Incandescent Guardians Read online

  Incandescent Guardians

  Mythic: Book One

  Author: D. R. Rosier

  Copyright 2020. This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, Places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Afterword:

  About the Author

  Other erotic fantasies by D. R. Rosier:

  Non-erotic Fantasy titles:

  Book Description

  Chapter One

  The view of the Earth from orbit was breathtaking, and it never looked the same twice. The silence had an impact as well as I flew the final habitat up to the new international space station. The old one had been destroyed two years ago during a quickening of superpowers in orbit. It’d also been extremely old, the new one was far more advanced including an artificial gravity system courtesy of a mad scientist in Russia.

  Of course, half the purpose of the station was for zero G experiments, but it would be easily turned off in the lab spaces. It would also allow long term stationing without fear of bone loss, and the ability to eat normal foods and so much more. My contract was up however, once I’d delivered the last section. The U.S. government was paying me a whole lot of money to deliver, and they were probably saving billions by doing so instead of using rockets and thrusters only to have to build it in orbit.

  Sky said, “You’re a tenth of a degree off course.”

  Sky was my artificial intelligence. She had a naturally sounding dulcet voice, and she was worth every cent that I’d paid a mad scientist for her. Especially when it came to orbital mechanics and things of that nature. Without her, I’d have had real problems getting anywhere in space. Even just orbit was a vast thing, never mind going anywhere else in the solar system.

  The HUD in my space suit showed the course problem. I guessed I’d been a little distracted by the view. It was so peaceful and calm, so unlike being on the surface. With a thought, the final habitat section realigned with the correct course to rendezvous with the rest of the station. Then I’d just have to slide it in, and let the astronauts already up there secure it with bolts and then hook up the power and air.

  My name was Bob Williams, and the day I’d become a super almost two years ago I’d decided not to be a hero. At least, not legally, but more on that not legally part later. Mostly because of my large family. I had two sisters and a boatload of cousins I refused to put in danger. Most supervillains weren’t that evil to go after family in revenge, but all it took was one vindictive psychopath in the crowd, and there was more than one in the crowd of supervillains.

  The government had given up on controlling supers so rigidly after shutting down the MTF, but one of the new rules to be a hero required no masks. It was a stupid law, so the supers willing to put on the proverbial cape and fight supervillain crime had been pared down to the ones that no longer had family or wouldn’t be taking large risks in exposing themselves.

  I agreed with some of the other rules. There were applications to weed out the sadistic ones who just loved the violence, and anyone that killed during a takedown had to be evaluated before they were cleared to work the streets again. It stopped the heroes that didn’t care about justice, and only about money through branding, violence, or even the ones that just wanted the easy sex from super groupies by being visible out on the streets.

  I’d started an aerospace firm instead. It’d started out slowly, but after a year of retrieving old satellite space junk and putting up new satellites, all for a tiny percentage of what a rocket launch would cost, it’d taken off. My record in not breaking even one of the new or old satellites also helped in getting the contract to put up the space station which had been built on the ground.

  That last had a lot to do with my powerset, which included telekinesis. Some satellites were extremely sensitive to vibration, and my power could not only lift a large satellite and fly it to orbit, but I could hold all the parts completely still while doing it. Which was something most supers couldn’t do at all. Any A-class super flyer in a space suit could lift a satellite, but it might not work when it got there.

  My telekinesis was a lot more variable than most. Most of what I could do was done with that power, though I also had a shield, empathy, and could teleport. Teleportation was rather limited though, I could only teleport to places I’d been, or within line of sight. Not to people, or anything else that moved, which is why I had to fly things into and retrieve them from orbit.

  “How’s that look, Sky?”

  She replied, “Adequate.”

  I grinned, my A.I. was stingy with the compliments. She was more intuitive than A.I.s on the market, but she wasn’t sentient.

  It was just a few minutes later when I slid the section carefully into place. The section latched on, and I was done with the contract. That is, assuming the thing worked right after the astronauts hooked it up.

  With a thought and act of will, I appeared back in my office which was set up in Chicago. The tight spacesuit disengaged and expanded, making it easy to pull off and hang up. I’d swap the CO2 scrubbers, oxygen bottle, and power pack before my next flight as part of the checklist, so I was finished.

  I teleported home and jumped into the shower. The skintight spacesuit was comfortable and good at temperature control, but it always made me sweat for some reason. Twenty minutes later I pulled on khakis and a warm pullover long-sleeve collared dark blue shirt. It was late Spring in Chicago, almost June, but the cooler weather just didn’t want to let go.

  Sky said, “Ten million dollars was just deposited into your account, and there’s a message from the NASA director thanking you for another smooth job.”

