4.2 - Mass Driver

“Mass Driver?” I repeated, and my mind jumped to the information in the file I had just read. “Your…Your ability is…” I saw the three additional bloody marbles on the other side of the curved hall. “…Hyper Velocity. You can launch any object you touch at crazy speeds...”

Mass Driver laughed. “Well, Vector, I’m touched. You were able to learn a lot from this decrepit library for Normals. I’m impressed they even had my ability name.”

“You’re an Abnormal…l-like me.”

“I am. Nice to meet you! But, who am I kiddin'? Practically every Abnormal knows all about the Vector. But I'm not here to be all buddy-buddy. I’m here for a different reason: To deliver a message from the Doc himself.”

I balled my fists at the mention of Molecruel—of Ambrigado. “Go on.”

Mass Driver tossed the one marble in his hand up and down again as he spoke. He walked to the other side of the hall to retrieve the others.

“The Doc says you’re a very special part of his plan for Ave Strata. In his words, you 'are the Wildcard that can decide how things play out from here on.'”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I just wanna live my life, man. I’m not here to hurt anyone.”

Mass Driver stopped walking and squinted at me. “Oh, but you have, Vector. You’ve hurt quite a lot of people plenty already. There was my friend, Larry—ya know, The Rumbler—and the people who got hurt when Sunshine Luxury collapsed. Didn't know about them, did ya? And, of course, we can't forget about those innocent Normals who got killed or messed up real bad from that bomb you were sent.”

“You shut your damn mouth right now. I didn’t hurt those people from the bomb or when Sunshine collapsed!”

“Ah, but you were the reason why they suffered, weren’t you? If only you weren’t at those places at those moments in time, those moments in space—then those Normals would have been on their merry way.”

“Shut…up…”

“But why go through the struggle of trying to find your place among Normals…when you can be alongside your brothers-and-sisters-in-arms in the Science Division?”

I blinked and met his eyes. “...Tell me about that. The Science Division. What is it, exactly?”

Mass Driver frowned. “I'll tell you everything you wanna know...after you’ve agreed to join us.”

“No, I want answers now. I didn’t survive a bomb, a falling building, and an attempted murder by one of your 'friends' for nothing! You tell me what I want to know.”

“...You felt pity for Larry, didn’t you?”

“What?”

“You felt bad for how he got taken in by the cops. I can see it on your face. You felt regret for harming another Abnormal—rather like you. Either your heart is in the right place in caring for your own kind, or you’re somehow twisted enough to think caring for Abnormals...is the same as caring for putrid Normals.”

“I only felt bad...because we—I hurt him. I shouldn’t have, but…”

“But you felt compelled to. Because if you didn’t hurt him, he would have almost certainly killed you…or, at least, brought you to us on the brink of death.”

“Why are you guys—No, why is Ambrigado interested in me in the first place?”

“Didn’t you hear what I said? Doc thinks you’re the Wildcard in his plans for Ave Strata. That’s reason enough to come here and meet you face-to-face. I don’t wait around like Larry does; that's...too slow for me. I’d rather go straight to the source. And here we are.”

“Calling me a ‘Wildcard’ doesn’t mean anything. I want the context.”

“And you’ll get it. After you join us.”

I glanced at the gun by the guard's dead body.

“I wouldn’t, if I were you,” Mass Driver warned. “To fight us is to die. To resist is to die. To stand with the Normals is to die. I know of your powers, Vector. You can only manipulate harmful trajectories you can easily predict. I can make anything I touch travel at speeds you couldn't possibly keep track of. So, your options today are simple: Join us in the Science Division, or die here like this insect.”

I looked again at the dead guard. The blank look of shock in his eyes would haunt me forever.

“Ya know, Mass Driver? How 'bout you go shove those marbles up your—”

I barely managed to look up in time and tilt my head fast enough just before the first marble shot past me. It crashed into another console, causing it to burst into an explosion of fire and dark smoke. The smell of burning metal and wires quickly filled the air.

“I’m not here to play games, Vector," Mass Driver glared at me. "Join us, or die.”

“...Never.”

He grinned. “Die, it is!”

