Blue Nexus #90 - Bounty Hunted

Previously in "Blue Nexus": After enjoying some quiet time to himself, Kyle was allowed back into the fold of the galaxy's greatest superhero team, the Zanderia. He met with Brenda and investigated and alien crash site, where he met the being known as Eltar, from the Xenomark system. Eltar extended invitations to Kyle, Brenda, Phoenix, and Lalay to join him at a festival, though they quickly saw through Eltar's ruse and discovered that a massive horde of Demi-War Gods gather on Xenomark VI and will head to Earth to fulfill some sort of bounty placed on the Zanderia. 

            Phoenix, Kyle, and Brenda all stood together in the Zanderia Moon base, silently glancing at the screen with the fixed-up tablet that Eltar had with him. Eltar now rested at the bottom of the ocean in the Cube with the rest of the Zanderia’s most high-profile enemies that they’d been able to capture over the last several years. Phoenix stood closest the monitor, absorbing all of the information as best he could. It didn’t take too long to translate, it just took much longer to decrypt.

            On the surface the tablet only had information pertaining to the festival that Eltar invited those three heroes, and Leley, too. The invitation didn’t specific any members of the Zanderia beyond the Blue Nexus, so in theory it was open to all members. It would take place soon on Xenomark VI, too, which didn’t give them much time. Within the next rotation of their orbit, which was about a day and a half of Earth time.

            Deeper within the tablet was information from the underground that Brenda wanted to know about. There was minimal information on the slave ring being run in the Xenomark system and a ton of information on the bounty that the Zanderia had on their heads, and what the rules were for the bounty system. Apparently the festival was meant to celebrate the start of the bounty, and within a week of their time, all of the Demi-War Gods would be unleashed on the galaxy, or just head straight for Earth, to kill everyone they could.

            Kyle, Brenda, Phoenix, Leley, and Riko all had the highest bounties on their heads, while Eclipse and Prism rounded out the group with the notable numbers. Other members like Silver Eagle, Prism, or Violette were hardly a blip on the economic radar for the bounty.

            “The bounties are probably being organized and run by members of the Trask,” Brenda said, her arms folded, face solid as a stone. “They’re the ones that enable the trade of slavery in the Xenomark system, and they are the ones that the slave masters report to. They’re some of the richest entities in our quadrant of the universe.”
            “Never heard of them before,” Phoenix said.

            “You’ve likely stopped several of their plans,” Brenda said. “The only beings that the Trask won’t hire out are the War Gods, because the War Gods are simply above them in terms of raw influence and power.”

            “That’s comforting,” Phoenix muttered. “And they’re all holed up on Xenomark?”

            “According to the information, yes,” Brenda said. “To pay for everything, to oversee everything, and most of all, to guarantee their protection.” She pointed to the scrolling information on the large computer screen. “Every single Demi-War God that wants a piece of this bounty will be on Xenomark VI starting tomorrow. What better way to cover up than that?”

            “They trust all those guys not to just kill them?” Kyle asked. “Haven’t met many Demi-War Gods but the one I know doesn’t seem like he’d be too willing to listen to anyone anymore, not since his last business relationship tanked.”

            “Not to mention they may all have different agendas,” Phoenix said. “What if one of them in service of, I don’t know, Cata, decides to take the bounty and run?”

            Brenda shook her head. “It isn’t as if they can necessarily take anything from the Trask.”

            “How so?” Phoenix asked.

            “I tried to take what I could when I escaped from one Ytu’s prison planets, the one I was on with your parents,” Brenda said, gesturing at Kyle. “Nothing. Couldn’t find a thing. The Trask keeps all of their treasures hidden better than anyone. Could be that the pay is completely digital, or it could be that it’s in constant flux until the time comes to hand out the pay.”

            “Seems a risky thing to do, to always keep things in the wind,” Phoenix said, then rubbed his chin.

