Chapter 14:
That time three friends with special abilities were thrown to a new world where superpowers don't exist
Nikola sat sullenly on the couch, trying to get his mind off of what happened. He hated that he had to fight with Seth and John, and more than that he hated that he lost. It wasn’t his sense of pride that was wounded, though. He was worried about them. He knew he didn’t need to be worried. They had proven themselves more than capable. They managed to beat him, after all. He was sure they’d be back any minute now, and then he’d go on his knees and beg for their forgiveness. He still thought he was in the right, but that didn’t mean he enjoyed fighting with them.
Nikola looked down at his clothes. The lightning John redirected at him had scorched what he had on previously, and now he just put on what was most comfortable. It just so happened that the most comfortable thing he owned was sweats, just like those John and Seth had worn to go fight. His clothes being destroyed wouldn’t be a problem if he could just absorb the blast. When he absorbed energy it didn’t seem to interact with anything that it came into contact with on its path to him. He sighed, and let his head fall backward, trying to empty his mind.
Nick, save us!
Nikola sat bolt upright. He heard it. He was certain of it. But what if he was wrong? How could he help, anyway? He didn’t even know where they were. Nikola frowned and forced those thoughts from his mind. He was an idiot, leaving his friends to die. He got to his feet and focused. He started absorbing energy from the electromagnetic spectrum, but he didn’t just stop at visible light. Infrared, radio waves, gamma rays, everything. Everything except the small sliver at the bottom of the scale. Brain waves. If he could quiet down everything around him Seth could get through. He could hear where they are. He just had to focus.
Nick, please!
He got it that time. It was a sensation that was impossible to put into words, but through that pained scream in his mind, he could hear where they were. He released his hold on the energy around him and bolted out of the door. This was do-or-die time. He could hear Seth was in pain. Hell, he could feel it. They were in danger, and if he didn’t get there fast then he wouldn’t be able to save them. So Nikola ran. He pushed his body to the limit, bolting down the street.
Around him, birds seemed to flap their wings in slow motion. The wheels on cars span slower and slower. People on the sidewalk seemed to take an eternity to take a single step. Sparks began flying off Nikola’s body, his feet barely making contact with the floor. For the first time in what felt like years, he felt energy coursing through his body, his very cells becoming one with it. His entire body crackled with thunder as he blasted down the street, an incomprehensible flash of lightning to all he passed.
But he knew it wasn’t enough. He had to be faster. He had to push his body further. It didn’t matter if he hurt himself. He could drop dead afterward for all he cared. He just had to go faster, so he forced more speed into his steps. He could feel his energy being consumed, burning through it like it was gas over an open flame. He had to push harder. He could feel something shift. The sharp crackling glow of the lightning crackling faded, replaced by a soft, warm glow. Nikola’s body shifted once more, his speed increasing greatly as his steps became… light.
In less than one ten-thousandth of a second, he blasted across the country, his travel invisible to the eye. He wasn’t thinking anymore. He was acting purely on the instinctual knowledge of his ability and the raw desire to save the people he cared about. He wouldn’t lose. He would be fast enough. He would get there in time, and once he did he would never let them be in danger again.
***
Seth couldn’t muster the strength to speak. He could barely form thoughts, but those he did in those last few seconds before the laser cannon sent them to the afterlife were all the same. He heard his friends around him accepting defeat. At this point, he welcomed death as well. He could see a faint glow come from the laser cannon as it prepared to fire. The last thoughts that echoed through his mind before the gun blasted were all the same. A repeated plea. A cry he knew no matter how hard he pushed, would never be heard.
Nick, save us.
Seth’s entire world was bathed in a blinding white light. He flinched, ready for the moment of pain before he was finally killed. It never came through. Around him, he heard nothing but silence. Did the laser miss him? He opened his eyes. His friends were safe. They all had an awestruck look in their eyes. He followed their gaze.
