by Drew Hayes
The digital version of Titan began his final death animation again as Hexcellent’s blade-wielder took him down. Before Owen could object, she’d clicked on the rematch button and a new battle was beginning.
“I guess it’s reassuring, in a way, to know that she at least acts the same toward everyone,” Owen said.
“Yup, total ice queen. Don’t let it get you down. For what it’s worth, I’m really glad you joined our team. It’s kind of neat, having a legendary Hero with us. Instead of just being the dorky corpies, we get to see what it’s like around the cool kids. Plus, you know, you aren’t so terrible as a person either.”
Owen smiled, attacking with his character and being summarily driven back by Hexcellent’s superior skills. “I think you’re easily the coolest kids I’ve dealt with since getting back. But honestly, if you ever wanted to go Hero, you’ve easily got enough power to get into the program.”
“I appreciate it, but they don’t let people with my kind of criminal record in the HCP,” Hexcellent said. “Trust me, I tried every last one of them before I took this job.”
“Oh.” Owen had been wondering almost since he arrived why this powerful, courageous, tenacious young woman had opted for private response instead of trying to be a Hero. This made sense, though; having a criminal record was almost always an automatic rejection from the HCP. She would have needed someone to really take an interest in her to get offered a shot, and even then it still might not have happened. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to-”
“Relax, I know you meant it as a compliment,” Hexcellent assured him, killing his avatar for the sixth straight time and ending their third match. “When I was young I got caught up with the wrong crowd. A few years and a drug addiction later I finally hit rock bottom and decided to clean my life up, but it didn’t change what I’d done. There’s a price for fucking up that badly; my chances at an HCP career were a part of it.”
She held up her controller and glanced over to Owen. “Want to scamper off to bed, or are you itching for more of this sweet, sweet punishment?”
Owen regarded her for a moment, impressed by her maturity. Most people couldn’t own their demons like that. They had to push off what they’d done onto circumstances or others. She’d taken her responsibility without hesitation, and Owen found his respect for her growing yet again. It truly was a shame she’d taken a bad road; he thought the world would have benefited from Hexcellent the Hero.
“I’m down for a few more matches, but I’d like to switch characters first,” Owen said. “Between you and me, this Titan guy kind of sucks.”
54.
After the battle with Elemental Fury, things in Brewster grew quiet. It was a peace that left Owen on edge, the sort of thing he never really trusted. Even so, the sudden arrival of chaos only took him off guard because it came while he was unconscious.
When the alarm yanked Owen forcefully from sleep, he very nearly destroyed the floor in his attempts to get out of bed. For a split second his muddled brain forgot every change that it had undergone in the last two decades. Instead of being roused to help with a rescue or cleanup effort, Owen’s head was screaming that he was in his old base and that they were under attack.
He slammed his feet through the carpet and into the concrete so hard that the force left nearly perfect footprints. It was only when he reached for his mask, which should be resting on the bedside stand, and found nothing more than a desk lamp and a picture, that Owen finally pulled himself out of the fugue and realized where he was. Years of training was good most of the time, but on occasion it outlived its usefulness.
As he pulled on his costume and tried to think of a way to hide the cracked floor lest Greene charge him for it, Galvanize’s voice came over the intercom system. Owen nearly didn’t recognize it, however, as the young leader’s voice was filled with something he’d never heard there before. Galvanize, the calm rock of their chaotic team, was doing all he could to fight back panic.
“This is an all hands situation, repeat, all hands. Anyone not downstairs in five minutes will be left behind, but will be expected to find their own way to the scene as soon as possible. The I-287 overpass in North Brewster was severely damaged in a fight between a criminal Super and Heroes. Current estimates put at least two hundred cars stranded in deteriorating positions with civilians blocked in by debris. The fight caused damage in several other areas as well, so resources are stretched thin. We are needed, people. Now.”
Owen took a deep breath, then slapped the rest of his costume on so quickly that he nearly ripped it in half twice. That overpass stretched across a large area of residential housing, which meant they needed to evacuate the people under it just as much as the ones on top of it. Depending on who else was there, they might be able to help prop the thing up, but with thin resources, odds were they had to race the clock.
Tearing out of his room as fast as he could go, Owen dashed down the hall, through the living room, and just made it to the elevator as Bubble Bubble saw him coming and held the door. He sprinted through it, barely stopping before he slammed into the back wall, and heard the oddly inappropriate gentle ding as the elevator began lowering them to the basement.
“We’re the last ones,” Bubble Bubble informed him. Unlike Galvanize, she had not lost her seemingly infinite amount of quiet composure.
“How do you know?”
“Hexcellent was up playing video games; I saw her paused screen when I left the living room. Galvanize would have gotten the word before any of us and therefore been prepping to go. As for Zone, he prides himself on his speed and reflexes. Losing to either of us would be a point of wounded honor for him.”
Owen nodded, watching as the red digital numbers ticked away, marking their descent. It struck him as curious that as much as Hexcellent seemed to think Bubble Bubble wasn’t interested in team, the red-haired young woman appeared to have a keen eye for details and a strong grasp of her teammates’ habits. At any other time, it would have been something he dug deeper on, but as the elevator slowed, all he could think of was the situation demanding their aid. It wouldn’t be until much later that Owen realized this marked the first occasion when he looked at the problem as a PEERS first and a Hero second.
