Blue Nexus #7--Of Aberrants and Aliens

            Everything seemed to be a dream following the kiss. There were but flashes of moments that he did things, end all else was a simple repeated memory of the moment. It was embedded in his mind so much that he wondered if it were programmed in him now. It wasn’t his first kiss so it didn’t hold too much value, but, ever since, he could think of but that one moment and that one person.

            Brenda, the apparent alien who could summon red force-fields and that had escaped slavery, simply swooped into his life, fought off a Demi-War God, and then kissed Kyle and left. He tried and tried to think of why she would do all this, and he wanted a decent explanation to it all.

            Despite actively participating in all required activities of him the next day, Kyle was essentially a zombie, simply going through the motions. He never raised his hand in class and only partook in the small talk of the lunch conversations. He pretty much brushed off anyone that tried to talk to him. Sandy clung to him all day again but he barely even realized it.

            He hardly even noticed his broken ribs, thinking only of Brenda. Could her abilities heal him? Whenever he thought that, and some other things, his face would turn red.

            That implied seeing her again. When would that be? He had so much to ask, so much to say to her. There was just so much on his mind about one woman. How was that even possible? He contemplated if it were an obsession or that other thing, love?

            But he couldn’t love a girl he’d only just met. And he was only seventeen, just a teenager, how was he supposed to know what love was? All he did was try to be a super-hero and play lacrosse, that was pretty much his life. But now, there seemed to be something more.

            There was Brenda. He knew there was more but at the moment, all day, there needed to be nothing more. He considered for a moment, before blissfully sleeping, that she put a spell on him, and it made sense. Then he woke up thinking about her and forgot all about that.

            He was so absent-minded that he almost put his pads on before feeling a twinge in his ribs and realizing that he was on the injured-list and wasn’t allowed to play. He still would, however, manage to make it to practice to watch.

            He was the last one out of the locker room, walking slowly down the pavement as team progressed through their warm-ups. In the stands were some parents and friends—Kip and Luke went home, because, what was there to see if Kyle wasn’t playing—as well as Sandy, who was front-row, eyes locked on Kyle. Mira was with the trainers standing far to the right of Coach. Kyle stood in between them. He, coach, and the trainers were facing the stands.

            Some of the other assistant coaches were moving through the stretching lines, yelling commands or insults at players. There was some small talk but nothing major. On the opposite side of the stadium, the practice field, was the J/V team. Coach requested they start practicing in the stadium because he was of the belief that “if you know the stadium, you know all the ins and outs, you can’t lose at home.” It was a philosophy Kyle didn’t quite understand, and that he didn’t really care for.

            Coach rushed onto the field, blowing his whistle repetitively. Mira and her trainers were sitting down on the bench as Kyle stared out onto the dying green field, his teammates progressing through some new play Coach had designed. Another assistant coach was holding a white board up to show them.

            Kyle looked around, wishing he had glasses, when his eyes locked on target. The target that he’d been thinking about all day long.

            Sitting about two rows above where Sandy was sat Brenda. His mouth gawked as he stared at her. She was still stunning, confirming that she wasn’t just a dream. Her red hair flowed down upon her chest. She was once more wearing a red shirt but this time she was wearing black shorts. The sunglasses she had on had a red boarder around them.

            Brenda was looking down on the field with interest. Of course, Kyle thought, lacrosse would be very foreign to her. Probably looks a little strange to one who doesn’t really know it.

            Coach yelled something, blew the whistle, then the assistant coach ran off the sideline. Kyle still didn’t snap out of it. He was still staring at Brenda.

            She looked over, noticing that he was starting. She smiled and waved at him, pursing her lips intently as she did so. He blushed, keeping his hands stuffed in his pockets. Why was he so nervous to talk, or just gesture at her, now? He’d been thinking about her all day, he should easily be able to manage so form of communication. And the way she was pursing her lips…did she want to kiss him again?

            Thunderous footsteps approached, but Kyle still wasn’t noticing, instead too engaged in Brenda. Suddenly, she leapt to her feet, pointing at something. Another familiar voice called his name, and both efforts were in vain.

            Someone had managed to slam into Brian while he was near the sideline, forcing him to lose his balance. Kyle saw it way too slowly, getting hit straight in the gut with Brian’s helmet then feeling the shoulder pads dig into him as the two of them slammed to the ground.

