Dark Skies

It'd been a week.

Seven days since his son tossed him from his office like a skittish intern and sent him on a wild goose chase.

He remembered Titan. He could never forget. The buildings they'd pulverized. The roads they'd ground to mush. The shockwaves their blows would create, pasting bystanders like blood bags.

Elise couldn't fly like him or leap like Titan, so she could never keep up. He'd stagger home half-dead, collapsing and wake up with her nursing him back to health. He and the Rogue were so equally matched; wins were split down the middle. Sometimes, it would be him dragging Titan off to jail. Other times, he wasn’t as lucky.

He would never forget the day it truly settled that Titan was gone.

The ecstasy. Relief.

Joy.

And now he answered to his idiot son.

He'd have happily let Titan go on doing whatever the hell it was that he was doing, granted he stayed quiet and killed no one.

Jason Nova, currently in costume as Prime Nova, ground his teeth. It was almost nauseating how quickly one's life could nosedive.

Bernard, he growled angrily, tightening his grip on the neck between his fingers. I'm going to kill him.

"P-p-pleas-s-se!" wheezed the dangling criminal. "T-t-to-old e–"

"Yes, yes, I know. What was it again? Denver? But get this. Ready? What if you're lying ?" Nova gasped sarcastically. "Imagine!"

Any tighter and the man's head would sever, so instead, Nova turned and lazily tossed him across the room to crash through a flatscreen TV.

The woman curled up in the corner of the room screamed and started to scramble forward.

Nova blitzed across the room and drove his fist into the wall over her head. She shrieked and collapsed into fetal position.

"What did I tell you about moving?" he growled, pushing glowing white light into his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, sorry, sorry, I'm...." she babbled incoherently, weeping in terror.

Nova rolled his eyes, then grimaced in irritation. How long since he'd last slept? Four days? He could go for longer, but it wasn't safe. He got sloppy after three, and six was when cognition began to slip.

All because of him , he hissed frustratedly, turning and picking the man up by the scruff of his shirt.

"See, here's my thing, Oman– oh, wait. Sorry. Omar, was it?"

The man didn't reply, as his back smacked into the ceiling. Nova caught his ankle before he face-planted.

"Remind me his job again, Myla?"

The woman continued to chatter unintelligibly in her ball of catatonic fright. Nova sighed and flipped the man through the air to land on his sofa.

"Myla appears..." Nova glanced in her direction, "indisposed. Hmm. Well, then, I guess it's just me and you."

Omar shrank further into the couch, hyperventilating. The Hero was used to it and thought the whole routine tedious. Ideally, he'd already have been a mile in the air by now, flying for his target. But he needed to verify the intel.

Kicking these rats around was far preferable to burning valuable hours on spurious leads.

"Remind me," said Nova, leaning forward to set his boot next to Omar's thigh, "what was it you did for a living again?"

Omar licked his lips. "I... uh, I sell p-pictures–"

"Ah, yes!" Nova snapped. "You sell pictures! That's right. Bad pictures to important people, don't you?"

Omar was shaking violently enough for Nova to feel it through the leather.

"I'm s–"

"Shut the fuck up," he hissed. "Shut your fucking mouth. The only reason I don’t rip you and your sick little girlfriend apart like confetti is because I can't be bothered to deal with the paperwork."

His hand snapped over Omar's jaw at speeds capable of spooking even speedier Alphas, though he did have to decelerate to keep the skull intact.

"But my mind is flexible. Much more flexible than your spinal cord, girlfriend, or business model. And if you've just sent me chasing air, I will be back with no reservations. I will burn this little shithole to the ground, bisect the bitch and ruin your life. You can run as far as you like, but I will find you by Sunday, kill her by Monday and end you by Wednesday. Do I make myself clear?"

Omar nodded rapidly. "It's the t-t-truth! I swear! Please!"

Nova studied his eyes. There was wild panic, fear and some level of anger, but no dilation.

No lies.

"Fine," Nova sighed. "I hope, as should you, that we never meet again."

He lifted off his feet, crashed through the ceiling and shot into the night sky. Though frustrated, Nova had the presence of mind to clear the troposphere before turning on the afterburners and breaking the sound barrier. Regardless of his feelings, the neighbours deserved unshattered windows.

