Miss Marathon

by Joseph Bradshire

  Her pleasant nature echoed that of his Maggie. Even on her bad days of guilt following the take down of the Torvin, where she spaced hundreds of aliens in an instant, she was still a bright shining star. His bright star.

  Speaking of Maggie, she was going to be pissed they were taking off without her. With the Patton now in enough control of herself to fly solo, Maggie’s piloting of the ship was no longer necessary.

  Good. It’ll keep her out of the way. Safe.

  Cannon filed that away under notions never to be uttered aloud around Maggie. Belittling Maggie’s role in the slightest would put him in the doghouse, and sleeping with Maggie was a real joy. Best not to mess that up.

  At some point though the situation was going to come to a head. Officially signed on as a consultant to the Patton Special Response Team (PatSRT), she wasn’t real military. She was a contractor. Like a volunteer. Hopefully that arrangement would last.

  But it probably wouldn’t, eventually a situation was going to come up where she would be ordered to do something she didn’t like. Do what you’re told or else. The new special registration and conscription act guaranteed it.

  Everyone with supernatural powers or alien tech was required to register them, so they could be used by the newly formed Earth Defense League as needed. It was basically a blanket conscription act for all supers.

  Maggie’s status as a celebrity, and hero, insulated her somewhat but at some point that would fade and she’d start getting ordered around by the government. Or some mucky muck would try to draft her into the regular forces.

  A militarized Miss Marathon? Not sure how that’ll work.

  “Coming over the target now sir,” said the Patton. “Jaunt Troopers are ready to drop.”

  “Cordel, this is Captain Cannon, drop away. Keep me informed, I’ll gear up and wait in reserve.”

  “Aye Captain. Dropping in 5, 4, 3...” The Jaunt Troopers dropped from the newly installed bay in the belly of the USS Patton. Cannon watched them on his screens. At one point, prior to turning to diamond, he’d have chewed his nails. He paced around the bridge instead.

  * * *

  Sergeant Cordel and his 9 Troopers descended in a circle pattern. The standard dispersal pattern since the success in the Battle of Brazil. It had become something of a trademark, iconic. The ring of death.

  Captain Cannon was in Cordel’s earpiece, “Coming up on target now, Patton has confirmed the location. It’s airborne, moving toward the bay at around 30 mph. Should be marked on your HUD.”

  Cordel confirmed, checking his heads up display. All troopers were following in formation in good order. Perfect.

  They’d jumped from beyond cloud cover so as to surprise the target, this demon man thing. It had not altered course. It looked like surprise was still on their side.

  There’d been scattered reports of super humans, strange occurrences, but very few confirmed. The PatSRT was about to confirm this one in a major and public way.

  Cordel said to his troopers, “10 seconds. Remember, we are to detain only. This guy could be the next Miss Marathon. Who knows? So let’s keep it calm.”

  They needed more supers. So far Cannon, Maggie and even Specimen had been a godsend. They’d helped humanity through its first few contacts with hostile aliens. There was no telling what else was out there in the universe. What weird alien was going to show up next. Whatever it was, having friendly super humans was their best defense.

  “Fire retro and hover on my mark...mark!”

  10 Jaunt Troopers in their modified Torvin space armor checked their fall and hovered in unison. Their quarry was directly in the center of their circle.

  It was big. Too damn big to be human, with huge bat wings, horns, claws and turned back knees. Goat hooves. Red as a tomato.

  Yep. A demon all right. Maybe even the devil himself.

  Cordel clicked on his loud speaker, “Sir or Madam, we are here to detain you under the Special Registration and Conscription Act. You will not be harmed, we just have questions.”

  The figure stopped and hovered a moment, flapping its great wings. It spun in place, slowly, looking at all the troopers surrounding it. It seemed calm enough. Perhaps this was going to go well. Then the creature started to spin faster.

  It opened its jaw and a long cone of flame shot out to engulf several hovering troopers. Their armor was fire proof, but Cordel didn’t know about magic fire or whatever this was. At minimum it would confuse coms and sensors for a moment.

  “Scatter!” Cordel yelled.

