The City That Heroes Built

by Daniel Pierce

  “Where are Rebel and Cal now?” I asked.

  “They're somewhere north of here. The cops have cut all the cell towers in the area so the gangs can't coordinate.”

  “And no one can call for help, ambulance or police,” I said. I wasn't a big fan of the cops having the power to disrupt communications whenever they wanted.

  “Landlines still work,” Calliope said.

  “So what's next for us?”

  “Hang on,” Catchpenny said. She put out an OAF coin. Cal and Fiver joined us. She collected the coin. Her comms system was integrated so she could get radio or cell phones dialing straight in to her. Fiver had replaced his damaged uniform.

  “Slowburn is with Persephone,” Cal said. “She's keeping Suicide Prime's energy drained, but it's taking all she has to neutralize him.”

  “Oubliette?” Sunday asked.

  “Still there. They've got Los Alamos shutdown. No one is going to risk looting with those three around. Any word on Sentinel?”

  “No,” Sunday said.

  “Police aren't broadcasting a location,” Catchpenny said. “I've been listening.”

  “Are the US Agents doing anything?” Rebel asked.

  “I haven't heard anything,” Catchpenny said. “But I can only follow so much.” She paused. “Driveby shooting at Dominion and Orcutt. Mob of looters at Telephone Road Mall. Cops tried to respond, but they're seriously outnumbered. They called out their reserves, and they're already swamped.”

  “Supposed to be a National Guard call up after midnight,” Rebel said.

  “Why are they waiting?”

  “They don't want to pay for an extra day's pay for a thousand people,” Cal said. “They also need time to prepare, so they aren't sending them out without a plan.”

  “I'm going to head to Telephone Road,” Sunday said. “I'll bring a thunderstorm with me.”

  “I can go to Dominion and Orcutt and see if I can dissuade citizens from shooting each other,” I said.

  “Sounds good,” Cal said.

  I set off running. Once in motion, the armor pushed along pretty quickly. It took just about 10 minutes to run there. An ambulance and a cop car were stopped about three blocks north of the intersection. The cops were not happy to see me.

  “What's happening?” I asked.

  The cops said nothing, but the ambulance driver said, “We're waiting for more cops so we can go get a gunshot victim.” She gestured to the cops. “They won't go without more back up.”

  “Follow me,” I said. I jogged to the intersection. Someone took a shot at me. Back during the war, the military had really good luck being able to figure out where a gunshot came from by comparing the time it took the sound to get to multiple sensors. Ironsides had that system and plotted a position on my heads up display. I switched to night vision and found the shooter in an alley, right where the display said he was. I jumped. Ironsides' hydraulics pushed, taking me all the way to the shooter. I wanted to go blades, but didn't. I hit him with the Taser. He shook on his way to the ground. I let the weight of the armor crush his gun where he dropped it on the ground.

  I went back into the street and located the gunshot victim. The ambulance came over. A news van followed the ambulance, and set up on the corner filming the paramedics with me in the background of their shot.

  “Shit,” Catchpenny said over the radio. “I should have recorded the news tonight. That armor looks pretty damn badass.”

  “Damn right,” I said.

  “We're heading out to Guadalupe,” she said. “Injustice Unlimited is tearing shit up out there. There's a ninety percent chance that it's linked to LEGION. Can you meet us over there?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I'll head over now.”

  I switched to my thermals to scan the area for anyone lurking around, but the area seemed clear. I left the area as fast as I came in. I ran west to the 1. The whole trip was going to take me almost 20 minutes. I couldn't push any faster; my natural physical capabilities limited me to about 10 minutes of travel without a rest. I didn't have to put out that much effort to get the armor to respond, but it took more than I had to perform at a higher level. A helicopter followed behind me, but I couldn't tell if it was the news or the police.

  I looked north as I ran along the 1. Above Guadalupe, I could see another helicopter flying, and lightning tearing up the sky. That would be Sunday's work. She brought the lightning, trying to kill Threnody as LEGION flew across the sky. She'd come close. The bolt of lightning shut off Threnody's power and LEGION fell from the sky. Thirteen caught the Lady in Black. Threnody managed to regain her power in time to save herself and Jezebel. Dead Pierrot, the odd little mime guy, fell to his death, splattering on the street. Harbinger smashed through the roof of a building, and walked out the front door, unhurt, but pissed off.

