Heroic

by H D Forth

  There it was a new hand. Technically just new skin, but still. Another force of will and the skin compressed into a slightly glossy white. It was definitely harder than normal skin. I could feel that just moving my hand, but it was so much stronger that it would stop a bullet, maybe a knife if I was lucky.

  “Thank you Kani.” I said softly, with a smile.

  Then I pulled my glove back on. Pulled my mask on and took the bolt cutters in one hand.

  I had a bad guy to put down.

  Chapter One Hundred Forty

  Getting to the villain's secret hideout was supposed to be harder than this. Or at least, so I thought.

  According to the three knocked out thugs lying behind me this was the place where Leric held his ‘court.' This place was the throne of his power.

  It wasn't much. A building somewhat more extensive than the average building, probably a warehouse of some sort. Though due to the construction of structures inside the towers, it was difficult to tell.

  It was surrounded by a fence, but that would be easily breached, especially in my lighter frame. The area was well lit, but I was betting that was all controlled by a computer somewhere. If it was controlled by a machine, then I could knock it out, even if I couldn't reach the computer itself.

  Finding this place had been disturbingly easy. I had basically just walked out of headquarters, weapons in hand. Headed straight for the Tenth street.

  Then I had stopped the first group of roaming thugs, asked them to show me where their headquarters were. They had been expectantly reluctant, and we had exchanged ‘contact’ information after which they were much more accommodating.

  I wasn't going to make the mistake of running in and getting the shit beaten out of me again, just because I was unprepared. I circled the building, making a note in my mind about how large it was and what I could see through the windows. It was night out, and I had no difficulty not being spotted, though I still occasionally checked around me to make sure that someone wasn't sneaking up on me.

  Spying on the building was incredibly easy, the first two floors all had most of their lights on, making seeing inside very easy.

  After doing two laps around the building, I had determined that there wasn't an already breached way inside. If I hadn't split the bolt cutter in two, I could have easily cut myself a path through. But, much like I had taken other everyday equipment and turned them into weapons, so had I done with the clubs.

  Now I just had to figure out a way to get through where I wouldn't make such a racket that everyone would know that I was coming.

  At one corner of the fenced off area, there was a container. If I looked in from an angle, I could barely get a glimpse of what was inside. It looked to be old mattresses, which if the place really was an old warehouse, did make a measure of sense.

  I tentatively threw a rock over the fence and into the container. I heard it bounce off the beds and into the side of the containers. The noise was loud and abrasive. I ducked back into the shadow cast by an adjacent building. Looking at the nearest window, I did see a man sticking his head out to see what the noise had been. He spent maybe five seconds peering about before shrugging, mumbling something and pulling back from the window.

  If I was going to throw my weapons before I climbed over, I needed to be careful, since they would likely make even more noise when they bounced. I judged the distance, calculated my throw. The clubs were larger and more unwieldy than the stone I had thrown. They would need extra power.

  I flung both in an overhead grip up into the air. I hadn't ever been the greatest athlete, as I think I’ve mentioned before. I hadn't taken in the thought of what so much rotation would do to the trajectory of my weapons.

  I stared, as the weapons flew past the container and landed on the hard floor behind it. I tensed as I hear them smash into the ground, but this time no one looked out of the nearby window.

  I waited for another half a minute, before skulking out of the shadows myself. I leapt as far up the fence as I could, before latching onto the chain link. The metal bit hard into my fingers, but it hardly hurt since it didn't damage my frame. Using my higher than average strength and lower than average weight, I was over the fence in a matter of seconds.

  I managed to control my fall enough to loudly crash into the container wall as I landed on the mattresses in the bottom.

  All the mattresses were clearly heavily used. They were covered in stains of all colors and variety. There was a dark reddish brown stain that I desperately hoped was blood on one of the mattresses I landed on. As I clumsily stepped out of the container, walking on cushions was harder than you’d think.

  Reassessing my situation, I quickly found my clubs. I had missed the wall by maybe half a meter, not much more. I swallowed heavily as I grabbed them and proceeded forwards. I had to find an open window since I was pretty sure that the door would be guarded.

  That was surprisingly easy. I crossed one corner and immediately saw one, on the second floor.

  I took a risk and threw first one of my clubs in through the window, somehow I managed without breaking anything. I waited for a moment. This was one of the few windows that had been dark, but you never knew. There were no sounds of objection.

  I ran at the wall, one hand still holding a club since I didn't trust myself to make that throw again. I hadn't done a lot of free-running or any such training, but I had the body of a powerful cleaning robot, I could do this. Pushing off with one foot, I tried to run up the wall as far as I could go.

  Since I hadn't tried something like this before, I hadn't exactly known what to expect, though I had once leapt from a standstill onto a wall, then onto our second-floor balcony, so maybe I should’ve sort of known what would happen.

