Chapter 10
"Wild Hunt"
Lightning Lad groaned and opened his strangely-heavy eyes to a gloomy darkness.
The floor –why was he sleeping on the floor?- was hard and cold. The ceiling was bare and entirely the wrong color, at least as far as he could tell with his gloomy vision.
He tried to raise his hand and hold his aching head, but it was strangely heavy. He narrowed his eyes and tried to focus on his arm, but it wasn't working.
He had been… in the cruiser? Going somewhere? What had he been doing? He couldn't remember.
There was a loud shunk and Garth sat up quickly, head spinning.
Despite his state, he managed to make out a pair of eyes staring at him through a rectangular opening in the door of his cell before the head jerked back and the shutter slammed shut.
Garth closed his eyes to try and ease his headache and slid back into unconsciousness.
Imra forced her way into consciousness through the haze of drugs that were trying to fog her waking mind.
She focused her will and cut her way through the mist clogging her brain. Mere chemicals would not keep her from using her mind!
She came awake all at once, eyes snapping open, and sat up.
Saturn Girl looked around.
The small stone room was completely bare- no blankets or wall restraints, no sign of seams in the stone where the material was either mortared into place or cracked.
There was a strange weight on her right arm.
She looked down and saw a metal cuff, not very bulky but definitely not thin. There was a screen set into it, and a few lights, but besides that it was a uniform, featureless light gray. It didn't even shine.
Imra looked around again, then reached out with her mind for her teammates- and screamed.
When her mind had stopped feeling like someone had tuned into a frequency with nothing but static, she glared down at the cuff.
So that was the point- electrocution if you used your powers.
She looked around for a third time, more carefully. There had to be cameras somewhere.
There was the slight sound of static and Imra glanced at the cuff again. A man's face had come up on the screen and started to talk.
"Hello, Legionnaires," the man said. "Welcome to Simballi. Don't be surprised if you've never heard of it- that's the idea. I'm Otto Orion, your gamesmaster for today."
Gamesmaster?
"The rules are simple. One of you gets to the top of a hill marked on this map-"
Orion's face disappeared and was replaced with a projected 3-D map that held still for a moment before zooming in on the hill in question.
He kept talking.
"-and reaches this old idol-"
The map zoomed in again to show a tall statue on the peak of the hill.
"-and you all go free. If none of you get there, you all die."
Imra sucked in a breath. What?
Orion's face came back.
"These cuffs you're wearing monitor your power usage. If you try to use it to cheat, all the cuffs –everyone's, not just your own, blow up and you bleed to death. If you try to tamper with the cuff, it's same outcome. Oh, also- only one of you can get to the top of that hill. If more than one of you survives to that point, you have to fight it out."
Imra glared at the man. No. She was not doing this. She was not going to fight her friends.
"Additionally- this game is organized in rounds around checkpoints-your maps will lead you there. At least one person has to come out each round."
Orion smiled unpleasantly.
"And there's no way of telling if anyone has been knocked out of the game before you reach a checkpoint, so it's a good idea to attack anyone you come across. Have fun, and I hope you enjoy whatever stay you have on Simballi. Ready, set- go."
The door to her cell opened with a swish and Imra ventured out. The door shut behind her.
She straightened up and looked around. Simballi, wherever it was, was a wilderness paradise- tall trees, hanging vines, and undergrowth everywhere.
Tentatively, she reached out with her mind. When there was no electric zap, she went farther.
Garth- Rokk- Tinya- Luornu- Dirk- Gim- Troy- Nura- Jan-
Wait- if I can hear everyone and we're supposed to be searching for each other…
Dawnstar? Where was Dawnstar?
Imra turned her mind to the skies.
Garth jumped at the second unexpected crack, but kept running towards the first checkpoint.
Dawnstar'll win this for us. She'll fly to the checkpoint, wait around- we'll be out of here in no time, he thought to himself.
But it's still not fair only she can fly.
Dawnstar had immediately hunted for an area large enough for her to get up a running start. It had taken a bit too long, the cuff beeping insistently at her each time she got off the 'path' it had drawn across the map.
She had wished she could bash it against a tree to make it stop, but she could take the risk after what Orion had said.
Eventually she'd found a suitable clearing and now she was soaring over the treetops towards the hill.
This was going to be too easy.
A crack rang out below her and something hit the base of her wing.
Dawnstar screamed and grabbed it, feeling the blood running between her fingers. There was something stuck in her wing.
There was a familiar, faint smell in the air. Smoke.
Smoke. Bang. Gunpowder.
That barbarian had hit her with a bullet!
