Omega Superhero Box Set

by Darius Brasher

  He looked just the way I remembered him, just the way I saw him almost every night when I confronted him over and over again in my nightmares. He wore a pitch black costume that covered him from head to toe. Glowing lines riddled his costume like weird varicose veins. Half of his body glowed orange-red; the other half glowed light blue.

  An odd combination of rage and excitement filled me. I had waited for this moment for what seemed like forever. I had rehearsed over and over in my mind what I could have done differently when I had first encountered Iceburn, and what I would do in the future once I was better trained in the use of my powers.

  The future was unexpectedly now.

  I immediately forgot all about the wildfire. I raised my hands up toward Iceburn. I exerting my will to attempt to form a spherical force field around him and trap him like a bug in a jar. Once formed, I would tighten the force bubble around Iceburn, squashing him like a cockroach. I would do it slowly, though. I wanted him to die agonizingly. He deserved no less.

  As usual, my hands burned as I used my powers. Despite the fact my powers had been triggered, the visible-to-me-only force field I expected to form around Iceburn did not do so. I redoubled my efforts, concentrating mightily to encage Iceburn. It was not working. Iceburn continued to move toward me, slowly and upright, like he was standing on an invisible conveyor belt.

  Iceburn came to a halt. Though he was still pretty far from me, I could see him shaking his black-clad head.

  “You can put your hands down, kid,” he said in his gravelly voice. “Your powers won’t work on me. It’s the suit. It nullifies Meta’s powers so they can’t affect me directly.” Though I normally would not believe this murderer if he told me the sky was blue, he clearly was right about this at least: my powers were not working on him. I kept trying anyway. I scowled with concentration. My hands felt like they were going to explode with the intensity of my effort. Iceburn shook his head at me again. Though I could not see his face due to his costume, I could sense his disgust at my futile effort.

  “I see you’re still not the brightest bulb in the store,” Iceburn said. He glanced down at the partially extinguished crackling fire below. “Even so, your ability to use your powers has come a long way since I last saw you. I’ve been watching you fight the fire the past few minutes. Actually, I’ve been watching you from afar ever since you enrolled in Hero Academy. Your face looking different than before threw me at first—you trainees use some sort of face masking technology apparently—but your powers make you easy to recognize. I thought about trying to take you out there, but not even I felt comfortable going up against a truckload of self-righteous Metas to get to you. Besides, I’m supposed to make your death look like an accident. It’s why I didn’t make a move against you when you were out with your friends in Portland last week. Too many witnesses. Then I hit upon the idea of setting this fire. I figured if I made it big enough, the state would ask the Metas in the Academy for help in putting it out. I just knew you all would jump at the chance to lend a hand.” Iceburn shook his head. “You Hero types are too predictable. It’s a weakness. And here you are, practically gift-wrapped for me. Now when you die, it’ll look like you got overwhelmed by the fire. So tragic.” The bastard sounded smug.

  “You set this fire? All to lure me out of camp?” I asked. I was in disbelief. I guess I should not have been. A murderer like Iceburn would not hesitate to commit arson. “Do you have any idea how much damage you’ve caused with this fire? How many people you’ve killed?”

  “Non-Metas are little more than ants. They don’t matter. Besides, if they’re dumb enough to let themselves burn to death, they deserve to die. It’s natural selection.” Iceburn shrugged. “If it makes you feel better, think of their deaths as a compliment to how important you are to my employers. I hope you enjoyed it. It’s the last compliment you’ll ever get.” He raised his arm on the side of his body that glowed orange-red. The glow of his palm grew brighter, like the lights of an oncoming train.

  The small boulder I had been stealthily raising into the air behind Iceburn slammed into his back at my mental command. He cried out in pain, flailing in the air. I shifted the boulder slightly so it was on top of him. Maybe I could not act on Iceburn’s body directly thanks to his suit. That did not mean I could not use other items as weapons against him. The power lines I had wrapped around his body the night of Dad’s death had shown me that.