  I missed when I tried to latch onto the window sill because I'd gotten too high. Instead, I sort of ran halfway through the open window, barely managed to catch myself before I crashed into the floor, face first.

  Slowly, I clambered into the building and onto my feet. More mattresses. These were significantly cleaner than the ones in the container. I bent down and picked up my club, before looking around.

  The entire floor of this room was covered in mattresses. I frowned as I peered around, but froze when I noticed the couple sleeping in the corner.

  It appeared to be a younger couple. As I peered closer adjusting my eyes, I saw that only one of them was sleeping. The guy in the little spoon—that’s the fucking the best—was dead asleep, but the woman holding him was staring at me with frightened eyes.

  It took me a moment to realize that she didn't see me. She saw someone who had just climbed through a second-floor window, wearing a mask and holding two weapons. I raised one of my hands, making sure not to hit myself in the face with my club and laid a finger over where my mouth would’ve been. Maybe the mask’s current configuration was too scary, because the woman clearly paled, before slowly nodding.

  I nodded back and padded out of the room, trying not to look the fool to my audience.

  I spend the next five minutes maneuvering the second floor, as it turned out to be a small maze of minor storage rooms, containing everything from cleaning paraphernalia, to mattresses, to chairs. Nothing, like guns though.

  Weapons were challenging to get your hands on, and it wasn't likely that a gang such as the Tenners would just let them lie about, so I was unlikely to find a free gun storage room. That didn't stop me from being disappointed though.

  Then I found the stairs and a guy that was going up them. He stopped his protest when he was faced with my clubs. He was even kind enough to lead me the way down to Leric.

  “You’re lucky,” He whispered. “He’s not always in, but you seem to have come at the right time.”

  I didn't reply, I just tapped the club I had laid over his shoulder. While he did seem afraid, he wasn't nearly as terrified as the ones that I had found outside. I guess this one was made of sterner stuff. Either that, or he had been there when Leric had beaten me last.


  “Through here.” The guy said. He was young, younger than me. Probably no more than 21 years old. He was clearly full with the arrogance of youth, and the power he had been given over others, as part of the Tenners.

  Time take him down a notch, I thought.

  I looked at the door he pointed towards, then nodded. I removed the club from his shoulder and the slight amount of tension he had been holding evaporated. A smug look grew on his face until it became unbearable to look at.

  “Hero ty-” He started to say, but I grabbed him around the throat. Kicked the door in and threw him as far into the room as I could.

  Threw might have been an overstatement. It was closer to a slide, though he definitely took a hit. Maybe closer to an underhanded throw with a low arc, than a slide then?

  Eh didn't really matter.

  “Leeeeriic!” I yelled loudly, stepping into what had obviously been the main warehouse room. “If your scared little ass isn’t going to run away this time, I’m here to finish what we started!”

  Chapter One Hundred Forty-One

  Getting to the villains secret hideout was supposed to be harder than this. Or at least so I thought.

  According to the three knocked out thugs lying behind me this was the place where Leric held his ‘court’. This place was the throne of his power.

  It wasn't much. A building somewhat wider than the normal buildings, probably a warehouse of some sort. Though due to the construction of buildings inside the towers, it was difficult to tell.

  It was surrounded by a fence, but that would be easily breached, especially in my lighter frame. The area was well lit, but I was betting that was all controlled by computer somewhere. If it was controlled by a computer then I could knock it out, even if I couldn't reach the computer itself.

  Finding this place had been disturbingly easy. I had basically just walked out of headquarters, weapons in hand. Headed straight for the Tenth street. Then I had stopped the first group of roaming thugs, asked them to show me where their headquarters were. They had been expectantly reluctant, and we had exchanged ‘contact’ information after which they were much more accommodating.

  I wasn't going to make the mistake of running in and getting the shit beaten out of me again, just because I was unprepared. I circled the building, making notation in my mind about how large it was and trying to see through the windows. It was night out and I had no difficulty not being spotted, though I still occasionally checked around me to make sure that someone wasn't sneaking up on me.

  Spying on the building was incredibly easy, the first two floors all had most of their lights on, making seeing inside very easy.

  After doing two laps around the building I had determined that there wasn't an already breached way inside. If I hadn’t split the bolt cutter in two, I could have easily cut myself a path through. But, much like I had taken other everyday equipment and turned them into weapon, so had I done with the clubs.

  Now I just had to figure out a way to get through where I wouldn't make such a racket that everyone would know that I was coming.

  At one corner of the fenced off area there was a container. If I looked in from an angle I could barely get a glimpse of what was inside. It looked to be old mattresses, which if the place really was an old warehouse, did make a measure of sense.