There was another crack and an identical burning pain in her other wing. It crumpled and Dawnstar plummeted towards the tree canopy.
Cosmic Boy slowed and tried to figure out where this next 'checkpoint' was. He walked slowly around the area that seemed to match up with the map, and then his cuff started making one long noise.
He sat down quickly and the noise stopped.
He didn't have to wait long for the others- Colossal Boy, then Tyroc, Tinya, and the others followed in quick succession.
Lighting Lad was last, and looked around in puzzlement between taking deep breaths.
"I was sure Dawnstar would've been here first…"
Everyone's cuffs blipped on at the same moment.
"You should say thank you, Legionnaires," Orion said, sounding eerie as his voice overlapped from ten different directions. "I took out the player for this round-"
"Dawnstar!" Sun Boy said quietly, horrified.
"-but it's up to you for the rest. And don't try to weasel out of eliminating the competition, or I'll have to do it myself- and you'll never find them again."
The transmission cut off and new glowing lines appeared on the maps.
Everyone looked at each other for a moment, and then ran off in different directions.
Nura sighed and stopped moving.
"It's okay, Blok. I know you're there- and I've already resigned myself to the situation. Just be careful. I'd like to have a head when I wake up."
She closed her eyes.
There was a rustle from the bushes, and something flicked the side of her head.
Blok caught her as she fell and laid her gently against a tree.
Rokk ran blindly through the woods.
I can't purposefully attack them. I can't, part of him said.
But if you don't know if the others will, another part said. And if you have the opportunity, and you don't take it, and no one else did it, either, then that maniac who set this whole thing up is going to do it. You heard those cracks. That was him 'eliminating' Dawnstar.
How can I possibly face them if I do hurt them on purpose?
How can I possibly face them knowing I didn't take a chance on hurting them and left someone else to die?
He growled wordlessly, frustrated, and put on a burst of speed.
And ran into something.
Rokk recovered after a moment and looked over to see what he'd hit.
It was Sun Boy.
They stared at each other for a moment, unmoving.
"What are you going to do?" Dirk asked warily.
Rokk stood.
"I don't know. I don't like either option…"
Dirk stared at him, silently waiting for the 'but'.
He held a hand out towards his teammate.
"…but I'd rather not have anyone die."
Tyroc walked quickly through the forest, completely out of his element. He'd tripped already quite a few times, and was still cursing the trees.
He watched all around him warily, nerves jumpy from the unfamiliar surroundings.
But it wasn't enough.
Something broadsided him- hard. He fell to the ground and thrashed, trying to throw his opponent off.
There was no one there.
Troy stood slowly, staring into the undergrowth.
This time it attacked from behind, and he took a bad blow to the back of the head. He fell again, ears ringing.
Getting up was harder, but Troy managed it. He swayed a bit, a little unsteady on his feet.
This time Phantom Girl came at him from the front.
She appeared out of a tree trunk and tackled him head on.
He fell backwards and cracked his skull against the ground.
One of her hands was at the base of his neck, the other pulled back past her head in a fist.
Tinya looked at him, eyes wide and pleading.
"Sorry," she said softly, and struck.
The trees were on fire.
Dirk backed up, desperately trying to control his flame in the face of his fear and Rokk's 'friendly' assault.
Cos held out his hands towards the fires and twisted with his mind. The fire wavered and twirled outward from the trees in long ribbons. The Legionnaire drew his hands closer together and the fire came off the leaves completely and promptly burned itself out.
"How did you do that?" Dirk asked incredulously, forgetting his terror for a moment.
Rokk was breathing heavily.
"It's- in your name. Sun Boy. Stars have- electromagnetic fields. Fire is a sort of- smaller sun. I control- magnetism."
He looked up at Dirk through his sweat-matted hair, tired from the intense heat and the strain of controlling the fire.
He held out a hand and the fires around Dirk's hands writhed and turned back on him. Dirk yelped, instinctively reacting to the danger, and immediately put them out.
Rokk straightened and held both hands out.
"Don't move," he pleaded. "I don't want to mess this up."
Dirk stared at him, eyes wide, as his whole body arched towards Rokk's outstretched hands.
"Wha-"
"Iron in your blood," Cos said through clenched teeth, voice strained. "Please- I don't want anyone to die."
He closed his eyes and prayed for a moment, then clenched his hands for a second.
All the blood in Dirk's body stopped flowing for an instant.
Immediately, Rokk opened his hands and hands and dropped his arms. Sun Boy crumpled to the ground.
