CHAPTER NINE: Captain N, Leader of the Smash Brothers
CJ and his friends, minus Alex, Aubrey and Jennette were gathered outside his house.
"Listen… These Smash Brothers guys know about us, our powers and the monsters that have been appearing in our area." CJ said.
"What are we gonna do?" Dayan asked.
"I'm going to find their hideout, and track down this Captain N guy." CJ stated. "He's the leader. I'm going to get some answers. If he knows about our powers, he may know what caused them."
"Not alone, you're not." Shaylene ordered.
"We're coming with you." Stacey stated.
"No." CJ said. "The CIA is looking into the Smash Brothers, and I've already been ordered to stop looking into them."
"What?" Danielle gasped.
"That's why I'm doing this alone." CJ said. "I'm not letting anyone else get dragged down with me. D and D, I'm not letting you guys get into trouble with the feds because you guys need each other. And I could never forgive myself if I let you guys get separated. Or if anything happened to either of you because I let you get too involved. Stacey, you and Shaylene have your families."
"We're not letting you go alone." Stacey said.
"Yeah. We're not letting anything happen to you." Shaylene stated. "You mean too much to us."
CJ sighed. "Fine. But just you two."
"Good luck, guys." Dayan said. "Be careful."
A short time later…
CJ walked toward the local community college, the same one he worked at and attended. Shaylene and Stacey weren't too far behind him. He neared the baseball fields and set his sights on a new building just off the entrance road, tucked back behind some trees just on the edge of campus. The sign outside read "Opportunity Works".
He gathered energy into his hands and struck the front of the building, shattering the glass doors and blasting a large hole in the wall. He and the girls walked into the building, where they were met by several shocked employees, all holding assault rifles.
"Right under my goddamn nose!" CJ exclaimed. The employees raised their guns. CJ snapped his finger and formed a magic shield around him and the girls. "You think bullets are going to do anything to me? Foolish..." He raised his hand and fired another blast of magic, striking down the armed guards.
"So... I give you powers and THIS is how you repay me?" A new voice said. CJ looked around in search of the source of the voice. Standing on the second floor balcony, overlooking the entrance, was a dark-haired, icy-blue-eyed, scruffy-looking man. He was wearing a tattered sweatshirt, faded jeans, and had facial hair that would make a caveman jealous.
"So... you must be the leader of the Smash Brothers." CJ said. "Captain N..."
"Indeed, I am." Captain N said.
"And what do you mean, give ME powers?" CJ questioned.
"Foolish boy." Captain N said. "You don't know anything, do you?" He leaped off the balcony and rushed toward CJ, gripping his skull in his hands.
"Captain N dug his fingers into my skull... He then began to show me things... Terrifying things. Soldiers storming down the streets, kicking down doors and hauling citizens away in caged trucks. I watched as those who resisted were shot on spot. Police cars were overturned and in flames, and not an officer could be seen. It was like something out of a movie or a video game. And then he told me..."
"This is the future... my future... your future... AMERICA'S future." Captain N said. CJ was visibly shocked.
"What?!" CJ questioned. "What do you mean... 'This is America's future.'?" CJ asked.
"All of the paranoid citizens... All the lies... All the constant fighting between the sides of the government... It finally builds up." Captain N said. "Laws meant to protect children end up harming them instead... Celebrities getting away with what everyone else would get punished for... Citizens being arrested and imprisoned for simply speaking their mind and protesting. Everyone finally had it. People started fighting the police... Killing cops. Building 'defense bunkers' to protect themselves from the government. And it turns out to be exactly what they needed. The government puts into place heavily restrictive, almost dictator-like laws, and imprisons those who don't obey the law. Those who resist arrest are shot on command. Travel in and out of the country becomes heavily restricted to the point where citizens are trying to sneak OUT of the U.S. Those caught are killed, no questions asked. That's what happened to me..."
"Wait... You're from the future?!" CJ gasped.
