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Tag: SciFi (superpowers)
Book Review (SERIES): Villains of Vanguard
The Villains of Vanguard Boxed Set by Ryder O’Malley
Indecent Storm (Prequel) – at this time (early 2025), only available as part of the boxed set
Corrupted Desire (Book 1)
Reckless Impulse (Book 2)
Sinister Passion (Book 3)
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for VILLAINS OF VANGUARD
This Dark M/M Romance Contains 800+ pages of Burly Bad Guys
This time, villains will save the day. Released from prison, this trio of huskular bad guys are ready to get their hands bloody. Whether it means partnering with a beefy cop, going undercover at a couples’ retreat for villains, or falling for Vanguard’s first hero, they’ll do whatever it takes to protect their freedom.
This boxed set follows a group of villains who should have never been released from jail. Worse yet, they never expected to fall in love while protecting the city. Discover the crooks with Diesel, the fire-wielding killer who wants to be left alone flipping burgers; Clint, the impulsive shapeshifter blowing up ice cream trucks; and Vex, a billionaire obsessed with killing the man who put him behind bars.
The Villains of Vanguard Boxed Set is a M/M, dark, snarky romance with an HEA and no cliffhangers. It features brooding heroes and sex, but not always in that order.
MY REVIEW for VILLAINS OF VANGUARD
The box set is made of three anchor books: Corrupted Desire, Reckless Impulse, and Sinister Passion, all of which have been previously released. But the PREQUEL: Indecent Storm included (the first 10% of this over 800 page opus) has never been released separate was an unadvertised bonus.
As for what is inside this boxed set: “Dark Steamy MM Supervillain Romance” is a very good tagline. The superpowers are versatile, both for powered fights … and other powered activities.
I have finished all four books of the MM superpowered romance and you can find the separate reviews elsewhere. As for the books as a unit: Wow, that was much, much better than expected.
First off, none of the books are the same. All the villain protagonists are unique individuals with unique powers from each other. Different motivations, different people they fall in love with (though all Male Bears), different ways they fall in love, and different ways they interact with the overarching plot for the series. The books work as romances and as superhero prose. Four threads for the overall narrative blend into a weave of romance, superpowers plot, emotional change, and the larger picture of the multi-story plotline.
What really impressed me was how each of the villain protagonists were different architype villains. Lance is an antihero; a person who tries to do good but slides into vigilantism when his self-control slips. He is an educated man who made one mistake, then another, then another, until he passes the crossroads of no return. Diesel is a thug; he grew up on the wrong side of town, the one where ACAB and you have to punch first, otherwise you will never get to throw a punch. His culture made a system, and he has to figure out how to grow beyond being the cog his upbringing crafted him to be. Clint is the crazy villain; the one whose brain is missing things. He is a mad dog. Damien is the narcissist, but is rich enough and successful enough in the game of life everything really can be about him. He is a CEO.
The big bad villain comes from the government end of things – the power of a CEO, the madness of too much power, the educated person who slides into evil, and a person who has watched the system fail. Only with the power of the government behind them.
It’s a beautiful exploration of villain archetypes. As the body counts rise, so do the stakes.
Picked up while on sale at a superhero site. Buying at the normal price of about $10 saves – basically it is buy two and get one free (plus the sequel).
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for INDECENT STORM
Every hero has demons. Problem is, mine are real.
I don’t fly through the skies or put villains behind bars. But as a well-respected therapist for superheroes, I do my part to keep Vanguard safe. Thankfully, nobody knows is that during med school, a vengeance demon tried to steal my body and unleash a brutal justice on mankind. Don’t worry, he learned the hard way that I’m the poster child for self-control.
Then I met Santiago.
I would never have made a move, but of course, the demon in my head has a crush on the ex-con. Discovering he can control the elements only made him sexier. Worst part, I enjoy losing control and giving him the reins. I need to confront the darkness fighting to get out and come to terms with the blurry line between good and evil. At the end, will I emerge a hero, villain, or something abnormal.
