Chapter 23 – Blow Up!

In a darkened room in an undisclosed location, a man sat brooding in the dark. In fact, the only light in the room was coming from his computer terminal where he had been reviewing the latest communication from the aliens. The Praecetorians seemed to delight in breaking into his computer systems in order to deliver their messages/orders/ultimatums. Sometimes, the man wondered why he ever signed up for the devil’s contract at all.

The latest fiasco in New Zealand had set back the Hydra Project by years. The New Zealand base had been the source of the latest version of the Hydra Super Soldier, which showed much promise. The newest Hydra Super Soldier boasted minimal body fat, near superhuman strength and reflexes, and absolute instantaneous response to the simplest of verbal or remote control commands. The key word, of course, was simplest. As strong and as fast as the Hydra Super Soldier was, he was dumb. Capable of only following the most strict and carefully worded commands, the Hydra Super Soldier lacked what any normal soldier in the world possessed: the ability to think. Ironically, that dumbness had been part of the initial requirements of the whole project. The Hydras were meant to be the ultimate soldier: strong, fast, and completely obedient. The Praecetorians had promised all of this and had delivered. They could not be blamed if the Hydras didn’t have much thinking power – or at least that’s what they claimed. Still, no matter where the blame lay, the New Zealand base was on the verge of rectifying that little problem when it was destroyed. The details were sketchy as there were no survivors, but the footage showed who the culprits were. Somehow, the ancient enemy of the Praecetorians had followed them to Earth to continue their war of extinction.

The man sighed deeply. With the emergence of yet another intelligent space faring race with superior technology, it was even more imperative that the Hydra project get off the ground. Many countries were secretly involved with the project, mainly as investors, and many of them were demanding results. It was possible that the whole project could be taken away from his control. The man sighed again. After the entire psion fiasco twenty years ago, he had been lucky to be asked to head this project. His life and career had been in the gutter, but like a phoenix who had been reborn he had re-emerged as the front man for the Hydra Project. Now, it looked as if even this would be taken away. He did not think he would be able to salvage his career a second time.

There was a beep from his computer and he looked up in time to watch the message replay itself for the umpteenth time. There were a series of photographs and video footage that featured one thing: a silvery winged form that appeared out of nowhere to perform some fantastic feat like a hero from a comic book. The media from around the world were starting to pick up on this story. It seems that the Angel was big news everywhere. The feelings of people everywhere ranged from openly hostile to outright religious furor. The aliens, however, had a different feeling entirely. The still photographs and the video footage of the Angel ended, only to be replaced by an image of a four armed alien standing upright. The alien stood in a pose that was obviously supposed to convey superiority and intimidate the man but he couldn’t help but to snort in derision. Unlike most of the people on Earth, he had met the aliens face to face and it is awfully hard to feel intimidated by a four foot green skinned alien with bug eyes. The phrase ‘little green men’ always seemed to pop up every time he saw one of them. He never said it out loud of course – the aliens detested that phrase for some strange reason.

The alien chattered away in its strange language. When the aliens first made contact, the man was given a small device that fit around his ear, not unlike an ear plug for a portable phone. After listening to the demands of the alien a few times, the man had ripped the translator off his ear and had thrown it on the table in disgust. Now, as he watched the alien make its demands once more, the man couldn’t help but to think about them. The demands were simple. Destroy the Angel, but do not use any of the advanced experimental weapons that have already been given. Instead, only conventional weapons must be used. The message zapped back to the beginning and the man watched the train of pictures and videos once more. As he gazed upon the magnificent, beautiful and obviously extraterrestrial form, he couldn’t help but wonder, how the hell to you kill something like that with only conventional weapons? However it was supposed to be done, the aliens had made it quite clear that unless the man complied, they would pull out from the deal and leave the Earth to its own devices. What that meant for the man’s career and life was not worth mentioning. The man gave himself a shake and allowed himself the luxury of one last heartfelt sigh and picked up the phone. He dialed a number and the line was picked after the first ring.

“Hello? Shelby? Yeah, it’s me. Are you watching the message too? So, they got to you too? Got any ideas? No? Well, I don’t see how we have much of a choice. How many Hydras do you have deployed? That many? Ok, how many can you spare? I’m thinking of the first generation pilot types, you know, the ones without all the super soldier accessories. This Angel seems to like to fly around. What say you that we throw a few flights of F-16s and F18s at it? Sure wish we had a couple of Albatrosses as well. Yeah, I know you’ve run into some hitches. I wish you could’ve let me and my boys in on that little project. You know we have so much more experience in that sort of thing. Yeah, yeah, old story…sorry about that. Anyway, let’s coordinate this. Put a couple of your pilot Hydras on standby and I’ll do the same. I’ll call you tomorrow to set up a base of operations. It’ll have to be black, of course, but I can handle that. Uh hunh. Yup. Alright, I’ll chat with you tomorrow.”

The man hung up the phone, and now that he had a plan of action, felt marginally better. He felt a moment of regret though. If only the psion project hadn’t fallen down so completely. He would have been in a much better position to negotiate with the aliens if he had an army of super psions behind him. The light from his computer screen briefly illuminated his face as he reached over to turn off the monitor. The light also briefly illuminated his uniform, the parade of medals on his chest, as well as the quartet of stars on each of his shoulders.

---

It was a cold Saturday morning in mid-December and Tracy quietly sat in Michael’s room, waiting for him to come home. Serena had let her in and then slipped out with a vague excuse about an errand to run. Tracy didn’t mind. In fact, she was glad that Serena had left. She rather liked Serena and didn’t want her to witness what was going to happen whenever Michael decided to show up.