  The U.S. had been responsible for five of the fifteen sections, so I’d made a whole lot of cash off of it. Usually I made less than that, but the section had been a whole lot bigger than a small satellite, or even one of those gigantic communication satellites. I didn’t feel guilty for it, it’d have taken at least ten launches at fifty million a pop to send it with rocket technology, and then they’d have to do a whole lot of dangerous space walks to put it together.

  Sky added, “Michelle also left you a message.”

  I smiled. Michelle was a red-haired goddess, and I hadn’t seen her in a couple of days. We’d been dating for two months and things seemed to be going well. Which sadly for me, was close to a record since I’d become a super.

  “Content?”

  Sky paused a beat longer than usual, then said, “Perhaps you should see for yourself. I don’t believe I could express the content correctly.”

  Huh, that was odd. If I didn’t know better, I’d have said Sky was reluctant to tell me. I walked to the kitchen and picked up my cell phone from the kitchen counter, I didn’t take it with me into space because it wouldn’t work up there. I had a satellite communication system in the suit which was for work only.

  Sky of course, was hooked up for sound both in my high-rise condo and at the office. When I was anywhere else but those places, she’d have to use the comms systems in one of my suits.

 
The moist red eyes and regret on her face as I brought up the video message, was my first clue that this wasn’t going to be a good message. I stared for a moment as my gut tightened, then let out breath as I hit play. She of course, broke up with me. Citing emotional unavailability, keeping secrets from her, and not being around enough. Flaking on dates, not being honest and opening up, and the list went on.

  Damn, and I’d thought it was going so well. The last time I’d seen her, we’d had a great night out and she’d spent the night after. And by spent the night I mean we did wild things together, naked. I really didn’t see it coming, at all.

  At the same time, I wasn’t all that surprised. I did have secrets, and I didn’t like to talk about the past or what I’d lost on the day I’d quickened. I’d never cheated on her, though I could see it in her eyes that she’d thought I had been. I’d also disappeared on her more than once on a date after getting a text from Sky. Everything she said was true, but her conclusions couldn’t have been more wrong.

  Damn, and I’d really liked that one.

  Of course, the secrets had nothing to do with her and I, or our relationship.

  I’d mentioned earlier, I’d decided not to become a hero, or at least not legally. I’d promised to explain that.

  The truth?

  I was Mythic, Chicago’s most notorious superhero vigilante. Superhero vigilantes had become a real thing because of that stupid law I’d mentioned, the unmasking law. Of course, the vigilantes were all in the supervillain database, but we fought supervillains in masks, and defied the government. If I was ever caught, I’d probably lose everything, but it was what it was. I followed my conscience, and I kept my family safe from the few supervillains who were truly murderous.

  It also made keeping a relationship with a woman virtually impossible, but I had no desire for empty hookups with superhero groupies. I’d been twenty-three when I quickened, and my college and party days had been over already, I’d already learned those life lessons and empty sex had almost no appeal and always caused problems.

  It was also interesting to keep my identities separate, Mythic after all, was not telekinetic.

  I was Bob Williams, businessman in the space business, and a telekinetic super.

  As Mythic, I used my powers so that I didn’t appear telekinetic at all. The world thought Mythic was an S-class super with true invulnerability, flight, strength, and magic. For obvious reasons. The government wouldn’t have to work all that hard to connect the dots if I used my registered powers as a non-combatant super citizen who stayed out of the game.

  Most of the vigilantes who were caught, were caught for that very reason.

  Outside of running various tests, all people had to go on was what it appeared the super was doing, and it was ridiculously easy as a telekinetic with diverse control to appear to be not telekinetic at all. Telekinesis didn’t just move big stuff around, it could change states of matter on the particle level, at least mine could. All four states of matter were mine to control, even light particles could be blocked. I could vibrate air violently faster to turn it into plasma or take the water vapor in the air and cool it by slowing molecular vibration which turned it into water or ice. Or any number of other things that appeared magical in nature based on other powersets people see each and every day on the streets and in the news and social media.

  Even just picking up a boulder and tossing it with my mind could be explained away with magic if I put on a little light show while doing it. I hadn’t gotten caught yet because I was careful, and I was also extremely powerful. Plus, if too many registered heroes showed up to arrest me, I could just teleport away, magically of course.

  Controlling light particles meant I could put on a real show, even change the frequency and color of light which added to the impression it was magic.

  The only thing my power, or my shield, couldn’t protect me from or manipulate was pure force with the exception of another telekinetic or mind control power. Like gravity, there were no particles to block, it just was. Real magic was a problem as well, I could block fire, plasma, or even energy bolts made from magic, but something that was a pure magical effect went right through my shields.

  It was a managed risk, since my body was as frailly human as anyone else’s underneath my powers.

  The government had tried to end vigilantism once by simply not taking in a villain that had been wrapped up neatly in bow for the authorities. They figured if the supervillains weren’t taken in and just let go on a technicality, the vigilantes would stop. That tactic had immediately backfired and been dropped when the same villain proceeded to kill a whole lot of people in a crime spree the very next day. The national outcry against it had the government reluctantly taking advantage of vigilante justice to get supervillains off the street, even as they tirelessly tried to take us down.