I have no choice. My insurance doesn’t cover exorcisms.
MY REVIEW for INDECENT STORM
Indecent Storm in a Prequel included in the Villains of Vanguard boxed set. “Dark Steamy MM Supervillain Romance” is the perfect tagline for the set and for this story in particular. The superpowers are versatile, both for powered fights … and other powered activities.
Fighting for control all the time is tiring. But therapist Lance cannot let his guard drop against that which has invaded him. When he loses control, which he never has dared, people could die. Santiago is a not-really-reformed parolee of an elemental powered variety. Together they are steamy in a locker room shower, to the point of Lance losing control. When the fun is over, the flyer asks the …normal?… for a second date. Dare Lance say yes – how many times can he lose control before he becomes a villain? And is Santiago worth the risk?
Overall the narrative is more concentrated on MM-erotica-romance, but the story still manages some good super-power time.
The story is about 10% of the boxed set.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for CORRUPTED DESIRE
The world is going to burn, and I’m the one holding the match.
Prison hardens a man. Even worse, my ex dumps me during the trial for a crime I didn’t commit. Okay, that’s a lie, but he deserved it. Two years into my sentence and the inmates of Cold Iron fear me. It’s lonely, but it’s the price of survival. This isn’t the place to think about friends, let alone a relationship.
When Vanguard needs a criminal with my fiery skills, my time in the slammer is cut short. To keep my freedom, I only have to put down a serial killer. It’d be easy if the local do-gooder stopped interfering. Gallant won’t be the reason I get locked up again. If he wasn’t smoking hot, I’d crush him. On second thought, maybe he needs a pounding.
The heroes are playing with fire, but I’m not the one about to get burned.
MY REVIEW for CORRUPTED DESIRE
When reading superhero (or in this case supervillain) romances, one needs to review the success of the romance and the superpowers. Plus the normal worldbuilding, characterization, and plot.
The MM romance is between two bears. Cooking and dancing and playing games. Diesel is a felon trying to make ends meet as a short order cook in a greasy spoon. Calum is a good cop who dropped by one late night for coffee to get through shift. Diesel knows better but he always liked to play with fire. The first date is at an arcade playing pinball … and pin the balls, if you know what I mean. Someone’s world Tilted at the end and the rest of the story is a sweet (and spicy) exploration of a romance that shouldn’t be. Be prepared for description of a proper bear body.
The super power part also lights up like a properly prepared bonfire. Diesel (Will-he-ever-decide-on-a-code-name Man) is a firestarter. He fights a little differently each time – explosive to pinpoint; ash or blister burns. I loved the scene of him leaving fire footprints behind to dissuade local thugs from a mugging-of-opportunity. He knows his powers and uses them well. He understanding it is not just the burning and energy, but heat, light, and fire’s impact on the things around them. This narrative has one of the most detailed and nuance use of firestarters I have ever seen.
If only he wasn’t a villain. His go-to options in battle aren’t … good. I never doubted he was an anti-hero, at best. He has lived a life that if you don’t hit first and hit hard, you don’t get to live a life.
The other major power we see in action is Gallant. And here is where things get murky. Sometimes Gallant’s powers are referred to as gravity control and sometimes metallic control. Early chapters touch lightly on gravity control and later ones present metal control. This inconsistency keeps the book from being a five star in the superpower area. Like the fire powers, the whatever-they-are powers are used well and make a good superpower book.
And in super power stories, the opposition (in this case both good and bad) to our protagonist(s) make a huge difference. The opposition make our main character burn through his power options creatively.
The teamup between Diesel (will he EVER choose a super designation) and Gallant is okay. The mixing between them is more emotional than their powers dovetailing together (dovtailing being one weakness covered by the other’s strength or a mix of their powers creating interesting effects – that really doesn’t happen here.)