Michael’s bed looked untouched, as if no one had slept in it for days. Not only that, Tracy had made sure to arrive at a time in the morning when most people would still be trying to sleep in on a cold December Saturday. Where was he? What was he doing at all hours of the night? Tracy felt herself start to get angry again but shook it off. Tonight was the big night when she, May and the rest of the group went after the Demons on their home turf. They would be doing it alone too. Ever since May’s mysterious Da Gueur had come out in to the light as the Angel, May had lost touch with him. It wasn’t for a lack of trying though. May had tried repeated to contact him, but it was as if he was ignoring her. Almost like how Michael was ignoring Tracy. Tracy gave herself a quick mental shake. What an incredulous thought! Tracy suddenly froze in mid-thought. Where was she taking this train of thought anyway? Michael couldn’t be the same as May’s Da Gueur anymore than he could be a psion! Tracy’s heart almost froze as she finally let herself consider the possibility that had been lurking in her mind ever since the night May was abducted. She dug into her pocket for the small piece of metal that she carried everywhere with her. Before she could draw it out though, she could the sound of the front door opening. Michael was home! She withdrew her hand and tried to look more relaxed than she felt as she sat on the edge of Michael’s bed. Today wasn’t the day for answers. Not yet. Today, she was going to get Michael to stop ignoring her. Today, she was going to break through that shell of his, even if it was just a tiny crack. Today, she was going to get her boyfriend back. She just hoped that she was strong enough!

Tracy heard faint footsteps moments before Michael walked into the room. His head reared back in surprise as he took in her appearance. His expression was one of pure shock.

“Tracy? What…what are you doing here?”

“What? Can’t a girl be in her boyfriend’s room?” quipped Tracy with a light tone, even though inside she felt anything but light.

Michael frowned and walked slowly into the room, as if half expecting a trap of some sort. “No, I guess I had always meant to show you my room, but just never got around to it.”

Tracy made a show of looking around the room and said, “It seems like a nice room…very clean. Is Serena still cleaning the house?”

Michael nodded wryly. “Yeah, she says that since it’s sort of a force of habit with her she may as well as continue. Besides, she’s never let me back into the laundry room ever since I turned her white panties pink. She said that if she wanted pink panties, she would have bought pink panties.”

They shared a chuckle and Tracy actually smiled a genuine smile at the thought of Michael mixing in whites with colors in the laundry. Such a typical mistake! Her thoughts turned sober enough though. She had to keep to the plan. “So, how have you been holding up, Michael?”

Michael’s face clammed shut. “Okay I guess.”

Tracy took a deep breath. Here goes nothing! “I haven’t seen much of you lately.”

Michael shrugged nonchalantly and said, “I’ve been busy.”

“We miss you at the school, everyone has been asking about you.”

“I’m fine,” said Michael in a clipped tone.

“They’re just worried –“

“I said I’m fine, ok?”

They lapsed into silence and then Michael said, “What’re you doing here anyway? I thought you’d be off training with May and the others.”

Tracy arched an eyebrow and said, “Oh, so you do remember the training? Do you know what it was for? We go after the Demons tonight. Not that you seem to care though.”

Michael looked surprised and a momentary flash of concern seemed to flit across his face. “Tonight? Where? When?”

“Do you even care?” asked Tracy in a tone that she had been practicing all week. It had just the right amount of sarcasm and tartness blended in. Apparently, all her practice was not in vain.

“What do you mean if I even care?” sputtered Michael in indignation. “Of course I care!”

“Do you? You haven’t even shown up at the school; you haven’t returned any of my calls. For all intents and purposes, you’ve dropped the face of the earth!” retorted Tracy. She was doing her best to sound angry, even though all she wanted to do was to reach out and hug Michael. Not for the first time that day, she fervently hoped that May was right.

“I’ve been…busy,” said Michael, almost petulantly.

“I can see that,” replied Tracy with just a hint of steel in her voice. “What I can’t see is with what. What have you been up to, Michael?”

Michael didn’t answer and instead looked away towards his window. Tracy decided to try tact number 2. “Look, Michael, I know it’s a difficult time for you…

Michael suddenly snapped his head back to Tracy. “You know nothing of what I’m going through, ok?”

“Michael…”

“Don’t Michael me! Look I know what you’re trying to do, but it won’t work, ok? I don’t need any help to get through this. I don’t! My parents are dead and nothing is going to bring them back! I know that!”

“Then why are –“

“I’m fine! I’m not in denial, I’m not in mourning, I’m not any of that! I don’t need any of your sympathy. What I do need is for you to stop calling me, stop patronizing me, stop looking at me like that! I don’t need it!” Michael’s face was scrunched up in anger and had turned a bright shade of red.

Through it all, Tracy sat as still as a doe caught in the headlights of an oncoming car on a dark highway. She didn’t try to match Michael’s fury, but instead tried the soft and compliant route. “But, Michael, I just want to help you…”

“I DON’T NEED YOUR HELP! I JUST NEED TO GET THE BASTARDS THAT MURDERED MY PARENTS!”

In a flash, Michael spun on his heel and virtually ran out of his room. Somehow, his door slammed shut behind him.

In the wake of the storm, Tracy remained sitting on Michael’s bed. It had gone pretty well. May had warned her not to take any of Michael’s reactions to heart. He was hurting inside and had been keeping everything bottled up. His emotions needed a chance to vent from his system; otherwise, they would begin to tear him up from inside. But what was that last bit about his parents being murdered? David and Mary Wellington were killed in a plane accident, weren’t they?

---

That could’ve gone a lot better, Michael thought contritely as he flew through the air.

<<Indeed it could have, young one.>>

I shouldn’t have blown up at Tracy like that. She didn’t deserve it.

<<She wanted only to help you, young one.>>

Well, I don’t need her help! I just need to kill some Valeans!

<<Killing Valeans will not bring your parents back, young one.>>

Don’t you start on me too, Big Bro. Don’t you think I know that?

<<Then why are you so set on this mad plan of yours?>>

The Valeans are the scum of the universe. They deserve to die! Every last one of them!

<<Young one, you saw the footage. They attacked a Praecetorian base. I am sure that your parents were only caught in the crossfire.>>

Oh, sure! So, the Valeans didn’t mean to kill my parents. They just blew up the whole damn building for the fun of it!

