H.E.R.O. - Metamorphosis

by Kevin Rau

I was fortunate that I'd kept my new makeshift staff in the car with me. I called my foreman and let him know I couldn't make it back for the afternoon. He got pissed off at me. Ah well, I hope he doesn't push me to quit.

  I drove to the address Lance gave me, and parked a short distance away, and then snuck up to a nearby warehouse with my staff. A hard leap and I was on top of it. It took me a minute of jogging around it to spot Lance and Stephanie crouched on another warehouse. The warehouses weren't close enough to leap from one to another, so I hopped down, jogged to one side of their building and leapt up onto the rooftop, then ran over to them.

  Lance nodded to me as I arrived. Stephanie smiled at me.

  I wonder if just Lance and I should enter the warehouse. Stephanie skin isn't armored, and she has no physical attack skills. She looked up at my face, her eyes were narrowed and lips pursed. Shit, forgot about the mind thing. Sorry Steph.

  I said, “I don't want to exclude you. I just want you safe. If there are a group of mutants all fighting, I'm not sure the way you take out mutants will work. You have to be up close, and every time so far the mutant has been held down by somebody else. Plus, you seem to fall unconscious every time you do some kind of heavy mental work.”

  She sighed, “I know. I can project fear though. If I start that before going in, we might have an edge. You and Lance alone will be in a lot of danger if you have to face half a dozen mutants. On top of that, I hear people thinking from thirty or forty feet away. That includes behind doorways and walls.”

  “Good point. I'm used to sparring against several opponents, but these will all have claws, horns, blades and who knows what else. I brought my new staff. I’m hoping to use it to keep a bit of range during the fight so their claws can’t come into play.”

  Lance glanced at it, “You think a tamping bar will hold up to a fight?”

  I replied, “I hope it does for at least part of it. It's strong metal, and will help keep them away from me for a few hits at the least. That's the idea, anyway.”

  Stephanie placed a call to Agent Carson, letting him know where the location was at, and that we were about to strike. Lance sent a text to someone as she made the call.

  I stared at them both. “What the hell? Are you guys tweeting that we’re about to go into a fight or something? Put the phones down.”

  Stephanie put her hand up in the air, palm toward me, and then made another call. “Anne, this is Psystar. I don't know if your duty area includes the warehouses near the river, but if it would help your career out, why don't you come to warehouse 17 in the lot by Commons and Stone street. We're about to raid it to free kidnapped people, supers and whatnot.”

  I clearly heard Anne speaking on the other side of the phone. Enhanced hearing had its benefits. Anne replied, “Sure, I'll come. Shall I make a call in to H.Q.?”

  Stephanie answered, “Not yet, let's make sure the bad guys or people are here first. If you hear the fight start up, you can call it in. I know there are two cages with people being held, plus more with the new mutants, you might be able to help free the normals.”

  “Awesome, I'll be on my way in a few minutes.”

  “Oh, Anne? Bring a police shotgun or something heavy duty. These mutants heal fast, some are armored, and even those without armor just don't take the same damage from a pistol shot that a normal person does. Don't even bother with using a pistol.”

  “Will do. I’ve got solid slug ammo for my shotgun.”

  Stephanie said, “From the mutant's memories, the cages they were going to build should be on the north side of the warehouse. The center has the pit, and is mostly open. Crates are stacked up along the south side. The door they use is on the west side. I think we should use a different door.”

  Lance said, “Let's come in from the rooftop.”

  “There aren't any windows in the rooftop.”

  “Bah, every warehouse in comic books has a window on the rooftop. Oh, fine then, east side door.”

  Stephanie said, “I'll fly us down directly along the wall in case they have sentries, motion sensors or cameras around the building. Agent Carson is on his way, as is Officer Coyle. Hopefully she can help with the non-supers we free in there.”

  “Good thinking. I sent a message to Hellshock as well. I spoke with him earlier, he’ll help.”

  I rubbed my hands together. Yeah, this is going to rock. Our team assaulting an unknown warehouse filled with dangerous mutants, other heroes coming in to aid the fight, police showing up. It feels like a first person shooter video game.

  Stephanie said, “You guys need to be ready for a possible blast of fear. I'm going to try to use it on the mutants, but I don't know if I can avoid you. I'll fly to the far side of them, so hopefully the distance will help.”

  “No, you stay on this side. I'll leap at one or two of them, and Rael can rush past them as well to fight on the far side. I'd rather not have you fly past them; you'll get too much attention. If we bowl into the place and start attacking, they'll focus on us.”

  “Okay. Spartan, if you get a chance during the fight to just rip a bar or two off the cages with all the non-supers, please do so.”

  “Hah, you called me by my super name.”

  “I need to get used to doing it. Not that anyone has slipped so far....”

  “Yeah, sorry about that.”

  “Anne caught it too.”

  Lance looked at her sheepishly, “I noticed. Sorry.”

  I said, “Guys, come on, focus on the task at hand. We ready?” They both nodded.

  I continued, “Let's do this.”

  Chapter 39 – Mutant Warehouse

  Third Person Perspective