SCORCHER: Forces of Nature #1 Revised Edition

By Kelly Edwards

Orphaned by the accidental use of her pyrokinetic abilities at the age of 11, Aidan O'Donnell had nowhere to turn when the secret criminal organization known as Iris took her in and used her powers of fire manipulation for their own nefarious purposes. Hoping to one day break free of Iris's hold, Aidan cl

• Language: English
• Publisher: Phoenix Sisters Productions
• Release date: Sep 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088178720

Book preview

Prologue

One nightmare reduced Aidan O’Donnell’s entire world to little more than smoke and embers.

She was ten years old and the vague impression of a man chasing her intruded upon what might have been a lovely dream. Something ignited within to defend herself. Something… not quite human. She woke up on fire, and that fire spread hungrily throughout her childhood home, consuming everything and everyone that had ever mattered to her.

Somehow, Aidan survived the fire that killed her parents. And yet, she drifted from that one nightmare into others. Her life became a string of foster homes and little fires, until a fateful night when she woke up in the midst of another blaze.

After the second big fire, she slipped away from the scene and started running with no destination in mind. She might have kept running forever, if a figure hadn’t stepped out of the shadows once she’d reached the woods. His irises were an inky black and he gave her a smile that sent a shiver down her spine. And yet, she had nowhere to run to, and no one who might rescue her if she screamed. Not anymore.

That was quite the spectacular event back there, the man said with a nod towards the remnants of the fire behind her.

Spectacular? she asked, a sob threatening to spill over.

It was a spectacle, he confirmed. And you survived.

Aidan took a step back from the man, looking up at him in horror.

It’s a shame that your abilities had to present themselves in such a dramatic way, but sometimes that happens to our kind. The takeaway here though, is that you are a survivor.

Aidan shook her head, wanting to say that she didn’t want to be a survivor. She didn’t want to be like this man-a ‘New Human’ as some people called them, though freak was the more common term. And she definitely didn’t want to be the girl who turned everything she touched to ash.

I work for an organization filled with people like you, Miss O’Donnell.  We can help you, if you’ll let us. He held out a hand to her.

She stared at the pale hand and tried to quell all the alarm bells sounding in her head. Her entire world had gone topsy turvy within one night and she didn’t know what to do next. But here was someone, offering her a lifeline. She bit her lip and took his hand.

One nightmare destroyed Aidan O’Donnell. Aidan Grey, aka Scorcher, was born out of those ashes.

1

Putting Out Fires

The small plane hovered, and the doors opened to reveal the icy landscape of Antarctica. Under different circumstances, the woman known as Aidan Grey would have appreciated its beauty. Today, she didn’t have the time.

Aidan stood and tugged a fitted hood over her vibrant red hair and then pulled down the accompanying mask, complete with tinted goggles over her eyes. She placed a small voice modifier into the neck of her suit, pulled on a parka, and then turned towards the open doors. The wind whipped at the tiny bit of exposed skin around her mouth, but she ignored it and ran towards the door. She streamlined her body and dove out.

Aidan had always imagined flying to be more exhilarating than this.  Instead of soaring through the air with nothing else to do but enjoy the view, she was bogged down with memories as her life raced through her thoughts. As the icy expanse below rushed up to meet her, Christmases and birthdays and lazy Sundays flew through her mind, occasionally punctuated by the dying screams of her parents. She had come a long way from being that little girl that was once found in the ashes of the family home, but there were times when she felt just as lost as she had then.

She pulled the cord on her backpack and a sharp tug yanked through her body. The echoes of laughter and snatches of screams disappeared once the ground’s ascent slowed.  Her mind cleared and the past retreated to the hidden corners of her thoughts as she lightly touched to the ground. 

Once again, there was only this moment, only this reality. All that remained was the mission. This was as it should be.

She hit the ground and released her parachute. The landing didn’t slow her forward momentum and she began to cross the ground at a rapid pace. A few moments later her partner for the mission touched down nearby. Her fellow agents always hid behind their codenames and Temptress was no exception. Though they had worked together several times, Aidan knew little more than the code name and Temptress’s abilities.

Temptress fell into step beside her without speaking a word.  Aidan didn’t mind the silence. She had learned long ago that there was no use in seeking friendships or any other sort of bond with her teammates. 

