Chapter 71
June arrived at her brother’s side within minutes of the “Jax Signal” going up. Dropping any nuance in her movement, she was able to rocket full force to her destination. If enemies heard or saw her in transit, fuck ‘em. Let them come. She was determined and dangerous.
She hadn’t even surveyed the scene before landing, but quickly saw that all was not right. Her brother was hovering next to two competitors in a beam of his own energy. Bobby was curled up on the ground, wailing like an injured baby, while Hanzel lay unconscious a few yards away. If June had taken more time to investigate the area, she would have seen Artie, just around the corner, bleeding from the forehead at the base of a giant oak tree.
But she didn’t investigate; her tunnel vision prevented it. June shifted her hand and forearm into fireworks and began to reach out at her brother’s energy pillar. Before she could make contact, a portal opened up behind her, and The Show’s production assistant, Ritchie, stepped out and immediately asserted his authority. “Stop! Please stop, Skyrocket!”
The unexpected order shocked June, but she did as she was told, spinning around aggressively. “You have 10 seconds to explain that directive.”
Ritchie was taken aback, but the ferocity in June’s eyes prompted him to respond quickly. “We are going to teleport all of these young men to the medical bays. But we must do so safely. There is a lot of raw power being flexed in this area right now, and we have to make sure it does not coalesce into negative, possibly explosive, circumstances.”
The words slightly calmed June, but she was not deterred. “You think I’m being reckless?”
“Well..” Ritchie started before being cut off.
She turned and reached out toward her brother with her shifted, sparkling limb before Ritche could stop her, all the while attempting to assure the young P.A. of her intentions. “Trust me,” she soothed, “I’m here to defuse, not to detonate.”
***
A 12-year-old June stood opposite her brother in their home gym. “Are you sure you want to try this? You know mom’s number 1 rule–No using powers on each other.”
“Sure,” Jax answered with a lazy drawl, “But, aren’t you curious?”
“Curious?”
“Yeah. Like who’s stronger. I mean, you are, I’m sure. But, like, how much?”
This caused June to giggle. Training to be a Herald was all she ever thought of. Of course, she was stronger than Jax. He didn’t even care about this stuff. He only trained because Mom forced him to.
“Mom’s been gone a while. Not sure how long we have. I’ll let you go first if you want.”
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“I think we should go at the same time!
“Okay. I’ll count to three.” June counted down. “Three. Two. One.” And both kids let loose with a barrage of colorful energy. When their energy streams met in the middle of the room, something very strange happened. Instead of exploding or pushing against each other, Jax’s power bowled through June’s fireworks and wrapped around his sister. But the bright light and color blinded Jax, so in fear of being taken out by his sister’s strength, he kept on blasting.
June felt her twin’s emotional energy wrap around her, and her instinct was to absorb it. She felt all his excitement at experimenting, his enthusiasm for not being immediately bowled over by his more powerful sister, his pride for how strong she was, and his guilt for disobeying their mother. The feeling became too much. She screamed, forcing Jax to finally let up.
In a matter of moments, the dust had cleared. June stood on her side of the room. Glowing with Jax’s Aurora energy. She looked at her hands and arms in awe. So much power. Too much power. Without warning, June’s eyes went wide, and she erupted.
***
Just like when they were experimenting as kids, June reached out with her shifted arm and began to absorb Jax’s excess energy. Slowly, his meta fueled emergency flare began to drain from the sky right into June’s body. Within minutes, the entire energy pillar had flowed into her, glowing from the inside out as though she had just eaten the Northern Lights. As she neared the end of the process, she ordered Ritchie, “Grab him. Make sure he doesn’t fall.”
Ritchie walked behind Borealis and gently cradled him as June absorbed the last remnants of his beacon. Then, without further warning and pursuant to her name, Skyrocket shot into the afternoon sky and, despite the time of day, let loose her twin’s transferred power in the most impressive display of fireworks anyone had ever seen.
***
Summerset sat at home in front of her T.V. nervously watching her children in the most danger they had ever been in in their entire lives. She had worked diligently to protect the twins from the worst of the world, only to have them enter the lion’s den voluntarily. The War Games had been the worst of it to date. They had been going on for almost a month now, and she had gotten little to no sleep during that time. Worse, it was culminating in what Summerset could only describe as her own helpless agony. When she had seen that Tortoise beast cut her daughter open, she had nearly flown to the War Games grounds herself to demolish the young Herald prospect. But, watching the care he had taken in healing June, in combination with the concern and care that he had shown in staying with her afterward, made her realize that some of the contestants might actually be worthy of the Herald title.
Jax’s fight with Atlas Prime, however, had brought her joy. Her son had shown little desire to become a Herald, so watching his creativity and power had impressed her. Until, of course, Nihilism had gotten involved. That was worrying. What even was the effect of an existential terror wave? It didn’t sound particularly pleasant.
In a moment of weakness, Summerset picked up the phone and searched her contacts for a name she had practically erased from her memory when the twins were born. She found and pressed the name “Solomon Bradley.”
The line rang a few times before the deep dulcet tones of Summerset’s father in law spoke through the tiny speaker.
“Well, well, well. Hath hell frozen over?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Are you feeling particularly cold at the moment?” Summerset did need that man’s help, but she wasn’t exactly in the mood to take his shit. “You know I wouldn’t call unless I had no other options.”
“Yes. To be honest, I expected this call years ago when you were getting blasted in the media.”
Liana had an inkling that a call under those circumstances wouldn’t have mattered. If she were a betting woman, she would have staked her life on the fact that the man on the other end of the line had had more to do with those slanderous stories than he, or her husband, would ever admit. “Well, when it comes to the well-being of my children, I will do most anything.”
“Yes,” Solomon assented. “I know you don’t believe me, but on that, we agree.”
“Do we? Because I know my husband came to speak to you a while ago, and I have yet to see any material improvement in the situation.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about. I don’t have anything to do with The Show’s little stunt program. You are barking up the wrong tree, Liana. Please. In the future, when you get the urge to reach out… Don’t.”
There was a clicking sound, and a flat tone rang through the phone. Liana hung up on her end and frowned. What the hell was that? She was going to have to talk to her husband when he arrived home that evening. Something was not right. Liana had what some in her past considered a bit of a character defect. Many made the joke that she must have been a reporter or detective in a past life because when things didn’t add up, she was unable to let it go. One particularly unpleasant ex had compared her to a dog with a bone during a well-earned breakup fight. If something needed to be unearthed, she would dig it up. Someone had clearly buried some bones, and this badass bitch was past ready to start digging.