"... I tried to smuggle my family over the Canadian border, in the hopes that we could escape the tyranny of our government... A tyranny not created by those in power, but a tyranny created by the people. A tyranny created by those paranoid enough to believe it would happen." Captain N said. "I succeeded in escaping across the border, but my wife and daughter were captured. Before I could do anything, I watched in terror as they were both executed. I continued to escape, fleeing deep into Canada and later finding my way to England. It's there that I discovered a way hone my powers and enable myself to travel through time. I traveled back to this time, and I organized the Smash Brothers." Captain N said. "I knew I would need help stopping the terrible future I came from."
"But why me?" CJ asked. "And what is the N-Sphere?"
"So you know of it." Captain N said. "I devised a way to create a device similar to that of the Ray Sphere from the inFamous series, but this had a different result in mind. You see, I knew of your stories, boy. I knew of all your friends. And I knew of your love for video games, especially those created by Nintendo."
"You... You targeted me and my friends specifically..." CJ said. "You've cost us our normal lives... And turned us into what the 'normal' world would call freaks."
"But YOU don't feel like a freak, do you?" Captain N said.
"No. I love these powers." CJ said. "I would've killed for my story powers to be a reality. But I would've never wished it on my friends."
"You couldn't have stopped it." Captain N said. "It just so happens that you and your friends share a certain thing in common amongst all your genetics. You share what's called the Miyamoto Gene. Exposure to certain kinds of radiation would've caused these powers in all of you regardless of what I did."
"That doesn't mean we would've been exposed to radiation." CJ said. "You can't guarantee that we would've gotten these powers."
Captain N just laughed. "Such a fool. So blind to the truth."
"Enough!" CJ snapped. "I'm done with this. It ends now!" CJ rushed toward Captain N, gathered energy into his hands. He punched Captain N with all his might, causing a dark explosion that sent Captain N flying back into the wall. Stacey and Shaylene both shot a blast of magic at Captain N, stunning him a bit more. Captain N dropped to his knees.
"Foolish girls... This doesn't concern you." Captain N said. He unleashed a wave of energy, knocking the girls into the opposite wall and throwing CJ onto his back.
"Shaylene! Stacey!" CJ exclaimed. Jesus... This guy's had way more time to train his powers... I've only had mine for a few months... How the hell am I supposed to beat him?
"You're pathetic... Giving you those powers was a waste." Captain N said.
"Shut UP!" CJ screamed, firing a blast on energy at Captain N. He just jumped to the side, smirking as the shadow energy missed him.
"Stacey's family can't stand you, you know that?" Captain N asked. "26 and still in community college. They keep praying for the day you two break up. They think you're a failure, and they're sickened by the fact that you proposed to her."
"LIES!" CJ yelled. "If that was true, they wouldn't have given me permission to ask for her hand in marriage!"
"So blind to the truth, boy..." Captain N said. "Your own father was ashamed of you. He didn't die of natural causes. He poisoned his own food. Couldn't bear to witness his failure of a son any longer. But you knew that deep down, didn't you? That's why you said no to the autopsy. Didn't want to admit the truth to yourself... didn't want to hear it."
"Enough lies!" CJ shouted, filled with rage. He ran forward and was quickly grabbed by Captain N. They struggled back and forth and finally CJ got a grip on Captain N's head. He fired a blast of magic into Captain N's temple, stunning him. "Die!" He shouted, gathering energy into his fist and punching Captain N in the chest.
"I looked down at Captain N, reveling in my victory. And then, I heard him whisper: 'Shaylene, I love you. Please forgive me.'
And then he was on me, fingers digging into my face. As Captain N's secrets began to play out in my head, I finally began to understand. I saw it again, the government beginning to cripple it's citizens... a government growing mad with power. And at it's helm, I finally saw her... A woman with powers much like my own, much like Captain N's... Intent on extinguishing all others with powers...
In those early days, Captain N could've used his powers to stop it, but instead, he fled with his family, leaving others to fend for themselves. Hunted for years, Captain N and his family watched as the rest of the country went to hell. I saw that fateful day when they finally tried to flee the country and his wife and daughter were slaughtered before his eyes...
And then it was too late. Too late to fight, too late to save anyone. In that moment of grief, he used his newest and most dangerous power... He went on a one-way trip back in time, attempting to rewrite history. Captain N seized control of the Smash Brothers, back then called the Jump Men, and accelerated the N-Sphere's development.
