King of superheroes 4, p.1
King of Superheroes 4, page 1
Would you like to see chapters of my books before they come out? Do you want to see cover art sketches and vote on which poses should make it to final production? Would you like to see even sexier versions of my covers? Would you like to get my audiobooks at a deep discount?
Of course you would! Join my Patreon here to get all these awesome benefits (or search for my name on Patreon.com).
You can also join my Facebook group right here. Then you’ll know when my books come out before anyone else.
New books come out every Sunday
Cast of Characters from Book 3:
Mark Maddock: Super human. Main Character. Brown Hair and eyes. In a world where people have one superpower, he has multiple abilities such as pyromancy, superhuman strength, telekinesis, and mind reading. He is known as an Omega because of this.
Hannah: Super human. Mark’s love interest and part of his super team. Long blonde hair. Blue eyes. Dresses very punk rock, is snarky, and has a mind reading ability.
Rhiannon: Super human. Mark’s love interest and part of his super team. Brown hair. Green eyes. Is very timid and shy and has a flying ability.
Frank: Super human. Mark’s friend and part of his super team. Red hair. Brown eyes. Also has a fire related superpower.
Danny: Super human. Mark’s friend and part of his super team. Mousy brown hair. Gray eyes. He’s tall and slender and has a healing ability.
Somnia: Super human. Acting principal of the super academy. White hair cut into a short bob. Dark eyes. Her ability is to control dreams.
Mori: Super human. Former famous super and current benefactor of the academy. Black hair. Dark eyes. His power is to astral project, and he seeks to help the Mark.
Dahlia: Super human. Mentor to Mark and his team. Straight black hair. Dark brown eyes. Was very stoic and standoffish in the beginning but has since fallen in love with Mark and joined his harem.
Eddie: Super human. The brother of Dahlia, Mark’s mentor. Long scraggly brown hair. Brown eyes. Possesses a strong “hacking” ability over electronics and lives in a trailer off the grid because he doesn’t trust people.
Amanda: Super human. Famous fashion designer/mogul who designs super suits. Ashy blonde hair cut into an aggressive bob. Gray eyes. She dresses in crazy outfits and has a very blasé attitude.
Pyro: Super human. Famous superhero turned movie star. Jet black hair. Dark eyes. Very holier than thou attitude, but he recently had his powers stripped away by Mark.
Sim: Unknown. Sworn servant to the Omega who now serves Mark. Bald (everywhere, no eyebrows or lashes.) Colorless/gray eyes. He may look human at a glance, but his stoic mannerisms and long life span would suggest otherwise.
Gideon: Super human. The last Omega before Mark who went mad with power and was believed to be dead. Pale blond, almost white hair. Gray eyes. He was surprisingly charismatic, which was how he persuaded people to join his movement of suppressing non-supers.
Eve: Super human. A famous super with the power of immortality. Long white hair. Pale, almost colorless eyes. She is over 150 years old but looks to be middle-aged, and she vouches for Mark when he comes out to the world as the next Omega. She was also romantically involved with the previous Omega.
Chapter One
My blood ran cold, and I could feel a sharp iciness crawl up my neck as I watched the superhero Pyro, or rather a fake version of him, begin to spew lie after lie about me.
At the start of this semester, Pyro was just another big-headed movie star asshole to me. But now he was the puppet that had been strung along by none other than Gideon. I couldn’t think of another logical explanation as to who was behind it.
Gideon was the name of the last Omega who’d ruled the superheroes like a tyrant and had gone mad with power about a century ago. He was supposed to be dead, but if these past few days had taught me anything, it was that anything was possible.
I continued watching the video with a furrowed brow. Gideon was wearing Pyro’s skin like a coat that was two sizes too small, and the black-haired actor’s face was unsettlingly blank, like a mannequin.
There was nothing human about the movie star anymore. Not that there really was to begin with, but even his arrogant douchebag attitude had been stripped from him.
