Blue Nexus #9--The Calm

            Kyle thought it was bad when he could only think about Brenda regarding the mystery surrounding her, like who she was and where she was from. But now, three days after fighting a battle with her—a battle in which she saved his life way more than just once—he couldn’t get her off his mind in that he wanted to be at her side all the time. Sometimes he had the urge to fight alongside her, given how exciting that was, but most of the time it was just to be with her, to hear her speak and to have fun.

            They saw each other every day. Luckily, it didn’t impose into the rest of Kyle’s social life, too, as he still had plenty of time with Kip and Luke, but Brenda was something he looked forward to everyday.

            She began to fit in a lot more, not just in his life but in the human world. Instead of wearing solely red clothing, she started to wear more casual clothes. For instance, she once wore a white tank-top with black sweat-pants and a light jacket over the tank-top with her red hair up, easily blending in with the crowd. The only big difference with her was that she had eyes redder than any human Kyle had ever seen. They stood out, but boy were they something to behold.

            Sandy was slightly less clingy upon him since he insisted that he was fine, and he even showed it at practice once. He had to at least act like he was still hurt but was able to go through the walkthroughs at practice, just so that it wasn’t extremely weird that a kid with hurt ribs was playing lacrosse fully. It would show dedication, sure, but in the world where super hero numbers were constantly on the rise, it would be a bad sign for him.

            Brian was pleased to have him back. He and Kyle, playing similar positions, got to talk a lot more on the field and over the course of merely three days, Kyle learned a lot about Brian and his experiences on the lacrosse team.

            Such as how he was headed for a division one college and how he was the definite leader of the team, yet had to humble himself. Coach loved him to death and wanted to constantly shower him with praise but Brian wouldn’t allow it. Kyle learned that in his sophomore year, Brian was hailed as the school’s MVP in athletics, but his academics faltered slightly, down to a 3.0 GPA. Kyle’d been impressed by that.

            On the practice field, still two weeks away from their first game, Brian dedicated most of his time to helping the new players go through the motions, especially Kyle, who he constantly deemed worthy of being in the starting role. Coach constantly fumbled back and forth between Kyle and the regular starter, as he put in Kyle in the walkthroughs and the other kid in for the live-plays, for the hitting. Brian and Kyle were unsure if this was protect the younger player or not, or if Coach knew the other player was too stupid to pay attention during the walkthrough.

            At the end of the third day following the battle, Brian and Kyle were walking back together to the locker room, discussing some of the plays that Kyle was confused about. Behind them, Coach was walking very frustrated next to another player. Lately he hadn’t been as frustrated but something must have gone wrong, that he didn’t see, today. He kept his gaze on Coach while Brian talked away, a single question snapping him back.

            “Did the cops ever catch that kid?” asked Brian.

            “Oh, um, no,” Kyle said.

            “Think that means he really was the Blue Nexus?” Brian asked. “It’d make sense, especially since he got away.”

            “Didn’t know you were into the super-hero thing,” Kyle said, teasing Brian a little.

            Brian shrugged. “I mean it’s cool that they’re real now, but if the Blue Nexus did attack us then I want to know why. He’s supposed to be a hero and everything, right?”

            “We don’t know if that guy was the Blue Nexus or not,” Kyle said, looking back up to Brian. “All we know is that he got away, so that means he’s still out there.”

            “And might show back up, correct?”

            “When he does, then we’ll find out if he’s the Blue Nexus.”

            “How’s that going to happen?”

            “I think we’ll just have to ask politely, don’t you?” Kyle asked, once again teasing.

            Brian laughed. “Guess so. But if he comes out on the field again at least we can ask him in a more…well, fun way.”

            “Still mad about that?” Kyle asked.

            “He put your season at major risk,” Brian said. “Can’t let a teammate go down like that and have the guy just walk away. I really wish he hadn’t left, just to get him back.”

            “Well I think he’ll get what’s coming to him,” Kyle said, a little softly. For a moment, the fleeting image of him blasting Gargador into the road played in his mind, warming his heart. He could take Gargador, and now that he was all healed up, there was nothing left to distract him.

            The two conversed on the status of some of the team’s other injuries before heading into the locker room and going their separate ways. Kyle showered in the locker room, dressed, and headed out, behind two other players.