  Still exerting my powers on the boulder, I sent it plummeting toward the ground with Iceburn underneath it. If I could not squeeze Iceburn to death directly with my powers, I would kill him this way. There was more than one way to step on a bug. I too dropped in the air as the boulder dropped, keeping pace with it. The wind whistled in my ears. My heart sang with anticipation, though doubt nagged at the edge of my conscience. No, there was no time for doubts now. I had waited too long for this moment. I had to focus.

  Iceburn tried repeatedly to fly away from the boulder. I shifted the boulder as he shifted, keeping it on top of him. Iceburn twisted around. He touched the boulder with his hand that glowed blue. Almost instantly, the boulder was covered in a thick sheath of ice. Now the boulder was too heavy for me to handle. It had taken every bit of will I had to lift the small boulder into the air and shift it around when it had not been encased in ice.

  Iceburn flew from under the boulder now that I could not properly adjust it. I released my hold on the boulder, letting it fall unfettered to the ground. It was now too heavy for me to use it as a weapon.

  I rocketed toward Iceburn with my force field around me. I intended to pummel him to death with my bare hands. Right as I was about to slam into him, Iceburn moved out of the way at the last moment. My momentum made me sail past him. I brought myself to a stop as quickly as I could. I gathered myself and reoriented, spotting again where Iceburn hung in the air. I launched myself at him again like a guided missile. He dropped out of the way right as I was about to hit him. I again sailed past him, twisting in midair to keep him in sight as I decelerated. My last attack had just been a feint, anyway. The partially burnt tree I had already ripped from the ground shot toward Iceburn like a thrown spear. A red-orange beam burst from his hand. Even from this far away, I felt the heat of the blast. The tree burnt to literal ash before it hit him.

  Iceburn twisted in the air to face me. He shouted, “I was right before, kid: you have been learning. You’re not the easy target you were when I first met you. I wonder if you’re as fast as me, though.”

  With that, he turned, and shot off toward the horizon. Without hesitation, I took off after him before I lost sight of him. He was not going to get away. Not this time.

  Iceburn zigged and zagged in the air. I mimicked his movements, following him like the tail on a rabid dog. Flying as fast as I could, I started to close the gap with him a bit. My stomach tightened in anticipation. Then, suddenly, I could close the gap between us no further. This was despite the fact I strained with effort, flying faster than I ever had before. What I needed was something to stop Iceburn with, or at least slow him down. We were high up in the air, flying in and out of the clouds. There was nothing up here I could use as a weapon. I hazarded a quick glance down. Everything below was a blur as we zoomed over the earth. I would have to slow down to see well enough to pick something up to use against Iceburn. At the speed Iceburn flew, I knew if I slowed down, I would lose him.

  The fact I initially closed the gap with Iceburn and then could get no closer to him made me suspicious. That, plus the fact I had not been able to get ahold of him in our brief aerial dogfight made me think he was a faster flyer than I was. Was Iceburn deliberately not losing me? Was he leading me somewhere? But where? And why?

  I soon had my answer. Iceburn dropped sharply toward the ground at a forty-five degree angle. I slowed as I approached where Iceburn had dropped, alert for a trap. I arrived above where Iceburn had descended in time to see him land in front of a multi-story building. It was in a cluster of smaller buildings. The buildings were
in a small clearing surrounded by trees. I had no idea where we were. I had been chasing Iceburn for several minutes at top speed. There were no landmarks I recognized. I was completely disoriented.

  As I watched, Iceburn looked up at me. He gave me a cheery wave. He opened a door to the tall building. He stepped inside and out of my view.

  Hyperalert to any sign of danger, I landed as far as I could from where Iceburn had entered the tall building while still keeping the entrance in site. Signage around the building indicated it and the surrounding smaller buildings were a vacant office complex scheduled for demolition in a few weeks. Part of me want to charge into the building after Iceburn and end this once and for all. The other part of me knew better. “Never let the enemy pick the battle site,” came the words of General George S. Patton into my mind. I had learned them in my Hero Psychology, Strategy, and Tactics class. Iceburn wanted me to follow him into that building. It was as clear as the nose on my face.

