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WITH GREAT POWER

  By

  Brenna Lyons

  © copyright August 2004, Brenna Lyons

  DEDICATION

  When Jaide put out the call for this anthology, it fired my imagination. Between hearing my son "invent" one superhero after another, having a younger brother with a degree in graphic arts and reading comic books when I was growing up, I’ve always had a fondness for the genre. Right away, I decided I didn’t want to create a world of superheroes in the normal sense of the word. The thought that immediately lodged in my head was simple. What if superheroes evolved ala X-Men and were forced to live in service to society with no choice in the matter?

  I have to thank Stan Lee and Marvel Comics for my fascination with the subject and for the concepts that I have come to associate with superheroes in general. My major sources of inspiration were the X-Men, Superman, Batman, The Justice League, and most especially … The Amazing Spiderman and Professor Xavier.

  I hope you enjoy "With Great Power." I had a great time writing it.

  Brenna Lyons

  Prologue

  Memo

  To: Mindteacher, Dean of Discipline, Head Trustee, Calante Academy, Central City

  From: Visionchaser, spokesman for the trustees, Calante Academy, Central City

  Date: June 15, 2052

  We heartily agree with your analysis of the situation. The trustees are unanimous in their decision. Soulchaser is to be brought to the academy to begin his training tonight. We cannot risk a repeat of Empathen’s loss. Use whatever means you find necessary to secure the boy before the Grellan can strike again.

  End trans.

  * * * *

  Julien startled awake as his mother cried out in fury and frustration.

  "You can’t," she protested. "I have two more years. The law says—"

  "You know he can’t stay here, Patrice," a strange man insisted. "How will you protect him? He has Empathen’s powers and more. They know that."

  "Then take me, too."

  "You know I can’t do that. If you were an operative— I can’t let a human live inside the main complex. That’s why your quarters are outside the wall."

  "You won’t break that rule, but you’ll take him early?" she asked sarcastically.

  The man sighed. "You would have to leave the main complex in two years. How would we explain it to him then? How would we explain you being there to the other cadets now? The jokes would start tonight. The mighty Empathen’s son needs his Mommy to come with him? Children can be very cruel, Patrice."

  Julien snuck to the bedroom door, daring to peek at the man from the academy — the operative they sent to try to take him from his mother. His heart pounded at the sight of the grim-faced old man. Julien looked to his mother’s tortured expression in dismay. She was considering it. Patrice was actually considering handing him over early.

  Please, don’t agree. Don’t let him take me. Julien bit back a sob as he felt her wavering.

  "He’s my son," she managed through trembling lips. "He’s my only child."

  The old man took her hands. "You will lose him either way, Patrice. This way, you know he’s safe. If he stays here—" He let the threat hang between them.

  She nodded. "You’ll bring Julien to see me? Promise me that much."

  He took her shoulders in his hands, nodding. "A guard detail will bring him once a month and accompany you where you wish to take him. You have my vow."

  "What — What is my son’s name?" she asked solemnly.

  Julien shook his head in disbelief. His name— The name chosen for him when he was tested at the age of three would be spoken for the first time tonight, two years ahead of schedule.

  "Soulchaser."

  Julien shivered. If they were really taking him to the academy, he’d heard his true name for the last time until he found a confidant. No one dared speak a power’s true name unless he or she was invited to do so, and his parents never would. That was the law.

  The old man chuckled. "Come, Soulchaser. It is time to go."

  "That is not my name," he replied stubbornly. "It will not be my name until I turn ten. That is the law."

  The door opened, and the man stared down at him, amusement curving his lips into a cruel smile. "Are you inviting me to use your true name?" he asked pointedly.

  Julien felt his cheeks burn. He glared at the old man. "No. I don’t trust you."

  "That’s good. People should earn your trust."

  "That’s not what my father says," Julien groused. "He says to trust your gut instincts about people." I don’t trust you. But, Empathen was dead. Word had come to them that afternoon that his father had fallen in the line of duty.

  The man’s smile disappeared. "Your father trusted the wrong person. That is how he died. You should remember that."

  Julien didn’t answer that. How could he argue that a power like Empathen should never have let a Grellan get close enough to kill him? Why would Empathen let down his guard?

  "On your feet, Cadet Soulchaser."

  He cringed as he rose. I am not Soulchaser. I am Julien Cross. No matter what name I answer to, I will never forget who I am. He met the old man’s eyes. "What is your name — sir?"

  "My name is Mindteacher, but almost no one calls me that, as you will soon learn."

  "They use your true name?" Julien asked dubiously. Surely not. There was too much power in knowing an operative’s true name. The law said—

  "No. They call me ‘the old man.’ People have always called me ‘the old man,’ even when I wasn’t one."

  Julien scowled, unsurprised by that discovery.

  "Say goodbye to your mother, Soulchaser. You will see her next month." Mindteacher laid a hand on Julien’s shoulder.

  Julien stilled, meeting the old man’s eyes as Mindteacher’s thoughts coursed into him like a waterfall. In the moment before he yanked his hand away, Julien learned a lot about Mindteacher.

