Super Powereds: Year 2 (91 page)

Because, if Globe was right, there was a very real risk that Vince might kill someone.

Nick was snapped out of his reverie by the sound of a loud horn being broadcast through the arena. All at once, the red light that had been shining down on the depository turned blue. The five minutes window had started. Game on.

* * *

“Vince...”

Her voice was a rasp, a whisper on the winds of impending death. She was so broken, so bloody, yet she reached up and carefully took his hand in her own. Her fingers were slick with blood, all of it her own.

“Vince... they’re coming back for me. Get away. Run.”

Something in his stomach twisted. A cold sensation he’d felt only once before began to seep through his brain. The world started dissolving. All his uncertainties, all his fears, all his concerns melted away from thought. All that remained was the girl. The girl, and the monsters that had done this to her.

From all around a hideous belting sound filled the air. The beasts in the shadows clacked their jaws together in hunger. Vince didn’t know what they were saying, but he understood that the sound had been a signal.

She pawed at him desperately. “They’re... coming.”

She was right; he could already hear their movements. They were drawing closer, but there was still some distance to cover. That was good. That gave him space to work in.

Vince leaned in and tenderly kissed her forehead, his mouth filling with the taste of copper.

“Don’t be afraid. I’ll protect you. I promise.”

He rose and faced the wall of shadows, out of which the twisted creatures had begun to emerge. They were coming all right, and coming fast. That was fine with Vince. Let them come. Let the bastards who had done this make the mistake of drawing close to him. He reached down within himself and felt the energy stored there.

Let them come. Vince was ready to show them what a true monster was.

183.

The explosion-like sound surprised all of the students, even those who had possessed some inkling of the hallucination occurring in Vince’s brain. In one moment he had been calmly muttering to a steel box, the top of which had twisted open at the sound of the horn. He’d risen slowly and purposefully taken several strides forward. His breathing was even, his eyes were focused, his body was taut with anticipation. It was evident he was calmly awaiting any challengers.

Then came the blast, a tremendous sound that was in fact a thunderclap from the bolt of electricity Vince hurled into the tree line where some of the students were emerging. That smoking ruin was less eye-catching than Vince himself - at least the Vince they could see once their eyes adjusted to sudden increase in light. Vince, or Vince as they knew him, was gone. In his place stood a wraith of fire, a human shape exuding continuous flames from his body. Columns of fire lanced the ground in front of him, creating a charred and burning landscape that would be treacherous even for most of these Supers to cross. Electricity crackled at his fingertips, dancing along his digits in a malicious foxtrot of anticipation. For most that was all they saw. For a poor few with gifts of vision, they were able to catch a glimpse of more. They could pierce the flames and see the face of the young man working to burn the world, and what lay on his visage was nothing that gave them comfort. Vince was not regretful, nor worried, nor fearful of what was to come.

Vince was eager. Furiously eager. He couldn’t wait for them to come closer. The fire was only the beginning. He wanted to show them the rest.

* * *

“Sweet fucking Christ,” Roy cursed, ducking instinctively at the loud sound and sudden burst of flame.

“I think that’s our cue,” Nick said, his eyes darting through the field of competitors to gauge their reactions. Most were surprised, some were afraid. A few were stalwart, but cautious. Nick noted the last group particularly. In the end that information wouldn’t make a large difference, but it might make a small one. “You all know what to do.”

“Kick ass until the bell sounds or we’re all knocked out,” Roy surmised, pulling himself back up and dashing off toward a cluster of opponents still recovering their wits.

“I do love his enthusiasm,” Nick remarked.

“He does have spunk,” Alex concurred. He and Mary darted toward Vince; they needed to be close enough to deflect things hurled at him while staying far enough away to avoid his sweeping flame attacks.

