Forging Hephaestus

by Drew Hayes

  “She’s got two of the capes paying attention solely to her, and even if they cuff the suit, she can still slip away,” Thuggernaut pointed out. “It’s a pretty good plan for the spur of the moment. Hopefully the other three can find their own way to withdraw. I am proud of them for not trying to do anything stupid like—”

  That was when the roar echoed through the room’s speakers, drawing all attention to a previously boring part of the screen and simultaneously leaving Thuggernaut a few shades paler. He opened and closed his mouth several times, but no words came out. Ivan patted the large man gently on the shoulder.

  “On the plus side,” Ivan said, his voice surprisingly gentle, “at least no one can claim our apprentices are cowards.”

  Thuggernaut had no reply; he merely watched the screen in mute shock as chaos unfolded before him.

  Chapter 68

  The bug thing was weird. Maybe a guy who pulled items out of video games didn’t have a lot of room to judge, but it didn’t stop Cyber Geek from getting the willies as he gunned down wave after wave of the things. True, he could have easily cut through them if he’d switched the blaster’s mode to something more deadly; however, that came with the very real possibility of also carving up the meta creating them. Robbing a museum was kind of a dick move, sure, but it didn’t seem like the sort of thing someone should get killed for. Especially when they weren’t even using the bugs to attack, but rather as a makeshift, albeit creepy, shield.

  For a moment, he’d considered switching targets to try helping Medley and Cold Shoulder, though one look at the fracas that was their fight told him he wasn’t nearly a good enough shot to hit the dude in the metal suit without potentially clipping his friends. Instead, he focused on keeping the other metas pinned down. It freed up his team to handle the more aggressive threat without unnecessarily elevating the situation. He had plenty of stunning blasts to send out, and the bug-wall was getting thinner and thinner the longer they had their standoff.

  Really, the only thing bothering Cyber Geek was that he didn’t have a good count of how many metas they were fighting. Metal-suit was one and bug-person was another. He thought he’d seen something white and scaly in the gaps between bugs, but it had vanished and at this range, he didn’t completely trust his eyes. There were at least two people pinned behind the insects, maybe three, and it was that maybe that worried him. This was a big outing; the last thing they wanted to do was let one of the criminals slip away because he couldn’t count.

  Cyber Geek was so focused on trying to peek through the bug curtain as he shot it apart that he never noticed the creature approaching him until a pair of strong claws closed around his shoulders. In his defense, though, how was he supposed to know he needed to keep an eye on the sky? That mistake was made quickly apparent as the powerful beating of wings filled his ears, followed by a triumphant roar as a massive creature plucked him skyward.

  Panic overwhelmed him, the sight of the shrinking ground triggering the primal part of his brain that knew it was not a creature meant for the heavens. Below him, Medley and Cold Shoulder both looked toward the roar, jaws hanging open as they got a good look at whatever flying thing had him gripped in its claws. Cyber Geek struggled to reorient himself, perhaps even angle his gun upward to take a shot at the creature, but holding the blaster in both arms for stability meant the grip pinning his arms and shoulders also locked the aim in place. As much strength as the armor added, it was clearly no match for the monster holding him. With every passing second, the ground drew further away.

  He heard something, a scream like a wounded beast. He tried to check on Medley, but he was no longer facing the parking lot, and the Blaster Brahs helmet left a lot to be desired in terms of maneuverability.

  “Can you survive a fall in that tin can?” If being snatched from the ground had shocked Cyber Geek, hearing the creature that had done it speak to him left him completely flummoxed. He didn’t even know if he could respond, let alone what his response would be, until the monster shook him from side to side, snapping him out of his bewilderment.

  “Are you trying to scare me? Because I won’t give up that easy.” It was the first thing that came to mind, the sort of indomitable dialogue he’d always imagined the greats like Lodestar would deliver in dire situations.