            “OH, GOD!” he shouted as his ribs cracked further under the powerful weight of Brian. Brian got up instantly.

            “Oh, damn it, sorry Kyle, how hard did you land?” asked Brian.

            “Move, idiot,” Mira said, almost throwing Brian away. A red blur was coming around the track as Mira knelt down beside Kyle, lifting up his shirt.

            The blur intensified, then suddenly, Brenda was kneeling over Kyle. Mira looked up at her curiously.      

            “Uh, hey, you might want to move,” Mira said.

            “Are you going to touch his ribs to test them again?” she asked.

            Kyle blinked hard, fighting back tears. He had to look manly in front of Mira…no, in front of Brenda. But there was Mira, and then…

            “Oh boy,” he said through hard breaths.

            “Yeah, I mean, kind of have to,” Mira said.

            “Okay, well, go for it,” Brenda said, then planted a kiss right on Kyle again, her hand drooping all over his face.

            Many of the boys on the team cat-called. Mira slowly moved her hand over Kyle’s ribs, but he could hardly feel anything. Brenda’s kiss was intoxicating, almost like taking a drug. More than that, though, it felt right, like she was meant to be kissing him.

            Heavy footsteps approached, kneeling down beside Kyle. Mira removed her hand and Brenda removed her face, revealing Brian kneeling beside Brenda.           

            “So, now that both of your girls are off you, think you can get up?” asked Brian.

            Kyle’s stupid smile wasn’t going to get any logical words out, so he just nodded. Brenda braced his back as Brian pulled him up. Brenda slung herself under his right armpit. Mira raised an eyebrow.

            “Okay? You going to take him home or something?” she asked.

            Brenda nodded. “Yes, I am. I can attend to him, he’ll be fine. Carry on.”

            Kyle’s legs felt like rubber as they walked toward the gate of the stadium, Brenda keeping a hard face as they moved. Once they reached the gate, her grip on his wrist intensified. Kyle once again blinked back tears.

            “Ow! Hey, what the hell?” he asked.

            “Fool,” she said. “Being near such a violent area with broken ribs is a good way to immobilize yourself. You may have defeated Gargador but you didn’t kill him.”

            “I can take him,” Kyle said.

            “And his allies, too?” Brenda asked. “Eventually the Nexus is going to stop feeding you so much energy and let you heal at your own pace.”

            “Hope you’re there when it happens,” Kyle said absentmindedly.

            Brenda looked away, her cheeks turning rosy. “I did help you out, yes. But we need to get you home so you can rest and I can begin healing you.”

            “No way, you can really heal me?”

            Brenda turned a corner around the building, pushing him against the wall, bracing his ribs with her hand. She lifted his shirt, almost as if to take it off. Kyle bit his lip. She hovered her hand over the now almost purple area.

            “Shouldn’t be too difficult,” she said. A small red square appeared in front of her hand, in front of Kyle’s broken ribs. “I can do it here if you’d like.”

            “No, bad idea, someone might see you like this,” Kyle said. He paused. “How’d you find me anyway?”

            “Same way I found you yesterday of course,” Brenda said. “And, today you gave me an excuse to check out lacrosse.”

            “Wait, you know what lacrosse is?” asked Kyle as Brenda retracted the red square.

            “Of course. I was in a pod for a year, all I really did was sleep and learn about Earth culture,” she said. “And high school is every bit as awkward as I was told.”

            They arrived back at Kyle’s house promptly, Kyle transforming into Blue Nexus to fly over while Brenda stayed behind. Kyle’s grandparents were home, forcing him to transform behind his shed and then Brenda could attend to him there.

            When they entered, Brenda sucked in a deep breath of wonder. Kyle sat down, watching with pride as Brenda marveled at the space-filled room. He looked around it, too, waiting for her to speak up about it. He hadn’t had much time to really use the room—plus he could actually go to space instead of have to wonder about it—but hoped to use it more often, for the exact reason that he could go to space. Famous planets like Orion Six were now at his grasp to go check out, and even Mars he could finally go to.