<<Young one…>>

That’s enough out of you Big Bro. I’m going hunting. I better find some Valeans tonight!

---

Dominic Pedro was having a lousy week. First his home was attacked by an unknown gang. Then his Adrianna was killed, right before his eyes. Then, he found out that the gang attacking his home was none other than the Demons. Now, here he was, ducking bullets once more. After finding out the identity of the attacking gang, Dominic had tried to turn his other cheek. He had gone, unarmed, into the very den of the Demons in order to meet with their leader Diablo to try to arrange some sort of settlement. Even making a deal with the devil was better than watching more of his people get killed.

He had waited in the dark smoky strip club, absentmindedly watching the latest girl woodenly take off her clothes when suddenly he felt it. He still wasn’t sure what that something was, though. It was like a prickling on the nape of his neck, a rising of the small fine hairs located there. He had launched himself out of his chair, only to brush by the large form of his would be attacker. Something flashed bright in the darkness of the club. Someone grabbed him from behind, and before they could get a firm grip on him, he smashed his head backward and was rewarded with a cry of pain.

Somehow, he had made it out of the club and behind some cover just as the bullets started to fly. The back of his head throbbed, but he was sure the other guy had to be feeling it a lot worse!

He looked around at his surroundings with a certain amount of chagrin. Damn it, if he was to run for his life out of the place, why couldn’t he have gone out the FRONT door where he could have kept running? The dark back alley in which he found himself offered plenty of hiding spaces, but the minute he stuck his head up to make a run for it, it would be blown off.

There was a pause in the firing and Dominic tried to creep sideways in the shadows. A dark, masked figure suddenly dropping down beside him almost made him jump out of his shoes.

“Holy sh-“

The figure pressed a gloved hand to his mouth. “Shhh, we’re friends. Help is on the way. Just keep your head down and out of sight.”

Though the voice was hushed, there was no mistaking its female quality. “What the hell –“ Dominic tried to stand up in indignation but the figure in front of him did something swift and silent and suddenly, Dominic found himself on the ground looking into the dark masked figure.

“I said stay down!” hissed the girl behind the mask.

Dominic could do nothing but nod his understanding. The girl in the mask returned his nod and then abruptly flew up into the night.

Not quite fly, thought Dominic as he squinted his eyes and did his best to pierce the darkness of the building in whose shadow he was currently hiding. He could just barely see the dark lithe form of the mystery girl who had so efficiently put him on his ass. She must have been using a rope and a winch of some sort, thought Dominic belatedly. Feeling as if he were in some sort of Batman movie, Dominic almost didn’t hear the thumping noises until just before the bullet storm restarted. Apparently, some of the Demon gunmen were much faster off the mark than Dominic.

When Dominic established that none of the bullets were coming in his direction, he risked a peek around the large garbage bin that he was currently hiding behind. What he saw almost put him back on his ass. A large dominating figure was stalking majestically down the alleyway. It was making no attempt to hide, and in fact there seemed to be some sort of strobe light mounted on the armored head. This new figure appeared to be armored from head to toe and was moving with slow calculating precision. It looked like a walking tank!

The newcomer shrugged aside the hail of bullets as if they were nothing more than annoying gnats. It walked right up to the rear door of the strip club known as Filmore’s. Whoever these newcomers were, both the masked girl and this walking leviathan, they had business with the Demons – and Dominic was sure that it wasn’t going to be fun business for the Demons!

The walking tank raised one ponderous arm and smashed its fist into the door. It went right through the heavy door as if it were made of paper. It withdrew its fist as it raised the other one and delivered another mind numbing blow.

Dominic watched in awe as the armored titan punched and kicked its way into the club. From his position, he could barely make out screams, shouts and more gunshots from within the club. He tentatively stuck his whole head up and then gingerly stood up. No one shot at him. He shook his head in wonderment. Who the hell would be willing to take on the Demons on their own turf? No one in their right mind wanted to tangle with their leader, Diablo. Dominic had only met him once, and once was enough.

He walked to the mouth of the alley, and then, as nonchalantly as possible, began to walk away from the club and the mayhem that was sure to be going on right now inside. He walked by a dark nondescript van that was parked about a block away. As he walked by, his befuddled mind barely registered the sound of a sliding door when suddenly strong arms grabbed him from behind and pulled him into the van. He felt something prick the side of his neck and then all was dark.

---

“Angel, this is Blondie. Crystal and I have the package secured.” The voice of Tracy sounded confident and unafraid in May’s earplug. Knowing Tracy though, not much would faze her!

“Roger that Blondie. Was there any difficulties?” May tried to keep her voice low as she spoke in miniature microphone that was taped just under her chin under her mask. Even though the rooftop looked deserted, one could never be sure of who else might be lurking around. Even with her Empathy spread out like a net, searching for hostile emotions, May wasn’t taking any chances. She remembered well what had happened to her the last time she was here. This time though, she didn’t have her guardian angel watching over her. However, if she didn’t have an angel, at least she had a dragon!

She watched with awe and a little bit of envy as Brandon somersaulted over the opposite rooftop. Even though his particular flavor of telekinesis was the opposite of Jeff’s, Brandon was still capable of using it to give himself the occasional boost when he needed it. She watched as his dark form landed in a front roll that brought him to his feet. It wasn’t that she couldn’t duplicate the feat herself – but rather that Brandon always made it look so darn easy!

“Negative, Oh Fearless Leader,” came the laughter tinged voice of Jade over the earplug. “He’s sleeping like a baby. Kinda cute too!”

May sighed inwardly. How could she have paired Tracy up with Jade? In Tracy, Jade had found the perfect role model. Whoever that young man was, May fervently hoped that he would survive the night! “Lay off him, Crystal. Something tells me that he’s been through a lot lately.”

“Awww, you’re no fun!” Even through the earplug, May could hear the pout in Jade’s voice. The problem was, May wasn’t sure if Jade was completely kidding or not.

