“I have to get this.” Hannah groaned, as she struggled up from her bed, searching for her phone, which was blaring out ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’.
“No. Let it ring babe. I have to go back to college in the morning. This can wait.” Matt reached out and embraced his girlfriend, kissing her on the lips, then the chin, progressing lower and lower. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
“No, that’s my Boomers ringtone. It’s business.” Hannah giggled, as she squirmed out of her boyfriend’s grasp.
“Oh, the Boomtown Rats. Clever. I knew I liked you for a reason.” Matt smiled. “Guess you’d best answer that.”
“I knew you’d understand.” Hannah smiled back, as she found her phone. “Hyper Girl here… Ok… Yep… Lirabite?… Oh, ok… Yeah, I’m just with my boyfriend… Uh huh… Ok… See you soon.”
“Lirabite? Aren’t they the aliens who were in Canada last year?” Matt asked.
“Probably. How do you feel about team-ups?” Hannah asked, as she pulled her costume out of her drawer.
“Team-ups?… Wait… Did Talon ask…? Holy crap!” Matt said.
“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’.” Hannah laughed. “You’re so cute when you’re being a fanboy. Did you bring your costume?”
“Always. It’s in my bag. I’ll get changed now.” Matt tumbled out of bed, scrambling across the floor to his bag.
“Amateurs…” Hannah rolled her eyes.
“I’ve been doing this as long as you have!” Matt said, pulling his tights on.
“Of course you have sweetie.” Hannah said, putting her mask on.
<><><>
Mr Universe took a deep breath as Hyper Girl opened the hangar door.
“-so I told Ralph I didn’t mind, I’m sure it was the right decision.” Talon was already waiting, talking to The Freak.
“And you’re fine with it? I mean, we all assumed you were next in line.” The Freak replied.
“No, I think I’ve done alright for myself.” Talon said, looking over at the door. “Oh good, you’re here.”
“And Mr Universe accepted our invitation.” The Freak added. “It’s good to see you again.”
Mr Universe’s eyes went wide. “Th-thank you sir.” He stammered.
Talon smiled. “You can face off against Gauss alone, but we still make you nervous? Kid, we owe you our lives; you’re practically one of us now.”
“Not quite one of us though.” Hyper Girl warned.
“Although, if you’re going to be on the East Coast for a while…” The Freak said.
“We’ll worry about it later. The Gibbon just arrived, so we’re taking off. Nymphette is already on board.” Talon said, making her way up the ramp into the Sonic Boom II.
“Oh, Mr Universe is coming out with us today? Should be an easy one then.” The Gibbon said, as he swung through the doorway, getting down on all fours to bound across the hangar.
“Thunderbolt is meeting us there, he was working in Mexico.” The Freak said.
“Of course. He’ll probably beat us there.” The Gibbon said.
<><><>
The Sonic Boom II ducked and wove between the shots being fired upon it from the spaceships that swarmed the Miami skyline.
“Why doesn’t this thing have guns?” Mr Universe asked, as he clung to his seat for dear life.
“It’s technically a civilian vehicle. We’re not allowed.” The Freak said.
“And just how good a pilot is Talon?” Mr Universe asked.
“We’re not dead yet.” The Freak replied.
“Ok, I think we need to take some action. Hyper Girl, you with me?” Mr Universe asked.
“What did you have in mind?” Hyper Girl asked.
“Distract the ships so Talon can get this thing on the ground.” Mr Universe replied.
“Is that ok with you?” Hyper Girl shouted up to Talon.
“You got it. Freak, Gibbon, Nymphette, grab on to something, I’m opening the hatch.” Talon ordered.
As soon as the door was open, Mr Universe and Hyper Girl released themselves and sailed straight out, using their powers to fly.
“Try not to get hit.” Mr Universe said.
“Thanks sweetie. What would I do without you?” Hyper Girl deadpanned, as she blocked laser fire with her photonic shield.
“I have no idea.” Mr Universe replied, as he dodged an oncoming ship.
<><><>
Thunderbolt flew through the air, a loud roar following along behind him, as he flew at top speed. As he moved, the Miami skyline appeared on the horizon, rapidly getting bigger and bigger. It didn’t take him long to spot the swarm of alien ships flying around the buildings, shooting at two tiny figures in the air. Moments later, he recognised one of the figures as his team-mate, Hyper Girl, and rushed to her aid.
“Hyper Girl! Where is the rest of the team?” Thunderbolt asked, as the sky began to darken, thunder rolling in the background.
“In the ‘Boom, Talon’s going to try landing the thing. We’re up here distracting the ships.” Hyper Girl replied, as she blasted away at a space ship, her blast ricocheting straight off the forcefield that surrounded the ship.
“And this is…?” Thunderbolt asked.
“Oh, right. Honey, this is Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt, this is Mr Universe, my boyfriend.” Hyper Girl said, as she idly deflected another laser blast.
“Hi.” Mr Universe said, waving as he began using his powers to tear chunks off the ship that had fired at Hyper Girl. “Usually I’d start freaking out because I got to meet you, but I’m a tad busy right now.”
“Of course.” Thunderbolt replied, as a bolt of lightning destroyed another ship.
“That is so cool!” Mr Universe gushed.
<><><>
Nymphette looked around. “So if the fliers are up there, fighting the ships, what the hell are we supposed to be doing down here?”
“Saving civilians.” Talon said. “Those ships did some serious damage before we turned up.”
“Or we could take care of that.” The Gibbon pointed at the two ships that had landed three blocks away.
“True.” Talon said. “Ok guys, we’ve all fought Lirabites before. They’re strong, they’re tough, they’re fast. Freak, you’ll head down the middle, charge in, swinging. They can’t hurt you physically, and they’re not likely to fire their blasters at close range. Gibbon and I will flank you, we’re just as quick, and almost as strong as them, so we should be pretty effective. Nymphette, find a water source and hit them hard, but try to keep your distance.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice.”
“Ok. It’s Boom Time.” Talon said.
The Freak began charging forward, letting out a primal scream as he crashed into a crowd of the reptilian extraterrestrials, followed closely by his teammates.
Nymphette looked around, trying to find a faucet or a fire hydrant, but to no avail. Sighing, she reached up and touched the communicator on her left breast. “Thunderbolt, make it rain baby.”
“You got it.” Thunderbolt buzzed back, and the heavens opened up.
“Alright then, time to get wet.” Nymphette said, as she began directing the raindrops, sending streams more powerful that firehoses at the Lirabites, knocking them flat on their backs. “That’s right you slimy bastards, take it!”
“That girl scares me sometimes.” The Gibbon muttered, as he uppercut a Lirabite, sending it sprawling.
“Amen.” The Freak said, tossing another two after it.
<><><>
“… So I figure if I hit just the right frequency…” Mr Universe said, as he sent out a wave of electromagnetic energy directly at an oncoming ship. Moments later, the power cut out, and the ship went crashing to the ground.
“Very nice work.” Thunderbolt said, as he swung Mjolnir, crashing it straight through the hull of the ship.
“Thanks. You too.” Mr Universe said, eyes wide.
“Ok, honey… You think you could do that again?” Hyper Girl asked.
“Of course, that was just a test run. Time for the full wave.” Mr Universe said, summoning all his strength.
“Don’t overdo it babe.” Hyper Girl said.
“I got it… Just be ready to catch me.” Mr Universe said, before throwing out his arms. The gesture was pointless, but he did like to look the part.
As the invisible wave of energy erupted from his body, ships began dropping like flies.
It was Thunderbolt’s turn to be amazed. “Incredible.” He said, as he watched a dozen ships just fall out of the sky.
“He really is, isn’t he?” Hyper Girl swooned, as she caught her boyfriend’s motionless body. “Looks like it took a lot out of him.”
“It took more out of them.” Thunderbolt said, pointing at the remaining ships, as they retreated into space.
<><><>
Mr Universe came to on the Sonic Boom II, Hyper Girl sitting by him, his hand in hers.
“It’s about time you woke up. You missed the press conference.” Hyper Girl said.
“Does that mean I’m not on the team?” Mr Universe asked groggily.
“Not this time babe, but you impressed them. I’m very proud.” Hyper Girl said, kissing him.
“What more could I ask for?” Mr Universe replied, a huge smile on his face.
The lovebirds ignored Nymphette’s chortle at that, too interested in each other.
“I don’t understand why you waste our powers like that bro.” Lee said, as he pounded down his fourth power bar for the day.
“I just think I’m strong enough without having to bulk up. I mean, I’m not as strong as you or grandpa, but I’m still stronger than most of the guys we fight. And I am quicker.” Cal replied. “And smarter.” He added, after a moment’s thought.
“And cuter.” Michelle, codenamed Ossuary, said, as she entered the kitchen, wrapping her arm around her boyfriend’s waist.
“Too bad you don’t have a girlfriend to take your side on this one, hey bro?” Cal laughed.
“I have lots, just none of them are allowed in the HQ.” Lee spluttered.
“Sure.” Michelle laughed.
“I believe you. Otherwise the amount of time you spend clubbing would be kind of pathetic.” Cal said.
“It’s just, ever since Lexi and me broke up, I don’t want to settle down. I mean, we got together kind of young, and I can drink now.” Lee said.
“Of course. I really wish you guys had run that by me first though. If I’d known I’d have to pick up another team member to replace Psyke, I could have done some scouting.” Cal said. “Not that this Red Streak kid seems like a bad choice.”
“Sounds like he should be on the Teen Dream Team.” Lee smirked.
“Would that be the same Teen Dream Team that contains Cobalt, who showed you up in the Shadow Plane?” Cal teased.
Lee scowled at his brother but before he could think of a comeback, a siren began to ring throughout the complex.
“Well, looks like that’s our cue. I wonder what’s going on.”Cal said.
<><><>
Adrienne threw her phone into the wall, before engulfing it with water, short-circuiting it.
“Go away!” She shouted at the knocking on her door.
Regardless of her protests, the door opened, and Jesse stuck his head in. “Boyfriend troubles?” He asked.
Moments later, his head was soaked. “I told you to go away.” Adrienne warned. “And he’s not my boyfriend, I was just using him.”
“And he got wise?” Her size-changing teammate asked.
“He decided his girlfriend was better.” Adrienne said, before sitting down on her bed, cradling her head in her hands, and beginning to sob.
“Oh. Tough break.” Jesse said, unsure of what to do. No sooner were the words out of his mouth, than the siren began to ring throughout Hire-A-Hero headquarters.
“Guess we’ve got a job.”Jesse shrugged.
<><><>
Five minutes later, the team were in their uniforms and in the briefing room, Mr Hart, the chairman of Hire-A-Hero LA standing in front of the big screen.
“Well, what’s going on sir?” Cal Richards asked.
“Twenty-five minutes ago, Gauss broke out of Alcatraz. Five minutes later, The West Coast Boomers were on their way to San Francisco, as were all the solo heroes from this branch.” Mr Hart began.
“And we’re still here? After Guantanamo Bay, shouldn’t we have all hands on deck?” Epic asked.