            Brenda walked around the shed. It felt a little more cramped than normal for Kyle since he was so used to just one person being in it, but she was good company. He sat back in his chair, hoping to relax his muscles. As he watched Brenda, though, in such small quarters. Alone. A primal urge began to pump its way into his veins, forcing him to clench his fist in suppression.

            “So, this is the secret headquarters of the hero Blue Nexus,” she said. She looked back at him with her red-amber eyes. “Small, yet effective. Your powers are born of space, so, it figures you would be so interested.”

            “Plus I’m sure my parents told you about themselves,” he said. Brenda nodded, looking for a place to sit down. There wasn’t one, so she gently moved some papers over and hoped onto the drilled-in counter.

            “But,” she said with a smirk. “A headquarters for a Zanderian this does not fit. Especially just for one, where am I going to be able to work from?”

            Everything suddenly stopped for Kyle.

            “Whoa, slow down,” he said. “You knowing I’m a Zanderian is pretty passable, but, are you saying that you’re one of us? Are you the girl?”

            Brenda shook her head. “I might be alien, but I’m not Leley. She’s a lot stronger than me. No, I was saying that because I want to join the Zanderian and become a defender of the Earth.”

            “You sure about that?” Kyle asked. “You haven’t been on Earth for too long, and while I guess I trust you—”

            “You guess? I helped you defeat Gargador, who was looking to kill your friends. How can you not trust me?”

            “Sorry,” Kyle said, painfully adjusting himself in the seat. “I didn’t mean to come off so rude, I just meant that…”

            He trailed off, realizing what a hypocrite he would be if he completed his statement. He became a Zanderian mere days after he found the Nexus bracelet and unlocked its powers. To say that Brenda hadn’t proven herself would be stupid and an understatement. She was able to hold down Gargador all on her own.

            “Well, I mean, is defending the Earth the only reason you want to be a Zanderian?” he asked. “Because, you know, you won’t really be able to have much of a social life.”

            “You do,” Brenda pointed out.

            “I have two friends and one girl that drools over me,” Kyle said calmly. “It’s great, but not as much as you think.”

            “So you’re saying I’m not social?” asked Brenda.

            “No, I’m saying that trying to be social with people in the area is probably impossible when you’re halfway across the world fighting giant monsters.”

            Brenda shrugged, then nodded. “Another reason I want to be a Zanderian is because I’ll be able to contact you a lot easier.”

            Kyle sighed. “Look, Brenda. I do appreciate you wanting to help me out and keep me safe, but, at the same time I’m confused as to why. You said my parents assigned you or something?”

            Brenda looked around nervously. “Look, I didn’t know your parents that long. Maybe a few days. But they were really nice to me, they helped me out.”

            “What got you thrown in prison?” asked Kyle.

            Brenda shook her head. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I abided by the rules of my people and lived my life according to their ways and then one day I found myself in a prison cell near a couple from the planet Earth. They helped get me through my depression, keeping me alive even when I wanted to kill myself.” Brenda sighed. “Your parents told me about you, even telling me about the combining of their bracelets. They hoped to their God that you would be able to use the bracelet for good as they once had, or at least tried to. Then they were moved to somewhere else on the planet.

            “The opportunity arose shortly after for me to use my powers to get out. It was a riot that’d been planned for weeks, apparently, and I jumped at the chance to help. Of course, it was suppressed almost instantly. An entire planet dedicated to a prison means an immeasurable amount of guards. I managed to get away with a few dozen others, setting my course for Earth to come to you.” Brenda managed a small laugh. “And I was one of three to survive the onslaught of Ytu.”

            “Ytu?” Kyle repeated.

            “A War God,” Brenda replied. “Actually, my War God. She’s quite fond of the prison planet and likes to keep it as tight knit as possible. I managed to lose her and her forces once I made the jump into hyper-space but it was close, definitely.”

            She looked up, looking hard at Kyle, who felt remorse for Brenda. After doing nothing wrong, this woman was put in prison and had to escape the will of one of the strongest beings in all the universe, what kind of life was that?”

            Brenda’s hard look permeated into Kyle. “So I have to join the Zanderian to keep you and the planet your parents defended safe. I’ll do it even if I can’t join, but knowing that I have a team at my back helping me out would be great.”