            He walked toward the parking lot with his head craned down, looking at the ground as he thought. He was still aware of some of the slow-moving athletes in front of him. To his left was the training place, where athletes from a myriad of sports were hanging out. Mira was in there too, and they looked at each other. They waved. Mira, being called upon, sprouted a concerned expression and pointed to her ribs. Getting what she was asking, Kyle smiled brightly and gave her a thumbs-up.

            Kyle decided it would be best to walk home tonight. He’d driven the car the last two days but felt today like walking, just to keep his blood pumping. Plus, he could do that now without having to feel any pain.

            The sun was setting and darkness overcame him, cooling the air. Kyle pulled down his long sleeves that he had rolled up to stay comfortable, not needing any extension of his shorts since his legs were nice and warm anyway. He tightened his backpack on his back and moved onward, turning the corner on the block and was now facing the slow-slope up before another dip and the hill that his residence rested on.

            For him, it was nice for there to be peace at least in the moment. The last few days were a mix of Gargador and Aberrants, as well as the feelings he had for Brenda coming to an obvious light. He wondered if asking her out were even plausible. Obviously she understood the concept dating, she wasn’t ignorant to Earth culture at all, in fact quite versed in it. She seemed a lot more interested in protecting and watching over him, despite their frequent meetings.

            Wind blew from down the hill at him, forcing his eyes to tear up and sending a small shiver up his spine, but it was nothing bothersome. He rather enjoyed the cold, the silence. In a world that was louder than ever before and was now involved with the universe as a whole—probably—quiet was sacred. Everything was always moving quickly, there was never a time for things to be slowed down and to simply listen to the wind flowing down a hill.

            His stride was quick but he knew that once he began moving up the hill he would start to really feel it in his legs. Perhaps even regret choosing to walk. Walking to school was easy enough, since he was pretty much sprinting down the hill. Now, he would be trudging up it.

            Behind him, cars raced back and forth at humane speeds as everyone was rushing to get back home for dinner and the basketball games. Some people, Kyle was aware of, went home just to watch the news or get to a WiFi hotspot to see the latest happenings of the super-heroes and villains, even going so far as to creating blogs about them.

            He wondered if he had a blog about him. He was by far the most well-known of the newest super-heroes, if not the for sure newest, so surely his powers swirled some mystery. Like if they were alien, if he were an alien. He and Phoenix, and Hood Nexus and the Sentinel but they were pretty much off the radar and not associated with anyone, were the only ones with secret identities to take care of, so nobody knew about their personal lives and could make up anything they wanted. Supers were becoming more and more like celebrities.

            Not that Kyle had a problem with that. Police forces were breathing down the school’s throat earlier but now they were dying out to a few extra lingering compared to the school’s main security force. Whoever was Blue Nexus, they must have figured that they were no major threat since they appeared only sporadically and nothing bad had come of their appearance. Everyone kept it fresh in their minds that all this started when that alien appeared in town, so it wasn’t the hero’s fault that they stepped in.

            The road sloped up and Kyle hardly noticed, he was caught up in his thoughts. The wind was a bit heavier as he moved up the road but that didn’t bother him much either. Houses and trees were all around him, each house of a different make but they were essentially all the same side and all of them had visible basements. But they were quiet in regards to activity. Kyle walked with his hands in his pocket, the fingers in his right pocket rubbing against his phone just to keep them occupied.

            He finally made it to the top of the hill and stopped. The climb was hardly anything to him, since he hadn’t been too active during practice. He could see his house clearly, the lone house upon the hill, and sighed, his breathe not visible despite it being rather chilly and later in the evening. He’d been at home more in the past three days than not, and part of him wished that he was out more. Kyle got no calls from Zanderia and the only crimes he was able to notice were already taken care of by the cops.

            It was an odd mix of relief and boredom for him. On the one hand, having the power brought a lot of pressure, and going out against what would at first sound mundane could easily get him killed, such as the Aberrants. Yet on the other hand it was all so exciting, and he learned so much about the world and himself in the moments than any school had. All he could do during class now was daydream about his fights, maybe even future fights. And think about Brenda, that was all pretty important too.

            With a shrug, he carried on, taking some steps forward down the smaller hill compared to the one he was coming up on to the left. He got a feeling, though, that he was being watched, and turned around, then looked up, getting used to people flying around him.