“Richards, quiet the child down.” Hart ordered. “No. We keep someone in reserve at all times. Because there is never just one crisis. Case in point.” Hart pointed at the screen, which changed to grainy security footage. “West 7th Street, Los Angeles. Seven minutes ago.”
The young heroes watched in shock, as Gauss dropped another car to its doom, cackling with glee. “We have to stop him.” Epic said.
“We can’t.” Cal shook his head. “He controls magnetism. Lee and I are useless, not to mention the amount of metal in all our costumes… What’s this really about sir?”
“Castor and Pollux are in San Diego. They’re on a rampage, tearing up every bank and jeweller in their path. We were hired by San Diego County to stop them. There are two choppers on the roof waiting to take you to the airport. Good luck.” With that, Mr Hart left the room.
“Castor and Pollux? We’re doomed.” Epic said.
<><><>
“The plan is pretty simple.” Cal said, as he gestured over the map. “At their current trajectory, by the time we’ve reached them, Castor and Pollux will be at the Chase Bank on Broadway here.” Cal pointed at the map. “Across 7th street is a tall building, I want Bravo Team to hole up somewhere between the fourth and sixth floors, with a window that can at least see the street directly in front of the bank. That’s where Alpha Team will be doing most of the fighting. Charlie Team will be directly across Broadway from the bank, and will be laying covering fire on us. Red Streak, you’ll be in reserve, it’s your first mission, I don’t want anything to go wrong, and so you’ll be on the roof with Charlie Team.” Red Streak nodded, his ginger curls shaking in time. “I trust the rest of you know your team placements by now?” The rest of the team nodded. “Link is in charge of Bravo Team, and Ossuary is in charge of Charlie, naturally I’m in charge of Alpha. Link will keep us connected, so any order from Link or Ossuary may as well be directly from me.”
“We know Cal, it’s hardly our first mission.” AV said.
“It’s the first time we’ve fought anyone this strong without Captain Awesome or the Brats backing us up. I can’t afford to assume anything.” Cal said.
“Ok, what’s the deal with their powers? I was in junior high when they got arrested.” Tide asked.
“More like elementary school.” Iaso muttered.
“You’re right. It was seven years ago, so we pulled the official file. Castor is the one in the armour, Pollux is the other one. They’re twin brothers, but somehow have different fathers. Pollux got superpowers and stole that power armour for Castor. Now Castor might actually be stronger. They’re both about as strong as Lee, which puts us at a disadvantage straight away, because there’s only one of him. They’re bulletproof, so Crackshot’s going to have to start using his trick bullets. Pollux has super-speed too, around the level of Wolf Spider, slightly slower than Red Streak here. Castor can fly, and he has energy blasts, so all teams need to keep an eye on him. Team Bravo, you’ll be firing on Pollux, keep him switching directions so he can’t use his super-speed, which will make him a prime target for Lee. Epic and I will be taking Castor, though I will call in support from Bravo if we need it. Any questions?” Cal looked at his team expectantly.
“Yeah.” Epic said. “Why couldn’t we go fight the prisoners at Alcatraz instead of Captain Awesome? It’d be a fair fight for him. We’re doomed.”
“We make do with what we have. We’re the only option here. I’m going to need you all on your best game today. We can pull this off.” Cal said.
“These guys beat the Boomers in Cuba, and then beat the West Coast Boomers again like, a month ago.” Epic argued. “This is suicide.”
“Then you’d better go down fighting, because I don’t expect any less from all of you.” Cal said.
Epic sighed. “Yes sir.”
<><><>
“Alright bro, we’re done here. Where to now?” Pollux asked, hefting the bags of money.
“There’s a jewellery store down the street. Let’s get us some diamonds.” Castor replied, nodding towards the door. “You go first. I’m gonna level this place.”
Pollux laughed, as he headed for the door. “You got it bro.”
Castor’s hand-mounted energy blaster began to hum, as the bank tellers began to pray.
“Uh bro.” Pollux shouted from outside. “I think you might want to save that…”
“What?” Castor demanded, as he spun to look out the front window of the bank. “Oh. We have company.”
Standing directly in front of Pollux were the Richards Brothers in their steel forms, and standing at around ten feet tall was Epic.
“Castor and Pollux, we have been granted permission from the Californian Government to place you under arrest.” Cal Richards said.
“Oh really?” Castor asked, as he exited the bank. “You and what army?”
“This one, jackass.” Lee said, as he gestured at the rooftop behind him, where seven of his teammates were standing.
“You idiot.” Epic said, as Castor laughed, pointing his blaster at the rooftop.
“Swear to god…” Cal muttered, as he charged at Castor, but he was too late, the air sizzled as the supervillain unleashed his energy blast at the assembled heroes.
The rooftop exploded, sending debris and dust into the air. “Son of a bitch!” Lee shouted, as he charged at Pollux, catching the faster supervillain by surprise.
”Link?” Cal thought, as he traded blows with Castor.
”They’re ok. Melchior had a shield up.” Link’s voice was in his head.
”Give Michelle the order to open fire.” Cal thought back.
”Got it.” Link thought.
“Epic! Back up!” Cal ordered.
“Yes sir.” Epic gladly took a few steps backwards.
“What the fu-“ Pollux was cut off, as he took a high-pressure jet of water to the face which was closely followed by a shower of bone fragments and a series of explosions.
“There’s no way!” Castor shouted, as he too was hit with attacks from above, this time a blast of pure light energy to the chest and a bullet that released a thick viscous liquid that covered his visor, filling his entire field of vision, completely blinding him.
”Tell them to switch to containment. I only want them firing if they try to escape.” Cal ordered.
”You got it.” Link said.
“Epic, help me out. Lee, keep Pollux busy.” Cal shouted.
“Uhh…” Epic hesitated.
Castor laughed, as he broke free of Cal, sailing into the air, as he wiped the fluid from his visor.
“Get him back down here!” Cal shouted.
“I… But…” Epic stammered.
“Goddamn it!” Cal roared. “Fuse! Fastball!”
“Already working on it!” Fuse shouted from the rooftop, as she pitched an energy ball the size of a softball at Castor.
The resulting explosion engulfed Castor, the fireball extending more than ten yards in every direction, scorching the buildings around them.
“So you’re their heavy hitter?” Castor asked, as he rocketed through the flames, snatching Fuse from the rooftop.
“Hold your fire!” Cal ordered.
“Tell your brother to stop wailing on mine too.” Castor said. “Or the girl gets it. And the giant wuss can shrink back down.”
“You heard him.” Cal said. “Stand down.”
Reluctantly, Lee let go of Pollux, and Epic shrank back down to normal.
“Now, I’m going to keep hold of this girl until we’re long gone. Just to keep you from doing anything.” Castor said.
“She’s kind of cute bro, we should probably have a little fun with her too.” Pollux laughed.
“Way ahead of you bro.” Castor said, groping Fuse, as the teen whimpered in his grasp.
“NO!” Epic shouted, instantaneously growing to gigantic proportions and back, sending himself sailing through the air, directly at Castor, grabbing the startled villain around the head, twisting himself around so he was hanging behind him.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing boy?” Castor asked.
“Testing the upper limit of your flight capabilities.” Epic said, as he began to grow.
“You idiot. You’re only going to kill yourself.” Castor said. “I can survive the fall.”
“I’m counting on it.” Epic said, as they started to drop.
Epic hit the ground hard, screaming as he felt his legs shatter, but he clung to Castor, bringing the flying villain down hard on his back, protecting Fuse from the fall, while still sending enough of a shock through Castor to make him let go.
Fuse was up and running seconds before Cal Richards came crashing through, tackling Castor before he could get back to his feet properly.
”Link! Epic needs Iaso now!” Cal thought, as he watched Epic shrink back down, as he drifted in and out of consciousness.
”On our way.” Link’s voice buzzed.
Moments later, LatX slingshotted himself and Iaso from their vantage point, wrapping himself around the healer to protect her from the impact.
They landed next to Epic, and Iaso wasted no time laying her hands on his broken legs. “One of these days, I’m going to be the one saving you.” Epic laughed weakly.
“Sure you are.” Iaso smiled, as she used her powers to heal his wounds.
“Pollux! Get the healer!” Castor ordered, as he wrestled on the ground with Cal Richards.
“You got it bro!” Pollux hit Lee with a haymaker, stunning the powerhouse, before charging towards Iaso.
He stopped short, when he found Epic towering over him. “I hesitated once. You’re not going to get her.” He said, cracking his knuckles.
“Kid, get out of my way before I throw you.” Pollux said. “In fact, I just might.” The villain advanced on the goliath.
“Not on my watch. Red Streak! Plan B!” Cal shouted, as he held Castor back.
“You got it Cal!” Red Streak called, using his powers to create a forcefield in front of his face.
“What? What’s Plan B?” Epic asked. “What does he even do?”
Red Streak rushed forward, faster than any normal man could, faster than most race cars. He hit the ground running, and was just sort of the sound barrier when he drove his forcefield directly into Pollux’s face, sending the villain tumbling through the window of the store nearest him.
“LatX! Get her out of here!” Epic yelled, and LatX wasted no time obeying, grabbing Iaso and slingshotting the two to a rooftop.
Castor elbowed Cal in the face, breaking the hero’s grip, before taking off into the air. “As fun as this has been kids, I think it’s time my brother and I split.”
“Not on my watch.” Cal said.
“I think it will be.” Castor’s blaster began to hum again.
“Someone stop him!” Cal ordered, but he was too late. The air sizzled, as Castor fired into the side of a nearby building, disintegrating a sizeable chunk out of three storeys.
“So your choice is to stop us, or evacuate that building. What’s it going to be?” Castor asked.
“You’re insane.” Cal said, as he stared up at the villain.
“No, I’m just a man who knows how to get what he wants.” Castor said. “Better hurry, that building is burning pretty fast.”
Cal cast one more glare towards Castor, before giving the order. “Fall back. We need to save those people.”
<><><>
“You had your orders boy. You were to stop Castor and Pollux. You had the warrant for their arrest.” Mr Hart said. “The city has firefighters trained for rescue. You could have stopped them.”
“We were stalling. You knew we had no chance out there. The best we could do was slow them down until Captain Awesome was available again, so you could hire him to the city too.” Cal said.
“And he would have completed the contract. You disobeyed orders. Make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Mr Hart said.
“But sir-“
“Never again.”
“Yes sir.”
Dan laced up his shoes in preparation for his morning jog, before switching on his television. He placed the remote on the control panel of his treadmill, which he turned on.
Sure, he could jog outside, but seriously, who jogs in Queens? And anyway, it was the easiest way to catch up on his television.
It had been four years since the teenager known to the world as Aperture had discovered his powers. Back then he had been a slightly overweight kid, who was way too into video games. His powers just made things worse, as he began to use his portals to cross shorter distances, meaning he barely even had to walk anywhere. By the time he was 13, he was around 180 lbs and still gaining.