            Kyle smiled and nodded, trying to get up to pat her shoulder, but found the effort to be too great. A wave of pain hit him, and now the exhaustion of the day was catching up to him. It wasn’t too hot in the shed, but was at that perfect siesta temperature.

            Brenda smiled, getting down from the counter and placing her hand on Kyle’s head. “Tired, hero? May as well sleep, I’m going to have a look around the shed?”

            Kyle smiled, then closed his eyes. His smile faded as his body fell limp and he fell into sleep.

           

            The sun was setting when he woke on the floor. Curiously he looked around, feeling around to make sure he was still in the shed. Yup, definitely in the shed. But how did he not feel the impact of the floor? Was he that tired?

            He began to push himself up. As he did, the pain rose with him. A pair of gentle hands scooped down, lifting him up from the chest. He stood up, looking behind him as Brenda held him. She was smiling brightly.

            “Evening,” she said, then gave him a peck on the lips.

            She let go, Kyle falling forward but he managed to catch himself. He shook his head, still weary from his nap and the pain in his side wasn’t helping him at all.

            “Ugh, is it really the evening?” he asked, clutching his side, standing up fully.

            “Indeed,” Brenda replied. “I’m surprised your grandparents haven’t come looking for you yet.”

            Kyle decided to avoid asking how Brenda knew he was with his grandparents and not another relative and instead made his way to the door. He was stopped, however, by a sudden buzzing in his back pocket. Brenda questioned what that was doing there.

            He pulled out his Zanderian communicator, which was flashing. He nearly jumped. He was being called in by the team! Finally, he would get to work with them! Kyle, rather randomly, fist-pumped, then pressed down on the screen.

            A holographic version of Phoenix appeared before him, a rather fuzzy version of him too. The reception in the shed hadn’t always been the best, but, the Zanderians worked in the Moon, they had to be able to get great reception anyway.

            “Hey, Phoenix,” Kyle said stupidly. He wasn’t sure if this was just a message or what.

            “Hey...Blue Nexus,” Phoenix said. Kyle realized rather quickly that he wasn’t in his Nexus form and quickly changed that, lighting up the room for a brief second. Brenda covered her eyes to shield the sudden burst of light.

            “Better?” asked Kyle.

            “Whose your friend in the background?” asked Phoenix, crossing his arms.

            “Oh, don’t worry about her she’s cool,” Kyle said. When Phoenix didn’t move or say anything, Kyle wondered if it was lag. Phoenix tapped his foot on the holographic ground. Kyle bumbled a few words before, “Okay, yeah, she’s an alien who was sent here by parents to protect me and it’s apparently a long story that I can’t know.”

            Phoenix nodded. “Proud of you, young lady.”

            Brenda hid her face. “Oh, thank you, sir.”

            “Sir?” Kyle asked.

            “See, rookie, that’s how you show respect to an elder hero like myself,” Phoenix said proudly, uncrossing his arms and posing proudly.

            “I really hope you’re standing alone in a room or you must look ridiculous,” Kyle said softly.

            “You know the messaging picks up everything you say, I heard that,” Phoenix said. “And no, I’m waiting for a detective to get on site for the same reason I called you.”

            “Oh?” asked Kyle. “What’s the issue?”

            “Well I’m over here in Richmond and I just fought off a couple of Aberrants, and apparently they’ve already made their way over near Adelita, hitting one of the cities around there.”

            “Hmm, they must be near East City then,” Kyle muttered. “Wait a second, it’s at least a three hour drive between here and Richmond and you’re saying they’re here already?”

            Phoenix nodded. “They got the jump on me. I managed to take down two but the other four got away and were headed south. I was tracking them and figured this would be a fun first mission for you.”

            Kyle gulped. Phoenix wasn’t superhuman or anything but he was known to be able to hold his own in the field with them, even showing at times that he could be better than them. For him to lose in a battle against them was a pretty big deal, and now he expected Kyle to have to deal with it?

            “Well I wouldn’t say fun at first,” Kyle said. He laughed lightly. “I’d say intense, but, job’s a job, and these things sound pretty dangerous.”        

            “They are,” Phoenix said. Then he explained, “Aberrants are mutations of humans, bringing out the most primal in humanity.”

            “So then they’re like cavemen?” asked Kyle. “What causes them to be like this?”

