New Age of Heroes 1: The League of Protectors - Dawn of a New Age (19 page)

“Do you have
any idea who that man was? Do you have any idea the heat you just
brought on yourself and your family? Who sent you?”

Noah inched a
little closer to the man and sized him up. He knew the major players
of the Moretti family and the relatives within the organization. He
had done his research on them all. The man pointing the gun at him
was far too young to be the eldest son, so Noah concluded that it was
Frankie's youngest son Michael Moretti that was standing before him.
As far as Noah knew, Michael was not affiliated with his father's
organization.

“You are
Michael Moretti I presume.”

Michael aimed his
gun at Noah and demanded that he stop moving. Noah calmly gestured
for Michael not to shoot. He took a step back allowing the dialogue
between the two to continue.

“Which family
sent you? Tell me now!” Michael shouted.

Noah wasn't the
least bit intimidated by Michael's threat. Noah took a good look at
Michael's gun and wondered what someone who wasn't involved with the
mob was doing with such a high impact pistol. He wondered if Michael
was carrying for protection or if he was really part of the
organization. Noah wanted to learn more before deciding Michael's
fate.

“Your father
was a bad man,” Noah said calmly. He wanted to provoke Michael
to see how he would react. Michael didn’t display reactions of
a typical mobster. His reactions were more about sadness and revenge
than it was business.

“Do you see
this briefcase here? Your father had his goons steal it from Johnny
Gambino’s bank. Now I don’t care too much about Johnny
Gambino or his money being stolen, that isn’t my concern. What
I do care about is the innocent teller who lost her life simply for
being at the wrong bank on the wrong day. That blood is on your
father's hands. Your father ordered those men to take that money and
do what they had to do to get that money. A woman's life was taken
because of your father's thirst for money and power.”

Noah paused to let
his words sink in. He could tell that Michael was conflicted. On the
one hand he wanted to kill Noah for killing his father; on the other
hand he was saddened to learn that a woman lost her life because of
his father.

Michael struggled
to keep his emotions under control. He was only partially paying
attention to Noah. If Noah wanted to, he could’ve taken Michael
out by now, but Noah could sense that Michael wasn't a threat to the
city.

Noah inched a bit
closer to Michael, the creaking sound his shoe made as he stepped
forward snapped Michael back into focus. In what was likely a
defensive reaction to being caught off guard, Michael fired a shot at
Noah. The bullet grazed an unsuspecting Noah in the shoulder. Noah
was clearly surprised that Michael fired at him, and even more
surprised that he wasn’t able to dodge the bullet in time.

Noah bit his lip
and moved closer to Michael with a hastened pace. Michael, fearing
for his life fired several shots at Noah. This time, fully focused
and ready for attack, Noah evaded the bullets spiraling towards him.
Michael tried to squeeze off another shot, but his clip was empty.
Noah used both of his hands and grabbed Michael by the throat. He
checked Michael into the wall and hit him with blows to the abdomen.

Michael embraced
the punches and finally countered with a punch of his own. The force
of Michael’s punch sent Noah staggering back a bit. Not much,
but enough to put some separation between the two.

“The way you
move, the way you dodged those bullets that isn’t normal. That
isn’t human.”

Noah cracked his
knuckles and proceeded forward towards Michael.

“You’re
one of those Post Humans aren’t you?” Michael asked.

“Yeah, that's
very bad news for you,” Noah said.

Michael smiled
back, “Actually, that’s very bad news for you.”

Michael closed his
eyes and concentrated. He absorbed the energy around him and embraced
it into a ball of energy. Michael harnessed the energy and used it as
an offensive projectile. He sent the ball of energy flying at Noah
with great speed. The ball of energy hit Noah with devastating power.

Noah's eyes were
huge realizing he was in confrontation with another Post Human and
one of significant skill. He slowly lifted himself off the table and
grimaced.

“Not so tough
in a fair fight now are you?” Michael said feeling confident
that this vigilante wasn't on his level. Noah cracked his neck and
knuckles. He gave the young man a sly smile and readied himself for a
fight.

