Avatars of Nature Pt.3

The disco lights and thumping music would be all that was required for most nightclubs but this one was different.  The owner made a point to have his place be a neutral ground for law abiding heroes and the rebellious villains to gather.  It was a precarious agreement from both sides, but so far it had proven stable.

A few minutes short of midnight, a spandex clad hero, known as Summer Heat, entered the dance floor, searching for his contact. To most nightly patrons, the number present seemed average, but it was somewhat above the normal level with many heroes and a few villains stressed about the recent string of arson attacks in the narrows. Summer Heat ignored the majority of them and headed for the villain heavy side of the floor and bar counter.  For a few minutes, the barkeep ignored him. Finally, seeing that the hero wasn't moving, he asked the hero for his drink of choice. "What do you want this time?"

"I'll have a Dragon's Kiss." The barkeep nearly dropped the glass he was polishing and a few villains nearby turned sharply at the request, but then once seeing who it was, promptly went back to their conversations.

"Uh...sure one sec." The barkeep turned, hastily making the dangerous, symbolic beverage. Upon placing it on the counter, the barkeep ignited the drink, inflaming the glass in a green flame. Heat quickly lifted the glass and downed the still burning drink. His insides quickly adjusted to the inferno that exploded in his stomach, and the fiery hero felt a noticeable calming of his nerves. At that moment a man sat down beside him. The drunks thought they saw double.

"How goes it Ollie?" the figure asked.

"Jack? I didn't expect to see you here."

The villain Winter Frost, who looked just like his twin brother, save the fiery powers for icy ones, chuckled lightly. "You're the only other person this guy's known to handle a Dragon's Kiss. You show up like clockwork every Friday night just before midnight and order the one drink, then leave. You of all people should know that doing the same action again and again expecting different results is insane."

"Well, of the past fourteen months I've done this, you did change the outcome by coming here. I don't think that makes me insane. I figured after long enough word about my pattern would reach you, and you'd take the bait to find out for yourself. Guess I was right."

"Jeez, Oliver, you're starting to sound like a class act villain. They didn't teach you that logic in hero school, did they?" Jackson seemed almost hopeful at the idea his brother wasn't a tight ass.

"Honestly, Jack, did you really think everything you and TK and Casey said and did was lost on me?" He smiled. It was good to have a decent conversation with his brother again. The last time was seven years ago. "Jack listen...there are rumors about this threat list going around. The names on that list are watched and you get strong enough, you're viewed as a threat and taken out.   I've heard a few friends mention their rivals suddenly turned up dead." He paused. "Look, I don't think your boss is inclined to use you for anything more than thinning his own herd of the disloyal, and when you get to his level, he makes sure you don't follow through."

"Ollie...why did you have to go and ruin such a perfectly good conversation we were starting? You know I won't listen to your nagging, just like I stopped listening to Mom's.  Y'all didn't want to help me so I found my own trainers.  Deal with it!"

"Jack...I've seen his ideal future...You're not involved. None of his new flock is. In fact, there aren't any lackeys but those he's had in his ranks for decades!" Summer Heat argued quietly.

"Oh you're so wrong, Oliver! Just watch, I'll be notorious and well known, and you won't be able to stop me. I will be the most powerful meta on the planet!" Winter Frost quested. His eyes were slightly cold with focus.

"Fine, don't believe me. Just promise me you'll contact me when you find out I'm right." Oliver persuaded.

"That won't happen."

Summer left the bar promptly after the conversation ended and proceeded to fly around his home city. It was sad, really. So much mayhem and destruction had befallen one simplistic city, it was amazing there was a population to thrive inside its confines. These citizens were none to gawk or awe over any street battle between rival factions, but the occasional glance would sneak through if a hero came in to mop up the mess....or in most cases make a larger one. Most of them were so desensitized to bloody fights and massive violence it was a wonder they noticed the villainous plots against them. There were a few that in their idealism tried what they could, but the majority had slowly turned into a mass of cattle that moved about almost oblivious to the memorable action surrounding them.

This recent occasion was no different as a massive ball of fire rocketed towards a sushi restaurant. No one on the streets even noticed Summer Heat rocketing towards the center of the street until he had impacted on the sidewalk outside the eatery. Even so, people were startled for a few moments before they returned to walking along oblivious, unimpressed by the spectacle.

Avatars of Nature Pt. 2

The Penetentary was guarded and locked down like an inverted fortress. The reinforced steel cage concrete walls created such a maze of passages that the entire pyramid of the building seemed inspired from an overcomplex lobster trap. The guards were a division of the national guard, specially trained to take down super humans. The path from the entrance to the visitation rooms was so long and twisted, most lawyers never went through the ordeal to great frustration to their clients. As such, it was so rare that any villain went into their side of it that the guard duty was stepped up a notch under the circumstances.


It had been a year since the trial, and six months prior to that was the fight that caused Ollie to suffer a fiery meltdown.  Jack still recalled his twin brother calling him a sellout.  He remembered Oliver claiming it was really because Jack had become dangerous and power-hungry.  Jack knew the real reason: he was envious. It was envy of his brother's success, always getting things easy, getting the attention when they were younger.  None of this held any clout to what unleashed Jack's rage.  He remembered the conversation clearly.  It was Oliver's last comment, "You'll just have to wait."

