Guardians: Volume II

by

Eric Metcalf

"Hold it right there!"

The two men stopped in their tracks. Others on the street fell back, forming a rough oval around the two men who had attracted the attention of the Guardians. Mindstar stood directly in front of them, with Powergirl, Strongarm, Techno and Mind Mistress off to his left. Crimson Knight stood to his right, with Firemane, Wraith, Aria and Wind Shear trailing to the right.

"What is this all about?" the young man asked. His face wasn't scared, though; he looked eager.

"That bank robbery you just pulled," Mindstar said. "Come with us now, and there won't have to be anyone hurt."

The young man sneered. "Wrong, Mind-boy," he replied, "you're the one whose gonna get hurt." His jeans and tee-shirt vanished, replaced by a blue bodysuit with white armor across the upper torso, and wide, brown shoulder flanges. His hair went from flat to spiky, standing straight up. The older man's business suit vanished as well, revealing dark brown robes.

The young man stuck out his hand, and a beam of white light blasted at Mindstar. Mindstar dodged out of the way, but the beam detonated a car parked behind Mindstar, showering the crowd with flaming debris.

"Take them down now!" Mindstar yelled. He loosed a mental bolt at the young man. The man just took the bolt, laughing, as it didn't even faze him. Mind Mistress tried her mental attack, but he didn't even seem to notice.

He did notice Powergirl and Strongarm charging at him. He stepped to his left, letting them both run past him on the right. He fired a blast at Strongarm that connected, slamming him off of his feet and back into the wall of a building. He continued his motion, grabbing Powergirl from behind. He swung her around and to the ground.

"Damn," Powergirl gasped. This guy had just dodged her charge, blasted Strongarm, and grabbed her before she could react. As his hands grabbed her, she felt her strength draining away. It felt like when Wraith touched her, but stronger. She collapsed to the ground as he swung her down, too weak to even stand up.

Crimson Knight fired at Arcanus as soon as Mindstar gave the word. The wizard didn't even notice as the beams splattered off of his force field. Firemane's first fire bolt did no better. Aria staggered him with a sonic shriek, but Arcanus retaliated. He launched a fireball at Crimson Knight. Jake couldn't dodge it in time. The explosion threw him backwards and slammed the rest of the team around.

Wraith charged in at Arcanus, trying to get a clear shot. The wizard just turned and fired another fireball in front of Wraith. The explosion threw him into the street and stunned him. Aria flew towards him, shrieking again at Arcanus. This one staggered the wizard, but he was too busy staring at Wind Shear and Firemane.

"Take this, fucker," Techno yelled, raising one of his gauntlets and firing a sphere. The sphere exploded as it reached the young man, casting strands of energy around him, immobilizing his arms and legs.

"See," Techno said to Mindstar, "I told you I had what you need, amigo."

With a roar, the young man flexed his arms and the energy bands shattered. Techno swallowed heavily as the young man laughed.

"Is that the best you can do?" he said. "You're really pathetic." He fired a light beam at Techno. Techno dodged some of the beam, but enough struck him to send him flying backwards, his chest armor scorched.

Mindstar fired another force bolt. This one actually staggered the man a little, but it didn't do any real damage. The man replied by firing a light beam with both hands, spreading it so wide that Mindstar couldn't dodge it. The blast slammed through his force field and threw him back, slamming him into the pavement.

Wind Shear loosed a wind burst at Arcanus, trying to throw him into his young charge. Arcanus just smiled and made a chopping motion with his hand, dispelling her winds immediately. She gasped and froze for a second, hanging in mid-air, which gaze Arcanus an opening. He made the same gesture and the winds holding her up vanished. She squawked as she dropped heavily to the pavement.

"No, you bastard, Fireball," Firemane yelled, throwing a fireball at Arcanus.

Arcanus staggered from the blast, but he recovered and pointed a hand at Firemane. " Fussilares Decates Negatum!" Firemane shrieked as she felt her powers collapse, transforming her back into Katrina.

"Chosen One," Arcanus yelled, "finish them off. They are beaten."

Alex looked around. The Guardians were beaten, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to just slaughter them. "Why bother?" he replied. "Let's just get out of here. They aren't worth it."

Arcanus glared at him for a moment, then it cleared. "Then collect Firemane and Wind Shear." He began tracing a tall oval in the air.

Alex strode over and grabbed the two women, increasing his strength to carry them easily. "I'm taking this one, too," he announced as he walked over and picked up Powergirl. He strode over to Arcanus's doorway, and then turned back. "You Guardians are pathetic." He stepped into the doorway and vanished.

