Riverside City Chronicles | Book 1 | Riverside City [Capes & Cowls]

by VanDerHeyden, Paul C.

  Chapter 21: Slapshot, Spitfire, and Inferno

  “Want to blow off some steam?” Theo asks Kat, as he turns to look at her, she is already disappearing around the corner.

  ‘Don’t take them both down before I get out there!’ Kat sends to Theo. ‘I’ll be there in just a second!’

  Theo grins and focuses, his suit appearing around his form. “This is going to be fun,” he says to no one in particular.

  Jin leaps out the door toward Slapshot, jumping nearly 50 feet to do so. Jin recognizes him from his time as a Riverside Riverman enforcer, where he was known more for his dirty hits than his shots on net. Jin lands with both of his feet square in the solar plexus of Slapshot, knocking him out of the tree. Jin rides him all the way to the ground.

  “You know, I never liked you on the Rivermen. You spent too much time in the penalty box and not enough time protecting your teammates. I see that you didn’t miraculously become a better person when the league banned you for life,” Jin stands over Slapshot with his fist raised.

  Slapshot wheezes and groans. “First we can’t get into an old lady’s lab and now some punk insults me and breaks a few of my ribs. What a night!” he calls over to Spitfire. “What did I do to deserve this, Babe?”

  “Well, you did ask me to burn down the guard shack during our last job, Babe,” a voice comes from behind Jin. “You’re going to regret messing with us kid.”

  Turning his head, Jin briefly sees Spitfire doing just that, “spitting fire”. She’s aiming her fire breath at him. The pressure of the fire breath throws Jin off of Slapshot and into a different tree, which slumps over a bit from the impact.

  “Need a hand?” a stentorian voice asks a man as he lands next to Jin. “Name’s Inferno. I take it you’re Jin?”

  Jin takes a hard look at Inferno, he has a primarily scarlet Suit with black accents. He’s also wearing a red and black domino mask. A black and scarlet flame emblem is placed over his right breast. The last thing Jin notices with his initial look is that he’s tall, at least six inches taller than himself.

  “Yeah, I’m Jin, Nightmare will be out soon, she got caught up with something. Are you good with turning them into the FSA as a group?” Jin asks Inferno.

  “Sounds good, it’ll be my first real capture, so I’m okay with sharing the credit. Now, let me help rein them in a bit.” Inferno reaches his hands out and black flames pour out of them, ringing around the area where Spitfire is helping Slapshot get up.

  “Are those going to spread?” Jin asks, concern evident in his voice. The mature sakura trees around RSCU are something Riverside City citizens take great pride in.

  “Not unless I want them to,” Inferno says. “Let me show you something else I can do.” He snaps the fingers on his right hand and black chains appear around Spitfire’s neck and start to tighten. Spitfire begins to choke and claw at the chains, panic evident on her face.

  Jin looks at Inferno with horror written all over his face. “Stop it, you’re killing her!”

  Inferno looks confused. “It won’t go that far, she should pass out before that happens.”

  “Either you stop the chains, or I stop them for you, your choice,” Jin says as he gets into a fighting stance facing Inferno instead of Slapshot.

  “Your funeral,” Inferno says and waves his hand, the chains from around Spitfire’s throat disappear, leaving inky black burn marks around her throat.

  At this point Nightmare bursts out the door. “Never fear, Nightmare is here!”

  Both Jin and Inferno look at Nightmare and ask in unison, “Really?”

  Nightmare looks at Jin and then sees Inferno, her face blanches and she ducks back into the building. “I’m so embarrassed, that was the lamest thing I could have said!”

  After a second, she pokes her head back out the door, and looks around. “Who are you?” she asks Inferno.

  “Inferno, gorgeous,” he replies with what would usually be a charming smile if he hadn’t just tried to suffocate someone. He tries to lock eyes with Nightmare but she averts her gaze when she sees Jin’s posture.

  “Thanks for giving me a moment to breathe brats, enjoy my knuckleball special!” When the Capes look over to look at him Slapshot is on his feet and has slapped three pucks tumbling toward Jin and Inferno, “You’ll love them, they’re a blast!”

  The pucks shoot toward Jin and Inferno, Jin just raises his arms and blocks the two pucks coming toward him, they shove him back maybe six inches before exploding, which shoves him back another foot.