Like a dark shadow, Brandon slid towards one of the rooftop access doors. He looked back at May who gave him a nod of approval. She could sense no hostile emotion coming from the other side of the door. Brandon did something with his hands that May couldn’t quite catch, and then suddenly swung the door open. How the heck does he do that? May shook her head ruefully. The sounds of gunfire could be heard through the open doorway. Looks like the Demons had their hands full with Jeff.

“Blondie, Crystal, looks like Tinman has engaged the enemy. Turn off your receivers, it’s going to get loud in a few minutes. Blondie, keep an eye out on your monitors, and Crystal keep our backs covered,” ordered May through her own microphone.

“Roger that, Angel.”

“Yes, oh Fearless Leader. Just as we drilled and planned all along.”

The responses were accompanied by some giggles and May sighed as she turned off her microphone with a tap. Still, it could have been worse. If Michael were alone in there with Tracy as originally planned, there was no telling what sort of hanky panky those two would have gotten into. The thought of Michael made her frown. Even though Tracy had goaded Michael into venting his frustration on her advice, and even though Tracy had been expecting it, it still had not prevented the flood of tears that had accompanied the retelling of the fight. Michael had hurt her best friend, and May was going give him a good shaking the next time she saw him. She pulled her hood over her head and tightened it. The hood had ear protectors built in and should provide some protection against the sonic grenades that Jeff, Brandon and herself were carrying. They had decided that the optic grenades would be too difficult to use in this environment where it would be too easy to be blinded by them.

May looked over at Brandon and they shared an unspoken look of agreement. It was strange. During training, they had stumbled constantly over each other ever since May found out about Brandon’s feelings. Now, however, ever since the operation began, she and Brandon were meshing like never before. It was almost scary. They had not yet said a single word to each other, and yet, each seemed to know exactly what the other was about to do. They were – and May was almost afraid to admit it – functioning like a well-oiled machine.

May gave the small wireless camera on her left shoulder a final unnecessary adjustment and then stalked through the door. Brandon quickly followed her and shut the door behind them. She paused for a minute to check her Empathy net. Diablo was nowhere close by. May wasn’t sure if she was happy about that or not. Tonight’s operation had two goals. One was to try to catch Diablo off guard enough with the distraction downstairs so that he wouldn’t detect May and Brandon until they were on top of him. They hoped that with surprise on their side, they would be able to overpower him before he unleashed his psychic fire. The second objective, if it turned out that Diablo was not there, was to wreck the Demon’s base of operation and scatter them. They had already lost their warehouse, and if they lost this club their power on the streets would be greatly diminished.

May and Brandon glided down the dark stairs and through another door. They were in a dark hallway. They walked quietly down the hallway, passing several closed doors as they went. A sudden stab of fear and anger was all the warning that May had. She started to spin 180 degrees and had gotten herself turned around just in time to see Brandon deliver a snap kick into the abdomen of a hapless Demon. The Demon doubled over and then Brandon sent him into dreamland with a knife-edged chop of his hand to the Demon’s temple.

Brandon looked back at May and she felt the hostility behind her. She reacted with the speed and skill that was earned through hours upon hours of hard work. She ducked as she spun to her left, and a baseball bat whistled harmlessly over her head. Her right hand reached behind her and pulled her right-hand nightstick from its sheath. As she continued her spin, her thumb hit the taser button on the handle even as she brought the butt of the nightstick up against the thigh of her attacker. The Demon stiffened as 50,000 of volts of electricity hit his body. May kept the taser on him for another second and then pulled away. The Demon fell to the floor with an audible thump. His body was still quivering inadvertently.

There was a cry of alarm from up ahead and in a flash, Brandon flew by her and into the throng of Demons that were suddenly erupting from the rooms up ahead. It was like unleashing a hungry wolf among a pack of yapping puppies. Demon bodies flew in all directions as Brandon punched and kicked his way clear. His body was just a blur of constant motion. May had sparred numerous times with Brandon and had even considered herself somewhat close to his equal. She was amazed. She was beyond amazed.

The fight quickly moved to a more open area. There were couches all over the floor and it seemed to be some sort of meeting area. There were partitioned areas against the walls, presumably for Demons who wanted more personal attention from whatever girl was currently giving them a lap dance. May followed the fight from a distance, keeping her eyes and her Empathy on the constant look out for anything dangerous.

As Brandon passed one of the dark cubicles, May saw her first opportunity to contribute to the melee. She saw a man slowly rise up from the cubicle. May grabbed the long end of her nightstick with her left hand and gave it a quick twist. She flipped the visor of her mask down and pointed her nightstick at the would-be assassin. A targeting reticule appeared in front of her eyes and a bead of light from the targeting laser built into her nightstick traveled across her vision until it met up with the targeting reticule. When she had both the reticule and the laser dot lined up with the Demon’s head, she pressed the second hidden button on the handle of her nightstick. In the dark, she couldn’t actually see the flechette round as it traveled to her target, but suddenly the Demon taking aim at Brandon’s back reared backwards and his gun fired harmlessly up into the air.

Brandon spared a backwards glance and a quick nod of thanks at May. The Demons in his immediate area were all down for the count. As he approached the stairs though he suddenly ducked and dove out of the way. A hail of bullets punched through the air he had just barely vacated.

May pulled her left hand nightstick out and twisted the barrel. Another targeting reticule appeared in front of her. She aimed both nightstick at the top of the stairs and waited. She didn’t have to wait long.

A horde of Demons charged up the stairs and May knelt down on one knee to present a smaller target. Without having to look for him, she somehow knew that Brandon had taken cover in one of the vacant cubicles. May waited until the first Demon was just beginning to turn in her direction and then cut loose with both nightsticks.

The first Demon went down, quickly followed by another. Because of the lack of the familiar flash and roar of guns, the Demons were slow to react to the sudden barrage that was coming from nowhere. May dropped about seven of them before the last five or so managed to get to cover.