Nikola stood outside the cell, in the path of the laser. His breathing was extremely hard, and he was soaked in sweat, but aside from that, he looked fine. He turned around and gave them a smile. Seth wanted to smile back, but the searing pain in his mind prevented him. He saw the laser canon prime another shot.
“Nick!” he managed to cry out. Nikola turned around just in time to catch the second shot, absorbing it into his arsenal of energy.
“Let’s see how you like it,” he said under his breath. He lifted his hands and shot the beams back at the laser canon. In less than a second it was completely destroyed. Nikola turned back around to face his friends. “Sorry I’m late, I got caught up in traffic.”
“Nick, they’re hurting Seth,” Elain said. Nikola looked at his friend’s pained expression, how he clutched at his head, and realized what was going on.
“Hold out for a few more seconds, Seth,” Nikola said. “The rest of you, stand back.” He put his hand on the glass door, and a moment later it shattered. Next, he took a step back, and closed his eyes, focusing his power again. Like in the apartment, he started absorbing energy from the electromagnetic spectrum, but this time he only grabbed the lowest frequencies.
Seth gasped for air, the pain finally and suddenly stopping. He took a moment to get his bearings. Nikola offered him a hand, which he gratefully accepted, pulling himself up.
“Where’s Logan and Olivia?” Nikola asked. “We need to go save them too.”
“They’re turncoats,” John said. “They stabbed us in the back.” He walked over and placed a hand on Nikola’s shoulder. “Thanks for coming.”
“What can I say?” Nikola said. “You gave me something really shocking to think about.” John and Seth both let out pained groans.
“Puns, the lowest form of humor,” Seths said.
“I don’t get the joke,” Emma said. “But I’m glad you’re safe, Nick. I was wondering why you weren’t with these two.”
“I was planning on abandoning you,” Nikola said. He saw no reason to hide what a piece of crap he was planning on being. “But I changed my mind.”
“And it’s a good thing you did,” Seth said. “Otherwise we’d be toast right about now. How did you find us, anyway?”
“I heard you,” Nikola said. “Your thoughts traveled all the way to me and forced their way into my mind. I used that to track you down.”
“And you did the Electric Sprint again!?” John asked, excited.
“Not just that,” Nikola said. “I think I did it with light too. I was going really fast.”
“That is awesome,” John said. “Just as awesome, they found a way to prevent me from making portals, so we’ll have to take the hard way out.”
“Hard way is right, John,” a voice over some hidden intercom system said. John and Seth recognized it as belonging to the Suited Man. “Now that all three of you are here, we can continue with my original plan.”
“Let me guess, the ringleader?” Nikola asked. Seth and John nodded.
“You see, I didn’t want to kill you,” the Suited Man said. “At least, not immediately. I wanted to stress the limits of your powers. For John that would be problematic, though, since he would just use it to escape. We didn’t want to give Seth an opportunity to influence our minds either, so that took him off the table as well. Nick, on the other hand, we can play with.”
“I’m not a circus monkey,” Nikola protested. “I’m not doing anything for you.”
“Well then what if I sweeten the pot,” the Suited Man said. “Between you and the exit, there are a series of trials meant to test your abilities. If you complete all of them, I’ll let the girls go home without any harm occurring to them.”
Seth, John, and Nikola all looked at each other. This was a deal they couldn’t pass up. As things stood Emma and Elain were liabilities. The super trio could always fight their way out, but if they had to protect the girls too it would become a lot more difficult.
“Turn off whatever you’re using to disable Seth and you got yourself a deal,” Nikola called. “I expect I’m going to have to use my ability, and right now it’s busy counteracting your attack.”
“I’ll allow it, but if I get even the slightest hint that he’s trying something outside the scope of the trails our deal is off,” the Suited Man said. Nikola released his absorption. Seth didn’t collapse in pain, so he had to assume that whoever was in charge had kept up on their end of the bargain.