Now normal review grading. Worldbuilding – this is Mr. O’Malley Vanguard (city) world and he has fleshed it out for several novels. It stands up to the test of time. Characters – Diesel came from the slums and thinks fireball first because of that; Calum brings hope to the dynamic. Other characters are well fleshed out and each person has their own goals, flaws, and reasons. Plot comes in three parts that interweave well – the romance, the workplace, and the super powers, plus an emotional journey of black vs white vs gray.
Falling just shy of what the absolute best superpower romance has to offer, this book is still really, really good – as a romance, as a superpower story, and as a narrative in general.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for RECKLESS IMPLUSE
You never know the shape revenge will take. But I do.
Prison is a blast. I get three meals a day, a warm bed, and a state-of-the-art gym. The guard’s hip-hugging uniforms don’t hurt either. I say good riddance to it all when I’m offered a chance to take this show on the road. Heroes aren’t getting the job done, so they’re recruiting villains with rugged good looks. But you blow up one ice cream truck, and suddenly they assign you a handler.
If I’m going to stay a free man, I need to stop a psycho from murdering half the city. Of course, the bad guy is attending a couple’s retreat for wealthy supers. If my babysitter is policing my every move, he’ll have to go undercover as my tech mogul husband. If I can survive a week without my cell phone, an overly enthusiastic yoga instructor, and a spouse complaining about love languages, maybe I can stop a massacre.
These heroes aren’t what they seem, but then again, neither am I.
MY REVIEW for RECKLESS IMPLUSE
Challenging to read, Reckless Impulse of the Villains of Vanguard series focuses on Clint, the shapeshifter with a code-name of Variant. We previously seen him as the himbo of the therapy circle, living life without planning or brains, but Pretty (and as a shapeshifter, Clint can be REAL pretty) will get you places.
I personally don’t do dumb well and wasn’t sure I could handle a full book of himbo. But between the overall arc of the series and the promise of a mastermind in the third book, I was determined to plow through. Plus seeing what an author could do with a less than average intelligence intrigued me.
Like Corrupted Desire, the first of the series, the superpower use is top notch. Both on implementation in battle and weaknesses in personal life.
See, Clint is basically a sponge. He is full of holes so he can study and become others, absorbing them and taking on their appearance. Not a literal or figurative sponge, but his persona, his strength, is observation and imitation. He has been so busy all his life being someone or something else, he doesn’t know who he is. And that makes him interesting and sympathetic. Which is important, because Mr. O’Malley puts the V in Villains for the evil protagonists of this series.
Clint has no impulse control. Thinking beyond the moment is hard when you change your shape to fit the moment. Most people need to control this moment and prep the next to fit their shape. Meanwhile, Clint kills if it seems appropriate for that particular second , without a thought. Being attacked in a hotel room, kill. Not having chocolate soft serve on an ice cream truck, kill.
Hank, the love interest, is less engaging, which makes the romance part of this superpower romance less engaging. We do see what each of the participants get out of the relationship, but Clint and Hank are more cuddle-teddies than bear-boingings. The super power brought into the bedroom at least keeps things spicy for the MM action.
Worldbuilding, character creation, and plotline weaving in this series continue to be top tier.
The misspelling of “suit” for “suite” for a couple chapters drove me nuts – it was fine until it wasn’t and then became fine again. Combined with me just not liking Clint as a human being on any level (he is a rabid very dangerous puppy that needs to be taken behind the shed), and barely tolerating Hank, the book never reached top tier overall. Still, great powers and related character creation, solid worldbuilding, and a good combination of the plots of the book and the plot of the series.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for SINISTER PASSION
Sentinel will suffer my wrath, even if I need to destroy the city.
My time in prison didn’t change my goal. Superheroes are a menace, and I’m going to expose them as the arrogant cowards they are. They’ll call me a villain, but I’m doing it to protect Vanguard. But after being defeated by the Centurions, I no longer have powers. This could be a problem, one I will fix by any means necessary.
