New Age of Heroes 1: The League of Protectors - Dawn of a New Age (6 page)

As far as Noah was
concerned, if you were a criminal and got in his way, you were as
good as dead. Although Mr. Connors was the only one associated with
the League that knew about Noah's double life, Jason Shaw had
concluded that Noah and the Black Vigilante were one in the same.
That was part of the reason there was so much tension between the two
men.

Noah was still the
odd man out in the group. He had no interest in building
relationships with the group. He was there to protect the defenseless
and nothing else mattered.

His relationship
with Jason Shaw, leader of the League was pretty much nonexistent.
The two had a weird respect for the others' abilities, but other than
that, the two men didn't get along. Jason realized Noah's ability in
the field but thought of Noah as a bad influence on the rest of the
group.

Noah had a fairly
decent relationship with Mr. Connors. Well decent enough for Noah
that is. While others were quite cautious around him, Mr. Connors was
the only one that was truly never worried about Noah's intent. He
understood Noah’s background and his struggles fitting in with
society. Mr. Connors acceptance and understanding was one of the main
reasons Noah remained with the League.

Jackson and Shayne
both got along with Noah fairly well, but the two college students
didn't spend much time with him and when they did, they were always
apprehensive. They often had to play peacemakers when Noah and Jason
got into it. Both of them would do their best to intervene and
breakup the confrontation. Jackson once joked that breaking up a
Jason Shaw and Noah Winters confrontation was the best sort of field
training they could receive.

Jason and Noah were
the stronger duo compared to Jackson and Shayne. Breaking the
powerful men up often required a considerable amount of effort and
teamwork on Jackson and Shayne's part.

Noah’s
relationship with Stephanie Morgan was very bland. The two hardly
ever spoke and when they did, it was always concerning business. As
sad as it was, Noah hardly knew anything about Stephanie. The only
thing he knew about her was that she could sense others abilities and
that Mr. Connors was very protective of her. Noah sometimes wondered
if there was more to their relationship than meets the eye. He didn’t
care enough though to dig a little deeper beyond the surface.

There was Garrett
Blake, who came in a close second for members Noah disliked greatly.
He appreciated and respected Garrett’s knowledge of technology.
There was no denying that Garrett was a genius in several areas. It
was Garrett’s lack of progress in the field that infuriated
Noah.

To Noah, Garrett
was nothing more than a coward who hid behind a desk. Sure, Garrett
created devices that Noah found to be useful, but Garrett wasn’t
the least bit interested in improving his skills in the field. Noah
found that to be unacceptable. During training sessions, Garrett was
like a prima donna. He didn’t want to work, he didn’t
want to get sweaty, and he didn’t want to get dirty. Garrett
didn’t want to do anything that required him to exert himself
physically.

Noah got the
impression that Garrett felt that he didn’t need to participate
in training due to the technology he developed. That bothered Noah
tremendously. Even Stephanie was out there training and improving. If
she could do it, then Garrett should as well.

Then there was the
little firecracker by the name of Bianca Ramirez. Bianca is perhaps
Noah’s conscience in the group. She’s always there to
confront him whenever he needed to be. In a weird way, her
relationship with Noah has grown because of her determination to call
him out. She never cared how upset or dangerous Noah was. If Noah was
wrong, she made sure he knew about it.

Perhaps the
individual Noah had the strongest relationship in the group was with
Jessica Prescott, older sister of Jackson. There was no denying the
chemistry the two had with one another. Others in the group often
speculated of a romance behind closed doors, but that was purely
speculation.

Mr. Connors kept a
close eye on things. It was fairly obvious that Noah and Jessica had
some sort of relationship. It was also apparent that Jessica and
Jason had some sort of relationship as well. That was likely another
reason for the animosity between the two men.

With Noah living in
Chicago, Jason in Boston and Jessica in New York, that kept the
potential soap opera at bay for the most part. But Mr. Connors feared
it was only a matter of time before things escalated.