May dove behind some cover herself and then closed the firing hatches on her nightsticks. Somehow, she had fired all of her remaining 29 rounds in that sudden barrage and had not even noticed it! She didn’t have time to swap out the barrels though. Not with several Demons currently on the same floor who were now trying to stalk her.

May pushed her visor up and bared her teeth in a tight vicious grin. Who was stalking who was a question that the Demons didn’t even know existed!

A heavy tread on the other side of the cubicle wall warned her of an approaching enemy, even as her gift picked up on the hostile emotion. She waited until the Demon was almost to the edge of the wall and then stepped out of her crouch in a smooth swift motion.

The Demon barely had time to register her presence when May drove her right nightstick into his stomach. As she stood up, her left nightstick swung out from under her forearm and up into a short vicious arc that smacked into the Demon’s head as it was just beginning to double over.

One down.

A spike of anger mixed with fear and hatred forced her to dive out of the way as a bullets streaked through the space she had just vacated. As she rolled into a crouch, she turned back to look at the gunman just in time to see a dark shadow fall upon the unsuspecting Demon. Brandon must have been using his gift to hug the ceiling. What a show off!

The dark shadow that was Brandon straightened up and then leapt straight up into the air. May could barely see a dark blotch on the almost equally dark ceiling.

Two down.

Somewhere out there, there were three more armed Demons. May hunched down and slid across the floor in a fighting crouch that left every muscle in her body ready to react at the drop of a dime. It almost wasn’t necessary though. May’s gift had already pinpointed the three remaining Demons. Fear and panic seemed to light up her Empathy net. This was going to be too easy!

One Demon was hiding behind a cubicle panel. He was actually crouching on top of the couch with his back to the panel. May took a small hurdle step and launched up into the air. She leapt over the panel with the butts of her nightsticks held out in front of her. As she went over the wall, her tasers connected with both shoulders of the unwary Demon. She gave him a quick double jolt before rolling away.

Three down.

May pulled her hood down. She didn’t think the ear protectors would be necessary anymore. The sounds of gunfire had all but stopped from downstairs.

Somewhere in the darkness, there was a muffled yelled followed by a series of heavy thumps. Brandon had bagged another one!

Four down.

But who would get the last one? May gritted her teeth. It would come down to a race then. While Brandon had the advantage of height, May could sense her opponent without having to use her eyes.

The last Demon was hiding in a corner. The panic and fear coming from the corner was almost tangible. As May stalked closer to the corner, a musky acrid stench seemed to fill the air. May wrinkled her nose under her mask in disgust. Maybe she should let Brandon have him after all!

Suddenly, May’s right foot bumped up against a low coffee table. The resultant creak must have warned the Demon. May felt a spike of fear from the corner as she threw herself to the side. She almost made it. A white hot stab of pain lanced into her side. She grunted as the hit the floor hard. The deafening roar of gunfire continued and she struggled to roll away from the source.

Something huge and menacing landed with a loud crash at the top of the stairs. A bright ray of light streaked from the large figure. The light zeroed in on the Demon who was firing blindly in all directions. The newcomer raised both arms. The Gatling on the left arm spewed forth a torrent of rubber bullets. The cornered Demon’s body was suddenly wracked in convulsions.

The river of bullets stopped, but before the Demon could drop senselessly to the ground, the weapon on the giant’s right arm opened fire. A solid stream of a sticky black substance coated the Demon from the neck down and glued him into the corner.

May pulled herself painfully off the floor. She touched her side and her hand came away bloody. Thankfully though, it appeared as if the bullet only grazed her. She had a feeling that Brandon would never let her live this one down. She had come at the Demon too confidently and had paid the price for her moment of hubris.

There were no further sources of anger, fear or hatred so May walked over to Jeff’s armored figure. She touched his shoulder and said, “Thanks for the save Tinman.”

Instead of replying, Jeff managed a short almost elegant bow.

Brandon appeared as if by magic on the other side of Jeff. “The police will be here soon.”

May nodded and said, “Dragon, take Tinman to the roof, hop over to where we parked the Night-copter and then pick him up. I’ll head over to the van to check in on our guest. Hopefully he’s survived his experience with the Crystal and Blondie.”

Jeff bowed again and Brandon gave her a curt nod. He gestured with his head and headed back to the stairs that led to the rooftop.

May hurried downstairs and took a minute to survey Jeff’s rampage. There were dozens of black glue coated figures on the floor and plenty of property damage. Exactly what the doctor ordered. May felt smugly certain that the Demons wouldn’t be using this place as a headquarters for a long time.

May headed out the back door and out into the night air. Sirens were wailing in the distance as she hugged the shadows until she came upon the dark van parked a block away.

The sliding door opened silently before she could touch the handle. At least Tracy and Jade were still watching their monitors! Two beaming faces greeted her as she entered the van.

“Great job, Angel!”

“Yeah, way to go! You kicked ass!”

May pulled off her mask and couldn’t stop herself from grinning. “We did well tonight. Everybody did their parts. Everybody except me of course.” She grimaced as a fresh stab of pain from her side reminded her of her own near fatal overconfidence.

Tracy gave a small gasp and then rushed to May’s side with a first aid kit already open. “Quick, take that outfit off!”

Jade came over too and helped May to pull off her outfit. During their training sessions, May had tried on various protective clothing but could not find a set that allowed her the same freedom of movement that she enjoyed without it. That’s why, in the end, she had decided to rely on her gift and her mobility to keep her out of trouble. It looks as if she would have to revisit the whole armor/no armor argument. Tracy looked as if she wanted to bring up the topic right now but May held up a hand to forestall her.

“I know, Tracy, I know.”

Tracy let out a short sigh and proceeded to clean and dress the wound. “Here, take off the sports bra too. I want to check you over for any other wounds.”

“Um, Blondie, I don’t think I want to completely undress in front of a strange man.”