Just before Mass Driver could propel the remaining three marbles at me, I pushed off the floor, creating two accelerating trajectories at my feet, and made a straight dash to the doorway.

The other marbles destroyed the consoles I passed—all of them missing me by inches.

I dared not to look back at Mass Driver.

“VEEEECTOOOOR!” he yelled after me.

As soon as I made it to the hallway, I sprinted for the main concourse.

The walls behind me exploded into flames, as several consoles shot through the lobby and crashed through the entrance doors and windows.

I glanced back to see another console hurtling towards me, and I was barely able to redirect it in time. My arms shook violently when the bounce-off impact forced me to the ground.

Out of the billowing smoke columns in the burning walls came the silhouette of Mass Driver. He stalked towards me with a grin of satisfaction.

I rolled to the nearest console bits on the floor and gave them all as fast of a trajectory as I could. But Mass Driver simply raised his arms, and he deflected every bit towards the ceiling with ease—imbuing each one with a faster velocity as the ceiling began to crumble.

I struggled to my feet, moving past flaming consoles blocking the lobby entrance, and stumbled my way outside. I again pushed off the ground with one foot, landing with an angled trajectory down the steps of the Repository.

“It’s pointless, Vector! You can’t defeat me!” Mass Driver called from inside the lobby as the ceiling finally gave way. But my enemy kept laughing. “Just accept your place among us! We can use your powers for a good cause!”

I turned back as he appeared at the burning entrance. “You call this a ‘good cause,’ Vincent?! You’re all just insane!”

I reached a bench along the bottom of the steps and again launched it at Mass Driver, who, again, flicked it away with an even faster velocity.

Mass Driver stared at me. “Like I said…”

Just then, he pushed off the ground—

He suddenly caught up and punched me in the gut.

I doubled-over as the blow knocked the wind out of my lungs.

My enemy chuckled as I fell to my knees, clutching my abdomen and coughing repeatedly. “…you can’t beat me.”

I wheezed and coughed up blood as Mass Driver grabbed my jacket collar.

“I gave you a chance to join us, Vector, but beating you up like this is way more fun! Maybe I'll take you back to the Doc half-dead, after all!”

He dragged me in a semi-circle, brought me up, and punched me forward again—this time at my chest. I felt the wind ripple past my body so violently that the back of my ears and neck burned. I could barely keep my eyes open as my body shot through the air above the long garden trail at such a high speed. After just two seconds, I found myself sliding and rolling onto the hard asphalt of the street facing the Repository campus.

I felt my ears and the back of my neck—dried and bruised from the wind itself.

Again, I struggled to my feet, searching desperately for something to use against Mass Driver, who now approached from down the long trail at the foot of the Repository steps.

He pushed off the last step and gave himself an extreme speed, zipping down the garden trail and causing the greenery to blow back from the harsh wind left in his wake.

But he halted himself at the start of the trail and smirked.

Then, amidst the pain in my stomach, an idea occurred to me.

I blinked twice and looked at the ground all around me—the asphalt street and concrete sidewalks. I remembered how The Rumbler influenced the hallway floor and walls during his fight with me and Anomaly.

What if…?

I pressed my gloved hands on the asphalt and concentrated. I wanted to make a trajectory that could reverberate through the ground—a ground tremor, if you will, or perhaps a fissure. I poured my will into the street and, slowly, the ground shook.

Mass Driver’s grin faded as he looked around, puzzled, before turning his attention back to me.

“No way,” he laughed, “Are you trying to mimic Larry's moves? You’re a real joke!”

I ignored him and concentrated.

Burst. Now!

The street in front of me roared as the trajectory I sent into the ground ruptured through the asphalt toward Mass Driver.

He panicked and dove out of the way as the asphalt beneath him exploded, causing a gaping fissure in the street.

Mass Driver stood up, glanced to his right, and ran to a parked hover-car, just as I leaped behind the nearest one by the sidewalk. I placed one hand on its passenger door and my other hand on the asphalt.

I coughed from the pain in my abdomen. I closed my eyes, desperately trying to concentrate—one hand on the ground feeling for any sudden movements, and my other hand ready to push my car at my enemy.