Years spent planning the blast, plotting every turn, finding me and my friends... Yet the one thing that drove him forward, his sole connection to the future he ran from, was a picture from his wedding day...
...When he married Shaylene. In those days, Captain N had innocent looking blue eyes. And for the first time, I realized just who he was.
I cringed and nearly puked... Unable to accept the fact that Captain N and I were one and the same... That he'd come back in time to mold me into the savior he failed to be. Causing the onset of my powers... HIS powers... earlier than it would've happened.
So that when the time came and the government got out of control, I'd be able to defend the woman he loved... the woman I loved... So that I'd be capable of making impossible decisions... All for the common good...
And then Captain N fell back, dead... His final message, MY final message, burned into my brain. I take one last look down at myself... my future self... and turn around, the pain and rage burning inside myself. I look at Shaylene and Stacey, both unconscious from the hits they took.
Confused and angered, I hate everything about Captain N... He's made me question my engagement, told me that in the future I marry someone ten years younger than me, and that I'll have to watch my best friend turned wife die if I'm not prepared..."
"Shaylene! Stacey!" CJ rushed forward to the girls as the two began to regain consciousness.
"CJ?" Stacey questioned.
"Did... Did we win?" Shaylene asked.
"No..." CJ said. "Captain N showed me the future... He's me..."
"What?!" Stacey gasped.
"He came back in time to mold me... Give me powers... Earlier than I would've got them anyway." CJ said. "His wife and daughter... My wife and daughter... were killed by a power-hungry government led by an angry dictator with powers not unlike our own."
"So... what are you going to do?" Shaylene asked.
"The only thing I can do." CJ said. "I need to harness my powers. Get better. Prepare to save the women I love."
"In that moment, something happened... I watched as Captain N's body began to glow... And suddenly, I felt my powers accelerate. And I saw another vision of the future... I saw her face... The face of the woman leading the corrupt government, and I couldn't believe who it was...
...Standing at the helm of the government, the dictator... was Jennette. And it all made sense... The picture that drove Captain N wasn't his first wedding... He... I... originally married Stacey... And Shaylene was devastated. Seeing her sister's heart break from my marriage to Stacey, Jennette used her powers to take control of everything, intent on eliminating Stacey and leaving me free... free to repair Shaylene's broken heart... The heart that I broke.
That day that Captain N lost his wife and daughter... It wasn't Shaylene that was killed... It was Stacey. Captain N knew that all this was caused by his marriage to Stacey. He used his powers to go back in time to before he married Stacey.
But... being in love with both Stacey and Shaylene, even he couldn't bring himself to kill Stacey. So he tried to mold me... He gave me powers, knowing that I would train them, and that I would be ready for the future... Whether it happened or not. He let me find him, and left me free to make my own choice... A choice between the woman I was engaged to now... And the girl who the law said I shouldn't love...
And now, I had a heavy decision before me... Do I stay with Stacey and hope that I will be powerful enough to stop Jennette from becoming a ruthless dictator? Or do I call off my engagement and leave Stacey for someone far too young for me? And risk not only going to prison, but creating a new, worse future..."
"CJ? Are you okay?" Shaylene asked.
"I... I saw more of Captain N's life..." CJ said. "The dictator is Jennette."
"What?!" Shaylene gasped.
"When I saw Captain N's life, I saw a wedding picture of him... or me... and you, Shaylene." CJ said. "So, I assumed you were the wife that was killed. But..."
"But what?" Stacey asked.
"It turns out it was actually you, hun." CJ said. "I married you first, and it broke Shaylene's heart. Outraged by the pain I caused her sister, Jennette used her powers to seize control of the government and it resulted in you being killed. I married Shaylene, but the damage had already been done. So... I went back in time to try to prepare myself to stop Jennette from rising to power and prevent it all from happening."
"So... what now?" Shaylene asked. "Please tell me you aren't going to kill my sister..."
"No..." CJ said. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. There's too many variables that play into it."
"So... you're just going to sit back and let things happen the way they do?" Stacey questioned. "You're going to let me get killed in the future?!"