            “Well apparently they’ve been around for a long time, even before I started my vigilantism,” Phoenix said. “Caused by some freak accidents in the Midwest before gradually focusing in Eastern United States.”

            “Are they…uh…intelligent?” asked Kyle.

            “None have shown intelligence,” Phoenix said. “Think of them like what that final stage between ape and man was, then super-charge it to super-human strength and speed. These things are a pain in the butt at first but once you figure out how to beat them it gets to be a little fun.”
            “How do I beat them, then?”

            “Just outsmart them. Like you said, they’re like cavemen, they’re method of fighting was just to throw each other around and maybe toss a spear around. Fists and kicks are enough…just make sure they count, or they’ll get right back up.”

            Kyle nodded, growing a small smirk. “Alright, I’ll take them down. Anyway of tracking them?”

            “I’ll upload a program to your communicator for you to scout them out,” Phoenix said. “Good luck, I’ll let you know if anything else comes up.”           

            “Cool, thanks,” Kyle said, and the screen faded.

            The sun set even further, and the room sat still for a moment before a beeping noise filled it. A map that showed Adelita and the surrounding areas popped up, and to north a good distance away were four small red dots indeed sitting in East City. Kyle nodded, holding the communicator out in front of him as he opened the door.

            “Well, if this goes as smoothly as Phoenix says, then I don’t think I’ll be gone too long,” he said, squatting down to jump into flight. He looked back slightly. “But, I mean, I don’t want to keep you up, so if you want to head home I guess I’ll see you tomorrow or something?”

            Brenda shook her head, walking toward Kyle. “Guess you’re pretty dumb if you think I’m going to let you go alone. Come on, I’ve never been to a big Earth city.”

            Brenda took off in front of him, heading north. Kyle sighed. The girl was a ball of energy indeed, and very overprotective. Kyle knew she could take care of herself but didn’t feel the need to have a babysitter. Though she was easier on the eyes than most other babysitters.

            He blasted off after her, since she was moving rather slow to allow him to catch up and take the lead. He would check the communicator every now and then for either updates and to make sure he was headed in the right direction.

            He flew over the main highway he’d been at before, where he stopped the chase. It was much quieter now, and had many more cars than it did that afternoon. He and Brenda were flying much faster than they were to try and make it to East City as quick as possible without losing track of the Aberrants. They grew ever closer the more they approached the city.

            There were few spots of rest for them anyway if they thought they could take a break. The roads were simply long stretches of pavement with green forestry on either side. Occasionally there was the one highway patrol car that managed to pull some idiot over, but it was never anything major.

            The sky above them darkened as they continued their flight to their destination. Kyle had the two of them increase their altitude so to not distract any drivers and cause an unwarranted accident. They were pretty high but at this point it was a level Kyle was used to and rather and enjoyed being at. Looking down on everything was a marvelous sight to see, particularly at night where lights and cars were flashing by like a light show. Above, too, the stars were much more visible since they were in between a small town and big city.

            East City came upon them almost instantly the second it came into view. The red dots were now not miniscule anymore and could easily be seen against the black backdrop. The city on the communicator even became three-dimensional, with buildings jutting out into the sky to a very small scale. The red dots moved slowly and were on the rooftops, Kyle noticed.

            He’d only been twice before to East City. One was with his parents as they wanted to celebrate their anniversary and he was super young so they figured they’d bring him along, and the other was to see an exclusive movie at the IMAX theatre there. East City was large and populated with so many venues it was difficult to keep track. There were two for large music bands, a hockey rink, a minor league baseball stadium, and one of the newer Virginia colleges played games in the stadium at the edge of the city, as did the East City lacrosse team.

            Though not crowded with sky-scrapers the city definitely had their fair share of it. The word of the city was corporate, with many brand-name or chain companies dominating the economics. What was nice about East City was that employment was extremely high compared to other cities. Even for those that did not have a job or couldn’t afford a place to live, the shelter and soup kitchen in the city were great.

