Inetic: the First Alliance

Chapter 4

When the Dust Settles Who Will Be Left Standing

"How did it go?" Alex questioned when Dimitri arrived.

"Don't worry about it," Dimitri said. "Let's just go."

Alex then telepathically called Shyra for a teleport pickup to travel back home. In the next second, they were engulfed in a flash of light and dematerialized. Dimitri came out of the teleport gasping for air and not knowing up from down.

Alex helped him up and began coaching him. "Stand straight up to open your lungs. I learned that in track."

Dimitri looked around and didn't notice anything unusual. Shyra released the cloaking device, and all of a sudden this huge spaceship appeared out of thin air. Dimitri looked in amazement and was turned into a complete believer.

Shyra stepped out of the craft and welcomed the new esper, "Welcome, Dimitri Williams. Alex and I are so glad you have decided to train with us to defend Earth from Zenakuu."

Dimitri was in shock from the sight of an alien and said nothing at first. He was finally able to spit out, "How do you know my name?"

Shyra answered, "I can read your mind using telepathy, and from what transpired today, I see you are a geokinetic. That is an incredibly strong power to have. I will help you channel it."

Dimitri turned to Alex. "There's no going back, is there?" he asked.

"I'm afraid not," Alex replied.

Without sparing a moment, Shyra continued training the two boys. During the next week, Shyra had Alex and Dimitri travel to other parts of the country in search of more espers. Alex was sent to Orlando, Florida, while Dimitri was sent to Perth Amboy, New Jersey.

When Dimitri was sent to New Jersey the initial teleportation left him queasy and shaken. It seemed Shyra failed to mention how having your atoms rearranged may upset your stomach. He threw up behind a dumpster, composed himself, and commenced his mission. He trailed a young man using his new sensory perception powers to find the kinetic energy within people. Living in such a big city, he learned from an early age to block out static noise and focus on a single point, so finding his target came easily to him.

Dimitri followed the kid from his home and infiltrated the boy's school to get a better understanding of what he was dealing with. He noticed that the boy was antisocial and kept to himself; he didn't seem to have many friends or the desire to make any, as he kept his head buried in comic books during the lunch period where he ate alone. When the school day ended, Dimitri followed him to what appeared to be the local comic book shop where he saw the youth sit for a while and read up on the latest issues. D didn't like his look at all. The kid was five foot nine and kind of stocky. It was obvious he didn't work out much; he sported a military buzz cut hair style and wore hipster glasses. Lastly, he rocked a graphic T-shirt with fitted jeans. Honestly, he had somewhat of a goofy look to him.

"God, I wish this kid would get a life already."

Dimitri's patience wore thin while he waited for the teen to leave the shop and go somewhere more secluded so they could talk. After a long wait and much boredom, the boy finally headed home. There were many kids running around in front of the apartment building; looked like they were his siblings or perhaps his cousins. The lawn was small, and the grass was brown. The yard was boxed in by a chain-link fence with toys scattered about arbitrarily. Dimitri watched him as he went in the building. Not wanting to lose sight of him,

Dimitri climbed the fire escape and looked through the windows until he found his target again. He was in a small bedroom, which was more like a closet with a window. The kid lit every candle in the room. He jumped into bed and started playing a portable gaming system. Dimitri knew that moment was as good as any and tapped on the glass pane to finally confront the kid. Startled at first, he fell out of bed and shouted through the window, demanding to know why D was outside his room.

"I need you to come with me," Dimitri said.

Not satisfied with his answer, the teen manipulated the fire from the candles and shot the flames toward Dimitri. The fireball crashed through the window, sending shattered glass in all directions, and then knocked the failed diplomat off the fire escape. Dimitri hit the ground hard. Disoriented, he was barely able to get his thoughts together.

"Damn. Fire powers? That's a good one to have," Dimitri muttered.

Springing out the window the kid screamed, "You government agents aren't taking Christian Mercado alive!" Dashing down toward Dimitri with fire in hand, the misinformed teen started throwing flame-engulfed fists at his supposed captor. Dimitri dodged every punch, but some were so close that the fire singed his skin. Christian, being a heavier kid, wasn't able to get a hand on Dimitri.

The battle started to heat up immensely, and the air around them became dense and humid. To Dimitri, the self-proclaimed Christian looked like he was out for blood, and with his powers, the blood would be boiling. Using his pyrokinesis, Christian sent balls of fire toward Dimitri. He didn't think Christian would be capable of launching orbs of fire, but they exploded behind him sending char and embers flying in every direction. The fight made it very clear that Chris had a firmer grasp of his ability than D had of his own. Christian stood his ground, and for a moment didn't move a muscle. The act confused Dimitri, but not enough to engage.

