Blue Nexus #6--The Red Woman

       
 “You want me to do what?” Mira asked.

            “Look for the g—guy—damn it this hurts—who hit me big time on Saturday, the sketchy dude, the cops are looking for him,” Kyle repeated over the phone.

            “Well you’re in luck that I’m at the mall, I’ll keep an eye out for him. Should I call the police or call you?”

            “I’m with Detective Patton right now, so you can just call me, it’ll be quicker and we’ll already know where you are,” Kyle said, nodding to Kip and Luke, who were the only people with him. They were standing at the entrance of the school.

            “Okay, cool, then I’ll let you know,” Mira said.

            “Talk to you then,” Kyle said, and the two hung up simultaneously.           

            “It would totally suck if Patton ends up being at the mall, too,” Kip pointed out.

            “Nah, she’s across town looking for him,” Kyle said. He hovered his hand over his left rib cage. It hurt just talking, thanks to Gargador, but now he had to put the effort into finding him and then fighting him. With the amount of pain he was in, Kyle wondered if it would hurt even in his Blue Nexus form to fight.

            Kyle managed to excuse himself from practice, telling Coach that he would go out and look for the big guy, who he did not call by his real name, and then felt free to enact his seek-and-destroy plan. He managed to convince Luke and Kip to helping him out, and even before then he told Sandy he needed help with finding the guy and she said she was on it, able to remember what he looked like. Luke and Kip were slightly less enthusiastic about tracking down a super-alien but once Kyle told them all they had to do was spot him, they were a little more at ease.

            Kyle figured he would take the supermarket area while Kip and Luke combed the east and west sides of town respectively and Sandy said she would take a drive through some of the neighborhoods. If nothing else then Kyle was going to go to the school as Blue Nexus, so to hide from Coach, and take his chances there. He had a hunch that Gargador was probably going to wind up there should he figure out that he was being tailed, but wanted to weed him out just in case.

            They split up at around three, hoping to get home in time to do their massive amounts of junior year homework. Kyle was much slower to leave. Kip and Luke were already soaring away on their bikes while Kyle was walking to his car, wishing there was a way he could walk without the pain in his ribs constantly coming back up.

            It shouldn’t take too long, Kyle thought, given how small the town was and how large a man Gargador was. Plus with five people on the case, and a whole area of town inhabited by the police, he would be weeded out in no time.

            Though this did raise the question of where Gargador had been hiding between the time of his arrival to try and kill Kyle to his time at practice. If he left town then there would hardly be a way to track him without bringing in the Zanderian and causing a big ruckus. If worst came to worst Gargador would eventually come back to attack and Kyle would have no choice but to fight, and try to keep it away from school.

            He sat down in his car, taking deep breaths and turning on the car, leaving the A/C off since it was still pretty nice outside. The supermarket wasn’t far from the school but the pain was enough to make time slow down some.

            Carefully, Kyle drove off toward the supermarket, his phone sitting in his cup-holder, waiting for a possible phone call. It was highly unlikely his allies were at their destinations just yet, but it also couldn’t hurt to be cautionary.

            Kyle arrived at the supermarket and to a fairly packed parking lot. After just squeezing between two trucks, Kyle stood up and looked around.

            “Great,” he said, breathing heavily.

            Parents and little kids roamed the parking lot, some kids begging to go into the crater Gargador left behind. Kyle wandered through them as a young adult stranger, scanning the entire area looking for his foe. The Nexus bracelet was working just fine but that didn’t mean he could sense Gargador, especially if he was in human form.

            With no imminent danger besides reckless drivers in the parking lot, Kyle headed into the supermarket. Besides the mall it was arguably the biggest social area in the entire town, obviously not counting the two schools. People gathered there all the time not just for groceries but also for the chance to see their friends. Moms would talk for hours there, including Kyle’s grandmother, who would spend what felt like hours there alone talking to other older women or just some of her friends.

            Just walking through the front door Kyle noticed this, as children were pretty much circling their mothers like sharks waiting to get a free cookie while the mothers talked about their work and their time at the gym. One or two community college students sprinkled the aisles but it was predominantly a matriarch building.