            “But it guarantees protection until the money can be distributed,” Brenda said. “If all of the Trask are murdered then the treasures can never be found.”

            “Do they just walk around without protection, though?” Kyle asked.

            “Some of the War Gods cooperate with them, but they don’t work together,” Brenda said. “The Trask can maybe give them a tribute of some kind. Or they have their own Demi-War Gods to protect them, perhaps a legion of powerful mercenaries.”

            Phoenix nodded. “So if they’re not guarded by half-gods then it’s definitely something at the level of a Kingdom Planet which…” He sighed. “Xenomark VI is one. Damn it.”

            “Eltar did a very stupid thing in coming directly to us,” Brenda said. She leaned against a chair. “Though I’m not sure how stupid the inverse is.”

            “It’s incredibly stupid,” Phoenix said. He rubbed his head and dimmed down the computer screen so it wasn’t so bright and prominent. Kyle glanced from Phoenix to Brenda. He probably wore his expression of concern a bit too well, since whenever Brenda or Phoenix would glance up they’d give him a gentle smile.

            They stood in silence for several minutes. Kyle didn’t move, afraid that if he did he would startle them from their stoic positions. Phoenix placed his hands on his hips and turned to face the screen, while Brenda remained concentrated on the ground in front of her.

            Finally, Phoenix spoke up, “What if we could spread them out and somehow take them on one at a time?”

            “There’s at least a score of them and not every member in the Zanderia is equipped to handle someone at that level,” Brenda said. “There might be five of us.”

            “If we’re being generous,” Kyle said. “I mean it’s what? You, me, Riko, Leley, and Prism?”

            “I was thinking Violette,” Brenda said.

            Kyle felt a sharp pain in his gut. “Sandy? C’mon, Brenda, you can’t be serious. She’s a damn good fighter, but, you think she could take on Gargador?”

            “She singlehandedly defeated the Demon Pillar and stood her ground against Rafael with me,” Brenda said. “And has only improved since then. Yes, I do.”

            Phoenix turned back to the screen and gripped his leather seat tight, then flung it forward. It rolled and slammed against the counter. Phoenix spun on his heels.

            “Then we need to put that to the test,” he said. “We need to go to Xenomark VI.”

            “I agree,” Brenda said.

            “Who is we?” Kyle asked. “All of the Zanderia? If we all go who watches over the Earth? The Sentinel and Andreus?”

            “There’s plenty of other heroes on Earth that don’t affiliate with us, Blue Nexus,” Phoenix said. “And no, not all of us. Just five of us.”

            “Five?” Brenda asked. “The three of us and who, exactly?”

            “Leley and Violette,” Phoenix said. Kyle opened his mouth and raised a hand to protest, but Phoenix was quicker on the jump with the explanation, “Leley is one of the Four Elements. Having her there will attract attention, will keep all eyes on us. And like you said, Shindari, Violette is good, and she’s not on their radar. She’ll catch any Demi-War God by surprise.”

            “She just said there’s at least twenty of them,” Kyle said. “We can’t all take on four Demi-War Gods, or more guards from the Trask.”

            “We only need to focus on one thing when we’re there,” Phoenix said. “The Trask. If we can get to them and make them call off the bounty then we win and we can go home. The Demi-War Gods will have no reason to come to Earth and we’re preventing the most dangerous invasion the planet’s ever seen.”

            “How the hell can we make them call it off?” Kyle asked.

            “He’s got a point,” Brenda said. “We need to give them a better deal, a better offer.”

            “The Trask has nothing to gain from this but losing money,” Phoenix said. “Maybe if we can find out why the bounty is on our heads in the first place we’ll have a reason to untangle it.”

            “I think the reason is that they hate us,” Kyle said. “So the solution is to make them like us?”

            “Sure,” Phoenix said. “Sure, if we have you enter into that tournament then there’s no way they won’t turn a profit off of that. Not to mention it’ll give you the chance to take down Demi-War Gods in combat where you’re safe behind some rules.”