            Brenda was floating over him, smiling down at him. Her red eyes pierced through the evening’s dark blue hue without seeming scary, and the red of her hair was a nice contrast to the overwhelming blue and dark green. She was wearing a pink shirt and blue jeans, but wore no shoes.

            “Forget your shoes at home?” Kyle asked.

            “Oh please,” Brenda said, floating down. “I don’t have a home.”

            “Then where are your shoes?”

            “Why would I need shoes if I’m flying?” she asked as she touched down. The concrete was cold upon her feet. “Dang it, that’s kind of cold. This is why I fly.”

            Kyle laughed. “You can fly all you want but eventually it’s going to be pretty obvious that you, Brenda, have super-powers. And in this age of the Earth, that’s probably not going to be a good thing for people to notice.”

            “Well why not?” asked Brenda.

            “Hello, secret identity?” Kyle asked, knocking lightly on her head. She swatted away his hand. He continued, “You don’t wear a mask or anything to hide your face, someone’s going to end up recognizing you.”

            “So what if they do, I’m strong enough to stop them.” She shrugged, taking a large step up with Kyle to keep up with him as he walked.

            “Yeah but other people might not be,” he said. “Especially since we hang out so much, they’re going to start coming after me and my friends. And while I can take care of myself, I’m not so sure my friends can stand up to a strong opponent.”

            Brenda raised her eyebrow. “So you want me to find myself, what, a suit of armor or something?” A smile spread across her face as she took her hair and curled it over her mouth. “Or what if I just taped my hair over my mouth and nose, nobody would recognize me then!”

            Kyle laughed. “I mean, maybe.”

            Brenda let her hair drop. “I’m not wearing tights or whatever if that’s what you’re wondering…or wanting that is.”

            She shouldered him, and Kyle braced himself since Brenda was naturally super strong and he wasn’t so much. He only staggered four steps before recovering, not even bothering to try and shoulder her back. It wouldn’t do any good.

            “Still, though, you should probably come up with something. Just to be safe.”

            “Well then I’ll have to ask Phoenix sometime, if I’m allowed to.”

            “Yeah, not a bad idea, he was the first to start using a mask. I’m just lucky enough to where the Nexus form does it all for me.”

            “Oh well look at you, all cool.”

            “Guess so!”

            For the next several paces the duo continued on in silence. Brenda seemed to be enjoying the peace and quiet as much as Kyle was. After a long stretch of time where all she knew was quiet, at least that’s what Kyle thought, an explosion of noise and fighting was probably a little off-putting. So it would be nice to get back to the norm.

            Kyle’s palms grew a little sweaty inside his jacket pockets. Sure he and Brenda had been around each other before and they’d always enjoyed talking to one another but a question crept up in Kyle’s mind that he wanted to ask her. He continued to rub his thumbs together as he looked quickly from her to the pavement with only his eyes, not turning his head. She was sporting a beautiful smile as she simply strolled along.

            He swallowed, clenching a fist. Just go on, he thought, just ask. She promised to protect you, it gives you every reason to start dating her!

            Three short breaths escaped his mouth before he turned to Brenda, only to be silenced by the vibration of his Zanderia communicator in his back pocket.

            “What now?” he muttered. He pulled it out, seeing it was a phone call from Phoenix.

            “Good evening, my friend,” Phoenix said. He sounded pleased.

            “Hey, Phoenix, what’s up?” he asked. “You don’t sound very urgent.”

            Brenda looked at him strangely. He shrugged, mouthing Phoenix to her without saying it. She nodded and they continued walking, albeit at a slower pace.

            “Of course not,” he said. “I’m just watching a couple of love-birds take a nightly stroll.”

            “Oh sounds fun, creep,” Kyle said, throwing in the last word as a joke.

            “Yeah, it’s pretty fun,” he said. “One of them just came back from their team’s practice and the other, obviously in love, came to see them. It was adorable. Oh, and by the way, the boyfriend’s a bit of a jerk, he calls people names all the time.”

            Kyle raised an eyebrow. “You seem to know a lot about this guy.”

            “I do, like his secret identity.”

            “Secret what?” Kyle asked, stopping and turning around. He jumped when he saw a man ten paces behind them laughing, closing his phone. Kyle, red-faced, pointed at him, “Hey, shut up, I didn’t see you there!”

