Blue Nexus #24--The Shadow Man

           Kyle stirred in the hospital room, putting his hand atop his head as his fuzzy vision straightened out and he was able to see clearly. He groaned, then with his free arm pushed himself up, groaning again from the strain. Well, it wasn’t as strenuous as it’d been when he had to get up earlier. His strength was returning. He looked to the Nexus bracelet, which was glowing just as bright as normal. Good, things were finally on the up and up.

            The nurse entered the room a few minutes later, holding a clipboard like normal. She was also smiling like normal. For the past two days, since Kyle was admitted to the hospital, the nurse had been extra kind to Kyle. He had no idea why, but apparently he had some sort of breakdown on his first night, almost as if he were possessed.

            He had no idea what she was talking about, though. He only remembered vague things here and there, but nothing as large as that. His memories really only included eating a few things and checking up on his homework, but nothing beyond that. He knew he fought Gargador before going to the hospital, but, wasn’t sure how that one fight would bring him to the hospital. This was the first time he actually had to come to the hospital for something related to his fighting, and he wasn’t really injured.

            Part of him wondered if the nurse knew that as well, and they were just keeping him here for rehabilitation. Maybe he’d asked, but again, he didn’t have his memories well equipped on him to know if he did or didn’t. He wondered briefly if they’d also tried to ascertain his real identity, or if there was something that was keeping the media away. Perhaps the police. Detective Patton didn’t seem too keen on Blue Nexus lurking around the school months ago, but then again that was over eight months ago and times had changed, the super hero world was changing, no thanks in part to Kyle. As he grew stronger, it seemed, so did the higher-ups of villainy. Even weaklings like Toxo had to be put away in the Cube, now hanging out with the likes of the Tiger Trio, who were once considered a greater breed of villainy.

            So where did that leave Gargador? Kyle had no idea, but he felt that might be determined in their next fight.

            The nurse strolled up to Kyle, her kind presence warming Kyle’s heart. Even though he couldn’t remember much, he was certain that she was a constant brightening of his day. It’d been a rough couple of days, that he also knew, but it hardly mattered now.

            “Well, seems like you’re pretty much at one hundred percent,” she said. “Aside from some residual soreness, but that’s nothing a good massage can’t take away to be honest.”

            “Was there anything actually wrong with me?” Kyle asked. “Besides some head trauma, because I’ve been having some difficult remembering the last few days.”

            “Hmm, well, you’ve already told us that three times now,” the nurse said. “We tried having you talk to someone, but, seems that really wasn’t much help, was it?”

            “He’s just a teenager, he’s got a lot on his mind,” someone said in the doorway. Kyle looked over, and saw Phoenix—in his blue outfit—with his back against the doorway, his arms crossed and lips forming a smile.

            The nurse blushed. “Oh, oh yeah, these young men sure do have a lot to think about all the time.”

            “Don’t worry about him, we’ll take him from here since he’s basically at hundred percent,” Phoenix said. “And we’ll cover the costs, too, once we get a few other things figured out around town.”

            “Well, well, look who showed up,” Kyle said, pushing himself up just barely. He was trying to look less pathetic in front of a super colleague, but the IV and pale skin was probably deterring him from looking the one hundred percent the nurse was talking about.

            “Look who’s still alive, somehow,” Phoenix said. “Glad to see it, though, I’m sure Riko wouldn’t have as fun a time going after an archnemesis like you do.”

            Kyle frowned. “Shut up.”

            Phoenix pushed himself off the wall ad made his way over to the bed, the nurse stepping aside to make space for him. Kyle really noticed how muscular Phoenix was compared to the nurse. She was fit, too, but damn, he was huge. He never really noticed it compared to the other supers they were often surrounded by, he supposed.

            He moved his wrist closer to his mouth. “Come on, let’s go.”

            As a light began to form around Phoenix, he took hold of Kyle’s wrist, as well as the bracelet still sitting next to him. In a blink they vanished. Something tickled at Kyle’s head before they popped back into reality, Kyle lying flat on a cold metal surface. Phoenix was standing next to him, but was rubbing at the back of his head.