My presence has brought one of the world’s greatest heroes out of retirement, or so I thought. If he thinks he can charm me into helping save the city, he’s got another thing coming. I’m nobody’s sidekick. When my arch nemesis goes missing, I’ll need to save him… so I can kill him myself.
Vanguard will never forget the name Damien Vex.
MY REVIEW for SINISTER PASSION
Third and final book of the Villains of Vanguard series, this can be read as a stand-alone. There is an overarching plot between the three books, but the romance, superhero action, and emotional growth arcs within each book are great on their own. The fact there is basically four plotlines in each book twisting and turning into fully realized whole cloth for a “simple” steamy MM dark superpower romance makes these gems.
Be aware the protagonists of this series are Villains (with a capital V) and Vex is no exception. He is dark to the core of his bones, so much that a shadow gem chose him to wield it. Whether in the boardroom or sitting high above the streets, this man has no patience for anything that doesn’t make the world the way he wants it to be, and he wants to be on top. Then he meets a man who had no patience for hierarchy.
The romance in this book, I feel, is the strongest of the three books. Vex and Won are mirrors and complements of each other. Top tier powers. Best at their day-jobs and spandex-jobs. Bears.
But Vex doesn’t bow to anything, not even love.
Then an enemy decides they can use Won as a piece in their chess game with Vex. Is it checkmate or will Vex change the game?
Flash: It’s Not My Fault … For Once
Image by Alexander Jawfox on Unsplash
Nebula formed out of the fog, all judge-y like. His side-eye is strong.
“What?” My voice breaks on the question. “I found him like this.”
He raises an eyebrow.
“Really, really, really, one hundred percent.” I cross my heart, touch two fingers to my lips, and lift them to the darkening skies. “God as my witness.”
He turns his body to face me head-on and spreads his legs.
I sigh before saying, “How can you think so poorly of me? We are partners.”
The old man crashes his eyebrows together at the last statement.
“Okay, not partners, but friends,” I step around the body that recently bleed out leaving a mess all over the road, “Right, friends?”
“So what did happen?”
(words 121; first published 8/25/2024 – created based on a visual prompt for a Facebook writer’s group, aim is about 50 words)
Flash 2000: Bridesmaid
Photo by Brands&People on Unsplash
The cement stairs carried echoes of footsteps throughout the unfinished floor of the abandoned structure. Members of your group freeze, ready to scatter, until someone with your face pokes their head through the fraying plastic saying with your voice, “It’s only me.” You go over to Mirror-Mirror to get the materials she had scavenged. Bouncy slides down your body and hops over to Thornskin’s two youngsters; the weasel more interested in playing than in watching you cook.
“What’chu got?” you ask as you take one of the four small plastic bags.
“Not much.” Mirror complained, her face shifting to Sickness. She had been in your form for most of the day, exhaustion forced the change. “They sprayed the fresh vegetables to prevent homeless from taking them. I managed to get a few cans before they came out though. The rest I got from dumpster diving before it got too dark to see in the alleyways.”
“I hate you risking like that, but thank you,” you say. You and the others needed the food, but your face would have been picked up by any cameras in the area.
Sickness glared at the metamorph from the nest the group had set up for her in one corner, away from the children. The strongest power of the group, she hated the other taking on her face. Mirror-Mirror winced. Sickness could give food poisoning or other bacteria disease, like pneumonia, if she put her power behind her glare.
Slowly, reluctantly, Mirror modified their form into Thornskin. Mirror preferred to look like a normal whenever possible, but he had run out of options for the moment unless Sickness nodded off. He helped you get the food cooked but held back while you delivered the food to Thornskin and his family. You choose to ignore the wife’s eyes skidding over Mirror Mirror in uncomfortable fear, a doubleganger of her husband.
You nod and smile at the children as they slip Bouncy some meat and vegetables, the dark-furred weasel distracting them from the innate adult horror. After making sure Mirror is eating, of all you, he needs calories after using his abilities all day, you take a can of warmed soup and some bread to Sickness.
“How can you stand him wearing your face?” she hisses.