            Phoenix walked up to them. He wasn’t in his uniform, as it would catch endless amounts of attention, but Kyle at least knew it was him from the laugh. He was wearing a dark blue jacket overtop a black shirt. He wore blue jeans and for some reason neon blue tennis shoes. Even though the sun was going down, too, he wore sunglasses. Probably to conceal his face, just so Kyle or Brenda wouldn’t recognize him.

            “I’m one of the best at sneaking up on people,” Phoenix said. “Don’t be mad you didn’t hear me. I was thinking about just walking up to you guys but I doubt you would have recognized me without the call.”

            “Speaking of, how come you can do it from your phone?” asked Kyle.

            “Because I know how to hack through the government’s phone surveillance systems and keep it that way unlike you,” Phoenix said. “But do you know how inconvenient it is to be playing a game on my phone and then Riko calls?”

            At the joke, Kyle eased up. Brenda was already pleased with the visit but wasn’t really sure what to say, having never met Phoenix. Kyle, despite talking to him all of three times now, felt like they were definitely in a good standing.

            “So what’s with the visit?” asked Kyle. “Taking a day off or something?”

            “No, of course not, I’ve got my jet parked back there,” he said, pointing beyond the hill. “I was just in the neighborhood and I figured that now would be as good a time as any to make a new friend.” He turned to Brenda, holding out his hand. “Phoenix, former side-kick to Riko and only pure human on the Zanderia.”

            “Oh, uh, Brenda,” she said, pushing back some of her hair and shaking his hand. “Shindari of the Fourth Kingdom Planet.”

            “Shindari?” asked Kyle. “Fourth Kingdom Planet?”
            “Shindari would be her alien name, like Riko and Lalay,” Phoenix explained. “I like the honesty, young lady.”

            “Young lady? I’m barely younger than you,” Brenda said, her smile still wide across her face and her laugh keeping the mood in high spirits.

            “Perhaps, but, as far as being a super-hero on Earth goes, you’re still a young lady,” Phoenix said. “Which, is quite the reason I’m here. Of course, I do love making new friends but most of my friends are on the Zanderia, which is why I have this.”

            He reached behind him into his belt, then pulled out a similar communicator to what Kyle had. Kyle stared dumbfounded at the gesture.

            “Given your extraordinary abilities we would like to extend to you an invitation to join us,” Phoenix said. “Your first mission would be tomorrow, with Lalay, bright and earlier. She doesn’t really need the help but has been looking for some girl time with someone of her…strength. You interested?”

            Brenda, speechless, took a step back, placing her hands over her heart as if it were racing. She spat out some small gibberish. Kyle crossed his arms expectantly. He wasn’t jealous at all that Brenda was being invited since he was invited almost instantly. Rather, he was proud and happy, especially since they’d developed such a friendship.

            “I’d be honored,” Brenda said. She looked over to Kyle. “And it would help me keep an eye on him, but…”

            “But what?” asked Kyle and Phoenix.

            “I love being on Earth and all, but I also wished to be able to explore the universe when I could, perhaps even return to my home world and the other Kingdom Planet with what I’ve learned here.”

            Phoenix smiled, reaching out, and gripping Brenda’s shoulder. “We might be the Zanderia of Earth, but trust me, we’re also a kick-ass intergalactic fighting force. We keep the peace wherever we can. After all, almost all of our members are aliens, we’re pretty much obligated to go into space.”

            “Okay great!” Brenda yelped, snagging the communicator out of Phoenix’s hand with blinding speed. He barely even realized it was out of his hand. He stuffed his hand to his pocket, continuing to laugh.

            “Oh what I have done?” he asked himself.

            “Well at least my back is now officially covered,” Kyle joked.

            “I need to start making preparations, then!” Brenda exclaimed. She ran past Phoenix and Kyle.

            “For what?” Kyle asked, raising his voice.

            “A costume!” she shouted back, and began her run down the hill. When she hit the bottom, she sprang forth in a burst of red light and shot into the sky. Phoenix and Kyle watched her leave out of city, seemingly beyond the city.

            “Now I wasn’t there, but that’s not how you reacted, right?” asked Phoenix.

            “Well I was standing in the middle of the control center so I really couldn’t,” Kyle replied. “I might’ve. Is that how you reacted?”