  The other troopers immediately went to evasive, not retreating so much as changing their elevation and engaging in seemingly random zig zag motions.

  In the smoke and confusion the demon made for the deck, bringing in its wings and diving at high speed.

  Cordel and his troopers pursued.

  * * *

  “Looks like things are heating up, time to send in the big dog?” The Patton vibrated to Cannon.

  “You got it Patty,” Cannon said from the side door. “Jumping now.”

  With that Cannon leapt out of the Patton, nosed down, and goosed his jet pack to full. Unlike the Jaunt Troopers, Cannon carried no heavy armor or weapons. He also didn’t have to worry about heat dissipation and life support. He was lighter, faster and stronger than any power suit worn by man. All of this meant he flew better, more agile and much faster. He was on location in seconds.

  As he entered visual range he could see Cordel being hopelessly out flown. The demon dodged around buildings while Cordel gave chase. No other troopers were in sight.

  “Cordel, status?”

  “Getting toyed with Captain. The troopers are regrouping, creating a capture perimeter but I’m not sure it will work. This guy can really move.”

  Cordel was out of breath, laboring, the demon looked fresh and fast as ever.

  “Okay then. I’m engaging.”

  Captain Cannon, Hero of the Battle of Brazil and the Korvecki/Torvin Incident, a man hardened by combat experience and a diamondized anatomy, executed a textbook schoolyard tackle from behind.

  He hit the large red creature with more speed than he had planned, but with the strength of a dozen men he was able to hold onto the creature’s torso instead of careening off.

  The thing battered at him with claws, talons, fists, fangs, goat hooves and even its spiked tail. Cannon was impervious to it all. He held on tight and waited for his opening.

  The creature spit fire, trying to engulf them both. But again, impervious, Cannon held on.

  Finally, Cannon was able to get a grip on one of the beast’s wings. Pinning it.

  With one wing pinned there was only one direction for them to go. Cannon did his best to slow the fall with his jets. He was moderately successful. They hit the ground hard.

  Chapter Three

  Maggie, doing her best not to smash herself into the side of a building, was running at dangerous speeds toward the fight downtown.

  “Patty I’m going to go airborne, how is the capture beam coming?”

  “It should work fine Maggie, but I’ve never grabbed something going this fast. I do have a lock on your position, but...”

  The USS Patton was always a little nervous when Maggie’s safety was at stake, but Maggie had the utmost faith in Patty’s ability.

  Maggie planted her right foot on the bumper of a truck and launched herself to the roof of the nearest building. It was a 3 story building, maybe a 35 foot jump. No big deal. She sprinted across the roof and launched herself with all her might.

  The USS Patton scooped her out of the air with her capture beam, a null gravity emitter that allowed the Patton to reach out a few hundred yards to catch and hold small objects. It worked perfectly.

  Maggie flew through the air in an invisible force field, people stopped their cars to watch in awe. Soon false reports that she could fly would be all over the media sphere from Bay City to Shanghai.

  “Show me what Cannon’s up to, Patty.”

  Maggi
e’s head filled immediately with images of the scene from The Patton’s perspective. Cannon was locked in a struggle with some sort of hell beast. The Jaunt Troopers created a wide perimeter and stayed back.

  Leave it to Cannon. The big hero. He has a whole team of armored super troopers and a flying battle sub and he still finds a way to make it a one on one test of manhood.

  * * *

  Cannon tried to grapple with the beast but it kicked free. The kick sent Cannon sailing across the street and into a parked car. The car was totaled. This demon was strong, but Cannon was stronger.

  He tore the door off the car and flung it at the beast. With one great flap of its wings, it elevated and dodged the door. Cannon thought it was about to take to the air again when it landed, expanded its chest, inhaling, then spit a stream of fire in Cannon’s direction.

  The flame hit Cannon squarely in the chest. He didn’t bother dodging. Parts of his uniform might burn away but he would not. The problem was his jet pack, the fuel lines had cracked when he smashed into the car. The leaked fuel caught on fire. Soon Cannon and his immediate surroundings were engulfed in burning jet fuel.