You shrug. “It’s the only way you believe that I have power.”
Mirror can only copy people who have powers, but he can’t copy their powers, thank the universe for small favors. When you first hid with the group, they had immediately taken your form, proving you had abilities even when you refused to show them other than the ability to control Bouncy’s actions, somewhat.
Right now, he appeared to have thorny growths over all his body which on Thornskin were sharp enough to draw blood and transmitted a mild paralyzing agent, but Mirror’s bumps carried no danger. What Mirror couldn’t do was duplicate normals, like Thornskin’s wife, or return to their original appearance. They used to carry a picture of their original form, but at the last hidey hole a pyro had hit the group and burned the memento up.
“Well, I don’t know why you don’t register. They would take Thornskin’s kids and they kill the plague-givers on sight since COVID, but you barely got anything. Just register as a one or two with your animal control and go home.”
“Home is a long way away.” You smile at grouchy old woman, pulling a spoon from your pocket to give her, being careful to touch her hand while you do so. You are the only one in the group, even before it got cut down by the pyro and hunters, to touch her regularly. Her eyes simmered with a combination of confusion, hate, and thankfulness. “And it comes with complications.”
“Everything does now-a-day.”
You stay by her until she finishes her soup and drifts off, burying herself deep in the grimy blankets to hold off her perpetual fever and chills. Her emergence had given three city blocks food poisoning; it was a wonder she had survived the Regional Acquisitions. Sixty-eight is a horrible age to lose everything you ever known.
So was thirty-four. Twenty-six for Thornskin, the youngest of the lot, and thirty-two for Mirror Mirror.
You check the propane, making sure it is off for the night, then head to your nest. The others didn’t like you near them for at least an hour after you dealt with Sickness. They continued to be amazed you never got sick dealing with her. You shrug and say it is just a byproduct of your powers, claiming many animal handlers develop immunity to bacteria and viruses. It’s true about the developing immunity and about it being a byproduct of your powers, just not that particular cause and effect.
Night in the building carried eerie shadows from some of the skyscrapers nearby, making taking a piss in the middle of the night a long debate of crawling out of the blankets into the weird. But eventually the bladder won, as it always does, and you stumble toward the staircase. Bouncy curled deeper into the warm fabric, the traitor.
The hand covering your mouth woke you up immediately and got rid of the need to piss instantly. You bite the hand, making someone yelp.
“Fucking bitch.” The brick yanks you easily away from the stairs, three other people coming in behind him. The pyro was back with his sidekick and two new people.
“Where is the witch?” The pyro asks one of the new people, who points to Sickness’ nest with a drawn gun. The female of the group makes a beeline toward her.
“No,” you shout, leaving your flannel behind in the brick’s grip, stumbling into the gunslinger, trying to knock the gun out of his hands, hanging onto his wrist to throw off his aim, among other things.
The brick drops the jacket and grabs you back. “None of that you. Leave Gunner alone.” You squirm until you get skin-to-skin contact. “Don’t know why you even bother, it ain’t like you had power. All that hand waving last time pretending you got big voodoo and you ain’t got shit.”
“Unlike that morsel over there.” The pyro says. “She owes us after killing Mabeline.”
Oh, did their infiltrator die of something bacterial? So sad. Hope it was slow and painful after they killed JackieBox and took the rest of the refugees away.
The outside supers manhandle everyone to Sickness’ area. Thornskin is easy to direct when the pyro threatened his family of normals. There you discover the woman is a Suppressor. For the duration, Sickness has no powers, but Mirror Mirror has taken on your face and Thornskin’s thorns were black and green evil dripping goosebumps. You slip Mirror a sleepy Bouncy and tell her to cover for you before curling down and starting summoning.
The supers pull out black cuffs. You’ve seen them on television when Regional Acquisition Teams collect emergers unable to contain their powers.
With the energy forming into another weasel under your hands, you dare some distractions as they work on getting the old lady out of her blankets. She wasn’t going quietly, bless her. “That is some mighty fancy equipment.”