Cosmic Boy ran over and dropped to his knees at the side of his friend, checking his pulse.
It was still there.
He took a deep, steadying breath; fought back the tears; and sat there for a moment before moving on.
Triplicate Girl jumped a few inches when the branch snapped.
She whirled, dropping into a defensive position- but saw no one.
There was something under her foot.
She looked down and laughed unsteadily. It had been her.
Lu took a deep breath, still shaken, and turned around.
:I'm sorry.:
Lu could feel Imra's painful inner struggle. It swamped her mind and she started to fall.
Saturn Girl took over and made her lie down.
:It's absolutely not enough just to say that,: she continued, tone agonized. :This is… entirely wrong in every way imaginable. But- you'll be safer this way. You'll be out of it.:
Her touch on Triplicate Girl's mind was gentle. She slid softly into unconsciousness.
Garth strained to hear the approach of his teammates.
Jan was already present, but everyone else was taking too long.
What if they got attacked? he worried. What if somebody ambushed them? Rokk's pretty fit, sure, but what sort of experience does he have? Trips? I have no idea what she can do. Tinya's had problems. Imra-
He backtracked. NO. I'm not going there.
There was a commotion in the underbrush nearby. Garth stood quickly and strained to see through the plants.
Blok pushed his way through the tall ferns, followed closely by Tinya, phasing her way through the plants whipping back into place.
On the other side of the small clearing that was the second checkpoint, Rokk and Imra emerged, nearly side by side.
Garth looked around.
"Sun Boy? Triplicate Girl? Tyroc?"
Jan looked at him.
"You're not going to ask about Dream Girl?"
Garth ignored him and looked at Imra questioningly.
"I took Triplicate Girl," she said quietly.
Cosmic Boy looked at her, then turned his face towards the Legionnaires, not meeting their eyes.
"Sun Boy."
Garth stared at them, shocked, then sat down on a tree stump.
"Dream Girl," Blok rumbled.
"I got Troy," Phantom Girl admitted.
Garth squeezed his eyes shut and folded his hands together, pressing them to his face.
Oh, please, Lord; no- it's actually happening. We're actually attacking each other.
The cuffs started beeping again, and he only opened his eyes once he had heard everyone else move off.
Rokk walked through the forest quietly, trying not to hate himself.
He kept trying to tell himself it was necessary. Sometimes you had to do things that… weren't the best idea to keep worse things from happening.
Right?
He sighed and looked around before collapsing heavily onto a fallen tree trunk; trying to clear his mind.
Rokk's struggle with thoughtlessness was interrupted by a rustle of leaves nearby. He looked up and saw Garth trying to untangle himself from a bush.
The other Legionnaire looked up. Shock flicked across his face for a moment, and then his expression settled into something cold.
"What, not going to take the opportunity to jump me?" he asked nastily.
Rokk sighed.
"I'd really like not too."
"Oh, so you are?" Garth growled, trying to push the stubborn plant of his leg.
"It's the only way to make sure everyone stays mostly safe. The way this- 'game' is set up makes the only acceptable choice fighting anyone you come across."
"Acceptable?" Garth asked icily.
Rokk flinched.
"Not acceptable. The lesser of two evils."
"I don't believe in the 'the lesser of two evils'," Garth said angrily, finally yanking the bush off. He stood and looked squarely at his teammate.
"What are you going to do?"
Cosmic Boy looked at him, face drawn.
"That's what Sun Boy asked," he said quietly, raising his hand.
It was easy to hear Blok coming.
Jan turned to face the direction the noise was coming from and waited.
A moment later, Blok emerged from between two trees.
They looked at each other for a moment.
"I assure you, this will have no bearing on our future relations," Blok finally rumbled.
Jan smiled.
"Thank you. I appreciate knowing that."
His smile took on a bit of an impish quality.
"So… may the best man win?"
Blok returned the smile.
"Not the best. Simply… one."
Electricity and magnetism met in the air, crackling and sizzling. The two powers danced around each other, neither gaining any ground, neither losing any.
"You took out Sun Boy and you can't handle this?" Garth scoffed. "I'm not even really trying."
"I don't think I am, either," Rokk said, and broke his connection. He dove to one side and let the lightning hit the ground behind him.
Garth let the intensity of his power grow, gathering around his fists in a tight, flickering sheet.
"What're you going to do? We're not in the middle of New Metropolis here, in case you hadn't noticed. No metal."
"I don't need metal."
"Oh yeah?"
He let the electricity go and sent it arcing towards his teammate.
Rokk held up his hands and concentrated hard. The lighting twisted in midair and grounded itself before it could reach him.
