“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.