by Mathy, Scott
She took off with a burst of ruined sofa, bringing a flying knee into Midas’s cheek. He stumbled backward for a moment, before reaching down to grab the much smaller woman with both arms. Lifting her from the ground, he pitched her sideways across the room and into the kitchen. Her impact folded the steel refrigerator in two. She dropped to the floor, disappearing behind the island occupying the middle of the prep area.
Midas stepped menacingly forward, a thin line of blood running down his sculpted features where Linda had hit him. He hurled the island to the side, ripping it from the floor. The granite countertop shattered against the cabinets. Water spewed from the severed pipes that led to the broken sink. He searched for his downed opponent, but found nothing.
“Hey, asshole!” Linda called from the next room. She was standing next to a glossy black grand piano.
The enraged Cape stepped out of the destroyed kitchen, “How long do you think you can keep this up? We can make up as soon as I’m done dealing with your ex.” He turned to face Dwight, the burning light in his eyes charging up to disintegrate him.
As he prepared to fire, Linda grabbed the piano by a single leg and heaved. She spun the enormous instrument around once fully before launching it at Midas. It flew inhumanly fast and exploded. Wood, keys, and strings showered the open area with debris. Dwight took the distraction to leap out of the way as the beams cut a line from floor to ceiling where he had just been standing. He threw himself behind what was left of the sofa, crawling for anything resembling cover.
Through the window, Dwight spotted a distant light rapidly approaching the penthouse. From its flight path, he guessed its identity before it arrived. Midas also noticed the arrival of the Crusader Armor and its pilot. Lawrence Adams stopped just outside the window, evaluating the scene as he rotated into a hovering position.
“Looks like I’m just in time for the remodeling. How’s it going, Kyle? I mean ‘Midas’ – definitely ‘Midas.’” The plates on the armor’s wrist separated, a miniature chain gun sliding up from the machine’s compartment.
He aimed toward the ceiling, obviously trying not to hit either of the Capes or the lone powerless human in the room. Shattering glass filled the edges of the room and poured out into the night. “There, already improved the airflow. Now, let’s start evicting some criminal trash; we only want actual heroes living in the penthouse.” Adams turned his attention to Lock Heart, still standing in the ruins of Midas’s furniture, “Hey, babe, how does your own corporation sound as an early anniversary gift?”
Dwight heard frantic pounding at the suite’s door; it made sense, he supposed, that the walls here would be reinforced against superhumans. Still, at best they had minutes before the building was swarming with the Guild’s heroes looking to protect their leader.
Adams brought his suit into the room, cutting the boosters mid stride to stand near Linda. “You’ve been naughty, Midas; we’re taking you in.”
Midas laughed, “You act like any of this matters. He’s already won. All that matters is surviving, but you understand that better than anyone. You’ve sacrificed dozens of friends and teammates just to live another day. You’re no better than me. The only reason you’re not the one standing here is a matter of power. He only wants those who are born with it. You invented yours.”
“Maybe,” Adams remarked, “But I’m the one with a missile I made just in case I ever got the excuse to take you down.”
Dwight was halfway between them as a slot opened on the suit’s other arm. Adams fired the projectile, no bigger than a finger, across the room. Midas caught it effortlessly, throwing a mocking disappointed glare at the rival CEO. A second later, the missile exploded in a concussive blast of red light. The air around Midas filled with a swirling silver cloud. The Cape hacked horribly, gasping as he swatted at the mass swarming around him.
“Nanites,” Adams said through his suit’s speakers, “Not so tough with your powers suppressed from the inside?” He turned to Dwight, “Got the idea from watching your fight, but I couldn’t find your psychic to hire. You wouldn’t happen to have Baldy’s number-”
He was interrupted by Midas roaring in painful anger and blasting the Crusader armor with a scorching beam from his eyes. The suit recoiled, its outer layers instantly burned away. Adams created a digitized barrier with his hands, momentarily deflecting the lasers. Midas leapt forward, a combination of brute force and his failing powers propelling him into Adams with enough momentum to knock both to the ground. They both slid across the floor, stopping just short of the edge. Sitting atop the prone suit, the much stronger Cape repeatedly struck the armor with both fists, crumpling any point he impacted with instantly. The sounds of twisting metal and agonized, terrified screams filled the apartment. As both Dwight and Linda rushed to aid her employer, Midas delivered one final blow to Lawrence Adams’s faceplate, caving it in. The armor’s audio systems gave one last tortured squawk before going silent. Midas’s shaking hands were coated in the blood of the Alpha Guard leader.