            He walked past the DVD rent-box and into the main building, the fresh smell of cold vegetables coming to him. Stretched to the back of the room was all the good, healthy stuff. Fruits were in the middle column while aligned on the left and right were the good greens, and the tomatoes and corn. On the opposite side of the building were the meats, the place where most of the fathers went. The aisle next to the greens was the organic one, which grew heavily since it began only a few years ago as people fell more and more into the organic craze.

            Kyle tried to feign perfect health as he moved slowly through the building, gripping his phone tightly in his right hand. With every step he seemed to be wincing, and nobody cared to give him a second look. Even though it was a small town and everyone knew each other, Kyle lived atop a high hill and only looked at them, never really interacting.

            He cleared the greens with no luck. Doubt began to fill him. There was a good chance Gargador wouldn’t be displaying himself out in public, and what the heck would he be doing at the supermarket anyway? All Kyle was doing was looking like an idiot there.

            He turned the corner into the organic section when his phone buzzed in his right hand. Instantly he answered.

            “Talk to me,” he said quickly.

            “I, uh, I think I found him,” Luke said on the other side, talking quietly.

            Kyle looked ahead of him, a chill going up his spine. He started to walk quickly toward the door, keeping the phone pressed to his ear.

            “Where are you? I’m on my way,” Kyle said.

            “I’m near the golf range,” Luke said. “I just got—wait, hold up, he’s gone.”

            Kyle kept walking. “What do you mean he’s gone?”

            “I mean he just, hey—oof!” exclaimed Luke. Kyle heard the sound of something crack on the ground before the line went dead.

            “Luke!” he shouted, not realizing where he was. Some of the people in the aisle turned around as if he were crazy, and it certainly did look that way from a bystander’s perspective. Kyle was frozen, the phone still pressed to his ear.

            A heavy footstep pressed down near the phone, only to be picked up. Kyle gritted his teeth as Gargador spoke.

            “You would send mere human teenagers after me?” Gargador asked. “Did I injure you that much? A few broken ribs should mean nothing to a person with your power.”

            “You shut your mouth!” Kyle hissed. “If you killed him I swear to God I will rip you to pieces and feed you to your War God!”

            Gargador roared. “Yes! That’s more like it! Come on then, come and find me, let’s see how many more of your friends I can take down before you try to kill me!”

            Just before the line went dead there was another cracking sound. The phone must have been crushed, Kyle thought. He tightly gripped his phone, then let his hand fall to his side, allowing his phone to slide in his pocket.

            Dread and anger filled him at the same time, leading him to just stand in the aisle that did have people, but left him feeling all alone. He put Luke, one of his best friends, in danger, and now Gargador was looking for Kyle’s friends just as he was looking for Gargador. He played the completely wrong hand and now everyone was in danger.

            He looked down solemnly to the Nexus bracelet. What did he do to deserve this power? Few times did he use it for good and now here he was essentially using his friends for bait to catch an alien foe. What kind of hero, not beyond that, person was he?

            Kyle nearly dropped to the floor but managed to take one step forward. Gargador saw this as a game, and in order to save his friends, he had no choice but to stop the game before he could have his next turn. The ball was in Kyle’s court so long as Gargador didn’t spot Mira, Sandy, or Kip.

            Yeah, it wasn’t over yet. Gargador’s swagger was going to cost him. Kyle reached behind him, and pulled out his Zanderian communicator. He used it to access his cell-phone, using the tracker on it to find out where Luke was when he made the call.

            Indeed, he was by the golf course, pretty much in the building. What Gargador was doing there was anyone’s guess but it hardly mattered at the moment.

            He put the communicator back in his pocket, instead brandishing his car keys and heading straight for the door.

            A woman stepped in front of the door, stunning him for just a moment as hormones appeared lightning-fast. This woman came seemingly out of nowhere but boy was she a sight for sore eyes. She was around his age, maybe a little older, but was stunningly beautiful. She was wearing a red shirt and black yoga pants. The shirt was just a slight color darker than her hair, which was also red, as were her eyes. But not bloodshot, no, the pupils were a red-amber color that captivated Kyle instantly. Her build was athletic but had a curved body and figure, enough to make any man gawk.

            She was looking straight at Kyle, too, when she stepped in the sliding glass doorway. His momentary stop barely slowed him down, as he had to keep walking past the beautiful girl.

