“Swarming Hive, deploy!” Catherine shouts. Her minion bots rise up at her beck and call. She’s been covertly programming their instructions through her tech-glove while the Experi-mentor was monologuing, and now they spring to life.
“Mercurials, attack!” The mad scientist shouts in response.
For an instant, it’s one genius and their team versus the other. But Catherine sends her squad straight for Bloodnight, and the “Mercurials” move in to defend their boss. Nelson Bloodnight crosses his arms and smiles with the confidence of a man who pays others to do his fighting for him.
Stockton rushes in head first, true to the nature of an ex-linebacker, and Catherine’s Mantis bot tears the man to shreds with its lethal array of hardened blades. Yet right before your eyes, his wounds close up and his bones instantly fuse back together.
“Super-healing!” The Experi-mentor shouts. “You wouldn’t happen to have a spare Adamantium skeleton in one of these crates, would you?”
Stockton stomps on the robot even as it leaves gruesome slashes on his legs. Her Parasite bot joins the action, unfurling itself like a gigantic centipede. The robot rolls under Stockton and springs up to latch on his back. Each of the needle-like limbs drive into his flesh, but these wounds heal, sealing the entry points and fusing machine to man.
Stockton’s eyes glaze over as Parasite takes control of his central nervous system. He turns back toward his own team and attacks, now under Catherine’s control. Halifax rushes in, his slick-backed hair moving in a blur as he parries the attacker with inhuman reflexes.
“Not a bad trick, but no match for super-speed! Feeling stymied yet?”
“I’m just getting started,” Catherine says.
Su-Young marches forward. “Actually, you’re finished.”
Nick reaches forward to stop the woman with his mind, but his face washes over with confusion and frustration as she continues toward Catherine.
Looks like you’re up. You rush towards Su-Young in your own linebacker tackle, but at the point of impact you pass through the woman. With a flux of vertigo, you careen forward and smash through several crates before you fall to the ground. Ouch.
“Buahahaha! Super-intangibility! Or ‘Quantum Phasing,’ if you like science, which I do. Good luck with that one.”
Su-Young reaches Catherine, who swings a fist right through the other woman’s head. The older woman rips off Catherine’s tech-glove and tosses it to the side. The “Swarming Hive” minion bots now move aimlessly, acting on an incomplete protocol, and Stockton regains his mental faculties.
The Mercurials prepare for victory….
“You know, we had an invisible team member too, but he disappeared,” the Experi-mentor adds with a shrug. “There are drawbacks to working with criminals.”
You push up from your prone position and shake off the daze just as Stockton turns back and wallops Catherine with a mighty fist. She falls hard, out for the count.
“But I think the pros outweigh the cons. And the pro-cons outweigh them all! Get it? As in…professional convicts. Gah, am I on a roll, or what?!”
“Or what,” Nick says. The college kid reaches out and closes Stockton’s windpipe with his mental grasp. If he crushed it and released, the wound would heal, but as long as he holds the super-healer, he’s vulnerable. Good to know.
In a flash, Halifax rushes forward and pummels Nick before coming to stand over him.
“Gotcha,” the mobster gloats.
“Shouldn’t have stopped,” Nick says weakly through a blood-soaked grin.
He lifts Halifax off the ground with the power of mind, and the man struggles in the air like an unruly whirlwind. He’s powerless while Nick holds him off the floor, but this takes all the concentration the telekinetic can muster.
Stockton comes in to take Nick out, but you step between the two. With a powerful punch, you send your fist straight through the super-healer’s face. He’s completely obliterated.
“Heal that,” you say.
Incredibly, he does. What was just mashed into pulp now re-forms and is made whole. In a flush of rage, you grab ahold of the new head and rip it from Stockton’s body. It comes free, along with several vertebrae.
You toss the viscera to the side. It begins to grow and regenerate, as does his body. You’ve inadvertently created two Stocktons! The Experi-mentor excitedly claps his hands together. “Ooh, and a bonus power, regenerative doubling! Even I didn’t see that one coming!”