At that point, Dan’s parents gave him an ultimatum. He had to lose twenty pounds before his World of Warcraft subscription expired, or he wouldn’t get a renewal. So Dan started his jogging and he started dieting. By the time his renewal came around, he had lost 25lbs, and had become addicted to exercise, adding light weight training to his regimen.
By his 15th birthday, Dan was the fittest kid in his class, without ever getting to the point of unhealthiness. He was proud of the way he had managed to maintain his fitness over the years, all the while still finding plenty of time to play the video games that he loved.
And of course, there was his other life, as Aperture he had founded the Teen Dream Team at age 16, with some other teens he had met up with while fighting Do, Re and Mi. He was the oldest member of the team, now 17, and about to enter his final year of high school.
As he turned the incline on his treadmill up, Dan switched the station to CNN, to catch up on current events. He sighed at the breaking news he saw, before switching his treadmill off, and going in search of his cell phone. “I hate interrupting my jog.”
<><><>
Fiona breathed heavily, as Ken’s lips parted from hers for a moment. “I’m so glad you came.” She murmured, as she resumed kissing her boyfriend.
“Me too.” Ken smiled, as he started to reach under her t-shirt.
Cobalt and Balefire had been dating for months, ever since they had been taken hostage together by Psychopomp in December. The near-death experience had bonded the two together, before the Boomers had come to their rescue.
Fiona let out a faint moan, as her boyfriend started to feel his way around her body. “My parents should go away every weekend.” She said.
“Amen.” Ken replied.
It was at that point that Fiona’s cell phone began to ring.
“Ignore it.” Ken said, as he began to kiss down her neck.
“Mmm… No, it’s Dan. It might be important.” Fiona argued.
“Nothing that can’t wait until we’re finished.” Ken kept kissing her.
“Mmm… I guess so.” Fiona agreed.
Moments later, her phone stopped ringing, and almost instantaneously, Ken’s replaced it.
“And now he’s calling me. Must be something really important…” Ken pulled back, removing his hand from Fiona’s shirt.
“We were just starting to have fun.” Fiona pouted, as Ken pulled his phone out.
“Yeah?” He said. “Yeah, she’s with me. Sorry about that… They’re where?… I can probably make this end of the Brooklyn Bridge in five or six ‘ports, but I’ll need a rest after… Can you meet us there after you get Rose?… Cool, see you in five.” Ken hung up.
“Arachnophobia have hostages at some bank in Manhattan, and Dan says the East Coast Boomers are in Baltimore fighting Mercury.” Ken explained.
“Great… I’ll get changed. Do you have a costume here?” Fiona asked, standing up from her bed.
“Yeah, I packed my spare, just in case.” Ken said.
“Who takes their costume to their girlfriend’s?” Fiona laughed.
“Mr Universe does it too…” Ken said.
<><><>
Rose tried to scream as the shadows engulfed her, but they filled her mouth and forced her into silence. She punched and kicked and clawed and scratched, but still the shadows kept coming. She couldn’t fight them.
The shadows whispered at her. They whispered secrets, and told her what to do, and belittled her. She couldn’t take anymore. She had to escape or just let the shadows take her.
She could hear her cell phone ringing, and her eyes opened. She took a moment to remember that she was just in her room and all that was just her stupid recurring nightmare.
She scrambled over to her phone. “What? Ok. I’ll be dressed in five…”
<><><>
“Rose?” Cobalt eyed what was going on in the bank across the street.
“Don’t tell me you’re worried.” Rose asked.
“Of course he’s not… I mean, just because Mr Universe and Hyper Girl had to save us last time…” Balefire argued.
“Calm down. They didn’t need to save us.” Rose said. “We would have beaten them eventually. We just weren’t prepared. And this time, we’re stronger. Way stronger. It’s time to show Arachnophobia what we’re made of. Aperture, what’s the plan?”
“Ok, this time we know your powers don’t work on them, so we’re not going to make the same mistake as last time.” Aperture began. “Still, you’ll be fighting Tarantula. I’m pretty sure you’re as strong as him, and anyway, you’re the only one who could possibly take a punch from him.”
“Saw that coming.” Rose said.
“Cobalt, you’ll take Black Widow, Balefire, you can take Brown Recluse. Make sure you don’t let him touch you.” Aperture continued.
“Duh. I can do that.” Balefire said, while Cobalt just nodded.
“Just let me take care of Wolf Spider.” Aperture smiled.
“You think he’ll fall for it again?” Rose asked.
“Of course he will. He doesn’t think with portals.” Aperture said.
“Ok Teens, you know the plan, time to mount up. Let’s go.” Rose said.
Aperture opened a portal into the bank, and the team stepped through.
“What the f-“ Brown Recluse was cut off, as Balefire used her powers to summon the streams of liquid fire, tying the villain up and lifting him from the ground.
“Well, that’s my guy. You’d better hurry up.” Balefire said.
“The Teen Dream Team? Didn’t you get beaten by Castor and Pollux a month ago?” Black Widow taunted, before launching a ball of sticky webbing at the Teens, who scrambled out of the way.
“Castor and Pollux are big time, not like you guys.” Aperture replied.
“Yeah. You we can handle.” Rose said, as she strolled up to Tarantula.
“You want to go again girly?” Tarantula asked, cracking his knuckles.
“Yep.” Rose said, looking up at the giant.
Tarantula laughed. “Ok. I’ll even give you the first shot.” The huge beast of a man leaned down, presenting his chin to the fifteen year-old.
“Are you sure?” Rose asked.
“Sure. Why would I be worried about the little-bitty Black Rose of Blood?” Tarantula said.
“Ok then.” Rose shrugged, as she began to summon the powers she had appropriated from Darklight.
“Wait. That’s new.” Tarantula said, before Rose’s fist connected with his jaw, knocking him flat on his back.
“Too easy.” Rose smirked, as Tarantula sat up, rubbing his chin.
“Looks like you’ve been working out.” Tarantula said, before charging at the girl.
Rose ducked between his legs, before smashing him across the back with both fists, causing him to spasm in pain. She followed up with a kick to the back of the legs, bringing the tower of a man crashing to the ground. She then jumped onto his shoulders and started pounding him on the head until his eyes rolled up in his sockets and he collapsed, unconscious.
“I’m done.” Rose said.
“Look out!” Aperture shouted, as Rose’s head exploded in pain.
“I thought you had Wolf Spider under control?” Rose shouted back, rubbing her head where the speedster had hit her.
“Can’t fool him twice, apparently.” Aperture said, as he rushed over to his teammate, going back to back with her.
“Do you have a plan?” Rose asked.
“Naturally.” Aperture smiled.
“Good.” Rose said, as she saw the blur of Wolf Spider approaching them. “Incomi-“ She didn’t finish her sentence, as she felt the villain’s fist connect with her face, at the speeds he was capable of, his blows could damage even Rose.
At that very moment, the ground beneath them opened up, and Rose felt herself falling. Aperture grabbed a hold of her, and suddenly she hit the ground… Right where she had been standing a second ago, except now, Wolf Spider was lying on the ground in front of her, groaning.
“What the hell?” Rose asked.
“We were bait. I used my infinite loop again, only this time we were inside it.” Aperture said.
“And how did you know I was strong enough to survive the fall?” Rose asked.
“We just fell the equivalent of about five storeys. I’ve seen you fall further.” Aperture said. “I knew we’d be fine… Him on the other hand…”
Rose looked down at the speedster, and realised that his legs weren’t supposed to be bent at the angle they were bent at. “Oh. Ouch.”
“How are the others?” Aperture asked, looking around to see Black Widow lying on the ground, clutching her head, Cobalt standing over her, and Balefire still suspending Brown Recluse over her head.
“Well, I’d call this one a win.” Aperture said.
Friday, 4.12 PM
King Estates
I read the newspaper headline again, and can’t help but feel proud. For weeks, every newspaper has been covered with stories about Dean Mitchell and his associates. About their capture, and their illegal activities, as the cops dig deeper and deeper and find more and more crimes to charge them with.
It’s a good feeling to know that you’ve made a difference. The heads of the major LA gangs were all in custody and looking at long sentences. Because of me. But I wasn’t done, not by a long shot.
Giovanni Bianchi was still alive. I don’t know how he did it, but he survived being shot. Somehow he escaped when the building was swarming with police and crooks. I don’t know how he did it, but he did. Bianchi was a resourceful man, perhaps even more resourceful than Mitchell. And that made him dangerous.
With all his competition removed, Bianchi was the undisputed ruler of the Los Angeles underworld. No-one had the money or strength to argue with him. His Rock Steady Inc. thugs were the strongest guys on the street, and he controlled them with an iron fist. At least he stopped the inevitable power vacuum, the last thing I wanted to deal with was a turf war, as the petty thugs fought over who was in charge now that the big guns are out of the game.
Still, I would have to take him down eventually, but for the moment he kept the city manageable. I could take it easy. My one-man war against the scum of LA ground to a much slower pace, as I went back to nipping at the heels of the petty thugs and drug-dealers, stopping Bianchi’s empire from growing any further than it already had.
I turned the page and found a different headline to the ones I was used to. This one read “Mitchell Heiress to Don Mask and Cape”. I skimmed the article, and began to laugh.
Verona Mitchell, the very image of a spoiled, socialite brat, had decided she was going to become a superhero. Apparently Dean wasn’t the only one who had super-powers. Verona claimed that she wanted to make up for her brother’s crimes, but I saw a publicity stunt a mile away. The article went on to say that she had demonstrated her ice-control powers in public yesterday, and that she would be calling herself the Ice Princess.
I shook my head and turned the page again, where I found another story about Dean Mitchell’s crime empire.
Friday, 9.22 PM
Downtown Los Angeles
I ducked the drug dealer’s wild swing. He was mine. I lunged forward and caught him in the solar plexus with a palm-thrust. He flew backwards into the brick wall behind him, before slumping onto the ground. One plastic cable-tie later, and he was bound to a lamp-post. I then shook up a can of black spray paint and wrote “Drug Dealer” across his torso. Just in case people didn’t understand why he was bound to the street light.
“Wow.” A voice came out of the shadows. I turned and saw nothing. I began looking around fervently.
“Who are you?” I asked, as my eyes darted from side to side.
“Let’s see… We’ve got assault, that one’s obvious. You’ve tied him up against his will, that’s technically kidnapping… And you’ve spray-painted him. That’s assault again, not to mention vandalism. You’d get a few years for this one guy alone.”
“Where are you?” I demanded.
“Don’t tell me I’ve got The Shadow spooked.” The voice taunted.
“Come out and face me.”
“That’s rich coming from you.”
“I hear you talking a big game, but I don’t see you backing it up.”
“Very well.”
I didn’t have time to duck, as the shuriken hit me in the leg. I did have time to see which direction they came from though, and charged in.
“Stupid child. I thought you were better than this.” I felt the wind against my face, as my opponent jumped out of my way. I had lost him again.
“Face me!” I roared.
