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

by VanDerHeyden, Paul C.

  “Converting it would cost as much as replacing it with all of the tax credits they’re offering. My new truck should be ready for me to pick up tomorrow at 8 a.m., paid for it in cash, just like dad always did,” Tyrone says proudly.

  Paul: That’s the truck I have parked in the garage, I didn’t have the heart to sell it. It still only has 10 miles on it. It was going to be yours before you bought that Firebird of yours without telling me.

  Dante: Well, that would have been great to know, I’m still paying off that thing!

  Paul: How did you… Amber?

  Dante: Yeah, it’s in her name, I’m paying for it though, every cent. That’s one of the reasons I was so anxious to get started at the FSA.

  Paul: Ah. You’re still welcome to it if you want it, he would have wanted you to have it.

  Dante: Let’s see what happened to him before I go taking his truck.

  Hellion laughs, “Dad didn’t have the benefit of, or understanding of the glories of 0% APR. That or the time value of money, he always wanted to own everything outright, even us.” Hellion finishes that sentence with a snarl.

  “That’s not fair, Dad did the best he could, you just…” Firebird starts in an accusatory tone before something cuts him off mid rant.

  Hellion turns around and looks for his brother Tyrone, AKA Firebird, he sees him trapped in a spout of water, which looks to be electrified from the way that Firebird is spasming.

  Without a second thought Hellion throws his chains out to save Firebird with all but one of his 10 chains, the last one he latches onto a lightning rod on top of a nearby building. The second his chains enter the water, a purple spark surges up toward him. However, he thought ahead with the lightning rod and the charge passes harmlessly around him and into the lightning rod.

  With a thought, he rips Firebird out of the water, coughing and sputtering. “Firebird, are you okay?” Hellion asks in a panic before Firebird starts coughing up some water and spitting out profanities rapidly.

  “I’ll get that bastard Twitch, he’s going to regret the day he fucking met me. *Cough, sputter* I’ll shove an ember so far up his ass that it cooks him from the inside out,” Firebird says as he finishes expelling the water he took in. “Whoever it is that’s helping him is going to feel my wrath as well!” Firebird’s normal yellow and red flame goes bright blue and midnight black.

  “Hey, cool it hot head, no need to tap into that yet. Remember what dad told us, ‘It’s for when your life's on the line, never before’, it’s one of the few things he said that I still agree with,” Hellion says as he gives Firebird a shake with his chains before releasing him from them completely.

  Paul: If I had just convinced him to cool down, he would still be here. I regret nothing more than what happened next.

  Dante: What happens next? It doesn’t look that bad yet…

  Paul: That’s the problem, you’ll see.

  In a dark and cold voice completely unlike his usual warm lighthearted tone, “Oh, I’m cool, you won’t believe how cool I am right now.” Firebird shoots down toward the ground and his potential targets, blue and black flames trailing him.

  “Sonofabitch!” Hellion yells before shooting down behind his brother, spewing blood red flames behind himself. “Firebird, don’t do anything rash, just take them into custody!”

  At this point Firebird is about four feet off of the ground, surveying the landscape around him like a tiger looking for prey. A small purple spark flashes behind him, he doesn’t see it, but Hellion does.

  “Look ou—” Hellion starts before a large purple lightning bolt strikes Firebird in the back. That bolt arcs out and strikes the nearby buildings, setting a couple of them on fire. Firebird stumbles forward clutching his chest, in obvious distress.

  A high pitched male voice comes from the shadows. “Look, Waterspout, we got two for the price of one! How lucky are we?”

  “So lucky, Babe! I can’t wait to drown the taller one… wait, is Hellion taller, or is Firebird? Nevermind, I’ll just drown them both,” a dainty female voice replies to the male voice.

  Firebird stops clutching his chest and glares toward where the voices came from.

  “Good, you revealed where you are, that saves me the trouble of finding you.” Firebird’s flames condense, leaving just his hands and feet covered in more intense fire. With a wave, he sweeps a wall of black flame toward where he heard the voices. The flames rip into the nearby warehouse, eating through the corner of the building, leaving an office inside completely exposed to the elements.