            “Darn teleportation gets me every time,” he muttered. “You sure that thing isn’t like broke or anything, I feel like I shouldn’t have just been hit by a wave.”

            “We’re sending through time and space, it’s the best possible outcome besides your body being ripped to shreds in the vortex, or just being lost in limbo forever,” Lalay said. “Besides, Kyle seems to be doing just fine.”

            “It’s the Nexus.”

            “Benefits.”

            Kyle sat up, feeling some of his strength returning to him faster. Then faster. And faster still. He looked down to his wrist, easily clenching a fist. He felt the massive amounts of energy swirling inside him, easily accessible for the first time in who knew how long. How was he healing so quickly? The Nexus accelerated his healing at a rate so slow he barely noticed, what could possibly be…

            There was Brenda, standing tall and proud next to the table, easily letting her magic bathe over him as it completely healed him. A red barrier was separating them, but Kyle easily saw through it that she was having no difficulty at all with this process.

            “Man they did a number on you,” Lalay pointed out. “Or was this really all Gargador? Monster must not know when to stop.”

            “Should see what they did to the city,” Riko muttered. “Part of it is essentially ruined.”

            “Brenda,” Kyle said faintly as Phoenix, Riko, and Lalay went off to discuss East City.

            “How are you feeling, Kyle?” she asked. “Hopefully better, I haven’t had the chance to test my magic or my strength in a while, this is the first time.”

            “This must be their way of testing you, then,” Kyle said.

            Brenda laughed. The red barrier faded. Kyle immediately sat up and embraced Brenda, who hugged him back. There was no strain on his body, no residual soreness left in his muscles. He was back, this time he knew he was at one hundred percent.

            He swung his legs over the chair and dropped from the metal table, swinging his arms around, getting his blood flowing. He hated just sitting around in the hospital. Kyle took a few practice jabs, some blasts of wind coming from the sheer force of them. He bounced on his feet. Oh, yes, this was it!

            “Ah, now both of you are back on your feet,” Riko said, turning around. “Glad to see this, it’s been a while.”

            “Been a while since she’s seen Gargador, may as well go pay him a visit and remind him what happens when he faces us,” Kyle said, confidently.   

            “Shut up, Blue Nexus, neither of you are permitted to see any action until one of us says that’s okay,” Lalay said.

            Kyle backed down, his excitement plummeting. Damn it. What a buzzkill.

            “But we are letting you go back down to Earth,” Lalay said. “Kyle, you’ve been in the hospital for days. Your friends Kip and Luke managed to cover for you, saying you were staying over with them and that you couldn’t get in contact, so I suggest you improve the cover story.”

            “And be sure to catch up on your homework, I’m sure there’s a lot of it,” Phoenix said, a grin spread across his face.

            “Yeah I’ll be sure to get right on that, jerk,” Kyle said. He turned to Lalay. “Thanks for helping cover for me.”

            “Not a problem, I just wish we knew why Gargador’s knife was so detrimental to Shindari. It was just a magic knife, it shouldn’t have paralyzed her as much as it did,” Lalay said. “We’ll continue to work on it, but just know that magic isn’t really our forte.”

            “That’s alright, it’s mine, I’ll help figure it out,” Brenda said. “Kyle’s been doing a lot of running around lately, may as well get my share of the action.”

            “I like where your head is,” Riko said. “You guys really are back in business, aren’t you?”

            Kyle and Brenda both nodded. Phoenix laughed.

            “This is cute, this is really cute you two. The power couple is back at it.”

            “Way to ruin the moment.”

            “It’s what I do.”

            Riko shrugged, taking a few steps over to the controls. “We’ll teleport you back down to Adelita so you can visit your grandparents, okay?”
            “Sounds good, see you guys around!” exclaimed Kyle.

            That same tickling sensation filled his entire body as the two were zapped away momentarily before appearing in the middle of an intersection. A car slammed on its brakes. Kyle and Brenda both leapt high into the air. Car horns blared and the two, blushing, burst away as quickly as they could. What a great return, Kyle thought.