  Inferno, however, tries to burn the puck out of the air with scarlet flames. The puck cuts right through the flames, just before it hits Inferno a purple aura surrounds the puck. When the puck stops moving, it explodes, but the purple aura holds the force inside.

  “I got it, you’re welcome, now melt his hockey stick, he’s nothing without it,” Nightmare pants, holding that explosion took a lot more out of her than she thought it would.

  “That I can do.” He reaches out his hands and a dark red flame shoots out quickly toward Slapshot’s stick.

  “Not so fast munchkins, I’m the fire queen around here.” Spitfire flies in front of the stream of fire coming from Inferno. “Two can play at this game,” she expels a large gout of flame from her mouth opposing Inferno’s attack. The two flames intermingle before burning each other out.

  “Damnit, nothing is going as I planned. Does she think she's as powerful as me? As if!” Inferno pulls all of the heat out of the area, holding it like a basketball of black and scarlet flame. The grass nearby starts to freeze as the heat leaves it suddenly.

  Jin looks into the eyes of Inferno and sees something familiar, pure rage and destruction. Jin dives toward Slapshot and Spitfire, grappling both of them to the ground. “Don’t fight me, he’s trying to kill you right now. I just want you to go to prison.”

  “DEFENDING COWLS!?!?!? THEN YOU DIE WITH THEM!” Inferno releases the ball of energy he was channeling, it becomes a vortex of heat and darkness as it hurtles toward Jin and the Cowls.

  “This is going to suck.” Jin sighs and makes an earth dome over himself and the Cowls he’s protecting.

  ‘Kat, he’s in Power Rush, put him down like you did to me,’ Theo frantically sends.

  ‘I’ve been trying, he’s not in Power Rush, he’s just that angry!’ she sends in a panic.

  The heat and darkness vortex hits Jin’s shield and completely envelops it. The flagstones and dirt making up his earth dome crack and burn, going black in seconds. A few moments later, while Inferno laughs maniacally, Nightmare bashes her telescopic staff into the back of his head. Inferno crumples to the ground, knocked out cold.

  Finally, after almost a minute, the vortex fades, revealing Jin huddled over Slapshot and Spitfire, who have both passed out from the heat and negative energy. Negative energy drains your will to live, enough of it will stop your heart. Jin stands up, the back of his Suit is completely black, his golden scales are all coated in acrid black soot.

  Jin looks to Nightmare, “Good job partner, I’m not sure how much longer I could have protected them,” he indicates the Cowls. “Any bounties/contracts out for them or do we have to cut them loose?” he asks.

  “I’ll check,” her phone flashes into her hand before she takes a picture of the soot-covered forms of Slapshot and Spitfire. “Looks like they robbed two banks in Chicago last week, they’re each good for a pickup. Should I call it in?”

  “Yeah, ask for paperwork for me too please, I need to make this official,” Jin slumps against one of the trees that he was also protecting from Inferno.

  ‘I hope Dante went home, this was way too dangerous for a normal like him,’ Theo sends to Kat.

  ‘Look closer at Inferno before you say that Theo.’ Kat points at the slumped over form of Inferno.

  Jin looks over at Inferno and sees that his mask was knocked askew as he fell.

  Inferno is Dante!

  Chapter 22: Hellion

  “Oh,” Jin says, his
face aghast.

  “Yeah,” Nightmare replies with a loud sigh. “I’ll get the cops and the FSA down here.”

  “FSA Hotline, this is Roxy, what’s your designation?” a pleasant female voice comes from the phone.

  “Nightmare, Class 1 Cape,” Nightmare says tiredly.

  “Thank you, Nightmare, how can we help?” Roxy asks.

  “Pickup for Slapshot, Spitfire, and…” Nightmare hesitates.

  Jin nods.

  “Also, pickup for a potential Hood—Inferno,” Nightmare sighs.

  “Wow, all in one night, are you on a roll Nightmare?” Roxy jokes.

  “Nope, Jin and I just make a great team.” Nightmare smiles at Jin.

  “Got it, I’ll document this as a capture for both of you then,” Roxy says. “Pickup ETA is seven minutes; hold tight until then. The police will arrive to secure the site after you leave.”

  “Thanks, Roxy.” Nightmare hangs up the phone.