“Find me!” The voice yelled back, as more shuriken peppered my back. I reached behind me and yanked them out.
“Who do you think you are?” I asked, turning to face where the shuriken had come from.
“The answer is right in front of you.”
I hurled the shuriken into the shadows, but heard them bounce from the concrete.
“And now it isn’t.” The voice taunted.
“What are you talking about?”
“You call yourself a crime-fighter? You took down Dean Mitchell and the other gang leaders?”
I managed to twist just in time to dodge the next volley of shuriken.
“You’re learning. But not quick enough.”
I ducked the next shuriken, but my feet were tangled in the pair of bolas my opponent threw at me, sending me sprawling to the ground.
“Who sent you?” I demanded.
“Nobody sent me. I was curious. I had to see what you could do.” The voice said, as I heard footsteps approaching me.
“And now what?” I asked.
“That’s entirely up to you.” I could make out the silhouette of my attacker, but not much else in the shadows.
“What?”
The figure pointed a gun upward and pulled the trigger, firing off a grappling hook, which sailed over the streetlight, before dangling down. He then hooked the grapple onto the bolas tangled around my legs.
“You disappoint me.” The figure said, before he used the cable and grapple arrangement to hang me up by my ankles.
“You can’t leave me here!” I said.
“Yes, I can.” The figure stepped back into the full darkness.
I began tossing and turning, trying to get down. It was then I noticed the shuriken on the ground. It had three points, two of which had a feather pattern on them, while the third had a bird’s beak on them. That’s when I realised who had attacked me. I swung myself up and untied my feet, dropping to the ground. I ignored the pain and sprang to my feet, running in the direction my assailant had disappeared into. I wasn’t going to let him get away.
Wednesday, 7.27PM
Downtown LA
I was cramped in places I didn’t even know I had. My cramps had cramps, and every inch of me was as stiff as it could be. I had no idea how long I could hold it.
That morning, before sunrise, I had slipped into the building. The ground floor was swarming with Rock Steady Inc thugs, and there were lookouts posted on the second and third floors. So I had to get creative. Mitchell ran a tight ship.
The building was his father’s, but old Franklin had pretty much handed the keys over to Dean, letting him handle the day-to-day running of one of the biggest real estate developers in the United States. In the meantime, Dean’s eldest brother Phillip was overseeing the running of the company as a whole, while the second brother Robert ran the international interests. The youngest Mitchell, Verona, was a part-time model and full-time socialite heiress, and spent her days partying and spending all her father’s money.
So Dean Mitchell has deep-seated middle child syndromes. Fair enough. I was still going to bring him down.
Anyway, there I was, I knew where Mitchell’s big meeting was going to be. I knew what time. I knew it was going to be heavily guarded. I even knew which conference room it was going to be in. Unfortunately, there was no way in from the ground that didn’t involve a three storey vertical leap. So I improvised. Three storeys straight up was obviously out of the question, even for me. But twenty feet across, and a few storeys down? Piece of cake. There was a garden area on the tenth floor. Thank you Google Earth.
So I snuck into the building across the street, took the elevator up to the roof and peered over the edge. I was fifteen storeys straight up. I mean, I know I’m a fast healer, but can I heal from that?
I shook my head. I didn’t have time to think like that. So I backed up to the opposite side of the roof and took my run-up, before leaping headlong off the building. I sailed across the street and hit the garden right in the middle, on the concrete, naturally.
So I laid there for about a half hour, as my organs began regenerating, and my bones cracked back into place. I don’t think I’m going to try that again anytime soon.
As soon as my kidneys stop bleeding, I’m up again, limping around the garden, looking for a way in. It doesn’t take long for me to find an air vent, and I’m in the building within minutes. It’s not often my luck turns out this way, but I was in the elevator shaft about ten minutes later.
Of course, most people don’t consider having to climb a ladder twenty storeys to be lucky, but when I hit about the halfway point, the elevator started coming up below me, and I rode it all the way up to the twenty-eighth, and it was an easy climb from there.
So I found my way into the air vents again, and crawled around until I found the room I was looking for. Naturally, there was a security camera inside, so that was where I had to stop. If Mitchell knew I was here, the meeting would be off, and I’d likely be thrown out the window. So I waited. And waited. And waited. About half a dozen meetings and twelve hours later, the security camera shut off, the light on the side blinking off. Obviously Mitchell didn’t want anyone to know what was going on up there. So I took my chance, popped the air vent out, slid through the opening and onto the floor, before replacing the air vent as best I could.
It was at this point I thought to check my recording equipment. The mic was fine, as were the wires, battery and the transmitter. Thank god, otherwise I just wasted a day, and a huge opportunity, for nothing.
I searched the room for a hiding spot, before I realised that the gigantic conference table was mostly hollow. It looked like a solid slab of marble from the outside, but the underside revealed a huge space underneath. Perfect. I positioned myself inside the hollow and began my final wait. At 5.30.
So there I was, two hours later, my arms and legs half-outstretched, half-bent, as I struggled to keep myself hidden. Sweat was beading on my forehead, and the agony racked my whole body. Hopefully it wouldn’t take much longer.
A few minutes later, I heard a sound, so I clicked on my equipment, and I heard a voice in my ear. It was O’Hara, through the earpiece he had given me the night before, along with the recording equipment.
“It got passed through the DA’s office. My guy held it off until the last minute, and the guys we know Mitchell is paying off had gone home for the night. We’re home free.” O’Hara said.
I smiled. This was it. In one fell swoop, we were going to take down the entire LA underworld.
I heard them all walk in, the old-school gangsters like Bianchi and Savagilio were easy to spot, the accents gave them away, not to mention the Italian leather shoes that were sitting a few feet from my face. Giovanni Bianchi had access to the drug that gave the Rock Steady thugs their power, they were his own personal army, to be hired out at his whim. He was probably the most powerful man in the room. Roberto Savagilio was in his sixties by now, he was the last of the old guard of Los Angeles gangsters, but he still got respect from the others, probably because of the money he still had from the old days, not to mention the fact that he had dirt on all the other major players.
“Jimmy” O’Shaunessey was easy too, he was still in his overalls and boots. He ruled the docks, no matter what anyone says to the contrary. His union connections, his money and his muscle meant that anything going through the Port of Los Angeles was reported to him, before customs, or even the other gangsters got wind of it.
Of course, then there were the gang-bangers. None of them are really worth a mention, in fact, I’m not sure why they were invited. I guess Mitchell just wanted to drive the point home.
Then the man himself walked into the room, and everything went silent.
“Alright Mitchell, what do you want?” O’Shaunessey said, his thick Boston accent cutting the silence.
“Straight to the point, as always.” Mitchell said.
“We’ve got other things to attend to boy.” Savagilio barked.
“None more important than this, I assure you.” Mitchell said.
“Dean.” Bianchi warned.
“Fine. Fine. I’ll make it short and sweet boys. I’ve had my people make the projections. At this rate, I will own every pill, every leaf and every gram of powder from the Pacific to the Rockies within two years. I will own the drug trade. I’ve already got half the city covered. My dealers have been moving in on your territories, and they’re not stopping. I own the city.” Mithcell gloated.
“I’ve been meaning to have a word with you about that Mitchell.” O’Shaunessey said. “I take it having half your boys wash up in the LA River wasn’t enough of a hint?”
“Is that a threat?” Mitchell asked.
“A threat?” O’Shaunessey laughed. “In Mr Savagilio’s day, that was a declaration of war.”
“You have a power for understatement James. In my day, calling a man into your house and throwing your defiance in his face is a declaration of war. I had that idiot Giuseppe Romano killed when he tried this crap. I know where this is leading, and I don’t like it boy.” Savagilio said.
“I have to agree with Mr Savagilio, Dean.” Bianchi said.
“I don’t care. The fact is, I own this city. If any of you want a cut of the pie, you’re going to answer to me. You’re all going to be working for me, whether you like it or not.” Mitchell said.
O’Shaunessey and half the gang-bangers were on their feet, all of them pulling guns from various hiding places.
“I see your security didn’t do a very good job downstairs Bianchi.” Mitchell said, calmly.
“I would reprimand them, but I don’t think you’re going to be causing me trouble for much longer.” Bianchi said.
“I wouldn’t be too sure. You see, right now, O’Shaunessey and all these other gun-toting idiots are having second thoughts. They don’t want to kill me anymore, do you?” Mitchell asked.
The men all switched their stances, as far as I could tell, they were pointing their guns at Bianchi instead.
“You think your powers can help you now Mitchell? You know they don’t work on me.” Bianchi said.
“They don’t have to. Kill him.” Mitchell ordered coldly.
I heard the guns fire, and Bianchi fell to the ground.
“That’s enough Shadow. We’re coming in.” O’Hara’s voice buzzed in my ear.
I grinned, they might be on their way, but not before Mitchell found out who was really behind it all. I dropped to the floor and rolled out from under the table, drawing my guns as I reached my feet.
I guess I snapped the gangbangers out of their trances, because they all started rushing for the door.
“I guess my reputation precedes me.” I said. “They understand that they need to fear me.” I looked to the three men who really controlled the criminal element, Mitchell, O’Shaunessey and Savagilio. “So why don’t you?” I looked them each in the eye, one by one. “What makes you think that I can’t touch you?”
“Because we’re untouchable.” Savagilio said.
“We rule this town. Never forget that.” O’Shaunessey said.
“Don’t banter with him. Just kill him!” Mitchell ordered.
It was at that point that the SWAT team crashed through the windows, filling the room in minutes.
“Wow Shadow. For me? You shouldn’t have.” Mitchell said.
“What are you…” Realisation dawned on me. “Nobody breathe!” I shouted, but it was too late.
At least two dozen SWAT officers levelled their guns on me.
“And that, Mr Shadow, is why I’m untouchable. Kill him.” Mitchell turned to leave the room, Savagilio and O’Shaunessey close behind.
The SWAT team opened fire, but I ducked back under the desk and chased the gangsters down the corridor. I was on Mitchell’s back in seconds, bringing him down and proceeding to punch him in the back of the head over and over again, ignoring the bullets tearing at my flesh from the SWAT team.
Eventually, O’Shaunessey pulled me off, but the damage was done. Mitchell was out cold, and within minutes the SWAT team had the three gangsters cuffed.
It was at that point that I decided to pass out.
Thursday, 10.37 PM
I woke up in unfamiliar surroundings, without my mask. I began looking around frantically.
“Don’t worry kid, no-one has any idea who you are.” O’Hara was sitting by the door.
“My mask… My costume… Where are they?” I asked.
“I had to get them off you. You know there’s a warrant out for your arrest, right? Don’t worry, none of us have ID’d you. Your costume is in that backpack over there. Your outfit is just stuff from the lost and found box. Don’t worry, you can keep it.”
“Thanks… I guess… Mitchell?”
“Is in an interrogation room. Our men have gasmasks on until the techs can come up with a better way to control him. O’Shaunessey and Savagilio are ours too, we’ve got search warrants for their homes and businesses, and our men are there as we speak. Too bad we couldn’t catch Bianchi though.”