Dwight slammed into the Power’s back, pushing him off of the dead Cape and sending both careening out the window. Midas spun as they fell, cape fluttering around him, but didn’t stop as Dwight had expected. A look of surprise, then utter terror filled his eyes as both men realized the full effect of the Steel Crusader’s final gambit. Linda caught her ex-husband out of the air just as they’d passed the middle of the massive structure. Both watched as the de-powered Midas plummeted toward the ground, crashing on the steps leading to his building. A crimson stain spread on the concrete around his broken body. The glorious gold of his costume faded as the red seeped into the fabric.
As they hovered there, they could see the residents of the lobby investigating the scene. It only took a moment for one of them to identify the deceased as their leader and scream.
SEVEN
The door to the lab was already open when they arrived. Ellis rushed to meet Dwight and Linda as they entered, “What the hell were you thinking!?” she shouted at Dwight.
“You’ll have to be more specific; I’ve had a lot of ideas go shockingly wrong today.”
She flipped her tablet to face them. The news station was issuing a special report. The lower third featured the enormous, plain-as-day headline: “Heads of Justice Guild and Alpha Guard Murdered.”
“How about the part where you killed the heads of the two groups most likely to stop the end of the world?” She waited for a response.
Dwight read the scrolling text; it clearly identified him as the killer. The talking heads on the screen switched to the feed of a security camera showing his surrender and escort to the penthouse. “This isn’t how it looks. I went there to ask him for help, to stop Counsel.”
She threw up her hands, “Well, great job, Referee! I didn’t realize ‘ask for help’ meant ‘drop sixty-three stories onto the pavement.’”
Linda cut in, “He’s telling the truth. Midas was in on Counsel’s plan; he was planning on killing Dwight when I arrived. Adams, as always, was arrogant and stupid.”
“And now we have the two biggest groups of Powers in New Haven at open war, trying to blame each other for their deaths. They’re both saying you were hired to kill Adams and Midas.”
Dwight watched as the news switched to footage of Powers fighting in the streets, whole city blocks turned into smoldering warzones. Teams met in the sky, tearing into each other with reckless abandon. Citizens ran for cover as beams of light tore through anything in their path.
“Oh, fuck,” was all he could think to say.
Ellis swatted at his head and shoulders in frustration, “‘Oh fuck?’ ‘Oh fuck?’ That’s all you have to say while New Haven is tearing itself apart!?”
He batted her hands away, “Give me a moment. We can fix this – ow! – we just need to stop Counsel before he unleashes Zel.”
She continued unabated by Dwight’s pleas, “And just how in the Goddess’s name are we supposed to do that, huh!?”
Alice interrupte
d from across the lab, “The creature known as Zel is currently moving from StarPoint. Her speed suggests she is traveling with standard city traffic.”
Both arguing humans stopped, staring blankly at the android.
“I have been using the triangulation software created by the deceased Referee of Mr. Zhu’s universe. She had been stationary within StarPoint since I brought the program online,” she continued, “I only failed to mention it because I thought the code to be faulty.
“I have been replicating and completing several of the design schematics Mr. Knolls brought with on the flash drive.” Alice pointed to her private corner of the lab, a single workstation piled high with seemingly random materials. “It would appear that the late Referee was a skilled engineer.”
“Cheeky A.I.,” Ellis commented, staring in awe at her industrious creation.
They followed the machine to her section. She opened a file labeled, “Plague” and led them through her findings, “I believe that the nanites that make up Zel’s body are the same as the ones that infected the people of Acheron.”