"No!" Strongarm roared as he staggered up. "He took Firemane."

"And Powergirl and Wind Shear," Mindstar groaned as he staggered up, holding his chest. "This is not good."

"Nice place you've got here." Alex looked around appreciatively as he carried Powergirl, Firemane and Wind Shear down into the basement of Arcanus's new base. A preserved plantation house, the building had enough rooms for a family of six or eight and was layered in solid oak, marble and tile. The basement appeared to be a well-stocked wine cellar, but Arcanus was ignoring the racks. The heroines weren't struggling since he had put them to sleep upon arrival.

"Thank you. One of the previous owners had certain, proclivities, that shall prove useful now." Arcanus threw a hidden lever and a section of wall rolled back, revealing another room. This one was built of large stone blocks, just like the wine cellar. However, bondage instruments dotted the room, instead of wine racks. Several sets of manacles were set into the walls, and two tables in the center of the room held a variety of bondage implements.

"Very nice," Alex said, nodding appreciatively. "What's the plan?"

"First we must deal with their powers. I have planned to acquire Firemane for some time, so I have a suitable device here." He picked up a slim metal collar. "She gains all of her powers in her transformation, and this collar prevents that transformation. While I grant she is more attractive in her transformed state, she is much too dangerous. As for the other two, I did not plan to acquire them. If you have any suggestions, I am willing to listen."

Alex set the women down, laying them side by side. He reached inside himself, toying with his power, trying to think of a way to render the women harmless. He snapped his fingers as an idea came to him. "One question: how would you feel if someone captured you and took away your ability to do magic? You know that you can do magic, but you just can't remember how?"

Arcanus smiled broadly. "I would be devastated. Can you do this to them?"

Alex shrugged. "I think so, but I won't know until I try." He knelt down by Powergirl and gently placed two fingers on her forehead. Channeling his power through his hand, he felt it flow into her mind. As he started to remove the knowledge of how to use her strength, he stopped. There is a better way, he thought. Reworking his energy, he locked the knowledge away in her mind. He reached over to Wind Shear and did the same procedure. Wind Shear stirred slightly, but she showed no signs of actually awakening.

"It's done," Alex announced. "I decided that, rather than deleting the knowledge of how to use their powers, it would be better to lock it away. I've given them passwords that, unless they say them, they can't use their powers."

Arcanus nodded sagely. "A wise precaution. If we could turn them to our side, they could be very useful. What are the phrases?"

Alex smiled, smug in his own cleverness. "Powergirl's is 'I swear to serve and obey the Chosen One;" Wind Shear's is 'I swear to serve and obey Arcanus.' That way, I control Powergirl and you control Wind Shear, and you'll probably break Firemane as well. Happy?"

Arcanus nodded, keeping his expression level. "Quite. Put them in the shackles." Inside, Arcanus steamed. How dare he keep Powergirl to himself. Again, this Chosen One threatened to destroy them with his weakness. He needed to be hardened. Perhaps breaking these heroines would finally break him as well.

The loud snap of the last shackle closing brought Arcanus out of his thoughts. Alex had shackled them near a corner, with Powergirl on one wall and Firemane and Wind Shear to her left, facing her. He had also attached Firemane's collar. Alex glanced back to Arcanus, who nodded in reply to the unspoken question. Alex concentrated a second.

Powergirl was the first to wake up, groaning as she did so. "What? What did you do to us?" she growled, pulling at her chains. To her shock, she couldn't budge the chains at all. The others also wore startled looks, as they also discovered the loss of their powers.

"You ladies will be my guests," Arcanus said, oozing gentility. "Your special abilities have been denied to you until such time as you swear to obey and serve myself and my young colleague, whom you know as the Chosen One. However, as payment for my hospitality, my young friend and I will take any liberties we choose with you. I will grant you one hour to think on this, and to swear or suffer the consequences." He spun and strode out with Alex on his heels.

"If you don't need me for an hour, boss, I've got something to take care of," Alex said.

"I would prefer it if you didn't draw any more attention at this point," Arcanus replied.

"Oh, don't worry," Alex responded. "Just going to pay back some old debts. I'll be back shortly." He focussed his mind on a familiar location, and teleported out without the need for a doorway.

Mike dropped into his seat at the head of the conference table, but he couldn't find the words to begin the debriefing. The magnitude of their defeat sat on his chest like a weight. While this certainly wasn't the first time any of them had been captured, it was the first team the entire team had been beaten. Before, it had always been one or two of them against superior odds. Now, two enemies had beaten ten Guardians in an open fight. Before, Mike had always been able to convince himself that they could beat anyone if the whole team fought together. The whole team had fought, and three of them weren't here.