            “Kyle Raiden,” she said. Her voice had caring tone to it, the way she said his name immediately drew him in, forcing him to turn around and look at her.   

            “Wha?” he asked, stupidly.

            “I know where he is,” she said. “Gargador, I can sense him.”

            He raised an eyebrow, and looked around. He wanted to pull her over to the side so they could talk but his hands were shaking, he was so nervous to talk to him. She was being so casual and he was freaking out on the inside. His heart was beating rapidly. This girl, no, woman…

            “Wha?” he asked again.

            “I can take you to him, we can take him down,” she said.

            Kyle shook his head, trying to rid himself of the stupidity. “Wait, wait, just who are you? How do you know Gargador?”

            She reached out and pushed him to the side of the building, out of eyesight from most of the people and making Kyle blush. He tried to hide it but it was no use.

            “I’ll explain that in due time,” she said. “Right now you need to transform and we need to go after him, he seems to be hunting people down and I’m afraid that they might be associates of yours.”

            “Wait, how do you know about my powers?” Kyle asked quietly.

            “Well the Nexus bracelet gives it away if you can recognize one,” the girl said. “And, I know your parents quite well.”

            Instantly, Kyle shot his hands up and pushed the girl against the wall, urgency flowing through him. He could care less about formalities at this point.

            “Where are they, how do you know them?” he asked.

            The girl raised her hands, gripped Kyle’s wrists, and pushed him back with ease. Was she a super as well?

            “If I told you, you would go after them and be killed, or even worse, captured like them,” she said. “And I can’t risk that, I would break my promise.”

            “What promise? You aren’t making any sense!”

            “Listen, Kyle, now is not the time to be asking questions!” she exclaimed. Then she lowered her voice, “You know as well as I do that people are in danger and I know where to find the culprit, we can bring him down if you would just follow me.”

            Kyle raised an eyebrow. “How do I know—?” He wanted to ask how he knew he could trust her, but even if she was going to betray him, he had to find his friends, of that he had no option. “There’s someone I need to see first.”

            “Who?” the girl asked.

            “My friend, Gargador got to him already and I need to make sure he’s still okay.”

            The girl gave him a hard look, then turned around quickly, whipping her red hair in his face. It did smell lovely, he had to admit, but was unfamiliar with the scent.

            “Fine, but we need to hurry if we’re going to save your friends,” she said. “I’ve got you covered, nobody’s coming, hurry up and transform.”

            Kyle nodded, even though she couldn’t see, and quickly swiped his hand across his bracelet. The second he felt his energy surge, he took the girl’s hand and soared into the air, floating over the building.

            The girl wriggled free, floating in the air along with Kyle. She pointed just north.

            “Gargador is that way if you want to get him,” she said.

            “No, I need to make sure Luke is okay,” he said, then turned and zoomed off, not even looking behind him at the girl.

            Yet, in the two minute flight over, there wasn’t a second where he didn’t feel her presence. Was she exerting some kind of pressure so that he was aware of her, or, was it just because there was a beautiful woman behind him that Kyle was conscious of her?

            He surged forward toward the ground, then broke off the energy and landed lightly on his feet, running toward Luke who was laying with his eyes closed against the wall of the building. Nobody was around to notice him.

            The girl landed behind him at a decent distance, her arms crossed. Kyle checked Luke’s pulse. It was there, and faint. He checked around Luke, looking for any markings but couldn’t find any yet. Gargador must have just barely hit him in order to get such a quick and unnoticeable knockout in.

            Kyle hefted Luke up, looking back over to the girl. She looked at him curiously.

            “Now what are you doing?” she asked.

            “Putting him inside, obviously,” Kyle said. “If someone notices a knocked out kid in the middle of a lobby they’ll be sure to call the cops and get Luke home.”

            The girl shrugged. “Fair enough.”

            Nobody noticed as Kyle entered the building and set Luke down in one of the chairs. He merely looked like he was sleeping. Kyle waited for just a second more as he looked at his fallen friend. He’d let this happen, and Gargador was moving swiftly to try and ensure that it happened again. Kyle could not let that happen. Even if this girl was trying to stop him, he couldn’t let it happen.