  Rebel was waiting for him. Harbinger started swinging, but couldn't touch the hero. Rebel dodged back, striking occasionally, looking for a weak spot as he evaded Harbinger.

  Cal and Oubliette popped onto a rooftop near Threnody and Jezebel. Oubliette tried to kill Jezebel, but couldn't get her power to work past the force field that Threnody created. The villains went for the street as storm clouds rumbled above. Thirteen and the Lady in Black went below rooftop level as well, but landed on the other side of a building from Jezebel and Threnody, and further away from Harbinger and Rebel.

  Cal popped away, gathered the team and returned to Lady in Black and Thirteen with Oubliette, Sunday, Calliope, Persephone, and Catchpenny. Thirteen short-circuited Cal's power, however it is she does, and he teleported several blocks away and couldn't use his power to get back. He figured out about where he was and started running back to the fight.

  It took the arriving heroes a few seconds to orient themselves, which gave Thirteen time to shutdown Oubliette's power. Calliope and Catchpenny ran towards LEGION, while Persephone used her power to slowly drain Thirteen's life force. Then Screamingo arrived, smashing into Persephone with that awful noise and the full force of collusion.

  The undead supra's power could be heard from where I was miles away.

  Screamingo knocked out Persephone with his attack. Sunday beat him back with ice cold wind and flew up above the rooftops. Screamingo went after her, rocketing past into the sky. Once there, Sunday called the lightning. Screamingo was hit by arcing electricity. He went after Sunday, but she deftly sidestepped his attacks. After he screamed past, she reconnected with more lightning. Bolt after bolt hit Screamingo as he tried to circle around for another attack run until shocked and burning, he fell from the sky.

  On the ground, Calliope and Catchpenny went after Lady in Black while Thirteen floated above, keeping Oubliette in check. Lady in Black can fight. At least she fought well enough to keep Calliope and Catchpenny on their toes. Fists and feet, kung fu and Krav Maga, blades and brute force were used. Lady in Black's strikes were brutal, drawing blood whenever she struck a successful attack against Calliope. Catchpenny's armor protected her, but the hits staggered and slowed her each time she failed to dodge. The numerical advantage was the only thing keeping the fight close. The three women were fighting to a draw when Threnody and Jezebel came around the corner.

  Calliope was knocked out and shoved backwards. Catchpenny retreated to pull her out of harm's way. Sunday hurled a tornado down the street as she returned, hitting Thirteen and spinning her round and round while carrying her up and away. She would be released minutes later, somewhere in the upper troposphere. Whether it was the distance or the spinning, Thirteen lost her grip on Oubliette's power.

  “Jezebel,” said Oubliette on the radio, but loud enough for LEGION to hear. “Dead.”

  Jezebel disappeared.

  Threnody created her force field, protecting herself and Lady in Black. She collected Lady in Black in her force bubble and lifted off the street. Staying below rooftop level, they rapidly backed off down the street.

  Not far away, Harbinger was still trying to lay a hand on Rebel, while Rebel picked
his moment. It started by ducking under a punch and going for a leg sweep to get Harbinger off his feet. Once Harbinger was down, Rebel followed with a punch to the head that landed on an eye, then the throat. Harbinger couched and rolled away. He put weight on his arm to push himself to his feet, but Rebel kicked hard on Harbinger's elbow, enough to leave him hurting when he finally managed to stand. For the first time in the fight, he didn't advance. Rebel did, swinging for the head and neck. Harbinger took a couple of solid shots, then lunged forward. Rebel tried to dodge, but couldn't move fast enough. Harbinger put his shoulder down and smacked into him. Rebel bounced and skidded across the pavement, coming to a stop as he smashed into a parked car. Harbinger stepped over to finish him off.

  Rebel wasn't done yet. Broken and bleeding, he pushed himself up and out of the way. He bid his time, waited for his opening, and watched every possible future simultaneously, every place he could strike, and each result. He ignored all but one, picking out the version of the future where his lucky shot would slip past Harbinger's defenses and cripple him. His hand fast and strong, shot out, knuckles first and caught Harbinger in the throat, stunning him. Moving inside, Rebel hit again, the throat, the knees, a weak spot in the ribs. A kick to the knee put Harbinger on the ground. Rebel didn't let up until he knew the villain would never get up.