As easy as picking up an empty cardboard box, you grab an enormous crate from the shelf and slam it down on top of Stockton A, smashing the man beneath it. Let’s see him heal while he’s pinned beneath 500 pounds of government surplus! Stockton B’s eyes grow wide and he runs from you, but with a quick dash, you plow him into the near stack of crates, bringing two down atop him just the same.
Nelson Bloodnight finally decides to join the fight and steps forward to deliver a haymaker of his own. He swings his fist at you, but does so several feet too far back. Knowing he can’t reach you, you just stand there. So when his fist grows exponentially in size and re-forms itself into a five-knuckled brick wall, it blasts you across the warehouse. Ouch again.
“Shapeshifting,” the Experi-mentor says. “That one’s probably my favorite.”
Nick’s still fighting with Halifax like an unruly marlin caught on his line, but he swings the Whirling Dervish into Nelson Bloodnight. The casino boss shifts his other hand into an enormous pillow, softening the blow.
Su-Young comes for Nick, which leaves him with no choice but to release Halifax and fly into the air to avoid her intangible grasp. You dust yourself off and rush back into the fray, ready to take the brunt of the action, but Su-Young comes for you first. She puts a hand through your chest, and you stop dead in your tracks when her fist clogs your respiratory tract. You can’t breathe! You choke, cough and sputter, but your body’s reflexes are no match for her supernatural grip.
All eyes are on you—their most formidable foe—so no one notices when Nick loosens Agent Droakam from his binds using the power of mind. Nor does anyone notice when Catherine regains consciousness.
“Now we’ll see who’s finished, bitch,” Catherine says, looking down the sight of her future-rifle.
Su-Young smiles, mercifully releases you, and heads toward Catherine. The super-genius fires her rifle and an energy field pours out around Su-Young. The henchwoman screams as the energy beam returns back into the rifle.
“My…my powers…nooooo!!!!” Su-Young cries.
Okay, that’s enough of that. With a single flick of your index finger, you tap the woman in the head and knock her unconscious.
“Is that—is that a power-sapping ray?” the Experi-mentor asks.
“In so many words. You’re not the only one who thought of re-engineering the experiment.”
“That’s not fair! Get her! GET HER!!!”
“Thorax, defense,” Catherine commands, reclaiming her tech-glove. She quickly taps on the controls while squeezing her hand into a fist. She then points her fingers into a “gun” and adds, “Stinger, offense.”
Nelson Bloodnight re-forms one of his arms into an enormous broadsword and brings it to slash at Catherine just as the Thorax bot expands into a deployable shield before her, deflecting the blow. Not missing a beat, you reach out and rip off Bloodnight’s arm at the shoulder—wielding the broadsword-arm for yourself.
Bloodnight screams, and blood gushes from the wound. Though the torn-off arm stays a sword, the rest of his body re-forms over and over again into horribly indescribably shapes as pain overtakes his conscious mind. The Stinger bot flies forward and opens fire with sizzling plasma bolts that end the casino boss for good.
Halifax zooms toward Catherine to steal her weaponry, but halfway across the room he finds he’s stopped in his tracks. Agent Droakam stands near an empty crate labeled First Earth Battalion and holds a canister of instant sticky foam that he just emptied to immobilize the speedy mobster.
&nbs
p; The Mercurials are defeated, the Freedom Fighters victorious! In unison, the four of you turn to the Experi-mentor. You fold your arms and say, “It’s over. You’re finish—”
“Muahahahahah!” the scientist interrupts, his head thrown back in a maniacal cackle.
“What’s so funny?” Agent Droakam demands.
“You fools…this isn’t even my final form. I gave myself all their powers!”
The Experi-mentor’s body shifts, so he grows taller and leaner, his limbs bifurcate several times to form enormous tentacles, and his skin morphs into armored scales.