  Going into the building alone would play into Iceburn’s hands. I was sure of it.

  It was time to call for backup.

  20

  Perhaps Iceburn had not planned on me having help. Besides, I had promised Isaac and Neha. My promise to them had flashed through my mind when I had first seen Iceburn, but I had been too busy fighting him to get into touch with them before now.

  I punched the code for Isaac’s communicator into my wristband so I could speak to him without everyone else from camp hearing.

  “Why are you bothering me Theo?” came Isaac’s voice into my earbud in a few seconds. “I’m busy toasting marshmallows over the world’s biggest campfire.”

  “Iceburn confronted me a little while ago,” I said without preamble into my communicator. “I’ve chased him to a building. He went inside. I have it under surveillance right now. I think I need some help.”

  “I’ll pick Smoke up and hone in on the GPS in your wristband,” Isaac said. His voice was suddenly all business. “We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

  I launched myself back into the air, moving high and far enough away from the building so I could see if Iceburn flew out of it. Now that I was not so busy chasing Iceburn, I could pay more attention to the details of my surroundings. The building Iceburn had gone into was ten stories tall. It was grayish-white in color, and rectangular in shape. Many of its windows were broken. From my vantage point high in the air, I floated and watched, waiting impatiently for Neha and Isaac.

  After a while—it seemed like an eternity but was probably only fifteen minutes or so—I spotted a white dot up in the sky. As I watched, the dot grew bigger and bigger. It was a white horse. No, it was not merely a horse: it was a pegasus. Its broad white wings beat the air rapidly. I had never seen one before in real life of course, but I had seen plenty of Isaac’s drawings of them taped up onto the walls of our room. Neha sat astride the pegasus, gripping its long white mane as it flew toward me. In her camp uniform and mask, she looked the way a Valkyrie might have looked when she rode into battle.

  The pegasus came up alongside of me. I dropped back down to the ground in front of but far away from where I had seen Iceburn enter the building. The pegasus followed, beating its majestic white wings powerfully. Gusts of air from its wings kicked up dust from the ground when it landed gently next to me. Neha swung her leg over, and hopped off. The pegasus shimmered and glowed, shrinking in on itself. In moments the costumed and masked figure of Isaac stood where the pegasus had been.

  “It was your first time riding me,” Isaac said to Neha. “Was it as good for you as it was for me?” I doubted he would have made that joke had he known Neha and I had slept together. We had not told him. It was none of his business.

  Neha rolled her eyes slightly at Isaac’s words, but otherwise ignored him. She turned to me.

  “What’s the situation?” she asked. I quickly sketched out what had happened in my encounter with Iceburn. Since I had not seen him leave the building while I waited for them to arrive, I told them I assumed Iceburn was still inside. I also told them I assumed Iceburn was lying in wait for me.

  “At the risk of being made fun of for being the voice of reason, shouldn’t we call for more backup?” Neha said. “There are several fully licensed Heroes nearby, not to mention a bunch of trainees. We could meet Iceburn with overwhelming force, trap or no trap. Shock and awe.” I was about to protest calling in others to help when Isaac beat me to it.

  “Are you insane?” he said. “That guy in there killed Theo’s father. If somebody takes him down, it has to be Theo. And we’re going to help him do it.” I could not have said it better myself. I nodded firmly in agreement.

  “I know we’re going to help him,” Neha said. She sighed in resignation. “Just like I knew that would be your attitude about calling for reinforcements.” Her lips tightened grimly. “I can’t say I even disagree with you. I just thought someone ought to point out walking into a fight with a gun is probably not the most sensible move when you can walk in with a nuclear missile instead.”

  “Come on, let’s go,” I said. I was tired of all the talking. I was anxious to end this once and for all. With my personal force field up, I started walking toward the door Iceburn had gone into. Isaac stopped me.