“Now, if you’ll kindly go down the passage to your left, the games can begin,” The Suited Man said. To the group’s left, a door that had blended perfectly with the wall opened up. They tentatively walked in. “Your first trail is simple. In front of you, you will find a hallway that is a hundred meters long. It’s not a normal hallway, though. It’s a wind tunnel, constantly being cooled to less than negative two-hundred degrees Celsius. With the added wind chill any normal human who stepped in there would freeze solid in about ten seconds. At the end of the tunnel is a button that will turn it off and allow safe passage. Enjoy!”
Sure enough, at the end of the short passage was what looked like an airlock. Through it, they could see the other side being frosted over. They could hear the insane wind speeds inside. Beside the airlock was a large screen, seemingly showing the inside of a tunnel.
“Looks like this is a spectator sport,” Nikola said, cracking his knuckles. He reached to open the airlock door.
“Hold on,” Seth said, grabbing his arm. “Do you have enough? A hundred meters might not seem like a lot, but it is a long way to go, and fighting against the wind will take even more time.”
“I have enough,” Nikola said. “Besides, it’s all heat anyway.”
Seth let go of his arm, and Nikola stepped into the airlock. He wasn’t lying about what he said. In the end, all energy boiled down to heat. Well, technically it all boiled down to kinetic energy, but the very definition of temperature is the average kinetic energy of a group of particles. If used correctly, he could heat himself and his surroundings with kinetic energy. Paired with the raw fire he had he had quite a stockpile of heat. If even that wasn’t enough, he could radiate infrared light.
“Remember, you don’t have to warm the air up a lot!” Elain shouted through the closed airlock door. “If you can bring it up to around negative thirty degrees you should be able to survive without permanent damage for around five minutes!”
“Five minutes, eh?” Nikola said. He was thankful for the information. Just because it felt like he was freezing didn’t mean he was. This wasn’t going to be fun, but it had to be done. He enveloped himself in a cloak of flames and threw open the second door. The cold immediately hit him, and he had to increase his output greatly. He was still freezing, but he felt like this was manageable. He took a step into the tunnel, taking careful care of his footing. The wind nearly knocked him over, but he managed to stay upright. The flames whipped about behind him, carried by the cold wind. He began walking forward, each step taking considerable effort.
Nikola was about halfway before he realized he was running out of fire. He didn’t want to use up everything he had, so he switched to the more difficult method of using kinetic energy to warm up the air around him. Almost immediately he felt the cold in his bones, but a few seconds of focus alleviated that. His kinetic energy was burning fast, and he knew he had to move. An unexpected benefit of the use of his kinetic energy was that it acted as a windbreaker, and made his feet seem lighter. He could walk a lot faster than before.
His kinetic energy was getting dangerously low as well, and he was contemplating trying the risky infrared strategy when he saw the wall marking the end of the tunnel, and on it a stereotypical big red button. He forced himself forward those last few steps and slammed his hand into the button. The wind died down, and he could feel the air around him warming up almost immediately. A bunch more lights came on in the tunnel as well.
Nikola was slowly walking back to the entrance, taking his time to catch his breath, when he realized that something was going on. The temperature was still rising, even though it was already past what he considered a comfortable room temperature. Were they planning on cooking him alive? He brushed off the thought. Whatever they were doing, it was only acting to help him. He cranked on his absorption and began training all the heat he could get his hands on. This had three positive side effects. For starters, it brought the temperature around him to a very comfortable room temperature, and it replenished his stock of energy if only a little bit. The last benefit was probably the best. Through absorbing energy his body found relief, his fatigue fading slightly.
Nikola threw open the door to the airlock and stepped through. He was met with high-fives and slaps on the back from the four waiting for him.
“When we walk through there stick close to me,” he said. “They’re trying to turn the tunnel into an oven now.”
They nodded and followed Nikola through the tunnel without getting burned. That marked the ending of the first trial, but it didn’t stop there. The second trail seemed simple. They had ball-bearings and had to hit down targets about twenty-five feet away. Seth could handle it easily, but they ran into a problem. The targets required a lot of force to be knocked over. They settled on having Nikola throw them with a healthy dose of kinetic energy, and letting Seth guide them into the targets.