It’s like he’s turned into Cthulu. Cthulu in a lab coat. In a deeply demonic voice, something like DIE!!! blasts through the warehouse from the beast’s maw. With super-speed-aided metamorphosis, the Experi-mentor lashes out with a gargantuan tentacle, wraps it around Catherine’s future-rifle, and claims the weapon. Then he begins to vanish from sight as he goes invisible.
This is bad. Very bad.
• Take that broadsword and lop off the beast’s head before he disappears!
• Bow before your new overlord and master.
• Quickly confer with Agent Droakam and see what other tricks he has up his crates.
• Turn to Catherine for help. Super-genius, don’t fail me now!
MAKE YOUR CHOICE
A Dynamic Duo
You wake up, head pounding. How much did you drink last night? Vague memories of trying on costumes and creating personas, but it’s pretty hazy. Seeing as how you wake up wearing a mix of Catherine’s clothes and your own, Danny’s bed sheets clothespinned over your back like a cape, you can be fairly certain you didn’t forget any strokes of genius.
“Mornin’, sunshine,” Catherine says. “Coffee? I only have one mug, but we can share. I seem to have eaten the other one….”
You sit up on the couch—looks that’s where you passed out last night—and accept the drink. Catherine flips on the TV and takes a seat next to you.
“Listen, about that kiss—”
“Seriously, don’t worry about it,” you interrupt. “Maybe now we can call our super-team ‘Friend Zone,’ huh?”
“Ha!” she calls out. “Okay, well, as long as….”
She trails off and her eyes grow wide, her attention focused on the television. The image on screen cuts from blonde eye-candy reporter Alison Argyle to the façade of Mercury Bank and a title card that reads, “ROBBERY IN PROGRESS—Hostages Taken.”
Catherine shoots to her feet. “Duty calls, Friend Zone!”
“…you’re not actually going to call me that, are you?”
“I’m suiting up as Diamond; I know you don’t have a name or costume yet, but I have an extra eye-mask. It’s a start, I guess.”
* * *
It turns out that Catherine isn’t only incredibly strong, she’s also incredibly fast. She’s like a force of nature. Any physical ability a human being possess, she possess that trait to the nth degree. So, she sprints toward the bank on foot with incredible strides while you fly through the sky.
And how fast can you fly? As fast as you can think, it seems. The only limit is how fast you’re willing to go. But you’re not indestructible, so best take it easy, okay? Wouldn’t want to pull a Fabio and hit a goose.
You arrive first, setting down in the open area at the bank’s entrance; the crowd behind the police barricade stares at you in shocked silence. Even the police give you blank stares. You did, after all, just appear from the sky.
“People of Mercury City!” you shout, commanding their full attention. “Welcome to the age of the Superhero!”
The crowd erupts in wild cheers. Okay, now what?
As if in answer, Catherine hurdles over one of the police barricades and rushes toward the bank’s entrance. The security doors are engaged, but to Diamond, the barrier proves more akin to the Homecoming banner held out for the star quarterback.
She smashes through the doors and heads inside.
• That’s your cue; follow the path of destruction inside.
• Maybe a more deft approach. Try a rooftop entrance.
MAKE YOUR CHOICE
Dystopia Rex
While you’re to be congratulated for your taste in movies, this bit of “knowledge” from Jurassic Park is a fabrication. Perhaps an amphibian-spliced dinosaur would have poor vision, but this apex predator probably had eagle eyes back in the Cretaceous. So a modern version living in a world where evolutionary pressures never led to her extinction? You might as well be cowering on a toilet seat in the rain.
The queen of the dinosaurs opens her maw and makes a quick meal of you. Were those feathers on her back?
THE END
Edge of Tomorrow
“And how did you know?” you say, a strange sense of déjà vu washing over you.
Reporter Alison Argyle flashes her winning smile. “You made it easy, ‘Professor.’ All your deliveries to this island were a big red flag. And when I saw the address as ‘Lebon Rd’—a palindrome for ‘Dr. Nobel,’ I put two and two together.”
“My programming indicates there is nothing sexier than an intelligent woman,” Baxter says.
You both blush.