Tracy scoffed and said, “What’re you talking about? He’s sleeping like a ba-“ She never finished her sentence because as she spoke, she turned to look at their apparently sleeping guest. She saw right away what May’s gift must have told her. Their guest was very much awake and he was looking at all of them with a curious expression on his face.

Both Tracy and Jade froze with indecision. They had been seen without their masks!

May, on the otherhand was unfazed. “How are you feeling?” she asked politely.

The young man shrugged and sat up. “Fine, I suppose. Who are you people?”

Before May could think of an answer, the radio in the front of the van beeped and Brandon’s voice could be heard. “Angel? This is Dragon. Are you there? Over.”

The young man raised an eyebrow and looked right at May. “Is that you?”

May nodded wordlessly.

The young man seemed to mull this over and then said, “Any relation to The Angel?”

There was no question of whom the young man was referring to. May shook her head gravely and gave the young man a small smile. “No, but he’s a friend.”

Brandon’s voice came on the radio again. “Angel, do you read?”

Jade handed May the portable hand unit and May spoke into it. “This is Angel. What’s up, Dragon? Did you get to the copter ok? Over.”

“Tinman and I are fine, but we almost ran into your friend.”

May’s back straightened in surprise. “Are you sure?”

“Affirmative. You better check your TV. We’re not the only ones who’ve spotted him.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see.”

Tracy hit a small button on the ceiling of the van and a small TV screen flipped out. She turned to a news station and sure enough, the unmistakable silvery form could be seen clearly. It seemed to be flying erratically and it didn’t take long for May to see why. The camera panned the sky and May could see the fast zipping shapes of modern day jets. May counted at least three of them. May was no expert on air warfare, but she remembered watching the movie Top Gun over and over at Tracy’s house because Tracy’s father was a huge fan, but it looked as if the jets were dogfighting with Da Gueur! What the hell was going on?

May felt someone looking at her and turned to meet the gaze of the young man. She realized belatedly that the young man had said something to her. “I’m sorry, I missed that.”

“I asked you what you called the Angel,” said the young man.

May frowned and then realized that she must have said Da Gueur out loud. “Sorry, it’s just a pet name between us. I don’t really know his real name.”

The young man nodded and leaned back to watch the small TV screen. Tracy and Jade went back up front to watch the news report on the dash mounted TV screen, leaving May alone in the back with the unknown young man.

May reached out her right hand and introduced herself, “My name is May, by the way.”

The young man shook her hand in a firm grasp. “Thanks for the save back there. My name is Dominic.” He gestured to the TV screen and said, “Looks like we have something in common.”

May nodded absentmindedly as she turned up the volume on the news report. “That we do. That we do.”

---

Michael dodged to the side as another sidewinder missile passed to his right. His evasive action, however, took right into the sights of another jet. His shields flared red as they absorbed the impact of hundreds of high velocity bullets.

Ow that hurts! That last burst almost stripped my shields!

Michael dug deep within and put more power into his shields. Almost immediately, they glowed blue once more. He dived and then pulled up vertically into a long arch. At the top of the arch, he straightened his body and flew straight, 180 degrees from his original heading. As he finished his Immelman turn, he considered the sudden dogfight that he found himself in. It had happened so gradually that he wasn’t sure what had started it.

That night had started the same as the previous nights. He had flown around the city in full view, trying to act obvious enough that any hidden Valean ships in the area would pick him up on their sensors. He had thought that it would be another fruitless night. The Valeans, he decided, were either blind, didn’t care, or just weren’t in Earth orbit anymore.

Feeling the need to expand his search pattern, he crossed over the invisible border between Canada and America and soon found himself flying over Buffalo. That was when it had happened.

His senses had picked up the first pair of jets, but he had ignored them because he thought that they were just out on patrol. Then, the second flight had shown up and it wasn’t until he saw the Canadian Air Force markings on them and the fact that they were CF-18’s unlike the previous F-16’s that he started to feel some concern. However, since they had kept their distance, he had shrugged off the feeling of unease, thinking that maybe they just wanted to check him out.

Being completely unfamiliar with aerial combat tactics, he hadn’t even realized that both pairs of jets were slowly boxing him in. Big Bro, however, did notice, and it was his warning that had saved him when the four jets opened fire. If it weren’t for his warning, he would have been hammered while his shields were still down.

Michael was still uncomfortable with the idea of firing back thought. What if this had been a misunderstanding? He had to find out what was going on!

His senses told him that he had a little bit of a breathing space. He dropped his shields and activated his translucency camouflage. He hoped that it would be enough to get him close to the jets unnoticed.

He circled around until he found the 4 jet fighters. After he dropped off their radar, they had apparently decided to join up in formation. They were headed in a northerly direction. Michael flew above them and paralleled their course. He concentrated and sent his senses down to the lead jet. It was an F-16 with the markings of the U.S Air Force. He found the mind of the pilot easily enough.

<<Why are you attacking me?>> After he finished sending the thought, he waited for the usual alarmed panic that was the first reaction of most people he had tried to communicated mentally with. There was no panic. In fact, there was no emotion or any indication that the pilot heard him. He tried again. <<Why are you attacking me?>> There was still no response. Instead, he felt a strange sensation, almost like he was shouting into an empty cave and hearing his own voice echoing back at him.

Perplexed, he moved on to the next fighter, this one was a CF-18. Again, his mental voice seemed to echo in the mind of the pilot. By the time he tried the third pilot, he finally noticed a difference. This time, he felt some kind of awareness, almost like curiosity. Suddenly, this curiosity turned dark, and Michael could almost feel eyes upon him. He almost did a double take and had to remind himself that he was still a couple thousand feet above the jets and that no one else was around to stare at him. The feeling of being watched stayed with him until he left the mind of the pilot.

The jets, however, changed their formation. They spread out wider and then pulled into a climb. Reassured that there could be no way the pilots could see him, Michael slowed to a hover to watch their progress. One of the jets turned to face him and he thought he felt a kind of tingle run through his body. He didn’t even think anything of it until the jet suddenly accelerated in his direction.