It was at the third trail, a maze, that Seth finally found what he was looking for. He’d been scanning the minds of everyone he could find ever since they started these stupid trials, and now he’d gathered enough information to finally come to a conclusion.
“They’re never letting any of us go,” he whispered, drawing everyone in close. “I read a bunch of minds. Once we finish these experiments they’re going to ice us.”
“I know,” Nikola said. “But at this point we don’t really have a choice but to play along, right?”
“Well, maybe not,” Seth said. “I can figure out our path by reading the minds of the people watching us. It sounds as if the next place is a big room. We can make our stand there.”
“What are you thinking?” John asked.
“Nick and I just start tearing stuff apart,” Seth said. “They’ll have to send people in to stop us. To do that they have to open doors that lead to other places than the trails.”
“So we fight our way through and escape?” John asked. “Then what? They’ll just come after us again.”
“So we don’t escape. We take this whole place down,” Seth said. “I mean it’s an evil secret organization’s base, it’s bound to have a self-destruct button, right?”
“For now let’s just solve the maize,” Nikola said. “And don’t plan anything too reckless. We still have to look after the girls.”
Seth nodded in agreement and began leading them through the maze, using the thoughts of those observing them to guide his path. This was almost certainly what the solution was anyway. It took a few minutes to navigate through all the twists and turns, but they finally managed to find their way to the room Seth described.
“Splendid job!” The Suited Man called out over the intercom. “Your next trails will take some time to be ready, so feel free to take a break.” This was better news than they could have ever hoped for. Seth immediately pulled them back together, and they began discussing a plan in hushed tones.
“If we can get a stable portal open it’d solve everything,” John said. “But with that fluctuating magnetic field thing, I just can’t get a big one open.”
“How big can you manage?” Seth asked, perking up.
“Like, an inch maybe?” John said. “Barely enough to fit a finger through.” Seth and John exchanged a look.
“What if I help force it open?” Seth said. “We don’t need very big, just big enough to crawl through.”
“Did you say they’re using a magnetic field?” Nikola asked.
“Yeah,” John said. “Why?”
“That explains a lot,” Nikola said. “It would probably need to be very strong to disrupt your portals. I’m feeling a huge source of electricity close by.”
“And…” Seth prompted.
“If it’s an electromagnet it would make sense,” Nikola said. “And now that I feel it…”
Nikola put his hands together and focused, gathering up energy. He hadn’t practiced this a lot yet, but it just might work. It was a Hail Mary, so to increase his odds he put every bit of kinetic energy he had into this shot. Shaping energy was difficult, but he could form a simple wedge relatively easily. With an earsplitting boom, a gap appeared in the side of the room, as if someone had taken a giant axe and chopped through it in one hit. The gash continued past a few more rooms and into a massive machine, which now had sparks flying all over it.
“John, portal, now,” Nikola said. John obliged, jumping forward to make the portal. He focused and in front of him… nothing happened.
“What’s going on?” Seth asked. Before he could get a reply dozens of men in combat gear burst into the room from all sides, backing them into a corner.
“Bravo,” the Suited Man said, now in person. “That truly is an impressive amount of power, but you were misguided. You didn’t destroy the magnetic field generator. You destroyed the device we use to generate the low-energy waves that incapacitate Seth. Now that we don’t have that anymore, you are too dangerous to leave alive.”
“Seth, John, get a portal open,” Nikola said. He stepped forward, standing between the small army and his friends. “I’ll buy you some time.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” The Suited Man said. “Boys, kill them.”
“Get behind me!” Nikola yelled. An impossible flash of light burst forth from him, blinding everyone in the room. Next, he released a tree of lightning, hitting several of his opponents in the chest. Before the combatants could regain their bearings he bathed them in the flames he had left.
This was a dangerous situation. He was out of kinetic energy and fire, and his run here had eaten through a ton of his electricity. He had light, but that was very hard to use offensively. He couldn’t just throw out radiation, since that would probably hurt his friends. He had already made a sizeable dent in the army of combatants in front of him, but it wasn’t enough. He had to make a plan. Behind him, he heard John and Seth gasp. He spared a quick glance. They had a small portal open. Now they just had to expand it.
