Super Powereds: Year 3 (138 page)

           
      
“Glad they still make thugs as dumb as they used to.” Titan glanced down at Roy, who was watching the fight as much to take his mind off the pain as out of curiosity. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this guy in no time, and we’ll get you to a healer.”

           
      
“No need to rush on my account,” Roy said.

           
      
Before they could banter any more, the man with the warped skin and strange spikes barreled forward, rearing back and slamming Titan’s face with a blow so strong Roy could hear it connect. To his surprise, to his
shock
, Roy then saw something he’d never witnessed in all of his father’s fights. Titan actually took a step back from the force of the blow.

           
      
“God damn, you are pretty strong,” Titan remarked before he returned the blow, punching his opponent right in the shoulder. Unlike Titan, the strongman didn’t merely step back; he was hurled ten feet through the grass. “Looks like you can’t take it quite as well as you give it though. Too bad for you; since you tried to kill my boys, I’m not exactly in the mood to hold back.”

           
      
The man was scrambling to his feet when Titan drove another fist into his back, sending him several inches deep into the grass. Titan reached down and lifted the ultra-dense man up by the shoulder as easily as he’d hold a sack of groceries. He held him aloft, then proceeded to slam a fist into his torso. Even from several feet away, Roy could hear the sickening crack of the man’s ribs.

           
      
“Being a Super is a lot like playing rock-paper-scissors on a grand scale,” Titan lectured as he cracked his opponent’s sternum with another punch. “For example, no matter how strong you might be, a good mental attack would still put you down. I bet there are students here that could have beaten you, no problem, just because they had paper to your rock. That’s why none of us are truly invincible, you see. Not you, not my boy over there, not even me. Someone out there always has a trump card that beats our power.”

           
      
Titan reached down and grabbed the man’s leg, squeezing it like Roy’s bat had been squeezed only moments prior. Unlike the bat, the leg made a sickening series of pops and cracks as it was distorted out of shape.

           
      
“That said, in a contest of rock versus rock, it all comes down to which one is stronger. And too bad for you, dipshit, I’m always the strongest rock.” Titan reared back and delivered a straight jab right to the man’s face. The body went limp in his hand as he passed out, but Titan had managed to avoid killing him. Crude and cruel a method as it was, snapping bones let him see how much damage his opponent could take, and allowed him to deliver knockout punches instead of killing ones.

           
      
He flipped the man over his shoulder and headed back to his son, still lying in the grass. “How’s the shoulder?”

           
      
“Going to need a healer or a few hours to be usable again,” Roy admitted. He hefted himself off the ground, picking up his now-deformed bat as he did. His shoulder groaned in pain, but Roy ignored it. He refused to show weakness, especially in front of his father, of all people.

           
      
“Lucky thing I saw that guy’s dirt cloud. I was up here looking for you and decided to check it out.”

           
      
“Yeah . . . thanks, I guess.” Roy grit his teeth and used even more willpower than he’d have thought he possessed, turning to look his father in the eyes. “I mean, thank you. For saving my life. Whatever else is between us, you protected me, and I appreciate it.”

           
      
Titan appraised his son carefully, taking in the sight of him facing the father he hated and offering genuine thanks for what he’d done. He’d kept careful tabs on his boys since they entered the HCP, and he knew how far each of them had come in terms of power and achievements. But even being keenly aware of every challenge they’d overcome, he couldn’t think of a single time he’d been more proud of Roy than in that moment.

           
      
“This place has really helped you grow up,” Titan said at last.

           
      
“Had to happen sooner or later. Now, let’s find a healer already.” Roy turned and began walking through campus, the legendary Titan and his most recent victim following several steps behind.

250.

               “I was beginning to think you wouldn’t figure it out.” Nathaniel stepped from the building’s shadow as he saw Nick enter the open area in front of the Business building. Nearby was the bench where Nathaniel had first confronted him all those months ago. Once Nick had figured out the general location, knowing the exact spot had been child’s play, and that was before his little meeting with Globe.

           
      
“Oh, don’t worry,” Nick replied. “I’ve known where to find you for a while now. But I had to make sure I got the timing right.”

           
      
Nathaniel’s eyes glowed even more brightly than the flames still flickering overhead. He couldn’t see Nick’s eyes through his ridiculous night vision glasses, but he could tell by the relaxed grin on his old enemy’s face that Nick wasn’t taking this seriously. No doubt he expected to win their confrontation as he had so many before. Nathaniel allowed himself a smile of his own. This was one surprise Nick Campbell wouldn’t see coming.

           
      
“The timing? What, wanted to die at a certain hour?”

           
      
“Nothing quite that dramatic. I just needed to wait until Zero and Wisp got your headquarters’ location out of that energy blaster girl. Now, they’re storming up there, with the other professors following. In a few seconds, they’ll take out the people keeping us locked on campus, but your head honcho friend has over a ninety-nine percent chance of getting away, thanks to a teleporter he keeps nearby at all times. If I came much earlier than this, there was a chance they’d find a way to take you along, too. But now, you’re out of reach.”

           
      
“Nice bluff, Nicholas, but not even you can predict what’s going on that well.”