Perhaps that was why it wasn’t until he’d leapt into the SUV and slammed his door shut that he finally remembered to touch his right ear and get a full assessment of the situation. Before he had the chance, however, Galvanize began to fill them in.
“There was an attempted murder roughly twenty-five minutes ago, over in North Brewster.” Galvanize’s foot didn’t leave the pedal as he spoke. The siren’s muffled roar could be heard overhead. “Some gang’s strongman was sent to take out a rival gang’s leader. We don’t know if the first gang was dumb, or just working off bad information, but their guy never stood a chance. The target was a fellow Super, an energy manipulator whose energy had highly corrosive properties.”
Owen winced inwardly. Energy manipulators were bad enough; those with talent could create all manner of constructs or obstacles to utilize. Some of the really gifted ones could even coat themselves in their energy, like a suit of armor. If the energy itself destroyed most matter it came into contact with that upped the destructive potential considerably. Just from knowing those two facts, Owen would estimate that sort of opponent to be a Demolition Class, minimum.
“The fight drew the right kind of attention, and a team of Heroes stepped in,” Galvanize continued. “I don’t know the details, but they were able to bring him down. Unfortunately, he doled out a lot of damage on his way to getting killed. Right now, every emergency service that can is scrambling to get the people to safety.”
“What about the Heroes who stopped this guy?” Zone asked. “Aren’t they helping?”
“The ones who can are currently containing and evacuating a section of the city he managed to partially cave in to the sewers,” Galvanize snapped. He paused for a moment, and Owen watched him carefully. The rise and fall of his chest betray
ed the deep breaths he was taking, no doubt in an attempt to keep an even keel. “Some are getting healed; they’ll jump in wherever they can. We don’t have time to play jurisdiction jockeying right now. Once we get there, it’s going to be a madhouse. Follow my orders as best you can, but put protecting the civilians first above all else. Everyone clear?”
The vehicle’s passengers all nodded, too well-trained to try and talk over one another while their leader was giving direction. Galvanize appreciated them all the more for it. He pulled up to the boundaries of a massive traffic jam, the sun’s early morning rays glinting off the metal tops of seemingly countless stopped cars. They were going to need every bit of that discipline to pull of the sort of miracle they needed to.
“Good, then this is where we get out. Everyone, please do your best. Lives depend on it.”
55.
Titan had seen worse.
He’d come upon battlegrounds after Armageddon Class Supers were taken down. He’d seen entire streets run thick with blood and bodies, the latter often wearing masks that he recognized. He’d seen what happened when Heroes were too slow, when civilians were piled like kindling after a maniac’s rampage. He’d seen truly horrible things in his time as a Hero, the sort that woke him in a cold sweat some nights, desperately groping for someone nearby to remind him that it was going to be okay. As he surveyed the scene before him, he did so with a sense of perspective, and concluded that the situation was bad, but not horrible. Of course, all of that perspective just lit a fire in his gut, driving him to make sure this morning didn’t turn into another one that would live on for decades in his nightmares.
The overpass was badly damaged; part of it had been sheared off completely and several of the support columns were broken. Since it was a flyover that stretched across a residential area, bits of the debris had already come down and crushed several houses. Titan dearly hoped they’d been evacuated first, then immediately put it out of his mind. It was key to focus on the people he could still help, not dwell on the ones already lost. That was how he’d keep himself moving if things took a turn for the terrible.
A massive jam of cars stretched before him, most of which were already emptied. The impromptu parking lot stretched up to the section of the overpass where at least a dozen vehicles had been flipped and scattered, creating an unintentional barricade for all the civilians still stuck on the elevated concrete. Some of the cars had caught fire, which meant he had to worry about the slim, but still real, chance of a gas tank exploding on top of everything else. It was bad, but not hopeless.
“Hexcellent, I want Huggles on that overpass. Reports show some people trapped in their cars; get them out now. When that’s done, help clear the debris. Zone, you and Bubble Bubble start evacuating people from the broken end of the bridge. She can only take so many at a time, which means you have to keep the order between trips. Titan, I want that wall of cars cleared out, at least enough to make a path that I can lead people through. Be careful, but be quick. B.B. might have to chip in on helping keep the overpass up, which will make your exit point the only one we can use. I’m going to help Hexcellent and Huggles get people out of cars and try to organize them as best I can. This is a fluid situation, so be ready to change in a moment if needed.”
Galvanize didn’t waste any more time with words; instead he took off at a dead sprint through the sea of empty cars that led up to the barricade, the others hot on his heels.
Titan was with them, moving carefully to avoid knocking one of the vehicles aside and causing a domino effect. By this point, he was used to the precise way that Galvanize deployed his team, but he was still impressed by it. In his Hero days, he’d have never imagined a team purely devoted to rescue would require such careful coordination; several weeks actually doing the job had shown him how essential it was. More than once it had made the difference in saving someone’s life, which meant it was a skill damned sure worth having.