“Bianchi is dead.”
“Well his body is gone. His blood is at the scene, but there’s no sign of him. Someone got him out of there. He could still be alive. Still, not bad for one night.”
“No. It’s not good enough. There’s still crime in this city. I still have a job to do.”
Saturday 1.02 AM
LA Harbour
I yawned, as I stretched my leg out to avoid a cramp. I’d been sitting on top of the shipping container for two hours.
It hadn’t been too hard to find the container I was looking for; I just tailed the customs officer I knew was on Mitchell’s payroll. I watched him check inside at least a dozen containers, but when he came to this one, he read the serial number, and ticked it off on his clipboard.
He knew what was inside already. And that meant someone would be there to pick it up. Soon.
And then the truck rolled in, followed by two black cars. The cars unloaded first, I counted eight men, all huge. Almost certainly Rock Steady Inc. I was happy to see them. I had a lot of anger to work out.
I’d been fighting Dean Mitchell’s drug empire for months. Every time I took down a dealer, another two sprang up overnight. I ratted out corrupt cops and border guards, they were replaced. Mitchell had me at every turn, and his empire expanded from week to week.
But I had him now. I had no idea what was inside the container, but I knew it was from Indonesia, and I knew the ship it had come in on. If I could cut off his imports, I could stop him dead in his tracks.
A skinny guy got down from the passenger seat of the truck and started ordering the Rock Steady Inc. guys around.
As the thugs approached the container, I overheard them complaining. Apparently Mitchell had proclaimed himself the King of the LA Underworld, and the other crime bosses weren’t taking it too well. Even the head of Rock Steady Inc., a Mr Bianchi, who was closely aligned to Mitchell was starting to sow discord amongst his men. The general consensus seemed to be that Mitchell was getting a little too big for his boots, and that someone should put him back in his place.
Apparently the skinny guy from the truck overheard that part, because he came charging over, shouting about Mr Mitchell paying their salary, and that they had better do what he says or else.
That last part didn’t sit too well with the eight large men, who looked like they were about ready to tear him limb from limb. To his credit, the guy stood firm. He knew they wouldn’t touch him.
And that’s when he said something I had to hear.
“Now, pick up these weapons and put them in the truck. You think Mr Mitchell can protect all his allies at the summit next month without this firepower? You think Bianchi, Savagilio, O’Shaunessey and the others would even turn up to pay tribute to him if he couldn’t protect them?”
A summit of all the crime lords? In LA? I made a mental note to gatecrash that party, but right then, I had another party to crash.
I leapt from the top of the container and drop-kicked the first thug square in the chest. I felt his sternum breaking under my feet before I kicked off, sending him tumbling into the next guy, and buying me precious seconds to flip to my feet and draw my guns.
I opened fire, aiming for the head. I had wasted too much time and too many bullets on Rock Steady Inc. I couldn’t count the times I had unloaded entire clips into their chests, only to have them throw me across the room, or break my arm. It took me a long time to realise that even a shot to the head wouldn’t kill them. They were far too resilient for that. Whatever Bianchi had them taking was powerful.
It wouldn’t kill them, but it would stop them, nine times out of ten the shock of the bullet getting halfway through the skull was enough to concuss them. By the time the first two guys realised what was going on, their friends had joined them on the ground, out cold, and I had several shots left, not that I needed them, a swift kick to the temple kept the first guy down, and the second didn’t have time to react before I clubbed him over both ears at once, rupturing an ear drum and knocking him out.
Mitchell’s crony looked at the fallen guards in horror. I don’t think he’d ever seen anything like it. I had just taken down eight of Mitchell’s prize hired goons in the space of a minute. I looked at him and smiled. He ran for the truck.
I chased him, but I was stopped by a bullet to the shoulder. Too late, I noticed the barrel of a gun sticing out of the driver’s side window of the truck. Before he could squeeze out another shot, I was off and racing, ducking and weaving from side to side, to avoid getting hit again, and despite my running patterns, still catching up with the skinny guy. I reached the truck at the same time he did, tackling him straight into the hard steel step, and knocking him out straight away.
Wasting no momentum, I lifted myself into the air, scrambling up the side of the truck. As I reached the window, I saw the driver fumbling to reload his gun. I smashed his head into the steering wheel twice before he went out. I searched him and found a cell phone. I dialled O’Hara’s number.
As luck would have it, O’Hara was actually still at the station. Something about a serial killer. I told him to round up some trustworthy cops, and gave him the location of the shipping container. Then I told him about the summit, and the names that Mitchell’s guy had dropped. They were all known quantities, crime lords that had been active for years. If we could catch them together, planning something, saying something incriminating, doing anything, they’d be ours.
I told O’Hara to send his guys over soon, as I picked the Rock Steady guys over for ammo and cash. Being a stock boy didn’t pay well enough for me to be buying ammo, and money wasn’t going to do them any good where they were going.
“Maggie, what did I tell you about fighting on the beach?” Don asked, as he pointed out the rust spots on Talon’s arm and leg.
“I was too busy building the best team of heroes in the world today to oil these damn things. It slipped my mind.” Talon argued.
“Well, if these had gotten any worse, you’d have been a cripple again… Seriously, you were this close to having the joints lock up.”
“How long will it take to fix?”
“To fix? Weeks.”
Talon was taken aback. “Weeks? I’d have to be off the street for weeks? You do realise I’m the leader of the East Coast Boomers, right?”
“Nobody understands that better than I do.” Don replied. For over a decade, Don had led the West Coast Boomers as ‘The Junker’. “Which is why I made a spare set.” Don smiled.
“Did you really have to lecture me about maintenance then?” Talon took a friendly swing at her friend.
“Yes. Do you remember that guy who put together a Junker suit from my spare parts?”
“Of course I do. He stole my name.”
“Yeah. ‘Magpie’. Because he stole shiny things. That jackass gave us grief for years. I don’t want some psycho replacing his arm and leg with my tech. Looks bad when it comes to staff evaluation time.” Don had retired from the superhero game in 2008, handing the leadership of the West Coast Boomers to GL and taking a government contract, designing the new Patriot Armour. In his spare time, he still took time to help his old friends.
Talon was about to make a reply, when her pager began beeping.
“Crap. How quick can you get me hooked up to the spares?” She asked.
“By the time Nymphette gets here from her shoot at the Statue of Liberty, that’s for sure.” Don replied.
<><><>
“That’s it baby, loving it, loving it.” The photographer said, as the flashbulbs went off.
His subject was Maxim’s Hottest Superhero two years running, The Mistress of Moisture, the Angel of Aquakinesis, Nymphette. They were working on a series of promotional pictures for the New York City Chamber of Commerce. She’d already been photographed at the Empire State Building, and would be at the Brooklyn Bridge the next day.
“How much longer?” Nymphette asked, as she pouted and posed for the camera.
“Not much longer. The camera loves you. Every shot is perfect.” The photographer flattered her, as he kept snapping.
Nymphette’s pager began to beep. “Good thing then. We’re going to have to cut this one a little short babe.” Nymphette said, pulling the pager from her purse. “Gotta go save the world.”
<><><>
Thunderbolt swung his hammer one last time, cleaving the huge funnel of the tornado in two. The storm began to dissipate almost instantaneously, the magic of Mjolnir completing the job begun by the broken twister.
He touched down and began surveying the damage. Calhoun, Kentucky was a small town, but the tornado had torn up a lot of buildings. It was going to be a long afternoon’s work.
The locals began crowding around him, cheering as he began piling wrecked cars together, clearing the streets for the support crews that would be arriving within hours.
He cursed as his beeper went off. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Duty calls.”
Thunder cracked in the distance, as Thunderbolt took off into the air.
<><><>
“And if we isolate this strain right here, we could just cure the common cold.” Dr Eugene Phillips, better known to the world as The Freak, said.
“Assuming it works in humans, of course.” His new lab partner, Dr Peter Ulrich, The Gibbon, said, as he swirled the contents of his test tube.
Since they had found themselves team-mates earlier in the week, the two had discovered they had something in common, both men were biologists. They had bonded quickly, and were already putting their headquarters’ laboratories to good use.
“We’re not even sure it works on mice yet.” Dr Phillips laughed.
“We’ve got plenty of time to figure that out.” Dr Ulrich replied.
Both men’s pagers began beeping.
“Or not.” Dr Ulrich muttered.
<><><>
Hannah stared at her phone, wondering why her boyfriend hadn’t called yet. She hadn’t heard from him in days, ever since the day of the press conference. What was that boy up to?
She jumped as she heard a beeping noise, seizing her phone in excitement. Her face fell, as she realised it was her pager going off instead.
“I guess I’d better go answer this instead.” She said. “I’d better find a missed call when I get back.”
<><><>
“The computer picked this up off a police radio band in Queens. Extreme is destroying everything within a two-mile radius.” Talon said.
“Then what are we waiting for? It’s Boom Time!” Nymphette said.
“Worst catchphrase ever.” Hyper Girl said.
“Don’t start.” The Gibbon said.
“We need a plan. She’s strong.” Talon said.
“And we’ve got Thunderbolt. What’s the problem?” Nymphette asked.
“I must agree Maggie.” The Freak said. “Surely Thunderbolt is her equal, at the very least.”
Talon sighed. “Ok, let’s go. Thunderbolt is to engage her head on, the rest of us are to contain the damage she’s caused, and to stop anymore.”
“You’ve got it.” Thunderbolt said, hefting Mjolnir. “What should I expect?”
“Extreme is strong, fast and super hot.” Nymphette said. “Like, literally. She can control temperature. And she’s got a quick healing factor. We fought her on the West Coast a bunch of times.”
“But UNLEASHED got the capture.” Hyper Girl added. “I saw it on the news.”
“Hey, when we’re putting Radon back in his nursing home, we’ll talk to you babe, but until then, the big kids are talking.” Nymphette snapped.
“What about the Order of Darkness? Got any tips for them? How about Constellation? Because I fought both. What have you guys got going on the West Coast that even compares to the guys we fight over here?” Hyper Girl shouted.
“Girls, can we deal with this crap later? We’ve got a supervillain to deal with, remember?” The Gibbon asked.
“She started it.” Nymphette pouted.
“Shut up Jasmine.” Talon ordered. “We’ll deal with Extreme, then worry about the catfight.”
<><><>
The Sonic Boom II hovered above the carnage, sitting just below the cloud of smoke that was building above the city, as homes and businesses burned below.
“Ok, Nymphette, hit the fires. Hyper Girl and Gibbon, you’re with me, we’re saving people from debris and just generally keeping the civilians safe. Freak, I need you inside buildings, there are bound to be people inside. Thunderbolt, just go do what you do.” Talon issued her orders.
The bottom of the jet opened, and Thunderbolt leapt out, landing on the ground with a loud crash, right next to Extreme.
The villainess was beautiful, her black leather outfit barely covering her curvy body, a wicked smile adorning her full lips. “And who the hell are you supposed to be?” She asked, turning her attention to the hero.
