure’s lips they immediately ceased their attack. The six Elementals walked closer to this figure, and upon closer inspection Mo realized something.

  “You’re an android!” He yelled, pointing at it.

  The android nodded. “Please, do not harm my sisters and brothers any further. We are all that are left,” he explained. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

  Rod barked out a laugh. “I swear I love these smart ones. They always help us out.”

  Kiara looked confused. “‘Smart one’?” she repeated.

  “Yea, when we were fighting A.G. we found out she made some smart droids to live with regular people and spy on them. This is definitely one of them,” M knocked on the android’s leg to emphasize his point, and the smart droid grimaced to hold back its frustration.

  “Mo, can you call Don? Maybe we can get him to do some tech stuff over the phone and check this story out,” De suggested.

  “Good idea,” Mo agreed. He pulled out his phone, but instead of bringing it to his face, he held it out so that the tiny Don hologram could be seen by all of them, including the smart droid.

  “Hey guys, what’s going on?” he asked.

  “Oh nothing major. We’re just killing the last androids,” Jas said with a grin.

  ***

  “This. Is. AWESOME. Who would’ve thought I would be here, in Phorbes, fighting androids as an Elemental? I still can’t believe it myself, I’m not exactly the ‘hero’ type, but then again none of us are. I guess that’s what makes it work, we’re all insane kids with crazier powers. But we’re here! It gives a great distraction from all the other headache, I gotta admit, but sometimes I wonder if…no, it will be fine. I mean it has to be, right? We can handle anything, can’t we? If the boys could beat A.G., then a little argument is nothing, right? I mean, we are Elementals. Yeah, it will be fine. Besides, that’s not important right now. We have stuff to do and I REFUSE to be the one to hold everybody back. Sorry Mom, we’ll have to figure this stuff out later, I have a job to do!”

  -Jas

  “So what you got?” Rod asked Don. The latter had spent the last fifteen minutes pecking away at his holographic computer sitting in his holographic chair and getting on everyone’s very real nerves. The silence from the inventor made them nervous almost as much as the trance-like state the last smart droid was in as long as Don’s device was plugged into it.

  “Alright! Got it!” Don announced.

  “Great! Now what is ‘it’?” De asked.

  “Oh, right, sorry. So basically he was telling the truth. These are the last few androids. They were here supposed to be waiting for the people who have been controlling all of them, but apparently once you guys showed up this guy got to work cleaning house.”

  “What does that mean?” Mo asked.

  “Basically, he sent a signal to who they were working for telling them not to come, and he erased all memory of what they were doing in the first place from himself and the rest of the androids. I can use the signal to see what they were reporting to each other, and the last thing they all have is basically a memory wipe,” Don explained.

  “So…so….” M said, struggling to keep up.

  “That means this was a waste of time,” Jas sighed.

  “Not entirely,” Don said. “I did get an image of the two people the android
s were working for. It was almost literally burned in all of their memories with the word “Boss”. It was probably there to remind them not to kill the two of them should they find them. It’s pretty smart,” he admitted.

  “So what is the image?” De asked.

  “Hold on. I’ll transfer the image to my computer so you guys can see it.” Don got up and walked out of the “frame” of his hologram and a minute or so later the image changed to a three dimensional image of two people, a short dark woman with purple hair and a taller light man with curly hair. Kiara gasped loudly.

  “I know them! Their faces are plastered all over the papers, that’s the Prudence Kids!”

  “Prudence…kids?” It was now Jas’ turn to be confused.

  “The Prudence Kids are the ones who started all of this…they’re the ones who reprogrammed A.G. in the first place to make her into a killing machine,” M explained. Mo and De both looked at the images with utter disgust. Off screen, they heard Don speaking.

  “Kiara’s right. These two are the ones behind all of this.”

  De gritted his teeth and looked at the others. He had a sudden flash of anger at seeing the Prudence Kids that was only intensified when he saw his foster parents in his mind, the nice older couple that was killed by A.G.’s androids before he joined the team. “Well, we know what we have to do next,” he growled.

  “Umm, why? Look man, I get you want revenge and stuff, but we did what the government wanted us to do. We stopped the androids. I say we take some time off and take care of ourselves for a little while,” Rod said.

  “This is our duty as Elementals! I can’t believe even you would be so selfish!” Mo snapped. Instead of getting angry, Rod actually laughed.

  “You caught up in revenge too kid. Think of it this way, where would we even find these two? The cops been looking for them for months; they pretty much gave up. I mean, we’re better than them but still. Besides, without A.G. or androids they can’t really do anything to us. I’m just saying that we shouldn’t jump right back into some stuff so quick.”