  Lastly, I used my telekinesis to disguise my voice. It took me a little time to get the hang of it, but I was able to make my voice lower and bit gravelly. Reason being is sound was simply vibrations propagated by air, changing that low-level vibration was easy enough but it’d taken a lot of practice to do it subconsciously and automatically.

  Voice matching was also a reason a lot of vigilantes got bagged.

  Back to the breakup that day. I’d gone through that kind of thing more than once the last two years, and it sucked. Emotionally unavailable, secretive, cheater, all those things were put out there every time.

  It was still a bit early in the day, but I went straight to the fridge and pounded back a beer like I had in my college days. I slowed down at number four, my powers tended to do weird shit if I was truly drunk, but a strong buzz was exactly what the doctor ordered.

  I’d really liked that one, maybe even loved her a bit. She was also a bit of freak in bed, in a good way. Why did women have to know everything? Was who I was in the moment, and treating them well, not enough?

  Chapter Two

  The super suit was dark blue with a tinge of purple, and skin tight. The boots I wore were a shade or two darker, and there were mystical designs in white scrolling down the arms and over to the chest where a large design sat. The mask fully enclosed my head and neck except for my lips and lower jaw, and eye holes, with similar white designs on the forehead. It looked suitably magical in nature at any rate.

  My head was still a bit fragile from the previous night’s bender, but that kind of sinking into alcohol for comfort wasn’t something I usually did. I was far from over it, but I also wasn’t one to wallow. I needed to move on, and to do something useful. For the moment I had no jobs to put something into space or retrieve anything from orbit, and an illicit patrol over the city sounded like a good plan.

  I grabbed a suitable amount of light particles as I teleported from my apartment to about a thousand feet over the city in a random place. While I teleported, I was also releasing that light in a bright golden aura that blasted away from me as I arrived. Teleport came in very handy, no one would ever catch me leaving or returning home in my super suit.

  Just one more thing that helped isolate my super vigilante identity.

  My shield was tight in to my body, and flight was a matter of thought and telekinesis to hold me in the air. To the casual observer it looked no different from those supers with an actual flight power.

  I lowered down to building level and started to fly around the city. More than one person below started to snap pictures. The government hated me and would’ve loved to take me down, but the average person on the street tended to be on the vigilantes’ side. They remembered how bad it got just two years ago when the government had limited the supers to one official team per city, and with the new law there weren’t all that many more official heroes even now.

  Most of us were vigilantes.

  A loud crack sounded next to me, and I glanced over.

  “Hey gorgeous, you gave me quite a jolt.”

  She rolled her eyes playfully, “Your puns are getting worse, Mythic. But I’ll take the complimen
t.”

  I grinned, and sighed in faux despair, “But no date.”

  Lady Lightning was another vigilante. Obviously, jolt had been the key word in my sad pun. In my defense my brain was still a little fogged. Her powers were considerable, she could fire lightning that would merely stun a human like a Taser, or a bolt of lightning that made a thunderstorm’s lightning look weak in comparison. She also had flight, a shield, and could move at the speed of lightning for small amounts of time. Given light could travel around the world several times a second, a very short time was long enough to get just about anywhere she wanted to go in a split second.

  I had no idea how she wasn’t busted already, her powerset was kind of unique and impossible to disguise, but she’d been around as long as I had. Maybe she’d never registered. It was rare, usually people quickened in a way that was impossible to cover up, and were forced to register when they got help, but maybe she was one of the rare cases.

  She had lovely light blue eyes, and straight long golden blonde hair that looked a little wild in the stiff breeze above the buildings. The rest of her features except her bright white smile were hidden by a mask, but the skintight pink short shorts and tight half shirt super suit with lightning bolts on them left very little to the imagination as far as her body. She was lithe, curvy, toned, and short at five foot two, with rounded pert B cups and a sexy petite bubbled ass.

  She was also a firecracker and a huge flirt, which is why I felt safe enough calling her gorgeous. She usually had a smile on her mostly covered face, but at my last sally she lost it.

  “Damn, another one?”

  I asked, “What makes you say that?”

  She smirked, “You only teasingly ask me out when your single.”

  Oh, right. Good point.

  “Who said I’m teasing?” I asked with a grin as my eyes wandered the bounty of her body.

  She rolled her eyes, and she had a point. I was in no hurry to reveal my true identity any more than she was. Dating was impossible between us, without taking that risk. Even if I did trust her that much, which I sort of did, any captured vigilantes had their powers suppressed and were interrogated by a telepathic mind reader. Revealing ourselves to each other guaranteed that we’d both see the inside of a Super Max if either of us were ever caught.