After a beat, Catherine says, “This is adorable and all, but I have to make one thing clear, Agent Droakam. We won’t be working for the government, but with you.”
“Yeah,” Nick adds. “And we don’t answer to shareholders. You need us more than we need you. If any other supers show up—”
“That will not happen,” your robot companion interrupts.
Nick turns to you. “What’s Wall-E talking about?”
“I am Baxter.”
“What do you mean, Baxter?” you say.
“The scientist known as the Experi-mentor confronted us here, in an alternate timeline. He had made more of these supers, based on your cancer sample. One of whom was capable of time travel.”
“And what happened?” Catherine asks.
“I appealed to his humanity,” Baxter continues. “The man known as Dr. Timetravel took me to the moment the Experi-mentor found your blood sample and I contaminated it. I had to wait until this moment to be sure, but it appears I have foiled his plan. As you can see, there are no superpowered scientists waiting in the eaves.”
You look to the cavern, which is illuminated by newly-installed floodlights.
“What happened to the time traveler?” you ask.
“His end of the bargain fulfilled, he departed, back to the future, in the seconds before I contaminated your blood sample. Depending on which theory of time travel proves correct, he is either trapped in the future, having lost his power, or still free to roam the timeline. Either way, he said he will not bother us.”
“And the Experi-mentor?” Alison Argyle asks.
The robot shrugs. “I did not kill him, if that is what you are asking.”
“So we may not have seen the end of him,” Agent Droakam says. “Well, I accept your conditions. You’re the super team, I’m the Morgan Freeman. Ms. Argyle, will you stay on as our PR rep?”
Her eyes dart to you. “If you’ll have me.”
A warm feeling runs through you. With a sudden burst of inspiration, you extend your right hand. Baxter places a metal hand atop yours. Getting the idea, the others stack their hands until all six of you are in the circle.
“Superheroes on three?”
One.
Two.
THREE!
Click to Continue…
The Emperor’s New Plan
You stop at an all-you-can eat spot, appropriately named Asian Empire, and stuff your face.
“Are you a professional eater?” asks a young, wide-eyed girl.
“In another life, maybe,” you laugh through a mouthful of Lo Mein.
“Hey wait, you’re that robber from TV, right? You walked through a wall! Cooooool!!!! Can you do it again? Please, please, please?”
The kid points to a TV where the screen switches from footage of your robbery to b
londe eye-candy reporter Alison Argyle and a news-ticker that reads, “Police Baffled By Mysterious Crime.”
Looks like your reputation precedes you. Better split before you attract too much attention. It’s hard to eat when you’re being shot at. Taking the whole tray of egg rolls from the buffet line, you get up and walk out through the back wall.
“Awesome!” a small voice calls.
Okay, where to, Emperor? Is it better to take over earth as a Roman God or as a burgeoning Supervillain?
• Give that reporter an exclusive. Announce that the city is yours, then crush any resistance.
• Villainy from the bottom up—find the existing criminal organizations, and take over.
MAKE YOUR CHOICE
Empty-Handed
It’s fully dark by the time you fly back to the warehouse. The smoke from the nearby fire is now only a smolder and you can see about a dozen emergency vehicles outside the facility: fire engines fighting the blaze, patrol cars blocking the roads, and two ambulances waiting nearby.
When you land and walk back inside, Nick rushes forward to greet you.
You shake your head. “Catherine’s not interested in working with us. If anything, she’s happy to be rogue. I can’t be sure what her powers entail, but she’s incredibly strong and resistant to damage. She seems to distrust the government, and brags about working outside it.”
“Living an Ayn Rand fantasy,” he muses. “John Galt meets Superman. That’s unfortunate. Did you leave the phone with her?”
You nod. “Where’s Agent Droakam?”
“He left. I’m not sure if he went to complete this ‘mission’ he’s been so obsessed with, or if he’s just angry. He didn’t say.”
You nod again.
SUPERPOWERED: Are YOU a Superhero or Supervillain? (Click Your Poison Book 3) Page 12