  The creature snorted, an altogether terrifying noise, and then let out something that sounded almost like laughter. “I’m not threatening you. I’m doing the opposite. I can’t fly around with you all night, but I also don’t want to get caught. I need to get out of here, and I’d prefer not to kill you in the process.”

  “But you’re a criminal,” Cyber Geek protested. Between the height and the strangeness of what was happening, he could hardly be blamed for getting more confused by the second.

  “I robbed a museum. That’s a far cry from murder. Just because I’m willing to break one law doesn’t mean I’ll ignore them all. Now, are you able to survive the fall or not? You’re heavier than you look.”

  Cyber Geek swallowed hard and looked down at the ground, trying to gauge how high up they were. He’d leveled up the suit a good bit since his last fight, but there were still limits to what it could absorb. Even in the game, falling from too high cost a life, and he didn’t have any extra to spare, a thought that opened up a whole new path of questions he might need to explore. But that would come later; for now, he needed to survive the next five minutes.

  “Not like... any fall. But if you get within a hundred feet or so, I should be fine.” In truth, he’d be more than fine from that height. If he were quick enough, he might even be able to turn on his thrusters and get off one last shot at the monster. With his thumb, he clicked a small dial on the back of the blaster, choosing a new mode. Killing would be wrong, especially when the criminal was going out of its way to spare his life, but a potent electrical blast might stun it long enough to capture.

  The wings stopped beating, and Cyber Geek realized they were dropping rapidly. He’d never been part of a dive from a firsthand view, but that seemed like a good guess as to what was happening. The ground, nowhere near the museum anymore, was racing up at him so quickly that his stomach felt like it was rising into his throat.

  “Get braced, I’m dropping on three,” the monster warned him.

  “But we’re still so high!” There was no way they were at hundred feet yet, at least gauging from the treetops surrounding them.

  “Trust me, I’ve calculated this out. Okay, one—”

  And just like that, the claws released him, sending Cyber Geek tumbling unprepared through the air. He cursed himself for believing the count—obviously the creature knew he might counterattack and had wanted to catch him unprepared. Spinning through the air, he marshaled his senses and strove to focus. There, soaring away from him at a rapid pace, was the sole speck of white amid a dark sky.

  Cyber Geek raised his gun and took careful aim. It wasn’t going to be quite that easy. He wouldn’t let it be.

  * * *

  Hephaestus didn’t hesitate. As soon as she realized what Bahamut had done and how fucking balls-out insane as it was, she seized the opportunity. While she hadn’t quite gotten her meta-suit airborne, she had planned on the eventual possibility, and that included building in a vent and thruster system. Leaning as far forward as she could, Hephaestus flipped her thrusters on, sending focused jets of flame out from the openings on her back. They had almost no range, but the drawback to holding someone in an arm lock was that it meant standing very, very close to them. So close, in fact, that the flames from her thrusters caught Medley’s fur, which was, thankfully, not fireproof.

  The creature let out a howl of pain as it began to roast, and Hephaestus’s left arm was suddenly free once more. She leapt to the side, getting out of Cold Shoulder’s direct aim before the woman with ice powers could figure out what was going on. Between Cyber Geek being spirited into the sky and Medley suddenly turning into a fireworks display, it was no wonder Cold Shoulder needed a moment to fig
ure out what was happening.

  That moment was all Hephaestus needed as she unloaded the last of her paralyzing darts into Cold Shoulder’s torso. Powerful as she was, if caught without her ice-shields, she was just as vulnerable as anyone else. With little more than a flutter of her eyelashes, Cold Shoulder began to fall headfirst toward the concrete. Moving solely on reflex, Hephaestus darted forward, catching Cold Shoulder before her head could strike and setting her body the rest of the way down. It was a small gesture that cost her little more than a few seconds of her time.

  Unfortunately, those seconds turned out to be pretty crucial.

  “That hurt.” Medley’s voice, always something of a growl, had the hint of animalistic danger in it that he worked so hard to keep at bay. He was staring at her, smoke still trailing from the edges of his singed fur. The ground was sooty and stained where he’d rolled the fire out, like someone had launched a half-dozen bottle rockets on its surface.