            The two landed in Kyle’s backyard. Kyle transformed out of the Nexus as he landed and Brenda touched down behind the shed, entering it as Kyle went into his house. It was quiet, as it always was, although the TV wasn’t on like normal. He wandered through the house, poking his head into every room.

            “Huh,” he said as he left the master bedroom. “Must be out or something, how weird.”

            He left the house, going into the shed, where Brenda was gazing at some star charts.

            “I’m going to guess you haven’t had much time to look at these,” she said.

            “Well I think the past few days have been quite, uh, odd for me,” Kyle said.

            “You think they were odd?” asked Brenda.

            Kyle reached out and took her hand, pulling her toward the door. “Come on, it’s nice outside, let’s go for a walk. We’ve also got to talk.”

            He told her about his memory loss before going into what had gone down since she was struck down by Gargador. He found it rather easy to talk about the squid up in Vermont as well as his journey into Magus Forest—Brenda none too pleased that he got the information from Sandy—and his run in with the shadow man.

            Magus Forest piqued her interest, yet Kyle couldn’t tell her for the life of him where exactly it was. It seemed here was where the memories began to mesh or all together no exist for him. He could see the village in the forest vividly, and he knew what the Grand Elder told him, as well as the shadow man, but not its location, nor was he able to sense it. He could hardly sense magic unless it was a powerful emission anyways, but still, he wanted to be able to tell Brenda. He could only imagine how excited she would be to go to see these other mages, to see these people that could tell her about her powers and how to grow in them. Brenda developed them in prison, but in a society built around magic? She could become a trust master of magic.

            He also relayed as much as he could about his fights with Gargador. He wasn’t sure how many there were, only that there were enough for him to be sent to the hospital for multiple days and have possible delusions. Not to mention how weak he was feeling, comparatively speaking. It’d only been a few minutes since he was fully healed, and since when Phoenix showed up, but the dramatic change in strength was something he wasn’t expecting.

            “So, Gargador has actually become a handful, who would’ve thought?” Brenda wondered out loud. They were sloping down the hill now, their fingers interlocked.  

            “I just wanna know where he got all that power from,” Kyle said.

            Brenda shrugged. “Perhaps it was the same person that gave the Tiger Trio a significant power bump.”

            “Well, that wasn’t too significant.”

            “But Phoenix did seem worried by it,” Brenda said, flipping her hair back.

            Kyle nodded. A B-level villain like Fire Tiger should have been no problem for Phoenix, yet he had to enlist the help of Hood Nexus to take him down, while Kyle barely survived a fight against the much weaker Thunder and Lightning Tiger. And with Gargador, it all seemed very strange that they would get such sudden boosts without anyone noticing until it was too late. He wondered if there were any other major super villains like this, or if whoever was boosting them was simply after Kyle and Brenda.       

            Gargador was keen on solely taking down Brenda, which, Kyle realized, left himself wide open to make rash decisions without anyone there to tell him no. Hood Nexus was always out doing galactic things and seemed to appear when the situation demanded it, not when it was really suitable for him. Kyle missed having him around.

            The two continued their discussion on the power boosts, though none of their guesses as to who was behind it all made sense. It was a short list, anyway, with the scenarios of how they got this significant rise in power very outlandish. Brenda was able to keep her cool about this, so Kyle did as well. The two of them, when at full-power, were well-known to be unstoppable. Kyle couldn’t think of a time when they’d been stopped while in their super forms.

            They reached the base of the hill and stopped to decide which way to go: more toward the school or more toward downtown? They disagreed twice before just deciding to head downtown since there would be slightly more things to do there than just walking down the hill.

            Kyle had no idea what day it was, or really what time it was either, but felt it odd how few people were around. Normally the elderly were strolling down some of the streets and you had the occasional passerby running with their dog. Yet there was nobody out today. Was there some huge event at school he was missing out on? For that matter, was there even school today? Having no sense of time was really throwing him off, frustrating him.