            Kyle felt that East City definitely needed no heroes. Even though it was corporate, it wasn’t corrupt by any stretch. East City was relatively new and grew as the fame of super-heroes grew. They heard about the big mishaps out in Pacific City—the two were essentially mirrors of each other, the only difference being that one was on the East Coast and the other the West Coast—and wanted no part of that. Plus, serious damage could be done if super villains decided to stake out there. The only problems they got were the ones that Zanderian like Phoenix could take care of.

            The duo landed on the nearest tall rooftop in the city. There was a tunnel leading into the city that came out onto the main road, and it was clogged on the out-route as people were trying to get home. Kyle looked down and checked the scanner, seeing that the red dots were only eleven blocks away to the west.

            “That way,” he said, pointing due west. Brenda nodded, jumping from the rooftop and onto another. Kyle continued to fly, staring down at the map to make sure he was going the right way. They seemed to be headed the right direction when all of a sudden the red dots went away.

            “Wait, stop!” he shouted, landing two blocks on a company building rooftop two blocks away from their destination.

            Brenda stopped at the edge of the roof, catching herself before she could fall. She spun on one foot and sauntered over to Kyle.

            “What is it?” she asked, looking curiously at the communicator.

            “I’m not sure,” he said, shrugging. “The four of them just vanished.”

            The communicator beeped and buzzed again, so Kyle pressed down on it. Once more did a hologram of Phoenix appear, this time with his arms behind his back.

            “Hey, great news, today you also got your first mission and false alarm,” Phoenix said. “I let Riko know about them and he managed to get there before you. Besides, it was on his way anyway.”

            Kyle sighed. “So I came all this way for nothing”
            “Not for nothing,” Phoenix said. “You can take that girl with you out in the city, like on a date. Just make sure you don’t walk around in that form. And hey, does she not have a costume?”

            “No, a date, Phoenix, that’d be a little much, don’t you think?” Kyle asked. He looked slightly back to Brenda, who was standing a few feet away looking out across the city.

            “Probably not,” Phoenix said. “Anyway, just make sure you get home in time for school, got it? Your grades are still important, super-hero.”

            “Alright, yeah, yeah,” he said, looking away stubbornly.

            Phoenix laughed them cut out the message, taking the light off of the bottom of Kyle’s face. Blue Nexus sighed, transforming momentarily to put the communicator away before transforming once again. The sound of glass breaking caught his attention for a millisecond before he waved it off and approached Brenda.

            “Riko took care of the problem, sounds like we can go home,” he said.

            “Hmm, I think I’ll stick around here for a while,” Brenda said. “This city, it’s, well, way more interesting than Adelita.”

            “You’ve been here not even two minutes and you already think that? Man, Adelita must be seriously boring to foreigners, then!”

            “There just seems to be a lot more to do,” Brenda admitted. “You could come out here more often, you know, now that you have your powers.”

            “Good point, I think I might when I’m not at practice, doing homework, or defending the world,” Kyle said, both sarcastically and truthfully.

            “Hey, look I was just making a simple suggestion,” Brenda said.

            Kyle turned away from her. “I wasn’t kidding, I might just come around here more often, too. It’s been a while, I liked this place when I was here.”

            “Not too dangerous, either,” Brenda said.

            “Yeah, it’s pretty tame,” Kyle said.

            He and Brenda turned to each other at the same time, smiling. He waved to her and she said goodbye back. Kyle turned back around, taking a step to burst into flight.

            ZIP POW! A sudden pain exploded in Kyle’s right thigh, coming out of nowhere.

            “AH DAMN IT!” he shouted so loud it probably reverberated off the surrounding buildings. He dropped to one knee, his right knee, as he looked at the huge spear that was jutting out of his left thigh. It began throbbing and the bleeding was intense.

            “Kyle!” shouted Brenda, sprinting over to him. “Oh, no, damn. We’ve been ambushed.”

            Her eyes and fists turned red as Kyle saw them coming. Prowling off the four corners of the building did four silhouettes slowly creep toward the two super beings, three of them holding spears and the ready with the four spear-less, undoubtedly the one who struck down Kyle.

            It was no false alarm, Riko must not have finished the job, Kyle thought. It was the Aberrants. They had them outnumbered and surrounded.


Next time: Kyle is wounded, and how will he continue the fight? Will Brenda fight alone? And, Boomer and Luna find a way to deal with Gargador! Find out how in "Blue Nexus #8--I Will Fight!"