“Nick, is this really going to work?” Alice floated a few feet from him, almost close enough to touch. He took his time answering her, pretending to be mulling it over. In truth he already knew what he would say; he was taking this time to stare unabashedly at his blonde dorm mate. She was truly beautiful: he could finally admit that to himself. It wasn’t just the golden hair, the stunning body, or the wide blue-eyes. It was her tenacity. Alice had turned from a spoiled princess into a determined warrior, and she’d done it mostly through her own gumption and relentlessness. He admired that. He adored that.

He was going to miss that.

“It will work,” he assured her at last. “At least, if we all do our best, it has a hell of a good shot. That’s all any of us can really hope for.”

Alice nodded her understanding. “I’ll try to keep my gravity fields off you, but I can’t make promises when dealing with this many people in this big of an area. Watch the grass; if it’s bending back on itself, stay clear of that area.” With that, she rose into the air and darted toward the center of the clearing. She would be a sitting duck, but Nick had a feeling most of the people who could bring her down would have their attention focused on Vince.

“Nice speech,” Camille said. They were alone now, save for Rich, who seemed to have decided long ago that silence was his ally in this precarious situation.

“Thank you.”

“One thing I can’t help but notice: you’ve put Vince in a situation where he is using lethal force without hesitation. Don’t you think that might put a damper on his chances of advancing, seeing as it’s an immediate disqualification?”

“It certainly would, were he doing it by choice. But when a man stabs someone, you don’t arrest the knife. That would be senseless. No, all the blame here lies not on the instrument of force, but on the man wielding it.”

“I reached the same conclusion,” Camille admitted softly. “You know, you’re a pretty terrible person.”

“You’re not the first to accuse me of such.”

“I didn’t imagine I would be. Still, in spite of that, or maybe because of it, you’re also a really good friend.”

“On that account,” Nick sighed, “I am nearly certain you are the first to utter such words. Now shush, the other teams have nearly reached our defenders. Once they do, we’ll be in for one heck of a show.”

* * *

The observation room, previously filled only with softly whispered comments and observations, was now erupting into a din of noise as the situation below unfolded. Dean Blaine kept his cool; he had seen situations far worse than this one during his long career as a Hero and educator. That said, he also recognized the beginnings of first-class shitstorm when he saw them.

“That boy really put his dick in the beehive now,” muttered Professor Cole from under her cloth wraps. Dean Blaine was inclined to agree, however he kept that particular thought to himself.

“Now, everyone, please settle down. We’re all experienced combatants here; the concept of ‘shock and awe’ is not one that should be new to any of us. What Mr. Reynolds is doing, while unexpected, is a perfectly acceptable tactic in trying to drive off enemy forces.”

“And what are we going to do if it escalates beyond just a show?” Professor Hill asked.

“We’re going to keep the students safe, as we always have,” Dean Blaine replied. “In order to do that we need to keep a close watch on them, however. So I would appreciate it if we could cut the chatter and keep focused on the matter at hand.”

With that, the assembled individuals turned their attention back to the screens.

The sight that greeted them was pure chaos.

184.

Many of the students would one day look back at this day, their final match of sophomore year, as the moment when they finally understood what it was they were aspiring toward. The matches they’d had previously, while difficult, had been controlled by their very nature. There were always safeguards, always rules, always a set number of variables to be accounted for. In the last five minutes of their match, none of that was true. It was their first taste of true battle. There was no order, no simple objectives. There was only chaos, and fear, and violence.

And fire. All of them would remember that quite clearly. There was so very much fire.

* * *

Sasha held back until the first wave of people crashed together, Roy in the center smacking away bodies like yappy dogs at his feet. She waited because she was smart, because she knew the real action was up at the area marked by the blue beam, with her ex-boyfriend impersonating a bonfire just in front of it. Sasha didn’t know what was going on with him, but it didn’t matter. Chad had their orb; all she needed to do was intercept any other team’s depositor who looked like they might get past Vince. She needed to reposition herself, so once the initial fray began she took off from her hiding place.