            They wondered into town to find slightly more people, though most of them were probably inside the shops. Kyle raised his hand to block the sun, and looked around as they walked.

            “This is a tiny town, how’s nobody out?” he wondered. “Is this really what it’s like when school’s in?”

            “I think so,” Brenda said. “It’s been a while, so I don’t really remember.”

            “This is pretty much how it’s like,” a voice overhead said. Kyle and Brenda looked up.

            Hood Nexus floated above them, his arms crossed and his aura faint. He was looking down upon the two of them with a smile. He uncrossed his arms as he dropped slowly to the ground, landing in front of them. He and Kyle shook hands, Kyle ecstatic to see him again.

            “Glad to see you guys are out and about, though you should be in school,” Hood Nexus said, poking Kyle in the chest. Kyle shrugged.

            “What brings you around here?” Kyle asked.

            “Believe it or not, I’m here to see you guys,” Hood Nexus said. “Just got back and I noticed almost immediately that something’s off about this whole area, like from here to East City.”

            Kyle nodded. “Yeah, something’s definitely off, I’ve been noticing it for about a week now but neither of us can figure out what it is.”

            “We’re sure its magical based, but, not how it is since I can’t pick up on it,” Brenda said.

            “Well if it’s magical I’ll have a tough time finding out what exactly it is,” Hood Nexus said.        

            “What do you mean, I will?” Kyle asked. “Don’t you mean we?”

            “No, I mean myself,” Hood Nexus said. “You guys might be out and about but I can pretty much tell just by looking at you that neither of you are fit for fighting just yet. You were just in the hospital, after all.”

            “Yeah but I’m at my full strength.”

            “Doesn’t mean you’re at full mental capacity. What happens if you see Gargador again? You’re easily distracted by him, and you’ve attacked him compulsively. I’m going into the city to look for clues, maybe find some sort of lead, then bring it back to you guys to tell the Zanderia and we can start a larger search, maybe find this guy even quicker.”

            “There’s a better chance of finding him if I go, though,” Brenda said. “I’m a mage.”

            “You were also taken down easily by a weapon we don’t know that much about,” Hood Nexus said. “And you were out of commission way longer than he was.”

            An awkward silence befell the three of them. It was plain as day how bad Kyle and Brenda wanted to get into the city and help, but what was sinking into Kyle was how right Hood Nexus was about him fighting. It was indeed too soon for him to get back in the ring, he was too much of a wildcard. And that weapon, the knife, was too much of another wildcard as nobody knew how many there were nor if someone else had given it to Gargador to strike Brenda. It just raised the question of who was pulling Gargador and the squid’s strings.

            “If I find anything, I’ll make sure to let you guys know as soon as I can,” Hood Nexus said. He began to float up, turning his body toward East City. “You guys just relax, enjoy your hookey.”

            Kyle smiled at Hood Nexus before he beamed off, leaving just a gust of wind behind him. Kyle’s smile faded, but Brenda tightened her grip on his hand.

            “I’m just worried, like, what happens if he runs into Gargador?” Kyle asked.

           

It didn’t take long for Hood Nexus to arrive in East City, Phoenix noticed. He was speedily coming closer and closer, like a bullet really. Phoenix turned around to face him, noticing the bright blue dot soaring his way. He put his arms up, trying to flag Hood Nexus down early.

            Phoenix stood on top of one of the tallest buildings near the exterior of the city so Hood Nexus would notice him easier. He’d arrived only ten minutes ago and started his search on the outside before realizing he was going to have some Nexus company. He was relieved it wasn’t Blue Nexus, or he’d have to berate him for getting in the action so quickly rather than resting up. Since he was coming from Adelita, perhaps Hood Nexus had just left that berating.

            Hood Nexus pulled up several yards before he floated before the building and Phoenix. He crossed his arms.

            “Fancy seeing you here,” Hood Nexus said.

            “Not really, I’ve been waiting for you,” Phoenix said.