What the hell?

<<Shields up, young one!>> cried Big Bro’s voice in his head.

Michael dropped his camouflage and activated his shields just in time to catch the first spray of bullets. His shields flared red again and he pumped power back into them just as the missile impacted on them.

Michael’s world disappeared into a haze of red and it felt like the time he was old enough to get on the Drop Zone at Canada’s Wonderland. The vertical fall made his stomach feel as if it were in this throat.

Several hundred feet above the water, he finally realized that the redness was his failing shields and the drop wasn’t going to end this time unless he did something about it.

He pumped more power back into his shields while pushing down beneath him at the same time. His descent slowed and then stopped as his shields glowed blue all around him. He checked his power level and found to his dismay that they were startling low.

Damn, I can’t take much more of this!

<<Young one, may I suggest something?>>

Anything that will keep me from being blown out of the sky!

<<Remember when you first taught yourself how to fly?>>

You taught me!

<<I merely pointed you in the right direction. You did everything else on your own.>>

What’s your point? Hurry up, there’s another missile headed my way!

Michael picked up the racing missile with his senses as it arrowed towards him. As he followed its flight, he realized rather belatedly that it wasn’t traveling quite as fast as he once assumed.

I wonder if… Before he even finished the thought, he took careful aim and sent a beam of coherent light towards the missile with his right index finger. The missile exploded about a mile away and Michael rejoiced. Sweet! Why didn’t I think about that before?

<<My point exactly, young one. You are behaving too much like the terrestrial aircraft you chose to model yourself after when you learned to fly. You do have other means.>>

Other means? Oh, you mean instead of trying to maneuver like an aircraft, I should be using my powers more.

<<Exactly! Your flight patterns are too predictable and easy to read.>>

Oh.

Suitably chastised, Michael zipped away from his position, only this time, instead of relying on his homegrown airfoil, he pushed from side to side with his power randomly to present a harder target.

His efforts were too little, too late though. He reached a point just below the nighttime clouds only to discover two of the attacking jets had zeroed in on him. He was stuck with indecision. He still did not know what was going on, but it was clear that the jets were not going to stop attacking him until he or they were dead. He decided to try one more time.

<<Stop, do not make me destroy you!>> His warning was answered by the same echoing darkness as before. There was no fear, no hesitation, and no indication that his warning was even heard. Feeling frustrated, Michael resigned himself to the inevitable. He stretched out both arms, each one pointing in the direction of one of the approaching jets. He gathered his power and prepared himself. If he was going to do this, he fervently hoped that the pilots would have a chance to eject.

They didn’t get that chance.

From behind the veil of the dark clouds, two bright red beams struck down like vengeful lightning and blasted the two attacking jets out of the air.

Like a giant megalodon stalking its prey in the prehistoric oceans, a huge dark ovoid shape descended from the clouds to hover in front of Michael. It was over 100 hundred feet from its pointed nose to the massive cowling covering its engines. The bottom of the alien craft glowed green as it oriented itself until the sharp evil looking nose was pointed right at Michael. Two great rounded foils snapped out from the top of the ship, ending its resemblance to a giant prehistoric shark. Instead, now it looked more like the head of a king cobra about to strike.

Holy shit! What the hell is that! Michael couldn’t help but feel an instinctive primordial fear course through his body.

<<That, my young apprentice, is a Valean sting ship. You wanted to find them so badly, well it appears as if they have found you!>>

Geez! Can the corny humor and tell me how do I fight that thing!

<<Before you worry about it, perhaps you should concern yourself with the remaining jet fighters first.>>

What? Oh, yeah! Umm, I still don’t want to hurt them – HOLY!!!

The Valean sting ship opened fire with two blasts of red light from its top mounted turret. The ruby beams fanned out in a V shape with one of the beams narrowly missing Michael. Michael sensed twin explosions from somewhere behind him and he knew that sparing the lives of the jet fighter pilots was no longer an issue.

Michael’s world started to turn into a different kind of red as rage infused his being. That murdering son of a bitch! He didn’t have to kill them!

Perhaps, subconsciously, Michael knew how unfair that last thought was. Perhaps, subconsciously, he was even thankful to the Valean for saving him the trouble by doing what he should have done himself. Perhaps, later, much later, Michael would even understand what had just happened. Not right now. Right now, all Michael could see was the video footage of a ship like the one in front of him blasting away at a building in which his parents had been taken into. In his mind, the two jets that were only seconds before trying their best to kill him were replaced by his loving and caring parents. In his mind, it was as if the two events had merged, and the people the Valean had just killed were not the unknown pilots, but his parents all over again.

The Valean sting ship continued to hover in front on him. It seemed to regard him with the impassivity of a glassy eyed snake. It did not, however, attack. It was almost as if it were waiting for Michael to do something.

In his current frame of mind, Michael willingly obliged. The events of the last few weeks coalesced in his mind. Like a crazy film reel spinning out of control, Michael kept seeing the events over and over in fast motion: His parents being taken into the building; the building blowing up; himself blowing up at Tracy, the love of his life whose only crime was wanting to help and love him; the unknown jets who had attacked him for no apparent reason; and finally, the sting ship descending out of the heavens like a deep sea nightmare to blast the offending jets to very small pieces. Michael obliged the waiting sting ship the only way his young, emotionally traumatized mind could.

YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!

Michael stretched out his arms once more and released twin torrents of energy into the waiting sting ship. The beams drilled right through the ship without any red flares. The Valean didn’t even have its shields up.

The green glow on the underbelly of the ship vanished and the ship plummeted. It fell for several hundred feet until somehow, its pilot managed to pull the ship out of its death dive.

Michael followed the Valean as it dived and when it pulled out into a somewhat wobbly but even flight, he unleashed more blasts into it. Holes large enough to drop large grapefruits into appeared on the once pristine and smooth fuselage.