            Phoenix shrugged, then turned to leave. “I’ll never tell. I’ll be seeing you, Blue Nexus. Stay safe, and keep Shindari safe as well.”

            “Of course,” Kyle said at a regular volume, even though Phoenix as now jogging down the slope.

            Kyle was once again alone, a little overwhelmed at the situation, but nonetheless happy. He started walking again, this time looking forward instead of down. Seeing Brenda and Phoenix always would obviously make his day great, but knowing Brenda was part of the team meant that they would see each other a lot more out of obligation as well as desire. He smiled wider than he had in the last few days of relaxation. It was good to be a super-hero.

            Though he would be strongly reminded that he wasn’t quite a super-hero yet, or a full-fledged member of a group he believed to be a part of. School the next day flowed as it always did, with he, Kip, and Luke hanging out every second they could until they had to separate for class.

            During gym, Kyle and Sandy were talking while they waited for their stadium mile. Neither of them were looking forward to it, since they did it so much during practice. Having to run up and down the entire stadium, then do a lap, then go up and down the stadium on the opposite side of the field, then another lap, was not what they called particularly entertaining. Sandy, almost every second she thought Kyle wasn’t looking, seemed to be fixing something about her, then try to show off that fix to him. He noticed, but wasn’t sure how to remark. He feared that if he did, he would be the carrying the weight of Sandy clinging to his arm during the mile, when he knew he was faster than her and could probably get away from her quicker.

            They were of the first group to go. The coach blew the whistle and they were off. Sandy was right behind Kyle before he began his move up the stadium, using quick feet. There were four people in front of him and three behind, Sandy right behind him. The pain in his legs wasn’t evident until he was coming down at the middle of the stadium.

            As he was coming up at the second-to-last part, slowing down as his legs were wearing him out slightly, he found himself in last place. It wouldn’t hurt him at all, since he could easily catch up once they broke onto the track.

            Rising to the top of the stadium, he took a deep breath before starting to turn his hips. He looked up, toward the sky, when there, floating about him, was Hood Nexus.

            His feet got caught on the stairs in surprise, as he forgot to run for a second, and he slammed his face onto the metal stadium. Hood Nexus quickly floated down, out of sight from Sandy who was running up toward him.

            “Kyle!” she exclaimed, helping him up. Knowing he had to talk to Hood Nexus, he reached for his ribs.

            “Ah, dang it,” he said, looking down at them, pretending to seethe in pain. “Slipped and hit them on the stadium, but I’m good otherwise.”

            “Shut up, you can’t run,” Sandy said. She stood up, Kyle hanging out under her left arm, and together they made their way off the stadium, out of the way of the other runners. The teacher was looking at them curiously.

            “What happened?” she asked.           

            “Kyle tripped and hurt his ribs,” Sandy said. The teacher rolled her eyes.

            “Just set him down over there, I’ll get someone to walk with him to the trainer to get patched up, or something,” the teacher said, jerking a finger toward the box that was a bathroom. Sandy nodded, then set Kyle down. She stood next to him for a second.

            “Hey!” the teacher exclaimed. “He’s hurt, not you, keep running please! At least I could grade you and won’t have to wait on him sometime.”

            She shook her head as Sandy jogged by, skipping the stadium and just running the track. Kyle sighed, moving his hands from his ribs and waiting for a second before he heard the light touching down of feet behind him.

            “Spying on me or something?” he asked angrily.

            “No, seeing if you were busy,” Hood Nexus replied. His blue aura was emanating from the other side of the box, he was probably standing right at the corner. “Apparently not anymore, and apparently a good liar.”

            “Well you showed up, figured I may as well put on a show, right?” Kyle asked. The teacher looked back at him, so he feigned the injury again, shaking his head in shame.

            “Listen, we need to leave, pronto,” Hood Nexus said.

            “Why?” asked Kyle. “Gargador show up again? I think you proved you’re more than capable of handling it.”

            “No, it’s not that. It’s something a lot worse.”

            “Oh, what, multiple Gargadors?”

            “Orion Six, Eclipse’s home-world, has vanished. Completely.”


Next time: The storm is here...and planets are vanishing! Our heroes go into space to find out what's going on, but find an entire system of planets against them! Find out what happens next in "Blue Nexus #10--Vanishing Act"