Riverside City Chronicles | Book 1 | Riverside City [Capes & Cowls]

by VanDerHeyden, Paul C.

  Jolly shakes out his right arm with a flourish, his weapon forming into a pair of short swords, crackling with emerald lightning. He tosses the second sword toward his left hand before twirling them in clockwise circles. He shrugs off his duster, an audible bang can be heard as 150 lbs of leather and metal hits the ground.

  Ebony gasps and then laughs, “You’re going to try and fight me without your armor? You’ll be dead within a minute. I’m going to enjoy killing another of that bastard’s descendants, each one just makes me stronger!”

  “True that is armor, but it’s also a limiter; I go a bit wild without it. It’s been a long time since I went all out, hopefully you can entertain me for a while at least,” Jolly laughs, his face displaying a joy that shines all the way through to his eyes.

  “Only my friends and those I deem worthy get to call me Yin. You’re neither, I’ll show you why you’re not worthy.” Jolly surges toward Ebony like a streak of silver and green lightning, his twin swords cutting in toward their throat and ankle at once.

  Ebony goes to block the slash toward their throat with a pair of crossed arms, only to find that the throat strike was naught but a feint, the ankle blow impacts their armor and the green lightning discharges across their whole body.

  Jolly notices that his lightning doesn’t seem to be doing anything, “Ah, your armor is completely grounded now that you’re on the ground. I guess it’s time for me to change tactics.”

  Jolly flexes his neck and shivers, his blades lose their emerald lightning and take on a wispy green air instead. In an instant, Jolly strikes Ebony a dozen times, most directed toward the head, though a few toward their legs to keep them off balance.

  “I usually use the lightning to limit the damage I do to my opponents, but seeing as it’s not working on you, I guess I have to let you have everything. I hope you survive, I still have questions for you to answer.”

  Jolly keeps increasing the pace of his slashes and thrusts, dinging Ebony’s armor, but not doing any real damage. At this point the air around him is surrounded by blades and darts of wind coming from his swords, they attack independently of him, catching Ebony off guard badly enough that with a backhand strike, Jolly knocks them to the ground.

  With a flash, Jolly appears standing over their mask, swords poised at their throat. “I’ll give you one chance to give up peacefully. If you choose poorly…”

  ___

  Meanwhile, Jin is approaching Titan at a breakneck pace.

  If I strike him in the head or spine at this speed, I’ll kill him. Where can I hit him moving this fast and not do too much damage? I can’t think of anywhere, I’ll have to slow down and hit him in the breadbasket, that should put him down.

  Titan looks ready to shoot an ampule, this one set up with flights attached, toward Jolly. Jin can hear him chuckling to himself, “This will teach you to mess with the Midtown Terrors.” His broken right hand is propping up his left hand as he aims the contraption on his good arm.

  Can’t let that happen, I hope I slowed down enough…

  That’s the thought running through Jin’s head as he slows down a bit, his HUD showing him at 250 MPH still, he rams his fist straight into Titan’s gut with a sickening crunch and a pop. Titan can’t even scream in pain as he flies through the air into a palm tree, and through the palm tree.

  “JEN, is he still alive?” Jin asks in a panic.

  I don’t want to kill unless absolutely necessary… this guy isn’t worth being my first kill…

  Where did that thought come from?

  Jin shakes his head to clear out the cobwebs.

  I’ll have to talk to Jolly about that, I’m not comfortable with that line of thought.

  “Titan: currently on the brink of cardiac arrest, though his powers have stabilized him. He is no longer a threat,” JEN’s voice soothes Jin’s nerves.

  “Excellent, I’ll let Jolly finish off this Ebony person and then talk to him. I’ve got the best seat in the house for a real-life Jolly fight, and he’s not using his gadgets, those are his actual weapons. Somehow I can feel it.”

  “Jolly trains three hours a day with those blades, or ones like them, though he hasn’t used them in the field in over five years,” JEN supplies.

  I wonder why?

  ___

  Ebony lies on their back, their voice crackling more than before the fight. “I’d rather die than tell you anything lizard boy. Initiate Icarus Protocol!”