“I repeat, there is a traitor walking among you,” the imposter Pyro said. “Mark Maddock is your new Omega. He’s led you to believe he is different, that he just wants to protect everyone, but this is a lie. He wants to rule with an iron fist just like his predecessor, but worse…”
“What the hell?” I said as I turned to Frank, who had a look of pity in his brown eyes.
Frank was my best friend since day one at the Academy, and he was a Conduit just like when I first activated. He’d stuck by my side even after finding out I was an Omega, so I knew he’d have my back now.
“I don’t have much time, but I needed to warn you, all of you,” Fake Pyro continued as he stared into the camera with flat eyes. “No one is safe from him. Supers, non-supers, he’s coming for us all! Don’t trust him. Don’t trust his team. Don’t trust the Academy. He won’t stop until he’s destroyed us all. I tried to stop him, but he…”
The video ended abruptly and left us in a tense silence.
“How is this even possible, Mark?” Frank asked as he frowned at me. “Do you really think it’s Gideon?”
“Definitely,” I said firmly. “Not a doubt in my mind.”
“How do you know?”
“I’ve seen that asshole in the astral realm one too many times. The guy acts like he’s C-3PO’s long-lost cousin. There’s nothing human about him, and this is exactly how he acted.” I pointed to the paused screen.
“Shit…” Frank breathed out shakily and raked a hand through his hair. “God, just when you think we can catch a break.”
“No rest for the wicked.” I tried to shrug off my anxiety, but my stomach was still churning itself into knots.
“What’s going on?” Dahlia, one of my smoking-hot girlfriends who just so happened to also be our mentor, asked sleepily.
I glanced over my shoulder and back into my room to see Dahlia sitting up in my bed. Her short black hair was tousled from sleep, and she had thrown on one of my shirts from the floor, which made her look incredibly adorable. Her dark brown eyes were half-closed from the sudden intrusion on her sleep, and I could tell she was fighting for consciousness.
I shared a quick look with Frank, who shrugged at me helplessly.
“I’ll tell you later, babe,” I reassured the black-haired Dreamer.
It was far too early to lay all this on her, and I wanted at least one of us to enjoy the peace of the morning while it still lasted.
She clumsily climbed out of my bed and joined us in the doorway. My shirt that she wore fell down to the top of her thighs, and I forced my eyes back up to her heart-shaped face before I could let my mind wander any further. There’d be time for that later. Hopefully.
“You sure?” she asked as she attempted to wipe the sleep from her tired eyes.
I smiled softly at my girlfriend and cupped her head as I kissed her soft plump lips.
“Promise.”
“Okay…” she trailed off suspiciously, though I knew she trusted me and knew I would tell her when the time was right. “Come and find me when you’re done with whatever ‘this’ is all about.”
She gestured between me and Frank, and the two of us couldn’t help but chuckle.
“I will,” I said with a faint smile. “Get some more sleep, okay? You might need it.”
“That doesn’t sound ominous at all,” the Dreamer drawled with a playful roll of her eyes.
I pressed another lingering kiss to her lips and watched as she reluctantly closed the door to my bedroom and went back to bed.
“So, what do we do?” my red-headed friend asked uneasily as soon as the door clicked shut.
I’d never seen him so shaken up before, even when we were on life-threatening missions. That only made the reality of our situation dawn on me even more. Gideon had dropped us in hot shit, and it fueled my growing hatred for my predecessor.
There was only one person I could possibly think of who would be able to help us right now. The same person I’d turned to even when I was distrusting of almost everyone in the Academy.
“We need Mori.” I nodded firmly. “He’ll know what to do.”
“We’re gonna have a PR field day after this,” Frank joked weakly as we made our way toward the elevator.
Thankfully, none of the other fledglings were awake yet, so they didn’t get to see us like two deer in headlights as we walked down the hallway.
“I don’t know if PR’s gonna be enough, bud.” I sighed as I punched the button marked with a ‘P’ to take us up to Mori’s penthouse.