           
      
“Maybe you’re right, Nathaniel. Maybe I’m bluffing. Maybe I didn’t choose this moment because it’s the only window where you can’t get away, and the Heroes have yet to arrive. Doesn’t matter, though, does it? You went along with all of this just so you could kill me. Sorry, beat me and kill me. After all, no one can pin the blame on your family if I die during a Hero hate-group’s attack on the whole campus, right?”

           
      
Nathaniel reached down to the well of power that currently resided in him. The time for talk was almost done. Much as he wanted to savor the moment of victory, it was best to make sure he achieved it first. “Guess you figured it out, Nicholas. I’m breaking apart from my family, building an empire all my own. Your death was the last piece of Vegas business I had to handle, and I didn’t want it to cause trouble for the people I was leaving behind. No need to burn bridges just yet.”

           
      
“It’s a stupid plan, Nathaniel. It’s stupid for so very many reasons, but the most important one has been in front of you the entire time: I can use this opportunity to kill
you
just as easily as you could use it to kill
me
.”

           
      
A loud crackling sound filled the air, and suddenly, the yellow dome that had blotted out the sky flickered once and disappeared entirely. Nathaniel didn’t have any more time to waste. He reached out to Nick’s psyche, ready to grab the deepest, most primal fear he had and twist it around himself.

           
      
“Stupid, huh? Well, let me tell you a secret, Nicholas Campbell. Right now, I’m more powerful than you’ve ever seen me. I can do more than just make your fears into hallucinations, I can make them real. I’m going to wear the forms of your deepest terrors like a cloak and tear you limb from limb.”

           
      
Nathaniel stretched his awareness into Nick’s mind, waiting for the flood of fears to come rushing forth, filling him with power and strength. Instead, he felt . . . nothing. There was no fear at all in Nick’s mind. It was almost perfectly serene.

           
      
“H-How?”

           
      
“Believe it or not, Nathaniel, we’re meeting each other on even ground. I got myself a little booster shot too. Right now, fear is a foreign concept to me, because fear’s most basic core is rooted in the unknown. For just a bit longer, I don’t have unknowns. I can see the flow of everything around us. I can watch the lines of cause and effect as they blur into one another, and I can even turn the changeable factors in my favor. For example, this knife.” Nick unsheathed a blade from a holster at his side. With a single flick, he sent it through the air, where it lodged in Nathaniel’s stomach.

           
      
“There was about a seventy percent chance it would kill you when I threw, but I made it fall into the thirty, where you don’t die.”

           
      
“What the fuck?” Nathaniel spat. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Not at all. He was supposed to be unstoppable against this . . . this . . . Powered.

           
      
“I’ve got limits, of course. I can’t push an outcome that doesn’t at least have a chance of happening. Like, right now, there’s no chance that a piece of space debris will crush your foot, so I can’t make it happen.” Nick walked forward calmly, pulling another knife free. “But I can make my own outcomes. We’re not slaves to luck or fate. We can create new situations of our own.”

           
      
“You can’t do this! You don’t even have control of your power!” Nathaniel screeched as Nick continued advancing, moving closer with every step.

           
      
“I’ve been a Super for three years, Nathaniel. The one advantage you had over me has been gone all this time. And right now, I’m in a category all my own. There are so many ways this moment can play out, so many probabilities at work. But you tried to hurt my friends, Nathaniel. More than that, you came after my real family. I’d have kept playing this game with you all our lives, if only you’d had a little self-control. You’re the one who upped the stakes. You’re the one who made this round for keeps.”

           
      
Nick punched Nathaniel in the mouth, knife still gripped in his hand. In the moment of Nathaniel’s disorientation, Nick grabbed his hair and yanked it back, revealing Nathaniel’s exposed throat. The orange-eyed young man struggled vainly, tugging at Nick’s arms that had been strengthened by years of HCP training. In a last ditch effort, he smacked at Nick’s face, pulling away the goggles that kept his eyes protected. Nathaniel let out a gasp of shock.

           
      
It was, technically, his last word. Nathaniel’s corpse fell to the ground as Nick picked up his goggles and set them back in place. The night vision function was turned off, but it wouldn’t do to have people getting a glimpse of his eyes until they returned to normal.

           
      
He looked up at the sky, noticing the cornucopia of colors that had begun to fill it. Throughout campus, Heroes from across the nation appeared out of thin air, teleporting in with no idea what they were stepping into. Loud booms filled the air as Heroes running at super-speed finally came to a stop. It was official: the cavalry had arrived.

           
      
At long last, the hellish night that would become known as Lander’s Crucible came to an end.

251.

             “Blaine.”

           
      
He could hear the voice, and he understood it was attached to a person, but for some reason, he couldn’t bear to lift his eyes from the paper in front of him. It was too much. All of this, it was more than he wanted to bear. He’d quit the Hero world for a reason, after all. Asking him to shoulder so much pain was unfair; it was downright cruel. Yet, he knew he was going to have to do exactly that. He’d have to raise his head, tear his eyes from the list on his desk, and bravely soldier forth. The blood, battle, and chaos weren’t the part that truly showed what people were made of. It was when the dust settled, and one had to carry the weight of what they’d seen, done, and failed to do, that the real test began. He couldn’t afford to fail it. Even if he did, the weight wouldn’t vanish. It would only fall on someone else to carry.