“Thunderbolt.” He said simply, as he swung a fist at her face.
Extreme dodged out of the way with ease. “Oh. Big, dumb, thunder-god wannabe. Got it.”
Thunderbolt swung again, and Extreme ducked below the shot, before laying a series of jabs into the hero’s stomach.
Thunderbolt doubled over as the blows hit him, she was strong.
“Awww. Did you get a boo-boo?” She taunted, as her fists began raining down on him, as he raised his hands to block.
“Nothing I can’t handle.” Thunderbolt smiled.
<><><>
“Man, he is getting pummelled.” Hyper Girl said, as she blasted a falling brick into dust, which rained down upon the fleeing family.
“He can take it, at least until we get everyone to safety.” Talon said, as she herded the civilians down the street.
“Here’s two more.” The Gibbon said, as he dropped a couple softly down onto the sidewalk. “Gene’s clearing out the bottom floors where the fire is, I’m helping out upstairs. Care to join?”
Hyper Girl nodded, and flew towards the building, as Talon continued to herd the running crowd of people.
“Oh wow, he’s really getting pummelled.” The Gibbon said.
“Quiet.” Talon ordered, as she began to formulate a plan.
<><><>
Thunderbolt took everything Extreme threw at him, her physical blows, her waves of scorching heat and blistering cold. He never faltered, just continued to take the punishment. He knew his team-mates would help him; he just had to face her while they saved the innocents.
He began his own assault, swinging Mjolnir around and clipping her leg, sending her tumbling and shattering her femur.
“So you’re not as slow as I thought?” Extreme asked, as the twisted wreckage of her leg began reforming itself.
“I have my moments.” Thunderbolt replied, as he charged forward. But Extreme was already back on her feet, ducking below the hero and throwing him from underneath, sending him reeling.
She was ready to make another attack, but found herself on the receiving end of a Hyper Blast.
“Not so fast skank.” Hyper Girl said, as she began launching a volley of blasts.
“I don’t have time for little girls.” Extreme shouted, allowing each shot to hit her, before returning fire. Hyper Girl’s photon shield barely held up against the beams of pure heat.
“Even one who’s going to kick your ass?” Hyper Girl asked, as she blasted at her opponent some more.
Nymphette got in on the action, dousing Extreme with water, but the villainess ignored the firehose-powered blasts, instead focussing on Hyper Girl.
She was so focussed; she didn’t notice The Freak barrelling down on her, or The Gibbon ducking behind her. The Freak tackled Extreme, sending her tripping over The Gibbon’s back and crashing into a puddle of water.
The Freak was on his feet first, grabbing The Gibbon and tossing him towards a building.
“NOW!” Talon ordered.
Thunderbolt smiled, as a bolt of electricity arced across the sky, striking the drenched Extreme square in the chest, knocking her out and burning her body immensely.
“Well, I’d certainly call that a win.” Hyper Girl noted.
“Are you kidding? We just took down Extreme!” The Gibbon shouted.
<><><>
“Are you kidding? I’m going to have to get my nails redone before my shoot tomorrow!” Nymphette complained, as she helped Hyper Girl lift a jagged piece of a broken wooden beam.
“Suck it up Princess.” Hyper Girl said. “Thunderbolt’s only with us on the provision that we help him help regular people.”
“But still, this is like, manual labour.” Nymphette said. “I’m too pretty to do manual labour.”
“Quiet.” Talon ordered, as she hefted the other half of the broken beam. “We’re going to help clean up this town, Thunderbolt said the tornado he stopped was one of the biggest he’s seen. They need our help here.”
“Besides, I have a special mission for you next week.” Thunderbolt said. “There’s a village in Namibia where I promised to break a drought, but even I can’t mess with the weather patterns like that, I’m going to need a hand.”
“Like, in Africa? Eww!” Nymphette squealed.
“Doesn’t Angelina do a lot of missionary work in Africa?” Hyper Girl asked.
“Oh yeah. Hey, maybe it’s not such a bad idea.” Nymphette said.
“I thought you’d see it my way.” Thunderbolt laughed.
Soong took a drag from his cigarette, savouring the taste as he looked out across the plains. It was a quiet night, but they always were. To be sent to this outpost was a vacation. Sentry duty was easy, and nothing ever happened.
He noticed a wind picking up, as dust clouds formed on the horizon, but thought nothing of it. He took a final breath of his cigarette, before stubbing it out on the floor below him.
Soong heard nothing as the dark shape emerged from the ground below. He didn’t have time to raise an alarm, or even to fight back. One second he was enjoying a cigarette, the next he was dead on the ground, his neck snapped.
“Cai to Uncle Sam. The roof is secure.” Cai whispered into his communicator.
“Good to hear. Desert Storm is building our cover now, that dust storm should be here in a few minutes.” Uncle Sam’s voice buzzed back.
“Understood.” Cai whispered, shifting his attention to the only door leading to the roof.
A choking, stinging dust filled the air, but Cai didn’t notice. His power allowed him to become incorporeal at will, and as a result, the dust simply passed through his body.
“Ok, I’m coming down.” Uncle Sam’s voice buzzed.
Cai scanned the skies for a sign of his team-mates. A momentary glimmer of light shining from metal was the only trace he saw.
The grandson of the original Uncle Sam landed next to him in a crouching position, cushioning his landing. Rather than his signature red, white and blue uniform, Uncle Sam was clad in black, from a balaclava over his face, right down to his shoes. At his hip was his famous retractable staff, on his shoulder, a pistol.
Moments later, the second legacy hero on Liberty Force landed next to them, somewhat more gracefully than their leader. The Third American Eagle was dressed identically to Uncle Sam, except for the thin bands of fabric stretching from his wrists to his hips, a failsafe if his power of flight ever gave up on him in midair, a tribute to his grandfather’s fear of flying.
“Patriot, monitor their security feed, I want to know everything they do.” Uncle Sam ordered through the communicator.
“You got it Sam. Are you sure you don’t want me down there?” Patriot buzzed.
“The SecDef wants this to be untraceable. Three guys in black could be anyone. The moment the Patriot armour steps inside, we’re Liberty Force.” Uncle Sam explained.
“Ok, I’ll keep monitoring those frequencies then.” Patriot buzzed.
“Good work soldier.” Uncle Sam said, before turning to his team.
“Ok, as far as we know from the schematics, we need to get to the elevator. From there, we take it down to the basement level. We’ve got the keycard to get in and out, but once we hit that basement, we’re flying blind. I want use of powers kept to the minimum, because like I said, we can’t be traced. I’ll be taking point, if I go down, it’s more important that we get out without leaving evidence than it is to get that intel.” Uncle Sam explained.
“They weren’t exactly specific Sam, what are we looking for?” American Eagle asked.
“The main computer system. Hopefully it’ll be pretty obvious.” Uncle Sam said. “Alright, Black Ops codenames from here on. Splinter, Ghost and Owl.” Sam pointed at himself, Cai and American Eagle respectively.
Uncle Sam approached the door, pushing it open slowly. He peered down into the stairwell, before signalling that the coast was clear. The trio crept down the stairs, maintaining silence as best they could. Ahead, the third floor entrance opened, and the group froze. Four soldiers stepped through the door, closing it behind them before heading downward.
Uncle Sam began signalling his orders. He would take the middle two, the Eagle would take the left, and Cai the right. They were to be silent. As one, the heroes rushed down the stairs in complete silence, catching up to their quarry. Uncle Sam tackled the middle two, grabbing them both around the head and cracking their skulls on the steps below. Cai grabbed his target and snapped his neck, exactly as he had the man on the roof. The Eagle stabbed his own target with his knife, piercing his heart in one thrust, leaving the guard spasming on the ground.
The heroes dragged their victims down the stairs as quietly as possible, encountering no more surprises before reaching the bottom. They hid the bodies as best they could under the stairs, removing the ammunition from their guns and taking their combat knives. Better to not leave extra weapons where their enemies could find them.
Uncle Sam pulled the door ajar, peering through the small opening. He signalled that there were two guards further down the corridor, but they were facing the other way. The team rushed through the door and into the first room off the corridor.
“Ok, we need to get past those guys.” Uncle Sam whispered.
“Too bad they’re standing at an intersection.” The American Eagle replied.
“We can’t guarantee there’s no-one else that has a visual on them, but I doubt it.” Uncle Sam said.
“So what’s the plan?” The Eagle asked.
“You’re heavier than Ghost, right?”
“By at least twenty pounds, why?”
“Running, leaping tackles. We take them out hard and fast, force them out of the line of sight of anyone in that other corridor. If we hit them both high, we should take them out in one move, and they’ll fall forward.”
“You’re insane.”
“Damn right I am.” Uncle Sam grinned, before peering back down the corridor.
He signalled for the Eagle to follow him, and the two tiptoed into the middle of the corridor. Uncle Sam signalled that he would take the one on the left.
Years of training and fighting together left the pair in perfect sync, they ran at identical pace, feet falling at the exact same time, steps the same length, all in near-silence. As they reached the intersection, they both leaped into the air as one, grabbing their targets around the heads and bringing them crashing down to the ground below, rendering both men unconscious, and out of view.
Within moments, Cai was ahead of them, opening the nearest doorway and checking inside, before signalling that the coast was clear. They stashed the bodies and continued on their way.
They reached the elevator without further incident and Uncle Sam swiped his keycard. The door opened and the team bundled in, Cai pressing the ‘Basement’ button.
“Is it just me, or was that way too easy?” The Eagle asked, as the elevator began its descent.
“If the security was this bad, they would have sent someone else.” Cai agreed.
“Maybe you’re just paranoid after all the guys we’ve had to fight lately.” Sam argued, as the elevator door opened.
The team stepped out of the elevator and found themselves staring down the barrels of a dozen guns.
“Or it could be a trap.” Uncle Sam added.
“Drop your weapons.” One of the gunmen said in broken English, waving his rifle at Uncle Sam.
“Or we could go to Plan B.” Uncle Sam said.
“Plan B?” Patriot’s voice buzzed over the intercom.
“You heard me.” Uncle Sam said.
“You don’t try anything American pigdog!” The gunman said.
“We have a Plan B?” The Eagle asked.
“He picked you as Americans.” Cai added.
“What’s Plan B?” The Eagle asked.
“This.” Uncle Sam said, as the building shook, loud explosions coming from above.
The explosions caused the gunmen to stumble, Uncle Sam and Cai springing into action, as The Eagle stumbled too.
Cai became intangible, and tossed shuriken at his enemies, as their bullets whizzed through his body. Once his shuriken lost contact with his body, they became tangible again, finding themselves embedded in the enemy gunmen.
Uncle Sam roundhouse kicked the nearest gunman, extending his staff at the same time, in one fluid motion. He began dropping enemies left and right, cracking skulls and busting kneecaps.
“Splinter, what happened to no powers?” The Eagle asked.
“They know we’re American. No need for cover.” Sam replied, dropping another gunman.