  The demon laughed in triumph. It sounded like maybe it was trying to speak, but all Cannon could make out was a deep gurgle.

  You celebrate too soon, whatever you are.

  Cannon took off his pack and dropped it to the ground. He walked out of the flames with his skin glowing red hot. The beast shot another line of fire at him. Cannon’s skin glowed even brighter.

  As soon as Cannon cleared the flames from his eyes and had a clear shot he raised his arms away from his body and expanded his chest, launching a blast of concussive force from his body. He’d been practicing. He was able to direct his blasts now, sort of. At least he didn’t blast everything in the area. His blast went straight toward the demon, more or less.

  The blast blew the demon, a lamppost and two parking meters into the side of the nearest building. The beast fell to the ground, stunned or unconscious.

  Cannon barely had time to gloat before he felt a tap on his shoulder and everything went black.

  * * *

  Maggie wasn’t at the scene yet but she could see everything through Patty’s view. A young man had floated in behind Cannon and touched him on the shoulder. Cannon had collapsed.

  “Patty get me there at max speed. It’s time this was over.”

  Rushing to save Cannon, as always.

  He was a tough guy, toughest in the world, but he’d gone down after only one touch from this new comer. Maggie was scared but she didn’t have time to dwell.

  Patty’s beam dropped her, gently, right between Cannon and the new man.

  Up close he seemed fuzzy, out of focus. Something was swirling around him, it lifted him off the ground several feet. He floated away from Maggie a few paces.

  “Okay, enough. What did you do to Cannon?”

  The fuzzy man floated to the ground, “No worries, Miss Marathon. I just put him to sleep. He’ll be up and around in about 20 minutes or so, maybe sooner. It’s hard to tell. I’ve never drained someone so powerful.”

  “Drained? Sounds bad. I swear if you hurt him I have a flying submarine and a squad of guys in armored death machines who will wreck you.” Maggie wasn’t used to being threatening, she hoped it sounded scary. ‘Death machines’ sounded scary to her.

  The man raised his hand in a gesture like he was making an oath, like he was swearing on the bible, “I promise you Miss Marathon, he is fine. I would not hurt you or any of your friends. Or anyone else for that matter. I just needed to calm things down. Things were getting violent.”

  “Well I guess that’s true,” Maggie said. “Who are you anyway?”

  “I am called Wraith.” The new man floated a few paces to where the demon thing was laying. He laid hands upon the demon like one would see a spiritual healer do in a movie. The demon immediately awoke, but was no longer a demon.

  The huge red beast was now an average looking teenage boy, he’d shifted in front of Maggie’s eyes. One moment a beast, and then shrunk down to a teenager.

  The boy looked up at the old man and said, “Grandpa I’m so sorry, I’m not in trouble am I? They started it. I swear.”

  Grandpa? What? Maggie barely had time to process when the fuzz surrounding the man, Wraith, moved away and coalesced into a young girl. The man stayed the same, but the fuzzy mist surrounding him moved and turned into a person. Another transformation, from mist to a 13-year-old girl.

  The girl gushed, clasping her hands together and doing a little dance.

  “Miss Marathon I’m like your biggest fan. I love the yellow suit. It’s so awesome. And don’t worry about my brother. That’s just Damon. He’s an idiot. My name is Misty.”

  Fire truck sirens were beginning to blare in the distance, the place would be swamped by emergency personnel soon. Maggie needed to process. She’d just met 3 new super humans, basically doubling the number of known supers in less than a minute.

  Maggie addressed the group, “Well it looks like we have a lot to talk about, how about we all get aboard the Patton and let the fire crews do their work.”

  “Oh can we grandpa please please please?” The young lady, Misty, asked.

  “Alright, yes. As long as Miss Marathon promises we aren’t under arrest. No troopers.” The young man, Wraith, who Misty referred to as grandpa, waited for Maggie’s response.

  “Of course. No troopers. But let’s bring Cannon, I don’t want to leave him sleeping in the street.”

  Grandpa Wraith, who couldn’t be more than 20, nodded and Misty squealed like any normal preteen getting what she wanted.