Omar Hodges partnered with crime organizations specialized in human trafficking. When immigrants unable to enter America legally looked for alternate solutions, the gangs would come along like good Samaritans, then introduce them to a new life of slavery. Between relocation, though, Hodges would slip in and take some select pictures and videos to sell to elite clientele unable to procure the footage anywhere else.

As Hodges’ consistency and results built him an extensive network, Nova couldn't kill him. He wanted to, but SWORD and the CIA needed him to find the shot callers.

Chained by the system. Again. Hodges was the worst kind of trash. Nova could end him with the snap of his fingers, but the suits decided otherwise.

"FUCK!" he barked angrily, accelerating. Hodges lived in New Orleans. Titan would finish his business in Colorado in a few hours.

He needed to hurry.

Naturally, then, Nova’s earpiece immediately chimed. He swore and ground to a halt.

"Go."

"Prime Nova, this is Pommel. Sit-rep?"

He rolled his eyes. No one else could access his comm, so the greeting was pointless.

"Hodges broke. I'm en route to Denver."

"Titan is in Denver?"

"Allegedly."

"And if he isn't?"

"Hodges will never have the chance to experience the luxuries of a six by eight."

"Yes, he will. You can't kill him."

"No, of course not. But gravity can."

"Nova."

"Stay out of my ear, or I'll toss the bud. If shit hits the fan, you'll hear it."

"I'm in New York," the Pommel Handler said dryly.

"It's Titan. The whole country will hear it."

He ended the call and resumed his flight. It was beneath him, scrounging through the mud for leads. He handled the crises. Cities in danger of collapse. Countries in the heat of war. Calamities that shook the world at its roots. That was when he was needed.

"I'm going to kill him," he grumbled.

He had to clear Mach Three, but Nova managed to reach Colorado in half an hour. Nighttime Denver was beautiful. Artificial lights, checkered plots of neighbourhood housing and small green patches painted a gorgeous picture of a city.

None of it, though, pointed to Titan.

"Dammit," he muttered, dropping to land on the roof of a mall complex and double-tap his comm.

"Is your earpiece working?" purred the Handler through her microphone. "It must've glitched and called–"

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. Do I have help?"

Keyboard clacking responded. "Hmm," she muttered, "well, we actually have Eye-Lie posted a few blocks down."

Nova grimaced. "Is he working?"

"No, not likely."

The Hero glanced up at the full moon. "Fuck. Yeah, call him."

Five minutes later, she called back. "He'll meet you at the safehouse. It's west, in a decommissioned steelworks factory. Need me to ping it?"

He ended the connection to shoot back into the air, then squinted to telescope his sight. The issue with his vision was the peripheral shrink. He could see for miles, but only tiny pieces at a time. Reading fine print off a credit card was easy, but the rest of the street would be a blur.

It took him ten minutes to locate the factory. He slipped in through a window large enough to accommodate his mass. The room that greeted him was a spartan, blocky concrete box. A few tables and computers sat against the far wall while a flat, wooden table circled by four chairs took up the centre.

Only one was occupied.

Tall, curly-haired, and extremely handsome by both Western and his native Indian standards, it wasn’t hard to see why Eye-Lie was on many of SWORD’s recruitment posters.

Nova, though, valued him for his morals and work ethic. There weren’t many, but this Alpha was a genuine Hero.

"Prime," greeted Eye-Lie, rising from the chair and rubbing his eyes. "Welcome to Colorado."

Nova walked over to meet his handshake. "Apologies, Eye-Lie. I know this isn't protocol."

"When is it ever?" the Hero replied tiredly.

Nova shook his head. "Still. You do good, hard work. I know how much off days mean."

"Come on," snorted Eye-Lie. "My kids would kill me if I turned this down. If helping you means a late night, I'll gladly take it."

"I hate that," Prime chuckled. "Rank doesn't mean jack shit. I can hit harder and fly faster. Big whoop. You're grinding your ass out on trash that'll never appreciate it."

"That's the job," sighed Eye-Lie.

"That's the job," agreed Nova.

Eye-Lie returned to his chair and offered Nova another. "So, what brings you to my corner of the woods?"

"Titan."

Eye-Lie went rigid. "You're fucking with me."