“I’ve
dealt with much worse,” Noah replied.

Noah used his
telekinesis abilities to lift one of the tables off the ground. He
stretched his hands forward and the table went flying towards
Michael.

Michael stood still
as the table approached him and at the very last second easily side
stepped the table. Michael smiled at Noah’s failed attempt.
Noah raised his eyebrow in suspicion.

Wasting no time, he
heaved two more tables at Michael, both of which Michael easily
evaded. Noah tried once again to take Michael out by means of the
table, but this time, Michael caught the table with his own
telekinetic ability. He countered, and heaved the table back at Noah.
Noah aggressively flipped over the tossed table and charged hard
towards Michael.

He caught Michael
by the legs and slammed him to the ground. The two jockeyed for
position with Noah eventually getting the upper hand. He straddled on
top of Michael and delivered closed fist punches to Michael’s
face and ribs.

Desperately,
Michael curled himself into a ball trying to cushion the blows.
Michael lifted his knees to his chest hoping to accomplish a
defensive block and an offensive counter. The tactic proved to be
effective. With his knees to his chest, Michael’s knees caught
Noah’s fist and he quickly propelled his feet forward to get
Noah off of him. Noah smoothly rolled over his head and back to his
feet while Michael staggered to his side before making his way back
up. Noah could hear the sirens approaching and he knew he needed to
end this battle as quickly as possible.

“Do you hear
that? They’re coming for you. Don’t try to run, I’ll
stop you!” Michael shouted.

Noah cracked his
knuckles once more and disregarded Michael’s threats. He
charged hard and threw a heavy punch. Michael caught the punch and
countered with a punch of his own. Michael’s attempted punch
was blocked and Noah countered with a straight leg to the face.
Michael stumbled backwards but remained on his feet. His hand touched
his lip and felt the wet blood that dripped from it.

Fueled by anger,
Michael sent Noah flying with a concentrated force of telekinesis. He
then quickly added a devastating blast of energy that rocked Noah
into the wall leaving a sizable dent. Noah hit his head hard and his
eyes began to daze. His vision was blurry, but his extraordinary
hearing allowed him to remain aware of his surroundings. The sirens
from the police were extremely close now and if Noah didn’t
hurry up, the police were going to capture him.

Believe it or not,
evading the police was the least of his worries. Although unable to
see fully, Noah could hear Michael reload his clip. He heard the pop
as the bullet exited the chamber and made its way towards him. At the
last possible second, Noah evaded the bullet and jumped out of the
restaurant just as the police were arriving. Michael fired three more
shots at Noah, but Noah had escaped.

“Get back
here you coward!” Michael shouted angrily.

Noah turned around
and ran back inside the restaurant. Michael was a bit taken that Noah
had actually run back inside. Michael tried to position himself, but
Noah moved quickly. To the left Noah moved, forcing Michael to shift
on the balls of his feet. As soon as Michael shifted, Noah glided
back to his right side. He jumped up and hit Michael with a closed
fist punch to the head. Michael slumped to the ground unconscious by
the impact and preciseness of Noah's attack.

“Freeze!”
The first two officers on the scene shouted.

Noah looked the two
officers over and ran straight for them. The officers fired, fearing
for their lives as Noah quickly approached them. Not wanting to hurt
them or reveal his abilities, Noah twisted, turned and slid about
evading the onslaught of bullets without once using his telekinesis
or force field.

Noah dove out the
window of the restaurant. Another officer just arriving on the scene
aimed his weapon at Noah, but Noah rolled up to his feet and disarmed
the officer before the officer could do any harm. With several more
officers quickly approaching, Noah knew he needed to get out of there
right now.

With a giant leap,
Noah ascended to the rooftop of the restaurant and vanished out of
sight.

18

Yin
and Yang

Ice zipped from
Jackson’s hand and made its way towards Shayne. A stroke of
quick reflexes and tremendous speed allowed Shayne to dodge the
rapidly approaching blast of ice.

“Seriously
Jackson, don’t you have anything better to do?” Shayne
asked in an irritated tone.