  “If your aim was half as good as you are at destroying private property, you’d have pinned me down by now,” the male voice chides Firebird.

  “That’s right babe, he’s just jealous of our love. Twitchy-poo, can I drown him yet?”

  “Firebird, listen to me, you have to calm down, you almost killed both of them, please reconsider the black flames. Hades is too dangerous a power to play with,” Hellion says as he lands beside his brother.

  “I think I like this feeling, I think I’ll stay like this for a while, I feel like I can do anything!” Firebird gathers up a ring of pure black flames. “Get behind me little brother, I don’t want to cook you with this.”

  Instinctively, Hellion dives behind his brother before he releases the ring of black flames. Those flames ripple out past him, but the nearby warehouses are struck by the ring of black flames and wherever they touch, the buildings are erased.

  After a few moments, the flame ring dies down and a bubble of water is revealed behind the smouldering ruins of a cement truck.

  “Oh goodie, my plan worked, now to end you and your boyfriend Twitch.” Firebird starts working up a ball of black flame before Hellion steps in front of him.

  “Can’t you see you almost killed them? Take a look, I’ll wait,” he says.

  Firebird looks for a moment before grinning. “Looks like I can finish them off myself at this point, step aside brother, don’t make me go through you.”

  “We surrender,” Twitch’s voice comes from behind the water bubble, “Take us in, as long as it gets us away from that maniac. Firebird, you’re one crazy motherfucker, good thing your brother is here to act as training wheels, keeping you from going overboard.”

  The bubble of water collapses, along with the woman who was maintaining it. Waterspout has black burns up her arms from that last attack.

  Twitch, also known as Jon Liu, is a Chinese-American man with jet black hair. His full body Suit is purple and layered with armor, it crackles with purple lightning. Waterspout, which is actually her given name, is a Native American woman with long brown hair bound up in a complicated braid. Her teal Suit is just a unitard, leaving her arms and legs bare. Her arms are covered in black burns.

  “Too easy, thanks for the nice targets!” Firebird replies before waving his hand toward Twitch and Waterspout. Hellion steps in front of the attack and absorbs his flames, his black and scarlet form appearing.

  “Twitch, Waterspout, lie down on the ground and stay out of this! Firebird, trust me, I’ll stop you before I let you kill someone after they surrender, no matter what it takes.” Black and scarlet flames coat Hellion’s entire body, including his chains. He catches a reflection of himself and sees his eyes are as black as the night sky in the countryside.

  “I’d like to see you try!” Firebird puts both hands together and unleashes a large gout of hellflame, which Hellion catches in a small red portal.

  Hellion sighs, “Power down Firebird, I’ll take you home. I’ll call someone else to deal with the pickup, they’re in no shape to fight anymore.”

  Paul: If only Twitch had just listened, I still can’t believe he got out on good behavior last week.

  Dante: Uncle Tyrone’s unhinged isn’t he…

  Paul: Yes, son, he is.

  Dante: I don’t need to see anymore, I don’t want to watch him die.

  Paul: You need to see what happens when your power runs out of control.

  Dante: Da
d… I understand.

  A bolt of purple lightning bigger than the previous strikes Hellion and Firebird, pain wracks Hellion’s body, his flames doing next to nothing against that level of current.

  “Ahhhhh!” Hellion screams.

  Firebird looks toward Twitch, his eye twitching is the only evidence that he was just electrocuted. “One good turn deserves another.” He waves his hands and a black portal appears under Waterspout, who falls into the darkness.

  “Firebird! Bring her back, she should be fine still, if you leave her in Hades too long, there’s no telling what shape she’ll be in when she comes back!” Hellion yells at his brother.

  “Who said anything about bringing her back? I’m sending her boyfriend to join her there,” Firebird says as he gathers energy for another portal. He turns and smiles at Hellion, his eyes have been replaced by black balls of flame with blue cores.

  “One chance, that’s all I’m going to give you to power down and bring her back,” Hellion yells as Firebird ignores him, “Five, four, three, two…”

  “Don’t make me laugh brother, you don’t have it in you to stop me, you’re weak! I decided to embrace our heritage, our grandfather would be so proud!” Firebird says as he starts to wave his hand toward Twitch.