Sasha was only running for a couple of seconds when she felt her legs give out from under her. She crashed heavily to the ground, the pain slapping across her body far worse than it should have been from a mere fall. She was tough, she was a speeder; she didn’t get hurt from simple tumbles. With great effort she pulled herself up onto her elbows, only to fall right back down. It was insane; it was like something was pulling her down, like her body weighed hundreds of pounds. Remembering her team’s match with Team One, she searched her limited field of vision for Mary, certain she was the cause of her sudden immobility. There was no sign of her, not that it would have mattered if there had been. Sasha’s real problem, and the problem of many students similarly sprawled across the ground, was floating twenty feet overhead, fist clenched in concentration.

* * *

Stella made it past Roy’s ruckus and steered clear of the areas where everyone seemed to have become forcibly enamored with studying the grass. The burning ground licked at her feet, but it wasn’t hot enough to melt her metal body so it was easily ignorable. She didn’t have her team’s orb - that had been entrusted to Amber and Tiffani - however, she wasn’t certain those two would be able to approach with Vince laying down random blasts of fire. They could move without being seen or heard; that didn’t mean they were immune to heat stroke or sudden incineration. As if on cue, Vince lanced the ground with twin blasts of fire, one from each palm, narrowly missing Hector and Allen. Damn, Vince was not fucking around: he’d really been trying to hit them.

Her pace quickened. He might have a great offense, but once she got in close, Vince had no chance. She just needed to make it another dozen feet or so. A bit of ground gave way beneath her weight and her eyes flickered away from her target, only for a moment. It was long enough to miss the attack, not that it would have made any difference.

Stella’s body went limp and her brain became useless as a barrage of electricity coursed through her. For all the protection her metallic form offered against the fire, it left her more vulnerable to attacks that could be measured in voltage. Her consciousness faded away, though not before she felt a foot step on top of her for the briefest of instants. Someone had been running behind her, using her as cover. There were a few candidates to pull off such a ballsy maneuver, but she had a hunch it was one in particular. Stella greeted the unconscious world with a smile on her lips. At least her efforts hadn’t been for nothing.

* * *

Mary mentally knocked a marble the size of a sedan back at Terrance, who hurriedly dodged out of the way. Checking to be sure the coast was clear, she hustled to the depository and placed her team’s orb inside. She’d circled around to approach from the rear, thankful Nick had programmed Vince’s delusion to see them as allies. Briefly she wondered how they appeared to him. Occasionally she would peek at his thoughts, but they were convoluted and wild; it was hard to get more than general impressions of what he was seeing. One thing she did know: however he was viewing their competitors, it was not favorably.

Vince jerked at a sudden noise and let fly a bolt of electricity directly into Stella’s torso. Strange, he had only used fire until now, but he changed tactics exactly as he should have against his opponent. Mary wondered if he was still able to discern their abilities through the haze of his hallucination. She might have investigated, but at that moment she noticed something that had escaped her attention before: Chad had been running behind Stella during her ascent, using her loud approach and attention-gathering nature to hide his own assault. When the metal girl went down, he never broke stride, stepping directly on her as he continued to approach.

For the briefest of moments Mary was tempted to intervene. Chad was incredibly powerful, no doubt about that, but at this range she still had a good chance of sending him sailing away. Mary readied herself to let fly with a telekinetic blast, then stopped. He might be able to dodge, just as he was avoiding the fireballs Vince was hurling at him. Beyond that, Nick had said all they were doing was pushing back the weaker students so Vince could face the strong ones. If ever there was a chance for Vince to prove himself, it was against Chad Taylor. Mary redirected her focus toward the rest of the students working toward their direction. She needed to keep them at bay.

If Vince was going up against Chad, he was going to need every last bit of concentration he could muster.

185.

Chad was more than observant, more than intuitive, and more than able to recall any memory in perfect detail. Oh, Chad was certainly all of those things, but he was something else as well: Chad was intelligent. He possessed the kernel of brilliance that allowed him to take in the details of a situation and make the leap from curiosity to explanation. In this case, however, it had been closer to a short hop.