  The old man blamed Jake for his own death. Mindteacher thought of Empathen as Jake, though he didn’t trust Jake any more than Jake trusted Mindteacher. The old man knew everyone’s secrets. He was the academy Dean of Discipline and the Head Trustee. Julien laughed aloud as Mindteacher’s true name settled in his mind. Then the connection was gone.

  Mindteacher motioned to the doorway. He waited for Julien to turn to it before he nodded to Patrice. "Next month," he assured her.

  A chill coursed along Julien’s nerves and he grasped his mother in a fierce hug, abruptly certain that he would never be permitted to see her again.

  * * * *

  Memo

  To: Visionchaser, spokesman for the trustees, Calante Academy, Central City

  From: Mindteacher, Dean of Discipline, Head Trustee, Calante Academy, Central City

  Date: December 20, 2055

  No account can be made for the sudden cessation of hostilities. One can only assume that the Grellan are plotting our end, but what new means they have discovered remains to be seen. Our operatives report less and less signs of the Grellan in and around all cities over Suraden. Training has been stepped up. Be ever vigilant, my friend. Millennia of fighting will not end so easily.

  End trans.

  Chapter One

  Assignment Status

  To: Soulchaser, Unit Leader, Unit 1255, Central City

  From: Fire Mother, Communications Center, Calante Academy, Central City

  Date: March 12, 2064

  Report to Tower 1022, quarters 13 N 17. Use extreme caution. Reports of Grellan activity in abandoned quarters.

  The old man says he thinks it’s your group again. Take care, Soulchaser. Serve well.

  End Trans.

  * * *

  Julien stared at the woman before him. She was his own age with auburn curls that cascaded over her shoulders. She was also naked. She was always naked.

  She was so familiar that Julien could note every curve with his eyes closed, the pink scar above her left breast, and even the tattoo of the Siberian tiger on the back
of her right shoulder. Julien recognized her scent, something of musk and Jasmine, and the touch of her mind. The one thing he could not do was name her.

  She strode toward him, her hips swaying in invitation. Her hand stroked Julien’s rising cock through the gray cotton of his over-cover. "I knew you would come," she purred.

  "Why me?" he asked.

  "Only you will see the truth," she whispered, her fingers tracing the head straining against his clothing.

  Julien took a calming breath. He should stop her, but he needed information. As maddening as her touch was, he had to know why she was here, and that wouldn’t happen if he put her on the defensive.

  "Come to me without your unit," she requested again. She’d made that request the last three times he’d encountered her.

  "Why?" Why would she want to talk to him alone? What purpose could there be in getting him isolated and unprotected?

  Her blue eyes sparkled under dusty red lashes. She pulled his hand to her breast, laying it over the hard nipple.

  Julien bit back a groan, fully aware that the other members of his unit could see everything his physical body did and hear every sound he made aloud. "What is your name?"

  "Promise you’ll come to me alone."

  The softness of her breast teased his palm. She shifted, brushing the point of her nipple against his sensitized skin.

  "If you promise to come to me alone, I will tell you my name.."

  "Next time. I will arrange it next time," he promised, already working out how he would make that happen.

  She leaned toward him, laying a kiss on Julien’s lower lip. "They call me Starseeker. My name is Angel."

  "Angel?" She trusted Julien with her true name. Was that intended to prove that she wanted his trust, that she trusted him? Did the Grellan think there was anything special in a true name? Was it a trick? Julien wished he knew for sure. "When will I see you again?" It had been almost three weeks since he had seen her last.

  The hand on his cock stroked harder. "Soon." Her essence faded away, leaving only her haunting scent to tease him.

  Julien took a shuddering breath and forced his eyes open. The glass of the mirror, only slightly warmed to his touch, made a mockery of the memory of Angel’s skin beneath his fingers.

  He took another deep breath, separating phantom strands of Angel’s scent from those of her unit, one so close to hers that the man must be a relative. A brother, perhaps? His essence spoke of youth — but of infirmity of some sort, a feeling of not being whole.

  "And?" Firebrand asked impatiently. As always, his incendiary nature reached from his powers to his personality. "Come off it, Soulchaser. Give me information."

  Julien shot him a quelling look, reminding Firebrand silently who the leader of their unit was. He nodded as the new operative blushed and looked away. It wasn’t unusual for a power to forget that Julien was a unit leader. Operatives didn’t typically graduate to the field until they were eighteen, and it generally took them five years in police service with human suspects until they moved on to a unit or to a position in research or administration. There, only the strongest and most capable were made leaders.

  Julien had never been the typical power. Taken from his mother at the age of eight instead of ten, he finished his training at sixteen. He spent three years working the police beat before the old man let him move up to the units, but he was granted his own unit within two months. Julien was in complete control of his unit. He alone chose his unit members and gave them orders outside of the initial assignment order.

  It would be all too easy for Julien to replace Firebrand with an older operative who showed more control, but Julien prided himself in having the best of the best in his unit. So, when Julien requested Firebrand after only a year of police service, the old man signed the order without question that the young man, only a little more than a year younger than Julien, belonged in the units where the real challenges existed.