Lighting Lad stared at him.
"You can't do that!"
"Yes I can," Cosmic Boy said. "Don't you remember? Electromagnetism? I can control your power, Garth. Just like I did Dirk's."
His eyes widened and he threw bolt after bolt of electricity at Cos.
Rokk walked forward, deflecting each bolt.
Garth growled and let loose with a large ball of electricity. When he could see again, Rokk was nowhere to be seen.
He stood there in a moment of stunned silence.
I didn't really just do that? I didn't- Rokk's not really-
The leaves above him rustled and Garth dove to the side. Rokk landed where he'd been a moment before.
"How did you get up there?" he demanded.
Rokk stood and held his arms at his sides, palms pointed down. He rose into the air.
"No. Way. You can fly, too?! It's bad enough that Dawnstar can, but at least she's got wings! This is totally unfair! I should be able to fly!"
He scrambled away as Rokk started towards him.
"How are you doing that, anyway?"
"Planetary magnetic field. Same charges repel."
"This is still totally unfair," Garth grumbled, trying to get some cover in the undergrowth.
Rokk reached out a hand and yanked his friend into the air.
"Happy now?"
"You wish!" Garth yelled, and let loose with everything he had, making the air boom.
A minute later, Cos was trying to find someplace safe to put his unconscious friend.
Tinya and Imra were waiting at the third checkpoint. Cos staggered in, followed closely by Jan.
Rokk managed to control his fall to the ground.
"I got Garth."
"Blok," Jan said.
"You're doing well, Legionnaires," Orion said suddenly. No one bothered to look at their cuffs. "Very well. The next checkpoint is the bottom of the hill- but don't put it off too long. It will be sunset in two or three hours!"
The last four Legionnaires looked at each other, then walked away.
Tinya phased easily through the trees, cursing the power-monitoring cuff. She'd tried to phase all the way out of this set of dimensions- the cuff wasn't made of transdimensional material, and she should have been able to phase right back and have been free.
But somehow, the stupid thing had realized what she was doing and zapped her before she could completely phase out.
Of all the things- why had Orion decided to do this? Why had he kidnapped them and forced them into doing this? How had he done this?
Her temper, mostly suppressed until now, finally broke.
Orion thought he could hold her? No room, no cell, no forcefield could contain her. She just had to phase home to Bgtzl, take a few steps, and phase back to be past any obstacle! He couldn't do this!
Tinya stopped and let herself become completely solid again. She might as well put everything she had behind this.
Element Lad strolled leisurely through the trees, calm and unworried.
Presently, he became aware of someone staggering through the woods near him. He turned and started following the noise.
Before long the noise stopped, but Jan kept walking until he came upon the source- Cosmic Boy.
The Legion Leader was sitting down with his back against a tree, breathing heavily. Jan dropped lightly to his knees next to him.
"You don't look very good."
He didn't say anything.
"Cosmic Boy?"
"Why is this happening?" the other boy asked. "This- it's like a nightmare. I attacked Garth and Dirk earlier today. Attacked. I've tried to justify it to myself, but-"
Rokk sniffed and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, but the tears started silently falling anyway. His voice started to crack.
"I did things that I knew could hurt them- that could very well kill them! I knew that, and I did it anyway! How could I do that? What sort of a person promises t-to look after the people he's in charge of, to protect his friends, to help them, and then goes and does something like this? What if-"
Jan leaned forward and hugged him, silencing him.
"It's going to be all right, Rokk," he said comfortingly. "Have some faith in us."
He waited until he felt his teammate slump against him, knocked unconscious from the changed consistency of the nearby air, before he stood and started for the hill again.
Imra heard the scream and started to run, ignoring the whipping of low branches and plants against her body. She skidded to a stop on the decaying leaves littering the forest floor and stared in horror.
:What are you doing, Tinya?:
Phantom Girl was on the ground, electricity playing over her intangible body, teeth clenched. Her thoughts were clouded from the pain of the electrocution and her half-dimensional presence.
I-I'm getting out! I won't do this! I w-won't 'play' by Orion's rules! I won't take orders from him!
:You're going to kill yourself, Tinya!:
She didn't answer.
Imra's throat caught as Tinya screamed again, still trying. Her hand tightened around the fragmenting bark of the tree next to her.
She couldn't let this go on.
There were some things worth breaking rules for.
Saturn Girl slammed her way through the pain in Tinya's mind and struck once, as hard as she could.
Phantom Girl slumped against the ground, completely solid, the leaves around her letting off little wisps of smoke.