"Can somebody explain how those two pendejos just completely kicked our asses?" Techno snarled. "I mean, I thought we were bad ass."

"It was that kid," Rich replied. "We can take Arcanus with one hand tied behind our backs, but that kid cut loose with more firepower than anybody we've faced."

"Can we beat him, Mike?" Aria asked in a small voice. "I mean, nobody so much as stung him."

"Hell yes we can beat them," Techno answered. "If y'all can't, I'll do it my damn self." He stood up and started for the door.

He didn't make it. Before he'd taken two steps, he stopped cold as Mike looked up, his eyes blazing orange. "Sit down, Techno," he said with a voice as cold and hard as ice. "No one's doing anything stupid. In answer to your question, Aria, yes, we can beat them. I was wondering how we were beaten since we all fought together. Before, if anyone's been captured, they were captured when the team was split up and we were outnumbered. Here, we outnumbered them ten to two and were beaten soundly. Then it came to me. We were all there, but we didn't fight together. Each of us took turns going after the Chosen and Arcanus. That may work with Arcanus alone, but not with the Chosen. So, we're going to rest up, since all of us are bruised up pretty bad, and then we're going to start working on team up tactics, so that we have a better chance next time. And there will be a next time."

"What makes you so damn sure?" Juan replied. "Hell, they could have just been after the girls."

Mike shook his head. "Nope. They were surprised to see us; we caught them off guard. No, they weren't looking for us. Plus, once Arcanus is active, he stays active until he gets busted. No, he'll be back, and we've got to be ready. The only question now is when and where."

Alex glanced around quickly, then smiled. Good, no one had seen him arrive. He set his illusionary clothing to resemble is normal school clothing, the better to do what he came to do. This corner of his high school parking lot was empty during the summer. The cars would be parked closer, and his targets wouldn't be far away.

As he strode around the corner, sure enough, there were Bill Spanos, Tank Kane and Briana James. Even though there wasn't a game today, Briana was in her tight cheerleader's uniform. She was sitting in Bill's lap, letting him feel her up on the hood of his Mustang as Tank looked on.

"Hey, it's Hocker," Tank announced as he saw Alex walk towards them.

Briana barely moved. "What are you doing here, smart guy?"

"Yeah," Bill chimed in, "you're usually too good for us losers in summer school."

Alex shifted his illusion a bit, emphasizing his new build. He saw Bill's eyes narrow; he had seen the change. Tank didn't seem to notice, but he was too dumb to notice anything other than what hit him in the head.

"Well, let's just say I'm moving up in the world, and I wanted to let you losers know what real power is like." He darted forward before they could react and drove his right fist into Tank's stomach. The impact lifted Kane off of his feet and knocked him back several steps. He collapsed to his knees, gasping for air.

Briana jumped off of Bill's lap just before he pushed her off. She started to run off, her eyes wide with fright.

"You're not going anywhere," Alex announced. He threw a blob of energy at Briana. When it hit her, the energy flowed around her, trapping her arms and legs. Briana shrieked as she fell, struggling against the energy bonds.

"What are you?" Bill asked, stumbling back from Alex.

"Someone you should never have fucked with, asshole," Alex replied. Before he could attack, Tank grabbed him from behind, wrapping Alex in a bear hug.

Alex roared as Tank tried to pick him up. Alex flexed his arms, slamming Tank's arms outward easily. Alex spun on his heel, his hands linked in a rabbit punch to Tank's side. Tank roared as the punch easily snapped ribs. Alex followed up by stamping down on Tank's left knee, then his right. Each knee collapsed in a sickening crunch of bone. Tank bellowed in pain, like a wounded bear, and fell to the asphalt, clutching vainly at his shattered knees.

"You'll live, prick," Alex pronounced. He turned back around to see Bill running towards the school building, abandoning Tank and Briana to their fates.

"Oh no you don't," Alex called, then he raised his right hand and fired a bolt of white energy at Bill. The blast struck him full in the back and slammed him into the wall of the school building. He fell to the ground, unconscious.

With Bill and Tank taken care of, Alex turned his attention back to his third catch. Briana was crying and whimpering, her eyes darting from Bill to Tank to Alex and back. Alex strode over to her, drinking in the sight of her lithe form in its tight outfit struggling against the energy cage.