“Oh.” The American Eagle said, before swiping his arm through the air in a backhand motion. Three balls of energy flew from his hand and exploded on impact, taking down the remaining guards.
“Ok, we need to find that computer before backup gets here.” Uncle Sam said.
“They shouldn’t be far off.” The Eagle replied, flying down the corridor ahead, Uncle Sam and Cai running close behind.
“You would think that the corridor would lead to the centre of this whole operation, right?” The Eagle asked.
“I certainly hope so.” Uncle Sam said. “Blow the door!”
The Eagle didn’t have to be told twice, bombarding the door with his explosive power, blowing it back off its hinges.
Even the seasoned veterans stopped dead in their tracks when they saw what was inside.
Huge glass tubes stood in lines all through the huge room. Within each was a human body, all in various stages of development, from all races, male and female. They floated in the middle, various tubes and wires protruding from their bodies.
“What the hell?” The Eagle asked.
“… Are they growing people inside these tubes?” Uncle Sam asked.
“They’re building soldiers.” Cai said.
“What?” The Eagle asked.
“The ultimate weapons. Super-powered soldiers. Clones, altered humans, whatever they’re doing here.” Cai said, a look of disgust on his face.
“Persons of Mass Destruction.” Uncle Sam muttered.
“Your grandfathers found me in a lab in Vietnam. Nothing on this scale, and the technology has advanced, but I was born the same way.” Cai said.
“What should we do?” The Eagle asked.
“Shut it down.” Uncle Sam ordered.
“And kill hundreds of innocents?” A voice asked from a catwalk above.
The team looked up and saw a small man, wearing a labcoat. “I wouldn’t think that would be your style Uncle Sam.”
“What right do you have to play god?” Uncle Sam asked, spitting the words.
“I believe you would call this the pot calling the kettle black in America.” The scientist laughed. “Two of you are the descendants of men who were altered in the 1940’s. The original Uncle Sam was created to be the perfect human, the first of hundreds. Project Spartan, I believe it was called, no? And the first American Eagle was also the product of that program, after the foolish Americans lost the secret the first time. And then there’s you Cai…”
“Shut your mouth.” Uncle Sam ordered, as he leapt into the air, kicking off one of the glass tubes and landing on the catwalk.
The Eagle was with him in moments, flying up to block the exit on the opposite side of the scientist.
Cai climbed through the bottom of the catwalk, taking his place right beside the scientist. “You will die for what you have done here.” Cai pulled out a knife.
“Murder in cold blood? My my, you certainly aren’t the heroes they say you are.” The scientist taunted.
“Cai, don’t even think about it. We need him as a prisoner.” Uncle Sam ordered.
“We need the intel. We’ll find their computer, and send that.” Cai said.
“I don’t have time for this.” Uncle Sam pointed his gun at Cai. “I’m sick of your insubordination, sometimes I wonder if you’re even a part of this team.”
“What do you think you can do with that? I’m intangible.” Cai sneered.
“I’m not doing anything.” Sam said, as The Eagle’s energy attack hit Cai, knocking him to the ground, unconscious. The scientist fell to the ground clutching his face and screaming, a puff of smoke rising from beneath his hands.
Uncle Sam grabbed the scientist and pulled him to his feet. The man’s face was a mess of blisters and scars, as he began swearing in Korean.
The lights began flashing, and a siren began sounding, as an announcement blared through the complex.
“My Korean’s a little rusty, but I’m pretty sure that this place is going to blow in like, two minutes.” The Eagle said.
“Patriot, we need a skylight.” Uncle Sam ordered.
“You got it.” Patriot buzzed back. Moments later, there was a series of explosions as the ceiling opened up above them, and The Patriot floated down to meet them.
“Told you you’d need me.” Patriot said, as he scooped up Uncle Sam and the scientist.
“Quiet.” Uncle Sam said, as Patriot rocketed into the air, The American Eagle following from behind as best he could carrying Cai.
They flew until they heard the explosions that sent the facility toppling to the ground. “That’s going to be hard to explain.” The Eagle commented drily.
<><><>
The two men appeared out of thin air, standing atop the still-smouldering ruins of the genetic facility.
“Sir, the SecDef’s men debriefed Uncle Sam and The American Eagle, this place had hundreds of supers growing. It’s worse than we feared.” One of them said.
“They must have had outside help. There is no way that the Koreans have advanced further than I have.” The other said.
“Sir, they have complete government sanction to do whatever they want. We need to be careful with what we do. It’s entirely possible they got ahead of us alone.”
“And with the DNA pool at our fingertips, we should already have an army of our own. I should be unstoppable.”
“Sir, they may have other facilities, it would be foolish of them to put all their eggs in one basket.”
“Their leader is an insane fool. This will be the only facility. I want a team to salvage what they can of this facility. Anything we can use. I want that scientist too. He will do nicely on my new research team.”
“You intend to go through with the relocation then sir?”
“Of course I do. We can push the limits further in Iraq, and experimental subjects will be so much easier to come across.” The man laughed.
“Of course sir.”
“Now take me back to Los Angeles, I have a meeting to attend.” The man’s face began to twist, his nose growing, and his eyebrows becoming bushy, his skin becoming olive and his hair turning black.
“Yes sir.”
“Oh, and Daytripper, I have another mission for you.”
“For Senator Carmichael, or for Giovanni Bianchi?”
“Carmichael. I want the Assembly to stage a breakout.”
“Who? We’ve got no-one in Alcatraz.”
“Not Alcatraz. Guantanamo Bay.”
“We don’t have anyone there either.”
“No we don’t. But there are a lot of powerful people there. Powerful people with a grudge against America.”
“Sir?”
“I need the United States to appear weak. I need that poor excuse for a President to look like an incompetent fool. You’re going to make that happen, understand?” Carmichael/Bianchi asked.
“I think we can arrange something.” Daytripper smiled, as the two disappeared back to the United States.
The Gibbon struggled to keep up with the speeding van below him. Even in peak hour traffic, they were getting away from him. He swung from ledge to streetlight to balcony, sailing over the top of the traffic.
He couldn’t believe it had taken him this long to catch Rama in the act. This was his fourth heist in two weeks, and The Gibbon had been across town each time. Rama had been targeting universities all across New York, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of technology.
That was how Gibbon knew that Rama would strike NYU’s science labs, and was the only reason he was anywhere near the building when the van came screaming from the freight entrance.
In hot pursuit, Gibbon couldn’t help but wonder what Rama’s motive was. Rama was hardly a scientist, there was no way he could have possibly had a use for the equipment he was taking. He almost definitely didn’t have the connections required to sell the specialised equipment on the black market. That meant someone was hiring him. But who? And why?
The van screeched to a halt, to avoid a collision with a cab. It roared back to life, but had given Gibbon enough time to catch up, as he swung down and landed on top of the fleeing vehicle.
As he clung on for dear life, he hoped that Rama was as dumb as he thought he was, and would just assume he had lost his tail. If not, he was in for one wild ride.
<><><>
Hannah regretted her decision immediately. In the heat of the moment, she had decided to dive out of the path of the oncoming van, instead of simply flying over the top. She could have been perfectly fine, but instead, she had landed flat on her face, grazing skin from her nose, cheek and hands.
Someone was going to pay for that. And she had a good idea of who…
Minutes later, she emerged from the alleyway, clad in her pristine Hyper Girl costume, before using her photon control to launch herself into the air.
It didn’t take her long to find the van in the dense traffic. It had only travelled a few blocks away, and was distinctive, if not for its erratic driving pattern, then for the costumed man hanging onto the top, trying his hardest to not be dislodged.
She raced towards the van, leaving a faint trail of white light in her wake. She caught up within moments, flying alongside it. Closer now, she recognised The Gibbon from his almost-regular appearances in the newspapers and on the television.
“Need a hand?” She shouted over the roar of rushing air.
“It certainly wouldn’t go astray.” The Gibbon replied drily.
“You should probably get off that roof then.” Hyper Girl instructed.
Gibbon merely nodded, before using his augmented strength to launch himself from the roof of the van using only his hands, catching an overhanging streetlight, and swinging around it to stop his momentum.
The moment he was safe, Hyper Girl turned her attention back to the van. Using her powers, she focused a beam of light into a high-powered laser, burning a hole through the van’s front left tyre.
The van began to spin out of control, but Hyper Girl was ready for it, blasting a crater in the bitumen ahead. As the van span, it hit the uneven ground and began to roll over, sliding a few yards on its side, before coming to a complete stop.
Hyper Girl landed on the ground next to The Gibbon. “Hi.” She said.
“Ummm… Hi.” The Gibbon replied, somewhat perplexed.
“I’m Hyper Girl, what’s in the van?”
“I’m The Gibbon, and in that van is Rama, and the science equipment he stole.”
“Rama? Big guy, right? Way strong?”
“That’s the one.”
Before Hyper Girl could ask any more questions, the driver’s side door of the van snapped off its hinges and flew through the air, before Rama squeezed his huge bulk through the opening left behind.
Rama was well over six feet tall, almost bordering seven feet, and was pure muscle from head-to-toe. His most distinguishing feature, however, was not his size, but the full set of horns atop his head, causing him to bear a striking resemblance to a water buffalo.
“I liked that van.” The powerhouse stated simply.
“You should probably have driven it a little more safely then.” Hyper Girl retorted.
“Hyper Girl, right?” Rama asked. “Oh, he’s gonna love this.” He added, when Hyper Girl nodded.
“Who’s gonna love this?” Hyper Girl asked.
“His employer, I assume.” The Gibbon replied.
“That would be correct.”
The heroes spun around to see a man in his fifties, clad in a bright green costume, complete with cape and helmet, floating in the air behind them.
“Radon!” Hyper Girl and Gibbon both exclaimed.
“Of course, I would have liked it more if you hadn’t screwed up the delivery Rama.” Radon continued, almost ignoring the heroes.
“Sorry boss. Can we waste ‘em now?” Rama asked.
“I suppose you can have the monkey. The girl is mine.” Radon said.
“You wish!” Hyper Girl shouted, as she flew high into the air.
“Fleeing is not an option!” Radon replied, following after her.
“I guess that just leaves us, Monkey-Man!” Rama shouted, as he lowered his head for a charge.
Gibbon laughed, as he leapt over the top of his oncoming opponent, sending the villain crashing into a nearby building.
“We’ve fought dozens of times, and that move has only worked twice. I think you need a new opening move.” Gibbon taunted, as Rama climbed out of the twisted wreckage of the doorframe.
“How’s this then?” Rama asked, pulling a gun from his jacket.
“That’s most definitely a new move.” Gibbon said.
<><><>
“Just letting you know,” Hyper Girl dodged the radiation wave Radon had fired at her, “I wasn’t running away, I was just getting you away from the bystanders.” Hyper Girl returned the blast with one of her own.
“Girl, you’re free to believe what you want to believe, but you and I both know that your abilities pale in comparison to mine.” Radon threw up a shield, absorbing her attack.