Noah stared out
into the city from on top of one of the rooftops of one of the big
buildings. He often liked to look out into the city and imagine the
wonderful place it could be if he could only eliminate the crime. It
was a task that he knew would likely take him the rest of his life to
accomplish, but he was more than willing to try.

He arrived on the
scene of a Post Human situation he overheard on the police scanner.
From above the rooftops he surveyed the scene. There were two men
battling the police. With the growing number of high level Post
Humans popping up, it had become standard protocol to get a report on
the Post Humans before attacking. Noah wasn’t too fond of the
having to wait idea, but he learned his lesson.

About a month or
two ago, Noah confronted a Post Human as he always did. Unfortunately
for him, this Post Human was far more powerful than Noah realized. If
it wasn't for Noah's superior skill, he likely would've died that
day. After that incident it became standard protocol to get intel
reports before engaging in combat.

Noah tapped his
earpiece and waited while the phone rang.

“This is
Stephanie.”

“You got a
fix on my location?” Noah asked. Stephanie confirmed that she
did. “Do you need backup?”

“I should be
find, what am I dealing with?”

Stephanie searched
her mind trying to identify and evaluate the Post Humans Noah was
about to confront.

“You are
dealing with two Post Humans of medium level threat. The first Post
Human is Lowry Holston. He’s capable of producing fire from his
mouth and creating personal force fields.”

Noah interrupted
Stephanie. “Did you just say fire from his mouth?”

“Yes,”
Stephanie replied. The scope of abilities she’s identified over
the years made her immune to being surprised by what some Post Humans
could do.

Fire from hands was
one thing but fire from the mouth was something totally different. As
much as Noah had seen, fire from the mouth was a new one for him.

“What about
the other?” Noah asked.

“The second
Post Human is Gary Jenkins. Gary can electrocute you by touch, so
make sure you keep your distance.”

“Copy that,”
Noah replied.

Noah ended the
phone call and looked down at the two men he needed to take down.
Lowry had pale skin and stood at about six feet tall. He was
relatively the same height and build as Noah.

Gary’s skin
was dark. It’s much darker than Noah’s and Agent
Hardine’s. Unlike Noah and Lowry, Gary was less than six feet.
He was much closer to five feet nine inches and had a little extra
padding in the mid section.

Noah leaped from
the top of the roof and landed gracefully to the ground. A jump like
that would’ve killed any human, but for Noah, he made it look
as easy as jumping a foot off the ground. He caught the two men by
surprise and used that to his advantage. Remembering what Stephanie
said, he went after Gary first to keep him at bay.

With a straight
kick to the face, Gary went staggering back. Noah could tell by the
way Gary acted that he had little training as a fighter. The only
thing that made Gary dangerous was his ability to electrocute. Lowry
on the other hand provided a bit more of a challenge. Noah contorted
his body in the air and hit Lowry with a spinning kick to the face.
Lowry staggered back, but remained on his feet.

“You're that
guy from that group,” Lowry said.

“Noah Winters
from the League of Protectors,” Gary added.

Noah pushed his
right hand forward and sent Lowry flying backwards using telekinesis.
He wasn’t in any mood to converse with the enemy. He wouldn’t
allow Lowry to get him off his game. The loud footsteps approaching
from behind alerted Noah to Gary’s presence. He wasn’t
about to allow Gary to catch him off guard.

Noah quickly turned
around and hit Gary with a dropkick. The kick sent Noah to the ground
as well, which was intentional.

Unfortunately,
Lowry recovered faster than Noah would’ve liked. Noah jumped
off the ground and grabbed his hand in pain. He looked down at the
ground and saw that it was burning. He looked over to Lowry and saw
fire coming out of Lowry's mouth. Lowry smiled delightfully at Noah’s
pain.

“How did that
feel?” Lowry asked rhetorically. Lowry clenched both of his
fists and released a medium size ball of fire in Noah’s
direction.

Noah ducked, as the
flame zipped passed him and instead hit Gary. Screaming with pain,
Gary dropped to the ground and rolled around. The police took Gary’s
misfortune as their chance to cuff him. They swarmed upon him and
injected him with a inhibitor needle. Inhibitors were becoming a
standard item for all police departments to carry on them. That was
the only known way to keep a Post Human down until the proper
authorities could come in and completely neutralize them.