“Shut up,” yells the brick, taking half-hearted swipe at you. The angle is all wrong and he misses by a mile.
Mirror gets the hint though, and takes up the question, proving once again why her day job before emergence had been an elementary school teacher. “Where did you get those? I thought that was restricted technology.”
The brick turns to the new talker and realizes there is two of you, dressed different, but two. “You … you shut up too.”
“I don’t think so,” you say, feeling the fur become reality as you pet the new animal winding around your arm just like Bouncy is winding around Mirror. “You got a capture, not kill action here. But you ain’t doing nothing like a Regional. Who you working for?”
“Shut up!”
Gunner and the suppressor finally got Sickness out where they can put on the cuffs. You are running out of time.
“I’m betting someone collecting powers. The question is it a government, corporation, or another super?” Mirror strokes her weasel.
“You really want to know?” teases the pyro. “Let me burn off a finger and I’ll tell you.”
“What?”
The weasel is fully formed. Do you wait for names or keep Sickness free?
“You are the one I burned last time, right? Lit you up like a torch. Yet you look perfectly fine now.” The pyro leans in, his hand lighting up. “The Charmer would love to know how fast you can recover, shifter.”
You got the name. Charmer. Fuck.
That is someone you really can’t fall into the hands of.
You look into the black eyes of the newly created weasel. “I’m sorry,” you whisper before breaking its neck. Gunner and the brick both fall like puppets with their strings cut. The black cuff in Gunner’s hands sinks into Sickness’ pile of blankets.
“What?” “Are they okay?” “Who did that?”
Mirror had been waiting for the opportunity and jumps at the energy super. But a fireball sends her dodging to the side. Bouncy slides off the arm a little singed but continues to move. One less death on you conscious for now. You don’t know how long your weasels live, but the normal creatures they mimic live three to ten years and Bouncy is four and the life she is tied to continues to breathe somewhere far away from you for now.
The suppressor manages to grab Sickness and removes her powers again.
“Who. The Fuck. Knocked out my team?” The pyro goes full flame and rises on the heat waves. Fortunately, the unfinished building is nearly all cement and there is nothing to catch fire.
“That would be me,” you admit, unwilling to let him have any other targets.
“She touched them earlier.” The suppressor points out.
Mirror is learning against a column, her arm hanging at an odd angle, her form switched to the suppressor, the closest being using powers near her. The pain reverting her abilities to the least effort. She raises one red plucked eyebrow.
You shrug then nod. “No cap.”
“How soon will they wake up?” The pyro asks, floating toward you.
“Who says they will wake up?” You smirk.
“You killed them?”
“That would be saying.” You toss aside the dead weasel and stand. “Go away, and you won’t have to find out the hard way.”
“Well, it is nice to know you got something too. Something useful. We collect a bounty for every power we bring in. And potential assassins get bonuses.” He lifts his hand and starts forming a fireball. “Now you have given away too much about your powers for me to worry about it. You have to touch to do it. It takes a long time for it to take effect. And,” He looks to the weasel body, “you have to sacrifice a life for it. Now you pick up the black cuffs and put them on everyone, then yourself.”
You let fear crawl across your face and slope your shoulders inward before shuffling over to where Gunner had fallen. The suppressor gives you a dirty look when you bend down to dig out the cuff. She tightens her hand around Sickness’ throat; bruises will be visible in the morning. “Uh, uh. The shifter first. Don’t try to be clever. No touchy touchy,” she says when you approach with the cuffs in hand. “or I will drain her. Can she handle that? Yes, that is my secondary power,” the suppressor whispered in Sickness’ ear, “I can take you down to a coma. Can you handle that?”
The angle was wrong for the suppressor to see the fire in the old woman’s eyes. Sickness may be tired and the cancer she had before her power emerged is still killing her, but she plans to live every second of life she can until the end and woe be to the beings who try to make her life end early.