"If only. Director–" Nova did a slow circle with his jaw. He couldn't even bring himself to say it. "Management got intel. The Director asked me to verify. Says Titan’s scoping out old hunting grounds and whatnot. Bern— er, Skies thought it prudent we cut the cancer before it kills."

"Makes sense." Eye-Lie's expression set in severity. "You think Denver’s got something to do with it?"

"Been kicking the nest. Tracks led here." He studied Eye-Lie. "Got reasons why?"

"As a matter of fact," Eye-Lie replied, crossing his arms pensively. "We had a massive bust last week."

"What of?"

"Drugs, but that doesn't matter. It was too easy."

Nova, this time, crossed his arms. "How do you mean?"

"This operation ran perfectly for two decades, if not more. 'Well-oiled’ doesn't even begin to cover it. Airtight rotations. I'm talking so clean; the goddamn runners smelled of jasmine. We’d still be just as blissfully oblivious, were it not for a mysterious tip last week. Six hundred bricks of snow. The mayor damn near wet himself when the report hit his desk. We swept up the cooks, guards and gear in less than a day." Eye-Lie shook his head. "Easy as can be."

Nova crossed his arms. "Maybe they needed to cut losses? Use the bust as a smokescreen and book it."

"Makes no sense. We're still putting the full scope of this thing together, and I'm telling you it’s perfect. Today alone, I've caged four moles, Prime. Multiple levels. They'd have heard about the snitch before command did. Forensics think this could've been netting them anywhere from three to eight million a week . They’ve been printing cash for years."

"Fair enough," replied Nova before cracking a wry grin. "You're the illusionist, after all."

Eye-Lie smirked. "Indeed. But why gift wrap us a billion-dollar operation?"

"To detract attention from where we really need to be looking. Such as...”

"Union!" gasped Eye-Lie, bolting to his feet.

Nova rose. "There it is. Now come the wheres and whys."

Eye-Lie was already rushing for the door. "Gun running. Minor, we thought, but enough to keep me turning in bed. Using the train systems to slip crates up and down the line. The raid would’ve been yesterday, had we not gotten... sidetracked."

Nova lifted off his feet. “Shocking. I'll meet you there.”

"Wait, let me–"

He was already gone. Eye-Lie was a proper Hero, but dragging him along would just slow Nova down.

Eye-Lie had young kids. Fighting Titan would put them in danger of losing their father. Nova couldn’t let that happen.

He rocketed through the night sky at just under the speed of sound. Finding Union Station took a lot less time than the factory, as he just needed to follow where the tracks converged.

Thirty seconds later, he was hovering over the station.

Why am I hesitating? Nova wondered, using his indecision to execute a quick scan. Nothing stood out. The nondescript train cars, small administrative centres, and boarding platforms were all standard. Everything except...

There .

An air current, wafting up from just under the tracks. That meant heat. Hot air from below the line?

Either there's a heated room or a sewer, which everyone would smell. And stinking stations are bad for city business.

"Why am I hesitating?" he growled again, worriedly. It couldn't be from fear of Titan– actually, maybe a little. No one could hit quite as hard as that… thing.

No, his reluctance stemmed from the fact that Bernard assigned him this mission. Bernard learned about Titan, and Bernard arranged the response. If Titan really was down there, that'd mean his useless, disappointment of a son was actually useful and competent.

"Fuck ," he snarled, finally getting over himself and arrowing downward.

The metal tracks sat on gravel beds stacked over concrete supports. None offered any resistance as he cannoned through.

Instead of hitting more ground, as he should've, Nova's body felt a rush of warm air drifting up from a massive, gaping cavern. Hundred-foot pillars planted at fifty-foot intervals, no doubt constructed to support Union, stretched across all five hundred or so yards of the clearing. He shifted to observe the ground; a flat plane of concrete populated by crates, computers, and a collection of uncongenial strangers.

They shouted in alarm at the debris raining down, then went deathly quiet as Nova fell from above to land in a crouch.

"You are all under arrest," he sighed, turning to case the surroundings. "Bla bla right to remain silent, bla bla court of justice."

He strolled to the nearest crate and pulled the metal casing apart like wrapping paper. Rifles clattered to the floor.

He faced the pasty, aghast men with an upturned eyebrow. "Any investors among you?"

The next one had rockets. The next, ammo boxes. He went through a few more before finishing with military vests.

"I'd cash out now. You'll need all the prison favours you can get."