A large rocky hill loomed before them. Aidan studied it with a critical eye. It was a good replica, and if she didn’t know any better, she would have walked right by it without noticing anything amiss. The hill was a relatively new addition to the landscape. Despite the evidence otherwise, the formation was anything but natural. Instead, it was extremely good camouflage for a large complex. It was a well-done disguise, but it was hard to hide anything from Iris, the group that employed Aidan and had cornered the market on the superhuman criminal underworld.

Aidan reached the structure and pulled out her rock-climbing gear. Temptress followed right behind her. When they came within the area that should contain the entry, Aidan released the rock face with one hand and tapped a button on her goggles. Her vision darkened and the rocks in front of her turned blue. She scanned the rocks and caught sight of something green off to her left. 

Aidan maneuvered her way over to the hint of green until it was right before her - a nearly perfect handprint. She grinned and then glanced around the rest of the area. Several handprints were centered on an area just above the first handprint.

Jackpot, she muttered, and then waited for Temptress to catch up.

When her partner was right below her, Aidan pulled out a small glob of a solution that was the consistency of chewed gum. She fixed it to the area that must be the hidden door, and then waved her hand over the solution. Flames sprang to life. Below her, Temptress braced herself. The soft glow of the flame washed across her features, highlighting the gold of her hair, and the perfect symmetry of her face. Up close, her features were a bit too sharp and cold, but from here, she looked like Aphrodite reborn.

A loud explosion shattered the silence and the door collapsed in on itself. Aidan hoisted herself up into the opening and then dropped down to the ground just below it.

Temptress touched down moments later. They were greeted with an exclamation of surprise. Aidan grinned. The signal jammer must have done its job and blocked the outside surveillance equipment. This was a good start.

Before the two guards that had been surprised in the entryway could react, Temptress stepped in front of Aidan and pulled off her hood. Thick blond curls tumbled out. Though Aidan couldn’t see her partner’s face, she knew what the guards must be seeing.

When she had first met Temptress Aidan had been stunned by her ethereal beauty. Once she got to know the woman better, she had been able to see past the façade to the true features below. They were severe, hawkish, and nothing resembling attractive. Indeed, Aidan was relieved that most of her time with Temptress was spent with both in masks. The guards stared in awe at Temptress as she advanced on them.

Aidan watched as her partner grabbed the first guard and pressed her lips to him. His knees crumpled and he fell to the ground in a stupor. The second guard backed away only slightly, but Temptress’s lips touched his and he too collapsed.

Aidan suppressed a shudder.Temptress had an unusual control over certain chemical levels in the brain, including pheromones and endorphins. She was able to manipulate the way the world saw her and with a simple kiss, was able to send the brain into overdrive. Her kisses weren’t lethal, though she had weapons stashed in her belt should that need arise. Even so, it was unnerving to watch able-bodied security guards collapse in the face of something as simple as a kiss.

I’ll need ten minutes to clear a path for you, Temptress called over her shoulder.

Before Aidan could respond, the other woman darted down the hallway. While she waited, Aidan tapped another button on her goggles. Blueprints of the facility scrolled past her vision, including the route she had highlighted as the most likely path to the treasure.

At least, it was a treasure as far as Iris’s customer was concerned. Aidan wasn’t so certain that a mega-virus was a treasure worth seeking, but it wasn’t her place to question the mission. It was her place to complete it to the satisfaction of Iris’s leaders and collect her pay, which was enough to qualify as a treasure in itself. What became of the goods that she procured along the way was not her business.

As Aidan watched the clock tick away the minutes and waited for her chance to spring into action, she wondered if the fact that it was none of her business where the virus ended up or how it was used absolved her from guilt as to the outcome of her theft. Thankfully, before she could spend too much time thinking, the clock changed to 23:11, exactly ten minutes from Temptress’s departure, before she could travel down that unsettling line of thinking yet again.

Aidan sprinted up the stairs, her senses trained for any sign of trouble. By the time she’d reached the lab, she was unnerved at the lack of resistance. Temptress was good, but she hadn’t expected this mission to go off without a hitch. It wasn’t like her usual targets, and so she had expected more difficulty.