You stumble over to the column where Mirror Mirror is leaning. Bouncy is curled in a ball away from you as he always is after you kill one of the life weasels. Helping her, you move her behind the column in an apparent attempt to put on the cuffs without hurting her broken arm, once she is as safe as you can get her, you stand tall and spin to face the pyro who had landed near Thornskin and his family, but banked most of his fire, leaving only a small fireball hovering over his palm.
“You know, making assumptions is bad. Makes an ass out of me and you.” You grin and toss the cuff far away. “And I love being an ass. One last chance. Leave now.”
“What are you going to do, kill the other rodent?” The firemaker laughed. “Think you can do that before I burn you and everyone here to a crisp?”
“Yep, well, nope. I’m sure if I was doing another weasel, you can beat me. But all I really want is for you to…Die.” Taking out groups without collateral damage takes finesse, but killing a single person is simple for you. The fireball and the light in the pyro’s eyes both wink out when you say the last word and he falls on the cement like a pile of rags.
“You have Powerword Kill as your secondary?!?” The suppressor screeches, sending her power rushing at you.
Unlike you, who had only seemed to give away how your power works, the suppressor had showed it title, book, and chapter. Only one high level power could be suppressed at a time. Unfortunately for her, you were a 9 and would take all her concentration, and Sickness was an 8, an aura you had been hiding in the shadow of. An eight who the suppressor still had in a choke hold, giving full skin-to-skin contact, and a powerful super which was no longer suppressed.
A biohazard, not a body, fell into the old lady’s nest.
You collapse, shaking, dropping your heartrate so blood drained from your face. All those years of yoga at the gym were useful for something.
Mirror comes over, her face now yours again, back to the limited choices of the group now that the invaders were all dead. “You okay?” In their eyes was raw fear of you for the first time.
Shaking in your piss smelling pants, you lie in a soft, harsh whisper, “I can’t do the verbal too often. It takes everything I got. Last time, the only time, it took months before I could even make a weasel. I’m just glad Sickness could take care of the last one.”
If Mirror upset them with faces and Sickness kept others at bay just by breathing, how would everyone react to know you could kill with a touch, a word, a single look, whenever, wherever you wanted. Your power was only about death, and there was no reprieve. The only death you could not arrange was your own, and you tried after the horror of your emergence. Drowning, COVID exposure, burning, jumping off a building, guns. Didn’t matter. They hurt, but they weren’t permanent.
You were the bridesmaid, never the bride to Death.
(words 2,564; first published 6/30/2024)
Hold Me Against the Dark series
- I want you beside me… (12/31/2023)
- Someone who cares if you come home (3/31/2024)
- F is for First and Foremost (4/7/2024)
Spin-offs
Flash: F is for First and Foremost
Photo 16440074 | Tin Can String © Alexstar | Dreamstime.com
“The trackers on your phone. You don’t think your phone isn’t buggy?” I asked.
Cage’s bedtime voice rumbled from the cell beside my ear. “Enlighten me.”
“Sure thing shadow boy.” He asked for mansplaining, I can give him mansplaining. I stuffed my third pillow under my back and retucked the blankets against the winter chill. “First you got the basic GPS tracking which is necessary for cell phone pinging and has the benefit of helping with maps and finding services so most people just leave that on. Downside of that is companies ping cell phones, gathering meta data to sell things. Once I drove through Ohio and then next week a highway restaurant asked if I wanted to drop by. I was back in the Carolinas by then. All phones have this general privacy infringement, it is the cost of cells. With me so far?”
“Yes.”
“And, as television shows indicate, cell towers keep track of cell phones in their area. That is how they instantly connect phone calls even when you are traveling. You text, phone, or use a service, you are tracked. But you got a government-issued cell phone.”
“I do,” growled through the line. My toes curled. I could live inside his voice.