  Jolly jumps back as Ebony’s suit starts to glow a bright red, a scream coming from inside the suit indicates that this is not just a color shift, but a dramatic change in temperature. The scream cuts short as the suit’s wings pull in suddenly, forming the suit into a large bullet shape. The flat part of the bullet near Ebony’s feet starts to glow brightly with flames as the suit shoots off through the underbrush toward the ocean.

  Jolly starts to give chase before remembering he is there to back up Jin, and he hasn’t seen him in quite a while. He looks around and finds Jin slapping each of the escaped Supers with power dampening cuffs. He puts a set on Krakatoa’s and Titan’s hands and feet, unlike the normal escapees, those just get the wrist cuffs.

  Jolly walks over to Jin and claps him on the back, “Congrats on the second Awakening, enjoy the training Jin. I can’t wait until my next Awakening to ask my mentor questions again.”

  I guess I’ll be seeing Ebony again. I wonder how long it’ll be this time? A year, 2? Somehow I feel like it might be sooner. This kid attracts trouble, at least it’s interesting.

  “I could ask for you, you know that right?” Jin replies as he finishes cataloging the escapees with JEN.

  “All escapees are accounted for, plus two captured Cowls, congratulations on reaching Class 2 Jinlong,” JEN says cheerily. “The agents from the prison are heading over to gather up the escapees. The Cape on duty, Shade, is collecting Titan and Krakatoa with her shadow portals as we speak. She was waiting in the shadows as backup for you and Jolly, should you have needed it.”

  “I couldn’t ask you to do that, each of those sessions is one of the biggest gifts we get. Imagine if we had to figure out our powers on our own, it would take years. With this, we have a qualitative increase in strength after one night’s rest. Enjoy it, trust me, you’ll thank me. Also, congrats on the rank up, you’ll enjoy the perks on that one, but I’ll explain those when I see you at HQ later.”

  Shade waves from the area near the prisoners. “I’ll call in an interrogator to figure out what these clowns were thinking coming here.”

  Jin and Jolly wave at Shade before walking away from the captured Cowls, leaving them for Shade and the Agents working for the prison to round up again. They go back over the hill and stop near the transport pod.

  “Why was everyone so worried about Ebony?” Jin asks while trying to get all of the soot off of his suit.

  This soot is so annoying… wait a second!

  He snaps his fingers, dismissing the suit and with a burst of air all of the soot bursts off of him. “You seemed to handle them just fine, you barely even got injured.”

  A gust of wind rolls off of Jolly, deflecting the soot as he grimaces, still in pain from the massive purple and green bruise on his shoulder. “JEN, tell Theo why he should worry about Ebony.” He slumps down against the edge of the transport pod.

  “Ebony: powerset includes super strength and durability. Their powered suit grants them supersonic flight, an enhanced sensor suite, and a battery of weaponry including rockets, lasers, wing blades, and feather darts. Organization: Classified. Threat Level: 1. If observed, contact FSA HQ immediately. DO NOT ENGAGE.”

  “Oh, wow, that would explain it, but no one ever explained the threat levels to me,” Theo says as he takes a seat next to Jolly.

  “Turn off your comms, I need to tell you something off the record,” Jolly grabs a towel from under his duster and taps a button on the screen on his wrist. He slings the towel over his shoulders and head.

  Theo looks at Jolly with c
oncern before pulling out his phone and disabling his comms.

  “The whole threat scale thing; that’s my fault, I was planning on giving you that briefing after today. Who could have predicted that your Awakening would have continued today? I mean, my second Awakening was two years after my first, yours weren’t even a week apart. I can feel my third Awakening coming, but I haven’t been able to trigger it yet, though I feel like it might come along soon if I keep hanging around you. You radiate power like the sun to anyone who knows what to look for.

  That’s part of the reason Ebony was after you, they're part of an organization that hunts down people like us, descendants of the Great Golden Dragon. They have the blood of four of our family members on their hands that I know of,” Jolly holds his head in his hands. “We don’t even know what they call themselves. I’ve taken to calling them The Order, after their organizational skills.”