  One down, one to go. Sadly, this was the tougher of the two, and Hephaestus was beginning to run dry on tricks. She racked her brain to think of a plan, but Medley already had one. The words had no sooner left his mouth than he attacked.

  And this time, Cold Shoulder wasn’t around to slow him down.

  * * *

  Pest Control and Glyph didn’t need any encouragement to move as they watched Bahamut soar down from the sky and pluck up Cyber Geek like a children’s toy. With only a single glance between them—one meant more to convey a general sense of “Holy shit!” than the need to make sure the other was running—they took off in a dead sprint for the abandoned ice cream shack. As they moved, each kept waiting for the sound of being caught, either in a yell from Medley or a shot from the ice-wielding meta whose name they’d been too far away to hear.

  The yell did come, though it was more of a scream. One look told them that it had nothing to do with them being spotted. Medley was lit up like a fireworks stand with poor fire safety rules, and Hephaestus was already advancing on her other foe. With all three capes’ attention well-managed, the escaping duo finished their run, bolting into the shack and shutting the door. Glyph yanked out his remote with the lone button that Tunnel Vision had provided and jammed his thumb down on it so hard that, for a moment, the plastic got wedged into the device.

  “Nothing’s happening,” Pest Control whispered, peering carefully through the shack’s window just in time to watch Hephaestus fire a barrage of darts at the cape in blue and white.

  “They said there would be a delay.” Though Glyph tried to remain calm, it was all he could do not to vomit as he counted the seconds in his head. If he reached ten and the doorway through space hadn’t opened, he had no idea what they would do. Mercifully, just as he hit nine, the back wall of the shack vanished. Sanctum could be seen only steps away. All he had to do was move. But this time, he did hesitate, for just a moment.

  “Is Hephaestus okay?” Glyph asked. They did need the whole team to make it, after all.

  “Okay? She’s got Medley rolling on the ground in pain and just knocked that other gal clean out.” Pest Control left the window, slapped Glyph on the shoulder, and stepped through the portal. “She’s doing a damn sight better than okay. Let’s just hope Bahamut managed to get away clean as well.”

  Relieved, for purely tactical reasons of course, Glyph followed Pest Control into Sanctum. He turned around to look back in the shack, waiting for Hephaestus to appear and follow them, but suddenly all he was looking at was a smooth metal wall.

  “We do not leave open windows,” the male half of Tunnel Vision explained. “The others may call when they are secure.”

  “Well, Hephaestus should be here in a few seconds,” Pest Control told them.

  After the first minute of waiting, Glyph’s stomach began to tighten in fear. By the tenth, it was all he could do to keep from vomiting. Something had gone wrong, and now they didn’t even have the option of helping out.

  Their futures were completely in the hands of Hephaestus and Bahamut.

  * * *

  In Cyber Geek’s visor, the white creature (was it a freaking dragon?) lit up as his targeting system locked. Despite spinning through the air and tumbling toward the ground, he’d lined up his shot; now that the gun was locked, there was no way he’d miss. He steadied his aim and began to gently squeeze on the blaster’s heavy trigger.

  Unfortunately, the downside to focusing solely on his target was that Cyber Geek had ignored his other surroundings. The folly in that strategy became abundantly clear as he smashed back-first into a tree, depleting a healthy amount of his shields and killing his momentum entirely. He began to fall straight down, clipping heavy branches along the way. Some of them might have borne his weight if he were just Donald, but the Master Brah’s armor added at least a hundred or so pounds, and all that mass turned the branches to toothpicks as he careened through them.

  At long last, he found something sturdy enough to stop his descent: the ground. Impact drained his shields further, but they were still more than functional. If only the armor had something to protect him from dizziness, there would have been no evidence of the fall he’d endured. As he slowly pulled himself to his feet and searched the sky, Cyber Geek realized that might have been the point.