“I seem to recall you telling me our powers were the same, just different wavelengths.” Hyper Girl flew around behind Radon, blasting at him again.
“You keep using the same tricks girl, you need to expand your arsenal.” Radon surrounded himself with a sphere of energy.
“Says the guy who’s had the same shtick for decades.” Hyper Girl commented drily.
“Silence!” Radon lassoed her with a beam of energy.
Hyper Girl screamed in pain, as the radiation burned at her skin.
“You dare disrespect me!” He pulled the lasso tighter, forcing the heroine to scream louder.
<><><>
The Gibbon somersaulted under Rama’s gunfire, before using his forward momentum to leap at the villain. He sailed through the air feet-first, grabbing Rama’s gun and kicking off the powerhouse’s chest.
“You’re really not very good at this, are you?” The Gibbon asked.
“And what are you going to do with that?” Rama asked.
“What do you think?” Gibbon asked, tossing the gun aside, sending it sliding across the ground and into a stormwater drain.
“That damn thing cost me $1000!” Rama shouted, his face turning red, and nostrils flaring.
“You probably should have taken better care of it then. It’s just not your day, is it?” Gibbon asked.
“You’ll pay for that.” Rama said, advancing on The Gibbon.
Hyper Girl’s piercing screams cut through the air from above.
“No I won’t.” The Gibbon replied, scaling the side of a building, moving far out of his enemy’s reach.
He kept climbing, it was what he did best. Ever since he woke up in that lab, his body augmented to resemble that of an ape, elongated arms, stronger muscles and modified joints. He was perfectly suited to scaling the urban jungle.
Once he had reached the appropriate height, he leaped from the building and tackled Hyper Girl, pulling her out of the grasp of Radon’s binding, and sending them both crashing into the next building. Clutching the teenager under one arm, he used his free hand and feet to scale the rest of the building.
“Crap, they’ll get away.” Hyper Girl groaned.
“Considering the alternative, I’m glad I saved you instead.” Gibbon replied.
“I’ll be fine. Lets go.” Hyper Girl stood up and jumped off the building, floating in midair.
“They’re gone, aren’t they?” Gibbon asked, as he climbed up on the ledge to see for himself.
“Yeah. Looks like it.” Hyper Girl said, before cursing.
“Don’t sweat it. They’re stockpiling gear, they’ll show up again.” Gibbon said.
“Knowing Radon, it’s something to make him more powerful. He likes amplifying his own abilities.” Hyper Girl said.
“So he’ll reveal his hand soon. Try to conquer the city, no doubt.”
“Hope you didn’t have any plans for this week, looks like we’re going to have to be on alert.”
“Waiting for Radon and Rama sounds a lot better than TV Dinners and Seinfeld reruns.”
<><><>
“And if you do not grant me sole rulership of the island of Manhattan before noon, I will destroy one skyscraper per hour until you do!” Radon announced from the top of the building, live on six networks.
Hannah jumped from her spot on the couch. “Got you, you bastard.”
<><><>
“They’ve got ten more minutes.” Rama looked at his watch.
“Calm down. We need to give them time. The deadline is just to make them hurry.” Radon explained.
“Are you sure this doohickey will work?” Rama cocked his head towards the large piece of machinery that dominated much of the rooftop.
“Of course I’m sure. I just aim this at my target, and focus my powers here.” Radon explained.
“I get how it works, I just want to know if it actually does work.” Rama asked.
“I doubt you really understand the inner workings of my masterpiece.” Radon said.
“I don’t really think he has to.” The Gibbon swung up to the top of the building. “You’re not going to get the chance to use it.”
“Must you heroes always interfere?” Radon asked, blasting at The Gibbon, a hint of exasperation in his voice.
“It’s kind of our thing.” Hyper Girl said, as she deflected Radon’s blast with one of her own.
“Both of you again?” Radon shouted. “Fine, you will be our example!”
Radon’s power amplifier spun, pointing itself directly at Hyper Girl.
“Oh, that can’t be good.” Hyper Girl said.
Radon began cackling, as he fed energy into his amplifier, which fired at Hyper Girl, the teen hero barely ducking out of the way, as she felt the air sizzle around her.
She didn’t have time to taunt her opponent, as he adjusted the amplifier, pointing it at Hyper Girl’s new position. Hyper Girl flew out of the way before he could fire, forcing the shot to go wild. The villain began firing wildly, blasting at Hyper Girl over and over again.
The Gibbon watched helplessly from the ground, unsure of what to do. His back exploded with pain, as Rama drove his head into his back. “I guess that makes three times that move has worked.” Rama taunted, as he stood over Gibbon’s prone form.
“And that makes it about a hundred times that this move has worked.” Gibbon replied, kicking Rama’s legs out from under him, sending his bulk crashing to the ground.
Gibbon formulated his plan, and moved into position. Rama got to his feet, enraged.
“Now what are you going to do?” Gibbon taunted.
Rama lowered his head and charged.
“Oh, how predictable.” Gibbon yawned, before leaping over the top of Rama.
Rama realised what he was doing, and tried to stop, but it was too late. He charged directly into the amplifying machine. He was instantly showered in sparks, as the machine began spluttering and smoking.
“NOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Radon shouted, as his energy blasts suddenly had a backlash from the damaged amplifier, causing Radon to be hit by his own attack, rendering him unconscious.
Hyper Girl floated back down to the rooftop. “Wow. That was easy.”
“Yeah, Rama’s not too bright. I’m glad you’re faster than Radon is, otherwise you’d be vapour.” Gibbon said.
“I’m glad too.” Hyper Girl said. “This was fun. We should do it again some time.”
“I’m sure we’ll run into each other again sometime, this is New York after all.”
“Can’t wait.”
<><><>
Friday, 11.32 PM
Downtown Los Angeles
I watched from my perch as the crowd thinned out below me. The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra’s performance of Mozart’s 38th Symphony looked like it had been a success. The patrons leaving the Music Center all looked quite happy.
But I wasn’t interested in them. The rich. The art lovers. The posers. None of them was worth more than a passing glance.
Except one.
Dean Mitchell was one of the last people out of the door, flanked by two men in suits. Bodyguards, of course. What kind of person has bodyguards at the symphony? A person with enemies. And who has more enemies than a drug lord? Besides a superhero, of course.
I trailed him as he walked down the street, running along the rooftop. I saw him reach for his cellphone, calling his chauffer, no doubt. That meant I had a limited window.
I sprang from the roof, and tackled the closest guard to the ground, before clubbing him across the head, knocking him unconscious. I was back on my feet in a moment, sweeping the second bodyguard’s leg and driving his head into the concrete.
I grabbed Mitchell and dragged him behind the building. I grabbed him and pushed him up against the wall. He started laughing.
“I wondered when I’d run into you.” He said, still laughing.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, shoving him harder.
“Let me guess, you think that you can stop me?” He asked. Cocky bastard. All of twenty-five years old, thinks that being born rich makes him better than everyone else.
“You won’t be the first drug dealer I’ve taken down.” I replied.
“I have an edge on all those street-level pushers.” Mitchell said. It was more than just arrogance now. It was confidence. I paused for a moment, felt the doubt seeping in. What was he talking about? Did he just mean his money? His influence? Or was it something else? What if he had powers? What if he was stronger than I am? What if I couldn’t fight him.
“You feel it, don’t you?” He asked. He must have seen it in my face. “You’re doubting yourself, aren’t you?”
I shook my head, but I knew he could still see it. I could feel it. The fear creeping in. I couldn’t beat him. There was no way. He was unstoppable.
“Now let go of me.” He commanded.
I bowed my head and took a step back, Mitchell sneered at me.
“Grab him. The Shadow is coming for a ride with us.” He said.
I felt two sets of hands grab me around the arms. Big hands. Of course. These were his real bodyguards. Rock Steady Inc. I should have known. I was doomed.
They tossed me into the back of a limousine, where I curled up on the floor. The sense of fear and doubt was gradually being replaced by despair. I was going to die here tonight.
“Now, as you’ve no doubt realised, I’m a super.” Mitchell gloated. “That feeling in the pit of your stomach? Your sense of impending doom that has replaced your bravado? That was me.”
I stared up at him in terror, and he laughed again. I was getting tired of that laugh.
“I was a little younger than you when I discovered it. I was in high school, and I had been rejected by a girl for the first time. But nobody rejects Dean Mitchell. It was like the universe was aligning for me. My superpowers manifested that day. I could control peoples’ emotions. My life was easy before, but it got a lot easier. Everything I wanted, everything I needed, it was all mine for the taking.”
It all came together then. Pheromone control. Ben had told me one of the Hire A Hero kids had a power like it. I understood, but there was nothing I could do. He still had a hold on me.
“But I got bored. One can only have everything handed to them for so long. I needed something new. So I talked to a friend, who knew a guy who sold half of Hollywood their cocaine. I bought him out. His clients, his supply, everything. Cost me half my stock portfolio. I made it back in a month.”
“Why are you telling me all this?” I asked.
“Because I want you to understand just how much trouble you’re in. I want you to understand who I am. I want you to know the man that will finally end you.” Mitchell kicked at me and I flinched. There was that laugh again. “The unbeatable Shadow. You’ve got half of my dealers scared to leave their houses, you know that? The scum of this city quiver at the mere mention of your name. And here you are, lying at my feet. Like a dog.”
I felt the anger surge through my body. He was going to pay for that. I was going to take him down. I wasn’t just going to mess him up, I couldn’t just scare him. I had to get him put into Alcatraz. I had to make sure he paid for what he had done. Not just to me, to this city.
And that was when I noticed it. The fear was gone. I wasn’t crippled by despair. I was free.
“You won’t get away with it. It will all catch up to you.” I said.
“And how will that happen? I’ve got half the LAPD on my payroll, there is no paper trail, I’ve got it all funnelled out into other interests, and even if some idiot cop caught me, I’ve got my powers to send him on his merry way. I am unstoppable.”
He started laughing again. That was it. I lunged at him, but the Rock Steady guys restrained me.
“Oh, you’ve got some fight left in you, do you?” Mitchell asked. “I guess you need a stronger dose.”
I could feel the emotions fighting for control. The sadness, the fear and the doubt. All of it came rushing back. But only for a moment. My healing powers were counteracting it. It was like a virus, or an allergy. Looks like Mitchell was beatable afterall.
Now it was my turn to laugh. I’ll never forget the look on his face. That moment of doubt. Fear. For a few seconds, he knew what he’d done to me. That was all I needed for now.
I slipped free from the grip of the guards, and dove through the window. I rolled across two lanes of traffic, sprang to my feet, and ran as fast as I could.
Saturday, 12.53 AM
Miracle Mile
I dialled O’Hara’s number. Got the machine. No shock there. I left him a message. I told him that Mitchell was behind the drugs market in Los Angeles. I told him about his powers, and everything else he had said. I told him that I was immune.
I didn’t know what good it would do, but I knew I needed someone else working on this. Someone on the right side of the law. I knew I couldn’t take him down alone.