“Yeah, we knew that already,” Dwight commented.
“I mean both the husks and the manipulated residents of the prison, the ones who were unchanged,” she added.
Ellis’s eyes lit up, “The ones Geller controlled with his remote!” She raced off, throwing open the steel door to the supply-closet-of-no-return abruptly as she reached it.
“So if he used his remote to take control of the nanites, we should be able to create something to do the same,” Dwight pondered.
The Doc quickly returned, triumphantly presenting her own device to the group, “I already did; I can override the nanites and deactivate them forever!”
He thought back to the moment before the plague was unleashed on the station, when it was only the tool of a madman trying to take control of a single prison. “You think we can disable her long enough to destroy her body?”
“I’m saying we don’t have to. Get close enough, and we can overwrite every nanite’s code with something that’ll make them completely harmless.”
Dwight took the device, “Alright, I get you to wherever she’s going, and we take away Counsel’s last option. He’ll have to face us.”
Ellis stepped back, “I can’t go with, Dwight. I need to stay and go through all these files. There might be more here that we need to know.”
Alice agreed, “I have been unable to resolve the construction of a few nearly-complete prototypes that could be useful, if violence is needed against him.”
“There’s no if here. It’s a warzone out there,” Linda said, still watching the news feed on the monitor, “Counsel’s heading to wherever the fighting is thickest.” She cracked her knuckles, “You’ll need protection.”
“He’ll have it,” Glitch stepped forward, her head mounted on a frame that looked similar to Alice’s. Where it differed, a dozen extra energy lines ran from a power core placed in each limb. Apart from her face, the entire artificial body gleamed in polished chrome and blue light. “I’ve got a brand-new combat chassis that needs a field test.”
Dwight inspected the replacement frame. It was much sharper, more aggressive than her previous body – all aerodynamic ridges and movable fins. Her head was mounted on its neck, collar holding it in place over her ears. Her blonde hair hung loose over the silver pieces. “You have a chance to speak to your boyfriend yet?” he asked.
She eyed him harshly, “Can I please deal with one catastrophe at a time? Saving the world and my love life is a bit too much while I’m riding a rental.” She sighed heavily, realizing from Dwight’s expression she wasn’t going to defer the question. “Yes,” she answered with irritation, “we have a lot to talk about, but I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
She pointed at the bruise on his cheek, “How’s your face?”
“I think he hurt my pride more than my skin; you really need to teach your man how to throw a punch,” he smiled.
“Hey, he was yours long before he was mine,” she shrugged.
The warehouse door opened. Lia stepped in, her black leather and smooth head shining under the overhead lighting. She carried a motorcycle helmet under one arm. “I’m going, too.”
“Sounds like a party,” Dwight agreed.
She smiled, walking past the stunned Doctor toward the garage. The hitman, cyborg, and Cape followed. Ellis recovered some time after, running to catch up.
She addressed Lia as the psychic threw one leg over the repaired Jezebel, its coiled engine whirring to life the moment she settled into the seat.
“You don’t have to do this,” Ellis said over the noise.
Lia reached up to touch the older woman’s cheek, “You’ve always taken care of me, Elizabeth. Now it’s time to pay that back.”
Dwight stepped away with the others, letting the women talk privately as they opened the shutters to the emergency exit tunnel. After a few more words between them, too quiet to be heard over the bike’s engine, Lia put the helmet over her head. She rode across the room, stopping near the other three briefly before racing down the tunnel.
Alice approached, passing Dwight an earpiece, “I’ve taken the liberty to synchronize the radios of your respective devices; I hope you don’t mind.”
He inserted it, hearing Lia’s voice, “Thanks, Alice,” she said, “Take care of Beth.”
“Absolutely, Ms. Roux,” she responded, the android’s mouth not moving.
Glitch repeated the trick, “We’ll head for midtown. Keep track of Zel until we get there.” She bolted down the tunnel at a pace Dwight had thought impossible for even the fastest speedsters. The cyborg was gone before the blast of wind settled.