"What? No!" CJ said in shock.
"Then kill Jennette." Stacey said. She then looked at Shaylene and pointed. "Or kill her!"
"WHAT?!" Shaylene gasped. "Why me?"
"If you're out of the picture, CJ can't break your heart by marrying me." Stacey said.
"Are you nuts, Stacey?!" CJ snapped. "Killing Shaylene could cause an event ten times worse!"
"It's her or me!" Stacey said, gathering energy into her hands. Scared, Shaylene began to back up.
"Stacey, what are you doing?" Shaylene asked. Tears started to form in her eyes. "Please... don't do this..." Stacey fired a blast of energy at Shaylene and gasped as Shaylene vanished.
"What the hell?" Stacey questioned. She looked to her right and saw CJ, focusing his powers. "Why are you saving her? Do you want me to die?!"
"Dammit Stacey!" CJ snapped. "If you kill Shaylene, Jennette could very well still come after you and kill you before we're even married!" He then focused his energy and Stacey vanished as well.
Across the city, Stacey found herself standing in the woods, not far from an open field. She scanned her surroundings.
"What the fuck? He sent me home?" Stacey thought aloud. She pulled out her phone and began to text CJ. "Ugh..."
Across the street from CJ's community college, Shaylene found herself standing in a wooded area on the edge of a large lake, the city's local water supply.
"Where... where am I?" Shaylene wondered. She looked around, and then looked behind her and saw the college across the street. "Wait... that's CJ's school right there... So I must be on the shores of Kenoza Lake. But... How did I get here?"
"I teleported you here." Shaylene turned and saw CJ.
"CJ? Where's Stacey?" Shaylene asked.
"Across town, in the woods behind her house." CJ said. His phone then chimed with the familiar 'secret discovery' sound from the Legend of Zelda series. He pulled out his phone and checked it. "Dammit... It's Stacey." He read the text. "Yup. She's pissed that I saved you." He then put his phone back into his pocket.
"Aren't you gonna reply?" Shaylene asked.
"Honestly, I'm not sure what I'm gonna do yet." CJ said. "I'm more confused than I've ever been. I mean, I love Stacey... I stood by her from the discovery of that tumor all the way through when they told her she was cancer free. But... we've been fighting a lot lately. And there's been a lot of stress on our relationship. I could see half the stuff Captain N said being true. Hell, Stacey even told me that her mom was upset about me proposing while I'm still in school. Besides..." He stopped for a moment and stared out at the lake.
"Besides what?" Shaylene asked.
"I can't sit back and watch you die." CJ said. "I love you just as much as I love Stacey. Sometimes I think I might love you more. And Stacey seems to think that killing you is going to solve everything... But that could just turn Jennette against her even sooner."
"I... I still can't believe that Jennette would use her powers to seize control of the government all because you broke my heart." Shaylene said.
"I can." CJ said. "You're her baby sister. She cares about you more than anything. Hell, I'm actually shocked that her and I are as good friends as we are. Given the age difference between you and me, I would think that she would look at me as the creepy ex-neighbor who won't stay away from you."
"Yeah, but she knows you better than that, dude." Shaylene said. "She knows that it's not some weird, creepy, perverted lust for me. She knows you actually love me and care about me. And I know it too. Even if you were single, I know you wouldn't want to date me until I'm out of high school and at least 18."
Suddenly, an explosion rocked the lake and a pillar of water rose up. Standing atop the pillar was Stacey.
"Stacey, stop it!" CJ shouted.
"Move!" Stacey yelled. "She needs to die! It's the only way!" She then began to gather up the water from the lake and began to create a giant aqua spear.
Dammit Stacey... CJ thought to himself. Stacey threw the spear and CJ quickly formed a shield, causing the spear to fall apart and fall back into the lake.
"Why are you protecting her?!" Stacey questioned.
"Because... this isn't right!" CJ exclaimed. "You're being selfish! Trying to kill her to save yourself!"
"No! I'm trying to save US!" Stacey yelled.
"Stacey, stop!" CJ shouted. "If you kill her, there won't be an us to save!"
