The City That Heroes Built

by Daniel Pierce

  Later. I'm hiding out.

  You want to see this.

  “Who is that?” Isabelle asked. “Sorry, I'm being nosy. I'm just curious in a not obsessive way.”

  “No worries. It's just Jen. She wants to show me something. I told her we could get to it later.”

  “I don't want to hold you up from doing anything.”

  “I'm just worried about putting you in danger. Not that I think either of us is in real danger, but US Agents knocking on the door, that sort of thing.”

  “I can stay behind, do some reading, take a bath.” Thoughts of her in the bath interrupted whatever I was thinking about. “You there?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Yeah, okay.”

  I texted Jen to say I would head over after I checked in to the hotel.

  She sent: Meet me at the Cold Storage.

  I don't know what that is.

  Where East Coast Steve showed us the thing.

  Okay. Cold storage. Because he was the Chill.

  I got Isabelle sorted out in a room and headed over to the storage unit. I took a cab over but walked the last two blocks. Jen was waiting in a trenchcoat at the unit. I could see the boots of her armor underneath.

  “You look like you're going to flash me,” I said.

  “You wish.”

  “Isn't it a little hot for a trenchcoat?”

  “Heard you had a visit from the feds, thought I'd be prepared,” she said. She brought out a set of keys.

  “Did you inherit this from Steve?”

  “Couldn't just give it up. Cal and I hit up his place to recover any notes, phones and cash that he had. Made sense to take the keys.” She quickly let me in and closed the door behind us. The complex was fairly empty, even in the middle of the day, but no sense in being seen. The Catchpenny armor was inside under a tarp. Everything else was covered in heavy tarps. Gray paint was splattered everywhere. She pulled the tarp off the armor dramatically, revealing the newly configured, and newly painted, Catchpenny armor. It looked totally different, more bad ass, and more violent.

  “You changed the hydraulics on the arms and legs,” I said. “Drill and chainsaw are gone, too.”

  “Too many moving parts. Blades replace them both, spring loaded, double swords in each arm. I couldn't keep the 40mm grenade launcher ammunitioned, obviously, so it's gone, but replaced with a teargas dispenser, good for about 6 to 7 feet. Flamethrower still works, and there is a stun gun in the left hand. No range, but way more powerful than a standard stun gun. I couldn't replicate the net gun, so it's springloaded now. You've got to be right next to someone to use it, but the net design is commercially available. It's used for capturing large animals in case of a zoo break. Is that a thing? Jail break at a zoo?”

  “Did you sort all of this out by yourself?”

  “No, I've got a guy.”

  “Little old man in a workshop?”

  “Supra-genius kid, actually.”

  “So are you going back to this?”

  “No, it's solid and it's heavily armored, but I like the Scarab armor. It's more fun to fight in, and I like the mobility of it.”

  “So what are you going to do with this?” I asked.

  “Thought I'd loan it to you,” she said.

  “Ha,” I said. “I couldn't use it even if you were serious.”

  “I'm serious. I re-worked it enough that it's mine now. It'll work at least until I die, I think. Unless I've totally solved supra-tech. I need to do the same with the Scarab armor. I think Thirteen could shut me down in the fight so I couldn't use the armor. It may or may not be a problem that we will both have if she gets to me.”

  “You mean if she can block your power, which would stop me from using this armor and you from using that armor?”

  “It's theoretically possible.”

  “I can't do this,” I said. “I don't know how to use it. I don't have training. I don't know how to aim the weapons.”

  “There's really nothing to it. Everything is limited to being within arm's reach. The big thing is it can take a beating. All you have to do is show up and we create a problem for the bad guys to solve. You've seen the footage of Apparition in action. She slowed people down, harassed them, blinded them. That's what we want you to do.”

  “I feel like you know I totally want to do this.”

  “Why wouldn't you?”

  “The risk of dying, pain and dismemberment.”

  “Everyone else is risking that, too.”