They all reached the barricade at roughly the same time, though Zone started moving over it first. He leapt up the pile of shattered concrete and twisted auto parts, only needing a single sphere from Bubble Bubble to finish his climb. Hexcellent and Galvanize waited as Bubble Bubble produced an orb that engulfed them and soon began its slow, but steady, trek over to the other side. Her ability wasn’t quick, though it was certainly useful.
For his part, Titan wasted no time once his team was clear. Surveying the warped barricade with an experienced eye, he looked for the spot that could most easily be turned into an opening. He’d have to be choosey, since he had very limited space to accommodate whatever he moved. Add that to the slope of stopped cars descending behind him and it would be all too easy to start a steel avalanche. That meant either just shifting the vehicles or having to try and stack them, both of which had their cons.
With a slam of his shoulder, Titan grabbed the nearest car by its axle and pulled it forward, moving slowly so as not to send the rest of the debris tumbling uncontrolled in all directions. It was akin to playing a very high stakes game of Jenga, and as he felt several other cars shudder, Titan would have traded two tons of lifting power for the ability to disintegrate matter. Thankfully, the barricade held, and he squeezed the first car into an open spot near two sports cars. It was a start, but there was still a lot to clear away before he could escort anyone without super-human endurance through it.
“Titan, this is Dispatch.” He heard the voice in his ear as he hefted up a slab of concrete and dropped it unceremoniously on the first car, smashing out the one remaining window but otherwise doing little to the already-battered automobile.
“Dispatch is heard, Titan responding.”
“Titan, you are currently showing in the recently damaged North Brewster area on a rescue operation, and your PEERS team shows as present too. Is that accurate?”
“Sure is,” Titan said. He tried to ignore the growing knot of worry in his stomach. If she was checking everyone’s position, not just Heroes, then it meant something bad.
“That zone has been reclassified from contained to active,” Dispatch said. He wondered how she could stay so calm, even in moments like these. Maybe that was her ability, wherever she was. “The gangs involved in the initial dispute have begun fighting in the streets. Based on information at hand, we have at least four confirmed Supers, with many more suspected. PEERS teams are permitted to remain and continue evacuating civilians at the discretion of their Hero Liaisons, but all active Heroes in the area are to focus on containing the brawl before more destruction occurs.”
Titan let out a long breath as he lowered the car clutched in his hands. Supers fighting in an area already on the brink of destruction meant lives were hanging in the balance. He released the car and looked around, trying to spot where the fight might be going down.
“Give me coordinates, Dispatch. And what’s the containment protocol on this one?”
“With so many civilians already in danger nearby, the DVA has ordered that Damage Class evaluation protocol be temporarily suspended. First priority is neutralization before any more innocent lives are lost. The lives of aggressors are considered low-priority.”
“Understood,” Titan said, and he did understand. In a perfect world, the Heroes could stop people without having to resort to lethal force, but some Supers just wouldn’t go down unless it was in a permanent fashion. It was messy, and hard, and ugly; but it was better than letting innocent people pay the price instead.
Titan listened to the coordinates Dispatch rattled off in his head, then he began to run.
56.
“Team, I need everyone’s positions. Now.” Titan tapped his left earpiece as he ran, wedging it back into place. Unlike his Hero one, this radio hadn’t been tweaked and updated by every tech-genius to have to worn one in the last several decades, and as such it didn’t quite sit nestled in his ear with the same ease.
“Little busy.” Zone’s voice sounded like a forced whisper, as though he under tremendous physical strain.
“As Hero Liaison I am informing you that we have a hostile situation with multiple rogue Supers, and I need to assess if your position is safe or not. Now sound off, and hurry up with it.” Were there more time, Titan might have bothered with diplomacy, but time wasn’t extending him such luxuries. He had skulls to crack, and it would be a lot easier to fight if he knew his people were clear.
“Holy shit,” Hexcellent muttered in his ear. “Um, yeah, Galvanize and I are on the overpass; right now he’s pulling people free while Huggles cuts off the back of their car. We’re about halfway between the barricade and the part that’s just open air where B.B. is evacuating people.”
“Confirmed,” Galvanize grunted, clearly occupied with his rescue effort.
“I’m lowering my second batch of people to the ground now,” Bubble Bubble chimed in. “Once we land, I’m sending them west, where police and ambulances are waiting on standby.”
“That’s all fine, the disturbance is to the northeast, and I plan to make sure it stays out there,” Titan told them. “But you should be ready to move if-”
“Hang on, you said it’s to the northeast?” Bubble Bubble asked. “Northeast of where the collapsed portion of the overpass is?”
“Affirmative.”
“That’s not good. We had a kid in the first batch of rescues get confused and run off in that direction. Zone went to retrieve her, and he hasn’t come back yet.”
Titan realized he hadn’t heard anything from Zone since he’d made what Titan had taken to be a snide comment. When he replayed the words in his head, he wondered if perhaps there had been furtiveness in Zone’s whisper, as if their missing teammate were trying to speak without calling attention to himself. Then he remembered that Zone, like all the other PEERS, wore a damn costume, which an angry criminal wouldn’t realize wasn’t on an actual Hero.