He reached down to her and grabbed a handful of her blonde locks. Straining only slightly, he pulled her up, first to her feet and then off of them. He released the energy bonds, which vanished instantly. Leering at her body, he enjoyed the moment.

"Don't, don't you touch me, you shit," she cried defiantly.

"Briana, Briana," he said, "is that any way to treat your new lover?" He reached out with his free hand, hooked it in the neck of her cheerleading top, and pulled down. With his new strength, the stressed fabric tore easily, baring her firm breasts.

"No bra," he said, "naughty girl." He dropped her top to the ground and roughly fondled her firm flesh.

"Don't, please," she moaned, her defiance fading.

"Don't stop," he replied. "Oh, I won't." He reached down and yanked her short skirt off, dropping it beside her torn top on the ground. He smiled as he gazed at the pair of sheer white panties protecting her virtue.

"Now it's time for the ride of your life," he said.

Juan cursed as his fingers fumbled with the power leads of his right bracer. He just needed more power to the tangler, that was all. Not like Mindstar, that pendejo jerk. He had all those powers and he didn't do any better, and he can't upgrade.

"If that asshole doesn't move soon, I'm goin'," he said. "Some damn leader. He gets our asses kicked and losses his chicas on top of it. Hell, he needed me to bail him out against that damn tank. He's no leader."

Juan cut in the power. A blue spark jumped from the power lead into the bracer. Juan dropped the bracer as circuits cooked.

"Madre dos Dios," he swore. "Now I've gotta rebuild the whole thing." He reached over to pick up the fried bracer, but his hands fumbled.

Get a hold of yourself, a voice whispered in his head. His mother's voice, always calming her hotheaded husband and sons. You're blaming the wrong person.

"Bullshit," he swore aloud. "He's supposed to be this high and mighty team leader. He's in charge."

It doesn't matter, the voice replied, soothing. The only reason you blame him is so that you don't have to blame yourself for losing Wind Shear.

"No," he croaked, but his strength failed. She was right, damn it all. He clutched the edge of the worktable with both hands, telling himself that the burning in his eyes was exhaustion, that the wetness on his face was sweat. He couldn't admit, even to himself, that he could still cry.

"No, dammit," Jake swore. He pulled on his helmet so hard that he almost ripped two of the connectors away from the armor. "Faster, or we're all toast."

"We got it, didn't we," Wraith answered, his breath coming in short pants. "Chill out."

"Don't chill out me," Jake roared. "Chilling out didn't stop Arcanus. Chilling out is what cost us Firemane, Powergirl and Wind Shear. Now, quit fucking around and let's do it again."

"You're pushing," Mind Mistress said in his mind. "Calm down."

He whirled, his eyes glaring daggers at her. "If you don't have anything useful to add, stay the hell out of my head."

Lindsey shrunk away from him as if he'd hit her. "Hey, back off," Aria said. "You didn't need to do that."

"When Mindstar appoints you team leader, you can decide what needs to and doesn't need to be done. Until then we do it my way."

"Back off," Wraith said, more confident this time. "Neither of them deserved that."

"Oh, now you're the team leader," Jake said, his voice dripping sarcasm. "Well, that's the real problem. We've got too many team leaders and not enough soldiers. If a few more people around here could take orders, then we'd be doing better."

Wraith scowled and gritted his teeth, but he didn't move. Lindsey swallowed hard and shrunk back. Even without her telepathy, she could tell a fight was imminent. "Rich," she thought, "get Mike down here ASAP."

Mike dropped heavily into the chair in his office. In front of the team, he had managed to swallow his emotions enough to put on a brave face. But that's all it was: a face. Inside, the loss and the fear of losing Terry and Kat permanently still ate at him. Wind Shear stung, she was part of the team and had already lost one team, but Terry and Kat were original Guardians. They had both been through a lot, and they didn't deserve to get captured again.

A sharp knock on his door roused Mike. "Come," he barked.

Rich opened the door. "Got a minute?"

Mike nodded. "Sure, come on in."

Rich shut the door behind him and sat down in the other chair. "Look, I just wanted," he paused, swallowing hard, then started again. "Crimson has Bravo downstairs, working on team tactics. He's taking Firemane and Wind Shear personally, since they were assigned to his team. I told him I don't hold Firemane's being captured against anyone but Arcanus, but he's not lightening up. You know how Jake can be."

Mike chuckled. "As determined and stubborn as they come."