Hissing steam started rising from Christian's body as his sweat evaporated. He flung his arms, and the same fires that originated from his shoulder blades fled down his arms and shot out of his hands like an erupting volcano. The fireball collided with Dimitri in the chest, lighting his hoodie ablaze.

He immediately threw it off, and Christian charged at him, tackling Dimitri to the ground. He was deceivingly strong and like a mixed martial artist, Christian straddled Dimitri and started the game of "ground and pound." Dimitri could hardly defend against the flurry of punches Christian rained down on him. Surprised that such a portly kid had such a fighting prowess, Dimitri decided to turn the tables and go on the attack. Kicking Christian off of him, Dimitri sent him flying into some nearby garbage cans. Fed up with being beat down, he decided to use his own powers giving Christian a taste of his own medicine. Dimitri's left eye began swelling shut from the damage taken in the fight; he could hardly see, but the rage inside him didn't let him give up.

Now smelling rank, Christian got up from the garbage cans angrier than ever only to find Dimitri with a vengeful look on his face and ready to fight. Christian was firing on all cylinders too, and began lunging toward Dimitri with his fists ablaze. Concentrating, Dimitri dodged the right hook from Christian and hit him with a hard knee in the midsection, knocking the wind out of him. Chris stumbled back but regained his posture.

"Not hard enough?" Dimitri mocked Christian. He gathered rocks to surround his fist, forming a boxing glove solid as rock. "Maybe this will knock some sense in you."

Dimitri sprung forward swinging and throwing punches at Christian. Christian blocked most of the swings, but their sheer force brought him to his knees. The last thrusting punch that Dimitri threw connected, breaking through Chris's defense and sending him flying into a brick wall. Going in for the knockout punch with his rock-hard hands, Dimitri punched right next to the side of Christian's head to scare him. Dimitri's hand went through the brick wall with ease.

Christian wasn't one to quit that easily, though. He pushed Dimitri away and started building his strength; the fire in his eyes was almost visible. He conjured a flame in his hands and readied himself to release an onslaught of infernal attacks upon Dimitri. To block it, Dimitri used his geokinesis to lift a slab of ground from under them as a shield. A charred piece of concrete fell to the ground, and Christian came at Dimitri with a rising kick right to his chin.

Remembering he wasn't there for a fight to the death, Dimitri pleaded with the boy, "I don't want to hurt you, and I'm not from the damn government!"

Christian fell to the ground, winded. Now he was pissed; smoke began to emanate from his body. He started concentrating, and both hands ignited in a blaze.

A concerned look grew on Dimitri's face. Shit, not again, he thought to himself.

Christian threw out his hands, and as the air around his hands distorted, massive fireballs were sent hurdling toward Dimitri. He dodged them by bouncing off walls and diving out of the way. He was amazed no one saw the spectacle and grew tired from all the evading. After dodging and blocking fireballs for a while, Dimitri became fed up with the game of cat and mouse. Dimitri lifted two boulders out of the ground—one to block the incoming fire and the other to put Chris down. Out of thin air, a masked Shyra teleported in to break up the fight and entered Christian's mind to show him what exactly her plans were and what Earth would become if he didn't stop the pointless fight. Christian's eyelids fluttered, as he stopped breathing for the duration of the vision. Overwhelmed at the sight of cosmic war atrocities, worlds being invaded, women and children being killed for nothing, and the Zenakuu armada heading toward Earth.

Christian came out of the telepathic link gasping for air, his eyes rolled to the back of his skull, and he ultimately passed out. He woke up after a few minutes later disoriented and saw Dimitri and Shyra bent over him. Dimitri assisted him to his feet. After careful consideration, Christian decided to join. He saw it as finally getting the chance to be his own comic book superhero, but he didn't know how he was going to break the news to his parents.

Christian told Shyra and Dimitri that he must get his things prepared. Shyra welcomed him to the team and left the rest to Dimitri before returning back to the ship. As reality hit, an even grimmer look spread across Christian's face. "Aw crap, what am I gonna tell my folks? They won't even let me outside if the streetlights are on. There's no way they will let me leave to fight aliens."

"Don't worry," Dimitri said with a grin on his face. "I've got a plan."

Puzzled, Christian looked at him and said, "What are you going to do?"

"Tomorrow we're gonna give your parents the performance of a lifetime. Be at your window this time tomorrow."