  “That explains why you didn’t pull your punches after they came down.” Theo puts his hand on Jolly’s back in an attempt at being supportive.

  Jolly lifts up his head and looks back at Theo, “They want nothing more than to see the downfall of our line and I don’t know why, which is infuriating, seeing as I’ve fought them seven times now. They always manage to escape, that damn suit of theirs is just too fast at escaping, I've tried everything I can think of to stop it; at this point I'd rather not get hurt trying. Plus, I can’t seem to punch through it, no matter how hard I hit it.”

  Jolly stands back up, dusting himself off as he does so. “All right, comms back on. I just needed to explain why Ebony is so dangerous for us in particular,” he taps the button on his wrist again.

  Jolly holds his hand out to help Theo up. Theo grabs his hand and springs to his feet, pulling out his phone, he enables his comms again as well.

  “We need to get you a commlink, your phone is going to get destroyed one of these days and then how will you get in contact?" Jolly stares off into space, his eyes unfocused. It almost seems like he can't look Theo in the eye, "JEN, put a commlink in Jin’s room at RSCA."

  At Jolly's insistence, Theo plods back into the transport pod. Jolly stops him from taking any mementos of the battle with Titan and Krakatoa. He explains that doing that has led to more than a few Capes, who weren't careful about what they took, either getting prosecuted or hunted down by Cowls with trackers in their gear. Theo balks at that but eventually acquiesces.

  "See you tomorrow?" Theo asks Jolly through the hidden intercom that Jolly pointed out to him when he asked how to call home should he need an emergency pickup. There are only two buttons on that panel, one labeled "Exterior" and one labeled "Base".

  "I think I'm going to spend some time here, I can feel Water coming and I want to be near the ocean for that, it should make the process easier. Be well Jinlong-gong," Jolly bows until his chest is horizontal to the ground.

  "You know I hate it when people call me 'gong', I've done nothing to deserve it," Theo stares into Jolly's eyes as he straightens up. "Is there something I need to know?" Unbeknownst to Theo, his eyes start to glow like they did when Jinlong took over his body.

  Jolly shivers at the sight.

  He's growing in strength so fast, I have to get stronger if I want to even try keeping up with him. I can't help but see His influence in him though, he's never afraid to ask the tough questions.

  "It's just a reflex, I don't even think about it, trust me, if you ever meet someone so much more powerful than yourself that it makes you shake, you'll do something similar. I don't see it happening to you, but it could. Either way, I'll have Brigid cover your training for the next few weeks, I'm going to go and find a nice deserted island and take a good nap." Jolly starts walking away, "See you later Theo," he tosses over his shoulder.

  ___

  Later that week, after his third Awakening, Jolly asks Iris about Theo, she tells him that he's always been the nurturing type, always one to help rather than ask for help. She also says that he was always a prankster, which Jolly hasn't seen, but he knows that their ancestor had that side to him. It looks like it's just who Theo is, the Ancestor found a descendant with the same proclivities as himself.

  Chapter 33: Firebird

  “You let me gush all over your new Suit… in front of you and Theo!” Dante bellows as he hides his face behind his sweat filled towel.

  Paul looks at Kat with an apologetic smile. “Sorry, he’s been like that since I let it slip. I owe you.”

  “It’s all good. Now what did you need me to do? You said something about a memory you needed to show Dante.” She follows Paul as he leads her and Dante down the hall and over to the lounge. He stops at a corner booth and motions for Kat to sit between him and Dante. Kat slides into the booth, Paul and Dante move to either side of her.

  Paul looks at his son with pain in his eyes. “I need to show you what our powers can do to us when left unchecked. I brought Kat here in her capacity as Nightmare to show you the day my brother Tyrone died from the perspective of someone who was there. Me.”

  Dante flinches back from his father at that statement. “You always said you didn’t know what happened to Uncle Tyrone on that day. Did you lie to me then or are you lying to me now?”

  Dante’s eyes start to glow a dark crimson before Paul barks at him, “I told you I’d never lie to you son and I always keep my word. You’ll understand why I told you what I did after you see what happened that day.”