Nikola turned back, and a confused look crossed his face. All of the gunmen had seemingly stowed their guns and were now wielding various blades and axes. It took him a moment to realize why. They were trying to nullify his power. He could steal the energy from a gun, but even if he stole the impact from a blade it would still be in contact with his skin, so they could slice him to ribbons.
Nikola could see no other choice. He would have to use what was left of his lightning and hope that it was enough. He sent another blinding flash of light and charged forward. The closer he got the less energy he wasted when he threw lightning. Ideally, he’d want to make physical contact, but he had doubts that he’d manage that. He was in the thick of it within seconds, fighting off multiple people at once. A little too late he saw a blade come down from behind him. He couldn’t dodge, and he wouldn’t be able to switch to his absorbing in time. Even if he did, his attacker would still be able to gash him open.
He flinched, readying for the pain, but it never came. Instead, he saw the blade stop in the middle of the air, not moving another inch. He quickly delivered an electric blast to the attacker’s chest, before waving a quick salute over to Seth. To his delight, he could see the portal growing in size. John looked like he wanted to be sick from the effort, but that was fine. As long as he got them through.
Nikola turned back to his fighting. He was looking for an opportunity to steal a gun from one of his downed opponents, but the one’s still standing were relentless. As he fought he caught a glimpse of the Suited Man, standing a few feet on the other side of the fighting. His smug grin angered Nikola to no end, and almost immediately he lost his temper. He decided to end the fighting then and there. He crouched down and gathered every ounce of electricity he could use and forced it out of his body all at once. Sparks arced from him to everyone close by. He had no doubt he had killed some of the men, but he didn’t think about that now. He rose to his feet, standing over his felled opponents.
“Not bad,” the Suited Man said. He was far enough away that the electricity hadn’t hurt him. “I bet you’re all out of energy now, though.”
“I don’t need my powers to kick your ass,” Nikola said. He charged forward, seemingly catching the Suited Man off guard. He dodged to the side, avoiding Nikola’s charge, just like Nikola predicted. The gunshot that reverberated through the air drew the attention of Seth and John, who nearly had a big enough portal. They feared the worse, but when they looked they found Nikola standing over the Suited Man, who had fallen to his knees.
“You made a mistake,” Nikola said. “You thought just because people called me a superhero I wouldn’t use anything but my powers.”
“You really think you can stop us?” the Suited Man asked with a pained voice. “This organization is larger than you can ever imagine. Even if you kill me, you won’t stop me. You’ll never know peace.”
“Oh, can it with your villain crap,” Nikola said. He swung one of his legs, connecting with the Suited Man’s temple. He crumpled to the ground, not expecting the blow. Nikola dropped the gun and dusted off his hands, then made his way over to the others.
“Dude, are you ok?” Seth asked, straining through the effort of keeping the portal open.
“I’m fine,” Nikola said. He’d process his actions later. “More importantly, I think that is big enough to get through now.” The portal was now just big enough to walk through.
“Ok, everyone else goes first,” John said. “It’ll collapse once I go through. You girls go now. Then Seth, so he can stabilize it from the other end. Then Nick, then me.”
“Ok,” Elain said. She dragged Emma, who was still in a daze. She had been like that since they were captured, only slightly coming back to herself when Nikola showed up. She let herself be dragged through the portal. Seth followed closely behind, making sure to keep the telekinetic pressure on the portal going all the way through.
“Wait,” John said, stopping Nikola from walking through. His hands were shaking with effort. “I need to go first. I need to be on the same side as Seth.” Nikola nodded, and John stepped through the portal. The shaking in his hands stopped as the effort needed to keep the portal open lessened. He turned around to welcome Nikola through when his eyes widened. Seth followed the expression, turning around.
Before anyone could react further, Nikola let out a pained scream. He began falling to his knees, the sword piercing through his chest stealing his breath.
