Incandescent Guardians Read online

  I shrugged, “Didn’t?”

  She smirked, “I didn’t want you to stop flirting with me, or for it to get awkward. I also didn’t expect for things to… advance? We don’t know a single thing about each other.”

  I smirked back, “Sure we do. I know you light up my life.”

  She groaned, “You need to go read some poetry or something.”

  I snorted, “So, does she know about our flirting affair?”

  It was completely goofy, but I didn’t want to lose our easy banter either even in the face of our dual realization that we kind of wanted to tear each other’s clothes off and go at it. I could still see it in her eyes, though not as intensely as in that silent moment. It was also out of the question, because she had a girlfriend was reason enough, but there was a whole pile of other reasons as well.

  She bit her lip, “Actually, she does. She… doesn’t mind.”

  I got the impression she’d just left a whole lot of information out of that reply, but I wasn’t going to push, no more than I’d shared my crash and burn with Michelle.

  “She’s a lucky woman.”

  Damnit, why did I say that? I’d sounded the wistful one that time. More silence dragged on.

  She finally said, “Damned right she is. Well, I should get going, it’s late and the sun comes early. See you tomorrow night?”

  I nodded, “First round is on me.”

  She grinned, “That would be a terrible waste of good alcohol, but if you really want it on you.”

  I sighed faux mournfully, “Now who’s telling bad puns?”

  She winked playfully, and then disappeared in a flash of lightning.

  I just floated there for a few minutes and tried to clear my mind. When I got home it took me a while to get back to sleep. The adrenaline and worry in the fight had my heart pumping, and it took an hour or so to work out of my system.

  Chapter Four

  Katie’s pub had light wood floors and walls, with darker stained wood high tables and bar stools. The jukebox was playing music I could take or leave, and at a low enough volume to make conversation easy. The bar was solid oak and looked as old as it was well-maintained and cared for. The atmosphere was relaxed with a few lively conversations going around while I sipped on my lager and waited at the corner table.

  The door opened, and the crowd gave a rowdy cheer as Lady Lightning walked in and sauntered over to the table. The teasing smile and sparkle in her blue eyes actually relaxed me, maybe we hadn’t screwed up our playful relationship last night at all. She also had on what looked like a brand-new suit, I’d gone through a few myself the last couple of years. It was the same pink tight half shirt and short shorts with lightning them, just not singed around the edges.

  “Hey, gorgeous.”

  She grinned saucily, “My, my. You’re a big one, aren’t you,” her eyes flickered down teasingly, suggesting she wasn’t referencing my height or wide muscled shoulders, then asked sultrily, “This seat taken?”

  Wow, I guess flirting really was still on the table. That had been a little over the top, even for her.

  I replied in a deep suggestive tone, “You can sit anywhere you’d like,” as I returned the favor and devoured her body with my eyes.

  She looked at my lap longingly, as if that’s where she wanted to sit, even as the corners of her mouth were twitching in suppressed amusement. Then she smirked as she sat down on the empty bar stool and ordered an Irish coffee from the waitress.

  “And they say lightning only strikes once.”

  She giggled, breaking the flirt chain, and changed the subject, “Ele should be here soon, I’m excited about this plan of yours. I’m glad you put it out there.”

  I nodded, and then took a sip of the beer before replying.

  “Things seem to be getting more dangerous,” I agreed, “And we make a great team.”

  We both turned our heads as the door opened, and yet another rowdy cheer went up as Elegant Prodigy walked in.

  She had a graceful walk. Painfully shy personality or not, the woman’s body moved effortlessly in a way that drew a lot of eyes in that black full body catsuit with silver accoutrements. She wasn’t even trying, she was just sensually graceful in all her movements. I imagined if I told her that, she’d overthink it and ruin it.

  She smiled shyly but brightly as she took the third bar stool around the small round table we sat at.

  “Hi,” she said, as she pulled out two small silk pouches and handed them to us.

  “Those are the data routers, there’s a couple of options on the communications pieces. A chargeable ear piece, or a subcutaneous device I can implant right below the ear canal. That kind of thing can’t be lost or stolen, and it works off a combination of bio-electricity and wireless power. I chose the latter, but I get it if you’re uncomfortable with the idea.”

  I asked, “How would that work? I mean, turning it off and on.”

  She bit her lip, “It would always be on to a certain extent. The A.I.s can switch the GPS tracker off and on if we’re going on or off patrol automatically, or you can do it manually with voice command. There’ll also be voice commands to turn on transmitting your words or maintaining your privacy, all locally parsed on the device itself. It would also automatically notify you if any of us were on patrol or when we stop patrolling.

  “Lastly, even when one of us is on patrol, you can mute their transmitted voices if you wish for privacy and you aren’t. Of course, the A.I.s will be able to override that, to tell you if one of us is in trouble or has called for help.”

  That was the most she’d ever spoken without a blush or awkward pause since I’d met her. It must be the subject matter. She was passionate about her inventions and toys.

  I nodded, “That sounds fine, really cool actually.”

  Lady Lightning nodded, “I’m in too, how much did this cost?”