  “...one,” Hellion says with a heavy heart. With a roar, his flames grow 10 times more intense, both scarlet and black, he snaps his fingers and Waterspout falls from a portal and lands on Twitch. “I’m sorry brother, there’s nothing more I can do for you. Power down or I’ll be forced to take care of you like we had to take care of dad.”

  “You wouldn’t, I’m all you have. That brat son of yours needs me, he and I are so alike, he’ll never forgive you!” Despite his bravado, Hellion can tell he’s frightened.

  “I’ll always love you brother,” Hellion snaps his fingers and chains made of black and scarlet flames surround Firebird. “May our ancestor take pity on you.”

  Another snap and it’s over, Firebird falls into the portal beneath his feet, he screams on the way down, “I’ll be back! The next time you see me, I’ll kill your precious son in front of your very eyes!”

  Paul: That’s it. That’s my dark secret. I sent your uncle to Hades to save you and the rest of Riverside City. He had been getting worse over time, that night just so happened to be the night he snapped.

  Dante: Let’s get out of here.

  Paul: Agreed.

  With that, Paul and Dante awaken to the face of a grimacing Kat, “Took you long enough, most people only make it 30 seconds or so, that was almost 15 minutes.”

  Paul looks at Dante and then Kat, “Thank you for this, I really owe you...”

  Dante interrupts his dad, “We owe you. I always idolized my uncle, but it turns out he wasn’t perfect. I’ll have to learn to deal with that.”

  “Would one of you call Theo for me? I’m going to need a lift home,” Kat’s head sinks to the table, exhausted.

  “I’ll get him a guest pass,” Dante replies, “JEN…”

  “JEN, text Jin, ‘GF Pickup in the lounge’,” Paul shakes his head when Kat looks at him like he shot her, “He was going to figure it out soon enough, better to get in front of it.”

  “Oh good, wake me up when he arrives,” she slumps down in her seat and starts gently snoring.

  “Wait a second…” Dante starts.

  Chapter 34: Not Cool Bro

  Theo decides it’s a good idea to test his new flight powers out on the way to FSA headquarters. He takes the teleportation pod back to RSCA and then makes his way to the roof, stopping in his room to pick up his commlink.

  The commlink looks a lot like a moderately expensive Allano Tech smartwatch until he activates JEN. When she’s active, the watch expands to take up his lower bicep. In that form it displays local news strings and has a tab for FSA updates. He pops out a tiny earpiece and inserts it into his right ear. It’s completely unnoticeable, some of the best tech Prof. Tenzi ever designed.

  This thing is sweet, but how am I supposed to explain it away? Everyone knows I live at RAINBOW… I got it! If anyone asks, I’ll tell them I got a part-time job, approved by the Headmistress. I bought this as a reward for making it through the first week without losing my mind. I’ll say I’m an intern with the FSA, which is close enough that it should explain why I spend so much time around The Spires and Government Plaza.

  “JEN, what do you think about my plan?” He describes his plan to her.

  “I have heard worse, but you put too much detail into it. My algorithms indicate that just mentioning a part-time job should be sufficient for 95% of people you are likely to encounter. I hope that helped,” JEN’s calm voice replies into his earpiece.

  “Thanks, sounds like a good plan. Just a part-time job, got it. Now, to the roof!”

  After making it up to the roof, he looks over toward the hexagonal hole in the roof where the food court is located and sees the panels that come together to form the roof when the weather isn’t nice. The massive panes of high tech glass lay against the roof acting as solar panels, angled slightly toward the sun.

  Jolly never told me what was up with the threat rating system, he had a lot going on though, I wonder…

  “JEN, would you please explain Cowl threat levels to me?”

  In his earpiece, JEN’s pleasant voice begins, “Threats are classified on a stratified scale, these numbers are not absolutes, for example Krakatoa is classified as a three on the general scale, but when he’s within a mile of a volcano he’s a solid two.