  Dante’s eyes fade back to normal after a second, “I’ve always given you the benefit of the doubt about that day, let’s see if I was right to do that. Kat, how do you do this thing?” He inquires as he looks anywhere but at his father, mostly stealing glances at Kat.

  “I put one hand on each of you and then one of you, in this case your dad, thinks of the memory they’d like to share. After a few seconds of processing the emotions, thoughts, and stimuli, I can help you relive any part of the memory that the other person wants. Paul’s thoughts will be like a narrator in a movie for you, you’ll be viewing things from his point of view, obviously. However, once started, the memory in question can’t be stopped unless you both agree,” Kat explains. She struggles to find the right words to describe what has to be her oddest power.

  Paul flinches back, mirroring his son’s previous reaction. “So, you’re saying that after I start this, we’re in for the long haul? No one gets out until the truth comes out?”

  Kat nods. “It’s a level of intimacy that’s tough to handle for most people, usually only parents and their children or siblings are even able to handle the initial transfer of emotions. I think with your control over your emotions this should be a lot easier than usual.”

  “Are you still up for it Dante? You won’t be able to unsee this. I promise you, I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since that day.” Paul’s voice trembles and he clears his throat.

  “Let’s do this now. I’m tired of being kept in the dark.” Dante rests his hand on the table in front of Kat.

  “You ready, Paul?” Kat asks gently, worry in her eyes.

  “Do I really have a choice if I want my son to respect me again?” he answers as Dante shakes his head. Paul puts his hand in front of Kat.

  ___

  Paul: It was a Thursday five years ago next week, Tyrone and I were patrolling above The Suck like every other Thursday, until everything went wrong...

  “I can’t believe we got paired up again, don’t the higher ups get that we have the same weaknesses? What if we run into a Cowl with water or light powers? We’re buggered, that’s what,” says a deep bass voice that comes from Hellion’s right side and slightly above him as he flies through the sky above Docktown.

  “Come on man, you and I both know that since Spectrum left the council they’ve been floundering. The rotation doesn’t take into consideration what powers are present, let alone weaknesses. We’re lucky they still have us with a partner at all, I hear that they’re making The Wave run patrols alone until they can find someone fast enough to keep
up with her. Though I hear there’s this kid, Steamin’ Betty they call her, that has a steam boat and hovercraft that can keep up with her, the thing is, she’s only 16. They won’t let her patrol until she’s at least 18 or Class 2,” Hellion says with his distinctive baritone.

  Paul: I was right about Betty, she and The Wave ended up really hitting it off. Betty’s dating Riptide now.

  Dante: Seems like any night of patrolling, what was so special about this night?

  Paul: I’m getting there, this is the start of our patrol, it gets worse. Much worse.

  “I can’t believe we’re so desperate that we’re using kids now, I remember when you had to be 18 to even be allowed to interview with the FSA. It’s basically military service as far as I’m concerned, it’s not right to drag kids into our world like this. Imagine if she had to deal with Crimson and her gang, the last time she juiced up those teenagers,” Firebird’s voice shivers, “we only found parts of them, she had the dosage way too high.”

  “It’s a damn shame what happened to those kids,” Hellion sighs.

  “The only one of them who made it was a kid calling himself Titan, he’s a right piece of work, tough as nails, and a lot stronger than either of us physically. It turns out that I shattered the ampule while it was still injecting the serum, he only got a slightly larger dose than she usually gives. He was still on the floor writhing in pain for a good 45 minutes, smashing anyone who came close. I had to wait for him to calm down before I brought him into the station.”

  Firebird scoffs in disgust, “They cut him loose that day, he made it home before I did that night. No justice for a good Cape these days.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know the old speech, ‘Things were better in the times of Gentle-man and The Reaper, may he rest his soul’,” Hellion says exasperatedly. “That’s life, nothing stays the same, everything changes and it’s rarely for the better. One good thing is that the green policy for vehicles in RSC is out of its 10 year grace period. Within a year, there will be no gasoline, diesel, or coal powered vehicles in our city. Did you get your truck converted or just replace it?”