Mori was a famous Dreamer and the benefactor of the Academy, and since I’d joined, he had acted like another mentor to me. Mori had helped me in more ways than I could count, and I knew if anyone could get us out of this mess, it would be him.
A few minutes later, the chrome doors slid open smoothly and revealed Mori’s lavish apartment, but the famous Dreamer was nowhere to be found as we stepped into his living space, which looked ominous from the lack of light outside.
The sky was a dark gray wrapped around the tall skyscraper of the Academy, and the floor-to-ceiling windows looked like they were made out of ice as the fog obscured the outside world completely.
The crystal sconces that usually engulfed the luxurious room in vibrant light were unlit and left us shrouded in the darkness of the early morning. It all felt very fitting, given our current situation.
There was no sign of Mori anywhere, and I couldn’t help my mind going into overdrive. Had Gideon gotten to him? Was this another part of Gideon’s plan?
My incessant thoughts were quickly shut down as soon as we heard a door squeak open.
Mori exited from a door toward the back of the penthouse and casually meandered over to us. He was dressed in a different variation of his usual smart attire, which consisted of a dark navy three-piece suit and black leather shoes that matched his hair.
“Boys, what can I do for you?” the well-dressed super asked as he casually adjusted his silver cufflinks.
“You don’t know?” I asked in genuine surprise.
“Know what, Mark?”
Mori usually got the heads-up about everything. But given that the broadcast had apparently just happened, I couldn’t blame the guy for not realizing his star pupil and his institution had just been slandered in front of the whole world.
“It’s probably best if I just show you,” I sighed as I passed him Frank’s phone and played the video.
We both stood in silence as Mori watched the video of ‘Pyro’ with a furrowed brow. One thin finger rested on his chin as he seemed to analyze the imposter’s every movement with his sharp black eyes. They seemed to pool into a darker onyx than I’d ever seen before, and it sent a chill down my spine. His eyebrows were pulled into a permanent frown, and he focused on ‘Pyro’s’ face before he locked the phone and passed it back to Frank with a deep inhale.
“So, just to address the elephant in the room, I’m hoping Pyro is actually still locked up downstairs,” I broke the silence impatiently.
“He is,” the dark-eyed Dreamer said as he pursed his lips. “He’s being held in a cell, the same one his brother was in not too long ago. We’ve got around-the-clock surveillance until we figure out what to do with him.”
“And what do you think you’ll end up doing with him?” Frank asked uneasily.
“That remains to be seen,” Mori explained. “There are superior powers who will have to help decide his fate, especially since he is now no longer a super.”
I didn’t miss the pointed look he sent me at the mention of Pyro’s lack of powers. I’d taken them from him back at Alcatraz with the device Gideon had made a century ago. Mori and Somnia, the Academy’s acting principal, had disapproved. I got the feeling they thought I’d go down the same route as Gideon. Like once I’d get a taste of literal power, I wouldn’t be able to stop.
I could still feel the cool steel in my hands, and something deep down itched to hold it again. But I pushed those thoughts out of my head almost as soon as they came. It all felt a little too ‘Gideon,’ and part of me started to understand why Mori and Somnia were so cautious.
“Okay, so if you’ve got Pyro under surveillance, and he’s still in his cell, then how the hell is Gideon using his face to slander me to the entire world?”
My question made my mentor’s eyebrows fly up toward his hairline in surprise.
“You think this is Gideon?” he asked.
“Yes. I’m sure of it.” I nodded resolutely, and Mori hummed in thought.
Mori had always given me the benefit of the doubt. Ever since I showcased more than one power at the start of the semester, he’d been there to guide me and help me understand my powers, and I was grateful to have him in my corner.
“I trust your judgment, Mark,” he said after a moment. “As improbable as this all seems, I wouldn’t put it past Gideon to be behind something like this.”
“But how has he done it?” I asked. “Gideon didn’t have shapeshifting powers, did he?”
