Super Powereds: Year 2 (89 page)

“Vince!”

He could hear the panic in Camille’s voice; he wished she’d listened to him and looked away. His uniform was on fire, the flames were beginning to lick against his skin. Vince had imagined all the severed muscles would restrict his ability to feel pain. Either he was wrong, or the pain was so great it didn’t matter. He set his jaw and resisted the urge to scream. This had to be hard enough for his teammate to watch; he wouldn’t let her know how badly he was hurting. He’d been burned before; he knew what was still in store for him.

The smoke was getting overpowering; it was growing steadily harder to breath. Good. Only a little bit longer. He needed to be certain the tree was burning on its own. He couldn’t hear Camille’s words anymore, but he could definitely hear her yelling at him. The fire was too loud, or he was too close. God he wished she’d looked away. Vince glanced down and realized that his left hand was turning charred and black; the proximity to the fire had burned away all the nerves before he’d noticed it. His vision was getting blurry. Time was up, now or never. He could only pray it had been long enough.

Vince absorbed the fire in an instant, the branch dissolving into ash as he took both its current energy and all the energy it would have generated as it burned. His jacket was taken too. Mercifully his pants hadn’t caught fire in time to be absorbed. He saw that his torso was sooty and black. At least he hoped that was soot.

“What is wrong with you? Why would you do that?” Camille wasn’t yelling anymore; from the rasp in her voice it sounded like she’d screamed herself horse. Her cheeks were wet, glistening with tears that still flowed freely from her eyes. Poor girl. Vince would apologize afterward. He couldn’t respond yet; he needed all his focus for the last part.

Carefully he rolled onto his side, aiming as best he could. He pressed his ruined hand onto the charred ground that had once been grass. He owed a thank you to Nick for forcing him to gain some semblance of control of this new aspect to his powers, and to Roy for charging him up. With a grunt of effort he blasted the solid ground with kinetic energy, sending him hurtling across the grass and leaving a trail of partially cooked flesh where it scraped against him. He nearly passed out again, this time unquestionably from pain, but he fought back the sensation of slumber and rolled himself over. He was close to Camille now, almost in arm’s reach. With one last burst of effort, Vince rolled over once, twice, three more times. The third was the last he had in him: as his vision turned skyward the screaming pain finally overwhelmed his willpower and he fell into the blissful darkness.

“You fucking idiot.” A pair of dainty hands fell on his forehead, the only part of him she could reach. Camille choked back a sob as she looked at him. He was a wreck; he was destroyed. He’d gotten to her at the cost of god only knew how much pain. She began healing the burns first, watching his skin turn back to its normal pink hue. Then she healed the muscles and finally the cuts Shane had left on his body.

It took only a moment and his eyes fluttered open. He pulled himself upright and gave his body a quick once over. Satisfied he was healthy, he turned to Camille.

“Thank you, yet again,” he said with a smile.

He pushed his restored hand under her branch then blasted it away with a kinetic burst. Since he was able to aim, there was no fear it would come down on her like his branch might have. It crashed into a tree and shattered into little more than splinters. Camille pulled herself up, ignoring his outstretched hand. She took a brief moment to heal her own injuries and wipe her face, then she turned to face him.

Had he known it was coming, Vince probably could have dodged her punch. As it was, it struck him squarely in the jaw, leaving him with watering eyes of his own.

“Fuck you! Fuck you for doing that! Fuck you taking that risk! Fuck you for... FUCK YOU!” Camille was shaking and her face was red, but for once it had nothing to do with embarrassment. “You could have died, you idiot. If you’d passed out from pain or smoke inhalation you could have burned to death under that branch. Did you even think of that? I can’t heal the dead, you goddamned pigheaded moron. We’d have been fine, we’d have survived.”

“I would have been eliminated,” Vince said softly, avoiding her eyes. “If I don’t give them some reason to keep me, if I go down again, I won’t come back next year.”

This time Vince did see it coming, but he purposely didn’t avoid it. Camille slapped him on the cheek with all her might, adding to the already noticeable pain in his jaw.