Jackson sat alone handcuffed at a plain square table. Behind him there were various heat lamps trained on his position. The restraining collar he wore around his neck was similar to the technology used in the war-walls, but localised and modified to negate the use of any power. A slender man in a grey pinstripe suit entered holding a manilla folder and a briefcase. The man tried to sound cheerful, "Hi Jack." 

"What do you want this time?" the prisoner asked with annoyance dripping from his lips like a salivating bulldog. 

"Your brother has pushed to get you another parol hearing. It's in two days." The attourney quipped. 

"I won't appear." 

"But, this is a parol hearing. You must attend." 

"I'm not going to beg and plea with a bunch of judgemental pissed off crooked idiots to let me roam the streets again. I trusted the system once, and I got thrown in here as a criminal. You people wanted me as a bad guy, you got it." Jackson shot down. Even with the power suppression his eyes were ice cold and dark, glaring down the man in the pinstripe suit. 

The lawyer sighed in disappointment as he stood, motioning to the guard he was finished. "Anything you'd like me to tell your brother?" 

"Yeah. Tell him I'm still waiting."

Avatars of Nature Pt. 1

The quiet landscape breathed lazily at the boring days it was experiencing, oblivious to the impending scar it would soon receive. Deep in the sky, a red star grew slowly brighter and larger. Soon, the orb's fury and terror echoed the crackles of flame across her. Animals and birds fled in terror as the landscape shuddered in fear at the newcomer. The ball of flame was now hurdling loudly towards an untouched field of tall grass. The wind picked up and the grass blades cried out their protest in unison, only drowned out by the roar of the trees in equal resistance. The landscape shuddered again, knowing the oncoming doom for her beautiful face. Even the water of the nearby pond seemed to shy away as the fireball encroached above. The volume of protest and shouting from the trees, grass, and pond were only dwarfed by the landscape's eerie silence and the rage of the fireball now charging violently fast towards the ground. The symphony of outcry and rage ended climatically in a fortissimo of thunder leaving the audience of animals silent in awe at the result.

Upon the water's edge, a deep crater seemed to mark the fireball's victory. In the center of the crater, a tanned, blond haired man lay crumpled in pain from the impact. The water quickly stepped forward to obtain the last word of the argument, filling the fresh crater. The cool water flowed closer until it tickled the man's feet. It hissed in shock as the heat from the man's body boiled the water into the air, angered the last word was stolen.

"Ugh....that hurt..." the man grumbled, standing to his feet. The man, once called Oliver, looked around the landscape, silently apologizing for the injury he created. The audience and other members of the orchestra seemed to gaze at him with fear that any wrong move could incite his wrath. Oliver moved out of the pond's way and ignored the quiet applause as the water returned to the task of filling the crater. "Now where the heck am I?"

Oliver looked around at the newly shaped landscape. The trees shied away from the crater in disgust, while the grass lay almost flat from shock. The sky was clear and pure blue, offering a taunting hint at the expanse that was actually held behind it. Oliver's body slowly rose inches off the ground as he seemed to fade from view. In seconds the only trace that he was there was a mirage of distorting heat where he once stood. The anomaly rose further off the ground and shot up into the sky, leaving the landscape to recover from his unexpected entrance.

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After extended moments of wispy travel, Oliver landed in an exhausted heap yards away from a smoldering house; his launching point. His battered body showed massive recover from the original impact, taking the more recent crash more gracefully. Oliver stumbled to his feet and up the porch, bumping the door and gaining access to his now destroyed home. Flashbacks of the cataclysm jetted across his memory like lightning bolts; jagged, random, and unclear. Oliver moved with conviction to the remains of his bedroom, finding deep in his closet his costume, the small wardrobe of non-flammable clothing, and a small suitcase with minor scorch marks. Inside the suitcase he found an emergency cell phone still operable. One quick call and a cab was soon summoned.

After a quick change to the more protective flame-proof clothing, an equally quick packing job found the remaining clothes and costume stuffed haphazardly into the scorched suitcase. Stomping out of his house, he found the cab driver arriving with hesitation. The cab service was well aware of Oliver's abilities.

Oliver moved towards the cab, opening his cell phone one more time. "Don't worry man, just take me to the city. I swear I won't blow up."

"Uh huh...I believe ya." The cabbie retorted, knowing Oliver's history with control over his powers.

"C'mon man, how long has it been since I exploded like this?" Oliver shot back, annoyed.

"I guess a year is a pretty long time." the cabbie nodded, opening the back door to the car. The driver was silent for the remainder of the drive into the big city. Oliver, however, was making one call after another. A good half hour later, the horrific war walls smeared across the skyline of the city, dwarfing every tower, landmark, and notable building possible. Oliver shook his head. "Hey Oliver, anywhere in particular you wanna get dropped off at?"

"Uh..." Oliver winced as he glanced at the meter. The rates had spiked painfully since the last time he needed to use a cab. He groaned a short response: "Drop me off at the Capital."

Blog-cherry pop

This is my first post in this blog, and as such I will use it to explain the theme of this blog: I will be using this blog to collect all of my works of fiction that I have written for sharing and for posting new entries as they develop.  The genres that will be seen from the beginning include: science fiction, fantasy, GLBT, superheroes, steampunk, cyborgs, and Star Trek.  More may arrive later, and some of these may (and will) be limited.  Some entries may have mature and adult themes, but I will not have slash fiction or erotic fiction.