“Nope, no
class today!” Jackson hurled another blast of ice Shayne’s
way.

“No class, or
no class you're attending?” Shayne asked as he matched
Jackson’s ice with a ball of fire that melted the ice on
arrival.

“Haha you
know me too well,” Jackson stated.

On some occasions,
that wasn't always a good thing.

Jackson watched as
Shayne gathered his stuff for class. Jackson loved Shayne like a
brother but he often wondered how he became such good friends with
someone that was his exact opposite. They say in relationships
opposites attract, but in friendships that usually isn't the case.
The two roommates were as different as night and day, yin and yang
and yet somehow the two were closer than any two friends could be.

When Shayne wasn’t
out protecting the world he was in his dorm room studying. When
Jackson wasn’t out protecting the world, he was out partying.
It was a pattern in which the two had come to accept from one
another. Sure, Jackson desperately wished Shayne would come out and
party more, but he knew that wasn't going to happen. Just like Shayne
wished Jackson would study more, well study period, but he accepted a
long time ago that wasn't going to happen either.

Since the two were
old enough to understand the concept of a social life, they’ve
been in opposite directions.

It was a task to
get Shayne to go to any of the parties Jackson wanted to go to. He
often had to coax Shayne into coming. He would remind him that plenty
of single women would be attending and it was necessary for him to
get out and meet some women. Shayne felt he was too busy to have a
love life but Jackson felt it was absolutely mandatory.

Jackson looked to
his left and noticed the bladed swords stacked neatly on a table.
While most college students practice shooting a basketball, throwing
a football or hitting a baseball, Shayne and Jackson practiced
dueling with real swords.

“Don’t
even think about it!” Shayne ordered catching Jackson eying the
swords. He knew Jackson well enough to know he wasn’t going to
listen to him though. Shayne had a trigonometry class soon and the
last thing he wanted to do was get sweaty before class.

Jackson flashed his
million dollar smile. He put a finger to his temple and thought about
it. Knowing this was a losing battle, Shayne sighed and prepared
himself. He unbuttoned his nicely pressed shirt and laid it carefully
on the bed.

“One round
Jack, one round, that's it!”

Jackson walked over
to the swords and picked them up. He threw one to Shayne and readied
himself for battle.

“I have no
idea why you want to do this Jack. You know good and well you can't
beat me.”

Jackson huffed,
“Practice makes perfect!”

Shayne rolled his
eyes as Jackson drew his sword and charged forward. Shayne easily
evaded Jackson’s attempt and used Jackson’s momentum to
get him off balance. With the butt of the sword, he hit Jackson in
the center of his back. Jackson stumbled past Shayne and nearly fell.
He regained his balance and positioned himself for another attack.

“Hey, how
quickly does that regenerative power thingy of yours work?”
Jackson asked.

Shayne raised his
eyebrow,“Why?”

“I have a
feeling you’re going to need it!” Jackson said smiling.
Jackson swung the sword again and made contact with Shayne’s
sword. The two jockeyed for position. Neither of them wanting to
relinquish control.

When it came to
fighting, the two were pretty evenly matched. They both trained with
the same martial arts instructors and both had a good grasp of their
abilities.

Shayne possessed a
regenerative healing ability that repaired any damage tissue to his
entire body. He also possessed what Mr. Connors called Sonic Speed
and was considered the fastest man on the planet. In addition to his
healing factor and Sonic Speed, Shayne also possessed a vast psionic
ability for fire manipulation.

Jackson too had
abilities that made him rather unique. Jackson could generate liquid
from his hands that he turned into solid ice. He could use the ice in
a variety of ways. The official title of his ability is cyrokinesis.
Mr. Connors stated while both men were highly skilled with their
abilities, both of them still had a lot of growing up to do.

Jackson stood
slightly over six feet tall. He had Shayne beat by about two inches.
Jackson had spiky blonde hair which he admitted he spent several
minutes grooming each morning.

Shayne was a well
groomed young man as well. He kept his hair short in a low fade, and
wore a very thin mustache that framed his face perfectly.