  More super humans. Kids this time. Great. The world just got even more interesting.

  With a thought Maggie summoned the USS Patton. Patty swooped in low and picked up Maggie, Cannon and the rest with her capture beam.

  Maggie commed Sergeant Cordel, “Sergeant this is Maggie. I’m taking the Patton for a spin, you guys will have to find your own way back to base. I do apologize.”

  “Acknowledged, Miss Marathon, the Patton has advised us of your situation. Don’t be afraid to call us in for backup, good luck.”

  * * *

  Cannon awoke from his haze with a hangover, something he hadn’t felt since turning into diamond. He’d hoped to never feel it again. But here he was, groaning and moaning like he’d been on a bender.

  “What in the Sam Hell happened?” He looked around the bay at Maggie and at three people he’d never met. Some young guy and a couple of kids.

  “Who are these people? Where are the Jaunt Troopers? Where’s that demon thing?”

  Maggie smiled at him, Cannon knew it would be okay when Maggie smiled. That’s how his world worked. Maggie smiles. It’s all okay. Simple.

  Maggie spoke, “Well, these are some new super humans. Friends, I think. The Troopers are flying back to base on their own and this young man here is, or was, that ‘demon thing.’”

  Cannon was unconvinced.

  This kid? Can’t be.

  “Sorry Maggie but the thing I fought could eat this runt and still have room for pie.”

  The 16-year-old Damon began to grow and turn red. He was nearly double in size when Wraith put a hand on the boy’s chest. Damon immediately withered away, back down to his normal size.

  “Grandpa, why do you do that, I was just going to show him...”

  “No transforming indoors, you know that.” Wraith then turned to the group, “Sorry, Damon is a bit impulsive. We’re working on it.” Wraith glared back at Damon, Damon pretended not to notice.

  Cannon was still lying on the deck, he sat up. “Okay, so, the kid turns into a big flying beast, and you can shut him off? It’s probably you that shut me off, gave me this hangover, right?”

  Wraith nodded, “Sorry about that, here let me help you. I can drain people, but I am also working on reversing it, healing people. I think I can manage a headache.”

  Wraith walked over and put a hand on Can
non’s forehead, he felt better instantly. “Wow. That’s a nice power to have. Instant aspirin.” Cannon looked over at the young girl, “And how about you. What’s your name and power?”

  Shy, the girl said almost inaudibly, “Misty.” Then she disappeared into a puff of smoke. A moment later she reformed on the other side of the room.

  “Let me guess, Damon, Misty and Wraith aren’t your real names? Fine. My real concern is just what the hell this guy was doing flying around downtown.” Cannon pointed to Damon.

  Maggie butted in, “Oh come on Cannon. He’s a 16 year old kid out for a joy ride, everything was fine until a bunch of battle armored troopers showed up.”

  Cannon considered this. “Yeah, makes sense. As much sense as anything nowadays anyway. Good to know kids are still stupid.” Cannon turned his gaze, hard, to Damon.

  Damon was shrinking into a corner, like he knew punishment or a lecture was coming, Cannon let him off the hook, “Just give us a call next time you want to do that, okay, the good people of Bay City were freaked out.”

  Damon straightened up, “Sure thing Cannon, Sir. Captain.”

  Cannon looked at Wraith, “So you are the boss here huh? You’re what, an uncle? Brother?”

  “Grandfather, their legal guardian. Don’t let my looks fool you, I’m nearly retired. Draining makes me young.”

  Cannon just nodded. Of course. Fountain of youth powers, a whole family of supers. Why not? He’d seen enough weird he’d be ready to believe in flying pigs.

  Now to business, “Maggie, are we still pretending I’m in charge here? I’m sure you and grandpa have a plan for what to do next.”

  * * *

  Yes, Maggie did have a plan. Cannon wasn’t going to like it.

  “The plan is simple. We are going to drop them off at home.”

  Cannon nearly exploded, and for a man who can fire blast waves out of his chest nearly exploding is a literal thing. “No Maggie, we have to get their names and addresses and everything, pictures, finger prints, register them for special conscription. It’s our job.”