  Elegant Prodigy smiled shyly, “Don’t worry about that, I threw it together with things in my lab, just cost me a few hours of work. I have a fabricator, and carbon is cheap. There’s an outer layer of silver so your body won’t reject it, but very little since it’s only about the size of a small bead.”

  “Carbon?”

  She replied, “Carbon can be hard, flexible, a conductor, and an insulator, all depending on which allotrope of it is being used. The device is one solid piece of different allotropes for the circuitry, except for one or two things it was built around. Transmitter medium and power source, specifically.”

  She stood up, and then pulled out a small tube device out of her silver belt pack. She rounded the table, and that’s when I realized she’d be doing it right here. She held the end of the tube against my neck, and I winked at her when I felt the small sting as it was inserted right under the skin.

  The sting faded away quickly, and I was surprised to find nothing but smooth skin when I touched the spot. Minor surgery in a bar couldn’t be sterile but considering all the rest I was sure she had that covered.

  She took care of Lady Lightning next, and then sat back down in her chair as she put the tube away.

  She said, “Say hello, Angel.”

  Angel’s voice was sweet, but there was a dry humor in it when she said, “Hello, Angel.”

  Lady Lightning giggled, “Hello, Angel.”

  The next few minutes Elegant Prodigy explained how to turn off and on the various functions she’d already explained to us a minute earlier. Her dulcet smoky tones really worked for her well when she didn’t speak haltingly. She was kind of turning me on, just going over technical specs.

  I said, “I’ll introduce my A.I. after I get her on the router.”

  Angel said, “I’m looking forward to it.”

  Elegant Prodigy asked, “Group names?”

  Lady Lightning said, “Unless you object, I like Incandescent Guardians.”

  She smiled, “That works for me.”

  We all posed for a selfie, drinks raised, then sat back down.

  Angel said, “I’m
sending that out to a lot of people and sites. Hopefully it sticks.”

  That was true enough, more than one team had been named something else by a pundit on the super channel. We’d picked that name, but it might not stick. Chances were that it would.

  We stayed for another hour or so, and we had another drink or two before splitting up. The people in the bar gave us our space for the most part, outside of a few pictures that no doubt went up on social media immediately.

  Those two went on patrol together when we left, I planned to join them after hooking in Sky. I flew straight up a few hundred feet, then sent out a golden pulse of light as I teleported home. I opened the pouch, and all that was in it was a very small USB dongle.

  Sky said, “Just plug it in, it probably has a built-in network interface. I’ll set up some firewalls before connecting and keep it segregated from your home internet provider.”

  Yeah, I trusted her with the security stuff. I wasn’t completely ignorant of computers, but Sky was the equivalent of an entire staff of IT security professionals. Probably even better, in truth. If she wasn’t, the government would’ve busted me by now, probably in my first week as Mythic.

  I moved into the office, which was a repurposed second bedroom in the condo, and plugged it into one of the USB ports which both powered and connected the device to the wireless network.

  Sky said, “This will work, bringing us online, now.”

  I said, “Everyone, meet Sky, my A.I.”

  The comms were still connected, but the location tracker was off. Sky would turn it on automatically when I went back outside.

  Lady Lightning and Angel replied at the same time with an enthusiastic hello. A beat or two later, Elegant Prodigy added her own smoky and awkward hello.

  It felt good to have an official team, even if I could never learn who they truly were under the masks I already trusted them both with my life. I felt invigorated as I teleported back out above the city, and with Sky’s help joined my two partners for our first official joint team patrol in short order.

  We wouldn’t always patrol together, we’d just have faster and surer backup in the future, but it certainly wouldn’t be the last time either. That first time was important though, as it also ensured social media was inundated with pictures of the three of us, as well as discussions of our new team name.

  Which very much did stick, from that night on we were the Incandescent Guardians. The super channel even ran with the story, since it was the first known official team-up for vigilantes. There was a lot of speculation going on about it in short order, from curiosity about our personal lives to how this would tweak the government’s noses.

  It was a memorable night in my life, and there was a deeper connection between the three of us that day, more solid than ever, though I’d had no idea at the time just how deep it was about to get.

  Chapter Five

  My sister Jenna and her husband Mark had a three-bedroom ranch out in Schaumberg, a suburb southwest of Chicago. It was a sunny day out when I arrived, still a bit cool in the sixties, but warm enough for jeans and a t-shirt.

  When I teleported to her backyard from the city, it took a little focus not to send out a pulse of magical looking golden light. I had two lives and two apparent power sets, and in my normal life I was just a telekinetic teleporter that worked to put up satellites. I feared one day I’d slip up on one or the other, but I was careful and hadn’t so far.

  When I was being the real me, Bob, the one that the government knew about, I stuck to the basic things most telekinetic supers were known for. No messing with subatomic particles, light, and all the stuff that made my fake magic plausible. Everything I did as Bob was all on a macro scale.

  There were other pyro and aqua kinetics out there, but even they were limited to that one thing for the most part. The diversity of my power, one I’d never heard of in anyone else, was what allowed me to get away with my Mythic persona and power.