  “Hold on Theo,” he said. “We don’t want to have to search the whole building for this guy.” As Neha and I watched, Isaac’s form glowed as it always did when he underwent a transformation. His form grew taller, though slightly hunched over. His uniform disappeared, replaced with long, coarse black fur that covered his entire body. His ears became long and pointed, and his mouth elongated into a snout full of yellowed, sharp teeth. His eyes were small, beady, and red. The fingernails of his hands stretched out into long black claws. His now bigger body stopped glowing, making the big sinewy muscles he now had become obvious.

  Isaac had turned into a werewolf. He looked terrifying, like a nightmare come to life.

  “I’ll go first,” Isaac said. The words came out as a snarl. They were hard to understand. “I can track him like this.” We all cautiously approached the door. Isaac opened it, and we went inside. Neha brought up the rear.

  It was dim and hushed inside. We could still see adequately thanks to the sunlight coming in through the broken and dirty windows. We were inside what probably was once the welcome area for the old office building. The place was a mess, with debris everywhere. Everything was still and quiet. There was no sign of Iceburn.

  Isaac’s snout tilted into the air. I heard him sniffing. His big nostrils dilated and contracted over and over. With a slight jerk of his big wolf head, he motioned Neha and me to follow him down a hall to the left. Despite his size, Isaac’s werewolf form moved gracefully over and through the debris. He barely made a sound. I could not say the same for Neha and myself. In the stillness of the building, the two of us sounded like stampeding elephants. Iceburn would hear us coming from a mile away like this. I activated my powers, lifting myself into the air to float after Isaac. I glanced back meaningfully at Neha. She nodded in understanding. Her lower body became smoky and translucent. She now glided after Isaac and me as silently as a wisp of smoke.

  Isaac led us down one hallway after another. It felt like we were in a maze. Finally, Isaac paused before reaching an open doorway on the right. He looked back at us, pointing repeatedly at the door with his clawed hand. It was obvious he meant Iceburn was in there.

  I held up my hand with my fingers extended. I dropped them one at a time. When I reached the count of five, we burst into the room like we had been shot out of a cannon.

  Iceburn was inside. He stood in the middle of the room, facing us, unmoving. The room was large and mostly empty except for a heavy-looking wooden desk and some matching empty bookshelves. An executive’s old office, maybe.

  My friends and I spread out in front of Iceburn so as to not present a single target. Iceburn was on top of something. It was a couple of inches tall, metallic, circular, and maybe two feet or so in diameter. I did not know what i
t was. As long as it did not keep me from taking Iceburn out, I did not care what it was.

  I was close enough to Iceburn to get a look at his eyes behind his mask for the first time. They were a dark brown. They flicked from Isaac, to Neha, to me. I also noticed he wore a thick black belt with big buttons where a buckle would normally be. I had not noticed it on him before because it was the same dark black as his costume.

  “I was wondering how long it would take you to come in after me, Theo,” he said. I hated the fact he called me Theo. My friends called me Theo. “And you brought your girlfriend and your dog. How cute.” He did not seem concerned about the fact he was outnumbered. His lack of concern made me all the more concerned. What was he up to?

  “You have two options, Iceburn,” Isaac snarled. “Option A is you surrender. Option B is we beat the crap out of you. I for one hope you pick B.”

  Iceburn tilted his head slightly to the side in surprise.

  “So you know my name? That was unexpected. Soon enough, it won’t matter,” he said. “As for the choices you’ve presented me with, I don’t like either A or B. I choose Option C instead.”

  Iceburn reached down and hit one of the buttons on his belt. His body flickered like it was a television getting a bad signal. Before any of us could react, Iceburn disappeared.

  I glanced around frantically. “Where did he go?” I demanded, confused, frustrated, and angry. “Invisibility?”

  Isaac sniffed the air.

  “He’s nowhere around here,” he said.

  “He could be anywhere in the world,” Neha said. She sounded disgusted. She pointed. “That’s a transporter pad he was standing on. I recognize it now. I’ve seen my dad use one before. As long as another pad elsewhere is programmed to receive you, you can use those pads to teleport just about anywhere.”

  Dread stabbed me in the heart like a dagger. I had suspected this was a trap. Now I knew it was. Why else would Iceburn lure me into the building, and then teleport away as soon as he confirmed I was inside?