            “Oh how kind of you, but you really didn’t have to.”

            “I did. I didn’t wait for you against Fire Tiger and look how that turned out. I might run into Gargador this time, which would be quite unfortunate.”

            “It would. So, what you’re just asking for my muscle more than my help?”

            Phoenix laughed. “Not quite. I know you’re also here to see if something’s up with this place so I figured we could get more done if we split up and meet at the crater.”

            “Expecting to find something?”

            Phoenix shrugged. “That’s why we meet at the crater to say if we did, obviously. If it’s an emergency, come flying. City’s big, so you might lose the emergency, but we’d rather live, right?”

            “That we would,” Hood Nexus said. “How we going to divvy this up?”

            “Well, apparently there’s police inbound to an apartment in a nice part of town. Either someone finally snapped or someone seriously snapped.”

            “What about me?”

            “I’d recommended keeping to the skies and trying to focus in on where you are, look around. You’re better at reading energy than Blue Nexus is, so it’s best if you stay vigilant before going over to the crater.”

            “So basically you get to get in on the dirty work while I have to be the lookout?” Hood Nexus asked.

            “Basically. We’ll meet back up in twenty or so.”

            Phoenix extended his arms and the wings unfolded. He gripped the talons, igniting the small boosters in his boots and on the wings, floating up easily. Hood Nexus sighed and nodded, bursting forward, blasting Phoenix slightly to the side.

            Phoenix scoffed and dipped back, diving down the side of a building before pulling up and following the route to the building. He soared over two police vehicles, and three blocks later hung a left before taking an immediate right. He cut off his jets as he gripped a fire escape. The apartment was just overhead.

            He scrambled up the fire escape, making it just two windows off. He leaned out, placing his hand on the window. He felt around it, finding the lock. Enhancing his strength through the suit, he forced the lock open. Phoenix then shifted his body so he could leap off the fire escape, and jumped, catching the window by his fingertips.

            He folded up his wings and rolled into the building. He landed lightly on his feet, and tapped his mask. Two eyepieces dropped and turned the entire room blue, but also highlighted everything. Infrablue, he called it.

            Staying crouched, Phoenix slowly rotated his head around for anything out of order in the room. There was a splatter on the bed but besides that the only weird thing was a shirt hanging out of the closet.

            Phoenix stood up, moving silently across the room. The door to the room was ajar. He grimaced, peering through it. Nimbly, and quietly, he skirted out of view, moving to the opposite side of the closet. He stepped over to the pillow. The splatter was indeed blood, and it was larger than he’d expected. He wiped his pinky over it, looking down to his communicator for a blood match, hooked up through various hospital systems. He normally wasn’t too big an advocator for this kind of technology, but didn’t mind it in this situation. It was necessary.

            Anton Heller, the communicator read. Blood Type B. Apparently worked as an Assistant Manager. Phoenix looked out the door. Just another guy that snapped, then.

            “Please, help me,” the man on the opposite side.

            Phoenix calmly strode out into the open. The man was facing away from Phoenix, gripping an empty glass but with a full bottle in front of him. Phoenix’s eyebrow cocked up. Weird, normally it was a full glass with an empty bottle.

            “It’s over, Anton, come on, police are going to bring you,” Phoenix said. “They’ll help you.”

            “No, that’s not what he said,” Anton said. He turned slightly to half-face Phoenix. He was sweating profusely and his face was pale. He was also shivering, almost as if he had a fever.

            “Who said what?” asked Phoenix. He looked around the room. Nobody else was here, why would the police be headed this way? And what was taking them so long?

            “He said it’d be all over, that I’d be better, be stronger, once you showed up,” he said. He turned fully to face Phoenix, tightly gripping the bottle. “He said that I’d be able to meet you. I was a big fan of yours, Phoenix, and I’m just so…happy to meet you.”

            The glass shattered in his hand. He didn’t even flinch. Phoenix took a step forward, but also braced himself.

            “Then you took my brother town, you took down Malcolm Heller, took him to prison. He’s gonna rot there for ten more years. But he said after you’re done…he’ll be free. With me! Imagine that!”