Linda was the only one who bothered to use her mouth to speak, “Our turn; once more, for old time’s sake?” she asked her ex-husband.
Dwight lifted his arms, allowing her to take hold and cross her arms over his chest. She lifted slowly, accelerating down the hallway until they cleared the end before rocketing into the night sky. Dwight did his best to shield his eyes from the stinging wind.
Down below, he could see the commotion of the Powers fighting for control of the city, finally let off the leash of their respective leaders. At this height, he could make out human shapes clearly. Everywhere he looked, chaos swept through the streets, sending the powerless running for their lives. Cars hurtled into the air, crashing into panicked crowds. Great blasts of incredible energy ripped whole building faces to rubble. It was too much to see New Haven reducing itself to ashes; he looked away, refocusing his gaze on the three towers that dominated the skyline.
Alice’s voice cut in, “I have commandeered the city’s traffic surveillance system. Zel appears to be traveling in a truck heading toward the Guild’s headquarters. At current speeds, she will arrive in the next five minutes.”
Lia added, “And infect any Power in the area. We need to get there as fast as possible. I’m not going to make it in time.”
“We’ll keep her busy, Lia,” Dwight shouted through the howling winds, “Try to keep as many people out of the vicinity as you can. If she only gets to a few Powers, we might still be able to take them out before it spreads.”
Ellis spoke, “I’m glad you’re finally making contingency plans, but end-of-the-world scenarios are a bad place to start.”
Linda banked hard to avoid an errant missile screaming skyward. Below, a group of the Guild’s automated traffic-control droids fought with an Alpha Guard patrol. As they swung back, Dwight wondered what traffic bot needed explosives to do its job.
He saw a chrome streak slam into their ranks, shattering the machines into flying bits of steel and wire. Glitch stopped running just long enough to catch one of the airborne robots by the leg, swinging it downward to crush another into a heap of scrap. She took off running again, and was gone before the opposing force could register her speedy intervention.
“Where’s that truck?” Dwight shouted into his microphone.
“Locating,” Alic
e clarified, “They are approaching their destination.”
“We need to hurry!” he yelled up to Linda.
She let her hands slip, momentarily dropping altitude as they cruised over the burning city streets. She regained control of her flight, “You don’t get to tell me how quickly I need to defy the laws of gravity! I’m already going as fast as I can!”
He gave his stomach a moment to settle, “Alright, sorry!”
Somewhere behind them, Lia was weaving Jezebel through the carnage below. Despite the masses of rubble and abandoned vehicles, she was making good time across the city. He considered their plan for a moment, “Change of plans. Lia, we need you to hold back. I don’t know what his range is; we can’t have Counsel taking your powers.”
There was a long silence on the other end, “Understood,” she regretfully agreed, “I’ll work on moving as many Powers out of the area as I can from a distance.”
Ahead, the Justice Guild’s tower grew larger; huge plumes of smoke rose around it, the center of the citywide conflict. Great steel shutters lined every window and entryway into the massive building. The stairs leading up to the tower were littered with individual battles – Cape versus Cape – ripping the grounds apart. The lone truck, its white sides completely unassuming in the chaos surrounding it, pulled to a stop at the apex of the drive.
Linda and Dwight landed just as the rear doors slid open. Counsel, hidden behind his mask and body armor, stepped down, followed by the monstrous Zel. Bernard trailed behind; there was something clearly wrong with the giant, as if he was fighting every movement of his body. His eyes glowed a deep blue, the same as the energy coursing through Zel’s bones.
“Good evening, Dwight!” Counsel shouted across the square. “Love what you’ve done since the last time we spoke. Even I couldn’t have imagined sparking the war to end all wars with such an insignificant push. Consider me impressed!”
A violet portal ripped into existence behind Dwight. Zhu stepped through, the old Cape’s trench coat blowing in the cosmic winds of his creation. It slammed shut as soon as he cleared its edge. “This the prick, Knolls?”