Blood Gems

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO

If there was one thing Bait hadn’t expected to see today, it was The Atlantis.

Pinning his cyborg to the beach, Bait could not help but stare at the massive submarine as it rose from the ocean depths. He had never actually seen The Atlantis in person, but he had seen it in a vision given to him by his Blood Gem once, and the gigantic submarine that stood a mile or two off the coast of Mountain, New York was a perfect match for the sub he had seen in his vision two months ago. Switch was also staring at it uncomprehendingly, which Bait understood, because he was pretty sure that she hadn’t expected to see it today, either.

What the hell is The Atlantis doing here, of all things? Bait thought, twisting the arm of the cyborg underneath him as painfully as possible. I thought the G-Men were searching for it.

The Atlantis was the personal submarine of Tsunami, Bait and Switch’s dad. When Dad had been defeated two months ago, The Atlantis and its remaining crew members had fled into the Atlantic Ocean to avoid ending up in jail like Tsunami. The last Bait had heard about it, the NHA, INJ, and G-Men had been working hard to locate The Atlantis in order to arrest its remaining crew members.

Bait always thought it had been a waste of time, however. Without Tsunami or Jacques, its captain, to lead the crew, Bait had assumed that the crew would have devolved into some kind of civil war, especially after two months of staying underwater to avoid the authorities. Either that, or the crew would have run out of supplies and died of starvation and thirst, which would have caused The Atlantis to crash into an undersea mountain at some point, where it might eventually be discovered years later by deep sea divers with more money than sense.

Yet here it is, apparently perfectly functional and apparently also the source of these cyborgs, Bait thought, though Switch never mentioned Tsunami having cyborg divers on his crew.

Shaking his head, Bait slammed a fist into the back of the head of the cyborg he was sitting on and then stood up. He was about to shout a warning to Arachnid and the other students to watch out, but then a missile shot out of The Atlantis and flew toward the beach. It was an oddly shaped missile—more like a pod than a missile—but Bait knew that if it hit the beach, lots of people were going to die.

“Everybody, watch out!” Bait shouted as loudly as he could in order to be heard above the sounds of fighting. “Incoming missile!”

A handful of his fellow students glanced toward the missile, but the vast majority were too busy fighting the cyborg divers to notice. Not that there was much time to run away or destroy the missile, because it was coming hard and fast toward the beach like a bullet. Not sure what else to do, Bait fell to the ground and covered his head with both hands, hoping that he would somehow get lucky enough to survive the inevitable explosion.

But when the missile hit the sandy beach, there was no explosion at all. Instead, it sent tons of sand flying into the air, some of it falling on the students, some falling on the divers. Additionally, it had even crashed into one of the cyborgs, crushing it underneath its weight. The only remaining part of the cyborg was its right arm, which twitched weakly for a moment before it fell to the ground and went still.

The impact of the missile had gotten everyone’s attention now. Some of his fellow students glanced at it in surprise, while a handful of other students, including Tommy, had been knocked down onto their behinds by the impact. Arachnid was still busily fighting his three cyborgs, though he did seem to be aware of the missile given how he kept glancing at it. As for Switch, she was the closest student to the missile and had been knocked down when it crashed into the beach, though she didn’t look harmed, at least.

Why didn’t it blow up? Bait thought, taking his hands off his head and looking at the missile uncertainly. Is it broken? Or is it a delayed activation missile?

The front of the missile popped open, like the cockpit of an airplane. It slowly rose up, but apparently not quickly enough for whoever was on the inside, because someone kicked the lid open all the way and two people jumped out and landed on the beach.

The two people who had jumped out of the missile (though Bait was now thinking that it was more like an escape pod than a missile) were teenagers, probably not much older than Bait or Switch. One of them was a boy and the other a girl, though it was hard to tell if they were siblings or not due to the full-body costumes they wore. The boy wore a costume that was a solid blue, like the ocean, while the girl wore a costume that was a solid red. The boy was similar to Bait in terms of physique, while the girl was closer to Switch, if a bit thinner. They even had glowing gems in their chests, the boy’s red, the girl’s blue.

Who the hell are they? Bait thought. They look kind of like us, except evil.

Again, no one else was really paying attention to the new arrivals. Though the impact of their pod had briefly disrupted the battle, it had almost immediately resumed. As far as Bait could tell, he was the only person paying attention to the new arrivals. Even Switch wasn’t paying much attention to them. She was busily trying to get sand out of her dark hair and grumbling all the while.

Whoever they are, they probably aren’t on our side if they came from The Atlantis, Bait thought. Better introduce myself, then.

Bait rose from the sand, but before he could run toward them, the twins ran toward Switch. As they ran, the boy drew a gun out of his pocket, which looked like the kind of gun that fired powerless pellets, and aimed it at Switch.