            Nimbly, he walked outside, nodding to the girl. She nodded in return, taking to the air. Kyle followed suit. She pointed forward.

            “That way, let’s go,” she said, and boomed off. Once more, Kyle followed, this time concentrating on how badly he wanted to crush Gargador with his power.

            Gargador was, somehow, already on the opposite side of town, as Kyle found out while they flew. He looked down occasionally and noticed Mira and Kip. That meant Gargador was going after Sandy. Figures, Kyle thought, since she was the one he was with the most at school ever since Gargador showed up at school.

            Brenda quickly straightened up and began to plummet toward the ground. Kyle did the same, looking around. He saw Sandy in between two buildings, looking around swiftly for Gargador. Suddenly, he turned a corner, sprinting as hard and fast as he could at her. Normally, Kyle wouldn’t be able to pick up this kind of speed, but with his heightened sense he was easily able to.

            He landed, then rolled and fired an energy blast with all his strength at Gargador. He barely aimed, but he still managed to hit him right in the shoulder, sending him flipping back and crashing into the brick wall of another building.

            Sandy froze as the two people landed. The red-haired girl had her face looking away for some reason, probably so Sandy wouldn’t see her, while Kyle couldn’t care anymore.    

            “What’s happening?” she shouted.

            “Get out of here!” Kyle shouted, deepening his voice so Sandy wouldn’t recognize.

            Gargador peeled himself off the wall, his left arm limp from the attack. He growled and snarled, gritting his teeth as he began to move forward.

            “Are you…” Sandy started.

            “Yeah, I’m that guy,” he said. “Now go! It’s not safe here!”

            “Okay, yeah, leaving now,” she said, and sprinted away.

            The red girl turned around, facing Gargador, who was still moving slowly toward them. The pressure Kyle had been feeling from her before was back, if not slightly greater, than before. Here was the moment, then, that she would either prove to be for or against him. That hardly mattered now, though, as he had a perfect opportunity to strike.

            “I’m gonna kill him!” he exclaimed, then leapt forward.

            “Wait,” the girl said, sticking out an arm. Her soft, yet powerful, hands managed to hold him back, forcing him to stand erect beside her. Gargador laughed.

            “Who’s the new girl, kid?” he asked. “Is she going to be doing the dirty work for you from now on?”

            “Please, I’m not the one that’s dirty,” she said.

            Her eyes began to glow red as she slowly raised her hands to be chest level. Suddenly, two curved, red barriers appeared around Gargador. He looked at them confused for a second before apparently realizing something. The girl crossed her arms and the barriers swept through Gargador, dissipating when they made it through.

            Gargador was frozen for a second before he was shrouded in red, then when the color faded, he was back in his original alien form. His arm still had a big black spot on it, but, somehow this girl managed to revert him back.

            “A purification barrier,” she said, her eyes still glowing. “Neat, huh?”

            “You wench!” he shouted, charging for them stronger than before.

            The girl smiled. “Wench, really?”

            Her hands still up, she managed to make a big red barrier in front of her and Kyle. Gargador crashed into it, cracking it, but wound up just bouncing back, some red lightning coursing over him as he fell. The barrier fell, and the girl sighed.

            “That was a defense barrier,” she said. “Okay, now you can get him.”

            Kyle shouted, then shot toward Gargador, punching him straight into the sky. He squatted down, the boomed up to the alien, who was very injured in mid-air. Kyle kicked him right where he blasted Gargador, forcing a cry from him, before punching him back down to the Earth. Another smaller crater formed as Gargador landed, only for him to be covered up by another red barrier from the girl, who was now also composed. Her defense barrier had to use up enough of her real strength to fend off Gargador, and now that she could regain some energy, she felt better.

            Gargador punched twice at the barrier over him, forcing the girl to wince twice.

            “He’s…pretty strong,” she said. “I’m going to lift the barrier…ugh…you blast him the second he pops out, got it?”

            “Yeah, I got it,” Kyle said as his hands began to glow blue.

            The girl dropped her hands and Gargador shot up, heading straight for the girl. Kyle blasted at him, getting Gargador in the legs, but he was still able to move forward. Acting fast, he shot at Gargador, knocking him into a wall once more.