  The yard was already filled with cousins and more strangers than I’d expected. I waved to my sisters who called out my name in greeting, and I headed over to the barbeque pit which was being manned by Mark. Casey’s husband Ben was there as well. I flipped open the cooler and grabbed a beer, then popped it open as I got close.

  “Hey guys, how much trouble am I in?”

  Mark said in a relaxed drawl, “Now, Bob. Do you really think our lovely wives would do something foolish, and try to set you up?”

  I laughed, “Damn it.”

  Mark said, “You didn’t hear it from me.”

  Ben smirked, “There’s no point in trying to escape them. I made it halfway to the picket fence once, haven’t tried again.”

  I laughed again. My sister’s husbands were still pretty smitten with the two of them as far as I could tell, but they had my back. At least, as long as I kept my mouth shut that they did.

  I made the mistake of looking over, and my sister made a violent come here gesture with her arm.

  Damn it.

  I smiled and headed that way. I hated set ups, but I loved my sisters, so I dealt. I got a pair of sisterly hugs, and bright smiles.

  Jenna said, “Glad you could make it.”

  Casey interjected, “He was just afraid we’d hunt him down.”

  I nodded easily in agreement, which made Jenna laugh.

  Jenna said, “There’s someone I’d like you to meet, my new best friend from work. She started there just two weeks ago, and she’s pretty amazing.”

  I gave her a look, but it bounced off of her happy innocent expression like water on Teflon. I took a sip of my beer, and simply nodded. It was easier to go along with it.

  I caught the start of Casey’s smug smile as Jenna took my arm and led me across the yard, like I might just disappear or get lost in the third acre lot behind her house.

  “Hey, Krista? This is my brother, Bob.”

  Krista had bright red hair, a cute smattering of freckles on her nose, and light brown eyes. Her skin was extremely fair, and she wasn’t very hard to look at either. She had on pink jean shorts, strappy sandals, and a white halter top that showcased her athletic body quite well. Of course, there was absolutely no heat or chemistry in that first meeting, it was too awkward.

  Krista returned Jenna’s smile, “The one you’re always going on about?”

  Jenna laughed a little nervously, “I’ve just got the one.”

  Krista turned her smile on me, “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “You as well, you work with my sister?”

  Krista nodded, “Project coordinator.”

  Jenna interjected, “I need to check on the food.”

  Krista grinned as she walked away, “You’re cuter than she implied, does she do this often? I was a little surprised when she’d invited me here. Don’t get me wrong, Jenna is great, but we aren’t that close yet.”

  Strangely enough, her bold admission and pulling out my sister’s matchmaking efforts into the light broke the ice quite nicely.

  “Not all that often, actually.”

  Believe it or not, I spent most of the day chatting with Krista, she was as they say, good people. But despite her attractive body and looks, there wasn’t a spark between us at all. She was playful enough though to conspire with me and give my sisters false hope, not that we even discussed the idea, we just did it.

  Krista was the type of person that just got along with just about everyone, which I supposed was probably one of the main reasons she was a project coordinator. A person who no doubt had to deal with and bring together a lot of disparate disciplines and personalities to get things done.

  All in all, it was a fun day, she felt like an old friend by the end of it. Enough that I even wished we did have some chemistry, but it wasn’t to be.

  The rest of the time I caught up with a few cousins, and I spent time with my sisters and brothers-in-law. My sisters also seemed more relaxed that day, and less worried about me, for reasons I couldn’t discern but were grateful for. They could be
more than a little overprotective of me at times.

  Who knows, maybe I was changing and being more open again. It’d been two years since I’d quickened and the accident. I just wasn’t a very internal person that labored under self-reflection, I didn’t really feel any different at all to myself.

  The living room couch was comfortable, and I had my feet up. The radio was on low and I was decompressing from the day at my sister’s place. I was debating between going on patrol, or just watching some television. I sighed, I was just twenty-three, and it was a Saturday night. I really needed a life. I’d let myself slip too far from it the last two years.

  My favorite thing was patrolling, or if I was honest, spending time with either Elegant Prodigy or Lady Lightning. They were true friends, even if I didn’t know a damned thing about them, I knew them very well. If that makes sense. Sure, the attraction and flirting was a part of it, but that was just the wrapping.

  There was a knock on the door. I was a little startled by it, the only people that dropped by unannounced were my sisters, and I’d just spent all day with them and knew it couldn’t be them. It also couldn’t be them, because the knock had been far too tentative, which eliminated the police as well.

  I got up and walked over, then opened the door slowly.

  She looked very familiar to me, but I couldn’t place it at first. She had long wavy dark brown hair and warm brown eyes. Her body was willowy and thin, except for her healthy sized breasts that I couldn’t really judge in her current clothing at all. She had a shy and worried look on her cute and heart shaped beautiful face, with full lips and soft cheekbones. She was about five foot eight, and she returned my confused look with a conflicted one of her own.

  She had the hot librarian vibe going on. She was simply cute and sexy, beautiful even, but her clothes were… interesting. She had on a light brown pencil skirt, black shoes, and a very loose creamy white blouse which was buttoned up almost all the way to her neck.

  Then it hit me.

  “Amber! I mean, Doctor Jackson. Why are you here, is Sky okay?”