"It's Prime Nova!" shrieked a thug in a heavy Caribbean accent. "Light 'em up!"

Nova rolled his eyes as they bathed him in bullets.

"Where's Titan?" he asked after they'd all run out of ammo.

"Blow'em to hell!" replied the cheerleader. Nova turned to spot one of the men heft a rocket launcher.

"Oh for–" he sighed as the entire world went orange.

Neither the heat nor the force harmed him, though the criminals flew off their feet. A few crates joined in, though luckily, the rocket box was narrowly missed. That would've boiled the blanks to powder and left him sunburned for the next few days.

"How did that ever make sense?" he asked tiredly, rubbing his eyes. "We're in an enclosed space. Stupidity like that makes me wonder how–"

INCOMING.

Nova's screaming instincts toggled his flight reflexes and yanked his body backward, inches from the whistling clump of crushed I-beam steel rocketing across the room. It disappeared through the far wall, three hundred feet away.

He kept moving, compacting into a crouch to minimize himself as a target before banking and barrelling at the aggressor.

Even at seven feet tall, it dodged away in the nick of time. Nova's fist hit cavern floor instead, blowing a fifty-foot crater in the concrete.

"You've gotten old."

Nova could've gone his entire life without hearing that gravelly, sardonic voice again. If he never met it after fifty reincarnations, it'd be too soon.

God, he hated his fucking son.

"Says the one with a grey beard," he replied, rising to his full height to stare the Rogue down. He frowned. "Didn't know your type could get pregnant, either."

While Titan looked heavier, Nova couldn't decide whether or not that was a bad thing. Titan's white, rock-like skin was naturally designed to harden the longer he fought, as did his bones. It was why he never really wore armour, like then, as he shifted to glance down in a tank top and cargo pants.

The Rogue patted his rounded belly. "I retired. And love beer."

"Yeah? Well, I loved your retirement too. The fuck is going on, Bullock?"

Titan studied him momentarily before chuckling and heading to one of the upright tables. "Times are changing, Nova. Times are changing."

He flicked open a cooler and offered Nova a bottle. "Beer?"

"I don't drink on the job."

"Suit yourself," shrugged Titan. Neither of them could get drunk, but Nova hated the taste.

"What's changing?"

Titan took a swig and leaned against the wall. "Leadership."

Nova narrowed his eyes. Titan was too relaxed. Based on his appearance, he hadn't fought in a while. Clearly, he still had his speed and strength, but instincts dulled over time. Titan hadn't been practising, Nova had. They both knew this, which meant Nova held the upper hand. They’d fought too many times for Titan not to know this.

So why was he confident?

"What leadership?" Nova asked, hovering a few inches off the shattered concrete.

"Yours, for one." Titan raised his drink in salute. "Congrats. You and the missus must be so proud."

Nova narrowed his eyes. "Why are you here, Bullock?"

"Would it kill you to call me Titan?" sighed the Rogue. "Just once? I've got an image to maintain."

"What leadership changed?"

Titan lowered his bottle. "It ever... irk you?"

"Did what ever irk me?"

"The ladder."

"I'm going to give you a choice. You can either start making sense before or after I beat the bitch out of you."

"Think about it. How strong we are. I know how you found me. What was his name? Hogs? Hogue?"

"Hodges."

"Hodges. Yes, Omar Hodges. Proper scum. There is no circumstance where his death isn't a good thing. But the ladder doesn't let you. The system built to supposedly protect lets sewer shit like Hodges skip free, happily into the sunset. Do you even know why?"

"It's classified."

"So you don't. Great. A child trafficker is on the loose, in some part thanks to you, for no reason. How’s that make you feel?"

"Like bringing you in will be that much more satisfying."

"We both know that's not true," chided Titan. "I have... a new role. I work under a patron with prescience. She understands strength. Hierarchy. The way things should run instead of the way things do. Bernard's nomination is a fucking travesty. A blank, commanding Alphas? Absurd."

"Stay away from him," growled Nova.

Titan smirked. "Of course. We don't want to break poor Elise's heart."

"Who's your patron?"

"A visionary. She wants to meet you. I believe you share similar values. Men like us should be worshipped. What we can do. What we have done. And instead, they sent you to squeeze Omar Hodges."

"That’s a great speech, but I didn’t hear a single name.”