            They nearly went through the building but only knocked in a few bricks. The two dropped, and Gargador pounced almost instantly, grabbing Kyle by the neck.

            “This time there’s no Nexus to save you,” he said.

            “But I’m here!” the girl shouted, leaping through the air and kicking Gargador right in the head. For a flash, Kyle saw Gargador’s eyes roll up into his head before soaring down the alleyway and crashing right into the street.

            Kyle rubbed his neck, standing up. A car swerved around the unconscious Gargador. Kyle, shaking off the attack, sprinted toward Gargador, looking to finish the job. He leapt up, pulling back a fist, when suddenly Gargador vanished.

            Barely able to stop himself, Kyle pulled back his fist and boomed into the air, looking around wildly for Gargador.

            “Where’d he go?” he seethed.

            Slowly, the girl rose up to meet him from the alleyway. Almost everyone in the area was looking up at them and the damage that Kyle and Gargador had caused in their small scuffle.

            “I’m not sure,” the girl admitted. “He just vanished, completely. I can’t even sense him anymore. But, I think we should split.”

            Kyle looked around at the people once more, who had completely stopped in their tracks to look at them.

            “Good plan, let’s go,” he said, and the two of them zoomed off away from town.

            They actually flew past Kyle’s house to a more secluded hill off to the side, where they could finally talk.

            Kyle landed first, staying in his Blue Nexus form while the girl landed and crumpled to her knees. Kyle helped her to her feet quickly.

            “Gah, dang, haven’t had to use that much of my energy in a long time,” she said. “And I guess that’s the power of a Demi-War God. You’re pretty tough, Kyle.”

            “Yeah well you were able to make him change forms and hold him off for a good while,” Kyle complimented. “Don’t knock yourself…uh…you?”

            “Brenda, you can call me Brenda,” she said.

            “Is that your real name or your Earth name?” Kyle asked. “Because I know Eclipse has a real name but he won’t say it for some reason.”

            “It’s my Earth name, yeah,” Brenda replied, clearly still exhausted. The flight over might not have helped her out either.

            “Did you just get here or something, how come you haven’t been around for a while?” Kyle asked.

            “I got here a few days before you found the Nexus bracelet,” Brenda admitted. “I left my home world over a year ago and finally made it here. When I sensed you’d found the Nexus I was unsure if I still needed to help you until I sensed you got seriously hurt.”

            “Well then I suppose it’d be a stupid question to ask how old you are,” Kyle said. “Given the whole space travel thing.”  

            “In Earth years I believe I’m twenty,” Brenda said. “And you’re seventeen, with a pretty good athletic build, some freshly heightened senses, and some broken ribs.”

            Kyle stepped back. “How’d you know all that?”

            “Just because I haven’t met you yet doesn’t mean I haven’t been gathering intel on you the past few days,” Brenda said, almost as if offended. “I have to know who I’m protecting after all.”

            “That reminds me, why are you protecting me, anyway?” asked Kyle. “Other than my parents sent you, or whatever?”

            “That’s pretty much it,” Brenda replied. “And I…heard a lot about you and really wanted to meet you. You sounded like a pretty cool guy.”

            “Thanks, I, uh, try?” he asked. He blushed and looked away. He was really bad with girls, even the alien ones apparently. A question appeared in his mind. “Hey wait if you’re—”

            Quickly, Brenda stepped in front of him and kissed him, tightly wrapping her arms around his neck. Kyle’s arms flailed to the side for a second as he was completely caught off guard, then they relaxed and found their way to Brenda’s waist.

            Brenda stepped back, leaning her head against his forehead, then took a big step back, smiled at Kyle, floated into the air, then blasted off south. Kyle took two steps toward her, but she was gone in seconds.

            He stopped, standing at the crest of the small hill that stood level with the tallest building in town. A news chopper was hovering over the scene of the battle in the distance. Kyle thought of Luke, of Sandy, and of Brenda. Who was she? Why had she helped him, or heck, why had she kissed him?

            Most important of all, though: how did she know his parents?


Next time: Kyle and Brenda team up again, learning about a new breed of mutations from Phoenix. Plus, is Brenda going to join the Zanderia? And...will they kiss again? Check it out in "Blue Nexus #7--Of Aberrants and Aliens"