“So what! You’d have moved on. There is life after Lander. But you can’t help anyone if you die. You can’t be there for the people you care about in any capacity, Hero or otherwise. Did you think about that? Did you really consider the consequences for everyone else while selfishly risking your life for some stupid job? Life doesn’t end if you get kicked out. Life definitely ends if you burn yourself to death in some dumbass escape attempt. The next time you do anything like that, I’m not going to heal you. I’ll pull you back from death, but then I’ll leave you to suffer.”

Her shaking was getting worse. Vince reached his arms around her and pulled her in close. It wasn't a conscious decision: in that moment it was merely what he knew she needed him to do. She struggled briefly then allowed him to hold her until the shivering subsided.

“I won’t help you kill yourself,” she whispered into his chest.

“I’ll be more careful,” Vince told her. “I promise.”

She stayed in his arms for a few moments more then pulled away. “What’s done is done. We should get moving. We made a lot of noise.”

Vince nodded wordlessly and they set off back into the battle. Camille made no offer to heal the blows she’d dealt, and he didn’t dream of asking for it.

179.

Rich might have heard his assailant coming if he hadn’t been distracted by Julia’s clone talking. He might have seen him if his gaze hadn’t been drawn by smoke rising to the north. He might have still had a shot if he’d gotten that prickling sensation of being watched before the taser sent its searing voltage into his back. None of those things happened, which only goes to show that a power which can merely affect probability still has its uses. By the time Rich recovered, he realized his hands had been bound behind his back and a thick strip of cloth was tied against his head, covering his eyes.

“Julia! Call for help!”

“So sorry, your energy clone has been disconnected. Please pick up a fresh one and try again later.”

Rich felt the tension he hadn’t noticed in his shoulders loosen. Being captured was bad. Having his eyes covered was worse. But if he was only caught by Nick, then he didn’t have much to worry about. The guy had caught a few lucky breaks, obviously, but he was nothing to get worked up over.

“Did you shock her too?”

“Cracked her over the head with a branch. I’m afraid she’s completely dissipated already.” Nick’s voice was coming from behind Rich, and it was calm. Actually, this was the first time Rich remembered Nick not coming off as flippant, joking, or sarcastic in some manner.

“That was stupid. If it had been the real one you might have gotten disqualified, not to mention seriously hurt her.”

“A calculated risk. I needed access to you, and I couldn’t risk her relaying to the others what was about to happen.”

“You leaving me captured and useless?” The tension was creeping back into Rich. Something wasn’t right. Ambushing him might have been Nick’s style, but the rest of this, the careful bindings, the ruthless dispatching of Julia’s clone, it didn’t sit right.

Nick laughed, and something in Rich’s stomach turned. “I’m not leaving you anywhere. You’re going to be a very helpful part in making sure my team wins.”

Rich snorted and felt Nick draw closer. Nick leaned in closely, his mouth less than an inch from Rich’s ear. Briefly he contemplated a head butt; however, he doubted Nick was as open as he seemed. This was all too calculated for him to make an error like that.

“I don’t want anyone to overhear this part,” Nick whispered, his breath hot on Rich’s ear. “It also wouldn’t do for them to read my lips later from some hidden camera’s video, so forgive the proximity. When they ask you about this later, you should tell them this is where I threatened to kill you.”

Rich gulped, not because he thought Nick was actually making that threat, but because some part of him understood he wouldn’t be telling him to lie if he wasn’t about to threaten something worse.

“In fact, this is where I tell you that I also employ a hidden camera or two from time to time. Like that time before winter break where I paid you and Adam to come incapacitate and then impersonate Vince to take his test for him.”

“But-” Rich’s next words never left his mouth; they were superseded by a cry of pain as Nick reached down and pulled back his pinky until it snapped.

“Your mouth isn’t covered. You don’t get to talk. Sorry about that, but at least that will make this look real.”

Rich whimpered softly, but otherwise took the cue and remained silent.