Lowry cursed
angrily upon realizing his blunder. In a rage of anger, Lowry
unleashed a plethora of fireballs in Noah’s direction. Twisting
and turning, diving, and jumping, Noah evaded the deadly flames.

“When is the
League going to realize they can’t stop us all? When is the
League going to realize they are betraying their own kind?”
Lowry shouted to Noah. He was simply stalling until he regained
energy to try and attack Noah again.

Lowry clenched his
fist and let the burning rage inside him build up. Noah stood still
allowing Lowry to muster all the strength he had left. In what seemed
like slow motion for Noah, Lowry released a massive ball of fire. It
was a fire strong enough to kill upon impact. Noah stood still
allowing the flame to approach him.

“I will
collect a fortune for your death!” Lowry shouted confident that
Noah wouldn't be able to stop the approaching flame.

Noah closed his
eyes and concentrated. He could feel the flame; he could feel how
close it was. Right before the flame could claim him as a victim,
Noah used his telekinesis to catch the flame and sent it back in
Lowry’s direction.

Lowry’s smile
was suddenly wiped off his face. “Oh that's not good!” he
murmured. Lowry screamed in agony as his own abilities were used
against him. Noah walked over to Lowry like a predator that had just
delivered a paralyzing assault. “Don’t just stand there
do something you piece of crap!” Lowry shouted.

“Ok.”
Noah said with a sly smile on his face. With a giant leap, Noah
ascended in the air, catching the edge of the rooftop and used it to
prop himself over it.

“I’ll
kill you!” I swear it!' Lowry shouted as Noah disappeared into
the darkness.

The emergency units
arrived on the scene and put the fire out before it could claim
Lowry’s life. Lowry was placed carefully on a Gurney, lifted
up, and placed inside the ambulance. His injuries were severe and he
had lots of permanent scaring. One of the police officers came over
and stopped the medic from closing the door.

“What are you
doing? We need to get him to the hospital right away,” the
medic said.

The police officer
pulled out an inhibitor needle and injected Lowry with it.

“Better to be
safe than sorry,” the officer said and walked away. The medic
nodded and closed the door behind him.

Noah watched from
the rooftops as the two Post Humans were driven away.

“Gary Jenkins
and Lowry Holston have been neutralized,” Noah said over his
earpiece to Stephanie Morgan.

“Copy that,”
she replied. “Noah, are you still there?”

Noah acknowledged.

“I'm getting
a reading on another Post Human in your area. Reading is on a Post
Human named Kyle Stanton,” Stephanie said.

The name sent a
chill up Noah's spine. Stephanie sent Noah the coordinates of the
location where Kyle's presence was felt. Unfortunately, by the time
Noah arrived, there was no trace of Kyle. Noah searched for hours
hoping for some clue as to Kyle's whereabouts, but his searched
turned up nothing.

6

New
Kid on the Block

Rain poured down on
the remote destination of Stone Ridge Island, home of Post Humans who
abused their abilities in criminal manners. At first, regular prisons
were used to hold the Post Human criminals but it quickly became
apparent that these prisons were not capable of holding these
prisoners.

Back in 2007, a few
months before the new President was sworn in a Post Human
demonstrated his superiority over humans. His name was Silas Baker
and he had the remarkable ability to melt things by simply touching
them.

At the time,
G.U.A.R.D did not know that Silas was a Post Human. He was arrested
for robbing a convenient store. Little did they know that their
ignorance would have massive repercussions. Silas waited until very
late that night to make his move. With the changing of the shift
guards completed, Silas placed his hand on the metal bars and melted
them with ease.

Silas’
cellmate could not let an opportunity to escape pass him by. He
followed Silas and the two made an ill advised attempt to escape.
Both prisoners were captured, but in the midst of their escape, three
officers were killed and another was severely wounded. The situation
was quickly contained and the public was never made aware of the
attempted escape.