"Just like you," Rich said, looking Mike in the eye. "Listen, Mike, we need you. We may have the tools to beat these guys, but we need your tactics to do it. Jake's damn good, don't get me wrong, but he just doesn't know super tactics like you do. You've got to snap out of it, quit blaming yourself, and take charge again. Who do you expect to run this outfit, me?"

Mike had to laugh. Rich was as tough as they came, but he didn't have the heart for leadership. "Okay, okay, enough feeling sorry for myself. The only way we're going to get Terry and Kat back is to go after them. Come on, we need to practice working together ourselves."

"That's the Mindstar that got us through the war," Rich said, slapping Mike on the shoulder as they stood up.

Hang on, Terry, wherever you are, Mike thought. We'll come for you.

Rich stood bolt upright. "Damn," he swore, "come on."

"What?"

"Lindsey just contacted me. Seems like Bravo's practice is getting out of hand. Come on."

Terry grunted as that kid Alex threw her back into the cell with Kat and Wind Shear. With her powers neutralized, the stone floor scraped her bare back. She didn't bother to cover her nakedness; he'd just finished raping her three times, she didn't have much modesty left. He looked down at her costume, just two scraps of brightly-colored cloth in his fist, and then he threw the bottom back and kept her top.

"Your tits are gorgeous, baby, you don't need to cover them up," he said, half-sneering and then left.

"Are you okay?" Kat asked, crawling towards Terry. Kat, too, was naked; however, Arcanus hadn't given her anything to cover up. Terry could see dried fluids coating the inside of Kat's thighs. She knew that she looked the same way. Alex had used her like a doll, just pounding her relentlessly and spending inside her. He didn't even demand a blowjob; she almost thought he didn't know what one was. Judging by Kat's face, Arcanus was more knowledgeable.

"Yeah," she managed weakly. "As okay as I'm gonna get with my powers gone after just getting raped by a horny teenager with the endurance of a Brahma bull. How are you holding up?"

Kat looked down at herself, reddening slightly. "I, I'm scared Ter. I mean, this is the first time somebody's beaten the whole team to capture one of us, much less three. I mean, are Rich and Mike and the others gonna be able to beat these two?"

"If they don't, it won't be for lack of trying," Terry replied with more confidence than she felt. "Mike's been at this game longer than either of us; he's got to have some more tricks up those sleeves of his. He'll get us out."

"You're deluding yourselves," Wind Shear said. "They won't come back for us. Rule number one of this business; you cut your losses when you can't win." She shook her head ruefully. Unlike Kat and Terry, she still had her costume on. Terry guessed that wouldn't last for much longer, but Alex wasn't interested in her and Arcanus had spent his endurance on Kat.

"Where the hell did you hear that?" Terry replied.

"Tidal Wave," Wind Shear said as her voice softened and her eyes moistened. "He was the one who brought Lake Effect together. He always talked about how the only way to keep the whole group from getting busted was to forget those that had been caught. Otherwise you just waste your strength trying to bust them out instead of doing what you're supposed to do." Her voice caught at the end and she shivered.

"What's wrong?" Kat asked.

"I, I," Wind Shear stammered, "I can't talk about it."

"Fair enough," Terry said. "But you're wrong. The Guardians take care of our own; we have since our earliest days. Mike won't leave us behind and that's final. We just have to keep it together and be ready to help out when he arrives, however he does. We can't give in to them."

"How noble," Arcanus snarled from outside the cell. "While Mindstar does have a distressing habit of showing up when he's not wanted, I'm afraid your team was overmatched at full strength. Now, any battle would be a sheer slaughter." He looked over at Wind Shear with hungry eyes. "I enjoyed my earlier tryst, now I'm in the mood for something Asian. Will you join me?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Certainly," Alex said as he strode around Arcanus. "I'll get her."

"You bastard," Terry growled, standing up.

"Uh-uh," Alex said, raising one hand and pointing a finger at Terry. The tip of the finger began to glow. "You couldn't take me at full power. Now you're powerless and worn out. Wanna try me?"

Terry snarled again, but she shrank back. "I'm gonna break your balls, you fucker."

Alex smiled. "You're welcome to try. Of course, the only way you'll succeed is with your powers, and I control those. Now, come along, slut." He grabbed Wind Shear's arm and dragged her out of the cell. Kat and Terry looked down, unable to watch as their teammate was pulled away in front of their eyes. They also couldn't watch Alex and Arcanus copping cheap feels of Wind Shear's tight body before they'd even gotten upstairs.

"Terry," Kat said, "are you sure about Mindstar coming for us?"

Terry swallowed. "I want to be, Kat. I want to be."