“Nick, no!” Seth and John shouted. Seth’s words were cut off though, as Nikola’s descent to the ground was halted. John ran forward but found his own portal to be like an unbreakable glass wall separating them from Nikola. He noticed the world had grown still. He turned back to see Seth, his face frozen in an expression of panic.
“Can you hear me?” Seth’s voice rang out in John and Nikola’s minds.
“Yeah,” John said, unable to find any more words.
“Well, this could have gone better,” Nikola said. He couldn’t move, but both his friends were in his field of view, just beyond the portal, along with the tip of the blade that was now embedded in him.
“I can take you to a hospital,” John said. “I can get you there in an instant. You’ll be fine!” His voice was almost pleading.
“Exactly,” Seth said. “They’ll patch you up, and you’ll be walking around in no time.” John began pushing against the invisible wall that seemed to be blocking his portal.
“John, wait,” Nikola said.
“For what?” John asked. A tear dropped down his face. “Come on, let me help you.”
“John, you can’t,” Nikola said. “From the looks of it, you can’t walk through your portal while time is stopped. Even if you could, if this worked anything like last time the second you did time would start again, and the portal would collapse. You’ll be stuck here, and I’ll bleed out on the floor.”
“You don’t know that!” John yelled. “Nick, please.”
“John can just resume time. We’ll open another portal to you,” Seth said.
“There isn’t time,” Nikola said. His own voice caught slightly. “I think this is the end.”
“No!” Seth yelled. “I refuse to let it end like this! We can save you. There has to be something we can do!”
“Seth, John can’t hold this forever,” Nikola said. “You both need to be safe. I’m going to take this place down.”
“What do you mean?” John asked.
“I mean my core energy,” Nikola said. “I’m going to die anyway. If I throw out all of it, and I mean every single joule, I could turn this place into a crater.”
“But, you can’t survive that,” John said. “You told us!”
“John, look at me,” Nikola said. “There’s no way I’m surviving a sword through the chest.”
“Nick, please,” Seth said. He didn’t even know what he was pleading for anymore. He just knew he had to.
“Seth, John, you’re the best friends a guy could ever hope for,” Nikola said. “It has been a truly wild ride, and I would not change even a single moment of it for all the fame and riches in the world. Please take care of yourselves, and tell the girls I’m sorry.”
A single tear dropped from Nikola’s frozen face. “Thank you for being my friends.”
John could feel it this time. His energy was dropping as desperately as he wanted to keep time stopped to think of a plan, he couldn’t.
“Nick’s right,” John said. “This is it. Nick, I’m sorry! I swear I’ll never forget you. I’ll find a way to avenge you!”
“We’ll keep this world safe!” Seth said. “And if we ever get home we’ll tell your parents that you were a hero!”
“I love you guys,” Nikola said. A rush of noise accompanied his words, as the universe began moving again, and the portal collapsed.
***
“They abandoned you, just like that?” The Suited Man asked, letting go of the sword.
“You’re an idiot,” Nikola wheezed. It was already hard to breathe. The Suited Man walked out in front of him.
“How so?” he asked, his cocky grin still in place. “You’re the one who couldn’t take me out.”
“Oh, couldn’t I?” Nikola asked. His body began glowing red hot.
“What are you doing? I thought your energy was up!” The Suited Man said, panic leaking into his voice.
“I’m finishing what we started,” Nikola said.
From deep within him he gathered the most ancient energy he possessed. He could feel his body protest as he brought it to the surface. He closed his eyes, a genuine smile on his face.
A blinding wave of energy erupted from Nikola’s skin. Everything within fifty meters of him was immediately turned to ash. The destruction spread further, tremendous heat melting and destroying almost everything in its path, and a wave of destructive force following to take care of what was left. In less than a second, the entire underground complex had been reduced to rubble, with one man at the center of it. He was happy as the last slivers of his consciousness slid away, his mind centered on one place.
“Goodbye, guys.”
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