Alarmed, Bait ran across the beach, ignoring the battles raging on all around him, and then gave himself one super-powered jump. He flew the rest of the way, past the pod, over the new twins, and landed next to Switch, who had just noticed the twins running toward her. As soon as Bait landed next to Switch, the new twins stopped. The boy looked at Bait with a cocky grin, while the girl looked at him with apprehension, as if she hadn’t expected him to appear so suddenly.

“Stop right where you are,” said Bait, holding out a hand. “Unless you want to get a super-powered punch to the face, that is.”

The boy chuckled. “You’re way more vicious than he told us. ‘Course, you could just be a paper tiger, eh?”

The boy had a Canadian accent, which took Bait by surprise, because he hadn’t been expecting that.

“I wouldn’t let my guard down around him, brother,” said the girl, who for some reason had a British accent. “Remember, these two defeated Tsunami. Best not to take them lightly.”

“Overestimating an enemy is every bit a mistake as underestimating one, sister,” said the boy. “Personally, I doubt they will put up much of a fight.”

“Are you saying we’re weak?” said Switch. She scrambled to her feet and glared at the twins. “Because I’d love to hear you say that after I break your jaw.”

“And you are even more vicious than he told us,” said the boy in an amused voice. “And quite cute, too. Perhaps you and I should go out after this is all over. Ever been to Tim Horton’s?”

“Brother, stop flirting with the enemy,” the girl said, slapping him on the shoulder. “We’re supposed to capture them, not take them out on dates to Tim Horton’s.”

“I know, I know, but I can have a bit of fun in the process, can’t I?” said the boy. “Lighten up and enjoy life for once.”

Bait had the bizarre sensation of watching gender-swapped versions of himself and Switch arguing, but then he shook his head and said, “Who the heck are you two and what do you want? And where did you get The Atlantis? Are these cyborgs under your control?”

“You ask too many questions, you know that?” said the boy. “But you’re right. It was very rude of us not to introduce ourselves. We’re not Americans, after all. We actually have manners, like civilized people.”

“We’re civilized,” Switch snapped. She stepped forward. “Why don’t you say that to my face?”

“You know, you don’t have to prove all the nasty stereotypes we Brits have about you Americans,” the girl said with a sigh. “But I guess that is a very American response to being insulted, isn’t it?”

Switch opened her mouth to snap at the girl, but then the boy raised a hand and said, “Enough with the banter. I’m Fuse, and this is my sister, Ion. We’re twins, in case you couldn’t tell. Like you two. Superhuman twins, at that.”

“If you’re twins, then how come you have a Canadian accent and she has a British accent?” said Bait, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. “Shouldn’t you have the same accents?”

“We don’t have to explain a damn thing to you,” said Fuse. “For that matter, we don’t have to explain to you how we got The Atlantis, either. I believe America has this thing called the First Amendment, which allows us to refuse to answer questions we don’t want to answer.”

“Actually, Fuse, I think we can answer their questions,” said Ion. She gestured toward The Atlantis. “If, that is, they agree to come with us to The Atlantis and be our prisoners.”

Bait and Switch stepped backwards in unison.

“Yeah, that’s not happening,” said Switch, shaking her head. She threw her hair back. “You got sand in my hair. That is an unforgivable offense, no matter who does it.”

Fuse snorted. “You sound like Ion did when I switched her shampoo with glue. I don’t understand why girls are so obsessed about their—”

Ion punched Fuse in the shoulder. “Shut up, brother. The longer we talk, the more time we waste. Remember, we were supposed to arrive on the beach, grab both of these idiots, and then drag them back—kicking and screaming if necessary—to The Atlantis, like we were told.”

Fuse rubbed his shoulder, though he didn’t appear to be in great pain. “Right, right, whatever. Yes, let’s do what we came here for and then head back to base. The plan must be completed or our master won’t be happy about it.”

“Who’s your master?” said Bait. “And what is this plan you’re talking about?”

“It doesn’t matter who their master is or what plan they’re plotting,” said Switch. She took a fighting stance. “If you think we’re just going to come with you quietly, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“He said you would resist,” said Fuse. He aimed his gun at Switch. “Which is why we have orders to use as much force as necessary to subdue both of you.”

Fuse fired the gun, which sent a powerless pellet flying toward Bait and Switch. The twins separated quickly, running in opposite directions and allowing the pellet to fly harmlessly past them. It hit the sand a few feet away and exploded, sending up a yellow cloud of powerless gas, just as Bait had thought it would.

“Nice try, but bad aim,” said Switch. “Let me show you how a real sharpshooter does it.”

Switch raised her hand and fired a single nail bullet at Fuse. The bullet knocked the gun out of his hands, which went flying well out of his reach as Fuse jumped back in surprise, holding his hand as if it had been burned on a stove top.