If their security was this crude, perhaps they shouldn’t have been in possession of such a dangerous weapon in the first place. Spurred on by that thought, Aidan stopped in front of the door to the lab. A small panel marked the area where the doorknob should have been. Beneath her mask, Aidan rolled her eyes. Fingerprint identification. As though that could keep her out. Her hand hovered over the panel, which lit up with flames. It sparked and then darkened. The door obliged and swung open.

Aidan crossed the room to a small refrigerator and opened it. Two small vials stared up at her. She retrieved both and slipped them into a temperature-controlled pouch on her belt. She closed the refrigerator and turned to leave, then hesitated.

This was too easy. At least, Aidan hadn’t expected the worst part of the mission to be a moral crisis. In the planning stages, it was easy to ignore the actual object of the theft. It was even easy to convince herself that the client merely wished to rid the world of a volatile virus and wouldn’t use it for a less noble cause.

With the virus in her possession, it was tougher to believe the lies she’d told herself. It was tougher to ignore the implied blood on her hands. Aidan’s reverie was broken by the wail of an alarm. Those affected by Temptress must have woken up. Aidan dashed out into the hallway and searched for an escape route. The hallway ended in an empty wall where a window might have been if it were an ordinary building. Aidan raced toward the wall, and then directed all of her energy at it. A large ball of fire impacted the wall seconds before she would have. She focused on the flames, which flickered and died on command. Then she climbed out and used her ice pick to scale the wall.

Aidan still had time before they discovered what she’d taken and her exit route, so she continued to climb with as much speed as she could manage until she reached a mesa near the top of the hill and let out a breath. It was just about time for her pick-up. So far, no snags in the mission.

It took a moment for her to realize she was not alone. A man lingered in the shadows of a small crevice. He stepped out of the shadows, his blue costume gleaming in the moonlight. It was a royal blue shot through with a silver design of jagged lines that looked a little like cracks in an ice fissure. She couldn’t quite recall his name, but recognized him from news features on the Solaris Circle. The New Human champions themselves - Earth’s heroes. The most naïve of her kind, really. They seemed to believe that using their powers for the ‘greater good’ of those who couldn’t fight for themselves would somehow change the world. This particular hero wasn’t one of the founding members that had been with the organization for the past forty years, so she could calculate his age as being somewhat close to her own.

Until now, she hadn’t had the misfortune to meet up with the heroes. This one’s presence only served as a sickening reminder that there was more at stake on this mission than lost riches. 

Going somewhere? he called.

She glared and moved into a defensive position, refusing to dignify such a stupid question with an answer.

Why don’t you just save us both some time, hand the vial over, and wait for the police to get here?

She smirked.

I’m afraid the police would be a little helpless in this situation, junior.  As are you, sidekick, her voice rumbled an octave lower than usual as the voice modifier vibrated against her throat. 

She lifted her hand, and a wall of fire sprang up between them.  She struggled to keep it in place, just close enough to warn him away.

The fire froze over as a wall of ice coated it. The ice melted, and once again Aidan faced off with the man in blue.

I am not a sidekick, he growled and pointed to her.

A cold sensation gathered at Aidan’s feet, and she looked down in time to see a thick layer of ice forming around her boots. It hadn’t solidified yet, so she waved her hand and fire licked the edges, reducing it to slush.

Aidan leapt out of the way of yet another blast of ice and pulled herself onto a smaller overhang above the mesa. But her opponent was too quick. She ducked and rolled out of the way of another burst of ice and barely had the time to shoot off a fireball in his general direction. 

Another blast of ice slammed into Aidan’s stomach. She fell into the wall behind her. Before he could fix her to the wall, she burned her way through the ice and dove away.

She pulled a smoke pellet out of her belt and tossed it in his direction.

Her breath was ragged now, but she couldn’t help grinning. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears and the cold outside was entirely forgotten as her blood ran hot throughout her body.

The man in blue coughed and Aidan took advantage of the distraction to leap onto another overhang. From there, she pulled herself up to a higher overhang and crouched for a second to catch her breath as he fumbled amid the smoke.

Don’t you people ever get tired of causing trouble? the man shouted at her.

Aidan grinned and vaulted herself back down to the lower overhang.  From there, she created a circle of fire around him.

Not really.  You see, my advantage is that I’m enjoying the work-out. You may not want to waste your time, but I could go all night.

He rose out of the flames atop a growing base of ice. It spread into the fire. The two elements struggled, but the fire began to die in the face of the melting ice.

You call this fun? You really need a hobby, he lobbed a ball of ice her way. Or a boyfriend, he added.

Aidan ducked the ice and responded with a barrage of fireballs. She was less careful this time, as he had shown that he could take care of himself. There was less worry about accidentally killing the hero.

Aidan barely got the fireballs off when something cold hit her in the knees. Her legs were swept out from under her, and she fell forward off the overhang. She attempted to roll into a position that would lessen the impact but collided with something solid much sooner than she’d expected. 

A thud filled the air and Aidan groaned as her body crushed against something warm and moving. Apparently, the icy pest hadn’t gotten out of the way in time.

She looked down at him in surprise, painfully aware of just how entangled their limbs were.

Both struggled to separate, and she jumped to her feet as soon as she was free. In anger, she whirled and slammed her fist into his gut.

The man in blue groaned and doubled over but stood straight a moment later. Is that all you’ve got?

Not even close, Aidan replied and moved in for another punch. He sidestepped it and used the momentum to flip her.

Pain wracked through Aidan’s body as she hit the ground. She groaned and got to her feet. He had already built a wall of ice around her. She raised her hand and melted the ice.

Have you even thought about what you’re doing here? he asked, Don’t you realize that terrorists like you are the reason people fear New Humans?

Her hand stopped mid-air, just short of sending up another wall of flame. Guilt rose up again like bile in her throat. 

She flew at him, her fists raging. He easily parried the blows, until she landed a kick to his solar plexus. He grunted and staggered backwards. Blood rushed to her ears, and the tension lifted as she lost herself in the fight.

Now come on, Aidan said, Tell me you don’t enjoy this. She jumped to avoid the blast of ice directed at her feet. If you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong.

Oh, please! Running around in a costume keeping a vial of super-anthrax out of the hands of some maniacs? I'd rather be at home watching a movie with my girlfriend. the man in blue’s voice shook slightly, and Aidan’s lips curved into a small grin. 

You probably don't even have a girlfriend. Aidan sent a wall of flame in his direction to counter the blast of ice that he’d released a second before. 

Something glinted from the ground, and she realized too late that the vial pouch was no longer attached to her belt. It must have fallen out when he’d flipped her. The flames licked closer to it. Her mind was no longer on the superhero or the fight, but instead she fought for control of the flames, struggled to keep them away from the small vial.

If she burned through the glass casing, the virus within would be released into the air and kill nearly everyone within a two-hundred-mile radius. She would survive, thanks to the 48-hour vaccination she’d received prior to the mission, but everyone inside the hills, and the man in front of her, would die.

The moment of distraction would be her downfall. Aidan flew backwards as a blast of ice encountered her midsection. She fell on her back with a thud.

You should have quit while you were ahead, her opponent taunted.  When was that, by the way?

Aidan scrambled to her feet, despite the knowledge that she would be in pain as soon as the adrenaline wore off. This time, she didn’t respond with fire. Instead, she watched him kneel beside a protective ice dome around the vial. 

Aidan launched herself at the man, but the tackle was deflected with another burst of ice. She hadn’t realized just how close to the edge they were, and suddenly she felt air beneath her feet.

She struggled with her belt for a second, and barely retrieved her pickaxe in time. She drove it into the rock wall, and her arm wrenched as it caught hold. 

The man in blue stood on the ledge above her and for a second looked concerned. As soon as they locked eyes, he grinned and blew a kiss. With a wave, he turned and slid away, forming his own path of ice.  

After a few minutes of struggling, Aidan pulled herself up to the rooftop. She was too tired to do much more than look to the sky for the helicopter that was sure to be on its way. A wave of relief washed over her as helicopter blades sliced through the air. Wind whipped around her, and she turned to look up as the helicopter lowered to just above her. A thin man climbed down a rope ladder. A second later, she was face to face with Mr. Shadow, her contact to the higher powers at Iris.

Well? he asked.

It didn't go as planned.

That much is obvious. I would say hanging off a hill wasn’t in the plans. Mr. Shadow watched her with cataloguing eyes for a moment and then spoke again. The vial?

Aidan hesitated and then shook her head. The man’s appearance was enough to motivate her to pull her weight back onto the ledge.

This is most disappointing. 