            “Who said that?” Phoenix asked sharply.

            The man laughed once, then exploded with laughter. He took another step forward, hesistated, then lunged forward. Phoenix leaned back, slapping the man’s arm down, and shoved him to the ground.

            The man bounced once then rolled up, popping back up instantly and attacking Phoenix with no form. Phoenix stepped to the side and elbowed the man in the back, only to receive a subsequent heel to the jaw.

            His head snapped back, though he was thankful for the Kevlar chinstrap from the headpiece he wore. Phoenix only stumbled back a step before he found himself on the wrong end of a fist in the chest. He stumbled back further, recovering in time to dodge once more and punch the man in the gut. He keeled over. Phoenix shoved him off and rushed him, roundhouse kicking him, immediately dropping the man to the floor.

            He backed up. Anton, once again, laughed once before exploding in laughter.

            “Oh, come on,” Phoenix breathed. “Stay down, will you?”

            “I am feeling much better,” Anton said. “He was right.”

            “You not telling me who it is really bugs me,” Phoenix said.

            “The shadow man, of course,” he said. “He promised me that everything would be better, that everything is going to be better. And you know what?”

            He inhumanly fast toward Phoenix. Phoenix sucked in a breathe and took the blow head on, the two of them breaking down the door into the bathroom. Anton’s head just missed the tub while Phoenix narrowly avoided the toilet. He grabbed Anton’s shoulder, then flipped him, managing to get atop him. Anton headbutted backwards, smashing his head into Phoenix’s nose. Phoenix fell back.

            Anton grabbed the toilet cover and broke it off, then swung his arm down at Phoenix. He rolled off to the side just in time, kicking Anton in the thigh. Anton’s leg gave out, allowing Phoenix to kick him in the chest into the tub. Anton fell against the wall. Phoenix sprang up and went to elbow Anton before Anton matched the elbow, crushing Phoenix’s. The hero stepped back and tried again, this time going with a feint beforehand. It worked and Anton’s head crashed into the panels along the wall. Slight dust and debris dropped from them.

            Phoenix yanked Anton out of the tub, throwing him to the ground in front of the bathroom. He was bleeding from the nose while Anton had a gash on the side of his head.

            “Anton, why were you bleeding on the pillow?” Phoenix asked, exasperated. “And how are you so damn strong?”

            “I don’t understand, I was supposed to be better, I was supposed to be so much better,” Anton said. “I was…wait, wait what are you doing here?”

            “Anton, nobody’s here,” Phoenix said.

            Anton’s face suddenly turned even paler and Phoenix noticed his breathing accelerated. He crunched up into a ball. Phoenix took a step toward him before something suddenly pushed him against the back wall, holding him there.

            A shadow formed, holding three fingers up to Phoenix at eye-level. Phoenix tried kicking it but it simply fazed right through.

            “The mighty Phoenix,” the shadow said with a sinister, deep voice. “Finally get to meet a proper member of the Zanderia.”

            “Who are you?” Phoenix asked.

            “The one who will empower and liberate this world, to separate the strong like myself from the weak, even if by force,” the shadow said.

            It’s shadowy fingertips closed in on Phoenix. Phoenix noticed that the shadow was grinning. It had its legs back, its body bracing Phoenix against the wall.

            “Why’d you give Anton powers?” asked Phoenix.

            “Every ruler needs an army,” the shadow man said. “Besides, it makes things more…”

            A blue energy blast suddenly forced the shadow away, seemingly evaporating it. Phoenix dropped, finding that he could breathe again clearly. Hood Nexus burst through the hole in the wall, his hands alight with blue energy.

            “What the hell was that?” he asked.

            “I have no idea,” Phoenix said, rubbing his neck. He felt burned, but it was an icy hot type of burn. His eyes moved up to Anton, who was completely white and unmoving, still curled up in a ball. “And he’s dead. Perfect.”