“Now then, I’m sure you were going to say that if I really did have that tape, then turning it in would get both Adam and me in trouble, too. You’re certainly correct there; however, you’re also operating under the delusion that I give two fucks about staying here. In that regard, you are woefully wrong. So here is what is going to happen. You will stand up and loudly protest that you’re not telling me where the orb is. That will keep the professors from intervening when they notice I’ve taken you prisoner. If you try and yell about me threatening your life right now, then they’ll save you. And then I’ll show them you committing extreme academic fraud for money, all but guaranteeing the end of your career as a Hero. If you play along, on the other hand, I promise to give you that video file and make sure you come out blameless when the dust settles. Your choice.”

Rich felt himself being pulled up, and while the force was rough, there was evidently care to make sure he got his footing and didn’t fall down. A sharp pain came from the broken finger in his hand. This was insane; this couldn’t really be happening. He was a Super, a skilled warrior. He couldn’t have been taken prisoner, have been made utterly useless so easily. And by Nick of all people! But... the scam to help Vince had been smart. The more Rich thought about it, the more it started making sense. Despite his demeanor, didn’t Nick always seem to come out ahead? Everyone had brushed it off as luck, but maybe...

Nick cleared his throat and brushed Rich’s broken finger, sending more pain through it. He was supposed to deliver the line about the orb: that was Nick reminding him. He could still call for help. The professors would let a certain amount slide, this was a brutal game by its nature, however this had to be more than they’d tolerate. He could get free, but if Nick was telling the truth, his career as a Hero would be destroyed. So it came down to whether or not he thought Nick was so cunning a person that he would record his own illicit activities in case he needed to blackmail his compatriots later. Rich didn’t think he was. Of course, he also didn’t think Nick was the type to do any of the things that had passed in the last five minutes. So, was he willing to risk it?

“Let me go, damn it! I’m not telling you who has the orb!”

“Fine then; I’m still keeping you with me to make sure you don’t get free,” Nick replied loudly. Rich could imagine the smug look on his face, and to his credit, he got it almost exactly right. The part he missed he can hardly be blamed for: only a select few people knew that Nick’s eyes glowed with golden light when he used his power.

Right now, resting atop that calculated smug expression, they blazed like a pair of twin suns.

180.

Alice was surprised to see a rock floating up to her, given her location in the air and the general lack of buoyancy associated with dense minerals. Then she realized someone had etched “Follow Me” across the flat front of it and grew suspicious. This looked like Mary’s doing, but it could be a trap. Violet could have made a rock light enough to get up here, but she couldn’t have made it guide her back to an ambush. Agatha could make inanimate objects move; however she was unable to change their properties. Alice was reasonably sure Tiffani’s illusions didn’t have this good a range, but just to be sure, she poked the stone with her finger. It wasn’t a high-minded or fancy test, but the stone was solid, so she knew it was real.

That left the combination of Will and Jill, who might have made this using some crazy technology. Alice was reasonably certain she could get the drop on them if it was. Besides, this was a weirdly specific gizmo to have up their sleeves. At last she realized the easiest way to get confirmation. She thought about how if it were really Mary sending this, it should start doing loop the loops. Sure enough, the stone began floating in tight circles through the sky. That was as good as Alice was going to get, so she thought about how she was ready to follow it, then floated after as it began to descend.

The stone drifted down to Mary, who was waiting in a small clearing just large enough for Alice to land in safely.

“Find Britney?”

“Sadly, no. She used Gilbert to hop about periodically, making tracking her all but impossible. I managed to avoid everyone and hang onto our orb, at least.”

“That’s something. So why the rock?” Alice’s feet settled gently on the ground using a controlled maneuver that the Powered version of her could never have imagined.

“I need to round up as many of us as possible. We’re supposed to meet at the depository before it goes active,” Mary explained.

“Are we laying an ambush?”

“Honestly? I have no idea what we’re doing,” Mary sighed. “We’ve got enough time to grab Roy on the way, so we should get moving. Alex woke up a little while ago; he got the message from me and is already on his way.”

“What about Nick?”

“No idea where he is or what he’s doing. I owed him a day of not listening to his thoughts from a favor last year, and he called it in during this match. He’s the one who wants us to meet with him, so I feel safe assuming he has something planned.”