The moment I sensed his parked car leave its fixed position, I pressed my hand against my hover-car and blasted my strongest trajectory into it—sending it in Mass Driver’s direction.

They collided, exploding in the middle of the street. The fires lit up the surrounding buildings as a pillar of black smoke billowed from the conjoined wreckage.

But our fight was far from over.

From behind the smoke, I caught glimpses of Mass Driver’s panting, stunned expression. Perhaps he wondered just how I could have anticipated his move with the car.

He glared at me with such a vile hatred before he ran to another car—this time only a few steps away to his left.

I acted fast and trajectory-pushed myself behind a parked bus.

I had only a few seconds to place my hands on it, when I felt the violent push of Mass Driver’s second car projectile crashing into the bus's left side.

But I was ready.

I gave the parked bus just enough of an opposing trajectory to remain in place to absorb the second car. But I felt the impact momentum rush through my body, and I fell back on the concrete sidewalk. The bus creaked and screeched as metal brushed against metal.

Once again, I placed my hands on the ground, hoping to find Mass Driver by detecting the vibrations of his footsteps.

He sprinted at me.

Pressing on the concrete, I manifested two underground trajectories, which curved around the bus and into Mass Driver, who screamed in shock as two fissures in the asphalt suddenly opened beneath his feet.

He fell in.

I then moved my hands closer together and heard him bellow in pain as the asphalt closed around his body.

I stood up and limped to him on the other side of the burning bus, trying to ignore the unyielding pain in my stomach.

His arms were bruised, and his head was covered with sweat. He spat as I got closer.

“You…You damn son of a b—AGH!”

I grabbed at his throat with my right gloved hand, and he struggled in his asphalt prison.

At that moment, the voice returned to me again—the same one from the day I met Elaina at Marley Thomas Hospital, when that rude front desk girl threw the pen at me. It was the same voice that tried to push me to attack Lieutenant Vali, when he interrogated me after the bomb incident.

Kill him. The voice insisted. He was the aggressor here. He wanted to kill you. He doesn’t deserve any sympathy. Someone like him...should die.

I felt the urge to create a trajectory at my palm, and the image of me watching the life leave his eyes entered my mind for a single second.

But my recklessness won out.

I pulled him out of the asphalt, and, before he could touch me, I punched him in his gut with such force that my trajectory-imbued arm sent him flying through the wall of a bank on the opposite sidewalk. A cloud of dust and debris emerged around the impact site.

Dozens of customers and employees screamed and rushed out.

Mass Driver twitched as he went in and out of consciousness.

It was then that I felt my arms burn up, and I clutched my elbows. The sudden trajectories I created, and the momentum I influenced during the fight, began to take their toll.

But at least Mass Driver was defeated.

I wished Elaina was here.

I tried to control my breathing, massaging my pained abdomen as I limped cautiously towards my enemy. When I got closer, I saw him panting slowly, and his head tilted back.

I began to jog towards him when—

“Stop right there, villain!”

I froze and turned to the column of smoke rising from the burning bus.

Two figures appeared in its haze—not standing on top of the bus, but floating above it.

I thought I was seeing things. Was this a trick? Hell, this might as well have been a film shoot for an action movie.

The two figures in the air began to glow—the left in an marigold light and the right in a lapis light. When they emerged from the column of smoke, I saw they were, in fact, humans—a girl on the left glowing a saturated orange and the boy on the right glowing a deep blue. The girl waved her right arm and the smoke cleared away. The boy had his arms folded as they floated down to the top of the bus.

The pair wore matching outfits of white, with the girl wearing blue accented details, and the boy wearing orange ones—complete opposites of the other's glowing aura. On both of their chests was a large star symbol that looked like a team logo. In fact, even from where I was standing, I saw they both had a shiny star-shaped mole—or was it a sticker or tattoo?—below an opposing eye.

I squinted, blinking once. “Who…the hell are you guys supposed to b—“

“Rest assured, citizens of Ave Strata!” the boy raised his voice as he glanced around at the staring bystanders on the sidewalks.

The girl followed suit. “The Starlight Twins have come to put an end to this disturbance of peace!”