  Cal found Rebel standing over Harbinger's body with bloody fists.

  “You okay, man?” Cal asked. Rebel had the shakes.

  “Yeah, fine. Just adrenaline. I need to chill.”

  Cal offered him a packet of pills.

  “Not yet, not yet.” Rebel said. He sat down on the curb while Cal called everyone. Rebel tried calling for his medic, but the government had shut down the phones.

  Cal assessed Rebel's injuries. “I think you broke your leg, man,” Cal said.

  “Yeah, feels like it. Give me those pills.”

  “You need the hospital, dude.”

  “I've still got some fight left in me,” Rebel said. “Give me pills for the pain. I can rest tomorrow.”

  “Let me check on the status of the others,” Cal said. He called Catchpenny and teleported over to her. Oubliette, Catchpenny and Sunday were standing over Persephone and Calliope.

  Cal looked at Calliope. Jezebel had thrown her in to a coma. Persephone was rattled, but recovering. Cal extracted Calliope and Persephone to a hospital. He wanted to take Rebel as well, but couldn't get him to agree. He gave him pain pills instead

  Sunday went to look for the Lady in Black and Threnody. A quick search turned up nothing.

  “I want to get Ravelin to locate them,” she said. “But we've got to get her out here to lead us to them. I can fly back and get her.”

  “We need to consider guarding Calliope and Persephone,” Catchpenny said. “You'll be more welcome in a hospital than any of us.”

  “Okay, I'll go, but I want to keep Cal there, too,” Sunday said. “We might need to leave in a hurry.”

  “Cal is the only way we can get past Threnody's force field,” Oubliette said.

  “Defense first,” Sunday said. “We can fight another day.” That didn't sit well with Oubliette. Catchpenny told Sunday which hospital Cal defaulted to. Sunday went.

  Oubliette, Catchpenny and Rebel resumed the search for the Lady in Black and Threnody. They wouldn't find them in Guadalupe. I was already tracking them moving south along the 1. They stood out in the sky on my thermal imager. Was it coincidence that they landed on the ground near Black Road? Had to be by design. I left the road and I kept my distance, following them with my thermal imaging from the shadows. Ironsides is not stealthy, but the helicopter lost me when I left the road. I watched Lady in Black and Threnody's heat signature from about 200 yards away, through the walls of a building between us. They went into an office complex, moving directly. Three others were inside a large office and Lady in Black and Threnody joined them.

  I tried reaching the New Powers and Guardian Angels by radio. No one answered. I waivered between thinking they were all dead, that the government was jamming our radios, or they'd moved out of range. I figured that LEGION would be staying for at least long enough for me to raise reinforcements on the radio, and it wouldn't do me any good to follow them without everyone else around to do the fighting.

  I ran back down Black Road to the 1. The helicopter picked me up and hit me with a spotlight. I keyed my radio to make a call. Just as I did, I got hit. The impact was painful. It knocked me down the highway, the gyros trying to stabilize Ironsides while I rolled across the road. Eventually, I stopped spinning. My head, however, didn't. I was prone on the road, face down, trying to gather myself. I couldn't clear my head. I was lifted up and thrown back. Ironsides landed hard but absorbed the impact. My sensors acquired Windshear standing about 30 yards away. Impact was dusting herself off from where she had hit me. She got airborne again.

  “Windshear and Impact just jumped me,” I called out on the radio. “I'm at the 1 and Black Road.” At the same time, I activated the emergency beacon that would push my GPS position across to Catchpenny's system. The helicopter pulled further back to circle from a safe distance.

  Windshear tried to pick me up and shove me with the wind again, but missed, rattling a car that had screeched to a stop behind me. I unsheathed my blades, the springs slamming them out. They made a satisfying sound as they locked into place. Windshear paused. I started to walk towards her. She flew back. I tried to reach her with the net gun, but it fell woefully short. Then Impact hit me.

  She came straight down, crushing me into the road. The kinetic damage rolled out through the asphalt, putting a hole in the street. My sensors flashed and re-booted. The mechanics worked just fine. I retracted the blades to help balance myself as I stood up. Impact flew back out of the way. She stayed 20 yards away to my left. Windshear stayed a bit further back to my right.