  “Not as much. Cal can teleport, Fiver sees the future.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “In Watership Down, Fiver the rabbit could see the future. That's why he took the name. Watch him in a fight. He evades almost everything. It's why he wins at cards.”

  “Why doesn't he know things like where LEGION is going to show up, or that Simon is going to die in the fight?” she asked.

  “I don't know. Maybe he does. Maybe it's limited.”

  “No one can see the future.”

  “I think he can,” I said. “Or something very close to it.”

  “Well, he thinks you should get your ass into a suit of armor and fight bad guys with us, so if he does see the future, you're part of it. You want to give it a shot?”

  “In here?”

  “Just the mechanics and movement. Early tomorrow, we'll get you out. Also, the suit is lighter than the last version. Cal's been practicing moving it. If he concentrates for long enough, he can move the suit. We're going to stage ourselves on Angel Island.” She smiled. She knew I wouldn't miss a chance to get back out there.

  I like supras. I'd risk my life to be in this battle, just to be there. I'm a sucker for peer pressure and it'd be awesome to try out the armor, so I would never say no, but I was legitimately afraid of dying. I don't think that most supras are. The ones that are fighting day in and day out for years are the most powerful ones. If you don't have the power, you don't put on the cape in the first place. If you do, you find a niche like the Kick or the Chill and hope you don't warrant the attention of a major villain. I would never be able to do this on my own, but with the Guardian Angels and the New Powers alongside me, this was going to be safer than waiting for Thirteen to come knocking on my door.

  I tried on the armor. It was amazing. It moved when I wanted it to. The arms and legs responded to what I wanted them to do, a little sluggish, and very awkward, but I got the hang of it, eventually. I played with it for an hour.

  “Okay, 4am, be here, we're going to head out to the island.”

  “Why so early?”

  “It'll be dark. No one will see us.” Of course.

  “You going to tell your girlfriend?” Jen asked.

  “Yeah,” I said. “I think so. I have to, don't I?”

  Jen shrugged. “I don't know. You and I kept our secrets.”

  “You kept your secret. I don't have any.”

  “Sure. Anyway, you have to figure out a name, before someone names you. Maybe she can help out with that. She's cool, right? Cal said he popped her in to the armory with you.”

  “Yeah, there were enough holes in my previous stories that she was pretty sure I had something going on. She's cool with it. I mean, she was before I had to put on a suit of armor and actually fight.”

  “It's a good set of armor. One of the best. It'll keep you alive.”

  “I'll let her know.”

  “Good. So we'll see you tomorrow?”

  “Four am.”

  “See you then.” Jen locked up behind us. We left in opposite directions. I went back to the hotel and found Isabelle in the bath. A couple of hours later, I told her about the armor.

  “So, your friends are supras, and now you're on the supra-team.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay. You going to tell me your supra-hero identity or am I just going to guess?”

  “I don't have a name yet. I just hope that no one thinks I'm Catchpenny. The armor is a modified version of the suit of armor that was stolen a wh
ile back.”

  “So what is your team called?”

  “It's the New Powers.”

  “Oh, cool, I've heard of them. Can I see the armor?”

  “I've got to go out and get it at 4 in the morning, then go to the scene of the fight, then hide the armor again. I'm not going to bring it here. It's really big.”

  “Wait, what fight?”

  “LEGION is going to stage a jail break at the Citadel tomorrow. We're going to stop them.”

  “Oh,” she said and she went quiet. She did some thinking, and we went to bed, and I think she was cool with it.

  August 13, 2021

  I was up at 3am, out the door at 330, and at the storage unit at 4. Jen and Cal were waiting.

  “I've got to lock up behind you guys,” Jen said.

  “Do I need to get in the armor?” I asked.

  “Doesn't matter,” Cal said. “It's the mass I've got to sort out. But maybe you might as well.”

  I got in. Cal started concentrating. We popped all the way to Angel Island. Cal dropped to the ground, exhausted.

  “Damn, that's heavy.”

  Ravelin and Calliope were on the edge of the deck. Ravelin pointed me to a gazebo covered with a tarp. I walked the armor in there and stepped out.