            Kyle swallowed a hard lump in his throat. He didn’t get all that nervous when it came to thinking about a rematch with Gargador, but, what if he were a weaker Demi-War God? What if there were others that were much stronger, like the ones that belonged to the more powerful War Gods?

            Then again, Kyle thought with a bit of a grimace, the last time Gargador and Kyle fought, Kyle hadn’t been able to activate the second wave of Nexus energy as efficiently as now. At that level he was on equal footing with Rafael, who claimed to have the power of a War God.

            “I can see the ego inflating,” Brenda said, grinning.

            “It’s still a terrible plan,” Kyle said. “And we don’t have any way of getting there, but if we don’t get there at all then, yeah, Earth is pretty much doomed, right?”

            “I’d much rather take a risk with stealth than full-scale fighting across the planet,” Phoenix said. He let out a deep exhale, nodded, then patted his hands on the seat in front of him. He smiled at Kyle and Brenda, though it was laced with doubt and worry. “I’ll contact Leley and Violette and we can leave tonight, right?”

            “Tonight?” Kyle asked. “Jeez, I have to let the school know, I have to tell my friends and grandparents that I’ll be away for…how long?”

            “Eh, call it a week, not too sure how long we’ll be outta here,” Phoenix said. “And don’t worry about the school, I’ll cover that.”

            “Where should we meet?” Brenda asked. “Back here?”

            “No, I’ll send you the coordinates,” Phoenix said. He waved them off. “Now, off you go. We have a field trip to take soon, make sure you’re packed.”
           

            Kyle stared at his open dresser with hands on his hips and his head turned to the side. How’s he supposed to pack for intragalactic travel? He had his toothbrush and some other toiletries, but, in terms of clothing he was at a bit of a loss. Most of his time there would likely be spent in as Blue Nexus so the atmosphere and temperature of the planet wouldn’t be that much of a bother, but, what if he needed to do some reconnaissance?

            He started putting away some of his lacrosse shirts, a good mix of the long-sleeve and short-sleeve ones. He would already be wearing shoes for when he transformed out of the Nexus so he didn’t have to bring those with him. And socks, well…of course. Warm or cold he had to bring socks.

            He put away two pairs of sweatpants and three pairs of shorts, just in case. He slid his toiletries in where he would normally put his shoes, then stared around his room for other things to bring. Theoretically the flight to Xenomark VI wouldn’t take long at all, so there was no point bringing anything to read. They’d likely be planning on their entire trip there, anyway.

            His phone buzzed and stopped him from having to further this train of thought. He responded fast to Luke’s text then zipped up his bag. He had what he needed, anything else was just dead weight and would be something that got lost on an alien planet he didn’t intend on returning to. Kyle shook his head. What a weird thought.

            Kyle left his house out the back door, shutting the sliding glass door behind him then sprinting out of his backyard and vaulting over the wooden fence, headed toward town. He’d already worked out with Eclipse, thankfully, to have Kyle in the house before and after school, at the expected times, as a projection. Everything would seem perfectly normal to them, and it’d be like Kyle was never gone.

            Kip and Luke, on the other hand, would be a bit more difficult to persuade. He also had to speak with Andreus about this so he could let Coach in on what was going on, and, of course, Ven had to know where he went to, and that was a lie not so easily conjured.

            His friends met him down by the mall. They seemed a bit impatient about things for some reason. Kyle raised a concerned eyebrow in their direction when he spotted them.

“Something up?” he asked. “Text was urgent, your faces are even more.”
“No, not really, it’s just, you know,” Kip said.

            “It’s not us, it’s you,” Luke said. “Harsh, I know, but…”

            “Oh,” Kyle said, nodding. He forced a grin onto his face. “I’ll be fine. I’ll only be gone like a week or so anyway, no biggie.”

            “No biggie?” Kip asked. “You’re literally walking into a hornet’s nest.”