“Damn it,” said Fuse, looking at Switch. “You’re a bit faster than I thought, but that’s not a problem. I like fast girls.”

Ion rolled her eyes. “Fuse, what did I say about flirting with the enemy? Let me handle her.”

Ion snapped her fingers. All of a sudden, Switch froze in place, her eyes wide with shock. She was still conscious, as far as Bait could tell, but she wasn’t moving.

“Switch!” Bait said. “What did you do to her?”

“Froze her nerves,” said Ion without looking at Bait. “It’s my power. I can control a person’s nervous system and control them like puppets if I want. Unfortunately, it only works as long as I maintain eye contact with the target.”

Bait smirked. “Thanks for the information. All I need to do is break your eye contact with Switch and she’ll be safe.”

Bait rushed toward Ion, his fists at his sides, but then Fuse suddenly rushed toward him. Though Fuse was still unarmed, he didn’t show any fear as he ran at Bait.

But Bait didn’t mind. He’d just knock Fuse down and then take down Ion shortly after. One solid punch to the jaw and Fuse would go down for sure.

Pulling his fist back, Bait hurled a punch at Fuse. But Fuse raised his arms in an X-shaped formation and some kind of energy barrier appeared over his arms.

When Bait’s fist slammed into the barrier, it didn’t crack or even budge. He stared at the strange blue energy barrier in surprise, while on the other side of the translucent barrier, Fuse smirked.

“What is this?” said Bait. “A barrier?”

“Hard light construct, my American friend,” said Fuse without the slightest strain in his voice. “Whatever I can imagine, I can make, though I need light in order to do it. Still, a useful power to have, given how one half of the Earth is always bathed in light from a giant star for twelve hours at a time.”

Fuse shoved forward. Bait stumbled backwards, but before he could recover, Fuse’s barrier turned into a fist made of energy and flew toward Bait, gaining in size as it did so.

Bait caught the giant energy fist just as it slammed into him. While it didn’t knock him over, it did send him crashing backwards through the beach, sending chunks of sand flying everywhere as he desperately attempted to stop the fist’s motion. He eventually did come to a stop, but only after planting his feet firmly in some wet sand, and even then he still had to put a lot of effort into keeping himself from being pushed further back.

“Amazing,” said Fuse, who held his fist out toward Bait. He still didn’t sound like he was straining in the slightest. “Very few people have ever been able to stop, much less survive, my energy fists. That super strength of yours must be something special.”

Bait didn’t respond, because he was too busy trying not to get crushed under Fuse’s energy fist. He was thinking about how it didn’t feel like most objects. How, despite being solid and firm, it didn’t seem to have much, if any, mass, which meant he couldn’t simply break it apart or push it back the way he could something like a boulder. All he could do was hold it back, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he would be able to do that.

But I need to get rid of it somehow, Bait thought, his eyes flicking toward Ion and Switch. As long as Ion has Switch under her gaze, she’ll never be free. But I’m not in any position to save her, much less myself, from these freaks.

“I can see you straining, Bait,” said Fuse, his voice still amused. “And look, I’m not sweating even slightly. Any second now, you’ll give in, and then—”

Fuse was interrupted when a gob of web came out of nowhere and slammed into his mouth. Fuse gagged and staggered backwards. At the same time, his hard light construct vanished and Bait—who had been forcing it back with all of his strength—suddenly staggered forward and fell onto his hands and knees on the wet sand. Gasping in surprise, Bait looked up and saw Fuse desperately clawing at the thick gob of web which covered his mouth, which Bait realized must have shattered his concentration and caused his energy fist to disappear.

But where did the web come from? Bait thought. Was it—

“Brother, are you okay?” said Ion, without looking at Switch. “I thought I heard—”

She was interrupted by a loud thwip and a thick line of webbing suddenly shot out of nowhere and struck her. The webbing wrapped around her body, tying her arms to her sides and making her fall over in surprise. As soon as Ion’s eye contact was broken with Switch, Switch walked backwards several feet away from the new twins, gasping for air and looking at Ion with disbelief and confusion, as if she didn’t know what happened.

But Bait did and he looked in the direction from which the webbing had come and saw exactly who had fired it.

A man in a green and purple costume stood next to Fuse and Ion’s missile, his hands held out and his web-like cape flowing in the wind. Though his mask completely covered his face, Bait knew that the masked man was likely frowning, if not outright scowling.

Fuse ripped the last of the webbing off his mouth and, noticing the man in the spider costume, growled, “Hey, who do you think you are? You interrupted our fight.”

“I’m Arachnid,” said the man, his voice low and intimidating. “And you nearly killed two of my students. A mistake I don’t intend to let either of you stay conscious long enough to regret making.”