"It's her or me! Choose!" Stacey demanded.
"I knew I needed to do something, and at that moment, I found myself overcome with power. I used a blast of shadow magic to propel myself across the lake, striking Stacey and dragging her with me to the other side of the lake. As we landed, I found myself doing something to her that Captain N did to me... Showing her a vision of the future. But it was one I hadn't seen either...
Short images flashed through our minds... A gravestone reading Shaylene's name and stating that she died at the young age of 16... Jennette in some underground facility training her power against robots... And finally, we saw Jennette and Stacey facing off in battle... With Jennette delivering a fatal blow to Stacey."
"See? THIS is the future you can look forward to if you kill Shaylene." CJ said. "It's also the future you can force me to look forward to. You kill Shaylene, and I'm gonna have to deal with a future without either of you. You kill her, and you're going to be the hand that brings new life to Captain N. Do you want that on your hands?"
"I'm tired of her coming between us!" Stacey shouted.
"Hun... Look at your hand." CJ said. "What are you wearing?"
Stacey looked down and was quiet for a moment.
"The ring you proposed with..." She mumbled.
"Exactly." CJ said. "If Shaylene was really coming between us, would I have proposed to you?"
"Yeah, but..." Stacey began to protest.
"But what?" CJ asked.
"If she lives, I'll die in the future..." Stacey said. Suddenly, a wave of water rose up out of the lake and knocked CJ aside. "That can't happen. I'll kill her and Jennette if I have to!"
"Nothing was working. No matter what I did, I couldn't get through to Stacey. I knew there was only one solution. It wasn't enough for me to stop to Captain N. It wasn't just enough for me to defeat him now and use the knowledge I gained to prevent his future.
No... At that moment, I knew I needed to BECOME Captain N. I needed to do exactly what he did in the future... But I needed to do it in my present day. I needed to focus my powers. I needed to gain his... or my... most devastating power.
And so, I, much like Captain N, used my powers to go back in time..."
At that moment, CJ found himself enshrouded in light. When the light vanished, he found himself in an old run-down, abandoned building. The room was mostly dark, dimly lit by the faint rays of sunlight that crept into the room through holes and gaps in the plywood that boarded up the windows and doors.
"The old Woolworth building." CJ said to himself. "Good. It worked. Now, let's hope I'm in the right time."
As if to answer his questions, a flash of light filled the room. When it vanished, he saw Captain N standing in the center. The room was now aglow with the bright light of the N-Sphere.
"Hello... Me." CJ said. Captain N turned.
"Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise." Captain N said. "This is far earlier than I planned to meet face-to-face."
"Believe me, I know." CJ said. "But I'm one step ahead of you."
"I smirked and lunged forward, fingers digging into Captain N's face. And I began to show him things... I began to show him the future that he forced upon me. The near future that I just escaped from. I showed him our face-off, his death, and the immediate war between Stacey and Shaylene.
I showed him Shaylene's death at the hands of Stacey, and Stacey's quest to kill Jennette. We both witnessed Stacey murder Jennette in cold blood, and I watched as Stacey was dragged off in handcuffs, sentenced to life in some kind of top-secret government detention center. A place where the government dubbed her a 'freak' and ran all kinds of tests on her.
And then it happened..."
"You can't escape it boy." Captain N said, striking CJ and knocking him into a wall. "My existence is written in stone. You can't stop me."
"I watched as Captain N activated the N-Sphere himself before I could even react. But something happened that I didn't expect. Somehow, there wasn't a blast. Not a big one anyway. The N-Sphere created a small, localized explosion. Captain N was caught in the blast and swallowed into a vortex. Dead, I assumed. But I still felt its effects. I guess the reaction must have been different because I already had powers... Or maybe it wasn't fully powered up...
It didn't take long before I realized that while the blast radius was small, the energy extended far beyond the Woolworth building where the blast was contained. Much like before I traveled back through time, my friends all gained their powers. But this time, no one knew about the blast except me. And although the effects started to be seen again, there was no government agencies breathing down our necks about the Smash Brothers...
Though I knew we were going to have to work to keep our powers, and the creatures brought into existence by the blast, a secret..."