  The levels are as follows:

  Level 5’s are considered non threats, though they may act in concert with another Cowl, we usually let the normal authorities cover them.

  Level 4’s are a bit tougher, they have some means of doing damage, though they usually have a fatal flaw. For example, Titan’s lack of speed. Non-powered Agents are usually deployed to deal with them.

  Level 3’s are when you should start showing great caution. They either have the ability to do a moderate amount of harm over a large area, or a lot of harm to a small area. Agents are deployed if a Cape is not available, but as soon as one is, the Agents are to leave the Cowl to the Cape.

  Level 2’s are threats that usually warrant a team to be called in. They have the capability to wipe out a region or a team of Capes by themselves. For example the Midwest Smackdown taking on Alpha two years ago in Chicago. Alpha had the potential to destroy the entire city if left unchecked. Agents are only to provide aid if a number of Capes are out of commission, and then they are supposed to call for backup and pull the Capes out of harm’s way.

  Level 1’s are considered global level threats, they warrant Capes like Jolly or Primus to look into handling them. If a Level 1 arrives, you are to leave the area immediately until further notice. They can kill anyone they want unless they are opposed by a force of equal or greater power. Primus is one of the few Capes who deals with Level 1’s on a regular basis, but they have more power than 100 normal Supers, so they are an exception, not the rule.”

  Theo stands by the roof entrance, leaning against the wall behind the door. “Wow, that was an info dump. I can’t say I’m surprised that Jolly didn’t want to give that lecture. How many of each level are there?”

  “Level 5’s are in the hundreds of thousands, Level 4’s are in the thousands, Level 3’s are in the hundreds, Level 2’s and 1’s are classified and you don’t have clearance for the answers.”

  “Huh, interesting. I heard about a power ranking system years ago, like a 1-10 scale, why don’t I hear about it anymore?” Theo asks.

  I wonder where I would fall on that 1-10 scale?

  “The Cape community decided to get rid of that system, as young and stupid Capes would attack a Cowl of a lower power scale and get killed because of their stupidity and the Cowl’s skill with their powers. That was the impetus for the level system in use today.”

  “Interesting, thanks JEN.” Theo walks behind the roof entrance.

  “You’re
welcome Theo, let me know if you need anything else.”

  He shifts back into his Jin persona and takes off to pick up Kat from downtown. He rockets off of the roof, but when he looks back, he blasted all of the gravel near his takeoff point away in a 20 foot wide circle.

  “Oops, I hope I remember about the blastoff effect next time, maybe I should jump? JEN, if I jump when I take off, would that help prevent what just happened with the gravel?” Jin asks as he jets toward HQ.

  “It should help, it’s documented that thrust fliers have issues with that sometimes, especially the more powerful ones. Most just jump a bit or dive off of buildings to prevent them from damaging anything unintentionally.”

  “Noted.” Jin nods to himself before forgetting about all of that and just luxuriating in the freedom of flight. He almost crashes into a flock of birds before he flinches out of the way reflexively.

  Focus Theo! You’re too powerful now to be careless like before. If you goof off, people could get hurt… ok, that may have been a bit harsh, but it is true. I should be more careful.

  As Jin approaches the FSA flying entrance to the lobby he entered with Brigid earlier, his earpiece perks up.

  “Class 2’s enter via the garage or the roof, no exceptions Jin,” Brigid’s calm voice comes across his comm jokingly.

  “Just one time? I want to try that jump-jet style landing and that spot is perfect for it!” Jin grins.

  “Nope, no exceptions, like I said. When you make Class 3, you can enter there, but for now, get your ass up to the roof, I know the elevator and you don’t get along so well, so take the pole down.”

  Jin shivers as he remembers his trip in the FSA elevator, the power dampeners made him so weak that his super dense bones started crushing the rest of his body.

  “Heard. To the roof!” Jin buzzes the entry he wanted to use, peering in as he does so. The desk attendants on duty wave as he blasts past them and up to the roof.

  He tries to do the so-called “jump-jet style landing” and ends up ass-over-teakettle, “I am so glad no one else saw that,” he says as he brushes off his scales. He hears giggling over his earpiece.