  I tentatively threw a rock over the fence and into the container. I heard it bounce off the beds and into the side of the containers. The noise was loud and abrasive. I ducked back into the shadow cast by an adjacent building. Looking at the nearest window, I did see a man sticking his head out to see what the noise had been. He spent maybe five seconds peering about before shrugging, mumbling something and pulling back from the window.

  If I was going to throw my weapons before I climbed over, I needed to be careful, since they would likely make even more noise when they bounced. I judged the distance, calculated my throw. The clubs were larger and more unwieldy than the stone I had thrown. They would need extra power.

  I flung both in an over head grip up into the air. I hadn't ever been the greatest athlete, as I think I’ve mentioned before. I hadn't taken in the thought of what so much rotation would do to the trajectory of my weapons.

  I stared as the weapons flew past the container and landed on the hard floor behind it. I tensed as I hear them smash into the ground, but this time no one looked out of the nearby window.

  I waited for another half a minute, before skulking out of the shadows myself. I leapt as far up the fence as I could, before latching onto the chain link. The metal bit hard into my fingers , but it hardly hurt since it didn't damage my frame. Using my greater than average strength and lower than average weight, I was over the fence in a matter of seconds.

  I managed to control my fall enough to loudly crash into the container wall as I landed on the mattresses in the bottom.

  All the mattresses were clearly heavily used. They were covered in stains of all colors and variety. There was a dark reddish brown stain that I desperately hoped was blood on one of the mattresses I landed on. As I clumsily stepped out of the container, walking on mattresses was harder than you’d think.

  Reassessing my situation, I quickly found my clubs. I had missed the wall by maybe half a meter, not much more. I swallowed heavily as I grabbed them and proceeded forwards. I had to find an open window, since I was pretty sure that the door would be guarded.

  That was surprisingly easy. I crossed one corner and immediately saw one, on the second floor.

  I took a risk and threw first one of my clubs in through the window, somehow I managed without breaking anything. I waited for a moment. This was one of the few windows that had been dark, but you never knew. There were no sounds of objection.

  I ran at the wall, one hand still holding a club, since I didn't trust myself to make that throw again. I hadn't done a lot of free-running or any such training, but I had the body of a powerful cleaning robot, I could do this. Pushing off with one foot, I tried to run up the wall as far as I could go.

  Since I hadn't tried something like this before, I hadn't exactly known what to expect, though I had once leapt from a stand still onto a wall, then onto our second floor balcony, so maybe I should’ve sort of known what would happen.

  I missed when I tried to latch onto the window sill, because I’d gotten too high. Instead I sort of ran halfway through the open window, barely managed to catch myself before I crashed in to the floor, face first.

  Slowly, I clambered into the building and onto my feet. More mattresses. Theses were significantly cleaner than the ones in the container. I bend down and picked up my club, before looking around.

  The entire floor of this room was covered in mattresses. I frowned as I peered around, but froze when I noticed the couple sleeping in the corner.

  It appeared to be a younger couple. As I peered closer adjusting my eyes, I saw that only one of them was sleeping. The guy in the little spoon—that’s the fucking the best—was dead asleep, but the woman holding him was staring at me with frightened eyes.

  It took me a moment to realize that she didn't see me. She saw someone who had just climbed through a second floor window, wearing a mask and holding two weapons. I raised one of my hands, making sure not to hit myself in the face with my weapon and laid a finger over where my mouth would’ve been. Maybe the mask’s current configuration was too scary, because the woman clearly paled, before slowly nodding.

  I nodded back and padded out of the room, trying not to look the fool to my audience.

  I spend the next five minutes maneuvering the second floor, as it turned out to be a small maze of minor storage rooms, containing everything from cleaning paraphernalia, to mattresses, to chairs. Nothing too incriminating though.

  Weapons were difficult to get your hands on and it wasn't likely that a gang such as the Tenners would just let them lie about, so I was unlikely to find a loose gun storage room. That didn't stop me from being disappointed though.

  Then I found the stairs, and
a guy that was going up them. He stopped his protest when he was faced with my clubs. He was even nice enough to lead me the way down to Leric.

  “You’re lucky,” He whispered. “He’s not always in, but you seem to have come at the right time.”

  I didn't reply, I just tapped the club I had laid over his shoulder. While he did seem afraid, he wasn't nearly as terrified as the ones that I had found outside. I guess this one was made of sterner stuff. Either that, or he had been there when Leric had beaten me last.

  “Through here.” The guy said. He was young, younger than me. Probably no more than 21 years old. He was clearly full with the arrogance of youth, and the power he had been given over others, as part of the Tenners.

  Time take him down a notch, I thought.

  I looked at the door he pointed towards, then nodded. I removed the club from his shoulder and the slight amount of tension he had been holding evaporated. A smug look grew on his face until it became unbearable to look at.