On a commercial
flight back to Hopling, Now…
Marian
stared blankly out the window watching the clouds and blue sky. Matt hadn’t
spoken to her since they boarded, and after a few failed attempts at
conversation she was remaining quiet as well. She glanced over to him and saw
his head tilted back and his eyes closed. She knew he wasn’t sleeping; he was
trying very hard to calm himself. She reached out her hand and lightly touched
his, hoping to get a reaction. Matt made no movement whatsoever. Marian
understood he wasn’t angry with her, but she also knew now was not the time to
question him about what had happened. Instead she turned back to the window and
tried to figure out how it all went so wrong so fast.
In a Caribbean
jungle, three hours ago…
Matt
was wasting no time. He grabbed Marian and took off for the jungle where he
felt strong energy signals. Marian held on tightly and tried to talk some sense
into Matt, who seemed hell bent on beating some sense into the metahuman
celebrities.
“Matt
you gotta calm down!” Marian yelled over the sound of air rushing past them as
they flew. “We don’t know what’s going on yet!”
“Then
its best we get there fast and find out!” Matt yelled back, his body glowing
with energy.
It did not take long for them to
find where the energies Matt detected were hiding. A clearly man-made large clearing
could be seen, along with smoke. Matt dove down and landed in the center of the
clearing, apparently not worried about any sort of trap. They both looked
around, but Marian couldn’t see anyone here.
“You might as well come out, I
know where you are!” Matt yelled into the silent clearing. When nothing
happened, he pointed a hand towards a cluster of trees and launched an energy
beam. A few of the smaller trees were knocked over, and men and women scattered
screaming. Matt went to work shooting energy blasts at what Marian thought were
naturally occurring objects. But after each blast Marian saw they were cleverly
disguised hideouts; little buildings that a few people were in. Some of them
even went up in flames, causing more panic and a few of the scattering people
to grab fire extinguishers.
Marian was shocked. “Matt what
are you doing? Who are all these people?”
“I’m assuming the idiots following
those two metas we were supposed to help find.” Matt’s tone made it obvious he
was incredibly irritated.
“But you’re hurting some of
them!” Marian shouted, pointing at a few who were being rushed off on
stretchers.
Matt stopped the energy blasts.
“They wanted us out here for a reason, Mare. They knew what was going on. Now…”
Matt concentrated briefly, then knelt on the ground. “They’re underground.”
Before either could do anything,
the ground starting shaking and two doors opened in the dirt. Up from underneath
the surface, two beings rose on elevators with light shining from under them.
One was a man, spiked bleached hair, sunglasses, and dressed in a white
skintight latex outfit that showed off a toned but otherwise average body. The
other, a woman, had glossy black hair with bright blonde highlights, sunglasses
as well, and wore a black cocktail dress on her model-thin body. Both the
heroes knew without a doubt these were the two metahuman celebrities they were
instructed to rescue: Josh Matters and Melissa Molecule.
“Good evening, members of
Frontier! Welcome!” Melissa spread her arms and shouted while wearing an
enormous smile.
“We’re both so glad you could
join us today!” Josh opened his arms as if to come give Matt a hug. Matt
growled, and sent a wave of energy into both of them, causing them to stagger
back.
“Hey!” Josh shouted, ripping off
his sunglasses. “That wasn’t very nice!”
“We came here to rescue you!”
Marian yelled at them, the ridiculousness of the situation finally hitting her.
“And it was all some stupid plan of yours? What is wrong with you people?”
“Stupid plan?” Melissa was done
rearranging her dress and had stepped up next to Josh. “Marian honey, do you
even know what’s going on?”
“No, and we don’t care either.”
Marian and Matt turned around to leave, but Matt stopped dead in his tracks.
From where they stood Matt saw dozens of cameramen recording what was going on.
“You two are the newest stars of
MetaMorning! Congratulations!”
“Oh no…” Marian gasped, but
before she could do anything Matt reacted. With a cry of anger he expelled an
enormous wave of energy. The force plowed over every person in the clearing and
kept going, knocking over trees and destroying the hidden equipment. When the
dust settled, Josh stood up shakily, looking around frantically for the
cameras.
“What did you do?” He cried.