"Is that a yes?"

"What makes you think I'm asking? You're going to tell me the name, then I'm dragging your ass to the Chasm."

"Unfortunate. Together, we can correct all this. They already have strength. Power. We could tip the scales."

"I'm going to hit you now, so wrap up.”

Titan sighed, drained his drink and placed it on the bench. "Engage."

This time, Nova's reflexes were nowhere near quick enough to evade the unstoppable point of force that rammed between his shoulder blades and flung him into a support pillar. He couldn't catch himself on the landing, either, as his limbs were spasming.

Electricity , he realized. Dammit.

Titan thundered forward with the power of a freight train, only just missing Nova's head by a hair's breadth. Nova slipped in behind and powered his fist into the back of Titan's head, collapsing the column entirely before dancing away from the ensuing boulders of train track showering in from above.

He turned to address the second threat and source of the electric blast.

"Long time no see," Crackle grinned, purple energy dancing through her fingers. "You broken up with that bitch yet?"

She was in her typical gold and mauve costume built with plating over vulnerabilities and mesh over joints and movement centres. The neckpiece covered her throat entirely, ending on her cheeks with streaks miming jagged electricity, complemented by sharp brushes of equally striking makeup and spiky blonde hair.

Nova replied by catching her in a football tackle, carrying them both through four more pillars before shifting to drive her head into the ground.

"You should've stayed home," he hissed, then went rigid as she flexed to hit him with a million volts.

"You shouldn't have married a whore," she snarled back, punching an electrified fist into his chest. He flailed across the cavern and smashed up through the now-open ceiling before crashing down on an oil car.

He thanked his lucky stars it was empty. An explosion of that size would've levelled the station and sent him flying across the stratosphere.

Titan casually made the two-hundred-foot vertical from the bottom of the cavern to open tracks. Nova sat up to regard him.

"You're making friends now?" he growled, frustratedly shoving the train car into the side of the platform. "Times truly are changing."

"Can’t let the new generation have all the fun," shrugged Titan as Crackle soared out of the cavern and attacked.

Nova dodged left, watching the energy peel the oil car apart like styrofoam in a blender. While he hated turning his back on any Rogue, least of all Titan, Crackle represented the bigger danger. She could fly and hit him from range.

Instantly accelerating to supersonic pulverized what remained of the rail and blew out every window on the block, but it did allow him to connect a devastating punch to Crackle's abdomen. She went flying out of the station and crashed through the side of a baseball arena.

His blow triggered another shockwave. Titan’s flying tackle ignored it.

The Rogue caught Nova in a bear hug, then momentum carried them over a subdivision and into a museum. Glass and plaster rained down before the landing knocked them apart. Nova bounced up to cleave through a balcony, shattering its glass railing, while Titan spilled out of sight.

Nova steadied himself against the wall and immediately lifted airborne, scanning for his opponent. He neglected to check below, though, from where Titan erupted to clamp a paw over his jaw.

Nova gurgled furiously as Titan smashed his head through a sculpture, wall, and multiple rooms. He skidded to a stop against an abstract obsidian chair surrounded by odd, jagged paintings.

Titan nearly landed on top of him, but Nova's powers allowed him to invent momentum and dodge out of the way. He ignored the exploding bench and cracked a massive blow to the Rogue's temple.

Six more walls and countless exhibits disappeared as Titan shot out of the building and tore through a plaza. Nova wasted no time rushing in pursuit, knowing an advantage on Titan was a luxury rarely afforded.

In fact, he still wasn't afforded it when a lightning bolt drilled into his spine the instant he reached open air.

Nova's chest dug through asphalt as Crackle poured voltage into his body. She shrieked with laughter as her energy ravaged his organs, turning the world white.

Then, the world actually went white. He knew this because Crackle screamed and covered her eyes while Titan staggered back.

"That's enough of that," Eye-Lie warned sternly, appearing a block down the street.

Nova wanted to scream. Eye-Lie was nowhere near durable enough to survive a direct hit from either of these Rogues. He needed to get to cover.

Crackle flicked electricity forward, faster than Nova could react and ripped through Eye-Lie's body.

Nova blinked as Eye-Lie smirked. Smoke curled through his chest before reforming. "That it?"

"Where's Prime?" growled Titan, twisting in search.