  Cars on both sides of the road stopped and pulled to the side, or turned around completely. I watched a small accident while Impact and Windshear figured out how they were going to take another shot at me. Windshear knocked me about with the wind. I braced in Ironsides and resisted the effect. Impact tried a direct shot at me, dodging away when I swiped at her. We both missed. She tried again, but wasn't willing to risk getting in range of my blades.

  Windshear pushed herself, summoning all of the strength she could into a gust. It hit me, and shoved me off the freeway. I landed on my back on Black Road. Impact rattled me with a collision. She flew back, wobbling in the air, and floated a short distance away. Her stomach and chest began to seep with blood. I looked down at the blades of my right arm and the matching color dripping off them. Windshear flew down off the freeway. She looked ready to knock me about again, but stopped when Impact dropped to the ground.

  Windshear ran over to Impact. She was faced with the choice of attacking me or getting her partner help. I realized I needed to keep up the offensive or I'd be beaten and possibly killed. I advanced on her as ominously as I could, blades out and ready. I wanted to push Windshear towards flying away instead of attacking me. Instead, she did both.

  A very powerful gust of wind knocked me ass over teakettle. I flipped over backwards, and bounced off a brick building. The gyros stabilized Ironsides quickly, and I even managed to land mostly upright, leaning against the mostly broken brick wall. Windshear's next move was to scoop up Impact and fly away to the south.

  I watched them retreat, relieved.

  A movement in the shadows freaked me out. My thermal caught it a second later, the small signature of a robot gibbon called Monkey. It climbed all over Ironsides with a wrench and small welder and tapped on the helmet as it set about repairing my comms system. I don't know what was wrong, but I sat patiently as adjustments were made. Monkey suddenly panicked and jumped away. Genius that I am I stood still and wondered why it did that.

  I found out when I was lifted up and thrown into a parked car by Paragon. Ironsides crushed the tiny aluminum car. I was on my feet without any trouble. Blade
s still out, I faced the undead hero. He must have been Lady in Black's thrall since LEGION defeated Free Force. Behind him, Threnody flew above the street. I felt something pushing on my chest, and sidestepped. Paragon sprinted forward. I launched myself into the air at Threnody, the new hydraulics responding superbly to my muscle movements. She wasn't ready for that, barely managing to dodge my blades as I swiped at her. I landed well past her, cracking the sidewalk where I came down. By the time I turned around, Paragon was charging again. He moved much faster than me, but I had bought enough time to aim the net gun and hit him just as he took a swing at me. He toppled over, his punch scraping harmlessly on the armor. Tearing off the net was easy, but it took a second and I used that second to stab him. If my blades did any damage, I couldn't see it. Paragon took his time standing up, flexing and posing as he did, emphasizing his invulnerability. I tried to hit him again and missed, but he didn't. His punch caught me square in the chest, knocking me off my feet and into another car. Ironsides crushed this car, though not as completely as the last. Paragon didn't let me get up this time. He hit me again, then again, knocking me further into the body of the car, breaking the fuel tank as he did. He paused to pull something from his back and hurl it away. Then he continued wailing on me with his fist. He only slowed to try to rip off the external hydraulics. Physically, enough damage was getting through the armor to hurt, but I was spared any broken bones or direct damage by Ironsides' resilient armor. Pain started to seep into my head, like a migraine coming on quickly. My ears rang. I was dizzy and disoriented. The multiple impacts added up. I lost count after a dozen. The beating continued after that. When he finally stopped, I didn't understand why, assuming he granted me mercy or thought I was dead.

  I was granted a reprieve. Ironsides had taken a serious beating. My damage matrix was flashing red in 7 of my 10 vital components. Most of my sensors were down, the thermal knocked out after the 5th or 6th blow to the head, but I could see Paragon step away through the cracked armored lens of my armor.

  As I sat up, I saw Paragon engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the gorilla-robot from the junkyard. It might have been a fair fight for a few seconds, but Threnody altered the odds. Her invisible strength held the gorilla so Paragon could beat on it. The gorilla was strong enough to fight through the telekinesis, and wouldn't go down easily. It took Threnody's complete concentration to battle with it. She struggled to hold it when it twisted and pulled from her invisible telekinetic grip. Fighting against her left the gorilla-robot unable to defend against Paragon. Remarkably, the gorilla-robot withstood damages almost as well as Ironsides.