The last Omega had a multitude of powers. Not only because he was the Omega and naturally had more powers than any other super, but because his followers willingly gave him their own. It stumped me how he’d managed to indoctrinate them to that extent, but seeing how hellbent Pyro, as well as the other goons who’d tried to kill us at Alcatraz, had been, it was beginning to make sense.
The device we’d found at Alcatraz was powerful, and I couldn’t say I wasn’t tempted to take Pyro’s powers for myself, but I didn’t want to go down the same path as the last King of Superheroes.
“No one knew of such a power if he ever had it,” Mori mused. “However, we shouldn’t rush to conclusions. For Gideon to shapeshift and somehow mimic Pyro’s face, he would have to have a physical body of his own. He would have to be alive.”
“And you don’t think he is?” Frank asked.
“No,” my dark-haired mentor deadpanned. “Gideon’s body was ceremoniously burned after his death. There are many eyewitnesses who saw it happen and documented it. One of them, in fact, is still living.”
“Eve,” I said in realization.
Eve was the immortal who’d given me a shit ton of information on Gideon thanks to her past ‘affiliations’ with him before he called himself King of Superheroes. Eve and Gideon had been in love before he activated, and it’s because of her that we even found out about the device that could steal a super’s power.
“What’s more probable is he’s possessing the body of another shapeshifter,” Mori mused.
“Shit,” I breathed out deeply, but then my mind jumped to a recent mission, and I frowned. “Wait, didn’t we just take down someone with a shapeshifting power? Anton or something. He could change his whole physical appearance to look like someone else.”
We’d handed the kingpin over to the police after the drug bust mission that Chief Anderson had booked us for.
At the time, there hadn’t been any indication that Anton was connected to the Antis. He’d just been a low-level crime lord douchebag.
“As far as I am aware, Anton is still in police custody awaiting his trial,” Mori immediately settled my whirring mind. “I’ll have someone check up on him, however, if it will put you at ease.”
“No, no, it’s fine,” I reassured my mentor. “Okay, so Gideon’s possessing another shapeshifter, but how?”
“That I am unsure of,” my Dreamer mentor admitted before he made his way over to his leather couch and took a seat. “You said Gideon spoke to you while in the astral realm, correct?”
“That’s right,” I confirmed as Frank and I joined him on the opposite sofa. “Twice. Pyro also mentioned that Gideon told him we’d be at Alcatraz,”
Mori hummed again and tapped his chin in thought.
The Dreamer’s power was astral projection, something he had helped me do numerous times. In fact, it was in the astral realm where I first learned my powers were more than just my physical body. Plus, it’s where I got to try out all four pillars’ powers for the first time.
“There is endless knowledge in the astral realm,” Mori said after a moment of silence, and his tone was grave. “And endless uses for it. But to be able to communicate through the past… that is not something that has ever been possible.”
“And I assume possessing other supers from beyond the grave hasn’t been possible, either?” I asked with a grimace.
“Geez, I’m starting to understand why this Gideon guy was such a big deal.” Frank let out a breathless chuckle in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Mori appeared to be contemplating something as his black eyes bored into the leather couch opposite him, so Frank and I just waited in silence and tried not to break whatever train of thought he was having.
Especially if it would give us an answer as to what the hell was going on.
“Leave it with me.” Mori’s dark eyes suddenly snapped to me, and he slapped a hand against his knee. “I’ll speak to some trusted sources. Perhaps they might have some insight about our current… dilemma.”
“That’s a nice way of putting it,” I snorted. “It’s not even dawn yet, and I could already go for one of your cocktails right now, sir.”
“Another time.” He nodded with an amused smile. “Now, however, I would suggest you go down and speak to our ‘mole’ in the basement. Perhaps you can get some insight from him on Gideon’s plan? Maybe even find out how he’s possessing another super?”
“Worth a shot.” I shrugged. “Are you coming with us?”
My mentor seemed to hesitate for a moment before his brow furrowed again.