Nova blinked. He was right in front... no. He glanced down and grinned. Eye-Lie had made him invisible, and based on how Crackle just attacked a projection, the illusionist was as well.

You slimy son of a bitch, he grinned, crouching to charge.

"Right there," Eye-Lie's illusionary self said honestly as Nova thundered a fist into Titan's cheek.

With deft, unreal dexterity, Eye-Lie manipulated reality to mask Titan sailing across the city and instead created a double that staggered, then continued spinning in his search for Nova.

"There!" it suddenly yelled to Crackle, pointing above her. A fake Nova shot in from above, fist cocked. Crackle's electricity cut the double in half, drawing a confused frown from her angular face.

Her back then folded around the real Nova's punch, streaking in from below and throwing her a hundred feet into the sky. By the time Crackle reached the apex of her flight, Nova was already there, arms raised.

His two-handed hammer fist parried her back down with the speed of an airliner. She landed directly on the museum, blowing the entire thing to rubble and ripping out parts of neighbouring structures. The street dropped six feet, parts of it entirely collapsing into the underground railway and sewage system.

Crackle snapped awake and wheezed out a panicked breath, clutching her chest as she struggled to rise. She began climbing to her feet before Eye-Lie dropped his invisibility and cracked a punch to the side of her head, knocking her unconscious.

Nova landed in a four-point crouch, taking a moment to catch his breath.

"In hindsight..." he finally started.

Eye-Lie regarded him. "No shit. Now look what you've done to my town."

Nova grinned. "I owe you. How's the tank?"

"Running on fumes," admitted Eye-Lie. "That Titan illusion drained me."

"I appreciate it," Nova said honestly. "Not sure how this would've gone otherwise."

"How about next time," Eye-Lie sighed, "you wait?"

Nova nodded tiredly. "Absolutely." He glanced up at the chunk of skyscraper Titan gouged out after his punch. "Hey, any idea where the gorilla landed?"

Eye-Lie followed his gaze. "I just manipulated the street. No idea."

"Damn." Nova activated his flight. "Give me a minute."

He climbed to sit a few hundred feet over the downtown towers. Studying the trajectory of the fall drew him to a small crater in a park on the other side of the city, but it was empty.

Completely empty.

He continued combing every possible corner before a blurry projection of Eye-Lie appeared behind him and pointed to the ground.

"Do you have to fly so high?" grimaced Eye-Lie, looking winded. "I can't hold illusions that well at a distance."

Emergency services had arrived, scrambling to ensure no civilians were trapped under debris. There weren't, as Nova's enhanced hearing confirmed the buildings were empty before he sent Crackle bombing down to annihilate them.

"He's gone," he told Eye-Lie as a few policemen spotted him and gaped. "No idea how. There are countries smaller than him. Shouldn't be possible."

Eye-Lie shrugged. "Either way, at least we've now painted the full Union picture. And if we don't, our prisoner can help fill the gaps."

The two glanced at Crackle's unconscious body, currently being secured in Cruisium cuffs. The police were taking no chances. As she was lugged into a paddywagon, Nova faced Eye-Lie.

"Hey, why didn't you just call my earpiece?" he asked.

Eye-Lie looked at him. "What earpiece?"

Nova touched the side of his head and grimaced. It must've been knocked out during the fight.

"Pommel wants a word. Not sure it's spelled 'happy', though."

"Figures," sighed Nova. "This will have to go straight to the top, anyway. Titan and Crackle collaborating under a bigger, unknown party is nothing short of catastrophic." He smirked. "When's the last time you've been to New York?"

Eye-Lie groaned. "Of course I'm coming. Great. My wife is going to kill me." He faced Nova. "Speaking of, what was the deal with Crackle hating yours?"

"Hmm? Oh, she's liked me for a while. Used to think our back-and-forth back in the day was some kind of front for flirting. Took it personally when I started dating Elise, then got real angry when we got married. Honestly, I'm surprised she only tried to kill my kids twice."

"Jesus," muttered Eye-Lie. "How'd Bernard cope? Couldn't have been easy blank."

Nova’s eyes suddenly narrowed, and his jaw clenched. "I need a new bud. I'll book time with the Director on Wednesday. See you there."

He left Eye-Lie standing in confusion as he left the street and disappeared into the clouds.

‎