  “What are we going to do about him?” She points at Inferno.

  “We let the FSA decide, they deal with this kind of situation all the time,” Jin replies.

  Jin can't help but stare at the slumped over form of their friend Dante, now revealed as Inferno. "How could he do that, how could he be that stupid!" Jin roars into the night air. He then slumps to his knees.

  "Having powers doesn't make you good or bad. Powers just makes it easier to see who someone really is by their actions. Maybe he has a good explanation?" Nightmare walks over to Jin and puts her hand on his back.

  'He's still our best friend Dante. We know who he is, but he doesn't know who we are. Let's use the next couple weeks of school to feel out how we are going to deal with Inferno,' Kat sends to Theo.

  Jin and Nightmare stay like that, still as statues, until they see a silver light coming down toward them. Jin gets into a fighting stance before Nightmare bumps into his shoulder, knocking him off balance. The silver shrouded figure lands and Brigid is revealed, her pink and purple suit still glowing slightly silver.

  "Ah, I didn't know you could fly, Brigid," Jin says rubbing his neck in embarrassment.

  Brigid stops and pants for a moment. "I don't usually. I like to drive around in one of the SUVs, but when I heard you were signing up, I made an exception. Flying is much faster than driving, I have to admit."

  "Wish I could fly," Jin and Nightmare say in unison. They look at each other and chuckle before remembering that they had to knock out their best friend to secure this victory. The smiles fall off their faces.

  "Well, Nightmare, your powerset lends itself to psychokinetically carrying yourself in a way that is akin to flight." Brigid smiles and then looks at Jin. "Jin, your powers are more of a mystery. I can tell there's some kind of Asian influence there, which is promising, but I'm not sure if you'll be able to fly. Either way, good job with these two psychos," she says, pointing at Slapshot and Spitfire.

  "This one is new." Brigid indicates Inferno. "How’d he get knocked out?"

  "I knocked him in the back of the head when he wasn't looking, he was trying to kill the Cowls and Jin," Nightmare says quietly, but with steel in her eyes.

  "Oh… Power Rush?" Brigid asks hopefully.

  "Not like any I've ever felt, and I've felt quite a few where I live," Nightmare answers. "He was just so angry that we kept having to help him."

  "Ah, that's pretty normal for a Hood, they usually work alone because they suck at asking for help. However, if he tried to kill someone, I’d have to bring him in. The paperwork is going to be insane for this pickup. At least I only have to do half." Brigid sighs.

  "What part of the paperwork do we have to do?" Nightmare asks with a quizzical look on her face, "I thought you had to be a Class 3 to fill out your own paperwork, until then it's done by your trainer. Am I wrong?"

  "Nope, that's all right, though with this pickup both you and Jin should be Class 2, assuming Goldy over there signs the paperwork that's on its way to his residence now," Brigid smiles, "FYI, your friend here was poached from me, someone pulled rank and took over as his handler."

  Brigid walks to stand over the huddled forms of Slapshot and Spitfire. "I'm going to need to call this one in." She idly points at Inferno.

  She puts her hand to her ear, "Brigid to base… yeah, I need a pickup for a hood calling himself Inferno… oh, all right, that's a bit unusual, but I'll wait to leave until he gets here."

  Jin finally speaks up, "Who pulled rank on you for me?"

  "I was wondering the same thing, there are only three Class 5's in the Riverside City FSA Office...at least that I know of? " Nightmare asks tentatively.

  "There's only one you don't know about, but she's not active anymore, she had a bit of a falling out with Glitch a few years back." Brigid's face falls. "I miss having her around, she balanced out the boys club at the top. Wren is too quiet...even though he is sympathetic. Plus, she made a mean lasagna for potlucks!"

  As Brigid finishes a loud thump sounds over by Inferno, Hellion is standing there staring at the slumped over form below him. Brigid frowns and then sighs.

  “I guess you’re the other transport? It’s not like you to take two transportation gigs in as many days, this is strange, but I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth,” Brigid gathers up Slapshot and Spitfire under her arms. “Take care Hellion, you know how his type can be,” she shoots into the air, trailing silver flames. However, instead of flying toward FSA headquarters, she flies over RSCU toward the center of the city, where the river widens out into Millenium Lake.