“Right, so you got all the basics of tracking everyone has, plus whatever Uncle Sam drops into his toys, and if I had the responsibility of keeping track of supers, I would load up everything I could. The phone would have an additional tracker, likely hardened against electrical bursts and other acts of quirks. I would also put in a repeater on all email messages and texts sent through the phone. Monitor website and social activities. Nearly all that is already built into phones today so you can pull up text threads excreta. And, of course, I would record all phone messages.”
“Of course.” The statement carried a question mark about the level of my paranoia, but there was a reason why I never registered.
“Yes, I would also put tracers in all the shoes because while someone might forget their phone, few people leave buildings barefoot. Your bosses likely line some basics into the uniforms including heartbeat monitoring, although those likely would need to be replaced often after battles between damage to the uniforms and energy powers.”
He chuckled darkly. “They are replacing my uniform right now. Gremlin’s mech suit shredded it.”
“Exactly. But even with the constant replacement, I would make sure the uniforms also have cameras, for the same reason police are required to have them. To protect citizens and the blue. Well, the supers in this case. Not all of this is just to keep you on a leash. Although that is high on the list. They also are gathering scientific information figuring out how our powers work.”
“And how to neutralize them.”
“Exactly, not everyone is going to march into a regional headquarters and sign up. A lot of people don’t trust governments. And people who run to the not-nice side of things never do.” My fingers start playing with my fur blanket, but I grip them into a fist. Nope, not another random whatever. It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours. “Not all of it is big brother government. Some of the monitoring is beneficial just like why they monitor firemen, police, and military – easier to direct in an emergency, keep track of your health, find you if something bad happens, do post action reviews, all of that. But,” I sighed, rubbing between my eyes with one hand, “first and foremost it’s all about tagging and tracing supers.”
“Paranoid much?”
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
He made a grunt-like sound, then asked, “Are you wrong?”
“Can’t say for certain, but…” I paused, turning things over through my gut. I don’t have precog or meta level knowledge some supers can claim. Still, just living as a human being in America who grew up during the Cold War gave me insight to just how controlling toxic my government can be. “I’m certain.”
“Yeah.”
Cage made some uncomfortable sounds on the other end and I wince in sympathy. Doc Peterson did some damage.
“So how are you stopping the tracing?”
“How do my powers work? Isn’t that a bit personal?”
“Um, well…”
“Kidding. My quirk,” I giggle at the term, remembering the pure joy my niblings had explaining me all the lore of the anime, “is connections. Creating them or breaking them. If you looked at the symbol I drew, the doodle is two tin cans with a string looping between them.”
“Fuck,” he grunted in surprise. “You’re right.” comes more quietly, like he pulled the phone away to look at the symbol.
“Of course I am. Just repeat after me, Vector is always right.”
He dropped his voice into his lowest register. “Vector is always right.”
“Oh. You’re good.”
“Except when I’m very bad.” The hero chuckled.
“Put a bookmark there. We are still on our first date.”
“Are we? We are, aren’t we.” After clearing his throat and raising his voice out of the bedroom levels, to my curled toes disappointment, he asked, “Where were we? Vector is always right … symbol of tin can. Ah, how does that symbol work?”
“Right now your phone and mine are connected like two cans with a string. We aren’t going through cell towers, no energy is being used. Your voice to my ear.” I swirl my finger in a circle, connecting beginning to end. My power adds a bit to the existing symbol. “Your battery isn’t being drained.”
I hear another “Really” and picture him pulling the phone away from his ear. “What do you know?” More clearly he says, “That’s cool.”
“I added a cloud of matching parenthesis around the outside so no one else will hear what you or I am saying either through bugs or eavesdropping. Always close your parenthesis so words don’t fall out.”
“Fuck, my apartment is bugged isn’t it?”
“What do you think?”
“I am much more naïve than I thought I was.”
(words 1,007; first published 4/7/2024)
Hold Me Against the Dark series
- I want you beside me… (12/31/2023)
- Someone who cares if you come home (3/31/2024)
- F is for First and Foremost (4/7/2024)
Spin-offs