  The dragon had thrown him into a tree, not just because it meant he wouldn’t be able to attack as it flew away, but because the branches would slow him down enough to make sure he wasn’t killed in the fall. It was tactically sound and also oddly considerate. Cyber Geek jogged over to the nearest clearing and scanned the stars, searching for a winged white monster flying below them. There was nothing, which said a lot given how far the helmet let him see. Presumably the creature had gone to ground as soon as it was out of sight; that, or it could move a lot faster than it had with him in tow.

  Cyber Geek lowered his head and began to search the area. He had a sneaking suspicion that no amount of looking would turn up his quarry, but he still felt compelled to try. Just... not that hard. This wasn’t like the monster in the club or the robbers in the office. These villains seemed to be going out of their way not to hurt anyone.

  Somehow, hunting one of them just didn’t conjure that same fire for justice the other occasions had.

  Chapter 69

  Medley was a monster, and not just because he had fur, scales, and a tail. No, he was a monster in the way he attacked: brutal, ruthless efficiency as he struck Hephaestus’s suit over and over again with those powerful claws. The damn things were sharp as a chef’s prized knife, and all the strength in his inhuman muscles meant he could use them to punch through nearly any material. With one swipe, he’d torn through the shielding on the upper half of her left arm, exposing wires and circuits that were never meant to see the light of day.

  On top of his natural advantage, it certainly didn’t help that Medley had clearly been in a lot more fights than Hephaestus. She considered herself tough and knew how to hold her own, but he was on a whole other level. Idly, Hephaestus wondered what sort of person he’d been before his transformation. Someone who liked to scrap, that much was obvious. Either that or his power had come with a whole slew of well-honed instincts and reflexes.

  When the onslaught first began, Hephaestus was sure the jig was up. He’d carve through her meta-suit like a plasma beam through, well, damn near anything, and she’d be forced to flee in fire-form. While she was mentally prepared for that if it was needed, she considered it a last-ditch effort for a worst case scenario. Aside from all the time and effort she’d poured into her suit, there was also the fact that no one outside the guild currently knew what the real powers of Hephaestus were. The longer she could keep that genie in the bottle, the longer she might be able to hold on to the secret identity of Tori Rivas.

  To her surprise, after Medley drew electronic blood in the form of sparks and wires, his attacks softened. Not by a lot, but by enough. Hephaestus was confused until it clicked: Medley didn’t know there was a woman composed largely of sentient fire ins
ide the suit. He thought he was fighting a frail, easily killable human inside high-tech armor, and cutting too deep would run the risk of murdering his prey. And that wouldn’t be very hero-like, after all.

  With no other choice, Hephaestus seized his hesitation, counterattacking for all she was worth, throwing hard punches that she knew would be blocked just to keep him slightly off-balance. To her great surprise, it worked. The more they fought, metal on scales in a rough jumble of limbs, the less coordinated Medley seemed to get. She rolled away from a swipe of his tail, finally putting a little distance between them, and noticed that he seemed to be swaying, ever so gently, on his feet.

  “You’re better than I expected.” As Medley talked, the muscles in his thick neck flexed. Hephaestus noticed the twinkling of metal under the parking lot’s giant lights. Of course! The drugs were finally kicking in, and the more he strained, the faster they pumped through his system.

  “I work out,” Hephaestus replied in her robotic, disguised voice. Yeah, she really needed to see if Ivan had a book on banter or something.

  “Got a name to go with all that metal?” Medley was circling her carefully, waiting for an opportunity to pounce. He also seemed to be getting steadier, which did not bode well for her. Were the drugs only working when he exerted himself?

  “Hephaestus will work.” She tried to sound cavalier about it, but the truth was, deep down, she felt a bit of a thrill at telling someone her villain code name for the first time.

  Medley blinked in surprise, tilting his feline head slightly to the side. “Isn’t there already a cape with that name?”

  “It’s Greek mythology; you can’t own public domain.” That had come out a bit more defensive than she expected, and a long, sharp-toothed smile spread across Medley’s face.