  “Where is she taking them?” Theo asks, “It doesn’t look like they’re headed to FSA HQ.”

  “Detention, it’s in the center of Millenium Lake. It has more security than the Pentagon and the White House put together. Thunder himself couldn’t get in there,” Hellion says in a monotone voice. He’s probably given that speech a hundred times, but this time he’s dealing with his kid, so he’s a little distracted.

  “I thought it was just a monument to Thunder in the middle there, it’s just a big spire floating in the middle of the lake,” Jin frowns.

  I’ve been on the RSC river and lake tour at least twice, never did they mention the Super prison in the middle of the lake. They pointed out the remains of the haunted casino boat, but not a Super prison…

  Hellion just stares at Inferno, ignoring Jin completely.

  Nightmare steps up and explains, “That’s part of the security, you need to have clearance to even know it exists. The worst of the worst are in there. No one has ever escaped alive.”

  ‘Theo, I’ve patched in Hellion, AKA Mr. Anton, so we can talk without someone overhearing,’ Kat sends.

  ‘Thank you, Kat, this is a kindness my son’s stupidity doesn’t deserve,’ Mr. Anton looks down at his son at his feet. ‘I’ve been training him to use his powers for two years now...and the first time he goes out on his own, he tries to kill someone, and his best friend at that!’

  Theo takes a second to process what he’s ‘hearing’, ‘Mr. Anton, you’re Hellion… Okay, that makes sense, you seemed too cool to drive a desk like Dante said you did.’

  Mr. Anton looks at Theo and Kat, ‘I do actually drive a desk, from home though, I manage much of the dispatch for the FSA, think of me like a 911 Supervisor, I make sure each call gets routed correctly, monitoring over 20 different dispatchers. That’s how I figured out that Dante was the person who almost killed those Cowls.’

  Hellion walks over to Jin and shakes his hand, “Riverside City appreciates your service.”

  ‘You don’t know how thankful I am that you two stopped my son from doing something he would regret for the rest of his life. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask, if it is within my means, I will make sure it gets done.’

  Hellion walks over to Nightmare, “You are a credit to your trainer, I can’t wait until you have a small team of your own.”

  ‘Take him and get out of here, I’m not going to rat out my best friend. However, if he does th
is again, I’ll knock him out faster than he can blink,’ Theo sends with a tinge of regret. ‘I love Dante, I hope he grows into the Cape I know he can be.’

  ‘Agreed, get him some power counseling, I hear that Magenta does a really good job with Hoods,’ Kat sends.

  Hellion nods, “I’ll take care of this, your country thanks you both,” he extends his chains from around his waist, picks up his son, and wraps him up close to his chest. He steps back from Jin and Nightmare, “You’re good kids, don’t lose that in this business.”

  Hellion shoots off, black flames shooting out of his hands and feet, propelling him across the lake and away from the scene of the crime.

  “Well, I guess we’ll have to walk home,” Nightmare laughs, “you don’t think the ferry is still running do you? If not, it’s going to take hours to get home.”

  “I’ve been meaning to try something, do you trust me?” Jin says with a grin, the first real smile he’s had since he realized that Inferno was Dante.

  “Completely, why?” Nightmare replies. As she finishes her question Jin sweeps her up into a princess carry.

  “Hold on,” Jin laughs and starts to skim above the ground starting slow and topping out at around 60 mph, leaving no trail but a bit of dust pulled into the air. He skates above the ground, pumping his legs like an Olympic speed skater.

  Nightmare holds on to Jin tightly, marveling at how warm he feels, despite the speed they’re traveling at. She can’t help but laugh and yell out in joy. Jin grins and hollers once, then focuses on not crashing into anything important or bolted down.

  Chapter 23: Something in the Air

  Jin stops at a park near RAINBOW so he and Nightmare can change back. He stands guard, after ducking behind the wall and dismissing his scales, near the entrance to the girl’s bathroom until Kat sends the all-clear. When Kat comes out, she and Theo start walking down the street toward the compound they call home.

  ‘Well, that was an eventful first day as a Cape, taking down three Cowls, plus a hood...that has to be some kind of record.’ Kat walks alongside Theo and bumps his shoulder. ‘Any other powers I need to know about? That last one would have been good to know about if we had needed to chase a Cowl down.’