            “It’s worse than that,” Luke said. “He just doesn’t want to admit it.”

            “Nothing’s going to happen,” Kyle said. “Come on, let’s talk inside.”

            “We actually didn’t want to meet inside,” Kip said.

            “Why?”

            “We were told not to.”

            “By who?”

            “Who do you think?” Luke asked. Kyle closed his eyes and dread filled him.

            “How’d she find out?” Kyle asked.

            Luke stayed silent for a second, and not to Kyle’s surprise, Kip spoke up, “Okay so I was talking with Dani and may have accidentally let slip that you were going somewhere for a while and then Dani may or may not have mentioned that to Veronica and…here we are.”

            “Here we all are.”
            Kyle closed his eyes and Kip and Luke’s faces did little to help him out. He spun on a single heel, facing Ven who didn’t look mad at all, just severely disappointed. She still had her school clothes on.

            In an instant Kyle realized all the mistakes he’d made in just the last few hours: he didn’t tell her where he was when school was up and she had no way of getting in contact with him because he was way too busy dealing with Eltar. Then, of course, there was the conference with Phoenix and Brenda. And the way that she found out about Kyle’s sudden week-long departure was through one of her friends?

            “I was going to tell you as soon as I could,” Kyle said. “I just didn’t really know what to say.”

            He felt satisfied knowing that none of that was a lie, but none of it was what Ven wanted to hear. She said nothing, keeping her mouth shut.

            “I have to go away for a week,” Kyle said. “I…” He sighed, shutting his eyes. Great, yeah, go ahead and lie. “I talked with Detective Patton, the one from school, and she said that she may have found a lead on my parent’s disappearance.”

            “What?” Ven asked.

            “They’re pretty far away, and I asked if I could go with her,” Kyle said, and gestured to his Demon mark. “Ven, if I can find them then…” He sighed. It came out shivery, and to her probably came out emotional, but Kyle could only feel nerves. “I mean come on. I have to take this chance.”

            “You’re sure that there’s a lead?” Ven asked.

“Apparently,” Kyle said. “But it’s across the country. Patton’s been in contact with some of her old friends that she used to work with and apparently there was word of my parents not too long ago out there. I have to check it out.”

            “Can you keep me posted?” Ven asked. “Like let me know where you are, what’s going on and all that?” She put her hands up defensively. “I don’t want to be the overprotective girlfriend or anything and if you can’t talk then that’s fine, I just want to know you’re safe.”

            Kyle caught her hands in his own, then pulled her toward him and kissed her with as much passion as he could. She kissed him back with just as much fervor. He pulled his head away from hers then touched their foreheads together.

            “I’ll be back with you as soon as I can, okay?” Kyle asked. “You just make sure you don’t get taken by some shady government dudes, okay?”

            “You too,” she said, and pecked him on the lips again.

            Kyle grinned ear-to-ear and turned to face Kip and Luke, who were gone. Ven laced her fingers through his and gestured at the mall. Kyle nodded and their final day before Kyle’s trip to space got underway.

            Unfortunately he had to cut things a bit shorter than he would’ve liked, since he had to reach the launch point. He walked Ven back to her house and said his fond goodbye, getting one last somber kiss from his girlfriend before they parted ways. On his way back home to drop off his stuff, he dumped his phone off at Luke’s place with the instructions to check in with Ven whenever Luke saw fit, to just make stuff up if he could. Luke was smart like that, he could pull this off.

            Kyle had to stow his way back into his place and grab his back. His grandparents were under the impression he’d be gone the moment he left earlier, so he didn’t want them seeing him. He quickly transformed into Blue Nexus when he had his things and blasted off, toward the coordinates Phoenix sent to him, Brenda, Leley, and Sandy an hour earlier.

            He was the last one to arrive at a small farm in some mountains in West Virginia. The farm itself couldn’t have been larger than a two-story house, and an even smaller shed stood worn out and weathered next to it.