            “Wait, what do you mean you have no idea, you were attacked by the thing and held up by it,” Hood Nexus said. “Didn’t get a good look.”

            “Oh well when you put it like that. No, it was just a shadow with arms and legs, but…was it magical? Like was it something that a mage put out? Because it seems like you were able to sense it.”

            “I think it’s way more than magic,” Hood Nexus said. “I was prowling around and I was drawn to the crater, as well as all the damage around it. Come on, let me show you.”

            Phoenix nodded, rubbing his neck one more time. Hood Nexus jumped out the window, not waiting for Phoenix. The human stopped, then turned back around.

            “Might’ve been possessed, but, didn’t seem like a bad guy,” Phoenix muttered. He rushed into the bathroom and laid Anton’s body flat. Then he ripped the shower curtain off, closed Anton’s eyes, and laid it gently over him. “We’re going to find the shadow man and bring him down, Anton. For you and your brother.”

            Phoenix dashed out of the room. He had no idea who Malcolm Heller was. Whoever the shadow man could be had planted the idea that Malcolm had been arrested in part because of Phoenix. Part of Phoenix hoped Malcolm Heller didn’t exist, that it was all an illusion.

            He knew better than to lie to himself, though.

            A few moments later Phoenix joined Hood Nexus at the site of the crater. He was standing in the middle of it, brushing some debris around. There were police stands and tape all around the crater, and nobody seemed to be paying it much attention anymore. A small portion of it was filled in already by construction crews, with their equipment abandoned for now.

            Phoenix landed and looked around at the surrounding areas. Other workmen were busily repairing the damages done by three straight days of super fighting. Pot-holes were being filled and the sound of jackhammers and beeping filled the air. Sadly, there were also blaring car horns filling the air, caused undoubtedly by the roads being shut down for repairs. Phoenix sighed while he moved over to Hood Nexus. He never enjoyed seeing mass destruction like this, it bummed him out about his job. They just couldn’t be damage control all the time. It was a damn shame.

            Hood Nexus rose to meet Phoenix, pointing to the ground to the side of them. A small black matter was painted on the debris.

            “It’s left over magical energy,” Hood Nexus said.

            “Thought you said it was way beyond magic?” asked Phoenix.

            “It should be. When I touched it, it negatively reacted to my aura. Here, you go ahead and touch it.”

            Phoenix stooped down and dipped his fingers into the matter without hesitation. It felt like ooze, sticking to his fingers. But as he pulled them away, the matter was unmoving, like gelatin.

            “So you think it’s also some sort of negative energy?” asked Phoenix. “Coming from someone who is both magically charged and has powers like the Nexus?”

            “I’ve been many a places in the universe, many of which have mages on them, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Hood Nexus said. “I mean, think about it. Blue Nexus, Brenda, and myself have never stained anything with our energy or magic. It just doesn’t happen, it dissipates once it loses its core energy source—us.”

            “Might this have been left here on purpose?” asked Phoenix.

            “For what?” asked Hood Nexus.

            Phoenix thought back to Anton and how the shadow man practically summoned Phoenix to him, Phoenix going along without even thinking about it.

            When Hood Nexus’s eyes widened, he knew he was right.

            “Move!” Hood Nexus shouted, shoving Phoenix out of the way.

            A massive body slammed deeper into the crater. Phoenix was already leaping back when the shockwave hit him, knocking the air right out of him, and then a large boulder came up and hit him in the side of the head.

            Phoenix flipped and twirled and spun in the air until he skidded on the ground, tumbling to a halt. With the last two seconds of consciousness that he had, he looked up and saw Gargador bracing himself for battle against a stunned Hood Nexus. 

Next time: Hood Nexus finds himself in a battle against Gargador! Not wanting to tear up anymore parts of the city, he attempts to get the battle away from East City to take on Gargador in their first fight since Kyle first transformed! Meanwhile, Kyle senses something is up and goes to join the fight, only to find he's not the only new challenger approaching. Check out the battle royale in two weeks in "Blue Nexus #25--Twin Nexus Pt. 1"!