  “I didn't expect you to be around,” I said to Calliope.

  “They didn't want to team up without a liaison,” she said. “Figured I might as well make myself useful.” She nodded at the armor. “Nice of the team to get you sorted out with a suit of armor.”

  “Figured I might as well make myself useful,” I said.

  Cal teleported away and brought the rest of the New Powers: Catchpenny in her Scarab armor; Slowburn, in his costume; Rebel, in a new costume, still mostly red, but with a new mask, a black belt and web gear, kneepads, gloves and black Converse; Cal looking operator-as-fuck, like a cross between a superhero and Delta force, with two pistols strapped to his chest and a rifle that he carried.

  “Welcome to Angel Island,” Ravelin said. “I'm Ravelin. Everyone else is sleeping. You can have access to the patio, the lounge, kitchen, all of this.” She gestured. “Rest of the house and the island is off-limits. Not trying to be tough on everyone, but we can't take any risk with security. You leave this area, you'll probably die or have a long swim home. Cool?”

  We all nodded.

  I was really amped up. We went into the lounge and spread out on the couches. I think everyone was pretty excited, but Fiver and Slowburn didn't show it. Catchpenny took her armor off, Cal and Fiver took some of their gear off, and kicked off their shoes. They went to sleep first. Eventually, everyone else followed, and last of all, me, unable to sleep until the sun started coming up.

  When I finally woke up the sun was on the other side of the island. I had slept the latest. There were a couple of conversations going on around me. Sunday, being a founding member of the Guardian Angels, was the only one whose time overlapped with Calliope's stint on the team. The two of them seemed to be catching up, with Ravelin listening in.

  The New Powers were sitting in a loose circle with Persephone and Oubliette on the fringes listening in. Slowburn was telling a story. A burst of laughter from the group had woken me.

  Persephone was the Guardian Angel who only showed up during the summers. She looked in her late 20s, early thirties, not very fit, but mostly covered in a long, loose cloak of blue. She had the power to knock someone out, or somehow exhaust them. She wasn't wearing her mask or hood. She had plain, straight, blonde hair, and plain make up. She looked like a schoolteacher, or someone who drives a Volvo.

  Oubliette wore a tight bodysuit of silver with black fringe, black gloves and boots. She also had her mask off. Her black hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She was probably mid-20s, but I'm not very good with ages. I'd have guessed younger but she'd been with the Guardian Angels for about six years. Her power killed people. Instantly, without a trace of left behind. She'd been the bodyguard for the informant that Fiver had found and Whispership had gone to kill. I have to give him credit for setting up the assassin like that. I can't think of anyone more deadly than Oubliette.

  The only Guardian Angel missing was Sentinel. I looked around, but didn't see him. Slowburn noticed me scanning the room.

  “Food is over there.” He pointed. I was hungry. They had a nice spread, including Bloody Mary mix and gin, but only Fiver was drinking it. I grabbed a croissant and caught the last bit of Slowburn's story. No one introduced me or paid any real attention to me. A police scanner on the table squawked from time to time, but no one really paid attention to it.

  It was 2pm. The executions were scheduled for 6.

  “So, here's something that we should probably discuss,” Persephone said. “What do we do if an anti-capital punishment hero shows up? Full disclosure, I'm against capital punishment, but I'm not going to interfere with it. But what if someone does?”

  “Has that happened before?” Slowburn asked.

  “Who was the last person executed?” Oubliette asked.

  “Red Barber,” Sunday said. “One of them. Four are still on death row. Before that was Outsider in 2016, a couple months before Red Barber.”

  “So did any hero try to stop it?” Slowburn asked.

  “Not recently, but there were issues back in the day,” Persephone said. “I propose that if any known hero tries to interrupt, I'll knock them out, everyone else just avoid them.” Everyone agreed to that.