“The cameras…our fans…” Melissa
was propped up on her elbows, her sunglasses gone and a look of disbelief on
her face. “How could you!” She screamed at Matt and suddenly her body
transformed into a tendril of black liquid that shot out of the dress. The
liquid slammed into Matt’s chest, but he did not budge an inch. The liquid
quickly squirmed away and reformed next to Josh, albeit not exactly detailed
for Melissa was now without clothes.
“You destroyed everything,” Josh
said, seemingly unfazed by Melissa’s outburst. “How will they see this now? How
will we finish the story?”
“What story?” Marian asked,
putting her hand on Matt’s arm to try to hold him back. “Tell us what is going
on right now!”
“We flew you here to star in our
show, you ungrateful asshole!” Melissa shouted and pointed at Matt, whose body
still shimmered and whose eyes glowed white-hot. “We recorded everything! The
interview with Natalie, the plane ride over here, your fight with Basher…”
“Wait!” Marian yelled, “You
recorded the flight here? Everything?!”
“Yes everything! It was supposed
to be a celebrity-documentary on how your stupid little Frontier team conducts
themselves when faced with a crisis! But you’re asshole boy-toy ruined it! He’s
not even part of Frontier!”
Marian felt the heat coming off
of Matt, and had to step forward in order to see through the brilliant white
light he was emitting. “You can’t show that! It was private!”
“You were on our plan, bitch,”
Josh chimed in, now as furious as Melissa. “We can do whatever we want with our
stuff. And believe me, the world is definitely going to see just how much of a
slut you are!”
At that, Matt had heard enough.
In a flash he was in front of Josh, and before Marian could yell to stop him,
Matt punched Josh in the gut hard enough for Marian to hear the ribs break over
fifteen feet away. Josh tried to scream in pain but couldn’t. Melissa changed
into her liquid form and tried slithering away, but Matt was ready. He sent a
blast of energy out towards her and destroyed the ground she was on, tearing
the mass of liquid apart and sending splashes flying through the air. Slowly
the liquid came together and reformed her body, but she was in too much shock
from the pain of being torn apart to do anything other than pant.
Matt dragged Josh over to
Melissa and threw him next to her. “I’ve read your files,” he growled to Josh,
“I wouldn’t try enlarging any parts of your body. Do so and I’ll break them
too.”
Matt knelt down in front of Josh
and Melissa so he could talk quieter. “I’m going to assume you will not be releasing that footage of our
plane ride here. If it does happen to find its way to the internet, I will hold
both of you personally responsible. If that happens I promise you, there is
nowhere on this planet you can hide that I will not find you and make you
suffer in the worst possible ways imaginable.” Matt grabbed Josh’s chin and
made eye contact. “You think a few broken ribs hurt? I have ways of keeping you
alive for months while I hurt every inch of your body.”
Josh spat out blood on the
ground and sneered. “What’s in it for us, huh? You just gonna threaten us and
leave and expect nothing to happen?”
Matt stared at Josh, but he knew
there wasn’t any threats he could make that would keep those videos from being
released. After a moment, “What do you want?”
Josh chuckled, and Matt noticed
how much malice was in it. “You gotta leave Frontier, and never rejoin.” Josh
paused, his smiled red with blood. “Oh, and end it with Marian. You do that,
and those videos are as good as gone.”
Matt didn’t let any emotion show
on his face, since he knew he had to listen in order to preserve Marian, and in
extension Frontier’s, dignity. Matt gave a slight nod and stood back up as
Marian walked over. “Now that this is all settled, you’ll delete those videos,
won’t you?” Both celebrities gave little nods, each still dealing with their
pain. “Good. Then I believe we are done here.”
On a commercial
flight back to Hopling, Now…
“Marian…”
Matt looked over at her and took her hand in his. Marian smiled hearing his
voice, but the smile died when she saw the serious look on his face. “Marian I
can’t do this. I can’t be a part of Frontier.”
Marian
was floored by these words. She had not expected this reaction from him. “If
it’s because of the publicity, don’t worry, we’ll get you a mask. Please don’t
do this Matt.”
“It’s
not just that. I wanna help, but I don’t think being on a team works for me.
I’m sorry Marian.” Matt turned his head away, not wanting to let her see the
pain on his face.
Marian
sat quietly for a moment as a few tears started falling. “But what about us?”
Matt
shook his head slowly. “I’m so sorry.”
Marian
pulled her hand out of his and turned back towards the clear blue sky. As she
silently cried, she didn’t know what happened. All she knew for certain was
that this time the good guys lost.
No comments:
Post a Comment