Imra turned away and headed for the hill, furious beyond words.
Element Lad emerged from the woods on one side of the large clearing at the foot of the hill.
Saturn Girl pushed aside the last of the undergrowth on the other side just in time to see him leave the tree line.
Both their cuffs switched on the checkpoint broadcast.
"Very, very good job, Legionnaires. I'm impressed. But remember the rules- only one you can get to the top of the hill."
Imra stood on her side of the clearing, fists clenched at her sides.
This whole situation was ridiculous. They shouldn't have been forced into doing this.
:I really hate this Otto Orion, whoever he is,: she told Jan, shifting her weight a little.
I have to say I don't care for him much either. Now- shall we finish this and get our friends back?
He extended one hand and the air around her twisted and started to solidify. She pushed her way through the unnaturally-heavy air and started to run.
From the cover of the trees, Otto Orion watched as the last two Legionnaires standing began to fight.
"This has certainly been the most interesting thing to happen in a while, hasn't it, Jakra?" he asked his companion.
"It has, sir," the butler said indifferently.
"Much more interesting than sitting in on yet another board meeting- they can do without me for this one, no matter how much they snivel about it. And infinitely more entertaining than watching a magnoball tournament. Though that Cosmic Boy was showing a bit of promise before he joined this little group."
"Just as you say, sir. Adam's school report arrived this morning."
Orion sighed.
"What's the scamp gone and done now?"
Jakra checked his omnicom. "It would appear that he's been stalking some of his underclassmen again, sir."
"He needs to learn that there's a time and a place for that," Orion said derisively. "He can't expect me to be around to clean up his messes forever. Let's get a closer look, shall we?"
Imra dodged another attack and saw movement out of the corner of her eye. It took a few minutes of maneuvering until she managed to get the area in her line of sight, but when she did she had a hard time stopping herself from doing something drastic.
She rolled out of the way of Jan's latest attempt at stopping her and used her momentum to stand up.
:What do you say to finishing this a different way?:
Orion leaned against a tree and watched as Saturn Girl planted her feet firmly on the ground. Her eyes began to glow pink and a mental blast powerful enough to leave a glowing trail through the air lashed out at Element Lad. The boy dove to one side and changed the air above her into lead and let it drop. Imra darted away, distracted momentarily, and retaliated with another mental blast.
Orion continued watching as the Legionnaires kept up their deadly repartee, leaving a pattern of disruption all through the clearing.
Jakra's eyebrows came together suddenly.
"Sir-"
Jan's line of flight brought him to his feet directly between the Legion's kidnappers and Saturn Girl.
The glow of Imra's eyes was bright enough to be seen across the clearing as she threw another mental bolt.
Element Lad ducked, lunged to the side, and came up facing Orion and Jakra, his hands glowing with power, just as Saturn Girl forced her will on the two men.
Her mental voice rang clearly through the open area.
:How dare you do this to us!: she snarled. Orion tried to wrench himself free of Imra's encompassing control, but she bent her power on his mind again and his joints locked up involuntarily.
:Don't even think of trying to get out of this, Otto Orion! We will get out of this, and we will find our friends, and we are going to be leaving this planet alive- with you. You are going to Takron-Galtos, and I hope it will be years before you get out!:
He must have said something in reply that Jan couldn't hear, because he could feel her increasing the mental pressure.
:Tell us how to get out of these cuffs!:
This time he heard the smug reply.
I'll never tell.
Imra smiled coldly.
:Too late, Orion. You thought of it already. There's a remote in his jacket pocket, Jan. Third button.:
He stepped forward and spent an awkward moment digging for the remote. When he pushed the button, the cuffs clicked and opened, falling to the ground.
:Do something about them,: Saturn Girl told her teammate, gesturing to the men.
She waited until he'd started transmuting the air into nitrogen before letting the kidnappers go and turning her mind to searching, widening her awareness.
:Dawnstar?:
The reply was a little tired and faint, but clear.
I will be fine, Saturn Girl. Orion's assistant came out of the forest after he shot me and took me somewhere to stitch up my wings. I will not be flying anywhere for a while, though.
Imra sighed in relief.
:That's fine, Dawnstar- where are you?:
Underground. The hill, I think. I could hear the fighting. Colossal Boy is here- I think he must have put up a fight when we were taken. I took the IV out of him, and I think he's waking up. The ship is here, too. It looks rather… damaged. I do not know if it will fly.
:We'll have to try. Wait for us and see if you can wake Gim up. We need to find everyone else and get off this planet- the sooner the better. I'm not staying here any longer than I have to.:
