Free Forced Betrayal by Robert T. Jeschonek

auditorium.
    "That's nice," says CEO, "but no can do. Big man's in the middle of a very important meeting."
    "I'm sure he won't mind." Hericane pushes past, sending him stumbling backward.
    But Mogul jumps in front of her at super-speed, cutting her off. "Why don't you talk to us instead? We'd love to hear what you have to say." His shaggy hair frames an expression of total surfer dude sincerity.
    Meanwhile, CEO whips out his phone and hits speed dial. "Code Black," he snaps. "Code Black right now ."
    "Bonnie!" Hericane shoots out a fist, which speed demon Mogul neatly ducks. "Do your thing!"
    Don't need to draw me a map. I'm already in full concentration mode, gathering my energies, picking my target.
    Mogul first. I go in like a hammerhead shark, ramming his back-brain instead of tweaking it. As panic signals surge through his nervous system, I kick the shit out of his adrenal gland, slamming it into overdrive.
    Just like that, Mogul's hyper-speed powers fly out of control. In the middle of dodging another blow from Hericane, he leaps away from her. Wailing, he ricochets all over the lobby like a pinball, smashing light bulbs, mirrored panels on the walls, and the glass of the concession counter display case.
    One down.
    Turning my focus on CEO, I see he's erupted into his raging purple monster form and is grappling with Hericane. They seem to be pretty evenly matched on the physical strength level; neither one's gaining any ground. But I can change that.
    I start to work my magic on CEO--then catch myself and switch gears. Pumping up the panic levels in a creature of pure, animal fury might just make him angrier.
    Instead, I give Hericane a push. Adrenaline floods her body, fueling a sudden burst of power that gives her the strength to break the clinch. With a loud grunt, she hurls the monster back, sending him crashing through a pillar. Then she blasts him with a barrage of lightning vision, shocking him into unconsciousness.
    As for Mogul, he just keeps ricocheting faster, gaining momentum. I duck and run toward Hericane as he rockets past, narrowly missing a collision with me.
    "Come on!" Hericane wrenches the double doors open and pulls me inside, then slams them shut behind us.
    And we find ourselves standing in an ancient auditorium, darkened except for the stage and the huge movie screen above it.
    When I see what's happening on that stage, my own body fills with panic--not caused by my power or anyone else's. Because what I see is unbelievable. It's horrific.
    Holy shit.
    I feel Hericane's hand squeeze my shoulder, my only reference point of steadiness in the face of insanity.
    "Oh my God." My voice sounds tiny and weak to my own ears. "What...what...?" What kind of nightmare is this? That's what I want to say, but the words won't come out.
    "Take a deep breath. This is that big superhero secret I was telling you about." Hericane squeezes my shoulder again. "This is what they call the Portcullis."
    Â 
    *****
    Â 
    What I see on the stage is a real life horror show.
    Hundreds of crimson tentacles thrash and slash from a pulsating red portal spanning the movie screen. The tentacles are covered with suckers and spines and twitching black cilia; they're tipped with claws and tongues and slobbering fanged maws and things I don't even recognize. Things that throb and vomit and slither and screech. Things that look like cancerous organs turned inside out or unborn babies and giant bugs stitched together in the bowels of Hell.
    The sound it makes is like the screaming of a thousand maniacs being boiled alive. The stench it gives off is worse than the smell of a hundred corpses rotting and bursting in the sun.
    I've been around some awful things in my life, but this one surpasses them all. Something about it cuts to my core, makes me sick to the stomach. Makes me sick in my head , nauseous and drugged and unhinged. All I want to do is run away.
    And yet a lone figure dares to stand against it--one man clad in familiar