Mr. Shadow began to climb up the ladder. He nodded to a second passenger, and the helicopter began to rise.

Where are you going? Aidan shouted. Her energy failed her, and she could do little more than watch the ladder rise out of reach.

Back to my office. You’re a resourceful young woman. I expect you’ll find your own way back. Take the extra time to think about how you’ve failed us, the Shadow called to her once he reached the door to the helicopter.

Aidan watched the helicopter disappear and sighed. She began to climb the hill. She would just have to scale the hills and go down the other side. And when she found that smug hero, she was going to smother him with those spandex pants of his.

2

The Solaris Circle

The headquarters for the Solaris Circle, the largest group of heroes charged with protecting the world, was well-hidden as always. It was a large complex that hovered over both land and air as needed. The many towers and turrets housed staff devoted to security, research and development, and all other administrative functions necessary to keep the group going.

Today, it floated just off the coast of Antarctica, its hologram sensors camouflaging it as a mound of ice. If the hero known as Chill hadn’t known where to look, he would have passed it by without a second glance. Instead, he stood just a few feet from the icy structure that masked a building with spires reaching towards the sky, the size of a small city and bustling with activity as heroes and all their support staff worked tirelessly to protect the countries that they were sanctioned in. He waited for the genetic identification scanning to complete and allow him entry into the building itself. Once the scan was complete, the illusion faltered long enough to reveal the front door.

Chill slid forward on the icy landscape and through the front doors.  He stopped, as always, just in the doorway of a large entryway. His breath caught in his throat. After eleven years with the team, this room still reduced him to the eight-year-old boy who had once collected every news clipping on the Solaris Circle that he could find. Original costumes remained in glass display cases alongside framed team photographs, countless humanitarian awards, and various other reminders of the great heroes who had passed through this very room.

It still caught him by surprise to be grouped in the same category as his childhood heroes, but Chill had now saved the world alongside the Circle’s members enough times to realize that it was a lot less glamorous than it had appeared in the newspaper clippings.  Even still, he wouldn’t trade this life for anything. He was helping the world the best way he knew how, alongside some of the heroes he had once worshipped from afar. 

Someday Chill would inherit the mantle of team leader, assuming he didn’t die in combat or otherwise fall from grace. His hand traveled to an area of exposed skin, now blistering over. He winced. The firebug had managed to burn right through his cooling suit. The fight had been a close one - closer than he cared to admit. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that she had held back, just a bit. If his instincts were right, he would have been dead had she done her worst. More disturbing was the thought that if her fire had gotten too close to the vial, it would have exploded, and countless lives would have been lost.

The fact was that whoever had sent her knew the risks and had taken the chance anyway. That potential for disaster could have been their contingency plan in case of interference. 

That chilling thought haunted his steps as he moved out of the great room and down a hallway. On reaching a silver door at the end of the hall, Chill hesitated. The Champion had requested this meeting shortly after he’d turned the virus over to other members of the team. He braced himself for the lecture that was sure to come and for the weight of the Champion’s disappointment on his shoulders. He knew he had acted rashly and rushed off without back-up when he heard the alert. Even after eleven years, he still had to fight the impulse to act on his own and instead follow the team rules while working on Solaris Circle business.   

The door opened as soon as Chill reached out to it, and he entered a round room that was lined with screens on the wall and otherwise contained nothing more than a round table and chairs.

The Champion’s silhouette stood out against the faint glow of the screens, and the older hero did not turn around to acknowledge Chill. Instead, the Champion remained stationary, his entire body held in a taut position.

I understand you recovered the toxin, the Champion stated without a hint of praise in his tone.

Yes sir, the younger hero lowered his eyes at the implied accusation.

You went alone. I suppose you assumed this was just another of the small-time criminals that plague your adopted hometown?

Though the insinuation that New York City had nothing more threatening than a run of the mill criminal was hardly accurate, Chill didn’t argue the point.   

No, sir.  I was alone here when the call came in. I knew that we were here to keep an eye on the situation, and I thought we would lose the virus indefinitely if I waited for back up.

The Champion turned; a quiet anger carved into his features.

We have a team member who can break the sound barrier and one who can teleport. I myself can fly at a relatively high speed. And yet, you didn’t think to call any of us?

Chill didn’t meet the Champion’s gaze, and instead