DarkLight Redemption: Post-Human Universe - Book One

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Five years as a supervillain, and I never once had to mix it up with MasterBlaster.

I'd be lying if I said I hadn't wondered how it would go. But then, all students must consider whether or not they could surpass their teacher at one time or other. I never imagined, though, that there'd be this much at stake if this fight ever came.

Charles isn't faster than the kid, me or Olive. But he knows all the angles, and he knows how to turn his opponents' advantages against them. I've seen him do it so many times, but I still can't counter it.

Charles hits me and LightBlast with simultaneous energy balls, knocking us back. Olive comes in hard, but Charles uses an energy lasso to swing her away from himself and into me and the kid.

The instant she hits me and LightBlast, Charles fires a heavy blast at us. I manage to extend my force field enough to protect Olive just before we're hit.

I end up taking it harder than I would have had I not spread my shields so thin, but that was the level of blast that could have taken Olive out of this fight. And I'm sure Charles anticipated what I'd do so, thus weakening us both.

While we're gathering ourselves, Charles flies right over us and nails LightBlast with a continuous blast that buries him in the cement. As the kid is being drilled further and further down, I fire a blast at Charles. He swats it away with one hand and keeps laying into the kid.

It's time for a new approach, so I launch myself into Charles and drive him into the sky. We punch through the side of a building as windows shatter around us.

I can hear the screaming below us; the creatures are still slaughtering everyone in sight. But I tune it out the best I can and focus on Charles.

I go at him with a flurry of blast-punches. He blocks half of them, but I manage to land a good body shot and two good hooks to the jaw.

Charles falls to one knee, and I go for the K.O. But he sees it coming and sends an energy bolt right into my gut.

The wind is taken right out of my lungs as I plummet to the street. When my back hits the pavement, I see Olive flying at Charles. They're both out of sight for a few seconds before I see Charles launched out of the other side of the building.

They disappear from behind a row of other buildings. I can't see them, but I can hear the bending of metal, crashing of glass and rumble of rubble as a cloud of smoke rises above the rooftops.

From out of the cloud, Olive is flung toward me and bounces off the ground next to me.

I look back at Whisper, who's now turned her attention completely away from Weston. She traded in a fight she can't win for one that she can. She's been scorned and is going to make someone pay for it.

I load up an energy blast, but Gertie steps in front of her. Before I can figure a way around him, Charles comes flying out of the smoke and fires at us. Olive clears her head just in time to grab me and roll us both out of the way.

Charles hovers above Gertie and Whisper now, waiting for our next move. Olive and I drop back into the pit and hover a few feet above the ground ourselves.

It's a stand-off now. A duel at high noon. I think I've finally got an idea, but I'm only going to get one crack at it. So I hover until I'm level with Charles and lock eyes with him. Olive tries to join me, but I hold up my hand.

"Stay there," I tell her. "This is between me and the old man."

She doesn't argue with me this time as the light around my right hand begins glowing brighter and brighter. Charles's right hand charges up in the same manner, and there's no stopping us now.

"Your move," I say to Charles before turning my eyes toward Whisper. "Bitch."

She smiles cruelly, and Charles fires an energy beam at me. I hit his beam on the underside with my own, forcing it to change course and ricochet above me.

I then concentrate on the end of my beam and redirect its path. It angles downward and nails Whisper right in the chest.

She hits the ground hard, and the moment she does, Charles's eyes go wide, and he falls to the ground as well. They're both out, and Gertie casts glances at them and then up at me.

"Well done," he says, "for an Earthling."

I spot LightBlast crawling out of his hole, and then I look at Olive, who's hovering halfway between us. I peer back at Gertie and at Weston in his machine behind him.

The bubble around the machine is growing more powerful by the moment, and we don't have time to get into a war with Gertie.

I start charging up, pulling in as much energy as I can muster. Then I turn to the others.

"Set him up for me," I say, and they both nod in understanding.

Gertie takes two strides toward us before leaping into the air. Olive flies right at him, but then she dips under a swing of his massive hand and drives her shoulder into his legs.

The Ultarian warlord loses control of the direction of his jump just before LightBlast hits him from below with a big blast that launches Gertie even higher into the air.

I then let loose with everything I've got in a single blast. It hits Gertie dead-on, and the force of it sends him flying out over the East River.

Once he's a speck on the horizon, I turn my attention to Weston's machine.

"It's over, Weston!" I yell as I fly at him.

As I'm about to reach him, the energy shields around the machine expand and knock me back. When my back hits the ground, I see the blue energy being fired out of the cannon.

"Yes, my boy, it is the end!" he says in near ecstasy. "And the beginning!"