  "It was the same five," Julien informed them, removing his hand from the mirror.

  Sky Master shook his head slowly. "Why would they continue to come here? Is there a traitor they are meeting?"

  "No. There is no sign of any Calante here or at any of the sites. Or any human. Whatever is drawing them into the city is internal to their unit."

  Sky Master stared at the deep green of the Suraden sunset through the streaked window. "Can you tell us more about the two new powers with them?" he asked quietly.

  Julien ran his fingertips over the mirror, drinking in the last fibers of Angel’s presence, taking them into his mind and body. He had identified Night Warrior, Sky Child, and Moon Current immediately, but Angel and her relative had evaded his usual tactician success rate for six encounters. It was unheard of, and it was a source of embarrassment for the whole unit.

  "Starseeker," he breathed. "One of them is named Starseeker. The two are related. Siblings, I believe."

  "Believe?" Water Demon rasped in her usual strained tones. "That is not a term you use often."

  Julien took in her purple-clad body, covered in synth-cloth, as everyone in his unit was save Julien himself. Water Demon’s cover was the purple of the deepest sea beds. Sky Master wore green the color of the sunset sky. Firebrand wore the blue of the powerful flames he controlled.

  Their over-covers were designed for comfort and safety. Water Demon’s suit was outfitted to withstand deep-sea pressures and to safeguard her from radical changes in pressure. In addition, it circulated water over her gill slits and aerated the water for her when she was operating on land. Firebrand’s suit cooled his body, keeping his tissues from combusting when he used his powers.

  Sky Master’s suit was most impressive. The suit pressurized automatically when he reached altitudes that required it. At that point, the retractable faceplate would extend and provide him with oxygen to sustain him in flight. The suit monitored his physiological state and was designed to notify med-flight if he suffered suit failure. Unlike Water Demon, a failure in Sky Master’s suit could be fatal within minutes. The trainers learned long ago that the ability to do something did not always come with the physical design to withstand the rigors of the act.

  Julien had no synth-cloth cover. The material interfered with his powers. The trainers joked that a natural power like his required a natural environment. His cover was thick cotton fleece covered with a wool jacket that hid his lessening erection from his unit. His shoes were leather with cotton laces, and his suit fastened with a simple metal zipper.

  He could wear no specialized protection, not even the Kevlar silk built into all the other operative’s covers. Julien’s team was his protection. They were also his keepers. Julien couldn’t carry electronic surveillance gear as most operatives did. Even his team couldn’t use comm units in an area he had to work. The comm circuits wrecked havoc with his powers, just as they had with his father.

  "Believe?" Sky Master reminded him.

  Julien nodded, an idea taking shape. He’d never lied to his team before, but he had to learn what Angel and her unit wanted in the city, what they wanted with him. "Starseeker’s essence is much like my own." It was. Maybe that was why she was naked when she came to him. "It seems — your presence disrupts the unstable strands left behind."

  Sky Master looked at him uncomfortably. "What are you suggesting? You want us to leave you here? Alone? The old man would have a fit."

  That much was true. Julien immersed himself in the strands to the exclusion of all else when he was on a track. His unit was his protection. The old man was sure to balk at what Julien was suggesting.

  "No. The damage is already done here. The next time we are called out, I want you to form a containment ring. I’ll take in an emergency beacon, but I have to go in alone." Yes, the emergency beacon wouldn’t send out a destructive signature unless he hit the button, but would Julien see danger coming before it was too late to push that button? That would be what the old man would consider.

  "Are you crazy?" Firebrand exploded. "You
will be completely unprotected at your most vulnerable moments."

  "The old man will never allow it," Sky Master decided.

  Julien sighed. "He will. If he wants to get more information about Starseeker, he will allow it." He pushed away an unwelcome thought. Despite what the old man wanted, Julien wanted to know more about Angel and not in any way the old man would appreciate.

  * * * *

  The old man’s true name was Adrien Carter. Julien was one of the few who knew that, perhaps the only living person who did. Of course, Julien was the only one beside the trustees who knew everyone’s true name at the Center City Academy. All it took was a touch on their person while they weren’t clothed in synth-cloth, and he knew. Over the years, it became a game to learn them all.

  Adrien regarded Julien over his steepled fingers, probing uselessly at the shield Julien learned to project when he was nine. "We cannot risk you," Adrien decided. "Permission denied."

  Julien shrugged, locking down control on his desperation. "As you wish. When will my unit be reassigned?" he asked calmly.

  Adrien furrowed his brow. "Reassigned? Why would you be reassigned?"

  "You teach us to always play to our strengths. If I cannot progress, I would better serve elsewhere."

  "And you feel you cannot progress with your unit close to the source strands?"

  "What I am sensing indicates that," he lied smoothly. In truth, Julien wasn’t sure how Angel controlled the information she left behind in the strands or how she connected to him when he was at the source. That uncertainty made him all the more determined to learn how she did it.

  Adrien sent him a searching look. Julien met his eyes evenly, confident of his safety. No one else could lie to the old man. Only the fact that Julien was so useful saved him from some sort of artificial hobbling to place him solidly under Adrien’s control.