  I didn't think that anyone would oppose these two dying. Night Plague killed 27 children in their sleep. Madame Black destroyed a dozen families by seducing men and women, taking them for all their money, and then driving them to suicide. The state couldn't prove mind control, but they still pinned the first-degree murders on her. That was more than 20 years ago, and the people of California finally got through all of the opposition to get to today.

  “Same thing with anyone who becomes a threat because of mind control, or anything like that. Avoid them, and let me know,” Persephone said.

  The conversations continued. The weather was perfect, even as far offshore as we were, the air was warm, sun shining, and any clouds in the sky were avoiding us, thanks to Sunday. I listened to try to get glimpses of everyone's lives and stories. I'll get around to remembering them all and sharing them eventually. I loved soaking up the presence of supras.

  Fiver offered to make Bloody Marys. Everyone declined. I walked up to talk to him as he poured another for himself.

  “Are you getting drunk before potentially the biggest fight ever?” I asked.

  “I'm just having a taste.”

  “I like the charming lack of concern, but everyone's lives might depend on you.”

  “I doubt it,” Fiver said. “And I appreciate your concern, but you know I'm an alcoholic, right? If I don't drink, my brain doesn't function right because of the withdrawal pain. I need this to keep even.”

  “You think about quitting?”

  “Thought about it, tried it a couple of times, not worth it.”

  “I guess you would know,” I said.

  “That sounds like some sort of chick style accusations,” Fiver said. “Since we're not dating, you want to just come out and say it?”

  “I know about your power,” I said. “I figured it out.” I looked to make sure no one was overhearing us. “You can see the future.”

  “So?”

  “So! You know what is going to happen today, you know when people are going to die, you know everything.”

  “It's not like that,” he said.

  “What's it like?”

  He started walking to the deck edge and I went with him.

  “I can see my future, or maybe the future that happens right about here.” He put his arms out to indicate his immediate area. “And only about 2.3 seconds into the future.”

  “That seems a lot less cool than I thought. I mean, so you can dodge things.”

  “Yeah, I can dodge basically everything, unless it's too big to avoid.
I still only get 2.3 seconds to move. It's like you're watching a baseball game, but you're listening to the game on the radio at the same time and it's 2 seconds ahead.”

  “Oh, so when I first figured it out, I thought maybe that you'd seen an apocalyptic dystopian future or something and it traumatized you and that why you drink.”

  “I see all the futures, only 2 seconds at a time, and only mine, and that's why I drink. I appreciate the psychoanalysis, though.”

  “What's so bad about seeing the next 2 seconds of your life? That seems to be pretty benign. You can see the other person's hand when you're playing cards and you can dodge things.

  “I can see the next card when I'm playing blackjack, but poker is too slow. And I don't just see the future when I dodge things, I see the future when I don't dodge things. Every time I'm in combat I can see myself getting hit and dying. It sort of fucks with you, and yeah, I started drinking to stop from waking up in the middle of the night thinking I'm about to die.”

  “Shit,” I said. “That might be worse than I thought.”

  He shrugged, sipped his Bloody Mary. “Beats dying for real,” he said.

  “So, if you can only see 2 seconds into the future, why did you tell Cal you could beat Sentinel?”

  “I don't think I could beat him, but I think I could take him. In 2 seconds, I see all the futures, I see the future where he tries to hit me and the future when I dodge him. As long as it's possible for me to avoid being hit, I'll keep doing it.”

  “And you can't dodge Freezing Kate?”

  “She can freeze my blood with a thought. There's nothing to dodge.”

  “Oubliette?”

  “I can get out of the way of whatever she does.”

  “Doesn't she instantly kill you?”

  “I don't know. I don't think so.”

  “You haven't been killed by her in an alternate future?”

  “I've seen her, felt her use her power on me in the future, but when it happens, I don't know. I think I live through it.”

  “So if you're seeing the future, is it continuous? And how can you react to the present?”

  “Yeah, I see continuously. It's like watching a lot of channels playing the same thing. I can't really explain it. It's the same way your eyes work, and you can see something close and something far away at the same time. It's not really important,” Fiver said. “What is important is that you don't tell anyone.”