Die! Die! Die! Michael continued to scream as he pounded his hated enemy. He held his palms out in front of him, facing each other. A spark ignited between his hands and quickly grew to the size of a basketball. He pushed out with his power and the ball of energy followed his will. It followed the fleeing ship and impacted hard in its rear. The frame of the engine cowling buckled and flames flared up from beneath the surface. The fire spread quickly until the entire rear of the ship was engulfed in flames.

The Valean sting ship suddenly dived again as if the pilot had purposefully pushed the controls all the way forward. The ship hit the ground and plowed a long ugly scar into the sandy beach.

Michael watched the ship crash and suddenly became aware of his surroundings once more. Somehow, during the short vicious chase, they had passed completely over Lake Ontario. Up ahead, just short of where the ship had crashed itself was a familiar looking highway.

As Michael surveyed the area, the enormity of what had just happened came crashing down upon his consciousness. It didn’t fight back! The Valean didn’t fight back! Why? It didn’t even try to defend itself! Why?

Down below, the crashed ship was attracting a lot of attention. A news helicopter flashed by a shocked Michael. Was the entire fight on camera?

Traffic on the highway screeched to a halt and people piled out of their cars to gape at the crashed alien ship.

Somewhat more in control of himself, Michael dropped down until he was hovering over the nose of the sting ship. The front of the nose assembly turned transparent and Michael found himself face to face with the pilot. Holy leapin’ lizards!

It wasn’t, of course, a lizard. However, its grayish face and leathery skin certainly made it somewhat resemble one. Its hands held its helmet in front of it, and when it released it, Michael could see a large jagged pole impaling the pilot to its seat. Thick pinkish blood oozed from the pilot’s mouth. Behind the pilot’s chair, there were two more Valeans, slumped forward onto their respective terminals. They were both obviously dead. One of them had a large hole burned through its chest while the other one had a crushed helmet.

A small movement drew Michael’s attention back to the pilot. It weakly raised its right hand and touched its forehead. Then, with the same hand, it touched its chest and then gestured towards Michael with its hand open – as if it were giving Michael something. Suddenly, the biggest surprise of the night whispered into Michael’s mind. It was a voice, soft, weak, and obviously full of pain.

My life is yours, Eld-

The voice cut out in mid sentence and Michael never heard the rest. What he did hear though, shocked him to his core. ‘My life is yours,’ what the hell does that mean?

The pilot’s head fell forward and Michael knew that it was dead. His senses picked up a humming sound and suddenly another voice boomed in his mind.

<<Young one! The engines of the ship are overloading. It is going to explode!>>

Huh?

<<The power sphere you threw at the engines must have cracked the casing on the antimatter drive. You must do something!>>

What?

<<I do not know. Have you not heard of what happens when matter meets antimatter?>>

There’s an explosion right?

<<A very large explosion!>>

Oh my god! Look at all those people. They’re gonna get caught!

<<You must leave, young one. The reaction has started. You cannot stop the inevitable at this point.>>

I can’t just leave! All those people, plus the ones on the highway…they’re all in the blast radius aren’t they?

<<Yes, but there is nothing you can do for them now. You must leave!>>

No! I can’t!

Michael landed on top of the fallen sting ship and directed his mental voice to the crowd of onlookers. EVERBODY GET OUT!! THIS SHIP IS GOING TO EXPLODE!!

Rather than getting people to run for it, Michael’s hasty mental command caused mass panic and confusion. Most of the people simply grasped their heads and screamed. Others began to run around in all directions.

Shit! Oh my god! I can feel it! I can feel the reaction right under my feet!

<<GO, YOUNG ONE! DO NOT DIE IN VAIN!>>

I can’t leave these people!

<<You cannot save them!>>

I must try!

All arguments became moot as the containment field on the power source finally failed and the tiny spark of antimatter dropped. As it touched the bottom of its containment bottle, it ignited with the fury of an artificial sun. Desperate, with no other course of action, Michael drew the sudden blaze of energy into himself and absorbed it. It was like dropped naked into a boiling ocean of lava.

ARRRGGHH! I’M BURNING UP! IT HURTS…OH IT HURTS SO MUCH!!

In the midst of his pain, Michael finally realized the truth as well as what was about to happen. The truth was that he had selfishly pulled a shell around himself and denied entry to everyone – especially Tracy. He had hurt her badly. In fact, the pain he was feeling right now was probably comparable to the anguish he had put her through. The truth was that the Valean sting ship had saved his life. He had been totally unprepared to face the mysterious jets and only the arrival of the sting ship and saved him. The truth was that he had fired the first shot against the sting ship, which had only been hovering in mid air, waiting for him. The truth was that he had allowed his rage to control him and in doing so had killed three intelligent thinking beings. No, killed was not quite the word. Murdered was more like it, because the Valeans had not even tried to defend themselves.

‘My life is yours.’ The Valean had willingly given its life to Michael to take or spare – and Michael had viciously taken that life and ended it.

The fiery truth blazed through him with the same intensity of the antimatter explosion. Somehow, he managed to absorb everything. All of it. The sting ship though, lay in several broken pieces. The fire within allowed Michael to accept one final truth of what was about to happen. He was going to die. As Big Bro had warned him so long ago, absorbing too much energy would kill him. Not only kill him, but also would release all the pent up energy in one massive explosion.

He looked around at the crowd of people he had just saved from the exploding ship. It would be a certain kind of irony if he were to explode now, in their very midst and undo everything he had just done.

Michael launched himself into the air. He had to get away, as far as he could! Already, he could feel the energy within striving to break free from his body. With all his might, he tried to keep his body together.

Like a flaming arrow, Michael pushed himself higher and higher. His body trailed flames all the way up. When he reached the clouds, he gave himself one last mighty push and then let go.

I love you Tracy!

<<I love you May!>>

The dark heavens blazed with a light bright enough burn away the cloud cover, dwarf the magnificence of the midnight moon, and rival the glory of a midday summer sun.