            The multi-colored hodge-podge of heroes all stood with their bags ready and faces filled with determination just outside the farm. Phoenix waved Kyle down. He landed between Leley and Brenda, and only got a quick word in with Leley when a dressed-up Sandy leapt at him.

            They locked arms around each other, Kyle not squeezing too tight, but Sandy showing him that her time away didn’t diminish her strength at all. She rested her chin on his shoulder.

            “Good to see you, dude,” she said.

            Kyle beamed and patted her back. “Right back at you.”

            Sandy released him and the two took a few steps back. Phoenix stepped forward to take his place and clapped his hands together.    

            “Well alright,” he said. “Shall we head into space?”

            “How fast is this thing going to get us to Xenomark VI?” Kyle asked, gesturing at it.

            “Normally it’d take probably a day or so, like eight hours to get to the wormhole and then another sixteen to get to the actual planet, but we’ve been working on a little something since you’ve been away, Blue Nexus.” Phoenix gestured Kyle over. “Ladies, please, board the ship, we’ll be on our way in a second.”

            “You need me for anything out here?” Brenda asked. “Any power I can supply?”

            Phoenix pursed his lips, then nodded slowly. “Actually, maybe. Could I get you to put a little protective barrier around us? I don’t anticipate any asteroids or comets, but you never know. We do have a massive bounty on our heads.”

            “Not a problem,” Brenda said, and approached the barn.

            Kyle followed curiously behind Phoenix, who had his arms folded behind his back and had just the hint of some pep in his step. Sandy and Leley turned the corner into the farm and vanished inside. Then Brenda did, and Kyle heard the low humming of some sort of engine.

            He and Phoenix turned the corner and they were greeted by a ship about the size of a large van, standing up and held in place by a series of wires and metallic arms. The engines hummed with white flame while electricity crackled around the outer edges. Sandy and Leley slid into the door of the ship and Brenda rested her hands gingerly upon it.

            Phoenix waved his arm to Kyle, who followed him around to the back of the ship where one latch was left open, and a swirling blue ring glowed with the faintest hints of life.

            “We figured that if you could provide us with some Nexus energy, then our space-time speed would increase dramatically, and we might get to Xenomark VI in just a few hours,” Phoenix said. “With the wormhole still, of course.”

            “And you’re sure it’s safe?”

            “Yeah, totally,” Phoenix said. “If there’s some sort of malfunction and we lose power, you can always just get out and push, right?”

            “Yeah let’s just hope I don’t have to,” Kyle said. “Just put my hand there?”

            “Maybe give us a little power, but yeah, that’s the idea,” Phoenix said. “Come on inside when the ring glows the same color as your bracelet. Then we’ll be ready for lift-off.”

            “You sure you don’t want me flying on the outside just in case?” Kyle asked. “It won’t be a problem.”

            “We need to stick together to plan things out,” Phoenix called over his shoulder.

            Kyle shrugged, then placed his hand on the touchpad. It vibrated beneath his hand and glowed a familiar blue. He gingerly sent some energy from his aura into his hand and began to ignite a larger aura around his hand to feed the ship. The humming grew louder but the amount of energy and electricity the ship put out did not change.

            A thin red veil draped over the ship as the touch pad vibrated just as fast as Kyle’s energy came out and the bright blue color of the Nexus shone back at him. Kyle shut the latch and stepped back, watching the ship brim with massive amounts of energy.

            He met Brenda at the ramp up, and nodded to her. She grinned.

            “Ready to fight some Demi-War Gods?” she asked.

            “I really hope so,” he said, and together, the stepped onto the ship, and within seconds, blasted off away from the safety of Earth, headed straight for their enemy’s nest.

Next time: The five Zanderia members arrive in Xenomark VI and begin reconnaissance on the planet in "Blue Nexus #91 - Xenomark VI, Home of the Mega-Burger"!